Something that I rediscovered in the lost jungle of my hard drive where my million and one story ideas go to die because I rarely have the patience to finish them all. However, for some inexplicable reason, I decided to post the first chapter to this one. It is uncertain if I can summon both the the mental fortitude and the time to finish this one out. I suppose I shall see.

Anyways, this is something partially inspired by Princess Mononoke, but by faerie tales (and such related stories) in general, which undoubtedly made up a great portion of my childhood.

Disclaimer: I do not own Mai HiME or any related story elements or characters. I also do not own Princess Mononoke.

Chapter I: The Encounter

Yuuichi Tate adjusted his buckler nervously. He could feel his leather gloves absorbing the dank sweat of his hand as he gripped his spear. The great forest mountain—now called the Cursed Mountain by many—had not seemed so fell from a distance. When they had begun approaching the eastern reaches of Lord Fujino's lands yesterday, the vibrantly green mountain in the distance could have easily been dismissed as being no different than any other mountain Yuuichi had seen in his time spent soldiering. But now that they were crossing beneath the lone mountain, barely an hour from their final destination of Oaken Ridge, an unpleasant sensation of nausea had settled in his abdomen.

He knew he was not the only man who felt this, he simply hid it better than others. The men in his caravan he was guarding—all of the various skilled miners and carpenters that they were bringing to the town—had long since ceased their casual banter. Now all too many of them sat above their wagons silently, or laughed and talked in voices that were overly loud and forced.

He had not heard the stories until they had been several nights on the road. He had, like most soldiers who had lived on the forefront of fighting battles to claim land between the bitter warlords, assumed that they were guarding the caravan from bandits and ronin. And yet, as they began to approach the Cursed Mountain, he heard the stories from craftsmen who traveled with him.

"Legends," had scoffed one merchant, who hailed from several provinces away, and had never even been this far east into Fuuka province before.

"No!" hissed another, insistent. "Not legends. The anger of the old gods. Sometimes the beasts of the forest themselves, and sometimes a monstrous great black mountain cat. But often times a great wolf, larger than a beast of burden, and with eyes the color of tree leaves in the summer."

His voiced had dropped, and the man had looked around suspiciously, crossing his hands against evil. "And sometimes, as a women. An evil sending of a princess, as beautiful as the night sky but with death in her eyes and on her hands."

Most people, like the soldiers, like Yuuichi, had laughed. But some had shaken their heads and made signs to dispel evil. The clips of the merchants' tales weighed heavily on his mind now, and he found himself wishing that he had paid more attention to their fanciful tales.

Yuuichi went to adjust his buckler once more and looked over to find his best friend and captain doing the same. He and Takeda Masashi grinned at each other, a motion of genuine amusement that suddenly helped release the tension from both of them.

"Guess everyone's a little nervous when we're under the shadow of the mountain, eh?" said Takeda, the old scar on his face crinkling as he talked. It had been the unlucky imprint left from a stray piece of shrapnel when he had shattered an opponent's inferior sword in single combat years ago. That story alone had given him great honor and a reputation that he had traveled with since.

"Yeah," replied Yuuichi. "Everyone except Lord Kanzaki himself."

He pointed with his spear toward where he knew just up ahead on the path, their noble leader Reito Kanzaki was leading the vanguard of his troops before the caravan.

Takeda guffawed at this. "I don't think anything intimidates that man."

Reito was by far the youngest and most talented of all of the noble vassals that swore allegiance to their warlord, Lord Fujino. He had grown up with lesser honors than the other nobles, born from the marriage of two once famed but long since decayed clan lines. However, Reito single-handedly rebuilt the honor and strength of the Kanzaki clan, recruiting and training men who became the most loyal, hardy soldiers in all of Lord Fujino's holdings. With his polished record of never having lost a single battle, Reito had quickly skyrocketed through the ranks of other vassals, becoming one of Lord Fujino's most trusted confidants, much to the chagrin of other older clan lords. Why they were being now sent to Oaken Ridge, far from the battles with other warlord's troops, Yuuichi could not fathom, but he refused to believe that it was because his lord had fallen out of favor with the Fujinos. Lord Kanzaki and Takeda had promised to explain all once they had reached Oaken Ridge, and so his loyal soldier held it on him to reserve all questions until then.

Takeda and Yuuichi shared a grin once again, both starting to feel foolish for allowing such old wive's tales to unsettle them. Then as Takeda went to open his mouth to speak again, he suddenly stopped, his eyes bulging slightly, and a trickle of blood seeping out of his mouth. His hands simultaneously went to the massive arrow bolt that was now protruding through his armor and chest.

In that long silent moment before Takeda crumpled to the ground, Yuuichi's eyes flew back up past Takeda, searching for where the arrow must have surely come from. There, standing on great tree branch off the path, was a lone woman. She was surely one of the most beautiful Yuuichi had ever laid eyes upon. In the dark forest, she wore simple, glistening, white robes, and her long raven hair gleamed even in the shadows of the trees. She fixed him with a murderous glare from eyes that looked like solid jade even as she turned away from him, going to drop down from the tree, a great archer's bow in one hand.

Yuuichi came crashing back to reality as Takeda hit the ground with a muted thump. "To arms!" he roared.

Pandemonium broke loose. As soon as he let loose his call…something…barreled into the caravan with force of about ten charging oxen. The air was a cacophony of sound, mixed with the screams of dying men and horses, the yells of soldiers, and wild roaring of something else. Yuuichi tried to dive into the fray but was knocked back by a fleeing mule.

A strong hand suddenly hauled him up and out of the mud before he could be trampled. He looked up to see none other than Lord Kanzaki himself, astride his fleet, coal black warhorse, complete with his samurai armor. The rest of the vanguard was aligned behind him, spears and swords ready as they caught flashes of white tearing through the caravan, careening steadily toward them.

"Steady, Tate," spoke Reito. He had a deep tenor that could cut through chaos and command order with ease, and it immediately quelled Yuuichi's panicking mind. Reito hefted a great charging spear on his horse, readying himself to take whatever foul creature was about to rush toward them himself. His warhorse pranced, snorting in anticipation.

Then, with a great roar, the beast broke through the caravan. Tate nearly gaped in shock. It was a white wolf, far larger than any wolf had a right to be. It stood at least ten feet tall, taller than any horse and broader than any oxen.

There was a collective gasp as Reito dug into the sides of his stallion, urging it forward.

He charged toward the wolf, launching his spear out at just the right moment to leave a fatal wound.

Tate was not the only soldier to gasp in surprise when the wolf threw itself clear over the attacking weapon, as though it had known precisely what Lord Reito was going to do.

The momentum of his foiled attack left Reito imbalanced as he tried to slow his stallion down and turn around. The demon wolf had already turned on a dime and was closing in for a second, open-sided attack from behind.

Much to Tate's profound relief, though, Reito was a quick thinker. Without hesitating, he threw himself off of his priceless horse even as the wolf clamped its jaws down on the saddle where he would have been seated only a second earlier.

The stallion gave a high scream of pain as its spine cracked in half, falling to the ground dead as the wolf released it from its iron-jawed grip.

Reito crouched on the ground, waving a hand to keep his men back from rushing in to aid him. He narrowed his storm gray eyes, sizing up his foe. He would not be outdone.

The wolf slowly turned to him, the crimson blood that now dripped from its mouth at sharp contrast with the snow-white fur and the piercing green eyes.

Then it charged again.

This time, Raito tumbled rolled right past the wolf as it pounced at him—a graceless move for a samurai of his status, but a calculated one. Now behind the wolf, he thrust his lancer spear as hard as he could up toward the vast right shoulder blade of the demon.

Though the fur seemed to constrict and press back his thrust, his stroke was true, and the blade pierced flesh.

The wolf let out a howl of pain as its fur turned red, knocking Raito back as it shook the spear loose.

Seeing the soldiers rally behind Raito this time, weapons drawn, it let out what seemed to be a snarl of frustration, then rushed into the forest, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.

There was a drawn out moment of motionless silence, broken only by the moans of dying men and animals, as the soldiers and craftsmen alike waited, daring to see if the attack was truly over.

When Reito calmly walked over to reclaim his fallen spear, the tension broke.

With the beast gone, Yuuichi rushed back toward Takeda's side, but he had been through enough battles in his life to know when it was too late. The arrow that had struck his friend had struck true, shattering armor and bone to cut through his heart. His face was already cold and bruising with settled blood when Yuuichi flipped him up to check for a pulse or breath.

You would think that he would have been used to death by now; used to dealing it as much as receiving it. But the loss of a friend and leader he had known as long as his own life struck him like punch in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He hadn't even been given the option to die honorably in battle. He had been assassinated quietly, by some witch of the forest.

A keen rose out of Yuuichi's throat as he mourned. He both felt and heard Lord Kanzaki approach from behind him, and could sense the very moment when his lord realized that his captain had been slain by an arrow, and not the wolf.

Reito knelt down and laid a gentle hand on Yuuichi's shoulder, understanding. "Come brother, we must finish making our way to Oaken Ridge. It is what Captain Masashi would have wanted for you."

For a second time that day, Reito helped haul Yuuichi to his feet. He calmed his mind, and looked into his lord's gray hued eyes. "And once we are at Oaken Ridge, my lord?"

Reito stared back calmly, his eyes holding the promise and hope of vengeance. "Why, then I shall explain a great many things, and then…then, Tate, you and I shall talk."

After Yuuichi Tate was back on his feet, Lord Reito Kanzaki turned around to survey the damage that had been done. He had lost a fine captain, but held no doubts that Yuuichi would be a capable replacement. Aside from that, though the guerilla attack had been devastating, it also could have easily been far worse.

As Reito directed his soldiers to begin salvaging the wrecked caravan, he looked up at the rocky outcropping through the trees where the wolf had disappeared through, and further up at the misty clouds that hid the upper strata of the mountain.

So this is my enemy, he mused. It seemed as though Oaken Ridge was going to prove more of a worthy challenge that he initially thought.