The forest is a mystical place. It conceals truths from the outside world. Though many within the Leaf Village know not of such truths, only the select few, ones of privilege, ones of authority, no mere shinobi has such fortune of learning of such truths. Until now.

After a fierce battle between rouge shinobi and team eight, Kiba, the dog boy was left behind. Badly injured, his team mates did not wish to leave him in such a state, but Kiba had ordered them to leave him behind, in hopes of defeating the rouge shinobi. After all, he had Akamaru for protection and company. Though the boy did not yet know of the fate that was to befall on him, the truths to be revealed, he slipped into an un-awakening state, a state between life and death. His faithful dog refusing to leave the side of his master and friend; refusing every passing animal to come near the boy.

Through the thick trees a small light appeared, growing larger and larger in the Akamaru's eyes. The glowing gave the dog both a relaxed and wary feeling. A delicate bare foot reached the moss covered forest floor. The flowing white dress blew in the wind as the young woman surrounded by light slowly crept towards the boy who lay on the ground. A wolf by the slender leg of the glowing girl, the white coat of the graceful wolf matched that of the girls dress. The girl knelt next to Akamaru, sensing his uneasiness towards her presence. With one touch of her finger to the dogs' soft head, worry seemed to wash away. The girl turned to the boy lying on the forest floor. Fear grew within the dog's body once more. The dog bore its white teeth towards the girl, jumping in front of the boy, in means of protecting him. The wolf which stayed close to the girl reacts in the same way as Akamaru had, teeth shown, ready for a fight. The glowing girl touched the wolf's head. The wolf ceased its actions and lay down. Akamaru still wary about the girl remained with teeth bared.

"It's okay" she said "I'm going to help him. To heal him, you have nothing to worry about me harming him." Akamaru looked at her puzzled. "I'm a healer of the forest. I heal those who are hurt who enter my woods. But that must remain a secret you hear? Don't tell your master." The dog nodded to the girl. Giving her passage to the body of the boy. The girl knelt by the boy's body, which was slowly fading into the grasps of death. The girl raised her hand, placing one on the body of the boy, the other in the air.

"Ka-lee-un-tyen- tola-lafea" the girl chanted. Her snow kissed hair violently flowing in the wind, her eyes glowing. The glow by her hand increased as she continued the chanting. The glow transferred from her hand and entered the body of the boy. Circulating the body of the injured boy, the glow from the girl seemed to make the body of the boy glow as well. The chanting ended and the glowing ceased in the body of the boy. The glowing girl grasps Kiba's head and lifted it from the cold forest floor. Putting extra cloth she always carries as a cushion for his head to rest upon. As she lowered his head, his eyes started to move; slowly the boy opened his eyes. His vision blurred, he saw the silhouette of the girl.

"What" his voice course "or rather, who are you?" with his vision still blurred from the sun seeping through the forest tress. The girl smiled.

"I don't think that's something you should know." Her voice soft; just as her smile had been.

"At least tell me your name." the boy coughed, his throat dry. The girl brought a bottle to his mouth, the clear, cold liquid traveled through his throat. Soothing his throat.

"My name you ask?" she smiled once more. The boy attempted to nod. "Well I suppose I could tell you that." The glow from the sun and the glow from the girl prevented Kiba from getting a clear view of the girl. "My name is Akiye."

"Really? Well don't you want to know my name?" the boy asks, trying to bring himself into a sitting position.

"I already know your name. It's Kiba. Now don't sit up until your friends return."

"Wh-what?"

"I know all of the names of the creatures in my forest."

"This isn't your forest. It belongs to the Leaf Village." The boy was quick to correct.

"That's where I'm afraid you are very wrong. This is my forest. I protect it, and every living thing within it." The girl stood "By the way Kiba, in the future, do not order your friends away. I am not always able to save those of who fall in my forest." She began to walk away. She halted in her tracks "your dog, Akamaru, cares for you greatly. He didn't wish for me to harm you. I hope that if we are to meet again, it will not fall upon these same conditions." The girl smiled to the boy "Eri, time to leave." The white wolf stood from her laying position on the ground. The wolf looked at the boy on the ground. Who had only then realized that there was a wolf by his side the entire time. Both the girl and the wolf walked deep into the dense forest. Soon there was a gap between the feet of the girl and her wolf from the ground grew larger. The glow from the girl grew smaller until it grew too small for the eye to see.

"What was that about?" the boy asked his dog. Kiba sat up. He looks behind him. The white cloth that had been used as a pillow was still there. Even when the girl was not. "Who, or rather what was she?" he asks his dog. He picks up the cloth and brings it to his nose "it smells like the forest." He stood up, all the blood quickly rushing to his head as he struggles to stand up straight. Akamaru helps him to stay sturdy.

"Sit boy." The voice of the glowing girl whispered in the wind. Kiba did as he was told. Sitting on a nearby rock. Awaiting for the return of his friends and team mates.

"Good boy." The voice whispers with a carefree chuckle at the end that rode on the winds back.

"Kiba!" the purpled hair girl cried.

"What is it Hinata?" he stood up quickly.

"Sit!" the voice barked more harshly than before, Kiba sat once more.

"How are you? You were?" she pointed at the ground where they had left him, the place where his life was slowly escaping his body.

"What is the white cloth?" Shino asks. Kiba looks at his hand and quickly puts it away.

"How'd it go? You get the bad guys?"

"Of course we did. We're the good guys, remember?" Hinata says smiling.

"That's good. So should we be heading back now?"

"Shouldn't you be tended to?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I don't need any tending to, not for a long time." Kiba looks into the sky and smile in the direction the mysterious girl had left.

"Are you okay?" Shino asks.

"Never felt better."

"I'm telling you I saw a person in there! A girl! And she vanished!"

"Kiba, we've been through this! I can't believe you're still on this topic after months have passed" Hinata rubbed the bridge of her nose "There is not some glowing lady living in that forest. You must've dreamed it, or it was a hallucination. There's no way!" the girl exclaimed.

"Then how'd I get the cloth? She put it under my head!"

"Kiba, you must be mistaken, there is no girl in that forest and there are no white foxes in there."

"Yes, there is! I saw her, and the wolf!" anger began to grow in his body. He questioned why no one believed what he was saying.

"I think you need to see the Hokage, maybe she can help explain this weird dream to you."

"I'm telling you it was no dream!" the boy snapped.

"Hinata, Kiba, what do you want?" the Hokage kept her focus on the paper work in front of her.

"On one team eights latest missions Kiba was gravely hurt. Close to death. He told us to leave him behind, against all our will we did. When we got back he was sitting on a rock fully healed. He now claims he saw a glowing girl with a white wolf by her side. Can you explain to him how this isn't possible?" the hokage nodded, her eyes still on the papers.

"Leave us Hinata."

"Yes Hokage-sama." With that the purple haired girl left the room. Leaving behind only Kiba and the Hokage in the room.

"Hokage-"

"I believe you." The Hokage glanced up from the papers. Folding her hands and brining them to her chin, allowing her head to rest upon them.

"You what?" the boy asks puzzled.

"I believe you."

"You'd be the first."

"Tell me, what did this young girl look like?"

"She was beautiful. She had long white hair. She wore a white dress and had no shoes on her feet. She glowed, and I mean like sun shining glowing. She told me her name was Akiye."

"And the name of the wolf?"

"Eri."

"And you say she slowly vanished."

"Yes."

"And you say she healed you? That you were close to dying and she brought you back."

"Yes. After words I was the healthiest I've been in years. And that's saying something. I'm rather healthy."

"Right. I am going to tell you something. But you must never repeat it and it must never leave your mouth. Or you will have to be killed. Understood?" a clump formed in the boys throat as he prepares for the news that is to reach his ears.

"What you saw, was not a dream. It was no illusion."

"Excuse me?"

"Let me finish!" the hokage barked. "This girl, well she's not really a girl. How do I put this? She is a girl, but she isn't at the same time. To put it bluntly, she's a sprit."

"She said she owned the forest."

"Legally the leaf village does own the forest. However, she owns it as well. She is the protector of that land. She protects the animals, the plants, and the people who fall injured in there."

"How old is she?"

"Well, about your age."

"How many years old is she."

"Thousands, as long as the forest has been on the earth. She has the wolf as a friend. Her only friend that has been by her side for the longest time. She keeps hidden from the city, from the people who fall in the forest. Those who get healed by her don't know who healed them. They always miss her. She always walks away from them before they wake."

"Then how do you know of her?"

"I'm the Hokage, I know many secrets that only Hokages know of."

"So, she's a secret. Hidden from the world."

"Yes. And she will always remain as such."

"Why?"

"It's her wish."

"Is that all?"

"You are the only person I know of, that she has stayed with until the one woke up. Just so you know. She can leave the forest. But she will become mortal if she does. Don't go looking for her."

"What happens if she becomes mortal? What will happen to the forest?"

"Another sprit may come to protect it. Her wolf may stay behind. Or, the forest may die. And she may as well. It's not known, but don't go looking for her."

"May I leave?"

"Yes." She nods "And Kiba."

"Yes?" the boy turns around.

"You are a lucky boy to see this girl. You may go." The boy quickly exited out of the hokages office and headed straight to the forest. In search for the girl. Exactly what he had been told not to do.

"Are you here?" the boy asks out loud.

"I am always here." The girl whispered in the wind.

"May I see you?"

"Why would you want such a thing?"

"I need to know."

"To know what?"

"What you look like."

"Why?"

"You got to see me. Is it not only fair I get to see you?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yes. No."

"Well which is it then?"

"You my boy, are rather annoying."

"Does that mean I get to see you?"

"Stop pestering and maybe you will get your wish."

"Okay."

"Why have you really come back?"

"I missed you."

"How is that at all possible?"

"Trust me, it is."

"Is that so?" the girl crept up behind the boy.

"Why do you glow? It's one thing I don't get."

"Because I can."

"Can you, turn it off?" the girl laughs

"Of course I can."

"Will you?"

"That's an entire different decision." She sighed "but I suppose it wouldn't hurt." The girl stands in front of the boy. The glow around her slowly diminishes. Her hair still as snow kissed as ever. Her skin fair and her eyes blue as the sky.

"Cool."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you come all this way to come and find me?"

"I guess it's cause I'm into you."

"Pardon me?"

"Right, you don't speak city talk. It means I guess I like you."

"Like a friend?"

"Sorta. Maybe a little more than a friend."

"I have not had a human friend in my entire life."

"To be perfectly honest, I've never had a sprit crush before." The girl smiled.

"Why do you stay out here?"

"It is my home. My land. My sacred duty. My sanctuary."

"And what would happen if you'd leave this place?"

"I would become mortal and most likely die."

"Would the forest die with you?"

"No, it would not."

"Have you ever thought… I don't know. Leaving?"

"Not once. However" she paused

"Yes?"

"I have thought about it recently. I don't know why though." She looked at the forest floor. Her feet bare; delicate.

"I think I might." The boy smiled at her. Making her do the same.

"So long Kiba. Until we meet again." The girl leaned into Kiba and gently kissed him on his cheek.

"You too Akiye."

"You remembered my name?" she began to glow once more "I'm surprised." She smiled at the boy. "Come Eri." The white wolf trotted over to her master.

"Yeah." The boy nodded at the fading light. "I guess so."

Authors note

I don't know why, but I had to make this bitter sweet. They both want each other and yet they can never have each other. This is kind of different from what I normally write about (not the bitter sweet, most of my one shots have that, I think) I normally don't write about sprits and things about the forest. I've realized lately that all that is on the TV is either about sex or it suggests sexual themes. There really isn't anything that is innocent any more. Many stories I have read on this website do the same. Hell, I've done it. It's what society has taught us is now appropriate. I wanted to write about something that many don't, that isn't full of sexual intentions. For the majority; innocent.

I've always had a great respect for animals and the forest. I always thought that the forest hides more than people think. That, perhaps, there is more than just bark and moss. More than just animals roaming around for survival. Just as humans had done in the past. Before we developed. Before we destroyed the land for shopping malls and oil. The world, to me, seems to be engulfed in the want of wealth. But I ask you, what good is money if there is no longer an Earth? We only have one Earth, only one planet that can support life. And we have been destroying it for millions of years. So what good is money if there isn't an Earth to call home? What good is money when you have but days to live? Why not be with nature? Why not go outdoors? Why do we continually pollute our earth? We've gotten dangerously close to the limit. No wonder there are so many natural disasters. The earth is only trying to take back what is rightfully its.

Just something for those who read this to think about, if you have an answer to why humans are so destructive and horrible, please, tell me. Because I have yet to find a reason why humans should be the top of the food chain, to be the superior species if we are destroying our planet and killing off species for fun, for food, or just because we can.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the story. I don't often write in third person so I apologize if it isn't up to your standards. Have a good day.

~~MyKullem3