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Dominic smiled as he climbed off of the airplane, he gawked at his surroundings. The beautiful Japanese surroundings were astounding; he felt a prodding in the back and glared back at an irritated looking old woman. The American stepped off of the ramp and walked through the airport, as he grew closer to the exit of the building he wanted nothing more than to run through the doors right then and there.

Dominic waited for his luggage and impatiently tapped his foot on the floor; he had been waiting for this trip for the last three months when he had reserved the plane ticket for two weeks. As he waited for his luggage he glanced at his surroundings, the airport was chalk full of people. He jumped in surprise as he felt a bag bump into his arm, in his reverie his arm had slid into the baggage claim and he found himself being dragged along with the luggage.

After an embarrassing moment of people laughing at him as Dominic was pulled along with luggage he straightened up with a blush on his face as he located his baggage and quickly walked away, the embarrassment gave way to excitement as he drew closer and closer to the doors of the airport. As Dominic stepped out of the doors a wide grin appeared on his face, he had finally arrived in Japan.

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After locating a car rental and after yet another embarrassing moment with Dominic having forgotten to exchange currencies he was on his way. He drove along the roads and smiled as a small village appeared in his village, Dominic hadn't come to the serene country to visit the hustle and bustle of a city. He had wanted to visit a nice and quiet village, and he had found it in the serene village of Penwisa.

Dominic slowed his car as he reached the edge of the small village, as he drove through he saw smiles on people's faces as they went along with their simple lives. Dominic parked on a dirt road off to the side of the village and clambered out of his car, as he stepped into the town a Japanese man with a wide smile on his face approached him and spoke with a remarkably American accent. "Hello my friend, I'm assuming that you're Dominic Gretson."

Dominic smiled and nodded; he had called the town's only phone at the city hall and had been able to talk to the mayor of the town about reserving a house or hotel of some sort for two weeks. "Yes I am, I assume that you're Mr. Nanoka, the mayor told me that you'd be meeting me here."

The man nodded and held his hand out, "Yes I am, my full name is Moroko Nanoka."

Dominic shook his hand, "I noticed that your accent is English Moroko." He said with interest as they started to walk through the town.

"I assumed that you would, I wasn't actually born in Japan myself. I was born in California, my parents came to America before I was born but after being raised on tales of Japan for all of my life I decided to move here six years ago." Moroko explained as he stopped in front of a small hut, "Here you are Dominic, I wanted to tell you that my wife has invited you tonight for dinner as she doubted that you would have any dinner prepared by the time night falls."

Dominic smiled and nodded, "That sounds very nice Moroko, let me drop off my bags inside of the house and I'd be more than glad to take you up on that offer." Moroko smiled and nodded and helped the American carry all of his bags into the hut, after setting them in his room Dominic smiled at Moroko. "Now shall we get something to eat?"

Moroko smiled and nodded, as the pair walked towards Moroko's house Dominic looked up to see that the moon was raising over the Japanese mountains. "Wow... its beautiful here, are you glad that you moved here Moroko?" He glanced over at the other man who nodded.

"Yes, everything that my parents told me as a child lived up to their expectations. I actually met my wife when I was hiking up in the mountains." Moroko said with a serene smile on his face. A moment later they reached the host's house and they walked in, Dominic smiled as the smell of meat filled his nose.

They walked in to find a table already set and a woman sitting on a floor mat who smiled at them as the pair walked in, "Welcome to our home." The woman said, Dominic smiled and nodded at her.

"Thank you for letting me come in like this." He slipped off his shoes at the door and took a seat on a floor mat; Moroko did likewise and sat by his wife.

"Dominic this is my wife Uniko, Uniko this is Dominic." She nodded politely and after a moment they all started to eat.

Uniko looked up at Dominic as he ate, "So Dominic, what brings you here to Japan?" Dominic swallowed his food before answering.

"I'm here for a few reasons, you see I'm a photographer who's been looking for a good spot to take pictures but I haven't been able to find one that I've wanted to for a long time until I heard about the view from the mountains here. People told me that this place has the most glorious view of all of Japan and seeing as I've always wanted to visit here I wanted to take pictures here." The couple across from him smiled.

"It really is beautiful up there; if you want to take good pictures then this is the perfect place. Though if you want to go up into the mountains I have to give you something, one moment." Moroko said before standing up and walking over to a cupboard and digging around in it for a moment before finding what he was looking for, he returned with an odd thing on a thin string. "This is a charm to protect you, you see up in the mountains are devious spirits who will do evil things to you if you don't have this on you." Moroko explained as he put it over Dominic's neck.

Dominic looked down at his neck to see a fish shaped charm around his neck, "What is this?" He questioned Moroko.

Moroko sat down and smiled, "That's a mackerel charm, it'll protect you from the spirits of the forest." Dominic slowly nodded pretending to understand but the whole thing sounded preposterous to him.

"Alright, well when I go into the forest I'll wear this." Dominic feigned a smile before digging back into his food and rolling his eyes incredulously, the idea of spirits in the forest was ridiculous.

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The next day Dominic traveled towards the mountains on a path, with him was his camera and a tripod. He had nearly brought the charm that Moroko had given him but had decided against it as the idea was still stupid to him, as he wandered through the forest he took pictures of the wildlife and the plant life.

As Dominic wandered through the forest he started noticing something odd, fireflies seemed to trail the edges of the path even though it was broad daylight. He was confused by the sight but continued on anyways, as he went further he didn't notice that the path seemed to be turning off into the forest until he was heading in a completely different direction then the mountains. Soon Dominic was nearing the center of the forest; the edges of his mouth were now turned down as he realized something was off.

The man noticed that the forest had gotten surprisingly dark extremely quickly; it was twelve in the afternoon so it shouldn't be dark at all. Dominic glanced up and saw that the sky had been blocked by a thick growth of branches, he looked ahead and saw bright clearing and decided it would be best to see where he was.

Dominic passed through the bushes into a clearing with an enormous tree in the center of it, Dominic's jaw dropped as he looked up to see that the tree seemed to surpass even the mountains. But as he looked up at it a furrow appeared in his brow, "If this tree is so large... how can I not see it anywhere else?..."

"The answer is quite simple human, it's because of magic." Dominic stiffened up and turned around to find himself facing a birdlike man, from what Dominic could see the bird resembled a Sparrow in coloring. He was also dressed in old fashioned robes that Dominic had seen in old books, he blinked a few times in surprise.

"What are you dressed in?" Dominic asked incredulously, the bird looked at his garments with mild confusion.

"Is it not obvious? I'm dressed in clothing; now unless you want to see me naked I'd much rather wear these." The bird fluffed his robes a few times showing off a knife that was sheathed in his silk belt.

Dominic eyed the knife for a second nervously before looking back to the bird, "I don't mean the clothing, I mean the bird costume you're wearing. Are you a furry or something?" The bird smiled mischievously.

"So you think me a furry? Well I'm sorry to say good sir, but I'm a Tengu a spirit of the forest. And you've walked right into my trap." The spirit puffed out in chest in pride awaiting the man's fright but he showed none, instead a look of irritation popped up on his face.

"Alright, I understand a prank when I see one. So seriously, why are you wearing that odd getup?" The Tengu looked offended now.

"Do people not know a spirit of the forest when they see one anymore? I remember when I was three hundred years younger that people would quiver in terror at the sight of me when they forgot their charms." Dominic gasped and slapped his face.

"Oh... is that you Moroko? Did you somehow find out that I didn't wear my amulet and decide that you needed to teach me a lesson? Alright I get the joke; you can take that stupid costume off." As Dominic stepped towards the Tengu and reached out to touch him suddenly a swarm of spiders fell out of the sky and started to attack him, Dominic freaked out and ran away from the Arachnids and pushed up against the tree. As he looked back for the spiders he noticed they were all gone, all he heard was the laughter of the birdman.

"That's more like it; it seems that spiders will scare humans more than I do..." The Tengu chuckled to himself. Dominic looked around frantically for the spiders but they had all up and vanished, the Tengu noticed him looking and smiled at him with his beak. "You're not going to find those spiders human, they were all an illusion."

Dominic started to realize that the whole thing wasn't a trick, "Wait... so you really are a spirit?!" He gasped out loud, the Tengu sighed and rolled his eyes in irritation.

"And he finally realizes, yes I'm a spirit and a very powerful one too. Though to be honest, not as powerful as the rest..." Dominic gasped in horror.

"There's more of you?!" The Tengu once more rolled his eyes; he could see that this human was a real bright one.

"Yes, and very shortly there will be one more." He spoke with a menacing smile on his face, it took Dominic a moment to realize what the birdman was insinuating.

"W... wait, you're going to make me into one of you?!" He didn't even give the Tengu a chance to answer, Dominic bolted and ran towards the forest as he did so suddenly he found himself turned around and ran right back into the tree that he had been leaning on just moments before. "Owww...." He moaned in pain as he slid down.

"That was rather rude of you to run away like that, but yes I will be making you like me whether you like it or not." Dominic staggered up and glared at the Tengu.

"Was it you that made those fireflies on the road?" The Tengu nodded, "Why are you going to make me like you?" Dominic asked as he saw his camera lying on the ground and he slowly edged over to it.

"Well the answer to that question is simple, it's because I love to spread havoc. When I see humans being tormented it brings me so much pleasure, and to spread the joy is something that I love to do." The Tengu said with a flourish of his wing.

Dominic glared at the bird, "You think I want to hurt other humans? I'd never do that!" He said with a savage snap before jumping over and grabbing his camera and pointed it at the Tengu, he then flashed the Tengu catching it off guard and giving him a chance to run. The human sprinted through the forest putting as much as distance between him and Tengu as he could, as he ran he grinned as he saw the entrance to the village. "I'm going to make it!" He shouted in excitement as he grew closer and closer to the entrance but just as he was about to make it his eyes widened in despair as he was suddenly back at the tree.

"Damn you human, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting that... flashing object. But now that you've pulled that trick once, you're not getting away. Now please just stand still, the change is quite painless." The Tengu wiped away tears of pain before standing before the slack jawed human, "Is that anyway to look at your savior of being human?" The Tengu tore a feather from his wing and placed the tip of it against Dominic's forehead, as it rested there it glowed as it sank into his forehead.

Dominic twisted in pain as the feather burned as it entered his head, the feather felt like a searing iron being rammed into his head. "Awww!" He screamed in pain as he collapsed the ground, his skin started to scratch as feathers started to sprout out of his skin. As feathers sprouted his face pushed out into a beak which was sharp enough to peck through a tree if need be, his eyes also changed to fit more of a bird. Dominic's back arched at two large wings slowly sprouted out of it, they were a light brown color like the ones now spreading over his body.

Words rang through his head as he changed, "Humans ruined our forests, they ruined our homes, they killed out kind we hate humans." Dominic grasped at his head as these words echoed in his head; his hands had taken on the look and feel of a bird's foot. A caw escaped his throat as tail feathers grew out of his backside, the Tengu walked behind him and slid out his knife. He ripped a slit in the changing man's clothes letting loose his tail feathers, Dominic's hands bled for a moment as bird like claws slid out of them.

The Tengu stepped behind Dominic and slid off his shoes just as his feet slit through his socks as birdlike talons grew from his feet which now resembled a sparrow's. Dominic's out transformation started to slow as plumage burst forth from his shirt, though inside of him Dominic's mentality was being buffeted by the voice inside of his head.

"The humans are a menace to the spirits, so it is your duty to lead them to the right path of purity." The voice continued to bounce off the sound of his head; the Tengu walked up to the prone figure of the new Tengu and helped him up. As he slid off Dominic's old human clothes the old human shook his head trying to rid himself of the devious voice but it wouldn't leave him, "You are a Tengu now, accept it. Your life is one of fun and treachery; you will lead humans from the path of corruption by lighting up their path with the light of purity." As the voice spoke the image of a path with fireflies appeared in Dominic's head, each of the bugs glowed with a light that seemed to outshine the sun.

He shouted at himself to go down the human path but as he looked to the path that the fireflies led he saw a light, one so pure that it brought tears to his eyes. A smile appeared on his beak as his human side gave in and he walked into the light, the voice inside of his head quieted as he blinked a few times and looked down to see that he was now wearing robes similar to his fellow Tengu.

The Tengu smiled at him, "How do you feel now brother?" Dominic opened his mouth but instead of words the warble of a Sparrow echoed from his mouth, he closed his beak embarrassed. The Tengu put his arm around his newly changed brother, "Don't you worry, it takes all a while to learn how to speak human once more. Don't you worry, let us go home and I'll teach you everything you'll need to know."

The new Tengu blinked in appreciation at his brother before realizing he didn't know where their home was, as if reading his mind the Tengu answered. "Our home is this tree here brother." He gestured to the tree that grew far into the sky, "This has been the home of our race for millions of years, now I'm here to welcome you." He grasped the new Tengu under his arms, "I'll fly you up there, get ready."

Dominic warbled in excitement as he was picked up and was flown up through the skies to embrace his new life among the ranks of the spirits of the forest.

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Moroko knocked on the door of the small hut, it was late at night and he hadn't heard from Dominic for a long time. "Hello Dominic? I was wondering if you might want to eat with myself and my wi..." His words stopped as he saw the Mackerel amulet lying on the floor in the middle of the room, he glanced around to see that the photographer's equipment was gone.

Moroko somberly walked into the hut and bent over to pick up the charm, as his fingers brushed the charm it crumbled in his hand. He froze before sitting down and silently sat on the floor mat before standing and walking out of the hut, he slowly closed the door but before it was fully closed he whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you Dominic... I hope you're happy wherever you are..."

Far up in a magically concealed tree Dominic was starting his new life, happily trilling with his new extended family.