California

"Well....you see, Mr. Richton. I don't think you quite understand the REAL reason why I was late. After my piece of .." Ai stopped, she could tell by the look on her boss's face that he was not amused one bit, and also wasn't buying her sharp witted talk. " Keep going, remember. You have my spirit." a faint, almost silver-tongued voice whispered from inside her head.
"As I was saying, after not being able to get my car to start at all, I had to walk myself to the bus stop. Comes to find out, that for some odd reason, the buses were off schedule. So after losing patience and running out of time, I deiced to walk my way to, well this lovely place that I am so lucky to call work!" She smiled, trying to pass of a true genuine "I love my job" smile. All in all, she didn't hate her job. It was at a small music and book store called 'Singin, Swingin, Stories', yeah the name was a tad lame but she really didn't mind the job. Good hours, good pay, plus it was a place where music was being played all the time and she loved that. But there were times when she was so close to just shouting "suck it" and walking out the door. However she did NOT want to get fired. " Look at the clock...remember the date..." the voice whispered again. Without seeming suspicious, Ai's eyes gave a quick glance at the clock. It was a little before an hour after her shift began, sighing her eyes wandered back to Mr. Richton, who had began to give her the speech of being 'unreliable'. Or as Ai called it the ' Your fired!' speech.
Suddenly, her dull gold eyes became a tad bit brighter. "Excuse me..Mr. Richton..I don't mean to be rude but, I do believe today is the 27th of October. If I remember correctly, isn't today the beginning of daylights savings time, and since the old saying goes, Spring ahead. Fall behind,then I do think the right time is 6:30pm instead of 7:30pm. And since my shift starts 6:45pm until closing at 10:30 pm. I believe I'm not late!" Her smile grew big, when her boss grumbled and nodded with a bit of resentment then left her to prep for her shift she couldn't help but give herself a pat on the back. Once again she had proved that her animal was truly the fox, and she had more then a lot of fox in her. This wasn't the first time that Ai managed to talk her way out of some trouble, and she had to admit that was a trait she liked a lot!
After grabbing her black bandanna and apron tying them around her 'fox parts'. Having the spirit animal fox made things a bit difficult sometimes. When the spirit deiced to let her be its host instead of being her companion she magically grew a pair of fox eyes,ears and a nice bushy fox tail. This scared a lot of people, including customers. So to make sure she got and kept the job she hid away her fox traits right before every shift and began her work.

Hiroki sighed as the guys ran off. A wolf jumped down from a building and looked at him. "You got into a fight again.." the spirit said in his usual cool voice. Hiroki's eyes glared at the animal, "I said dont follow me around." he said coldy. The wolf pulled his ears back. Picking up his bag from the ground the teen started to walk off. His spirit followed behind him.
"Go home Kiba. I dont need you around me." Hiroki said without even glancing back. The spirit spoke once more, "Hiroki, I'm worried. You've been... getting into a lot of fights these days. You're aunts busy and you need to take care of your sister." Hiroki ignored him and shoved his hands in his pocket. Yes, he cared about his sister, but no he really didnt care if he got into a fight. It was pretty common for him. Besides, it wasnt like he was the one who always started the fight. People just seemed to enjoy bugging him.
"What time does Yuki end today?" Hiroki asked his voice sounding weak. Kiba looked at him with a small smile, "In 20 minutes. Come on lets get going." he said walking ahead of him.

"I'm going to be late!", Nora thought. "Archery practice started 10 minutes ago, I told you to take the shortcut!", Orsia sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!", Nora exclaimed back, telepathicly. She stumbled and nearly tripped over a rock on the sidewalk. "Don't say sorry to me dear, just slow down or else you'll trip!", Orsia commanded. "But I'm going to be laaaaaaate!", Nora groaned. "Fine then, do as you will.", Orsia replied. Finally Nora arrived at her archery class. Putting on a rare look of determination, she put on her arm gaurds and began to practice.

When they got to the school, Hiroki forced on a smile. His sister ran up to him with a big smile. "How was school?" Hiroki asked taking her small book bag. Yuki twirled around, "Lots of fun. Oh hi Kiba-kun." she said waving at the spirit animal. Kiba wagged his tail. His siter was the only one who really knew about the spirit thing. If their aunt found out their "dog" talked she would most likely end up in the hospital. Kiba, being slighly bigger than normal wolves, easily carried Yuki on his back.

"You hungry? We can go grab something to eat." Hiroki said. His sister nodded, "Mmm ok. We can go to that food place near by." she said pointing just down the block. The three walked in and took a seat. "Are pets even allowed here?" the teen muttered.

"You sound like you want me out of here." Kiba said, of course not outloud. Since they were somehow connected, they were able to communicate without really having to speak outloud. "How did you know?" Hiroki said with a semi-grin almost glaring at his companion. Kiba snapped at his arms, while Hiroki fought the urge to smack the wolf.

Yuki just giggled, "I'm hungry." she would say, just to stop the two from fighting. Hiroki sighed, "Order anything you want.. I'm not hungry." he said looking out the window.

"There, Almost Done! Just a little more scene here... and here... Alright! There it is!" Okami just finished his novel. He stand up from his table and take some can drinks then rest. "Hmm.. I wonder if I still can keep my appearance just like that." He said. "Well... At least I don't get disturbed at this time" He finished his drink. He take his jacket and files then go out.

During the walk he started to daydreaming for a while. "It might be good if I have a companion for a walks at this time" He complaining on his own. After he daydream he snapped out of it when accidentally stared to the sky and he remembered about his forest friend. "That cub... If he still alive how is he now?" He thinks.

*Buck* "Uaah!" Child voice. "Oh! Sorry little one... Are you alright?" Helping the little boy up. "Thanks" The boy said. "It's alright, Both of us was wrong afterall. I need to look forward on walking. And you just don't running without direction." He said. "Okay, i will be careful next time" The boy said. That boy runs off happily. "Hmm, Child these days sure have a lot of playing times..." He said. He then move to the street...

Nora sighed and unstrung her bow after about 20 minutes of practice. "I just can't concentrate...", she mumbled to herself. "Now don't get all depressed on me!", Orsia commanded. "It's not good for what little determination you have!", she added. Why am I the only one I know with this annoying little voice in my head...", she thought, rubbing the back of her neck.
After telling the teacher, Nora left glumly. Hiking slowly along the sidewalk, she spotted a hummingbird. It was strange, but the same hummingbird always seemed to show up eventually.

After eating, the three walked out and headed home. "Kiba take Yuki home." he said turning the corner to go elsewhere. "You're not--" the spirit began, "I wont." Hiroki said cutting him off. With that he disappeared around the corner. The boy stopped when he caught something from the corner of his eyes. A black bird, looking more like a crow peered down at him with red eyes. One thing for sure, it wasnt just a normal animal.
With a screetch it flew off. Hiroki sighed and walked the other way. The bird seem to stop seeing the boy wasnt following him and landed on his shoulders. Just them, Kiba jumped past Hiroki, grabbing the bird in his mouth. He growled as the bird flapped it's wings.

Finally ignoring the hummingbird, Nora continued her walk around town, unsure where to go next. Her mom got home around the time her lessons ended, but until then Nora had to wait. Wandering around the streets trudged, looking at shops and cafes. All of a sudden, Nora heard the call of a crow. "Weird.", she wondred to herself. "Crows aren't normally around this time of year..." But Nora continued walking.

Okami sit on the bench at the side of the street. He thinks about the next storyline that he will make. As he think and think, he saw a wolf cub just not far from him, and the cub is just look like the cub that accompany him at the forest before. "It can't be..." He says. The wolf cub just look at him from the center of the road.

"Hey! Get out from there! The cars will hit you!" He shouted loudly at the wolf cub. Suddenly a person said "Are you alright mister?" as he look at Okami just in front of him. "Man, are you daydreaming? You better not or you might ended up to the heaven." He add as he continue his walk. Okami just quiet, he look back to the where is that wolf cub is just now and when he look at it back, that wolf cub is no longer there. He turns around and look over the surroundings, but there is no sign or the shadow of that wolf cub. "Where... Where is that wolf cub go?" He thinks...

Hiroki was a bit taken back, but recovered himself. The crow seem to disappear slowly. Kiba looked up at him, "You ok?" he asked walking over. Hiroki nodded, "Yeah.. I'm fine. What just happened?" he asked, confused. "Another spirit... I'll explain it later. Your sister is waiting for me..." he said running off. It seemed like Kiba didnt want to tell Hiroki what the other spirit was supposed to be. He looked back at where the crow had been, but there were no traces. Shaking his head to get the thought out of his head, he started down the street once more.

As Nora walked along the sidewalk, she wondered why the heck did she leave archery?! "Feeling unenthusiastic" was no excuse! Orsia's voice flooded into Nora's head again, "Stop loitering! Do something fun!". Nora sighed again, "Hey...uh, 'Orsia' is it? What do you think I should do?" As she was telepathicly talking to Orsia, Nora continued to walk along the sidewalk. She spotted a guy on a bench a while up the street, a bunch of sinister looking teenagers on the other side of the road, and a bunch of other people. It was your average day but Nora had nothing to do.

Okami still turning around as he still search for the wolf cub. He really sure that the wolf cub is the cub that he met before. He stand up and take a look around again. "There!" He said, He saw the wolf cub again but this time a little bigger a little bit, and the wolf cub is now between the streetlamp. Nobody look at the cub nor even ogle at it. Okami just look at the wolf cub, he tries to understand what is that wolf cub is doing. As they look each other, Okami noticed that the wolf cub doesn't really get any hit by the peoples leg. Their legs was just move trough the cub's body. "It... It's impossible! Is this an illusion!?" he surprised. He take out his pencil and a memopad, he just staring at the wolf cub and then draw it.

After he done drawing. He look at the wolf cub again. The wolf cub just disappear from his eyes, and the particle was flown to some direction. Okami just look at the particles that was flown away, then he realized something. "Wait! That way... I know that way. Do you want me to following you?" he thinks in his mind. He took a cab and move tells the driver to go to the forest near.