The first thing to do was to agree on a plan that would see the task completed while keeping them both alive. They decided that Yuki would remain a human for as long as possible to conserve her energy until they were just above the chest. Aya volunteered her kami to guide them to the right location but could render them no other physical aid. Yuki would then consume a shinou seed, transform, rush down to the sea floor, collect the chest, and return to the surface.

  Tanuki would remain behind for support, as his primary task was to make sure that Yukiana survived the ordeal. The most difficult part would be not only finding the chest but bringing it back up to the surface. While the chest may not be especially heavy, it was not something that a fish could easily bring up by itself.

  This led to the second decision, which was to choose the appropriate form to use for the transformation. Tanuki hurriedly listed many diverse specimens, but Yuki, being raised far from the ocean, lacked adequate knowledge of these.

  “Then what do you remember?” asked her guardian impatiently.

  “I saw dolphins one day when I was aboard the Hino. Back when I was Kondo’s captive.”

  Tanuki considered for a moment then wagged his furry head. “Yes, that will do well. Dolphins are strong and agile, and they breathe air like we do. It will not be as drastic of a transformation, I think.”

  All this was to be done on Yuki’s first-ever attempt at an underwater transformation without any time for practice. Meanwhile, a storm was blowing in from the sea, and this stirred the waves and churned the surface of the waters violently. She had learned to swim in the quiet rivers near the Truist monastery of her youth, but she had never contended with such fury as this.

  Cradling Tanuki in her arms, Yuki finally began to wade into the water. It was much colder than she expected, and it hit her like a shock. The strong current tugged and pushed at her slender frame, and several times she nearly lost her footing and was swept away. The roar of the ever-growing waves was deafening, and the inky black waters seemed unfathomable. Tanuki looked back at Yuki and in a worried voice asked, “Are you sure about this?”

  She nodded and then set him down when she was waist-deep. He was instantly transformed into a sleek dolphin. He swam around her once or twice, testing his capabilities in this new body, and then came beside her just as a surprise wave crashed into her, knocking her over. With his long nose, he pushed her back to the surface as she gasped for air. Unnerved and disoriented, Yuki reached out her arms and grabbed onto his dorsal fin. Tanuki’s dolphin skin felt firm but slippery, and she struggled to get a good grip, but once she felt secure enough, her guardian thrust forward with tremendous speed and power.

  The first stage of their plan would be dangerous enough, and even more so because of the storm coming in. Yukiana would have to hang on for dear life, while Tanuki navigated through the oncoming waves buffeting them until they reached deeper waters. This proved to be more difficult than they imagined, as even the transformed kami struggled to get through the repelling sea. Several times Yuki lost her hold and was thrust downwards, and Tanuki would have to dive deep down to retrieve her and save her from drowning. Yuki cried out, coughing and desperate for air, all to be pushed back down once again.

  “When I tell you, take in a deep breath!” Tanuki ordered, after yet another failed attempt. He could not tell whether she had heard him or not but felt her grip on him tighten. “One, two, breathe!” he cried, and dove underneath an oncoming wave. This helped them avoid much of the surge and gave them a moment’s reprieve as they came to the surface again. Yuki was still fighting for air, but in this way, they were eventually able to break free from the beach.

  They took a moment to allow Yuki to recover, as she scanned the blackened skies for any sign of Taka. After a deep peel of thunder and a flash of lightning, his undeniable silhouette could be seen overhead, circling not far from where they were. Yuki stretched out her arm and Tanuki pushed on, with dangers swirling all around them.

  Soon, they came to the right place, and Taka swooped down low to signify where Yuki was to dive. She held tightly onto Tanuki, as the wind whipped about her, and sheets of rain fell indiscriminately. She brought forth the shinou seed, which she had stored in the side of her cheek, and then chewed it and swallowed it.

  She then closed her eyes and focused hard. At first, nothing happened. She bobbed up and down as the waters grew restless. She tried again. Still nothing. If only she could focus, but this wind, this rain, the freezing waters, everything was threatening her, tearing her mind to pieces. Then suddenly, she let go and fell into darkness.

  “I must focus!” she told herself, and shut her eyes, pushing away all distractions. Deep in the recesses of her mind, she battled for the transformation. “I did it before, and I can do it again,” she repeated. “I have always thought of myself as so weak, so useless. Now is the time. This is my time! I must do it! I cannot fail!”

  Then, she saw an image of her father. She could not see his face, though she knew it was him, stepping out of their house in the mountains. This was Kokoro, the night of the festival. That night he had given her the magatama, the magatama that would save her, that had brought her to this sea, to this very moment. “Thank you…” she muttered as a strange sensation began to wash over her.

  Within a moment, she no longer felt the ocean’s bitter chill but felt warm and comfortable. She could feel herself floating, suspended as if in midair, but surrounded by the infinite vastness of the sea. She could hear, or was it hearing? It was a sensation not unlike seeing, and yet, she could perceive it only when she made noise herself. The ocean waters were dark, but not as violent as they were on the surface. Here the sea churned gently, rocking her back and forth as if to sway her to sleep. She was not a true fish, however, and soon a burning within her breast told her to rise and consume air.

  She returned to the surface where the storm raged overhead, and lightning lit up the sky.

  “You did it,” Tanuki said proudly. “Well done. Now, let us complete the task. The box should be somewhere at the bottom. Be careful.”

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Yuki took a deep breath through the blowhole atop her skull, filling her large lungs with air. Then she plunged back down into the depths. She felt powerful, and her streamlined form cut through the water with minimal resistance. It seemed as if she had an extraordinary reserve of air compared to what her human lungs could hold, but she did not know how long one breath would carry her. She dove downwards, faster and faster, all the while extending her vision with her voice.

  She retreated from the restless surface above to the still-dark abyss below. Before long, she could no longer feel the presence of the tumultuous storm overhead, and this seemed unsettling. It was as if she had disappeared from one world and entered another. The world below the surface was vast, serene, and in its own way peaceful. All around her seemed to be an eternity of water, which was at the same time both wondrous and terrible. This continued until she began to sense that she was nearing the bottom. To her astonishment, she began to sense many strange shapes rising up before her.

  “Could it be?” she wondered, as the images became clearer in her mind’s eye.

  There, arrayed before her, was a graveyard of broken vessels, hundreds of them, wrecked upon the ocean floor. What on land had been so well hidden, was undeniable in the depths.

  “There was a great battle after all, and here is the evidence,” Tanuki declared, who was behind her but some distance away. “Now, we must look for the biggest one. Yes, there, in that ship is the chest we are looking for.”

  Yuki surveyed the ruins, and among the multitude one in particular appeared prominent among them. It was a mighty vessel, likely one that had carried a general or admiral of high rank. In its side was a gaping hole, and its mast was shattered near the base. Yuki bolted towards it, beginning to feel an increase in pressure and a slight burning in her lungs. She did not have much time, and she needed to return to the surface with the chest in tow.

  She came to the crack in the hull and then paused, for inside there were many rooms and corridors, and the way was unclear.

  She then heard another voice enter her thoughts. This one was proud and stern. It was the voice of the kami, Taka. “I see you have come to the right vessel, but you still have a way to go. Proceed within and I shall instruct you. I will lead you to a room near the stern. In that room is the treasure that you seek.”

  Yuki did as she was instructed and ventured into the shattered body of the once proud ship. As she swam on, her movements disturbed some of the fragments and objects that had once been used for daily life. There were many instruments of war, but there were also cups, candle sticks, leather-bound books, and carved wooden trinkets. Then there were the bodies. A great many of the barbarians had not made it off the ship before it sank and had found themselves a watery grave at the bottom of the sea. She could still see the anguish and pain in their faces, and this made her recoil with fright. She knew that these dead might have ravaged her homeland if allowed to land, but her heart was stirred with pity for them.

  “Poor souls,” she thought. “Sent across the sea to die far from those who might have loved them.”

  She might have lingered there longer, if not for the fire growing in her lungs, and an abrupt warning from Tanuki who cried out to her.

  “Yuki, we are not alone down here. I sense a strange presence lurking about you. Be wary and make haste!”

  She could not understand what he was speaking of but moved quickly down the corridor before she reached the very end. Already many sea creatures had taken up residence in the broken ship, and small groups of fish swam by her, and she could sense crabs and other creeping things scuttling across the wooden floors.

  Taka’s guidance was precise, and she marveled at how keen his eyesight was to be able to see her at the bottom of the sea from where he flew overhead. Before long she had come to the final room. It was shut off, however, by a sliding wooden door. Try as she might, she could not get it to budge with her bottle-like nose.

  “I can’t get through!” she thought.

  “You may have to transform back to your human form,” Tanuki answered, though his voice seemed strained. “Pull it open if you can.”

  A shiver of fear seemed to trace its way from her dorsal fin throughout her body. It had been a feat to maintain the form this long, and she had never transformed back and forth in such a quick succession. If she failed here, she would never make it back to the surface as a human. She knew that she could not waste much time on the decision, but this one could mean life or death.

  “Foul beast!” she heard Tanuki’s thoughts suddenly ring out in her mind. “Yuki, get out of there!”

  Yukiana quickly transformed back. The water was now dark and murky, and she had to grope forward to feel the wooden door before her face. Her lungs were tight, and she felt the burning increase seven-fold. There was a small notch in the wooden door where the ends of her fingers could dig in and grasp for leverage, but when she pulled, the force was not enough. The door was stuck, locked, or utterly broken. Bubbles and foam emerged from her mouth as she struggled with the door, which was unyielding despite her best attempts.

  “I must get it open! I must!” she screamed in the darkness of her mind.

  Suddenly the entire boat seemed to shudder, and the force was so great that the door was loosened, and she was able to pull it open with one final effort. Once she did, she could see little, but a gleam of gold could be perceived in the dark. Within a moment she was once again in her dolphin form, and speeding straightaway towards the chest which lay heavy on the wooden floor.

  She was so focused on her objective that she paid no attention to anything else, including the voice of Tanuki urging her back with all speed.

  “You must get out of there! I’ll lure it away, but you are running out of time!”

  In this her kami was correct, she had burned up nearly all of her air reserve as a human and now had just enough for one desperate dash to the surface. She grabbed the thick rope that surrounded the box in her toothy jaw and then sped back through the labyrinth corridors of the ship. She could barely think, so she did not recognize that the ship had yet another cave-like divot in its hull, and this one much newer than the last.

  She exited the massive ship and raced upwards, as the last of her air reserve trickled away. The box was heavy, and it hindered her greatly, weighing her down when she yearned for more speed.

  “I’m not going to make it…” she thought, as her focus became increasingly hazy, and her thoughts disjointed.

  “Swim!” came the urgent voice of Tanuki. “Swim now! Swim with all you have! It is coming! Do not look back!”

  “It cares not for me!” called Tanuki. “It must sense that she is a human! Swim, Yukiana! Swim!”

  She could not understand what was going on, but she felt a strange presence rising behind her. Not only was it wholly unfamiliar to her, but it was indeed powerful, and as each moment passed it grew exponentially. She dared not look back, for that would slow her down, and she was running out of time. She was on the very brink.

  “What shall I do?” she wondered, just as she could once again see a bolt of lightning streak across her dimming eyesight.

  “Just a little more!” cried Tanuki.

  With one last thrust of her tail, she propelled herself upwards, and as she did, she resurfaced once again. She breathed in heavily, sucking in air through her human mouth, for the transformation had just ended. “It held!” she thought in amazement. “I can’t believe it held.” Suddenly, a massive hand closed tightly around her legs and dragged her back down with inconceivable force.

  The last thing she saw was the violent sky once again falling away from her, and darkness hedging her all around. “So, this is it…” she thought, as she clung with both arms around her hard-won treasure. “This is how I die.”