The wind was stronger when Akiko stepped out of the front door, whipping her hair around her face and blowing dust up and into her eyes. The branches of the trees were swinging back and forth, and even the trunks were swaying.  Akiko walked to the top of the steps, looking down. There was no-one there, and as the wind flung a twig against her face, she realised why.

Wincing, and rubbing at the sore spot, she turned back into the precincts, staggering a little as an even stronger gust caught her. There was a snapping sound as a branch came off a tree, flung to the ground in front of her. The wind swept round, changing direction, pushing Akiko back towards the steps, then, as she tried to brace against it, changing direction abruptly, blowing from behind her so that she fell forward, catching herself with her hands. The soil pressed into her palms, and her knees stung where she had banged them. Her hair was still blowing into her eyes, and two small twigs bounced off her back before she had properly regained her balance. She had to go back into the house.

Akiko pushed herself back up, struggling to her feet.

And froze.

The wind was no longer just wind. Tamao flew through the air, riding the currents, his jaws agape as he belched out the windstorm. Lightning danced around his open mouth, and Akiko could feel the anger coming off him.

The kami swept down, across the open area of the precincts, through the space that had once been occupied by his shrine building, and then climbed into the sky, twisting in the air. The wind twisted with him, and Akiko lost her footing again, falling to one knee, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the kami. Even angry, he was beautiful, gems shining against the dark sky.

Tamao dived again, into the woodland, wrapping his body around one of the trees and shaking back and forth. The roar of the wind filled Akiko’s ears, filled her mind, as Tamao’s body shone from within the woodland. Leaves filled the air, ripped from the trees by the fury of the storm, plastered against Akiko’s body by the wind, driven into her mouth. She raised a hand to ward the twigs off from her face, and then started across the precincts as she realised what Tamao was doing.

“No! Tamao! Leave the tree!â€ she shouted, but the wind whipped the words away. The kami seemed to hear, nevertheless, because he fixed his eyes on her, opening his mouth to roar and shaking his head, as the tree, with a terrible groaning sound, tipped sideways, and then fell with a great crash, shaking the ground as it glanced off the trunks of the other trees around it, settling to the ground in a great cloud of dust and leaves.

Tamao sprang up into the air again, hovering over the shrine precincts as clouds gathered around him, thickening, becoming ever blacker. Lightning leapt from his mouth to the clouds, and Akiko heard the first rumble of thunder. The wind was as strong as ever, and a clattering sound suddenly drew her attention.

Hideo Takenaka’s shrine. She could just see it, still in place, but straining against the cords they had used to tie it down. One of them snapped.

Akiko ran over to it, the wind blowing from behind her, helping her on her way. She reached it before the second cord gave way, wrapping her arms around it and holding it down.

“Thank you.â€