Never-Ending Dream

Summary (Full): Over two hundred years ago the Kijo, four horrible demons, ruled the lands of Nippon with their legions of vicious demons. Then the celestials chose several people who sealed the demons within the Akai Pendent and from then on it was passed down through the generations, keeping this great evil from once again taking Nippon. However, two years after Lady Rao gave it to her apprentice, Aki, the young girl broke it and the Kijo were set free.
It's been a year since then and the Kijo have already taken most of Nippon. The gods have finally decided it's time for divine intervention. They send Amaterasu down to work with a group of about fifteen other people, it's not up to them to destroy the Kijo and save Nippon, and if they can't, then all hope is lost.
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Rating: T
Warnings: MAJOR OC WARNING! Don't like, don't read! Humammy and humanafied versions of other gods. Don't Like, Don't read! SPOILER WARNING! There, you can't say I didn't warn you.
Pairings: AmmyXWaka, OkiXOC, KaiXOC (That's all that I know of for now)
Disclaimer:
Okami, All of its characters and all of the places © Clover & Capcom
Everything Else © Me

Introduction: The Storm

The sky above Nippon was painted a gloomy gray color by the storm clouds festering over the land. There were few sounds; one was the rustling sound of the cold autumn wind that blew throughout the land. Another, though it could hardly be heard, was the sound of things moving about within a house in Sei'an City.

The house sat between the commoner's quarter and the aristocratic quarter of the city and had been know two years ago as the place of residence for the beautiful priestess, Lady Rao, loved and respected as a powerful healer and a strong fighter of evil throughout Ryoshima Coast. Unfortunately, two years ago the beautiful priestess had died, along with Sei'an City's ruler, Queen Himiko. Rao was killed by the evil demon of Oni Island, Ninetails, and then the demon took over her body to fool everyone and soon take Himiko out as well. That, however, was a different story. The house was known now as the place of residence for the Hashiri(1) Family, who weren't really a family, but a group of people who were close as any family you'd ever seen.

A figure stood inside of the house. The figure was short and obviously that of a female's, which of the girls that currently lived inside the house it was, was uncertain. The girl light a candle and looked around the room slowly, running her fingers along the chain of the necklace she was wearing sleepily. She couldn't remember what the necklace was for at all, or who had given it to her or anything about it.

"Never take it off…"

That's all she could remember hearing about the necklace…

Rain began to fall from the sky, slowly at first and growing fast and faster until it ran fell in large buckets of water. Memories were brought back by the drumming sound of the rain upon the roof, why did she keep the necklace if that's all it held for her? Memories, horrible and vivid memories were all that the necklace kept for her. Memories of faces, faces of people who had meant something to her.

"It's very valuable and breakable that I never go anywhere without it. I want you to keep it on at all times…Never take it off…"

Memories of what happened two years ago, the white wolf, the Poncle, the death of one of her closest friends. Horrible, vivid memories of her, memories of Lady Rao, of Queen Himiko, of that fox, that impostor, that demon. The memory of her queen on the floor, dead and gone forever. Memories of believing her teacher was the horrible evil she swore she was trying to defeat. Memories of Issun telling her that Rao was dead and lost forever. Memories of being given the heavy burden of Sei'an City. If they were all so horrible, why did she keep them?

"She'd taught you almost everything she could before she died; you're ready to take this job. Sei'an needs you, we all need you."

"…Never take it off…"

Did she keep them because they were the only memories she had of the people she had once loved? Two years ago she had lost everything but her three closest friends. She lost Lady Rao, she lost Queen Himiko, she lost Commander Waka, she lost Issun and Amaterasu, and she lost her naïve personality. Even though they were horrible, the memories were all she had of what she had lost, but the memories drilled a hole into her chest.

"You are an amazing priestess. I trust that someday you will be as great as Rao and that you will defend Sei'an will your life as she does."

"…Never take it off…"

"If something is hurting you, throw it out the door…"

If something is hurting you, throw it out the door. She slid her hands to the back of her neck, unable to remember the other reason that she kept the necklace. Whoever had given it to her had trusted her with their most prized possession but she could no longer keep it as the pain it brought to her was unbearable. She pushed the door open and walked into the rain, looking up to the sky before slowly unclasping the necklace.

"…You're ready, I know you will do what you must to protect this city and yourself…"

"Never take it off…"

"It means the world to me…"

"If something is hurting you, throw it out the door…"

She looked at the maroon crystal pendent of the necklace, her sad face reflected back at her in the depths of the crystal. She closed her eyes and twirled the necklace before releasing it and sending it soaring through the air. All her memories of Rao, of Queen Himiko, of Waka, of Issun, of Amaterasu, were gone. All of them, about to be shattered. The crystal dream she had lived in, about to be broken.

All of it would finally be gone…

"I've decided I'll take you in as my apprentice, if it's really what you want."

All of the moments…

"Don't let what they say about you hurt you; you're as great as you think you are…"

All of the meetings…

"I am Queen Himiko; it is a pleasure to meet you."

All of the faces…

"Rao must have sent you. I'm Waka, what does she need?"

All the names…

"The name's Issun! This here is Amaterasu, she's the sun goddess and she just defeated the dreaded Orochi!"

All of the pain…

"Queen Himiko…she's dead…and Rao did it."

All of the sorrow…

"Rao…is gone…we're so sorry."

All of it…

"I will protect Sei'an City if it kills me! I promised Lady Rao and Queen Himiko!"

Would be gone forever…

"We don't know…where he is…he just left and hasn't returned yet."

And she'd never be able to get it back…

"…You're ready to do this."

The crystal fell through the sky never to be saved. In her mind it was too late, everything was already gone. Everything but a single memory, the most important one that had been the back of her mind since Rao's death.

"This necklace is one of my most important possessions; I've never even let anyone see it. I want you to have it…it is very valuable and very breakable…never take it off…"

"Why, Rao, why is it so important?"

"This necklace holds a great evil inside of the crystal that was sealed there by my ancestors, a great woman named Hotaru(2) and three others, Daisuke(3), Yukihime(4) and Matsura(5). Inside are four demons called the Kijo(6), Kousetsu(7), Shiokaze(8), Hinabi(9) and Yochi(10) must never be set free from this necklace or we'll all be doomed. You must never take it off; the fate of the world now rests with you."

The shatter sounded when the maroon crystal hit the hard, cold, wet ground and the young, wet girl staggered backwards, finally remembering why she had kept the necklace and the memories for the past two years.

The world grew dark, everything was black and the only thing that sounded through her mind was the sound of the crystal shattering over and over and over again. She had let Rao down and now, everyone else was going to pay for her mistake.

A large growling sound came from where the crystal had landed and four great spirits rose up into the air and began circling before shooting off into in four different directions, one to the north, one to the south, one to the east and one to the west. The ground began to shake and then, all was still.

Everyone would pay for her stupidity because there was no one left that could save them. Rao was gone. Himiko was gone. Amaterasu was gone. Waka was gone. Everyone was gone but herself, and all she could do was sit in the rain, looking up at the sky, amazed with what she had done…wondering if anyone would ever forgive her…praying for a miracle…hoping the gods would forgive her. She had no clue that somewhere many miles away, that small poncle from two years ago was telling the sun goddess everything he had just seen…

1 - Hashiri: Season Of The Year
2 - Hotaru: Firefly
3 - Daisuke: DAI Great, SUKE Help
4 - Yukihime: YUKI Snow, HIME Princess
5 - Masami: MASA Become, MI Beautiful
6 - Kijo: Demoness, Witch (hahaha)
7 - Kousetsu: Snowfall
8 - Shiokaze: Sea Breeze
9 - Hanabi: Fireworks
10 - Yochi: Earth

Hey everyone! DawnOfHope here, in case you didn't know. This is/was my first Okami fanfic but I've done some revisions on it and such so that I could repost it! So I hope that everyone who had previously enjoyed this story will PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE add this version to your favorites/alerts because I will no longer be posting on my other account. This is my way of giving my stories a new, fresh start! Hope you all like it.
Btw: The intro has hardly/not changed at all. So this doesn't have to be read by those who have already read the story. HOWEVER if you have not read the story the intro is EXTREMELY important and I highly suggest that you read it, please. Thank you!
Much Love,
Dawn/Chastity