When Denahi first met Kenai at the age of 4, he thought he was the ugliest baby in the world.
Growing up, Denahi always saw his big brother, Sitka, who preceded him by three winters, as a hero figure. So he was at first proud to be someone's big brother, when he learned that their mom was pregnant, the excitement soon evaporated as soon as he took his first look on Kenai. It didn't help when his little brother cried for whatever he wanted in the night, it certainly didn't help when he and Sitka were always left behind babysitting Kenai, when the adults were out hunting or collecting fruits, either.
Then, a mere year after Kenai was born, he found the men came back empty handed without their father. Their mother didn't take the accident well, and soon joined her husband when a plague hit the tribe that winter. The plague hit them hard, the tribe lost so many strong youngs and experience olds, but it was also the hardest winter for the three newly orphaned children. With early matured Sitka took on the role as both their father and mother, and the help from other survivors in the tribe, the three brothers stood tall, and grew into strong teenagers in the next fifteen winters.
Losing parents at young age, Kenai never knew their parents like his older brothers. Every time he asked or cried for daddy or mommy when he was young, it always brought back bittersweet memories in his older siblings' mind. Seeing Sitka's mournful and defeated face also enraged Denahi, who snapped and stormed out their tent every time his little brother whined. Sitka would scowled him for upset Kenai after that, and he did know that it was not his younger sibling's fault, Denahi just couldn't help letting out his frustration on Kenai.
Sitka was the first to receive Eagle of Guidance as his totem, followed by Denahi, whose totem was Wolf of Wisdom, three winters later. When it was finally Kenai's turn to receive his totem, he just can wait for the ceremony to begin. At this point, Kenai had long stopped asking about their parents, and Denahi had learned to control his anger better, and had adapted a more sarcastic and teasing tone, much to Sitka's disappointment. When Kenai received Bear of Love, Denahi was surprised he didn't die from laughing so hard, for ironically, bears were hardly Kenai's favorite animals.
Then they found out that, in his excitement, Kenai didn't wrap up and hide the fish as well as he should be, and was stolen by a passing bear. While Sitka was dealing with the angry villagers, Denahi snapped at his little brother, resulted in Kenai angrily chasing after the bear. Finding out what Denahi had done, Sitka made both of them following their youngest brother. They did find the bear, and she was not happy to find so many hunters near her and her cub, so she stroke back. To save his little brothers, Sitka made both the mother bear and himself falling down from the top of the mountain, and unfortunately, costed his life in the process.
On the funeral, Denahi knew the lost of Sitka hit Kenai as hard as himself, and it was unfair to blame him for Sitka's death, he felt himself snapped at his little brother like winters ago, when Kenai first brought up their parents, only this time there was no Sitka to look after their youngest sibling. Realizing his mistake and Kenai's missing, Denahi immediately retrieved his spear and started to track his brother down, and it led him to the mountain where they first confronted the mother bear. When he arrived the mountain, he barely noticed that the top was engulfed by aurora. When he finally reached the top, Kenai was nowhere to seen, only a grizzly bear stood beside his spear.
When his parents were taken from him, he still got Sitka and Kenai. Now both of them were taken away as well, Denahi suddenly found himself truly alone in the world. They said you started to treasure something when you finally lost it, not only did Denahi lost his big brother he used to admire, but also his little brother he cared deeply, in the fateful day. Packing his weapons and clothes, ignoring Tanana's warning words, which he failed to take notice about, Denahi started his journey of revenge. Though he was not sure if he could ever find the bear in question, he sworn he would slayed any bear he ever came cross, in the name of Kenai.
Denahi met his first target in a forest. Strangely, the bear seemed like it wanted to talk to him. Nevertheless, Denahi attacked, only the bear escaped, with a cub. He later met the two at a lava field, but they escaped again when Denahi fell down from the wood, while attempted to cross a river and chase after the bears. The strange bear reached out its paw, like it wanted to pull him up before Denahi fell into the fall, though. Luckily he's thick coat prevented him from hurting too bad from the fall. Frustrated by his constant failure, Denahi decided to go to the mountain where Sitka died for his guidance.
The weather at the mountain was bad, and Denahi was glad that he did bring his winter coat with him. When he was preparing his meal, an bald eagle reminding him Sitka landed on a rock nearby. Taking it as Sitka's sign, Denahi followed the eagle with spear in his hand, and found the strange bear wandering around the top of the mountain, without the cub. He immediately started to attacked it, when he was almost success, the cub came out from nowhere and took his weapon away. Chasing after the cub, Denahi eventually got his spear back, only to find the older bear lunged for him. Pointing his weapon toward it, Denahi almost missed all the things that happened next.
At first Denahi closed his eyes preparing for the impact, when it didn't come as he expected, he slowly opened his eyes, and found himself surrounded by aurora, while the bear was lifted up by the eagle he saw earlier. Denahi watched in total shock as the bear transforming into a very naked Kenai, and dropped his spear in horror as he suddenly realized what he almost did. As the brothers reunited, the eagle turned into Sitka's spirit and hugged them both. Then, they heard the cub yelped in fear, while hiding itself behind a rock, when Kenai approached it and seemly talked to it, it jumped into Kenai's arms and licked his face happily, however.
Kenai later revealed that the mother bear who stole their fish, was in fact mother of the cub, whose name Denahi learned was Koda. As Kenai was torn between staying bear for the cub, or staying human for his brother, Denahi realized maybe Koda needed his little brother more than himself, so he suggested Kenai stayed bear, as 'he looked better in bear form'. Eventually the human and bears parted away, after promising to each other they would met during the salmon season every year in the future. Denahi may still looked alone in the outside, but he now knew his little brother was safe and live in somewhere in the forest happily in heart.
To Denahi, no matter which form, human or bear, Kenai took, he was always his most ugly, annoyed, yet loved little brother.