Those who still believe in the Gods know this; know it like they know the steady beat of their hearts and the almost golden feeling of sun on their faces and how water flows subtly, surface rough or smooth. They know that light is life and life is the sun and the sun is power and power is knowledge, and the concept itself loops in on itself, without an end. To see and understand what it is, to be sure, is a Beautiful Thing.
Beautiful Things are rare when Imps and dark beasts roam the lands, but they do exist, even if things they do not care to know about tend to corrupt them. But all we can do is find comfort in their existence, and look for them in this dark world.
Amaterasu, of course, is a Beautiful Thing once seen in her God form.
But even after she defeated Yami, she was Incomplete. The capital was necessary to express how Incomplete she felt, with a cold spot in her ribs, just underneath her heart, a kind of missing the warmth that she'd felt, the heat radiating from within and spiraling outward in tendrils, a halo bathing the white fur around her head. But there are also many reasons why she prefers her canine form to her human one.
One is that the pain, the ache of loss of heat lessens, simplifies itself with the new mindset, which is clever and cunning but with almost-blockish concepts that fit easily and simply into their assigned slots. Another is that she is afraid that the Others may not recognize her – Issun, the people of Kamiki Village – yes, even Waka.
Even if he'd been almost incredibly annoying when they were on the earthly plane, he'd seemed to be at peace in the Celestial Planes. On the other hand, Amaterasu had moped about the place like an unhappy wraith during the first few days, and the sun had been dim and nearly-obscured by clouds. She'd tried explaining the Ache Under Her Heart to the others, but the others displayed confusion, or – worse – a sympathetic look and suggesting she check with a doctor.
And then she would change back into her wolf form with a sullen look that said that it wasn't even worth the effort to tell them about it, and drift somewhere else. But over days, weeks, months, the Ache Under Her Heart became bearable, and she let the sun shine over the Plains and went for romps in the tall grasses with the rabbit god and howled during the long nights if not just to annoy the non-nocturnal beasts that lived in the Celestial Plains.
Only on certain days, when it was cold and damp and everything slept in a dry place away from the light drizzles, did she bury herself under hundreds, tens, near-thousands of blankets and pelts in an attempt to ease the cold, hollow feeling Just Underneath Her Heart that worsened with the cold that wriggled into her bones, into her marrow and into the cold spot.
On the fifth unhappy day in a row, when she was curled up in her blankets and half-whining and trying to claw at the cold, hollow-feeling spot under her heart and missing the heat she used to feel from within, like swallowing a sun, Waka took notice. The sun had been missing, too, and the air was cold and humid.
So he came during a fitful sleep, buried underneath furs and thick woolen blankets, and the first thing he did was say, "Where did my little bouncing friend go?" And the next thing Amaterasu did was wake up with a displeased murmur and open a disgruntled, thinly bloodshot eye at him and answer in a voice slurred with sleep. The answer went somewhat like this; "Nnngh, Issun hated you with his entire little heartghhhrrrawrrr." The last word was her lapsing into a yawn, and then continuing like this: "Mmn, never friends with him. But y're deluded n' insane –" Waking up some more to sobriety, she'd add as an afterthought, "I think it was the French that did you in."
Waka tilted his head minutely.
"So, where did my little bouncing friend go?"
Amaterasu fixed him with a look that said, 'Shut. Up.' and he returned it with a look that said, 'Whatever are you talking about?' and then she was forced to regather ammunition and answer the question. "I think he's been practicing his brush skills and spreading the news." She frowned mildly, then peered at him curiously.
"Hey, Waka, you sure I'm at… full power?" The named stared back some more, and then hesitantly answered, cleansing it of any abstract French in case she found another reason to jibe him for being rather… unique. "Ye-eessss, we're quite sure you are. After all, mon cheri-" Choking on the endearment under Amaterasu's withering gaze, he'd continue without missing a beat. "After all, you've gotten all thirteen brush strokes and people believe in you."
He gave her a sunny smile that said, 'And you're a special and unique snowflake.'
She answered this with another pinning stare that said, 'Bullshit.' And then buried herself under the blankets again. Waka noticed the sheer volume of them for the first time.
And, for the first time, mustered the compassion to show concern, a large step in the fundamentals of feeling emotions. This concern took the form of a casual, "Y're sick?" And Amaterasu also answered with another casual, "No, just… cold." In that misleading way that was deliberately detached and screamed, Something is Not Okay, but you shouldn't know it. Unfortunately, Waka was not stupid or blind.
The former is questionable, but the person himself is adamant about those two aspects so it must be true.
So he resolved to find out what was Not Okay with her, just because he felt he needed to make up some karma over the Ark of Yamato decision. Considering he'd nearly killed himself anyway, he felt that this was the perfect finisher for redemption. Even if the other gods didn't exactly like him – the Rabbit had broken his ankle once with the hammer-object, and one of the three Hakigami trio had hung him by his hair with a vine attached to a tree, but they hated him for being him, so that was okay.
And that was the start of a beautiful relationship.
….
Well, being honest, it mostly consisted of Waka being curious and Amaterasu being annoyed and Issun being… well, Issun.
But it was life, and life was good.