AN: My own version of the Okami past and backstory. It has beings from Japanese legends, who I just gave personalities... Izanagi, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo... And yes, Yami is related to Ammy in this. I also have this strange idea as to how Nagi, Susano, and the sword Tsukuyomi all fit in to this... You'll see...

You're probably wondering what's with all these stories anyway but I wrote these over vacation and am just dumping them here. I promise I'll get them all done, sometime... OTL. MOTIVATION. ...Seriously, though, I assure you, everything IS being worked on. It just... might take a while.

Oh and thanks to Koneko for Yami's name in this. She doesn't even know I used that name for him in here yet. But she will. Soon. I'm so glad I RPed Child!Yami with her LOL

I was born on Plains high, raised high above the earth itself. Born from one god, as he purified himself of the stains of Yomi, the underworld.

I was not alone in my birth. I had three other siblings as well. Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon, always calm, wise beyond his years even then. Tsukuyomi, blessed with the gift of prophecy, could not always handle that gift, and, when the race of the Moon Tribe was established, he would, in every few generations, select one to channel his gift, his vision to, to relieve his own mind.

Then there was Susanoo. Susanoo was always somewhat of a… wild child. He seemed to be born hairy and strong… but he was always something of a coward. Despite being commander of the strong storms and the wielder of the first glaive, he would freak out at even the slightest mention of a demon… Ah, how I would tease him that, in spite of this, he wanted to rule Yomi! But his wildness proved to be too much… There was no other choice but to remove him from the Plains, to be sent down to earth. A much safer place for him, my father, Izanagi, told me and Tsukuyomi… Yet I have not heard from him since…

But there was another, a fourth child born to my father, one we were sworn to secrecy about, one whose name was forgotten in every legend, if he even had a proper name to begin with. While Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, and I were known in legend as the "three noble children", the fourth also existed, shoved into darkness. Whenever I attempted to protest this, my father would tell me it was for the best that no one should know of this child. He was a child of darkness; the darkness was all that should be given to him.

Nevertheless, I still cared for him. Indeed, even Tsukuyomi went along with my brilliant plans. They were in some ways rather similar; both were quiet and thoughtful, strategists more than fighters, defense over offense, the opposite of everything I was… We cared for him every day, smuggled sufficient food out to him, comforted him after every harsh word from my father, gave him the love and attention he so desperately needed…

Until I found one day that he was gone. Given to the Moon Tribe to do whatever they wished with him. I knew, as well as Tsukuyomi, that the beginnings of their corruption had already started, that they were journeying down a steady path away from the gods. A path started all because they were allowed to experiment on one of the gods, because they used their technology for evils rather than for the greater good… And I was helpless to stop them, as by the time I learned of his absence, he was long gone, lost to them for good, even if he could escape. For, after all, if they did experiment on him, what would happen? Would he lose his godhood forever, all because they strived to make a god for their own, rather than accept the one they had, Tsukuyomi? Even if I did follow him, would I recognize him when I found him again, or would he be too far gone, pushed over the edge by those horrible experiments upon him?

…What was his name, you ask?

I called him Akatsuki, the red moon, the dawn. To everyone else though, he was Yami, darkness. That was all they saw in him, that darkness, that fear, hatred, resent… They were blinded by that, they could not see what I saw. A spark, a tiny speck of light, of hope, of a desire to be loved. Love that he would never receive…

I am Amaterasu, known as goddess of the sun, 'Mother to us all'… I prefer Ammy myself.

And this is my story- well, only part of it is my story. The rest tells what became of Yami, about the last prophet of the Moon and how his Tribe's corruption drove him to seek out refuge, and of the first Envoy in many generations to actually see me face to face.

It is a tale that needs to be told – and a story I do plan on telling…