I promised that once I finished the game I would write a story about my favorite character in the game. At first my favorite was Ammy (cant spell whole name atm.) but once I finished it became Oki. Although I have to admit not being able to use the power slash or headbut on him make me sad cause I would have loved to see his reaction. However drawing a circle around him (bloom) will make him change from human to wolf and vice versa is cool (works on all members of the Onia tribe). Anyway you all know I do the character info and history before I start the story but I will mix it with a chapter. Takes place about a week before the start of Okami.
"Grandmother Fawn!" I yelled.
I was in Agata Forest having just returned from Kamiki Village. My grandmother wanted me to get some fresh fruit and she thinks the best comes from Kamiki. My grandmother and I lived in the cavern inside Agata Forest. My Grandmother Fawn is a fortune teller. She reads bones and can give people hints about their futures. As I walked down the long tunnel leading to the house I could hear voices. I smelled them before I could hear them. I had shaper senses then most people but we'll to to that in a minute.
I came to the small pool of fresh water and a house residing inside the cavern. There was a line of about ten people waiting outside the house. They were most likely waiting to see what their future would bring. I've lived here with her for the past fourteen years. My father fell ill and died when I was six years old. I've lived with her I never knew my mother but I was told I get my looks from her. I wish I had a picture of her to compare our faces. I sat near the edge of the pool to wait for my Grandmother to be done. Normally I would give visions to customers with her but not often.
I mostly took fees and did palm readings. Like my grandmother I mostly would read bones instead. I had the power to look into the future like my grandmother. My visions were clear and strong but unlike Grandmother Fawn I could not have them at will. They only came if I looked at certain items that could be part of something important. Other times they come when someone mentions something. Most of the time they're small things.
As for my shaper senses, they made my fortune telling skills a bit stronger. I guess I could say I wasn't normal. I could turn into a wolf and change back again in a flash. My father showed me how to do it before he passed. It ran in his, and my grandmother's side of the family. He once told me he would explain our family history to me when I was older. Now my Grandmother Fawn said that today, on my 20th birthday, she would tell me the family history. She would explain why our family turned into wolves and about our fortune telling talent.
All I knew was that part of out family history involved our hair and eyes. My hair was white and black and went down to my hips. The white being like an upper coat and the black being the bottem. I usually kept it tied into a loose, low ponytail. Today it wasn't tied back and flowed over my shoulders like water. Unless I had a bedhead. Then it would be all over the place, but easy to fix. (1) My eyes were a deep blue, the color of sapphires. They sometimes looked silver when the light hit them a certain way.
Another small part of our family history involves the color of the clothes we wear. Some of that included a mask we wore. I've never gone into dept about the mask and didn't understand what it was about. As for the clothes, they were to match our hair and partly our eyes. I wore a short black silk kimono with white flowers. (2) My shoes were flats so I could run as much as I wanted. I also wore a polished wolf fang around my neck as a charm. (3) It was a gift from the queen herself as a charm for protection. Attached to the necklace were also rings that belonged to my parents and a small ink bottle. What the ink bottle was for I had no idea, but I knew she knows something I dont.
Right now I bet your wondering how I know the Queen Himiko right? Well that's not too important right now but I can tell you I met her through Rao. queen Himiko does help me understand my visions though.
"The sun is setting. How long does this take?"
I looked up to see the carpender from Shinshu Feild. He never told me his name but he came around often. I just called him Mr. C because of his job. Everyone in line were people I reconized, but couldn't place names. Some came as far as from Taka Pass, Shinshu Feild, and sometimes come from as far as the City Checkpoint. The line was still a bit long. Grandmother Fawn must be getting tired.
There's been a lot more people coming to vist lately. Mainly because they had bad feelings or wanted to know about the festival this year. If Grandmother tells fortunes all day she can get tired and it can take longer for her to tell fortunes. I stood up and walked over to Mr. C and the other customers.
"Hello Mr. C. Can I halp you?" I asked nicely. He turned to look at me with his mouth open.
"Hello, Inu. I wanted to get a palm reading." he said a little shyly. I'm not sure why but guys always got that way near me. This one time an old man told me I was as beautiful as Rao. I really doubted that.
"Alright. That will be 500 yen please." He handed me the money and I placed it in a small pouch I carried with me. Sometimes when I went out people stopped me and asked for fortunes. I took his palm after putting away the money. I looked at his palm, studying it. As usualy with my palm readings a phrase came to my head.
"Well, what can you tell?" he asked.
"Good things await in your future. Expect more customers." I replied.
"Thanks, Inu!" he said smiling. He turned and left waving over his shoulder.
"Now can I help anyone else?" I said turning to the others. They started to crowd around me asking for palm and bone readings. By the time the customer inside came out I was finishing up with the ones outside. The last was the old man who said I was as pretty as Rao. He asked for a palm reading, comented on my looks again and left. Once the others were all gone I went inside the house.
Grandmother Fawn was sitting at her desk putting away her bones she uses for telling. I handed her the money I made from the people outside. She added it to the ones she already had and started to count.
"Inu, do you think you could go fishing? We're running low." she said not looking up from the money.
"Sure, I can catch up with Kokari and his dad." I said. I went to my room to get my fishing pole and some extra line. Knowing Kokari,he would have lost all of his. I set my line inside my money pouch and put my pole on my back.
"Also go to Kiba's market and get some herbs and medicine. When you get back I'll tell you about our family history." she said giving me some of the money.
"Thanks Grandma!" I yelled running out of the cavern. I knew she didn't like to be called Grandma, which is why I called her Grandmother. I didn't see the difference but she did.
As I exited the cavern, I noticed that Mr. C was right. The sun was starting to set. Once it set catching some fish would be even harder. With the water having no bottem fishing here was hard enough as it is. Even with my shaper senses I could barely see the fish through the surface of the water, but only when the light wasn't shinging on it. As I came to the shoreline I leaped across to one of the small islands. My feet ended up in the water. The water only went up to my ankels. Since I was close to the shore I didn't have to worry about the dark depts of the water.
As I leaped over to the other islands I was careful to watch my footing. I didn't want to end up falling in the dark water. As I made it to the final island, }I saw Kokari and his dog Ume. I think he was a little too attached to his Ume. But who was I to come between a boy and his dog? As I approached I realized I was right, he ran out of line. Reaching into my pouch, I pulled out a spool of line and tossed it into his lap.
"Dont tell you've given up?" I said as I walked to the water's edge.
"Inu!" he exclaimed jumping on me. Ume ran to me and began barking excitedly. I could guess what he was saying.
When I turned into a wolf I could understand animals. I spent most of the time just talking to Ume. We would talk to each other while Kokari fished sometimes. I would tell his a bit about my past and he would do the same. I found that his life back in Kusa village was exciting. I've been there before and met Princess Fuse, but never all of the Canine Warriors. Just Ume, Take who lives in Sasa Sancuary, and Hayabusa in Kamiki Village.
"Are you here to do some fishing with me?" he asked after letting go.
"Yes but not for long. I have to go see Kiba and buy some things." I replied.
"Well then I bet I catch more fish then you before you have to leave!" he said throwing his new line into the water.
"No fair getting a head start." I laughed while throwing my line into the water.
For the next 20 minutes or so we spent the time fishing. Kokari talked about my trip to Kamiki and some of the other trips I've been on. Ume layed between the two of up watching us fish. I ended up catching more (and bigger) fish then Kokari. He got jealous and I gave him some of my fish until we had a equal amount. The moon was just about to rise into the sky. I had to make it to Kiba before he closed.
"I'll see you Kokari! I have to get going now." I said gathering up the fish. We each had about ten or fifthteen each.
"Goodbye Inu!" Kokari said waving at me as I jumped across the islands.
Jumping the islands would take longer but I wasn't in the mood to get wet by swimming the river. I had to run the rest of the way to Kiba's. I managed to catch him right as he was closing.
"Hello Inu. Come for the usual?" he asked. I just nodded completely out of breath. He handed me my supplies and I payed and thanked him.
"Inu there you are." said Grandmother Fawn. I ran the rest of the way back to the cavern. My extra senses and stamina should have left me with enough energy. I had no idea I was running so hard.
"Sorry... fishing..." I managed to say.
"Never mind then." she said. She took some of the fish and walked back towards the house.
Once we were back at the house I started to cook some of the fish with the fruit and other things i've gotten from Kiba's market. I made some cherry cakes that Mrs. Orange taught me to make. We were in the middle of eating when Grandmother began to speak.
"I guess it's about time I told you about your history now." she said.
"Really?" I said taking a bite of one of the cherry cakes.
"Yes. I promised your father I would when you were old enough." she pulled out a small rectangular box from her sleeve. It had the same pattern as my kimono, only instead of white the flowers were a deep blue color like my eyes.
"Prphhy bom...(pretty box)" I said with a mouth full of cherry cake. She pulled the box out of my reach.
"Not yet" she said setting it beside her where I couldn't reach it. "Wait till I'm done telling you about the family history."
"No fair." I pouted.
"Inuchi..." she said clearly agitated.
She only used my full name when she was agitated. My name translated into "Dog knowledge" which is why I went by plain Inu. Having my people call me a dog seamed like less of an insult then using my full name. It felt like they were comparing my mind to a dogs, and most people dont think dogs are smart.
"Sorry" I said taking a fish and tearing off a peice. "Continue."
"Now then," she started. "do you remember about how I told you about Kamui?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Well then in Kamui there are people there called the Onia Tribe. They are a special tribe of people who wore mask and had the ability to turn into wolves." she said.
"Wait wolves? Do you mean like..."
"Yes, I mean like you. They are where our family originated from." she said taking a bite out of her own fish.
"How exactly?" I asked.
"Remember about how I told you about the Ark of Yamato, and where the demons originated from?" she asked. "And about the demon twin owls?"
"Yes, you said the demons stowed away on the ark and attacked the gods onboard." I replied. "And you said the owls were defeated and enshrined in a pair of mountains in Kamui."
"Well the demons owls were defeated and sealed away by a powerful member of the Onia Tribe. But he's not too important in our family." she said. She took one of the cherry cakes and took her time eatting it.
"Grandmother where are you going with this?" I asked getting impatient.
"This was over 200 years ago (4), " she said ignoring my tone. " It is around this time our family history starts."
"Wait a second." I stopped her. "Our family starts here?"
"No, this is where it gets intresting. Now if I can continue?" she replied.
"Sorry, continue." I said. I had finished eatting and was eager to hear the rest.
"Now then, our family has always been full of fortune tellers. Long ago, before the ark crashed, the gods gave us this power among a few others. But we'll get to the others in a minute. Anyway our family used our gift to help the Onia Tribe. We would predict how things may go for the year, weather the villagers would recover from an illness, how much more customers they might get, things like that." She stopped to get another cherry cake.
"Dont stop now." I said watching her take a bite. "I'm waiting for this story to get to the good part."
She raised an eyebrow at me but continued.
"In the Onia Tribe, they liked to call us fortune tellers The Yume Inu's. Also it's tradition for us to marry the strongest warrior, or the kindest woman in the village."
"They called us dream dogs?" I asked. She glared at me. "Sorry."
"As I was saying, it was tradition. The meaning behind it was forgotten long ago. Anyway one of our ansestors, Ayame, was the current Yume Inu at the time. She was engaged to a man named Kage. He was the cheif's son and strongest warrior in the tribe. She loved him, but all he cared about was himself. It was around this time the twin owls appeared. Many brave Onia warriors tried to defeat them but failed. Ayame was one one of the Onia's secret weapons because she could see into the future." she paused.
"What?" I asked after a while.
"I was waiting for you to stop me again." she said taking a sip of tea.
"Well I didn't so continue." I said.
"Very well." she said. "The owls were aware of her power and feared she would discover their weakness. So when Kage went to fight the owls, they tricked him into serving them. They promised to make him more powerful, and chief of the Onia, if he served them. He agreed and did what they asked. Like the owls asked, he took Ayame away and courted her during the night. When she awoke a few hours later, she saw Kage standing over her with his sword aimed at her heart."
"Ayame managed to avoid his blade and escape as a wolf. Kage chased after her until he caught her near the edge of Kamui. It was then he reveiled the demon's plans. He then turned into a wolf and attacked Ayame. She fought with all her might but was no match for him. Right before he could deal the final blow, his younger brother, Tai, stopped him. He told Ayame to run and she did. From there we later learned Tai killed his brother, and later defeated the owls."
"So what happened to Ayame?" I asked.
"I'm getting to that." she said refilling her tea cup." Ayame was so distraut at the death of Kage, even though he tried to kill her. She never returned to the village, but instead chose to live here, in Agata Forest. She later discovered she was with child. After some time, members of the Onia Tribe began to scearch for her, but failed to find her. Even though they tracked her in wolf form, they still failed."
"How could they fail in wolf form?" I asked confused. "My own nose is pretty sharp and can pick up the smallest of scents."
"Thats where our other gifts come in. The great god, Okami Amaratsu, gifted our family some of her power. The power of her brush techniques. Our control over them is weaker but is strong. Sometimes this certain gift would skip a generation or two, but it didn't happen often. It skipped both me and your father, but you have it." she then picked up the small box and handed it to me.
"What is this?" I asked.
"It's something that's been passed down to our family through generations. It's only given to those who can use the brush techniques. " she said.
I opened the box to find a fan. It was about 7 or 8 inches long. The outide handles of it were black with white flowers. When I opened it, the inside was black. It had blue pawprints on it that looked like a animal was walking on it. There were six blue pawprints going from left end to the right. When I tuned it a certain way the pawprints caught the light and shown. Attatched the the end of it was a small paintbrush about three inches long. The tip of the brush was black from ink, most likely from constant use. It was a simple brush with a black handle. While I held the fan It felt so normal, like it belonged there.
"What's this for?" I asked. I didn't take my eyes off the fan as I continued to turn it over.
"It's a weapon." she started. My eyes snapped up when she said weapon. "The fan can take on the form of a sword if you need it. It can also become a sheild and sometimes store things you cant always carry (5) such as medicine, scrools, food, and other things."
"And the brush?" I asked.
"That's for the brush techniques."
"What do I do for ink?" I asked. "All I have is this little bottle Himiko gave me and I dont think that counts for a lot."
"There's some in the fan." she said. "This is your first time using the fan so it may take time. See the second pawprint?"
I looked at the fan at the second pawprint and nodded "What do I do?"
"Just brush your fingers over it. Think about becoming a wolf or what it feels like to have a vision." she said.
I did as she said. For a few seconds, nothing happened. After about a minutes of concentrating, I closed my eyes and imagined what it felt like to turn into a wolf. It always felt nice and painless. It felt like water running over me and washing the human away, leaving behind the wolf in my place. I brushed my fingers over the pawprint again and waited. After a few seconds, I felt a slight tingle. I opened my eyes to look at the fan. There were three new images of what looked like little ink bottles.
"What is that?" I asked pointing at the ink bottles.
"That's your ink." she said like it was obvious. "When you control these powers a bit more, you will know which pawprint has what."
"Well can you tell me what they are?" I asked.
"The first pawprint is your items. Medicines and charms. The second is your ink, as you already know. It also holds your money. The third holds your journal and the bones for your fortune telling. The fourth holds extra food, fish, fruits, any kind of food. The fifth holds your information about the brush techniques and your map. As for the sixth, it holds your treasures and gifts you may get while traveling." she explained.
"That's a lot of things to hold. Besides this is a fan." I said closing the fan.
"It's a special fan." she said. "Now then, it's late and it's time to go to bed. In the morning I'll help you with learning the brush techniques. We'll start off doing the small things. I dont think you'll need to learn how to turn the fan into a weapon."
She stood up and began to clean up. I set the fan inside my kimono and the box inside my sleeve. I helped Grandmother Fawn clean up then got ready for bed. I took the box out of my sleeve and the fan out of my kimono. I set the fan carefully back inside the box, arranging it the way it looked when I first opened it. I had just finished brushing my hair and tying it up with my dark blue ribbon when my grandmother called to me.
"Dont forget," she called from outside my door. "We'll be closed tomarrow so we'll spend the day talking about the different brush techniques and help you learn them."
"Goodnight Grandmother." I called threw my door. I got up to blow out he candels in my room before settling down for bed.
"Goodnight Inu." she called out. With my sharp senses, I heard her close her door and even heard her blow out the candles in her room.
As I layed down to sleep I felt something, like a small jolt. It wasn't painful but felt like someone threw cold water on my face. I knew what this feeling was, because I've felt it before. I knew it was causing my eyes to look silver and made me appear that I'm staring into space. It was the same familiar feeling I got when I was having a vision.
There was a cave with the sihouette of a man standing just inside the mouth of the cave. Everything was dark and there was a bad vibe going through the air.
"Is this the legendary sword? Is this Tsukuyomi, the sword that banished the dreaded Orochi? ... ... No... it couldn't be. It's just a legend... Nothing but a fairy tale!"
The man was dressed in all black and had his face covered. His voice however, sounded very familiar. In front of him was a sword embeded in stone. The man lifted the sword and the silhouette of a giant eight-headed beast appears.
"O, he who seeks power... He who has broken my bonds... Speak the words, 'I wish darkness unto the world.' Utter that prayer unto me, and unleash my
power."
The man quickly runs away, as the giant beast unleashes his evil and darkness spreads across the land.
I gasped for air, taking in big breaths. I could feel sweat on my forehead. The door to my room slid open and Grandmother Fawn stood there, holding a cup of tea.
"I heard you scream." she said.
She handed me the cup and I swallowed it all in one big gulp. She left the room and came back with a pitcher and a cup of water. I drank about three cups of water before I was calm. While I was drinking the water she lit a few of the candles in my room. The vibe of that vision just screamed... evil. It gave me a bad feeling in my stomach.
"Now can you tell me what happened?" she asked refilling my cup.
I took a few sips and began to replay the events I saw in my vision. She listened intently as I explained what I saw. When I explained the evil vibe I felt, her eyes widened.
"This doesn't sound good... she said thoughtfully. "This could be very bad."
"What does it mean?" I asked. I poured myself another cup of water once I finished my fourth.
"I dont know." she said standing up. "I'll have to check the bones and see what they say in the morning."
"What do I do?" I asked.
"You get some sleep and dont worry about a thing." she said closing my door. She mumbled out a goodnight through my door and I replied back.
I layed down awake and staring at my ceiling for a while just thinking. The man's voice sounded so familiar, I know I've heard it before. It couldn't have been too long ago. I remember hearing the voice today. But I talk to so many people every day It's hard to keep track. I feel asleep a few minutes later. I was expecting to have nightmares from that vision. What I had instead confused me.
I drempt about a snowy tundra. There was a blizzard rageing all around me. Strangly enough, I didn't feel cold. I was laying mostly facedown in the snow. My eyes were getting heavy as I strrugled to hold them open. I saw the figure of a dog running towards me. As it got closer I could see that it wasn't a dog at all. It was a large wolf. The blizzard was affecting my vision. I couldn't make out the colors on the wolf. My eyes closed as the wolf got closer.
At one point I could hear something being mumbled. I realized it was a voice, but I was too out of it to hear what it said. I couldn't even tell if it was male or female. After a moment I felt hands grab me and pick me up. They were suprisingly gently. I didn't know who was holding me, but I felt safe. I didn't know who this person was, but I felt safe with them.
When I woke up I realized I had had broken out in a sweat, but there was a small smaile on my face.
1. Her hair. Check the review.
2. This is what I was thinking of her kimono.
3. I know that Queen Himiko is well... a queen but in this story she knows her. As for the rings... I'll find a picture for them some other time.
4. I dont know how long time passed between the defeat of the owls and the start of Okami so I'm guessing.
5. Pretty much she has her own fan menu. You know how when the page loads and it shows pawprints that lead to Issun? well she just has the six pawprints.
I dont remember the owls names an I'm too lazy to look them up right now. The links will go in the review cause I cant get them here. Oki will arrive in about... chapter two. so not to long now. :D