Kabegami sat looking at the Mortal Realm far below the plane she called her home now. The Celestial beings, the Gods and Goddesses that helped with Amaterasu's Brush Techniques, lived on the Plane and worked to help keep the mortal realm a fairly...peaceful place. Demons would always roam about, but they were far less noticeable these days. She wiggled her tail behind her and she felt her body tingle as she took on a more human form. They had lost the ability to return to mortal form before because of the loss of believers. Now the ability to change from forms was free for them. It was good to be in her human form again. She took the form of a young girl, probably appearing somewhere between fifteen to seventeen to humans. She had long white hair that curled lightly at the bottom. It was tipped with black. Her markings and her ears remained. Her tail, luckily, did not. She wore her hair in low pigtails, with bells pinned to them. The bells jingled every time she moved. Now she just sat and breathed lightly, the bells silent as she watched the Mortal Realm. She was usually jumping around and teasing Tachigami (or as she called him, Mouse-kun). They were always playfully fighting. He called her Bell-chan since she had given him a nickname as well. Of course they cared for each other but they were often causing trouble for Mother Amaterasu.
Now she sat, as if she had learned her lesson from running around a lot. She stared down at the lights from the human realm, as it was late evening and they were beginning to burn their torches. She sighed lightly to herself and rose from her spot. She turned to spot a great tiger watching her. It regarded her with intelligence and she smiled. It was Gekigami and one of the Gods she envied, for her was a cat as well but he never felt out casted and his power was powerful and beautiful all at once. Her power could be graceful, but that was about it. Still, it wasn't the best power. It had no offensive or defensive capabilities. She could fight if she had too, she had sharp nails, and teeth but that would only work so well against the demons.
"Gekigami" she greeted, bowing slightly. By the time she had straightened he was in human form. He was handsome, but most of the Brush Gods and Goddesses took on handsome and beautiful forms as humans. No one could challenge Nuregami's grace as a human, nor the wise appearance of Yomigami. It was just how they all were. Gekigami, in human form, was a tall young man who appeared to be about nineteen or twenty years old. He had white hair (as they all did) that trailed long down his back. His bangs would hang in his face, but he wore a band on his forehead to keep his hair back. His still carried his markings from his tiger form, the lighting shaped strips that were patterned on his arms and shoulders, marking him one of Amaterasu's.
"Kabegami" He greeted her back with his deep, rich voice. "I didn't think I would find you here. I asked Tachigami of your whereabouts and he said he had not seen you all night." He frowned slightly. She had not really talked to Tachigami all day. "It was Moegami who said he had saw you out here when he was flying about a while ago. I didn't think you would still be here. Your attention span is very short after all." This was true, and it was shown as she only heard his first and last sentence.
"Why did you seek me out?" she asked.
"You weren't at the meeting tonight. Mother Amaterasu was worried and asked me to speak to you" So it was a matter of duty. She looked at the young man and then she smiled, showing a real smile.
"I got distracted" She answered with a light shrug. That happened often enough. She had gone walking and had gotten distracted by the mortals below. She wondered what separated the Gods from the Mortals sometimes. Today she had pondered if the Mortals were as happy as some of their prayers led to believe. She did not hear the prayers personally, but she knew that Amaterasu heard them and she was often pleased with the results. Kabegami wished that she could hear the prayers herself sometimes.
"Is that the only thing that happened?" asked Gekigami. He fingered his bow lightly, stroking it. She watched him and she looked back up at him before shrugging. She got distracted a lot so she didn't see why it was such a surprise to him. Then she stared at him for a long moment before walking up to him and staring up at him.
"Play a game with me" she said. She knew she sounded childish, she often was pretty childish...but she couldn't help it. He was much taller than her, bigger than her in his human form as he was in his tiger form. She always teased him, batting at his paws or his tail. She often jumped up on his back and rolled around on him, annoying him. He would take one of his great paws and carefully remove her from him or he would pick her up in his mouth, ever so carefully, and put her down on the ground. Now she jumped up on him, wrapping her arms around his neck, clinging to him.
"Play a game with me Gekigami!" She said again. "I want to play a game!"
He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her off him, holding her by the waist at her side. He let her hang there and her ears drooped, wondering if he was going to deny her. She let her ears flicker, to and fro, hoping he wasn't going to deny her. and then he sat her on her feet with a sigh. "What game do you wanna play?"
She was surprised and happy that he was going to play a game with her. She grinned at him, folding her arms behind her as she thought about it for a long moment. He watched her with patient eyes. She couldn't help but smile at him and his look became nearly confused for a moment. They went back to the way they usually looked then, leaving her to be the one that's confused.
"Are you alright, Tiger-san?" she asked him. He looked away and then back at her.
"I told you Kitten, you can call me Geki" he said, sounding a little grumpy. She liked calling him Tiger-san though. She sometimes called him Stripes though too. The Gods and Goddesses had many nicknames for each other. They were usually based off things that were from their human forms and their animal ones as well. Nicknames were just something they loved to give. It depended on how personal they were with each other too.
"Alright" She said, leaning back and then leaning froward again, her bells jingling as she did. "Let's see if you can catch me! I bet you can't!" With that she darted in a circle around him once, making him turn to try and find where she was dashing to. She was already dashing away towards the fields. She could hear him sigh, but she didn't hear him coming after her. She glanced behind her and he had already nearly caught her.
She pulled out her brush and with a quick movement she was able to climb up the wall of a nearby building. She moved to the roof by walking up the wall, but Gekigami just jumped onto the roof after her. He was stronger and bigger than her, him being a tiger. She hurried along the roof and then jumped down off it. He followed closely after her. It was hard to outrun him, though she had never tried before. She ran in circles, moved as fast as she could. She didn't want to lose her own game so she tried her hardest, but in the end, she knew Gekigami would win. He was faster and she was only barely staying ahead of him.
She climbed up another building, jumped down another but then she tripped. She rolled along the ground until she finally stopped herself. She just laid there, bruises forming and in some shock that she had actually tripped.
"Kabe!" She heard Gekigami call to her and then he was at her side, helping her up. "Here, let me get you to your room you clumsy little cat" He swung her into his arms quite easily and began to trot towards the building where they all roomed. He opened her door and placed her inside, laying her down on her blankets.
"I'm okay Tiger-san" She said, shock still coating her voice.
"I've never seen a cat trip though" He shook his head at her, a small smile on his lips. She smiled back, rubbing at her bruises, checking them quickly. "Are you sue you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine" she replied. His golden eyes looked her over and then he shrugged, turning to leave.
"If you say you're fine, I'll leave you to rest." He walked to her door and stopped because her fingers were on his arm. He turned to look back at her. "Kabegami?"
"Stay with me for a little while and talk? I'm lonely" He sighed and turned to face her, hugging her close, an action that she had not expected. She was stiff and surprised.
"Silly, Kitten" His voice was soft. "When are you ever alone?" Still, he let her go and he sat by her bed and she sat on her blankets, in front of him and looking at him. Her face was covered in a slight blush, and she wondered what he had meant by that.
"What...did you mean by that? I...I'm probably the most alone of all the God and Goddesses...My power is...well, not useless, but it's not completely useful. I mean, Moegami can fly...He would never need my power..." She frowned.
"Kabe...your power is something graceful" he said softly. He didn't know why she was so insecure. She was one of the most graceful of the Gods or Goddesses. "You're something graceful Kabe." She laughed lightly, glancing into her lap.
"Grace has little to do with the battle against evil" He frowned at her until her dark eyes met his golden ones. "I...just wish that I was...more useful to the Mother Amaterasu..." Her eyes fell again and he reached out and touched her chin, making her gaze meet his.
"You are useful. We need you." I need you was the words he wanted to say but swallowed back. He was the Tiger, he was fine being alone, he didn't need anyone – he didn't...He was just close to his brother and sister gods and goddesses. She looked convinced enough, her eyes glancing away from his. He placed both his hands on the sides of her face and her eyes were on his again. "Don't...think so negatively."
"I...I'm sorry" Her voice was soft now, he didn't realize how close they were to each other and how her tiny hands were on his much larger ones. He didn't know why but he pressed his lips against her's. Their eyes were closed and she was soon pressed against him, his hands pressing her there, her fingers clutching to him. He pulled away from her and looked at her with wide eyes. Her eyes were wide too.
"See?" His voice was rough. "You're never alone" He pulled her close and she was tense, he felt that she might be scared. He wanted to calm her. "Get some rest. I'll stay with you" He wanted her to be calm. "Only if you want me to"
Her eyes lowered and she curled against him, her tiny body against his. "I do want you to. Please stay with me."
And so he did.
A cute one-shot of my favorite pairing from Okami. I love the God/God pairings. Gekigami/Kabegami is my favorite. It's so adorable. I hope you all enjoyed it as well~!