A/N: Once again, I am taking on yet another story without completing my other ones first. ;3; I've had this one written for a while though, so I figured I'd put it up. High school AU fic. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Herald of the Flute

Amaterasu sat perched in her favorite spot in a tree overlooking the rice fields that lay on the outskirts of the small city where they lived. The wind stirred on her face, curling its way into her shoulder-length black hair that never seemed to want to be tamed. It felt so nice, so relaxing…she took a deep breath of the clean air and felt all her worries dissipating away. No matter how busy she was, she always found time to sit there just before sunset—her favorite time of day. The sun washed the sky in beautiful shades of red and orange, and the light reflected off the water in the fields, bathing the entire world in hues of gold. Yes, sunset was very beautiful. But when it was gone, she was always left with the same small sadness, almost like loneliness.

Amaterasu thought this was silly. She was anything but lonely. She had 14 younger siblings at home to take care of. Their parents died in a fire when Amaterasu was only 9, and since then she adopted the role of mother. The youngest of them, the triplets Saku, Hasu, and Tsuta, along with Yumi, Tachi, and perhaps Baku, have never known anything but Amaterasu. They were too young when the incident occurred to even remember what their parents looked like. Eight years have passed since then, and now Amaterasu was in high school, in a town far away from where her parents died. They had moved right after the incident since they were afraid of all the painful ghosts and memories they would have if they stayed. Their aunt and uncle, Nami and Nagi, were well off and offered to be the family's new guardians, but Amaterasu didn't want to be a burden. She told them she could handle everything herself and stubbornly refused the large amounts of money they offered her. In the end, however, they reached a compromise. Nami and Nagi would pay for all the children's education and give them their old farmhouse to live in, and Amaterasu would play the role of mother and pay her aunt and uncle monthly rent for the house until it was all paid off. Nami and Nagi were still reluctant even under those conditions, but Amaterasu insisted. She told them that she wanted to do this for her family, and she convinced them by saying it was practice for the real world. So they let her do as she pleased, taking care of the family, although more often than she liked she would receive money and care packages from "anonymous" senders. She sighed. Her aunt and uncle were much too nice. She would spend a lifetime just trying to repay them for everything they've done so far.

The sun was starting to disappear, and Amaterasu sighed slightly. Sunsets happened too quickly. The breeze picked up and she heard the whisperings of a flute, its notes long and beautiful and surprisingly sad. It matched the mood of the disappearing sun very well. She sat back against the tree and listened, letting the soothing melody wash over her like the last rays of the sun.

When Amaterasu opened her eyes, it was already dusk. The sun had disappeared, along with the strange and beautiful music. How long had she been sleeping like that? Probably only about 30 minutes, since it wasn't completely dark, but long enough to make her siblings worry. They knew she went up here at sunset and tried not to bother her, but usually she didn't take that long and was always back as soon as the sun went down.

"Amaterasu." Sure enough, Ite had come to look for her. He was a pretty big kid for his age, tall and decently built, with a rigid jaw and brow line that made him always seem like he was brooding. He was the second oldest, for which she was glad because his level-headedness and strong-yet-silent personality gave him authority sometimes where she could not. He was also a worrier, which explained why he had come to look for her.

Ite scowled up into the trees. "Amaterasu, you made us worried," he scolded.

"I'm sorry. I fell asleep accidentally. I didn't mean to stay out this long."

"That's fine," Ite said gruffly. "As long as you be more careful next time."

Amaterasu smiled. Ite was a nice guy. It was too bad a lot of the girls at school were intimidated by him.

They headed home, to their uncle and aunt's old farmhouse, which was surprisingly big enough to fit all 15 of them relatively comfortably. There were seven bedrooms, all on the top floor of the house. Ite shared with Geki; Kabe with Kasu; Moe with Kaze; Yomi with Baku and Tachi; Nure with Yumi; and the triplets all together. Amaterasu had her own room, the master bedroom. Initially, she didn't want it, saying it would be better off split between three or four of them, most probably Ite, Geki, Moe, and Kaze, since they were all growing boys. But all her siblings insisted that she take it, with the triplets threatening to wail and make noise all night long until she agreed. She deserved it, they said, after all the time and work she put into raising them.

She tucked the little ones into bed, apologizing for making them worry, then headed off to bed herself after warning the older ones (mostly Moe and Kaze, who were playing video games) not to stay up too late on a school night. For some reason, she felt very tired. Maybe because she still had the flute song in her head, and the relaxing melody was making her sleepy. At times like this she was grateful that she had a room to herself. She collapsed on top of the bed, not bothering to remove her clothes or get under the sheets, and fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

A/N: Since it's kind of confusing, here's the Omikami family names, ages, and relationships to the brush gods in the game (for the sake of clarification, this is an AU story where they are all human, but I put their brush power and their form from the game because I know it's hard to keep all the names straight sometimes):

Amaterasu- sunrise goddess, dog, 17
Ite- blizzard god, bull, 16
Geki- thunderstorm god, tiger, 15 (older twin)
Kabe- catwalk goddess, cat, 15 (younger twin)
Kasu- veil of mist goddess, sheep, 14
Moe- inferno god, rooster, 13
Kaze- galestorm god, horse, 13
Yomi- rejuvenation god, dragon, 12 (older twin)
Nure- waterspout goddess, snake, 12 (younger twin)
Baku- cherry bomb god, boar, 11
Tachi- powerslash god, rat, 10
Yumi- crescent goddess, rabbit, 9
Saku- bloom god, monkey, 8 (oldest triplet)
Hasu- water lily god, monkey, 8 (middle triplet)
Tsuta- vine god, monkey, 8 (youngest triplet)