A/N: Something Oina-centered I decided to write. The pagebreaker says "The Tale of Okikurumi", and so I will be loosely basing some of the story off of Okikurumi's tale and Ainu myths :) Okikurumi is a character in Ainu mythology. (The Ainu are the Japanese-Russian *I think* who lived in Hokkaido).
Just another note, for anyone who didn't know, some terms used in Okami were Ainu. Uepeker (Wep'keer) means "old stories" and "Kamui" is the Ainu word for "Kami" (I'm sure every Okami fan knows what kami means) and "Oina" was conned from "Ae-oina", an important Kamui in Ainu mythology. Translations are in the ending notes~ Anyways, on with the story :)
Title: The Tale of Okikurumi
Pairing: OkixKai, SamaixTousu
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Okikurumi was supposed to be a divine being- or so it was said. No one in Uepeker really knew, though, if this child had been ordained by the gods. He had come to Kemu like so many other orphans: scared, weak, and friendless. Now we follow his tale from the defeat of Lechku and Nechku, as peace temporarily rises over Kamui....
「オキクルミの物 語」
The weather had been dreary since morning when the sun first rose over the twin mountain peaks of Ezofuji. Thick gray clouds, laden with snow and ice, had accumulated over the horizon. Snow was to be expected as the day progressed, along with dropping temperatures and mild winds coming from the east.
Overall, Kamui was in a rather placid, if not slightly dismal, atmosphere. The trees, bare of any leaves, lay stripped and naked against the pale backdrop of snow. Only icicles coated their skeletal limbs as they reached towards the sky for warmth. Unyielding, though, was the sun to move from her cover behind the veil of clouds spanning the heavens. She had shrouded herself in heavenly fog as she dozed, her light hidden from the Northernmost Land.
Kaipoku stared out into the haze that swirled along the ground through the trees. Dazedly she watched as the mist churned up into the spindly tops of the trees, and numbly she gazed on the stultifying fog as it rose up out of the sea and began to cling to her clothes. She exhaled sharply into the stagnate air of the forest as the smell of earth, fungi, and decay entered her sensitive nose.
Her hands searched for her chest as her heart began to race. Jade eyes, panicked, began to see shadows jumping through the forest. Black demons with strong backs and large kota fastened to those backs crawled and lurched through the thick snow. Smaller demons would jump nimbly from tree to tree, letting out a cackle as they raised there umbrella and floated off into the sky. Horrible half-beast demons would take the form of wolves with human hands and feet. Their stomachs would be caved in and flesh stretching over decaying bone. They would hiss inhumanly and stand against the thin black trees until they tore apart into shadows once again.
Kaipoku felt herself shiver internally; she had never been this scared before. Everything in the forest seemed to be waiting and ready to strike. The Oina kahkemacihi's breath was raspy and uneven as her emerald eyes took in the sinister atmosphere of Yoshpet. She whined in anxiety, her breath hitching in her throat as she came close to tears.
The distant call of a cikap broke her trance and for a moment, she felt respite. Cikap were protectors of the Oina. If a cikap was here, she had no need to fear. She strained her ears for the animal's call, but all was silent. Kaipoku bit her lip as she gazed up into the spindly canopy of limbs above. Slowly, comforting words began to come back to her. A song Tousukuru had always sung when they were younger found its way past her lips in a haze of warm air.
"Mori no fukuro, ga iimashita. W-watashi wa mori no, mihari ya-yaku. K-Kowai Okami, kitsune na-nado...." Kaipoku sang quietly and shakily into the cold, crisp winter air. "Kosasenai k-kara ne ne shina. Gorosuke ho ho, Gorosuke ho…."The song comforted her slightly, and momentarily eased her anxiety. It was a song about a forest owl by the name of Gorosuke. He would watch over the kotan at night and ward off any wolves or foxes that might threaten the Oina. He was a sublime creature, and a guardian animal of the Oina.
Kaipoku had had her moment respite, when abruptly afterward the thin snap of a tree limb startled her back into fret. She backtracked warily through the snow, as the sound of twigs snapping got closer and closer…. Stay calm, Kaipoku…. The snapping came to halt, much to her relief, and was replaced by the familiar sound and smell of a man walking through the forest. Kaipoku sighed out into the frigid, slightly windy air, as another scent besides that of the stench of demons and decomposition of the forest met her nose.
Okikurumi, the young Oina warrior, could barely be seen through the spider web of tree limbs that fanned throughout Yoshpet. His sword went chara chara in its sheath against his side; his vest went gasa goso as it flapped quietly in the light wind. Kaipoku smiled warmly as his head turned and his blue fox kotor became visible. The red eyes of the fox stared blatantly into hers for a moment, like an animal cautiously studying its prey, careful not to let a single ounce of weakness escape through its eyes. He concealed any and all emotion from anyone who could pose as a threat…. I'm no threat to you, Okikurumi….
The sound of a twig snap broke Kaipoku from her trance. The Oina okkay had his hand clutching firmly to a thin branch, his mask still staring blankly at her. Kaipoku finally realized the small bundle of kindling tucked under one arm as he stuffed the twig into the accumulating heap. He turned away from her in the direction of the forest entrance. Having turned, she could now see the rather large isepo hanging lifelessly off one shoulder- a large, circular red wound swelling in the back of its skull.
Kaipoku stood embarrassedly for a moment with her feet rooted in the thick blanket of snow. Okikurumi was always like that… it made her feel sick to her stomach. No one had reached out to him growing up; he and Samaikuru never got along, so Kemu naturally did not accept Okikurumi as readily. Kaipoku had always been to shy to approach him… Pirka okkay. Tousukuru was always hiding behind Kemu as a child, and obviously felt no need to reach out beyond the chief's protection and into the unknown.
Kaipoku now knew it all to be a mistake, but it was too late. Nothing could be done about her pirka okkay now. He and Samaikuru had made amends, Kemu had offered his blessing, and Okikurumi's home had been refurbished, but none of it had made much difference. Kaipoku fiddled nervously with her sleeves as she watched Okikurumi's form disappearing into the thick brambles.
"Okikurumi, I didn't know you used ay!" Kaipoku had spoken out in a desperate attempt to gain the man's attention. Okikurumi turned fluidly, pulling an arrow from behind his back and securing it to the bow he carried.
"O-Okikurumi?!" Kaipoku's eyes widened as she watched the man crouch lower into the snow. "Oki-!" The ay, heavily laden with Aconitum, whizzed past her face, barely missing her right cheek. She felt her face grow cold with fear; the unnerving cry of a demon in death pounded against her eardrums along with her heart.
Directly behind her, a fully matured Namahage laid face down, limp in the snow. "He was sneaking up behind you." She heard Okikurumi's thick, muttered voice from behind his kotor. The Oina man heaved the demon off the ground until it could lean against his shoulder. He pulled the arrow from its chest, leaving a wide hole in the creature's armor. Kaipoku shuddered as blood poured forth in an even stream out of the wound.
"O-Oh…." She held a hand up over her mask where her mouth would be. The red liquid seeped into the pristine snow and began to soak into the area until a large blotch of crimson had accumulated like a shadow below its dead body. Okikurumi felt a devilish smile tug the corners of his lips. These kinds of things made him happy….
Resisting his animalistic urge to drink up the monsters blood, he dropped the creature and turned abruptly to Kaipoku. The Oina girl jumped when Okikurumi's arrow shot into the snow between them. "Are you lost, Kaipoku?" His voice was flat; he leaned barely on his right foot as her studied her.
"O-Oh, n-no… Okikurumi." Kaipoku fumbled for the words inside her mouth. Every time she spoke to the pirka okkay, her tongue would twist inside her mouth and the right words would always come out wrong. "Okikurumi, y-you… you saved me." She blushed behind her mask, turning her face away. "Kon rametok."
"Hn." Okikurumi eyed her charily as he pulled the arrow from the ground, now clean of any blood or poison, and shoved it back into its quiver. The young okkay turned his back to her again; his attus flapped weakly behind him. Kaipoku tried to imagine the expression he wore: a blank face, wiped of any emotion whatsoever, ruby red eyes insipidly staring forward…. Then she heard him sigh.
"Okikurumi?" She stopped herself from following him as he trudged forward through the thick now. Was it something she said…? Kaipoku searched the ground he was plowing through until she spotted the small pile of twigs to be used as kindling and the dead isepo. "Oh! Okikurumi, l-let me help!" Kaipoku bound forward in the snow, kicking up flurries as she bounced past the edgy warrior. "I-I'll, um…." The Oina girl caught her breath as she stared down at the two abandoned items. "I'll carry this for you." She reached over the dead isepo and began to pile the twigs under her arm.
Okikurumi's boots audibly crunched in the snow as they came closer to her. Kaipoku ceased her frenzied grabbing as Okikurumi's rather ominous shadow fell over her. She let her eyes slide from the ground to the knees positioned next to her head.
"I'll get this, keray." Kaipoku stood numbly and hesitantly handed the bundle to the okkay. His hands were much larger than hers were, she noticed absentmindedly as he pulled the kindling from her arms. His hands were also rather weathered, sporting calluses across every fingertip and the soft flesh above the palms. She stepped away from him as he bent down to grab the isepo by the ears.
Okikurumi swung the animal back over his shoulder and looked straight at Kaipoku. "Why were you out here in Yoshpet all alone? You know people die in here if they stay too long." Kaipoku flinched under his firm reprimanding. The eyes of the fox mask glared into her green ones as if to condemn her.
"Well… I needed to gather some kina for dinner tonight…." Kaipoku wrung her hands around her soft fleece jacket while nervously waiting for his reply.
"Wa…?" Kaipoku dragged her green-eyed gaze back up to meet the fox kotor.
"I finally found some, but then… then a monster ran off with them." She hung her head ashamedly. "I hope everyone won't mind." Kaipoku whispered into the cave of her mask; her warm breath returned to hit her in the face. The Oina kahkemacihi bit her lip and looked back up to the man. "You won't mind, will you, Okikurumi?"
"No." He began to walk off through the forest, ducking under scraggly tree limbs and avoiding hazardous brambles. Kaipoku smiled weakly and began to follow deftly behind him in the large path he was clearing.
"Oh good, I suppo−"
"I'm not coming." Kaipoku stopped in her tracks and stared at the back of his retreating head.
"H-Hemanta?!" The deer-masked Oina ran a semi circle around Okikurumi until she stood barring the path in front of him. "Okikurumi, I… I was working so hard on everything… Samaikuru, Tousukuru, Kemu... they'll all be there!" Kaipoku was desperate to change his mind- she would do anything just to have him over for dinner. They were all a tribe, after all. They should not distance themselves from one another.
"Kaipoku." Okikurumi's gravelly voice was becoming hostile. "Get out of my way." The Oina okkay brushed past her, bumping her shoulder slightly. The Oina kahkemacihi stood in stunned disappointment for a moment before turning around slowly. Kaipoku watched with forlorn jade eyes as his tall figure disappeared from view within the branches and underbrush. She felt the clutches of rejection and embarrassment pulling inside her chest. Kewtum….
She did not want to follow him out of Yoshpet. She wanted to lie down in the snow and stare up into the pale gray sky until she forgot her troubles- until she could think without thinking about the hurt Okikurumi so often inflicted. Maybe she was too sensitive- maybe she was overreacting… it probably would not bother her as much if Okikurumi had not also stolen her heart. Now it was as if he was stabbing her constantly with sharp remarks and cold disregard. She had given him her heart….
「オキクルミの物 語」
A/N: Too OOC Oki? Tried to depict him in a grumpy mood :( I should probably mention that literal translations of sames are used ^0^;;
Okikurumi= Oki; 23
Kaipoku= Kai; 17
Samaikuru= Samickle (or Sami as my sis and I call him ;) 27
Tousukuru= Tuskle; 20
Pirika= Lika; 8
???= Kemu; 75
???= Wali; 22
I'm not sure on Wali or Kemu's names :O!! If anyone happens to know (or finds) their names, please tell me!! I will give you all my cookies *bribe*
Ainu is used in this fic, and just so you know, Ainu can be written correctly in romaji or katakana. I will list the Ainu words I use and update every chapter~
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Cikap= Bird
Kota= Drum
Kahkemacihi= Young lady
Okkay= Boy
Pirka okkay= Handsome boy
Kotor= Mask
Gasa goso= Sound effect for rustling
Chara chara= Sound effect for rattling
Kewtum= Feelings
Ay= Arrows
Kon Rametok= His bravery
Attus= A sleeveless jacket
Isepo= Rabbit
Kina= Herbs
Wa= "And."
Keray= "Thanks."
Hemanta= "What?"
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All right... as for the pronunciation, it's basically the same as Japanese. Not really sure on the ending y's, though...
"Mori no Fukuro" is actually a Japanese lullaby of sorts. I couldn't find any Ainu songs about guardian owls... .;;
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Thanks for reading!!! :)