~*Thank You*~
Hey, this is my first Okami fiction, just thought I'd test the waters, so to speak. Here's the disclaimer:
I do not own Okami. If I did, we'd have a sequel by now.
~***~
The cold winds of Kamui carried with it the feeling of snow. However, in this momentary break among the snowstorms, Kai decided it was time to renew the gloves her little sister wore to fend off the winter's bite. It wasn't winter yet, sure, but it was better safe than sorry. Especially when Lika lacked a wolf form as of yet.
Kai adjusted her mask, wrapping her cloak more tightly around her. A smile directed at her sister, along with some coaxing words, guaranteed that Lika would stay in their cozy home, something more than a hut but less than a "house", until her older sister's return. However, she exchanged a few words with Samickle about Lika before she felt secure enough to leave her adventurous sibling behind.
Leaping backward, Kai transformed into her wolf form before she had fully hit the ground. She was a wiry brown wolf, but her modest fur was crisscrossed with elegant white markings that flowed backwards smoothly and beautifully. She had an almost deer like look on her thin face and dark, brown eyes that flicked warily from side to side. Kai's tail tapered off into a much darker brown tint near the edges, and she almost seemed to have a mane around her neck and face, features of her human hair.
Kai flexed her paws, preparing for the day ahead of her. She would have to hunt down a rabbit, or a deer, something to make gloves out of. The more leather the better, of course…Distracted in her thoughts, the Oina girl didn't notice the looming shape behind her. The massive creature let out a growl from between long, deadly fangs.
"…Where are you going, Kai?"
Kai jumped, whirling around and baring her teeth. She straightened, lowering her tail sheepishly, as she recognized the huge shadowy wolf in front of her, with its dark blue fur and impressive mane of red. "Oki, don't scare me like that."
Oki snorted, narrowing red eyes. "…My apologies." He grunted.
Kai shook her head, turning around. "I'm just going hunting for my little sister." It's not that she disliked the warrior, no, not at all. She felt no disdain or fear for him. But Oki was so distant and often cold that he pushed people away from him.
"Is food tight around your household?" Oki said after a while, following her as she headed down the small slope and toward Wep'Keer Village's south exit. Kai fancied she detected concern, but if she did, it was probably because it was his duty as a warrior to "protect those who cannot protect themselves".
"No," came the reply. She lifted her muzzle to the sky and scented the air, searching for the familiar musky tang of deer, or the lighter, softer smell of arctic hare. "Just some winter clothes for Lika, just in case."
"Just in case," echoed Oki. "What about yourself?"
Kai shrugged, still walking along. "I don't need any."
"I think you do…" He muttered.
She thought he would leave then, but he accompanied her down the path out of the village. Kai was about to ask why he was following her, and then realized she was on the same road that led to his hut outside the village. He probably just went to Wep'Keer for supplies or something.
Of course; that's the reason, Kai. Don't flatter yourself.
Kai attempted to strike up a conversation with the stoic wolf at her side. "How are you, Oki?"
"I am well enough." He turned his head slightly, eyes searching for danger. "Kai, I do not recommend hunting westward."
"Why so?" She hummed, pausing outside his hut. She expected him to give some cryptic message before leaving, but instead Oki stepped closer, as if to protect her, scenting the air.
"Bears. I've seen a mother and her cub not far from here. Use caution in your steps, Kai. May the elements protect you."
"Oh, and you too, Oki." She dipped her head and padded eastward, away from the alleged bears. Kai succeeded in detecting some rabbits, and she saw them nibbling on the last of the green not yet buried under the snow. Oki slunk somewhere away, not entering his home, and she guessed he had better things to do.
Kai gave herself to the wolf's instincts, sliding silently forward. She crouched down, wishing she had a white pelt instead of brown, prowling near the bottom of the snow topped hill. In the shadows of the sakura tree, three white hares hopped near the edges. She judged she had crept close enough to jump and capture at least one of them, and she smiled inwardly.
Gathering her muscles for the jump, Kai-
"No!" A voice snarled from behind her. Something heavy landed on top of her, pressing her into the snow. She heard the flutter of feet that showed the rabbits had fled. Scrambling frantically, Kai shoved, knocking the weight off of her. She whirled around, shaking snow from her fur, looking around wildly.
"Think before you leap," Oki growled, straightening. He flicked his tail contemptuously, but his derision was not directed at her. She followed the graceful curve of his tail to two good sized demons, Namahages she thought, steadily constructing a Devil Gate, hidden from her senses by the tree and the wind that had shifted. "Damn monsters. Let me deal with them." The warrior snarled.
"I can help you," Kai offered. She chuckled to herself, since Oki's "think before you leap" saying was strikingly similar to Issun's; "leap before you think". Apparently Oki took her laughter wrong; probably thinking it was aimed at him. He bristled.
"I don't need help, it's only two demons." Oki turned and let out a howl, racing up the slope. The two demons rounded on him, one lifting a strange torch and blowing flames at him. The dark wolf leaped and twisted, tearing its throat open and spilling shadowy blood across the snow. The other caught Oki in the back and flung him with a swipe of its massive talons.
Kai barked, drawing the remaining demon's attention away from Oki. She latched herself onto its side, clawing and biting, before the strange masked Namahage threw her off. She landed on her side in the snow, dazed but not hurt, and watched Oki bring down the monster. He paced over to her, his muzzle drenched with black blood.
"Your intervention was unwarranted."
Kai lifted her head indignantly. "You got hurt! I just-"
"Never mind the intrusion, Kai." Oki flattened his ears, leaving the hill. He left bloody paw prints in the clean white snow. Her naturally compassionate nature overwhelmed her anger, and she called, "Wait!"
He paused, just briefly, but enough for Kai to run to his side. "You're injured," she said quietly. "Let me help you. I know some herbs around here that can ease the stinging, at least." Oki was silent, his red eyes flicking over her face, before he muttered something about warrior's being able to take wounds.
"Don't refuse my help out of pride, Oki, please." Kai said stubbornly. She placed her paws on his shoulders and forced him to sit down. "Stay. I'll be right back." The chestnut brown she-wolf turned and padded away, missing the gleam of amusement in the dark wolf's eyes. Kai sniffed around near the edges of a half frozen pond, scraping at the snow with her claws until she unearthed some loose gray plants. They had somehow managed to survive under the frost, and though they were rather ragged, they'd do. She ran back across the snow to the rugged shape of Oki at the bottom of the slope, his fur fluffed out in indignation so he looked almost like a furry boulder.
"These are called sholapales." Kai crouched in front of him and shoved the mass of plants under his nose. She noticed that around his side and paws he had licked the wounds clean, though the torn flesh still showed. At least he had some sense. "I want you to recognize the scent and the appearance. See?" She gently pushed his nose down into the plants, smiling at his annoyed look. "When you're hurt, they can stop infection and will ease the pain. Okay?"
Oki muttered, "Okay." He sat up, watching her warily as she picked the three long stems of the plants in her teeth and started chewing the pale gray, ashen flora. He knew what she was doing, an old but effective method used by the Oina Tribe. Creating a plant poultice. Kai mixed the mashed plants with a little of the clean snow and plastered the solution to his wounds.
He growled, rising slightly, but she shoved him down again. "Stay still." Kai muttered, smoothing it out with her paws. Oki glared at her.
"It stings."
"You're a warrior, deal with it. Please." She added, as if sensing she was being too harsh. Oki grimaced, feeling the last of the abrupt, jolting pain in his cuts. Soon it was replaced with a warmer sensation. Seeing she was finished, Oki rose to his paws.
"Where's your sword?" Kai asked him. Oki flicked his ears.
"I am training to fight as a wolf."
She stared into his crimson eyes unflinchingly with her own clear, brown gaze. "I understand, Oki." Kai was surprised when Oki looked away, staring downward, shifting his paws.
"Thank you." He growled after a moment of silence, gesturing to the poultice on his injuries. He turned his head and looked at the sky. "You spent too long getting out here," he added briskly. "And treating me. The days grow shorter due to the coming winter, the sun already vanishes."
Kai looked up, and she realized he was right. The sky was fading to a delicate orange shade and darkness was stalking across the heavens on silent paws. It was like a black raven was slowly opening its wings to cover the world in shadow. Stars flickered into existence near the twilight edges.
"You're right. Guess I'll do it tomorrow, I need to make dinner for Lika." Kai shook her head. It was never safe to hunt at night, not with the demons becoming more active in the protection of the black sky. The brown she-wolf dipped her head in a silent farewell to Oki, and the warrior nodded in acknowledgement. She raced across the snows back to Wep'Keer, and she felt Oki's eyes on her as she sprinted back to her home.
~***~
It had to be around midnight. Kai was sleeping, curled up in her covers, the fire casting orange light across her face. Her mask was at her side, delicately placed near her for easy access. Lika was snoring gently nearby.
A knock.
Startled, Kai sat up, looking around her for any sign of trouble. She relaxed as the knock sounded again and she identified its source, grabbing her mask and placing it on her face. She seized her cloak from a rack on the wall and slipped it on as she answered the door.
The cold, frigid Kamui air seeped past her, but as she looked around into the night, almost pitch black save for the stars and a sliver of the moon, there didn't appear to be anything there. She looked down, and noticed a small leather satchel, worn but still sturdy, leaning against the wall of her home.
Kai knelt down, picking it up and looking around for signs of whoever had left it there. She shrugged, stepping back and closing the door. For a moment she wondered if it was demon-made, but her senses, increased past normal human standards due to the wolf part of her, could detect no demon traces on the little bag.
She reached in, her fingers closing around something soft but firm, and when she pulled it out; she saw a small pair of gloves made from rabbit fur. They were so finely finished that she knelt by the fire to examine them, the fur elegantly cut and the edges trimmed with white. She looked down and saw there was a note on the floor, fallen from in between the leather straps that loosely tied the gloves together.
It was made on old, weathered parchment. It looked like it had been ripped from a scroll. In messy, graceless brushstrokes someone had written:
We cannot have Lika freezing, now can we?
Kai felt a smile tug at her lips. She knew immediately that Oki had done this, and he must have been up for a while to craft the gloves, and to hunt down the creature needed to create it. She rolled the parchment up and tucked it in her robe, silently thanking him, and that's when she noticed the satchel was not empty. She reached over and picked it up, removing a larger pair of gloves, just her size, made not from rabbit fur but the darker red of a roe deer.
She blinked at the delicate patterns that encircled it, the same white marks that were on her clothes and the fur of her wolf form. They fit perfectly when she tried them on, and Kai smiled a little wider as she read the note, still ridiculously untidy, that was inside the right glove. She heard a wolf howl in the distance as the characters finally formed words.
I still think you need gloves, at least.
~***~
Well, this sucked. I'm sure it did. If you want to leave a review about it, please do!
Note: If Oki is OOC I'm sorry, wasn't intended.