Hi again, kids. Imagine my surprise at finding a thriving Okami fandom when the last time I checked (about a year ago) there was none. Not a bad thing, though of course. Because you know what a sucker I am for teh femslash, have some HimiRao. Set right after that fun little trip to the belly of the sea dragon.
Rao felt her heart offer a joyous surge as she raced back toward Seian City, the Fox Rods clutched to her ample bosom, glowing with an ethereal light. She could feel the very power of the item surge through her blood, making her slightly dizzy and awfully giddy; a quite familiar sensation, but one she normally associated with her secret trips to the royal palace.
The palace...
She pictured the regal queen's kind, stunning face in her mind, and grinned as a passonate pain stroked across her heart like one of Amaterasu's divine brush strokes. However much she wanted to, though, she stopped herself at the alabaster curve of Himiko's neck, and instead set her thoughts toward how much more powerful her own holy abilities would be once amplified by the Fox Rods. That would mean that once and for all she could put to rest the evil threatening Seian. It meant that Himiko could stop barricading herself behind her colorful screens praying all day. It might mean that Rao's trips to the palace would become a permanent residence...
A sinister, hissing roar interrupted her reverie, and the priestess whirled around to face a gigantic, shadowy creature with nine serpentine tails sprouting from its body. Crimson eyes flashed hungrily, and the creature's malicious maw parted to reveal two rows of jagged, razor sharp teeth.
And, of course, possessing the Fox Rods most probably meant that she would meet an early death.
Rao just wished that she'd been permitted to view her queen one last time.
Drawing a deep and what was most likely her final breath, the priestess propelled her body forward, running full tilt around the temple, and clutching the precious artifact to her breast as if to absorb it into her body. Bone trembling quaking erupted from the beast's every footstep, but thanks to a long history of athletic training (men and her vocation alike demanded that she stay physically fit) allowed Rao to gain ground.
Her heart pounded madly now, an electrifying current of hope feeding into its veins; she could escape! She almost laughed aloud as she rounded the last corner of the temple...and skidded to a halt before a very real, very solid wall. That thundering organ, so joyfully drumming a moment ago, halted and dropped directly into the acrid depths of her stomach. Dismayed, she slowly gazed over her shoulder to see the creature appear, blocking the single exit.
With a defeated sigh, Rao sank against the wall; resolutely, she clutched the Fox Rods in her arms as tightly as she could bear, and sadly lifted her eyes to the beast's.
"I'm so sorry, Himiko-sama," she whispered softly just before closing her eyes and feeling the kyuubi (for now that she had a good look that was surely what it was) drove its fangs into her neck, causing several hauntingly beautiful crimson flowers to bloom.
I've failed you...