Hello! Welcome to the first chapter of A New Land. I hope you enjoy it! (Also, the Crystal Pool is my invention-it's a little bit like a scrying pool)
Amaterasu yawned. There was little to none action on the Celestial Plain these days. Her daily schedule was boring her. When she got really bored, (Which was to say, most of the time) she went for walks. She's been in every direction from her palace, she's even made up new directions on the compass. She could sleepwalk and still easily make her way through the maze of Cherry Blossoms in the giant orchard in the back of her palace.
Amaterasu stood up and stretched, walking over to the wall where her schedule hung. She took a look at it and sighed.
1. Wake up-check.
2. Wake up Chibi-I'll do all the rest after I'm done reading this for the millionth time.
3. Get yourself and Chibi groomed.
4. Eat breakfast.
5. Free time-Let me just fill this in with Go for a walk.
6. Visit friends and relatives?-Friends? They all live in Nippon, where I am NOT. Relatives, on the other hand...
7. Try to convince Waka to let you return to Nippon. (Note: Has tried 142 times-unsuccessfully-to convince him.
8. Come up with your 143rd excuse.
9. TONIGHT IS A FULL MOON. MONTHLY MEETING AT THE TWIN MOUNTAINS!
10. Keep trying to get in touch with Oki somehow. (Note: DO NOT USE THE CRYSTAL POOL. WAKA HAS MEN THERE. ANOTHER NOTE: HIS MEN WON'T DIE, AND VEIL OF MIST OR ANY OTHER BRUSH TECHNIQUE DOES NOT WORK ON THEM.)
11. Eat a big dinner. You had no lunch today because you were too busy being bored.
12. Make sure Chibi goes to bed before you. (Note: He WILL wake you up and bug you until you knock him unconscious.)
13. Go to bed.
14. Start at #1 when you wake up.
15. Make sure to write 143 unsuccessful attempts unless you do not make a 143rd unsuccessful attempt today.
"Ugh," Amaterasu moaned. She walked out of her gigantic (meaning only being able to fit a large dog bed/throne, a small table, two chairs and a bowl of water about the size of Kabegami's paw) white room, and headed down the sun-yellow colored and very long hallway (five feet to be exact) to Chibi's room.
"Chibi?" She called softly into his small (and also white) room. She looked around, not spotting him anywhere. "Chibi!" She called, a little more forcefully. She walked in, looked under the table, chairs, and finally under the bed. She sighed. He's gonna pull this one again. How is it that I'm never ready?
"BOO!" Shouted Chibi as he suddenly appeared in the doorway.
"Ahh!" Amaterasu yelped, stumbling forward. She accidentally stepped on the water dish, which splashed water in her crimson-marked face and down her furry white chest and finally onto her paws.
The little white red-marked pup laughed histerically. "That's the fifth time this week! That trick never gets old!" He stopped laughing when he caught the look on his mother's face.
"CHIBI!" She roared, and gave chase.
"Yay! A game of chase!" He yipped, then turned tail and sped off down the steps of the palace. As soon as Amaterasu touched the steps, black ink appeared. She slipped on it, stumbling down the steps, sliding a few feet, and for good measure, crashed into the pillar holding a vase. The vase wobbled, then came crashing down on her head.
"That was awesome!" A mischevious Chibiterasu said. Amaterasu growled and stood up.
"I hate you so much right now."
"Would you hate me if I told you something interesting?"
"No more of your little tricks, Chibi. I'm tired and stressed and the Celestial Plain is so boring and I need to get out of this death trap!" Amaterasu slumped her shoulders as she sat down and sighed again. Chibi put on his rare serious face. He sat down next to his mother.
"I talked with Father today," Chibi said quietly. Amaterasu straightened up immediately.
"What? You did? How? The Crystal Pool is constantly guarded! There's no way you could have talked to him," she said, though her heart was grasping on to the hope that her son's words were true.
"They were changing shifts. They had a fifteen minute break."
"At what time was this?"
"Really early. Before you were up. I think they pick different times of day to get a break, so you can't easily figure out when to get to see the pool. I was just lucky enough to find the chink in their armor," he said, using one of Amaterasu's favorite expressions.
Amaterasu gave him a wolfish grin. "I love you so much right now. Tell me, what did you speak to him about?"
Chibi looked up, remembering what he had talked about. "Well, first of all, I was only able to talk to him for a couple minutes before I got too worried the guards were gonna come back."
"Good. I'm proud of you for being careful, or else we'd never be able to talk to him again."
Chibi grinned. "Thank you, Mother. But tell me, does Father know he has a son? He was confused when I called him Father and said he didn't have a son."
Amaterasu looked at her paws. "I haven't had the chance to tell him. Waka's men are constantly guarding the pool."
"Oh. I didn't press the matter of me being his son in case you wanted to keep it a secret," he responded. How noble of Chibi. It seemed that picking on his mother was the only way the poor pup could have some fun, and Amaterasu immediately forgave him for being such an annoying little ball of fur.
"We didn't really talk about much. He said he would wait for you to contact him, but I told him it wouldn't be easy but you would do everything in your power to talk to him again." He paused for a second. "Mother? You know you have power over the land. Why don't you just decide to force Waka to take you rather than back down?"
She smiled. "You know, Chibi, that's a really good idea. And I just thought of something that might help me convince him even easier."
So that's chapter 1 of A New Land. I must say, I had to release the inner Chibi in me and give this story some fun. Looking back on this chapter, I really think this is one of the best I've done, compared to my other Okami story. Sorry to those Ammy/Waka people, for some reason Waka just came out as a sort of bad guy in this (for reasons unknown to me) but I hope those of you who like the Ammy/Oki pairing enjoyed this. Ciao!