大神伝：アフタ
σκαmιδεη: τhε αfτεr
Chapter One
Nine months after the slaughter of Orochi in the palms (and paws) of Amaterasu, the Sun goddess, and a descendant of Nagi, Susano, a new threat to Nippon arose. Thanks to the child of the Sun, Chibiterasu, and a numerous amount of trustworthy companions, namely, Nanami, Kagu, Manpuku, Kuni, and Kurow, they were able to disperse of Akuro. Since then, Nippon has flourished under the great peace that was bestowed upon them, but after ten years of this so called "peace"...
"Are you sure you don't want to go back to Kamiki Village, Kuni?", Nase asked with much worry. "I've gone by Kamiki this morning for some of your mother's famous sake, and Kushi told me that she does miss you so..."
"Of course not... I mean... Of course I'd want to go back with mom and dad and their new kid, but... I promised myself I would not go back there until I know who I really am. I don't even know my given name, and what's more is that... I don't know, it's been so long since I've been there. It's going to be tough going back to the village, especially with that huge argument with dad and all...", Kuni sighed, then shook his head. Bringing back petty arguments and agonizing over them would prove nothing. "Never mind. I'm off to the shrine across the village. Bye, Nase.", he said as he stood up, then pushed through the small cloths that served as their doors.
Watching Kuni leave, Nase mumbled, resting her wrinkled face on her hand, "Oh dear... Did I say something out of line this time? His mother, father, and younger brother is really worried sick... It HAS been ten years since then, too..."
"Yeah, I'm Kuni. Who're you, miss weirdo?", a small boy asked, eyeing the lady in front of him suspiciously.
"Seriously? You're the dude who killed Akuro with Chibiterasu ten years ago?", the young lady asked, giving him the same look. She examined 'Kuni' carefully. This little guy had a snotty nose, a weird looking unibrow, hair that looks chopped lazily by an axe (but most was tied in the back with a loose purple ribbon), wore a purple shirt that had tatters at the ends, and wore grey pants that sagged but were tied to it's place with a brown rope-like ribbon.
"Kuni, who's this girl? Is there a problem, miss?", a man who looked like the spitting image of his son (but as a middle-aged man) asked calmly, coming towards his son.
She looked at the older man in disbelief, and her eyes dazzled in excitement, energy, and enthusiasm. The stranger asked quickly, as she circled around the man to examine him even more, "Hey, are you the great Susano?! I've been a HUGE fan since the great goddess Amaterasu and you joined hand-in-hand, um, er, I mean, hand in paw, I think? Anyways, WOW, I never knew you lived here in Kamiki Village!"
As the young lady continued with her seemingly interminable amount of questions, Susano felt a drop of sweat trickle down his head, and his mind was doing the tango from all of her unnecessary interrogations. "Uh... Kid...?"
"Have you been married yet? Oh wait no, you are, right? He's your kid, isn't he? This little kid of yours looks almost EXACTLY like you! But yeah, like, the older version though... Ahem.. Um, anyways... Who's your wife? Is she pretty? Hm... I think she would be, judging from the story the village elder told me and...", she caught her breath. Her eyes widened, and she stepped back from her hero, Susano and the snot-filled kiddo Kuni. She looked down at the soil beneath her sandals, keeping silent. The stranger had turned from an energetic enthusiast to a seemingly depressed damsel in distress. 'No... C'mon thoughts and past, not now...', she thought. Her scarred past reminded her of who she was, and who she used to be. Her family, her true purpose, her friends... All of it came back to her in that single line.
"We'll always be together no matter what, okay? I swear on my own name!"
'Liar.'
"... iss? Is there anything wrong?"
Realizing she was being called for in the past few moments, she looked up at him. Now fully understanding who she was talking to, she furiously rubbed her eyes, then said in an obvious tone of panic, "Wha...?! O-Oh, nah, this is nothing, I-I promise you." She spun around suddenly, and whispered some things to herself.
Kuni tugged on his father's pants, and asked with his childish charm, "Daddy... Is she mad...?"
Susano took his gaze off his son, then looked at the lady who was still talking to herself. He stared at her in bemusement, and raised one side of his brow. "Maybe." Of all the beautiful women this coward was seen, she had to be the most insane, deranged, gorgeous woman of them all.
"C'mon, you idiot..! Get yourself together...! You ARE in the presence of your childhood hero, right...?! Okay...?! Three... Two... One... Go...!" She turned back around, almost scaring the two right out of their unibrows. Her smile was wiped off, and the young lady asked with a desperate glint in her eye, "Where's Kuni?" Glancing at the small snotty boy, she shook her head, then clarified herself, "The Kuni who killed Akuro ten years ago."
Susano's facial expression turned from a... How to explain... His expression change was like a gate; from being open to closed. He answered with a shadowy look on his face, like he did something he deeply regretted, "Kuni, huh... Haven't heard from that kid in quite a while... Probably venturing the entire Nippon by now, sorry miss."
The young lady groaned, then stomped her foot several times. Wasn't it obvious her energy and momentum returned? "Seriously?! Weren't you like, his dad or something?! Dang that Kuni... How am I supposed to tell him now?! Geez, that dude goes everywhere I don't every single time, so annoying!"
"Wait... Tell him WHAT exactly? And how did you know that I was the one who raised him?", Susano asked without hesitation. Despite his small altercation with Kuni when he left, Susano still cared for Kuni as much as any real father would.
Snapping out of her rage, the stranger looked at Susano and the snotty Kuni innocently, while her hands were still up in the air. She postured herself, then cleared her throat. "Sorry dude, even though you're the great Susano, it's still classified." The young lady whipped her hair back with a single hand gesture, revealing a red scarf she wore loosely around her neck. "Later, Susano and 'Kuni'." She turned around and faced Kamiki Village's entrance, and it's exit. 'This is the village Kuni grew up in... He's bound to come back sooner or later, isn't he...?' She shook her head. 'No... You have to find him yourself... He... He probably forgot all about you by now... Just... Go.'
Before the young maiden even got the chance to take one step, the younger Kuni asked aloud, "Miss weirdo, what's your name?"
She paused.
"Kuroha."
"Kuni? What a surprise!", Dr. Redbeard called to Kuni, just as soon as he was heading out Yakushi Village's entrance.
Clear to his call, Kuni turned around willingly. "Hm? Oh. Hey there, I guess...?" Dr. Redbeard was usually a stubborn old hag trying to mix up herbs and such, but after he and Chibiterasu cheered Ayame up several years ago, he too began to chin up as well.
"Would you mind giving these herbs to Nase for me...?", Dr. Redbeard muttered, not really looking at Kuni straight in the eye as he always did.
He stared at the bag containing many fragrant herbs that emanated a wondrous fragrance. Kuni trailed his gaze back to Dr. Redbeard slowly, then said in reciprocation, "Wha...? But we didn't even place an order for medicine. I can't take this, Dr. Redbeard... I'm sure Nase'll be pretty mad too if I brought this ba—"
"JUST BRING IT TO HER, DAGNABBIT!", Dr. Redbeard fumed, now facing the now scared to death Kuni with a flustered face just as red as his own beard.
'Crazy how he gets angry, nowadays... He's a different man than how he used to be ten years ago before Nase... Oh... Oh, okay, I get it now!', Kuni smirked to himself, placing his fingertips above his lips like Nase's women-friends do when they come over and see Kuni cleaning around the house. "Wow, Dr. Redbeard! I can't believe I was so oblivious! But sorry, I have my eyes set on Ayame already... Haha, you should have known that by no—"
"WHAT CRAZY MUMBO-JUMBO NONSENSE ARE YOU SPITTING OUT, YOU LOON! I don't like you, I like Nase! Okay?!", he screeched, stomping his foot multiple times on the ground. Dr. Redbeard was panting heavily, and you could bet that the entire Yakushi Village—most probably even the entire land of Nippon—could have heard his ranting.
"Dr. Redbeard, is this true?", a crazy familiar voice called from behind him, her tone filled with pure innocence like a child's voice.
Still panting like a madman, Dr. Redbeard turned around, and glared at the person behind him. Too bad for him, that person was the one and only Nase. Wiping off his death face, Dr. Redbeard stammered uncontrollably, "Uh... Ye—"
"Dr. Redbeard!", another voice (this time sounding like two young boys) called loudly. The three turned around and sure enough, two pint-sized twin brothers came running towards them. Between pants and deep breaths, they both said in a harmonizing panicked tone, "A girl fainted in Shinshu Fields! We dunno what happened, but she's not moving and she's muttering words we don't get!"
"What in the name of Amaterasu are you two troublemakers talking about? Who fainted? Where?", Dr. Redbeard asked the duo, placing his hands on his hips and staring at them. Nobody disrupts Dr. Redbeard during any one of his confessions. Be it the gods, or small children like these two. Okay, maybe the gods would be a special exception, but other than that, nobody.
"We don't know her!", the twin at the right yelped. "In front of Kamiki Village!", the twin at the left continued.
Kuni jumped at the left twin's remark. 'Kamiki... Village...' Focusing on the problem at hand, he left the conversation. "I'm gonna check this out."
With that, he ran as fast as he possibly could to the entrance of the village he feared the most.
"There she is!", one of the twins pointed out. "Look, look! She's the one lying down on the grass!", the other exclaimed, pointing out like his brother, but on the opposite arm. After putting down both their arms, they asked together, their voices complimenting one another's, "Can you see her?"
'Obviously... It's not like anyone else would be lying down on the floor unconscious...', Kuni thought, squinting his eyes at the two. "Oh... Yeah, I see her." His run broke into a jog, then his jog broke into a walk. Soon enough, Kuni was standing in front of the fainted young lady. 'Strange... She looks... Awake?' He stooped down in front of the stranger, and examined her more carefully. The girl wore a strange type of kimono; the ends were cut just above her knees, and most of her pale pink kimono was tied up in a rather large white loosely tied ribbon. Her attire was mainly a faint pink (bright yellow was used as a border at the ends), but an embroidery of a twist and turn of sapphire and light green vines covered the side that was visible to him. The lower half of her neck and the top of her collar was covered by a red scarf, it's ends in slight tatters. Finally noticing her hair color, Kuni now definitely thought she was a foreigner. He's never seen anybody else with brownish-reddish auburn hair, all except himself. Her hair was rather straight from the top of her head to bottom, but the rest was the tiniest bit wavy. It seemed her hair had a white ribbon in the back, but it was covered by her hair in the front and because of the positing she was lying down as.
Kuni blinked several times, as he squinted even more to see what was going on. The girl definitely looked asleep, so did she collapse because of fatigue, or...? He leaned in towards her, brushing back some of her foreigner colored hair that was in the way. He got close enough that if he moved another inch, their noses would touch.
"Kuni, dear! What's the matter?", Nase asked, hurriedly running with Dr. Redbeard to the fainted lady and Kuni.
Kuni didn't even reply, he just kept studying her. As soon as he realized it, he pulled back suddenly (almost hitting Dr. Redbeard in the face with the back of his head), then stood up. "I think... She looks... Possessed?"
Dr. Redbeard, Nase, and even the twins were shellshocked. They each exchanged weird looks at Kuni; the twins looked at him as if he's gone total wacko, Dr. Redbeard stared at him as if Kuni was just joking and speaking lies, and Nase looked at him like she fully believed him and she was truly worried about the stranger's case.
"Possessed?!", Dr. Redbeard exclaimed. "Now now, kid. Are you sure you're okay in the head? I mean, there's no way in telling she's possessed or not. See? She looks knocked out from lack of sleep!"
In reply, Kuni shook his head, then said in a stern and serious voice, "You said so yourself.. There's no way in telling she's possessed or not. Look, I'm telling you... I can see these things, and I'm being serious. She doesn't look like she's sleeping to me, she looks fully conscious and... Well, like she's fighting something. You can't see it, but I can. There's a weird aura around her, I just... It's both new, nostalgic, but all in danger. Dr. Redbeard, we gotta do something at least!" After his explanation, Kuni furrowed his circular eyebrows, and his facial expression portrayed a desperate plea.
Reading Kuni's feelings like an open book, the old man sighed, and scratched his beard. His gaze trailed to the unconscious girl, and then he sighed once more. "Well, what should we do then? I've got no way in waking this one up, but if there's anything I can do, I'd help you."
Kuni's face brightened quickly, but once looking at the girl again, he instantly lost hope. How WOULD he pull this one out?
"So...", the right twin trailed off. "What now?", the left continued. The two both had their hands on their hips, but the left raised his right eyebrow, and the right raised his left.
"Are we just going to try to snap her out of it? Maybe some exorcism slips?", Nase suggested in high hopes.
"No... We're not Miko, so none of us have any spiritual powers or anything like that.", Dr. Redbeard shot Nase down. Yes, he liked her, but when it came to serious medical situations, his own personal feelings were ignored. "How about we slap her silly until she wakes up?"
"Are you CRAZY?! That'd just hurt her, 'doctor'!", Kuni countered his silly idea. Silently, Kuni pulled out his wooden sword that was tied with a loose red string on his back, and pointed it at the girl. "I hate to say this, but this is our only shot."
"What do you mean, ONLY shot?! Your idea is even crazier than mine, boy!", Dr. Redbeard exclaimed, a sweat dropping down his head.
"Well what do you want me to do?!", Kuni asked loudly, clearly angry now. "We're not Miko, we can't wake her up physically, so what now? C'mon, trust me here!"
Silence.
'Did I sound THAT authoritative? Never mind... I'll just get this over with.' Presuming they all were a go, Kuni pointed his sword at her, and froze. 'Wha... Why did I stop...?' He glanced at his legs, and to his usual cowardice, Kuni's legs shaking was no big whoop.
"Kuni...?", Nase spoke softly.
"This... It's nothing. Don't worry about me...", Kuni squeaked. He caught his breath, and closed his eyes for a brief moment. 'For the sake of this girl...' "Here goes nothing!" Gathering all his courage in one blow, he swung his sword forcefully.
As if in cue, the world surrounding Kuni and the girl stopped suddenly. Kuni himself couldn't move for a while, and before he knew it, he was surrounded by a purple gas. The gas disappeared in a split second, and Kuni found himself face to face with a giant Imp demon. Surprised, he stumbled backwards, falling backward, rear first. The Imp was dancing around, hopping from one side to another. Kuni stared at him in confusion, more with a 'are-you-kidding-me-right-now' face. The Imp ran to Kuni in a few seconds, and smashed it's guitar-looking weapon next to his side. "Agh!", Kuni yelled, moving his arm at just the right moment. He jumped up, and sprinted to the other side of this seemingly familiar battleground. Kuni sighed nostalgically, then said to himself cockily, "Sigh... Brings back good old times. Anyways, you're dead meat, you giant banjo playing Imp!" He made a run for the Imp, and before it could protect itself with it's defense weapon, Kuni sliced the Imp in half.
Like that, the world was returned back to normal in a flash.
The young man pulled back his sword, then checked the woman to see her reaction. 'Good... So no wounds...'
"Hngh...", a soft childish voice muttered.
The five of them took a step back from surprise, but realizing it was just the girl waking up, they each softened up. Dr. Redbeard, Nase, the twins, and Kuni especially, moved closer and crowded the young lady.
She opened her eyes slowly, and after opening them once, she blinked several times. She raised an arm up to her left eye, and rubbed it with the back of her wrist. Finally, the stranger opened her eyes, and looked at her surroundings. "H-Huh...?", she stammered, widening her eyes, and backing away from them all.
"You're finally awake!", Nase said in complete relief.
"Phew... I thought you really wouldn't make it... You young'uns are so capable, reminds me of my olden days.."
"We're glad...", the twin at the right sighed. "We hope you're feeling better!", the left twin cheered.
"Wha...?! W-Who are you people?!", she asked in a terrified tone. She folded a knee, and with her right arm, she forced herself up. Her right arm reached for her side, and past her white ribbon was actually a sword case hidden under her skirt. She pulled out a shinken sword, faced them from her right side, and pointed the blade at them. "Who are you all?! What do you want from me?!", she ordered, swaying her weapon to point at them all.
Pushing through the four, Kuni whispered to the others, "Stay back."
The others of course obeyed, cowering into the sidelines and watching Kuni and the girl intently.
"Again, who are you dudes and what do you...", she commanded, turning her focus from them to Kuni mid-sentence. She gasped, and dropped her sword in shock.
"What? What's wro—"
"KUNIIIIIII!", she screamed at the top of her lungs, running to him and locking her arms around his neck. "Thank goodness I found you! Do you know how worried I was?! You were just here in Shinshu Fields for ten years, and you didn't even bother going back home?!"
"Um... Lady... I... I-I can't breathe...", Kuni pushed out his words in plea, while patting her arms to let him go.
"Oops, sorry!" True to his word, she let go of him.
"Why did you threaten my friends, huh? We helped you, and this is how you repay us?", Kuni asked repeatedly.
"Oh...", she mumbled, looking at the sword under her feet. She whipped her head back to face the four, the sheepishly smiled. "Sorry. I don't trust people who look suspicious, that's all. I can't trust anyone, nowadays."
"You're pretty!", the right twin shouted from the far distance. "You give us the hots!", the left twin continued.
Flattered, the lady shouted back, "Thanks! I'm glad you think so, haha.." Returning to her usual voice, she said, "What nice boys.."
"Enough chit-chat, who ARE you?", Kuni forthright asked, crossing his arms.
"You mean... You don't remember me?"
"Not a single clue.", he said plainly, raising one of his eyebrows.
Putting her gloved hand to her chest, she kept going on by saying, "Kuni? It's me Kuroha, your friend? You don't remember me? Kuroha...?"
Kuni stared into Kuroha's eyes, both examining and admiring them. They were dark brown, which perfectly complimented her eyes. Then his eyes drifted off to...
"What are you looking...", her eyes followed Kuni's, and it led right to her chest. Kuroha blushed profusely, and covered her chest quickly. "P-Pervert!", Kuroha yelled, picked up her shinken, and pointed it to his face.
"Woah woah woah, sorry... And I'm serious, not a clue.", Kuni apologized, backing away with his hands raised up.
Kuroha withdrew her sword, and looked away. There was a huge hint of sorrow in her disappointed eyes, and she looked as if Kuroha was about to bawl any second.
Silence.
'What did I do THIS time?!', Kuni agonized.
"Kuroha, was it?", Nase asked, trying to break the awkward silence. She came towards the two, all with a warm cheery smile that was always on her face display. "Would you like to stay for a night? You must be weary from your travels."
"Uh, no...? I'm okay, I can just find a friend's place to cra—"
Kuni walked in front of Kuroha and Nase, and he bravely grabbed Kuroha's hand. "Let's just go. Nase's really deadly once she's angry. Okay?"
Burying her face in embarrassment, Kuroha mumbled, "Okay then, I guess..."
With that, they were off to Yakushi Village.
A/N:
Hi everyone~! Uh... I'm Ms. Author/Konoha, and WOW this is really awkward. XD I know absolutely nobody but one of my real life friends on this website. :) I'm kind of new, to writing on at least. ^.^ I'm more active on dA and Wattpad, but I'll try to post some things here once in a while :)
Leave a review or a comment please? ;D That'd help me lots! Thanks reader! :)