Disclaimer: I do not own "Okami" or any of its characters.

"The time is coming. There's nothing I can do to avoid it. The end of my life… and the world."

~*~

"Hey Ammy! What's with the long face? And why are we going to Kamui? It's cold up there!" the little Poncle, Issun, shouted in the white ear he stood beside.

Amaterasu, a sun god in the form of a wolf, shook her head in attempt to get the little bug away from her ear.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing! I'm gunna fall!" Issun shouted again.

"That's the whole point," Amaterasu whispered so quiet that Issun didn't hear.

"So, why are we going to Kamui?" Issun asked is a softer, more controlled voice.

"There's just something I need to do," Amaterasu said.

Issun looked down to the white fur of the head he stood on. He was confused as this wasn't how Amaterasu normally behaved. She was usually excited and happy. Almost as eccentric as him… maybe.

Amaterasu walked slowly through the snow, her feet dragging. The knowledge she carried with her was a great weight that she almost couldn't bear. What do I do?

"Amaterasu? What are you going here?"

Amaterasu looked up and saw a young woman wearing heavy, warm clothes and a mask. Her name was Kai and she was one of the Oina Tribe that dwelled in Kamui. The Oina tribe are a very strange group as they are both half human and half wolf.

"Hello, Kai. I'm just looking for something," Amaterasu said.

"Anything I can help with?" Kai asked.

"No, it's okay," Amaterasu said.

"Ammy!"

Amaterasu looked up just in time to be ploughed to the ground by Lika, Kai's younger sister.

"Hi, Lika," Amaterasu said, getting as much cheer in her voice as her current state of mind would allow.

"Now, now, Lika. No need to climb all over Ammy," Kai said.

Lika jumped away before running off.

"Still as spirited as ever," Issun laughed.

"Yes, she's quite a handful. I'd better go find her," Kai said before running off.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong yet, Ammy?" Issun asked.

Amaterasu didn't respond as she continued walking. She made her way through the village.

"You," Samickle said as Amaterasu approached Kemu, the chief of Oina Tribe's, house.

"Well, hello to you too," Amaterasu said.

"What mischief are you up to this time?" Samickle asked.

"Mischief?! Wasn't it Ammy here who saved this village last time she was here?! If not for her, you'd still be dealing with those twin owl demons!" Issun shouted.

"Bah, if we'd just given Oki a little more time, I'm sure he would've handled it," Samickle objected.

"He was there! We had to help him! If not for Shiranui, he'd be dead!" Issun shouted again.

"Shiranui? If what I heard was right, Shiranui lived a hundred years ago," Samickle said.

"Well, that is… technically true," Issun mumbled.

"Let's go," Amaterasu said.

"Hey! Ammy! I wasn't finished talking to him!" Issun argued.

Amaterasu passed Samickle in front of Kemu's house. She walked through the gate beyond and made her way to a stone platform. She sat down and stared straight ahead. Her gaze was locked on a bridge of rainbows. She followed the bridge with her eyes until she reached the end.

"The Ark of Yamato? Why are we here?" Issun asked.

Amaterasu didn't answer. She just silently stared at the great ark, contemplating her options.

"Ugh, you're boring me. I'm leaving. I'll be at Ponc'tan when you decide to come to your senses," Issun grunted as he jumped from Amaterasu's head.

Amaterasu sighed with relief at Issun's absence. Oki or Waka… the shrine or the ark. The time is drawing near. I just need a sign.

"Amaterasu," a voice called form behind.

That'll work. Amaterasu turned and saw a blue and red clad man with a blue wolf's mask. "What do you want, Oki?"

"I or rather, we need to ask you a favour," Oki said.

"'We'?" Amaterasu questioned.

"We as a tribe," Oki said. "You see, we need you to recite the Volcanic Incantation."

"What about Lika?" Amaterasu asked.

"She's been so unfocused lately, I'd be surprised if she ever remembered the incantation," Oki said.

Amaterasu sat in silence for a moment. "I can't," she finally answered.

"What?" Oki asked.

"I said, I can't," Amaterasu repeated before she turned to walk away.

Oki quickly phased to his wolf form and jumped in front of Amaterasu, blocking her path.

"Move, Oki," she said sternly.

"What is the matter with you?!" Oki shouted.

"Nothing!" she objected.

"This is not like you! Normally you'd do whatever you can to help someone! When did that change?!" he asked.

Okay, so the 'sign' is changing. "That's true! Normally I would so whatever I can to help someone but only if I know it's something I could actually do!"

"What are you saying? That you can't perform the incantation?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!"

"Ridiculous! You know the incantation and that's all it takes!"

"Listen Oki! The eruption of Ezofuji is a method of countering the Day of Darkness! And on the Day of Darkness, the sun is shrouded in shadows and evil! If this happens to the sun, what do you think would happen to the sun god?!" Amaterasu shouted.

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

Amaterasu groaned. "How dense are you?! I am the Sun God! And being what I am, I don't have the power to fight the Day of Darkness!"

Oki stood in silence for a moment. "You're a god?"

"It's about time, Amaterasu sighed. "Every hundred years, the sun becomes shrouded in darkness and, being the sun god, I share the same fate. As soon as darkness takes over, it begins to destroy the sun and so I only have minutes after the darkness sets to create a new sun behind the first. After this short moment passes, the darkness takes over me and I enter a deep slumber.

"Twenty-four houses later, when the darkness fully consumes the sun, it leaves, allowing the new sun to shine and end the Day of Darkness. With the new sun shining down, I also regain my energy and awaken.

"Only this year, I fear I don't have enough power left to create a new sun and if I don't, the original sun will be consumed and I will enter my slumber. Since there is no new sun to reenergize me, I won't wake. I will perish and the world will follow, for without a sun, nothing can survive."

Oki was stunned with shock.

"The Day of Darkness is in three days. In three days, the world will end and I can't stop it," Amaterasu said.

"There's nothing we can do? No way to replenish your power?" Oki asked.

Amaterasu looked at him for a moment, trying to decipher if the sympathy in Oki's voce was for her or just for the fact that he too would die with the rest of the world. "There's nothing we can do. All that's left is to live out the rest of our lives as happily as our fates will allow. And that puts me here. Do I board the Ark of Yamato to spend my last three days with the celestial and other gods?" and Waka, she added silently. "Or do I go to the Wawku shrine to transform and live in this world as a human." With you. It's a choice between two loves and not an easy choice to make.

Oki seemed torn. Almost as if he didn't know what to say. "What do you mean by transform?" he finally asked.

"The Wawku Shrine is the reason behind the nature of the Oina Tribe. It's because of it that you can phase between a human and a wolf so if I go there, I can become human too," Amaterasu explained.

"You can become human…" Oki mumbled to himself. He was silent for a moment before saying, "I think you should go to the Wawku Shrine."

"What?" Did he just say that he wants me to stay?

"oh, um… all I mean is, you should spend your last few days doing something you've never done before, assuming you've never been human before," he stuttered.

"No, I've never been human." He wants me to stay.

"The go to the shrine. I'll take you there," Oki said.

Amaterasu turned her back to him. If wolves could blush, her face would be red. She looked to the ark and thought, I'm sorry Waka. I'm staying here. I've been given a sign. He's here, you're not.