I don't own Okami. This is set in the game when the player is fighting Orochi. It is also set as if Gekigami was still aware of the world while trapped in stone.

A Storm is Brewing

Gekigami had a secret that only a select group knew about – and many of them weren't the Brush Gods. Only Kabegami, Ninetails, and possibly the tigers themselves knew the truth.

Gekigami was gifted with the power of prophecy.

On days that seemed like there was no trouble within the world, the tiger would look into the sky, and occasionally he would mutter, "A storm is brewing," and, without fail, something terrible would happen soon after. Not even Amaterasu, the goddess who birthed the cross bowyer, knew of her child's gift. But he kept this secret from her with good reason.

With the gift of prophecy came a sick realization: to try and change the future would lead to disastrous consequences. While trapped in stone, Gekigami had contemplated his visions and the actions of those he watched.

'If Orochi had not returned, Mother Amaterasu would not have been released. If he had come later, Mother may have been too weak. If Orochi had never returned,' the archer hesitated but pushed his thoughts on, 'the humans would have fallen to suffering, would have ceased worshiping the gods, and would have eventually been destroyed by their own corruption. In a way, we should praise Orochi for freeing himself by manipulating that human.'

While he was still trapped, Gekigami had felt his sibling's powers being released, and had heard that their mother had returned and was defeating Orochi. 'I wonder if Mother will release or defeat Ninetails.' Looking deeper into the storm clouds, Gekigami opened his eyes completely and saw.

A white wolf, with markings the color of blood and a reflector hovering over her back, faced off against a large brown vixen. When the fox raised a nine-pronged sword into the air, the wolf's tail slashed down – and an arc of lightning ripped down and struck the sword, injuring the fox even more. Finally, the fox fell down, and disappeared into the darkness with a bloody snarl.

Gekigami closed his eyes and sighed; it was impossible to tell, even for Gekigami, if the sigh was relieved or worried or frustrated. To him, it was a sigh, like how this vision was just a vision. He would be freed, and Ninetails defeated, but at what cost?

Trapped here for years, the celestial archer has understood and accepted the shades of grey that filled the world. The island was filled with demons, but the demons still had lives. They had joys, sorrow, passions (the tiger always chuckled some when he saw Tobi floating around, looking for a challenger), hopes, and dreams. He often saw poltergeists of lightning lay by his stone paws and join his immobilized form in staring at the clouds.

The ghostly foxes would curl up together between his paws and whisper excitedly; how the prices of the imp merchant had lowered some; where they wanted Oni Island to go next; how the Water Dragon looked so funny thrashing about, terrorizing the humans on the shore.

While their words were malicious, they reminded Gekigami of the cubs that lived in his clans when they were gossiping about the things they've heard. Overall, the poltergeists sounded like children. Dark, immature violent children, but children none the less. Though headless guardians dominated the population on Oni Island, imps still lived on the island, and at night some of them would find his statue and play music to the stormy sky, possibly hoping to lessen the fury of the squall that constantly surrounded the island.

While a proud creature, the tiger wasn't afraid or ashamed to say that their music had impressed him, and he made this known by lessening the intensity of the storm. But he didn't get rid of it; he couldn't abandon the only thing he had left.

Breaking from his reverie, Gekigami opened his eyes into the storm again. 'Where will this battle take place?' A flash of white light blinded him as lightning struck, and a tower appeared in his mind. The tower had a massive stone cat perched atop it, and the walls of the tower glowed with celestial power in the shape of paw prints.

The vision faded, and inside his stone shell the tiger smirked. 'Ahhh, sometimes I wonder if the future holds coincidences, fate, or simply is created with the purpose of irony. Many things ride on this fight and the stage is set in a way that almost ensures the heroine's arrival. What…luck.'

Suddenly a powerful presence appeared beside him, and Gekigami saw Ninetails stalk forward and sit in front of him. Her tails swayed in a way he was sure was supposed to be appealing (he had to snort at this. Appealing? To who? She only took her true from near him it seemed, and it certainly didn't appeal to him. The highest number of tails he's comfortable with in a potential mate is two), and her eyes glinted with malicious excitement, not unlike the poltergeists.

"You saw something; didn't you, my seer?" While many other creatures would call the fox's voice husky, the archer thought it had the raspy sound of a tree falling after being struck by lightning, or like a person who had inhaled too much smoke and was speaking soon after. It was true the vixen impressed him by being able to capture him, but it was difficult to be fond of one's tormentor and jailor.

The kitsune's growl brought him back, and she continued speaking in a sickly sweet voice. "You probably saw Orochi defeating your weak bitch of a mother. Don't worry, I'll find a way to –" The vixen's voice fell away abruptly as an evil entity passed by, a shadowy scream following close behind it. The fox's ears pulled back and her teeth bared slightly, but she didn't look away from the captured god. She didn't need to; they both knew what that scream meant: Orochi failed. Amaterasu defeated him, and was one step closer to finding – and destroying – Ninetails. The vixen snarled into Gekigami's immobilized face before looking away, her tails now thrashing around to express her agitation.

She continued to speak. "She may have won this battle, but that bitch will not win the war. If she gets near this island, I will kill her. And once I release you, I will force her corpse down your throat. She will not take anything that is mine." Ninetails looked back at the tiger. "My life is mine, this island is mine, and you, my little seer," at this point her voice dropped to a purr, and one tail came up to touch Gekigami's stone face, you are mine as well." And with that, the vixen turned and stalked away.

Her words were certainly harsh, but the archer didn't take any of it to heart. 'What happens will happen, and even Ninetails can not change the inevitable. All I have to do now is wait. With my years spent trapped in stone, a little longer won't hurt me.' If the tiger could show it, the statue would be graced with a smirk, eyes still facing the furious squall. 'A great storm is brewing, the greatest to be seen in a century, and I know better than anyone the uselessness in challenging a storm.' A sigh built up and was released inside him.

'For now, I must wait.'

Gekigami is my favorite of the Brush Gods, followed by Kabegami. His ability of prophecy is kinda a pun on the title and saying, "a storm is brewing." I also think that Gekigami, as a kind of war god and because of his capture on the island, would know that nothing is just black and white in the world.

Please review.

Ja ne!