Is anyone reading this still? I sure hope so. Reviews would let me know that you are ^-^ It gets a bit more exciting starting here. Kinda. Maybe? Oh, I'll just let you read.

Disclaimer: Okami? Not mine. This bagel? Defs mine :D


Chapter 1: Awakening

"How troublesome!" Wood Sprite Sakuya looked around her with sadness in her eyes, her words terse. The small village she had loved was reduced to nothing in the consuming darkness. The sky was swirling with evil, and the world seemed cold and desolate. She had been forced to tuck the whole of Kamiki in one seed pod. "This is just like the ancient prophecy of doom. What has transpired to bring about such calamity? We must act quickly! There is no time to lose!"

Her pink robe flowing over her fair skin, Sakuya ran her fingers over her blue gauzy shoulder wrap. "My power has diminished over the years I've spent protecting this area. I don't have much time left in this world."

She held up a dull looking stone disk about a foot in diameter.

"Amaterasu, now is the time."

These words softly reached the ears of who they were intended. The first in an immeasurable amount of time for one who is encased in stone.

"We have never needed your power more."

My… power? Thoughts came slow to the statue. But… the power being summoned is… outside myself, not mine… Can't move…

"Shine your divine light upon this broken and polluted world. Let your heavenly rays become our hope as you guide us all!"

With a sudden surge of energy, the stone wolf felt it. Her body, her very being, returning to flesh. Her divine instrument was hers to control. Okami Amaterasu was, once again, alive.

The wolf yawned and stretched her stiff muscles, her crimson markings a sharp contrast against her white fur. She jumped down from the shrine she was held on and cast her eyes around.

"Ah! Such divine white light! Such beauty and grace! The only one capable of such a wondrous spectacle is none other than our mother and the origin of all that is, Amaterasu!"

Amaterasu pricked her ears and stared at Sakuya. Who is she, and how does she know my name? the wolf wondered. Gods have been forgotten for so long. Was I not hunted and called 'Shiranui'?

"How delightful to see that the savior whose brave sacrifice sealed away the evil demon so many years ago has not changed one bit."

Well of course I haven't changed. The deity's thoughts were empty of spite and instead filled with amusement. I was encased in stone.

Amaterasu sat down and continued to look at the young woman levitating in front of her. She is obviously a wood sprite, but could she possibly be…?

Sakuya continued to speak, so Amaterasu listened.

"Seeing you emerge after so many years spent as a statue brings happiness to my heart!"

Sakuya began to sniffle.

Amaterasu, growing bored with the conversation, yawned again and laid down to show the sprite so, feeling herself get drowsy and drift towards sleep.

Sakuya didn't say anything for a few moments, calm but irritated with Amaterasu's short attention span. Then…

"Amaterasu… Gaze above you and take in the condition of the sky. Since your untimely departure from our midst, the world has succumbed to devious and vicious beasts. They have ravaged our fine and bountiful country of Nippon…"

I have not forgotten where I am, the white wolf grumbled in her thoughts without moving.

"But never have the circumstances been worse than they are at this very moment."

Try death by poison, Amaterasu suggested silently.

"Please use your powers to banish the darkness and punish those who would do us harm- …hm?"

The wood sprite paused abruptly and Amaterasu was almost tempted to look up.

"Eh? What is this? Has something stolen its way into my robe?"

Sakuya started giggling. Something was crawling its way through her bodice, and it tickled.

After a few moments of laughing and squirming on Sakuya's part, a very small, glowing thing popped out of the top of her robe.

"Phew!" the wood sprite sighs, whipping her forehead with her sleeve. "What on earth? You again?"

Almost lazily, Amaterasu glanced towards the commotion, before she jumped to her paws with a startled bark. A Poncle! She thought excitedly, but… no. Not the one I know.

The Poncle bounced up and down, as the half-inch high creatures usually do.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" he cried dramatically towards Sakuya. "Are you nuts? Boy, for a little thing, you sure make a big fuss! I was just trying to make the conversation a bit more interesting, that's all."

The wood sprite looked down at him. "Were you napping in my cloths again, bug?" To Amaterasu, her tone was almost laughably disdainful.

"Bug?" the Poncle repeated, offended. "I told you a thousand times not to call me that! I'm a wandering artist. The name's Issun!" I'll show you just how great I am and it won't be long till you're bowing before my great brush!"

Issun threw a drawing of the wood sprite at Amaterasu's face. She wouldn't admit it out loud, not that she could, but she thought it quite good.

"Well?" he asked, still bouncing, "whaddya think? Even cuter than the real thing, no?"

Oh praise us, the sun goddess thought with exasperation. We have business to do, little artist.

He leapt around the wolf and onto her muzzle. Amaterasu growled before stopping to look down her nose at him.

"What's with you, furball?" he asked her. "You look kinda down in the dumps. Actually… You look kinda familiar…" Issun thought about it for a moment. "Got it!" he exclaimed. "You look just like that statue of Shiranui."

No kidding? Amaterasu thought dryly. She tossed her head up a fraction of an inch, just enough to unbalance the Poncle, and caught him in her mouth before he could truly fall. Cringing at the taste, she spat him back out on the ground.

"Whoa! Whaddya think you're doin'!?" Issun exclaimed, bouncing with more vigor than before. His normally green glow turned red with indignation. "Are you crazy? A handsome guy like me should never be covered in wolf slobber."

Amaterasu rolled her eyes. A deity like me should never have such a foul taste in her mouth, she retorted silently. But the Poncle wasn't done.

"You'll regret messin' with the great Issun!" He stopped moving long enough to brandish a small sword, the blade slicing through the air in front of the tiny man. "Don't make me use my prized sword Denkomaru against you!" he threatened.

Issun, Amaterasu thought, you have a toothpick that's barely longer than a strand of my fur. If I-

Her thoughts were interrupted when a roar echoed through the land, shaking the ground and everything on it. The angry-looking sky swirled with twice the vengeance as before, rocks and debris flying over head.

"Wh-wh-what's that growling sound?" Issun asked Amaterasu, once again lightly bouncing on her muzzle. His shaking voice gave away his fear. "And why's it so dark, anyway?"

Amaterasu turned to the tree sprite. Well? She thought.

Sakuya clasped her hands together. "O, great god Amaterasu…" Cherry blossoms began to swirl around her as she spoke. "I have used up all the power I have to protect Kamiki Village." The blossoms began to glow as they massed around the sprite. "The village lives on. Their spirits lie encased in my fruit. Cut it free and the village will be reborn!"

Wait, what? Amaterasu tilted her head.

Sakuya, encased by the glowing blossoms, began to transform into a mighty leafless tree, her voice fading out. "I trust in you. I know that you will lead us down the right path. Only your awesome power can restore life to the world."

Amaterasu's attention was returned to Issun.

"The tree's returned to normal, huh?" he said, a bit disappointedly.

Men, the white wolf thought with irritation.

"That Sakuya girl sure said some weird stuff," he continued. "The villager's spirits are being kept inside the fruit…"

Amaterasu looked up at the tree's thick branches, to a large pulsating fruit, shining with divine light.

"That's the fruit," Issun observed.

No, Amaterasu thought sarcastically.

"That girl said if you cut it down, the village will be restored. But it's awful high up there. If you don't use some kind of special power there's no way you're going to reach it."

The sun goddess flicked her ears. How about my kind of special power? She asked silently, calling upon her celestial brush. Or, rather, trying to. What the- Amaterasu couldn't find her power. It was… simply gone.

Issun noticed her tail droop. "This darkness is getting to me, too," he consoled her, not knowing the real problem. "A lot can happen when you're taking a nap," he added jokingly, settling on her head.

Amaterasu looked around. They couldn't leave the small area at the base of the tree; it was surrounded by rocks and an atmosphere of evil. The wolf looked towards the roots of Sakuya's tree.

"You looking for something to cut that fruit down with?" Issun asked.

Amaterasu paused and raised her head, a look that said 'help me now' on her canine face.

She continued looking until she found something: a hole at the base of the tree. It was three times the height of her back and four times as wide as she was.

Shall we? She thought with a quick glance upwards, in the direction of Issun. Without caring if he was ready or not, she padded into the cave.