DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN OKAMI OR ANY CHARACTERS FROM OKAMI. THIS IS PURELY FAN-MADE :3

Just as some clarification, this story takes place a while after Okamiden, so Chibi would be around 17 if he was in human form, the land of Nippon has changed in many ways, certain characters are also much older, such as Issun being a lot more mature and serious. Just some clarification, thanks for reading :D

Chapter 3

Amaterasu paced Chibi's room, furious and at the same time worried. She clutched scraps of Chibiterasu's pants in her hands, trembling with her amber eyes on fire.

Waka stood in the doorway, his face stricken with worry. His dearest love distressed and his beloved son gone, the day couldn't get any worse.

"I have to go find him…" Ammy muttered.

In an instant Waka was by her side, pulling her close. "No, ma cherie. You know it's too dangerous for you."

"But it's my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at him like I did." Ammy's voice cracked and she buried her face in Waka's chest, weeping.

"Everything will be alright… he survived the first time he visited Nippon, did he not? And he was but a pup then."

"But back then we could always know where he was… Oh, Waka, he's all alone now. What if the fall hurt him? What if he's all broken and dying, and all we're doing is standing here doing nothing!"

Waka was silent for a few moments. These worries had crossed his mind as well. Finally, he looked down at Ammy and held her face in his hands, looking into her teary eyes as he spoke.

"Our son is the child of the great Okami Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun. He is nonetheless a strong, powerful god himself, who will survive. Now ma cherie, do you think you can wait here while I go and power up the Ark?"

Ammy's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. It closed once more and she nodded, wiping tears from her eyes.

Waka turned to leave, stopping in the doorway to speak once more before he disappeared. "We will find him, if it's the last thing I do."

Amaterasu buried her face in her hands, which were still holding pieces of her son's ripped clothing.

/

"Issun, how much loooonger!" Miya whined as she walked behind Issun, who was getting more and more annoyed every time the young Poncle opened her mouth.

"Not much longer, we're almost there, now be quiet! You'll attract every imp in Nippon!" he snapped back.

"But Issun!... Ugh…"

As if Issun was right and Miya's complaining really did attract imps, all of a sudden a huge green imp crashed through the trees and in front of the Poncles.

Issun quickly grabbed the awe-struck Miya and ducked into the leaves. As the two were but little Poncles the imp was unlikely to see them, but Issun wanted to be sure.

"Woah, is that a real-" Issun clamped his hand over Miya's mouth, shushing her.

He lowered his voice to barely a whisper. "Yes, it's a real imp. Most of them left a long time ago, but a few stuck around. They don't go near the villages, though, just hang around the empty fields and prey on rabbits and the occasional unlucky passerby."

The pair watched quietly as the green imp nervously looked around. It was clutching something in its arms, hiding it.

Miya squinted closer. The bundle was… moving. "Issun," she whispered. "What is it holding?"

But all Issun did was stare as the imp began to relax. Strangely, it seemed to have a small smile on its face beneath its paper mask. Stranger yet, it began to lovingly stroke the small bundle.

"What's going on…? I've never heard of imps acting like this…" Miya quietly wondered.

Issun shook his head. "I have no idea. Of all my years traveling around I've never seen anything like this. But we better go, we've still got a lot of walking to do."

As softly as they could, the Poncles tiptoed around the imp, using leaves from bushes and trees as their cover.

Just as the green imp was out of sight and the pair was going on their way again, loud voices and feet came thrashing through the forest and into the clearing the green imp was in. They could hear yells and war cries and pounding noises. After what seemed like ages of listening to the terrifying sounds, came the blood-curling death scream of an imp.

Issun glanced at Miya. Her eyes were wide and her hand was squeezed tight around Daichi. Her mouth hung open in curiosity and awe.

"C'mon," Issun called as he began towards the clearing. Miya stood there, her mouth still open. "Well? Do you want to experience all you can before becoming a Celestial Envoy or not?"

Miya snapped back into it and smiled wide, her young eyes gleaming with curiosity. It was hard to believe this young, cheery Poncle was a mother of an almost equally cheery and hyper child.

As they came back into view of the green imp, now slumped over dead and broken, Miya gasped and even Issun couldn't hold back some shock of his own.

The scene was pretty gruesome. Issun could see the footprints of warriors and their clubs as they rushed into the once peaceful clearing and clubbed the imp to death. The green imp was frail and alone, it stood no chance. The mask it wore on its face was crumpled now, and a piece had been torn off, most likely as a victory trophy for one of the humans that had brutally beaten it. In one hand it still clutched its signature flute, but the flute had snapped in half, and splinters of it were digging into the imp's hand.

"Issun…" Miya called. Issun turned around from staring at the tortured imp and found Miya looking into the bundle of blankets the imp was holding and lovingly cuddling moments ago. Something was slightly shifting inside.

Issun took a few bounces to more closely examine the blankets- or rather what was inside them. Once again something moved. Issun unsheathed his sword, holding it out in front of himself. "Hello?" he called.

Miya drew Daichi from her belt as well, but she didn't look so sure as the bundle was at least thirty times her size.

"Who are you?" Issun called out, this time louder and more confident. "Show yourself!"

As if in response to Issun's command, something jumped out of the blankets and twenty feet in the air, spinning around and landing a yard away from the Poncles.

Issun shoved Miya behind him, pointing Denkomaru, ready to pounce and attack if he needed to.

But the creature took once glance at them and turned away, looking all around frantically until its eyes rested on the frail dead green imp.

It ran over to the body, and Issun swore he heard whimpering as it prodded and nuzzled the imp to no avail.

"Issun… is that a… baby imp?" Miya whispered as she lowered her sword and a puzzled look crossed her face.

Miya was right, Issun thought. The creature had the furry green body of an imp, it hands and feet were black and in one of them it clutched a small flute made from a reed. Of course, the most obvious feature identifying it as an imp was the paper mask on its face. It was oversized and made for an adult imp, most likely made to be kept all of its life.

"By the great goddess Amaterasu, I never…" Issun muttered as he lowered Denkomaru and stared wide eyed as the small imp gave up prodding the larger one and plopped down its green imp bottom in misery.

"I think that was its mother...," Miya said as her face changed from puzzled to consoling and sad. "It's all alone now. Those hunters killed its mother and it has nowhere to go…"

"Miya, don't you get any ideas. It's a wild animal that could kill us. Now speaking of which we should go before it sees us and possibly does kill us."

Miya opened her mouth to protest, but closed it and sighed in defeat. "Fine, let's go… Poor thing…"

Issun nodded and turned to quickly bounce away into the bushes.

A few moments later, the forest thinned out and they came to a small field. The sun was setting and stars were starting to spot the night sky.

"We're done for today, try and get some rest," he told Miya. She simply nodded and walked a bit further into the field, finding a suitable place and flopping down and curling into a small ball.

Issun sighed and found his own little patch of comfortable grass, sitting down and glancing up at the sky.

"Oh Ammy, what has this world come to?...," he whispered as he lay down in the grass and slipped off his hat, letting his black hair free and closing his eyes.

/

Meanwhile, Amaterasu herself was glancing out the window of the Ark of Yamato, staring at the night sky, her long white hair glowing in the darkness and her head resting on her knees as she sat on the floor.

"Oh Issun, if you're out there… find Chibi for me, please… make sure he's ok…" Her voice cracked and she buried her face and cried.

She cried until her eyes were dry. And even then she cried without tears, sobbing into her nightgown.

A long time passed before strong arms picked up her small figure and set her down on a soft, feathery bed. She felt a kiss on her forehead and eventually exhaustion took over and she fell into a deep sleep.

/

Issun was surprised as in his sleep, the first image that came to him was the friendly young wolf face of Chibiterasu. Issun yelped as the pup lurched forward and licked the Poncle, covering him in a layer of slobber.

"Chibi!" Issun exclaimed, but couldn't help but laugh. He missed the youngster. Of course, it had been a while. Wouldn't Chibi be older by now..?

Suddenly, Chibiterasu stepped back and his happy expression disappeared. His features began to change. His divine markings intensified, and his muscles grew as his whole body doubled in size.

Issun nodded in understanding. This was Chibi now, very similar to his mother but still having young attributes. He was a typical wolf teenager now. Issun smiled proudly at his little friend who wasn't so little now.

Their surroundings began to change as well. Suddenly, Issun was on the Celestial Plain. He watched, unable to move, as he saw Chibiterasu run and jump, disappearing off the edge of the Plain and hurtling towards earth.

And then Ammy appeared, chasing after her son, yelling things that were improper for goddesses to yell. She stopped as she realized in horror that Chibi had jumped, and began to crumple and weep.

Issun tried to speak but found he couldn't do anything. He was frozen and invisible as all of this unfolded.

The image faded and Issun's closed eyelids brightened. He flickered open his eyes to find himself back in that field, resting on the grass, under the rising sun…

…and staring up at the face of a baby imp.