Yuro's head spun.
The space around him seemed to glow with a white light, nothing really visible in the surreal place he found himself in. From what he could see, he seemed to be standing in some sort of field, the sweet scent of cherry blossoms faint in the air, the whole world seemingly still in tranquility.
To his surprise, he found himself unable to move, and noticed he couldn't even see himself. Almost certain he was in some sort of dream, the youth briefly wondered if he was actually there or was simply watching some sort of vision from afar.
He had little time to dwell on the question as something started to come into focus in the distance. The bright light seemed to dim a bit, allowing him to see the scene a bit more clearly. He could now notice the tall form of a pagoda off on the horizon, far taller than any he had ever seen in his homeland. Despite not remembering seeing it before, he knew that he had been in this place once before. It was far too familiar.
At the thought of things that looked familiar, he noticed the form of a majestic white wolf, crimson markings gleaming under the light above, the animal's form seeing to radiate the power of the sun itself.
He knew this wolf. Just as he was sure he knew that girl from the previous night, and how he knew he had seen this mysterious building in the distance once before. Yuro knew there must have been some reason for the feeling of familiarity. Perhaps some faint memories of a past life, haunting him with glimpses and pieces of what once had been, but always remaining distant enough to elude his grasp.
He looked back at the figure before it, and saw not the wolf that had been there moments before but the white-haired girl he had previously met. Quickly, he noticed that she looked very different, with crimson markings similar to the ones on the wolf lining her body, and even more noticeably, wolf ears and a tail standing out among her otherwise human features.
The girl - Ammy, he remembered, looked at him, giving him a sweet smile that seemed to brighten the sky itself. The world seemed to stand still for a moment, the youth transfixed by the radiant figure in front of him.
Then, as soon as the smile on her face had appeared, it vanished, the girl's attention taken by something off to the side. As if in response, the light above faded, an ominous darkness quickly spreading over the peaceful field. The girl took a step backward, away from the approaching shadows, as she reached behind her and drew a golden sword, it's edge dancing with electricity. With her other hand, she grabbed a flaming shield, readying into a combat stance as the shadow covered the world, and the youth swore he saw what looked like fear in her eyes.
Suddenly, the scene shifted, the figure in front of him disappearing as what had been a beautiful field turned into a lifeless plain of ash and flame. In the distance, he saw the pagoda being consumed by fire, screams of fear and pain coming from that direction.
Looking around, Yuro again saw Ammy, lying motionless on the ground, the sword and mirror she had held moments before scattered beside her. This time, he noticed that the lupine features he had seen moments earlier were no longer present. Her body was still covered with crimson markings, but he knew that these were not the divine markings she wore earlier, but rather that of blood, clearly having been grievously injured in some sort of battle.
On its own accord, he felt his body walk towards the fallen girl, stopping to kneel at her side. She wasn't breathing, and he felt himself grab her hand, cold as ice. A sense of grief and panic washed over him as he looked back over her lifeless form, only to be interrupted by a distant rumble.
Looking at the source of the sound, Yuro saw the smoke cloud of an explosion as flames began to wash over what looked to be some sort of village in the distance. As the smoke cleared, he could faintly make out a shadowy form amid the raging fire, an ominous figure in dark armor that filled him with fear and dread.
The armored figure turned, looking directly at him, and suddenly, the youth's mind coursed with pain as the dark form's mental shout reverberated through him.
TIMEWALKER.
Gasping, Yuro woke, snapping his eyes open and attempting to leap. That had been a mistake, his attempts at motion being met with a throbbing pain as his sore muscles refused to respond to his request. Grimacing, he let himself fall back down onto the bed he was now resting on.
A bit disoriented, the youth looked around at his surroundings. The room he was in was fairly small, only large enough for the bed he sat on and a couple tables, holding a number of what looked to be various medicinal herbs. On the side of the bed, he saw Ammy sitting next to him, looking at him with a mix of concern and relief. He immediately noticed the wolf ears and tail she now had, just like how she had looked in the dream he had just experienced.
Despite the pain throughout his body, he managed to find the strength to speak. "Where am I?"
She rested a hand on his shoulder, giving him a small smile. "Don't worry," she said, looking at him with a gentle kindness, "You're safe now."
Yuro shivered as her words echoed through him, triggering some long-lost memory.
Suddenly, he was outside that giant pagoda again, his body bruised and sore as he crawled free of a strange mechanical vessel. Glimpses of a horrible eight-headed beast popped into his head, of running away from the demon along with a blond-haired girl as it ravaged some alien city, devouring any unfortunate to stand in its path.
He vaguely remembered falling to the ground as he climbed out of the damaged vessel, of the crowd of odd angel-like beings staring at him in awe, and saw a familiar-looking girl with white hair and wolf ears, albeit much younger - she couldn't have been more than five or six years old. Looking at him with curiosity and some concern, she whispered the same words he had heard her older self say just moments earlier.
The scene quickly faded to black, and his vision returned as he looked around the room he had been resting in moments before, although he had a feeling something was different this time around. A quick look around confirmed this notion, as he noticed Ammy was no longer anywhere to be seen in the room.
His thoughts were distracted by the sound of the aforementioned girl's voice, although it sounded much younger.
"Father, will he be alright?"
A second voice responded, this one much deeper, that of a middle-aged man.
"Yomigami does his work well, my dear Amaterasu. His wounds will heal."
Amaterasu. The youth shivered a bit as he recognized that name, the name of the sun goddess in old Shinto legends. Could the girl he had just met the night before be one and the same? As unlikely as it sounded, after the visions he had seen, and the unnatural storm that had come down the night they had met, Yuro had a feeling the name was more than pure coincidence.
His thoughts were interrupted as the aforementioned goddess shook him in the present time, concerned by the sudden episode that he had fallen into. She looked at him, a bit shocked, having recognized the distant look in his eyes as the same one Waka would have whenever he had one of his prophecies.
As Yuro snapped back into reality, he looked back at the white-haired maiden. "Amaterasu," he whispered softly, just loud enough for her to hear.
The sun goddess did a double take at the sound of her real name, something she hadn't expected the youth to know.
"How do you know my name?" she finally said, her face a mix of surprise and confusion.
The golden-haired youth looked back at her. "I remembered," he responded, panting a bit, the vision he had received having taken much of the little energy he had in his current condition, "I saw you watching me after climbing out of some metal ship, remembered hearing you talk with your father as I rested in this same room." He paused a bit, gathering himself as he continued, "I don't know when that happened, or why it seems so distant in my mind. But I remembered it."
Amaterasu felt herself feeling that same sense of hope she had felt when she first saw the youth as she listened to him describe the day she had met Waka almost two-thousand years ago. For some reason, Yuro seemed to have Waka's memories. Briefly, she wondered what force of nature had caused that. Was he her beloved, reborn after half a millennium, so that they might be together once again? Or was he some descendant of Waka's, somehow containing his ancestor's memories, lying repressed until his meeting her had awoken them?
Even for a goddess, the phenomena was simply too mysterious to comprehend. Unable to find any words, she simply leaned back, resting her head next to him.
For a few moments, they stayed like that, neither really understanding the revelation the youth had just had.
The sun goddess finally broke the silence. "Do you remember anything else?"
Yuro paused in concentration, trying to call forth another memory, to remember anything else about the girl lying next to him, but even the vision he had just had seemed distant to him, and once again those mysterious memories eluded him.
After a few more moments of concentration, all futile, he looked back at her, shaking his head softly.
Before either of them could speak again, the door burst open, revealing the form of Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon clearly distressed. Quickly, Amaterasu sat back up, looking over at her brother. Something had made him very worried - and very angry.
The lunar god looked at the two with some surprise, clearly not very happy about how close his sister had been with the human youth moments earlier. However, there were far more pressing matters at hand. Looking back towards the sun goddess, Tsukuyomi threw her the object that had caused him to enter such a state.
Catching it, Amaterasu opened her hand to look at it, and felt a chill run down her spine. It was a piece of a scroll, but the material it was made of was certainly nothing that could be found naturally, either on the Celestial Plain or on the mortal world below. It felt unnatural, and the goddess could feel the evil radiating from the scrap of fabric.
There was no doubt - the object she held in her hand was a piece of a Demon Scroll.
She looked back at Tsukuyomi. "No demon has set foot on the Plain since Orochi," she said, worry in her eyes.
"That's changed," her brother responded, "Yumigami and I ran into a small pack of imps towards the edge. A scouting party."
She didn't need him to explain the implication, but he did anyway.
"Whoever controls these creations is planning an attack. And it's coming soon."
Lots of people have been speculating on Yuro as of late, so I figured I'd give some development on his character. As well as open up another pile of questions, because it wouldn't be fun if you all knew everything :P
This is also the first chapter to pull in references from some of my other stories (the scene with Amaterasu first meeting Waka is a reference to Blood Moon). I'll always try to keep each of my works self-sufficient - that is, written in such a way that you don't necessarily need to read any of the other stuff I put out to understand what's going on, but if you want added context, you can always read some of the shorter stuff I put out. As I've mentioned in the past, everything I write that's Okami-related is all in the same continuity unless otherwise mentioned, so I do use many of the one-shots and other shorter stories I write as a place to explore areas of the lore that wouldn't fit into a larger story.
Other than that, lots more foreshadowing, and a bit more of development in Ammy and Yuro's relationship.
As always, thanks for all the continued support, and constructive criticism is always appreciated!