Okay, so the Muse hasn't entirely abandoned me…n,.,n!
Set ten years after the end of the game.
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Nushi stared at the base of Sakuya's tree in utter surprise. His parents had sent him up here to keep him from getting underfoot during this year's Festival preparations under the guise of telling him to show Sakuya how much he'd learned this week. His father had been teaching him how to use a sword for a year now, and it had been two since Nushi's favorite person, Issun, had come to Kamiki. Six years since Nushi had been born.
Ten years since his father had kicked big scaly monster butt alongside the other hero of their village, the goddess Amaterasu. Ten years since the goddess had been seen boarding some big metal ship with a man that Issun-ji-san didn't like much, to defeat the greatest threat ever to Nippon and the Light.
It frustrated Nushi to no end. How was he supposed to be like his father, Susano, or like his ancestor Nagi, if he didn't have a goddess pretending to be a wolf running by his side?
But that, at the moment, was forgotten for the sight that met his eyes.
A man was slumped amongst Sakuya's roots, an eagle-faced half-helm pushed down to shade his face. Faded pink banners hung from the sides of the thing, mingling with the worn, pale pink kimono and violet hakama that covered moon-pale skin. A pair of battered sandals with the highest soles Nushi had ever seen lay discarded nearby, their color a red as faded as the rest of the man.
Curled up beside him, head in the man's lap, was the biggest dog Nushi had ever met in his life. He could tell it was a girl, and she had fur whiter than snow or clouds that practically glowed in the sunlight. The white was only broken by the black tip of her tail and the bright red markings that trailed along her muzzle, towards her forehead and down her back to swirl along her flanks.
Strangers! Really weird looking strangers.
Well, as defender of the village, there was only one thing to do. Nushi brandished his wooden sword and demanded, "Who're you?!"
———
Izanagi, He Who Rules All, sighed Waka to himself, shoved out of dreaming by the high-pitched demand, is a thirty-minute nap after ten years of clean-up really too much to ask? They'd only just returned from the Celestial Plain, at the insistence of the goddess asleep beside him. She'd wanted to see at least one Kamiki Festival that didn't involve Orochi or Orochi's resurrection in any way, shape, or form; they'd spent the ten years after Yami's defeat restoring her homeland, she'd argued. Didn't that mean they deserved a break?
Like Waka was going to argue with her. The Celestials and kami that had been left during the long occupation of the Lord of Darkness' forces were traumatized still; a brief time away from them to regain his own equilibrium would be welcomed.
But honestly, this was the second time in an hour that they'd had their well-earned nap interrupted. The first one was a sleeping mote of dim green light against the white-and-red fur between Amaterasu's ears. Issun, at least, Waka would forgive for waking them. The Poncle artist had been nearly out of his mind with joy when he'd found them purely by chance here.
He'd said something about convincing Sakuya to pose for him after he'd calmed down a bit. Waka had tuned him out at that point in self-preservation of his sanity.
Pushing up the beak of his helm, Waka squinted in the bright sunlight towards the source of the newest interruption. Child, his sleep-muddled brain registered. Young, wooden sword, thick eyebrows, beady eyes…Oh, no. There's another one? Kami, tell me the stubborn idiot didn't spawn another of his ilk…
But there was no doubting who this child belonged to. Waka let his helm slide back over his eyes and let his head drop back against Sakuya's sun-warmed trunk. "Your turn, ma chérie," he grumbled, firmly closing his eyes again.
Beside him, he felt his beloved stir.
———
Nushi stared as the dog uncurled a little, ears flattening against her skull as her jaws cracked in a yawn.
That wasn't a dog.
That was a wolf.
A really, really big one.
Golden eyes blinked open, uncanny intelligence dimmed a little by sleep focusing on him. She huffed, ears flicking back. Curled her upper lip into a half-hearted snarl. :Shoo.:
Nagi tore down the path towards his father's hut, forgetting things like swords and practice and everything else. The wolf had talked! "DAAAAAAAAADDY!"
———
Amaterasu settled her head down on her paws with an internal grumble, Issun sitting up on her head, his nap as interrupted as theirs. "Man, I told ya, furball. Should have just gone to Hana Valley for your snooze." He snuggled back down into her fur, happy beyond all words or his skills in painting to express that his best friend was in his life again. "Oh, well. Get ready for the cavalry to show up."
The goddess sighed wistfully beneath him. :Five more minutes?:
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Issun-ji-san: affectionate, 'uncle' or 'old man' Issun.
Izanagi: Amaterasu's father.
