Call of the Moon
Chapter 9 – Wolf's Lament
Mamizou stared out the window and gazed upon the Gensokyo sunset. Under normal circumstances, she would have admired its beauty, but her thoughts were elsewhere. In the distance was a plume of smoke and a distant figure. Faintly, one could see the six wings upon the distant figure's back. Mamizou gripped her arm, which was currently in a cast. She had broken it a day ago when she and Nue were sent on a reconnaissance mission to see what Kamiko had done to Gensokyo. The duo was spotted and Kamiko broke Mamizou's arm. Nue was furious.
On a somewhat lighter note, Kamiko hasn't done much to Gensokyo at the moment. All the moonlight youkai seems to do is assault youkai and humans traveling around on roads. However, Byakuren has not let her guard down; however, she is unwilling to send scouts to Kamiko. Every single one she sends has been injured upon return.
Mamizou sighed and looked at the unconscious youkai behind her. Okami has not yet woken up since she fell unconscious three days ago. Mamizou kept watch over the young wolf youkai at Kyouko's request.
Okami's eyes fluttered open as she slowly sat up. Blinking her eyes, she took notice of the tanuki watching over her. She stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes.
"You're awake," Mamizou said.
"How long was I out?" Okami asked. The last thing she remembered was hearing the voice and feeling excruciating pain in her head, but after that, nothing.
"Three days," Mamizou answered. "You were possessed by your sword and you went crazy. Byakuren-sama had to separate you from your sword to stop you. You fell unconscious after that. But the sword… the sword is its own being. It's a nasty, evil, and immensely powerful sentient being. She… called herself Kamiko. She threatened to destroy all of Gensokyo."
Okami listened to Mamizou's explanation and grew increasingly horrified. "My sword wants to destroy Gensokyo? I've been carrying it… er… her for hundreds of years. I've relied on that sword… and it wants to…" Okami trailed off, biting her lip.
"That's not all," Mamizou said softly.
"There's more…?" Okami muttered dejectedly.
"Due to the recent events… Nue hasn't been very happy with what's happened. She's angry. She won't tell me who or what she's angry at, but maybe you should talk to her," Mamizou suggested. Okami got out of the futon she was resting in, and she stood to her feet and stretched.
"Alright, I'll do that," the wolf youkai replied. She still felt a bit lightheaded due to having woken up only recently. She walked outside and saw Nue leaning on the tree in the courtyard. Okami approached the undefined youkai.
Nue looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. She let out a scoff upon seeing Okami. "It's you. What do you want?" she spat.
"I just wanted to talk to you," Okami replied, furrowing her brow.
Nue made a 'tch' noise. "There's nothing to talk about. I just want to be alone," Nue said.
"Why are you so angry? Things may look bad, but acting so down isn't going to help anyone," the wolf youkai retorted, folding her arms.
Nue glared at Okami and stepped towards her. "Why am I angry? Why am I angry? Do you want to know why I'm so angry?" Nue demanded, jabbing her finger at Okami's collarbone with each word.
"Yeah, I want to know," Okami replied. "I want to help."
"I'm angry at you, you stupid wolf!"
Okami was speechless.
"You're the reason all of this has happened! Because of you, that monstrosity is loose in Gensokyo! Because of you, Byakuren-sama is horribly stressed out! Because of you, humans and youkai are getting assaulted and terrorized! Because of you, we can't leave this temple uninjured!" Nue shouted. "Every time Byakuren sends us out some of us on recon regarding Kamiko, we always get hurt. Mamizou's arm was broken, Murasa's shoulder was dislocated, Ichirin has multiple lacerations, I almost got strangled, and poor Kyouko's ankle was sprained."
Okami started at the ground, her bottom lip quivering. "Even Kyouko got hurt…?"
"Yes! And it's all your fault," the undefined youkai said coldly. "This never would have happened if you hadn't come here. If only you hadn't joined us. It would have been better for all of us if you had stayed away!"
Okami was silent for several moments. She took several deep breaths. It was true. This entire mess was her fault. She wanted to learn about her blade, and she got her wish. In doing so, she endangered her new friends at the temple and also Gensokyo. Okami fought back tears. "Fine then, Nue. If you want me to leave, then that is what I'll do. I caused this mess… it's my responsibility to fix it," Okami said.
Nue clenched her fist, and turned away from the wolf youkai. "If you really want to help me, just leave. Leave and never come back. I don't ever want to see your face again."
Okami began to walk to the gate. "I'm going to fight Kamiko. I'm going to fix this mess," she said. She took to the skies and flew as fast as she could. The tears she'd been fighting back fell down her face freely. She thought she'd made friends. She'd lived with them and laughed with them for nearly a month. But in the end, she'd let them all down. She put them all in danger. The wolf youkai looked around for her sword, the moonlight youkai.
"Looking for someone, little Okami?" a sinister voice said from behind Okami.
Okami spun around and instinctively reached for her sword, but she stopped when she remembered that she was facing her. This youkai's voice was the same one she heard in her head. "You're Kamiko…"
"You're not as dull as you seem. Anyway, it is nice to finally meet you, face to face. I am Kamiko, the youkai of moonlight," Kamiko spoke.
Okami stared at her, growing angrier by the second.
"Oh, you seem infuriated. I wonder why…? Ah. It must be because your incessant curiosity woke me up from my deep sleep. So I took that liberty and had a bit of fun with your friends at the temple," Kamiko sneered, reveling Okami's growing fury.
"I'll make sure you never see another day, you horrible beast!" Okami roared, flying towards Kamiko. She drew her arm back for a punch, but Kamiko merely smirked as she grabbed Okami's hand, stopping her attack.
Kamiko punched Okami in the gut, sending the wolf flying backwards.
"GAH!"
Kamiko raised her hand into the air and charged a beam of energy. She narrowed her eyes and muttered, "Moonlight Beam." Kamiko launched the energy at Okami.
Okami took the full force of the blow and went flying backwards even further. She crashed through several trees before falling down a deep hole in the ground. Okami felt weaker and weaker as she fell down the hole. Her vision grew fuzzier and it finally faded to black as she hit the bottom.
