A/N: Spur of the moment interlude is spur of the moment! I was working on "The Purge" when I decided I wanted to have a chapter told from Amaterasu's POV. I might write a flashback fic with the event I talk about in here. It's been in my head for a while. Anyway, this takes place in the Celestial Plain between "Sharp Teeth" & "The Purge." I tried not to give away too much here. Don't wanna spoil my fun. Hope you like it!
"You know she's calling you, furball."
She looked up from her work, staring him in the eye. "I hear her, Issun," she said through a clenched jaw. It had been twenty-five years since she'd seen the brunette, since her vessel Nicole and her husband died in that fire. The girl in question had been trying to get her attention for the past few days.
Why does she look like me, Mom?
Her mind flashed back to what she'd walked in on ten years before her death, the smell of foxfire and incense, pieces of paper with symbols drawn in red ink surrounding her baby, the familiar symbols in the night sky and on her forehead, the glowing eyes replacing azure for a few seconds...
He hadn't known that she'd seen it, and it stayed that way for the next ten years they were married.
Issun hopped onto the desk, arms crossed over his chest as he sat on top of the pile of papers. "I don't understand why you didn't tell her what she is. Why you don't tell her what she wants to know."
"I would've told her when she was old enough, if my vessel lived that long. I told her my story and showed her your paintings when she was younger." It was true. She had every intention of telling her the moment the first memory was triggered.
"But why don't you answer her? She needs you, Ammy."
"She has her reasons, my little bouncing friend," a male voice answered, catching both of their attentions. His eyes moved to hers. "Though I don't understand them myself."
Issun laughed in an attempt to ease the tension. "Kinda funny that you don't, ya half-baked prophet."
The sun goddess looked down at her work, jaw clenched tightly. "This wasn't supposed to happen," she stated, her head falling into her hands. "I should've known..." She heard footsteps coming around the desk and felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her body as she trailed off.
"You couldn't have known, ma chérie."
"As much as I hate to agree with fruity here, he's right. We didn't know about her until...well, you know. Even though you're the sun goddess, ya can't know everything."
She looked up from her hands and grabbed a paper from the other pile. Names were on the list, and she recognized all of them. There was no doubt that both of her companions were also looking at that paper, reading each of the names. Each of the names were written in kanji. Their eyes stopped on one in particular.
"His actions impacted this?"
She nodded. "Like I said, this wasn't supposed to happen. I can't figure out how to explain it to her, which is why I can't answer her prayers right now."
"Just tell her what you saw. I'm sure she'll understand."
Fingers ran through snow white hair, and she looked back down at the list, sunrise orange eyes locked Aline's name. As expected, her own name was right across from Aline's. What was not expected was the second name.
The name was written in crimson, unlike the others, making it stick out like a sore thumb.
At least, it's not him, her brain said, calming her down somewhat. She hated thinking about what she'd have to do if his name was there, but he wasn't coming back. She'd made sure of that.
Like I said up there, I might write about the event Amaterasu/Nicole walked into, but that won't come until later. I gotta keep a few secrets. I won't say when it's coming (because it's been something I've been thinking about writing since I started this thing).