If anyone has any ideas for an actual title for this story, please comment. The plan is for this story and then a sequel that follows more of Leeana on her actual Pokemon journey, so it would have less Okami, though Leeana would go through places covered in this story. I'm thinking of just calling the series Olivine Side and then this and it's sequel have other names.

"Oh, come on!" Ishana screamed, several hours of exhaustion and pent up frustration flowing out. This outburst was preceded by the Leeana, Ri, Gibbs, Ishana herself, and Ama, the godly wolf they met in Agata forest, found that the entrance to Kamiki, which had never been blocked off since the towns borders extended outward, was, through some unlucky twist of fate, blocked. It wasn't blocked by a Pokemon, or a boulder, or any logical thing. The entrance was blocked by a powerful curse, one that made everyone cringe. Whatever was reaching it's darkness into Shinshu Field didn't want anyone coming in to or out of it's reach.

"What do we do now?" Gibbs asked, holding back tears of stress and fear. Gibbs was the equivalent of a child, in terms of experience. He'd left Kamiki about as much as Leeana.

"I… Don't know…" Leeana sighed, this wasn't the sort of thing that you ever thought you'd have to prepare for.

"What does the furball think?" Ishana offered with a huff. Ama looked up at Leeana and Ishana then turned around.

"Where are you going?" Asked Leeana, who took a few steps to catch up with Ama, "Do you know what's causing it?"

"It doesn't matter, we can't understand her." Ri commented, crossing her arms.

Leeana smiled, "It's the thought that counts," With a shrug Leeana looked down at Ama, "That doesn't change the main problem. We can't get back into Kamiki."

Ishana seemed to perk with an idea, "We could just head through Taka Pass, isn't there a town there? Kuda… Kasu…"

"Kusa Town," Leeana corrected, "And that isn't an option. Whatever this is has spread towards Taka Pass so we'd probably not even be able to get there. Not to mention that'd be at least a day's travel."

"Besides," Ri grumbled, "What about Kamiki?"

"There's nothing we can do!" Ishana cried, but it soon changed into a screech. They'd been following Ama, only for more demons to pop out. This time the demons were different. Stronger, as Ri had noted. Ama fought them off for a bit, but it was clear that she was out matched. Leeana and her friends stood helplessly, as Ama struggled to fight the demons.

"What do we do?" Gibbs asked, liking the feeling of helplessness about as much as everyone else.

"There's nothing we can do," Ishana said with a cross of her arms, "Demons are not easy to fight."

Soon a swatch of pink blurred by, knocking back one of the demons. It was the man who was with Ama earlier. His flute had a blade of energy coming out of one end as he wielded it as a sword, he also had an actual sword in his other hand. Who has an actual sword nowadays? With swift movements, he assisted Ama in defeating the demons, who disappeared in a bloom of flowers.

"You must be careful, Ma Cherie, with these innocents to protect." The man said, giving Ama a pat, "Though, shouldn't they already be back to the town?"

Leeana sighed, then answered the strange man who made her uneasy, "We tried to go back, but's something blocking the way."

The man looked slightly shocked, then looked to Ama as though to confirm what Leeana said. There was some quiet communication, one that Leeana could tell was long practiced, then the man looked at the group. To say that Leeana, the only one whose appearance could be seen or really mattered, looked like a wreck was an understatement. Her brown hair with it's black tips was falling out of her double pony tails and her clothes and skin had splotches of dirt on it. Her brown eyes were tired, somewhat bloodshot from lack of sleep and her clothes were town in some places.

"Well, I suppose we can't just leave them here…" The man mused, "But there isn't really anywhere safe…"

Ama nudged the man, who looked down at her in shock, "We should bring them with us?" He asked Ama, who nodded her head. The man thought for a brief moment, then sighed, "I suppose it's our only option to ensure they're safe."

"Uh, I'm confused," Ishana stated what Leeana, Ri, and Gibbs were also thinking.

"The four of you will have to accompany us until we can get rid of whatever is causing this. That won't be a problem, will it?"

"I mean," Leeana shrugged, "It's not like we have much of a choice, beats staying out here alone, anyways."

"She's right," Ishana agreed, jumping from Leeana's shoulder to Ri's, "What do you two think?"

"It's our best bet with whatever's causing this darkness," Ri sighed, while Gibbs just gave a shrug, or as close to a shrug as possible.

"Then it's decided!" Cheered the man, "Now where to search first. Whatever is causing it really must be quite strong."

"Hey, who are you two anyway?" Ishana interrupted the man's thought. Ama and the man looked over to the Poncle.

"Ah, of course," The man smiled, then announced with a flourish, "I am Waka, god's gift to man, Bonjour!"

Prophet Waka

The man, Waka-san, then gestured to the wolf, who Leeana had been referring to as Ama, "This is Amaterasu."

Goddess of the Sun Amaterasu

"Amaterasu…?" Ishana mumbled in thought.

"Nice to meet you, Waka-san, Amaterasu-san, I'm Leeana, and this is Ri, Gibbs, and Ishana." Leeana introduced with a bow. She knew how to be polite, and these two were people she was certain she'd need to be polite to. Leeana still wanted to know why Waka-san looked like Kyū.

"Yeah, great to meet you," Ishana mumbled, clearly trying to use Ri's head as a bed. Leeana had to agree that sleep sounded nice right then. The sun should have been in the sky by now, but there was no sign of it, only dark, ominous, swirling clouds.

"You're tired," Waka-san noted, "I suppose you have been busy for most of the night. Let us find somewhere to rest. You can sleep, Ma Cherie will guard you, and I'll search for whatever's causing it."

"That's sound's great," Leeana sighed, the thought of sleeping, of rest sounded great. Then there was the fact that she'd be able to talk to Kurow when asleep too. Ask him what he thought about this Waka-san. Honestly, Leeana was worried because she hadn't felt anything from Kurow, almost as though he was keeping something into him.

The group traveled to the Sakura sapling that stood in the middle of Shinshu field. Around the tree seemed like it was untouched by the curse, but only in the area a few feet around the tree. Amaterasu plopped down beneath the tree, lying down, signaling this was where they'd sleep. Leeana leaned her back against the tree, reaching her arms around Ri and Gibbs. She smiled to Amaterasu and Waka-san.

"Thank you, both of you," Leeana muttered just loud enough for the pair to notice, "I don't know what would have happened to us otherwise." With that said, Leeana drifted off to sleep, the last thing she heard being the sound of Waka-san jumping off.

"Yo, Anna, dude," Kyū greeted with a wary smile. Leeana wasted no time in asking him about Waka-san.

"You and that man, Waka-san, why do you look so much alike?"

Kurow faltered. He'd told Leeana about how he died, about the nine months he'd lived before that. He'd just never mention much about how he came to be. Kurow looked at her.

"Waka was the one who created me," Kurow answered, Leeana knew that he was a doll that was given life. That he had no real family except the one who created him. The man Kurow himself had never met. The man who when he finally gave Kurow his mission, it was one that Kurow had no choice in living through.

"He was the one who gave me my mission," Kurow didn't know how often he'd felt like he was about to cry since he'd met Leeana. Much of it had been in his observing Leeana when she was awake. Now was one of the times he felt like he was about to cry.

"I'm mad at him, a little I guess… But, I've never actually met the dude… At the same time," Kurow gasped in a breath, not crying, but not quite held together, "He's the only thing I could ever really count as family… I don't know how to feel, Anna…"

"It's okay," Leeana soothed, pulling Kurow into a hug, "I mean, it's not really okay, but I'm here for you." It's odd hugging Kurow. It's odd touching him in general, because he was connected to her, sure, but neither of them were more than souls here. Just like his voice, Leeana only knew what Kyū sounded like because he showed her memories. Same with his flute and the music he would "play" on it.

Leeana began to hum a song, a pleasant tune she'd shown to Kyū a few years prior. He'd expressed a liking for it, so when the memories hurt, or anything else, she'd hum it. Or sing it, but today seemed like a day humming would be good.

Before Leeana could continue the song, Kurow stopped her. He pulled himself away slightly, though they were still hugging.

"I shouldn't be the one being comforted," Kyū told her, "You're the one who can't go home, despite it being so close."

"You're going through thing's too, Kyū," Leeana protested, "I'll get back to Kamiki, all you can do is watch my life and talk with me. It must be horrible."

Kurow laughed, "How about we both just comfort each other," He suggested, pulling her closer to hug once again. Leeana laughed as well, feeling her stress melt away in the hug.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," Smiled Leeana, who rested her chin on Kurow's shoulder.

"I'm lucky to have you too, otherwise I'd have nothing to keep me to this world. I'd have nothing left to be here for."

Leeana awoke to the sound of people moving around. She opened her eyes and saw that while the sun was no more visible in the sky as it had been when she fell asleep, Ri, Gibbs, and Ishana were sitting by to Amaterasu and Waka-san. Waka-san seemed to be explaining his findings to them. They hadn't noticed Leeana was awake yet, so Leeana took a few minutes to think about how she felt about Waka-san. She had just met him yesterday, or whenever, her sense of time was really screwed right now, but also knowing what Kurow told her, and his request that she not mention him to Waka-san…

"You're up Leeana," Ishana noted, bouncing from Gibbs head to Leeana's shoulder. Leeana groaned, then sat up. There was time to think about how she feels about Waka-san later.

"Yeah, what's going on?'

"I was just explaining to everyone what I'd found," Waka-san said, gesturing to the group, "You see, the source of this curse is coming from a tangle of vines in Agata forest."

That would explain all the vines could she could see now. Leeana sighed, "So it's back to Agata then?"

"Oui," Waka-san confirmed, "Are you four up for it?"

"You bet we are!" Ishana grinned, "Especially now that we've had a proper rest."

"Yeah," Ri and Gibbs agreed. They had this habit of speaking their voices at the exact same time.

Amaterasu stood up, then started sprinting off towards Agata Forest. Waka-san took off jumping after her, while Leeana picked Ri and Gibbs up and sprinted after the odd pair. A goddess, that was weak compared to in the stories of her adventures, and a prophet, one of the last members of the Moon Tribe. So much Leeana had learned from Kyū that night, mostly about Waka-san, and a few more details about Kurow himself.

Struggling slightly to keep up with the wolf and the prophet, Leeana still wondered why it mattered so much to her how she felt about Waka-san. Maybe it was because he was essentially Kyū's father. Or maybe it was because he had, in a way, wronged Kyū. She wasn't sure. Regardless, she watched as they approached Agata Forest. Just what waited for them there, she wondered.

Just what would they do when Demons attacked and Amaterasu and Waka-san were the only things to protect them? Would they really be able to just sit around? Having the four was having an extra burden on the pairs shoulders. Leeana couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about that. But what was done was done, there was nothing she could do to change that. They'd stop whatever caused this curse, they being the goddess and the prophet, and then Leeana and her friends could return back to Kamiki.

Simple.

If only.