Everything suddenly happened all at once. Ammy charged from the mill, growling and snarling as she filled the air with her power. Lightening appeared from nowhere and a gale tore through the village, shredding the cherry blossoms from the trees and scattering pink petals everywhere.

At the same time, the Moon Tribe drew their swords; beams of fizzling coloured light that made the air rasp in Issun's ears. As the Moon Tribe held the blades in front of them, Issun saw the air quiver slightly and Ammy's powers seemed to bend around them uselessly. She may have been a deity but the Moon Tribe seemed to have technology that was just as good as magic or godly powers.

Four of the men rounded on Ammy, but the other two were staring in Issun's direction. Oh uh. Not good.

And he couldn't do much about it at the moment. Ammy's gale was so strong that he had to grab hold of the grass to stop himself from being swept away. She was furious. Isusn could feel her determination and anger throbbing in his mind. She was not going to let the Moon Tribe win.

Amid the confusion, however, Issun heard the Moon Tribe shouting to one another urgently. He couldn't make out their exact words, but he had a feeling that this time they wouldn't be chased away so easily.

"Issun! Where are you?" a voice gasped.

Issun felt a hairy nose brushing against him. "Oki?" he said. What the heck was he doing out here? "You should stay out of this!"

Oki seemed to have barely made it out of Susano's house. He stood in front of Issun trembling. "Where's Waka?" he asked.

"Leave that fruitcake to me, but you need to get out of the way before you get yourself killed. A good warrior knows when to retreat, right? You can't win this!"

Ammy's gale faded slightly. Seeing his chance, Issun charged to the mill, silently begging Oki to listen to him as he did. He didn't have time to deal with him now and neither did Ammy. She'd already bitten one of the Moon Tribers in the leg, but two of the others had her surrounded. Issun knew they didn't want her dead, but they seemed determined as the swung their blue swords at her. They herded her away from the mill, trying to keep her out of the way. Ammy was growling and slashing at them with her powers, but all the men had to do was raise their swords to deflect her blows.

One of the others was staring at the village's tiny huts and peering through the windows one by one. He moved towards the mill. Bah! Issun had never though he'd see the day when he had to rescue Waka.

Between him and the mill though were the other two Moon Tribers. One of them looked the same as the moon boy that had been in Kamui, though Issun really wasn't sure since they all seemed to look exactly the same with their young faces and ridiculously long blond hair. How did these guys tell one another apart? How did they even tell who was a man and who was a woman? Freaks.

"Out of my way, Goldie!" Leaping at the first man's face, Issun drew his sword and rammed it up his nose.

The Moon Triber screamed, giving Issun the opportunity to jab him in the gums and then on the tongue before stabbing him up the nose again for good measure. The man shrieked and frantically batted his face. Issun laughed as he easily leapt out of the way of the blows before prodding the man hard in each eye. Easy. This guy would be wailing in agony for a while now.

Jumping back to the ground, Issun rounded on his other opponent but only just managed to get out of the way as the man tried to stamp on him. Gods, Issun hated it when people tried to do that! He bounced onto the guy's foot and grinned. Ha, he was wearing sandals. Issun rammed his sword right under his big toenail, eliciting a squeal from the Moon Triber as he leant down to grab his toes. Issun slashed him across the foot a few times and then began to climb up the guy's leg towards his groin. He knew exactly what he was going to stab next…

But suddenly the Moon Triber grunted and fell forwards, almost crushing Issun in the process as he landed face down in the grass. Awkwardly Issun climbed out from under him. The ground suddenly felt wet. Blood. There was a sword in the man's back.

Issun looked up. "Oki?"

Sheesh, the Oina warrior was persistent. He was in his human form, his clothes and bandages torn and his wounds gaping in the moonlight. He panted and then fell to his knees. "Susano is helping Amaterasu."

Issun could see them fighting by the water's edge, but Susano didn't look as if he was being much help. Both of the Moon Tribers seemed to have turned their attention completely on him and Ammy had had to position herself in front of him protectively.

It looked as if the situation was about to get worse too as Mushi suddenly came running from his house waving a big stick. Hayabusa dashed after him barking frantically and the Moon Tribers turned. Gods, would they really attack a kid and his dog?

Ammy growled furiously. At the same moment, Issun sensed her thoughts. It had been a long while since he'd sensed her this clearly; it was almost as if she was actually speaking to him. She'd protect the villagers, but she was relying on him to get Waka away. Please?

She seemed desperate and Issun realised that she was half-expecting him not to listen to her after the way he'd yelled earlier. He was a bastard for shouting at her, but he'd make up for it. He'd show her he was still her best pal.

He bounded towards the mill as fast as he could. The Moon Triber that had been lurking there earlier had gone and Issun knew he was probably already inside. Issun raised his sword ready as he slipped through a crack in the door.

But it was already over. The Moon Triber lay motionless on the floor. The gold arrow from earlier that still crackled in the corner of the room sent out a flickering light that glinted across the pool of blood by the man's body.

Waka sat on the edge of the bed. In one hand he held his flute and in the other he had his sword, but he didn't look as if he was ready to join the battle outside. The hand holding his flute was wrapped about the wound in his chest and there was more blood than Issun remembered. It poured from a fresh cut on his arm.

"We need to go, Fruitcake," said Issun. "They're after you."

Waka stood, drawing the green blade from his flute as he did. He wobbled and Issun watched him grit his teeth. "I'm not leaving Amaterasu."

"It will be harder for her to fight those loonies if she's trying to protect you at the same time! Don't be an idiot. You need to get out of here."

Ignoring him, Waka moved to the door determinedly. Issun stabbed him several times in the ankle until Waka gasped and stumbled. "Stupid bug!" he snapped.

"Whatever, Fruitcake." Issun leapt onto his shoulder. "Ammy's ordered me to get you out of here and she'll never forgive me if you get killed or kidnapped. Now do your funny disappearing thing with the pink sparkles or next time I'll stab you somewhere far more painful! I told you, Ammy can't fight this battle with you in the way."

Waka spread his wings and Issun had to flatten himself against Waka's shoulder as he was almost knocked across the room. He'd done that on purpose. Issun would get him for that. He moved to stab him in the ear just as Waka leant down and picked up his bag from the floor.

But suddenly his vision blurred. The mill dissolved and was replaced by a stinging light. Issun felt his insides turn. He couldn't see, but he felt as if he was moving faster and faster…

And then he was falling. He vomited as the grassy ground smacked into his face.

"What the…" He spat to clear the stale taste from his mouth. His head throbbed and the ghost of the light that had blinded him before swarmed across his vision. The night sky above him seemed to be spinning.

Groggily he tried to stand but only succeeded in falling over. In the near distance, he heard Ammy and Hayabusa barking. He looked around. There was a swirl of moonlit pink. Cherry blossoms.

"We're just outside Kamiki?" he croaked. "That's rubbish! We need to be further than this!" Slowly Issun's vision steadied, but his head still ached and he had a feeling that the slightest movement would make him vomit again.

Waka was leaning against one of the cherry trees that bordered the path that led back to Kamiki. "What did you expect? I'm a prophet not a mode of transportation, my little bouncing friend."

"Don't you 'my little bouncing friend' me! We need to get as far away from here as possible!"

"Je comprend." Waka sheathed his sword and then slipped his bag over his shoulder. Inside, Issun could see the pale pink glow from the crystal sphere. He'd prodded it a bit when Waka had been in the mill earlier, but he'd forgotten to ask him what it was. There was something creepy about it. When Issun had pressed his face against it he'd seen something black swirling deep inside.

"I'll leave this situation in your hands then, my little bouncing friend," said Waka.

The night breeze rustling through Shinshu abruptly became a gale that almost swept Issun off his feet. Waka had his wings spread as he prepared to fly. Oh no. Issun was not letting him get away. He didn't trust him not to do something stupid. Swallowing hard to stop himself from vomiting, Issun lurched to his feet and grabbed hold of the bottom of Waka's trousers.

Only a few moments later he desperately wished he'd remained on the ground. His stomach was turning again and again as Waka moved higher into the air.

To make matters worse, Waka appeared to be the worse flyer in the world. As soon as the gale faded, Waka half glided, half fell and generally lumbered through the air for a bit before landing surprisingly gracefully on one of the cliffs overlooking Shinshu.

"What the heck was that?" said Issun. "Hayabusa could probably fly better than you!"

Waka looked down in surprise. "What are you doing here? You need to watch Amaterasu!"

"Well she wants me to watch you."

Waka shook his leg, but Issun clung on determinedly. Again the gale came, fiercer than before. Issun took a deep breath as Waka lifted off the ground. He used the breeze to awkwardly carry him to another, higher cliff before landing. For a moment he paused as he wiped the blood from his arm and then he was away again. Issun scrambled past Waka's waist to his arm, trying not to shout in fear as Waka lurched through the air.

"You can't fly," said Issun.

They were losing altitude quickly as they glided across Shinshu. Every now and then Waka beat his wings but it didn't seem to help. He steered them towards the giant guardian sapling and then landed on one of the branches.

"You have to explain this. Is this seriously how you fly? Just by jumping and vaguely gliding across the land?" said Issun. He'd laugh, apart from that fact that it was the most unsafe journey he'd ever had in his life, and that was saying something compared with everything he'd been through with Ammy last year.

Ignoring him, Waka called the wind again and leapt into the air, but suddenly he swore.

"What's wrong now?" snapped Issun.

Waka beat his wings frantically. There was a crackling noise that seemed to prickle across Issun's skin. Waka jerked in the air and then his movements became so erratic that Issun was almost thrown off him. Just like before in the mill, Issun felt as if everything around him was dissolving. He took a deep breath as he prepared for the blinding light that accompanied Waka's disappearing magic but suddenly Waka screamed. The world reappeared. They were still in the air.

And they were falling.

"Half-baked prophet! Fly!" said Issun.

They slammed into a slope and then skidded and rolled to a painful halt in the middle of a bed of wild flowers. Issun's fingers were wrenched from Waka's sleeve and he grunted as he bounced against a rock jutting from the ground. The breath seemed to have been knocked from his chest and he felt as if he'd been squashed. Dazed, he looked around for Waka. He lay in a heap behind him. One gold arrow was embedded just below his knee and another was in his foot. He wasn't moving either.

"Hey, prophet!" Issun cried urgently. Ignoring how bruised he felt, he stumbled across the grass and climbed onto Waka's head. "Prophet! Fruitcake!" He gasped as he felt the fizz of the arrows clotting the air. He felt as if he was ebing strangled.

"Uh…" Waka tried to sit up but he looked dizzy. There was a lump the size of a walnut on his head and blood pouring from his nose. Despite that, he still reached down and yanked the arrow from his leg. He threw it across the moonlit grass and then moved to get the other, but he slumped to the ground moaning before he could touch it.

Across the field, Issun saw someone running towards them. Moonlight shone across blond hair.

"Damn it!" hissed Issun. Running to Waka's foor, he grabbed the arrow. The weapon screeched angrily and Issun screamed as he pulled his hand back. His entire body seemed to fizz inside. It was so bad that he couldn't even walk. Desperately he closed his eyes and called to Ammy.

Gods, he was useless. She gave him one task and he'd failed. He glanced at Waka, who'd managed to prop himself up on his arms, though Issun could see him shaking with the effort. With what looked to be the last of his strength, he threw his flute across the grass into a leafy shrub.

"What's so important about that flute?" said Issun. "That's the second time you've-"

"Quiet. You won't be seen," said Waka.

The Moon Triber was upon them. Issun pressed himself as close to the ground as he could, but the man didn't seem to see him as he ran past and stopped breathlessly by Waka. He grinned as he drew a blue sword made of light.

"Bonjour, Raik," said Waka, somehow managing to smile. "How is life serving a false monarch?"

"Fine and dandy, thank you. How is life as an outsider with the celestials and a dog?"

"Better than a man like you can ever know."

Raik rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to trade insults with you all night. It's time for you to return home."

He tossed a tiny silver disc into the air. The object spun for a second before bursting into long tendrils of white light that entwined with one another, forming a net that fell over Waka. Issun silently swore as he saw Waka trying not to scream. The net fizzed and hissed in the same way the arrows did.

"Now then…" Raik pulled a small black box from his belt that was covered in flickering buttons that winked in the moonlight. Raik pressed a few of them and a gentle chime filled the air, but it didn't come from the machine. It came from Waka's bag, which had fallen to the ground with them. Issun could see the pink glow of the orb inside through the material.

Smiling, Raik picked up the sphere. "You must have known this was a gift from us. We expected you to smash it and I must say that I'm surprised it survived your fall. Never mind, I can take care of this."

Issun started to frown, but then he smiled. Ammy was coming. She was running so fast that her claws were ripping up the ground beneath her. He couldn't see her yet, but he could sense her in every part of his mind. Ha, she'd teach Raik a lesson.

Before she was even over the slope, a fireball billowed out of the air as she summoned an inferno. Raik hurriedly held his sword out to defend himself, but he didn't look frightened. He was grinning.

"Well, well, your friend has come to save you," he said, glancing at Waka. "Fantastique."

He threw the sphere at the fireball. The orb turned orange as the flames coiled around the curvaceous surface, becoming brighter and brighter until the heat was too much. It shattered, sending out a small black ball of light that was as perfectly circular as the pink orb before. The light throbbed as it absorbed Ammy's fireball, sucking the heat and the fire from the air.

Issun saw Ammy standing by a cherry tree, but she seemed unsure as she stared at the black ball of light hovering in the air. She slashed it with her power, but all the light did was quiver slightly.

And then it lunged towards her.

"Amaterasu!" Waka cried.

Ammy yelped as the blow knocked her off her paws. In his mind, Issun felt her pain and at the same moment he felt everything else she was feeling. She was worried about what had happened to him, Issun, and she was terrified for Waka. Waka was going to die soon and she didn't want him to…

She lay on the grass gasping. The intricate red marks that normally swirled about her snowy coat had vanished, like they always did when her godly powers faded, leaving her vulnerable. The black light floated above her, expanding until it seemed to swallow her up.

Issun bounded towards her, but he felt like a bruise after the fall and his legs didn't seem to want to carry him. He swore violently as he stumbled. Darn it, first he'd yelled at her and now he couldn't be with her when she needed him…

"She's not as pretty as I thought she was going to be," said Raik. "It's rather disappointing really."

Issun looked up. The black light was gone and so was Ammy. In her place there was a naked woman lying on the ground…

"Oh no," Issun murmured. The prophecy loomed darkly in his mind.

"I still wouldn't mind getting to know her better," said Raik, "but since the Moon King is rather keen to see you again I'd better just leave her here to mingle with the mortals." Laughing, he slipped the black box into his pocket and withdrew a thin silver tube that looked like a flute.

Issun didn't know what the device was, but he knew that both Raik and Waka would be gone by the time he'd used it. He glanced at Ammy. He could only see her bare feet and legs. She still wasn't moving, but she couldn't be dead. Issun could still sense her. She was desperately confused…

He looked at Waka, bruised and bloody under the net, and made a choice.

"Oki, you had better look after Ammy," he muttered. Dashing through the grass, he leapt through a hole in the net and grabbed hold of one of Waka's wings, just as Raik pressed a button on the silver tube.

Immediately Issun's vision blurred. Shinshu field disappeared, taking with the cool night air. Issun closed his eyes, wondering if he'd just made the biggest mistake of his life.

I know some people out there probably don't like a human form Ammy but I promise I will try my hardest to make sure she does not even come close to a Mary-Sue. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve and I hope they'll work.

And just to make sure I do this right, are there any character traits people definitely DO NOT want to see in a human Ammy?

Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing, including the GAR. I haven't written a fanfiction in, oh, 4 years? 5 years? Maybe even longer. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be! lol, if anybody has any points for improvement please mention them - i've already made a giant list myself!

Oh, and I'm sorry Oki has taken a back seat recently. He'll have a better role from now on.

My author babble is over. Until next time people!