Call of the Moon

Chapter 2 – As Luck Would Have It…

Okami hurried back to the temple, lugging her rather small amount of belongings in a bag slung over her shoulder. She came to the front door of the main building, and entered after knocking. Byakuren was sitting inside talking to a tiger youkai.

"…her weapon is an ancient artifact, so since you are the user of the Jeweled Pagoda, you can help her out," Byakuren was saying.

"I see. I will do what I can, Byakuren-sama," the tiger youkai replied, bowing.

Byakuren peeked over the tiger youkai's shoulder to see Okami standing by the door. She greeted her with a warm smile. "There's Okami right now. Okami, I'd like to introduce you to Shou Toramaru, my right hand disciple here at the temple. She's the user of the Jeweled Pagoda."

Shou nodded, and spoke, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Okami. I hope we can be good friends."

Okami noticed the pagoda resting in Shou's right hand. The immense power radiating from it made the hairs on her wolf ears stand on end.

"Shou, please show Okami to the room she'll have during her stay here," Byakuren said, gesturing at the tiger youkai. Shou nodded, bowed, and then turned to face Okami.

"Follow me, please," Shou said as she started to head down a hallway lined with doors. Okami followed, holding her bag of belongings at her side. Shou came to a halt at a room at the very end of the hall. Gesturing to the door, Shou said, "This is your room, Okami. Make yourself comfortable."

Okami slid open the door and took a look at what is to be her bedroom. There was a futon laid out in the corner and a desk. 'Kind of like my own room, but nicer. I'll be comfortable here,' Okami thought to herself, haphazardly throwing her bag into the room and closing the door. "I'll get set up later."

Shou gave Okami a tour of the Myouren Temple grounds, explaining what each area is and what it is used for. Shou came to a halt at the training grounds, gesturing towards the surrounding area.

"This is where the monks train in their arts," Shou explained. Okami's attention was elsewhere, however. Standing by a training dummy, poking it lazily with a trident, was a youkai… of some kind.

"Nue," Shou called.

The youkai looked up. "What is it?" she asked with a rather sharp edge to her voice. "Who is that?" Nue pointed at Okami, who blinked.

"Your name is Nue?" Okami asked.

"Obviously," she replied, twirling her trident.

"You mean THE Nue of legend?" Okami sputtered, her eyes widening.

"Yeah," Nue replied, raising her eyebrow.

Okami bowed repeatedly and sputtered, "It's an honor to meet you; you're legendary! Oh my, I can't believe I actually get to meet you! I heard legends when I was younger, and I can't believe I get to meet you! I looked up to you when I was little! I can't believe it!"

Nue stared at the young youkai, her face deadpan. Her brow furrowed in thought as she mentally analyzed the paragraph that Okami spouted. "Are you calling me… old?" Nue spoke in a dangerous voice.

A flare of panic lit up in Okami's eyes, and she instinctively stepped back. "No, t-that's not what I m-meant at all!" Okami stuttered, shaking her head and stepping back.

Nue ignored her and raised her trident, taking a step forward. Okami yelped and ducked as the undefined youkai swung her weapon. Shou instinctively stepped back as well.

Nue's eyes followed Okami and she went for another strike. Okami leapt back a step to dodge the attack and rolled to Nue's other side so she could escape her blows more easily. She looked up and saw a blur of black, red, and blue heading straight towards her. Okami instinctively raised her hands and grabbed onto the prongs of Nue's trident just as it was about to poke her eyes out. Nue scoffed and tried to yank her trident out of Okami's grasp, but Okami held on tightly.

"Please stop! I'm sorry I insulted you! I didn't mean it!" Okami wailed, trying to stop Nue's rage.

"Just because you're younger than me, doesn't mean you can rub it in my face, you little squirt!" Nue growled, trying to yank her trident back. With a grunt, Nue pulled her trident towards her, bringing Okami along with it. Nue let go of her trident and grabbed Okami in a chokehold. The younger youkai let out a garbled cry.

"What is the meaning of this? You two, stop fighting this instant!" Byakuren shouted, storming over to the scuffle, Shou following in her wake. "Shou, grab Okami, I'll get Nue off of her," she ordered her disciple, who nodded promptly.

Byakuren grabbed Nue by the shoulders and pulled her away from Okami while Shou held the wolf steady. Okami gasped for air as she tried to catch her breath.

"Both of you, don't be immature," Byakuren scolded the two youkai, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry. It was my fault," Okami said, bowing repeatedly to Byakuren and Nue. "I accidentally insulted Nue, and she got angry at me. I should have been more careful with my words…"

"That's fine, Okami. You didn't mean it," Byakuren replied with a smile. Nue on the other hand, rolled her eyes and scoffed, shooting a glare at Okami. "Now, it's time for dinner, so why don't we all make our way to the table?"

The four of them began to make their way over there. Okami nervously twiddled her fingers as she followed Byakuren's lead. Byakuren slid open the doors and walked in to the Myouren Temple dining room. Inside, Okami saw a ship phantom, a nyuudou user, a tanuki, the yamabiko from before, and Nazrin at the dinner table. Shou and Nue went and took a seat. Byakuren stayed with Okami, seeing as Okami looked like she was about to throw up due to nervousness.

"Everyone, this is Okami. She's going to be staying with us," Byakuren spoke, gesturing to Okami, who waved nervously. Byakuren turned to Okami and introduced each person. 'Murasa the ship phantom, Ichirin the nyuudou user, Mamizou the tanuki, and Kyouko the yamabiko,' Okami recited in her head. Byakuren sat down and Okami took the last empty seat next to Kyouko.

"So, Byakuren-sama, why is Scruffy Wolf here gonna be staying with us?" Murasa asked with a mouthful of food.

"'Scruffy Wolf?'" Okami repeated under her breath.

"Okami's here to learn more about her weapon, and Shou and I are going to help her with that. However, Shou and I are busy, and Okami is a younger youkai, so I need someone to keep an eye on her training when we're not around," Byakuren explained, taking a sip of her tea. "Nue's going to be in charge of that."

Cue the spit-take. Nue sprayed the tea she was drinking all over the face of the person sitting across from her, which happened to be Ichirin. The nyuudou user sighed and removed her soaking wet hood, putting it off to the side. "Me? Why do I have to watch over that little squirt?" Nue complained, scowling.

"Because I said so, my dear Nue-chan," Byakuren replied in a sing-song voice. "You seemed to be getting along just fine with her earlier. And you need something to occupy your time, seeing as you spend most of it sitting around."

"Y-yes, Byakuren-sama," Nue responded, sending glares at Okami.

Okami was frozen in her seat, staring at the plate of food and avoiding Nue's gaze. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.