This chapter brings Oki and a few other Oina tribe members in. Enjoy! Disclaimer: If I owned Okami, I'd be on FictionPress right now.
Chapter 2Zmmy is half blind after a fight with her sister. Amaterasu and Yomagami didn't have the power to fix it. And now, Kabegami, the cat goddess of walls, is nowhere to be found. Ammy and Waka both found her home empty and no Catwalk marks. Ammy searches for Oki to help her look, and Waka has gone off alone.
"Oki! Oki!" Ammy shouted. She had looked everywhere for Oki. "He must be transporting creatures to the Plains." Oki was in charge of judging creatures of Nippon and taking the worthy ones to the Celestial Plains.
"Young Amaterasu! I've never seen you out alone! What are you doing at the Celestial Palace?" Ammy recognized the fierce hiss of the Tiger god of lightning, Gekigami.
"I was looking for Kabegami, but she wasn't there. I started looking for Oki, but he must be in the land of mortals. I didn't even realize that I came somewhere important. I'll leave now."
Just then, Moegami, the rooster god of fire, approached them. "Wait young sun goddess! Do you even know what the Celestial Palace is?"
"No. It seems important though."
"Yes it's very important," Gekigami roared.
"This is where the 13 brush gods make decisions about what should happen on the world below. Every 50 years we come here, and tomorrow marks the new century. Unfortunately, it is the Day of Darkness and the council must begin the moment it is over." Moegami's flames seemed to die down at the mention of the Day of Darkness, afraid of the terrible day that no one, not even the gods, could prevent. It was on this day that the Dark Lord Yami was destroyed, and the day before the twin owl demons Lekchu and Nekchu died and sent their darkness, along with Orochi's, Ninetails's, and Blight's, to the Ark of Yamato.
"Now you may leave." Even Gekigami sounded terrified at the thought of the terrible day.
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
"Zmmy! Are you okay?" Amaterasu asked her daughter, who was now waking up.
"Mo-m?"
"It's okay, Zmmy."
"I can't see with my right eye…"
"Yomagami couldn't fix it."
"Oh…"
"I must leave. I have to be at the Celestial Palace as soon as-" Amaterasu stopped.
Zmmy fell silent as Amaterasu walked out of the cave.
"Hello, Ma Cherie."
"Hello, Waka. Did you see Ammy?"
"Young Amaterasu was heading towards the Celestial Palace."
"Thank you."
"Au revoir."
"Goodbye." Waka continued over the golden fields. Amaterasu looked at the sky. 'Oh no! The eclipse has begun!' she thought. She stared in fear as the moon covered the sun.
She roared in agony as her Celestial Powers were pulled from her body. She lay on her side as a normal white wolf.
"Mom!" Zmmy rushed from the cave when she heard Amaterasu's cry. "What happened?"
"I am the sun goddess, but today there is no sun. I have lost my powers."
"But why does my Celestial Brush still work?" Zmmy asked as she demonstrated by drawing a tree.
"Perhaps you are not a sun goddess that brings life, but a moon goddess that sets d-" Amaterasu fell silent as a red tipped black arrow pierced through her heart.
"Noooo!" Zmmy rushed to where it struck. Any other day, the wound would have already healed, but now the great Amaterasu, mother to all life and destroyer of dark forces, was still. "No… you can't be dead…" Zmmy lay down, huddled beside her mother's body.
"Ma Cherie!" Waka ran over one of the golden hills. To Zmmy, the beautiful place was black. Everything was dark.
"Ah, Ma Cherie, I never thought I would outlive a goddess…" Waka said sadly, stroking the goddess' fur.
"What are you doing here? Why didn't anyone else come?"
"No others seem to know. I heard you howl and came to investigate."
Zmmy just stared at the prophet. He had always scared her, but she didn't know why. He was a friend of her mother, but until now, she feared him. She stared at him for a moment and curled up to sleep beside her mother one more time.As dawn broke, the sun shone dimly, illuminating the Celestial Plains. Her mother's divinity returned to her body.
She began to breathe, quick, heavy, unstable, breaths.
"You're alive!"
" Zmmy… goodbye………" her mother said weakly.
"Goodbye…" Zmmy nuzzled her mother's face.
When her breathing stopped, her mother's divine powers swirled to the sky, and Zmaterasu howled. Soon Oki, followed by Kai, Lika, and Tuskle, found the scene of the terrible tragedy. Waka and Zmaterasu told them what happened.
"Amaterasu… May your spirit rest in peace." Oki kneeled on his sword.
"You saved all of Kamui. You truly were a great hero." Kai kneeled down to stroke the goddess.
"You went back 100 years to save me from Orochi." Tears streamed down the uncovered part of Lika's face.
Tuskle said nothing. She looked at Amaterasu as if she couldn't believe what happened.
Soon Ammy found her way to the group. Waka was stroking Zmmy soothingly, and the Oina Tribe members just sat quietly.
"Mom!" Ammy rushed to the body.
"Ma Cherie-"
"Shut up prophet! I'll bet you did this!" Ammy growled.
"Stop it Ammy!" Ammy stared at her sister. "I saw what happened! An arrow came from the ground and killed her! It wasn't Waka!"
"How do you know who shot the arrow?" Ammy snapped.
"I'm afraid it was the Dark Lord Yami. He was destroyed, but he may have taken on a new form." Gekigami came into the clearing. "Amaterasu, Zmaterasu, you must both come to the Celestial Palace. Oki, Waka, you too. Kai, Lika, and Tuskle will bury her." Gekigami led the group to the shining palace that was used every 50 years.
*Sniff* Poor Amaterasu… Ammy and Zmmy's fates are decided next chapter.