Chapter 2

He saw his mother's glistening blue eyes staring out upon the stars, the long, wavy golden hair flapping continuously behind her. The delicate soft smile of hers soothed him so much inside, she made it seem as if there was nothing at all to worry about. No one could be just as beautiful as she was.

"Ushiwaka, my little pondering prince, do you know who these large, bright stars are gesturing to?"

The young boy shook his head.

"Ah, well as you see, the large surface of stars up there are simply an image of the gods. We, the Moon Tribe, can only see their bodies up in the form of the stars as they are only to be seen in their true form in the Celestial Plain."

Ushiwaka nodded as he had been told the Celestial Plain was miles and miles away from here, too far away for a tribesman to even reach.

"Mother, you told me this a bunch of times already. Of course I already know."

"Well I thought you liked hearing this story over and over. It makes you go to sleep easily."

"Oh mother. My boredom is what makes me go to sleep."

His mother laughed and pulled him into a hug. He could smell her sweet fragrance of white lilies wrapping around him. What an angel she was. He breathed in a long wave of her perfume, yawned, and closed his eyes. He felt his mother's cold fingers touch his head. Her thin, delicate fingers kept a slow rhythm while she stroked him. That's what made him go to sleep.

Ushiwaka's eyes slowly opened and he found himself in a warm, dark room. He was lying down on a bed covered with a thin sheet and a cozy, fluffy blanket. He reached down to touch his wounds on his arms and legs. They were covered with bandage cloth! Who could have had done it? He tried to move his legs but he was still too weak to move anything at all.

Suddenly the lights came on. He saw a shady window right beside his bed and a giant square of light rods up on the ceiling. The walls and floor were all completely gray, no appliances to decorate it. Ushiwaka grew shaky. The room had a gloomy look to it.

As the screen door to the room slid open, he quickly flinched and hid himself under his covers.

"He's awakened", a deep voice said.

"Mm, let me talk to him, he's had such a hard time." replied a female voice.

When he felt a cold hand trying to take his blanket off he tried to jump up and blow a kick on the stranger, but when he did that, he felt a pain shooting right through his neck and spine. Ushiwaka let out a cry and fell back down.

"Try not to move a lot, child."

Ushiwaka forced himself to look up at the stranger's face.

What he saw was a beautiful slender and tall young lady wearing a simple white kimono. It was embroided with crimson red wavy oceanic patterns with the curve of winds above it. A stone-colored under-dress was sewn underneath the kimono and a seaweed-green obi held her dress together for a complete match. Along with the few red markings on her face, her calming sea-blue eyes made you picture of a still, sleeping ocean waiting to be awakened. Part of her hair covered her right eye and as he could see, she had a long, white cascade of hair falling down to her waist. It also had a silky, wet look to it.

"Qui êtes-vous deux? Où suis-je?" Ushiwaka yelled.

The man shook his head. "We don't understand a word you're saying, boy."

The man had two curved large horns growing on his head and his eyes were golden pierced. A thin, small line set as his pupils. Dragon eyes, Ushiwaka thought.

He shook his thoughts away and then remembered not everyone spoke the same language as him. Being the son of a high priestess, he had managed to speak the gods' language very well.

"Ah…where…where am I?" he asked.

The lady smiled and patted his hand.

"I am Nuregami, the zodiac snake and the goddess of the sea." she pointed to the man.

"He is-"

"I am Yomigami, the zodiac dragon and the god of rejuvenation." he cut her off. "I am the oldest of us gods and have been through many hard times such as yours." he said.

Ushiwaka didn't care who they were, he just wanted to know what was going on. He remembered speaking to Yami's soul in Orochi and resting off against a tree. Not long after, he had suddenly felt dizzy and must have fallen into a deep sleep.

Yomigami loudly cleared his throat.

"Your name, boy?"

"Ushiwaka, sir."

"As I can recall, Ushiwaka, one of Yami's demons had attacked your homeland, am I right?" he raised an eyebrow toward him.

"Yes, sir." the boy somberly nodded.

"Good. Then I remember I had sent out celestials to the moon to search for any survivors who might have been injured from the attack."

Ushiwaka lifted his head up.

Yomigami sighed. "But unfortunately, you were the only survivor found in the wreckage. The celestials said they found you passed out cold beside a tree trunk. Must have hit you hard, hmm?" he looked at the boy with softening eyes and ruffled his blonde hair.

"You are very lucky, Ushiwaka. Your whole race would have been wiped out clean if it weren't for you surviving the disaster. You should be proud of yourself for being strong enough. Always remember that." Yomigami said.

He turned around and gestured Nuregami out the door.

"I will let you stay here and rest until your wounds are healed. A guard is standing right in front of your room so you are completely safe, as I know. I will come back in a few hours to explain to you a bit more. Don't move." he then closed the door behind him.

Hours passed by while Ushiwaka lay quietly on his bed. He stared at the ceiling the whole time as if watching a play filled with suspense. Every often he would try to push himself up just to check if he was healing successfully. All he could do to tame his growling stomach was to clutch it and roll over continuously, as if it did any good.

By then, he heard voices muffling behind the door. One of the voices he could recognize as the guard but the other surprisingly sounded like a little girl's.

"Come on, Yomigami said he wasn't dangerous at all!" the girl whined. "Let me go in!"

"Please, princess, you know I mustn't let anyone in!" the guard said in a calm tone.

"Aargh, just move aside!" the girl growled. He heard someone falling hard against the floor as the screen door moved to the side.

Ushiwaka quickly lifted himself up, as he was fully healed now, and hid part of his face under his blanket. The girl stepped in and he had just realized she had knocked the guard out fast and cold. She couldn't have done that… he thought.

At the second she stepped into the room she looked at him directly in the eye, which had freaked him out.

The girl had on her sleeping dress, Ushiwaka saw, and on it were wavy lines of orange flowery patterns. Under her dress, she wore a golden-yellow silk piece that was sewn tight to her dress. Her face had the same red markings on as Nuregami's and Yomigami's, a line under each of her eyes and an oval ending with a straight line to her forehead.

The markings resembled her as a god and Ushiwaka thought of what she ruled over. She seemed too young to be a god.

Her eyes were two miniature copies of the sun itself, each representing a scene of a golden-orange sunset. Her pure white hair was pulled back into a long ponytail coming up from the top of her head. Speaking of that, Ushiwaka saw a pair of two small wolf ears perchedon her head that seemed to be real for they always twitched when she spoke. Anyway, to the end of her long ponytail was a pointy black tip that reminded Ushiwaka of a large brush dipped in ink. Her outfit was complete with two little lilac flowers stuck into her hair.

Ushiwaka thought she looked awfully cute.

With a flick of her wrist, the screen door had magically locked itself closed. Ushiwaka could hear the guard yelling at the other side of the door, urging the girl to unlock it.

She lifted herself to her heels and placed her arms behind her back. With a smile that brightened the whole gloomy room, she joyously exclaimed "Hi!".