~ A Recap ~

Amaterasu thought for a moment. "It makes sense…the village, the disappearances…that girl..!"

Kushi nodded sadly. "No one blames you for what you had to do, Snowy. There is a horrible darkness spreading throughout Eastern Nippon, and it's your job to free all of those who have been taken by it."

"I understand. Thank you for your help, everyone," The Goddess looked around at all of them gratefully. "I now know that there is still light in the world for me to count on."

Himiko smiled kindly as the five of them began to slowly fade away. "There will always be light to guide you, Amaterasu. Never forget that."

She was blessed by kind smiles as they faded into a faint shower of sparkles that floated upward toward the Heavens. She closed her eyes and held her hands over her heart.

"Thank you." She whispered with a smile on her face as the last faint beams of light disappeared.

( Sakuya's P.O.V. )

"And I says, 'So what if you make the best dumplings in Nippon? There's no way I'm givin' you a tip if I gotta pay for extra sauce!' And the look on his face was just priceless! And so then-"

Sakuya groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes as she listened to Issun chat nonstop from his place on her shoulder. Ugh, hurry, Amaterasu… She thought, dismayed. Even a tree sprite's patience wore thin eventually.

"But then, I ran outta that place as fast as I could before the guy could- Oh, hey there Ammy!"

Sakuya breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of Issun greeting Amaterasu. "Welcome back," She said, reaching up to flick Issun off her shoulder, who gave a yell of surprise as he landed with a plunk on top of Amaterasu's head.

"Hey, what was that for, Babe!" The Poncle fumed. "I let you hold me between your melons and that's how you repay me!"

Sakuya rolled her eyes and turned slightly from her place in her tree to look at Amaterasu, who had remained silent.

"What happened in there, Amaterasu?" She asked curiously. She watched in mild surprise as the Goddess simply shook her head and smiled.

"It was nothing," She said with a slightly secretive tone. "But I know now that Waka was right; we cannot give up hope. Even in the darkest of times, we can always find that single ray of light inside us. I made the mistake of forgetting this. But we all need to remember it for the hardships to come, or else we'll never emerge victorious."

Sakuya nodded her head respectively. "True words of wisdom, Amaterasu. I will do all I can to help you in your quest."

Issun hopped down onto Amaterasu's shoulder and shook his head. "Wait a second! Nothing happened! Just a minute ago you were rolling around in your own tears, and now you walk out of a cave giving us this inspirational speech about hope? Something went down in there, and I'm gonna find out what it is!"

Sakuya shot him a deadly glare. "Issun! Don't question Amaterasu's wisdom. You're lucky she even went back for you, bug."

Amaterasu nodded her thanks to Sakuya and patted a steaming Issun on the head. "It was just…y'know, Celestial stuff. You don't need to know about that, Issun, so drop it, okay?"

"B-but-"

"Okay?"

Issun gave a defeated sigh and plopped down on her shoulder with his arms crossed over his chest. "Fine…" He mumbled.

Sakuya remained silent for a moment, her eyes fixed on Amaterasu. "Amaterasu…forgive me for not telling you how dire of a state the village was in. I've been so weak, I can hardly keep myself in shape."

Amaterasu nodded, her eyes kind. "I know it's not your fault, Sakuya. Thank you for your support, though.

"Of course, it is an honor to aide you in any way I can," The Tree Sprite replied. "So what will you do now?"

The Goddess looked from Sakuya to Issun and back again. "We're heading back to Shinshu," She said with a determined fire in her eyes. "We have a friend we need to pay a visit to."

( Amaterasu's P.O.V. )

"Won't you pretty please tell me what happened~?" Issun whined as Amaterasu exited Kamiki once again after bidding Sakuya farewell.

"No, Issun," She said firmly. "Don't ask me again, or I won't let you ride in my kimono anymore."

The Goddess grinned at the lack of response from the little Sprite, and looked around once they were in Shinshu; it had gotten dark, and a slight breeze rustled the long, soft grass underfoot.

"So, where exactly are we going again?" Issun piped up after several seconds of peace and quiet. Ammy began walking at a normal pace, each footstep she took elegant and graceful. "We need to go pay our elderly friend a visit," She said as she walked up the hill. "You were right, Issun; something's off about her. And now I know what."

"Aw man, don't tell me she's been the one causing all the creepy stuff to happen!" Issun exclaimed, his arms flailing slightly as he shifted around inside Amaterasu's kimono. "I'm not positive," Ammy said. "But I wanna at least check it out. I mean, a creepy old lady living by herself in a Shinto Temple? It seems fishy to me."

As they reached the top of the hill, a startling noise pierced the quiet air. "What was that!" Issun cried, looking around in a panic. But Amaterasu had already started speeding down the Cliffside, where the Shrine stood, just as rickety and rundown as it had been earlier.

In a leap and a bound, Amaterasu was up the steps that led to the door, and began pulling and pushing, but the door wouldn't open.

"What's wrong, Ammy! Can't you just blast the door open with one of your Brush Techniques?" Issun said as he rocked back and forth with Amaterasu's weight as she rammed the door over and over.

Stepping back, the Okami pulled out her Celestial Brush and drew a line across the doorway, but even with the power slash, the door held fast.

"No use," She said, distraught. "My power's weakened too much."

With a few last feeble attempts to claw her way through the door, she slumped forward, defeated.

"Great," Issun said. "Just great! What're we supposed to do to get that creepy old windbag outta there?"

Amaterasu sighed and looked sadly down at her once-powerful brush. "I don't know," She said. "Any ideas?"

Issun sat in thought for a moment. "Try a cherry bomb!" He said excitedly. Amaterasu straightened up and drew the sign of Bakugami near the door, and although the bomb went off, the door still didn't open.

"I don't think this is an ordinary door," Ammy said after a moment of silence. "There must be some kind of barrier that's preventing us from going in."

"Oh, wonderful," Issun said with sarcasm. "So what should we do?"

The Goddess furrowed her brow as she thought. "Hmm…well, we know that this must be some intense evil if a holy place such as this has been corrupted," She stated. "So…maybe we need the help of a Shinto Priest?"

Issun shook his head. "No go, furball. Last I heard, no one's seen a Shinto Priest around here since the last one left on a trip about a year ago, and never came back."

Out of frustration, Amaterasu plowed her head into the wood wall of the Shrine, rearing back in surprise when her skull bashed right through the rotten wood.

"Wow, you still got that unbelievably hard head, I see!" Issun said, clapping a few times. As the Goddess shook her head to get the sawdust out of her snowy hair, she squinted as the dust cleared away to reveal a small storage space inside the wall.

"How strange…" She mumbled as she reached inside and groped around the dark hole for a moment, finally emerging with a small scroll in her hand.

"Hey, I've seen one of those!" Issun said excitedly. "They're Holy Scrolls, said to keep evil at bay. Haven't seen one in ages though…"

Curious, Amaterasu untied the silky ribbon that held the scroll together and opened it.

"It's a prayer," She said, squinting slightly as she tried to make out the faded characters. "It says… 'Foul demons bewarned; fore with the Sun, the Moon, and the Sea, lives the light inside this Holy place. Those which utter this prayer, uncorrupted by-' "

Amaterasu paused mid-sentence as she tried to decipher the next line, but shook her head. "Part of it's missing," She said. "It cuts off right there."

Issun groaned. "Aw, man! That's probably why this place has been corrupted by evil."

The Goddess nodded as she reread the portion that was there a few more times. "You're probably right…" She mumbled, not taking her eyes off of the aged scroll. "From the looks of it, the Monks used to recite this prayer to keep the demons away, but now that a part of it is gone, and there are no Monks to say the prayer…"

"Any old baddie can waltz right in," Issun finished for her. "Looks like before we can get in there, we need to find the other part of this scroll."

Ammy frowned, deep in thought. After a moment of silence she finally spoke. "You said that the Monk that was here left and never came back, right? Well maybe if we can somehow manage to find this Monk, he can help us."

"Come on, Ammy. No one's seen this guy for a year, and you expect to be able to find him? He could be anywhere in Nippon, or worse, not be around at all anymore!" The Poncle crossed his tiny arms over his chest and shook his head a little.

Ammy gave him a little scowl. "Hey, it's worth a shot. Better than sitting around doing nothing, right? Now come on. There are only a few Shrines throughout Nippon. How hard could it be to find him?"

Issun hopped out of her kimono and onto her shoulder, flicking her cheek with his miniscule fingers. "Think again, furball. It's been 100 years since you've been here, remember? Shinto's spread to the bigger cities, so there are Shrines around every corner."

"It's a wonder that people need my help so badly if there are so many Shrines everywhere…" Ammy muttered. "But anyway, we'll start close to home. We can start in Agata Forest, then work our way from Taka Pass all the way to Sei-an. If we're lucky," She paused to scratch behind her ear with her hand. "He'll be close by."

With a sigh of defeat, Issun sat down on her shoulder. "Fine, fine. I just hope you know what you're doing, Ammy."

She gave him a crooked grin and leaned forward, tensing her muscles to take off running. "Of course I do."