When given food a wolf is loyal until its debt is paid. But is it truly ready to pay the price.

Chapter 9

Okami started her day washing, dressing, and brushing her hair like Sakuya showed her how. She headed out to the main entrance to meet Lindow for her mission. The operator Hibari seemed nice if not in a professional way. Lindow started the mission with his three simple rules… or was it four? The mission was to take down an Ogretail, she found this mission cruel. Why would they send her on a mission like this? They knew of her brothers yet they make her cut down her own. She tried resonating with the Orgetail, pleading with it to leave the area. But it refuse to hear her out, trying to take a bite whenever it could, she had no choice but to cut it down. Perhaps this is the price she'd have to pay for becoming a Gods Eater, and she'll have to live with it.

Sensing her pain, Lindow made it up to her by taking her to fight Zygote's floating around the area then ending the day with a mission to the Wailing Plains. To his disappointment and gratitude, it was a four Orgetails mission but there was a wondering Vajra in the area. Okami offered to take care of the Vajra if he could handle the Orgetails. He said yes with uncertainty, but she seemed to be handling herself just fine. Perhaps she took out too much of her frustration out on the Vajra for having to killing that Orgetail because she ended up having to wait for Lindow to finish up. So she summoned out the devouring mouth of her God Arc and began petting it as the rain washed away the blood from them both, and told it that it did a good job today and thanked it. Lindow found the behavior odd, but found it odder that it looked like the jaws of her God Arc were smiling. The Chopper came soon after that.

At the Den she meet a new face, a girl by the name Gina, she had an eye patch and a presence about her that Okami found charming. Saying hi to the people she knew on the way to Dr. Sakaki's lecture, Kota was there too. She was seeing him around more often, she wondered if he was part of her pact. The lecture was fun for her even if it was something Dr. Sakaki already taught her, it was mostly for Kota. Afterward she headed to her room for the rest of the day, checking her Terminal she noticed she got mail. The first being Lindow's, telling her she did 'good' today. Her first email put a smile on her face making it a good first time experience. Then she got two other ones from the God Eaters she meet before, one more favored than the other. Shun may have goodness deep down but he still was a jerk. The next day she would be going on a mission with Sakuya. Although she was excited about fighting alongside Sakuya she wondered when she would fight with Soma, but until then she would wait

. . .

The mission went well for Okami, Sakuya explained the importance of not straying too far from your gun support. They were an unstoppable team against the Cocoon Maidens, it reminded Okami of the old days fighting 'Unmoving Maidens' with her brothers with her attacking upfront while they shot spikes at them. Going back to the Den she was about to go to Lindow's room when she noticed Kota looking as mad as a Zygote. She'd never seen him without a smile on his face and that concerned her. She was about to come up to him and ask him what was wrong when a voice caught her attention.

"Ah… speak of the devil, my young New-Type." Said the male she'd never see before. Shun was next to him so she assumed they were from the same pact. Come to think of it Gina talked about him before, if Okami remembered correctly his name was Karel. For human standards he would be considered attractive and like Shun deep within his rough exterior he had something good about him inside. He looked her over, if Okami was any other woman she would have mistaken his look for that of a playboy. But being a beast by nature she knew he was sizing her up, and from the looks of things he wasn't pleased. "Is it true that you have special powers? Outwardly, you look like any other brat… Ah, well, good luck earning your keep!"

His words made her fume, how dare he speak to her like that. But she controlled her anger and flashed him a toothy grin, "I don't have powers just really sharp fangs."

"A man's value is based on his kills and rewards!" Added in Shun, She didn't even feel like to responding to that insult. She just looked at him until he got the point. "Oh, right! You're a woman. Well in that case, excuse me!"

She could tell he didn't mean it, biting her lip and squeezing her fists she held her wrath. They were part of her pact now; she couldn't lash out at them. She would not bare her fangs at them. So she stomped away from them toward Kota, coming to an understanding to his anger.

"Damn them, treating me like a kid!" Kota said in frustration. "I bet those two over there are the type who bully Rookies! I'd hate to go on a mission with those guys."

"You should look forward to fighting alongside them." Kota looked at her in disbelief. "It would bring great pleasure shooting their words back in their faces on the battlefield." Okami looked at him with a big grin on her face.

This put a grin on Kota's face too. "I never thought about it that way. You're right, let's put those two in their places by showing them what we can do!"

Happy to get Kota out of his rut, she continued on to Lindow's room where she found that Sakuya was there too.

"Good work today! For our first time, that mission went smoothly and we made a good team!"

"Thank you Sakuya, but I just did my mission nothing more."

"I'd say 'Good!' but don't get careless. Think about what it means to be a New-Type wielding both gun and a sword. You've got to do what us Old-Types can't. It's a big responsibility. Don't worry, if you need help, I'll shoot over a recovery bullet anytime. You'll have my support until you're a full-fledged God Eater!"

Okami smiled at her, "thank you Sakuya, you're a good friend." Then she gave the room a look over.

"Right, you've never been to my room before. How's it going? You seem kinda down."

"Yes a little, I don't feel comfortable killing Ogretails."

"I should've known, judging from your brothers you wouldn't like missions with Ogretails in it." Lindow paused to think of the right words to say. "Okami, the Ogretail you killed was not your brothers, let alone even part of your herd or pact. The one you killed attacked humans on a daily basis occasionally succeeding in eating one or two. It did not acknowledge you or is even worthy to be consider part of your pact. Your brothers, and most likely your herd, have never eaten a human and will never eat something that can't fight back." Well that was not entirely true Okami thought, unless plants started to fight back. "Don't confuse your noble brothers with those gluttonous beasts, it insults them. I know you don't like it, but you need to fight for the people weaker than you that need you to fight."

"Wow, I'm impressed Big Boss."

"Hey I can act like a leader when I need to be."

Her eyes shined with new vigor. "Thank you Lindow, I will take your words into battle with me next time so my emotions don't make me end up as Aragami lunch."

"Good, cause you got a mission with Soma tomorrow. You'll need to be on your toes."

"Ah, really? I guess I better not stall anymore and get my spear and knife back from the Director. I've been meaning to do that for a while now."

"Do you really need them? You have your God Arc."

"That may be true. I may not have any fond attachments to them, but they have been with me through thick and thin. I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them."

With that Okami left the room to the Director's office to request her weapons back, which wasn't much trouble since he complied. She bought a new strap for her spear and a leg strap with a knife sheath for her knife which she placed on her left thigh. Heading back to her room, she made an Ibaraki Bow, a Silver Tail Sword, and an Inugami Shield from the material she gathered from the Ogretails. This way their deaths would not be in vain as she carried her sins into battle. This time she would be ready for tomorrow both physically and emotionally.