Hello everyone, this is MidnightFenrir speaking and I am now giving you the second chapter of "Seeking the Horizon".
I will admit I wrote this one quite quickly and while there isn't that much going on, I hope that you will enjoy it nonetheless.
With that, let's get started.
As Amaterasu ran behind Waka, she came to realize something.
While being a wolf was great to travel and fight, along with it being a form she was accustomed to, it was way too recognizable, moreover after the events of last year. Should she show up as a wolf again, people would surely swarm her for benedictions and the likes.
And Amaterasu didn't want that to happen.
"It seems you have come to the same conclusion that I did, ma chérie." Waka's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "You'll have to take human for for most of your time on Nippon. I advise you to transform only when you are out of sight or with people that you would trust with a secret." the prophet said.
Amaterasu's list of 'special people' was quickly made. There was, obviously, Issun and the ponckles, Sakuya, the canine warriors and Fuse, maybe the Sparrow clan, Otohime and her subjects and finally the Oïna tribe. The emperor and the capital were a straight 'no-way' and while she would have liked to show up as a wolf in Kamiki, she was pretty sure that the small village who had been, not just once but twice, victim of Orochi's schemes had become quite the famous place by now and her showing around as a wolf would only make things chaotic.
"I should be able to manage that. Worse comes to worse, I'll use the celestial brush or knock them out." the goddess replied.
"The Veil of Mist will be most useful, I think. Simply using the ink to blind them might also be a good option." Waka commented.
Amaterasu hummed in agreement, but said nothing. She would rather think about the good things that will happen during this month she had on Nippon rather than how things could go bad.
After a few minutes of silent running/flying, they finally arrived to where they had decided to leave the ark of Yamato after their return to the celestial plain, one year ago. The ship in itself had been sealed since long by Amaterasu herself, so that no one would repeat past mistakes. But Waka hadn't used the ark itself to go back on Nippon. It had took him several days of fidgeting with the control panels, but he had managed to separate the control room from the rest of the ark, turning it into a small vessel. But as it couldn't draw energy from the celestial winds itself, it needed to be recharged once in a while by connecting it back to the ark.
As Amaterasu entered the ship, she couldn't help but shiver. Even if the demons that had possessed the ship the first time she had entered it were, along with their spiritual presence, long gone, the fact that thousands of celestials had perished inside the ark at their hands still gave the ship a feeling of a tomb. It was a morbid and heavy atmosphere that was now part of the ark itself.
"I know what you're feeling. I've came back times and times again when I went back to Nippon but it never became easier. This place is home to so much sorrow and grief that I don't think it ever will." Waka said as he walked in front of her.
"Even with Yami and his demons gone, the curse on this place still persists, in a way. What happened in the celestial plain that day was a tragedy big enough to mark the realm forever. But the massacre inside the ark of Yamato will forever be the most tragic event of all. And it doesn't help that it was the start of what happened in Nippon as well." Amaterasu replied.
"Aye... The glorious ship that we, the Moon tribe, had built to become a vessel of light; became home to the Darkness itself. It became the vessel of evil, so to speak." The prophet continued as he turned to her. "Sometimes, I still have nightmares of that day." he added.
"The burden of the survivor is never an easy thing, Waka. But I believed that, in time, you will get through it. The souls of those that have perished here have been granted peace a long time ago. It is my wish that you, also, will find it someday." the goddess said as she muzzled the prophet.
The blond man simply nodded and the two continued their walk in silence.
A couple of minutes later, they had went through the several gates that led to the control room and as soon as they were in, Waka started pushing different buttons on the panels. The ark acknowledged his command the control room separated itself from the ship in a soft metallic sound. The vessel itself was circular in it's shape and always reminded her of a sort of cup. As soon as it started hovering, Amaterasu jumped straight into in the air and did a backflip before she landed inside it.
But when she did, she wasn't a wolf anymore. She was human. Gone were the fur, the paws and her tail. In their place were arms, legs, hands and feet with pale skin covered by a red and white kimono. Long snow-white hair were falling freely on her back down to her hips. Her body had, however, still conserved a few of her red holly markings, mainly on her arms, legs, face and back. Deep black eyes opened and Amaterasu looked at herself. All in all, she looked like a maiden of twenty summers.
"Quite impressive, ma chérie..." Waka muttered, obviously flabbergasted. "But may I ask how and where did you learn such a trick?"
Amaterasu gave him a small, albeit sad, smile. "I have watched the Oïna perform their transformation time and time again when I was in Kamui, but I never had the time to ask them about it. And, well, since Keïmu passed away a few months ago, I went to him to ask about it myself." she explained.
The prophet smiled at her. "Fascinating. You only miss a cute little mask and, voilà! You have a goddess look like a true Oïna. No, even more than the Oïna themselves! But enough talking. Let us go to Nippon."
Waka touched a few buttons and, sure enough, the vessel quickly flew from the celestial realm in to the mortal one. As they breached the sea of clouds, Amaterasu couldn't contain a shiver of excitement at the view of the land of her adventures.
"Do you wish for me to land at a specific location, ma chérie?" the prophet asked, snapping her out of her reverie.
Amaterasu smiled. She had already decided of the starting point for her new journey.
"Bring me to Kamiki village, at the protector tree." she answered.
Waka chuckled, fully knowing her reason for choosing this place. After all, Kamiki had always been the start of everything that happened in Nippon, so why would it be different this time?
A few minutes later, the prophet stopped the vessel near the great cherry tree. They didn't have to worry about the mortals looking at them since Waka had turned it invisible thanks to a quick manipulation only him had the secret of. He turned to Amaterasu.
"I wish you a pleasant stay in Nippon, Amaterasu. As for myself, I must continue my quest."
The goddess nodded. "And I wish you luck, Waka. Until next time." she replied as she jumped down.
"Oh! One more thing, ma chérie!" the blond man shouted, making her turn around as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "The mortals shall always try to get closer to the sun! Even if it brings them to be burned away!" he shouted in a dramatic tone before flying away.
Amaterasu tilted her head in confusion. Was that another one of his prophecies? While the previous ones had always been fairly easy for her to decipher, she had no idea what this one could mean. She shrugged. She would figure it out, eventually.
"Mother Amaterasu? Is this truly you?" a familiar feminine voice called her and she turned around to find the tree spirit Sakuya looking at her with wide eyes.
"Hello, Sakuya. It has been a while." the goddess replied with a smile.
Tears in her eyes, the spirit rushed to embrace her in a bone-crushing hug. "I'm so happy to see you again! I've missed you so much!" she cried into Amaterasu's kimono. Albeit surprised by the action, the goddess continued to smile as she gave Sakuya a soothing hug.
"So did I, Sakuya. So did I..." she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"But how? I thought you had gone back to the celestial realm! I didn't sense anything but is Nippon in danger again?" the spirit started to rant.
"Calm down and I'll explain everything. It's kind of a long story but I have time. And as far as I know, the only danger Nippon is facing right now is loosing it's Sun goddess because of a bone-crushing hug." Amaterasu replied, chuckling as Sakuya released her with nothing short of a horrified shriek.
"As much as I know you are happy to see me again, I'd appreciate if you could keep quiet about my return. First because I want it to be a surprise for everyone, and second because I do not wish to draw too much attention." She concluded after she had explained what had led her to come back, along with the reason for her current form.
Sakuya nodded. "I understand. Even a goddess needs privacy. I still remember when Nagi came back after you and him had sealed Orochi. The poor man had been swarmed by admirers, challengers and people wishing for him to take them as disciples. He couldn't even eat quietly anymore!" she said, giggling.
Amaterasu smiled at the thought. "Alright, that's enough about me. How about you, Sakuya? How have things been going since I went away?" she asked.
Delighted at the question, Sakuya beamed as she gestured to the guardian tree of Kamiki. "As you can see, all of my flowers have bloomed! And the saplings I have scattered all over the land have all grown into fine trees themselves, so I cannot be more satisfied! With the demons gone, nature has started to reclaim it's right all over Nippon. Also, the humans seem to care more about the land that they have in the past years!"
As she listened to the spirit, Amaterasu couldn't help but chuckle slightly. The fact that Nippon was always in a perpetual change was something that she loved about this land and it's people. But as she continued to speak with Sakuya, a voice suddenly interrupted them.
"Yo, Sakuya! I haven't seen you coming out of your tree in ages! Did you finally agree to become my model for my next masterpiece?" a familiar green bouncing thing greeted loudly as it neared the two.
"Oh, Issun. Greetings. And no, I told you I won't become your model. I know you would spend the entire time staring at my chest, you little pervert." the spirit replied.
"Hey! Don't go telling bad things about me in front of other people!" the poncle retorted, bouncing faster as he looked at Amaterasu. "And who's that by the way? A friend of yours? Damn, she's gorgeous! Hey, what would you say of becoming my model?" the wandering artist said as he continued to bounce up and down.
Amaterasu smiled. Issun would never truly change. But it seemed that he wasn't recognizing her. If her human form could even fool Issun, the partner she had spent her whole adventure with, then it would probably fool anyone. But then again, it was Issun, who was loosing track of everything else once he was in front of a beautiful maiden.
Sakuya eyed the goddess before her gaze fell back on the ponckle. "But Issun! Don't you recognize her? She's-" Amaterasu quickly raised her hand to stop the spirit from saying more. If someone was to remind the the celestial envoy of who she was, it would be herself and no one else.
"Hm? What d'ya mean 'recognize her'?" Issun asked Sakuya before turning to Amaterasu. "Are you one of my admirers? If so, I'm sorry for forgetting about you but I have so much of those that even I cannot remember all of them. But I think I would remember such a beautiful lady such as yourself if I ever saw her before."
The goddess chuckled. She was probably going to give the artist the shock of his life. "We did meet each other. I just had a different form at that time. But I will reintroduce myself to you. It is a pleasure meeting you, Issun. My name, is Amaterasu."
At that, the poncle stopped bouncing altogether to stare at her, mouth agape. "I-You-This-Wha-Ammy?" he stuttered, still trying to process the thing inside his mind.
Amaterasu nodded, still smiling. "The one and only."
For a few seconds, Issun did nothing but stare at her before he jumped toward her with tears in his eyes.
"Ammy!" he cried out as he landed on her chest.
...or would have if Amaterasu hadn't flicked her finger in a horizontal line, effectively using Power Slash to send him plummeting back to the earth.
"Ouch... Power Slash... You really ARE Ammy." the poncle muttered as he laid on the ground.
The two women simply laughed at his antics. He quickly recovered, however, and started bouncing even faster than ever.
"By hey! How is this possible?! Aren't you supposed to be in the celestial plain?! Is Nippon in danger again?! But I thought you had destroyed Yami! And why are you a human?!" he shouted.
Resisting to use Power Slash once more to shut him up, Amaterasu simply raised her hand to stop him. "Calm down, Issun, and I will explain everything."
And so, for the second time in less than an hour since she came back on Nippon, she explained her story. When she had finished her tale, Issun was just looking at her, as if in deep thinking, and had stopped bouncing.
"So... You'll be here for an entire month?" he finally asked.
Amaterasu nodded.
"And you plan on traveling Nippon all over again?"
Another nod.
Issun paused and then started to bounce excitedly. "Then it's decided! Let us go on another adventure, furball! Oh wait, I guess I can't call you that anymore! Whatever, I'll be with you every step of the way! Just like old times!"
Amaterasu smiled at her companion. She was glad to have met Issun so soon. The journey wouldn't have been the same without him. "Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." she replied.
Sakuya chose that moment to speak. "While I would love to continue talking with you, I'm afraid that I must go. My trees are calling me and I must tend to them."
"You do that, Sakuya! I promise I'll tell you everything that happened when we get back! Because we WILL come back!" Issun said as he punched his chest.
"Do not forget I will be watching you through my trees. But I'd love to hear about your journey when you get back. I'll be waiting, Issun. Goodbye Amaterasu, may you travel safely." the spirit said as she disappeared into the Guardian tree.
Issun then turned to Amaterasu, a big smile on his face "Well then, let's go Ammy! Nippon ain't gonna wait for us, you know?" he said as he jumped once more, clearly intending to land in her chest area.
But the goddess merely intercepted him with her hand before she let him down on her head.
"That was you seat back then and you will not go anywhere else. And certainly not inside my clothes." she stated as she started to walk down the path to the village.
"Just like old times. When it was only you and me working our asses off trying to save Nippon."
"Yes... Just like old times when I was doing all the running and fighting. I hope you've trained in the art of the celestial brush." Amaterasu replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Hey! I told you before! I was just following you back then! And to answer your question, I did! It's not perfect yet, but I'm getting really good at it!" said the offended poncle.
The goddess simply laughed. How she had missed Issun and his personality!
As they fell into a comfortable silence, Issun spoke again.
"Welcome back, Ammy."
Amaterasu smiled.
"It's good to be back."
And done! I hope that you enjoyed it! And please review! It makes my day.
Not a lot of things to say about this chapter. As I said, I wrote it quickly when I had nothing but a pen and a paper and not a lot of things are happening. So... yeah, that's about it.
This is MidnightFenrir, author of "Seeking the Horizon", signing out.