CHAPTER SEVEN

Constellation

I racked my brains to think of the path we'd taken to the top of Tsuta Ruins, trying to remember if there had been any side-passages we could try to get out. There was no chance of breaking through the rock; a cherry bomb might make more stone crumble and fall- and maybe crush us.

Thinking of what to do, I flicked my tail absentmindedly and checked in my bag for anything that could help. I saw the rosary and took out the new weapon I had earned after Maiko's defeat to equip it. I felt it as it moved over my neck, floating in a circle. I always favored rosaries in training over reflectors and glaives, I liked the distance they gave me, and the multiple attacks. They were powerful and beautiful weapons. The wood was sleek and I could feel the power thrumming within it. I could feel it had a name as well. 'the Beads of Victory'

I took a deep breath, enjoying the new weapon, before opening my eyes to face the problem at hand. It looked like we had to go back to the old plan, looking through the tunnels. There had to be some way out. A sudden thought of being trapped in here forever struck me, but I forced it back. 'We will not be stuck here forever! We won't starve. We'll make it out alive.' I chided myself, and most of my mind relented, except for one small part that fluttered around in the back like an annoying moth. I mentally tried to snap it away, and looked to Hiraku. He was climbing the mountain of rocks, checking to see if there were any weak spots where he could see through. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked?

He finally lifted his head to look at me. "Well, we definitely won't be able to make it out this way, Akime." I sighed and nodded my head. "I figured as much." I sighed defeatedly. "Looks like the only chance we have is to find another way out of here." He bounced back to me and hopped onto my head. "There were some tunnels we didn't explore to their limits.." I said. "That's our best bet." He agreed. I could hear a tenseness in his voice, that might be our only bet. I turned back towards the door, so our search could start.

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We went back to the areas we'd barely touched, to no avail. None of them led to the outside- We were trapped. With every room we passed through, I could feel Hiraku getting more anxious and tense. 'This couldn't be the end of our journey- it's only barely started!' My head started to hurt from going through dusty rooms, but we kept on. 'He volunteered to help me, and I will get him out of here. No matter what it takes.' I vowed to myself.

I walked past one of the last areas to check, my tail starting to drag on the ground, both from tiredness and growing worry. It was a small room, there were a few small trees and rocks littered throughout the tiny chamber, with a stone slab covered in moss in one corner and a couple carved statues on it. I walked closer, and blew a light wind over the stone, so the dust was swept away.

"Oh come on!" I heard Hiraku's exasperated voice from behind me, and I looked around. There was a large door on the far side of the cave, but it was so thick and heavy- I doubted either of us could budge it, or break it. I flicked my tail across the door, but power-slash simply bounced off. I frowned, but looked back to the stone- which I found resembled an altar.

Something drew me toward it, and I knew that there was some sort of power there. But what? I brushed away some moss with my tail, and I saw kanji symbols carved into the altar; it looked like many had worn away, but a couple were still readable like: 'heart'. As I wiped my tail over it, a few drops of ink fell to the surface and were absorbed. I stared for a moment in shock, and drew a mark on the stone. It soaked in again, but this time, it repaired one of the worn-away kanji symbols: 'bravery'. I put more and more ink on the altar, using rejuvenating power and more became distinguishable: 'divine', 'kindness', 'blood', and 'god'. My heart speeded up, and I looked over my shoulder to call Hiraku over. "What is this?" He said when he got to me, looking it up and down. "Is this some sort of shrine? To who?" I shook my head, I had no idea. The last bits of ink soaked back into the shrine, and suddenly, the small room was filled with a faint light. "What the?" Said Hiraku, and we both turned around. The ceiling of the mossy room was suddenly open, and stars gleamed brightly in the sky with a familiar light… Too familiar.

"B-but, this is IMPOSSIBLE!" I barked, astounded. "There are only 15 brush gods! My mother and Chibi found them all!"

"And yet… There's one right here." Hiraku said, bouncing to the tip of my muzzle to get a closer look. Suddenly, he froze. "Umm…Akime… You know how Issun inspired the people to believe in the gods?" Despite my confusion, I nodded. "As the celestial envoy, all those years ago… Using his skills- he created beautiful lifelike paintings of the gods." I waited as he took a deep breath to continue. "…But he didn't only make paintings of the real gods, but his own paintings. Of new gods. He envisioned other brush techniques… And painted them." I stared at him in growing disbelief. "One day, one of his paintings blew away in the wind- out of Kamui, away across the ocean, and… Someone found it. Before long the word of new paintings spread, believers they, -not knowing the difference- I think started to believe in them too; with the same ferocity that they believed in your mother. The paintings were eventually brought back to Ponc'tan- but one night -months after- they were all stolen! Or so we'd thought..." He said, looking back at the stars. "But the truth is, I found the paintings, hidden in one of Issun's art rooms, stashed away so no one could find it. But the characters were missing, only the backgrounds remained. I think I get it now!" His eyes glimmered with excitement. "The faith sparked in the people brought these gods to life! I remember! This constellation, it looks like a deer! He HAD a deer-god painting I'm sure of it!"

"Hiraku," I said softly, like I was speaking to an overexcited child. "Think about what you're telling me, even if this is true, what would these gods even represent?" All of it was too overwhelming. 'Issun is responsible for these new gods? Why didn't mother know about this? And if she did, why didn't she tell me about them? What are their powers? What if they could be a danger to people?'

"Let's find out!" Hiraku answered my question simply, and I had no negative response. Beyond my denial about their existence, I really was curious to know myself. So, doing what my mother had done before me, I dotted the sky above in the places where the missing stars should be.

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The stars above me gleamed brightly, and the outline of the constellation cleared; it was the body of a leaping doe. Then the real body of a mighty deer sprang forth. It came racing down from the sky on a ray of white light. She was coming right towards me, but I stood my ground and crouched- readying for an oncoming attack. However, the great white doe stopped only feet from me, dust stirring around her feet. She stood almost five feet tall, and she had light red markings streaked across her back, broken stripes and spirals taking the place of spots. She had markings across her eyes and a symbol on her head the same as the other brush gods. I looked around and noticed that all around us, strange yellow cloud had gathered, making the world outside hard to see. I sat down, still staring in wonder at the beautiful deer, then suddenly- she spoke. "Ah, Akimeterasu. Daughter of the marvelous sun god Amaterasu, mother to us all and savior of Nippon..." It said in a loud, calm, and echoing voice. The great white deer shook its head. It pawed the golden clouds with a wild, yet contained energy using her hoof and bowed her head. "I am the god Shugami. My brothers and I rose from the brush of the celestial envoy, Issun. Long have I wished to gaze upon another of my kind, and lo, before me stands the princess of the gods!" The doe raised its head to meet my gaze, her eyes were as black and deep as the night sky, and as gentle as the heavens. I blushed, being called a princess by anyone made me feel uncomfortable, especially another god. As daughter of Amaterasu, I was technically the princess of the gods, but I felt no more powerful or worthy of respect than any of them.

"I have watched you from the sky as you have journeyed through the ruins, your courage and kindness have impressed me, and your mercy at restoring my shrine has granted you my alliance. My blood is divine ink, use it, and enhance your powers. Like the wolf becomes stronger, strengthened by deer's blood. Any technique you wield will become stronger with me at your side." Shugami dipped her head, and suddenly shrunk with a blinding ray of light. The doe became an orb that somewhat resembled praise, marked with a symbol in ink. It circled once around me, then dove into my chest. I felt a rush of power, and white rays floated around me for an instant, before the golden clouds faded, and suddenly we were back in the cavern.

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Back in the world of reality, -and having just received a new power- I was oddly…. Disappointed. "Is this it?" I wondered aloud. "Are all these new gods just power-ups of old ones?" I inquired with a raised brow to the poncle. "No, I don't think so." Hiraku argued. "Issun- he made some gods with their own powers. Some of them specialized in uniting the brush's power, but some were completely unique! Shugami is the god of blood, heart and courage- if I remember correctly. One of… I think 5 or so."

"Or so?" I said, and he shrugged. "He made all kinds, gods of the heart, the mind, earth, some sort of ocean god… I don't remember all of them. To me they were just paintings. Only now do I know what their real secret is." He said in a quiet tone.

"And now we can add this to our list of missions Akime!" He added brightly. "Look for the new brushgods!" I gave him a smile, even though inside, I felt distressed. 'I'm not too impressed so far.' I thought to myself. "God of blood… What would that do anyway?" I wondered aloud. "I dunno." Hiraku said, then jumped up. "Didn't she say she was ink? That she'll enhance your powers? Hey, you can try it out now! Maybe it'll help us get out of here!"

"But I don't even know what I need to draw!" I protested. "Come on Akime!" Hiraku said, begging. "Just try something on… That rock over there!" He said, pointing to a stone. "Oh, alright." I said, and rolled my eyes. 'He underestimates my powers, even without this 'new god' I would be able to cut it in half.' I thought to myself, but nonetheless I decided to humor him. I readied my stance, took a breath to steady myself, and made a nice clean slash across the face of the stone with my brush.

"WHOA!" Hiraku yelled in astonishment and excitement, and I stood stunned at the damage I had just done. Not only had I sliced the rock in half, but the small trees behind it, and another rock, and the door! "This is awesome! Ha- This, may be the hardest technique you ever have to master!" He whooped, looking delighted at my new powers. And I silently agreed, nodding my head. 'That doe, Shugami did give me an extraordinary power, I have to use my brush warily now, to make sure I don't do more than I wish.'

"The door's unsealed!" Hiraku continued happily. "Come on, let's go!"

(AN: Oooh, new god! :D Akime wasn't that impressed at first, but with this power from a new god, who knows what old powers might gain new capabilities? And yes, this doesn't fit in with the zodiac, but at least I put time and effort into creating my gods. I labored over creating elements that coincided with the creatures of okami, little did I know at the time- Okamiden just added penguins. Really? Penguins? XD I don't think that ancient Japanese people even knew about them, but whatever. I spent time pouring over new gods, and the official creators of the sequel spontaneously come up with penguins :/ . Ah well.

I'm surprised I got this one out so fast! The next chapter will definitely take a long time [sorry!], and we're going to be entering into a new segment of the story, a new mission, and new characters. Well, I hope you're enjoying the story, and as always- ON TO THE NEXT CHAP-A-TER!)