Okami: A Thousand Suns

Companionship

Just as Amaterasu was about to take her first swing at the raven with her mighty reflector, he vanished into thin air with only a few black particles that were left behind. Amaterasu knew that she was dealing with a potentially strong opponent. Frustrated, she attempted to use her powerful lupine nose in an attempt to at least get a sense of direction where the raven might have gone. To her relief, she picked up his faint scent that was quickly getting weaker, indicating that he was traveling at an extremely fast pace. Amaterasu had to pursue him immediately to get any hope in reaching him, but first she had the urge to deal with the dismembered corpses of the raven's unfortunate victims. She raised her tail and proceeded to make swift motions in a particular pattern on the surface. Soon, the bodies were engulfed in a tornado composed of various types of fauna. The stiffs vanished amid this, leaving behind a small patch of flowers on the hard asphalt where they laid.

Amaterasu proceeded to leap into the air and attached herself on one to the buildings in an attempt to gain leverage to then make another jump to reach the rooftops of the structure. Once on the roof, she sniffed the air again to acquire her bearings onto the raven. She then began her pursuit of the raven, running in full speed and leaping from building to building. In the sky, she notices flying objects making whirling noises while in the air. The objects in question also had spotlights beaming downwards and were moving in a "sweeping" motion. Definitely manmade vehicles, but Amaterasu did not know what and who there were searching for, maybe the raven?

The raven's scent was getting stronger, it appeared that he had stopped moving and was stationary. Amaterasu slowed her pace and treaded quietly in an attempt to potentially catch him by surprise. Soon enough, she spots him perched on the very edge of one of the buildings looking down onto the street below. On the surface was another checkpoint manned by at least seven guards. Four lower guardsmen, and three officers. Amaterasu knew that he was planning on slaughtering those guards as well. She formulates a plan which involves simply knocking the raven off the building, and if he survives the fall, she hopes that the guards will be able to take care of him.

Amaterasu executes her plan by quietly approaching the raven from behind, and then makes a strong head butt right into his back. Sending him hurtling towards the ground. However, in the middle of his fall, he disappeared and reappeared again on the ground successfully breaking his fall. He glances upward right towards Amaterasu, giving her a menacing look. But he had other matters to deal with as he was instantly spotted by the guards.

"What the...! He's here!" one of them shouted and drew his weapon.

"A promotion for the man who kills this one!"

When the first guard charged and leaped towards the raven with his katana, the raven swiftly blocked him with his blade which in turn stunned the guard from the concussion. During that couple seconds of him being vulnerable, the raven took the chance and swung his own blade diagonally against the guard's torso. His body was cut into two by the raven's blade like a knife through butter. The raven quickly disappeared momentarily and reappeared way behind the other guards.

"Damn it! Where'd he go?"

"How did we lose him!"

The raven grabs the guard closest to him from behind and drives his blade downwards into the guard's neck and through the spine. He was dead before he even fell onto the ground. The other guards turn around and attempt to attack the raven again, but he once again deflected all their attacks. Like the last encounter, the raven seemingly bends time around him that lets him strike them almost instantly. All of the guards were now no more than dismembered pieces of flesh. Amaterasu was astonished at what quick work the raven did to the guards. However, this gave her a clue on how to counter the raven's attacks.

Without any further hesitation, Amaterasu leaps into the air and then dives downwards right towards the raven. But the raven dodges her as she impacts the surface. He had his blade at the ready in his right hand and the two started circling each other waiting, waiting to see who makes the first strike.

"Are you one of them? Those...things outside the city? You certainly don't look like an ordinary mutt to me."

Amaterasu took note of his comment. Apparently, he could see her true form, which wasn't a surprise to her since he wasn't a human. While Amaterasu was briefly distracted in her thoughts, the raven waves his left arm horizontally from right to left. Blue particles emitted from his hand and a sudden concentrated blast of hurricane-like wind blew Amaterasu away, making her tumble along the street. But she got up quickly ignoring the pain in some parts of her body. She charged directly at the raven and made her first swing at him with the reflector. Right when the reflector was about to meet the raven, he vanished and then appeared right behind her. The raven thrusts his blade straight forward into her back, but little did he know that Amaterasu was under the protection of her Godhood. Which allowed her to take initial blows without wounding her. The blade encounters her but is thwarted by the divine energy protecting her. She uses this opportunity to power slash him by swishing her tail in a horizontal movement. The invisible slash made the raven grunt and stumble. He stood still for a bit and looked down to his torso. His hoodie had a large gash across his chest with blood starting to slowly seep outward. He looked back at Amaterasu in anger, then he proceeded to make a swift upward motion with his left hand again. Blue particles exhumed again, and his eyes briefly gleamed bright blue, a deep black solid hole appears right under Amaterasu's paws. From that hole, spawned in an entire flock of feral ravens. Cawing loudly, they proceed to violently peck and scratch Amaterasu with their razor-sharp beaks and talons.

Amaterasu reacts quickly by utilizing the Gale Storm technique, blowing away the flock of angry birds into the nearby building. Most of them were killed on impact. When Amaterasu recovered from that brief onslaught, the raven was gone. However, she picked up the whirring noise of the flying contraptions and the sound of howling sirens coming closer to her position. She knew that her tango with the raven ought to have brought attention. She makes a double jump onto a rooftop of a building and flees from the location that has become a bloodbath. She uses her nose again to track down the scent of the raven to see where he has gone. This time he had not moved far, in fact he was only a block away. Amaterasu started to head towards the direction his scent led her. After some traveling, she spotted him sitting at a doorstep of a boarded-up complex. He was attempting to bandage himself up from her power slash, but the wound was too wide, and he was bleeding out quickly.

Amaterasu pondered whether she should try to help him. She did not sense any evil energy or spirits in him, yet why did he kill these guardsmen? She was no longer sure on who is good and who is not in this world. That is what she needed to find out at once.

She jumped down towards the surface and started to slowly approach the raven. The raven spots her and freezes still, he makes direct eye contact with Amaterasu and so does she with him. At this very moment, she sees the raven's true nature. He had no evil intentions at all, his spirit was virtuous. The raven suddenly relaxes, he appears to be a lot weaker than when Amaterasu previously encountered him. Likely due to sustained blood loss.

"What do you want from me, dog? You beat me alright? I don't have time to play games with you anymore!"

Amaterasu cautiously comes even closer to the raven. He was just staring at her intensely. She then turns to him with her behind and uses her tail to gently stroke the gash across his chest. The raven flinches as a splash of ink covers the wound and makes it disappear altogether. The gash was now gone and even his hoodie was restored. The raven looks at her in surprise.

"Th-thanks...how on earth did you do that?" he asked with great interest.

Amaterasu only gave a slight smile and sat down next to him. She felt that she had just potentially made a new friend in this unknown world.