Tifa & Yuffie (Okami RP)

[Tifa Lockhart]

Waka laid down where he was, bracing his head with his arms. He yawned once before he seemed to drop off into sleep, a good indication of how exhausted he was.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

The wolf whined slightly when Waka ignored her request, but at least he was sleeping, so she let it go and laid her own head down on her paws, though she didn't fall asleep, since her reflector channeled sun energy during the day. She merely watched the tiny plant grow, slowly, her golden eyes fixed on the green seedling and her ears on the soft sound of Waka breathing as he slept.

[Tifa Lockhart]

((i'm gonna write most of this post like it's in the past, kay? Lots of work had gone into this i might add.))

Waka laid curled on the bare earth, sleeping soundly for a short while. Gradually the nightmares he'd endured for over a hundred years came back to him. The past bled into his present, distorting his awareness of time and space. It was suddenly like the clock was turning back, and he was powerless to prevent it from happening. The earth beneath him seemed to vanish, and for the briefest moment, he was floating...

Then the smell of strong incense stirred him from his meditation. He glanced over at the stick he'd lit before dropping into his trance, catching sight of the last flicker of glowing ember as it finished burning, dropping the last of its fine grey ash into the delicately painted dish that it rested above. Something had stirred him... some great surge of power, a power he was all too familiar with.
He stood, casting aside the burned out incense stick with a quick flick of his hand and extinguishing each of the candles with a gentle cupped hand. 'Even with the Chosen One... are you strong enough?'
It was the year he'd predicted... the chosen time. All the circumstances were perfect, Nagi had emerged a fine warrior indeed after a little encouragement to his parents, the chosen one that he had predicted a century ago. The Goddess was at her full power, radiant even when the sun was gone, he could see from the way the great orb glowed so brightly each day. The people of that tortured little village called her Shiranui, and they feared her... but he knew her for what she really was... and he knew that the blame was being wrongly placed. If anyone was responsible for the evil they now endured, it was him.
He emerged onto the balcony peering out across the tiny city of Seian below him. It had grown so much from the tiny town it had been when he had first been brought here - grievously wounded - a hundred years ago... but it was still a fledgling community... the Prophet saw greater things in its distant future.
His pale eyes now drifted skyward, a bitterness entering his mouth when he saw the bright face of the round moon, so large above his head. Long had he endured a strangely dual-sided relationship with the moon, unable to hate it, but unable to love it for all the grief in had caused him, how wretched its pale face had made him. There was nothing to love about the fullness of this moon though, like a great eye peering down at him through the darkness. Tonight that most baleful of traditions would have to occur, that wretched sacrifice would have to be made. The very earth itself knew, the air seemed to hang heavy with dread, like the entire world had drawn in a breath to hold with anticipation.
'That's why you make your move now, isn't it, Ma Cherie?' he asked no one in particular, his voice drifted alone on the foul wind. 'You cannot bare to watch another die?'
He felt determination knot in his gut, he wanted the killing to end as well... he didn't want to see another innocent young maiden swallowed up by that horror... the horror he'd brought upon them.
So he set out, his heart in his chest. the wretchedness he'd brought to this world would surely end that night.

When he reached the dreaded cave where the beast made its lair he'd despaired to learn he was too late. Shiranui and Nagi had already entered the cave, and the roars of the monster echoed in his ears. Desperation took hold of his senses, and he tried his best to break the barrier, bloodying himself greatly in the attempt. The evil energies tore at his flesh and wracked his body with pain, but to no avail.
'Why didn't you call me!' he screamed, pounding his fist upon the veil of darkness that kept them apart, kept him from the battle. His hands no longer fit to fight the force, he paced desperately... but there was no way in. His anxiety rose with every long hour that the battle seemed to rage on, and grew only deeper when all became silent and the barrier that had so long barred his entry dissipated.
'Dead...' he thought hopefully. 'Let the beast be dead!'
He could hear hurried footsteps echoing from within the cave, and he'd stepped forward, eager to congratulate the Goddess and the Hero on their victory, but what he saw had rendered his heart to ice and ripped him open with a pain that still had not healed to this day.
'Please help me!' Nagi exclaimed, his eyes red with emotion. 'Shiranui saved my life, please!'
Waka had dropped his eyes to spy what the warrior clutched so desperately to his breast. He'd recognised at once her slender face and ornate red markings. She was a creature of unparalleled beauty, but to see her perfection marred so viciously felt like having his heart ripped out of his chest. Waka choked back his grief, unable to believe the carnage he was seeing, Shiranui so brutally butchered, within inches of her very life.
'Quickly,' he said, rationality taking place of his grief. He could not allow his lady to die. 'To the village.'
He'd helped Nagi carry her limp form all the way back to the once tormented village, but they hadn't even reached it before Waka realised there was no hope. His heart sunk lower and lower with every ragged breath he felt shake her form, and only the once did she open her eyes and look straight at him. The pain in those glittering pools had been like nothing he had ever seen, but it was the unconditional adoration he felt from her that burned the worst. Even as she slipped further and further from the world of the living, she loved someone as wretched as he.

At the village they'd laid her out beside the tiny sapling that had been planted that very night, the people whispering prayers and weeping for the saviour they'd so long scorned as an enemy. Nagi had wept openly, not leaving her side as he stroked her bloodstained fur. Waka had hung back in the shadows, avoiding the eyes of the townspeople. The age-old sorrow he saw there was too much for him to bare, the guilt coursing through his body like a poison. If only those people knew that it was he who had brought that menace to their world, he who had caused the death of so many... He'd have given everything to be the one lying there that night... he'd have given everything to take her place.
They'd all stayed there, unable to leave, until the great white wolf raised her head, her tongue licking a gentle line across Nagi's face. Then she was gone, her form going limp and motionless, those beautiful golden eyes staring... at him, an apology in their depths.
He'd fled without a word to anyone, unable to bare the pain in his heart. She had believed in him, and in her moment of need he had not been there... he had been powerless to do anything.

Waka sat up with a gasp, sweat pouring down his face, making his teeth chatter. He'd seen the scene so many times, but a century of waiting had not dulled the pain. He knew what happened next, remember vividly how he'd walked throughout that accursedly long night, to that damned cave, and used the warrior's discarded blade to seal forever the dreaded serpent's spirit. He remembered well the oath he'd sworn on his very blood, that he'd defend the cave with his life, to do everything he could to prevent the return of that beast, to ensure her ultimate sacrifice was worth it. It had been his way of atoning...
A hundred years he'd followed that duty, bearing his pain alone.
Then Orochi the dreaded serpent returned despite his greatest efforts, and like nothing he had ever dreamed she had returned as well, her radiance once more sweeping the land clean of evil. Even then the pain had only worsened... how could he face her, knowing that twice he'd destroyed everything she valued... twice he'd let her down.
He took deep breaths to calm himself, his eyes frantically searching for her, relief flooding his veins when he found her lying where she'd been when he closed his eyes, curled up by the sapling.
Watching her die that day had been the hardest thing he'd ever endured... and he lived in constant terror that it might happen again if he was not watchful enough.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

((HOLY HELL!!! I've not seen a post that long from you in years!!))

Amaterasu immediately jumped when Waka woke up gasping for air. She got to her feet and ran over, fearful for his safety, whining to him and tilting her head, as she sniffed him over to make sure he wasn't ill. When she found he wasn't she then licked his face gently, offering him a worried look with her golden eyes. She couldn't imagine what kind of nightmare might have terrified her friend so...she almost didn't want to know what sort of horrors he might have seen.

[Tifa Lockhart]

((1500 words. That's the length of a short essay. *rubs chest*))

Waka leaned forward the moment Amaterasu came over to him, wrapping his arms around her powerful shoulders. He buried his face in her silky white coat, inhaling deeply to get a feel for the soft floral scent that was the goddess. He was trembling slightly, and his fingers gripped desperately at her coat, as if just trying to ensure that the solidity of her form was real, that she really was there and that this whole adventure wasn't just some fever dream he'd cooked up in his mind, stemming from the desperation in his heart. What if it was all a mirage created by Orochi to keep him from fighting against him this time? Had the two of them really put an end to all the evil forces the arc had offered and then defeated the dreaded Yami once and for all?
The more deep breaths he took, his nostrils filling with her beautiful perfume, the more certain he was becoming that she really was there. Amaterasu - Shiranui reborn - really was back... she really was alive and well.
"Sorry Ma Cherie..." he whispered, his face still tucked away safely in the soft fur of her shoulder. "I really will do better this time."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

The wolf jumped when Waka flung his arms around her, shaking in fear. But when he apologise, promising to do better "this time" she shook herself and barked, poking his cheek with her cold, wet nose and then pointing it to the sapling, with another encouraging bark. She then gave her tail a flick, a flower blooming beside them, as though she were trying to tell him not to worry, as she could free the celestial plain as soon as the little sapling grew.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Waka didn't raise his gaze to meet Amaterasu's until he'd settled himself down into appropriate composure. He was ashamed to have freaked out so badly, but the memory of her death would haunt him forever.
"I know... I know.." he breathed with a sigh. "I'm just being foolish mon amie."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

The wolf barked and gave the man a nudge with her head, her tail wagging slightly in a content manner. She then turned her golden eyes to continue watching the sapling, though she remained near to her dear friend.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Waka leaned tiredly against Ammy as she sat beside him, watching the sapling. He didn't go back to sleep, but he did rest his exhausted limbs by staying where he was.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Ammy watched the plant carefully and occasionally looked back at Waka to make sure he was okay.

As the day went by, Ammy made sure to keep the plant healthy and as the night fell, she laid down, carefully, watching carefully so that the plant was healthy.

[Tifa Lockhart]

After nightfall came Waka lay with his head against Ammy's back, looking up as the large moon rose into the sky. It seemed so much closer from here than it did back on Nippon. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes to enjoy the light that the moon shone down on them. As much as he despised its pale face for being a source of so much of his pain, he couldn't help the connection he felt to it. Like how Amaterasu was rejuvenated by the sun, he found new energy under the light of the moon.
He shifted slowly, not wanting to make Amaterasu at all uncomfortable. He moved over to the tiny sapling, stroking the tiny leaves gently.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Amaterasu felt the movement and saw the hand reach out to touch the tiny, glistening sapling oh so gently, and she lifted her snow-white muzzle to look over at the tired blonde beside her. Some of the colour seemed to have returned to his pale face under the cool, blue light of the moon and that sight comforted her that with time he would recover. She pulled her canine lips into an awkward, but recognisable smile of content, moving to gently lick Waka's outstretched hand, in an encouraging way, her golden eyes shining brightly in the dark atmosphere of night -like ghostly fires in a sea of midnight blue- as they met with her companion's sky blue ones. With that the goddess turned her eyes back to the tiny, glowing sapling as another leaf unfurled from its steadily growing stem, resting her head comfortably on daintily crossed paws. Even as the moon shone its pale face down on them as it rose higher and higher in the darkened sky, Ammy kept her watchful golden eyes on the tiny sapling, maintaining her silent vigil even as the winds grew cold.
Feeling the chill on her back, however, she grumbled slightly and turned to her blonde companion, forcing a slight shiver as she offered a querying look, hoping as always that his perceptive nature would help him to understand what she was asking.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Waka had turned his soft gaze away from the sapling as Amaterasu licked his hand, and with a fond smile he'd reached out to run gentle fingers back and forth across her silky forehead. He'd tilt his head slightly when she began and whine and shiver, his golden locks sliding over his shoulder in a golden cascade. Where he came from it was always cool like this, and he'd spent much time in the frozen wastes of Kamui, which was far colder again. So he was comfortable, despite the poor state of his clothes.
"Cold Ma cherie?" he asked with a smirk. He'd sidle over to her and wrap his arms gently around her, urging her to curl herself in his lap, his fingers still gently caressing her silken fur. "Maybe I can help you keep warm, oui?"

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

The wolf had actually meant whether he was cold, but she let out a sound that sounded like it would have been a soft laugh had she been human and shook her head slightly to indicate that she wasn't and that that was not what she had meant, but she took it that he wasn't cold. Still, she wouldn't pass off an offer of a hug from her friend and gladly shifted to lay her forepaws across his lap and lay her head down on top of them, a content look in her golden eyes as Waka stroked her forehead. Her head was laid down comfortably, but still angled so that she could watch the tiny green sapling. After a moment, she curled her tail around beside her, the cloud of bushy white fur tapping softly on the ground in a familiar drumming rhythm: the music that the people of Kamiki had played at their festival after the defeat of Orochi, though she was only tapping out the pattern of the drums.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Waka found himself tapping his hand on his knee in time with the rhythm of Ammy's tail, without even realising he was doing it. It was only after a moment or two that it suddenly struck him, and soft laughter bubbled in his chest.
"Always full of rhythm, aren't you ma cherie?" he asked, scratching behind her ear softly.
It warmed his heart that she was so full of joy, even when things looked a little bleak for them right now. The sapling was growing though, and as soon as it was strong enough, Amaterasu would use her powers to spur its growth onwards, allowing it to spread its beautiful branches skywards, and ease the sorrow her world currently endured.