The bridge between life and death

(Chi)

I pulled back hard on the reins, bringing Okami to a halt in front of a thin set of a shabby set of steps shrouded by a tall archway leading up to the second level shrine of Amaterasu. The weather was growing wild and the winds had picked up in a fury along the way, disturbing the trees. Again, I tied the leather reins in a tight knot around the pole of the shrine and jogged quickly up the steps to the orange flecked wooden doors, using both hands to push them open. They were heavy and reluctant to move, but eventually they did as needed.

The lake that the shrine sat just short of was calm and serene, a stark contrast to the sky above. The hand-crafted deck wrapped ornately around the first floor as lanterns holding wax hung with burning candles resting snugly inside. They swayed dismally in the wind. There were no people here at this time and that made maneuvering around much easier. I hastily located the well that sat cemented in front of the statue of Amaterasu. I pulled a yen coin from the inside pocket of my robe and dropped it between the gap of the bars lining the inside of the well. From the sound of it's landing I could tell many other people had come here seeking prayer, guidance, and wish fulfillment.

I, however, was not entirely sure what I was here for…

I closed my eyes hard and bowed low. "Goddess, I pray to you. I need your guidance, your divinity and light. I am lost and must find what is dear to me."

"You are not lost my child…you are exactly where you are supposed to be in this time."

The soft voice floated in from all around me. A breeze cooled my face and my eyes snapped abruptly open. They had to adjust to the bright warm light that flooded every inch of the sky. I could not tell where the sun began and where it ended. Cherry Blossoms as pink as the first bloom swayed with the breeze. My armor was amiss, and my heart raced as I turned this way and that struggling to locate it.

"I must say, you do look like Susanoo…"

I turned abruptly and there was the bridge. The long arching red bridge I had seen in my dream where I'd first found the bead. But the bridge was occupied now. An inhumanely large winding body curled around itself before elongating and melding into the face of a multi-colored fox. Its paws were the size of my head and resembled those of a human animal, scraping the wood. Tuft hair fanned out around its legs as the colors of its scales changed hues quickly, almost forming one opalescent color scheme waves. Its eyes were the brightest of yellow slits and light smoke crowded around its mouth. Its long tail swished back and forth idly as it watched me approach.

"Do not be afraid of me beloved warrior, I will not harm you." Was this…the goddess? I had only ever seen her shrines and statues depict the human versions of her. I never knew of this. She was massive and intimidating as I navigated to the middle of the bridge, grabbing a hold of the railing in front of me to steady myself from the weight I suddenly felt overtaking my entire body. My chest heaved at my minds knowing that to see a god in their original form was rare and that most humans did not survive the sighting. Those who did were deemed insane by the people.

"Where are we?" I asked cautiously once I concluded that this was not merely a trick of the mind. Her large mouth did not move, but her thoughts were ever clear.

"The bridge between life and death. This is the best place to meet someone who is not one of us. WE are beyond death. Therefore, I possessed no other way of summoning you."

"You were waiting for me?"

She nodded her head this time. I almost jumped away from the sudden movement.

"Apologies. I think it best not to return to my human mold just yet. I have been shaken by earlier events. Though, those earlier events are the precise reason that you are here."

"You want me to soothe…you…"

She sat, towering over the railing, eyes locked on me. "No. But we both have a mutual concern that requires attention."

"Misaki…"

Her head turned to me at the sound of Hime's name, her eyes round and dark. "She was praying to me, as you are, when it happened. It was time she knew the truth, but as I began speaking, a darkness consumed this place and pulled her over the edge."

I shook my head, my brows drawing together in the center out of confusion. "But she was at the palace temple when this had to have happened. How…"

"Her human body was there, but her soul traveled here to me. I knew that Susanoo was planning something, and that retched another brother of mine was involved in this. But I had not figured it out in time. I tried to warn her, before anything should happen, but they took her from my side before I could cast her away."

My temples were pounding hard as her voice faded. "Your brothers?"

If my history lessons taught me anything then that means…

"Are you saying that your brother Susanoo, god of the seas, and Tsukuyomi, the god of the night, stole Japans princess?"

The dragon-fox grew frustrated as my composure was almost lost altogether.

"She is not only a mortals future. She is of me."

Sighing deep clouded air, the dragon got to its feet,

"Early on into the Emperor and Empresses reign, they were eager to have a child. The empress prayed to me one evening on another failed attempt at consumption. I heard her desperation in her prayers. No one was aware then, but the queen was barren. She would have no children through natural events.

Before the world was born my atrocious brothers committed hideous crimes against me, and so through that encounter, our lifelong feud began."

"The Shaman told me your story. You lied and cheated Susanoo because you did not want to lose to him."

She smirked if a dragon…fox was able to smirk. "Yes, I did. But did she tell you that there were not three goddesses, but four?"

I stared at her in exacerbation.

My mind was working the pieces together, but I needed her to say the actual words. She seemed to read my mind.

"Three women were enough of an embarrassment, but four?! I would lose my respect, my worth. As the one with the power to raise the sun each morning and control light in any form possible within the world I was expected never to lose. Especially not to the thorn in Takamagahara's side. So, I hid her, my jade bead.

For a long while I held onto her, hiding her from Susanoo as he was in a fit of rage then. The royal family are very close descendants to our power, so their prayers are heard much clearer and louder. Theirs could not have come at a better time. I blessed the royal couple and gifted them a child. The queen birthed a beautiful and healthy baby girl. Her name became Misaki."

I stumbled back a step, keeping my eyes down as they searched the wood for some type of logical answer that I could wrap my mind around. Despite my shock, she continued.

"But there were consequences for my actions beyond even my control. I gifted a life I was not meant to have gifted. No matter the situation, or how powerful we were as higher beings. The king and queen were destined to not have a child. Destiny does not change samurai unless a god makes it so. We are not meant to meddle in human affairs. But even then, I did not know that the queen…"

I spoke on air. "For you granting a life…"

"The worlds natural order took it away. The queen died shortly after Misaki's first screams pierced the worlds air."

My mind bathed in the elaborate information. I had not expected to find all of this in my search for the king's daughter. Perhaps a maid in search for money maybe, but surely not this.

"But as I came to find, I was not alone in my scandal. Susanoo sneakily kept one of the gods he had birthed from my necklace in his anger towards my cowardice."

She revealed no more as she studied me, her large tail making long swishing sounds as it wove back and forth along the bridge floor.

In my dream I'd found a jade bead on the railing of this very same bridge, then again physically on the floor of the prayer room inside the palace. Reaching inside my robes I withdrew the bead, opening my palm. A low growl emitted from Ama's muzzle.

"I have never seen any of the gods before," I mumbled. "Why now?" I flared, refusing to believe any of it. "You cannot be of this world."

"No, I most certainly am not," She stated calmly in response to my anger. "And neither are you."

I fell to my knees as everything stopped, my arms no longer enough support as my mind fought to hold onto everything, I thought I'd known. "my mother…"

"Was still your mother. Your father still your father. But your soul, that was born from Susanoo. Your parents were also unable to bear children. Susanoo granted their wish as well."

"We were retched things. And although we were at odds, we were still family, and family thought alike, Chi Matasunei.

"You're saying that…I am what exactly, goddess?"

She snapped at me. It was enough to almost make me cower. The air around her form shimmered in and out of focus like a mirage.

Her voice filled my thoughts again. Louder this time.

"You are much more than a samurai's son! You are a son of the sky. Of dark clouds and foaming sea water. You are a god by divine right. Though you share your father and mothers' blood as well. That is what makes you a demi-god. It leaves you capable of emotions, rationality, and love. Which is what I imagine you feel for my beloved Misaki."

My heart pounded furiously at the mentioning of her name. Kitsune…

"So hime is a demi-god as well?"

She remained quiet but gave a short bob of her head.

This little fox had no idea what she truly was. All of this time she worried about being drowned out by a husband who would not love her, and here she was, a daughter of the one true goddess herself. I peeked up at the goddess who still stood beside me, overlooking the water. I turned abruptly.

"Misaki…if she is your daughter…"

A brief nod again. "She is of divine blood as well. Although I hear the people voice a history they created, stating that the children we'd birthed in our feud were direct descendants to the royal family. This was not true of course. They were each given their own duties and land on earth and nurtured it in different parts of the world."

The gravity of the situation quickly set in as my mind processed all the words the goddess spoke. But she was not done yet. I wasn't sure how much more information my brain could fight to process.

"I am sure that my brothers have stolen Misaki. They are trying to lore me to her aid. They wish to destroy the very sun as payback for being cast out of heaven for their misdeeds! If I am gone, the Fu-no-enerugi and the demons below will overtake the mortal realm, and Takamagahara."

Again, shaking my head was about all I knew how to do at this point. "But I thought that over time you and Susanoo repaired your broken bond."

"He was punished for his behavior. But as for Tsukuyomi, we never spoke to one another again. If he has gotten into Susanoo's head, that could be the reason for the sudden unrest."

"That and you cheated him in your bid. There could still be animosity."

She shrugged. "I suppose. But now, we must discuss the plan to return my beloved child back home. Susanoo has kept a watchful eye on you. He expects you to seek him out in search of answers to the things I will have told you. He will not expect you to have come seeking and accepting those answers from me. We will use this to our advantage."

(Misaki)

It was so dark here, too dark. There was a chill but no wind. My arms wore goosebumps and my heart pounded at an inhumane rate.

There was nothing here' vast space full of dark bitter matter. Every few moments I would scream because something or another touched me. But it was always beyond my eye. Whatever was touching me was invisible to me and that frightened me even more.

My memory was in patched and I could not tell you where I was or how I'd gotten to wherever here was.

I remember praying to Ama inside the prayer room at home…I'd snuck away from Chi…and then… and then I saw her, the goddess. She'd been so beautiful. But in the wake of all that beauty something dark and full of resentment and cold hatred yanked me over the edge of the bridge and down into the never-ending river. The water filled my eyes, my nose, my lungs, until I was looking down upon myself and my body seized from all the water trapped in my lungs. I'd thought I was dead. I may just be.

A jolt of fear ran through me as I tried to figure out who would set out to kill me. Who would want me dead? And then I would have to face the fact that whatever did want me dead, at this point, most likely was not a human being. And that struck a fear into my heart that I had never known.

"Poor poor mortal…"

The voice faded in from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It was rough and hoarse. It was almost raspy and unpleasant to the ear.

"Who is that? Why did you bring me here? Am i…"

I couldn't bring myself to say the actual word out loud yet.

The returning chuckle was deep and guttural. "Afraid, are we? All in due time, all in due time."

And just like that the voice was gone. But as the voice left me, an image appeared all around me in gray plumes of thin smoke. They formed clouds, a night sky, and two very stunning people.

One was a man with hair the length of his body, pooling at the floor. His robes were a rich red, gold, and purple. They shone brightly, even in the dark. His face was almost feminine but retained its masculine jawline and eyes.

But with a click of the shadows tongue the plumes of smoke dissipated, leaving me solely in the dark. My body began to shake, and my eyes welled with tears as I was faced with a bitter skin splitting cold wind and darkness only a lack of the moon could bring, upon normal circumstances. Invisible hands with dagger nails pulled at my skirts, ripped at my hair, and clawed at my arms. The scratches burned my skin and sizzled loudly in my ears. The next scratch hurt twice as much as the last until I could bare the pain no longer and let out a desperate scream.

"HELP ME!!!!"