The night was quiet; only the chirps of Crickets could be heard. Shuffles in nearby bushes emitted into the air as all of the animals and humans in the village were asleep. Two unknown presences make it to the village entrance as they pause in their tracks.
It was forbidden to enter these sections of the woods, let alone a half-animal territory.
If the two entities weren't careful, they would be killed immediately; their thoughts were interrupted with the sound of twigs snapping behind them.
Upon turning around, they see a tall, grey, intimidating half-animal glaring down at them.
"Now, give me one good reason why you have entered this place, let alone these parts of the woods." the wolf had spoken to them in a low, deep voice. The teenagers didn't know what to say, so they had just stayed silent as they swallowed the lump in their throats.
Monster was getting impatient with awaiting an answer from the two intruders; he would just have Okami deal with these two.
The grey wolf grabbed the two boys and took them to the middle of the village; as he set them down, he let out a sound just to ensure that Okami could hear him.
The wolf's eyes were glowing brightly at this point, as his red eyes looked like they could kill someone on their own.
"Well, let's see what our leader has to say about you two intruding our village."
The orange wolf shoots up as he hears a call from Monster; what does he need this late at night.
The orange exits his cave, trying his best not to wake up Mark, who had been sleeping next to him. After leaving, his eyes glow a bright, misty white. That's why he needed me, Okami thinks to himself.
"How did you find this place? You do know that these parts of the woods are forbidden, especially for kids like you too. Didn't you think how dangerous it is to enter a village full of half-animals." one of the teenagers opened their mouth to speak, but that is soon interrupted with a whistle in the wind.
Okami held his hand out to the two teenagers, motioning to be silent as he listened again. The same whistle sound emitted into the air as it neared their village. The orange wolf grits his teeth as he knew what was near.
"Intruders."
The orange wolf yells at the two kids to run and hide, for they would continue their conversation at a later time.
Okami took a small sniff of his environment to identify who was intruding their village, Archen.
He thought that he had given Archen a hint that he wasn't just a simple everyday wolf and that he was willing to fight if it meant saving his friends. The orange wolf had hoped that all of his forms were prepared for a fight; if not, then there were low chances of survival for everyone here.
Okami lets out a huff as he sits on the grass, his back faced the group Archen had with him. A new creature, in particular, was noticeably heard, as ink dripping sounds were heard from behind him.
"Archen, when will you ever get the hint that I'm impossible to kill, so why do you still try."
The orange wolf stands onto his hind legs turning around to the group. Okami grits his teeth as his hands ball into fists.
He looks up at the sky before emitting a loud, powerful roar, letting the village know what was about to go down.
"Where did this sudden confidence come from? You think you're so powerful, don't you. I indeed cant kill you, but I bet they could." Archen says to the orange wolf as he motions towards Amzi and some sort of rabbit creature that looked like it was made out of ink.
The ink rabbit roared as it launched itself; Kyoki took form as he stopped the beast before it could do any harm to his body. The orange wolf opens his mouth to emit a loud screeching sound near the ink rabbit's ears.
The creature roared, detaching from Kyoki as it fell onto the grass, an ink pool forming below it. Amzi was next to launch himself; he extended his claws; they soon made contact with the fur but did not pierce through; kyoki let out a huff.
The big orange wolf raises his hands and changes the gravity surrounding the green animal; Amzi lets out an unrealistic cry as he desperately tries to move.
Okami took form once again, growling at the two wolves. The orange wolf went down on all fours calling for the rest of the wolves to surround the two.
All wolves bear their teeth, intimidating one another as they snap their jaws emitting more growls.
Okami was the first to attack as he opened his mouth, fire appearing soon after. He didn't want to set their home on fire, but this moment was a life or death situation, so he didn't have a choice.
The two animals screech as they step away from the flames; the ink rabbit is the first to jump out at Okami as he is knocked onto his back.
The creature snaps at the orange wolf trying to get his neck, but Okami was strong enough to keep him away; the orange wolf couldn't hold on much longer, though; he had to think of something quick.
Mamoru takes form as bones seem to rearrange themselves; the group sees a large spike come out of the orange wolf's chest and impale the ink rabbit. Despite the creature being made of ink, it still felt the pain of the spike as it backed off of the orange wolf.
Mamoru lets his wings out as he flies up into the air; he flaps his wings, making the fire grow bigger around the intruders.
"Mamoru, Watch out!" a voice screams up to the orange wolf, but it was too late as Amzi knocks Mamoru out of the air, losing control as Ōkami takes form, making him unable to move any of his limbs.
"Good job, Amzi," Archen speaks up as he aims his crossbow at the orange wolf who was looking at him with wide eyes. Arrows were for sure sharp enough to impale his skin, and Archen did not want him alive.
Time had slowed around the orange wolf as he saw a figure in the distance, another wolf to be exact.
Father?
The wolf bends down where Okami was lying. The orange wolf lifts Okamis's head, "there is no need to be afraid; remember your other forms. They can only do so much on their own; you are their leader, tell them what to do, and they will do whatever they can. I believe in you, son. We love you dearly."
It wasn't long before the figure had disappeared into the mist with a smile on his face. Okami knew that his father was right; he was their leader. Not only for his forms but his friends as well.
Okami came back into reality as he stared straight at Amzi with a smirk on his face.
Kyoki takes form as he sets himself on fire, trapping Amzi against him.
The creature screeched, trying to get out of the firm grip as it burned in flames; kyoki had calmed the fire as he knocked Amzi unconscious.
Okami takes form as he gets up on his hind legs once more; he turned his head to the side to see Mark with his father as he overheard their conversation.
"Dad, stop this. This isn't going to get you anywhere; I know you thirst for the death of his kind. Can't you see that he has gone through enough; you act like killing his parents wasn't enough."
The orange wolf's eyes go wide, rage building up inside of him. He killed my parents!
Flashbacks came as he remembered that specific night his father had died; the man was indeed well-dressed. He also remembered some of the facial features when the man had turned around; it did resemble Archen a bit.
Okami had set himself on fire as he jumped onto Archen with rage.
"You Killed My Parents!!" Achen was in pain, but Okami didn't care; the orange wolf opened his mouth as he prepared to kill Archen; he had never wanted to kill, but he had put him through so much pain.
"Okami, stop. I know that you are angry but please do not kill my father. He is doing wrong, I know. That doesn't mean he deserves death, though."
The orange wolf had calmed himself down; he looked over to where Mark was standing. Tears were flowing down his face.
Police sirens were heard coming towards the village, signaling that it was best for them to go so they wouldn't get caught. Before leaving, Okami turns to Archen; the male was currently trying to calm himself down from what had just happened.
The orange wolf let out little chirps; the male's eyes go wide, not expecting this from his enemies. Maybe half-animals aren't too different than he thought; Archen shakes his head; that was crazy. Of course, these creatures deserve everything he had given them; They're poisonous creatures.
After leaving Archen shocked, Okami rushes to the two human males.
He motioned for them to hop onto his back as he let out his wings. Everyone else with wings were taking others who didn't have any wings.
Monster flew right next to Okami, who had a blank expression on his face; it was evident he didn't want to let all of his emotions out.
"Okami, what are we going to do now? That was our home." the grey wolf had asked the orange wolf.
"I don't know, but we will be traveling for a bit; I don't want Archen encountering us before the war." the orange wolf sighed before Monster had motioned towards the kids; Okami knew what he had been thinking. They did have families that they needed to get back to; could he take the chance of risking his life to get them back to their family.
Okami already had a lot on his plate, and he didn't want any more on it.
They soon found a pretty cleared out spot as they decided it was best to rest here for the night, for they would make plans in the morning where they could stay next.
The orange wolf had excused himself from the group as he would talk to the kids later.
He had found a fallen tree where there was a nice view of the nearby river.
He let out a sigh as he looked down at the grass, playing with a few of the fallen branches.
"The view is pretty, isn't it." Okami snaps his head in the direction of the voice, which happened to be one of the teenagers.
"I'm sorry for what had happened to your parents; I'm sorry for bringing in intruders as well. We both didn't know that people would follow us." the young boy said with a smile on his face as he looked over at the orange wolf.
"It's all in the past, and there's nothing you could've done as well. What would your parents think if they found out that an animal is taking care of you right now? Taking you back is kind of a risky move; I have a chance of being caught by other humans. I'm hunted too much already."
The young boy just nods, listening to what the animal had to say.
He didn't know that animals had gone through so much trouble; all he had learned about them was that they were a dangerous species and different from humankind. Since humans didn't like that, they just shut all of the animals out. Maybe it was because the wolf's kind was superior to the humans.
"I will admit that my parents will be upset at me and my brother for sneaking out; they don't mind your kind, though. I think they would be shocked to see your kind actually since seeing your kind is rare. Do you think you could drop us off there? It's nighttime, so you should be good."
The young boy asked the orange wolf with a big smile on his face; Okami couldn't turn down a kid who looked so happy. So he let out his wings and flew them back to the group of animals and humans.
After making it back to the group, the teenage boy had grabbed his little brother's hands and led him to the orange wolf. The group of animals gave Okami a weird look, wondering what he was trying to do.
"They think it's best if they head back home, I know it's dangerous, but they need to. I'll be back soon, don't worry." they all nod their heads understanding the wolf's intentions.
Both teenagers hop onto Okami's back as the orange wolf launches himself in the air catching the wind flow with ease.
The two boys had their conversation as Okami was thinking to himself. What if their parents don't like me, or worse, what if they take me away.
Okami shakes away those thoughts as he had made it to their house.
The orange wolf has stayed in the shadows while the boys ran up to their house; they are soon met with their parents as they give them a big hug. One of the boys soon points in the direction that Okami was hiding as the mother was shocked.
The teenager motions for Okami to come out of the shadows; the orange wolf was wary of the situation but complied either way.
He slowly made his way to the group of humans on all fours; the mother knew this was something that the animal didn't usually do all the time as she introduced herself.
"Hello, my name is Sarah; I'm the mother of these two boys. I'm sorry if they caused you any trouble." the Mother says as she motions to the apparent burn marks all over Okami's body.
"Your Kids weren't a nuisance at all, actually; I just had to hide them while I took care of the problem. I wanted to ask you something. Why do you like my kind?" the woman sighs as she looks around before looking back at the orange wolf.
"I've always liked your kind; I don't know why I ever did. But recently, I have noticed what amazing creatures you guys are." the orange wolf nods, understanding what she had meant.
The orange wolf noticed it was best for him to head on back since there was no meaning in staying here any longer. Both of the young males gave Okami a big hug.
The orange wolf bent down to their heights and quietly said one last thing to them.
"I shall visit you guys once things have calmed down; for now, try not to get into trouble."
Okami earned a chuckle from the mother; both males nod their heads before rushing inside to head to bed.
"Thank you for taking care of my boys; I hope you win the war and gain your freedom."
Okami smiled at what the mother said as he walked away from the house and launched himself into the air once more.
It was a weird feeling for him to meet yet more humans who liked his kind, but he would have to get used to it soon, for he would win this war.
Okami let out a half-animal call.
People would usually hear wolves howling, birds, or crickets chirping nearby. But nowadays, people heard the sounds of nearby half-animals.
A kind that will one day be free and be able to live alongside the kind they were once made to protect.