Tsukuyomi tapped his foot on the white tiled floor while he glanced at his sister, Amaterasu, who was listening attentively to the deity council regarding some very mundane issues. Heaven's ruler, indeed! She was just a stooge installed by their father for the deity council to manage. His sister's long golden hair swayed and glowed as it rested untied against her back. Her dusty long lashes fanned her cheeks as she blinked rapidly, trying to hide the extreme boredom he was sure she was feeling. Now and then she would rest her chin on her hand, only to be lightly scolded back into position by Omoikane, her only friend. How could she be friends with that old deity? Every word that comes out of his mouth is annoying. He could go on and on about the splendour of his sister's beauty or the silliness and uptightness of the other deities in the counsel and not run out of words to describe their nosiness. Their favourite pastime was butting into each other's businesses like they were doing now in their meeting.
A wedding planned by their absentee father had to be overseen by him, not this pack of negligent deities who had nothing better to do, especially now that he wasn't sure he still wanted to go through with the wedding with his sister. The air around him shifted a little, and he cast an impatient look in her direction. No shadow could remain undetected in her presence, so it wasn't exactly safe for Handa to come here, but he insists.
"The mortal's involvement has borne fruit!" whispered Handa unexpectedly, and he almost jumped out of his skin. Oh wait, he's already shed the old one.
"I'm sorry, my lord," he said, and from the tone of his voice, he could tell he was amused. He needed Amaterasu to keep her attention where it belonged—on the meeting—because, despite having taken measures to conceal his shadow, there was nothing in front of her determined light.
"Go on!" he said rather impatiently, and Handa cleared his throat.
"There has been a mass migration of the night yokai to the east, he has been following their trail in his dreams but it suddenly disappeared around here—" he paused and telepathically sent him a map. Tsukuyomi raised a hand to pause him and studied the map intensely. He would occasionally look around to see if anyone was paying attention to them. For some reason, the area indicated on the map was the Roxgami tributary, and it was unsettling to him. He was forgetting something. If he couldn't remember, it wasn't important, but he could not shake off that feeling either.
Anyway, Yuuko turned out to be helpful, considering how much he rejected his and Susanoo's friendship. He honestly never trusted his little brother's judgement until now.
"Anything else?" He asked and managed to catch Handa's smirk before it vanished. "Madame Ka—"
"Don't complete that," he cut in in a dangerously low voice, and he wisely held his tongue. He was getting too many unasked-for updates about that sister of Yuuko's.
"That was tiring!" he heard Amaterasu grumble too close to him for comfort. The crowd behind him quickly dispersed, and the air became significantly lighter as Handa disappeared, and he could only hope she didn't notice. The deity council meeting was over sooner than he thought. The chairs were empty.
"Why do I feel like your dog was here?" she scrunched up her face.
"Turn the d*mn lantern off; it's too bright in here," he drawled, and her lips twitched.
"That was unnecessary, brother."
"So was your question."
Ever since he returned to Takamagahara, his movements were restricted, and he was getting antsy. What was she so afraid of? Would he elope with some mortal maiden? Yeah, right.
"I hear there's trouble on the moon?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes. in his head. "Yeah, right." A jealous attitude doesn't fit her image at all. They weren't going to leave together; they were far away from each other like day and night. Literally!