Okami - A Short Story

The Story of Okami, the Great Wolf

       In a village stands a statue of a wolf. It's giant body and snarl shows just how fierce a wolf can be. The wolf is known as Okami. Okami is remembered for her protection and aid to the village. She served the mountains and would help lost travelers find their way home, Yama-inu.
       Okami is worshiped by the people of this village. If we were to kill one of the Okuri-ôkami, sending wolf, the divines would shower us with fear and revenge. So, we would give her offerings and Okami returned them. To keep an everlasting peace.
       The village was happy until Okami disappeared. She went out one night and never returned. Our village was now unprotected. Evil can attack at any second, yet it did not. For our village has stayed here for hundreds of years without Okami. My grandma, Rōzu, tells us these tales of Okami. That's how I know so much. She says that Okami will return when danger arises in our hold.

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       We sit under the cherry blossom trees, watching the dawn-tinted petals be carried away in the wind, dancing freely they seem to be. I turn and look at my husband, Reo Yamagata. He is a well-built man, strong and smart. "The whole package" my grandma would say. He and I wear the night on our clothes. Black like the demons we learned about as children. Grandma has finally given in to the divines. Her soul now with Shinigami, the god of death.
       Reo tries his best to comfort me, but endless tea and love could not make me happy. I have lost her, my teacher, my Sobo.
       Reo slowly moves to hold my hand, the hand that holds my Sobo's ring. The beautiful jade and mighty silver collide to create a wondrous purification, her healing ring.
       "I should have given it back to her in her time of need," I weep out, tears forming in my eyes.
       "Rōzu gave it to you because she wanted you to have it. It's yours, Aki," Reo spoke kindly. His voice is as steady as the land we live on. We rise to stand together.
I silence myself. Reo quiets. The drums play as a final warning for people to go to her. Her funeral. Reo walks to the site, dragging me with him. The closer I get the more tears form and start to fall.
    We talk and cry throughout the celebration of life and death, Rōzu is slowly taken and set aflame, transformed into ash. She is then placed into a beautiful vase and is given to me, but, Reo takes it. He already knows if I touch her I would break.
    As the evening turns to dusk we as go to our homes. As Reo and I lay, he gives a smile and says a small prayer. Then we drift off to sleep.

    In the middle of the night, we hear a cry. Not a human, not a bunny, or a deer but a mighty cry. A howl.

    My eyes open wide at the noise. Reo's does too. It's Yama-inu. Someone is coming. An hour later, there's a knock at our door. Reo's head darts to the bedroom door as he slides out of bed, telling me to "stay here." I do as told, moving from the top of the bed to under it. Reo goes slowly and exits from my sight. I wait, and wait, and wait for my husband to return. It feels like hours but only minutes tick by.
    “Reo Yamagata, please return to me soon,” I whisper, saying his name. As if the heavens heard me he returns. Horror in his eyes. I get out from under the bed and go to him. “What is it, my husband?”
    “Okuri-ôkami,” He paused, trying to get the words from his mind through his tongue and to me, “I saw one. They have brough-”
    Our window is broken into, the bamboo shutters broke as a grasscutter blade is sent through it. I scream and Reo grabs me, going to the kitchen and escaping. Crashing and breaking sounds are heard as we run from our bedroom. Reo kicks open the back door that leads outside. My husband’s strong hand on my mouth to stop the scream of panic. He takes me outside and runs into the village, to get help. The crashing gets louder as the intruder draws closer. Reo growls out of anger, all of our stuff being broken or taken from us. Our life savings, gone. I look at my husband, touching his arm. We share a look, our eyes telling each other we need a savior. We need Nagi.
    Nagi is our villages hero, a swordsman who helped Okami. No one has dared crossed his path. His sword’s blow is as powerful as a dragon’s bite! He is the only one that will jump up and fight in seconds.
    We slowly head to his home, once we get there Reo knocks rapidly, calling to the warrior, “Dai Senshi, Nagi!”
    After about 4 minutes of waiting for our warrior opens the door in armor and his sword. His stature is tall, built, and brooding, like a man of the night. His voice raspy from the sleep we woke him from, “What is it Yamagata?”
    Reo scrambles out his words as he explains the situation with three words, “Thieves! In-home!”
    The great warrior Nagi nods his head and goes to our home, his sword ready. Nagi’s wife, Nami, comes and brings us inside their home. She sits us down and makes tea to soothe our nerves. Nami gives us our tea, sitting, waiting for Nagi to return and say, “The bandits have gone to Shinigami.”
    Reo rises after five minutes and paces. Nagi returns after an hour. The warrior is covered in blood, of his own and of the intruder. Nami goes and gets bandages. I stand and go to him, bowing. “Great Nagi, what happened? Are our things okay?”
    “Everything is okay, besides your Sobo. She was broke,” he says defeatedly, “I tried to save her but the dark ones,” Reo’s and mine’s hearts break. Nagi pauses to think, and to let us process the new information, “the dark ones were too quick.”
    “Yami is back,” Nagi tells his wife. Nami becomes anxious.
    “We need to wake Okami, she’ll save us again!”  the warrior’s maiden proclaims. Her husband nods and grabs a plump peach. He turns his head and leaves his home. Heading to Okami’s magnificent statue.  I follow, against the command of Reo. My sleep gown dragging against the ground. Becoming filthy. Nagi kneels in front of the statue and breaks the peach over the sacrificial bowl full of gold and gleaming gems. The fruit’s juice drips onto the golden coin. Nagi says some prayers and stands. He draws his sword and places it into the wolf’s snarl. It fits perfectly, resting in its stone teeth.
    I stand behind a tree, hidden from the sight of the warrior. Nagi says something that I cannot hear and the eyes of the statue burst into an orangy-gold flame. Howls arise in the air around the village as if the Okuri-ôkami was to sing to the moon. Okami’s statue cracks down its forehead to her back. It starts to crumble and shatter. I gasp at the sight, the ancient statue of our village being destroyed by the great hero Nagi. How could this be? Why would he do this?
My questions fade as I hear a might howl fill the air.