Okami: year six
by Okami
Sat, 3 Mar 2001, at 10:40 a.m. CST

Life came and went in patterns for him. it was becoming fairly obvious. He always made it a point to surround himself with friends and family, and then somehow, those friends would be destroyed.

The man that claimed he was his father was not. He knew that without a doubt. He lacked the malevolence to be the man responsible for his being. He had approached him again, wanting to "make amends for the past". It was obvious the man was insane. A side effect of whatever his father had done, but the kind old man who he would slam the door on repeatedly was most certainly not his father.

His Father was a monster, there was nothing ever human about him. He was flesh without soul, force without bounds. No real father would send a son into a pack of angry orcs for his birthday, especially not at age 5. He could still remember the sense of shock as he had stepped off the boat. The stench was overwhelming, and the grunts of some thing familiar could be heard. He turned to sea the boat drifting off, his "father" waving.

"I expect ye home by dinner boy!"

He also remembered his reaction. He saw the orc horde flow over and through the wall, howling for blood. He looked at the sword his dad had given him and threw it at the mob. Then without a second thought, he turned, and he ran. He didn't have enough dock to really run, but for what little he had, he ran for his life. The cold splash of water reminded him where he was, and he began to try and swim his way to shore. All the time, the "voice" cursing at his cowardice. How he made it, he didn't know, he only remembered half the swim before the darkness set in.

That had been the final straw for his father. He was worthless. The backhand hit harder than any orc possibly could, and the child sprawled. That was when reality set in. There were no knights, no paladins, no plate clad heroes in this world. There was just a father that claimed to be one, and acted the exact opposite.

Events came and went. He'd try, he'd fail, he'd pay in pain. And each time, it just looked easier. Finally, the day came, and his dad had said he could still prove he was worthy in one virtue.

Sacrafice.

The word meant nothing to the child, except it was a virtue, and he should follow it. So when his father hoisted him out of bed in the middle of the night, and set him on the stone pedestal, he just sat there, waiting for the next test.

Kunori grabbed a dagger, and began messing with some herbs of some sort. The smell of death was in the air, it usually followed his dad. He didn't recognize the herbs, but he didn't need to. He was "mana-deficient" as the old man had said. That was when his dad pushed the sword on him.

A woman came running into the room, slamming into his father. He looked up from the pedestal, to see his mother, wrestling with his father. "Okami, get your sister and get outside!"

Always one to do as he was told, he grabbed his sister and they left the house. Then an odd urge came over him. For some reason he couldn't remember now, he had grabbed a lantern and tossed it to the sky. It went up as glass and came down as fire, and when it struck the straw roof, the logical thing happened. The house burned. He had a grip on his sister, but she pulled away, or he had let her go. He still couldn't remember.