I know I should be working on Restoring Faith, but I finally watched Wolf's Rain all the way through and combined with my Okami fic… Well, you see the result.

The ledged of the wolf goddess is very VERY loosely based on the actual myth of Amaterasu, but I tampered with it a bit. Hope that doesn't offend anyone. ;

On to the fic!

Revelations

By Moonlit Aura

It was while they were feeding that she appeared. Toboe had finally gotten a chance at the rabbit's carcass, last in the pack's pecking order. He'd gotten down a few good gulps before he pulled his muzzle up at growls from the others.

His breath froze in his chest at the sight of the strange wolf. It was female, white with red markings, and a large disk strapped to its back. Toboe backed away as Kiba stepped forward to challenge her

"This is our kill. Get lost!"

The female continued forwards and Toboe noticed an abnormality in her gait. As if she were protecting her stomach…

"Kiba, she's pregnant!"

The older wolves turned with varying expressions on their faces. Hige grinned bemusedly, wondering how the pup could know such a thing. Kiba gazed blankly as always, and Tsume glared at the runt for speaking out of turn. The unknown wolf giggled.

"Yes I am, young one. Tell me, where did you learn how to tell such things?"

Toboe blushed at the attention. "W-well," he stammered out, "a dog in the old lady's village was pregnant a-and I watch her for her mate one afternoon. I-I saw how she moved, a-and you reminded me of it." He blushed again.

"I simply need protection while I bear my child." The wolf turned to Kiba. "Surely you wouldn't leave a pregnant female to fend for herself, if you're any kind of man."

Tsume snorted. Toboe chanced a glance at his hero, making out the disgust clearly painted on his face. He looked away quickly.

"We're in a hurry. We have no time for stops."

The female wolf frowned. "A hunt then. I need something to eat, and like this I'm far too slow to catch anything substantial."

Toboe fidgeted. He knew Kiba would be chaffing at this delay. He had angered when Hige had begged a halt and had refused to hunt or eat.

"Where's your pack? Your mate? Why can't they help you?"

The unknown wolf turned and gazed into the distance. She spoke quietly, her voice barely brushing the pack's ears.

"They died. The humans killed them."

She turned and looked directly into Kiba's eyes.

"That's all humans do after all. They kill and destroy, nothing more. They could create and give life, but they choose to wallow in their filth. Humans disgust me!"

Toboe flinched at the hatred in the female's voice. Sure, there were bad humans, he acknowledged, but there were good humans too!

Kiba loped off a ways, followed by Tsume. Even from a distance it was easy to tell they were arguing. Toboe was slightly puzzled. Wouldn't both of them want to leave the female?

Eventually the duo returned, a scowl on Kiba's face, and a smug feeling radiating from Tsume.

"Tell us your name," Kiba growled, "and we'll find you some food."

The female smiled in relief. "Ammy. You can call me Ammy."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Toboe gazed after the older wolves as they ran off in search of prey. He had been assigned to guard/keep an eye on the pregnant wolf. He glanced down at her. She was sleeping.

This wolf, he thought to himself, not only looked odd, but she felt odd too. When he was around her, Toboe got the same feeling of peace that he did when Cheza was around. He'd never gotten that feeling from another wolf before.

And what was with that disk, he wondered, glancing at it, still strapped to the female's back. It was green surround by what could have been flames, had they been moving. Maybe it was some old pack relic, he thought to himself. Did real packs have that sort of thing?

There was a chuckle and the young wolf turned to see Ammy's eyes gazing at him. He relaxed at her lupine grin.

"You have questions in your eyes, young one. Feel free to ask." She smirked. "I may not answer them though."

"U-um," Toboe stammered, trying to gather his nerve. "Wha-what's that thing on your back?"

"This?" The wolf shrugged it off her back, pushing it forward for Toboe to examine. "It's a family treasure of sorts. It's said to belong to the Wolf Goddess, from whom everything good was born."

"A wolf goddess?" Toboe looked up in shock. "I've never heard of that!"

The other wolf smiled indulgently. "You wouldn't have. It's not a very accepted legend around here, but where I come from, all pups learn about the Goddess as soon as they can walk."

"You're not from around here?" Toboe questioned. Ammy shook her head.

"I'm from a land far to the east, across the ocean. We were forced westwards by pack disputes. There wasn't enough land to support all the packs. Many were forced to new lands. We came here, hoping for a place to call home." She sighed. "Instead we found a dead land that hated every living thing."

Toboe shivered at the accurate description of their surroundings.

"Will you tell me about the wolf goddess?"

Ammy smiled indulgently and began her tale.

In the beginning, the Great Spirit, like all things, was in darkness. It stumbled upon a single pool of water and took the chance to wipes its eyes clean. From its right eye came the storm god Susano-o. From its left eye came Amaterasu, the sun goddess. She looked upon the earth and despaired in its emptiness. Thus, she created the wolf to inherit the earth and to watch over its inhabitants. Her brother, jealous of her work, created creatures of his own, humans. They were nowhere near as strong as the wolves, for he was a deity of destruction and not creation, so he gave them the gift of intelligence. The humans feared the wolves' power and began to hunt them down. In fear for her creations, the Goddess created a mirror to watch over them. She has watched them ever since. Some say occasionally the Goddess will walk among the wolves as one of them.

"She watches over all the wolves?" Toboe questioned.

"That's what they say."

"And that she sometimes comes among us?"

"Yes."

Toboe paused to digest the information. "What does she look like? When she's among the wolves, I mean."

Ammy paused to think about it. "The descriptions very. Sometimes she's said to have gold fur and silver eyes. By the sea, she's said to have blue fur. But the most common is that of a white wolf with red markings."

Toboe looked up in shock. He took in the female wolf's appearance as she sat before him. Ammy smiled sadly.

"I'm telling you this because there is something you must know. The others are prepared to die for Paradise, yet you hold reservations. Therefore you need to know."

Toboe was shaking at his newfound revelation. "W-what do you mean?"

Ammy became serious. "What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone else. Not Kiba, not Hige, and not Tsume. No one."

Toboe hesitantly nodded his head.

"Paradise," Ammy confided, "is not of this world. No matter how long you search, you'll never find it in your lifetime."

Toboe whimpered, ears drooping. Ammy nudged him reassuringly.

"Don't fret. Paradise DOES exist, of course. But it's called the Celestial Plain. And you can only get there through dying.

"You'll need this knowledge to face the things ahead. You'll need to have no fear of death. That is why I'm telling you this now. Do not tell the others. Forget this conversation except in times of great need."

Ammy got up, and Toboe noticed that all traces of her pregnancy had vanished.

"Why me?"

Ammy paused, then looked back.

"You will renew this dead land. All of you are need. Not one can be lost too soon. Stay with Kiba and the others and you will come to Paradise."

Amaterasu, the goddess in wolf from, vanished into the night.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Time Skip

Toboe relaxed he felt his warmth leaving him. The human beside him was already dead. The ground around them was soaked with their mixed blood.

Toboe vaguely heard Tsume telling him to hang on. He chuckled in his head. He couldn't make it. Besides, he was going to Paradise.

Suddenly Toboe felt all his pain vanish. A lightness entered him and he began chasing the white wolf that appeared before him. He yipped happily as he followed the goddess into the light.

Suddenly he remembered his friends. He paused and turned to look down on them. The goddess loped down to his side.

"Don't worry. They'll come soon."

Reassured, the young wolf turned to race through the fields of sunflowers.

End

Yay! It's finished! I'm thinking about making a multi-chaptered fic with this crossover. (Different universe obviously.) What do you guys think?

Review! Make the authoress happy!