great-goddess-amaterasu:

Amaterasu took the cracker in her mouth and ate it, tail still wagging. He was nice, no doubt about it. Sometimes those who carried divine objects weren’t always the most savory and this world was no exception.

She didn’t try grabbing any more crackers, instead looking around. This was a good vantage point, now that she thought about it. 

It was, indeed. Once the cracker was eaten, Hakuba turned back to his briefcase and pulled out a large file folder of documents. He settled back on the rock, peripheral focus on the wolf, and got himself situated.

“Nice afternoon, isn’t it?” he asked of the wolf. “I wonder when the rains will start to come again. It rains most days in London, at least a little bit." 

The detective took a cracker for himself, holding it in his teeth as he set another out on the very edge of the rock for her. 

great-goddess-amaterasu:

Amaterasu noted the lack of space on the rock. It’d be unwise to try to climb up to the very top, so she stayed on the rock just below the man. It would be a bit harder to tell if he could see the unseen, as she didn’t have her divine instrument on her back at the moment. This area was hallowed ground and there weren’t demons and monsters nearby.

She made a light breeze move in a different direction with her brush. That acrid smell that lingered in the city seemed to be carried by the wind and she truly was unaware of what it was called. It was irritating, though.

The wolf didn’t seem bothered by him, so Hakuba sort of shrugged it off. He hadn’t been aware that this particular area was inhabited by wolves, but then, it wasn’t like the Japanese government was really forcing animals to stay in one specific place according to race and class, was it? Ha ha.

Chuckling at his own private joke, Hakuba pulled the coffee from off of the briefcase and set it on the rock, opening the case to fish out a little bag of crackers. He opened it up and pulled one out, held out his hand.

“Would you like a cracker, wolf-san?”

great-goddess-amaterasu:

That was an odd smell. It was rich, but it wasn’t something she smelled where she was from. Even if she lost sight of him, though, she could tell where he was based on scent. It was a perk of being in wolf form.

Amaterasu followed, heading up the stones, her tail wagging all the while. She avoided jumping up them too high; humans here seemed to be afraid of her when she did that, for whatever reason. The man was balancing something on his lap and he had a cup in his hand.

Hakuba watched the wolf as she approached, tilting his head at the strange markings on her. No, he’d never seen a wolf quite like that before, if it was a wolf in fact. Ethiopian wolf, perhaps? No, the body was all wrong for that. He set the brief case aside, took another sip of too-hot coffee, then set that on top of said briefcase.

“Hello there,” he said, voice soft and gentle. She didn’t seem aggressive; tail wagging, bright eyes, alert ears, nothing really off except for those markings. Were she one of his dogs, he would be getting a ball ready to throw. But since he had no ball and she was not one of his dogs, he instead watched quietly. Beautiful animal.

great-goddess-amaterasu:

She trotted after him, curious now. She used rejuvenation every so often as she walked, producing vegetation in some of the bare patches near the path. Given the smell, it was likely people brought their dogs around here on occasion.

Though her curiosity was now piqued even more. He didn’t go to the shrines? Yet he had that smell of some purified object with him. Curious. Still, he reminded her of Waka, between the odd accent that didn’t match anything else she’d heard before and the blond hair.

It was a little further up the trail that Hakuba finally decided to stop.  There was a grassy incline with large stones, warmed from the filtered heat of the sun, perfect for perching upon. He crossed over the red-stained wooden trail marker on the side and climbed up to the rock, sitting down with the briefcase in his lap.

Then he paused, glancing back. Something white? A dog, perhaps, further down the trail. Hakuba couldn’t be sure. He only hoped that the animal wasn’t lost. Still watching, he took a sip from the coffee cup and winced. Still too hot. 

great-goddess-amaterasu:

That man with the pure smell of having a blessed object? Amaterasu grinned about as much as a wolf could, her tail wagging.

She hadn’t really seen many humans who had that smell. Those that did were usually those exiting some local shrines (she wasn’t allowed to enter; they shooed her away). As she tried following up on them, though, most of them didn’t keep the smell for long.

Poor wolf. If only she knew.

The man in question, a detective by the name of Hakuba Saguru, walked on a path next to the river. It was late afternoon and the forest floor was splotched in shades of ambient yellows from the sun in the leaves. In one hand he carried a briefcase, in the other a cup of coffee. He was alone and looked tired. It was an unfortunate drawback to having so much casework to do on top of his schooling, which meant using weeknights and weekends studying files and reviewing court papers. This left little time for sleep or, heaven forbid, relaxing.

But the managed woods offered a reprieve from the story, at least, and the walking path was orderly enough. Hakuba passed by several small, informal shrines along the way and stopped at each one to regard them respectfully before continuing onward, looking for a comfortable place to sit and work. 

Thus far, he hadn’t noticed any sort of wildlife except for the calls of the local birds.