Bearclaw Valley Rubadubdub

An itch, in the worst spot possible, prodded at Drust's mind. Just above the tail. A spot not easily reached. Any attempt to ignore it, as his large paw pads climbed over scattered rocks and boulders, proved futile. The occasional huff and grunt escaped from him until it was too much to bear and he stopped a moment to look around. 

Spotting what he was looking for he trotted over to a nearby conifer tree with few low hanging branches. Its coarse bark the solution to his problem as he leaned against it and rubbed his backside. 

A sign of relief and pleasure. 

Though his initial itch was satisfied he continued, rubbing his sides and then his face against the bark of the tree, enjoying every second of this simple pleasure.

Keiko awoke on the second morning of Nagatsuki to a cold nip in the air. Already, summer’s warm embrace was fading and, hour by hour, the days grew shorter. However, the land was still decked in lush verdant green foliage, the tree colors had barely yet changed.

The young woman rose from her sleeping nest and collected her belongings, which had waned to almost nothing since her travels had begun. A small parcel of cured fish and dried salmonberries accompanied an amulet crafted of hardwood and bone, wrapped in a broad river-leaf. Keiko thought she understood the challenges of life alone beyond her beloved shrine, but each day it became more obvious that she hadn’t the smallest inkling of what it took to survive in the wilds.

It had been some time since she had met a fellow traveler or village. Discouraged, but not defeated, Keiko continued across Chapparal into a mountain valley. Suddenly, a peculiar noise caught her attention. Curious, Keiko approached until she caught sight of the massive alabaster figure.

“Masaka!” she exclaimed as her belongings dropped from her grasp. Had she stumbled upon the holy land of her beloved Kami?

The pleasant scratches and shaking of the tree against Drust's weight filled his ears making him oblivious to his onlooker as she approached.

'Masaka!'

He'd been startled and his adrenaline spiked. A loud exclamation and the clatter of different items falling to the ground released a low and loud bark within him.

As he jerked his head and body to face the source of the noise, he laid his eyes on the small cotton female with a peppered back, and a lingering moan followed through his grizzly throat. An expression of annoyance and dislike after being surprised.

But his hackles slowly began to lower, now facing what was previously unknown.

The massive creatures’s attention turned to Keiko who only managed a brief glimpse before she adverted her gaze in hasty respect. She immediately folded into the deepest of bows, chin tucked tight against her breast while her forehead made contact with the ground.

Keiko had always dreamed of being in the presence of a Heavenly being and she had always pictured herself to be the pinnacle of all things holy: peaceful, principled, and composed. However, it was evident by the rumbling growl that this forest deity was perturbed by her presence… Never could the young Miko have imagined the shock of mortal, ugly fear that ran through her.

=“Oh great and revered Kami-sama,”= the white woman said in her native tongue. =“I have angered you by walking in your holy garden. Please accept my deepest apologies, I am but a mere mortal who worships you.”=

Loving this btw :)

As soon as he laid eyes on the female she darted to the ground. Head and face pressed into the earth. 

A bow... one Drust had trouble discerning. 
Not of play... 
A quick glance over her shoulder revealed an untucked tail. Not of fear...

A flurry of words came spewing from her lips, a tad muffled as they were spoken into the ground. But equally as foreign as any others Drust had heard before.

He took slow steps toward her and rested his muzzle beside her lowered head. But huffs and puffs of his nostrils beside her ears, taking in her scent. He closed his eyes... and listened... thud thud... thud thud.

Her heartbeat was accelerated. 

Glancing to the pile of objects she had dropped he looked at the fish, berries, and... some kind of trinket. He nudged them with his nose. Sliding them back onto the leaf before picking them up and standing before her, watching, waiting.

Keiko, convinced she was in the presence of a deity, stayed frozen like a glacier as it drew nearer and nearer. Yet, despite her resistance, she could not stop her skin from quaking as primitive fear and adrenaline challenged her piety.

She could feel its massive shadow eclipse the sun as its broad paws sunk into the earth because of its terrific weight. The Kami’s warm breath made her fur sway as it rooted like a bear to take her scent. She dared not look at them. Instead, she listened and heard the noises of it gathering her things. Then, silence…

Keiko waited… and waited… for death, for a word, for any sign that the forest god had continued on its way. It felt like an eternity had passed before, finally, the young she-wolf summoned the courage to take a peek.

Her dark brown eyes cracked, squinting. Then, they shot open as she forgot her training and gawked at the spirit before her. He (for their features were significantly masculine) was unlike any creature Keiko had laid eyes on before. He was like a wolf, but not. A broad skull, muscular body, and husky legs were adorned by an unblemished white coat. His golden, hawkish gaze looked directly at her, and in his mouth was all of her belongings.

“O-o Yurushi Kudasai!” she exclaimed as she adverted her gaze, blushing from embarrassment. Then, it dawned upon her. Did the earthwalking god want something? Keiko, full of hesitation, regarded him again and tried to understand.

=“D-do you wish for an offering?”= the young and inexperienced Miko asked. If only Tenryu was here… he would know what to do.

Moments passed and he stood steady. This silent pause between them, a natural state for Drust.

Eventually she mustered the strength to look his way, and he gazed intently into the dark pools of her eyes. A sense of sincerity emanated from her, and an appealing shade of rose blossomed across her face. Striking him. Sending a current down his spine and fueling the passive sway of his tail.

Until again she averted her gaze. Why?

More opaque utterances left her lips, questioning. But what?

Longing to catch her gaze once again, he set down the leaf pouch and eyed the trinket. Lifting it up and holding it out for her.

The forest spirit was stoic and silent. Keiko felt a divine wisdom radiate from him – no doubt due to his connection with the celestial plane – and was pacified by it. The Miko took a deep breath and centered herself. Clearly, this Kami was not so angered by her presence that he didn’t wish to communicate. His long brush-like tail swayed gently like a pendulum and so Keiko’s confidence grew, nurtured by the spirit’s benevolence.

Her gaze lifted once more, just in time to see him hold up her ornament of bone and wood.

=“Oh!”= She chirped. Perhaps the forest spirit wished to ask a question. =“Oh great spirit,” she began, voice full of reverence. =“This is Omamori, a traveler’s amulet, crafted for me by my mother. It protects me from Aku. Misfortune and malevolent spirits.”= Keiko pointed to herself and then made an X with her paws. Then, she turned towards the Northeast and pointed. =“I hail from Shikotsu-Tōya, where my family has maintained a temple honoring the Kami for ten generations. My name is Keiko.”= Then, she bowed again.

Suddenly, it dawned upon Keiko. Was this where her prophetic dream had intended her to land? Was she meant to serve this spirit?

Keiko stood slowly in a way that looked formal and rehearsed. =“Please, let me construct a shrine to worship you, great O-kami-sama. So that all may know and respect your eden.”=

It had worked, and he was able to gaze upon her charming expression once more. This time a lasting amount of time as she took particular interest in the object presented to her. 

A glow filled her as she spoke, and though Drust could not comprehend the words she spoke, they collided together into a song that sounded delightful.

When she gestured to herself the pace with which his tail swung increased a tick, a form of communication not so foreign. His glance followed hers to the northeastern direction. 

If she was conveying her destination or origin was lost on him. 

As he looked back to her she was in another bow. Again?

But this time she rose of her own accord and a level of maturity followed. The tone of her song implying a question... no a request. 

Whatever it may be Drust wanted to give it to her. 

Hesitantly, he bowed his own colossal cranium to her. The rest of his body tall and stoic. Lifting his crown back upright he looked to her and nodded in agreement. Longer for this to please her.

The deity’s mannerisms didn’t have a shred of timidity or meekness like Keiko’s. She felt his assured and steady gaze upon her. Then, the glacial nod of his mighty skull conveyed an approval of her offering. The allegro tempo of Keiko’s heart made her chest feel like it would burst!

Her pale face beamed! Her purpose in life had been renewed!

Keiko bowed deeply twice in thanks. “Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu,“ she said with sincerity. It is nice to meet you; please take care of me – the words sealed her contract to this forest god. Now, she was bound to him.

Quickly, her imagination began to run wild with ways she could show her devotion to this Kami. A tori gate, a shrine, offerings, anointments, ceremonies, gifts!

Ah, but then she paused, wondering…. “Kami-sama, onamae wa nan desu ka?” she asked, gesturing to him. He had not yet uttered a word, and so Keiko did not expect an answer.... but it would not be polite to never ask.

Her face beamed with the energy of the sun at his gesture and had he been a plant he would have happily eaten it up. The corners of his mouth raised into a gentle smile, lacking the immunity needed to resist such infectious excitement.

More bowing followed, but it troubled him less and less as she was no longer making a habit of shielding herself from his gaze for long.

Her eyes lifted into the corners of her mind. Processing something, before modestly looking to him with another inquiry.

Setting down the amulet back onto the leaf, he licked off any surplus saliva that may have gathered as he held it during their conversation. This precious item of hers would be treated with the utmost respect.

Lifting his bearish paw he softly pressed it against her chest, lingering perhaps for a moment too long as he took in the sensation of her racing heartbeat against his fur, then waved it in the direction she had been traveling. His paw returned to his own chest, before repeating his gestures to her and beyond. An attempt at a response communicating that wherever she would go, he would follow.

Taking the corners of the leaf pouch into his jaws, an agile movement despite his bearish size, he lifted them from the ground and the contents within it. 

To tote her belongings. All he could think of to lend his aid to her in this moment.

What happened next was, in Keiko’s opinion, probably the singular most remarkable thing that had happened in her life (thus far).

Her family, and the village they associated with, were built upon a formal social order. A caste system embellished with rituals, honorifics, traditions… all things to uphold purity and respect for one's self, their superiors, and the gods who walked among them.

And so, when the deity reached out and placed his heavenly paw against her chest, Keiko was certain she had been ordained.

To meet a god… why, that had only existed in her wildest fantasies.

But to be touched by one. Chosen by one.

Small tears of happiness began to bead in the corners of her eyes. Yes, her prophetic dream had shown her the true way. Keiko knew that, for the rest of her years, she would be devoted to this Kami.

=“I-I won’t let you down,”= she promised, youthful voice teeming with emotion. He picked up her belongings which Keiko took as a sign of acceptance of her fealty.

Keiko knew she would construct the most magnificent shrine to honor and worship him. Others, too, would come from far and wide to pay their respects.

The priestess took a step deeper into the Valley as she crossed the metaphorical rubicon to begin her new life.

Another? :D

Oh my goodness yes. I'm dying for more XD

When tears began to well in her eyes a shock ran through his body. 

Had he offended her? Should he have not touched her? 

But the gleam in her burnt sienna eyes did not waver, but rather strengthen. Unmistakenly grateful for the help Drust had agreed to provide, whatever that may prove to be. Something this meaningful could not be forsaken.

He took a moment to shake off his nerves and any remaining pine needles or residual bark. 

With determination in her chest, she pressed on, and Drust followed her several short strides with his large few.

OMG I just saw the Kimi No Na Wa Gif you added to her profile. It's my favorite movie!!! *Girl Scream*