Praise the Sun (One Shot) (YS/Okami)

Tanya hated this place.

It was bad enough that Being X had stuck them in one of his indoctrination camps for the first who knows how long of their second life, but there was no way he wasn't breaking some kind of law of biology in allowing them thought this clear from their tiny little baby brain.

Even now, they had to just sit in a basket as one of the nuns hums a hymn to herself and hangs up the laundry. Could they leave the basket? It wasn't even a matter of permission, they could not physically lift themselves out of it.

At least the view was nice. The leaves of the trees were starting to turn brown, and Tanya could spot a pair of squirrels secreting away food for the winter. Birds flew in the sky south for the winter, in grand formations that lessened the burden on the group as a whole. A rabbit, brown-furred and twitching, remained alert as they nibbled on grass.

Tanya wasn't exactly a survivalist, but they knew a few things absorbed passively from the internet. The overhang of the basket would prevent any raptors from swooping in and having an infant-sized snack, which was apparently a thing. More relevantly, the rodents would act as an alarm for any possible predators that could come in and attack.

It did seem a bit illogical, to be worried about that sort of thing, but when you had Being X to worry about, some extra caution around "random" disasters seemed warranted. Being X seemed to have enough of a sense of fair play that they didn't inflict some terrible deformity upon them, beyond the 'being a girl' thing, which would not be polite to complain about. Tanya didn't yet go hungry, either. Liquid diets kind of sucked, pun intended, but it does make sense: Being X only wins if they get Tanya to beg for mercy. Tanya wins if they die of old age without doing that. Dying beforehand is more of a tie. As illogical as Being X is, it is the logic of the stupid and the stubborn, not the insane. Therefore, he wouldn't let Tanya die by any means that wouldn't allow for plenty of time to suffer beforehand.

But for now, Tanya's biggest enemy is bore-DOG.

Tanya never really had any concrete plans for their retirement. Except one. Their grandfather had a nice big dog when they were a boy, and they loved that dog. They wanted a dog of their own. This dog was huge. Pure white, with a curious sniffing nose and their ears folded back as they investigated the basket. Tanya giggled and used their limited mobility to pet the dog's muzzle.

Irresponsibly, the nun continued to hum to herself and ignore the world as she continued to hang laundry, as distracted as any modern woman with a headset.

The dog chuffed in amusement at Tanya's clumsy attempts to pet their nose and gave Tanya a big lick of affection. Idly, Tanya noted that the squirrels seemed utterly unbothered by the presence of the dog, which made zero sense.

Then, the magic of the moment ended, as the dog fled like the wind seconds before Tanya's basket was picked up and taken back into the church.

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It was a beautiful spring day. Tanya's legs were finally strong enough to support their steadily increasing weight, and they were keen to begin the first steps, pun intended, of their new exercise regimen. A healthy body is an important part of so many things that were key to success, they wouldn't know where to begin to list them.

Granted, their access to exercise equipment was basically nil, but that didn't mean they couldn't get in some cardio.

Thus, Tanya was running in the yard. It was a surprisingly painful experience. The dress that the nuns forced them into was too big, forcing Tanya to hold up their skirt... Which prevented them from using their arms to regain any lost balance.

Tanya breathed deeply, blinking out tears as they recovered from their... Fourth tumble? Yeah, fourth. Tanya checked their hand. Yep, that was blood. Head wounds always bled like crazy. The nuns are... Probably going to be angry enough about the stained dress to resort to punishment. They didn't tend to do much beyond scolding to the younger children... But they weren't above corporal punishment for older children. Did they count? Maybe if they cried enough...

Lick. Tanya fell backwards in shock at the sudden arrival of... The dog! White fur covering a massive beast, although Tanya was pretty sure their baby eyes were just playing tricks on her when it came to the size.

"I should name you..." Tanya muttered to themselves in Japanese. The dog stiffened at the words, ears going to full alert. It steadily tilted over, facefaulting comedically like an anime character.

Tanya burst out laughing at the dog's antics. Injuries forgotten, Tanya dove face first into the fluffy beast's side.

"Soft..." Tanya murmured as the tears they were fighting flowed freely. The dog curled up around Tanya, driving her deeper into the blanket of fur. "How bout... Okami? Wolf..." also a solid pun declaring the dog as better than Being X, which was true.

The dog's snort made it clear that they didn't like that one. "I'll... Think about it..." Tanya yawned as their toddler stamina failed them.

Tanya was awoken by the nuns pouring water on them, their punishment being a somewhat rougher bath than normal while being scolded. They weren't exactly fluent in German yet, but they were pretty sure the nuns were more relieved than wrathful.

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Tanya didn't know who owned the dog, as it was always too clean to be anything but a pet, but if they wandered just out of sight of the orphanage matrons, in the adjacent forest, they could occasionally find the dog waiting for them.

"Here." Tanya offered, passing the dog a bit of sausage. The dog licked Tanya's face in thanks before scarfing down the treat. After finishing the tiny morsel, she laid down and allowed Tanya to lay against her, running their fingers through the soft fur. "...It's official." Tanya said in Japanese. The dog seemed to prefer them using the language, for some reason. It was probably because of the higher pitch. "I'm finally to be fully trusted with my own bowels, and thus have made one more step towards adulthood." Tanya sniffled. "Whoopee."

The dog whined, licking Tanya's face in sympathy. "Do you know the worst part?" Tanya asked, venting as they usually did. "I actually felt proud for a moment. Like it was an actual accomplishment." Tanya screamed in frustration, muffling the sound in the dog's fur. "I hate this. Being X left me in a basket in front of the orphanage, there was nothing stopping him from skipping to age three or something!" Does this body even have parents? Or did it just get popped into existence?

"And now I'm crying again." Tanya said, sniffling. "This cursed body... cries at the drop of a hat." More licks from the dog. Tanya chuckled at the effort. "Thank you. Now... I think I've got a good one this time." Tanya announced. "How about.. Nikko?" Tanya knew they were anthropomorphizing the dog unnecessarily, but pretending that the random dog can actually understand them was far from the craziest way they could deal with their fraying sanity.

The dog took a moment to consider the name. Sunshine wasn't exactly the most inspired name, but poetically, the dog's presence was always a ray of it to Tanya's day. The dog barked in approval, wagging her tail and giving Tanya another lick. "Nikko it is." Tanya said, a smile tugging at their face.

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"Still from earth to God eternal sacrifice of praise be done, high above all praises praising for the gift of Christ his Son. Christ doth call one and all: ye who follow shall not fall." Tanya finished. Bleh, they hated choir practice. But the nuns insisted...

Nikko chuffed at the renditon, looking away with an upturned nose. "I know it's a terrible song, Nikko." Tanya said, switching back to Japanese. "But Being X cursed me with this voice, and the nuns are ready to enforce their will with rulers and paddles." It was funny, when they were Japanese they never had anything resembling a good singing voice. It was always too deep for any kind of music that was popular, and music was never something Mother and Father endorsed as a hobby or extracurricular. But now? 'Voice of an angel' was the most common compliment. Worse, the singing was easy. They never had any problem hitting whatever pitch was necessary, and was otherwise 'blessed' with disgusting amounts of talent with their voice.

Naturally, they hated this fact. The only real upside is that the nuns allowed them to do their practice in the woods, which was probably a thin excuse, but the nuns never admitted to knowing about Nikko, despite the fact that they definitely should have noticed all of the white fur that clung to their clothes. Some of the children have noticed, Viktor even tried getting Tanya to show him 'the dog you've been hiding'. Tanya played dumb, but the nuns didn't acknowledge Nikko even then, and were even willing to forbid anyone from following Tanya to practice, even the other members of the choir. Tanya's best guess on why was because Tanya hadn't been doing something as foolish as trying to feed the beast, and if they acknowledge the dog, they'd probably have to change that. Tanya assumed that Nikko was the pet of some local noble, sneaking off the grounds most days for... reasons. Boredom, probably. The days where she was nowhere to be found was likely when the lord of the house brought her out hunting or whatever.

With practice over with, Nikko started up with a charm offensive of her own. "...Okay, you win!" Tanya said with a smile, immediately surrendering to the strangely intelligent dog's desires. "Like an angel, with cruel and merciless intent..." Tanya began, in Japanese. It was kind of an odd thing to remember, the opening song to an anime, but in hindsight it was pretty emblematic of the Japanese opinion of Christian mythology: i.e. torn apart and turned unrecognizable just for the foreign mystique. "Go forth, young boy, and you'll become a legend!"

Nikko barked happily along with the song, dancing to the beat as Tanya sang. The hardest part of singing for Nikko was not remembering the music, as difficult as that was. It was to focus on singing instead of laughing at the wiggling dog.

As usual, they couldn't make it to the end of the song.

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"I'm tired, Nikko." Tanya said, muffled by the dog's fur. "I've been trying to keep up my hate of Being X... but it's hard." Dogs probably don't really understand proper hate, but Tanya never let such details stop them from talking to Nikko. "Whatever his plan is, he's being damned patient with it."

As usual, Nikko licked Tanya's face, as she always did when Tanya couldn't hold back their tears. "It's your fault, you know." Tanya observed. "I can't stay mad when you're being such a good dog. Even to Being X." Taya took a shuddering breath as they contemplated the nature of hatred. "Should I let myself suffer just to make sure I can stoke my hatred of him?" It was a ludicrous question, on the face of it. Of course not! But... he might win if Tanya's conviction sputtered out in the wake of the simple happiness of cuddling with a fluffy dog. "Have you ever tried to curse something for two hours straight before? It's hard."

Nikko looked into the middle distance, as if contemplating the question. She started growling at nothing, but then relaxed and started licking Tanya's face again. "Thi- ack, this is what I'm talking about, Nikko." Tanya said, chuckling through the dog's affection. "I can't hate Being X properly when you're here cheering me up all the time." They gave Nikko a big hug after she stopped licking. "But that's fine. This is better."

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Tanya rushed into the copse of trees where Nikko usually awaited them. She wasn't there. "Nikko!" Tanya yelled, tears in their eyes. "No... Calm down Tanya." They said to themselves. "Nikko's not always here, she isn't your dog. She still has to eat, and you can't provide that." Tanya sat down among the patch of wildflowers that was Nikko's favorite spot. "Weak." They said to themselves, scolding. "Being X's plan won't change just because you cry to the dog about it. That's the kind of silly thinking that's reserved for actual children." But sometimes... It was probably the psudeo-brainwashing of having a child's brain and body, but there was a sort of... feeling around Nikko that Tanya never found anywhere else. Given that this world apparently has real magic... was Nikko a magical dog?

As if summoned by their thoughts, Nikko's cold nose pressed into the crook of Tanya's neck for a moment before the great beast flopped her giant fluffy body right on top of Tanya, like a massive weighted blanket. "Oof. Hello Nikko." Tanya murmured through the fur. "I found out Being X's plan."

Nikko perked up at the news, adjusting her position so that Tanya's head was clear. "I finally got my hands on recent enough history books to be confident. I thought this world was post World War I, but it isn't. Somehow, the continent is still the giant powder keg, which means that he's aiming to invoke the old military saying: There are no atheists in foxholes." Nikko whined at the words, licking Tanya's face in sympathy. "So there are quite a few undesirable events that could happen to a young girl located in the middle of a warzone," Nikko seemed even more distressed. "-but then I learned something else: Magic is real here." Nikko licked Tanya again. "More specifically, there's militarized mages. Age and sex limits on military service are explicitly ignored for aerial mages. What are the odds that if I was to get tested, I'd have plenty of magical potential? Being X doesn't just want me to suffer as collateral in a war." Tanya said, tears flowing freely. "He wants me to fight and die in it."

Tanya fell silent as Nikko continued to try and cheer them up with a torrent of doggie kisses. "If I could dodge the testing somehow..." Tanya whispered. "When is it? There has to be a way to escape his trap..."

After several minute of thought, Tanya got an idea. "I could volunteer." Nikko tilted their head in confusion. "If I get tested voluntarily... if there's no age limit to military service for mages... Being X likely won't kick off the war until I'm old enough to fight in it sensibly. If I jump ahead... I could become an officer. Safe in the rear lines, filing logistics paperwork all day." Paperwork they could do.

Nikko snorted at the idea. She stood up off of Tanya and bopped them on the nose with her paw. "...you don't like the idea, then?" Tanya asked. Nikko licked their face. "I suppose there might be enough sanity in the Empire's military that they'd try and stop a seven year old girl from enlisting, no matter what the rules say." Tanya conceded. "If the gambit fails, I'd be putting myself in their sights needlessly..."

Wait. They forgot. "Oh right." Tanya said, taking out the small bit of beat they saved from their meal. "Here you go. A treat for you." Nikko seemed almost hesitant to accept it, but eventually ate the sausage chunk.

...did Nikko always have those red lines on her face? They wanted to say no, but thinking back... She did. Something about those markings were tickling the back of their mind...

Bah. It didn't matter. She was still Nikko, and that's what mattered. She was the only thing that made this life tolerable.

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Tanya threw the ball into the forest again, and Nikko zoomed after it, bounding off of trees with improbable agility to pursue the projectile.

Still, even Nikko's ridiculous antics could not dispel the growing dread in their chest.

Once their arms became sore from the effort of throwing, Tanya sat down in one of the many patches of wildflowers and sighed. "They're coming." They said simply. Nikko whined in sympathy, laying their head on Tanya's lap and wiggling their ears for scratches.

As Tanya toyed with Nikko's ears, they continued. "The nuns told us that 'government men's are going to come by tomorrow and give everyone a test." Tanya snorted. "They implied that if we do our best, we could get adopted easier." They didn't say it directly, which was damning, but from the whispers of the children, the implication was understood. "The newspapers said that failure to report for magic potential testing would be considered a crime punishable by a fine of ten thousand marks." Would any that were caught have to test anyway? Or is it a loophole for the rich?

It was time to brainstorm. "Maybe I could find a well to get stuck in for a day or two..." Tanya mused. Nikko snorted derisively. "...too many moving parts." What if the mage that was no doubt accompanying the testers could rescue them easily? What was magic capable of?

Being known as a draft dodger would be a death knell to any professional ambitions they could have in this country. So the only way to avoid that is to somehow miss the magic test, then no one would expect them to join the army. In fact, manpower shortages from military conscription historically provided women with many opportunities in normally male-dominated fields.

But... It would also mean giving up on having magic powers. It was a factor that they had been largely ignoring, but the military mages were called aerial mages. That meant they could fly. "Flying does sound cool..." They murmured.

"What are the odds of war that will last long enough for me to be conscripted" Tanya thought out loud. "What age would they ordinarily issue the order for? It's probably younger than 18... But how much younger? 16? 14?" Nikko flicked her ears at that. "Do you think it'll be 14, Nikko?" A tiny bark was Nikko's response. "Fourteen, then."

That was not math that Tanya liked calculating. "Six years... Even if it started tomorrow, we'd likely get called in before the end. How long does it take to train an aerial mage?" If it was the tail end of the war, would they even get a full education? Or would they get trained just enough to die to whatever hardened veterans have survived the war to that point? "I have to volunteer." Tanya concluded. Nikko whined sadly, but her slumped ears held no counterargument for Tanya's conclusion.
"The nuns aren't stupid, if I vanish today or tomorrow they'll know exactly why." And with a ten thousand mark incentive, they'll sing at the slightest threat. Tanya doesn't blame them; they would do the same thing in their shoes.

What are their options? "Maybe I could bribe Gwen to go twice?" Tanya mused. "This would be easier if I knew how the testing would go." Maybe... "If the equipment got damaged..." From long experience, Tanya knew there were exactly two orphans with names earlier in the alphabet than they were. "Timing would be tight." They acknowledged. Was there even equipment to damage? Or was it just a spell they cast?

..."no, the history book noted that magic is cast through clockwork computers." Tanya murmured after a moment of thought. "Of course there's equipment to damage." Nikko's ears perked up, her tail starting to wag as her tongue lolled out of her mouth "But how to damage them? I'd need to cause chaos, but in a deniable way."

Nikko's doggy grin widened.

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One of the things that many people can't truly appreciate is that children do not understand the virtues of rules and orderly conduct. Another force of nature that cares not for the laws of men is Nikko the dog.

Somehow, despite years of avoiding every other child in the orphanage, they decided that today of all days was the perfect day to introduce herself, along with a heaping helping of pure chaos, to everyone.

The nuns were being run ragged trying to restore discipline to the unruly mob of children that were doing their best to pet Nikko all at once as the dog bounded and barked and otherwise just became the most excited dog in the world.

This was the scene the military recruiters came across when they arrived to assess the orphans for magic potential. No amount of threats of curtailed food or future pain could defeat the power of Nikko's charisma. Any attempts to deal with the source of the problem was defeated, the attempted discipline melting into pets and whispers of Nikko being a good dog. It was almost magical, how quickly the nuns surrendered to the dog.

Tanya? They got pride of place, riding Nikko's back. It was oddly stable, actually. There was... some odd warmth that Tanya couldn't quite attribute to the dog's no doubt significant body heat, and they could occasionally feel a whisper of something pushing them back into position if they started to lose their balance.

After a few arduous minutes, the government employees managed to get set up despite the chaos right outside. The nuns gave up on doing things in the proper order, instead using a checklist to pull away any child that got too far away from the centralized chaos. The recruiter, the only one of the group wearing an actual Imperial military uniform, was clever and offered each child got a piece of jerky after the test, and they eagerly fed the dried meat to Nikko afterwards, buying themselves a dozen licks to the face for their offering.

After the first two times, the children were pretty willing to rush through the test whenever they got pulled away so they could get Nikko's undivided attention for a few seconds.

Eventually, the moment Tanya had been dreading came up. "Tanya?" Sister Agnes called out. "You're the last one dear, come on down and you can get a treat to give to the nice dog."

Ah, they were at the end of the line. They tried to get Nikko to 'accidentally' run through the equipment or something similarly disastrous, but she refused to enter the church, and didn't even linger within a meter or two of the walls. Plan dog was a failure, then. Unless... "O-okay!" Tanya called back. "I'm coming down now!" Tanya laid down forward on the dog, patting her on the head. "Lay down!" They commanded Nikko. Predictably, Nikko ignored them. "Sit!" Tanya tried. This would normally work... except that Nikko only ever did whatever Tanya said when they were polite about it... and even then only if they spoke it in Japanese. "Nikko, what are you doing? I can't speak Japanese in front of them!" Tanya hissed in that language, hoping that her keen hearing could make out their words.

Then, the dog's master plan was revealed. The officer, tired of waiting, had come marching over to Nikko in order to, presumably, manually extract Tanya from their position on top of the beast. The dog looked the officer straight in the eyes, barked... and ran at speeds Tanya could not comprehend straight away from the orphanage.

Tanya just hoped that their scream sounded suitably terrified.

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After what felt like miles of riding Nikko to parts unknown, the dog stopped somewhere in the middle of the woods, gently letting Tanya down next to a small creek, the water dripping down in a tiny waterfall. Nikko proceeded to drink from it, spending the several minutes Tanya needed to restore feeling in their legs rehydrating from her sprint.

"Alright, I've run away from the mage testing." Tanya said to themselves. "But did they fall for it? If they did, how easily could they reschedule a test for just one person?" With Nikko's actions, it shouldn't reflect too poorly on them for missing the test, it was now just a matter of hoping that they won't bother and would wait several years to try again.

At Nikko's urging, Tanya took a drink from the creek themselves. Hopefully it was clean enough to not make them sick... but despite her being a dog, Tanya trusted Nikko to not lead them to something dangerous.

"Okay, so I suppose the best place to go would be wherever you live when you're not waiting to meet me." Tanya said. "Someone has to have been feeding you, and presumably they could be convinced to at least allow me to stay overnight, so the army recruiters can leave." It was a risky play, as going anywhere with civilization invited more recruiters to pass by and issue tests. They will presumably be implacable in hunting down all who have escaped their notice... but there were limits. Tanya knew well the power of falling behind schedule when it came to getting workers to cut corners on something just to be able to declare it completed. It was a horrible waste, but it will work in their favor this time. If it works.

Nikko barked happily and started walking away from the stream. Tanya followed her, assuming that whatever nobleman's mansion Nikko lived at was nearby.

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As it turned out, the place Nikko lived was the Japanese Embassy. Well, it wasn't Nippon here, but instead Akitsushima. The ambassador had brought his entire family over to have diplomatic contact with the Empire, and the only one there at the time, besides, the staff, was his elderly mother.

"Eat up Tanya-chan." The baachan encouraged as Tanya devoured the onigiri. "You're too thin." It was a little odd to hear a Japanese honorific when the woman was otherwise speaking silted but understandable Germanian.

"Thank you, grandmother!" Tanya said happily in Japanese.

"You speak?" The baachan said in surprise. "What a polite young lady you've brought here today, Ammy." She said, stroking Nikko's fur. The dog barked happily. "Have you been teaching her?"

"Ammy?" Tanya asked.

"Well I suppose she would have been too cryptic with you to share." The baachan said easily. "What did you name her?"

"Nikko." Tanya replied.

The baachan smiled widely. "Ah, that's a good name. Fitting. I can see why she liked it." She sipped at her tea, allowing Tanya to finish the last of the rice balls before continuing. "So why did Nikko bring you here?"

Tanya shifted unconfortably, suddenly realizing they didn't sit seiza like the old woman was. Shifting into the proper posture, Tanya debated what amount of truth they should reveal here. "Ah, the government men came to the orphanage today." They eventually said. "Nikko didn't want me getting tested for mage potential."

"Ah, I see." The baachan said, nodding to herself. "I can see why. Your potential is vast, I can see it from here." She ruefully shook her head. "The Empire looks at the sacred arts and sees only weapons. It is shameful."

Well, that confirmed that Being X had rigged the game. It would have been a little embarrassing if Tanya had gone through all this trouble for nothing. "What happens now?" Tanya asked.

"Simplicity itself." Baachan replied. "If Nikko brought you here, that means you are of Akitsushima in spirit. She's very special, you know. Stay here, and learn the sacred arts from me as my apprentice."

Wait... "Is Nikko a spirit?" Tanya asked, careful to use the respectful word for such. "...Spirits are real?"

"As real as you or I, young Tanya." Baachan said. Nikko sneezed. "Oh? Of course. She doesn't really look like a Tanya to me, either." Nikko barked. "She does look heaven sent, I agree. But what should we use after that?" Another bark. "That's a bit masculine, don't you think? Why not use child?" Nikko whined. "I see. That makes sense. That settles it." What?

Baachan produced a calligraphy kit and painstakingly wrote out a pair of kanji. 'Ten' meaning Heaven, and 'Ko' meaning success. "What do you think about being named Tenko, child?" Baachan said with a smile.

It was... their old name. Well, almost. They used 'Enumerate', not 'Heaven'. "I'd love to." Tenko said.

"It's a tragedy, what happened to you." Baachan said, although it had an underlying softness and strength that it didn't have before. Tenko got the feeling that they didn't truly understand what they were saying. "No son of Nippon should have to go through this."

"What." Tenko said, feeling a little faint.

"What?" Baachan said, suddenly confused. "I'm sorry child, I must have nodded off." Nikko plodded up to the old woman and laid her head in the woman's lap. She expertly administered to the dog's ears, scratching the same spots that Tenko had found through trial and error. The staccato thumping of the spirit's tail the only thing breaking the silence as Tanya tried to process what was going on.

Well, when in doubt... Tenko dived into Nikko's fur to wipe away the tears that suddenly threatened to blind them.

"...Good dog."