She understands what's going through her son's mind right now.
Really, she does.
Which is why.
"No."
Her response came unbidden, without even a second thought given.
She saw as he seemed to deflate, the wind struck from his sails, his eyes losing their focus in the moment to be replaced by sheer bafflement.
It only lasted for a fleeting moment; however, embers of that fire kicked back in swiftly.
"Why not?" He huffed back in response, crossing his arms.
She sighed deeply, "Because I didn't want you up here so you could go on another training binge just to fight someone else you didn't even need to fight."
"To be fair," Uzume, of all goddesses, spoke up, "it has been a little while since the last one, you know?"
She turned toward her and glared.
Not. Helping.
Like a vampire before the full wrath of the sun, Uzume wilted and stepped back.
"It isn't even about the thrill of the fight this time," her son stressed back, "it's about dealing with these chains that I never knew I had, until now!"
Her sigh this time was far more subdued, tired.
"You get used to it." That was the only real response she had to that.
Though that only managed to make Nori grow a dark frown.
"Besides," she continued before he could follow up on that, "I…don't think it's something you really need to worry about." Though her uncertainty clearly crept into her words at the end.
His eyebrow raised as he latched onto her last words almost immediately, "Why not? Is it because of what I am, or…?"
She shook her head, grumbling as she recalled…
Her boy when he got smashed by a glacier into the ocean by a certain exorcist.
It's especially bad because that wasn't too long ago!
But the minute details aren't what she needs to recall.
Simply, that battle as a whole.
There, over the oceans surrounding Japan, her son had temporarily fought at a level that far surpassed her own.
Yomi, that exorcist, Dulio wasn't it? He was stronger than her, of that she was sure.
It does twinge at her pride, admitting that to herself. She was born the strongest of her siblings, and back in the day, she took pride in the fact that she could easily hand her brother's ass back to them on a platter if the need arose.
Especially Susanoo's.
Yet wars, and a whole lot of time, put everything in a strange sort of perspective.
Sure, she was incredibly strong for her pond, but the world was bigger than just her pond. It was filled with them, some bigger, some smaller.
She was forced to realize that across the world, gods of her strength existed, gods that surpassed her, existed.
Zeus and Odin, for instance. Old men they may be, but rivals in power and influence all the same.
And don't even let her get started on the monsters right across the water from them!
All that's to say, with the advantage of immortal time, she got used to the idea of beings stronger than her. That has power over her, in some manner. Both inside and outside, her pond.
The wars the Shinto fought in were never offensive in nature - although she damn well made sure they gave as good as they got, if not more so! - but the point is, she wasn't like the other divines from the west.
She didn't envy the Greeks, the Celts, or whoever else's resources. Their power. She was content.
And lazy.
She knows that now, too.
She was content.
Just as she was, and still is, content with the Kotoamatsukami, and their power and control.
But if Nori could assume the power that he did during his fight with that exorcist, she could honestly say he might even surpass the Kotoamatsukami.
And to be honest, she isn't exactly sure how to feel about that.
She isn't sure how they'd react to that!
It isn't just the one they'd need to worry about; even if the one doesn't take slight notice, there are still four more!
Well, technically three, but who knows! Something like this may drive the Central Master from wherever they're lounging!
Something fell on her shoulder, jolting her out of her rapidly spiraling thoughts.
Nori had, at some point, gotten closer. Close enough to be standing right in front of her, close enough to lay a hand on her shoulder.
She didn't even notice him move, didn't even see or hear it! Was she really that zoned out!?
"I recognize that look on your face," he began, the fire and intensity in his eyes replaced with this softer, gentler look, "the only thing I can think of that would make you start looking like that again would be…ah," he sighs, shaking his head, "that battle, right?"
His emphasis was appreciated, but not needed.
"Your fight against the exorcist, yes." She huffed.
He shrugged listlessly at that, "What I did there isn't something I can just do whenever." He explains, "I need the sun to be up for it; otherwise, nothing."
That gives Ama pause.
"...Why would you need the sun up?" She asks, immediately confused.
From her point of view and her assumptions, he was drawing out more of his divine power from his physical body. Thus, the shifting in his hair color and a difference in his voice.
Due to the way he was "conceived," the hair color shift isn't really that shocking. He might look closer to Uzume when getting closer to his divine spirit, but at its roots, his powers and such were inherited from her.
But that's besides the point.
He shouldn't need the sun to do that. It's not like his divine half and human half are separate; they're always together. It's just him, after all.
"I, uh," Nori began, slowly looking away again, like he was unsure how to go about explaining it exactly, "eat it. I eat the sunlight, basically, to bring that power out."
What.
"Yeah, that's also my Ara-Mitama too, apparently, so even if I could bring it out at will," he pauses to grimace, "might not be the best idea, ya know?"
What.
Every word that comes out of his mouth is making her want to hit something, yet she can't quite place why.
Who would tell him any of that!? She's going to hold off on the whole 'tasting the sun' thing for now, because she actually has a couple of theories about that.
But that being his Ara-Mitama? Who gave him that idea!?
A loud creaking noise echoes throughout the room.
Almost as though possessed by a robot, she turns, her whole body mechanically moving so she can see the source.
Uzume stares back at her, her eyes wide, body frozen, still as a statue, as though frozen in time.
Right at the moment, she was trying to crawl underneath the computer desk and 'escape.'
Well.
She felt divine power begin to flow towards her eyes, but before she could do anything, rather than begging like she normally would, Uzume's gaze flung toward Nori, and with her eyes alone, she desperately pleaded.
Nori grunted, "Seriously? I didn't think you could pray that loud…" he grumbled behind her.
And prayed too. Apparently.
"Alright, alright…it actually wasn't Uzume this time." Nori gave an amused sigh, patting her other shoulder.
Oh?
She turned back around, her power settling.
"That'd be a first." She quipped plainly, as she heard the goddess now at her back slump to the floor and give a shivering groan of relief.
"I know, right?" Nori quipped right back.
"Heeeeyyy…" Uzume gave a half-hearted complaint, still basking in her relief.
It was ignored as usual, however.
Nori gave an amused snort before continuing, "I'm not entirely sure which of that made you glare at Uzume, though?"
"That part about that power you drew out being your Ara-Mitama." She stated clearly, "That doesn't make any sense. Whatsoever."
Nori blinked, "Ah." So completely caught off guard was he that he didn't even look flabbergasted, just blank, before coughing up an actual answer, "It was actually Inari that told me everything about the Ara-Mitama, said that's what it was and all."
Ah? Really? Inari said all that?
"Although Uzume was there." Nori tacked on at the end all of a sudden.
It took but a moment.
"...Oh come on!" Uzume cried out in pure and utter fear.
She waved her off rather swiftly, however, "She wouldn't have known either, so it's fine."
"Yayyy~!" Uzume cried out once again, her tone completely flipped, "I know nothing~!"
"Mhmm." She hummed, resisting the urge to smack Uzume upside the head for calling herself dumb.
She almost didn't succeed. Almost.
Right now, she needed to think about why and how Inari got to the conclusions she did.
With her son watching on, she sat down on her bed and thought.
Admittedly, and right off the bat, the way Nori acts during that power is odd. It's definitely more violent, definitely more wild.
That would fit with it being related to the Ara-Mitama.
But see, it can't just be the Ara-Mitama, that wouldn't make sense, especially if the trigger is just 'eat sunlight.'
The Ara-Mitama is merely a part of the whole spirit of the kami, of the Mitama, one of four parts actually.
Each part of the Mitama is connected, existing as one, and although they can have their own character and function, that's only what the Kami themselves make of it.
Really, the 'sub-spirits,' so to speak, of a Mitama aren't actually all that important when it comes to the kami themselves, only usually when dealing with shrines, and setting up that whole system does it-
Her thoughts pause, right there.
Ah. So that's the way Inari took it.
Looking at it in that direction, it isn't completely nonsensical then, she could see how Inari would come to that conclusion.
Putting her hands together, she took a breath and brought her gaze back to Nori.
"Right, so, I think I understand what she was thinking, but it's most likely not the case." She tentatively.
Nori shot her the blankest of looks.
She quickly held up her hands, "I know, I know…just, listen, alright?"
It took him a moment, but soon enough, he huffed and sat beside her, nodding for her to get on with it.
So she did.
"Essentially, what Inari was thinking when she tried to explain that, or rather, what she assumed, is that your body was more like a shintai than just a body."
Nori furrowed his brow at that, "A Body of the Kami?" He translated, allowed, for some reason, "Isn't that one of those things used in shrines?"
She nodded back, "Right! Another term used for one of those is Mitama Representation, a mitamashiro. Essentially, what Inari was assuming is that your body is like a shrine, a literal shrine. Not a metaphorical one."
Nori blinked down at her, "Huh."
"Honestly," She continued unabated, "it's not a terrible analogy, but I feel as though it doesn't really encapsulate all of you." She pauses briefly, a thought crossing her, "Not even a living shrine really does it, though that would be closer. But it still falls short, because your body isn't a shrine, it's not a shintai, it's still you. The you that's alive."
"That's…confusing." Nori frowns deeply, "Why say it like that? It makes it sound like you, Uzume, Inari, all the Kami in general aren't alive."
Ah. How is she supposed to explain this?
"A different kind of alive." Was her ingenious response.
That made her son just look gobsmacked.
Great.
"... there are different kinds of alive?" Nori stressed, and she already felt like she was losing him here.
"Plants are alive." Then, shockingly, Uzume of all people piped up once more…from under the desk, her hand poking out as she does so.
He tilts his head her way, "I guess? Technically? But they aren't really conscious, I suppose?"
"Not our kind of conscious." Uzume corrects, "But they still do…stuff. They respond to situations, like to damage or stress, and do what they need to survive. How is that not living, even if only smaller?"
Nori looked down, digesting that, and as he did so, she saw an opportunity.
"Think about it like this," she began again, "if there was a scale of being 'alive,' in a sense, plants would rank at the bottom, humans somewhere in the middle, and kami would be a step above. All divine beings would be."
She'd really rather not get into the specifics of each god, though.
Kami are complicated enough as is.
Nori pursed his lips, "So then, nature, beings living in nature, extensions and forces of nature?" He simplifies somewhat.
"Huh." It was her turn to make a noise now, "Yeah, that…that fits pretty well."
At that, she holds up a hand.
A star ignites above her palm.
Well, not a literal star. A light shaped like one. Pure white, with rays and sparkles flying off it every which way.
Still, if she threw this down from Heaven? Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and a good chunk of China would be wiped from the map.
If there's one way to quantify a force of nature like the sun, it's through destructive power.
"Deities aren't so much physical as forces of nature. Though they most certainly can and often do affect the physical." With a clench of her hand, the star snuffs out.
"But," Nori reaches out, his hand taking her one held out, "you look like everyone else, so much so that you can breed with humans, you can bleed, you can die…"
The moment he says that last word, he perks up, as if realization just struck him all at once.
And she's glad for it, because she'd really rather not explain how he was made.
She's still a virgin, after all.
She nods, "But we come back, right. We don't have to bleed, we don't have to look how we do; most divine beings are shapeshifters naturally. Some are known for it."
She had to suppress a shiver at that.
The Greek Gods are especially known for that.
Especially Zeus.
But even the Egyptians, going between bird and human forms, the Norse, particularly Odin, took on disguises all the time in his younger years.
Even amongst them, they have Inari who often roleplays as a fox!
Sure, most divine beings have a 'true form' which is just what they looked like when they were first formed.
As for why they come out usually looking like humans?
Eh. She doesn't know. She never really tried to find out, either.
It was simply never her interest, and she was never curious enough to know about those things!
…Well, okay, she might have started wondering over the years why she came out with a smaller chest compared to Uzume, her mother, her…
But that's not relevant to any of this!
Ever so slowly now, Nori lets go of her hand and looks at his own.
"Living, in two different ways," he pauses, muttering to himself, "no, the combination of two different ways, and yet…" He trails off, before slowly looking toward her, once again, "If this is all the case, then that's not just my Ara-Mitama, I've been looking at it from the completely wrong direction. What is it, then?"
Now, at that, she had to give a sheepish smirk, "Honestly? I'm not completely sure."
The blank stare he gave her could level Japan flat against the ocean floor with how it bore down upon her.
"Well! Hey! I don't have all the answers!" She waves her arms, placatingly, "Especially about you! Not even they do, remember how this all started?"
Nori blinked at that, "Oh, right." He rubbed the back of his head, "Though, if you don't know…"
"I said I wasn't sure." She interjected, before Nori could get lost in his own thought again, just like her, "I do have an idea, though."
He shrugged, "I have a concept of an idea, going off what you told me, but let's hear yours first."
She took a breath, man, she really isn't used to this much talking…
Even in her meetings, she mostly just sits there and looks majestic, only really barking out orders and commands and listening.
Sometimes napping.
She prefers writing stuff out and making others read it for her, or, back when Uzume was around all the time, making her do it instead.
Delegation! Definitely just that.
"You mentioned that to coax that power out, you needed the sun, right? That you ate it?" Nori hummed and nodded for her to continue, "Well, when I first saw it, I assumed it was you drawing out your full divine power or something, like a super form!"
His flat look is back.
And it's judging.
She does not care!
"What?!" She challenges, glaring back at him, "It sounds cool and makes sense to me! You should have been born a lot stronger than you were, you know? You should have also been much stronger than a normal human on that mountain, too! You should even be stronger than you are now, considering all the training I know you did!"
With every sentence, he flinches a bit, as if slapped.
Before finally letting out a deep sigh as she stopped, "I swear to me, if the answer all along was, 'it's you, but letting your divine power go brrrr' I will drown myself."
On instinct, she reaches up, grabs his cheek, and pulls.
…Even if it doesn't seem to even sting him in the slightest, it's the gesture that counts!
"None of that you." She grumbles right back.
"Though, say?" He asks, completely ignoring his pulled cheek, "What's that got to do with eating the sunlight, like I mentioned?"
Oh, yeah, she almost forgot to mention.
She smiled, "You know how the Earth has leylines filled with leylines running through it? The sun has something similar, in a sense. It's a kind of ki!"
"Didn't know about that…" Nori grumbles, mostly to himself, "It just felt nice."
She nods, "That's why! Well, remember where your power comes from? So, I'm thinking, you're taking in a bunch of that, basically jumpstarts your divine powers, and forces them out!"
Slowly but surely, Nori starts to cringe.
"I actually hate how much sense that makes." He admits, "And how I can't really think of anything else that makes sense. Or refutes that." Another pause, "Though, that doesn't really explain the frankly violent personality shift."
That's a fair point, a very fair point, actually.
An idea strikes her all of a sudden.
It would certainly help with figuring out what exactly that power of his is.
And since she did deny letting him train against a bunch of other kami, due in large part to her own selfishness…
Well, it's not exactly the training he was originally looking for, but it is still training!
Plus, she gets to spend time with her son!
She smirks and leans toward him, "There might be a way to figure that out, and more~..." she hummed.
At first, Nori blinked, but it didn't take long for him to figure out what exactly she was implying.
And immediately start smirking alongside her.