It was a women from the same village who found the found the little girl lying beside the shrine.
She had left her two children, one eight year old and one six years old at home and ventured into the mountains to pick up some vegetables growing in the wild. On her way back home, she found the little girl lying besides the shrine.
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Far from the village, near to the sea, there was a shrine. But then again, the so called "sea" wasn"t really a sea. It was connected to the sea. But in fact, it is just a lake.
Since young, the adults have warned them not to go near the shrine as evil things were worshipped there. As such, one should not go near the shrine, let alone open the door to the shrine.
The village elder told scary stories about the shrine. Yet it only fuel the children"s curiosity.
When she(the woman, not the girl) was slightly less than ten years old, she and her friends wanted to see the scary things mentioned so badly. They walked towards the shrine and touched the door. Then, at that time, they heard a voice.
"Open the door..."
They thought that they had heard wrongly, but, that voice repeated the phrase again and again.
"Open the door!"
They ran back home and were sick in bed for the next few days. They had forgotten about what really happened then, but they"ve heard from others that they were always shivering but complaining that they felt hot.
Something bad was being worshipped in that shrine. No... it shouldn"t be phrased that way. The right way to called it was that something bad was being "sealed" and not being "worshipped".
Since then, the woman tried not to be near that temple as much as possible.
But on occasions, some children would still disobey the orders of the village elder and venture near the temple. In the end, all of then fell sick for no apparent reason.
That"s why, the adults have always told the children not to go near the temple.
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"Ah..."
The women put the handful of vegetables that she have picked into the basket that she was carrying and started to walk back home.
Along this path, she could clearly see the shrine.
She shivered. The scary experience from the childhood trumatised her. By just seeing the shrine, she was rooted to the ground. She became so scared that she could not move. Hence, she avoided looking at the shrine. Then, she frowned,.
There was something white lying besides the shrine.
What was that?
She turned to the shrine again, and saw a child lying besides the shrine. It was the little girl from the village, from the family that lived besides them. She was the same age as her son.
She immediately ran towards the girl. As much as she did not want to be near the shrine, she was even more worried about the safety of the little girl who laid on the ground and was not moving.
"How are you? Please wake up..."
She hold on to the little girl and was so shocked that she could not speak.
Then, the little girl opened her eyes. Her body was cold as ice, and her eyes lost their shine. It was like she has s.p.a.ced out as she look at the sky without any expression.
But she was breathing, and her heart was beating.
"Didn"t the adults told you not to come here?"
The woman thought that the little girl is just like her when she was a child. She must have been curious. But for now, the priority was to get her back to her parents.
Just when she carried the little girl up, she heard a sound from the back.
As a reflex action, she turned around, and she heard the same sounds again.
The wooden doors of the shrine was opened and there were strange noises.
There were some white stones in the shrine. Normally the doors to the shrine were closed and such stones could not be seen. But now, it was as if something was pushing the stones away from beneathe.
This was the cause of the strange noises.
"Crack..." (the chinese characters are actually p.r.o.nouced "sha dang")
"Yi..."
She hold on the the little girl and back away.
Then, from beneathe the stack of white stones, a warm and dry wind blew.
"It"s opened...!"
There was a cry of happiness. At the same time, the small shrine was destroyed by some thing that flew out from within.
The dark shadow covered her vision.
A piercing scream was heard as evening approach.
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There was the smell of spring in the cold, chiily wind.
"Yeah. Half of the third month has already pa.s.sed, and spring here is earlier than in the capital. So I suppose this is much better for us. The wild vegetables are already growing and there are much prey around, so it shouldn"t be hard to find food. But if possible, i still hope to go back to Seimei"s side, since I don"t really like being here."
(It translates to the third month of the "yin li" – "li" refers to the calender. So I think it"s not March, but the third month of another kind of calender, another way of counting dates.)
Taiin didn"t say these words specifically to anyone. She was just mumbling to herself. But one can feel that she is troubled through her voice.
"Taiin, where are you?"
There was someone calling her. The voice sound emotionless, it sounds like a child. But the tone of the voice was like an old, mature shinsou (spirit summon).
She heard him, but she pretended that she did not hear anything.
She knew that she should go back soon. Since she was out for so long, the others would definitely be worried about her. she became even more troubled when she thought of that. It was not like she wanted to make the child worry about her.
However, that place...
"Taiin, so there you are!"
Genbu had found her. There was a tinge of displease in his voice, like he was angry at her for not replying even though she has heard his voice.
Taiin stuttered and thought that she should have hide in a place that was more difficult to find.
"What"s the matter..."
Taiin did not feel like replying him, but she looked down and saw the dark hair of Genbu down below.
Because Genbu was far away from her, she could not see his features clearly. But it seems that he doesn"t look too good and his gaze was piercing.
Her voice must have been carried by the wind and heard by Genbu.
"Masahiro is worried that something might have happen to you"
"I AM one of the twelve spirit summons, what could go wrong in this quiet and peaceful mountain?"
"Since you are all right, let"s get back. Did you hunt anything?"
"Of course I did! There it is."
She turned her head and point to a lower area.
Sitting alone on a tree brance, she pointed to her prey. Genbu followed where her finger pointed and looked down. There was a boar on the floor. Its four limbs were tied to a branch.
Genbu turn his sight back to Taiin. Frowning, he said "Then let"s go! If he worrys about such minor things, his health may get worse. Kochin is with him now, so nothing bad would happen to him, but still, we have to get back a.s.s soon as possible."
Taiine frowned too, and reply "I know that. But..."
She stopped, sigh and flew down from the tree.
After she managed to balance herself, she coiled some vines around the neck of the dead boar she had left on the ground.
Genbu looked at Taiin who was bust tying the vine around the boar. There was a serious expression on his face. Then he said " I understand that you don"t want to be near "him", but if you continue to keep your distance, how are you supposed to protect Masahiro?"
Seimei"s current order was for them to protect Masahiro, who has not yet heal from his injuries.
"I know. It"s seimei"s order."
"If not I would have left the place where Touda is." Taiin thought to herself.
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There was a man who called himself "Chishiki no Shoushu". This man tried to open the gates to the underworld.
To stop his ambitious plans, Abe no Masahiro, the grandson of the famous Abe no Seimei, travelled from the capital to Izumo.
The battle has left Masahiro exhausted and he has been lying in bed for the past six months. Only recently could he get out of bed and walk around a bit, but still, the spirit summons that were with him could not let their guards down.
Taiin and Genbu were part of the twelve shinshou that Seimei led. They have been ordered to protect Masahiro and to report any special happenings to Seimei, who currently resides in the capital of Kyoto.
Seimei"s other grandson, Masahiro"s eldest brother, Abe no Narachika was on his way here. Once he has met up with Masahiro, they will move to another place.
" Where is the home of Fujiwara no Michinaga*?"
[The chinese characters involved is "道长", which means "taoist priest". But I think that"s the person name, not that he is a priest.]
Taiin asked Genbu as she dragged the dead boar, which weighs much more than a grown-up human, along effortlessly.
Genbu, who was holding onto the wild fruits and vegetables, turned his head over and said "In the village of Yamadai* [山代], which is in that direction... it is in the west from here, just walk along the sh.o.r.es. By feet this takes about one or two days, but Masahiro may not be able to walk that much."
Taiin nodded her head. Looking at the sunset, she said "Narachika still needs half a year to reach here. Masahiro would have healed by then, right?"
"Under normal conditions, he would have, but right now, it"s hard to say."
Taiin understood what Genbu meant.
"Yeah, that"s right..." she replied.
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The village of zuyo* [筑阳] was the nearest place from here. Part of it was the outer settlements. (there is a name for that, just that I"m too lazy to find the right p.r.o.nunciation in j.a.panese. Basically, in the feudal j.a.pan era, the villages can only have 50 households within a certain area. Beyond that, they become part of the "outer settlements" as I"ve translated). Chishiki no Shoushu was living in the mountains beyond this outer settlements then.
Although the village was near here, there was still some distance to be travelled by foot. The village settlement spread in two directions from the river.
The small hut that they were currently residing in was deep in the mountains. It was near to the river, so there was no lack of clean, drinking water. For now, no locals has ever ventured here, so it was the best place for Masahiro to recover from his injuries.
But then again, perhaps it was just that it was not the season when the villagers start to climb the mountains.
Genbu, who had said that they need to hurry back but there was no need to run, appears to have thought of something and look at Taiin. Then he proceed to ask "You went to the village a few days ago. Was it in a mess?"
"Yup. And I"m sure that it would stay like that for a while. The Living deity has suddenly went missing and the altar that he constructed had been destroyed.
Many years ago, Chishiki no Shoushu built an altar in the region. The villagers worshipped and believed in him. Now that he is gone, the people guarding the altar have also fell. These were the living dead, people who were given life by Chishiki no Shoushu to help him ward off demons. Now that he was dead, his spell lost their effect and the living dead people turned to dust. This has made the villagers even more fearful.
"How does it feel when someone you relied on, trusted and believe in disappears?"
"That has never happened to us before so it"s hard for us to understand."
Genbu appears to be thinking about the question seriously.
"True, we could say that of Seimei in a way, but we have never actually relied on him."
The twelve spirit summons view Seimei as their master. However, Seimei has always treated them as equals. It made them feel as if they were his friends. But still, that was due to his personality and how he interact with them that made them feel this way. He always treat them as friends and because of that, the twelve spirit summons became fiercely loyal to him.
After a few steps, Taiin sighed.
They were about to reach the small hut. It was just beyond this small patch of forest. Even though the hut was near to the river, it was still difficult to find if one do not know the path due to stretches of forest along the way.
There was just one room and a little room made of soil in the small hut and the natural environment was the wallpaper of the hut (sounds weird to me. It should basically mean close to nature.) There was a little pit in the middle of the room which could be used to cook food.
Suddenly, Genbu sighed and said "See, I told you!"
He said that grudgingly. Taiin looked up and saw a pale Masahiro sitting at the entrance of the hut near a tree root.
Although it was already the third month of the new year, it was still very cold after sun set. To be sitting in such coldness just after he has recovered was definitely not good for Masahiro"s health.
"Masahiro, if you sit there, you would..."
When he heard Genbu, Masahiro turned his vision from the sky to him. Yet, he was actually not looking directly at them but beyond them, like he was searching for something.
"Genbu, where are you?"
The two spirit summons were shocked and immediately raise their spiritual power.
They raised it just a little so that Masahiro can see them.
Masahiro heaved a sigh of relief after seeing the both of them appear.
"Back? I was waiting for you since you were a bit later than usual."
"Sorry, we took some time." Genbu sounded guilty for what he has done.
Masahiro immediately waved his hands around panicking.
"It"s not like that. I was bored from lying around so I came out...Kochin allowed me to do so too."
Although Kochin has allowed Masahiro to venture out, she must have done so reluctantly. Kochin has never been one who is good with words.
"... It seems like I"m still a little weak. Ah! Now that I know that you all are right beside me and that I can hear you...It shouldn"t be much of a problem..."
The situation was better than before.
After Masahiro said that, he stood up and continued "It"s getting dark, let"s go back in."
Then, he saw Taiin dragging the wild boar along. He stared at Taiin and the boar.
"Wow! That"s really something. How did you mangaged to catch that?"
"That"s simple. I use a wind spear and aim it right at its nose." She said it as if it was a normal thing to do, acting out the action of throwing something at the same time.
Masahiro looked at her, stunned. There was a stiff smile on his face as he said "...I didn"t know it was that simple."
"Yup. It"s really simple. Once the spear percies through the boar, it would be immobilised. Then I deal the killing blow. I have already let the blood flow out, so we just have to cut up the meat now. Oh! We could use the hide to make a coat or something. Do you want to keep it?"
Taiin continued her speech as if what she had done was really simple and trivial. Anyone who has heard her say such things would have thought that she was an expert in hunting.
"The weather wouldn"t be that cold later on. So there will be no need for the hide. Besides, we are not staying here for a prolong period of time. Just a sufficient amount of food will do."
Taiin nodded, agreeing to what Genbu had just said.
"I will throw the hide back into the mountain forest. Returning things back to nature. That"s one of the basics of life."
Masahiro, who was observing Taiin as she mumbled and said " hmp, ya, right..." gave her a forced smile, while Genbe use the same matured tone to ask "Is Kochin inside?"
"Yup! Rikogu said that he would walk around and check things out just for safety. He has been going out quite a lot lately."
He should be patrolling the area again, but Masahiro thought that there was more to that. However, Rikogu"s expression remains unchanged. Even if there was a change, Masahiro didn"t dare to ask him.
Masahiro suddenly raised his head and look up to the sky. His eyes were partially closed (perhaps due to the setting sun) and said "Rikugo remains invisible most of the time. It"s not a major problem... but it"s still quite inconvinient sometimes."
As the time pa.s.ses, the sun was also disappearing across the horizon. The sky was a burning red colour, and that colour was reflected on Masahiro. It was the time when day and night meet, and the sky is painted orange red.
Genbu looked at Masahiro"s side view without any expression on his face.
Masahiro looked well. Yet, he wasn"t sure if that was only a pretense.
It should be that way. He should be only pretending to be strong and well. Masahiro had used up all his strength and spirit in the last battle. For some time, he couldn"t even find the strength to get out of bed. He couldn"t even eat. Besides that someone, all of them were worried about him.
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That person even said something nasty to those who cared about the boy.
--- "If he dies here, it just show that he only has that much capability."
He had said that in a cold, monotonous, but high pitched voice. That voice sounded powerful. He took a neutral standing to the issue and was just stating the facts.
But he had to say that when Masahiro was so sick and couldn"t get out of bed, when he was just sitting beside the child who was struggling and in pain.
A few hours later, Masahiro woked up. He finally ate some porriage. He tried hard to hold back the nauseous feeling and forced the food down with water. Only by doing so could he prolong his life.
Just thinking about that makes Genbu even more depressed.
Was Masahiro really asleep then? He must have been. If not he would not be able to remain that calm.
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"..."
Genbu blinked. He thought of something that he shouldn"t be asking.
"Masahiro."
"Huh?..."
Genbu was hesitating as he asked Masahiro a question.
"Now that I know where Rikugo and Kochin is. Do you know where Touda is?"
He felt Taiin shivered slightly.
Masahiro"s expression remained unchanged. Looking at the red sky, he replied monotonously "I don"t know... he should be somewhere around! That"s what I heard from Kochin. But then again, I haven"t seen him since just now."
The way he said that sounds as if it was none of his business.
"Oh..."
"But he should be around here. I saw his while tail this morning." Masahiro smiled.
"It"s strange isn"t it," Masahiro continued. "I can"t see you or the rest of the twelve shinshou. I can"t see the surrounding demons, but I can still see him. I wonder why is that so...?"
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He remembered that the first person who realised this was Rikugo.
Then, he was sick sick in bed and in a semi-conscious state. As he was looking at a beam located at the foot of his bed, he suddenly frowned.
"...Rikugo, you are just nearby right?"
Rikugo was just beside him then. It was rare for him to not be invisible, and he did not even tried to supress his spiritual energy, since there wasn"t a need for him to do so.
"I"m here...Masahiro."
At that time, two of the spirit summons were with him—Rikugo and Kochin. Taiin and Genbu were out gathering food in the mountains as well as taking a look at the situation in the village. Kochin wasn"t invisible too, but she was sitting outside Masahiro"s room and along the corridor, so it was understandable if Masahiro couldn"t see her. But Rikugo, he was just sitting beside Masahiro, at a place where he could reach him.
Yet he looked right through him.
He thought that something was not right, so he supported himself with his hands in order to sit upright. However, he wasn"t strong enough yet, so his hands bent immediately. Rikugo couldn"t bear to see him panicking and worried, so he reaches out to him and supported him. Just when his hands touched Masahiro, Masahiro exclaim " You are here right?...oh, because I can feel your hands."
"Masahiro?"
"Seeing the two of them acting strangely, Kochin walked in. Masahiro was holding on to Rikugo"s hands and feeling them to make sure. Then he mumbled "... I can"t see..."
His face was frozen as he stared at the ceiling of the hut.
His own hands, his own clothes. Those things that were supposed to be there, he was able to see them.
He just couldn"t see the demons and the spirit summons.
It was like in the past, when his grandfather sealed away his spiritual sight.
The spirit summons were shocked. Masahiro"s natural spiritual sight ability was as good as that of Seimei. Thought it wasn"t as good as Fujiwara no Akiko, who was currently living in the Abe household, there was no one in the onmyou dorms that could match his ability.
But now, he had said that he "can"t see". He could still detect differences in spiritual power, he could still hear voices, but he couldn"t see.
Masahiro was named as Seimei"s successor. The best onmyouji always have the best spiritual sight. The spiritual sight was an ability that is indispensible to a great onmyouji. Losing their spiritual sight is one of the worst things that could happen to an onmyouji.
All the spirit summons were shocked, while Masahiro remain quite calm. It was only when he first realised the bad news, and when he saw Rikogu and Kochin, who has now raise their spiritual energy, looking really pale that he finally shown some reaction. He hold on to his head and said "It really bad, isn"t it?"
Even thought he can"t see, he was still alive and well.
He should have died, but he came back to the living world. Perhaps that was something that he had to pay in exchange for his life.
Compared to the "3 nos" in the past – can"t see, can"t feel, can"t hear, this was nothing.
He tried to cast some spells and chanting. On both occasions he could feel changes in the wind, so he knew that his spiritual power isn"t lost. Although he was still weak physically, he powers will return as he continue to heal.
Once he"s back in the capital, there will be his grandfather to help him. His grandfather may be shocked, but Masahiro himself was also shocked and find losing his spiritual sight really inconvenient. Hopefully, his grandfather wouldn"t scold him, Masahiro thought.
Taiin nudge the hand of Masahiro, who was now in a deep thought.
Shaken back to reality, Masahiro saw two child-like shinshou looking worriedly at him. Taiin"s expression has always change from occasions to occasions. But now, even the usually expressionless Genbu was worried.
Masahiro thought that it wasn"t good. So he broke the silence and said "Well, it"s about time I got hungry. Speaking of eating, I"m the only one who actually eats."
Basically, the twelve spirit summons were still slightly different from humans. They do not have to eat.
As Genbu walked towards the hut with the vegetables that he was holding he said "We can eat when we are in the human form, but there is no need to do so."
The human form that he was talking about simply meant looking like a human, like the way they are now, with darker hair, darker coloured eyes and pointed ears.
Hearing what Genbu said, Masahiro replied "Ah! That"s so heartless of you. It"s rather sad to be eating alone..."
"Even though it"s kind of sad to be eating alone, you still have to eat. If not you wouldn"t recover!" Taiin, who was still dragging the wild boar along effortlessly, pointed her index finger at Masahiro."You have to get well soon and get to Yamadai village when Narachika arrives. Then you can hurry back and not miss the firefly season."
Masahiro nodded his head. He then turned his head to the roof of the hut. He didn"t do that for any particular reason, he just turned into that direction unknowingly.
There was a white creature on the roof of the hut.
It looks like a cat or a dog, its action swift and its steps light. It was covered in white fur, with four limbs and five claws on each limb. On its neck, there was a ring of red spikes. Its long ears flow with the wind.
On top of the pair of red eyes now focused on Masahiro, there was a small flower like diagram.
This was how Touda looked like after he had transformed.
The creature saw Masahiro looking at him, then immediately turn and walk away, disappearing into the back of the hut.