Gaia guardians chapter 3

Gaia guardians chapter 3

Gaia guardians

Rating: T

Genre: Action/adventure, romance, drama (in later chapters)

Prologue Gamma- Whoa, whoa! Twist on things, much?!

(Sudden interference and new problems…)

Tsusushi shrine, two weeks after Kikyo’s service in Tokyo

Lady Sakibara will not be very pleased when she hears these grave news…or rather, belated grave news!!  Shinji Komagata, an attendant in training, thought as he ran down through the narrow hallways of the shrine, passing others who were fortunate enough to not be under the tight schedule that he had been assigned in recently; most of the passerby were shocked at the quick figure that dashed past them and almost knocked them over while on the run! “Aah!” the meek Shinji said, wincing. He often found himself turning his head every two seconds and leaving brief apologies and “Gomen nasai! Sumimasen! Forgive my running over you!” to the said unfortunates who had the displeasure of colliding into the poor rushed man en route. Clutching the stack of report papers under his arm, Shinji gave an extra burst of speed and finally arrived at destination. Without thought, Shinji quickly slid the shoji paper door open and was met with two rows of people either writing of reciting scrolls.

“…Uhh…”the now-flustered attendant stuttered, his face now red from obvious embarrassment and the feeling of actually wetting his pants. Had he just interrupted a mere calligraphy class, his punishment might’ve just been a scolding. But this calligraphy class had specialized in the practice of sacred character writing for sealing and summoning methods. Unshakable concentration was absolutely necessary in such classes and absolute silent was needed for when the writer was receiving the instructions from the orator. A panting and twitching Shinji gulped as he took a shaky step back. He could feel himself emptying his bladder even more now…

“Komagata-san?” an elderly voice then said in the far back of the room. The still-quivering boy swallowed and slowly returned halfway inside the room. Well, this was the right room after all…the gulping Shinji tried to look forward and avoid the glares as he slowly walked forward until he was met with a shoji paper door. On the other side was where resided Lady Kimiko Sakibara, otherwise known as “Obaa-sama” or “Obaa-chan” by close familiars. Few had ever seen her face, though most had seen her petite silhouette and could instantly recognize her elderly, throaty tone. She was strict and formal towards everyone, and though hidden in obscurity she still displayed an air of authority around the spiritual community.

Shinji, not wasting time, kneeled and bowed down to the figure before him. He slid the papers in front of him and head still down, the shoji door opened then swiftly closed again. Clearing his throat, the young attendant in training began to detail the nature of the papers that have been rushing him for the past week since it was reported to his section. Now would be his time to shine.

Go on, you can do this, Shinji. Don’t be scared…

With a silent gulp and a mental prayer, Shinji hesitantly began.“…S-Sakibara Obaa-sama, w-what you now hold in your hands are the frequent reports that our sector of intelligence and gathering had been reported as of late...d-due to frequent cases that had elevated for yet unknown reasons we have been delayed trying to tally all our observations that our Shikigami had filed in…” Shinji then stopped and after a breath, continued, “In all our recent reports of the previous two weeks of our new month, there have been new cases of illicit “after attacks” committed after our clients had been asked for someone in our line of service.”

 

A pause… Wait until she speaks back with questions…that’s it, Shinji, you’re doing great!

“…What do you mean by that, Komagata? Explain your recent case of illicit “after attacks”.

Okay, here comes the explanation, Shinji. Take a breather and calm down. Sound serious. Look ‘er in the eye. Even though you can only see her shadow.  On one, two, three…

Wit another deep breather, Shinji resumed his report, his tone more serious as he told himself. “Hai, Sakibara Obaa-sama, I shall. In the aftermath of our service to this desired client, but perhaps a few hours after, our Shikigami suspect, the sudden attack occurred. The attacker actually dealt physical damage to the desired victim, who was a boy by the name of Susumu Sumirezawa in the Shinjuku prefecture. His aura seemed to be of high nature but we couldn’t pinpoint it exactly. He was the son of our client, Mrs. Sumirezawa. The boy’s remains were to be cremated by her request. The killer of course has yet to be found. Neither are his motives; they are also a source of mystery as well. But one thing has been confirmed; he was at the helm of similar attacks like on other disclosed victims, though none were in our jurisdiction yet they were still noted by our report squad in the area.”

Nice job, Shin-chan! You’re getting pretty good at this! Just a few more tries and then you’ll be a full-fledged priest in the shrine…yeah, just keep at it! Be cool, remember, cool as ice…

Another pause before Elder Kimiko then questioned again, stern and stifling to the trembling Shinji,

“…And what of the boy? Had the Priest from the mountain temple arrived at Hanamomi as of yet, Komagata?”

…Does she mean the one they called by a foreign name or something? The priest who has housed within the actual of an actual god? Though it was said that he was also named Genzosuke…

“Komagata! Answer the question, boy! Or do you want your rank of attendant replaced by floor-scrubber? We shall not accept waiting answers! After all, your squad itself is a shame by its slowness as of late!” Shinji gasped and sat up straight, wincing as he was scolded at. Gulping, he quickly stuttered,

“N-no, Sakibara Obaa-sama! W-we had deduced that our Shikigami had not detected the said priest in the town of flowers and peaches yet! But the silver-haired youma, Negimatsu, had been sensed as to coming there! Infact, we suspect he might’ve already enrolled himself in the same school as…Hikari no Hime-sama…”

The elderly woman gasped and growled, her tone now menacing.” Komagata…here are your new orders that you are to report to the intelligence and reporting squad along with the Shikigami installed in the Hanamomi prefecture. Keep a close eye on the students and if worse comes to it, do not be afraid to resort to drastic measures! Understand, Komagata? Get your superiors on it right now! Before you should be known as Komagata Shinji, floor scrubber!!! NOW!!!” Yelping, Shinji nodded and was fumbling on his feet and dashing out the front door, tears forming in his eyes and his hakama pants already dampening.

That went well…Not!!! Aw, crap! How’d I screw it up like that?!! I did everything that sensei told me to…except maybe I shouldn’t have spaced out like that…WAAAHHH!!!

What a horrible experience for the first-time attendant on his second week on the job.

Chapter 3- Sever’s wing and rope

One very late night ago, in Kazehama park

Growling, Kikyo jumped and staff in both hands, she yelled and brutally struck the person in front of her down to the ground. Now immobilized, the priestess then pointed her staff down at the man’s forehead and the figure’s eyes went blank. Chanting a sutra, Kikyo muttered some phrases and after a quick jab from her staff to the person’s forehead again, the kanji for death, shi, appeared on the person’s forehead as the body fell limp to the ground.  A small imp-like creature then crawled out from the man’s forehead, but Kikyo swiped her staff towards the tiny creature and squished it. With a small, tiny shriek only heard to the miko, the small imp disintegrated into tiny pieces.

“There! THAT oughta teach you how NOT to mess with a cranky Kikyo Sakibara, super onmyouji slash priestess extraordinaire!!!” The blue-haired girl proclaimed, thumping her chest proudly.

Making me chase you all over the city like that…what a bother. It’s not nice to do that when a woman’s on her time of the month either!!!

Now huffing, the girl twitched and waited for the “esteemed assistant” Midori, to make her prolonged appearance. Well, wasn’t she supposed to be to “catch the action” without fail? Yet so far, even Kikyo herself couldn’t see what Midori had “caught” on tape, no matter how many times she would ask… Meanwhile, the young man on the ground came back to life and looked up at the stranger before him.

“Um…Miss? Priestess? Why are you here?” he asked but was then slapped back into unconsciousness by Kikyo’s staff.  The blue-haired girl glanced at him before realizing what she had done...How exactly had she done that?

Either way, this wasn’t good.

“Shit…you were just alive there, weren’t you? I feel this is going to be off my pay again…”

Just then, a grinning Midori arrived in her black van along with those strange women in black suits following behind her. (See chapter 1) The brown-haired girl waved at her cousin, who was glaring daggers at her. She had to act like nothing went wrong. Midori laughed and slapped Kikyo’s back proudly.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re proud of me and all. Can we go home now? I’m tired.” She had to get out of there as soon as possible.

Midori, with video camera in hand, looked at their client as he lay on the ground. “Hmm…isn’t he supposed to be awake by now? The seal’s on his forehead so he should be back to normal, shouldn’t he?”

Kikyo averted her cousin’s glance and smiled crookedly. The truth couldn’t hurt. “…Welllll, I kinda knocked him out right after I got the imp out, sooo…he might be staying like that for a few hours or so. But hey, he needs his sleep and so do I, so let’s get-” With another nervous laugh, Kikyo headed on her way when Midori grabbed her shoulder and whirled her back into position.

“We need to return a live brother to our client, not a dead one…”

“He’s alive! He just doesn’t look like it. He’s just sleeping…”

“Uh huh…you know you’re going to have to stay all night to wake him up, don’t you?”

“But why?! I haven’t done that before!!!”

“Exactly. Thus you’ll be able to learn now to do so just in case the next time you do something stupid like that. That way next time you can also wake them in trance as much as you can sleep them in trance.”

A groaning Kikyo whimpered and planting her staff in the ground, she sighed and flopped on the ground. Sitting with crossed legs, Kikyo pressed her hands together and using various hand signals, started chanting various spells that would match what she had just performed. Midori, still with camera in tow, waved at her followers behind her and obeying their mistress they all left within the black van, leaving the two cousins alone for the remainder of the night.

“Now now, let’s see you do that properly, shall we? You’re not leaving until the man is caught wide-awake and talking in this camera lens, Kikyo! That’s what you get for getting your aura in direct contact like that!”

A grumbling Kikyo silently muttered, “Yeah, right. As if that blasted camera would catch anything…”

A small pause of silence on Midori’s part before addressing Kikyo again; “Oh! By the way, this little incident, depending on the hours it’ll take, is depleted off your pay.”

This would be another restless night.

***

(The next day, at school)

“…Look at that, she’s still snoozing like a light and I’m holding a dried, sweet-smelling fried smoked fish right in front of her. If she’s not reacting an inch, than she’s really totally wiped out.” The first voice said, a female’s.

“…Yeah. What happened to her, you think?” The second of three voices added, another female’s.

“W-well, she didn’t participate in P.E…meaning that the poor soul’s time of the month has arrived. For the next five days she must endure the pain of blood coursing down to her ovaries and-“, the third voice was then swiftly cut off by the gagging sounds of disgust that were made by her two other classmates.

“Maori! Please, please, PLEASE don’t talk about that in front of our poor captain here! She may be asleep but she can still hear! Then again I don’t wanna hear about that stuff either…”The first voice asked pleadingly, grimacing at the thought of how the menstrual process all went down.

“I second that notion,” The second voice said, pretending to puke again and she stuck her tongue out.

“Oh, alright then, Yazumi-san, Tsutsumi-san.” Maori shrugged and halted her speech just as ordered, returning her eyes to the small booklet in front of her. The two girls sighed in relief and then retook their attention to their Kendo captain beneath them. Surrounding the sleeping priestess were some of the occasional circle of friends and members of the Hanamomi junior martial arts team in the kendo division. The young dark-skinned girl who was sitting on her desk in front of Kikyo was Yazumi Ekobe, the vice-captain of the kendo team. She would replace said captain whenever she was unable to compete. Even though she wore glasses in school, in kendo she would wear a pair of contacts. Tsutsumi Hsieh, the also bespectacled shorthaired girl sitting below Yazumi’s desk, on her chair, was the assistant-captain. She, like Yazumi, was a stand-in for the other when the latter would be absent, whether it be Kikyo or Yazumi when unavailable. Maori Komagata was the daughter of the sports coach but had but little direct interest with the kendo team; she had still wanted to contribute in some way, and so, joined the kendo team in supporting fields such as equipment manager and occasional motivator.

“Hmm…could be that she could simply be tired from lack of sleep. Lack of sleep because she was up studying all night.” Tsutsumi then added, taking something out of Yazumi’s bento box, making the latter gasp and wretch it back from her. They soon got into a squabble.

“Give it back…”

“…You know you oughta make me first.”

“Just give the damn shrimp ball back and no one gets hurt.”

“Oh, by ‘no one’, you mean yourself, right? Getting hurt by little me?”

“…Okay…now it’s on!!!”

 “Are those two fighting again…?” came the sleepy voice of the rousing Kikyo, a blue eye lazily looking upward at the neutral Maori in the sidelines. Sighing and shaking her head, the braided girl nodded. “Oh yes, I’m afraid they’re at it again. This time Tsutsumi-san took something from Yazumi-san and well, you’re seeing how that ends out…”

Kikyo nodded and snorted. “ Hhn…by the way, did you get the exam results yet? Midori’s really expecting good things from me.” She yawned and ruffled her hair. How long had she been tired like this? Maybe she should try and negotiate again with Midori and try and see if she could get less missions recently…after all, hadn’t her “punishment” for insulting the family’s “ sacred technology” gone over their two week limit by now? She had already apologized more than enough times and with her Shounen Gangan subscription on hiatus for the “time being” as Midori had delicately put it, this was enough of a hell for the unnerved Kikyo.

Ruffling through her bag, Maori hummed thoughtfully and looked through until she found what she was searching for and took out a sheet of paper from her bag. Scanning it shortly, the girl then turned the paper around for Kikyo to see.

“These are the current results. I, being, part of the student council among other things, had the privilege of see the recent exam results first. But with the upcoming exams, places will be changed and people will be replaced; in either cases Fujisawa-sempai will certainly have no problems moving from her spot in the top 10, this I can assure you, will not change. She’s a reigning contender along with her two ‘loyal’ followers Saeko-san and Yaolin-san. Your cousin, Honda-sempai, is 10 places below Fujisawa-sempai in 20^th place while Yazumi-san and Tsutsumi-san follow with the respective 21^st and 22^nd places. As for myself, I’m in 24^th position…”

As Maori continued on with, Kikyo felt herself getting sleepy again. She shook her head and tried to resist the urge to fall back into a dream when Maori smiled and cleared her throat to get Kikyo’s attention.

 “You know, if you’re tired, why don’t you just go home and rest, Sakibara-san?”

“But what am I gonna tell…”

“I’m certain Honda-sempai could cover your reasons for you…”

“…I dunno.”

“She’s your closest relative…I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

“You know this because…?”

The girl just chuckled and shrugging, Kikyo stood and yawning again, she went towards the door and left, leaving the smiling Maori back to her books and the still-squabbling vice-captain and assistant-captain to their lunchtime.

Well…everything’s going well. She seems to be weakening out perfectly.

As she walked in the hallway, Kikyo felt her condition worsening strangely enough. She panted and as she felt her forehead; that was heating up as well. Was she having a fever? Now she was sure something was definitely wrong now; she couldn’t feel this weak due to a measly menstruation process!! Feeling her eyes drooping close again, the blue-haired girl struggled to take another step when she suddenly collided with another student body and both fell to the ground.  Unable to fight the need anymore, the schoolgirl slowly fluttered her eyes closed, leaving the confused student beneath her to try and wake her up.

“…Kikyo..? Hello, Kikyo! I heard you were sleeping through half the day, so wake up already!!” The baffled Midori said, shaking the snoozing girl to waken, but no avail. Blinking, the taller girl slowly pushed Kikyo off of her and drew an arm around her as she brought her back to her feet. Narrowing her eyes, Midori frowned.

This isn’t right…her aura’s suddenly…dropping or something…it’s been dropping drastically!! Is she all right? Dammit, why didn’t I notice this sooner?

Grunting, Midori placed the once-again slumbering Kikyo on her shoulder and without hesitation, sprinted towards the stairs and towards the school exit, unaware of the smiling Maori watching them as they left the school premises.

Well look at that…looks like she’s more vulnerable than originally thought…This should be interesting.