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.
(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 ass 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*?"
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The creature saw Masahiro looking at him, then immediately turn and walk away, disappearing into the back of the hut.