A run down village exist on the borderline of two countries: Seirin and Teiko. Commotion arised in said village and the villagers exchanged words with anxiety and worry. The village had faced a huge dilemna for the past year: the rate of precipitation had dropped so low that there rarely wasn't any rain raining down from the sky, and thus, the village's food source had become so limited that every villagers can only have one small portion of food daily. Lots of people are dying due to starvation and many decided to pack their belongings and leave the village.
The once friendly villagers turned hostile towards one another just to get any and every food and drop of clean and fresh water. Some even resort to drinking mud water and just about anything just to quench their thirst and appease their stomachs. With no food to eat, the villagers doesn't have energy to work, thus many construction works and shops were closed down.
"Silence!" A middle-aged man, the village's leader spoke and this voice cut through the angry voices of the villagers. Despite the situation, the leader still held lots of power on the village and his people still would obey him without question.
"I've decided... we'll get rid of that spirt!" He declared and the villagers cheered, raising their weapons in the air. A year ago, news spread through the village about the arrival of some unknown spirit. The villagers would welcome the spirit as long as he/she would be peaceful with them. Therefore, the leader send few men toward the shrine where the spirit was located with baskets of fruits as a welcoming gift. It was shockingly surprising when the men returned, drenched in red with large bite marks across their limbs and chest.
The men exclaimed that the evil spirit treated them very violently even though they never done anything harmful. The men were immediately treated and the leader ordered his men to not let anyone even go near the shrine for their safety.
Few days after the incident, the amount of rain had dropped gradually and soon the land had dried up with no rain watering them. The villagers first went to their deity and begged for forgiveness for whatever sin they had commited, offering the best meat they had available. The priest chanted a mantra and the villagers decided to see if there's any changes in the God's feelings.
The answer was no and there still wasn't any rain. Finally, one man exclaimed that this was the doing of the spirit and that the evil spirit had placed a curse upon the village because they trod upon their territory.
The others were relundant to believe in this idea but were soon convinced when the same men who visited the spirit first returned with even more serious injuries.
The only problem that lie in this plan was that normal humans couldn't defeat spirits with supernatural powers. It was very clear which side would win, therefore, the village gathered all the money they had to ask an onmyouji to defeat the spirit. Onmyouji are individuals who have spiritual powers in them and learned how to defeat spirits that caused harm on Earth.
The village had requested for a famous onmyouji Akashi Seijuro accompanied by his friends, Midorima Shintarou and Murasakibara Atsushi. It certainly wasn't easy to request for such a well-know individual, however, due to some connections, the leader managed to request for Akashi with the money they had available.
The villagers are now waiting for their saviors impatiently because they wish to solve this problem as soon as possible. Their wish was granted when a redhead walked towards the village's leader along with two other individuals behind him.
The two parties exchanged greetings and the leader described briefly what their task is.
"Do you think you can handle it?" The leader asked with uncertainty.
"Of course," Akashi smirked, "Never underestimate me."
Akashi waved his hand to signal Midorima and Murasakibara to move along and follow him. The trio crossed the bridge to the mountain and walked up a steep land on the mountain. Along the journey, the trio looked for any movements and so far, nothing looks out of the ordinary. Though one particular presence caught Akashi's attention.
The shrine looks like any ordinary one. No omnious presence are around and the place feels pure and clean like any holy place will be. This aroused Akashi's suspicion that what the villagers are stating are false.
From what he observed, whoever's residing here wasn't evil, or at least, that was what his senses are telling him.
Without looking back, Akashi stated, "Come out now whoever you are, there's no need to hide."
A figure walked out from the bushes. Akashi turned around and saw a pale bluenette wearing a blue yukata with simple patterns on the hems of the clothing. His hair and eyes looked exactly like the color of the ocean, blue and clear. What made him very feminine was his long hair that reached the midsection of his back.
"Are you the so called evil spirit?" Akashi questioned bluntly.
"That's very rude to call me an evil spirit, and I'm not a spirit." The bluenette answered.
"Ah, of course. That aura is definitely not one that a spirit holds. So, let me rephrase my question: who are you and what's your purpose residing on this mountain?" Akashi said as he get straight down to business.
"My name is Tetsuya and I chose this place for no specific reason. Just that I want to have a place to stay." Tetsuya responded.
"Then are you somewhat related to the disapperance of rain on this land?" Akashi asked and narrowed his eyes.
"..."
"I'll take your silence as a 'yes.' So would you please kindly share your story with us?"
Tetsuya turned his head," I have no obligation to tell you anything."
"Right, we can use force or talk through this peacefully, the choice is yours." Akashi shrugged his shoulders.
"Akashi!" Midorima's sudden voice interrupted their conversation and he rushed to Akashi's side, successfully knocking down the incoming arrow. Using this moment, two figures moved out their hiding spot and surround Tetsuya, shielding him from harm.
"Dai... Tai..." Tetsuya said with a hint of surprise.
One of the incomer is a redhead with black streaks at the bottom of his hair. He has tiger ears on his head and a long tail near his bottom. He kept growling at Akashi and the others.
The other incomer has dark navy hair with tan skin. He has panther ears and tail and opened his mouth to show his large canine teeth, growling incessantly.
"Dai, Tai, calm down. They aren't doing anything to me!" Tetsuya grabbed his friends' hands to grab their attention.
"You sure Tetsu?" Dai, or his full name Daiki said. He walked closer to Tetsuya and moved his eyes across his body to check for any injuries.
"Tetsuya, we just want to protect you and not let what happened last time occured again!" Tai, or Taiga exclaimed and he pay close attention to Akashi and others, eyes never leaving for a second.
It happened the day the trio first arrived at this village. They passed by the leader of the village and introduced themselves in a friendly manner, wanting to coexist with the humans. For that purpose, they refrain from using their powers and Daiki and Taiga's ears and tails were hidden so they wouldn't arouse any unwanted fear and malice towards them.
They chose an isolated area to reside in and picked the abandoned shrine to inhabit in. Despite the fact that the shrine was broken down, it was usable and after a few days, they rebuild the shrine. Using their skills, they created various wood furnitures using the trees from the forest. All in all, they were quite content living in this shrine.
But that happiness was soon shattered when a villager stumbled upon their shrine. Tetsuya treated him with hospitality and invited him in, presenting him with fresh fruits that he had collected.
The villager, instead of expressing his gratitude, slide his hand towards Tetsuya's back and flirted with Tetsuya.
Tetsuya was soon uncomfortable and immediately scooted away from the villager. The villager followed after him, hugging Tetsuya close despite Tetsuya's resistance. Since Tetsuya couldn't use his powers, he's pratically defenseless.
Tetsuya slapped the villager's face when his hand reached inside his clothing. The villager glared at Tetsuya and hastily tored open Tetsuya's yukata. Tetsuya screamed and thankfully, Daiki and Taiga reached the scene and saved him. The two ayakashi's eyes were red and their fangs sharpened. Immediately, they latched themselves onto the villager and used their sharp claws to dig deep into his skin and they wouldn't stop until they killed the man. If Tetsuya didn't stop them that day, the two would really kill the villager. Thus, Daiki and Taiga's protectiveness increased tenfold, instantly suspecting that anyone who approached Tetsuya held dirty thoughts.
"I know, Tai, Dai. I'm fine." Tetsuya reassured.
"Why are you guys here?" Daiki asked with slight anger, displeased with the intruders.
"We want to get rid of the evil spirit as the villagers' named it, but since Tetsuya here is not a spirit and couldn't place a curse on the villagers, that solved our first task. We also want to find the causes of the drought and eliminate those who was disturbing nature. We're merely trying to get some information before you guys charge right in here," Akashi said.
Daiki and Taiga looked at Tetsuya to confirm the validity of Akashi's statement and Tetsuya nodded in response.
"Tetsuya," Midorima started. "You obviously know something about the disappearance of the rain and it would be very helpful if you cooperate with us. As you can see, the villagers are truly suffering due to the lack of rain and it caused so many negative effects on land. If this continues on, it would lead to more serious consequences. Therefore, please do share anything you know regarding this case."
Tetsuya can tell that Midorima spoke with sincerity and he wishes to help the villagers even though his facial expressions doesn't express much of his feelings. "The Rain God is my mother and since she was missing, she couldn't use her powers to make rain fall on this land. But even I don't know where she is, so I can't really help you here..."
"Rain?..." A childish answer said and all eyes turned toward Murasakibara. "Why can't you make rain instead of your mother?"
Tetsuya looked uncomfortable and embarrased to answer so Daiki do so in his place.
"Tetsu is a snow ayakashi and he couldn't use his powers due to some unknown reasons."
Tetsuya looked up when he felt a warm power touching his skin. He saw a pair of heterochromatic eyes looking down on him.
The warm power left his body and Akashi spoke, "It seems that there's no evil being in you that prevents you from using your power, so that's weird. How long has this been happening?"
"I think about 5 months or so."
Akashi looked very curious at this situaton, "Interesting," he murmured. Akashi looks like he was deep in thought and so Tetsuya lightly tapped his shoulders, hoping to catch his attention.
Akashi glanced at him in reponse.
"What will you guys do afterwards? Will you return back to the village?"
Akashi chuckled humorly, "Of course we couldn't leave empty handed. I guess we'll stay here and investigate this matter further."
"Leave! We don't want you guys here!" Daiki exclaimed, expressing his dissatisfication.
"Dai! You can't be rude to our guests!" Tetsuya scolded his friend.
Daiki tsked and walked away, going back to hunting. Taiga stayed and kept a close distance toward Tetsuya, still not fully trusting their guests.
And that was the start of the life of the onmyouji and ayakashi.