When I finish touring the area, I make my way towards the shrine over on the hill, passing right through several barriers to get there. Of course, no human barrier would be able to keep me out, no matter how strong the one casting it is.

Once inside, an old lady comes out to greet me. "I sensed your arrival in this land not too long ago. I am the Tamayori Princess. I thank you for gracing the shrine with your presence." She motions with her hand. "Please, come inside. We can speak further there without being overheard."

"Of course, there is much to talk about." I accept her invitation with all of the grace and poise that someone of my position should have, just like my father taught me. And I hate every second of it.

I follow her inside the residence and into her private room. She faces me with respect and dignity. "I am aware of your power. And it is an honor to have a goddess like yourself here in the shrine. Forgive me, but I am not at my best. I will soon be passing down the mantle of Tamayori Princess to my granddaughter, Tamaki."

I nod. "Yes, I've seen her. She and that boy, Takuma, were the ones who performed the summoning with that talisman that you gave to him. Quite a rare and interesting talisman, I should add. My father, Suzaku, sent me here to use my power to fulfill that incantation, as well as to make a divine contract with the one who summoned that power. I am here to aid Tamaki in any way that I can until her primary mission is complete. That mission is in the hopes that I will grow into my powers and emerge from my adolescence as a powerful goddess."

The old woman bows her head to me. "And I thank you for your presence. You may make yourself known to my granddaughter whenever you see fit."

I nod. "A less formal setting would be best. I don't want to unduly alarm the girl. Getting off to a bad start is not my intention, and the last thing I want is to have humans running around terrified of me."

"In that case, you may wish to use a spell to mask your appearance somewhat. We humans are unused to the exotic appearances of the beast gods. Your fiery hair and golden eyes are not something that we see together often. That may frighten some of the humans in the area." Her advice is sound, and worth heeding.

I use magic to diminish my appearance, turning my bright scarlet hair dark brown, and my golden eyes a slightly duller bronze color. That should be enough to keep any humans from getting scared. The old woman nods in appreciation and I leave her to her duties, whatever those may be.

I decide that popping in on them during dinner would be the wisest course of action. At worst, their mouths will be too full for many protestations, and hopefully none of them feel the need to choke on their food. But then I hear their silly laughter. Maybe I should wait until they're in trouble instead. The last thing I need is one of them choking on their food if I suddenly pop in on them. Until then, I will keep watch for any signs of trouble in the town, this town gives me all sorts of creepy vibes, and I'm going to trust my instincts.

Although, watching them go about their daily lives bores me, well, until they get into an argument about naming a fox spirit. The short boy with the purple hair has a fiery personality, the red-haired one is a bit stiff and irritable, and the light haired one seems docile and a bit haughty. In all, that poor girl seems overwhelmed by these guys. And I don't blame her, she sees to have a shy and clumsy personality, and a rather small reserve of self-confidence.

And my vigil continues as I keep watch over them in an intangible and almost undetectable form. And with her four guards, it seems that she should be safe enough. But one of the teachers at their school seems suspicious to me, so I hang around a while after they leave. I scope out the situation at the school, and it seems to be a safe enough place. But that blond woman still gives me the creeps, and for some reason, her hair flashes green a few times. I can feel magic on her, and that can't possibly be a good thing.

It isn't until late into the night that something interesting finally happens. I sense one of the barriers being disturbed, the energy from the disturbance ripples outwards. This means that a confrontation with another group might be imminent. And so, a chance to finally show myself seems to be fast approaching. With not long left to wait.

I continue to watch the guardians and their princess as they approach the first of the sealing places, since the barrier had weakened. It seems an odd place to go for an afterschool field trip, but nevertheless, this may make it easier to appear. And just as I expect, some drowned gods decide to stage an attack on the group.

For a little while, I stay back and watch, to evaluate their skills for myself. The four of them destroy a couple dozen of them, but there are even more than that. So with them panicking, and the girl running off, I think that it's about time for me to intervene. And just in time too, because the silly princess has gone and run straight towards an even more dangerous entity, who looks like it plans to take her head off. Well, I can't very well let my contractee die.

I turn myself into a bright red light and I radiate power through the trees, destroying all that remain of the drowned gods. That frees up the guardians to engage the last beast, as well as severely weakening the beast so that they might dispatch it quickly. And I have to admit, the red-haired one has quite a lot of power, enough to destroy the weakened beast in one blow.

Since I can sense a presence nearby, I decide that showing myself at the moment is unwise. And besides, hearing the four of them argue about what she did doesn't appeal to me. But once the presence is gone and the arguing is over, I float down to the ground, and change into human form to approach guardians and their princess. "Are all of you alright? That was quite an unexpected attack."

"Who the hell are you? Where did you come from, squirt?" The purple-haired one immediately ticks me off. The older one looks at me with a slight frown, and the light-haired one looks suspicious of me. The red-head just looks bewildered.

So I sigh. "I've been here the entire time. I've been watching you all for several days now, to see what exactly you all are capable of." Then I look at the red-head and the girl. "You two should at least know who I am. You are the ones who summoned me, after all. I wouldn't be in this realm if it weren't for the two of you."

That clearly confuses all of them, so I roll my eyes and make an incantation talisman appear out of thin air. "This is the spell that was used to summon power for protection when your princess first arrived here." Then I hold a ball of bright red light in my hand. "Your prayer was answered by the guardian of the south, the vermillion bird. I am here as a representative of that clan, the beast god clan of the phoenixes."

That stuns all of them, and the purple haired one points disbelievingly at me. "How can a kid like you possibly be summoned by a spell? You look like some brat from middle school!"

That irritates me somewhat. "Looks can be deceiving, I'm over a century and a half old." Now that really shocks them, so I crumple the talisman and set it aflame, letting the ashes fall to the ground. I then turn to the girl. "As you are the one who summoned me here, I will do what I can to aid you in whatever your mission is, as per the contract forged with the humans long ago." Then I smile at her. "I'm very happy to meet you. You can call me Ciara."

The older one shifts a little. "How exactly did you manage to get through the barriers?"

I laugh a little. "I am a divine beast. My powers let me travel through barriers. They can't keep me out, and they can't hurt me either. It takes a lot more than human barriers to stop me."

With all of the questions out of the way, the princess bows and smiles at me. "My name is Tamaki Kasuga." She gestures to the red-head. "This is Takuma. And this is Suguru-san" She gestures next to the older one. Then she gestures to the silver-haired one. "This is Yuuichi-senpai. And this is Mahiro-senpai." She points last to the loud, annoying one with purple hair.

I smile at them all. "In that case, I am very pleased to meet all of you."

But as soon as I get within five feet of them, Tamaki points at me. "Oh wow, you're tiny! You're even shorter than Mahiro-senpai."

That makes me blush with embarrassment, and I try to stay calm. "Well, I'm still pretty young…and still growing. We don't grow at the same rate as humans."

That gets Tamaki curious. "Oh. Well how old would you be if you were human?"

That irritates me a little, but I can't lie to her. "Actually, it's complicated. In terms of equivalence, I should look older than this. Older than you, actually, I should look about the same age as your senpai. Not that it really matters, since the reason I was sent instead of someone older is because my father wants me to grow into my powers as quickly as possible. When that happens, I'll look the way I'm supposed to. So for now, I'm stuck in this tiny body, and I hate it."

Tamaki smiles sweetly at me. "Well, why don't you come back to the shrine with us? We can have something to eat before bed."

I nod slowly. "That would be…fine, I suppose."

Her eyes widen as a thought seems to occur to her. "Wait, can you eat human food?"

Rolling my eyes, I cross my arms and sigh. "Yes, I can. What else would I eat? Air? Fire? Sunlight? Of course I eat food."

"Perfect, then we can have Mitsuru-chan make something for you as well!" Her happy attitude is undiminished, and I feel a little strange being so close to that much pure happiness. I'm used to reserved and patronizing people, not bubbly and hyperactive ones.

I accompany Tamaki back to the shrine, and the whole way there, she asks every question that pops into her head, mostly questions about what I can do. Frankly, I had no idea that humans would be this curious, or loud. And her enthusiastic interrogation continues all throughout dinner.

Finally, she seems to have no more questions left. Or perhaps only one. "So, are you going to be attending school with us?" She looks at me, a little hopefully.

Alarm shoots through me. "Oh no, no way. I've gotten more education from my elders than one of your learning institutions could provide. Besides, that uniform is way too girly. I like these clothes much better." I turn around, showing her the human clothes I picked. A short sleeved shirt, denim jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie wrapped around my waist. "They're better for running around in."

"I see…" She looks at me curiously. "Well, come on, it's time for bed." She yawns and curls up in the bed in her room, and I go outside, sitting on the roof as the stars come out.