A/N: I know Suiren is a bit OOC, but it'll be explained later on. Hope that I wrote everyone else close to themselves—Izuna is harder than she looks!
"Shino-sis?"
"Yes Izuna?"
"What the hell happened to all of the water?"
Shino, a black haired kunoichi, was staring at the river leading to Suiren's shrine in astonishment. Next to her was Izuna, a messy pink haired kunoichi, who looked as if she was about to scream. They had just woken up, smelly and drenched in sweat from the intense goose chase Izuna had set them on the night before. Unfortunately for the two they awoke to panic in the village as the river had dried up, as did any wells. People were claiming it was one of Suiren's pranks again and were accusing others of angering the goddess.
Looking over at Shino, Izuna clenched her gloved hands tightly. She needed a shower or a bath if she didn't want to continue smelling like sweaty socks; however, with all the water gone that wasn't possible. Shino saw the annoyance in Izuna's green hues and tried to speak up before she could go into a rant, but it was too late.
"I'm going to go strangle that brat for turning off the water! She can't just do that whenever she feels like. No one's done anything to anger the gods, not yet at least!"
Sighing, Shino shook her head. "Izuna, before you go barging in and actually angering the gods again, maybe you should see if the priest knows what's going on."
Izuna huffed and opened her mouth to protest, but stopped short when she saw that certain look in Shino's crimson eyes.
"Izuna, do you want to see Hell?" Shino asked with an all too pleasant smile on her face.
"Asking the priest," Izuna begrudgingly muttered.
"I'll go find Grandboss and Mitsumoto and make sure that they are okay. Last time I checked they were both still asleep."
Izuna nodded in agreement and both of them walked off in their respective directions. However, when Shino was out of sight, Izuna adjusted her path. Instead of heading to the priest's house or Takushiki's shrine to see if that was where the priest was, she snuck into the water Goddess' shrine.
What Shino-sis doesn't know won't kill me, Izuna thought with a mischievous giggle. The brat would regret turning off the water in the village as long as she had something to say about it, and in her mind she did.
Kagen, the God of Fire, stared down at Suiren who hadn't yet moved from her spot of slumber. He ran a gloved hand through his wild, fire red hair before kneeling down next to the younger goddess. "Suiren," he said loudly, "wake up."
Suiren moved just slightly in her sleep. She had moved sometime in the night and seemed to be curled up more into the fetal position, her hands pressed firmly against her chest. "Go away," she commanded, surprising Kagen—he had been positive she was unconscious.
"Master Takushiki—"
"I'm not in the mood, Kagen." Suiren's voice sounded dull and tired. Kagen scowled and shook his head at her behavior; first Takushiki told him to check up on her, as he sensed a disturbance, and now she was giving him the cold shoulder for no apparent reason. While also the god of fire, Kagen was the god of passion and health. Takushiki must have thought that he could improve Suiren's condition, had she been in one, but it seemed like there was nothing he could do since the only condition she had was crankiness.
"Suiren, you can't ignore Master Takushiki's orders," Kagen persisted, but Suiren simply didn't answer this time. However, Kagen wouldn't be deterred so easily. "If that's the way you want it," he muttered as he slipped his arms underneath Suiren and around her, pulling her up into the air and into his arms.
At right about this time Izuna walked into the shrine and saw Kagen and Suiren—Correction, she saw Kagen holding Suiren and getting barreled by a strong wave immediately after, not including the elbow to the mouth Suiren generously gave him that Izuna couldn't see.
Coughing and hacking, Kagen fell to the floor soaked to the bone. "Suiren!" he roared and leapt to his feet, fur forming on his arms and his fingers turning into claws. His reddish brown eyes were narrowed into a glare and, from what Izuna observed, looked as if he was ready to rip Suiren a new one. Suiren, however, had simply transformed back into her more human-like state and casually got up to her feet.
"What was that for?" Kagen demanded, his claws twitching every few seconds. Izuna, going with the ninja way, remained hidden in the shadows. Whatever was going on, something was about to happen and Izuna wasn't sure if she wanted to get in the middle of a brawl between two gods.
"I felt like it," Suiren replied blankly, although a smirk snaked its way onto her features. "I said, go away didn't I?"
Kagen went to take a step forwards, as he had every intention of teaching Suiren a lesson the hard way, but Izuna's moral judgment (which was quite rare to see) kicked in and she leapt from her hiding spot and shouted, "Wait just a second!"
Both of the gods looked over at Izuna, their looks expectant.
"What?" they both asked; Kagen sounded much more agitated than Suiren.
"Eheheheh…" Izuna chuckled and scratched the back of her head, her fingers grazing the black strap of her goggles with their white lenses that vaguely resembled cat ears, a nervous expression overcoming her facial features. "I was going to tell the brat to turn the water back on."
Suiren arched an eyebrow at Izuna and already had a response locked and loaded from the moment the girl had opened her mouth, but her right hand flew to her head. "Blasted headache…!"
Kagen rolled his eyes at Izuna—the water had not put him in a very good mood—before looking back at Suiren. He was about to challenge her, but when Suiren looked at him with confusion in her eyes and asked, "Kagen, what are you doing here?" he stopped.
"Huh?" Izuna took some steps closer to the two gods, making sure to stay closer to Kagen than Suiren, and cocked her head. "You just barraged him with a wave, what do you mean why is he here?"
"I would not have done that."
"Yes," Kagen said through gritted teeth, "you did."
Suiren looked honestly lost for a few moments, but shook her head in the end. "I do not have any recollection of doing such a thing, Kagen. I only would have done so had you nearly set the village on fire again."
"Hate to interrupt things here, but…" Izuna eyed Kagen and then Suiren, as she could tell Kagen glared at her but kept speaking, "I think it'd be appreciated if you stopped your prank or whatever you want to call it and turned the water back on."
Suiren was beyond confused. What were they talking about? The last thing she remembered was having a rough night's sleep. However, she was offended by having one of her punishments—not like she was punishing anyone—a prank. "As I've said, I have no recollection of doing such a thing. I did not turn the water off, as you put it."
Izuna felt her temper flare, but Kagen was confused, albeit still angry about Suiren soaking him and his clothing with water.
"Suiren, I think you should come with me to see Master Takushiki, now. Something isn't right here."
Suiren nodded; Master Takushiki would likely know what to do. "Let's, I need to show him the offering I was giving last night anyways."
"Offering?"
"Yes, the one I placed on the wall over there—the chest."
Kagen's hands went back to normal and the fur receded, but still he was frowning. "Suiren, there is no chest. I looked around before I tried to wake you up."
Suiren's eyes widened, but before she could speak Izuna piped up.
"It's good and all that you both aren't going to rip each other's throats out… but can you PLEASE turn on the water?" Izuna cried and gave her best pleading look, false tear and all.
"I cannot reverse something I did not do," Suiren said as adamantly as possible, while Kagen sighed.
"Let's just go see Master Takushiki." The sooner the better in his opinion; especially since Fuuka would be there and with her wind powers surely she could dry him off.
"Wait; if you guys are going to see the old man I'm going to see him too. I want some water already!" Not only had Izuna not showered, but she also had only taken one glass of fruit juice before heading out. Already she was starting to feel thirsty.
"Fine, let's just go." Kagen was in no mood to argue, and so he wouldn't. Izuna was too stubborn to take no for an answer anyways, something that the gods had learned a while ago.
Five out of the six gods of the village were standing in a semi-circle in Takushiki's shrine. Takushiki was not with them yet, as he was in a back room meditating. It had only been about twenty minutes, but to Izuna it felt like a lifetime. She kept continuously fiddling with her yellow scarf with its flower imprint on it and tapped her white sandals impatiently on the shrine floor.
"What's taking Takushiki so long? Someone just go get him!"
Shuuchi, the God of Earth, shook his head at Izuna's impatience. Shuuchi was tanned and muscled and wore an off white tunic with silvery blue 'blocks' around its collar. On each upper arm he wore armguards, but only his left one had metal plating on the top as well as the bottom. Around his waist was some sort of armor or fabric, Izuna wasn't sure which, in the color red with white fur around the edges. It was tied to his waist with a yellow band and he wore brown hamaka-like pants.
"Patience is a virtue; I'd suggest learning it." He smiled as his brown eyes trailed over to Izuna. "It would be quite useful for times like these."
"Says you! I bet you all had showers unlike stinky, stinky me." Izuna was being overdramatic again, but it was her charm. However, the others didn't see it as that.
"Of course we washed ourselves," Utusho, the God of Air, piped up. He smirked a bit wryly as he added, "It's because we know of basic hygiene."
Utusho was one of the more beautiful gods; he looked more female than male, with his short, choppy ashen hair and feminine facial features and figure. Like Suiren, he had a marking on his forehead—however his mark was merely a light blue droplet shape, as opposed to her slightly more complicated one. Utusho wore a black shirt which showed off his lean stomach with belts wrapped around the torso and sleeves—the same went for his gloves, which had belts wrapped around the edges. Otherwise, he wore a simple pair of pants, toga-like skirt over said pants, and boots—not counting the white fluff on his right shoulder.
"Shut up, pretty boy!"
"Thank you for the compliment."
Izuna furled her hands into fists. Where was the old man? She wanted to get this over with and watch Suiren get told off for taking all of the water away before getting cleaned up.
Fuuka, Goddess of Wind, chuckled at Utusho's and Izuna's exchange. "Oh, be patient Izuna. Master Takushiki will not keep us waiting for much longer."
Fuuka was the only female god aside from Suiren. Her hair was a darker, dustier pink than Izuna's and was much longer; she had it tied in a ponytail with a green scarf. She wore a simple indigo kimono-like dress, but instead of having sleeves it had straps, and her sleeves were only connected to the side of the dress. Fuuka's skin was fair and her eyes purple; it was funny in a way, she looked young yet acted like the mother to others.
"The old man better—"
"What are you saying, Izuna?"
It was Takushiki. The five lesser gods bowed to him, each saying a quick greeting, but Izuna merely turned around to give him a dirty look.
"I said you better hurry up and turn the water on, old man!"
Takushiki was thought to be the eldest of the gods; he sure looked it, at least, as he appeared to be in his late-fifties to somewhere in his sixties. He had short gray hair that was brushed back save for two locks of hair on either side of his face sectioned off with a yellow, blue, and red bead. Takushiki wore black robes with red and gold going down the front, the gold not only lining the red but also marking a large design on his torso. He was stoic looking and, to Izuna, appeared older than the last time she had seen him.
"The water will return as soon as the matter at hand is resolved." He dismissed her and turned to the five lesser gods who all bowed and said, "Master Takushiki." Izuna only gave him an impatient look, but Takushiki knew to ignore the young girl.
"Master Takushiki," Suiren said, "why are we here? I don't understand what has happened."
"That is what I wished to ask you, Suiren. What has happened? You've cursed the village unprovoked and the villagers are in frenzy because the village has dried up. You even attacked Kagen."
"Yeah!" Kagen, who had been gratefully air dried by Fuuka, exclaimed. "What was that about?"
Fuuka smacked Kagen on the back of his head immediately afterwards. Takushiki merely raised his hand up; a signal that they were to cease what they were doing and listen.
"Was there anyone in your shrine, Suiren?"
Takushiki should have known the answer; he was the God of Consciousness after all. Still, Suiren uniformly answered, "I haven't cursed the village; I don't know why I'm continuously being told that. And no, no one was in my shrine to my knowledge."
Sighing, Takushiki nodded. "What about any strange items, perhaps?"
"Yes, but Master Takushiki, how is this relevant?"
"I'm wondering this too," Utusho said. "I think we've all accidentally used our powers. Suiren is still a child; she might have cursed the village in her sleep."
"I am not a child!" Suiren snapped; she was the youngest in body and, although she would never admit it, mind compared to the other gods. It was true she looked like a child and behaved like one at times too, but it irritated her greatly. Izuna, however, merely found it funny enough to laugh mockingly at.
"Aww, is little baby Suiren mad?" Izuna taunted between laughs.
"Shut the hell up," Suiren spat, which was unlike even her. Izuna blinked and stared at her for a moment, surprised by Suiren's sharp response; however, it only tipped something off to Izuna that she ought to retaliate.
"Don't tell me what to do brat; you're the one in trouble here for turning off the water! Accident shmaccident—I bet you did it on purpose!"
"Both of you be quiet," Utusho said. "You both are giving me a headache."
"Oh yes, because somehow you're the boss of me." Suiren rolled her eyes. Utusho narrowed his brows at the younger goddess, as did the other gods save for Fuuka, who looked at Suiren in shock.
Takushiki knew where this was about to go. "All three of you, silence! Fuuka, escort Izuna out of here. Suiren I wish to speak with you—alone. You as well, Utusho. The rest of you may go back to your shrines. Am I clear?"
"Yes Master Takushiki, of course you are," Utusho muttered. Suiren seemed smugly satisfied while Izuna, who was being pushed out by Fuuka, merely seemed irritated.
Everyone but Takushiki, Suiren, and Utusho left the shrine. Takushiki was looking from God to Goddess, contemplating in his mind who to start with.
"Utusho, go into the back room. I will speak with Suiren first."
"Yes Master Takushiki," Utusho said mechanically before he headed to the appropriate room.
"Suiren," Takushiki asked now that Utusho was gone, "what is with your conduct?"
"That's an easy one, Takushiki—" she took him aback by not calling him Master, "—I simply don't care." And with a turn, Suiren dissipated into droplets and disappeared back to her own shrine leaving Takushiki to himself.