The Guardians

Three young men joined Ichirou as he returned to the village.

"Well?" 

"The Priestess seems safe for now." Ichirou glanced at them. "What happened? What were you doing for all those demons to break through?" 

The shortest of the three, a young man by the name of Kazuya protested, "Hey, I was in the west, I had no idea what happened!"

"I'm stationed in the east," Ginjiro, a slender man in purple explained. 

"They broke through the North front, I couldn't find Noh anywhere," Hisahito, a tall young man in robes of a scholar noted. "Jona and Gon went to scout for him." 

"Good. Junichirou will be watching over the priestess, the rest of you go back to your stations. Also, a day from now, go and introduce yourself to the priestess and go distribute her doves at the area you're guarding."

"Doves?" Kazuya raised a brow. 

"Very well then." Hisahito looked to Ginjiro who nodded. 

"We'll return." 

-

The following morning, Chihiro's heart nearly stopped. 

She was working on her fifth dove when figures in the dark approached her. She directed the flashlight of her phone towards them. 

"Who-

Four men stood there. There was Junichirou as well as other men she didn't know.

"Good morning, Priestess. We are the guardians of the village entrances, well, there's four more of us but they're not here right now. We were told you have something to give us?"

"Eh?" Not too long ago she had woken up, her brain was still loading. She nodded. "That's right, please leave these doves, near the village entrances. I have three more-

Junichirou swiped up one of the doves lying on the ground and left. 

"left to make." She nodded to herself as she watched that person leave. She put down the dove she was working on and stood. 

"Um, my name is Chihiro, Chihiro Yamaguchi." She bowed. "Nice to meet you." 

The four men simply stared, their expressions vacant.

Awkward...

Chihiro scooped up her finished doves. 

"...Oh." Hisahito. "My name is Hisahito," He elbowed the shorter person next to him, who glared at him in response. 

"This is our youngest, Kazuya." 

Chihiro extended a dove and he took it.

"What exactly am I supposed to do with this?

"Well, since there are no fences for now... you could just put it on something that's not too tall or short."

"Eh?" Kazuya seemed confused. 

Chihiro didn't blame him she also felt confused. 

"Fine." The youngest left. 

"This is Ginjiro." 

Ginjiro, he was a very tall and thin man, like a samurai from olden times... that person cupped their hands together. 

Realizing what he meant to do, Chihiro quickly placed a dove in them. 

Ginjiro left without a word.

Hisahito was left. 

Chihiro handed him the last dove.

-

Tmp. Tmp. Tmp.

"Place it somewhere that's not too high or low?" Kazuya returned to the west side and looked around, his gaze finally resting on the tallest tree in the area. 

"Hmm..." 

He placed the dove in the center of the tree, in between all the tree branches. The moment he crawled down from the tree he looked up in time to hear a screech. 

A demon owl that just so happened to speeding through collided into a barrier and fell. 

"Ooooh." Kazuya raised his brows, his reddish brown eyes shimmered with interest, seconds before he stomped on the owl's head. 

-

"Hmmm..." Ginjiro stared at the Inca dove that was sitting in a bird house he had just finished hammering into the ground. "Even though you're not real, every bird still needs a home." He addressed it. He carressed the wooden doll. 

The Inca dove was a fat dove with fluffy feathers, the doll was carved so well it could be mistaken for a real one from afar. 

"What's that?" Ginjiro flinched at the sound of that person's voice.

A young shirtless lad with a dragon tattoo coursing from his back to his arms and the back of his neck had returned. 

"A birdhouse."

"I can see that. But why are you building one that's as tall a totem pole?" The lad spoke as he walked but he didn't seem to have any intention on stopping. 

Ginjiro seemed flustered. "I heard from the children, that the bird is filled with spirit energy, the Priestess said to place it in an area that's not too short or tall so I thought-

"The priestess? So they showed up while I was away?" 

"Yes... she's still making the other doves, so even if you go you may not be able to receive yours yet."

"Huh? Well, anyway... thanks for helping me with my section."

Ginjiro nodded. 

The lad left. 

"That's so rude of him, showing up unannounced like that." Ginjiro addressed the bird. 

But of course the bird didn't answer.

-

"Thank you." Hisahito thanked the villagers who were in the process of building a fence.

"Not at all, we're glad to help with a task given by the Village Chief, even more so the Priestess. I was also worried since this place was too open. It'd be easy for demons to get in... but..." The old construction head,Mr. Habiki looked to the turtle dove perched atop the gate. "Will that thing really protect us?"

Hisahito blinked at the old man before slowly nodding. "...The village chief seems to think so."

"Mmmm." Habiki grunted. "He is an idiot. That's the only reason why I'm choosing to trust him." 

-

"You're the Priestess?" 

Another person came to see her, they were wearing a halter top that exposed the tattoos on his back, and shorts as well. Out of everyone she had met, he was the most modern looking villager.

"Big brother Noh! Come play with us!"

"Not now, kids." 

"I'm not, officially." Chihiro responded. "I'm not done yet."

The boy leaned to peak at what was in her hand.

It was a Barbary dove.

"These things look so real it's creepy." Noh muttered. 

"Thank you?" 

"That's not a compliment."

"Oh."

Noh sat himself in the grass and waited. 

"Noh!" Ichirou returned. 

"Ah..."

"You better have a good reason for abandoning your post earlier."

"Ah, well... I was moved somewhere."

"Huh?"

"I saw some demon owls but when I went to attack them I got teleported somewhere else."

Ichihirou held his chin. "So there's someone commanding them..." 

"I was careless." Noh lowered his head. 

"It's fine. Jona and Gon went out to look for you."

"Ah." Noh looked annoyed. He sighed. "Don't tell me I have to look for them now, what if they also got teleported? That'd be a major pain."

"If the enemy can move objects... make sure you place the dove in an area that can't be seen into."

"Ah? Of course... but will these things really..."

"Noh."

"Fiiiiiiiine."