Legends of the Shrine (SilverRain x HiddenBeauty13)

North Shrine

The moon was high in the sky as a dark shadow passed it. It belonged to that of the Tengu Demon Sebastian. He was the sworn demon protector of the North Shrine and he would guard it as long as his powers allowed him to. Sebastian was once a wild Tengu, but after he became injured and was taken in by a human, he became the human's familiar. Many years passed since then and the North Shrine was without a master. But that was only until recently when a young girl seeked refuge in the shrine. The North Shrine could only be looked after by one with a pure heart, unlike Sebastian's dark heart. And so a pact was made - the young girl would be the god of the shrine whilst Sebastian was it's protector. However, the girl was still young and there were many things she still had to learn about life.

Sebastian flew overhead and looked down towards the earth. He could just see it - fire spirits trying to ignite a blaze. He didn't know where they came from but they had to be dealt with regardless. Fully extending his black wings, Sebastian swooped down and used his claws to skewer the doomed spirits. He flew back up into the sky, his kingdom and licked his lips as the fire spirits squirmed and squealed in his hands. They begged for mercy, but that was what Sebastian felt like doing. Instead, he extinguished them with his very own wind power and swallowed their spirit energy. Whilst Sebastian was the demon protector of these lands, it did not deter him from achieving his goal of becoming the most powerful Tengu. And what better way than to have a human complete the other half of his plan? Well okay, so she maybe she was kinda was cute. But nonetheless....

West Shrine
Alexus sighed as he flicked through the various websites on the Internet. He inherited this shrine and had cleaned it up. But as far as he knew, he was only a 'security guard' here. Alexus turned off his laptop and leaned back on his chair, not knowing that the female demon guardian of the shrine was watching him.

Northern Shrine
Rhea sat quietly in the room she'd claimed for her own inside the shrine that she now called home. After her parents died during a tragic accident, the girl decided to hike in the mountains to see if she could somehow escape her sad past but she only succeeded in finding this shrine. She decided to stay and live here, since the demon was fairly nice, but she had no idea how to survive up here, so he was in the process of teaching her everything she needed to know.

In the distance, she heard the all too familiar sound of some lesser being being killed by Sebastian and sighed. He was always doing something to prove his strength or whatever. Rhea thought it was a waste of time but, of course, she didn't say anything about it. Yet. Quietly, she stood up from her desk ans made her way to the kitchen where she'd began to cook something, which was one of the few things that she could do really well. Soon, the smell of steaming vegetables filled the air.

Western Shrine
Raine sat perched, in a cat like manner, on the end of one of the many trees that littered the yard of the shrine. She'd ment to cut a few but had never had the time to really get around to it. Instead, she'd been staring at her new master for the past half hour. Ever since her other master left fifty years ago, due to Raine's ackward personality, she'd been trying to understand the ways of humans so she could better communicate with the complicated beings.

So far, her observations have been fairly good; she learned that Alexus likes to play with electronics (which is why she keeps so many in the shrine) and that his favorite food is chicken....or is that hers...? Oh well, she'd just keep cooking everything under the stars to see what he enjoyed the most.

North Shrine

Sebastian had just finished devouring the lesser spirits when he detected a scent in the air. It didn't belong to a demon, but to the humans it was their 'food'. So it seemed it waas Rhea-sama's dinner time already. Sebastian never really knew why humans had to eat so frequently at three times a day. As a demon he only had to eat once every few days or even less if the spirit energy was pure. Every living thing in this world possessed its own spirit energy - humans included. There was a time when Sebastian devoured human souls because they were the most nourishing. But that was stopped after he became a protector of the shrine. He also stopped because the humans started to fear the shrine. He regretted his actions back then and made a pledge to never eat human souls again.

But vegetables? Oh well. At least it was better than those cooked chicken offerings from the humans. The poor things. Sebastian swooped and then dived down, landing softly on the veranda of the shrine. He smiled when he saw Rhea-sama. It was at times like this where he envied how humans could live such simple lives.

West Shrine

Alexus stretched and then glanced in the direction of his familiar. "You have been watching me for over 30 minutes. No matter how long you watch me, nothing going to happen" said Alexus with a smirk. It was interesting to see Raine so... interested in him. He rummaged through the closet for a while before he pulled out a box. "You seem bored tonight. Fancy a game of chess?"

Northern Shrine
Rhea heard the demon land somewhere on the building and also smiled when she saw him come into view. "Hey Sabastian." She said quietly and then gestured to the cooking pot of soon to be soup on the srove. "Im making veggie soup. Do you want some?" He was quite a picky eater when it came to 'human food' and she secretly worked hard to find something that he liked to eat. So far, she'd only eliminated chicken.

Western Shrine
"Mmm, so you like chess too? Interesting...." she muttered and pulled out the small notepad thay she'd started to keep on her now a days. Raine then crawled through his wondow and stepped down onto the floor, her midnight black wings folding up behind her. "I'm not exactly sure of how to play chess, but I'll definately try. Smirking, she sat down on the floor. "Game on."

Northern Shrine

Sebastian looked at Rhea-sama for a while. He was slightly reluctant to eat the veggie food. Sure, it had taste, but to him, it was not the same as the soul energy of spirits - they provided power, vegatables didn't. But there was the fainstest smile on him. Rhea-sama gave him the option to try or not try the food. She didn't command or force him. That was what he liked about this girl, her gentleness. Sebastian walked over to where she was and peered at the vegetables as they bobbed up and down in the pot. Sebastian didn't admit it, but it was quite interesting to watch the little things.

"I will try some" he smiply stated.

Western Shrine

"Heh, making notes on me again I see. I guess I must be your new hobby" said Alexus as he set out the chess pieces. He gave her an explantion of how the game worked and also a demonstration or two here and there. "To me, the power of chess is that it allows us to see how the opponent thinks. Some attack directly, ohers like to have well thought out plans and yet others like to use sneak tactics. From a simple board setup like this, ther are so many possibilities" said Alexus as he started to play. "But I have to wonder, what games do demons like yourself play? It seems you an almost endless amount of time"

There was a slight pause before there was a small smirk on Alexus "And there are others who use tricks. For example, if that was my intention, I could be distracting you with my talking"

Northern Shrine
Rhea smiled widely. "Great! I'll even add a little seasoning in it, along with some meat--not chicken-- to help add a little more flavor to it." She truly wantes him to atleast enjoy the soup a bit. As promised, she went over to one of the cabinets and took out a small thing or barsely, along with a few other herbs and some chopped turkey. "Alright. This will be done in a min. So, in the meantime, go wash up or something. You smell like the outdoors and you're covered in blood." She said with a slightly amused smile. He was always coming back in a mess like so.

Western Shrine
Raine smiled and moved some of her jet black hair from her eyes. "Ah, but see, I have eyes everywhere and killer instincts. Nothing gets past me." She said then looked down thoughtfully at the board before glancing back up at Alexus. "I...I don't know. I've never played a board game untill you came and, then, I've only seen this one...there's more games out there?"

Northern Shrine

"As you wish Rhea-sama" replied Sebastian as he bowed a little. He proceeded to the shower and turned on the water as he began to undress. He didn't really understand why humans didn't like him when he was covered in blood. To demons like himself, the blood covering the body was like a status symbol - it showed their strength and made others fear them (especially when it's the blood of their kind on Sebastian). But if that was what Rhea-sama wanted then he will shower. She did always smile when she saw him all neat again.

Sebastian lets the water run down his body. He used a natural loofah and the scentless soapy thing so that other demons could not detect him from a mile away. He learned that from last time when he used a strawberry scent. It didn't turn out too well. The water went down his dark black wings and he smoothed them out with his hands. Soon the water was turned off and Sebastian patted himself dry as he spreaded out his wings. As for his clothes he snapped his fingers once and then they were fresh again. Humans had things like washing machines, but he preferred to use his own power.

Western Shrine

Alexus chuckled when he heard his familiar's response. "You may have eyes everywhere and your supernatural abilities, but can you see through the heart and mind? There is a saying that the best kept secrets are the ones that do not leave your mind. Whilst you can try to understand someone, it's sometimes hard to know what is exactly going on in their mind - what they haven't told you. The mind is also constantly changing according to what has happened" said Alexus as he moved a piece.

"But as for board games, this is the one that provides the most variety and challenge. There are simpler ones that are almost as challenging like Othello - I can show you that later. They have come from the different countries and culture. Some depend on luck whilst others need strategy. And there are those such as poker cards. I have to admit that they elude me. Poker needs luck, strategy and good memory. It's something I don't have" Alexus then looked at Raine. "As a demon, how long does your memory last? What about the years when you were small?"

Northern Shrine
As promised, the soup was done by the time Sebastian got out of the shower. Even for a demon, he took a prettt long time in the bathroom. "It's good to see you all cleaned up." Rhea said with a small smile and gestured for him to sit. "Here, sit. I'll serve you the soup." She informed him before going over to one of the cabinets to grab two bowls. Once that task was done, Rhea used the big spoon to pour a good amount of soup in each bowl and sat one down in front of the demon. She didn't bother to get him a utensil for him to eat with, since he usually ate with his hands anyway.

Western Shrine
Raine looked at the human intently as he spoke. He seemed to be very intelligente and somewhat wise for his young age. She pulled out her notepad for a moment and scribbled the words 'get him some education books' before putting it away and concetrating on him and the game. After making another move, the demon answered his question: "I can remember some things, but only of something triggers the memory." Once she'd been sworn into demonhood, all memories of the past were forgotten and she often had trouble trying to remember tnem...

Northern Shrine

Sebastian looked at the bowl of soup for one second and took it into both his hands.

*SLURP*

"Done" ^__^

Apparently being a demon meant that Sebastian could swallow all the contents of the soup in one go. Maybe he needed to learn to be a bit more patient with his meals, but to Sebastian that was the most efficient way. After all, that was how he devoured spirits wasn't it? Sebastian didn't say it directly, but anything that Rhea-sama made, he would eat without hesistation (yes, even if it was just a grain of rice). Sebastian then rested his elbows on the table and watched his Rhea-sama drinking the soup. It was kind of entertaining.

"We have been getting fewer and fewer visitors to our shrine lately because we are high in the mountains. However, the Western Shrine has many worshippers. Let's go steal some of them" said Sebastian. He knew that both his and Rhea-sama's powers were only as much as the worshippers allowed and without a stady supply things would start to turn bad. So why not take over the Western Shrine?

Western Shrine

Alexus tried to peak at the notes that Raine was scribbling. "One day, I'm going to take that off you and see what notes you wrote about me" he joked. Raine was a powerful demon, though Alexus saw her other side as well - she had a gentle and conscientious side too. "You look a bit quiet tonight. Do you have any questions to ask me? said Alexus. He wanted to strike more conversations with Raine to find out more about this familiar of his. She was interesting to say the least and whilst he knew that the world of demons was very different (and dangerous), he seeked to learn more.

Northern Shrine
Rhea covered her mouth as she watched the demon eat in a very improper way, hiding the smile that had spread on her face. This was one of the reasons why she only gave Sebastian bowls to eat out of, since he liked to slurp it like so. In fact, they only had a small handfully of plates, compared to the tons of bowls that inhabited the kitchen. As she resumed eating with a spoon, Rhea listened to the next thing that came out of his mouth. What the demon said was true: they were definately loosing visitors due to their current location, though, she wasn't much of a violent person unless it was absolutely necessary. "You have a point....though we shouldn't do it so violently." She explained with a playful glare. "How about we invite them over and ask them how they'd like the idea of combining shrines or something of the sort?" The girl suggested softly. She had no idea what those people were about but she had a feeling that she'd find out very soon.

Western Shrine
Raine grinned at his first statement. "I'd like to see you try, Alexus." She said with a playful smile then shrugged. "Welllll, I have just one question: what's your favorite food?" The human wasn't aware of why she was even keeping the list; all she'd told him is that she was writing down events and things to put into a scrapbook she kept. It was all the way true but it would work for now. As the female demon waited for an answer, she glanced back and looked out of the open window at the setting sun. She would have to start dinner soon...