An angel looking figure overlooked the streets of Onigawara, a Guardian, a high ranking member of the spirit world that was tasked to protect the main cities of Onigawara.
Kokujin carried a blade close to his hip as he stood next to the angelic figure. "The higher ups said we were to meet at the temple later. Do you know what it would be for Rikkito?"
Rikkito shrugged her shoulders no. "If I knew then we wouldn't be here waiting. When the sun hits the center of the sky is what they said."
A strange young man sat in the window near the two, he looked out toward them, the wind blowing behind him as it made his hair blow right into his face. He stepped down a bit away from the two. "Ah. I see you two made it here well. Kokujin..Rikkito."
Rikkito smiled to Saikyo, her horns protruding from her head made that angelic look almost contradictory to her faces protrusions as she turned to the man. "Saikyo, we were just waiting for the sun to reach the center of the sky."
Kokujin smirked as he knelt down feeling the breeze hitting the side of his face. "You'd think as captains we would know what we were being summoned for."
"Fat chance. The commander in chief never calls us in like this and shows up on time. God forbid we're not hearing from Takayama unless it's an urgent call." Saikyo put his hands behind his head sighing to himself. "Not to mention the other captains aren't even here, I mean seriously what are we doing? I need to get back to my movie." He looked on at the two, not breaking eye contact. "Well I guess it's good to get some quality time here huh?" What he said sounded optimistic. Positive. Almost like a layer of skin on him was to authentic, he didn't break eye contact, he didn't botch or trip over his words. It's like he was trained to be this calm. Focused. The commander in chief by extension never called them in. There were never serious meetings between all of the captains and chief unless it was something serious going on.
The center of the sky was near however, soon their question would be answered.
She nodded and clapped her hands together. "Bravo Saikyo, it's probably something super serious!" She looked out towards the sky and then the field below the city. "I haven't sensed the Prodigy in a couple hours. It's getting a little concerning when one of the spirits suddenly disappear you know. I hope he didn't stray too far into outsider's lands."
Kokujin laughed at the presumption that the kid would disappear suddenly. "Man, that kid is fine. He always seems to avoid trouble anyways."
"Glad to see you three are well." A taller, much slimmer man walked up toward them. He had on black garments with the standard sandals that everybody in this world wore. He had on no undershirt, and his hair draped him as if it were some kind of cape. He placed his hand on his sword looking on silently, standing a few feet away from them. "Do tell what's going on. I'm intrigued."
Another man approached the group slowly. Not everyone was very fond of speaking, this one fit right into that group. Appearing like a passing thought, Volkos didn't announce his arrival. He had no need to, they would always be able to tell. The man bore similar horns to Rikkito, his face being covered with a mask that glared with bright crimson eyes. The mask looking similar to that of a bird's head.
Rikkito smiled with a fondness for her comrades arriving to the scene. "Oh my... what a wonderful reunion!" She pointed to the sky. "The higher ups said once it hits noon we have a big meeting. They wish to summon us all together for the first time in decades."
Kokujin looked over to Volkos and stood up, putting his arm around his shoulder. He seemingly had an alright relationship with the silent man. "Hey Volkos! How you been man? I haven't seen you since our last mission together, how long ago was that? Back when we were under Captain Yomei."
"Hm." He always refrained from many words, unlike the other captains around him. He stayed with his arms crossed even with Kokujin's arm around his shoulder. He gave a look to all the others.
"I think we're all here. I guess it's now time to do what we need to." Saikyo leaned back on the railing yawning. He didn't like that they essentially had to be early to the meeting or else they would be fined and met with action. So everybody could be on time besides their boss. Got it. Ridiculous.
Rikkito watched the sun get closer and closer, she nodded to Saikyo's words and floated upwards. "If only you all could float too." She smiled cheekily, her abilities showing themselves.
Kokujin, annoyed at her boast replied to her almost immediately. "Well, not all of us are Moon Children." He removed his arm from his former squad mate. "Neither do most of us have horns either though."
"I'm fine being human. I don't need your abilities." Saikyo relaxed as he looked up to the sky, watching the sun pass. "Moon Children are rare these days."
"Stop showing off, Luna." He decided to speak up. Volkos being the only one who had any resemblance to her, but personality wise, they couldn't be more different.
"This may get serious. Maybe cut the playing until later Rikkito. We may be in for something serious." Akuma spoke out to her. He always kept things business.
She giggled at everyone's comments about her origin. She wasn't the serious type, always trying to eclipse the darkness with light in a serious situation. "Well, at least we can all get together again, it's nice to see you all too."
Kokujin sighed and raised his arms above his head. "My squad was about to go on a scouting mission before this happened, I was excited to get some combat training in with the greenhorns but this is kind of in the way."
Volkos was the only captain that didn't have a team, not by his own decision though. Just that no one wanted to be in his squad, a couple of horns and a stern personality don't exactly invite others.
"I'd rather just get back to my movie honestly. Forget about the kids they'll learn or they won't and they'll suck or they won't but there's already a great line of squads and captains. We haven't seen war or any major problems in an era or two. What gives?"
"I think you won't be going back any time soon. Nor will we be doing any training any time soon." Out of all of the people present, the man was probably dressed the most "normal" out of any of them. He stepped to the plate, ready to swing at them as if they were all just another pitch at the field. Just another day of being the Chief. The woman followed him in, red hair down to the back of her legs. Large Thighs. Large Bottom. Beautiful to any and everyone. Formal attire. She looked on silently with him, delivering nothing but a smile.
"Yo. Whats going on crew? Everybody alright?" The man adjusted his glasses, his hair blowing in the wind. He kept his hands in his pockets watching on at the squad leaders.
Volkos gave a nod, keeping any words to himself again.
Rikkito nodded to Ryōshu as she smiled and waved. "We're doing fine, just enjoying the time together." Rikkito continued floating in the air, hovering in the same spot she was in previously.
Kokujin nodded and put to fingers to his temple. "Why the hell can't we go back out then huh? I got a couple greenhorns dying to see real combat you know."
"In the course of hundreds of years..including through war we have not meddled in human affairs.." The lady next to him pulled out a small white board as Ryoshu drew on the board. "That is until sixteen years ago. Satsujin Zenin, Daughter of the Martial Arts God, Azūru Zenin was born. Which meant the following. One, Azuru was pregnant during the entirety of the war which means she was already weakened and two, a zenin from one of the first was born. Due to her nature she was one of the only human's in history that could travel freely between Reikai or the spirit world. as humans call it from birth and The Mortal realm."
"Either way I was always suspicious of her character..and more specifically her existence..which almost seemed like a sin." Ryōshu looked on at the group, continuing to draw on the white board. "Anyways flash forward a few years and suddenly Satsujin was a regular here. Big deal. Who doesn't want to have our coffee? The answer is nobody. We have the best shops and fashion." He continued to draw on the board.
"Well, that's not actually good..because we prefer to handle our own affairs within the realm of the spirit. If humans interfere in our affairs, or vice versa than the balance will shift, causing reality itself to bend and twist as if it were clay in your hand. Which sounds fun in theory i'll admit, but it's not. We saw what happened years ago, and had to deal with our own affairs during that entire war."
He erased everything and began drawing, something peculiar was he wasn't even looking at his board. He simply was writing and drawing without even seeing the finished work. It worked flawlessly everytime that he did so. "There's a rumor traveling around that Atsui Hebi, Satsujin Zenin and Heiwa Shizukesa have fled the spirit world and are now on the run in the human world. Something I knew would inevitably happen with the existence of Satsujin. So it's now our jobs as the Spirit World to deply our squads and retrieve them back. Where they await trial. We will test if they're truly one of us."
Rikkito looked shocked at the news that was just revealed to them, the prodigy's of the spirit world had fled? For what reason? She thought to herself as the news was announced, she raised an eyebrow. "Why would they want to leave the spirit world to begin with?"
The red haired woman spoke up for the first time. "We can't answer that question because we don't have enough information." She reached into her back pocket, pulling out a vial, a small glass of blood. "We see that Atsui's blood was found out in the fields. Outside of that they're nowhere to be seen. So everything is questionable at best."
Volkos reached his hand to have the woman hand him the vial so he could see it. She handed it to him to examine.
Kokkujin tilted his head at Utsukushi revealing the vile. He also had a question after thinking about what could have potentially happened. "You think they had a fight with the outsider then?"
She placed it in his hands before standing upright next to Ryō once more. "We think it's possible but as we stated we don't have enough information right now. We fear human's could have infiltrated the realm, aiming to do some sort of damage. Then again whatever could've happened is up to intepretation, and a new infinite amount of possibilities. All we know is that they did exit."
"Do you think this will be a repeat of the chaos those three caused all those years ago with the Dream Realm?" Volkos asked.
"I don't know if it's that serious yet..but if they cause that same amount of chaos, it is entirely possible that a war will break out due to the inbalance of the worlds, causing another incursion since The Last Rodeo."
Rikkito giggled at the thought of the mission and how they would possibly be going back to the mortal world. "So we're all working together on this one?"
"That's entirely up to you. Bring your squad or go solo. I don't care..but find out what they're up to."
Rikkito nodded and smiled. "Alright. Do we get a prize if we bring them back in one piece though?"
Kokkujin shook his head thinking about what an annoyance everything was, those damn kids got into more trouble, and now he has to bring his squad into the mortal world with almost zero experience?
"What about Azūru? That woman must know something."
Ryō looked toward Volkos. "I suppose I could travel to hell with Utsukushi, but that'll probably take me a few days to investigate. I suppose she could help us, but at the same time she has no reason to. She could kill us on the spot if she wanted to. So we're being cautious right now before we take things to far."
He then scoffed at Rikkito's comment. "Yeah there's actually a great prize if you do find them..it's called your fucking job and the state of the world." Utsukushi put the white board back into her pocket. It folded in a comedic fashion. Ryō put his hand on his hip, looking at her. "You want a chocolate bar afterward eat as many as you like Ri. This is part of your job. Protecting our world."
Rikkito sighed as he called her out, she didn't really want a chocolate bar or any candy for that matter but as a Guardian she knew this was what came with the role itself.
Kokkujin kept a straight face, though on the inside he was dying of laughter. He wasn't as serious as the rest of the captains unless it came to training. His duty always mattered the most to him. It was his pride as a spirit to train and fight even if that meant going to another world.
"As I said you can use what you like or who you like. I'd recommend you using your main squads to head out and investigate..and none of what we're wearing now. If we're going to be in the real world we need casual clothing. The dress code is different between realms though I dress however I want."
Rikkito looked at her clothing and had thought about what she would have to wear, becoming grossed out from the idea of it all.
"Hm." It's very rare for Volkos to remove his mask at all, so he'd have to either forget abt it completely or try to find something that matches the mask. Although, there is no way he can look inconspicuous with a mask on.
"Any other questions?"
Rikkito shook her head no to Ryōshu's question. Kokujin thought about his team and what could possibly happen if they went head first into the mortal world.
"I will see you all soon then." He placed his hands in his pockets before turning back to them.
Please report back to me with some information. Remember, you need to come back with something or you're done." Ryōshu walked away with the red haired woman, her heels clacking on the ground making a small cracking noise. Saikyo rolled his eyes, leaning back against a railing.
"Are we serious?" Saikyo sighed, facepalming and shaking his head. "What is going on?"
"There is not enough information." Volkos walked on, not even looking toward Saikyo when he spoke. He simply followed directions. There was no need for him to bother making allegiance to the others.
"Looks like we're going to have to go to the human world.." Saikyo looked on into the distance.
"Those damn kids. They're going to cause some problems that we can't fix." Saikyo put his hands on his face, continuing to admire the sun's color at that hour.