brain: needs more RAM
I haven't read, much less written anything in aaages. Sorry. Not for lack of time so much as brainspace. ←needs more ram for serious, lol. ANYWAY. :D
Really, I just wanted to try drawing ABC as elementals in an RPG. But then my tablet broke and is dead. So instead, there is fic. With a compli/complementary crash course in the cardinal spirits. 8D; Erm. Or as I have read it.
• Seiryuu: Azure/blue dragon. East, Water, Spring. Mighty and fearsome, yet benevolent. This is Totsuka.
• Suzaku: Red phoenix. South, Fire, Summer. Bringer of good fortune and prosperity. This is Kawai.
• Byakko: White tiger. West, Wind/Metal, Autumn. The protector and defender. This is Tsukada.
• Genbu: Black tortoise. North, Earth, Winter. Governor of punishment and salvation. (Often depicted with a snake coiled around it. |DD) This is obviously Goseki.
In the Land of Twilight; 3444w, G-rated.
Hashimoto walked between the stars of the spirit realm, the heavenly ether filling his senses. Aromatic. Sweet. All around and burning cold in the tips of his fingers and feet through his tabi; distant as the moon and the faintest stars beyond.
He held in his right hand, tightly, a staff of the summoning type. He was a summoner after all, and a powerful one too despite his age, having been born with the gift of spirit sight. He'd come a long way since his first battle with a malevolent (at the tender age of three when he'd had naught but his chubby fists to strike it in the head), but he still had a long way to go.
'Find the Guardian Deities,' the Grand Summoner had told him, 'and they will help you on your quest.'
Because Hashimoto needed one apparently, a quest, not that he'd been given any indication what it was supposed to be. The order had been handed down nearly three months ago, but he still didn't have the slightest clue.
Unlike a lot of the other summoners around, Hashimoto had no specific goals. No personal vendetta, no sworn vengeance for a brother's death or burning desire to right some universal injustice or other-he didn't care for things like that, not really. He liked summoning and vanquishing stuff (and making the temple priestesses happy, which was always rewarding in more ways than one). But if he was honest, all he'd ask for out of life would be a little more time with his friends. A summoner's lot was often as lonely as it was lofty and Hashimoto was definitely the company-dependent type, so why the Grand Summoner had said to take on more work (that Hashimoto didn't even understand) was beyond his comprehension...
But the order had come in two parts anyway, and so Hashimoto supposed that first things could very well come first: he would find the Guardian Deities, and then figure out what to do about the elusive quest after that.
Sensing his resolve, the ether around him shivered in anticipation-which Hashimoto summarily ignored. (It was weird stuff, that ether.) Searching the sky, he turned toward the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper and gave a formal bow. Then, lifting the head of his staff, he took a deep breath and began the summons.
He'd practiced it a great many times from the ancient texts these past three months, the spell to call forth all four Guardians. Still, rarely did he get it exactly right. If it wasn't the timing of his steps that was a problem, then it was the angle of his staff or the tone of his chant... every element had to be perfect for it to work.
Around him, not so fussy as the spirits, the ether moved at once with and against his form, excitedly caressing his skin and lifting the sutra floating across his shoulders. His staff cut through its invisible fabric in wide, sweeping strokes like a brush upon the celestial as he danced; a point of his toe here, then there, a tilt of the shoulders dipping the staff, and a slow pirouette as he sang.
When his final note rang through the stars, Hashimoto held his breath. For a moment, nothing happened and he was almost disappointed-but then to his delight an azure curtain shimmered into existence in the ether before him.
The brilliant light faded to reveal a human form dressed in the simple robes of a temple priest. Hashimoto blinked, half surprised, half breathless. The priest's long hair, jet black, was loosely tied at his nape with a neat strip of folded paper, and long bangs framed his face. He looked young, maybe Hashimoto's own age, though his eyes when he opened them were aeons older, and surreality swirled around him-a larger presence, a stronger force, invisibly restrained. Contained…
"Whoa," Hashimoto breathed. "Pretty!"
The spirit smiled. "As are you. What have you called us for?"
"I don't… are you all of you?" Hashimoto asked, confused.
Laughing, the spirit traced a pair of characters in the space between them. His movements left a shimmering trail of ethereal blue that Hashimoto had to remind himself to ignore. "Just me."
"Seiryuu?" Hashimoto half read, half guessed. "The Dragon of the East?"
"Yes," the spirit smiled. "I hope you're not disappointed?"
"No! No, no," Hashimoto said quickly, a blush colouring his cheeks. "It's just, it's because I'd intentioned to summon all of you… I was told to, so."
"Ah," Seiryuu chuckled. "Actually, you messed the spell up a bit, but I cut you some slack since your intentions seemed good. Here." Stepping forward, he took Hashimoto's hand and raised the staff in it, tilting the shaft a little more to the horizontal plane. Hashimoto blinked, distracted for a moment by the dragon's cool touch-it felt strangely refreshing, like a stream in the woods mid-spring.
Seiryuu stepped back. "Start like that and try again."
"…okay," Hashimoto said, and took another deep breath, gathering his concentration. Step by step, he began to weave his spell again-but scarcely was he halfway through when a blinding flash of light stopped his heart and the claws of a mighty white tiger rendered the ether.
Hashimoto nearly dropped his staff, concentration shot. "Byakko of the West!" he exclaimed. "But I didn't even finish calling to you!"
With a playfulness that bespoke eternal youth, the white tiger tumbled forward and took on human form as he did so, becoming a young man as he sprang back to his feet, compact body strong and wiry. His shock of short white hair seemed to crackle with the same electric energy behind his eyes and brilliant smile. He turned to Seiryuu, pointing Hashimoto's way. "Were you helping him, Sei?"
Seiryuu grinned. "You'd do a better job of it than me."
"Did I screw up again?" Hashimoto asked, casting dejected eyes to the staff in his hand.
"Yup!" Byakko laughed, teasing without accusation-as expected of the defender, the protector-though to Hashimoto's ear, his voice was unexpectedly thin like the leaves of autumn on a breeze. Light. Whimsical... "It's a bit more like this, okay? Watch!"
And with that, Byakko materialised a staff of his own from the ether and spun it through a demonstration of the steps that Hashimoto had messed up. "One, two, three-and-four; five, six, se-ven eight…"
In time with the dance, Seiryuu sang the words of calling, and Hashimoto could only marvel at the clarity of his tone and enunciation, coupled with the effortless glide of Byakko's steps and twirls.
Marvel and despair.
To be fair, it wasn't that Hashimoto hadn't practised enough on his own. Learning summons-especially the longer, more complex ones-from nothing but old notes sketched in the pages of thick library texts was no walk in the park, and there hadn't been anyone around to teach him properly.
Not so many summoners actually aimed to call forth the Guardians. While it was true the four could be powerful allies, they were also a lot more autonomous than regular spirits and therefore harder to control. And so everyone who had called upon them in the past was either long dead or halfway around the world on much more significant missions than showing fledgling summoners like Hashimoto how it was supposed to be done.
But whether it was a blessing or a curse to have two of the very spirits he was trying to call teaching him the exact method and manner of the spell was trying to master them with… well, that remained to be seen.
A sinking feeling in his stomach was leaning to the side of the curse, though.
"See?" Byakko said as he wrapped up his step-by-step demonstration, and his staff vanished back into the ether. "Just like that, okay? It's easy!"
"No way, totally not!" Hashimoto whined, feeling both completely spoiled and hideously out of his depth. He toed at his tabi and gave Byakko's light smile his biggest wobbly gaze. "It looks sooo impossible."
"Well, you're going to have to do it if you want us!" Byakko laughed.
Seiryuu nodded. "Suzaku might come if you manage to provoke him some other way, but Genbu-kun has never risen for a less than perfect formal summons, and I doubt he's going to feel like starting today."
Hashimoto's face fell. "Then I'll never get you all, ever!"
"Don't say that," Seiryuu smiled.
"Right!" Byakko agreed. "Keep trying. You've got the basics of it down already, so tweaking the rest can't be too hard, right?"
Hashimoto pouted.
'Too hard' was one of those phrases he'd always been told was a relative thing. His older sister, a slave-driver of a temple priestess (unfortunately one of the rare ones who it wasn't worth making happy), had always said that stupid people found a lot of things 'too hard' while smart people found them easy. It was just a matter of intelligence.
She'd also always said that Hashimoto was denser than a doorstop, but that was less relevant.
With his doe-eyed stare, Hashimoto turned to implore Seiryuu as well. "Help me then?" he asked. "Please? I really don't think I'll be able to get you all otherwise. And then I won't be able to go home. It was hard enough just getting here, and the next time I'll be able to visit won't be for a while…!" Accessing the ether realm was tricky like that.
Byakko laughed. "What do you think we came out for?"
"You clearly needed the assistance," Seiryuu smiled, and Hashimoto decided to give the dragon the benefit of the doubt with regard to that potential insult.
"…okay," he said and raised his staff again, making sure to tip it a bit more the proper way like Seiryuu had shown him before. "Okay, here I go-"
"Wait!" Byakko bounded forward and took up Hashimoto's hands so they stood nose to nose like dance partners (or nose to chin mostly, since the white tiger's human form was kind of short). "I'll mirror you like this," Byakko grinned. "We'll go slow-halftime, okay? So just follow me!"
"Okay," Hashimoto said, and tried to quell the butterflies in his stomach before Seiryuu counted them in and the spell began a third time.
And a fourth…
Then a fifth…
A sixth…
Byakko was amazingly patient, Hashimoto thought, cringing inside during a timeout. If Hashimoto had been the one helping, he didn't think he'd be able to be so nice in the face of such persistent stupid, like tripping over his own feet even when the rest of the spell had gone right. But all Byakko did was laugh and say "So close!" and "One more time! This means you'll get it next for sure!"
And so Hashimoto set his jaw and sucked in another deep breath and ignored the way his arms were aching, beginning the dance anew each time Seiryuu counted them in, again and again and again.
He'd lost count of the rounds, concentrating hard when suddenly a deafening explosion tore through the ether and Hashimoto's numb fingers dropped his staff in surprise. "Suzaku!" The phoenix shot through the middle of the fireball and corkscrewed up through the stars as shockwaves rumbled around like summer thunder.
"…but I didn't…" Hashimoto gaped. "It wasn't…"
Suzaku gave a searing shriek as he banked high above them and Hashimoto slapped his palms to his ears with a wince. The phoenix's voice was sharp, piercing and loud. Fire trailed from his great wings, rippling the ether in his wake.
"He says your calls are really annoying," Byakko translated helpfully.
"Nice of him to finally join us," Seiryuu said.
"He's really loud," Hashimoto said, stressed on behalf of his eardrums. Suzaku dove sharply and flared his wings out to brake. The resulting heatwave rocked Hashimoto back on his heels.
With a compact explosion that wafted the scent of ash and sulphur across the ether, the phoenix followed Seiryuu and Byakko into human form, crossing his arms. "Why haven't you given up and gone home yet, Summoner?" he demanded, and seated himself by Seiryuu's side.
Hashimoto stared, momentarily distracted by the image gap between Suzaku's flashy entrance and cool phoenix form, and his weirdly skinny human appearance. Because he made a strange looking human, old of face but young of body, sort of delicate-looking-lithe and light as if his bones remained hollow even now-but not really all that pretty.
"…sorry?" Hashimoto hazarded.
"So you should be," Suzaku told him maturely.
"No, no need for apologies!" Byakko laughed. "This is good! Now you've only got one more to go~♪"
"One more to go my ass," Suzaku scoffed. "More like he hasn't gotten any of us yet!"
"But I-"
"Don't worry, Hasshi," Seiryuu smiled, reaching out to toy with a curl of Suzaku's wavy, fire-blond mop of hair. "Suzaku's more bark than bite. Once you get this summons right, you'll technically call all of us anyway."
"But he hasn't gotten it right yet!" Suzaku snapped, hair bursting into flames. "Who said we're getting friendly with him already?"
"Who said we aren't?" Seiryuu asked with a smile, unaffected by Suzaku's temper. "You don't mind do you, Hasshi?"
"I like it!" Hashimoto said quickly, earnest. "The Hasshi-I mean, being friendly. Please call me Hasshi! We can be friends please, okay?"
Byakko laughed in delight. "Sure we can."
"Tcht," Suzaku crossed his arms, glowering Hashimoto's way. "Brat, it's lucky you're hot."
Hashimoto giggled as well, knowing a test when he faced one-especially the kind that was easily passable. Coyly, he swished the hem of his robe. "Not as hot as you though, right…?"
For several long moments Suzaku just glared some more, before his expression thawed into a grin and he leaned back, satisfied. "Alright, he's a keeper."
"Too easy, Suzaku," Seiryuu chuckled.
"That's funny coming from you," Suzaku said with a huff, blowing his wispy bangs out of his eyes.
Seiryuu shrugged, smiling. "I decided I liked him, that's all. No need to be jealous."
"Wha-jealous?" Byakko joined the laughter at Suzaku's indignant squawk, and the phoenix narrowed his eyes. "You want jealous? You'll see jealous when old Gen shows up."
"Oh?" Seiryuu said mildly.
"'When'?" Hashimoto asked, excited by the thought. "Not 'if'? You think I can do it, too?"
"You'd better do it," Suzaku grinned in challenge. "He's going to be disappointed if you don't."
"And nobody wants to be around when Genbu's disappointed!" Byakko added.
"O-okay," Hashimoto blinked. Taking a deep breath, resolved, he called his staff to his hand from where it had floated off amid the ether. "Okay, guys. I'm going to do it this time next! But I'm going to need all of your helps."
"Help," Suzaku said. "Not helps. And no next. What the hell, how are you a summoner when you can't even speak normally right!"
"Maybe I'm stupid, but I try very hard!" Hashimoto protested, to Seiryuu's adoring laughter.
"You can be a genius of hard work like me!" Byakko said, his light eyes sparkling, and Hashimoto grinned right back. "There's nothing wrong with that, right? As long as we're geniuses of something!"
"Geniuses of stupid," Suzaku scoffed, fending off Seiryuu's token slap over the head. "Okay, okay, let's go! I'll count you in." Cued, Byakko took Hashimoto's hands again, and Seiryuu leaned back to watch. "In three, two, one…!"
Hashimoto took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and again began to dance.
It was a perfect spell. He could feel it from the start, from Byakko's warm, guiding hands, to Suzaku's strong voice singing the call, his words melding seamlessly with Hashimoto's own, and Seiryuu's gentle reminders at problem spots. Hashimoto could feel the ether tingling around him as he moved, sensed it gathering, glowing on that other plane of existence in a way that his mind could almost see, just the way a perfect summons should be...
And then it all disappeared.
Hashimoto's eyes flew open in surprise, his heart tripping over itself when he realised he couldn't see anything or feel any ether; the darkness had stolen everything from his breath to the stars. "Sei!" he called as loud as he could, trying to quell a panic. "Byakko? Suzaku-?" But his words vanished as fast as they came.
"Missing someone in that line-up?" a voice asked then, and Hashimoto whirled around, eyes darting until he found a figure hidden in the nothingness, slowly approaching through the dark that was coiled around him like a midnight river.
"...Gen…bu?" Hashimoto hazarded with trepidation. But he refused to step back. If this truly was Genbu, then Hashimoto was not going to run; if it was a malevolent on the other hand, he had faith the other three Guardians would come to his aid if he really needed it.
The spirit seemed to smile in the non-light, and Hashimoto couldn't help but stare as his form became clearer: formal robes, all in black, hung perfectly from his frame with not a crease out of place. The very set of his shoulders was imbued with authority and a casual self-possession.
"Y-you're…" Hashimoto blinked-downward-as Genbu stopped walking maybe two paces shy. "You're really short." The Guardian tilted his head and Hashimoto squeaked as he realised what he'd said, slapping his hands across his mouth. "WaitI'msorrypleasedon'tkillme-!"
Genbu smiled, light like first snow despite the wintry ice in his thin eyes. "I won't. But believe me, you'd be very scared were I any bigger."
Hashimoto nodded quickly, deciding himself a firm subscriber of that religion-despite just the two of them present, the darkness already felt claustrophobic. "Did I, um." He paused and tried again, attempting to be more careful with his words. "Did I get you…? I mean the summons, did it call? Did it work?"
"It worked," Genbu chuckled, and abruptly the jet black pressure fell away around them. "Congratulations."
Hashimoto blinked as the ether realm warped back into place, stars sparkling alive once more, and sucked in a very deep breath. It'd… worked? He'd done it…? Looking around, he met Seiryuu's smiling eyes over Byakko and Suzaku's excited chatter, and Genbu's amusement. "…yay?"
"You did it!" Suzaku whooped, trailing fireworks as he ran in and tackled Hashimoto to the ground in a tangle of limbs and laughter, Byakko pouncing atop the both of them.
"I did it!" Hashimoto cheered, hugging both Guardians euphorically tight in victory. "Yesss~!"
"Good work!" Byakko grinned, and thumped Hashimoto heartily on the back.
"Don't praise him too much," Genbu said mildly, strolling over to Suzaku's vacated space by Seiryuu's side. "'Good' would have been three tries at most."
Still, Hashimoto's excitement could not be curbed-especially not when he looked up and saw Seiryuu still smiling. "Seven wasn't too bad though," the dragon said.
"I wasn't too bad!" Hashimoto giggled, and wrapped his arms even tighter around Suzaku and Byakko, delighted. "Sei said I wasn't too bad!"
Suzaku laughed, wrestling out of Hashimoto's grip to give him a headlock full of knuckle. "You had a lot of help though, brat! Got any thanks to say?"
"Thank youuu, Seiryuuu~!" Hashimoto hollered until Seiryuu obliged him a little wave. "And you, too, Byakko!" Shoving Suzaku and his knuckleduster away, Hashimoto grabbed the white tiger in a tight bear-hug that was gleefully returned.
"Anytime, Hasshi!"
"And thanks to Genbu-sama, too!" Hashimoto grinned, glancing back over his shoulder. Genbu gave a nod of acknowledgement, his smile amused.
"Oi, what the hell!" Suzaku demanded, and jumped on Hashimoto again, flames ablaze. "What did he do, you bastard? What about me!"
Hashimoto just laughed, easily rolling with all of Suzaku's light punches. "What about you, Suzaku-kun?"
"O- hey! Why am I the only one who gets a -kun!"
Over Byakko's merry laughter, Hashimoto heard Genbu say, "So this one's a keeper, isn't he. Despite himself." It gave him a thrill of excitement to down to the tips of his toes.
I've really done it, he thought. The first part of the Grand Summoner's order-get! All that was left was the quest, but that could come later. After they all got home from the ether realm and things like wards and bindings were organised… Maybe the Guardians would even be able to help him find his purpose!
Hashimoto beamed at the very thought, and grinned all the wider when he realised the four were all smiling back at him. "Thanks, you guys," he said breathlessly. "I really, really mean it. ♥"
"You're certainly welcome," Genbu told him, and Seiryuu chuckled.
"So easy, Genbu-sama," he chided.
"Tcht," Genbu said, "no need to be jealous."
1- it feels like setup, but i don't know if i'll write any more of this verse. 8D; i want to draw it, buuut it kind of has no point except hasshi and his quest. oh well~ guess we'll see. i have images of abc just dicking around while hasshi's at school, kawai waving in the window and stuff, and goseki just walking down the halls as if he's a teacher... xD
2- hasshi also gives them human names later, like the book of friends? but for now they're just... not named. maa. :3
3- and they camp in his house, which is half a temple. and hasshi's sister is totally disappointed in the way kawai looks, because she practically worshiped suzaku the guardian but thinks kawai is just not hot. xD
Really, I just wanted to try drawing ABC as elementals in an RPG. But then my tablet broke and is dead. So instead, there is fic. With a compli/complementary crash course in the cardinal spirits. 8D; Erm. Or as I have read it.
• Seiryuu: Azure/blue dragon. East, Water, Spring. Mighty and fearsome, yet benevolent. This is Totsuka.
• Suzaku: Red phoenix. South, Fire, Summer. Bringer of good fortune and prosperity. This is Kawai.
• Byakko: White tiger. West, Wind/Metal, Autumn. The protector and defender. This is Tsukada.
• Genbu: Black tortoise. North, Earth, Winter. Governor of punishment and salvation. (Often depicted with a snake coiled around it. |DD) This is obviously Goseki.
In the Land of Twilight; 3444w, G-rated.
Hashimoto walked between the stars of the spirit realm, the heavenly ether filling his senses. Aromatic. Sweet. All around and burning cold in the tips of his fingers and feet through his tabi; distant as the moon and the faintest stars beyond.
He held in his right hand, tightly, a staff of the summoning type. He was a summoner after all, and a powerful one too despite his age, having been born with the gift of spirit sight. He'd come a long way since his first battle with a malevolent (at the tender age of three when he'd had naught but his chubby fists to strike it in the head), but he still had a long way to go.
'Find the Guardian Deities,' the Grand Summoner had told him, 'and they will help you on your quest.'
Because Hashimoto needed one apparently, a quest, not that he'd been given any indication what it was supposed to be. The order had been handed down nearly three months ago, but he still didn't have the slightest clue.
Unlike a lot of the other summoners around, Hashimoto had no specific goals. No personal vendetta, no sworn vengeance for a brother's death or burning desire to right some universal injustice or other-he didn't care for things like that, not really. He liked summoning and vanquishing stuff (and making the temple priestesses happy, which was always rewarding in more ways than one). But if he was honest, all he'd ask for out of life would be a little more time with his friends. A summoner's lot was often as lonely as it was lofty and Hashimoto was definitely the company-dependent type, so why the Grand Summoner had said to take on more work (that Hashimoto didn't even understand) was beyond his comprehension...
But the order had come in two parts anyway, and so Hashimoto supposed that first things could very well come first: he would find the Guardian Deities, and then figure out what to do about the elusive quest after that.
Sensing his resolve, the ether around him shivered in anticipation-which Hashimoto summarily ignored. (It was weird stuff, that ether.) Searching the sky, he turned toward the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper and gave a formal bow. Then, lifting the head of his staff, he took a deep breath and began the summons.
He'd practiced it a great many times from the ancient texts these past three months, the spell to call forth all four Guardians. Still, rarely did he get it exactly right. If it wasn't the timing of his steps that was a problem, then it was the angle of his staff or the tone of his chant... every element had to be perfect for it to work.
Around him, not so fussy as the spirits, the ether moved at once with and against his form, excitedly caressing his skin and lifting the sutra floating across his shoulders. His staff cut through its invisible fabric in wide, sweeping strokes like a brush upon the celestial as he danced; a point of his toe here, then there, a tilt of the shoulders dipping the staff, and a slow pirouette as he sang.
When his final note rang through the stars, Hashimoto held his breath. For a moment, nothing happened and he was almost disappointed-but then to his delight an azure curtain shimmered into existence in the ether before him.
The brilliant light faded to reveal a human form dressed in the simple robes of a temple priest. Hashimoto blinked, half surprised, half breathless. The priest's long hair, jet black, was loosely tied at his nape with a neat strip of folded paper, and long bangs framed his face. He looked young, maybe Hashimoto's own age, though his eyes when he opened them were aeons older, and surreality swirled around him-a larger presence, a stronger force, invisibly restrained. Contained…
"Whoa," Hashimoto breathed. "Pretty!"
The spirit smiled. "As are you. What have you called us for?"
"I don't… are you all of you?" Hashimoto asked, confused.
Laughing, the spirit traced a pair of characters in the space between them. His movements left a shimmering trail of ethereal blue that Hashimoto had to remind himself to ignore. "Just me."
"Seiryuu?" Hashimoto half read, half guessed. "The Dragon of the East?"
"Yes," the spirit smiled. "I hope you're not disappointed?"
"No! No, no," Hashimoto said quickly, a blush colouring his cheeks. "It's just, it's because I'd intentioned to summon all of you… I was told to, so."
"Ah," Seiryuu chuckled. "Actually, you messed the spell up a bit, but I cut you some slack since your intentions seemed good. Here." Stepping forward, he took Hashimoto's hand and raised the staff in it, tilting the shaft a little more to the horizontal plane. Hashimoto blinked, distracted for a moment by the dragon's cool touch-it felt strangely refreshing, like a stream in the woods mid-spring.
Seiryuu stepped back. "Start like that and try again."
"…okay," Hashimoto said, and took another deep breath, gathering his concentration. Step by step, he began to weave his spell again-but scarcely was he halfway through when a blinding flash of light stopped his heart and the claws of a mighty white tiger rendered the ether.
Hashimoto nearly dropped his staff, concentration shot. "Byakko of the West!" he exclaimed. "But I didn't even finish calling to you!"
With a playfulness that bespoke eternal youth, the white tiger tumbled forward and took on human form as he did so, becoming a young man as he sprang back to his feet, compact body strong and wiry. His shock of short white hair seemed to crackle with the same electric energy behind his eyes and brilliant smile. He turned to Seiryuu, pointing Hashimoto's way. "Were you helping him, Sei?"
Seiryuu grinned. "You'd do a better job of it than me."
"Did I screw up again?" Hashimoto asked, casting dejected eyes to the staff in his hand.
"Yup!" Byakko laughed, teasing without accusation-as expected of the defender, the protector-though to Hashimoto's ear, his voice was unexpectedly thin like the leaves of autumn on a breeze. Light. Whimsical... "It's a bit more like this, okay? Watch!"
And with that, Byakko materialised a staff of his own from the ether and spun it through a demonstration of the steps that Hashimoto had messed up. "One, two, three-and-four; five, six, se-ven eight…"
In time with the dance, Seiryuu sang the words of calling, and Hashimoto could only marvel at the clarity of his tone and enunciation, coupled with the effortless glide of Byakko's steps and twirls.
Marvel and despair.
To be fair, it wasn't that Hashimoto hadn't practised enough on his own. Learning summons-especially the longer, more complex ones-from nothing but old notes sketched in the pages of thick library texts was no walk in the park, and there hadn't been anyone around to teach him properly.
Not so many summoners actually aimed to call forth the Guardians. While it was true the four could be powerful allies, they were also a lot more autonomous than regular spirits and therefore harder to control. And so everyone who had called upon them in the past was either long dead or halfway around the world on much more significant missions than showing fledgling summoners like Hashimoto how it was supposed to be done.
But whether it was a blessing or a curse to have two of the very spirits he was trying to call teaching him the exact method and manner of the spell was trying to master them with… well, that remained to be seen.
A sinking feeling in his stomach was leaning to the side of the curse, though.
"See?" Byakko said as he wrapped up his step-by-step demonstration, and his staff vanished back into the ether. "Just like that, okay? It's easy!"
"No way, totally not!" Hashimoto whined, feeling both completely spoiled and hideously out of his depth. He toed at his tabi and gave Byakko's light smile his biggest wobbly gaze. "It looks sooo impossible."
"Well, you're going to have to do it if you want us!" Byakko laughed.
Seiryuu nodded. "Suzaku might come if you manage to provoke him some other way, but Genbu-kun has never risen for a less than perfect formal summons, and I doubt he's going to feel like starting today."
Hashimoto's face fell. "Then I'll never get you all, ever!"
"Don't say that," Seiryuu smiled.
"Right!" Byakko agreed. "Keep trying. You've got the basics of it down already, so tweaking the rest can't be too hard, right?"
Hashimoto pouted.
'Too hard' was one of those phrases he'd always been told was a relative thing. His older sister, a slave-driver of a temple priestess (unfortunately one of the rare ones who it wasn't worth making happy), had always said that stupid people found a lot of things 'too hard' while smart people found them easy. It was just a matter of intelligence.
She'd also always said that Hashimoto was denser than a doorstop, but that was less relevant.
With his doe-eyed stare, Hashimoto turned to implore Seiryuu as well. "Help me then?" he asked. "Please? I really don't think I'll be able to get you all otherwise. And then I won't be able to go home. It was hard enough just getting here, and the next time I'll be able to visit won't be for a while…!" Accessing the ether realm was tricky like that.
Byakko laughed. "What do you think we came out for?"
"You clearly needed the assistance," Seiryuu smiled, and Hashimoto decided to give the dragon the benefit of the doubt with regard to that potential insult.
"…okay," he said and raised his staff again, making sure to tip it a bit more the proper way like Seiryuu had shown him before. "Okay, here I go-"
"Wait!" Byakko bounded forward and took up Hashimoto's hands so they stood nose to nose like dance partners (or nose to chin mostly, since the white tiger's human form was kind of short). "I'll mirror you like this," Byakko grinned. "We'll go slow-halftime, okay? So just follow me!"
"Okay," Hashimoto said, and tried to quell the butterflies in his stomach before Seiryuu counted them in and the spell began a third time.
And a fourth…
Then a fifth…
A sixth…
Byakko was amazingly patient, Hashimoto thought, cringing inside during a timeout. If Hashimoto had been the one helping, he didn't think he'd be able to be so nice in the face of such persistent stupid, like tripping over his own feet even when the rest of the spell had gone right. But all Byakko did was laugh and say "So close!" and "One more time! This means you'll get it next for sure!"
And so Hashimoto set his jaw and sucked in another deep breath and ignored the way his arms were aching, beginning the dance anew each time Seiryuu counted them in, again and again and again.
He'd lost count of the rounds, concentrating hard when suddenly a deafening explosion tore through the ether and Hashimoto's numb fingers dropped his staff in surprise. "Suzaku!" The phoenix shot through the middle of the fireball and corkscrewed up through the stars as shockwaves rumbled around like summer thunder.
"…but I didn't…" Hashimoto gaped. "It wasn't…"
Suzaku gave a searing shriek as he banked high above them and Hashimoto slapped his palms to his ears with a wince. The phoenix's voice was sharp, piercing and loud. Fire trailed from his great wings, rippling the ether in his wake.
"He says your calls are really annoying," Byakko translated helpfully.
"Nice of him to finally join us," Seiryuu said.
"He's really loud," Hashimoto said, stressed on behalf of his eardrums. Suzaku dove sharply and flared his wings out to brake. The resulting heatwave rocked Hashimoto back on his heels.
With a compact explosion that wafted the scent of ash and sulphur across the ether, the phoenix followed Seiryuu and Byakko into human form, crossing his arms. "Why haven't you given up and gone home yet, Summoner?" he demanded, and seated himself by Seiryuu's side.
Hashimoto stared, momentarily distracted by the image gap between Suzaku's flashy entrance and cool phoenix form, and his weirdly skinny human appearance. Because he made a strange looking human, old of face but young of body, sort of delicate-looking-lithe and light as if his bones remained hollow even now-but not really all that pretty.
"…sorry?" Hashimoto hazarded.
"So you should be," Suzaku told him maturely.
"No, no need for apologies!" Byakko laughed. "This is good! Now you've only got one more to go~♪"
"One more to go my ass," Suzaku scoffed. "More like he hasn't gotten any of us yet!"
"But I-"
"Don't worry, Hasshi," Seiryuu smiled, reaching out to toy with a curl of Suzaku's wavy, fire-blond mop of hair. "Suzaku's more bark than bite. Once you get this summons right, you'll technically call all of us anyway."
"But he hasn't gotten it right yet!" Suzaku snapped, hair bursting into flames. "Who said we're getting friendly with him already?"
"Who said we aren't?" Seiryuu asked with a smile, unaffected by Suzaku's temper. "You don't mind do you, Hasshi?"
"I like it!" Hashimoto said quickly, earnest. "The Hasshi-I mean, being friendly. Please call me Hasshi! We can be friends please, okay?"
Byakko laughed in delight. "Sure we can."
"Tcht," Suzaku crossed his arms, glowering Hashimoto's way. "Brat, it's lucky you're hot."
Hashimoto giggled as well, knowing a test when he faced one-especially the kind that was easily passable. Coyly, he swished the hem of his robe. "Not as hot as you though, right…?"
For several long moments Suzaku just glared some more, before his expression thawed into a grin and he leaned back, satisfied. "Alright, he's a keeper."
"Too easy, Suzaku," Seiryuu chuckled.
"That's funny coming from you," Suzaku said with a huff, blowing his wispy bangs out of his eyes.
Seiryuu shrugged, smiling. "I decided I liked him, that's all. No need to be jealous."
"Wha-jealous?" Byakko joined the laughter at Suzaku's indignant squawk, and the phoenix narrowed his eyes. "You want jealous? You'll see jealous when old Gen shows up."
"Oh?" Seiryuu said mildly.
"'When'?" Hashimoto asked, excited by the thought. "Not 'if'? You think I can do it, too?"
"You'd better do it," Suzaku grinned in challenge. "He's going to be disappointed if you don't."
"And nobody wants to be around when Genbu's disappointed!" Byakko added.
"O-okay," Hashimoto blinked. Taking a deep breath, resolved, he called his staff to his hand from where it had floated off amid the ether. "Okay, guys. I'm going to do it this time next! But I'm going to need all of your helps."
"Help," Suzaku said. "Not helps. And no next. What the hell, how are you a summoner when you can't even speak normally right!"
"Maybe I'm stupid, but I try very hard!" Hashimoto protested, to Seiryuu's adoring laughter.
"You can be a genius of hard work like me!" Byakko said, his light eyes sparkling, and Hashimoto grinned right back. "There's nothing wrong with that, right? As long as we're geniuses of something!"
"Geniuses of stupid," Suzaku scoffed, fending off Seiryuu's token slap over the head. "Okay, okay, let's go! I'll count you in." Cued, Byakko took Hashimoto's hands again, and Seiryuu leaned back to watch. "In three, two, one…!"
Hashimoto took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and again began to dance.
It was a perfect spell. He could feel it from the start, from Byakko's warm, guiding hands, to Suzaku's strong voice singing the call, his words melding seamlessly with Hashimoto's own, and Seiryuu's gentle reminders at problem spots. Hashimoto could feel the ether tingling around him as he moved, sensed it gathering, glowing on that other plane of existence in a way that his mind could almost see, just the way a perfect summons should be...
And then it all disappeared.
Hashimoto's eyes flew open in surprise, his heart tripping over itself when he realised he couldn't see anything or feel any ether; the darkness had stolen everything from his breath to the stars. "Sei!" he called as loud as he could, trying to quell a panic. "Byakko? Suzaku-?" But his words vanished as fast as they came.
"Missing someone in that line-up?" a voice asked then, and Hashimoto whirled around, eyes darting until he found a figure hidden in the nothingness, slowly approaching through the dark that was coiled around him like a midnight river.
"...Gen…bu?" Hashimoto hazarded with trepidation. But he refused to step back. If this truly was Genbu, then Hashimoto was not going to run; if it was a malevolent on the other hand, he had faith the other three Guardians would come to his aid if he really needed it.
The spirit seemed to smile in the non-light, and Hashimoto couldn't help but stare as his form became clearer: formal robes, all in black, hung perfectly from his frame with not a crease out of place. The very set of his shoulders was imbued with authority and a casual self-possession.
"Y-you're…" Hashimoto blinked-downward-as Genbu stopped walking maybe two paces shy. "You're really short." The Guardian tilted his head and Hashimoto squeaked as he realised what he'd said, slapping his hands across his mouth. "WaitI'msorrypleasedon'tkillme-!"
Genbu smiled, light like first snow despite the wintry ice in his thin eyes. "I won't. But believe me, you'd be very scared were I any bigger."
Hashimoto nodded quickly, deciding himself a firm subscriber of that religion-despite just the two of them present, the darkness already felt claustrophobic. "Did I, um." He paused and tried again, attempting to be more careful with his words. "Did I get you…? I mean the summons, did it call? Did it work?"
"It worked," Genbu chuckled, and abruptly the jet black pressure fell away around them. "Congratulations."
Hashimoto blinked as the ether realm warped back into place, stars sparkling alive once more, and sucked in a very deep breath. It'd… worked? He'd done it…? Looking around, he met Seiryuu's smiling eyes over Byakko and Suzaku's excited chatter, and Genbu's amusement. "…yay?"
"You did it!" Suzaku whooped, trailing fireworks as he ran in and tackled Hashimoto to the ground in a tangle of limbs and laughter, Byakko pouncing atop the both of them.
"I did it!" Hashimoto cheered, hugging both Guardians euphorically tight in victory. "Yesss~!"
"Good work!" Byakko grinned, and thumped Hashimoto heartily on the back.
"Don't praise him too much," Genbu said mildly, strolling over to Suzaku's vacated space by Seiryuu's side. "'Good' would have been three tries at most."
Still, Hashimoto's excitement could not be curbed-especially not when he looked up and saw Seiryuu still smiling. "Seven wasn't too bad though," the dragon said.
"I wasn't too bad!" Hashimoto giggled, and wrapped his arms even tighter around Suzaku and Byakko, delighted. "Sei said I wasn't too bad!"
Suzaku laughed, wrestling out of Hashimoto's grip to give him a headlock full of knuckle. "You had a lot of help though, brat! Got any thanks to say?"
"Thank youuu, Seiryuuu~!" Hashimoto hollered until Seiryuu obliged him a little wave. "And you, too, Byakko!" Shoving Suzaku and his knuckleduster away, Hashimoto grabbed the white tiger in a tight bear-hug that was gleefully returned.
"Anytime, Hasshi!"
"And thanks to Genbu-sama, too!" Hashimoto grinned, glancing back over his shoulder. Genbu gave a nod of acknowledgement, his smile amused.
"Oi, what the hell!" Suzaku demanded, and jumped on Hashimoto again, flames ablaze. "What did he do, you bastard? What about me!"
Hashimoto just laughed, easily rolling with all of Suzaku's light punches. "What about you, Suzaku-kun?"
"O- hey! Why am I the only one who gets a -kun!"
Over Byakko's merry laughter, Hashimoto heard Genbu say, "So this one's a keeper, isn't he. Despite himself." It gave him a thrill of excitement to down to the tips of his toes.
I've really done it, he thought. The first part of the Grand Summoner's order-get! All that was left was the quest, but that could come later. After they all got home from the ether realm and things like wards and bindings were organised… Maybe the Guardians would even be able to help him find his purpose!
Hashimoto beamed at the very thought, and grinned all the wider when he realised the four were all smiling back at him. "Thanks, you guys," he said breathlessly. "I really, really mean it. ♥"
"You're certainly welcome," Genbu told him, and Seiryuu chuckled.
"So easy, Genbu-sama," he chided.
"Tcht," Genbu said, "no need to be jealous."
1- it feels like setup, but i don't know if i'll write any more of this verse. 8D; i want to draw it, buuut it kind of has no point except hasshi and his quest. oh well~ guess we'll see. i have images of abc just dicking around while hasshi's at school, kawai waving in the window and stuff, and goseki just walking down the halls as if he's a teacher... xD
2- hasshi also gives them human names later, like the book of friends? but for now they're just... not named. maa. :3
3- and they camp in his house, which is half a temple. and hasshi's sister is totally disappointed in the way kawai looks, because she practically worshiped suzaku the guardian but thinks kawai is just not hot. xD