Chapter 9: Babysitting
"YOUR Grace!"
"Deity!"
"Dandy!"
"Dandy!"
"I told you to look after her, now look! Look! She's gone again!" said Tamotsu as he rode at Yoshiko's back who was following Dandy's smell.
"Me! You know I'm hunting for our food—"
"Our food?! You know I don't eat meat!"
"Not yours but for Dandy." Yoshiko barked back.
"For Deity? You know she doesn't eat meat! You're just saying that so you could run away from your responsibility!"
"I'm not! She said she wanted to try what I eat!"
"If Dandy gets sick from what you're going to do..."
"Fine. Fine. How am I supposed to go hunting for MY food and want me to look after her, too?"
"You want me to do it, then? When I'm this small, this is hard for me. I can only ride her shoulder or head but once she put me down and trick me, she would be gone in a blink of an eye." Tamotsu kept jumping at Yoshiko's back as if it would hurt him "You have a keen smell and eye. You better look for her fast. I'm afraid that she might get out of the mountain or be seen by humans and take her."
With that, the forest fell silent. Yoshiko focused on finding Dandy's smell. But every time the wind blew, Dandy's smell will change direction. Yoshiko stopped what he was doing.
"What is it now?" Tamotsu said and looked around. "Is she near?"
"No." Yoshiko sat and just waited.
"Then why did you stop?"
"I think we're being played." Yoshiko then looked up.
"Ahh!" Tamotsu exclaimed as he rolled to Yoshiko's back. "You dunny, big mongrel."
"Shh. Be quiet. Did you hear that?" His ear twitched to his back.
"Hear what?"
"I hear her laughing." He then turned his head and ran as fast as he could to the nearest tree. He looked up and he saw a silhouette before it was gone.
"Did you see her?"
"Yeah. And I think she's playing with us along with Lady Shina and Lord Naru."
"Lady Shina and—" realization dawned on Tamotsu's face.
They both sigh and just sat there. There was no point in looking for Dandy. They should just wait before they both get tired.
When Dandy plays with Shina and Naru, who were deities of wind and thunder, they would probably take some time before they could find her. Shina and Naru would just play with Dandy's smell as they carried her with them, hiding her every time Yoshiko would finally get near to where they hid her. And now, that her two guardians know what they were doing, they would immediately stop.
"Come one now, you two," said Dandy not too far from where Yoshiko and Tamotsu are waiting. "you're no fun. Let's play some more."
"Your grace, aren't you tired and hungry?" said Tamotsu. "I'm a bit small to play like this. Let's just go back to your flowerbed. We can play there."
"But counting rocks and making flower crowns, we already did that yesterday," Dandy said sadly. "And Shina and Naru are here. They said that they'll be gone for a few days. Can we just play for a few more rounds?"
Tamotsu and Yoshiko looked at each other. In the end they just both sighed. Tamotsu jumped down from Yoshiko.
"Your grace, please show yourself to us so we could talk properly."
Dandy sighed and jumped down from the tree where she was sitting. Her land was graceful as Shina carried her slowly down. Then the two deities showed themselves, too.
Shina had blue-colored long-braided hair that turns white as it goes in the end and she is wearing a white flowy kimono robe. While Naru had shaggy hair as the color of a lilac in bloom and wearing dark blue Shinto priest clothes.
Their faces are covered with a white cloth, legend says that anyone who would see their faces would be thrown to oblivion and never be returned and reincarnated again. It was an old legend. No one knew where it came from, who made that curse, and why.
Shina and Naru are Gods and Goddess, older than Amaterasu but they are far playful than their sister. They must have offended an older God than them. These Gods are easily offended, knowing how playful these two, they aren't surprised that they got curse for playing too much.
Both Yoshiko and Tamotsu bowed in front of the three deities before them. Good thing that the two older deities are not easily offended but once they set their minds to what they want, they won't budge until they finish doing it so. That is why both Tomatsu and Yoshiko are silently praying.
"Hey, why don't you too looked up," said Shina. "we won't hurt you, you know?"
"As you wish, your grace," Tomatsu replied, and both straighten up.
Dandy smiled and run to Yoshiko. "I'm sorry for forcing you to play with me. I just don't want you to get tired of just taking care of me. I want you to enjoy with everything I'm enjoying, too."
"Thank you, our Deity," Yoshiko answered as Dandy cling to him more.
"This child really loves your fur, Yoshiko," Naru said and Dandy looked at him.
Dandy urged Naru to come closer as she wanted them to feel what Yoshiko's fur feels. "come, Naru, Shina. Yoshiko has the greatest fur in the whole world."
Naru looked at Shina and carefully supported her until they came into Dandy's side. She then held both of their hands and let them pet Yoshiko's fur.
Dandy laughed as she saw Yoshiko stiffened. She looked back to Shina and Naru who are just silently brushing Yoshiko's fur. She doesn't know if they liked it, too like how much she liked it. Their faces were hidden behind those clothes. Dandy's attention went from Yoshiko's fur to the cloth that was covering both the twin's faces.
Curiosity licked her mind as she asked herself, {Are they making the same face as me? Are they happy like me? Are they enjoying this? Do we have the same faces? Their hair is different than mine, does their eyes, too? Are we the same since we are both deities?}
And just like a bug curiosity bit Dandy when the wind lightly blew a part of Naru's cloth cover and saw a part of his lips. She didn't think twice as she was thinking that finally, she can see someone who was the same as her. She then just reached out to see what was behind the cloth.
When Dandy's hand touched the cloth, it was almost like she hit an invisible switch. Thunder roared up in the sky as the clouds began to darken. Lightning traveled from the sky. Slashing the light out as the darkness came in. A strong gust of wind started to whirl in the forest. The trees swayed like it was just grass on the ground. They could see the birds were struggling to cling to the branches of the trees. small animals hid in their homes as small insects can be seen floating up in the air.
Frightened by what was happening, Dandy clung onto Yoshiko as Naru and Shina drew back. Yoshiko jumped all his might from the tree trunk to its branches just to drew Dandy away from the twins.
"Foolish!" the thundering voice of Naru was heard as the clouds still accumulating. "what were you thinking, child?! Are you trying to kill yourself? Do you not want to see the light anymore?!"
"I-I'm sorry, y-you grace," Dandy cried as she clung to Yoshiko. She tried so hard to hid her face from Naru.
She was so afraid. She had never seen anyone got so angry at her, and a God at that. Naru and Shina are one of those powerful Gods in their land. Having to control the wind and thunder and lightning, these twins can make one powerful storm.
Angering them is the last thing you wanted to do in your life.
Dandy was so afraid that she thought she might have blown away. That Naru's lightning might strike her. With the body of a child and as light as the flower, she was easily blown. If Yoshiko weren't there, she might have been blown somewhere. And worst might be out of the mountain.
"Your Grace!" Tamotsu tried his best to call out to Naru and Shina. He clung to Yoshiko as he was started to be blown away, too. "Please, punish this foolish servant. As I lack in guiding her about this information. It is I who made a mistake. She is innocent to this world as a newborn. We are at fault here, Your Grace."
Silence fell on between all of them. The wind subsided as it started to die down. The lightning had stopped. The thunder can still be heard roaring up in the clouds.
"Naru," called the soft yet powerful voice of Shina. "Let's not blame anyone for this mistake. As the guardian had said, it was an honest mistake. We are at fault, too."
"How can you say that, Shina?" Naru protested. "If Dandy had pulled my cloth. If she had seen my face. She could have been…"
Shina held her brother's hand. "We should take this time to educate this child," Shina said as she turned into a full-grown woman.
Shina now turned into her original form, a graceful and beautiful Goddess. Not much of the difference from what she looked like when she was in her child-like form aside from the gracefulness that was absent from before. Shina floated like a cloud in the sky as she descends from where was Dandy, Yoshiko, and Tamotsu were. She was glowing and blinding and yet you cannot take your eyes off of her.
"Come here now," she urged.
Dandy looked at Yoshiko and Tamotsu. They just both urged her to go to Shina. As she walked closer, Naru then changed to his full-grown image. His hair was longer now and a darker shade of lilac. He waved his hand and Dandy floated. She stopped at Shina's lap and cradled her gently.
"Child, I know you are afraid of what you have done," Shina started. "But it is not you that made us angry. It was your act. And I want you to make an understanding that it is forbidden to get a glimpse of what is underneath this cloth."
Shina stroked Dandy's hair and as if she used her magic, dandy started to feel calm. "A curse was given, that's why we need to hide our faces."
"Shina," reprimand was clear in Naru's voice.
"She must know this, Naru, so she could understand," Shina replied and looked back at Dandy.
Dandy was now curious but she didn't say anything as look what had happened when she let her curiosity run. So, she just sat on Shina's lap and waited. Naru was looking down at them. A slight move of his head made Dandy knew that he was looking at her.
Dandy didn't look away and just stared at the blank cloth in Naru's face. She then remembered how Tamotsu drew her in the soil.
[FLASHBACK]
"You call that the perfect image of me?" shocked wasn't even the description she felt. "I'm not that ugly!"
"But that's how I saw you."
"I don't have four eyes and two noses! My mouth isn't that big!" She then ran back to the river and looked at her face in the clear water.
She can clearly see her hair as yellow as the sun's and eyes that are blue as the sky. And they aren't two's and four's. Dandy then ran back to Tamotsu. "I think you have a problem, Otsu."
"Me!" Tamotsu exclaimed. "Me the greatest guardian?!"
Yoshiko and Dandy both acted as if they are nauseated.
"These foolish things," Tamotsu crossed his arms. "you two don't know art."
"Oh, I know art but it ain't that way," Yoshiko then bawled laughing. "And I think, the deity is right. You really have a problem. Your eyes were just too big that's why you kept seeing double."
[END OF FLASFBACK]
Dandy slightly laughed at that memory. She then thinks that Naru has four eyes.
"What's so funny, Dandy?"
Dandy shakes her head vigorously. She's so foolish that she forgot that Naru is still angry. She should shut her mouth and since her mind sometimes. That would be her death if she continues doing that.
"Naru, stop frightening the child," reprimand Shina.
"Then proceed to your story. We don't have the time in the world." Impatience can be heard in his voice.
"We do have time, Naru. And a little tardiness would help a lot of the people this time. You should practice your patience."
Naru just scoffed and said nothing anymore.
Dandy looked at the two siblings as she waited for Shina. When she looked at her, a sad sigh escaped her lips and started the reason for the white cloth that hid their faces.
****
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SummerStardust
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Shina and Naru here can transform into small children as they are playful. They control the wind and thunder. Can you guess their other name?
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