What Dreams May Come
Chapter 1
The hallway was dim, with dull lights places at distant intervals. The walls themselves were cracked and there was leaking onto the ground. In the distance echoed with the sound of roaring beasts. A lone girl ran down its length breathing hard, her feet splashing in the water. She leaned against the wall to catch her breath and frantically looked behind her. The monster wasn't far off. She didn't have much time.
She took off running again, yet behind her the roaring grew louder. She came to a fork in the path, and took one at random. As she ran down the path, there was the sound of claws scraping against concrete. The creature was close!
A final burst of energy gave her the strength to run faster, although it did no good. There was an almost deafening roar, and the beast tackled her from behind. She tried to break free, but the claws began to tear into her…
Satori Komiji awoke with a jolt. She looked around in a panic, before realizing that there was no monster, and she was safe in her bed. Despite a full night's sleep, she was breathing heavily. She found herself drenched in sweat.
"Ugh… I'm going to need a good shower…" Satori said to herself.
There was an angry "Meow" from the floor. Satori looked down and realized that in waking up she had dislodged her cat who apparently been sleeping on her chest.
She crawled out of bed, knelt down, and gave the cat an apology scratch behind the ears. The cat Orin purred and then walked away, all having been forgiven.
Satori thought the nightmare was over, when she happened to glance at her clock. She was going to be late for class!
She ran out of her room and across the hallway, to another room. There, fast asleep and snoring lay her roommate Utsuho Reiuji. The room was fairly messy, clothes scattered about along with schoolbooks and old wrappers.
"Wake up! We're late!" Satori said.
Utsuho remained asleep, and muttered. "Okay, two more for me then…"
"Wake up!" Satori cried, to no avail. Utsuho muttered to herself. "Oh, so you don't have any salt?"
Satori placed her hand on Utsuho, to attempt to shake her awake. The instant she did, a strange image appeared in her head of Utsuho sitting at a table in a luxury restaurant, being served a plate of boiled eggs. Satori was sitting at the table across from Utsuho and for some reason was wearing her one-piece swimsuit.
She reached across the table and gripped Utsuho by the shoulder. "It's time to wake up."
Everything faded to white and Satori found herself standing back in Utsuho's room. The hell raven woke with a jolt and fell out of bed and onto the black and red tiled floor.
"Satori?" She said sleepily. "Where are my eggs?"
"Never mind that. We're going to miss the bus!"
"That's nice." Utsuho said, and the attempted to climb back into the bed. Satori sighed and said. "We won't have any time for breakfast!"
That woke her up. Utsuho stood up and rushed out of the room to take her morning shower.
As she did, Satori flicked the light on in the room. She gathered up Utsuho's schoolbooks and placed them in her bag. Her roommate never could keep track of anything.
After Utsuho showered, Satori did the same. While in the shower, she reflected on what had just happened. Was that Utsuho's dream? If so, how had she been able to see it? Satire's head began to hurt, and she tried to abandon the issue.
Afterwards, she dressed herself in a long sleeved blue shirt, mid-shin length pink skirt, black hair band and red shoes. She gathered up her schoolbooks, which were neatly stacked upon her desk.
She headed down the stair case, towards the front door of the manor, and saw Utsuho headed towards the kitchen. She wore a tank top and miniskirt with thigh high stockings. The top had holes cut in it to allow for her wings. She wore her long black hair lose, and it flowed down her back.
Satori sighed, thinking that she would never look so good in such an outfit. Utsuho was fairly tall, and was considerably well-endowed. In addition, she had long legs and the much coveted hourglass figure (It was a mystery as to how the hell raven maintained this figure, considering how big her appetite was.)
Satori on the other hand, stood a far shorter than Utsuho, and was practically flat-chested. She was thin, although it wasn't the attractive kind of thin, but rather the kind of thin that made people wonder if she was slightly anorexic (which she wasn't).
Satori walked over to Utsuho, and stopped her. "I said we don't have time for breakfast."
"But Satoriiiiii!" Utsuho complained.
"I'm sorry but we don't."
Utsuho looked at Satori, eyes wide and pleading.
"I…" Satori started, but then couldn't focus on what she was going to say.
Utsuho continued to stare.
"F-fine." Satori relented, and then smiled. "Lunch is on me at the cafeteria."
Utsuho squealed and then embraced Satori, pressing her face between her breasts. "Thank you Satori!"
"C-Can't breathe…" Satori said.
"Oh! Sorry!" Utsuho let go, and Satori stepped back, catching her breath. Suddenly her mind flashed back to the dream, when the girl leaned against the wall, exhausted. Her head began to hurt again and she pressed her hand to her forehead.
"Are you okay?" Utsuho asked.
"I-I'm fine…" Satori replied. "Let's get going."
Satori handed Utsuho her backpack, and the two of them headed to the door.
Unfortunately, they arrived at the stop just in time to see the bus pull away, leaving them behind.
"Wait!" Satori attempted to run after it, but it was too late.
"Great…" Satori said, "Now what?"
"I have an idea!" Utsuho said. "Hold on tight!"
"Wha- what are you doing! Put me down!"
From behind, Utsuho grabbed Satori around the waist. She spread out her wings and with a mighty thrust, took off into the air, carrying Satori with her.
Satori cried out for the first few seconds, before recovering her wits and realizing that her best friend wasn't likely to drop her.
She calmed down, and began to appreciate the view of the city of Gensokyo. Satori lived in the wealthier neighborhood. As such she could have easily afforded a chauffeur to drive her from place to place, or at least her own car, but she had never bothered. She disliked such displays of wealth, so a chauffeur was out of the question, and she rarely traveled anywhere but to school and back, so she had never considered owning her own car.
They soon left the skies over the residential area and came to the center of the city. Utsuho flew between towering skyscrapers, looking down at the humans and youkai beneath. Suddenly Utsuho stopped, and hovered in place.
Satori looked up and saw her friend's confused face.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Um… which way is it again?"
"Follow Grayhorn, then take a right on 89th. Take that road until you come to Chalmer St."
"Um…"
Satori sighed, and looked about. She saw a tengu in a purple checkered skirt flying nearby, and recognized her as a fellow student.
"Just follow her." Satori said.
"Oh!" Utsuho said, and began flying forwards again.
Their flight took them over the city's entertainment district, where there were all sorts of shops and restaurants, and even an amusement park.
Past the entertainment district was the Yasaka Academy. The structure had multiple buildings as it was the school for the entire city. They landed with ease, and made it into their first class, just before the bell rang.
Satori's headache didn't ease up, and in fact grew worse as the day progressed. She thanked the gods that it was a Friday, and would be able to relax over the weekend.
She sat at a table in the cafeteria, getting to work on her math homework early. She was at the top of her class, and wouldn't let something as simple as a headache get in the way of that.
Satori had always had a light appetite, thus she didn't have much to eat. Utsuho, on the other hand, piled her tray with all sorts of foods, and ate with gusto.
In between bites, Utsuho suddenly asked with her mouth full. "Hey Satori? Are you going to the concert tonight?"
The concert? Satori thought confused. Then she remembered that the big concert was tonight. There were many bands scheduled to play, but the one everyone was interested in was the Prismriver sisters' rock band Phantom Ensemble. Most of the students in the school were going. She looked around the cafeteria and noticed posters advertising the band.
"I don't know… I'm not feeling too well, I think at the end of the day I should just go home and relax."
"Aw c'mon. You'll enjoy it!"
"I don't think so…"
"Seriously. Satori, you're probably not getting out enough, that's why you're not feeling well!" Utusho said.
"Do you think?" Satori asked. Somehow she could feel the sincerity and concern in Utsuho's thoughts, and the warm feelings slightly alleviated her headache.
The relief didn't last long. Suddenly the door to the cafeteria burst open and a crow and wolf tengu walked in.
The crow, called Aya gestured and the wolf, called Momoji set down a stack of papers on a table.
Aya stepped forwards and shouted. "Bunbunmaru news! Hot of the press! Get it right here!"
Most people ignored Aya as she continued to promote the school newspaper, though one person turned towards her.
"That old thing, who reads paper anymore?" Tenshi asked.
"What? I'll have you know, the writing of the newspaper is a traditional art of the tengu."
"Yeah, an outdated tradition!" Tenshi responded.
"Outdated? I'll tell you, the Bunbunmaru news is the highest form of that art!"
"Art?" Tenshi put her hand in front of her mouth and laughed. "You call that tabloid art?"
"Tabloid? How dare you! It's a great newspaper. Tenma News has even contacted me saying they want me to work for them once I graduate! Which is far more than you've ever accomplished!"
Satori sighed, the headache was coming back. The Hinanai family was the wealthiest in the whole of Gensokyo, and it had made their daughter into the most stuck-up arrogant spoiled brat in the school. It didn't help that she was constantly surrounded by a posse of fawning sycophants.
As the two of them argued, Satori began to hear voices in her head, sounding like the voices of several others students in the cafeteria. They all blended into a cacophony of indistinct sounds, unable to tell one from the next.
One voice she could make out was Utsuho's, who was silently hoping that the argument would result in a fight.
A green haired girl stepped in between Tenshi and Aya. This was Sanae, the class president.
"Girls, can we please stop fighting?"
"Oh, stay out of this, Kochiya!" Tenshi said
"Yeah, this is none of your business!" Aya added.
The two of them then turned towards each other, as if they couldn't believe they had agreed on something.
"See, there's no need for conflict." Sanae said with a smile.
"Who asked you? And why are you here anyways? Shouldn't you be kissing headmaster Kanako's ass? I'm sorry, your Goddess' ass?"
Aya immediately pulled out her notepad and began writing. "Class president Sanae and Headmistress Kanako. Possible sexual relations?"
"What? Don't write that!" Sanae exclaimed.
"Well how else did you get to the position of class president and priestess? Seems a pretty likely situation to me." Tenshi said
"Sanae uses sexual charms on headmistress Kanako to gain desired position?" Aya was writing furiously."
"Heh, I'd read that article Aya!" Tenshi said.
Apparently, present a common enemy, and even two complete opposites will team up. However amusing it might have been, Satori didn't care. The tension in the room was becoming overwhelming, as the voices became louder and louder.
Finally, Satori stood up.
"Where are you going?" Utusho asked.
"I… I just need somewhere to clear my head." Satori answered as she left.
Satori chose the back of the school library. There was a comfortable chair there and the she was always alone there.
Finally away from the crowds and senseless chatter, Satori's headache began to ease. She leaned back in the chair, and relaxed.
Then, unfortunately, she heard the sounds of someone else approaching, one aisle over. Looking through the books she could see a couple. The one that stood out the most was the girl. She had long red hair, and two pairs of bat wings, one on her head, and the other on her back. Trailing out from under her ridiculously short skirt was a long thin tail ending in a triangle point.
"Are you sure this is private enough?" The boy asked.
"Don't worry." Koakuma said. "Nobody ever comes back here."
The couple then proceeded to make out. Koakuma's hand moved towards the boys groin while he groped her breasts.
It would have been easy enough for Satori to look away, but she was somehow picking up on their lustful thoughts. She blushed a pink almost as bright as her hair. Screw the cafeteria, this was even worse! Satori gripped her head trying to cleanse her mind of the thoughts, failed, and proceeded to run out of the library.
"What the hell? I thought we were alone?" The boy asked, noticing Satori as she ran past.
"Well, we are now. And does it really matter who sees us anyways?" Koakuma asked, and kissed him again.
The encounter in the library must have overloaded whatever was picking up on the thoughts of others, because Satori felt no further headaches. She sat through a lecture about the creation of the Hakurei Barrier in Keine's history class without picking up on the thoughts of anyone else around her. Not even Utsuho's who was sleeping right next to her. Then again, most of the students were sleeping through Keine's class. Some of those who weren't were staring lustfully at the attractive silver-haired, well-endowed, teacher.
Even though she was feeling better, she still managed to excuse herself from gym class. This came to no surprise to Coach Shou, as Satori did this on a near daily basis. The few times she did actually choose to participate (or Shou wouldn't listen to her excuses) she tended to do horribly. Utsuho on the other hand was a star athlete (the only class she actually excelled in).
Soon, school was over, and Satori and Utsuho headed home (this time managing not to miss the bus).
As they walked from the stop to their house, Utsuho asked. "So, are you going to go to the concert?"
"I don't know."
"Come on! It'll be fun!" Utsuho said. She ran forwards, in front of Satori, and walked backwards.
"Tonight's the night I have to give Orin a bath." Satori said.
"You can bathe her tomorrow!" Utsuho said.
"Well…"
"Quit making excuses!"
"Excuses?" Satori asked.
"C'mon you need this! You hardly ever get out! It'll be fun!"
"Well maybe I just value having time to myself!"
"Excuses, excuses, excuses. You spend way too much time cooped up in your room. Look at you!" Utsuho grabbed Satori's arm and rolled up the sleeve. "Look at that, your completely pale, and not the attractive kind of pale either."
"My skin's just very fair." Satori insisted.
"Sure it is, but were getting away from the subject, will you please come to the concert with me?"
Satori finally relented. "Very well then, I will."
"Hooray!" Utsuho jumped into the air and flapped her wings.
"Utsuho wait!"
Unfortunately, Utsuho was holding on to Satori's arm. She fell back to the ground, landing on her back and pulling Satori down on top of her. Satori's head landed right between Utsuho's breasts.
The situation was would have been bad enough, except at that moment someone driving by rolled down their window and shouted. "Get a room!"
The concert was held in a warehouse near the river. The place was packed to the brim with fans cheering and shouting. Those that could fly, Utsuho included, were perched on the rafters above. The Prismriver sisters were about to begin playing.
"ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?" Lyrica shouted.
The resulting cheer was deafening. Next to Satori, Utsuho leaped into the air
The sisters began playing, and the rock music resounded across the entire building as strobe lights flashed everywhere. Fog filled the area. Each of the sisters sang, their voices adding to the wondrous sound.
Despite her earlier objections, Satori found that she was actually enjoying herself. Despite her aversion to crowds she found the atmosphere exciting. She actually cheered along with the crowd and was even dancing (albeit badly) to the music. However, no matter how bad she was nobody around her even cared. Each was fully immersed in the song and barely aware of anyone else around them.
Then it all went wrong. Satori's headache returned worse than ever. She began to hear the voices in her head louder than ever, and there were so many of them.
Satori gripped her head and collapsed to her knees. Nobody around her noticed, or if they did, they probably assumed she was high on something. Finally, as the voices became deafening, she stood up. Pushing her way through the crowd, she headed towards the exit.
Finally outside she felt the pain lessen. She leaned against the wall, gasping for air.
"I guess this was a bad idea after all." Satori said. She looked around and found a drinking fountain. It was then that she noticed how dry her mouth felt. She stumbled over to it and drank greedily.
However it was then that she heard a scream come from around the side of the warehouse.
Despite common sense telling her to stay away, she felt something pulling her towards where the scream had originated from.
She rounded the corner, still gripping her head, and saw a horrific sight.
There was a small blonde haired girl in a purple dress lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Standing over her was some massive wolf like monster. It had no fur but scar covered yellow skin. From its neck extended several writhing tentacles.
The beast looked up from the girl it had assaulted, and turned towards Satori. Blood dripped from the creatures massive fangs.
Satori backed away, and ran. However the tentacles around the beasts neck extended, and grabbed Satori's leg. She tripped and fell face first.
More tentacles wrapped around Satori's body, and the beast pulled her towards it. She found herself staring the creature right in the face. It lifted one of its talons and touched it to Satori's forehead.
Instantly Satori felt her mind twist as an alien consciousness attempted to intrude upon it. Satori screamed as her head exploded in pain. Her vision blurred and she eventually passed out.
Okay, I've been thinking this story over in my head for a long time, and finally i get the chance to write it. This is based on a series of strange, Touhou related dreams I had. (Minus one, that one in particular being Eirin versus the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...then again...) In fact, dreams will play a major part in this story.
I reimagined Gensokyo into a more modern setting, and gave most characters different rolls. Kanako is the headmistress of the academy. Sanae is class president, Suwako is lying in a pool of blood, Tenshi's the stuck up rich kid, Aya and Momoji are the writers of the school newspaper, Koakuma's a big flirt, Tenma's the CEO of a very successful newspaper company, and Orin is just a cat.
Either way, expect some more action in the next chapter, as well as more explanation. By the way, this has no relation to Darkness of Illusion. Thanks for reading!
~Dragonexx
