I'm back! A wedding on St. Patty's day is really messing up my brain and my organization. While I was traveling I wrote this little thing. It's not related in any way to FGWD, so my three fans are going to kill me later. For now, just enjoy this little ditty I spun up awhile ago. With luck, the people that dislike OC stories can see that I'm a sub par writer at the least, and review so that I may actually improve. As you can tell, reviews are loved like a good one shot, and Touhou still belongs to Zun.
If you like this story and do not mind a story with an OC please check out my other story, From Gensokyo With Danmaku. It needs reveiws badly, it's not enough pain for my nee- I mean I need more feedback to become a better writer. I mean, I'm too much of a fool to find out my faults on my own. Now that disclaimers and shameless plugs are out of the way, lets actually start the story.
A Tale of the Past.
The moon was full, and the night was calm. Then she came.
"After her!"
"Thieving youkai bitch!" Voice's rung out amongst the shadows of the full moon and the darkness of night in this forest. The moonlight shone upon the one youkai, illuminating her before she dashed into the forest. Then, the moon did the same with the many monks following. The monks wore garbs of pure black, one of the most hostile sects. youkai had short golden hair, and a smirk on her visage, though the monks could not see it; on her face was a stolen ornate fox mask. On her back was a large pack, filled to the brim with various vegetables.
"That's the ninth time this month!"
The forest of trees gave way to a small grove of bamboo. Finding her way into the bamboo thicket, the youkai cannot help but to showboat. She effortlessly ricocheted from bamboo to bamboo up towards the thicket's canopy. She grabbed the top of a bamboo tree and gazed down. The monks cannot follow her up here.
"Cheeky bastard! We have you surrounded!"
It was true, in her showboating she neglected the monks already in the trees surrounding the thicket. My my, this many just for me? The youkai thought. Several more stood on the top of the thicket right above her. There would be no escape.
That is, if she did not have her power.
Quickstep.
The youkai instantly disappears, and leaves the monks ready to battle an enemy that is long gone. They would fight no one and capture nothing.
"Dammit!" One of the monks cursed, unbecoming of his own religion, and threw his staff to the ground.
"Ke...ke...ke..." The young youkai laughed to herself slowly, before erupting in laughter. She munched on a stolen beet. Sitting on a fallen sakura tree, she kicked her legs into the air as she laughed.
"Stupid humans, had they forgotten my power?" It was true, her power was, by all accounts; simply amazing. The quickstep technique allowed her to cover mass distances, without actually taking a step. She continued to laugh to herself some more, before finally calming down.
A young youkai in a tattered and faded plum yukata; a foul trickster, a damned vixen, a petty thief, a stunning beauty, all were names used to describe her. That was mostly because every time someone had asked her name she simply ran away. Her exploits had become famous about these parts, and while she had many names she was often referred to as "the one who got away." A powerful youkai, even though she had just recently learnt how to use her powers. A young youkai, in her prime, while the records are quite unclear about her true age she was at the very least one hundred.
The youkai jumped off the tree trunk, landing on the damp soil with her sandals. She brushed dirt off her yukata lightly. "Foolish monks didn't even put up a figh-"
She was interrupted by a rustling in the trees overhead. They continued to shake for a moment before quieting again.
"Who's there!" The youkai shouts, she jumps up at the ready to fight, or more likely; run. Nothing. If the youkai had a blade, she would brandish it by now, but she didn't; and instead stood in an unarmed stance. "I'm not kidding, if this is just another tanuki..."
A quick flash from the trees told her this was no tanuki.
Or any youkai for that matter. No respectable youkai would wield such things.
Talismans flew from the trees, and the underbrush as well. There were many, but the youkai wasn't about to sit around and count.
Quickstep!
The youkai left the scene instantly.
How did they know where I would be, that should be impo-
"Seal." A voice rings out as she falls to the ground. A kekkai forms around the youkai as she landed somewhere miles away from the ambush. Impossible.
"So you are the youkai that's causing all the ruckus around these parts?" The voice rung out again, slowly getting closer to the youkai from behind. The youkai motioned to turn around to face her captor, but finds her body unable to.
"Come now, that seal only limits movement, you should still be able to talk just fine." She remained silent. "I'll take that as a yes. Either way, tell me, why do you do such things?" The monk continues. No response from the youkai. "May I at least have your name?" Still no word from the youkai. "Sigh, can't even get that can I?" The monk approached from behind the youkai, and pulled a knife to her neck.
To the youkai's surprise he only used the knife to cut the string holding the mask to her face. The monk jumped in front of the youkai, being revealed along with her face. The monk was dressed in a black and white robe, with many scrolls tied onto said robe. Unlike most monks, however, this one had hair; wavy short hair with a light violet tint.
"May I at least see your face?" The monk asked, as if still needing to ask permission. The youkai's face was revealed, a fair skinned face, looking to be around thirteen by human standards. A scowl was painted on her face.
"You're the one who has all the sects. up in arms?" The monk says in disbelief, "I was thinking it would be more of a menace than this whelp."
"Whelp? Human I'll have you know I have lived much longer than you!" The youkai finally retorted. It was true, this human looked to only be around twenty.
"Ah, but by youkai standards you are still a fledgling. Now that you're talking, tell me, why are you doing these things?" The monk asked again. This time he gets a response.
"To eat, to cause destruction, for fun, the usual." The youkai responded, the scowl still apparent as ever.
"Tis a shame really, I have gotten that answer so many times over." The monk sighed.
"So now, why are you so upstart about asking around? Conducting a survey for your temple?"
"No, but I do often report some findings to my, and other, temples. However, my true goal is to create a world where man and youkai can live in harmony."
"...Who are you?" The youkai asked, intrigued by that last statement.
"I am a lowly apprentice, and I do not wish to use my dharma name here, so you may call me Hijiri." Hijiri... The youkai had heard many tales of this fellow. A powerful Buddhist monk that also had the title of youkai exterminator. That the title of apprentice was unfitting of the power that young monk had, the youkai had heard. There was a reason for that.
"You're a loon." The youkai stated matter of factly.
Hijiri was famous for letting youkai escape. The youkai smiled in her heart, maintaining a scowl on her face. "I've also heard that many times over." The monk replied.
"With good reason, there is no way humans and youkai can live together in harmony! No matter the case, one would try to kill the other!"
"We are talking right now are we not?"
"That's because you sealed me!"
"Ah yes, I do wish I didn't have to do that."
"...So how did you catch me?" The youkai wondered out loud.
"Your power leaves a sort of trail behind with each use. Your technique is crude, and you did not hide the trails, you must have recently learnt it. You also have a habit of only going so far, and are not varying your jumps. You do not cut some short, and always go the same distance do to your in experience. And you always seem to jump at certain spots to showboat due to your arrogance. From all this, I was able to predict your next jumps and place some automated sealing charms at where you might have gone. From that, I was able to hide at one of the spots where would jump after the charms attacked. With how many times you seem to rob, it was only a matter of time."
"Wow, all this effort just to meet little ol' me?" The youkai finally had a smirk on her face. "So what are you going to do now? Seal me? Execute me before your fellow monks? Or is your sect. like some of those that keep female youkai around for..." The youkai knew that Hijiri would pick none of the above and release her.
"While yes, a few of the monks have been known to do that... I will not do any of those. I will let you go, but only if you promise to stop stealing from the town and causing havoc."
"I promise." The youkai lied, and tried to motion her head to bow in faked sincerity. She couldn't as she was sealed.
"I know that look in your eyes, you won't listen to me in the slightest, maybe go in hiding for a month or two; but you will not change your ways." The monk surmised the youkai's plan immediately.
"If you know just from looking in my eyes, why even try?"
"Because maybe one will learn how lucky they are to be caught by me and not the rest of my sect. If I could track you down then so can they."
"Maybe, but you forget, anything that you will do will be overshadowed by the majority."
"Then I'll just have to work harder."
"It's going to be hard to outdo the presence of a high power special ops. team with at least fifty talisman toting monks." The youkai's scowl returned.
"Wha-"
"Even with my movement sealed by senses are still better than that of a human. They are coming here." And they weren't being quiet about it either. The youkai noted that they were marching in such a way to make a ruckus and inspire fear.
"Then go!" Hijiri pulls off the talisman used to seal the youkai, and she ran. The youkai knew that she could only use the quickstep technique one more time today, and if she teleported into another trap...
But she was not terribly worried, her exact position was still hidden, and she was plenty faster than the monks when not showboating. Then her youkai senses cause her to stop.
"Again Hijiri? You let her get away?" One monk yelled, obviously the leader.
The youkai reluctantly pulled her head back to watch what was going on.
"She overpowered me, what could one lone apprentice do?" Hijiri shrugged.
"One lone apprentice could hold her off to buy some time for the cavalry to come in and finish the job. You could have probably finished her yourself with your power." The monks encircled Hijiri.
"You give me too much credit, I'm nowhere near that level. And besides, I had no idea the cavalry was coming."
"You should know that we monks always stick together." The head monk smirked for a second, and then frowned. "Only someone of your strength would have the gall to break that sacred bond and to go against the temple." The anger in the leader's eyes was apparent.
"Pardon me?" Hijiri just smiled. "I haven't done anything of the like."
"Oh no Hijiri, you are lying through your teeth. You see, when someone of your power repeatedly comes back without a catch or extermination, people get suspicious. And those people wanted answers. Our other apprentices found those answers."
"So you spied on me?" For the first time in a couple years did Hijiri frown in disdain.
"With predictable results." The leader punched Hijiri. "You youkai sympathizers are scum."
"I've heard that one before." Hijiri gets up, blood trickled down the monks face. And on that face, the smile had returned, still as vibrant as ever.
I've heard enough of this. The youkai thought to herself from, behind a tree. If I can transport myself without the slightest effort on my part, then I can transport Hijiri out of there. The youkai damned herself for thinking of this, but Hijiri had done nothing wrong. She knew what would happen to herself if she was captured, and would not wish that on anyone.
"Oh Hijiri, why do you always refuse to be called by your dharma name, is it because you were going to betray the temple in the end?" The leader beat the younger monk senseless, but the younger monk did not retaliate in the slightest.
Not even a human.
Quickstep Revis-
"Boss I got her!" Arms wrapped around the focusing youkai. A flanking party! The youkai thought to herself. All the monks around Hijiri as well as this 'traitor' turned to face the youkai and her captor.
"Correction, we've captured a youkai and a traitor. See what a good apprentice can do Hijiri?" The commander taunted.
The youkai struggled to free herself from the grip, but monks were often trained to have increased physical strength to rival some youkai, whereas she herself had focused on being able to run away. Even without being able to use talismans, this apprentice had the youkai pinned. Then, the youkai saw a talisman fly in her direction.
This promptly hit the apprentice holding her, causing him to release his grip on her before the talisman exploded in his face.
"Go!" Hijiri's voice rung out.
The youkai turned back to see the many monks, not just the leader as before, starting to attack Hijiri. Upon Hijiri's face was the second scowl shown in quite some time. Hijiri sent out many talismans, but not at the surrounding monks, instead sending them in the youkai's direction. The talismans took out some monks as they lept from the shadows to attack the youkai.
"Damn traitor, quickly, the sutra!" The leader commanded.
The monks surrounding Hijiri knelt and started to chant. The youkai had heard it once, when she fought a monk in the past. She never heard the end of it, quickstepping away before it was complete. Hijiri apparently had heard it as well, and the monk's eyes widened.
"Go, I know you have at least one last trick to escape!" Hijiri pleaded with the youkai while dodging another monk's staff.
As reluctantly as she turned back, the youkai turned away.
Quickstep.
As she started away, Hijiri screamed. The youkai turned back and saw the monk enveloped in a harsh yellow light. Then she teleported away, damning herself for being unable to stop the technique.
...
Alone in the forest once again, the youkai fell into a puddle of muddy water. She picked herself and her soiled yukata up, and still shook uncontrollably before falling to her knees. Tears ran down her face. She, the thief that had caused havoc, was safe. But Hijiri, the monk who had done no wrong, wasn't.
Yukari woke up in a cold sweat. She looks outside, and sees it is still the middle of the day.
"Yukari-sama? Are you alright?" Ran, the border youkai's shikigami, walks into the bedroom.
"I am fine Ran, thank you." Yukari sighed and just sat on her bed. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble could you fetch some wine?"
"My my, actually being polite, I don't know if I should be happy or worried."
"Kekeke..." The boarder youkai laughs, like her previous self had.
"Okay, now I am worried."
"Fufufu... I'm just messing with you Ran dear, just a bad dream, that's all." Yukari goes back to her trademark laugh with her fan waving in front of her lips.
"As you say Yukari-sama." Ran leaves the room, tails brushing against the doorway.
Those dreams... those memories, they are getting more and more vivid, almost as much as the ones involving that human girl. Ah, but those memories were of the past, whereas this girl exists in this day and age.
Looking out the window into Gensokyo, Yukari can see many things. A prosperous human village, a desolate shrine, and idiot fairy causing mayhem, and much more. Ran walks back in with a glass of wine, and puts it in Yukari's outstretched palm.
What to do today? Mess with Reimu? Reminisce with Mima? Flat out troll Rinnosuke? Punish Cirno for doing something stupid in advance? Cause another incedent? Chen said something about a UFO, maybe I should get involved.
Gensokyo, a world where humans lived with youkai and got along in relative peace. While it was not perfect, I had done it. Just as Hijiri wanted.
Hijiri, the first human I had any interest in, the first person I looked up to.
Yukari raised her glass up to the sky, sunlight reflecting off the glass.
"For you Mr. Hijiri, all for you."
The youkai took her drink, before quickstepping away again.