She sat alone outside of her doorway, leaning against the well-worn wall and enjoying a peaceful moment in the shade as she sat and watched the goings-on around her. The rabbits had been stirred into a great fuss recently, and for good reason. Every month, on the night of the first full moon, Eientei would hold a celebration, serving handmade mochi as people gathered from all around to enjoy the festivities. And with this being the first Moon Festival of the spring, there was quite a rush for them to produce enough mochi, as the first spring festival of each year was always the busiest. As it stood, they had only produced around half of the amount they would need for such a large event.

Though the demand for more mochi was very well known to the inhabitants of Eientei, this was obvious enough. Not a single rabbit was present that wasn't either working, running, or helping in some way. That is, with the exception of a single rabbit, who could presently be found leaning against a well-worn wall in the shade, watching the scene before her.

This particular rabbit leaned forward, pushing herself up from her seated position and stepping out into light of the afternoon sun. With the impending start of spring, this month's Moon Festival would draw in countless humans and Youkai alike. As such, she had been put in charge of preparation, in hopes that they would be ready in time for the festival. She stepped off of the short step, carefully weaving between the others as they worked. Though despite the great care she took to not run into any of the other rabbits, the same courtesy was not extended by them, as one of them roughly plowed into her.

"Oof!" the offended rabbit grunted out, as she staggered backwards "Hey, watch where you're go- O-Oh, Miss Reisen! I-I apologize, I didn't see you there, I was too busy making sure everyone was working to see where I was going!" She stuttered out her words upon seeing who she'd run into, and was trying desperately to regain her composure.

Rubbing the back of her head as she pushed herself back up from the ground, Reisen Udongein Inaba smiled as she spoke. "It's alright Tewi, calm down. You're all just busy, is all, its fine, really." Standing back up, she placed her hand on Tewi's head, ruffling her hair in an attempt to calm her down. "Just get back to work, we're not going to reach our deadline if our taskmaster is busy tackling people, now are we?" She laughed and playfully pushed Tewi back toward the crowd of working rabbits.

Finally regaining her bearings, Tewi let out a heavy sigh, looking back at Eientei. "Well, Udonge, I wasn't exactly making mochi right now. We were running low on rice and I was about to head over to the fields to see about bringing back another load before we have to stop for the evening. But… seeing that you're currently unoccupied, maybe you'd like to go instead? Seeing as it'd be no good for the driving force behind the work to be absent." Tewi smiled to herself , crossing her arms over her chest in a very knowingly in-charge way.

Knowing both that Tewi was probably right and that she'd never be able to convince her otherwise, Reisen let out a reluctant sigh. "Well, fine then. I suppose I'll have to do it then, since we can't exactly have our great leader away from her post, now can we? " Turning away from the large house and busy workers, she began making her way through the tall bamboo stalks. "I'll try to be back before dark!" Setting off through the crowded forest ahead of her, she began to head towards the fields.

The path she wove between the stalks was one she had walked a thousand times before, as she was no stranger to being sentenced to deliverey duty more often than any of the other rabbits. With how peaceful Eientei was as of late, the position of head guard wasn't in need of being filled, so Reisen had more or less become a glorified delivery girl for the mansion, and since she had never learned to make mochi herself, she was left as the only real choice to send out for the last bit of rice they would need for today.

As she continued down this well-worn path to the fields, she became lost in her thoughts thinking of the festivities that would soon fill Eientei's grounds, and who would make an appearance there for the celebrations. The free food would likely draw in residents from all over the area, and possibly even beyond. Hopefully the temptation would draw Miss Yuyuko to visit, it had been so long since she'd last gotten to speak with Youmu, and maybe even Marisa or Reimu would at least stop by…

Just then, she stopped. She'd been so lost in her own thoughts that she'd strayed from the path to the field completely, and now she was lost in the midst of the impossibly tall stalks. She tried to regain her bearings, or to find the path back, but wasn't successful in either. She'd somehow managed to get herself lost.

"Aw geez…" Pulling out her cracked, old pocket watch, she checked the time, trying to regain at least some semblance of control over her situation. "Late already… it'll be dark before I get back now. Hmph." She began trying to make her way through the crowded forest, looking for a clearing, so she could at least find her way to the rice patties or at the least, back to Eientei.

Times like these reminded her that as much as she wanted to feel as if she belonged, she still was different from the other rabbits. Everything from her ears to her eyes, to her clothes and her very mannerisms was and most likely always would be just that: Different. Her grasp on the area was less than that of the earth rabbits here, who had had the luxury of living they're whole lives here, as opposed to how she had been born and raised on the Moon It was part of why she had been so accepting of the guard position when Kaguya had first offered it to her. Not only would it allow her to fully utilize her skills, but it also gave her excuse to remain separate from the others. Despite how they treated her with great respect and kindness in person, she knew that behind her back, to them she was no more than "that strange moon girl". And she couldn't blame them for thinking of her like that. It's what she was, and probably what she would remain for the entire time she remained an inhabitant of Eientei. She'd be forever known as just "that strange moon girl".

As she slowly made her way through the thicket of stalks, she eventually came upon a clearing, the clear moonlight shining down through hole in the bamboo canopy. Reisen was lucky it was so close to a full moon, the moon's light allowing her to find her way. "Hmm…" she muttered to herself quietly, thinking as she gazed up at the constellations overhead. "If that's… and that too… then that'd put me just a bit south of the fields… I think." She still wasn't accustomed to the constellations as seen from Earth, and was only just able to make out the very basics of her location. And even that was hard for her, and she couldn't be completely sure she was reading them correctly.

As she looked up at the stars overhead, trying desperately to find her way to the fields, she noticed how dark it had gotten in the forest. It was very odd; she didn't think she'd been wandering for that long at all…

"H-Hello?" a small voice called out.

Reisen leapt backwards, rapidly panning her view around the crowded forest, searching for the source of the voice. The forest was devoid of any others, or at least it should have been, especially this late at night. And with her being as lost and confused as she was, she was jumpy. "Who's there?" she called out into the dark around her. "W-Well? Answer me!"

"Hello? M-Miss?" the voice called out again, this time its owner stepping out into the last bit of moonlight from overhead. She appeared to be a young girl of around her early teens, in a simple black dress and white shirt, wearing two red ribbons, one around her collar, the other tied into her bright blond hair. "W-Were you lost, miss?"

She began to loosen up a bit upon seeing where the voice had originated from. She seemed innocent enough, a young child. But on closer inspection, she saw her dress was torn around the edges, with faded stains here and there, though she couldn't tell what it was stained with. Recomposing herself, she stepped forwards, speaking calmly to this mysterious little girl. "Well… I was a bit lost, yes. Were you lost as well, or…?"

"Hmmmmmm… no, I wasn't lost, miss. But I saw you were, o-or at least you looked like it." she replied back quietly, almost completely silently. "I-I was just wanting to know if you needed help in getting out of the woods…" She seemed almost shy, almost… almost like she was afraid of her. Or like she had just learned to be afraid of most people she met.

Trying not to scare her, Reisen tried to speak softly and calmly to this girl. "I would like a bit of direction, actually. I've been wandering for some time now and I'd like to be able to get home soon. So any help would be much appreciated!" She smiled warmly, trying to comfort the young girl. "Do you have a name?"

"R-Rumia. My name is Rumia." she replied, seemingly a bit more at ease now that she'd seen Reisen meant her no harm. "The nearest way out would be… this way, miss." Pointing off a in a seemingly random direction, she gestured for Reisen to follow her, and she wasted no time in doing so.

"It's nice to meet you, Rumia. My name's Reisen, Reisen Udongein Inaba." She hoped that maybe if she introduced herself, Rumia would feel more at ease. "Do you live around here?"

"Not exactly… I more or less just… wander. I d-don't really live anywhere." she replied, almost sadly.

"No home? None at all? I could have sworn you'd come from the human village or such…"

"The human village? No… no I don't like to go near there anymore. They don't like youkai, and always throw things, and yell at me, and try to drive me off when I go near." she replied back. "I-I prefer to stay here in the forest, or a few places nearby. The other youkai are nicer, though they usually stay away from me…"

Reisen began to feel sad for this girl, seemingly all alone and outcast. She knew Keine wasn't exactly fond of youkai coming into the village most times, but to actively cast this one away… what was it that she'd done to become a pariah?...

"You h-have pretty eyes, miss."

"Hm?" Reisen noticed that Rumia had stopped walking, and they'd arrived at the southern edge of the fields finally. Rumia was standing next to her, her eyes looking up into her own. Her bright, red eyes, so very similar to her own. "O-Oh! Thank you, I'm not sure how long I'd have been lost otherwise. I really appreciate the help, Rumia." She laid a hand on her head, ruffling her hair a bit before making her way towards the fields nearby. She turned around a few steps later, looking back at her shy guide behind her, a grin on her face. "I… thanks again, Rumia." She waved back at her, before turning back towards the fields in front of her, the moonlight overhead illuminating her quiet smile.