Youkai Mountain; the land of illusions' largest mountain and volcano.
A rocky land-form covered by a large area of forest presenting a wide continuous surface at its foot, with waterfalls and rivers flowing from the lakes at the mountain top. Once a highly active volcano in the past, but has long been dormant if not extinct as it has been centuries since it last erupted. It has served as the home of our people and neighbors for longer than our history has existed.
While formerly ruled by the "Elder Demons" known as the Oni, with us and our Kappa allies as their subordinates, the mountain's control was given up when Hakurei Border was erected, cutting Gensokyo off from the rest of Japan.
The Oni, becoming bored with the lack of progressive physical activity presented to them and tired of being killed off by wittier enemies, eventually left the mountain. We and the kappa took over the remains of the society and built upon it.
Ever since, we were able to develop better relations with our neighbor species and were able to create a more advanced culture. The inhabitants lead peaceful lives.
It is partially thanks to our preparedness. We have defensive measures prepared in case life was to turn disastrous. The mountain is closed off from outsiders; those of which who attempt to climb the mountain are chased out relentlessly by our patrols.
I am a member of a group incorporated in one of said measures. We, the Hakurou Tengu, are the Mountain's defense force that is responsible for keeping out intruders.
Speaking of which, someone's coming.
"Sasuke, are you cleaning your sword while on duty?" I hear from my left. The individual is probably a hundred feet away. I turn to see one of my colleagues, Momiji Inubashiri. Like all Hakurou Tengu in our age group, she has light silver hair. Today she is wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt, and a large black skirt with red flame like designs reaching up from the bottom of the skirt plus a white layer below her skirt.
How could I ever forget Momiji? Not only is she the most powerful clairvoyant among the Tengu, which in it of itself is a rare gift among our people, she was also the one who made me swallow my pride.
As a pup, I had difficulty getting to know others. This made me a sort of a social outcast. No, it wasn't the fault of the others; I just did not put much effort into it. I did get along with the occasional nerd. While I did play with other pups, I found that I usually would rather be doing...more practical stuff by myself.
Or something to that degree. To be honest, I'm not sure what the circumstances were anymore.
The point was that I was less sociable with the other hakurou my age and focused more on things like physical and mental training.
As a result, I was always among the betters of my age group ever since I first started as a guard. I was more effective in combat situations than just about everyone else in my year, even better than many who were more experienced than me. Being precise and strict in one's physical and mental conditioning for over three centuries (not including the time after employment into the Mountain Defense) does that to some people.
I thought I was peerless in capability. My strength was significantly above average for a male of our kind; my speed only outclassed by Shinjiro, Supīdo and several of the Karasu Tengu; and I was only surpassed in physical endurance by a mentally deranged Tengu archer from the opposite side of the city.
My actual sword play skills, however, are unknown to me in terms of level. I'd estimate them being somewhere between average and the grand-master's level.
This success in physical conditioning resulted in me becoming a member of the exceptionally capable hakurou. Few have ever defeated me in fights and this bred arrogance.
At this time, Momiji was already popular for her clairvoyance. In fact, it was rumored that she used this ability to see the males of our society naked. If that is the case, it may explain why she stares at our nether regions every so often. While I care little about whether she looks at us naked, this has made several of my conversations with her awkward. I remember when she was first learning how to control it when I was nearby. One reason I remember it is because it was slightly humorous in hindsight.
"H-how can you walk straight with something that huge between your legs!?" she had asked me at the time. She looked terrified.
At first, all I did was stare at her quizzically and was oblivious to what she was talking about.
"Never mind!" she said before I could figure out what she was talking about or even ask. She ran off with pink in her cheeks.
...
Back to the topic; Momiji was considered among average in combat ability among the hakurou, maybe above. During a sword fighting tournament, I was winning every fight, even against veterans (although some of them were extremely difficult, mind you). But when I dueled Momiji, she exploited a weakness in my fighting style. My poor use of my shield allowed her to strike me down, it was her victory.
Everyone was shocked tremendously; I even heard that the news was so great that one of the Karasu Tengu decided to tell the Hakurei Shrine Maiden about it.
Of course, being a known weakling only means you'll have a greater impact when you do something incredible as you are less likely to be expected to do so. In fact, before Gensokyo's currently strongest youkai had existed, I met a fairy living on the island in the middle of the misty lake whose appearance had an uncanny similarity to said youkai.
In fact, aside from one being a fairy and the other not being a fairy, their spiritual presences would be virtually identical. If something as weak as a fairy could hope to become something as powerful as the plant youkai, Momiji defeating me once in a fight seems a lot more believable.
When that is considered, everyone's shock including my own is hardly validated.
Many of my colleagues question if I lost due to her feminine features. Perhaps that was partially the case but I would like to think myself a more rational individual than to be taken advantage of in such a way. Especially given the fact I was tired and she wasn't. However, I wouldn't blame them for thinking that I lost because of her femininity given her extremely healthy body (perhaps the reason she isn't above average in combat ability is because her exceptionally large bust acts as an inhibitor).
I still won the tournament, but I had made an effort not to think of myself as being peerless since my defeat. Unsurprisingly, such thinking improved my combative efficiency. I'm still unable to properly use a shield though.
Momiji had also increased in popularity since then.
"No," I answer Momiji's question, "I'm not cleaning my sword on duty. I'm sharpening it."
"Couldn't you have done it while off duty?"
"I was, it was extremely dull," I answer. I figured that if by the off chance someone trespasses on to our territory while I am busy sharpening said sword, one of the other equally or more determine guards will be able to pick up my slack.
"Ah, if you had the leisure time, I was going to ask if you wanted to play Dai Shōgi with me."
Oh yes, Dai Shōgi; another thing Momiji's famous for. Last I recall, Momiji is Gensokyo's Dai Shōgi champion. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if she could find an actual rival for herself. The other Tengu who play Dai Shōgi usually can't match her.
While I am a good Dai Shōgi player, Momiji outclasses me. Because she is so skilled, none of the other Tengu are willing to waste their time in playing against her. Among those Tengu who stand a chance (an astronomically small one at that) against her, I'm the only one who stomachs playing against her so many times since I look at the opportunity as one to sharpen my mind.
And while I am among the top ten Tengu in playing Dai Shōgi (tied for 10th actually), Momiji and I are separated by a canyon when it comes to skill. A canyon filled with older and more experienced Tengu Dai Shōgi players...and Kappa.
While I wouldn't comment on their overall intelligence, the geniuses seem to have a better knack for playing against the Dai Shōgi champion than the Tengu, even if she is still better than them.
"I'd accept your offer, but I'd expect you'd want an opponent who actually stands a chance against you," I answer her.
"All of the Kappa are busy, and I'll have another guard shift in a few hours so I can't go visit one of the other Tengu who are able to play at my level since they're in the city."
I've seen you play against those other Tengu, Momiji. NO ONE is at your level when it comes to Dai Shōgi.
"If I can get some time off overlapping your break, I'll welcome the mental exercise. But don't expect an interesting fight."
"What?"
"I'm saying since it's impossible to win against you and that you should not expect me to keep it interesting."
In hindsight, her reaction was one I should have expected. She was upset by my comment. Ah yes, my lack of social ability, once again you rear your ugly head to me. To this I had to immediately react.
"I'm kidding; I have this new awesome technique that will probably defeat you." It was a blatant lie. This calmed her down, but judging from her face, she saw right through it.
Does this mean I have to come up with an actual technique to throw her off just to prove her wrong and prove myself right?
"Fine, but you better not be lying!"
Yep, it does.
"Hello, you two!"
The two of us looked up to see a familiar woman. She had red eyes and semi-long black hair. She was wearing a white blouse, a black short skirt, and a Tokin. She was also carrying a journal of some sort. While it is her scent that indicates that she is a Tengu; her black, feathered wings are what serve as a good indication of her nature as one of the Karasu.
Aya Shameimaru.
To be honest, even though she's more popular than Momiji, I actually know less about her. The main reason she is popular is because out of all reporters in the newspaper business, she is supposedly the best in getting pictures.
Being a Karasu Tengu, I suspect that chances are her flight speed cannot be surpassed by anyone in Gensokyo aside from other Karasu Tengu. However, she would have to not only be exceptionally fast but also exceptionally dexterous and durable in order to outclass other reporter Tengu in such a feat. This is probably why her body is also healthy for a female Tengu.
But if she is so good at gathering pictures, why isn't her newspaper considered good? I honestly don't know but the rumors are that she lacks truth to her articles. While 90% of the truth is already conveyed in her photos, a lot of the remaining information she has to speculate.
Another thing Aya is popular for is being the first and only Karasu Tengu to legitimately defeat a top class Hakurou Tengu in a fight. It was someone I defeated in the tournament, but when Aya fought him, he went down much faster than when I fought him. That said, I do not want to make enemies with Shameimaru.
As she began to talk to Momiji, I finished sharpening my sword. Sheathing the scimitar, I stand up from the rock I was sitting on and raise my hands to my chest's level. If I ignore my fellow Tengu talking about whatever it is that women talk about, I can keep half my mind focused on keeping watch. The other half of my mind will be used to practice magic.
Yes, magic. The arcane art used to manipulate those vague energies around us.
If I recall correctly, the only beings that can use actual magic are humans, Tengu, animals, beasts, and magicians. Of course, given the ever changing nature of life in Gensokyo, I'm sure that could change (the Oni used something similar to what Monks used, I think). I do not neglect training because there may be some creature immune to physical strikes that wants me dead.
Like vengeful spirits who somehow escape Hell, scariest things in existence.
Alternatively, I might fight an enemy who is immune to the wind or even feeds off it. Since we Tengu are easily one with the wind, such an enemy would be a walking disaster to us if we did not focus practicing on other qualities of ours. While we Tengu may use magic to augment our already existing wind based abilities, we need not bother learning actual wind magic.
Speaking of magic, while Oni were weak against boiled soybeans and repelled by sardine heads and holly branches, the only way one could combat them without those items without being an already powerful youkai was using a specific classification of Black Magic.
Anyone who knew, which is probably a lot, can guess when and why I learned said class of Black Magic.
Many of the Oni were hypocrites. They knowingly tried to get humans to challenge them to physical contests while knowing full well that nothing (no youkai, let alone humans) were as strong as them. Yet when a human challenged an Oni to a contest of legitimate skill, or a contest of the mind, many of those Oni whined and complained about how humans were underhanded. Additionally, when a human used tactics to fight an Oni, they called the humans cowardly and cheaters.
But why shouldn't humans resort to trickery? Those who didn't would find their villages dwindling in numbers as the Oni kidnapped them.
And for what? All sorts of things. Some Oni kept humans as pets. Some Oni ate the humans they kidnapped. And some Oni used the humans they kidnapped for sexual gratification. It did not end there.
Regardless of the reasons, humans did not live long or leave behind offspring when they were taken into Oni society unless they had a child before they were abducted (which resulted in the child being parent-less).
And those Oni had the audacity to complain when a human killed one of their kind? The Oni I killed sure did. Neither was it anyone special among the Oni society aside from being among its more sadistic and cruel individuals.
While it is true that my actions were acknowledged (although none of the Oni knew it was me who did it) and that said actions may have helped discourage the remaining Oni from staying on youkai mountain, given how many of the other Oni already thought life was boring in Gensokyo and how many already wanted to leave because everyone was wising up to their methods, my actions were probably a waste and would have not mattered in the end. Well, aside from the human who was suffering direct victimization from the Oni I killed.
And no, I did not just swoop in and slay him. While we Tengu are powerful enough that we wield the tactical value equivalent to that of an Oni, a Tengu usually cannot fight alone against an Oni on equal terms in a head on fight. That was the fight where I used black magic against an Oni.
I come back from my thoughts to see Momiji and Aya arguing about something. It is typical of that duo that they never can get along.
We are brought up to be polite to all non-Tengu creatures. Even when we are in the process of brutally killing someone, we are to retain politeness to a degree. However, our policy is similar to how other species act towards each other when dealing with other Tengu.
Suddenly, I see that the two of them were looking at me as if they wanted me to settle their dispute. I could have sworn that they said something that I should have heard.
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I side with one, I may truly hurt the feelings of the other. If I truly hurt the feelings of either woman, I am at risk.
Thinking of this long term, I may decide that, in the unlikeliness that racial barrier for jobs is demolished, that I'll want a job in something aside from being a guard.
If I upset either one of them, my reputation will be damaged in some way.
There is also the possibility that I might develop legitimate feelings for one or the other aside from hormonal lust.
Logically, I'd want to be on good terms with one or the other.
Finally, there is the fact that I wasn't paying attention to their argument to begin with.
"What's the problem, ladies?"
Before either of them could answer, something caught my ears. Something far away. A clicking sound.
"Get down!" Before I finished the sentence, the attack was already instigated.
Aya and Momiji both narrowly dodged something that was fast and a blur, something that possibly moved faster than a Karasu Tengu. Given its size, it was probably a bullet.
There was only one Tengu who used such a weapon here on Youkai Mountain.
"Aya! What the Hell did you do! They're shooting at us!" Momiji yelled.
"Don't blame me, bitch! I didn't do anything! I'm just my ordinary, honest self!" Aya countered. The attacker was kind enough to let us know its intention.
"Aya! You stole my boyfriend from me, you bitch!" Judging from the scent, voice, and sentence, it's a Tengu girl. It was possibly that infamous sniper from the east side of the city.
"No, he dumped you because he was shallow," Aya said, seeming to have a grasp of the situation.
"Don't you dare lie!" Another shot rang out. Since Aya and Momiji were separated by the first shot, this one could only go for one individual. Aya being forced to dodge another shot indicated that the newcomer's actions spoke her earlier words, she wanted Aya dead.
"I would not waste my time on getting myself a man when I have more important things to do. If I try dating now, my career would take a dive and never recover."
I'd suspect as much from Ms. Shameimaru. Examining the top women in career positions, those who are married usually have congested home lives. It came up in a conversation I had with a friend of mine, a Hanataka Tengu. Collecting information for a Dai Tengu, our superiors in the political system, he spoke to a murder of women.
One of the women had graduated at the top of her class, served as the head of the company their murder had running and had ambitious goals for herself. However, her husband had recently gotten a specialized job that required him to be on the opposite side of Gensokyo. Her hopes for a career were ruined. When my friend listened to this woman (whose grade he knew would earn her much wealth and prestige), he couldn't help but think that she made a mistake. And he didn't get started on the woes of rearing fledglings.
But if the woman wants to ever get married eventually, it's not like they can simply put it off until later. When Tengu reach 4 centuries of age, they can marry with parental consent. And not long after, they can marry without parental consent given they are living in their own homes. With our life long monogamous pairings starting so soon, you come across the problem that all the "good" men or women are taken by the time you do decide to get married. For this and the fact that reproductive success requires at least a certain amount of youth, Tengu are strongly encouraged to marry before 6 centuries of age by their friends and family.
It doesn't help when all marriages must be looked over and accepted by Lord Tenma because even when rarely does Lord Tenma ever reject marriages, it still takes time. Fortunately, some indecisive individuals have their lives saved when Lord Tenma decrees who they are to marry.
"Besides, if I did want a man, I'd sooner date one of my employees since they're far sexier and better husband material than that idiot who'd just throw me away the moment the better looking woman appeared."
Touché, Ms. Shameimaru.
"Oh that is it! You are dead!" the sniper girl shouted as she opened fire again. I continued standing guard, ignoring the fight between the two women. Momiji watched the fight take place.
"Oh!" I hear Momiji exclaim.
"What is it?" I ask her.
"One of the sniper's bullets hit Hatate in the knee."
Momiji and I would play Dai Shōgi the moment I was on break. I played my best and she beat me in eight turns.
Author's comments:
I wrote this chapter with the intention of making it a one-shot. However, since my proof reader (Captain Vulcan; go read his work, it's awesome) said it makes a great opening and would like to see more, and the fact that I might continue this at a later date anyways, I decided that this won't be a one shot. I, however, will not make any promises since my Touhou/Index crossover takes priority. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this short work.
I own Sasuke Ito and no one else. I forgot who conceived of the existence of the Random Tengu Girl, but they're on the Let's Danmaku forum. Fairy Yuuka concept by I got from Demon Neko Shen. Everything else is owned by Team Shanghai Alice.