"So, tell me again how you got me to agree to this, you second-rate shrine maiden?" Reimu mumbled crossly as she stood in the middle of Sanae's room, arms crossed over her chest and tapping her finger impatiently.
"Oh c'mon Reimu-san, don't be so grumpy! I just wanted the two of us to spend a day together," The green-haired shrine maiden shouted back from within her extra-large closet, "No animosity, no hatred, no rivalry, just two girls, having fun."
"I had things to do back at the shrine," Reimu complained in response, but this did little to deter the other girl's spirits.
It might not have helped that upon arrival (read: Sanae half dragging the girl up the mountain to the Moriya shrine) Sanae had ordered the red-white to strip down to her undergarments and wait there, without telling her about anything the human girl had planned for her during this "day off" as she put it.
Reimu shivered unconsciously. It might have been the middle of summer in Gensokyo, a time for Marisa to be off causing trouble at the scarlet devil mansion, a time for Yuuka to be a noticeable threat to the peace of the land of fantasy, and a time for Cirno to be...well, still a baka, she supposed, but despite the humid air, standing around in only her sarashi and bloomers still made the girl feel cold. It didn't help that Sanae had left her window open, allowing a breeze to waft into the room, carrying along with it the smell of something delicious cooking outside.
Reimu was determined to ask about that wonderful smell once Sanae got sick of harassing her with whatever harebrained scheme she had up her sleeves this time.
The shrine maiden of paradise couldn't even put back on her shrine maiden uniform, since the minute it was off Sanae had taken off with it, along with all of the exorcism slips she had stored in various pockets throughout the outfit, leaving the girl mostly defenceless (She still had access to the Hakurei yin-yang orbs thankfully, so she wasn't totally vulnerable.)
"Sanae, how much longer am I going to have to stand here!" Reimu shouted, growing more restless as she stood there, listening to the green-haired girl curse from within her closet, along with the cacophony of loud crashes and bangs, which made the girl curious just what that girl might have in that hammer-space of hers.
With a joyous cry of "Found it!" Sanae finally emerged from her closet, still fully dressed, with several clothes hangers hooked over her arm, and one in her hands, which made Reimu nervous for some reason.
"And just what are all of those for, planning to try and make your wardrobe not look quite so similar to mine?" Reimu asked cattily, her patience at an all-time low after everything the rival shrine maiden had already put her through. She had modesty Damnit, and standing in her rivals room in her bloomers was not her idea of fun.
"Geez, so scary," Sanae mumbled, and thrust an outfit towards her rival shrine maiden, who simply blinked at it in surprise, her legendary temper diffused for the moment at the, unusual clothing she was being presented with.
Reimu looked at the outfit, then back at Sanae, before returning to the outfit again, blinked twice, and finally asked the question on the tip of her tongue, "Err...what?"
Sanae didn't bother to give the girl an explanation, simply pushing the outfit forward into the other girl's arms, before turning her by her shoulders, and pushing the black-haired girl towards the open doorway, or more specifically towards the adjoining washroom eagerly, stars in her eyes that Reimu couldn't see.
"H-hey, stop pushing Sanae, hey, stop that, now Damnit," Reimu's cries fell on deaf ears, and she was finally shoved into the washroom, Sanae closing the door quickly and using a little bit of her power to make sure it wouldn't open until the other shrine maiden was finished.
"Hurry and change into that Reimu-san, or I won't let you out to have Suwako-sama's delicious beef skewers," Sanae threatened, grinning as she knew she had the black-haired girl's attention at the mention of food.
She was beginning to worry that Reimu wasn't going to take the bait for a change when she didn't immediately hear the sound of clothes being moved around, but Sanae finally breathed a sigh of relief when she heard movement from within. Grinning that everything was going according to plan, Sanae turned back to the bed, where she left all of her other changes of clothes when she realized she would have to "encourage" Reimu, and began to remove her own uniform.
Sanae was in the middle of changing when she heard a surprising sound from behind the bathroom door, a small, quiet voice asking to be let out. It stopped Sanae for a moment, but the green-haired girl quickly regained her composure, and hurried over to the washroom door, using her same power over miracles to unlock the door again, and allow out her fellow shrine maiden.
The small black-haired girl quietly shuffled out of the washroom, her head down in embarrassment, though Sanae thought she could see the hints of the girl's red face, making her squeal inside at just how cute her rival/friend looked.
What she had handed to Reimu was a set of clothing from the outside world, which she had brought along with her when she, Kanako-sama, and Suwako-sama moved to Gensokyo, and she had to admit, they made the Black-haired shrine-maiden of Paradise into quite the looker.
Reimu was wearing a long black pleated skirt, and a white button-up blouse, though it appeared that it was a bit too small for the girl (Sanae brushed it off as a minor case of misinterpreting the other girl's figure), so her pale, toned stomach was visible, most likely the cause of the girl's discomfort and blush.
Taking into account the girl's large ribbon and hair tubes, Reimu was the picture of adorable, and a small dribble of blood began to leak from Sanae's nose as she continued to look at the shrine maiden.
"It's perfect-u!" Sanae announced, offering the other girl a thumbs up, as her nose continued to bleed slowly, causing Reimu's temper to flare up in embarrassment.
"What's with that reaction! I feel like an idiot!" Reimu shouted, and finally gave Sanae the chance to see her face, which was bright red like she had anticipated, Though the blush only made Reimu look even cuter, which caused her nose to bleed more heavily in response.
Wiping her nose, Sanae grabbed the other girl by the shoulders in an attempt to console her, and gave her an honest smile, which she hoped might calm down her friend, "It's called Cosplay, Reimu-San. It's when you dress up like someone else, most of the time to look like fictional characters, for fun," She explained, "It's something that people in the real world like to do to relax and bond with other people that share their interests."
"Then why does this look like a high school uniform, if it's used for "fictional characters?" Reimu asked, thankfully it seemed her temper had calmed for the moment, so Sanae didn't have to worry about getting hit with a yin-yang orb for the moment.
Pulling away from the shorter girl, Sanae offered a nervous chuckle as she turned away from Reimu, "Well, the truth is that is my old school uniform, from before we came to Gensokyo, and I thought it would be a good introduction for you into Cosplay, since this is a land of fantasy and fiction," the green-haired girl explained.
"Then why is it so...small?" Reimu inquired, emphasising her point by cupping her hands over her chest, and her lack of assets which her rival shrine maiden (To Reimu's chagrin) had in abundance.
The blush now on the other face, Sanae was much less embarrassed to admit it now than when she was first arrived, "When we came into Gensokyo, something happened as we were passing through the barrier, and when I woke up, I had gotten taller, and more voluptuous," she explained, "That outfit had fit me fine when I was still in the real world, and I was quite a bit smaller than you are now, so that explains why it's even a bit small on you."
"I ought to exterminate you, ya second-rate shrine maiden," Reimu growled, but instead turned away with a flourish of her skirt, and stormed back towards the washroom, stopping a moment to grab a random hanger from the bed where Sanae had left them, before slamming the door shut.
Sanae stared in shock at the washroom door for several moments in surprise, blinked twice, and then let loose a muffled squeal at just how adorable her rival looked when she was angry, especially in that outfit, and resumed getting dressed, taking the fact she didn't get beaten as a good sign that Reimu was at least okay with this surprise cosplaying session.
She did stop to look longingly at her closet, where many other outfits hung, some new since her arrival into Gensokyo, others from the various conventions se had attended before the family moved to the land of fantasy, but knew better than to overload her friend/rival with her entire collection in a single day.
Baby steps had to be taken with the girl, since Sanae knew there was only so much Reimu could take without igniting her temper without any hope of calming her. It was any wonder her initial forcefulness hadn't caused Reimu to go berserk and level the shrine.
Sanae convinced herself that another time she would introduce Reimu to all of the outfits she had made based off of the residents of Gensokyo, but today she would simply introduce the girl to real world fashion.
And maybe, she added with a small giggle, a chance to tease the normally stern shrine maiden and see the cuter side of the girl that she kept under lock and key the rest of the time.
The evil laughter from the adjoining room probably should have worried Reimu more than it did, as she fought with this second set of clothes she had scooped from her rival's bed, grunting in annoyance as she nearly fell over. a cold shiver did run down her spine, but it was brushed off.
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The two girls were now seated on the porch of the shrine, each holding a skewer with several pieces of meat on them, simply enjoying the nice weather as they ate, though Reimu had her head down again, and her face was once more bright red.
Reimu was now wearing a somewhat simple red t-shirt, and what Sanae had told her were called skinny jean in the real world, which explained her previous fighting with them in the washroom, though they left enough room that anyone who had experience with anything other than skirts and dresses probably wouldn't have had such a hard time with them.
Sanae, in response, was wearing a light blue shirt, with a white and yellow striped collar, and a pair of dark blue shorts, humming to herself as she took another large piece of meat from the skewer.
The reason for Reimu's embarrassment? Sanae, upon seeing the girl in what would be considered casual clothing for girls in the real world, had immediately squealed, grabbed the smaller girl, and pulled her into a crushing hug, talking a mile a minute about how adorable she looked, and offering many compliments which made steam escape the shrine maiden's ears comically.
Thankfully Suwako had read the mood between the two girls, and after offering them both steak skewers, she ran off, claiming to be off to find the other deity of the Moriya shrine to offer her one, no teasing given to the red-and white shrine maiden, which Sanae didn't think the poor girl could take at this point.
"It's nice, you know," Sanae heard the comment, but didn't realize immediately that it had come from her rival, who had been especially quiet since she left the washroom the second time.
"What is, Reimu-san?" Sanae asked, turning to regard the other girl, who still had her head down.
"This. Spending time together, playing around like this, not having to worry about incidents, exterminating Youkai, or hating each other." The black-haired girl explained, before taking a bite from her skewer.
"I don't hate you Reimu-san, in fact, I consider you probably one of my closest friends," Sanae admitted, causing the red-white's head to snap up in surprise, brown eyes rising to meet blue, and seeing the small smile the green-haired girl had.
"But our first meeting, you told me, rather bluntly that you wanted me to close down my family shrine, just so you guys could be the dominant Shinto shrine in Gensokyo," Reimu explained, remembering the two girl's first meeting with some apprehension.
"Ah that was...a mistake on our parts, to be honest," Sanae admitted nervously. "You see, when we came to Gensokyo, Kanako-Sama and Suwako-Sama were both losing faith rapidly, so we needed a way to gather faith quickly, and the best way the three of us could come up with was to become the only shrine here, and hopefully be able to gather enough faith to keep those two from disappearing."
"You know, I think that just by appearing on the Youkai mountain, and making contact with the Tengu, you guys gained all of the faith that you needed," Reimu replied somewhat casually, taking a sip of the tea placed beside her, which the two girls had picked up before coming outside.
"Most likely," The green-haired girl stated shyly, "But we were still panicked about them disappearing, so we went a bit overboard, and ended up creating an incident."
"Oh, you should have seen Sanae's face after you defeated her," A smooth voice purred from over Reimu's shoulder, causing the two girls to snap their heads around to face a skirt in shades of red, and a pair of geta.
'Oh no,' Sanae moaned, 'Kanako-sama, please not now.'
"She was just so star-struck when she saw your amazing Danmaku display, and she went on for days about the wonderful shrine maiden of paradise, and all of the wonderful things we found when we came here," Kanako continued to purr praise into the shrine maiden's ears, and Sanae could see Reimu's face growing red once more.
"Kanako-sama, stop teasing her," Sanae shouted, but thankfully the snake was cut off by the arrival of a frog, who jumped onto the taller woman's shoulders.
"Kanako, play with me!" Suwako shouted merrily, grabbing handfuls of her fellow goddess' hair in order to stay righted upon her shoulders.
"What the hell Froggie, get off of me!" Kanako replied, attempting to dislodge the curse goddess from her back, "Damnit Suwako, act your age for once!" She ran off, the curse goddess still on her back.
The pair blinked several times at the retreating pair of goddess, before Sanae was startled by the sound of laughter, coming from the no-nonsense shrine maiden of paradise. And it sounded absolutely wonderful.
"Oh Sanae, your deities are the absolute strangest I have ever met, even the Aki sisters aren't that animated," Reimu managed to say through her laughter, the bell-like sound floating away on the breeze, and making Sanae smile in appreciation.
The green-haired girl waited patiently for the other girl to stop and catch her breath, before she tried to strike up a new conversation with the black-haired shrine maiden, "So Reimu-San, what did you think of.." Unfortunately the girl was cut off mid-sentence by the arrival of an annoying rat on a broom.
"Oi Reimu, I came to play!" Marisa shouted, the loud sound echoing down the mountain and startling the two girls.
"Ah, Marisa-san, what are you doing here?" Sanae asked, though she was cursing the blonde girl for interrupting her, she was still a good girl, and was courteous to every shrine visitor, no matter who they might be.
"Went to the Hakurei shrine to play with Reimu, since Alice and Patchy are busy with some prior engagements, and Suika told me you had dragged her off up here earlier today," The black-white thief explained. Blinking, she looked down at the two girl's from astride her broom and asked, "Am I interrupting your date?"
"D-d-date!" Both girls cried in shock and embarrassment, before looking at each other and quickly turning away again. Reimu was the first to regain her voice, "Why would you think we were on a date, you black-white baka!"
"Aww, Reimu can be so TsunTsun sometimes, just like Alice-Chan," Marisa said, ignoring the girl's question and floated down next to Sanae, safely out of reach of Reimu's fists, and whispered into the green-haired girl's ear, "But I think it just makes her cuter, don't you Sanae."
"What are you telling her, ya second-rate magician!" Reimu shouted indignantly, her face bright red, and caused the black-white to bristle at the shot to her profession.
Smirking down at her long-time friend, Marisa leaned in to Sanae, and said, a little too loudly, "Isn't it nice the things she does to make you happy, Sanae, like she has a big crush on you or something!"
Marisa laughed as she swerved out of the way of two yin-yang orbs that were launched at her, holding onto her black frilled hat with one hand, and her broomstick handle with the other.
Reimu had risen to her feet, and had five more yin-yang orbs circling her, face bright red, though Sanae couldn't say whether it was in anger or embarrassment, and floated into the sky, "She practically dragged me up here this morning without telling me what was going on, it's not like I had a choice!" Reimu shouted. "You wanted a Danmaku fight you Black-white, c'mon, three cards!"
"Sure, just give me a moment to prepare myself," Marisa said, waving off her friend and rival, who shrugged and darted up higher into the sky. The blonde girl turned to regard the other shrine maiden with a lazy grin.
"Notice how she didn't try to fight to get away from you, even though we all know she's more powerful than you are, and that she didn't try to bolt at any point," Marisa pointed out, before she flew up after her friend, pulling a set of cards from her apron pocket. The sound of Danmaku being exchanged, and the bright lights flying overhead quickly followed.
Sanae blushed as she realized what Marisa was implying, and quickly grabbed her own cup of tea, and took a large sip of it, before returning to her steak skewer, plans of asking Reimu over to do more cosplaying in the future playing at the corners of her mind, and making her lips curl up in a smile, as she watched the red-white, and black-white in another battle of the titans.
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Anyone who talks about hair colour is getting shot...out of a cannon. Into a brick wall.