Chapter 1: Reeled in by a Youkai
When I regained consciousness, I couldn't open my eyes, but I did hear voices. To my utter "what?" I found my skirt being yanked on by a fishing line.
"I got one, I got one!"
"I bet it's a tire or something."
"No, it feels like clothes!"
The voices went back and forth to each other, debating on what their catch would be and when it would rise out of the danged hole.
I flopped onto the soft ground and lay there in what felt like a very awkward position; waiting for another word.
"Is it alive?"
"Let's find out!"
Two cold, scrawny fingers trailed from my lower back up to my neck like a walking motion. A dainty fingernail rested on the point where the person would find my pulse.
"It's alive. Oh yay!"
The person picked me up by my collar and examined me. I almost shrieked with delight and horror at just who was holding me like a rag doll.
A pointed face with two golden eyes like diamonds peered at me with a smile. Her layered, frilly white gown had an all too familiar purple and orange banner down the front. Her blond hair adorned with ribbons elegantly draped over her back.
Behind her was a tall woman with nine golden foxtails. Her outfit was a white kimono with a blue-patterned banner like my bearer's. Her hat, however, looked strangely like pantyhose with amulets atop her golden bowlcut-like hair.
"Aww. Ran, isn't it cute?"
Ran bent her head over so she could see behind her master. "Yes, Miss Yukari."
"Tell me now," She raised me a little, "Are you human?"
I nodded, still in bewilderment.
The border mistress nodded and smiled again, "Good good. Are you a female?"
Again I nodded.
She seemed to almost dance until she remembered I was in her hands. "Oh good! We've been having all sorts of male humans turn up lately that I've been wanting a little girl to toy with!"
'Little girl to toy with' isn't exactly comforting. Especially coming from Yukari.
"Mistress?" The Shikigami stepped beside Yukari.
"What is it, Ran?"
"If you're done fishing for playthings, then I'd suggest we get home."
Yukari smiled deviously and set me down. "Yes, you're right. But first…"
She opened a wide gap into the open air and out popped a little blue collar with a bell on it and a matching leash.
I am not a pet.
"Come, my pet! To the Yakumo residence we go!"
Having no choice at all to resist going with one of Gensokyo's most powerful youkai, I simply did whatever Yukari told me to do.
We arrived at a wide single-story white house with a brown roof. It actually looked like a regular house.
Ran opened the door for her Mistress. Yukari picked up her frilly dress and entered the main room.
We were greeted by a nekomata with a little ball clutched in her red, catlike nails. A pair of cat ears and a green cap accompanied her brown, spiked hair. She wore a red and gold vest with a white shirt under it. Her skirt perfectly matched the vest. Trailing down the back of her skirt were two brown tails that looked like a cat's. This was obviously Chen.
"Ran! Yukari-sama!" She dashed to her Mistress and her Mistress' Mistress and hugged them both. It looked odd because she was so tiny in comparison to the elder Youkai.
As I looked at the gathering of odd clothes and animal tails, I looked at my own clothes – normal and human like.
Yukari shoved me through the doorway and into the living room. Chen curiously followed while Ran hovered by Yukari.
"What is this, Master?" Chen scampered by me and fiddled with my limbs.
"That, Chen, is a human. Fragile, most likely." Yukari grinned at the little cat girl.
"Can I play with her?" Chen's eyes lit up with a childish sparkle.
I hope play doesn't mean rip to pieces with a spell card.
Ran pet her Shikigami on the head and rustled her brown, spiky hair. "You can once she's not so terrified as to move a muscle."
Yukari carefully drew up a border shaped like a hammock and rested on it – suspended in the air.
Chen just continued to stare at me while she examined my facial features. Ran picked up a newspaper and handed it to her lazy Mistress. The Kitsune muttered something into Yukari's ear, which caused her to take a little more caution with me.
"Ah yes, the human girl." Her border vanished as she approached me. "She certainly isn't of Gensokyo."
Ran sighed, "Obviously."