I've wanted to write a fanfic about these two ever since I saw why it was a viable pairing. PC-98 fans could even add Elly for a Stage-3-gatekeeper love triangle! But I'm not gonna. Meiling and Yoshika go especially well together since they're both Stage 3 bosses, both are gatekeepers, and both are Chinese. For people who've read Poisonous Chinese Tea, I'm not quite sure if Meiling's personality is the same in that fanfic and this one, since I wrote it so very long ago, but I think Yoshika's personality here is very cheerful and cute.
Oh, did you know Yoshika's in MUGEN? She's not very strong, though :| she only has five attacks, moves very slow, and three of her attacks require you to be right in front of the enemy. I guess if one trained up with her, she could be powerful, but I've been playing Kohaku's Meiling for a while now so as to improve myself with her.
"Wait, what? You mean…you don't want me anymore?"
"W-Wait, I didn't mean it that way! It's just that, being your master for such a long time," Seiga explained nervously, "I've grown sort of…attached to you, Yoshika. But, to be honest, as much as I still want you here, we don't need you here now that the resurrection is complete. And I can't bear to see you just walking around with no purpose."
"So…I'm confused," the jiang shi said. "What's this mean?"
"You're free." Seiga placed her hands on her cute underling's shoulders, and said "Go out and explore. Do what you want with your eternal unlife, Yoshika, but don't come back here where you have no purpose."
"…but, I like it here. I-"
"I won't have it. Because I care, I want you to go. Please, leave, before I have to order you to."
"…" Those words hurt. A lot. And it showed on Yoshika's face. "If you really feel that's what I have to do…" With that, the jiang shi left, trying to figure out just what she'd done wrong to have herself leaving the group. "Goodbye, master."
A few days later…
"I know," Yoshika said happily. "I'll find a job!" She figured that spring was the best time of year to get a job, despite the fact that there was a 75% chance of her being wrong. Not like she would be able to figure it out, anyway.
Job attempt #1, day 2 of job search
"Are you sure you can work here," Rinnosuke asked. "I mean, the extra help is great and all, but-"
"Hey, what's this thing?" Yoshika held out some strange black box. It was far harder than wood or other materials for boxes, and had some letters etched into one side and a few slits on all the adjacent sides. "Is there something inside?"
"It's from the outside world, and people use it to entertain themselves. I don't quite know how-"
CHOMP! "…nope, nothing's inside this box."
"…"
Job attempt #4, day 6 of job search
"Yoshika," the barkeep called. "Get these drinks over to Table Five!"
"On it, sir!" Rigor mortis wasn't the best of things for a waitress to have. But then again, how many waitresses could say that they were a jiang shi? At least she could pick up the trays and make her way over to the table she had to get the drinks to. But there was a problem. Her shoulders couldn't bend far enough to put the trays of drinks down! And when she tried, CRASH! Glasses were shattered, beer was spilt, and four burly guys at Table Five looked pretty pissed off.
"…"
Job attempt #24, day 16 of job search
"Wait, so you mean that these grapes aren't real? They're just decorations?"
"…"
Job attempt #186, day 48 of job search
"…"
"What? Is something on my face?" Maybe working a candy store wasn't the best idea for Yoshika. The chocolate was all around her mouth, and the boss didn't look happy. "Oh, I taste-tested the chocolate, by the way. You did a great job at making it!"
"Yes, but every bite you eat is one less I can sell!"
"But, you hired me two days ago. Nobody's showed up yet, so I figured I'd have a quick bite to eat while I waited for somebody to come to your store."
"…"
Job interview #293, day 170 of job search
"What would you consider to be your skills?"
"My skills? Hmm…oh!"
"You have an answer?"
"No, but I just remembered something! I've seen you before, in the graveyard!"
"Let's stick to the topic at hand, please." Where and when there was ever a "Help Wanted" sign for an extra set of hands in Hakugyokurou confused Youmu to no end, but apparently there was such a sign because Yuyuko had no problems with this jiang shi showing up looking for a job. "We already have a gatekeeper; me. However, I do know of one place that could probably use a gatekeeper."
"Really? Where is it," Yoshika asked excitedly.
"There's a mansion in the Forest of Magic. The mistress is a vampire and her gatekeeper…well, it's usually said that she does less than she's paid for."
"Thank you!" And with that, Yoshika bolted out of Hakugyokurou; off to this mansion!
Job interview #294, day 170 of job search
"So you wanna be a gatekeeper," Meiling asked. With a stomp of her foot, the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion swung open, as the Chinese gatekeeper continued "You'll be looking for Sakuya. She handles the matters of who we hire around here, especially during sunlight hours. Best wishes!"
"Thanks!" As fast as she could, Yoshika ran up to the doors of the mansion, opened them, and stepped in to become awestruck at the interior. This massive mansion with such a regal interior. It was a lot bigger than it looked on the outside, and it almost seemed more like a castle than a mansion once the jiang shi entered. Work here would definitely be a good thing! For now, she had to find that person that the gatekeeper outside talked about…what was her name again?
"Can I help you," somebody asked. "And is our gatekeeper asleep again?"
"She let me in," Yoshika said cheerfully. "I'm looking for a job and the girl with the swords and the marshmallow said to come here because their gatekeeper was getting paid too much or something…are you hiring?"
"I suppose we could use another gatekeeper…at the least, it would give Meiling something to do to help her stay awake while she's on the clock."
"I'll take the job!"
"You don't think I'll hire you just like that, do you?" Sakuya grabbed the would-be gatekeeper by the hand, and guided her through a number of hallways. "The Scarlet Devil Mansion is the home of our Lady Remilia Scarlet, or the Scarlet Devil as she's known in some parts. I'm the head maid, Sakuya Izayoi, and I'm responsible for most of the affairs of the mansion, including being a direct servant to Lady Remilia and her younger sister, Lady Flandre. You've already met Meiling, who guards the gates, but before I can hire you, I need to see if you're up to the task."
"You can bet I'm up to it! I'm a jiang shi; resurrected specifically to guard things!"
"I'll take your word for it, but don't make me regret it later. You're hired, for now. Your duties are to guard the gates and grounds of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and to ward off intruders. You shall begin now."
"Alri-"
"ZA WARUDO!"
Instantly afterwards…
"So how'd the interview go," Meiling asked. "It was awfully quick, so you were either hired or told never to come back here again."
"Hey, I'm back outside!" How did that happen? One second, she was inside, talking to that maid, and now she was back outside with the gatekeeper. That was amazing but super-confusing at the same time, and it got the (rather rusted) gears in Yoshika's rotten brain turning. Oh, right, the gatekeeper asked how the interview was. "I got the job, and you got to keep yours too!"
"That's great," the Chinese gatekeeper said enthusiastically. "Looks like we're working together from now on. My name is Hong Meiling, don't forget it. And yours?"
"Yoshika Miyako. So is it easy to be a gatekeeper here?"
"Not really. For one, there's this witch who always insists on breaking in, and I can never catch her. There's also a bunch of other people who try to get in uninvited, and then the part that makes our job really hard. Rain or shine, sleet or hail, day or night, hot or cold, no matter the weather, we have to stay out here and make sure nobody gets in the Scarlet Devil Mansion uninvited. Most people say I do a bad job at being a gatekeeper, but I swear it's a lie! The only problem was that there was never anything for me to pass the time with, so I'd usually end up kind of dozing off…but now you're here! Having somebody to socialize with makes it a lot easier to stay awake, and we now have two people to guard these gates."
"So it's a hard job?" A lot of those things sounded fine with Yoshika, but when Meiling got to the "rain or shine, sleet or hail" part, the job sounded harder. She'd get all wet when it rained, and she'd probably freeze in winter as corpses will.
"Well, it sure isn't easy, but you get used to it after a few weeks."
Job attempt #293, day 170 of job search
"So," Yoshika asked. "When do you think an intruder will come by?"
"How about now, ze," an uninvited voice asked.
"Now works fine…oh, wait, you're an intruder! Don't come any closer! This is no place for the likes of you to enter!"
"Then who is it good for, ze?"
"Um…"
"It's good for those with invitation to the Scarlet Devil Mansion," Meiling said. "And you're uninvited, so-"
"MASTER SPAAARK!" Meiling was easy to deal with, but this new girl…Marisa had heard word from somebody that she was a lot tougher than Meiling. So the ultimate offensive attack would certainly be needed against her, in order to wipe her out and get into the mansion! There were books in Patchouli's library, and they were just begging to be read. That was the purpose of the massive laser being fired. It was brighter than any light, and the walls around the Scarlet Devil Mansion were enchanted with powerful magic to ward off such attacks because of the Master Spark's sheer power, and even with those enchantments, there were cracks in the wall when the attack subsided. But standing in front of those cracks, like nothing happened at all, was one jiang shi of a gatekeeper.
"Now's my chance!" Meiling leapt in and grabbed Marisa by the arms. "Do you like our new gatekeeper? She's on the clock all the time like myself, so you'll need an invitation from now on, Marisa. Now then…" Meiling started spinning around, building momentum for one massive throw. "Don't come back until you have all the books you stole, and only then will you be permitted entry. Now…goodbye!" With all her might, Meiling threw the black-white witch as far as she could. And in an instant, she was just a speck on the horizon.
"That was amazing," Yoshika said in awe. "I didn't even know a person could be thrown that far!"
"It's all a matter of training…which brings me to my next point. Are your arms stuck like that; out in front of you?"
"My joints are all stiff. Been that way ever since I was resurrected."
"Hmm…we'll have to remedy that."
I've seen a 4koma (or was it 3koma?) with Yoshika and Meiling where the jiang shi's doing stretches with Meiling's assistance. If you search the two together on Danbooru, you can probably find it. Or if you have a privileged account and can search more than two tags, add the tag for Hatate as well…or it might have been Aya. Not sure which one, but it was one of those tengu reporters.
Also, on a totally unrelated note, does anybody know where I can obtain ? I can't seem to locate it and I need it to run an RPG-maker with which I plan to create a small Touhou RPG. I'm starting to think it should star the EoSD cast so I can go with the usual "Warrior, Mage, and Rogue characters together in a party" theme with Meiling, Patchouli, and Sakuya.
Or if I did it with MoF characters, it could be Momiji, Nitori, and Aya. …actually, that doesn't sound too bad. A fun little RPG with Momiji as the main protagonist, because she's not the main protagonist in nearly enough fan works. Guess who the final boss would be? No really, just guess.
Seriously, please do guess. I don't know who it would be myself XD