It was just past noon when Chen wandered into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Ran was standing at the counter preparing lunch when she looked over her shoulder to see the sleepy kitty, and she couldn't help but chuckle to herself.
"Chen, if you nap too much during the day, you won't be able to sleep at night," the kitsune chastised, while Chen let out a tired 'yessss' as she flopped down onto the ground behind her master, grabbing onto one of her tails to hug it. This was their usual routine, and Ran began to hum to herself as she continued to cook. This was the kind of pleasant atmosphere that she enjoyed the most, where everybody was calm and there were no danmaku battles to be fought. Sometimes she wished that it would be this peaceful all of the time.
"Ran-sama…" Chen shifted behind her, still rubbing her face into her tail. Ran could sense a slight bit of hesitance in her voice, and she placed the knife down so that she could look back at her young shikigami.
"Yes? Is something wrong?" She asked curiously, while Chen squirmed back and forth. Finally she looked up at the kitsune, her eyes wide with curiosity and uncertainty.
"Ran-sama, can two girls have babies?"
Ran was glad that she'd placed the knife down, otherwise she would have dropped it in shock.
"P-pardon?" Where on earth had she heard that sort of thing? Who was filling her sweet, innocent Chen's mind with such…Such /adult/ thoughts? She'd kill them, definitely—
She realized instantly that her expression must have made the poor girl feel uneasy, as Chen began to wriggle around, letting go of her tail. No, that wasn't it. Chen was a young girl who was growing up, it was normal for her to have these sorts of questions.
"Sorry for asking something weird," she began, but Ran quickly shook her head. Not wanting to discourage her or make her feel, Ran smiled and crouched down so that she could look the other shikigami in the eye.
"It's ok, Chen, it wasn't weird," she assured her, watching the cat's ears perk up a little. Ran chuckled, reaching out and patting the little girl on the head. "It's perfectly normal to be curious about that sort of thing, erm…" She paused, then sighed. "But no, two women can't have a child together. There's… Biological reasons, and…" She trailed off. It really wasn't unsurprising that Chen got confused. After all, this was Gensokyo, and the number of females highly outranked the number of males.
As Ran struggled to think of a way to explain just how pregnancy and childbirth worked, however, Chen quickly sat up, her face breaking into a wide, proud smile.
"I knew it!" She exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. "I told Yukari-sama that I was getting a little tired of playing by myself all the time, so she said," Chen cleared her throat and dropped her tone so that she could imitate their true master. "Don't worry, Chen, I'll make sure that Ran makes /lots/ of little brothers and sisters for you to play with. Ah, but I knew that she was trying to trick me… Ran-sama? Why is your face so red?"
