The Kappa and the Wolf
Hello! Twix here!
Here's chapter 2, and this time, it's from Nitori's perspective. This one took a little bit of planning on my part, since I don't want to make anything too cheesy, repetitive or cliché for these stories, (although something might turn out to be like that anyway...3) even if I want to show their feelings for each other evolve smoothly at the same time. Also, I don't know if kappas eat fish, (According to folklore, kappas sometimes eat humans' livers, but I can't picture Nitori as one of them) but I'm going to assume that Nitori's diet is about the same as a human's diet, only with less meat and more cucumbers. But that's the wonderful thing about open interpretaion, right? :)
And I honestly couldn't come up with a better title for this chapter... Also, I'm still not English, so I've probably messed up somewhere.
Special thanks to Omegahugger for the reviews and tips!
Without further ado, here's chapter 2. It takes place some time after the first story and not the day after, just to be clear.
Second Story: Awkward Morning Meeting
The silent, peaceful song from the earliest birds reached my ears and soothingly reminded me that I was awake, even if my eyes were closed: I couldn't have asked for a better way to start a new day. A sun ray had snuck through my window and tickled my eyelid, leaving me no choice but to open my eyes. As I started to come to life again, though still half- asleep, I slowly crawled out of my bed and stretched a little. I felt surprisingly numb this morning. I must've slept in an awkward position...
Anyway, I fixed my hair and got dressed as I slowly got more and more awake. When I was finally done mith my morning routine of checking my inventions and light morning gymnastics, I went outside. I stretched, took a deep breath and enjoyed the refreshing air. Aaaah, how I looked forward to what the world had to offer me today...
Of course, the moment was ruined by my stomach rumbling. I needed a reminder of why I really had gone outside, how embarrassing!
"Ehrm, I should probably get going..." I said to myself, blushing. (Even though there was no need to do so) "I've got breakfast to prepare..."
I closed the door and set course for the river. Carrying my fishing rod with me, I happily hummed a melody. Today, I was hoping that I would catch a salmon. They taste so great with salt and pickled cucumbers!
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I love mornings. It feels like they are a symbol of possibilities: Anything can happen during the day, and even if you don't know what's coming, the best you can do is to look forward to something good! I especially enjoy early mornings. The feeling that it's early in the day and that you've got a lot of things to expect; That special light golden color from the morning sun makes it look like Gensokyo is shining, and when I'm walking through the forest, I can also hear things that I usually can't hear when the noisy fairies and the like are awake, like the frogs ribbiting or the small forest mice running over the trees' roots. Wonderful!
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I slowly sat down at the river and threw my fishing line in the calm water. As I sat there, waiting for the fish, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the few sounds of the forest. The flowing river, the birds' quiet song, the rustles from the leaves...
An unexpected, sudden cracking noise startled me and made my feet splash into the water, startling a fish that was just about to bite. I watched it swim away in dismay.
"Dang it!" I exclaimed. "And I was just about to catch it! Oh well... At least it wasn't a salmon. I would've been very unhappy if it had been one."
The cracking noise made me jump again and I looked around, trying to determine where it came from. After listening to it for a while, as it turned from cracking to yelling and chopping, I got curious about what could be disturbing my morning peace. It almost sounded like a struggle or something. I stood up, activated my optical camouflage and went in the direction where I heard the ruckus.
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After a while, I got to a small grove. The noises came from there. I hid behind a bush and peeked out behind the leaves. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised about what I saw.
There she was, dressed in only a sarashi, a knee- height black skirt and her tengu sandals, alternating between swinging her big sword and throwing punches at a bunch of scarecrow-like dolls that she had put up in the grove. It seemed like she was training, and sweat was dripping from her face.
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Momiji. Strong and friendly, if a bit aggressive. Some people tend to not see her good sides because of her attitude at her job. But she's just dutiful, that's all. She's a great friend, nontheless, and an excellent shogi player. Not as good as me though, if I do say so myself...
I have to say, I haven't played shogi with a lot of people, but out of those people I have played with, I always feel like I'm having more fun playing with Momiji than with anyone else. I always feel so happy when I'm with her, but it's an odd kind of happiness that I really don't understand. It makes me feel all tingly and excited...
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Don't get me wrong, I knew that she had her morning training everyday. (She has told me so herself) What surprised me was the location: I had never seen her train down here before. Usually, she trained up on the mountain.
Not that I minded this new location of hers. Now, I could get a good look of her. I never could during the day: Her clothes were wide and covered a lot of her body.
She looked more feminine than I thought, in contrast to her personality. Her arms were slim, but muscular, probably due to her wielding that huge sword and the shield. The same went with her back, and her legs... Such muscles! Her strong hands had a firm grip around the sword...
I suddenly slapped my hands over my mouth, blushing.
"Oh god! What am I doing, spying on her like this? How rude of me!"Ithought, almost starting to panic. "I better get out of here, before..."
I didn't finish my thoughts, because I saw the coming danger. Momiji had just attacked a doll, but the recoil that the strike caused made it bend forward and hit her in the face. The impact made her fly backwards. Unfortunately, towards the bush where I was hiding. It happened so fast that I couldn't dodge it in time.
"Uwaa!"
Momiji's foot landed right in my face, which made me fall backwards and deactivated my camouflage.
"Yeouch!" I yelled, placing my hands over my face.
"Oh my god! Nitori!"
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"Nitori, what are you doing here this early in the morning?" Momiji asked, bending over me with a curious look on her face.
"That's my line!" I mumbled, rubbing my face. Her foot had hit me right between the eyes, and it hurt a lot. Momiji shrugged and playfully swung her tail from side to side.
"Can't you tell? I'm training."
"I can see that!" I groaned. "But why are you training here? Don't you usually do it on the mountain?"
"A change of scenery is nice every now and then, you know..." Momiji replied as she let her sword rest on her shoulder and scratched her ear. "Sorry about hitting you. But answer me now: What are you doing here? Were you spying on me?"
I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
"Uh...I was...Looking for bait. I'm fishing, you see?" I said, pointing to my fishing rod.
Momiji frowned in doubt.
"Alright, but do you really need camouflage to look for bait?"
She got me there. I had no good answer to that, and an awkward silence occured. I felt that weird happiness again. Why did it occure now?
Finally, Momiji started to snicker.
"Your face is as red as a cherry! What's up with that?"
It felt like my face was on fire and that my heart was about to burst through my chest.
"T-the same goes for you! You're blushing, too!" I blurted out.
Momiji scratched her cheek, as she always did when she was a bit embarassed.
"Well...It is a kinda weird situation..." She mumbled, seeming to be at loss for words.
Fortunately, though, she seemed to snap out of it after a while, and she turned around.
"Anyway, I need to keep training, and you have a fish to catch." She grinned towards me. "So, shogi this evening?"
I replied to her grin with a smile. It was about time for me to snap out of my embarassment, too.
"Of course! Since you just can't seem to get enough of losing..." I laughed.
"Hey! I'll make you eat those words tonight!" Momiji replied. "See ya later, Nitori!"
"Yeah! Later!" I replied and watched her as she ran off into the forest. She probably had an obstacle course further in or something...
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I made it back towards the lake, still feeling the weird sensation I always felt when being with her. It occupied my mind, and I couldn't concentrate enough on fishing, making the desired salmon being replaced with a few fat trouts instead. Feeling a little bit disappointed, but somehow satisfied at the same time, I went back to my house and had breakfast.
It was delicious either way, so it's a shame to complain about the fish. Better luck next time. Hopefully, it applies to both the fishing and her...
And that's chapter 2. I hope you enjoyed it.
On a Touhou- realted note: Who's excited about Ten Desires? I am! I wonder what new characters ZUN has created! (If he has created new ones, of course...)