Sunlight poured in through the thicket of branches above, the forest crowded by critters and fairies alike, both bustling with activity. Little clouds hung overhead today – it was a nice morning and actually fit for adventure. The earth was soft beneath Reimu's shoes as she walked, hearing leaves crunching under her step, noting how peaceful and serene the wilderness sounded. Strange, that even after such a terrible event nature proceeds unaffected, but life waits for no one now, does it? After all, we had so much free time on our hands. We could've seen it coming or even prepared for such an occurrence. Despite how much she hated to admit it, the shrine maiden was caught flatfooted. Off-guard. Now she had to resort to... unsavory techniques that took the form of the little, lazy youkai slapping away branches ahead of her and getting slapped herself by others. Since when did she even associate herself with the vile pest-?
Right. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
All of a sudden, Seija stopped and put her hands on her hips, humming as she looked over the road. "That tree looks familiar…" Reimu still deep in reflection bumped into her back and did a double take, now cross. "Hey, why'd you stop?" She barked, more annoyed at being torn from her thoughts than the unnecessary physical impact. "I said the tree looks familiar." The amanojaku's response was flat, like her word was an unwritten law. Sure enough, the pale, dwindling tree had six sets of footsteps next to it, all identical in shape and size. "Of course it would, we passed that same tree three times! Don't you have some upside down map to follow or something?" Hearing this, the horned youkai bit her finger and looked around, apparently trying to feign concentration to avoid the question. "What? Hah, why would I need that?" She scoffed, waving her free hand about as if her face was being attacked mercilessly by flies. Reimu was about to protest, but the amanojaku started taking her path through a thicket of bushes and shaking off those that clung to her dress, completely ignoring the daggers being glared into her back. At least this route was different, but slowly Reimu started feeling like Seija had no clue where to go; it was only reinforced by the idea she most likely was running blind through the woods with the shrine maiden in tow. She simply sighed, tried to console her frayed nerves by thinking about how this incident will soon be solved and she can then throw a nice party, maybe invite Marisa over and share some of the credit for once – nah, it was better to just work it all out over sake and forget that this unsavory experience ever happened. That if Seija stopped rambling about how excellent her internal compass was.
"… and it doesn't look like it but I can find my way in an inverted castle while it's upright! I'll have you know my sense of direction is unequaled; even the princess said that she'd never – Ah, how spectacular... A crossroads." It was true, the path divided into two and stretched off into the woods. The way onto the right lead into what looked like the Bamboo Forest while the other skewed to Youkai Mountain. Staring over the roads, and then at one another, the two fell into an uncomfortable silence soon broken by Reimu. "Let's go to Youkai Mountain." Now it was the amanojaku's turn to protest. Her eyes widened in overdramatic shock and confusion, most likely not aware of the secret path to the moon stretching from the lake up there. "What? Seriously?! Even a rodent can see that we should go to the Bamboo Forest." She gestured dramatically at the dirt path, appalled. "We'd have to wait years if we're going to take another rocket up there – and not get killed by the Lunarian defense systems." She shook visibly, her facial expression one of disgust. Reimu couldn't blame her, the only taste she'd ever gotten from the Lunar Defense Corps was Reisen and she'd have given her more than she asked for. However, she didn't question how an earth youkai like Seija knew about the lunarians or their weaponry, but simply ignored it instead. She probably asked around. "At least it's better than wandering around lost till night falls." The shrine maiden started pulling Seija down the left path, not flinching when she felt thrashing against her grasp. "But the goons at Youkai Mountain hate my guts!"
Reimu put a hand to her forehead. "Seija, everyone hates your guts."
"Why don't you just go there alone?"
"You said it yourself. Amanojaku blood ties or something, remember? This Amenosagume won't listen to me, unless I beat her. And if I do I'd get every Lunarian in the capital on the hunt for my head." With that, Reimu deemed the discussion over – at least on her end, as the black haired youkai kept groaning on and on for at least a solid hour and whining about how 'unfair' this is. They ventured deeper through the thicket of trees, occasionally stumbling across a fairy or two. Keeping her hold on the back of Seija's collar Reimu received some far too friendly waves and calls from passing villagers and youkai together, all seemingly believing she'd captured the amanojaku plotting a heinous deed. Well, she might as well tell the youkai off for all the things she's done, especially pilfering her shrine with the Miracle Mallet – along with Shinmyoumaru strapped to its hilt and screaming like a frightened squirrel. Reimu couldn't believe how fast those two got back together – it's like the princess really wanted to have the wool pulled over her eyes over and over or worse, thought she could rehabilitate Seija with her innocent forgiveness. She'd 'be angry' for a while and then literally throw herself out the window looking for the troublesome brat. Still, it appeared she's started to forget about her association with Seija, especially after Tenshi showed up again, but the shrine maiden still had her fears.
Reimu's told her numerous times that all amanojaku just want to cause trouble, that they don't make friends and would only cause harm, and Shinmyoumaru's responded numerous times with the same old "Ok, I'll think about it." "Ok, I'll fight her seriously." "Ok, I'll take back all of the mallet's magic back this time." "Ok, I won't sharpen my needle sword on coins from your donation box." "Ok, ok, ok – Seija's trying to break into the castle again, can we talk about this later?" Spoiler alert? She never did any of that. Not even brought it up again. Even until today, the shrine maiden still found that a healthy portion of her donations was so badly scratched up that it was almost useless.
"We're here! Now what?"
Silence.
"Hey, snap out of it." A long-nailed hand waved in front of her face, far too close for her liking. "Don't do that." She said, slapping Seija's hand away. The amanojaku was quiet for a minute, then after not getting a response she cleared her throat rather loudly – something people do when they need attention for something or when they don't know what to say. "Oh Rey-Rey, it's quiet isn't it?" She said nonchalantly, stretching her arms up and leaning up against a tree. "Yeah. It's quiet." Reimu's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the peaceful atmosphere. Crows perched on nearby trees, but not a single caw escaped them. Something around just felt off, like they were being watched. "Too quiet."
"Up here on Mt. Misfits this surely doesn't mean any good. Those damned tengu are going to jump us soon and I really don't want to wash in the lake again, that fish-brained mermaid almost killed me last time." The amanojaku visibly winced, rubbing her cheek with one hand. "Those fins slap hard."
"Is this going to be another story?" Reimu rolled her eyes. "You've told enough on our way here."
"Someone mentioned stories?"
Jumping out of seemingly nowhere, Aya burst out from the thicket of trees and snapped a couple of pictures at maximum tengu speed, blinding them both. "The Hakurei Shrine Maiden seen with wanted amanojaku – could this be the end of anarchy this youkai has brought upon Gensokyo?" She said in her best 'dignified journalist' tone, to which Reimu simply muttered something disgruntled. Aya's meddling practices were always focused around her and the other incident solvers whenever a big incident took place or just when the crow tengu felt like going out and interrogating people – and it never brought nice things her way. Her stories tended to be exaggerated and often biased, using shock value and enforced stereotypes to gather sales and feedback, despite carrying the silver of truth within. If anything, the reporter always gravitated towards rough treatment when it came to people, or at least that's what her interviewees claimed. Either way, Reimu didn't want to deal with it. But she had to. "Actually, I'm busy solving the incident everyone wanted me to address. So can you excuse me, I really don't have time for an interview, and I can't wait to get this over with." The last part was muttered to herself, but she could see Seija smirking a little at her exasperation. Typical of an irritating creature with no purpose but being a prick in one's back.
"And what is Kijin doing with you again?"
She had expected it. "She has information on the incident's culprits." Not a lie, but not a truth either. Just enough for Aya to accept. However, the tengu shook her head with a wry smile, not letting the shrine maiden take another step away before feeding her some actually valuable material. Aya knew better than to try and prevent Reimu from going up the mountain again, especially since she was in the company of such a… disagreeable individual, but she still did her best to passively-aggressively postpone her trip up before Momiji got a whiff of them. Quite literally.
"Come on, can't you offer me some more info? I've always been good to you, Reimu – best friends and all, we solved an incident together, remember?" Stretching once more, Seija took it as a sign to leave. She should've waited, which is exactly why. You don't ask a contrarian why they don't do the expected now, do you? Ignoring Reimu's feeble attempts at dodging the journalist, she simply wandered off in the direction of the mountain path, humming pleasantly to herself and thinking about how pissed off Reimu would be the moment she finds out. Of course she would throw a threat here and there, but she needed Seija on the moon – it was literally her last hope. And if you want to get an amanojaku to do as you say, you must bear with the trouble, anarchy and basic douchebag behavior that comes along. More bad than good, but it's worth it in her bird-eyed sight. Enough for Seija to wrap the shrine maiden around her finger. She wouldn't lay a hand on me, that snobbish Hakurei. Dumb woman needs me more than I need her.
Which brought her back to the topic that's busied her for the last few days.
The moon.
The temple.
Amenosagume.
She slowed down to a pause on the cobblestone footpath, watching how it twisted around the mountain like a grey snake. Clouds drifted overhead, it was still early in the morning and nobody had gotten to their work yet. She was lucky to have gotten hang of the shrine maiden on her morning sweep. Faintly, she could see the moon in the sky amongst dwindling wisps of cloud. It would vanish any second now. A little disk of snowy silver in a bright sky, looking as pure and as peaceful as always. Seija raised her hand as if to shelter her eyes from the faint light – an idiosyncrasy of hers that she'd picked up through years of hiding away and being chased relentlessly through generations and generations of feeble-minded humans. She'd lived long past her lifespan, but things were becoming harder for her to deal with. Changing times, different youkai, all sorts of new species greeted her every time she emerged from underground. Always a new set of faces to tackle her to the ground and shove her face in the dirt, fueled by some deep-set hatred to the amanojaku kind. The world was altering itself drastically by the second, and here she was. Exactly the same way she's been 240 years ago, when she'd got her first taste of adulthood – a new experience of a mother's punch to the face, the sincerest act of kindness you would see from an amanojaku. Too bad they all died off. Well, all of them except one.
How did she even end up begging a heavenly god for guidance?
Ask and you shall be answered. The suggestion was tempting. It sounded like a chance at acquiring power, and Seija's thirsted for such an opportunity her whole life. Rain had soaked her to a shivering mess, and after a tangle with the werewolf she wasn't willing to take another step into the dark wilderness of the bamboo forest. She'd tripped over it while running from the werebeast – A palm-sized, pearlescent statue of a one-winged figure, well-worn with age, half buried into the dirt, most likely revealed by the pouring rainfall. The sheer touch of it dripped with energy, and it was there lying about for every youkai who crawled this filthy earth to use. It wasn't a tool, and she couldn't get the energy to flow out for her to utilize, but on the other hand it gave her a sense of safety, even if random hunters chased her down through the night and almost shackled her to a boulder to send her tumbling to her doom.
She couldn't find it in her to just throw it away. It was still in her pocket, its weight comforting her tense nerves. Like she wouldn't be worried about going about nonchalantly with the same person who emotionlessly exterminated a youkai. Seija's seen amanojaku and youkai alike die all the time in all sorts of ways, but extermination's always been the scariest. Every other method just got rid of youkai's physical body, being exterminated destroyed their souls as well. Their life, their essence, gone in the flick of a wrist. The moon loomed above the whole time, adorning the sky with its soft, barely visible shape. At least she'd gotten rid of that tedious shrine maiden for now.
Unless Rei- Hakurei had some magic rabbit to pull out of her butt there was no way they could get there fast enough before the world mysteriously burns to the ground. Shaking her head, she snorted. Trusting people – ha! Stupid thing to do. She might as well go and swoon Shinmyoumaru again with a fake marriage proposal, at least that had some success percentage. Something rattled the branches behind her, and Reimu emerged looking around livid until her eyes settled on the uninterested youkai waving lazily to her from the mountain's base. "What the heck Seija?"
"What?"
The shrine maiden tried to speak calmly, obviously seething. "Wasn't it you who came up with this whole association idea?"
"Yeah, so what?" Seija just shrugged casually, chill about the situation. It felt for a second like they weren't in a race to save Gensokyo. Hearing her words Reimu spoke through grit teeth, waving her purification rod menacingly in the air. "So don't wander off like that next time. What if you go and die on me?" A likely preposition, despite being unfortunate. "Come on, I thought you're smarter than this." She said, sighing and elbowing past the amanojaku when she didn't get a response. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence though, Seija had followed her, keeping a fair distance. "Tsk. Fair enough. Now what?" she asked, her tone laced with annoyance. "Now," Reimu looked up at the long path. It would take them hours to scale it on foot, time which they couldn't afford. Flying would be much easier. "Follow me." She rose in the air, waiting for Seija to do the same before she noticed how particularly unnerved she appeared at the sight of the shrine maiden taking flight. "What- Why would I?" She grumbled to herself. The sudden hostility was uncalled for, more of a reminder of the amanojaku's revulsion of her before it melded into some quiet passiveness. It seemed off at best. "I'm not going up there with you in the air." She said, crossing her arms.
"Come on, trust me a little in return, would you?"
The disbelief lingered in her words. "So you could shoot me right out of the sky the moment I do something 'unnerving'? No thanks, my plan, my rules." Reinstating how she was in control, Seija took to the footpath and simply ignored Reimu, walking up the mountain on her own. Reimu's eyes narrowed, and she grew even more aggravated at this behavior. Just who did that little pest think she is? She did come up with the whole idea and was vital to its success, but making the shrine maiden tag behind her like a wet dog was just unacceptable. She would never succumb to such behavior under normal circumstances.
But this was an emergency. And in times of trouble one must offer sacrifices, even if they were in the form of one's pride. Shaking her head for the billionth time this day, Reimu landed a few steps before the amanojaku who stood contemplating her with uninterested eyes. "Fine. Happy now?" she said, frowning.
"Much." Seija took to walking again, flashing a prideful smile in Reimu's direction. "Just remember it'll all be over in no time. Or don't; your anger is entertaining, y'know."
"Master Sharin!" Footsteps echoed against marble floor, as the docile figure made her way past tall pillars and down a large gold-ornamented hall to the lone wooden altar standing at its end. In her arms was a small silver amulet with a diamond within that projected swirling shapes against the walls as she ran. Kneeling at the altar was the robed figure from before, now appalled at being rudely interrupted from what appeared to be a state of prayer. Beside her was another figure with yellow eyes and bushy hair, one the messenger did not recognize. "What is it now? I told you not to disturb me."
The small figure, pale as snow with glistening red eyes held up the amulet for her to see. In its jeweled surface, the image of two individuals – a youkai and a human – was reflected. "The shrine maiden is on the move, just like you said." She watched as Sharin rose to her full height and snatched the amulet from her hands, examining it thoroughly. The other simply followed her around like a ghost. So, they are indeed desperate. "An amanojaku and a shrine maiden, working together." The master snorted as she spoke to her companion who did not reply, opting to watch Reimu and Seija make their way up past the tengu village instead. "Pathetic."
The herald raised her head, not yet finished delivering her message. "That isn't all. Youkai of the forest are also grouping amongst themselves. They want to seek us out."
"I am aware."
"What should we do?"
Sharin looked over the amulet one more time before throwing it to her companion who caught it with one inhuman paw. "We? We aren't doing anything. You are going to watch over the doorway and make sure this place remains untouched." She gazed over the altar one final time before turning to the doors. "I'll see the shrine maiden myself." The messenger simply sighed in relief, glad she didn't get shanked for being incompetent and arriving late. Just a simple ghoul before, now working – quite unwillingly – at the hands of a vengeful cleric. What has her life gone to? She shook her head, sitting on the floor and resting her weary legs, brushing leaves from her long black hair and cursing how it tended to cling to branches at the worst moments. The journey all the way back from the Forest of Magic was grueling to say the least.
At the gateway, the two took to the skies. "They think I'm scared of their little alliance, huh…" Muttered the cleric to herself, more disgusted than annoyed at their nerve. She looked over to her companion – the very same one who followed her around for ages now. Sure was ironic to carry around a werehyena while being a notorious figure herself, but the little beast's proven herself to be more trustworthy than anyone else. "Hiba, go to the woods. Make quick work of this union."
The werebeast's ears perked. "Would you prefer it with fatalities?"
"No, we killed enough." For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to brush off the casualties as usual. "Scare them away, make them an example of how things work in Gensokyo now." With the Hakurei out of the way for a while, this world was her personal playing field. Sharin still had no idea why they were going all the way up to the moon, but she chose to not think of it for now. They won't have time to pull whatever trick they were planning.
"As you wish."
A\N: I spent a legit week trying to remember what was I supposed to do on this site - ouch! Really sorry for the delay, will come more often from now on. Jeez, isn't it sorta annoying how a lot of youkai don't know what their fellow creepy-crawlies do?
Reimu's inner monologue is fun to write, I gotta admit.