Disclaimer: All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

Revised 12/22/2010

A/N: My thanks goes to the reviewer Sect for pointing out the errors in the timeline (i.e. changing 'thirty years ago' to 'forty years ago' in the coming revisions).

II.
Irregular Pieces

40 Years Later
June 11, 2010

This place, Sakuya deduced, was an absolute mess.

Standing in the threshold between indoors and the tranquility that was the Forest of Magic, she wondered how – and where – she was going to start. She didn't so much think of Marisa as the type to hoard, but seeing the stacks of bulging cardboard boxes, the clothes-strewn floor, and other miscellaneous crap lying about in such disarray was unbelievable.

And here she thought the Mansion's staff was terrible at maintaining order.

Lady Remilia had to be mad. Yes, she had to be, no doubt about it. How else could she explain it? If something had to be done, it had to be done on the behalf of the Lady and for the safety of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Except…nothing had threatened the Lady or the Mansion since this past spring. What could have possibly drove her to decide on this course of action?

No matter how many times she asked, Lady Remilia refused to answer. She blew her off with the wave of a hand, ushering her to be on her way and out my sight before I change my mind. She wanted to question why, but what was the point of pursuing? It was best to not push her luck with the old vampire. After all, you can't always expect to get what you want.

Staring at the scene as if it were a page from a children's pop-up book, Sakuya came to the dreaded realization that life got a lot more difficult to understand.

'Gods, I might actually need your help….'

Sakuya sighed and stepped inside. Her footsteps were muffled by a sea of long-sleeved slips, tattered skirts, and – a quick glance down, then away, her face aflame – laced panties.

As she slowly waded across the floor, she took in the house's state. How was Marisa able to live like this, moving around and going about her daily routine? How could she find anything?

Something caught her eye, and she slowed down to look. A few books lay neatly side by side on a sweating icebox, sitting in the sun and collecting fine sheets of dust. Sakuya glanced over the titles only to shake her head and smirk. It amused her how the magician kept other people's possessions in order but could not pick up after herself. The thought struck her as both ironic and pathetic.

She came to a stop in the middle of what had to be a tea room (if she were so inclined to guess). She cast a few cursory glances here and there. The quietude was broken by afternoon birdsong and the rustling of trees.

Sakuya set her arms akimbo and huffed. "This is going to take all day, and I don't even have the time for that." She scratched her cheek and allowed her eyes to wander the area. "I really don't want to do this…."

She paused in mid-gesture, a sudden revelation dawning upon her. 'Wait a minute.' She reached behind her and searched beneath the bow secured round her figure. Muscle memory led her palm to caress its smooth surface, a cool sensation she had always been intimately familiar with, and draw the knife out with a graceful flourish.

Sakuya brought it to close to her face, studied the silver blade gleaming in the sun like unearthed diamonds and the narrow square handle that fit perfectly in her grasp. From her lips a thoughtful hum slipped past and vibrated. 'Would I be able to find anything this way?'

The gears in her mind churned and creaked. There was so much stuff, stuff that was crammed in nooks and crannies, stuff that littered small end-tables and draped over curtain beams, the lone cabinet in the corner, and on the ceiling rafters. Would Marisa notice anything amiss? Would she even care?

Glancing between the knife and the horrendous clutter, Sakuya made her decision. She closed her fist on the handle and channeled manna into the blade.

'I doubt it.'

When she felt the magic peak, she took aim and flung the knife at a random pile.

It was another day in the Forest of Magic for Marisa Kirisame. There was an endless supply of mushrooms, growing on wizened, moss-covered trees, beds of fungi, the ground, and through the holes of logs made there by hungry insects. So to speak this was nature's territory, and whenever she would make the return trip to gather more of the phantom stinkhorns there would be twice the amount plucked from their roots.

On the plus side, she appreciated the silence. Here in the woods, away from the humdrum of the Human Village, she could think and organize her thoughts accordingly – where and when she could 'borrow' Alice's books, how she could 'take' more than enough sake from Reimu's cabinets, what flowers she could 'pick' from the Hakugyokurou gardens to add to her concoctions, the possibilities were endless! And it was such a beautiful day, too – blue sky, yellow sun, light breeze, and nary a cloud in the sky, so what better way to spend these twenty-four hours than picking mushrooms and fighting evil lurking in every shadowed corner?

Marisa couldn't think of any other ways, but she was content to settle with just this, on her knees and up to her elbows in dirt by tall, wild grass.

She was holding one such specimen in her hand, turning it over and studying its purple cap and black spots (that looked suspiciously like beady black eyes) with piercing intensity. "I don't know," she said to herself, stroking her chin. "I've never seen the likes of you before. You don't look like you want to be trusted. Then again," she looked to the sky briefly, "I have no idea what properties you might have in store, so…what the heck? I'm taking you with me!" Beaming, she dropped the toadstool in a basket filled to the brim of other peculiar fungi and resumed scavenging. "I'll only need a few more. Then I can go back and try my hand at making that old family recipe: three-layered mushroom pie!"

KABOOM!

"Eh?" Marisa straightened up and glanced left and right. "What was that?"

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

"What in the world?" It wasn't close by, so it had to be coming from behind. The witch stood and turned around—

BANG!

Just in time to see the top of a brick chimney rocket above the canopy on a plume of billowing grey smoke.

Her brick chimney.

"MY HOUSE!" she squawked shrilly, eyes going wide and jaw unhinging. Without a second thought she was in motion, kicking up grass and dirt clods and a basket of colorful mushrooms in her wake.

Not too far from the Forest of Magic, two girls were taking a stroll on one of Gensokyo's many dirt roads, embroiled in a conversation one would not expect to venture on.

"Wait, you want to do what now?" Momiji posed disbelievingly to the crow tengu next to her.

"I want to write something different for a change," Aya boldly answered the wolf youkai's question. "I want something that'll shine like a diamond in the rough, something that is going to make humans and youkai alike think twice about the material they're reading. I'm striving to inspire awe and wonder into the minds of my readers – from the smallest child to the oldest man, I dare to aim my pen true to the tell-tale heart!"

"And," Momiji stressed, "how are you going to do that?"

"I don't know," Aya told her honestly, "but I'm going to find that something. And when I do, it's going to suck the very breath from peoples' bodies! Oh, I can just see it now!"

Momiji smirked. "So do I. The look you'll have when a door slams in your face will make itall the more palpable."

"Like I care about your opinion," the tengu huffed. "As long as I have subscribers, I'll keep on writing. The truth is the truth and nothing but!"

The wolf-girl burst out laughing, doubled over and clutching her sides. "Subscribers? You must have had too much mountain air, Aya! The only subscribers I see are the burnable trash pits!"

"There are a few who believe in my cause! Like Lord Tenma and that girl – whatshername again? – Ha…Ha…ah, Hatate! Yes, that's right! Hatate! She has the heart and soul to pursue what is always fleeting, riding on winds not even I can strain to hear!"

"Himekaidou goes out of her way to separate truth from fiction. You just have bad hearing."

"Bad hearing!" Aya sputtered indignantly. "I'll have you know we tengu have exceptional hearing! We live with the wind, for the wind, and abide by the wind. Bad hearing, much less deafness, is simply unheard of!" Then, grumbling, "Unlike a certain breed of canids…."

A downward pull of the lips, followed by a twitch in white wolf ears. "At least I pay attention to the world around me."

"My world is the world you and every human, youkai, and hellspawn inhabit!" The crow-girl stopped and knocked her forehead against the other, red irises glaring. "I'm not daft!"

Momiji returned the favor and pushed back. "Then get your head out of the clouds and keep that damn rope tightened down!"

KABOOM!

"Huh?" Both youkai voiced simultaneously. At the corners of their eyes, they caught sight of a pillar of smoke belching into the air…and a rectangular object which burst into square detritus like a fireworks display gone wrong. It was preceded by a faint shriek of "My house!"

Momiji stared at the curling wisps. "What was that just now?"

Aya breathed in a deep dose of humid summer air, then exhaled loudly and thumped a fist to her breast. "That, my flea-bitten colleague, is the sound of a BIG SCOOP!"

"Big Scoop?" was the incredulous response. "You call someone being in imminent danger a Big Scoop?"

"The riskier a situation is, the more info I can get my hands on!" As if they had lives of their own, her fingers dove into the folds of her jacket and produced a pencil riddled with teeth marks and a crumpled, yellowed notepad. "This is how all great stories are made!"

"All your stories are made of bullsh—hey come back here! I'm not finished yet!"

They were off the road and galloping into the forest, trees and vegetation running into messy watercolor strings. With the wind howling at their backs, they broke through the greenery like hunters on the prowl.

Moments later, they emerged into a wide clearing. Or rather, Aya roared out into the open, tripping on her own feet and flailing her arms about to preserve what little balance she had. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" the tengu yelled. "I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU whoooaa…." All thoughts of garnering the Big Scoop were sucked dry like a hungry leech latched to her veins. She quickly collected herself, slowed to a stop, and stared.

"There you are!" Momiji panted. "By the Gods, woman, you could have at least slowed down son of a bitch, what happened?"

What they saw was the smoldering ruins of a house. The foundations and the skeletal, wooden frame remained largely intact, if not slightly blackened by some fierce heat. However, what drew the girls' attention was the amount of junk littering the lush, grassy floor – towels, door knockers, taiko drums, empty beer bottles, torn pillows, cracked gargoyle statues, chipped chinaware, dead fish, spines of books, scattered paper, rusted swords, glittering jewels, dented pots and pans, colorful multitudes of brassieres and underwear, there were so many other things to name!

But their awe-stricken stupor was not meant to last; a voice – brash and furious – cut the silence in half as if it were made of paper. "Who the hell are you?"

Aya was the first to recover. She got a good look at the person who called out and instantly recognized her. The big black witch's hat; the long blonde hair wrapped in an intricate braid; the pretty, youthful features twisted in knotted brow and ugly scowl. Yes, this was the one and only Marisa Kirisame. Like all facts and rumors she had heard tell of this human via the wind, carrying whispered words and broken fragments as it always did, but she also learned via word of mouth passed along the mountain from fellow tengu to fellow wolf and so forth. And here she was, standing before Marisa Kirisame herself, small and beautiful and terrifying as a pissed off siren.

This was how all great stories began. With one simple question, she could learn a lifetime's worth of information. Secrets, desires, opinions, ambitions, there was so much she could unravel…!

First impressions are meant to leave a lasting mark on a new acquaintance, so Aya put on her best smile – friendly, caring, and maybe a little flirty – and said, "Well, miss, I'm Aya Shameimaru, and this overtly fluffy gel next to me is Momiji Inubashiri. We run the Bunbunmaru Newspaper over on Youkai Mountain, and we were wondering if we could—"

"Aw crap, a committee!" Marisa blurted rudely, then, realizing her mistake, swore loudly. "Goddammit, Sakuya, what on Gensokyo were you thinking, waltzin' in here as if you owned the place? Now you've gone and attracted solicitors!"

"Actually, we were just passing by," Momiji chimed in. "We had no intentions of stopping" she sent a stern glare at Aya "but we heard an explosion and came to see what caused it."

Marisa barked a harsh laugh. "You wanna know who caused this mess? She's standing right behind me!" She pointed an accusing finger at the maid, who stood motionless and silent as a statue. "And the best part is I caught her red-handed!"

Aya stole a brief glance at the perpetrator, and the perpetrator, whose name was Sakuya, glanced back. Her eyes were a unique shade of blue–deep and dark like twilight descending on a clear, star-studded horizon –framed by fronds of lustrous, almost metallic silver hair. She appeared to be the epitome of a maid, from the clothes she wore and the straightness of her spine to the slender fingers folded upon the handles of a beaten weave basket filled with odds and ends (which had to have come from the house). Even the air between them, as their gazes met, seemed to exude a particular elegance and subsumed nobility only she was susceptible to.

A cold shiver wracked Aya's shoulders. Those eyes were so hypnotic, and yet…so powerful, as if they could open the windows to the soul and take a peek at each individual piece. Who are you? What are you? Why are you here? How are we connected? Why…

Why hadn't she ever heard of this Sakuya?

Her mind returned to its proper track of reality when Sakuya leveled a frown at the black-clad magician. "It was the perfect chance for me to collect what was needed for Milady. There was no other way to go about this."

"What a bunch of bull!" exclaimed Marisa. "I saw what you were doing a mile away!"

"Wait a minute," Momiji interrupted. "You said you were gathering things for a lady. Who is she, and what does she need these things for?"

"I am a servant to Remilia Scarlet, who is mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion," the maid answered sveltely. "She requested I purloin Miss Kirisame's possessions in hopes we could build a ship to the Moon."

"A ship?" Aya repeated, and together she and her colleague looked up into towering pine needles and endless azure. "What's on the Moon?"

"I do not know. I asked Milady the same question, but to no avail. Regardless I performed my duty, but when I arrived Miss Kirisame was present. Knowing her, I did not dare repeat the previous experiences, so I waited in the woods for her to leave. And when she did, I took advantage of the opportunity and snuck into the house—"

"Only for her to blow it up with those goddamned knives!" Marisa furiously described, gesticulating as if she had caught on fire.

"Your abode is like the Ninth Circle itself," Sakuya added indifferently. "What did you expect me to do?"

"To at least keep it in one piece! Now I gotta go out and Master Spark half the forest…again!"

"Did you not have help building the first time?"

"NO! It was abandoned when I got here!"

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"You think?"

"Hey now, ladies, settle down," Aya gestured with a placative wave of her hands. "I think we can resolve this quite peacefully…."

Marisa nodded. "Yeah, if she forks everything over to their rightful owner."

"If I remember correctly," Sakuya said in that blasé tone, "How to Thwart Voodooism with the Scientific Wonders of Science has not been on our library's shelves for the past two years."

"You can have it back when I'm dead! It's not like the rest of this junk is going anywhere!"

"That's beside the point. When the ship is complete and has served its purpose, I will return everything to where it belongs…even if I should have to wait by your bedside, watching you take your final breath." Then she turned up her nose and breathed in the sudden chill breeze which teased the flaps of her skirt and stroked the bowed crowns of the forest.

Aya gawped and repressed the urge to grab her camera and snap a photo.

Momiji took the whole scene in with a thoughtful frown.

Marisa remained where she was, clenching her fists and casting a petulant glare at Sakuya's way.

A bird twittered a merry tune somewhere in the branches. The leaves whispered. A sheet of paper rolled end over end across the field, goaded by the wind.

Sakuya sighed. "Well then, I believe I shall be on my way. I do not wish to keep Milady waiting. If you'll excuse me, Miss Kirisame, Miss Shameimaru and Miss Inubashiri," she bowed her farewell to them and departed.

"Hold up!" said Marisa. Sakuya regarded her with a questioning brow. Marisa held out her hand. "The Hakkero, hand it over." She indicated the tip of an octagonal block poking beneath a coil of cable wire. Sakuya didn't protest. She reached in, pulled forth the Hakkero, and deposited it in the witch's waiting palm. "Thank you."

"You have my word," said the maid, honestly and truly.

"Yeah, whatever. Now go. Scram."

She needn't be told twice. Like a shadow, she entered the Forest of Magic and disappeared.

When a minute had passed, Momiji broke the ice. "Well," she said, "that was…weird."

Aya nodded, scratching her pencil across the notepad's blank pages. "Hmmm, yes, very weird indeed. Perhaps weird enough to make the front page…."

"You're still here?" said Marisa.

Aya perked her head up. "Hm? Oh, yes. We're still here."

"Then get the hell off my property."

"Eh? But we're not finished with our report!"

"Our report?" Momiji parroted.

"Oh, I think you're finished," said Marisa, and the brim of her hat slipped over her eyes. The Hakkero glowed in her hands.

"Ah, but there's still so much to do!" Aya reasoned with a panic. "Questions, observations, pictures; this marvelous scene of chaos is a literary gold mine! We'd just like to have a few minutes with you—!"

"Aya, you idiot—!" Momiji cried above the whine of absorbing manna.

Marisa scowled and lifted the glowing furnace.

Sakuya emerged from the Forest of Magic and headed in the direction of the dirt road Aya and Momiji recently trekked. She had acquired what she believed would be beneficial to building the ship. She could only hope that the launch would be successful and that Lady Remilia would do whatever she needed to on the surface.

As a matter of fact, Miss Shameimaru made a valid point. What could possibly be on the Moon? What could her mistress want from a world beyond their own?

Nature put in its two cents in the form of an abrupt explosion.

BOOM!

Somewhere in the distance, a pair of voices intermingled together:

"Ayayayayaya!"

"Damn it, Aya!"

Sakuya listened to the short-lived exchange by the roadside, head tilted in bemusement. She waited there, perhaps to see if she would hear anymore, but any other snatches of conversation were immediately drowned out by a second, fainter blast.

In a rare display of outward emotion, Sakuya Izayoi smirked.

People in Gensokyo were just so strange….