Servitude
A Touhou Project round-robin fanfic created by Wolfsbane706 and hosted by Mephiles666. This chapter of the round-robin is written by Mephiles666.
Chapter 3
It's not like Rumia had ordered that she be treated gently, so the rough treatment was not disobedience.
"To be worthy of service," Satomi had said. If Rumia smelled so foul that her servant risked dying on the spot from the sheer stench of her odor, or if said service was hindered due to it, then the words the human girl spoke were true.
And thus the human servant was quite within her rights to toss her master into the scalding hot water and run her skin over with wire and a clump of causticity.
But even if the human girl's words and actions were justified, one could not help but feel betrayed when being handled by their sworn servant in such a way. Of course the youkai wanted to thrash at the human girl as she dunked Rumia's head back into the hot, soapy water.
The hot water flowing over her body, the burning sensation of the soap getting into her eyes; it reminded her of a feeling she once knew... long ago...
...
To Rumia, it was a good day. A day when she could get human prey. And to her luck, there were several of them.
This was before the days of spell cards, before carnivorous and omnivorous youkai were expected to not eat every human they came across. A human outside of the Human Village was not protected by the laws of Gensokyo and therefore in immediate danger. Either Rumia did not remember why they were there, or she did not bother to wait and find out since she would have to act quickly if she wanted it all for herself.
It was by sheer chance that she failed to kill any but succeeded to injure the majority of them before the largest pleaded with her.
"Please, Ms. Youkai! Please don't kill them!"
"They are worth more to me dead," she recalled being her response. But that seal always caused memory problems.
"I'll do anything! Please spare them!"
Rumia raised her eyebrow at the man who was not pleading for his life, but the life of those among him.
He was a healthy individual, and uninjured. The others, however, were weaker and dying. Given how deep they were into the forest and how far away they were from the Village, what chance did they have to survive? Logically, you'd let the predator put the weakened prey out of its misery and run yourself. But...
Of course, if they were his family as Rumia recalled, that would have some logic. Self-sacrifice in hopes your offspring and someone who could take care of them would survive.
The memory was blurry, so Rumia did not remember why she did it, but...
"I accept, but in return... your life..."
She remembered drooling; the healthier one's food was before death, the better it tasted, even if fearful prey had its health benefits for youkai.
But the burning hot water and soap did not remind her of that human, rather what her meeting him would result in.
This encounter triggered the sequence of events that led to her being sealed.
...
"Alright, off with the clothes!" Satomi said as she pulled the twilight youkai's vest and blouse off. "I can't clean you if anything is in the way."
Even though there was some truth to that, Rumia swore that the human girl was somehow mocking her.
"Accessories, too!"
Rumia's attention came abruptly to the here and now. When Satomi's fingers brushed against the red ribbon amulet, pain shot through the small youkai's body. But it did not show in her voice, rather, the youkai's hand shot up and immediately grabbed Satomi by the wrist.
"I said-"
Her master cut her off. "Do not..." Rumia tightened her grip on the human girl's hand. She spoke, her words low and whispered, "Ever..."
"Ow! Ow! Lady Rumia!" The human girl winced in pain. If Rumia had been stronger, there would be a very real risk of bones cracking under the pressure.
"Do not ever touch the ribbon," Rumia said, lifting her eyes to meet Satomi's. "Do not ever touch the ribbon. Do you understand me?" Rumia's eyes glowed with bottled up rage. Looking into such eyes, Satomi felt fear build within her.
"Y-yes, Lady Rumia," Satomi said as she nodded.
"Do you understand me?" Rumia asked again. She wanted to make it certain that the human girl truly understood.
"Yes, Lady Rumia," Satomi answered a second time, trying to keep calm. "I will not touch the ribbon. Please let go, you're hurting me."
There was a brief pause before the pain in Satomi's hand vanished. Rumia's grip loosed until her hand slipped off the human's wrist. The youkai's head tilted down to its natural position, her eyes no longer looking into Satomi's.
"If you are so determined to wash me, continue it without touching the ribbon," Rumia told her.
Satomi blinked, and reached down to the soap she had placed down before taking off Rumia's clothing. She resumed her duty in washing Rumia's body but... aside from the sounds of water splashing, the birds and insect chirping in the distance, and the sound of soap and brush running across the surface of a youkai's skin, there would be absolute silence between the two.
And it would be at least a few minutes before either of them spoke.
"So," Satomi said to break the silence, "I saw a couple not long ago, a silver haired man with glasses making out with a green haired woman in public. Talk about no sense of shame, am I right?"
Rumia's interest in the topic was piqued. While youkai were usually solitary creatures; the mountain races, fairies, and beast youkai who had emotional attachment to their animal counterparts aside; this did not stop small groups of friends and family members from hanging out together and playing or gossiping from time to time. And even when a youkai didn't even try forming a temporary small group, it did not mean that a youkai didn't care for its offspring.
Her own offspring, the product of an undesired union, fit the description Satomi gave for the man in that couple. She made it a point to speak with him at least once a year.
Assuming that the man Satomi had seen was in fact her spawn, Rumia had to assume that his lover was the green haired woman in question. Such was stated by a familiar mountain youkai she met when she came to her offspring's home but couldn't find the owner.
Unfortunately, Rumia couldn't think of all of the possible women that it could have been. There was her insect friend named Wriggle, her other friend's friend who was a fairy, the walking plant nightmare woman, and that was already more than who Rumia could name off the top of her head. And the full moon wasn't long ago, so it could have been that were-youkai school teacher her child told her about.
"Do you remember anything about her?" Rumia asked.
"Well, I was busy, so no," the human girl admitted as she scrubbed Rumia's arm.
"That's fine, though, right?" Rumia asked herself. However, she still hasn't seen her offspring even when she last visited his house outside the Forest of Magic and the Human Village. Perhaps she should pay another visit?