Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Okay, late Thanksgiving. I was busy being fat, not that many of you could have missed me, but after Thanksgiving I kind of went on hiatus... I'm back! (Can't wait till Christmas...)
Also, I was too tired to proofread this well, please forgive me.
003: Bishamonten
The Myouren Temple Anniversary
"What a haughty name this shack has been bestowed," an very, very large, armor-clad man says, peering at one of the bronze nameplates placed on either side of the path to Myouren temple. "If his sister were merely a driblet the monk that her brother were, then perhaps I would not be burdening this phenomena of carrying thy flesh legs..." he muttered to himself, stopping to pick his nose.
"Esh-kyuuuuuuse meeeee...!"
A vibrant green tuft poked him, its singsong voice irritating.
What phantasm! It was a short youkai girl, her rapidly flapping coffee colored ears the mark of a yamabiko, a pesky echo spirit.
"If you're loooookin' for the paaaaar-tay, you're a bit laaa-"
Shut up abruptly as he bent down to examine her—dusty pink dress, medium length green hair, overworked broom at hand—the little youkai girl was not afraid. Rather, she was trying to guess what he had eaten for breakfast that morning, based on his rank breath.
He, however, was of greated perplexion. No fear in her eyes! No tremble in her puny knees! Could it be that she was indeed someone of great prowess and courage? Intelligence? Power?
"Oh, I betcha' you had waffles for breakfast, am I riiiiiiiiiiiight?"
No, a pathetic youkai girl indeed.
"Why art thou refraining from a swift retreat? Why have you yet to fall to thy knees in pure terror? ndeed, make it so! Cower beneath me! Flee at the sight of me! See my almighty power that will vanquish all enemies that come before me!" he cried with earsplitting, mountain shaking volume.
Kyouko covered her ears; his booming voice was much too powerful for her sensitive ears. Oh, why couldn't anyone else hear him? Perhaps it was the mountains, which would be the site of an avalanche if he continued...
She ran, shrieking in a rather painful fashion, as if she were a banshee; oh, how loud he was!
"Yes, they all run in defeat at the sight of me! Run, run for the life of thineselves, for I am the great god of warfare, the mighty warrior, the heavenly gate, the punisher of evil!"
"Help! Heeeeeeeeeelp!" Kyouko shrieked, as the armor-clad man's voice echoed throughout all of Gensokyo:
"I am Bishamonten!"
Shou Toramaru stepped forward and smiled. "One year ago, after we sailed the mighty palanquin into Makai and rescued our mighty leader, we established the Myouren Temple with Byakuren-sama leading us courageously, with the noble goal of sharing Buddhism with the youkai prejudiced against in Gensokyo and all around the world. Today, we see that we have come so far in a year, all thanks to the beautiful Byakuren's strong leadership that brought us through tough times. And now, I realize that-"
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYY!"
A shriek, so highpitched that someone's glasses shattered, broke out through the courtyard, causing quite a ruckus, especially for the dog youkai.
"Help me puh-LEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE!" Kyouko Kasodani came barreling through the croud, her ears a blur, emitting a ridiculously shrill cry that echoed agonizingly off of every object.
Shou stepped off to get a hold of her. "Kyouko-san! What's up with you?"
"Whaat? Whaaat did you SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY?"
It didn't take much of her wailing for them to realize that she was temporarily deaf, and to prevent the same from happening to the raving crowd (that Ichirin and Unzan were attempting to calm) someone produced a paper and brush which she took with gratitude, writing as best as a youkai of her... mental capacity... could learn to write.
"Master, what does it say?" Nazrin inquired, as Shou held up the paper.
"Erm... 'Scary big guy make boom yell.'"
Byakuren looked over her shoulder suspiciously. "What could that mean, Shou?" she inquired, and the disciple of the Vaisravana was about to reply when she froze.
An echo... Growing steadily in volume...
Byakuren took Shou by the arm, the two of them noting the looks in each others' eyes, and the monk asked, "Kasodani-san, where's that echo coming from?"
By the time Nazrin had written this on the paper and the yamabiko had read it and pointed in the direction, it was rather unnecessary, for everyone was already staring at the man-no, the god-standing at the gate of the temple's back courtyard, as his voice echoed incessantly...
"SHOU TORAMARUU!"
Despite the extreme pain that was seizing everyone's ears, especially her large mouse ones, Nazrin still began immediately tending to her master after she fainted.
"I hath come for the gorbellied tiger youkai who called herself my disciple," he said when he had reached the platform where Byakuren, Ichirin, Nazrin, Murasa, Kyouko, and Shou were standing-rather, lying down in Shou's case, but that is beside the point.
Hijiri-sama immediately came forward, the look on her face she was so known and loved for ever so evident. Leave it to Byakuren to save the day, as usual! "O great one, I am honored by your visit on the temple's first anniversary. Yet, if I may be so bold to say you have no right to simply-"
"Temple anniversary? Aha! Ha! Ha!" the towering giant mockingly laughed, indifferent to the rage building in the pure and saintly monk's disciples. "Tis more like anniversary of the year that impertinent poxed coward over there stopped carrying out her duties to me! Look at her sleeping! Ha!"
"Who the hell do you think you are?" demanded Nazrin, leaving her master's side.
"Yeah!" Murasa crossed her arms. "Nobody insults Shou but me! And nobody insults Byakuren but... Well, yeah, nobody insults Byakuren..."
He laughed harder. "You say this like you art intelligent little fools. You fail to understand, do you, you yeastly louts! The lot of you! I am Bishamonten, god of warfare, punisher of evil, why do you not cower beneath me?"
Byakuren, head down, gradient-hair hiding her dark face, spoke firmly and solemnly, as if instructing a misbehaving puppy. "You have come into my temple and you have insulted its residents, but state your business clearly and quietly and we should be obliged to do our best to comply."
"Very well, my once loyal devotee," he grinned at Byakuren.
"You see, poorly youkai who come to this surly, run-down shack..." he started, addressing the entire crowd, now beginning to calm down thanks to Unzan and Ichirin.
"All feared me in years past! The leader of all the yaksas who dwelled on Mount Sumeru's slopes, the armor-clad God of warriors and punisher of evildoers, the great Bishamonten!
"The youkai ran at my sight, with the idea that I would surely exterminate them. They flocked far from Byakuren's temple, once a quiet devotee, Myouren's older sister. Yes, Hijiri-kun had been tolerable at that time. Ha!
"She wanted the youkai to worship me. And thus, presented me the most 'straightforward and honest' youkai of the mountain, that wench!" he cried, pointing at the still unconscious Shou.
"Still, I complied, I took Toramaru as my disciple, but my trust she never did gain. Thus, I assigned Nazrin, my once loyal helper to keep that beast youkai in line. She did fine enough until that purply youkai lover got what was coming towards her!
"After that, 'twas all about rescue Hijiri, save Hijiri, worship Hijiri. Nazrin's loyalty lies in Hijiri and even greater, in Toramaru. How long has it been since you have remembered me? You have been too busy aiding Hijiri in her everything! She might as well be a god herself!
"You art all pigheaded haggards! Bait me not, I demand I take that disciple of mine who even had the nerve to lose my pagoda, and that good-for-nothing mouse who had the nerve to buy it at a secondhand-shop for dirty money, and execute them for the dewberry codpieces they art! You gudgeons! You harpy scuts! Especially you, Hijiri, you treacherous, hogging, pompous little charlatan mo—"
"SHUT UP!" Shou's voice suddenly cried; none of them had seen her come to. "I stopped caring about you because Hijiri was more important! She always has been, and she never stopped believing in me! You never trusted me, I see that now!" Tears were streaming freely down her face. The crowd was silent.
"Master, please..." started Nazrin, rushing towards her.
"Master? Thy master is me, you foolish rat! Step away from her and come here if you know what is right for you!"
Nazrin stood still, eyes wide, confliction evident on her agitated face.
With a final, apologetic glance at Shou, she stepped toward her original master...
"Don't move, Nazrin," commanded Byakuren, and she swiftly obeyed. "O great Bishamon, I am afraid you have failed to fool me."
"What are you talking about!"
"You're here because you've become weak and need our help, aren't you?" Byakuren smiled.
Bishamonten eyed her suspiciously, but stayed quiet.
"In a word, you're bluffing."
"...Well, I shall say, that is... That is preposterous, you mammering wen—"
"Please, don't try any harder, I can see how difficult this is for you, great one.
"You were associated with the youkai after the humans saw so many no longer afraid of you. When they discovered your disciple, Shou, and your devotee, me, were youkai theirselves. When we were sealed, the youkai in my temple on Mount Sumeru scattered, and you were eventually left without faith from humans and them.
"Nobody believed in you, after quite a good amount of time, and you ended up in flesh, in Gensokyo, recently.
"The first place you looked for was Myouren Temple; Now you're demanding Shou and Nazrin back, thinking you can use them to gain back power, is that all not right?"
Byakuren seemed to sparkle as she nonchalantly smoothed out the wrinkles in her black and white dress. Meanwhile, Bishamonten was silent as the crowd clapped and cheered for their fearless leader. With a single motion by Byakuren, the crowd was instantly quiet again.
"However, I assure you that you are not at fault here; I have always been in great devotion and admiration of you, Bishamonten, and wanted you to be at my temple, however busy you always seemed to be. You did a marvelous job at convincing me you were so bombarded with tasks in the human world that I did not want to ask you to have to spend time at my temple, now that it was situated in Gensokyo.
"I must say, this is a chance for more celebration on Myouren temple's one year anniversary! The great Bishamonten is here for us to once again worship, finally, in Gensokyo! Everyone, raise your voices for the great god of warfare, the punisher of evil, Bishamonten!"
The crowd exploded once again, and although they were mostly cheering for Hijiri-sama's outstanding wit, Bishamonten seemed content.
"Ah, yes, well, I suppose I could take a break from my usual appointments. I mean, Mount Sumeru is beautiful, but looking at the same scenery everyday can be so tiring. Yes, indeed, I suppose I could settle on this mountain, half-way down, of course, that should be fine. Does this Gensokyo have good meat?"
Nazrin gave Shou a hug, who in return hugged Byakuren, who, with a little difficulty, hugged the clanking, armor-clad Vaisravana, and then Murasa was hugging Ichirin was hugging Unzan who was hugging everyone, and the rest of the evening was hugs and cheers and, of course, incredible amounts of sake.
And that was how the great god of warfare Bishamonten came to live in Gensokyo, how Shou Toramaru was able to continue gathering faith in his name, how Byakuren was able to show the youkai not to judge books by their covers, how Kyouko ended up getting a hearing aid in her left ear, and how Captain Minamitsu Murasa became pregnant.
Alright, just kidding about the last one.
...Maybe.
The end.
Boy, that was a hard one.
And Byakuren again next week. I find her way so awesome and kind and mature and... cool... Rather unlike other Touhou final bosses who have such selfish/mischievous/foolish/downright insane motives for being final bosses.
Then again, I love Okuu, even if her motive was kind of, "BLOW UP AAAALLL THE THINGS!"