Nicolas Note:
This will be the last pre written chapter, heh, and don't worry it's edited so there should be minimal flaws hanging around.
Unfortunately Me has an announcement, I'll be working with a quota now that needs to have at least 3 chapters written before I start posting, so even if I have an update here raring to go but I'm not gonna post it. Sorry about that but blame school and real life XD
I'll be posting occasional one shots so that you guys won't forget about me!
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CHAPTER 3: Bright days and Dark prospects
Year 2000
Date unknown
9:38 anti-meridian
Mayohiga, Guest room, Gensokyo
Rook woke up with his head throbbing and both of his arms tingling. His whole body was numb all over as if he were tossed around like a rag doll for twenty our hours straight. That dream he previously had was too realistic for his tastes. Out of all, it had to be that… The one where he acquired his powers. The events that followed were too vague to describe and how he managed to return to Europe back then was as foggy as the former. Though he can still recall a few names of the people who helped him get back on his feet… But that was a story for another time.
Right now he felt as though his control and immunity over electricity was taken away, and had him experience electrocution five times in a row. The dull pain from 'The Price', a name he gave to the unique pain he felt after over using his powers, was still present within him in the form of a massive headache.
He realized that he was still under his blanket and was currently staring at the dull white color of his ceiling, waiting for the annoying stinging within his head to subside. After a few moments he suspiciously checked under his blankets and found out that he was still on his old clothes, which sent a heavenly feeling of relief throughout his body. Having someone else dress him while asleep somehow disturbed Rook. Under all circumstances he will not allow anyone to do such a thing. This boy is too conservative!
Rook slumped back into his soft pillows. His throat felt raw and his mouth dry. He needed something to drink.
"Water…" he groaned, not wanting to get it himself.
"Much obliged" chuckled a sweet poisonous voice.
Rook removed his fore arm from his eyes, just to see a narrow two meter long gap rip a space between realities open up on his ceiling, and unleash a torrent of water into his face in pointblank range with the force of a fire hose.
*WAR- GARBLE- GARBLE-GARBLE-GARBLE-GARBLE!*
"Dammit, Yukari!" sputtered Rook, drenched in ice cold water.
He turned to his side and glared menacingly at the blonde woman, who currently had the lower portion of her body within a purple gap. Her purple and white dress were good for Rook's eyes for they contrasted each other nicely, and the white mob cap with the long thin ribbon attached was a nice touch to her outfit. But even if the woman's fashion style was unique and interesting, Rook was not impressed for he has seen it to the point of getting used to it; right now he clearly disliked the woman's presence.
Yukari Yakumo, the notorious Gap Demon, donned a playful look on her face as she saw the boy's displeasure.
"I only wanted to help" she chuckled lightly, sarcasm dripping on every letter, "Aren't you a few centuries too old to wet your bed? Oh poor thing, would you like big sister Yukari to help you change your sheets? All you have to do is call me 'onee-chan', uf fu fu fu"
Rook clenched his fist and through gritted teeth he growled. "You have disgusting tastes as always. I swear if I get my hands on you I'll force down as much of Chen's cooking down your throat until you die of suffocation if it's possible"
Yukari attempted to pout cutely but she would rather try casting a villainous look for that is the closest thing that would describe her face. "That isn't the thing you say to a beautiful young lady who actually bothers to waste her time waking you up, so that the first thing you see is a woman's natural beauty. You really need to cool down"
Rook raised his finger as warning.
"Yukari, don't you dare-" started Rook, but was cut off as another gap, this time wider than the first, opened beside Yukari and released a flood burst with the force of a land slide. Rook was thrown off his bed and was pinned into the wall right beside his desk. The pressure was too much that he cannot fight it.
When the gap finally closed, the bedroom was knee deep in salt water, luckily for Yukari she was floating within her gap, laughing out loud at Rook's misfortune (which was entirely her fault), while the boy himself sat half conscious beside the wall.
Rook's eyes flickered to life and grabbed the edge of his desk for support. The vein on his fore head indicates that he lost his cool just now.
"YAKUMO!" he roared so loud, that the ball point pens stacked within a stationary cup, shook slightly.
Suddenly, an electrical wire that hung from another gap fell into the water inside Rook's room.
Does this author have to mention that the wire was packed with eighty thousand volts of pure energy?
Rook replaced his furious expression with a serene smile, which the Youkai of Borders happily returned.
In a deadly whisper he said. "I will ram my foot up your-"
-Insert screams here- -insert electric sound effects here-
Yukari watched, as Rook was being electrocuted before her, while fanning herself peacefully at the sight.
"Oh my, it seems that his immunity with electricity is only present if he wills it" said the Youkai of Boundaries, cheerily at the thought.
An hour later, the water in Rook's room was drained and completely dry, any objects that were broken when wet, were completely restored.
Meanwhile at the kitchen, a smiling Yukari (who received a mild head injury when Rook caught her, how he did it is still a mystery) and an angry Rook shared a cream colored round table with a potted plant on the middle.
After staring intensely at the Gap Menace before him, Rook noticed her shikigami, emerge from the kitchen carrying a wooden tray that held two cups of tea, a slice of chocolate cake and three slices of toasted bread that was buttered with, well, butter.
Ran served them both their tea as the two had their morning conversation. Usually the topic would be the daytime drama reviews, which Rook was more than happy to participate to pass the time.
"Thank you, Ran my dear. Lovely as always" said Yukari gratefully, complimenting Ran's attire of a blue Japanese style dress with oversized wrist cuffs, and two tailed cap with strange seals embroidered on it. "The pleasure is mine, Lady Yukari" replied the fox politely, her tails swaying back and forth.
"Now," Yukari turned to Rook who was giving her a death glare from the other side of the table, "that little event is over, all I have to say is: Good morning, Rook~!"
The sound of a metal object hitting a wall was heard all over the house.
"As if it wasn't obvious that I'm having a bad morning already!" shouted Rook, as he pulled an iron kettle out of nowhere and prepared to throw, "I should just get that shrine maiden to exterminate you for good! I don 't care if you're so important, as long as I'm happy!"
"Now, now, let's not be selfish" said Yukari after gapping a heavy frying pan that was about to hit her square on the head, followed by a number of kitchen utensils that were thrown without mercy one after another, "I also won't have you bother Reimu this early in the morning, the poor dear just got back from another incident"
"If you're going to wake someone, do it in an acceptable manner!" snapped Rook, launching another frying pan at the Gap Youkai.
Yukari Yakumo, known to some as the Gap Demon, while bearing hundreds of other titles to many, a youkai that is indeed a mystery that has taken flesh, a legendary youkai that had enough power to create an entire world, a paradise now known as Gensokyo to all. Her origin is still unknown and no one may it be man, beast, or youkai has dared asked her for in fear that she would use her dreadful powers to banish them in an unholy world. Both of the youkai within and outside Gensokyo feared her very name. Most elder humans tell stories to the young ones of the great Yakumo's deeds, they even go as far as telling that the Yakumo would be able to see what you are doing, anytime, anywhere, anyplace, and no matter what the circumstances she knows all and sees all. Gensokyo, being the very world she has created for both man and youkai, is right beneath her finger tips. She has so much control over this paradise that if she wills it, she would be able to destroy it within a blink of an eye. Most people say (including youkai) that she did not even originate from this dimension, seeing that her ability allowed her to cross between realities with ease. Next to the Yama and the Dragon god, Yukari was the most powerful youkai in Gensokyo, if not, the entire world. A being with the power to control the border of anything, thus leading the control to everything, a power anyone would kill for, a power that could be both used for good and evil, or for just playing pranks to pass the time. After spending over countless millennia's with her power, Yukari has grown bored of it and only uses it for her own vices, such as committing voyeurism on an unsuspecting shrine maiden, teleporting an unwary human into the Misty Lake, gapping stray objects directly above you and let gravity finish the job. The good thing is Yukari's imagination is not that wide that she can think of much more horrible ideas to try. She is still a very powerful youkai and one not to cross if a human or youkai would like to see another sunset. However despite her notorious reputation as stated above, Yukari could still be a fairly kind youkai if you get to her good side. To those who know her personally, take her shikigami and her house tenant as example, they would probably tell you that she is the exact opposite of a short tempered, mysterious, frightening terror that would banish you to a deserted waste land without thinking. To them and those of her acquaintances would describe her as a young woman with no sense of responsibility to the very world she has created by allowing it to fall victim to the 'incidents' that are caused by bored youkai.
In reality, Yukari is more of an easy going person, fairly mischievous and whimsical as her ghost best friend, but with a touch more of a harsh prankster, a youkai that is not really the 'leader type', but strives to become a good model only to fail at it. Her main occupation and role in Gensokyo is to act as the overseer and the foundation of the barrier, however she rarely takes the job seriously for throughout the decades that pass, outsiders find themselves spirited away into Gensokyo by accident when the barrier was supposed to keep everything on the outside from entering. On a couple of occasions Yukari herself was the cause of the spiriting away, her reason?
"I was bored and I wanted to pass the time" she said, while poking the unconscious outsider by the tip of her umbrella.
"Dammit, Yukari, put them back where you found them!" yelled Rook, with Ran sighing nearby as the two argued.
Oh yes, Yukari likes displaying her power every chance she gets, going as far as using her gaps to do the simplest of tasks, changing her clothes, cleaning herself, tying her hair and so on… She was youkai so she had little care for outsiders or humans in general, though she can be friendly to both, but it was only if she needed to. Since she is the creator of this world she also likes to show that she can do whatever she wants and gets away with it because she had a role to play in this world. She does not care if an unwary outsider meets his or her untimely demise as soon as they enter Gensokyo. She would simply say that it was only one person and say that there are more people in the outside and that it was not something to make a fuss about. A person who lacks tact if you ask me, although she could be polite at times, she simply has no care for the feeling of others and is easily amused at the displeasure of other people around her.
Back in the nearly demolished kitchen, Yukari proceeded to take a sip of her tea while sporting another large bump on her head (which was caused by a short metal pipe that miraculously hit), before speaking. "So… What is it you want to discuss? If it's about the show that you were waiting for, it was moved to a new timeslot at 8 a.m. in the morning" said the Border Youkai casually, ignoring the good sized lump on her head, which caused a dull throb every two seconds.
Rook had just finished his lecture on the subject of 'not waking people up by killing them', which somehow needed the dining room/ kitchen as a sacrifice for the flying projectiles.
He must be taking down notes from that Judge, thought Yukari, for saying that in an undertone would risk Rook going berserk again.
"Dreams" replied Rook, dusting off dirt on his shirt and trouser that somehow survived the flood and was completely dry, as he sat down on a wooden chair that somehow survived his purge. "You had a hand in mine, didn't you?" he continued.
Yukari took a sip of her tea and smiled. "So what if I did" she said cheerfully.
Rook glared at her, calculating what she was thinking, seeing that kind of smile appear on her face instead of her usual smirk gave him bad vibes.
Therefore he chose the safe route and decided to end the discussion to save him from talking to her any further.
"It's annoying, so stop it. End of conversation" he stood and proceeded to exit the room, only to be swallowed by a gap and placing him on where he sat moments before.
"You may end it by your own will, but not mine. I am not done speaking with you yet" said Yukari as she spread her white fan across her face, leaving only her golden eyes visible.
Rook rolled his eyes, eager to end it, he said. "Make it quick"
"Now, I have observed you these past few days, and I can't help but notice that you're acting rather strangely" said the Border Youkai.
Rook raised his eye brows questioningly at the statement. "How can I act strangely, when I just slept for even days straight?"
Yukari only giggled at him,
"You broke into my mind's border, didn't you?" asked Rook suspiciously.
Yukari ignored the question and continued. "Boy, you are similar to that of an open book with a bad story. Too predictable, hard to understand yet easily read. I know that something has been bothering your mind, Rook. Your borders show me so. However, I don't even need to use my ability to know that something is wrong; merely seeing you uncomfortable with our current topic is an obvious answer. I have known you long enough to fully recognize your traits, personality, tendencies, and limits"
"So… You want to know what's troubling me, eh? And you even used that dream as a guess?"
"Hmph, seems like I hit the nail on the head, right?" said Yukari.
Rook cracked a smile at that. "Close, you're only off by a mile though"
"Even so, it seems like I dug something very interesting…"
"You were in that dream, weren't you?"
"Indeed I was it seems like you met some quite interesting people, would you care to tell me more about them?"
"Even if I did I wouldn't tell you, its personal matters that doesn't concern you"
"Oh come on, we've been buddies since what? Three, two centuries already? Oh my, time surely goes fast."
"The less you know the better-"started Rook only to be cut off by Yukari.
"Rook… I have respected your decision on not revealing the full account on your past and your reason for your endless searching for that precious mansion of yours, however if the cost of this search is getting yourself beaten up, I will have to step in and put a stop to it. Your life is valuable Rook; it would be waste if you died all of a sudden. Gensokyo would've suffered a great loss if you did. You have to know the consequences of your actions for if not, it would cost us dearly, do you understand?" said the Gap Demon in an unfamiliar stern tone that she has never used.
Rook gave her a blank look with his mouth hanging wide open. Did her personality do a one-eighty degree turn all of a sudden? Seeing this Yukari felt alien to him, very unfamiliar and…..
"I mean if you're all black and blue, how shall I pull my pranks on you?" continued the Border Youkai with a wide smile on her face. Yukari snapped her fan to a close and leaned on the table, her dark golden eyes gazing with a caring expression at the boy's uncomfortable gray eyes.
"Stop staring…"
"I'm not~. Anyway, the only thing you can do now is to speak your mind. Doing so will ease yourself greatly; stop keeping it all within, mmkay? "Said Yukari with a playful smile on her lips.
Rook narrowed his eyes, "Stop cornering me… You want me to tell you about my oh so secret past? Well, if you want to know the daily life of a farm boy who met a freak accident so much, buy a book or something, you'll find something similar to my story…"
"You're lying again Rook~"
"What?"
"Border of truth and lies…" explained Yukari. "I'm not the forceful type of person that uses both psychological and physical attacks to make you do what I want. Hide it all you want Rook, just as you said to that Magician, the truth will surface. Just like you, all I have to do is wait…"
"Fine, but stop reading my head, if you want a mind reader get a satori or something…" he groaned, smacking his palm on his head as he leaned back on his chair, "You win this round, I'll tell you…"
Yukari punch the air with great vigor, a smile on her face as she did.
"But…"
The smile melted off the youkai's face.
"I never said when I will tell" added the boy with a smug look on his face, standing up and approaching the door. "I'm going out for a bit, clean the kitchen up will you please?"
"Need some air to clear your head? That's good, I mean you're still human after all" said the Youkai of Boundaries in a bored voice, tapping her finger on the table while her dark golden eyes glazed over at the departing boy.
Rook's hand hovered right above the doorknob. "I don't know what I am, but I am certainly not human, at least not anymore. And if you're going to pull an illusion such as this Yukari, I suggest you make it convincing. You're making me fall under the impression that you're losing your touch…."
The Gap Demon stared in shock as the boy left without as much as a glance back. A twisted smile curled upon the Youkai's lips, the right part of her cheek morphing into something indistinguishable for a moment before returning back to normal. A faint sinister giggling left the Youkai of Border's lips as the walls of the comfortable looking kitchen melted like hot wax, gathering unto the floor forming a thick purple liquid substance that began to fill the room. In a matter of seconds, Yukari was all alone within a dark oriental styled room with a single candle providing very little light.
Yukari lifted her right hand to eye level and studied it curiously as if seeing it for the first time in her life. Her hand no longer had the young fair skinned appearance it had earlier; in its place was an old pale wrinkled hand with long spider like fingers. At the back of its palm was a glaring red eye.
"A being that is neither human nor youkai… I think Abomination would be a suitable word to describe him..." For a split second, Yukari's right cheek became horribly disfigured, losing all humanly appearance from it for a mere second before returning once more into a beautiful face.
"Although he'll never be more of an abomination than those around him, don't you think so my dear cute Shikigami?"
The Kitsune fell out of a gap made out of the thick purple substance similar to that of a maw of monstrous creature. A faint sound of mad laughter and a thick veil of black smoke managed to escape out of the gap, before it sealed itself shut.
Ran fell on all fours, breathing hard as she arrived on a one way trip from the void. The poor blonde fox was trembling as she felt the cold touch of the hard wooden floor beneath her. "Yu-Yukari-sama! What are you-"The fox was blasted into the wall by an invisible force and was kept hanging limply as her consciousness faded.
Yukari stood up from her chair and slowly made her way towards her shikigami that was suspended in mid air by a strong force the was gripping her arms. Ran paled as she caught sight of the Border Youkai's inhuman face and was struggling to find words to calm her angered master down.
With her smiled curled into a twisted smile, Yukari began to speak in her sweet, seductive, poisonous voice.
"Now," she began, trying to maintain her composure, "don't think that I've let you off the hook just yet, Ran~"
"Wait Yukari-sama, I can explai-"
Ran was cut off as she lost her voice, while being slowly enveloped in the thick liquid pool that was on the floor. Yukari watched without a hint of mercy in her eyes as the purple liquid began to dissipate and disappear, leaving no trace of her shikigami behind.
"Seriously, both of you, you do know that discipline is the Yakumo family's policy and it applies to everyone" whispered the Gap Demon staring at the spot where Ran vanished. "Everyone, excluding Chen, she's just too cute"
Yukari glanced at her deformed hand and found that it was now back to normal. Smiling, she quickly opened a gap and entered it, humming to herself as she went in.
A normal day at the Yakumo household…
Rook watched as the new looking western style house melt back slowly into an old eerie abandoned building at the very edge of an equally abandoned village. The boy had no plans on walking that far from the Yakumo Residence, just a good afternoon stroll in an unnaturally empty, illusionary settlement to clear his head. The street before the boy was thick with a veil of mist that to this day, still has no definite origins. The boy stood right beside an antique gothic American lamppost which emitted a thin glow of white light as it struggled to brighten up the dark streets of the village. The village in which the boy was in was known as Mayohiga, the village that sits between the Boundary of Gensokyo and of the Outside. It was similar to that of a smaller Gensokyo, dark purple skies, a golden eye that hovered upon the illusionary heavens imitating the sun in illuminating the abandoned village it oversaw. The village contained a mix assortment of western and eastern style of architectural designs. Easterly made building dotted the settlement while there were some structures of Westerly descent lying around.
With the thick gray mist floating around, one would easily spot ghostlike apparitions dashing from one place to another. Other than that, and the cats, nothing else could be seen walking the streets the silent streets. The wind howled quietly as Rook arrived at the deserted town square. It seems that Mayohiga was made to somehow imitate the Human Village for the location of the village statues were exactly the same. While the Human Village that was built in Gensokyo had a monument dedicated to the Dragon God at the village square, the statue at Mayohiga resembled that of a woman dressed in nothing but a thick veil of smoke, making it appear as though she were wearing a long billowing robe. Behind her was what looked like wave of water ready to swallow her whole that also had dozens and dozens of human hands reaching out to her while she stands in a majestic manner similar to that of a queen, staring down on her subjects with cold eyes.
The woman had her hand extended; a small black bird perched upon it, while a large fox and small cat rested down at her feet. Typical of Yukari placing a statue of herself on the village square…. Then again, the village was hers and will be for a very long time. A vein throbbed on Rook's head as he thought of the woman's nerve. Not able to hold back his frustration any longer, he went towards the statue and gave it an ungrateful kick, while saying in an undertone "Lousy Gap Woman…"
Before he made his way deep into the heart of the village.
While deep within the village, the boy started his usual routine of inspecting the contents of the Japanese style houses for anyone who unluckily managed to enter Mayohiga by accident. Not surprisingly everything was still in good shape, only empty and abandoned. It was rare for both youkai and humans to enter Mayohiga without the escort of the Gap youkai's shikigami or the Gap youkai's tenant and return back into Gensokyo still sane or without leaving behind a bit of their sanity.
Mayohiga was an illusionary village, with an emphasis on illusionary. It can create apparitions and illusions that will best play tricks on one's mind. It can distort the way one's eyes perceive the surroundings of the person. There were times that the village looked just the way it was, empty, misty, and abandoned, while other times it was a similar to a location right out of a nightmare, it made no sense, terrifying, horrible, and just plain insane. Mayohiga was indeed a strange place to live in for it is a place where one's worst nightmares could come to life, other than that; it's just a creepy village with cats.
The dark slanted roofs of the deserted settlement were still in near pristine shape despite existing for so long. It was probably because of Mayohiga was right in the middle of the boundary, in a completely different space that it had no weather to affect the houses.
The village gave out a melancholic atmosphere as if a bad event took place within it. The village's history always piqued Rook's curiosity that he wanted to know what drove the previous settlers of this sad, beautiful village, but Yukari would only laugh once Rook asked her, as if he just uttered a hilarious joke, every damned time and she never gets tired of it.
His initial guess was that something purple, blonde and carried a pink parasol, strutted down the village street and gapped every villager to oblivion, leaving the village empty.
Still did not explain the presence of the cats though.
Rook decided to think about the upcoming discussion he was going to have with Yukari. Wondering when he should begin, or how he was going to begin. The past has always been a sensitive subject to him for it held many things he wished to forget.
Those clear summer night on the road, the trouble he and the Scarlets got into, many memories… Both happy and unhappy ones. Yukari, as untrustworthy as she is would be able to give him a good advice if he told her the whole truth.
Yukari giving out free advice? What the heck am I thinking? Mused Rook, shaking his head to get rid of the idea.
Okay, maybe scratching that thought aside would be wise.
Yukari must have known that Rook still had a lot to hide, so in return she left him with pieces of outdated information about the mansion during the times she was 'helping' him find it, leaving him always one step behind and in the dark since he too gave her fragmented information about himself. Even now she does not trust him completely, always having her shikigami tail him when he least expects it, which proved to be wise since she was acquiring bit by bit of information, piecing it together like a jigsaw puzzle within her sharp mind.
Rook sighed, he was never the honest type to begin with, and this whole monitored lifestyle for the past fifty years had been getting to his nerves. If only he was a bit truthful earlier he need not struggle like this.
"A lie that is covered up with another lie will beget the seed of doubt and distrust, which will eventually lead to turmoil and conflict that will be the cause of bonds being broken and death" he muttered sadly, "Seriously, who came up with that kind of philosophy?"
The boy finished inspecting the last houses at the heart of the village, and went to sit down on an empty crate that sat right beside a three storey house along with other wooden boxes. Rook closed his eyes for a moment, but once he opened them again he realized that the village was trying to distort his vision. The Japanese style houses were replaced by wooden huts made out of cookies and cream colored icing. The sky was crimson red, while a large Ferris wheel can be seen at the distance. A merry go round lit up and spun the moment Rook laid his eyes upon it. The faint sound of carnival music echoed throughout the candy village.
Rook turned his bored gaze to the person that was before him. Flandre stood in front of him with a wide smile on her face bearing an innocent expression while she holds the strings of the balloons she had behind her back. Rook's eyes trailed towards the balloons above the little vampire and identified them as the severed heads of Patchouli, Remilia, Meiling, Yukari, and Ran, all of their eyes glaring accusingly at the boy while their mouths moved as they attempted to talk. Blood seemed to water down their jaw as they glowered at the boy, yet Flandre only stood there with an innocent smile on her face that as time went on, grew more and more ominous.
"I'm sorry…" muttered the boy staring at Flandre straight in the eye, before closing his own once more and open them again.
The village was once again back to normal, empty and eerie, with no sign of the hallucination Rook experienced from before. Rook felt something soft and warm brush against his left leg, only to find a black cat with two tails dozing contently at his feet with a lunch box hanging on its mouth.
"Hello there Chen, it's nice to see you" greeted Rook, waking the cat from its peaceful sleep and stare at him with its coffee brown eyes. The cat arced its back before walking and facing the boy before setting down the lunch box at his feet. The cat meowed twice.
"Thank you" said Rook sincerely, then he took the lunch box and found a note attached to it. The cat observed as Rook read out the note which said:
You forgot to pack your lunch, dear
Please take care of poor sweet Chen while I'm lecturing Ran.
Be sure to come back home before dinner, sweetie!
Beautiful Young Stalker
Yukari Yakumo
"Who the hell is she? My mother?" hissed Rook, while throwing the crumpled paper note to the side. Chen only looked at him curiously tilting her head to her side.
The agitated boy pinched the bridge of his nose and released a deep sigh, before requesting to the curious nekomata. "Please change into your human form; I need someone to talk to…"
The cat meowed once, and then strolled into an alley not far from where Rook was sitting. A few moments later a small girl in a thick red jacket and checkered short skirt, stepped out of the alley and skipped her way towards Rook. Her brown boots left puffs of dirt in the air with every step she took, while her messy brown hair bounced up and down as she got near. One of her cat ears had a golden earring attached, while the two black tails on her back arced forming a heart. The nekomata had a cheerful smile on her face that somehow radiated her childish aura.
The Yakumo Residence's cutest problem and Ran's shikigami, Chen.
She stops beside Rook and pats him on his shoulder, while smiling she says "Something wrong Rook-san?"
The boy was busy taking in the cat girl's unfamiliar clothing to form a proper reply. Another change of outfit?
"Did Yukari-sama and Rook-san fight again?" she asks once more, her ears drooping slightly, apparently worried. The poor kitty did not like fighting that much.
Rook raised an eyebrow. "What makes you see that?"
"It's because this morning, I heard you shouting and then came a bloodcurdling screams of pain and torture, as if someone was being fried deep down the Hell of Blazing Fires while still alive…" replied Chen sadly, her eyes fixed on the floor while she shuffled her feet.
Rook's face turned white as paper as the color was drained from his face. This child's imagination is too wide for own good, one of these days she'll draw in trouble from it…
Rook shuddered at the thought of being electrocuted. A humiliating event that was, not that Yukari has not put him through worse; at least he managed to get some payback at Yukari.
"Ah, well you see here Chen," said Rook nervously, as he tried to find an excuse for the event that happened that morning, "me and Yukari were just rough housing as always and were playing a little game, yeah! A game of jokes! You see whoever laughs first, loses. Unfortunately I lost and laughed myself to hysterics"
He forced out a chuckle at the end if his sentence in an attempt to make his explanation into a half baked joke itself, however Chen did not seem to find his answer satisfying, let alone funny.
"But why was Rook-san's room wet?" Chen pressed on, "And just before I left Yukari-sama muttered something about Rook-san bed wetting himself, does he have to go 'training' like I do?"
Rook tried to maintain the smile that was on his face and restrain himself from marching back to Yukari and stick a lead pipe down her throat, but instead of doing so, he made a mental note that he had to strangle Yukari for this when he gets back home. The Hag was walking on thin ice.
Dammit Yakumo! He cursed within his murderous thoughts, what the hell have you been telling to an innocent child all this time!
Innocent child, meaning fifty two years in youkai age, so the little kitty is still considered a child to youkai despite the fact that having the same age as a middle aged human. Unlike an average human being, a youkai has a longer life span depending on its species, however it is general knowledge that youkais tend to live longer than a human. Their life spans reach that of hundreds and hundreds of years, though in Chen's case, she is a relatively young youkai for her age of fifty two and still nowhere near her first century. Gensokyo which was a world teeming with supernatural beings is already common with long lived youkais residing within it. This world was paradise for youkai and humans after all that some youkais that have found the Outside very dangerous come and seek refuge within this world. The longer a youkai lives, the more powerful and dangerous it gets, however, as those attributes grow higher so does their arrogance and self confidence which always proved to be fatal for them as they underestimate a powerful monk.
Then again, despite the threat most youkais pose, others choose to side with the humans and work together to vanquish the evil youkais. This world was for both youkais and humans which meant that somehow, even by a microscopic chance, both of them are meant to work together given the situation. Even though some youkais proved to be helpful and harmless, most humans do not fully trust them unless an event that will do so happens. Human are ungrateful beings, while youkais are an arrogant bunch, Rook was glad that somehow he was somewhere in between both. Yet that does not mean he was a Celestial or a hermit, no, he was different, unique… Maybe thinking about it was giving him a big head.
As was said earlier, youkais have longer life spans than human, meaning they age slower than humans and grow up slower, so their maturity and thinking capacity develop at an even sluggish pace. Rook always thought that Chen's level intelligence was close to that ice fairy's hollow brain, yet somehow she seems to be above average of that pest's level despite her company with the fairy's gang.
Rook had to thank Ran for giving the little kitty tutorial sessions that kept it from ending up the same as the stupid hag. The cat could even really understand sometimes.
"Now, now Chen" said Rook in a slightly stern tone, so as not to scare the cute kitty. "You must not believe what you hear from others so easily without finding out what really happened. It will cause you to misunderstand if you're not careful enough and it will eventually land you into trouble. Ran-sama doesn't like it when you get into trouble, right?"
"Yes, yes" agreed the nekomata bouncing enthusiastically up and down.
"Good, now don't follow bad influences like that lying good for nothing gap hag, who's so irresponsible and always gets me and Ran into trouble for no good reason and…" Rook trailed off muttering darkly as he recounted the unfortunate things he was forced to endure under the household of Yukari.
A gentle breeze howled passes the two, with the cat girl giving the boy an inquisitive stare.
"Um, what did you want to tell me Rook-san? Is there something wrong?" asked Chen all of a sudden, breaking the ice that was creeping about.
Rook wiped off the dark look on his face and gave the cat girl a shining smile, while thinking, curious kitty, you took the words right out of my mouth. The smile disappears and he proceeds to stare at his dirt covered boots while releasing a deep sigh. I can't discuss my problem with this kid, since she won't understand a word from it. Neither can I tell her about the mansion, since she has no idea of my search yet and it will raise many questions from her. If I do that she'll get involve, and Ran will have my ass by then. Safe question, then…
"Hey Chen" grabbing the attention of the nekomata who was getting bored of his long silence. "Before I left on my trip, there was an incident at Makai that caused Gensokyo to flood with demon folk, right? I was wondering if Reimu managed to patch it up while I was gone"
Chen's eyes lit up, her cat ears standing as she said. "The Mystic Square incident?"
"So that's what it was called?" asked Rook.
Chen nodded. "Yes, it really got serious a few days after you left, Rook-san."
Whoa, are you trying to indirectly blaming me for the incident getting intense right after I left? Thought the boy as Chen stared at him with her piercing brown eyes, causing him to force out a nervous chuckle.
"Reimu managed to solve it in the end, though it seemed that the big fight made her tired, and even then she had three companions with her, yet they still had a hard time! Me and Ran-sama think that Makai's goddess must be really, really strong!"
"Wow, a goddess? Reimu got herself in some really deep sh-…. Shopping debts, ehehe, that's right! Shopping debts!" snickered Rook, nervously while sweat drop appeared right above his brow. "She didn't need my help after all, huh? Guess the girl's growing up after all, old Genji would finally catch a break from that girl's demands, though I hope she also grows up maturely. We can't have a childish shrine maiden protecting these lands now can we? So, aside from the usual witch Kirisame, who were the other two that tagged along and replaced me? How did the incident end?"
"The flower youkai, Yuuka Kazami and the Hakurei shrine's resident Evil Spirit, Mima"
"The kind woman that loves sunflowers and the bipolar ghost?"
"Moving along," continued Chen taking a seat on a crate right next to Rook, looking virtually annoyed at his latter comment. "The flower youkai was out for the culprit's blood for having her flower field trampled by a multitude of demons, which she made quick work of with her awesome powers! Meanwhile, from what I've heard, the Evil Spirit was rumored to be good friend with Makai's goddess and proceeded to visit her during the time of the incident. They both joined Reimu (who was ticked off because she had no idea where you went and was forced to clean up the shrine herself after wild demons attacked it) and Marisa (who at the time was really excited to try out another weird spell after she lost her chance on trying it on me). The four of them teamed up and entered the demon's realm and beaten up whoever got in their way"
"Hmm, I missed out all the fun then. That description is definitely the shrine maiden of paradise. Don't those girls know of the term peaceful negotiations? I hear from the Outside that there is an eighty percent chance that it would lead to a bloodless understanding" suggested Rook, leaning his back on the wall while placing his arms behind his head. Chen gave him a disapproving look.
"How would you like to try that 'peaceful negotiations' talk the last time you walked into Ran-sama while she was changing" said the little kitty glaring at the boy next to her.
"Hey, I tried to talk her out of it, okay? Besides it was an accident, Yukari was at it again at that time, sadly I still got that undeserved slap…" muttered the boy, rubbing his right cheek with his hand. "So back to the topic, did Reimu even try considering that when I last told her about it?"
"She did actually," said Chen, looking above her with a thoughtful expression. "But during her fight, she found no way to convince Makai's goddess to listen. That's where they…. Went and used those big lasers that go off with loud noises…." The cat girl shuddered at the thought of the white hot beams of light tearing across the ground. "When Reimu found about the news of the forty six people that were eaten by the demons she just won't stand for peaceful methods anymore…" Chen lowered her eyes and stared at the ground while her whole body trembled as if she was about to cry.
Seeing this, Rook went to comfort the poor kitty. "Hey, you don't have to tell me about the nasty parts if it bothers you, but still… Forty six civilians… Maybe I shouldn't have left after all, and it was only three weeks ago…"
"A lot can happen within the span of three weeks, Rook" said a new voice accompanied by the soft tapping of feet that was nearing the two. "Four if you count the days you were unconscious"
"Ran-sama!" squealed the cat girl, her sad expression disappearing as though it never appeared as she began to skip towards her nine tailed mistress.
"CHEEEEEEENNN!" cried Ran in delight, as if she did not get to see her pet quite often. The two went on with their annoying exchange for a few seconds, while Rook resisted the urge to say something that would break the fluffy scene before him, and tried his best to ignore the mother-child love that the two were engaged now, consisting of more 'CHEEEEEEEENNN' and 'Ran-sama!'. Rook cracked a smile for these two managed to stay bright and shining even when living within an enclosed space inside Gensokyo with an irresponsible master.
Glancing at the fox's appearance raised the boy's eyebrows, when he saw that Ran seemed both tired and exhausted. The unmistakable smell of smoke is still present on her, though Chen does not seem to notice this. Ran probably got into Yukari's bad side again. Knowing that Yukari was mad about something sure was uncommon, while calming a cranky old hag without calling an angry shrine maiden and survive with only severe exhaustion proved to be even rarer. Usually, one would be severely traumatized if they were unlucky enough to cross Yukari's line. Well the line where she's is still mischievous and still passive aggressive.
Rook knew what he was thinking about, and he shuddered at the thought.
"So, where did Yukari send you this time?" he asked the fox, as he casually stared at the purple sky above them.
"The Garden of the Sun…" replied Ran in turn.
"I see, that explains why you smell like smoke, or did you have a bit of trouble with that immortal on the outskirts of the Human Village, eh?" said Rook, forcing to put another nervous chuckle. If both did happen, the experience was the opposite of good.
After a long uncomfortable silence, which made Chen stare back and forth at him and her rather interesting colleague, Ran decided to continue Chen's story. "Well going from where we left off," she started sitting in Chen's seat while said nekomata sat on her lap, "after the slaughter of the civilians and upon hearing the news, Reimu pursued solving the incident with renewed effort. The four heroines went deep into Makai and fought with an amazing display of strength and determination, I myself was surprised that the youkai and the spirit also fought their hardest, though it seemed that the goddess was too much even for them. The colossal battle went on for hours before end, destroying most of Makai's buildings and structures leaving thousands homeless and running wild. You couldn't imagine how devastated the previous inhabitants were when they had their homes crushed under the fight. Due to the goddess's rage, the realm almost blew apart as she let loose all of her divine powers, luckily, the four intruders managed to snap her back to her senses in the end, though it taxed them most of their powers and energy. Another surprising event was from what we heard from one of our informants was that the goddess wept at the sight at the land she has almost sentenced to Armageddon. It's very shocking how a simple demon tourism plan could go very, very wrong. Barely a day after the incident she requested an audience with Lady Yukari for a contract to be made for the sealing of the realm"
Rook had his lunch box open on his lap while he shoved one sandwich after another into his mouth contemplating the taste of Yukari's ham and cheese sandwich. The boy had always enjoyed the wide range of food that was available within the Yakumo household; however he always found comfort within western made food.
He chewed his sixth (and last) bread slice, and swallowed before commenting. "Seeing four of Gensokyo's most powerful individual band and work together to bring down a deity that has enough power to fight in par with them at the same time, I say Makai is going to have a huge drawback with the damage count and repairs, along with that failed tourism investment they made"
Ran nodded in agreement while patting top of a content of Chen's head. "Indeed. A century's worth of repairs and thousands of years of fortune and reputation built up, suddenly crushed by two humans and two youkais. It will be a very long time before Makai can stand on both of its feet once more"
Rook released a deep sigh and set his lunch box on a crate next to him. A dull pain right behind his eyes indicated that the village was trying to mess with him once more. Not bearing the annoying pain any longer, he decided to give it a chance and played along. Rook took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and after five seconds he opened them. Once more, he was no longer at the silent village with his companions but within the deepest chamber of a very, very large cave. The air felt damp and moist, almost convincing him that this illusion was real. Rook was sitting on what seemed like a large fallen rock in the midst of a wrecked marble building. There were no signs of life as he glanced around the ruined city, only catching sight of the dying orange flames that was left behind as an obvious sign of a battle. Over at the distance, Rook heard a woman's sad lament as she wept mournfully, accompanied by the distant sound of thunder.
After few more seconds, Rook was startled right out of his trance and out of the illusion, and was back once more within Mayohiga. The source of his shock was no other than Chen who failed to notice the boy's short mind trip. The little kitty seemed to have been talking for a short while with Ran as Rook's mind went to someplace else.
"Ran-sama, does the demon world even have feet to stand on?"Asked Chen, her black tails swaying left to right as she glanced up to her master with her large brown eyes.
Hearing a familiar voice managed to ease his heavy heart from the village's illusion, yet he did raise an eyebrow and stare at Ran at the cat's question, not understanding it at first but stifled a laugh when he did.
Hehehe, I love it when some young person does that. Their way of thinking is so simple that I'm jealous, thought Rook while keeping himself from laughing out loud.
Meanwhile, Ran nervously tried to explain to her curious servant what she had meant to say earlier. "Uh, we-well… Yo-you see here Chen," stuttered the fox youkai as she attempted to find the right words, "I, uh, didn't mean a literal sense, but rather in a metaphorical one"
Ran let out a forced laugh and bad smile on her face, while beads of sweat formed right on her forehead.
"The sense that's present in your words dies little by little with every word you say" sniggered Rook who was unable to control his laughter anymore.
Ran glared deadly daggers at him and snarled. "It's a figure of speech, you son of a-"
"Tut, tut, tut" said Rook as he gestured at the innocent nekomata that was staring at them with glassy eyes and trembling lips. "We are in the presence of a pure soul. I better mind your language unless you want the kid to get any ideas"
Deep within her heart, Ran wanted nothing more than to strangle the boy with every bit of her youkai strength can give. Rook on the other hand was oblivious to the impending doom he was about to receive and just continued to grin widely.
"Ran sama? Is something wrong?" asked Chen, sensing her master's sudden discomfort.
Ran did not seem to hear Chen's words and was about to retaliate, but thought better of it and made a mental note to get back at Rook later that evening. She lowered her glare as it faded away and sighed deeply, and then went back to stroking Chen's head to calm herself.
"So, once the goddess calmed down, did she also pay for the damage here in Gensokyo as well?" Asked Rook, eager to continue the conversation so as to lighten the mood some more. "I mean a lot of people died and I know their life couldn't be repaid by just gold, so did the goddess do anything to carry some of the people's burden for them? Funeral expenses don't come in cheap you know"
"She did actually" replied Ran, though still looking angry at Rook's teasing earlier. "Just like everyone who causes an incident, Reimu makes sure that they pay for what they break in the form of sealing, gold, assistance, repentance and a whole lot of other things. Although this incident seemed to be more or less an exception. Seeing the goddess reduced to a pathetic state, Reimu may have felt a tiny speck of guilt form deep within for what she did to a youkai-"
"Wait! Reimu feel guilty about something? Is that even possible?" exclaimed Rook, cutting Ran off her dialogue.
"Humph, you make it sound like she's a cold hearted person. She's human after all of course she would feel pity! Even in her exhausted state, she didn't even hesitate offering her aid to the goddess in the restoration of the realm back to its former glory"
"There's a shocker"
"Sadly, the goddess refused her and her companions' aid, for it was probably the chance to save what's left of her broken pride. Now, just as I have said earlier, the goddess requested an audience with lady Yukari a few hours after the incident has ended. She proposed to us that the sealing of the gateway to Makai would prove to be the safest thing to do to ensure that no such incident shall happen again, which also led to a negotiation with Reimu for she will be the one to do the sealing. Unfortunately, our favorite shrine maiden greatly opposed the idea of the sealing, for from what I have heard from what she had said, Gensokyo will not be able to send assistance if someone would attack Makai in its weakened state, but the goddess pointed out that Gensokyo, or rather its people, will be sending more threats than help seeing that it were four individuals from Gensokyo that caused the damage to Makai. She also pointed out that some people from this world and would surely take advantage of the chaos that was brewing. To sum it up; the youkai and humans of Gensokyo, along with the demon folk in Makai are currently not in best terms and if the two realms will continue to interact badly with each other the worst case scenario would be a full scale war"
Rook stared wide eyed at his colleague's surprising conclusion and slowly lowered his gaze on the floor for he found it near impossible to believe. He has seen the two world wars of the Outside, and even participated in other small scale battles the past century and found that the prospect of a huge battle to erupt at any moment unnerved him. The possible scenario of the two armies of two different worlds battling to the death would be a land littered with bodies of thousands, and grass and woods tainted with the blood of more, and in reality, was indeed a frightening possibility with a horrible outcome.
This was not something one could easily laugh about.
"Ran-sama, war is about big fighting between two persons or places, right?" asked Chen after staying silent for so long.
Rook glanced at Ran, looking if she would answer or not.
"Isn't it bad?" added the nekomata.
Ran gave her a sad smile and said. "Yes, it's both a sad and bad thing. It's where people fight each other to no end. Many humans and youkai die because of it, they pass on leaving their families behind making them very sad. For all I know, I hope Gensokyo does not experience war, for it will make the land sad. You don't want your home to be sad, right?"
"I don't want home to be sad!" said Chen a youthful spark present within her eyes," I won't let something like that kind of thing happen! I'll be as strong as Ran-sama and Rook-san so that I can protect Gensokyo!"
Rook watched as Flandre stands on Chen's place and in an echoing voice she says. "I won't let anyone hurt sister and brother! I'll be as strong as big sister Remi and big brother Rook so that I can protect both of you! And then, we will play aaalll day!"
Flandre's image began to fade as the illusion began to end.
The village was indeed messing with him for that was the third time this day. The boy ignored the hallucination and gave the cat girl a wide smile, while saying, "Of course you will and I'll make sure you do!"
He then proceeded to punch the air above him to prove his point with the grin remaining on his face.
Yet even seeing Chen go into a fit of giggling, Rook could not help but feel hollow at what he had just said, for those were the exact same words he promised to Flandre years ago. It felt practiced and he did not feel any emotion within it. The words felt false, with no trace of sincerity in them, yet the cat girl did not seem to notice it. It was probably just all within his head.
Rook could not help but glance at Ran to see her reaction. He saw within her eyes the worry and concern she has for the young youkai before her. Given her age of nine hundred, the fox may have already seen her fair share of battles, and she did not like the idea as much as Rook did.
Just as Chen had said, he will not let such a thing happen. He would soon chop off an arm and leg than let an endless series of bloody battles invade this paradise. Gensokyo was his home now, and his arriving family. To ruin it would be the most shameful thing he could ever do.
Three tabby brown cats managed to catch Chen's attention and had her chase them into an alley, leaving Ran and Rook all alone. Both human and youkai released a heavy sigh at the same time before resuming their silence. Rook rested his arms across his chest, and looked at Ran from the corners of his eyes.
"Something wrong, partner?" he asked casually.
"You know it's possible, you know?" replied the fox, placing her hands on her lap.
"What is?"
Ran sighed and did not answer the question immediately, and instead she said. "During the Mystic Square incident, five supply convoys of the Tengu were both destroyed and looted. Reports say that at least seven were injured, two missing and one dead as they were ambushed. From what the survivors say, the ones who led the ambush were the demons from Makai. Not surprisingly Lord Tenma was furious at what befell one of her people, and threatened to launch an attack against the demon realm. It took me days to calm her down and appease her of her rage, as I assured her that the situation was now back in control and that Reimu has finally solved the incident and is now leading the negotiations. Not long after that event, the Oni's marched right out of the underground, thus breaking the treaty that was laid upon the dwellers of below, and headed their way here complaining that Makai's demons had invaded the underground and kept on ruining every single party they had. It was if I didn't have any more problems already. They threatened to cause quite a ruckus with one of their parties if the problem wasn't solved, which took me six hours to make them content enough to forget about it. The list of complaints, blackmail, and threats are near endless. Not just from youkai, but fairies, ghost, spirits, beasts, humans, and almost all of Gensokyo were ready to fight a bloody brawl. If Reimu hadn't solved the incident the following day, I couldn't imagine the things that could happen if she hadn't!"
"Your point?" asked Rook, taking off one of his glove to clean his ears with his finger.
"My point is that the possibility of a battle between world has just risen to a hundredfold! I bet most of the youkai now are highly aggressive and will attack anyone mercilessly without hesitation if one would be stupid enough to enter their territory. You see, given my previous statements, the humans aren't the only ones affected by this whole ordeal and suffer casualties, but also youkais! The youkai population greatly exceeds that of humans and who knows what threat they would pose against the demons if aroused! The last thing we need now is an all youkai strike force headed towards Makai as we speak" finished Ran, looking very troubled at the revelation she had just given that was making her hyperventilate.
"Seriously, you're just burdening yourself with unnecessary worry. Seeing that Reimu's busy with the negotiations, I'll cover up for her and beat the crap out of anyone who gets in my way" said Rook with an annoyed expression on his face as he finished cleaning his right ear.
"If only it were that simple"
"With Yukari's help it will, sadly she's not the most reliable person around"
"Agreed"
Both human and youkai sighed in unison once more. Funny it seems that one moment peace reigns the day and in another, war breaks out of nowhere. Things just got serious, for a trigger that will set off the said war could go at anytime, and anywhere. A lot is at stake here, and aside from the two usual incident resolvers, these two here would be the only ones who will be able to stop it. Unfortunately it was not their job to do it; Ran had to serve her mistress' needs, while Rook had to run errands for Yukari here and there whenever Ran was busy. He only helped and intervened due to the incident resolvers' reckless decisions and naïve way of thinking, even though they carelessly put their lives on the line. Someone had to guide them somehow during their attempts to solve an incident to prevent them from dying in battle. They are after all still little girls, well, only two of them actually, while the other two were green haired hags but their minds' thinking capacity sometimes are that of a child. Even with two wise and aged youkai with them, though said youkais were unreliable and would sometimes be the source of the two incident resolvers misfortune, a cue for Rook or Ran's intervention, though mostly it was Rook's.
Babysitting an energetic, happy witch and a griping shrine maiden was anything but easy; Rook could actually feel Reimu's pet turtle's pain whenever he had to help out during an incident. Yukari laughed at the thought of him taking in the bullets that were meant for Reimu during the Phantasmagoria of a Dim Dream incident. She had no idea how tiring it was bypassing that stupid ship's defenses and diving in front of Reimu just in time for the bullet to hit. Sadly, that was only one of the countless times the boy had to do something crazy just to save Reimu and Marisa's sorry behind from danger.
If this stupid prospect of a war would indeed happen now when the shrine maiden is still under training, the workload would be unimaginable, and he still had other personal matters to think of, take the Magician as an example, Rook still needed a new plan to grind her into dust for good. Alas, Gensokyo had to come first out of everything except for Flandre.
The fox and the boy sat in silence for awhile, doing nothing but drown themselves within the confines of their mind as they listened to the ominous melody of the bizarre village's breeze. Almost nothing was heard save for the swishing of Ran's tails and the distant meows of the stray cats somewhere within the village.
"Ugh, this won't work at all…" said Ran all of a sudden, breaking the silence that was present with a sigh.
"Hm? Got anymore brain bugs in ya? Seriously, you think too much…" said Rook, staring up the purple sky once more.
"It's just about Chen…" admitted Ran, "I'm trying to figure out a way to keep her away from the fighting as far as possible, you know how she is right? She won't be able to handle the idea of me fighting for my life and killing people, I don't want her to see me as a murderer. Even now she's hesitant about eating human meat or anything that needs to be killed in order to be consumed, I'm afraid that it could lead to complications in the future. Surely Yukari-sama will have me and you fighting within the frontline by then, and poor Chen would be left all alone. I'm scared that I won't be able to protect her when the time comes, and you know that I can't do everything, right?"
Somehow, Rook felt familiar with the position Ran was currently in. Worrying and fearing for someone you cared for. Being worried about what was going to happen in the future and thinking whether you can stop it or not. In his case, Rook had already failed at that. He got kicked out of his home, was not able to control a spoiled vampire, Flandre went insane, and living with Yukari were his current rewards, which by all means; sucked pretty hard.
He knew how Ran was currently feeling and understood, yet he just did not want to admit it.
"Tell you what foxy," he began, adding a bit of irritation and annoyance in his tone. "You are the second most- wait; scratch that, the third most annoying person I have ever met the past eight centuries of my miserable life! You're so god darned negative that it isn't funny anymore (not that it was), why do you have to go around bursting everyone's happy bubble, huh? You're right this isn't going to work… But still! You think too much! Lighten up damn it!"
Ran stared wide eyed at Rook's sudden outburst and was about to speak but thought better of it since the boy was now on a roll.
"Why can't you just enjoy life a bit while it lasts!" he continues, glaring at his partner beside him. "Last time you were worrying about the stupid weather that it was getting hot all of a sudden and that suddenly made you predict an upcoming apocalypse, and let's not forget a century ago when you thought that Gensokyo was going to be flooded and insisted that we built an Ark after Yukari read a story to you! You waste your time worrying over something that isn't really that important, and I'm the one telling you this you stupid fox, it will be your downfall! If you're worried about Chen then don't speak, act it out! Stay by her side and make the cat happy for as long as you can. If you keep up with this behavior then Chen would be the one who's going to start to worry and after that we'll have the whole domino effect rolling. Yukari would soon get herself a decent hobby than see you groveling over unnecessary things, we have pressing matters before us and we should take it seriously to keep it from happening. How will we function as a team, eh? How will we make things easier for Reimu's incident resolving?"
Ran snapped out of her reverie and glared at Rook.
"Function as a team, ha!" she sneered raising a finger at the boy. "You're the one who prefers to do things alone and tends to do things all by himself, thinking that you can handle all of the world's problems and burdens on your shoulders! Where were you during the Mystic Square incident, huh? Searching for that beloved mansion of yours where you left all alone with the extermination!"
"I was on vacation and I had no idea that it would happen on a bad time! Besides I had a leave and I asked for your permission!" argued Rook in defense.
"And so was I" roared Ran exposing her feral teeth. "I was supposed to guard you from doing anything stupid, right under Yukari-sama's direct orders, but you left me to deal with the problem ALONE!"
"I know I had some problems on my part, but get this; why in the name of the seven hells didn't that Gap Hag help you out? She could've at least provided-" Rook was cut short as he ducked to avoid a golden orb that erupted from Ran's palm.
"Don't you dare call Yukari-sama a hag again or you will surely get what you deserve, you equally irresponsible male! Besides, your absurd reason isn't even valid! I could've used your help back then, but noooooo you had other priorities in mind!" yelled the fox, her voice growing more and more inhuman with every word, her eyes changing into slits as she bared her sharp teeth.
Rook held his hands up as a gesture of surrendering. "I can give you five good solid reasons on why I ditched you on the forest of magic"
"Reasons, that's what you're always good at you silver tongued snake"
"Now that's just going too far"
Ran was about to retaliate and shout that he was a selfish, inconsiderate douche bag, when the tips of her two tailed hat moved. Usually that would mean that Ran's fox ears stood up.
Meanwhile, at the back of Rook's mind was a faint buzzing noise that usually warned him of an incoming attack or an angry shrine maiden that was about to swing her gohei at him. Both human and youkai looked at each other in surprise and then turn their gaze at the same time at the object over at the horizon.
From their point of view, all they saw was a small black speck, headed towards them at high speed.
Rook sank back down on his crate and released a heavy sigh, while rubbing his head. "How about a truce for now and answer this: Is it something black and white, gold eyed and kleptomaniac?"
Ran stared at the speck that seemed to grow larger by the second, with her youkai eyes. After a few seconds, she too sighed. "I'm afraid so…"
Nicolas Note:
Hi there it's me again, currently working on a side project, expect it up in a few weeks.
Bye~