Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Touhou characters, settings or any other original material created by ZUN or any other affiliates. All Touhou copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Hey guys, sorry for the rather long hiatus. Real life called to remind me it was still there…
Anyways, I hope to be able to bring you the following chapters a little more swiftly as this has so far been one of my more enjoyable stories to write. So for now, please enjoy this chapter!
"Argh…! Why…!?" And the last thing Kanako saw before unconsciousness overcame her were Sakuya and Reimu standing victorious before her, Suwako next to her already taken out.
"Well, that takes care of them…" Sakuya said to Reimu, "So our guess was right after all… Yuyuko-sama is trying a bit of mischief from behind the scenes with some help…"
"'Guess'? It was obvious to me the moment Yukari butted in…" said Reimu, "Haah… What a pain…" she grumbled, "If only Marisa was here! This was all her idea in the first place…" she shot Sakuya an accusatory glance.
"Haha… My apologies, Reimu-san," said Sakuya, "But you know how hard it is to take something from Flandre-ojou-sama once she's set on having it. Besides, judging from my experience yesterday, Marisa-san is more of hindrance than help."
"True…" conceded Reimu, "But it's still bothersome! And I don't like the feeling of doing Marisa's dirty work… Sanae-san should be fine on her own now though." With that, she and Sakuya proceeded to drag Kanako and Suwako's bodies back into the Moriya shrine.
With Sanae, Part 2: A rehearsal for life
"Mmm…! What luxury!" Youmu stretched her back and reclined back further into the outdoor hot spring, "I don't think I've ever taken a soak this early in the day before!" she let out a huge sigh of satisfaction.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it!" Sanae was grinning next to her. The two of them had booked into a small, rustic inn deep in the mountains, famed amongst the tengu for its scenery, tranquillity and, of course, its hot spring.
All of a sudden, Sanae felt a sensation within her hand and discovered a rolled-up message. "...! A message from Sakuya-san…?" Sanae took a furtive glance at Youmu. She was relaxing with her eyes closed.
"Alright…" Sanae turned away and took a look at it. It read 'Danger averted. Safe for now. You'll find them in the basement.'
"Gah! Reimu-san…!" wept Sanae a little, "I know Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama are causing trouble, but could you at least treat them with a little more dignity…?"
"Sanae-san…?"
Sanae startled and fumbled over her shoulder. Youmu was up and looking inquisitively at her.
"What's wrong, Sanae-san?" asked Youmu, "What are you looking at?"
"Ah! N-Nothing!" Sanae hurriedly chucked the message over the fence.
"… What was that…?" The odd action only aroused Youmu's suspicions further.
"Oh…! I uh… I just thought that uh… Ah!" Sanae hurriedly clasped Youmu's hands in her own and brought her face close in to Youmu's, startling the latter and focusing her attention squarely upon Sanae.
"Um… Youmu-san?" Sanae gave a warm, gentle smile, "Just relax for today, okay? I won't let anyone bother us today, I promise…" she swore.
"Huh…!? W-Where's this coming from!?" Youmu averted eyes and blushed.
"Ehehe… Since you're my 'wife' today, I thought I'll try saying something 'romantic'," Sanae also looked away sheepishly, "Though as expected, it's rather embarrassing…" she pulled back from Youmu.
Youmu stared at Sanae for a moment, before breaking into a giggle, "That wasn't very 'romantic' at all!" she snapped playfully, "Erm… Shall we get out of the bath now?" she asked, "It's been quite awhile…"
"Sure!" said Sanae, and she and Sanae exited the water. They changed into their yukatas and started returning to the inn.
As they walked along an outdoor corridor, Sanae observed Youmu eying the outdoor scenery with a peaceful expression. Her silver hair fluttered with the spring breeze, and her rosy cheeks matched the pink petals that floated by against the green mountainsides. This tranquil image of Youmu, free of responsibility and stress, was somehow…
"Hey Sanae-san," Youmu turned to her with wide-eyed cheeriness, "It's not even noon yet! What else should we do?" she asked like an excitable girlfriend.
… Cute... Sanae suddenly became aware of blood flowing to her cheeks, and she shook herself clear of indecent thoughts, "Let's see… Shall we visit the local village?" suggested Sanae, "It's a tengu village, so it ought to be rather different from what you're used to, and they've got lots of local specialities as well!" she said.
"Ahh! Let's do that!" grinned Youmu, and Sanae too smiled in response. Which gave her an idea…
"Hey… Youmu-san?" asked Sanae after a moment, and Youmu, who was walking ahead of her, stopped and twirled to face her.
"Hmm…?" she asked Sanae.
"Shall we organise more of such trips?" suggested Sanae, "Have fun ourselves?"
"Eh? I don't know…" Youmu looked away apologetically, "Looking after Yuyuko-sama is a full time job…"
"But right now, Yuyuko-san is having to manage without you, right?" Sanae pointed out, "Come on, Youmu-san! Just for one or two days?" she urged, "We should really do this more often! Get away from our responsibilities once in awhile!"
Youmu gave a thought, "Hmm… Yeah… Maybe we should!" she beamed, "It has been nice to be away from Yuyuko-sama," confessed Youmu, "Thank you for your kindness," she smiled warmly.
"No problem, 'Darling'~!" Sanae shared a giggle with Youmu.
"Woah, watch your step!" Sanae caught Youmu by the arm as she stumbled and nearly tumbled down the steep, winding stairs.
"Ah! Sorry about that," Youmu apologised as she recovered her balance. Taking in a few breaths to steady herself, she surveyed the street before her and remarked, "This village somehow gives me a nostalgic feeling, but it's also rather cluttered and difficult to walk in…" Even as the words left her mouth, a group of tengu narrowly squeezed past her, nearly knocking her back down the stairs again.
The tengu village they were in was an old one built right upon the face of the mountain. Here, there were more stairs than streets and indeed most streets were stairs, haphazardly winding about the mountain slopes. Buildings two to three stories high were squeezed in along the sides whenever possible, staggering like dominoes, and despite the close proximity to the heavens the sky was but visible slits in this maze of construction. To add to all the nostalgia, and danger, were the crowds of tengu jostling past one another as they went about their business, buying, selling, buying to sell and selling to buy. The air was filled with smells and the ceaseless calls of criers from the second or even third storey balconies advertising for the shops on the first storey.
"Maybe it's because it's a tengu village?" commented Youmu, "But it seems like the only way to actually get around is to fly all the time."
"Nah, surprisingly the tengu mostly walk here," said Sanae as she and Youmu pressed themselves against a wall to let a cart through. How the cart managed to navigate the stairs was a miracle to watch. "There's a saying: 'The only tengu that flies through the streets all the time is one that is constantly late or a thief; in other words a no-good tengu'."
"Or a voyeur…" Youmu sarcastically brought up a certain infamous example.
"Ahaha… Be careful, Youmu-san," Sanae chuckled, "'Speak of the devil and she shall appear'… Oh! There's a rather famous ice-cream shop about here! I just love the way they make their waffle cones! Shall we go have some?" she asked.
"Okay!" replied Youmu, and she and Sanae made their way over to the shop. However, as they neared it…
"Uu… Uu…!"
"Hey, hey! It's alright! There's no need to be afraid!"
"Uu… Uuu…!"
"Ah! D-Don't cry! Are you lost? Where're your parents? Er… Would you like to have an ice-cream?"
The shopkeeper was kneeling before a little girl, attempting to console the child. The girl in question had green hair tied back in an intricate bun and a rather expensive looking kimono of white and blue-printed silk. She looked rather terrified, too terrified in fact to even cry, settling instead for silent sobbing.
"Hello Chie-san… Is something wrong?" asked Sanae as she and Youmu approached the shopkeeper.
"Ah! Sanae-sama!" the young tengu hastily got up and greeted the Wind Priestess, "Yes… I-It seems this child here has been separated from her parents," she gestured to the girl, "What's more, she isn't tengu, and she doesn't seem to be a youkai either… I think she might be a human child," the shopkeeper turned to Sanae worriedly.
"A human child…? What's she doing in a tengu village?" asked Youmu.
"She must be terrified…" Sanae knelt down to the girl, "Hey there… Won't you tell us your name?" she asked gently, but the girl backed away from Sanae and hid behind the shop counter.
"She might be too young to speak," suggested the shopkeeper.
"Or too afraid…" Youmu walked up to the counter, but pointedly ignored her and opted instead to check out the various ice-cream flavours.
"Huh…? Youmu-san…?" Sanae, as well as the shopkeeper, followed her confusedly. The little girl also began staring at Youmu, wondering why this lady's behaviour was different from the other scary ones.
"Mmm… This one looks good!" Youmu pointed enthusiastically at the cookie-and-cream flavour, "Chie-san, was it? Can I have a single-scoop of this one?" she asked the shopkeeper.
"Huh? Now?" puzzled the shopkeeper.
"Mmm! Now!" grinned Youmu, "Sanae-san, what flavour would you like?" she next asked Sanae.
"Ah… Well… just vanilla I guess, but-"
"Alright! Then I guess we'll take one cookie-and-cream, and one vanilla please," Youmu placed her order, and the shopkeeper, still a little puzzled, decided best to go with the flow.
"Yum! This is really delicious!" Youmu said happily as she licked her ice-cream cone. By now, the little girl had momentarily forgotten her fear and had emerged from behind the counter as she eyed Youmu and her cone with a little hunger.
"… Want one?" Youmu asked the girl directly, and immediately the child dived back behind the counter again. "Heehee…" giggled Youmu at her reaction, and this time she went straight for the child and knelt before her. "Hey… If you ask Youmu-onee-san real nicely, I might decide to share some ice-cream with you," Youmu played hard to get.
"Ah…" the girl peeked up meekly at Youmu, her eyes shifting away and back as she seriously considered Youmu's proposal, then finally looked Youmu squarely in the eyes and shook her head slightly.
"She doesn't want any…" said Sanae.
"It's not that," smiled Youmu, "You don't like this flavour?" Youmu asked the girl, and again she shook her head. "Then… do you mind pointing for Youmu-onee-san what flavour you'd like?" she inquired further, and immediately the little girl pointed to the chocolate one.
"Aha…! I see!" said the shopkeeper, "Then…" she glanced at Youmu.
"Mmm! Give me one of that as well!" requested Youmu, and immediately the shopkeeper handed Youmu a chocolate ice-cream cone. "Here you go!" she passed it to the little girl, and the child took it cheerily. Everyone broke into laughter.
"I'm really sorry to bother you, Sanae-sama, but I can't really leave the shop," bowed the shopkeeper apologetically.
"Don't worry about it, Chie-san," insisted Sanae, "Helping people out is something we should do. Don't worry, we'll help this girl find her parents," she assured.
"Ah! Then please do, Sanae-sama," the shopkeeper bowed again, "And Youmu-san… You're really good with children, aren't you?" complimented Youmu.
Youmu glanced at the girl whose hand she was holding, before turning back to the shopkeeper with a smile, "Well… given the kind of master I put up with, this isn't much," she replied wryly.
"Then I wish you all the best, Youmu-san, Sanae-sama," said the shopkeeper, and the group exchanged goodbyes and left the shop.
"Still…" began Sanae as she, Youmu and the girl set down the street, "Chie-san was right… You really are good with children," praised Sanae, "You'll truly make a great wife!"
Youmu blushed and responded wittily, "Don't jinx us, Sanae-san! Such jokes today are no good!"
"Huh…? O-Oh! I-I wasn't talking about becoming my wife at all! Not at all!" Youmu giggled as Sanae flustered, having just realised her mistake.
It was coincidentally at that time that the little girl holding Youmu's hand had finished with her ice cream. Glancing at Sanae, the girl felt pity for her as everyone else was holding hands and Sanae was not. She kindly remedied the situation by grabbing Sanae's hand, linking Youmu, herself and Sanae together like mother, father and child.
"Huh? Ahaha! That's kind of cute!" chuckled Sanae as she took notice of the girl's actions.
"Mmm!" agreed Youmu, "Like this, we're kind of like a family, aren't we-"
A little slow, aren't you two? It was already written in the text.
"H-Hyah…!?" Both young ladies' faces flushed a deep red as they averted their gazes from one another, although neither let go of the child's hand, the girl between them looking rather cheerful.
"Hmm… We really should think of a way to find the girl's parents," said Sanae after awhile, "It's a pity she can't talk…" she said a little carelessly, and immediately regretted it as the child looked down sadly.
"Ah! Don't worry about it!" Youmu moved quickly to comfort her, "Even if you can't tell us, we'll just have to ask around, right Sanae-san?" Youmu asked Sanae.
"Y- Yes! Of course!" Sanae agreed immediately.
The duo then begin going from shop to shop, house to house, asking if they had seen this girl before and whether they had also seen someone accompanying her. But after two hours of asking around, no results came to them.
"This is bad…" said Sanae as she looked at the girl who was now glancing about anxiously, as if aware that no progress was being made, "At this rate, we might never find her parents…"
"W-What should we do then…?" asked Youmu worriedly.
"At worst, I'll have to take her home with me… It wouldn't be the first time the Moriya Shrine's housed lost children," revealed Sanae, "And the people around here always know to come to us for help, so the parents might look for her there."
"But this girl is a human child, right?" pointed out Youmu, "Would her parents even be around? Come to think of it… How did she even get here?" But just Youmu asked her question, the little girl began tugging excitedly at her hand and pointing in a certain direction.
Youmu and Sanae turned to look and saw a young, blonde lady in the distance wearing a beige and gold yukata with similar patterns to the young girl's. She was jumping up and down elatedly and waving her hands in the air for the child.
"… Is that the person you came with?" Sanae asked the girl. The girl nodded her head vigorously. She was about to run for the lady in the distance when she realised that doing so meant having to leave Youmu's side and hesitated, looking up at Youmu sadly.
"Oh, don't worry!" Youmu knelt down and smiled reassuring at her, "I'm sure we'll meet again someday…" she squeezed the girl's hands, "But first, there's someone you have to go back to, right? She's probably been really worried about you," said Youmu.
"Ah…" The girl glanced at the beckoning lady in the distance, teared a little and threw herself into a hug around Youmu.
"Ah! Aha… There, there…" Youmu consoled the child. The girl then gave Sanae a hug as well, before wiping her tears and giving them both a wide smile. She then turned and ran straight back to her guardian.
"Bye bye~!" waved Youmu and Sanae as the girl leapt into the blonde lady's awaiting arms. The lady then bowed and waved gratefully from where she stood, to which Youmu and Sanae waved back smilingly. With one last look of gratitude, the young lady took the girl's hand and the two left.
"Ahh… I miss her already," chuckled Sanae as she turned to Youmu for her opinion and- woah…
Youmu was sobbing earnestly.
"Ahaha… I see you miss her too?" said Sanae, "You love children, you're good with them too… You really would make a good wife, Youmu-san!" she teased.
"Kuh… Not -sob- funny Sanae-san…!" Youmu vigorously rubbed her eyes as Sanae giggled.
"There, there…" It was Sanae's turn to console her 'wife' as she took Youmu's arm in her hands, "We've not had lunch yet had we? Shall we eat something?"
Youmu sniffled, "Soba…"
"Hai, hai~! Soba it is, then!" Sanae smiled gently and led her darling little child away.
Chapter End
Omake
"Still…" wondered Sanae aloud as she and Youmu headed for lunch, "What are a human mother and child doing here…? It's so far from the human village…"
But that was a false assumption. Had Sanae and Youmu met her up close, they would have easily realised that the lady was not human at all. And the girl…?
"Yamame!" called the girl as she walked happily hand-in-hand with the blonde lady.
"Ara~ Kisume!" replied the youkai earth-spider with mock sternness, "Where have you been all this while!? And look at the kimono I made for you! It's all dirty now…"
"Hauu…" uttered Kisume sadly. She just happened to be a rather weak tsurube-otoshi.
"Heehee… Don't worry Kisume!" Yamame flashed her a grin, "You're safe, and that's what matters… You see, the over-world isn't so scary nowadays, is it? We really should thank those two nice ladies sometime… Oh! And I've got it for you! Ta-da~!" Yamame produced a large wooden basin from out of a silken bag, and Kisume started tearing up the moment she saw it.
"Look! It's the replacement to your broken bucket!" said Yamame proudly, unaware that Kisume was sobbing, "I thought that simply buying a new bucket would be boring, so I got you an upgrade! It's just as deep as the old one, but you'll notice that it's much wider- Kisume? What's wrong?"
"Uu… Uuu…!" cried Kisume.
"Ack!? Y-You don't like it…?" panicked Yamame, "But I thought for sure that…"
"Uu… Uuu…! !" Kisume wept harder.
"A-Ah! You don't have to be that upset!" pleaded Yamame, "I'll just- Huh…?" It was then that Yamame realised Kisume was not crying about the basin as an ominous feeling crept down her neck. "What's…?" she turned around and- Hyahh!?
Behind her was opened a mysterious portal, from which a vengeful, blood-shot eye was staring through.
"Yuyuko-chan! Get back in here, you'll blow your cover!" a voice could be heard urging through the portal.
"Youmu-chan… Huuh… Huhh…! So you escaped your wedding!? No matter… I'll have just have to get you into a wedding dress… MYSELF! !" And the portal closed with a bloodcurdling cry.
"Ack! L-Let's hurry back home, Kisume!" urged Yamame. Kisume nodded vigorously and the two made a dash for the entrance back underground.
The over-world… can still be scary after all…!