Chapter 14: The Runaway Youkais II: The Absent Minded Tagalong

Not far into the morning hours in Gensokyo, Mamizou can be seen traversing slowly through the Forest of Magic, going on her instincts to try and find the runaway Kokoro. She was in her human guise as usual these days, but since she was not going to run into any humans from the village anytime soon she kept her bushy tail hidden underneath the backside of her clothes. Mamizou sniffed the air, detecting a faint trace of Kokoro's presence in the area that suggested she had passed by here not long after running away from the Myouren Temple.

But her scent wasn't the only one prevalent in the air. There were three other scents in the area, and all of them reminded Mamizou a lot of Kokoro. The fact that there was a bit of static in the air judging by the hairs on her arms standing up made it easy for Mamizou to deduce just who was responsible for getting Kokoro out of the temple. "Horikawa Raiko and the Tsukumo Sisters…The power to manipulate rhythms was the reason none of us heard Kokoro leave…Very interesting." Mamizou spoke quietly, leaving an intrigued and unoffended smirk on her face at what Raiko had done once she finished speaking.

Mamizou then kneeled down to look at the grass, but upon laying a couple of her fingers at the top blades she recognized that any footprint Kokoro could've left from pressure would no longer be there. Too many hours had passed, after all. "If only I had been here a couple hours earlier…Or perhaps if the rain had bothered to show itself…" Mamizou remarks, but then she lifts her eyes up a bit and says with a smile "Still…I can't imagine that Kokoro is currently in any danger. The three instrument tsukumogami don't appear to have gone with her, judging by the lack of static in the direction of Kokoro's scent…"

Lifting herself up all the way, Mamizou folds her arms into her sleeves and remarks "I should perhaps consider going to the Scarlet Devil Mansion and getting a trace on the little devil's scent. Though the motive behind the act doesn't add up, I believe the vampire was not wrong in assuming that Kokoro was responsible for her sister's disappearance." Laying one hand on her chin, the tanuki then states in an urgent tone "I have to find Kokoro before nightfall…If Remilia is allowed to join the search, then I cannot imagine things ending well."

Mamizou thus chooses to walk forward, knowing that the mansion was just straight forward, but chose to stick to the ground on the off-chance she caught Kokoro's scent going in another direction. But the tanuki only manages to walk through the forest for a few minutes before she catches whiff of something rather familiar, though at the same time it was enigmatic. Taking a cautionary stance rather slowly, Mamizou draws her arms out of her sleeves and feels an otherworldly wind breeze through the forest.

The leaves sway around for a bit before the presence responsible for setting Mamizou's nose off reveals herself. Not surprisingly, it was Yukari Yakumo, once again stepping out of a gap that she sits down atop right away of while holding a parasol over her right shoulder, both of her hands preoccupied with it as she looks down at the curious expression on the tanuki's face. Mamizou showed neither discomfort or fear, which made Yukari inquire right away in a playful manner "You aren't surprised to see me?"

"It was only a matter of time before you showed up again. What better time to do so than when it would just be the two of us, right?" Mamizou points out rather sternly, and Yukari found herself humored by what was said. "Just the two of us, you say? Oh dear me, that's not at all true." Yukari, after her playful little response, let go of her parasol and let it rest atop her shoulder as she brought her hands together and clapped them three gentle times, saying in an authoritative voice "Ran, I'd like you to come on out, please."

Mamizou's attention then turned towards the canopy of the forest as the leaves rustled and the majestic nine-tailed fox leaped down from above, her dress barely moving as she stood on the ground beside her master. Ran's tails stood on end as she lifted her head up and glared at Mamizou's with clear disdain, and it was only the presence of Yukari that kept Ran's nails in her sleeves. Mamizou was surprisingly humored by Ran's presence rather than worried, and after closing her eyelids and chuckling quietly she said "Ah, I see…You brought your little guard dog with you today."

Ran scowled a bit, but this brief disruption of her temperament ended when she felt Yukari take a brief glance her way. Yukari then focused her attention on Mamizou and said "Do not worry, Futatsuiwa Mamizou of Sado, I have no intention of wasting too much of your time today. There is nary a bit of exposition I have to give you." Yukari's polite tone did not fool Mamizou for a second, as she quickly commented while creaking her eyelids open halfway "I am not a stranger to deception, Yakumo, so it'd be best if you laid your true intentions out now."

"What a demand from the mischievous tanuki…But yes, I suppose neither of us have much time to waste, so I will agree to it this time." Yukari says, lifting her head up a bit so the shade cast from her parasol hid the upper part of her face in a thin shadow. The expression of the gap Youkai becomes unnaturally serene at that point as she explains to Mamizou "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to find the rogue menreiki and the vampire's little sister."

"Hmm?" Mamizou expresses her curiosity in a murmur, and Yukari obliges it by stating "Out of all parties involved, you and the maid are the only ones with any real chance of finding the two runaways. But the maid already has a predisposition born of loyalty to her master that negates her one advantage, which means all that needs to be done is getting you out of the picture temporarily." "And why is this necessary, may I ask?" Mamizou asks in an upfront tone.

After a brief giggle, Yukari says "Because, I need our little Kokoro to fight Remilia Scarlet, and that won't happen unless everyone else fails to find her." Mamizou was naturally bothered by what Yukari was desiring, but didn't bother inquiring any further as she knew the Youkai was not in the mood to provide too much information. Relaxing her expression a bit was enough of a signal from Mamizou's end to alert Yukari about what she had figured out, and the gap youkai thus commented playfully "I'm glad you understand the position you are in~"

Mamizou gestured one hand towards Ran and stated "At least now your little guard dog's presence here makes sense. You are going to use her to keep me busy since you yourself don't directly interfere in affairs like this." "A correct assumption…It's not my time to get involved, at least not yet." Yukari responded rather cryptically, which garnered a twinge of concern from Mamizou's face. Yukari then glanced down at Ran and said to her firmly "I leave the rest in your hands…I shall catch a bit of sleep in the meantime. Try not to die now, Mamizou."

Leaving the conversation alone after a deceitful smile, Yukari slips away into her widening gap while Ran suddenly discards all pretenses of a calm demeanor and puts on a beastly smirk, bearing her fangs as her eyebrows slant slyly. She then draws one arm out in front of her and keeps the hand held out with all her sharp, blood-red nails brandished, revealing her malicious intent towards Mamizou as she remarks "It's not very often that I am allowed to brandish these claws of mine for Lady Yukari. But for the sake of eliminating another tanuki from the planet, I am very, very honored to fight in her name."

"Hmmm…Nine-tails, is that all? Legend says that a fox of sufficient might grows two tails at first, and then another tail every century. By my calculations, that means you aren't even close to a millennium old. You must have been raised to dislike tanukis after the great Tanuki-Kitsune territorial war of old…." Mamizou faces Ran's bloodlust with a nonchalant remark towards the fox's hatred of her species, and then follows up by lifting her head up and saying with a smirk "Do you know what you are getting into here, junior?"

"Of course. Tanukis are nothing more than weak, deceitful creatures born to cause mischief wherever they go. Even if you are older than me, this rule of your species will not make me change my stance towards you, especially with all the trouble you've caused for Lady Yukari." Ran replies with, and Mamizou says rather playfully "The dog is barking, but it appears she can only speak her master's name. Such a pity…" Ran scowls a bit at that remark, but returns to her beastly grin before she says "You can try and anger me with your words all you want tanuki, but I have been trained to know better than that."

"A trained dog is still a dog, no matter what shape or form she or he takes. Anyways, before we begin our battle, do you mind if I do a little preparing?" Mamizou inquires as she begins to reach for her glasses, causing Ran to remark in an intrigued manner "So you wish to not see the manner of which I plan to kill you, is that it? I will allow you to prepare for your final moments, tanuki, but only to prove the futility of whatever actions you take. If you wish to summon your hundreds of Youkai allies, then these claws of mine, which can drag even the gods from the heavens and uproot the demons from Hell itself, shall rend them apart."

As Ran makes a point to display her claws in front of her, Mamizou pulls out her smoke pipe from her clothes and holds it between two of her fingers, giving it a brief flick to get smoke coming up before she looks at the fox with her bare hazel eyes and states "My glasses are not actually necessary…I can see perfectly fine. But that is not my biggest trick, I can assure you…First though, let me give you a little poem, young fox."

"Kitsune, kitsune

Poor poor, kitsune

Without care she chooses to wander

Guided by her master without a moment spent to ponder

Then along came a tanuki

The one she doth despise

The kitsune was arrogant

Thinking all was clear before her eyes

But with a twirl of her body

And a cloud of smoke

The kistune would soon learn

Of the legend many once spoke…"

As Ran stood confused by what Mamizou was saying, the tanuki smiled and caused smoke to rise up from her pipe, consuming it entirely in a particular shape for a few seconds. When it was over with, the pipe had been replaced by a very unusual sword. It was shaped like half of a regular leaf, with smoke rising up from four spouts at the top of the green blade. Mamizou held the sword by it's coiled, bronze handle and lifted it up at Ran, saying to her gently "Tell me youngin', did the tales passed down by your ancestors tell you of this blade?"

Ran, with a slightly disturbed expression, remarks towards her foe "You're a survivor of the Tanuki-Kitsune war…Of course, I should've known better than to assume that the legendary 'Warrior of the Bloody Leaves' was just a myth." The fox grinned and shivered, not out of fear but due to her rising anticipation. "Ooooh…I have not felt my primal instincts riled up this much since before I met Lady Yukari. I want to tear apart both you and your accursed blade, tanuki!" Ran stated joyously.

Mamizou, however, kneeled down a bit and held her sword behind her back, spreading some smoke into the air while saying "Personally, I was never expecting to use this again after that bloody war…Did you know that tanukis only chose to be pranksters after the many causalities of that war? When you get to be as old as I am, you learn quite a bit about the world…Both it's joys and it's tragedies. But even in my old age, I have not gotten so rusty that I will lose to a little upstart like you. Come anyways though, and perhaps I will acknowledge you as more than just a mere guard dog by the time I am through!" With the time to mince words at an end, Ran leaps at Mamizou to begin their grueling, long-awaited battle…

…But last I checked, this isn't Mamizou's story, is it now? She's more or less a side character in this whole trilogy. An important one, but a side character nonetheless. So now that I've teased you with this fight, it's time to head on back to deal with Kokoro and Flandre's situation…Don't give me that look, you'll see Mamizou fight all-out later on, but this really isn't the time or place to deal with this plotline all the way. Aaaaaanyways, now that I've broken the fourth wall enough times for one chapter let alone this whole story, time to see how Kokoro is handling the sudden appearance of Koishi Komeiji.

Kokoro's mask of irritation is beside her face, and she glares at the empty-minded satori with the best look she could muster on her stoic face. Koishi stared closely at Kokoro, blinking a few times with an unaware look on her face before she finally breaks the awkwardness by stating "If we're playing the staring game, sorry, I think I've already lost a lot. You're really good though, you haven't blinked once!"

"What are you doing here?" Kokoro bluntly inquires while lifting her hand up and nudging forward to give Koishi the message that she was a little too close to her face. While doing just that, Koishi says with a bright smile "I told ya, I'm finding you! …Unless you aren't actually you, in which case I really messed up!" Koishi gave an overtly cheerful but nervous chuckle afterwards while she levitates above the ground, and in response Kokoro raises her right eyebrow a bit before turning around to look at Flandre.

Flandre appeared naturally perplexed, and after Kokoro kneels down a bit so the two of them can speak in whispers the little vampire asks with a tilt of her head "Is this another friend of yours, Kokoro?" Kokoro shakes her head in response, and Flandre asks while glancing over her friend's shoulder "She's a curious one…I can't see an 'eye' on her body besides that closed one floating around her. If she isn't a friend, then what is your story with her, Kokoro?"

Kokoro hesitantly admits "…It's complicated, Flandre. At best I am neutral towards her, but for the most part she is my nemesis…It's not hard to feel a bit of pity for her though, she is an empty person, devoid of any conscious thoughts." "Really? She seemed to specifically want to find you, Kokoro." Flandre points out, keeping it a secret that Koishi is currently kneeling down beside Kokoro in the exact same way. "That's just how her mind chose to wander this time around. Trust me, it's impossible to help her…I tried to once before." Kokoro replies in a rather disheartened tone.

At this point, Koishi turns her head so her mouth is lined up with Kokoro's right ear and she whispers "Why are we trying to be so secretive?" Kokoro immediately flinches and stands upright, turning towards Koishi and summoning forth one fan that she points at the satori and states "What do you think you are doing listening in, nemesis?" Koishi lifts her head up to look at Kokoro, saying with a perky look in her eyes "After you tried to help me, now I am your nemesis again? You are very weird, Kokoro."

"You are one to-" Kokoro is about to offer a rebuttal to Koishi, but stops midway as her mask changes to one of surprise abruptly upon recognizing that Koishi said her name. As Kokoro stays in place with her best possible look of shock, Koishi shrugs briefly and turns to look at Flandre, lifting herself up a bit before extending her hand out and saying with a smile "Hello there red eyes! My name is Koishi Komeiji!" Flandre, feeling nothing suspicious from the satori, closes her eyelids and shakes Koishi's hand while politely stating "I am Flandre Scarlet, one of Kokoro's friends."

Koishi's eyes light up before she blurts out without thought "Cool! So am I!" This remark causes Kokoro to snap back to reality and look at Koishi, saying with a firm expression "First off, no you aren't. Second off, why are you suddenly able to remember things again?" Koishi lifts herself up quickly and spreads her arms out, fluttering them in place playfully before stating with her mouth agape happily "It's all thanks to you, I guess! Well…I mean…I just remember you and some weird blue-haired person standing in front of me a couple days before I suddenly started crying, so it wasn't hard to put things together."

"…Wait, you cried?" Kokoro inquires in a puzzled tone, and with a lean of her head to the right while laying a finger on her chin and pondering Koishi said "I guess so…That's what they call it when water flows down your cheeks, right?" Brightening up unnaturally instantly, Koishi holds her arms up high and states excitedly "And then I remembered your name Kokoro! And the Mask of Hope! And a couple other things!"

It was then that Kokoro quickly thought back to the moment she last saw Koishi, and tried to recall just which mask she used on the empty satori. When she realized it was the Ko-omote, Kokoro took another look at the currently twirling Koishi and noticed something that she hadn't paid much attention to before, and that was the fact that Koishi had around her a faint aura of emotion. She was expressing genuine happiness. This newfound emotional state could be explained by the mask Kokoro chose to use, but then that just left the menreiki wondering how Koishi was able to cry.

Grabbing Koishi by her right sleeve to get her to stop spinning, Kokoro looks directly at her face and asks "Koishi…Now I really want to know why you've been wanting to find me." "Kokoro, I hate to interrupt your conversation, but we need to get moving." Flandre quietly points out, and Kokoro turns to the right and sees Miko wandering around the outer edge of the Human Village. If Miko was there, it was only a matter of time before she'd turn her head and noticed Kokoro's mask floating in the shadows of the forest.

As such, Kokoro takes up Flandre's suggestion and points to the left without saying a word, and the two of them start to walk in that direction. Koishi begins to follow while opening her mouth, but Kokoro determined that was going to happen and quickly turned around while bluntly placing a finger before her lips to silence Koishi. The satori innocently imitates this action and then floats close behind Kokoro as the three of them head deeper into the forest, managing to avoid Miko's line of sight just in the nick of time.

After a little bit of time walking in the forest, the Kokoro feels comfortable stopping for a bit and turning around to look at Koishi again alongside Flandre. Kokoro then says "Now that we're safe…Will you be willing to explain yourself, Koishi?" Koishi points at herself in a puzzled manner and states "Explain myself? Oh right! The thingy you brought up earlier!" The satori mentions in a rather forgetful manner, but she is quick to say afterwards "Dunno, I thought that since you being around me caused me to remember stuff and get some emotions, I'd remember more and emote more if I followed you around!"

The logic was rather loopy, par for the course for Koishi naturally, but Kokoro at least figured out that Koishi didn't seem to know that one of her masks was responsible for helping her out. "…Still, could it be possible for Koishi to become more complete just by being near me?" Kokoro was curious about the idea in her thoughts and thus brandished a finger out and said "Koishi, if you want to stick around with us, you will have to do what I say. I know this is asking a lot, but can you try to control yourself?"

"For you I can do just that, Kokoro! That's what buddies are for!" Koishi exclaims rather quickly, and Kokoro says with an irritated twitch of her eyebrows "We are not friends." Koishi responds by pointing both of her pointer fingers at Kokoro in a slick manner while her joyous face contrasts her motions, and she says in an equally merry tone "Riiiiiiight." Kokoro slaps her forehead and says after a groan "Forget about it, nemesis…"

Kokoro then turns towards Flandre, who was watching the whole conversation with her parasol folded back up and a nonchalant look in her eyes. "…Sorry we have another person tagging along, Flandre." Kokoro says with an apologetic bow, and Flandre smiles innocently before saying "I do not mind, Koishi seems like a nice person, even if she is very eccentric. There's still plenty of day time left, even if there are a lot of people looking for us."

Kokoro then looks to the right past a whistling Koishi and realizes "…I forgot to grab the steak." Flandre lays one hand before her chin and remarks "Oh yeah, I suppose you didn't get to eat much of it, did you? As a little vampire, I'll be fine without any food for a while, but we should probably get you something before you get hungry again." "It's not that big of a deal." Kokoro nonchalantly remarks, but then just to spite the menreiki's choice of words her stomach begins to growl slightly.

Flandre can only give a somewhat sly grin in response as Kokoro embarrassingly lays one hand against her stomach, but it's Koishi who first responds to the matter by leaning her head down and placing her ear close to Kokoro's midsection before saying "I think you ARE hungry, Kokoro." "She's not doing a very good job of hiding it, is she?" Flandre says in a playful manner, and with a bit of a groan Kokoro blushes a bit and shoos away Koishi with a brush of her hand before stating "But it's not like we can get food from anywhere else…The Human Village was our best bet, and there's no doubt that someone else will try and search for us there."

"Hmmm…" Flandre tries to muster up some thoughts on how to solve this problem, and Koishi does the same in a similar tone to Flandre, but it was Kokoro who quickly remembered something she could do to solve her hunger. With a snap of her fingers to break the concentration of her two companions, Kokoro says "Follow me, I know a place where we can get some more food." The menreiki gestures to the left, hoping she wasn't losing track of locations in Gensokyo as her and Flandre turn and begin to walk in that direction with Koishi levitating behind them.

"Once again Flandre, I'm sorry things turned out this way…" Kokoro says while glancing her way towards Flandre, and the vampire says with a smile "We're still exploring Gensokyo, aren't we? You should stop beating yourself up over this, Kokoro. And besides, you seem to not be too bothered by Koishi's presence. You've stopped calling her your 'nemesis' as often as before, did you notice?" Kokoro looks back on ahead and says quickly and stoically "I was just being forgetful, that's all."

"Fufufu, alright Kokoro." Flandre says with a childish giggle, but then she asks while passing around a tree trunk "By the way, you said earlier that Koishi is supposedly devoid of a consciousness. I see now that it's because of that quirk that I do not see an 'eye' on her, but just what caused her to be like this?" Kokoro shakes her head and says "I can't say for certain…But from what I heard, satoris like Koishi have a third eye that allow them to read people's minds. You noticed that Koishi's third eye is closed, right?"

Flandre glanced back, commenting on the closed eye with a polite sounding "Having never heard of a 'satori' until now, I assumed that eye was a part of her attire. I wonder why Koishi shut her eye?" "Maybe like how you see the world disturbs you Flandre, the way Koishi could read minds disturbed her? I don't know, and I doubt Koishi remembers why she shut her eye…" Kokoro replies with a melancholy whisper that attracts Koishi's otherwise aloof attention, and the satori points at herself with a bright smile before Flandre remarks curiously "Hmm….Perhaps if I hadn't met you Kokoro, Koishi would've been the one to convince me to go outside the mansion."

"What?" Kokoro said in a puzzled tone, and Flandre quickly states "It's nothing, just my child-like imagination at work, Kokoro. So where are you taking us to eat now?" The timely diversion of the subject is enough to make Kokoro ignore Flandre's odd comment and respond "There's a food cart that travels through Gensokyo every day. I think Mystia follows a specific path whenever she goes out, so we'll run into her considering it's close to the afternoon."

"Oh? So you know this 'food cart' owner?" Flandre inquires, and with a nod of her head Kokoro explains "A bit. She's a friend of one of the Youkai at mommy's temple. Don't worry though, she won't say anything about us going there." "Fufufu, I'm interested to see what she has available to eat." Flandre replies with an intrigued chuckle, and the three of them continue on their way through the forest until they reach the path between it and the Bamboo Forest.

But to the dismay of Kokoro, the food cart was nowhere to be found at the time. "We must be early…" Kokoro notes as she sinks behind a bush to avoid being sighted by anyone who may pass-by, and Flandre sits herself down on the grassy ground and lays her sister's parasol atop her lap before remarking "We can just wait then until she shows up." "Are you sure? We don't have to get me any food, Flandre…" Kokoro replies, and Flandre states while pulling her arms out of the sleeves of Raiko's coat "Don't say anymore. We need energy to keep traveling."

Flandre hands Kokoro the coat after folding it up, stating with a gentle smile as she spreads her unique wings "You're going to need currency, so since we're not at the Human Village anymore you can take this back." Kokoro accepts the coat without hesitation and nods her head, with Koishi remarking as she kneels down and tugs on Flandre's left wing "It's like you're wearing Christmas lights!" Kokoro blankly stares at Koishi while Flandre smiles innocently and flaps her wings a bit to play with the satori, with the menreiki mentioning in a curious tone "…What Christmas lights have you ever seen?"

For the next hour or so, the three wanderers sit behind the bush waiting for Mystia to show up with her food cart, making the occasional peek over the bush just to make sure they weren't going to miss her. Eventually, the food cart shows up…Though much to Kokoro's concern, Kyouko, Murasa, Ichirin and surprisingly Kogasa were sitting on a bench eating fried lamprey and rice at the food cart. "Oh dear…" Kokoro says with a whisper before she retreats behind the bush, and Flandre was about to comment on the matter before the menreiki laid one hand on Flandre's lips and used the other one to suggest they keep their voices down.

Flandre nods to show she understands, and then once Kokoro removes her hand the menreiki turns to Koishi and does the same as the satori stays kneeled and swerves her body back and forth in an aloof manner. "So are those the people from the temple you mentioned?" Flandre inquired, and Kokoro nods her head before explaining "I didn't expect to see Kogasa with them though…She must have been told of what's going on and decided to help."

"So that means you can't go get food now, right?" Flandre ponders without much concern, but surprisingly Kokoro just turns and looks at Koishi before mentioning "…Actually, I think I have an idea. This will be…a pretty big gambit…" Kokoro lays Raiko's coat on the ground and reaches into a pocket to pull out a piece of silver, handing it over to Koishi while stating quietly but explicitly "Koishi, I want you to take this piece of treasure, walk over to that food cart behind this bush, buy only three skewers of cooked lamprey, and come right back without speaking to the four people sitting at the bench. Can you do that for us?"

Koishi fervently nods her head while smiling brightly, and then snags the piece of silver from Kokoro's hand and holds it up, entranced by the slight gleam coming from it before grasping it tightly in her palm and floating upright. She then gave a one-hand salute and went past the bush, placing both feet on the ground and folding her arms behind her back before walking inconspicuously towards the food cart. Kokoro parts a small hole into the bush so she can watch Koishi at work, with Flandre making one of her own a few seconds later.

"I must admit, I am quite intrigued by this 'fried lamprey'…One day outside of the mansion, and it seems you have made me obsessed with trying other foods, Kokoro." Flandre states, and Kokoro says to her "That's assuming Koishi is successful…" "Fufufu, have a little more faith. By the way, why are we whispering?" Flandre inquires while turning her head to look at her friend. "Because one of my friends at the temple is really good at hearing, even from a distance."

Now that Flandre had an understanding of the predicament, she focused back on Koishi, who walked up from the side of the bench and proclaimed to the working hard Mystia "Excuse me! I would like to buy three skewers!" This grabs not just Mystia's attention, but the temple followers' as well. Once they all look at Koishi, Mystia comments while rubbing off a dish on her apron "…You're a new customer…But I swear I've seen you around before." Kyouko proclaims "I recognize you! Lady Byakuren said you're close to enlightenment or something! Your name is…umm…Koishi!"

"That's my name, unless I am wrong, in which case I'm confused!" Koishi proclaims while lifting her silver piece up, which makes Mystia go wide-eyed in a moment of avarice before she puts her dish down and proclaims "Three lamprey skewers coming right up!" Working hard on the grill in front of her right away, Mystia is left so occupied by her work that she forgets all about any questions she might have had about Koishi. Meanwhile, Ichirin uses her chopsticks to eat some more of the soy sauced rice from the bowl while saying with a sigh "Koishi's presence here sort-of reminded me about Kokoro, since I think those two were involved in the same incident…"

"Sigh…We haven't had any luck so far in finding Kokoro. I hope she's doing alright." Murasa says while leaning back and folding her arms behind her head. "So long as those meanies from that mansion haven't gotten a hold of her, we haven't lost yet!" Kyouko says with the utmost enthusiasm in her voice, and after the yamabiko pumps her right fist Murasa glances at her and says with a grin "Of course we're not going to lose to some stupid vampire!"

Kyouko then looks at Kogasa and says "Thanks a lot for helping us out, Kogasa." "Kokoro is a friend, and I was worried for her after seeing that crazy battle…It's not a problem whatsoever." Kogasa says after taking a bite from the lamprey, but then remarks in a concerned tone "But who else is wandering around? That vampire's little sister, right?" Murasa nods her head and remarks "Her name's Flandre, apparently. It's a rarity for anyone to see her because she stays inside the mansion, but that's not really a problem if Kokoro took her outside, right?"

"Of course, it wouldn't be hard to find someone with her rainbow crystal wings." Koishi nonchalantly remarks as Mystia was getting close to cooking up the three lamprey skewers. As the sizzle of the cooking meat fills the air, the temple followers and Kogasa quickly turn their heads to look at Koishi upon realizing what she mentioned. Flandre chuckles quietly a bit while Kokoro groans and pinches together the skin of her forehead, whispering in a disbelieving tone "Darn it, nemesis…"

"Wait a second, you've seen that Flandre person recently? Was Kokoro with her?!" Kyouko inquires pressingly, and Koishi stutters a bit before Ichirin draws one of her rings and states "Talk! We need to know where Kokoro was at!" Koishi clamps her lips shut tightly and looks at Mystia, then her mind urges her to try and distract the other four by brandishing her pointer finger out and exclaiming "Look! A rare species of bird!"

Only Kyouko and Kogasa fall for that trick and turn their heads to look at Mystia, who was in the middle of handing three wrapped lamprey skewers to Koishi. Disappointingly, Mystia glares at Kyouko and says "I am seriously ashamed that you fell for that, Kyouko." The yamabiko blushes nervously while Murasa and Ichirin continue to press Koishi, with Murasa in particular saying "We're seriously desperate for information right now, we'll have you know. You might not want to test us, Koishi."

As Koishi is sweating a bit under pressure and tries to scuttle off away from the food cart, Kokoro says "We have to get her out of here without revealing ourselves…" Flandre glances at her friend and suggest with a smile "You know, I hope you'll be willing to go along with my idea, Kokoro." The menreiki turns with a puzzled expression and says after a nod "Of course Flandre, what do you want to do?"

"I'll use my power to blow up an object and distract everyone but Koishi long enough for her to escape." Flandre says almost too nonchalantly, and though the emotion used bothered Kokoro a bit she didn't really see a better option here. "Ok, but let me find something for you to blow up. I don't want to harm Mystia's business too much…Actually, wait, when something blows up, does it spread out enough that we might end up hurting someone?" Flandre taps her chin and remarks "Well when I blew up a meteor once before, the explosion seemed as big as it…"

"…" Kokoro stares at Flandre with a bit of disbelief on her mind before she shakes it off and turns back towards the bush while remarking "I'll just look for something really small, just to be safe." Koishi was still being pressured by Ichirin and Murasa, and appeared to be on the verge of cracking while she flailed her arms around, and thus Kokoro had to quickly find something for Flandre to destroy. Her eyes fixate on a few small utensils hung up on the right wall of the food cart, and with a subtle point Kokoro says "Try that spoon on the left."

"Fufufu, sounds good to me." Flandre says before she reaches her right hand out a bit and clenches onto the 'eye' of the spoon, and after a bit of an innocent smile she says "Kyuun~" and the spoon explodes into nothingness. This sharp explosion grabs everyone's attention for a moment, but Ichirin and Murasa didn't turn their attention away enough for Koishi to escape. As such, the satori improvises by quickly taking her free hand and leaping forward, shoving Ichirin with enough force to make her tumble back and cause a domino effect that knocks everyone else down until Kogasa is sent off the bench and put face first into the ground.

As Kokoro grimaces in a guilty manner at the pain Kogasa had to endure, Koishi quickly flies towards the forest with the skewers, with Kokoro and Flandre getting up and running after Koishi so they can get deep enough into the forest before everyone at the food cart recovers. With a grin, Flandre says "That was pretty exciting. I'm glad no one was grievously harmed." "Nemesis, you did NOT have to push them over!" Kokoro states with an infuriated look, and Koishi quickly holds one of the skewers out and saying "I got the skewer just like you wanted, right?"

"Hmmm…" Kokoro, torn between her hunger and her disdain towards Koishi at the moment, chose to instead feed her hunger and quickly snatched two of the skewers from Koishi's merry grasp. The three wanderers then stop in place long enough to enjoy the spoils of their little excursion. Plopping down onto her rear, Kokoro begins to unwrap the skewer while remarking "…This has been an interesting day…"

Flandre sits down and says in an appreciative tone "But I have enjoyed it quite a lot." After Kokoro gives her the skewer and the two take a bite, Kokoro glances at Flandre and asks her somewhat hesitantly "…Enough to consider maybe exploring Gensokyo for another day?" Flandre lowers her skewer and licks her lips in joy, remarking after a drawn-out hum of consideration "Kokoro, are you confident that we can evade everyone for two days straight?"

Kokoro nods her head without hesitation, and Flandre glances at her and says after a chuckle "Even my sister?" That was enough to make Kokoro's confidence subside a bit, and she said in a deflated tone "…She seems like she'd be good at finding us at night." "Veeeeery good. She may be a bit of a braggart, but humans have learned to fear her at night for a reason." Flandre states, and while continuing to eat her skewer Kokoro mumbles out "If only there was somewhere we could go…"

"Why not just hide in the Underground?" Koishi says in the middle of chewing her food, and Kokoro glances at her and says "Excuse me?" to ask for further clarification. "Underground…You know, that thing where you go under the ground?" Koishi states, taking Kokoro's inquiry in the wrong direction before the menreiki states "That's not what I wanted to know."

"Oh! Well you know Kokoro, I remember coming from this place called the Underground. It's a perfect spot to go and play hide and seek with Flandre's older sister!" Koishi explains the right way this time while laying on her back above the ground, whistling cheerfully while looking towards the sky. Kokoro turns towards Flandre and says "I have heard about the Underground before…But what would stop Remilia from checking there?"

"Well, aboveground Youkai aren't supposed to go there unless someone like me or my crazy older sister gives them permission…If only we had someone like me, though…" Koishi says while tapping the front of her chin with a forced expression of bewilderment. As Kokoro glares at Koishi a bit, Flandre gestures out with her right hand and suggests "Well, it would be worth a shot, Kokoro. Though we should try and look around Gensokyo a bit more before heading there, wouldn't you agree?"

Kokoro lays her hands atop her legs and asks "Flandre, are you sure you're fine with this?" "Remilia needs to learn a bit of a lesson, I told you this before Kokoro. Besides, it doesn't matter if just Flandre is happy…Kokoro should be happy as well, right?" Flandre says, giving the most innocent of smiles with her fangs shown, and from a combination of both Flandre's good intentions and innocence Kokoro surrenders her concerns and lays one fist against her chest before stating "Then that's what we'll do. We'll be runaway youkais for a little bit longer."

"We're certainly an odd group though. A youkai using masks for emotions, an emotionally unstable vampire with the power to destroy, and a 'satori' with an empty mind. Fufufu, someone could write a story about this." Flandre says gently, but Kokoro nods her head and remarks "But while I have both of you around, I feel happy and safe. I feel good when other people are feeling good, I guess you could say…And yes Koishi, you did just hear me say that." Kokoro remarks while closing her eyelids a bit, but Koishi turns her head as much as she could and says with a bright look in her eyes "I didn't hear you, my mind was drifting again." To which Kokoro sighs and Flandre chuckles in response.

Many hours later, when the sun was about to set upon Gensokyo, we find Miko and Byakuren regrouping at the Myouren Temple. Byakuren had a concerned look on her face as she turned to look at the orange glow of the setting sun, and upon laying a hand against the side of her face she says "Still no sign of Kokoro…I hope nothing terrible has happened to her." Miko taps her shaku against her chin and states "I had no luck in recruiting Kirisame to help us, but I did find out that Kokoro had been in the Human Village today. Considering the stories I've heard of the little vampire's powers, I am surprised there was no destruction…Otherwise, my search ended up with no results."

"Reimu likewise did not show an interest in helping, but I did hear from Ichirin that the satori Koishi may have been in contact with Kokoro today." Byakuren explains as she turns to look at Miko. "This isn't good…We're dry on information and the sun is about to disappear for the night." Miko states with concern as she glances towards the Myouren Temple, which was still damaged from the earlier battle but nothing more than that. "I just don't understand why Kokoro would be so evasive…Did we do something wrong?" Byakuren ponders.

"Normally I would say 'no'…But this is certainly odd behavior from Kokoro, so I'm not quite sure how to respond." Miko states, and a moment later Sakuya flies down to the right of them. Miko glances at her and says "The maid of the vampire…If you are here, I am going to assume that you have not had any luck in finding Kokoro?" "I am under no obligation to answer you." Sakuya says with scathing politeness as she glances over her shoulder, but as she is met with a smile Miko explains "And yet your desires say all I need to know. I am surprised, I would've assumed a person with the power to stop time would have been able to find someone easily."

"Hmm…You have already figured out the answer to that question too, I would assume." Sakuya remarks, but then she slowly turns towards the temple doors and remarks while bowing "Lady Remilia, I have returned with an update on the search." With great force, Remilia kicks open the temple doors and causes them both to slam against the respective walls, leaping forward so she ends up in front of Sakuya while levitating in mid-air and grinning. "Have you managed to drag the menreiki back to my mansion and rescue my sister, Sakuya?" Remilia inquires.

"My apologies…But I have not been successful. Mei Ling has also not made any progress, and I have not found Patchouli at all since this morning." Sakuya states while holding an arm across the front of her stomach, and Remilia says "Sakuya, I know you have tried your best today, and I appreciate your efforts…But it appears you weren't sufficient enough to handle this." Sakuya bows forward and says "Again, I am sorry."

Stretching her hands out, Remilia remarks "Do not worry, I will handle things from here. At the night, I rule the skies, and none shall escape my eyes." Quickly, Byakuren and Miko run so they end up on both sides of Remilia's body, with Miko stating to the vampire "You aren't going anywhere, vampire." Remilia glances at both her foes as Sakuya appears ready to draw her knives in defense of her mistress until the steady hand of Remilia stops her from going too far. Remilia then looks at Miko and grins, saying "At this point, I am your best bet at fixing the mistake that you have made."

"You mean the mistake that YOU have made. Everything was going fine with Kokoro until you decided to try and claim her as a possession, vampire." Miko states sternly while holding her shaku towards the creature's neck. Remilia bears her fangs and explains "Then why, pray tell, does your little menreiki refuse to return to her adopted parents?" The question does not affect either party, as Byakuren remarks to her "It's not our fault that she won't return. So long as you are a presence here, she will never feel safe. I demand you leave these sacred grounds, now."

"Sacred? Ha! After that display of violence you and your followers showed last night, how dare you claim that there is sacredness on these grounds? And of course, the impurity of a vampire's presence is more than enough to also taint this place." Remilia rebuttals with, leading to her then averting her gaze from both parties while folding her hands before her chest and stating "You can try and fight me all you wish, but I have fully recovered from our duel while you have been tirelessly running around Gensokyo today. Of course, that is assuming that you can catch me!"

Remilia spreads her wings with a single thrust and sends forth a gust of wind that blows against Miko and Byakuren, and without hesitation and a fervent grin the vampire lifts high into the sky now that the sun could no longer stall her desire to hunt. "The menreiki is mine to find and mine to possess as a servant forevermore! Sakuya, I command you to stall these two fools!" Remilia exclaims with a sharp gesture of her right pointer finger downward, and without a second more of waiting the vampire speeds off towards the north of Gensokyo while laughing childishly through the night sky.

Before Byakuren could pursue, Sakuya draws her knives and holds three of them towards the priest's face before remarking calmly "Just stay where you are, there's no point in trying to pursue my mistress." Miko goes for the handle of her sword and states "Out of the way maid, or we won't hesitate to deal with you." "…Lady Remilia has the speed of a tengu and the strength of an oni. If you think the odds are good that you can stop her in your current states, especially now that her domain of the night has come again, then make that decision and regret it for the short remainder of your lives." Sakuya says, coming off as advising rather than arrogant, much to Miko's surprise.

"…Why are you telling us this?" Byakuren inquires, and Sakuya puts her knives away elegantly while mentioning "Though Lady Remilia gave me the order to stall you, her desire to see her sister and the menreiki found is a higher priority. And I suppose while I am busy going back out to find them both, that would give you sufficient time to try and beat my mistress in finding them, wouldn't it?" Sakuya then turns around and doesn't say another word before she takes flight, leaving Byakuren still curious about the maid's intentions.

"Hmm…" She murmurs to herself, and as Miko lets go of her sword she says "Then I suppose there is no rest for us, is there? We've been given another chance to go out and find Kokoro. Let us pray to our gods that we will be successful before the vampire is able to." Byakuren nods her head in agreement, and the two of them take off to the night sky to continue the search for their lost daughter. But this was a hunt shared by the self-proclaimed Lord of Night, and both Byakuren and Miko knew their task would not prove to be an easy one…

Next Time: Fated Emotions