Chapter 14: Day's end
Italics: character thoughts
Bold italics: Past events
Eirin marched over and grabbed Seija, examining her hand and arm. She opened her eyes.
"H-Hi doc, we f-found the t-thief. B-Bloods gone." she stuttered, giving a smug smile "As p-payment, stop me f-from dying, thanks…"
Eirin placed her down and grabbed a syringe, sucking up some of the suppressant she had made earlier.
"What does she mean?" she turned to Kagerou.
"Me, Seija and Ran were looking for Kageshō, the youkai that stole the blood. Ran ran off to report to Yukari, Seija ran away because I was kind of forcing her to help and she accidentally sprinted into a tree that Kageshō was hiding it. We destroyed a blood bag and got this." Kagerou held up the medical report, the front and back page stained with blood from her hands.
Reisen grabbed it off her, cringing.
"You got blood all over it!"
"Well sorry! I sliced open Kageshō's back and got blood on me. Seija was poisoned and she couldn't hold it. What was supposed to do? 'Seija, hold on a sec I gotta wash my claws.'" Kagerou shot back, scowling.
"Reisen, is it legible?"
"Uhh." she flicked through it "The front page is ruined and the final page needs a bit of staring to read it."
"Than it's fine. They retrieve it, so we should be happy." Kaguya smiled.
"Yeah, d-don't be a d-dick." Seija added.
"Please don't talk. If you had come alone and without ridding us of that blood I'd be liable to throw you out the window." Eirin ordered "Reisen, how is the antidote doing?"
"Oh, umm. The second most powerful is mostly done, it's just boiling. In ten minutes it will be cooked and cooled."
"You're already making the cure?"
"Yes, this one will be given to the puppeteer for her condition is worse. A second can be made for her." Kaguya explained.
"And hopefully it's powerful enough to cure this. If not, we may need to resort to the vampire cure itself."
"Also, m-my leg is b-bleeding." Seija pointed out.
Eirin glanced at her leg and noticed the hole. She grabbed a bandage and disinfectant.
"After I'm done I'll need blood." she spoke at Kagerou, who froze.
"What?"
"This poison destroys blood, so she would need some anyway, but the wound makes it vital she gets some, you're the only health youkai here. Alice has taken most of the blood I got from Yukari." Eirin stated as she treated the wound, bandaging it and grabbing a bag and needle.
"I guess I haven't a choice."
"No, y-you don't!" Seija yelled, pointing at her.
~10 minutes later~
Kagerou sat on a chair in the patient's room, rocking back and forth with vacant stare. Eirin took near two litres of blood from her, and she felt a little dizzy. She was finding it hard to think straight. Relax, Seija needed it, she'll be fine. Why is there a black hole in the center of the room though? Oh right, her vision's going funky. Heh he...funky's a funny word. She completely failed to notice the slam coming from the next room as she got a dopey smile on her face.
Ran burst into the room, panic on her face, as the three working all jumped, again.
"Eirin, where's Chen?!"
"She's in the patient room, please be quiet though, she may be asleep."
Ran failed to notice Seija, who's arm had been near engulfed by the purple, the black only to her wrist. She opened the door and spotted Chen, asleep in a bed, Marisa next to her. She ran over and knelt down. Her face was shifting in discomfort, but she looked somewhat at peace. She was clutching onto Marisa. She sighed.
Thank you witch.
She looked around the room, spotting Kagerou, who was waving.
"Hi Ran, me and Seija fought the youkai." she smiled, clearly out of it.
"What?" she walked over "You fought the youkai? Do you mean Kageshō?!" she whispered.
"Yeah, after you left, Seija ran away and into a tree. Kageshō fell out and was super pissed off, so we fought her. She really doesn't like the spell rules, so we went a little overboard. Oh, ehh, this is her blood by the way." she held up her arms "We got the report back and split the bag blood."
Ran nodded, peeling some of the blood off her arms, wrapping it in magic. Useful for later.
"Are you okay?"
"Ummhumm, Seija got poisoned but Eirin's using magic medicine to fix it. She needed blood though so she took like 2 litres and now I feel funky." she gave a thumbs up as she slowly slid out of her chair, Ran catching her and putting her back.
Kagerou then proceeded to faint, a soft snoring escaping her. Ran sighed. Not the most detailed information, but still useful. Now, as she waits here, she has something to do. Ran returned to Chen's bed and sat on a chair. She held the magic and blood and drew a circle around it in the air. Holding the circled blood and ball in one hand, she started drawing and writing around it. Why sit around fretting alone when you can fret and make a locating spell keyed to find the youkai's split blood? Multitasking is key for her job.
Eirin sighed as she grabbed the vial of liquid. The glass and gel-like fluid had cooled and it was time to test it. Reisen was making more, so half for each. If it works well, then the next batch should begin detoxing their bodies. If not, then it most certainly will weaken and give them more time. Especially Alice. Seija is hardy, the poison not affecting her as badly, but Alice was suffering. What was also helping most likely was that Seija was infected not very long ago, while Alice was inflected at least 2-3 hours ago, maybe. She sucked up some gel and injected it into Alice's neck, before using a second to infect Seija's hand, who flinched at the prick.
"Oww, that hurt." she complained.
"Be happy that girl brought you here." Eirin snapped as Seija's face twitched.
"No, seriously, o-ow...that hurts a-a lot. I couldn't feel my hand earlier."
There was a minor reaction from Alice, her neck losing the black stain and going purple, slowly spreading out. Seija's was the same, the black skin fading to purple.
"Well that is a good sign." Kaguya commented.
It stopped after a minute, before Seija's purpled skin reseeded an inch before stopping.
"Okay, the fiery blood had stopped earlier and now is back, like really bad. O-OWWW!" she moaned, grabbing her arm "I can feel my hand again and it is painful!"
"It looks like it's working decently for Seija, but not Alice." Reisen commented.
Eirin looked at Alice. She was right. Only patches of black had really faded from Alice, her scapula were still darkened and it wasn't lessening. Just grinding to a halt. So, making more of this version will hopefully work and cure Seija, but Alice, needs something stronger.
"Reisen, finish making this version of the cure, one dosage." she opened the patient room door.
The wolf, fairy and Marisa were asleep. Ran was working on some spell. She waved at her, the kitsune looking up.
"Come here." Ran exited the room "Myself and Kaguya need to make the strongest version of the cure. We will be gone for a few minutes. Reisen is busy, please look after these two until we get back."
Ran rolled her eyes and sat in a chair, placing the spell beside her. She stared at the two as one hand continued writing. Eirin grabbed the tree and left, Kaguya following. Time for some blood letting.
Alice's home
Yukari stepped out of a gap, looking around. Ran wished to have another look around this place. But with Chen on her mind, it would be better for someone else to search around. A worried mind is a clouded mind. Alice's home was in slight disarray, like Ran reported. Yukari stepped into the kitchen, picking up a note. The one Alice wrote and never finished. Same as the report. She turned and walked over to the front door, stepping over the fallen wood. The door handle had been beaten in.
"I'm guessing Seija."
She looked around out into the forest. Kageshō must have run off. The problem is, which direction? She scanned the ground. The forest floor was soft and dirty. There were two sets of footprints going off east. Ran's helpers most likely
Hmm, I can see why this is a dead end. 360 degrees of possible fleeing and no footprints.
But if she walked or ran, there would be a trace, a change in the ground. So, time for a little manipulation. Trodden and untrodden. A bit abstract...just how she liked it. With a simple pulse, Yukari manipulated a boundary. The soft, lightly grassed dirt within 20 metres of the house suddenly flattened as though trampled by an invisible hoard, comparing into hard dirt. At the same time, the visible footprints popped up, the soft soil rolling over the hardened ground, exposing two sets of prints. Yukari scanned the ground. And there she spotted it. Barely raised dirt, nearly the same as the rest of the forest floor. Her steps were light it seemed. Yukari walked over to them and followed the prints, flattening dirt as she went, creating an earthen path. It didn't take long for her to reach a tree, a black smear marring its trunk. She smiled.
"I would think you could try and hide yourself." she reached out as she pulled off her glove.
She grabbed the goo and ripped off a chunk, throwing it into a gap. The eyes blinked a few times before she stepped into it.
Yukari exited into a lightly wooded area. Glancing around, she noticed it seemed...familiar. Then she noticed the corner of a house. Walking over, she facepalmed. It was the only responds suitable. She was behind her own home. Of course she was. The youkai had come here and hurt Chen. She sighed, rubbing her temple. She didn't want to admit it, but Chen getting injured had shaken her...slightly, distracting her enough to allow her to make this stupid mistake. A big waste of time. But now she was here and thinking straight again, she remembered. Kageshō must have left their home. She wasn't there. That portal the tendril was in was closed and most certainly untraceable, but if she left through a different one, then maybe…
Yukari walked around her house, scanning the outside and the woods. Nothing on the porch, nothing on the walls. The large cherry tree in the center of their garden was untouched and the laundry was flapping free and needed to be brought in. Another time. Yukari stepped into the house and looked around. She wasn't looking for Chen's attacker or Ran wasn't running around panicked distracting her. Speaking of, Ran reacting like that was new. She liked it, showed she had more to her than wander, work, rest and snark. She opened a broom closet next to the backdoor, stopping at the smear. She hid in here before leaving. Another chunk was ripped off and thrown into a gap. A nice little trail. Stepping into it, she exited into the forest of magic again, on a branch.
"Hmm, now then, where next?" she questioned.
Yukari hopped out of the tree, stopping short of the ground, hovering about the dirt. The area was damaged. A few trees felled, the ground was torn up with small holes and finally, the large amount of blood. Yukari floated over to unstained dirt and landed next to the large pool. At its centre was a blood bag, stabbed by something along with a satchel. A tree a bit away had a blood spray as well as three tendrils blocking a smear. She smiled.
She fought someone here
The tendrils reacted to her, turning to face her. Three gaps opened and fired out lasers, destroying them effortlessly. No need for distractions. But as she approached, she sensed something. Spinning on her heels, Yukari turned and backhanded a bullet, the fast projectile deflecting off her hand and bursting into sparks as it hit a tree. A single hand was sticking out of a tree via shadows. Then there was a loud bang as a tree fell over. She turned back to find the tree had been cut in two, the smear destroyed. A final gap opened on the trees remains.
"Who the f**k is messing with my-oh gods nope!" Kageshō stuck her head out of her portal and paled as she saw Yukari, retreating.
A tendril escaped the hole as two more opened, firing out shots. Yukari sidestepped them, smirking.
"I was wondering what the weird feeling was, it was you violating my shadowsteps. It feels like someone crawling under my skin everything someone messes with them! So how about this gap b**th, I destroy my remnants and make sure I don't leave any, and you kindly piss off." Kageshō voice escaped the tendril before an orb squeezed out of it.
The two small gaps detonated as the spiked tentacle attacked, Yukari destroying it with a single blast before it reached her, the head blown off by a single shot. A small explosion rung through the air as the orb fell and removed the final smear as the tendril fell, blown apart by the orb.
Yukari stared at the tree trunk for a minute, before shrugging.
"Huh, well, I did say she should stop leaving trails." she joked, a smile veiling annoyance.
So now the trail really does go cold. But Gensokyo is not infinite. She'll be found. Someone already did it seemed. Now, one final stop before bed. Yukari, for the 61st time today, opened a gap and stepped in.
Her final stop, the Hakurei shrine. If the fairies are there, good, a simple check in. If not, then another thing to track down tomorrow. But of course, a quiet chatter filled the air as she walked out from behind the storehouse. The three fairies of light sounded somewhat subdued, talking of nothing important. Than Luna noticed Yukari.
"Gap lady…" she whispered, causing the two others to turn.
"My, the three of you seem down, did something happen? You were not here earlier." Yukari asked as she approached.
"Umm, the puppet girl showed up and we had to bring her to the village. Then we had to wait there for the teacher lady and the humans were yelling at us saying we were diseased and and…" Star explained, wringing her hands.
"And then that fox lady that hangs around you showed up with the mean cookie stealer and a wolf girl and said Reimu was a vampire. Teacher lady said not to worry but we don't know what to do. Something weird's going on and everything feels off." Sunny finished.
Yukari sighed. Ran let the fairies know. That was a terrible idea. They were liable to either spin in a circle confused attempting to figure it out something or spread the truth like a wildfire in an attempt to get answers.
"Well, it is true that Reimu has had a little run in with vampirism, but I know several people are currently working to solve this 'incident'."
It really wasn't an incident. This was going to have a larger, harder to reverse effect on Gensokyo.
"All I need the three of you to do is keep this shrine nice and clean. Like I said to you all earlier, this is all being worked out and it would be nice for Reimu to return to a nice clean home."
"Are we going to have to be Reimu's fairy maids?" Star asked.
"If you want to be."
The three looked at each other before all shaking their heads, Luna the weakest. That trip to the Scarlets had been enough.
"Anyway, thank you for minding the shrine." Yukari smiled, gapping away to her home to sleep til morning.
Luna looked at the two fairies.
"I kinda liked the maid outf-"
"No."
Library
Reimu was currently having a micro panic attack. Despite Flandre tugging and chatting away, that whole brain thing was scaring her. She hated this. She's always been good at expressing her severe emotions alone or with Marisa, and all other emotions kind of sprinkled out and around the others every once and awhile. But today was a day of fear, anger, visible annoyance, worry. That whole thing was not true, she would know if that was happening. When she sees Copy next, she's getting as many answers as possible, not matter what. No 'can't talk' crap. She needed to know everything, to at least quell the fear. But for now, Flandre painting. She looked down at the strips of paper. Spell cards. She always liked making them. It was a nice way to relax after all the madness and frustration of incidents. And she had some good quality ink and paper for once. She should make the most of it.
Reimu inhaled and sighed, pushing the worry aside. No matter what, she's still herself. Or whatever Keine said. Reimu grabbed her brush and started to ink. What kind of spell card would fit her now? That makeshift one she made via crayon and rushed scribbles was...corrupted sign, right? Well, it made sense. She could probably use her new magic to fake her old powers. Kinda. She made binding chains. Although they only restrained instead of weakening or sealing. She didn't what fully power mess you up cards, that's Marisa's gimmick. Maybe binding would be nice, and some defensive ones. She shook her head. Or she could just draw them and test them like normal and settle for whatever happens. Yeah, that sounds right.
Brush in hand, she began writing, slowly making characters and small symbols with a steady hand. She took the purple. It was her new electric magic's main colour. She coloured it in with fast strokes and jabs, rapidly changing colours. Yeah, this was nice.
"Reimu." a voice made her freeze as she accidentally snapped the brush.
Ohh, she was nearly done. 'Altered sign: fallen fantasy' was surrounded by a sea of red and purple, with half of the borders covered in small symbols.
"Hmm?! What…?" she looked around, spotting Sakuya.
The maid held out a set of clothes. Her clothes.
"Repaired, washed and ironed. I've modified the back to include holes for your wings." Sakuya stated placing it down.
She pulled a cloth free from a pocket on her side and walked over, using it to rub the ink off her face.
"I would appreciate it if you did not get ink all over it."
"Hey, that was Flandre's fault, s-stop that!" she complained as the maid removed the ink.
"There, now, for the next part. The Moriya shrine maiden is here to see you. She believes you are looking into the vampire blood or are taking care of a victim of it and wishes to help." Sakuya said "How do you want to deal with that?"
Reimu's heart sank. Why, why was Sanae here? How did she find out? Why was she sticking her nose into this. Okay, she knew why. Because she's Sanae. She wanted to help. But she really didn't want to deal with her now. How would she react?...She'd probably just brush it off. Maybe she could help. Kinda. Marisa wasn't around to talk to, where was she anyway? Off doing something probably. Anyway, Keine's little speech had helped a little, and maybe Sanae could put some of her fears down. Was she really about to do this…
"Bring her…" Reimu whispered.
"Hmm, surprising. Go change back into your outfit behind a bookcase, unless you want to be a vampire maid." Sakuya smirked before vanishing.
Reimu swallowed and grabbed the outfit, an uneasy feeling gnawing her as she ran over to a bookcase. Just go away, please?
Sakuya appeared where she had left Sanae, finding the girl fiddling with her hair, poking the snake binding the front of it. She turned to the maid.
"Did you find her?" Sanae asked, smiling.
"Yes, please come with me."
Sakuya turned and walked away, the shrine maiden following. The two walked in silents, the head maid not once speaking. It made the whole trip a bit awkward. So she tried breaking that.
"So, has Flandre been behaving herself? I heard she used to be a little hard to control until Marisa found her."
"...She is fine. Lady Flandre was easy to look after, she simply sat in her room."
"Oh, for how long? Was it a day or two to calm her down?"
"I do not know the full length, but certainly over 400 years."
"Ehh...that's, a bit long. Didn't she get lonely?" Sanae wondered.
"Loneliness only grows after the loss of contact to the world and its people. She never had contact."
Silence fell again. This is cheery. Well, once she gets to Reimu it'll pick up. Reimu always put a little spark into conversation. After another 5 minutes of quiet nothing, they arrived at a door.
"Reimu and Lady Flandre are inside. Please do not overreact."
"Huh, what do you-" Sakuya left "mean…?"
She shrugged. Whatever. Sanae grabbed the door handle and pushed it open, strolling in. Near the front of the massive room, sat at a table, was a blond little girl.
Probably Flandre
Sanae looked left and right. No Reimu though…
"Umm, hello? Reimu? It's Sanae, where are you?" she asked cupping her mouth to make her call louder.
"She's getting out of her maid clothes." Flandre smiled, kicking her legs.
"FLANDRE!" Reimu's voice shouted from a bit away, clearly annoyed.
Sanae's response. A giggle. The thought of Reimu cosplaying as a maid filled her head. It was funny sure, but now she wanted to see it. As she looked back at where the voice had come from, she spotted Reimu rounding the books.
"So, uh, hey, can you not freak out." she warned walking completely into view.
"Freak out, about what?" Sanae looked at Reimu, noticing she looked a bit pale.
Jeez, not getting out enough Reimu, that's not healthy. And her eyes were bloodshot. No wait, they were just red...instead of brown. Than she noticed the large reddish bat wings coming from her back.
"Ohhhhhhh...well, when someone being a vampire was mentioned, this was not want I was expecting." she admitted rubbing her neck.
Reimu sighed, letting her catch a glimpse of sharp fang.
"Do you, want to explain?" Sanae shrugged.
"Sure I guess." Reimu wandered over to the table as Sanae joined her and the painting Flandre.
Insert explanation
Reimu sat back in her chair, her wings catching on the back of it.
"Hmm, so you woke up like this and have been here all day?"
"Yep."
"Hmm. Well, I was Eientei earlier and after everything calms down there Eirin will probably come with a cure or something. Vampirism always has a cure in books and movies." she reassured.
"This is real life, not some made up story."
"Reimu, this is a land where goddesses, youkai, humans and oni can have magical four way duels with lasers and energy bullets and after destroying each other go have tea. An quick simple cure will be easy for Eirin. She made a cure for the common cold. You can't just make something like that. So cheer up! Everything will be fine." Sanae clapped with a cheer.
"But what about what Patchouli said about my-" "I'd ignore that." Sanae interrupted her.
Reimu deadpanned.
"No really, I think she was reading too much into it. That book…" Reimu pointed to the abandoned book "Hmm, yeah, this a book on mental conditions based on a few tests from the outside, but if your brain really got damaged enough to make a split personality, you'd have a lot more problems. You would at least have had a stroke before your healing stopped it. Or memory problems, bigger than you forgetting a dream. I think you're overthinking this, by a lot." Sanae explained.
"But maybe I did have a-"
"Did you lose control of half your body and your face sag on the left. Slurred speech, couldn't move your arm?"
"N-No…"
Any other memories go poof?"
"No."
"Than apart from a little split personality and anger problems, that may have been there already, I think you're fine. Except the vampire part but you know." Sanae explained closing the book.
Reimu looked at the green haired girl. The jab at her anger didn't escape her, but the rest? She seemed so sure. Ha, this was making her feel better.
"If you want, I can stay with you for awhile. Lady Yakumo and Ran are trying to find the youkai and should make good progress by themselves. Lady Yakumo is personally helping."
"Yukari's going full steam? That makes this situation seem a whole lot worse." Reimu whispered.
"Don't worry, even if you have to leave your shrine because of this, you can come live with me!" she announced, smiling "Suwako is gonna be ecstatic to have someone new to ann-talk to." she finished, switching words with a clear stutter.
"Yeah, not happening, no matter what."
"He, but you know, a when a fairy in the hallway earlier said you where a vampire I didn't believe it."
"I still don't want to believe it." Reimu sighed, rubbing her head.
Eientei
Ran looked at Reisen and then back to the patients. It had been 10 minutes, and only using one hand while also not looking at the spell was slowing her progress down. How long will Eirin and Kaguya take? As if on cue, the two returned, with two decently filled blood bags and half of the trees leaves cut off. Kaguya was holding a mortar with pink paste in it.
"Sorry for the delay, the leaves required a harder touch to grind." Eirin apologised as she examined Alice.
"The rabbits did a good job though, the six all working together to crush the crystallising leaves makes me wonder why they always seem so inclined to be lazy and play." Kaguya shrugged.
"Earth rabbits don't like hard work. They most likely realised the gravity of the situation and got to work." Reisen commented "And you're a bit soft on them. The moon rabbits are usually whipped into action if found slacking off. Well, figuratively whipped." Reisen corrected.
Eirin nodded and started mixing the crystal paste with some of the ground leaves. Ran stood and as she walked over to the patients room, Kaguya stopped her.
"What are you making?" she asked.
"Hmm, a spell that will track the youkai's blood. Kagerou said she was bleeding, so she should be leaving a trail of blood."
Kaguya nodded and turned back to the doctor and the rabbit. The two were working hard and fast to cure this disease. It was the first time in a while she had seen Eirin and Reisen actually working together. And with her helping too, it was an odd day. All it took was a possible fatal poison. She glanced at the clock. It was already past 7pm. Night was fast approaching. And tomorrow, more rushing.
"Eirin, may I leave? I do not wish to slow you down by being in the way."
"Hmm, oh, if you want Kaguya. I believe we can handle the rest."
"Yeah, don't worry Lady Kaguya. Myself and master can do this."
"Excellent. See you tomorrow." Kaguya bowed out of the room, sighing.
I did not wish to say it in front of them all, but I despise being near those sick humans and youkai so long. A little contact is fine, but hours is grating. Kaguya shivered, a small grimace It is no fault of their own, the fault of my dislike is my own, but still I dislike it. Mmm... this youkai though that stole the blood, what could they be planning? Incidents are usually grand and visible, are they not? Yet this...is more secretive. Hmm, it is odd.
Kaguya wandered off towards her room, consumed in thought.
Eirin mixed the paste along with several other mushed and powder materials, before grabbing the blood bags. She stabbed a plastic port near the top with a syringe and used it to transfer some to the mortar. She used a second to extract some from the second. Without looking, she grabbed a bottle and carefully poured some milky liquid into the mixture. The deep red started to turn purple as the pink and white mixed together, Eirin grabbing the pestle and swirling it around, the paste starting to run. After three minutes, the medicine had gone almost watery, a shiny purple liquid that seemed to throb with light every few seconds.
"There." Eirin used a third syringe to drain the mortar dry.
"Is that it master?" Reisen examined it, curious.
"Yes, I remember it well. It was quite surprising when I first made it. This should either cure Alice, or weaken the toxin enough for the previous remedy to work effectively."
Eirin walked over to the puppeteer. Seija eyed the syringe.
"That l-looks strong."
"It is."
Eirin ran her hand over Alice's neck, stopped at the injection site, a hard lump under the skin. Needle in hand, she pierced the point, injecting the liquid. At first, nothing. Then the blackened skin seemed to lighten to a purple. Alice's visible blue veins filled with purple as the black around them lessened. It was slow, but it was working. Reisen, who was staring at the point, turned to Eirin, who looked relieved.
"Good…(sigh) good." she walked over her table again, checking what Reisen had been doing "Continue grinding this and once it's all done, mix roughly 40% of all the reagents together, boil and cool it and inject it into Seija. Make a second with the remnants and make another two doses after that. Fill a syringe with each and have them labeled and ready. I'm going to check on the others and then I'm sitting down."
"Of course master!" Reisen nodded and returned to working, Seija glancing at Alice, who was squirming.
Things were looking up.
Human village
The sun was near set went Keine and Mokou returned to the bamboo forest. Keine had spent the last while attempting to put together her warning to the village. Mokou helped, but neither could think of a fool proof way to explain this all to the villagers without inciting panic, or a fear fueled mob. There is to an announcement with all adults to attend when they return. Oh gods, this is going to be a nightmare. They arrived at the exposed hand, no longer smoldering. The sun had set enough for it to be safe for the dead partial vampire. Mokou quickly dug the boy up. His face was frozen in fear and shock. Keine sighed.
"You ready?" Mokou hoisted the rigid body over her shoulder.
"(Sigh) No. Not even the Elder knows what I'm going to say. This is going to cause chaos."
"Well, this guy means you can't hide it, and if the holy shrine maiden really is a vampire, You couldn't hide it forever."
"I know. But the villagers already are on edge with her, and this my just push it too far."
"Come on, it's not like they'll mob the shrine to tear it down in a fit of fear rage." Mokou joked.
Keine just stared.
"Come on Keine, no matter what youkai and gods say, humans are not that dumb. They know the shrine is important."
"Why do you think they never visit it?" Keine asked.
"Youkai filled woods. And shrine. With a hint of fairy." Mokou guessed.
"Pretty much. Most people think it's a failure thanks to Reimu. If the other was not on the mountain, people would go there exclusively." Keine turned and walked back to the path.
"Pretty sure the green girl doesn't do shrine maiden stuff either."
"Sanae has shown a drive to do it if necessary. And her gods are present. And there are no youkai and oni running around with a fairy in the basement."
"Wellll...yeah."
"We'll just have to see."
The two continued on, quickening their pace as they reached the bamboo's edge. The walk was brisk, and Keine swallowed air remembering everything she needed to say, the plans, the tension diffusers. Everything needed to be said clearly, correctly, with a tone that showed that the situation is under as much control as it can be. Mokou flew off as they approached the village. She needed to go in the back of the school to cover the body and prepare him for display. Despite the vampiric nature of the body, the family will at least wish to say goodbye. Keine walked through the front entrance's wooden gate and was instantly accosted a group of men, all looking pissed.
"Hey, why do we all have to hang around this late at night?" "Yeah, some of us have to get sleep so we can work tomorrow." two of the men spoke over each other.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but this matter affects everyone in the village. It will begin soon, I'm sorry for your inconvenient." Keine stated, the man all backing up, irritated, before leaving.
Keine sighed as she sped up her pace, approaching the school, noticing a middle aged man waiting by the small chest high gate. He waved as she approached.
"Miss Kamishirasawa, should I gather the villagers, many are getting impatient due to being unable to rest at their homes as night comes" he stated weary.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience. But yes, please do. Tell your father to get the missing boys parents as well."
"Ahh, I see what this is. Well, we shall gather everyone by the school gate." he nodded and walked away, Mokou appearing from behind as he did.
"Body's ready, ish. As good as it's going to be."
"Mmm, okay, let's run this through one last time."
It didn't take long for the majority of the villagers to gather. Most of the adults had come to hear what Keine had to say. No one would admit it publicly, but most of the villagers thought of Keine as the main leader and decision maker for the settlement, due to how most of the big decisions either came from her, or she involved herself with them enough to decide if it was a good idea, and veto it if not. She'd killed many an argument or policy via a simple death glare and short 'no'. So if she said it was important, most would listen. Even those against her often listened out of fear of missing something critical. Mokou appeared from the gate, a wooden school desk in hand, placing it down. Keine followed, climbing up onto it.
"Everyone, thank you for coming to this announcement. What I am about to tell you is extremely important. It affects this village, and may affect it and Gensokyo as a whole for years to come. I had hoped to keep this from you to prevent fear, but a discovery Mokou made has made that impossible. Early this morning, Mokou found the body of the missing boy, Yuuki Aoi. He was found buried within the bamboo forest of the lost. That in of itself is a tragedy, but another aspect paints this in a darker light. Although dead, the boy's body burns within sunlight. Before death, he was turned into a vampire.-" unrest began to spread through the people.
"This is not the fault of the Scarlets, it most likely caused by a youkai by the name of Kageshō who obtained the blood of vampires. You may wonder if the Hakurei shrine maiden is investigating this, and to answer that, I have more worrying news. Some of you may have seen Hakurei this morning attempting to sneak around the village. This is because, it appears she is a victim in this as well."
As she finished for a breath, a wave of tangible panic spread through the crowd like a wildfire, consuming them. Shouts started echoing from the back, drowned out by the droning of the masses in front of her. The parents of the child looked horrified, frozen in shock. The humans seemed to grow more restless by each passing second, quickly approaching a fever pitch. Chaos loomed. Keine opened her mouth to speak, but the discord swallowed her words. Than there was a deafening bang, courtesy of Mokou, followed by a second and third to force everyone's attention to the front.
"Hey everyone, kindly SHUT OF A SEC!" Mokou cried into the crowd, the humans collectedly stopping.
"Please everyone, I understand your worries, and your distress. But mobbing together and bearing down on Hakurei will not help, rampant panic may cost people dearly. This is not her doing, nor the Scarlets. A youkai of unknown intent seeks to spread this akin to a plague. But although the Hakurei shrine maiden is currently compromised, a sage of Gensokyo and her servant are investigating and will find this rouge youkai! Others are assisting as well. Until we receive confirmation of the youkai extermination, I would request that all citizens of the village remain inside their homes at night and not allow any their children out of their sight! Classes will run as scheduled although parents may keep their children with them if they please. Children coming to school must be brought to the schoolhouse by a parent and will be supervised at all times. All unknown or uncommonly seen youkai that visit the village must be questioned and logged with a description. Any matching the basic description of the youkai Kageshō will be questioned. Although this may upset people, a message will be written and hung in youkai heavy areas and sent to the tengu village with a request for aid in guarding the village those who wish to help. I will personally speak to and ensure any who come are trustworthy. Any villagers capable of magic or trained in martial combat may apply for a position in an emergency defense force to drive off the youkai should she appear! This is strictly voluntary, you will not be conscripted. Never travel alone and report anything suspicious. We will remain united and strong, and never let another tragedy like poor Yuuki again!" Keine announced into the crowd, gasping slightly, having not stopped to breath.
Silence rung in the ears of the humans, before a quiet murmur and low claps escaped the crowd. It slowly grew in strength and volume before a large cheer erupted out, the humans stoked to action. Keine hopped off the desk as Yuuki parents walked up to her. Without saying anything, she lead them into the building. Several men and a few women walked up to the gate, Mokou blocking them. A select few held weapons.
"Hmm, I get it. Keine's gonna be busy for a bit, but if you want to prove you got the stuff to help, let the immortal test you." she smiled, the group losing a hint of their motivation.
Within the swirling red void (aka Reimu's head)
Reimu opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the weird void again. Or her head as Copy called it. She glanced around, confused. How did she get here? Did she fall asleep? When...oh right…
Sanae clapped her hands together.
"Okay, so what should we do to kill some time?" she asked looking around the room.
"Me and Reimu were inking pictures and spell cards so we could play!" Flandre explained waving her brush, ink flying.
Reimu leaned to the left and avoided the ink, Sanae catching it on the nose. She smirked.
"He, sounds fun! What did you make?" she asked leaning over to look at Flandre's paper.
Reimu looked too, spotting a messy picture of a little blond girl and a brown haired girl sitting in a field, a white haired girl carrying a pot. The whole thing was inked in reds and oranges, giving it an evening feel.
"Wow, that's lovely! And you Reimu?"
Reimu grabbed the mostly finished spell card and held it up. The ink had set while they were talking.
"I need to finish it, than add magic or something."
"Cool, mine if I join in?"
"Nope!" Flandre smiled grabbing two brushes, giving one to Sanae and one to Reimu.
"Thanks."
And so the three inked in peace. Reimu continued the card and finished it, before grabbing a new piece and starting a new one, copying the pattern, before suddenly stopping. Flandre copied herself in fights, Yukari called Ran and Chen. So could she…using Copy?
She grabbed the white ink and started going over some of the design, before carefully writing the spells cards name. 'Fantasy sign: Doppelgänger mirage'. Hmm, that'll be interesting if it works. Footsteps distracted her, making her look up. Patchouli walked into view along with Remilia.
"My, the shrine maidens are multiplying." she joked with fake horror "How'd you get here?"
"Mokou said Reimu was here and I wanted to help her look after the new vampire. But she, eh, was the new vampire."
"Hmm, okay. So Patchy said she found something interesting?"
Before Reimu could even react and feel worried, Sanae stood up.
"She supposedly did, but I think it's unlikely cuz Reimu would have a lot more problems if she was right, so let's forget about that. Right now it's inking time and picture drawing!" Sanae derailed the conversation and promptly killed it.
Remilia just shrugged as Patchouli looked annoyed.
"Cool, so it's getting close to Flandre's bedtime. So she needs to get going."
"Hmm, but it's only getting near 8." Sanae pulled out her battered and near broken flip phone, reading the time from the cracked screen.
"Yes, but Flandre goes to bed by 8:30 and usually refuses to sleep for hours, but her being near her bed usually wears her out eventually."
"But no one's had dinner?" Reimu folded her arms.
"We're vampires, dinner is more a social thing than actually needed. If you're hungry drink some maiden." Remilia laughed.
Sanae glanced at Reimu, a bit worried. The annoyed and slightly disgusted face she made put her mind at ease.
"Sakuya will be preparing a little fancy meal soon for the morning. You can look forward to that."
Reimu sighed, it made sense. Flandre grabbed her arm.
"Come on, we can have a sleepover in my room. My beds massive." she tugged happily.
"Don't you sleep in coffins?" Sanae wondered.
"Phhhf, coffins. How cliche." Remilia scoffed.
"Hmm, hey, can I stay a bit longer?" Sanae asked.
Reimu turned to the green haired girl, surprised.
"If they let you I guess."
"(Gasp!) Triple sleepover! Can we?!" the blond stared at her sister, the gaze almost burning a hole into her.
"If you want I guess."
"Will you stop that!" Reimu rolled her eyes and turned to her vampiric clone, who ceased her monologue of memories as she did.
"I was just reminding ya." she grinned, her fanged maw glimmering in the crimson light.
At least she's wearing clothes this time Reimu complained in her head.
"You said to."
"Please stop being Satori."
"I can't turn it off, in your brainscape." she knocked her skull for emphasis.
"Whatever." Reimu huffed.
She remember the rest now anyway, the three hung out in Flandre's room talked or playing before Flandre got into her nightclothes and climbed into bed. She probably fell asleep after that. Whatever.
"Hey, Copy." her clone looked at her "I need you answer something."
"It depends."
"No, it doesn't. I need this answered now. What are you, really. Please answer me. No matter how much Sanae tries, or anyone tries, until I hear exactly what's wrong or what happened to my head I won't be able to stop thinking about what Patchouli said. Did the blood damage my head, will getting this cured kill me if it did. Please, I know you have answers to that!" Reimu yelled, staring at her vampiric self.
"I-I...he was pissed off from me telling you that little last time-" "I don't care! I'll take whatever punishment you'll get for telling me! I need to know! Just so I can bury this and relax a little!" Reimu cut her off.
Copy looked conflicted. Scared. She looked around. Inhaled. Before stepping over.
"Okay, okay." a blurred figure appeared behind Reimu "No, you know what, she's right, she needs this, you must have seen her freak out earlier with those two, it'll only get worse. She needs to know, so screw secrets. Piss off!" Copy clawed at her arm, blood leaking out as she used a pulse to harden the blood into a sharp thin pole.
The blood weapon outstretched, Reimu faced towards the figure as it faded. Featureless, save a set of wings and tail.
"Fine than...but no names…" an echoing whisper reached her as the entity faded.
"Good, screw you -" Copy spat, one word lacking any sound "Anyway, where to start. I suppose my creation."
"How I was made is kinda like Patchy described. The vampire blood's age messed with your mind, a tiny bit. I'm, just little fragments from all over your head, mixed together. I should have been just a split personality, something you flicked to sometimes, I don't know really. But something intervened. You're the Hakurei shrine maiden, a bit important. So, it, made me more of a person than a fragment of you. It sealed away all your powers, because it was attempting to heal and remove the blood and curse from your system. This was bad though. It was brute forcing it. Directly attempting to purge it. This may have killed you if it continued. It was ripping cells and blood apart to get to it. I was told there was a 20% chance it would succeed. Otherwise. You'd die. So that was delayed, sealed away, with your new vampirism locked up mostly in me. But this wouldn't last forever. A choice needed to be made. But he knew. He knew no matter what, you'd choose the sacred power over the vampire stuff. No matter the risk. So you were striped to a memoryless girl, to choose based on inborn instinct. You choose the safe obtain. The smart one. Why risk death when you could just, give it up. Now I'm just a byproduct." Copy smiled, looking a mix of forlorn and relieved "That's me, and be extension you. Getting cured is safe in my eyes, you'll just have to deal with the fact I'll probably still be around and you've lost the divine powers. He said you can't have'em like this, only if that 20% had worked."
"He...do you mean...that stupid enshrined god? That lazy, silent god that never spoke once to me, no matter how much I tried! I thought he'd pissed to worlds unknown because of the quiet." Reimu ranted.
"Heh, he was worried about you." Copy was knocked back by a yin-yang orb to the face, the red and white ball shattering on contact "Screw you asshole it's true!"
Reimu sat down as Copy came back, before lying back, gazing into the void. Heh, wish she had said that earlier. Still, she can't be the shrine maiden anymore...damn it. Damn it...but if she gets this cured, maybe Marisa or Patchouli could teach her magic so she could help out still. If she can stay motivated long enough to get it down. She could manage that. Crap, she hated this defeatist attitude. Still though, no brain stuff. Mostly. That she could live with. Although just because she shouldn't be able to get her powers back doesn't mean she won't try. Yukari might help. Maybe Kasen. This isn't over.
"Or you could just go along with Sanae and get one of the two gods to give you powers by becoming their personal maiden." Copy suggested leaning over her with a smile, a pulse of red consuming her and replacing her outfit for a copy of Sanae's.
F**k that.
"Fine." Copy flopped onto the floor.
"I wish today would just stop." Reimu sighed.
"Nah, this is more fun."
"No it's not."
"That's just your opinion."
Gods, let this end...
The halls of the manor, late night
A dark slit appeared before opening with a quiet rip, shadows leaking off it. Kageshō stuck her head out, glancing around. Okay, quiet, no one around. Good. Now all she needs to do is not attract attention. Although with everything going on, attendant was seemingly grabbing onto her with all its might to drag her down. Damn it, nothing is easy. Especially this part.
Blood, she needs, more blood. Her plan needs more blood. The amount she had would have carried her to near completion because of how little was needed to make vampires, but those two idiots ruined it. Now, she needs to get more. From the Scarlets, cuz the last syringe in Eientei is probably stored away super safe and the little bit she has might not be enough due to leakage from her yanking it out of miss horned b**th. How the f**k is she going to do this?
Okay, make a list and plan. First, she needs to find one of them. Or maybe even the shrine girl. She should be a full one by now. She had poked her head in at the shrine but only found a few fairies sleeping on the floor. Second, when she finds one, refill the syringe with the blood. With that she could kidnap another few human kids and turn them and suck'em dry. Then she'd need to kill them. Uhhh, this is annoying! They just had to ruin the blood bag. The report wasn't the worst part, at all really. She had read that it's hard to cure, poisons youkai and doesn't affect anything else. Now then, she needed to be quiet and careful.
Kageshō hopped out of the portal and closed it. And without making a sound she started walking. Last time she was here was when she tried making the witch a vampire. That would have been prefect. Both of Gensokyo's main problem solvers distracted and out of the way. Although the mage messing up Marisa's nose worked too...ish. The devil nearly caught her, and ruined some blood. Sow enough chaos, then spread the blood like a plague. Then, when everything's falling apart, either they or she would-
Kageshō stepped out of the hall and into a room. A light had appeared. After a few seconds, a fairy floated by, yawning.
"Why does La(yawn)Lady Remilia want a drink this late…" she complained, floating away.
Yes. Yes yes yes. Perfect. This fairy will lead her straight to the girl. Then when she falls asleep. Prick and run. Good, finally some luck. Kageshō exited the room and followed the girl. She walked for a few minutes, the fairy never noticing her, before stopping by a door, opening it to candle light. Kageshō peeked inside. A white haired woman was cutting something up.
"Miss Izayoi, Lady Remilia wants a drink."
"I see." with less then second of delay, Sakuya placed the knife down and grabbed a glass.
She dipped it in a large pot, before holding it to the fairy.
"Tell her I am busy finishing the final preparations for tomorrow's meal and cannot make tea. This will have to do."
The fairy nodded and grabbed the glass, leaving. The door was pushed open enough to force Kageshō into hiding for second, before leaving the shadows and following. She stopped when a knife suddenly flew passed her arm and sliced the cloth. She froze.
"Do you think yourself invisible? You didn't even hide your presence. And a quick glimpse of you was caught due to being too close to the door. Dealing with Marisa is a prefect way to practice catching those who wish to sneak in here. Her skill level is absurdly high. You're quiet, but not unseeable." an icy voice echoed behind her.
Well, she had heard the head maid was good. And she had strayed too close. She could near sum up today as a comedy of errors. With equal amounts not her fault, dumb luck, and her being stupid. Kageshō turned to find a knife in her face with cold, harsh eyes bearing down on her.
"Now than, explain."
Kageshō said nothing, because anything she said would make things worse. She needed to leave, and come back later. Like in a week, or year. Without warning, she suddenly felt the syringe in her hand vanish, Sakuya examining it. How the hell-?!
"Mmm...blood? Wait. A tail, not human. Youkai. Is it possible you're the cause?" she asked herself more then Kageshō.
S**t, I need that back, and then run Kageshō thought before piercing the ground with her tail.
Sakuya noticed this and jumped back as a construct of shadows rose up.
"You know what maid? I'm sick of everything going wrong. First that girl annoys me and gets the sage after me, then that girl Alice finds me and can't keep her nose to herself, I end up in the gap house, I lost my blood and get my back torn open and now I can't even resupply. I'm sick of my plan going wrong!" Kageshō yelled.
Sakuya raised an eyebrow.
"So it is you. But what is this plan? You're causing a lot of problems. There appears to be no reason. And whatever it is, it most likely does not justify anything close to what you've done."
"My plan, it's simply, really. Dark, shadows, my powers all relay on that. In light, I'm useless, in perfect dark, useless. Twilight, a shaded light. I love that. What would happen if everyone human was a vampire. Day wouldn't be needed, youkai and vampire alike prefer the night. If there was no need for day, I'd never be powerless. I want a world of shadows, of veiled light. And force enough vampires through, and day stops being a needed time."
"Hmm, so that's why. A selfish, self-serving plan. One with consequences you have not considered."
"Really, the Scarlet's maid saying that? I loved that mist you know. It made the perfect shadows. Then the shrine girl made it go away."
"Yes, that's true. But the scarlet mists could be undone. You're plan is more, difficult to undo. Blocking the sun would be a normal incident. But this is a step too far." Sakuya shook her head, frowning.
"You think I care. All the youkai seem to have forgotten that 'hey, we're meant to be the monsters of this land.' They're more human than youkai. I don't care about the spell cards, they're just around to make humans feel better. I'm done with that crap. I want a little chaos in my incident. I want Gensokyo to remember it. Now, give me that BLOOD!" Kageshō yelled as Sakuya noticed something approach from behind.
She dodged to the right, the tendril stabbing the floor.
"Fine then, you don't want spell card rules. Then allow me the privilege to 'cut loose'." and with a smile and a click, time froze.
Sakuya walked over to the youkai. She threw a knife, the blade slowing as it left her hand, freezing in the air. She walked up behind her, and kick her in the back, in the large wound at her spine's base. Time slowly resumed, although to Kageshō, Sakuya vanished, she suddenly was flying forward, a knife had just stabbed her chest. Time froze again. No restrictions on how long before she could use it again. Although this time, she pulled out several knives, and threw them, Before running to the side and pulling more from seemingly nowhere, throwing them. She jumped over the youkai, a curve of knives in the same ark as her jump were thrown. She threw more as she landed. She drew two more as she grabbed the frozen girl, placed her down, and pinned her feet with silver blades. And a final touch, she left four more directly in front of her. There was physically no way to escape unscathed. And after all, she was 'allowed' to do this. To finish it off, she turned and cut the tendril into pieces, the thing only together due to time not moving.
"And thus, time marches on." she whispered as time began flowing.
Kageshō let out a pained yelp as she felt her feet suddenly explode in pain, before four knives stabbed her. She then noticed the cage of knives. She summoned up a hardened shadowy shell, the knives all stabbing and sinking in, but the shell hanging on. Kageshō sucked in air as she yanked out the now five knives in her chest before reaching down to grab one of the knives in her feet, but froze as the shell disappeared and a glinting blade was held by her neck.
"Rules exist for reasons, without them, I could win any battle. I freeze time and just slit their throat. The end." she vanished as Kageshō was thrown to the ground, knives pinning limbs "I could hold opponents down and torture them without giving them a chance. The end." Kageshō was suddenly standing with a knife in her hip and a hand on her neck "Spell cards give those who are weak a chance to fight, it looks like you need them?" Sakuya smiled.
"This is…"
"Unfair, correct, it is. You said Yukari is looking for you. If she catches you, it won't be like Seija. Seija, for all her trouble causing, followed the rules, mostly. Even when we all started to bend them to catch her, she bent them too. It made for a spectacular mess of both sides bending rules, but both sides didn't break them. They all still followed most of them. Neither side was hurt too much. Even that shell of a woman Junko obeyed them to an extent. But you have broken rules. Most likely a few. You have stirred Yukari to action. Seija was banned from most public places and got a bounty, but was still allowed to stay, because she understands you can't break the rules with serious consequences. You though? Yukari or Reimu, it does not matter. They will kill you when they get a hold of you. If I don't fir-?!" Sakuya froze and bent her body to the left, letting out a pained gasp.
Kageshō had coiled her tail around during her monologue and tried stabbed her in the back, into her stomach. It instead slashed her back, a noticeable bloodstain leaking into the fabric. She dropped the youkai as she reached for her back, shying away from the stinging pain.
"Gods, shut up! I don't need a damn lecture!" she sneered as Sakuya.
"Ngh-! Sneaky...b-brat." Sakuya restrained herself.
She stifled a grunt. She needed to keep some air of professionalism around her. No swearing. Kageshō grabbed the syringe and attempted to run.
"Fine than, run away. But before you do." Sakuya threw a final knife, the blade shattering the syringe, blood falling to the floor.
"Well then, thanks for that, everything is RUINED now. You know what?! I'm done. I'm f**king done! I'm crawling into a hole until the gap b**th forgets me!" Kageshō fled into a gap, the portal snapping shut.
Ughmm, good, youkai successfully repelled. Blood gone. Now I just need to deal with...this... Sakuya collapsed to one knee after she finished.
She knelt on the floor for a minute, clutching the wound before attempting to stand. As she did, the fairy came back.
"Miss Izayoi, Lady Remilia said she can wait for...Miss Izayoi…?"
The fairy's mind stalled noticing the nasty back wound, Sakuya turned to her. Before the maid could speak, the fairy's mind suddenly jump started.
"H-HEELLLLPPPPPPPPPP!"
AN: 10272 words without the AN...this could be two chapters. I think it's double the length in total my next longest thing I wrote.
I don't feel like figuring out were to split it up.
So, sorry for the wait. I was asked to help out where my mam works and it's been consuming my days. I'm going away on the 1st July and I want this story finished by then, hence the 10000 words. There's only going to be like four more of this story. I've everything planned and kinda ready. I just need time to write it. Quick fact, Kageshō's motivation is one of the sole things I haven't changed since I first thought of this story.
Anyway, with this near double the length of a normal chapter of anything I write, please tell me if I messed something up. I've reread it three times and haven't seen anything and yet I know something is there, hiding from my dyslexic brain.
Review, pm, stuff.
Anyway, enjoy.