"So let me get this straight…"

She had lived for a very long, long, long time.

"You want me to take in those two fellas, who are complete strangers mind you, and house them here until they get their living arrangements sorted out?"

Literally, she'd outlive eternity itself.

Her circumstances were known only to a few, and those few who knew of it were amongst the people she favored… or hated. Keine, however, was one of the former. She'd known the school teacher from way back then; back when she was still new to wrangling those pesky little brats. There wasn't much of a school back then, it was mostly just her going from house to house tutoring the kids of some of the folks back then. They met during one of her excursions out here to the Bamboo Forest – she had some errands to run with the folks over at Eientei – and quickly became friends after having helped her find her way back to the village from getting lost.

Needless to say, Keine's one of the few people she trusted and a friend of hers.

But, just because they're friends, it didn't mean that she would say yes to everything she asked of her…

"Yes, that's about it." The were-Hakutaku was visibly more relaxed talking to her friend as compared to before with the Chief. "Please, Mokou. You know how the village is with all the ruckus happening lately. Last time I checked, they're even wary about you being anywhere near there." She pleaded.

Mokou had to agree with her friend on that point there. Some ignorant fools with too much time on their hands were causing a ruckus over at the village. They call themselves the Secret History Association and, so far, had been mostly harmless. From what she had heard, they dedicated themselves to investigate the secrets of Gensokyo, with the eventual goal of driving out all the Youkai for the purpose of making Gensokyo a human-only land. It's plain laughable and stupid, but she knew all too well that enough idiots with the right motivation could just bring about trouble the scale of which had never been seen before. She's familiar with it; she would even say too familiar.

The immortal woman grimaced, combing her fingers through an ocean of bleached white hair. "It's gotten that bad, huh?" Keine nodded, confirming her suspicions. "Still… ain't it smarter for them to just hang around the village anyway? Outsiders, they may be, surely it couldn't be any worse than having literal Youkai walking around?"

The frown Keine gave her before answering soured her mood further. "I thought so too, but I overheard some talks about people avoiding Fairies entirely." The school teacher revealed, exasperated at how the people over at the village had been acting. "In fact, I think the fact that those two happen to be Outsiders are going to draw even more attention on them as opposed to regular Youkai."

Huh, that made sense. A Youkai people could avoid and distance themselves from before getting too close, but when it came to suspicious people in general, they'd have to be even more careful. It's amusing to see that people could still show the same amount of animosity – maybe even more – to their own kind just for being different. That, too, never change even from back in her times. Won't ever.

"…look, Keine, I'm not against housing them here if it's just for a few days, but-

"Mokou! Thank you!"

"-I'm not done speaking yet," Mokou interrupted her interruption, "but let's say they're not who they say they are." From the tone of her voice, it was obvious that Mokou was hinting at the possibility of the two men being dishonest about their intention in being here. "What then?"

"I figured you'd say that," Keine then continued, saying, "they're acquainted with the gap Youkai herself. Even as far as having her act as their benefactor."

"If that's you trying to convince me to house those fellas, then you're doing a piss poor job at it." The immortal woman remarked dryly. "That woman's a schemer. She may be the last person to risk the wellbeing of the people and Youkai who live here, but there's no denying the headache she gives anyone unlucky enough to get tangled in her web of nonsense."

Keine sighed. She hated how she couldn't refute that point.

"And, besides, even if I do house them here, for the time being, my house isn't exactly the most accommodating pla-

The shaking of the ground beneath her feet interrupted whatever Mokou was about to say. The floors of her house shook and her furniture rattled, and the tea-filled mugs would be devoid of their content if it wasn't for Keine's quick thinking to grab them before they could spill over. The two women, after placing the mugs someplace else, ran out the front door, hoping to find the source of the disturbance literally shook them to their core. What they found waiting for them outside of Mokou's house was that of a disaster. Broken bamboos were splintered and scattered everywhere, leaving one massive clearing a few distances away from the immortal woman's residence.

"What in the Old Hell happened here?!" Mokou shouted, her voice loud enough to be carried to the clinic hidden deeper within the forest of bamboos. One of the two men, the blonde one, floated down next to her, catching the grim look on his face.

"A monster of some sort suddenly came rushing at us," he briefly explained, "it somehow managed to get underneath my senses and surprised us." He then looked at her with a sheepish expression, saying, "sorry about ruining your forest."

Mokou shook her head. "No, it ain't even mine in the first place." She said. "Anyway, what's this about a monster? Is it a Youkai?" The fiery woman asked while surveying the damage that had been done on what was essentially her front yard.

"Probably. It didn't look human or anything, matter of fact, it had four legs, a sharp row of teeth, and an insatiable bloodlust." The man told her with a grimace, his eyes narrowing further into the see of bamboo pants as if he was somehow able to see through them. "My friend's giving chase, he should be done in a second." And, no longer than a second after the man in orange had finished his statement, the sound of a thousand chirping birds could be heard echoing from the distance. "Ah, there, he's done."

"Riiiight…" The immortal trailed off, her vision slowly dragging itself back to the aftermath of whatever it was that they did to cause a sizeable clearing like the one she's currently seeing.

Whoever these men were, Mokou got the feeling that life in Gensokyo was about to be… interesting with them around.

'Youkai…'

It might sound strange, but they didn't have Youkai back in the Elemental Nations as far as he knew. Sure, there were things like contracted summoning creatures, literal demons, ghosts, the Bijuu, and all, but he wasn't sure if those fell into the Youkai category. As far as Sasuke's aware, the word Youkai was an umbrella term for a plethora of different monsters or creatures originating from Japanese folklore. He didn't have time to do intensive research on the subject, but he's sure that whatever it is in front of him happens to be a Youkai.

It's reminiscent of a… rabbit? The only reason that came to mind was due to the iconic large floppy ears affixed to the creature's cranium, but other than that, it looked like a mish-mash of a rabbit, a boar, and a wolf all combined into one unpleasant package. Its size was also far larger than any rabbits he'd seen; one that wasn't a contracted summoning creature. Roughly, it was the size of that Inuzuka's dog when it was an adult.

Kneeling down, Sasuke decided to do a closer inspection on whatever it was currently lying dead before his feet. The dobe punched it hard, so hard that it made a nasty-looking impression caving inwards into the creature's chest. Still, it was alive when he caught up to it so it must've been resilient. He used a variation of his lightning-based jutsu that he had in his arsenal to char the creature black, but other than that, it was pretty much intact. Using his fingers to lift up the creature's maw, he managed to confirm the rows of sharp predatory teeth. Whatever this thing was, it was definitely not an herbivore.

"Oi teme, you okay there?"

The dobe's voice came all the way from somewhere behind him. Normally, he would've answered him with a response, but he decided not to when he sensed the company the dobe brought with him. The teacher and that friend of hers, one he only got a brief look at when they first arrived at her front door.

He got the impression that she wasn't too keen on meeting them, but he couldn't blame her for feeling that way now could he?

"Well, well," Mokou had to blink several times just so that her eyes could register what's happening in front of her, "that'd be the first time I've seen one of these in a long time." She took a few steps, approaching the dead creature.

Sasuke took a few steps away so she could also take a closer look at what it was he just killed. From the way the white-haired woman was acting, it seemed that she'd seen or was at least familiar with the creature. Crouching down, Mokou prodded and examined the beast, all the while humming thoughtfully.

"Been a while since I saw one of these roaming around." She said aloud, enough for the three of them to hear. "The last time I saw one was over a hundred years ago." She muttered in a curious manner.

"What exactly is it?" Keine asked, looking just as confused as the two men. "I've never seen a Youkai like this before…"

"I ain't exactly sure either," Mokou stood up, using her knees to support the action, "but ain't it curious that one decided to appear the moment you two show up here?" It was painfully obvious from her tone of voice that she was casting suspicions on both of the Outsiders.

"Now, now," the blonde one spoke up, his hands – one of them completely covered in bandages – held up as a sign of mollification, "we're not entirely sure what that is either. It just… rushed at us out of nowhere; we're even more clueless than you are."

Her eyes narrowed at the response she got, but she ultimately dropped her suspicions on the matter. Her eyes stealthily wandered over to the black-haired one – the one who killed gave chase and killed the Youkai – and took a quick look at him. She noticed the lack of appendage where the man's left arm was supposed to be, and it caused her to blink.

Whatever he did to the thing, it killed quick. There was a sign of it having been hit right around the creature's abdominal area, but it wasn't what ultimately killed it. Mokou, being the person she was, had the unfortunate experience of being subjected to – normally – life-ending attacks. With how charred and stiff the corpse was, it looked like it had been struck by lightning. She didn't see any lightning before. Did he cause it? That must be the case, seeing as that's the only explanation available to her at the moment.

"In any case," Mokou spoke, redirecting the flow of conversation elsewhere, "I'll agree to house you both, but don't be expecting any sort of royal treatment now, you hear me?"

The black-haired one gave a non-specific grunt, while the blonde gave showed her his pearly whites and a bandage covered thumbs up. "Loud and clear!"

Gods, she got the feeling that her days weren't going to be as quiet going forward…

The creature I'm referencing here was the unnamed creature that was chasing Maribel Hearn when she got transported to Gensokyo. I'm not sure how it fits in the timeline I'm planning for, but hey, it's still an interesting fact.

PSA: Stay inside and wear your mask if you have to go out. A family member of mine got the 'Rona, and they're suffering right now. If you got the 'Rona, isolate yourself. The experience of being away from loved one's/family members isn't as bad as having to see them suffer from what has recently been categorized as a life threatening disease.