Disclaimer: Disclaimers are so last chapter... Touhou belongs to Zun!

A/N: It's getting quite hard to think up interesting disclaimers! Soon I might be forced to simply use a normal one! Anywho, on with the show!

A/N2: Gah! Almost was forced to skip a day, there! Doc Manger went down when i was at like 900 words...

Author: Ahh, yes. The dread of a file not saving...

Yukari: You became so used to that that you started copying the whole thing every time you save, right~?

Author: And that paranoia has saved my rear on quite a few occasions! Between the internet being out momentarily and Fan Fiction being down, I have found that this system has saved me over a dozen times over.

Yukari: And yet you have yet to use a far superior program. Why is that?

Author: W-well, uhh... I dislike needless change...

Yuuka: All must change, and grow — you're doing it right now, in fact.

Author: I wish.

Yukari: Yes, then perhaps she might be able to match us in some way~

Yuuka: Must you corrupt what I have to say?

Yukari/Author: Of course.

Yuuka: Of course 'of course'; that would be the obvious course you would take, wouldn't it...

Author: Now, how about we get on with the show?

Author: One more thing: From this point forward, to save an excruciatingly large amount of time, I shall reduce the edits to only the important stuff. You guys can 'enjoy' my unique method of writing that I grew into later; I do want to finish my edits some time in the next millennia.

Yukari: So she thinks she will live to be that old, does she~?

Author: Well, I just have to become a youkai, right? But seriously, I was exaggerating.

Dusk, skies over Great Youkai Forest, Wriggle's PoV:

Flying at my top speed, which was about a quarter that of Aya's, or so I assumed, we headed off toward Youkai Mountain. My wings were abuzz with activity, pushing me to my top speeds and beyond, as I strained to go faster and faster, giving every ounce of effort I could give. An extra ounce added in for good measure. It was a unique experience to sweat, but I was happy to have it at the moment, with the effort I was expending. An experience that I had long gotten used to, but still. It helped with heat regulation, but it was always odd, the sudden metamorphosis one goes through when becoming a youkai in such a sudden way. Having thumbs, so much hair, ears, and all those things. Not something I had while I was just a little firefly, ohh so very long ago.

I noticed something odd; we weren't headed directly towards to top of the mountain, but the base. I deduced this by the fact that we were approaching from low, and just above the tree line. Thankfully we weren't so close to the trees that we had to dodge anything, nor so close to the ground that we had to worry about crashing into the trunks themselves. Rumia tells of how annoying it is, and I have to wonder if she even feels proper pain. That's another thing I had to get used to: pain. Before, if I would lose a limb, it would be known, but... the pain really wasn't something my brain could process. Now, though... Let's just say I screamed quite loudly the first time I felt pain, so sensitive was I.

With a happy grin plastered across her face, my tengu companion suddenly started flying backwards so as to ease communication, much to my consternation. I mean, it was pretty cool, but she didn't have to rub it in. She could have just slowed down. "Wow, I certainly wasn't expecting such a tasty meal, Wriggle! That was the best meal I've had since... hrm..." She trailed off in thought.

Relishing the fact that she was finally slowing down, I slowly began to catch up, before I was almost beside her. Almost, so I wouldn't have to worry about her turning around and speeding up again, thus repeating the process.

I couldn't help but chuckle weakly. "Well, if you like it so much, thank Mystia; she cooks all of our meals. After all, she owns-"

Continuing for me, Aya replied, "An eel stand. Right. Maybe I should do another article on her..."

"I mean, that's not the only reason she's always the one cooking. The rest of us are disasters in the kitchen... I am used to just eating things raw — be they plants or meat — and as such, never really felt the need to practice. As for the others, well, Dai tends to try and pass off flowers as food, which Mystia hates; Rumia cooks the least appetizing meals imaginable, while calling them, and I quote, 'satisfyingly filling'; and Cirno tends to give things freezer burn... Although, the newbie is kind of untested, for the most part — but I'm sure she'll give things freezer burn just like Cirno. Not to mention being clumsy..." I couldn't help but heave a sigh at the state of things.

To that, Aya said nothing, a comfortable silence settling in for a while, at least as far as I was concerned. I went back to my thoughts for the time being and began to consider things.

Aya's a bird.

A big bird.

Birds eat bugs.

Just how many insects does Aya ingest in a given day...?

I couldn't help but imagine her ripping into my belly greedily, blood spilling everywhere as she savored the taste of my innards, remarking that they tasted like chicken.

And then, in that imagined situation, Mystia would say that eating chicken is wrong, and try some, only to suddenly realize that she had no frame of reference.

And so she'd bite Aya, and things would escalate quickly after that. Aya has no compunctions on eating bird, at least as far as I know, so then she'd be ripping into Mystia, who would likely scream her last, blinding Aya.

Then Rumia would eat her.

And then I realized just what I was imagining, and began to wonder if spending time with Miss Yuuka had an unforeseen side effect. I mean, I'm no stranger to gore; I'm youkai, after all. I've been gutted my fair share of times. But still, I don't remember imagining such things before that.

And so, I began to try and end these twisted thoughts by talking once again. "S-so... Umm... Do you live alone, Aya? Or am I going to need to hide all night from a special someone of yours...?" I was half-joking, with a forced laugh. It was obvious fishing for information, and I knew that she knew it.

She was a master of the art, after all.

This caused Aya to look to the tree-tops wistfully, laughing dryly as she did. I suppose that nobody would live with one they can only trust to expose their greatest secrets to the world. Not that I have many of those. Probably only the one, and it's not exactly well hidden.

The insects remember what I did. They supported it, even. But they remember. Stories passed from generation to generation of that particular deed. What would Aya think if she knew? I just sighed, as it was only a matter of time.

She looked back to me and gave a teary eyed smile. "No... I live at the edge of the tengu village, away from the others. I... like my privacy, you could say." It rung part way true, but that wasn't the part that I was concerned over. No, I was more concerned over the obfuscated part.

"Really? You seem so friendly, though... I would have thought that you w- Aya..?" I stopped myself when I noticed a tear on the cheek of my natural predator. It would seem I had struck a nerve. I did the only thing I could think of at the time, wrapping my arms around the sad crow. Tonight seemed like a bad night to hear the Tengu caw, so I gave up on that objective for the time being.

"I'm... fine. Really. You... don't have to..." Began to obviously depressed the tengu, who was having trouble talking at this point, before she trailed off. Another tear had slipped through her defenses. I was unsure how to cheer the crow up, and so I decided to do something about it.

"I love you, Aya." I said this plain as day, with a bright smile. As I did so, I pushed my dark thoughts to the back of my mind. This took the tengu by surprise, and all of her sad thoughts were replaced by a pounding heart and a pale pink face.

"Wriggl-" Spoke Aya, before she was interrupted by a pair of lips silencing her. It took a split second to register with her brain just what was going on, and her eyes opened wide when a hand began to grab at her rear. She was obviously enjoying this, regardless of the front she may put on.

"Yeeees...?" I asked with a teasing smile. That grin grew wider when she gulped.

Aya looked away. "...Nothing." She seemed to be ignoring just what was going on.

One of my few loyal insects landed on my ear, chittering a warning. She was playing the part of scout. "Ahh, it would seem we have just about arrived, Aya!" I whispered, just loud enough to be heard by Aya. If what she had said was true, the borders were going to be heavily guarded. However, there was apparently a secret entrance to her home hidden in a bush at the foot of the mountain. I had to wonder how such a place could lead so near the village. My time with my mother told me nothing of the tengu but an oddly acute xenophobia that most of them shared. She 'did' have business with them from time to time.

"Now, tell nobody about this, alright? I could get in a lot of trouble if this gets out!" Warned the tengu, who seemed afraid at the very notion.

"Okay, you have my word, Aya." I replied with a giggle. She must not be well liked for this to be needed. We flew deeper into the cave, the light slowly bleeding its last as every sound began to echo. I was confused as soon as we reached an utterly benign cave wall. "Where is it...?" My voice echoed upwards, and I blinked, before looking up. Darkness greeted me. "Is it... up?"

She chuckled, as she had had a chance to regain her senses. "Well, if not that, how would we reach the village...?" She flapped her great black wings once to shoot up into the air and I rapidly buzzed my wings like insects are wont to do, and even then I wasn't able to keep up with that single beat of her wings for several seconds.

Just how fast is she?

Heck, how strong is she? That's a lot of force!

We rose into the air for some time, only my antennae to guide me as I was using the scent of everything to direct me, and I realized just how far up we were going by the feeling of pressure, or lack of it, that my natural barometer was sensing. I stayed quiet until I realized that Aya had stopped by the beat of her wings, or staggering there of.

No sooner had she stopped that she tried flying forward again, and she succeeded. I was surprised, to say the least, as I thought that there was a wall there, like there had been for quite some time. Trying to copy her, I simply banged into the wall like a moth. I was embarrassed, to say the least. Suddenly, I was pulled through the wall with a yelp, ending up in a dim place that looked no better than my home, but more cluttered. "...Your home seems rather... well... I can't think of a nice word to describe it, really..."

Aya sighed at that. "Wriggle, this is my house's cellar, not the actual house. The house is through the door up those stairs. My house is small, but I like to think it's cozy."

Meanwhile, I was trying to not get dizzy from the scent of ink reaching my antennae. I was succeeding, but it was a concern none the less.