Reimu's plan was simple, but it still required days of work. Practice poking holes in the barrier, and speaking with Sanae and Marisa to make sure that they wouldn't interfere. Convincing herself that, yes, she could do this. Convincing Yukari that she had recovered from her collapse and could handle herself in a serious fight. And, picking the right spot.
The location that she had chosen was along the edge of the Forest of Magic, right where it melted into the plains and foothills that made up the center of Gensokyo. The trees here grew thick and tall, free of the poisonous mushrooms that stunted the ones deeper in the forest. Even during the day, it was a dark and gloomy place.
Now, deep at night, the only light came from the stars overhead and glowing lichen on the fallen logs. Reimu sat on the thick branch of a tree. In front of her, the Hakurei barrier was shimmering in her barrier senses. Its surface was warped and twisted, like it was writhing in pain. A defect. She'd introduced it herself. Too big to quickly heal, deep enough that somebody could slip through the barrier at that spot if they knew to head for it. It was an injury in Gensokyo's side. Creating it had gone against every instinct that she had cultivated as a shrine maiden.
Which made it the perfect bait to trap one.
She wasn't waiting long. It had barely been two hours when a red-white streak dropped from the skies in front of her.
Reimu waited, and watched as Shiko peered around. Her hair was a mess, and she was squinting sleepily. She'd probably gotten out of bed for this. "Is somebody here?"
Reimu stayed silent. It was funny. She'd had lived without night vision for her entire life, but now that she had it, she almost couldn't remember what it was like. Was Shiko seeing nothing but darkness? Could she even she the outlines of objects? If the shrine maiden couldn't see, this wasn't going to take long.
"You should get used to late nights," Reimu said, and rose to standing on the branch. "Youkai don't really plan around your schedule."
"Reimu?" Shiko tightened her grip on her gohei. She took a step back from the trees, with her eyes blindly scanning the area. "Where are you? Did you do this?!"
"Yeah, I did," Reimu said. She dropped from the branch and landed in a crouch. Dried leaves and twigs crackled under her feet.
Shiko flinched at the noise and stumbled further. One hand whipped up, brandishing a fistful of ofuda at the darkness. "Why?!"
"We still have business to settle." Reimu took another step forward. "The first time we talked, you asked if I was a human or a youkai. I can't pretend anymore. I'm a youkai."
"A-are you here to attack me?"
"You said that you'd treat me like any other youkai the next time you saw me, right?"
"... Um. I did," Shiko said, suddenly sounding less certain about the idea than she had when she'd made the proclamation.
"Well, here I am. If you're going to exterminate me, then do it."
It was so simple, Reimu was angry at herself for not realizing it earlier. She'd been so hung up on finding a way to convince Shiko that she was a friend, but that hadn't gotten her anywhere. Instead, she needed to do what any other youkai would when faced with an uncooperative shrine maiden: She needed to fight, and she needed to win. Put enough of a scare into her, and maybe she'd start listening to reason.
In the darkness, Reimu could see Shiko raise the handful of ofuda. As the shrine maiden hurled them forward, Reimu fell backward into a waiting gap. She reappeared silently, barely a meter from Shiko's side, just in time to see the ofuda shred through the underbrush. "I'm ready for a fight," Reimu continued. Shiko whipped the gohei toward her head, and Reimu easily ducked under the blind swing. By the time she attempted another one, Reimu had already reappeared on her other side. "You're a threat to Gensokyo's balance. The way things are going, you're going to get yourself killed, and hurt a bunch of youkai who don't deserve it in the process."
"I-I don't care! Shut up!" Shiko tossed out another handful of ofuda in the direction of Reimu's voice, and once again, Reimu easily dodged through a gap.
This time, she reappeared directly behind the girl. "If you're going to fight without spell cards, I can't guarantee I won't hurt you." Reimu pulled her hand back, preparing to bowl her over with a single forceful blast of energy.
And, with a gesture, Shiko beckoned one of the yin-yang orbs upward. It launched into the air, shedding sparks of light behind itself like a firework. Just below the canopy, it came to an abrupt stop and erupted with energy. Harsh, white light flooded the forest.
Reimu was overwhelmed by the glare for just a moment. It was all the opening that Shiko needed. The shrine maiden whirled away from her, and by the time that Reimu's sight cleared, the girl was a chaotic dance of spiritual weaponry. Ofuda orbited her in bands, while the remaining orbs circled her ankles quickly enough to flatten the surrounding grass. "Then I just have to win!"
Shiko swept her arms forward, and an avalanche of ofuda came rushing toward Reimu. Her combat programming screamed for reprieve. It was a solid wall of projectiles. There probably wasn't a path through it large enough for a bird, let alone a person. It would never be allowed in a spell card duel.
Which meant that Reimu didn't need to play fair, either. With a wave of her hand, she warped the boundaries in front of her, twisting the dimensions in around themselves. A shimmering disc of distortion appeared, and as the ofuda collided against it, they silently rebounded. In the blink of an eye, Shiko found herself staring down her own barrage. With a yelp of surprise, she scrambled away. The air was filled with the sounds of paper and foliage tearing at each other. A layer of shredded and crumpled ofuda drifted to the ground.
"You're pretty strong, for a newbie," Reimu said, stepping forward behind the storm of ofuda. Behind her, the air split open into an array of long, thin gaps. The wan violet light from within them softened the harsh glare of the orb. "But you have a long way to go before you're the best in Gensokyo. Give up yet?"
Shiko had managed to avoid the worst of her own attack. The few ofuda that had impacted her clung to her skin harmlessly, and she was trying to rip them off while keeping an eye on Reimu. "N-no!"
One of the yin-yang orbs lashed out at Reimu. She easily sidestepped it, and it smashed into the ground. In retaliation, she gestured forward. The eyes within her gaps turned in unison to focus on Shiko, and with a single shudder of energy, a dozen beams of energy blasted out. The forest was filled with strobing violet light, slicing the nighttime into alternating near-darkness and overwhelming illumination. Shiko ducked and weaved between trees like a wild animal. Behind her, the lasers left scorch marks on the sides of trees and guttering flames in the underbrush. Reimu walked implacably after her, taking care to adjust her aim to never quite hit the shrine maiden. The purpose was to terrify her, after all, not to kill her.
Shiko dove forward to avoid one beam. As she did so, she lashed her hand out, tossing a fistful of ofuda. It was only thirteen projectiles. Without any conscious input, Reimu's shikigami programming guided her body through quick, effortless evasion. The ofuda swished past so close that she could feel the breeze on her cheek.
Unfortunately, they were also a distraction. Too late, Reimu noticed that the shadows were rapidly shifting around her. She turned around just in time to see the glowing yin-yang orb barreling at her.
She tried to dodge, but the orb was already on top of her. It slammed into her back with the force of a charging bull. Pain exploded through her ribcage. The impact threw her forward, and she tumbled across the ground. By the time she came to a stop, Shiko was already approaching. The yin-yang orbs orbited her again now, all of them glowing and filling the forest with whirling shadows. She had another handful of ofuda prepared, gripped so tightly that the paper was crumpled near her fingers.
And, tears were glistening in her eyes. Her hands were trembling. She looked terrified, really. Reimu took stock of her situation as she propped herself up against the ground. Her side was throbbing with pain, but she could work past it. She probably had a cracked rib or something. It was the kind of injury that would have been fight-ending if she were still a human, but it would barely slow her down now. Her much bigger problem was the fact that she was sprawled on the ground, and Shiko was standing over her. As anxious as the girl looked, she might attack as soon as Reimu made a single sudden movement. Reimu's mind filled with the memories of a dozen exterminations, the sizzling noise of purifying energy burning through some shrieking youkai's flesh...
In front of her, Shiko raised the gohei. She looked conflicted.
Reimu wasn't about to give her time to make up her mind. Instead, she dug through the boundaries around her until she found something suitable: the boundary between ground and air. It was a hazy, ill-defined one. Normally, such a weak boundary would be no use to her. Here, at this close range, it would work. She poured her energy into the boundary, strengthening it, then overloading it. In a rough circle around Reimu, stretching for meters, the ground began glowing.
"W-what are...?!" Shiko stumbled back, whipping the ofuda up for an attack... and the ground beneath her erupted with violet energy. She was blasted into the air, whirling head over heels. Thunderous cracks echoed through the forest as nearby tree trunks warped and split under the force of the attack. Wincing in pain, Reimu pushed herself to standing. Her side ached in protest.
Shiko came plummeting back down. It was obvious that she was slowing her descent, but unable to get her bearings well enough to stop. She slammed into the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of her. Reimu wasn't about to give her a chance to recover. "Do you get it yet?"
Shiko started struggling back to her feet, and Reimu poured more energy into the ground. It flared again, and this time, the shrine maiden was launched horizontally across the forest floor. She tumbled for a dozen meters, and came to a stop just sort of slamming into a tree trunk. Reimu flinched. No broken bones, hopefully, but the fight seemed to have finally been knocked out of her. Shiko was left laying at the base of the tree, taking short, frantic breaths. Her hands weakly patted around for ofuda, but she'd lost most of them during the fight. The purification rod was laying somewhere on the forest floor, meters away. Even the yin-yang orbs were gone, leaving a scattered trail of lights illuminating the forest.
She was defeated. Now, to drive it home. "You've made a lot of trouble for everybody," Reimu said, as she approached. One of the yin-yang orbs was near her feet, and she kicked it away just to be safe. Shiko scooted away, and tried to push herself to standing against the tree.
With that, Reimu sprang forward. Shiko jerked away, but not quickly enough. As she pinned her wrists to the ground, Shiko thrashed beneath her. "G-get off of me!"
"Somebody's going to kill you sooner or later," Reimu said, and leaned forward.
As she got closer, the familiar scent of human enveloped her. One of Shiko's lips had gotten busted during the fight, and the sharper smell of blood made her stomach growl. "Stop it!" Shiko smashed her forehead to Reimu's, trying to drive her away.
Reimu flinched, but pushed past it. "It might as well be me." She shoved the girl back to the ground, then thrust downward, pressing her mouth to Shiko's neck in a position that came quite instinctively. Under her teeth, she could feel the girl's pulse. She bit down, sinking her newly-sharp canines into Shiko's flesh. A drop of blood, warm and thick, ran onto her tongue and filled her mouth with its flavor. With one little push, she could rip out the girl's throat...
Shiko had gone still at the first feeling of a point against her neck, but now spasmed beneath her. Reimu didn't realize what she was feeling until she heard the sounds, too: The girl was sobbing.
After one final warning squeeze to her neck, Reimu pulled back and licked the blood from her lips. Shiko was a mess. Blood running down her lip, a small stream of it trickling from the shallow cut on her neck, tears streaming down her face... Reimu sighed. "Do you understand, now? If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." She opened a gap and fished out a handkerchief, then offered it over. "Here."
Shiko glared at the hand. "T-that whole thing was...?!"
"To teach you a lesson, yeah."
"What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you were going to kill me!" Shiko said, too battered to put any force into it.
"I guess that's what happens when you pick a fight with a youkai."
Shiko scowled at her, but didn't seem to have a rebuttal. She snatched the handkerchief away, and Reimu let her take it. Keeping one eye on the girl, Reimu cautiously released the wrist that she still had pinned and rolled off of her. She took a seat alongside her at the base of the tree and tried to get comfortable. She hadn't come out of the fight in great condition, either. Her skin was covered with scratches and scrapes from her fall, and her ribs would be aching for hours. Her side hurt if she breathed too deep. But, it was over, and she'd done what she needed to.
Next to her, Shiko kept sniffling, but dabbed the handkerchief at her face, cleaning up the worst of the blood. Once she seemed a bit calmer, Reimu continued. "I'm... a youkai now. I can't lie about that anymore. But that doesn't mean that I want to hurt people any more than I have to. I think most youkâer, most of us are like that." Reimu sighed and looked up to the sky. The stars still said the same things they had days before, when she'd predicted their alignment: It was a propitious night for learning. "The shrine maiden's supposed to keep humans safe, but it's more complicated than that. Gensokyo was made for youkai. This is our home. Pointlessly exterminating youkai who aren't hurting anybody... it just makes things worse."
Shiko responded with a small grunt and dropped the handkerchief into her lap. The tiny red gouges on her neck stood out in sharp contrast with her pale skin. "'So leave us alone or we'll kill you,' is that it?"
Reimu sighed. "Look, did you enjoy that whole thing we just did? Fights are dangerous. I... pretty much died on a routine youkai extermination. Every time you have an actual fight, there's a chance that somebody will die. That's what spell cards are for."
"Nngh." Shiko winched in pain as she pushed herself up to sit more normally against the tree. "You're still telling me to leave youkai alone even when they're attacking people."
"If they really hurt somebody, then exterminate them," Reimu said. "But most of them know better than that. Youkai need to cause trouble for humans to survive, but that doesn't mean we have to be enemies. Um. I... think Gensokyo is best when humans and youkai get along. We're all stuck in here together. If we can't get along, we'll just keep killing each other forever. Seems kind of pointless to me." Reimu pushed herself to standing, and offered Shiko a hand up. "If you can trust a youkai... I've got some people you should meet. I'll even help you make a spell card, if you want."
"Why should I trust you?"
"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. Are you coming, or not?"
Shiko glared tiredly at the hand. For a moment, Reimu was terrified that she was going to say no. But, she reached up, and her still-shaky grasp closed with Reimu's. "Don't make me regret this."