Entry 1: Far From Home, Without an Umbrella
Rain poured heavily over Gensokyo. Soon, winter would be upon the fantastical land.
Between the human village and the Hakurei Shrine, there was a small river. Well, maybe 'river' was too grand for it; it was a tiny stream, really, one that, even in a storm would never be fit to be called a 'river'.
Yet, willow trees still sprung up and hung over it. Grand, ancient trees, that called this place home long before both humans and youkai called Gensokyo as such. Such was nature, in a way.
Beneath one of the great willows, however, sat a girl. She looked young, wore a white shirt with a black business suit over the top, and a grey skirt. She had light purple hair that was kept short, a pair of fluffy white rabbit ears, and dull red eyes. In her lap, she cradled a worn out white helmet.
The girl did not look well. She looked... defeated. Hopeless. It looked as if she was less a person and more a compound of meat and thoughts in the shape of one.
Slowly, she looked up at the clouded sky through the trees. It was late into the evening, yet the moon was far out of reach.
She wasn't sure if she felt more relieved than homesick at the moment.
Walking down the path were two girls known to just about everyone in Gensokyo; the brown haired, red and white shrine maiden of Hakurei, Hakurei Reimu, and the blonde haired, black and white witch that was her friend, Kirisame Marisa. Not a single person in all of Gensokyo didn't know who these two were.
They were, after all, infamous as the priestess of the youkai invested shrine and the largest kleptomaniac in the land.
"Man, this rain's really coming down, huh?" Marisa spoke, holding a hand out from under her umbrella. "It's been none-stop all day."
"Just a sign that winter is coming," Reimu responded. "Before long, this rain will become snow, and we'll have to worry about shovelling the damn stuff every other morning."
"You mean 'you' will have to worry about it," Marisa pointed out. "I on the other hand, can just melt it away with my Hakkero!"
"You mean 'start a forest fire'," Reimu shot back, causing Marisa to flinch slightly. "Rinnosuke-san already told me all about that time, you know."
Marisa looked away bashfully. "Damn it, Kourin," she muttered. "I thought he agreed not to talk about that."
As the two talked, they passed by the creek with the willows. "Man. Water's higher this year, isn't it?" Marisa noted. "You ever think it'll flood?"
"It's been getting higher with each winter, so I'd have to say yes," Reimu answered. "Maybe in a few years, if it keeps this pace up. It's already starting to reach the tree roots." Just then, however, something caught Reimu's gaze, beneath one of the trees. "Hey, Marisa. You seeing what I'm seeing?"
Marisa leaned over, following Reimu's gaze. "That white thing beneath that one willow?" she questioned. "Looks like a snowball got in ahead of the rush."
Reimu cast an odd glance at Marisa. "I'm gonna check it out," she stated, before lifting off the ground and floating towards it.
It was with very quick surprise that 'it' became 'she'.
"A rabbit youkai?" Reimu questioned. "And that uniform... Lunar Rabbit?" She floated closer, and to her shock, she recognised the girl's face. "Wait... Rei'sen?!" she exclaimed.
The Lunar Rabbit known as Rei'sen looked up at Reimu with glassy red eyes. It was... wrong. She knew it. Reimu reached out her free hand to Rei'sen, who, upon noticing it, drew back in fear.
"Oi, Reimu!" Marisa called out. "Is it anything interesting?"
Reimu made no attempt to respond, focusing solely on the girl in front of her. "Hey, it's alright," she said softly. "Don't you recognise me? It's Hakurei Reimu." Rei'sen flinched back again. Whether she recognised Reimu or not was still unanswered. "What happened to you?" Reimu asked. "What are you afraid of?"
Rei'sen quivered, holding her helmet close to her chest, as if expecting Reimu would try and steal it. Letting out a small sigh, Reimu uttered an apology, before scooping the Lunar Rabbit up in her arm and returning to the roadside. Rei'sen broke free from Reimu's grip quickly, and fled to the far side of the road.
"O... oi, what's going on?" Marisa asked. "Why's Rei'sen here? And... what's got her so spooked?"
"We probably wouldn't be having any problems if we knew that," Reimu muttered. "Rei'sen, it's alright. Come one, you know us; it's Reimu and Marisa."
In response, and to their surprise, Rei'sen threw her helmet, striking Marisa in the face. It was... certainly something.
"Well," Reimu muttered in dull surprise. "If anything, it was a good throw." Moving quickly, Reimu hefted the Lunar Rabbit over her shoulder. "Right, then. Since you're obviously wanting to do this the hard way, then I'll just have to carry you back to the shrine. Cool? Cool."
Judging by the fact that she was struggling to break free, Rei'sen found the current situation anything but 'cool'. From her mouth spewed a string of ineligible words at a speed that made Reimu wonder if she was even breathing at the moment. "Okay, you need to calm down," Reimu said. "I don't know what's happened, but your safe here." Once again, her words fell on deaf ears, but now, she was sure that, at this moment, Rei'sen was muttering 'I'm sorry' over and over again. "Whatever it was, it must have been bad," Reimu muttered. "Marisa! You still good?"
"Yeah! Nothin' broken," Marisa called back, rubbing her nose. Carefully, she picked up her umbrella and the helmet. "Damn good throw, though."
What Marisa left unsaid, though, was the fact that the helmet was thrown with the force of someone fearing for their lives. Of course, by how she was acting, it was fairly obvious, and didn't need to be said.
Hours passed, and finally, long after they'd gotten back to the Hakurei Shrine, Rei'sen had finally passed out. It had taken a while, but the two could finally breath sighs of relief.
"That only took forever," Marisa muttered. "Really wonder what freaked her out, though."
"I think I might have an idea about that, actually," Reimu muttered. "Think about it like this; what are our hair styles right now?"
Marisa thought for a moment. "You mean, your ponytail kept up by a ribbon, and my long hair under a hat? What about them?"
"Okay, then," Reimu continued, "now think about the hair styles that her masters, the Watatsuki sisters, have."
Marisa thought a moment longer, before her mouth made a surprised 'O' shape. "She mistook us for them?" she asked. "How? I don't think we look that much like Yorihime-san and Toyohime-san."
"It's dark, and she's afraid. What else is there to say?" Reimu said. "I've read somewhere about that sort of thing. Think it was a book from Suzunaan."
"Might have ta look into that myself, next time," Marisa said. "Well, I'd better head on home myself. Unless, of course, you want me to hang around 'til she wakes up."
"There's only so much food here," Reimu stated. "Have you tried to feed yourself, an Inchling, an Oni, and a Komainu at the same time? Now we have to add a Lunar Rabbit to the mix? Too many mouths."
"Yeah, I know when I'm not wanted," Marisa muttered in amusement. "I'll see myself home, then. Try not to get killed in your sleep, ya hear?"
"And you try not to underestimate me," Reimu shot back. "You're making the bold assumption that I'm most vulnerable when I'm asleep."
"Ah, yes. The sleepwalking incident. I recall," Marisa muttered. "Good point, Reimu."
With morning came the end of the rain. The sun shone brightly over the land, though the wind was still bitingly cold. Thus marked the early start to winter.
Rei'sen's eyes snapped open, and she sat bolt upright. Her memory was slightly hazy, but the last thing she remembered was being cold and wet. Now, though, she was in an unfamiliar futon, in an unfamiliar room, wearing unfamiliar clothes.
No. Maybe it was slightly familiar, in the same way a distant dream from years ago was.
In addition to that, though, she could smell something. Something... delicious. It was at this point Rei'sen became aware of just how hungry she was.
Slowly and quietly, Rei'sen got to her feet, made her way to the door, and gently opened it. The sight that greeted her was... certainly different.
"Ah, you're awake," a familiar black haired girl in red and white spoke. Rei'sen had the distinct impression that the girl didn't always have her hair loose like this, but still she recognised her as the Hakurei shrine maiden, Reimu. "Come on. Food's going to get cold."
Rei'sen looked at the other three that sat around the table. Well, two of them sat around it; the third was an Inchling, so it was more accurate to say she sat 'on' it. She only loosely recognised one of the three; the Oni known as Ibuki Suika. The other two, however, were new to her.
Rei'sen slowly moved towards the table, sitting between the Inchling and the unfamiliar green haired girl, both of which regarded her politely. "Um, Reimu-san?" Rei'sen spoke, realising that her voice was rather rough this morning. "How did I get here?"
"You really don't remember last night?" Reimu asked, to which she shook her head. "Marisa and I found you waist deep in what's usually the shallowest river in Gensokyo. You were also completely hysterical, might I add."
Rei'sen looked away bashfully. "S... sorry, Reimu-san," she muttered. "Um... Did I say anything... weird?"
"More afraid than anything," Reimu answered. "When I picked you up over my shoulder, you were constantly apologising about something. Don't know what, though. Although, I can't shake the feeling the Watatsuki's are involved somehow." Reimu noticed how the Lunar Rabbit immediately tensed up. "Relax. It's not like I have a way to contact them, even if I wanted to."
Rei'sen let out a sigh of relief. "Then, is that why you changed your hair style?"
"So my hunch was right, if you noticed," Reimu muttered. "See, Shinmyoumaru? I wasn't jumping to conclusions."
"Fine, I'll take that loss," the Inchling, Sukuna Shinmyoumaru, sighed. "Shoulda known better than to bet against that intuition of yours."
"Auu! Reimu-san's intuition is always spot on!" the green haired girl exclaimed, before facing Rei'sen. "I'm Komano Aunn, by the way! It's nice to finally meet you, Rei'sen-chan!"
Rei'sen was... momentarily overwhelmed by Aunn's positivity. "It's... nice to meet you too?" she hesitated. Aunn seemed, at the very least, somewhat familiar with her, but she wasn't sure how.
Suika smirked. "Hey, Reimu," she said. "You're grinning."
"No I'm not," Reimu rebutted immediately.
"Are too."
"Shouldn't you be drunk?"
"Shouldn't you be exterminating us youkai that have invested your shrine?"
Such back and forth carried on between the two for a few minutes. It was quite the amusing sight. "So, Rei'sen," Reimu said, coughing slightly to break the previous conversation. "You feel like talking about it?"
Rei'sen tilted her head. "About what?"
"About what happened before we found you." Rei'sen immediately tensed up, a panicked look in her eyes. "If you don't want to talk about it yet, that's fine. But, if we want to help, it would be best if we knew the whole story."
"I... I know, it's just..." Rei'sen hesitated. She took a deep, shaky breath. "I've... abandoned the moon."
Reimu had the decency to look surprised. "Why?" she asked. "I mean, you're certainly not the first to do so, but I was under the impression you still kinda liked it up there. So what happened? What changed?"
Rei'sen's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. Sounds tried to escape, but she felt as if her throat was constricted. "I... The thi... To... she... Tha... I..." she struggled. Her ears began to fold in, as she started trembling.
Reimu did her best to keep a calm expression. "Alright, then. We'll shelve the topic," she said. "Whatever it is, it'll be alright, okay?"
Rei'sen took several deep breaths, while Aunn rubbed her back supportively. "I... apologise for the display," she said. "It's... hard to talk about it right now."
"I understand," Reimu said. "Whenever you're ready, we'll be here to listen. Until then, you're safe."
"You can count on that!" Shinmyoumaru stated loudly. "Most of us have caused Reimu-san trouble in the past, and she still treats us well!"
"Yet you people still eat all the food without paying back!" Reimu exclaimed. "This place ain't exactly swimming in money, you know!"
"But ya ain't exactly kicking us out, either," Suika pointed out. "So, what are ya gonna do about the Eientei crew? They'll pro'lly show up at some point, and Eirin was the one who sent the lass back there the first time 'round."
"If it comes to that, I'll beat them off, pure and simple!" Reimu stated, before realising that Suika was snickering. "Oh, grow up, Shuten-douji."
"Only when you stop making it easy, Hakurei miko."
At this moment, Rei'sen couldn't help but laugh at the scene before her.
Deep within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, the ears of Reisen Udongein Inaba perked up.
"Is everything alright?" spoke the white haired Yagokoro Eirin. "It's not often you perk up like that, Udonge."
"Yes, ma'am," Reisen responded. "I just picked up a new signal. I think... a Lunar Rabbit has moved to Gensokyo."
"Another one?" Eirin questioned. "They seem to be arriving more frequently this year. Any idea where?"
Reisen focused on the signal. "It's... the Hakurei Shrine," she said. "And the pattern... Isn't that Watatsuki-sama's latest pet?"
"The one they named after you?" Eirin asked. "What would she be doing here?"
"I can't quite tell," Reisen answered. "She's not exactly responding to my pings. But, she's afraid of something."
"Is that so," Eirin muttered. "Udonge, prepare to move out. We'd best look into this situation as soon as possible."
"Of course, Master."
A/N:
Back at it again with Touhou, we are!
This time around, I'm going for a collection of shorts stories, as opposed to one-offs and absolute Goliaths like Op Genos.
In fact, this chapter is about 1000 words less than my usual average. But, for this one, and other like it to come, I'm thinking a more... concise chapter format.
Now, that out of the way, I'm just gonna say that there is a criminal lack of Rei'sen content online. Heck, on sites like Danbooru, the only characters she has more pics than are either from the PC-98 era, or from media as recent as WbaWC.
So, for the start of what I'm calling the 'To Hold You Close' series of what might as well be ship-fics, I'm taking steps to remedy that.
Well, enough faffing about. Let's head on.