Entry 2: The Day In Their New Life
Days at the Hakurei Shrine started later than one might expect. Above all else, for them the day started after breakfast. No exceptions, and no sooner. Later, however, was a matter of personal choice, and depended on the weather.
It may have been cold, but the sun was still shining high in the sky. Snow was still at least a day or three away, so Reimu put Aunn in charge of the laundry, while she had Rei'sen and herself were on garbage disposal duty. Shinmyoumaru and Suika were left to their own devices, on account of the former being an Inchling, and the later being perpetually drunk.
Rei'sen, for her part, felt a bit surprised by this. She had half expected Reimu to laze around and leave the work for others, as she had heard from her former masters. Instead, here the Shrine Maiden was, showing her how things were done.
As the two moved on to checking the storehouse, Reimu let out a sigh of irritation at the sight of their stock, or rather, lack thereof.
"Oi, Suika!" Reimu shouted, poking her head out of the storehouse. "Have you been breaking into the supplied again?!"
"What do I look like?!" Suika yelled back in a drunken slur. "A glutton?!"
"That's exactly what you are, though," Reimu muttered.
"Well, ya ain't wrong, but I had nothin' ta do with it! Oni's honour!"
Rei'sen looked over at Reimu. "Is... she telling the truth?"
"When she used 'Oni's honour'? Yeah," Reimu answered. "Oni don't really lie, after all. Guess that just means we're going through food at a rate of knots."
"What should we do, then?" Rei'sen asked.
Reimu shrugged. "Nothing to it. Guess we'll just have to go to the village and stock up. Seems we just have that many mouths to feed these days." The two stepped out of the storehouse. "Aunn! Sukuna! You two mind the shrine for a while! Rei'sen and I'll be back with food!"
The two gave cheers in response. "You... want me to come with you?" Rei'sen asked hesitantly. "Wouldn't I just get in the way?"
"Says who?" Reimu asked. "It's not like I can carry everything alone. Besides, if you're going to become a proper resident around here, you should know the lay of the land."
If Reimu didn't know any better, she'd say that Rei'sen 'had stars in her eyes'. Was she really that unfamiliar with people helping her like this?
"Yes, ma'am!" Rei'sen shouted suddenly, saluting as she did. "This lowly soldier will do all she can to live up to your expectations!"
Reimu gave a flat look. "We've got a lot of habits to break, then?"
At the very least, Rei'sen was self-aware enough to now look embarrassed.
The human village, Rei'sen found, was unlike anything she expected.
Unlike the sparse, clean metropolitan that was the Lunar Capital, where you'd be lucky to see more than five people down a street at any given time, the village was... dense, to put it in as few words as possible. You could barely turn around without seeing at least twenty different people, and every time you looked back, those people would be replaced by new, different people.
It really bordered on culture shock for the Lunar Rabbit.
What she found twice as shocking, though, was the fact that there were a lot of youkai just... mulling about. Whether they were actually incognito or the humans were just unbothered by them, she couldn't actually say. What she could say, however, was that regardless of what the answer was, they were all happy, and enjoyed each others company.
It may not have been 'pure' in the way Lunarians saw it, but Rei'sen had to admit, this was worlds better than that. It was, in a word, warm.
"Rei'sen!" Reimu called out, knocking her out of her daze. "You coming?"
"R... right!" Rei'sen called back, jogging to catch up to her.
Perhaps life on Earth, and Gensokyo in particular, wasn't going to be all that bad.
"Well, that's a surprise," a blue haired girl muttered. "Hey! Rei'sen!"
Rei'sen and Reimu looked around, until their eyes fell on a dango stall, being run by a familiar pair of Lunar Rabbits.
"That's... Seiran-san! Ringo-san!" Rei'sen exclaimed, running up to the stall.
"Yo," the blonde haired rabbit in yellow, Ringo, greeted. "Finally decided to come down here, eh? Only took ya forever."
"Ah, well," Rei'sen hesitated. "Some... things happened back up there, and I... Sorry, I'd rather not say at the moment."
"Must have been pretty bad," Seiran said quietly. "Reimu-san, are you going to be looking after her, then?"
"Well, Marisa and I were the ones who found her, so yeah," Reimu responded. "May not have the full story myself, but what can you do?"
"Well, at least she's in the hands of someone we can trust," Seiran said, before handing them two plates filled with dango. "Here ya go; on the house!"
Rei'sen looked surprised. "Are... are you sure?"
"Hey, I ain't turning down free food," Reimu said, taking one of the plates. "Best eat up, Rei, or I'm stealing your share."
Rei'sen panicked a little, and quickly snatched up her plate, much to the amusement of the other two rabbits. "Word of advice for ya, Rei'sen," Ringo spoke up. "The best way to a Shrine Maiden's heart in through her stomach. You would not believe how easy it was to get permits to do business in the village."
"You say something, Yellow?" Reimu asked, placing an empty plate down.
"Not a thing, Reimster," Ringo answered. "Oh, before I forget; you two should keep an eye out for Yagokoro-sensei and her group."
"Eirin? What for?" Reimu asked.
"She's been all over the whole 'Lunar Rabbits defecting' thing," Ringo said. "Makes a point of seeing them, then either taking them under her wing or sending them back, depending on how attached they still are to the Moon."
Rei'sen shivered in response. Whether it was fear or the cold, no one could say for certain.
"Geez. I wonder if having a monopoly on Rabbits is just Lunarian nature," Reimu muttered. "Was it like that for you two?"
"Kinda," Seiran answered. "It's not all that bad, really. It's less about having control, and more about keeping a tally of us. Not the worst thing in the world, honestly."
Rei'sen's expression didn't seem to soften much, and Reimu noticed. "Well, if they end up causing problems for us," she said, "then I'll just have to kick their asses, pure and simple!"
In response, Rei'sen had a look of awe about her, while both Seiran and Ringo looked sceptical at best. "You sure you'd be able to do that?" Ringo asked. "Reisen the First ain't exactly a pushover, and Eirin-sensei was known as the Brain of the Moon for a reason."
"So? I've beaten them both before," Reimu said. "Ain't that big a deal." She looked up at the sun, and quickly judged the time. "We should probably pick up the pace, Rei'sen. It'll be sundown by the time we get back to the shrine at this rate."
"R...right!" Rei'sen shouted, stuffing the dango into her mouth, swallowing, and returning the plate to the other two rabbits with a bow. "It was good to see you two again, Seiran-senpai! Ringo-senpai!"
"Right back at ya, Rei!" Ringo waved, as Rei'sen jogged to catch up to Reimu.
"They're getting along quite well," Seiran noted. "Kinda surprising, given this is Reimu-san we're talking about."
"I think it's more surprising that Rei'sen, of all people, decided to come to Earth," Ringo pointed out. "That kid was basically attached to the Watatsuki's hips. Can't help but wonder what the hell happened."
The rest of the day past peacefully. Reimu and Rei'sen, from buying up as much food as they could carry, to returning to the shrine, to even preparing and eating dinner with the others, saw neither hide nor hair of Yagokoro Eirin or Reisen Udongein Inaba.
Perhaps they were biding their time. Perhaps they were planning to strike in the middle of the night. Who could say, at this point. One thing was certain, though; by now, those two would know for certain, one way or another, that Rei'sen was under Reimu's care, and that if they were planning a night raid, they would be immediately reconsidering that prospect.
Regardless, it was now the middle of the night, and all residents of the Hakurei Shrine were now at varying degrees of 'asleep'.
The main exception to this was Reimu herself. She found herself having a lot to think about.
The sleeping layout at the Hakurei Shrine was relatively simple, all things considered. Before, it was simply that everyone had their own room (or, in Shinmyoumaru's case, a large doll house, built through a commission with Alice Margatroid) and that was that. Now, with Rei'sen in the mix, someone had to take on a roommate.
Naturally, that fell to Reimu.
Reimu had never really roomed with anyone before. Well, okay, maybe she had, but she was at a point in her life where she felt like Marisa wasn't exactly a decent measuring stick for anything other than being irresponsible.
What Reimu did notice right now, though, was that Rei'sen was tossing and turning in her sleep. During the first hour, the rabbit had started making small, fearful noises in her sleep. By the turn of the second hour, Rei'sen had begun flipping from lying on one side to the other.
Half an hour after the second, Reimu had concluded that she probably wouldn't be getting much sleep herself, and got up.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Reimu knew that listening to the mumblings of a fitful sleeper in the middle of the night -or any time, at that- was generally regarded as a 'bad idea'. There were a million and one ways such a thing could go wrong, but Reimu was human, and 'human' meant, to an extent, curiosity tended to win out over things like logic and caution.
As she got closer, Reimu could begin making out several different words, including 'no', 'stop', and 'Toyohime-sama'.
"Toyohime?" Reimu questioned in a whisper. Did she have something to do with all this, more than the other Watatsuki?
The question would have to wait. Gently, Reimu shook Rei'sen's shoulder. "Hey, Rei'sen!" she whispered. "Wake up!"
Rei'sen's eyes shot open, yet a passing glance would tell one that she was not truly awake yet. Reimu, surprised, was pushed back with a great deal of force, as the half-woken Lunar Rabbit scuttled off to the far corner of the room, quivering in fear.
"Rei'sen, it's alright," Reimu said, getting to her feet. "It's just me; it's Reimu!"
Momentarily, Rei'sen paused, coming to her senses. "Reimu...san?" she questioned weakly. Finally, after remembering where she was, a whole new look of terror etched itself onto her face. "Oh god... what... what did I..."
"Hey hey, listen to me," Reimu said, moving closer and gently placing her hands on Rei'sen's shoulders. "It's alright, you hear? You're not in any danger."
"But... but I just..." Rei'sen stuttered out, tears welling up in her eyes. "I hurt you! I..."
"Rei'sen, I'm fine. Seriously," Reimu replied. "You haven't hurt anyone, I promise."
Rei'sen's expression softened slightly, but fear was quickly replaced by an overwhelming amount of guilt. Before Reimu could say anything, Rei'sen had launched her self forward, wrapping her arms around the Shrine Maiden, and began sobbing softly.
Reimu hesitated briefly, before she placed on hand on Rei'sen's back, and the other, with slight hesitation, on the top of her head, patting her gently. "It's... it's going to be alright," she said consolingly. "Whatever happened, whatever it is you're afraid of, it won't hurt you here. You're safe, I promise."
Rei'sen sniffled in response, her grip on Reimu's clothes tightening. "I'm sorry," she muttered weakly. "I'm... so sorry..."
Reimu wouldn't pretend to understand what she'd been through. But, there was one thing she could say for certain.
Watatsuki no Toyohime was involved somehow, and she would pay greatly for whatever she'd done.
In stark contrast to the sort of place Gensokyo was, the Lunar Capital was, to put it in as few words as possible, sterile. It's smallest street was twice the size of the human villages largest, yet you would be considered lucky to see even a tenth as many people with a hundredth as much cheer.
Down this street walked a lone Lunarian with light purple hair tied up by a yellow ribbon, carrying a rather sizeable paper bag. On a few rare occasions, she would pass a Lunar Rabbit or three, who would bow in her presence.
It wasn't always like this. Once upon a time, there would be many Lunar Rabbits walking these streets. It was livelier then; happy, in a way.
So what happened, you might ask? It's really quite simple, from the perspective of a Lunarian such as Watatsuki no Yorihime; the Lunar Rabbits had gotten a taste of the forbidden fruit known as 'freedom', and sought its sweet nectar out down on Earth.
Yorihime supposed she could not blame them. After all, the Lunarians, much like human-kind in general, came to their land and took it for themselves. Hardly any Lunarian seemed to realise the irony in that, or they just chose to ignore it.
Yorihime couldn't, in good faith, ignore it. She had too much pride to ignore the failings and hypocrisy of her own kind.
It might also have to do with the fact that Yorihime herself had a role to play in how the Lunar Rabbits are getting to Earth. Just maybe.
It was something that not even her own sister knew about her. For the better, too, given recent events.
'Recent events...' Yorihime thought to herself. 'Who am I kidding? This situation... it's been going on for much longer than just 'recent'.'
Before long, she came upon the large estate that belonged to her and her sister. It was a grand, magnanimous place, that stood head and shoulders above all other estates in the general area.
Yorihime let herself in through the front door, and, through the use of a small amount of magic, focused her senses and took note of how many people were already inside.
She picked out three people. Two were currently in the master bedroom, and the last was... hiding in the living room. Her expression quickly turned sour, as she made her way to the living room.
"Damn it, Sister," she muttered. "You're going too far with this."
As Yorihime entered the living room, she immediately noticed the pair of rabbit ears poking out from the other side of the couch, as well as the pair of hands that tried to cover them. Yorihime took a deep breath, and stepped into the Lunar Rabbit's line of sight.
The girl -and to be real, she looked far too young to be called anything else- trembled fearfully at the sight of the Lunarian, tears falling from her amber eyes. That alone would have been enough to cause concern, but the Lunar Rabbit's distinct lack of clothing, and the presence of various bruises, bite marks, and general hickeys told a whole different story.
The look in Yorihime's eyes turned sad. "Sister... is with your friend right now, isn't she?" she asked sombrely, to which the rabbit nodded sadly. Yorihime couldn't help but look away painfully. In her heart of hearts, she really did want to defend her sister, but this... this was irremissible. Reaching into the bag she carried, Yorihime brought out two spare uniforms, and handed them to the Rabbit. "Here. A spare change for you and your friend. If either of you two want a way out, make for the Dream World at the eleventh hour tonight. I'm sure you know what that signifies."
The Rabbit took the clothes with a look of surprise. "You mean... you're..."
"We Lunarians are a wretchedly prideful people," Yorihime said, as she passively noticed the movement from the bedroom. "I can only call myself fortunate that my sense of pride tells me to take action during this situation."
There was the sound of slow steps, as a second Lunar Rabbit in a similar state of undress, sobbing quietly. Yorihime gave the first Rabbit a small nod, and stepped aside as she went to console her friend.
"This... has gone on for too long," Yorihime muttered, as she left the two to their privacy.
A/N:
I wonder if I should be worried about my mental health, if I'm going this dark all of a sudden for my conflict.
Well, I can at least tell that however many fans of Toyohime out there are gonna be just a bit mad with what I'm going for in regards to her character. But, I can only ask you to hold on. After all, I highly doubt this will be the darkest Touhou fic on the internet. I mean, Koishi's Heart-throbbing Adventure exists.
-Shudders- I fear just thinking about that one.
Well, let's press on, shall we?