Entry 8: Closure
The Hakurei Shrine was bustling with activity, and not in a way that Reimu liked.
Of course, she didn't hate that it was happening; this was a necessary procedure, after all. She just hated that it had to happen at all, least of all that it was happening so soon.
Gently, she pressed a cotton ball that was soaked in disinfectant on Aunn's wounds, who flinched as one might expect from the stinging feeling.
"Easy there, Aunn," Reimu said. "I can't get these wounds clean if you keep flinching away."
"S... sorry, Reimu-san," Aunn sniffled. "It just... stings real bad."
Reimu gave a small chuckle. "I swear, you're such a kid at times."
Beside them, Rei'sen tilted her head quizzingly. "But, isn't she technically a kid?" she asked. "Even though she has memories from a long time ago, hasn't she only had a youkai body for a while now?"
"Good point," Reimu admitted. "Anyway, how are you holding up, Rei'sen? I can't image that this was easy on you."
Rei'sen looked away nervously. "Honestly? The adrenaline hasn't quite warn off yet. I'm... kinda scared of what might happen when it does."
Reimu hummed lightly, before glancing around. There were... a lot of Lunar Rabbits present right now. More than she thought were still in the Lunar Capital. Each one bore a look that mixed stoic professionalism with fear and apprehension.
Then, as if taunting the shrine maiden, one last beam of light hit the ground, signalling the arrival of another from the Capital.
The door to the shrine slid open, and Marisa stepped outside. "Just one after another, huh?" she commented. "Want me to take over treating Aunn?"
"Please," Reimu responded, handing over the cotton ball and grabbing her gohei. Couldn't be too prepared.
The dust settled, and three figures could be seen. One was the familiar, one winged heron, Kishin Sagume, who regarded Reimu with a polite nod. Next was a Lunar Rabbit dressed in the most formal military attire she had ever seen, who looked quite a bit more mature than any other she had seen prior.
The last of them, though, stood out quite a bit. Mostly on accounts of actually being male.
The man waved his hand in front of his face, coughing slightly. "Man, I forgot how dusty Earth was," he muttered. "But that smell... It's kind of nostalgic, in a way."
A Lunarian, huh? He certainly seemed to be of a different cut from the others she'd met. "Hey, buddy," Reimu spoke casually. "You better not be expecting me to put out tea for ya. I wasn't exactly expecting to have any guests today."
The Lunar Rabbit at his side seemed to struggle to keep herself from pulling her firearm on Reimu, and Sagume had an expression of 'I cannot believe you just did that'. The man, however, seemed unperturbed by the comment, instead choosing to look over Reimu like you would a cat at a friends house.
"Ah! So you're Hakurei Reimu-san, correct?" he asked eagerly. "I've been ever so eager to meet you! Yorihime-san and Sagume-chan have spoken quite a bit about you!"
"They... have?" Reimu asked, surprised. This guy was kinda like a puppy, she thought. "Nothing too harsh, I'd hope."
"Oh, not at all," the man said jovially. "In fact, Sagume-chan just can't help but sing you praise for the help you provided during the incident with that vengeful spirit."
"Oh?" Reimu said slyly. "She does, does she? Our dear old 'Sagume-chan'?" Sagume, for her part, looked away bashfully, with the Lunar Rabbit giggling slightly at the sight. "So, you already know who I am," Reimu continued, "but who the heck are you?"
"Ah, right. We've not officially met," the man realised. "I am Tsukuyomi. A pleasure to properly meet you, Reimu-san."
Reimu looked confused, before looking up and down at him. "You're the Lunar Emperor?" she asked, disbelieving. "Honestly, I expected someone taller."
Generally speaking, people in Gensokyo were not on the 'tall' side. Then again, compared to the rest of the world, neither were Japanese in general, but they were hard to compare to the residents of Gensokyo, as there was a lot more variety in it. Reimu herself stood at around 5'4'', for instance, and Marisa at 5'2'', the average height. Then, there was outliers like Byakuren, Kanako, and Eirin, who stood at 5'11'', 5'9'', and 6'0'' respectively. Far above the average for females in Japan, to say the least, or the fairies, who tended to be sitting at 4'9'' at most. In fact, Morichika Rinnosuke, one of the few noteworthy guys in Gensokyo, stood at 5'8''. So, overall, while there were some tall individuals, the average height of residents tended to be on the lower side of things.
Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto stood at 5'6''. Only two inches taller than Reimu. She didn't have to look up that far to make eye contact.
"Harsh," Tsukuyomi muttered, sounding almost hurt. "People usually tell me to wear platform shoes to try and be more imposing, but have you ever worn those things for more than a few hours? They get quite uncomfortable."
Well, if anything, Reimu was mildly glad to know that he was the jovial sort of person.
There was a rustling in the bushes. All eyes turned to the source, and saw, much to their expectations, a combination of Eirin and Yorihime carrying Toyohime by the arms, the last of which looking... well, like shit, really. Not in the 'beaten within an inch of her life' kind of way, but she certainly looked as if she'd have preferred that.
The jovialness in Tsukuyomi's face died down immediately. "So, it's over, then," he stated, as he walked forward to meet them. "Toyohime-san, I trust you now realise the gravitas of your crimes?" Toyohime looked up slowly, eyes clouded over with despair, and nodded. Tsukuyomi let out a small sigh, before facing Eirin. "I thank you for your assistance in this case, Eirin. Though, I do wish our reunion could have been during more peaceful times."
"As do I, old friend," Eirin agreed. "Perhaps another time."
"Perhaps so," Tsukuyomi said solemnly. "Thank you for your assistance. We'll take it from here."
Nodding, Eirin let go of Toyohime, and stepped away, to which Tsukuyomi himself took her place.
"I..." Toyohime muttered weakly. "I'm... so fucked up..."
Tsukuyomi decided not to comment on that. "Well, we'll stop taking up any more of your time, Reimu-san," he said. "It was a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Yeah, sure," Reimu waved off. "Just don't think to launch an invasion next time, got it?"
"I'll keep that in mind," he laughed lightly, if a bit humourlessly. "Now, let us be off, everyone."
With a flash of light, the shrine was now, effectively, devoid of visitors, save for those that called Gensokyo home.
"So... that's it, then?" Marisa asked. "It's over?"
"I guess so," Eirin muttered. "Is Udonge not back yet?"
"Doesn't seem to be," Reimu said. "You don't think..."
At that point, there was a rustling in the bushes, and from them, Reisen stepped out, her head hung low, and walking at a noticeably slow pace.
"Ah, there she is," Marisa muttered. "Yo! Reisen! Ya just missed the big send off!" No response came. "Er... Reisen?"
Gently getting up from her seat, Rei'sen slowly made her way to the older Lunar Rabbit. Reisen kept looking down, keeping her eyes obscured.
"It was... it was hard, wasn't it?" Rei'sen asked quietly. "But... it's over now. You can... you can let it out."
Maybe it was a shift in the light. Maybe it was a slight movement on her part. No matter what it was, at that point, Reisen's eyes became visible once again, and the tears that flowed forth from them.
Reisen didn't say anything, and merely wrapped her arms around Rei'sen in a tight embrace, and began to sob quietly.
No one could bring themselves to speak. It would only make things more awkward.
Yet, at that moment, Reimu felt something. Not a foreboding feeling, no, but something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
Night finally fell on the long day. Eirin had taken Reisen back to Eientei, and Marisa had elected to stay the night at the shrine.
As Reimu and Rei'sen were preparing the futons, Reimu still couldn't shake this odd feeling. As she glanced over to Rei'sen, she noticed that the Lunar Rabbit had gone awfully still. "Rei'sen," she called quietly, causing her to flinch. "Everything alright?"
"Y... yeah!" Rei'sen stuttered, not looking Reimu's way. "Just... coming to terms with some things."
Reimu didn't have to think too hard about what she meant. So much time stressing about... all that, and now... it was over. Done. Toyohime had been taken into custody of the Lunarian forces, and from the looks of things, probably wouldn't hurt anyone ever again. It was just... over.
"Rei'sen, look at me for a moment," Reimu said. There was some slight hesitation, but eventually, Rei'sen did make eye contact with Reimu once more.
Once again, that feeling wormed its way into Reimu's mind. Rei'sen had a sort of bewildered look to her at this point, and seemed almost as if she thought something was about to jump out of the shadows at any moment.
Reimu quietly and carefully moved closer, and, placing her hands on Rei'sen's head, brought her into her chest. "I know you're still feeling... anxious," she said softly. "And, I'll admit, I don't know how to help with that. But, you're safe here. So just... take some deep breaths, okay?"
Rei'sen took deep, somewhat shaky breaths. "Sorry, Reimu-san," she said gently. "I just... don't know how to calm down now. What... what should I do?"
Lowering one of her hands from Rei'sen's head and moving it to her back, before she gently lowered both herself and Rei'sen onto the futon. "Just take it one day at a time, alright?" Reimu said. "We'll work through whatever issues might come our way. For now, just focus on breathing."
Slowly yet surely, Rei'sen's breathing fell into a steady rhythm, making it apparent that she had fallen asleep.
As Reimu gently ran her hand through Rei'sen's hair, she felt that odd feeling well up inside herself again. If she had to put words to it, she'd describe it as warm and fluffy. Reimu was not one to normally say she was feeling 'warm and fluffy'.
Only one idea came to her mind when she thought about it, and frankly, she wasn't sure if she should be worried about it or not.
Two weeks had passed in the blink of an eye, with the only thing of note being that Shinmyoumaru finally woke up during the middle of the day after everything went down. Suffice to say, but the Inchling had many questions, on top of a throbbing headache.
Strangely enough, though, no one could answer the question about why Shinmyoumaru was in bed with Alice's doll. Suppose that's one mystery that'll be left unsolved.
Reimu sat on the pourch, and watched as Rei'sen tried (and failed) to keep Aunn from doing much heavy lifting. Say what you will about the Komainu, but she was serious about her job.
Reimu couldn't help but notice a very considerable change in Rei'sen. There was still an underlying sense of caution to her, yet generally, she was brighter. Happier. It felt like, the more Reimu watched her, the small things she noticed about her.
Reimu had borrowed enough romance novels from Suzunaan to know where this was going.
"You a'ight there, Reimu?" Marisa asked, taking a seat next to her. "You've been looking rather bothered for a while now."
"That's because I have been, Marisa," Reimu replied. "I'm bothered, and I don't know how to deal with it."
"What, have ya gone and falling in love or something?" Marisa laughed. When she looked over at Reimu, she was somewhat shocked to see her blushing faintly. "Oh my god, you have, haven't you?"
"Why do you sound so disbelieving?" Reimu asked. "You're saying that like it's impossible for me."
"I mean, you're Hakurei Reimu!" Marisa exclaimed, as if that answered anything. "You usually come off as cold and distant to the average person on a good day. Hell, I was starting to think you had no interest in that sort of thing at all."
"Screw you, Marisa," Reimu huffed.
"Hey, now that's the option's on the table," Marisa said slyly, which only resulted in Reimu glaring at her. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! You never were good at taking a joke, were you?"
"More that this joke was in bad taste," Reimu replied.
"Yeah, I hear ya," Marisa commented. "So, let me guess; it's Rei'sen?"
Reimu nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, and you can guess why it makes me... uneasy."
"'Cause you're afraid she might see you like Toyohime, right?" Marisa asked, getting another nod. "Hey, you two have shared a bed basically every night since then, yeah? I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Last thing I want is love advice from you, Marisa," Reimu huffed. "You're probably the densest thing to exist in all of Gensokyo."
"What? You're joking," Marisa exclaimed. "I know all about love."
"Says the girl who broke Patchouli's heart," Reimu muttered.
"You say something?"
"Nope. Nothing whatsoever."
Marisa looked sceptical, yet continued anyway. "Listen, love is a risk, no matter the situation. You're not some degenerate because the person you fell for is a victim of something, okay? If you fell for them because they were a victim, okay, maybe you have a problem, but that ain't you, Reimu."
"I know that!" Reimu exclaimed. "It's just... I can't help but worry about it, okay?"
Marisa nodded sagely. "Tell ya what, then. Tonight, you chat with her about it. Simple as that, yeah?"
Reimu continued to look at Marisa oddly. "You make it sound so easy," she muttered, before standing up. "I'm going to get some more tea. You want any?"
"Nah. I should probably hit the road," Marisa responded. As Reimu went inside, Marisa's expression turned slightly sour. "That was a real low blow, Reimu," she muttered.
Night came once more to Gensokyo, and Reimu couldn't help but wonder about what Marisa had said.
Despite her... lack of tact, Marisa did make some good points.
As it so happened, though, unknown to Reimu, Rei'sen was pondering similar thoughts. Sure, at first, it had been more a sense of being indebted to the shrine maiden for having taken her in when she was at her lowest, but after that one very, very drunken night before Toyohime showed up, Rei'sen found that something had changed in how she looked at Reimu.
Really, it all boiled down to the fact that Reimu cared without compromise. Sure, she put on a front of being indifferent at times, but every time Rei'sen came close to a panic attack, Reimu pretty much dropped everything to calm her down. When they woke up huddled and naked, Reimu was the first to freak out, calm down, and try and take control of the situation.
That morning had been seared into Rei'sen mind, and frankly, she was thankful it was. The warmth of Reimu's skin against her own was comforting, more so than it had any right to, given the situation.
Also, Rei'sen learnt pretty quickly that Reimu smelled an awful lot like cherry blossoms in the height of spring.
There was no two ways about it; Rei'sen was intoxicated by the presence of Hakurei Reimu. To the point where she was now using cheesy romance metaphors to describe it, even.
If you had told Rei'sen that she would fall for a human shrine maiden during what was easily the most traumatising point in her life, she'd have asked what you were smoking.
Still, how was she suppose to approach this subject, especially since they now regularly shared a bed?
A light shone in the Lunar Capital, and from it came Yagokoro Eirin.
Eirin looked up at the sky, which was noticeably darker and, to an extent, duller than the one on Earth. "It's been a long time since I was last here," she muttered. "Honestly can't say I've missed it."
Walking at a brisk pace, Eirin made her way to the grand palace that loomed overhead. As she did, she made sure to politely greet every Lunar Rabbit she passed on the way, whom all looked as if they'd seen a ghost.
Both the path to the palace, and the path through it, were just as she recalled, and before long, Eirin stood in the throne room, with the only other occupant being Tsukuyomi himself.
"You remembered to wake up on time," Eirin commented.
"Well, if I'm going to be visited by an old friend, I should at least do that," Tsukuyomi replied. "I do thank you for accepting my invitation, Eirin."
"I must say, I was surprised that you reached out like that," Eirin admitted. "But, you were always an odd kid, Tsukuyomi."
The Lunar Emperor gave a light laugh. "It's been how many hundreds of years since I was last 'kid'?" he joked, as he reached down and picked up an old looking bottle of sake. "Care for a drink?"
Eirin gave a small smirk. "Just one," she said. "I've still got appointments to keep, and a doctor can't be drunk on the job." Tsukuyomi poured the sake into two cups, and handed one to Eirin. "What has become of Toyohime?"
"Finding the right punishment wasn't easy," Tsukuyomi said sadly. "The go-to would have been exile, but I think we both know that wouldn't have been the best idea."
"A fair point," Eirin conceded. "Then, I take it the choice was imprisonment, like with Chang'e?"
"The only real option left," Tsukuyomi admitted. "Yori-chan has already volunteered herself to handle food delivery in place of the Rabbits, too. How are those two doing, anyway?"
"Fairly well, all things considered," Eirin answered. "If anything, they both seem to have more of a spring in their step now."
"That's good to hear," he sighed in relief. "So, are young Rei'sen and Hakurei-san..."
"As awkward as high-school students," Eirin answered. "It's almost endearing, if it wasn't for the fact that Udonge can hear Rei'sen's fretting from across Gensokyo."
Tsukuyomi barked out an inelegant laugh. "Ah, to be young and in love."
Eirin chuckled herself, before raising her cup. "A toast, then?"
"Aye, my friend," Tsukuyomi responded, raising his own. "A toast."
A/N:
Well, that's that, then.
Truthfully, I did have one more chapter planned. Something to give Reimu and Rei'sen more than a 'will they won't they' conclusion, but... I'll be honest, it wasn't turning out right. It was clunky, cliché ridden, and felt like an extremely bitter Yukari wrote it because she wasn't included.
That might have been an interesting idea on its own, but it'd clash too much with what we've already got. Better to end on what I consider a stronger note, even if it's more ambiguous, than a weaker one.
Still, this was a fun little romp, wasn't it? Certainly different from my usual, to say the least, and some much needed content for Rei'sen, IMO.
Well, guess we'll see each other somewhere else, then.