I found myself in the home of what the inhabitants of Gensokyo called the Youkai Sage, or Youkai of Boundaries. I nervously sat at a table in what I assumed to be the living room. In the house appeared to be three residents. First one would be the Youkai Sage herself Yukari Yakumo. The second would be her servant Ran Yakumo, the other blonde with the nine tales. I assumed she was some kind of fox spirit. Then there was this cute little bugger her served Ran. She was this small cat like being. Her name was Chen and she had two cat tails and a set of cat ears. She had brown hair and eyes and on her head was a green mob cap. She wore a red dress with a light pink trim on the bottom of the dress as well as light pink sleeves. They were an interesting bunch, that's for sure.
I waited at the table alone for a time before Ran came in with two glass cups and a bottle of what looked to be wine. It had gotten late so I couldn't say it wasn't the time to be drinking. She sat the cup in front of me then poured me a glass.
"Thanks," I said, still feeling a little nervous.
"You're welcome," she said with a small bow. She sat the other glass at the other side of the table and filled it with wine before leaving the room.
I sighed, thoughts racing through my mind. Wondering what exactly the Youkai of Gaps wanted with me was driving me crazy. Not only that, but I feared her taking the gleaming nail that was still in my pocket. Getting it to Remilia was extremely important, but I was unable to say no to Yukari's invitation. She gave off a powerful aura that easily subdued me. If she wanted to take the nail from me then I stood no chance in stopping her. I kept calling out in my head for my master to help me, but I got no reply.
I sat in the room alone for a while before suddenly that Chen girl came in with another bottle of wine. She smiled at me as she approached then went to pour me a glass despite it already being practically full. Thankfully she noticed the glass was already filled before she tried to pour the wine she had.
She looked awfully confused, but in an adorable way. "Wh-Wh-What is this? You already have some?" she said.
I tried not to laugh. "I sure do," I said. "Your master already had some wine on her so she poured me some."
"But I was supposed to bring the wine!" she complained angrily.
Well don't take it out on me.
"You could always pour me some more if it'll make you happy. There's a little room left. May as well pour it to the brim," I said.
"Okay!" she gleefully said.
What a tone shift…
The cat girl went ahead and filled my glass to the brim. She seemed happy about it so it wasn't like I could complain or anything. Guess she was just anxious to serve a drink.
"Thanks, kid," I said before leaning down and then taking a sip of my drink to bring it back down some so it wasn't at the brim anymore.
I sat back up then noticed the girl was staring at me with narrowed eyes. "Whoa… You alright?" I asked.
"I'm no kid. YOU"RE the kid, kid vampire," she said.
I rolled my eyes. "Now let's not start this argument. I may be a new vampire, but that doesn't make me a kid. I was like, in my early twenties or something before becoming a vampire," I said.
"That makes me older than you!" she said happily.
"I… Well…" She was a youkai of some type so maybe she wasn't wrong? Doesn't matter. I was totally more mature than her.
"I'm older than a vampire! That's so cool!" she exclaimed before nearly dropping the wine bottle she was holding. "I… I should go. Bye!" She ran off out of the room all excited.
She came in here just to gloat, didn't she?
Suddenly a gap opened up inside the room. Out stepped Yukari and the gap closed behind her. She took a seat at the other end of the table across from me. She wore a smile that still managed to intimidate me. It felt like her eyes were staring into my soul. Despite all that, she was a beautiful woman to look at.
My eyes went to the glass of wine in front of me. Nervousness was getting the better of me. I think I was sweating, making me unpresentable. Then again, my clothe weren't in good shape from the fights I had gotten in before Yukari showed up and 'invited' me to her home so certainly she must have not cared how I looked at the moment. I managed to sit there and patiently wait for her to say something.
"Is there something the matter, dear Isaac?" Yukari asked.
I looked up at her then immediately back down at the glass of wine. "No, not really," I lied.
"Sorry for suddenly bringing you to my home, but you did say you would visit me the last time we saw one another," she said. "I guess you could say I got tired of waiting." She chuckled a little.
I looked back up at her. "Oh, I see. Yeah, I did say I would. I'm sorry I didn't. It's just that I've been extremely busy with things," I said.
"Oh, that's quite alright," she said then took a small sip of her wine. She then looked to me without saying a word. I then felt that she was waiting for me to taste the wine I had so I did. It was good. "Have you grown accustomed to the world of Gensokyo yet?"
I nodded. "I think so. I still get rattled by a few things, but I think I've grown used to living here," I said.
"Good, good!" she said cheerfully. "It would appear you have finally gotten along with your little master. Is this true?"
"It is. I mean, we still argue over things, but I've accepted her as my master."
"I am glad to hear that, young Isaac. I was worried about you at first, but you've exceeded my expectations."
I was a little surprised to hear that. "You had expectations for me?"
"But of course." She took another sip of her wine and I followed suit. "It seems you've learned to take care of yourself. That's important when it comes to surviving here in our world."
"Tell me about it," I said with a short laugh.
"It would appear you've been hunting down certain objects and that would seem to have gotten you into some trouble with certain residents here," Yukari said.
"Yeah, that's true," I said, shuddering at the memories of the encounters I had when retrieving those nails.
It was also a subject I didn't want to get into. Would this woman ask me to give her the nail I currently held? And if she did, how would I be able to refuse her? Would she take a no for an answer? I didn't know and I didn't want to find out.
Yukari began tracing her finger around the edges of her glass cup. "Why are you collecting such things, Isaac?" she asked calmly.
"Simple. I need them in order to protect Remilia," I stated sternly.
"Is that really all that's to it?" she asked.
"Well… I think it would do all of Gensokyo good if I were to be able to get a hold of the glowing nails," I replied honestly.
"Hmm… I'm not so sure about that, my dear," she said, her focus still on the glass.
"Why you say that?" I asked, curious.
"You see, here in Gensokyo we have a delicate balance of powers. You could say it's what keeps the peace here," she said.
"Yeah, I've heard. I've been told me being created messed with that balance. I'm sorry for that, but there's nothing I can do about it," I stated.
"Yes, but now you are trying to collect three powerful artifacts. Two which you already possess."
Now I was getting really nervous. "I told you why already," I said earnestly.
"Hmm… You don't seem to know what exactly those artifacts are, do you?" she asked me.
"I know they're powerful. That's about it," I spoke honestly.
The woman chuckled. "Those nails glow with the power of a god. They were soaked in that god's blood. Knowing this, do you still want to collect them?"
At first I didn't understand what she was talking about. But when I looked back on that dark dream and the crosses that were in them, it suddenly dawned on me. "You can't be serious," I said.
"I'm quite serious, fledgling," she said.
At first I didn't believe her, but my gut feeling was scratching at my mind, telling me it was true. I didn't want to believe it because that would indeed tip the balance of power into Remilia's favor. Though I'm supposed to help make her stronger, the peace of Gensokyo was also something I believed in. It made me want to throw away the nail that was sitting in my pocket. How could I've been so reckless in collecting them? Not knowing what they truly were, I risked everything to get them. Does Remilia know what they are? Why do I have a feeling that she does? Why wouldn't she tell me? Who am I kidding, she never tells me anything. Knowing now what the nails came from made it all the more important to keep them from ever falling into the hands of the green-haired person in my dreams that's for sure. But I didn't want to upset the balance. Not that I think Remilia would use the power of the nails for nefarious reasons… Thinking about it, I still had the desire to get a hold of all the nails and bring them to the Scarlet Mansion. I trust everyone in the mansion to help safeguard them. I hope that would be the right choice.
"You're thinking hard," Yukari said, jerking me away from my thoughts.
"Uh, yeah, guess you can say that," I said, scratching my head in nervousness.
"Would you mind if I took a look at the nail you have?" she asked and damn was I reluctant to oblige her. I completely tensed up and narrowed my eyes at the woman. A wide smile ran across her face. "I don't intend on stealing it from you, Isaac."
I was awfully hesitant, but I think if she wanted my nail then she would have already have taken it, so with a heavy sigh, I pulled out the nail from my pocket then pushed it across the table. Yukari picked it up and started to examine it. It was a good while by the time she said something about it.
"I always wondered how these nails got into Gensokyo. Does it make you wonder too, Isaac?" she asked softly.
"I suppose I have once or twice, but I never really cared how, just that I needed to collect them," I replied.
"I understand, but you should really be careful when retrieving them. I was worried about how you were going to deal with the lunar rabbit when you pulled out that little gun of yours," she said.
"I wasn't going to do anything," I asserted. ""Was just scaring her, that's all."
She chuckled. "I see. I see…" After a few more looks of the nail she pushed it across the table back to me. I took it and placed it back in my pocket. "What will you do when you get the last nail?" she asked.
She sounded pretty confident that I would even get the third nail. "Take it to the Scarlet Mansion and keep it there for safe keeping. That's all," I said honestly.
"Is that all?" she asked with a sudden frown.
"Yeah. I don't intend on doing anything evil with them, you know. I've had this dream where a green-haired individual takes the nails and does something bad with them. I want to prevent that," I said.
Yukari looked rather surprised, but I couldn't tell if she was faking it or not. "Oh, my! That is rather ominous. If you had a dream like that, it could very well be true," she said.
I raised an eyebrow. "You believe the dream?" I asked. Not that I was lying, but her instant trust in a dream I had was weird. To anyone else it would be just some random dream so why is it she's so easily treating it as real?
"Of course, dear. Don't you even know your own abilities?" she said then clicked her tongue in disappointment.
"Eh… You trying to say I can predict the future or something?" I asked jokingly.
Her smile widened again. It was actually quite unnerving. "That master of yours really does want you to figure things out on your own, now doesn't she?" she said.
"Indeed she does," I said.
"Let me ask you a question," she started. "Do you believe in fate?"
"Fate? I never really thought about it being a thing," I answered.
"What if I said you had the power to control it?"
"I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, of course I'd have the power to control my own fate."
The woman giggled. It was a cute giggle, but it worried me. "Oh, I don't mean just yourself."
"Now you're just talking crazy talk."
"But it's true. You take after your master quite a bit. Isaac, you've inherited her ability to control fate."
Hearing her talk nonsense was boring me. "That's not possible."
"It isn't? In this phantasmal world of Gensokyo, you can't find it possible to have such a power?"
"Sure, there's magic and all, but to control someone else's fate? If I could do that, I could make sure everyone that I cared about wouldn't suffer a bad fate. I wouldn't need to collect these damn nails," I said, somewhat upset.
"If only it were that simple, right?" Yukari asked.
"Yeah," I said. I took my glass and drank up all the wine in one gulp. "Things would be simpler…"
The woman chuckled. "I'm sorry if I made you depressed. I just thought I would help you by informing you of your powers and the nature of the nails," she said.
"No, I'm fine. It… It just got my thinking is all," I said assuredly.
And think I did. I thought about the dream and how I could protect Remilia, no, everyone from that cruel fate. If I truly did have the power to control fate, then it should be easy for me to divert what happens in that dream. So knowing this, why did I feel so upset? Where did my confidence go all of a sudden? I think Yukari was just trying to help me, but everything she has said to me has left my resolve in shambles. I feel pathetic…
"You look so down, Isaac. Did I upset you?" Yukari asked.
"Nah," I lied.
"Let me cheer you up," she said with a golden smile.
A small gap opened up in front of her and she stuck her head in it. Another small gap then opened in front of my face and out popped Yukari's head. I gasped in surprise from her face suddenly being so close to mine. She was smiling at me, but then she closed her eyes and pursed her lips. She then waited. Was she letting me kiss her? That was her idea to cheer me up? Well, I didn't really mind. I mean, why should I? Just the thought of it actually made me happy. So, with the chance to kiss her open to me, I closed my eyes and went in to kiss her on her lips. When I slowly approached, I suddenly felt something quite cold touch my lips. The coldness surprised me, forcing my eyes open. I then saw that Yukari had placed something up against my lips. I couldn't believe it at first, but it was a nail. Did she just take my nail from my pocket and used it to keep me from kissing her? I was rather disappointed.
Glaring at Yukari, I took the nail back and placed it in my pocket and when I did, I realized my pocket was already occupied with something. I pulled it out to find that it was a nail. I looked on in shock at the two nails I was suddenly holding.
"Wh-What the?!" I exclaimed.
"Let's just say I trust you with it. Though I do intend on taking it back at some point," she said before reeling her head back in through the gap.
"You… You can't be serious," I said, my eyes on the two glowing nails.
I couldn't believe it. Yukari had just given me the third and final nail. There was no fight, no struggle. She just handed it to me like it was nothing. She MUST have been planning something. She must have. Why give me such a powerful artifact?
I looked up at the Youkai Sage and glared at her. "Why?" I sternly said.
"I told you already. I just think it would be more beneficial to me if you were to have it. It would also take a load off Ran's shoulders. The poor dear could use it," she said before letting out another ominous chuckle.
Now I needed to get home. I couldn't handle holding TWO glowing nails. I had a major target on my back now. And, my god, the look on Remilia's face when I present to her TWO glowing nails. I couldn't wait any longer. I already know what I'm going to do to her as a reward.
"So I can just take this and leave? No strings attached?" I asked, worried.
"Of course. Just remember that I am simply lending it to you. I will one day want it back," Yukari said.
"Are you sure about that? Lady Remilia may not be so keen on returning it," I said.
"Oh, I'm sure you or her won't want it once you're done with those nails," she said.
"Sure," I said. I really didn't intend on returning the nail while I still lived, to be completely honest. Not that I would fight the Youkai of Boundaries. I'd die for sure. So, I got up on my feet. "Sorry, but I can't stay any longer. I must get home. I'll try to visit again, if you want me to."
The woman let out a drawn out yawn before speaking. "Goodness gracious, I've grown tired," she said. "It was really nice to have a chat with you. Yes, I would like you to come again. Don't be too long this time, though."
"I won't," I assured her. "Mind making one of those gaps to the mansion for me?"
She yawned again then laid down on the floor. "I'm afraid I'm too tired. I must ask you to fly yourself home," she said.
After just a moment, the woman appeared to be sleeping. "You're kidding me, right?" I said.
She's not kidding! She really is asleep! God damn it!
I was really being forced to fly home. I don't even know where home is from where I'm at. But with the final two glowing nails in my possession, I had to fly like a bat out of hell and get home. If I can just make it home, everything would be alright. Remilia and I would have won over that dark dream for good and we could finally rest peacefully.