Disclaimer: I don't own Houshin Engi, okay! It doesn't belong to me, no matter how I may wish it so! And so, I write crappy fanfiction to fill the void inside! THE VOID!

Chapter Two: Time Together Fugen

Over the years, I visited you many times. The three of us had a lot of fun together. In the spring, we watched the blossoms on your peach tree. In the summer, we ate its fruit. In autumn, we saw its leaves turn brown and fall. And in winter, we played in the snow beneath its bare branches.

Those days were full of peace and joy. I came by as often as I could, and the two of you always took time off from training to play with me.

Sometimes I watched you together before I came to say hello. Perhaps it was fluke or coincidence, but as the years went by, more and more often I found you talking and laughing or eating a picnic lunch in the field.

It made a part of me very happy to see you so at ease, Bou-chan. Even so, it worried me that you trained less and less. Were you losing sight of why you became a sennin in the first place?

Momo stopped aging a year or two after I met her. She really didn't change much, mentally or physically. The two of you lived in paradise, untouched by the outside world. How would she change?

You were changing, though. I sometimes thought the peace was stealing away all your motivation, your memories. It was nice to see you laugh and smile for real, eating peaches on the engawa with fireflies to light your evening. But it worried me.

And so it was that, almost eight years after the first time we all had tea together, I was forced to be the bearer of bad news.

The three of us were sitting on the engawa that summer, eating a watermelon. Momo was watching a red dragonfly with wonder, but you seemed distracted, I suppose by my having been quiet most of the day.

"What's the matter?" you asked quietly, your voice reminding me strangely of a growl.

"Bou-chan," I hesitated. "a lot of things are happening in the human world."

"What do you mean?"

By then, the dragonfly had flown away and Momo was watching us in cautious silence. The sun was getting low in the sky.

"Dakki has been gaining power again."

Part of me expected you to gasp, but you didn't. Your brows furrowed, making a small crease in your forehead, and you frowned. Momo, who knew little of the situation, nevertheless frowned as well.

"Has she wed the emperor yet?"

I shook my head.

"No. For the time being, she is training. I have heard she has nearly perfected her temptation technique, and can seduce even the oldest and most devout of monks."

"Damn," you swore, turning your face towards the boards on which we sat.

"And… I've heard she's gaining support."

"Sendou support?"

I nodded, sighing inwardly.

"Especially among the youkai."

"Damn," you swore again. "I've heard about some of them."

"It gets worse."

You both looked at me, eyes wide. I chewed on my lip a moment, and wondered why I had to be the one to tell you, even though I knew why.

"There have been reports of Shinkouhyou being seen with Dakki."

Your hands went slack, and you dropped the slice of half-eaten watermelon you had been holding. It hit the edge of the engawa, leaving a streak of juice, and then fell onto the dirt below, forgotten. Even Momo looked scared.

So. Even someone as isolated as she had heard enough of Shinkouhyou to know to be afraid. The thought did not give me any peace.

"How many followers does she have now?" you asked gravely after a while.

The sky was getting darker, and the floating green light of fireflies began to appear.

"We're not sure, but the best estimate so far is about fifty sendou and seven hundred humans."

You sat silent and still for a while, until all of a sudden you picked up another slice of watermelon and started eating feverishly.

Surprised, Momo and I blinked and stared at you. She reached out a hand slowly and tentatively.

"Bou-chan?" I asked, wearing a bemused smile.

"What?" you said, juices dripping from your mouth. "All this thinking's made me hungry! I need to eat before I can do anything about this."

In spite of our conversation, I laughed, happy to see you act like that. Momo smiled at your behavior as well, but she turned away and drew her knees up to her chest. She sat so still that after a while, a firefly landed on her.

We three of us together slept in your little room that night. I lay awake between you for quite some time. None of us slept well that night, I daresay. You neither tossed nor turned, and so I doubt you slept at all. Momo lay on her side, facing the wall; I did not have to see her to tell how tense she was.

"Fugen?" she asked me early the next morning as I followed her into the kitchen to help with breakfast.

"Yes, Momo-chan?" I replied as pleasantly as I could, getting out a pot for our stew.

She twitched a little at the diminutive.

"I don't know a lot about Dakki, but… when sendou follow her, humans get hurt, don't they?"

I hesitated a moment, then nodded.

"Have you… have you heard anything about that?"

It was barely perceptible, but her hands were shaking. I frowned.

"Who do you want to know about?"

"The Zan tribe… They're a distant branch of the Kyou, and live in the same area… Are they okay?"

"Are they a small tribe?"

"Yes."

"I'm afraid I don't know… I'm sorry. It's hard to find information on the smaller tribes."

She fumbled the ladle she held, and it clattered onto the floor. I heard your sleepy, possibly false groan from the next room. Quickly, she picked it up again and washed it off in the basin of water you kept in the corner for the dishes.

"I see. Thank you, Fugen-san."

"Fugen!" you called groggily, and I left her to make breakfast.

I stayed with you for several days after that. While you trained, I knew you could see the effect peace had had on your skills. Whenever you took a break from training, I watched you as you sat on the engawa and Momo cooked in silence.

When you thought I wasn't paying attention, you would stare pensively into the distance, probably chiding yourself for slacking so much in your training.

We ate several meals that were slightly burnt, or that had a rather coppery taste. Momo was spacing out. I could tell, she was also angry with herself for distracting you, for not training enough, for not being stronger.

By no means can I read anyone's mind, nor know for sure what they are feeling. But I am a good judge of human nature. The two of you were full of self-doubt. Even as you started training more rigorously, I saw you catch yourselves look longingly at the field and your peach tree. And then your faces would change, anger flashing over your expressions before turning inward.

Author's note: Getting pretty far along in the story now. Fugen is not easy to write for. Um… Not much else to say, except for begging you to review this.