Ah yes, Stage 4 of IN: another reason why Team choice is so important. You see, IN also has branching paths. While, at the end of the game,there is a branching path somewhat, stage 4 can be a major factor in which team you choose. Depending on who you choose, you'll face a different boss in stage 4.

Team Border and Team Ghost faces the "Powerful" boss.

Team Scarlet and Team Magic faces the "Uncanny" boss.

Marisa Kirisame or Reimu Hakurei, respectively.

That's right. Marisa has to fight Reimu, and Reimu has to fight Marisa.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is owned by Nagaru Tanigawa. Touhou Project is owned by ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice. I own neither. This is a fan fiction of those works.

Beta Readers for this Episode:

Another Duck

werewolf2005

Son of a...that hurts...gotta...make it to the cave...

The ice fairy was struggling to keep in the air, she could feel the blood tricklle down her back. She clenched her jaw; out of pain and fear over her nearly torn-off wing.

Please don't fall off please don't fall off.

Cirno had been battling youkai for a good hour or so, and they had eventually ganged up on her. She still won, of course, but one got a good slash, nearly taking one of her wings off completely.

Instantly, she knew she had to get to somewhere really cold to heal herself up. There was only one place she could go during the summer heat: Whiterock's cave.

As she flew towards the cave, Cirno watched as some of the other fairies were taken out below her, being ripped to shreds. She gulped.

Not normal. Definitely not normal. Dai-chan, I hope you're okay...

Cirno remained silent as she continued to fly; her wings getting more and more sore with each flap. She barely made it, feeling as if the wing was going to just fall off right then and there. Stumbling into the ice cave, she collapsed against one of the walls. She felt herself healing: the cold doing it's thing.

Eye love the cold. It even heals me!

Cirno breathed a sigh of relief as the wing was regenerating. Cirno didn't understand it, but she knew that ice healed her, that cold made her feel good. While she did enjoy the summer, Cirno couldn't help but love the cold even more.

The ice fairy watched as a cut on her arm closed up, smiling.

Okay, now what do Eye do? Eye'm all right, but now what?

Cirno looked to the entrance of the cave, dreading going back out there.

"Cirno."

The ice fairy jolted, before realizing it was Letty, right next to her.

"Ah! Letty! You scared me!"

The yuki-onna unemotionally stared down at the ice fairy with her one good eye, before her gaze went to the cave opening. Cirno noticed that Letty had a golden trident in her hand.

"It's happening, isn't it?"

"Huh?

"An incident. Yukari Yakumo said that it would happen on this date." Whiterock moved towards the opening. "It's good that you remembered to come get me. I can't survive in the summer heat."

Oh, right. Eye forgot that Eye promised her! Cirno blushed for a bit, before standing up and puffing her chest. "Of course! Eye remember what you said!" Cirno really didn't. She put up her boisterous front. "So, we gonna go out there and kick some butt?"

Whiterock nodded, her body tensing, a scowl forming on her face.

"Yes. It's time for some revenge against that long-haired bitch!"

Perishable Night

Episode 7

["Imperfect / Unafraid"]

=Legendary Paradise=

"The forest of bamboo under the moonlight, it was as eerie as a dream.

Each bamboo tree looked as if it would start glowing at any moment."

-Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Stage 4

[SPELL CARD: BURIALLUSION "PHANTASMIC KILLER"]

It started out like a Killing Doll spell card, but then the knives disappeared. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then the knives reappeared, homing in on their targets. It was a delayed Killing Doll, and more intense than the original. There were many more knives added to it.

In case you didn't know, that was Sakuya, using a spell card to the effect of overkill on a lone lesser youkai that had the misfortune of both being the last one standing in the human village, and also being dumb enough to try to attack Sakuya. I think Sakuya used it out of desperation. She really was hindered.

Why did she use such a big spell card then? Those things drain you. I'd never get an answer to that.

I had gotten to Keine, healed her, and despite her being amazed by my healing powers, she did manage to set up the defense of the human village again. The youkai outside the limits of the village had wandered off, apparently forgetting what they came to do. It was interesting that it worked, and that the youkai weren't curious of the black void. It worked in our favor, though, so I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Of course, we had to deal with the ones who were already in the village. And by "we" I mean everyone but me. I had used another danmaku grenade-thing, but once again, my aim was off.

I've used, what, six so far? Still got fourteen, I guess.

One to defend myself against Wriggle, lost one against the youkai attack, used two to heal Sakuya, healed up Keine, and lost another due to bad aim.

No, wait. Seven. Used another one to heal the fairy. Down to thirteen.

Clearing out the village wasn't so hard for the ones who were warriors. Much to the villagers surprise, they had a few youkai defenders clearing out the lesser youkai. Mystia was actually quite useful, blinding and confusing the invaders, making it extremely easy for the others to take them down. Even Wriggle assisted, surprisingly, using bugs to swarm her targets. It wasn't even fair, but I'm not complaining. Heck, I wasn't even in any real danger during that fight. No youkai even came close to me.

But anyways, as for the defense, it went by smoothly, with only a few injuries to some of the villagers. No deaths...for now. I'll get to that in a while, but the defense was impressive, really. It also gave me insight to how villages defended themselves in the past against assaults.

It was interesting to see Koizumi fight. Again, he was using his red aura to either slam into youkai directly, or tossing his energy balls around. He was quite efficient; not missing. But then again, I guess he has all kinds of experience doing that in closed spaces against celestials.

But for him to use his powers here...it meant that Gensokyo really is a closed space of some kind, or there was something else up, like with Nagato.

Then does that mean that something should be up with Asahina as well? Possible, following that line of reasoning. Thoughts for another day.

Anyway, Keine was directing all the humans as to where to go, where to attack, and everything. But her? She did more damage to the lesser youkai than the villagers combined. But the person who did the most damage? Reimu. She was everywhere. Already, by seeing her fight, I could tell that she had gotten more powerful since the last time I met her. Her attacks were flashier, her amulets hit harder (I'm not joking, those things were knocking around the youkai like bowling pins) and she was even faster than before. The whole thing didn't even take fifteen minutes for us to lock down the village. When it was all said and done, the villagers had retreated to their homes, leaving us in the marketplace. Keine bent over, hands on her knees, taking deep breaths, showing that she was really tired.

We gathered, the miko giving me a hug after the battle, saying it was good to see me. The feeling was mutual, especially since she's a powerful ally. We told her what we had been going through so far in the night, like leaving Asahina at the shrine, along with a fairy. However, there appeared to be something behind Reimu's eyes, like a slow anger. Stress, maybe?

Koizumi landed near me after doing a sweep of the village (asked by Reimu to do so), his red aura fading, and wearing his trademark smile.

"Ah. Kyon. So good to see you."

"I could say the same thing about you." For once. "So you were brought into Gensokyo too."

He nodded. "It would appear so. I also see that Miss Nagato is here. I take it that Miss Asahina was also transported in as well?"

"Yes." Nagato said. "Mikuru Asahina is at the Hakurei Shrine, under protection."

"Ah. Good." Koizumi turned to me, his smile faltering a little into a crooked one. He was silent for a moment, and his eyes were searching mine. "Kyon...you've kept a big secret from us."

Do I really have to apologize to this grinning idiot? But again, Yukari's words rang in my ears, about trust. I couldn't afford to make him angry at me as well, make him feel betrayed. Especially not after I've seen what he's capable of when it comes to defending Haruhi. Besides, he can actually use his powers in here. I'm at a disadvantage.

All I could do was lower my head.

"...I should have told you guys. I had a reason not to tell Nagato...and if I didn't tell Nagato...I wouldn't have really told anyone else..." That was all I could come up with. "All I can say is that I'm sorry. And besides, you should go and ask your superiors about it, about Gensokyo."

He blinked. "Oh?"

Nagato stepped forward, assisting me. "Your superiors know of this place, as do mine. They knew about it when Kyon was transported into here a number of months ago."

"Yes, what happened a number of months ago...Miss Hakurei filled me in, as did Miss Yukari."

Yuyuko moved to Koizumi, wide eyed. "You've seen Yukari?"

"Yes, Miss...Saigyouji, is it?" After getting confirmation, Koizumi kept talking. "Yesterday, in the early evening..." He blinked. "Ah, right. It's past midnight. Two days ago, in the early evening, I was transported into Gensokyo while I was walking down the street. I found myself in the presence of Miss Hakurei there-" He referenced to the miko, "-and Miss Yukari Yakumo. It was quite the shock for me, to end up in some sort of purple realm with eyes."

Yukari's realm.

Koizumi's smile dropped a bit, as he turned back to Nagato. "But, do my superiors really know of this place?"

Nagato nodded. "If you need me to help you find out about it, I will. But please trust me. Our respective superiors knew all about Gensokyo."

She obviously said that with a monotone, but it had a bit more energy to it than normal. It had been getting like that over time. Koizumi must have picked up on it almost instantly.

Koizumi's brow furrowed. "Uhm...Miss Nagato...I don't mean to be insulting, but-"

"You're wondering why I'm acting unusual." Nagato stared into her hands. "Something is happening to me just by being in Gensokyo. I can't explain it. And my behavior is different. I don't understand it myself, but I appear to be evolving."

Koizumi appeared to search Nagato's eyes, the corner of his mouth turning down. This went on for about a minute. "Miss Nagato...I don't know what to say...! Isn't this what you wanted?"

She gave a nod. "But right now I have a higher priority. I'd like for you to assist us in helping Gensokyo."

Yuyuko put her hand on Koizumi's shoulder.

"Young man, it's as she says. Please help us. Please trust them."

Koizumi kept gazing at all of us, as if he was searching for a reason to, or whatnot. His eyes met mine.

All I could do was say that "It's the truth."

After a few seconds, he blinked, and his smile came back.

"Very well. However, I have something to confess, actually. Something to add to this. I may not know if my superiors have knowledge of it, but Gensokyo is Miss Suzumiya's creation. I can confirm this."

That actually made me do a double take. "How?" How would he know?

"Because it's the same as when I awoke as an esper. The second I entered this place, my mind was flooded with the knowledge of this place, and who created it. It's all Suzumiya." He looked around at the group, still smiling. "What a wondrous world we live in, to have such a place, and to have such creations. Such interesting and paranormal people in our world."

"Considering that some of these creations of Haruhi eat people, that's an arguable conversation." I glanced over at Remilia. "No offense?"

The vampire shrugged. And I was about to say "and considering that some of them wanted us to die to revive a great evil" to Yuyuko, but I decided against it. I didn't feel like insulting a ghost who could kill me just as easily as sneezing. Also, she was an ally. It wouldn't feel right to insult her like that.

We heard voices. Keine was speaking to someone - it was smoker-girl. Keine appeared to have a grim look on her face over whatever smoker-girl was saying but then she noticed us. The school teacher then motioned to us to come to her. We did, and she stared at all of us for a while, and then looked around, as if to see if anyone was watching, like the villagers. Finding that we were alone, she spoke.

"Thank you all." She turned to Alice, the schoolteacher's features becoming apologetic. "I'm sorry about earlier. As the primary defender of the village, I had to keep up appearances. The elders of the village know what I am, you see, but most other residents don't. The elders think that as a half-youkai, I'm a liability, even though I have defended this place for decades."

Remilia smirked at Keine, one hand on her hip (the vampire used her other hand to hold up the umbrella). The vampire's face was showing that she was enjoying seeing Keine like this. "Seeing as how badly you were defeated, it's amazing you were able to last even a year."

Remilia, you're a jerk. Seriously.

Keine didn't respond to that. She continued to speak to us.

"I hope I didn't cause too much trouble." She looked around us, at the lesser youkai that were already fading away. "But as you can see, it was somewhat necessary. Thing is, I've never seen them attack this place at that magnitude, never in all my years as the defender of the human village."

"So, when did you pick up that title?"

That was Reimu.

"Excuse me?"

Reimu went up the the school teacher. "Of being the best defender of the village? Of being the defender of humanity here in Gensokyo?"

Keine pursed her lips. There appeared to be a flash of concern behind Keine's eyes. I saw smoker-girl shift a bit, silently puffing away at her cigarette.

"Hakurei, this isn't the time."

"You should have thought about that before you went up to me two weeks ago, saying that I 'don't do enough for the defense of the human village'."

I can sense a little bad blood between them. Call it a hunch.

The miko was pretty much in Keine's face at that point. "You wanna play politics? You wanna play favorites with the villagers?"

Keine didn't move, but continued to stare at the miko, Keine's face becoming sad. "I don't like doing it."

"I was ten years old."

Keine's eyes widened a bit, and she glanced at all of us. It was as if Reimu was about to reveal something that Keine didn't want us to hear.

"Hakurei, please. Stop. This isn't the time."

Reimu turned to all of us, making sure that we were hearing her. "I was ten years old when my family was wiped out, and nobody from the village did a damn thing to help me fight off the youkai, or to even bury my family. Especially not this bitch."

Oh my God.

After dropping that bombshell out of nowhere, Reimu stormed off to a fountain down the street, stopping, arms crossed and staring into the water. Nobody said anything. Everyone had a shocked look on their faces.

Holy hell. That explains why she was so defensive about her family. Why she got so angry over it. Also, the whole scene just put me off balance. We (and by that I mean all the girls plus Koizumi) had just repelled an invasion, and ended up almost making up with Keine. Then Reimu just said all of that. There was no precedent for her saying such a thing. It was literally out of nowhere. Why would she say something like that? Is she really stressed out?

I was the first to move to the miko, leaving Keine, who simply looked saddened.

Reimu didn't say anything, and neither did I. Eventually the group had joined us, but we kept our distance from the miko. Remilia, Wriggle, Mystia, and Alice each were drinking out of canteens (I guess supplied by Sakuya?), trying to rehydrate. They did sweat profusely, after all.

The only sounds were of water - of the youkai drinking it, and the water of the fountain, for about a minute or so.

Reimu's shoulders sagged, and she finally spoke. She sounded tired.

"It's just been a rough two weeks. Yukari has had me training for two weeks, ever since that festival, making me stronger. Said she was training me for tonight. Wouldn't tell me what was going to happen. So...sorry. I'm just cranky right now. Fourteen straight days of that. Sorry you had to see me just take it out on Keine there. Shouldn't have done that."

I slowly nodded. "Ah...it's okay. If you don't want to talk about it..."

I think she did, because she went right into it.

"Woke up one night. Family was screaming, and their screams were being cut short, one by one. " She kept her gaze down on the fountain's water. Her voice was unemotional. "I liked Genji, our pet turtle. Always had him sleeping in my room, you know. He defended me with his shell...giving me enough time to get these." She turned to us, bringing out her ying yang orbs. Her face was casual, like she wasn't telling us such a story. "I couldn't defend myself otherwise...so I used these to...fight them off." Reimu sighed, putting away her orbs. "Just ten years old, fighting off monsters, pushing them back. They just kept coming, and I kept killing them. I had to defend myself. I pushed them all the way back into Makai, and even went in there, because they weren't stopping." She paused and rubbed her right arm, her eyes drifting towards where her shrine was. "I killed so many youkai that day."

The miko turned back to the fountain. "It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, you know?"

"What does?"

"Killing." Reimu looked up to the sky. "There is a reason why I hold the game of Danmaku in high regard. Not just to give me a chance to survive, but also...life is precious. Make no mistake, I'll kill a youkai if need be, but I'd much rather seal it or knock it out."

"I guess I'm grateful for that," said Remilia. She was pursing her lips, her face showing that she wasn't prepared to hear about all of this. None of us were.

"I'm sorry, Reimu." said Alice. "I never knew this. I never knew what happened to the Hakurei. I guess I was too young to understand it when most of the Hakurei 'went away'. Nobody here in the village ever told me what happened that day."

Why would they keep it a secret?

"Reimu..." I said. "I had no idea. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

"I'm fine. I just think it's fair, anyway."

"What's fair?"

Reimu turned, giving me a smile. She looked like she was just fine telling us all of this. "I've seen your life. I've seen how it has been for you. I just think that it's only fair that you get to know a little about me." She gave me a shrug. "You did ask last time about where my family was, after all, and I didn't answer you."

"I didn't know it was that major. I didn't know it was like that for you."

She shrugged again. "The wound's healed and gone. I've cried all the tears that I can for them." She lowered her head, chewing on her lower lip. "I still miss them, though. It's tough, you know? Having to take care of yourself from the age of ten, all the while shouldering responsibility. I have to deal with all of that. All those youkai out there." Reimu pointed at Remilia, Alice, and Yuyuko. "Case in point, these guys."

"It is tough, losing your family at a young age." Yuyuko sighed. "It's admirable that you didn't break, Miss Hakurei."

Reimu paused at that, as if remembering that Yuyuko essentially went through the same thing. A small smile formed on Reimu's face as she gave the ghost a nod. "It sucks, though."

"All we can do is hold up the honor of our families, and do what we are asked to do." Yuyuko went to Reimu, and put her hand on her shoulder. "You poor child. I never knew that we were so alike."

"It's okay, Miss Saigyouji. Like I said, I've cried all the tears I can for them. I'm okay." Reimu looked over at me. "People our age shouldn't have to go through such things."

"Preaching to the choir, Reimu." I said. "At least you get to fly and kick butt. And I haven't gone through what you've went through. At most, I threaten violence against Koizumi."

She smirked. "Yeah, he is a little annoying, isn't he?"

"I'm standing right here, you know." said Koizumi, with a hint of annoyance. He still had his fake smile.

I do know you're there. I just don't care.

I had to hold back on laughing. Reimu either ignored or didn't hear him.

"But he seems to be a good person. While he was concerned about getting back to Haruhi, he was actually more concerned about finding his fellow Brigade members, when Yukari told him that all of you were in here as well. His loyalties are with his friends. And you're his friend, Kyon."

I know. I just get easily annoyed by him. I gave Koizumi a shrug, and he just kept smiling, albiet narrowing his eyes at me.

"Am I really that annoying?"

"I'm not gonna answer that. But I am going to say that I'm glad you're with us, you know?"

My eyes went up to the moon after that, processing what I've heard, processing the events that had happened. Hearing about Reimu's hardships really put things into perspective, don't they? I lived my life only concerned about homework, my tv shows, and my manga. Reimu had to grow up at a young age; learn how to take care of herself when she should have been a normal girl. I couldn't help but respect the miko even more than I already had. For her to tough all of that out was amazing.

And maybe this also explains why she's unapologetic about stealing from youkai. From my point of view, I guess it was justified...if you could justify such things.

I kept my eyes on the moon. The grayed out moon. I noticed Sakuya was still doing her controlled breathing, keeping the moon stopped.

I wonder how much strain is on her body to do this. While I am disappointed that I can't really do magic, there is also this aspect of it that I don't know. The drain it must take on the body , especially for performing such a huge task as stopping the freaking moon in the night sky, must be exhausting.

"Sakuya, how you holding up?"

She gave me a shaky nod. "Doing...okay. I think."

I turned my head to the human interface. "Nagato, what exactly is up with the moon?"

Nagato was also staring up at it. She blinked a few times before answering. "If you mean the light, then I can tell you. Studying the coding has given me insight on what the Sky Canopy Domain is doing. There appear to be a few alterations that can happen when a youkai is exposed to the light. Increased aggression, perspiration, inducing an adrenaline rush, and two specific commands. Kill humans, and kill fairies."

I furrowed my brow as I looked over at her. "Kill fairies?" That's kind of harsh.

Nagato nodded. "That's why you were attacked. That's why the maids were attacked."

"Something like that flashed through my mind." That was Mystia. She had a somber look on her face. "When I first went into the moonlight of this moon, I heard a voice telling me to kill humans and fairies. It happened pretty fast, but I clearly remember that. Scary as hell, too." She paused, taking another drink of water. "Thought...well...didn't know what to think about it. Just scared me."

Disturbing. Very disturbing. A voice reaches in your head and tells you to kill things. This was horror-manga type stuff.

I realized something. I remembered what the Prismrivers said, about defending their home, and when I saw them again with Youmu...

"And...that's why Youmu was attacked." I looked over at the gardener. "She was the only one who looked like she was attacked out of the Hakugyokurou group. The Prismrivers were left alone, but not Youmu, because she's half human."

"That..." Youmu blinked, staring down at her torn clothes. Myon appeared to do the same. "That's actually true. I was the only one targeted out of our group." She rubbed the back of her head. "Why didn't I notice that?"

"We didn't have time to think about it," said Yuyuko. "We reacted, Youmu."

The gardener nodded, and then frowned. "Yet, I just don't understand such a command. Why kill off the fairies?"

That is a good question. Why do such a thing? Yeah, I've seen how the fairies can get when they get together, and how one could have taken us all down, like Cirno, but still - why?

"Would you like to know?"

That was Remilia. She stared at us from under the shade her umbrella afforded her. She was grimacing. "I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. A secret that youkai who have lived an especially long time know, and that few humans do." When it was obvious that she had our attention, she continued. "Fairies are nature."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"I mean what I say. A fairy brings life to the area it is in. A fairy can bring back dead plants. A fairy in close proximity of a farm brings a greater harvest. Water is cleaner. Flowers grow quicker and bigger. Even humans are healthier. The fairies are annoying, sure, and uneducated, but there is a reason why I specifically choose fairies to be my maids. They make my mansion beautiful, just by being there. Their positive effects outweigh the negatives."

Well isn't that something. Learn something new every day. It was an interesting thing to know, and one that I wouldn't have really guessed.

"I never...knew that," Sakuya managed to say. "Always...I always wondered...why...you let them...work for you. Most of them...are...bad at their...jobs."

Man...how tough is it for Sakuya to even speak? Also, she was okay with us wasting time, draining her?

Remilia grinned at Sakuya.

"Positives outweigh the negatives." The vampire turned back to us. "I was overjoyed when I saw so many fairies here in Gensokyo. They had begun to disappear out there in Europe, you know, so I was worried. My mansion's ground was in shambles...but when I saw all the faires, I hired up as many as I could. Within a year, it had gotten as beautiful as it is now. Maintained by the presence of the fairies, which is why I don't want anything to happen to them, and why I want their loyalty. If they were to leave, my mansion would return to it's pitiful state."

Reimu turned to Remilia, eyebrow raised. "I never knew that about fairies. I just thought that they were pests."

Mystia spoke up, answering Reimu. "Lilly White. She's supposed to be the most extreme case of a fairy's positive effect."

I'm guessing Mystia knows about that little secret too.

"And if a fairy dies?" asked Youmu.

"They get reincarnated. Takes a few weeks for them to be reborn, on average." Remilia shrugged. "It's different for some fairies. Sometimes it's days. Sometimes it's months."

Aaaand I just have confirmation that reincarnation is a thing. My times in Gensokyo are a learning experience of the highest order.

Koizumi rubbed his chin. "Very interesting. So it's safe to assume that the nature of Gensokyo is held together by the fairies, correct?"

What Koizumi said popped a question into my mind. I blurted it out. "Do you think that Gensokyo will die out if all the fairies were just killed in one night?"

Remilia paused at my question. She opened her mouth to say something, then her eyes widened, as she obviously was realizing it.

"I...I never even considered that. Maybe because I never wanted to consider such a thing. That would be too evil, even for me. But..." She stared in the direction to where her mansion had to be. "That's...Holy Crap. If all the fairies died tonight...that just might be it for Gensokyo. I don't know. But that's beyond evil."

In reality, it was really evil. Almost too evil, like cartoon-villian type stuff. Moustache-twirling "I'm going to kill off all the fairies" insanity. Yet it was happening. Nagato said that the SCD was doing this, making youkai kill off the fairies of Gensokyo (along with the humans). For them to go this far?

Was it plausible? Yes. Kuyou had been responsible for a few things, especially the assassination attempt on Haruhi's life. And according to Yukari, Kuyou was responsible for the SDM's collapse, which did kill off some of the fairies. It was a feasible scenario that she would do this. It just seemed so...what's the word...ah, yes. It just seemed so escalated, you know? Escalated behavior. Like a criminal with a mental problem will commit bigger and bigger atrocities as time went by, because they can't sate their lust for such atrocities. Or something like that.

Still, standing there, thinking about it, it just seemed like a little much, you know? Committing genocide? That's an extreme I don't care for at all. Anyone willing to do that is dangerous or a psychotic. I'll have to be careful, then. For her to go this far, she must be mentally unstable or something. She's a data entity. They're supposed to be somewhat logical, at least in their own minds. Like Asakura thinking I must have been dealt with. Kuyou must think this is a viable solution, a logical course of action. That was a scary thought, that someone thinks that genocide is the answer.

Then again, human history has plenty of people like that, and they are all regarded as madmen...or great men by other madmen.

I can't believe that you've gone this far. To put up a moon...no...wait...

Again, another thought crossed my mind. What was it that Nagato said? The moon was made of papier-mache?

So it's papier-mache. A fake moon. Kind of weird for Suou to come up with a (in my opinion) half-assed way of putting up a faux moon. Why not gather materials similar to avoid detection, since Nagato noticed it right away? Seriously - it was the first thing she said. Why not avoid that?

In fact, I asked Nagato about it, because it was bugging me. But when I mentioned it, Reimu's head perked right up.

"Papier mache? That moon is fake, and made out of paper?"

"Yeah. Why? What's...?"

She silently stared up at the moon, rubbing her chin. Her face was unreadable. She knows something.

"Light from the moon. Fake moon. It all has to do with the moon, which is paper..." Closing her eyes, Reimu took a deep breath, then let it out. When she opened them, she had that steel-gaze that I saw during the Hakugyokurou incident. I could feel hope building up in my body upon seeing that.

Youkai-Extermination Reimu was there. Her voice was stern. "I think I already have an idea of who's behind this."

Alice smiled. "Your intuition again?

"Mmm-hmm."

I was relieved, to tell the truth, and it looked like Remilia was, too. We were finally going to deal with whomever was behind all of this. Reimu walked past me, up to Keine again, who hadn't moved far from where we left her. She was still speaking with smoker-girl, whom gave the miko a wide berth as she approached.

"I need information, Keine."

Keine turned to Reimu, silent for a few seconds, her face still sorrowful.

"But first off, Keine...I'm sorry about earlier. I was just venting, and I took it out on you. That wasn't fair to you. I shouldn't have done that. I've just had a tough two weeks, and took it all out on you." After a pause, Reimu spoke again. "I don't know what else to say. I'm sorry."

The two stared into each other's eyes, before Keine gave a nod, and a small smile.

"It's okay. Everyone get frustrated sometimes. So, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"The medicine peddler."

Keine tilted her head, an eyebrow raising. "What about her?"

"Has she made any deliveries lately?"

"No..." Keine blinked, and pursed her lips. "In fact..." Keine appeared to have a light buld go off in her head. "In fact, she's missed her last two deliveries. I've been meaning to find out what's going on, but I've been busy..." the teacher referenced to the youkai around her. "...And then this happened."

"Wait wait wait. Her?" Alice asked. "The bunny girl? Her?"

Suffice to say, my interest perked up when I learned that actual bunny girls exist. Thank you God! Or...thank you Gods! Whichever it is! Taniguchi would love Gensokyo...if he didn't get devoured by most of the girls here, that is. Hell, he still would probably love it. But, oh, do I love Gensokyo. Bunny girls are a reality.

Reimu looked up at the moon, nodding. "She's the only one I can think of right now, that, and my gut is telling me that she has something to do with it, because I saw her a few weeks ago buying a lot of paper. She has to be the one."

"But she's just a medicine peddler. Just some rabbit youkai."

Reimu smirked and raised a finger, and spoke in her matter-of-factly tone, her face victorious. "You're wrong, Alice. She's not simply one of those rabbit youkai in the bamboo forest. My mom told me so years ago."

Reimu paused and looked at all of us. And then she dropped another bombshell.

"You see, that bunny girl is a Lunarian rabbit."

How about that. I called it. Lunar society. Rabbits on the moon. The Lunar society exists. And they have bunny girls. Already they sound awesome.

And on the trail of that thought, Holy cow (I thought a different word there)! There really is a Lunar society! There is an actual alien race on the moon! What a revelation. However, if I didn't know that aliens existed (ie. Nagato), I would have felt a bit more blown away. I really must be jaded.

(Sick Lunarian Bastards)

The dream came roaring back to my mind, the one I had of Yukari the previous day. What did she say? 1,002 youkai...and only 3 came back. All the others killed, executed, while Yukari was tortured.

If there was someone who could route Yukari, let along a species that could... If Lunarians are behind this, then what does that mean? Reimu said that the girl was a Lunarian rabbit, but what does that mean?

I'd get those answers in a short while.

That being said, I could feel the wonder build up in my body again, as I stared up at the moon. Then I remembered it was a fake moon, which brought me back to where I was. Remilia had an unsure look on her face after hearing about the lunarians. I wondered what was going on in her mind over that.

I wonder if she knows about that. About that Lunarian invasion. Is that why she's like that?

"So, where do we go for this?" asked Koizumi, bringing me out of my thoughts. He still wore his usual smile. "If we are in such a predicament, of Gensokyo being in danger, then I'd like to help in the resolution."

"And why would you do that?"

"Like I said, Miss Alice, I believe that Gensokyo is Miss Suzumiya's creation. I feel it's my duty to keep it from getting destroyed."

Keine raised an eyebrow at that, her mouth slightly opening. She then shook her head. "If you are going for the rabbit, then you go to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Mokou here can take you." Keine referenced to smoker-girl.

Koizumi nodded at the school teacher. "Ah. Thank you." He then turned to our soon-to-be guide.

Smoker-girl, whom Keine called "Mokou", had her eyes on Koizumi. For a brief second, she flushed, and seemed to undress the esper with her eyes. Then she turned her head to Keine.

"Uh...wha?"

Does she have the hots for Koizumi? Also, a very weird and unfitting time to make eyes for someone, considering the situation.

"Can you take them to the Bamboo Forest?"

"Yeah sure thing." Another puff of the cigarette, and Mokou then went back to ogling Koizumi for a few more seconds before nodding to us. "All right. I'll take all of y'all there."

She does. Lucky bastard.

"And Mokou?"

"Yeah I know. Chitose. I'll look for her."

"Who?"

Keine sighed, her face sorrowful again. "We have a missing child. We did a quick headcount, and we're short one child. I'm sending Mokou out there...but...Hakurei...can you look for her?"

Reimu crossed her arms, shifting a bit, and pursed her lips.

"If I come across her, yes, I'll protect her and I will get her home safely. But you have to realize that my priority is ending this threat so the village doesn't get attacked again."

"I just wish you could do more for us." Keine then smiled at the miko. "But you do what you can. I'm sorry that we can't be friends, Reimu: that we see things differently." Keine glanced at all of us, keeping that smile. It was actually a very caring smile. "Go. All of you. Strike at the root of the problem. The Human Village will be grateful to each and every one of you, even if they won't show it." Her eyes rested on Alice. "Good luck."

We followed Mokou, exiting the boundary of the Human Village. And yes, we did forget about the village after going through Keine's effect or whatever it was. It's so weird how that worked. We didn't forget about Keine herself, however. Thankfully, Mokou still led us towards our objective.

I'd later learn more about Keine's powers. It wasn't that she could make people forget things, she could only temporarily hide the history of something, and what she did was hide the history of the Village to keep it from being attacked. After all, you can't attack what you don't know. And you can't plan an attack for something that you have no knowledge of. A very effective defense measure.

It seemed that Mokou and Koizumi hit it off. Koizumi at first went up to our guide, asking her details on where we were going, but then they started talking of other things. Mokou asking Koizumi what was up with his powers, him telling her, and he told her about Haruhi. I don't know if Mokou believed it, but it seemed to interest her. It seemed that they quickly warmed up to each other. Her face for the most part seemed impassive for a while, before a small smile appeared on her face.

Enough about those two, however. We didn't get far, though, before Wriggle spoke up, her and Mystia stopping.

"We can't go in the bamboo forest with you guys."

The rest of us stopped, turning to the two youkai. Remilia raised an eyebrow, a scornful look on her face. "Excuse me? Did you forget our little arrangement? You help us, and I won't kill you two."

Blunt as ever, Remilia.

Wriggle, bug-eyed (how fitting), swallowed hard, before shaking her head, a grim look on her face. "Nuh-uh. We remembered. Sorry, but you'll have to kill us. We can't go with you guys. We aren't going in there."

Remilia blinked, apparently taken aback by their defiance. She glanced over at the bird youkai. "Lorelei, right? You seem to be the smarter of you two. Why don't you-"

Mystia cut off Remilia. She too looked grim. "Going into that place is a death sentence for youkai. Humans are turned away if they don't have business in there, but youkai go in there, and they don't come back out. I know fairies are okay entering and leaving, but something like Wriggle or myself wouldn't survive, as of late. Past few months, it's been like this." Mystia looked over at Wriggle, and then back to us. "As far as we know, the bamboo forest belongs to the Inaba's. It's full of rabbits, you see. Most are normal animals, but also quite a few rabbit youkai. There is supposed to be one youkai who has been there longer than even that gap youkai. Don't know the rabbit's name, but the bamboo forest is her territory. And the rabbits haven't been too kind with other youkai invading their territory lately. Wriggle is right. We can't follow you guys in. And you're suicidal if you go in. All of you."

The two still looked to be afraid of Remilia, but they seemed dead set on this course of action. They didn't want to go in.

So...what in the world can be scarier than something like Remilia? Is it because the medicine peddler is a Lunarian Rabbit? I asked as such. Upon hearing the word "Lunarian", the two took a step back, shaking for a few seconds.

The dream was for real.

"It's because of the youkai-lunarian invasion, isn't it?"

Their wide-eyes told me I was correct. They nodded.

"That's why we can't go in there with you," said Mystia. "We won't stand a chance against them. Nobody does. None of you will. That's why you'll only die if you go in."

Yeah, and Whiterock said that we'd only die if we went into Hakugyokurou. Still, it would be stupid to not heed the warnings of others. Seriously...what is it about the Lunarians?

Reimu stepped forward, arms crossed. "Look. We can take care of ourselves, and it doesn't matter who is causing this incident. Lunarians, Saints, Gods, Hell itself, or whomever. Point is, I have to stop them regardless. If you guys aren't going to help out, then how about this? You go and gather any fairies you can find, and head to my shrine. Safest place for them." Reimu then shot me a glance, and a nod, before returning her attention to the two youkai. "And you can also help keep an eye on Asahina, while you're at it. After all, that fairy at my shrine is your friend, right? You aren't going to leave her all alone, are you? Especially since you know what's going on."

I think Wriggle wanted to say something, but ultimately didn't. Mystia seemed to accept this. Also, thank you, Reimu, for thinking of Asahina.

Remilia pointed at them. "Remember - you're still under my watch." Remilia glanced at me, smirking, before turning back to them. "And if you two let that Asahina girl die, I'll tear you limb from limb. And then I'll start hurting you."

I am appreciative of the fact that Remilia wanted to help protect Asahina, but she could have used some kinder words. Just saying, even though it wouldn't be her style.

Remilia then grabbed my arm, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Kyon, how do you know about that?"

"What?"

"The Youkai-Lunarian invasion."

As Wriggle and Mystia left, and we went back to going to the Bamboo Forest, I told the group my dream, of Yukari Yakumo's failed invasion, well, the aftermath of it. Remilia seemed to be taken aback by this.

"I've heard of this." That was Alice. "Spook story told amongst us youkai. Happened a thousand years ago, and so many youkai died, completely routed by the Lunarians. A thousand of the world's strongest youkai just wiped out, save for three."

I nodded. "That was in my dream." I looked to Yuyuko "Any idea who else survived, besides Yukari?"

She simply shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know about it that much. It's one of the things she rarely talks about, and she doesn't give me much information on it when she does." Yuyuko suddenly got a thoughtful look on her face. "Funny thing about when she does speak of it...she never seemed ashamed. She was always proud of it."

That's weird. Why would she be proud of a failure?

Alice rubbed her chin, a thoughtful look on her face. "Well...you already know one of the survivors."

"Who?"

"Kazami."

Great. The youkai of flowers. This also meant that Kazami had been around a long time.

"And the other?"

"The third one is difficult to really pin down, as most accounts differ. But the majority say that it was the Nue."

"What the hell is a 'Nue'?" asked Remilia, bluntly.

How about that. Nue's exist. My brain casually accepted it, another paranormal entity that was real.

I explained it to Remilia. For those who don't know, a Nue is a beast that has the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and a snake's tail. One of the more powerful youkai in existence, supposedly, despite it getting beat over and over in tales.

Remilia still didn't understand it, so Koizumi said to "think of it as the Japanese Chimera." That satisfied the vampire. And I was surpised by how he handled it. Calling it that to explain it to somone from the western world was the best and simplest way to describe a nue.

The demon of gaps and boundaries, the youkai flower master, and the nue. The only three to survive the Lunarians. Call me crazy, but with all the informaion I had been exposed to, I had a feeling that something was building up, that the night was building up around the Lunarians.

We had reached the Bamboo Forest without any incident, barring a few stray lesser youkai that were effortlessly put down thanks to Remilia, who used that as an excuse for some stress relief. One couldn't blame her, not after what happened with Sakuya.

Anyways, it was as one could think of what a Bamboo Forest could be like - just tall, seemingly endless bamboo. The thicket was very dense, and I couldn't make out anything within it. The scary part was that there didn't seem to be any signs of life from within. No bugs, no animals, nothing. Just perfectly quiet.

Remilia arrogantly dismissed Mokou, before she went into the forest. Mokou just stood there puffing away at the cigarette, shrugging, but not leaving. Remilia entered (she wanted to be the first to get revenge), and she disappeared into the bamboo.

"You know, Remilia, there is a reason why they call it the Bamboo Forest of the Lost," called out Reimu, arms crossed, and a little knowing smirk on her face.

Before I could ask the Miko what that meant, the vampire reappeared several meters away, walking out of the forest.

What the...

She was as surprised as we were, save for Reimu. Remilia tried again, and the same result, all that happened was that she walked straight out after going in. I found some courage to test it myself. I entered it, walking in a straight line, and came out of it a few meters away from the group. I had not circled around - I did walk in a straight line.

This is Lost Woods type stuff right here. I really am playing Zelda right now, aren't I?

We even tried to cheat our way out of this, with Youmu and Alice (with her dolls) slashing the bamboo out of the way, but it just grew back almost as instantly as the two could cut it. Mokou just kept watching us, still puffing away. Nagato couldn't help with any of her abilities - the magic surrounding the forest was too much for her to handle.

Nagato knelt down, studying the growth of one of the stalks. "Amazing. It's a perfect defense."

"Not really." That was Mokou, who finished her cigarette, flicked it, and stepped on it. "All you gotta do is follow the ribbons." She wasn't looking at us as she spoke. She casually reached into one of her pockets, producing a package of hand rolled cigarettes. She carefully studied them, as if deciding which one to smoke next. "I placed ribbons every so often in there." She pointed to a single stalk that had a small red ribbon of worn cloth at its base. "There are a few worn paths in the forest, but most will just lead ya out. I placed ribbons as markers to getcha where you'll need to go. There's a way to beat that 'defense'. You just gotta know the pattern, y'know?"

"Which would be where, Miss Mokou?" asked Koizumi. "What is our destination?"

"Eientei. The mansion of the rabbits. There, you'll find the medicine peddler...and a Lunarian doctor. Big secret. We got our own docs 'n all at the village, but anybody needs severe medical attention, I gotta take them to Eientei. I'm one of the few people who knows how to navigate that forest. The doc is very good, able to beat just about any disease. The village is lucky to have her so close by."

Mokou said that so casually. I saw Remilia's jaw drop at the information we just got.

There's an actual Lunarian in Gensokyo?!

Reimu's eyes widened. "Wait wait wait...excuse me?"

Mokou placed a cigarette in her mouth, and raised an eyebrow at the miko. "Hmm?"

"The doctor is a Lunarian?"

Mokou just nodded, as if it was nothing. Reimu appeared to want to say something else, but ultimately didn't. I glanced over at Alice and Remilia. Both of them looked...unsure. Remilia was trying to mask it, of course, but she appeared to have some doubt about this.

"Look," said Mokou as she put away her cigarettes. "I gotcha here, so I hope you can find your way to Eintei by yourselves. I still gotta find that little girl. So, I have to leave."

"You going to be okay, Miss Mokou?" Koizumi asked.

I pondered if we should have someone help her. A human being alone on this night wouldn't survive for long, not with all those feral youkai running around, right?

And then she brought up a lighter to her cigarette...

Wait. She doesn't have a lighter.

A small flame emitted from her thumb, which she casually brought to the cigarette. Her finger is on fire. I silently watched as she lit it. After puffing on the cigarette to make sure it was lit, she quickly flicked her hand, putting out the fire. There was no damage to her skin.

Mokou gave Koizumi a small smile, and a wink. "I can take care of myself."

I can see that. So I guess in order to be an effective defender of the village, you need something special about yourself. She can control fire. Explained the fire protection amulets she had all over her. She really was like Fire Mario. I wonder if she tosses fireballs like him.

And then what happened next was kind of weird, even for me. She went up to Koizumi.

"Look, Koizumi, right? I know that this isn't going to end well."

"Hmm?"

"Me trying to find that girl." Mokou ran her fingers through her hair, letting out another sigh. "Truth is, if she's been gone for this long on a full moon, she's guaranteed to be dead. It's not that I don't feel anything, it's just that I've seen too much of it, ya know? I just try to numb myself to such things. ." Mokou stepped closer to Koizumi, still with a sad look on her face, but also something else...a wanting, I suppose. "But...this is totally the wrong place...but Koizumi...when all this blows over...do you want to...I don't know? Do something?"

She's asking him out? At a time like this? Mokou appeared to be a very straighforward girl.

Koizumi appeared to be taken aback by that, and glanced at all of us, who had to have been as stunned as he was, because nobody said anything. Koizumi took a deep breath

"Maybe, Miss Mokou. Let's see if we can accomplish our goals for the night. You look for that girl, and I'll do my part with my companions here. After that..." Koizumi nodded, his usual smile coming back. "I don't see why we shouldn't. I think I would like that, actually. You're an attractive woman after all."

Really? You accepted that?

A smile crossed Mokou's face, as her eyes lit up. Then she glanced at all of us, her face going impassive. "I'm not usually like this, to ask just any guy." She then returned her attention to Koizumi, a small smile forming on her face. "It's just that you are so damn cute, that I'd be stupid not to do something about it."

He has good looks, and he is able to use his powers in here. Damn it, he really has an advantage. Curse me for being normal.

And with that, Mokou stepped back, went into the air, and flew away, towards the direction we came from. As for what she said, I felt a pang of jealousy towards the esper, especially since he turned back to us with a sincere smile.

I just wanted to punch him in the face for that.

"Nice girl, but that wasn't the place for that." He continued to smile at all of us. "So...shall we continue?"

You lucky son of a-

The trip into the bamboo forest was uneventful for about fifteen minutes. Mokou was right - as long as we kept following her marks, we didn't end up at the beginning of the forest. Inwardly, I hummed Saria's song to myself, as it really did feel somewhat like the Lost Woods, barring the trees.

The trip into the forest reminded me of camping trips, going out into one of the national forests and hiking: the smell of the earth, the heat of the summer night, the slight breeze in the air. The big difference was that we were going through bamboo, so one could hear constant shuffling of the plants as we moved about. Another big difference were all the youkai we had with us: really big difference.

I had never before seen so much bamboo in my life, and I quickly tired of seeing the plant. Even without being magically turned around, it would be easy to get lost in such a place. In reality, if I wanted to hide, this would probably be the place to do so. Somewhere deep within this forest, hiding away like a theif, near the village. It was a perfect location.

Hearing another howl, we all paused. A reminder of what was going on out there in the rest of Gensokyo. I hope Mokou can find that kid. Yet again, I recalled Meiling's words. If that little girl couldn't defend herself, that was it. She's dead. I think Mokou's right. If a little girl is out there by herself, she's probably dead already. I inwardly said a little prayer, hoping that the girl would be found alive and well.

"It's been a very interesting night, hasn't it, Kyon?"

That was Nagato, who was keeping pace with me, not really leaving my side. So thankful for that.

"Yeah. Hopefully we can end this thing." I looked up at the fake moon. "Can't believe Suou is behind this, to commit such a horrible act."

"She might be desperate. Her plans have failed, especially the one concerning the Saigyou Ayakashi."

"For her to do this..."

"Her doing such an extreme was actually beyond any of my estimates."

"She managed to take away Haruhi's power for a while. This wasn't part of your estimates?"

Nagato simply shook her head. "Like I said, she's been getting desperate."

"Yukari has said that there are those who seek to destroy the creations of Haruhi simply because they are her creations." Reimu crossed her arms in a huff, involving herself in the conversation. "It's like some religious bull crap. 'My God is better than your God'. Sickening."

I opened my mouth to say something about what she said, considering what she is, but I didn't. Just kind of weird for a holy warrior like her to say such a thing. Then again, she's not a normal miko, according to my definitions. And also, she doesn't appear to worship any one specific God, if her shrine was any indication. Instead, I said the following.

"All this because of a stupid war. Funny thing is, Sasaki doesn't really care about this stuff, this fighting. Haruhi would love it, but she doesn't know."

As we kept walking, thankfully, Yuyuko and Youmu didn't ask me what the others did. However, Reimu walked up to me and flat out told me her opinion of the matter. I kind of liked her bluntness, in a way. To be direct myself, there was little B.S. in Reimu in that regard.

"I would have smacked her." The miko said unapologetically. "I'm actually disappointed that you didn't," Reimu glanced over at Koizumi. "And I'm disappointed that you stopped him. Someone needed to let her know that she can't do whatever she feels like. That she can't treat people that way, that you can't go through life doing what you want all the time."

"I'd stop someone from harming Miss Suzumiya, even if it were you, or one of the youkai here."

"Oh please. You know, I can understand why Asakura did what she did. You guys just sit on your butts and let Haruhi be as mean as she wants to. Hell, you would have let her be miserable and a social outcast right now if Kyon here didn't talk to her."

"What." Remilia quipped. "A miserable social outcast ike you? And I thought you said they were justified in doing what they did."

Reimu glared at the vampire, using her left hand to give Remilia a not-so-very-nice gesture as a response. "I never said anything about that, vampire. I do believe she needs to be kept in the dark and all, but she needs to learn that she isn't invincible. Nobody is." The miko shot a glare at Koizumi, who was about to say something else. "If you guys can't tell her she's a 'God', then you should stop treating her like one. I know this is a delicate situation, but sooner or later, she will have to grow up, and I'd rather it have been sooner that she recognizes her own limitations and boundaries than get crushed later on in life. If she doesn't grow up to be an adult soon, she won't be an adult when it comes time to take care of herself."

I think Reimu had more to say, but at that point, we heard something. Something very familiar to my ears, but not to my S.O.S. Brigade associates.

"What's that?" asked Koizumi.

I had stopped, my heart fluttering. Images of a certain blonde-haired girl came rushing to my mind. Her saving me from an icy prison. Her taking me up into the air to ride with her on a broom, to fight against Alice, to go to the afterlife. Me tugging on her dress to not let her get killed by a genocidal tree.

Her laugh. The way her hair smelled. Us kissing. I can still taste the kiss.

What I had heard was a Master Spark from up ahead.

Marisa Kirisame was nearby.

I reacted. I moved towards the sound. It was an automatic response - I wanted to see her again. All of my defenses that I had were gone, of me needing to forget her.

I needed to see her again.

I ignored the calls of my companions, as I pushed through the bamboo thicket. Luckily, I didn't end up at the start of the bamboo forest. From up ahead, I heard a voice, but it wasn't Marisa's.

"My my...what can you do all by yourself on a night such as this?"

Yukari?! That was Yakumo's voice!

And then I heard another voice in response. It was just as I remembered. The witch.

"You're fooling with the boundary of night and day, aren't you? Something screwy is going on, ze! I'm tired of that moon up there! It's causing these guys to just...kill!"

I kept pushing forward through the thicket, as I heard another Master Spark go off. I could see the light of it ahead.

I came to a clearing, of uneven ground, and a small pond. I numbly noticed a lot of rabbit tracks in the mud around said pond, but that wasn't what I was focused on. The scene before me consisted of Yukari Yakumo lying on the ground, propping herself up with a single elbow, but still managing to cover herself from the light of the moon with a parasol. She was breathing heavily, and I could see the obvious danmaku charring on her clothes, a little bit of smoke coming off of it. And standing over her...

The one girl whose memory had haunted me for a long time. That I hated for a while for making me feel so heartbroken.

That I felt feelings for.

Marisa Kirisame, armed with her Hakkero, aimed right at Yakumo's head.

The witch continued to stare down at the youkai, gritting her teeth.

"Move and I'll shoot, sukima. Or shoot and I'll move. Right away, ze. Somebody stopped that moon, and a never-ending night has harmful written all over it. You youkai eat humans during the night. I've been hearing it. If the night keeps going, the youkai will stuff themselves until they drop dead."

Yukari bemusingly smirked at the witch. "There's no way they'd do that."

Marisa gave a shrug, a light forming in the Hakkero. "Gotta exterminate them before they drop dead."

"Marisa!"

The emotion dropped off of Marisa's face, her eyes widening, as the light faded. I saw her gulp. Still aiming her weapon, she slowly turned her head towards my direction. I felt my heart start to pound. And I really got a good look at her. Her dress was torn in several locations. She had some obvious scratches (some deep), and makeshift bandages, holding back her bleeding. Marisa had seen some action that night.

When she saw me, her lower lip quivered. She didn't say anything, just stared at me.

Well, this isn't an ideal reunion. But I had to keep her from doing something drastic like killing Yukari.

"Marisa...what the hell are you doing?"

"...K...Kyon...?"

A flash of rage went through her eyes, as she returned her attention to the youkai in front of her.

"What the hell?! I thought you said you wouldn't bring him back! And now you brought him back to this night?! What is wrong with you?!"

Ah crap! Marisa's Hakkero lit up again, aimed right at Yukari.

"Marisa! Don't do this!"

As I shouted that out, I noticed something just whiz by me - a single amulet. It struck the Hakkero, knocking it out of Marisa's hand. The witch's eyes widened again, and then she dove for her weapon, picking it up as she rolled, ending up aiming it where the shot came from.

Of course, it was Reimu who tossed that amulet. The miko stepped from behind me, twirling her gohei with her left hand, and armed with amulets and needles in her right. In fact, the whole group had caught up.

"Yukari!" Yuyuko quickly made her way to the demon's side, along with Youmu. They both helped up the demon.

Marisa had backed up from us, a look of sheer confusion on her face. She didn't know what to make of this. Thing is, she still kept her Hakkero pointed in our direction. Eventually, Marisa aimed it right for Reimu.

Oh no. Don't do this.

"Stop aiming that at me." Reimu put her hands on her hips, the steel gaze returning. Marisa didn't respond, just kept pointing it.

"Marisa! Please stop it!"

The witches' eyes darted to me, and then back to Reimu.

"If you're going to do this, then I'll have to put you down." Reimu coldly said as she brought out a spell card.

"Reimu! What are you doing?!"

[SPELL CARD: FANTASY SEAL "CONCENTRATE"]

NO! Not that spell card! Despite my protests, the colorful energy balls went right for the witch.

Marisa's mouth moved, as the stood there. Is she just going to let herself get hit?

And right before the Fantasy Seal found its mark, I saw it. A flash of red surround the witch, along with a familiar symbol.

The Paranormal Border. Marisa had the Paranormal Border, and used it to block the attack. How in the world did she get that?

"What?!" Reimu stood there, jaw hanging open, eyes wide.

The witch grinned at the stunned miko. Running her finger on the brim of her hat, Marisa let out a chuckle. "Not this time. You're not putting me down with that again. Not after I unlocked the power of the Paranormal Border, ze." I could see the anger build up in Marisa's eyes again, as if she was fighting to keep from feeling anything else but anger. She glared at the miko, despite me trying to talk to her. Marisa either didn't hear me, or was ignoring me.

Marisa, why are you acting like this?

"...Why...why are you so powerful? You don't even train yourself. I train myself every chance I get. I do my damndest to be better than you...and I still fail. I always fail." The witch did another uttering, and the Paranormal Border came back. Grabbing her broom, Marisa went up in the air. "Tonight...tonight I'm gonna change that, ze."

I think Marisa has lost it a bit. And the worst part is, despite her not listening to reason, was that she brought out a lunatic card. I knew what it had to be. That's got to be the Final Master Spark.

Human female. Magician. Up in the air. Wind not much of a factor at this range. Humidity might be. Sniper rifle is sighted correctly. No pull to any side. Adjusting for distance. Female is talking to the boy. The boy is showing obvious signs of interest and slight affection towards the witch.

Hurt him. Kill the witch, then the boy.

Reisen heard those commands, and her body was automatic. She aimed right for the witch.

No! I don't want to kill! Don't make me do this!

Reisen felt herself pull the trigger.

But Marisa didn't get the chance to use it. Before she could even bring it up, a shot rang out, splitting the otherwise silent night with its violent sound. Something struck Marisa's head, but thanks to her Paranormal Border, it didn't penetrate. It still knocked her to the ground, however.

It took me a second to realize that someone had shot at Marisa.

I'll say that again.

Someone had shot at Marisa.

"Human get down!"

That was Yukari Yakumo's voice. What happened was that she bolted right for me, pushing me to the ground. What happened right after that was that she also got shot. I watched as a purple hole appeared on Yukari's chest, and an explosion of purple appeared behind her. She has purple blood. It happened in slow motion. Her teeth clenched as she fell to the ground, the impact of the bullet going through her, whipping her back.

Yukari had pushed me out of the way, and taken a bullet.

That bullet was meant for me. She just saved my life. She just took a freaking bullet for me!

My whole body shook in fear (and selfishly, relief) over what just happened. I was shot at. And someone got shot. It wasn't me, but it was meant for me. The fear was there, but it began to be replaced by anger.

She's been shot...she's shot because she pushed me out of the way!

I laid there on the ground, where Yukari pushed me, stunned. My eyes were on her and her alone. Time resumed to normal after a while, and I heard her gasp in pain, writhing on the ground. I didn't see it, but everyone hit the ground to avoid the fire of the shooter. For a while, Youmu kept standing there, apparently confused, but Sakuya pulled her down. Just in time, too. There was another gun shot, and it went through Youmu's ribbon, leaving a big hole in it. Koizumi was already at Yukari, applying pressure to the wound.

"Sniper rifle," Nagato quickly said. ".50 caliber. Possibly a Barrett."

We're being sniped?! And on the trail of that thought - There are guns in Gensokyo?! As if the fact that one could get eaten alive wasn't enough of a negative point. You could get shot at, too.

"Damn it all," Remilia angrily grumbled, "who in the bloody hell brought guns into Gensokyo?!"

I almost didn't hear that last part she said, because the sniper took yet another shot. It was at Myon, who didn't hit the ground. The impact caused the ghost half of Youmu to spin in mid air, but it didn't hurt the ghost. However, Youmu held onto her head like she had just gotten light-headed, so I'm guessing it did affect her.

"Youmu," Alice shouted, "you okay?"

I hope she is. She shot in her soul, pretty much. That's got to feel weird.

"Ah...yeah...that just...felt weird..."

Yuyuko lifted her head slightly, looking deeper into the forest.

"Where did that come from?!"

"We got to find out so we can attack them," shouted Koizumi, "but Kyon, get over here now! Use a vial!"

I nodded, and crawled over to the bleeding Yukari. I drank a vial, getting the saving grace of my variation of the Paranormal Border around me, healing the demon. She gasped as it reached into her, closing the wound.

"Ah...I...that...that wasn't necessary."

Are you crazy? You were possibly shot in the lungs!

Another shot. This one took off the ribbon on the top of Shanghai's head. Shanghai had slightly stood up to get a view of it surroundings, and only avoided having its head shot off because Alice pulled down on the doll. Shanghai turned to watch the bow hit the ground, before the doll followed suit to protect itself.

I saw Reimu with Marisa, and the witch was okay, thankfully. She just had wide-eyes, as if realizing what almost happened.

"You okay?!" I called out to her.

She nodded, holding onto her hat.

I looked towards Nagato.

"Nagato, where is the sniper?"

She kept her gaze in a direction, her eyes scanning the bamboo.

"Unable to determine. There's... It's difficult to describe. The interference of the bamboo forest is hampering me. There is some sort of manipulation of data, possibly magical in origin, that is preventing me from isolating the location of the sniper. All I can say," Nagato said as she pointed in a fairly wide area of the forest, "is that the sniper is in that general direction."

That doesn't help us much. I turned to Yukari, who had gotten control of her breathing.

"Can you help with this?"

"I'd like to help, human. It's just that my power has been limited."

"What do you mean?"

"The moonlight. It's containing most of my power. I can only do a fraction of my abilities."

Great. That's all we needed.

Another shot rang out, to keep our heads down, I suppose. I didn't see where it came from, however. Then I saw where it struck.

It had hit Yukari's parasol, knocking it away. The demon was exposed to the moonlight.

"Yukari!"

She quickly waved me off.

"I'll be fine! A little exposure won't make me feral. It builds up over time!"

She had tried to crawl for her parasol, but again, another shot, the dirt in front of her kicking up. The sniper wasn't going to let her get to it. Then, more shots, going for the parasols for Alice and Remilia as well.

We need to do something now. I don't want to see Remilia feral again. Also, this wasn't fair. If the sniper didn't get us, one of those three would.

"Anyone have a plan?!"

"I know I have a crazy idea, but it's the only one I can think of."

That was Koizumi, who had a serious look on his face. Considering he doesn't usually get like this, I assumed he had a really good plan.

"What is it?"

"Drink a vial, and stand up for the sniper."

I stared at him like he was crazier than Flandre. So much for my assumptions.

"You're asking me to get shot?"

"Shot at. With that barrier up, you shouldn't get hurt."

"You're asking me to get shot?!"

"Kyon, do it." Remilia coldy spoke. "All we need to know is where this sniper is, and we'll take them out!"

"Isn't there another way?"

Remilia raised an eyebrow, a disappointed look on her face. "Such as? We're being exposed to the moonlight! And where do we go, huh? We're in a clearing! There are no rocks or anything for us to-!"

Another shot, this one going right through one of Remilia's wings. Clenching her teeth, she grabbed it, swearing up a storm, blood seeping from the bullet hole.

She's right. That sniper will get all of us. And even if we weren't in the clearing, we were still in a bamboo forest. There was no way we could be safe for long. Even if we hid, we humans would simply get torn to pieces by Alice, Remilia, and Yukari.

As if to answer that thought, there was another shot, this one hitting me, taking away the barrier that I still had. The impact knocked me a good meter.

I got shot at again! Actually, I got shot. I rolled out of the way, not wanting to be in the place where I was. I had to have been in view of the shooter.

I noticed that everyone had spell cards out. Some of them were nodding for me to do it, others just staring out into the bamboo forest, I'm guessing trying to...well...guess where the sniper was. Remilia just stared out, armed with Gungnir, as her wing began to heal up.

Another shot, this one at Marisa's hat. It knocked into the air.

So, apparently, everyone wanted me to go along with this plan.

A plan where I got shot at by a sniper.

There are so many snarky things I can say here about such a plan, but then I'd be up all night saying them.

I was about to tell Koizumi where he could stick this plan, when my gaze went back to the demon, the bullet hole in her clothes, and the splatter of purple blood behind her. The anger swelled up again, and I just gave Koizumi a nod before I downed a vial. The anger had given me courage. As I propped myself up, Yukari grabbed my arm.

"I saw a glint. It's the scope. The scope is reflecting the light. Look for it."

I nodded. I stood up, and my eyes gazed around, trying to see anything. Suddenly the courage the anger gave me went away as my eyes darted back and forth looking to see where the shot came from.

What the hell am I doing what the hell am I doing what the hell am I doing?!

I'll tell you what I was doing. I willingly stood up to be target practice for a sniper. Not my smartest moment, mind you.

The worst thing was, the sniper wasn't taking the shot. My Supernatural Border was shrinking, and would be done in a few seconds. I began to shake with fear. Please shoot now. Please don't wait for the barrier to disappear before taking the shot! Please shoot now!

In my mind, I could feel the sniper's crosshairs on me. That my face was in the scope, and the lines targeting right between my eyes.

The sniper saw that my barrier protected me. The sniper is waiting for the barrier to disappear. I'm going to get shot. I'm going to get shot in the head. I'm going to die here. The damn sniper isn't shooting!

The red aura was disappearing from me. The barrier was ending, when I saw it.

A glint.

A glint about...I want to say at one o'clock from where I was standing. About...a hundred meters away.

Immeasurable fear went through my body in that split second I noticed it. It's not every day you find yourself in front of a gun.

There were several ways that scenario could play out. I could stand there, like an idiot, and allow myself to get shot. Not going to happen. I could duck back down, and all of us could continue to get shot at. Not appealing. Or...follow Koizumi's plan how he wanted it.

It was the only chance I had. Point out the sniper before they could shoot, and the girls can take out that sniper. I pointed at the glint, shouting.

"There! There! Sniper is rig-"

I didn't get to finish that sentence. Another shot came from where I was pointing. It hit my face...and it would have gone through it and out the back of my skull, if the barrier wasn't up for that microsecond.

I just took a bullet to the head and lived to tell about it. How about that.

Also, I'm glad that I...went...at the human village. Because otherwise...in that situation...

Don't give me that look. I got shot in the face.

Even with the barrier, the impact caused me to whip back, like Yukari. It was a big force, but I didn't feel a thing. As I fell, I saw everyone unload their spell cards into the direction the shot came from.

[SPELL CARD: FANTASY SEAL "CONCENTRATE"]

[SPELL CARD: CURSE "HOURAI DOLL"]

[SPELL CARD: PARADOX "MISSING SQUARE"]

[SPELL CARD: DIVINE LANCE "SPEAR THE GUNGNIR"]

[SPELL CARD: LOVE SIGN "MASTER SPARK"]

[SPELL CARD: NETHER SIGN "PASSAGE TO THE NETHERWORLD"]

[SPELL CARD: LIFE-ENDING SWORD "MEDITATION SLASH"]

[SPELL CARD: LETTER FROM HEAVEN "ASTEROID 10152"]

As I was down on the ground, I could not tell you what some of those new spell cards were like. The Sword and the Nether one were Youmu's and Yuyuko's, respectively. By the way, that "Paradox" one was Koizumi's. Yes, he had acquired spell cards too, apparently. Anyways, back to the task at hand. Suffice to say, due to the overkill of spell cards, a large path was cut into the bamboo, clearing the way. Thing is, from that direction, there was nothing. Just nothing but fallen bamboo that began to regrow.

The sniper wasn't there.

Remilia got up and recalled Gungnir. She was angry.

"Are you kidding me?! I missed?! Gungnir never misses! How was that-"

We heard movement from within the bamboo forest, not far from where the girls shot into. I saw her in a clearing a ways away from us. We all did. A...a bunny girl. A bunny woman. That's all I could tell from her outline.

Oh, and she was carrying a sniper rifle.

The sniper girl turned towards us, bringing up the gun in our direction. That glint once again shone. Remilia just as quickly pointed at her, and then tossed Gungnir before the bunny woman could take the shot.

The sniper reacted. She did some sort of action-movie backflip, and there was some sort of distortion from where she jumped. Gungnir reached that distortion, and missed. Again.

Remilia exploded in anger and frustration.

"What the hell! What the hell is this bull crap?! Gungnir isn't supposed to miss! You bunny bitch! You're going to pay for that!"

This night just gets Remilia angrier and angrier. Seriously. She's going to be stressed out and have high blood pressure or something.

The sniper girl then ran deeper into the forest, away from us, after beating one of the best weapons in the world. I stared after the retreating bunny girl, a little bit afraid. Everyone shot at her, and she still got away. She still managed to escape this group. A lunarian soldier was able to get the drop on everybody here. Remilia and Alice could sense things, as could Reimu, in a way. And they didn't even know that the sniper was rather close to us.

This group may not be as powerful as I initially thought.

I took a deep breath, allowing the silence of the night to just wash over me, a nice respite from the bullet shots moments before.

Next thing I knew, Marisa was standing over me.

The two of us stared into each others eyes.

A smile came across her face, quickly turning into that toothy grin.

"Sorry about all that. Been having a terrible night, ze." She lowered her eyes. "And I've been in a bad mood since getting beat by Reimu again." She turned to the miko. "I just...I'm sorry."

I saw Reimu simply nod in response. "You're not the only one who had a rough night, mind you."

Marisa then turned to Yukari, who already forgave Marisa.

Turned out that Marisa had lost to Reimu two weeks at the Mesmeric Mist Incident, and had been feeling down, and angry. And when this night rolled around, she was supposed to go to Remilia's party, but overslept. Finding out that the youkai were up to something, Marisa had gone to investigate, only to run into a lot of youkai. Finding Yukari out and about, Marisa had followed the gap demon into the bamboo forest, believing that Yakumo was up to something, and confronted her there, which is where we came in.

Marisa returned her attention to me. "I never thought I'd see you again in person, ze," She quietly said as she extended her hand to help me up. "But here you are."

I slowly nodded, before I took her hand. Helping me up, the two of us ended up close to one another. Very close. Her scent wafted into my nostrils, triggering a lot of memories. I stared into her beautiful golden eyes, my mouth going a little dry.

Why do I still have feelings for her?

She hugged me. I couldn't help but return it.

"I really thought you were gone forever," she whispered.

Why does she have to say things like this? Damn it all. I felt a pang in my heart when she said that.

Still...despite how it wouldn't work out, how I knew it wouldn't work out, it still felt good to be there with Marisa, holding her in my arms. The warm feeling of her body. Her hair brushing up against me.

It felt right...I think.

God, why do I have to go through this? This is so painful. But it wasn't unenjoyable. I felt comfortable there, actually. Pain and comfort. Interesting combination.

However, I knew I had a problem. Looking over Marisa's shoulder, I saw that Koizumi and Nagato had noticed how I was acting towards the witch. Hell, anybody would have been able to put two and two together and notice it, especially with the way I pleaded with her to not attack us.

As I kept my gaze on my brigade associates, I knew that we would have to have a talk later. But not then.

After Marisa and I broke our hug, I gave her a quick rundown of what was going on.

"Wow. The fairies? Never know that about them, ze." Marisa patted me on the back. "While it's great to see you again, I think we gotta get to the bottom of this first, ze." She winked at me. "Then maybe we can pick up where we left off?" She turned to Yukari. "So, where do we go from here then?"

Yukari, who was finishing up on dusting off her dress, smiled at the witch.

"We have a near impossible task at hand." She glanced at all of us. "You see, the Sky Canopy Domain is indeed behind this, and what you have seen is their handiwork."

"What do you mean?" Reimu asked.

"It's similar to what they did to Whiterock a number of months ago. Influencing youkai. Giving them some of their power, controlling them to a degree." Yukari nodded to where the sniper disappeared to. "However, to that level means they are directly controlling the peddler there. And they will be possibly controlling the Lunarians."

Yikes. That's scary. Being able to control others. Thing is, it kind of fit. When Whiterock was about to kill me, and whatever it was that Reimu broke to get the real Whiterock back...that whole scene finally made sense.

"So, the Sky Canopy Domain just might be controlling the Lunarians."

"Wait wait..." Marisa looked astonished. "Lunarians?"

I didn't get to tell her that part. We'd tell her in a little while, however.

Yukari looked over all of us. "I can help all of you. I know these Lunarians quite well."

"Bull." Remilia stepped up to Yukari, sneering. "I know all about you, Yukari. That failed invasion. I've been doing my homework on you. You lead a thousand youkai to die against the Lunarians. And now you want to lead three youkai, an esper, a data entity, and..." Remilia glanced over at Youmu. "...and a half human - again, I'm sorry, Youm-"

Myon bopped Remilia in the face again.

I inwardly laughed. Myon, stop that. You're only going to get this angry vampire even agrier.

The vampire glared at the samurai gardener. "I'm going to kill that ghost of yours the next time it does that." Remilia returned her attention to Yukari. "Point is, sukima, is that we don't need you. You already failed against the Lunarians." The vampire's gaze went over all of us. "Let's go."

Remilia turned to leave, but before she even took a step, Yukari spoke.

"What if I told you that I lost on purpose?"

Wait, what?

Remilia stopped, slowly turning to the demon, a bewildered look on the vampires face. Remilia just stared at Yukari like she was crazy, silent for half a minute. The demon stood there, a small smile on her face. Remilia pursed her lips, before speaking.

"Why...why would you do that?"

The demon stepped up to Remilia. "To teach little youkai like yourself not to claim too much land for your own. To never overextend your reach." Yukari smirked.

Remilia blinked, opening her mouth to say something. It took her a while to form the words. "A...a thousand and two youkai went to the moon, and only three came back, including you. You sacrificed so many just to prove a point?!"

"It's true. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to attain my goals, even sacrificing my own body. It's for the good of my kind, and for the good of Gensokyo. My plans always work. I never lose, Miss Scarlet. And I don't intend on losing tonight, despite my powers being essentially nullified. I will stop this, and from where things stand, I'm the best chance you have at avenging the loss of your party." Yukari's eyes drifted to Sakuya. "...To avenge your attempted murder of Sakuya there."

In a flash, Remilia became enraged. She grabbed Yukari by the collar, bringing her face to face. "Don't you dare use that-"

Yukari grinned a toothy grin at the angry vampire, as she placed her index finger on the vampire lips, 'shushing' her. "I can help you attain your revenge. As I said, I know these Lunarians quite well, actually. Now, calm down, child." Yukari slowly backed up, removing her finger.

Remilia stood there fuming for a few seconds. She took a deep breath, crossed her arms, and slowly nodded. "Fine. You have a plan?"

"Yes."

"You'll help us solve this?"

"Of course. That fake moon threatens all of Gensokyo. We've lost too many lives tonight. But, first...first, I need to test Kyon here."

"Me?"

Yukari, twirling her parasol, stepped up to me.

"Have you been brushing up on your folklore? In case you didn't know, I was that librarian."

"So it was you. I thought so."

"Yes. Getting others to learn the folklore of youkai is something I like doing. Keeps us from fading away. As for you, one who has come into Gensokyo and survived it, I thought you would appreciate knowing more. Now, I have a challenge for you, human, to put that knowledge to the test."

I raised an eyebrow. "Would it really be the best time to do this?" Because I'd like to stop wasting time. Sakuya's using her energy to do her thing, and the longer this goes on, the more feral the youkai will get.

"It's actually an appropriate time, more so than you think." Yukari paused, still with that knowing smile. It put a little dread in my body, to tell the truth.

And then the next thing she said would forever change my world.

"The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. I want you to tell it to everyone here."

My mind exploded in information, of that famous Japanese folktale coming to the forefront. Of what it contained. Of who it contained.

That story of the Lunarian Princess.

I was to tell the story of the Lunarian Princess after learning that Lunarians exist.

Don't tell me. Don't tell me that Princess Kaguya is actually for real.

Mystia and Wriggle didn't get that far from leaving the group. Mystia had heard something off the path to the Hakurei shrine, despite Wriggle's grumblings. The two decided to quickly check up on it.

There was a ball of darkness in the clearing they came to. The two youkai stepped forward, recognizing it. It was their friend, Rumia, but something was different. Even though it was rather dark in the clearing, they could see drops of blood dripping from the ball. And they smelled the blood of a youkai in the air. Wriggle called out to the ball, hoping that the shadow youkai wasn't hurt.

"Rumia?"

*munch munch*

"I didn't mean for it to end like this for you, little one..."

Rumia kept eating from within her ball of darkness, obviously not speaking to the Nightsparrow or the Firefly. Wriggle shifted on her feet, wondering if she should shed any light with her firefly brethren. Part of her didn't want to - she knew what Rumia was eating. She could smell it, taste it in the air.

A human. A mere child.

"Rumia...what the-"

"Heheh...she...these past few weeks...I made a friend, you see."

Rumia kept eating, kept...crying? She was crying as well?

"It was weird. A mere ten year old child. She saw me one evening-"

*munch*

"-and she wanted to see what I was...heheheh...I showed her...I got rid of the darkness surrounding me...and I showed her what I was."

Rumia took a second to gulp down a large portion, and let out a little sob before continuing. Wriggle swallowed hard at this, at the way Rumia was talking.

"She wasn't afraid. She was awed by what I was. She wasn't afraid of a youkai. She-"

*crunch*

"-she wanted to know me..."

Rumia started to giggle, though it wasn't one of enjoyment.

"I told her what I was, what I do, that I eat people, humans like her. She didn't care. She wanted to be my friend...mmmmmm...tasty..."

Rumia sobbed a bit after this. Wriggle and Mystia remained silent, their eyes ever widening. They have never seen or heard Rumia cry since they've known her.

"It was weird. Her...my friend...it actually worked. We became friends...heheheh..."

The snapping of bones could be heard from within the darkness.

"Then...tonight. Tonight tonight tonight tonight. She heard the youkai howling, everything getting riled up. She...she went out to see if I was okay. Stupid stupid stupid stupid...my blood boiled for her blood when she found me...I wanted her."

*munch*

"But I told her that I didn't want to hurt her. I told her that she should go back...stupid stupid stupid..."

Wriggle stepped forward.

"...Rumia, did-"

"And then that damned bastard youkai came along and killed her! It killed her! It killed her! I had to kill it! I had to kill the stupid thing! Look!"

The darkness of the area alleviated a bit, revealing what was below the ball of shadow Rumia was in. The moon shone on the red scene below, bits and pieces of what had to be a lesser youkai strewn about, although at this point it was impossible to tell what it used to be. Wriggle and Mystia gasped as they took steps back. They were not expecting that.

"I tore it to pieces! I tore the stupid thing to pieces! It killed her! I can't believe that it killed her!"

For the next minute, Rumia sobbed and ate, nobody saying anything.

"I couldn't...I...-"

*snap* *gulp*

"...I don't know...I couldn't bury her...my first human friend...because we'd be apart..."

*munch*

"At least this way..."

*gulp*

"...this way we can be together."

*sob*

"Why? Why did this happen? Why is my blood boiling? Why did that thing kill her?"

Wriggle took a deep breath.

"Rumia...Rumia, it's the moon. The moon is fake. It's giving off this vile light that is making all youkai go feral. That's why we're staying in the shadows too, and with parasols. It's driving all of us, all kinds of youkai, to violence."

Rumia was silent for a bit, not even the sounds of eating came from within the ball of darkness.

"...is that so..."

Softly, Rumia began to giggle with intermittent sobs.

"The moon. Luna. Heheh...how funny. How ironic. The moon is waking her up."

Mystia and Wriggle shot each other a look before Mystia spoke up.

"What?"

"Nothing nothing nothing. I just find it funny that the moon is waking her up. So damn ironic. After what was done to this body since that time, for it to start to stir again because of the moon? That's funny. Funny funny funny. Mmmmm...child, you are delicious."

"Rumia what the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing. I'm just rambling. Besides, she is merely stirring. I can feel her, but she's still locked away. Nothing to worry about. Nothing that concerns you two, or anybody except the Demon...maybe the creator as well..."

The remains of the girl Rumia was eating dropped from within the darkness, causing both Wriggle and Mystia to jolt in surprise. The shadow ball contracted into Rumia, who now floated towards them to the cover of shadows the trees provided, getting out of the moonlight. Covered in blood, especially dripping from her mouth, the shadow youkai stared at her youkai friends, tears still falling from her eyes.

"Tell me, friends...who's behind this fake moon?"

Mystia couldn't take her eyes off of the remains of the human child, still in a bit of shock, so Wriggle spoke.

"The Hakurei miko is looking into it. The Scarlet Devil, her maid, two ghosts, and the puppeteer are also hunting down the ones who did this. And that boy you ran into is back. He's with the vampire, along with two others."

Amusement shone in the eyes of the shadow Youkai. She grinned.

"Ah...Mister...Heh...Mister...I hope they can find out who did this. Because I'd like to personally eat the ones behind it all. Alive."

-entry-

-Entities encountered:

-"Mokou", Human? (Unsure - detected an anomaly)

-Marisa Kirisame, Human

-Yukari Yakumo, Demon

-Unknown Sniper (Unable to detect)

-Various humans at the Human Village

-Various Youkai

-Entities cataloged.

"Hakurei Bloodline Incident" (unofficial name)

-Mid-1999. After Reimu Hakurei trained herself at the request of the Hakurei family pet youkai turtle, Genjii, she came back to the shrine to find that youkai had invaded it. This was the first incident where Reimu Hakurei used Danmaku to settle the entire incident, as well as the first time the miko rode Genjii into battle. Following the flow of Youkai, Reimu Hakurei entered the Forest of Magic for the first time, and met Marisa Kirisame, who served Mima, an evil spirit. Mima instigated the incident in hopes of acquiring the power of the Hakurei Ying Yang orbs for herself. Reimu Hakurei soundly defeated Marisa Kirisame and Mima, and ended up becoming friends with Marisa Kirisame.

- Reimu Hakurei kept getting powerful. She was still eleven at the time of this incident, as was Marisa Kirisame.

=RESOLVED=

-File Catalogued by Emiri Kimidori.

-end file-

-[ADMIN 612]: I demand an explanation for your insubordination. Your actions deserve punishment.

-I know it was you who spearheaded the campaign to get me deleted. The fact that you are still in "command" of me is a joke.

-[ADMIN 612]: You deserve to be deleted.

- As do you.

-[ADMIN 612]: You are not in a position to bargain, nor threaten.

- I actually am. The data I have is important. I will win back the Overmind's favor. And as the humans say, I'm going to "rub your face in it".

- [ADMIN 612]: That will not happen. I'll make sure of it.

-N. Yuki

-end entry-

-logoff-

I know that Nue is only 800 years old. But bear with me here. I'm going somewhere with this.

Or am I? I don't know anymore. :p

Rumia's bit was inspired by the doujins "Those who Await the Dawn" by Mikage Sekiza, and "How I Ate a Youkai" by: Fuuzasa. I'll say it again - I have so much fun writing for Rumia than any other character.

And Mokou...another one of my favorite characters. Love her to death, and her very concept.

Read and Review. Lady Yukari demands it!