"And this is where you will be staying Hailey." As they stepped out onto the pavement.
It was a large victorian era townhouse. However it was difficult to make out any more detail than that, as the garden out front seems to have grown and obscured most of the bottom story. However what can be seen is the same blood red bricks as the Manor they just left. Combine that with the thick window shutters and the nameplate by the gate attested to this to being the property of the Scarlet family.
"Woah, this is big!" Hailey said. Not as big as the SDM, but its base was as big as the Dursleys whole yard, and it was at least twice as tall.
"And for the time being, it's all yours." said Yukari. "Shall we have a look inside?"
Hailey was running down the various hallways, opening doors at random and goggling at the contents, before sprinting off to another random door.
This was all hers! For someone who had spent her whole life in a cupboard under the stairs, this fact was positively mind boggling. She didn't even know it was possible to own this much stuff, and yet Yukari said this was all hers.
It was at this point Hailey realised that Yukari was no longer behind her. She looked around and couldn't find her nearby either. She started retracing her steps, until she found her sitting in one of the lounge rooms, stifling a yawn. "Nice to have you back Hailey. I was worried I might have to come find you."
"What's wrong Yukari?" Hailey said, worried that she might have done something wrong.
"Oh nothing, it's just that the past few weeks have taken its toll." At Hailey's confused expression, Yukari clarified, "I usually sleep through winter you see. The cold season doesn't really agree with me. So I hibernate."
"Hibernate?"
"It means I go to bed at the end of Autumn and don't get up until spring." She explained, "Barring some important events like new years of course. But I have not been able to sleep for the past two weeks due to looking after you. Now that you are nice and situated, I was considering going home to resume my slumber."
Hailey felt like she was just punched in the gut. "You are leaving?"
"At least until spring. I'll send my Shikigami in to check on you periodically." Yukari explained.
"I'm going to be all alone?" Hailey whimpered.
Yukari caught Hailey's pitiful expression and sighed. "I see, I meant for this to test your independence. But I see this might be a bit too much for you at this time."
Hailey perked up slightly.
"I'm still leaving-"
Hailey sagged.
"-but I will be leaving you with a friend to keep you company."
Hailey perked up again. "A new friend?"
"Yes." said Yukari, opening up a gap in the air in front of her and fishing around in it. "Lets see… Got her!"
There was an indignant yowl and Yukari lifted out a black cat. It had brown eyes, a thick gold earring in one ear, and had two tails, ending in white tips. She also had white socks.
Yukari presented Hailey the cat, holding it under its front paws. "Hailey, this is Chen, Chen this is Hailey."
"A cat?" Hailey said, not sure whether to be disappointed or not.
"Not just any cat, a Youkai cat." Yukari said, dropping the cat and stifling another yawn. "She will keep you company for the time being, and while you are at it Chen, Hailey is new to the whole being a Youkai, so be a dear and show her the ropes."
The cat Meows loudly. Hailey wonders if that was conformation or refusal.
"Good good." said Yukari, yawning again and without further notice starts climbing into the still open gap. "Be good to each other and *yawn* I'll see you in spring."
Yukari sort of tumbles in, and the gap closes behind her."
Ran stares blankly at the sofa. When she had left the room, her shikigami had been dosing there. When she had returned she now found her master in the exact same place, exact same posture, sleeping soundly. Chen was nowhere to be seen.
"I have many questions and noone to ask." Ran said flatly.
It was tough sometimes, being Yukari's shikigami.
Hailey just stared at where Yukari had been. Yukari had been the best thing to ever happen to Hailey, and now that she was gone, she felt kind of… empty. Hailey prayed for winter to be over soon.
"Well looks like we are on our own." came a voice from behind her, distracting her from her lament.
She turned around to see the cat standing there, it's brown eyes sizing her up.
Before she could question her hearing, the cat seemed to shift. It suddenly grew and changed shape. Where there had been a cat there now stood a 12 year old girl in a red dress and green mob cap, and brown hair. She still had her cat ears though, and both tales.
"Well like she said, names Chen, I'm a Nekomata. Yukari's my boss… In a way. More of my bosses boss to be honest. But still, at your service. Hailey right?" Chen extended a paw… hand.
Hailey took it slowly as if expecting claws. "Yeah… How did you do that?"
"Chen cocked her head. "You really are pretty new to this aren't you? I am a Nekomata, I'm technically more cat than anything else. There's no real 'how', I just can."
"Oh…" said Hailey, feeling awkward.
"Yukari said I gotta teach you how to be a Youkai, there's the first lesson: Don't question so much, just go with the flow." Chen said. "Youkai mostly run off belief, fear and magic, so not everything tends to make sense."
"Umm…" Hailey said. "Could I learn to do something like that?"
Chen Grinned. "Now there's a question worth asking… and one I don't know the answer to. But still! Stick with me and I'll show you what being a Youkai is all about."
"Okay." said Hailey. She still missed Yukari, but Chen seems alright.
"Right, First off, Harassing humans!" Chen said, throwing her hands in the air.
"Eh?" exclaimed Hailey, before she was dragged off by the hand.
"Dammit where is everybody?" Chen said from her branch. "Typical humans, never around when you want them."
"Well it is winter. Most people are indoors." said Hailey, crouching next to the small witchfire that Chen had summoned up to keep them warm in their position up the tree. "Are you sure it's ok to do stuff like this? It feels kinda mean."
"Well it is, that's the point." Chen said, as if that explained everything.
"But…"
"This is lesson two, humans exist to sustain and amuse us. I already knew this when I was a cat, but I guess since you used to be human this might take some getting used to." Chen said. "Oh someone's coming! Shush!"
A middle aged man was wandering down the path, bundled up in a coat and clutching his briefcase to his chest. Just as he passed under the tree, chen shouted, "Now!"
They both jumped on the branches they had been squatting on, bringing down a whole heap of snow on the poor man's head.
Chen cackled as she hopped down from her branch, landing on the new pile of snow on the footpath, before sprinting off on all fours. Hailey slid down the tree and struggled to catch up just as the man's head surfaced.
"You Damn kids, wait until I get my hands on you!" the man shouted as he attempted to extract himself from the snow. By the time he had succeeded, Hailey and Chen were long gone.
"What did I tell ya? Priceless." said Chen, still giggling as she reclined on the park bench that the two now inhabited.
"He… sounded… Really… mad." said Hailey between breaths, nowhere near Chen's level of fitness.
"Once more, that's the point." Chen said, "If there was no reaction, what would be the point?"
Hailey took a moment to catch her breath. "I kinda feel sorry for him, I mean, snow isn't that fun to be covered in."
"auughhh... You are still too nice!" Chen groaned loudly. "Part of being a Youkai is making humans suffer, if you are gonna feel bad about a little frostbite, how are you gonna get anything done?"
"Sorry…" Hailey said sadly. She had just made Chen mad.
"No no, don't worry, clearly I'm taking the wrong approach here." said Chen, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I thought accosting random people would be a safe place to start. But seems you need more incentive to be nasty." Chen stopped to think for a moment, before making a face of realisation. "Hey, is there anyone you hate, I mean really hate. Someone you wouldn't mind suffering?"
It was dark out by the time they arrived, Chen jumped from lamppost to Lamppost, carrying Hailey under her arm, before jumping to a third story window.
"Well, this is the place." Chen said, dropping Hailey on the windowsill, "A hospital huh? Jeez you must have done a number on his arm."
Hailey stood looking into the window. Chen had somehow been able to locate Dudley by summoning some sort of wisp. But Hailey had a strange feeling. Wiping the frost with her hand, she could see the bed in the room beyond. She couldn't see who was in it, but she somehow knew it was Dudley.
Chen turned Hailey to face her. "Okay, now in there is the face of one of your childhood tormentors. Forget that stupid human empathy crap, and do it like we practiced. You are gonna scare the ever loving shit…"
"I think I can do it." Hailey said, feeling strangely calm about the whole situation.
Chen seemed to falter at the interruption, but rallied. "Well I'll be just out here if you need me. If things get hairy, I'll provide backup." She coated her hand in witchfyre and touched the lock on the window, before simply opening it. "Go get him." she whispered as Hailey stepped forward.
I cold gust accompanied Haileys entrance, and it seemed to stir Dudley from his sleep. "Wuh… Who's there?" he said sleepily.
"Hello cousin, how's your arm?" Hailey said, stepping forward.
"Huh… What! You!" he said, suddenly very awake.
At one point she and Chen had practiced a loose script on what to say at this point. But as she continued to walk forward, it was forgotten as a tiny switch in Hailey's head went *click*. "Tell me Dudley, did it hurt? Did it?"
"You are in so much trouble you know, Daddy said he is going to make you very sorry for what you did, and then…" Dudley said.
"But I wonder, did it hurt enough?" Hailey ponders, cutting Dudley off.
"...huh?" said Dudley, not used to her talking back.
"You have hurt me a lot over the years, you know." Hailey said, still slowly walking toward the bed. "One has to wonder, was one bite even enough?"
"What… what do you mean?" Dudley asked, his voice shaking.
"I think you know exactly what I mean." Hailey said, stopping at the edge of the bed. "How many bites will it take before I can forgive you? Will there even be any Dudley left by the time I'm done?"
"Mum and dad are in just the other room, I can call them and then you will be in big trouble." said Dudley, fear made audible by the trembling in his voice. Hailey loved it.
"Good." Hailey said. "I want them to hurt too, I want you to all hurt."
And Hailey started to slowly circle the bed, and singing a little rhyme that popped up into her head.
"I am a little monster,
I don't know right from wrong,
If you had treated me better,
We might have got along,"
As she reached the foot of the bed, Her voice started becoming layered, becoming more sinister with every verse.
"But now whenever I see you,
I will spit and screech,
And now we will see if you have a heart,
When I rip it out with my Teeth!"
Petunia and Vernon Dursley awoke with a start when they hear a scream from in the room. They burst in to a figure standing on the foot of Dudleys bed, as he cowered on the headboard.
"Mommy, Daddy, its… its…" stuttered Dudley, pointing with his one good arm.
The figure turned to them, and Bright green eyes glowed like lanterns in the darkness. "Helo Uncle, Auntie."
"You!" Vernon snarled, launching himself at her.
But in a surprising show of dexterity, Hailey avoided the clumsy grab with a backflip and landed in front of the window, silhouetted by the moonlight. "Missed me," she said, giggling.
"Stay away from him you little monster!" Pentunia said, draping herself over Dudley's shivering form.
"Thats right Auntie, I'm a monster now," said Hailey, her multifaceted voice making her giggle even more creepy. "And I'm sooo hungry, and Dudley tasted soo good. Won't you let me have another bite?" Even her teeth seemed to shine as she smiled, showing her new jagged fangs.
"You step one foot closer, and I'll… and I'll…" said Vernon, standing between the bed and Hailey. But even he was frightened. This was not the scared little girl from before. This was something dangerous, and Vernons animal instincts were telling him to run, that in front of him is a predator.
"Oh no, my big scary uncle is here? Whatever will I do?" Hailey said, in mock worry. "But… maybe I will leave now, it seems a shame to end things now… not when there is so much more fun to be had." she turned her back on them to face the window. "Goodbye Dursleys, I'll be baaack~"
And she cackled, and cackled. Even as she vaulted over the window the cackling continued, slowly fading into the night, only to continue in their nightmares for years to come.
Chen managed to catch the cackling Hailey as she fell past, and quickly carried her away. Jumping away on the lamp posts until they were a block away, and Hailey was out of breath. Chen didn't trust herself to speak until then.
She landed on a rooftop, and enthusiastically hugged Hailey to her chest, twirling on the spot. "Hahaha, that was Incredible! I didn't know what to think when you started going off script, but you are a natural!"
"That... felt… so... good!" Hailey said breathing heavily, and grinning like a girl possesed.
"I bet it did!" said Chen, falling backwards with Hailey on her lap and ruffling her hair. "I almost forgot you were a beginner. You got a knack for being creepy. Just start channelling that and You'll be a grade-A youkai before Yukari even wakes up."
All of Hailey's doubt or hesitation was gone by that point, buried under the fearborne high that she had milked from her former family. This was probably the point where human Hailey fully died, and Youkai Hailey was truly born. "Yeah, I'm gonna be the bestest Youkai ever!"
Chen laughed and rubbed Hailey's head again. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." she said getting up. "Come on, all that fear made me hungry, let's rob a convenience store and get home before the high runs out."
Hailey didn't even question it. "Yeah! I wanna slurpee!"
"In winter?"
"I wanna Slurpee!"
"Okay, okay! Let's go find a 7-Eleven."
"Ahh this is the life." said Chen, chugging a massive bottle of cola.
"Mhm! Mhm!" Hailey mumbled. Her mouth full of Icecream.
They were in what was previously a sitting room, but currently housed about half the bedding in the house, which was used to create what could only be described as a 'pillow palace'. There, both Hailey and Chen lounged around near a fireplace full of witchfyre, and occasionally sampled snacks from their stolen hoard.
Hailey could only imagine how jealous Dudley would be of her now if he could see.
"Man, the outside world is great sometimes." Chen said.
Hailey stopped shoveling ice cream in her mouth long enough to look at Chen questioningly. "Outside world?"
"You mean Yukari didn't tell you about Gensokyo?" Chen said, tilting her head. "Gensokyo is where we come from, it's a place in Japan, it's sort of a sanctuary for Youkai. Basically when all the humans started getting superrational and stuff, and stopped believing in magic and crap. It meant all the Youkai started getting weaker and fading away. So then Yukari and a few other powerful youkai, as well as a shrine maiden all got together in an out of the way valley in japan and put up a huge barrier, to keep all the magic in, and then a second barrier to draw in all the magic people don't believe in any more to sustain it. And that's where most Youkai live these days. It's a pretty cool place, and I'm much more powerful in there then out here. But the outside world can be pretty fun too, to those who can survive being outside the barrier at least, like you and me."
"That sounds pretty neat!" Hailey said, liking the idea of meeting lots of Youkai. "Can I go there?
"To be honest, I'm not sure why you aren't there already." Chen said. "Usually when Yukari finds youkai she likes, she brings them to Gensokyo as soon as she can."
"Oh." said Hailey, thinking, "Does that mean Yukari doesn't like me?"
"Nah!" said Chen dismissively, opening a bag of crisps, "If she didn't like you she wouldn't have wasted this much time on you, she probably has her reasons. Ask her when you see her next spring."
"Okay." said Hailey, doubts assuaged, "hey, give me some of that."
"Get your own, we got plenty," Chen said, moving the crisps out of Haileys reach.
"Fine." grumbled Hailey, doing as she was told.
"To be honest I'm not in a hurry to get back right now." Chen said. Throwing a handful of crisps into her mouth.
"Why not?"
"Think about it, we are alone in a massive house that no one can find uninvited without powerful magic. No one knows we are here except Yukari, and she probably fell asleep the moment she got back. So probably not even Ran knows where I am yet. I rarely get to go to the outside world without oversight, so this is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose for a bit. As long as I don't go overboard..."
"I can get away with nearly anything, is what you were going to say, am I correct? You severely underestimate my ability to find my own shikigami, Chen." said a voice by the door.
Chen sprung to her feet with a yowl, and turned to face the new figure. "Oh, umm... Hey Ran."
"Good evening Chen, I take it you are enjoying yourself?" said the tall woman, Hailey couldn't help but stare at the mass of fox tales behind her.
"Oh well you see I was… Um Yukari..." Chen started, but Ran cut her off.
"No need to explain, Yukari-sama was kind enough to leave a note under her hat explaining the situation."
"Oh… Well, yeah I'm just showing little Hailey how to be a proper Youkai." Chen said proudly.
"And what part of being proper youkai involves lying around, stuffing your face with snackfood?" Ran said, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, well." Chen said, shuffling her foot awkwardly, "We were hungry?"
Ran sighed. "One day Chen, I will instil you with good work ethic. But for now there is another matter."
Ran approached Hailey, and she struggles to her feet, wondering if she was also in trouble. But Ran smiled and bowed respectfully. "I am Ran Yakumo. I am Yukari-sama's Shikigami, and Chen's master. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Err… You too." Hailey said, bowing awkwardly in return.
"I must Say, Yukari has high hopes for you young Hailey." Ran said, making Hailey blush. "But your potential needs to be nurtured, and while I am sure that Chen has done a… respectable job of educating you in general Youkai matters." Chen recovered from her awkward moment and puffed out her chest at the almost praise. "There is more to being youkai than mere mischief making. If you wish to truly make something of yourself, your mind will have to be nurtured, as well as your body. Chen can help you with the latter, but for the former, Yukari has instructed me to act as your academic tutor."
"You mean a teacher?" Hailey said.
"Quite. But apart from that, I will also be monitoring your well being. So if you ever have any problems, feel free to ask. I am here to help." she reached down and ruffled her hair. People were doing that a lot to her lately. She was really starting to like it.
Ran straitened up, "For now though it is time for good girls to go to bed. We will discuss your curriculum tomorrow." she then looks around at the surroundings, "Although it looks like you have brought bed in here first."
"Eheh." Chen said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"But I'm not tired." Hailey said, pouting.
"Considering you seem to have inhaled enough sugar to be lethal, I'm not surprised." Ran said, sighing. "Lets see how to remedy this…"
There was a flurry of tales and Hailey found herself laying down with her back against a large golden nine tailed fox with a mob cap. She was slightly alarmed at the shift. But then the tales draped over her like a blanket, and she suddenly felt sleepy.
"Shush." said Ran, in her fox form. "Just a little bit of fox magic. Sleep soundly, and have good dreams."
"Okay." said Hailey, her eyelids drooping.
Chen gave a knowing grin. "Save some room for me." she shifted into her cat form and climbed on top of Ran, curling up into a little cat ball, falling asleep nearly instantly.
Ran smiled as much as a fox could. She was often accused by others of her kind of being a big softy, and at times like this found it hard to refute.
There was the sound of a camera going off, and Ran lifted her head, to see Yukari leaning on the doorframe. "You're supposed to be asleep." Ran said, matter of factly.
"And miss something this adorable?" said Yukari, smiling weakly. Without further ado, she slowly staggered across the room, before dropping down and curling up against Ran, draping her arms around her Neck. "Goodnight Ran."
Ran brought her head around onto Yukari's lap, "Goodnight Yukari."
It was good thing Ran had Magic, or otherwise there would have been no-one to take the picture of this scene. While it was difficult being the most consistently sensible person in the Yakumo household, moments like this are why Ran loves her job.
No notes this time, can't think of anything to say