Imperfect Metamorphosis

by TakerFoxx

It's the first day of spring, and Cirno and her friends are once again up to no good! But after stealing a strange box from Marisa's house, they soon find themselves over their heads as they discover some things are meant to remain locked up.

8. Answers and Questions

Answers and Questions

Yukari Yakumo hobbled out of Hourai Clinic and squinted. Overhead, the sun was giving its final hurrah before retiring for the night, lighting up the sky in a brilliant display of oranges and reds. She supposed it was all very pretty, but it was difficult to find any appreciation for it.

All around her, Eientei was bustling, even more so than usual. After their return, Kaguya's flock of bunnies had gotten to work on cleaning up the mess their home had been reduced to. At the moment, debris was being cleared from the clinic's waiting room while the damage to the mansion was still being assessed. Yukari couldn't blame them, as there was little else they could do. Their sovereign was gone, taken by a life-destroying monster that was now, for all intents and purposes, completely invulnerable. Most of their leaders had been severely wounded and would be contributing no actual leadership for awhile. And the "experts" who had been called in to solve this problem had just gotten their asses thoroughly kicked. On the whole, it was a bleak situation.

Yukari took a step and had to grab the doorframe to keep from stumbling. Damned wound. If it had been only the burn or only the gash, it would be easier. But instead, she had to endure cold numbness and fiery pain at the same time. The treatments she had found around the clinic were helping, but it still wasn't fun. She had refused the use of a crutch or even a cane, citing the fact that she had endured worst injuries in the past. This was true, but it did mean that walking was going to be difficult. But still, she would be caught dead before she was seen using any kind of crutch this early in the game.

Taking a deep breath, she set off through the courtyard. She was able to keep her face expressionless and her steps more or less going smoothly, with only a slight limp every left step. Not bad, all things considered.

She ignored the rabbits running to and fro and was ignored in return. Her attention was focused on the two figures standing at the edge of the forest.

Mima and Marisa were in the middle of what appeared to be a heated argument. In keeping with their temperaments, Marisa's points were accompanied by a great deal of arm flailing and shouting, whereas Mima just kept her arms folded and spoke in a calm, steady tone. As Yukari came closer, their words became more and more audible.

"…if we don't, she'll be long gone!" Marisa was yelling. "You wanna have that thing loose in Gensokyo?"

"She's long gone anyway," Mima replied. "And seeing how nothing we do will cause the slightest bit of good anyway, I fail to see what a suicidal charge will accomplish. Ah, good evening."

That last bit was directed to Yukari herself, who had gotten close enough to be noticed. She nodded curtly and said, "The same. I take it you're discussing our wayward monster?"

"Who else?" Marisa growled. "And what the hell are you doing even up? I thought you were all injured and bedridden, ze."

"I checked myself out. Too much to prepare for, and I don't trust any operation that doesn't include my direct involvement."

Marisa gritted her teeth and stomped over to butt foreheads with the ancient youkai. "What, you saying we'll screw it up? 'Cause I don't know if you noticed, but we were the ones who managed to bring that freak down at all, while you just got your old hag ass kicked. Twice."

Yukari didn't so much as blink. "The situation has changed since then. Your skills lie primarily in causing wanton destruction, and Satsuki is now entirely immune to wanton destruction. Also, remove yourself from my face."

"Or you'll what?"

"Nothing. I won't have to. Because you are going to remove yourself from my face."

Sparks flashed in Marisa's eyes. Her clenched fists started trembling, as if she might lay Yukari out at any moment. Yukari simply returned her gaze and said nothing.

Then Marisa's whole body shook and she took a step back. "Screw this, I don't have time for you, you crazy old bitch," the witch spat. To Mima, she said, "Look me up when you guys actually decide to do something."

Pulling down the brim of her hat, she hopped on her broom and took off in an angry cloud of dust.

Yukari watched her go. Her eyebrows narrowed.

With a sigh, Mima floated over to her side. "Don't be too hard on her," she said. "She's still young."

"Mima, I really don't need an emotional intervention right now."

"Perhaps. But I saw that look on your face. Infighting is not something that you, nor anyone of us, need right now. We have enough problems as it is."

Yukari's left eye twitched. "Fair enough. Just know that if your little witch tries to touch me again, her limbs will be scattered among the four corners of Gensokyo. In the space of a minute."

Mima gave her an odd look, but she didn't comment on Yukari's surliness. Instead, she said, "At any rate, with Satsuki's acquirement of immortality, I would say the situation has evolved beyond our control."

"You have a keen grasp of the obvious."

"As such, this crisis may soon reach catastrophic levels."

Yukari shot a glance at what remained of Eientei, and then at her own bandaged torso. "See above comment. What's you point?"

Mima clasped her hands in front of her waist and looked out over the forest. "As much as it hurts me to admit it, we may need to call in the cavalry." She lowered her voice to an almost whisper. "Yukari, I think we may have to involve the Ringleaders."

"No."

"Every second we delay increases the danger of-"

"No."

"Come now, Yukari. I hate the idea as much as you do, but-"

"I said no!" Yukari snarled. She took an aggressive step forward, and winced as the burning areas of her wound voiced their protest.

Mima of course took notice. "You, I, Reimu, Marisa, Suika and the entirety of Eientei's forces, more than enough combined power to bury most armies, could not stop that thing. Most of us, you included, are gravely injured, and it was only through cheating that no lives were actually lost. Yukari, this is not the time for pride. And to hear it coming from me…"

Yukari seethed. "And tell them what, exactly? That we were stupid enough to get our asses handed to us by one…thing? Us, the supposed elite? How do you think that'll affect our reputation?"

Mima arched an eyebrow. "This is a day for reversed roles. I thought you didn't care about reputation. Besides, you've lost before and didn't care."

"That was different. Losing a fair fight is one thing. Failing to do our job is something else. Besides, you're already on shaky ground with the other Ringleaders as it is. Do you really want to give the rest of them a reason to bring your parole up for review?"

"Oh, I'm not worried," Mima replied in that infuriatingly calm voice of hers. "And neither should you be. After all, if looking bad is all you're worried about…" she cast a glance over her shoulder to where the rabbits were milling around "…I can think of a few convenient scapegoats."

Yukari frowned, but she didn't say anything.

"After all, we weren't the ones who created Satsuki," Mima continued. "We weren't the ones who 'conveniently' forgot to mention that we had a psychotic people-absorbing abomination locked in the attic."

"As opposed to psychotic, people-killing abomination locked up in a stupid girl?"

Mima just shrugged. "They know about that one already, and never objected. I doubt they were informed about Satsuki. And then there's the ice-fairy and her little team of misfits. Weren't they the ones that unleashed her in the first place? There are ways to, hehe, 'rephrase' things, you know."

Yukari turned away from her. "I'll…think about it."

"I'm sure you will. By the way, how's that shrine maiden of yours?"

That comment made Yukari whirl around again, ignoring the pain that it caused her. "The hell was that supposed to mean?"

"What? I'm simply inquiring as to her condition," Mima said innocently, no mean feat for her. "After all, Satsuki treated her so roughly. I must admit, I was quite worried myself when I saw what had happened to her foot. I'd hate to think what would happen should Reimu encounter that thing again, without help. Oh, I'd hate to imagine what tragedies would befall the poor girl."

"You're treading on very thin ice, Mima," Yukari said in a low, dangerous voice.

"She'd do it, too. You know she would. Even if all of Gensokyo were to turn their backs on her, she would still stand alone. Even if it meant her doom, she would still stand alone. Of course, if she had the backing of, oh I don't know, maybe the most powerful beings in Gensokyo? Maybe then she might survive."

Yukari wondered what the absolute worst place she could send the impertinent spirit was, or if she could send her to more than one place. Maybe she should drop her off in the Outside World and let her enjoy being cut off from Gensokyo's magic entirely. However, good sense won over in the end. Mima was right, after all.

"That is very low," Yukari said, enunciating every syllable. "Even for you."

Mima shrugged and smiled. "What? I'm just doing my job and pointing out the obvious. Any additional meaning is provided by you alone."

Yukari sighed. "You evil bitch."

"That would be my other job, yes."

"Fine, I'll send out the word. Just don't be surprised when they go and make things worse. In the meantime…" Yukari turned and started to head back to Hourai Clinic.

"Where are you going?" Mima asked.

"To get some answers. There's a certain physician that owes me an explanation." Her eyes narrowed. "And a certain ice fairy that I need to have words with."

…

Deep Within

Rumia didn't have the slightest idea of what to do.

She sat by herself, away from everyone else. Behind her, Rin was watching that stupid screen of hers, directing the path of the hodgepodge body they were now residing in. Only thing was, it was now more purple than red. Rumia wasn't sure how that had happened nor could she work up the nerve to ask, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with Rin's new "guests".

Kaguya and Mokou still floated in the bizarre positions Rin had put them in, staring at the nothing around them with wide eyes. As their mouths had yet to return, their cries of indignation came out sounding like a series of squeals, squeaks and groans. Rumia could sympathize, as she had been in the same position not too long ago. Though oddly enough, some time ago they had ceased directing their cries at her and Rin and had started what honestly appeared to a subdued conversation between themselves. Rumia wasn't sure how they understood each other or what they were saying; she just hoped their plans didn't involve her head on a stake. She supposed she should talk to them and try to explain that she wasn't Rin's co-conspirator or anything, but the thought of speaking to them while they were in that freakish mouthless state, especially with Rin still sitting within earshot, made her insides started to tremble.

Rumia held her hand up, palm out, and spread her fingers. Well, at least she could move now. It was true when they say that you never know what you've got until it's gone. After losing first her mobility and then her body entirely, she swore she would never take something so mundane for granted ever again. It was a small comfort, but she was going to take what she could get.

"Rumia?" said a soft voice behind her.

Rumia flinched and huddled in a small ball. "Y-y-yes?" she squeaked.

Rin walked around to sit next to her. Rumia couldn't bring herself to meet her captor's eyes. Ever since Rumia had returned, Rin had been acting…strangely. Well, okay, so she had been pretty weird before, but that had just been a confusing over-enthusiastic cheerfulness. Now she spoke very little to anyone, preferring to stare at her screen while mumbling something under her breath. Rumia hadn't been able to make out the specifics, but it had sounded like she had been going on about her "Evil Twin", a sort of dark voice that had been telling her to hurt people.

Rin apparently noticed Rumia's reluctance. She frowned and leaned in closer. Rumia winced and shied away.

"You're still scared of me, aren't you?" Rin asked.

Rumia tried to force a grin. "M-me? Scared. Hehehe, whatever gave you…You're not going to hurt me, are you?"

Rin shook her head and withdrew. "Yeah, I'll take as a yes. Jeez." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Wow, I've really screwed things up, haven't I?"

Rumia wasn't sure if that was a rhetorical question or not, but she decided to play it safe and say nothing.

"Rumia?"

Damn it. "H-huh?"

"I, uh, don't really know how to do this. I mean, everything's all crazy and I don't have the slightest clue as to how…but yeah, anyway, I think I owe you an apology."

Rumia blinked. "What?"

"See, when you opened the box and let me out, I thought you were freeing me on purpose. I thought you had heard about me and wanted to rescue me." Rin let out a bitter cackle. "And I ate you anyway. Way to show gratitude, huh?"

"Um…"

"So…I'm sorry. I screwed up, and got you stuck in my mess. Sorry."

"Oh. Uh, thank you." Rumia built up some courage and asked, "So, um, does that mean you'll, you know, let me go?"

Her hopes started to build, but the guilty look on Rin's face sent them crashing down. "Uh, Rumia? I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because, uh, well you see…" Rin frowned and started knocking her wrist against her head. "Okay, c'mon, think! How do I put this…Okay, I was actually gonna let you go. Right before Eirin's stupid friends ambushed us, remember? But now I think it's safer if you stay here, where I can protect you."

"Uh…from what?"

"From them. From those people who attacked us. Rumia, I know you weren't around to hear this, but I think they wanna kill you as much as they wanna kill me."

Rumia's jaw dropped. "Wait, say what? That's crazy! I mean, sure they've beaten me up a few times, but they always just let me off with that! They wouldn't want to kill me, that's not what they do! You must've…misheard them or something!" She looked to Rin for affirmation. When the other girl didn't meet her eyes, Rumia added in a weak voice, "…right?"

In response, Rin pointed at the space before them. Again, a tear opened. But unlike the huge screen she used as her eyes, this was more like a swirling hole. The images she saw through it made no sense. It looked like a never-ending series of horizontal lines perpetually shooting upward, broken by repeating flashes of color. Rumia thought she could make out shapes in those brief glimpses of color, the shapes of people, but everything was moving too fast to be sure of anything.

Rumia cast a dubious look over at Rin. "A memory," Rin explained. "One of mine. From a couple of hours ago."

"Oh. What's going on?"

"The tall youkai, the one that you seem to be…" Rin stopped talking immediately, her cheeks reddening. But Rumia caught on.

"The one I'm afraid of, right? Miss Yukari? Hey, she's scary. Everyone's afraid of her. What about her?"

Rin twirled a lock of her hair with her fingers and frowned. "Uh, she did something really weird with those holes, those gaps of hers. Pretty much she set it up so I was constantly falling through two of them, over and over."

"Oh."

"But yeah, anyway, they thought I was stuck and started talking about what they were going to do to me. I could still hear them and…Well, just listen."

Rumia frowned and did so. Like Rin said, there were people talking, but everything was covered with an irritating whooshing sound.

Rin noticed. "Yeah, sorry about the wind. Here, lemme see what I can do…"

She made a slight gesture, almost as if she were turning something with her fingers, and the whooshing noise faded into the background. At the same time, the sound of the voices increased. It still sounded odd, but at least Rumia could make out what they were saying.

"…all in favor of killing the bloody psychotic risk to life and limb, say aye."

"Aye."

"Aye. Sorry Yukari, she's just way too dangerous."

Rumia blinked. Even through the noise filter, she knew those voices. She turned her head towards Rim, who simply nodded and said, "Keep listening."

Yukari was talking. "…ending Rumia the first time around was problematic enough, but now we're dealing with someone that can take just about anything we can dish out."

Wait, what? What first time?

"Speaking of which, what about Rumia? I mean, she's still stuck in that thing. Is there any way we can get her out?"

"Are you daft? Have you been sleeping through that whole beat down? Even if we get her out, the ribbon thingy is gone, ze! Evil Rumia's back! Better to off them both."

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Rumia cried as she leapt to her feet. "Stop that thing!"

Rin gestured, and the ever-rising lines and wavering voices paused.

"What are they talking about, 'Evil Rumia'? There's only one Rumia, and that's me! And I definitely haven't gone anywhere, and I sure as hell aren't evil!"

Rin shook her head. "I don't know, I was trying to figure that out myself. But, uh, there is something…"

"What?"

"Just listen to the whole thing. I'll explain after."

The picture once again began moving in a manner that threatened to cause seizures. The ghost was talking now. "While the removal of the ribbon would return her to full power, we do not know if her memories would return as well. The wiping of her memory and the sealing of her power were two separate operations."

Rumia frowned and touched her hair in the spot where her ribbon used to be. What did that have to do with anything? Certainly, being unable to touch it was annoying, especially when she had an itch, but she never gave it much thought. She shook her head in confusion and turned her attention back to the memory.

"As much as it hurts to say so, I'm afraid I must agree with the witch," Yukari was saying. "It is my job to keep Gensokyo safe from threats such as this, and while Rumia could be said to be blameless in this situation, the risk is too great to allow her to wander free."

"Look, I don't really care for Rumia at all, and I am glad to beat her up whenever she starts getting stupid, but I don't like the idea of killing her just because of something that might happen. Why can't we just seal up her powers again? Unless you've forgotten how."

"Hardly. But even if we somehow managed to extract Rumia from within that thing, and even if she has not regained memory of what she once was, and even if we somehow restrained her long enough to create another amulet of sealing, what's to prevent something else from unleashing her once again? Reimu, this isn't one of the incidents you're used to dealing with. This isn't a case of someone with too much power growing bored and causing trouble. We are talking of a potential massacre here. Maybe even genocide."

"Okay, I've heard enough!" Rumia shouted. "Shut that thing off right now!

The voices cut off and the tear closed.

Rin looked up at her. "See, that's what I was talking about. They wanna kill us both! If I let you go now, they'll tear you to pieces!"

"No! You're lying! This has got to be a fake. There's no way they would…that I could be…AAAHHHH!"

Rumia grasped at her skull and fell to her knees. This had to be a trick. There was no other explanation. No way would they be out to kill her.

Yukari though…that she could almost believe.

Rin laid a hand on her shoulder. Rumia jumped away from her.

"No, don't touch me!" Rumia shouted. "You're lying to me! You're just trying to make me stay so you won't be left alone!"

Rin balled up her fists and stamped her foot in frustration. "No I'm not! Jeez, why does everyone always think I'm lying?"

"Oh, I don't know, let me think about that. Hmmm, maybe you're a psychopath who goes around eating people and sending them into complete darkness?"

"So do you!"

"No I…" Rumia stopped, and then continued. "Okay, maybe I do, but not like you do! And I'm not crazy like you! People don't try to lock me up in a box to get rid of me, and I definitely don't listen to imaginary voices that tell me to kill people!"

"I made a mistake! Years ago! And I told you, I have no idea where that voice came from! The only thing I know is that it never showed up until after you did!"

Rumia's nostrils flared. Suddenly, her fear was forgotten. In fact, she was about ready to test just how physical this illusionary body could get.

"You're saying that I was the one telling you to go all axe-crazy?" Rumia snarled as she stomped forward. "That's it. When I get done with you your mind is gonna start thinking sideways!"

She formed a fist and swung it at Rin's face.

Rin blurred and vanished right before knuckles made contact.

"Knock it off!" Rin shouted from behind.

Rumia whirled around. Rin was now standing there, looking irritated.

Scowling, Rumia tried to hit her again. Again Rin disappeared before being hit, only to reappear a few feet away.

"Rumia, seriously! Stop-"

Rumia swung again. The same thing happened.

"-being-"

Rumia swung again.

"-an-"

And again.

"-idiot! Okay, that's enough!"

Rumia froze in mid-swing, one foot braced in front of her, her fist only halfway past her own face. She grunted and tried to move, but with no success.

Rin appeared in front of her. "Will you please just knock it off!" she said. "I've had people beating me up all day and I'm getting real sick of it!"

She blinked once, and Rumia suddenly fell forward. Rin stepped aside, letting Rumia land face first on the expanse of nothing.

"I don't know why I even bother," Rin muttered as she walked away. "I do my best to be all honest and make up with people, and they keep trying to smash me flat! Not my fault that the truth is so freaking weird."

"Truth?" Rumia said as she pushed herself up. "Truth of what? You've seen my memories, you know I didn't have anything to do with…whatever you think I did. What makes you so suspicious of me?"

Rin paused, her back still to Rumia. "Well, um, like I said I'm not sure what it was," she said, sounding uncertain of herself. "And the voice did sound a little different. Deeper, darker, more scary, you know? But uh, the voice?"

"Yeah?"

Rin turned. Her large blue eyes were troubled. "Rumia, it sounded like you."

…

The level of activity inside of Hourai Clinic stood in sharp contrast to its earlier snail pace. Now, like outside, the halls were filled with rabbits running to and fro, mostly maintenance and soldiers seeing to the damage. Yukari was reminded of blood cells frantically trying to clot up tears in the veins. She was sure Eirin would appreciate the image, though sharing a joke wasn't exactly high on her list of priorities.

She made her way through the clinic, ignoring the rabbits and the occasional dirty look they shot her. They could blame her and her friends all they wanted, but the fact of the matter is that this problem was their doing, not hers. She and her friends had been the ones trying to take Satsuki down while the rabbits had turned tail.

Her destination was another one of the emergency rooms, specifically the one nicknamed Marisa's Dumping Ground. As it was the one that saw the most business, it was the best equipped to handle the number of wounded the operation had incurred. Suika, Eirin and Reimu had been moved there after Satsuki's escape, and Tewi Inaba and Cirno had recently been added to the patient list.

Cirno…Yukari pursed her lips and marched forward.

As she neared the room, distinct voices rose above the general babble.

"…are you sure you haven't seen her?" she could hear Ran saying. Yukari's scowl deepened. She had a good idea what her Shikigami was talking about. To be truthful, Chen's disappearance was bothering her as well, though she would never admit it.

"Uh, no," said another voice, namely Cirno's. "Not since yesterday. We invited her to hang out, but she said she couldn't make it. Something about needing to get shot? I didn't get it. Hey, what are you doing with that pointy thing? Get away!"

Yukari quickened her pace, wincing at every step.

"I'm fine!" Cirno said. "Seriously, I don't need…I said get away with that thing! Wait a…Ow!"

Yukari approached the doorframe and saw Cirno sitting on a stool and being tended by Reisen. Ever since the rabbits' return, Reisen had taken over Eirin's duties as Head (and in truth, the only) Physician. Suika, Eirin, Reimu and now Tewi were lying in the room's four beds. Despite all the chaos taken place around her, Reimu had fallen fast asleep. Not surprising, considering how exhausted she must have been, thought Yukari suspected that Reisen and her drugs were equally to blame.

Ran was standing near Cirno. She glanced up as Yukari stepped into the room but looked away when she saw who it was. Yukari still caught the flash of resentment in her eyes, though.

Enough of this. Yukari walked up to her. "Go find your cat," she muttered.

Ran blinked in surprise and stared at her. "Seriously?"

"Just go," Yukari said wearily.

Ran looked like she was going to say more, but apparently thought better of it. She nodded her thanks and ran from the room. Now that was taken care of, Yukari focused her attention back on the fairy, who was still arguing with Reisen.

"You," Reisen said as she disposed of the syringe she had just stuck into Cirno, "just got blasted to atoms with not one, but two very powerful, not mention highly illegal, spells and were hastily thrown back together before your body was ready. I don't care what Mima says, you're not going anywhere until I'm sure there won't be any side effects."

"But I gotta find Rumia!" Cirno said, rubbing her arm. "She'll get hurt without me!"

Yukari took that moment to butt in. "You can forget that idea."

Reisen turned to glare at the ancient youkai. "I thought you checked yourself out."

"I did. But I still have business with some of your patients, starting with the little idiot here."

Cirno sat up straighter. "M-me?" she hiccupped.

"Yes, you. This whole disaster wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you and your stupid friends poking your noses where they don't belong."

"It wasn't our fault!" Cirno protested.

"Wait, hold up," Reisen said. "What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you heard?" Yukari told her. "Cirno and her friends here were the ones who stole the box Satsuki was trapped in. They were the ones who set that nightmare loose."

"We didn't know!" Cirno shouted back. "'Sides, Marisa stole the box before we did."

"Oh, believe me when I say I'll deal with her in due time. But for now I think you're long overdue for a lesson in actions and consequences."

To her credit, Cirno didn't back down. Instead, she hopped up and stood on the stool, fists up in a boxing stance. Yukari was almost amused. Almost. She took a threatening step forward.

Unfortunately, she never got further than that, as Reisen situated herself between the two. "All right, that's enough," she said, spreading her arms wide.

"Get out of my way, rabbit," Yukari told her, not taking her eyes off of Cirno.

"Yeah, I need to show her who's the strongest around here!" Cirno agreed.

Reisen ignored her. "You checked yourself out," she told Yukari. "Cirno hasn't. So she's still in my care until I say so. And I will be damned if I let anyone threaten my patients."

Yukari turned her attention to the rabbit. "I said. Get out. Of. My way."

Reisen's eyebrows dipped lower. "And I said back the hell off. This is my home, not yours."

Yukari returned the glare, but then she noticed that Reisen's scarlet eyes had started to glow. She quickly broke eye contact.

"Have it your way," Yukari said as she turned. "But this isn't over."

"Is is so long as you're here."

"What, you don't think I can take her?" Cirno said, sounding annoyed. "C'mon, let's do this!"

"Shut up," both Yukari and Reisen said at the same time. Cirno plopped back down on the stool and began to sulk.

"Fine, be that way," Cirno grumbled. She looked up to Reisen. "But seriously, what happened to Rumia? Why was she all black and scary looking?"

Yukari shot a glance down at Reisen, who was taking Cirno's blood pressure. "Well? Will you tell her or should I?"

Reisen sighed. "Cirno, that wasn't Rumia. That was the…person who, uh, ate her."

"What? That blob thing? But it didn't look like that before!"

"That's what she does when she absorbs someone. She uses their power to make a body that sort of looks like them. But it's not them."

Cirno just looked confused. "Whhhaaatttt?"

"Don't think about it too much," Yukari grumbled. "In fact, don't think at all. Stick to what you know."

"But…what about Rumia? Is she still alive?"

"No," Yukari said.

"Yes," said Reisen, at exactly the same time. They glared at each other.

"She is, and she can be saved," Reisen continued to Yukari's annoyance. "But please, please, please let us handle this. We've dealt with the situation before, and can do so again."

"But how?"

"Does it matter?" Yukari snapped. "You heard the lady. Shut up and keep the hell away from this operation."

Reisen snapped to her feet. "Yakumo, if I have to warn you again, I will have security escort you off the premises!"

Yukari wondered if they would be capable of removing her, wound or no wound. In a brief flash of rage, she was seriously tempted to put that question to the test. However, the situation at hand brought her back to her senses. Getting into a fight with Eientei when she possibly needed them the most would be pointless.

"Fine. The fairy wasn't my main purpose here anyway," she muttered as she turned to the beds.

Eirin, who was now wide awake and watching the whole exchange with an amused look on her bruised face, managed a half-smirk. "I have to say, Yakumo," she said in a scratchy voice. "Your skills at diplomacy continue to astound me."

"Glad to see you're awake," Yukari said. "And if you're strong enough to be a wiseass, you're strong enough to answer a few questions."

"I suppose it's inevitable," Eirin sighed. She levered herself up into a sitting position. Then she pushed away the sheets and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Well?" she said. "Don't just stand there. Give me a hand."

"Eirin? Eirin, what the hell do you think you're doing!" Reisen cried. "You just had a near-brush with death! Literally! Get back in bed!"

"It's okay, Reisen," Eirin said as Yukari helped her to her feet. "I'm made of sturdier stuff than that. Plus, as I understand it, Yukari here has personally ensured that I will lose no more ground, correct?" When Yukari nodded, Eirin said, "There, you see? I'll be fine."

"No, absolutely not!" Reisen shouted. "I'm not going to let you go off-"

"Reisen," Eirin said, her voice tinged with a note of warning. Apparently that was all it took. Reisen flinched and backed off.

"Good girl." Eirin looked up at Yukari. "Shall we continue this conversation somewhere where we'll have some privacy? Say, my office?"

"Works for me."

Eirin took a step forward and stumbled. Reisen rushed to her side and stopped her from falling. "Well, that was predictable," Eirin muttered. "Reisen, go grab me a set of those crutches."

Reisen looked like she wanted to protest, but she held her tongue and did was told. Eirin placed the crutches under her armpits, took an experimental step forward, and nodded her satisfaction.

"Good. Reisen, Yukari and I are going to have a private chat. Carry on as you have done."

Reisen frowned, but she nodded.

"Good. Yukari, follow me."

Eirin hobbled from the room, somehow making it look dignified. Yukari started to follow, but something grabbed hold of her, forcing her to stop. She looked to see Reisen holding her by the sleeve.

"If anything happens to her," Reisen said in a low voice, "if she hurts herself because of you, you'll answer to me. Personally."

"Really now," Yukari said icily. "Well, I'll keep that in mind. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Reisen released her arm, allowing Yukari to follow after the rabbit's master.

"I have to say," Eirin said as Yukari caught up. "I'm actually impressed with how Reisen's stepped up and taken charge. She's rarely this authoritative. Perhaps I should start trusting her with more responsibility. Don't tell her I said that, though. It's just go to her head."

Yukari frowned. "If you say so."

Eirin smiled at her. "Oh, don't let that little spat get to you. Given that Kaguya's been kidnapped and Tewi and I have been forced to lay aside our duties, she is technically the acting Head of Eientei, in additional to her duties as physician. I would imagine that the stress is weighing on her, especially considering everything else that's happened. Besides, you wouldn't want someone challenging your authority in your own house either."

"At this point, I could care less about your pet's attitude," Yukari snapped. "All I want now are some answers."

"And I'll give them to you. Here we go…"

They reached a door near the wreckage of the waiting room. With her free hand, Eirin reached into her dress and extracted a small key. With this, she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"After you," she said. Yukari went in.

As would be expected from Eirin, her office reflected the epitome of neatness. No loose papers, no excess dust on the furniture, the carpeted floor was free from stains and everything looked like it had been placed there with a purpose. Two filing cabinets sat in the back of the room behind a simple oak desk, which Yukari supposed to have predated the clinic's construction. Two leather chairs sat in front of the desk and, curiously enough, several framed pictures and other memorabilia lined the walls. Yukari was actually surprised by this, as she never took Eirin for the sentimental type.

Eirin limped around the desk and lowered herself into the black leather chair with a look of relief. She indicated for Yukari to have a seat.

"I'd rather stand," Yukari said crossly.

Eirin sighed. "Yukari, there's no one here besides you and me, and we both know that wound of yours cannot be comfortable. There will be no slight on your pride just by sitting. Besides, this is going to be a long story."

Yukari frowned, but she nodded. She sat down in one of the seats in front of the desk.

"Now," Yukari said as she shifted her body into a position that was at least somewhat comfortable. "Tell me about Rin Satsuki."

…

Deep Within

Rumia stared at Rin. She tried to think of something to say, but her brain was locked up.

"But…" she started, and stopped.

She glanced over her shoulder. Kaguya and Mokou had stopped their muffled conversation and were now watching her and Rin interact. Wonderful, now they had an audience.

Rumia shook her head. She tried again. "You, uh, you mind saying that again?"

In answer, Rin waved her hand. This time, there was no tear in the nothingness around them, no strange visuals to accompany the memory. Instead, there were just voices, seemingly coming from all around. The first one was Rin's.

"Please, somebody help…"

"Well, I do believe that's my cue."

Rumia jumped with a squeak of surprise. The voice did sound a great deal like her, but like Rin said, it was much deeper, much more sinister sounding, much more…well, evil.

"Rumia!" Rin said in her own memory. "But I-"

"Rumia?" the dark voice said. "Heh, not quite."

"Who are you?"

"A friend. One you cannot afford to ignore."

Rin waved her hand again.

"You are entirely too merciful for your own good. She's not even unconscious! You should have decapitated her on your way up."

Again.

"Think of my as your conscience. Except instead of telling you what's 'good and proper', I tell you what's smart. I'm the part of your mind that's not deluding itself with ideas of 'redemption' and 'acceptance'. I'm the part of you that tells it as it is, that you are going to be hated by everything and everyone no matter what you do, so you might as well become what they're going to accuse you of anyway. Because you have no chance of surviving otherwise."

And again.

"Okay, last chance. If you're so concerned about hurting her, then just stab her through the brain before she gets up. Quick, painless, done."

"But-"

"I do not care. Do it."

Rumia couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, stop!" she shouted. "I get it! Stop!"

Rin snapped her fingers, and the voices cut off. "You see what I mean? And that's just a small fraction. That thing was whispering in my ear on and off for…I don't know, half-an-hour? It kept trying to get me to kill everyone. And it actually took over my body twice."

"What?"

"See? I didn't get it either! The first time I, uh, kinda let it." When Rumia's jaw fell, Rin quickly added, "It was when I was captured and they were talking about how to kill us, I was desperate! But the second time, it just slipped in and took over. I didn't even notice until after it had absorbed those two." She motioned towards Kaguya and Mokou.

"And when I retook control, I felt something crawling around in my head," Rin continued. "Something…disgusting. Creepy. It made me feel dirty." She shuddered. "But it was only for like a second, and then it was gone, I have no idea where."

"Is that so."

"Yes! I know you don't know where it came from, but still…there's something very weird about you."

"Me?" Rumia growled. "We are standing naked inside your head while you go flying around in a body that you stitched together from three different people and there's something weird about me?"

Rin flinched. "Okay, point. But I know where my weirdness came from. You…Rumia, what's the earliest thing you remember?"

"What? I don't know." Rumia thought hard, tracing her thought back through the years. "I'm…not really sure. Fending for myself in the Forest of Magic, I guess. When I was younger, and before I met my friends."

"So you don't know where you came from? Family, origin, anything?"

"Uh, no. Not really. Wriggle says I was probably a shadow of someone that stuck around after the real person died and…just became a youkai, I guess." She shrugged. "Things like that have happened before, so it's a good explanation as any. Hey, you read my mind and all, you tell me."

Rin shook her head. "I've tried that, but it's a lot of memory to sift through. Haven't been able to come up with any…But there is one thing I've noticed."

Now Rumia was completely interested. She still didn't buy all this bullcrap about her being some sort of devil on Rin's shoulder, but she was curious about what Rin had found, even if the thought of her clawing through Rumia's memories made her feel…violated, on a very primal level.

Rin continued. "Well, it's not so much of a thing as a lack of a thing, but when I…well, you know, absorbed you and all that? I got a lot of power from you, and I mean a lot. Didn't think too much of it at first, since there's a whole bunch of really powerful people running around, and I was just happy to have a real body again. But after awhile I got a little confused. See, there is nothing in your memories that shows that you even knew you had that kind of strength. Nothing about summoning swords or making plants die or leaving taints or weird darkness spears or darkness tentacles or darkness…pretty much anything you can think of, really."

Rumia felt cold inside. "You got all that from me?"

"Uh-huh. Scary, I know. And like I said, there was a lot of stuff in your memories about making the lights go away, but nothing like what I was using. Rumia, I almost won."

Rumia made a choking sound. "Wait, hold up! You…but Miss Yukari! And Miss Reimu, and Miss Marisa! And the…what?"

"Exactly! And it wasn't that hard! And I managed to get away anyway! So that's why I was wondering…do you remember anything? Anything at all?"

"No, I don't remember anything about that! I'm not any kind of evil super person! I'm just Rumia! I can't shoot evil missiles, or make evil swords out of nothing, or anything like that! I don't know where the hell you're getting all this, but it's not from me."

"It is," Rin said softly. She sat knelt down and folded her arms. Her eyes stared downward.

"No it's not!" Rumia shouted back. "There's just no way!"

"If you say so, but if not you, then where?"

Several answers sprung to Rumia's mind. Rin had always had that power and just didn't know. Rin was lying to her about the battle. Rin was lying to her about not knowing anything about the power. Rin was lying to her about the voice. Rin was lying to her, period.

"I don't know where," Rumia said. "And you know that I don't know. So stop accusing me!"

"I'm not! I'm just…ah, forget it."

An uneasy silence passed between them. Rin kept staring downward, while Rumia started pacing back and forth. Back a ways, near the screen, their new roommates had begun a more subdued conversation. It sounded like they were whispering to each other. Again, Rumia wondered how they were able to communicate. Maybe they just understood the tones.

She stopped pacing and shook her head. She was tired of being in the dark, metaphorically speaking. "Hey, uh, Rin?"

"What?"

"Where did your weirdness come from?"

"Huh?"

"How did you become like, you know, this?"

Rin sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Oh wow. That's a kinda long story."

Rumia looked around. "I don't see us having anything else to do." Her eyes narrowed. "Besides, you owe it to me."

"Yeah, I guess I do. Okay, fine, but I don't know if you're gonna like it…"

…

"Rin Satsuki, huh?" Eirin sighed. "Well like I said, that's a bit of a long story."

"Start at the beginning, then," Yukari said. "What is she and how do you know her?"

"A youkai. Just a simple youkai. A Kirin, if you want to be specific."

This news was troubling. The Kirin were anything but simple. For one thing, they were high on the youkai social ladder. Very high. Almost the level of dragons, to be exact. While they mostly kept to themselves and preferred not to involve themselves with outside trouble, the amount of influence they wielded when they did was not insignificant. And while they weren't unfriendly or especially violent, they did not react well to attacks on one of their own.

"How in the world did you wind up with a Kirin?"

"By accident, believe it or not. About, oh, nineteen years ago, two rabbits were kidnapped. Infants. Even though they weren't ours, we are allied with the local tribes, and they appealed to us for help." Eirin shrugged. "It seemed a simple enough matter, so we said yes. It didn't take long. The kidnappers had set up camp a few miles north of the forest. As we had not gone public yet, they were entirely unaware of our existence." Eirin smiled at the memory. "So it was quite the shock for them when the Eientei Guard showed up in the middle of the night."

"Who were they?"

"Just a couple of Humans. Slavers, to be exact. No one of any importance. Not then, and thanks to us, they never will be."

Yukari nodded. Rabbits in general weren't all that dangerous, but the Guard knew their business. "And then what?"

"The children were terrified, but unharmed," Eirin said. "We returned them to their family with little more trouble. However, as it turned out, the young rabbits weren't the slavers' first victims. We found another child locked in a cage, a toddler."

"Satsuki," Yukari growled. It wasn't a question.

"Indeed," Eirin said calmly. "I really must give those slavers credit. Acquiring her must not have been easy. I've never actually had any dealings with the Kirin, but I know their reputation."

"Maybe they found her wandering around," Yukari suggested. "Or something had happened to her parents."

"It's possible. At any rate, not knowing what else to do, the Guard brought her back with them."

"Why didn't you return her as well?" Yukari asked. The thought of keeping a baby Kirin, especially one that had been kidnapped, sounded almost suicidal.

Eirin pursed her lips. "I wanted to, but Kaguya overruled me."

"Why?"

"As I said, this was before we had gone public. The rabbits and a select few others were the only ones who were even aware of our presence, and we were determined to keep it that way. Kaguya feared that having any dealing with youkai of such high prestige, even on such a small level, would eventually find its way back to the Lunarians."

Yukari scowled. "That's just paranoid. It would be more dangerous to keep a missing child when its family would come looking for it. Besides, you could have just had one of the rabbits drop it off."

"Exactly. However, I don't know if you've noticed, but Kaguya can be somewhat…stubborn. The last time we had revealed ourselves had eventually resulted in the creation of Mokou, after all. And she is my princess."

"God save us from lunatic princesses," Yukari said, shaking her head. "So you didn't take the kid back. Bad idea, we all agree. What happened then?"

"Well, by then some of the other rabbits had grown fond of her. Reisen especially seemed to enjoy spending time with the girl. So they asked if they could raise her. I didn't see the harm beyond what has already been noted, so I said yes."

The thought of Kaguya's pet having a pet of her own almost made Yukari smile. Almost. "That was very kind of you. Pity she turned out to be such a nightmare. Surprising, considering how peaceful the Kirin are. Wonder what that means in the Nature vs. Nurture debate, eh?"

"That's cute. Can we stay focused here?"

…

Deep Within

"The funny thing about all this," Rin waved an indicating arm at the nothing around them, "is that I can read minds, dig through memories, and even warp the mind-bodies of anyone that gets sucked into me…but not my own, at least not any of my memories before the change. And no, I have no idea why. I'm sure there's some big mystical/scientific reason, but for now it means I don't really remember a lot about growing up. Reisen told me that they saved me from some bad people, but I really don't remember much about that at all. 'Course, I was just a baby when it was supposed to happen, so I guess that makes sense."

She and Rumia were now sitting cross-legged across from one another. Even Kaguya and Mokou had fallen silent and appeared to be listening intently to the story.

Rumia leaned forward. "You think maybe they were the ones to kidnap you?" she asked. "Eirin and the others?"

Kaguya made a sudden noise of protest. Both Rin and Rumia twisted their necks around to stare at her. She started squealing something incomprehensible and violently shaking her head.

"Uh, what's she saying?" Rumia asked.

Rin cleared her throat. "Something to the effect of 'We never kidnapped you, you little trollop! We saved your crazy rear from slavers! We took you in and raised you and this is how you…' well, you get the idea."

Kaguya made more noises.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna translate that," Rin said. "Anyways, no, I don't think they kidnapped me. Kaguya's memories pretty much confirmed that. Though I do something wonder about Eirin, you know? Like, maybe she was looking for a new test subject. Especially considering everything that went down…"

Once again, Kaguya started protesting incoherently. An annoyed look crossed Rin's face, and she waved a hand in the princess's direction. Kaguya's ravings suddenly cut off. She looked surprised and tried to make more noises, but no sound came out. Mokou's shoulders started shaking as she made stifled laughing noises. Rin waved her hand again and these too cut off, to Mokou's obvious distress.

"Sorry about that," Rin said. "You really don't wanna know what she was saying."

Rumia stared at the casual display of total control with a look of horrified fascination. She started when she realized that Rin was speaking to her again.

"Oh…oh, of course not!" she said, laughing nervously. "A-anyway, you were saying?"

"Right. Okay, like I was saying I grew up at Eientei. Reisen…" a small, wistful smile tugged at the corners of Rin's mouth. "Well, she wasn't really like my mom, more like a big sister. But she still pretty much raised me. Some of the other rabbits helped too. Sayu, Maki, Shiina, and the rest. They were all like my big sisters." She frowned. "Not Tewi, though. I don't think she ever really liked me all that much, and Reisen said she was a bad influence. But yeah, they'd play with me, take me for walks, taught me how to read and write and do math and chemistry and quantum physics…"

"Chemiwhat? Quatuwhat?"

"Oh. That's right, you never…uh, it's science stuff."

"Oh." Rumia interest immediately waned. "I thought they were some sort of game."

"No. They're definitely not. But anyway, as I got older I'd start helping out around the mansion. You know, running errands, cleaning up, washing dishes, that sort of thing. I liked being useful. Then when I got even older, I knew what I wanted to be."

…

"She wanted to be like me," Eirin said wryly. "I have no idea why. The gods know I paid her little enough attention. She was always just Reisen's little pet to me, and I never even let her in the infirmary."

Yukari scratched her jaw. "That was probably the reason why. It's been my experience that kids tend to look up to those aloof and distant. It makes them seem powerful."

"Are we speaking from personal experience here?"

Yukari shrugged, but she didn't answer.

"At any rate, I wasn't too fond of the idea," Eirin said. "The way I saw it, no one had any right to be touching my equipment except for me and occasionally Reisen when I was watching her very carefully. Still, she was rather persistent." Eirin rolled her eyes. "You ever known a child that wanted something and would not take 'no' for an answer?"

"I live with Chen."

"Right. Okay, so you know what it's like. So finally, I told her that if she wanted to become a physician, she had to pass the required training."

Yukari's eyebrows went up and down. "Let me guess: your idea of 'required training' was a bit more…difficult than most, to discourage her."

Eirin shrugged. "No more than what I experienced myself, back in the Lunarian capital. Though I have to admit, I did not expect her to last long. Like I said, she was just that annoying kid that followed Reisen around. But to my absolute surprise, she actually managed to survive." Eirin's fingers drummed a beat on the desk as a frown knitted her brows together. "In fact, she damned well excelled. There was nothing I could throw at her that she couldn't handle. Anatomy, proper sterilization, surgical procedures and so on. I guess it was her Kirin heritage at work. Always heard they were supposed to be intelligent. But…damn."

"Disappointed by the lack of disappointment?"

"I didn't say that. I just said I was surprised."

"No wonder Reisen's the only one who hangs out with you."

"Yukari," Eirin said in a threatening tone.

Yukari held her hands up in a defensive gesture. "Sorry, I get snippy when I'm exhausted and have a gash of death along one side.

"Whereas I was fatally wounded and practically dragged from my near-deathbed to give you answers. Please Yukari, at least try avoid making this less pleasant than it already is."

Yukari nodded once is agreement. "Okay. So anyway, she turned out to be a model student," she said to bring the conversation back on track. "Good for her."

"Well, not quite," Eirin said. "She did well in the medical aspect, certainly, but not so well in other areas."

"Such as…?"

Eirin braced both hands against her chairs armrests and pushed herself up. She turned to the wall and carefully pulled down a framed diploma that looked as old as Yukari was. In the space previously occupied by the frame was an old steel safe.

Yukari had to choke back laughter, even if the very effort sent pain lacing through her burn. "A wall safe? Hidden behind a picture frame? Isn't that a little clichéd?"

In response, Eirin picked up a blank piece of paper from her desk. This she crumpled into a ball and tossed at the safe's door.

The wad of paper froze in midair less than a centimeter before contact. There came a sudden high-pitched whining sound, and the paper shook slightly. Then it crumbled to dust.

Yukari's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh," was all she could think of to say.

"Clichés are considered such because they're overused," Eirin said, twisting the dial lock of the safe. "And sometimes they're overused because they work. And if it doesn't, than the spell will ruin the day of any who isn't me or has been personally authorized to access its contents. Now, turn around."

"Why?"

"Because I am about to open my safe, that's why. Turn around, and leave your portals alone. And don't try peeking at some other time. There are safeguards against that as well."

Yukari smirked, but she did as she was asked. As she did so, she asked, "This secret safe thing that only you can touch: does Kaguya have access?"

There was a pause, and Eirin said, "I'm loyal to my Princess. That doesn't mean I'm an idiot about it."

"Thought so."

"Of course you did. You may face me again."

Yukari did so. The framed diploma was already back in its place. Eirin was sitting back in her chair with a file folder sitting on the desk before her, one that age was starting to brown. There was a large scarlet X drawn along the folder side. It didn't take a flash of brilliance to figure out what that meant.

Eirin opened the file as she talked. "All of our employees are required to pass a self-defense class, regardless of position. Given our status as exiles and the long standing feud with that bloody Mokou, it only makes sense. Especially then, as we had not made peace with the Lunarian government yet. The class in question covers most of the basics. Spellcards, bullet firing and dodging, grazing at the more advanced levels, as well as hand-to-hand combat. Fairly simple stuff, all around."

Yukari saw where this was going. "But Satsuki wasn't exactly, ah, up to snuff?"

Eirin's lip curled. She opened the file. "Far from it. In fact, she was downright awful. We only pitted her against other low-skill trainees, aspiring cooks and the like, and she'd still get her ass kicked every single sparring match. She was unable to grasp the most basic styles and all of her so-called 'spellcards' were in name only!" She picked up one of the papers in the file. "I mean, look at this! 'Wind Sign: Calming Breeze'? Give me a break. 'Flower Sign: Gently Wafting Petals'? Good gods, what was that supposed to be? And don't get me started on the hand-to-hand stuff. The girl had trouble forming a proper fist, much less hitting someone without hurting herself in the process!"

Yukari looked down at the bandage covering her mutilated torso, still visible beneath the ripped tatters of her robe. "Looks like she's stepped up her game since then."

"Yes, I noticed that," Eirin said. A trouble look passed over her face. "Even during her first rampage she never…Well, we'll have to look into that later. But my point it, back then she just plain sucked. We went easier on her than anyone else, worked more slowly with her, took extra time to teach her the proper methods and technique, pitted her against the weakest opponents we could find, and she just wouldn't get it. I ask you, Yukari. What is a teacher supposed to do with a student like that?"

…

Deep Within

"So she couldn't drive me off with medicine, so she tried just having me beat up over and over until I gave up," Rin said. There was a distinct note of bitterness in her voice. "She said everyone had to pass the same class. What a load of crap. Did everyone have to square off against the Guard's kickboxing champion their very first day? Did everyone have to get pushed into the sparring ring three times a day? Was everyone taught submission holds by having the teachers demonstrate the holds on them?"

Rumia winced at the image. "Ouch."

"I know, right? And when I refused to quit, she just kept upping it and upping it and upping it…You know how I was taught how to dodge bullets? Real bullets. Like from a gun."

"Are you serious? Is that even legal?"

"I have no idea. And it hurt." Rin rubbed her arm. "A lot. But by that point I just wanted to prove to Eirin that I could do it, so I stuck with it. Then, something weird began to happen."

"What?"

"I started lasting longer during fights, at least the danmaku kind. At first, I thought it just meant I was finally getting better, though I should've known better to think that. But no, it was something else entirely."

…

"Her natural abilities were finally making themselves known," Eirin said. She flipped through the file's papers and pulled out another. "To be honest, I had been wondering when they would appear. When she was growing up, she didn't seem to be able to do anything beyond fly and shoot very sad looking bullets, no more than anyone else was able to do. It was disappointing, as I had expected a bit more from a Kirin. But as it turned out, she could do something. Something very interesting."

Yukari steepled her fingers and nodded solemnly. "Adaptation."

"Correct. Not too dissimilar to the small boost of energy that we receive whenever we graze bullets, actually. But much, much more effective." Eirin pushed the paper towards Yukari, who took it. It was an ability sheet, such as any decent place of employment might use to keep track of what an employee was capable of. It was only good business, as if your new dishwasher was able to call up flames from the very pit of hell, than you would want to know about it first.

As it was, Rin Satsuki's numbers weren't all that impressive. High points for intelligence and factual learning, with abysmal scores in physical and most magical abilities. Her flight speed was a bit below average and her danmaku skills were so low that it actually made Yukari embarrassed for the girl. However, when it came to special abilities, there was a sudden spike in power. Alongside the bar was a scribbled note in Eirin's spidery handwriting: Bullet/Magic Absorption: possible divine levels? Must investigate further.

"Interesting," Yukari muttered.

"Oh, believe me, it was. Now, her powers weren't nearly as potent as you saw today. It took a prolonged exposure to the same energy wavelength before her body got used to and would be able to absorb energy. Even then, a concentrated barrage could still take her down."

Yukari handed the paper back to Eirin. "That doesn't sound so divine. Interesting, but not divine."

"I wasn't referring to what she had, I was thinking about what she could become." A small glitter of excitement sparkled in Eirin's eye, even through the swollenness. "Think about it, Yukari. Such abilities have been known to have been experimented with and expanded beyond their initial levels. If someone could develop the ability to actually absorb energy…"

"They would be nothing short of invincible," Yukari finished for her. A sick feeling formed in her stomach that had nothing to do with the taint. "You wanted to turn Satsuki into a weapon."

Eirin sighed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "No, I didn't. Not Satsuki. Maybe you missed the part about her not being able to fight? But I did want to her to learn more about her abilities and increase them. And from there…" The Lunarian doctor hesitated. "Well, I wanted to find a way to harvest them, and transfer them over to those who could fight. In a way that didn't hurt the original possessor, of course. Reisen would never let me hear the end of it."

Yukari tapped her lower lip and scowled. "You do realize that I established danmaku and spellcard rules for a reason, correct? And that I put a lot of effort into making sure everyone in Gensokyo played by them."

"Even though we were effectively fugitives who were only hiding in Gensokyo by chance?" Eirin said wryly. "Besides, we still intended to follow your rules, even if we didn't know whose rules they were. We would just have…an edge, should anyone choose to attack us."

"Really. And Kaguya never expressed any desire to use these abilities for more ambitious purposes?"

"Like I said, I'm not an idiot. Kaguya usually leaves my studies alone, and what she doesn't know doesn't hurt her. Besides, she's invulnerable already. At any rate, once we did figure out what Satsuki was potentially capable of, a deal was struck. She would be allowed to skip the self-defense class and go straight to helping Reisen and me in the infirmary as a nurse, and in exchange I would get to run some tests on her abilities."

"Tests?" Yukari blinked. "What kind of tests?"

"Prolonged exposure to low levels of energy, try to have her concentrate and absorb physical objects, see if the energy she absorbed affected her own bullets, that sort of thing. Nothing dangerous. All altruism aside, we didn't want to risk hurting her before we could figure out a way to extract her powers."

…

Deep Within

"She pretty much turned me into her lab bunny," Rin growled. Her fists were clenched and trembling. She bared her teeth in an angry grimace. "She'd stick me in an empty room and just bombard with whatever she could think of. Lasers, intense heat and cold, invisible force, whatever! She'd line me up against a wall and have the Guard use me for target practice. All just to see how much I could take."

Rumia scratched her forehead. "And you just let her?"

"What else was I gonna do, say no? Eirin's the second in command of Eientei. What she says goes. Though I did try to complain to Princess Kaguya once. Yeah, that pretty much went nowhere."

Rumia glanced at the princess in question. Kaguya just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Yeah, but anyway, she started to get the results she wanted, but it was way too slow," Rin continued. "I was adapting, but it wasn't to any level that would be useful for combat. So she decided to cheat."

…

"In time, it became apparent that I was doing it all wrong," Eirin said. "Certainly Rin's abilities were improving, but I could tell that even with the eternity available to us, it just wasn't at any rate that would prove useful in the long term. Besides, no possibility for safe extraction of her abilities was making itself available. The problem was that we were limited by the resources at hand. Despite being fairly well off for the simple task of hiding, all we had were what we had brought with us when we fled the moon and whatever we managed to make ourselves or trade with the rabbits. And since the rabbits were our only trade option, we were limited in what we could use. This was an experiment that required both magical and scientific resources far beyond what we had at hand."

Yukari grimaced. "Don't let Reimu hear you say that. She gets a bit cranky about the science stuff."

"Her loss. If magic could solve everything I wouldn't be needed, now would I? At any rate, we weren't about to go and expose ourselves just for one experiment. Fortunately, I soon discovered that I did know someone else in Gensokyo. An old acquaintance, one who had visited the moon on a number of occasions back when Kaguya was still in power, and whom I had worked with personally on at least one of her operations."

"Who? What operations?"

In response, Eirin pulled out a photograph and passed it to her. The photo was dulling with age, but the picture of a tall, elegant young woman with braided silver hair and red eyes was still clearly visible. If that alone was not enough to tip off Yukari as to the young woman's identity, than the pale blue maid outfit she wore and the silver-bladed knife she held in one hand made it completely obvious.

"No doubt you're familiar with the previous career of the person now calling herself Sakuya Izayoi as a celebrated monster hunter," Eirin said. "She helped the Lunarian Royal Family dispose of some unwanted pests several times. I was rather surprised to find that she was now serving one of the monsters she had once hunted. In fact, I found the irony hilarious, though I would never tell her that to her face."

"Of course not," Yukari muttered. The picture Eirin was painting was becoming more and more troubling by the second. Yukari's relationship with Remilia Scarlet and her entourage had always been a working one at best. Although she had no reason why they could not stay in Gensokyo, she had always been a little wary about their presence. Vampires were notoriously shifty in their dealings, and if the denizens of the Scarlet Devil Mansion were involved in this caper, than that opened the door for any number of problematic possibilities.

Plus, there was that crazy sister they kept locked up in the basement…

Then again, given that Cirno had mentioned that Marisa had acquired the box from Patchouli Knowledge, another member of Remilia's entourage, Yukari supposed she should have seen this coming.

"So, you turned to the vampire for help," Yukari said. "I can't imagine that it was inexpensive."

"Actually, I never even met with Remilia," Eirin said. "Fortunately for me, at least at the time, she was away from Gensokyo, visiting relatives back in the Outside World. Sakuya was left in charge, which made things considerably easier. Given our experience working together in the past and that she was sympathetic toward our current status as exiles, she was willing to help. In exchange for a portion of the formula itself, of course."

"I see. Continue."

"What I needed was a sorcerer, a magician. I'm no slouch when it comes to magical matters, and neither is Kaguya, but magic is not our main field of study. I needed someone who pursued the mystic arts as a lifestyle. And as it so happened, Sakuya knew such a person. I think you know who I mean."

Patchouli. Of course. Yukari sighed. She didn't have anything personal against the magician, but the amount of knowledge she possessed was potentially dangerous if used for the wrong reasons. She glanced down at her bandage and the wound it covered. Check that, it had been used for the wrong reasons, and the results were clear to see.

"Miss Knowledge was also willing to lend her assistance," Eirin said. "The experiment interested her, and she wanted to see what would happen. So it was settled: everything I knew about the body combined with my vast knowledge of chemistry and medicine combined with her arcane prowess, and together we were going to revolutionize danmaku duels, at least for our own personal use. Now the only thing left was to acquire some decent equipment. Sakuya had some suggestions down that line…"

…

Deep Within

"She brought in a couple of crazy-ass, bloody-minded, artery snipping, laws of nature warping, absolutely off their rockers humans," Rin growled. "I mean, Eirin was bad enough. The stuff she would slip into our food! But they had to bring in two legit mad scientists!" She took in a shaky breath. "Eirin wanted me to be experimented on by two mad scientists! And she has the nerve to call me the monster!"

"Who were they? Do you remember their names?"

"Remember their names? Of course I do!" Rin laughed, a sound that was a little crazier than Rumia was comfortable with. "Rika and Rikako Asakura, sisters in crime! My gods, those two were crazy! You wanna know the first thing they wanted to do when they got brought into the experiment? Electrocute me, just to see my progress."

Rumia didn't recognize the names, but that wasn't surprising. She tended to keep away from human settlements, and the number of humans she interacted with on a semi-regular basis could be counted on two hands. Maybe even one.

"Why didn't you say 'no', then?" Rumia asked. "I mean, if someone wanted to shoot me with lightning, I would be all like 'Over my dead body!'" She frowned. "Which would end up being the case, actually."

"I wanted to, but they told me it was too late to back out. I should've just run away. That's it, I should've run away. Would've saved everyone a whole lotta grief."

…

"The operation itself was risky, I'll admit it, but at the time it seemed to be worth it. What we planned to do was artificially accelerate the the development of her abilities, while at the same time tricking Rin's body into thinking the power increase was natural. So the five of us, Patchouli, Sakuya, the Asakura sisters and I, worked together to produce a new kind of elixir. Just as the original Hourai elixir used Kaguya's power over eternity as a base, this one used Sakuya's control over space and time to create the illusion of several decades' worth of power development. This would then been injected straight into Rin herself."

"Did you at least test it first?" Yukari asked.

Eirin looked puzzled. "What do you mean? We were testing it. On Rin."

Yukari sighed. She supposed this sort of attitude was to be expected from Eirin. "Never mind. So anyway, let me guess what happened: it worked, but not in the way you were expecting. Rin's powers shot up by a hundredfold, but it made her go crazy and attack everyone in sight."

"Close, very close," Eirin said. "Yes, the experiment was a success. Too much of a success. Only hours after the elixir was injected, she was able to adapt to new kinds of energy in seconds, something that usually took some weeks to happen. But when we were patting each other on the back and breaking out the champagne, something began to happen." Eirin's eyes became unfocused. At first Yukari was worried that her injuries were starting to send her into a daze, but she kept talking at the same, steady pace. It was just the reliving of the memory that was affecting her. "Rin began to change."

…

Deep Within

"I was melting!" Rin said in a horrified voice. She wrapped her arms around herself and her eyes focused downward, at a spot between her and Rumia. "My body just started melting like I was made of wax. I could feel all my organs turning to jelly and fusing together. My sight grew hazy as my eyes liquefied, my ears were shrinking and being reabsorbed into my skull and my throat was closing up and my whole body was drooping down, down, down…" The rest of the description was swallowed up by whimpering noises.

…

"No one really knows what happened," Eirin muttered. "This sort of thing literally had never happened before, at least not to my knowledge, and once she finished it was impossible to extract any data that would tell us why. The most popular theory is that her body was adapting to itself, with all her cells trying to imitate their neighbors. At any rate, once she finished, she was no longer even recognizable as a living being. In fact, she looked like a…"

"…large transparent blob," Yukari finished for her. "Appearing to be a large wad of clear mucus or a surprisingly tough bead of water."

Eirin nodded. "So you've seen her in her 'natural' state, if that word applies."

"No, but I've spoken to those who have."

"Ah, right. The fairy. I heard the two of you, heh, 'talking'. I presume she was one of the witnesses you mentioned earlier?"

Yukari nodded.

"I see. Cirno is very, very lucky then. It could have been her that Rin took for a joyride."

"I wish it was. Our job would be so much easier then."

Eirin smiled, though there was no humor in the expression. "Perhaps. Perhaps at first, but if she wasn't put down quickly than it would soon become very, very difficult, as difficult as what we did encounter. That's how it worked last time. It started small, but it quickly grew to a full catastrophe."

"How so?"

"Well, at first we thought that the metamorphosis had killed Rin, but when the, erm, blob started responding to our probing, it eventually because obvious that her mind was still intact. How this was possible without her actually having a physical brain, I do not know. But this is Gensokyo, after all. Strange things do happen."

"You mean like how one of my best friends is a ghost who's still capable of eating solid foods despite not having a physical stomach?" Yukari suggested.

"Yes, exactly like-"

"Or how bits and pieces of trash can become sentient and start walking around for no discernable reason? And take on the appearance of young humans in the process?"

"Also correct. And-"

"Or how back when you and your bubble-headed princess decided to screw up the moon, I was able to just stop night for as long as I wanted, even though doing so meant interfering with the Earth's rotation and potentially wreaking havoc on the weather conditions? And everything ended up working out fine in the end?"

"Yukari, the point has already been made. You don't-"

"Or how Suika apparently broke the sky once as a party trick, and it ended up just fixing itself overnight with barely anyone even noticing? Or that some parts of Gensokyo are several centuries behind the Outside World in terms of development while others are at least twenty years ahead? Or that we once invaded your home town on the moon using a rocket ship made out of bamboo?"

One of Eirin's fingers tapped her desk impatiently. "You've made your point, Yakumo. Which by the way happens to be my point, so I don't see the reason to prove it further."

"Right. So sorry," Yukari said with a small smirk. "Pray continue."

Eirin sighed in annoyance, but she said, "Anyway, like I said, despite undergoing a horrific transformation, Rin was still alive…"

"Obviously. She just kicked all our asses after all."

"…and still self-aware. Communicating with her was…difficult, but we managed through an old Lunarian code system I had her memorize. She could sense nearby sensation, and extrude long appendages in order to pick up objects, so we were able to keep her in the loop at least. However, she was very confused, and very scared. I don't blame her, but there was hope." Eirin leaned forward on her desk. "If she concentrated, she could force her cells to retake their former state and reform her old body.

Yukari coughed. "Wait, she could?"

"Indeed," Eirin said with a nod. "Unfortunately, doing so put her cells under incredible strain, which could potentially cause irreparable damage if allowed to continue. Still, that fact led us to believe that the situation could be reversed. And so we went to work to find a way to save her. Her, and hopefully the experiment as well."

…

Deep Within

"They told me they would do everything they could to find a cure," Rin muttered. Her left hand kept twitching and tapping against her thigh. "And like a fool, I believed them. They weren't interested in finding a cure, they just wanted to find a way to dissect me and get my powers out of me. But how was I to know that Eirin was that much of a liar? She was my mentor, after all."

"Are you sure?" Rumia asked.

"Seeing how they actually tried to cut off large chunks of me, yeah, I'm pretty sure. They also tried injecting a whole bunch of different stuff into me, but it never worked. My body would just absorb that as well. Everything they tried ended up the same way. So really, can I be blamed for going a little crazy? Was what happened really my fault?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Rin looked uncomfortable discussing the next part. "You see, while that was going on, Reisen was still there, looking after me. She'd come to visit me during the night and keep me company. I can't sleep, you see. Guess my body doesn't need it anymore. So the nights were the worst, but having Reisen there made things…I don't know, easier I guess. That code they had me using was really slow, so it was still hard to communicate with her, but we still managed to talk a little. She kept telling me that everyone was working as hard as they could to fix me. Eirin was lying to her too, you see. Brainwashing her, just like she did me. And it would have kept going on that way, but then the, heheh, 'accident' happened."

Rumia didn't like the sound of that, nor did she like the look Rin was getting. She swallowed. "Um, what accident?"

Rin started giggling. "Oh, it happened this one night. Reisen was with me, telling me all the places she was going to take me once everything was better. Then she reached over and sort of petted me? And I don't know what happened, really I don't. But all of a sudden I got fed up with that half-assed form of contact I had been having to deal with. I wanted to really see and touch her. So when her hand touched the surface of what passes for my body, I just sorta, um, grabbed her and pulled her in." Her giggling took off to nearly maniacal levels.

Rumia squeaked and started scooching away from Rin, who was starting to get more than a little weird.

"Pulled her in, pulled her right into me! And then everything changed. All that time, and I could have been free from the very beginning. One minute I was stuck in that awful limbo, and the next minute…Rumia, I could see again! I could see, and hear, and feel, and all that stuff. I was free! And the best part was, Reisen was there with me! Sure, she was a little freaked out, but I had time to work on that. That's when it hit me. It wasn't fair that everyone would be walking around on the outside while she was stuck on the inside. So the only thing to do was to make everyone come inside."

…

"What happened next was what we call the 'Satsuki Incident'," Eirin muttered darkly. "That is, if we talk about it at all. After Rin finished absorbing Reisen, the realization of her capabilities made what little sanity she had been clinging to snap."

"Ahhh…" Yukari said. "So that was that 'Rampage' you're always going on about."

"Exactly. Rin went mad. I…honestly can't say I blame her, all things considered, but that doesn't change the fact that it was easily one of the worst weeks in my life. And seeing how I've probably been alive about as long as you…"

"Point taken. So what exactly happened?"

Eirin sighed. "Well, I woke up to lots and lots of shouting. When I went to go to investigate, I saw the weirdest looking rabbit I'd ever seen holding two maids up by the throat. It looked a little like Reisen, but it was covered with a pale red aura, so I figured either Reisen had injected herself with the same elixir that had started this whole Satsuki mess or the Lunarians had sent some sort of super-soldier." Her face darkened. "And then its arms grew transparent and swallowed those maids right up, and I understood. I tried to shoot her down, but of course that was useless. She came after me next, but fortunately she was still blinded by excitement and the fact that she had gone completely off the bend, so she still wasn't thinking clearly. I managed to give her the slip, and organized the rest of Eientei against her. Of course, things became even more difficult. Because that was when Kaguya found out."

Yukari choked. "You mean she still didn't know?"

"She did then. And dear gods, she was furious. Though personally, I think she was more angry about the fact that I wasn't making the super-absorbing powers for her rather than the fact that I was running dangerous experiments behind her back. And she also wasn't pleased about me involving outsiders, to say the least." Eirin winced. "But that's…a different bit of unpleasantness altogether."

Yukari agreed. Kaguya's temper tantrums were beside the point. "So, everything went to hell, and Satsuki was trying to absorb everyone. What then?"

"Once it became apparent that nothing we threw at her was doing any good, we evacuated the mansion and fled to one of the nearby tribes. Of course, it was only a matter of time before she followed. That was when we figured out how to beat her."

Yukari leaned in as close as her injury would permit. Now they were getting somewhere.

"It was Sakuya who came up with the idea, actually. She reasoned that Rin's abilities made her all but immune to an outside assault, and any attack capable of overwhelming her adaptation would likely take the forest with it. So she suggested that we switch tactics and try blowing her up from the inside out, as opposed to the other way around."

"I see," Yukari murmured. "And how did you pull that off? Because it seems that Satsuki would just absorb any explosive device before you got the chance to detonate it."

"Oh, we didn't bother with explosives," Eirin said calmly. "Though the Asakura sisters certainly wanted to try. But no, we had a more…direct method at our disposal."

"What's that?"

"We unleashed Flandre Scarlet on her."

…

Deep Within

"I don't know how she did it," Rin whispered. "One moment I saw this glowing red person approaching. At first I thought it was Mokou over there. The rabbits used to tell me stories about her, to scare me. But it turned out to be a weird little girl with even weirder looking wings."

Rumia felt a shiver go down her illusionary back. Suddenly she was feeling much more sympathetic towards Rin. Though she had thankfully had never encountered the infamous vampire girl herself, everyone had heard…stories. Disturbingly gruesome stories of what the cheerful girl had done to her "playmates".

"Oh, my gods," Rumia whispered.

"Are they? Because they sure weren't mine, not that day. Anyway, I got closer, curious about who she was, and then she started laughing. Laughing! At me! And then she held up her hand…"

Rin's account trailed off. She appeared to be lost in a daze. Rumia frowned and leaned forward.

"Uh, Rin? What happened next? You said she held up a hand. What'd she do next?"

Rin shook her head, supposedly shaking off the memories. "Oh, um, she held up her hand, said…I don't know. 'Akuu?' 'Ukaa?' Something weird like that. Then she closed her fist and…"

"What?"

"I blew up."

…

"It worked like a bloody charm," Eirin said smugly. "Flandre's power wasn't an outside barrage of energy. It wasn't something Rin's body could identify and absorb. It was pure destruction. Over and over again, we had her blow Rin up. It wasn't hard. We just told her that Rin was a bad person who needed to be punished, and that she could have extra cookies at tea if she did the punishing."

Yukari swayed in her seat. Flandre Scarlet was kept locked up for a very, very good reason. The thought of the insane vampire being unleashed on another being, even if that being was Satsuki, was so unthinkable that she was shocked that anyone had dared to try it, much less Sakuya herself.

"It didn't kill her, of course," Eirin continued. "At the time, she didn't possess the regenerative abilities of the Princess or Mokou, but she could still piece herself back together. It just took a long, long while. Then we'd ask her if she had enough, and if she said no, we'd blow her up again."

Eirin leaned back her in chair and stared at the wall beyond Yukari. "Of course, once she saw the way the wind was blowing, Rin eventually surrendered. She consented to releasing her prisoners and gave herself up to our care. Once that happened, all that was left was the mop-up. The prisoners themselves were of course traumatized by their ordeal, Reisen especially. I would imagine having someone you thought of as a little sister turn on you like that would hurt. And riding shotgun during Flandre's assault could not have helped, though we had little choice in the matter. So I was very busy for the next few weeks, making sure they didn't suffer a complete mental breakdown."

"I can see that. So what else?"

"Well, what do you think? Flandre was coaxed back to her basement. All it really took was the aforementioned cookies. Our hired help promised never to speak of this incident, and we likewise swore to keep quiet, especially to Remilia, and everyone left. As for Rin herself, Kaguya wanted to have her executed, a position that I quite agreed with." Her face darkened in a frown. "That didn't work out so well."

"Kind of hard to kill the unkillable, eh?"

"Correct. Plus, there were…certain members of the staff that did not like the idea of us removing an obvious danger, the gods alone know why. Reisen, of course, was among them. Then again, she was never the most rational person. But any rate, we couldn't figure out a way to kill her anyway, so we decided to contain her instead." Eirin coughed into her hand. "Patchouli was actually the one who volunteered for that. She had devised a container intended to hold items of dangerous magical quality, which she used to keep her various instruments safe. She figured that one of those would serve nicely as Rin's prison, and I agreed. The only catch was that they actually had to be on the ground of the Scarlet Devil Mansion to work, something about being anchored to its place of creation. I wasn't complaining. I would sleep much better knowing that Rin was locked away somewhere deep in the vampire's mansion, miles away from Eientei."

…

Deep Within

"And that's where I stayed," Rin said softly, bringing her story near its end. "Years and years of being trapped in that box. Just me, stuck in the darkness, with literally nothing else. No…sunlight, no food, no contact with anyone else, no real sensations at all."

Rumia nodded. "And then I let you out."

Rin wiped her nose with her arm. "Something like that, yeah. So, there it is. My stupid, sad story. And now it's gone and gotten a bunch of people hurt and sucked you in along with it. I guess some things never change, huh?"

Rumia didn't know what to say to that, so she said nothing.

…

"And then Rin got loose and the hell that was today happened," Yukari muttered, more to herself than anything.

"Correct. I must admit, I'm curious how she escaped, and it sounds like you know."

Yukari sighed. "You can thank Marisa Kirisame for that. From what I've heard, she randomly lifted the box from Patchouli's care during one of her many cat burglar escapades."

"Did she now?" Eirin said. Her voice had taken on a dangerous edge. "Well, I'll just have to speak to them both about that. She was the one who set Rin loose, then?"

"No, that was the ice-fairy. From what I've been able to tell, she and her stupid little friends stole the box from Marisa. They were the ones who set Satsuki loose. Apparently, she ate one of their number and they headed off to find help, which is how I became involved. And how she acquired the Shadow Youkai's powers, by the way."

Eirin looked confused. "Cirno's friends with the Shadow Youkai?"

Yukari rolled her eyes. "Yes, actually, though neither of them knew it. After bringing the Shadow Youkai down, I also couldn't find a way to safely eliminate her. So Mima and I wiped her mind and depowered her to a low-level youkai. I supposed Rin must have eaten through the enchantment we placed on her. Given the strength of the enchantment, I thought things were safe. Obviously, I was wrong."

"We both were," Eirin muttered. She sighed and slumped into her chair. "You know something, Yukari? Sometimes I think that just living in Gensokyo increases your carelessness by a good hundred points."

Yukari could think of no argument for that. "I suppose so."

"Indeed. So then, you're supposed to be the master planner. Seeing how Rin's acquirement of both Kaguya and Mokou has made the Flandre option no longer feasible, got any bright ideas?"

Yukari sighed. "One, actually. Though I'm not too fond of it."

Eirin shrugged. "Better than nothing. Hit me."

"Well, Mima suggested that we bring this problem to the Ringleaders."

A silence passed between them, composed of mutual staring. Then Eirin said, "Uh, Yukari? I hate to point out the obvious, but aren't you the head of the Ringleaders?"

"Don't remind me," Yukari growled. "And individually I supposed they're all right. But together…Gensokyo's most influential beings or no, dealing with those personalities all at once can be a real headache."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Eirin muttered. She leaned forward on her desk and rubbed her forehead. "In the meantime, I have enough to deal with here, including recovering fully from my dance with death."

"Which you're only able to thanks to me."

"Yes, yes, thank you very much. But for now, was there anything else you wanted to know?"

Yukari thought. There were a few details Eirin could provide, namely in regards to Rin's habits and what could be used against her. But Eirin was right about pushing herself too hard and needing rest. "No, not at the moment. We can finish this later."

"Excellent. Feel free to take that file with you. I'm sure you'll find the information to be quite useful. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to pass out for awhile. Please send some of the staff my way to collect me, and have them lock up on their way out."

With that, Eirin's eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped in her chair. Yukari blinked in surprise. She stood and tried prodding the Lunarian doctor. This failed to elicit any response whatsoever.

"Now that," she said. "Is just plain weird. And impressive. But still weird."

She tucked the file under her arm and limped toward the door. As she went, she started composing what she was going to tell the Ringleaders. She could already envision the meeting in her head. First would be the irritated demands as to why she had summoned them, then they would impatiently interrupt her every other sentence during her explanation to ask her what all this had to do with them, then would come the pointed comments regarding Yukari's failure to deal with the problem herself and wondering if she was growing too old for her job. Then would come the bickering, finger pointing, old grudges and past mistakes brought up for no reason whatsoever, and any number of petty time wasters. As bad as her day had been, Yukari was definitely not looking forward to the rest of her week.

She swung open the door. There was the sound of a loud smack and it rebounded back. Someone cried out in pain. Yukari raised an eyebrow and looked to see who it was.

Cirno was kneeling in the hallway, clutching her nose and muttering "Ow, ow, ow, ow…" over and over. Yukari sighed and glanced down the hall in both directions. There was some rabbits moving around, but they didn't look like they were planning on approaching. Good.

With her free hand, Yukari snatched up the ice fairy by the neck. Cirno's eyes bulged and she shouted "Hey! What're you-"

This was cut off when Yukari shoved her up against the wall. "So, looky what we have here. A little bug, sneaking around and listening to conversations that don't concern her. Ever hear the phrase 'Curiosity killed the fairy?' Want to find out how?"

Cirno struggled against her grip. "I just wanted to find out what happened to Rumia!" she cried. "I just want to find my friend!"

"Really now?" Yukari released her. Cirno fell to the ground, coughing. She tried to get up, but Yukari slammed her palm against the wall above her and glared down at her. "And how much did you hear about that?"

Cirno glared back up at her. That was another annoying thing about the ice fairy. She was impossible to intimidate. "Just the end. Some weird stuff about Rumia being a…something? What the hellsicles is a Shadow Youkai?"

"A monster," Yukari answered in a sweet, syrupy voice. "A monster that tried to kill me and everyone else in Gensokyo." She leaned in closer. "That's right. Your little friend used to be an abomination, one that would not hesitate to slash you to snowflakes and sing a merry tune while doing it. Now do you see why we don't want you sticking your cold little nose into this business?"

True to her nature, Cirno just looked confused. "Uhhhh, what?"

"Exactly." Yukari backed off from the wall, letting Cirno scamper to her feet.

"Bu-but what about Rumia?" Cirno whined. "Can you get her back? The bunny said you could!"

Yukari's nostrils flared as her rage ignited anew. "Listen to me, you idiotic overgrown snowball. I don't care what Reisen said, your friend Rumia is gone. Dead. Deceased. She's ceased to be, shuffled off the immortal coil, has joined the burning choir of hell." She knelt down on one knee so she and Cirno were seeing eye-to-eye.

"That thing you saw? She was an ex-Rumia! Do you understand me?" Yukari hissed. "There is no more Rumia. So for the love of all that is good and intelligent, stay out of this business!"

Cirno stared right back, her expression impossible to read. Then she turned and ran down the hall, jumping to full flight once she picked up speed. She zipped around a corner, surprising a couple of rabbits carry rope and carved bamboo slats, and disappeared.

Yukari sighed as she straightened. The pain and lack of sleep must have made her sloppy. What she should have done was clamp that fairy in cold iron and shove her in a locked room. She considered sending someone after her and wondered if it was worth it just to remove a potential future obstacle. All common sense said yes, while everything told her that she was just being paranoid. After all, what could a single fairy do?

The answer was quite a lot. Yukari made a mental note to take steps to prevent Cirno's future inference. But for now, there was just too much she had to take care of first. First order of business was to find someone to collect the unconscious doctor. And Mima needed to be informed about Satsuki's history. The other Ringleaders needed to be contacted as soon as possible. As did Remilia Scarlet, come to think of it. She may have been out of town during the original incident, but her staff were still partially responsible. Same with the Asakura sisters. Yukari didn't know them personally, but she was sure Reimu had mentioned them once or twice. Also, Marisa was also proving herself to be a dangerous wildcard. She should do something about that as well. And Reimu…

She thought back to earlier that day, when she had convinced Reimu to come along. It wasn't her fault that the shrine maiden had been injured, but she still felt somewhat responsible. Yukari gnawed the inside of her mouth. Regret wasn't an emotion she was used to. She couldn't say she much cared for it. It made her feel odd.

Look at you, she thought in disgust. One bad day and you go to pieces. Pull yourself together, you've handled worse!

Yukari tucked the file under her arm and went to go find some to retrieve Eirin's unconscious body. After that, Mima. That was a good a place to start as any.

…

Deep Within

Taking Rumia's silence as a message, Rin had walked away to go sit in front of her screen again. Rumia wasn't sure if she needed to actually watch the screen to know what was going on, or if it was entirely there for her "guests'" benefit. Certainly, she had no trouble navigating while she had been speaking to Rumia. Some kind of autopilot, maybe? Rumia supposed it didn't really matter.

At the moment, they were flying through a canyon that Rumia was unfamiliar with. That made a certain amount of sense. Given the whole "Nearby plants dying" thing, sticking to arid areas would be the best.

Rumia bit her lower lip as she thought. Rin's story was bizarre to the extreme. Even in a world where six impossible things happened before breakfast on a daily basis, this one was unusual. She still didn't trust Rin. She wasn't sure if she was lying or not, but Rin was obviously not stable. Earlier that day, she had claimed that Eirin did not have a direct hand in the experiment while the story she had just told said otherwise. She had gone from claiming that everything was all a mistake that would be cleared up with a simple apology to making Eirin out to be some kind of torture technician who had abused her at every available opportunity. Of course, that ambush probably had killed any warm feelings Rin might have held for her, but still…

However, Rumia was no longer convinced that Rin meant to do her harm. And from the look of things, she might be here for awhile.

Rumia she took a deep breath and walked over to sit down next to Rin. The latter gave her a look of surprise as she did so.

"Hey Rin?"

"Huh?"

"Can you make me a promise?"

"A…a promise? Uh, what kind of promise?"

Rumia thought hard, trying to put her feelings into words. "Promise me that if…if we manage to fix this, if we manage to find a way for you to get your life back, if we find out where all these scary powers came from and how to get rid of them, and if we figure out what's with that evil voice, and what to do with those two," she indicated the nearby rivals, who were still silently glaring at the pair. "And we do all that and make sure that people won't keep trying to kill us…promise me you'll let me go, okay?"

Rin grimaced. "Rumia, I don't know if-"

"Promise me, okay?"

Rin stared at her for a few seconds. Then she nodded once. "Okay. I promise."

Rumia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Rin." Then she nodded toward the screen. "So, where are we going now?"

…

Yukari gets very grumpy when she's been up all day.

Anyway, sorry again for the major delay. Had several large school projects I needed to focus on, and finals week happened right after that. Now that school's out, updates should be coming more regularly.