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.

33. The Hunter's Season

The Hunter's Season

Deep Within

"Are you serious?" Rumia laughed. She leaned back to recline on her elbows. "You snuck out?"

"Yeah, we did," Rin answered. She was sitting in the meditation position with her arms resting on her knees. "Why, is that weird?"

"For you, yeah. No offense, but I always thought you were kind of a goody-goody back in the day. Sneaking out to go to festivals doesn't sound like something you'd do."

Rin and Rumia were still hiding in the cavern of glowing mushrooms. The last few days (weeks? Months?) had been refreshingly uneventful. Thus far, none of their pursuers had discovered their hiding place, though Rumia was not about to let her guard down. Living in the Wilds for six decades had taught her never to delude herself into believing that any hiding place, no matter how well concealed, was undiscoverable.

Still, that didn't mean she wasn't enjoying the break from the heart-stopping terror. However, that still left her with the same problem she had faced when they had taken shelter in the Saltlick Sea: given that there was nothing besides her and Rin in the world of Rin's mind, it had not taken long for boredom to set in. And as she could no longer sleep, her boredom could now continue uninterrupted. Of course, she could always have Rin send her into another dream, but the lethargy had yet to reach the extreme levels required for her to even entertain that option.

As much as it galled her, the only thing she could do to pass away the time was talk to Rin. Given how some of their past conversations had gone, it was not an activity she was overly fond of. However, to her surprise it had turned out to be more enjoyable than she had expected. While Rin had been thickheaded and stubborn about listening to Rumia during times of crisis, she had proven to be an attentive listener while the subject matter turned away from anything unpleasant. And as it turned out, she had a story or two of her own to tell.

"Hey, I wasn't that much of a goody-goody," Rin said indignantly. "I just didn't like getting yelled at."

Rumia smirked. "And so you made damned sure not to do anything that would tick people off. Come on Rin, let's be honest here."

Rin folded her arms. "Well, sorry if I wasn't some big notorious rebel like you," she muttered. "It's not like I got to run around with my very own gang of troublemakers, you know? Besides, who's the most wanted person alive right now? That's right, I think it's me!"

Rumia rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. I was just-"

"And I smashed Eientei! Twice! Have you ever smashed Eientei?"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Rumia said as held up her palms. "I was just teasing."

Rin frowned. "I thought you said you didn't like teasing."

"No, I said I don't like you molesting me. There's a big difference."

Rin's cheeks turned red. "I didn't molest you! I was just-"

"Okay! I get it, we're cool," Rumia said quickly. "So, sneaking out to go to the Winter Solstice festival. How'd that go?"

"Oh!" Rin's embarrassment evaporated. "Yeah, I was pretty nervous. I kept thinking that the Eientei Guard was going to show up and throw us in the dungeon."

"Wait a minute," Rumia said, her face twisting in confusion. "You had a dungeon?"

"No, but I was sure that would make one, just for us." Rin chuckled. "Of course, I found out later that the Guard was in on it the whole time. I think the captain owed Reisen a favor."

"Lucky," Rumia grumbled. Those kinds of connections would certainly have come in handy during some of her own past escapades. "So I'm guessing that you made it?"

Rin nodded. "Yeah, and it was…odd. I mean, sure Kaguya would throw big parties every holiday, but everyone at those were the local bunnies. I had never seen so many different people in one place before. Real culture shock, you know?"

"What, seeing people without foot-long ears?"

"Well, sorta," Rin shrugged. "At least, not that many. Plus, some of them had wings and long tails and claws and…Well, you get the picture."

"Must've been your first time seeing a Human," Rumia observed.

"Yeah, maybe. It was still pretty cool, though." A small smile tugged at Rin's lips. "We saw this ritual dance thing, and there was this awesome danmaku tournament. Those game booths were kinda sucky though. Turns out they were rigged."

"Eh, that's not exactly a secret," Rumia said. "Me and my friends found that out our first…" Then she blinked and sat up. "Wait, hold up! How long ago was this?"

"Huh?" Rin cocked her head. "Uh, I'm not really sure." She frowned and looked down at her legs. She appeared to be counting on her fingers. "Let's see…What's the year again?"

Rumia told her.

"Right," Rin mused. "So I was locked up for seven years, and me and Reisen went to that festival two years before that…So yeah, nine years ago?"

Rumia started grinning. "Is that so. I was there too!"

"What?" Rin said. "Really?"

"Yeah, me and my friends go every year! And we've been together for eleven years and some change."

"Huh." Now it was Rin's turn to smile. "So, we could've seen each other?"

Rumia shrugged. "Maybe. The festival's pretty big, and there's a crapton of people at those things. But sure, there's a chance we might have walked past each-"

Rin jumped to her feet. "Let me check!" she said eagerly.

"Uh…What?"

"Your memories!"

Rumia's face went white. "Oh, hell no!" she yelled as she scooted back. "Not that again!"

"What?" Rin said. Then she scowled. "Oh, come on, Rumia! Those were really old repressed memories. And your Evil Twin was hiding in them. These are way more recent and less filled with evil." Rin frowned. "Or so I assume."

Rumia shook her head. "Nuh-uh. No way. Every time you stick your fingers in me, bad things happen." A moment went by, and Rumia sighed. "You know, I should probably rephrase that."

"Huh?" Rin stared at her. "Why…" Then her eyes widened. "Ohhhhh…"

"Shut up," Rumia muttered.

"Come on Rumia," Rin begged. "It's not like before! I promise it won't hurt this time."

Rumia shook her head. "You know, what you promise and what actually takes place haven't really had a lot in common."

"Please?"

Rumia eyed her. She sighed. "Okay, fine. But if I start feeling anything more than an itch, you stop. Got it?"

"Got it," Rin said happily. She walked over and put her hand on Rumia's forehead. Rumia winced but managed to stifle her feeling of protest. "Okay, let's take a look."

Rumia's brow broke out in tingles, but nothing worse. She closed her eyes and fidgeted while Rin muttered to herself.

"Okay, so nine years ago. One, two…five, six, seven…no, too far! No, too far again! Okay, I think this is it…"

She fell silent for nearly a minute. And then she started laughing.

"Oh wow," she said. "No way!"

Rumia blinked. "Wait, you found yourself?"

"Check it out!"

Rin pointed, and the dark nothingness opened up to reveal another one of Rumia's memories. She recognized the Winter Solstice Festival immediately, specifically the area with all the booths. The view moved quickly as her past self ran through the crowd of Humans, fairies and youkai, some of them dressed in traditional kimonos and some in more casual wear. Fireworks exploded overhead in the clear night sky, and glowing round lanterns were hung everywhere.

"Faster, Rumia! Faster!"

Rumia felt her insides clench. The view shifted, revealing Cirno following close behind, clutching at Rumia's hand. Laughing, the two friends dodged in and out through the bustling crowd.

"There!" Rin shouted. The view froze. And sure enough, there was Rin. She was wearing a green blouse over a blue skirt, and was staring in fascination at a booth selling multicolored birds. Standing next to her was a female rabbit youkai with long, pale violet hair.

"There I am!" Rin said excitedly. "See? We did pass by each other. Who would have thought?"

"Yeah, I can see," Rumia muttered. Her mind was focused on that brief glimpse of Cirno. Her memories of that particular Winter Solstice were fuzzy, but as she recalled the reason she and Cirno were going so fast was due to the bucket of live frogs they had tried to slip into the goldfish tank. Unfortunately, the booth owner had caught them, forcing them to flee. They hadn't cared. It was all part of the fun.

Rumia's throat tightened. It was strange, how much she missed her friends. She hadn't really noticed it while they had been on the run, given that her mind had been focused on making plans to ensure her continued existence. And after her annoying encounter with their doppelgangers during her trip to the Dream World, she had been worried that her killing them would have somehow affected how she felt about them, perhaps redirecting that anger toward the actual Cirno, Wriggle, Daiyousei and Mystia. But ever since they had arrived in this fungi-filled cavern, she found her thoughts wandering back to them more and more. At that moment, she would have risked any of Rin's crazy plans if it meant that there was a chance that she could go home to their cave and just spend the evening sitting in front of the fire with the rest of the gang.

She glanced over to Rin. The Kirin seemed to have lost interest in their passing encounter, and was now staring at the still picture of the rabbit girl, whom Rumia assumed to be Reisen Udongein. Rumia had never met Reisen, but given that Rin's conversations tended to slide toward her sooner or later she now knew a great deal about her. She wondered how Rin was feeling now, seeing someone else's memory of the most important person in her life. Probably not too dissimilar to how Rumia was feeling now.

Though the thought bothered her, Rumia supposed that she and Rin had more in common than she had previously believed. In addition to being hunted as monsters for no fault of their own, they had both left people behind that they cared about. Rumia had her friends, and Rin had her rabbit. And to hear Rin go on, the two of them must have had the perfect mother/daughter, big-sister/little-sister, best-buddy relationship (the actual specifics tended to change every time Rin brought it up). And while Rumia was getting just a little tired of hearing about it, she couldn't fault Rin for worrying about the rabbit. From what Rin had said, the last time that had seen each other, Rumia's Evil Twin had taken over Rin's body and nearly murdered Reisen. That wasn't exactly the best of condition on which to part ways. That had to be rough, considering how close they had been.

…

So Reisen gave me this diary for some reason. I really don't know why. I asked Miya about it, and she said it was so I can write down whatever I'm feeling or thinking about and talk about my day. Okay…Kind of dumb if you ask me.

Reisen sat on her bed, Rin's old diary open before her. She had spent the last few days reading and rereading the recorded memories of Rin's life before the experiment, or at least she had tried to. Her duties as acting Head Physician had prevented her from getting much reading done, but still she had managed to cram in a few months' worth of entries during her fleeting few moments of time alone.

Today, however, Eirin had suddenly emerged from her room in much better condition than before and had given Reisen the day off. Reisen was reasonably sure that it wasn't due to incompetence on her part, seeing how there had been no lecture attached. In fact, Eirin hadn't seemed mad at her at all. Of course, she had been resting for almost a week. That would improve anyone's temperament.

Reisen wasn't complaining. She was long overdue for a break, and desperately needed some time to herself. Of course, without work to distract her, that only meant that everything that had happened would start worrying her again. And so she had brought out the diary.

It was strange, reading through the entries. Some of the events recorded she could remember clearly. Others were only jogged from her memory upon reading, while others she couldn't recall at all. There were even a few that outright contradicted her own recollection of the same events.

For example, she didn't remember Rin being quite this much of a brat.

Reisen wants me to try again with this diary. Whatever. I still think this is stupid, but if it keeps her from bugging me about it.

Okay. First off, why the heck do they keep making me go to that dumb school in that gross rabbit village? Can't I get like a personal teacher or something? I'm already smarter than everyone there, even the teacher! And they're all jealous of me there. They think they're hiding it, but I can see them whispering and glaring. Whatever. Just because I'm smart and they're stupid, and I live at a nice place like Eientei and they're stuck in a crummy little village. Jerks need to get over it.

Reisen shook her head. Now that she thought about it, she could dimly recall Rin going through something of a moody phase, but she didn't remember it being this bad. She flipped ahead.

Stupid, stupid Tewi! Honestly, why do they keep that creep around? Does she even have a purpose? I don't think so. I've never seen her do anything useful. Mostly she just runs around messing things up and laughing at people. And no one ever does anything about it! You remember that jigsaw puzzle Reisen bought for me? Well, now it's missing, and I know Tewi stole it! She was making fun of me yesterday, and I threw a rock at her head, so she must have taken it! And the worst part is that when I told Reisen, she wouldn't believe me! So what if I didn't see Tewi take it? I still know she did!

Reisen winced. Now that, she remembered. And as she recalled, they had found the puzzle in question back at the school, under Rin's desk. But she didn't remember Rin being so upset.

Even though her desire to read about Rin's early thoughts was starting to wane, Reisen moved on to the next entry. To her surprise (and relief) it wasn't a complaint.

I had a really weird dream last night. I dreamed that I didn't exist, but I did. And everybody knew it.

Okay, that doesn't really make sense, so let me try again. I didn't exist, but I was supposed to. It was like I was supposed to exist, but something went wrong and I got taken out of the world at the last minute. But I was still there, and everyone knew what happened. I was walking around Eientei trying to get people's attention, but they kept telling me, "Go away, you don't exist." And then I'd say, "Yes I do, I'm right here." And then they would just say, "I don't care, you don't exist." And then they'd get annoyed and start ignoring me.

I know that doesn't really sound that bad when I write it like that, but when I woke up I was all freaked out. I tried telling Reisen about it, but I just couldn't figure out a way to describe it. Like, my mouth kept getting all locked up, you know? But anyway that got me thinking. What if that really happened to me? Like I just taken out of the world but everyone knew that I was supposed to be there. Would anyone really care? I mean, I know not a lot of people like me, so would it even bother them if I just disappeared? I'm probably being stupid right now, but I just keep thinking about it.

Reisen felt her throat tighten. She swallowed and put the diary down. "I'd care," she found herself saying out loud.

But was that really true? Back when Eirin had first started her experiments, had she done everything she could to stop it? Granted, Rin had agreed to them, but Reisen still should have done more. And when Rin had been subdued and locked away, what had she done besides stand on the sidelines feeling helpless? Sure she had gotten them to back away from a death sentence, but why had she stopped there? She had kept telling herself that there was nothing she could do, that nothing she could say would change Kaguya's mind. But looking back, she couldn't be sure that she hadn't just been too scared to cross the Princess.

This was getting depressing, and Reisen had enough of that going on already. With a sigh she closed the diary and stood up. Sitting around in her room wasn't helping any, and she didn't trust Eirin's reassurances about being well enough to resume her duties. She might as well check on her, and if there was nothing for her to do in the clinic then she could always see if the Eientei Guard had anything for her to do. She just knew that if she had to spend the rest of the day cooped up in her room she would drive herself crazy.

…

Eirin sat at her desk in her office in the Hourai Clinic. She was leaning back in her chair, legs crossed and left hand tapping against her chin as she gazed thoughtfully into space. The files on Rin Satsuki lay open before her. After making copies to be distributed among the Gensokyo's various community leaders, Yukari had returned the original to Eientei. Eirin had spent the better part of the morning reading and rereading her own handwritten notes, looking for some sort of clue that she might have missed, some overlooked piece of information that might provide the key to resolving this disaster. But thus far, none had presented itself. Not that she had expected one to appear, but there was nothing lost in trying.

There was a knock at the door. Eirin glanced at it and straightened up. "Yes?"

"It's me, Commander Utada," said a woman's voice.

Eirin grunted. Utada was settling into her new rank at last. When Eirin had put herself on mandatory bed rest, the commander had been unused to addressing herself as such. "It's open," she said.

The door opened. "Sorry doctor, but there's a Kappa mechanic here, making a delivery. She said that you'll want to receive it in person."

Well, technically Eirin did have a solution at hand. It just wasn't one that she was happy about using, and was also the principle reason why she had given Reisen the day off.

"Well, yes," Eirin said as she stood up. "That's why I told you to inform me as soon as she arrived. Where is she now?"

"In your workshop," Utada said. "She's set up quite a collection of hardware."

"So I would imagine," Eirin said. She closed the file. "All right, I'm on my way. You may return to your post."

As Utada had said, a Kappa engineer was indeed waiting for her in her workshop. A blue-clad woman with short pigtails covered by a green cap and oversized goggles over her large eyes, she had converted one of the metal tables into a means to display her merchandise.

A virtual armory sat on that table. Small portable handguns sat side-by-side with two-handed rifles and grenade launchers, with a large minigun occupying a full fourth of the table all by itself. There was enough weaponry to equip a small elite force. Or one very large individual. One with many, many arms.

After Eirin had lost her emergency shotgun during Rin's last visit, she had come to the decision that the weapon had been insufficient. As such, she had contacted one of the Kappa's most gifted engineers and asked if there was anything she could do to upgrade Eientei's arsenal. And if the arrangement of hardware on the table was any indication, the Kappa had delivered.

"Dere yous is!" said Nitori Kawashiro as Eirin walked into the room. "Gots your guns." She swung her arm over the arrangement of hardware she had brought with her. "Alls checked off and goodie. Just like you askeded. All new n' shiny n' ready to boom stuffings."

It was just Eirin's good fortune that she had been the one responsible for finalizing trade arrangement with the Kappa Village upon Eientei's inclusion with the rest of Gensokyo's society, because otherwise trying to decipher the girl's way of speaking would snap what little patience she had left. The Kappa had their own language that they spoke among themselves, and while they could speak Japanese well enough to communicate with others, they tended to continue to use their own grammatical rules. Most of the time they kept it under control and maintained a diction that was odd but understandable, but when they grew excited their speech patterns had an annoying tendency to break down into something totally incomprehensible. Fortunately, Eirin had long grown accustomed to their odd diction and could understand them without much difficulty. For example, Nitori had just assured her that the weapons in question met with Eirin's specifications and were ready to destroy things.

"So you say," Eirin murmured as she came to a stop. "But if memory serves, the last weapon I had received from you was only good for a few shots before it melted. Not exactly the best track record, insofar as quality is concerned."

Nitori laughed. "What, dat little stickies you gots from outside-Humans? Dah ones you makes us get all fixied ups? Dat don't get all counted up. You wanna real goodies, you goes straight on we, and den makes right from the scratches."

(Your pathetic gun of Outside World make, which you had us modify? That doesn't count. If you desire items of actual quality, than go straight for those designed and assembled by the Kappa)

"I see," Eirin said. Her grey gaze flickered over the assortment of weaponry before returning to the Kappa. "Then please. Give me the pitch."

"You gotten it, bossy!" Nitori turned toward her merchandise and picked up a pair of steel rectangles just large enough to fit comfortably in the palms of her hands. "Now dese here? Dese baby buddies be something my unca Deldago whippered up. Tiny, can go in sleeveses with no problems, but when you wants to brings the painfuls…"

Nitori gave her wrists a sudden flick, and the rectangles snapped open to become a pair of sleek, economy-sized pistols.

"Den dese will brings it to da homestead! Semi-automatica, self-powering, pumps out a repeaters pulse to chew in whatevers pisses you up!"

(Yes, ma'am! Now these are something my uncle Deldago put together. Small and easily concealed, but should you desire to hurt someone, than these will be more than sufficient. Semi-automatic with their own power supply, these generate a deadly repeating pulse of energy that your enemies will find quite deadly)

Eirin said nothing.

"Aw, send it downtown? Alrighty dens!" The Kappa snapped the pistols back into their compact state, placed them back on the table and picked up a large shotgun. "Now, paste your beady eyeses on this beautifulness! My auntie Sinders popped dis out, with da requested pumpers and ten booms of heat! And not likes that piece o' dooky yous hads us tweaks, ain't no melting gonna happens with dis, 'cept for the faces of peoples yous dunno likes!"

(Not impressed? All right. Now, here's something that my aunt Sinders designed. Pump action, with a ten fireball round magazine, as requested. And unlike that inferior piece you once possessed, this one will not melt)

Again, Eirin made no response.

"But I says nonsense. Junk that, and grabs this!" She hoisted up a two-handed cannon that was nearly as long as she was tall. "Now den, dis was scrippied by me coz Lestorl. Even bests than dose cucumber sandies he chonks, and dat's tall talk! Shiny, ain't it? Dis is as biggie of a boomster as you'ze gonna see. Pumpered wit' explodey ion shells, you don't even has to smack da thing you wanna dead. Jus' closes in, and the ionic busters finishes its!"

(But what am I saying? Forget that, and consider this. Created by my cousin Lestorl, this is even better than his cucumber sandwiches, and that's high praise. And it looks good too. This is a large cannon, loaded with explosive ion shells. Direct hits are not necessary, as the bursts need only get close to have effect)

"Pray continue," Eirin said.

"You gotties!" Nitori carefully placed the cannon down and tapped the barrel of a matte black minigun. "Son-o'-me-sissy done this. Sixer barrels, shreddy happy. Quickies, pop-a-doodle-doo, will blaster sands in all points to light the star shooters! Calls by me parters Granny Crankies, or Dragon Farters."

(As you wish. This was made by my nephew. Six barrels, and deadly. Fast, and…?)

Eirin shook her head. Despite the wealth of knowledge at her disposal, there were still some things beyond her comprehension. The ramblings of an excited Kappa were among them.

"I see. And please, calm down, and try to speak clearly," she said. "Your explanations means nothing if I cannot understand them." She nodded toward the final item on the table, a black metal case. "And what is that?"

"Good eyes! Dese are scippied by me personable!" Nitori picked up the case and popped it open. There, resting in the black foam mold, were four six-inch sharp-tipped cylinder, each one the color of polished bronze. "Me pridefuls and joyous! Dese'll dug rights into any twitty derp you dunno like, find der center in point zero-two-fivers milliseckies and boom dem into vapors. Use dese onna builders and yous gets a craters. Use 'em onna persons and yous gets a cremation. And dis happeners so quicksters dat you be wonderings if dey were even there at alls!" Her grin widened. "I callers dese der Mama-In-Law."

(Now these are of my personal design, my magnum opus. They will burrow into the target of your choice and destroy them completely. And they will do so with such speed that it will as if they had ceased to exist. I have named this weapon the Mother-In-Law)

Eirin quirked an eyebrow. "How…humorous. Though I believe naming it after an ex-spouse would be more accurate."

"Eh, never gots marriaged," Nitori shrugged. "But me sissy? Gotter hitched like fiver cycles ago. Guy's a nicey, but his mama? Hoooeeee." She shook her head. "Believes you I, dese babies be named right."

"I see. And I take it that these weapons meet the specifications I sent you? The changing frequencies and all that?"

"You bet'chers!" Nitori flicked the brim her of her hat and grinned. "All der best, each shot differs from dah rest! Now dat were a toughies, lemme says to you. But for what'cha pays, I can scippies cookies dat stands up and dancing!"

"Very well, then," Eirin said. She walked over to one of the cabinets and opened it. From inside, she retrieved a brown suitcase. "Here," she said, passing it over to Nitori. "I believe you'll find the agreed upon amount inside.

The Kappa engineer popped the latches and looked inside. Her eyes glittered when she saw its contents. "Oooooh, goodilicious!" she squeaked. "Appreciations all over!"

"Glad to hear it," Eirin said. "Don't spend it all in one place." She walked over to the table and hefted the shotgun up.

The Lunarian doctor turned the weapon over in her hands and nodded her satisfaction. She would of course test it later, but it was more of a formality than anything. If Nitori said that it worked, then it worked.

Something made a scratchy squeaking noise. Eirin glanced over her shoulder to see Nitori clearing her throat.

"Yes?" Eirin asked.

"So…I canning helps but wonderings," Nitori said. There was a cunning smile on her face that Eirin did not like the look of. "All dese guns, wit' specialty fixes. What'cher plannings on booming?"

"Is that in any way relevant to this transaction?"

"Nah, but there be talkies everyplaces. Saying the blobbers beastie was scrippied by yous."

Eirin didn't answer, though her index finger did start tapping impatiently against the shotgun's barrel.

Nitori got the hint. "Hey dere, not worrisome!" she was quick to add. "Hads plenties o' experimentals go all freaky! No shamefuls dere. But I was wonderings, say I was plannings to tackle the thingie I'selfs…"

Eirin sighed. She placed the shotgun back on the table and shook her head. "I see. You're planning on joining that bounty hunt, and want to know if I have any information that you'd find useful."

The Kappa's eyes glittered. "Twenny-five million's a lotta shinies," she smiled. "And somebodys gonna be diggers it ups. Why nots I's?"

"You'd best pray that it isn't you," Eirin said coldly. She walked over to the blue-haired girl and glared down at her. "Because I can tell you firsthand that those who do tend to have their days ruined."

Nitori's grin vanished. "H-heys nowthens, takes it easies!" she said quickly. "If yous wanna I's stay outtas the huntings, I gets!"

"Do you?" Eirin said. "Because if you do I'll have to find someone else to be my weapons provider."

"Huh?" Nitori's already large eyes grew even larger. "Reallerz?"

"Yes. Because if you were to actually find her, you will either end up as her latest meal or dead." Eirin leaned over, so that she could look the river imp in the eye. "This creature nearly killed me. And it defeated Yukari Yakumo, Madam Mima, Reimu Hakurei, the oni Suika Ibuki, and the witch Marisa Kirisame. All at once. You know those names, don't you?"

Nitori gulped. "Er…Kinders?"

"Then if you're looking for some inside information, some advice, here it is. Stick with building bombs and radios. This is out of your league. It's out of my league. It may be out of everyone's league. A storm is coming, little imp. You'd be wise to keep your head low until it's passed."

Her larger eyes opened as wide as they would go, Nitori opened and closed her mouth but said nothing. Her species may be more closely related to turtles, but at that moment she more resembled a frog.

Eirin sighed and backed off. "Look, don't take this as a threat. But there have been too many fools getting themselves hurt in this. Don't add yourself to their number. Now, if there was nothing else…" She nodded toward the door.

Nitori's eyes filled with relief. "Er, nopies." She yanked out a piece of paper from a pocket and very nearly threw it at Eirin. "Here'yeour receipts! Pleasurables making businesses with yous!"

Clutching her payment to her chest, Nitori bolted from the room.

Eirin watched her go. She sighed. Perhaps she had been too hard on the little Kappa. After all, she hadn't known any better. But then, better intimidated and alive than informed and involved. For all her faults, she was an excellent engineer. And involving herself further into this situation was a great way to get herself killed. Enough people had been hurt already.

Like Kaguya…

Eirin looked over the merchandise on the table, a deadly arrangement of shiny steel and black plastic. All of it intended to eliminate her mistake. She had no illusions about what she had done, or what she was going to do. She had not asked the gods for forgiveness, because there was none to be given. As far as she was concerned, she was damned already. It was now only a question of whether or not she could somehow clean up the mess she had made before she was given to the flames.

Her pale hands slipped down to the plastic case containing Nitori's Mama-In-Laws and picked it up. She flipped it open. Inside, the four tiny but lethal projectiles gleamed. Somewhere out there, one of her greatest creations had been taken by another. She had a responsibility to both of them. Kaguya was going to be rescued, even if Eirin had to tear her out of Rin's grasp with her bare hands. And Rin was going to be freed from her suffering. One way or another. Eirin owed it to her.

Eirin's moved her hand over the deceptively small missiles, fingertips gently brushing the cold metal of their casings. But for you, my Princess, she thought, I accept this fate. If I must destroy any chance of redemption, I will see you saved.

With a sigh, Eirin carefully placed the box down and closed the lid. Then she turned around, intending to head for the door, but instead froze in place.

When she had fled the room, Nitori Kawashiro had neglected to close the door behind her. And in the doorway stood Reisen. She was staring at the assortment of weaponry with a look of complete horror on her face.

"Reisen!" Eirin said, her spine stiffening. "What are…I thought I told you to take the day off!"

Reisen didn't respond to the accusation. She simply moved her gaze from the table's contents to Eirin's eyes. "What are those?" she said.

Eirin looked at her. She glanced down at the guns, then back to Reisen. "I think it's quite obvious what those are, especially to one with a military background."

"You…You…" Reisen's shaking hands squeezed into fists. "You're planning on using them her, aren't you?"

Eirin ran through the possible replies in her head. She could say something to the effect of "Only if she attacks us first", or "I pray not. But I cannot leave Eientei inadequately defended". But instead, she simply nodded and said, "I am."

Reisen's pupils widened. The sounds that came from her mouth could not be accurately described as intelligible. The trembling moved up from her hands to her shoulders. "I…Uh…I…"

"Reisen," Eirin said in as soft a tone as she could manage. "Maybe we should talk."

"Talk," Reisen repeated.

"Yes. I think…I think that I owe you an explanation. And-"

"Talk!" Reisen exploded. "You want to talk! About what? What in the world is there to talk about?"

Eirin blinked in surprise. Even when under considerable pressure, Reisen was not a person given to angry outbursts. At least not directed toward herself. "Reisen, I think you should calm down. Losing your temper isn't going to-"

"You want me to calm down?" Reisen interrupted. She shook her head in disbelief. "You're standing there with enough firepower to kill a dragon, told me that you're going to use it on Rin, and you expect me to calm down?" She took a deep breath and nearly screamed, "Haven't you done enough to her? Wasn't taking her life away enough for you? And now you're planning to hunt her down and-"

"Reisen! Enough!" Eirin snapped. "If you must yell at me, fine. But come inside and close the door first."

Reisen didn't appear to have even heard her. "Why can't you just leave her alone? Why can't you-"

"I said ENOUGH!"

That did the trick. Reisen stopped talking, but dismay did not leave her face.

A moment passed, in which neither of them spoke. And then Eirin said in low, firm tone, "Come inside."

This time, Reisen obeyed.

"Close the door."

Reisen nudged it with her foot, letting it swing shut. Her eyes never left Eirin's.

Eirin took a deep breath and steadied herself. Though she had recovered most of her strength, she still was not at a hundred percent. The drugs in her system kept her body in working order, but she still needed to avoid unnecessarily exciting herself.

"Reisen," she said softly. "What were you expecting me to do? Did you honestly believe that I would just stand aside and let the chaos continue unabated? To let those fools make the situation worse while Yukari goes prancing after Yuuka Kazami? You know better than that. This incident cannot be allowed to continue. It needs to be ended, Reisen. For the good of everyone. You know that."

"And that's your solution?" Reisen said, her voice just as soft. "To chase Rin down and shoot her? Just…keep hitting her until she can't take anymore?"

"Yes," Eirin said. "I lack the power and resources to defeat her as I am."

"Defeat her?" Reisen repeated, her voice filled with disbelief. "Defeat her. You…She idolized you! Wanted to be just like you! She would do anything for you, just to have your approval."

"I know," Eirin said.

"That's why she let you experiment on her in the first place! So you'd be proud of her!"

"I know," Eirin said again. "But that doesn't change the fact that she is far too dangerous to leave alone."

"So you're, what, going to just chase her down and try to kill her?" Reisen demanded. Her voice was starting to tremble, and the edges of her crimson eyes were glistening with forming tears. "She's a little girl, Eirin! She's just a little girl! She's not some freak or monster to-"

"Yes, she is."

Eirin did not raise her voice or place any sort of emphasis on her words. If anything, they were spoken in an even lower tone than before. But they stopped Reisen in her tracks just the same.

"What?" Reisen whispered.

"Face the facts," Eirin said. "You know what she can do, what she's become. She is a freak. She is a monster. I know. I made her that way. And true, none of this is really her fault, when you get down to it. But an animal that has contracted a disease like rabies is likewise not to blame for falling ill. That doesn't mean it doesn't have to be put down."

Reisen blinked in confusion. "But I thought you already found the cure for-"

"Figure of speech," Eirin growled. She walked over to the box of ammunition and sat on top of it, her hands gripping the sides of the lid.

Reisen remained standing. "But why you?" she said. "Why do you have to go buy all these fancy guns and go after her? Why can't you just leave her-"

The lips peeled away from Eirin's teeth, and her breathing started to sound more like a snarl. "Because," she said. "She's my freak, my monster, and so she's my responsibility! What about that is so hard to understand?"

Reisen was again struck dumb. She could only stand and stare.

Eirin closed her eyes and concentrated on bringing her heartbeat under control. When she did, she opened them and said, "I know what you think of me. And everyone else for that matter. I'm not stupid, Reisen. And I know perfectly well what I did to that girl." She shook her head. "I used her for my ambitions, and ruined her life. Just like I always do."

"Huh?" Reisen said, blinking.

"What, you thought Rin was the first?" Eirin said with a small, bitter laugh. "Have you so quickly forgotten Kaguya?"

"The Princess?" Reisen now sounded even more confused.

"Yes. The Princess," Eirin said. Her fingers tightened their grip. "She wanted some way to break out of the hierarchy of birth. I wanted to establish myself as the greatest alchemist who had ever lived." She let out another mirthless laugh. "And let's face it, all the prestige that would have come had she actually taken the throne would have been fantastic. But how did that turn out, for either of us?"

Reisen didn't need to respond. They both knew the answer. Kaguya had been arrested and condemned by the Lunarian court, her own family. She had then been stripped of everything she had, both her material possessions and her royal title, and exiled to Earth. As for Eirin, rather than become the legendary doctor and scholar she had been trying for, she had ended up selling antibiotics and recreational drugs to technologically primitive Humans and youkai.

"And after, when the princess and I found ourselves stranded on Earth, whose idea do you think it was for Kaguya to mingle and interact with the local nobility?" Eirin continued. "My attempt to adapt and once again bid for power resulted in Fujiwara no Mokou. It happens again and again. I try to come up with an impenetrable defense for the Lunarian Capital, and spend the next few centuries wincing every time I hear about a velmick-caused fatality. I create a drug that gives the user highly vivid lucid dreams, and it turns out half the Human Village has driven themselves mad with nightmares."

Reisen gulped. "Wait, that last part happened?"

"No, it didn't happen," Eirin said with a roll of her eyes. "But would you be surprised if it did? Just another miraculous success turning into disaster." She nodded toward the table of weapons next to her, lined up in their neat little rows. "And now, we have Rin. I'm not going to let this continue, Reisen." Kaguya's voice hardened. "And I'm not going to let Kaguya suffer any more because of me. I'm going to save her, and I'm going to end this."

It felt strange, saying all that out loud. Ever since the second Satsuki incident, Eirin had been careful to keep her feelings restrained. To remain focused on the problems at hand and work on resolving them without thinking about the exact nature of the incident. Of course, the fact that the exact nature involved Satsuki coming back, wrecking Eientei (again) and taking Kaguya away from her, that had been less than easy. And her own near-death experience had further complicated matters. But she had kept it all bottled up the best she could. After all, she was the acting head of Eientei. It would not do to lose face.

But over the last few of days, when her injuries had forced her to remain in bed under the haze of drug-induced hallucinations and feverish dreams, keeping a lid on her emotions had become next to impossible. It was just as well that her door had been locked, preventing anyone from seeing the shuddering wreck she had become. Of course, the mask had gone right back on when she had reemerged, but her emotions were now swimming all that more closer to the surface. In fact, it was just as well that she was having this conversation now, as she was due to slip sooner or later. Though the irony that it would be Reisen to be the one to make her finally come out and admit it was not lost on her.

A few seconds ticked by, and then Reisen said, "But why do you need to kill her? Why not keep working for a cure? We're not fugitives anymore, so it's not like you're hurting for resources."

Eirin rolled her eyes. She stood up, walked over to one of the metal cabinets that lined the wall, and opened it up. From inside she pulled out a tiny refrigeration unit. Frozen inside was a single specimen vial.

Within the vial, seemingly unaffected by the freezing temperature, was a tiny bead of transparent ooze.

Reisen's jaw dropped when she realized what it was. Her pupils narrowed as she stared at the vial. They then jumped to Eirin, questions filling her eyes.

"I recovered this after Flandre Scarlet blew her apart," Eirin said. "I've been working off-and-on ever since trying to find something that'll take effect, something that'll make it turn back to flesh. After we went public, I thought that our newfound connections would allow me to find something that would work. But it doesn't matter what I do, it just keeps adapting and staying the way it is. I even tried working a tracking spell through it to find the rest of the whole, and it just absorbed that as well." She put the vial back into the cabinet and closed it.

"But why didn't you tell me?" Reisen asked.

"What would be the point? It wasn't working. All it would do is give you false hope."

"But-"

"Reisen," Eirin said as sympathetically as she could. "Please, see reality. There is no cure. Rin isn't coming back. And I may not have the power to take back my mistakes or give her back her life, but I can at least release her from her torment. I owe her that much."

Reisen stared at her feet. She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Eirin sympathized. Despite her notoriously bad luck, Reisen always had been a bit of an optimist. And despite everything that had happened, she would have kept clinging to the belief that Rin could be cured, that she would get her adopted daughter back. Eirin didn't blame her in the slightest. She had entertained similar thoughts following Kaguya's exile from the Moon. But in the end, she had come to accept that neither she nor Kaguya were ever going to realize their dreams. It was time that Reisen came to terms with her own hard truth.

Eirin did not like doing this to her assistant, especially since it was her fault that Reisen was even in this situation. But in the end, it was best that Reisen come to accept reality. As hard as it was, she needed to come to terms with the facts. It was the only way she would be able to move on after Rin's inevitable death.

Then Reisen looked up. Her eyes were still wet with tears, but they were steady with determination. She took a deep breath and said, "You're wrong."

Eirin's head jerked back in surprise. She blinked and said, "Excuse me?"

"You're wrong," Reisen said again. There was a slight quaver to her voice. She seemed to be struggling to get the words out, to contradict her master, but she was doing it anyway. "You…You tried. I get that, and I appreciate it. But just because you failed doesn't mean a cure doesn't exist."

Eirin stared at her but didn't offer argument, so Reisen pressed on. "I mean, isn't Gensokyo supposed to be the land of miracles? Where the unattainable goes to live when people stop believing in it? Do we even care about what's possible or not even more? I thought reality was just something to be laughed at, if we notice it at all."

Reisen shook her head and let out a small laugh. "I'm sorry, but I just can't accept that, after all we've seen, after all we've done, that there's something impossible. I can't accept that there's no way she can be saved. It's out there somewhere." She looked toward the door. "And I'm going to find it."

"Excuse me?" Eirin said. Now it was her turn to struggle with disbelief "Are you insane? You're not going out there."

Reisen gulped, but said, "Yes…yes I am."

"No, you're not. You're going back to your quarters, and you're going to stay there."

Reisen said nothing.

"That's an order," Eirin said, making damned sure that the final word had full emphasis.

"I know," Reisen said. To Eirin's surprise, the Lunarian rabbit was smiling. It was a sad smile, perhaps a little regretful. But it was still a smile. "But I'm afraid…that I cannot obey."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I quit."

…

Hunter's Interlude the First

"You know, I'm really starting to have second thoughts about this," Tony growled. He glared down from his position high on the wall of the acorn-shaped treehouse that he shared with his partner.

His companion, a purple-haired woman with a sharp face, looked up from polishing her katana. "Is that right?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm thinking this whole thing is gonna be more trouble than it's worth," he said as he grumpily crossed his arms. "I mean, come on. Sure, the money sounds fantastic, but when the job's being posted by Cirno's Gang and sponsored by Yuuka bloody Kazami, it starts getting a whole lot less legit."

"As opposed to a job posted by any other youkai?" his partner said dryly. She held up her blade and gave it a few experimental swings.

Tony pushed up the brim of his bowler hat to scratch his forehead. "Hey, look here Meira. I don't exactly have the best track record with those guys, okay? The first time I ever met that dumbass fairy, she done froze me solid just for offering me help. And when I dared to complain, I got me ass blown to pieces by that flower-loving nutter!"

"Then it's just your good fortune that this job will soften their opinion of you, arachnid," Meira said. Satisfied with its condition, she returned her blade to its scabbard and stood. "Besides, the money isn't the point."

"Is that right?" Tony smiled his quivering smile. "All right poppet, enlighten me."

"Power," Meira said. "It's all about power. That beast has it, and we're going to take it."

"Yeah? And exactly how are you planning on doing that? Because from what I've heard, this thing is more of a taker than a giver."

"I was speaking of the power of reputation. It has it, so when we take it down, its power will be ours. Money is transient. Power is what lasts."

Tony laughed. He pushed himself off the wall to land next to Meira. "That right? But I sure as hell hope you've got some sort of idea how we're gonna pull it off. Because from what I hear, we've got all kinds of competition."

"Irrelevant," Meira said. She straightened out her red and white robe. "It doesn't matter how many other base creatures stand in the way. In the end, we will triumph."

"Ha! Well, at least you've got confidence," Tony said with a rolled of his bulbous eyes. "Though I do seem to remember you giving a similar sort of speech, right before you decided to attack the Hakurei shrine mai-"

The katana was drawn in a flash and the tip pressed against the underside of Tony's jaw. "Just keep talking arachnid," Meira hissed. "See where that gets you."

Tony sighed. "Yeah, sorry to break this to you, but those sorts of threats really ain't as intimidating to youkai as they are to you Humans." He pushed the blade away from his face.

Meira grudgingly resheathed her sword. "This time it will be different. I promise you."

"Tough words, samurai. Can you back them up?"

"Yes. This time, I will prevail. I will slay the monster and claim the reward, and thereby redeeming my family's name in the eyes of-"

"-of all those who looked down and mocked yadda-yadda-yadda," Tony said with a yawn. "Same speech, every time. Sorry poppet, but it's lost its ability to impress. This one'll be just like the others, and soon I'll be hearing the same two words from you I always hear."

Meira gritted her teeth. "And pray tell, what two words would those be?"

Tony grinned at her. "Oh, you know the ones. As soon as things start getting too hot, you throw in the towel and say…"

…

"I quit."

Eirin and Reisen stared at another. The words hung heavy in the air between. Two words, both harmless in of themselves. But when strung together, their significance increased by a substantial amount. Especially considering the person who was speaking them. And the person they were being spoken to.

The surprise wasn't enough to make Eirin take a step back, but she did lean away from Reisen as her eyebrows moved higher on her forehead. "You…quit?" she said. She wasn't entirely certain if she had heard her assistant right. "You quit?"

"Yes," Reisen said. She seemed to have difficulty believing that she was doing this as well. "I…quit. Huh. I quit." A slow smile spread across her face, made up of equal parts disbelief and exhilaration. "Wow."

"That's one way of putting it," Eirin hissed. "Though it falls far short of the appropriate emotional reaction." She took a step forward and snarled, "You quit? We took you in after your own exile, fed and sheltered you for almost five decades, and you're just going to quit?"

Reisen hands were trembling, but she nodded.

"Why?"

"Because you're wrong. About her, I mean. About Rin."

Eirin resisted the eye roll she fell tugging. "Yes, miracles and all that. We went over this."

"Not that," Reisen said. "I mean what you said before. About Rin being your…your monster. You're wrong." She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and continued. "Sure, the formula may be yours, and I'm not arguing that…what happened was your doing, so the responsibility may be yours. But not Rin herself. I'm the one who found her in that cage. I'm the one who brought her back, who…who taught her to read and walk and played with her and made sure she was loved while you barely even noticed that she was there. She was always just a nuisance to you, and come to think of it, she still is. Fine. Okay. But don't think that she's yours, because she's not. Rin's mine. And if this is your way of taking responsibility, then I'm not going to stand aside anymore. I'm going to get her back myself."

Eirin was still unable to believe that Reisen was being serious. "You're really doing this, aren't you?" she said. "After all we've done for you, you're going to choose her over us."

In response, Reisen her hands on the front of her thighs and bowed low. "Thank you for everything you've done for me," she said. To Eirin's surprise, the tone was completely sincere. "I won't forget it."

"Oh, I know you won't," Eirin snarled. She started to move forward. "Because you're not going anywhere." Her voice took on an edge of desperation. "You're not leaving me, Reisen. Not you too. Not now."

Reisen swallowed. "I'm sorry. Tell the others that I'm sorry too."

She turned toward the door. And then, something inside Eirin snapped.

"Wait!" she said. She lunged forward to grab Reisen by the shoulder. "You can't do this! I won't let you!"

There was brief moment of struggle, and then Reisen whirled around and their eyes met. Then there was a sudden flash of bright red, and the Eirin's mind exploded into a million singing bits. Her eyes rolled back, and the rest of her sentence dissolved into nonsense as she slumped to the floor.

…

Hunter's Interlude the Second

Tenshi Hinanai threw the doors to the armory wide open and marched in. All around, the extensive collection of weaponry owned by her family was displayed upon racks, upon long tables and within clear crystal cases. Unlike the ornamental blades and suits of armor that were put on display here and there throughout the palace, these were not intended for decoration. These were tools intended to hurt and, if possible kill. Exactly what she needed.

"Chiko, darling, I don't believe this is such a good idea," said the voice of her mother, over the palace's extensive intercom system. "Are you certain that you've thought this through?"

Tenshi ignored her. She walked over to a table that held several bladed rings eight inches in diameter. Each ring had a section along its circumference about three inches long that was dulled and wrapped in leather. She picked up six of the rings stared at them. Under her gaze, they shrunk down to a tenth of their size. These were then snapped into place into the waiting grooves along her left sleeve.

"Dear heart, you know we would never stand in the way of your goals and dreams," said her father's voice. "But I'm afraid I must agree with your mother. This may not be the wisest choice."

Hanging on a hook that jutted from the wall was a length of metal chain with a small but heavy round weight at one end and a sharp spike at the other. She picked it up and looped it around her belt.

"Sweetie, you know we only want what's best for you," her mother said. "And to be quite frank, this whole bounty hunter business sounds quite deplorable. It's beneath a lady of your stature!"

This time Tenshi did pause long enough to cast a reproachful glare in the intercom's direction. Bounty hunter? As if she would bother with that. Money was of no interest to her. No, she was interested in one thing and one thing only: finally earning some damned respect. And if her parents were so thick that they couldn't see that, then they deserved her disregard.

She walked to the far end of the armory, where several large stones sat in neat rows. When it came to items of earth magic, the keystones were among the most powerful, and as such they were a favorite plaything of hers. Granted, some of her past games had landed her in a deep trouble, but that had not been due to any failure on the stones' part. Tenshi snapped her fingers, and five of the stones lifted off the ground to float towards her. By the time they reached her open hand they were the size of walnuts. She slipped them into the leather pouch that hung at her side and carefully sealed it shut.

"Be reasonable, darling," her father said. "I understand that you're upset, but going off on some mad quest isn't the way to express yourself! Why don't you come up? I'll make you a nice cup of tea, and we can talk about-"

That did it. Tenshi seized up a throwing star and hurled it at the intercom. The infuriating voices of her parents cut off as sparks flew from the murdered machine.

"I think I've had enough of that," she muttered. Then she walked over to where a full suit of samurai armor stood waiting. Ignoring the armor itself, Tenshi instead pulled its sword free from the scabbard and held it up so that she could see her reflection in its blade.

Her face had much improved from the state it had been when she had finally crawled out of bed a few days ago. Now that she had a mission, it was almost glowing with purpose. She grinned and held the sword up. A small infusion of will, and the blade erupted with color, illuminating the cold recesses of the armory and sending rainbows everywhere.

…

Reisen stared slack-jawed as Eirin collapsed to the ground. The hand holding her shoulder spasmed and then flopped its way down the front of her shirt to finally come to rest next to Eirin's prone form.

She wondered if she was dreaming. Yes, that would make sense. She had had dreams about screaming at Eirin in the past. This was just another one. Or perhaps it was a highly vivid daydream. She had been rehearsing what she wanted to say to Eirin so many times that her mind was now tricking itself into believing that it was actually happening. Or perhaps she was going mad. Stress will do that to a mind, and she had been under considerable stress as of late. She nodded to herself. Yes, one of those had to be the real explanation. There was no way she had actually just called Eirin out, quit her job and used her madness inducing abilities on-

Eirin's head lolled back and forth. Her eyes remained open, though they spun around in their sockets every which way. Her mouth kept moving, releasing a constant stream of whispered babble.

A sharp chill went down Reisen's spine as her heartbeat sped up. That had just happened. She had actually done it. She hadn't intended to. It had been in the heat of the moment. But it had still happened. And not only that, she had so thoroughly eliminated any possibility of taking it back that it would be a miracle if she didn't surpass Rin as Eientei's most wanted.

With a small giggle, Eirin's head flopped toward her. Her lips parted in a wide grin. "There's a big, wide river," she singsonged. "Where all the little boats are made out of liver. Toupee!"

Reisen glanced over her shoulder. The door was still shut, and she heard nothing on the other side. She bit her lip, and then knelt down to pick Eirin up by the armpits.

As it turned out, the Lunarian doctor was a lot heavier than she looked, and Reisen huffed and puffed as she dragged her over to a nearby couch. She laid her (ex) mentor across the thin cushions. She hoped that Eirin was going to be all right. The bout of madness she had given her was temporary, but things could go wrong. Even though her natural affinity for waves did mean that she could induce madness with anyone that she locked eyes with, it was not a power she was comfortable with using. In fact, she had only used it twice since arriving in Gensokyo. The first time had been to make Tewi leave her alone, and the native-born rabbit's revenge had been so severe that Reisen hadn't dared do it again. The second time had been out of panic during her first meeting with Fujiwara no Mokou. Curiously enough though, Mokou had not sought revenge. It had taken Reisen nearly five years to work up the courage to ask her why, and had been surprised to find that not only had Mokou forgotten the whole incident, but upon being reminded, had told her that it had been "kind of cool" and suggested that Reisen start charging for its use as a form of recreation.

That of course was not something she had any intention of doing. But even if it was all temporary with no side-effects, Reisen didn't feel better. Despite the recovery she had undergone, Eirin was in bad condition, and there was no telling what that blast might do to her mind. For all Reisen knew, she might have just given her permanent brain damage.

"And as interesting as I find the tofu party favors, we all are termites under the sun," Eirin said in her lecture voice. "Nothing is made from the fat of a thousand pillow feathers, but I've been attacked by scorpions every day this week, and am growing sick of it!"

Reisen took a deep breath. Either way, she couldn't stay here. Either the effects weren't permanent, and Eirin would deal out some blistering punishment. Or the effects were permanent, and the Guard would line her up against the wall.

"I'm sorry," she said as she moved away from the couch. "I'm sorry. Try not to hate me. I'm sorry."

She turned away, only to jump as when Eirin's hand suddenly snapped up to grab her by the shoulder. Reisen looked down, fearing that Eirin had recovered her mind already, but the doctor's eyes remained unfocused and vague.

"Don't fear the Reaper," Eirin told her. "You are the Reaper."

"Uh, okay," Reisen said as she pulled herself free. "I'll keep that in mind."

Then she turned her attention to the weaponry Eirin had just purchased. She wondered if she should destroy them. There was no question that she wanted to, but she had no idea how, and it would probably just end up exploding in her face, so she had to reluctantly leave them where they were.

Instead, she went over to the cabinets, and withdrew the freezing unit with the small piece of Rin inside. She deactivated it and removed the vial. If she was going to do this, then she wasn't going to be half-assed about it. And that meant not leaving Eirin with any piece of Rin. Then, with the unit tucked under her arm, she ran from the room.

The hallway outside was empty, which was a relief. She carefully closed the door, wondered if she should lock it, but decided not to. Eirin might need the help. Then she quickly made her way through the clinic, out into the rain, and into the mansion.

No one tried to stop her as she made her way to her quarters, which was a relief. She still felt her heart lurch every time she passed someone in the hallway. But apparently Tewi's mallet-enforced lessons had been well learned, as none of the staff seemed interested in bothering her. She made it to her room and quickly shut the door.

Once inside, she let herself collapse shuddering against the door. Oh, she was so dead. Even if she got away now, sooner or later this was going to catch up with her. She was so freaking dead.

Reisen tried to laugh, but it came out as a sob. This was followed by another, and soon Reisen was curled up on the ground, weeping. This was the second time her mistakes had lost her a home. She had been lucky to find sanctuary after her banishment from the Lunarian Army. But Gensokyo was not a large place. She would not be so fortunate this time around.

Besides, she had liked living at Eientei. Sure, Eirin was harsh, and Tewi drove her absolutely bonkers. But Kaguya was fairly decent, and had been getting a lot more lenient as of late. And she had made a lot of friends with the local rabbit tribes. All the shopkeepers knew her name, and would always ask how things were going. And the Guard never had a problem with her tagging along on patrols. It had taken awhile, but she had started to feel like she belonged. But now, she had gone and betrayed the people who had done her so many favors. Again.

Reisen sniffed pushed herself up. Well, what was done was done. She had to concentrate on the now. She forced her feet to start moving, and was soon going through her things and packing the essentials into two suitcases and a backpack. Clothing, toiletries, travel gear, some rations and a few keepsakes from both the Moon and her time in Eientei. The picture of her and Rin was one of the first to get packed away, whereas the vial was wrapped in fabric and placed into a pouch to be worn on a sling.

Then she looked at Rin's belongings, the ones that Tewi had recovered for her and wondered if she should bring all of them. Finally she ended up packing away the diary, the books, the clothing and, after a brief debate, the mirror and hairbrush. There were still a few old hairs stuck between the bristles, and she was not going to leave any part of Rin behind, especially not the last remnant of her previous existence. The chemistry set was too decayed and delicate, so that was discarded. As for the erhu, it was too large to fit comfortably in her bags, so she wrapped it in sheets and secured it between the straps of one of the suitcases.

Once she was sure that she had everything that she could get with the time remaining, Reisen opened the window and looked outside. The courtyard was empty, with everyone either inside or patrolling the forest. She climbed down and dropped to the muddy flagstones with a grunt, closed the window, and took off running for the forest.

When she judged that she had put a safe amount of distance between herself and the mansion, Reisen crouched low, ready to spring into the air and take flight.

However, she was interrupted when someone threw a rock at her head.

It wasn't a large rock, barely more than a pebble. But it still stung. And Reisen had not been expecting it. She let out a yelp of surprise and whirled around, her hand leaping to the point of contact.

Tewi stood on the path behind her. Flanking the little rabbit were five of the Guard. And not just any members of the Guard, but five of the veterans, ones that had been part of the force for some time. Reisen recognized her friend Shiina, as well Sayu, Maki, Sayaka and Hitomi. Reisen had gotten to know them during the times she had accompanied their patrols. Which meant that their presence here made a certain amount of sense. They knew the forest better than most, and given the time of crisis it was only logical that they would be the ones to patrol it. It didn't make this confrontation any easier though, given Reisen's personal history with all of them.

The faces of the Eientei Guard were coolly neutral, professional. Tewi, however, had never cared one whit about keeping up appearances. As such, her face was bright red with anger.

"Where you do think you're going, floppy-ears?" she demanded. "Suitcases? Bags? Sneaking out the window? You're just gonna run away and leave us behind? Huh?"

"Uh…" Reisen looked down at the suitcases in her hands and her brain froze up. "I…uh…was planning on flying actually…"

Her response was rewarded with another flung stone. "Idiot!" Tewi yelled. "So things get a little crappy and you run away? So what if Eirin's being snappy with you? Boo hoo! Get over it!"

Reisen blinked. So they didn't know what had just happened. She glanced up at Shiina, who frowned and cocked her head.

"Reisen," Shiina said. "What happened?"

Reisen inhaled. "Eirin just had a bunch of Kappa-made weapons delivered. All very high tech. All specially made to hurt Rin."

A small wave of understanding swept through the Guard as they exchanged looks and murmurs. Tewi, however, didn't even bother to hide her outrage, or the angry tears that were pouring from her eyes. "So you're just gonna go and abandon us then? Choose her over us?"

Which had been more-or-less what Eirin had said to her. Breathe in the irony. "Yes, Tewi," Reisen said with a reluctant nod. "I can't just-"

"Save it," Tewi growled. "Just…save it. I don't care. If you're gonna go, then go." She picked up another rock and threw it at her, though her aim was off this time. "Go on!" she shouted as she threw more rocks, each one even more poorly aimed than the last. "Get out of here already! It's not like you care about us! So go!"

With that, she turned and ran back toward Eientei, her bare feet splashing through unheeded puddles.

Reisen and the Guard stared after her. Reisen felt the lump in her throat grow. That had been much more painful than she would have expected. Tewi had been one of the chief sources of the grief Reisen had undergone ever since coming here. But for some reason, those accusations of betrayal had hurt more coming from her than they had coming from Eirin.

She looked at the Guard and said, "Guys, I'm…I'm so sor-"

Shiina raised a hand, cutting her off. "No, no. Don't apologize. We get why you're doing this."

"You do?" Reisen blinked.

"Reisen," Maki said. "You weren't the only one to help raise that kid. We were there too."

"I cried for a solid week after she got sentenced," Hitomi said. "No joke."

"She did," Sayaka confirmed. "It was real awkward."

"And heck," Shiina said with a shrug. "After what happened, I was about to turn in my resignation as well. Still might, all things considered."

Reisen's eyes went wide. "Please don't," she begged. "I don't want to drag anyone else down with me."

"Who said it was for you?" Shiina said. She shook her head. "So, lots of anti-Rin Satsuki guns, huh?"

Reisen nodded.

"Figured that's what it had to be, when I saw all those crates that Kappa was bringing in." Shiina muttered. "I mean, I know she's dangerous and all, but she's just a kid." She kicked a nearby stone and sent it sailing into the forest. "I hate this business."

There were murmurs of agreement all around, Reisen's among them. Then she hesitated and said, "You realize that Eirin's probably going to have me declared criminal after all this, right? She might even have you guys try to bring me in."

"Sure, she might," Shiina said with a crooked grin. "But I wouldn't count on us trying too hard. Just don't do something really stupid and get yourself hurt. I'd hate for us to risk court-marital for nothing."

Reisen managed a weak smile. "Thank you," she said. "For everything."

"Find our girl and bring her back, and I'll put in a good word for you at your trial," Shiina said. "And maybe I'll discover that my trigger finger's developed a crippling cramp should Eirin line you up against the wall."

With that, she snapped to attention and saluted. The girls standing behind her wasted no time following suit.

Reisen's throat constricted. She didn't trust herself to speak. So instead, she responded with a salute of her own. Then she turned and ran. And when she realized that she didn't have to do that, she leapt into the air and stayed there, moving above the bamboo trees and into the open sky.

…

Hunter's Interlude the Third

Rikako Asakura pulled off her goggles and wiped her grimy face with her even grimier sleeve. The improvement was negligible. "All right, try it again," she said into a portable mic.

From her position in their project's cockpit, Rika grinned and flashed her sister a thumb's-up. She flicked three switches and gripped the control stick.

Electricity hummed and gears turned as their creation powered on. With a metallic groan it shoved itself up on its many legs and heaved its massive body off the ground.

"Come on, come on," Rikako muttered. She spoke into the mic. "How are things looking from your end?"

"So far, so good," came Rika's voice. "Looks like all systems are…Ah, bloody hell. That was fast."

Rikako felt a sudden chill. "What? What's going on?"

"Uh…You might want to stand back…"

A shrill shriek filled the interior of the Asakura Science Foundation's workshop. Sparks and smoke poured out of their project's seams as its legs suddenly slipped out from under it, dropping the huge mass to the floor. Then, with a sigh that almost sounded like a death gurgle, the whole thing powered off.

The resulting shockwave nearly bowled Rikako over. She managed to steady herself on a nearby table and grabbed at the mic. "Rika! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Rika coughed. "Hang on…"

The cockpit opened, releasing a thick billow of smoke. Rika emerged from the cloud and leapt to the ground, coughing and wheezing the whole way. Rikako handed her a bottle of water, from which she drank greedily.

"Well, that sucked," Rika said as soon as she was able. "Still, at least we got the bloody thing to turn on. That's a sure improvement." Her face darkened under the mask of ash and grease. "Though it's far from enough. I'm telling you, sis. This had better work. Because if it turns out we did all this work and Satsuki ends up cleaning our clocks anyway, I'm gonna be all kinds of pissed."

"Calm down, everything will be fine," Rikako answered. She walked over to where a bucket of mostly clear water sat with a pile of towels. "After all, who knows more about her than we do? If someone's got the best chance of bringing her down, it's us," she said as she picked one up and started wiping her face.

"Uh, try Eirin Yagokoro?" Rika said as she followed. "By a whole lot, in fact."

Rikako shrugged. "She's way too busy trying to keep a handle on things back at Eientei to be considered competition. We got off lucky in comparison. Honestly, haven't you heard of all the hot water they're in? Plus there's whole losing her princess thing. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up going completely insane, if the stress doesn't kill her first."

…

It was a strange thing, recovering from madness. Eirin's mind was playing host to a parade of colors, images and sounds, and she didn't even possess the cognitive abilities to realize that something was wrong.

However, over time the chaos faded away, and sentience slowly reestablished dominance. Eirin's face twitched, and her murmured babbling slowed to a halt. Her vision focused, and she pushed herself up on her elbows.

"Ugh," she groaned as she pressed a hand against her aching head. "What the hell? Where…?"

She squinted through bleary eyes at the world around her. From the look of things, she was in her workshop. That was nothing new. But why was she here to begin with? Had she been working late and collapsed from exhaustion? It had been known to happen in the past.

Then her eyes fell upon the table and all the hardware it contained, and it all came rushing back.

"Reisen!" she cried as she sat straight up. The sudden motion sent a spike of pain through her head, forcing her back down. She growled, and forced herself to roll to her feet.

"Reisen!" she said as she stumbled her way across the workshop. "Reisen! Where are you?"

It didn't take long to confirm that Reisen was gone. She found a clock and was relieved to find that she had only been down for a few minutes. Reisen couldn't have gone far. There was still time. Eirin gritted her teeth and moved toward the intercom on the wall. The Guard would be able to stop her. Reisen wasn't particularly fast. It wasn't too late.

It was then that she noticed the cabinet door hanging open. Eirin paused in her tracks and redirected her path toward the cabinets.

A brief look confirmed her fears. The freezing unit was empty. Reisen had taken the piece of Rin. Eirin's shoulders slumped. While it was no great loss, it did mean that Reisen really meant what she had said, about abandoning Eientei in favor of Rin Satsuki.

Of course, that bout of forced insanity had pretty much made that clear.

Her hands pressed against the countertop as she hunched over. Her body starting trembling.

Then the door swung open behind her to slam into the wall. "Eirin!" Tewi yelled as she ran into the room. "Reisen's running away!"

Eirin looked up at the ceiling. "I know that, Tewi!" she said without turning around.

"Then why are you just standing there?" Tewi demanded. "We need to go after her! She's going to just leave us and-urk!"

The ability to teleport was something gifted to a scant few, and Eirin was not among their number. And yet, considering how quickly she covered the distance between her and Tewi, a strong case could be made for her possessing the skill.

She lifted the little rabbit up by the collar so that they were eye-to-eye. "I. Know. That. TEWI!" she roared.

Tewi did not frighten easily. And yet, in that moment, she was frozen stiff with terror.

"You saw her, didn't you?" Eirin said. "You probably even talked to her. Why, then, didn't you try to stop her?"

Tewi didn't answer, though she did swallow audibly.

Eirin held her aloft for a moment longer, her steel grey eyes boring into Tewi's wide stare. Then she let the little rabbit drop with a sigh.

"All right," she said. "Here's what we're going to do. Go round up whatever members of the Eientei Guard you can find, spread out through the forest, and find her!"

Tewi was quick to nod. Then her eyes fell upon the assortment of weapons on the table.

"Hey," she said, pointing. "Are those-"

Eirin snarled as her trembling hands squeezed into fists at her side. Raw power surged up and down her arms. The clinic's foundation rumbled and the lights dimmed.

Tewi fled the room as quick as her feet would take her.

With a great effort of will, Eirin forced her fingers to unclench and brought her power under control. Once she was sure that she would not self-destruct from rage, she also left the room, taking care to lock the door behind her. Then, on an impulse, she cast defensive ward on the door. The weapons inside were too valuable to simply leave lying around without some sort of protection.

From there, she made her way to her office. As she walked, she tried to sort her way through the storm of emotions that clouded her mind. This proved to be easier said than done. Reisen had betrayed her. Reisen had attacked her. Eirin couldn't wrap her mind around that. It went contrary to…everything.

She arrived at her office and unlocked the door. From there, she went inside and locked the door behind her. Then she went behind the desk and allowed herself to collapse back into the chair.

Eirin stared up at the ceiling. She knew she should be planning on how she was going to salvage this little crisis, but she just couldn't get her mind to cooperate.

"Damn it," she growled. She brought her fist down on the desk top hard enough to rattle its contents. Then she did it again and again, keeping time with her cursing. "Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!"

A coffee mug fell from her desk to shatter on the floor. Eirin froze. She stared at the broken pieces of ceramic, her fist partially raised in the air.

Then she slowly sat back down with a sigh. No. She couldn't lose control now. She had to get a hold on herself. She had to think. She had to plan.

While she tried to come up with some way to repair this latest disaster, her gaze moved across the top of her desk. At first she didn't notice anything amiss, given how preoccupied she was. But then she frowned and leaned in closer. Her instincts were pushing at her, telling her that something new was wrong. But what?

Then she noticed it.

Given the sensitivity of their contents, Eirin normally kept her notes on Rin locked up in her safe. However, today she had slipped up and left them on the desk. Understandable, given that she had only just returned from bed rest and was still feeling the effects of both her injuries and the drugs she was taking to fight them. Also, she had been anticipating Nitori's delivery, and was thus a little distracted. And given the stress she was under due to the incident at large, she could possibly be forgiven for momentary carelessness. After all, her office had been locked, and everyone knew that trespassers entered at extreme peril.

Regardless, her notes were missing.

Eirin stared at the place she had left them. Then, moving in a calm and precise manner, she checked the top of the desk, moving aside books, stationary, writing utensils and a potted fern. After that, she opened all of the desk's drawers and rifled through their contents. When she was sure that her notes were nowhere on or in the desk, she expanded her search by checking the floor under and around the desk and emptying out the wastebasket. Following this, she carefully went through her file cabinets and ended with opening the hidden safe and looking inside.

Eirin found pretty much everything else that her office contained. She even located a personalized silver pen that Kaguya had given her as a Christmas present which had gone missing some months ago. Any other time this would have thrilled her, but folder containing her notes did not turn up. It was gone.

With a reflective look on her face, Eirin sat back down. She twirled her pen in her fingers while she thought. She distinctly remembered reviewing her notes when she had gotten the message that Nitori had arrived. And with some concentration she could remember placing the folder down and leaving the room. Obviously it had not gotten up and left on its own, so someone had entered her officer and taken it.

Upon that conclusion, Eirin got up and left the room to contact the Eientei Guard. Between Reisen walking out unchallenged and this theft both taking place within the same hour, she was going to have some serious words with them concerning their security arrangements.

However, she got as far a halfway down the hallway when a noise attracted her attention, coming from a nearby janitorial closet. Something was thumping against the door, accompanied by muffled cries for help. With a sigh, Eirin went to investigate. Though it was just a hunch, she had a feeling that her day was about to get worse.

Sure enough, opening the closet door revealed Utada staring up at her. The Eientei Guard officer had her arms tied securely to her torso and her legs bound together by two lengths of cord. Her mouth was gagged by a worn rag tied securely around her head.

Eirin took in a deep breath and slowly let it out through her teeth. "Well," she said. "I'd like to say I'm surprised, but at this point…" She reached down and pulled the gag out.

Utada coughed. "Oh, thank you!" she gasped.

"Hmmm." Eirin looked Utada up and down. "Utada, I know these are strange days, but this is just embarrassing. How in the world did you end up like this?"

"I don't know," Utada said with a shake of her head.

"Oh, come on." Eirin pulled the rabbit to her feet and started snapping the cords binding her arms in place. "You must have some idea."

"I'm sorry, but I don't." Her arms free, Utada bent down to work on freeing her legs. "That Kappa engineer arrived, and I was heading to your office to tell you, like you said. But then someone hit me from behind and the next thing I knew…" Utada looked at the interior of the closet and sighed.

Eirin arched a silver eyebrow. "Excuse me? You were attacked on the way to my office? Not from?"

"I'm afraid so, Ma'am."

"So you never made it there."

Utada managed to loosen the cord enough to wiggle her legs free. She kicked the cord aside in disgust. "No."

"I see. Then who, may I ask, was it that showed up at my office door, wearing your face and using your voice, to tell me that the Kappa engineer was here to see me?"

Shock filled Utada's face. Her spine stiffened and she stared at Eirin with bewildered eyes.

"Well, this isn't good," Eirin muttered, more to herself than Utada. To the rabbit, she said, "All right, looks like we have a problem that needs to be seen to. People attacking and then impersonating members of the Guard. Private files being stolen right out of my office, which just happened by the way, probably by the same person." Her eyes narrowed. "And oh yes, Reisen attacking me and running off with my personal equipment!"

"What?" Utada, already in deep shock, was approaching catatonic levels. "Huh? She…what?"

"Yes, we got into a bit of a spat over the Satsuki thing and she overreacted. Very unfortunate. So, right now the thing to do would be to go gather the rest of your girls, begin a thorough investigation into how your security could have been so thoroughly bypassed, figure out who our mysterious infiltrator is, retrieve my property and find Reisen before she gets herself killed!"

"R-Right!" Utada snapped out of her stupor and saluted. "At once!"

Eirin stepped aside and motioned down the hall with both arms. Taking the hint, Utada sprinted off as fast as she could, though she still stumbled some, likely an aftereffect from the blow to her head.

That taken care of, Eirin returned to her office and locked the door. Then she returned to her chair and leaned back as she pondered this new troubling sequence of events.

Her list of suspects was small. Nitori Kawashiro had expressed interest in the information that those notes had contained, so she was on it. And taking on the form of Utada would not be out of the range of Kappa camouflage technology. Not at the top though. Why would she probe Eirin for information about Satsuki if she already had it? Furthermore, she had been genuinely frightened when she had fled the building, and unless it had all been some sort of spectacular act and she had broken into the office while Eirin had been with Reisen, then it probably wasn't her. She was still under suspicion though.

However, all that was just a formality. Eirin already knew who had taken it. Reisen had made off with Rin fragment. It would only make sense that she would deprive Eirin of anything that could be used against the mutated Kirin. Even if she hadn't been the one to attack Utada and wear her face, she was probably working with the person who had. There were plenty of wild youkai with any number of skills for hire.

But then, Eirin wondered, why hadn't she destroyed the weapons? And why hadn't she made sure that Eirin would be incapacitated longer than she had? Were the guns now sabotaged? Had she planted some sort of subconscious suggestion in Eirin's mind that would influence her future actions? Those were possibilities that she would definitely have to look into.

Eirin shook her head. All this didn't make much sense, but then, nothing about everything that had happened over the last few minutes did. The Guard will have found Reisen and brought her back soon enough. She could deal with those problems then.

As she stood up, Eirin was struck with a sudden realization. Earlier, she had impressed upon Reisen about how so many of her attempts to accomplish something great resulted in complete disaster, and when she tried to make them right it only made things worse. And now Reisen had been added to that very list.

Eirin put her hands on her hips and sighed. Well, wasn't that just ironic?

Then with a cry of pure frustration, she slammed her fist right through her desk, breaking it in half.

…

Hunter's Interlude the Fourth

Nitori breathed a sigh of relief when she finally reached the Untrodden Valley, a deep gulf that lay at the base of the Youkai Mountain. It was here that the mountain's legendary waterfall, the Waterfall of Nine Heavens, came to rest, spilling into a river that cut through the center of the valley. Like many Kappa who lived outside of their species' village, Nitori had set up her home in the valley so as to take advantage of the humid climate and the natural power source that the waterfall provided.

Although she did not mind the weather in the slightest, Nitori was still thankful to be home. Her conversation with Eirin Yagokoro had deeply shaken her, and despite how far they had come as a species it was still within a Kappa's instincts to run home and hide after a fright. Plus, ever since she had left Eientei, she hadn't been able to shake the feeling that someone was following her. Of course she saw no one every time she had checked over her shoulder, but the feeling would not stop crawling over her skin.

She touched down in the squishy mud of the riverbank and started jogging toward the entrance to her home. But before she reached shelter someone landed behind her with a plop.

Nitori froze. She slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder. Again, no one was there.

Fingers trembling, she reached up to tap a button on the side of her goggles. The world became outlined by heat rather than visible color as the infrared mode activated. But once again, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Nitori scanned the area twice before letting the breath she had been holding free. Maybe she was just getting paranoid. She turned back to head toward her home.

"Excuse me," said someone nearby. "I'm over here."

Nitori squeaked in surprise. She whirled around as her hand reflexively snapped to the controls she wore on the opposite wrist.

From her backpack shot out four mechanical limbs, each one ending in a different instrument: a snapping claw, a tiny minigun, a missile launcher and a spinning drill. They curled defensively around the Kappa, ready to tear apart anyone who would dare threaten their creator.

However, the newcomer did not seem intimidated. "A bit on edge, aren't you?" remarked a tall woman as she stepped from the shadows. "Put those away. I'm not here to fight."

Nitori glared suspiciously at the newcomer. The majority of her body was covered by a dark hooded cloak. She could still see the woman's face, however. Pale skin, with so many freckles that one could be forgiven for believing them cancerous. String red hair framed her face, and deep maroon eyes watched the Kappa in amusement.

"Whos you be?" Nitori demanded.

"Just a passerby who overhead your predicament," the woman said.

"Wha?"

"I was passing by in the clinic," the woman nodded back in the direction of the Bamboo Forest "when I heard you talking to the doctor. Or rather, being aggressively talked down to by the doctor."

Nitori glared suspiciously at her. "Oh heys? Was you dats follows I?"

"Yes. I have something I want to discuss with you." The woman spread her hands. "A business arrangement, if you will."

"Oy? Bout whats?"

"Yuuka Kazami's bounty. Thinking about going after it, aren't you?"

Nitori frowned. So that was what this was all about. She relaxed the hand holding the artificial arms' controls. "Was."

"So I gathered. Though I'm curious. If Yagokoro already gave you enough information about the devouring creature to put those weapons together, what else did you need from her?"

"Eh, gots plenty infos for attacks, sure," Nitori said with a shrug. "But protects? Defensivenesses? Not so lot."

"Ah," the woman said. Her pupils narrowed by a bit. "What of that article the Kakashi Nenpo put out a few days ago, the interview with Yukari Yakumo? Surely there was enough information to go off of in there."

Nitori snorted. "Tengu paper. Chatting tos Yukari Yakumo. Not lots of truthiness."

"I see," the woman mused. There was a note of approval in her voice. "You didn't trust what was said, so you went straight to the source. You are pretty smart, after all."

Nitori scowled. "Oy, I is. So what's you wanted?"

"Same as you," came the reply. "Bring down the beast. Collect the bounty."

"But der doctor lady-"

"Forget what she said. She has too much riding on this to be trusted. But let's say you did get all the inside information, the original notes from when the creature was created. Would you be able to put something together that could take it on?"

"Sure," Nitori said with a shrug. "If I knows what it can does, I cans scrippy something to beats it, sure. But I not get-"

From inside her robe, the woman produced a large folder, the cover of which was marked with a large red X.

"Eirin Yagokoro's personal notes," she explained. "I took the liberty of retrieving them from her office while you were busy making your sales pitch." She smirked. "Apparently the stress from her injuries has made her a bit sloppy. It was right there, on her desk."

Nitori's eyes bulged behind her goggles. "What? Gimme!"

She lunged for the folder, only to have it pulled back.

"Ah, ah, ah," the woman scolded. "And keep those mechanical snappers well away from me. I'm not giving it away for free."

Nitori scowled as she tilted her head. "What'cher interests den?"

"It's simple. You have the technology and the firepower needed to bring this thing down. I have the information you need, plus a few other tricks as well. We work together on this and split the bounty."

"Splits?" Nitori thought about that. "Halves not so great as fulls."

"Better than none, and half of that bounty is still a lot of money."

"P'raps," Nitori admitted. "But how'ds I makes sure dat's for rights? Can bes any old folders."

"A valid point," the woman said with a nod. "We can go over the information in depth, and you can decide for yourself if you think it's legitimate or not. But say you are convinced. Would you be open to my proposal?"

Nitori thought about that. She was still suspicious of this strange woman. Wild youkai were notorious liars, and she had no way of telling that the folder's contents were the real deal without examining them personally. For all she knew this could be some kind of ploy, a kidnapping attempt. Kappa engineers were highly prized, and it was not unheard of for youkai gangs to try to secure one of their own, willing or not. Of course, such attempts usually ended with the would-be recruiters reduced to free-floating atoms and the "victim" laughing about their stupidity with his or her friends the very next day, but it still paid to be cautious.

On the other hand, if the folder did turn out to be the real article, than Nitori would have a tremendous advantage over the competition. And even split two ways, the bounty would still represent a serious profit. Still, there was obviously much more to this person than she was letting on. She had somehow snuck up on the Kappa without being detected by her infrared vision, and now claimed to have successfully stolen something from Eirin Yagokoro's office, which was no mean feat. Nitori was going to have to watch her step.

"What'cher calls?" Nitori asked. "Namee first, and den we sees."

"My name?" The woman shrugged. "Call me Hunter."

Nitori laughed. "Serious? Naw, comes on. Yous right name."

The woman gave one of her little half-smiles. "Hunter will do for now. And it's really all that you need to know about me." She held out the folder invitingly. "So, are you interested?"

Nitori hesitated, and then slowly nodded.

…

Running away is never easy. Setting aside the usually horrific situations that would drive someone to flee their home, the time it takes to work up the courage, the required planning and preparation and the leaving without being detected, many people who run away have to deal with the fact that they nowhere to run away to. The luckier ones have other family members or friends willing to take them in. Reisen was not so fortunate.

Practically everyone she knew who didn't live in Eientei came from one of the rabbit villages, and she certainly couldn't go to one of them. She didn't know anyone in the Human Village well enough to seek shelter with them, and relations with them were always on the hazy side. The Tengu Village was a possibility, but again she knew no one, and would likely end up homeless on the street. That is, assuming, that one of the Tengu didn't just sell her out. There was always Kourindou. The shopkeeper there was nice enough, and she was reasonably certain that he would…But no. That would be one of the first places they'd look. Tewi knew that Reisen knew the place, and she didn't want to bring her troubles down on Rinnosuke's head.

Reisen swallowed. Come to think of it, there was one place she could go. Hakurei Shrine.

Of course, Reisen didn't want to trouble Reimu Hakurei any more than she had. But it was probably the safest place she could go. Given the shrine's recent addition among the Ringleaders, it was now an independent political force, as strange as it sounded. Reisen could conceivably seek asylum there. And should Eirin come knocking, Reimu was strong. Very strong. Possibly strong enough to drive her off, if need be.

But then, Reimu could always just refuse her entry to begin with. The shrine maiden was notorious for her intolerance of other people's foolishness.

Still, she had to try. If nothing else, Reimu could point her in the direction of someone who could help.

Reisen stopped in midair. She reoriented her body and shot forward.

Now, she didn't know exactly where Hakurei Shrine was. She had been there a couple of times, but that had been with someone else leading the way, and she certainly had been unable to memorize the way there. But she did know that it was north of the Bamboo Forest, along Gensokyo's border. And seeing how the Bamboo Forest was along the border itself, it shouldn't be too hard to follow to the shrine.

The only problem was this blasted rain. Reisen grit her teeth and headed upward. She would still be able to see the border above the cloud line.

Once there, the increase of warmth and lack of rain gave Reisen a small bit of comfort. What was more, if she squinted, she could just make out the colors of the Hakurei Border. Reisen nodded in satisfaction and headed right toward it.

It didn't take long to reach the border. In fact, she nearly ran right into it. It was hard to see while traveling quickly. For something so powerful and important to the continued existence of Gensokyo, it was surprisingly unassuming. In fact, it looked like nothing more than a clear film, barely indistinguishable from the sky, shot through with tiny floating specks of color, like a colossal transparent opal spread flat.

It was strange that something so significant could appear as something so unbecoming. When Reisen had heard of the legendary Hakurei Border, a massive field of magical energy that cut off an entire country from the rest of existence, she had pictured something with a spectacular appearance to match its impressive function. Especially since Yukari Yakumo had apparently been responsible for its creation. Though she didn't know the elder youkai well, from what Reisen had gathered Yukari liked to make grand gestures whenever she was called upon to exert her power in any major way.

Maybe that was why it worked. Maybe its power was in simplicity. It would certainly make maintaining it easier. But then, one could just as easily point out that people and other things kept slipping through. So perhaps simplicity wasn't always a virtue.

The barrier's appearance aside, it did at least provide Reisen a means of finding her way. Hakurei Shrine was north of the Bamboo Forest, so that's where she directed herself.

Despite the foul luck she had been experiencing, Reisen found her journey to be free of obstacles. She could thank the rain for that, as the large majority of wild youkai and fairies that would normally challenge travelers were holing up in their burrows and hideouts to wait the storm out. And those who would be drawn by the weather, such as rain fairies, were too busy celebrating to worry about attacking solitary rabbits. In fact, Reisen's main worry was that she would end up overshooting the shrine, as the sea of clouds beneath her did not have much in the way of variety.

She needn't have worried. After about half-an-hour, something came into view. Reisen stared. She then blinked, rubbed her eyes and looked again.

Although it was difficult to tell from a distance, it looked like there was a section of glowing clouds pulsing between shades of pink and lavender.

Reisen scratched her head. Now, that was something you didn't see every day, at least not where she lived. Maybe in Heaven or the Netherworld, but certainly not in this area. She had a sneaking suspicion that Hakurei Shrine wasn't going to be so difficult to find after all. But what in the world could Reimu be doing, assuming that she was responsible?

There was only one way to find out. Reisen took a deep breath and plunged into the clouds. A moment of cold vapor passed, and she emerged into the drizzle. Her jaw dropped when she saw the light's source.

A huge barrier stretched out in a dome shape over the top of a flat rise, covering everything from a few feet behind the slope to the Hakurei Barrier itself. The surface of the barrier was a swimming array of different shades of violet and pink, constantly moving against each other like clouds of ink but never really mixing. The light it emitted was so bright it had to be visible for some miles at least. It didn't take a lot of thinking to figure out who had put it there. Now this was what Reisen would expect from Yukari Yakumo. And it wasn't too different from being a miniaturized version of what she had pictured the Hakurei Border to look like.

Reisen bit her lip. She glanced at where the barrier met the slope of the rise and saw a staircase descending to the path below. A Shinto gate stood right outside of the barrier's cover. So she was in the right place, but from the look of things Hakurei Shrine had gone fortress. Was all this just to defend against Rin? If so, what in the world had Rin been up to? And if not, what in the world had everyone else been up to? Reisen felt hopelessly out of the loop.

Not knowing what else to do, she swooped down low and landed near the top of the stairs. A wooden donation box sat on the topmost step, with a sign on a wooden post next to it, but the rain had ruined it to the point of illegibility.

Reisen examined the barrier. Given the color scheme, she guessed that it was one of Yukari Yakumo's, though she wasn't exactly an expert. She took a deep breath and yelled as loud as she could, "HELLO? REIMU HAKUREI! ARE YOU THERE?"

She waited, but there was no answer.

There was a twig lying on the hillside, next to the stairs. Reisen hesitated and then picked it up. She steadied herself, tossed it at the barrier and then dove for the cover of a nearby tree.

Nothing happened. Reisen cautiously peeked out. The twig was now lying on the ground next to the donation box.

Okay, so it just blocked things instead of destroying them. Still, it would probably be best to avoid touching it. Reisen slowly approached it and, when it didn't react violently to her presence, she tried screaming again.

"REIMU! PLEASE, CAN YOU HEAR ME? IT'S ME, REISEN!"

She kept calling out for help for nearly a minute, each call more desperate than the last. Then her voice grew hoarse.

Reisen kicked the donation box in frustration and winced as pain shot through her foot. Then, even though she was aware that it was a tremendously stupid idea, she lifted her fist to start banging on the barrier's side. Even if it ended up electrocuting her, she was going to get in.

"Er, what'cha doing?" someone asked.

Reisen turned and nearly had a heart attack. For the briefest of moments, she thought that she was being addressed by a miniaturized Princess Kaguya. But after the shock passed she realized that it was just a blue-clad fairy, one that closely resembled the Princess. She was holding a spread umbrella with one hand and a wicker bag with the other.

"Oh gods, you scared me," Reisen said as she tried to slow her breathing. "Who are you?"

"Star," said the fairy. "Star Sapphire! And I live here and you don't, so I'll be asking the questions! Why are you hitting Reimu's big shield thing?"

Reisen forced herself to relax. "Sorry. I just need to talk to her, and didn't see any other way to get her attention."

Star snorted. "Good luck! Reimu's gone. She went out looking for people to beat up or something."

"She did?" Reisen said.

"Yeah, like hours ago!"

"Oh." Reisen felt her spirits fall. "Uh, do you know when she'll be back?"

"Dunno," Star said with a shrug. "She doesn't tell me these things. What'cha need her for, anyway?"

"Uh…" Reisen wondered how much she should tell Star, and decided to go with caution. "I just need her help with something."

"Something what?"

Reisen glowered. "Something," she repeated.

"Fine, don't tell me," Star said with a roll of her eyes. "I was gonna let you in, but you can just wait outside."

"Let me in…Hey, wait!"

Ignoring her, Star flew over her head and passed right through the barrier's side.

Reisen gaped after her. "Hey!" she yelled. She slammed the bottom of her fist against the barrier's side before remembering that doing so wasn't a good idea. She winced in anticipation, but suffered no backlash.

When it became evident that the fairy wasn't coming back, Reisen groaned and sat down on the topmost step, under the cover of the Shinto gate. Well, if Reimu was out and about, then she was bound to come back sooner or later. Reisen set her luggage down, drew her legs up and waited.

…

Hunter's Interlude the Fifth

Star threw open the door to the cherry tree that she and her friends called home. "Okay, I'm back!" she shouted as she went inside.

Lunar Child, who had been dozing in her favorite chair, leapt to her feet. "Finally! What took you so long?"

"Shut up, it's raining." Star folded up her umbrella and tossed it in the corner. "Where's Sunny?" she asked as she set her bag on a table.

"Here!" Sunny said as she half-ran, half-stumbled her way down the twisting staircase that took up the center of their home. "Did'ja get-"

The rest of her query was swallowed up when her foot twisted under her. She tried to stop but was unable to arrest her own momentum and ended up tumbling all the way to the bottom to land in a sprawled heap.

Lunar started laughing, while Star just said, "Excuse me? What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of your falling."

Sunny groaned and rolled over to her back. She sat up, shook her head and picked up from where she left off. "-the bombs like I told you?"

"Sure thing," Star said. She patted the bag. "All of it, right here."

"All right, lemme see!" Lunar lunged for the bag, only to have her collar grabbed by Sunny.

"I'm the leader, so I get to look first!" Sunny said as she pulled Lunar out of the way. Grinning with enthusiasm, she pulled the bag open and dumped out its contents. Lunar pressed close to peer over her shoulder.

A brief moment of silence passed, and then Sunny said, "Uh, Star? These are fireworks."

"And firecrackers," Lunar added as she held up a cord of connected orange cylinders.

"So?" Star said. "Fireworks are bombs."

"But I told you to get real bombs!" Sunny protested. The disappointment in her voice was obvious. "Like the kind that can actually blow up buildings and stuff!"

"These are even better!" Star declared. "You know how the papers said that the blob monster gets used to attacks if we use the same out over and over?"

"Yeah?"

"These fireworks are all different colors!" Star pointed at the vibrant display of explosives. "If we keep switching colors, like from red to green to blue to whatever, we can keep hurting it! And then when it's off-guard, we stuff the firecrackers down its throat and blow it up."

Sunny frowned as she pondered this. Then her face brightened. "Oh yeah, that's a great idea! Star, you're a genius!"

"I know, right?"

Sunny grinned as she held up a blue rocket with one hand and a line of firecrackers with the other. "Okay, that's the last of the supplies! Operation Save-Rumia-And-Get-Filthy-Stinking-Rich is a go!"

…

Reisen's heart leapt when she saw a figure in red and white approach. She grabbed her bag and leapt to her feet. "Oh, thanks the gods you're here!" she said as Reimu Hakurei approached. "I…"

Her voice trailed off. The shrine maiden did not look at all happy. And the glare she was sending Reisen was anything but welcoming.

"Oh," said Reisen, faltering. "Uh, hello?"

"Hi," Reimu said in a flat tone. She folded her arms across her chest and said, "Look. No offense, but I'm having a bad day. So what the hell are you doing here?"

Reisen winced. This was not an encouraging way to start this conversation. "Sorry. I didn't know that you'd be…" Her voice once again died away. There was no way to finish that sentence without it being awkward.

"Be what?" Reimu said. "Irritated all to hell? Pissed off at how things just seem to keep crapping all over me? Completely without patience for having my time wasted? Because all these and more are true. So I'll say this again. What. Are. You. Doing here?"

Reisen took a deep breath. Well, as mad as Reimu was, all she could say was no. "I'm sorry, but I need help."

Reimu rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know that already. You wouldn't be here if you didn't. Start getting specific, or I'm going to start getting-" Then her eyes fell upon the bags Reisen had with her and her eyes narrowed.

"Is that luggage?" she asked.

"Uh…"

"Are you running away?" Reimu demanded. "Did Eirin kick you out?"

"I…"

"Oh gods." Reimu buried her face in one palm. "You're looking for a place to stay, aren't you? You want to shack up here with me."

By this point Reisen had wilted like a geranium in a blacksmith's forge. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

Reimu didn't answer. She just walked past Reisen and passed through the barrier.

"Wait!" Reisen called. She dropped her bags and pressed her hands against the barrier. "Please, listen to me! I don't have anyone else to turn to! Eirin's probably going to put a bounty on me and-"

A hand reached through the barrier to grab Reisen's collar and pulled her right through. Energy crackled over her skin like static electricity and suddenly it was no longer raining. She was standing on the inside of the barrier on the path that led to Hakurei Shrine. Reimu was standing before her.

"Eirin," Reimu said in the same flat tone she had been using before. "Is going to put a bounty on you."

Reisen nodded. "Or come after me herself."

"Why?"

Reisen hesitated, and then said, "Because I gave her a dose of temporary insanity." She pointed at her eyes. "You know, brainwave manipulation and all that."

Silence.

Reimu tilted her head to one side, and then the other. Her expression was completely blank. Reisen couldn't even fathom a guess as to what she might be thinking.

And then the shrine maiden sighed. "Well, evidence that the entire world has gone completely bonkers continues to accumulate at an alarming rate." She shook her head and chuckled. "But hey, this story sounds like it might actually be entertaining. So go ahead. Give me the spiel."

Speaking as fast as she could and using as few words as possible, Reisen told her everything that had just happened. When she was done, Reimu said, "Okay then. So I was right. Completely bonkers."

Reisen didn't rush to disagree. "Right. So I know that all this is-"

"I know, I know, you need a place to stay," Reimu growled. "Shelter during your self-made exile. Which is all kinds of ironic, when you think about it. But, ah, can I point something out?"

Reisen nodded.

"That blast you gave Eirin, the one that shorted out her head. It's temporary, right?"

Reisen nodded again.

"So she's going to wake up, if she hasn't already. And she's going to be pissed, right?"

Reisen shuddered. "Yeah."

"Right," Reimu said. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Okay. Do you remember when we first met?"

"Huh?" Reisen blinked. She had not been expecting that question. "Uh, sure. During that thing when the Lunarian emissaries were looking for us, and we made that fake Moon to throw them off, and then you froze the night to-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's it. And then me and my friends showed up at Eientei and beat the stuffing out of you, remember?"

Reisen winced. "Uh, yes. That was…very memorable."

"Great," Reimu said. "And right after, there were two paths, so we split up. Half of my team went down the wrong path, while the other half, myself included, chose right and fought your Princess, right?"

Reisen nodded. She had no idea where Reimu was going with this, but it was still making her feel all kinds of uncomfortable.

"And while we were doing that, the other half of the team, the one that chose wrong, ran into Eirin," Reimu continued. "That group had Marisa Kirisame, Alice Margatroid, Youmu Konpaku and Yuyuko Saigyouji. You remember all them, right?"

Reisen nodded, more reluctantly this time. She was starting to get a clue.

"Naturally, there was a fight," Reimu said. "Now, can you tell me how that turned out?"

"Yes," Reisen said. "Your friends beat her."

"Sure," Reimu said. "They won. Four-on-one, and they're all heavyweights. But even still, with those odds…" she took a deep breath before continuing "…even with those odds, Eirin still managed to poison Youmu, knock Marisa out, concussion fully included I might add, and gave Alice hallucinations of being eaten alive by cockroaches! Hell, if Yuyuko hadn't been there, she might have won! And that was just to defend herself against a bunch of strangers! Could have been a gang of wild fairies for all she cared."

"Uh…"

"And now you've gone and pissed this person off in a major way," Reimu finished. "And you want me to hide you from her."

Reisen looked away. She didn't say anything.

"Look," Reimu said. "I'm not saying I'm afraid of Eirin, but I just spent my whole morning having one chunk of horrible news bombed on me after another. I really don't need to have Eientei declaring war on me, or wake up stuck full of syringes. Plus, I'm not a freaking innkeeper. Sure, I've taken in the odd stray every now and then, but they all were perfectly capable of looking after themselves, and they sure as hell didn't have anywhere near the baggage you're bringing along. And I'm including freaking Mima in that list, so that's saying something."

"Okay," Reisen said without meeting Reimu's eyes. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Reimu studied her face for a moment. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. "Okay, look. There's an actual inn about seven miles to the southwest. It's called the Lilypad and has this big skinny tower with a green flag, impossible to miss. Most of their guests are wild youkai, so it's not exactly the safest place, but it's better than the Wilds. And if you don't mind the distance, Center Tree's about an hour or so to the northeast. It's a whole lot safer than any place than any place you'll find around here."

Reisen nodded. "All right. Thank you. I'm sorry I bothered you."

"Yeah, okay." Reimu put a hand on Reisen's shoulder and led her outside of the barrier. "Better move fast."

"I will," Reisen said. She picked up her bags. "Thank you."

With that, she leapt into the air and flew off as fast as she could.

…

Reimu felt troubled as she watched the Lunarian rabbit leave. That wasn't surprising. She had just turned down a request for help from someone who desperately needed it. But what choice did she have? Everything she had told Reisen had been true. She just didn't have the time or resources to take in a fugitive from Eientei.

With a shake of her head, she turned around to head back through the barrier. But something made her hesitate.

Maybe she had been too tough on Reisen. The rabbit was in a really rough spot. Although zapping Eirin like that had been stupid and rash, Reimu couldn't say she wouldn't have done the same in her position. And it wasn't like she could point fingers when it came to acting without thinking.

But what could she do? She was already doing her one major favor by trying to rescue Rin to begin with, even though Rin was vying for the top position on the Gensokyo's Most Wanted list and running around with what might be the shadow of a psychotic Archangel in her head. And that was with Yuuka Kazami wreaking an ungodly amount of chaos whenever possible. On top of that, she had to make one of her friends didn't jump off the slippery slope into monsterhood herself. She didn't need another mouth to feed on top of that. Or an incredibly dangerous doctor coming after her.

Reimu almost went back in then, but didn't. She glanced over her shoulder. Reisen was just a small dot in the distance.

The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. Reimu put her hands on her hips and stared down at her feet. When it came down to it, all Reisen wanted to do was save her little girl. Granted, that little girl was now dangerous beyond all reason, but that was hardly her fault.

"Damn it," Reimu growled. Then she looked up at Reisen's rapidly receding figure and sighed.

…

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate this," Reisen said breathlessly as she set her bags down in a corner of the shrine's tiny living quarters.

"Then don't," Reimu growled. She pulled her hair tight and wrung it out. "Seriously, you'll be doing us both a favor."

"Got it," Reisen said. "But still. Thank you."

Reimu muttered something inaudible under her breath. Then she said in a louder tone, "Okay, listen up. I'm all kinds of late for something, so I'll give you the abbreviated version of the rules. First of all, you can stay here for now, but it's not going to be a free ride."

Reisen swallowed. "I, uh, don't really have a lot of money."

"As nice as that would be, I'm not talking about money," Reimu said. "I mean helping me around the shrine. I've got so much on my plate right now that there's no way I'll be able to keep this place running without help. So I'll give you a list of chores when I get back. Sound fair?"

It did, and Reisen told her so.

"All right," Reimu said. "Now, I'm not exactly overflowing with supplies here, so go easy on the food. If you need water, there's a well just outside of the north side of the shrine grounds, and the latrine's to the south end. There's a pond out back. Stay out of it. Same with the cherry grove. There's a real cranky turtle in the pond, and he's kind of territorial. And this annoying trio of fairies live in one of the cherry trees. They're gone most of the time, but they love to bug people for kicks, so it's best not to attract their attention."

"I think I met one earlier," Reisen said. "She was kind of rude."

"There, you see?" Reimu said with a shrug. "Okay, now as for that barrier, the way it's set up is that only people who actually live in the shrine grounds can go through. And that really just includes me, those dumb fairies, the turtle, and a couple of freeloaders, none who are around at the moment. So just stay in the shrine while I'm gone and don't mess with the barrier. If you need to go outside for whatever reason, tell me first, and if I think it's a good enough reason, I'll let you through. Otherwise, you'll just end up walking right into it and break your nose."

"Okay."

"And finally," Reimu looked around the bare room and sighed. "As I mentioned earlier, there's a couple of other people staying here as well. They're both gone for now, taking care of their own business, but odds are they'll be back sooner or later. One of them is that oni, Suika Ibuki. She's nice enough, but tends to get a little rowdy. Don't let her get excited and pat you on the back. You'll end up a paraplegic. The second one is that ghost, Mima. You, uh, know her reputation?"

"A little," Reisen said. "Enough to know that a lot of people are scared of her."

"Yeah, they are," Reimu said. "And with good reason. I don't have time to tell you everything, but just know that's she really powerful, kind of a prick, and likes to manipulate people for fun. Sort of like Yukari, only less doing it to get stuff done and more for her own amusement. Just stay out of her way and don't make any sort of deals with her. In fact, don't have anything to do with her at all." The shrine maiden rolled her eyes. "Oh, and for the love of sanity, don't say anything bad about Marisa Kirisame while she's around. It'll piss her off. And bad things happen to people who piss her off."

A shiver went down Reisen's spine. "Uh, do you think she'll-"

"Turn you in?" Reimu finished for her. She shrugged. "Maybe. Probably not, though, unless she has a good reason. She probably won't even care. I'll make sure she doesn't try anything. We've got something of an understanding between us. So just let me deal with her."

"All right," Reisen said. She was starting to feel a great deal less sure of her choice of sanctuaries.

Then she frowned. She had heard something. It was faint, but persistent. She tilted her head to one side and lifted up her left ear to try to get a better gauge of the new sound.

"Okay, was there anything else?" Reimu mumbled to herself. "Oh yeah! The Ying-Yang Orb! You probably saw it on the way in. Leave that the hell alone. Seriously, it's…" She frowned when she saw that Reisen was looking a little distracted. "Hey, are you even listening?"

"I am, I am," Reisen quickly assured her. "But do you hear something?"

Reimu quirked an eyebrow. "Like?"

Reisen pointed outside. "I think someone's yelling something out there."

"Really?" Reimu tilted her head and listened. "Huh, I think you're right. Hang on a second."

She went outside and headed down the path toward the front of the shrine grounds. Reisen watched her as she approached the wall of the barrier.

Reimu squinted at the barrier wall. Then her shoulders slumped and she groaned, "Oh, for crying out loud." She stuck her hand through the barrier, fished around, and pulled it back in.

Attached to the hand was a human girl with green hair that Reisen recognized as the shine maiden of Moriya Shrine. Unlike how Reimu and Reisen had been earlier, she didn't appear to have been touched by the rain at all. But that didn't change the fact that she was absolutely livid.

"You're still here?" the girl demanded as she pulled away from Reimu. "You were supposed to meet me over an hour ago, and you haven't even left yet? What the hell, Reimu? What the hell?"

To her credit, Reimu didn't seem intimidated. "Had some things come up," she said. "Kind of important things."

"Oh, don't give me that crap," the other girl growled. "You could have at least tried to contact me! I was starting to think that you forgot!"

"Contact you how? Seriously Sanae, important stuff came up. I had to take care of it."

The girl Reimu had called Sanae rolled her eyes. "I don't believe this. Look, we're already sticking our necks out for you as it is, and you can't even be bothered to keep…"

She then noticed that Reimu was meaningfully tilting her head toward the shrine. Or rather, as Reisen realized, toward Reisen herself.

"What are you doing?" Sanae asked. "Do you have a crick in your neck or something?"

Reimu rolled her eyes and stuck her thumb in the shrine's direction. Sanae frowned and looked. Then she saw Reisen and the anger on her face melted away, giving way to complete bewilderment. It then occurred to Reisen that standing around in the open was probably not the best idea, considering that she was now a fugitive. Still, Reimu didn't seem to have a problem with her being seen by this Sanae, so she had to be trustworthy on some level. Reimu wouldn't sell her out so quickly. At least, Reisen hoped that she wouldn't.

I…Er…Huh?" Sanae said. Her gaze flickered to Reimu. "Um, am I interrupting something? Who's she?"

Reimu put her hands on her hips. "You remember when I said that Eirin Yagokoro's bunny-girl of an assistant came to me for help?"

Sanae's face darkened. "Oh, I most certainly do."

Reisen gulped. Reimu had told others of her request?

"Oh, wipe that look off your face," Reimu snapped at Sanae. "You know that rout wasn't my fault. Anyways, that's her. Sanae, meet Reisen…something or another. Reisen, this is Sanae Kochiya, shrine maiden of the Moriya Shrine. Don't worry, she's kind of a pain, but she's on our side."

"Hi," Reisen said. She couldn't think of anything else to say.

Sanae barely glanced in her direction. "Hey," she replied. To Reimu, she said, "Is she the really important thing that came up?"

"Only the most recent," Reimu grumbled. She glanced at Reisen. "Okay, first things first. Reisen, I gotta take off for awhile. Dry yourself off, get warmed up, and stay out of sight. I'll be back…eventually. If anyone comes knocking, don't answer. As for you," she grabbed Sanae by the shoulders, spun her to the side and marched her toward the barrier wall "We need to talk. In fact, I need to talk to Kanako also, so let's save time and head to your shrine. Okay? Oh, and if you have any of those handy anti-rain charms, I would really appreciate it."

"What?" Sanae said as she tried in vain to pull herself out of Reimu's grasp. "Did something happen? Hey, come on, what's going on? Why are you acting so weird? Does it have anything to do with-"

The two shrine maidens passed through the barrier wall, and the rest of Sanae's sentence became too muffled to make out.

Reisen stared after them. Though it was for different reasons, she was as bewildered as Sanae was. What had Reimu meant when she said that the green-haired shrine maiden was on their side? Had she told her about Reisen's request? And come to think of it, she had just said something about needing to talk to someone named Kanako. Wasn't that the name of the goddess of Moriya Shrine? Had Reimu actually gotten one of the most powerful and influential deities in Gensokyo to help them save Rin? If so, than Reisen had definitely gone to the right person for help. Her reputation as a problem-solver was well-earned.

With that thought warming her, Reisen slid the door to the shrine's living quarters shut. She looked around. The room was simplicity itself. Bare save for the kotatsuin the center and a plain wooden cabinet against one wall. Was this really how Reimu lived? Reisen knew that the shine maiden didn't exactly lead a life of luxury, but surely someone so important would have more. Reisen's own room wasn't large, but even that was larger than…

Reisen felt a sudden pain in her chest realization once again caught up with her. She had done it, she had actually done it. She had left Eientei for good. And in the process, she had not so much burned her bridges as she had incinerated them and scattered the ashes. Everything she had built in the last few decades was now gone. For the second time in her life, she had lost her home. And once again, she had no one to blame but herself. When the Lunarian Army had kicked her out, it had felt like the end of the world. Of course, that had proven to not be the case, but she didn't trust her luck to come through for her again.

With a small moan, she slid to the ground. What in the world was she going to do now? Even if she didn't end up skinned and stuffed by Eirin as a warning to others, there were precious few options available to her. The Bamboo Forest of the Lost was home to the entirety of Gensokyo's rabbit youkai population, and there was no way she could go back there. All of Gensokyo's major communities were species-specific, and it was unlikely that any of them would look kindly upon a traitor on the run. Perhaps she could get a job at Center Tree? Or try to eke out an existence in the Wilds? Of course, the only job she was likely to find would involve taking off her clothes for an endless parade of strangers. And she wouldn't last one day in the Wilds.

Stop it, she angrily told herself. Beating herself up would solve nothing. She had to concentrate on the present. Everything else could wait until after she found Rin. Maybe when all this was over, the two of them could find some out-of-the-way corner of Gensokyo to live together. She wouldn't mind such a fate.

Reisen took several shaky breaths and concentrated on holding back the sobs. When she felt that she had it under control, she returned her attention to her bags. Reimu had told her to get herself cleaned up. Considering how she was still soaked from her trip, that sounded like a fantastic idea.

She pulled out a dry change of clothes and started to unbutton her shirt. But before she had gotten halfway down the voice of a cranky old man started yelling. She let out a small scream and leapt back. The back of her foot caught on her luggage and she fell over her bags, landing in an untidy heap. She scrambled to her knees and stared with wide eyes as the source of the voice came closer.

"Kid, is that you I hear in there?" it demanded. "What in the name of the great catfish are you still doin' here? Thought you were supposed to be gone hours ago!"

The door swung wide open, and Reisen froze in fear of being discovered. Then the shock of what she saw further locked her muscles in place.

When Reimu had said that an old turtle lived in the pond out back, Reisen had assumed that it was just some wild animal with a nasty bite. But Reimu had neglected to mention that the turtle in question was more than five feet long. Or that it could talk. Or, for that matter, fly.

For its parts, the floating turtle looked just as surprised to see her and she was to see it. They stared at each other, neither of them daring to move. Reisen's lips twitched as a dozen questions and exclamations tried to fight their way out, only die before leaving her throat.

And then the turtle lowered itself to the ground, where it landed with a heavy thump.

"Well now," it purred. In contrast to the grumpy complaining it had been doing earlier, its voice was now much smoother. And much, much deeper. "Hello there."

…

Deep Within

The extended silence was starting to lose its tinge of nostalgia, and Rumia was becoming uncomfortable. "So…" she began.

Rin jolted. "Oh, huh?"

"How do you think things are going upstairs?" Rumia asked, motioning with her head.

"You mean on the surface?" Rin glanced upward. "That's easy enough."

"Eh?"

"Sure." Rin closed the memory and sat down next to Rumia. "The whole place is going nuts. Every fairy, youkai and Human is out and about, in their little posses and hunting parties. Wanted posters with my picture are on every signpost, fence and bare wall, and soon they'll cover all the trees and rocks as well. All the gods are receiving nothing but prayers for my swift elimination, and mothers don't dare let their children out of the house for fear that I might rise from the ground and gobble them up."

Rumia cocked her head to one side. "Uh…Okay, just for the record, sometimes it's really hard to tell if you're joking or not."

"Joking?" Rin blinked at her. "Why, was that funny?"

Rumia sighed and sat up. So Rin had gone from an everything-will-be-okay attitude to total paranoia. Just as well, she supposed. Paranoid Rin was preferable to Stupidly Reckless Rin. "You're probably right. Hard to believe that Cirno's the major cause of it though. I can't imagine what she was thinking."

"You mean putting a bounty on us?" Rin asked.

"What's this 'us' business, Miss Most Wanted Person Alive?" Rumia snorted. "And no, that sounds exactly like something she'd do. No, I was talking about her joining up with Yuuka Kazami. I mean, what in the hell is that all about?"

"Uh, she's desperate?" Rin said. "People do crazy things when they're desperate."

"Yeah, you'd be the authority on that," Rumia snorted. "But still. How the hell is that going to help anything? Doesn't this mess have enough overpowered lunatics as it is? No offense."

"None taken. And I wish I was on that level, you know? But still, even if all you've told me about that lady is true-"

"Oh, it is," Rumia said with a small laugh. "Believe me. It is."

Rin nodded. "Okay. But even so, wouldn't it make sense to have her on our side? Or their side. Or whatever side, so long as it's not Yukari's?"

Rumia sighed. "Rin, you can be pretty smart when it comes to book stuff, but when it comes to matters of survival, you can say some pretty stupid things sometimes."

"Huh?" Rin said in confusion. "What? What did I say wrong?"

Rumia muttered something rude under her breath. Then she said, "Look, whatever Cirno's reasons are for bringing her in, and whatever it is that Yukari's up to right now, the fact remains that they're going to find us sooner or later. So we need to start preparing for that."

"Okay, no problems there," Rin said. She sat down in the meditation position. "So what's next?"

"Well, for starters, you need to figure out how to get that crazy plant-killer power under control. Because we're not going to get far if we keep leaving a trail."

Rin made a face. "I told you already, it's not that easy! If I hold back anything automatic like that for too long, it starts to really hurt!"

"Okay I get that but…Wait, auto-what?"

"Automatic," Rin explained. "Stuff that happens by itself, without me telling it to. You know, like in 'automatically'."

"Is that so." Rumia shrugged. "Okay, whatever. But still, even if you can't hold it back, maybe you can find a way to turn it off?"

Rin looked doubtful. "Maybe. If your, um, nastier self could, than I can too. But she didn't seem like the sort of person that would turn it off."

"But you won't know until you start trying," Rumia pressed.

"I guess you have a point there." Rin looked at the screen and cavern of glowing fungi that it displayed. She sighed. "Well, at least I have a lot of mushrooms to practice on."

…

Hiatus is finally over, so it's time to get back on track!

Thanks for your patience, guys. Fall semester is almost over, and while it could have gone better, at least it's finally wrapping up. I'm still working on fixing up those older chapters and reviewing your stories, but I felt it was time to get IM moving again. Hopefully I'll have everything else done by the end of the year.

Anyway, a few things. First, IM's official theme song is now the Apparitions Stalk the Night arrangement by Phoenix Project. Secondary theme would be the Rin Satsuki theme by Moonsoul. Thank you to Chronopolis and Azure Xuchilbara for the finds!

Second, everyone's favorite bowler-wearing arachnid punching bag finally gets a name. I realize that Tony isn't a Japanese name, but I've always thought of him as a Tony, so it sticks. Let's just say he heard the name from...somewhere, liked it, and named himself. I figure most wild youkai do.

Though I should point out that this chapter contains a grand total of seven truly original characters. And six of them are rabbits. So, make of that what you will.

=coughHUNTERcough=

By the way, I don't know if anyone remembers, but Hunter has appeared before, back in chapter 22. She was the woman who spoke to Cirno after Nitori. Just a reminder!

Also, just to restate what I said in the notes from the last RoSD chapter, a fellow I know recently started a new flash series called Cherry Weapon, which is a crazy mix of Prototype, Elfen Lied and…Chobits, apparently. On account of it being freaking awesome, I offered to help promote it. Again, all appropriate links are in my profile. Check it out!

And oh yeah. New Christmas special later this month.

Er, I think that's everything. Until next time, everyone!