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.

35. Looking For the Girl

Looking For the Girl

It was no secret that Gensokyo was a strange place. Even putting aside things such as the commonality of flight, the brilliant and blinding aerial battles composed of hundreds of brightly colored projectiles, humanoid but definitely nonhuman beings coming into existence from everything from animals to inanimate objects to metaphysical concepts, the widely inconsistent levels of technological advancement and the fact that Aya Shameimaru still somehow had a reporter's license, the outrageous fashions alone would mark it as a world wholly different from our own.

But even here, the woman that Yukari had invited into her home as a guest would stand out in a crowd.

Her outfit was simple enough. A simple sleeveless white dress slender covered her body and a dainty tiara of frosted silver and white quartz sat on her brow. And she was not especially tall, at least not naturally. But once you move above the collarbone that things become unusual. Her neck stretched nearly a foot high, supported by a coil of golden rings. And her dark curly hair was gathered up and waxed into a long point that extended from her forehead like a unicorn's horn. And, if for no other reason than to inject a bit of normality to her eccentric choice in decoration, a pair of half-moon spectacles sat on her round nose.

Yukari would have risen from her seat to greet her guest, but as that was currently out of the question, she simply nodded and said, "Queen Mother, thank you for coming. I apologize for making you come all this way, but as you can see, I am in no shape to travel."

Qilin Zhuan, Queen Mother of the Kirin, squinted at Yukari. She removed her spectacles, wiped the lenses with her dress and put them back on. "Yukari? What in the world happened to you?"

Yukari glanced down at herself. Though the last few weeks of recovery time had done her good, her body was still withered and frail. All of her hair had been lost in the process, and a few boil clusters persisted still. An IV apparatus stood next to her chair, feeding Elixir of Life into her veins. "Ah…So, I take it you haven't been keeping up with current events?"

"I thought I had been," Qilin said, still staring. She reached out, fumbled about until she found the armrest of the other easy chair and quickly sat down. "I received that literature you sent me. About Eientei's renegade project? And I know that some sort of homicidal youkai with a sword is involved, and that Yuuka Kazami has been making trouble, but…Good Heavens, Yukari. Which one of those did this to you?"

"The latter." Yukari shrugged. "The woman packs a wallop, I'll give her that. I would have met with you earlier, but I'm afraid I was in no shape to entertain." She folded her hands in her lap. "And I'm still not, come to think of it. So you'll forgive me if I get straight to the point. I recently called an emergency meeting of the Ringleaders to discuss the aforementioned problems. You were absent. Care to explain why?"

At another time, Yukari might have approached the situation with a little more delicacy, a little more tact. After all, the Queen Mother was highly influential among the youkai, and it would not do to offend her. But Yukari was in no mood to play games. Yuuka had thoroughly beaten such notions out of her.

Qilin noticed. She blinked her squinting eyes in surprise and said, "I, er, well. I am sorry, but it came at such an inconvenient time. My niece was due, you see, and I simply couldn't leave her side! And I had assumed that it was going to be just like the previous meeting, with you inducting some new faces to our ranks. S-surely you can understand…"

Yukari's fingers drummed against her lap, but otherwise she did not move.

Qilin winced. "Ah, it would seem that I was in error. My…sincerest apologies. Had I known that the matter at hand was of such grave importance I…" She bit her lip and averted her gaze. "It…it won't happen again."

"Ah, will it not?" Yukari sighed and leaned back. "Well, that's certainly heartening to hear. I would hate to hear that one our esteemed leaders had opted out of receiving crucial information and thus gotten herself and her people eradicated by one of the genocidal maniacs we've got running around as a result. Because if how my month is going is any indication, that remains a…" She took a deep breath before continuing. "A very definite possibility. Neglect making an appearance again, and I won't bother making the effort to keep you informed. I'll let Yuuka Kazami or the Shadow Youkai introduce themselves to you in person."

The Queen Mother nodded. She did not meet Yukari's gaze.

The border youkai sighed. "To be honest, my ire has less to do with your absence than it has to do with…other issues. And my reason for summoning you really isn't to chew you out. I'm afraid we have another problem at hand, one that concerns you and your people personally."

"Me?" Qilin looked up. "However so?"

Yukari blinked. Did she truly not know? "The part that involves Rin Satuki."

Qilin frowned. "I'm sorry, who?"

"You…did receive the files I sent you about Eientei's renegade experiment, correct? Did you examine them thoroughly?"

"I…might have glanced through them…"

Yukari closed her eyes and sighed. "I see. Then perhaps you missed the part concerning the creature's origin?"

"Well, maybe, but even so, I fail to see why a rabbit from the Bamboo Forest of the Lost would have anything to do with us. We don't even have a trade agreement with them!"

Yukari frowned in puzzlement. "I'm sorry, rabbit? What rabbit?"

"This Rin Satsuki person, of course!" Qilin cocked her head. "Who else?"

Yukari paused. When she did answer, her voice was slow and deliberate. "You…believe that Rin Satsuki is…a rabbit?"

"Well, of course! Who else would Eientei be experimenting on, if not their fellow natives?"

"Ah," Yukari said. She shook her head. "Qilin…she's not a rabbit."

"Oh? A fairy then? I understand they're fairly common in-"

Well, here it came. "Rin Satsuki is a Kirin."

To Yukari's surprise, Qilin Zhuan let out a bark of laughter. "A Kirin? Yukari, honestly. Is this one of your infamous practical jokes?"

"If only, if only," Yukari muttered. "But no. She is in fact a Kirin child. One of yours, presumably. Hence your presence here."

"But that's just ridiculous," Qilin said with another laugh. "Who told you such an outlandish tale?"

"Her creator, Doctor Eirin Yagokoro."

"Ahah!" Qilin said triumphantly. "There's your problem! Trusting the word of some backwater woods witch doctor. I mean, please! As if-"

"Stop, stop, stop," Yukari said, holding up an interrupting hand. "Wait. 'Backwater woods witch doctor'? Eirin Yagokoro? Really?"

Qilin blinked. "Ah…um. I…take it I'm supposed to recognize that name?"

"Are you serious?" Yukari buried her face into her palm. "She was introduced when her Princess was inducted into the Ringleaders! You were there, weren't you paying attention?"

Qilin fidgeted, shuffling her feet over the carpeted floor. "Well, to be honest, my attention did waver after the first round of inductions." Then she looked up and her squinty eyes flashed. "I think it had something to do with you gifting a certain Madam Mima control of Hakurei Shrine!"

Now it was Yukari's turn to feel uncomfortable. It was true, there had been a substantial uproar over that announcement, which had made her regret not saving it until the end of the meeting. The Kirin had taken heavy losses during the Magician's War, which was one of the reasons why they remained more-or-less reclusive these days. And a great many of those losses had been at Mima's hand. Qilin herself had lost family. While Yukari had her reasons to have the spirit where she was, it was quite understandable if others did not agree with her reasoning.

"That's…fair enough," Yukari said cautiously. "But even so, you still should be familiar with Eirin. I mean, you know the Lunarians, correct?"

"The Lunarians?" Qilin repeated, the anger in her eyes giving way to confusion. "Well, of course. Who doesn't? They're only the most advanced society within our solar system. And despite that insufferable attitude that they all seem to be born with, one can't help but to admire their accomplishments. But what do they have to do with anything? Did this Eirin Yagokoro study under their…Ah, Yukari? Your mouth is hanging open."

Yukari did not care. She continued to stare. "Uh, Qilin? Eirin Yagokoro did not 'study' with the Lunarians, she is a Lunarian. Or to be more precise, the Lunarian, one of the principal founders of their civilization and the single most accomplished scientist their people has ever produced!"

Now it was Qilin's turn to stare. "But…What? But if that's true, whatever in the world is she doing in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, of all places?"

Note to self, Yukari thought. Find a way to bring the internet to Gensokyo. Or at least Wikipedia. In book form, if I have to. "She has her reasons," Yukari said, wishing to get the conversation back on track. "But all that aside, my point is that if Eirin Yagokoro tells me that Rin Satsuki is a Kirin, I'm inclined to believe her!"

"But how is that possible?" Qilin said, wringing her hands. "All of our people are accounted for, especially the children! We had our bi-yearly census just a few weeks ago, and I can assure you everyone was present! I conducted it myself!"

Which was actually a fair point. Like their distant cousins the Tengu, Kappa, Oni, Satori and any other youkai that did not spring to life spontaneously, the Kirin reproduced the old-fashioned way. And as their species was more-or-less immortal, they enforced a stringent system of birth control so as to keep their population in check. Each married couple was allowed but one child apiece, and marriages were rare things that were arranged well in advance by the Ministry of Family. Punishments for going against this system were harsh, to say the least. Perhaps that was why the Kirin revered their children so. Being allowed to have a child was such a rare privilege that only the most fortunate were gifted.

Still, something had slipped. As Yukari had said, if Eirin Yagokoro said that she had experimented on a Kirin child, than she had experimented on a Kirin child. "Perhaps there is an anomaly of some kind?" Yukari suggested. "As I understand it, Satsuki came into Eientei's care nineteen years ago. Were there any…irregularities with the population back then?"

"Nineteen years? No, I don't believe…Wait." Qilin frowned. Her towering neck swayed back and forth as she thought. "Now that you mention it…"

Yukari quirked an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I'll…I'll have to check my records to be sure, but I do recall there being something…"

"And where might these records be found?"

"Why, the Royal Library, of course."

Yukari waved a hand. A gap opened up, in front of the fireplace. It stung, but the pain was a far cry from the soul-tearing agony that using her powers had caused her immediately following her injury.

"Be quick," Yukari said.

Qilin nodded. She picked up the hem of her dress and scampered through the gap as quickly as she could. Yukari settled back into her chair, closed her eyes and waited.

…

Reimu pounded her fist against the rough wood of Marisa's door. "Marisa? You in there? It's me." After a brief pause, she added, "Again."

This was the third time she had been by in the last couple of weeks. The first time she had been turned away by Mima, who had claimed that the witch was still ill and asleep. The second time there had been no answer at all.

"Come on," Reimu called. "We need to talk."

She listened, but heard no movement from within.

"Okay, seriously getting tired of this. Quit avoiding me already!"

Again, there was no response. Reimu growled and started banging on the door. "Come on, open the door already!"

The door suddenly opened, and Reimu had to jolt back to keep from slamming her hand against Mima's breast.

"Good heavens, Reimu," Mima said. "This poor house has suffered abuse enough. No need to injure the door as well."

Reimu glowered up at the floating spirit. "Oh, you're still here."

"Lovely to see you too." Mima folded her arms. "How can I help you?"

"I need to talk to Marisa," Reimu said. "And don't tell me she's still sick. No way does anyone stay sick for that long."

Mima smirked. "There are a number of cancer patients that might take exception to that statement. But no, she's well enough. Unfortunately, Marisa is not here right now."

Reimu was hardly surprised at all. "Is that right?"

"Mmmm-hmmm. She left a few minutes ago, to go hunting for spell ingredients." Mima shrugged. "The recent confiscation of her possessions has depleted her stocks, it seems."

"So she just left before I showed up, huh?" Reimu's eyes narrowed. "Well, isn't that a coincidence."

Mima raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so sorry if you've been inconvenienced. Unfortunately, I regret to tell you that Marisa's life does not consist of sitting around, awaiting your pleasure. Next time, I suggest contacting her ahead of time and making sure your respective schedules are freed if you want a playdate." She started to close the door. "Now, if there's nothing else…"

"Hold up!" Reimu grabbed the door before it could close all the way.

Mima tilted her head, but didn't reopen the door. "Yes?"

Reimu grunted and forced the door back the rest of the way. "I was wondering…"

"Good for you. Curiosity is the root of all wisdom."

"Shut up," Reimu growled. "Seriously, we need to talk about the Rin Satsuki thing.

"Ah," Mima said. "Is that still happening? What with all the chaos caused by Yuuka, I almost forgot. I assume you're speaking of my offer to assist you in your efforts to rescue the poor dear from her horrific situation."

"Yeah. That."

"Even though the aforementioned offer came with the condition that you help me save Marisa from Yukari's clutches."

Reimu sighed. "Yes, I remember."

"Which you did not do," Mima observed.

Reimu threw her hands into the air. "Hey, she didn't want to be rescued! You were there, you remember!"

"Yes, I was. I was also at the battle, watching Marisa's back. A battle which, I couldn't help but notice, you were noticeably absent from."

"Don't give me that," Reimu seethed. "You know as well as I do that Yukari would never let me anywhere near that disaster."

Mima smirked. "Ah, starting to groan under the weight of her protectiveness? Is her collar starting to chafe?"

"Hey, if I was wearing her collar, I wouldn't be here, taking to you."

"Perhaps," Mima said. "Though believe you me, should Yukari find out that you're here, asking me this question, you will suddenly cease to be able to leave that bloated soap bubble of hers. And it will suddenly become much, much smaller."

Reimu took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Okay. Look, I got just a little sick of playing this game with you people a long time ago. So if you're out, you're out. Kanako still wants you on board, but if you don't want to play, fine. We'll deal."

"Kanako?" Mima raised an eyebrow. "Ah, that's flattering. Nice to know someone still remembers what I'm capable of. At least, someone who matters." She shrugged. "I suppose we can still talk, once I come back to the shrine."

"Yeah? And when will that be?"

"Why?" Mima asked. "Do you miss me that much? Or has some kind of worshipful populace sprung up in my absence, their pockets overflowing with money that they're just itching to donate in my honor?"

Reimu gave that statement all the response it deserved: a steady and smoldering glare.

"No?" Mima said. "How disappointing." She shrugged. "There used to be, you know. Only it was mostly blood that was donated, instead of money. Lovely times. But to answer your question, in time. I'm enjoying my little vacation, but don't worry. I'll be gracing the shrine with my presence soon enough. Then we can talk business."

"I'll be looking forward to it," Reimu said coolly.

"Good to hear. Please try to keep the place in good shape until I return. No wild parties, make sure that Genji stays out of trouble, and remind that rabbit friend of yours to please clean up after herself and stay out of my belongings."

Reimu's eyes bulged when Mima's words permeated her brain. "Wait, what-"

Mima shut the door.

"Hey!" Reimu shouted. She banged on the door. "Hold up! How do you know about that? Have you told anyone? Hey!"

Mima refused to answer. Reimu kept trying to get her attention for another minute before giving up.

She considered trying one of the windows. Marisa usually left them unlocked. But no, that wouldn't work either. If Mima didn't want to talk than trying to find her was futile. Either the window would be glued in place, turn out to be indestructible or Mima herself would simply vanish.

So instead, Reimu left the house to go hunt down Marisa. As she flew, she tried to sort this troubling new bit of information out. Mima knew about Reisen. And there was no way of knowing how long she had known or if she had told anyone. While Reimu didn't hate, or even much dislike, the ghost, Mima was not trustworthy.

But after giving it some thought, Reimu decided that it was most likely that Mima had kept the information to herself. If she had been planning on using the information against Reimu, than she would have just kept quiet and done it. By letting the fact that she knew she was probably just messing with Reimu's head for her own amusement.

Or so Reimu kept hoping.

Not for the first time, Reimu found herself rethinking the wisdom of letting Mima stick around. It had begun the same way most of her friendships did, with Mima showing up as a recurring pest, and Reimu fighting back as part of her job. And over time, the spirit had seemed to have lost her appetite for villainy and settled for being a nuisance instead. This in turn led to Reimu getting used to having her around, to the point where the two enjoyed a mildly antagonistic friendship. Reimu's own close relationship with Mima's prodigy had simplified things.

But by doing so, Reimu had perhaps come to forget exactly what sort of creature Mima was. And when it came down to it, Mima was one scary individual. She was powerful. She was brilliant. She was manipulative, ruthless, deceitful, sadistic and vengeful. And unlike Yukari, who justified her action in the causes of the Greater Good, Mima's moral compass was set firmly in the direction of whatever the hell she felt like. Furthermore, she had not been exaggerating when she made mention of the masses who had bled out their life's blood in her honor. While those days were behind her, Reimu had a feeling that the woman who had so rightfully earned the title of the Evil Spirit of Makai still lurked behind the pleasantly mocking façade that she now wore.

What was more, the last time Reimu had seen her, Marisa had gloated that she and Mima had "kicked ass". While she probably didn't know it, that boast made Reimu even more wary of Marisa's former mentor. If Ran Yakumo's report was accurate, that battle had crippled Yukari Yakumo and Yuuka Kazami alike, had destroyed Flandre Scarlet and Satori Komeji, and had resulted in the defeat of Utsuho Reiuji. By all accounts, it was the sort of battle in which gods fell and legends died.

And Mima, who had been in the thick of it, had "kicked ass".

Reimu was not scared of many things, and she certainly had no intention of fearing Mima. But it would be foolhardy not to acknowledge the threat she represented. Maybe Byakuren was right. Maybe she was too dangerous to trust.

But then, Kanako had made her demands clear. And while Reimu hated of bending over backwards for a competitor, she needed the elder goddess' help. She needed Moriya Shrine's influence. And in the end, maybe Kanako was right. Maybe they needed Mima's power and knowledge as well. However, that still left Reimu with the problem of finding a way to win Mima back over. With her promise to help save Marisa unfulfilled, that was going to be no small task.

Still, it wasn't impossible. Perhaps the solution lay with Marisa still. Despite the balance of power in their relationship, Marisa still wielded more influence over Mima than anyone alive, whether she realized it or not. If Reimu could find the witch and patch things up with her, then maybe she could use that influence to…

With a feeling of shock Reimu realized that she had just been considering using her relationship with Marisa as a means to manipulate Mima into doing what she wanted. Was that the sort of person she was becoming? Granted, that was far from the only reason she wanted to fix things with Marisa, but to have that even suggest itself in her mind was disquieting. Was this how it started? Just a small nudge, a little bit of grey manipulation for a good cause? What happened if it kept happening, one right after the other? What happened if the problems she would come to face as Gensokyo's protector forced her to take even more morally dubious actions?

Her mind struggled with the problem, but her heart came up with the answer immediately: Just ask Yukari.

Reimu shuddered. She shoved that line of thinking as far away from her mind as she could. No, she wasn't going to go down that road. Either Mima would help, or she wouldn't. But Reimu wasn't going to use Marisa as a means to coerce her.

But she was still going to find the witch. There were things that needed to be said.

Marisa wasn't at the first few clearings that Reimu checked, but as she skimmed over a flower-filled field she noticed someone familiar sitting on a rock and reading a book. She braked in midair and swooped down. "Hey, Alice!" she called. "Question!"

Alice Margatroid glanced up. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Reimu, but she betrayed no further emotion. She looked back down at her book and said, "Good afternoon, Reimu. How can I help you?"

Reimu landed in the grass next to Alice's rock. "Hey. Sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for Marisa. Have you seen her?"

Alice's lips drew tight, but her voice remained calm. "I regret to say I have not."

"Crap," Reimu muttered. "Well, okay. Mima said she was looking for spell ingredients, but I forgot to ask what kind. Do you know where she might be then? Like a favorite place to gather plants or that kind of thing?"

"No," Alice said. She turned a page. "Unless I know exactly what sort of ingredients she is seeking, I'm afraid I cannot help you. There are several dozen different herbs that have use in spellcrafting, and they can be found throughout the Forest of Magic."

Reimu frowned. She leaned forward and tilted her head to look Alice in the eye. "Hey, you okay? You seem kinda…pissed. You two aren't still fighting, are you?"

Now Alice did look up, though her face remained blank. "This is untrue. In order to fight with someone, some degree of contact is required. As I have not seen or heard from her since the last time we were all together, any sort of active conflict would be impossible."

"Uh…"

Alice slammed her book shut, making Reimu jump. "And unfortunately, I have other things to do than worry about a wayward witch. Though if you want my advice, I would check the mushroom patches first. Those do seem to be her go-to drug of choice." She nodded at the shrine maiden. "Good day, Reimu Hakurei."

Reimu watched as Alice walked away to disappear into the forest. Well, that had been awkward. Apparently Alice wasn't as eager to restore relations with Marisa as Reimu was. That was no surprise. While Alice may be more "Human" than most of her fellow magician youkai, she was still just as proud as any of them.

Reimu returned to her search for Marisa. Out of all the times for Marisa to be out and about, it had to be one of the rare occasions that Reimu was actually trying to find her, as opposed to the other way around. And out of all the places she had to go searching through, it had to be the damned Forest of Magic. Reimu had visited the place enough to have a working knowledge of its paths, but that would be of no help when it came to searching for a single person.

Reimu put her hands on her hips and sighed. Then, by chance, she happened to glance up. To her surprise, there was something in the sky that she had not noticed before, something large and familiar. She stared at it, wondering if she should fly up to say hello. She wasn't in an especially friendly mood at the time, but they might have information she could use. Then again, just by doing that, she might get roped into yet another pointless argument.

She shrugged and lifted into the air. What the hell. Maybe if she was lucky, the argument would escalate into a full-on fight. And beating the crap out of someone was a great way to burn off stress.

…

Captain Minamitsu Murasa puffed patiently on her pipe stood waiting at the helm of the Palaquin. They were currently anchored about a mile over the Forest of Magic. Thank the gods that it was a clear day. While it wasn't a huge inconvenience, falling rain was never pleasant for ectoplasm-based lifeforms.

Off to port, a member of the ship's crew clung to the side of the ship with her tail while she conversed with a trio of golden-skinned humanoids that rode upon the backs of giant butterflies. They weren't exactly the strangest people Murasa had ever received information from, but they were bizarre enough that Murasa preferred to leave the actual exchange to the grey-haired mouse girl now speaking to them.

Then again, who was she to throw stones? She was a disembodied spirit who piloted a flying ship propelled by a sentient pink cloud.

Down below, it looked as if Nazrin was finally concluding her negotiations. She handed over a covered basket to the trio's leader and waved goodbye. The butterfly riders ignored her farewell and turned their mounts around to flutter away.

Murasa straightened as Nazrin came bounding up the deck. "Well?" she asked as the mouse girl approached.

Nazrin stopped and threw off a sloppy salute. "Abso-frigging-lutely nothing, cap'!" she said. "They ain't seen horn nor tail of Satsuki."

Murasa cocked an eyebrow. She pulled her pipe out of her mouth and tapped it into the nearby ashtray. "Really now. And, ah, was that the basket you gave them the fairy dust?"

Nazrin nodded enthusiastically. "Yup!"

"The same fairy dust that we promised them for whatever information they could give us?"

"Yup!" Nazrin said with another nod.

"But they had no information to give us."

"Nope!"

"Ah." Murasa refilled her pipe and lit it. She puffed it twice, took it out of her mouth and asked, "Then what the hell did you pay them for?"

Nazrin saluted again. "For time and effort spent looking for information, cap'! Can't help it if there ain't no info to find!"

Murasa thought about this. She shrugged. "Okay, fair enough. So, who's your next contact, and what do they want to be paid for wasting our time?"

"That was the last of them, cap'!"

"Really. You have no more information brokers we can talk to?"

Nazrin shook her head. "None that won't bite our heads off or turn us into rats for so much as asking!"

"Whelp." Murasa sighed. "That figures."

Nazrin raised her hand.

"Yeah, what?" Murasa said.

"Maybe the reason we're not finding Byakuren's charity case is because it went underground and all we've been talking to are flying people!"

Murasa closed her eyes and sighed. "Yes, that's probably the reason."

Nazrin's hand went up again.

"What?"

"So wouldn't it make sense for us to go underground if we want to find this thing?"

Murasa looked at her. Then she glanced about the ship, a vessel designed never to go below sea level. This was followed by a meaningful look at the pink halo that surrounded the center mast. Then her eyes fell to Nazrin again.

To the mouse's credit, while she often acted without speaking, she wasn't slow on the uptake. "Oh," she said, looking somewhat abashed.

"Yeah," Murasa said as she gripped the helm.

Nazrin scratched her ear. "Then why are we still looking? I mean, if she's gone under, we ain't ever gonna find her!"

"Because Byakuren told us to look, that's why," Murasa retorted. "That's all the reason I, or you, or anyone else, should ever need."

Nazrin's ears wilted. "Okay…but…"

"No buts," Murasa said sternly. "Besides, there's people looking for her down below. Either they'll catch her, and we can go home. Or they'll flush her out and send her back up, and we'll be waiting. Either way, we keep searching until she's caught."

"Um, yeah," Nazrin said, clearing her throat. "And say she eats all the cave people and never comes out?"

To be honest, Captain Murasa had been entertaining such thoughts. Partially because it was a very real possibility, and partially because she found the idea of the denizens of Makai getting devoured to be rather appealing. While they exactly hadn't been the ones to seal her up along with Byakuren, she hadn't exactly gotten along with the natives during her incarceration in Makai. Out loud, she just said, "Then that's their problem. Byakuren will send us new orders, and we respond appropriately. Until then, no whining, no questioning, and definitely no suggesting that we do anything other than what we've been told."

"And if she tells you go take your boat on a kamikaze run straight down a dragon's throat, would you still do it?"

The voice was not Nazrin's, nor did it belong to any member of Murasa's crew. The ghostly captain of the Palaquin stood still for a moment. Then she sighed and turned around to address the person floating just beyond the stern.

Murasa sighed. She glanced over to Nazrin, who was staring at the shrine maiden in surprise. "Let me handle this," Murasa said out of the corner of her mouth. "Go tell Nessie to raise anchor. We're leaving as soon as I'm done here." Nazrin nodded and scampered off.

Murasa turned her attention back to the newcomer. "Hakurei," she said in a flat tone. "You lost?"

Reimu Hakurei shrugged. "I was about to ask you guys the same thing. After all, I'm not the one asking Flutter Riders for directions."

Murasa acknowledged the dig with a slight nod, and said, "I don't recall giving you permission to come aboard."

Reimu gestured down at her position. "Good thing I'm not standing on your deck, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. Then I'd be honor-bound to clamp you in irons, haul you over our keel until it stops being funny and throw whatever's left into the brig."

Reimu snorted.

Murasa leaned back against the helm. "Oh, and just for the record, sarcastically questioning the motives of the only person sticking her neck out for your stupidly suicidal charity mission ain't the best way to improve relations with the people doing the grunt work. Byakuren's risking everything in doing this. If you want to keep our help, show a little damned respect. Got it?"

To her mild surprise, Reimu actually winced at that. "I, uh, yeah. Sorry, just kind of frustrated right now. But that was out of line. Sorry."

"Yeah, it was." Murasa shrugged. "The hell do you want anyway?"

Reimu sighed. "I, uh, was just wondering if you've seen Marisa Kirisame. She's supposed to be in this forest somewhere, but I can't find her."

"Lost the witch, have we?" The edge of Murasa's mouth perked up in a rare smile. "My, my, you really have a problem keeping track of your overpowered lunatics."

"I haven't lost her, I just can't find her," Reimu growled. "So-"

"Haven't seen her, and even if I had, I'm not a damned information broker. I already got my hands full trying to find one freak for you. I don't have time to go traipsing after another."

Reimu held up her palms. "All right, all right. Calm down, I just thought I'd ask. I'll get out of your hair now. Sheesh."

Murasa watched at the shrine maiden swooped back down toward the Forest of Magic. Even though she was willing to do anything Byakuren asked without complaint, she wasn't happy about it. The fact that she was now technically working with, if not for, the same shrine maiden who had almost prevented her and her crew from rescuing Byakuren was one of the principle reasons.

Then she shrugged and turned back to the helm. Whatever. A job was a job, even if she didn't like who she was working with. And now it was time to get back to it.

"Hey! Floaty!"

Murasa paused. She turned around to see yet another person she didn't like, this one a blond girl dressed in black-and-white and sitting on a broom.

"'Floaty'?" Murasa asked.

Marisa Kirisame shrugged and grinned. "Couldn't think of anything funnier. I'll have a better one next time."

"Please don't. What do you want?"

"I'm looking for a cranky shrine maiden, ze. You seen one?"

Murasa sighed. "Oh, this has got to be a joke. She was just here, less than a minute ago, looking for you. And you didn't see her?"

"Nope, didn't see nothing," Marisa said. She wasn't even bothering to hide her lack of sincerity.

"Are you two deliberately trying to annoy me?" Murasa demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Marisa said with a bat of her eyes. "I'm just trying to find my friend. What's with all the-"

Murasa stuck her finger at the deck. "She went down, towards the forest. Looking for you. Which you well know. So go after her and get the hell away from my boat."

"Jeez, who pissed in your tea this morning?" Marisa shot off a mocking salute. "See yah, Smoky. Wait, did I already use that one for somebody? I dunno, they're hard to keep track of."

With that, she swooped down, following after the shrine maiden.

Murasa growled. Enough was enough. She turned toward the pink halo.

"Ahoy!" she called to it. "We're going west!"

The cloud detached from the mast. It formed itself into the form of a giant hand, which gave her a large thumb's-up. Then it separated itself into three smaller clouds, one for each sail, and started pressing against the fabric. The Palaquin was on the move.

…

Reimu's notoriously low patience was running out, which that encounter with Captain Murasa had done nothing to improve. Of course, she had only been searching for about seventeen minutes and had not even covered a fourth of the forest, but it was now occurring to her that Marisa was bound to return home sooner or later and to continue this futile search was more due to stubbornness than a genuine need to speak to the witch as soon as possible.

With that in mind, Reimu sighed and kept going until she found a break in the treeline. Then she crouched down, ready to spring into the air and soar into the clouds.

"What, you're gonna give up already? I'm hurt."

Reimu paused. She slowly stood up straight and turned around. There, sitting in the twisted branches of a nearby tree, was the very witch she was seeking.

"Marisa," Reimu said, as if they had casually met on the street. "How long have you been following me?"

Marisa shrugged. "Since I saw you talking to Alice. I gotta say, Reddie. For someone who hunts monsters for a living, you've got a lousy sense of your surroundings, ze. Heck, I followed you all the way up to that flying life raft and you didn't even notice."

The Mad Witch pushed herself off the branch and dropped to the forest floor. The two girls stared at each other. Marisa looked much the same as she always did: white apron over a black dress, messy golden hair with a single braid hanging to one side and her trademark pointy black hat. But even so, she looked different. Though she smiled, her usual expression of mischievous humor was gone, replaced by the cold look of the falsely accused and resentful. Reimu hoped that this was just Marisa being in a bad mood rather than a sign of Mima's escalated influence.

"So," Marisa said. "How've you been?"

Reimu folded her arms. Might as well get this over with. "We need to talk."

This pronouncement was met by a burst of laughter. "Really? You don't come by for almost a month, and that's the first thing out of your mouth? That's what I love about you, Reddie. Always right to the point. I'm doing great, by the way. Thanks for your concern." Marisa flicked the brim of her hat and smiled, though there was still no friendliness in the expression. "Of course, I was all ready to talk the last time you were around, ze. Remember that? When you came to see me and I was all sick and stuff? But I guess you weren't in the mood."

Reimu rolled her eyes.

"Sure took you awhile to change your mind," Marisa continued. "I mean, how long has it been? I haven't gotten around to buying a new calendar, but I'm gonna say…two weeks? Three? I mean, it's not like I had gone anywhere, what with being bedridden and all. But I guess you were just too busy to pop by."

"Marisa," Reimu sighed.

"No, no, I get it," Marisa said, holding up a palm. "You're a busy lady, doing your shrine maiden stuff. All that tea drinking you've got to get done."

"Marisa."

"People to beat up, monsters to befriend. I get it, there's not need to concern yourself with a lowly Human who-"

"MARISA!" Reimu snapped.

"Yeah, what?"

Reimu sighed. "Get over yourself, all right? I came by twice to visit you in the last couple weeks, and I was going to come back tomorrow if I didn't find you today."

"Wait, huh?" Marisa said. "Twice? When?"

"Uh…" Reimu's brow furrowed. "The first time was a little over a week ago. I came by your house, but got turned away by evil sorceress you've got as a nursemaid. She said you were too sick to see anyone."

Now it was Marisa's turn to frown. "Really? Now that you mention it, I think I can kinda remember seeing you in the doorway, ze. But Mima said I was just dreaming."

"Right," Reimu said. "Because she's such a paragon of truth and honesty."

Marisa shrugged. "Hey, truth is subjective, ze. Besides, she wasn't wrong about me. I was half-delirious at the time."

"Really? French maids again?"

"Thank the gods, no," Marisa groaned. "Giant spiders, ones that wore smoking jackets and wouldn't stop trying to explain sexual philosophy to me. It was actually kinda interesting at the time, but made no sense whatsoever after I woke up. Something about cigars and me wanting my dad's dick."

"Yeah, I'm just going to delete that from my memory," Reimu muttered. "Anyway, the second time was last Wednesday, but no one was there, not even Mima."

"Really? That's weird, I haven't even started going out until the day before…" Marisa frowned. "Wait, hold up. Wednesday? That was…" She groaned. "Oh. Right. That."

Reimu's eyebrows went up. "Yes?"

"Eh, Kotocrazy had me go by her station to help finishing cataloguing the stuff they robbed from me," Marisa said with a shrug. "Ended up taking the whole day. I didn't even remember half the stuff they had me look at." A ghost of her old devilish glint appeared in her eye. "Not that I told them that, of course."

Reimu threw her hands in the air. "Well, there you go! I did come by, you were just unavailable! So stop complaining."

Marisa glowered. "Okay, fine. Have it your way, ze. I'll let you off the hook. This time."

Reimu was about to yell at her again, but then she caught the mischievous twinkle in Marisa's eye and relaxed.

"Well, now that we've got that cleared up, what's up?" Marisa asked as she stretched her arm up behind her head. "Got a new incident for us to solve, or just an updated version of the old one?"

"I think you know," Reimu said.

"Do I?" Marisa scratched her nose. "Sorry, Armpits. I may have a whole bunch of neat tricks, but I still haven't worked out the mind-reading thing, ze. Glad to hear you're so confident in my progress, though. It really means a lot to me."

"Stop it," Reimu groused. "I'm talking about what Kotohime said. About you trying to kill a bunch of her people."

Marisa held her gaze for a few seconds. Then her shoulders slumped and her arms fell to her sides. "Yeah, I figured this was gonna happen sooner or later," she muttered. "Okay, fine. Let's get this over with. But not here."

"Why not?" Reimu looked around at the twisted trees and gloomy shrubs. "You worried about the trees eavesdropping on us?"

"In this place? Sure. But no, I just don't wanna get interrupted by some stupid youkai looking for an easy meal. This place is chock-full of them, ze." Marisa tilted her head down the road. "Come on, there's a clearing not too far from here."

Reimu followed Marisa down the winding path, stepping over gnarled roots and ducking low branches. After a short time, the forest opened to one of its many small meadows, this one filled with wild grass and purple flowers. A large fallen tree lay in the center of the field.

Unfortunately, they weren't the first ones there. A gang of tiny fairies, none over seven inches tall and all wearing the same white dress, were swarming over the fallen tree like a cloud of gnats. There had to be at least thirty of them, all told.

This didn't seem to deter Marisa, who marched straight up to the swarm. "Hey!" she shouted as she swatted at the fairies. "This is a hostile takeover, so beat it!"

Predictably enough, the fairies buzzed angrily at her. "Here first!" they shouted at her in their high, piping voices. "Here first!"

"Yeah?" Marisa growled. "Well, I was here yesterday, and yesterday happens before today. So I was really the one here first, ze!"

That seemed to confuse the fairy gang. "But left!" one of them insisted. "You left!"

"Right, and you're going to leave now, so that means it's our turn, doesn't it?"

This bit of logic was briefly but intensely debated by the fairies. But they seemed to come to the conclusion that Marisa had a point, and soon they drifted off to find some other log to flutter over.

Triumphant, Marisa sat down on the fallen tree's trunk. Shaking her head, Reimu walked over to join her. "I can't believe I just watched you beat a bunch of fairies in a debate," she said as she sat down next to the witch.

"Eh," Marisa shrugged. She took off her hat and set it down next to her. "Ain't hard. You just gotta use their own logic against them, ze."

"Right." Reimu looked around and sighed. "Well, let's get right to this, then. Kotohime told me that you tried to kill her and her fanclub. Is that true?" Reimu's eyes narrowed. "And just a fair warning, don't give me the usual bullshit routine you give to everyone else. Just answer honestly, for once in your life."

Marisa glowered, but shrugged. "I guess. But not the way she made it sound."

Reimu waited.

"It's…it's hard to explain," Marisa muttered. She pressed the heel of her right palm against her forehead. "Look, things were really confusing. Mima had just told me that Yukari was after me, and that surprised and scared the hell out of me, ze. Then when I was running away, I kept getting lost and all these punkass youkai kept jumping me. Nothing I couldn't handle of course, but it was still frustrating. And then, just as I finally figured out where I was going, out of nowhere those GPF tools showed up and tried to arrest my ass and give me to Yukari! And then Yukari herself shows up and tries to eat me!"

Reimu, who had been following the story without difficulty, now twisted her face in confusion. "Wait a minute, say that last part again? Yukari tried to what now?"

"Well, tried to swallow me with one of her damned gaps," Marisa amended. "And I only got away using one of Mima's tricks. But she still got my hat. So I wasn't really in the best of moods at the time, you know what I'm saying?"

"So you berserked," Reimu filled in for her. "Probably went apeshit on the GPF officers and threw everything you had at them, lethal or not."

"They shot first!" Marisa protested.

"Using what? Danmaku? Probably a spellcard or two? Rocks? While you probably brought down…I don't know, thunderbolts, fireballs, falling stars and a whole mess of lasers."

Marisa shoved an index finger against Reimu's nose. "Look, Armpits. I told you already. I was having a shitastic day. I snapped. It happens to everyone, even you. And unlike you, someone actually beat my ass to the ground for it. I did my time, thank you very much. So don't come here acting all high and mighty like you're better than me, ze. I've seen what happens to people when you get angry. And I don't think you've ever so much as spent an hour in time-out for it."

Reimu opened her mouth to start yelling back, but then her mind went back to the conversation she had with Byakuren. It took an incredible amount of will, but she managed to rein in the angry retort she had been about to unleash. Directly attacking Marisa wasn't going to solve anything. She would get nowhere by putting the witch on the defensive.

So instead, she tried for a different tactic. "Look," she said as slowly as her mounting irritation would allow. "I know you're not some kind of crazy murderer. And I know you don't go looking for people to hurt. This was an extreme response to an extreme situation. I get that."

Marisa snorted, but she put her finger down. "Really? Well, thanks, ze. Your reassurance means so much to me."

"But," Reimu said. "That doesn't mean I'm still not…" The following word got caught in her throat. Reimu grimaced and forced it the rest of the way out. "…worried. About you."

Marisa almost fell off the log. "Wait, wha-" she sputtered. "You were…"

"Oh, get over it already," Reimu growled. "You're still my friend, so I'm allowed to worry about you, all right?"

Marisa gaped at her. Reimu rolled her eyes and reached over to shove up on Marisa's hanging jaw. "I told you to knock that off. Just because I don't like putting up with bullshit doesn't mean I don't…" The next word was as difficult to force out as the previous one had been. "…care about my friends."

"Yeah, I know," Marisa said, still staring. "But still, to hear you say it so frankly." She grinned. "So, does this mean…"

Reimu cocked a fist. "Make a sex joke, and I swear I'll flatten your nose. And no, before you say it, it won't be 'totally worth it'."

"You never know until you try," Marisa teased. "Still, your concern is touching."

Reimu shook her head. "Look, I just don't want you to turn into the next Mima, okay?"

That made Marisa frown in confusion. "Mima? Uh…Reddie? I hate to point this out, but she's kinda my mentor, ze. If you didn't want me being like her, you're just a little too late. Besides, what's wrong with being like Mima? I mean, she's only one of the smartest and most important magicians ever. That's the sorta thing a magician like me should be shooting for, ze!"

"I'm not talking about the magic," Reimu said. "I'm not talking about becoming a super famous magician and making yourself really powerful. If you want to do that, more power to you. I'm talking about being like Mima herself."

"Huh?"

"How many people has she killed?"

Marisa didn't answer.

"Come on, you know her better than anyone," Reimu said. "And you know as well as I do that it's a lot."

"Well, yeah," Marisa said with a shrug. "You mean like in the Magician's War? Because people kinda tend to die in wars. It's a thing."

"I'm not just talking about the war," Reimu said wearily. "You saw how she was with Kotohime, when she tried to rescue you. Remember how she almost choked her to death? Don't tell me that it wasn't the first time she's done something like that. And I'm pretty sure this was one of the few times someone's managed to stop her."

Marisa looked away.

Reimu leaned in closer. "Come on, you know I'm right. She's used to hurting or killing people that piss her off, sometimes both. It doesn't bother her. You think she was always like that?"

Marisa's fingers tightened. "I told you," she growled. "I. Lost. My. Temper. And I already got punished for it. So what good does snapping at me about it do? Jeez Hakurei, why can't you just leave this alone? It's over!"

Reimu thought. "Okay, Marisa. Say I was fighting someone, and we weren't using spellcard rules for some reason. And they got pissed and killed me. How would you feel?"

"What kind of question is that? I'd hunt down the fucking bastard and kill him…or her…right back! And hey, if I do go off the deep end and off someone, I'm perfectly fine with the idea of people trying to kill me for it! Fair's fair, after all. I can accept that!"

Reimu slapped a palm against her face. "No, not what you would do, I mean how would you feel!"

"Feel?" Marisa looked at her in confusion.

"Yes! Feel! Come on, you're the most emotional person I know. Would you, I don't know, feel bad? Hurt? Would you…"

"Grieve?"

Reimu shrugged. "Sure. Would you?"

"What's with all the stupid questions?" Marisa asked. "You're my friend. It's only natural, ze."

Reimu nodded. "Okay. So here's something to think about. Those people you attacked, those GPF 'tools', like you call them? They're Humans, like you and me. They've got families, in the Human Village or one of those farms or one of those little towns. Do you know what it would be like to be them and hear how a crazy witch killed your son or daughter or husband, wife, sister, brother, friend, and so on?"

Marisa rolled her eyes. "You've been spending way too much time with the Youchrist. Now you're starting to sound just like her."

"That's a bad thing? And come on, Marisa. You know I can't let this go without saying something. You're my friend. But a few weeks ago I found out that you almost blew up a bunch of Humans, and you didn't seem to care. What am I supposed to do then?" Reimu jabbed her chest with her thumb. "I'm supposed to be a protector of Humans! And that means protecting them from you, if I have to! And that also means protecting you from becoming something that I might end up having to take out one day! So yeah, I'm gonna get all into your face when you do something like this. Because I don't want to explain to grieving families why their loved ones aren't coming home. And because I don't want to end up having to…" Again the word caught in Reimu's throat, though for a different reason this time.

Marisa looked down at her boots. Her fingernails scratched at the trunk of the log, tearing up tiny flakes of bark.

An uncomfortable silence passed. Reimu watched Marisa, trying to gauge what the witch was feeling. Marisa was one to wear her heart on her sleeve, but it was difficult to tell what she was thinking now. Not that all emotion had gone from her face. Quite the opposite, in fact. The internal debate had to be fierce, given how many expressions were passing over her features: anger, chagrin, resentment, confusion, even guilt. For her part, Marisa just kept staring down and refused to make eye contact.

This continued on for almost a minute. And then Marisa startled Reimu when she started laughing.

"Well, if you can thaw that heart of ice of yours enough to admit that you care about me, then I guess I should start listening to you." Marisa turned to grin at the shrine maiden sitting next to her. "And hey, I don't want me turn into a psycho killer either. So it makes sense to keep you around to keep me in line." She stuck out her hand. "All right, you win. I'll try to keep the homicidal rampages under control. We cool?"

Reimu relaxed and allowed herself a small smile of her own. "Yeah, I guess," she said, accepting the handshake. "Though please don't make me do something like that again. That was all kinds of awkward, and I don't wanna end up as the next Eiki Shiki."

"Fuck. Yeah, let's not let that happen," Marisa said with a shudder. She put her hat back on and stood up. "Well, I've still got a few herbs to find. You wanna come with."

Reimu nodded, and the two walked back into the forest.

…

Yukari heard footsteps. She started and realized that she had dozed off. She opened her eyes and saw Qilin standing again in her living room, a heavy brown leather-bound book in her hands.

"Ah, found it?" Yukari said as she straightened up. Then she checked her internal clock and frowned. "Is there any particular reason why it took thirteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds to find a single book? I thought you Kirin prided yourselves on organization."

Qilin grimaced. "Sorry. That wing of the library is being remodeled, so all of the old record books are in storage."

Yukari grunted. "Well, all right. But you did find what you were looking for, correct?"

The apologetic look left Qilin's face, replaced with a scowl of indignation. However, it didn't seem to be directed toward Yukari. "I did," she said. She sat down and flipped through the book. "I most certainly did. As it turns out, twenty years ago we had a bit of an embarrassment."

Yukari motioned for her to continue.

Qilin flipped through the pages of the brown book. "Understand, this is not something that I feel comfortable discussing. We take our reproduction laws very seriously, and this incident is possibly the biggest scandal to disturb my people since-"

"I am well aware of your people's culture," Yukari said shortly. "And I really don't care how embarrassing it is. If you have information for me, then let's hear it."

Qilin mouth set in a straight line. "Well, if I must, I must. It's a real shame, really, seeing how it came out of what was supposed to be a joyous occasion. A member of the court, the son of one of our nobles…May I omit names? I assure you, they have no significant bearing to the problem at hand."

"Just tell me the story."

"All right. As I was saying, twenty years ago this boy was to marry. Of course, his parents were ecstatic. They had petitioned for years for the privilege, and had paid quite a lot of money through various charitable donations and public funding to earn the Ministry's favor. Finally, their request was granted, and a young lady of appropriate station was selected. But when the couple came of age and the day of the union drew near, we discovered…a problem."

Yukari had a feeling that she knew where this was going. "Let me guess," Yukari said dryly. "Our young man of the hour was found to have decided to skip the ceremony and head straight to the main event, probably with someone other than the girl selected for him. Probably something of a lower station as well."

Qilin's head jerked back in surprise, her neck-ring clinking against each other. "That's…exactly right. How did you know this?"

"It's a common plot of Human fiction," Yukari said with a shrug. "They seem to have a single-minded obsession with forbidden love stories. The scenario you're describing resembles at least a few hundred novels from the Outside World."

Qilin muttered something about lesser peoples and their lack of morals. "Well, be that as it may," she said. "When it happens in reality it's not at all entertaining. The whole court was in uproar. The fool's fiancé attempted suicide, and his parents resigned in disgrace. But in the confusion, the lovers fled into the Wilds."

"And you pursued?"

"In a way." Qilin frowned. "We tried to keep it quiet, to not involve other peoples. But they proved to be extremely difficult to find. They had hired a couple magician youkai, you see, and kept slipping by our tracking spells. We couldn't let news of their affair spread, so after…and understand, we tried everything else to find them first…I…I sent an unmaking spell after them."

Yukari quirked an eyebrow. Unmaking spells were a highly dangerous branch of magic, one that disintegrated a youkai's body and broke apart the connections that bound their life energies together. They were one of the few guaranteed methods to end a youkai's life for good. However, the set up for such a spell was notoriously complicated, and actually getting them to work was extremely difficult. In addition, to even attempt such a thing the caster had to have some sort of deeply intimate connection to the target, which meant the boy's own parents had probably been involved. As such they were generally only employed by youkai community leaders when an execution of one of their own was absolutely necessary. It rarely happened, but the very existence of such a spell was still considered a terrifying concept, not to mention highly controversial.

Qilin must have seen the look on Yukari's face, because she was quick to add, "I didn't want to do it, but by then we had no choice! They had insulted the crown, disgraced their families and people and violated the most sacred of-"

"Why are you justifying yourself to me?" Yukari interrupted. "I don't care how you manage your internal affairs, so long as it's kept in-house. But I think that's the problem here. Given what you just told me, and given the fact of Rin Satsuki's existence, I think it's safe to say that between the lovers' daring escape and their unmaking at your hands, they bore a child."

Qilin winced, but nodded.

"Obviously you didn't know this, or at least assumed that the spell eliminated the result of their union. Else we would not be in the situation we are in now."

"We didn't know she was pregnant," Qilin said softly. "All we knew was that they were sleeping together. There was a period of some months between their escape and when we finally sent the spell after them. And the child was not discovered when we found their hiding place and recovered their effects."

"That's not surprising," Yukari told her. "The rabbits found her in the possession of a couple of Human slavers that had taken some of their young."

"That explains that then," Qilin said. "What happened then?"

Yukari shrugged. "She was taken in and adopted by rabbits. It was later discovered that she had special adaptive abilities. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"History indeed," Qilin muttered. She closed the book and removed her glasses so she could rub her eyes. "History indeed."

"But I think we both understand the problem here," Yukari continued. "Given what I was told by Eirin Yagokoro, and seeing how it matches the events you have just described to me, can we agree that Rin Satsuki is a Kirin and move on?"

Qilin did not look happy about that notion at all, but she nodded.

"Which finally brings us to my reason for wanting to speak to you," Yukari said. "In her current state, Satsuki is menace, and needs to be…rendered nonthreatening. I know your people's attitude toward your young, and would rather not see a conflict of interests. So if you have any objections to-"

"Do what you want with her," Qilin hissed.

Yukari blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"This Rin Satsuki is no child of ours. Her parents were criminals of the worst sort. Her conception and birth were not sanctioned by the Ministry of Love and Marriage, and her continued existence is an embarrassment to my people. If you wish to execute her, then by all means, please do so."

Yukari hesitated. Such a ruthless mindset was something that she was no stranger to, but it was odd to hear it from Qilin's lips, especially when it concerned a Kirin child. "Qilin, are you sure?" she asked carefully.

"Yes," replied Qilin Zhuan, Queen Mother of the Kirin. "She is a bastard. Bastards are abominable to us, and do not merit our protection." She leaned forward, her squinty eyes narrowing further in anger. "Yukari Yakumo, trust me when I say this: no one cares about Rin Satsuki."

…

Reisen strained and grunted as she pulled on the old rope that attached to the well's wooden bucket. Once the bucket had risen high enough, she reached into the well, grabbed it by the handle and carefully pulled it the rest of the way up.

"We have…" she panted as she untied the rope and set the bucket onto Genji's back. "Got to…get a pump."

"Ah, quit your whimperin'," the elderly turtle said. "A little exercise never hurt anyone."

Reisen wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one hauling that thing out of the water. I swear, it gets heavier as it gets higher."

"What don't kill you only makes you stronger," Genji replied. He rose into the air and floated toward the shrine, all the while balancing the bucket on his shell with no difficulty. "Unless of course it makes you a paraplegic, but haulin' buckets o' water out of wells ain't known for doin' that."

Reisen picked up the other two full buckets that sat on the ground and fell in place next to the turtle. "Sure, right up until my spine collapses."

"Whine, whine, whine," Genji snorted. "Come on, admit it. All this, ahem, slave labor is doin' you good, sweetie."

Reisen had to admit that he had a point. In the days that had followed her arrival at Hakurei Shrine, Reimu had certainly lived up to her promise to make Reisen work for room and board. Reisen had expected to be sweeping rooms and preparing meals, but she had quickly learned that a surprising amount of hard, manual labor went into the shrine's upkeep. The first few days had been nothing short of brutal, and Reisen had gone to bed feeling sore all over.

However, as time went by, her body became adjusted to the hard work. Before, it had been near impossible to get all three of those blasted buckets out of the well. Now it was merely difficult. She still hated it, and strongly suspected that Reimu was just using her to do the jobs that she didn't want to do for herself, but she would never voice such complaints out loud.

So instead, she changed the subject. "Why don't we get a pump?" she asked. "It sure would make getting water a whole lot easier. And I don't think Reimu would say 'no' to making something easier."

"Ain't that the truth," Genji agreed. "But for one thing, she don't know a thing about plumbin', and she's too proud to ask anyone for help. For another, pumps cost money, and we really ain't overburdened with an excess of that."

Reisen sighed. That was true enough. While she hadn't exactly been the most respected member of Kaguya's household, her position as Eirin's assistant meant that her pay had been a bit above the average for a member of Eientei's staff. In addition, her room and meals had been provided for without charge. To go from that to sleeping on the floor and getting by on meals of rice and cheap curry had also taken a lot of getting used to. Reimu had been serious when she said that she had to be conservative with the food.

And yet, despite the fact that Reisen had yet to see a single visitor to the shrine, they were never flat broke. Reimu's finances were small, but they somehow persisted in existing. Reisen kept meaning to ask the shrine maiden about that, but she had a feeling that money wasn't a topic that she should be discussing with Reimu.

And so she changed the subject again. "Hey Genji, there's something I've been wondering…"

"Perfectly functional," came the response. "Though a little rusty for lack of use."

"What?" Reisen blinked at him. "What are you…"

Then she got it.

"Oh, gods!" She laughed and shoved the floating reptile with her elbow. "I wasn't talking about that, you dirty old lizard!"

Genji paused. He cleared his throat. "Ah, yeah. Forgot to tell you."

Reisen frowned. "Tell me what."

"This is kinda awkward and all, but I'd really be appreciative not being called a lizard."

"Oh," Reisen said. "Uh, sorry."

"S'okay," Genji grunted. "Didn't know. And it ain't really personal, it just got real old after the first century and all." He shook his head. "Anyway, moving on from that unpleasant subject change, what'cha wanna know?"

"Oh, right. I was wondering if I Reimu would let me help with the search. You know, for Rin."

Genji immediately turned serious. "Absolutely out of the question."

"But…but that's why I left Eientei in the first place!" Reisen protested. "To look for her!"

"Reimu's already got that covered. And unlike you, she can go where she pleases without havin' to worry about gettin' tackled to the ground and sent back home in a sack!"

"Oh, come on! Reimu said that there's no bounty on me, and that the Eientei Guard stopped looking for me over a week ago. And even if they did find me, Shiina said-"

"I don't care what your friend said," Genji growled. "They ain't the ones you should be watchin' out for anyways."

"Huh?"

"Look, say I'm your doctor, an' you jus' quit an' ran off, leavin' me with one hell of a headache in the process. Now, I'm all kinds of pissed, but this ain't my first danmaku duel, you know what I'm sayin'? I'm a smart guy…er, girl. Insanely old woman who still looks fantastic. Whatever. So sure, maybe I lose my shit at first and send my bunny brigade after you. But once I get my head back, do I let them keep mucking about and potentially attractin' attention to the fact that you done ran off in the first place?" Genji shook his head. "Hell no! My reputation's shot up enough as it is. So I wanna keep this on the down low. So I call back the Guard, seal of any info leaks, and pretend that nothin's wrong. But in the meantime, I go an' hire me a bunch of professionals. An' I don't mean those youkai that hire out for merc work 'cause they're bored and want some fast money. I mean some real professionals, the kind that you don't see comin' until they've knocked you out and delivered you to me in a big brown sack. Probably someone from the Tengu or one of them hunter guilds. The Youkai Market's full of them."

Reisen stared at him.

"Hey, it's how I woulda done it," he said, shrugging his massive shell and still somehow managing to not upset the bucket he was carrying.

The thought made Reisen shudder. She said nothing for the rest of the hike back to the shrine.

Once there, they went around to the rear entrance. Genji lowered himself to the grass, and Reisen placed her buckets down with a sigh of relief. She clenched and unclenched her fingers a few times to get the blood flowing and slid the door open.

"NOW!" a high, piping voice shouted.

A millisecond later something came flying to hit Reisen in the face. There was an explosion of white powder, and Reisen fell back with a cry of surprise. Her left foot knocked against one of the buckets and knocked it over. She tried to scramble to her feet but just ended spilling the other bucket all over her shirt

Shrill laughter sounded from above. Reisen wiped the white powder away from her eyes and looked up to see Hakurei Shrine's resident trouble-making trio perched on the shrine's roof. "Gotcha, bunny bun-bun!" said the voice of Sunny Milk. "Gotta keep your guard up around here. Just because that big fat shrine maiden said we can't tell people about you don't mean we can't play games with-"

"What the BLOODY HELL do you three think you're DOIN'?" Genji roared.

The three mischievous fairies froze when they saw Genji glowering up at them. "Oh crap, it's the flying turtle!" Star yelled.

"Run, run!" Sunny screamed.

The three scrambled and pushed each other in their desperation to be the first to flee. They managed to get as far as the air before Genji shouted, "STOP!"

All three of them froze in mid-air.

"Come down here," he growled. "Right now."

They winced, but obeyed.

Reisen stood up. The white stuff turned out to be flour, and her face and shoulders were covered with it. Her shirt was soaked through, and worst of all, two of the three buckets were now on their sides and empty.

She knew she should be upset, and she was. But not as much as one might think. Living with Tewi made one used to certain things.

Genji's head slowly moved back and forth as he glared at each one of the fidgeting fairies in turn. "Well now," he said. "I know this sorta thing is somethin' we jus' gotta expect from fairies, you three 'specially. But given that Reisen here is a guest of this shrine, an' that you three are permitted to live in our cherry grove thanks to our good graces, let me make somethin' abundantly clear: pull this crap again, an' I'll have the three of you evicted. An' by that, I mean sendin' the vapors of your life energies to the freakin' winds!" He took a slow but threatening step forward. "Am I understood?"

Sunny and Luna glanced at each other and Star swallowed, but no one dared to say anything.

"I said, am I under-"

"Yes!" all three of them said in unison.

"Please, don't eat us!" Luna was quick to add.

"That remains to be seen," Genji growled. He turned his gaze to the overturned buckets. "Now, to make it up to our guest, I want you to take those buckets, refill them an' bring them back here within five minutes. An' so help me, if you spill so much as a drop, we're having fairy pie for desert. Got it?"

The three fairies quickly nodded.

"Good. Now move it!"

They did just that. Mere seconds later, both fairy and bucket alike were gone.

"Bloody stupid fools," Genji muttered. "Not a lick of common sense. I don't know what Reimu was thinkin', lettin' those three stay. You okay there, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Reisen assured him. "Just messy. Thanks, by the way."

He grunted, but nodded. It was then that Reisen noticed that despite all that had just happened, he still had not spilled the bucket sitting on his shell. Now that was impressive.

Reisen took Genji's bucket and they went inside the shrine. "Though I have to say, I wish we had you back at Eientei," Reisen said as she poured the bucket into a jug. "It sure would have made dealing with Tewi a whole lot easier."

That got a bark of surprised laughter out of the turtle. "Tewi? That crazy scamp? No thanks. She'd drive me crazy within a century."

Reisen blinked at him in surprise. "Wait, you know her?"

"Eh, sorta," he said with a shrug. "We met briefly during Gensokyo's early days, back when the barrier was first set up. In fact, I think Yukari was thinkin' of invitin' her to that Ringleader council thing of hers. Fortunately, common sense prevailed there. Those damned meetin's are crazy enough as they are. Jus' as well. I doubt that she'd ever show up, even if she remembered."

Reisen shook her head. Given how immature she always acted, it was easy to forget that Tewi was one of Gensokyo's oldest youkai, and was pretty much the rabbit tribes' unofficial leader. She certainly had never considered the possibility that the irritating prankster that annoyed her on a weekly basis might have met some of the great names of legend or participated in any of the important events in Gensokyo's history. It was a strange line of thought, one that reminded Reisen just how young she was, when compared to the sort of people she associated with.

But at the same time, she was now relying on a Human girl less than half her age. In fact, now that she thought of it, even Rin was older than Reimu, if not by much. And yet Reisen had grown accustomed to thinking of Reimu as an authority figure and treated her as one would an elder.

Reisen sighed and headed to the next room to clean up and change. She supposed that when it really came down to it, age was no real indication of maturity. Most of the problems that plagued Gensokyo now were thanks to the actions of its elders, while the person with the best chance of saving everyone was young even by Human standards. There was a moral lesson to be found there, but at the moment, Reisen wasn't sure exactly what it was.

After she was done, Reisen sat down on the thin sleeping mat Reimu had provided for her. She lay back, stuck her hands under her head and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't so bad here. Sure, Reimu was easily irritated, but so had been Eirin. And the pranksters here were much easier to keep in line than the one back at Eientei. But she had meant what she had told Genji. While she was grateful to Reimu for taking her in, she was still determine to find Rin before any of the competition did. And it was only a matter of time before the little Kirin was flushed out of wherever she was hiding.

…

Deep Within

Rin stared squint-eyed at the screen. On it, the final mushroom sat in her hand, its radiance light purple thanks to her vision's tint.

Thus far, the fungus had survived for over five minutes without showing signs of shriveling. However, Rin herself was showing plenty of signs of strain. Her limbs and neck twitched as she tried to control her immense power. A low growl vibrated through her clenched teeth.

And then a spot of darkness appeared on the mushroom's stalk.

"No!" Rin yelled, but it was too late. Her concentration broke and the light of the mushroom dimmed into non-existence as it collapsed into itself and turned black.

Rin groaned and slumped over her knees. Her whole body now trembled with exhaustion. It wasn't fair. This had been the third mushroom-filled cavern that they come across, and she had cleared out each and every one of them. And she still had not mastered the aura of death and decay that surrounded her physical body. And not only that, Rin was reasonably certain that this was the last cavern of the network.

Rumia was not going to be happy.

With a weary sigh, Rin stood and walked away from the screen to find her captive.

She came across Rumia a good distance away. The youkai girl was lying flat on her back, arms and fingers spread wide and legs sticking straight out. Her scarlet eyes stared upward.

Rin cleared her throat. "Uh…Rumia?"

Rumia glanced at her.

"We're out of mushrooms again."

Rumia shrugged and looked back at the emptiness. "Is that so. Then go find a new cave."

"Well, uh…" Rin swallowed. "We're all out…I mean, I think this is the last cave. At least the last one with these mushrooms."

Rumia didn't answer. She just kept staring out into space.

"So…" Rin said. "What do we do now? I mean, I still don't know how to turn off the killy-shrively thing, and-"

She stopped talking. Rumia was making a very odd noise. It started out as a low hum, but grew into a high whistling, until, like a kettle being brought to boil, it escalated to a shriek of frustration.

"AAAHHHH!" Rumia screamed. She clutched at her face and flipped onto her stomach as her feet kicked against the "ground". "GODS! DAMN! IT! RIN!"

Rin gaped at the youkai girl's temper tantrum. "Whoa, calm down! You don't need to-"

"Shut up!" Rumia scrambled to her feet and shoved her face into Rumia's. "Three caves! A million bazillion mushrooms! And a freaking eternity to get a hold on this thing, and you still can't do it? What the hell is wrong withMMPH!"

Rumia grabbed at her mouth, or at least where it should be. It was now replaced by a smooth expanse of skin. She looked up to glare daggers at Rin.

"Sorry about that, but seriously," Rin said irritably. "Calm down."

She made an unzipping motion, and Rumia's mouth reopened. Rumia quickly checked to see if her teeth and tongue were still there. "Damn it, you said you wouldn't do that anymore!" she shouted.

"I said I didn't want to do that, but if you're just going to go crazy and scream at me-"

"Crazy! Yeah, okay, so maybe I am going a little crazy! I've been locked up in this nowhere world with absolutely nothing to do except for wander around and watch you kill mushrooms! I can't even freaking sleep! Why the hell shouldn't I go crazy, huh?"

Rin scowled in reproach. "You're right, that does stink. Try dealing with it for nine years."

"I…" Rumia's mouth opened and closed as she tried to think of a decent response. "Well. You still suck."

Rin rolled her eyes. "Okay. Look, I'm sorry you're stuck in here with me. All right? And I'm sorry I don't have the slightest clue on how to turn out that stupid field of death thing. I tried, it didn't work, and hey, it really, really hurts. But I tried anyway, on seven thousand, five hundred and thirty-eight mushrooms. If you think you can do better, you're welcome to freaking try. But little word of warning: I'm in a bad mood. I know you're frustrated and bored out of your mind, but yell at me like that again, and you're going to get a little reminder on exactly who's mind you're walking around in."

Rumia glowered at her. Her legs tensed up.

"Don't," Rin said. "Don't even think about it. It won't work."

Rumia closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, held it, and slowly let it out. Her trembling fists unclenched.

Rin relaxed. "Okay, so now-"

Rumia let out an animalistic shriek and leapt at for Rin's throat. Taken off guard, Rin was driven back as Rumia's fingers closed around her windpipe.

A second later, Rumia was grasping at empty air. She blinked and whirled around to see Rin watching her with an irritated look on her round face.

"Really, Rumia?" Rin said. "Really?"

Rumia stared. Then her shoulders slumped. "Had to try," she muttered.

"Yeah, okay. Now, did you get that nonsense out of your system?"

Rumia held up her palms. "Okay, okay. Fine. But still, come on Rin! We can't go outside because of that damned trail you keep leaving, and-"

"I know that, Rumia!" Rin said in exasperation. "You think I don't get it? I tried! I really, really tried. But I don't know how to turn the stupid thing off, okay?"

Rumia grimaced and turned away. She walked back toward the screen. Rin hesitated, and followed.

The view outside displayed the interior of their latest hiding place, all stony stalagmites and stalactites. And scattered everywhere were dead and withered mushrooms. Rumia stared at the scene without saying a word. Then she leaned forward so that her forehead was resting against the screen.

Rin had no idea what to say.

"I…uh…" Rumia started. She winced and started again. "I have no idea what to do now."

Rin waited.

"I mean, what am I supposed to do? We can't go out, because they'll find us and kill us. And if we stay here, it won't be long before we're both riding the crazy train. All aboard." She let out a low chuckle.

"It's not that bad," Rin said.

"It's not? Okay, Rin. You put up with this for nine years. You okay with doing another nine?"

Rin couldn't answer that.

With a sigh, Rumia moved her head up so that she was staring at the cave beyond. "Maybe we should just face the facts. We're screwed. It doesn't matter how strong you are, there's way too many of them. And they've had all this time to figure out a way to beat you. Maybe we should…"

Her voice trailed off. A small frown crossed over her face, and she leaned in closer.

"Er…Hey Rin?"

Rin blinked. "What?"

"You, uh, might wanna take a look at this?" Rumia pointed at the screen. "I think…there's something moving out there."

That couldn't be good. Rin walked up next to Rumia and peered into the screen. Sure enough, there was something moving.

With a small effort of will, the view focused on the movement and magnified the image. It was the entrance to the cave. Like the two that had preceded it, Rin had collapsed the only way in or out.

But now the pile of stones was moving. And beyond, people could be heard talking.

"Okay, I think we almost got it!" said a man's voice. "And a one and a two and a…"

There was a rumble of noise, and the stones spilled forward. And into the cave climbed a group of unusual people, carrying torches and various bits of luggage. It wasn't the people Rin and Rumia had been fearing. Yukari Yakumo was not among them. Nor was Reimu Hakurei, Mima or Eirin Yagokoro. In fact, they didn't recognize any of these people. It was a group of youkai, male and female, young and old. They wore a variety of different outfits, from dresses to pants to shirts to even a kilt or two. But there was one thing they all had in common: each and every one of them wore a large mushroom cap on their head as a hat.

Rin had a very bad feeling. This was no group of hunters. This was the cave's original owners, come home.

The mushroom youkai stopped in their tracks. They looked around at all the ruined mushrooms.

Rumia swallowed audibly. "You, uh, ever get the feeling that you've made a serious mistake?"

"Oh yeah. All the time."

"Are you getting that feeling now?"

"Very much so."

Then the foremost of the newcomers, a small shorthaired girl in a long-sleeved dress, looked up. Her eyes focused on Rin's physical body. The look of pain in her eyes was replaced by one of surprise.

"Oh crap," Rumia muttered.

"Yeah. Uh, Rumia? What do we do now?"

"What? Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're in charge now, remember?"

The mushroom girl pointed and screamed. Her companions looked up and saw Rin.

"Boy, they look pissed," Rumia muttered. "Okay Rin. You want instructions? Try getting us out of here. Right now."

The mushroom people started to move toward Rin. Now they were becoming less of a group and more of a mob.

"Which way?" Rin said in panic. "Up or down?"

"Down!"

"But that might take us into Makai!"

Rumia spun around to face her. "SO?" she screamed.

Rin conceded the point. The view changed as her physical body rose into the air, circled around the cave and plunged into the ground, leaving the furious mob of sentient fungi behind.

Soon the familiar view of dissolving stone and earth filled the screen. Rumia let out a sigh of relief and stepped back.

"Wow," she said. She smiled. "Now that was close."

Rin nodded. She hesitated, and asked, "Uh, Rumia? Did…we kinda commit mass infanticide?"

"Mass infectorewhat?"

"Did we just kill a bunch of baby youkai?"

"Oh, that?" Rumia laughed. "You think that was some kind of mushroom youkai nursery?"

Rin nodded.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Becoming a youkai doesn't work that way. You can't just raise a bunch of mushrooms and have them all turn into youkai. It's pretty random. They probably just used those caves because they just like mushrooms. We just wandered into their home and messed up all the furniture."

"Okay," Rin said, though she didn't feel so reassured. "But still, it's pretty awful. I mean, we just destroyed their home."

Rumia shrugged. "Well, if they didn't want something like that happening, they should've put up 'Keep Out' signs or something. This is Gensokyo. You can't go around being afraid that every tree or rock is somebodys-HOLY SHIT!"

The view suddenly opened up, and Rin was flying through open air. The new cavern they found themselves in was tremendous. It stretched for miles to either side, and nearly a full one straight down.

And below them were the lights and sounds of a huge city.

"Is that Makai?" Rin screamed as they fell. "Are we in Makai?"

"How should I know?" Rumia screamed back. "And stopping freaking falling already!"

Rin tried, but physics was now fighting back. She yanked back on her falling body as much as she could, trying to arrest their descent.

And then they slammed into the tip of a tall tower. The impact knocked them spinning out of control.

"RINNNN!" Rumia screamed as they tumbled into the heart of the Ancient City.

…

You know, this may be stating the obvious, but something really occurred to me while writing this chapter: people in this story, even the ones that are supposed to be on the same side, really don't like each other. If they're not screaming and trying to kill each other, they're being cold and sarcastic. Maybe that's part of the reason why Yuuka is so popular. Sure, she's a psychopathic, child-molesting lunatic, but at least she's nice!

Anyway, another short chapter, but I'm actually trying to cut down on the lengths. Now if I can only cut down on the wait times. This time it was thanks to again going back to being a full time student, trying to finish re-editing the older chapters only to spend a week raging when this site developed a few nasty bugs that prevented me from correctly loading the fixed versions and, well, Skyrim. Hey, it happens to the best of us.

Anyway, I'll try my best to get these out quicker, real life and internet willing.

And before I forget again, congratulations to GuyYouMetOnline, who managed the impressive feat of being both the 300th and 400th reviewer, which I'm sure was accomplished by lying in wait and watching the review count like a Predator. And by doing so, IM became the first Touhou fic to hit 400 reviews!

=confetti and stuff!=

And on one last note, this chapter takes its name from a song by Hotspur, an excellent but severely underrated band.

Until next time, everyone!