A Meeting of the Minds

All religious competition aside, Reimu had always liked Byakuren. The elder youkai had an aura of calm about her that the easily aggravated shrine maiden found soothing. And by extension, Byakuren never seemed to panic. Even when Reimu and her friends had been convinced that she was some sort of renegade demonic warlord that needed to be put down and resealed she had readily indulged her attackers' insistence for a spellcard duel while calmly speaking to them through the battle, using arguments of both logic and emotion as piercing weapons to cut away her opponents' misguided presumptions and convince them that she was not their enemy. And later, when that loud Taoist prince with the gender issues had burrowed right up under her temple and attempted to trash the place, she alone had kept her head and dealt with the situation in quick and decisive manner, while all of her followers had been thrown into panic. Well, all of them save for Murasa, of course. Reimu wasn't sure if the ghost captain was even capable of being surprised.

However, Byakuren was fully capable of showing concern. As such, after Murasa had returned to Myouren Temple and delivered her report, Byakuren had immediately headed to Hakurei Shrine in person to see if Reimu was all right and get the full story. And after being filled in that yes, Rin Satsuki was now both more powerful and unstable than ever, that Yuuka Kazami was growing bold again, and Yukari now knew of their plans, she started to show plenty of concern. Which is to say she sat in complete silence for nearly a minute, her cup of tea and saucer held motionless in her hands as she stared at Reimu. Then she closed her eyes, slowly took in air, and let it out in much the same manner, while letting out a somewhat uncharacteristic, "Hooooo boy," which was probably the best summation of current events that Reimu had heard yet.

"Yeah, pretty much," Reimu said. "You're…probably going to get yelled at by Yukari before too long. She's here, actually."

"She is?"

"Yeah." Reimu nodded toward the back end of the shrine and the grounds beyond. Through the walls, raised voices could be heard. "Said she had some business to take care of. But yeah, she already gave Kanako an earful for not telling her about all this, and odds are she'll have one for you too."

"I think, Reimu, that in light of the circumstances, a lecture is rather trivial. That she's allowing us to continue is a miracle in itself. I'll take whatever she has for me."

"Yeah." Reimu squirmed awkwardly for a bit, and then said, "Look, about Nue and Mamizou…"

Byakuren winced.

"Look, I didn't mean for that to happen to them, but I really do think Rin, uh, absorbed them. And, and I know how protective you are of your people, so…"

Taking a deep breath, the saint of Myouren Temple said, "I am. And while I had anticipated that taking part in this would…endanger my friends, I hadn't really…been as prepared for the actual fact as I had expected."

Reimu tilted her head to one side. "So, I really have to ask: you're still in, right? I mean, Rin did eat them, so this kind of changes-"

"Absolutely nothing," Byakuren said firmly. "We already knew that Rin's state of mind was slipping, and…" She grimaced. "As much as it pains me to admit it, they did attack her, so…"

"Yeah, but they were kind of defeated and helpless at the time," Reimu pointed out. "Well, Nue was at least. I wasn't there for Mamizou."

"True, but the point stands. If anything, it just means we need to end this all the quicker. I just wish Nue had spoken to me first and given me a chance to talk her out of it." Finally taking a sip of tea, Byakuren said, "How are the others holding up?"

Reimu shrugged. "Well, Kanako's being, uh, Kanako, which is to say she's gone full control freak right now with the recovery thing."

"It's her way of coping."

"Yeah, I'd noticed. But beyond that…" Reimu scratched her head and thought. "Well, Mima and Marisa kinda made themselves scarce. I think they're worried that Yukari's gonna press the whole probation thing, but she didn't so much as say a word to them." She glanced outside, toward the back of the shrine grounds. "She and Genji are yelling at each other right now. I don't think either of them are winning, though."

"That's normal enough. Most of their interactions back during the Magician's War involved a great deal of yelling. What of Reisen?"

"Reisen? She's…uh…" That was a good question, actually. As soon as Reimu had stepped out of Yukari's gap, Reisen had rushed out of the shrine, desperate for news. And then Yukari had appeared right behind the shrine maiden, and all color had left Reisen's face, followed quickly by the ability to form coherent thoughts and produce speech.

Fortunately for her, Yukari had taken one look at her, rolled her eyes, and told Reimu to "Deal with the rabbit, while I go deal with the lizard." Then she had left, wheeled by Ran toward Genji's pond. The whole incident had left Reisen in such a bewildered state that Reimu had to explain the situation to her three times before she had managed to comprehend the part about Yukari not really caring that she was there.

However, once she had accepted that she wasn't about to be deported back to Eientei for trial and execution, Reimu had to tell her of her failure to bring Rin around. In fact, progress was currently moving toward the negative end of the spectrum, what with Rin's frustrating new abilities meaning that finding her again was going to be next to impossible.

Reisen had gotten very quiet after that. In fact, she had said nothing at all. Instead, she had wandered over to the well and sat down against it. As far as Reimu knew, she was still there.

"Not great, to be honest," Reimu admitted.

Byakuren's mouth set in a straight line. "Well, to be expected I suppose. I think, out of all of us, she has the most invested in our success. Save, of course, for Rin herself." She looked down at her tea, stirring the surface of the warm liquid with the tip of her finger. "Perhaps I could talk to her? Give her some encouragement?"

"That…actually, yeah, that would be great," Reimu said gratefully. "I'm kinda horrible at that sort of thing."

"Oh, I wouldn't say so," Byakuren said, raising an eyebrow. "After all, you were the one she went to for counsel, originally. You must have said something right to compel her to seek shelter with you after she ran away."

Reimu let out a small groan. "And what a world of wonder that has done both of us. I'm just relieved we don't have to worry about Yukari finding out and dropping us into deep space anymore. Unfortunately, we're still stuck at freaking square one." Her brow furrowed. "No, wait, I think we've moved back to square zero. I mean, Rin's pretty much untraceable now!"

"Don't give up hope," Byakuren said. "Contact has been made, and Rin heard your words. She still has the option of accepting them. And I don't doubt that she'll be driven to seek someone's help sooner than you think. And who else would she go to, if not you?"

…

It was a meeting of monsters. But then, in Gensokyo, most things were.

And like most things in Gensokyo, this one was deceptively innocent looking, almost cute. On a sundeck pleasantly decorated by colorful floral arrangements, two women sat across from each other at a round, white table. A purple umbrella was spread overhead, though given the lateness of the hour it was hardly necessary. Fortunately, though the sun was vanishing beneath the horizon, the deck was well-lit by a network of electric lanterns. Soothing violin music played softly in the background, pumped in from an unseen source.

Supper was spread before them, though only one of the two seemed at all interested. She was tall, well over two meters in height, with a regal bearing and aristocratic features. Her ancestry was impossible to tell, as she seemed to have blood from the noble upper-class of every nation swimming in her veins. Attractive she certainly was, possibly even beautiful, with porcelain skin and a well-curved figure. However, there was something wrong about her, something alien and hideous, even if one were to overlook the lime-green hair that stopped short of brushing her shoulders and the fact that one eye was covered with a black leather patch while the other was bright crimson. Even those ignorant of Yuuka Kazami and her reputation tended to be subjected to cold sweats and squirming bowels while spending any amount of time in her company. And, if the forcefully pleasant smile she wore at almost all times was any indication, she was fully aware of the effect she had on people and enjoyed it immensely. She was also the host of this particular dinner party for two.

In contrast, her companion didn't even bother hiding her monstrous nature. Her appearance, while definitely female, was such a hodgepodge of features taken from five different people, each of a different species, that it was almost headache inducing to look at. She had claws that looked like cleavers, she had a great big bushy raccoon's tail, she had wings that looked like scythes and arrows coming out of her back, and her hair looked as if hadn't been able to decide if she wanted to wear it long or short and finally had decided on going half-and-half. Her outfit was eccentric at best and nauseating at worst, and her unblinking eyes were of the same color as her host's, though they burned with a fiery luminescence that could only be described as "Hellfire." Though she was the guest of the first monster, she was not at all interested in the food spread before her. Indeed, it seemed that only a sliver of will was preventing her from leaping across the table and tearing out her host's throat.

Yuuka Kazami knew this too, and it worried her. Normally, such malcontent would not be a cause for concern. There were any number of beings out there who longed to have her head nailed to their wall, and she had entertained several of them at her house at one point or another. The difference between them and the creature now before her is that if it decided to go for the kill, she might not be able to stop it.

Her life sat on a razor's edge, and along with it, the lives of everyone she was responsible for. She was accustomed to playing dangerous games, but this was the most dangerous one yet. After all, she had never before invited one of the Fallen into the heart of the Garden of the Sun.

Still, she did have a few things going for her. For one, while she was far from the being she had once been, she was no insignificant power herself, and they were, after all, at the heart of her power. And while the edge it gave her would not allow her to overcome her guest should the situation devolve into violence, she would be able to fight back. For another, there was another power involved in all this, one that she now believed was looking over her shoulder. She was gambling on its protection in this matter.

Hiding the worry from her face, Yuuka favored her guest with a gracious smile and said, "You're not eating? I really must recommend the shrimp-kabob. Elly's been experimenting a great deal with seafood as of late, and I must say, she has a real flair for it!"

Her guest didn't answer, though it did start clenching and unclenching the fingers of its right hand, cutting through the tabletop with its claw-tips with a burning sound. Its eyes never left Yuuka's face.

"No? Well, later perhaps." Yuuka folded her hands in front of her face and said, "Though if you are in no mood for supper, perhaps we should get down to brass tacks. Now, as a understand it, you have been told a great many things about me that are, to be quite frank, simply-"

Apparently Yuuka's guest's idea of "brass tacks" differed from her own, because without so much as a warning, Rin Satsuki pounced.

Food, dishes, and silverware scattered everywhere, and the umbrella shot five meters into the air before bounding off into the night, as if fleeing for its life. As for Yuuka herself, though she had been ready for the attack, Satsuki was far too fast for her to defend herself.

Fortunately, her friends were faster.

A green, leaf-covered column burst out of the ground, smashing through the marble deck to slam neatly into Satsuki's stomach and bear her high into the air.

Down below, Yuuka had been knocked backward over her chair. Taking deep breaths, she held a hand over her rapidly pounding heart and said, "Saints alive, that escalated quickly!"

Looking up the massive beanstalk's height, her eye widened and she said, "Oh, this is not going to end well."

Her words proved prophetic, as the beanstalk suddenly shivered as if afflicted by fever. Then it went as stiff as a redwood tree, and its vibrant green color started to fade.

"Let her go!" Yuuka yelled as she kicked the chair away and pulled herself to her feet. "Let her go before you-"

It was already too late. The beanstalk went from sickly green to grey before darkening to black. Yuuka grimaced. She had accepted that there would be death tonight. That didn't mean she had to like it.

But there was no time to mourn. Satsuki was already dropping from the shriveled stalk's zenith, talons spread like some sort of demonic bird of prey.

Yuuka lifted her umbrella into the air and gave the plummeting creature a blast of her trademark destructive green energy. As Satsuki was sent spiraling away, Yuuka let the matter of her body shift and change, reforming into something more battle-appropriate. She hoped that it would not take long to beat this foolishness out of her guest, but she was going to be ready for the long haul.

And apparently, so was Satsuki. She landed like a cat, on all four limbs, and bounded forward in the same manner, dodging attempts by Yuuka's many botanical friends to slow her down. Yuuka managed to tag her two more times with energy blasts, knocking her back each time.

The third time, not so much. The energy simply splashed off of Satsuki like a gentle spring rain.

Yuuka blinked. Ah, Satsuki's vaunted adaptability. She had already seen much of what the girl was capable of, and still she continued to impress.

Well, Yuuka could adapt with the best of them. Perhaps a dose of paralyzing venom would slow the little strumpet down. Her right arm shivered and sprouted a forest of thorns, their needle-tips glistening and ready to fire.

And then Satsuki simply vanished.

Well, that was unexpected. Or perhaps not. The girl had absorbed that Nue and Tanuki, hadn't she? In which case, Yuuka decided that a vanishing act of her own was probably in order-

She felt some warm slither up her legs. Looking down, her eye widened when she saw that her entire lower body was fully enveloped by a clear, gelatinous substance.

"Wait," she said as she realized what this meant. "This isn't supposed to happen."

It wasn't her preferred final words of choice, but she didn't have time to come up with better ones, as the substance lurched upward and covered her completely.

…

Deep Within

Rumia cleared her throat. "Well. That was quick. I, uh, thought you were going to hear her out first."

Sitting cross-legged with her back to Rumia, Rin had her head bowed and her red eyes shadowed by her bangs. Her formally white aura was now dark grey and writhing like a thing alive. "Rumia, do me a favor," she said, her voice still utterly terrifying. It was something of a measure of how incredibly messed up Rumia's life had become that she was becoming used to even that. "Name one time where hearing someone out hasn't led to something horrible."

Rumia thought for a moment. She shrugged. "Rin, I gotta be honest with you. I can't think of anything you've tried that hasn't led to something horrible.

Rin gave her the briefest of glances over her shoulder. There might have been a tiny smile on her face, but she looked away before Rumia could tell for certain. "I'm done taking chances," Rin said. "Every time I give someone a chance to talk, something bad happens. Every time I go easy on someone, I get beat up or put back in a box."

"Right, okay then," Rumia said. She looked to the screen. Unfortunately, as Rin didn't currently possess visible eyes, there was nothing to see. "So, you sure you can handle this lady once she comes in?"

"Yes," Rin said. A blur of color was already starting to form nearby. "I can handle anything and anyone, now."

That was not at all reassuring, but Rumia was smart enough to know that now was not the time to turn Rin's ire toward herself. So she jogged backwards until she had put a safe distance between herself and the two lunatics and waited to see what was going to happen.

The blob of color was now coming into focus. Rumia frowned. While she had never seen Yuuka save through Rin's screen, she was fairly certain that the thing that was currently materializing in front of Rin wasn't her.

Rumia suddenly lost all desire to watch the coming proceedings. She turned and ran as fast into the nothingness as she could. Behind her, she heard Rin say, "Wait, what in the world is…"

Then there was a sharp intake of breath, and Rin started shrieking, "What? No! Get out! Get out, get out, get out get out get out!"

…

In another part of the Garden entirely, as far away from the mansion one could be and still be within Yuuka's realm, Elly sat hunched over in a tight ball and exerted every drop of will she had available to keep from going mad. Fortunately, she was quite good at it. After all, she had plenty of practice.

She just didn't understand what Yuuka was thinking. She knew that her master had a reputation for chaotic behavior, but her actions at always made sense to Elly. But ever since Yuuka had been hurt in that horrible, horrible fight, she had gone strange. There was no other way to describe it. She talked to people who weren't there, she discussed herself using the oddest of terms, and often waxed philosophical about the nature of the universe in a manner that Elly found to be quite bewildering. And while putting herself in danger wasn't unusual behavior for Yuuka, her recklessness was now borderline suicidal.

Clearly something important had been knocked loose in Yuuka's brain, and Elly was at a loss on how to fix it. There was no one she could turn to. Yuuka was all she had, and if her master was lost, then she was consigned to a future too horrible to imagine.

There had to be something she could do. But if this creature, this Rin Satsuki, was as deadly as Yuuka had made her out to be, then what options did she have? Was this to be the end of the only home she had ever known? Was she again to be thrust back into the hard, uncaring hands of-

"Awwww riiiiight! Batter up!"

Elly groaned as chants of "Hey, batter batter!" rose up. To top things off, she was not permitted to fret in peace. Before sending her off, Yuuka had instructed her to take her houseguests with her and keep an eye on them. And as Yuuka had declined to inform said houseguests as to the reason they were being asked to go so far out into the Garden after dark, they were blissfully unaware of the very mortal peril their selfless host was currently in, and was treating the whole ordeal like some sort of field trip!

Cirno had created a small pile of rock-hard iceballs and was tossing one of them into the air with one of her perpetual cocky grins stuck on her face. Across from her, her fellow ice fairy Daiyousei was holding a bat, also made from ice, and was looking somewhat uncertain about the prospect of having Cirno hurl any sort of projectile her way. Wriggle crouched behind her wearing an old oven mitt open and ready, while Mystia, the sole outfielder, zipped to and fro a ways behind Cirno.

As Elly watched scornfully, Cirno hunched over, spat on the ground, and then leaned back as far as balance would allow, her right hand gripping tight to an iceball.

"Hey, batter, batter, batter, swing!" she cried as she hurled the iceball forward.

Daiyousei swung the bat with all her might, but she flinched and missed by a mile. The iceball thumped into Wriggle's glove.

"Strike one!" the firefly called as she threw the iceball back.

"Come on, Dai!" Mystia called encouragingly. "You can do it!"

Shaking her head, Elly again hunched over and did her best to ignore them as a second pitch was thrown and a second strike registered. "Stop closing your eyes!" Mystia said. "That's why you keep missing."

Despite her earlier hostility toward Yuuka's guests (partially due to unresolved bad feelings toward Wriggle for running out on them, and partially due to that fact that Yuuka would never have been injured had the firefly and her friends not chosen to insert themselves into Yuuka and Elly's lives), Elly had to admit she had softened toward them over the last few weeks. Well, most of them at least. She and Wriggle still didn't speak much to each other, but at least she could share the same room with the firefly without glaring. Cirno was okay, she supposed, if a bit on the annoying side. Daiyousei was better, as it was difficult to resent anyone with such an inoffensive personality. And she was getting along quite well with Mystia. Their mutual love of cooking had helped them form a rapport, and had allowed Elly to do something she had never had the opportunity to try: exchange recipes. Mystia was quite proficient in preparing sea cuisine, while Elly primarily specialized in red meat, and the two had spent many happy hours experimenting in the kitchen.

But even so, even if she managed to achieve the same level of closeness with the others, Elly knew she would never become "part of the gang," as Cirno had once suggested. In time the crisis that had driven those four to seek sanctuary in Yuuka's domain would pass, and they would go their own way, while Elly would remain in the Garden, where she belonged. Her place was by Yuuka's side, which was why she was so agitated at having to leave it. If they were to fall to that monster (as she believed they would, despite Yuuka's assurances to the contrary), then she wanted to do it defending her master!

Still, despite the severity of the situation, she saw no reason to interrupt the baseball game. As there was a very high likelihood that they would all die horribly sometime within the next hour, she might as well let them have their fun. In truth, she envied their ignorance. Her knowledge of what was going on made her helplessness to do anything about it all that much worst.

Then there was the sound of some kind of crystalline impact and Mystia cheering "You did it!" This was quickly followed by Wriggle shouting, "Oh hell, Elly! Look out!"

Elly looked up to see that not only had Daiyousei managed to score a hit, in doing so she had sent the iceball straight at the Shinigami's head. Reacting on instinct, Elly's hand snapped up to catch the cold sphere before it gave her a concussion.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then Wriggle glanced over to the dumbstruck Daiyousei, shrugged, and said, "You're out."

"But…but she wasn't even playing!" Daiyousei protested with a stricken look on her face.

"She's got a point, Wriggle," Mystia put in. "I think that counts as a home run." Turning to Elly, she said, "Are you sure you don't want to play? We need another outfielder, and you've got a great arm!"

Forcing what she hoped was a disarming grin, Elly said, "N-no, that's…quite all right. I've…never much been into sports."

"Aw, really?" Cirno said, sounding disappointed. "Is that why you never play with us? Seriously, give it a try! You can be on my team!"

"We're rotating positions, remember?" Wriggle said. "We don't have teams!"

Then Mystia frowned. She cleared her throat and said, "Uh, Elly?"

Dear God in Heaven, why wouldn't they go away and leave her alone? Certain that her grin must be looking strained, Elly said, "Yes, Mystia? What is it?"

The night-sparrow pointed at Elly's hand. "Isn't that, you know, kind of cold?"

It was then that it finally registered in Elly's brain that she was, in fact, still holding a ball of ice with her bare hand. "Ah!" she cried as she quickly dropped it. She shook out her hand and blew on it. "Cold, cold, cold!"

"Wimp," Cirno muttered scornfully. "It's just ice."

"Not everyone is immune to cold, dope," Wriggle said, rolling her eyes. She pulled off her oven mitt and tossed it to Daiyousei. "Anyway, c'mon. I'm up next."

As the others returned to their makeshift baseball diamond, Mystia hung back. She leaned in to get a better look at Elly's face. "Uh, Elly? Are you sure everything's okay?"

Resisting the bubbling urge to scream out, "NO! Everything is NOT all right!" Elly said, "O-of course! There's nothing to worry about!" If for no other reason than to expose her as a liar, her voice cracked badly.

Upon ushering the lot of them out of the mansion, she had told them that Yuuka was bringing over a new kind of plant from another world and needed them out of the way until Yuuka could ascertain the plant's safety. Given the large number of otherwise dangerous and deadly flora under Yuuka's control, her guests had no problem believing the cover story. Unfortunately, it would seem that even the soundest of stories required a halfway-competent teller in order to be effective.

Unsurprisingly, Elly's reassurance attempts left Mystia looking even more dubious. "Okay," she said. "Then why are you freaking out so badly?"

Elly's fingernails were starting to cut into her palm.

"I mean, you look like you're ready to blow up or something! Does this have something to do with how Yuuka disappeared earlier? Because you were going pretty nuts then too. Did something happen while she was out? Elly?"

That did it. "Something?" Elly said, her grin becoming downright manic. Her voice grew in pitch as she erupted. "Did something happen? NO! Nothing happened! It's not like she just up and left without warning in a time of great danger when everyone out there wants to kill her for one reason or another, and she's not even fully recovered yet! It's a good thing she didn't do that, isn't it?"

Seeing that the little Shinigami was swiftly losing control, Mystia wisely started to back away. However, now that the night-sparrow had pried off the lid, Elly wasn't about to let her back out of this conversation.

"And it sure is a good thing she didn't leave again mere minutes after she got back!" she shouted, advancing forward. "I mean, that would be a most foolish thing to do, to go back out into the open after stirring things up yet again, which she also didn't do! Because Yuuka's much too smart to do anything like that!"

Her rants drew the attention of the other three, who turned to curiously see what had worked Elly into such a fuss.

"No, she would never do something like that! And she certainly wouldn't go and not only bring the Devouring Monster back into the Garden, but also willingly set it loose from its prison!"

Mystia's jaw dropped. Strange, little squeaks came out of her throat. Daiyousei's face went very, very pale, and she sat down rather suddenly.

"Wait," Wriggle said, her body going completely stiff. "Say that again. She brought what back with her?"

"Oh, nothing!" Elly very nearly screamed at her. "Because that would be stupid! And there's absolutely no chance that someone as smart and wise as her would not only bring the devouring monster into the Garden, set it free right after saying that it was strong enough to kill her and everyone around her, but insist on entertaining it for dinner! Wouldn't that just be the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard?"

"The Devouring Monster is here?" Wriggle cried. "And Yuuka's having it over for dinner? Is that what's going on?"

"It's here," Mystia whimpered. She curled up into a ball and hugged her knees. "It's here, it's here, it's here. No, I won't be eaten, I won't be eaten, I won't be eaten."

"Hold up," Cirno said, her face twisting up as she struggled to catch up with the others. Pushing her way over to Elly, she said, "You mean that ugly booger thingamajig that ate Rumia? The one I put a big fat bounty on?"

"No!" Elly screeched at her. "The other Devouring Monster!"

"Wait, there's another one?" Cirno gaped. "Since when? We don't have enough money to put a bounty on both of them!"

"Cirno, shut up," Wriggle said. To Elly, she said, "Elly, you better come straight with us. If that thing is here now, then we need to-"

That was when a piercing scream tore through the air. The sound of it was simply unearthly, a cry of horror and agony unlike anything any of them had heard. The very air seemed to shudder with the pain of it.

Mystia shrieked and clutched at her temples, nearly matching the scream for pitch. Daiyousei jumped in startlement, and then rushed to her friend's side and held her close, though whether she was trying to comfort the terrified night-sparrow or was seeking comfort herself was anyone's guess. Cirno and Wriggle just went as still as statues, neither of them fully grasping what was going on.

Elly, however, had a few ideas of her own. "Yuuka!" she cried as she leapt to her feet. She snatched up a thin rod from the ground. As she lifted it up, it seem to unfold into a six-meter pole, with the curving scythe blade popping out from some unseen compartment.

Gripping her scythe with both hands and forgetting her master's orders completely, Elly leapt into the air and flew toward the mansion with all the speed her tiny body could muster. "I'm coming, master!"

…

Rin's memories of her life before taking Eirin Yagokoro's serum were admittedly shoddy. She could recall specific events, certainly. Her horrific metamorphosis in particular stood out brightly in her mind. But other things were dark and murky.

She especially had trouble recalling certain sensations. While her hodgepodge of an avatar body was capable of the basic senses, there were any number that required an actual living, organic body in order to be experienced. Things like tiny itches from dry skin, the tickle of a stray eyelash, hot blood being pumped through veins, the taste of air as the lungs inhaled and exhaled, and the gentle murmur of the heart's drumbeat, all so often ignored, but all missed immediately once they were gone.

There were other sensations too. Burning adrenaline being flooded into the body, for one. Or that drowsy state of partial awareness that came moments before or after sleep. Rin had only the vaguest recollections of how they felt.

However, she no longer had any trouble remembering what crippling nausea felt like, or what it was like to forcibly expel something horrid from her body. While the feeling of forcing Yuuka Kazami back out was probably not the same, the horror and disgust of it had to be close enough to count.

For all the countless people she had absorbed into her body and mind, Rin had never experienced anything quite like that. There was something wrong with Yuuka. No, that wasn't quite it. Yuuka herself was something wrong, something alien and horrible. And it wasn't like when Rin had been unable to adapt to that Celestial's weapons. That had been a strange kind of resistance. Here, she had no problem dissolving and absorbing Yuuka's body, but her essence was absolutely repulsive.

No, wait, come to think of it, Rin had experienced something similar, once. Back when she had been freshly released from the first box and absorbed Rumia, there had been a brief moment, no more than a few seconds, when she had felt a horrible presence, dark and cold and strong. But it had quickly vanished, to be replaced by the comforting simplicity of Rumia's mind, causing Rin to attribute it to being nothing more than a fluke of the imagination. Of course, that same presence had later reappeared, and to say that it had caused her nothing but trouble would be a gross understatement. And while the feel of Yuuka's mind was certainly different from that of Rumia's Evil Twin, hot and feverish instead of deathly cold, it was just as bad. Just having it in her head had caused Rin's thoughts to twist themselves into knots. She wanted no part of it.

To her credit, Yuuka seemed to be of the same mind, and wanted out of Rin as much as Rin wanted to get rid of her. Even before her body had finished reforming, she was already trying to tear her way out of Rin, clawing at the viscous substance with skinless fingers. But Rin held on, not letting her get away until she had expelled all of her vile essence.

Finally Yuuka was once again whole, and Rin was all too happy to release her hold. Gasping like a swimmer coming up for air, Yuuka dragged herself away from Rin with her fingertips. Her green hair was soaked with sweat and her eyes wide with alarm. But beyond the shock and fear, Yuuka was also absolutely livid.

"You…you…" she panted as she kicked the rest of her way out. "How dare you!"

Moments later, Yuuka was standing tall on her feet and looking down at Rin with an expression of pure fury. "You miserable wretch!" she snarled, her fingers curling into claws. "I bring you into my home, release you from captivity, and invite you to a civilized conversation over dinner, and this is how you repay my generosity? Do you have concept of courtesy at all, you deformed little trollop?"

Then she slapped Rin across the cheek with the back of her hand, knocking her to the ground. As Rin's memories of her fights with the oni and Remilia Scarlet's gate guard were still fresh in her mind, she couldn't say that it was the hardest she had ever been struck, but fair to say it rated in the top ten. However, Rin was feeling too numb to care.

"I don't care what you are and how powerful you might be!" Yuuka said. "Attempt such a thing again, and I swear to God I will make you choke on every bit you swallow! Do you understand me?" When Rin didn't provide an immediate affirmative, Yuuka leaned in closer and repeated, "I said, do. You. Understand me?"

Instead of answering the question, Rin just stared back and stammered, "W-what are you?"

Her lips curling into a sneer, Yuuka reached back to strike Rin down again. But then she caught sight of the back of her hand. There was a patch of cold blackness where her flesh had made contact with Rin's face, not entirely unlike frostbite. It was shallow, but it was there.

Yuuka stared at the traces of the taint, her expression unreadable. Then she sighed and lowered her hand. "The irony of it all is that I was going to ask you much the same question," she said as she straightened up. The anger seemed to leave her, and she put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "What a delightful mess we've found ourselves in."

"You're not a youkai."

Yuuka's right eyebrow shot up. "Oh, am I not? The term is extraordinarily fluid in my experience. But if you mean I am not a being stitched together from the elemental energies that saturate Gensokyo's air, then you are correct; I had my genesis elsewhere, in a time and place far outside of mortal memory. But what of you, Rin Satsuki? What horrid cocktail of foul circumstance gave birth to you?"

"Oooh boy," Rumia said with a laugh, from within Rin's mind. "Is that gonna take a long time to explain."

Rin found herself agreeing, though she was a little surprised that the question was being asked at all. It seemed that nearly everyone else was familiar with her history by now. But then, she supposed that someone like Yuuka wouldn't have merited an invitation when Eirin had told the story, unless it had been as a gate-crasher.

However, before she could even begin to consider answering, her heightened senses became aware of a new presence, one that was moving fairly quickly and heading right toward them. Yuuka noticed as well, as her attention moved away from Rin to focus on a point behind her. Then her shoulders slumped and she sighed, "Oh Elly."

"Master!" shouted a high, piping voice. "Master, I'm- Get away from her, you beast!"

Rin turned to see a tiny little girl flying toward them, wielding a scythe that had to be twice as long as she was tall. It was a measure of how bizarre Rin's life had gotten that as odd as this was, the girl wasn't even the tenth strangest person to attack her in the last two days.

The girl swooped down and swung her scythe with all her strength, the tip of it making for Rin's neck. In response, Rin's hand snapped up to grab the scythe right below the blade, stopping it cold. The girl grimaced and pushed, but her weapon didn't budge.

"Elly, stop right there!" Yuuka commanded. "We are at a very delicate stage, and further violence will only aggravate matters!"

"She attacked you!" the girl called Elly cried as she kept trying to wrest her scythe out of Rin's grasp.

"Yes, but she's hardly unique in that regard. Now, do as I say and stand down!"

The look on Elly's face made it clear that standing down was the farthest thing from her mind, but she obeyed. Or at least she tried to. Unfortunately, Rin still had her scythe.

"Miss Satsuki," Yuuka said. "If you don't mind, you would be so kind as to release my companion's weapon? I assure you, she is no longer a threat."

Not that she had ever been one, but that wasn't the issue. Rin simply didn't want to let go. What she did want to do was reach over, grab the little twerp by the neck, and twist until her head popped right off. It would be so easy too. She was right there, within reach of-

"Miss Satsuki!" Yuuka said again, raising her voice ever so slightly. "Now, please!"

Realizing how close she was to losing it again, Rin shuddered and slowly unwrapped her fingers from the scythe's pole. Elly quickly yanked it away and backed up three steps.

"That's better," Yuuka said. "Now Miss Satsuki, we'll continue our conversation in a minute, but for now, Elly? I do believe I instructed you to safeguard my guests. But seeing that you are here now, I must assume that you felt that your duties as my personal guard were of greater weight than obeying my orders. Commendable to a point, but that still leaves us with the issue of said guests, and where you decided to leave them."

Elly's cheeks flushed red, and she looked shamefaced at the ground. As for Rin, her earlier homicidal impulses were giving way to confusion. Guests? What guests?

…

Deep Within

"What guests?" Rin asked. "Who is she talking about?"

Rumia shrugged. "Hell if I know. The King and Queen of Flowertopia? Her aunt Petunia? Yuuka's a weird, scary lady. She could have anyone over for the weekend. You should hear some of the stories Wriggle used to tell, about how she-"

Wait.

Wriggle.

Rumia sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth. In her mind, the pieces had suddenly come together. After all, if memory served, Yuuka Kazami had not been the one originally responsible for the bounty.

A wild hope rose up within her. It was a wild shot, but if her guess was right, then this nightmare may very well be coming to its end, and not in a way that led to death. She could be free from Rin, and returned to her normal life. She just needed Yuuka's guests to be who she now suspected they were.

Seeing the look on Rumia's face, Rin frowned and drew in closer. "Rumia, if you have any idea who Yuuka is talking about, you'd better tell me right now."

Rumia wasn't sure if it was the dark influence of her Evil Twin that was giving Rin her forceful new personality, but she did know that she didn't care for it. The voice change and violent impulses were one thing. This was just irritating.

Fortunately, she was spared from making an issue over it, as the answer to both her hopes and Rin's question chose that exact moment to make her entrance.

…

One hand pinching the bridge of her nose, the other resting flat on her stomach, Yukari sat back into the wheelchair with her eyes closed and said, "Give me one good reason, just one, why I shouldn't drop you through a gap and dump you into an Outside World aquarium."

Looking completely unconcerned by the threat of exile, Genji let out a wheezy snort and said, "Hell, I'll give yah several. One, 'cause I'll kick your ass if you tried. Two, the Hakurei Barrier would eventually destabilize and collapse without me around. Three, you'll never find anyone better than me to train them shrine maidens. Four, Reimu would never forgive you if you did. Five, this shit ain't my fault, and you know it."

Yukari opened her eyes just enough to glower at him. "You lied to me."

"Not my fault."

"You lied to me."

"Repeatin' yourself ain't gonna change things," Genji said. "Rules is rules, after all. Kid told me not to tell you, so I couldn't tell you. She told me to stall you any way I could, so I did." His shell lifted in a shrug. "You don't want them shrine maidens using me against yah, you shouldn't've given them as much free reign as they've got."

"You still could have tipped me off through other ways. There are always loopholes."

Genji rolled his ancient, rheumy eyes. "My toes were tied, okay? An' I did get Mima to get her smoky ass over here right after to save the day, didn't I? C'mon, I don't blame yah for bein' pissed, but cut me some slack. I work with what I have."

With a weary sigh, Yukari let her hand fall. "Damn it, Genji. That's not the point, and you know it. We're supposed to be on the same team here. You still should have found a way to tell me. Because if something had happened to Reimu because of this, I would have…"

She fell silent, leaving the threat unfinished. Genji winced and looked away.

After a long silence, he said slowly, "If somethin' had happened to her 'cause of that, I woulda let yah."

"I know," Yukari said as she massaged her eyes. "For all the good it would have done." Shaking her head, she said, "But I suppose it's a moot point now anyway. And as risky as it was, calling Mima was quick thinking, though I should reiterate the part about the riskiness."

"Don't I know it," Genji grumbled.

Yukari knew he did, and that was the frustrating part. Like herself, Genji had been a part of Gensokyo since its inception, and had been around for a considerable time before that. In many ways, he was more like a partner than an ally, one for whom, despite their constant arguments, she harbored a deep personal respect for. Which was why finding out that he had been assisting Reimu in a mad project that had come frighteningly close to getting the girl killed scared her so much. That, and the acknowledgement that it was thanks to the restrictions that she herself had helped set up that had compelled him to hide the truth from her. Perhaps it was time to add some amendments to his list of duties and the powers available to him.

Which meant another thing she had to worry about.

She felt tired, just so damned tired. It felt like she had to plug up an active volcano by sitting on it, while a mob of children constantly pulled at her arms. Part of her was tempted to just walk away and let them deal with the ensuing eruption on their own, while the other part of her was disgusted by the first part, which in turn found the second part to be annoyingly insistent.

Focus, she told herself. One crisis at a time. Delegate, compartmentalize, and get to work.

"Well, as tempting as it might be to indulge in another one of our famous spats, the real reason I'm here is because I need to know something, something Reimu herself might not be aware of."

"Oh?" Genji cocked his head to one side. "Alrighty, I'm all ears."

With a quick glance to the shrine, Yukari lowered her voice and said, "Did you involve, whether directly or by proxy, your…people in Reimu's scheme in any way, shape, or form?"

"My people?" Genji let out a brittle laugh. "Yeah, no. Fat lot of use a bunch of turtles would be, my own infinitely useful self notwithstandin', of course."

"Don't be disingenuous, I'm not in the mood," Yukari said. "You know exactly who I'm talking about."

That sobered him up. "Yeah, yeah, fine. And no, they ain't. Or if they are, I don't know nothin' about it and I ain't the one who brought 'em in. Come on, Yukari. All paranoia aside, this ain't a situation that involving that lot would help. Despite their wide array of talents, there ain't nothin' they can offer that we already don't have. Satsuki's a case that calls for careful precision, not smashy smash-smash."

Noting the jab and accepting it, Yukari nodded and said, "Point taken. But I figured I might as well check. However, now we're both on the same page, you will inform me the next time Reimu decides to do something stupidly suicidal, won't you?"

"If I think you need to know, sure."

"That's not good enough."

"That's all I can promise yah," he said. "I may be the baddest of the bad, but I ain't no fortune-teller. So I'm not gonna bind myself to something I may or may not be able to keep. But for what it's worth, I swear to do anything in my power to keep in her one piece, and to keep you informed of anything you should know if at all possible. I swear it by the rainbow. Best I can give yah."

Yukari slowly filled her lungs, ignored the flash of pain it gave her, and exhaled. "I…suppose that will have to do." She shook her head. "Genji, do you ever feel like maybe we've been doing this job for too long?"

"Eh?" The elderly turtle looked befuddled by the sudden, unannounced change in subject. "The hell is this comin' from? Yukari, you ain't goin' all existential crisis on me, are yah?"

She shrugged. "Maybe I'm just feeling my age."

"Like I said. Existential crisis. 'Sides, I am your elder by more than half, and you don't see me bein' all melodramatic."

"Oh, never mind," Yukari grumbled. She twirled her finger in a circle, and Ran turned the wheelchair around to face the shrine.

But before they had left earshot, Genji suddenly called out, "Hey, Yukari."

The two youkai women came to a stop. Glancing back over the armrest, Yukari said, "Yes?"

"Mope for a while if you gotta, but don't let it drive you into getting stupidly suicidal too. I aim to have many more arguments with you before you sleep."

Yukari raised an eyebrow, and the smallest of smiles, barely perceptible, tugged at her chapped lips. "Why Genji," she said. "That was almost sympathetic."

"Get out of here," he growled.

Her smile growing just a bit wider, Yukari indicated for Ran to return her to the shrine.

"Well, that went as well as could be expected," she said to Reimu as they entered. "Now, as I have the Yuuka situation and that mess in the Underground to concentrate on, you and your friends will be responsible for Satsuki. Given that-" She blinked, and then nodded at Reimu's new guest. "Oh, hello there Byakuren. I didn't hear you come in."

Byakuren returned her greeting with a guarded nod.

"I trust Reimu has already brought you up to speed on the current situation, and my displeasure on being locked out of the loop?"

"Yes," she said. "And I understand if-"

"Good. Don't do it again." Back to Reimu, who looked rather startled, she added, "Given that the Shadow Youkai is still an ongoing threat, I expect you contact Shinki and Sariel by the end of the week. While current treaties mean that their demons can't exactly help with the search outside of Makai, they will still be invaluable as consultants."

Looking quite beside herself, Reimu had to practically strangle herself to get any words out. "Oh…uh…sure."

"Good. I'll let them know you'll be calling. Also, the same applies to Eirin Yagokoro. All past misunderstandings aside, you will need her to find that cure."

That made Reimu wince. "Er, m-might not be a great idea, you know? You know, seeing how I kinda got someone she's, uh, probably mad at living with me."

Yukari folded her hands on her lap. "Handle the Reisen situation anyway you feel is appropriate. You granted her sanctuary, so she is your responsibility. I'll tell Eirin what to expect, but you will bring her on as a full member of your team, and her opinion in everything regarding Satsuki's condition is to be regarded as tantamount to fact. Am I clear?"

"But-"

"Am. I. Clear?"

"Yes, absolutely," Byakuren said. Reimu looked like she was going to protest further, but then she let out a yelp of pain as Byakuren presumably silenced her with a kick to the shin.

Nodding, Yukari added, "Except, of course, that it can't be done. That opinion is to be dismissed immediately as unhelpful and uncooperative. Find a way."

"We planned on doing that already," Byakuren said.

"Good to hear. And now if you conspirators would be so kind as to excuse me, there is a subterranean uprising I need to see to."

With that, Yukari motioned with one hand and tore open a gap to the Borderlands. Ignoring the flash of pain it brought her, she nodded at it, and Ran wheeled her through the tear, which then closed up and vanished.

…

Reimu sat still and stared at the empty space where Yukari's gap had been. She considered commenting on what had just happened, she thought about fainting with relief, she even toyed with the possibility of moving, but all of the above considerations never made it past the planning stage and she remained frozen in place.

Then Byakuren cleared her throat, startling the shrine maiden out of petrification. "Well," she said. "That…could have gone a great deal worse."

"You can say that again," Genji said as he poked his head in through the door. "How come you just got a quick 'Don't do that again,' and I got a full-on ass rippin', with threats and everything?"

"She likes Byakuren better?" Reimu suggested weakly. Truth be told, she had been thrown for such a loop that she couldn't even begin to piece together everything that had just happened.

Genji started scratching his head against the doorframe. "Wouldn't surprise me one bit. But correct me if I'm wrong, but did she just say that you gotta go recruit Shinki and Eirin Yagokoro?"

"As I understand it, yes she did," Byakuren said.

"Heh." Genji let out a dry, rasping chuckle. "Well, ain't that somethin'."

The elderly turtle continued to snicker to himself, amused by some untold joke. Reimu and Byakuren exchanged puzzled frowns.

"Okay, what?" Reimu said at last.

"What, you don't see it? Your allies, girl!"

"What about them."

Genji shook his head. "Ah, kids. Wouldn't know a straight-line if it snuck up behind them and jammed a finger up their ass. Fine, looks like I have'tah spell it out." Looking from one bewildered face to the next, he suddenly gibed, "So a Buddhist monk, a Shinto goddess, a Fallen Angel, a sorcerous ghost, and an alien doctor all walk into a bar…"

…

Hey, I'm back, and Imperfect Metamorphosis is three years old today! Woohoo!

Okay, jumping right into things. You all probably noticed that this chapter was a hell of a lot shorter than its predecessors, especially that 100+ page monster that preceded it. Yeah, this is how things are (for the most part) going to be for now on. I know I'm known for really long chapters, and I know many people like that about this story, but lately it's just been getting ridiculous, and since I have two big stories running at the same time it's becoming a real problem, with updates growing further and further apart. So I'm going to be working to keep the chapters at a much more manageable length, within 20-30 pages instead of the 40-60+ that has become the norm. I know some people won't like this, but the way things were was just becoming too stressful. I also realize that this means that there will be less plot progression per chapter, but it also means that updates will be coming out much faster from now on. Does these mean that this is the end of monster-length chapters for good? Nope. If I feel that the plot demands a longer chapter, then a longer chapter it will get. It just means that they'll be the exception rather than the rule from now on.

And in relation to that, I'm also abandoning the block format I was using for updates (three IM updates followed by three RD updates and so on). I tried it last year and it was kind of a disaster. So, from now on I'm going to be switching off every chapter, with the pattern being IM-RD-IM-RD and so on. I really want to keep both stories updating as often as possible, so here's hoping this will streamline things.

But before that, I'm afraid there will be one more month before the next update (Boo! Hiss!). Sorry, but I really need to catch up on some other obligations that I've been putting off, and also want to get something of a buffer going before I launch this thing full force. But things will pick up soon enough!

So, with that said, here's to another year of Imperfect Metamorphosis. Welcome to the Retaliation Arc.

Until next time, everyone!