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Enjoy.

"Come on Orin, hurry up!"

"Hurry up? You slow down!"

Orin huffed as she chased after Okuu, trying to avoid hitting any stalactites as they soared through the narrow tunnels leading towards the surface. Normally Orin could just use her powers as a ferrywoman to phase through the rock, but in order to do so she needed her wheelbarrow, which she had to loan to some of the other kasha so they could fill in for her.

And besides, that meant Okuu would have to navigate these caverns alone. Loneliness was the entire reason they embarked on this trip in the first place and spreading more of it was that last thing she wanted. Even if it did entail having to chase after her friend at high speed, in the dark, carrying a heavy bag on her back.

"What's the matter?" she teased. "Not fast enough to keep- woah!"

Okuu skidded to a stop in mid-air, mere inches from bashing her face against the cave wall as it took a sharp turn to the left. Orin, with her better night vision, saw the abrupt turn coming and came to a stop much more gently than Okuu.

"I told you to let me take the lead," she said, crossing her arms.

"Hehe, yeah…"

Okuu rubbed the back of her neck in an attempt to appear nonchalant, as if she didn't almost splatter herself on a wall, looking pointedly away from the cat girl. Orin rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless at the display, leading the way as they took off down the next corridor.

Because of the spur-of-the-moment nature of their plan, neither of them were properly prepared for the long trek through the tunnels, opting instead to camp out for the night once they had passed out of sight of the town the underground youkai called home, so they still had a ways to go before they arrive at the surface. They could have grabbed a boat and used the geyser Okuu created as a faster option, such as some of the more rambunctious oni were known to do, but neither of them were particularly eager to get their skin scalded off.

"So," Okuu began as she came up beside Orin. "Where do you think we should start looking once we reach the surface?"

"Hmm, the human village I suppose. Given satori have had a… rocky relationship with humans in the past, if one showed up it would likely leave a lasting impression. Other than that, I guess our best bet would be to ask around among the youkai."

"So what, we just fly into town and start asking if anyone has seen one of the most hated of all youkai?"

"No, of course not! I was thinking we'll disguise ourselves, ask if a young, green-haired girl was seen by anyone, and go from there."

"Okay, but what about Reimu? You stayed with her for a little bit once, you think she'd be willing to help?"

"It's hard to say. Reimu can be nice enough with friends, human or youkai, but she really, really likes to just sit around drinking tea, and gets very irritable whenever that routine is broken. Honestly, she'd probably say something about not being a detective and turn us away."

"Humph, rude."

"Not rude, just… blunt. And in her defense, her job is to maintain balance in Gensokyo on a larger scale than a missing person case, such as solving incidents. You ought to know that, given you caused one."

"H-Hey! It was that god from the Moriya Shrine that tricked me into eating that thing in the Blazing Fires!"

"Yes, and what was it you planned to do with your newfound power before Reimu showed up?"

Okuu opened her mouth to respond, only to realize she had a point. If the surface world had not become aware of her when it did and send someone to stop her then there might not even be a surface world at all.

It had all happened so fast that Okuu had been overwhelmed. In an instant she had gone from just a simple hell raven to a being of blazing, radiant power. Plasma, radiation, the power of the stars themselves was hers to wield! She's never been drunk before, but she had once heard the phrase "drunk on power" from a passing oni, and that was definitely the best way to describe how she felt.

Then Reimu came along and, quite literally, beat some sense into her. Or was it Marisa? Okuu couldn't remember. But she had trouble recalling a lot of what had happened back then, only the vague notion of wanting to have the world above bear witness to her awesome power. Were it not for the burning radiance within her chest and the control rod currently sticking out of her backpack then she could've been convinced it was all a bizarre dream.

It wasn't her proudest moment by far, and even now she felt ashamed to think back on it. All the other residents of the palace had avoided her for the longest time after that. Even Orin had acted noticeably different around her for a time, trying to hide the tension in her frame whenever the two spoke. It hurt her more than it would've if she just steered clear of her like the others. And that wasn't even mentioning the look of disappointment on Miss Satori's face when she was informed about it.

That week she spent in the punishment corner was one of the most miserable weeks of her life.

Having noticed how quiet Okuu had gotten Orin spared her a glace, doing a double take when she saw the melancholy starting to spread across her features. Orin quickly put two and two together and acted fast.

"Hey," she said. "I didn't mean anything by it. I know you weren't yourself when you got your powers, we all do, and we've all forgiven you. There's no reason to let it get to you."

When all she got was a noncommittal hum in response Orin decided to change tactics.

"And besides, aren't we getting sidetracked here? I thought we were supposed to be discussing how to find Miss Koishi, not taking a trip down memory lane. Did you forget already?"

Orin tried not to smirk as she watched Okuu process her words. Making a jab at her forgetfulness was always a good way to, quite literally, ruffle her feathers. And sure enough, a moment later she could see it click inside her head, followed immediately by her mouth setting into an indignant scowl.

"Me!? Forget!? You're the one who brought that back up!"

A sly smile managed to work its way onto Orin's face, her plan having worked.

"Well, it was relevant to the topic at hand- oh, look out."

She casually slid to the side as Okuu looked forward, brows furrowed, and just barely managed to dodge out of the way of a large stalactite directly in her path.

"Ack!"

She dropped several feet in shock before managing to steady herself, and with a few flaps of her wings flew upwards to rejoin her now cackling friend. Okuu crossed her arms and pouted as the kasha laughed, only bothering to glare at her once she settled down. Orin gave a her cheeky grin in response, and after staring at each other for a beat, try as she might, Okuu felt herself start to crack, and soon caved in altogether, giving a few snickers of her own.

Following that mishap they flew in silence for the next several minutes, rounding a few corners as they continued their ascent up a long, relatively straight tunnel. And although Orin's teasing jabs and her near collision did help get her mind off past events she'd much rather forget, as her mind turned back to her missing master a similar gloom began to taint her thoughts.

"Orin, do you think Miss Koishi's still safe? I mean, it's been so long and she's never come back…"

She didn't finish, leaving the question to hang in the air between them. It had been a very long time since the green haired satori had left them, which meant a long time to worry and fret about what could be happening to her up on the surface, where mind-readers like her weren't welcome.

Okuu spent many nights struggling to fall asleep, worrying about her master and what dangers she might be in. One year she got particularly upset and thought about flying off in search of her on her own, but stopped once Orin pointed out that without her there wouldn't be anyone to managed the Blazing Fires. Since then she took it upon herself to teach the other hell ravens her job so that they might fill in should the need arrive, but by the time they finally learned the thought of going above ground on her own was gone, replaced with increasing concern for their other master's declining mental health.

Orin heaved a heavy sigh, all playfulness gone.

"I don't know. Actually, I try not to think about it…"

Much like her friend, Orin had spent many long hours worrying about their master, keeping her awake late into the night. Unlike Okuu, she made trips to the surface every day, but given how her reasons for doing so involved stealing corpses to feed the Blazing Fires she couldn't afford to stick around and search the area for any signs of Miss Koishi, least she'd get caught and cause a commotion. She did always keep her eyes and ears open, though, and made sure to ask whatever spirits she carts away if they've heard anything, only to come up empty every time.

"You would've said something if you heard news on the surface, right?"

"Of course. But that's the thing, I ask spirits all the time if they've seen a girl looking like Miss Koishi, but it's the same response no matter how much I ask. Nothing."

Orin scowled, giving voice to a nagging thought in the back of her head.

"It doesn't seem right. She's been gone all these years, and I've been to nearly every corner of Gensokyo, but not once has a single spirit mentioned seeing her. What could it be…"

Silence fell between them once more as Orin got lost in her musings. Okuu dropped her gaze as her thoughts began to run wild.

Miss Koishi was gone? Well of course she was, but missing? How? Gensokyo's a big place, sure, but how has word of a mind-reading youkai, the likes of which haven't been seen in ages, not spread to all corners of the surface? She couldn't have left, Orin said there's a barrier between them and the Outside World. If nobody's heard of her, and she can't leave, does that mean she's…

Okuu startled as something brushed against her arm, breaking her away from the runaway train that was her thought process. Looking over she saw Orin beside her, having glided under her wings and taking her hand in her own, smiling a soft smile.

"I know what you're thinking Okuu. Don't worry, Miss Koishi's strong, stronger than even Miss Satori! I know it's been a long time, and I don't know why she hasn't returned or what could have happened to her, but I'm sure she's perfectly fine and taking good care of herself."

"Do you really believe that?"

Although she still held a slight worry in her heart Orin gave a firm nod.

"I do. I know she's out there somewhere, and it's up to us to find her and bring her back home!"

Orin's words of encouragement reached deep into Okuu, reminding her of the burning passion to reunite their masters that had taken root within her the previous night.

Okuu smiled and gave her hand a squeeze, grateful for the comfort and affirmation in their mission. They held each other's gaze for a moment more before they looked ahead, the rest of their flight spent in comfortable silence, hand-in-hand as they traversed the caves towards the surface.

In case it isn't obvious by now, the dynamic between Orin and Okuu will provide most of the humor to be found, but not without its fair share of serious moments. I hope I managed to blend these two concepts together well enough that the tone for this chapter doesn't seem disjointed. If you have any comments or critique then feel free to leave a review, otherwise thanks for reading!