Disclaimer: Touhou Project in its entirety belongs to its proper owner(s). I own nothing.
Enjoy.
Orin stopped in her tracks.
"Okuu, did you feel that?"
"Feel what?"
"I thought I felt the ground shake."
"You mean like an earthquake?"
"No, fainter. Like when a large tree falls deep in the woods, only I would've heard that..."
Orin looked around, seeing a flock of startled birds take to the sky in the distance. Okuu followed her eyes with a puzzled look.
"Orin?"
The kasha stood still for a moment longer, scanning with her senses for any more disturbances. She could've sworn she felt something, but other than the birds nothing seemed amiss. She kept still a moment longer, but when nothing else happened she shrugged and turned to Okuu.
"Huh. Must've been nothing."
Although a little perturbed by the unusual vibrations, she pushed it aside and continued on down the path towards the lake with Okuu in tow. The lake wasn't quite as big as the Misty Lake, but it still made for an impressive site in its own right with the few islands resting in the center. Fishermen could be seen scattered across its waters and dotted along the shore plying their trade. As the afternoon was turning to evening some were packing up and making off with their haul, and Orin was sure that those out on the water would be coming in soon.
"There don't seem to be as many people here as the market," said Orin. "Let's stick together for now."
"Okay."
The pair approached the first fisherman they saw, a wizened old man who was reeling in an empty line as he grumbled under his breath.
"Darn fish, getting spooked by nothin' just as I was about to getcha."
"Excuse us!"
"Gah!"
The old man gave a startled cry at Orin's cheerful greeting, drawing a few curious looks from his fellow anglers. Orin gave her own little yelp and nearly jumped back into Okuu.
"Oh, sorry!"
"Humph, well you 'oughta be! What do ya think you're doin', sneakin' up on an old man like that?"
"Well, my friend and I were hoping you had seen someone recently-"
"No, now go away."
Orin faltered at his abrupt rejection, and had her cat ears been visible they would have drooped. Okuu, however, did not take kindly his rudeness.
"Hey, you didn't even let her finished!"
"No need," he said, casting his line. "All I care about are the fish. One of those oddball shrine maidens could have come by fightin' a youkai and I wouldn't know it."
"Well, you still didn't have to cut her off like that."
"Lass, I haven't seen nobody. Now move along, you're sacrin' off the fish.
Okuu ground her teeth as she glared at the old man. Sure, they were interrupting his fishing, but that didn't mean he had to be such a jerk about it! She was all set to give him a piece of her mind when Orin grabbed her arm.
"Relax Okuu. Let's just go ask someone else. He isn't worth the trouble."
She had to give her arm a few tugs before the hell raven reluctantly allowed herself to be led away, giving the old man one last nasty look. Once they were far enough away Orin gave her friend an optimistic smile.
"He was probably just the worst of the bunch. I'm sure that the next person we ask will be much better!"
Okuu huffed in response. People like that really knew how to ruin her good mood, so she couldn't quite bring herself to agree with Orin's assessment.
And unfortunately, Okuu was right; the rest weren't any better.
Orin tried a less energetic approach with the next man, and while he wasn't outright rude with them he was far from helpful, giving blunt replies that no, he had not seen their friend, and in fact he never even took his gaze off the lake. Okuu didn't care for his attitude and felt her already bad mood sour even more.
Sadly, that was how it went with the rest of the fishermen. Some were a little more open for conversation while others were even less talkative than the second man, if they were willing to talk with them at all. What's worse is that not a single one of them had claimed to have seen their master, and with every "no" she heard Okuu's patience grew thinner and thinner.
Yes, it had only been a day, but they had already had a breakthrough with the kids before. After hitting a dead end in town it felt like having a weight lifted off her shoulders knowing they were only a day behind their master, but with everyone they asked lacking any useful information it felt like they were right back at square one.
After what must've been the thirtieth person that talked to had nothing to give them Okuu reached her limit.
"Really!?" she shouted. She gestured to everyone gathered along the shore. "Nobody has seen a little girl with green hair!?"
"O-Okuu!"
Orin was taken aback by her friend's outburst. She had been the one talking with everyone and hadn't seen her growing frustration. And now it was to late to calm her down.
"One of you must have seen her! There's no way she could have just slipped right past you all!"
"Look miss," the man they had been talking to shouted back. "I'm sorry you can't find your friend, but that doesn't mean you have the right to get mad at us for not being able to help!"
"Yeah!" another man joined in from nearby. "We're trying to do our jobs here and you think you can just butt in and expect us to drop everything and help?"
All the other fishermen started to gather around them, slowly growing increasingly irate as they fed off one another's anger. Orin tried to mauver Okuu away from the mob but she wouldn't budge.
"Is it so hard to give someone help when they ask!?"
"No, but we've never even seen you before!"
"Yeah, just who do you think you are!?"
They were all yelling at them now as mob mentality overtook them. None of them had much luck that day, and to them having a stranger come and start yelling at them was something they would not stand for.
Okuu clenched her fist.
"Who I am?" she said in a low voice
Orin's eyes widened as she felt power radiating from Okuu and thrumming through the air.
"I'll show you who I am!"
"Wait Okuu-!"
Her words fell on deaf ear, however, as Okuu tore off her cloak and released the magic hiding her wings, unfurling them in all their dark glory. Shadows fell upon the stunned crowd as her wings blotted out the sun behind her. Her third eye was glowing a vivid orange, and as she pointed her control rob at them an even brighter light shone from inside.
"Do you know who I am now!?"
"Okuu! Stop!"
Orin ran in front of Okuu and shoved her control rod skywards and away from the terrified humans. As she did so her hat got jostled and fell off her head, revealing her second set of ears. She could only watch as the look of horror grew in their faces.
"Oh, shoot…"
"Y-Youkai…"
"They're youkai!"
"Run!"
"Someone go and get the shine maiden!"
The crowd turned tail and ran as if their lives depended on it, leaving their gear and fish behind.
"I'm not just any youkai!" Okuu shouted. She flapped her wings to follow them but Orin held firm on her arm.
"Okuu, stop this! We need to get out of here!"
"Why should we!? What do you have to fear from them!? Nothing!"
The men had reached the edge of the village and were already gathering a crowd with their shouting. Even from this distance they could see the other villagers start to work themselves into a frenzy as they saw Okuu's menacing form down by the lake. Orin tugged on her arm harder.
"Okuu please! We need to go!"
The hell raven finally looked down at Orin and met her big, pleading eyes, filled with a mixture of fear and concern. She wavered, and all at once her thoughts seemed to clear. She came back to the ground, stumbling on her feet as she held her head in her hand.
"Ugh, I feel dizzy…"
"Come on, before they come back!"
Okuu didn't protest and ran off with Orin into the nearby trees. The commotion from the village quickly faded away behind them and they didn't stop running until they were deep in the forest, out of breath.
*huff* *huff* "Okuu, what was that?" Orin panted.
*huff* "I-I don't know…"
Okuu looked away, but Orin wasn't going to be ignored, not after that display. She grabbed her arms and spun her around so they were face-to-face.
"Okuu," she began softly. "Tell me, what happened back there? I know you got angry, but that, when you threw off your cloak, that wasn't you."
"I don't… I don't know…" She held her head in her hands. "I was angry, an-and frustrated that we weren't getting anywhere. When they started yelling at us, I just…
She turned her head, unable to look her friend in the eye.
"I'm sorry, Orin, but I don't know why I did that."
Orin looked over her friend. She had her gaze cast to the ground and was holding her right arm with her left. She looked nothing like the enraged youkai from just a few minutes ago. In fact, she looked closer to a kicked puppy.
She sighed and released her.
"It's okay, let's just forget about it. For now let's focus on trying to find a good place to set up camp. We should probably try and put some more distance between us and the village in case they come looking for us."
She grabbed her hand and led them deeper into the forest. Okuu didn't say anything and followed her lead. The silence between them was think and heavy, Orin trying to think of their next step while Okuu tried forgetting what had happened.
"Orin?" Okuu finally spoke up. "I'm sorry I lost your hat. And my cloak."
The sound of a snort caught the hell raven off guard. Looking to Orin she saw the kasha giving her smirk.
"Seriously Okuu? The whole human village is in a panic right now and you're worried about that?"
Okuu gaped at her.
"Wha… but… I thought you liked that hat," she sputtered out.
Orin choked down a laugh.
"I can always get another one, silly. Well, it can't be from the village though."
Her smirk turned into a cheeky grin. Okuu found herself stunned by her friend's behavior.
"H-How are you able to joke around so quickly! I just scared the life out of half the human village!"
"Haha, yeah. You went sure overboard, didn't you?" she teased.
"Hey, what are you saying!"
"You know exactly what I'm saying!"
"No I don't- hey, get back here!"
Orin laughed as she got Okuu to chase after her. Truth be told she was still worried about what had transpired by the lake, but what was more important to her was making sure her best friend wasn't constantly beating herself up about it. So, she ran and laughed as Okuu ran after her through the trees, content to have her friend upset with her rather than herself.
Hope you enjoyed. As always, feel free to leave a review, otherwise thank you for reading and stay turned for more!