~Author's Note~

By popular demand, I've written about a more competent, less childish or helpless Shou. Tojiko is there as well.

~The Bipartisan Quest to Makai~

"Hello? Is Princess Kaguya there?" Shou hammered on the wide sliding door. "I need to borrow the jewelled branch from Mount Hourai!"

"Sorry. I lost it."

Shou jumped. The tired, muddy immortal princess was coming towards her with a sponge and a bucket in hand.

"Um, that's all right… Do you know where I could find another one?"

"Another jewelled branch?" Kaguya smiled a wide-eyed, completely incredulous smile. "You want to know where you could find another jewelled branch? Well, I suppose you could fly to the moon. Then it's just a matter of convincing the locals to let you access the udonge groves, or more likely fighting your way past them, helping yourself to a branch and getting it home safely!"

Shou's face fell. "There's no other way?"

"Probably not," said Kaguya. "Unless you fancy looking for that other jewelled tree in Makai…"

"Makai?! Why, that's easy!" cried Shou, her face brightening. "All I'll need to do is sneak past all the ferocious demons they have guarding the gate!"

Shou bowed in gratitude, turned around and set off for the gateway to Makai.

"Wait a minute! You still haven't told me why you need a jewelled branch!" cried Kaguya.

"Ask Sanae!" Shou called over her shoulder, and then she was gone.

Shou spent the next week wandering through beautiful, terrifying landscapes that had been described with the most poetic prose, facing vicious demons and bloodthirsty youkai in long, fast-paced, expertly-written fight scenes. Once that was taken care of she found herself trekking through a multicoloured forest beneath a burning blue sky.

"Hmmm… Let's see…" Shou checked the map she'd been given by Yumeko as a reward for rescuing Yuki and Mai from a lava-filled labyrinth beneath the world. "Once I cross this last bottomless ravine, the Black Spire should be directly to the west, which means the Grove of Starlight… Should be…"

Shou gasped as she caught sight of the tree sparkling in the distance, so close she could almost taste it. Even if that would be a stupid thing to do. She ran to the bottomless ravine and flew over it, glided over to the grove and touched down in front of the jewelled tree.

It was the brightest, most beautiful tree Shou had ever seen, but she didn't waste time celebrating. She took out the saw she'd brought and set to work cutting off a branch.

An hour later, with her saw worn down to a thin piece of blunt metal, Shou came to the conclusion that something had gone badly wrong. No matter. She could just take the whole tree.

Shou rolled up her sleeves, took hold of the sturdy grey trunk and heaved it up out of the ground, showering her feet with black soil. She balanced the tree on her shoulder and trudged towards the canyon.

Which was going to be a problem. Could she fly with such a heavy burden? Shou knew she was strong with both feet firmly on the ground, but flight didn't rely on muscle power. Shou laid the tree beside the canyon and sat down to think. A bolt of lightning promptly struck her.

Shou leapt to her feet, spiky-haired and giving off wisps of smoke. "Wha-?! What happened?!"

"I could happen to you a lot harder if you like," said Soga no Tojiko, drifting down to earth with. "You won't leave here with that tree, Shou. Hand it over if you have any sense."

"We happen to need that tree, you selfish idiot! Get your own!" retorted Shou, readying her spear. "Nothing but a jewelled branch has the power to banish the paper walls full of eyes that are threatening to spill out of the Moriya Shrine."

"As if you and your Budhhist friends are up to anything worthwhile. No, I'm bringing this tree straight back to Miko, so she can banish the paper walls full of eyes that are-" Tojiko's brow furrowed. "Wait a minute."

"We could cut the tree in half," offered Shou.

"Um… Yeah." Tojiko nodded. "Let's do that. We just have to carry it back home."

"And find a sharp enough saw," added Shou. "All right, then! I'll take the end with the branches, you follow me-"

Shou's foot collided with the heavy trunk as she moved off. Her face screwed up in agony. She screamed and hopped around, unaware that the tree was beginning to roll further away.

"Are… Are you all right?" asked Tojiko, edging away from Shou.

"I'm peachy!" howled Shou. "You know how it is, sometimes you've just got to hop around! Ow! Oh, the pain!"

"Okay…" Tojiko tried to turn around, but her tails had got tangled around one of the six-headed Venus fly traps Makai was famous for. She swore under her breath and set about untying them. The plant jolted, upsetting Tojiko just enough that she toppled over onto her back. Her head struck the tree.

"Aaugh… You left that thing a bit close to the edge, didn't you?" groaned Tojiko.

"Stupid place for a tree anyway."

"What are you talking about?! I left it right… There…" Shou frowned and looked for the tree. Her heart leapt into her throat. "Oh, my gods! It's right by the edge!"

"You're kidding me!" Tojiko zapped the carnivorous plant until it was nothing more than a pile of ash and ran (well, floated) to the edge of the ravine. Shou screeched to a halt beside her.

"Don't move." Shou's face was ashen. "Don't even breathe. We have to think carefully about this. Damn, if only we had Unzan…"

"Maybe you can reach it with your spear," whispered Tojiko. "Or I could drift in front of it and ah… Aaahh… Aaaaaahhhh…! ATCHOO!"

The tree rolled over the jagged lip of the ravine. Shou and Tojiko just stood there, horrified, while their sparkling quarry tumbled deeper and deeper until it was too dark to make out.

Tojiko looked at Shou.

Shou looked at Tojiko.

"Fancy a drink?" offered Tojiko.

"Yes," growled Shou.