~Author's Note~

Here's some fun with our favourite shapeshifting youkai. You know the ones: the thirty-something lesbian couple who've pretty much got life figured out, taking it easy, having fun and living as they please. Their love doesn't involve as much passion or fireworks in the sky as one might expect, but they're perfectly comfortable lounging around together. Except they're not thirty-something, they're both at least a couple of thousand. And they're youkai.

~Turning Over a Nue Leaf~

A cool breeze was wafting through the Forest of Magic. Nue ran between the trees, her arms spread wide and her heart full of joy. Her wings cut more than a few branches, but she didn't care. It was a perfect day for fun.

As a nue, Nue could change her appearance with ease, but getting her cheeks rosy enough and her lips the perfect shade of shiny black had taken half an hour. Unlike normal make-up, her skin would never fade unless she wanted it to, which was going to come in handy if her plans panned out.

Nue stumbled to a halt in the shady clearing where she and Mamizou stayed. The tanuki was snoozing in a comfy pile of cushions and quilts with her tail for a pillow. Nue tiptoed over and dug through the blankets until she found one of Mamizou's bare feet.

"Oh, Mamizooouuuu," trilled Nue, tickling the foot, "it's a lovely morning! Time to wake up!"

For a few seconds, Mamizou lay silent. Then she started giggling, and within seconds she was laughing and flailing around like a loon. "Stop it! Stop it! I'm up!" she squealed, throwing a small flowery pillow at Nue. "Good grief, Nue, what do you want with me?!"

"We're going swimming! Misty Lake just turned warm for some reason, so it should be great. Come on, get ready!" Nue threw the pillow back at Mamizou. It hit her face with a soft flump.

Mamizou yawned, licked her fingers and dragged them through her hair, smoothing it into something that didn't look much like a shrub. "I'm ready," she declared.

Nue took Mamizou's hand. The saliva didn't bother her. "This way, Mamizou. Let's go!"

Misty Lake was mistier than ever. Coils of steam poured off the water to form a thick blanket of fog, stretching from shore to shore. Dozens of fairies and youkai were splashing around in the warm water. A few shouted greetings as Nue and Mamizou jogged down the bank.

"Look! Look, over there!"

"Are you our sister?!"

Mamizou and Nue stopped at the water's edge. Two sharp-winged youkai were splashing towards them, one in a sopping-wet dress and one in a purple cavalry uniform.

"Are you…?" Nue was amazed. "Are you nues?!"

"Yes!" The nue in the dress nodded. "I'm Tomoko, and this is Kanon."

"A pleasure." Kanon bowed deeply.

"It's great to meet you! This is Mamizou," said Nue, gesturing to Mamizou, "and I'm… Nue. That happens to be my name."

Kanon looked at Tomoko. They giggled.

"Well, it is!" snapped Nue. "Nue is a perfectly good name, and I'm proud to be called it. So what if my parents weren't very imaginative?!"

"I'm sorry!" tittered Tomoko, not sounding that way. The many ruffles in her dress shook as she laughed. "It's just, well, imagine if your friend was called Tanuki!"

"Wouldn't that be confusing?" agreed Kanon. "It'd be just like if an oni was called Oni, or a satori was called Satori, or a tengu was called-"

"Do you mind?" Mamizou folded her arms. "I'm not just here to look nice, even if that is one of my talents. We came here for a swim."

"I heard there was a fairy out there called 'big fairy'," Tomoko went on, ignoring Mamizou.

"Yes, and what about that demon we had over for tea? 'Little Devil', she called herself! Incredible!" cried Kanon, with a distant look in her eyes. "And that woman, 'Small Cute Crested Ibis'…"

"In what language?" said Tomoko dubiously.

Kanon brushed a tuft of hair out of her eye. "It's complicated."

"Shall we just go?" Nue whispered to Mamizou.

Mamizou nodded. "Last one in the lake's a human!"