The Secret History Files
A Touhou Project Fic in the Danmakuverse by Achariyth
Chapter 2: Lie Awake
And then the Secret History Association would learn that there were more harrowing things that haunted the night than youkai.
Remind me to never say anything like that again. Sure, it seemed so simple during dinner; find an initiate and slap Lady Akyuu's location out of him. It works so well for the Hakurei Shrinemaiden. But no one finds the Secret History Association unless they want you to.
It only took a couple hours running through the Village's back alleys for that to sink into my hard head. Normally, the wise would have stopped and considered carefully their next steps. Instead, I ran into Kotohime and her drunken oni brute squad searching for the raving madwoman stalking the streets.
They weren't that far wrong.
So now I've got a room for the night. It's spartan, but I only need a bed to sleep off that short oni's wicked right. At least Kotohime keeps the place clean, free from all the kicks I can't dodge and the inhospitality I've come to expect from dungeons over the ages. Now, if she'll only let me sleep.
I know some of you think I should be planning my escape, but it's hard to do that when she's staring right at me.
"You of all people should know better," 'Officer' Kotohime said, scribbling her way through a ream of paper. This little bunny princess wasn't an actual officer, but no one had the heart to contradict her delusions. Unlike the rest of the local police, the crazy woman got results, including arresting the Hakurei Shrinemaiden in her full fury.
"I got caught up in the moment," I said, leaning back against the bars and closing my eyes.
"You say that every time," Kotohime said, completing our little ritual. I'm no stranger to these walls, as most people took a dim view on my feud with Kaguya. However, I don't have my own cell named for me. That honor goes to some girl named Suika. "But you haven't been ranting about-"
"I'm trying to branch out." I didn't want to hear my rival's name. "Shouldn't you be out there looking for the Miare child?"
Minutes passed, and I opened my eyes. Kotohime still sat outside my cell, busying herself with the clipboard in her hands. "The chief doesn't want me on that case," she said. Her words started slow, but built up steam as spoke. " It's the biggest case we've ever had, bigger even than the Lindbergh baby, but someone has to babysit you."
"Let me go. I'm 1500 years old, I can take care of myself."
The clipboard clattered against the floor. "The law applies to everyone."
I sat up in my cot and stared at the lunatic princess. "In my experience, the strong do what they want, and the weak just suffer."
"Justice has to start somewhere. Right now, it starts with you," Kotohime said, an edge creeping into her voice. She scooped up her paperwork from the ground. "Do you have a statement to make, or will you wait for the judge?"
"Will it get me out of here faster?" I said. Hope welled up within me.
"You'll still have to see the judge," Kotohime said. A wry smile crossed her lips. "Judge Shiki is on duty tomorrow."
I sighed and flopped back into the bed. Judge Shiki loved haranguing me over my many misdeeds just as much as she loved to hear herself talk. It was my turn to clam up, but curiosity and a desire to see Keine again won out. "Any leads in the Miare case?"
"None that I can speak of." She finished her paperwork with a flurry and a jab of pen against paper.
"I'm not Aya," I said with a cold laugh.
"I never said you were. But I have nothing to say. All the reports sent back have been blank." She slumped against the chair and shook her head. "I know my co-workers are jokers, but to do this when a girl's life is on the line?"
I've seen Keine do something similar when excising a nastier bit of history. "I don't think it's a joke."
"So you know something?" Kotohime stood up straight, the pen in her hand poised against paper.
I took a deep breath. "You'll think I'm crazy..."
"Only if you tell me those Secret History nuts are behind it."
My heart fell. "Forget it." Craziness could be the most effective camouflage.
Kotohime badgered me for the next ten minutes. She's good, but I've had to keep secrets from Kaguya, and that perfect little princess has no qualms about driving her questions home with a point. Finally, after kicking her stool down the hall, she tore free pages from her clipboard and slid them into a special slot inside the door. "I'll let you sleep on it. But I will be talking to Judge Shiki in the morning. For your sake, I hope you're reasonable in the morning."
"Good cop, bad cop?" I said, rolling over in the cot.
"Perhaps. We're a little short handed right now, so would you mind punching yourself in the gut for me?" The sweetness of her tone couldn't hide the venom inside. Kotohime stomped up the steps to her office, leaving me to try to find the sleep goddess's embrace.
The night passed slowly while I tossed and turned. I wanted nothing more than to stalk the streets for the missing Miare girl. Well, not quite, I really wanted Keine back, but her letter linked her return and Lady Akyuu's safety.
Timber squealed at the touch of a boot. I opened my eyes . Remaining still, I searched the shadows. A match sizzled to life seconds before the gaslights bloomed. I clamped my eyes shut, wincing.
"Duchess Fujiwara," a man's voice said. He didn't bother whispering.
Wouldn't these idiots just let me sleep? Rolling away from this new annoyance, I snuggled tight against the wall.
"You're not fooling anyone. We've been watching you since Kotohime locked you up."
Now that will make a girl's blood run cold. "Who the hell are you?" I said, bolting upright. The air filled with a hint of smoke as I wrapped the blanket around my body.
"Please, no powers," a figure said. No matter how much light filled the room, his features remained in shadow. My eyes watered just looking at him. "The mothers watched you. They won't allow anything... untoward to happen to one who looks as young as you."
I shook my head as I rubbed my eyes. Spare me the good intentions of the busybodies; I can take care of the mouthbreathers on my own. "It's been 1500 years since I had to be lead around on my nanny's apron strings. Tell me who you are, or leave me alone."
"I am known as Mister A." He pronounced the letter with a slight accent. "I'm sure your were-hakutaku friend has told you about me."
I nodded. Even if Keine hadn't, No Shame Aya had interviewed the public head of the Secret History Association months earlier. "Haven't your Secret History stooges done enough to me today?"
His laughter grated against my bones. "Do you really expect me to say that killing you was regrettable? It served its purpose, nothing more."
I leaped towards the bars of my cell, reaching for my unwanted visitor. "Where is the Miare child?" The bars glowed underneath my grip.
The shadowed master side-stepped my hand and pressed something against the metal. With a twist of his hand, the bars burned against my skin with a fierce cold. Yelping, I fell backwards, rubbing my hands together before plunging them beneath the blanket.
"She's safe, and she'll stay that way." His breath cast a vaporous shadow in the gas light. A metal case clicked open just long enough for Mister A. to slip something inside. "Please, keep your powers in check. I won't ask again."
"Or you'll do what? Kill me?" I said with a snort. Only the sheer force of my will kept my teeth from chattering.
"I've already Forged your cell so that the bars think they've spent years in winter snow," Mister A. said. "What else do you think I can change?"
"Steal that trick from Keine, did you?" Actually, I didn't know the full extent of her powers, just the rivalry between her and Mister A.'s Association.
"I wish she would stay out of matters that don't concern her." Regret tinged his voice.
"Including the Miare?" I said, blowing on my hands. The burning faded with the warmth.
It looked like he turned his back to me. I couldn't really tell through the shadows. "I don't understand your vehemence. The girl meant nothing to you until you received that letter from your friend."
"How long have you been watching me?"
"We wouldn't be much of a Secret History Association if we didn't keep track of events in Gensokyo. Your friend is misguided. We aren't the ones who mean to harm Lady Akyuu."
The world went red. "If you slander Keine like that again, I will burn you where you stand."
He wheeled to face me, shaking his head ruefully. "There is another side besides hers and mine. We would like to use the Miare powers against them, for the safety of all. We'll give the girl back, unharmed, once this threat has been taken care of."
My vision cleared. "Until the next time you need her, and the time after that. And then, it'll be easier to keep her instead of giving her back to her parents." I'd seen it happen many times before to talented children.
"The Child of Miare creates certain opportunities. Remembrance can be such a fragile and resilient thing"
"Who's this third side?" Intrigue wasn't my strong suit, but my old man did teach me the basics. Well, whenever he wasn't bedding court debutantes and auctioning my hand in marriage off to the highest bidder.
He held up a hand and shook his head. "Names give it power. Just one that would use the Miare and the Chronicles to usher in the old days of blood, fire, and fear. Yes, we would use her if she is willing, but keeping her hidden is paramount. If it finds her-" A shudder ran down his spine. "Duchess Fujiwara, I ask that you abandon your search for Lady Akyuu."
"Has anyone asked her what she thinks?" I pulled the blanket tighter. The chill from the bars filled the air.
"You'd risk the world for one girl's wishes?" The shadow veiling him grew darker.
I'd wished someone had done the same for me, back before I found my freedom with the Hourai elixir. "Here's my counter-offer. Return Lady Akyuu back to her family. Let the shrinemaidens and the witch know about your beast so they can take care of it, and I won't spend the rest of Time hunting you and yours down."
"I doubt it will settle for defeat and tea, and I won't settle for its continued existence in Gensokyo. Too many have died before we could bring it to the brink of Oblivion," Mister A. said. I imagined him looking at me over tented fingers.
Insight dawned. They were going to erase a youkai from history. Considering how fragile most were, that the Secret History Association had thought it easier to destroy all traces of its existence instead of destroying the youkai itself spoke of its power. "So we're at an impasse, then."
"No, you're still in jail. Pity that we couldn't come to an agreement," he said, opening out the metal case once more. "You should be more careful with your alcohol." The leader of the Secret History Association pulled out Kotohime's papers from the door and pressed a stamp into the documents. "The Yama is especially harsh to those whose drunken actions harm children Oh, don't worry, the judge should release you in a year or so."
My blood ran cold. A year without Keine?
"Halt!" Kotohime's voice boomed from the walls.
Mister A.'s shadowy veil shimmered, as though all the darkness of a moment has to stretch over considerably more time. It reminded me of the eternal moments that Kaguya used to defeat my woodcraft. I swore as I grabbed at him through the bars. One moment, he was there, and the next, gone.
"Who was that?" Kotohime said as she stopped in front of my cell. She poked the air with a heavy truncheon.
"The Secret History Association," I said, sighing.
"So I'm not the only crazy one." She knelt, picking up the loose paper. As I said, Kotohime runs a clean jail. Her breath misted in front of her face. "Why is it cold in here?"
"My gentleman caller did something to the bars," I said, filling the words with as much sarcasm as I could manage. "Aren't you going to go after him?"
Kotohime tamped the papers against the floor. "I'm here to guard you."
"You're doing such a great job." The edge faded from my voice. "He has Lady Akyuu."
"I heard." She thumbed through the pages, her eyes growing darker with each page.
"If you won't go after him, let me. I have business with him. Maybe if I can find this third side-" I spoke quickly, buoyed along by my frustration.
"'The enemy of your enemy is your enemy's enemy. Nothing more, nothing less,'" Kotohime said, setting her stool upright. It sounded like something my father would say.
"Whatever. I need to find her."
"I can't let you go." She spoke woodenly, her features frozen.
"Our only lead is running away," I snapped, pointing to the jail walls.
"Don't you think I know that?" For the first time, the rabbit princess's poise cracked. "I can't leave you here for the Secret History Association or Kaguya to find you. I also can't release a repeat offender back out on the streets. That's a judge's call."
I flopped onto the cot. The metal supports groaned at the abuse. "So he's just going to get away?"
"No," Kotohime sighed, shaking her head. Wrapping her hands in her long sleeves, she said, "Get up."
"What are you doing?" I watched as she fumbled with the lock. Cold and cloth did not agree with her motions.
"I'm releasing you into my custody," she said, sliding the door open.
"You can do that?"
"We'll find out after this is over." Kotohime waved me over. "If you think about escaping, just know that Judge Shiki will throw an entire library's worth of books at you."
I dashed out of the cell, tossing the blanket aside. "I'll worry about that after a little girl's found."
She pressed a metal star into my hand. "I can deputize you. For the duration."
I pushed it away. "I have problems with authority."
"Suit yourself, partner. Let's go."
Author's Notes:
Kotohime quotes from the Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries.