The Secret History Files

A Touhou Project Fic in the Danmakuverse by Achariyth

Chapter 4: Dust Bowl

The Fates conspire against me. I've known this ever since Kaguya first wrecked my family and my life oh so many years ago. After meeting Keine, I had hoped the Kindly Ones had forgotten me. However, this last day serves as proof that they've remembered their old chew toy. Keine vanished, I got murdered, Kotohime turned me into the spitting image of my mortal enemy, some crazy cult leader peeped on me while I slept, and one of his crazy acolytes tried to control my very soul using some leftover bones from an earlier death. Now Death herself was on my doorstep, well, inside Kotohime's police station, actually. Not that the difference gave me any comfort. I'd seen that look on her kind before. Someone was about to be a head shorter.

I rolled my eyes and leaned against the doorjamb. "What do you want?"

Komachi Onozuka returned my frostbite glare. "Your name, Enlightened One. Who are you?"

"Just a health nut out for a stroll." That line had worked before with a crow reporter that wouldn't leave me along during a forest fire. "What's it to you?"

Kotohime squeezed her way past me and into her station. "What's going on?"

Komachi slammed the butt of her scythe against the wooden floor. "I will have your name or I will have your head."

"This is a police-"

"Let her try." I buffed my nails against my robe and examined them in the faint glow from the kappa gaslights outside. "I'm just surprised that she has the nerve to do this by herself. Don't you normally hide behind some big oni bully boys?"

"You're not helping matters, 'Koyomi.'" The policewoman slid towards her desk along the walls.

The tall reaper pointed her scythe at me chest. "Now I have a name to go along with a murder."

Murder? I hadn't touched Kaguya in weeks. Make that days. Hours? Well, at least not since Keine vanished.

"Make your accusation or get out of my station." Kotohime stepped behind her desk and slid open a drawer. One hand pulled out a pen, but the other stayed inside.

"I name this woman the Lady of Strange Deaths, responsible for the murders of Kishin Chief Suiki and a Secret History Association accountant," Komachi said.

"It's a full moon tonight." Kotohime dropped the pen and covered her eyes with her hand. Shaking her head, she said, "There's no other reason why fairy tales would be out walking tonight."

I shook my head and bit back a laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about. Might want to take it up with the Celestials. Last I heard, they had a girl who whooped up on your kind in job lots. Talk to her."

Komachi's face drained of blood, as did the knuckles around her scythe. Grinning, I stepped out of the doorway and cracked my knuckles. "Enough, I'll beat the truth out of you," the reaper shouted as she sprang toward me.

Kotohime pulled a thick club made of unfinished oak from her desk. Rearing back, she laid into Komachi, swinging that club like a farm girl busting obstinate livestock. Like the silly milk-cow she was, Komachi caught the blow between her eyes. And then, the little rabbit princess turned it on me.

I had often wondered how a little slip of a court darling like Kotohime survived as a thief-taker, especially when she couldn't rely on surprise. Unlike Kaguya and I, she had to play by the rules. But as I pulled myself off the floor and shook the stars from my eyes, I wondered no longer.

"Now that I've got everyone's attention, sit down so we can talk like civilized women." Kotohime hissed. The unfinished wood slapped against her palm. "Koyomi, you shame the family."

"I'm not kith or kin to you." I pulled myself into a chair and prodded my cheeks and nose. Nothing broken, thank the gods.

"Fine. Lady Mokou, if you don't shut up, you will spend the rest of the night in your cell."

Before I could snarl back, Komachi toppled, clinging to a chair as she slid to the floor.

"Hold that thought," Kotohime said. "Grab some ice from the kitchen. Make sure you get some for yourself."

It took more than an ice pack to make Komachi's world stop spinning. I had time to change back into my clothes while Kotohime brewed a tea of yellow lady-slipper and elderflower while the statuesque reaper held her head between her legs. Pity I couldn't do anything about my hair. I propped Komachi up in a chair by Kotohime's desk right as the rabbit princess brought the tea. Taken with a generous helping of sugar, the policewoman's tea was actually refreshing, even if I would have preferred a pinch of spicewood in mine. Taken straight, it made Komachi's world snap into focus.

"Water," she croaked, smacking her lips while she swallowed. I dropped a spoonful of honey into her mug and stirred. Pressing an ice pack over her nose, she groped for the mug. A second sip brought a smile to her face.

The amateur policewoman scowled as she sat down behind her desk and pointedly read from a stack of paperwork. I sat down and waited. "Now that that's out of the way," Kotohime began. I'd seen her try this trick before. Instead of conveying that I wasn't worth her time, she looked like a schoolgirl who had just failed a test. "What business do you have with Lady Mokou?"

"None." Komachi groaned and leaned her head back in her chair. "I'm after the Lady of Strange Deaths. The boss says she's one of the Enlightened Ones, so when I saw Mokou in her disguise, I thought I found her."

I didn't recognize the strange title, but then again, I had passed by a parade of nobles and pretenders as I lived my 1400 years, often without catching names. As for enlightenment, I'd only found it through a roundabout way.

Kotohime turned pale enough that I thought I would have to force a cup of her tea down her throat. "I don't have time for foolishness-"

Komachi lifted the ice pack from her eyes and stared at the policewoman. "The boss is about to take an active role in the...investigation. How many plagues do you think she'll bring with her this time?"

I wasn't worried. The last time Judge Eiki took special interest in the living world, she brought flowers. And, if she brought something more potent, well, immortality has its benefits.

Kotohime poured herself a cup of tea and stared into it. Only when her hands grew warm did she set the mug down. "One disaster at a time, I suppose."

"Hope you like frogs. Or was it boils? Flies, maybe?"

The rabbit princess drained her cup and pointed at me. "I've dealt with her foolishness all night and with my coworkers' the day before. Don't start my morning with more."

"It's not my fault those History bastards-" I snapped.

Kotohime stood up and slammed her hands against her desk. "You're nothing more than a trouble magnet. If I wasn't so busy bailing you out, I would have found the Miare child with old-fashion detective work by now."

The ice fell from Komachi's hand and clattered against the floor. "Say that again." She sat up in her chair and wrung her hands.

"Lady Akyuu Hieda, Ninth Child of Miare, is missing."

"Don't forget Keine," I said.

Kotohime thrust a ream of paper at me. "File a missing person report."

Grumbling, I took a pen and filled out the paperwork using the most obscure go-on on'yomi kanji of my father's time while Kotohime spoke. It didn't take long to fill Komachi in on what we knew, only because we didn't know much. The Secret History Association had spirited the Miare girl away from some unknown purpose. Yet Komachi clung to every word.

"He wouldn't forgive me," she muttered.

Kotohime's ears perked up, as did mine, to tell the truth. "What was that?" the rabbit princess asked.

The tall reaper slouched in her chair. "I can find her, but you can't tell the boss. She's death on office relationships when she's in a good mood. She's not going to be anywhere near as understanding now."

The policewoman hid crimson cheeks behind her sleeves. I just stared openmouthed at the reaper shifting in her seat.

"Isn't Lady Akyuu a little young?" I asked. My cheeks burned as well. I tried not to think of a certain bookstore. Who was I to ask? At 1400 years, I'd be robbing the cradle in any relationship.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I prefer boys for fun," Komachi said. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "And when Miare works for the boss between incarnations, he's all man."

"That's-" Kotohime began.

"Too much information?" I couldn't resist.

"That works."

"Look, I can find her. I just need something from my place." Komachi stood up and walked to the door. She rested her hand against the doorjamb and called out over her shoulder. "You all coming or not?"

Higan was supposed to be wondrous this time of year, a capstone to the wild flight Komachi had dragged Kotohime and I on. From the village to the carnival lining the Road of Liminality to the banks of the Sanzu River and through the slot canyon that served as the servants' entrance, we made a journey of many kilometers in four simple footsteps. The tall reaper could actually be useful when she wanted to be. But she had brought us to a wind-stripped fallow field choked with brimstone instead of the pastures of plenty.

"Don't let her catch you here." Komachi's face was a red-lined Noh mask as she surveyed the dust bowl that used to be her homeland. "That goes double for you."

A trumpet shouted, followed by a choir of shouts and an earthquake strong enough to shake my balance. Kotohime swayed over and latched onto my shoulder.

Komachi shook her head. "Poor doomed soul. She'll be lecturing him for hours." She grabbed my wrist and, one step later, we stood before a cottage. It looked pristine and new, freshly whitewashed and without the warps and cracks that mar wood over time. If Higan hadn't been a timeless Pure Land, I'd have pitied the platoon needed for Komachi's honey-dos. Then again, Komachi's house and a few of her neighbors were the only halos of greenery in this dust bowl.

The cottage's rosewood door swung open and we followed the reaper inside. I'm not sure what I expected to see inside, but it wasn't the immense four-poster bed draped in kasane-layered grape silks under a matching canopy. (That's red cloth against azure, not purple. Don't ask me why; I never understood court fashions.) A copy of The Pillow Book rested by the carved headboard. My father would have given half of his lands to woo Kaguya or Eri on those red and blue sheets. For such a bed, even frigid Kaguya would have done her duty and given herself to my father. I just wanted to spend one night on that mountain of down mattresses wrapped in silky bliss.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no pampered court darling, fit only to be escorted to some lord's bedchamber. It's just that after sleeping for a millennium on nothing but earth and maybe straw, I've come to appreciate a good bed.

Kotohime, however, ignored the great treasure that filled a third of the cottage. Instead, she ran her fingers along a wall lined with row upon row of red roses. Each flower remained as perfect as the moment it had been snipped from its bushes. "This is quite a collection."

"That's every rose I've ever been given." Komachi beamed as she threw open a steamer trunk at the foot of that glorious bed.

"How many are from the Miare?" I dropped next to the trunk, grabbed a fold of red silk, and nuzzled it against my cheek.

"A third. I have many admirers. He's just my favorite." Komachi's smile widened as she spoke.

Kotohime walked over to a rack of small vials lining the edges of a koa wood dresser and sniffed a closed vial. "Cinnamon rose oil? That's 25,000 yen at least."

"I didn't know you were an aficionado." Komachi dug through her trunk, piling strings of silver coins onto a silk bolt.

"I just know how much it takes to reimburse an angry alchemist after smashing her still." The policewoman grimaced and slid the vial back into its slot. "I'd have to sell everything just to replace the lavender here. The three vials of cinnamon rose oil..." Kotohime shuddered before flipping open a small notebook.

"I've got to keep my skin supple and soft after a day's work rowing my boat." Sake and grape wine bottles joined the coins on the silk. The Belle of the Higan turned towards me. "Would you stop that? I don't want my sheets smelling of smoke."

I glowered at the reaper, untangled myself from the red and blue sheets, and slid over to the steamer trunk. Komachi now placed gold and jade onto the pile.

"Lots of finery here." Kotohime scribbled in her notebook with every new item pulled from the trunk. "I'd wager that Eternity Manor can't match it."

"It can't," I said. Kaguya had her treasures secreted away, but she never allowed herself this level of luxury. Probably because Eirin would never let her get away with it.

"So if a princess can't afford this, how can a ferrywoman?"

"You'd be amazed what people will pay to make sure their loved ones get across the Sanzu." Komachi rustled around inside the steamer.

"Insurance? Sounds more like blackmail." Kotohime's scribbling came to a sudden stop, punctuated by the sharp jab of her pen against the page.

"A girl's got to make a living." Komachi shrugged and pulled a golden heart-shaped locket on a matching chain from her collection. The heart dangled and spun back and forth before coming to a stop. "She's that way."

I leaned closer as I watched the locket remain still. No matter how Komachi moved the chain, the heart remained pointed past Kotohime and at the koa wood dresser. "How does it work?"

"It's attuned to Miare's soul." That sent a chill running down my spine. Komachi shoved the chain into my hands then wrapped the edges of the silk over her piled treasures. "He's got one for mine. I'll give it back after he comes home from the Hieda."

"Convenient." Kotohime scowled and slid her notebook back into her robes. "And it still works after all this time she's been on earth?"

"Let's just say that when the Judge is your boss and you want to meet your coworker for a little game of Seven Hours in Heaven, those cozy little hideaways have to be very hidden away." She slipped the bundle in the trunk and slammed the lid. "Never mind, ladies, I'm sure you'll understand some day, assuming you can find someone to touch you beside your cats."

Centuries of Kaguya's abuse let me shrug off Komachi's words, after all, I didn't have any cats, but Kotohime stood sputtering as her face shone crimson. I never thought of her as a crazy cat lady, although two out of three wasn't bad. "Just remember that we're trying to save your girlfriend."

Komachi grabbed her hand and yanked Kotohime out of the cottage. "You can be jealous all you want after we find her."

As best as I can figure, the locket works like a compass. Oh, and Komachi's rusty using it as well. Instead of taking us to where Lady Akyuu was held captive in one step, we skirted around the edge of barrier while that redheaded cow took readings and another step just so she could take more.

You're damn right I'm testy. For the first time since that Secret History goon plunged his knife into me, I was moments away from getting my best friend back. Every step Komachi took only delayed our reunion. And I can't help but look over my shoulder either. How many lockets are out there pointing straight at me? Believe it or not, there's worse out there than Kaguya, and it always manages to slither onto my doorstep.

If any…thing is following me, though, I'm sure Komachi's blundering around Gensokyo has them confused. I know I am; I've lost track of how many times we've stopped since we left Komachi's cottage. I don't even know how we got in the branches of a rotten oak tree overlooking a wheat farm. It's hard to miss, however, when the branches broke under my feet.

I stumbled onto a grassy field and gulped down air without the scalding stench of brimstone. At least until top-heavy Komachi tumbled out. Then I breathed loam while she crushed me into the muddy ground. The Americas had to be mere feet away.

Kotohime dropped from the sky, bouncing Komachi and I deeper into the squishy muck before gliding to her feet in front of me. "Get up, you two. This isn't Gensokyo."

I could have told her that, if I wasn't trying to eat dirt. Gensokyo's soil had more clay to the taste, as Kaguya had given me plenty of opportunity to learn. At least Komachi got off my back, but not before driving her knee into the small of it. The earth muffled my scream.

I stood up and brushed grass and silt from my blouse. My eyes narrowed as red flashed from the hedges lining the field. We were not alone, and I'd find out exactly what lurked nearby. My father hadn't taught me much, but I'd thrived using the woodcraft he passed to all his children. Komachi clomped forward, muffling the tiny clues I sought until I grabbed her shoulder. "Keep still."

The reaper scowled at me and spun her scythe. "Why bother? There's two to the right, one to the left, and one busybody hiding behind them."

"You sure?" A nightstick dropped out of Kotohime's sleeve and into her hand. "I only see two." She nodded to a bocage hedgerow. I pursed my lips as I saw a pair of toughs that didn't realize that the brush tall enough to kneel behind was also tall enough to reveal their boots. Daddy would have seen them before the cop and the cow.

Komachi laughed. "Don't forget who you're talking to. Now, do me a favor and don't make more work for me. My boat needs repairs, and none of these guys will be able to pay enough to make the trip worth it."

"We'll talk about your blackmail later," Kotohime said.

"You're out of your jurisdiction."

"If I'm standing on it, it's my jurisdiction."

"Shut up. They're about to make their move," I said. At least I spotted that first. Not that a second's worth of warning mattered before three red archers stood, arrows nocked in the yumi longbows pointed right at us.

The fourth walked from behind a tree, decked in tin pot metal, embroidery, and a zhuge ru repeating crossbow that had fallen out of favor long before my father founded the Fujiwara clan. He cupped his free hand by his mouth. "You three, the babe, the Kenshin Himura cosplayer, and the pretty boy, stop right there. Let me see your hands."

Steam rose from me as I ground my teeth and clenched my hands, muttering words that would have embarrassed Miyako and Komyoshi. Instead of rushing to my slandered femininity's defense, Komachi preened and Kotohime's nightstick vanished up her sleeve. Didn't that fool in the coffee can armor see my hair bow? The phoenix welled up within me, screeching for release.

Author's note:

Thanks to Mephiles666 and Wolfsbane706 for prereading.