The Scarlet Devil 2: Scarlet Devil Rhapsody
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: You know the deal…

Chapter 7

My name is Reisen Udongein Inaba, moon rabbit…though I might as well be a gopher with the way I'm treated. Eientei's busier than ever these days, what with the preparations for the mistress's upcoming wedding…and I barely have any time to myself.

"Teisen! Quit screwing like, well, rabbits, and get out here!" Eirin called.

I sighed. I hated Kaguya's nickname for the two of us—though I suppose it was better than her just calling all of us "Inaba"—and now it seemed even Eirin had started using it. "As hard as it may be to believe, we don't actually spend all of our free time together having sex. It only seems that way because we have so little free time."

Eirin was surprised that I'd been able to comply so quickly, wondering if she'd made a mistake. She hadn't really, but we were only just getting started and therefore hadn't gotten undressed yet. "Sorry about that, then. I need you to look over these seating charts; you'd probably know better than I would if there's anything wrong with them."

"Looks fine to me. What do you think, Tewi-chan? You probably get out more than I do."

"…You really trust her to tell you the truth?" Eirin asked.

"…Yes," I lied.

"I thought you'd gotten past that stage of gullibility," Tewi said.

"Okay, I was just being polite when I said yes, because you could hear us. What I'd have actually said had it just been Eirin-sama and me was 'I believe that I'll better know how to accurately handle this after hearing her input.'"

"So…do the exact opposite of everything I tell you to do?" Tewi asked with her usual manic grin.

"Hardly. I know that you take advantage of your reputation as a liar and occasionally tell truths to deceive those expecting lies. And I know you well enough to be able to tell which are which."

Tewi kissed me. "That's what I like to hear."

"No it isn't. You hate when people can see through your deceptions."

"But I love you. So I like seeing you get wiser."

"And here I thought you fell in love with me because I was an easy mark."

"Mostly I just fell in lust with you, and the actual love part came later."

"Focus, you two," Eirin interjected.

"Off from work today?" I asked.

"Nope," replied Wriggle Nightbug. "Yama-chan's been doing such good business that she can't handle it all on her own, whereas Team 9 Catering usually had more workers than jobs anyway, so I quit, and I'm working here now."

"I told her it might be a conflict of interest, seeing as how she's living with her boss now, but she told me to just think of it as a 'family business' even though at the moment we have no intentions of ever formally getting married," Yamame said.

"Eh, it's just that; a formality. We're a couple in every meaningful way, right?" Wriggle said somewhat flirtatiously, nibbling at Yamame's lower lip. Tewi, you could learn a thing or two from this girl.

"Yes, I would certainly say that we are 'bound together'." A slightly evil grin crossed Yamame's face, and the look of pleasure on Wriggle's…I take it back. Any lessons on romance from these two would likely end up with me tied up, naked, and helpless…even more frequently.

"Ah, now there's an idea…"

"No," I said, picking Tewi up by her ears.

"Ow! Reisen!" She thrashed about and kicked my shins, but I refused to let her go.

"You agreed not to tie me up anymore."

"…Okay." I put her down.

"Well, let's see how the dresses fit," Yamame said, obviously wanting to steer the conversation elsewhere before Wriggle could express her feelings about my obvious distaste for bondage. "Princess, let's get started on you first."

"You're not going to have my bridesmaids try on their dresses while we're working on me? I figure my dress will probably take the longest."

"Exactly why I wanted to get it taken care of first."

"I'd be more than happy to strip Rei-chan down," Tewi said.

"Yes, we know," Eirin said dryly. "But now's not the time or place for that."

I was amazed when I saw what Kaguya's dress looked like. In typical fashion, she wanted to try something different, but she also relented somewhat to the pressure from those around her to go with something more traditional. The result was a…I wasn't even sure whether to call it a dress or a kimono, because it sort of fused elements of traditional western- and eastern-style bridalwear. It was primarily white, and had lacy trim, but was still unmistakably Japanese. This was, of course, necessary given what the "groom" would be wearing. Even though Kaguya-hime had somewhat intimated her plans to Mokou as they were preparing for Reimu and Sanae's wedding, saying that "maybe next time [Mokou] won't have to worry about wearing a skirt", and even though Mokou regularly wore pants, she refused to wear a tuxedo as a western groom would, and so she would be in a traditional (male) wedding kimono.

It was good for me to be staring at the dress, because it meant I wouldn't be staring at my lady's naked body. Don't get me wrong; I'm not in love with my mistress or anything like that, though there are many in Gensokyo who seem to have very healthy relationships with those whom they are bound to serve (or were bound to serve, in the case of Sakuya Izayoi, though she continues to serve the Scarlet sisters anyway). I'm just…

…Okay, let's not mince words. I'm actually almost as big a pervert as Tewi-chan. I just hide it well. It helps that more often than not I'm the one providing the fanservice, usually as a result of Tewi's more overt perversion. Not that my displeasure with her antics is entirely feigned, mind you. It's kind of hard to be a covert pervert when every eye in the room is trained on you. Didn't mean I wasn't looking forward to what would happen once Kaguya was dressed—and how magnificent it was.

I picked Tewi up off the ground again, this time not by her ears but by her sleeves, and watched as she wriggled free of her dress, pulling my skirt to the ground with her as she dropped down. We'd done this before, and before long we were already getting into the throes of passion before being reminded that we were undressing in order to try on our bridesmaids' gowns, not so we could have sex. "Although I wouldn't mind if you and Yama-chan were to compare notes," Wriggle told Tewi, earning herself a slap in the head from her lover.

"Well, Rei-chan doesn't let me tie her up anymore, so I don't think she'd approve. And I probably wouldn't be able to give Yamame-san any pointers, since I'm so out of practice."

"And because your ropes couldn't possibly be as effective anyway," Yamame said.

"Wanna bet?"

"N-no…Yama-chan's right. Forget I said anything," Wriggle said. I shuddered as I remembered that the same talents that allowed Yamame to be such an expert seamstress also would give her encounters with Wriggle a distinctive predator/prey dynamic. Yet if anything, it sounded as though Wriggle enjoyed this even more than Yamame did.

Tewi noticed my shudder. "Looking nice, Rei-chan. Shame we can't see more of your breasts, though."

"Well, bridesmaids' gowns have to be uniform. If we display my chest, we'd have to display your tiny chest as well."

"…I guess you're right. I'll be sure to have you out of yours soon enough anyway."

"Tewi!" Eirin yelled.

I just laughed. "I'm sure you will, sweetie."

CCX: Kind of short, but I promise that this won't be all…