I definitely like this chapter. i'm very lazy about proofreading, especially when I just go out and write chapters this long and look at the clock and curse, sooo… Anyway, I apologize for hiatus, new computer and Christmas and school.

Completely unrelated to me getting The World Ends with You and Portal.

luv, luv.

Curiosities

When you're in no position to question...curiosity kills the cat.

"Hey, Tokiko, while you're here... Could you do me a favor and watch the shop?"

"Aughhh, why today? It's so slow, nobody's come in all week."

"And that's exactly why I feel I can trust you with it for now."

"You're gonna' be bankrupt by June if you keep this up," the ever sassy youkai grumbled, folding a corner of Rinnosuke Morichika's desk calendar back and forwards until the crease became a tear.

The aforementioned owner of Kourindou, an antique shop nestled quaintly in the Forest of Magic, sighed at the blue-highlighted youkai girl, "June passed two months ago, dear; it's September."

"D*mn. You don't say? Makes no difference; you're bankrupt," she giggled, moving behind the counter to take Rinnosuke's place as he got up to leave.

Deciding to ignore her mockery, the half-youkai fastened a satchel to his belt and hurried out the door. "I only need a bit of fresh air; thanks, Tokiko-san."

As he sighed, taking in the refreshing scent of recently cycled oxygen, uncontaminated by the smell of dust and Byakuren knows what was growing in that pot he kept around, Rinnosuke couldn't help but admit somewhere deep in his mind… Tokiko was right. Kourindou had never really been much of a… busy store, but… lately it'd been hard to keep up. He supposed things started really going downhill last April or so, when Yakumo Yukari-san, his store's supplier, suddenly demanded she recall a whopping amount of merchandise. (Rinnosuke was in no position to refuse.)

Of course, nobody was really that interested in that case of book… Although he had managed to sell one to Izayoi-san once. A couple years ago.

Leaning against a tree (the Forest of Magic happens to have a lot of those, you know) and straightening his glasses out, the half-youkai cringed with humility as he faced reality: there was only one girl in Gensokyo who bought those books, and after he had told her where they'd all gone, well, he hadn't seen her since. Rinnosuke couldn't help but have felt a sort of attraction to her, not romantic, but like a father to the little black magician girl-

"Marisa Kirisame!"

Rinnosuke jumped; there was a small party of people coming down the path, and somehow, it was one of those moments you might see in movies where the character feels the need to hide in the bushes as they passed.

"Marisa, Marisa Kirisame, my human daughter, whom I have protected all her human life, ever since her human mother passed, and you send her to a purple-headed druggie otaku youkai's library? Even better, in a vampire's mansion filled with little fairies and monsters and, oh Byakuren, have you heard the stories about the girl they keep downstairs?"

Ah, he recognized that voice now. Mr. Kirisame; a former employer, and young Marisa's real father. Arrogant as it may seem, (although it was not,) he still considered himself much better suited for the job… Actually, he considered Reimu's pet turtle could do the job better than Mr. Kirisame did. (Although Rinnosuke was never in any position to speak up about it.)

"Oh, hush, Mr. K. Didn't I say to trust Yukarin?" a woman, large umbrella in hand, laughed a laugh that could only have belonged to Yakumo Yukari-san. The gap youkai paused and turned about face, speaking to Marisa's father with her usual audacity, enough to dare push her nose just inches away from his face.

Boy, did Rinnosuke hate when she did that to him. At least, he thought he hated it… erm… good hate.

"Look, the books were effective when Rinnosuke was selling 'em to her, and occasionally… lending them to her until she died, if you get what I mean," she smiled.

The shikigami Chen, who was cartwheeling ahead of the two with Ran struggling to keep up, called out, "You mean steaaaling, nya?"

"Ol' Rinno' didn't like Marisa becoming interested in the outside world, and he put most of them away and tried to sell her his antiques instead," she smiled, "…And of course that only made the black-white even more curious about those dusty old hardcovers."

"We stole 'em from a library the humans call 'Congress,' you know. Nowhere near as large as Voile, but it had to do," the kitsune Ran piped in.

"Like I said things were effective. However, things weren't effective enough," Yukari continued. "And so I think, who does Marisa spend more time with other than Rinnosuke? Where does Marisa spend more time in than the Forest of Magic? Where does Marisa get her influencee, her knowledge? Hm?"

Mr. Kirisame, his dark hat forever shading the emotion of his hat, still appeared a bit unnerved. "Don't ask me, I'm nervous enough in this monster forest!"

"Monster forest? This is the Forest of Magic, darling, where your talented teenager's house, in which she built herself I realize, resides. You don't dare say you've never visited on your own accord?"

"Of course not! If Marisa wishes to risk her life in this… this dungeon of weeds, then let her; I'm unhappy enough in the human village with the werewolf teacher and what not…"

Rinnosuke rolled his eyes, sighing from in the underbrush where he had sought a hiding place. Didn't Mr. Kirisame earlier state that he wished to protect the girl? Yet parading about on a broom a mile into the sky she goes… the man never changed, did he? Of course, Rinnosuke was in no position to interrupt.

"Now, since you don't know the answer yourself, Mr. K, lemme' tell you: that purple druggie otaku youkai's library is where Marisa learns half her tricks. The others she copies. Smart girl you have there, you know," Yukari grinned, only for the man at her side to roll his eyes. "We take all the human world books from ol' Kourin, stuff 'em in the shut-in girl's shelves, Marisa can't resist. It's sort of mostly like a lending library. The shut-in has a crush on her anyway, so that's convenient, and Marisa just loves impressing her. She's nearly read every book in that shelf. I bet she could clear out Voile before she dies. Smart girl, I tell you, and you should see the size of Voile, beautiful library; I do silently compliment Patchouli on it without actually saying it out loud…"

"Can we just get out of here? I feel like some zombie fairy's going to jump me any minute!" he cried out, barely having paid attention to what Yukari was saying.

Rinnosuke, on the other hand, was heavily overwhelmed with what he now knew.

"Alright, alright, lemme' just ask Rinnosuke for this last bunch of books. I didn't pick 'em up before, because they're mostly atlases. Crappy reading, surely, but I want to make sure dear little Marisa has a some more time to ponder her life choices, if you know what I mean…" her voice drifted quieter as she started walking off into the distance, but Rinnosuke still clearly heard what Mr. K said next.

"Although I don't exactly agree with your methods, Miss Yakumo, as long as you get her out of Genoskyo by the end of the year as agreed, I will be satisfied."

Knowing the shortcuts (while Yukari was forced to stay strictly on the path to keep from letting Mr. K get a heart attack) Rinnosuke made it back to Kourindou before the business pair and the shikigami pushed open the creaky (it wasn't very… well-used) door open to his store, Tokiko giggling at the twig poking out of his hair.

There was so much Rinnosuke wanted to say to Mr. Kirisame's blatantly plastic smile; there was so much he wanted to scream at the once kind-seeming (or at least decent) Yukari as she poked her nose inches away from his, asking for the atlases he kept in the back. There was so much Rinnosuke wanted to do as she explained that a problem was present in them, a sort of toxin that they could give off, and as such she had to forbid him from selling them any longer.

There was so much more Rinnosuke wished he had done as he watched them leave the Kourindou, Mr. K complaining of the dust that could be youkai cursed somehow, Yukari and Ran laughing at something Chen muttered in response, Tokiko cheering that she had brought customers.

There was so much more Rinnosuke wished he had done as he sat alone in Kourindou on an autumn evening, a battered "We're Closed" sign visible from the front window, not waiting for or even wanting customers.

There was so much more Rinnosuke wished he had done as he, one winter day, locked himself in the back room and wept.

There was so much more he wished he had done that day, but Rinnosuke had been in no position to object.

What Rinnosuke did not hear:

"Although I don't exactly agree with your methods, Ms Yakumo, as long as you get her out of Genoskyo by the end of the year as agreed, I will be satisfied."

"I don't intend to disappoint, Mr. K."

"Of course. I have full faith in you. However, if someone else were in this same position as you, and were to fail, they would be pretty afraid, hm?"

"…I suppose so, Sir."

"Yes, yes, and they would by no means slack off, yes?"

"Of course not, Sir."

"Completely unrelated, but how is that shrine under construction going?"

"We finished just last month the final touch-ups. We invited you to the party; the place is not so far from the village..."

"Ah yes, Hakurei shrine. That Reimu girl, Marisa calls that shrine maiden her best friend. Is she a nice girl?"

"Yes, yes Reimu is… quite a sweetheart, in my opinion..."

"Now that I think of it, wasn't it your fault her shrine ended up such a wreck last year?"

"...Yes, sir."

"She was quite upset, yes? How upset?"

"First time I ever saw her cry…"

"I bet you wouldn't want to see Miss Reimu cry again, would you?"

"No, sir."

"Especially not when it's your own fault; no, that would feel horrible. I can't even imagine the turmoil you were in."

"No… no, sir."

"So I imagine you would do anything to avoid such a thing happening."

"Yes… yes, sir, yes I would."

"Yes, very good. Now, how did we get to a topic so dreary as that? Must be this dreadful forest; ah, look, there's the half-monster's house. Mr. Morichika. Used to be an employee of mine, nice boy, if it weren't for the youkai qualities in him…"

(somewhat spoily)

NOTES

-Don't know who Tokiko is? I needed someone to watch Kourindou, so I picked the weak youkai that got beat up and robbed by the so-called 'sweetheart' Reimu (haha, Yukari) in Curiosities of Lotus Asia. She's often associated with Rinnosuke, so I thought what the hey.

-Marisa has a father, that's for sure, but I took artistic license and crap on him here, making him into an overprotective-yet-not-protective-at-all-youkai-hating-human-guy-who-just-wants-a-normal-daughter. He's stuck in Gensokyo as it is for currently unspecified reasons, and somewhat despises the whole magic-y thing his daughter has going. Also he wears a hat.

-The construction on the shrine is probably as a result of the Scarlet Weather Rhapsody events, where the newly rebuilt shrine is destroyed by Yukari, claiming it was built for Tenshi's selfish purposes… Yukari was prooooobably doing one of her rare good things, but Reimu dearest was rather upset.

-In case you really can't take a hint, the last part [that Rinno' didn't hear] was meant to point out that Yukari is being forced into aiding Mr. K in normal-a-fying his daughter, what with her 'sweetheart' Reimu on the line. (Robbing, impulsive, lazy *ss is the definition of sweetheart for Yukarin)

-I'm gonna finish this story, I'M GONNA FINISH IT