Disclaimer: Touhou belongs to Zun, and the only things that belong to myself would be Usagi the Mimic, and Moegi the Japanese Beetle. Everything else belongs to their rightful owner.

A/N: Been awhile since I've touched anything but DoP, huh?

Y/N: Slacker.

A/N: Hey, my excuse is an odd one, but I'm not slacking! When you write about 5k words a day in RPs, you end up not having time to write anything else!

Y/N: Lazy.

A/N: Ugh... Anywho, don't forget that anyone who asks for links to my RPs shall recieve them! If you want to be shy, just look up the username Sonanoka on Roleplayer Guild! Now that that's out of the way, o-

Y/N: On with the show~

A/N: ...

Night, Tengu village, Tenma's PoV:

Good. All of the youkai are distracted by my appearance, and have stopped paying attention to the fact that there's a potential fresh meal to be claimed at my destination. Not that I want it, but the others seemed interested.

"It's good to see a familiar face, Tenma." Mima gave me a pleasant smile as she spoke. Overall, she seemed impressed by my garb, and with good reason!

I wore the finest of silk dresses - white, as is my way. The sleeves were short, but still exposed far less than was the day prior, while the skirt of it would be touching the ground, if not for the height my getta gave me. Although it was a fine dress, it had no frills, nor did it have un-needed decoration. I like such things to be simple, just as I do with everything I wear under these fancy garments.

Why couldn't everyone have the guts to call me Tenma, without any title involved? I like being treated as a friend, ally, or anything of the sort - like how my childhood friend Aya treats me!

However, as I never point this out, every single youkai in the room turned to what they thought to be a brave and/or stupid human; every pair of eyes beside my own, the little youkai, and the human in question went wide with shock.

I already could tell what sorts of things were going through the minds of the many youkai. Not because I can read minds, mind you, but because it was just so very obvious...

Their eyes showed confusion, some mouths twisted into that of a sneer, the few oni grinning widely at the balls on this woman, and a few tengu raising a brow at the smile on my face.

"Well, when I was informed that our savior had arived, I couldn't simply sit about, and leave you to your own devices. I " A partial truth, but it will do. I wasn't informed; I had been watching them the whole time, so as to ensure the safe passage of the human I now owe a great debt to. Had nobody come along, the youkai race as a whole would have gone extinct within the next hundred or so years...

Hushed whispers began to take over the ballroom.

"-just a human, how could we owe her anything?"

"-sake, sake, sake, sake-"

"I kinda wanna fight that human, and see what-!"

"If that's our savior, I suppose I can go without eating her..."

"Heh, or you could eat her, if you know what I mean."

"Hah, yeah, or give her a pat on the back if you know what I'm sayin'!"

"...No, I don't know what you're saying, actually..."

While I let out a sigh of irritation with the various comments being said, the human, Mima, simply chuckled. Calls me how she pleases, and has nerves of steel when it comes to youkai? I can see why she has a friend in that little dark youkai, even though the stench of human flesh surrounds... them both? Wait, that can't be right...

I sniffed gently, so as not to be noticed, and yet still the results are the same...

Does this human find herself in the presence of human blood often? I doubt that a human would dine on their own kind, even if forced, but I can't help but think that the stench is a bit... thick...

"Ahh, you flatter me! All I did was offer my help, really!" And the human is humble, too! I like this girl...

I couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her words. "Is that so?"

As if this were some sort of odd cue for them to speak as one, the two let a nice, wide grin play across thei lips, and exclaimed, "That is so~!"

"...Right. Now, as I've been keeping you for so long, I suppose I'll let you enjoy the party, hmm?" I gave them a pleasant smile, slightly curious as to their reactions.

The little youkai gave a happy little wave, while the human gave a smile of her own, and responded, "Alright. Thank you for your time, Tenma."

I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, if a short one, as any friendship between human and youkai is fated to be just as short lives as a human.

Mima's PoV:

It was good to see her again, even if only for a somewhat short time.

As the tengu lord made her way back through the crowd, which parted for her like some sort of sea, I let my eyes linger on her until she was suddenly... gone. What's with tengu and vanishing...? Seriously, I have no idea how, or why they all seem to do that. Aya does it, Momiji did it, and now Tenma did it, too!

As if mirroring my thoughts, sunshine said, "Those tengu sure are fast, huh...?"

"...You mean to tell me that she just ran so fast that I couldn't see it?" That can't be right, right?

However, a nod from my little friend confirmed my largest doubt, and yet raised many questions. Of these questions, one stood out among the rest, this question in question being how that could even be possible. Seriously, that truely doesn't seem physically possible!

...Although, I suppose that I shouldn't subject such fantastical creatures to the rules that we humans follow.

And then I heard another familiar voice, who I couldn't quite place. As I turned around to greet them, I was confused to find nobody there. ...Why do I feel like I'm over-looking some small detail?

A certain green haired fairy's brow twitched in annoyance at me having had missed her.