Songs of the Illusionary Veil: For What We Receive

A Touhou Project story by Achariyth

Disclaimers: The usual disclaimer applies. Also, I am playing fast and loose with histories, cultures, and backgrounds not my own for the sake of storytelling. Please indulge my intentional errors and mistakes.

The hand axe in my hand bit deep into the thick branch. With a series of deft strokes, it stripped the new fallen tree of its branches. I stepped away from the tree, and wiped sweat from my brow. Singing, my brothers and sisters fell upon the log, scratching away the bark with long handled chisels.

We had been doing this simple work for weeks. After the River clan's home had flooded away, many of our cousins sought refuse with those of us who lived in the mountains. We gladly provided them with food and shelter. Let it not be said that the Mountain clan abandoned family in need. Some returned to the river, but more stayed, begging for adoption into the Mountain clan. With a host of new brothers and sisters, it wouldn't do to let our new brothers and sisters languish in tents.

I didn't mind the work. As much as kappa love tinkering, there's something right about working with my hands, toiling amidst the smells of tree sap, sawdust, and leaves. Some would call such simple work holy. I am not a priest, so I will let those who can argue settle that question. Meanwhile, someone has to build houses for those who no longer have them.

I walked towards a makeshift table and filled my canteen from a bin of cold spring water. It would only be moments before crews dragged in the next tree to be turned into logs. Behind me, the cheerful work songs of my people fell silent, voice by voice. I spun around, expecting to see a tree that rivaled the mighty redwoods I had once seen a picture of.

Instead, my coworkers stood silent, ringing one of the kappa mothers as she stood before me. All eyes could have been on me, but my eyes settled on the young woman draped on the mother's back. I reached out and helped the mother set her on the ground. Two girls ran out, covering the young woman's legs with a blanket. I rolled my eyes at such River clan foolishness; no Mountain clan male worthy of the name would take advantage of her modesty under these circumstances.

Unconscious, she shuddered at my touch. I removed her hat, as the poor girl deserved what comfort we could bring her.. From the gasps of the crowd, you'd have that I had taken her dress off instead. I have no patience for such River clan silliness.

My face fell rigid when I saw her face. I knew this girl, even if I didn't remember her name. She was one of the prettiest newcomers from the River clan and one of the few blondes among our people. No, not River clan; she's Mountain clan now.

A weight settled on my heart. "What happened?" I asked, facing the kappa mother.

The village elder shook her hand. With a moue of distaste, she held out her hand. Crumpled paper rested in her palm. Someone had brushed a prayer to the old gods on it. I recognized the brushwork; charms like these littered the land after an incident. "She tried to seal her." The slight emphasis on "she" left no ambiguity as to whom the mother talked about.

I drew in a quick breath. "Then-"

"I call you to your duty."

I nodded and fiddled with my hand axe. The metal head fell off the short handle and into my hand. My people had long treasured the scientific learning of the Dutch, but a few of us had adopted more from the ancient trades than just their learning. My family came from one of those septs, and followed laws that we had believed had been set down before time itself. The wounded woman resting on the ground before me was now kin, and my actions were now bound by those laws.

The crowd parted before me as I made my way to a pile of finished wood. I took a long pole, some three meters in length, and set my axe head on it. Voices murmured as I secured the axe head in place. No kappa man had put a long handle on an axe in anger for years. The spell card rules had erased the need.

I stood up and hefted the poleax in my hands. No longer a simple tool, I now held a weapon of war.

"She favors you," the mother said, whispering in my ear. "She wanted me to introduce her at the next festival."

My pulse quickened, but I fought it back. "I must focus on my duty now."

"And after?" the mother said, pursing her lips. She had her own duties, as no champion of my people could be allowed to remain unmarried for long.

"Pray to the Swift Sure Hand that there is an after," I whispered.

As I walked out of the village, I could feel the eyes of my people upon me. Many no doubt wondered whether or not I would return.

In truth, so did I.

I walked along the path to the remote shrine openly and without guile. My axe shone in the sunlight, unadorned by the leather bonds of peace. The shrinemaiden waited at the steps beneath her shrine's awning, sipping at a mug of tea. Lesser humans have run from a kappa under arms, but my foe was Reimu Hakurei, the lovely Shrinemaiden of Paradise. No doubt, in her mind, she had faced worse.

As I drew near, marching along the dirt road, she set her tea down. Standing and stretching, she said, "So your sisters couldn't handle their own business. Very well, how many spell cards?"

"None," I said, shaking my head. I could not indulge such foolishness; no man in Gensokyo would resort to the showiness of danmaku. There was no strength to it.

Her eyes narrowed as they settled on my poleax. Reaching for her tasseled prayer staff, she said, "You're a little short for an assassin."

I drove the butt of my poleax into the earth. "I am the Mountain clan kappa's kinsman-redeemer. I have come to call your actions to account."

She stepped back, staring incredulously at me. Charms appeared in her free hand. "For what?"

"You tried to seal away on of my kin. Her injuries cry for justice." My eyes bore into hers, yet she held my gaze. "'Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life.'"

"Eye for an eye makes the world go blind," she snapped.

I snarled at the old saw. Few people truly understood the old saying. "Eye for an eye is the only thing keeping my axe from taking your pretty little head," I snapped back. Rash words to be certain. I had not come to slay her, if it could be avoided.

"Is that so?" She raised an eyebrow and looked me over. I have had my measure taken by many a foe before, but this felt different.

"Punishment must fit the crime, or else there is no justice," I said. My body was as rigid as the poleax next to me. Nothing kept her from trying to seal me away at any moment.

A slight smile crossed her face. "She's a lucky woman to have someone like you stand up for her." The charms vanished from her hand. Setting her prayer staff down, she smoothed her skirts and sat on the edge of the steps. Patting the stone next to her, she said, "Come, set your weapon down and sit with me. With luck, we will have need of neither."

I sat next to her, resting my poleax on stone. Like Reimu, I kept my weapon in reach. However, if the conversation went sour, I'd rely on the knife at my belt instead.

The shrinemaiden stared at me, her gaze occasionally dropping to my hands. I might have come with honor, but it was obvious she was used to those that didn't. "Honestly, why have you come here?"

"Someone has to speak for those without a voice," I said. I looked her up and down. The Shrinemaiden of Paradise was known to be crafty and formidable. What surprise might she have hidden away?

"What do you think I do for my people?"

"Seal away mine," I answered quickly. "Do you think that the strong should do whatever they wish, leaving the weak to suffer?"

She tilted her head toward the side as we both pretended we weren't watch the other for signs of betrayal. "Odd words coming from a youkai. Isn't that exactly what you all believe?"

"I believe that you still have to answer for my kinswoman's injuries."

She sighed and started out to the horizon, for once taking her eyes away from me. "If your people would have left mine alone, I wouldn't have tried to seal her." Sadness crept into her voice. "It's the way of life here. You hurt one of mine, I hurt one of yours. Now you're on my doorstop ready to take this cycle another step further. Will there ever be an end?"

"Admitting your guilt is a start."

She turned back towards me with a wan smile. "So determined, unlike your sisters. I hope Marisa doesn't get her hands on you," Reimu said with a chuckle. She grew serious. "She will, if you persist with this cycle of retribution."

I shook my head. "I noticed you're willing to stop only after you yourself were threatened."

Reimu laughed freely. "Such confidence. Maybe I found something that interests me more. Your kind might be more than just an appetite on legs."

"You humans are so arrogant. You think that since you're a little lower than the angels, you are free to hunt us like animals. A little less pride, and maybe there wouldn't be enmity between us." As I spoke, I shot to my feet and towered over the shrinemaiden. The old slur against youkai fueled an ancient anger, one I could ill afford.

"Angels?" Reimu said, rolling the unfamiliar word on her tongue. She pointed at me with the hand closest to her staff. "You have Hidden depths."

"I seek justice for my kinswoman, not vengeance. If I can find peace between our races, make it so no one else gets hurt..." I trailed off. I sat again, staring down the same path I had earlier marched upon. An uneasy silence settled over the shrine.

"I could intercede with Kannon for her. Perhaps the goddess of compassion will restore her." This time, it was Reimu's turn to leap to her feet.

I shook my head. "My people would not stand for that."

"You said you wanted peace," Reimu said in a small voice. The shrinemaiden's eyes pleaded with mine.

"We've suffered under the false Maria," I whispered. Maria-Kannon had begun as a secret symbol of the Hidden, but quickly became a symbol of persecution and death.

Reimu winced and turned away, pink rushing through her cheeks. "I didn't mean-"

"You didn't know."

"I suspected-"

I held up my hand and the shrine maiden fell silent. "Let mercy triumph over judgment and think no more of it."

Reimu finally met my eyes. "Can mercy last in a land red in tooth and claw?"

"Perhaps that's where it's needed most." Instantly, I knew how to satisfy my duty. I stood up and held out my hand towards her. "Come with me and find out. See the pain you caused. Swear that you will not cause it again without need and receive our pledge to do the same. "

Reimu pursed her lips and looked me over once more. "Kappa, you have an odd sense of mercy and justice."

"Would you rather we tried to kill each other like the civilized people of Gensokyo?" I said lightly. For the first time since leaving the work camp, I risked a smile.

"I'll pass, thank you," Reimu said, giggling behind her flowing sleeve. The shrinemaiden drew near enough that I almost took a step back. Lifting her head towards mine, she said, "On one condition."

"I don't think-" I began. Immediately, my focus was drawn towards the shrinemaiden inches away.

"Have dinner with me."

I stood speechless, my mind caught in a whirling maelstrom of thought.

Reimu stepped to my side and wrapped her arm around mine. "Aren't you going to take me to your kinswoman?"

Her words shocked me out of my confusion. "Of course."

"Then it's a date," she said, beaming.

"Why?" I asked, uncertain as to what had just happened. We walked down the path away from the shrine.

"Isn't it the custom of your people to eat together after making a solemn agreement?" Reimu said. I answered with a nod. "You intrigue me, kappa. Not many men speak of the greater things. Fewer still are willing to stand up to me because of them."

"It was my duty," I said. "If not me, who else?"

"Now I really don't want Marisa to get her hands on you," she murmured. "You haven't given me your name."

"Tomasu."

"One of the Twelve. Hidden depths, indeed."

As we walked back to my village, chatting amicably beneath a setting sun, I wondered just how I was going to explain the girl on my arms to the village elders. After all, they expected me to bring her head.

For what we are about to receive, may we be grateful.

Author's notes:

Thanks go to Captain Vulcan, Mephiles666, Hunter97, and Wolfsbane706 for prereading. All mistakes are my own.

Thanks to everyone reading this for indulging one of my experimental moods. I will be focusing on my series again over the next few months.