Songs of the Illusionary Veil: Kiss of the Spider Woman
A Touhou Project story by Achariyth
Her tea had that pleasant copper tang she craved, although only that cocky vampire waif in that impossible mansion would agree with Yamame Kurodani's taste. Her human form didn't eliminate the spideress's thirst for blood, just diluted it. She could appreciate the rice and vegetables common throughout the Village, but the needs of her spider nature eventually won out. A cup of her special blend with every meal sated her thirst. Doubly so, if Yamame could suck it down through a straw, just like the gods intended. It kept the humans' spears away.
Yamame loved a good fight more than that Kirisame witch. But when the humans brought out the spears, they were no longer interested in a good fight, just slaughter. Other beings accepted their place in the food chain, but only humans insisted that it didn't apply to them. And they made convincing arguments with a multitude of sharp points.
She placed her teacup down on a carved rock table. It had come as a shock to her that the surface peoples didn't like her. It was personal, fiercer than the general mistrust aimed at her people. At first, she didn't understand why. Yamame was just as outgoing and spirited as any of the darlings on the surface. Like them, she had a host of suitors waiting for the first sign that she might be willing to marry. But they didn't have her power.
Even among civilized folks, the gift to tell whether that animal the village was about to dine on was just sickly or going to make everyone sick was highly sought after. If Yamame's ability had only been limited to such, the surface people would have likely overlooked her...oddities. Maybe her people could have lived freely on the surface, instead of sneaking out at night to do the odd construction job. But her gift had proven to be broader than food inspection.
The door to the rock cell opened. Yamame winced as reflected sunlight stung her eyes. Her native form was nowhere near as sensitive to minor changes in brightness.
"Miss Kurodani?" A young spiderling still too young to wear the brown dress of an adult poked her blonde head into the cell. "You have a visitor."
"Send them in," Yamame said. She pulled herself out of her comfortable web-backed chair.
The spiderling paled and stammered. "She's on the surface."
"A human?" The spideress raised an eyebrow. The spiderling nodded vigorously. Yamame rolled her eyes and whispered to herself, "Not another one."
"I'm afraid so."
"Didn't you shoo her away?" The spiderling turned white and stammered. Yamame rolled her eyes and slurped down the last of her tea. She hadn't asked the spiderling to duel Reimu. "Just take me to our guest."
For once, it wasn't a village girl that loitered in front of the sinkhole that served as the mouth to earth spider dens. Yamame hated dealing with the steady trickle of jilted lovers seeking the "Kiss of the Spider Woman" for rivals and cheating cads. Part of her was disgusted that they thought such vile plagues were her kisses. After all, she was acclaimed as one of the best kissers in the Underground. But Yamame couldn't send them home with so much as an itch. Her people had been driven underground for less. It was better to make them wait until impatience and the cares of life drove them away.
However, the well-dressed woman with the scarlet-fringed shawl waited patiently among the chaparral brush that lined the sinkhole. Her eyes followed Yamame as the spideress skittered along a network of hidden nooks and spyholes hidden inside the mouth of the sinkhole. Not even the tengu with their keen eyes and sharp noses could find a spider in that earthwork maze. Yamame chewed on her lip and reached out with her power. Her eyes grew wide. The woman outside was free from all infections, even the symbiotic ones that aided in digestion, unlike every other beast, youkai, or human.
Yamame settled in her tight bolt hole hewn out of polished rock and glanced over her shoulder. Spiderlings and guards filled every spyhole behind her. Eyes, compound and human, flickered between her and the scarlet-shawled woman, watching, waiting, weighing.
Bowing her head, Yamame asked Grandmother Spider, creator of the world, for Her blessing and wisdom. A serene peace that matched the visitor's poise filled the spideress, and Yamame stepped out to face her visitor.
The serene woman pressed both hands against her heart and bowed. "Pax tecum." Peace be to you. "Are you the Pale Horse of the Spider clans?"
"I am a spider." Yamame's lips turned in a childish moue.
"I am Iku Nagae, servant of Heaven, emissary of the Dragon Palace, and chatelaine for the Hinanawi clan. Please don't be afraid."
"I'm not afraid, although I might be insulted. What's a Pale Horse?"
"'And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.'"
"I'm not a shinigami." Yamame crossed her arms and palmed a spellcard. "Yep, pretty sure I'm offended."
Iku bowed again, her shawl rippling in the breeze. "I prefer the poetic whenever possible. It lends a gravitas that Pestilence and Plague Bearer lack."
Yamame winced as each title as though she had been slapped. "What do the honored clouds want of me?" Iku froze and stared at Yamame. The spideress sighed. "I mean Heaven. My people believe that the honored dead become clouds."
The heavenly messenger cleared her throat. "I should spend more time among the beasts and the fishes than among humans. Please relax; I'm here for personal reasons."
"You could have fooled me with all those titles."
"It's a habit picked up from the humans." Iku shook her head and wrapped her shawl tight around her shoulders. "I never understood why the Pancreator made such troublesome folk."
"Grandmother Spider is prone to whimsy." A ghost of a smile flashed across Yamame's lips. "Mine, however, has just about run out." She turned her back on Iku. A score of spiders ducked into their holes.
"I can give your people the sky again."
Yamame's breath caught in her throat. Eyes wide, she spun around. "How? Driving us underground was practically the only time humans and youkai agreed on anything."
Back in times ancient to humans but still in the living memory of the earth spider clans, Yamame's people had been indiscriminate on what they preyed on until their name grew synonymous with every highwayman and bandit that waylaid people throughout Japan. The Emishi had joined with the tengu and a confederation of youkai tribes and drove the spiders into hiding. It had been cold comfort when Grandmother Spider had allowed Heian samurai led by the Fujiwara to mete out justice in kind upon her children's oppressors, since the misunderstanding at Rendai field soon after had dashed the spiders' hopes of living once more under the open sky. Yamame hoped that when Grandmother Spider next wove on the Web of Life, her people would enjoy the sky once more.
"You'd be surprised what a word in the right shrinemaiden's ear can do." Iku's voice boomed throughout the sinkhole. Her shawl billowed in the breeze, unfurling behind her like scarlet wings.
"I wouldn't trust in Reimu's goodwill," Yamame muttered. She massaged her shoulder. The quick smiting shrinemaiden hadn't needed to attack her the day that Okuu had gone mad with power; Yamame had only asked Reimu to join in the Underground's feast, not be it.
Iku hid her laughter behind a span of scarlet fringe. "I was thinking of Sanae, actually. Her ear is inclined towards the heavens instead of money. But before we can appeal to the Moriya priestess's goodwill, I need yours."
Yamame cast a look over her shoulder. One blonde spiderling was slow in diving into her hole. "You've got to convince me, not them."
The heavenly emissary's poise never wavered. "'Be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.'"
"What do you want, Madame Sea Serpent?"
For once, Iku's placid mask cracked. "I fear that the Eldest Daughter of the Hinanawi has once again proven to be indiscreet."
"I was wondering who had leveled the Hakurei Shrine yet again." Yamame tapped a finger against her lips and smiled.
Iku bowed her head and stepped closer. "It is worse than that." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "The Eldest Daughter's confidence exceeds her common sense. Why else would she spar with an oni? Now that oni has taken residence in the Eldest Daughter's heavenly manor. Do you have any idea what revelries that demon inflicts on the serene peace of the Dragon Palace?"
"Yes." Yamame's smile widened and she fiddled with one of the metal buttons that lined the front of her jumper. Her eyes grew distant as she remembered dancing to the thunder of the taiko drums, showered in sake and kisses. She shook her head and fixed a wan smile to her lips. Iku was still talking.
"…holly, salt, silver, even soya. We tried it all. But the oni just laughs each away." Iku's shoulders slumped. "And Lord Nai is about to return." Iku paled and, for a moment, only the rippling of her scarf in the wind could be heard.
Yamame cleared her throat. "Shouldn't you be talking to a shrinemaiden?"
Iku shook her head. "The matter requires subtlety to remain a secret from Lord Nai."
Yamame bit back a sigh. No matter who tried to buy her cooperation, they always danced around their requests. "What's the job?"
"The oni has returned to Gensokyo to pack her belongings before she moves in for good. I need a month to strengthen the defenses of the Dragon Palace in secret to repel her."
"I don't fight oni."
"I'm sure a skilled Pale Horse like yourself could keep an oni bedridden for months. Perhaps with influenza. Cowpox?"
Yamame shook her head. She knew this trick. If she considered the challenge, even for a moment, she would be suckered into the job. "My people have treaties with the oni bands under the mountain. Grandmother Spider doesn't look kindly upon oathbreakers. The oni would finish the job the Emishi started."
"Your people will be protected."
"By who? You're asking me to do what you can't."
"For the sake of your people." Iku's voice projected across the field. "Think of the sun and the sky."
"My people will live underneath the honored clouds again." Yamame turned so that her voice carried throughout the sinkhole that led to her home. "But we will do so by Grandmother Spider's blessing and our own efforts, not through fox tricks and tanuki treachery."
Iku opened her mouth to speak, but froze. She cocked her head, as if listening to a faraway voice. The envoy bowed low, debasing herself beyond a mere supplicant. "I will leave you to work out your people's salvation." She stood up. A paper charm similar to the good luck charms of the Tanabata festival dangled from her fingers. "If you change your mind, tie this to the fairy shrine in the forest. Your reward will not change."
Yamame swiped the charm from Iku's hand. "May the blessings of Grandmother Spider be with you."
"May you find peace as well." Iku's shawl billowed behind her. The wind caught it like a sail. One heartbeat later, Yamame stood alone.
"That was stranger than expected." The charm hung from her hand and twirled. Yamame held it up in front of her eyes. A single eel-like character from an unknown script decorated the charm. Whoever inked it had a graceful touch with the calligraphy brush finer than even Reimu's florid hand. She watched the paper spin in the sun until a spiderling's quieted cry fixed her attention beyond the heavenly charm.
Two lines of earth spiders crowded the entrance of their underground home. Burly construction spiders stood with their arms around their wives while spiderlings clung to their parents. Yamame quailed under her people's thin-lipped stares. For the first time in her life, she felt like a fly caught in a web.
Three weeks later, under the light of the noonday sun, Yamame led a pair of spiderlings by hand through the human village's main street.