Chapter 17: Reimu (II)

"W... why are you two here...!?" Reimu said, dumbfounded as she stood staring at the two surprising guests that had just strolled through the front door of her shrine.

Watatsuki no Yorihime, who Reimu had met on the moon during Remilia's lunar invasion plan, and her older sister Toyohime, stood near the doorway of the shrine. The two surveyed the room briefly, momentarily ignoring Reimu's question. Yorihime bore a serious expression, whereas her sister seemed more inattentive than anything else. After a moment's consideration, Yorihime turned back to address Reimu, and gave the shrine maiden a faint smile. "I guess you would be surprised to see us. It's not every day someone from the Lunar Capital comes down to Earth."

"For good reason, I'd say," Toyohime added, in a mockingly sweet tone. "I can't imagine that anyone would willingly come down to this mud ball without good reason."

Reimu had met Toyohime once before, shortly after she'd helped to clear Yorihime's name, following their battle on the moon. She knew full well how smug and self-assured the Lunarians could be; she'd spent nearly a full month in the capital after Remilia and the others returned to Gensokyo, during which time Reimu had basically been quarantined away from any self-respecting member of Lunarian society. She was as glad to leave the capital as the Lunarians were glad to be rid of her, although Yorihime had expressed her condolences toward Reimu for the harsh treatment she'd received. During their first meeting, Toyohime struck Reimu as rather kind, though not without a bit of that same patronizing nature that all of the other Lunarians had displayed. Now that she was actually on the Earth's surface, and inside Reimu's shrine, Toyohime did little to hide her disgust.

Yorihime sighed, and gave her sister a reproachful glance. "Try not to take Toyohime's words to heart. This visit was forced upon us... rather suddenly." Yorihime paused, choosing her words carefully. "The situation in the capital has been a bit uncertain in these past few days."

Reimu opened her mouth to question Yorihime about this, but the Lunarian raised her hand to keep the unvoiced question silent. Reimu hesitated, and then squashed the inquiry back down. Let the moon keep its secrets, Reimu thought. She had a feeling that she would find out eventually, anyway.

"We won't be here long, anyway. Probably no more than a week," Toyohime said. She was smiling, but it did little to hide her disgust as she surveyed the shrine. "We're staying at Eientei with our teacher. I actually feel a little bit bad that any living creature, even ones so steeped in sin, should be subjected to such... piteous living environments. I thought one who was blessed by Mugen, as my sister is, would have some semblance of class. I suppose I was wrong."

"If you don't like my shrine, you could always just leave," Reimu spat out in response, not bothering to hide her irritation with the same sort of false friendliness that Toyohime had donned. The elder sibling's expression flinched slightly, but she gave no indication of her inner thoughts. "You never really answered my question, anyway. Why are the two of you here?"

"We heard some troubling news from Miss Yagokoro last month," Yorihime said, before Toyohime could answer the question herself. Reimu was glad for that, at least. Although she'd lost her battle with Yorihime on the moon, and there was no love lost between her and the other citizens of the lunar capital, Reimu possessed a good deal of respect for her. Far better than the lousy impression Toyohime had, and continued to make. "She told us about a youkai that almost destroyed Gensokyo. And the apparent death of..." Yorihime stalled again, as though stopping herself from saying too much. "... I believe she said it was a moon goddess named Selena, right?" Yorihime looked back at her sister for confirmation, and Toyohime nodded.

"You mean Rumia?" Reimu was surprised that news from Gensokyo would reach as far as the lunar capital; even for something as dramatic as the Rumia incident. But then she took note of what Yorihime said about Selena. "W... wait a second, I never told Eirin about Selena! How'd she find out Selena was dead!?"

The two Lunarians looked at each other once again, and Toyohime shrugged. "She didn't say anything about how she found out in her letter. Only that she knew for a fact that Selena was dead, and has been for over a thousand years," Yorihime continued. "We asked her about it when we arrived last night, but she wouldn't tell us any more than she already had. She said it wasn't important, anyway, only that she thought we ought to know. It was this supposed darkness youkai that was the more pressing concern."

"We heard about that even before Miss Yagokoro's letter arrived," Toyohime added on where her sister had left off. "Yorihime had already been planning to come down even before her letter, but she used that as an excuse to drag me down to this filthy place too."

"At any rate..." Yorihime fixed her sister with another disapproving look, and then returned her gaze to Reimu. "...We were hoping to get the full story from you. Miss Yagokoro said that she was not directly involved in what happened, and I would like to know if this... Rumia, is going to be a continuous problem."

"Is it really such a big deal that the moon needs to get involved? It's not like Rumia's flying around the capital, murdering Lunarians or anything." Although, Reimu thought, rather unkindly, a little terror from Rumia might do them some good. Reimu remembered how Rumia had been able to move freely into the shadows, and wondered if it was possible for Rumia to slip all the way into the darkness of the moon. If she couldn't, Kana's Void abilities probably could take them to the moon.

"Even if she tried I doubt it would matter. If she ever stepped foot in the capital, I assure you we'd dispose of Rumia rather promptly." Reimu groaned. Toyohime smiled at Reimu again. "Do you think we couldn't?"

"I actually think you have no idea what you'd be dealing with if Rumia ever did attack the moon," Reimu responded flatly. Toyohime's expression darkened somewhat, and she was clearly irritated by Reimu's doubts. "It took five of the strongest people in Gensokyo to finally take Rumia down at the end. And I still feel like she let us win."

"If I remember correctly... there were four of you fighting against my sister, when you lot invaded our home. And she wiped the floor with each of you, without even breaking a sweat, didn't she?" Toyohime smirked. Yorihime raised her hand to cover her face, as though embarrassed by her sister's bragging.

"Ugh, that's... not the point! We all fought Yorihime one-on-one, using Gensokyo's spell card rules. She beat us fair and square, I'll admit that. Yorihime is definitely stronger than I am." Reimu didn't really feel any shame in admitting that. For all of her skill at spell card battles, she couldn't deny that there were plenty of individuals in Gensokyo that outclassed her in raw power. "But Rumia doesn't fight fair. I've seen her murder her opponent's loved ones just to antagonize them, and to make them act irrationally!"

Yorihime seemed to show a good bit of shock at this, but Toyohime was unfazed. "Well, that honestly just sounds like the tactics of a weak, cowardly youkai. Even if Rumia is more powerful than the majority of creatures on Earth, she's still nothing compared to the people of the moon."

Reimu threw her arms up in frustration, and let out another loud groan. "Just... forget it! Rumia isn't going to be a problem! I haven't seen her in months anyway. Even if she's still around, it's not like Rumia's going to show up on the moon for no good reason."

"No, of course not." Toyohime smiled again. She was hiding something, but Reimu could not hope to figure out what it was. There was more to this little visit of theirs than just checking up on Rumia, Reimu was sure of it. Even if Rumia had wiped out Gensokyo in its entirety, Reimu still didn't think that the Lunarians would ever care to check up on the situation under normal circumstances. "But since you have been making such a big deal about this Rumia," Toyohime continued, "I suppose we can't call our job finished until we've seen her for ourselves."

"Sister, I hardly think that's neces-" Yorihime began, before she was cut off by Toyohime.

"You're the one who insisted that I come along, weren't you? So you should be glad that at least one of us wants to do a thorough job of our inspection down here."

"And just what are you supposed to be inspecting, in the first place? This whole Rumia incident?" Reimu asked. Everything about this situation bothered her. The Lunarians had never shown any interest in Gensokyo before. They had never even made any attempts to capture Kaguya and Eirin, who she knew were once fugitives from the moon. The Watatsuki sisters both knew that their former teacher lived in Gensokyo, so surely there were other Lunarians who were aware of this. How else would word of Rumia's attack have gotten to the lunar capital, if not from Eirin herself? Or, if perhaps the Lunarians had been spying on them the entire time, they certainly would have known that Kaguya and Eirin were living publicly in Gensokyo. "Did something happen on the moon that you aren't telling me?"

There was no change in Yorihime's expression, but Toyohime flashed the shrine maiden a particularly harsh look. "Even if something had happened in the capital, I surely wouldn't tell you. Now, why don't you be useful, and tell us where we can find Rumia?"

"I don't know why I should tell you, when you're the one who won't give me any decent reason to tell you anything. Other than your stupid Lunarian superiority." Toyohime was quickly reaching her boiling point, and Reimu could see it. She knew that the two sisters both outclassed her in terms of raw strength, and that speaking so brashly toward Toyohime was probably a terrible idea. But since when had Reimu ever done anything other than barge in and attack her problems head-on, anyway?

"I could wipe you and your shrine off the face of the Earth in an instant if I wanted to."

"Sister, don't-"

"Oh, all of you, cut your bullshit," echoed Rumia's familiar voice from the shadows. There was a pulse of dark energy that pushed Reimu and Toyohime a step back from each other, and then Rumia materialized between them, standing atop the head of Reimu's shadow. In one arm, Rumia held a small girl in a plain white dress with her blonde hair done up in twintails. The girl stared silently back at Reimu with red eyes that were as bright as Rumia's. In her other hand, Rumia grasped the arm of another girl, who was taller than the first, and with gradient red-yellow hair, and darker red eyes. The second girl immediately wrenched her arm free of Rumia's grasp, and began to dart around the shrine with a wide grin on her face. Rumia shot the girl a disapproving look, before turning her attention back toward Reimu and Toyohime. "You're both pathetic losers. Now, there. I solved your stupid little squabble, just like that."

Toyohime stood looking baffled by the woman's sudden appearance. Of course, she didn't know who she was looking at. Reimu was similarly shocked, but for an entirely different reason. She looked first at the young girl cradled in Rumia's arm, and then at the other who was excitedly looking around the shrine. "Kana had twins!?"

Rumia looked at Reimu, at first surprised that she was unaware of this. Then she remembered that, of course, neither she nor Kana had really made any appearances in Gensokyo since Kana had gone into labor at the shrine. Rumia grinned, and then set the girl in her arms down on the floor. Immediately, the girl clung to Rumia's leg, and hid behind her mother, staring up at Reimu through the one eye that wasn't hidden behind Rumia. "Yeah, she did. It just never crossed my mind to bother telling anyone." Rumia placed a hand against the head of the girl clinging to her leg, and rustled her hair gently. The girl smiled, and then finally took a step out from behind Rumia. "This one here's Lydia, the younger twin."

"And I'm Adele~!" the second girl announced, before she ran up beside Reimu. "You're Reimu, right? Adele asked. "Mom told us how she kicked your ass when you guys fought! ... You know, this place is a lot less dumpy-looking than I was expecting from what mom said."

Reimu was taken aback by Adele's... well, admittedly some sort of backhanded compliment, and she was a bit too stunned to comment on it. It wouldn't have mattered either way, because Toyohime had finally recovered from her own stupor, and was eager to voice her own concerns. "And just who are these three supposed to be?"

"The oldest one is Rumia," Reimu answered. Rumia turned her head back toward the Lunarian sisters, and grinned her typical smirk full of razor sharp teeth. "These other two are... her daughters, apparently."

"We never heard anything about Rumia having children," Yorihime said, with some noted concern in her voice. "If she nearly destroyed Gensokyo, as you claim, don't you think this was something important that you should have mentioned?"

"It's not like either of you have told me anything important." Yorihime immediately closed her mouth. To Reimu's surprise, she actually almost looked ashamed. Whatever was going on, it was clear that she wanted to tell Reimu, but for whatever reason, could not. "Besides, Eirin was the one who helped deliver the twins, right?" Reimu looked toward Rumia, who nodded in agreement. "I'm surprised she didn't mention it in her letter. I didn't even know she'd had twins until just now."

"So I take it these idiots are from the moon," Rumia interjected, before either of the Watatsuki sisters could continue. "For all the stories I've heard, I was expecting something far more intimidating."

"You're one to talk," Toyohime responded. "You don't look any different from the typical youkai scum of the Earth, and I doubt there's anything more powerful down here than Yukari Yakumo, who I've already defeated."

"You might want to watch yourself, if you really think Yukari is the most powerful youkai on Earth." Rumia's grin widened. Lydia tugged at her mother's skirt, drawing the darkness youkai's attention away from the Lunarians. She gave her daughter a gentler smile, and lifted her back up into her arms, where she'd been when the three had appeared in the shrine in the first place. "You must have been one of the Lunarians who routed Yukari's little invasion, way back in the day. Am I right?"

"Almost single-handedly, in fact!" Toyohime was practically brimming with pride. "My sister and I rose through the ranks and became the leaders of the Lunar Defense Corps after the Lunar War. I even defeated Yukari personally before she slunk back to the Earth like the mangy dog she is."

"The youkai back then must have been pretty weak, huh? I could probably kill both of you with my hands tied behind my back." The two Lunarians, Toyohime in particular, both took Rumia's comment as quite the insult. Toyohime even reached a hand down toward the fan that hung loosely from her belt.

"Hey! Don't go starting fights in my shrine again!" Reimu panicked, and immediately jumped between Rumia and Toyohime. She fixed Rumia with a stern look, and the darkness youkai seemed to relax.

"Oh don't worry, I didn't come here to pick fights with Lunarian idiots." Rumia stuck her tongue out at Toyohime, rather childishly. "I'm just here showing my daughters around Gensokyo."

"I can't believe you two are actually from the moon!" Adele suddenly said, before she flew excitedly between Yorihime and Toyohime. "Is it any different on the moon? Do you play any cool games up there? Hey, do you think I could see your sword?" Adele was firing off questions more quickly than either of the sisters could hope to answer them, and at her last, she'd begun to reach toward the sword sheathed at Yorihime's hip.

"No, you can't touch my sword," Yorihime told the young girl, before taking a step back. Adele seemed disappointed, but she didn't push the subject. "Yes, I'd say the Lunar capital is quite different from Gensokyo. Although, I suppose the Outside World has developed in a similar fashion. All of the Lunarians live in one large city on the moon's surface, isolated from the rest of the barren landscape of the moon by a powerful border, much like the one that separates Gensokyo from the Outside World."

"That sounds kind of like Makai! We don't actually live in Gensokyo, but in Makai, most of the demons live in one big city surrounding a giant fortress! But we live pretty far off from everyone else. Mom says she likes her privacy, so she made sure no one can find our house. It's a place no one really visits, but mom said it's the part of Makai where-"

"It's not a secret if you go around telling everyone, Adele. So keep your mouth shut." Adele glanced back at Rumia, and then shrugged her shoulders in a 'whoops~' sort of gesture. "The cities in the Outside World are probably larger than the Lunar Capital, anyway. Last I heard, there were really only a few thousand Lunarians left, since I heard the lot of you almost never have kids."

"Life and death are just another form of the corruption on Earth," Toyohime answered. "The capital exists in a state of purity and eternity. We do not die, and to give birth would threaten the continued purity of our society, the same way that dying would."

"Except you can still be killed, whether it's through combat, or just some form of accident." Toyohime's expression remained unchanged when Rumia pointed this out, but Reimu could guess that it was not something she'd wanted to be reminded of. "Face it, your whole society is eventually going to die off some day. Even if you do live forever, you're all going to die one way or another if you all just sit on your fucking space rock. I bet anything that there are probably less than half the same number of Lunarians alive up there than there were when you founded your extravagant little city."

"My sister and I were among the Lunarians born after the capital was founded. Lord Tsukiyomi purified the moon and its inhabitants several years after he led us to the moon to escape the corruption of Earth," Yorihime explained. She looked at her sister, who was clearly too irritable by now to give any sort of calm explanation, and then continued. "I don't know how many of us there were back then. But there were enough of us born after we were taken to the moon that the Lunarians would be able to sustain themselves. Although, there hasn't been a child born in the capital for over five hundred years."

"Well, whatever. Unless you're just using medicine or something else to keep yourselves sterile, I'd say you're missing out." Rumia grinned, and nudged Toyohime's arm with her elbow. "I could drag you both off to Reimu's bedroom if you want, show you what sex on Earth is like.~"

"Don't touch me!" Toyohime immediately recoiled from Rumia's touch, and fixed both her and Lydia with a look of utter disgust.

"And don't try seducing people in my shrine!" Reimu added, with equal revulsion.

"Lighten up, Reimu. As if I'd really waste my time on a pair of stuck up moon bitches."

"You are a vulgar, repulsive creature, even by Earth standards! I'd be doing both of our worlds a favor by destroying you right here!" Toyohime shouted her threats, and Rumia merely laughed them off. Rumia's complete disregard of her only added fuel to the fire burning beneath the woman's surface. "The fact that you were allowed to even breed is an even bigger insult! Those filthy little abominations you call daughters are the only thing on this planet even more foul than you yourself!"

Rumia's expression darkened, and the laughter had vanished from her features. Lydia buried her face against Rumia's chest and muttered something that Reimu couldn't hear. Even if Lydia had spoken more clearly, Reimu didn't think she would have been able to pay it much attention, anyway. Her focus was on the shadows, which begun to fluctuate rapidly on the floor; particularly around Rumia and Lydia. It wasn't like the usual sharp focus that Rumia applied to most of her attacks, but rather, it seemed to be reacting based purely on emotion. Reimu realized that she had yet to actually ask Rumia what Lydia or Adele's abilities actually were.

"I really don't give a shit what you say about me, you ignorant bitch. But you will not threaten my daughters." Rumia swung her free hand outward, and a wave of dark energy pushed Toyohime backwards, against the wall of the shrine. The Lunarian woman slammed against the wall with a cry of surprise, and then slumped down to her knees, shocked that Rumia had even managed to hurt her so suddenly. "You're nothing more than a fucking glorified human with a god complex."

Floating near Yorihime, Adele cheered. "Yeah, go mom! Kick her ass!" Yorihime, meanwhile, didn't even know how to react.

"How dare you attack me! And then you insult me!" Toyohime screamed. Her right hand darted for the fan at her hip. "I'll wipe you off the face of the Earth!" Toyohime opened the fan, and made ready to swing it in Rumia's direction. Yorihime screamed at her sister to stop, but her words fell on deaf ears. Neither Reimu nor Rumia knew what to expect, but it was too late for either of them to react accordingly.

If not for the shadows that rose to shield them, Rumia and Lydia would both likely have been obliterated in an instant. The wall of the shrine behind them, however, had not been quite so fortunate. The wave of destruction that blew forth from Toyohime's fan eradicated a hole in the back wall of the shrine on a molecular level, leaving a vaguely Rumia-shaped portion of the wall in its center unharmed. The walls of shadow that appeared to protect Rumia and her daughter rose in waves, each rising to replace the decimated remains of the previous barrier that eventually fell to Toyohime's attack, until finally, a jagged spear of darkness impaled itself through Toyohime's hand, causing her to drop the fan to the floor.

Rumia stood in place with a stunned look that led Reimu to believe that she hadn't been the one to call the shadows to protect herself. Rumia glanced down at Lydia, and then back at Toyohime. Lydia muttered against Rumia's chest again, just barely audible amidst the silence that had fallen over the shrine. "Don't hurt my mommy,'" she said, and repeated quietly several times. The shadows surrounding her and Rumia began to fluctuate once again, although not as violently as before.

"What the... hell just happened...?" Reimu said, barely aware that she was talking at all, and not just thinking to herself.

"Toyohime...! You could've destroyed the entire shrine!" Yorihime shouted at her sister. She was torn between trying to reprimand Toyohime, and jumping to her aid when she saw Rumia beginning to approach the downed Lunarian. The whole situation had gotten so out of hand that she didn't know what to do.

"You... you injured me..." Toyohime muttered, as she stared at her bloodied right hand, which was still impaled by the darkness rising from the floor. Her fan was still within reach, and she extended her left hand toward it.

"Don't even try." Rumia slammed her boot down on Toyohime's hand, and the Lunarian let out a pained cry. The youkai woman set Lydia back down on the floor beside her, and then reached to pick up Toyohime's dropped weapon. Lydia gave Toyohime a concerned look, and then clung to Rumia's leg again. Rumia inspected the fan, which was actually an advanced Lunarian weapon, and then glared back down at Toyohime. "Whatever that attack was, I highly doubt it was all your own power that caused it. This must be some kind of weapon, right?" When Toyohime refused to answer Rumia's question, she proceeded to grind her boot against the woman's hand, breaking several of her fingers in the process.

"Yes, it is," Yorihime answered, for Toyohime's sake. She stepped beside Rumia, with one hand clutched around the base of her sword. She had not drawn the blade, but the threat was clear. Yorihime took once glance down at Lydia, and made eye contact briefly with the young girl, and then noticed that the shadows had begun to fluctuate more rapidly. She released her sword, and then took a step away from Rumia and Lydia. "You won't be able to use it. That weapon is special Lunarian technology; only Toyohime would be able to use it."

"I see. Whatever, it's not like I wanted it in the first place." Rumia grinned down at Toyohime, and then surrounded the fan with her darkness. The shadows pulled apart at the Lunarian weapon, and broke it to pieces, until it was little more than fading flecks of darkness in the air. "You might have actually been able to kill me with that thing, you know. It's too bad you'll never get another shot at it. Even if you do come back with another one."

"I don't need weapons to kill you," Toyohime spat out at Rumia. "I could send you to the vacuum of space and leave you to die, or into the core of the sun to burn to nothing in an instant."

"If you could I think you would've already done it." Rumia removed the shadow that pierced Toyohime's hand, and then lifted her boot from the other hand, but not before kicking the Lunarian square in the jaw on the way up. Toyohime crashed back to the floor with her mouth bloodied, and groaning in pain. "The only reason you're even still alive, moon bitch, is because I don't want to kill you in front of my daughter. But if I ever see you again, I will destroy you."

Toyohime scrambled to her feet, and stared back at Rumia. It wasn't quite fear in her eyes, but humiliation. And beneath that, fiery defiance. Her hands trembled in pain; one of them bleeding heavily, and the other with numerous broken fingers. Toyohime took one look over at Yorihime, and then proceeded to storm out of the shrine. "We're leaving, sister."

"Toyohime, wait-" Yorihime tried to stop her sister, but she was out of the shrine before anything could be done about it. Yorihime sighed, and then turned back toward Reimu and Rumia. "I apologize for my sister's behavior. We've both been under a lot of stress lately, though I can't tell you why."

"Even if that's true... Rumia, you shouldn't been gone antagonizing her like that." Reimu frowned at the other two, and then looked back at the ruined wall of her shrine. "This is the second time you've been involved in the near destruction of my home."

"I said I didn't want to fight her. And she was the one who threatened my daughters." Rumia gently placed her hand on Lydia's head, causing the young girl to smile up at her mother. The fluctuating shadows in the room began to calm themselves, until only Lydia's shadow showed any sign of life.

Yorihime looked first at Reimu, and then back at Rumia and Lydia. She met Lydia's gaze, and the young girl's smile faded into an expression of shy apprehension. Yorihime sighed again, and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "Toyohime went too far. Rumia is right. I don't like you, Rumia. You're arrogant, and vulgar, like my sister said. But you acted in your daughter's defense, rather than to attack Toyohime. So I will not hold any grudge against you for this."

Yorihime bowed respectfully at Reimu, and then turned to leave the shrine. She stopped halfway out the door, and then turned her head back to address the shrine maiden one last time. "I'll make sure that your shrine is repaired before I return to the capital. It was... nice seeing you again, Reimu." With that out of the way, Yorihime left the shrine, trying to catch up with her sister, who had almost certainly returned to Eientei to have her wounds treated.

With both of the Watatsukis gone, Adele burst into a new fit of laughter, and drifted over toward her mother. "That was awesome, mom! You sure showed those moon bitches who's boss!"

"Watch your fucking mouth, Adele," Rumia said, without any real conviction.

"You aren't exactly setting a great example there, Rumia," Reimu said. Rumia grinned back at her, now much more at ease with the Lunarian sisters gone. "Don't look so happy. You still got involved in another fight in my shrine, even if it was with Toyohime!"

"Don't give me that shit. You would've started a fight with her yourself if I hadn't shown up." Reimu didn't respond. She couldn't exactly argue the point, because Rumia was probably right. Toyohime, it seemed, had been looking to pick a fight with someone right from the start. Rumia was just the one that had finally sparked the tension waiting to explode from within her.

"So, those were the two that thwarted Yukari's stupid invasion, huh? To be perfectly honest, I was at least expecting something better than that," Rumia grunted out. "Looks to me like all she could do was rely on her stupid fan to do anything. Any moron can go buy a weapon. Even if it is some bullshit advanced moon technology. Doesn't make her anything fuckin' special."

"I don't know much about Toyohime personally, but... I've seen her sister's power firsthand, you know. She was one of the most powerful opponents I've ever encountered. Maybe not as dangerous as you, but..."

"I'm flattered.~"

"Don't let it get to your head. I don't care what you told your kids, but you still got your ass kicked in Makai." Adele snickered at Reimu's response. "But Yorihime has the same abilities I do. She can call on the powers of the gods, only she has a lot more skill with it than I do."

"Then maybe you should ask her for training, Reimu.~" Rumia dropped down to a sitting position beside the small table in the room's center. Lydia came up beside Rumia, and sat by her side. "Maybe if you got good, you might actually be able to put up a fight against me. Sure, I might have lost in Makai. But you did have... what, four other people helping you? Plus those two that stayed behind to fight Kana? And let's face it. If I wasn't so concerned with intercepting that bitch Lilith, I probably would've destroyed all five of you."

"I don't really want to find that out." Reimu looked at both of Rumia's daughters. The two were looking at each other, and Adele was laughing quietly to herself at something Reimu couldn't understand. When Reimu looked at Lydia, the young girl turned to meet the shrine maiden's gaze. After a moment of hesitation, Lydia smiled up at her. Reimu was surprised; Lydia at least didn't seem to harbor any of Rumia's sadistic nature, if her quiet and shy demeanor was any indication. Reimu smiled back at Lydia, and sat down opposite her and Rumia. "I'm hoping that by now, you've put all of that violent stupidity behind you. At least for your daughters' sake, if nothing else."

"What's it matter, anyway? None of you could stop me if I really wanted to. There's no fun in it if there's no challenge." Rumia brushed her hand against Lydia's hair, and smiled. "You've got nothing to worry about."

Lydia giggled, and nestled herself comfortably against her mother's side. Adele drifted down from the air, and sat atop the table not far from Rumia, and let out an overly dramatic yawn. "Hey mom, I'm gettin' bored. Don't ya know any places more interesting than this?"

"You got to see me humiliate some loser from the moon. What the hell else do you want, a fucking parade?"

"Do they have those here!?" Rumia groaned, and rolled her eyes. "Well, if they don't, why don't we go visit more places, huh? Like that mansion, or maybe Shinki's place! You know, somewhere a little flashier, maybe?"

"Yes, fine. We'll go to the mansion next." Adele cheered with enthusiasm, and hopped off the table to sit beside Lydia. She grinned in silence as she nudged Lydia on the shoulder, and her sister giggled in response to some unknown joke between them.

"You know, Rumia, I meant to ask," Reimu began, watching Lydia and Adele with some curiosity, "do you actually know what sorts of abilities those two have? Because, when you were fighting Toyohime... I got the impression that you weren't the one that used the shadows to defend yourself."

Rumia took one look down at Lydia, who was too engaged in her silent conversations with Adele to pay her mother any mind, and then frowned slightly. "Yeah, that was Lydia. I don't think she really controls them consciously, but I guess she can probably control nearby shadows. Not to the extent I can, but still." Rumia paused in thought, and then continued, "Oh, and I'm pretty sure she can reanimate the dead."

"She... controls the dead?" Reimu shuddered with revulsion. The only other instance of raising the dead she'd encountered before had been between Seiga and Yoshika, and she didn't really condone the idea of creating undead servants very much. It just screamed villainous intentions. "How did you figure that one out?"

"I brought a live human from the outside world home for dinner one day, and then I killed it." Rumia described her act of abduction and murder just as casually as any person would about going to the store to buy milk or bread, which was really just as disturbing as the act itself to Reimu. "Lydia didn't take it too well, so I told her I'd just kill them before I brought them home. She tried bringing the corpse back to life, but it was basically just a mindless zombie by that point. So we just ate it anyway."

"... Lovely." Reimu could have said any number of things to reprimand Rumia at that moment, not the least of which was promoting the idea of eating humans to her daughters, but what would be the point in arguing over it anyway? The outside world wasn't Reimu's concern to begin with, so she figured she could overlook Rumia's actions, just as long as she didn't cause any more trouble.

"As for Adele, I doubt she actually has any of my abilities anyway," Rumia continued. "She takes more after Kana."

"I can use Void magic!" Adele proclaimed, rather proudly. "And I can bring inanimate objects to life."

If there's anything more dangerous than Rumia's abilities, Reimu thought to herself, it's Kana's control over the Void. I'll have to keep a close eye on these two. Adele struck Reimu as rather unpredictable. She was energetic, but not particularly malicious, like Kana. Then again, she was still a child. Lydia, on the other hand... for as quiet as she was, Reimu didn't know what to make of that one. Although she clearly hadn't responded positively toward Rumia's fight with Toyohime, or having some poor human murdered in front of her, so perhaps Lydia wouldn't be as troublesome.

"Just as long as you two don't go around Gensokyo causing trouble like your parents did, I don't care," Reimu said, finally. "I have no problem sending either of you crying back to Makai to your mom if I catch you hurting anyone, or stirring up incidents."

"You could try.~" Adele responded defiantly.

Rumia merely grinned. "If either of them are being little shits, they'd probably deserve it anyway. But if you decided to harm one of my daughters without good reason, Reimu, well... Let's just say, in either scenario, someone is going to be on the receiving end of a second beating."

Rumia looped her arm around Lydia's waist, and hoisted her up to her shoulder as she stood back up. "I'd say I've taught my daughters well enough for them to know what would happen if they ever did anything stupid, like attacking Gensokyo for no good reason. So unless all of us, Kana included, decided to wipe you all out, I should say there won't be any more problems. Satisfied?"

Reimu sighed. "Yes, fine. I'm not worried. Lydia and Adele both seem like decent kids to me." Reimu just hoped they would stay that way, and not grow up to be more like Rumia.

"Perfect," Rumia said. She reached out with her free arm, and seized Adele's wrist. "Come on kid, were leaving."

"Bye bye, Reimu.~" Adele waved back at Reimu with a wide grin across her face. "Come on Lydia, you gotta say somethin' too!"

Lydia smiled shyly, and gave the shrine maiden a small wave. "Bye Reimu," Lydia said; the only words she'd spoken out loud toward anyone other than Rumia during her entire visit to the shrine. A moment later, all three of them, Rumia and her daughters, vanished into the shadows.

Reimu felt more relieved than she'd expected to, especially after that brief spat between Rumia and Toyohime. When she'd first heard that Rumia was having a child, she'd expected much worse. Her satisfaction of having met the twins, and realizing that her fears had been largely for nothing, had almost caused her to forget her newfound worries about the secrets that Yorihime and her sister had been so clearly hiding. They sank to the back of her mind, dormant but not completely forgotten. Those concerns would not surface again until the Lunarians would try to purify Gensokyo for repopulation some months later.