Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Touhou characters, settings or any other original material created by ZUN or any other affiliates. All Touhou copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Ch. 19: One person's trash

"Suika-sama! Suika-sama!" Tatara Kogasa shook an unconscious and limp Ibuki Suika by the shoulders. Kogasa then rounded on Nazrin with a glare, "Nazrin! What have you done? !"

"Me?" Nazrin pointed to herself in disbelief. "I didn't do anything! It was you that-"

"Suika-sama! Suika-sama!"

"-And… she isn't listening…" Nazrin sighed. She knew Kogasa was queer but… Nazrin watched as Kogasa set up her purple umbrella as shade, then pull Suika up so as to rest Suika's head on her own lap before proceeding to fan Suika's face vigorously with her hands to try to get ventilation going to revitalize Suika. Nazrin knelt down next to the duo, a little touched at Kogasa's devotion.

"Hey… you really love her don't you?" Nazrin asked Kogasa with a small smile.

"Love?" Kogasa stared at Nazrin innocently. "Um… I'm not too sure about that…"

"Oh come on, Kogasa" Nazrin grinned, shaking her head. "Is this about how you two aren't a couple and all that nonsense?" Nazrin crossed her arms. Kogasa is rather cute, Nazrin thought. Lucky Suika… "It's obvious from a third party, no, even a forth party's view," Nazrin held out four fingers to aid in her exaggeration, "That you're all lovely-dovey for her!"

"Huh?" Kogasa tilted her head in confusion. "Lovely… Dovey…? But… But I'm just her umbrella."

Nazrin froze mid-smile, perplexed at Kogasa's explanation. "Eh?"

"I'm her umbrella," Kogasa simply reiterated.

"O-Okay…" Nazrin scratched her head. This wasn't working. "Tell me," Nazrin changed tack, "What draws you to Suika so much?"

"She adopted me."

"What's so nice about Suika?" Tack changed again.

"She took me in."

"If you could choose one person to share the rest of your life with, who would that be?" One last try.

"Hmmm… Suika-sama, I guess."

"R-Really?" On to something! "Why?"

"She's been very nice to me as an owner so far," Kogasa blushed.

Nazrin stared at Kogasa. Kogasa stared at Nazrin. Nazrin confounded, Kogasa secure in her world view and place as a tool that simply required care and fair treatment.

"Ehhh… What do you exactly think of yourself, Kogasa?" Nazrin ventured one final time.

"I'm an umbrella," now Kogasa was starting to get confused over why Nazrin questioning her so much, asking obvious questions no less… "A lost umbrella I guess…" Kogasa said with a saddened expression. "Until I ran into Suika-sama!" Kogasa clasped her hands together and smiled warmly.

Nazrin kept staring at Kogasa, before momentarily frozen reason and logic kicked her mind back into action. "I uh… Never mind, I'm happy for you Kogasa," Nazrin muttered as she turned her attention to the unconscious Suika. "Congratulations on being owned once again," Nazrin fumbled about for her dowsing rods. Guess a youkai born out of an inanimate object would not really understand, huh? Nazrin thought.

Kogasa smiled a little unsurely at Nazrin's congratulations. She had not caught Nazrin's heavy sarcasm, but something else about what she had said made her feel as though she was missing out on something… or as if she did not understand about something. Something… important… However, the sight of Nazrin's dowsing rods interrupted her thoughts.

"Hah! This reminds me!" Kogasa asked a little sternly, "Why did you attack me and Suika-sama?" She embraced Suika's unconscious face protectively.

"Huh? O-Oh… um… Hang on a second," Nazrin held out her two dowsing rods. They were strange, L-shaped metal rods, their tips shaped like the letters representing the four cardinal directions. Grabbing the short ends of the rods, she held them loosely in her hands horizontal to the ground, their long ends parallel to each other. Almost instantaneously however, they converged towards Suika, as if pointing out to something.

"That's strange…" Nazrin mused to herself. "There's no mistake about it… It's pointing to her."

"To Suika-sama?"

"Yup. It's why I attacked you," Nazrin explained herself. "You see, these dowsing rods I have here," Nazrin gave her two rods a little shake, "Can detect treasure, high class treasure. You could almost say deva-level treasures. Like the Jeweled Pagoda of Bishamonten we have back in Myouren Temple."

"Oh! Has Shou-san lost it again, Nazrin?"

"Nah… I would kill her myself if she did, Kogasa," Nazrin said seriously. "Luckily, its kept locked in a safe-box kept in a safe, locked in a safe, off limits to everyone in a special vault, with the key kept in a safe," Nazrin said. "Byakuren-sama gave me the sole responsibility of looking after it!" Nazrin thumped her chest with pride.

"Oh… But then, what are you looking for?" Kogasa asked.

"Haaah…" Nazrin sighed, then rubbed the side of her face in preparation for an epic. "Let's see… Where do I begin…?"

Story start:

"Y-You see, Shou-sama had the task of delivering a high-level scripture on loan from our Myouren Temple to another within the region for their use and study, right?"

"Right… And she lost it along the way?"

"No, no. I was there with her the whole trip precisely to ensure that would not happen."

"Okay… so what then?"

"Then, we delivered it successfully…"

"Uh huh…"

"… And we also stayed there for the few nights it was there to help keep an eye on it."

"Right… and Shou-san somehow got it lost within that period?"

"Nope, we, meaning I, made sure it was always properly handled and stored."

"Okay…"

"Then it was time to return it, see?"

"And Shou-san lost it then?"

"Not yet, not yet. We were attacked by a youkai brigand along the way…"

"And Shou-san lost it then?"

"No, no, no, we actually used some of the spells in the scripture to beat them back. And anyway I was there the whole fight to make sure such a thing would not happen."

"Right…"

"Then, when we got back into Myouren temple…"

"Uh huh…"

"And Shou-sama needed to go to the toilet…"

"Yah…?"

"And I let her… let her out of my… m-my sight…"

"Oh no…"

"And then I realized… We hadn't placed the scripture back in the library yet!"

"Oh no she didn't…"

"And then… Then! She lost it!"

"Oh dear…" Kogasa clasped her mouth with her hand. This was even worse than how she became lost.

"She lost it, Kogasa!" Nazrin was going into shock at the memory of the awful event. "Two whole WEEKS of vigilance… And she loses it in a toilet back in OUR HOME!" Nazrin was rocking back and forth on the verge of tears.

"Don't cry, Nazrin, don't cry!" Kogasa placed a kind hand on Nazrin's shoulder.

"Yah, don't…" Suika quipped weakly from Kogasa's lap, "It's just that it sucks to be you. End of story."

"Ah! S-Suika-sama!" Kogasa leapt in surprise as Suika sat up weakly. "Suika-sama, you're okay!" Kogasa proceeded to perform a very up-close and personal health check on a resisting Suika's body, patting her down on her back and feeling the temperature of her forehead.

"Thanks, you drunken jerk…" Nazrin frowned at Suika's sympathy. "You know…" Nazrin added thoughtfully as she observed Kogasa fretting over the wellness of her owner, "I just don't get how someone like you can get someone so nice like Kogasa to recognize you as her master."

"Oh yeah?" Suika smiled cheekily, wise-crack prepared. "I guess that makes the two of you who have undeserving mast-"

"Don't insult Suika-sama!" Kogasa immediately and without hesitation jumped to Suika's defence.

"Uh… O-Okay, sorry…" Nazrin startled. I guess I was wrong… Suika is much more undeserving than I thought… "Oh, by the way…" Nazrin got herself back on track, "Do you happen to carry any treasures with you, Suika? Although that's highly unlikely…" Nazrin asked with a slight sneer.

"Oh, you mean this?" Suika held out her gourd.

"Huh? A gourd- Wah!" Nazrin nearly dropped her dowsing rods out of surprise as the two started dancing and coming to life. "Woah… That's… quite the strong reading. Wh-What is that gourd anway?" Nazrin looked at it with newfound amazement.

"Here, have a look!" Suika callously tossed the gourd, before Nazrin caught it and immediately cradled it with the gentlest of care, the kind afforded to priceless artefacts, her face filled with a mixture of wonder at the gourd and incredulity at the way Suika had handled an object that gave off such strong "treasure" vibes.

"This… I know this…!" Nazrin's wonderment increased several more levels as she slowly recognized Suika's gourd, "It's the fabled 'Unlimited Gourd of Sake', isn't it? ! Wow… WOW…" Nazrin began to hyperventilate as her fetish over treasures was being force-fed.

"Yup, nice huh?" Suika smirked with pride. Kogasa looked on with great envy at the object that commanded so much of her dearest master's attention.

"Wow…" Nazrin stared on for a few more moments, before hurriedly returning the object back to its rightful owner. "W-Well… Guess it isn't so good of me to hang on to such a thing, huh? I-I mean… I'm an underling to a disciple of Bishamonten, and such an object of plenty tempts over-indulgence so…" Nazrin's fingers twitched reflexively towards the gourd, "B-But, still, it's a rather precious treasure…"

"Well thank you very much!" Suika smiled at Nazrin's compliments as she hooked back the gourd onto her belt. "It's my number one possession!" Suika patted it happily. Kogasa's eyes widened and both red and blue eyes shined with murderous jealousy, her grip on her umbrella tightening.

"Well then, shall we get a move on?" Nazrin motioned to Suika, much more warmly and with much more respect. "Myouren's temple is just up ahead." Nazrin gave the surrounding forest a sad look, "Too bad I didn't manage to find the scripture today… Byakuren-sama is going to be really disappointed… But guests come first! So this way, please!" Nazrin stood up and took the lead.

"Sure, why not! Come on Kogasa!" Suika got up to follow Nazrin, but then noticed Kogasa still seated, head down, eyes staring blankly at the ground.

"Kogasa… I said come on!" Suika walked up to Kogasa. "Hey… You okay?" Suika pursed her lips and held out a hand. "Come on, get up! I can't just leave you here, can I?"

"Eh…" Kogasa brightened up a bit at Suika's last line. "Th-Thanks, Suika-sama," she smiled a little as she gripped Suika's hand and allowed herself to be pulled up.

"Oh… enough with addressing me as 'Suika-sama' already…" Suika frowned, blushing a little. "Just call me 'Suika'! All my friends call me that!" Suika grinned.

"B-But-"

"I'm your 'Suika-sama', right?" Suika asked, "So… call me 'Suika'! That's an order!" Suika said in jest.

"O-Okay… S-Suika…" Kogasa smiled a bit more, and followed Suika by her hand as the two and Nazrin headed towards Myouren's temple.

But… Kogasa's smile diminished once more. The hand that Suika-sama was holding her own hand with now… It was the same hand that handled that damned gourd…