I tells ya peoples, reviews mean much faster update time, think of it as faith for Kanako, more = better. Sorry for the delay, I had originally thought this chapter wouldn't take as long, but the wait is appreciated. They motivate a writer like nothing else, and I really do appreciate them. Anyways, this next chapter should really make the arc apparent. Enjoy the read~
The two wandering youkai were lost, completely and utterly lost.
"And you told me I had no idea where I was going," Kogasa pouted as she twirled through the mists aimlessly. "Shut it!" Kyouko barked, attempting to look through the mist to no avail. "Can't find any light, just got attacked by some idiot fairy, getting lost here..."Kyouko seemed to list her complaints, before Kogasa saw her, and suggested, "Why don't we try flying up, once we get out, it'd only be a matter of finding our way again, wouldn't it."
"...""..."
An awkward silence hung between the two, as Kogasa's point had touched Kyouko's common sense, but had failed to convince the Yamabiko's youkai pride. It had taken a minute, but Kyouko's common sense had won out.
"Fine," she said, "Let's try it." "Ok~! Let's go Kyouko!" Kogasa yelled as she took hold of Kyouko's hand and flew in what she thought was up.
"What are you –Gah!" Kyouko yelled out as she was hit by a few stray flecks of Kogasa's Umbrella's spit. The two flew for several seconds, before Kyouko questioned, "What's taking so long? It shouldn't take so long just to go above these mists should it?" "Don't worry about it!" Kogasa beamed, "We should be getting there soon! Aah! "The two, instead of flying upwards like they had initially thought, headed down towards the surface of the lake, and had just flown right into it.
A wet slap could be heard across the lake as Karakasa and Yamabiko alike flew into the water. "Kyouko! Help me! I can't swim!" Kogasa yelled out as she sputtered for air. "What! Oh, Byakuren help me, stay there!" Kyouko yelled as she began to swim towards Kogasa, who was flailing about to try to stay afloat. "Calm down Kogasa," Kyouko said soothingly to Kogasa as she cradled her in her small arms. "Kyouko," Kogasa started in between shallow sobs, "Thank you..."
A slight blush came across the Yamabiko's face as she looked down at Kogasa's own, drenched in water not entirely from the lake, red, puffy eyes with one red, and another blue iris.
"My, my, what have we here~?" A new voice chimed in, completely breaking the atmosphere between the two. "Huh?!" both Kogasa and Kyouko cried in unison, as they both turned to look at she who dared kill their moment.
A woman's torso was visible above the water; she had short, slightly curly deep blue hair, and her eyes shone with mischief. "Wh- who are you?!" Kyouko managed to sputter as the woman's arrival had only caused Kogasa to cling onto her shirt. "My name is Wakasagihime," the woman responded coolly, taking in the sight of the two youkai. "And what, if I may ask, are you two doing flying into the Misty Lake at this hour? Even the fairies aren't up yet, and the only one that is, is that idiot that thinks she is the strongest after the Black-white took pity on her and let her win."
"Um..." The blush returned on the yamabiko's face, but this time, from embarrassment. "We got lost!" Kogasa said cheerfully as she stopped clinging to Kyouko and merely floated with one arm of the Yamabiko. "We fought Cirno earlier, and after Dai-chan showed up and made the whole thing weird, we left and ended up lost. Then we tried flying up but ended up flying into the lake by accident, and here we are now~" Kogasa finished with a smile.
"Ah, I see," Wakasagihime said, the majority of the mischief in her eyes having vanished, but a small glimmer remained, "Well, that changes things, how about I lead you to the nearest human?" She offered, the moment having passed. "The nearest human...?" Kyouko mumbled to herself, before thinking 'She probably means the human village,' "Well, I'm up for it, how about you Kyouko?" Kogasa said cheerfully, never relinquishing her grasp on Kyouko.
"Try not to fall behind, lovebirds, I haven't all morning~" Wakasagihime said with a wink as she began swimming towards the west.
"What? WE ARE NOT A COUPLE!" Kyouko sped after Wakasagihime with Kogasa and her umbrella in tow, the latter in the air while the former was being dragged across the water.
A few minutes had passed, before Wakasagihime came to a stop. "This is as far as I go without flying, the human is in that direction," She said, waving an arm to the west, "Farewell young couple~" The light of mischief in her eyes was visible as she leaped into the air and dived into the water, her tail flapping about slightly as she made her way in.
"...""...Gensokyo has a mermaid?"
Less than a minute had passed before Kogasa and Kyouko, or rather, Kogasa riding on Kyouko, had reached land. "Gasp...gasp, what does Byakuren feed you?!" Kyouko cried as she lied on her back in an attempt to catch her breath. "A Karakasa's stomach is full when someone near them is surprised~" Kogasa said with a smile as she shook herself in an attempt to free herself of any excess water. "Never mind that," Kyouko said, getting up to find the Human Village, but only finding a large, daunting red brick building, surrounded on all sides by A large wall.
Windows were spread few and far in between, and a large ornate balcony stood out from the front of the building. At the center of the wall stood a large, Iron Gate, and in front of the gate, slept a tall, red-haired woman. She leaned against the wall, her hat, decorated with a large golden star sporting an odd character, just barely covered her eyes, her arms were crossed in front of her, and she wore a long green Chinese style dress, which had slits at the side of the legs, showing a pair of white pants.
"Do you think that's that one lady that Marisa calls China?" Kogasa whispered to Kyouko, who was startled by the Karakasa's sudden appearance. "Kogasa!" Kyouko hissed, "Don't surprise me like that!" Kogasa seemed to become slightly inflated, her normally slender frame become ever so slightly less so. "Anyways," Kogasa said, her eyes showing signs of excitement, "Let's see if we can get in! I hear from Marisa that there's all kinds of valuable stuff inside, maybe I can find an old umbrella!" Kogasa nearly squealed with excitement after thinking of the prospect of having an umbrella, especially one that was old.
"We'll get in trouble! You know how Marisa is!" Kyouko whispered, but her words were lost on the Karakasa, who was already making her way as quietly as she could, towards the gate. 'It just had to be me' Kyouko thought to herself as she silently followed Kogasa.
The two had made their way to the gate, and the gate guard was still sleeping, light snoring was evident as the two were very close to her. "Kyouko," Kogasa whispered. "What?" Kyouko said nervously as she readied herself for flight, "Let's go in," Kogasa whispered as she made to take a step, before a green bullet flew and hit where her foot would have been.
"And just where do you think you're going?" the gatekeeper called out, a serious tone in her voice. "I don't think inside is what you want to hear," Kogasa said nervously, "I guess I'm heading...somewhere in Gensokyo...?"
"Nice try," the Red-headed gatekeeper said, slowly lifting her head to look at the pair of youkai intruders, "Now, what are you two trying to do, breaking into the mansion of my mistress?"
"Hey, look China lady, we" Kyouko started, before several more bullets of different colors whizzed by her head.
"MY NAME IS HONG MEILING!" Meiling roared as she jumped up to attack Kyouko, but Kogasa swung her umbrella at the charging gatekeeper, cutting her short a few inches of Kyouko. "Wah, Kyouko! What'd you do now?" Kogasa cried as she flew up to avoid several multi-colored bullets headed in her direction.
"She assisted you in breaking in, and called me China!" Meiling yelled angrily as she flew up to catch the karakasa, now let's see how well you deal with my danmaku! Flower Sign [Selanginella 9]!" Danmaku spread throughout the area, forcing both Kyouko and Kogasa to evade. The pair's slender figures gave them an easier time with dodging, but the area coverage of the bullets made it so that no place was safe. "Kyouko! It's time to strike back!" Kogasa yelled as she twirled in between bullets.
The two began to attack Meiling from opposite directions, causing the gatekeeper's focus to falter, and breaking the spellcard. "Hah, so you two are better than I had thought!" Meiling said as she regarded her two opponents, looking them over carefully, as she pulled out another spellcard, "But you two won't last long against the wall of the Scarlet Devil Mansion! Rainbow Sign [Wind Chime of Colorful Rain]!" Meiling yelled out, spreading danmaku all over them area, causing the Kogasa and Kyouko to group together.
"The pattern is really easy to see..." Kogasa said as she flew in between the gaps of Meiling's danmaku, Kyouko however, was struggling to go in between the gaps. "How do you dodge so easily?!" The Yamabiko cried as she narrowly grazed several bullets, "I have lots of practice with Sanae! She likes to exterminate me for some reason, so I practice my dodging with her, but she always wins..." Kogasa yelled back as.
The two continued swerving in the spellcards colorful danmaku, causing it to time out. "Hah, you two are good with danmaku, but are you good with hand to hand combat?!" Meiling yelled as she flew to punch Kyouko, leaving a trail of danmaku behind her. "Kyan!" Kyouko yelled as she attempted to fly away from the gatekeeper, causing the Gatekeeper to chase her around in a circle. "I should probably stop this..." Kogasa thought as three fairies who were flying by stopped to look at the spectacle.
"I told you Sunny!" the blonde fairy said, "There was something weird going on with Cirno earlier!" "She's right, you know," the brunette said, "Cirno did seem like she was shot down, and I think we've found the culprit~" "Ah, shut it you two!" the last, light red haired one said, " It doesn't matter who was right, so long as we found who it was that beat Cirno!"
The three then configured themselves so that they were in an awkward little pose, and then declared, "We are the Three Fairies of Light! Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire!" Kogasa had a look of confusion on her face "...And what does this have to do with me?"
The trio of fairies almost collapsed, before the black haired fae, Star said, "Hey look! China's not at the gate! We can get in!" The other two nearly fell over each other as they flew away towards the Mansion.
"...did I just imagine that?" Kogasa wondered. Kyouko was still in orbit with Meiling, and the two were showing no signs of tiring.
"Kogasa, help me!" Kyouko yelled as she completed another lap. "Where would you be without me~?" Kogasa said as she pulled out a spellcard of her own, declaring "Umbrella Sign [One Legged Return Hit!" unleashing a barrage of focused fire on Meiling, who took the full brunt of the attack.
"Hah, I'm not done yet!" Meiling yelled, pulling out her final spellcard, "Colorful Sign [Extreme Color Typhoon]!" Meiling declared, shooting a hurricane of danmaku at the two youkai. The two swerved back and forth in an attempt to dodge, but the multicolored bullets were flying everywhere, and the two were just barely avoiding the attack. "Kogasa!" Kyouko yelled out as she flew towards the karakasa, "Get behind me! Great Voice [Charged Yahoo]!" A large sphere flew forth, capturing many of Meiling's bullets, as well as Kyouko's own, before shooting them all at Meiling, who was to slow to dodge her own attack.
"Hah," Kyouko panted as she flew down towards the slightly smoking gatekeeper, Kogasa with her. "What was that all about!?" The Yamabiko yelled, confused at Meiling's actions, "I thought you were going to harm the mistress," Meiling said, having recovered, looking down at her shoes. "Just for that, I'm going in to find your mistress and tell her about this!" Kyouko yelled angrily, stepping through the gate into the Mansion, Kogasa following her.
Sanae was lost, the miasma of the forest taking its toll on her. "I think Marisa lives around here, but how...?" Sanae wondered to herself as she stumbled through the brush, before seeing a clearing, and in that clearing was a white, two story house, pristine, and almost glowing in the light that was missing from the forest. "I wonder who lives there..."