Rumia still felt like her every move was being watched as she headed in the direction that the werewolf had told her, and it took a while until she reached another clearing.
This one was far larger than the previous one, and had a large, traditional-looking palace at the other side, surrounded by bamboo, so the only way in was the front door. It was a beautiful mansion, and has markings of rabbits on it.
Then, it vanished, and Rumia's head throbbed.
"Eientei is not accepting visitors." a voice said. "Be gone, or I will force you to leave."
"I'm looking... for..." Rumia began.
"It doesn't matter what you say! It's too risky to allow anyone in right now, and I've been commanded to defend Eientei. This is your final warning." the voice said, as Rumia's vision blurred, and her head throbbed again. She was sure she saw a pair of glowing red eyes.
Rumia held her head, and stepped towards where she saw the mansion. "Friend..." she grunted.
A large amount of danmaku then slammed into Rumia, sending her flying. Bullet-shaped bullets, like those that the moon rabbits used. Rumia's headache stopped, and her vision returned to normal, as she lay looking at the sky.
A rabbit stood over her, wearing a suit like the other lunar rabbits, with the same type of ears. Her eyes were blood-red, and had light-purple hair. Unlike the other rabbits, she didn't wear a suit, and only wore a shirt and tie instead, which made Rumia think she wasn't of the same group as the ones she saw before.
"Oh, you're still conscious. You're tougher than I expected. Not many can take a barrage like that when afflicted by my Lunatic Eyes." the rabbit said.
"I need to find..." Rumia began, before Reisen's eyes glowed.
"I'm not sure you want to make me angry. My eyes carry the ability to control waves. My personal favorite is brain waves, which ultimately boils down to inducing insanity, like looking at the 'True Moon' without the barriers over it does to people of Earth."
Rumia chuckled.
"I'm not sure you'd like my insane side. Been insane before. Didn't turn out well for Gensokyo."
"My madness is different, and can range all sorts of types. For example, I can also manipulate light waves and make you see things. Sound waves make you hear things."
Rumia sighed. This rabbit was one annoying foe. However, she noticed something. The rabbit had given away a critical flaw in her ability.
Rumia closed her eyes, and stood up.
How could the rabbit look into her eyes if they were closed, after all?
"Hmm? You think you can fight me without being able to see?" the rabbit asked.
"I'm fairly confident." Rumia said. "Especially when we're both under the same conditions."
Darkness flowed from Rumia, and within a second, the entire clearing was pitch black. While Rumia was confident the rabbit could see in the dark somewhat, she was also fairly confident that in complete darkness it would be hard.
Rumia focused, and stood still, focusing, listening.
A shower of bullets hit her, but she just stood her ground, and kept focusing. The sound of movement, and the angles of the bullets gave her an idea of the location.
The darkness youkai swung her hand in an arc, and a large amount of dark energy spheres formed in that area, like a prison. Rumia heard one explode, and instantly focused on that sound, focusing.
Then she pinpointed it. The rabbit's own Chi. She was far from mastering sensing Chi, and had to narrow down the area to an incredibly small one to do so, but she had 'locked on', and now she wouldn't lose it.
"Yin Sign: Speck of Light within Darkness!" Rumia called, before piercing her own darkness with a barrage of lasers. The spellcard was an oppressive one, with several small lasers boxing the rabbit in, and one, larger one, as an aimed laser, combined with several bright danmaku bullets.
"Wave Sign: Light Bending!" the rabbit called, before Rumia felt the magic of her spell being diverted, the very spellcard warped, or at least, the lasers which made up the bulk of it.
"Is that a bomb-type spellcard?" Rumia asked. Bomb-type spellcards were very rare to see, and only used by the most proficient in danmaku, as it was a spellcard that was concentrated and defensive, strong enough to blast a gap in enemy spellcards. Rumia knew Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Remilia and Sakuya had them, but didn't know anyone else.
"Yes." the rabbit said, sounding a little tired, as Rumia canceled her spellcard.
"Then we'll see how you deal with this one; Yin Sign..."
"Stop!" a voice called. Rumia felt the rabbit stop moving, so she opened her eyes, and released the darkness.
A woman dressed in a long, red and blue dress, with markings which seemed to match constellations was in the clearing. She had a red cross on her hat, the mark of a medic. She wielded a bow on her back, and had silver hair.
"Master!" the rabbit said.
"Reisen, she's clearly not a Lunarian. Did you even give her a chance to explain why she was here before you attacked?" the stranger said.
"I've never seen her before, she could be controlled by them or something. While my eyes were the strongest of the Lunar Rabbits, all of them carry enough of the moon's power to have some control over the mind, enough to be 'suggestive'." the rabbit, 'Reisen' said.
"Her mind isn't one that would succumb so easily. Do you not recall Aya's paper on the Makai and Rika incidents? This is the youkai who solved them, although she look a bit older now."
"Ah, I knew I felt something inside her when I was messing with her brain waves." Reisen said, before she asked, "Do you know how she knew where I was with her eyes closed?"
"She used her sense of hearing, while focusing her inner Chi, to narrow down the area you could have been. Then she boxed you in, to find the direction you were headed. Finally, she found your own inner Chi, and locked onto it. Why would you expect a Darkness youkai to be hampered by inability to see is beyond me, Reisen. Limiting yourself to what you know to be true is a flaw you will need to iron out." the stranger explained. Rumia was impressed. The stranger had managed to analyses and understand every part of her plan, and spoke as if it was elementary school knowledge.
The stranger turned to Rumia.
"Eirin Yagokoro. I am Reisen's teacher in the way of medicine and knowledge, creator of many medicines, including the Hourai Elixir, and a Lunarian Exile. I apologize for the actions of my student, we are currently on high alert due to... recent events that threaten the Princess." the woman said. You've probobly heard of me, I provide most of the medicine of Gensokyo, after all, viva the rabbits."
Rumia nodded.
"I'm Rumi.."
"I already figured that out. There is no need to waste time telling me what I already know, please." Eirin said, somewhat coldly. "I thought that would have been clear from me telling Udoge who you were."
"S-sorry." Rumia said, somewhat shocked by the rebuttal. "I'm looking for my friend. She's a karakasa who got caught up in a fight between Mokou and this 'Princess' you keep mentioning a few nights ago."
Eirin suddenly smiled warmly.
"So that umbrella was a Karakasa. It's the first time I've had a chance to have a close look at a Tsukumogami, especially one that's in a state of slumber, so I wasn't sure." Eirin said to herself, sounding excited. "There is a problem with this, however. After the Princess took the umbrella, it was heavily burnt and damaged. She liked it, however, so she fixed it, but it's shown no signs of life. It is entirely possible that the damage done to it during the fight was to much, and killed her."
"It's also entirely possible she's waiting for the right chance to surprise as many people as possible." Rumia said.
"Why's that?" Eirin asked.
"She's obsessed with surprising people. She claims it's her ability, but she's awful at it." Rumia said. "She loves to 'play dead' after a fight."
"Udoge, get the Princess and ask her to bring her umbrella." Eirin said, before Reisen ran off inside.
"You're on high alert because the rabbits rom the moon are looking for the Princess, aren't you?" Rumia asked Eirin.
"Yes. Yukari warned us. It seems someone assassinated the last of the Royal Family on the Moon, and since Kaguya's exile was never made public, instead they told the public Kaguya went to Earth to see it for herself, and to try and cleanse some of the 'impurities', she is the one in line for the throne now. Lunarian society and tradition is built around the Royal Family, even if they are only in fact a figurehead for the Lunarian Council, and have no power of their own." Eirin explained.
"So... the Princess gets to be a Queen? Why's that bad?" Rumia asked.
"Because she's grown to love Earth. Gensokyo. Eientei. The rabbits of Earth. She even has grown to see Mokou's vengeance as something to give her something to do. Put simply... she doesn't want to go back to the moon, especially as she knows she would just be a puppet of the Council, and her immortality could be discovered by the masses, which would cause chaos, and her exile again... except this time her name would be shamed across the entire moon." Eirin explained.
"This council sounds mean." Rumia said.
"When you have an infinite natural lifespan like the Lunarians do, you grow... accustomed to things. The only ways Lunarians can die is sickness or violence. Age means nothing. Upheaval in the way things are done to those who have lived extremely long lives is something that could lead to instability and chaos." Eirin explained. "That is why the Council wants Kaguya to return, regardless of her wishes. I fear this conflict may put Gensokyo in great danger, however, as if this continues much longer... my relatives and students will likely come. One of them commands the gods themselves, and the other can manipulate boundaries concerning the moon, to the degree even Yukari cannot get there except when the link between the Moon and Gensokyo is strongest."
"Yukari told me about the god person, but not the Moon-Yukari." Rumia said.
"She's not quite Yukari. She has a few boundries she can manipulate. She's like a specialized Yukari. She can manipulate far fewer boundaries, but this makes her stronger with those than Yukari is." Eirin said.
"Ah... now I see why Yukari is so worried." Rumia said, as Reisen came out of the palace, with another person by her.
The stranger was short, she looked no older than fifteen. She wore a pink shirt, covered with white bows, and a dark red skirt, which flowed behind her. Her long, black hair almost reached the ground. She looked like a Princess from ancient Japan. Four strange items floated around her. A red robe, a bowl, a shell, and a necklace. In her right hand she held a twig with rainbow gems growing from it, and in her left, she held the familiar eggplant-like umbrella. It was in perfect state, despite Eirin claiming it was badly damaged.
'What is she? A kleptomaniac with all those items around her?' Rumia though to herself, but bit her tongue.
"Princess, this youkai claims that umbrella is a Karakasa, and her friend." Eirin said.
The princess looked at the umbrella, and pouted.
"But I like this umbrella. It's not shown any signs of life either."
"How many eggplant-like umbrellas are there?" Rumia asked. "I'm pretty sure that's my freind. Oi, Kogasa, wake up." Rumia said.
The umbrella did not respond.
Eirin walked over to the umbrella in the princess' hand, and spoke to the princess.
"You know, Kaguya, if I could borrow the umbrella, I could quite easily do some tests on it that would find out if it is indeed a Karakasa. It would be painful to the spirit of the umbrella, very painful. It wouldn't be able to stay asleep..." Eirin's tone sounded dark, like that Rumia would expect from Rika plotting something. That of a mad scientist.
An eye appeared on the umbrella, looking right at Eirin, looking terrified. A mouth formed, and a tounge rolled out, before a figure materialized, with her hair messed up, in-between Eirin and Kaguya.
"Surprise!" she said, sounding un-energetic and sleepy.
"Uwwa!" Kaguya said, jumping back and dropping the umbrella, which floated back up.
"I've always wanted someone to like me as an umbrella! And you fixed me! And you were surprised! Yay! I like you!" Kogasa said, sounding weak stil, before she flew to Kaguya and glomped her.
"What." Reisen said, deadpan.
"I didn't expect the karakasa to behave like this." Eirin said, as Kogasa kept cuddling Kaguya. "It is indeed surprising."
"Kogasa..." Rumia said.
Kogasa got off Kaguya, and yawned again.
"Oh... hi Rumia. I kinda got beaten up and I'm all tired and weak right now." she said. "You don't mind if I go back to sleep, do you guys? While m umbrella's fixed, my spiritual self is still hurt, as the two are linked. I need to recover my spiritual energy..."
Kogasa looked really tired. Rumia noticed her red eye was hardly open as was the one on the umbrella.
"You don't mind me keeping her until she wakes up?" Kaguya said.
"I can probobly help her recover faster." Eirin said.
Rumia chuckled.
"Go ahead, she seemed to like being carried around anyway."
With that, Kogasa's avatar vanished, and the umbrella fell to the ground, the eye, mouth and tongue vanishing.
"Things like this are why I don't want to leave this place, Eirin." Kaguya said.
"I know." Eirin commented. "I know."