Oh boy, a Touhou fanfic. Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time that I ended up doing something like this. Anyway, that being said I hope as things go on this fic grows into something that everyone likes. I've been meaning to make something akin to this for a while now and after reading numerous touhou related fics I couldn't contain myself any longer. That being said, Enjoy.

John Graham awoke on a dirt road. He had no idea what he was doing here. He spent a few minutes gathering his senses before taking a cursory glance around. He had no idea how he'd come to be where he was. The last thing he remembered was playing his favorite MMO Final Fantasy XIV and then the next thing he knew...he's here...well wherever 'here' was anyway. Looking to his side, he saw that his backpack was placed next to him.

"What's that doing here...?" He said to himself as he peered inside it. Inside lay his gaming laptop, and mouse, the normal things he'd use for gaming on the go whenever he had to leave his home for some reason, usually to go to conventions or when he was visiting family and had enough of dealing with them for the day. Among all of that was a note with beautiful handwriting that had merely two lines of text on it.

Welcome to Gensokyo

Check your left wrist

"My left wrist...?" John muttered looking at it...only to see that a bracelet was clasped around it, and while he'd never been a fan of gaudy jewelry; the stones that were embedded caused his jaw to drop. Sitting there was an exact likeness of the ninja job stone from Final Fantasy XIV. He never owned anything like this before, still it was a cool little trinket to have, after fiddling with it a bit, he'd found that all thirteen job stones were present. At least that was fitting for him, since he'd maxed every job to 60 (Which took a hell of a long time), another cool little feature was that the bracelet could rotate so that the other stones would then be facing up. It sort of reminded him of that old show Ben 10.

Looking around, he couldn't help but smile to himself; no one was around so he didn't have to worry about looking like a weirdo...which probably didn't change that he was probably going to look like a weirdo regardless.

"Alright..." he murmured rotating the bracelet to whitish-blue color with an etching of a shield on it belonging to the Paladin job "Let's go, Paladin!" He exclaimed loudly with his arm raised into the sky, before he could bring his arm down he was engulfed in a bright light before he was covered head to toe in armor instead of the jeans and black shirt he'd been wearing.

"Holy shit..." He muttered inspecting himself. This thing was the real deal...he had Curtana saddled on his right hip and the Holy Shield was on his back as well.

"I sure hope this isn't the item level 90 equipment and not my actual set up..." he said still in disbelief, while he'd leveled all classes to 60, he'd made sure to keep all the armor from each job's promotional artwork for future glamouring purposes .

"Huh...I wonder. Okay, let's try...ninja!" once more John was engulfed in a bright light, this time instead of wearing armor, he was now wearing the iconic purple and black Ninja outfit. Two daggers attached to hips.

"Not bad...but I feel like being knightly, so back to Paladin!"

Once more he was wearing the Paladin armor, and deciding to grab his backpack, and began heading down the path that lay out before him. Really, he had no idea where he was going, but it was midday and given the chill outside, he was sure it was winter too, so he needed to find somewhere to stay before night fell, and he was not much of an outdoorsman, even with the new abilities at his disposal.

After 2 hours of walking, John found himself outside of what appeared to be a rather large wall, two guards stood atop the gates peering down at him. Both had their hands on the hilts of their swords in case things got dangerous.

"Hold it, who are you?" Asked one of the guards

Okay, time to play this up like I would in the game... John thought

"Worry not; I am but a mere adventurer seeking refuge for the night within your walls! I hope that is alright with you!"

The guards looked at him for a few minutes with raised eyebrows "Where are you from...?" One of the guards asked

"Well...I'm from America really, but uh...where is here exactly?"

"This is the human village within Gensokyo...I don't know what an America is, but...you seem to be telling the truth. Welcome, but don't let us hear about you causing any problems you got that, or you'll be in trouble!"

"Understood!" John replied with a smile as the gates opened. Once inside, he couldn't help but marvel at the village. It looked exactly like a Japanese village he'd see in an anime or a probably more accurate description would be Okami, the village was every bit as beautiful looking as the ones in that game. As he walked along, numerous inhabitants looked at him with curiosity. Some openly pointed, while others whispered some things he couldn't make out. He didn't care all that much though and continued strutting along, taking in all the sights around him. Really, he probably should have been more concerned that he was in a Japanese related place and far away from home, but with the new revelations of the day, he couldn't bring himself to worry...until he felt his stomach rumble.

This wasn't good.

"Do I...have any money?" he murmured to himself. This Paladin outfit didn't have any pockets on it, so there was only one way to check.

"How the hell do I go back to my normal self? Okay uh...John Graham!"

Nothing.

"Er...Commoner?"

Nothing again.

He was starting to attract looks now and that wasn't good.

"Crap...okay, uh...return?"

That did it. As per usual, a white glow enveloped him and he was back to his normal casual attire, though a lot of villagers were giving him more looks, some of pure shock...John figured it'd be best to move on before someone called the town guard on him. He...really didn't need or want that to happen.

Moving along, he felt inside his pockets. Nothing in there...well except for his cellphone, good thing he had that as his one-time password for XIV was on there, but besides that he was flat broke...wonderful. His stomach once more rumbled, and after talking to some locals he was able to find a ramen shop. The problem here is...he had no freaking money. So he was standing there in front of shop thinking...

"Alright so...if this were XIV, how would this play out..." He murmured, usually he'd talk to the owner and somehow get a nice little quest with the reward being food...he REALLY hoped that that's how things would go for him, taking a deep breath he stepped inside.

The ramen shop wasn't bad looking. It was nice and homely looking and there weren't many patrons in at the moment. Most were off in a singular corner that had a few spots to sit, there was a set of bar stools one could sit at to enjoy their food while making casual chatter with the proprietor of the place.

Speaking of, he was right there wiping the counter down. As John went to sit down, the man behind the counter gave him a welcoming smile. "Hey there friend...what can I do for you?"

"Well..." John started "I know this may sound strange, but I don't have any money, I was wondering if I could do something for you in exchange for a meal...?"

Please let this work...

"No money huh...so you're saying you wanna do a favor for me in return for some grub then?"

"If that's alright with you yes." Johh replied

The shop owner rubbed his chin for a moment; contemplating the offer "I suppose I can take you up on your offer. I'll even give you the food first as a sign of good will."

Stepping back towards the kitchen, the owner got to work whipping up a bowl of warm ramen, once finished he placed the bowl and a pair of chopsticks down next to him causing John to sigh. "No forks huh?"

"None sorry, now about what you could do for me: My son likes to play outside the village walls. Not too far away mind you, but still it's unsettling. He keeps talking about some youkai lady who tries to scare him."

"Youkai...? A type of monster?" John asked, his eyes wide with glee

"That's right, now from what I've heard this youkai is good with kids, or rather many children seem fond of her but...it's still a monster you know? I just want my son to be safe. It'll be nightfall soon and a lot of dangerous youkai come out around then, can you go get my son for me, he should be near the northern exit of the village. He's been staying out much later than normal and I don't want him gettin' eaten."

John nodded understandingly, and went to work on his ramen. It was pretty good, much better than the packaged stuff he'd eat at home. Being a post college wage-slave was something that made it difficult to go out and get actually decent food for dinner. Once he was finished his food, he set out of the ramen shop, his bag on his back. Just like before, people were still staring at him as if he were a walking freak show or something (and to some degree he was). After reaching the northern gates of the village and the guards hearing his reasons for heading out so close to nightfall, John began his trek looking around for the shop owner's son, which thankfully didn't take too long, as after about a 15 minute walk he found a small boy...who was cowering in fear as a girl with a large purple umbrella that had a tongue protruding from it along with a single eye loomed over top of him, a smile on her face. No doubt about it, that's the youkai he was told about.

"Guess it's time to get to work!" John said psyching himself up...this was going to be his first actual fight; He had to keep the child safe, so for that reason he figured it'd be good to go in as a tank. He once again transformed into his Paladin armor and began rushing towards the two of them.

BAM

"Gwuaaaaaah~" The girl cried as she was knocked back by the shield bash John had just performed on her.

"You alright kid?" He asked...only for the child to completely ignore him and rush to the female's side, he brushed her light blue hair to the side as he checked on her face before turning on John with an angry look.

"Hey what did you do that for?!"

John was taken aback by this; he was fully expecting to be thanked or something, just like in his game, not berated, especially not by a kid who was probably only 9 years old at best.

"Uh...wasn't she attacking you or something...?"

"She wasn't attacking me, I'm her coach!"

"...Coach?" John repeated completely bewildered

The child smiled proudly at John, "That's right; I'm training her to be the scariest youkai in all of Gensokyo, go on and go away already!"

"Huh..." John said to himself taking that all in. "Well then, I'm sorry Miss...?"

"Kogasa Tatara..." The turquoise haired girl groaned while she rubbed her face to try and numb the pain

"Well, the ramen shop owner sent me to get his son; he said he was concerned about his him being out so close to sundown with a youkai girl."

At these words, Kogasa's eyes become rather saddened. "I told you this would happen." She said to the child, "I told you your family wouldn't like this and I sort of agree with him, being out so close to nightfall isn't good."

"Don't worry about my dad Kogasa, he's just being stupid! Now let's get back to practicing."

Kogasa sighed "No, it would probably be better I leave, it is getting late after all."

With that the umbrella bearing girl floated into the sky before flying off

"Wait, come on, just wait a second Kogasa!" the child shouted as he ran after her, causing John to panic

"H-hey, don't run off, it's almost night time!" The boy didn't listen as he rushed off, which made John nervous as the sun was slowly dipping below the horizon. He had no choice but to chase after the two of them and hopefully get the kid back before anything bad happened.

Needless to say, something bad happened.

After chasing after the kid for who knew how long, he finally caught up with both him and Kogasa. The sun was completely down now...perfect.

"Why'd you follow me? It's dangerous at night!" Kogasa chided, she'd landed after the boy clearly wasn't going to leave her alone

"But...the training..."

"I'm thankful, really I am, but this won't work out. If you keep coming to train me like this, then rumors could spread in the village that I'm trying to abduct children or something and the last thing I need is a bunch of humans chasing me...worst of all, I don't want you getting in trouble."

"But I won't! I'll talk to my dad, I'm sure he'll listen!"

Kogasa sighed as Jack stood by and watched the exchange, he felt kind of awkward being present. There was clearly some kind of underlying issue here, but he wasn't sure how to go about handling it. The two continued to argue for a few minutes more before John heard a rustling in the bushes.

"Uh...guys...I don't mean to butt in on your argument, but I think we're not alone."

The two of them stopped their bickering as on cue a wolf-like creature leapt from the shadows. It was pretty big, at least as tall as John and he was just shy of six feet! It had dangerous claws on all four of its legs...and less said about the teeth the better.

"Ah...how lucky for me, I found dinner, get away from them tsukumogami, unless you wish to die by my claws as well. I don't much like eating fellow youkai."

The child was visibly frightened by what he was seeing, before John stepped in front of him to shield him from the beast.

"Sorry, but if you want dinner, you're going to have to work for it." He said raising Curtana at the monster

The youkai chuckled "Very well boy, I like working for my food...and I don't play by those foolish spellcard rules either."

"That's fine, because I have no idea what that is!"

The wolf gave John an incredulous look before letting that little revelation slide, John turned to Kogasa, giving her a nod. She'd keep the kid safe while he fought the creature off. The two combatants circled one another, each sizing the other up before the wolf lunged forward at John, attempting to aim at his neck, only to meet with the holy shield as he pushed him back.

The creature had a lot more strength than John anticipated, but he still was able to push him back. The beast snarled as he circled again before going in for another attack. This time John managed to sidestep him before he got close in a quick motion delivered a slice to his side, the monster let out a pained whine as it landed on the ground.

"Th-that sword, it's magic!? Clever play human..." the wolf stated standing back out. It was bleeding slightly, but not enough that it'd be slowed down

"Damn right it is, I did the entire relic quest line for 3.0 so far! You're looking at a level 60 Paladin!" John declared with a broad smile

Kogasa and the child stared at one another

"Kogasa...what's he talking about?

"I have no idea..."

The youkai snorted at him charging once more, this time it zig-zagged a bit in an attempt to disorient John. He was able to get a bite on John's shield arm, but it didn't hurt too badly thanks to the armor, he could still feel it though. Using all the strength he could muster, John flipped the beast over, using his foot to hold it in place as he drove his sword through its upper chest. The monster let out a howl of pain as John repeatedly stabbed at him until his body stopped moving, the monster fading into unconsciousness as he bled out, John sighed looking away from it...the amount of blood trailing out of it was a bit unnerving to be honest."

"Wow...you're pretty strong mister." The child said in awe

"Thanks but uh...how about we get back to the village before anything else tries to kill us?"

Kogasa nodded in agreement, and the trio decided to get to walking. It took a while and thankfully no other monsters had popped out to try and kill them. As they approached the gate Kogasa stopped.

"Well, this is where we part ways." She said with a smile, though her red and blue eyes showed a small hint of sadness.

The child stomped his feet annoyed "Do you have to go Kogasa? You have to be tired after all that happened today and it's cold outside!"

"I've got an idea actually..." John interjected before she could speak "Kogasa, when we get to the gates follow my lead okay?"

"Um...okay I guess."

The three approached the gates and luckily the guards recognized John and were about to let him in until they noticed Kogasa.

"Hold it, no wild youkai inside the village!" One of them states

It was time for John to put his plan in action...he just hoped that Kogasa played along like he needed her to.

"Don't worry, this girl has sworn fealty to me!"

"What." Everyone said together at this revelation

"We were attacked by a youkai, but I was able to kill it, and this lovely lady here named Kogasa was in such awe that she swore her life to me."

The guards looked unsure, they didn't find his story too believable, but thankfully Kogasa caught on.

"It's true, you should have seen master, he was amazing, I don't think I've ever seen someone as strong as him!"

That's good Kogasa!

"Yeah, this mister is pretty good, he took on this giant wolf youkai all by himself!" the child chimed in riding off Kogasa's words.

"A giant wolf youkai...?"

"Yeah it was as big as all 3 of us combined and this guy killed it all on his own while Kogasa kept me safe, he barely took any damage!"

The two guards let out audible gulps before opening the gates

"Well if that's the case, I guess we can let you in, I mean you did save the boy and all...just keep that servant of yours on a leash got it?"

"Yes sir!" John cried as his little group shuffled in

The village was pretty dark at night and there were next to no sources of light and so he and Kogasa had to rely on the child to lead them to his father's shop. Once there, the boy's dad scooped him up into a tight hug, smiling at John and Kogasa. He gave her a pointed look, but after explaining everything that took place, his face softened considerably.

"I see, thanks a lot kid, I'm grateful to you for saving my son...you too Miss youkai."

"Um...it's Kogasa...if that's alright with you."

"Right, thanks , I'll admit, I'm not the biggest fan of youkai, but you stayed and made sure my boy was safe. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome here any time."

"Oh...thanks!" Kogasa said blushing slightly embarrassed

"And as for you kid, I'm sorry I can't give you free meals for life, but I'm thankful for you for doing what I asked and beating that monster down. This village is small and we could use some more good folks like you."

"Thanks, I appreciate the compliment."

"I mean it, if you got skills like that, you should try opening a business or something. I'm sure there's a bunch of troubles you could help solve...or at least I get that feeling anyway."

"That's...not a bad idea actually."

"Right well, I'll see you two some other time."

With a nod, John and Kogasa exited the ramen shop and began wandering the streets, wondering what their next course of action should be.

"So uh...I know this is late, but I don't think we've been properly introduced." Kogasa said

"Oh right, I got so caught up in things, I forgot, name's John Graham."

"And I'm Kogasa Tatara, and I'm gonna be the scariest youkai in all of Gensokyo!" She said with a grin

"Right...why are you trying to scare people? And why are you taking training from a 9 year old?"

"Well...I'm not too good at scaring people, so I've been trying to practice, that kid really wanted to help me out for whatever reason...I think he may be lonely."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I never see him with other children whenever I come by and if I see him before running into anyone else like today, he drags me away for some practicing."

"Huh interesting, sounds like he has a crush." John teased

"Wh-what?! Oh shut up, a-anyway, where are we going to say for the night? I'm tired."

Oh...crap.

"Now about that..." John started "I may not have any money for an inn or anything like that...at all."

"Really...?" Kogasa groaned "And for once I thought I could get a nice bed. Well follow me, I know a place we can stay."

Following her John was led to a small house...well house was being generous; it was a rundown shack really. The structure looked like it was barely staying up, with the wood looking derelict and old, the windows were completely gone and once the two stepped inside, there were clearly some holes in the roof.

"Well...this is something." John said looking around

"It's the best we've got; we can stay the night here. According to the children, this is just some old house no in the village cares about, not even enough to knock it down." Kogasa sighed "That sure reminds me of myself..."

The hours passed as John and Kogasa spent some time talking, there wasn't much of anything else to do to pass the time. When he asked if she'd had anything to eat, Kogasa waved her dismissively, telling you she'd eaten enough 'surprise' from the guards when John pulled his little stunt earlier which baffled John until Kogasa explained that by surprising someone it'd be the same as eating to her, and It was the entire reason she wanted to scare people. The night went on as the two learned more about one another, Kogasa talking mostly about her scaring endeavors and John telling her a few things about his home, she was completely confused about some things like computers but he decided to spice things up a bit by throwing in some of the adventures that'd happened in XIV...he technically did live through them after all. Eventually the two drifted off to sleep with morning finally arriving.

John woke up first, letting out a yawn, he apparently returned to his normal form overnight, since he was back in his normal clothing. He pulled out his phone to see the date 'January 5th 'on the screen. Turning it off (because he really wanted to save the power) he stood up and yawned. He was loud enough that Kogasa woke up soon after, standing and moving to the door.

"Leaving already?" He said yawning again

"Yeah, I'd better get going, I think I'll try hanging around the graveyard again."

That doesn't sound too fun John thought "Actually, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"What's that...?"

"Wanna start a business with me?"

"A...business, what kind of business?" Kogasa asked with her eyebrows raised

John smiled "Well it'll be a business where we offer a favor in return for another favor. See I was thinking about what that shopkeeper said yesterday, and with the abilities I have, I think I could help solve whatever problems the people of the village have and in return we'd get things like food and water...hopefully a bed at some point too because sleeping on the floor is uncomfortable."

"Well, what would I do?"

"You can be the secretary! If I'm out on a job and someone stops by, you can jot it down, or heck you can even take it on yourself."

"Well what do I get out of it?"

"Well...how about we work on your surprise tactics? I mean you always try to scare people, but there's other ways to surprise someone."

"How's that?" Kogasa asked, extremely interested now

"Well, like...what if you just gave someone a cake suddenly."

"Why would anyone be afraid of that?" Kogasa deadpanned

"You're missing the point; they don't need to be afraid, so long as they're surprised right?"

"Huh...that's a good point actually. Okay...I think I can do this. I'll be your secretary John, what are we gonna call this business anyway?"

"I was thinking...Favor Trade."

Man, I'm really bad with names. I had a hard time thinking of a name for the protagonist of this story, so I just opted to fall back on the name John. Well whatever I guess. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and look forward to the next.