Sunday, August 30, 2009

Another Misplaced Sukima P-13

And so, Alice couldn't take it anymore and gave more and just an earful to Yuki, sending her literally crying back home. Reimu can't shake off the sudden bad feelings she's been sensing. For some reason, she keeps thinking of Budou when this happens, but she knows Budou is very young and not powerful at all, and yet... Remilia is taking care of Sakuya now, Luna is on the lose after having tried to murder Sakuya, Kyo and Aya continue their search, and Medicine returns to the Nameless Hill, feeling a little scared and heartbroken at the same time. Even with all this happening, Ail finally returns home with Budou, who goes to sleep, hanging from the tallest parts of the ceiling, while Ail prepares himself a bath.

Finally, Ail is able to relax and take a much needed bath. He thinks on the events that had just happened, and the events to follow. To him, something didn't seem to add up, but then he remembers how fate likes to play the same hand, even if with different cards. He sighs then slowly sinks under the hot bubbly water, then comes back out and sits with his back against the edge of the large tub, when suddenly, he opens his eyes, and was met with a pair of maroon eyes and a whimsical voice that says "my, my, my~, that looked like it was good. Do it again." Ail yelps and shouts "Yuyuko! What are you doing in here?" He tries his best to hide himself, using the bubbles around to cover himself. Yuyuko smiles and says "don't forget to wash behind those ears." From the Kitchen, Youmu calls "Yuyu-sama~! Where are you?" Ail gets a little annoyed and says "could you please go outside while I finish here?" Yuyuko's smile vanishes when she asks "so you want some privacy?" Ail nods then Yuyuko says "well wouldn't you rather have a beautiful woman like myself clean your body instead? It's every man's dream, right?" Ail's face turns beet red and his eyes get covered in a dark shadow after Yuyuko says this, while she holds a bar of soap and a bath brush on her hands. She giggles and says "ahh I see. A fantasy perhaps?" Ail gets angry and shouts "would you PLEASE just get OUT of here!?" From outside Youmu asks "Yuyu-sama, you're not invading Ail's private moment, right?" Ail gets petrified then asks "how does Youmu know?" Yuyuko gets a little sad and says "and I was really hoping to wash your back at least. Oh well, I guess there will be no show after all." After saying that, she leaves the bathroom, then Ail, who's eyes were still surrounded in shadow says "show? Yu-kari~!" He looks above him and notices a gap closing. He smirks, a glint escaping from his teeth as he opens one of his own gaps and fires a laser in. Yukari yelps in pain as the laser strikes her butt. She rubs herself and says "ow~! That's a tender area." Ran, while drinking some tea in the living room, casually says "that's what you get for peeping."

After the bath, Ail wraps a towel around his waist then goes to his room and opens up a closet that was FULL of black pants and violet shirts. He looks at them for a moment and says "ah, these ones." He takes the ones in the middle, and behind them was Yuyuko again, smiling and saying "I would suggest the ones on the right. They look more fresh." Ail smiles and slowly closes the closet doors and places a large barrier to prevent Yuyuko from escaping, then gets dressed beside the doors, so Yuyuko couldn't see. After putting one some socks, he lets Yuyuko out and immediately she asks "hey, how do you do that?" Ail looks at her curiously and asks "do what?" Yuyuko replies "keeping your underwear and pants together like that? It would save me some time when getting dressed." Ail thinks for a moment and says "I'll tell you later." After that, they head to the living room, where Youmu had prepared some tea already. She bows and says "hope you don't mind." Ail smiles and says "not at all... 5 cups? Why the 2 extra?" Youmu rubs the back of her head and says "well, one is for the little bat, in case she wake up." "And the other?" asks Ail. Youmu eyes Yuyuko, who smiles and nods. Yuyuko then says "for Yukari." Ail smirks and says "ahh right. Yukari, you can come out now... or would you rather have another laser?" From a gap just next to his door, Yukari pops out her head saying "you're messing with the bull, kid!" Ail smiles and replies "and I just so happen to have a nifty trick to deal with the horns." Yukari sweats, but then giggles and says "so seems you finally recovered your other half?" Ail shakes his head and says "not exactly", then shows them all his bracelet. After looking at it for a moment, Yukari smiles and says "I see Reimu added the Hakurei blessing. Did it take you long?" Ail smiles and says "actually, she did it all on her own. A little too quickly I might add." Yukari opens her fan and covers her mouth and nose, looking at Ail directly at his eyes from over the fan and asks in a sinister tone "and that girl?" Ail keeps quiet for a moment, then he places a barrier around his house and then says "we're gonna have to talk about that." A scratching sound took everyone's attention, then Ail looks at the ceiling and notices Budou had moved from the kitchen. He smiles and flies up to her and says "it's ok, Budou. Come down and say hello to everyone." Budou slowly opens her wings, then stretches and says "sorry papa Ail, I was curious." Ail smiles and says "it's ok. Just come down and say hello. I'm sure they all want to meet you." After Ail and Budou come down, Yukari's cheeks turn pink upon seeing the little youkai. Nervously, Budou presents herself. "H-hi... I'm, er, I'm Budou." She blushes and looks away as Youmu gets closer with a smile and says "I'm Youmu, and this is Yuyuko. Nice to meet you." Yuyuko pats Budou on the head and says "my, so adorable", as Budou asks "m-miss Youmu? What's that white thing around you?" Youmu smiles and says "that's my ghost half." Just like that, Yukari grabs Budou from behind, scaring her a little and says "Ail, how dare you hide her from me!?" Ail smiles as Budou calms down and stares at Yukari for a moment. Yukari hugs her tightly and says "you're such a cutie, aren't you?" Budou blinks and then smiles while saying "lady gramma~!" Yukari shocks to the point of turning to stone, then Ail says "ok, enough... we need to have a little chat. All of us."

At Makai, Yuki had finally calmed down, and Yumeko was just finishing with bandaging her ankle. She wouldn't speak; just stares out the window, thinking to herself, trying to find a reason to smile, but all she could think of was Alice shouting at her with rage. "There, I'm done." says Yumeko, cutting off the excess bandage. Yuki looks at her foot, looking lost in thought. Yumeko looks at her with concern and asks "won't you tell us what happened?" Yuki was just about to speak when Shinki enters the room. Yuki gulps and shuts her mouth, looking away, back outside the window. Shinki feels awkward then asks "I-I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? I can leave if you-" "No, please. I'm sorry Lady Shinki. Please, stay." replies Yuki, quickly turning to face her, almost crying again. Shinki was surprised. Yuki answered in such an elegant fashion. "This is so unlike her" though Shinki, then she says "ok, I'll stay then" as she smiles, but Yuki did not return the smile. Yumeko notices and asks one more time "Yuki, child, what happened to you?" Yumeko stares at Yuki for a moment then says "if it's about going to Gensokyo, it's alright. I went there too, and nobody's mad at me... nobody's mad at you either." Yuki's eyes fill with tears as she asks "am I a nuisance?" Both Shinki and Yumeko looks at each other surprised, then look at Yuki almost frightened to ask any more but Yumeko pulls out a dagger and asks "who said that to you? Just tell me and I'll teach them a lesson in MANNERS!" Yuki starts to sob now, so Shinki pulls Yumeko's dagger away and whispers at Yumeko "you made her cry again." Yumeko whispers back "someone made her cry like that... that someone has to pay, my lady!" Shinki whispers back "no, no. Let the child speak before doing anything. You're scaring her." Yumeko whispers back "as you wish, my lady, but she just won't talk to us." Suddenly Shinki smiles and says "ah, Yumeko, let's leave Yuki to rest. She seems to have had a very bad day. Yuki, dear, go to bed and sleep." At first Yumeko didn't get her lady's sudden change of interest, but suddenly catches on and says "right. Yuki, please rest. I'll prepare a bath for you and come get you later, alright?" Yuki stares angrily and asks again "am I a nuisance!?" Shinki immediately says "Yuki, you are NOT a nuisance. You're just a very happy and energetic girl." Yumeko smiles and says "yeah. Others would call you that, but deep down you can be sure they are just jealous." Yuki smiles as some tears fall from her cheeks and says "thank you." then gets up from the chair and limps to her bed, where she immediately closes her eyes and says "please, leave the curtains open... and thanks." Surprised, Yumeko and Shinki quietly head outside the room, closing the door as quietly as they could, then look at each other with concern, then Yumeko says "so polite and calm. That's not Yuki, my lady." Shinki replies "don't worry. I think I know how to get our Yuki back. It's gonna have to wait until tomorrow. She's too upset to do anything now."

Noon at Gensokyo, at the Nameless Hill, Medicine was sitting on the ground, hiding herself among the many poisonous flowers while hugging her knees tightly as Su-san patted her on the head. Everything was quiet until a familiar voice says "I've been looking all over for you, you idiot! Did that armpit girl give you any trouble?" Medicine raises her head with fury in her eyes and shouts "you IDIOT! What's the matter with you!? I though you said we were going to prank them, not KILL them!" A few feet away from Medicine, Luna stands still, holding her hip with her right hand, staring back at Medicine with a smile. She flips her hair with her left hand and says "hmph! That was nothing. That woman will be up again by morning." Medicine springs up, clenching her tiny fists and shouting "that is NOT funny, you! That was SCARY! Don't EVER do that again!" Luna chuckles as she gets closer and says "why? Are you gonna stop me? Think you have what it takes?" Medicine backs away, feeling something was wrong, then notices Luna caressing her sword with that left hand of hers. Luna looks back, noticing the little doll's frightened look and says "what... you fear this? Good. that means you really are alive, doesn't it?" Medicine continues to back away as Luna keeps getting closer. Su-san gets in front of Luna and spreads her tiny arms and legs, as if trying to protect Medicine. Luna smirks and asks "what? You want another trip to the doll-maker?" The doll trembles a bit, but holds her position. Luna grabs the hilt of her blade, but before she unsheathes it, from behind her Kyo shouts "LUNA~! Medicine~! Boy, you two sure are HARD to find!" He and Aya were flying above the poisonous flower fields, looking down at them. Kyo had changed his clothes to a black muscle shirt, black pants and belt, and his button shirt was plaid-blue now. From the ground, Luna shouts "you DIDN'T let that bird-girl watch you change, right!?" Kyo sweats a little and says "well of COURSE not! You'd think I was some kind of lecher or something!" Aya shouts "HEY! I'm a reporter, not a pervert!" Luna glares at both then says "fine, whatever. What do you want with us?" Aya responds "you have a promise to keep. And if you want those photos destroyed, you better KEEP your word!" Medicine flies toward them, then clings on to Kyo's arm. He feels a slight tingle on his arm and asks "what the-? Poison?" Medicine lets go of his arm and says "sorry... I-" Kyo pats her on the head and says "it's alright. I have some resistance to poison, but seems not like Luna. Not yet at least." Luna jumps up and flips in the air, Kyo swoops down and grabs her and says "well, shall we go then?" Luna sighs and says "that pervert's got me trapped. I have no choice here." Aya flinches and says "I said I'm a REPORTER!" Medicine shyly asks "c-can I stay here?" Aya smirks and says "no way. You're a witness after all." Medicine fills with panic and remembers the incident at the mansion. She sighs and says "a-alright. I-I'm coming" Aya stares at her as they fly to the Youkai Mountain and says "you don't have to sound THAT disappointed."

At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae, Suwako and Kanako were covered in bumps, bruises, burn marks, bandages, and their clothes were in tatters. Sanae looks disappointed as she said "sometimes I wonder if you are gods, or just brats!" Suwako says "Auuu~! You don't have to say it like that." Kanako then says "we're sorry, Sanae." Sanae sighs and says "fine. I suppose I'll go prepare dinner then. Just no more fighting, please, I don't think I could take it." Suwako and Kanako look at the ground as they both say "okay. Sorry Sanae." Sanae stares at them for a moment, then heads to the kitchen. As soon as she's out of sight, Suwako whispers "hey, gramma. Your aim was of by miles. Need glasses now?" Kanako strikes Suwako with her fist on the head, then says "how about I dine on frog legs tonight? Oh, that's right, I don't like old, strained MEAT!" Sanae suddenly peeks her head from the kitchen door to see if something was up, but all she sees is two well-behaved gods sitting next to each other, waving at her and smiling. Sanae smiles at them, then heads back inside the kitchen. Suwako strangle-holds Kanako and says "I still look WAY better than you.!" Kanako escapes the hold, then traps Suwako in a figure-four leg-lock and says, while pointing at her own chest "well, at least I got a pair of THESE, while you're as flat as a board!" Again, Sanae peeks out and says "I keep hearing noises. Is everything ok in here?" Suwako and Kanako both force a smile that looked evil, however Sanae didn't seem to notice as Suwako tells her "oh, that? That was nothing. Just some random noise." Sanae looks at both suspiciously, but then smiles and says "well, dinner's gonna be ready soon." then goes back into the kitchen. Suwako and Kanako glare at each other, then Kanako says "might as well get the table ready." Suwako nods and says "fine. I'm kinda hungry anyway." They prepare the table and sit facing each other. Suwako mumbles something that sounded like "old hag", however what she really said was "so hungry". Kanako takes offense and says "you shapeless bullfrog!" as she spring up and launches toward Suwako. When Sanae enters the living room with dinner in her hands, she sees Kanako, biting hard on Suwako's leg, while Suwako was biting hard on Kanako's elbow. She giggles and says "my, and I though I was hungry. Dinner's served everyone!" Kanako and Suwako look at each other and realize what Sanae meant. They both spit in disgust then immediately sit by the table and say "thanks for the food, Sanae" at the same time.

At Alice's house, Mai, Alice and her dolls had all finished the cleaning and repairs, and were enjoying a drink and some vegetable stew. Alice was quiet, lost in distant though. Mai was staring at her quietly for a while then suddenly asks "you're feeling sorry you said all that to Yuki, aren't you, sis?" Alice closes her eyes and rests her head on her hand, as she rested her elbow on the table. She sighs and says "yeah. She just made me so mad, you know? But I said all that stuff... kind of hard to take all that back now." Mai drinks from a cup then says "Yuki isn't one to hold a grudge, and she's really easy to please, so even a silly apology might do. But..." Alice grabs hold of Shanghai and starts cleaning her face, making the doll close her eyes tightly and struggle to push Alice's hand away. Alice looks at Mai and asks "you're thinking the same as I am, aren't you?" Mai then says "I've never seen her that upset before. I think you really hurt her. I mean, I know she can be a pain, but that was just way too harsh, even if she had it coming." Alice sighs and takes a sip from a cup, then looks inside it while saying "and she really did try to fix that plate too. Oh, what am I going to do? She just pushed me to do it, and now I feel sorry." Mai giggles and says "sis, when you live with someone like Yuki for so long, you learn to expand your limits. And I think this lesson will be good for both of you?" Alice looks at Mai with curiosity as Mai smiles and says "first of all, Yuki needs to start behaving like a lady a little more, and you seem to need to learn to expand that limited patience of yours. The way I see it, both of you are learning something very valuable here." Alice gets annoyed and shouts "I have great patience! You think making all these dolls doesn't require patience!?" Mai smiles and says "why are you shouting? I'm right here." Alice realizes she got mad rather quickly and had raised her voice already. Mai simply smiles and says "and so, the learning begins, doesn't it?" Alice looks at Mai, but doesn't say a word, and just sits back down with a blank stare as Shanghai and Hourai both hover just above her with sad looks on their somewhat lifeless faces.

Night at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Meiling had just locked the gate and heads inside, giving the shivering Agava a chance to slip in, however she was still a little frozen, hindering her mobility a little, and misses her chance to get inside the mansion. She sighs and kneels with her back to the wall of the mansion and thinks "blasted witch! Stupid fairy!! If I ever get my powers back, I'm gonna make them PAY." She stands up and poses with anger, her fists clenched tightly, shaking it in the air. She points to the skies with a sparkle in her eyes and thinks "I'll take that witch's broom and stick it to her, and then take that ice fairy, rip those damned wings off and stuff them down her throat!" By now, she was doing heroic poses as she though about what to do to them. "It'll be my GLORIOUS return to power, and not even that shrine maiden will be able to stop me!" Agava was smiling toward the skies with her hand raised to her chest, a twinkle in her eyes, and a little blond vampire with prism-shard wings watching her with the outmost of curiosity. When Agava realizes she was being watched, she sweats, composes herself and clears her throat. "*Ahem* What? Never seen someone stretch before? And who the hell are you?" Flandre stares at Agava and says "you know, you're the intruder here in my home, so I should be asking YOUR name... but I remember you, little miss Agava. Now, tell me why shouldn't I just break you right now?" Agava shivers and thinks "crap, it's that little power-crazy vampire... what to do, what to do?" After thinking some more, Agava smiles and says "I was just bored and wanted to play with someone." Flandre smiles excitedly and with much glee in her voice she asks "REALLY~!? You wanna play~!?" For a moment, Agava though she had just said the complete opposite of what she wanted to achieve. Particularly after seeing Flandre's eyes glow scarlet, and her grin turning to that of a wicked smile, but suddenly Flandre says "oh, that's right. I can't play right now. Our maid got sick and onee-sama said she wanted quiet or else!" Agava takes a sigh of relief then out of curiosity she asks "or else what?" Flandre looks at Agava casually and counts with her fingers as she says "well, there's the boiling oil bath, the fire chamber, the spiked doll, the watery grave, the sandy mouth... Actually she hasn't done the sandy mouth in ages. Maybe I should remind her." Agava was breathing heavily with great fear, her eyes covered in a dark shadow while she says "*pant* d-don't. I-It might be *pant* bad for you." Flandre smiles and says "well... we could play with my dollies... as long as you don't break them." Agava snickers and says "yeah... dollies. That sounds like fun." Flandre giggles and flaps her wings rapidly with excitement as she says "yay~! Finally, someone to play with. come on, come on! Let's go inside." And so Flandre pulls Agava inside the mansion, unaware of the dangers of doing so. Agava smiles with evil intent in her eyes as she is pulled inside the mansion to 'play'.

At Sakuya's room, Remilia had fallen asleep while watching over Sakuya. Patchouli had insisted Sakuya would be just fine, but Remilia refused to leave her side. Slowly waking up, groaning as she stretched her arms and wings, Remilia thinks "shit, I fell asleep. I can't believe this." She yawns and says "I should be stronger than this." Remilia Realizes Sakuya had barely opened her eyes and was looking at her. "Sakuya, you're alright!" says Remilia with a smile. Sakuya weakly smiles back and softly says "sorry... my lady... for... inconveniencing you... again." Remilia smiles and says "just you worry on getting strong again, Sakuya. And don't worry. I'll hunt that human down to the ends of the earth, and drain every last drop of blood from her body!" Sakuya tries to laugh, but manages to hurt herself, cringing in pain. "Ah, Sakuya, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you hurt!" nervously says Remilia. Sakuya continues to smile after the pain was gone and says "my lady... you are most... kind. Let me... take care of... that girl... my lady." Remilia looked almost disappointed. She wanted to destroy that human with her bare hands, but she didn't want to make Sakuya worry at the moment, so she keeps quiet. Just then, Patchouli enters the room and says in the most casual voice "well, it seems you have made a quick recovery. Admirable as always, miss Sakuya." She had with her a couple of fairy maids, each with a cup of tea. One helps Sakuya drink hers, while the other respectfully serves Remilia her tea. Remilia smiles as she sips on her tea and says "you came prepared, I see." Patchouli causally looks back at Remilia and says "I just estimated it would be around this time when miss Sakuya would wake up. And Remi, you stayed up all day, so I was sure even you would need a little something too." Remilia smiles and says "ah, sometimes I wonder what would I ever do without you two." Patchouli and Sakuya look at each other for a moment, just before Sakuya lies back down on her bed, then Patchouli replies "survive, Remi. Just like you did before meeting us." Remilia stares blankly at Patchouli for a moment, then replies "if it is like those times, perhaps is best if I turn you both to vampires right now." Patchouli looks back at Remilia most seriously and asks "could you?" Remilia looks away, her cheeks turning red with anger as she says "m-maybe! If I wanted to!"

At Ail's house, Yuyuko and Youmu were leaving through one of Yukari's gaps back home when Yuyuko says to Ail in a most serious tone "...and if something else happens you come and tell me, got that!? Don't keep things like that from me, young man!" Ail looks a little annoyed and says "alright, alright, I will, I promise." After that, Yuyuko and Youmu enter the gap, then Yukari closes it quickly. After that Yukari asks "are you sure it's ok to have let that little one listen to our conversation?" Ail smiles and says "don't worry. She fell asleep almost as soon as we started talking." They look at Budou as she softly snores on Ail's sofa, her left arm hanging from the edge, and her wings contracted so they wouldn't hurt her. Yukari's cheeks turn pink as she watches the little youkai sleep, but then turns to Ail and says "well, you keep a close eye on her and tell me if anything else happens, alright?" Ail nods and says "will do." Yukari turns around and opens a gap back home, then as she enters she says "I'll see you later then. Oh, and I recommend the OTHER brand of bath bubbles. They last less." Ail shakes his fist at her and says "will you go home already!?" Yukari glances at him, then closes her gap before he fires another laser at her. Ail sighs and removes the barrier around his home, then looks around, gets a blanket and covers Budou, then goes to his room, and lies on his bed, but is unable to close his eyes, thinking about all that was going on at once.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Mima and Maribel were already asleep, Mima holding on to Maribel, petting her cat-ears, even while sleeping. Renko and Reimu were waving at Marisa as she left. "Are you sure you're gonna be ok, Marisa?" asks Reimu. Marisa smiles and says "don't worry about me, ze. I'm already feeling much better. But Reimu, there's something I have to tell you." Reimu gets closer and asks "what is it?" Renko was about to leave, but Marisa says "you too, Renko. Listen, I don't know how, but yesterday, Agava was at my house, and she was able to ready my thoughts as if they were her own. Not only that, but I think she learned how to manipulate whatever feeling you are experiencing at the moment. I'm not kidding, Reimu! This is very dangerous." Reimu thinks for a moment and says "hmm... I don't believe she's regained any of her former powers, but it is possible she's learning new abilities on her own. Besides, I don't think she knows about the guar-" Marisa shushes her and says "don't say that out loud! If she finds out about that now we'll be in trouble." Reimu then says "maybe that's the strange feeling I've been sensing since this morning." Marisa snaps her fingers saying "exactly, da~ze." Renko then says "this is getting more complicated. Reimu, what if all these things are related?" Reimu stares toward the stars and says "if they are, then we have much more to deal with than we though. Marisa, I'm going to have a word with SikiEiki. I believe we will need your help, and it would certainly help you if you knew what we're up against." Marisa smiles and says "well, I already promised I'd help you, whether I know what's going on or not, right?" Renko and Reimu smile at her, then she gets on her broom, quietly waves at them, then slowly flies back home. Renko asks Reimu "seems she's still not fully recovered. Aren't you going with her?" Reimu smiles and asks "why are you worrying? I though you didn't like Marisa." Renko blushes a bit and says "well, I may not like her, but it's not like I want her to get hurt either." Reimu wraps her arm around Renko's neck and says "just keep a close eye on Maribel. After what Ail and Siki told us about her, I'm a little worried about her. Marisa can take good care of herself, but Maribel needs you the most. Maybe someday she'll be saving your butt even, but for now you keep an eye on her." Renko blushes a little and says "you make it sound so dirty." Reimu tightens her arm, choking Renko a little while smiling and says "my, you have such a dirty mind! And here I am worrying about you like this!" Renko says "I'm sorry... I'm sorry!" while gasping for air.

Mid-morning at the Forest of Magic. Rinnosuke was preparing his shop, like always, when Ail stops by, followed by Budou, who gasps and hides behind Ail as soon as she sees Rinnosuke. "Well, hello Ail. Glad to see you're back." casually says Rinnosuke. Ail smiles and waves as he says "hey, Rinnosuke. How's business? Still holding on to the tabs?" Rinnosuke stares at Ail for a moment, then says "surprisingly enough, while you were gone, Aya and Reimu payed half of what they owe me. And who is this little youkai behind you?" Ail pats Budou on the head and says "this is Budou. Budou, say hi to Rinnosuke. Don't worry, he's a friend too." Budou looks at Ail for a moment, then at Rinnosuke, and nervously says "h-h-hello m-mister Ri-nnosuke." He kneels down and extend his hand and says "well hello there. Nice to meet you, Budou." Budou extends her hand, shaking Rinnosuke's and quickly drawing it back. Rinnosuke gets back up and asks "Ail, what about that card of yours? The one Cirno almost managed to use." Ail suddenly gasps and says "d-don't worry. It's safe and I don't plan on using it any time soon." Rinnosuke arranges his glasses and says "good. Still, that's a dangerous thing to have, don't you think?" Ail then says "I know. there's a bit of history behind this, but now is not the time. I want to go to the Misty Lake to let Cirno know I'm here." Rinnosuke places his hands on his waist and says "you think that ice fairy is really worried about that?" Ail smiles and says "that little ice fairy has a big heart. Never forget that, my friend." All this time, Budou had been staring at Rinnosuke for some time, then suddenly, she happily shouts "cat-eyes~!" Rinnosuke re-arranges his glasses again a little annoyed and says "if she wasn't such a nice child, I'd be offended by that." After that, Ail waves as he and Budou take to the skies once more, heading straight toward the Misty Lake.

At the Misty Lake, Budou spots Cirno and Daiyousei, both sitting by the edge of the lake, as if expecting something to happen. "Papa Ail, look. Two fairies." Ail stops along with her then smiles and says "ah, those are Cirno and Daiyousei. Come, let's say hi to them." Budou gulps, but follows after Ail. After descending, Ail says "Cirno. Daiyousei. How are you?" The two fairies turn around, Cirno's face getting filled with a big smile after seeing him. "Dai-chan, it's Ail. Look, Ail's back and he's visiting!" shouts Cirno. Ail chuckles as the ice fairy launches at him and give him an icy, yet warmhearted hug. Daiyousei stands next to Cirno after Ail places her on the ground. She smiles and politely bows, saying "mister Ail, welcome back." Ail smiles back and waves at her, saying "thank you. I missed you guys. So~ what are you two waiting for?" Cirno proudly pounds on her chest and says "it's almost winter. That means Letty is about to wake up. Eye want to tell her how I defeated that evil shadow girl again." Ail looks at Cirno and smiles as he asks "again? What do you mean?" Daiyousei says "we saw her around here the other day, staring at the mansion over there, but Cirno-chan froze her and stopped her from accomplishing her plans once more!" Ail looks back at the mansion saying "you don't say?" Suddenly, Cirno spots Budou and asks "who are you?" Ail chuckles and says "I'm sorry, this is Budou. Budou, these are Cirno and Daiyousei." Budou wasn't as nervous about meeting the two fairies. They were her same height as her, and looked friendly, however she though to herself "oh... I hope they like me." She bows as she contracts her wings saying "h-hello, I'm Budou." Cirno expands her chest proudly and says "Eye am Cirno, the strongest of all Gensokyo." "I am Daiyousei. Hello Budou. Your name sounds tasty *giggle*." said Daiyousei with a smile. Cirno adds "if you are Ail's friend, then you are my friend too. You are lucky to have a genius as powerful as me for a friend." Budou excitedly gasps and flaps her wings a little saying "really? I'm your friend? Thank you miss Cirno! Papa, Ail, papa Ail, she's my friend!" Ail blushes a little as Cirno asks "papa? Then who's your mom?" Budou thinks for a moment then says "mama Sanae" with a wide smile, making Ail blush beet red. Cirno just looks at them, then says "oh, that green maiden? Wow, so humans can have bats as babies? This is an AMAZING DISCOVERY!" She stands proudly as Daiyousei says "Cirno-chan, you deduced all that all by yourself, and so quickly too. You are so amazing!" Ail sweats and says "err... I better go and visit the mansion now, Cirno. Say hi to Letty for me, ok? Let's go Budou." Budou smiles, bows at Cirno and Daiyousei then runs after Ail, who was walking away fast.

As they walk toward the mansion's gates, the first thing Ail notices it Meiling missing from her post. He fears something may have happened, but tries to keep calm as he kneels and says "Budou, this is the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Usually it's not a friendly place, but something happened yesterday, so it might be more dangerous." Budou gulps and her lips start to tremble. Ail pats her on the head and says "calm down. Just stay close to me all the time and I'll keep you safe." Ail smiles at Budou, but she was too nervous to smile back. Ail stands up, and as soon as he does, the clings on to his back tightly, popping her head from over his shoulder. Ail shrugs and thinks "I guess this is close, then." He opens the door to the mansion, suddenly a vision of the dark future's mansion came to him, however it vanishes in a second as his bracelet shines. Immediately inside, he calms down and takes a deep breath, thinking "maybe that trip affected me more than I thought?" From the left corridor, Meiling jumps as she shouts "MISTER AIL~ welcome!" She hugs Ail tightly, also hugging Budou inthe proscess. She loosens her grip, pats Budou's wings and with a blank stare toward the ceiling she asks "Ail, you grew wings?" Ail says "oh dear" as he grabs hold of Budou, who after that tight hug, was in a daze and almost fell from Ail's back. After a quick recovery by Budou, Meiling bows while saying "I'm so sorry, I didn't know she was there!" Budou walks toward Meiling and smiles as she says "you're a good person, aren't you?" Ail was surprised and said "wow, she's usually very shy." Budou smiles and says "I don't have to be scared of her, because she's very nice." Meiling rubs the back of her head with a goofy smile and says "well thank you. I am Meiling. Meiling Hong. What's your name?" Meiling grabs Budou by her waist and lifts her up, making her giggle and expand her wings as she says "I'm Budou. Papa Ail gave me that name!" Meiling hugs her and says "you're so cute. So Ail's your papa?" Ail blushes again and says "I-I found her in my house. She seems so defenseless, so I'm going to take care of her." Budou smiles and says "just like a good papa!" Again Ail blushes then Meiling says "aww, that's so nice of you, Ail." Budou giggles then says "and mama Sanny gave me these clothes." Meiling looks at Ail mischievously and says "you don't say? I always said they made a good couple." Ail blushes now so much, he felt his head was going to explode, but he manages to ask "so... Meiling? Why aren't you outside?" Meiling gasps and says "ah, that's right! I'm supposed to clean the right side of the mansion now. Sakuya is still weak, so I'm helping the fairy maids. I can take you there if-" "That won't be necessary, Meiling. You may continue to your duties." said Patchouli from the second floor, looking casually down as she continues saying "Ail, so glad you came. We could use your assistance."

As they walk down the second floor corridor to Sakuya's room, Ail presents Budou to Patchouli, whose face, for some reason turned a little pink whenever she faced Ail. "Patchouli, this is Budou. I'm taking care of her. Budou, this is my friend, Patchouli Knowledge." Patchouli looks away as she says "please, Ail. I asked you to call me Patchy." Budou keeps quiet until Patchouli addresses to her. "So, little Budou, huh? For some reason, that name makes me hungry." Budou whimpers then Patchouli calmly says "I'm sorry, I was only joking." Ail was a little surprised and asks "Patchy? You're joking?" Patchouli's face turns red as she faces away from Ail, trying to hide herself as she calmly says "w-what? Can't I joke from time to time too?" Budou giggles as she stares at Patchouli then says "you are Lady Bookworm!" Patchouli was in complete shock then hesitantly asks "L-Lady Book-worm? Wh-why?" Budou giggles and smiles very innocently and says "because you look VERY smart. Smarter than bookworm 2 even." Ail sweats and says "ok Budou, I think that's enough for now." For a moment, there was an awkward silence, but it was soon broken when Patchouli says "ah, yes. We're here. Ail, Sakuya has recovered magnificently, however it seems she's lacking energy." Ail smiles and says "I understand. Leave it to me."

Entering Sakuya's room, the first thing Ail notices is the exhausted Remilia sitting on a chair, next to Sakuya. "Remilia" exclaims Ail. "Are you ok?" Remilia was so tired, she could barely keep her eyes open, and with a tired smile, she faces Ail and says "ah... Ail. Are you going to help Sakuya?" Ail nods and says "Remilia, you really need to sleep." Remilia gets a little angry and although weakly, she says with authority "and who do you think you are to talk to me that way? If there weren't so many of you, I'd teach you a lesson... and who's that little runt?" Budou was right next to Ail at the moment. When Remilia calls her a runt, she frowns and quietly says "I-I'm not a runt... I'm Budou." Remilia wipes her nose, making a grotesque sound as she did and asks "what was that? I didn't hear you, little runt!" Budou's cheeks puff, and with a tear on her eye she says "my name is Budou! Papa Ail gave me a name, so don't call me runt!" Remilia looks puzzled for a moment, then with a naughty expression on her face she asks "papa? Who's the mama, then?" Patchouli was screaming inside her mind, her cheeks turning red with rage as Budou says "that would be mama Sanny. She gave me clothes. Isn't that right papa Ail?" Remilia stares at Ail with a very naughty look on her face, while Patchouli continues to scream curses in her mind, and Ail was now blushing again so much, his face felt as though it was gonna fly away on it's own like a rocket. Suddenly Sakuya moans and everyone in the room, even Budou, came back to their senses. "Sakuya, I'm here, it's ok." said Remilia in a desperate tone. Ail stares at Sakuya, who weakly opens her eyes and smiles, then goes back to sleep. Ail looks at where the wound used to be and says "ah, I see. Don't worry, Lady Remilia. Sakuya will be back on her feet by tomorrow, I promise. Now, let's get her energy flowing again. Ail gets close to Sakuya and places his hand on her forehead. He closes his eyes and concentrate. He could see Sakuya's energy flow and his own, helping her energy flow freely as it should. Patchouli could see faint traces of the energy flow, Remilia just looked on in wonder, but Budou could see the whole thing. Suddenly she says "papa, that energy is trapped there on her foot. Look, something's blocking it." Ail and Patchouli were both very surprised, then Ail looks at Sakuya's foot under the covers and says "my, you're right. How did you-?" Ail shakes his head then decides to continue working on Sakuya's energy, freeing the clogged energy from her foot. Patchouli stares at Budou for a moment and says "little Budou, how did you see that so easily?" Budou looks puzzled and asks "what? You mean you can't see it?"

Sakuya opens her eyes just as Ail finished with her and says "whoa... I feel like new! What happened?" Remilia extends her arms and hugs Sakuya saying "Sakuya~! You woke up! Look everyone, Sakuya's ok!" Sakuya tries to get up, but quickly realizes her hip still hurts, so she just sits up and pats Remilia on her head saying "my lady. I'm so sorry to have worried you. Ail, Lady Patchouli?" Ail smiles and says "it looks to me you tried to stop time just as that woman struck you with her blade, am I right?" Sakuya rubs her hair and says "I--I think so. All I remember is Luna's face above my own, and Yumeko fighting her off. After that... everything's a blur." As she spoke, she notices Budou and stares at her with curiosity then asks "and who is this?" Budou felt safe with Sakuya for some reason and immediately says "I'm Budou. Nice to meet you." Ail again was very surprised at Budou, but didn't say anything. Sakuya pats the side of her bed, welcoming Budou closer. When she gets close, Sakuya smiles and says "wow... you're cute. You remind me of someone..." For a moment Sakuya thinks then imagines Budou with wings on her head and looking a little older, then says "ah, you look like Koakuma. Wow, if you were a little older, I could confuse you with her *giggle*" Budou giggles along with Sakuya, then Patchouli, sounding almost angry says "aren't you going to give Sakuya a nickname too?" Budou stares at Sakuya, who was a little puzzled about the current situation and then suddenly Budou smiles and says "Lady Sakuya!" Patchouli gets annoyed and asks "what? You're not calling her doggy, or lady doggy, or something!?" Budou gets a little nervous and aks "wh-why? Why are you so angry, Lady Bookworm?" Ail sighs and says "Patchy, you should just give up... she's just an infant anyway." Patchouli puffs and says "fine. Ail, please come with me to my library, I need to ask you something." Just then, they all realize Remilia had fallen asleep right next to Sakuya's bed, twitching her wings with every snore. Patchouli places her on Sakuya's bed, at Sakuya's own request, then left them both as she and Ail head to her library.

At the library, the first thing Patchouli does after she and Ail sit down on the desk is ask "what did you see? I can see it in your eyes, you know something. A lot of things. What is it?" Ail sighs and says "as much as I'd like to fill you in, I can't. I made a promise to SikiEiki." Disappointed, Patchouli sighs and says "I see. *chuckle* And here I though I could get some good information from you. Well, it can't be helped." On the background, Koakuma and Budou were looking at some books. Koakuma points up, then Budou flaps her wings to get a little blue book from one of the highest shelves. Although little, the book was heavy for her, so she pulls it out with all her might, causing the rest of the top books to fall along with her. Koakuma is able to catch Budou before she hit the floor, but the books were headed straight at them. Ail casually places a barrier around them, saving both from the avalanche of books that headed their way. Patchouli turns around and says "Koakuma, try not to mess the library too much, ok?" She turns back to Ail and asks "can you feel her presence?" Ail nods and says "please, don't do anything now. Let things happen on their own." Patchouli looks straight at Ail with that expressionless look of hers then says "so I was right. You do know something after all. Fine, I'll leave things to you then." Ail sighs and says "not so fast. We might need your help after all." Ail whispers at Patchouli as Budou and Koakuma laugh in the background while looking through some books that had fallen off the top shelves.

At the Youkai Mountain, Aya wakes up and immediately shouts "wake up you three! Since yesterday I spent all day looking for YOU, today you're going to help me with some hard tasks!" As they slowly get up from the futons on the ground, Momiji comes in to Aya's secret house, whispers something on Aya's ear, then Aya gets angry. She stomps hard as she heads straight to Luna and says "you and me are going to have a little 'us-time' little lady!" At the Hakurei Shrine, immediately after waking up, Reimu feels great amounts of sadness rushing straight to her heart, and quickly she thinks of Budou again. She gasps for air and thinks "i-is this? Dammit all, how the hell am I supposed to handle THIS one?" At Entei, Yorihime had woken up early, feeling great excitement, as today, she was going back home, back to her sister. Eirin was a little sad to see her go, but was really happy for her at the same time. At Flandre's room in the Scarlet Mansion, Agava was being held tightly by Flandre as she slept. Although a little miserable, she couldn't contain her wicked smile, thinking her victory was near at hand. Meanwhile, Yuki was thinking about Alice's harsh words, looking out the window, while Alice was also thinking about their little incident, also looking out her window, thinking "I hope she'll forgive me."

To be continued...
Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 30 2009
written by
Willie G.R.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Another Misplaced Sukima P-12

Ail and Sanae are now the proud father and mother of a very young female bat youkai that loves fruits, particularly grapes, called Budou, named by Ail himself. Kyo is face-to-face with Aya, who asked him, Luna and Medicine to go to her at the Youkai Mountain, however Luna and Medicine are at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, planning a new prank, watching Yumeko stalk Sakuya, but behind all of them, Agava watches in silence, waiting. Yuki and Mai are at Alice's house, and after having scared her to the point of unconsciousness, they stayed the night. Now Shinki awakes, wondering where could Yumeko, Yuki and Mai all be.

Morning at Makai. Shinki wakes up and finds her palace empty. Yuki and Mai were missing, Yumeko was nowhere in sight and wouldn't come when summoned, however on the dinning table, breakfast had been served as per usual. Luize comes from the entrance corridor greeting Shinki. "Good morning, lady Shinki!" Shinki smiles and says well, so pleasant to see someone in here? Luize, where is Yumeko? And Yuki, and Mai for that matter?" Luize looks at Shinki a bit puzzled and says "well, Yuki said she had some very important business in Gensokyo. Yuki and Mai... I haven't seen them at all, my lady." Shinki smiles and says "ah, I think I know where they all went Such sweethearts." She smiles then looks at Luize and asks "will you join me for breakfast, Luize? I'd hate to eat all alone." Luize smiles widely and says "I'd by honored, my lady Shinki." Shinki giggles, then both head to the table to enjoy breakfast.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Aya had come down from the roof to face Kyo directly asking "well Kyo, where are the girls? You all promised you'd come with me today, and I intend to make you keep that promise." Kyo sweats a little then quietly says "I... don't know where they are." Aya looks at him mischievously and says "we~ll, I can see who holds the leash here." Kyo launches a blast of energy at Aya, but she avoids it with ease while saying "whoa, whoa, heh heh heh, I was just kidding." As she lands, she notices Kyo was worried, so she pats him on the shoulder and with a smile on her face says to him "relax. Let's just go look for them." Kyo lifts his eyes and smiles, then nods at Aya. Without realizing it, Aya had taken a picture of him with some tears in his eyes as he launched the round energy at her. She quietly pockets the picture and shouts "so, let's go look for the doll and the girl! Maybe have some fun while we're at it?" Kyo angrily replies "I'm not taking my shirt off." Aya replies "aww, come one. Those red palm trees don't even suit you!" Reimu and Marisa were drinking tea inside the shrine, listening to the whole thing. Reimu casually says "it's gonna be a long day for him." Marisa nods and says "who knows. Might actually be fun." Maribel was laying on her belly right beside Marisa, as Marisa rubbed her ears, making her purr contently.

At the Moriya Shrine, Budou and Ail wave at Sanae, Kanako and Suwako as they enter one of Ail's gaps. Budou shouts "see you later mama Sanny, granny Kanako, big sister Suwako. Take care" All three Moriya residents wave back and shout "bye~ Have a safe trip." Suwako adds "come back soon, ok!?" After the gap closes, Kanako strikes both Sanae and Suwako on the heads and says "so, had a good laugh at the expense of my status to that child, did you?" Sanae giggles and sticks out her tongue then says "aww come on! Just admit you liked it already." Kanako closes her eyes and frowns as she says "well... she is... very cute." Suwako would say nothing and just stare at Kanako with and evil grin on her face. Kanako looks back and hisses like a snake at Suwako, raising both arms above her head as if ready to strike, but she just takes a deep breath, relaxes, then says I'll be in the bathroom!" Sanae looks at Kanako concerned, but Suwako says "let her be. She'll be just fine really soon, you'll see." Somehow Sanae felt something odd about Suwako after she said that, but she just smiles and says " hope you're right, lady Moriya." Inside the bathroom, Kanako looks at her self in the mirror. She looks closely, placing particular interest on her face. She was paying so much attention at the mirror,she didn't notice Suwako was right beside her, grinning as she stares. Suddenly, giving Kanako the shock of her life, Suwako says "checking for crow's feet, grandma?" Suddenly an explosion rattles the shrine. Sanae runs to the living room shouting "what's going on!? Lady Kanako!? Lady Suwako?" Suddenly, Suwako runs past Sanae with a big grin on her face and laughing. Sanae looks confused as Suwako run away, then suddenly, a fire breathing enraged Kanako follows after Suwako, shouting curses and spitting fire. She jumps outside the shrine, looks around, spots Suwako, who pulls her lower eye-lid and sticks her tongue out at her and runs some more, making Kanako angrily stomp on the ground, then chasing after her shouting "COME TO ME ONBASHIRA!!! Stop you warty old TOAD. I'm gonna EAT YOU~!" Sanae panics and runs outside after Kanako and shouting "please, Lady Kanako, Lady Suwako, calm down! No, you're gonna break that! Sto~p!"

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, after hanging all the clothes, Sakuya enters the mansion, followed shortly after by Yumeko, who was also being followed by Medicine and Luna. Agava had been watching them all from a safe distance. She chuckles and thinks it's time to make her move, however, as soon as she takes one step forward, a familiar voice shouts "you sneaky shadow. Take THIS!" A few icicles fly straight at Agava just as she turns around to see who it was, but ends up completely frozen inside a large ice cube. Cirno flies straight at Agava with a smirk on her face, followed by Daiyousei. "Cirno-chan, you're so amazing!" said Daiyousei in admiration toward Cirno, who was standing triumphantly on Agava's frozen body and shouting "I am the strongest in ALL Gensokyo!" Daiyousei claps happily at Cirno and says "you certainly are, Cirno-chan!"

At Alice's house, Shanghai manages to finally wake up Alice, having tried all night so she could stop Yuki from raiding the food stores. "Sh-Shanghai? *nnn~gh* What's the matter?" asks Alice as she gets up and stretches herself. Shanghai manages to look at Alice with a very worried look on her lifeless face, then points outside the room with her tiny hand. Alice looks back a little concerned, then she hears something break in the kitchen. Her face turns pale as she remember she has two guests in her house... And it seems they stayed the night. "Might as well face them already" thought Alice as she got up from bed, but before she got off, her door opens. It was Mai, carrying some tea and some breakfast on a large wooden tray. She looks at Alice a little surprised and says "oh, good morning, Alice. I brought you some breakfast." Another crash is heard from the kitchen. Mai gets annoyed, and Alice just looks on in discontent. Mai places the tray on Alice's night table and says "just eat and let me take care of this. You gave us a good scare after you passed out like that." Mai heads toward the door and shouts "Yuki! Stop breaking those plates!" Alice petrifies just before taking a sip of tea, but Yuki replies "sorry... it's the same one as before anyway. It's already broken, so..." Alice calms down, but was still so nervous, she trembles as she sips on her tea. Mai walks to her and says "sorry for coming by like this... It was all Yuki's idea, sis." Alice stops trembling and says "it's ok. But how did you two get here? Did Ail send you here by mistake too?" Mai chuckles and says "no. Don't you know? The gate to Makai is open, so we can come in and out now. Reimu said it was ok." Alice suddenly realizes what Mai said. The shock made her lose her grip on her cup of tea, letting it fall and crash on the ground. From the kitchen Yuki shouts "that wasn't me~!" Mai places her hand on Alice's shoulder and asks "Alice? What happened? What's the matter" Alice turns her face to Mai, staring at her blankly, then asks "is--is Shinki allowed in here too?" Mai smiles and says "well of course. She's the one that asked for the permission in the first place." Alice continues to stare at Mai blankly, then turns her face to Shanghai and softly says "l-lady Shinki... Lady Shinki's coming to visit..." Mai gets close looking at Alice very concerned. "Alice?" asks Mai in a sweet tone as she gets closer, but suddenly Alice screams "WAAAAAAH~!!! I gotta clean this place! Shanghai, Hourai!" She springs off her bed and says to the dolls "you take the bathroom, I'll take the living room!" Oh no, what about my work room!?" Mai just stares as Alice continues blabbing on about cleaning, then calmly asks "do you want me to help?" Alice's eyes were filled with panic as she looks at Mai and says "yes, yes please! That would be more grateful of me!" Mai laughs and asks "are you still asleep?" Alice yelps and shouts "I mean, I would be most grateful!" Mai smiles and thinks "better get Yuki. It's gonna be a long one."

Back at the Scarlet Mansion, Sakuya enters a very long corridor and continues walking toward her destination as casually as ever. Yumeko waits until she's farther in before continuing her pursuit. As soon as Sakuya was out of sight, she makes her move, but Sakuya was standing right next to her and in a very elegant tone she asks "may I be enlightened as to why you have been stalking me all this time?" Yumeko yelps as her entire body shivers with a sudden shock. She turns to face Sakuya and calmly says "so you caught on I see. I'll get right to the point. I want to match out powers." Sakuya smiles in an almost wicked way and says "well it just so happens that I wanted to match my powers against yours since we first met." Yumeko smirks and says "it seems we think alike, miss Sakuya." Sakuya smirks back and says "seems so." Both maids already had their weapons at hand. Yumeko holding two daggers on each hand, Sakuya holding three knives on her left hand, and four on her right. Both maids face off for a moment, both smiling at each other, then Sakuya says "since you're a guest here, I'll allow you the first move." Yumeko chuckles and says "my, that's so kind of you. But very foolish!" Yumeko tosses the daggers from her let and, then launches herself toward Sakuya with the daggers on her right. Sakuya deflects the airborne daggers by tossing her own knives from her right hand, then clashes against Yumeko's daggers, holding the blades back just inches from her face with her knives from the left hand. She manages to push Yumeko back, then back-flips away, tossing 8 knives at her. Yumeko stops time around her and moves away, looking as though she had just teleported away, then materializes 10 daggers around Sakuya. She stops time around her just as the daggers were close, gets out of the way, then unfreezes time again, looking as though she had just teleported as well. Yumeko grins and says "so you weren't kidding. You can stop time too. This it going to be a very interesting match after all, wouldn't you agree?" Sakuya grins and says "I must admit, I'm feeling exhilarated!"

At Alice's house, In just 1 hour, Alice, Mai and the dolls had already cleaned half of the house. Yuki spent all that time in the kitchen, watching Alice's dolls working around in a hurry. She places her arms behind her head and says "I'm bored." Alice walks to her quite annoyed and says "well, if you're so bored, why don't you help us CLEAN!?" Yuki replies "are you nuts? That's boring. Besides, that's no way to treat a guest." Alice grunts and lifts both hands in the air, suggesting great anger, but she was too concerned about the cleaning to deal with Yuki at the moment. Mai gets close to Yuki and whispers "hey, Yuki. Don't you think you're pushing it a little too far?" Yuki grins and says "what? No way. Besides, the place is already very clean to begin with." Just as Mai and Yuki have their conversation, Alice spots the plate Yuki had broken inside the trash bin. At first she ignores it, but she spots a small magenta flower design on it then takes a better look. Her lips start to tremble, then a single tear falls down her cheek. Suddenly she screams "YU~~KI~~~!!!" Mai gets away from Yuki, saying "been nice knowing you." Yuki looks a little worried as she asks "wh-what is it?" Alice's face was red with rage, her eyes were full of tears and she was clenching her fists as she glares at Yuki. Yuki realizes she DID go too far, specially now that many dolls with knives in their hands are flying around Alice, all with their sights fixed on her. Alice grits her teeth and then shouts "that... was the plate... Lady Shinki gave me before I LEFT! How could you do that to me!?" Yuki shakes with fear as she says "I-I-I... I'm sorry, i swear, I tried to fix it, but then it b-b-broke again." As Yuki explains, Alice walks slowly, getting closer to Yuki with a murderous look in her eyes.

Outside Alice's house, the sun was shining brightly. It was a beautiful morning, and everything seemed so peaceful. Even the three mischievous fairies, Luna Child, Sunny Milk, and Star Sapphire, were having a peaceful stroll without playing any pranks. Suddenly, the door to Alice's house burst open with a loud blast that shakes the forest around Alice's house, causing all creatures nearby, even the three little mischievous fairies, to run away in a hurry. Yuki jumps out of the way of various exploding dolls, heading outside the house, followed by Alice, who kept tossing doll, after doll, straight at Yuki. Yuki flips out of range and smiles and says "fine, I'll play with you. But what hope do you have? I control fire. You attack with DOLLS. Doesn't take a genius to figure out, you're going to lose." Alice smirks and chuckles lightly, sending various dolls, all spinning around with blades on their little hands. Yuki smirks back then shoots a large fireball at the dolls, however, all it did was knock out three of the many dolls. She gulps and panics then shouts "th-that's cheating!" Alice tosses the three dolls again, this time to the air. All stay floating there for a moment, then suddenly shoot thin red laser beams at Yuki. She tries to run away, but only manages to take a laser in the butt. She runs around in circles holding her behind with her hands, then stops and fans herself, watching as some smoke rises as she sizzles. She smiles and says "wow, I'm hot. Get it?" Alice was not amused. She grabs Shanghai, points her at Yuki, and a large violet beam fires straight at her. She jumps out of the way saying "if that's how you wanna play, let's play!" She smiles and starts sending various fireballs in straight lines and arcs, other in shapes of crosses and magic symbols. All turn to nothing after Alice shields herself with small dolls carrying large blue shields with them. Alice kept glaring at Yuki with a shadow around her eyes and an expressionless mouth. She sends Hourai straight at Yuki, but the doll suddenly flies up just as Yuki shoots at it, then shoots various mid-sized multi-colored balls, all impacting straight on Yuki's face, sending her hat flying off. Yuki grunts then says "ah, my hat! That's it sis! you're gonna GET IT!"

Back as the Scarlet Mansion, Sakuya and Yumeko continue their friendly battle. "Illusion Existence - Clock Corpse" shouts Sakuya, stopping time and placing a curtain of knives around Yumeko. For Yumeko, it all looked as though it happened in an instant, however she just smiles as the countless knives and crystal-shaped bullets fly toward her. Sakuya smirks as Yumeko also freezes time once more, surrounding Sakuya with her own daggers, and sending large energy orbs along the small blades. Both maids get cut as they dodge and graze the blades, Yumeko getting grazed by her own, same as Sakuya. After the daggers and knives stop falling, Sakuya and Yumeko smile at each other. Yumeko had a small cut on her cheek, trickling a little blood. Sakuya had a small cut on her left arm, however, both continue their match. Sakuya grabs one of Yumeko's daggers from the ground, and Yumeko takes one of Sakuya's, then both lunge at each other, clashing the blades as soon as they meet face to face. Grunting, Yumeko says "not bad at all, miss Sakuya. And those spell card things aren't as bad as I thought." Sakuya smiles and grunts "maybe... you should get some yourself." Both push each other back with great force, dropping their weapons as they fall. Sakuya flips back to her feet while Yumeko elegantly gets up with a smile. Hiding close by, watching their battle were Luna and Medicine. Luna had a murderous look on her that was starting to scare Medicine. "Luna, are you ok?" asks Medicine, showing true concern. Luna looks at her, her eyes revealing madness and excitement as she replies "oh yes, I am GREAT. I am simply ecstatic!" As Luna turns to watch the fight some more, Medicine feels very uneasy, but keeps quiet, watching Luna's face and wondering what was she thinking at the moment.

Back at Alice's house, the outside of the house was a complete mess. Yuki's fires and Alice's magic had the outside of the house house and it's surroundings destroyed and burned. "Yuki! Just give up already!" shouts Alice, still looking enraged. Yuki smiles as she shouts back "no way, sis. I'm having too much fun! What's next!?" Alice growls then shouts "Shanghai, Hourai, let's show this idiot a thing or two! Curse Sign - Shanghai Doll! Curse Sign - Hourai Doll" Six large violet lasers, one from Shanghai, the other Five from Hourai and four other copies of her, fly straight on to Yuki. She smiles and tries to fly away, but she makes a wrong move and spring her ankle. She shouts in pain and falls to the ground, unable to run away, shouting in pain a second time as the beams strike her directly. After that, Yuki was lying on the ground, her face and clothes singed and sizzling, coughing up smoke, her face cringing in pain as she tries to move her foot. Alice gets close to her, still looking furious. Yuki sits up and says "sis... you really let me have it." She smiles, but her smile vanishes as soon as the pain around her ankle acts up. Alice showed no emotion in her face, but the anger in her eyes was evident. She quietly stares a Yuki for a moment, making Yuki very nervous. "er... sis? I'm sorry, it was an accident, I swear!" Alice points at Yuki and says "get out of here." Yuki gets surprised as Alice says those words. She chuckles and says "c-come on Alice. I said I was-" Alice's face looks almost monstrous as she frowns and scowls with so much fury as she shouts at Yuki. "Ever since you came here, you've been nothing but a pest, a pain, and a nuisance! I want you OUT of here." Yuki tries to get up, but can't. She looks sadly at Alice and says "Alice... I swear I didn't-" Alice shouts "I said get OUT of here, you PEST! Get out, go AWAY and NEVER come back!" Yuki nervously chuckles, but stops as soon as she looks into Alice's eyes, feeling her heart being torn to pieces. She though Alice was just mad, but soon realized she meant those horrible things. Her eyes swell up and get filled with tears. From the house, after hearing Alice say those thing, Mai shouts "Alice! Come on, you're being way too rough on her. Settle down!" Yuki gets up, and with a cracking voice, holding back her desire to cry she shouts back to Mai "Mai, it's ok. I'll just go." She limps to her hat and picks it up, almost falling down as she bends down to pick it up. She puts on her hat and tries to cover her eyes as she turns around with a big smile and says "Alright, sis. I won't bother you again. I'm sorry for everything." Before she flies away, Alice and Mai notice some tears falling from her cheeks as she lifts off from the ground, then flies away.

At the Scarlet Mansion, Sakuya and Yumeko smile at each other for a moment, then Sakuya says "one more time. After this I'm afraid the match must stop." Yumeko smiles and nods replying "I agree." Suddenly both maids lunge at each other, both throwing innumerable amounts of daggers and knives at each other. Both dodge them with ease, switching their battle positions after that barrage. The maids eye each other and smirk, however, when Sakuya comes into view, Luna's silver eyes glow with excitement. She grabs one of her swords with her left hand and slowly unsheathes it. Medicine remembers how she used that black-gloved hand to cut open Su-san before. She panics and nervously asks "wh-what are you doing?" Suddenly Luna rushes to Sakuya and swings her blade. Yumeko shouts "Sakuya, behind you!" A loud "ugh", after a sword slash, followed by another sword slash that splatters blood all over the corridor, then Medicine screaming in horror and Yumeko looking on with terror on her face, followed by a thud on the carpeted floor, and an evil laugh.

Remilia suddenly wakes up feeling very agitated. She springs up from her bed, landing quickly on the ground and shouting "SAKUYA!" She waits for a moment, but she didn't come. She feels great fear coming from her chest as she realizes Sakuya isn't coming. "Sakuya~! Sakuya, I'm calling you!" shouts Remilia once more. Suddenly, as if realizing something, she breaks open her door as she goes outside her room and at incredible speeds, she arrives at the corridor to find Yumeko fighting for her own and for Sakuya's life, as the silver haired woman with the murderous face tries to kill Yumeko and finish off Sakuya. Remilia opens her eyes widely when she spots Sakuya on the ground with a large gash on the right side of her hip, staining her floors in crimson. Remilia takes a deep breath and shouts so loud, she was hear all the way back at the Hakurei Shrine "SKUYA~~!".

Moments earlier at the Hakurei Shrine, Ail opens a gap next to the shrine and comes out with Budou next to him. "Now Budou, you're going to meet some more of my friends, so try and keep calm, alright?" says Ail, followed by Budou's loud gulp. They walk to the shrine's doors and inside were Reimu and Marisa, still sitting at the small table, Maribel, still laying on her stomach next to Marisa, Renko, and Mima, who were playing a quiet game of cards. "Oh, Ail... and... who's this?" says Reimu after spotting Ail. He waves back at them and says "hello guys. I want you to meet Budou. I found her inside my house earlier this morning." Reimu gets closer and smiles as she says "well hello Budou. My name is Reimu." Budou panics and shrieks as she tries to fly away, but Ail grabs her leg just before she flies away and calmly says "Budou, these are friends. They won't hurt you." Reimu watches them curiously as Ail tries to calm the little youkai down. After finally calming her down, Budou enters the shrine along with Ail. "This is Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, and Maribel" says Ail as he presents the three at the table. Budou shy's away behind Ail's legs as Reimu and Marisa greet her. She nervously gets out from behind Ail's legs and says "he-hello..." Suddenly Mima shrieks and shouts "WOW~!!! She so ADORABLE!" She rushes to little Budou, grabs her and hugs her tightly, rubbing her cheeks against hers and saying "so cute, so adorable. I wanna eat you up!" After saying that, Budou starts to cry, startling Mima who asks "eh? What's this? Aww~ I didn't mean to make you cry little one." Ail places the palm of his hand on his face and says "this is gonna take a while."

After calming Budou down yet again, Mima manages to make the little youkai giggle. Renko gets close with a smile and says "hi, I'm Renko." Budou stares at her and smiles and says "bookworm 2!" Renko gets quite surprised and asks "bookworm?" Budou giggles and says "yeah. You look smart. You must be bookworm 2, right papa Ail?" Renko rushes to Ail with a murderous smile, and placing her face an inch away from his she asks "what have you been telling her, mister papa?" Ail sweats and asks "aren't you a little close? I swear I haven't said anything to her. I don't know where she gets these things! Honestly!" Renko backs away then says "you're LUCKY she's that cute... papa!" Ail drops to the table and says "I must be old!" Reimu and Marisa laugh, then Reimu points at Ail's boots. Ail looks at them and notices they were a complete mess and says "oh great... no wonder I was feeling a breeze." Reimu giggles and says "and I see you're still wearing that same shirt Chen destroyed yesterday." Ail raises his head and says "it's been on thing after another. I haven't had time to relax at all. I even had some trouble back at the village just moments ago." Marisa asks "heh, what did you do?" Ail sweats and says "Well, we were at the market, since it's empty at these hours, and Budou ate a fruit from one of the stands. The owner wasn't happy..." Budou, who was still sitting on Mima's lap says "papa Ail is going to teach me about mon- err..." "Money" says Ail, Budou immediately smiling and nodding, causing Mima to have a nosebleed and saying "so adorable." Reimu's expression suddenly changes from friendly to dangerous and looks at Budou. For a moment, she felt something coming from her, but then suddenly the feeling was gone. She thinks for a moment then asks "Budou? Do you know how old you are?" Budou places her index finger, thinking for a moment. Mima flips her thumb upward at Reimu as she smiles, enjoying the pondering little bat, then suddenly, Budou starts flying in circles above Mima, then slowly comes back down, Mima immediately grabbing her and holding her against herself. Budou then giggles and says "I'm 102 years old." Reimu smiles and says "my, you're pretty young then, aren't you? But wait, how do you know?" Budou thinks again for a moment then says because two years ago, this ghost said to me 'wow, you are 100 already' and then smiled... and then..." Budou starts to sob and says "the needle... it hurts... take it away, please!" Everyone gets very concerned, but Mima grabs the little youkai and says "there, there little one. There are no needles here." Ail and Reimu look at each other and shrug, but before they could say anything, the bracelet on Ails right arm makes a loud *plop* sound. Ail and Reimu look at it for a moment, then another loud *plop*, along with a magical image of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Reimu, Renko and Ail look at each other and Reimu asks "already?" Ail says "something's not right." Reimu shouts "Renko, Maribel, stay here. Marisa..." Renko and Maribel, who gets up from the floor, nod just as Marisa says "I'm still too weak, so I'll have to sit this one out." Ail then says "Budou, stay here. Don't worry, they will keep you safe. Alright?" Mima smiles and says "don't worry about her. I'll keep a close eye on her." Budou stares at Mima for a moment and says "ok. I'll stay with mommy number 2" Mima shrieks again and says "you're so CUTE! Of course you can call me 'mommy'!" Ail sweats a little and was about to say something when they hear Remilia's scream of rage. Reimu hurriedly shouts "Ail!" "On it!" quickly replies Ail, opening a gap straight inside the mansion. Reimu and Ail go inside, then the gap closes.

At the mansion, Medicine was looking at Sakuya with a very sad expression as Yumeko and Patchouli tend to her wounds. Remilia was trying to claw Luna, but she was too fast and was able to match all of Remilia's movements with ease. Remilia was getting furious and shouts "MEILING~! COME IN HERE NOW!" A second before Meiling enters, Ail and Reimu spring from inside the gap right into the middle of the battle. Reimu gasps after spotting Sakuya, then looks at Remilia and Luna, noticing the blood on Luna's left blade and glove then quietly asks "Luna?" Ail was already heading toward Remilia to lend a hand, placing a barrier on each arm. Just before Luna lands her blade on Remilia's neck, Ail uses his barrier-covered hand to stop the blade. Luna growls and wildly swings her swords, trying to hit Ail, however Meiling immediately joins in as soon as she enters through the main doors. Ail places barriers around Meiling's arms and says "for blocking!" then continues to defend himself from Luna's rage. Meiling is able to land a quick blow on Luna, sending her back with great force. Meanwhile, Reimu, Patchouli and Yumeko try their best to stop Sakuya from bleeding to death. Reimu asks "What are you doing here?" Yumeko quickly replies "I swear, Reimu, we were just having a friendly match when that woman came and tried to cut her in half!" Reimu looks at Luna quite angrily, then gets up and pulls out a lot of needles form under her sleeve and flies toward the battle. Luna manages to thrust her sword into Meiling's shoulder, then manages to slash Ail's arm, thankfully it was not a serious cut. Remilia launches at Luna with speed, but Luna crosses her blades, sending a shock wave toward Remilia, making her flinch, then taking advantage and shooting many of those colorful knives toward the vampire. Reimu quietly tosses her needles, managing to land two of them on Luna's arms, just as she deflected the rest. Luna takes the small break she just got and jumps from the second floor back to the first, then runs outside, escaping the heated battle.

Ail shouts "who the HELL was THAT!?" Reimu says "that was Luna. Kyo's friend." Ail gets shocked and asks "THAT is Luna!?" Remilia shouts "Sakuya, don't DIE!" Reimu, Ail and Meiling immediately rush to Sakuya. Patchouli was calmly saying "my lady, please calm down. She's going to be alright. She lost a lot of blood, but she'll live. Oh, Ail, you're back." After noticing Ail, Patchouli's cheeks turn pink, however she hides her face by looking at Sakuya. Meiling says "let's take her to her room." Patchouli then says "please wait a little longer. We only just stopped the blood. We need to wait a little more." Sakuya coughs and weakly says "my-my lady. I'm sorry." Remilia holds Sakuya's face and says "it's ok Sakuya. You'll be ok!" Sakuya closes her eyes and lay unconscious on the floor. Reimu spots Medicine, who was frozen in shock, just staring at Sakuya. Reimu asks "Medicine, what happened?" Medicine panics and trembles as everyone's eyes were upon her. Reimu places a charm on her own hand, then pats Medicine on the head saying "calm down. Please just tell us what happened here." She notices Medicine looking at her hand and says "you know you're poisonous. It's the only way I can get close to you." Medicine gulps as Su-san grabs on to her shoulder, as if trying to hug her. She takes a deep breath and says "we... she told me we were going to do a prank, but then she saw Sakuya and started smiling. It was scary. I asked her if she was ok, and she said that she was, but when Sakuya and the other maid were battling, she just took her sword and tired to kill her." Reimu and Ail look at each other for a moment, then Ail says "I better tell Kyo about this." Reimu grabs his hand and shouts "NO! You're his best friend. You'll only manage to get hurt... both of you." Ail replies "you got a point." By now, Meiling and some fairy maids come by with a stretcher and take Sakuya away to her room. Remilia thanks Ail and Reimu for their assistance, looks at Yumeko and silently bows her head, Yumeko bowing down, lifting her skirt lightly as she did, then Ail opens a gap to the shrine and says "let's go back and tell the others." Reimu nods, then grabs Medicine by her hand saying "come with us, please." then Ail signals Yumeko to follow in as well.

At the shrine, after having told everyone what had happened, Mima grabs hold of Budou and says "if that evil woman thinks she's getting close to little Budou, she's got another thing coming! Right?" Budou giggles and says "right!" All but Reimu and Ail blush at the sight, Yumeko almost having a nosebleed, and Medicine feeling a little sick. Medicine gets close to Budou and asks "how can you reply to that like that? Show some backbone!" Budou looks curiously at Medicine, but Medicine didn't like it, so she raises her arms and says "BOO!" Budou jumps in place then start to sob, then cries, pressing her face on to Mima's chest saying "tiny meanie". Mima glares at Medicine, and Ail gets really close, his eyes were shining white as he said "you have a death wish?" Medicine sweats a little and says "geez, sorry, I'm sorry." Reimu then says "Medi... is there anything else you could tell us about Luna's attack?" Medicine gets a little depressed then lightly shakes her head, looking at the floor when she stops. Reimu sighs and says "it's ok. I know it's not your fault." Medicine sniffles for a moment, then she raises her head and angrily shouts "right, I helped you already, so I'm going home now!" She storms out of the shrine, crying as she did, Su-san trailing closely behind. Ail goes outside to watch the little dolls fly away, then notices Yuki flying by, heading back to Makai. Ail was about to wave at her, but notices she was crying too. Ail turns to face the others at the shrine and says "seems it's been a hard one for many. And it's only mid-day by now." All inside sigh then Ail says "Reimu, with Sakuya out of the way, already things have changed." Reimu nods and says "we'll have to be extra careful now." Maribel smiles and says "don't worry guys. Ail's bracelet will warn us. Just like it did now." Ail looks at the bracelet, then Reimu says "what an interesting trinket that one, right Ail?" Ail nods as he continues to stare at the bracelet. Suddenly, Budou yawns and says "papa Ail, can we go home now?" Mima almost had a nosebleed, but stopped when Yumeko fired up a jet stream of blood from her nose. Ail looks at Budou curiously and says "sure. Besides, I need a change of clothes... and shoes." Budou, looking very sleepy, stumbles toward Ail, then as Ail opens the gap and waves everyone goodbye, Budou yawns again and falls completely asleep while leaning on him. Ail smiles and says "ah, not a care in the world, huh?" then enters his gap with Budou on his hands.

After Ail leaves, Marisa says "seems you guys are waiting for something to happen, ze?" Reimu sighs and says "yeah... sorry we can't say more... but I hope we can count on your help, right? You too, Mima." Mima nods and says "as long as you let me stay outside that room, I'll help. And if you pay me, I'll help even more, fu, fu, fu~" Reimu chuckles then says "I don't think so." Mima shrugs, then Marisa laughs and says "you guys... Reimu. I'm sorry for earlier." Reimu pats her on the back and says "you still thinking about that. Here!" She slaps an open palm on Marisa's back, making her squeal in pain, then laughs and says "now we're even, alright?" Marisa glares at Reimu while rubbing her back, then the others laugh. Yumeko walks to Reimu and says "please, miss Reimu, don't be mad at us. I didn't mean that to happen to Sakuya, I just-" Reimu raises her hand in mid air and says "Yumeko, you better go back. Shinki must be worried by now. Don't worry. Just remember to keep your numbers low when you come visit, alright?" Yumeko elegantly bows, raising her skirt a little, then heads outside and flies directly to the gate back home. Suddenly Reimu feels in her heart a strong emotion. Sadness and despair, all coming from one source. At first she thought it was Yumeko, however she feels it comes from the Forest of Magic, then thinks of Budou. She keeps quiet for a moment, but then Marisa shakes her a little, asking "hey, Reimu. What's the matter?" Reimu holds her head for a moment, then says "oh, nothing. Just though I sensed something." Marisa stares at Reimu for a moment then says "I think our little battle left us both a little too tired." Reimu nods and smiles as she says "yeah. I think we should rest." Mima shouts "finally, some REST!" then Reimu smirks and says "not yet. You three still haven't swept the shrine from the leaves, and SOMEONE has to go buy some more food. It's almost winter and we need to stock up now." Maribel, Renko and Mima line up in front of Reimu, salute her and shout "aye-aye SIR!" then scatter all around the shrine with brooms.

At Makai, just as Yumeko enters, she finds Shinki comforting Yuki, who was crying uncontrollably, apologizing to Shinki over and over. Yumeko tries to apologize for being away to Shinki, but Shinki says "it's ok Yumeko. Come, help me with Yuki. Something happened, but she won't tell me what. She's just saying she's sorry all the time." Yumeko smiles in a motherly fashion and says "ahh, Yuki. Let's see what happened now." Sara looks at the scene but says to herself "better not get involved. Now, time to go back to my original post. Hup!" She gets inside the gate and goes straight back to Gensokyo's end of the gate. She looks around and says "hmm~, let's see. I think it was around here. Ah, got it!" She feels around the right side of the gate until she grabs hold of some cloth. She pulls tightly on it revealing a large house and says "WOW! Just like I left it. I can't believe nobody found this."

At Alice's house, Mai was trying to ignore Yuki's leaving like she did, Alice was feeling sorry for what she did and said to Yuki, but continued to clean her house, now adding to the list, rebuilding a whole lot of the house from outside. At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia couldn't sleep, and stayed watching over Sakuya, while at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu kept feeling something was wrong, and kept thinking of Budou, while at Ail's house, Ail had finished preparing a bath for himself, and Budou had hung herself from one of the tallest parts of the ceiling around the kitchen, wrapped her wings around herself and fell asleep.

To be continued...
Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 26 2009
written by
Willie G.R

Monday, August 24, 2009

Another Misplaced Sukima P-11

And so, back home in Gensokyo. Sanae is reunited with the goddesses from the Moriya Shrine, Renko and Maribel once again return to the Hakurei Shrine together, Ail has his eye treated at Eirin's clinic after having a short race with a pair of Nekomata and being frozen in place by a hasty miko in red and white that insisted on adding the Hakurei god's blessing to his new bracelet too quickly and everything else seems to be back to normal. On the other hand, Marisa's heart is filled with much anger and doubt, Agava is constantly plotting against Reimu, trying to cause as much trouble for her as she can, however she keeps on failing, and also, the fact remains that nobody knows who has the missing pieces of the crystal armor Ail and the other humans ripped off the shaggy man.

Morning at Eirin's clinic. Ail wakes up and discovers he had another eye-patch, although this one was taped on around his left eye so it wouldn't fall off. He touches lightly around it, but immediately feels pain, cringing and yelping lightly. He looks around with his good eye, but realizes Eirin has surrounded him with a curtain, so he decides to close his eye again, drifting back to sleep almost immediately.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Kyo wakes up with a roaring yawn as he exists the shrine and heads to the gate, where he puts on the amplifier, stretches, does some light exercises, then heads toward the village, jogging down the stairs. Luna had woken up too and was watching him from behind a tree, blushing and swooning as she did. From behind her Medicine stares and suddenly asks "are you in pain?" Luna gets shocked, jumps in place, then bangs Medicine on the head with her fist as she landed, shouting "don't sneak up on me, or I'll hit you!" Medicine holds her head in pain and sobs as she says "don't-don't say that AFTER hitting me, you-you idiot!" Looking at the little youkai cry like that makes Luna's heart feel a tug. She tries to scowl, but she was not even able to. She gives up and says "I'm sorry... Just don't sneak up on me like that next time. I can be dangerous." Medicine forces a smile, then Luna looks away and pats her on the head, thinking "that's it. I've lost it."

At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae wakes up with a smile on her face and immediately starts sweeping the floors. She looks around and smiles after seeing a few birds flying by. She hears a door opening from inside and says to herself "ah, lady Kanako must be up." Kanako peeks her head outside and says "good morning Sanae! How are you feeling today?" Sanae waves back at her with a great smile and says "much better, thanks for asking!" From inside Kanako shouts "don't worry about breakfast today, I'll take care of it!" Sanae giggles and says "thank you very much!" She starts humming a tune and continues sweeping. Suwako was sitting on top of the large red gate to the shrine, staring at Sanae. She thinks "those tears last night... Sanae, what happened? You don't cry like that for just nothing." Suwako continues to silently watch Sanae, wondering what happened to Sanae, and if there was something she could do.

At Marisa's house, Marisa wakes up feeling even more tired than when she went to sleep in the first place. She looks around at the mountain of a mess that surrounded her entire house and somehow starts feeling more depressed. She gets up from her bed and heads directly to her kitchen, then stares at a bucket of water she had placed on the table there. She looks at her reflection for a moment, then dunks her head inside, keeping it there for a moment, then suddenly she pulls herself back up, spluttering a little. She takes a deep breath and says "alright then... I'll do it." She goes back to her room, puts on her black witch clothes with the white apron, grabs her Hakkero, then her broom and immediately after closing the door behind her she takes to the air. Inside her house, she left her hat right where she had tossed the the night before, a single spec of dust falling on it's tip as Marisa vanishes in the early morning skies.

Back at Eirin's clinic, Eirin is examining Ail's eye. "Now look to the left. Good. Now the right. Good, good." Eirin smiles as she instructs Ail to move his eye around. Ail looks at her smiling like that and with a large sweat-drop on his forehead he asks "was I and experiment for you?" Eirin giggles and says "my, you caught on already. Well I wasn't sure of the drugs effect and after effects, but all seems to be good." Ail looks at her in disbelief and asks "you're enjoying this, aren't you?" Eirin says in the most angelic tone of voice "now, now. Don't get angry. The operation and application was a complete success after all." Ail sighs and says "true, true. So, aside from the pounds of blood you stole from me, how much do I owe you?" As he gets up from the chair besides Eirin's desk, Eirin sweats, but smiles and asks "how did you know?" Ail points at the 12 blood sacks on the shelves next to the drug used to restore Ail's eye. Eirin smiles again, sweating some more and says "1500 should cover it." Ail bows and with a smile he says "here you go, and thanks for everything." Once Ail shuts the door behind him, in a very sweet, yet dangerous tone of voice, Eirin says "Udonge~~!" Reisen walks to her master with a smile that vanishes immediately after looking at Eirin's blood-thirsty smile and asks "what is it-... err, master?" Still in that sweet tone of voice, Eirin says "didn't I tell you to properly put away the collected blood samples?" Reisen gulps when she realizes all the blood-sacks were on the shelves. "Punishme~nt." continued Eirin in such a sweet voice, that suggested intent of murder. Eirin grabs Reisen by her ears and drags her to the back-room, where immediately upon shutting it, bangs, explosions, clacks, Reisen's death screams and Eirin's evil yet sweet tone of voice could be heard echoing through the clinic walls. Beside the shelves with a wicked glint in her eyes and an evil smirk on her face, Tewi snickers and says to herself "mission accomplished" then flips her thumb up, and calmly heads to the clinic's exit while contently whistling.

As Ail walks through the Bamboo Forest he comes across Yorihime, with her sword ready at hand. She strikes hard on the ground with the blade, trying to surround Ail with many blades that pop up from under the ground, however he had placed a barrier under his feet, so the blades merely lift him off from the ground. He crosses he arms and asks "may I ask what's the problem... miss?" She pulls her sword from the ground, but the blades under Ail didn't go away. She swings her blade twice in front of herself and says "don't you recognize me?" Ail stares at her for a moment and snaps his fingers, saying "you're miss... err... missis... Yorihime... right... or is that your sister?" Yorihime smiles and chuckles then says "you got it right. Now tell me something. How is it that one moment I'm minding my own business on the moon, then I'm suddenly dragged down here by one of your gates, with no way to return home, or contact my sister?" Ail gasps and asks "wait, I never opened a gap to the moon. Not consciously that is." Yorihime smiles again and says "consciously or not, I'm here and to my understanding, it's your own doing. Can you undo this?" Ail ponders for a moment then says "maybe. I would need help though." Yorihime swings her sword again, only this time while staring dangerously at Ail and shouting "EXCUSES! Take responsibility from what you have done!" Ail had knelt on his barrier and calmly says "well, whether you believe me or not seems is out of the whole question. Any deals before we begin?" Yorihime smiles and says "if I win, you'll have to come with ME to the moon and serve time for your crime of kidnapping me!" Ail calmly asks "and if I win?" Yorihime lunges at him with her sword held above her head and shouts "you're not going to win!"

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu had just woken up and was quietly drinking some tea as Mima, Maribel and Renko were cleaning the storage house. Nitori had left very early in the morning apparently, along with Kyo, Luna and Medicine too. The shrine was pretty quiet that morning, until a familiar buzzing noise catches Reimu's attention, jumping away from a vicious Master Spark at the very last second. Marisa hovers above the shrine, glaring menacingly at Reimu. Mima, Renko and Maribel immediately come running from the storage room shouting "Reimu!" "Are you alright!?" "What happened!" All three look up and see Marisa, who shouts "don't any of you dare interfere! This is my fight with Reimu." Mima shouts back with concern "Marisa, calm down. You're acting irrationally!" Marisa shouts back with fury "SILENCE! Don't get in the way!" Mima gets a little angry, but Marisa's angry glaring scared her. She looks up and asks "Marisa, what happened?" Reimu calmly flies up and says "I wasn't done with that, you know." Marisa shouts "just shut up! This is it Reimu, this is the day I beat you!" Reimu casually glances at Marisa and says "is that so? Well, you can try again if you want, but-!" Reimu narrowly dodges a blue beam that was aimed straight at her face. With shock and surprise in her face, Reimu looks back at the hat-less Marisa, who stares angrily back at Reimu. Reimu, looking much more serious, pulls out her gohei, a pair of charms and some needles and says "I see. I still can't tell you anything if I lose. You understand that, right?" Marisa replies "*tck* So arrogant!"

At the Bamboo Forest, Ail had just avoided Yorihime's sword slash and started shooting a barrage of bullets toward her. She bounces off most with her sword, however Ail manages to land some of his bullets on her ankles. She yelps and kneels. Ail calmly gets closer and asks "so you want to stop this already? I already told you, I need help before I can get you back." Yorihime growls "you're gonna pay for kidnapping me!" She covers herself up in flames and rushes straight at Ail, who simply steps aside a little, avoiding a direct hit to his face. She flips away from Ail's reach and smiles. Ail looks at her with curiosity and asks "what did you just-" Suddenly Ail feels his skin burning a little, then he holds his right cheek and jumps around in pain and shouts "ow, ow, ow~~!!! Geez, you're hot!" Yorihime gets a little shocked and says "h-HEY, that's no way to speak to a married lady!" Ail shouts back "no, I mean literally! What the hell was that? You weren't even close!" Yorihime realizes what he meant and says "oh, right. I just surrounded myself in the divine flames of Lord Agato. Give up now and we can avoid the pain." Ail smirks and says "I see. Tell you what? If I win, you let me go to my house, rest for a bit, say hi to a few friend, and THEN I'll send you back home. What do you say?" Yorihime grabs her sword then lunges again toward Ail shouting "I already told you, you're NOT going to win!" She thrusts her blade straight at him, then as he jumps she summons another god. "Ame no Uzume no Mikoto!" echoes her voice as Ail jumps away from her sword, however Yorihime's body starts to glow and she spins with great agility, kicking Ail on the ribs, sending him flying back with great force, making him break a tree branch with his head. She smirks as Ail gets up and says "that was too close." Yorihime opens her eyes widely and wonder what he meant, then realizes he had a blue barrier behind his head. He smiles back and says "now it's my turn."

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu was shooting all sorts of charms toward Marisa, but she would shoot a barrage of stars and beams, destroying all the charms long before they reached her. Reimu grunts as she tosses various needles at her. Marisa dodges the needles to the best of her abilities, but one of them lands straight on to her left cheek. Reimu gasps and rushes to her friend. "Marisa! I'm sorry, are you ok?" Marisa quietly pulls the needle off and swipes the trickle of blood off and shouts "this is a BATTLE! Fight like you mean it!" then fires a concentrated blue beam straight at Reimu. Reimu manages the place a barrier right in front of herself before the beam reached her, however the beam came with great force, breaking the barrier into pieces, but not before giving Reimu the chance to get away in time. Reimu looks back at Marisa with concern in her eyes and says "Marisa, you're going to burn out! You're using way too much power!" Marisa growls and replies "today I'm gonna beat you, even if it KILLS me!" Reimu gulps and sweats when she looks into Marisa's determined eyes. She saw the anger in them and thought "she's really going all out. Right, I better stop her before she hurts herself!" Marisa raises her right hand above her head and shouts "Magic Sign - Stardust Reverie!" Countless stars, all in different sizes and colors fall toward Reimu in straight lines, then small groups of stars would swirl and twirl, almost succeeding in catching Reimu off guard. Marisa scowls and says "too easy. Have THIS instead! Black Magic - Event Horizon!" Just like her Stardust Reverie before, stars of all sizes and colors fall straight at Reimu, however there were so many, Reimu could not see any way to escape. She dodges as best as she can, being grazed, he clothes getting shred by the hundreds of stars heading her way. Reimu manages to get close enough to Marisa and shouts "Divine Arts - Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle" Marisa gasps and tries to fly away, but is unable to avoid getting trapped inside the large circle of charms. She panics as she dodges as if her life depended on it, and was unable to fire back at Reimu while concentrating on dodging the charms and now the yin-yang orbs headed her way. She shouts to the air, grabs her broom by the tip, jumps off and using the momentum, she spins in mid-air and uses her broom as a bat, sending a few of the yin-yang orbs straight back at Reimu, others flying back toward the village. Reimu stops her own spell and dodges the orbs. Marisa was now falling down, but at the last second, her broom starts flying again, and like an acrobat, she spins around the broom, flips in the air, then sits back on her broom. Mima watches with despair at the stunts Marisa was doing just to beat Reimu. She knew if she kept going as she did, someone was going to get seriously hurt, but if she tried to stop them, she knew she'd be the one in danger. All she could do was watch while Reimu defended herself from Marisa's assaults.

At the bamboo forest, Ail was using his barrier as a shield around his arms as Yorihime tries to strike him with her sword while moving with great agility and flexibility. Ail was getting scared, so he unleashes a massive energy blast that sends her flying back. He catches his breath and says "if you kill me now *pant* I won't be able to *pant* send you back home!" Yorihime's body stops glowing as she stands a few feet away, just staring at Ail. She smirks and shouts "come, Lord Honoikazuchi!" A large creature made of fire and roaring like thunder, towers right in front of Ail, expanding seven flame dragons above itself. Ail sweats and tries to run, however the creature surrounds him and starts to spin with great force as it contracts itself around Ail. He desperately looks for a way out but finds none. As the flames engulf him, a deathly scream echoes all around the Bamboo Forest. Yorihime smiles as the flame vanish, but her smirk immediately disappears when she realizes there's no body in there. For a moment everything was quiet, when suddenly, from behind her, a blue gap opens up, and out comes Ail running as his entire body is engulfed in flames. He runs in circles around her, burning her as well in the process. He runs away from her screaming incoherently as the fire kept burning him alive. She extinguishes the fire on her skirt then shouts "STOP DROP AND ROLL, you IDIOT!" Ail throws himself on the ground and starts rolling, extinguishing the flames around him. When the flames die out, Ail pants on the ground and as he gasps for air he says "th-thanks!" Yorihime realizes she just helped him and says "wait, what the hell!? I'm supposed to be beating you, not helping you!" Ail gets up laughing and says "you know, at first I didn't think I could really beat you, but then I remembered... I have the blessings of four gods, right here." He raises his right arms and flashes the bracelet with the white crystal at her. He raises both his arms and suddenly powerful wind gusts blow Yorihime off her feet, and just as she fell, two small stone mounds in the shape of hands trap her tightly against the ground, leaving only her head and feet exposed. She grunts as she tries to break free as Ail slowly walks toward her with an evil grin on his face and says "well, well, look at what two gods trapped here for me. Do you give up?" Yorihime snarls and tries to break free once more and shouts "NO! When I get free from here I'm gonna... HEY, what are you doing!?" Ail looks at her a little annoyed and kneels by her feet, pulling off one of her boots. From one of his pockets he pulls out a large white feather and shows it it her. She panics and shouts "no... NO PLEASE!!! Anything but THAT!" Ail smiles again and asks "ready to give up?" She growls and says "NEVE~R!" Ail shrugs and says "suit yourself."

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu and Marisa had both reached their limits. "This is it Reimu. Today I'm finally going to beat you!" shouts Marisa with a cocky smile on her face. Mima shouts "Marisa, don't do it!" Marisa shouts back "ah, pipe down!" Reimu was breathing heavily and awaited the worse. Marisa points her Hakkero and shouts "Loving Heart - Double Spark" Two large multi-colored beams fire at once, one from Marisa's miniature reactor, the other from her free hand. Both beams combine into one, becoming one immensely large beam. Reimu flies away for dear life, dodging many large stars that headed her way along with the large laser. When the beam subsides, Reimu takes the opportunity, raises a spell card and shouts "Divine Spirit - Fantasy Seal!" Charms that tracked Marisa down, large energy balls and yin-yang orbs spread from Reimu. Marisa had to cancel her spell in order to avoid Reimu's, however she was caught by some charms that sapped her power, then one yin-yang orb strikes her on the head, almost knocking her off her broom. Reimu stops and tired, but with concern in her voice she asks "will you stop this now?" Marisa was barely able to keep flying, however, in a final attempt to surprise Reimu, she quietly mouths and incantation, then suddenly shouts "Magicannon - Final Master Spark!" Reimu uses the last of her strength to fly out of the way of a massive multi-colored beam, then, thanks to a mistake, Reimu crashes against a tree branch and avoids a star that was headed straight at her. Marisa had used so much of her power that as soon as the beam stops she says "I lost... again." then she and her broom fall straight to the ground below from great heights. Mima, Renko and Maribel shout with fear and run as fast as they could toward Marisa, hoping to be able to reach her in time before she fell to the ground. Already Reimu was ahead of them, but she knew they couldn't reach her in time, so she fires a pair of yin-yang orbs, sending Marisa's limp body straight to the spring on the right side of the shrine. With a large loud splash, Marisa falls on the springs. Reimu was hoping the water had broken her fall, even if just a little. When they reach the spring, Marisa wasn't coming up, so Reimu rushes to where some bubbles were coming and fishes out Marisa as quickly as she could. Marisa coughs and splutters, spitting some water out and weakly says "you-you came for me. You... really care about me." Reimu felt desperate, her heart racing with fear as she holds Marisa's head just above the water. She shakes her friend and almost crying she shouts "Marisa, you idiot! What the hell got into you! Of course I care about you. You're my friend!" Marisa weakly laughs, then collapses out of exhaustion. Mima, Renko and Maribel arrive just then, Mima shaking as she gets closer and passes her hand over Marisa's head. Reimu takes a deep breath of relief and says "it's ok. She just passed out." Mima takes a breath of relief and grabs Marisa, then carries her to the shrine while saying "you foolish girl, I told you someone would get hurt!"

At the bamboo forest, incessant laughter echoes all around as Ail tickles Yorihime's foot with the large white feather. She laughs and shouts "no! NO, stop! HAHAHAHAHA! This is CRUEL and unusual torture! HAHAHAHAHA stop it!!" Ail smiles and says "not until you admit defeat!" Yorihime tries to contain her laugh, but it was no use and explodes with laughter one more time, then, finally she shouts "HAHAHAHAHA This is too much!!! HAHAHAHA OK! OK I GIVE UP! You win! Just STOP ALREADY!!!" Ail pulls away the feather, then waves his right hand and the stone hands bury themselves back down to the ground, releasing Yorihime, who's face was red, her eyes full of tears and still felt some of the feather's tickle on her foot. She was still giggling when Ail says "now, I'm gonna go back home, at last. I'll take a break, visit some friends, then I'll come back with Maribel and send you back to the moon. I promise." Yorihime swipes her boot from Ail's hand and angrily says "that was a cheap way of winning, you monster!" Ail smiles and says "but I'm sure it beats blasting you to submission, right?" Yorihime thinks for a moment, her face still very red. She glares at Ail and says "I think I would have preferred the blasting." Ail chuckles and says "I beg to differ. Well, I still won either way, so, no hard feelings, and I'll be back tomorrow and take you back home, is that ok?" He gets up as he says this and extends his hand to Yorihime. She nods and accepts his help, then Ail leaves as soon as he sees she was ok. Before going away too far Yorihime turns to him and says "hey." Ail turns around, then she says "you're not as bad as I though you were. Umm... thanks" Ail smiles, flips his thumb up, then continues his way back to his house.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Marisa had been laid on a futon. Mima served her some tea and some rice cookies. Reimu was worried for her friend and would not eat anything until Marisa finally wakes up. She looks at Reimu's concern and asks "are you really that worried?" Reimu shouts "of course I am. What kind of idiot are you!?" Marisa smiles and closes her eyes as she said "it's ok. I understand you can't tell me what's going on." Reimu angrily responds "then why all of this? What was the whole purpose!?" Marisa opens her eyes again and says "I was jealous." Reimu was left in complete shock to Marisa's confession. Marisa chuckles and says "pathetic, I know. But lately it's all been Ail and Maribel this, and Ail and Maribel that. Then Sanae and Renko disappear too, then they come back and leave to a secret meeting with you. What about me? I'm your friend too, right?" Maribel was crying twin waterfall as she says "yeah, you are our friend too miss Marisa!! " Renko grabs Maribel my her cat ears and says "let them settle their private matter, alright?" Mima gets up and leaves as well and says "Marisa, you child." Reimu stares angrily at Marisa, but still shows concern. Marisa chuckles again and says "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said something like that." Reimu says "you idiot!" as she bends down and hugs her friend, then whispers in her ear "I'm sorry." She gets back up and says "I know, I've been paying too much attention to them, but I was worried about them. I never meant to make you feel this way." Marisa's eyes fill with tears then gets up and hugs Reimu, who hugs back and says "you're my best friend, Marisa. Nobody will replace you, you can be certain of that." When they stop hugging, Mima and Maribel were hugging each other and crying "this is so sweet and tender~!" Renko was standing next to Aya with a smile on her face, and Aya looked a little sick and says "this is WAY too mushy!" Both get quite annoyed and immediately icicles and charms fly straight at the onlookers, knocking them all out on the floor just next to the shrine's porch.

Ail had reached the village and bought a few things to eat and was about to head home when he spots Kyo looking at a vacant piece of land next to one of the village's exits. "KYO!?" shouts Ail. Kyo looks at him surprised and says "Ail!? AIL BUDDY! Finally! How are you!?" Both walk toward each other and immediately shake hands as they reach, Kyo pulling him and giving him a hug, Ail trying to hug back without crushing the fruit he had just bought. Kyo then says "so appart from disappearing, how have you been!?" Ail says all is good here. I really love this place... hey wait, what are you doing here? I thought you wouldn't want to come back for at least a year." Kyo smiles and says "well, Yukari came looking for me, told me you were in trouble, then I came here with Luna my g-" Ail looks at him expectantly, then Kyo says "A very special friend" while sweating nervously. Ail looks at him mischievously and says "well, well. I wasn't expecting to hear that so soon. And where is Luna?" Kyo gets depressed and says "she disappeared since this morning. I don't know where she is right now. And I really wanted you to meet her." Ail looks a little disappointed and says "aww, it's alright. Besides, you're not leaving so soon, are you?" Kyo smiles and says "nah. Luna and I decided to stay here." Ail was in complete shock, then Kyo continues "that's why I'm having a word with the village elders and looking around here. I'm gonna build us a house here." Ail smiles and says "that's wonderful! Just say the word and I'll help you if I can." Kyo says "thanks buddy. Hey, after I find Luna and visit the tengu, can we come visit you?" Ail replies "sure. I would be honored!" Kyo says "great! We'll see you later buddy!" Ail smiles and says "I'm glad you're here to stay, my friend. Maybe with you on the male's team, we can finally beat those girls." Kyo laughs hard, then hides his face and says "I've already lost 500 times against Luna..." Ail replies "oh~ I see." A cold wind blows by them, then Ail says "well, I'm a little anxious to get home, so I'll be seeing you. Good luck with your house." They wave at each other, Kyo thanking him for the well-wishing, then goes back to look at that spot he was so interested in. He explores it a little more and spots two steaming yin-yang orbs half-buried on the center of the small empty field and says "PERFECT. This is the spot!"

Finally, Ail reaches his house. "Ahh, just like I left it." he says as he looks at his white house with the bright blue roof. As he enters, he notices the door wasn't locked and says "not as I left it." but then remembers future Cirno's story of how she found that spell card of his in his house, then shrugs and goes inside, locking his door after closing it behind him. He takes a deep breath and says "ahh, so good to finally be back. He heads to his kitchen and starts to unload the bag of fruits he had bought, but as he did, he hears wings flapping inside one of the rooms. Immediately he shouts "Mystia, what are you doing here? Come out, I know you're in here!" No reply. He sighs and says "fine, I'll play hide-and-seek for a moment, but then you have to leave, alright?" Again, wings rapidly flapping from inside his storage room. He thinks for a moment and says "wait... if it was Mystia, she would have said something by now." He slowly reaches the storage room and notices the door was open. Looking inside before entering, he finds nothing. He enters the room and quietly looks around, then, right above him, he hears a whimper. He looks up and sees a large brown cocoon and says "well that's new." He flies up to look at the cocoon a little closer, but then realizes he was looking at a pair of wings. Just like that, the wings spread open, startling Ail. A small bat youkai had entered his house and was nervously flying all around the tall ceiling and babbling nervously and incoherently. The bat finally swoops down and exits the room. Ail follows it out of the room shouting "wait, who are you!?" The bat, trying to fly away, crashes it's left wing against the door's archway and falls down to the floor, unable to fly up again. It crawls back to the kitchen, but corners itself. It hisses as Ail slowly gets closer, then shouts "get away!" with a small child-like voice. Ail looks around and realizes some of the fruits he was storing were already eaten by the child. The bat was still covering itself with it's large brown wings and shivering on the floor, cornered against the kitchen sink. Ail grabs a banana he had just bought, kneels down and slowly gets closer to the child gently saying "it's ok, calm down." and offering the fruit. He stops when he was about one foot away and says "here, you like fruits, right? It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you." The bat child opens it's wings a little to peek at Ail. After seeing the fruit, it opens it's wings a little more, slowly. It reaches for the banana and nervously grabs it and starts eating it almost desperately. Ail smiles and asks "is it good?" The shy little creature completely opens it's wings. Ail gets a good look at it.

It was a young female bat youkai with violet eyes that have no pupil in them. Her teal colored hair is long, a little dirty and a bit messy, and Ail also notices she has small, but sharp-looking fangs, and small claws on her tiny hands. She is wearing a dirty sack over her small body tied with a thin rope and her brown wings that sprout from beside her shoulder blades are as long and wide as her own body. Ail offers his hand to the little bat youkai. For a moment, she shyly backs away and trembles a little but Ail softly says "it's ok, I'm not mad or anything." The little bat youkai slowly accepts Ail's hand, whimpering and closing her eyes as he gently closes his hand around hers. She opens one eye then says "it's... warm." Ail smiles widely in a goofy fashion and says "welcome little one. My name is Ail. What's your name?" The little bat youkai stares at Ail and says "I don't have a name... sir." Ail stops smiling and looks at her seriously for a moment. She gets a little scared, and Ail immediately notices and says "oh, it's alright. I'm just surprised. I'm not mad."

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu had Aya in a head-lock shouting "give me the photos, you perverted crow!" Aya was being chocked, but manages to say "I swear, ack, I didn't take any photos." Reimu releases her, then, as if nothing had happened, she smiles and says "I came here looking for Kyo, that silver haired girl, and that poisonous doll." Reimu looks at her with surprise and wonder, then says "well they all left very early in the morning. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Iku since I returned from Makai." Aya waves her hand and says "no,no, no. Not the oarfish. Just those two humans and that doll. They made a promise and I'm here to make sure they keep it." Reimu had casually crawled back to the table and sits beside Marisa, both drinking tea and ignoring Aya. She gets annoyed and shouts "are you ignoring me so early in the morning!?" Reimu casually says "hey, hey, calm down. Wait around here for a bit. I'm sure they're bound to come around." Aya smiles and says "sure, if you don't mind." Reimu then adds "but don't start taking photos for that shady papers of yours, or I'll kill you." Aya lowers her head and quietly says "ayayayaya~"

At the gate to Makai, a blond maid in red sneaks out, then quietly rushes away, using the trees as cover. From behind, a pair of shadows snicker, then chase her. Yumeko realizes she's being followed, so she stops time around her for a moment, and speeds up, getting away from her pursuers, then as time is restored, she flies away. The two shadows reveal themselves to be Luna and Medicine. Luna says "tck, we lost her" but Medicine says to her "no, I can follow her scent. Come on!" Medicine grabs Luna by her hands then pulls her up to the air, then following Yumeko's scent, they chase after her, all headed straight to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Back at Ail's house, the little bat youkai was sitting on Ail's lap as she explains to him how she got inside his house. "So you say the door was open, but when you entered it closed and you didn't know how to open it?" asks Ail. The little youkai nods and says "I though I was going to be in here forever and get hungry, but I found some fruit and I ate some, then I saved some others in case I needed to eat more." Ail raises his eyebrows and says "my, that's very smart of you." The little youkai giggles and says "thanks. I didn't know how to speak, but I read your books, and they teach me how to speak." She smiles at Ail as she says this, then Ail looks at the fruits she had eaten. Half-eaten peaches, oranges, apples, but he notices the only fruits she completely finished off were the grapes. He asks "so you like grapes?" She giggles and says "I LOVE grapes. So tasty and juicy!" Ail thinks for a moment, opens a small gap that startles the little youkai. She nervously asks "w-w-what is that?" Ail chuckles and says "it's alright. I opened a gap through a distance barrier to get something from the kitchen." The little youkai says "oh" very calmly and re-accommodates again on Ail's lap. He rummages around then says "got it." She gets startled again, but immediately Ail pulls his hand out of the gap, closes it and shows the little youkai some big juicy purple grapes. At first she doesn't notice them, but when she does, she starts to drool, then springs off Ail and grabs the grapes, eating them contently while sitting on the floor. Ail smiles and says "wow, you weren't kidding when you said you loved grapes." Ail stares at her as she finishes slurping the last grapes and burps. He smiles and says "would you like a name, little one?" The little youkai smiles at him, then lunges back into his lap and asks "you can give me a name!?" Ail smiles and says "how about if I call you 'Budou', seeing as you love grapes so much?" The little youkai screeches with glee and hugs Ail and says "I love it! Yay, my name is Budou!" She gets off ail and thinks for a moment then asks "but... won't others try to eat me?" Ail says "don't worry! If you don't mind, I'll protect you." Budou shrieks with glee again and shouts "YAY, I have a daddy~!" Ail sweats a little and thinks "a daddy? Am I really that old?"

Ail gets up from the sofa and says "well, Budou? How about if we go meet some friends?" Budou gets very nervous and stutters for a moment. Ail says "it's ok, I'm sure you will like them. And I'm sure they will like you too." Ail finally notices that Budou was the same size as Lily white. Only half his height. He smiles at her and says "let's use one of my gaps to get there." Budou starts trembling a little, then clings to Ail's leg as he opens the gap to the Moriya shrine. He smiles at her then offer his left hand, which she grabs hold of as she releases his leg. After entering, in just one second, they were already at the shrine. She looks around and says "wo~w. That was so fast." Ail says "now don't be afraid. I'm gonna call my friends so they can come and meet you." Budou gulps then nods. Ail shouts "hey, Sanae~, Kanako~, Suwako~! Are you there?" From inside comes Sanae with a smile on her face saying "Ail? Good morning. My, what brings you here so early in the morning?" Budou was already hiding behind Ail's leg by the time Sanae comes out. Sanae gets closer as Ail says "good morning, Sanae. I wanted you to meet someone. Bu-" When Sanae gets closer, Budou panics and screams, then tries to fly away, but Ail grabs her leg and calmly says "Budou, calm down, calm down! This is Sanae. She's my friend. She won't hurt you." Budou stops flapping her wings, then slowly comes back down. Sanae asks "Ail, who's this? She's so cute." Budou was trembling behind Ail's legs as he said "I found her in my house. Seems she trapped herself inside. She didn't have a name, so I named her Budou." Sanae asks "why Budou?" Ail reaches into his pockets and hands Sanae some grapes and says "offer them to her." Sanae kneels down and with a gentle voice she says "here you go Budou. Some nice grapes." Budou peeks form behind Ail's legs and immediately after spotting the grapes, she reaches for them, however Sanae pulls them back and says "come here and I'll let you have them." while patting on her knees. Budou whimpers and trembles, but the grapes on Sanae's hands looked juicy and tasty. She couldn't hold back any longer and lunges toward the grapes, snatching them from Sanae's hand, then kneeling on the ground, voraciously eating the grapes, slurping as she eats the last grape and contently sighs. Before she realizes it, Sanae had been patting her on the head. When she did notice, she feels soothed and relaxed as Sanae softly says "there, there. See? I'm not so bad, aren't I?" Ail smiles and says "should this one be marked as a miracle?" Sanae giggles and asks "what is she wearing? And her hair? Oh my, let's take her inside." Budou looks at both Ail and Sanae curiously, wondering what was going on.

After trying twice to escape, Budou meets Kanako and Suwako. With Suwako, naturally, she felt safe, but Kanako made her feel a little uneasy, being so tall and carrying those large logs around as if they were nothing. Still, they managed to calm Budou down and have her properly greet the gods, thanks mostly to Sanae, who managed to calm her down with ease. She also convinced Budou to take a bath and now has taken her to her room to give her some proper clothing. After about an hour, Sanae comes out smiling and says "what do you guys think?" When Budou comes out, her long teal hair was well combed and clean, and was wearing a light brown dress with two large black buttons holding the chest area closed, a frilly teal apron on top of the skirt and a small white bow on the left side of her head. Suwako exclaims "wow, Sanae! you really worked some magic there!" Ail smiles and says "wow, looking great there." Kanako smiles and says "she looks adorable, Sanae!" When Ail looks at her feet, she was wearing black fluffy slippers. Sanae smiles and says "it's the only thing she would wear." Ail laughs and says "she's a feisty one after all." Budou looks at all of them a little confused, then asks "papa Ail, momma Sanae? Why is everyone looking at me?" Ail and Sanae both get pale and cold, then Sanae asks "m-momma?" then Ail asks "papa? Again?" Kanako laughs and says "again, huh? Well mommy, daddy, you better take care of your child from now on." Sanae was left speechless and Ail nervously giggles and says "err, is it ok to curse at goddesses?" Suddenly Budou stares at Kanako, walks toward her and happily shouts "GRANNY!!!" Kanako freezes in shock as the rest laugh and then Sanae says "congratulations Lady Yasaka. You're a certified grandmother now." Budou jumps on Kanako's lap and smiles at her. Kanako's petrified face immediately turns red as she says "aww~ so cute!" then hugs Budou, rubbing her face against Budou's and saying "I don't mind being her grandmother." They all laugh, but Suwako stares at Kanako with an evil smirk on her face, chuckling as she did.

Meanwhile, at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Yumeko spots Sakuya hanging some clothes to dry just outside the back of the mansion, and behind some bushes, Luna glares at Yumeko while Medicine mischievously stares on to the mansion and whispering "what pranks are we going to do today?" Luna smiles with ill intent and says "oh, it'll be on HELL of a prank, I promise." Medicine covers her mouth as she happily giggles while Su-san continues to pull on her sleeve, as if trying to warn her of some danger. At Entei, Yorihime arrives with a smile on her face, telling Eirin "I'm going back home soon.". Eirin gets a little sad, but smiles at Yorihime, regardless. At the Hakurei Shrine, Kyo arrives and is greeted by the silent tengu, staring at him from the roof of the shrine with a smirk on her face. Kyo stares back at her, looking serious, wondering how to explain about the two missing girls that were supposed to go with him to meet her at the Youkai Mountain.

To be continued...
Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 24 2009
written by
Willie G.R.