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.