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