With the arrival of spring comes the well-anticipated blooming of the cherry blossoms. Throughout the country and throughout it's history, people have been mesmerized by the sight of cherry trues in bloom, as temporary as they may be. Perhaps it's their fleetingness that draws people to them. Some people look at them and think of death, whereas others just admire they're beauty without thinking too deeply. Indeed, there must be something supernatural about them that draws people to want to do nothing but sit under them and just allow themselves to be mesmerized.

The land between the mountains, almost forgotten by society, was definitely one of such mesmerizing sights. The pink and white treetops stretched out over vast tracks of land, most heavily clustered around the high ground where only a single shrine sat. The shrine was not the only place in bloom. Thousands of flowers bordered the Misty Lake, where fairies sung and danced. The Forest of Magic was somewhat lacking in terms of blossoms, with the exception of some notable clusters, yet rare flowers that only grew in the darkest jungles could be found within these shady woods. The various fields that sat between the forests of Gensokyo were covered in flowers as well. Even the Bamboo Forest of the Lost was in full bloom, an exceedingly uncommon event that only ever occurred once every sixty years.

It seemed as if the flowers were going to take over Gensokyo. Perhaps they were making up for the disappointing blooms of last year, when consecutive heavy rain quickly ruined the cherry blossoms in a period of a few short days, leaving no time for any decent flower viewings. Perhaps it was for this reason that the humans of the village were especially rowdy this year. In times of relative peace, the village people tended to host festivals that lasted as long as the cherry blossoms did, where they'd sing, dance, recite, act, drink and have a great time while viewing the cherry blossoms. There was no real meaning to these celebrations other than to simply forget all the bad things in life and have a good time while being surrounded by a breathtaking environment, and to admire the cherry blossoms, of course.

Still, even amidst all this festivity is that unshakable feeling of suspicion and dread that one gets used to when living in Gensokyo, the feeling that at any moment, a Youkai may appear and attack you. However, thanks to recent triumphs in Youkai extermination, such as a complete clean-sweep of all Tsukumogami within the village, the villagers have been able to enjoy some peace of mind.

The Youkai, however, are in a period of unrest. With the security of the village increased, attacking the village directly seems unthinkable for any lone creature. The Youkai, for the most part, are scattered and unorganized, none of them possibly brave enough to try to cause any real incidents. The organized powers are also in unrest. In secret locations, the Youkai leaders meet to discuss their concerns for the future of Gensokyo, but it seems as if such a future is going to be a grim one.

Among disunified Youkai, festive humans and a suspicious spring does our tale start. Let us all spin the tale that puts a close to all folktales. Let this denouement begin.

"Hold... and up... Reika, straighten up! Chou, fix your fan dear... Out, and down... Reika, your knees! Bend your knees, not your back! Up to level position... Very good, Chou. Bow, stand. Leg up. Too quick, Reika! Leg down again. Close your fan. You got it Chou. Crouch, out, up and- Reika! Fix yourself!" Reika tensed up and brought her fan to a level position with her eyes. "Now open. Too slow, Reika! Bring it up! Higher! Wrong way, Reika! Chou, dear, your fan's backwards again... Turn, down, now face to the left. Reika!" Chiyoko got up and approached Reika and snatched the fan out of her hand. "Look here, Reika. This is how you turn." Chiyoko did a gentle sweeping motion with her arm as she turned. "Notice the feet. You have to sli~ide your feet, you don't raise the knees. You're waist needs to be level." She closed the fan and whacked Reika's hip with it. "Level!" Reika pursed her lips.

"Alright," Chiyoko handed her fan back with a dissatisfied expression and returned to her seat upon the deck of the shrine, "Let's go back from the top, this'll be the last time. We have to get going soon." Reika glanced at the sun, and indeed, it was high noon. The Hakureis had spent the entirety of the morning going over their dance routine for their Kagura dance presentation of which they were going to preform at the festival within the village. The Hakureis didn't usually preform publicly, much less at the village, but with all the festivities occurring, it seemed to be the best way to receive of a lot of attention, and with attention came donations. They were going to perform multiple times, once for every day of the festivities (of which, starting that day, would occur for a week) and they would be performing in front of potentially large audiences, which would almost guarantee that they would receive generous donations. Donations were their main source of income, after all.

Reika's mother used to perform Kagura dances quite often during festivals at the shrine. Reika would remember watching her mother and her aunt dance gracefully together when she was younger, dressed in patterned robes and decorated crowns. The grounds used to be absolutely filled with people, more people than one would imagine the relatively small clearing to handle. Those huge events, however, didn't exactly occur too often anymore. Now, the shrine only hosted small events such as marriages or Miyamairi. However, every now and then, the Hakureis be called to participate within festivals that occurred within the village, such as this one.

Chiyoko watched the two girls dressed in red and white, Reika and her daughter, as they went over the whole dance routine. Miko Kagura was a very slow and controlled dance, filled with gentle, graceful movements with a lack of any form of theatrics. Dances often included various tools, which in this case consisted of fans and bells. This particular dance began with the two presenting their fans and waving them around in controlled, synchronized movements, opening and closing them constantly, and in the middle of it, they switched their fans for wands covered in bells. The movements were very careful and slow, as even the slightest noises created by the bells were part of the routine and needed to be controlled. The purpose of this dance, at least in ancient times, was to call upon the gods within the bodies of the dancers to convince them to dance along. However...

"It'll do," Chiyoko said, although she was clearly unsatisfied, looking at Reika. Reika wasn't all that happy either, for different reasons.

"Did we do good?" Chou asked in her sweet little voice of a wind chime. She couldn't help but rattle the bells in her hand, now that she had the opportunity to do so freely.

"You were great, Chou," Reika said, putting her hand over her head. "Great?" Chiyoko pitched in, "She was beautiful, dear. Chou's a natural at this. Her movements are perfect and her balance is just as expected of a Hakurei. Chou, you nearly brought a tear to my eye." Chiyoko brought her finger up to her eyelid to wipe off invisible tears. Chou giggled and ran into her grandmother's lap. "Your mother," Chiyoko's eyes darted to Reika, "could learn a lot from you. Reika, what ever happened to everything I've taught you as a child, about balance. You're movements are much too erratic, you've no sense of pace."

"I understand," Reika said, crossing her arms and mustering up a stoic expression. Her mother was always right, after all. Reika always had difficulty mustering up that sense of balance that everyone else in her family seems to be born with. Her mother's sense of balance must have been even more extraordinary, seeing as she was great at detecting imbalances. "Chi-Chi needs to train you harder," Chou teased. Chiyoko nodded in agreement. Reika couldn't help but grin. "Chou, when I was your age, Chi-Chi used to train me in this dance routine in the middle of the night, in winter, under a waterfall, while I was naked." Chou broke into a giggling fit.

"That was to train your focus," Chiyoko responded, "and that was your aunts idea. Mine was for you to do it over hot coals. Your father thought her idea was cheaper, though..." Chiyoko seemed to be considering something, hopefully not over the current viability of that sort of training. "Well, the level you're at right now should be alright for the festival, but we need to perfect you're ability to dance if we're going to move onto the next phase of your training; to be able to channel the gods at any time." Reika bowed in acknowledgement. Chiyoko began to stretch.

"Well, I'd say we better head off to the village now," she said, "A half an hour walk means, if we walk now, we should still be at least an hour ahead of time, and it would be best if we all got there together." Chiyoko glanced at Reika, who was stretching her shoulders. "As long as we don't run into any problems," Reika responded cryptically to a hidden question. Chiyoko patted Chou's shoulder. "Chou, dear, why don't you go get the snacks we packed," Chiyoko asked, "Your mother and I will be waiting out here ready to go with the things." Chou nodded in compliance and gave Chiyoko her bells before heading into the shrine's main building. Reika gave her own bells to Chiyoko before picking up both their fans off the ground and placing them within the breast of her kimono.

"When are you going to start teaching her about Youkai extermination?" Chiyoko asked this question very suddenly, it caused Reika to flinch for a split second. "I'd rather she grew a little first," Reika responded with her arms crossed. "What's wrong? She's at about the same age as you were when you caught your first Tanuki Youkai. She may not have your power, but she's got a talent for focus that even I didn't have. Why, when she gets older, she might even outsmart a Satori. In fact, it might just be possible for her to handle old Genji's power."

Reika shook her head. "That's absurd. The power of flight? For a human? Unthinkable. Not even a machine could do it. And besides," she lowered her voice, "I'd rather she have nothing to do with Youkai extermination until she's mature enough to handle it." "Mature enough!?" Chiyoko raised her voice more than she meant to. She spoke in a more controlled tone, "How does she need to be mature? You were able to handle it just fine, even eager to. It's not like she's a, a sympathizer." Chiyoko had trouble with the word, as if it was even taboo to say out loud.

"That's... not what I meant. It's not that I'm worried about whether she can handle doing it. It's just..." I don't want her to become like me, is what she felt like saying, but she couldn't muster up the courage to say so in front of her mother. "... I don't want her to become distant from people. She already has lived with us all her life, away from other children her age. I just feel... I feel she'll lose sight of what's important if, if she doesn't quite understand it yet."

"Rei," Chiyoko said in a serious tone, "I understand that you may think this kind of training will be too difficult for her, but if she doesn't begin anytime soon, her true powers may never blossom. She's got so much potential that is only found in one of a million. With the right training, she could be the most talented Hakurei Shrine maiden that ever lived and a great Youkai exterminator. Yet every day that she is unprepared to combat the Youkai is another day where she is in danger. She might become a huge target for enemies both infamous to us and unknown. There may come a time where her life will be in danger and neither of us are there for her, possibly soon, possibly never. As difficult as you may think this is, it will be easier for her than it ever was for you, and it will be for her own good. We trained you at such a young age for this very reason."

Reika stood in silent consideration. "You need to consider what's best for her," Chiyoko concluded. They both sat in silence as they took a few seconds to think as they waited for Chou.

"Chou," Reika called, "What's taking so long? Let's go!"

Marran dodged between a couple of people and quickly sidled into an alleyway to catch his breath, things were going from bad to worse. His original plan had been to slip into the town as early as possible to pick up some food and drink, which had gone well enough, even if the stall owners had given him some funny looks for his appearance. If he had snuck out then everything would have been fine but something had caught his attention, a merchant had been selling several beautiful scrolls he claimed to have recovered from an old temple, on reflection his story had a few holes in it but at the time Marran had been too interested to consider, it had taken more than an hour for Marran to examine the scroll in enough to detail to consider it worth buying and then a few more hours for him to be able to read through the writing and by that time the streets were thronged with people.

It was not that Marran had a particular problem with crowds but it seemed that there was some sort of festival starting up and he had never bothered to memorize the towns layout and so reaching the comfort of the forests again without bumping into anyone was nigh impossible. Even then they may just let him pass but the little he understood of this village seemed to indicate that they had some kind of issue with the local spirits which may lead to out of place looking people being asked pointed questions, especially if were heading out towards the woods.

Marran sighed and slumped into a sitting position and tried to fight off the fatigue that had crept up on his body in the last few minutes. His dreams had been getting far more vivid recently and in the past few days he had started having strange bouts of sleepiness. The town most likely had a herbalist or medicine man he could speak to but once again that sort of thing would lead to unnecessary questions, it was better to wait it out. Besides the content of his dreams had not taken a turn for the worse, his parents had told him a lot of stories about what might come for him in dreams and such stories still loomed large in his fears.

He looked towards the end of the alleyway and glared at the people walking past, trying to determine of their was enough of a lull for him to make his way back to the forest. In the end he decided there wasn't, perhaps when this festival or holiday really got going there would be enough pedestrians around to confuse or escape any inquisitive people, until then he could try and at least locate the herbalists, things rarely got better before they got worse.

Gathering himself up and pulling his hood down to shield his eyes from the sun, he set out into the street.

Rumiko wandered into the town, wearing her usual disguise as traveling monk (including a face-concealing hat). Much as she hated hiding her radiance from everyone, it was necessary to not draw undue attention to herself. She didn't want any undesirables attempting to pursue her or any even-less-desirables cluing in to the fact that she was a yokai and trying to cause trouble.

She played her bamboo flute as she walked down the road, keeping an eye out for any... attractive humans... upon whom she might exercise her wiles... or at the very least, anything the street vendors were selling that might be worth a steal. It wasn't the most secure living a person could make, but it was mostly free of worry... Rumiko mused that she might actually be starting to take this enlightenment thing seriously as something more than a disguise.

She kept walking as Marran dashed into the street, bumping into him and throwing off her tune.
"Oy, watch it, idiot," she grunted at him. Probably not the most in-character thing for a Buddhist beggar to say, but she let her impulses get the better of her.

Fujiwara no Mokou lay there motionless among the scorched remains of the bamboo forest around her. She could not move nor could she speak for the familiar agonizing pains of death that shot through her body the moment her opponent vaporized her had paralyzed her completely upon her resurrection. 'Damn that Kaguya. That's another win for her.' Mokou stared up at the starry night sky and she noticed that the smell of burnt bamboo was uncomfortably overwhelming. She would have to deal with it for awhile longer. Soon she would be able to move again once her body recovered. How long had it been since this began? A few hundred years or so? Though Mokou could not remember when she and Kaguya Houraisan began their days of "killing" each other she could clearly recall the first day they were reunited like it was yesterday. Since then day in and day out, Mokou and Kaguya had been at it for at least three hundred years. To be honest, it wasn't a bad way to spend your time. But most importantly whenever she fought Kaguya, Mokou believed that that's when she would fell the most "alive". Maybe that's why they were doing this constantly. By fighting and killing each other and coming so close to the "death" both desired so much helped them remember what it was like to be mortal again.

"By dying we live. By killing we are reminded what it felt like to be 'alive'."

A soft gentle voice piped up somewhere nearby. Kaguya Houraisan, who had been quietly sitting on the ground a bit away from Mokou, chuckled and gave Mokou a mocking grin. "It seems as though I win again, Mokou."

"What are you doing still here? I thought you had left." Mokou who had now regained control of at least her neck and head turned towards the Lunar Princess. Though once her eyes rested on Kaguya, Mokou could now see why she had stayed. The Princess was propped up against a few bamboo stalks, that seemed to have survived Mokou's inferno, but the whole right side of her body was incinerated down to the bone. It was a horrifying sight to behold but by now, these gruesome injuries had become amusing to the two. Mokou let out a small laugh of triumph and sneered at the disheveled Kaguya.

"Your saying you won in that state? Did I accidentally fry the whole right half of your brain as well? You can't even move!"

"Well unlike you, my body actually stayed intact after the fight so I am claiming it as my win." Kaguya retorted calmly.

"Tch....." Mokou turned her head away from Kaguya and looked to the stars above after realizing the woman was right. "Whatever."

"Say... Mokou?" Kaguya called to her.

"What?"

"Did you ever once in your past think that if you were to spend an eternity with someone that you would be doing this sort of thing? Fighting with them and hating them for the rest of your days?"

As Mokou gazed at the starry sky, she pondered Kaguya's question.

"When I was mortal... I never dreamed that Immortality would be something like this. If I had known.... I would've never taken that stupid abomination you called an Elixir back then."

"So your saying that this is all my fault?" Kaguya asked softly.

"Of course it is! Why else do you think I hate you so much? For the suffering you brought to the countless men of Japan including my father! You ruined us. And for what? Personal amusement? I don't even know. All I know is that I will continue to hate you for the rest of my days and there is nothing you can do to change that...."

"But who was it that made you drink the elixir?"

Mokou didn't say a word. Kaguya sighed and turned her eyes to the stars as well. "You haven't changed even one bit, Mokou."

Marran had pulled his hood down over his eyes so he didn't see the person until he'd already walked into them. He'd met a few monks in his time and this person looked pretty similar, though the way they were dressed indicated that anonymity was more of a priority, then again that was hardly a fair accusation considering what he was wearing. Their retort aswell didn't quite fit with his idea of what monks usually said but at this point Marran was far too flustered to think it over, true enough they might just let him be about his business if he walked off but it would probably be prudent to at least try and be friendly.

"Very sorry about that, didn't notice where I was going. My apologies." Marran took a few steps back as he said this just in case he needed to bolt, he was getting a terrible feeling that something was wrong and the fact he couldn't quite place it was nagging at him, perhaps it really hadn't been worth coming into the village at all. Marran tried to give a reassuring smile before realizing his mouth was covered, with any luck this monk wouldn't ask any awkward questions.

The air of the village was thick, but not just with festivity. People of all classes mingled together. The village may have had been slow to wake, but as time went on, things got busier and busier. Performers played frequently on stages throughout the day, but the merchants were slow to set up their stands. Those that were early wanted to appeal to those who were up and about around noon. Flower viewing festivals usually were rather calm throughout the day and only as it got dark did people get much more rowdy. Still, during the noon, there tended to be a rather large influx of people. This was mainly due to the fact that it was around noon that farmers were getting off of their rice fields, but bright skies, cool breezes and the fact that people were pretty much all awake by then were all contributing factors.

With the streets becoming progressively busier, somehow, the atmosphere became progressively thicker. Perhaps it was simply the festive mood of many people getting together, or maybe it was the noise. Or maybe it was the mysterious mist that seemed to have gathered throughout the village. It was thin and pretty much unnoticeable, as well as not an uncommon occurrence in the village, despite how unusual it was. Most believed it was simply the fog that had blown off of the Misty Lake a few kilometers away, or possibly spores that blew in from the Forest of Magic less than a kilometer away, or most simply, dust kicked up by large amount of foot traffic. After all, it was only thicker depending on how many people were gathered in one place at one time.

However, this mist was no mere dust. After all, no dust could possibly have such a suspicious presence. While it was almost always ignored, there were those that could sense it, or otherwise sense a mysterious presence around them. Most waved it off as a sort of paranoia, but this paranoia did tend to keep people on guard. The humans of the village were always used to keeping their guard up, after all. An air of tension like this was always a reminder that there was some external threat that could harm them at any moment.

What many failed to realize, however, that the threat itself was the mist.

Suika watched over the many humans of the village, watching them about as they went through their days. Being able to thinly spread herself throughout the village, she could keep tabs on just about everybody. She watched as a merchant scolded his disciple for the damaging of a tea bowl and it's stand, as well as a servant dancing for his master, hiding the fact that he's been hunting badgers, as well as a hooded figure made his way down the streets, only to get into a collision in a travelling monk, as well as what appeared to be a big commotion.

It appeared that two men were carrying a Norimono, a hand-carried personal transport vehicle, while they were being escorted by several village guards, including a woman sporting a samurai's robes and weapons on her hip who was calling for the crowds to disperse. People around them were shouting out at the men, telling them to go back. Some of Suika was gathered around here, curious at to what was going on. Cries rang out through the streets; "Dispel the demons! Out with the Youkai! Bring that monster away from here!" So, it was more than obvious that a Youkai was being escorted. Suika was going to investigate further, when a bird's cry caught her attention.

A black figure flew high in the sky, giving off a strange cry. It had the appearance of a bird, but closer inspection would reveal that it was much larger than an ordinary bird, and of an unusual form. It circled above the village, crying it's strange, shrill cries, before suddenly diving into the trees outside the village. Suika sighed in her head. There was no doubt that the unusual creature was anything but one of the Tengu messengers, of which took the appearance of anthropomorphic crows. A Tengu's role in mountain society was easily distinguishable by their appearance. For example, the classical red-faced long-nosed ones tended to bureaucratic matters and were rarely seen by outsiders, while Tengu taking on white wolf-like appearances were guards. A Tengu messenger being sent all the way to the village was probably only looking for one person, and there was only one person who would possibly be sending a message.

Outside of the village, Suika found the messenger, dressed in long white robes, as well as a tokin hat with pom-poms that hung from it. All typical clothing articles of nearly all Tengu. A scroll hung at her side. She sat within a cherry tree, waiting for her recipient to arrive, as she wouldn't dare enter the village. Her great big black wings seemed to have disappeared somehow. She did seem to already be aware of Suika's presence, despite how thin it was. Gradually, Suika began to reintegrate herself, what appeared to be black dust quickly gathering itself into one form, until Suika finally materialized from it, lying on another branch within the same tree, taking a great big drink from her gourd. The Tengu was quick to begin speaking, but Suika put up a hand to pause her.

"Ahh~," Suika gasped after a good ten seconds of chugging, "That's good sake." She brought her hand to her chin, as if to consider it. "Sake under the cherry blossoms is definitely the best." Suika took a glance at the rather antsy looking Tengu (although, all crow Tengu were antsy) and wondered what she was doing there. Suika had temporarily forgotten about the Tengu's presence altogether when she was enjoying her sake. "So... What are you doing here?"

"Well," the Tengu responded somewhat impolitely, "I've got a message for Suika Ibuki-" "That's me," Suika interrupted. The Tengu rolled her eyes, another impolite gesture, before continuing, "... I've got a message from Hoshiguma-Douji." "Yuugi, huh?" Suika took another big drink from her gourd. Yuugi had been becoming increasingly strict as of lately, sometimes even refusing Suika's offers to drink. Suika wasn't at all fond of Yuugi's constant badgering and nagging over supposedly important issues and responsibilities. Therefore, Suika's been making it a point to be absent from her place on the mountain. Though, it's not as if Suika has been ignoring Yuugi or anything. Even today, Suika offered Yuugi to join her in flower viewing, but she refused because supposedly Suika had to be the representative of the Oni for the big meeting between the Youkai powers. Usually such meetings were accompanied by great feasts afterward, but as of late, the Youkai powers seem to have all become sticks in the mud.

The Tengu messenger opened up the scroll at her side and began to read at a rushed pace; "Suika where the hell are you you're supposed to be at this damn meeting this shit is too important for you to to be skipping seeing as this concerns the reputation of the Oni you better not be drinking your ass off in the village you better get here right now or else I will beat you so hard you won't be able to reintegrate straight." The Tengu read the entire thing tonelessly and without punctuation, losing the intended voice behind the message. Suika chuckled after taking a swig. "There's Yuugi's famed civility for you," she said without an obvious sarcastic tone.

"Uh, there's more," the Tengu continued, "I feel I should mention the suspicious figure has come here again and-" "Wait!" Suika interrupted, "Slow down a bit, your voice is giving me a headache." The Tengu continued, but at a more controlled pace, suddenly remembering what punctuation was, "...and although she seems awfully strange, I personally think we should give serious consideration toward what she says. Otherwise, we may have to resort to the plan that I suggested before, regardless of your reservations against it. End message." Suika sloshed her drink around in her gourd thoughtfully before taking a huge gulp.

"Ahh~" Suika was grinning, "Alright, messenger, I've got a message for 'ya. Listen close." "I'm listenin'," The Tengu said, reaching for a satchel at her side for a brush and ink. "No, listen really close," Suika gestured over to herself. The Tengu leaned in, close enough that she could smell Suika's alchohol-soaked breath. Suika spoke in a low voice, her pace inconsistent and some words slurred, causing the Tengu to ask her to repeat parts. "You'd make a bad reporter with an attention span like that," Suika mentioned at one point.

"Ayaya~!" The Tengu exclaimed, "All of them?" Suika chuckled and nodded. The Tengu was absolutely ecstatic. "That's, that's downright insane! That's absolutely, positively, ludicrously diabolical! Abso-posi-lutely! This plan, it most certainly sounds... exciting! That's what it is, yeah! It's so horrible, yet so, so amazing! I, I'll go deliver this message immediately! Lord Tenma will be happy to hear this! Except, what will Hoshiguma-doji think? Can we really handle such a task."

"Don't worry about it," Suika assured her, "In fact, don't tell her. This is confidential information between you, I and your boss. Yuugi'll figure it out for herself soon enough. You're the fastest of the Tengu, right? Hurry up then! Gather the Tengu! We shall begin this party when the sun falls under the mountains, when death is upon us."

"Gotcha, we'll be here in a flash!" Suddenly, great big black wings sprouted from the Tengu's back, and she instantly took into the sky, bursting out of the cherry tree with petals flying in her wake. The breeze got stronger as she cried out her strange call. Suika decided to sit for a bit to enjoy her surroundings, before dissipating into a thin mist once more.

As she spread herself thinly across the village, she began to gather them together. By night, all the humans were going to witness a great spectacle. A night parade of a hundred demons!

Rumiko paused for a moment, she wasn't expecting a response.
With neither able to see the other's face, they were just facing each other awkwardly for a moment.
Rumiko decided to excuse herself and hustle out of there. "Uh, well, bye."
She spun quickly around and heading back the other way.

Marran breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the monk wandered off, it was highly doubtful he'd get lucky like that a second time, he needed to get out of the village and he needed to do it soon. Marran began dodging between alleys again trying to find the usual road he used to get in and out but that plan was quickly abandoned, there were just far too many people. He'd have to take a different route and loop around.

It took a few minutes of aimless wandering mixed with occasionally maneuvering around those here for the festivities, but Marran found a road leading out that had barely anybody on it, while he was eager to get back to his camp in the forest, he'd just spotted something. A little way in front of him was what appeared to be an enormous grove, possibly a forest in its own right, made out of those strange cylindrical plants that grew in this country, it took him a few moments before he remembered that it was referred to as "bamboo", so far he had been trying to stick to familiar terrain but the bamboo forest looked no more or less inviting than the place he had made camp. He had the rest of the day so surely a quick wander around to examine the local area wouldn't hurt.

Marran shouldered his pack and checked the position of the sun, the bamboo looked reasonably thick but if he kept an eye on the suns position and remembered the direction he walked it was almost certain he wouldn't get lost. Whistling tunelessly to himself he set off into the forest.

Kiyoko Momoe walked into the village to go to work. She would earn her pay and go buy some noodles. Every one around her were clamoring about something, distant, Some seemed to come back to mind and a little changed to about her, but still that one topic was spoken so softly and quickly that Kiyoko couldn't hear it. She strode into her workplace, the Herbalist's shop/home. A costomer was wispering to him about something. Dream pricked her ears so she could hear. Kiyoko looked at her, but after a minute or two the pair of gossiping people noticed them and dream nodded her head "No". The woman rushed out of the store and Goro Daisuke beckoned for her to come behind the counter. "Please, Sit down." she did as told. And he began to tell her what the woman told him, Goro was not one for gossip, so this was very unusual to Kiyoko. Kiyoko's eyes went wide as the news unraveled. After the news was spoken, Dream whined and buried her nose in her paws. "Its bad. Very Very bad!" Kiyoko wondered what this all meant to humanity. "You work for three to four hours today Kiyoko. Remember that." Goro stated. "yes-sir."

Kiyoko was told to get some food and eat it at the place, or go find a place in town to eat it. She got one bowl of pure meat for her "pet" as the owner called Dream. "No pets allowed" the chef told her sternly. "Then i will take it to go." she said back.
The other bowl was noodles with mushrooms and beef. Kiyoko found a bench in the middle of town, were there would be a gathering in a short while.

After they got done eating and returned their bowls kiyoko asked "Why is it bad? Might they just be wanting to try to make peace." "Or it could be an attack. I do not believe they wish to make peace with us, my dear child. I believe they mean war."

Rin Nyasai and her cat Akane, were just playing with catnip in the tall grass just outside her house. High and crazy, the two went inside and almost did..something.....But Rin caught herself just before and instead they turned their attention to catching dinner for the two of them. After an hour of hunting, Rin caught eight mice and three birds. Akane caught ten mice and one bird, as well as a gaurder snake. Rin was not about to eat half a snake, but hunger got firm grip on her and she dug in. The rest went into the icebox for later. A tengu came to the door, knocked a few times, and when Rin answered the door there was a piece of paper with a rock keeping the wind from running away with it. Rin looked up and saw the tengu flying off in another direction. "Okay Akane, lets sit down on the pile of pillows and see what this says." Rin started to read. "Holy Cow Crud!" Rin yelled as she jumped up, startling the, formerly, fast-asleep Akane with a loud hiss. "Oh, I'm so sorry Akane, I didn't mean to..." and she started petting him to calm him down. "Akane," she wispered, "We need to go to the mountains for a Youkai meeting. It says we should look our worst, Or our best. I'm going to need your help to find my bells and ribbons. Akane! what did you do with my socks?!"

After Rin got into her finery and Akane had bells and ribbons around his neck and on his tail, and His basket was decorated and stuffed with straw berry's and suggar cookies and finally Akane, The pair set off for the long hike to the Youkai Mountians. Rin put a sign on the door before they left, Because who knows whom might appear at their doorstep? I mean, Rin Nyasai is disliked by a few, and she got messages telling her they were out to kill her just last weekend. Her sign was decorated with bells and ribbons and cat drawings, and it's message is " Sorry, but we could not be home at the moment. Leave any mail at the door and check back later today or tomarrow, Love ya'!
~Rin Nyasai,
Akane

In the middle of the town was a wooden stage, with a bridgeway that extended from the left side of it and a curved roof on top. At the very back of the stage was a wall with the design of a tree on it. It was a stage for Noh plays, one that had been built the day before. The audience, which sat in front and on the right side of the stage, had been small at first, but was steadily increasing. A chorus sat in a section that extended out from the right of the stage. A stage assistant sat at the very back. On the stage were two male actors, who had been on the stage for the entire play. They're movements were gentle and controlled, but were extremely slow. Yet, despite the fact that they were moving way too slow to be interesting, the audience seemed to be mesmerized.

The play itself had a strange premise. Two men, Didi and Gogo, were waiting for a mysterious person by the name of Godot. They engage in meaningless banter, philosophize, argue, sing, dance, attempt suicide, encounter a passerbyer named Pozzo and his servant Lucky, attempt to remember the past, receive a message from Godot's servant that Godot is unable to arrive, and do the very same things the next day. The entire premise seemed absurd. Absolutely nothing moved on, time never moved forward and everything repeated itself. Yet, despite being a play where nothing happened, the audience seemed to be glued to their seats, waiting for more.

As the play ended, Reika and Chiyoko sat in silence, thinking. Chou, however, seemed bored out of her mind. The three of them were sitting near the back of the audience on their knees. They'd missed half of the play by the time they got there, but it didn't seem to matter. Their presence was mainly unnoticed for that reason.

"I didn't get it," Chou declared, "Why are they waiting for that guy anyway?" Chiyoko and Reika closed their eyes, deep in thought, trying to reflect on the absurd nature of the play. In the end, the mysterious Godot never appeared and the play ended just as it began, with two men waiting for somebody who never arrives.

"Perhaps," Chiyoko hypothesized, "Godot is supposed to be a god, and the men are non-believers. They want Godot's help but Godot never comes for they provide him with no faith. Didi even doubts the ultimate truth of the legends about the gods, and Gogo constantly wants to leave. Godot's servant must be a priest who is able to channel Godot's will. Remember that the first time he appeared, he mentions that Godot beats him, yet the second time he appears, claiming that he's a different servant, he mentions that Godot is nice to him and the person who he beats is his brother, the other servant. This is a clear representation of the positive and negative sides of gods. Without faith, Didi and Gogo are confused about their direction in life, and thus their lives cannot go forward, not without the guidance of Godot." Chiyoko seemed rather confident about her explanation, although she wasn't smiling, as if still in thought.

"I don't think that's completely true," Reika interjected, "Didi never outright says he doesn't believe in the gods. He was just trying to understand why people told the same tale different. Also, if the two men were non-believers, why would they be waiting for a god's guidance anyway? The way I see it, the two men are strong believers in Godot. They wait so desperately for Godot because they strongly believe that he will answer their problems. As time goes on, they have plenty of doubts, but their faith is still strong enough to wait for him. The non-believers would have to be Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is a rich master, yet despite being rich, he never seems to be happy unless he is recognized, as if he was mocking the gods. Lucky perhaps was once a believer, but his beliefs were shattered, making him an empty shell of a man who has lost all hope. Thus, he puts his faith, and his freedom, in Pozzo, and blindly follows him, despite being treated like livestock. That outburst he has when he thinks is him letting out all his stress about living in a materialistic world, like that of the west. Yet, Didi and Gogo still continue to put their faith in Godot. When whenever their faith began to waiver, they contemplate suicide, yet when they are unable to, their thoughts go right back to Godot, who they believe will save them. Godot never arrives, however. The servant always comes with some excuse or another as to why Godot is unable to arrive, which Didi questions, but in the end, Godot never appears because he doesn't even exist. Didi and Gogo are believing in a false god. So, Didi and Gogo continue to wait for a god who will never answer them." Chiyoko and Chou, amazingly, seemed to be attentively listening. Chiyoko seemed to have a look of suspicion, but Chou appeared confused.

"But," Chou asked, "why do they wait so long for him? If he won't come, why don't they just stop waiting? ... Shouldn't they just ask another god?" Chiyoko seemed rather interested in hearing Reika's answer, glaring at her. Reika felt uneasy because of it.

"Maybe," Reika guessed, "maybe Godot is the only god they believe in, like from one of those monotheistic religions from the west..." Chiyoko seemed to be frowning, one of those frowns that told Reika that she was doing something wrong, a signal to rectify her own mistakes. Reika tried to come up with a different explanation, but nothing could come out.

"Or maybe," Chou interjected, "they tried asking other gods, but they wouldn't help them because they weren't giving them any faith," Chou moved over to sit in her grandmother's lap, "Right, Chi-chi?" Chiyoko smiled and ran her fingers through Chou's hair. She apparently had met her approval. Chou asked her, "When are we going up there?"

"After the next play," Chiyoko explained, "will be the intermission, the Kyogen play. During that time is when we will be getting ready for our performance. That shouldn't be too long from now." Currently, it seemed there was a rather short break before the next play was going to be performed. Reika was beginning to get somewhat unnerved. While the play was going on, the presence of the Hakureis was hardly noticed, but now, Reika could feel their glances. Nobody was really paying them any mind, but being looked at made her feel anxious. Reika wasn't wearing what she typically wore whenever she had to go to the village, she was merely wearing her shrine maiden robes, but it wasn't too difficult for people to recognize her from her figure. Reika wasn't comfortable with drawing attention to her family.

Although, there was something that made her more anxious. Reika couldn't put her finger on it, but it was like there was some sort of tension in the air, like a malevolent presence. Reika had felt it ever since the three of them had entered the village, but now, it felt as if the presence was exerting some sort of force, like a pulling. There was no other way to describe it. Reika thought she'd mention it to Chiyoko.

"Reika," Chiyoko called in a low voice, bringing her away from her thoughts, "Upwind, there seems to be a commotion. Perhaps you should take a look." Reika considered her mother's words attentively. Reika thought she heard some shouting further away, although she wasn't entirely sure. Chiyoko probably had better hearing, or maybe she used her stronger intuition. Whatever it was, Chiyoko seemed to be able to sense some sort of unrest happening elsewhere in the village. Didn't she notice the strange presence as well?

"I understand, I'll take a look," Reika responded, before patting Chou's head, "I'll be right back, so stay with Chi-Chi, alright?" "But Noh is so boring," she whined, "and I don't get it at all." This wasn't the first time she made this complaint. She'd asked to play on her own multiple times throughout the performance and would be quickly hushed by Reika each time. Reika pursed her lips and glanced at her mother for a response. "Then perhaps we should take a break," Chiyoko suggested, "Why not we find a place to sit and have our snacks now?" Chiyoko picked up a bundle of cloth that sat at her side, in which a couple of rice balls were wrapped in. Chou seemed rather happy with this idea. With that settled, the three of them stood up and parted ways. Reika made her way toward where the commotion was being caused.

Just uproad was what seemed to be a party of guards escorting a norimono. Villagers crowded on either side of the road, some of them crying out at the escorts. Apparently, they were calling for the removal of a Youkai. The guards made no response to their calls. They merely continued to escort their transport further and further into the village. Were they transporting a Youkai? Upon further inspection, it appeared as if the norimono was covered in paper talismans, a very typical practice for keeping a Youkai trapped within something. Didn't they have any idea how dangerous it was regardless? Bringing a Youkai this far into town was just asking for trouble. Reika wondered exactly who in the world could possibly consider such a thoughtless action.

Reika's question was answered pretty quickly, however, when she locked eyes with the person who appeared to be leading them. A woman with long, purple hair, and a detestable scowl. She dressed in long white robes and a red vest, and carried two swords by her side, the obvious indicators of a samurai. The two of them stood still, several meters away from each other in the middle of the path, both with their arms crossed in their sleeves. The escorts were somewhat confused as to why they had stopped.

"Reika Hakurei," the woman called, "what brings you here?"

"What brings me, Meiko Takeshi," Reika responded allowed, "is word that you are harboring a Youkai."

Yukari Yakumo, a youkai with mass amounts of power and wisdom, had spent her days wisely.

All of them were based on sleeping in a futon in her house while ordering her shikigami to do all the work. However, Yukari doesn't simply orders her around before going back to sleep after each task is done. Rather, Ran Yakumo, a kitsune with all nine of her tails, has been taking orders just by looking at Yukari and waiting to see if it would open. Strangely enough, even a snore was able to convey to Ran orders that were incomprehensible to anyone but the shikigami in question.

Ran was ordered to grab the message in the message box. The kitsune walked through an opening within reality, which led into a realm of darkness and eyes that stared straight out into the present reality. Yukari's home's location is completely unknown. In fact, not many may even know that Yukari has a home that would be compared to that of a human's. Any messages that would be sent to Yukari would be put into a wooden box within the Forest of Magic, which would be sensed before the mail would either fall through a gap in the box or be picked up by Ran.

Ran exited a gap near the box, picking up the mail. She walked through the gap, not watching as the exit behind her closed. She walked back into Yukari's room and read the mail. "Hm... Yukari-sama. You have been invited to a youkai meeting in Youkai Mountain.

"Bah... It's most likely that tiny oni....." Yukari groaned, shifting in her sleep.

"It doesn't seem to be like it." Ran said, reading the letter. The gap youkai sighed and took the piece of paper with writing on it. After a few moments of silence, Yukari placed the paper on the floor.

"Fine then. Might as well...." Yukari yawned as she slowly got up from her futon. "Ran, get me my white dress...." She muttered as she wiped her eyes.

Yukari Yakumo, a youkai with mass amounts of power and wisdom, definitely had spent her days wisely.

Marran was beginning to get the horrible impression that he was lost. He had been Pretty certain of his location for a few minutes but after that the path had begun to twist and turn wildly and he'd been robbed of all sense of direction. At first this hadn't seemed so bad, the forest was pretty enough and couldn't be that large, if he continued to follow the path it would have to go somewhere. That conclusion had been reached half an hour ago and now he was certain of the magic in this place. What was even stranger though was his normally acute sense for abandoned areas was telling him nothing, leading him either to the distressing conclusion that either very few people used this path or he had been cut off from the normal world. Either way it did not bode well for the rest of the day. He was not quite on the verge of desperation but the fact that the forest itself had endeavoured to get him lost was an alien thought and while he was curious the possibility of being lost in literally hostile terrain was not very pleasing.

Rays of the morning sun flitted through the open window of one of the large bedrooms in the massive mansion very few knew as Eintei. Located deep within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost only a lucky few have even caught a glimpse of it and no human has ever confirmed its existence. A few rumors were sprinkled among the people of the human village but none were able to say for sure that it was really there. Fujiwara no Mokou grumbled as the morning light played across her closed eyelids forcing her to roll over uncomfortably onto her side waking her from her deep sleep. Blinking the sleepiness away from her eyes she stared at the tall ceiling of the bedroom. 'Where am I?' she sat up trying to remember what had happened after her fight with Kaguya the night before.

"Ahh your finally awake, Mokou." A voice sounded from somewhere nearby and Mokou turned her head to see it was none other than Eirin Yagokoro, who was the medical genius as well as one of the residents of Eintei. A Lunarian like Kaguya, Eirin had been serving the Lunar princess for centuries and she was still much of a mystery to Mokou. Though a servant to her sworn enemy, Mokou respected Eirin and appreciated her services after her bloody fights with Kaguya. "I have some clothes here for you since your old ones... well... were done away with last night after Lady Kaguya delivered the final blow to you." Eirin motioned to the side of the bed where a simple plain white kimono lay. "It is one of Lady Kaguya's spares."

The kimono, though colorless and plain was a surprisingly blinding white nonetheless beautiful in its own way. Though Mokou preferred her rather boyish attire, she didn't hate kimonos. She just preferred how easily she could move around in her overalls and shirt. But to think she would be wearing Kaguya's clothes made her hesitate. Eirin seemed to notice Mokou's thought process and sighed. "There really isn't anything else I would offer to you. Besides, she hasn't worn that in ages. Unless you'd rather run around out there with just those wrappings on."

Mokou noticed that she was not completely naked but there were soft cloth wrappings wound tightly around her chest but that was all. "Its not as if anyone is going to stumble through here and see me." She grumbled.

Eirin shrugged. "Suit yourself. Stay as long as you'd like but again I'll warn you -" Eirin suddenly turned very serious and her facial expression was terrifyingly blank. "If I find you and Lady Kaguya fighting within the house there will be hell to pay.... For the BOTH of you."

Mokou gulped. There weren't many beings on this planet that could intimidate her but there was something about this certain Lunarian that sent chills down her spine when she got serious. She remembered the first time Eirin had found Mokou and Kaguya fighting within the walls of Eintei and shivered at the thought. That woman was something else. Mokou sighed and picked up the kimono. She could just burn it when she got home. Putting on Kaguya's clothes for a few hours wouldn't kill her. Slipping it on, she found the "obi", which was the sash that tied around her waist, on the ground nearby. It was a very dark black and Mokou tied it into a crude, sloppy knot. She decided to make her way back to her small home nearby not wanting to see Kaguya after her humiliating defeat.

Though the mansion was massive in size, it was not hard to navigate after a few times being there. Throughout the mansion, youkai rabbits where scurrying about preparing for the day ahead preforming various chores here and there. These Yokukai were usually very peaceful and had made a home here in Eintei serving Kaguya and Eirin protecting them from intruders.

After a few minutes of wandering about the mansion, Mokou finally found herself at the main entrance leading back into the deepest parts of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. She shifted around in her kimono uncomfortably and looked down at herself. Without her paper charms that she usually used to tie up her hair, her off white hair flowed freely almost touching the ground. Combined with her sharp red eyes she looked like a vengeful spirit out to search for lost human souls to feed off of. She chuckled. If anyone saw her now they no doubt would mistake her for a youkai. But she hadn't seen a lost human wander into the forest for quite some time now and the possibility of one turning up now while she looked like this was very low. Though as Mokou set off into the dark forest she was still unaware of the unlucky traveler who had gotten himself into quite the predicament nearby.

Marran had been stuck in this odd forest for what felt like hours, the high tall stalks of the bamboo plant formed a thick canopy above him and aside from a slight dappling of light over the forest floor there was almost no indication of the sun above. The fact that there were also no distinguishable landmarks meant that he felt totally marooned, but even so the passage of time was still weighing on his mind. When the sun went down this forest would be pitch black and finding his way back at that point would be even harder than it already seemed to be.

It was only a few minutes later that Marran heard someone else walking, he crouched down quickly hoping that they hadn't heard him and tried to locate where the noise had come from. After carefully maneuvering through the thick bamboo stems he saw someone or something else on another path. They had extraordinarily long hair and had piercing red eyes. Marran paused for a second as he tried to remember the name of the robe she was wearing before the word "Kimono" came to mind. He had extreme doubts that this was a normal human and the general consensus among the local humans was that the spirits should be feared and avoided, on the other hand Marran was incredulous enough to think that some hysteria might tinge such discussions so he shuffled closer.

After a few moments more thought he decided to chance it, he'd spent far too long wandering this damnable forest and he was not going to let potential help wander past. So he coughed to announce his presence and stood up. "Excuse me."

"Jumping to conclusions as usual, I see," Meiko said in a condescending tone. Her brow was furrowed deeper than Reika's was, and although she seemed calm, it seemed as if she was suppressing some kind of irritation. "As expected of a Hakurei, turning hostile immediately without a single thought toward a second of investigation."

"I did not stop you to have you criticize my means of incident resolution," Reika announced in a controlled tone, approaching the samurai woman, "I came because you are causing wide unrest to the people, and you will resolve this issue. If you are bringing a Youkai into our village, I will stop you." A small crowd began to create a circle around the escorting party and Reika. The guards preventing them from getting close, with their naginatas in hand. The two woman stood face-to-face, although Reika towered over Meiko.

"Well then," Meiko retorted, "I suppose you have no place here, for there is no Youkai here. There are none. Our 'spring cleaning' has made absolutely sure of that, so you may all keep your peace."

"Then identify who or what is within that transport," Reika requested immediately, "so that I and these people can keep their peace." Meiko scowled.

"This person is a special guest of the Takeshi household," she responded sharply, "who's identity and reason for summons is strictly confidential, and we would prefer that he remained undisturbed during his transport." The crowd broke out into an uproar.

"They arrested a Youkai," a man called, "and that Youkai's in there right now! A thief and a Youkai!" Several of the bystanders called out in agreement and shouted at the guards, demanding that the Youkai be seen or taken away. One even called out, "That woman sleeps with Youkai!"

"I'd hate to go against the wishes of the Takeshis," Reika explained calmly, "But I will have to go against your wishes when I say this. I demand to be able to identify the passenger myself." Somehow, that demand seemed to visibly hit Meiko, as she flinched.

"You will not," Meiko hissed, "As the acting head of village security, I do not allow you to disturb this child." Although she was facing somebody much taller than herself, Meiko was defiant and unshaken, her hands firm on her hips. Reika only met her with her stoic, stone-faced expression she used everywhere, devoid of emotion beyond a seemingly cold and calculating mind.

"As a woman of the Takeshi household," Reika responded, much to Meiko's dismay, "you have no power over myself, a shrine maiden of the Hakurei clan who bears the child of Koizumi Takeshi. Now, as the Hakurei shrine maiden, I demand that I be allowed to confirm the identity of your transport." Meiko was completely shaken by that statement. Her teeth were bared as she attempted to respond.

"Y...You-" she cried, but caught herself. She was visibly shaking. "You hag," she said under her breath. Reika's stoic expression retained, neither mocking her nor scowling at her. Meiko hesitated for several seconds, looking between Reika, the bystanders and her entourage before wordlessly signalling them. The two carriers set the norimono down carefully and Reika approached the side of it. Meiko signaled a guard to open the door, which he complied. Reika crouched to take a look inside.

Within the small carriage sat what appeared to be a young, teenage boy with short silver hair and tattered clothing. He stared back at Reika solemnly with golden eyes. For the most part, he seemed very ordinary. Youkai, however, loved to take on human appearances, and there was something peculiar about this child.

"Identify yourself," Reika demanded. He did not speak. "Give me your name," Reika ordered, not changing her tone, "Any name will do." He looked away, as if to consider it. He said it in barely a whisper; "...R-Rinnosuke..." "Is this your given name?" The boy nodded. Reika eyeballed the boy up and down. Reika wasn't from the village, so she couldn't identify him or his family personally, but she did imagine that the boy didn't want to expose his own family. In a village, unlike the cities of outside, everybody knew who everybody was, so a bad reputation tended to stick, sometimes for generations.

"Rinnosuke, where are these guards taking you?" Rinnosuke averted her gaze for a second, trying to find something elsewhere, before considering the answer himself. "I don't know," he said more steadily, "I'd imagine it'd be someplace nicer... Her house, I think." Reika glanced at Meiko, who averted her gaze. "By 'Her'," Reika questioned the boy, "Are you referring to the samurai woman, the acting head?" "Yeah, I guess." Reika began to wonder exactly what was Meiko's relationship with the boy.

"Why do you believe you're going to the Takeshi residence?" Reika asked. "Well, maybe because I heard them, the guards, say it," Rinnosuke responded, somewhat haughtily, "although, it could be because she has stuff... Things." Reika felt that sounded suspicious. "What sort of things are you talking about?"

"I don't know, samurai things I guess," Rinnosuke answered, before elaborating,"Family treasures, I'd imagine. Hopefully weird things and not just ancient things. I like new things better. I guess I like things in general. She said she'd show me things, and by she I'm referring to Ms. Takeshi... I guess." Reika felt something was off. His speech seemed strange, inconsistent. He seemed to talk like a boy sometimes, yet sometimes he'd use more formal speech patterns and phrases one expected from an adult.

"Can you read?" Reika asked. He shook his head. If he couldn't read, that meant he must have come from a poor family, which would explain the tatters. He was probably also uneducated, which made his speech even stranger. Did he simply pick it up from adults? "Rinnosuke," Reika asked, "why is it that you like 'things'?" "That's confidential," Meiko interrupted. Reika ignored her. "Rinnosuke," she ordered, "answer the question."

"I guess it's because they have names. Every 'thing' has a name somebody gave to it, and a purpose. That's it's nature, I guess. I like looking at those. Names mean a lot, I guess. Like this 'Norimono'. It's purpose is to transport people. I guess it's name is pretty simple. Nori means 'to ride' and mono means 'thing'." Reika grew tense. Rinnosuke continued. "But, sometimes, I don't know what things mean and I guess they're interesting because of that." Reika took a moment to think. She knew she felt something and she may have had an inkling of what it was.

"Rinnosuke, I'd like to ask you," Reika said, "do you know the names of the weapons that Ms. Takeshi wears?" Rinnosuke pondered it. "I guess one of them is a katana," he answered, "but I don't really remember what the other one is." "What if you saw it?" Reika asked. "I guess," Rinnosuke replied, "I might know then." Reika looked over to Meiko, who scowled back at her. Nonetheless, she complied and walked over beside Reika and displayed her hip, where her two weapons were sheathed.

"The long one is a katana, and the short one is a wakizashi. The former is used for fighting typically while the latter is used for fighting indoors." There it was again. That power. Reika could feel it. This child had a strange ability. Some humans had strange abilities, but plenty of Youkai did as well. This child, however, was something different. His power was something in between.

"Alright, Rinnosuke," Reika said, "I have one last question. Listen well." Rinnosuke gazed directly at Reika. "Give me your hand," she ordered. Hesitantly, the boy outstretched his left hand to Reika, who grasped it within her own, feeling about his wrist, palm and fingers. "Rinnosuke," Reika asked, "are you a Youkai?" Rinnosuke seemed hesitant. "...Not really," he answered, "no..." His voice was shaky and is gaze was diverted, looking at his own hand. Reika's thumb was pressing down in his palm. "How does this feel?" Reika asked. Rinnosuke gritted his teeth. "It stings," he answered, "a little." "Just a little?" He nodded. Reika released the boy's palm and stood.

"You may let him go," Reika told Meiko, "and keep him secure at your residence. Do not allow him to be bothered." Meiko exhaled before calling off orders to the escorts. The norimono was closed and was carried off. Meiko also declared that anybody who continued to protest against the escorts would be arrested immediately. The crowd gave way and the transport was taken away. Some people lingered around Reika and Meiko, however.

"So you were misled all along, weren't you?" Meiko told to Reika. Reika shook her head. "No, that boy is not human," Reika declared, "not entirely that is. Neither is he entirely a Youkai." Meiko grit her teeth and the bystanders began to speak up. It seemed as if most of them already knew the answer. "That boy is of both human spawn and Youkai spawn. He is a half-Youkai." The small crowd of people began to shout again, some at Reika, some at Meiko, and some among themselves.

"And therefore," Reika continued, speaking above the crowd, "He should be executed as promptly as possible. Just because he is part human does not mean he is exempt from our code. Should he be kept alive, an issue like this will only occur in the future, perhaps to greater extremes. It is the best option for the sake of order. If this boy's human parent is still living in this village, we will not persecute them or say ill of them. They should be kept anonymous. Nonetheless, this execution should serve as a warning for our people as to the dangers of associating with Youkai."

Reika turned to Meiko, who's scowl had the look of a demon. "Meiko Takeshi. You have done well in identifying and detaining the Youkai-spawn, but you have brought dishonor upon your family with how you carried through with this event. Due to your secretiveness, you are currently being regarded with suspicion. Therefore, to clear public suspicion and to give our people a peace of mind, as well as to regain honor, you shall personally carry out this execution in public." Meiko made an audible gasp. She clenched her fists and brought her eyes closed.

"Reika Hakurei," Meiko said with a shaky voice, opening her eyes, "mark my words; some day, all of your crimes will come to light, and we will all be there to convict you. Mark my words." With that last remark, Meiko turned and walked in the direction the escorts went in. Reika watched her all the way with crossed arms. Quickly, the small group of people around Reika dispersed. Not once throughout that entire ordeal did the expression on Reika's face change. Reika believed she did the right thing, just as her mother would have done. Personally, Reika felt nothing but pity for the boy's existence, but she was steadfast in her decision.

She was sure Meiko would carry out her duty as Reika had told her, as she would have been ordered by her own family. After all, nobody, not even the Takeshi's, went against the word of the Hakurei. The Takeshis were only responsible for upholding law and order within human society, whereas the Hakureis were responsible for all relations between the humans and the Youkai. In theory, their clan were the experts on Youkai, but Reika's only knowledge came from her mother.

Speaking of which, Reika needed to find where her mother and daughter were. They did say they were going to have their snacks, although they didn't say where they were going to eat. Reika wasn't really all that familiar with where Chiyoko and Chou went whenever they went to the village, as Reika rarely ever went with them. In fact, Reika wasn't even familiar with the entire village besides the general layout. Chou probably knew more storefronts than she did. Still, they probably didn't go far from the place they had separated, unless they found a better place to sit and eat.

"Oh, sigh," Reika said aloud, without actually sighing. It was time to do a little bit more walking.

Rather than trying to find a cave or make a burrow - the latter of which was only the harpy's very last resort for daytime shelter - Tatsuo had settled on a perch in the depths of the woods. In the dense interior of the forest, the trees and vines were thick enough that very little sunlight crept in - only a dim, scattered speckling, not enough to bother a sleeping Tatsuo. Who, in sleep, appeared all the more concealed high in the densely-leaved treetops, bundled comfortably with his pale, skull-like visage tucked under his wing, so that he was only a large clump of black plumage. The movement of his soft, restful breathing blended in perfectly with the gentle motions of branches in the wind. In the relative darkness of this part of the forest, he was quite camouflaged so long as his face was hidden. He was perched in somewhat close proximity to the village, but humans rarely ventured even this far into the woods, so between that and his camouflage, Tatsuo slept unconcerned.

The harpy likely wouldn't stir until dusk unless disturbed prematurely, which the envelope that had been tucked into some leaves of the branch he was on failed to do.

A silver haired teenage girl walked through the village, her hands folded and hidden within the seemingly connected sleeves of her green kimono. Her silver hair swayed as she calmly made her way across the village. It was a beautiful day, and the village had a series of plays going on. Kioku was interested in many things, and the plays did peak her interest. She was late, however, as her family wanted her to get through with some errands (her father was too busy to do them himself, and her mother was ill). Kioku was certain that she missed the beginning performance, but she might be able to arrive in time for the second one. However, a noise began to draw her attention out of the way from her path to the stage in the center of the human village.

There was a crowd surrounding a norimono, escorted by several guards and a woman. Is that Ms. Takeshi? Kioku thought to herself. She had a glimpse of the head of the familiar person, but she could not confirm that it was Takeshi Meiko. The crowd was too busy paying attention to the small incident to move and allow the silverette to get closer. Because of the crowd's boisterous response to whatever was happening, Kioku also couldn't hear what was going on. Eventually, the crowd dispersed, and Kioku could see that it was Takeshi Meiko escorting the norimono alongside the armed guards. However, Kioku also saw someone that she didn't think she would see until later. Judging from the clothes... Isn't that the Hakurei Miko? Kioku thought to herself as she noticed the towering woman walk past with a small mutter. From the expression on her face, the Hakurei Miko seemed to be troubled. So, with her curiosity leading her actions, Kioku walked over to the woman. "Is there something wrong, Ms. Hakurei?" Kioku asked, tilting her head up to the woman. Kioku was not short by normal standard. Rather, it was the insanely large height of the Miko that forced the girl to look up so much.

Reika was heading in the direction she believed she had come, when she felt, perhaps heard, a person's approach, causing her to halt and turn. A young woman had walked up to her. Reika kept her arms crossed in her sleeves, as she always did when she was among people, keeping that stern, distant expression she always had. Reika felt people could trust her, as long as she kept herself distant from others. After all, people expected all Hakurei shrine maidens to be this way, serious, wise and professional.

The girl asked; "Is there something wrong, Ms. Hakurei?" Reika was expecting to be asked something else, such as an issue that needed resolving or perhaps something about how she handled the half-Youkai issue. People hardly ever payed attention to Reika's problems, and those that did, Reika would give them assurance. After all, people trusted Reika, and Reika was not going to break their faith by exposing flaws.

"No, there isn't anything to be worried about," Reika assured the girl, "as the incident has been resolved. However, I thank you for your concern." Reika bowed. "I was just-" Reika caught herself,"...contemplating. Anyhow, is there anything you are concerned about? Is something that matter?" Something twinged at the back of Reika's mind as she looked at the girl, but Reika couldn't fathom what it was. Was it the tension in the air that Reika felt earlier?

"No, there isn't anything to be worried about, as the incident has been resolved. However, I thank you for your concern." The shrine maiden replied with a bow. "I was just.... contemplating. Anyhow, is there anything you are concerned about? Is something the matter?" Kioku smiled at the Hakurei shrine maiden, seeing her care for the silverette, duty or not.

"No, it's alright Ms. Hakurei." Kioku bowed in reply. She looked at shrine maiden in red and white. However, as the silverette would make eye contact, she had this faint feeling. It was a small realization, though she couldn't put a finger on it. Whatever the feeling conveyed, Kioku thought that it was connected to whatever the shrine maiden was 'contemplating.' Deciding to press on and satisfy her curiosity, the girl asked the shrine maiden, "If there is anything you need, Ms. Hakurei, please tell someone. I'm sure that they would be happy to oblige as thanks for what you've done." Kioku smiled warmly at the shrine maiden. She just thought of something- she had never been near a shrine maiden before. This was her first conversation with a shrine maiden, let alone one of the Hakurei maidens. Her smile slightly widened at this thought.

Tall stalks of bamboo towered above Fujiwara no Mokou as the immortal girl made her way through the dark forest. Through years of wandering these confusing twists and turns Mokou had learned and memorized each little path through the entire forest which would be impossible for any mortal to successfully navigate through. Her bare feet made no noise against the ground which was covered with fallen foliage and she could sense the presences of the many dangerous youkai lurking in the darkness around her. Through her many centuries of living here the beings that also made their home here knew she was not some simple human that they would prey on. If anything, Mokou could easily take down anything that dared get in her way and many naive youkai had met their end by her hands thinking they could land and easy kill.

Mokou sighed and shifted uncomfortably in the white kimono that Eirin had given her. The clothing was a bit restricting and Mokou was impatient to get back to her home to change back into something that she could move more freely in. Though it was still quite away to her small hut and Mokou wished that Eirin would've have just brought her to her place instead of bringing her all the way to Eintei. Though as Mokou's thoughts wandered to what she would have to eat tonight she sensed an unfamiliar presence nearby watching her. Was it a new youkai preying on her? No... She would've have noticed that quite awhile ago that were the case. By the feel of it Mokou decided that another human had wandered into the forest. How long ago did a human find their way here? It had been quite some time ago, Mokou remembered, and she began to make her way towards the unfamiliar presence. She sighed once again. Did she really have to take the human all the way back in these clothes? They were already getting unbearably uncomfortable and she wondered if she should go to her house before she went and "rescued" the lost human. She shook her head. He would be dead before Mokou found him again. The forest was unforgiving and merciless and it was only a matter of time before he was attacked by a hostile youkai. "Ughh.... Maybe I could just stop by my house before I brought him back." She thought a loud to herself. But Mokou had always been uncomfortable bringing strangers to her home. The only ones who really had visited were Kaguya, Eirin and a few of the youkai rabbits. Mokou decided she would worry about that later. Right now, that human was in danger and she could not leave him out there any longer.

After a few more minutes of walking Mokou finally caught sight of the wandering human. From what she could see he definitely wasn't from around here. His entire body was covered with random bandages and scarves which made it impossible to see any of his features. He wore a long cloak and a hood was draped over his covered face and Mokou could not believe he could wear that sort of thing in this humid weather. Perhaps he was used to the heat.

As she approached him however, Mokou hoped that he would not be frightened by her appearance and she decided to immediately tell him she meant him no harm. But to her surprise, he greeted her right off the bat with a polite, "Excuse me."

She knew that he had noticed her first but his reaction to a strange woman suddenly appearing in these dangerous woods was surprisingly calm and collected. Mokou decided not to think on it.

"Not to bad. By the way you greeted some strange woman appearing out of nowhere in a forest like this, you might not even need my help after all." she joked.

As Rin walked through a forest on her way to Youkai Mountain, she and Akane were quite hungry, and they kept a lookout for any small animals to eat. As they neared a tree, Rin hearda rustling noise, as well as something like breathing, hidden cleverly with the wind. Also a faint beat that grew louder with the wind. She looked up and saw a whitish object within the leaves

They had bread in their basket, but it was for the other youkai on the mountian. Rin, with her slightly curved, sharp nails gently put the basket down and climbed the nearly-straight tree. Akane sat watch over the basket. Rin got to the white thing and took it out from it's cover. It was a letter. Rin thought that a tengu might have lost it, or forgotten it. The beating was very loud here and she sensed something below her. She krept down to the branch below her. It was a tengu. She started poking the poor thing 'till it woke up. and almost fell out of the tree.

"Is this yours?" and she held the message up in front of it's face. "I didn't read it. I swear." Rin told him with a reassuring smile, although it was a bit more scary for a bird than reassuring, because of all her sharp teeth.

It was much too early for Tatsuo to be any semblance of awake. He slept on undisturbed and unmoving, oblivious to the small, pink-haired predator creeping up his tree - right up until he was prodded in the wing.

The harpy gave a small, startled kak! something like the noise a crow might make. His fearsome face lifted out from under his wing, raising and rearing back to peer sleepily at whatever had poked him, at which his jaws parted slightly to issue a long, soft hiss in irritation. Tatsuo was not intimidated by anything smaller than him. Anything smaller than him, after all, was generally edible. But he did not appreciate being snuck up on, nor being rudely roused from his sleep. His huge, dark frame lifted from the balled position it had been in to full height, wings spreading a little purely to make his form all the more imposing. "How dare you touch me with your flea-infested-" He stopped short at eyeing the envelope. "Is that mine..?" He added quietly, almost more to himself, before making a brisk hop closer and moving to snatch the envelope from the cat girl with one of his talons. "Give me that," he snapped impatiently. It was very rare that Tatsuo ever had mail or any kind of message. He was not the most popular youkai.

Kiyoko and Dream were wandering around the town, mostly around the Noh stage area, hoping to see a play. Kiyoko noticed two people fighting about something a short ways away, but they were too far for their words to reach. "We do not get into their buisness. They do not get into ours." The wise words of the wolf echoed around in Kiyoko's head. Around the area were a lot of mats around, there was a grandmother eating snacks with her grandaughter. There were also many kids playing games around as well. When they saw dream, they all ran to pet her. The large wolf sucked it all up, just not the noise. "Can she do tricks?" one child asked. Dream then stood up, and jumped six feet in the air, doing a backflip and landing in the same area.

"Chi-Chi," Chou exclaimed with a part of her riceball in her mouth, "did you see that? That dog jumped in the air!" Chiyoko turned her head toward where Chou was pointing and saw what the large wolf. The wolf proceeded to perform the trick a second time. Then Kiyoko told the kids, "Hey, watch this..." and Kiyoko climbed on Dream and then, Using a wind rune, made them both levitate. Chou was mesmerized.

"Chou, that isn't simply a 'dog'," Chiyoko corrected, "we must give our respect to deities." Chou pleaded, "I wanna go pet it!" Kiyoko heard chou's words. "You can, She loves it." The young girl then walked over to the wolf and sunk her hand into the long, thick fur.

"We give you our most sincere gratitude," Chiyoko said, placing her hands on the ground and bowing to the young woman, "as it is a great honor to bear witness to a living god. Please accept our most honest respect." Chou didn't seem to care for respects as she happily ran her hands through the large wolf's white fur.

"Oh, it's nothing. If she wants to ride with me, its fine. I need to get out more anyways." Then the other kids started pleading to ride with her. "One at a time, for safety, maybe" Dream forgot about the dangerous 'war' and just relaxed and played. Being a god in wolf form wasn't bad, it was fun!

"Can I?" Chou asked her grandmother? "It is bad practice to refuse the blessings of a god," she said, "but when accepting a blessing, one must give an offering to their deities." Chou looked somewhat troubled as she didn't really have anything on her to offer. "Here Chou," Chiyoko offered, holding a riceball in her hand, "give her your mother's snack. I'm sure your slowpoke of a mother won't mind." Chou giddly ran to Chiyoko and accepted the riceball in her hand, before beginning to sprint back.

"Hold it there, Chou," Chiyoko called, "you must offer it to her properly. Remember, slowly now." Chou bit the corner of her lip as she went over the proper stance from memory. She straightened herself up and slightly bent her knees, riceball cupped in her hands near her stomach. Then, she began to walked slowly, keeping her body level and her footsteps even. Approaching the wolf, Chou got a nervous feeling. She stopped and brought her cupped hands out. Chou hesitated, before remembering something. "Please accept my offering," she said in a clear tone.

Kiyoko was a bit confused at this but went with it. "Thank you, and may your teachings be very well recieved." she said as she looked Chou in the eye. Kiyoko put it in a basket she purchased while wandering. "Come now, we may float!" and dream rolled on her side. Kiyoko instructed Chou to grab a clump of fur and hold it tightly. Once that was done, the wolf layed like she usually did. Kiyko climbed up like she usually did so she could get Chou into a comfortable position. She pulled the wind rune out of the bag and wrapped her arms around Chou. "Now, this might be a little scary.." "Don't worry," Chou assured, "Mom is scarier than anything!" And then they went up! Dream went in a circle, Just one as to not make them dizzy (or herself for that matter), and then back to solid ground. Then they dismounted, sliding down the fur as if it were a modern day fire pole.

"Chi-Chi! Did you see that?" Chou called, running toward her grandmother with her arms out, "I was flying! I was flying really high!" Chiyoko chuckled as Chou flew into her lap. "You weren't flying, silly," Chiyoko told Chou, patting her head, "You were on the back of a flying wolf. Did it feel like you were flying?" Chou nodded her head. Chiyoko ruffled up her hair affectionately. "Hold onto that feeling Chou," Chiyoko said, "that's an important feeling."

Kiyoko gave the other childeren a ride, all of them screamed when they went up, unlike Chou.

After all that, Kiyoko asked Chou if she really wanted to fly. "Flying is really fun, I really like it" Chou answered, "There's this pond behind the shrine that Genji lives in. Genji's a turtle, a big one, and he can fly! Chi-Chi sometimes calls him for help, but Mom doesn't. Chi-Chi says Mom's afraid of heights. I wanna fly like a turtle!" "Then watch me." Kiyoko told the young Chou in a low, excing voice, and began to float on her own, without Dream. And then she made Chou float a bit as well. 'You have full control. But, there is a limit, and that is a few miles just before the heavens."

Chiyoko whispered to Chou, "Do you want to try flying?" Chou nodded. "Then there you go!" Chiyoko released Chou and Chou instantly began to leviate, as if gravity had completely lost it's hold on her. Chou began to squirm about in every direction as she slowly drifted up. She moaned in anxiety."Try thinking about were you wish to go." Kiyoko instructed.

"I wanna come down now!" Chou called nervously. She had drifted about 5 meters in the air now. Her long, flowing robes twisted and turned about in relation to gravity as Chou flailed about. Chiyoko stood up. "Don't worry, dear," she assured, "I got you."

"Okay," Kiyoko said and she gently willed Chou down before realeasing the effect on her. Chiyoko caught the nervous little girl in her arms and held her tightly. "My same reaction when I first learned." Kiyoko told them as she herself floated down, about an inch off the ground before putting the rune in her pouch, releasing the effect on herself and anything else that might of had the effect. "My teacher." Kiyoko said, motioning to the large wolf, fast asleep. Chiyoko nodded in acknowledgement.

"Am I to understand that she," Chiyoko motioned to the wolf, "is your patron deity? Yet you yourself have become a living god. It's not unheard of, one's blessings being mistaken for another. How does she feel about it, I wonder?" Kiyoko turned to the wolf, still half asleep. "They must not know, what I really am, I am okay with it..." Dream told the girl, the only one that could hear her besides humans that are under the influence of gods. "S-she is okay with it. But she seems sad to me all the time. This is the happiest I have ever seen her today. I do remember, though, falling from the sky, into a lake. ANd she brought me ashore and took me to the local herbalist. I grew up with him, and now I work for him." Kiyoko said, staring past Dream, at the sun high in the sky. Suddenly, Kiyoko remembered. "Have you heard?"

"Heard what?" Chiyoko replied. Kiyoko told the old woman what the Herbalist told her. Chiyoko pursed her lips. "Here, Chou, why don't I put you down, so you can go have a seat" she said, "you're getting awfully big for me." Chiyoko gently placed Chou onto her feet, who proceeded to run back to their mat compliantly.

"If that's true," Chiyoko responded to Kiyoko more sternly, "then we will have to be cautious in the near future. I have no doubt in my mind that the Youkai are plotting for trouble. Are you absolutely sure these rumours are true?" "The town sounds very serious. And I found the maker of the rumors. He had not told a lie for some time." Kiyoko replied. "I looked through his soul." Chiyoko closed her eyes and took a deep breath, crossing her arms.

"We'll look into this issue as promptly as we can," Chiyoko told her, "As soon as tommorow, perhaps. We'll figure out what they're plotting." "May I be of assistance?" Kiyoko asked, "you are of the Hakurei family, correct?" Chiyoko nodded.

"If a god could possibly gain insight on what the Youkai are doing," Chiyoko explained, "that would be greatly appreciated. We would be sure to present you with great offerings if you were able to accomplish that, both of you that is." Chiyoko bowed respectfully. "Oh, no need for offerings. I am meant to make peace, and if peace fails, I can be destructive. But only if needed." Kiyoko replied, making herself invisible with the air rune. "I'm going to Youkai Mountain soon." and then she reappeared.

"A thousand blessings of gratitude for you," Chiyoko told her, "and a thousand prayers for your good health, your untainted soul and your safe return!" "And the same for you and your granddaughter." Kiyoko responded, with a big smile. She as just about to head home, she went to Chou.

Kiyoko always had extra runes, along with messed up ones that were just as powerful with what they did, but they only did one thing, and she handed Chou an air rune, but it was messed up so it could only make you fly. "On the back are the words to you need to whisper to levitate, or fly. It with make it easier for you to learn how to fly. But do it in a roofed area for starters untill you can make yourself go down." Kiyoko squeezed Chou's hand a little, "Be carefull, dont break it. I advise you get a small pouch for it and keep it with you at all times." Kiyoko knew that Chou was going to like flying once she got used to it. And if she learned how to do it, it would help her a lot in the future.

Kiyoko said her farwells to chou and Chiyoko, and went home with Dream to prepare for the hike to Youkai Mountain tonight. They would pack a lot of food to take, for it was going to be a long journey.