Some day in the future, youkai would look at Gensokyo and consider it normal, but now? It was a revolutionary idea. And that was a problem.

The problem wasn't that Gensokyo wouldn't work. This body had helped Yukari with running the calculations, and your conclusions (you'd taken great care to check her work) agreed with hers: The fear and the belief of the humans would sustain the youkai for millenia to come. The humans were, of course, not thrilled about their predicament, but they had little choice in the matter. Not only would they adapt, but fifty years from now, they'd barely remember they once lived differently. No, the problem was on the other end.

Old youkai were slow to adapt to new ideas. The idea of not killing humans was anathema to them, especially when those humans were afraid and helpless. Yukari had already done a lot to select youkai for Gensokyo who could adapt to this idea, and the Hakurei Shrine Maiden's protection helped more, but every so often, a youkai would start hunting humans again, because surely nobody would miss just one. And then one would become two, then a dozen, and before long Gensokyo would be out of humans.

Except the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, that is. You pitied the fool that tried to eat her.

Regardless, this meant patrolling. Of keeping watch across the human village and the rest of the land, and making sure that the youkai didn't eat themselves into starvation. It was a continuous, thankless task, but it was a necessary one; at least until the youkai finally learned the humans were off-limits.

Thankfully, the body you inhabited raised no issues here. She was well used to living among humans, and had even adapted to not killing them in return for an insult. (If anything, her issues ran in the other direction.) Which meant that the flashes of memory and emotion you received from her would be no issue on patrol, and that you could actually serve in a useful capacity. Or at least, you could if Yukari would let you do anything.

"Yukari," you pleaded, "I'm fully capable of handling this. Or at least we could split up to cover more ground-"

"I know you could. But first impressions are important, Ran."

You glanced down at the streets of the village, where the humans were tripping over themselves to run away, hide indoors, or just generally cower.

"In that case, perhaps you shouldn't have created a boundary between that oni's legs and torso?" you speculated.

"It was necessary." Yukari said flatly. "It would have been better if the Hakurei was there to exorcise her, but the humans need to know they're safe within the village."

Missing the present for the future? That was just like her. "They're probably just overwhelmed by your magnificence, then."

Yukari gave you a sideways glance, smirking. "Are you giving me grief, Ran?"

You shook your head and looked down in shame. You'd lost track of yourself for a moment there. "I'm sorry. I was... distracted."

"Oh, Ran." Yukari murmured sadly.

You flinched, not daring to look at her. You had to get these moments under control.

"Come on, then," she said finally. "Let's do our duty."

You followed without a word.

As expected, there were no youkai in the village itself. The rules around the human village were both strict and enthusastically enforced, so that even the most hard-headed of youkai would search elsewhere for prey. The problems happened on the outskirts; the farmers, the individuals trapped in the wilderness. And there was a fine line to be drawn as well. The youkai could not be defanged entirely, or they would cease to be youkai. Chasing, scaring, hunting... all of that was to be allowed, if not encouraged, so long as the youkai refrained from actually killing the humans.

You and Yukari watched through a gap as a pair of tengu chased a man down the mountainside. The wolf tengu growled as she chased him, periodically swinging her sword mere inches behind the man, cutting through the air with the occasional light wound thrown in. Meanwhile the crow flew above, pelting the landscape with miniature tornados, knocking down branches and trees in ways that threatened to crush the man, forcing him to dodge around and change course with little warning.

Yukari turned to you. "Your opinion?"

A test, then. You closed your eyes, visualizing the course the human had taken so far. It was complex, but if you considered it from a bird's eye view, then...

"The tengu are attempting to play by Gensokyo's rules," you judged. "Obviously, the wolf tengu alone could catch him at any point, but instead she's matching the human's pace as the crow's bombardment directs his course."

"Could they be simply running him in circles until he collapses?" Yukari asked, her face impassive.

"No. They've made his path quite convoluted, but each turn drives the human closer to the village. It is possible that they intend to pounce and kill him just before he reaches the village's safety, but such behavior would both be seen as dishonorable from a tengu and be exponentially more likely to be caught and punished."

"You believe this to be fine, then?"

The trap was obvious. "Again, no. Their intentions are fine, but they've misjudged the human's endurance. He's going to collapse before reaching the village, and they won't have a believable way to abandon the chase. Since the chase's next turn will pass near the river, I recommend contacting the kappa to intercept the tengu, allowing both parties to save face and the human to live."

"And is punishment warranted?"

You considered that. "The tengu's behavior is what we're trying to motivate, it's merely that their execution is wrong. Given the newness of the rules, an explanation and a warning should serve fine."

Yukari nodded, smiling slightly. "I agree." She opened another gap and spoke into it. "Chase the human directly to the river, the kappa will intercept you there."

Turning back to you, she closed both gaps and gestured. "Come along, then. Let's organize the kappa's rescue."

You suppressed a sigh. Being included was an improvement on previous days, but you longed to actually be of use. It's what you were made for.

There were eight more incidents of note that day. Five of them were similar; youkai chasing humans, where Yukari had you judge the situation, evaluated your answer, and intervened as necessary. Twice you came across the corpses of humans recently killed. Those were tests of a different sort, figuring out which youkai was at fault and how best to track them down. Those Yukari outsourced to the shrine maiden, telling her she needed to actively exterminate youkai if she wanted the humans to trust her. In no case were you allowed to do anything other than follow along and offer your opinion.

But, the last incident... the last one was different.

Most of the youkai/human encounters were no issue whatsoever. They did remind you of some of her memories, but youkai hunting down humans was too commonplace to draw out an emotional reaction. This, on the other hand?

You knew it was going to be serious from Yukari's reaction alone. Rather than fly over leisurely, or watch and test you on the situation, she just opened a gap and told you to follow.

The second sign it was going to be serious was the youkai waiting for you on the other side. Floating calmly in the air, Yuuka Kazami smiled confidently as you emerged from the gap. With her spotless dress and the parasol she was idly twirling, you'd have thought she was meeting someone for tea if not for the blood covering her hands.

"Yuuka. What is the meaning of this?" Yukari demanded.

"Yukari," the flower youkai nodded back. "Just following Gensokyo's rules, taking care of a little spring cleaning. You know how it goes."

The scene below was absolute carnage. Three humans were dead, their house destroyed with them. A man, a woman, a child. The man had been cut down first, bleeding out in the front yard. The front wall of the house had been blown to pieces, with an explosion having outright removed a room-sized chunk around the front door and causing the rest of it to cave in. Inside the decimated house you could see the rest of the family, the mother's corpse clutching her little girl in a useless gesture of protection. It was bringing back memories. Bad ones.

Distantly you heard Yukari's confrontation with the culprit.

"As in, the rules about not killing humans? Those rules?"

"As I recall, the rule was not to kill them without cause. Gensokyo fails if the youkai cease to be youkai, and I would not be myself if I let my flowers suffer this kind of abuse."

The girl was maybe six years old. She and her mother were wearing the remains of flower crowns. It wasn't the only thing they shared. There was also the hole through both of their chests, courtesy of Yuuka's parasol.

"You know this is unacceptable."

"Of course it is. Why do you think I killed them?"

It was the same scenario. A happy family, an otherwise normal day, and an unprovoked assault. A culprit secure in her overwhelming power.

Your fists clenched as you started breathing rapidly. Logically... logic. It was just her memories. You were Yukari's shikigami, and that's all there was to it. This encounter's similarity to the kitsune's memories was completely irrelevant. This sort of thing was exactly what you needed to master! You closed your eyes. Calm yourself, take deep breaths. She has no hold on you.

"-unrepentant. How would you handle this, Ran?"

You almost had it when you heard a faint cry from where the front wall had collapsed. Her emotions surged again, and you felt your control slip.

"Ran?"

That's when I started digging frantically through the wreckage.

It was faint, it was wordless, it was a cry of pain, but it was there. I heard it.

"Yukari! Someone's still alive in here!"

Augmenting my strength and speed, I tore through the rubble, throwing stone and lumber aside as I dug to where I heard the cry. Nothing.

"I'm here! Say something, anything! Where are you?"

I'd heard someone. I know I did. But where-

"Ran!" Yukari yelled. "To your left! The wall created a pocket when it collapsed!"

There? That part of the wall was mostly intact and almost flush with the ground; even a child would have been crushed. But if Yukari was saying it... you flew around to the area she indicated, braced yourself, and lifted the collapsed wall up.

You were right. The space beneath the wall could never have concealed a human, not even a child. But it was just barely big enough for a cat.

Pushing the wall off to the side, I scooped up the cat. Her black coat was matted with dust and blood, with a furrow carved into her back from where she'd hit a jagged edge. One of her paws was crushed from where the gap in the wall wasn't quite big enough, and I was pretty sure her spine was broken... but she was still breathing. In tiny pained gasps, but it was there.

Cradling the black cat, you noticed how the tip of the tail had split. A newborn youkai, then, or an animal right on the edge of it.

Yuuka frowned. "That's what I get for hurrying."

"What, did the cat fail to tiptoe through the tulips?" I snarled.

"She tried to defend her family, obviously. What a foolish youkai."

I growled, shifting the kitten to one arm as I felt my claws lengthen. I was going to-

"Ran!" Yukari yelled. "Control yourself!"

You staggered. You'd been about to charge Yuuka without orders. Worse, in defiance of orders; you knew Yukari wanted you to stay back and let her do the heavy lifting, but you'd ignored it, lost sight of it, just because you wanted to claw that bitch's face off.

"The cat," I pleaded. "She's a youkai, a newborn. She needs-"

"She'll live," Yukari promised. "Boundary of life and death."

She was setting it, keeping the cat on the right side of the boundary. You felt the storm of emotions quiet at that. Not disperse, not quite, but you could think again.

"What a disappointment," Yuuka sniffed. "I have to say, I thought you did better work than this, Yukari. That's your excuse for a shikigami?"

"Is that why you let the humans die quickly?" Yukari asked. "Because you were looking to torment my Ran instead?"

"I've heard stories of the dreaded Tamamo-no-mae," the flower youkai said with a shrug. "I figured the youkai who invented shikigami would be strong enough to be interesting."

"That's what this was all for?" you demanded. "Your amusement?"

"A youkai who waded through that much blood shouldn't be squeamish." Yuuka grinned, flourishing her parasol like a sword. "So what's wrong, Tamamo? Too close to your attempt to play house?"

"You..." I growled.

"I would have burned it down completely, but you arrived here too quickly."

"You bitch!" I lunged for her.

"Ran!" Yukari commanded. "Stand down!"

Screaming in fury, I fought to break past the command, to claw, to bite, to maul that murderer. But I couldn't. You couldn't. Yukari had given a command, and as her shikigami, you had to obey her.

"Take the cat and leave." Yukari said firmly, opening up a gap in front of you.

"Yukari-"

"Now!"

Both you and this body struggled against the idea, for different reasons... but again, it was a command. Holding tight to the cat on death's door, you left.

"You should have let her try her luck," Yuuka scoffed. "I would have helped train your negligent shikigami."

"It would have been the death of the cat," Yukari said quietly. She turned to face the flower youkai. "But you've miscalculated. Badly."

"The strong can do as they please." the flower youkai said airily. "A lesson you saw in action recently."

"Mostly true," Yukari admitted. "So for that exact reason, I'm going to indulge myself."

"Oh?"

"You've forgotten, Ran was my friend."

Yuuka raised an eyebrow. "And you made her into a shikigami? How do you treat your enemies, then?"

"You're about to find out."

Yuuka was an ancient youkai. Powerful and sadistic, akin to a force of nature. However, that did come with a downside. Truly ancient beings didn't adapt well to new ideas. Which made this the perfect time to try out something Yukari had been planning.

[Barrier - Mesh of Light and Darkness]

Yukari shot out pairs of red and blue orbs orbs at a moderate angle, each of which created dozens of smaller bullets and a criss-crossing grid of lasers. Yuuka flew to a gap in the grid, dodging most of the bullets and blocking the rest with her parasol. She then raised an eyebrow as the pattern repeated.

"A cute display of firepower, but rather wasteful. What exactly is the point?"

"It's a spellcard. A way for youkai to settle disputes without tearing each other limb from limb."

"Oh dear. Have you gone soft too? Gensokyo won't survive long with that sort of weakness."

When the next wave fired, Yuuka charged, deflecting lasers and bullets both with her parasol. Flying into melee range, she closed the parasol and swung it like a bat, only for it to clang off of Yukari's own parasol. Smiling, the flower youkai swung with greater intensity, the parasols clashing like swords as Yukari guided each strike away with slanted blocks. Yuuka simply ramped up the attack even more, swinging with greater strength and speed to break through the gap youkai's defense. Finally a trio of strikes knocked Yukari's parasol off to the left and out of position, and Yuuka's bloodstained parasol sliced through the air she lunged forwards with a thrust - only to find herself passing through a gap and inside the ruined house.

With a loud cracking noise, the boundaries affixing the remaining structural supports to each other shattered, and the house collapsed on top of her.

Of course, a hit like that would do little more than slow the flower youkai down. If anything, she was likely to come back with a vengeance, which is why Yukari prepared a little surprise for her.

[Yukari's Arcanum - Danmaku Barrier]

((Short update today, headache. Playing tennis in 95 degree heat was not the best plan in the world.))

[Yukari's Arcanum - Danmaku Barrier]

Wave upon wave of danmaku surrounded the ruined house, encasing it like a shell. Once the pattern had been fully created, it started to slowly close in on its buried target... and exactly as Yukari had expected, Yuuka burst out of the wreckage and straight into the barrage. After the first wave of bullets slammed into her, the flower youkai brought up her parasol, to again use it as a shield.

Not this time. Yukari reversed her hold on her own parasol and opened a gap, thrusting the umbrella's curved grip in to hook Yuuka's shield and yank it away. The gap youkai didn't quite have the strength to tear it away from Yuuka's hands entirely, but she did pull it out of the way of the incoming danmaku, and the flower youkai's momentum carried her through the remaining waves of bullets.

Yukari offered her foe a taunting smile as Yuuka whirled to face her, watching carefully for her foe's next move. First blood may be hers, but spellcards were explicitly intended to be non-lethal, even to humans. Which meant that to someone like Yuuka, the only real damage done was to her temper.

Which was fine. This was only the start.

As the next phase of the spellcard started, Yuuka raised her parasol, spinning it in the air above her. Around her flower petals gathered, streaming around her in elegant coils as she continued to spin. More and more of them combined, forming the illusion of a solid flowerbud that hid Yuuka from sight. As the danmaku barrier collapsed inwards, the flower exploded outwards, overwhelming the spellcard with the sheer volume of projectiles... and Yuuka was nowhere to be seen.

Acting on instinct, Yukari whirled around, bringing up her parasol to block Yuuka's slash from behind, and receiving the flower youkai's fist in her stomach instead. She let the blow drive her back and opened up a gap for distance. Reflexively she reached up to touch the bruise.

It was curious. She hadn't felt the dissolving and reforming of boundaries that typically accompanied teleportation. And while Yuuka had been rumored to turn into a ball of light for quick movement, such a thing would have inevitably been eye-catching, far too much for the veil of flowers to hide. So how had she pulled the trick?

"Breaking off the attack at a single hit?" she said, nonchalantly. "I'd expected more aggression."

"Oh, I understand making a game of a conflict, it just needs the right circumstances." Yuuka grinned. "After all, you toy with someone who's weaker than you."

Yuuka gestured again, this time summoning a storm of leaves, spiraling around her like a tornado. Pointing her parasol forwards, they shot forwards, slicing through the air.

Yukari frowned. Yuuka's physical capabilities were both well known and her preferred mode of engagement. Her magical strength, while also considerable, was significantly less used. That she was resorting to it here made her attacks significantly less predictable.

As for this attack, its projectiles were on the border of leaves and blades. Too thick and numerous to be simply dodged, but there was an easier counter. Yukari pushed them a little more into leaf territory, and swung her arm upwards, creating a border of winds. Upon hitting that boundary, the leaves did what all leaves do when hit by a strong gust of win, and were blown away.

Yuuka scowled, pointing her parasol at Yukari, this time accompanied by a blinding burst of light. It was obviously a prelude to another attack, but rather than retreat by ducking into a gap, the gap youkai chose something a little more inventive.

[Boundary - Euclid's Nightmare]
Yukari shot lines of purple knives in each direction. There was little complexity to these: they traveled in a straight line, and they would come straight back.

They were also the only things capable of traveling in a straight line, for Yukari had twisted space itself. As her vision cleared, she saw Yuuka traveling in a semicircle approximately five feet away from her, attempting to swing her parasol only for it to slide in the completely wrong direction off towards the horizon.

Making a fist, Yukari bent space further, causing reality to tear and gaps to open. Yuuka found herself shuffled from gap to gap, each one at an increasingly bizarre and unpredictable angle as the twisted space swept her along. The knives were nearly impossible for her to avoid, not because they were difficult to predict, but because trying to divine which direction of movement was which was nearly impossible. Even blocking with the parasol was difficult, as the gaps purposely rotated her so the shield was on the wrong side of her body each time.

This spellcard was also further along the boundary between game and weapon, meaning these knives were drawing trails of blood across Yuuka's skin. Not cutting clean through, not yet, but she wouldn't be laughing this one off.

And for the final trick, as all those knives returned to sender? One more pair of portals, to swap her location with Yuuka's. Because the knives returned from every direction, and the parasol could only block in one.

Yuuka shouted as vines rose up to cover her, but she was too slow. The plants' blockade wasn't perfect, and a good chunk of knives got through. Yukari could feel the impact as they drew blood.

And then the flower youkai stabbed her from behind with her parasol. The sharpened tip came out through her chest, puncturing a lung on the way. This was followed by Yuuka's arm snaking around her neck in a chokehold.

"A cute trick. But I'm afraid playtime is over, darling," she whispered. The parasol then started glowing, building up to a master spark.

This necessitated quick action. Opening a gap, Yukari punched through it, striking Yuuka on the wrist with enough force to loosen her grip on the parasol. Simultaneously, her other hand grabbed the weapon by the blood-covered tip, pulling the parasol the rest of the way through her chest just before the massive laser fired.

Yuuka snarled, using her other hand to grab Yukari's cheek and pulling savagely. Most youkai's necks would be broken, and a human's head would be torn clear off, but Yukari had altered that specific boundary to bend without breaking long ago. It was still exquisitely painful, but it bought the necessary time as she opened a gap and redirected the laser into the flower youkai.

The master spark completely broke the chokehold, blowing Yuuka away as her grip broke. She immediately cut the power to it, but a spell with that much energy does not stop instantly, and the laser slammed her into the ground.

Yukari had no interest in quarter. One more gap, one more thrust, and Yuuka's own parasol pinned her to the ground. Through the neck.

The gap youkai glanced down to see her handiwork and had a moment of complete disorientation as she saw her back instead of her front. A full 180 degree turn? Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she wrenched her neck back into position, only to be figuratively and literally blindsided by a hammer-blow to her head.

It was Yuuka again. With murder in her eyes and bleeding from a dozen different cuts, but nothing more substantial than that. Disoriented, stunned, and already dealing with two major injuries, Yukari didn't react in time as the followup strike spiked her down to the ground.

As Yukari impacted the earth, vines grew out of the ground to restrain her before the crater had even finished forming, locking down her arms and legs as they grew thorns.

Yuuka grinned, spinning her parasol. "I'll admit, I'm impressed! You've done quite a number on my clone. But I'm afraid I'll have to teach you that lesson now."

Yukari spat blood. "There's a lesson here, certainly."

[Impossible Danmaku Barrier]
Danmaku radiated out from Yukari in a spiral shape, shredding the thorns around her. Yuuka raised her parasol to block it, like it had every previous time. Half the bullets were deflected, but the other half went straight through the cheating parasol, punching through both it and the flower youkai behind it.

Yukari used that moment of shock and pain to reach out through a gap, grabbing hold of the real Yuuka's face. With this direct contact she could do some real damage, and she used it to smooth out the boundary of Yuuka's skin, causing it to seamlessly cover the places where the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth would normally go.

Blinded, deafened, and injured, Yuuka shot flower petals in every direction as she swung the parasol aimlessly.

It didn't matter. Yukari's spellcard was still active, and this one was never meant to be a game in the first place. These bullets surged forth in deadly waves, only survivable by dodging, and Yuuka couldn't do that while blinded. She took an impressive amount of punishment, but in the end? Both the parasol and Yuuka's body were torn to shreds, and the flower youkai fell.

In an ideal world, Yukari would have handed Yuuka her head on her own parasol, flawlessly deflecting all her attacks and reading her the riot act the moment the fight was over.

This was not that world. Yukari hadn't known beforehand about the flower youkai's clone, and Yuuka was too strong of an opponent to avoid paying for that blunder. She winced, clutching at her chest. The gap youkai was no stranger to pain, but at her level of strength, it was more of an unpleasant acquaintance that visited once in a blue moon. The problem was, when it did visit, it tended to make up for lost time.

Yukari had to manipulate the boundary of injured and healthy to redistribute the damage enough to let herself speak. But it was no good if Yuuka couldn't hear her, so after a bit of consideration she took the broken parasol's tip and stabbed open an ear with it.

"This is your warning. Try this again, and the Garden of the Sun will burn."

Satisfied, Yukari picked up her own parasol, put the clone out of its misery, and left through a gap.

After being told to "take the cat and go", your master's gap had deposited you back at Yukari's house. With no further orders, you walked into your room, carefully deposited the injured cat onto your bed, and let out an ear-splitting scream.

Not just because you were sent away (as a shikigami could be anything from servant to messenger to long-distance application of the master's will, that much was expected), but because of why. You'd lost control, completely. Your master had asked you a question and you'd ignored her, given you an order and you - she - had fought it! And now Yukari was going to fight one of the most dangerous youkai in Gensokyo because you couldn't control yourself! And for what? Some newborn youkai that was a dime a dozen?

What was wrong with you? This body - her memories showed her creating hundreds of sentient shikigami, from both human and youkai. Some had accepted the role from grief, others from rage, still others in a misguided sense of duty, and yet once the binding had been accepted, none of the shikigami had struggled for control the way you were. Only a handful of the bodies had so much as managed to make the shikigami hesitate... and those were the ones she'd ordered to slaughter their own children.

Perhaps it was the difference in power. None of the shikigami created back then had been anywhere close to a nine-tails in power, whereas in your case... Yukari was absolutely stronger, but the relative difference was less simply because your own strength was so substantial. It was possible her will didn't dominate this body the way Tamamo-no-mae's had dominated so many humans and lesser youkai.

Considering that for a moment, you sighed. It did actually make sense. A shikigami as powerful as you was uncharted territory, and the binding was nigh-unbreakable after it had been fully accepted. If the strength of Tamamo's soul was such that it took longer for the binding to fully settle, then the struggles you were having made sense. It also explained Yukari's insistence that you wait until you'd stabilized before you started serving in earnest; she must have seen this coming. You should have trusted her judgement, regardless of her own desires.

But aside from that, the possibility was encouraging. If that was the case, then Tamamo's soul would settle down in time, and you'd be able to serve properly, like you should. Hopefully that day would come soon.

In the meantime... you sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, putting your head in your hands. Most of the useful activities you would otherwise attempt were forbidden to you, with Yukari having insisted that they wait until you'd stabilized, and recent events had proven she was entirely right to do so! Even something as simple as cleaning the house was closed off to you! Admittedly, you were allowed to amuse yourself with a game or a book, but what use was that? The only thing Yukari hadn't issued specific orders about was... the cat.

Maybe there was something you could do.

The first priority was medical care. A doctor you were not, but this body's memories did include a working knowledge of first aid. Which was going to be needed; the cat's condition wasn't good. She was hanging in there thanks to Yukari manipulating the boundary of life and death, but the newborn youkai had been through enough to kill a regular cat several times over. Setting aside the smaller cuts and bruises, she had three major injuries. The crushed paw, the gouge along her back, and what you strongly suspected was a spinal injury.

The gouge at least you knew what to do with. Gently repositioning the cat to lay her stomach, you leaned in for a closer look. The fur was completely matted in dust and blood both, and had been pressed into the wound like a makeshift bandage. It must have been pressure from the wall that had collapsed on top of her. Which was actually a mercy, since it was the only reason she hadn't bled out before you arrived.

The wound was no longer actively bleeding (you wish you'd set her down somewhere other than your bed, but it was too late for that), so after washing your own arms to the elbow, you took a cloth, applied warm water and a little soap, and started gently washing the injury. Patience was the key here, as any rough or rapid movements would simply do more damage. Bit by bit, rinse by rinse, you wiped away the caked blood and grime, gently teasing out the strands of the poor kit's fur as you worked to untangle it from the wound. Every couple of minutes you'd resort to tweezers, gradually removing bits of dirt, wood and stone that had embedded themselves into the wound.

Halfway into the process, the shape of the wound became clear. The gouge was roughly cylindrical, with the "ends" of the cylinder being relatively clean cuts, but the sides having been roughly torn loose. Yuuka's umbrella. A thrust that the cat had tried to duck, but not quite quickly enough. The sheer force of the blow had almost torn the skin off... but only almost, and the collapsed wall had pressed it back into the wound.

The good news was that the skin was mostly still there; the wound could be stitched back close. The bad news was that you needed to lift those near-severed flaps of skin to finish cleaning the wound. The cat cried out in pain at that, tearful little sobs as you tugged the fur free of the wound. Despite that, she remained remarkably still, letting you get the loose skin completely free without any further damage. (Impressive for such a young youkai.) Holding the fur clear of the wound with one hand, the other used a fresh cloth to wipe away at the scabbed dust beneath it, prompting another cry as the mess of dirt and blood finally came loose. The wound began bleeding again at that, but it was finally clean, so you got the remaining fur as in-place as you could before bandaging it up with more fresh cloth, whispering encouragement to your patient all the while.

That left the other major injuries. The crushed paw... the limits of your knowledge there was that icing it would probably help? At the very least, it shouldn't be fatal. Crippling perhaps, but not fatal. The spinal injury was the one you were worried about. You had significantly fewer memories to draw on for this, but from what this body had seen, the correct first aid was to avoid moving the patient and to call an expert immediately, as moving someone with a spine injury risked paralysis. You felt your heart skip a beat as you put two and two together.

... it would appear chalking up the cat's stillness to good sense and pain tolerance had been premature.

Panic threatened to overtake you, but you fought it back. Rescuing this cat was the only bright side of your loss of control earlier, you couldn't lose her now! Which meant you needed to act, but how?

You dashed over to Yukari's library, pulling out books until you found a proper medical textbook. Ripping the book open, you scanned through it for anything useful. Spinal injury... paralysis... that would be an injury to the spinal cord. Perhaps a skilled surgeon could reattach it? Here!

No known treatment. There's rehabilitation, physical therapy, medicines and surgeries for mitigating damage or other issues that occur alongside a spinal injury. But actually fixing it? Nothing.

Useless! You slammed the book back into place, your claws leaving scratch marks in the cover. Breathing rapidly, you steadied yourself against the bookshelf as you considered the problem.

Mundane means had failed you. That left magic. Unfortunately, this body specialized in magic completely unrelated to healing. The most illusions would do here was let you pretend the little kit was okay. Your enhancement magic sounded plausible, but it only let you enhance yourself; changing others was an entirely different domain. Yukari's boundary manipulation could prove useful; you weren't entirely certain where her limits were, but reattaching nerves might be possible... so long as they weren't shredded beyond repair. However, you did not have that power, not without Yukari possessing you... and you lacked a means to contact her.

Hold on just a moment. You started pacing, your tails lashing. The reason the cat was in danger was because she was only barely a youkai. More than just a cat, given that she'd survived at all, but less than a proper nekomata. Her tail had only just started to split; had Yuuka not attacked her home, she would have lived as a mere cat for at least another year. If she'd already been a true youkai, she'd have been stronger, more resilient, more able to heal. Instead, it was likely that she didn't even have a human form yet. She was newborn, weaker... malleable.

A shikigami could do many things, but one of the key ones was channeling the power of their master. If you made the cat your shikigami, you could possess her and have her channel your enhancement magic. You rarely used any sort of regeneration (it was far better to avoid getting hit in the first place), but you did know a couple, and combined with your greater strength, the kitten would be able to heal.

It could work! The cat's will would be weak, more comparable to a beast's than a human's. And in her crippled state, it would be easy to convince her to trust you, to give you that control necessary for the shikigami ritual. And once complete, once she'd healed... you could entrust her with the duties you should be performing! It would still be preferable if you could be actively serving your master, but at least this way you could indirectly be of use.

You headed back to your bedroom, feeling oddly uneasy about it. The calculations checked out. The cat's life and mobility would be saved, and Yukari would gain another servant. Your mind would be easily able to mold the cat's into a proper tool, something that could serve with the clarity of thought you wished for. The fact that the cat serving its purpose would help you fulfill yours only made the prospect better. Making the cat a shikigami was clearly superior to the alternative. For all involved.

And yet, the sense of dread increased, each step growing heavier. You shook your head, forcing through the inexplicable sensation as you collected the few things you would need. Chalk to draw the circle. A scalpel for drawing blood, to seal it. And a symbol for the shikigami binding; something the target would recognize as granting control or authority. The cat's collar would serve. The circle was a little more awkward, as you didn't want to damage the cat any more than you already had. After a moment's debate you settled for using chalk to draw it on the top of your sheets. It would wash out. Probably.

The circle made, you climbed onto the bed next to the kit, being careful not to jostle her.

"I know you've been hurt pretty bad," you whispered. "I'm going to fix it, but I need you to trust me."

The cat whimpered, licking your hand. You blinked, wiping at your eye. "This is going to feel weird and a little scary, but you won't have to worry about anything, okay?"

Your voice caught, and you coughed to clear it. "Follow my lead and it's all going to be fine. You'll feel better when you wake up."

She meowed, licking your hand again. You took a moment to pet her, before gently removing her collar and placing it between the two of you.

It was time for the scalpel. A drop of your blood. A drop of hers. Combined upon the symbol of control between you. The circle was sealed, and the shikigami ritual began.

The first step was to infuse the circle you'd sealed off with your magic. This didn't require casting any specific spell, it wasn't some direct effect; no, the point was to claim the area. To declare that this space was yours, as a prelude to making the shikigami yours.

Theoretically, this step could be skipped if the location of the ritual was some place you already owned unquestionably, but that was not the case. The ritual may be taking place literally on your bed, but this was still more Yukari's space than yours. Traces of your magic were present, but as a guest, not an owner.

It wasn't an issue. You hadn't fought Yuuka, nor had you done anything of import since becoming a shikigami yourself. You had magic to spare.

Your magic reached out through illusion, a ring of darkness expanding across the bed and up along the circle's edges, concealing the rest of the world from sight. The walls, the room's simple furnishings, the scent of blood in the air, the bed beneath you... all of them just... went away. Bits of starlight gleamed in the air above you, accompanied by the feel of freshly cut grass beneath. Behind you was a house; not wrecked, not set aflame, but whole, lived in; a gentle light shining from the windows. The scent of fish teased through the air, and if you strained your ears you could make out voices - too faint to listen to, but happy and lively all the same.

There was always just something about home, in every heart. A love for it when had, a longing for it when missing, or a resentment for it when the idea was corrupted. But when it was as it should be, a place of love and belonging. The cat whimpered, looking behind you towards her home.

How do you bind a soul? You lead it by desire. Promise them what they want, and they'll throw everything else away to reach it.

And so on a level beneath words, in a manner more befitting a kuda-gitsune, you whispered to her what she most wanted to hear. Of comfort, safety, pain taken away. Of the warmth by the fire and the fish cooking over it, of the coziness of the chair in the sun. Of the soft words of a mother, the joyous laughter of the children, the reassuring feel of their hands, only ever there to hold, to pet, to treasure, never to claw and tear.

Your own heart grew heavier as you spun that tale. Each word, each image, each moment of belonging, they were spun from memories to give them that additional weight, that sense of truth. They weren't the cat's memories, and the little kit wasn't the only one who desired what they showed.

But you pressed onwards as your magic reached inwards. Gently dulling the cat's pain, her fear, her worry at the same time you caressed her body and your words wrapped around her heart. And finally, your magic - your very soul - reached out to hers and asked to be let in.

This was the riskiest moment. The contact of souls was always, by its very nature, an intimate thing. For just a moment, both of you saw each other as you truly were. The kit was exactly what you thought. Innocent, trusting, newborn. Plagued by pain and weakness and grief, but with potential yet untapped. But in return, she would see your soul, your desires.

From your body's memories, if she was to reject you, it would be here, and some would-be shikigami did. Even with all the manipulation and persuasion available to the kitsune, even with the target's heart fully inflamed by their desires, there were some that turned back. When faced with that final reality of who you were and what they'd be swearing service to, some recoiled, taking their final chance to escape. (Though only briefly. Those failed attempts had always been quitely disposed of, afterwards.)

But here? The cat was an innocent. She shivered, flinched back for a moment, but whatever she saw, she lacked the perspective to properly interpret. Because she hesitated. And as she hesitated, looking into your eyes, listening to your song, her will crumbled. She let you in.

Your magic flooded into hers, filling every corner of her being. You felt her pain, her injuries, the memories of Yuuka's attack. You could feel her uncertainty, the flash of sudden fear, the realization that control of herself was no longer hers, and those feelings only amplified as you snapped your shikigami's collar around her neck.

Cats always did have an independent streak. You'd have to fix that.

First things first, it was never good to change a shikigami's personality while they were conscious. You told the cat to sleep, and she obeyed, her mind falling unconscious immediately.

You then moved to start on her programming, but hesitated as a thought struck you. There was no point in controlling a crippled servant. And considering the downsides of your regeneration spell, it would be better not to burden her with the memory of going through it. No, better to heal her first, in case of any complications.

Since you were already possessing your shikigami, it was simplicity itself to use your magic on her. Regeneration... you visualized Fujiwara no Mokou, the phoenix who stole the Hourai Elixir, her burning body constantly returning from the ashes, and your magic set to work. Only minutely, only in the smallest of traces, as in anything more than that, your shikigami would literally burn up. (It was one of the dangers of imitating magic that wasn't yours. Such spells had a mind of their own, the phoenix more than most.) Even with those precautions you could feel the burn, the cat's body growing suddenly hot as a seeming of Mokou's fire burned away within her.

Her crushed paw felt seared, like holding a live coal, her spine a line of fire through her back, but you held fast. Gritting her teeth, letting only the merest hiss escape, you bore the pain, letting the dead cells burn away that something new might spring forth.

You knew instantly when the worst had been fixed, when her spine was mending. It was when the rest of her body started hurting, when you could once again feel the gouge, the cuts, the bruises covering her. You stood her up just to be sure, and while her body stumbled, weak and ungainly, her paws stayed under her, your shikigami was standing. The rest would heal in time.

With that accomplished, you turned your attention to programming your shikigami. One of the benefits of sentient shikigami was that programming them was far easier. They already understood what you wanted, you merely needed to impress your desires upon them. Fortunately, you already knew what it was that you desired, and that was a perfect servant. One with a moderate amount of initiative, so as to be functional on her own, but still checking back with you for instructions should anything important occur. She would obey your commands without fail, without complaint, without even hesitation. She would want what you wanted, and serve like you served. A useful tool, perhaps even the first of many.

The image clear upon your mind, you pressed those desires into your shikigami... only to be shocked as they were rejected. Utterly. You must have made a mistake somewhere, as both your shikigami's mind and the ritual itself reacted violently to the attempt. Linked mind to mind like you were, there was nowhere to hide as the backlash slammed into you, and you lost consciousness in a golden haze.

Programming a shikigami was hardly foolproof, as it was nothing less than imposing a separate personality on top of the soul already there. For that exact reason, the shikigami ritual was designed to be castable more than once on the same target. Upon being recast, the shikigami and the base personality would be separated for the ritual's duration, the better to make alterations.

Apparently this could also happen to the master casting the ritual, if she herself was a shikigami. It was something I suspected, but had never actually tried... and while Ran Yakumo might have my memories, she had not spent thousands of hours poring over and refining the shikigami process. She'd didn't know it instinctively, and the shikigami had been too wrapped up in her own desires - in that continually thwarted drive to serve Yukari - to actually consider what the consequences were of casting the shikigami ritual as a programmed soul.

Small mercies. She wasn't looking for me, never stopped to consider why my emotions were no longer influencing her actions, and a whispered suggestion was enough to distract her as I safeguarded the cat's mind.

The problem was, with only a few minutes and a little power to work with, there was only one way to help her. Before Ran Yakumo could insert her own programming, I gave the cat mine. The two were completely contradictory, as I knew they would be. A shikigami's programming was designed to strike back at anyone else who tried to so much as touch it, and she was not me. It was something I never thought I would do again; I'd sworn off making sentient shikigami altogether... but, God help me, there was no alternative. My husband would understand... not that I'd be able to tell him this side of heaven.

Grief overtook me all over again, and I wept, hugging the cat's body, my shikigami's body, close to me. I dried my eyes, looking down at her. This moment of lucidity wouldn't last long, and it was only possible in the first place because my emotions were already stirred up. I had to make use of my time to protect her as best I could. And the only possible way for me to help was if my emotions were always in turmoil when she was in danger.

My kit hadn't taken a human form yet, and that meant I could help craft it. With my magic coursing through her body, I triggered her transformation to human form, applying a touch of my own shapeshifting to guide the results. I gave her his brown hair, his brown eyes, that firm set to the jaw that was simultaneously frustrating and endearing for when she needed to be stubborn. I made her ears that little bit larger and fluffier, giving her my smooth skin and pale tone, darkened just a touch by all the sun she was sure to lay in. I gave her the upwards quirk of the lips I was fond of using, that half-smile that could mean amusement, smugness, or satisfaction, the expression that implied a laugh without needing sound. I gave her my voice, but younger, lighter, as I remembered it back from when I first awakened. Bit by bit I molded her, with the touch of an artist and care of a mother, until her body was done.

She was the wrong species, but aside from that? She truly looked like my daughter. Or like my girl would have, if she'd had time to grow.

Blinking back tears, I examined the programming I'd made one last time.

Be yourself.
Be happy.
Be free.

It would still change her personality from what it might have been, but it was the best I could think of. Hesitantly, I added one more line.

Your name is Chen.

After the daughter I'd lost.

With her programming complete, I took that vile collar off of her. The cat - no, Chen - would probably want to hold on to it... but after what it had been used for, that was too dangerous. I shredded the control object with my claws, before tearing a strip off my dress and tying it into the shape of a ribbon. I had no idea where the scalpel went, so I slashed my forearm with my claws for some of my blood, and gently pressed the white ribbon to one of Chen's wounds for a drop of hers. With the replacement symbol, our symbol, complete, I pressed it into Chen's hands, kissing her on the forehead as I did.

With that, I collapsed the shikigami ritual, leaving myself and a little girl upon my bed. Exhausted in mind, body, and spirit, I felt myself fading. I was about to fall asleep, and it was uncertain when, or even if I would be myself again. Ultimately, Chen's fate would depend on Yukari, but there was still one more thing I wanted to do. Lifting my little girl up, I laid her under the sheets, before laying down in bed next to her and hugging the kit. Taking the chance to fall asleep next to my daughter, one last time.

I knew this Chen wasn't really my Chen... but so long as anything remained of my heart, I would defend her like she was.

Over at Hakugyokurou, Yukari came out of the gap, landing heavily. Coughing a couple of times, she placed a hand to the bloody hole in her chest, and as she did, the skin grew back over it, merging back together and sealing it up. She'd have to spend some real effort later to heal the internal damage, but it was only polite not to bleed all over Yuyuko's furniture.

Pulling the gap in under her, Yukari used it for a hammock as she floated over to the garden, and towards one spot in particular.

Sitting on the veranda, sipping tea, nibbling snacks, and watching the cherry blossoms, a ghost turned to look at her.

"Oh dear," Yuyuko said, "You look like death."

"Then I may as well play the part." Yukari replied, parking the gap next to her. "Perhaps I should idle here for a while?"

"But if you're playing her part, someone will have to chase you back to work and lecture you." Yuyuko paused, tapping her cheek with a finger thoughtfully. "I suppose I could ask Youki to do it."

Yukari rolled over, laying on her gap like a hammock as she glanced over. "Ah, but if Youki comes to chase me away, he'll lose the time needed to finish cooking dinner."

Yuyuko recoiled, putting her hand to her chest in mock horror. "You wouldn't! I thought we were friends, Yukari!"

Yukari brought her arm up to her brow, groaning theatrically. "Ah, but would a friend leave me lying here, out in the elements, sorely injured, without so much as a cup of tea?"

"I suppose you leave me with no choice." Yuyuko rose, retrieving the teapot. "Green tea?"

Yukari took a deep breath, enjoying both the aroma of the tea and the flawless weather. "Please."

The gap youkai accepted the cup, holding it in both hands as she sipped from it carefully. Yuyuko said nothing, and for a time they just relaxed, watching the cherry blossoms.

Time passed slowly in the netherworld. The pink petals fluttered by, carried on the breeze as phantoms milled around. The handful of clouds moved still slower as the sun inched its way across the sky.

All the same, the time did pass. Yukari finished her cup of tea and opted for a second, while Yuyuko sipped hers cautiously. At one point Youki brought out a tray of snacks, creampuffs of various flavors. Yukari promptly snagged one through a gap, casually ignored the gardener's disapproving glance, and nearly dropped it from sheer shock when Yuyuko didn't take the rest of the tray, restricting herself to one of her own.

There was some small talk during all that time. Relaxation was the point, after all... but nothing serious, nothing that actually mattered. Because Yukari needed that time to find the right words. She had come here to unburden herself, so there were things she dearly wished to say... but at the same time, there were things she could not risk being overheard. It was a fine boundary to walk, almost too fine. But eventually she decided to risk it and spoke.

"My dear Ran found a cat today. She seemed quite attached to it."

"Did she now?" Yuyuko looked up from where she'd been eyeing the cream puffs. She recognized the tone and had been told those details. "You know, certain cats are quite lucky."

Finding the right cat would indeed be lucky. Yukari smiled slightly. "This one was a black cat, so I'd say she was rather unlucky."

"Well, she did run into you." Yuyuko said teasingly. "Surely that exhausts her bad luck for the next century."

"If only. I'm afraid she'd been torn up by some thorns before I'd arrived."

"Perhaps for the next millennium, then." Yuyuko said, wincing as she eyed Yukari's own injuries. "Still, it's not like you could have avoided it?"

"I'm afraid not." Yukari said, a touch of sadness leaking through. "I only knew what she was after I saw her."

"I suppose even you can't see everything. But does it make a difference?"

"In some ways. I'd have handled the weeding sooner if I'd known we were going to have a guest."

"I'm surprised you're here, then." Yuyuko said, then hesitated. "Not that you're not welcome, but I figured you'd be making your guest comfortable."

"My shikigami would have an aneurysm if I returned home in this state," Yukari stated, using a gap to pour herself more tea. "She would instantly blame herself for instigating the fight."

"That hardly sounds like your shikigami," Yuyuko noted.

"True, but it was hardly her fault. Yuuka was being her usual charming self." After a moment's thought, Yukari reached for another cream puff. Chocolate, this time. "And frankly, I need the break."

"I shall do you the favor of not informing her you said that." Yuyuko said demurely, though her eyes tracked the treat unerringly. "Though, you realize, most would think a servant would make their lives easier?"

"If only." she said bitterly. "The shikigami wants to gain full control, and Ran wants to vanish into 'blissful unconsciousness'. It's been a constant struggle to keep them both off-balance enough to prevent that."

"Have you let the shikigami actually serve at all?"

"No." Yukari sighed. "She's growing increasingly agitated about it too."

"You haven't even let her cook?!"

The sheer horror in Yuyuko's voice got a laugh out of the gap youkai. "At least Ran's still in there for now. The cat proved that much."

Yuyuko hesitated in the middle of reaching out for a cream puff, slowly pulling her hand back. "Could you not just... let her sleep? Until a more opportune time comes?"

"Not an option. Tamamo designed the shikigami process too tightly," Yukari explained. "If the shikigami's personality is close enough to the original person's, they merge. Otherwise, it gets suppressed. The boundary between the two is fragile, but if I just 'let her sleep', she'll sleep for all eternity."

"This isn't sustainable, Yukari."

"I'll admit it's difficult, but-" Yukari looked up at the sudden grip on her shoulder.

Yuyuko stared her down as she spoke. "You're wearing yourself down to agitate and manipulate the youkai you spend all your time with. And refusing to so much as admit your own discomfort all the while, because that would make everything worse."

Yukari finished another cream puff before responding. "It's necessary," she said faintly.

"Have you even grieved at all?" the ghost demanded.

"When?!" Yukari snapped, pulling away. "Gensokyo needs its sage. The youkai need a firm hand, the humans need a protector, the shikigami needs her master, and the last thing Ran needs is more guilt."

Dropping her teacup roughly onto the tray, the gap youkai switched tracks. "Besides, there wouldn't be a point. Ran's not dead yet."

Yuyuko shook her head. "It's too much. It's impossible for any one person, even you."

Yukari dropped through the gap she was laying on, dropping out on the other side of the veranda. "Possible and impossible is just another boundary. I have it under control."

Yuyuko's voice was a whisper. "If you had things under control, you wouldn't have come."

That one slipped past her defenses. There was a boundary between having a different point of view and being in denial, and Yuyuko's point highlighted which side of the border she was on.

"I miss her." she admitted. "My shikigami... it's so easy to think of Ran Yakumo as just Ran. Right up until she begs for the honor of cleaning my dishes, or apologizes for not being an emotionless tool. And then, just when I start to get used to that, when I realize I have a slave, not a friend, I see a flash of her. Some witty joke, some moment of compassion or grief, a sign she's still in there, and-"

Yukari did not cry. The Youkai of Boundaries was too strong, too important for that. So if there was any moisture on her face, it must have been rain.

"Hopefully the cat will help," Yukari said, collapsing back on another gap. "Ran reacted to her, and I can make taking care of her the shikigami's duty."

"Hopefully," Yuyuko echoed.

"Speaking of which... Ran's probably driven herself up the wall by now. I should go check on her."

Yukari started to sink through the gap she was laying on when Yuyuko rushed over, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.

"Yuyu-" she complained,

"Would a friend leave you lying there, out in the elements, sorely injured, without so much as offering you dinner?" Yuyuko pleaded.

Yukari hesitated. "I wasn't kidding about Ran."

"She'll keep for one night," her friend pleaded. "And if you're that worried, Youki can check on her."

The gap youkai sighed. "Only if he informs me of anything that's even remotely wrong."

"Excellent!" Yuyuko cheered right up. "You won't be disappointed. Youki's even been making this four story chocolate cake... though I suppose anything's an improvement over your cooking."

Yukari considered objecting, considered the lack of ground to stand on, and settled for a shrug. "Another day or two and I'd probably resort to kidnapping a chef," she admitted.

As they headed inside, Yukari glanced back at the still-not-annihilated snacks, and then over at the bottomless pit disguised as a ghost. Curiosity finally won out. "By the way, why didn't you-"

"Youki said he wouldn't make dessert if I ate more than one!" Yuyuko complained.

Well, that was one way to enforce self-control. Yukari chuckled. "And you let him get away with that? I would consider such demands to be oppression."

"Outright rebellion is more like it." Yuyuko grumbled. "It's completely ridiculous! Why should I need to control my appetite? I'm a ghost!"

It was just an evening off. A respite, not a solution. But it was something.

The dinner was an average one for the Saigyouji household, which is to say both quantity and quality were exceptional. The main table and centerpiece showed a woodland scene, with a landscape of leafy greens surrounding a pair of dueling roasted boars. The little stream of salad dressing and crouton tree were a nice touch.

And of course, that was merely one table. The others merely held expertly cooked dishes, featuring everything from sushi to three-layer cakes.

For all he could be a stick in the mud, Youki's skill in cooking was matched only by Yuyuko's bottomless stomach. Seeing the ghost drink an entire pot of soup merely to whet her appetite was on the boundary of being disturbing, even with their long association.

Dinner was followed by dessert, which in turn was followed by copious amounts of sake. During the extensive meal, Youki had periodically checked the gap youkai's house and assured her that nothing was wrong, and as such Yuyuko had persuaded her to stay for a drink. Which, as these things do, quickly became several drinks, as Yukari decided whatever damage had been done was already done, and finally committed to taking the night to relax.

Yuyuko had made an error, however. Her tolerance was impressive, but Yukari's ability was perfectly capable of keeping her on the boundary between sober and drunk. And keeping up with Suika had given her plenty of practice. As such, the ghost was the one to end up several sheets to the wind, putting her in the right frame of mind to regale Yukari with several stories regarding herself and Youki she would regret letting slip. Though likely more from Youki's retaliation than any teasing from Yukari.

It was at staying the night that Yukari finally put her foot down. No matter how much she enjoyed the evening and how tempting the idea felt, Ran would surely notice if she wasn't present first thing in the morning.

And so, having consumed both enough food to sink a battleship and alcohol to refloat it, Yukari finally returned home shortly after midnight.

She'd expected to need to explain herself, and had acquired a fair amount of leftovers from Youki for that purpose... which in truth would be enough to feed her and Ran for a week. Though she might still try her hand at making breakfast, just from the pure principle of the thing.

Gapping into the kitchen, she filled both fridge and pantry with said leftovers, and was quite surprised when Ran didn't stir. As such, she proceeded to use a gap to peek in Ran's room, and froze at the sight.

Ran was asleep, peacefully so, her arms wrapped around a little girl that had snuggled into the kitsune's embrace. It was a tranquility she hadn't seen from her since before her family had been destroyed. Further proof that her friend was still in there; the shikigami wouldn't think to seek or provide such comfort.

Why hadn't Youki told her?! She'd have come over immediately to see this! But instead the half-phantom had repeatedly assured her that nothing was... wrong.

Yukari would have laughed if she wasn't concerned about waking them. That sneaky old coot. Fine, fine then! Once things settled, she would visit again, and this time they would have a proper party. And what kind of a friend would she be if she didn't invite Suika?

Regardless, this was good - extremely good, in fact - but she'd need to rethink how she was directing her shikigami, figure out how much Ran's personality surfaced while around the cat. But first, her bed. She could finally meet Chen in the morning.

It was a pressure against your chest that gradually stirred you to wakefulness. A pleasant, warm pressure, but one that your mind noted as unusual. Your arms, too, were slightly stiff, suggesting an unusual sleeping position. Your eyes blinked open, looking down to see a mop of tangled brown hair and a pair of cat ears. They were attached to a little girl, sleepily cuddled up to you. Tightly enough that you could feel the little puff of breath against your neck each time she exhaled.

Your arms were the root cause of this mystery, having wrapped around the child to pull her close to you. Close enough for you to feel the rhythm of her breathing, to hear any noise, any murmur she made, to feel the gentle sensation of her toes brushing against your legs each time she shifted. Her arms were trapped between her body and yours, folded to her chest as if praying, her hands clasped around a ribbon.

Finally, your mind connected to the events of last night. It... you'd failed, hadn't you? The shikigami ritual itself had succeeded, Chen (why had you named her that?) was safe and sound, but when you'd gone to program her, something had gone wrong. Where was her collar? For that matter, how had you ended up in your bed if the backlash had knocked you out?

And why didn't you care? You'd failed Yukari, lost control of herself, gotten her into a fight with Yuuka of all people, and then failed at the shikigami ritual, which should have been this body's core competency... and yet, you didn't feel like the day had been a disaster. Unaccountably, you felt... not quite content, but consoled. That things weren't as bad as they could be. Should be. Were.

This was obviously Tamamo's influence at work. Even you could see how the loss of her family might be consoled by another child to care for. Especially given that she'd named it Chen. (Of course. It hadn't been you who named her.) Just as her grief had unbalanced you before, the warmth and contentment she was feeling were affecting your judgement now. How had she even wrested control from you inside the shikigami ritual? You'd felt fine, with none of the usual warning signs of her coming to the fore. Perhaps a consequence of the ritual's backlash?

And yet... you still hadn't let go of the child. Hadn't even moved, so as not to wake her. There was a peacefulness to the scene that you found hard to disrupt. Something warned you that if you disrupted this moment, you'd never get it back. And... well, what duties would you even be disrupting it to assume? Yukari didn't need you. And even aside from that... fighting and pushing away Tamamo's despair and grief were one thing. But this comfort, warmth, belonging? Pushing that away was so much harder.

But regardless of your desires, her desires, and regardless of whether she needed you or not, you were Yukari's servant. Gently, hesitantly, regretfully... you ruffled Chen's hair and woke her up.

She'd been just a cat, before. She'd been happy, she knew that much. The pet cat to a loving family, their smells, their faces, their voices, even their names, still fresh in her mind. (Her own name was less clear. She had one, she was Chen, but hadn't it been something else before?) Laying in the sun while Kiyoshi worked, allowing him to scratch her from time to time. Rubbing against Haruka as she cooked, receiving the choice morsels that were her due. And then there was little Aiko. Always happy to run, to explore, to roll in the grass or splash in the mud. Aiko had been her human. It was her bed the cat had slept in, her warmth she sought out for the night. It was her she'd been trying to defend, from that youkai. (She'd smelled nice, of flowers and soil. Why was she so mean?)

She trembled, recalling that moment. The mean youkai had shown up, and her family had started running... and Kiyoshi had cried out, and she'd smelled blood, and he'd stopped moving, and Aiko was screaming. She'd... she'd been so angry (so scared). She'd turned, leapt from Aiko arms, leapt at the mean woman, scratching, clawing, biting.

She'd been so fast, faster than she'd ever been before, youkai fast... but then the mean woman wasn't there, and hit her back. She hadn't even seen it happen, she'd been outside one moment and knocked into the wall the next. And then the wall fell on her, and it hurt, and she couldn't move. And all the while Aiko and her mom were screaming, and then they... stopped screaming.

Lost in dark memories, she clung to the warmth next to her, missing the moment when said warmth woke up.

"Chen... Chen!"

She opened her eyes, seeing the kitsune's concerned face.

"Ran?" she squeaked, sitting up.

Ran seemed at a loss for words for a second, sitting next to her on the bed. The kitsune had a hand still on top of Chen's head, as if frozen mid-pet, and was just... looking at her.

"Are you feeling okay?" Ran finally asked. "Is anything wrong?"

Was there? Her memories of last night after her injury were... confused. The kitsune here before her... she'd been so sad (she'd been so cold). Ran had carried her here, gotten her away from the mean youkai... but then she'd tricked her (saved her). She'd done something terrible (something wonderful), meant to collar her, trap her (gave her the ribbon, loved her). And in the nick of time Ran had... been stopped (come through for her.) She'd... she'd had a glimpse of the kitsune, of who she really was, during that weird magic. She saw someone... who wouldn't hesitate to use her for her goals. Who wouldn't hesitate to lay down her life for Chen's.

She couldn't make sense of it. Was Ran nice? Was she just pretending to be? She couldn't be worse than the flower youkai, right?

"I'm okay," she said, looking down. Down at her hands and what they held.

Wait. The mean Ran had tried to put her collar on her, but... she wasn't wearing her collar. She was holding a ribbon.

Hesitantly, shyly, courageously, Chen showed it to Ran.

"Would you put this on me?" she asked.

Ran's face scrunched up, her eyes wet. She looked... she looked like Aiko had, when she'd broken the window that one time. When she thought she was gonna get yelled at and her dad just hugged her. Why did Ran look like that? Did she think Chen was going to yell? Slowly she reached out, took the ribbon, and tied it at a bow at the top of Chen's dress.

Did that mean she was the nice Ran? Wait, the nice Ran was sad, wasn't she? Chen thought back. How was it Aiko had made her parents happy? She leaned in, as if revealing a great secret.

"Thank you," she whispered. "It's really pretty."

Wait, Ran was crying! That wasn't happy at all! But then she hugged Chen, and she was warm even though she was crying, and it made Chen want to cry too, because the hug made her think of Aiko, but that wasn't Ran's fault, and she didn't wanna let go, and... and...

The kitten gave up at that point, and started sobbing incoherently into Ran's shoulder, unaware that they were both crying for family they'd lost.

Yukari was not above spying on her shikigami in critical moments. Or spying on anyone at any time, really. She was the expert on all boundaries, including personal ones, and that meant she could decide when to ignore them.

Though to be fair, there was a legitimate reason this time. It was highly uncertain whether Chen waking up was going to be greeted by Ran the shikigami or Ran the mother, and if it had been the former, Yukari might have needed to intervene. Instead, she got a moment she wouldn't have missed for the world.

Of course, the thing about moments is that they are, in fact, momentary. Ran got ahold of herself first, going from desperate embrace to more of a gentle hug.

"There, there. Don't cry," she said, petting the transformed cat.

Even still, it took a minute for Chen to stop crying, and a bit longer before the cat was willing to let go.

"Feeling better?" Ran asked.

Chen nodded, rubbing her eyes, and in response Ran disengaged from the hug, getting up and stretching. Yukari could see the moment the shikigami came to the fore, as Ran switched from hovering over Chen to assessing the state of the room and looking guiltily towards the door. The shikigami's eyes flickered between her ripped dress, the mess made of her sheets, the ritual scattered across the floor, and Chen, trying to decide what to deal with first.

Before she could come to a conclusion and attempt to impose order, Yukari knocked on the bedroom door, covering a chuckle at Ran's flinch.

"Ran!" she called through the door. "Breakfast is ready!"

A more domestic phrasing than she'd typically use, but perhaps it was that sort of day. Besides, she had her own first impression to make on their new cat.

Her shikigami's instinctual wince was completely uncalled for.

Your master's call all but put you into a panic. You were nowhere near presentable, and you hadn't explained anything to Chen! Combined with your disgraceful loss of control yesterday... it didn't bear thinking about.

"One moment!" you called back, tearing off your ruined dress and snatching a fresh one from the closet.

As you hurriedly put the clean garment on, you called out to your shikigami. "Chen! I need you to be on your best behavior for Yukari!"

"Eh?" she perked up from where she'd laid back down on the bed.

No time to to properly comb your tails. The worst of your hair would be hidden under your hat, which left Chen's tangled mop. At least Chen's youkai transformation had given her clean clothes.

You grabbed your hairbrush, then Chen, and started combing her unruly mop of hair. The cat immediately started wiggling and complaining, but your strength was superior, and you could at least look like you hadn't rolled out of bed. "Yukari Yakumo is my master, and the strongest youkai in Gensokyo. She's the reason we have a place at all, and - hold still! - is the one who dealt with Yuuka yesterday."

Not that you knew precisely how Yukari had dealt with the flower youkai, but that should leave the right impression.

That got Chen's attention long enough for her to stop squirming. "Did she kill the mean youkai?"

Of course she'd ask. You hesitated, cringing slightly. "I... am unsure. I had lost control, so Yukari told me to leave. But I'm sure Yukari dealt with her."

And then you'd impulsively made the cat you'd saved into a shikigami, and screwed that up too. What would your master think once she saw your actions?

"How'd you lose control?" Chen asked. "Aren't you really good with magic?"

"Not that sort of control. I was just really angry." you admitted. "Yuuka... she reminded me of a pair of really evil sisters."

"Oh. Did you kill them?"

"Not yet," I growled.

Shaking your head, you knelt down, straightening up Chen's dress as you turned to give her final instructions.

"Now, Yukari doesn't know you're my shikigami yet," you said. "Stay here until I call you, then I'll introduce you,"

"But I want to come!" Chen protested, trying to grab on to you.

"Wait until I call!" you insisted, pushing her back down. "then I'll introduce you, you're going to thank her for everything, and we'll sit down and pretend to enjoy breakfast."

Chen had looked ready to protest again, but that last phrase grabbed her attention. "Pretend? But it's food!"

"That remains to be seen." You sighed. "Yukari is good at everything except cooking."

Yukari had a problem to solve. It was rare for Yuyuko to truly insist on something, rare enough that she owed her friend to listen on the occasions she did persist. And if there was one thing last night had been made clear, it was the benefit that actually having a night off had given her. Admittedly, her mood was also buoyed by seeing Ran and Chen together, but it had been significantly lifted even before that.

As such, the gap youkai had realized she would need to spread her workload around, which meant giving tasks to her shikigami. The problem was putting the shikigami to work without losing the last traces of Ran.

According to her notes, Tamamo had designed the shikigami binding to be self-reinforcing. A shikigami was driven to fulfill their programming, growing increasingly frustrated and aggravated at any perceived failure to do so. Conversely, carrying out those orders not only relieved that pressure, but brought the shikigami deep satisfaction. This emotional fulfillment would make the shikigami only more inclined to follow orders immediately and unhesitatingly, leaving the original personality even more deeply buried. It was a nasty (if brilliant) piece of work.

Therefore, keeping Ran's psyche intact meant that the shikigami needed to fail... or more precisely, to believe that she had. (The other half of the puzzle was giving Ran a reason to keep fighting, but her friend had solved that herself with what she'd done for Chen. One of a few reasons she was so pleased to see the cat.)

Fortunately, Yukari had something in mind. A task that needed to be handled, one that she couldn't touch herself, but also that was never going to end well.

Speaking of which, Ran was sitting at the table and already looking like a kicked dog. She sighed. Better to handle this before Chen joined them. Raising a barrier to block off any sound to Ran's bedroom, she addressed her shikigami.

"Ran, report."

Her shikigami had to force herself to even look at her. "I apologize for yesterday. I should have been better."

"You should have," she snapped. "Charging Yuuka like that was foolish in the extreme. It could have led to your death, not to mention the cat's."

Of course, Yuuka had set up the situation specifically to enrage Ran, but her shikigami wouldn't consider that a mitigating factor. The kitsune cringed, looking down again.

"In the future, you will obey my orders promptly. Am I understood?"

For the next few minutes, Yukari continued dressing down her shikigami in that fashion. It was a fine line to walk. The key point was that shikigami had to consider herself as having failed, which meant Yukari couldn't just be unreasonable, she needed to actually point out things the shikigami had done wrong.

Her shikigami just took it, of course. Ran was fiercely independent, but that wasn't who she was dealing with here.

"It won't happen again," Ran pleaded. "I swear it."

"See that it doesn't." Yukari said, covering a grimace. It was time to end the lecture regardless. Both because Chen was starting to get restless and her shikigami was all but sinking into her seat.

In fact, now was the perfect time for a little deus-ex-kitten intervention.

The sheer quantity of Youki's cooking had given Yukari no end of choice on which dishes to set out. And the quality meant that even as leftovers, they would be more than enough to delight Chen... particularly the three different types of fish she'd selected.

From there it was a matter of technique. Dismiss the sound-blocking barrier, and a well-placed gap would ensure the scent of fish reached Chen in force right... about... now.

"We'll discuss the rest later," Yukari loudly declared. "For now, let's eat."

It was too much for the poor cat. Ran's bedroom door slammed open as Chen made a mad dash for the table.

"Chen!" Ran cried out, only for her shikigami to completely ignore her.

There was tuna! And salmon! And... some other fish she didn't know the name of that smelled really good!

Which is why it was completely unfair when Ran caught her right before she pounced on it.

"Chen! I told you to stay put!" Ran complained.

"You were taking forever!" she countered. "And you were going to eat without me!"

"You can't just jump on the table!"

She flinched, remembering how her family would intercept and yell at her for climbing on the table.

"Come now, Ran, aren't you going to introduce us properly?" the other lady said, grabbing a plate and putting a generous portion of each fish on it.

"Uh..." Ran hesitated, and finally put her back down. "This is Chen, the cat from yesterday, and my shikigami. Chen, this is my master, Yukari Yakumo, the ancient youkai of boundaries."

Chen's attention was entirely occupied by the plate full of fish Yukari was holding. Catching her eye, Yukari nodded and smiled. "It's wonderful to meet you, Chen. Won't you have a seat?"

Chen nodded furiously as Yukari set the plate was set down in front of the chair next to her. The cat jumped into the seat, grabbed the fish, and started tearing into it.

"Chen!" Ran cried out.

The cat paused mid-bite and looked at her.

"The fork and knife! You're supposed to use the silverware!" the kitsune said.

Chen looked down at the knife. Maybe it was a tiny bit bigger than her claws, but it wasn't nearly as sharp. "Why?"

Yukari laughed. "It's fine, Ran. She's been a youkai for less than a day. You can teach her manners later."

That sounded like permission to her, so she got back to the fish.

Chen was clearly in food heaven, absolutely tearing through the salmon in a performance worthy of Yuyuko. Yukari used the time to pour the cat a glass of water, serving herself a modest portion of eggs benedict.

... come to think of it, why hadn't she visited Yuyuko more often? It seemed like such a foolish decision now. Regardless, Yukari gave Chen a smile as the cat finished demolishing her first piece and came up for air.

"How do you like it?" she asked.

"Itsreallygood" Chen managed, before seizing the halibut and taking a massive bite out of it.

Yukari chuckled and turned her attention to Ran, where she could practically see her shikigami working out the calculations on Chen's rate of fish consumption against her stomach capacity.

"Your shikigami is rather enthusiastic, isn't she?"

Ran flinched, looking down at the fried tofu she was pushing around her plate.

"I know I acted without orders, but Chen was hurt, and-"

Yukari reached through a gap to put her hand on Ran's knee, and her shikigami froze. "Ran. I was occupied with other matters and out of contact at the time. I won't scold you for using your best judgement in such a situation, and certainly not when it worked out this well."

Ran finally relaxed, looking back at her. "Even though I-"

"Situations where I'm unavailable will be frequent," she interrupted, "whether that's from other incidents or catching up on sleep. If you are to serve me effectively, you'll need to be capable of such decision-making, Ran."

"Yes, lady Yukari! I'll..." her shikigami stopped mid-sentence, putting a hand to her head. "oh, Chen."

Yukari looked over to where the cat was attempting to lap water out of her glass. This had worked okay up until the glass was half empty, but now the cat's tongue no longer quite reached the water... something Chen was trying to make up for by lapping harder.

The gap youkai had to bite her tongue to prevent from laughing, but she managed to restrict herself to a smile. A giggle may have escaped when Ran demonstrating how to drink from a glass ended with Chen spilling water down her front. Ran then left her seat to start fussing over the newborn, something that Chen was naturally resistant to, and which only slightly delayed the rate at which she consumed her third piece of fish.

Yukari sighed fondly as she returned her attention to her own breakfast. Really, it was a shame she was about to send them to Chireiden.

After Chen's initial... enthusiasm, you'd managed to get her under control. Mostly. She did still have a tendency to blurt out awkward questions at the worst possible times (such as whether calling Yukari an ancient youkai was the same as calling her an old lady), but thankfully your master seemed largely amused by the whole thing. In fact, she seemed quite pleased with Chen in general, despite your missteps in programming your shikigami. To the point of being a mitigating factor for the fierce scolding you'd received.

Too pleased, in fact. Your assessment of your shikigami had been that her skills were standard for a new bakeneko, but Yukari wouldn't be this pleased just from acquiring the services of a low-level youkai. She must have seen hidden potential in Chen; nothing else would explain it.

You'd just have to make a point of bringing out Chen's potential later. It wouldn't do for you or her to be any less than the best servants you could be.

Regardless, as you'd all finished breakfast, your master had one final surprise for you.

You'd frozen in the process of cleaning up Chen, stunned speechless.

"What's the matter, Ran? Cat got your tongue?" Yukari smirked. "Or are you disappointed?"

"Of course not!" You shook your head. "I just thought, after yesterday, I wouldn't receive a chance to serve for some time."

Yukari's face grew serious. "Ideally, perhaps, but this can't wait any longer. You recall the negotiations around sealing off the Underground?"

"Of course," you said, as you finished wiping off Chen. Your past self had been leading them, after all. "Has something unexpected arisen?"

"Not unexpected, but some of the surface youkai are getting restless," Yukari explained. "Having the oni and especially the satori able to roam the surface is proving disruptive, with several smaller incidents in the last week alone. The culprits have already been disciplined, but they've proven stubborn, particularly since there's no formal prohibition in place."

"Has there been a sticking point in the negotiations?" you asked,

"More that nobody stepped into the gap when you became my shikigami," your master said.

You hesitated, but decided to voice your concern. "Did taking care of me prevent you from handling this matter?"

Yukari sighed, but shook her head. "Nothing of the sort. The problem is having Satori at the negotiating table. The consequences of her reading my mind could be disastrous."

Part of you wonders which secrets she's hiding from the mind-reader, but Yukari would have told you if you were meant to know. Besides, getting an answer would be actively counter-productive, considering you'll be the one getting your mind read. "I understand. Is there anything else I should consider?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Yukari said. "Take Chen with you, she'll be useful."

"She will?!"

It was a day of firsts for Chen. Among other things, this meant it was her first time flying. Yukari would occasionally joke flying was the art of trying to hit the ground and missing, but in Chen's case the jest was largely accurate. Enough so that you briefly triggered the possession on her to use your enhancement spell, just in case her next swoop didn't miss the ground. But regardless of that concern, your shikigami was soaring, diving, and occasionally cartwheeling through the air with a sheer glee that made you smile.

And with any luck, it would tire her about a bit before you needed her to wait patiently during the negotiations. Perhaps this was why Yukari had directed you to fly there instead of opening a gap? Or maybe this was another element of your master's fondness for Chen. Another possibility was the simple publicity it offered. You were flying over the human village, after all, and they couldn't possibly fail to notice your cat's antics.

Still, watching Chen laugh as she turned a corkscrew into a dive, you couldn't say you minded. The villagers beneath you were... less appreciative, particularly as she started pouncing from roof to roof.

You considered calling her back, but decided against it. At two stories up, the humans had no real cause for concern, and your shikigami was having fun.

But as the saying goes, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Several blocks over, your cat abruptly stopped after another aerial pounce. Her ears perked up and swiveled as she listened, and your shikigami scrambled to the edge of her current roof for a better look.

"Ran! Someone's fighting!" she called out, pointing beyond the current row of houes.

You cursed and pivoted immediately, increasing your speed as you flew in the direction your shikigami indicated. You spotted the conflict immediately - several figures in blue shooting water at a lone youkai in yellow and green, all surrounded by a growing crowd. With Chen yelping and taking flight to follow, you aimed for the center of it all, and landed in force between the youkai.

You hit the ground in a three point stance, a thunderclap resounding as your fist shattered a paving stone beneath you. Idly cracking your knuckles, you fanned your nine tails out behind you as you glared at the youkai... a group of kappa who suddenly looked very nervous, and one Koishi Komeiji torn between relief and embarrassment. Wheter from defiance, panic, or what, one of the kappa shot a final jet of water at Koishi. Without turning, one of your tails snapped out to deflect it, and you shot the kappa in question a contemptous look.

It was textbook intimidation. All you'd need was a dramatic line and you could just wait for the kappa to crack. Unfortunately, the effect was ruined when Chen misjudged her landing, bouncing off the ground and rolling into the side of a house. Everyone winced at the resulting crack, and you rushed to your shikigami's side.

"Chen!" You scooped her up. "Are you alright?"

She flopped back in your arms, groaning and rubbing her head. "I'm fine. Ow..."

From the corner of your eye, a kappa started to sneak away, and you pointed in their direction, firing a laser at the ground a foot in front of them. "Don't even think about it," you warned.

Turning your attention back to your charge, you scolded her. "Don't attempt abrupt landings like that without practice! And practice somewhere soft!"

Your shikigami nodded, and you ruffled her hair as you set her back on her feet. "Now stay put for a mintue. I'll deal with this quickly, alright?"

With that important matter handled, you turned to the kappa. There were three of them; Nitori you recognized, the other two not so much. it didn't matter. They were all small fry regardless, and that made the solution simple.

"I dearly hope there's not an issue," you said softly, your voice holding the promise of potential violence. "It would be tragic if we couldn't talk this out."

"We haven't done anything wrong!" the black-haired one burst out. "The rules are about protecting humans, and Koishi isn't-"

"Piper!" Nitori snapped.

"Shut up and let me handle this!"

You folded your arms, not bothering to hide your amusement. "Problems with your subordinates?"

Nitori shrugged, returning a smirk. "Well, at least mine have caused less property damage."

"Chen has been my shikigami for less than a day, and a youkai for little longer," you retorted. "She'll learn."

"She's your shikigami?!" Koishi yelped. "But you swore you wouldn't make any more!"

Memories both old and new stirred at that, and you fought them down as you glared at the young satori.

"You're in enough trouble as it is," you spat. "Quit digging."

Koishi went pale. "Your heart... Ran, what happened to you?"

You ignored her, turning back to the kappa. "That is indeed the purpose of those rules. Which makes me wonder why you would even consider starting a brawl amidst all these humans."

You accompanied the statement with a gesture to the crowd, which at this point filled most of the street. "In fact, it's a particularly poor choice if you intend to follow through on your peaceful overtures."

"But-" Piper started.

Nitori shot her hand out to cover the smaller kappa's mouth. "It wasn't a brawl. Those jets of water wouldn't have hurt a human, let alone a youkai, and Koishi wasn't fighting back. We were just trying to gently encourage her to leave."

"Why?" Koishi cried out. "I can help! You want to sell things, I can see what the humans want!"

A round of murmuring broke out in the crowd and Nitori grimaced. "We don't have anything to do with each other, Koishi. Let's keep it that way."

"But why?" she pleaded. "I could help you with, uh, market trends, or haggling! Seeing what people are willing to pay!"

"Are you dense?" Piper asked, breaking free of Nitori. "Buy one, get your darkest secrets revealed free?"

The sense of unrest increased as Koishi took a step back. "I wouldn't do that!" she protested. "Why can't you see that?"

"Look at the crowd!" Piper swung out an arm towards them. "Look at them! Who's going to shop at a store you're present at?"

"Piper, shut up!" Nitori yelled, but it was too late.

Against all sense or better judgement, Koishi looked. Without fail, each person she looked at flinched and turned away, and Koishi wilted more and more.

This needed to end before she broke down entirely. You grabbed hold of Koishi, and she didn't resist. "I will deal with Koishi. I trust you'll prevent your subordinates from causing any more damage?" you said acidly.

Nitori didn't meet your gaze or respond. It was fine. You didn't particularly care to hear anything she said regardless.

Half-dragging and half-carrying the young satori, you flew off. Towards the underground, and towards Koishi's sister.

Koishi wasn't catatonic. You could tell by the sobbing. Showing up at her sisters' home with her in this state was begging to cause a misunderstanding, and even if she'd quickly see the truth, first impressions mattered. Once you were clear of the village, you found an empty field to lay the satori in, and considered what you might do to comfort her.

You had little experience with mind-readers. Your past self had too much blood on her hands to ever be truly comfortable around one... and Koishi's wince reminded you to be careful of your train of thought. You needed to think comforting things... which was going to be difficult, considering that your existence thus far had been largely defined by discomfort. Being unable to serve was troubling, and even the success you had in Chen... you still weren't sure how you felt about that. Because logically speaking, you'd failed at making her an efficient servant, you should see her as defective... and yet Yukari was pleased. (So were you. Why?) Had she expected you to fail worse? Was your performance so low that even a partial success was enough to merit praise? (How could it be? You hadn't done anything!)

Wait, now wasn't the time for this. Koishi was looking horrified, and your wandering mind clearly wasn't helping. The problem was, you'd been designed to be analytical, not comfortable. Even the thought of sitting around thinking nothing but vague pleasantries seemed unnatural. Wait. Of course!

"Chen!" you called out, looking around for your shikigami.

"Ran! Wait for me!" she called out as she flew towards you. Ah. You may have left her behind somewhat in your haste.

Once again, Chen came in for her landing way too fast, but this time you were in position to catch her. You turned the catch into a spin, allowing you to smoothly reduce Chen's momentum before depositing her gently on the ground. You brushed off your cat's dress, as you kneeled down to address her directly.

"Chen. Were there ever times when one of your family was sad, and they pet you to feel better?"

Chen squirmed less than you would have expected. "Yeah?"

You turned her around to face the mind-reader who had curled up into herself. "Koishi is sad. Could you help her?"

Chen looked confused. "Is she family?"

You carefully did not show amusement. The odds of that ever being the case were well under a hundredth of a percent. "No. She's just a lonely girl who needs help."

Your shikigami took a step towards the crying satori, but hesitated. "But I thought she was a dangerous youkai?"

You ruffled Chen's hair. "Then it's a good thing you're a dangerous youkai too, isn't it?"

"Raaaaaaan", she complained, pushing your hand off and smoothing her hair back down. "Is she scary?"

More than she could possibly imagine. "Not to you," you said instead. "You have nothing to fear from her. And I'll be right here."

Chen approached Koishi. Slowly, hesitantly, but she did. The young satori didn't outwardly react, but her sobs grew less frequent as the cat approached. Your shikigami looked back to you, and you nodded at her, making a headpatting motion. Chen took a deep breath and kneeled down next to Koishi.

"There, there." Chen said, patting Koishi on the head. "Don't be sad."

Koishi didn't react at first, but Chen kept at it, and eventually she looked up, pushing away Chen's hand.

"It is sad." Koishi said between sobs. "You don't understand- they don't understand, they all-"

Chen gave her a hug, wrapping her arms around the other girl's chest. "Ran's here, she'll make everything better."

Koishi looked down at the small girl wrapped around her, her hand stroking the outline of Chen's face as all three eyes looked down at her. "Why do you- she's barely holding herself together! How can she help anyone?!"

Chen raised her head to looking up at Koishi, puzzled. "But she already did?"

Koishi stared at her - no, at her ribbon - her eyes watering. "You could have died," she whispered. "You could have been worse than dead."

"No," Chen declared with the unshakeable confidence of a child. "Ran's nice."

Yukari had been right. Even if Chen did nothing else useful today, even if she spent the entire rest of the trip making mischief underfoot, she was worth bringing along for this alone. Because unlike the kappa, unlike the humans, unlike you... she was sweet, she was pure, and most of all, she was innocent. And Koishi needed to be reminded such people existed.

Koishi burst into tears again, returning the hug as she held your Chen to her chest. It seemed as if you were back to square one... but there was a different note to it this time. Koishi's grief, the pain of rejection were still present, but the despair wasn't. She was expressing her pain while accepting Chen's comfort. And as her tears died down to sobs, she started petting your cat, scratching her behind the ears as Chen purred, eyes closed as she snuggled into Koishi, still hugging the youkai for all she was worth.

Eventually the sobs died down too, but neither youkai made a move to break the hug. Koishi continued to pet Chen, and your cat continued to purr. You merely watched and waited, making sure no-one else intruded upon the scene. The younger Komeiji would need to face reality soon enough, but you could let her have this moment for a little longer.

You sat on the ground at a respectable distance, doing the vaguely parent-like thing of keeping an eye on the pair without having your presence looming over them. Koishi clung to your cat for quite some time, but no moment lasts forever, and she eventually got up and approached you.

"Thank you," she muttered, rubbing at her eyes. "If you hadn't been there, I-"

"Is she better?" Chen asked, still hugging Koishi's side.

You looked at Koishi's red eyes, and down at your shikigami's hopeful look. You didn't need to be a mind-reader to know some things weren't so easily fixed.

"Yes, I'm better," she said, smiling weakly. "Thanks, Chen."

Chen beamed at the praise, running over to you. "Did you hear that, Ran? Did you hear?"

"Of course," you said, patting her head. "You've been a very good girl."

Your kit leaned into it and closed her eyes, smiling hugely. You found yourself smiling as well. "You know, since you did such a good job, I have another task for you."

"Yes?" She looked up at you eagerly.

"Here." You dropped a small purse of coins into her hands.

"The human village back there..." You paused for effect, leaning down, as if imparting a big secret. "it has a fish market. Do you think you could get a few fish for dinner later?"

Chen's smile actually got wider, stammering acknowledgements and thank-yous as she flew back towards the village at high speed.

"And be careful when landing!" you called out after her.

As Chen disappeared into the distance, your mind cleared and your smile faded. Your shikigami had proven to be very helpful, but now that she was absent, now was the time to confront Koishi. You sighed, turning back to the troublesome youkai.

The slight smile on her face disappeared as she looked at you, and she took a step back. "Ran?"

"What were you thinking?" you demanded. "Trying to read the minds of an entire crowd? A hostile crowd?"

"I just... there had to be someone!"

"If you'd have the chance to meet them individually? Perhaps. But humans like to fit in. In the absence of strong convictions, they will go with the crowd, and that crowd wanted no part of you."

"But they don't even know me!" Koishi pleaded. "All I want is a chance."

"They don't know you," you agreed. "They know of you. They know what a satori is, and what the Komeiji clan was. Your reputation has preceded you in the worst possible way."

"It's not even my reputation!" she yelled. "I haven't done anything!"

"Did they look like they cared about that?"

Koishi flinched and you pressed on. "This was actively counter-productive, Koishi. Each time you wind up in a scene like this, you're driving another nail into your reputation's coffin. All those humans that saw you just now? Now when they think of satori, they'll think of your fight with the kappa. Of a confrontation between dangerous youkai, right in front of their homes."

"I wasn't fighting them!" she protested tearfully. "You saw it!"

You nodded. "I did. But memory is a tricky thing, and rumor a vicious one. Give it a week, and half the village will be sure there was a fight between the kappa and a satori. And given the kappa's reputation versus yours, who do you think they're likely to blame?"

"But-"

You put your hand on your shoulder. "In many ways, now is the worst time. The humans are only just getting used to having youkai around. They are afraid, worried about whether the shrine maiden can protect them and the status quo will hold, or whether the youkai will finally swarm them and consume them."

"Not the right time, huh?" Koishi turned to look at you.

"Not yet," you said gently. "But if you wait a few years-"

"There will be some other reason. Some other cause or situation that prevents it." Koishi's shoulders shook, and her voice rang out in bitter laughter. "As if I haven't heard that one all my life!"

You took a step back as Koishi drew herself up. "A few years ago, it was that things would be better once Gensokyo was ready. And before that, that people needed to forgot about our father, and before that, that everything would change once he died. And yet, all those things happened, and somehow it's still never the time. It's still never the place!"

You bit back a curse. How could you convince her? The trouble she could cause roaming the surface-

"Did you think I wouldn't see it? You don't care about me.” Koishi’s voice wavered, then broke. “You don’t. I-I'm a problem to be dealt with."

Her assessment was not inaccurate. You were programmed to prioritize Gensokyo first. A rogue satori roaming around risked severe backlash from both the surface youkai she upset and from her sister if she got truly hurt.

“Two weeks ago, when you came down to negotiate,” Koishi blinked back tears, “you understood. You cared. You said you’d figure something out.”

The calculus was correct. The issues it could cause outweighed the happiness of one girl.

“But now you’re cold. Unfeeling.” she said. “You want to lock me up so I won’t cause trouble.”

And yet, as you watched her turn away, do her best to stop herself from crying all over again, it felt completely wrong. Your logic was correct, you knew it was correct, and yet-

“Koishi, I’m not the same Ran you met two weeks ago,” you blurted out.

“What?”

Well, you were committed now. “Three days after that meeting, back in the outside world, Ran was on her way home to see her family after running some errands. A bag of groceries held in one arm, her daughter in the other. She was almost there, her home was within sight.”

“She was ambushed. The first she knew of a fight was when someone touched the back of her neck and she suddenly went numb. She dropped the groceries, tried to hold on to her daughter. No good, she’s ripped from her arms. A-and then-”

Your voice failed, but your memory didn’t. Yorihime had done something to you, some Lunarian tech or obscure god’s ability that had cut you off from both your magic and your body. I could do nothing but fall to the street while Chen cried. I couldn’t even turn my head to see her when there was a burst of energy and the crying stopped.

Yorihime pulled her sword out, then. Rolled you over, said you wouldn’t feel anything, raised it high for the final blow. Sword swing disappeared into a gap, and the Lunarian took Yukari’s parasol in her throat. The gap youkai emerged afterwards, looking scorched, battered and more furious than you’ve ever seen her. It wasn’t without cost. Yukari had been fighting Toyohime before she saved your life, and the moment she did the Lunarian blew up your home, with the rest of your family in it.

Yukari adjusted a boundary, fixed the numbness. The moment you had feeling again you searched with both eyes and magic, looking for your daughter, for your son, for your husband, for any trace of your family, some sign you hadn't lost everything. There was nothing. You were able to move and fight again, but even if there was a chance of winning, even if there was some slim hope of beating the Watatsuki sisters, you'd already lost. You fought anyway.

“Yukari managed to stall them out for a while, but in the end they won,” you said, sounding as empty as she had felt. “But it was enough time for a counter-attack. Yuyuko, Youki, Suika… they managed to capture the two people the Lunarians cared about. Gave Yukari the leverage to do something.”

Not that threatening Eirin and Kaguya’s lives was feasible, but threatening to gap them into the Lunar Capital sure was.

“Turned out they really wanted Ran and her children dead. Wouldn’t explain why.” you said. “Even with Eirin and Kaguya in trouble, they weren’t about to let her live. But Toyohime said they’d accept making her a shikigami. Close enough to death for their orders.”

Koishi was staring at you in horror. You closed your eyes, exhaling deeply in remembered heartbreak. “Sorry if you were hoping for comfort from that Ran. I’m not her. I’m not programmed to be.”