Mini-Mayhem At Mayohiga

Furisode Kimono sucked.

From a distance, they had always looked so… marvelous. A thing for rich humans, a thing for powerful yokai to wear and show off. When she was a simple cat, they had been luxurious to sleep uon; when she was an unaligned and simple beast yokai, they had been things of envy. To wear one would have been like wearing hand-painted arts with their pretty designs and… just…

Furisode Kimono looked amazing, and Chen had always wanted to wear one.

But… How to explain it?

When Lady Ran had invited her to Mayohiga tonight and dressed her up for the first time, Chen had been beyond ecstatic. It had… felt like acceptance, moving up in a way. She knew that she was just one of the many shikigami that the Yakumo Family used, but she was one of the few that Ran dealt with directly, and now she was the only one who had been invited into the Estate proper.. She wasn’t just stuck on the outskirts to take care of the ravens and crows and cats that littered the abandoned houses that was the Village of Cats but had been invited the estate! Proper!

Shikigami of a shikigami was a jokename that she tried to reclaim with pride, but sitting here in seiza? Wearing this? Waiting for a proper moon-viewing party? It was victory and it should’ve felt like victory, and it had, but it also…

Chen resisted the urge to fidget even as she felt the urge to tear off the kimono rise. Ugh, how could she explain it?

Wearing a Furisode Kimono? Actually wearing a pretty kimono with nice red silk that had beautiful sakura and lotus and pretty flowers. Having a green obi with black kitty paw prints tying everything together? Wearing an attire that felt designed just for her? Chen was overjoyed until she found out how much it sucked to sit in one for ages.

The Obi was too tight. Chen wished it was looser, but Lady Ran had tied it, so she couldn’t ask for it to be loosened, so that sucked. And the silk felt nice, but also there was so much of it.  So many layers, too hot in the wrong areas while too breezy-cold in others. Wearing them felt like a weight and Chen wanted them out, but she had to endure to make it up to Lady Ran for the… fiasco a while back and also hopefully maybe make a good impression on Lady Yukari.

This was everything Chen wanted, and Chen was absolutely super-duper willing to endure it, but it was so boring. And itchy. And heavy.

Formal events were the worst, Chen decided. She’d do it to make Lady Ran happy and honor her, but… There was nothing wrong about just… happening to not be there when one came around, right?

She definitely couldn’t skip this one though. This one was the one where she met Lady Yukari all proper-like. Chen wriggled in place. She definitely had to make a good impression.

The original arrangement between herself and Lady Ran had been private. She still cringed at the memory. What was she thinking back then? Challenging Lady Ran over a small hole in the barrier!?

Sure, that had been how lost strays came to Gensokyo to die in solitude, and it was where Chen had begun collecting her cats, but… why!? Ah, Chen wanted to roll around in embarrassment, but that would muss up the kimono.

And now she made herself sad, remembering how she had ruined the trust between herself and the cats of Mayohiga in the Feline Fiasco. She had forgotten that before they were her helpers, she was their protector.

Lowering her head, Chen sighed before lifting her head. No matter. She had made a mistake and she would learn from it. Today would just be another expansion of the original arrangement. Chen held no hopes about Lady Yukari taking her on, but she hoped to at least gain the approval of her master’s master.

She would take care of all the cats, she would become powerful enough to help Lady Ran, and one day, maybe, just maybe, she’d become a proper Yakumo.

Which meant she had to prepare. Looking around, Chen checked for any bystanders and nodded. Not even a crow in sight. She was completely alone. Just had to keep an ear out for anybody coming in and she would stop.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Chen began practicing.

“Hi! I’m Chen!”

No. Too chirpy. Far too chirpy. What was she? That Night Sparrow at the nightstand!? No. More formal.

“Greetings, I’m Chen.”

Better, but…

“Greetings, Lady Yukari, I’m Chen.”

Ooh! That sounded fancy. How about…

“Greetings, Lady Yukari, I am Chen, the shikigami of Lady Ran.”

Hm… Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to use Lady for Lady Yukari and Lady Ran. That may… whachamacallit? Imply they’re on the same level? Or something? Chen didn’t want to accidentally offend.

“Greetings, Lady Yukari. I am Chen. I work for your servant…” Chen decided to risk disturbing the kimono to scratch her nose. It was itchy and it’d help her think, “What’s a good title for Lady Ran here? I can’t call both of them Lady.”

“It’s fine. Since both of us are higher-ranking than you, so long as you attempt to pay proper courtesy, you’re already doing your part”

“Ooh, that makes sense,” Chen nodded, scratching her chin. Taking a deep breath, she bowed her head, “Greetings, Lady Yukari. I am Chen. I work for your servant, Lady Ran, and aid her in caring for the shikigami. Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to--”

Eyes widening, Chen bowed again, quickly spitting out, “I hope my service has been and continues to be helpful.”

Ooh, she almost messed up. Good thing it was just practice for now. She shouldn’t imply that she was the one pleased to meet Yukari. That made her sound hoity-toity in the wrong way. She should imply that it was an honor, which it was, to work for Lady Yukari. Once more from the top.

Bouncing up and down to an idle humming in the air, Chen took a deep breath and bowed, fully bowed, hands on the ground, “Greetings, Lady Yukari. I am Chen. I work for your servant, Lady, Ran, and aid her in caring for the shikigami of the Yakumo Family. I hope my service has been and continues to be helpful.”

There. Perfect! Proper deference shown, perfect bow, and she didn’t bite her tongue. Humming along to the tune she had been listening to, Chen rose back up to wait only to freeze mid-rise as she heard clapping.

“Pleased to meet you as well, Chen,” a prim voice said, the lilt that Chen was recognizing as the humming that had been prevalent throughout her entire practice session. “Your service has been very helpful.”

Against her desire to flee, her innate feline curiosity forced Chen to slowly raise her head from the bow she had been in to look up at the owner of the voice. She already knew who it was before even looking though, and Chen was quite proud that she didn’t gulp or flinch at the sight of the speaker.

That may have been because she was frozen in fear though.

Upper-body floating out of a gap, white mobcap tied off with red string covering a crown of long, golden hair, Lady Yukari, the Legendary Youkai of Boundaries, one of the Sages of Gensokyo, Master of Lady Ran, smiled down at her. Fanning herself with a silk mai-ogi dyed in her royal purple colors, Lady Yukari wriggled her fingers in greeting.

“I’m so sorry, Chen,” Lady Ran sighed, exiting from the house,“It seems that Lady Yukari won’t be coming to Tsukimi tonight. She probably had to do something last minute. We’ll just-- Lady Yukari!?”

“Hello, Ran!” Lady Yukari lilted with a gleeful titter, mai-ogi moving to cover her sly smile, “Is this the little thing you’ve been hiding for these past few decades? She’s adorable.”

Not hearing anything, Chen remained frozen, playing back the memory of her practice session. Of distinct memory was the bit where she inadvertently cut off Lady Yukari. She thought she had been saved by messing up with the “Please to meet you” by doing it in practice, but she had messed up even more when she cut off Lady Yukari when she returned the “Pleased to--.”

Oh no.

“Lady Yukari, please don’t tease her,” Lady Ran sighed, “We worked quite hard on making her presentable for your first meeting.”

Oh no no no.

Lady Yukari waved her mai-ogi idly, “It’s fine. Formality has its time, and tsukimi is no time for that. I wanted to meet the tiny bakaneko you’ve been hiding from me. She’s adorably enthusiastic. Why, she was just practicing for meeting me with little introductions just now.”

Chen had messed up. Again. She had messed up on the introduction. Several times. It was supposed to be practice, but Lady Yukari had seen all of them. And oh no no no no no.

“She was nervous about meeting you for the first time,” Lady Ran sighed, sounding almost proud in a strange way. She then placed her hands on her hips, “It’s why I wanted you to meet her in a controlled setting such as a formal ceremony, so she wouldn’t--”

Chen burst into tears, raising her hands up to dry them before lowering them. She was wearing a fancy kimono. She couldn’t get it dirty! Seeing no other option, Chen tilted her head back to try and avoid dripping onto the nice silk.

“Start crying,” Lady Ran sighed, pinching her forehead, “I wanted you to meet her in a controlled setting, so she wouldn’t start crying.”

Closing her mai-ogi with a snap and tapping it against her lips, Lady Yukari asked, “Does she cry easily?”

Rolling her eyes in as respectful a manner as possible, Lady Ran didn’t quite stomp forward to pick Chen up into a hug. Rocking her bakaneko back and forth, Lady Ran didn’t quite glare as she answered, “Not particularly. It’s just that she doesn’t usually have to meet with such a distinguished and honorable being such as yourself, Lady Yukari, especially so impromptu. It’ fine.  I’m sure the lingering embarrassment of being spied upon in her practice isn’t adding to the tears.”

So saying, the kitsune stalked off into the house, carrying her shikigami and whispering words of comfort and encouragement.

Tilting her head side to side, Lady Yukari sighed dramatically as she held the folded mai-ogi to her lip, “So sassy nowaday, little Ran, where’d I go wrong with you?”

Despite the words though, the youkai’s smile remained ever-present even as she disappeared back into her gap. Her little shikigami’s little shikigami was adorable.