Ran's Frantic, Too-Long, Too-Fast, Much-Too-Backtracking Day

Youkai were the mystical manifestations of human fears, of human desires, of humanity’s hidden parts and unthought of forgottens. Eldritch in typicality, the familiarity that sometimes arose was only there to enhance the strangeness. Perhaps a Night Sparrow wished to open a stand to make some money, but luring customers for such a youkai was a simple matter of tactical blinding. Perhaps the dragon standing guard over her treasures reminded one of the human desire of greed, but the ferocity of such a defense could only be feared. A lonely observer might theorize that perhaps the actions of yokai and similar beings were the exaggerated and embellished form of humanity.

…Any yokai worth their salt and holding any pride in their name would tell you that any thing that even resembled a semblance to humanity was only there to highlight the uncanniness of yokai.

So an onlooker would be forgiven for thinking that Ran Yakumo’s frantic rush and chase for her wayward shikigami seemed reminiscent to that of a mother chasing after a wayward child, but rest assured, the Shikigami of the Gap Youkai was simply worrying over the reputation of her master, Lady Yukari.

After all, if the Shikigami of the Gap Youkai could not control her own Shikigami, what ideas would that give smaller youkai? Silly ideas most certainly such as pushing beyond their limits or challenging the treaties bound and forged in corpses and tradition.

The small goddesses of Fall at their potato stand had helpfully directed the golden nin-tailed kitsune into the Forest of Magic, starting the search with a nice and clear direction, but that was just about the only part of the trail that had been easy to track. At the best of days, the Forest of Magic was easy to get lost in. More usual was the fact that the Forest of Magic played with any non-residents. While ostensibly a part of Gensokyo, Ran loathed having to run errands inside that forest. Her clothes always got ruffled, her tail fluffed by unexpected puffs of wind, flying up to reorient one’s self meant falling down into a pile of leaves that stuck to all of her tails, the Forest of Magic had a mind, no matter what Lady Yukari said, and it was an annoyingly mischievous one.

Thankfully, Ran had quickly found a hermit-in-training who had been more than happy to direct her after Chen. Unfortunately, that meant deeper into the Forest of Magic to find something called the Ni-Yousei. What was a Ni-Yousei? Ran had heard of the San-Yousei, the three Fairies embodying the celestial lights, but what were the Ni-Yousei?

A moot point since the house she had been directed to had been empty and the trail gone cold. Ran had half a mind to travel back to the hermit and scratch his face. Fortunately, the Transmission had been ongoing and gave a hint on where the horde of cats had gone rampaging, so Ran had dashed to the Scarlet Devil Mansion just in time to learn that she had missed Chen.

And that Chen had made a deal with the Scarlet Mistress of the Mansion. Her little Baka of a Bakaneko of a Shikigami was in so much trouble. Granted, the terms of the deal were generous and even advantageous for the Yakumo Family. The Cats of Mayohiga would be welcome to roam the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s grounds, but in exchange, the Mansion would receive a stipend to help care for the cats.

Mayohiga had been getting a bit crowded with the number of strays that Chen and Lady Yukari had been picking up, but… Chen was still in trouble.

Ultimately, Ran had to depend on the Fool’s Transmission once more to find Chen. Heading to the outskirts of the Human Village, Ran winced at the petty destruction inflicted upon the docimiles and inhabitants. While nothing compared to the olden days of the Night Parades of the Youkai or the Raids of the Sengoku era, it was still hard to witness the scratches inflicted on the village.

…Perhaps she was being dramatic. The worst damages were a few broken windows, a good amount of humans nursing scratched hands and faces, but all in all, nothing of true importance had been harmed irrevocably.

Most worryingly was that Chen still wasn’t there, having disappeared alongside the cats. The trail had gone cold for a third time, and Ran had had to return home to Mayohiga and release the crow shikigami as her final plan.

Today was more of an… embarrassing nuisance for all involved. That was the good thing. Just a minor nuisance and nobody was truly hurt. Ran tried to remind herself as she waited for the crow shikigamis to return from their reconnaissance. Nothing and nobody was truly hurt.

…Oh, hopefully, Lady Yukari wouldn’t notice that she had borrowed the crow shikigami. Ran had bribed them all with ‘shinies’ to keep quiet, but this would be a really bad time for Lady Yukari to come out for one of her Mid-Winter snacks and--

“CAW”

Perfect timing. Closing her eyes, Ran quickly connected to the incoming crow shikigami to receive the coordinates. Then, borrowing just a small bit of her Master’s power over Boundaries, hopefully just enough so that Lady Yukari wouldn’t wake up, Ran opened up a shimenawa-tied Gap and stepped through with all the fury that was only tangentially similar to a worried mother.

“Chen,” Ran shouted, arms crossed and tucked into the opposing sleeves to hide how tightly she was gripping her own forearms, “HYou are in so much trouble! We are going home now! And no more of this cat army nonsense! Too many people got hurt today!”

She then paused for a moment before awkwardly coughing a bit. After all, Ran Yakumo had an unexpected audience. Besides the roiling field of cats that had obligingly cleared a path to her charge, there were also two of the San-Yousei sitting next to Chen with all three of the young spirits being tended to by the Aki Sisters with the older one having an old-fashioned medicine box opened to bandage the many scratches covering the two fairies and Chen. The two fairies had stopped their idle pacing while the sister’s had frozen in the middle of rolling a bandage around her Chen’s arm.

…Gensokyo sure loved her ironies, sending Ran right back to where her search began in front of the Aki Sister’s Sweet Potato Stand. That would have been enough to be a mild irritation, but the fact that there was an audience evolved the whole situation into an annoyance.

The two fairies of the San-Yousei ( Wait, was this what the hermit had meant by Ni-Yousei!?) immediately jumped up to loudly protest.

“Hey! Don’t be mean!” the long blackhaired one snapped. That would be… Star Sapphire, Fairy of Starlight.

“Yeah!” her burnt-orange comrade agreed aggressively, She messed up, but she fixed it!” Sunny Milk was what Ran tagged her as.

A small part of Ran was happy that Chen had found nice friends.

“I mean, she did really mess up bad, but she fixed it. Kind of.”

“Look, we got all the cats in one place.” Sunny Milk shrugged before pointing at Chen,“And I mean look how hurt she got! Fixing it!”

A larger part of Ran was growing anxious imagining how exactly these fairies would rub off on her Chen.

“Look how hurt WE got fixing it,” Star nodded.

“...It is fixed right, though?” Sunny Milk tilted her head to the side.

Waffling one hand in a so-so manner, Star mused, “I think it’s more broken right now. Important thing is that the cats are stopped.”

“Yeah! And it’s broken now, so it can be fixed later!”

“Which is a good thing!”

“Absolutely a good thing.”

“And nobody died!”

“Which is also a good thing!”

“Yeah!” Sunny Milk exclaimed.

“But people did get hurt…”

“Which is not a good thing…”

“...But you can’t have an omelette without a few dead babies.”

“Eggs, Sunny. It’s eggs.”

“Aren’t eggs chicken babies?

“No. Eggs are chicken fetuses. Chicks are chicken babies.”

“What does a chicken’s sex life have to do with eggs?”

Star blinked twice, “How do you know what a fetish is, but not a fetus?”

Chen groaned, laying one heavily bandaged arm over her face, “Guys, I know you’re trying to help, but please stop helping.”

“Are you sure?” Sunny Milk whispered, “She looks really angry.”

Ran wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. The Fairy of Sunlight was… remarkably bad at whispering. She settled for puzzled annoyance.

Chen looked at Ran before looking down with a sigh, “I’m sure. You guys can go.”

Both fairies looked at Ran then back to Chen then to one another before returning to look at Ran. Then, remarkably, both fairies took a step forward to block Chen from Ran’s gaze.

…Ran was almost… No, she was impressed. Even if the black-haired one was quavering and the burnt-orange one was holding a thumb inside her fist, Ran was impressed at this display of loyalty. Imagine. Fairies deciding to defy her.

Keeping her placid facade up, Ran murmured, “You may go. I won’t harm her beyond what is expected. Rest assured”

The two fairies looked at one another with unsure looks then back to Chen. Her bakaneko looked at both of them with watery eyes before steeling her resolve. At the bakaneko’s resolute nod, the Ni-Yousei crouched to begin take off.

They paused at Ran’s cough though, “The Yakumo Family will remember what you did today. Thank you.”

With one last glance towards one another, the Ni-Yousei looked to Ran and simply nodded before flying off, continuing on with their debate on the chicken and the egg. While Ran was impressed with how quickly they relaxed from almost being smited, she was more confused as to the direction they had taken it. Why… Why muse on the sexual habits of chickens?

Mindful of the fact that she still had an audience, Ran kept up her mild mannerisms, “As for you two…”

Ran took a moment to pause. Not out of an intention to intimidate, but mostly out of confusion to the fact that the Aki Sisters were already pre-emptively cowering. How annoying. If Ran wanted them intimidated, she would have made it clear. Clearly, the state of Gods had declined. She almost wanted to huff in disappointment, but… that would only scare the sisters more and completely defeat the purpose of her next actions.

Bowing her head with a slight bend around the chest, Ran spoke softly as she held her clasped arms out in gratitude, “I thank you for helping me search for my charge and once more in caring for her after her… misdemeanor.”

The older one licked her lips before returning the bow, bending from the waist, “You’re welcome, but it was really no trouble at all.”

“Yes, we could hardly let such a young and brave girl’s wounds go untreated,” the younger one nodded frantically, joining her sister in the deep bow, “No need to thank us. At all.”

“We’re just small Goddesses of Fall. Think nothing of it. At all.”

“Humble too,” Ran couldn’t help but chuckle.  “Should you ever need help, do not be afraid to ask the Yakumo Family.”

…That last line was meant to be a reward, but why did the sisters look devastated.

“...We won’t,” the older one didn’t quite grit out. She sounded too despaired for that. Actually, she looked ready to collapse.

The younger sister had quickly slipped to her sister’s side to support her, smiling weakly, “Now, we’ll just… uh…”

“Leave!” the elder sister didn’t quite shout, “It is awfully late and you look busy and so are we.”

“Leaving that is!” the younger sister smiled brightly in the manner that a lightbulb about to crack would.

“Busy leaving!” the elder sister said, seeming to draw strength from tose words, turning around to break down the potato stand with alarming speed and lack of caution. Ran winced as the signboard declaring whose stand it was was snapped in half.

“Have a nice day!” the twin sister’s chorused, picking up the pieces of their stand before disappearing in a swirl of autumn leaves.

Ran blinked twice. That was… certainly an interaction. Hm. Perhaps Ran would have to work on the softer side of diplomacy. While being respected and feared worked well for the kitsune shikigami, it wouldn’t do to have every interaction boiled down to a basis of fear. She would also have to review the names of the minor deities of Gensokyo.

It was a bit embarrassing to not know who those Goddesses were.

Still, Ran scowled, turning her ire and focus to Chen, there were--

A swirl of leaves slipped past Ran, and it was only by centuries of training that Ran didn’t flinch and blast the intrusion immediately. Swirling to and past the bakaneko, the younger sister’s voice whispered, “By the way, Chen, dear. Have some sweet potato and remember not to pick at the scabs.”

“I won’t,” Chen nodded, holding the bag of sweet potato that had been conjured onto her lap to her chest, “And thank you.”

Another swirl of leaves slipped around Chen’s neck to leave a leaf-red scarf around it and the elder sister’s message, “I think you were very brave to try and fix your own mistakes, so chin up, okay? Now bye!”

“Bit flighty, aren’t they?” Ran commented idly, waiting to see if the Aki Sisters would dare to reappear again. While it was annoying how they had interrupted Ran’s flow, Ran couldn’t help but like them for these… small kindnesses. And the knitting on that scarf was remarkably well done.

“They’re nice,” Chen shrugged, fidgeting with the top part of the bag of sweet potato and bracing herself.

A beat passed. A silence grew. Ran waited until Chen’s tails had twined against one another three times to begin her lecture.

“You’re still in trouble, young lady,” Ran started off softly but firmly,“You cannot simply let the cats out whenever you like. Lady Yukari was indulging your little plan for an army, but evidently, you cannot control them at all. We may have to let them go.”

Ran wasn’t actually going to let them go. For one, it wouldn’t be fair to the cats themselves. For another, Lady Yukari would only sneak them back in. Ran would certainly be changing the permissions of the Boundary to prevent Chen from doing something like this ever again though.

“...Can we keep the ones that chose to stay?”Chen sniffled, “Please! I promised them that I’d take care of them if they listened today. Just until they find a better place to stay..”

“...You promised them?”

“Mhm,” Chen nodded, eyes winced in a failed attempt to keep tears from leaking, “Miss Yukari says that promises are important and dangerous and should never be broken which is why she never makes them.”--Chen quickly wiped her face before continuing-- “But I made one and I have to keep the ones who accept it.”

Promises were dangerous things. A tie and a contract emotional, but for beings of stories, promises went far deeper. To break a promise for a youkai was to break something important that would drag a piece of their being with it.

Ran sighed, “Very well. But we will have to review why promises are dangerous.”

“Thank you, Miss Ran,” Chen bowed as she had been taught long ago. Then, turning around to face the cats, Chen cupped around her mouth to shout, “All right! Those of you who want to go, go! Miss Remilia made me promise to let her keep the cats that stayed at the library. I’m sure she won’t mind if you go join them though. And I’ll still try to help if you need me too. But those of you who still want to stay, you can stay at Mayohiga! I won’t make you my servants anymore! I’m sorry I wasn’t a better boss, but I’ll be better! If you stay at Mayohiga, you’ll be mine! Which means I take care of you! On my honor of the Yakumo Family, I’ll take care of you! So if you trust me, want to trust me, please follow me home!”

The clowder of cats who had been lazing about idly lazed about with idle attention. Judging by the tails flicking slowly to and fro, most of them were unsure.

Swallowing thickly, Chen whispered, “Miss Ran, can you open up a portal to home?”

There was an odd feeling bubbling in Ran’s chest as she opened up the Gap back to Mayohiga. As the cats began to stroll slowly through to return to Mayohiga, Ran kept an eye on Chen.

For every cat that returned home, one left to wander off to the forest, presumably to find the Mansion. For every three that left to the forest, one would wander to Chen to run through and between her legs, tail trailing in cold comfort before continuing to depart. Ran half expected Chen to run after them to beg them to stay, but her little bakaneko only gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

Watching Chen’s hands beginning to bleed from the tight self-control the bakaneko was exerting itself, Ran found it hard to hold onto her anger at her young shikigami. Yet, that feeling inside her heart grew even as another feeling squeezed.

When the last cat went through, Ran carefully asked, “Don’t you want more?”

Locking her lips, Chen answered stiffly, “These cats decided to trust me, and I have to accept that… the rest don’t trust me. I can’t make  them trust me. ...I ...I need to be better for them and for me and for you and…” Chen’s voice caught and she was silent for a bit,” “...I messed up, didn’t I, Miss Ran?”

Letting the Gap close, Ran stepped closer to Chen and began stroking her back softly, “Well, yes, you shouldn’t have sent that mob of cats all over Gensokyo, but… Actually, why did you send that mob out?”

Chen breathed in and out, a long and hard one. She tried again, but it stutted, On the third one, it was a wracking inhalation and the exhalation broke the fragile self-control, tears beginning to trail down, “I was just trying to help you find the Fool! You looked worried because the Fool was talking a lot, so I thought I could get the cats to help, and I loosened the barrier, but it got too loose and all the cats got away and I ran after them and the nice goddesses gave me some sweet potato that i gave to a hermit-sage that says he’s not a hermit-sage but he’s totally a hermit-sage and then we fought and i gave him sweet potato to say sorry and then he sent me to the ni-yoursei and--”

Ran immediately knelt down, pulling Chen into a tight hug, burying her chi-- charge’s wet face into her chest, “Sh! Shh…” rocking Chen back and form, humming softly, “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“--and I messed up today, but I messed up even before then,” Chen mumbled, trying to explain herself, clutching Ran’s clothes tight enough that her claws began to tear through, “I was just trying to make that cat army so I could be helpful like you and Miss Yukari. Be strong.”

Stroking the back of Chen’s head, Ran murmured,“What do you mean, Chen?”

“You picked me up when I was small and cold and in the rain, and I’m getting bigger, but I’m still just a stupid cat,” Chen rubbed her face, sniffles and sobs cutting a staccato into her stream of thought “I wanted to-- I wanted to be strong like you, so I tried to get cats to be my army. It’s why I kept on collecting them. Strength in numbers or something.”-Chen took a wheezing, wet heave- “But I wasn’t taking care of them, so they didn’t trust me. I was stronger than them but that’s not how a family works so I got them to calm down and promised them that they could hang out in Mayohiga but I still wanted help to be strong so I promised the ones that would follow me that I’d take care of them better.”--Rubbing her face, Chen licked her lips before continuing, “And two of them are going to come and I’m going to have to train them, but i feel really bad about the rest and I... I just wasn’t doing a very good job of that.”

“Hm?” Ran half-listened, focusing more on helping Chen return to equilibrium“Deep breaths, Chen. Deep breaths and then talk, okay, Kit? WIth me now.”

Her ear pressed to Ran’s chest, Chen’s breathing slowly followed the rhythm of her moth-- master’s. A soft, breathy silence lazed about, and then Chen continued, whispering, “Like, I got them to Mayohiga, but I just kept on ordering them around. I didn’t take care of them, so they didn’t care about me.”

“That’s… That’s not wrong to say, but…” that feeling in Ran’s heart had grown even more even as the kitsune struggled to voice her thoughts, “You’ve grown wiser, Chen.”

“I’m sorry!” Chen burrowed her face, tears soaking Ran’s tabard, “I’m really, really, really sorry for messing everything up and making trouble for everyone and I’m sorry.”

Shifting from her kneeling position to a more comfortable lotus position, Ran pulled Chen into her lap, “Shh… Sh… It’s fine. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. It’ll be better. I’m here. Okay? I’m here, and we’re safe.”

Chen only cried harder at that, but Ran didn’t let up. Soothing strokes, calming words, Ran waited for as long as Chen needed to cry.

If it looked like a mother comforting a child, well… best for outsiders to keep their opinions to themselves.

When the sobbing had become sniffled, Ran whispered softly, “Feel better, kitten?”

“...Mmhmm,” Chen mumbled, keeping her face buried and hidden.

Ran sighed. She should be angry now. She really should be, but all the kitsune felt was relief and… a strange sense of pride. That had been the feeling growing in her chest. Pride. Pride at her shikigami confronting and owning and trying to fix a mistake. While it would’ve been better for Chen to never have made a mistake, seeing Chen simply… own it and not try to shirk responsibility was… It made Ran strangely proud.

“Miss Ran?” Chen mumbled, breaking Ran out of her strange ponderings.

“Yes?” Ran smiled ruefully, still stroking Chen’s head,

“It’s okay if the cats stay at Mayohiga, right?” Chen said, sniffling only a little, “I know they aren’t going to be part of my army anymore, but they were abandoned. They need someplace to stay. And I almost abandoned them today. I didn’t mean to, but I just forced them out the gate and they panicked and it’s all my fault and--”

“Shh… Sh…” Ran soothed with a soft sigh, “It’s fine, Chen. It was a messy day today, but it’s still cleanable. It already is being cleaned. The Scarlet Devil Mansion is already mostly to rights though they have a few more cats. And well… It’s not like I could really send them away. Lady Yukari would probably simply start hiding them elsewhere”

“Miss Remillia said that she would take a few cats as recompense,” Chen turned her face up, red-rimmed eyes staring into Ran’s with all the trust in the world, ” That’s the word, right?”

Ran shouldn’t be smiling, but… she smiled comfortingly to Chen as she nodded, “Yes. Well, it’s more of an agreement to watch over the cats in an exchange of a stipend, but I suppose it is similar.”

“Yeah,” Chen giggled, “she said she’d take a few cats as recompense, and she promised to take care of them. We have to make sure she follows through.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure of it,” Ran booped Chen’s nose, “We’ll make sure of it together. And we’ll take care of the cats still with us. “Mayohiga is Miss Yukari’s and she does enjoy fluffy things, so we’ll take care of them. It won’t be any different than before. They’ll still be safe.”

“Mhm,” Chen’s eyes began to droop even as she steeled herself, “It’ll be different though. I’ll better. .They chose me, so I have to be there for them and be good. Like you chose me. I have to take care of them all and help you take care of Gensokyo and I’ll be good.”

“Mm…” Ran sighed, tucking a lock of Chen’s hair away.

“Thanks for helping me keep my promise, Miss Ran,” Chen wriggled to hug Ran’s neck without escaping her lap.

“...You weren’t good today, not at all,” Ran huffed even as she returned the hug, “...But you are being better and that’s good enough.”

“Thank you, Miss Ran,” Chen mumbled, head nodding into Ran’s shoulder..

Ran hummed even as she stood up. She stumbled a bit. Chen had gotten bigger from last time, but a quick readjustment and Ran easily carried Chen. It would be a bit difficult to open a Gap home without a free hand, but… Chen needed Ran more.

“...Hey, MIss Ran?”

“Yes?” Ran returned, trying to remember how to open a Gap.

“It’s okay if I mess up, right?” Chen whispered, “You won’t abandon me?”

“No!” Ran gasped, Never!” Pausing in her efforts to open a Gap home, Ran paced in a small circle as she rocked Chen to and fro frantically, “You’re my shikigami! One day, you’ll help me help Lady Yukari and I care for Gensokyo, but right now, we’ll take care of you.”

“That sounds nice,” Chen murmured. Ran felt her heart calm down as she felt the bakaneko’s lip soften into a smile,  “I hope I take care of the cats who came.” Chen yawned “I need to-- “Chen yawned again”I need to learn what you do. Do more.”--And Chen let out yet another yawn-- ”I’ll study more and--”

“You can figure that out later,” Ran sighed before snapping, “NO making any of them shikigami for now though. You’re not strong enough yet.”

“But I will be?”

“ONe day. One day.”

“Okay,” Chen lifted her head sleepily before letting it slump back into the crook of Ran’s neck, “...Hey, Miss Ran?”

“Yes?” Ran’s lips curled into a teasing smirk, “You’re asking a lot of questions today for someone who was so naughty.”

“ ‘m sorry.” Chen mumbled sadly into Ran’s neck, “Last one, promise.”

“I don’t mind. Ask as many as you want.”

“Are we a family?” Chen asked too quickly, too slowly, too filled with idle hope,  “Me, you, and Miss Yukari?”

Youkai are reflections of human desires and needs. Familiar things twisted and turned just a bit sideways.

…But contorted reflections are still reflections. The base and foundation of thought and personality and souls is still there.

“...Of course, we are,” Ran admitted softly, a secret between a shikigami and a shikigami of a shikigami.

“...I guess Mister was right,” Chen wriggled happily, “Thank you, Miss Ran. For caring. Not sorry for biting himz though. Even though yoose says bite is bad. We waz fighting and I iz winz next time.” Chen yawned, “I iz win…”

“Mister?” Ran raised an eyebrow, “...What Mister?” Ran’s other eyebrow joined the other, evolving from faint surprise to worried surprise,  “Wait! Fight a Mister? Chen, who did you fight?”

*zzz*

Alas, Chen simply snored.

Pursing her lips, Ran readjusted her grip on Chen to wriggle an arm free, flicking her charge’s ear, “...Oh, you are a troublesome little kitten.”

Beyond an angry flick of her ear, Chen continued to sleep, exhausted from the day’s events. *zzz*

Opening up the shimenwa-tied gap, Ran stepped through back to Mayohiga, kissing Chen’s head softly with a whispered promise.

“But mine. Always mine.”

---

AN: The main dialogue for this has actually been written for months. It's the latter part. The rest evolved from there, but it grew much stronger for it, so I like to hope.