aaaaaaaaa I promised I wouldn't do this anymore aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
----
Spring had arrived in Gensokyo, which didn't need to be said by it's rather vocal announcer that soared through the clear blue skies, releasing her excited bounty of danmaku and cheerings across the lands. A land once paralyzed by the frozen embrace of winter, had finally given way to that of mother nature's wake up call. The air still held a chilling reminder that the spring heat has yet to fully arrive, but it was clear by the sweet aroma of blooming plant life that the season of new beginnings was just getting warmed up. However, while the plant life maybe experiencing a time of rebirth, there were still many things that remained a constant in the land of Gensokyo, and one of those was the duties as a gatekeeper to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It was a job as tireless as it was uneventful, watching...waiting...looking for someone who dared to tread upon the lands where the vampire, Remilia Scarlet, called home. The pay is nothing on a financial level but, the job itself rewards greatly in character; knowing that you are what stands in between the enemy and those you consider close to you. Who goes, who stays, who gets kicked in the hamparts for being a jerk, is all up to you and you alone. Twas the motivation of Hong Meiling, the youkai who stonewalls the gates to the vampire's mansion from intruders great and small. Handpicked by Remilia ages upon ages ago to take on the task of guarding her mansion, it has sense
Of course, this didn't mean that the job itself wasn't any less boring than it was in previous days long past. To make matters worse, the sun had risen to the highest point in the sky, giving rise to the fact that it was high noon...a time where Meiling sneaks in her afternoon nap to help recharge the energy lost from just standing around...looking forward and around for threats. The gatekeeper yawned loudly, casting her tired eyes to the sky above to see the display of Lily White's danmaku barrage, the colorful burst of magical bullets doing at least some good in keeping the persistant sandman at bay. However, Lily White's loud, energetic (and somewhat obnoxious) voice was needed to complete the set...without that, even her bursts of danmaku weren't enough to scath off boredom completely...
A gaze to her left revealed the bundled articles of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper that lay in a wooden chair, the bundle of papers was dropped off by Aya in the early morning and hasn't been touched ever since then. Meiling herself hadn't really bothered to read much of it lately, as most of the stories had rather...lacking credibility, but occasionally, there would prove to be something worth reading...it was just...it felt as if you had to wait for something like that to actually happen rather than flip to a certain section like in normal newspapers. At this point, however, Meiling was willing to try anything to stay awake; questionable stories in the paper be damned, anything beats a scolding from Sakuya. With a light shrug the gatekeeper took her seat in the chair, and pulled open the paper just in time to see a group of fairies off from the gate. "Eh, where are you all heading off to?" she questioned to the giggling fairies who paused midflight to address Meiling's curious inquiry.
"To the village, there's an event going on that we heard about from one of the others. It sounded like fun so...we thought we'd check it out~" The largest fairy replied. Meiling knew this fairy and her little cohorts, they were one of the newest to be added into the legion of fairy maids that worked tirelessly in the immense mansion that stood behind her.
There was only one thing off about this and Meiling knew exactly what that 'thing' was, "Does Sakuya know you're leaving the mansion?" The fairies paused, their excited clamor dieing in the spring breeze as they stared at the gatekeeper who did nothing but stare right back. These newbies were all the same...they believed that if they had finished their chores in the mansion they could leave when they pleased. While in theory this was true, but when you work under Sakuya, there are no breaks when you're on the job. As a maid of the Scarlet Devil, you work everytime, all the time, to earn your keep within her mansion. Sakuya usually made it so that slackers don't get dinner in compensation for their lack of work. "Right...you guys go on ahead then." But, Meiling was no Sakuya...
"Y-you mean you won't tell Sakuya-senpai." Another fairy spoke up, a little surprised that one of the high ranking members of the mansion (so to speak), was actually letting them get away with some Sakuya would never let happen.
"Don't see why I should, but...try not to make a habit of it, okay? It's girls like you all that end up getting put out for not working." The gatekeeper told the fairies, letting them know that while she was a little less strict that Sakuya, their actions remained on their own heads if they were to get caught. Even so, the fairies seemed very grateful for Meiling's approval to let them go and thanked her prefusely as they headed away from the mansion's gates. Unfortunately, their many thanks to the Meiling was not enough to satisfy one part of chinese guard, "O-oh, before you go, can you bring me back some chinese food?"
"We would if we could but..." The larger fairy began, before she and her smaller companions flew off in the distance shouting back, "We don't get paid."
"...Right, I forgot..." Indeed, fairies don't really recieve much of a salary for their efforts in the mansion. Every chore done works in favor of any servent pulling their own weight around the house and thus giving them at least a privalage to say they have a roof over their head and 3 square meals a day. In truth, that's payment enough over being homeless but...given how most youkai tend to be just this...well, one could say that it depended on the youkai or person. As the fairies flew off into the wild blue yonder, their distant forms immedieatly darting about in a panic when they got close to Lily White's danmakurrhea, Meiling went to reading the paper like she intended. After skimming across various things that, for the most part, didn't seem interesting, Meiling's eyes finally managed to catch glimpse of something; below an article that spoke of an alarming decrease in sardines there was yet another that told of the annual event that many of the village would be familiar with; The Spring Festival. "Huh, the spring festival's coming up...must have slipped my mind." The gatekeeper shrugged, finding the event itself something she herself couldn't easily attend unless Remilia wished to go.
Of course, did this mean that it ruled out Meiling's urge to go? Not in the slightest. However, with the festival being held in the village there wasn't much chance that her mistress would really want to attend...
Wait...
"Hold on, the festival's in the village?" Meiling thought, taking another look at the article to find that it was indeed being held in the location of interest. On the first friday in April as a matter of fact. Was that what the fairy maids were going to look into, the festivel that was coming up? Twas a burning question that would soon be doused by a cacophony of frightened screams. A little startled by the noise, Meiling jerked her head from the valley of the newspaper's opening to see the same fairy maids that left were coming right back from wence they had came, the expression plastered on their faces matching the tone at which they screamed. "Haha, I guess you all got caught in Lily White's welcoming, huh?" Meiling chuckled, unaware that this was caused by something...less cheerful than Lily White...
The frightened maids didn't even bother to give any response back to the guard, the lot of them flying right over the closed gates to the mansion, before landing on the other side and dashing to the front doors. Meiling blinked for several seconds, her head turning to gaze past the bars of the gate just in time to catch glimpse of the door slamming in front of her. "What could have gotten them so spooked...?" Meiling queried to herself, the fact that the fairies didn't even wait for her to open the gate proving to be to tell the guard that, whatever scared them, wasn't something like getting shot down by Lily White. In fact, the source of the maid's terror was rather close to Meiling, the gatekeeper's reflexes provoking her to turn her head back to the path ahead and sure enough, there stood a group of...cats, 3 of them humanoid while the others were all in the shape of the average housecat. As odd as this gathering was, there was only one thing that Meiling needed to know about them, "Alright, who are you lot?" The gatekeeper paused for a moment as she realized the timing of their arrival and the maid freakout a moment ago. "Were you the ones who scared off those maids just now?"
"Nyan Nyan, correctamundo~" The cat girl in front chuckled, wrapping herself in a black blanket that she seemed to wear as a makeshift cape of sorts. It would seem this girl was the leader of the bunch, but since Meiling didn't know her all that well, so the cat girl's intentions remained a mystery. More importantly though, who in the world says 'correctamundo' anymore...? "I'm Mayumi, the leader of the feared Tsumineko-dan and we've come to ransack this mansion!"
The word, 'ransack' was more than enough to tell Meiling that this party was trouble...although what seemed to downplay the threat they imposed was the fact that they all looked to be no older than 12 and second, it was broad daylight. Even though it was close to naptime...the fact that the one's threatening to rob the mansion were 12 year olds had Meiling convinced that she could finish this by merely turning the tables and spooking them. "...Are you serious?" The gatekeeper furrowed an eyebrow.
"Yes, very." The lead kitten quipped, hands on her hips as she gave Meiling a confident smirk. "We intentionally scared off those maids so they could lead us right to this here mansion. Now step aside, we got treasure to loot~!"
"Well, that's all well and good but...I can't let you pass." Meiling told the cat girl, walking in front of the gate and proving her point well with her own body.
"Why not!" The caped cat girl wasn't getting it...
"I'm the gatekeeper, it's...kinda my job."
The cat(s) didn't seem to understand the logic Meiling was using on them, as they all stared at the gatekeeper with little to no response. However, soon enough, "...W-wait, you mean-!?" The leader seemed to figure out just what all this meant, and what it all meant to her plans of getting into the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The supposed plan she had for attacking the mansion...had overlooked one huge factor; Meiling. "Crap!" At the realization of this, the cat turned to her group and threw her hand toward Meiling. "Sun-Sun get her, bring her down!" At the command of the blanket wearing leader, the second cat girl launched herself from the crowd armed with...a stick. Meiling readied herself as the froggy feline came at her with her weapon, bringing on hand forward. Then, a second before the kitten could even get a swing in...
SMACK
THUD
She was on the ground, face down and bottom up, the stick she held like a deadly weapon still clenched in her hands. Meiling had smacked her right in the back of the head, the blunt force of her hand being just strong enough to force a full body shut down and send her 3 second opponent into a state of unconciousness. "Don't worry, I just knocked her out. She should be fine when she wakes up...well, save for a little headache and maybe some short term memory loss, but I doubt that..." Meiling said, the group ahead of her staring in shock at how fast one of their, apparent, high ranking members got taken out so swiftly. "Now, the lot of you go home or I'll do the same to rest of you. I don't want to fight you, but I don't have to if you stay away from the gate and leave." By this point, the gang...wasn't exactly sure of it self anymore and was beginning to back down...but, not their leader who merely took this loss as a huge insult to her pride.
"S-Screw you, we're getting past you and your big boobs!" The frustrated kitten called out, looking to her right and throwing her hand to Meiling as an order to initiate another attack. "Toraichi, front and center!" At her command, another opponent stepped forward to face the obstacle of the cat gang, this one male...and this one being miles different from 'Sun-Sun'. Unlike his partner before, this red-headed ruffian held a much more formiddible aura to him, the sharpened nails on his hands and feet primed ready to slice, and the tiger like ears and tail he sported being only add ons to the fighting potential he might house. Indeed, if Meiling could say one thing about this boy, it's that he was a tiger youkai, similar to the one who associates herself with the Myouren Temple and it's affairs near the village. Even so, the one who commanded this tiger cub seemed to have a good understanding of how strong he was and why she was saving him for last.
"Nyan Nyan, I bet you're scared now, Toraichi's the strongest of our group...well second only to me of course," Let's not let misplaced self-importance cloud our judgement...any farther. "But enough chit chat! Toraichi, take her down!"
"...Do...do I have to?" Toraichi spoke up, his voice not doing his appearance any justice. If Meiling could attribute it with one thing, it's that of uncertainty. Maybe that attack on Sun-Sun knocked some sense into one of them after all...
"Yes, you have to or I'll take YOU down!" The leader chided, shoving the tiger further into the fray and stabbing her finger toward Meiling. "Now go in there and bust a cap in her butt!"
Toraichi hesitated for just a moment, before he seemed to throw caution to the wind and rushed forward toward the unmoving Meiling. Sun-Sun's defeat may have done little in telling his boss on just how fast Meiling could take him down, but he himself was compelled to fight by just her orders...not common sense. Even so, repeated history or not, Meiling set forth to defend herself and went to reverse Toraichi's attack and hopefully convince the cats to turn back...
The only problem here being that, instead of swinging at the first chance he got, Toraichi ducked and rolled from Meiling's front and into her blind spot, a spot the gate guard was readily expecting him, or any of his fellow cats, to exploit. Without a moment's hesitation, Toraichi threw his fist forward only to have the attack blocked, "
He tried to fake me out and went for my side...this kid's not like the other one..." Meiling observed, her eyes narrowing as she cancelled her guard and grappled the tiger by his arms. The moment they touched palms was the moment the struggle for power began. Although, taller than the cub, Meiling wasn't oblivious to the might of her opponent as he tried to gain the upper hand in the grapple and win a free reversal for his efforts. "
He's strong too..." This couldn't be mistaken as 'retard strength', this was something natural in himself...something this cub was born with, what those before him were born with. Indeed, he held within him the power and strength of one of the most powerful beasts in the wild. Even so, "
...but he's not strong enough." Meiling whirled around, taking Toraichi with her, and slung him onto his back the impact he took surprising him just as much as it did his peers.
The time he was on his back however was shortlived, and before Meiling could return upright, Toraichi was on all fours and pounced toward her like the cat he was. On reflex, Meiling threw a straight jab right into his face, the punch landing perfectly in between his eyes. With the pouncing attack failed Toraichi's body flew backward and, once again, landed square on his back just like he had before. "Ah, you almost got me there, I have to say you're-" Meiling paused, her ears picking up the sound of, what she believed to be...sniffling. The gatekeeper blinked with confusion before she discovered the source was none other than Toraich himself. Meiling approached the downed tiger, concerned on what he was sniffiling about. "Hey, what's the matter? Are you okay?"
"O-Oww..." He sobbed, looking to the gatekeeper with eyes that told of how hurt he really was. That is, if the tears that came from his eyes weren't proof enough. "You...you hurt my nose..."
"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" As soon as Meiling to another step toward him, Toraichi bolted up and made a beeline for the exit, bawling his head off the entire way. "W-wait! Geeze..." With the tiger gone from sight, and the battle between them pretty much over by default, Meiling gazed at the gang of cats who stared at her before their leader spoke up, attempting to explain what the hell just happened and why...
"Uhm yeah...that happens alot, Toraichi's...sort of a crybaby..."
Meiling sighed, her hand meeting her forehead. "The the rest of you better follow him, I don't want to hurt any more of you."
"Are you retarded, we came to-!" Those words were cut short by the sound of Meiling firing off a flurry of rainbow colored bullets at the ground.
"I said, go home! Scat cat!" Meiling shouted, her assault intentionally missing her target but doing well to spook the kittens and force them into a hasty retreat away from the mansion, the gatekeeper didn't let up in her barrage until the yowling of the kittens could no longer reach her ears. As the sound of kittens screaming disappated into the ambience of nature, Meiling let her hands rest at her sides as she turned back for the chair and plopped down onto it's seat. As Meiling gazed into the clear sky, there came the realization that she still had company...mostly in the form of the unconcious Sun-Sun whom the kittens forgot to take with them.
"Oh shoot!" Meiling chided, picking up the TKO'd catgirl and running after the kittens who ditched her in their retreat. "Come back, you forgot someone!"
----
As the day came to pass, naturally giving rise to the next, Meiling found herself at her post once again like all days before. The air wasn't as warm as it was yesterday and the weather looked rather unpredictable...but, climate changes or not, Meiling was to remain here as she did countless times in the past. Besides, there was an umbrella incased it rained...maybe. Even so, the weather itself did little to lift the spirits of the gatekeeper, her memory of yesterday's incident still fresh in her mind. She had hoped that a good night's sleep would rid her of the accident but...it remained where it was, stubborn to leave her and eager to dampen her mood on what she had done. She was sorry for injuring him, yes, but...she would have wanted to say that she was sorry straight to him...
"Meiling!" Of course, like yesterday, the uneventful atmosphere was shattered yet again by a loud voice, this one seeming to reflect something other than fear. Looking up from her straightforward stare, Meiling came to see Cirno and Daiyousei flying down to her position, most likely coming to goof off with her like they normally did on certain days.
"Oh Cirno, Daiyousei," Said the gatekeeper, as the two fairies trotted over to where she stood, Cirno seeming to retain a childish excitement about something.
"Meiling! Meiling!" Cirno exclaimed, running up to the gatekeeper with as much speed she had when she was airborne. "Teach us how to do that move you do!"
"Uhm..." It would appear that just asking to do something wasn't enough, after all, Meiling herself held many different moves. Which one Cirno wanted...well, she was a bit vauge on details. "You're going to have to be a little more specific, Cirno..."
"You know the one where you go..." Cirno paused turning on her heels and throwing her fist in the air, producing a makeshift explosion sound with her mouth. "That one!"
Of course, where Cirno fell short on noticing detail, Daiyousei made up for it with her own intuition. Such a thing telling her that something wasn't quite right about the Meiling they once knew. Although still a child by youkai standards, Daiyousei was, by far, a few rods more sensible than her ice manipulating friend. "Cirno, maybe we should hold off for a second..." The fairy advised to her friend, who looked a bit confused about her suggestion. "Meiling doesn't look to be having a good day today..."
"Eh, what do you mean?" Cirno said her head titling to one side in a gesture of perplexion. The ice fairy didn't remain like this for very long before she turned her attention to Meiling herself to gain some answers on what exactly was ailing her. Cirno maybe a little dim, but she was never one to ignore someone's anguish. So long as it made itself known to her anyway. "What's the matter, Meiling?"
"Uhm, well...I sorta, punched a kid in the nose yesterday..." Meiling replied hesitantly, the fairies ahead of her giving her a somewhat disappointed look. They've known Meiling for quite a while, so they wouldn't think of her to punch children unless she had a very good reason for it. Naturally, Meiling set to explain herself before the fairies (most likely, Cirno) could jump to any ill informed conclusions. "Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to hurt him. It was just...he was in this gang and his boss made him attack me so, I fought back. About halfway through the fight, he came at me and I punched him in the face by reflex...I think I broke his nose..."
"Did you tell him you were sorry?" Daiyousei asked, "You should always say that you're sorry to someone when you hurt them, even if you didn't mean to." Which was elementary, when one sat down to think about it...
"I tried to but...he ran away before I could even say anything..." The gatekeeper let out a deep sigh, her body dropping into the seat of the chair. "I feel bad for breaking his nose and I want to apologize to'em for that, but...you guys know about my job..." Indeed they did, while not entirely getting the big picture of why she guarded the mansion, they knew that Meiling wasn't one to ditch her post...
"If you want we can go get him for you." Daiyousei offered to Meiling. "You mind telling us who he is...if you know his name, anyway."
Ah, a wonderful idea. That way, Meiling could remain here while the fairies sought out Toraichi, it was a win/win situation but, it depended on if they knew who Meiling wished to see again. "Uhm, his name's...Toraichi, I think." Meiling recalled, having remembered the name from the incident yesterday.
"Hmm, Toraichi..." Cirno echoed, her finger on her lip as she appeared to be shuffling through the cast of names she's heard of. Soon enough, "Oh, I know him! He's that crybaby tiger that always runs away when you try to play 'Danmaku' with him!"
"Cirno, that's not nice!" scolded Daiyousei, a frown on her face as she witnessed Cirno had burst into a bit of a giggling fit after remember who Toraichi was. "Toraichi's not a crybaby...he's just really sensative..."
"But that means your a crybaby though~!" Yeah...Cirno wasn't letting things off easy.
"Oh hush, you cry sometimes too!" Daiyousei chided, preping her self to strike where it hurt most for Cirno. Her pride. "Like that time you scraped your knee when we were playing hide and seek with those three fairies!" A quick glance downward to Cirno's left knee revealed a lasting testament to this very injury...which came in the form of a colorful bandaid, adorned with stars, curtosy of Marisa.
"I wasn't crying...dirt got in my eye!" Cirno protested, stubbornly trying to cover the fact that she cries too. In her book, those considered of higher power, do not cry...even when they scrape their knees and get boo-boos. "What about you, Dai-chan, you cried when that human put a worm down your dress!"
"That...that's different!" went Daiyousei, apparently finding her moment of tears to be slightly different than Cirno's. In a way, it really was given how Cirno's was more out of pain than hers was out of having something 'icky' crawl around in her underwear. "Worms are icky and gross, he shouldn't have put it down my dress!"
Even so, Cirno only saw this as one thing from Daiyousei, "Dai-chan's a cry baby~! Dai-chan's a crybaby~!"
"Alright you two..." Meiling finally spoke up, placing herself in between the fairies before a brawl broke out between them. Cirno and Daiyousei scraps were fairly uncommon given how they seemed to be such close friends but, it was disagreements like these that usually overrode how close friends they were and easily turned them against one another. Of course, being the kids that they were, the both of them were quick to resolve as soon as they forgot why they were fighting...or if a certain gatekeeper acted as referre to their fights and broke them up. Like now. "Can we focus on the task at hand first?"
"Oh sure, he shouldn't be hard to find." Cirno said, turning to the lake she and Daiyousei crossed to get her. "We usually see him hanging out near Mayohiga, when he's not with that gang of his anyway. If he's with them, there's no telling where he is..."
"Hm, that's another thing," Meiling spoke up, remembering the fact that the tiger was indeed affiliated with a larger group of cats. "Any of you know why he's with them? Last I checked he didn't really seem to like tagging along with them..."
"I'unno." Cirno shrugged, turning to Daiyousei who seemed to be just as knowledgable as her on the question.
"Hm, I see...well, if you can bring'em here, I'd be really grateful." That was somewhat stretching it but, she would still appreciate the gesture never the less. Cirno nodded, a confident smile on her youthful face as she lifts off the ground and flies off with Daiyousei following close behind. As the fairies flew farther and farther away from the gate Meiling could only wonder about one thing, "I wonder if they'll really bring back the right guy...?" Not that she didn't trust their judgement...given the one who was leading the charge, it was only natural that she questioned whether Cirno would be dependable enough to bring Toraichi to her.
Well...there was only one way to be certain and that would depend on time...
---
Just as Meiling relied on time to give her an answer to on if she could depend on Cirno to bring the tiger to her, time itself passed by without any concern for the gate guard and her questions. Soon enough, the sun was far off into the sky, the shade surrounding the gate of mansion growing larger as it paid indication to the setting sun and how late it was getting. Knowing just what time it was just by looking at her surroundings, Meiling let out a dejected sigh as she began to lose hope on what she had entrusted Cirno to a moment ago.
"Meiling!" Just as she was about to call it quits, the gatekeeper glanced up to see Cirno and Daiyousei returning to the mansion gates, although...with no sight of Toraichi tagging along like she had hoped.
"Oh, you couldn't find him?" Meiling asked to the fairies as they landed a little ways ahead of her, Cirno being the first to pick up on her half hearted question.
"Huh, oh..uhm, no he's coming." The ice fairy answered, turning back to the lack and pointing to a distinct ripple that seemed to be located around the shores of island of which the Scarlet Devil Mansion was located. Before long, the same tiger cub from yesterday could finally be seen approaching the gate, albeit in a very cautious manner. Although, just by looking at the water and Toraichi's soaked clothing, Meiling was able to deduce on what he had done as an alternative to reach the mansion...but, Cirno seemed to want to state the obvious anyhow, regardless of if Meiling was aware of it or not. "Toraichi doesn't like flying so...he swam here."
"Ah, I see...well, that works too, I guess." Meiling shrugged, before she knelt down to the tiger who flinched from her very precense and took a few steps away from her. The general reaction itself was nothing that surprised Meiling, given his nature and what she did to him the other day. Nevertheless, the gatekeeper pressed on with her task, "Anyways, hey Toraichi, how ya been? Everything going okay? Looks like that broken nose healed up pretty quick, huh?" The tiger nodded slowly but didn't give Meiling a verbal answer.
"Listen...I know I hurt you the other day and I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn't really mean to do it, it just happened by reflex..." Meiling told to the tiger cub, "I can't give you much but, I'm willing to give you something for yesterday...just so there's no hard feelings between us." Which was as nice a gesture Meiling could manage at this point. She couldn't give him much as she herself didn't have much of anything to give, but if it meant showing Toraichi that she was a good person, then so be it.
The tiger cub took a moment to think on these words, his silence remaining strong as he thought on what he might want. Soon enough, he gave Meiling his answer, "Well...could you...be my friend...?" He finally said to her, fidgeting with his striped tail as he glanced elsewhere. "I don't really have many friends...and...you seem really nice..." Normally, this wouldn't strike Meiling as odd...but since she had already witnessed Toraichi helping out gang of cats well...it sorta made his last statement a bit off...
"Eh? What about those kitties you were with the other day?" The gatekeeper asked, recalling how he seemed to listen to the leader of the bunch without much hesitation. Despite his overall cowardice. "Aren't they your friends?"
"Nuh-uh..." Toraichi replied, "...Well...I dunno, they don't really feel like friends...Leader only likes me because I beat up strong youkai for her..."
"Then why do you follow them if you don't see them as friends?" Meiling queried to the cub, "Is she forcing you to do it?" The tiger didn't answer her, and only seemed to sink back into the silence he came to her with before. "Toraichi, you don't have to listen to her if you don't want to. Someone who bullies you into doing something isn't someone you should be following around, especially if they're getting into trouble."
"If I don't, she'll yell at me..." Toraichi repeated, his voice replaying the very reason why he follows the Tsumineko-dan around and why he listens to the leader.
"Then you punch her in the nose." The gate guard suggested firmly, her words evoking a surprised gasp from the tiger who stared at her with a look that spoke volumes on how shocked he was by this. It wouldn't be farfetched to think that this was the very last thing on his mind, given his overall reaction. "You're your own tiger, Toraichi. I fought you myself, so I know you're strong enough to make your own path. You don't have to follow anyone elses just because they say so."
"But...but..."
"Listen, if anything goes wrong between you and them...then you come to me and I'll handle it." Meiling offered, giving the tiger yet another reason to lay his trust on her. At least, in case things go south for him. "If you want me to be you're friend then I'm willing to start by helping you out of this."
"See Toraichi, Meiling's good people!" Cirno quipped in, implying that Toraichi's opinion on her may not have been very favorable upon the two fairies finding him. "She helped me and Daiyousei when a youkai was bullying us that one time!"
"Yeah, let her help you Toraichi. Everything will be fine." Daiyousei agreed, setting forth to make yet another offer to him she was sure he would like. "We'll even be your friends and help out too, if you want."
"Wha? I don't wanna be friends with that crybaby-Ow!" Cirno would have finished had it not been for Daiyousei jabbing her in the rib. Fortunately, Toraichi didn't seem to hear as he looked to be in thought on what he wished to do...
"Well, what do you say?" Meiling asked, Toraichi glancing off at his side as he continued to fidget with his tail. Meiling was laying ready to remind him that she, Cirno and Daiyousei were all willing to become his friends and help but, she figured that point was already made a while ago.
"O-okay, I'll...I'll try." Toraichi eventually answered, dropping his tail and looking Meiling in the eye for the first time since he was brought to her. "Thank you...you're...you're really nice."
"Hmhm, no problem." Meiling chuckled, taking her hand and ruffling the cub's red hair. Meiling took a moment to gaze at the sky and noticed that the orange hue of the setting sun had spread far quicker than she had first imagined. Soon enough, it would be night time and the scarlet devil that resided in the mansion behind her would be up and about. "Now you all get going, it's almost night time and that's when the mansion behind me 'wakes up'."
"Alright, later Meiling!" Cirno waved as she and Daiyousei took to the air, gesturing Toraichi to follow. "C'mon Tora-chan, let's go!"
"A-alright, coming!" Toraichi called back running after the fairies as he set to take a plunge back into the lake as the fairies took to the air. However, before he left Meiling's field of vision he stopped half way down the path and turned back to the gatekeeper who looked to him with concern on what he might need. "Mei...Meiling...?" Toraichi began, having difficulty with what he wanted to say before a strong swallow managed to clear the way for his declaration. "One day, I want to be as strong as you."
"I'm sure you will be some day."
---
Even so, despite how well the meeting with Toraichi had went and how Meiling, Daiyousei and Cirno had offered him the friendship he had wanted, the days passed on without a single word or sight of the tiger cub. Cirno and Daiyousei returned to the side of Meiling...but not Toraichi, the cub's whereabouts unknown even to them. With it only having been several days that have passed her by, Meiling merely shrugged at time's unstoppable march and told herself that everything was okay. Toraichi seemed like the type to take a while to make a move, especially one that was as big as splintering off from a gang someone bullied you into and for a time...that seemed to be the reasonable cause...
And then, the days passing by transformed to a single month that passed, the time when spring got over it's shyness of the cold and now showed itself to nature full force. Lily White's uproarous callings had ceased with the end of the month, but the worry within Meiling's mind remained as strong and loud as ever. The gatekeeper had went about her days as she normally did, her concern for Toraichi seeming to weight far less than her duty as a guard to the mansion and, like all days, she found herself standing by the red walls of the mansion staring off at the path ahead looking not only for strangers...but Toraichi as well. "Maybe he managed to get away from that gang." Meiling thought aloud, a sigh escaping her lips as she realized that the tiger would have came to her with the news of what had happened.
Almost as if on cue, Meiling's ears picked up the sound of someone running toward her position, hotwired for any sort of odd sound, Meiling stiffed her form ready to meet whomever was charging to her... "Toraichi!?" However, she was not ready for the sight of someone she hasn't seen in over a half of a month. As happy as she was to see the tiger again, his outward appearance was something that generally overrode the happiness Meiling would have felt; Toraichi's clothing was torn, and ripped, scratch marks and dirty covering his skin giving rise to the fleeting suspicion that he was in a fight. "Toraichi what happened, you look like you just got out of a fight." Meiling asked to Toraichi who slowly walked to Meiling, his expression far more spooked than anything Meiling had seen of him before.
"I...I did what you said..." The tiger panted, his voice shaking with immense terror. "I...leader...hit her...I..." It didn't even take long before he collapsed into unintelligable gibberish, losing himself in a maelstrom of fear that refused to let him go. A maelstrom Meiling felt she could dispel from him...
"Calm down and talk to me." Meiling said softly to the tiger, taking his shoulders within his hands as she looked him dead in the eye. "What happened, what did you do?"
"I hit leader." Toraichi repeated, taking only a moment to remember how it all started. "I...I was trying to ask Chen if she wanted to go to the festivel with me today. I wanted to give her a present but didn't know what to give her so...I took a toy leader stole and gave it to Chen, but I didn't know it was leader's favorite toy and..." It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened next...
"She got mad and came after you."
Toraichi nodded, "Leader tried to bully Chen into giving her the toy back but...I...I hated seeing Chen bullied, so..."
"You hit the boss in the nose..." Meiling finished, "Just like I said..." Indeed, even though it took him a month to do anything and even if it wasn't in the same context on how they agreed to handle the problem, at least Meiling knew that he did it in protect someone else. The gatekeeper pulled herself up, her intuition telling her of what was to happen now that Toraichi was here. Just like in any gang, he had crossed the boss...and now he was on the chopping block to being cut from the team...and from the looks of it, in less than pleasent ways. Having given her friendship to Toraichi, there was one thing Meiling was willing to do now that she knew what was going to happen...
And she would not have to wait long, as the very one who was behind this ordeal made her way up to the gates of the mansion, carrying with her that same gang but a very different expression, one that was far more livid than it was filled with a misplaced arrogance. "So, this is where you've been hiding." Mayumi sneered, watching the one who hit her in the nose cower behind Meiling. "Outta the way balloon boobs! I gotta bone to pick with that scaredy cat, Toraichi."
"You've picked enough bones." Meiling said, remaining in front of the tiger, protecting him as she did with the mansion behind them. "Leave Toraichi alone and get out of here."
"No, he's gonna pay for giving away my favorite toy to some skank! No one touches my stuff!" Mayumi shouted, clearly not set to back down just because of Meiling's words...however serious they may have been to her. Not even bothering to summon Sun-Sun to her side like before, Mayumi called forth the endless wells of her anger toward Toraichi and utilized it to throw herself forward, claws drawn and ready to cut through the one guarding the source of her malevolence. She would have succeeded had it not been for the red haired barrier between her and Toraichi, the arm of Meiling slamming into Mayumi's chest as she glared to her glowering aqua eyes...
"I said...leave him alone." Meiling muttered to the kitten, swiftly placing her onto Mayumi's chest a rainbow like glow emanating from her arm and pulsing around her hand. As Mayumi looked to the enigmatic aura with horror she found herself being blown off her feet in a spectacular explosion of qi, her body careening back right into the crowd of kitties she came to the mansion with. The kittens yowled out to their leader who lay atop them, motionless for a good three or so minutes before she slowly arose once more and hand on her chest as she processed just how powerful that one simple attack from Meiling truly was. It was this that managed to help shed light on a grim factor that she had overlooked since she had met Meiling a month ago.
"You...you were holding back...that day..."
"But not anymore." Meiling warned to the kitten, the aura that sent her flying now returning to it's owner...only now enveloping her entire body in it's colorful brilliance. What would have came off as a splendid radiance...was an ominous warning to the one gazing upon it from a far. "Now you take your gang and leave these grounds at once. I'm not going to repeat myself." Meiling's voice thundered across the path and struck Mayumi right in the very spot Meiling had touched before, the kitten gasping deeply from the shock that jolted through her entire body as she scooted back to get away from the one who threatened her. The same gatekeeper she tried to sell short that day...was showing her true colors now...and it was those colors that had Mayumi ready to urinate all over herself. "Leave!" boomed Meiling, her energies flaring up in a burst of rainbow qi that burst from her form like a radiant wildfire, the display doing well in driving her point home and causing many of the cats to flee the scene at the first sight of her display.
Mayumi merely sat ahead of Meiling trembling before she caved to the newfound fear for Meiling and ran off behind her gang...but not before flipping the gatekeeper the bird as a final present for making her look bad in front of everyone else...
As the atmosphere slowly returned to it's calm state, the aura Meiling held disapated and she turned to the tiger that still stood behind her, cluthing the hem of her green chinese dress having never let go since he came. "They're gone, Toraichi." Meiling said to the tiger who opened his eyes and peered from behind her leg to see that she was indeed correct. There was not a single cat to be seen...
"Th-thank you..." Toraichi whispered, wrapping his arms around Meiling's waist. Just as she and the two fairies had said a month ago...Meiling had helped get him away from the person he couldn't get away from on his own. "I only wish I was brave enough to help you..."
"You were brave enough as is, you stick up for Chen, didn't you?" Meiling said to the tiger who seemed to remember his actions earlier on and looked away with a bashful blush. Of course, with the name 'Chen' there came the rememberance of what needed to be done with her...
"Ah, I have to go. I promised Chen I would meet her at the village gates." Toraichi pulled himself away from Meiling and rushed down the path before the incoming call of the gatekeeper halted him in his tracks. Turning on his heels, his face was met with a green vest that Meiling had threw toward him. Toraichi peeled the garment off his face and unfolded it, revealing it to be not just any green vest...but the one Meiling was wearing. Toraichi wasn't sure if he was fortunate that Meiling was wear a shirt underneath or not but what seemed to gain most of his curiosity was why she would give him...
"You can't go to the festival looking like that can you~?" Meiling mused to the tiger, doing well to shed light on why she had gave him her vest; as a replacement for his own tathered clothing. Toraichi looked to the vest and then back up to Meiling a joyful smile shining on his face, hardly able to believe that she was really giving him the very vest off her back. "Now, get going, it's bad practice to keep a woman waiting for you."
---
Days turned to months...months turned to years...years turned to centuries...Like always, time remained at constant motion, an ever flowing river that refuses to stop nor change course for anyone or anything...
Like always, Meiling remained where she stood at the mansion watching for strangers and the many things that would come near these gates to the aging mansion. As she watched from her post at the gate...she laid witness to the growth of her friend, Toraichi. Indeed, in the many years that have passed, she had watched as he became a young man, she had watched as he came to her with nervousness on how to handle a marriage proposal to the one he had taken to the spring festival all those years ago, and she had watched as he came to her with joyous news of his coming children by the union with his beloved, soon coming to bring these very children to her to show them what a wonderful friend he had made right at these gates to the mansion of the devil...
And just as time had remained a constant, so had the green vest that Meiling had given Toraich when he was just a cub. The ever present vest that he had worn during his youth and would come to pass down to his oldest daughter, had become a symbol of their timeless friendship and a remainder that even though so much had changed in the years since they had met...their relationship would remain forever more...
