[Drabbles, Touhou] ReiMari Drabbles

Series: Touhou

Length: 10 x 100 words

Genre: Romance(?)/Slice of Life

B/D: I really enjoy Touhou, and my favourite pairing is ReiMari, so I wanted to do something for them eventually even if it was only a drabble collection. I'm still not used to the characters, but I feel good about this set.

1. Hesitation

She stands, broom slung over her shoulder, blonde hair escaping from her hat and running in rivers and tributaries to the small of her back. Framed in the doorway, it seems as though the night is swallowing her whole, as if she belonged to the moonlit sky and now it is stealing her back. And in Reimu’s throat the words compete, and jostle for position

Dinner was good today

You don’t have to leave

“See you tomorrow.”

and it is over; the witch steps quietly outside the boundary, and into the realm of stars.

The shrine falls empty, once again.

2. Orbit

There is a stiffness to the way they move, the way they greet each other. An arm’s length apart, at the least, when before they were as close as fingertips. To be further away would be painful; to be closer would be terrifying. So they dance around themselves, and match each other, step for step, without a word – the priestess with her gohei, the magician with her broom.

It cannot last. Their orbit is unsteady; what is stiff is brittle, whether a promise or a smile. It will one day break – and by degrees will fall a gently shooting star.

3. Morning

An aching head, a musty tongue. It was a party for youkai, too much booze and not enough food; even now, she can hear some of them chattering in the halls of her shrine,. She cannot be the genial hostess right now; her heart and body will not allow it.

“Hey, hey. Simmer down. You’ll wake her, and she’ll be pissed, you know? Here, here. Have another drink.”

Marisa’s voice. Cheerful, sociable. A perfect substitute for a hungover miko. Reimu turns over, sighs deeply into her pillow, and lets sleep carry her away.

And so begins another day in Paradise.

4. Disease

“You’re so frail, you idiot! Get in bed!”

When Marisa Kirisame is sick, all Gensokyo seems to know about it – not least because she insists on spreading it around. There are few illnesses hardy enough to jump from human to youkai, excepting sickness of the heart, but it’s a fine excuse to keep Kirisame in bed.

There forms a line of youkai outside of her cottage – to express their condolences, recover a few stolen valuables, and, most importantly, watch Reimu Hakurei put her sick friend in a headlock every time she gets up.

In Gensokyo, good entertainment comes for free.

5. Gadfly

Her eyes are lit with passion as she gestures with her chopsticks; her arguments are meaningless and petty. You took the best meat from the hotpot! I just raked those leaves! What do you mean, my tea is too hot? Marisa smiles as she listens, a happy coracle buoyed by waves of sound. She sees Reimu’s enthusiasm, her sudden descent from the peaks of ambivalence, and feels she has conjured forth red blood from a pure white stone.

She says her prayers to the household gods. For these petty, banal things may well be the only ones Reimu cares about.

6. Flipside

Her eyes are lit with passion as she gestures with her chopsticks; over at Marisa’s face, back to her own chest. Look at me, you idiot. Aren’t you the one who always charges straight ahead, no matter what? So face me head on!

Where is the steel in her eye, the fire in her belly? Where is that little spark of talent she feeds so obsessively? Instead the witch sits there, smiling. As if she’s content with how things are. As if she could be.

Reimu sets down her chopsticks reluctantly, and wonders how to tackle this worrying new incident.

7. Relaxing

A warm day on the shrine’s veranda. Far away a field of sunflowers turns their faces skyward, and lilies bow their heads in the forests. A white-black witch discards her hat and lays down to press her forehead against the sun-warmed slats. She spread out like a starfish on an ocean rock, and doesn’t move when she hears footsteps on the boards. The red-white miko flops down on top of her without hesitation.

“Hey. Get offa me.”

“Nope.”

The matter is closed; the sun wanders the sky. When night comes they awake, with tan lines where their hands have overlapped.

8. Finery

The peonies are in bloom. She smells like fresh grass and blossoms, streaks of mud above the corners of her smile and crinkles in her barley-coloured hair. Her winter robes are stored away, and instead she wears her black skirt, a man’s shirt, a crone’s cape. (She will let nobody forget she is a witch.) Under her arm, wriggling like a landed fish, is an ice fairy.

“Hey, Reimu. Brought us an ice pack, y’know?”

The miko, still dressed in the trappings of her shrine, manages a smile and a joke. “I’ve never liked you more than I do now.”

9. Persistance

Lamplight falls in the courtyard of the Hakurei Shrine; the two walk alone in the remains of summer’s heat. A shiver runs through Reimu’s bare shoulders. The nights are growing longer, colder.

Around Marisa’s neck is a scarf long enough for two – an invitation she has yet to extend. Her fingers open as she gathers her courage, close as if to catch it as it slips through her fingers. She turns away with reddened cheeks.

When she leaves, Reimu waves her off with a smile. No doubt she’ll try again tomorrow. She has time. Their winter is yet to arrive.

10. Recurrence

Danmaku fireworks explode in the night sky to celebrate the birth of a new year. The miko has retired early, perhaps to enjoy the year’s first dream in the land of fantasy, and perhaps because the sake has been fine and strong. Marisa, a little drunk, gently puts her hat over her friend’s face to protect her from the light. Only when she hears the quiet snoring does she speak, as if to herself.

“Thanks for the last year. And thank you in advance for this one.”

“You're welcome,” Reimu says, sitting up. “But the hat looks better on you.”

A/N: I feel like the last few of these came out really very well. I was trying something a little different for them, and whoever can guess what it was can have some bonus VulpBucks(tm). Hopefully this won't be the last ReiMari thing I do, or the last Touhou thing, but for now I should probably go back to OJ.