An imperishable night, lit by an illusionary moon. To humans, the late evening had appeared balmy and bright, the perfect festival eve that was best spent going to bed early. Some of the youkai knew differently, at least those who studied the sky and saw the missing sliver of the moon, or else caught sight or sound of the chases and battles raging in the night.
siKagerou Imaizumi did not need any of the clues to know the truth. She halted in the middle of a bamboo thicket to roll up her sleeve and check the hairs on her arm, then looked up at the moon. Even knowing it was all a lie, knowing the eternal night would somehow come to an end, she wished she could keep running in it forever.
Wakasagihime, in turn, had not noticed anything strange about the night. She floated on her back in the waters of Misty Lake, basking in the false moonlight and enjoying the lingering warmth of the season. If she felt out of sorts, she accounted it to loneliness, acute as it often was during nights of the full moon. She thought nothing more of it.
That was until the night sky fell apart like a pane of glass sliced in half. From behind it emerged the true full moon, the brightest Wakasagihime had ever seen. As she rose to greet it, she noticed distant flying figures and fireworks of danmaku blazing across the night in the direction of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. She looked on with curiosity, wondering if Kagerou, who no doubt roamed the forest at that very moment, knew more of what was going on and could supply her with the details the next time they met.
As she thought this, the struggle moved closer towards her and the lake, painting the black night in myriad colours. Eventually, they drifted so near she began to make out the participants.
There were three figures in the air. One was human, but Wakasagihime forgot both her and her companion as soon as she caught sight of their opponent. An opponent with long, lustrous hair, seemingly weightless in the air. With skin so fine it shimmered in the moonlight, painting pale shadows in the night as she floated effortlessly forward, as though the air itself couldn't resist helping her any way it could. With a face that was delicate but carried both determination and strange joy upon it with ease. And...
The cacophony of danmaku drowned out the sound of the rippling water as Wakasagihime swam as close as she could, close enough to risk a stray bullet striking her.
That didn't happen. Instead, the woman glanced down at her.
It was the briefest of looks, so sudden Wakasagihime would have suspected it was merely a dream between blinks if not for the woman's smile. That was still visible as she turned her attention back to the battle, a soft crescent illuminated by a barrage of blue bullets...
Soon all three of them were gone, leaving behind only the moon, after-images of rainbow colours, and a memory of heart-stopping beauty.
"Yes, I really think it stopped for a beat."
"Really?" Kagerou examined her fingernails, trying to look at once interested and uninterested, ignoring the way her own heart had begun to thump.
"Oh, yes. It was so exciting." Wakasagihime lay her head down on her arms, which were in turn resting on the shore of Misty Lake, her curls falling upon her sleeves. "As much as I prefer to lead a peaceful life, I'm glad I saw the battle. And that I saw her, in particular. She must be the most beautiful woman to have ever lived."
Kagerou crouched further into the shade of the nearest tree, feeling as rotten as the leaves surrounding her. "Princess Kaguya, was it?"
"That's what Sekibanki told me. I wish you had been here to see her, as well."
"Maybe I will at some point. It seems like she lives in the forest."
Today, Wakasagihime smelled of water lilies. Water lily, Kagerou had deciphered, usually meant either a heightened mood or extreme drowsiness. And while Wakasagihime did look like she hadn't gotten much sleep lately, Kagerou guessed it was the other thing. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she didn't really care to talk about Princess Kaguya at all.
Wakasagihime obviously disagreed. "I hope you do. Everyone should see her." She sighed. "She has wonderful hair."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really. I've always felt there's something magical about long dark hair."
Kagerou just barely resisted the urge to capture one of her own locks and hold it before her eyes to guess whether it was dark enough for Wakasagihime's preferences.
Wakasagihime closed her eyes and turned to rest her head against the crook of her arm, looking as she might be asleep and witnessing a pleasant dream. "Besides that, her skin was so smooth I'm certain it reflected starlight."
Kagerou couldn't keep herself from scratching her arms through her sleeves.
"And her smile... I don't think I even have the words for it. It was..." Wakasagihime opened her eyes. "I'm sorry. I must be boring you."
"You're not."
"Is something bothering you? I'd be happy to lend you an ear." More alert again, Wakasagihime lifted herself from the ground and placed a hand behind one of her fin-shaped ears as if expecting Kagerou to whisper a secret in it.
Kagerou couldn't help but smile. Even when she was inadvertently breaking her heart, Wakasagihime could be so sweet. "I'm fine. Really."
"Perhaps we should do something else. A pair of crested shelducks have made their nest on an islet that can't be seen from the shores. Would you like to swim over to see them?"
Kagerou hastened to her feet. "Some other time. I really need to go hunt for food."
"Of course. Until next time." Wakasagihime hadn't moved, but she looked subdued, like a summer flower that had only just begun to wilt. It was a relief when she perked up again. "Happy hunting."
Kagerou smiled back and made a show of leaving as casually as possible. She even made sure to howl at the rising moon once she was beyond sight of the lake.
The cry didn't ring hollow. Not even a little.
Even the other residents of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost sometimes struggled to find Eientei. More than once, especially after a drink or two, Kagerou had gleefully admitted how after making the forest her main haunt, it had still taken her almost a year to accidentally stumble across the estate.
Now she could find her way to it just fine, however. She crept along the narrow paths between bamboo stalks to the clearing, not particularly caring if she was seen. A lone rabbit she could spook away with just a flash of her claws, and a gang of them was just as likely to scurry off as it was to attempt to prank her. In any case, she wasn't here to cause trouble. She was just making sure of something, and if someone had a problem with that, she had her spell cards on the ready.
She found a cosy spot with a good view of the back garden of Eientei and settled down to wait, listening to the droning of autumn insects and the distant murmurs of rabbits going about their business. Although it was still a while until the next full moon, her arms kept itching. She kept absent-mindedly scratching at them with full knowledge it would only add irritation to injury.
She had to wait for a long time. Once, a tall rabbit with a bounty of lilac hair — Reisen, Kagerou believed — stepped onto the porch, calling for Tewi. Following her departure, it wasn't until a thin rim of sunlight appeared in the horizon to gild the bamboo that the door once again slid open.
Kagerou, who had been dozing off out of sheer boredom, stirred. She half anticipated another rabbit, or even the famous pharmacist. But, no. The gods of fortune had decided to smile upon her.
Or perhaps they had abandoned her completely. Watching Kaguya tilt her head upright to admire the milky skies and burnished gold of the morning, Kagerou took in every inch of her peerless beauty.
She couldn't put her claw on exactly what it was that made Kaguya so extraordinary. Everything about Wakasagihime's description had been accurate, even the seemingly glowing skin, but there was something else about her, some intangible quality that couldn't be put into words and which made it almost impossible to look away from her without a conscious effort. It was a level beyond supernatural. It was...
Kagerou felt herself shrinking. One thing was obvious: if someone received a smile from Kaguya, no matter how transient, they weren't likely to find themselves enamoured with someone else for at least another century.
It was at the exact moment this thought flashed across Kagerou's mind that Kaguya frowned. Her gaze fell, searching the bamboo, then finally settled on Kagerou's hiding place.
Kagerou squeezed her eyes shut. She slunk away, relying on touch and smell to carry her safely to a distance where she could run. Soon enough she was loping through the brightening forest, followed by the sensation of unfairly captivating eyes staring at her back.
"You're doing it again."
Kagerou jerked her head upwards to where it had sunken to her knees. Sekibanki was no longer looking at her: she stood against the pine they had settled by for their meeting with her arms folded before her, frowning at the setting sun. "Doing what?"
"Dozing off in the middle of a sentence."
"I was trying to remember something else to report."
"Was it important? I need to get back to the village soon." Sekibanki tugged her collar more firmly in place and glanced downhill. "My neighbours are far too interested in sticking their noses into my business as is."
Kagerou wondered about the trials of a youkai masquerading as a human, and the reasons why a youkai might wish to face them anyway. Sekibanki wouldn't explain her purposes for living in the village even when Kagerou asked about it, only sighed and pointed out how useful it was for the network. In any case, Kagerou's thoughts soon returned to the same problem she had been puzzling over for the past several weeks, which now kept her from remembering what else she had meant to tell Sekibanki. "Sorry. It's completely slipped my mind."
"It can't have been that important if you can't remember it at all."
"True." As Kagerou saw Sekibanki straighten up, all set to leave, she hastened to speak again. "Actually, there's one more thing. I need your advice."
Sekibanki halted and observed her in silence.
Kagerou pulled herself together. All the howling and running and spell card duels in the world hadn't been able to dispel the bilious thoughts seeing Kaguya had stirred in her. Nor did she think she could face Wakasagihime before she had come to a decision about what to do next. She had to talk to someone, and Sekibanki was both reliable and unlikely to mock her behind her back. If she was going to insult her, she'd do it to her face.
"It's about my love life," she finally said.
Sekibanki didn't so much as raise an eyebrow. It was as encouraging a sign as any.
"You see, there's someone I really like."
"No kidding."
"The thing is, she's in love with someone who's so dazzling I could never compete. I don't know what to do. Do you have any idea—"
Kagerou halted her question as Sekibanki gave a long, weary sigh. The look she gave Kagerou was equally tired. "I can give you some advice right away."
"Really?"
"You're both idiots. You're the bigger fool right now, but Wakasagihime has been really stupid about this over the years as well."
"Oh. Er." Kagerou's face felt far too warm. Sekibanki had brought up Wakasagihime like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Did that mean...
"If there's someone else she likes, I haven't heard a word about it. All she talks about is you."
"What?"
"Especially lately. When I last saw her, she kept circling back to why you haven't shown up at the lake for so long. She thinks she's offended you somehow. Got in the way of business, really."
The bottom fell off Kagerou's stomach. "She did nothing wrong." Certainly not on purpose. Even if her words had hurt, Kagerou didn't want to live in a world where Wakasagihime felt like she couldn't tell her things.
"Tell her that, then. The way I see it, you have three options. If you really think she's mooning over someone else, you can decide to step out of the way. Maybe even help her out."
Kagerou considered the choice just long enough to feel stabbed.
"The second option is you go over to her and be direct about your feelings."
"What's the third one?"
"You can keep moping and not confess to her until the world is about to end in a week."
Kagerou wrapped her arms around her legs and swallowed the wave of sorrow that washed through her. "I see your point."
Sekibanki took a few steps downhill, then looked up at the dusk. "It's going to be another full moon soon."
"That's right." Already, Kagerou's skin felt like sandpaper.
"You should act quickly, then." Sekibanki waved without looking back as she began her descent in earnest. "Take care."
Not long after Sekibanki vanished, a gentle rain began to fall, bending the thin stalks of grass surrounding Kagerou with its watery weight. She looked at them for a moment before standing up and running towards the nearest forest, ignoring as best she could the way the moisture made her sleeves cling to her arms.
The trilling calls of a scops owl trailed after Kagerou as she ran down the well-trampled footpath towards Misty Lake. The sky had cleared out, and the stars had shown up in stupendous numbers even for Gensokyo. Looking up, she could discern vast celestial waterways made entirely out of light.
She ignored them and kept moving. Tonight, she was chasing a different kind of star.
The lake was serene and less enshrouded in mist than it was on the average night: Kagerou could almost make out the nearest rock sticking from the water. She sat on a tree stump hidden amidst the reeds to wait. It had just occurred to her that since she had been gone for a while, it was entirely possible that Wakasagihime had given up on her and wouldn't show up at their agreed-upon bay that night when a shadow emerged from the depths.
Wakasagihime broke the surface in near silence: even the spray of water barely made a sound as the droplets fell back into the lake. She swam closer, her smile dimming and growing shier as she approached the shore. Finally, she stopped, watching Kagerou with a furrowed brow. "Welcome back."
Kagerou attempted to wrangle her own mouth into a smile. "Sorry I haven't been here sooner. I had some thinking to do."
"I thought you might have been hurt. There have been strange rumours going about."
"It's nothing like that." Kagerou steeled herself. "There's something I need to tell you."
She drew a deep breath as Wakasagihime waited politely for her to continue. Be direct. Easy enough for Sekibanki to say. She had never mistaken Wakasagihime for prey and utterly spooked the mermaid. Probably. Not that even that would have kept Sekibanki from voicing her opinions, since she never seemed to care what others thought of her.
Finally, she met Wakasagihime's eyes. She would have try to be more like Sekibanki. She too was a youkai, not some quailing human who was afraid of speaking their mind.
"I love you."
Utter silence fell. Even the reeds stopped quivering in the wind. Wakasagihime's scent changed, even if the sharp impression of lotus told Kagerou little more than that she was surprised. "...Oh."
"I won't say I liked you from the moment I saw you." Technically, she had, but even alluding to that meeting was probably not the smartest move. "But ever since I've actually gotten to know you, I've thought you're the gentlest, sweetest and most beautiful person I've ever met. I want to spend as much time by your side as much as possible."
Wakasagihime said nothing. At least she hadn't turned tail and dived into hiding.
Kagerou's hand had already ghosted to the edge of her sleeve. She swallowed. "But before I say anything more about that, there's something else I should tell you. I—"
With a sudden jerk, her fingers sank into fabric. They refused to budge, let alone to peel away the sleeve. No matter how many decades she had spent telling herself it wasn't as big a deal as she felt like it was, she had to let Wakasagihime know now. The only thing that would be worse than seeing and smelling her revulsion now would be to face it later after it was already too late. She had bared her heart. Was baring the truth about her body really that different?
The fabric bunched up between her knuckles as she gripped it hard enough that a single twist would've torn it clean off. She couldn't do it.
Wakasagihime observed Kagerou's struggle with seeming calmness, but the scent of confusion and uncertainty mingled with that of lake water and reeds. Finally, when Kagerou let go of her sleeve in disgust, she looked aside.
Kagerou suppressed a growl, knowing it would only make the deep silence which had descended upon them even more oppressive. She was spared from having to think of something else to say when Wakasagihime finally spoke up.
"About what you said earlier..." She wasn't quite meet Kagerou's eyes. "Would you mind if I thought about my response for a while?"
"Oh. No. Go ahead."
"As in... perhaps I could give you my response the next time we meet?"
Kagerou's vision dimmed. "Of course."
"Thank you." This time, Wakasagihime's words were accompanied by an uncertain smile. No doubt she meant it to protect Kagerou's feelings. It didn't.
Before she could think twice of it, Kagerou had already turned her back. She had heard the words for what they were. A very polite, kind-hearted way of saying no. "If it's easier, you can forget about what I said. I'll come back with a new report after the full moon."
She took off at once. After all, what reason was there to linger? More borrowed kindness? Even more failure?
Wakasagihime may have called after her. Not with a shout: against the rising wind, it sounded like a whisper. Perhaps Kagerou only imagined it in the first place.
In any case, she kept running until all she could see was the moon.
Another day had passed. Once again, Misty Lake bathed in the silver light of a waxing moon just one sliver short of being full. It hurt Wakasagihime's heart to think she had almost come to detest the sight.
She floated aimlessly in the bay, watching the dark waves lapping over her tail. Daytime fairies had long since retreated to slumber, and the fairies of night-time had chosen to frolic elsewhere. Even the echoes from underwater seemed muted.
In other words, she was alone. Which was nothing new. It was arguably the most natural way for a youkai to be.
"Tell her how you feel."
"I can't."
"In that case you're stuck waiting for who knows how many decades for Kagerou to finally spit it out. Worse, I'm stuck having to witness it."
She startled upright and watched the ripples vanish into the gloom of the shore.
She wasn't bound to the lake. Straying too far from it made things highly inconvenient, but it could be done. There were no chains around her wrists mooring her to the waters. There were no invisible barriers in the air penning her in.
Then why was it that she couldn't bring herself to leave?
She had come to expect solitude. She rarely dared to dream of anything else, knowing just how long the stretches between visitors could become in her small world of water and mist.
"I love you."
Wakasagihime ducked her head underwater. The waves washing overhead did nothing to clear her thoughts, but they did distort the moonlight.
If she comes back, I'll be honest with her.
If she comes back.
She remained where she was, slowly sinking further. At least as long as she remained submerged, she couldn't tell the water of the lake from her tears.
Moonlight approached, and Kagerou ran.
She propelled herself forward through narrow paths that hadn't been there the week before, ignoring all scents but those guiding her away from dead ends in the maze of bamboo. It didn't matter where she went. As long as she kept running, she wouldn't have to think about Wakasagihime lounging in the shallow part of the lake, crowned with glistening droplets clinging to her hair, staring at the moon with luminous, wistful eyes...
She picked up speed.
It wasn't as if things were utterly hopeless. The friendship between them could still survive, provided Kagerou stopped being a little whelp about the situation and returned to apologise. It would be awkward, maybe more awkward than either of them could bear, but she shouldn't give up on the idea before she had at least thought it over.
That was enough mulling things over for now. It was time to drown her thoughts in the wind rushing in her ears, the familiar shadows of bamboo, and the scent of...
Kagerou slowed down. She found herself at the edge of an unnaturally circular clearing with unobstructed view of the velvet blue sky. She only really saw the view for an instant before her attention latched onto the figure at the centre of the clearing.
Princess Kaguya lowered her eyes from the skies and tilted her head to the side. Her flawlessly kempt midnight hair fell in a graceful waterfall down her back, contrasting with the almost eerie glow of equally perfect skin. Her, faint, absent smile, so obviously careless and all the more stunning for it, made Kagerou's heart pound even as she grit her teeth.
Kagerou hovered where her momentum had left her, feeling like someone had just punched the air out of her. Without meaning to, she found herself snarling.
"Have you come to challenge me?" Kaguya looked Kagerou up and down, the distant smile turning distinctly sarcastic. "You're not the one who I expected to confront tonight, but I will accept."
Kagerou forced her lips back over her teeth as her hands fell slack against her sides. Perhaps fate had carried her to this clearing for the opportunity to tear into the author of her heartache. The thing was, she didn't feel like fighting. Kaguya smelled both alien and alarming: there was an aura of prodigious strength and almost menace to her bearing. The picture Kagerou had of the outcome of their match was herself sprawled in the dirt, unable to flee mocking eyes and the light of the full moon as she transformed, feeling even sorrier for herself than she already did.
Another night, then. She would come back prepared with a stack of spell cards expressly designed for trouncing Kaguya. For now, glaring would have to do. "You're the last person I wanted to run into tonight."
"Oh." Was that real surprise on Kaguya's face? It quickly morphed into amusement. "You're not the first enemy I have made without exchanging a single word with them, but it happens rarely these days. How have I wounded you without knowing it?"
Kagerou stared. She had definitely imagined the look of sorrow that had flitted across Kaguya's eyes: the chief recognisable emotion in her scent was that of idle curiosity. Still, she didn't appear to be making fun of her, exactly. "You stole something from me."
"Your heart, perhaps?"
Kagerou brandished her claws. "Absolutely not!"
"I see." Kaguya returned her attention to the night sky. "A heart that was sworn to you, then."
"...That's right."
"It happens. I wouldn't mind returning it, but..." Kaguya shrugged. "Well. It's out of my hands."
"...It wasn't in my hands, either." Kagerou looked aside, unsure why she was admitting it. Perhaps because it felt like shedding the fur on her heart. "Even if you took someone's heart, it wasn't really mine to begin with. I don't think it ever could have been, really."
"That sounds like a thorny situation."
"What do you care?"
Kagerou had snapped more violently than she had intended to, but Kaguya was unruffled. She merely levelled her gaze at Kagerou and shrugged. "I'm bored and have little else to do as I wait. And besides..." She smiled suddenly, stealing Kagerou's breath away before she could think to hate it. "We're practically neighbours. It's more interesting to watch your comings and goings if I know more about you."
Kagerou shook her head to rid herself of the lingering awe. The strange thing was, Kaguya seemed both sincere and, while not exactly nice, at least relatively friendly. In fact, Kagerou found herself disliking her less than she had expected. The more salient parts of her scent were almost... trustworthy.
She shook her head, irritated both by the thought and the swelling of hair rising up her arms. "It's none of your business."
"You're right." Kaguya second smile was just as dazzling as the first. "It's not."
"I can't even trust you won't sell what I tell to a Tengu newspaper."
"...The journalists may not have standards, but I do. Besides, this is a private conversation."
Neither of them budged. Finally, Kaguya returned to observing the rising stars with a sense of calm Kagerou deeply envied. It had been so long since she had enjoyed proper peace of mind.
At first, she almost didn't realise she was speaking again. "I suppose you're more than familiar with receiving love confessions."
"You could say that, of course." Kaguya kept her eyes on the stars. "How many of those confessions stemmed from something other than infatuation with my appearance or a desire to possess me? Not quite so many, perhaps."
Kagerou blinked. She hadn't even considered that. "Have you ever told someone you'd answer them later?"
"Funny. All this time, I was under the assumption you were at the receiving end of the confession and not the other way around."
"That's not an answer. Have you done that?"
"I may have, yes."
"And did you accept their feelings later?"
Kagerou received nothing but silence and dwindling sunlight as an answer.
She looked aside. "That settles it."
"It doesn't." Kaguya's newest smile was fainter and tilted ever so slightly to the left. Kagerou found herself liking it more than the others, even if its imperfection only served to make it paradoxically more perfect. "After all, it wasn't me you confessed to. Your intended could have a completely different reason to ask for time."
"She's beautiful too, though. She must have had so many..." Kagerou fell silent as she began to think. Yes, Wakasagihime had made a few intimations of what Kagerou had interpreted as past romances, but none which had sounded even remotely recent. "At least, people would be insane not to have... And she wouldn't..."
Her voice petered out as Kaguya turned her alien smile towards her.
Kagerou shook her head. "This is stupid. I mean, Sekibanki's usually right, and she told me... I mean, how am I supposed to know how she feels if I don't hear her out?"
"Rather."
"Fine. I've decided. Tomorrow night, I'll go back and hear her out, and whatever she says..." She suddenly felt Kaguya's eyes on her and turned to frown. "What?"
"If I were you, I wouldn't wait until tomorrow." The playfulness Kagerou had come to expect of Kaguya was still there, but it was coupled with seriousness that had been absent for the entirety of the conversation thus far. "Go while there is still moonlight." The aching beauty of her smile returned. "What's the worst that can happen?"
Kagerou stood still, feeling hairier than she ever had before and smelling the scent of her own fear. After a long pause, she finally nodded. "Maybe I will."
She backed away and was already about to return to the thicket when she paused and turned. Kaguya hadn't moved or so much as changed her expression. Someone certainly was in no rush. Alone at the heart of the clearing, she suddenly seemed awfully lonely.
The word felt alien in her mouth when addressed to Kaguya, but Kagerou said it anyway. "Thanks."
Kaguya simply smiled. "Good luck to both of us tonight."
The cool air washing across Kagerou as she approached Misty Lake only accentuated her raw nerves. She hated being anywhere where she might be seen on nights of a full moon, and even as she skulked through long shadows, she was convinced every single hair on her body shone starkly through her clothes.
She all but collapsed on the shore, bone-weary from fear. She let her weight sink into the night-sodden grass as her transformation resolved itself. Perhaps Wakasagihime wouldn't show up at all, and Kagerou could simply sleep there amidst the mud and reeds to make up for her fretful day.
"Kagerou."
Suddenly as awake as she had ever been, Kagerou jerked her head up.
Wakasagihime's hair was almost the colour of midnight as she swam towards her through strips of reflected moonlight. Kagerou saw neither reproach nor surprise on her face: her tone and scent spoke only of uncertainty.
Kagerou stood up straight, fearing sudden movement might scare Wakasagihime away. It didn't seem absurd in the moment: as the mermaid halted some feet away from dry land and the water around her settled, the stillness that fell upon a lake made her resemble a glass painting, one that would shatter if handled violently.
She would have to disrupt the silence to get anywhere, however. "Sorry about the other day."
"That's all right. I'm the one who should apologise."
"You didn't do anything wrong."
"I feel as though I did. The thing is, you surprised me. I wasn't entirely certain I wasn't dreaming. Besides, I had to think just how I would word my response."
"Before you say anything else..." Kagerou held out her hand for silence and received it. "There's still something I need to show you."
She brought her hand back to her sleeve. As before, the fabric suddenly weighed as though it was made of stone. Finally, she admitted defeat and drew a deep breath.
"I'm hairy," she finally bit out. "Really, really hairy, even for a werewolf. It's all over my arms and legs and everywhere on my body. It's much worse during the full moon, but it never goes away for good."
That was it, then. It was out in the open. Now all she had to do was turn her gaze on Wakasagihime and see the repulsion—
The air didn't smell like repulsion. Puzzled, Kagerou looked at Wakasagihime and saw she was still listening, as though Kagerou had only finished reciting the opening stanzas of a long tale.
"Er..." Kagerou very nearly scratched a particularly persistent itch on her arm and just barely stopped herself. "That about sums it up."
Wakasagihime closed her eyes. When she spoke, her voice was as smooth and even as the lake's surface. "I hope this doesn't sound callous, but I already knew."
"Oh." Kagerou blinked. "Wait, what?"
"I guess it would be more accurate to say that I assumed as much. I mean, you are a werewolf. And... well, now that I'm beginning to understand exactly how much it bothers you, I would rather not say the rest."
"Say it."
"Well... sometimes when you raise your arm when you talk, your sleeve slips downwards."
Kagerou pinched the bridge of her nose. Of course.
"I suspected it wasn't something you enjoyed discussing and that perhaps it was why you always wear such covering clothes. But I'm afraid I didn't give it much further thought."
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologising?"
"I should have told you sooner." That was a truth, but it wasn't the truth. The itching was growing more unbearable by the moment. "And... I'm sorry I'm like this."
"You are sorry... for your hairs?"
"For their ugliness, anyway."
"...Tell me. Do you think my fins and scales are ugly?"
"No!" Kagerou was startled by her own vehemence and lowered her voice. "Of course not."
"I'm glad, because they are a part of me. In the same vein, your hairiness doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm sorry that it troubles you so much, however."
Kagerou nodded, more out of habit than because she agreed. She wanted to believe in what Wakasagihime said — and did, on some level — but she just felt so heavy.
Wakasagihime nodded back. The clouds had shifted, fully bathing her in the light of the full moon, bestowing glitter upon her hair and fins. Perhaps it wasn't a universal truth, but to Kagerou, she was in that moment the most beautiful person in the entire world.
When she finally spoke, she was so quiet her words barely dented the silence. "Is this why you have never agreed to come swim with me?"
"That's right." It had always been the most pressing reason, certainly.
"I think I understand. Even so..." Wakasagihime's smile wavered like a wave. "Is there any chance you might join me in the lake tonight?"
For a long time, Kagerou couldn't move, shackled in place both by her own weight and Wakasagihime's eyes. Finally, with barely a conscious thought, she brought her hand to her throat and undid the brooch holding her shawl in place.
Wakasagihime settled down to wait, saying nothing as Kagerou took minutes to shrug off the the shawl. As Kagerou's hands moved at a glacial speed to the front of her tunic, she began to speak.
"When we first came to know each other, I was dazzled by you. A little bit afraid, too, even though I knew you hadn't attacked me on purpose."
Kagerou fussed with her tunic. The key turned out to be to leave the accursed sleeves alone and to simply pull the tunic over her head without looking. Even so, she moved slowly, dragging the garment upwards half an inch at a time.
"In truth, I have had a crush on you since almost the beginning. You were so dashing and wild, but so calm and thoughtful that I quickly learnt I didn't have to fear you. Once, I thought I would ask you about your views on romance, only I never dared to. So I put the thought away and contented myself with how pleased it made me to see you each time."
The tunic fell discarded into the reeds. Kagerou lingered in the shadows as she began to slip out of her skirt.
"As time went on, I began to see more sides to you. I understood you had fears and insecurities of your own, and I did sometimes wonder if you might like me too, just a little. But I promise I didn't realise I was being monstrously unfair to you by discussing my feelings for others with you."
Kagerou looked up, just for a moment. It had happened exactly once, so she had to mean... "Kaguya?"
"I never expected to even see her again, so praising her felt to me more like discussing a character in a fairy tale. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I could have told you it bothered me." Kagerou would, from now on. There had been enough painful omissions between them lately to last a century.
"Even so." Wakasagihime lowered her gaze. "I had become so accustomed to thinking of you as a friend and an ally that I had almost convinced myself I felt nothing else. That's why I couldn't believe you were actually confessing your feelings to me. After all this time... I thought you might simply been pitying me."
Kagerou hands halted as she turned to stare at her.
"Your expression tells me that was a very self-absorbed thought." Wakasagihime shook her head. Her smile was self-deprecating, but there was a glint in her eyes that seemed unrelated to the reflection of the moon. "In any case, the more I thought about it, the more I believed I owed you the truth of my feelings. That I love you."
The skirt joined the tunic on the ground. Kagerou rose up to face the moonlight. Try as she might, she couldn't look at herself.
She could, however, look at Wakasagihime. The mermaid hadn't darted away in horror at the sight before her. In fact, as their eyes met, she gave Kagerou an encouraging little nod.
At great length, Kagerou brought her arm in level with her eyes. For the first time in years, she really took in reddish-brown fur, dark in the night, covering every inch of her from wrist to shoulder. If anything, the hairs were even longer than she had remembered.
She took in a deep breath and lowered her arm. "Well. This is me."
"It is." The moonlight danced in Wakasagihime's eyes. "I'm glad you're here, Kagerou."
"Aren't you afraid I'm going to turn into a wolf?"
"Would that make it easier for you to swim?"
Wakasagihime uttered the words in such perfect innocence Kagerou couldn't help letting out a nervous chuckle. It was getting easier to stand there, as if time was enough to lift the heaviness upon her and make it evaporate into the mist. Or perhaps it was Wakasagihime's smile that did that.
Wakasagihime held out her hand. Kagerou walked ahead to reach for it.
The cold water was a shock as it first struck her shins, and again when it reached over her shoulders. Then her fingers found Wakasagihime's hand and any sense of chill was forgotten.
"How do you feel?"
Kagerou watched the ends of her hair undulate with the water. "I wish I could tell you I feel great."
"I'm sorry. I know it can't be easy. After all, I wouldn't expect you to be able to just shed something that has been bothering you for decades."
Kagerou decided to ignore the no doubt unintentional choice of words and focused on breathing in the mist. Wakasagihime's scent was still somewhat nervous, but water lilies were rising to the forefront. Even the water itself smelled different now that Kagerou was immersed in it: cleaner, sweeter. "I could get used to this."
"I'm glad." Wakasagihime flashed her a quick, pearly smile. "Um... can I touch you?"
Kagerou's bristles rose out of habit, but she forced the sudden tension down as best she could. They were already touching, weren't they? Besides, she wanted Wakasagihime to touch her. She really did. "You can."
Wakasagihime swam closer until she was practically in Kagerou's arms, then reached to cup her cheek. Kagerou leaned into the touch. An uncomfortable trill ran up her spine as Wakasagihime's sleeve brushed against the fur on her arm, but it was nothing in comparison to the sudden sun within her as Wakasagihime stayed there, right next to her, gently stroking her face.
She never actually decided to do it, but the next thing she knew, her arms were around Wakasagihime. Wakasagihime's startled laughter quickly morphed into contented silence as she rested her head against Kagerou's shoulder. This time, the touch didn't make Kagerou shiver.
If Kagerou could have made one moment stretch out for an eternity, she would have done so then, when all the world seemed to stop for them and the echoes of Wakasagihime's laughter still lingered in her ears.
"Um..." Wakasagihime pulled slowly apart. She sought Kagerou's hand again and clasped it. "The shelducks feed at night if you'd like to see them. "The chicks will hatch any day now."
"You really like them, huh?"
"I do."
"Then we'll have to go see them." Kagerou smiled, feeling as though the entire lake was suddenly her kingdom. Even so, she found herself hesitating as Wakasagihime began feather-lightly to tug her in the direction of the wider bay. Who was there to see them, within the mists at night? No-one but fish, but even so...
Wakasagihime appeared to have understood her predicament, because she halted. "We can stay here If you'd prefer that. I'm glad you joined me in the water at all."
Kagerou looked down. The hairs on her body showed nearly black in the water, but they didn't look quite so awful as they did on dry land. She could forget about them for the moment and focus instead on the sounds of shifting water and the scent of water lilies. And Wakasagihime. Always Wakasagihime.
She squeezed Wakasagihime's hand. "I'm ready."
Wakasagihime squeezed back. Hand in hand, they swam forth and melted into the moonlight.