Chapter Text
Sanae Kochiya was entirely entranced by her scheming and spent no time sleeping. She marinated in the simple genius of her plan for a long time while she lay face-down on her desk, with her eyes closed. She had not fallen asleep of course, but was merely conserving energy for roughly five hours whilst making noises one could describe as snoring. Rest assured, those noises she produced were only an exercise in becoming one with the frogs and snakes that inhabit her shrine. Wiping a line of drool from her mouth and pushing a mess of green hair out of her face, she stood up to get ready for the big day.
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Fresh clothes, check. Brushed hair, check. Frog clip and snake ornament for her hair, check. Fourteen cotton balls, a needle, and a stop sign from the outside world that she bought off the gap lady, check. With her determination reignitied and the required materials for her plan in hand, she took off into the sky.
Her first stop was the Hakurei shrine. “Reimu!” She shouted towards the shrine as she stomped up remaining steps to the shrine. “Where is Marisa, Reimu!” Upon reaching the top step, slightly winded, she looked back down and mentally face-palmed. She chose to fly the rest of the way to the shrine entrance. “Reimu!”
The shrine door slowly began opening, revealing a disheveled shrine maiden with drooping eyes. It was the first time she had seen Reimu with her hair down and Sanae was a bit taken aback. The look really suited her and it looked good. “Listen Sanae, I don’t care what happened this time. Please get Marisa or Sakuya or someone else because Suika and Yuugi were over last night and my head is still throbbing from how much we ended up drinking.”
“No no, see I’m looking for Marisa right now, do you know where she is?” Sanae replied energetically.
Reimu looked up at Sanae, then looked at the stop sign, cotton balls, and needle she had with her. A couple of seconds passed. “No. I’m going back to sleep.” With that, the shrine maiden’s door was firmly closed and Sanae was no closer to completing her fiery vengeance.
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After a failed attempt to Alice’s house and a trip around Gensokyo’s airspace, Marisa had evaded Sanae clutches. At least Alice had been in higher spirits than Reimu, but she continued her search to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She had only been there once before, when the vampire hosted a grandiose Welcome Banquet upon Sanae and her mothers’ arrival to Gensokyo. Upon a quick chat with the gate guard, she stood knocking at the entrance to the mansion. Not a full second later, Sakuya Izayoi stood attentively in the opening of the door, and Sanae narrowly avoided screaming and fainting in surprise.
“Ah, Sanae. How are you this morning? Care to come in for a cup of tea?”
“Oh! Sakuya, that does sound nice but I’m afraid I don’t plan to stay long,” she said, her heart still throbbing a little bit. Sakuya was considerably taller than her, with a well-kept white and blue dress, and short silver hair with two braids, both punctuated by green bows. While meeting her gaze, Sanae couldn’t tell for the life of her if the woman’s eyes were red, blue, or silver. “I’ve been looking for Marisa,” Upon the mention of her name, something subtle changed about Sakuya’s face. Sadness? Anger? Excitement? Sanae couldn’t get a read. “I’ve already checked the Hakurei shrine, Alice’s house, and the air. Have you seen her?”
Sakuya stood for a moment and held Sanae’s gaze. “The… air?” Her face was completely deadpan, without a hint of humor or understanding behind those unblinking crimson red eyes. Her eyes were definitely red.
“I uh, flew around in the sky and didn’t see her,” Sanae explained, not wishing to dwell on her lack of understanding. The few times she attempted to bring her high school and college educations from the outside world into Gensokyo, they had gone poorly with the inhabitants. Turns out a lot of the rules of science are pretty meaningless in the face of magic, gods, and mystical entities.
“I haven’t seen her recently, however there’s always a possibility she’s snuck in. Please come in and wait inside while I ask around,” she said, leading Sanae in the foyer of the massive mansion. The tall woman walked off in her heels with a confident clip and clop at each step. The room was massive, with various staircases, hallways, and dark red stain glass windows. She stood admiring the windows, wondering if the stained glass somehow blocked something about the sunlight that made it harmful to vampires. Maybe it was UV rays?
“I’m afraid Patchy, Flan, and Remilia have not seen Marisa recently,” Sakuya said, standing directly in front of Sanae.
“Ah!” Sanae screamed, failing to hide her surprise, but thankfully not fainting. She almost dropped her cotton balls, which would have been disastrous. “Right, ok, well, thanks for checking for me,” she said through heavy breaths.
“No problem,” Sakuya replied with a smile and a nod of her head. She followed Sanae out of the foyer and back towards the outdoors. With a few short goodbyes, Sanae clutched onto her stop sign and took off into the sky. She promised herself she wouldn’t be made a fool to Marisa again.
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It wasn’t until later in the day that she managed to track down the woman in question, or more like she showed up out of nowhere instead. For a time it felt almost as though she had completely disappeared from the face of Gensokyo, and to some degree she had to quell anxious thoughts that something had happened to her before she even had the chance to ask her to lunch. Rationally she knew that the other was probably just busy, but catastrophic thoughts always tend to stick with Marisa.
The witch had checked both the Moriya and Hakurei shrines, the Kappa village, and miscellaneous spots around Gensokyo, but Sanae was nowhere to be found. With a deep breath and an attempt to calm herself, she flew in for a landing at her house, her bastion of safety and privacy. It was made of clay and stucco, and was utterly covered in moss and vines, snuggly set in the forest of magic.
As she approached the door to her abode, a loud thump rang out behind Marisa. She turned in time to see Sanae, who had presumably just flown face first into a tree, spill onto the ground, sending what appeared to be a needle and 15 or so cotton balls onto the damp forest floor. Marisa stood in shock, then a sign (similar to the ones Yukari had) fell from a tree onto the small of Sanae’s back with a loud metal noise, sending the priestess fully prone. Marisa was definitely shocked, but to some degree she thought it was fitting for her to find Sanae like this. Like, of course she would just show up at her house once she had given up for the day, especially since she hadn’t even told her where in the forest she lived.
“Oh my gods are you ok!?” Marisa said, rushing over to her side.
“Huh?” The green-haired woman took a moment to rub her head and come to a sitting position. “Oh, yeah. I’m totally fine,” she said in the cute sing-songy cadence that she always spoke with. Her eyes were bright green and expressive like usual, though Marisa detected hints of sleep deprivation under her eyes. She kind of stared back at Marisa, giving the effect of a deer frozen in place. Her cheeks were bright red, her hair was neat with her signature frog hair clip, and a small line of blood streamed down her forehead. Ah shit, that’s not good.
“Sanae, are you able to stand? Your head is bleeding, it’d probably be a good idea if you come inside and check how bad it is,” Marisa offered.
“Hmm? Uhhmm, yes and yes,” Sanae said. She looked down at the cotton balls which had absorbed some amount of water from the dirt, and the sign which had flipped over on its side. Did she curse under her breath just then? She began an attempt to stand up, and was to a point where both feet were firmly placed on the ground, yet her upper-body wobbled. Miraculously, she stabilized without Marisa’s help. The pair walked in a tense silence, as Marisa was eager to get her medical attention, and Sanae was a little more reserved than usual. It was similar to the time she had lost to Marisa in their previous danmaku bout. She mentally slapped herself on the wrist for always getting too competitive in battle, if only she were the type who could drop a duel and laugh over it with the opponent, especially when said opponent is Sanae.
The pair reached the door to her house, and she certainly wasn’t looking forward to whatever Sanae was gonna say about the insides of her home. Opening the front door and holding it open for Sanae, she said, “Please come on in.” The wind priestess stood there a moment as if considering, then with a sigh and a quick smile at Marisa, she stepped through with a “Thanks.”
As they entered the room, Marisa let out a sigh. The air smelled familiar and comforting for her. She set her broom in the broom corner and her hat on the hat hook, and pushed aside some ash deathcaps (contrary to the name the authors of the book she bought from Kourindou they were quite edible, so long as it was not confused mistaken for a destroying angel which was quite possibly the deadliest mushroom Marisa had ever tasted) and sprigs of rosemary hanging from some string. She helped guide Sanae through the stacks of books and a couple baskets of herbs towards the couch on the other end of the room by the fireplace and kitchen entrance.
“You certainly have a very quaint home. It’s kind of cozy,” Sanae said, breaking the silence.
“You think so? I don’t really get visitors and just kinda do whatever works for me,” she said inspecting the room idley. Remembering the blood running down her friend’s face, she said, “Oh, here, please have a seat on the couch. I have some medical stuff in my study,” while nearly tripping over a stack of books.
When she returned, Sanae was sitting on one side of the couch, smiling while thoughtfully looking through a basket of mushrooms. Gods, that smile was like the soft, warm breeze of autumn wind through your hair, or something like that. Marisa wasn’t quite as keen on similes as some of her more poetically inclined friends, but wow. That was an incredible smile.
An image of Reimu face-palming and saying “Marisa you’re truly useless” asserted itself into her mind as she stood staring. Mentally reprimanding herself for being too gay to provide fast medical attention to her friend, she went over and plopped down on the couch next to Sanae. “Oop, not that one, it’s poisonous,” she said, lowering Sanae’s hand (which held an ivory fiberhead) back into the basket.
“Oh, I- Marisa, do you happen to sort the mushrooms?” She asked.
“Of course I do! Those are the white ones,” Marisa responded with a smile. This prompted a giggle and red cheeks from Sanae. Now Marisa couldn’t be quite sure, but she perhaps thought it had something to do with what her friend Reimu had told her the day before. (Reimu? Was she only her friend? Does a marriage count if you’re both very drunk and young and only one of you remembers??)
“Your head, do you mind if I..?” Marisa gestured towards Sanae’s bleeding bit of head with her freshly washed hands.
“Oh yes. I mean no; no I don’t mind. Really just get in there with your hands, haha,” she sputtered out. Sanae then let out a breath and cleared her throat awkwardly, and Marisa took it as a sign to go ahead.
Upon gently pulling back a bit of hair and searching around the greenery atop her head, Marisa concluded that, all things considered, it really wasn’t too bad. Cleaned the cut, washed away the blood, and pressed a bit of gauze against her head, tying a bit of cloth around it to keep it steady.
“Ok, your head injury doesn’t look that bad. I just gotta wash my hands and ask you a couple of concussion questions to check for brain stuff,” Marisa, standing up from the couch to go wash her hands once more.
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All things considered, Sanae had had a pretty good life up to this point. She had a couple friends in the outside world, her mothers were the sweetest and most supportive women she’s ever known, and Gensokyo was a truly beautiful place to live. To die here attempting to answer simple brain teaser questions felt quite fitting. There was just no way she could do it, whenever Marisa’s face gets so close, her brain shuts off and her words just don’t work.
Marisa returned to her side and plopped down onto the couch in a Marisa-like fashion, with a journal in hand. She splayed through the pages until arriving on a page of interest with an “Ah!” of recognition. Sanae had definitely caught a glimpse of some drawings in the journal, including one of a frog, and it sent a small twinge of excitement up her stomach.
“Alright, so if you don’t answer right, I’ll fly you over to Eientei for more serious medical care, but if you get them right maybe I can make some lunch for the both of us. So, who are you, and where are you?” Marisa asked, lifting her gaze from the journal and setting it to Sanae’s eyes. As her face turned, Sanae’s heart executed a small ping of either anxiety or excitement, probably both.
“Kochiya Sanae from the Moriya shrine,” Sanae exhaled a bit with determination, “and I’m in your house, on your couch with you, alone.” She felt her face feel a little hot, and Sanae broke eye contact for a bit. She was bound to stumble and say something stupid.
“Next, do you remember what you were doing just before you hit your head?” Marisa asked in a nonchalant tone.
“I was flying around Gensokyo,” her voice quieted to a whisper, “trying to find you.” ‘Why was I searching for you? Because I have a huge crush on you and I can’t stop questioning how your lips taste or how my head would rest on your chest, obviously. Thanks for asking!’
“Oh, uh really? Because right before I got here, I was searching for you too,” Marisa said with a laugh. “I guess we found each other.”
Sanae lifted her gaze towards her not-so-subtle crush, and giggled a bit in return. “I guess we did,” finally realizing that Marisa was blushing as well.
“Ok, what time of day is it, and what are we about to do if you don’t have a concussion?” The witch asked with a confident smile.
Sanae mustered up every ounce of moxie in her being and said “It’s late afternoon, and, uh, anything you want to do.” She could feel her heartbeat all the way to her fingertips.
Marisa dropped her gaze with a giggle and a smile. She was definitely, undeniably blushing! Additionally, this wasn’t the first time Sanae had seen the woman make that face, that red on her cheeks was the same as the last time their faces got too close. ‘She totally has the hots for me!’ Sanae couldn’t help but bounce her legs a bit in excitement, and her smile lit up the room.
“Oh, well that’s quite the proposition. Well I mean I guess I wouldn’t be opposed to holding hands or something like that. I mean if you wanted to of course I wouldn’t wanna-”
As Marisa stumbled on, Sanae scooted next to her on the couch, and brushed a bit of green hair out of her face. Words weren’t really working for Sanae, but the message was clear to the smiling witch. Marisa closed her eyes and turned her face upwards, and Sanae leaned down and kissed.
Sanae’s heart overfilled as their lips met. Surprisingly, Marisa’s lips tasted slightly like lemons. The tension in her body released, and a long sigh of air escaped from her nose. The two pulled back from each other and smiled right in each others’ face. Sanae, who once again found her face right next to Marisa’s, couldn’t help but start to laugh. It started out like a chuckle and grew to a snorting laugh.
“Wh-what is it? Everything alright, what’d I do?” Marisa asked with a concerned look on her face.
Sanae, rubbing a tear from one of her eyes, “No no it’s not like that,” she said, finally calming her laughter down a bit, “It’s just, lemons? I mean, I would’ve expected mushrooms, or even rosemary, or maybe even nothing at all, but lemons?” Sanae said, starting her laughter up again, releasing all the tension in the air and all the stress from her back.
Marisa, realizing what she was probably talking about, began laughing as well, from a giggle up to a roar. “Well y’know this morning, I was in such a rush to go find you I grabbed a random fruit for breakfast. I thought it was an apple when I took it,” Marisa then burst into laughter, practically gasping for air. Sanae followed suit with a hard snort.
Sanae knew it wasn’t really that funny, but it was just a combination of surprise, embarrassment, sleep deprivation, and tension being broken really got to her. Marisa leaned forward at Sanae as she laughed, and the two toppled back into the couch, setting perfectly into a cuddle with Sanae on her back and the witch resting her head on Sanae’s shoulder.
Their laughter finally died down, and Sanae’s heart rate finally normalized (if a little excited). With Marisa as the perfect blanket, Sanae’s sleep deprivation finally took the better of her, and she drifted away into a content, warm sleep.