Welp. The image got stuck in my head, and I had to write it. Just another day at the office, really.
[This is not really connected to TEiPW canon. It's been a while since I wrote Satori, and my image of her has probably changed a lot since then anyway.]
-----
Obligation was something Satori hadn?t worked her head around quite yet.
She wasn?t used to visitors, let alone friends. The demons of the underground still feared her, giving the palace as wide a berth as they could manage. She was fine with that - she thought the oni were a brutish race anyway, and she was more than willing to let them keep their distance. She never even bothered to lock the front door on the basis that no-one ever tried to break in anyway.
So when the kappa girl had kicked the door open without a care in the world, Satori hadn?t really been sure how to react.
??Ey! You?re that satori girl, right??
The uninvited guest stepped in without waiting for an answer, two large boxes held under her arms. Satori?s first instinct was to read her thoughts, looking for any sign of aggression, but all she found was a cheerful curiosity. The kappa looked her up and down, stopping in particular to look at Satori?s third eye. She carefully put the boxes on the floor, one hand already fidgeting. Satori caught the idea forming in the girl?s head before she could act on it.
?Please don?t touch it,? she said, stepping backwards. ?It?s rather sensitive.?
The kappa?s eyes widened, and she offered a small bow in apology. The hat almost fell off her head as she leaned down, and only quick reflexes stopped it from coming off entirely.
?Agh, I keep forgetting about that!? she muttered to herself. ?Manners can be a matter of life and death sometimes...? Satori pondered her meaning for a moment, but as usual the answer came to her through the stream of consciousness the girl was giving off.
Why do we need the water bowls, anyway? What if I just put a lid on mine under the hat? Then I wouldn?t have to worry about the water spilling, even if I?m upside-down!
Satori nodded along, as if the girl was talking to her in person. Years of holding conversations with her pets had left her struggling to tell where conversation started and thought ended.
?Surely someone has attempted that before??
?Probably, but I just need to do it better. I figure I can-? It took the kappa a moment to realise she hadn?t put all of her thoughts into words. She gave Satori a small round of applause, putting on a wry grin. ?You really are as good as they say, aren?t you??
Satori shrugged. ?It hardly requires any talent. It?s just who I am.? She took another look inside the girl?s head, intent on ending this conversation as soon as possible. She found most youkai to be poor conversation partners. ?So I?m to understand you bear a gift as thanks for letting you observe Utsuho for a while??
?Oh?? The kappa looked down at the boxes on the floor again, her mind jumping back to life. ?Oh, yeah! Yeah, this is sort of a thank you for letting us study your nuclear reactor.?
?She has a name,? Satori growled.
?Yeah, but she?s also got a control rod for an arm. One of these things means more to me than the other.?
That did nothing to impress Satori, and she continued with her disapproving glare at the kappa. Perhaps she would dig a little deeper into the girl?s head, find some material that would make her cringe as payback. She hit an old childhood memory, and cruel satisfaction flooded her mind.
?So, am I to understand you tried to invent a machine to stop you from wetting the bed??
The kappa just about leapt out of her dress.
?Wha?! How did you-? She made the conclusion herself before she finished the sentence. She started stepping backwards towards the door, lacking all of the bravado she?d shown on the way in. Maybe she felt weaker when she didn?t have her mechanical gizmos right beside her.
?OK, OK, I?m leaving! Just don?t tell anyone about that, okay?!?
The kappa was polite enough to close the door behind her on the way out. Satori heard her squealing as she ran for the tunnel back to the surface. These incidents really were not helping with her public image, Satori thought to herself.
The thought passed quickly. Animals wouldn?t judge her based on hearsay, and frankly she didn?t care much about any other creature Gensokyo had to offer.
The boxes lay on the floor, both wrapped in elegant bow ties. This was probably a formal offering from some higher authority in the kappa race as thanks for her co-operation. Satori was only just curious enough to open the box, undoing the ribbon carefully. It was just as well Rin wasn?t nearby, or she?d have torn these packages apart the moment she saw them.
One box was heavier than the other, she quickly discovered. She decided to leave that one until later, opting for the lighter box first. There was a single piece of clothing inside, and as she touched it she felt the unnatural clinginess of something artificial. It wasn?t cotton, or silk, or any sort of material she?d even seen clothes made from. It felt cold to the touch.
She pulled the outfit out of the box in full. It was meant to cover her entire body, offering only holes for her hands, feet and head. A zip at the back brought the whole thing apart so that she could step into it, but the suit looked too tight for her to wear while she was still clothed. It seemed to have been made to her size exactly. Well, at least that explained why Rin had been worrying about ?giving her details to the kappa? earlier. She didn?t understand why her pets still tried to keep secrets from her even when they knew she could read their minds.
Her curiosity definitely aroused now, Satori opened the second box to find an assortment of items that had little meaning to her. Two plastic shoes that looked like ducks? feet, something made of rubber that was meant to go over her eyes, a curved tube with a mouthpiece at the end, and a metal cylinder that weighed more than all the rest of it put together. Another tube ran out from the tank, ending in another large mouthpiece. She tested it, biting around the grips made for her teeth and blowing into the device. Nothing much seemed to happen. She tried inhaling instead. There was air inside, but it had a strange aftertaste that made it seem about as natural as the rest of this mechanical nonsense.
As she spat the device out, she lifted up the tank. It was incredibly heavy given that it apparently contained nothing but air, to the point where Satori struggled to lift it. She found a small pamphlet underneath the cylinder, written in floral handwriting that confirmed her suspicions of this being a formal gift.
Dear Satori Komeiji,
Many thanks once again for your co-operation in our continuing scientific efforts to determine the source of the Moriya Shrine?s nuclear power.
Again, no mention of Utsuho by name. These kappa were starting to get on her nerves. Never mind their habit of using a dozen words where one would suffice.
We present to you as a humble offering this little piece of kappa technology. Recently refined and perfected by some of our most accomplished inventors, it is designed to allow any youkai to experience the underwater world of the kappa.
From what she?d heard of the kappa, ?refined and perfected? meant ?blatantly stolen from beyond the border?. Next came a 5-page explanation on how to actually use all of this equipment, written in condescending language that a child could understand. She would have appreciated it if the refusal to call Utsuho by name hadn?t made it clear the kappa didn?t care in the slightest. This was a gift being offered to her out of obligation, not out of gratitude.
She?d been tempted to grab both boxes and throw them into the blazing fires, along with all the corpses Rin had been collecting. To hell with gratitude. The whole thing was a barely veiled insult to her intelligence, and she had half a mind to stop the kappa from stepping into the underground ever again.
But three days later the boxes were still sitting by the main entrance, their contents untouched. Rin had made off with the ribbons long ago, but after a failed attempt to bite into the tank she?d left the rest of the ?gift? alone.
It was this damned obligation that was holding her back, Satori thought to herself. She felt like she was supposed to use the gift, at least once. Even if the whole thing was just the kappas? way of mocking her.
Eventually, she came to a compromise. She?d go for a dive like they wanted her to, then write them a jarringly polite letter noting every complaint she had about the device. That would even the odds slightly.
?Rin, I?m going out for a while.?
Satori lifted the boxes with a heave, carrying them under both arms like the kappa had done bringing them here. She heard the pattering of tiny feet behind her as a cat ran between her legs. She blinked, and as quickly as that Rin Kaenbyou was lying beneath her in her humanoid form. Her face was twisted in a look of shock.
?Master, am I hearing things? You?re going out??
Satori nodded, trying to save face. The last thing she needed was for her pets to know she was giving in to this outside pressure.
?It?s something personal, Rin. I?d rather not talk about it.?
She stepped over Rin, keeping her expression blank, but as she reached the door she became painfully aware that these boxes were heavier than she?d thought. She dropped them, looking back for a moment, before finally sighing in defeat.
?Actually, you had better come with me. I need to find a lake...?
-----
At first Satori wasn?t sure if getting out of the underground would be trivial. She had garnered quite the reputation among the oni, and there were probably plenty of unruly youkai who wanted to claim her scalp. She decided against stepping through the old hell?s side alleys - they meant she was less likely to be noticed, but they also meant that if she was unlucky enough to be jumped there wouldn?t be any way out.
Her steps were quiet as she passed through the main streets, the box blocking most of her vision. She was basically following Rin?s lead, looking down at her feet and matching her step. The kasha was dealing with the weight much more gracefully than Satori had, and though she never said a word Satori could hear the pride in her thoughts as clear as day.
Soon enough they were in the Drunkards? District, named for the array of bars that ran across it. Alcohol was the only business in the old hell that turned a profit, and it was rare to see these streets so much as half-full. Regrettably, today was no exception, and Satori had to follow behind as Rin shoved past the demons blocking their way.
?Heads up, guys. Evil mind-reader comin? through.?
Satori cringed. The box had been blocking her face until now, and for a while she?d almost thought she would get away unseen. Now that Rin had mentioned her some of the oni were turning in her direction. Satori pressed her face against the box, hoping that they?d either not recognise her or not care.
?Shit! It?s Komeiji, guys!?
Oh, who was she kidding? This always happened when she tried to leave the palace.
The thoughts of the oni came together as a mass of ideas in her head. She?d spent so long around them that she?d learned to ignore them for the most part. They became the static noise that she had to listen to every time she ventured outside.
Static noise that was quickly shifting to terror.
?Shit, shit, shit! I?m not letting her hear a thing about me!?
?Aw, man, if she tells my wife that I- no, can?t think about the chick I met last night! Can?t think about her!?
?She can?t know about the stash I stole from that asshole across the street! He doesn?t even know I?m the one who took it! It?s the perfect crime, goddammit!?
The crowd split into two, a pathway opening up for Satori and her pet. She hung her head low as she travelled through, the news passing across the sea of oni within minutes. The Drunkard?s District took up almost half the city block, so she got to spend more than enough time hearing the frenzied thoughts of the frightened masses.
It was a relief to her senses when they stepped into the tunnel towards the surface, and the voices in her head finally fell silent. She stopped for a moment on the wooden bridge that linked the surface to the underground, placing the box at her feet and leaning on the railing.
?Rin, was that really necessary??
?Nope,? the kasha answered as she twirled around, ?but damn, was it fun to watch. Didn?t you look? All those big manly men squirming in terror because of one girl!?
Satori frowned. ?Someday, one of those oni might find the nerve to bring a club to my head so his secrets stay hidden. Do you really think it?s a good idea to give them more chances, Rin??
Rin?s tails wrapped around each other as her ears drooped. For a moment, it looked as if she was going to leap off the bridge into the river out of shame.
Wait. The river?
Satori was struck by the idea. She looked down into the stream beneath her, its pale green waters lapping off into the distance. It was surprisingly clear, and much deeper than she?d originally assumed.
?Rin. Where does this river lead, exactly??
Even before Rin had started on her answer, Satori was already opening the box she?d been carrying. She pulled out the rubbery outfit the kappa had given her as a gift. Apparently, they called it a wetsuit - which seemed quite paradoxical, given that it was meant to keep its owner dry.
?Eh? Well, uh, can?t say I know...think it ended in some sorta underground reservoir or something. No-one?s ever really looked.?
An unexplored area of the underground? Now she was getting interested. She looked up out of the tunnel, towards the surface. It was still a long trek before they would step out into the sunlight. Why bother if she had her testing ground right here?
?Rin, get the gear ready for me,? Satori said as she walked into a distant corner of the cavern, away from prying eyes. ?There?s a manual that should explain everything you need to know.?
Rin tilted her head as Satori walked away from her. This was the first time she?d seen the contents of the box since that one attempt she?d made to eat them, and their purpose was something she?d never cared about. She would figure it out - it would be hard not to when the kappa had laid out the instructions to the letter.
When she found a corner so dark that she could barely see her own hand in front of her face, Satori was content that she wouldn?t be seen. She undressed hastily, leaving her clothes in a neat pile at her side. Unzipping the back of the wetsuit, she stepped into it, feeling the rubbery material cling to her skin. The hardest challenge was finding a way to put it on over her third eye, but eventually she managed to slip it and its tendrils out from within. There was no space for them under the wetsuit, and the water wouldn?t irritate her third eye anyway.
She couldn?t do the zip back up from here, though. She walked back to the bridge, holding her clothes under one arm and laying them on the bridge next to Orin. The cat was currently fiddling with the tank, turning various knobs to set the pressure properly. Satori watched her movements, just to make sure she was keeping to the instructions. Everything seemed in order as the kasha stood up, brushing her hands together.
?Rin. Get that zip for me, would you?? Satori asked, pointing to her back as she sat down. She pulled on the fins as Rin tended to the wetsuit. Satori caught a glint of worry running through the kasha?s thoughts, frowning. ?If you?re concerned, you should at least tell me.?
?I know, I know,? Rin moaned. ?But do you even know what you?re doing? What if these diving thingies don?t work? What if you get trapped down there??
?I am the master of the Palace of the Earth Spirits. If there?s one thing I won?t accept, it?s not knowing about the underground I live in.? Satori spoke with total conviction as she brought the mask over her eyes. ?That, and I?m not willing to owe a favour to those damned kappa if I don?t have to.?
Rin?s concern never faded, but a feeling of understanding took precedence in her mind. She understood that this was something Satori was going to do, one way or another, and she at least had the grace not to get in her master?s way. She was a good pet, Satori thought to herself as she strapped the tank on. It was as heavy as she remembered, and she gave up on standing with it, sitting on the bridge instead.
?Tell me, Rin. How do I look??
The kasha?s eyes fell on her master, looking her up and down nervously. The words didn?t come to her mouth, but Satori caught the thoughts easily enough.
?I look like an idiot, you say? Excellent. Remind me to bring that up when I write my formal complaint to the kappa.?
She slipped under the railing of the bridge, sitting on the edge overlooking the river. The drop was less than a foot, so small that Satori?s feet were dipping into the water. She bit down on the mouthpiece, taking a few test breaths. Still had the same clinical aftertaste. That meant it was probably working.
She took a deep breath, and pushed herself off of the bridge.
As she splashed down into the river Satori was amazed by how clear the water was. The mask was doing its job, and as she made a few practice kicks she found the fins were giving her a good bit of power as well. There was no stinging cold from the water thanks to the wetsuit. That left only the tank, and as Satori took another breath from it she almost hoped that it wouldn?t work.
It did.
Dammit. How am I supposed to complain if nothing is broken?
She surfaced quickly, giving Rin a quick thumbs-up so it was clear she was fine. Rin offered her a little smile back in return, smirking.
?Don?t have too much fun, now.?
Satori would have offered a rebuttal if she didn?t have a mouthpiece stuck in her mouth. She slithered back under the water, letting the current guide her down through the river. Now that she?d gone so far as to actually dive in, there was no reason not to go all the way.
She?d find something to complain about. She just had to look carefully...
-----
The small lanterns hanging over the bridge weren?t much use to Satori as she swam further in. The space around her grew tighter, and the air pocket above her came to an end. Now she was totally dependent on the tank to stay alive, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that if she happened to die the kappa would never hear the end of it.
Her eyes grew used to the lack of light after a few minutes. In the underground, a light source was usually a luxury, and most youkai had learned to work without it. It was an inherent magic, but in the satori it had never been particularly strong. Satori could see far ahead enough that she wasn?t swimming into walls, but she couldn?t do much more than that.
The tunnels twisted and turned in unnatural ways, as if they had a life of their own. There were small side paths, but nothing that really pulled her away from the main passageway. She ran a hand along the wall, long since run smooth by the water?s flow. Even now the current was helping her along, leading her to wherever the water happened to be pooling.
Satori felt almost numb as she swam further in. Not from the cold - the wetsuit was still protecting her from that. More than anything she wasn?t used to the silence. There wasn?t a single living creature nearby for her third eye to pick up. The only sound she could make out was her own breath, and the gurgles as her bubbles slipped away from her.
It was a welcome change, especially after the barrage of oni she?d had to walk through earlier. Her third eye had closed slightly in relief, as if it had finally been given a chance to sleep. She lazed along in the water, letting the current do most of the work.
She noticed that at some point the tunnel had bent downwards, leading her deeper underground. Now she really had no idea where she was going - this was taking her well beneath the underground, and given that the water was still cold on her face she couldn?t be anywhere near the blazing fires. So where did that leave?
Curiosity drove her on as she drifted further into the tunnel. She?d found books in the palace, left by their former owners, explaining the layout of hell in its entirety. It was made of nine circles, it said, each to house a different sin. None of these circles had been seen since, though - when the site of hell had changed, almost all of the architecture had been magically moved along with it. Only the remnants of the blazing fires remained, and they had only been reignited in recent years thanks to Utsuho.
But the stories had also mentioned rivers running through the former hell. Was this one of them, perhaps? She had no way of knowing for sure unless she followed this path to the end. She continued onwards, looking for any sign that something was unusual about this cavern.
She found one soon afterward, as the walls around her became much less natural. Jagged crystals poked out of them, each giving off its own eerie light. A chill, stronger than that of the water, began to run across her body. Without the wetsuit she would have frozen to death for sure. She folded her arms, keeping her bare hands safe from the cold, letting the current carry her around.
At last the tunnel turned upward, and Satori swam up to follow it. She?d emerged in the basin of a lake, its water impossibly pure and unspeakably cold. The surface was covered in ice, save for a small hole in its centre. Satori felt the water?s grip tightening on her, and the chance to step out of it was one she couldn?t refuse.
?Haaah...?
She spat out the mouthpiece as she surfaced, pulling herself onto the ice. She?d been swimming for a good twenty minutes, and she wasn?t used to physical exertion. She fell backwards onto the frozen surface of the lake, the ice easily supporting her weight.
What she saw above her forced her to look twice to make sure she wasn?t seeing things.
?Are those...stars...??
Satori pulled off the mask, blinking once, twice, three times. Her eyes needed a moment to grow accustomed to the bright lights, and the shimmering glints above her made her think she?d made her way to the surface. But that was impossible - she?d been diving deeper, not rising higher. As her vision came into focus, she found that it wasn?t starlight after all - the entire ceiling was made of brilliant crystals, like the ones that had been growing in the tunnel.
Along the walls, she saw human shapes carved into the stone, arms reaching out as if for mercy. Names were written alongside each marking to name its former resident, but they had all been moved along with the rest of the old hell. The names were written in a language Satori neither knew nor cared for.
Satori began to walk across the lake?s surface, struggling with both the weight of the tank and the cumbersome fins on her feet. The crystal ran across the whole ceiling, and the shapes in the walls all pointed towards the centre. It was only looking back from the surface that she could see that the hole she?d emerged from was itself shaped like a torso, as if someone had been encased within it beforehand.
That fact brought the realisation to her.
?This is...the ninth circle??
The books had mentioned it. She?d made her way through the river of lamentation, and emerged in the frozen lake that held the greatest traitors of humanity. Somehow she had managed to find her way to the ninth circle of hell - or at least, where it had been once. Any sign of the ruler of the old hell and his prisoners was long since gone, but the brilliant ice had been left behind. It was colder than cold, and even above the surface Satori had to hug herself to stay warm.
It was worth it, though, for the crystals. They were ice, Satori assumed, but magically enchanted ice that would never melt. As an unintended side effect, the light danced across them beautifully, a dozen rainbows running across the ceiling at once. Perhaps it was an ironic punishment, and the prisoners were never allowed to witness the wonder that hung right above their heads.
She wasn?t sure how long she sat there, staring upwards into the shimmering lights. She forgot herself, entranced by the beauty and the silence of the place. She was alone and content, all of her wants and needs forgotten.
The rumbling of her stomach brought her back to the reality of the matter.
?...That?s right. I can?t stay here, can I??
It must have been at least half an hour by now, maybe longer. Rin would be worried sick if she didn?t come back soon. Satori braced herself for the oncoming cold as she stepped back into the water. The return journey would be harder now that she was fighting the current, but she had more than enough air left in the tank to make it back to the bridge.
She offered the ceiling one last look before she dove under the water. The lights seemed to fall from above, like the room itself was crying at her departure.
Not to worry, Satori told herself. She?d be back. Even if she had to dress like a moron to do it.
-----
?Nyaaah...?
Rin paced up and down the bridge, her tails swishing left and right. She?d had no way to keep track of time, and every second felt like it lasted an age. Disaster scenarios played out in her head on endless repeat, and she had half a mind to dive in after her in case her master needed rescuing. How hard could it be to stop breathing for half an hour, after all?
?If anything has happened to Master Satori, I?m gonna tear that kappa a new one, I swear! I?ll...I?ll...?
Rin?s vow of revenge was cut off when she saw bubbles popping up from the water. Her heart rose as her master?s form came into view, and as she popped out from the water Rin had to resist the urge to jump off the bridge and hug her right then.
?Sorry for taking so long,? Satori said as she spat out the mouthpiece, hauling herself onto shore. ?I got a little distracted down there.?
Rin was at her side in a moment, offering her master a towel. She?d run down to the palace and picked it up while Satori was diving, figuring her master would need it when she surfaced. Satori accepted it gratefully, drying her hair as she threw her mask to the side.
?So, are we gonna file that complaint tonight?? Rin said with a hint of anticipation. ?I know a lotta words that sound innocent but are really really offensive to the kappa. Y?know, words like-?
?I?m not going to complain.?
Rin?s arms rose to her sides. ?Wha? But you said that we were gonna-?
?It was worth it, in the end,? Satori interrupted with a smile. ?Maybe you?ll get to see it some day.? She pulled the rest of the gear off, leaving on only the wetsuit, and dumped the lot in the box they?d came from. She threw her clothes into the box the wetsuit had come in, and started hauling it back down the tunnel. ?Now we?d better be getting back. I feel like making myself something fiery for dinner tonight.?
Rin could only look on stupefied as her master strolled down the cavern back home, a definite spring in her step. What had she seen down there that had changed her mind so suddenly? She was wearing that knowing smirk of hers, the one she always wore when she knew a secret she wasn?t supposed to.
All of those answers could wait a while, though. For now, her master was getting ahead of her.
?H-Hey! Wait for me!?
Rin grabbed the box, running with it as she made to catch up with Satori. She had all sorts of questions, and the strange feeling her master wasn?t going to be giving much in the way of answers. How was that fair? No-one could keep a secret from her, and yet she was allowed to hide whatever she wanted?
Not that it mattered that much. When it came down to it, Rin was a creature of basic pleasures. She liked bowls of fresh milk, naps in the afternoon and scratches behind the ears, and the master gave her all of that whenever she wanted it. If a few secrets was the price she had to pay for that, she?d pay it three times over.
Rin only noticed she was smiling when she?d just about caught up with Satori, moving in front of her as a makeshift bodyguard. It was time for them to make their way past the smelly, violent hordes of oni again.
And as long as it meant being next to her master, Rin couldn?t help but look forward to it.
