Before anything, I want to say that this takes place after the events of UFO, but before Ten Desires.

With that out of the way, this fanfic has taken a lot of sudden turns in writing. At first, it was going to be about Kogasa's past as an umbrella, but it just sat as a blank text document for about two weeks. Then, all of a sudden, I have this idea that she should try to get revenge on Sanae. And then, near the end of this chapter, I wind up with ANOTHER sudden turn that surprised even me!

Yes, this fanfic is just bound to be full of surprises. Funny, considering this is my only fanfic where Kogasa is a main character…

100 years ago…

"You know you don't have to do this," the man told his daughter. They were both human, living here in our world. "I'm sure she can buy her own umbrella."

"It means more if you get it from a friend," the girl replied. "Besides, I saw this really nice little umbrella the other day, and I want to see if they still have it." Entering the store, the girl rushed off to where said umbrella was. Only to find it was no longer there. Only one umbrella left in stock; a large purple one with an eggplant-like top. "Hm…I guess this will do just as well…" I guess. But then again…would it?

"Then let's buy it."

Not much later…

"Here," the girl said. "I bought you something."

"Really?"

"You know how you're always complaining that you never have an umbrella, and that it's been raining a lot recently? Well, surprise!" The girl held out the purple umbrella, saying "I got you an umbrella!"
"Oh…wow. Thank you." What the hell? It doesn't look like an umbrella; it looks like some kind of mutated eggplant. But it'd be mean of me to say no. "Thanks."

Not much later after that…

Into the dumpster the umbrella went. "Purple is such an ugly color, anyway…"

Right now…

It was rainy days in Gensokyo like this that reminded Kogasa of those humans. She didn't remember their faces, but in her mind, the kind one who bought the umbrella looked like Byakuren, because the Youchrist had taken Kogasa in at one point when things were looking really bad for the karakasa. The one that threw her out…in her mind, she looked like Sanae.

"I don't know if anyone would want an old umbrella that looks like an eggplant."

So cruel…

"Just, if I got an umbrella like that from a friend, I thought maybe I'd rather say no and go home wet…"

"How dare she say those things to me," Kogasa shouted. That miko had no idea what it was like to be thrown out just because you were what you were created as. How dare she mock a forgotten item, one that was troubled enough as a youkai without somebody picking on her. She would show that miko to have more respect for umbrellas. And on a rainy day like today, that would be simple enough.

"It's really coming down today," Sanae said, looking out from the porch of the Moriya Shrine. "I wonder what everybody's up to out there."

"Why not go outside and find out," Kanako asked. "You've been staying indoors an awful lot recently. Remember what I said?"

"That I need to master youkai hunting like everybody else? Lady Kanako, I've already mastered it."

"Well there you have it. If you stick around here, you'll only get rusty. That wouldn't be any good. What if there's another incident that needs solving, and nobody else can solve it but you?"

"I guess. It's just that I don't like getting my hair wet; it's very hard to dry."

"…That's your excuse?"

"Hey, you used the same excuse back in the human world. Why can't I?"

"Because you have a raincoat in your room. Go on, now, get dressed and go hunt some youkai."

"Alright," Sanae reluctantly said. She really didn't want to do anything today. It was just one of those days where one simply didn't feel inspired to do anything at all, and they would just laze around all day, just waiting for time to pass. And besides, she didn't like her raincoat that much. It felt strange to keep her hair under the hood, and leaving that hood down would mean getting her hair wet, which was her excuse for staying inside to begin with.

Reaching into her closet and pulling out the bright blue raincoat, Sanae tossed it onto her bed while she took off her sleeves. That was another one of the reasons she didn't like wearing her raincoat; she had to take the sleeves off. Once they were off, those too were tossed onto the bed, as Sanae slipped the raincoat on over her now-bare arms. Then she began doing the buttons from the bottom up, one at a time. Sanae wasn't really sure what material composed it. Suwako had gotten it for her back in the human world, so for all she knew, it could have been some mysterious material Suwako created from the earth.

Whatever composed it, despite everything Sanae disliked about it, the raincoat felt very smooth against her skin, and strangely, slightly appealing. Was that a Suwako trick? Whether it was or not, Sanae grabbed the blue boots composed of the same material, and would put them on over her bare feet once she stepped outside. For now though, Sanae made her way back across the shrine, pulling her hood up along the way. "Okay," she said. "I'm out of here."

"Enjoy yourself," Kanako said. "And if you come across Reimu, send her a warm hello from the Moriya Shrine." Even if Kanako and Reimu were easily at odds, it was no excuse for the goddess to not act friendly. Such a personable attitude was a great way to gather faith, for one can catch far more flies with honey than with vinegar.

"Will do." And out the door Sanae went as she quickly put the waterproof boots over her feet. That was another part of her body she hated getting wet, and with the Moriya Shrine's old location in the humans world, next to a tiny lake that had a horrible tendency to flood, such boots were a must-have for anybody who planned to either live there or simply visit.

But when Sanae stepped outside, she stopped for a second. She didn't recall buying any umbrellas, much less all of these umbrellas! There had to be at least fifty umbrellas dotting the grounds of the Moriya Shrine! Umbrellas of every shape, size, and color imaginable, and some that even looked big enough to swallow Sanae whole! What on earth was with all of these umbrellas?

"I hate you!" Off the roof leapt one karakasa, carrying her trademarked eggplant umbrella. Intent: tackle Sanae and strangle her. Not to death, mind, but just enough to surprise her.

Result: Success! Sanae was pinned down on the ground as the massive tongue of the umbrella reached out and around Sanae's neck. Then the tongue twisted itself in such a way that Kogasa's new victim would be able to see just who was responsible. "How does it feel to be hunted," Kogasa asked coldly.

"Ko…gasa…"

"Are you surprised?" An insane little smile began working its way across Kogasa's face, as she said "You probably didn't think you'd end up in this situation, did you?"

It took a few moments for Sanae to realize what was going on. Kogasa was fed up with being constantly hunted down by the miko, and now she wanted revenge. That probably meant she wasn't going to let go until Sanae dropped dead from lack of oxygen. Taking in breaths as deeply as she could, Sanae asked quickly between breaths "Why?"

"Because you're so horribly cruel to me. And now it's my turn." Swinging the umbrella around a bit, the umbrella's tongue let go of Sanae at the perfect time to hurl her into a large rock, probably breaking a few bones with sheer force. And before the miko even had a chance to get up, Kogasa was there, crushing her ribs with a foot. "I should probably kill you right here, right now. What would you think of that, Sanae?" The karakasa seemed rather delighted when fear started showing on Sanae's face. "But I still have another surprise waiting for you."

Kogasa's foot moved off of Sanae's body, as the karakasa said "I'm not going to. Isn't that also surprising?"

Gasping for air now that she could finally breathe regularly, Sanae asked "You had the perfect chance. Why didn't you take it?"

"Because unlike you, I'm no murderer."

"M-M…Murderer?"

"Youkai are people, too, Sanae. And you kill them. Sure, we'll just come back by the end of the day, but death is never a happy thing, no matter the circumstances. Being dead is a very frightening thing. Just keep that in mind, alright?" With that, the karakasa put her umbrella over her head to stay dry, and began walking away from the shrine.

She smiled with pride as she did this. That was a very mature thing she'd just done, and very responsible as well. If Kogasa had any friends she knew of, they would probably be very proud of her since it wasn't every day a youkai had a chance to kill Sanae, or any youkai hunter for that matter. Yes, so far, today was shaping up-

CRASH!

One massive bolt of lightning seemed to crack the skies in half while an explosion of thunder had the same effect on any eardrums that were outside to hear the full blast. Kogasa would have leapt out of her skin if she hadn't been struck with lightning.

Sanae was able to approximate where the lightning bolt hit well enough to know that it probably just fried a karakasa. Right after Kogasa spared her life, too…

If ever the time came for Sanae to return a favor, now was the time. The miko quickly ran over to Kogasa's unconscious body, dragging her back up the stairs of the Moriya Shrine. Youkai extermination was easy business, especially if the youkai was knocked out. But youkai rescuing was different. That old sorceress living at the Myouren Temple…she'd probably be very proud that Sanae was doing this; bringing Kogasa into the Moriya Shrine until she regained consciousness and recovered. Injuries from lightning bolts were serious, and Sanae actually had to consider Kogasa very lucky to be alive right now.

Meanwhile, up on the roof, perfectly hidden were it not for the hat on her head, one strange little goddess watched the entire scene unfold. The short fight between the two, Sanae's life being spared, and now Sanae bringing Kogasa into the shrine to recover. Nodding to herself, Suwako mentally assured herself Yep, I knew it all along. Sanae's a good girl however badass she tries to be.

Surprising, no? For some reason, I think I read a fanfic like this once before, but at the same time, I know I didn't. Oh, now I remember why I'm thinking of other fanfics! It reminds me a bit of Functioning Alcoholic, because Suika went to the Moriya Shrine for a short bit in that fanfic. Though I must say, the circumstances that brought our beloved tsurupettan oni there and those surrounding our cute little karakasa were quite different.

I'm sure if Solblight were reading this, we would agree on this. Wait a minute…ha ha ha ha, I just now remembered that Solblight crack-paired Suika and Kogasa together!

I'd do the same thing, but I'd rather crack-pair Kogasa with somebody more like…hm…

Actually, those two are a very cute couple; I might do the same pairing, but probably not. Who knows?