Night 46: F1-F10 Hallway
Dinner-cake included-sat untouched on the desk, surrounded by her growing collection of colorful origami animals and guarded by her notebook. Her three knives were lined up on the bed in order of size alongside her old outfit, with the wakizashi next to them; the Four Point was propped up carefully on the side of the bed
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Well rested, the youkai woke up when the intercom went off. Uncharacteristically, she was out of bed quite quickly, no grogginess or yawning. She let the girl avoid her all day so far, but it was time to go find her and set things straight.
Quickly heading down the hall, Yukari burst in the room mere seconds after the head doctor finished talking, not bothering to knock. Hopefully the ninja hadn't been even faster.
"Good evening!" she announced brightly with a smile, standing in the doorway. "I'm here for one sulky girl who's been avoiding me all day!"
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"I am not sulking! And that's a real good way to get exploded," she snapped back. "Do you even understand the concept of knocking? I could have been getting changed or something."
And then her brain caught up to her mouth, causing her to immediately turn away from Yukari. The dress... the words... was it really her youkai? She'd turned away so the brief moment of hope that had flickered across her face hadn't been seen. As things stood, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to look and see if it really was her youkai. The last thing she needed right then was to get her hopes up only to find out 'Violet' was pretending to be Yukari again.
"Go back to your room. I'm not babysitting you tonight," she said in a quiet, extremely controlled voice.
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"Walking in while you're changing is half the point!" she said with a big grin as she stepped inside. Despite what she was here for, she gave no indication of noticing Sheena's unease or knowing the cause of it.
"And I don't need babysitting; am I not allowed to bother my favorite ninja?" she asked, coming up behind the girl and lightly laying her hands on her shoulders. Seeing as how Sheena was the only ninja Yukari knew at this time - certain play-acting ghosts aside - it wasn't a lie.
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"...oh, so I'm a ninja again? I thought I was supposed to be some mentally disturbed woman that just thought she was one."
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Should she have been taking this more seriously? Possibly. Was she going to? Not a chance.
"I prefer ninja though; those at least might end up in Gensokyo. Crazy's a currency still in circulation in the Outside World still."
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"I am not crazy." A pause. "Well, no more than I'd have to be to get involved with you,' she grumbled. Leaving her left arm to hang down at her side, Sheena brought her right up to barely touch the youkai's hand.
"...who am I? Tell me. And be completely honest for once."
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"That's quite a deep question," she said facetiously, pretending to think it over. "Is the summoner Sheena? Is the ninja Sheena? Are the exploding cards Sheena? Then, perhaps, all these things put together are Sheena? If not, then who is this that I'm talking to?" she mused aloud, "for surely there's no Sheena to be found!"
The dramatic air lasted for about a second before Yukari broke off into giggles. As much as one might refuse to be dragged into the youkai's pace when conversing with her, she too resisted being caught up in the serious tone Sheena was presenting. She'd already wasted enough time moping about; she wasn't going to do more.
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Giving an irritated sigh, she raised her head though did not look back at Yukari. And then, a chuckle came from her. "Maybe you're right. Maybe you're wrong. Maybe I am all of that. And then, maybe I am not. I am Sheena, yet I am not." Sheena wasn't her true name, after all.
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"Hmhmhm, well, whoever you are, know that I'm back now," she said, giving Sheena a squeeze. "Well? Are you relieved? Happy? Finally going to stop sulking about and running away from me? Don't think I didn't notice that today."
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"Yeah... I am," she said after a long moment, her eyes closed. "Think you can keep from being shoved into a mental box again?"
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"I make no promises," she warned, though her tone was benevolent, "since shoving people in mental boxes seems to be a specialty here." Well, at least she hadn't been brainwashed to attack Sheena; Yukari wondered if that would have been better or worse for the ninja. Probably not as bad on the mental front, especially considering the girl's reaction this morning.
"And sorry about this morning," she added in a tone that surprisingly sounded something like a real apology. "I was still... dreaming a little. Waking up, half-caught in the illusion."
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"...you're forgiven," she finally said. "That's why I ran, you know. I just... couldn't pretend I was handling things, like I pretended last night." Her eyes closed. "I really must hate myself for having put myself through all that last night."
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She laughed, though a part of her mind reminded her that she had said the exact opposite just yesterday. Well, Violet had. One of the major reasons Yukari was rather irritated with the temporary guest inside her head. Well, Violet had her own circumstances, circumstances with Yukari did not. Though Ran might shake her head, there was no one in Gensokyo who could stop the Youkai of Boundaries from spririting away whoever she wanted.
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The ninja dropped her gaze then and a little color came to her cheeks. "Umm... Yukari. You... uh... dumped me yesterday." A pause and then she looked up. "Undump me."
Yes, it was a technicality since really, Yukari hadn't done it, but this was Sheena. Some things she just needed to hear.
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"Hmm? What was that last part? I couldn't quite hear it," she said with a grin that said she clearly had.
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