3Chitazura looked up. And up. And up.
Sitting there, on top of a mountain with an impossibly long staircase bordered by trees, was a torii gate. Presumably, there was a shrine behind it, as there was a little sign at the foot of the steps proclaiming that ahead was the Hakurei Shrine.
"You should be fine from here." Said Keine. "Reimu's usually kind of sedentary when it comes to youkai, unless they cause a problem… But all the same, you might want to bring a dona-"
Keine got no farther, as Chitazura was then immediately attacked by a figure in red and white. And purple. She fired numerous orbs of energy directly at him, and in response, Chitazura leapt straight up, drawing his cattail reed from his tail like a sword and landing nimbly on the first step of the staircase.
"Ima kon en us tik!" Technically nonsense, Chitazura knew, but it was always fun to see the look on an opponent's face when you made something up. Especially when you did that, swung a harmless reed at them, and they actually flinched.
Long enough for you to run up, say, a really long staircase.
Many people, including Chitazura himself, always said it was a bad idea to run up or down stairs. Generally the people who say this do so from negative experience. Such is true here; the difference being Chitazura had done it so often he'd learned how. He breezed up the staircase at high speed, being chased by the laughing woman. At the very top, he leapt on to the torii gate, and from there straight at…
…Someone he presumed was Reimu, which meant this was probably about to get worse.
"Spirit Sign: Fantasy Seal!"
A bunch of large colored orbs came out of thin air. Chitazura had been hoping he wouldn't have to use his paranatural tricks, but oh well.
"Elderly Fox: All The Chickens."
With that, Chitazura momentarily splits into many tiny versions of himself, which all get shot to the ground, land on their feet, and run past Reimu into the shrine, where Chitazura reforms.
Dusting himself off, the old fox looks around. At the right of the room was a china cabinet with a beautiful tea set within that, strangely, is chained up and covered with charms. At the left, the wall was indented to make room for a simple kitchen. There was a simple kotatsu in the middle of the floor, on top of a straw mat. At the back of the shrine was a hallway to the right, branching in to two rooms, one with a futon and one with a shrine. A hallway on the opposite side led to a single built-in-the-floor tub that also served as a back porch, as it was open on two walls to the outside.
There had been a couple more explosions outside, and then the weary shrine maiden came back in and slumped into the kotatsu. She lifted her head, and her eyes went wide when she saw Chitazura sitting serenely at the other end.
"Tea, miss Hakurei?" Offered the old fox, holding out a curiously-styled teacup with a steaming hazel liquid in it.
Reimu thought for a moment. On one hand, this would mean another youkai around the shrine. On the other hand, THIS one had tea AND his own teacup, as opposed to being drunk, spying on her, stealing everything, or eating everything.
"Yes, thank you." She took the cup delicately and sipped slowly, as if afraid it would disappear. She regarded him warily, all the same. It was a little strange; his eyes were closed, but Reimu was sure his eyes were fixed on her. Besides that, he had a friendly, calm aura that she found was given off by anyone she'd beaten up during an incident. She peered closely at the old fox, trying to remember if he'd been annoying at some point so at least she could have something to complain about.
"My name is Chitazura Fujisa." Stated the old fox pleasantly. "Tell me, is it usual for people to appear within this world of yours out of nowhere?"
Reimu sighed. Please, please not again… "Only when Yukari gaps someone in. Why?"
"Ah, well, does Yukari have blonde hair, a big purple dress, and an umbrella?"
"Yes. She does." Reimu got up, fury swirling in her brown eyes, though she looked calm. "But not for much longer."
Chitazura sipped some of his tea. "Maybe, but it seems you have visitors raring for a fight."
Reimu looked outside, and groaned as Yuugi and Suika stomped up the stairs to the shrine, drunk and roaring various obscenities.
"Why don't I deal with them?"
Reimu looked back at the fox in exasperation. "What, you expect to beat a couple of drunk oni? And besides, what does that accomplish?"
Chitazura smiled. "Simple. If you beat them, they'll still trash your shrine since you're familiar. If I fight them, they'll be too busy making my acquaintance whether I win or lose, which leaves time for you to get this Yukari. If that's not enough, consider my caring for this to be payment for dealing with Yukari."
And with that, the old fox takes a slow sip of tea as he watches the shrine maiden look slowly over the horizon.
. . . "If anything breaks, you're paying for it." And off went the red-white!
Chitazura meticulously straightened his cattail, balanced it over his shoulder, and went out to meet the oni.
"I'm definitely going to have to try and look younger. Everyone around here is so rambunctious; one of those places where a fight is the same as a courteous greeting." His face scrunched a bit in a grin. "I think I'm going to like it here."