The Third Shikigami (Yukari x Gender Neutral Reader)

Prologue

"Oh, another incident? How entertaining," Yukari muttered to herself as she gazed upon the brilliant flashes of bullet patterns weaving through the night sky. The Hakurei shrine maiden launched huge yin-yang orbs of her signature Fantasy Seal towards the wayward youkai, nearly knocking the living daylights out of her. As the youkai prepared to retaliate with yet again another elaborate spellcard, a striking beam of light instantly blasted her out of the sky. Yukari chuckled under her breath at the sight. Marisa's Master Spark never failed in battle.

Having successfully defeated their opponent, the duo flew off into the darkness. Yukari let out a dainty yawn. Just watching those girls battle troublemakers all day made the gap youkai exhausted already. Then again, Yukari never had much energy in general.

She retreated back into the black void of her gap. Glowing crimson eyes stared at her from all sorts of directions. But their soulless, glitching gaze didn't bother her in the slightest. They always appeared within her gaps, and they were harmless.

After stepping out of the tunnel void, she found herself within another void with a more galaxy-like appearance. Engravings shaped like the eyes of her gaps adorned the cobalt blue floor. The only piece of furniture one could spot in the dim lighting was ornate lounge sofa with a wide, pink parasol looming over it. Scarlet ribbons and bows were draped across its hem, and few stray ribbons dangled just above the lounger's pillows. Yukari smiled, glad to have returned to the comfort and privacy of her humble abode— her Gap dimension, she called it. Her body languidly fell onto the lounger, with various pillows pushed to the floor. Watching the incident that day and managing the Hakurei Barrier 24/7 had drained her of her precious energy.

"Oh, Ran, could you brew me a cup of tea, my dear?" she called out to her loyal shikigami.

But no reply came.

How strange. Ran always answered her every beck and call almost instantaneously. Could that kitsune be asleep?

Yukari called out for her faithful servant once more. "Oh Ran, my dear, terribly sorry to awake you, but your master really could use some tea!"

Once again, no reply.

The youkai groaned, losing what little patience she had for Ran's tardiness. "Ran Yakumo, do not make me summon you myself again. You know how drained I can be at the end of the day." Scraping up what little energy she had left, Yukari opened a new gap to whereever Ran's location was.

I can't believe this. That fox will getting the scolding of her life once I have rested.

Suddenly a loud thump resounded from behind the gap youkai's seat, along a second thud and a "Meow!" full of pain.

"Master! Master Yukari! Help!!" the small voice of Ran's shikigami, Chen, mewled as she frantically scuttled over to Yukari's side. Chen's green bonnet was missing, her red dress was badly torn, and one of her cat ears had a nick slightly dripping with blood. The nekomata's two tails were twitching every which way in fear.

"Oh my goodness, Chen, what happened to you? Where is Ran?" Yukari immediately sat upright and cupped the petite girls face in her hands. The warmth of her second master's hands were not enough to calm Chen's trembling. Tears streamed down the nekomata's face and soaked Yukari's pristine white gloves. Normally, this would annoy her, but Yukari didn't care at the moment.

"Chen! Chen, darling, it's alright, nothing will harm you here." She used her glove to dry away her sobbing tears and continued in a tender voice, "Just tell me what happened. Why is Ran not with you?"

Between her sniffles, Chen replied, "Master Ran... is with me... but she was... she was hurt very bad, and now Master Ran won't wake up!" Chen clutched Yukari's violet dress and began sobbing once more. All color drained from Yukari;'s face. Surely, she couldn't mean...

The woman rose from her chair and rush to where Chen and the other unidentified object fell from the sky of her dimension. What she witnessed before her rendered her speechless. The lifeless body of Ran Yakumo laid sprawled out in a pool of blood that tainted her white dress and every one of her nine golden tails with dark crimson. Slash wounds adorned her entire body and a gaping hole burrowed into where her heart used to be. Her chocolate brown eyes laid dormant, with a hazy grey film coating them.

"Ran..." the astonished woman knelt down to get a better look at her fallen companion. "My precious Ran..." she whispered as she embraced the limp corpse in her arms. "What have they done to you?"

Yukari's expression quickly shifted from one of utter shock to one of seething rage as she turned her gaze back to Chen. "Who dared murder my precious Ran?!" She exclaimed to the weeping girl.

"I— I don't know... Since you gave us some time off, Master Ran and I were heading for Ms. Fujiwara's yakitori stand, but unfortunately we got... separated in the Bamboo Forest for just a moment, and then... I... just found her like this... the culprit was already gone at that point..."

Burning rage spread through the lady's entire body, but Yukari mustered all the strength she had to compose herself. How did such a cold-blooded killer get away with such a deed? Surely she would have been able to sense that Ran was in danger beforehand.

"M-master Yukari? What are we gonna do now?"

As stray tears trickled down her face, Yukari swiftly wiped them away and cleared her through. "We shall track down the monster that took Ran away from, and give them what they deserve." No matter how hard she tried to contain her fury, her words came out with a thick coating of anger. "They will pay for this."

"I'll get 'em, Master!" cried the little nekomata as her master's barely contained rage rubbed off on her. "I'll make sure they'll never mess with the Yakumos again—"

"Oh no, no, no, my little Chen," Yukari interjected, "I will take care of this. You are still young, I wouldn't want to loose you as well. Besides, I must also find a new shikigami to take her place."

The little girl clutched Yukari's purple dress once again. "But,... without Master Ran, it's not the same..."

"Now don't you worry your two tails, my dear," Yukari whispered to Chen as she held her in a protective embrace,

"I will make sure that culprit— whatever they are— receive their just reward..."