starshine
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to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
New update sans fancy scribbles. New alternate title: Reimu Rescue
=====================
First off, it was a “Reimu.” Not “Remi.” That was one thing her
research taught her. Googling “Remi” had brought up videos of a pudgy
thing with fangs and improbably tiny wings, ripping a Reimu in half.
Followed by another fifty or so similar videos, a different helpless
yukkuri in each one. Apparently it was a popular thing.
Second, there was nothing she could do about the broken teeth. Google
pointed her to dozens of examples of yukkuri teeth being removed
(usually against the yukkuri’s will), but only a handful of examples
of those teeth coming back. Even then, the evidence was contradictory
and confusing. Either Reimu’s broken teeth would replace themselves in
a couple months, or she was going to need to find the broken pieces,
glue them together with some expensive paste and carefully insert them
back into the tiny mouth.
For now, Reimu was going to have to learn to like baby food.
The yukkuri was sleeping soundly in its new home next to Becky’s
computer. The tank would need to be tossed; for now it was salvaged by
removing the old bedding and replacing it with a couple old hand
towels. Still sniffling, Reimu had burrowed into the folds of cloth,
cries of pain replaced by soft snores, twitching bottom the only
visible sign.
As she clicked link after link, she was starting to see why it was
hard finding a sympathetic view towards yukkuris. Keeping this Reimu
alive and in good behavior was going to take some work, even without
shooting for badge certification. But as the rising sun lit up the
room, Becky felt confident she could handle this.
“Yueeeeh. Yueeeeh.” Half yawn, half moan, the Reimu wriggled out of
its impromptu nest. Blinking against the morning light, it looked
confused. “Weh ish Weimu?” The Reimu chose its words carefully,
speaking around the few teeth left. “Thish noch Weimus mistah bed. And
thish notch Mistah’s woom. An’ yu notch Mistah.” Reimu pressed its
face against the wall and stared at Becky.
“Good morning, Reimu.” Becky looked up from a diagram of the yukkuri
life cycle to greet her new pet. Reimu blinked twice.
“Goo mownig wade! Ayke id eadee!” It flapped its sideburns in what she
figured was a wave of sorts.
“Take it easy yourself. How do your teeth feel?”
As if it had forgotten about last night and was suddenly remembering,
Reimu stopped waving and frowned. “Toofs hurd. Weimu miss wunnerful
teef.”
“Sorry to hear that, Reimu.” The tank’s lid had a small trapdoor.
Becky stuck her hand in and Reimu scooted from its nest to meet it. As
the yukkuri brushed against her fingers, Becky tried not to push it
away. The yukkuri’s skin was warm and just a little bit slimy to the
touch. It definitely needed a good bath, and soon. “Are you hungry?”
“Uh-uh. Noch vewy.”
“Good. I’m going away for a bit, but not for long.”
“Weh…weh wadie goan?” Reimu pulled back from her hand, a note of fear
in its voice. It definitely remembered its previous abandonment. “We-
weimu don wand be awone. Noch vewy eaje.”
Wow, this little thing was great at tugging the heartstrings. “Don’t
worry Reimu, I’ll be back. And with easy things. Like…sweet-sweets.”
She was learning the lingo, but it sounded awkward to her ears. Who
came up with these words? Becky did not look forward to such phrases
like ‘mamumamu,’ ‘penipeni’ and ‘city-sect’ ever coming up in
conversation.
“Yuu? Yuu! Schwee schwee!” Definitely the right thing to say. Reimu
flapped its hair again and bobbed up and down. “Weimu wan schwee!
Huhwee bag wade!”
*
The baby food was the easiest part. Walking out of the store she
carried: six jars (one of each flavor), a bag of peppermints (supposed
to be calming) and sandwich fixings (for herself): a ten-minute trip.
After that things got complicated. The closest yukkuri shop was a
newly opened outlet of the EASY-GO chain. It was a squat building
downtown, painted in bright colors and with wide, shining windows on
the front. These were painted with smiling, frolicking yukkuris (Alice-
Marisa-Chen-Reimu her newfound knowledge told her) amid an eternal
springtime paradise and plastered with signs.
FREE STARTER KIT WITH PURCHASE OF 4 KOS
WEEKLY BADGE TRAINING ALL STAGES
YU-CARE CERTIFIED BREEDS SOLD HERE
YUUKAS 4 SALE LIMITED TIME ONLY
She thought it was all a bit overwhelming, really. Then she stepped
inside. Now it was definitely overwhelming.
EASY-GO’s (Easy General Outfitters, according to the sign over the
registers) interior was one giant room. The left side was filled with
shelves upon shelves of yukkuri-related merchandise. The right side
was mostly empty space, punctuated with display stands covered in
books, shiny pictures and waist-high playpens. The back seemed to be
made of tanks, each set into the wall. These were surrounded by
people, mostly kids. All were focused on the dozens of yukkuris
inside, living and playing under their audience’s watchful eye.
“Hello there and welcome to Easy General Outfitters! My name is Dave,
can I help you with anything today?” Within seconds an employee in a
red and black striped shirt appeared at Becky’s side.
“Um, yeah. I just got a yukkuri and-
“Excellent! Are you looking for anything specific? We just got in some
new yukkuri diet food and training DVDs-”
“Um, probably a tank, some toys, the basics…”
“Okay, follow me.” They headed for the shelves. “Predator or not? If
you’re looking for predator care, I can take you to the back room and
you can pick your feeders-“
“-It’s a Reimu” she blurted out. The mention of predators had brought
up the memory of those Remi videos. The thought of seeing the masses
of yukkuris destined for food did not appeal. At all.
“All right then.” They headed down the second aisle. Most the items
here where red and white. Cages, tanks, miniature treadmills and ying-
yang balls covered in fuzz…the choices were astounding. “Here’s our
Reimu collection. Are you looking for adult or koyukkuri supplies? We
offer several packages built for different ages.”
“Uh, I don’t know how old it is.” Definitely true. Becky now knew the
thresholds for baby, ko and adult, but according to her research,
those were really more like guidelines. According to some experts,
koyukkuris and babies were the same thing. “It’s about this size-“
Gesturing with her hands.
“Hmm… Do you know what its subtype is? The new minikkuris can reach
adulthood and stay that small. Otherwise, I’d guess it’s a ko. Can’t
tell without seeing it though.”
“It was a…gift. No idea. If it helps, it still can’t speak clearly.”
And wouldn’t for quite some time, if at all. But mentioning that
didn’t seem relevant.
“Got it. In that case, how about the KoStarter? Comes with guidebook,
medium cage and supplies for house and entertainment, along with a
month’s supply of Doc Johnson’s formulated yukkuri mix-
“-no food. I’ve, uh, got some already. The rest sounds great though.”
“Excellent. You’ll do great with this setup. I have a couple
koyukkuris myself, and they love it.” From floor to register, Becky
asked questions about the salesman’s yukkuris. He had a Reimu and
Alice and from the stories he told, she picked up a few new tips.
“Thanks again. I’ll try the tissue box trick for her bath. She’s
really dirty.” Arms wrapped around a 15-gallon tank filled with
reclaimed paper bedding, a two-story plastic hut, two books on yukkuri
care, a first-aid kit and several toys, Becky somehow made it back to
her car without dropping anything.
*
“Reimu! I’m home!” Becky was glad as ever to make it back to the
apartment. If carrying the loot from EASY-GO was hard, carrying it and
a bag filled with glass jars was more so. Yet somehow she’d made it
just fine.
Reimu didn’t reply. Not that Becky expected the yukkuri to; it was in
another room after all, and probably sleeping. Setting everything down
on the kitchen table, she went to the ‘office’ room to check on Reimu.
“Reimu, I’m back! Are you feeling any-ohshit.” Reimu’s temporary home
was not on the desk any longer. Instead, it was scattered in pieces on
the floor, towel-bedding unfurled in a pile. The towels looked damp
and smeared with something dark. Becky was starting to get worried
now.
“Reimu?” Stay calm, think! Something must have knocked the tank over.
Becky lived alone and had no pets, so that wasn’t the cause. The door
and windows were still in one piece, not to mention the rest of the
apartment. That ruled out home invasion. The idea of somebody breaking
in just to throw a yukkuri house off the desk was so absurd as to be
ignored outright. Barring Acts of God, that left one thing: Reimu did
it. Was she trying to escape? Was it an accident? Where was she?
Dropping on hands and knees, Becky peeked under the room’s shelves,
behind the filing cabinet and computer monitor. Nothing. The door had
been closed when she got back, so Reimu was somewhere in this room
still. It was between the desk and trash can she found the tiny
yukkuri, shivering and sniffling.
“yeee…yaaaa…” Reimu looked dirtier than before, half her body
liberally streaked with what Becky assumed was shit. Though the
yukkuri seemed plumper and less pale than when last night, it looked
even more miserable.
“There you are Reimu! I was getting worried. Are you okay?”
“YEEEEH! Don’ toch waimu!” The yukkuri tried to wriggle away from
Becky’s hand, but didn’t have the strength. “Wem noch wan wade dirdy!
Weimu sowee! Weimu hurd! Yueeeeeh….yueeeeh…yueeeeh…”
“There, there,” Holding Reimu was like holding a mud-covered water
balloon filled with refried beans. The yukkuri didn’t try to struggle
once Becky cupped her fingers around Reimu and lifted her from the
floor. Walking around the shards of plastic, Becky headed for the
kitchen. “What happened, Reimu?”
What came from the yukkuri’s mouth was hard to understand. Something
about being sleepy and then using the bathroom in her nest and waking
up to the smell of shit and freaking out and trying to escape then
shitting again then more panic then thrashing around and knocking her
home to the ground and not wanting to be left alone again but finding
herself all alone forever and ever and thinking she was abandoned
again and-
It took several minutes of speaking and stroking the yukkuri softly
for Reimu to calm down. By the time the yukkuri stopped gnashing its
few remaining teeth and trying to crawl away off the kitchen table,
Becky had the first jar of baby food opened and a little poured into
the lid. The smell of pureed apples seemed to help distract Reimu from
her woes.
“Yu? Wa iz dat?” Reimu wriggled out from under Becky’s hand, face
twitching. “Sme’ goo’. Iz mizter food?” Without waiting for an answer,
Reimu stuck her tongue out and scooped a piece up. “Yuuuu! Iz sweed!
Habinej!”
Reimu was a messy eater. By the time she’d finished the whole jar,
Reimu’s whole face was splattered with food, along with the area
around the makeshift bowl. While the yukkuri had stuffed itself, Becky
was busy unpacking everything else, ignoring her empty stomach’s
gurgles.
“Hab-habinez! Weimu ish fuwl. Fang uu wadee…” The yukkuri crawled away
a few inches, flopped onto her back and gave a heaving sigh of
contentment. “Weimu gan dag id eage nah…” Seconds later, the yukkuri
was snoring heavily, body heaving up and down slowly.
Becky took this moment to fix herself a quick sandwich, eating with
one hand while she continued to work. The new tank was emptied then
the bag of bedding opened and poured inside in a shallow layer. In one
corner went the plastic hut, ramp attached to let Reimu reach the
second floor’s single room. Becky stuffed a handful of fluff into the
ground floor’s chamber, placed the food plate on the opposite side and
the toilet pan against the back wall, between food and bed. After the
lid was securely fastened, she filled the water bottle, added a pinch
of sweetener and slid it into the hole on the lid.
The whole setup looked like a mouse would find it cozier than yukkuris
would. But according to David from EASY-GO, it would be perfect for a
young, growing yukkuri to stay safe and happy.
“Yuepe…wike fwig in sgeye…” Reimu stirred slightly as Becky picked her
from the table and placed her in on the bed inside. Feeling the soft
cotton on her skin, Reimu snuggled deeper, slowly noticing her
surroundings had changed for the better. “Weimu ish…on cwoud?” Reimu
woke up. “Yueh?! Weimu noch weh Weimu waz? Wha haben do Weimu?”
The yukkuri flew out of the house, throwing bedding everywhere as she
explored every corner of the tank. “Weimu in mista howz? Weimu hav
mista soft eveeweh? Weimu get mista watah and mista plate? Iz Weimu
dweam?”
Then Reimu noticed Becky outside, looking in. “An’ how wadee ged
oudide? Iz…iz Weimu indide new howse?”
Becky nodded. “Yep. Its your new home, Reimu.”
“I-is-iz Weimu…W-wa-wadee’z pet?” Becky just nodded again.
The yukkuri’s huge, broken-toothed grin was strangely weird and
endearing.
“Ang oo WAdee! Tank u! Wadee id de eadiesd evah! Weimu wanna be de bez
evah fo Wadee!”