Amazon/Hunter

A kill is a kill. A success is a success. Regardless of reason or method, what something is cannot be fundamentally changed. But there's one reason, at least in Gensokyo, that reigns supreme. Survival. And when the things most likely to be hunting you are ten times as strong and just as fast, sometimes you got to cross a line. Of course, death isn't always permanent in Gensokyo, but hey. Killing something is going to slow something down by a little, at least.

The dirty tricks intrinsic to street fighting are persistant everywhere, because if it works why fix it? Kicks to the shin, kidney shots, palms to the ear...survival isn't a matter of honor or technique. It's survival. Of course, if technique helps, then by all means use it. That's how they learned, from a youkai gate guard who was more than willing to provide a central foundation to their desire to live.

Surprise as well was a factor. Strike when least expected, strike with what was least expected. That mantra was slammed into them with every single painful slam, every singing bullet of danmaku, by a forgotten umbrella who proved far more powerful than they thought.

And if they were going all out with the 'cheating', so to speak, why not take the whole cake while they were at it? The Black Arts of Magic, the voodoo and luck manipulation and the forgotten arcana hated by all, sang to them like muses. Things that required no innate ability, only an unspoken tenacity and the unshakeable urge to harm.

Of course, our errant protagonist fell upon yet another misfortune. Or perhaps fortune? But when that ancient rabbit discovered a true gift for the despicable in him, that budding combat style grew to beyond just him: traps of all sorts, burning away at flesh with kerosene, blasting with bursts of liquid nitrogen, or flashfrying in a flash of lightning. If he didn't have to do the hard work, then that just left more energy for him to survive with.

Does treasure discover itself? Does the hunter discover treasure? Or does the treasure discover the hunter? Pointless questions. But when you're finding food, finding money to pay for a warm roof over your head, you'll do anything. And if the shoddy dowsing rods you use happen to be decent weapons, then go for it. If two weapons happen to hit twice as often as one, then sure. And if a certain mouse finds you half dead and takes a shine to you, well, that's a gift.

But preperation is pointless if you don't know what's coming. So know what's coming. Or try to. Learn how, or learn how best to, from the girls who most certainly do know. Watch how those muscles twitch, how the feet shift, and how the blade turns ever so slightly before it flies way over your face because you knew exactly how and when it was coming.

That was the story, the legends, of the first. And so he taught his art to those who cared to learn, the downtrodden and the poor who held no blessings and no love. And so they taught, and so on and so on until the very mention of 'hunters' brings a smirk to half the bar...

They are the unsung saviors of Gensokyo. The killers and assassins, the backstabbers and the trappers. They need not the gods' blessings nor the silent vigils of the spirits. The elements do not heed their call, nor does the magic of the world answer them. Through dirty tricks and tenacity, through every single trick they can learn, through their own physical and mental merit, and every single thing at their disposal, they are the living. They are the hunters. And they will not be hunted.

Not now. Not ever.