Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou Project nor do I own any of its characters. That right belongs to ZUN.

The heartbeat in nothingness/everything. Residing against/with the black/white foreground/background, always/never there. The only thing left bound with restrictions, its slow pulses indicating its slumber, among the chaotic/orderly world/void. It thrummed unceasingly; slowly, peacefully, but with tremendous power, each beat shaking/stilling its resting place/awakened void. It had only been there for an instant/eternity, but it had felt like an eternity/instant. Now it was time to wake up/slumber. Slowly, the heartbeat trembled and rose in octave, as the surroundings began/ended to brighten/dull. The resulting pulse let loose wave after wave of power, going outwards/coming inwards, giving shape to the world/void. And so the plane of contradictions was made stable, its boundaries solidifying in place, and the abyss took shape once more. One not of mortals, nor of the divine; a world of blank darkness, dotted with endless numbers of curious red eyes. All of them looked silently towards the heartbeat, which was growing louder, once again taking form, the conscious reshaping its body from nothing. The figure formed, raised its hand, and sliced reality in two, with the sound of a blade being drawn:

*Shiiiiiiiiiinnngg!*

Gensokyo. Home of the forgotten. The sun was shining, the air was fresh, and some of the fairies were hosting various games of tag for sheer amusement. This was the scene to which a hole in existence made itself known, ready to encompass the entire world, only to be thwarted by two red ribbons. The wide scarlet eyes of the gap peered curiously out onto the fresh grass, admiring the world beyond itself in all of its natural glory, before returning its attention to its former occupant, who gently floated herself down onto the ground in her white dress adorned with frills, parasol in hand.

Boundary of Instantaneous and Eternal.

Immediately, the conceptual barrier that kept the two opposites apart was distorted, becoming semi-permeable and allowing eternity's concept to be applied to the instant in which the woman stood. Time became trapped in amber; figuratively, of course, but it might as well been, considering how everything was now frozen. It was unlikely that, if the being had been anyone else, she would've been unable to tell that time was, even now, barely inching forward; not that it would get anywhere. Now then, where exactly was she, and who was she, and why…

Boundary of Remembered and Forgotten

…Ah, right. She was Yukari Yakumo, the Border of Phantasm, the Youkai of Boundaries, and she had once again awoken from her hibernation… if one could even call such a state 'hibernation'. That would explain why she was feeling so groggy right now. Speaking of which…

Boundary of Awake and Asleep

Now, swiftly re-energized, and in the privacy of 'nearly' frozen time, Yukari decided to stretch out her newly remade muscles. Sure, there was a boundary for that too, but had been a while since she had been awake, and stretching them just felt right. Not that she'd let anyone know about this little wake up routine, or the fact there was ever a time that she dropped her mysterious facade. There was just way too much fun to be milked from the paradise's inhabitants that would otherwise be missed, including its shrine maiden.

Yukari paused, and her grin widened. Especially its shrine maiden.

Recollections of the many times she had managed to irritate the red-white came trickling to the forefront of her thoughts. The simplest way to tick her off was by simply appearing in some random place in and around her shrine, or perhaps just making the shrine's donation box vanish for a period of time. None of those, however, could compare with the expression Reimu had created when said shrine maiden had first discovered that the request to fix the border between the Netherworld and Gensokyo went completely ignored. The red-white's face had swelled from white to red to purple in a matter of seconds in her comical anger. Like…like a tomato, attempting to become an eggplant through sheer willpower.

Yukari reflexively pulled out a paper fan from nowhere to hide the soft laughter the comparison invoked. She began to wonder what other colors Reimu's face cou-

Boundary of Focused and Scatterbrained

A quick snapping noise echoed through her head, and suddenly Yukari found her priorities straightened. A disappointed sigh escaped the Border of Phantasm. But, of course, there were still things to do; reminiscing would have to wait.

Recalling that she hadn't exactly had any sustenance in however long, and disregarding the fact that she didn't necessarily require physical sustenance anyway, she flexed her will and reached for the threads that were the tapestry of existence.

Boundary of Reality and Fan-

...No, that wouldn't do. That boundary was much too much for a simple cup of tea. Yukari briefly glared at her own hand, as if it was the one who decided to spawn things from pure imagination, then lightly shook her head. It seemed that she was becoming rusty in the creative use of her power. Using one boundary too much left other options for granted, and while the border between fantasy and reality was a powerful one, that did not make it the only one that mattered. Not to say that she was against adjusting the line that separated those two concepts in any way; it was one of her favorites, in all honesty. Rather, it was simply the fact that manipulating the same borders over and over took the variety out of life way too often, and, while such a practice was incredibly convenient and undoubtedly useful, it could potentially hamper the full potential of her abilities; not to mention said habit's tendency to make the passing days duller as a side effect.

With this in mind, the youkai sage turned her attention back to the task at hand. She was the youkai of all boundaries, so it was better fitting that more than a mere handful of them got a chance being bent to her will.

…Boundary of Tea and No Tea

The air before her shimmered, and the lack of presence from the vaguer definition of 'tea' was flipped almost entirely on its head; in this case, that vaguer definition being a fine china teacup filled to the brim with the hot, freshly-prepared beverage, as that is what most entities visualized when the word 'tea' was mentioned. As a result, this image became physically present before her; where it had come from, though, was anybody's guess. Yukari caught what she had summoned with grace and politely sipped from the cup with elegance. It wasn't long before she decided she didn't want anything other than tea presently, and, unsurprisingly, the gap youkai soon began gazing at the borders that defined the tea itself.

Boundary of Filling Meal and Light Meal

Redefining where this border divided either concept effectively made drinking the cup of tea the equivalent of eating a ten-course supper, and in no time at all, Yukari's stomach was filled to the brim. So fast, in fact, that the gap youkai was almost surprised by how quickly her drink had disappeared. Just almost, though, considering the fact that an instant and the concept of eternity...were still...intermingling…

Oh, right. By the Dragon, she was off today.

Boundary of Eternal and Instantaneous

Just like that, the translucent border hardened, and soon the world was once again roaring with color and noise, the birds and fairies sprang to life as the moment was freed from its eternal imprisonment. The Border of Phantasm briefly considered covering up her slight mistake, but ultimately decided against it, knowing that only Eientei's Lunarians might've sensed what happened, and, most likely, the maid.

And hiding anything from Eiki was fairly useless.

Willing the still-present gap behind her to close and taking a good look around for the first time, the Border of Phantasm realized that she was standing near the banks of Misty Lake, which could certainly explain the number of fairies present. As she watched the fairies go about in their playful demeanor, Yukari's trains of thought (yes, plural) began to take a different route. "I wonder if anything interesting happened while I was away," the gap youkai mused to herself, chuckling at her little joke. Of course something interesting had happened; it was simply the nature of Gensokyo. Overtaken by curiosity, the Youkai of Boundaries took hold of one of the more particularly helpful borders.

Boundary of Knowledge and Ignorance

"..."

For a few moments, the blonde mastermind was silent; the loud bickering coming from the fairies' direction faded into background as Yukari crossed the metaphysical line that naturally dictated that, since she had not been actually present in Gensokyo for however long, she was therefore unaware of the events that had transpired in her absence; a dictation that was soon to be made invalid as the result of her actions. A stream of visions stirred within her head, and Yukari looked on with anticipation as she was presented with a short, vague summary of what had happened since she had last been present.

"...Hmm...well, but of course...that'll have to be fixed…the barrier is still intact, obviously...Hakugyokurou might need a bigger budget ...Ran and Chen are fine…perhaps that needs more attention…"

….That's it? The gap youkai blinked in mild shock, before checking the boundary again, and several other borders like it. Only to end up with the same results. Aside from a few issues between some youkai and the Human Village, a large crater now existing near Eientei, and that amanojaku messing with the locals, absolutely nothing significant had happened in her absence. Which was almost alarming, seeing that, in Gensokyo, some major incident occurred on a regular basis. She shook her head slightly in disbelief. No, that couldn't be right, she was certain that the boundary between peaceful and troublesome had been singing quite a different tune not too long ago; perhaps there had been a misinterpretation?

Yukari idly noted that the local wildlife-er, fairies-had inevitably taken their petty arguments and upgraded to a brawl, taking pleasure in hurling large amounts of danmaku at each other. Coupling that with their typical frailty, the scene quickly transformed into something of a firework show, with each shot turning a participant into an explosion of sparkles. Yukari admired the morbidly fascinating scene in silence, contemplating her newest dilemma. These days, the only source of entertainment, besides the occasional practical joke, readily available was watching Reimu and company put hordes of enemies through the figurative cheese grater. With this unexpected stretch of peace, however, the inclination to cause trouble was reduced, most likely by a significant margin if the youkai were content, however unlikely. While not always the case, it usually meant less time for entertainment, and more time towards upholding Gensokyo's foundations, which, while important, meant checking the insides of the giant inter-dimensional bubble that was the Great Hakurei Barrier more frequently than what was probably necessary. While boundaries were her specialty, staring at one for however long was not her cup of tea, so to speak.

…An amused smile crossed the gap youkai's face when she recognized the pun she'd offhandedly made, taking a glance down at her empty drinking utensil before depositing it in a gap that obediently zipped itself away soon thereafter.

Joking aside, even if her shikigami were stupendous helpers in this regard, the fact still stood that she needed to keep tabs on that vital border regularly. Otherwise, Shikieiki, as Gensokyo's Yama, might get the feeling that something was off, and could start to get …suspicious. Which never bode well when the deity was off duty.

Yukari shivered involuntarily. Even if she wasn't directly under Eiki's thumb, the last thing she needed was to go through another one of the Yama's infamous lectures about "bad habits and the evils they give birth to". Escaping those never-ending speeches while on the judge's hit list was a task often easier said than done. And while yes, some youkai would eventually snap and do something stupid, she was bored; an emotion that seemed to be growing all the more common as of late. So, by default, there was only one option le-wait a second.

An idea striking her, the Youkai of Boundaries snapped her fingers and thought of some of the more entertaining moments she had come to observe, from the priceless faces Miko's group had displayed the night Yuyuko was challenged to an eating contest to the time Marisa had found the means to somehow steal Remilia's wings right off her back. The initial surprise, the moment of realization, the endless laughter and, in Remilia's case, the torrent of death threats that followed that were all embedded in Yukari's memories, memories that now stepped forward in response to their owner's silent command. The barriers that served as the universe's foundations were once again revised, but this time, Yukari reached within, and gently grasped her own emotions.

Boundary between Excitement and Boredom

Yukari gasped as she felt an indescribable rush course through her, a sense of jubilation that she had nearly forgotten. The thrill of adventure, the love of wacky antics, and the appreciation for life was renewed and doubled within her, and, for once, she truly felt 17 years old again.

For a whopping ten seconds, before her pesky sense of reality kicked in and realized there was no reason to be excited.

Yukari sighed and cracked her knuckles; well, it wasn't like it had lasted indefinitely any of the first million times she tried it.

So yeah, as she was saying, the only option left was to cause an incident herself. The gap youkai grinned with a strange sense of anticipation. Disregarding her daily manipulations, it seemed that, for in whoever knows how long, she was going to be the direct culprit behind Gensokyo's newest disaster, as technically she wasn't the entire reason the Netherworld and Gensokyo were so close; Yuyuko asked her to make it so. She couldn't, in good conscience, let Reimu lose her edge, now could she? The red-white miko had been undoubtedly been taking advantage of the long, relatively peaceful time to laze her days away. With the events that could come, that needed to change.

Yukari's thought trains were kicking into high gear now, zipping around the nonexistent confines of her brain, and making annoyingly loud locomotive noises that would have most people covering their ears; not that Yukari was like most people anyhow. The gap youkai drove those trains with passion, and again promptly decided that enough wasn't enough.

Boundary of Mischievous and Serious

If it weren't for the fact that Yukari was wearing her near impenetrable facade, she probably would've cackled out loud, and everyone with a half a mile of her would've fled in fear. As it was, the only scrap of evidence that hinted at the maelstrom whirling in Yukari's head was her slightly larger than normal smirk that gently adorned her visage. If she was going to downgrade from Phantasm Boss to that of Stage 6, she was going to make sure that the entire trip would be an experience.

BOUNDARY BETWEEN CHARACTERS AND THEIR MEDIUMS

Yukari's face morphed into a scowl as sudden pain introduced itself, her head throbbing as the annoying headache suddenly started screeching at her. Reflexively, the gap youkai reached for the cause, and soon the sensitive, upstart boundary was yanked back into its original shape and placement, from which it had so rudely been dragged from.

"..."

...She thought she had finally been rid of that little issue. Hadn't the last migraine been years ago? Why was she having one now?

"…Perhaps it was mere coincidence."

She dismissively shook her head and regained a pleasant smile on her face. Now, where exactly should she start?

"Hey, you!" hollered an indignant voice, sounding very much displeased. Yukari looked back at the lake, managing to keep the mild irritation off of her face, to bear witness to an almost completely fairy-free body of water, save for the large amount of sparkles that now polluted its surface, as well as a lone figure hovering above the carnage. The creature-ahem, fairy, wore a blue dress that ended in white triangles, and came equipped with a green bow tied to back of her head that contrasted well with her lighter blue hair. But her most notable (and, if Yukari had to say, iconic) physical features the fairy possessed were the six sharp icicles that took the place of her wings.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, lady!" the bluenette yelled again, despite the fact the two literally couldn't have been more than five meters away from each other. "I'm Cirno, and I'm the strongest, so you better get out of my turf before I make you!"

The gap youkai felt her irritation morph into amusement as she realized who was speaking. Ah, yes. The infamous troublemaker whose two purposes in life was to claim that she was better than you and substitute for comic relief. It was almost sad, considering that this was the only Gensokyan fairy that ever gave the black-white of all people a run for her money. Once. Maybe twice if she really counted.

Yukari gave Cirno's triumphant pose a once over before smiling condescendingly at the hyperactive idiot. "Don't you mean get off your turf?"

"No! I mean get out of my turf! You're clearly standing in the water, and I won this lake fair and square!" Lord Baka herself exclaimed indignantly, aiming her index finger towards Yukari's lower half. Yukari took a look down, and to her surprise, she was in fact standing in the water Cirno had so boldly claimed as her own.

"I guess I really wasn't paying attention during that brainstorming session," The gap youkai thought with a feeling of slight embarrassment that failed to express itself whatsoever to the world outside her body. Not that it was going to ever happen if she could help it. She did have an image to maintain, after all.

"So, what makes this lake yours, ice fairy?" Yukari inquired as she casually parted the waters around herself, figuring that Cirno would most likely fall victim to the change in subject. And fall victim she did.

"Duh! This is my home! And I'm the strongest! AND I defeated everybody else here to prove I'm the strongest!" the popsicle responded with a large amount of enthusiasm, a grin searing itself onto her face in place of the scowl that had been there.

"...Not including the marine life, apparently," Yukari mused, taking note of the quiet presences lurking further beneath the giant lake's surface. "It would seem that Cirno is entirely unaware of those who live in the depths. Curious. I wonder if the fish know that they've gained a landlady?"

"…Was there any particular necessity for wiping out so many fairies?" Yukari inquired idly, devoting a minimal amount of of her brain power to the conversation, and devoted what remained to brainstorming...potential strings of events. Cirno was all too eager to answer.

"Weeell, I was actually spending some time with Wriggle and Rumia this morning," the bluenette began, failing to notice the slightly sour expression Yukari gained at the mention of the darkness youkai, "But when I came back, all these meanies were hogging my lake and my house to themselves! They wouldn't go away, even when I asked nicely! So, I challenged them to a game of tag, and if I tagged everyone they would leave! They all agreed, and I got them all!"

"Was it freeze tag?" the gap youkai deadpanned, arriving at this conclusion before Cirno could even get halfway through.

"You see, there's this special style of tag that only I can perform, and-HEY! Let me finish my story!" Cirno whined, expelling a fine mist from her body in her annoyance. "Anyway, after I revealed my secret technique, no one stood a chance! But when I unfroze them to make them leave, they got all angry, and started a danmaku battle! So I'm proved to them yet again why I am the strongest! That's what they get for playing in my lake without permission!"

"You do realize that many of those fairies may live here as well, right?"

"Yes, but that only makes it more important that they know who they're messing with!"

Yukari was beginning to wonder whether talking to the overenthusiastic child was even worth the effort of standing in the lakebed. There were definitely better things to be doing, notably deciding how to protect the well-being of the shrine during her scheduled chaos. Hey, there was a line not to cross, after all. So why was she humoring this fairy in the first place? It's not like Cirno would play any part in her newest...plan.

Wait a minute.

At this point, Cirno had to be one of the more well-known nuisances in Gensokyo, and largely ignored due to fact she, well, wasn't very bright or mature, as most fairies tended to be. She challenged more people to a fight than a Pokemon Trainer, and whenever she did leave 'her' lake, she had a tendency to leave trouble in her wake. Despite what most would say, she was fairly powerful.

So… how would Gensokyo react if Cirno actually became a threat? Or, dare she think it…useful?

Yukari started to emit a bit of her malevolent aura as she began chuckling to herself. The expressions of shock and disbelief certainly wouldn't be few in number, that was for sure.

An entertaining side project if she had ever thought of one.

Of course, being a fairy, her icy subject would need to be run through a couple of 'tests', but that shouldn't be much of an issue. If she had any redeeming qualities beyond her abilities, it'd certainly be those spouts of motivation she seemed to have.

…Actually, why stop at Cirno? She certainly wasn't the only individual in Gensokyo due for a bit of reforming; why not spread the love a bit?

"And another thing!" Apparently the ❾ was still talking. "You still haven't gotten out of my lake! Get out!"

Yukari indicated distractedly towards the completely dry circle of earth she was standing in, surrounded by but definitely not touching the water.

"The lake bed is still part of the lake, idiot! Fine, I'll make you get out!" Cirno created a literal hailstorm of projectiles and flung them at the perceived intruder, who was still thoughtfully rubbing her chin with one hand, and resting her open parasol against her shoulder with the other.

Boundary of Here and There

Two portions of space were thrust aside as the gap ripped itself into existence in front of Yukari's pondering form, a few of its ruby eyes glaring at the incoming projectiles, and the wave of sleet was promptly consumed. A similar rip in space materialized above Cirno, resulting in bathing the fairy of cold in the frosty shower of her own attack.

"W-what?" Cirno thought to herself in shock, soon moving to and fro to avoid being hit; no one had ever redirected her attacks so easily before. After the downpour subsided, Cirno took a closer look at her opponent. ...Now that she was really thinking about it, she vaguely remembered something about portals with ribbons on them…

"...Oh hey! You're that Your-Car-Fee person that everybody knows about!" the popsicle exclaimed in realization, hands on her hips in her triumphant pose.

Boundary between Irritation and Serenity

Yukari's eye was prevented from twitching due to the skillful bending of the boundary most useful in these type of conversations. "Not quite, ice fairy." she said in a pleasant tone, "Try again."

"You-Can-See?"

Boundary between Irritation and Serenity

"You-Can't-Pee?"

Boundary between Irritation and Serenity

"Hmmm….Oh, I know! Gap Hag!"

Boundary between Anger and Serenity

"...Hey, Cirno~, how would you like to become even stronger?" Aforementioned gap hag spoke in a sugary sweet tone.

"Huh?" The frosty prankster took a few moments to process the question, after which said question was finally able to shoulder its way through the TV static of Cirno's brain. "Wait a sec! You mean, there's a way to be even stronger than the strongest?" She lit up like her birthday came early when Yukari nodded ascent with an amused smile. "Yes! Of course I would! Would you really help me?"

"But of course! Think of it as a gift, a sign of goodwill between new friends." The Border of Phantasm cheerfully replied, shadows already lowering over her closed eyelids. "Would you come over here, please?"

Cirno did a little twirl in the air before landing on the water in front of Yukari, the surface instantly freezing over as soon as she made contact. "So, what kind of super special moves are you going to teach me?"

"It's a different kind of strength, Cirno," Yukari giggled innocently with that accursed fan over her mouth.

This caught the ice fairy's attention. "A different kind of strength? Isn't there only one kind?" she asked with a note of confusion.

Yukari made a show of looking around as if someone else might have been listening in, and turned to the eager ice fairy. "Can you keep a secret?"

Cirno was standing on her toes at this point, and nodding so fast her head nearly popped off.

Yukari slowly, slowly, ever so slowly leaned in, and gently whispered into Cirno's ear.

"Enjoy the ride."

Cirno's face immediately screwed up in confusion. "What the heck does that-"

Unfortunately, the idiot was never given the time to complete her sentence, for as soon as she spoke, the dark void of the gap made itself known behind Yukari, and its summoner picked up the startled fairy by the back of her collar and flung her headfirst into the abyss. Cirno soon lost all sense of direction as she hurtled through the darkness. Whispers echoed throughout the sea of black. Each of the scarlet eyes she passed were sparkling with malicious glee, and Cirno soon found herself starting to panic.

That was before the pain hit.

A gap appeared in front of her, and Cirno was powerless to stop herself from passing through. Immediately a searing pain hit her, like someone was pressing an iron brand against her forehead. She yelped, and before she could recover, another gap had swallowed her whole. This time it felt like her entire body went numb.

But those were nothing compared to the third gap.

Cirno screamed as she experienced the horrid combination of a hangover, migraine, and headache all at once, multiplied by ten. The fairy could literally feel her brain swelling against the inside of her thick skull, convulsing as it expanded and stretched, until it felt like her head would explode. Thousands of realizations passed through Cirno's mind, but she was unable to comprehend any of them. The background whispers rose to a crescendo, garbling and hissing in unintelligible strings of words, as Cirno wrapped her arms around her head to unsuccessfully block out the pain and the noise. Eventually, it became too much for the ice fairy to handle, and she began to slip from consciousness. A single voice rose above the others, bearing a phrase that echoed in Cirno's subconscious long after she fell from the waking world.

"Boundary of Intelligence and Stupidity"

End of Prologue