Gensoukyou… A land of mystery and fantasies, full of humans and youkai alike: a place of both life and death. It is a concealed area, hidden within a mountainous Yatsugatake area of Japan, protected by the Great Hakurei Barrier made by by youkai in particular who was supposedly the mother of the land. But beneath all this mysticism and wonder, to the far reaches of Gensoukyo, lay an area near Higan called Hakugyokurou; a departed place overlooking the other side, the Netherworld. A manor with its cherry blossom garden resides here with its three human residents, Youki, Youmu and Yuyuko, with one tree in particular called the "Saigyou Ayakashi". But this tree was all but a curse for the area as every rose does indeed, have its thorn.
It was daylight at the Hakugyokurou manor and Youmu is practising her swordsmanship with her mentor, Youki, at the grounds of the manor. The garden in the area was wonderous with its cherry blossoms, which is was renowned for as ghosts, given its stature, would come there once every so often just to see them and Yuyuko being its head.
"Come on, Youmu! Put some backbone into it!" exclaims Youki, as he overpowered Youmu in their training. Trying, Youmu retaliates but ends up being pushed to the ground after clashing swords with her mentor after a strong push of the blade. Putting his sword to his side, he says to Youmu, "Surely you can do better than that. You'll never become good enough with a blade if that is all that you can muster." Youmu begins to feel taunted by Youki's comment, gripping onto her sword as she lets out a cry before moving away from the ground and striking her mentor again. Yuyuko, from the distance, emerges out from the manor and onto the floor boards, which she then moves her head upwards with her eyes closed, feeling the breeze rushing passed her face as she stays her happily, then opening her eyes to gaze at the magnificent scenery in front of her. Soon after, she begins to hear grunting nearby as she turned into the direction of the emitted sound, walking towards it.
Youmu begins to pant after a while of swinging her sword about and wipes her forehead of any profuse sweat. "That's enough for today." says Youki, putting his sword back into his sheath. "But why now?", says the panting Youmu, "Come on, I can… still… go on." say raises her sword into a vertical position as she begins to hold it with both hands. Youki sighs after hearing that from Youmu. "Look, Youmu, as eager as you are, I'm afraid that is all we have time for." Youmu ignores this and insists that he wants to continue as she was not ready to end the session as Youki soundly passes by her, turning her head around to face her and saying, "But Youki…" Before she could finish her sentence, Youki swiftly put a leg in front of her left leg, hand on the back of her head and forcefully pushed her forwards whilst moving his leg backwards, causing Youmu to plummet to the ground with her face into it. "There, are you convinced now?" he asks as he turns away from Youmu, "You were too slow to even counter me."
Youmu gasps and groans as she puts herself up from the ground. Thankfully not harmed by the sword despite its positioning as she could just about move it slightly, she was finally able to stand up, spitting some dirt out which had gotten into her mouth. Angered, she yells at Youki, "Why did you have to do that!" "To teach you a lesson since your ears obviously need cleaning," he bluntly says. "If you wish to be a good swordsman, stop being half-baked and listen to the words of your mentor. This session…," he says as he begins to walk away and continue, "... it over."
"... Fine, then, Teacher." Youmu puts her sword back into her sheath after a few swings with it, only to walk away and turning away. "Well, she took that very well." says Yuyuko, who managed to grab Youki's attention as he then stopped to face her, "At least you can say she knows her manners." "Perhaps" he responds, closing his eyes, "But there's more to it than simply that." Yuyuko just giggles at that remark. "One cannot expect to walk until they learn how to crawl." "I…" he says in disgust after she says that, looking away with a weird look, "Whatever you say."
"Well, I suppose you can go back into the manor and grab yourself something to eat, or drink," says Yuyuko with a look of slight concern after thinking that he would be even slightly dehydrated after such sparring. She brings her fan out, which she then opens, and begins to fan herself with it, closing her eyes with a delightful smile, "You must be parched from that." Youki just chuckles from that comment. "Hardly," he says boldly. He begins to walk away from Yuyuko shortly after, as he had something on his mind.
Yuyuko noticed him beginning to move away from her after she opened her eyes and stops moving her fan, but only to move the hand that was equipped with it in front of her mouth instead. "Oh, leaving so soon?" she asks in curiosity. This causes Youki to stop briefly, saying "I thought I'd have a look at the botany in this hapless place" in response. Yuyuko becomes alerted by this rude comment of Youki's and sharply says, "Hapless!?" He turns to face Yuyuko as so to talk to her face to face and explain exactly what he meant, "Come on, Yuyuko, despite how gorgeous the scenery is with the greenery and cherry blossoms and such, it is just a place for the dead to come by." "Well, every rose has its thorn." she responds, acknowledging his comment and how it reflected the situation, "The area is the beauty and the dead are the rancid. Just like a coin." she puts her fan away after saying that.
"Yes, you're right," he responds, "Just like light and dark are two opposites of each other and life and death. Now if you will excuse me…" He begins to move away from Yuyuko after saying that, not finishing his own sentence. Yuyuko continues to look in Youki's direction for a while before turning to face Youmu, who was tending the garden, and begins to think to herself, "Your teacher surely is something out of the ordinary, isn't he, Youmu? He only wants the best from you." She walks over to Youmu after thinking so she can converse with her.
Youmu is watering the plants in the area, still slightly exhausted from the sparring with her mentor. She wanted to focus her attention of something else and that thing being the botany, so she decided to occupy herself. The area of which she was tending to had lots exotic flowers such as bleeding hearts and camellia. As she did her job, Yuyuko stopped by her. "You know, those flowers look lovely today, don't they?" she said from out of the blue. This causes Youmu to stop what she was doing and tilts her watering can back, putting it upright. "Ah, hello, Yuyuko!" she responds as she brings herself up to level with Yuyuko, "What I can do with you?" "Oh, me?" she questions, "I just felt like coming over to watch what you were doing." She makes a sound of agreement after saying that and continues on, "Keeping the life at bay."
Youmu shrugs after she says that, accidentally tipping the watering can over and spilling the water as she did not even notices this, or even heard the impact, as she move her hands and arms back into position. "Someone has to do it," she says, "Either me or Youki." "Well, you do an excellent job." applauds Yuyuko, turning her attention to the flowery area as something grabs her attention, "And what would look at all the Azaleas!" she moved over to the flowers as she said that and crept down to have a better view and furthers her compliments, "It looks like they finally bloomed! Both you and Youki did a fine job."
"Well…" says the blushing Youmu as she touched her index fingers repeatedly, "You flatter me." "Don't be ashamed. It is good what you do." She brings herself back up and puts her left hand on Youmu's right shoulder, causing her to become startled. "Feel proud at what you did!" Youmu begins to wiggle her mouth after hearing this as she does not what to say. She then struggles to talk and ends up muttering, "T-t-thank you." she then begins to talk properly as she finds the strength to be able to, "But they will die shortly and that won't be beautiful."
Yuyuko takes her hand away from Youmu's shoulder and responds, "Nothing lasts forever. Things bring about birth, then die. It's the way of life." "But…" Youmu gasps quickly before continuing, "... I knew that. I am human, you are human. We both knew that we were born." "But we don't remember being born." responds Yuyuko. Youmu begins to look at Yuyuko with a confused expression, "What do you mean?" Yuyuko begins to clear her throat after hearing that and becomes serious in the moment, "Well, do you remember being born? Do you remember your early days as a baby?" Youmu just looks at Yuyuko weirdly and lies after turning her face away, "Of course I do. I… I…" she began to wiggle her mouth again before continuing, "remembered that I walked." Yuyuko begins to giggle from this, mockingly, and asks, "Oh, yes? What age? One? Two?"
At this point, Youmu admits defeat as she does not have any witty retorts or comebacks to help in her defence. She sighs and brings her tilts her head down slightly as she then closes her eyes, "Fine. I don't remember that far back." "Of course you don't. Just like some people hardly remember their dreams." says Yuyuko, "But that is just how our minds work."
"I suppose…" says Youmu. Yuyuko carries what what seems to be a lecture, "Life and death is about as different as night and day." She begins to sway her head from side to side in according with how she talks, "First we have day, then it disappears and we have night. First all life, humans, plants, animals, give birth, then all living things cease to exist." At this moment, Youmu's eyes are left spinning for a moment until she manages to straighten them and look back at Yuyuko again. "Sorry, you just lost me, there." she says, hinting that what Yuyuko flew over her as she seemingly did not understand what Yuyuko said to a degree. Yuyuko signs and puts her left arm onto her left hip, saying, "Then I will just start from the beginning, OK?" Youmu opens her eyes wide and protects, swaying her hand in a no-like gesture, "No, it's OK." she reverts her eyes back to their normal state and stops moving her head before continuing, "I heard what she said. We live and die, as does everything else."
Yuyuko smiles at this, nodding and blinking. "I'm glad we cleared that up." She then turns her back towards Youmu, facing the direction in which the manor was in, "Now, I will just return back inside. Oh, and…" she turns to face Youmu one last time with closed eyes and a smile to says what she wants to say, givingly, before decided to walk away, "... remember to look before you leap next time you are doing your sports." She walks away from the area shortly after saying those final words to Youmu as intended.
"... Annoying. She might as well make a retort instead of…," the irked Youmu turns to face the botany as she then continues, "... making a garbled mess of things." She resumes her work in the area before thinking of doing anything else.
End of Chapter