Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE TOUHOU PROJECT. THAT HONOR GOES TO ZUN OF TEAM SHANGHAI ALICE. However, this story DOES belong to me. If this bears any similarities to any already existing works on this site, I will work to make sure that is not so. Enjoy!
EDIT: Added a cover photo, but it does not belong to me. I don't know who the artist is, but it belongs to them.
Touhou: Unmei no Tatakai
Prologue: Discovery
8:57PM, Second Saturday of August, 2009 - Moriya Shrine, Outside World
"Fuyu! Mom said we have to go to bed now, stop running around!", said a 11 year old boy named Yuki Usagi, who was currently trying to catch his 9 year old sister Fuyu Usagi. "But Onii-chan, I want to go play with Sanae some more!", Fuyu said as she ran down the hall in her pink frog-print pajamas.
Yuki caught up to Fuyu and picked her up from behind. "Sanae has to go to bed too, you know.", He said, Fuyu squirming in his grip. "She's probably praying to the goddesses Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama right now anyway.", Yuki thought as he turned around to walk Fuyu and himself towards their room. "Anyway, don't worry. I found something out in the forest while you were out shopping with Mom.", he whispered.
"Oh! Wha-!?", Yuki covered Fuyu's mouth before she practically announced Yuki's plan to everyone in the shrine. "Shhh! I don't want anyone else to know about this, so we'll go after everyone's gone to bed.", Yuki whispered. Fuyu nodded and Yuki finally put her down.
Fuyu frowned. "But what about Sanae? Is she gonna come with us?", she asked, following Yuki as he started walking back towards their room. "Nah. I don't want to trouble her since she just started her shrine maiden training this week.", Yuki turned to the sliding door to their room and opened it. They walked inside and Yuki went to his backpack, pulling out a flashlight.
"What do we do now?", Fuyu asked, curling a lock of her brown hair around her finger while looking out the small round window that was high up the wall that faced outside. "Now we wait. Let's get in our futons in case someone decides to come in.", Yuki said, pulling his futon out of the closet on the left side of the room.
After laying down their futons and settling in, Yuki and Fuyu waited quietly for about 10 minutes. There were sounds of movement beyond the door and they heard their parents say good night to their aunt. After hearing some doors slide open and closed, Fuyu turned to her brother and asked, "Onii-chan, can we go yet? It feels like we've been waiting for 30 minutes already.", She asked impatiently.
"Hold on a moment, lemme check." Yuki got out of his futon and quietly walked towards the door. He slid it open just enough to stick his head out and saw it was dark. He looked to the right towards the main room and saw that the light was off. He didn't see his aunt either, so he assumed she went bed as well. Yuki pulled his head back in and slid the door closed.
I'm surprised at how quickly everyone went to bed. I honestly thought it would take longer than this.", Yuki said with a smile. Fuyu's face instantly lit up. "Does this mean we can go now?!", Fuyu whispered excitedly, lifting herself up. Yuki nodded and Fuyu almost started jumping for joy, but he stopped her just in time."Be quiet, Fuyu. We don't want to alarm Mom, Dad, and Auntie." Yuki said in a quieter started to swing her arms back and forth as an alternative. "Sorry." She said, a smile shining on her face, illuminated be the light of the moon.
"Let's grab our coats, so we don't get cold while we're out.", Yuki said, walking back towards the closet. Fuyu tilted her head in confusion."But Onii-chan, it's Summer." Yuki stopped as he was about to open the closet, and Fuyu started giggling at his reaction. "Oops. I forgot." Yuki admitted, scratching the back of his head, smiling. He walked toward the door and motioned for Fuyu to follow. "Come on, let's go."
Yuki slowly opened the door again, checked down the hall one last time and listened for the other occupants just to be sure, then carefully opened it just enough to let himself and Fuyu slip through. They walked as quietly as they could towards the main room of the shrine and quickly put on their shoes. Yuki opened the front door and checked back down the hall, just in case someone decided to leave their room, and slipped through, with Fuyu following suit.
Once they were outside, they stretched simultaneously. "Alright, follow me." Yuki told Fuyu. "We have to go further up the hill to get to where I want to show you, so let's hurry so that we're not out for too long." He started walking towards the back of the shrine, Fuyu following closely behind.
"What is it you want to show me anyway? You didn't tell me earlier." Fuyu asked, looking at the surrounding forest and listening to the ambient noise of crickets and cicadas chirping. Yuki continued walking quietly for a few seconds, looking around at the scenery in front of him to make sure he was going in the right direction. "Oh, about that." He said, looking at Fuyu over his shoulder. "Uh... Would you believe me if I told you there was another shrine on this mountain?"
Fuyu looked at her brother in confusion, but was interested. "What? I thought the Moriya Shrine was the only shrine here." "Would you believe me if I told you it was old and abandoned? That it was probably built over a hundred years ago?" Yuki asked, stepping over tree roots and pushing some low hanging branches out of the way for Fuyu."Onii-chan, if there's another shrine, how come we-" Fuyu stopped mid sentence as they came up to exactly what Yuki described. An old, abandoned shrine standing in the middle of a clearing, the light of the full moon allowing for a detailed view of its cracked and rotting wooden structure. Fuyu's mouth fell open in surprise. "Haven't heard about it..."
Yuki smiled as he walked forward onto the dirt path that led to the steps of the old shrine. He turned back to face Fuyu and placed his right fist on his hip. "I'm not so sure of it myself, but it's what's inside that's more interesting." he said as he held out his hand for Fuyu to grab. "Hold my hand while we're in there. It's much darker than the section of the forest we just walked through, even with all the holes in the roof." Fuyu shook away her surprise and nodded, grabbing her brother's hand.
Yuki turned back towards the shrine and walked up the steps leading to the front doors of the shrine, which had several large tears in it. "Hold your breath, it'll become dusty once I open the door." He instructed, putting the hand holding the flashlight onto the door. Once he saw Fuyu put her free hand over her mouth, Yuki slid the right door open and a cloud of dust burst out from the inside. They shielded their eyes until they were sure the dust had settled. As they walked into the main room of the shrine, the floorboards creaking in protest to their combined weight. Once they passed the door, it suddenly slammed shut, and they both jumped in surprise.
Fuyu suddenly put a death grip on her brother's arm. "W- what's in here exactly, Onii-chan?", she asked, staring wide-eyed at the doors. "A bunch of old stuff, but if you want to know about what just happened, I have no idea what that was. That didn't happen when I first came here." Yuki said as he urged his sister to follow him, which she did without hesitation. "Then let's just get this over with." Fuyu said, slightly tightening her grip on Yuki's arm.
Yuki led them to an open door and they entered. It was a bedroom, with a dresser, drawers, and a bed to fit one person. He went over to the drawers and opened the top one, then a confused look made its way to his face. "Wha- what happened? It was here earlier!" Yuki asked to no one in particular, which made Fuyu just as confused. "What was here earlier? What do you mean?" She asked, slightly frightened at her brother's distress.
"There was a journal here, but it's-" "Very nostalgic indeed." Yuki was interrupted by a voice from behind the Fuyu and himself. They both jumped and turned towards the source of the voice to see a woman who seemed to be in her early twenties in a very elaborate long sleeved white dress that looked to be a mixture of Eastern and Western culture, with a long purple tabard with a yin-yang design near the bottom on the front, and long golden hair that nearly touched the floor topped with a mob cap that had a thin red ribbon on the front. She was holding a parasol and seemed to be sitting on the air, her legs crossed casually. "I remember when I gave the young shrine maiden this journal, but that was several hundred years ago." Said the mysterious woman. She closed the journal in her hand and slid off her "seat", and stood. She towered over the Usagi siblings, and it scared them a little bit more.
"Young boy." She addressed Yuki, who jumped as he moved Fuyu behind him. "What brings you and your little sister out to an old shrine in the middle a forest so late at night? Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" She asked, a small smile on her lips.
"W- who are you? What do you want... with me and my sister? When did you get in here?" Yuki gulped down a lump in his throat, trying his hardest to not seem afraid in front of Fuyu. His response drew an amused laugh out of the strange woman. "Avoiding questions is quite rude, but if you must know, you may call me Yukari. Now, why did you bring your sister here at such a dangerous time?"
Yuki looked back at Fuyu, who gripped his hand tightly. He turned back to Yukari and spoke. "All I wanted was to grab the journal and return to the shrine. I didn't want to endanger Fuyu..." Yukari nodded and closed her eyes in thought. "Well, did you know this journal contains ancient magic that could be potentially dangerous if handled incorrectly?" She asked, which surprised Yuki. He shook his head. Yukari smiled and opened her eyes. "However, if that is all you wanted, I will let you leave with this journal, so long as you promise me one thing." Yuki looked confused, but nodded again.
"W-what is it?" Yuki asked, desperate to just leave, even if he couldn't get the journal. Yukari's smile just grew wider. "This little incident never happened, and we never met, understood?" She asked, as Yuki and Fuyu suddenly felt sleepy. Yuki tried looking up at Yukari, but his eyelids were unbelievably heavy, and he just looked down, only to see a vast expanse of eyes below him, and he began falling. However, he didn't have time to react as both he and Fuyu blacked out.
7:27AM, Second Sunday of August, 2009 – Moriya Shrine, Outside World
"Yuki-kun, Fu-chan, it's time for breakfast! Mom made omlurice!" called Sanae from the entrance of their room. She was a young girl with long green hair, the same age as Yuki, and the cousin of the Usagi siblings. Both Yuki and Fuyu stirred from their deep sleep in their futons, and Yuki felt something underneath his pillow. "Okay Sanae-chan. We'll be out in a moment." he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Alright! Don't take too long, or your food will get cold!" She said with a smile. Yuki laughed as Sanae slid the door closed.
Once the door was shut, Yuki took the items out from beneath his pillow, and saw that it was the journal from the old shrine and his flashlight. He looked confused, as he didn't remember when he put the journal under his pillow, much less actually going to the shrine with Fuyu like he planned. "Onii-chan, what's that?" Fuyu asked as she stretched and yawned.
"It the journal from the place I wanted to show you last night, but I don't remember going with you. Do you?" Yuki explained, looking at the journal and trying to remember exactly what happened last night. Fuyu thought for a moment and shook her head. "I don't think we went, but if you already have what you wanted to show me, we don't have to go." She said as she crawled out of her futon. Yuki was even more confused, but didn't think too much of it. "I guess so." He said. "Let's hurry up, I haven't had Auntie's omurice in ages." Yuki got up and went over to his backpack to pack the journal and his flashlight.
"What did happen last light?" Yuki thought to himself. After a moment of thinking, he shrugged and let it go. "Oh well, as long as I have the journal, it doesn't matter." He proceeded to get dressed and went to breakfast with Fuyu and the rest of his family, never dwelling on those thoughts for the rest of their visit with Sanae.
So, that was the prologue of my first Touhou fanfic. :3 Although it took me ages to finalize everything, I finally got it put up here. :D I've actually been reading on this site since back in 2011, during my first year in middle school, and I've been working on my skills as an author from that point onward. Hopefully I can at least get some sort of feedback on this. :3 I hope you guys were able to enjoy my little story! I'm currently typing the actual first chapter, but I'm not so sure how long that will take. :/ I'm also a few days away from starting my senior year at Chula Vista High, so wish me luck! Please leave a review, as I would appreciate any helpful tips and/or suggestions in order to improve my story. :) Anyway, that'll be it for the time being. :D
See ya in the next chapter! :3
ZexalEronRelOs
EDIT 9/26/16: Sorry for the huge delay guys. I don't want make any excuses, but to be honest, I've become quite lazy and distracted as of late. It doesn't help that I don't have a computer to work with at home. I'm also still suffering from Writer's Block, which is a pain. But it's been nearly three months since I released the prologue, and I need to get my lazy ass to work with my fic. There are people to please! I will procrastinate no longer! The first chapter should hopefully be up by the end of the week or so, so no more waiting. I'll get this done.
PS: If you guys want to see the progress of this fic or any others I'll be working on in the future, all you need to do is look at my profile. I update it every now and then, but not very frequently. I'll keep you guys up to date as much as I can, so stay tuned.
See ya soon. :)
ZexalEronRelOs
