For the Love of Flowers
Disclaimer: Both Harry Potter and Touhou Project belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 1: Soul Searching
A sea of gold and green stretched out in every direction for as far as the eye could see. The sight of the perpetually in bloom Sunflowers and aptly named 'Garden of the Sun' brought a smile to Yuuka's face as she diligently worked her way through the garden, checking each flower for imperfections.
The flowers closest to her swayed slightly, shaken by an invisible breeze, dancing along to the nameless tune she hummed.
Normally the garden would be awash with the sounds of life as humans, fae and yokai alike partook in its beauty. Now it lay silent, none willing to leave the warmth of their hearths to brave the cold, winter winds.
It almost made Yuuka want to shiver in delight. For a time, none would disturb her and she would be free to enjoy the beauty of nature's works. Her works.
Swept up in her work as she was, Yuuka almost forgot her ire and the one who had caused it. Almost.
"I don't know why you bother coming out in the cold to do this, Yuuka. The Garden doesn't need your care. It's blessed by the gods, literally," said the blonde woman floating behind Yuuka. The woman's feet hovered inches above the heads flowers, who in turn stretched above Yuuka's own head.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand, o' Guardian of Borders. I find solace and pleasure in personally caring for my domain. Especially after having to deal with a certain, irritating, pest, Yukari," said Yuuka.
Depending on who in Gensokyo you asked about the nature of Yuuka and Yukari's relationship, you would receive different answers. Some would tell you that the pair shared a professional courtesy, each respecting the others power. Others would tell you that they were bitter enemies because of how often a confrontation between the two would disintegrate into blows.
To Yuuka, however, the point was moot. Perhaps, centuries ago they had shared a close bond, one forged by the circumstances of her birth, but now it was a rare time indeed that both would be awake at once, and even rarer that fate should deem their paths to cross.
A crafty smile appeared on Yukari's face and with a flick of her wrist, the fan she carried disappeared with a snap before disappearing into the sleeve of her dress. The air around her hissed as she plummeted to the earth, plumes of dust shooting up as her feet met soil.
"Come now," Yukari cooed into Yuuka's ear. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"
Yuuka allowed the sickly clipping in her hand to fall to the earth, crushing it into the soil with the heel of her boot. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Perfect," chirped Yukari, deftly hopping to the side to avoid the blast of energy shot by one of the sunflowers. The blast gouged a hole in the earth, an act that would have showered both women in dirt if not for the parasols they both carried.
"Now, now," Yukari said, wagging a gloved finger at Yuuka as she placed her free hand on the stalk of a flower that had been bruised in the explosion, "you shouldn't value life so lightly." When she pulled her hand away, the bruise had healed, revealing a clean, unbroken stem.
Yuuka's humming died as she turned slowly turned around, eyes narrowed. Her parasol, now closed, held as if it was a sword, she pointed at Yukari. The sunflowers around her responded to her will and as one, turned about to face her target.
Yukari was moving before Yuuka even began to turn, sensing the growing agitation of the surrounding vegetation. With a kick, she took to the air once more, her fan sliding free of her sleeve and snapping open.
There was a silent pause as the two women regarded each other. Eventually it was broken as Yuuka lowered her umbrella, the flowers returning to their natural state.
"I will not challenge you here, out of respect for the flowers, but do not speak to me again of morality, demon," she spat, fury in her eyes. "Though both our hands are stained red, it is you who has destroyed the time line, dooming us all. It Is because of you that I was never born in the Outside realm."
"Well, that's not exactly true. Your soul was born, just as male this time. Besides, I'd think you'd like him. Very capable and self-sufficient. Most certainly didn't need me in order to survive this time around."
"That's because he never had to become me!"
All of Yuuka's anger seemed to fade away after her outburst, her shoulders slumping as she sunk to the ground, her skirt pooling about her. Her parasol, open once more, shadowed her face. When she spoke, her voice was flat and devoid of all the previous emotion she had displayed.
"I am fading, Yukari. I can feel myself slipping closer and closer to the edge oblivion with each passing day and it's all because you chose to interfere in the life of one measly human."
Yukari pursed her lips as she mentally weighed options while observing the flower yokai before her that was arguably her eldest friend.
"Are you still interested in learning sorcery?" She eventually asked, shoving the doubts she held to the back of her mind.
"Pardon?"
"Sorcery. You know, the magic that those troublesome magicians control." Yukari gestured to the snow-covered woods beyond the borders of the Garden of the Sun. "I remember you followed around that troublesome witch for quite a while before giving up. So, are you still interested in learning?"
Yuuka's parasol tilted slightly, the shadows covering her face parting enough to reveal her eyes. "What do you know, Yukari?"
"Well… It may or may not be possible for you to save yourself by consuming the other half of your soul and then coming back to me to put it back together."
The parasol cast her face into shadow once more. "Do not raise my hopes for naught, demon. I harbor no doubt that you won't give me the boy's location for free."
Yukari snorted at that, a very inelegant action that was out of place in a place where the elder and more powerful you were, the more polite you were expected to act. "I don't know why you persist in calling me 'demon'. That's a name that the human's apply to you, not me."
"Anyways," she continued, "you've been the only constant in my life for this past millennia. And although things have indeed been quite interesting as of late with our current Harukei Shrine Maiden, I have no wish to see you die. I'll give you the child's location and nothing more, all I require is a single promise."
"You will not merely take me to this child, why? And what promise would you have of me?"
Yukari's expression softened as she gazed upon the shrouded and hunched from of her friend.
"You look weary, Yuuka. I would not hold you to this plane of existence simply for my own selfish reasons. As for the promise I require? I ask that you only re-claim your soul and do not butcher your way through the outside world in search of your target."
Silence stretched out between them as Yuuka mulled over Yukari's request. Eventually, she sighed and rose to her feet, dusting off her skirt as she did so.
"Very well," Yuuka said at last. "I agree to your terms. Now, the child's location."
"Excellent," Yukari said happily. "The other half of your soul is in Great Britain. More specifically, it seems to spend a large amount of time within the magical communities hidden there."
With a wave of her hand, a gap in reality opened beside Yukari. With pink ribbons tied in bows on each end, the tear would have looked almost welcoming if not for the thousands of violet eyes staring out into the outside world. Hefting her parasol, Yukari walked towards the void.
"Wait."
"Oh?" Yukari paused, one foot in the gap and turned her head to glance at Yuuka.
Yuuka did not look up as she spoke, her voice frosty, having chosen to return to caring for the flowers.
"You are the guardian of Gensokyo and I respect you for doing what must be done, Yukari. However, if you have set me on a quest of folly…" Yuuka's grip tightened upon her own parasol, her free hand having paused. "If it becomes clear that I shall fade away, I shall begin a game unlike any the Outside realm has seen before."
"So tell me, o' Guardian of Gensokyo, if it comes to it, will you allow their world to burn to preserve ours?"
Yukari hadn't finished speaking by the time she had disappeared into the gap she had created, yet her words echoed out through the land of Gensokyo, sounding in the hearts of those who heard it rather than their ears.
"All life is sacred, and yet as yokai, our very nature demands we take it to survive. It is for this reason, as magic fled the land and we were forced to kill more and more too simply exist, that we retreated into obscurity. So, no, Kazami Yuuka, I will not intervene and risk the lives of all who depend on me."
For the sake of humanity and for the sake of life, it would have been best if I had left you for dead all those centuries ago, my friend, thought Yukari as she stepped out of the void and into her bedroom.
With a sigh, she leaned closer her parasol before leaning it against the wall and sliding her pale pink mob cap from her head, allowing to drop carelessly to the floor. She had just sunken down upon the well-worn futon she kept in the corner of her room when a knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," she called as there was only one being it could be and she needed to speak to her anyways.
The door slid open, admitting a tall woman clad in a light purple with a pair of fox ears and nine long tails that twitched ever so slightly as she walked.
"Welcome home, Yukari-sama," the woman said, bowing in Yukari's general direction before moving to pick up the discarded headwear lying on the floor.
"I completed my rounds some hours ago. There was only one small issue with the border, but I managed to repair it after the red-white pointed it out," the woman said, folding and putting away Yukari's hat.
"Thanks, Ran," Yukari said wearily, allowing her eyes to slide shut. "I noticed Chen wasn't anywhere on the property. Where has she run off to this time?"
"Ah…" Ran's cheeks flushed and her tails began to twitch faster at the mention of her child-like shikigami. "She's been attempting to train a bunch of cats from the human village in an attempt to gain her own servant. I believe she's been using a house at the edge of the village for the very purpose. "
"Has she had any success? That sounds like a…interesting endeavor."
"Ah…no, she really hasn't. As loathe as I am to speak ill of Chen, cats don't listen well under the best of circumstances and Chen isn't exactly the brightest."
"Mhm." Yukari hummed non-committedly in response, her eyes still closed as she listened to Ran bustle about. "I need you to take care of something for me," she said eventually.
"Would this 'thing' you need me to take care of have anything to do with your confrontation with Kazami-san earlier today?" Ran asked.
"Oh. You heard that?"
"I don't think there was anyone who didn't hear at least part of it, Yukari-sama," the shikigami said blandly. "It's been quite a long time since I've seen you lose control over your powers like that."
"That's just wonderful. I guess I'll just have to remain in the estate and sleep until this all blows over. You should be fine, but just in case I'll review the control over borders I gave you. I'll be counting on you to watch over the border until I'm ready to show my face again," Yukari said with a false sense of worry.
"So…things will continue as they have been in other words?" Ran asked with a deadpanned voice.
"You're quite cheeky as of late. What happened to you?" Yukari asked, opening her eyes and then blinking rapidly when realized just how close Ran was to her.
"You asked me to do you a favor regarding Kazami-san and although I'm bound to follow your every order, there's a great risk of bodily harm when dealing with her. Consider it…what do humans call it? Danger pay?" Ran said, smiling before rising to her feet to give her mistress some room.
With a long sigh that she hoped conveyed exactly how tired and stressed she was, Yukari forced herself to sit-up so she could look Ran in the eyes.
"First of all, the last time I checked I wasn't paying you at all," she began, "And secondly," her voice lost the cheerfulness it had contained previously at this, "I want this to be done in secret. There are those in Gensokyo who know ways out of the barrier and it would be bad to say the least if they interfered."
"Understood," Ran said, her voice also devoid of its previous joviality, "when would you like me to transport Kazami-san?"
Yukari took a deep breath before answering. I'm sorry, my friend. I hope you find peace, she thought.
"Do it as soon as possible. The less time we give her to prepare, the better."
Despite the heavy heat of the summer sun bearing down up her, Yuuka smiled from underneath her parasol as she walked, the soles of her boots making a light thumping sound upon the concrete. She was having more fun than she'd had in centuries.
It had been roughly six months since she had been ever so rudely snatched up by that irritating shikigami of the equally irritating border yokai. Despite the axe looming over her head, Yuuka couldn't help but take time to explore how much the Outside had changed in the last century or so.
There was simply so much for her to do and to see that she'd found herself spending less and less time searching for her wayward other-half. It had been on her second day, when she'd stumbled upon a small flower shop that the first problem occurred: money.
While she faintly remembered the concept of money, it was nothing she had needed within Gensokyo and certainly not something she would have brought with her (not that she had been given the opportunity to prepare, curse that shikigami). Thankfully the few humans that she'd chosen to interact with had been more than happy to give her their money.
Ah, humans.
They were far, far more numerous here than they had been in Gensokyo and despite her irritation with their crude and fragile nature, she was happy to have a never-ending supply of things to play with. After all, it was her divine responsibility to terrorize humanity – a task given to her by one of the judges of the dead.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Yuuka, woken from her thoughts, smiled at the rather brave human woman who had questioned her. Her smile widened as the woman flinched under her gaze, and she gestured to the well-manicured garden the women was kneeling in.
"I am in the area searching for a certain…someone and I merely stopped to admire the flowers. They seem to be flourishing under your care," Yuuka said, "their beauty seems to oft go unappreciated."
"Looking for someone?" The woman parroted, before glaring at Yuuka, or more specifically her hair. "I should have known by your hair. You're one of those freaks that hangs around my nephew," the woman spat.
"Oh?" Yuuka said, frowning as she reached up to tug on a strand of her hair. Is green really such an odd colour here in this world, Yuuka thought as she took a closer look at the woman before her.
The woman was tall, pale, and gaunt with a head of wiry black hair. Her sharp, angular face and thin lips were in sharp contrast to her own. All in all, not a person that she remembered ever being related to if her nephew was the one she was looking for.
The hunt for the other half of her soul was…frustrating, to say the least. The lack of ambient magic in the world made the people and creatures who possessed it stand out, like a bright light in a darkened room, to her. Add onto the fact that she could feel it calling out to her and the search should have been a simple one.
And yet, it wasn't. While knowing that her other half possessed magic made the search easier, the direction the tugs on her soul were pulling her in were confusing. Every time she got near a location, a new tug would pull her in a completely different direction.
"Well, he's not here, so go on and leave. We don't want you or your kind here," the woman said with venom, either uncaring or oblivious to Yuuka's inner-dilemma. Based on the way the woman seemed utterly focused on getting her to leave, she would guess the latter.
"If you could be so kind as to point me in his general direction, I will leave post-haste. I am here to remove the boy after all, it wouldn't be good for my health to delay."
A glint entered the woman's eye as Yuuka spoke, confirming her suspicions. "Why didn't you say so?!" The woman cried, rising to her feet before pointing to the east. "Harry's probably at the park by the end of the street. Usually skulks around their 'till dark."
"Many thanks," Yuuka said, bowing to the strange, unpleasant woman before heading in the pointed direction. She could feel the boy's soul, a mirror of her own, calling out to be returned home.
The ancient, rusted swing-set cried out pitifully as one of its swings swung weakly through the air, its despondent occupant lazily kicking his legs every once in a while in an erratic rhythm. Harry Potter stared glumly forward as he swung slowly through the air, frustration coursing through his body.
He had been so certain that someone magical, someone like him, had been in the area earlier that it almost hurt. The lack of communication from the magical world, especially considering the events of the previous year, was painful.
He'd taken to receiving a subscription of the daily prophet, scanning the paper for news of you-know-who that never seemed to be there. Lately he would barely spare the front page a glance before tossing it aside, frustrated.
His friend's letters, few and far between as they were, were not much more of a help either. Although vague, their letters did confirm that they were both busy with something, and at the same location – likely Ron's house. That and their vague information frustrated him more than anything else. Was he not trustworthy enough?
But you let Cedric die and participated in the return of Lord Voldemort, a traiteurs part of his mind whispered before he could silence it.
"I'm not a murderer," he muttered to himself.
"Of course you are not. You're far too innocent."
The melodious and completely unexpected reply caused Harry's head to shoot up, searching for the speaker. It took him a moment, for he did not expect the voice's owner to be a mere few feet in front of him.
The girl before him was young, likely only a year or two his elder and was quite clearly a magical like him. Her red plaid skirt and vest along with her long sleeved button-up shirt looked surprisingly muggle. It was her piercing red eyes and short, green hair, however that marked as something more.
She carried an open lacy, pink parasol with a curved handle in one hand that he guessed also doubled as her wand, for he could see no other place where she could keep one on her body.
Like Hagrid does, his mind supplied as he remembered the burly gamekeeper and the umbrella he kept his broken wand pieces in.
"Harry?" The girl questioned, her quiet, melodious voice confirming her to be the one who had spoken earlier.
"Yes…?" He spoke hesitantly, his response half statement, half question, before nodding and repeating himself. "I am Harry Potter. Why did you say I am too innocent?" Her question had confirmed to him that she was a magical. How else would she have known his name?
Now he just wondered if she was the person he had noticed earlier.
The girl tilted her head to the side, obvious confusion flickering through her eyes as she observed him.
"As I said, your soul is far too innocent for a murderer, which is puzzling given your nature," the girl said, confusion evident in her tone as she stepped closer to him.
"Do you not feel the exhilaration pumping through your veins in the heat of battle? Does the sight of your enemies lying broken before you not fill you with an inexplicable joy?" The girl murmured, although whether she spoke to him or herself, he was unsure.
"You're deranged," Harry said, stumbling backwards, his leg briefly entangled with the swing, in an effort to avoid the hand she had stretched out towards him. His wand burned a hole in his pocket as he eyed the girl warily, the swing now separating them.
Had Voldemort sent her? She looked too…well, to repeat what she had called him, innocent to be working with someone as evil as the Dark Lord.
"Many have called me that before," the girl admitted readily. She then blinked suddenly, as if having a sudden thought. "Kazami Yuuka, I'm in your care," the girl said, grabbing the hem of her skirt before briefly dipping into a curtsy.
"Harry Potter," he repeated, matching her curtsy with a nod of his own. "Now why are you here? Who sent you, Voldemort?"
"Voldemort? What kind of silly name is that? As for why I'm here, I'm here for you, of course."
A chill ran down his spine at that and he was reaching for his wand when a deep, barking laugh echoed across the park.
"Oi! That's rich, aint it boys? A girl tries to touch him and he runs like she was the devil 'im self!"
Several other mocking laughs joined the first and Harry's heart sank when he spotted the unmistakable rotund form of his cousin Dudley. Several other teenage boys surrounded him, some on bikes; all were members of Dudley's 'gang' that terrorized Little Winging.
"Get behind me!" Spring forward, Harry placed himself between the girl, Yuuka, and Dudley's gang. While he was fairly sure the girl could handle herself with her magic, he didn't want her to get in trouble for breaking the statute of secrecy. Even if she had come to cause him harm, which he didn't believe she did, no matter how creepy she was.
"I'll distract them once they get closer. Once I do, I want you to run," he said to the girl, who had an amused expression on her face. "Can you Apparate?"
"That won't be necessary, I can assure you," Yuuka said to him as she took his former seat upon the swing. "This is incredibly amusing. I'm not going anywhere."
"Erhm. Alright," Harry said, turning his attention away from the confusing girl to his approaching cousin and his gang.
The still laughing boys surrounded him and Yuuka in a half-circle while Dudley and a spindly boy, Pierce if he remembered correctly, moved towards them.
"So, Harry," Dudley sneered, his eyes running up and down Yuuka's body, something that seemed to bring even greater amusement to the girl, "Afraid of girls now?"
"Perhaps he just has different tastes, eh, Big D?" Pierce said, bumping Dudley's shoulder as a fresh wave of jeering and laughter erupted from the surrounding boys.
Moving between his cousin and Yuuka, Harry grinned when Dudley paled and began pedal backwards when he moved his hand towards his back pocket. Pierce just looked confused, his head swinging back and forth between Dudley and Harry.
"Now, now, Dudders," Harry said, using his aunt's pet name for his cousin, "It's rude to ogle people like that."
"You're not allowed to use that thing," Dudley said, his voice more confident now that he was surrounded by his gang, "Not if you don't want to get expelled from that freak school of yours."
Dudley's face darkened when Harry remained silent, his hand stuck in his pocket. While it was true he couldn't do anything to Dudley, his hope was to bluff the larger boy away. Unfortunately, it seemed as if his silence confirmed his cousin's statement.
"Ha! I knew it," the boy crowed, "You can't do anything can you? You're completely worthless."
"You!" Dudley said suddenly, pointing a finger at Yuuka before jerking a thumb at himself. "You should come with us. We can show you a much better time than that freak ever could. He still cries to his parents at night!"
"Good call, Dud," one of the surrounding boy called as another one whistled, "Look at her curves."
Faces flushed, Harry snarled at what they were insinuating and pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed at it Dudley. His mouth was open to utter his first spell when he felt a hand on his shoulder and realized Yuuka was standing beside him.
"This is so wonderful," Yuuka giggled, a hand covering her mouth, her red eyes glinting as she looked at Dudley. "Dinner and a show!"
She then moved. Moving faster than any of them could react on foot, she appeared before Dudley as everyone stared at her, and slammed one of her delicate looking hands into Dudley's chest, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying backwards.
Harry stared, mouth slightly ajar as he watched Yuuka knock his cousin half way across the park. He didn't know people could move that fast naturally. Perhaps she was using magic to somehow increase her speed? He would have to ask Hermione.
He swallowed the knot in his throat as he remembered her previous 'dinner' comment and how she'd said she had come for him. With a shaking hand, Harry pointed his wand at Yuuka.
Before he could cast, however, Yuuka moved again, appearing a few feet away from Dudley's groaning form. With a deliberate slowness, she closed her parasol before pointing it at Dudley.
"I like you~" Yuuka giggled as Dudley struggled to squirm away from her, a wide smile upon her face. "I think I'll kill you first~"
AN: This is going to be the only AN I post for quite a while, so it'll be a bit long, bear with me.
Welcome to For the Lover of Flowers everyone! This story is an AU crossover taking place during the Order of the Phoenix book with elements of the Touhou project. For fans of the Touhou project, characters will likely be a mix of their PC-98 and Windows canon in an effort to flesh out their backgrounds.
This story is functioning as an writing exercise for me, so expect frequent updates (7-10 days per chapter).
P.S. The Last Dance of Heaven is still being worked on, but it is was a rush job so it's been put on hold until I can fix it.
Until the next time comes to enter the world of Fantasy - RM