Across the Borders Chapter 2

Yukari looked around. She was in a void of all darkness. She tried moving, and she found she was moving in all directions. It was almost like being under water, except there was nothing. "Is this what space feels like?" she asked herself. She checked herself and found she at least had her clothes, thank goodness, as well as her Evoker. In the back of her mind, she still felt the presence that her Persona gave off.

"That was quite a nasty hit you took there. I'm surprised anything was salvageable at all."

Yukari spun around where she saw a woman with messy blonde hair. She had golden eyes and wore a deep purple dress, and from the arms, it was possible to see what she wore pale pink clothes underneath. "Really, taking a fatal strike for a loved one. So admirable."

Yukari stared at her before finding her voice. "Who are you!? Where are we?"

The blonde woman smiled. "I'm Yukari Yakumo. And who might you be?"

Yukari stared, "… I'm Yukari Takeba."

The blonde shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you. You wouldn't also happen to be the Yokai of Borders, would you?"

Yukari scratched her head. "The what of what? I'm a normal human!"

The blonde frowned. "So it seems we only share a name. Too bad. So I guess you have some questions."

Yukari nodded. "Yeah. First off, where are we? Second, what are you?"

Blonde Yukari smiled. "As to where we are, we're in the space between spaces. As the Yokai of Borders, I can move through here. As to why you're here, well…" She trailed off.

"Well what?"

"You're dead."

The yokai counted the time that it took to get a reaction.. One. Two. Three. Fou-

"What do you mean I'm dead!?"

Yukari only shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that your spirit passed through the Hakurai Barrier, which woke me up. Maybe if you tell me about how you died, I can help you."

Yukari focused on remembering. "The… Reaper... Hit me with a lightning bolt… during the Dark Hour!" With each word, her thoughts came back to the forefront of her mind.

The blonde snapped her fingers. "The Dark Hour? Oh that!" She said. "Some sort of spatial distortion in your world. When you die there, you're pretty much rolling the dice with where you go when you die."

Yukari let this sink in. Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she began to panic. "Oh god! You mean there's no telling what'll happen to me!?"

Blonde Yukari smiled. "Relax. The fact that you're here means I know exactly where you're going and if I'm right, you'll want to go back, right?"

"Of course I want to go back." Was what she said, but what she was thinking was "I want to see Minato again."

The blonde grabbed the brunette spirit's wrist. "Alright, come on. I'm a good friend of the ruler of the dead here in Gensokyo. Leave everything to me!"

For whatever reason, her reassurance didn't help Yukari. In fact, it only made her more uneasy.

Yukari was thrown out of the gap, landing at the bottom of a long flight of stairs. From inside the gap, Blonde Yukari called, "I'll meet you at the top. I've got to talk over some things with Yuyuko first."

Yukari sighed and began to walk up the flight of stairs. "Oh god! This is worse than Tartarus!" At least she only had an hour of Tartarus. After about two hours of climbing the endless staircase, Yukari's legs gave out under her and she collapsed. She considered her options: Down or up. There was nothing in the world that could make her go back down, because she'd just have to re-climb it later. And she didn't have any more energy in her legs to go up. Energy… That was it!

She pulled her Evoker out of its holster and pressed it to her forehead. Feeling the cool metal tip of the gun was strangely calming to her, but it was a memento from her time alive. She squeezed the trigger and the sound of glass shattering was heard.

"Persona!"

Yukari's Persona, Io, appeared above her. It was a black-skinned woman with blonde hair chained to a throne shaped like a cow's head with her arms crossed. Yukari squeezed the trigger again. "Garula!" The wind spell she ordered created a swirling tornado of green wind energy underneath her. The small windstorm began to move up the steps while Yukari sat comfortably on top, a pleasant smirk on her face.

Once she finally reached the top, she found a small building that looked like a shrine. Yukari dispelled her Persona and walked in. There, she saw the other Yukari fast asleep on a table while another girl sat across from her. She had wavy pink hair and was wearing a blue and white kimono. When Yukari walked in,, she smiled.

"Oh, you must be the one I heard about! I'm Yuyuko Saigyouji."

Yukari cocked her head, sizing her up. She looked rather young. "You're the ruler of the dead?"

Yuyuko made an effort to sit up straighter to appear taller. "Is that really so hard to believe?

"Yes. How old are you anyways?"

Yuyuko chuckled. "Over a thousand years old. Yukari here and I go way back."

While the dead brunette stared in shock, the sleepy blonde lifted her head and opened her eyes. "I'm only seventeen! I told you this before!" She turned her head to where Yukari was. "Oh, right. You. I talked with Yuyuko, and she's decided to let you go back after you help her out with some stuff."

Yuyuko added, "It shouldn't be too difficult. You'll have a little help. After all, I do have other yokai helping down here."

Yukari decided now was a good time to get her questions answered. "So what exactly is a yokai anyway? You've both mentioned that you are one, and that there are others, but that doesn't exactly help."

Yuyuko smiled sweetly. "Yokai are magical creatures. Fairies, vampires, that sort of thing. Creatures of folklore."

Yukari was glad to finally have that question that was nagging at her answered. "And what are you?"

Yuyuko gave her a bright smile. "I'm a ghost."

Yukari just stared with a look of shock when she said that. Yuyuko walked over to her and waved her hand in front of her face. "Yukari? Yukari? Hello?"

No response.

Yuyuko put her hand on her chest, giving Yukari a gentle push, and she teetered back, falling onto the ground. Blonde Yukari began giggling behind her hand. "And what's so funny?" Yuyuko asked.

Blonde Yukari couldn't control her giggles. "I didn't think there were any humans that scared of ghosts! If she wasn't dead before, she'd be dead now for sure!"

Yuyuko huffed. "Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" As if on cue, Blonde Yukari yawned.

"Come to mention it, I am kind of tired. See you later." She said, opening a portal and hopping in, leaving Yuyuko with the unconscious spirit.

She sighed before calling, "Youmo! Can you come in here for a minute?" From outside came a girl with short silver hair worn in a bob cut with bright red eyes. She wore a dark green and white dress, with a ribbon tied off-center in her hair. Behind her followed a shapeless white phantom that was the same height as the girl.

She did a little curtsy. "You called, Mistress Yuyuko?"

The ghost nodded. "Can you find a bed for this girl here?" She asked, waving her hand to indicate Yukari.

Youmu nodded, throwing Yukari onto her shoulder. "Should I look after her when she wakes up?"

Yuyuko nodded. "Yeah. Once she wakes up, take her to the gardens. She'll help you out. Oh, and don't let her see your phantom half right away. She's a little skittish." Youmu sighed. She could already tell that this girl was going to be high-maintenance.