AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Starting with this chapter, I will be posting the next update every Monday afternoon until the story is finished. Meaning the final chapter is scheduled to be posted somewhere around mid-August. I can fully promise that these updates will be on time, and that there won't be any significant delays between chapters henceforth.
Content Warnings: From Part 2 onward, this story begins to take on a notably darker tone than the earlier chapters would have suggested. Particularly, beginning around Chapter 13 or so. To reiterate, this story contains explicit language, graphic violence, deaths of major characters, and some sexual references (including threats and mentions of rape, which of course, are not actually described). This will be the final warning I make on the matter. It wouldn't be good of me to spoil the chapters where characters die, now would it?
Part 2: Dawn into Dusk
Chapter 7: Yuuka (II)
It hadn't taken long for Yuuka to regret her decision to pursue Utsuho Reiuji. There was no doubt, of course, that everything had gone splendidly at first. Utsuho had been spectacularly easy to mislead, given her naivety. Much easier than Yuuka's usual fare anyway, including Medicine. And normally, Yuuka would have simply left it at that, leaving Utsuho on her own afterward. But that hell raven's powers did in fact still interest her, there was no denying that. So out of her own curiosity, after what should have been nothing more than a one-night stand at best, Yuuka had decided to keep Utsuho around. At least for a little while longer, until Yuuka could see for herself everything that Utsuho might potentially be capable of, or until she simply got bored of her. Whichever came first.
Weeks soon turned to months, after Yuuka discovered a rather shocking, and highly irritating development. Despite just their simple one-night fling, Utsuho had somehow become pregnant. Utsuho herself hadn't even been sure how to react. In fact, by Yuuka's assumption, the hell raven probably only had the most basic grip in her mind of the concepts of sex and reproduction. But Yuuka did her best not to show her absolute disgust with the whole situation. At least not in Utsuho's presence, anyway. Elly in particular, Yuuka's gatekeeper and servant, found the thought of a child to be rather delightful, despite all the irritation Yuuka expressed whenever Elly brought it up.
Needless to say, all attempts to train Utsuho had ceased the moment that Yuuka discovered her pregnancy. Yuuka might not have been too keen on the prospect of being a mother, but she'd be damned if she'd knowingly let some careless decision harm her own flesh and blood. On top of that, she had wanted to distance herself from Utsuho as much as possible, like she should have done in the first place, after that first night. Like she had done with all of the others before Utsuho.
It was when Yuuka thought about this, that another idea came to mind. The possibility that somewhere out in the world, Yuuka had yet another child she was unaware of. A possibility that caused her a fair bit of concern. There was certainly a chance, of course. But Yuuka was positive that in most of those prior instances, she had encountered just about all of her former partners at least once afterwards. Surely if they had been with child at any point, Yuuka would have found out. She was well informed about most of Gensokyo's residents, after all. Although she had kept herself rather isolated in Mugenkan, her mansion that served as the gateway between Gensokyo and the Dream World, in order to keep that little affair with Utsuho a secret for the time being. She was hardly in the mood to allow irritating rumors to spread about Gensokyo before she fully decided how she was going to handle the situation.
Summer turned to autumn, and the day of birth soon approached. Yuuka had tasked Elly with tending to Utsuho during childbirth, as she wanted as little to do with it as possible. So she merely waited back in her own room, while Elly did her own job.
Within a few hours, Yuuka finally received a knock at her door. No doubt it was probably Elly. "Yes, come in."
It was in fact Elly, of course, who entered Yuuka's room carrying the newborn child in her arms. "I thought you might want to see her, Mistress." Elly smiled, indicating the child in her arms.
Yuuka stood up and sighed, as she waved Elly over. "Yes, bring her here." And for the first time, Yuuka looked upon the face of the girl she believed to be her firstborn daughter. Though she remained rather expressionless, Yuuka couldn't help but feel a slight attachment to the sleeping baby in Elly's arms. But there was one odd feature about the girl that caught Yuuka's attention. The pair of golden, glowing wings that fluttered behind her back, which seemed to be intangible. "What are these wings for, Elly?"
"I'm not entirely sure." Yuuka frowned slightly in response at Elly's lack of a real answer, but waited for her to continue. "But she seems to more closely resemble you, so Utsuho's genes are probably more recessive. Which is why she doesn't have any actual wings. But I've been thinking... That maybe her ability allows her to manipulate light."
"Manipulating light, hm?" Quite the powerful-sounding ability the girl seemed to have. Yuuka would've expected nothing less of her own daughter.
"Yes, that's what I believe. I was thinking that since she didn't physically have wings, that her ability might be projecting them."
"I see." Yuuka found herself forced to face the prospect of raising this child as her own, or otherwise hand it off to Utsuho to be raised underground. Yuuka had absolutely no intention of allowing Utsuho to stay at Mugenkan, so the idea of raising the girl with her was out of the question. "Does she have a name yet?"
"No, not yet. Utsuho kind of... Passed out." Yuuka rolled her eyes. She'd been a lightweight in bed, too. "Kurumi is off tending to her, so... I was thinking you could name her."
Yuuka didn't exactly take long to make her decision, as the chance of naming the child had already occurred to her. "Hana." Yuuka said. "Her name is Hana."
"Hana Kazami..." Elly repeated, tagging on Yuuka's own last name, as she smiled down at the newborn girl. "It's a wonderful name, Mistress." Of course she'd picked Yuuka's name over Utsuho's. But after a few moments, Elly finally voiced the question that Yuuka had been pondering most of the day. "Mistress, what do you intend to do with Hana?"
Yuuka sighed, realizing she'd finally have to make that decision. She could not deny feeling an attachment to Hana, something she wasn't happy about. But aside from that, Utsuho didn't exactly strike Yuuka as the responsible type. And for the last couple of months, Elly had already shown clear excitement at the idea of having a child in the mansion. "I suppose we'll have to keep her. I wouldn't even consider leaving this girl in Utsuho's care."
Elly smiled with delight. "That's good to hear. Should I inform Utsuho when she wakes up?"
"Yes, please do. And as soon as she is fully recovered tomorrow morning, escort her out of the mansion."
Elly found Yuuka's decision to be a little on the harsh side, but did not question it. She was rather accustomed to Yuuka's harsh nature. "Very well. I'll go check on her shortly, after I prepare a room for Hana."
"I trust you realize that I'll be placing Hana entirely in your care, correct?" Elly had already turned to leave, but Yuuka's words stopped her once again.
"But, Mistress..." Elly turned back to face Yuuka. "I already do all the cooking and cleaning, on top of guarding the mansion. I really wouldn't be able to take care of her full-time like that."
"Ugh, fine." Yuuka sighed, and irritably rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "I'll just make Kurumi take care of her." The two stared at each other in silence, realizing that was an absolutely terrible idea. "You're right, never mind that idea."
"Maybe you could go out and find someone willing to watch her in Gensokyo?"
Yuuka sighed again, since she really had not wanted to make this whole ordeal public knowledge. But she didn't really have a choice, unless she wanted to do all the work raising Hana herself. "Very well, I'll find someone to watch her for me. In the meantime, however, you and Kurumi both will need to take care of Hana in my absence."
Elly still looked apprehensive about having to handle so many of her duties at once, in addition to temporarily dealing with Hana. "As you wish, Mistress."
"Don't sound so disappointed, Elly. You were the one who encouraged me to keep her." And as such, Yuuka viewed Elly as partially responsible for handling the burden she'd been forced to take on. At least temporarily, until Yuuka could find someone to watch Hana on a more permanent basis. Yuuka smirked back at Elly before she turned to leave. "Besides. Just think of it as practice in case you ever have a child of your own.~"
