Disclaimer: I'm pretty much out of silly things to put here... Touhou belongs to Zun!
A/N: Chapter 20! It feels weird that I've gotten this far! And I just want to say, thank you for the support, WillieG.R! Without your review at chapter 5 I would never have continued the story. I actualy felt like nobody realy liked it, as nobody had said they did untill that point. I hope you all enjoy this story, and all that will come in the following months! On with the show!
Yukari: My, that is quite the understatement you have there.
Author: Ohh, hush. How was I supposed to know I could keep going for three years? Heck, three and a half years now, isn't it?
Yukari: My, it certainly is~ This calls for a celebration!
Author: ...Ohh gods, please, not again...
Author: Gods, four years running and you're still supporting me. Thanks for everything, Willie. You've not missed one chapter since chapter 60ish of this story. That's, what, 150 chapters? 200? You've reviewed about 98-99% of my chapters, and it still makes me immensely happy every time I see your reviews. Like clockwork, they always come. It's probably one reason why I've never gotten bored with writing; you make me feel like it's appreciated. A big round of applause for WillieG.R, everyone! Without him, this story would have stopped at something like chapter 4!
Yukari: Such a sappy girl...
Yuuka: Well, such things are called for at times.
Yukari: I suppose you have a point, don't you? Makes one want to wax nostalgia about days of old. Mind you, it would cause many issues were I to speak about such things, but the want is there, regardless of how poor an idea it may be.
Author: How about we get on with the show before Yukari breaks something?
Dusk, Cirno's house:
After everyone had left, we had decided to take another swim. Not only was it good for my developing wings, It was also good hygiene, and could potentially help me to grow in power. An ice fairy wasn't simply ice, ice, and more ice. An ice fairy is also a manipulator of water below a certain temperature, so being within it can strengthen them. The stressing of the word 'can' must be made note of, for few of them really take advantage of this, or so Cirno says.
Cirno had a layer of constantly growing, constantly crumbling ice across her body, the droplets freezing before breaking off half the time. She had a serious expression upon her face, and her arms crossed over her diminutive chest. "Now, I want you to try and cool the water around you. Just use the feeling you have whenever you use that minty little stomp of yours, but do it without the stomp. Also, don't freeze the water." Ordered Cirno, who wanted to find just just what I was capable of. She already knew that I could at the very least create a small area of ice and shatter it, so cooling water should be within my ability.
"O-okay. I'll do my best, Master!" I responded. I focused myself on the anger I had felt each time I stomped, remembering the feeling well and it bubbled within me. I, of course, also had to make sure not to hold a grudge over it by thinking too deeply, but that was hardly my main concern right now.
Slowly but surely, I seethed with anger; slowly but surely, the temperature of the water around my plummeted, and the surface began to form a thin slush layer to slush. It felt kind of nice on my skin when I ran my hand across it. Of course, doing so calmed me down at the soothing cold on my flesh.
"Alright, that's enough, Usa. The water is starting to freeze, so now we can begin the lesson I had in mind. It would be far easier to teach during winter, but fall is fine as well." Said Cirno.
Cirno pointed to the water and it started to flow towards her finger. It formed a sphere and simply floated there. She tossed the sphere to the only viable target, and said target caught it without thinking.
And then I began thinking.
After thinking about it for a second, I looked at just what I had in my hand. The more I thought about it, the less sense this made.
"Usa, quit thinking about it so much; it's a lot easier to simply accept that it's magic and move on." Chided Cirno, knowing that her pupil seemed to overthink such things.
"B-but how is the water staying together...?" I asked, unable to grasp the concept of just accepting that it works. This made Cirno a bit frustrated, as she really didn't know how to explain it well, judging by her avoidance.
"Look, if you really want to know, I can show you the way to the Black-white's house, and you can ask her. Just don't blame me if you have to reform, if she doesn't want to." Replied Cirno, who was just about out of answers on the subject of magic.
"Reform? What's that mean?" I asked, with a worried look on my face. That sounds painful.
Cirno blinked, before realization dawned. "Ahh, when a fairy is killed we pull ourselves back together and are as good as new, more or less. Hurts like hell, though." Responded Cirno, who talked about it like it was nothing. I, on the other had, looked at her with a look of horror that this Black-White creature would just kill us like it was nothing.
"She just kills fairies? Just like that? That sounds horrible!" I shout, with a look of disgust on my face.
Cirno simply shrugged at that. "It's pretty common practice around these parts. After a while, one just gets used to it." Replied Cirno, before patting my head. She seemed happy that I saw it as a cruel thing to do. "Well, lets continue the lesson. You seem used to holding that water, so I would like to see you try and do what I just did! Just point, and concentrate on having the water come to you." Said Cirno, with a nod to herself. She seemed to be mostly making up how this is done based on educated guesses, as she simply does it instinctively. But I trusted my master, and did as she said.
"O-okay! here I go!" I began to concentrate on the water, but forgot the most important part; I forgot to concentrate on having it come to me and ended up making the water all begin to pull towards where I was pointing and create a sink hole. Cirno began to get sucked towards the hole, and simply froze that area of water, before bopping me on the back of the head.
"The hell, Usagi! You almost pulled me under with that th-" Cirno began to yell, before an explosion of ice shards came from the spot my sink hole was at. It would seem that I somehow made the water pull in on itself and act like a spring when I stopped concentrating on it, thus punching a hole in the ice that was over top of it.
Just a guess.
Cirno grabbed me by the hand as I was lost in thought, dodging the ensuing icy shrapnel. After all the shards had passed us by, we landed in the water, covered in lacerations.
"...Hey, Usa?" Asked the panting Cirno.
"Y-yeah?" I asked, slightly scared that I might be punished. I was also in a bit of pain.
"Can you do that again? I wanna look at it and figure out what just happened. Keep concentrating on it, though. Don't wanna lose my head if I can help it," Ordered the larger fairy, genuinely curious as to what I had just done, while I was horrified at the thought of blasting off her head.
At least she doesn't seem mad, though.
I began to point to another area of water, and it began to sink into a hole. Cirno flew over to it, floating over top the hole, looking in. I, of course, gulped at her proximity. After all, she really might lose her head.
She let out a whistle. "It seems the hole went all the way to the bottom of the lake, and causes the water at the very bottom to churn about angrily. Misty lake ain't a shallow lake, neither..." Cirno flew away from the hole and motioned for me to follow, so I did just that, while keeping my concentration on the lake's hole.
"Okay, now let go of the water, and let's see what happens!" Ordered Cirno, who had her hands ready to freeze anything that might result from this. As my concentration slipped away, the water began to pour into the hole. Several seconds had passed before the hole had filled fully, and then the area it was located suddenly exploded upwards at high speed, going about 30 meters into the air, before it began to rain much smaller versions of that water ball Cirno had made. Cirno quickly prepared for the pelting of water by making a shield of ice over top our location; those bubbles all looked like they might hurt when they fall from that kind of height, after all. The small orbs of water continuously bombarded the entire lake, and a few even reached the house. It didn't take long for the bubble storm to end. Cirno let out a sigh and gave me a thumbs up.
"Great work, Usa! Seems your accident produced something interesting! ...I think you somehow pressurized the water at the bottom of the lake! What are you going to call it?" Asked my master, quite happy that her lessons were paying off, and that I was learning these things quickly, even if they came natural to an actual fairy. And this time, I even had a skill that was fitting of a quad winged fairy, unlike my flying, which was horribly slow, especially for a four-wing. After all, Cirno is so much faster than me. Though I was sure, if given enough time, my speed would get better.
At least, that's what I hoped.
"Umm... Do I have to name it? That sounds kind of silly to me..." I said, while blushing. I doubt I would come up with a name that wasn't rather stupid,anyways.
"Ohh, I guess that's fine. Most end up naming their attacks silly things, anyways." Said my master, who was laughing to herself at some of the spell card names that she had heard. "I hear the Vampire has some weird red castle attack!"
I looked to the red mansion in the distance.
Then back to Cirno.
Then back to the red castle-like building.
Back to Cirno.
I decided that it was best not to ask how, in this instance. I'd rather not imagine how someone lifts something like that to use as an attack.
I mean, wouldn't it explode if they swung it just once? The stonework looks more like it's been cobbled together for easy repairs... than...
Huh?
I forced a smile. "C'mon, lets get to bed now, Master... I'm tireeeed..." I whined. I really was quite tired.
Cirno raised a brow at that, shrugged. And with that, we got out and began to dry off. Cirno simply willed the water from her body, while I was left to grumble as I did things the hard way.