Disclaimer: Beer for the beer god, hats for his hat throne! Touhou belongs to Zun!

A/N: one negative side of updating like this is... well... I'm starting to run out of ideas for disclaimers... and things to say in the A/N section, too. On with the show!

A/N2: Huh... Ended up with another good sized chapter! Go me!

Author: It's nice seeing myself starting to say my catchphrase more.

Yukari: It does have a certain ring to it, I will admit.

Author: Thank you, Yukari.

Yuuka: Honestly, I believe that it makes it sound too much like our lives are just one big play. As if our lives exist merely to entertain the humans that supposedly watch us.

Yukari: You make it sound as if that isn't precisely what is going on.

Yuuka: That isn't very funny, Yukari.

Yukari: Who is joking? I gave her power over us so that life would be more interesting. She shaped our world in a most entertaining way with the express reason of entertaining her fellow human.

Author: And I'm glad that you gave me this privilege! It has been a wild three years. You even helped me meet my greatest ally and my two best friends. My life would be... not worth living without what you did for me. I'm so glad that I got into authoring... Thank you, everyone. I wouldn't be who I am today without you all...

Yukari: There, there, no need to get mushy.

Yuuka: My, Yukari, do you have a soft spot for the author?

Yukari: Hush. I merely appreciate what she has done for my world. Is that so wrong?

Cirno's house, night, Usagi's PoV:

After another hour, only Cirno and I remained, some leaving to go to bed while the rest were just starting their 'day'.

I asked, my boredom quite obvious by my tone of voice, "Hey, Master...?" I broke my gaze from the door, where the others had just minutes ago left through.

Or was it hours? I can never tell time, ever since the accident. Or could I not tell time before it? Well, no sense in dwelling on such things.

Looking to me from the corner of her eye, the larger fae asked, "Yeah, pupil?"

Sighing, I asked, "Is there... anything to do around here, when nobody's around?" There was a glimmer of hope in my eye.

Cirno's eyes lit up, before she she looked to me. It was as if she just had a brilliant plan come to mind. "Weeell, I usually just play pranks on those that come to the lake in the summer, and play in the snow in the winter. But in the fall, all there is is to either freeze frogs, and to swim! The frogs aren't easy to find in the dark, though. The lake isn't all that great until winter comes, either. Well, I should say that it's not as cold the rest of the year. It's actually at its best in the summer, though! Especially on a hot day, when you just feel like you're gonna melt... The waters are far colder than the rivers. No idea why!" Giving me a once over, she added, "You know, now that I look at you, you're lookin' pretty dirty from that fall in the dirt earlier! Let's go clean you up!" She grinned.

I couldn't help but smile at the thought of a nice cold dip. Something about it just seemed... appealing. "Ohh! That does sound nice, Master! Let's go do that!"

With that said, Cirno dragged me outside by the hand and we headed to the shores. I stared out into the thick fog and asked, "Master, does the fog ever clea-?" As I turned my head to look at her, I found her stripping.

Chuckling, she answered the question with a question. "Well, why do you think it's called Misty Lake?"

Blinking, I asked, "It's called Misty La-?" I caught myself before I was swept away, so to speak. "No, I mean, why are you stripping?!" I began to blush bright blue.

Raising a brow, Cirno replied, and stopped stripping, letting her dress fall back down over her body, "Well, who takes a dip in their clothes? Then you'd have to make new ones, and that just seems like a waste of time!"

I looked down at my borrowed clothes with a blush and whined, "But... but..." I couldn't come up with a defense, so I just sighed. "I... guess you have a point..."

Suddenly, I felt the frigid arms of the fairy around my neck, and her face hanging over my shoulder. How she wasn't being stabbed by my wings was beyond me.

As suddenly as she had hugged me, she had begun to whisper breathilly into my ear, "If you like, I could help you undress..." Hearing those words was enough to send an electric chill down my spine. My face glowed neon blue the moment those eight simple words had left her mouth, and I was left dumbfounded. Continuing, Cirno amended, while doing nothing to tease me further, "I mean, I'm sure it would be difficult to get out of that with wings like yours!"

Blinking at the jarring shift, I said, "Ohh! U-umm... I guess that would be fine..."

A pleased grin split its way across Cirno's cheeks as she began to gather up my wings, which sent a shiver down my spine. "Alright, I got 'em all! You can strip now!"

Blushing bright blue, I gently commanded, "O-o-okay... Now, l-look away, okay...?"

Shrugging, Cirno replied, "Well, alright, but we're gonna be naked anyways, so I don't get why..."

Quietly, I muttered, "It's the principal of things..."

Looking over her shoulder at me as I began to unwrap myself, Cirno asked, "You say something?"

Blushing brilliantly, I shrieked, "Don't look!"

Grumbling, and looking away, Cirno shouted, "Okay, okay, you don't have to scream! Jeez..."

Staring at her a moment to make sure she wasn't looking, I began to strip, having been told how to dress and undress in a kimono by Ran. Her help had been really... well, helpful. I kind of miss being around her.

I set my purple kimono off to the side, folded neatly, with the equally purple, if darker, obi on top of that. Looking to Cirno, I confirmed that she was, in fact, still facing away from me, and I headed for the water. Sticking a toe in, I found that it was freezing. Which is to say, it felt wonderful. Slipping the rest of the way in, I let out a sigh. Being an ice fairy has its perks, I will admit... "Alright... I'm, umm... I'm in..."

Cirno stuck the blades in the ground, and turned to face me. "Finally! The wait was killing me!" With that said, she began to disrobe, pulling the dress that had once reached her knees upwards, attempting to pull it over her head. I say attempting, for she got it soundly stuck on her noggin, and began to tug at it angrily, cursing under her breath. As she messed with her dress, one of the wings began to reverberate, making me shiver, but unsure what it could be. I looked around, but found nothing that could be making that feeling deep within myself, as if my soul itself was trembling. In an instant, the trembling wing dislodged itself, and shot towards me. It flew tip-first, as if a bungee cord had been attached to it and myself, stretched to the limit. Being a blade, it cut through to air as it flew at me. As it finished returning to my back, it slashed through my arm, causing a deep throb within my very being, focused on my arm. However, it did no damage to me, even if it had flow through my arm.

My teacher, still waging a one-woman war on her outfit, didn't notice any of this.

Moments later, while I was still recovering from the sword that had just tried to dismember my arm, I noticed as the other three wings flung themselves at me. I was too surprised to do anything but throw my arms out in front of me, crossing them defensively, and squeezing my eyes shut in fear. They all passed through my heart as one, what with my heart being between them and my back, causing me to cry out as I felt as if my heart had throbbed hard enough to shake my entire body. My heart was left pounding, which was in no small part thanks to my own doing, what with fearing being stabbed.

Of course, Cirno had now been alerted to the happening, and she shouted, "Usagi, are you alri- Ahh, your wings shot at you, didn't they. Right. Should have warned you about that." She quickly calmed down after that, going from looking about ready to tear her dress in half, to looking rather ordinary, ignoring her current state of dress.

I was confused. She expected this? Why didn't she warn me?! "I, uhh... Y-yeah, they did, Master... It felt really... strange. It didn't even hurt... It was just... really strange feeling..."

With a childish giggle, Cirno declared, "We'll talk more on this tomorrow; for now, let's play!" ...She really sounds like she enjoys playing in the water, doesn't she?

Flapping my wings a bit in nervousness, and realized something. Looking back to my wings, I confirmed that they were, in fact, submerged. Looking back to the fairy with more experience in this subject, I asked, "Umm... Master, why do my wings feel so strange when in the water.

At admitting that, Cirno began to stare at me, deep in thought for a moment, before saying, "...It's probably a sign that your wings are ready to start molting! With that, they'll start getting bigger, and may even shatter!"

Gulping, I asked, "Sh-shatter? That sounds painful..."

Shaking her head with a chuckle, Cirno replied, "Nah, not really. Done it twice, myself, and it never hurt. Anyways, as you're an ice fairy, shatter is more accurate than molt. Same difference, though. Your wings will freeze any liquid they come in contact with, so don't go rolling around in any pee, unless you wanna stink till you die!"

Blinking, I asked, "Why would I roll around in pee...?"

Snorting, the elder fae replied, "Some fae have."

Looking horrified, I shouted, "That's really gross!"

Shrugging, Cirno continued, "Anyways, shattering happens whenever you gain more power. Guess your wings just plain didn't gain enough size from your change or something. I wonder if that's normal for... whatever it is you have."

Pouting, I commented, "You make me sound sick..."

Chuckling, Cirno continued, "It also happens if you're hurt, but, well, you look fine to me. Anyways, it might just be a false alarm, and you won't shatter, and only grow. Sometimes that happens. Those wings of yours are actually pretty dinky, so I think it just might be a false alarm. But if it's not..." She let that thought hang, before going on to say, "Anyways, just be ready for if it does." From the sound of things, Cirno was quite experienced on the subject. I guess, being as strong as she is, she's had to go through it enough to learn a bit about it. I wonder if I'd get more wings from this? That denotes strength, right? I wonder what other kinds of fae, like Daiyousei, go through? Do they just kinda... split apart? That sounds painful... Then again, shattering sounds even worse. Grinning, Cirno suddenly splashed me, a small wave of water crashing into me, and knocking me down under the water.

Swimming back to the surface of the dark lake, I coughed out water, and set about recovering from her attack.

Sighing, Cirno said, "Jeez, Usa, you're really wimpy..."

Coughing up a bit more water, I sputtered, "Y-you did a sneak attack!"

Snorting, Cirno replied, "All's fair in love and war!"

Blushing, I asked, "Y-you love me?"

Blinking, Cirno asked, "Ehh? Wait, you think... No! I was calling this war, you idiot!" She hid her blush well, not that she had to; it was quite dark out, you see.

Blinking right back, I said, "O-ohh."

Proceeding to give me another, weaker splash, Cirno quickly distracted me into guarding my face. Realizing that there was no wave to sweep me away this time, I splashed back.

We spent the next hour splashing about, splashing each other over and over, again and again. If we weren't children of winter, the frigid waters surely would have claimed a toe or two.

Cirno's shack, late night:

Stretching out, Cirno said, "Man was that ever refreshing!" Looking to me, and squinting in the low light conditions, she said, "Huh, your wings grew a whole bunch while we out there!" Looking closer, she continued, "...But they aren't done yet."

Blinking, I asked, "How can you tell?"

Grinning, Cirno answered, "Well, they aren't shiny yet! They're still dull, which means they are still growing. ...Guess we should swim more in the morning, huh?"

Looking back to my wings, I noticed the way the moon light hardly shone when it hit them. She was right; they really weren't done growing! "Ohh, you're right! ...If they grow any more, they might really get in the way, though..."

Snorting, Cirno replied, "Well, they'd be more useful to you in combat, although you'd be able to transform any wing into a blade at a moments notice with enough practice." To demonstrate, she grabbed hold of one of her own wings, and it transformed into a long sword.

Nodding, I said, "I see." Thinking a moment, I asked, "Wait, if they get any longer, won't they get in the way a lot?" I couldn't help but imagine myself with four bastard swords for wings.

There was a look of nostalgia on Cirno's pale features as she said, "Ohh, that's simple enough. If you ever get to that point, I'll just teach you manual control of your wings, one way or another. Either I'll teach you how to shatter 'em, or I'll show you how to position 'em better! Back when I was a two-wing, they grew to be huuuge!" She threw up her arms to indicate just how large they had been. "I'm talkin' twice the normal size huge!"

Blinking, I asked, "Really?"

Nodding, Cirno continued, "Yeah! So I shattered them and they formed into four wings! I was amazed! It was my first time shattering, so I was a bit afraid, but the elder eased me into it." Cirno smiled fondly at the memory, before snapping back to the here and now. "...Anyways, we should be sleeping about now. Let's go to bed, or else we won't wake up for Mystia's singing!"

With that said, we both got into bed, although Cirno more leaped onto the bed than anything else, and laid down under the thick sheets. Before long, we were both getting ready to drift off to sleep, and at that moment, Cirno wrapped a protective arm around me, pulling me closer.

I drifted off with a smile on my face.