Author's Notes: This one is set in normal Gensokyo don't worry.
It was a beautiful day; birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and the sun was shining. On days like this, all of Gensokyo rejoiced at the good weather, there was no scarlet mist, no flying ship, and no upside down castle floating in the sky.
And it was on days like this that the goddess of the autumn leaves wished it was slightly colder. It's only natural for an autumn goddess to prefer fall over other seasons, isn't it? At least that's what you'd think, but Shizuha actually liked winter more than spring and summer. Of course she still loved autumn the most, but winter held a special place in her heart, even if it signified the end of fall.
Why, you ask? That's simple. Because winter brought snow, and the snow brought Letty.
Letty Whiterock. A Yuki-Onna. She was an embodiment of winter, more specifically, the cold. She always appears at the start of winter, and always vanishes by the end of it, as ephemeral as winter itself. While most would view her as a seasonal threat, one more thing to be wary of when winter rolls around. To those who knew her, she was a kind and caring sister figure, always playing with the fairies, and even talking through a lot of her friends' problems, or even just some random passerby that decided to confide in her. Despite the reputation winter has for being the coldest and harshest season, Letty was one of the most warm and caring people you'd meet.
And right now it is summer, the hottest and most active season. While there were no spring flower viewings, winter bonfires, or autumn potlucks in the summer, people would always prefer to be outside in the warmth, with sunhat prepared and parasol held, in order to enjoy the bright summer sun. Children would play around, and school would be out for the season. Indeed, it was as if summer was the world's favorite season. It was Shizuha's least favorite though.
Sure she could enjoy the warmth as much as any mortal human could, and there was always the reassuring thought that autumn would have its turn next, but Shizuha had always preferred the cold. Maybe because it gave her an excuse to cuddle her younger sister Minoriko, who always seemed to be reluctant to show affection, or maybe because the thought of huddling under a thick blanket to shy away from the chilly breeze sounded nice to her. Or maybe it was simply because the cold reminded her of Letty, and that made her giddy inside. And then there was the fact that summer was a whole half a year until winter came.
Shizuha sighed. She realized she was agonizing over Letty again, despite knowing that she should be used to Letty's inverted hibernation by now. But could she help it? Only seeing the one you love for a fourth of the year, for only one season, was a massive pain. And she could say that again.
But at least summer would soon be over, then it could be autumn, then she'd do her job for the season, then after that she'd be free to enjoy winter as much as she wanted. Minoriko had said something about her needing to focus on painting the leaves more instead of the fact that winter was coming, 'Focus on your own season!' She said, but where's the fun in that?
Shizuha sat down and leaned against a tree. "The cicadas sure are loud this year huh?" But that was to be expected, they were the sound of summer after all.
If there was a sense she'd attribute to each of the seasons it would be sound for summer. The cicadas were iconic, and as soon as you heard their call, you'd know that it signaled the start of summer. For Autumn it would be the flavors of its bounty, the taste of the fresh autumn harvest, blessed by her own sister, never failing to put a smile on Shizuha's face, or on the faces of the thousands of humans in Gensokyo. Winter would definitely be touch, the way you could feel the cold on your face, feel the hair stand up on your arms, and feel the snow in your hands. It was also the season when Shizuha could actually touch Letty, and feel that she was actually there with her, and Letty could feel her too. Spring was sight, and it was for this that Shizuha didn't absolutely hate spring with a passion.
Spring had always signaled the end of winter since the beginning of time, no matter how long winter was, spring would always put an end to it. Spring was warm, and bright, and it came with an annoying fairy that would shout its arrival in your face, rivaling the cicadas in announcing their season. But the fairy was just doing her job and loving her season, and Shizuha could respect that. Spring came with a lot of things, that was for sure, but the thing that Shizuha had always loved the most were the Sakura blossoms, and the flower viewing parties along with them.
As a goddess of falling autumn leaves and colorful leaves herself, she could appreciate the Sakura blossoms flowing through the gentle spring breeze like a light pink snow. And recently, she was able to enjoy it with someone else as well.
Around a decade ago, when the Spring Snow incident had occurred courtesy of the ghost princess of the Netherworld, the Gensokyo flower viewing parties had been postponed by nearly a month, which had irked the goddess greatly. So when the first flower viewing party had finally occurred following the incident's resolution, she had sequestered herself on a cliff overlooking said party. She had fully prepared to be alone the entire time, not bothering anyone and vice versa, that was why she was on the cliff after all. But in the middle of the viewing, despite no one bothering her at her spot at all in the last century, someone approached her.
"May I sit here?" She had asked. She had shiny lavender hair and a blue and white outfit that looked awfully warm for spring, not to mention the chilly aura she exuded, but Shizuha didn't mind, she came here to enjoy the viewing, so why shouldn't she let this woman enjoy it too?
"Sure! I don't mind, if sitting here helps you enjoy the flower viewing more, then I'd be happy to share my spot with you." Shizuha had replied happily, hoping to introduce the beauty of the falling leaves to this admittedly beautiful person.
"Thank you." Her voice was clear as ice, like a cold wind that cut through the spring air. Everything about her seemed icy as well, from her snow white skin, to her icy gaze. She was as beautiful and serene as winter itself.
The flower viewing passed by, with Shizuha occasionally glancing at the mystery woman, gauging her opinion of the beautiful spring spectacle before her. Before the woman suddenly stood up, a full hour after the viewing party had ended.
"That was rather beautiful." she said "I'm glad I got to see it."
Shizuha was happy with that reaction. "Isn't it? As a goddess of falling leaves myself it's really special to me to see the humans just sit there and admire the beauty of the colorful flowers and fluttering foliage, it sometimes even gives me faith you know?"
"Oh really? Is that so?" The mystery woman lightly giggled, a tinkling that was reminiscent of icicles falling into snow.
"Yep! Shizuha Aki, goddess of autumn leaves and the 'Heart-rending Crimson Rain', at your service." Shizuha offered her hand, clearly wanting a hand shake.
"Ah, Letty Whiterock, Yuki-Onna." Letty took her hand and shook it. It was cold. She really was a Yuki-Onna huh?
"Ah a winter youkai enjoying a spring event? That's weird, but not unwelcome, will you be watching next year's first flower viewing as well?" Shizuha had asked, a little hopeful to enjoy seeing such a beautiful sight with her new friend, acquaintance?
"And an autumn goddess watching it isn't weird? Aha." Letty retorted, silently chuckling. "I'm kidding. Although I wonder if I'll be able to join in on the flower viewing next year or not."
"Hmm? Why not?"
"Well, I usually go to sleep once winter ends, the only reason I was able to see the flower viewing this year was because of the recent incident that prolonged winter. Although now that I've seen it, maybe I'll try extra hard next year to stay awake and preserve my power just to watch the flowers again." Her voice sounded distant, like she really wanted to be able to see the flowers, and not just fall asleep like she always did.
"Ah well that's a shame, does that mean that this was your first flower viewing?" Shizuha asked, tilting her head.
"It was, and I'd just like to say that it was really amazing, I see why even a being of autumn would go out of their way to watch it. It really was spectacular."
"Then that's great!" Shizuha beamed. "I've been watching every spring for around a century now and it never gets old, I look forward to being able to watch it with someone for a change!"
Letty was slightly taken aback. "Watching it with someone? You mean me?"
Shizuha nodded.
"Well I'm flattered but most people are off-put by the cold that I bring with me you know? And it's not like I'll be able to stay awake long enough anyways." Letty said slightly downcast.
"I don't mind the cold, in fact, I like the cold." Shizuha started. "And it's really no problem, if you can't stay awake, then I'll wake you up myself! I'll wake you up every spring if I have to, with your permission of course! I personally think that if you want to admire the falling leaves and flowers, then you have a right to admire them! Although maybe that's just my personal opinion. Hehe"
Letty was a bit more taken aback this time. "But won't it be a bother trying to keep me awake long enough to watch it?"
Shizuha just smiled. "Maybe other people might think so but I don't mind." She looked over the field of pink petals before turning to face Letty, a gentle look on her face. "I really enjoyed watching the flowers with you, so if you'd like, I would love to watch them with you every year from now on."
And from then on Shizuha had, without fail, managed to drag Letty's cold, almost lifeless body, out from her cave and wake her up in time for the flower viewing. It was an arduous quest at first, but then she started getting used to it, to the point where she didn't even need to wake Letty up anymore and she'd just be able to stay awake herself. And around three winters or so, she had started hanging out with Letty during winter as well, and she had to admit, she had enjoyed it a lot. At some point she realized that what she felt for Letty was probably more than friendship, the humans probably called it love. But as a goddess, the girlfriend dynamic would be much harder to accomplish, especially considering how Letty is only awake during winter. She would probably need to do a lot of different things to see if she could form a stable romantic relationship with the Yuki-Onna.
Maybe confessing to her at the next flower viewing would be a good place to start. Ah. She couldn't wait for winter to come.
Author's Notes: This one was fun. The dynamic of mind reader/normal person was gone so the dialogue felt mote natural to me. 'Seasons' was an easy prompt, with only so many seasonal beings in Gensokyo. My first draft was a roundtable-like meeting between the Aki sisters, Letty, Lily White, and Yuuka, but I quickly scrapped that idea in favor of this one. I was inspired by 'The Pathway Through Winter' by ao3 user Mimic_Teruyo and the concept of people separated by the seasons they can exist in, and so I wrote this fic. I picked Letty and Shizuha because I think they're really pretty and need more love. I kinda projected onto Shizuha here, what with her wistful monologue. I basically pulled from my own experience of sitting and waiting for 2 hours for my mom to pick me up from school, I ended up joining like 3 different clubs to pass the time. The dialogue about waking Letty was also pulled from my life, my grandma often falls asleep while watching netflix and tells me to wake her up if I see her. Sometimes it takes me a while but it's not too much of a hassle.