Yes, I will be using the in-game dialogue here and there. Those are done by ZUN, of course.

Just a reminder, kiddos. Reviews are helpful.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is owned by Nagaru Tanigawa. Touhou Project is owned by ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice. I own neither. This is a fan fiction of those works.

[This Chapter has been Remastered]

Beta Readers for this Episode(Alphabetical Order):

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From her hilltop residence, the woman with the parasol looked down on Gensokyo as it was beginning a new day. The dawn's light shone in the snow, making it far brighter than dawn could hope to achieve on its own. It was a spectacle, the fresh snow providing a dazzling light that few could ever hope to enjoy.

Today would be the day, a brand new day. Normally she'd say "full of possibilities", but she knew what would have to happen on this day.

Her gaze drifted upwards and she watched as the snowflakes came down. Thankfully the storm was lighter than it had been in the past week. It was still snowing, but at least everyone would get a reprieve. Later though...with the way the snowstorms have been acting, it was always like this. The calm before...

She yawned, cutting off that phrase. She knew that the maid and the boy were now going to track down the source of the cherry blossoms, thanks to her servant. Yet they'd need help. She'd have to get the other two to help out, the shrine maiden and the witch. This would be too much for the boy and his companion alone. Have her servant lead them all to each other, and they'd have enough power to overcome anything.

It shouldn't be too hard to do so. Thankfully the blossoms were attracted to the boy. She wasn't sure exactly why. Well, she had an idea why. It was a matter of asking how instead of why. The why she had some idea, sadly had a hand in it, allowing...no, she couldn't think about it. Knowing that this was somehow her fault as well was a bit heartbreaking, because of who was involved. That she allowed a certain person to go to the outside world, and do what she did. She had to act, actually, bringing the boy into Gensokyo. Kyon. She didn't like it, but if the one called Nagato ever got full use of her faculties and detected what was done to the boy back in December, there would be trouble. But his "blessing", as that magician Patchouli called it, from Haruhi Suzumiya was quite a surprise. It improved the barrier, made it last longer, and allowed him to heal, among other things. He'd actually be useful in here.

Such… potential. I look forward to seeing what comes from all of this. Perhaps this can be useful for future situations.

The woman smiled before she turned to go to back inside to sleep. She'd make the arrangements to get them together, then she'd have a nice slumber. By the time she woke up, everything would be just fine. And why not? The boy became invincible for one hit with that barrier.

Yes, the barrier that erected around him when he collected the blossoms.

That damn barrier she thought she would never have to see again.

[Imperfect Cherry Blossom]

[Episode 4]

["Cold"]

=The Spring of Silvery Snow=

"Cherry petals should have fallen like snowflakes...

However, it was still silver with snow."

-Touhou 7, Perfect Cherry Blossom - Stage 1

I was starting to have doubts as to how quickly we were going to resolve this. Upon leaving the Mansion, we were greeted by the sun clearing the horizon and giving us the true light of the morning, as we were following the trail of cherry blossoms in the wind. This world of Gensokyo appeared untamed, as from where I was standing the only visible sign of any sort of civilization in this snowed-in world was the home of the vampire. And without the means to make out any trails, roads, or paths, our only choice was to follow the blossoms to wherever they were coming from, which meant that we had to go into the wilderness. The sounds of our breathing, of the snow under our feet, and the occasional deer or other such wildlife in this forest area were the only things we could hear.

Well, besides Sakuya herself speaking.

"...And then Lady Flandre made a new friend in the Black-White." Sakuya shrugged, still leading the way and not turning her head towards me. "It was quite the interesting ordeal, of their invasion of our home. And a lot came from it."

Since I couldn't fly (She can fly! Why the hell didn't she tell me?) we had a lot of time to kill, and I had to admit that I was lost on the history of where I was. I knew of what Remilia told me, but there were mentions of other people as well. That, and the Scarlet Devil Mansion, or SDM, was as said, relatively new to this place. Sakuya told me everything about what apparently people in Gensokyo called the "Scarlet Mist Incident". About how Remilia cast a red mist all over the land to block out the sun so she could go outside, and it attracted the attention of two individuals, the "Black-White" and the "Red-White" that they were talking about. Said individuals would stick their nose in things going on in Gensokyo, according to Sakuya. Those two tore through the defenses that the mansion put up, and defeated everyone in their way in danmaku battles.

Which started a whole new conversation about what danmaku was. It was a "game" played by the powerful residents of Gensokyo, made up by the "Red-White". This game involved using one's power to create a field of danmaku, which were essentially non-lethal bullets (copies of something in one's possession, although they would retain some of their original properties), and the first to directly tag the opponent enough times either with danmaku or physical attacks to score a knockout would win that round. Alongside her real silver knives, Sakuya had knife danmaku, and could surround an opponent with her barrages.

Though apparently that didn't go well with the rules. One of the major rules was that nobody's power was absolute. Danmaku leveled the playing field. There were non-spell card danmaku, and spell card danmaku attacks. Spell cards were named complex attacks set up in advance, in a pattern determined by the owner, but if an opponent could dodge every single danmaku during a spell card without using one themselves or getting hit, they "captured" that card, meaning they got a copy of it, which was the worst thing that could happen as they could study it, effectively nullifying future use. Danmaku was used to avoid violence and death for any differences the powerful had in Gensokyo, or for bragging rights. And apparently, there was a lot of pride going around in this place, with youkai, fairies, and the like wanting to prove their superiority over each other.

I certainly didn't expect to find out that this was how conflicts were resolved in this place. Magical games played by the people in Gensokyo. However, as a means of showing off and settling disputes, it proved popular with those who could pull it off. Magical battles, huh? Maybe I'll get lucky and see some of them? At least that was piquing my interest.

Sakuya gave me the rules, and I do mean the complete rules. It was mind boggling, really, the details that go into danmaku. I'm just going to sum it all up in laymen terms, because I am not about to spend fifteen minutes going over those rules like Sakuya did.

It's shooting a flurry of knockout magic without using one hundred percent of one's power. And not killing the opponent in the process. That's pretty much it. Anyone who is able to play can play, and it's not to be lethal.

Sakuya showed me, in fact. Stopping to turn to me, she held a real knife in her right hand, and a second knife formed in her left hand. It looked just like the real thing, except it had a lighter outline and was "bright". That's the best way I could describe it. She asked me to touch the new knife, and when I did, it disappeared in a flash of light, and left a feeling on my fingers not unlike a big static electricity charge. It stung like hell for the first few seconds, and left a numbing sensation in my hand afterwards. It would later leave that hand sore for a while.

Suffice to say, I didn't like that at all and gave her a nasty look, clutching onto my hand. I could feel the pain underneath my fingernails. She seemed amused by my reaction, and my suffering. Glad you find this funny. Damn it all, this is not helping my mood! I'm already apprehensive as hell over even doing this!

Sakuya had then got back to the story to explain what happened. The two girls had followed the mist, defeated Meiling, defeated Patchouli and Koakuma, blazed through the last stand Sakuya made with all the maid fairies (breaking her ribs in the process, because Sakuya refused to stay down), before fighting Remilia on top of the mansion, where the vampire was defeated. The proud vampire then swore allegiance to the two, stating that, "Your friends are now my friends, and your enemies are now my enemies." She also ended the mist. Now if she wants to go outside, she used an umbrella to block the sun.

Despite how strong Meiling looks to be, despite how strong everyone else in the mansion as well, they were still taken down?

Then, a few days later, Remilia and Sakuya showed up where the Red-White and Black-White girls were, and coaxed them to go to the mansion, where a disaster happened. Remilia's little sister, Flandre, who had spent nearly half a millennia locked up in the basement, had broken loose and was destroying everything, yet the two girls were able to defeat her by getting her to fight them in a danmaku battle. Remilia had wanted the two to taste defeat at the hands of her sister, but it backfired. As Sakuya put it, they came back and played "Keep away" with Remilia's umbrella until nightfall.

What an interesting bunch of people Gensokyo has, eh? That being said, I was still shaking my head about a certain point she said in her story - about Remilia keeping Flandre locked away. "I can't believe that Remilia kept her own sister in the basement!" Why?! Why do that?!

"Well, it was for the best."

She said that as if it were a simple matter-of-fact thing! Who does that to their own sister?! I can't even imagine doing that… It made my heart ache, really."How in the world could it be for the best?!" I know I shouldn't be yelling at her about it, but I did.

Sakuya turned to me. The light provided by the early morning was breathtaking when it shone through the trees of the forest we were in as it lit up her face. It was obvious she was attempting to not show any emotion while saying this, her eyes looking to the side. "Lady Flandre...is rather powerful. More powerful than she can control herself. That makes her very dangerous. She can destroy pretty much anything."

"What do you mean by 'destroy anything'?" It's not literal, is it?

"I mean exactly what I say. Nothing can hold her but her love for her sister. She's merciless on the atomic level, and I do mean that. Lady Flandre is that powerful. And she has a bad habit of breaking her toys, which is why we had you working yesterday."

I stared at her for a second, dumbstruck. "That makes no sense." What the hell are you getting at?

"The only way Lady Flandre will allow you to live is if you either work for her sister, be a friend of her sister, can prove your strength to her, or become her playmate. Or as she calls them, 'toys'."

I stopped in my tracks. The way she was looking at me...she was serious about this. "Toys? She would see me… as a toy?"

"Yes. And all day yesterday, she was asking if she could play with you."

I again felt chills, and not from the cold that time. "She was...she was watching me?" Boy, and I thought it was just the mansion giving me creeps! I had a real reason to be on edge the day before! That little girl I saw that ducked out of sight as I turned around...that was her? I guess I have to find the time to thank Sakuya for keeping me busy as a worker then.

"Of course. And I had to ensure she didn't try to make contact with you. Even though she has those rules for herself, she sometimes even breaks those." Sakuya sighed, not pleased that she was saying this. "You see, well, I shouldn't be saying this about my mistress's little sister, but...Lady Flandre is certifiably insane. She's… not all there. That's why she was kept locked away, for her own safety, but the safety of others as well. It's not uncommon for her to snuff out something because she's not in full control of her faculties. I'll leave it at that."

I was kind of glad she would leave it at that, as I was unsure whether I wanted to know more about Flandre. Everything I'd heard about that little vampire was nothing but bad news. Even Meiling was wary of Flandre, it seemed.

Sakuya turned to keep walking, except that there was a little girl in front of us.

Scratch that. A fairy. The wings were a dead giveaway. In the small clearing we found ourselves in, there stood a fairy that had short, messy blue hair with a blue ribbon, a pink blouse, and a blue jumper dress. She stood there with her arms crossed. And call me crazy (considering where I was, I think that would make me normal here), but it felt like it got colder just by her mere presence.

It was a while before anyone spoke... Well, before the fairy spoke.

"Where ya going?" She said that with such gusto, such energy, more so than I would have ever bothered considering for such a question.

Sakuya stood there, staring at the fairy. I couldn't help but stare too. The way this fairy stood was as if she was trying to be intimidating. "Hey, I know you." Sakuya's eyebrows rose. "You're that fairy that lives by the lake, aren't you? I see you a lot when I go shopping." Sakuya didn't seem threatened by the fairy in blue, so I felt kind of relieved. You know, this fairy was kind of cute in a way.

"You didn't answer my question, ya know! Don'tcha know that's rude?"

Sakuya stared at the fairy for a moment, before she started to walk, grabbing my hand. You're not gonna answer her? This fairy is right. You are kind of rude when you want to be.

We were about to pass the little fairy, when the fairy spoke up again, a little flustered. She was getting red in the face over being ignored. "Hey! Answer me! Where ya going?"

Sakuya didn't even look at the fairy as she spoke. "None of your business, little fairy. I suggest you go home. I don't think we have the time to play with a fairy anyways."

Even if we wanted to tell you, we couldn't tell you. We're just following the Cherry Blossoms after all; trying to find out where they're coming from.

"Come on, Kyon. Pay no attention to this idiot."

I glared at the back of Sakuya's head. Is antagonizing people really the best course of action, Sakuya?

Anger rose in the fairy's eyes, as she grit her teeth. "Idiot? Idiot!? You're a rude one, aren'tcha? How about someone teach you some manners?" The fairy reached behind her, and pulled out a card, before she rose into the air.

My eyes widened. Is that a damn spell card?! "Hey, Sakuya-"

Sakuya gave my hand a slight squeeze, as she slowed down to turn her head to the fairy, a serious look on the maid's face. "Don't worry. Stay with me."

Staying with you got me dragged into a fight!

"Eye will prove to you that Eye am the strongest opponent you will face today! You will know that Cirno is powerful!"

[SPELL CARD: ICE SIGN "ICICLE FALL ~ EASY"]

Oh man it is one. A barrage of icicles appeared behind her in a puff of smoke - they looked razor sharp. My heartbeat increased, for obvious reasons. For some reason, we stopped. Sakuya fully turned to this fairy, Cirno.

"Sakuya?" Why did we stop?!

"Stay with me, Kyon!"

The edges of those icicles gleamed in the morning light. We were too close to the fairy, way too close! Oh great. Start the day by getting impaled by icicles?! I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning!

"Eat this!"

The icicles flew to the sides, turned in midair, and came right at us...well, right behind us. My initial fear gave way to being stupefied. You're kidding me, right? Then that feeling gave way to slight annoyance. You scared me only to completely fail at attacking us? Are you serious? Not that I was complaining about the attack missing. It's the principal of the thing. It felt insulting, to tell the truth.

They were tearing up the trees behind us - the whole area - and freezing some of them, but were missing us. There was nothing between us and the ice fairy was firing, and missing, with her icicles.

What kind of stupid attack is this? She was wide open for anybody right in front of her. Even I could have gone up to her and attacked.

Cirno's eyes widened as Sakuya was pulling out a knife and started to walk towards her, the fairy stammering. "Ah...yeah...um...do-over?" Whatever bravado the fairy had was instantly gone.

Sakuya sighed in annoyance. "We can't stop to fight every small fry, Kyon. Some aren't even worth the time."

I take it not everyone is very good with danmaku. That being said, seeing a spell card in action was something to behold. Even though the attacks missed us, it was impressive to see an actual magical barrage in person. Sort of reminded me of that barrage Asakura used against Nagato.

Cirno started to move backwards, until she backed up right against a tree. The danmaku disappeared as Sakuya kept on walking towards the fairy, knife in hand. Cirno stood there, back to the tree, until Sakuya was right there. I called out to the maid. "Sakuya, you're not going to kill her, are you?!" Even though she attempted to attack us, she still looked like a kid. I wouldn't want to see such violence against someone who looks like that!

Sakuya's right arm snapped back as if she was going to stab the fairy, and thrust forward. Cirno screamed. A bright light appeared for a brief instant in between them.

"Sakuya!"

The screams from Cirno and I must have shocked several birds, as now several crows were sent cawing into the air in response, as if it was some dramatic moment in a TV show. As the flapping and cawing died down, I could hear Cirno whimpering, clutching her stomach. A little bit of smoke was coming from between them.

Sakuya bent down to her ear, smirking while whispering loud enough for me to hear what she was saying to the fairy. "Tag."

The maid then backed away from the crying ice fairy, who fell to her knees, coughing and clutching herself. Thankfully, there was no blood, just what looked like a small black mark on the fairy's dress.

I sighed in relief, and anger. Did you really have to do that?! "What the hell was that about?"

Sakuya just smiled at me as she started to put back her knife. "I tagged her at close range with my knife danmaku. I won this…" Sakuya flippantly waved her hand around as she rolled her eyes. "'Battle', if you could call it that."

Did you really have to make a show of it? I really thought you were going to stab the poor thing! Speaking of, the fairy was holding her stomach, trembling. Yeah I feel for you, fairy. Danmaku hurts.

Sakuya scoffed at the sight. "Okay, let's go Kyon. Us standing around isn't going to end winter any quicker."

Cirno looked up after finishing coughing."You're trying to end winter? You can't!"

Sakuya turned around raising an eyebrow."Oh? You know something?"

"All Eye know is that as long as spring isn't here, winter will remain! You can't take away the best season of all from me! Eye won't allo-"

A real knife flew by her head and stuck into the tree. Cirno squealed, and flew off crying. Wow. That was a bit harsh.

"You! You big meanies!" Cirno turned to us to yell some more. "Eye'll get you bac-!" She hit a branch of a tree with her head with and audible thwack, stumbling in the air for a bit, before dashing off, even redder in the face.

Interesting people Gensokyo has. That fairy was like comic relief levels of incompetent. She needs a laugh track to follow her around.

Letting out an amused chuckle, Sakuya went to get the knife out of the tree. She then bent down to where the fairy was, and picked up a spell card. "Here, have this. I have no use for this idiot's card."

Oh, right, because we weren't hit, we captured the card. I had forgotten about that. Sakuya threw it to me, pretty much with precision. I was able to easily grab it out of the air. I stared at her, impressed with her accuracy, before turning my attention to the magical item I was given. It was a blue card, cold to the touch, with sloppy writing on the back of it. ICE SIGN "ICICLE FALL ~ EASY" it read. It was the size of a standard playing card, but felt rather durable. It wouldn't fold nor break no matter how much I bent it. "Uhm, how would I go about using it?"

"Using a spell card is simple." After Sakuya had wiped off the sap her knife had gotten on its blade, she approached me, pointing at the card. "You just hold it up, and say the incantation on the back of the card. See?"

She showed me, and thankfully it was in Japanese. I absentmindedly put it in one of my pockets.

"Since you aren't really a magic user, it may not work. There's a chance though, due to your 'blessing', it could."

"It could?" Wait you think I can use magic in here? That'd be awesome, not gonna lie.

"Mmmm, possibly. Just a theory Lady Patchouli put together."

"I get the feeling Patchouli loves her theories."

Sakuya grinned and chuckled for a bit, her happy face making me realize how stunning she looked. She was definitely beautiful, which was more noticeable when she wasn't rude to me.

"Quite right. I suppose that's how it is for scholars though. Anyways, you might be strong enough to use spell cards soon enough. She even theorized that if you gain enough cherry blossoms, you might gain the ability to fly. Though the chances for that are very low. Again, it's just a 'what if' theory. Personally I don't think it would happen."

That piqued my interest. The ability to fly. That was one of my dreams as a kid. Hell, considering that I could become invincible, wasn't I living another one of my dreams? When I think about it, Gensokyo was beyond awesome, if you didn't mind every other thing wanting to eat or fight you. Beautiful scenery, fresh air, water, a simple life. A person could get used to something like this.

Sadly, I would never gain the ability to fly, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Sakuya took a cup of coffee from the thermos. I guess I still looked angry with her for her whole display with the fairy (which I kind of was), because she let out a sigh. "Ahhhhh, killing the small fry is so pointless."

I'd rather you don't go around killing things in front of me, thank you, unless necessary.

She didn't like my silent response to her, I guess wanting me to quip back or something. "This is the way things go in Gensokyo, Kyon. If you don't establish yourself, or have a reputation, you'll be taken advantage of."

I got where she was coming from. I mean, that Rumia girl really tried to get to me before I could get on the grounds of the mansion, yet because I made her bleed, she tried to get at me anyway, and got blasted for it.

I still didn't want to see a fairy get killed though. They look like kids.

After Sakuya finished her cup, she stretched. "I wish the one pulling the strings would show up already…"

If only if it were that easy.

"Pulling strings. What fun!" The two of us turned with a start, to see a woman in a blue and white dress floating above us like a ghost. I was startled to see her, as I was still not used to seeing people fly in here. Her lavender curls flapped in the breeze as she stared down at the maid with fittingly cold eyes. I noticed in the sunlight a glimmering silver trident pinned over her heart. She adjusted her white cap as she smiled at Sakuya. But when she saw me, her rather inhuman lavender eyes showed a flash of confusion before narrowing. She didn't say anything, though. And just like with the fairy, it felt colder just by her being there.

Sakuya drew out her knives, an amused smile forming on her face. "Ahh, so you're the one? Well then, without delay!"

The woman lightheartedly raised one hand, as if feigning surprise. "No, wait! I'm the mastermind, but I'm normal."

Normal? You're flying in the air lady! Aaaaand Sakuya just floated upwards to meet her. I sighed. I guess I was the abnormal one. Is this the world Koizumi envisioned should Haruhi ever learn the existence of the paranormal? Chances are, should it happen, I'll be the only one left without any powers.

"Mastermind or normal doesn't matter in such a place. Don't you think this situation isn't normal to begin with?"

The woman laughed at Sakuya's statement before responding."Well, the snow crystals are larger than in past years. Six times larger."

"Well, that's true."

Snow was gathering around this woman, twirling around her. Sakuya smiled, and her body tensed up. She was getting ready.

Is it going to be this easy? Pretty much the mastermind comes up to us and says, "Yeah I'm the mastermind, what's up?" I could only hope it really was this easy.

The mystery woman smirked at Sakuya. "Though I will say this. On top of that, there's a freaky flying maid coming towards me."

Sakuya grinned, narrowing her eyes in amusement. "Yeah, that too. After all, you're the mastermind."

The woman in white smiled, twirling in the air, her arm extended. Green and blue objects (ice?) were shooting out of her hand. This was on.

I backed up, finding a fallen tree to find cover behind, and allowing me a decent view of the fight. I had to made sure I could be able to avoid whatever was shot out, but I couldn't help myself – I wanted to see it all. My heart beat with both excitement and fear.

Knife danmaku appeared in front of Sakuya, and she threw them, which the mystery woman dodged. It was like some sort of air dance for Sakuya - knives would appear in mid-air, flying at her target, or just hang there, which she would physically throw when she got to them. As for the mystery lady, she kept twirling, throwing ice around her, then stopped. The falling snow then gathered into her and created a mist. The mist solidified, broke up, and came right after Sakuya. The maid dropped altitude to avoid it, and kept up her knife throwing.

Wow. Just wow.

[SPELL CARD: COLD SIGN "COLD SNAP"]

The woman backed up, holding the spell card she just used. A symbol surrounded her, and more cold mist came out of her body, obscuring some of the danmaku. A stream of ice came out of her hand, broke up into smaller pieces, and flew at Sakuya. Several of Sakuya's knives were frozen when making contact, but still she kept at it. There had to be dozens upon dozens of these things flying at my maid companion! Yet she simply kept her cool, no pun intended, and was weaving in and out of the shots.

Eventually the spell card wore off, and a copy of it fell to the ground. Upset and grimacing, the woman twirled her finger in the air, and three sheets of ice started to spin around her body. Not only did they do that, but they chipped off, sending ice shards towards their target.

It didn't last long. Sakuya's blades were breaking through, beginning to graze the woman's clothing, tearing it up here and there.

To tell the truth, I was awestruck at this display in front of me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! It was an actual magical battle between two people flying in the air! This whole battle is amazing!

[SPELL CARD: WINTER SIGN "FLOWER WITHER AWAY"]

Gritting her teeth, the woman backed up again, using another spell card. Now there were five sheets of ice, bending, circling around her in the shape of a flower. They, too, were breaking off, sending a massive amount of chunks at the maid. Sakuya simply dodged, and was readying a single real knife. Maybe she saw a weak point of some sort?

She threw it. It went right between the sheets perfectly, and struck the woman in the leg. She cried out in pain as her spell card died out. She quickly pulled out the knife, glared at Sakuya and I, and flew off without saying another word.

Sakuya just hovered there with her arms crossed, annoyed. "That was pitiful. I'm gonna find the next 'mastermind', then. Maybe someone who can actually get me to use a spell card. What a waste of time."

She then came back down. I was still breathless as to what I witnessed, my heart beating fast. She smiled at me.

"Sakuya...that was...that was-"

"That, Kyon, was a danmaku battle." Sakuya dusted the snow off of her. "Not a very good one, but still a better one than that fairy put up. And again, it seems you're easily amused."

It was my first time seeing something like that. Give me a break. Part of me was starting to understand that Sakuya was taking pleasure in slightly showing off to me. Her mannerisms, her movements throughout all of this, were lightly exaggerated. She was definitely putting on a show.

"Amazing that you feel so proud about what you did."

Another voice, and we looked up again. A teenage girl, wearing a red and white shrine maiden's outfit with a red neckerchief, with a red bow with a pony tail in her shoulder-cut black hair, stared down at us from the top of a tree with her red eyes. She also had two red and white hair tubes which ran down the sides of her face. One of the weird things about her outfit is that she had detached white sleeves that started just above her elbow. Yeah, she had a scarf, but it boggled my mind why her shoulders were exposed to the cold with such an outfit. She tapped a gohei on her bare shoulder as she gazed directly at Sakuya. The shrine maiden was beautiful, but the steel gaze she had kind of unsettled me. It was hard to describe how it really affected me other than it just put me off.

Sakuya chuckled, but she didn't look happy. "Ah, the Red-White."

Red-White? You mean-

The shrine maiden, the miko. "I have a name, maid. It's Reimu Hakurei." The shrine maiden frowned at Sakuya. "And you think you accomplished something by defeating that yuki-onna? She held back."

Yuki-onna? That was a snow ghost? What other fantasy creatures are around here?

"I know she did, Red-White. And I have a name too. It's Sakuya Izayoi." Gone was Sakuya's playful movements. Her body was slightly tense as she outright glared back at Reimu here.

"No, that's not your name. That's the name given to you by your vampire master. Where is your real identity?"

Is there something I'm not getting here?

Sakuya lowered her head a bit. "This is my identity, little miko."

"Hmph. ...how are the ribs?"

Sakuya's fists clenched, but she managed to control herself. "Fine. Just fine."

Yikes. Easy to see that these two don't get along.

"I see. Well now, who is this?" Reimu was gesturing to me, not changing her demeanor. She looked at me the same way she did at Sakuya.

I told her my name, though again, I said that my friends called me "Kyon". Why did I bring that stupid nickname with me into Gensokyo?

"Okay, Kyon...what are you doing with the vampire's little dog?"

Are you trying to make Sakuya angry? And you're making me a little angry as well!

Sakuya tensed up, reaching into her pockets for knives. I put my hand on her shoulder, not wanting to be an accomplice to a homicide. "Hey, Sakuya, don-"

Electricity. Flowing through my body. A red aura. Another cherry blossom must have activated the barrier...and it was surrounding Sakuya as well? What is this?

"What-what is that?" The miko's eyes widened as she saw us glowing.

A slow smile crept on Sakuya's face as she glanced at the aura surrounding her. "Hey, Red-White. How about a quick battle?"

I instantly realized what she was going to do. Are you insane? Good Lord, I am going to be an accomplice in a homicide! "Sakuya, don't!"

"Why? You're possibly tired after that harrowing-hey!"

Sakuya instantly left my grip on her shoulder, and was in front of Reimu, knives drawn again. The miko reacted quickly, throwing a yin yang orb at Sakuya. I wanted to rip out my hair in frustration at the maid. "No! Sakuya! Don't!"

Reimu's attack just bounced off as the red barrier surrounding Sakuya disappeared. Reimu's eyes widened. "What?!"

Holy crap the barrier can go to other people just from contact with me.

Sakuya thrust forward, aiming for the miko's side. I didn't want to look.

But Reimu wasn't there anymore. She had quickly spun around the maid, kneeing Sakuya in the ribs, making a sickening thwock. The maid pretty much collapsed with a yelp, holding her midsection and falling to the forest floor. I ran to catch her.

Thing was, I was in my teens, and she had to be in her twenties. I didn't have the body strength to catch her. I shouldn't have, that was, if I didn't have the barrier up. I actually caught her just fine, making me grateful for my "blessings". For once, being associated with Haruhi had paid off, especially since I was then holding a maid in my arms. She groaned through her teeth as she held her ribs, but the red aura surrounding me reached into her body again. She sighed in relief. Jumping out of my arms, she put her hands on her ribs, and breathed slowly. A smile came to her face when she apparently didn't feel pain.

Oh wow. Not only does it protect, but I can heal people with this.

You know, for such a big reveal, at the time I really took it in stride. I mean, I could heal people, and protect people by collecting cherry blossoms. Then again, I had witnessed a magical battle between two flying people in a hidden land that was having an unnatural winter. Maybe at that point it wasn't too big a deal for me, the barrier.

"Ah, that's so much better." Sakuya was patting her chest, making sure she wasn't hurt. "But…" She looked at me with widening eyes, coming to the same conclusion that I had. "It… heals..."

"Okay, somebody better tell me what the hell is going on here! What the hell was that?" The miko was then right next to us, her eyes narrowed, sizing me up. I heard Sakuya chuckle as Reimu again spoke. "That wasn't a spell card. Whatever that was, it was different." Reimu pointed her gohei at Sakuya. "What's your master playing here, maid?"

I had enough of this. "Hey! Stop! Both of you! Stop!" I got in between the miko and the maid. "Now, I don't know what your problems are, but is killing each other really the answer here?"

"She was going to kill me. I let her off light."

I think you could have broken her ribs, miko! I couldn't help but shake my head. What is everyone's problem? "Look, miko, uh, Reimu, what are you looking for? If you're only here to cause trouble, we don't need you, okay? We have something to accomplish, and I need this." If she wasn't going to be civil to Sakuya at all, maybe she would be civil to me, I thought.

Reimu crossed her arms, apparently annoyed that she had to explain herself. "Isn't it obvious? Winter hasn't ended. It's supposed to be spring already, and it's still snowing all over the place! This is an incident, and it's my job to find out what's causing incidents around Gensokyo." Reimu clenched her jaw, giving Sakuya one last glare, before apparently deciding not to be aggressive as she was talking to me. She backed away from us, hands on her hips, before looking off to her right. "This season going on for a month encore certainly qualifies as an incident. And I know someone's behind all this."

That got my attention. "Really?" If you know, that could help. "So who-"

"I don't know who. That's why I'm out and about. My intuition is hardly ever wrong, and it's ringing all kinds of alarms right now. Somebody did all this. I know in my gut that somebody is responsible. It's as if someone has stolen spring."

I raised my eyebrow. "Your… intuition?" You're just guessing?

"It's okay, Kyon." Sakuya smiled from behind me. "That's how she came across us in the first place anyway for our incident. Apparently she has a knack with those gut feelings of hers."

I thought she was joking, but the way she looked back at me told me she was serious. All right then. You know her better than me, and if she can really help, that'd actually be beneficial. I turned back to Reimu. "That's what we're trying to solve, too."

"Yes, solve by having that dog of the vampire attacking me without reason, and picking on that idiot ice fairy. What makes you think you can figure out what's going on?"

You're very bull-headed, aren't you? I didn't ask her that. "Okay, first off, you were egging Sakuya on! Second-"

Sakuya lightly pushed me aside, so she could speak directly to the miko. "Kyon, Kyon...it's okay. You see those cherry blossoms?" Sakuya pointed to the air. "You see those, Red-White? Spring is somewhere around Gensokyo. Otherwise those cherry blossoms wouldn't be here. They are attracted to this boy, and we're going to find out who has stolen spring."

I'm not a boy!

Reimu had a small smug look on her face. "So you think it's been stolen, too."

"It's got to be, right? We're running out of supplies at the mansion, and we're losing servants to the storm. This needs to stop." Sakuya's features softened. "I don't want to lose any more of my maids."

Reimu raised an eyebrow at the both of us, taking the time to process this. She silently watched as several cherry blossoms made their way to me, being absorbed into my body.

Yeah you just saw it happen. Do you believe us now?

"Hmph," was all Reimu said after a moment, before she went back to thinking. She didn't take long, before she started shivering from a gust of winter wind that blew through the clearing. The blossoms weren't affected by the gust, and that wasn't lost on her. "Fine." Reimu eyed me, Sakuya, then me again. "So, follow the blossoms, find spring. Sounds easy enough."

Good to know you're open to working with others. Reimu just had a cranky attitude that made me think she would work better alone, yet she seemed smart enough to recognize the situation.

"Okay, Kyon, was it?" Reimu approached me, looking me over. "Can you defend yourself?"

I had to truthfully answer "No". This only annoyed Reimu even more.

She shook her head, her face softening, her voice followed suit. "Geez, I don't normally bring someone who can't even defend themselves with me when I resolve incidents, but a beacon and a healer would be useful. We'd be able to finish this a lot faster with you, but...just stay out of the way of fighting and try not to die - I don't want a human death on my hands. I'll try to protect you, but if things go south, I might not be able to be there. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Her sudden concern was interesting. I had pegged her as an angry person, yet she appeared legitimately interested in my well being. Uh, thanks, I guess. "I do have to do this. The SDM said they'll get me back home if I help them with this."

Saying I was with the SDM brought back that cranky look. "Ah. Well I guess the maid can come too then if you're being forced to help out."

Okay. You have a big problem with the Scarlet Devil Mansion and the residents of it. I brought the palm of my hand to my face. This day is not going to run smoothly, is it?

The fox woman watched as they tried to fight, but the maid and the maiden were now talking over the situation. She was worried that they would have killed each other, but it appeared that they didn't wish to go that far, which was a relief. The story would have been over before it had gotten well under way. She had allowed the maiden to chase her from the shrine, and managed to lose her right before reaching the maid and the boy.

The woman wasn't looking forward to the next part. She knew what was planned, and didn't like it. Her own servant?

She couldn't worry about that. She had to follow orders. Though, it wouldn't be as hard as she thought. The witch was already following the maid and the boy from afar since the mansion. She was now looking at said witch, who was watching the three with binoculars. The woman wondered if the witch spotted her as well.

Now all she had to do was watch her own servant take on one of them. Would the nekomata be ready? She wouldn't know what was about to happen...

A fairy with the green hair flew around, looking for Cirno, her blue dress flapping a bit in the cold wind, her golden wings glimmered. She didn't want to check near the human village, but she might as well. Cirno wasn't at home or her usual hangout spots, so she thought it best to get rid of the non-obvious places first.

A bit before the village, she saw a youkai, one of Cirno's friends in a small clearing. She flew in closer, trying to see who it was. Short, teal hair, blue eyes, white shirt, a black cape, and blue baggy pants. Antennae on her head. What was her name? She kept forgetting - Wriggle? Yeah, Wriggle Nightbug, the firefly youkai, the one who could control all the bugs. What was she doing out in the winter?

Well, she might have known where Cirno went, at least. But what in the world was she doing?

The fairy landed. "Hey Wriggle!"

The youkai glanced at her from her kneeling position, shivering, her skin a bit red from the cold. Wriggle was next to the body of a human who had frozen and she was taking the coat. "Oh, Daiyousei. Ca-can you help me? My f-fingers are kind of frozen stiff."

She did, and Wriggle wrapped the coat around her, shaking as she sat on a fallen log. Daiyousei shrugged at the frozen body of the human. Nothing anyone could do for the poor guy now.

"Wriggle, what's the matter? Why are you out?"

"My tree hou-house caved in from all the s-snow. I got nothing left."

Daiyousei sat down next to Wriggle, holding her. "What? Wriggle, you're okay, right?"

"Yeah, managed to get out. Right bef-before dawn. Heard a creaking, woke me up, ran, and b-boom. Collapse. Least I got my cape. Been wa-wandering since then. Got kinda lost in sn-snow storm until it let up, found my way right here. Lucky he had a c-coat." She looked at the ground. "I can sense them. The bugs. Hi-hibernating. I envy them, though at th-the same time, I don't. So many ha-have been frozen. They won-won't wake again."

"Your house is built into a tree. How in the world did it collapse?"

The youkai kept shaking. "Tree's kin-kinda dead. Been meaning to m-move anyways. The snow just was to-too much."

"Wriggle, you're freezing. We need to get you warm." Daiyousei thought for a minute while holding onto the youkai. Poor Wriggle. Bugs didn't hold up well under the cold, which actually made her friendship with Cirno a bit weird. Cirno's mere presence brought down the temperature, yet the bug and ice fairy were friends. Friends… "What about Mysti and her stand?"

Wriggle shot her a look, seemingly annoyed by that. "W-what, me seek help from a b-bird youkai?"

"The two of you are friends, and I don't know why you still have a problem with her. She can help you right about now."

Still teeth chattering, Wriggle shook defiantly shook her head. "She-she's still a bird. I-"

"You're being childish, Wriggle. Besides, you know that youkai don't eat each other."

"It's ju-just an unspoken agreement. Nothing se-set in stone."

Daiyousei grabbed Wriggle by the chin, bringing the firefly youkai eye-to-eye with her. "Wriggle, look at me. You're freezing. Now's not the time for your pride as a bug. Come on, let's go."

She held on to Wriggle as she led her to the general direction of Mysti's stand. Mystia Lorelei, night sparrow youkai, another one of Cirno's circle of friends. Interesting bunch, actually, the three non-fairy friends Cirno had; they were the little youkai of shadows Rumia, the firefly youkai Wriggle, and the night sparrow youkai Mystia.

Mysti owned a grilled lamprey stand a ways from the human village. She was a good enough cook to have repeat customers, even human ones, but she got most of her customers in the first place due to her scam. Mysti's power, besides songs that cause confusion, was to cause night-blindness. And there was an old wives' tale of lamprey curing night-blindness. She would find a mark in the middle of the night, cause them to lose their sight, and guide them to her stand. Then, as they ate, she would reduce the blindness, crediting it to the lamprey. She would often boast this to her friends, though never in front of her human customers.

But one of the major advantages of having a grilled lamprey stand was just that - it had a grill, a source of heat. And it shouldn't be too far. Though, Daiyousei still had to ask Wriggle something.

"Hey, did you see Cirno by any chance? I've been looking for her all morning when she didn't show up for breakfast."

The firefly nodded. "You just mi-missed her. C-called out to her...voice not so s-strong, so I couldn't be heard. She was heading around the vil-village. She flew by me ag-again with a lot of fairies behind her. Dunno where she w-went, and I don't t-think they were chasing her."

Daiyousei's brow furrowed. Fairies? Cirno had no fairy friends near the human village. Yet she got a lot to follow her? What was going on?

-begin-

Subject [NAME REDACTED] "KYON" found.

[DATA CORRUPTED]

Unable to take steps at this time.

Subject [DATA CORRUPTED] GENSOKYO [DATA CORRUPTED] HARUHI SUZUMIYA.

[DATA CORRUPTED]

-end-

And there we have Cirno. One of my favorite characters.

Remember, kids. Team 9-Ball never gives up, and neither should you! Who makes up Team 9? Cirno, Rumia, Wriggle, and Mystia. And sometimes Daiyousei. Team 9-Ball is kind of a joke "class" of low-level characters in the Touhou series. As for why "9"? Well, in one of the instruction manuals for one of the Touhou games, we had a HUD explanation. You should know how it goes, numbers on a screen shot, and underneath, those numbers tell you what's what. It went from one to eight in this particular manual. Then, on the next page, another screen shot, this time with Cirno there, numbered 9. What was "9" called down there on the list?

"Baka." Idiot. And that's why if you ever see anything related to Cirno by the fans, you will usually see the number 9.

Anyways, Reimu Hakurei. Reimu is pretty much the main character of the series, and came up with the game of Danmaku. That being said, she's quite good at it.

What's a gohei? Laymens terms, it's a ceremonial "exorcism" cane used by Japanese priests and priestesses. Reimu has been known to use it as a weapon in the series.