Chapter 7: Yuuka

Yuuka was not one to put baseless faith into the predictions of one woman, particularly one who claimed to receive visions of the future. Despite living most of her recent life in a land of magic, where just about anything was possible, and originating from the world of dreams, which existed merely on the border of reality itself, Yuuka did not believe that the future could be so easily foretold. This was a belief that she was particularly adamant about when these visions of the future began to concern her own fate. She didn't like feeling as though her life was being governed by some outside force; be it time, this so-called Void, or perhaps some higher god that existed outside of her realm of knowledge.

She supposed that if anyone would know the validity of Mima's claims, it would be the two oldest living denizens of the Dream World. The twins, Mugetsu and Gengetsu. Unfortunately, neither were known for being particularly cooperative. This was something with which Yuuka had had first-hand experience during her younger years.

Yuuka had been born a dream youkai, much like the twins themselves, and lived in the Dream World for countless years (time had a way of feeling unreliable within the Dream World, even if it did only flow in one direction), until the day she'd ventured forth and claimed Mugenkan for her own. As a dream youkai, Yuuka could have been immortal. All the dream youkai lived forever, unless their lives were cut short by some manner of accident or conflict, and those were few and far between in the Dream World. That was, unless they left the Dream World, and ventured beyond the walls of Mugenkan, which acted as a border between worlds. Life in the Dream World had grown tiresome for Yuuka very quickly, and despite the warnings of her so-called 'sisters', she'd wandered out into Gensokyo.

Though she hadn't been aware of it at the time, the moment she'd stepped through the front doors of Mugenkan, her immortality had been taken away forever.

Despite the loss of her immortality, Yuuka had never felt more alive than she had during those several decades following her departure. All of her strength as a dream youkai had been retained, and she was unquestionably one of the most powerful youkai in Japan. Many even feared her, and it was a feeling that she grew to enjoy very quickly. During her years in the surrounding area of what would become Gensokyo, Yuuka met many prominent youkai and goddesses, and others who would come to impact her later life. Among them included Mima, the moon goddess Selena, Kurumi and Elly, who she recruited as servants, Yukari Yakumo, and of course, that fabled youkai seeress who was now the cause of so much irritation.

Yukari had even tried to recruit Yuuka for her expedition to the moon, to take part in her pointless Lunar War. In those days, Yukari's powers had been newly obtained, and she thought herself better than the Lunarians. Yet her forces had been utterly wiped out, and she returned to Gensokyo, humiliated. Yuuka had also been aware of Rumia, and the rampage that she had gone on during Yukari's absence, but she'd felt no desire to intervene. Yuuka thought of Rumia as nothing more than a mad dog who would eventually burn herself out when her madness got the better of her.

Yuuka's second mistake (the first being leaving Mugenkan in the first place) had been to respond to Yukari's plea for help. She'd practically begged for it, and it was almost so pathetic that Yuuka couldn't help but agree. Her biggest mistake had been to believe that she still retained her immortality.

Perhaps the battle may have gone more in their favor if Yukari hadn't been so useless. Yukari claimed that her powers had no effect on Rumia, and perhaps it was true, but Yuuka also suspected that Yukari had hoped to use Yuuka more as bait to distract Rumia with, rather than as someone to help subdue the crazed darkness youkai. In the course of the battle, Yuuka suffered what would have undoubtedly been fatal wounds for a normal youkai, forcing her to retreat back into the Dream World. She had hoped that returning to her original home might have restored her immortality, but that had been the wish of a desperate woman on the verge of death, nothing based in actual fact.

Yuuka slept off her wounds for nearly a thousand years, and her body had recovered, but she knew that she was no longer an immortal dream youkai, nor would she ever be again. How Gengetsu had actually mocked her about the stupidity of the notion when she'd awoken had just been salt in the wounds. It was part of the reason why she'd never returned to the Dream World again until today.

Gengetsu was presumably the oldest living resident of the Dream World, with her younger twin sister Mugetsu being the closest behind. The two claimed to have even created the Dream World, and there was perhaps some validity to their claim. More likely the Dream World had come into existence on its own, and both Gengetsu and Mugetsu with it at the same time, with other dream youkai following as the years went by. Gengetsu was easily, to Yuuka at least, one of the most infuriating individuals she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting. She was also perhaps one of the most powerful. If a fight were to somehow break out between Gengetsu and Rumia, Yuuka might have been inclined to bet on Gengetsu.

Mugetsu wasn't quite as bad, but she was oddly subservient to her elder sister, even going so far as to dress herself as a maid, even though she was not truly her sister's subordinate. Yuuka never bothered to call her out on it, suspecting there was something bizarrely sexual and fetishistic behind it that she simply did not want to know about.

Mugetsu and Gengetsu could see much from their position in the Dream World, things that Yuuka herself had never been privy to. She didn't think that they could see the future, not quite, but she felt certain that they knew more than they ever let on. Certainly they could see events transpiring in Gensokyo that Yuuka hadn't been witness to, and probably even as far as the Outside World. The last time she'd spoken with them, Gengetsu seemed to know far more about the exact details of Yukari's Lunar invasion than should have ever been possible without her actually being there. They always did have a habit of knowing far more than Yuuka was comfortable with, and it was only ever as a last resort that she would seek their advice.

Now, after more than ten years, Yuuka had ventured into the Dream World once again.

There was a fair amount of talk among the lesser dream youkai that saw Yuuka as she passed by. It must've been some news, seeing her return after so long. By now, the twins surely would have been made aware of her arrival and purpose. "You can both show yourselves," Yuuka said, once she'd made her way past all the random onlookers. "I know you're out there, watching me."

"Well Yuuka, it's been a long time. I can't help but be curious." Mugetsu appeared in front of Yuuka, almost certainly from whatever hiding place she'd been watching from, still dressed in that idiotic maid outfit of hers, as usual. She bowed to Yuuka, in a manner that was entirely false modesty, and it only served to irritate Yuuka further. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your return?"

"You can cut your fake maid nonsense with me, Mugetsu," Yuuka replied curtly, but Mugetsu was unfazed. She merely smiled in return at Yuuka. "Where's your brat of an older sister? Or am I really so fortunate to only need to bear your company today?"

"You don't need to be so harsh, Yuuka. Is that really how you want to greet us after so rudely leaving us for all these years~?" Gengetsu then appeared next beside her sister, spreading her pristine white angelic wings off to either side behind her. For every bit of false modesty that Mugetsu might show, Yuuka knew she'd likely get an equal amount of sass and caginess from her elder twin. "Or are you still sore about how badly Rumia trashed you, that you're in a permanently sour mood? Oh wait, maybe it's because I hurt your feelings when you came crawling back after that.~"

"I'm not in the mood for your bullshit, Gengetsu," Yuuka began, "I don't know how much you two know about everything that's been happening lately, but-"

"And to think, we had actually planned a celebration for you, on account of your becoming a mother," Mugetsu spoke, interrupting Yuuka with a coy smile.

"Well, we were going to hold one the first time, when Miasma was born, but we knew you wouldn't show up. Especially when you didn't even know that she'd been born at all.~" Yuuka was speechless as the two dream youkai started taunting her with the very details of her own life. Gengetsu's lips parted into a toothy, mocking grin. "That was so heartless of you, Yuuka. Leaving that poor little doll to raise your daughter all by herself. Maybe if you hadn't been so cruel, she'd still be alive.~"

Mugetsu feigned an expression of surprise at her sister's brash accusations. "Oh, now sister! I'm sure that our Yuuka would never be so cruel as to let an innocent girl get murdered on purpose."

"And why wouldn't she, dear Mugetsu?" Gengetsu replied, before casting her gaze back toward Yuuka. "She raped that poor girl right there, out in the open, and abandoned her to raise their daughter all alone. I'm surprised she didn't kill little Medicine after she was done the first time. She certainly would have spared Rumia the trouble."

"Enough, Gengetsu!" Being reminded of the fact that she'd been at least indirectly responsible for Medicine's death managed to snap Yuuka out of the daze she'd fallen into. She hadn't cared for Medicine much at all, but the manner in which Gengetsu had brought it up was infuriating enough to illicit a reaction. "I'm not here to listen to you berate me about what I did to one girl all those years ago."

"You know, sister, it's truly a shame. I don't think Yuuka wants us to throw a party to celebrate her induction into motherhood," Mugetsu said, abruptly changing the subject before Yuuka could get to the point she was trying to make. "And we still have all these decorations. Perhaps we should throw a birthday party for Hana instead?"

"Oh, that sounds like fun~!" Gengetsu replied, clapping her hands together in delight. "And to think, we've never even met the poor dear. Or Miasma for that matter, either.~ You really should bring them here, Yuuka. It'll be the most delightful party she could ever hope for!"

"Absolutely not!" Yuuka shouted in defiance. "I will certainly not be dragging my daughters here to meet the likes of you two. Especially not for some idiotic party! I only came here to-"

"Oh, dear, Yuuka doesn't seem to like the idea of introducing us, now does she?" Mugetsu reclined backwards, hovering in the empty space and crossing her legs, while resting her chin on the palm of her hand. She affected a troubled expression, although the mischievous light in her eyes gave away no indication of any sincerity.

"Same old grumpy Yuuka.~" Gengetsu taunted. "Won't even let us meet her broken little family."

"She has nothing to be embarrassed about," Mugetsu replied, in a mockingly sweet tone. "It's only natural that a broken family would come about from a broken youkai like Yuuka."

"Oh! Here's a thought, Mugetsu.~ If Yuuka won't bring Hana to us, like the grumpy little fuck-up that she is, why don't we just go to Mugenkan ourselves~?" Gengetsu leaned forward, drifting lazily on her stomach in the empty air. She grabbed hold of the base of Mugetsu's skirt, and tugged it up lightly. "You'd fit right in with the maid staff.~"

The younger twin clapped her palms to her cheeks, staring at Gengetsu with comically wide eyes, and with a bit of a flirtatiousness. "Oh, no, we couldn't, sister.~" Mugetsu said, with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"I swear, if you two set one foot-" Yuuka started, before she was quickly cut off by Gengetsu.

"But isn't turnabout fair play? After all, she came barging into our home just now, didn't she? This world is no more hers to call her own than Mugenkan is for us, right? Riiiiight~?"

"Invasion of property," Mugetsu stated matter-of-factly, echoing her sister's point. "In fact, Mugenkan was also our property long before Yuuka claimed it." Mugetsu spoke this last point with a hint of boredom, and had taken to inspecting her nails now, seemingly abandoning all pretense of her proper maid act. "You are right, sister, as always. There's simply nothing to be done about it but to get even."

"I don't want to be here any more than you want me here," Yuuka said, when she finally had the chance to speak without interruption. "And as soon as my business here is done, I intend to never step foot in this world again."

"Oh, I doubt that," Mugetsu replied in that same disinterested tone, without even looking Yuuka in the eyes. "Even if we tell you what you came here to learn, we know that you'll be back again eventually."

"There's still so much that you don't know about, Yuuka!" Gengetsu couldn't seem to help but to laugh at the confusion that had spread across Yuuka's expression. "It's kind of sad, actually! If you knew everything that we did, you'd probably never have left the Dream World!"

"I may have been nearly killed at the hands of Rumia all those years ago, but even after everything I've been through, knowing that my immortality is gone forever, I would still never return to this place now. Even if it would restore my immortality, a death at the hands of someone like Rumia would still be superior to life with you two."

"Oh, to think that you would hate us so!" Mugetsu exclaimed, clapping a hand to her forehead in an overly dramatized fashion. "Even though we brought you from the brink of death when you returned to us, even after you abandoned our world, despite our warnings!"

"There are worse things than Rumia in that world of yours, Yuuka.~" Gengetsu said, not stooping to her younger twin's theatrics. "But you would know that, if you paid any attention to that prophecy of yours, or if you could even remember what really happened over the last few days in your world.~"

"So you do know about that prophecy, then. Does this mean that Mima was right?" Yuuka noticed Mugetsu and Gengetsu briefly share a look of mild concern. "So Rumia really is the daughter of Mima and Selena. And this seeress really did predict Hana's birth."

"Oh, now look what you've done, sister." Mugetsu sighed, and shook her head. "You went and let her figure out that the seeress was right about everything!"

"Oh my, I'm dreadfully sorry, Mugetsu.~" Gengetsu hid her grin daintily behind the tips of her fingers. "How irresponsible of me to let our estranged Yuuka in on our secrets. I forgot that we weren't supposed to let her know what happened.~"

"I'm done playing your games," Yuuka growled out from between her teeth. "What did you mean when you said there were worse things than Rumia? And I know exactly what's been happening the last few days. Rumia nearly destroyed the shrine with help from that poltergeist friend of hers, and then she was defeated in Makai by Reimu and her friends."

"She really did forget everything!" Gengetsu burst out into a fit of laughter. "Well, if you don't even remember that much, then I wouldn't be able to tell you even if I wanted to!"

"Then that means everyone in Gensokyo forgot, as well," Mugetsu said, maintaining the composure that her sister could not. She smiled, as a certain realization dawned upon her. "Then she neglected to wipe the memories of those of us who reside outside of Gensokyo. Isn't that fortunate for us, sister?"

"What the hell are you babbling on about? People getting their memories of what erased?" Yuuka had only ventured into the Dream World to learn the truth behind Rumia's parentage, and perhaps to confirm the validity of her own role in this supposed prophecy. While she'd learned that much, she was now being taunted by some new form of potential information about something perhaps even more dangerous than Rumia. "I'm done with your cagey bullshit! Give me some proper answers!"

"Tsk tsk, Yuuka.~ You know better than to make demands around me." Gengetsu raised her hand, her palm facing the former dream youkai. "You don't want to go crawling back to Mugenkan with one fewer limb than you left with, do you~?"

Mugetsu uttered a sharp gasp, which Yuuka could tell was purely for show. "Sister! You wouldn't really, would you?"

"That's up to our dear Yuuka, now isn't it?" Gengetsu's wings were spread out to either side now, and her hand crackled with a reddish energy. Her grin spread wide into a bloodthirsty expression that could have rivaled Rumia at her worst, without question. "Of course, if you believed what I said about what's lying in wait out in that world of yours, well... death at my hand might be preferable, right? How about it, Yuuka? Should I spare you the suffering, or let you slink back home to face your fate~?"

Yuuka wasn't sure if she could believe what Gengetsu had been saying about what might lie in the future, but she was certain that Gengetsu could kill her with no trouble if she was in the mood to do it. Trying to pry more information out of Gengetsu now would only assure her own inevitable demise. "Fine," Yuuka replied, finally. "If you're not going to give me an answer, then I'm not going to keep asking. I already got what I came here for."

"I'm sure you'll be back eventually, Yuuka," Mugetsu said, as Yuuka turned away to leave. "There's still so much more that you'll want to know."

"Maybe eventually, I'll even feel like telling you.~" Gengetsu said, perhaps to get some sort of rise out of Yuuka. But when Yuuka did not react, Gengetsu added, "Bring your darling daughters with you next time, Yuuka dear.~ We would so love to meet them.~"

Yuuka flinched slightly in disgust at the mere thought of it, but she did not turn to address the twins directly. If she were lucky, she felt that she would never need to see either of them again in her remaining life. "If I have even the tiniest modicum of love for my daughters, then I will be sure that they never have the misfortune of ever meeting you two."