Reimu sipped her cup of hot cocoa. She had specifically ordered the beans from a shop in the human village and they had been delivered a couple days ago per her request. The shrine maiden closed her eyes. Flashes of the past came to her, but she shook them off. That was for another time. She looked out at the donations box. Empty. With this snow, she would never have visitors. Why couldn't the weather just work normally for once?
"Reimu!" The sliding door to the shrine slammed open, bouncing back under the force. Standing in full witch attire and covered in snow was Marisa, her face full of importance and her stance one of urgency. Reimu blinked.
"Marisa? What's goin-"
"There's no time for that!" Marisa yelled, glaring at the shrine maiden, "C'mon! I'll explain on the way!" The shrine maiden found herself being yanked by the hand and dragged out into the cold air. The hot mug of cocoa spilled out onto the carpet. "B-but...my cocoa!" The girl protested, but she was ignored and forced onto the back of Marisa's broomstick and flown away into the chill blue sky.
Sakuya walked through the halls of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Fairies fluttered past in maid outfits and set to work washing the windows as she passed by. Everything was in order, and that is just how she liked it. Sakuya looked out a window of the mansion as a bit of soap crawled down it's surface. She peered over the surroundings. Snow was everywhere. The Misty Lake was frozen solid and the mist that usually settled over it was higher in the sky today.
"When will this end..." she muttered, wishing for spring to finally arrive.
"Miss Izayoi, the Mistress would like to have a word with you..."
"Thank you little one. You may return to your scheduled duties now."
"Yes, your elegance." The fairy fluttered away.
Sakuya blinked and the fairy froze in place. Everything around Sakuya was a pale color, even the blood red carpet of the Mansion was a dull gray. Sakuya rushed to her Mistress's bedroom.
Remilia sipped a cup of tea and relaxed in her large queen sized bed. Just as she finished taking a nice big slurp of hot tea, her sister came rushing into the room, a sad look in her eyes.
"Sissss!" The girl said, distraught. "Where's Ms. Witch?" The girl's rainbow colored wings jingled as she came over to the bed and grabbed Remilia's arm.
"I don't know, sis. It's possible she is late due to the snow, though it isn't necessarily a blizzard out there."
Remilia blinked and Sakuya appeared.
"You requested my presence, M'lady?"
"Ah, Sakuya, on time as usual."
The maid bowed in respect. "What do you need of me?"
"Flandre is missing a playmate, apparently. Though, that isn't what I brought you here for. I would like you to go out and find more rations. Apparently we are running out and this cold can't feed us." The vampire's eyes fluttered knowingly. "This weather isn't natural. Please be careful." She eyed the maid in a serious fashion.
"Understood M'lady." The maid vanished.
"...no playtime?" Flandre turned back to Remilia, a frown upon her face. She jumped up and down in earnest. Remilia sipped her tea.
"No, no playtime today."
"Awwww..."
Reimu stared at Marisa's blond hair as it blew furiously in the wind. She decided it was too much trouble to fly in this weather. She was sitting on the back of Marisa's broomstick, comfortable, yet annoyed with her predicament. "So would you mind telling me what's going on?"
"The weather, it's magic."
"What do you mean by that? Someone's messing with the weather?"
The clouds sailed by them as Marisa flew over Gensokyo.
"I don't know. That's why I grabbed you. This is probably an incident." Marisa turned to look at Reimu. "Donations don't make themselves, ze?" She grinned as Reimu shot her a nasty look and then turned to focus on where they were flying. They were shooting over the Misty Lake now. Marisa slowed her flight and then descended to a small patch of snow. They hopped off her broomstick. A blue shape went whizzing past their heads causing them to jump in surprise.
"Dun dun dun!" They heard this and turned their heads to see the blue ice fairy, Cirno, making a drum roll with her belly. "The strongest has arriv- oh, it's just you two." The girl frowned, annoyed that her guests were not newcomers.
"Hello Cirno." The two girls replied in unison with a bored expression.
"What'cha doin' out in the middle of nowhere?" The fairy looked at them. "Did you get lost? Ha! I never get lost. I'm a genius." She smirked, as if this was the ultimate truth in the universe. Suddenly, a brisk chill wind came out of nowhere and the fairy held onto her bow as she was pushed away. "Aaah! What's going on?" The fairy cried out as the wind ceased blowing and a tall lady rose out of the snow. She had ice blue hair and a white scarf draped around her neck. Her crystalline purple eyes stared out from a face of pure snow-white skin and her firm blue lips were creased in the shape of a smile.
"I thought humans usually hibernate during the winter...perhaps I was mistaken." The lady looked at Cirno, who whimpered and fluttered over to hide behind Marisa and Reimu.
"Who are you?" Reimu inquired. She gave the woman a stern look and readied herself for an attack.
"I am Letty. Letty Whiterock. I am a Yuki-onna, or to be more blunt, a lady of the snow."
"So, it's you? Are you and Cirno to blame for this mess?"
"Don't be silly. Cirno is just a lowly fairy. Don't compare me to her." She eyed the fairy who just glared back. "She is nothing but small fry, a glitch in mother nature's plans, if you will." She waved her hand as if Cirno was too much of a bother to even mention.
"You can say that again!" The two girls replied in unison as Cirno burst into tears and flew away angrily.
"You guys suck! Why do you have to be so cold?" She said as she faded off into the mist. Marisa snorted. Reimu didn't take her eyes away from Letty. She was still suspicious.
"If you really are a Yuki-onna...doesn't that mean you would melt if it was spring?"
"That's correct." Letty smiled at the shrine maiden. "You're a smart one, aren't you?"
"Yeah Reimu, since when are you such a bookworm on magical beings?" Marisa said, still laughing at Cirno's terrible pun.
"I'm not, but I bet Letty would do anything to keep it from becoming spring, wouldn't she?" Reimu replied, saying it slowly so Marisa would notice her implications.
"Ohhh..." Marisa caught on, and shot a glare at Letty. "Yeah! What's the big idea? You the one who's making it snow in the middle of May?"
The wind whistled and encircled them, kicking up snow and mist. The silence was awkward, but Reimu didn't deter from her focus on Letty. Marisa kicked at the snow impatiently.
"You are both mistaken." Letty finally answered, looking down at the snow on her feet and her face drew into a sad expression. "While it's true, I would melt in the warm air of spring...it is part of being who I am that I must accept the change of the seasons, even if it may endanger my life." She looked up at the two girls. Reimu relaxed. So, it wasn't her. Marisa looked like she was trying to understand what Letty was saying.
"So, You aren't the culprit?" She sounded disappointed, like she had been ready for a fight.
"No, however, the weather is not changing as it should. Something is wrong, and I'm sure you two have noticed it as well." She smiled at Reimu.
Reimu returned her smile with a question, "Do you know who could be behind this?"
The youkai answered. "This weather is due to an anomaly much greater than I. You must travel to Youkai Mountain. There, you will find your answer." Mist began to encircle the woman and as Reimu opened her mouth to ask for more information, Letty vanished completely, turning into a pile of snow in front of them.
Sakuya trudged through the snow at a steady pace, though her elegance had been lost in the cold. Her teeth chattered endlessly and her nose was a bright red.
"I should have taken a heavier coat." She thought to herself and as the mist began to clear, she saw the tips of Youkai Mountain lurking in the distance. "I'm sure one of the Divas of the Mountains must live there. Perhaps they can assist me in providing for Mistress Scarlet...but this damn weather is getting to me." Sakuya's vision began to falter as the mist began to fog up twice as much as before. Sakuya felt the cold eat at her, and as the temperature seemed to lower even more she fell face first into the snow.
"M'lady...have...I failed you?" She said as her eyes closed, giving into the cold around her.
"Yeah! Snapshot!" Marisa and Reimu looked over their shoulders as they flew towards the mountains to see the Tengu, Aya Shameimaru, flying behind them. She was taking snapshots of them, her wings propelling her forward at incredible speeds. "This will look awesome on the front cover! Witch and Shrine Maiden, traveling together once more!" The reporter had been shipping her newspaper to Reimu's shrine ever since the Scarlets made a mess of Gensokyo. Reimu had tried to cancel her subscription, only to find out she didn't have one. It was being done as a tribute to her heroic deeds and she couldn't really say no to that kind of thing.
"Why are you following us?" Marisa asked in an annoyed tone. "Can't you find a better story somewhere else?"
The Tengu looked up from her camera. "Nah." She shrugged then grinned and fluttered over to take another picture of Reimu, who was currently contemplating how stained her carpet was from that hot cocoa. Then something occurred to her and snapped her out of her thoughts. "Maybe we should try to find Lily White!"
Aya shook her head. "I tried that too. She was supposed to change the season ages ago, but I was told to stop snooping."
"Who told you that?"
"Oh...it was a little kitty cat!" The Tengu floated over and sat down on the end of the broomstick, causing Marisa to grunt from the weight.
"A cat?" Marisa said, a strained expression on her face. "Of all things, a cat made you stop snooping?"
"Yeah! She told me I was getting in way over my head. Then she threatened to burn my newspaper. I flew away after that." The bird youkai smiled and laughed cheerfully, even though this news was pretty negative.
"Where'd you see this cat?" Reimu asked, intrigued.
"Oh! It's just in this town by the mountains!" The Tengu stood up on the broom, pointing towards the mountains, but as she stood up, Marisa made an even louder grunting sound and the broom shifted under the bird's weight, and then after a slight pause it decided it couldn't handle it any longer and began plummeting towards the icy ground below them.
Sakuya awoke to the sound of an open fire. The light sounds of crackling echoed around the room. Pushing herself up, a light brown woven blanket fell off her and tumbled to the floor. A slight chill from a hole in the wall to her left caused her to shiver and pull the blanket back around her. Where was she? It almost looked like a cave, though she could see out the two small carved out windows in the rock walls beside her. Snow was billowing at quite a rapid pace outside. A blizzard. Someone must have saved her. She stood up and noticed her outfit hanging on the wall. Grabbing it, she slipped on the gown, and pulled the apron tightly around her waist. She also equipped a slot for her knives that she wore under her thighs. Looking around, now fully clothed, she began to make her way out into the snowy air.
"Where -hick- do you think you're goin'?" A small drunk-sounding voice said, stopping her in her tracks.
"Are you the one who saved me from the cold?" Sakuya said, turning ever so slightly to see her savior. She was grateful for the act of heroics, but she wasn't about to start trusting anyone. She was, after all, possibly a captive in someone else's house. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a small girl with orange red hair. The girl was drinking what looked like a bottle of sake.
"That's -hick- right. I didn't even get a thanks. Just gonna take off like that? No feasting or anything?" The girl jumped from where she was sitting and flew over Sakuya's head, landing directly in front of her, blocking the doorway. Sakuya took a few steps back in surprise. This wasn't just any girl. Out of the top of her ginger hair there were two large red horns that extended quite far off her head. The girl eyed Sakuya before taking another swig of sake from the bottle. The chains attached to the girl's hair and arms jingled as she did so.
"You...You're an oni...a Deva of the Mountain!" Sakuya said. "I thought they all lived underground!"
"That I am, though I prefer to party above ground. Why don't you stay and party with me for -hick- a little while?" The oni drunkenly requested.
Sakuya nodded. "You are actually exactly who I wanted to talk too. You see my Mis-"
"Yeah, -hick- there's time for that later." The oni interrupted. "I've got -hick- plans. I need to prepare." Sakuya glared at the small demon for her rudeness. The oni, not caring that Sakuya was unhappy with her manners, turned on the spot, the chains attached to her wiggling with her movements as she took another drink of sake. She then teetered outside into the cold environment.
"This is quite the mess I've gotten myself into this time." She said to herself as she reluctantly followed the drunk footsteps of the Deva of the Mountain.
Marisa's head popped out from under the snow. Cussing under her breath at the Tengu, she surveyed her surroundings. They had landed in the middle of a small town, and from the looks of it, it was at the foot of Youkai Mountain.
"Reimu?" Marisa looked around for her friend but didn't see her anywhere. "That's strange, I wonder where she could have landed..." Suddenly a cat jumped out from her right. It sat on the porch of a nearby house. Marisa ignored this furry intruder and continued searching through the snow. The cat simply sat and watched Marisa bend over and push snow around.
"You-whoo! Reimuuu!" Marisa called out. "Gosh, maybe she went on without me!" The witch stomped her foot angrily into the snow, only to end up covered in it.
"Brrr..."
"Your friend isn't here, you know!"
Marisa looked around wildly as the voice of a young girl echoed off the mountains.
"Who said that? Show yourself!"
"Haha, you're silly! I'm pretty obvious!" Marisa turned around to stare at the cat.
"Oh, you're kidding..." Marisa said as she noticed the cat had two tails.
"I'm sorry little witch, but I have no time for jokes." The cat jumped off the porch and as Marisa watched, almost in slow motion, the cat's front paws turned into hands with long red nails. The chest of the cat sprouted a red tunic and the back legs of the cat began to morph into the legs of a young girl. The cat finished her little hop and landed with a soft thud on the snow, one foot in the air, a small green hat landing on her head. She smiled a wide grin, the cat ears still on her head twitching happily, and Marisa could have sworn she saw whiskers on her cheeks still.
"Let's play a danmaku game! If you win, I'll tell you what's up with the weather...but if you lose...you have to go home!" The girl winked and Marisa groaned.
"Damn kids..." Marisa said. "Fine, I guess I can't really refuse an offer like that. My name's Marisa by the way."
"My name's Chen!" The cat smiled at her and made a meowing sound.
Marisa lazily hopped on her broomstick, but just as she did, Chen giggled and then disappeared in a flash.
"Damnit, where'd that stupid cat run off t-" But before Marisa could finish her sentence a green shard of magic went flashing by her face. Marisa had barely registered what was happening before the sky was full of green danmaku, falling like arrows towards her.
"...Shit!" Marisa took off flying, rusty from a lack of practice. The danmaku rained down on her like shards of glass from a broken window, cutting lines in her skin which were instantly soiled by the deep red color of her blood. She hadn't practiced her skills and because of this Marisa was paying for it.
"At this rate, I'll be cut to bits!" Marisa said, screaming in pain as a large green shard smashed into her arm, leaving a large red blood stain. Just as Marisa thought it couldn't get any worse, Chen appeared once more, standing on a rooftop.
"So, having fun yet?" She smirked and Marisa almost thought she saw a glint of evil in her eyes.
"N-not particularly." Marisa replied, continuing to try and dodge the bullets. The cat purred.
"Well then, how about we liven things up a bit?" The girl jumped in the air, much higher than Marisa had ever seen a normal human jump and as she dodged another bullet coming her way she was knocked off her broom by Chen landing on it. The broom propelled itself in a random direction, flinging Chen away from it. She flew through the air and flipped, landing gracefully on her feet in the snow. She turned to Marisa and winked. "Cat's always land on their feet, you know!" And just as Marisa snorted at such a terrible punchline, the rain of danmaku finally finished falling on her head, covering Marisa in blood and snow.
Reimu spat out the large mound of snow that she had somehow managed to bite down upon when she hit the ground. Shaking the fluffy snow off her head, she proceeded to pat down her blouse and survey her surroundings. She had somehow managed to fly off the broom and land somewhere on the outer regions of the Forest of Magic. Trees surrounded her and she could see the Youkai Mountains quite close, but still distant from her location.
"Well, I suppose it's never easy being a Shrine Maiden." Reimu picked her feet up, took a deep breath, and started walking, her destination set for the Mountain tops.