"Good evening!"

"Good evening, Miss Night Sparrow. I'll have the usual," a man with short silver hair said.

"One grilled lamprey and 6 cans of beer. Is that all, Red Hat?"

"That's fine. And don't call me that, Mystia. I told you to call me Kou."

Those Left Behind

Chapter 5: Himawari

by lenne18

"Okay, Mister Kou Red Hat Hakurei."

Kou shook his head. He was being teased again. Apparently, his favorite hat branded him for life and probably, even in the afterlife.

Mystia giggled as she took out six cans and a lamprey from a container underneath the stand. She gave the cans to Kou and proceeded to cook the lamprey.

"Akane will murder you if she finds out you have been drinking again."

"Nah, I got permission to drink," Kou said, smiling.

Mystia shook her head. "At least, you have more money than Reimu. Of course, everybody has more money than her."

"Is Grandmother Reimu really that poor?" Kou asked.

"You bet she is!" Mystia exclaimed. She handed the already grilled lamprey to him.

"I could probably tell with all the much needed repairs on the shrine."

At this, both of them giggled. Afterwards, they went to do their own thing. Kou said his prayer and ate his food. He proceeded to open his first can when a couple arrived.

"Good evening, Mokou," a blushing Mystia greeted one of the couple.

"Hey! I'm here, too!" Gensokyo's resident doctor, Kaguya Houraisan, berated at the cart lady.

Mokou and Kou giggled at the moon princess' outburst. Kaguya stared at them, which shut them up.

"Lady, give us your strongest alcohol," Mokou said at Mystia.

As Mystia went further back to check her inventory, Mokou and Kaguya already sat at the stand.

"Drinking alone, Kou?" Kaguya asked.

"Yeah... I have this nagging feeling in the back of my head that just won't go. It feels like a very strong storm is coming or something as big as that," Kou replied.

He continued. "What brings the two of you here? And where's Keine?"

Mokou replied, "Keine said she'll rest for the night. She and Yuuki must have been tired from running the school. As for why we're here, I have to do something to force someone out of her house for a while."

Kou looked at Kaguya. And then he looked at Mokou. The couple stared at him blankly. Kou then smirked and said, "I see..."

Kaguya retorted, "This isn't a date!"

A loud crash was heard from behind the stall. Mystia had dropped a small bottle of wine while searching.

"Lady, you okay there?" Mokou shouted.

"I'm okay!"

"Lady, you need some help?" Mokou asked. Before Mystia answered, Mokou already stood up from her seat and went to help the night sparrow.

Kaguya and Kou had a staring contest despite the crash. Kou smirked and said, "I didn't say you were on a date."

"Fine..."

Kou's face turned serious. "Something wrong, Princess? Normally, you would tease back."

Just then, Mokou returned from the back with a bottle. "She's still hung up over her lost patient." She turned to Kaguya and handed her a bottle of flavored gin. "Here, drink up." Mystia had already placed two glasses in front of Kaguya before sweeping the pieces of the bottle she dropped earlier.

"We could have done something to that child. Miss Satsuki, Reisen, Eirin's notes... We had everything but we still couldn't save her," Kaguya said.

"A loss is a loss, Kaguya," Kou said. "Sometimes, you just have to accept it. Try to move on or you will never forgive yourself."

"But..."

"Believe me. I've lost far too many comrades during the Lunar War."

All of them bowed their heads in silence. Mokou filled her glass with wine and raised it up. "Cheers!"

Kou and Kaguya followed suit. "Cheers!"

Mokou said out loud, "We're here to drink and forget our worries for one night so let's make it happen!" And she gulped down her drink. Mystia decided to join the group in drinking saying she might as well close down early for the night. The group chatted away into the night like there's nothing to worry. Of course, Kou had the courage to say something very inappropriate.

"Mokou, did you ever wonder what it would feel like if you had slept with Keine, Kaguya and Mystia at the same time?"

That statement was met with a threat from Mokou, who promised to burn down his favorite red hat. The hat in question is in the Hakurei Shrine, safe and sound.

Buried in fun and laughter, the group never noticed that someone was flying over them in the direction of Mayohiga.

xxx

Mokou woke up from her nap. She still feels the alcohol in her body as she tries to get a hold of herself.

"Why am I here?"

Mokou said as she lay beside the sleeping forms of Reisen Udonge Inaba and Kaguya. Then she remembered.

'Of course...'

She had to bring back the drunk princess to Eientei since she is the one who brought her out.

"Mokou, you should be friendly with the residents of Eientei," a nagging Keine said in Mokou's mind.

Mokou sighed. Keine is usually right about this kind of stuff so she just followed her advice. She did tried to complain but Keine just told her that "every once in a while is okay" so she just followed that as well.

Eientei wasn't what it used to be as Eirin went back to the Moon after the war and when Tewi died, the other rabbits fled the place. Kaguya took Eirin's place as the doctor but she isn't as good as her. Eientei had become a cold and lonesome place.

Mokou looked around the room she was in. The room is warm unlike the rest of Eientei.

"Maybe that's why I was invited to sleep here for the night?"

Mokou shook her head. That reason is impossible. These two have each other, there's no way...

"Inaba, let's play a prank..."

"Master, don't leave me..."

Mokou turned her head towards the two sleeping figures. They must have been sleep talking...

"Mokou... Thank you..."

Mokou turned to Kaguya. The princess does look beautiful but Mokou would not and will not admit it to her face. Still, she is still jealous that Kaguya found something that she wants to do. So much that they would only fight one another once in a while instead of every day.

Mokou yawned. She better go to sleep before she was caught staring at the princess.

"I better thank Keine when I see her..." she mumbled as she went back to sleep.

xxx

"Kou?" Akane woke up from slumber as she heard some rustling.

The smell of alcohol is in the air.

"Sorry, Akane," Kou said sheepishly. His face is still red due to the alcohol. He was sitting in front of the cabinet. In his hand, a bunch of old photos probably taken from the drawer.

"What are you looking at?" Akane said as she took some of photos from Kou's hand.

She saw her younger self smiling back with her grandmother.

"You were cute back then and you are still cute now," Kou said.

Akane stooped down to meet his eyes and said, "If you aren't drunk, I would've blushed by now."

Kou sheepishly smiled at his wife.

"So why the old photos?" Akane said as she gave them back to Kou.

"Just looking for pictures of your grandmother when she was young. I went to Mysty's and we talked about her. She's an interesting person if any of the things I've heard were true."

"Well, only the youkai folks say that," Akane replied.

"You're grandmother's cute, Akane," Kou said as he handed over a photo to her.

Akane looked at the photo. It seems like it is a group picture, probably taken after a party held at the shrine. She could recognize some of them like Remilia, Yukari and Satori. Then there is this weird blonde witch beside Alice. She reminds her of someone although she could not put her finger into it.

Akane handed the photo back after pondering without any answers. Kou took the photo and together with the other photographs, placed it back inside the drawer. He closed the drawer and tried standing up. However, the effect of alcohol in his body is still strong and he dragged Akane down to the floor.

They are now in a very embarrassing position to say the least with Kou lying on top of a still dazed Akane. The moment was cut short however as the sliding door opened. They looked towards the door and was surprised to see Hinata.

"Are you going to make me another granddaughter?" Hinata chuckled for a bit.

The couple looked at each other and blushed.

"I know that I haven't been privy about your...ugh... personal life. And I really want to have another granddaughter. But we've got work to do."

Hinata closed the door as she said to herself, "Aah... It's good to be young."

xxx

The cave going to Makai is very noisy. A large amount of humans and youkai are walking in two groups.

"Why are we here again?" asked an irritated Remilia Scarlet, the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Be patient, Remilia," said Keine Kamishirasawa, the head teacher and protector of the Human Village. Kaguya Houraisan, representing Eientei and its nearby residents, is beside her.

A sigh escapes from Shou Toramaru, the representative for the residents of Myouren Temple. Her aura around her is heavy and restless ever since she found out what happened to her mistress, Lady Byakuren, at Mayohiga.

Another heavy aura is nearby, this time coming from Ran Yakumo, representing the village of Mayohiga. Ran and Shou have an unspoken understanding about their mistresses and the troubles they cause for each of them. Neither said a word about it, which is probably for the best.

Ranka Kochiya, representing the residents of Youkai Mountain, is behind them talking with Satori Komeiji, the mistress of the Palace of the Earth Spirits and the representative for the Underground youkai.

Leading this unusual group is Hinata. The Hakurei clan called each of them at the middle of the night to go to the cave leading to the sealed entrance to Makai. Another group, right in front of them, is led by Kou and consists of Akane, Keiko, Sakura and Mokou. Hinata's group was forbidden from using any of their power and so, their only line of defense would be Kou's group.

They have been walking for a while now, which explains Remilia's irritation. Hinata explained everything before walking inside the cave. The representatives would be channeling the powers of everyone under their jurisdiction. The representatives, in turn, would channel the power to Hinata and will serve as a power source to repair the Gensokyo-Makai border.

"!"

Everyone was alerted at the huge amount of dolls walking towards them.

"How boring~" Remilia said, grinning, already extending her claws.

"No fighting, Remilia," Hinata said. "Leave this to Kou's group."

Kou's group readied themselves for the eventual clash.

"This is going to be a long night..."

xxx

Shinki was pacing back and forth, waiting for her friend and the gap youkai.

'She seems uneasy…'

"Uh, Shinki..."

Just then a dark rift in space opened and out came two youkai from within it.

"Take me to Makai, right now!" Shinki exclaimed.

"Huh! What's happening? What about the plan?" Mima could feel a sudden cold from the air.

"I'll explain on the way. Hijiri, you come too!"

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Mima shouted.

Somehow, Mima has a bad feeling about this. Nevertheless, she stepped on the rift the gap youkai, known as Yukari Yakumo, had just made together with Shinki and Byakuren.

xxx

A big, swirling, dark void in what used to be Makai's gate to Gensokyo greeted Shinki and company.

"What is that?" Mima asked.

"A rift in Gensokyo's border caused by someone extremely powerful," Yukari replied, nonchalantly.

"Alice did this, didn't she?" Mima asked again.

Shinki only nodded her head.

"This is my fault, isn't it?"

Shinki shook her head. She then faced Yukari and said, "You can fix this, right?"

"Yes, but I need a power source that could rival that of a dragon's."

"I see. Mima, Hijiri, I need your help. I need you two to gather everyone here. Mima, if you see Yumeko, tell her to come see me. She should be around here somewhere."

Mima and Hijiri nodded. Then, they hastily flew away leaving Shinki and Yukari alone.

Shinki released her power. Big, purple wings manifested on her back. Yukari could feel the powerful aura coming from the goddess.

"Before everyone gets here, I'll be your source. Tell me what to do, Miss 'Gap Youkai'."

As Yukari tells Shinki about their plan of action, Yukari had suddenly felt something is off.

'Something's not right here. This rift is easy for someone like me or Hinata to repair, especially with the amount of powerful people on both sides... What are you planning to do, Alice?'

xxx

'Everything is going according to plan…'

Alice smiled as she flew in Gensokyo's skies. Her little incident would be linked to her without questions but it will buy her a large amount of time for her next plan of action.

'Repairing the border would take at least 4 hours, given of Yukari's expertise. The incident would also thin out the border, destroying the effect of Keiko and Hinata's border rules.'

Alice felt another magic strand from her hand vanish.

'The doll army is also working wonders for delaying the Gensokyo repair group. With the current amount of dolls still active, it would take them at least an hour before arriving at the rift.'

Another strand vanished from her hand.

'With both groups repairing the border, the time would be shortened to 2 hours at most. Plenty of time to sneak inside the Netherworld, retrieve my friends and go back.'

Alice could now see the huge door that separates the Netherworld and Gensokyo. She could barely keep her excitement. But as she got closer, she could make out four people- no, youkai- standing between her and her destination.

Suddenly, a big, blue laser was shot towards her. She narrowly dodged the shot. She recognized the spell immediately.

As she got closer, she could see the one who fired the shot with a wide grin on her face.

"Yuuka!"

Yuuka smiled wider, almost Cheshire Cat-like. With her are Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya from the Moriya Shrine, and Hong Meiling from the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Let me through, Yuuka!"

"As if I'm going to let you pass that easily…"

"How did you find me anyway?"

"We have a hunch that you'll be here. After all, the only person who could do such a stupid thing as this is you."

Alice turned her attention to the others.

"Let me through…Kanako…Suwako…Meiling…"

"While I would like her back in my life, I'm very certain that Sakuya would not approve of it. That's why I'll stop you here now," Meiling said as she took her battle stance.

Kanako said, "We gods have lived for a long time and parting with our shrine maidens was always sorrowful and difficult for us, Sanae's no exception."

Suwako continued, "Those shrine maidens in their whole life have always served two selfish gods and we could not thank them enough."

Finally, both of them said, "Thus, we will stop you here as not to disturb the souls of our shrine maidens, our daughters, because of your selfish whims. It's the least we could do."

"I see…"

Alice turned to Yuuka.

"I'm just here to fight. Getting trapped in my mansion all day for the last few years is boring," Yuuka said, smiling wider than before.

"Typical..."

Alice sighed.

"It seems I've got a slight change of plans."

Alice waved her hand. Suddenly, a huge doll army materialized behind her.

"I was supposed to use these for the Hakurei's but it seems more fitting to use them on you."

And Alice waved her hand forward, signaling the doll army to charge at the enemies.

"I now have the power to do things that I want, to protect the things that I cherish the most. I will bring back my friends from the afterlife and I will never be left behind ever again. My plan will come to fruition and I will crush those who got in my way!"

Author Notes: Sorry for the long delay. Real life caught up and had lots of things to do. Don't worry about this fic, it will not end up as dead. As always, thank you for reading and please submit a review.