TAH Yuri Writing Contest Entry.

"How long, Junko." she wonders aloud through those cherry lips. "How long has it been since we first met?". Thunder rumbles in the distance.

"I do not know, Hecatia." An honest answer. Droplets begin to drum against the roof of the abandoned shrine. Perhaps it may once have belonged to a local minor goddess.

"Five winters ago, was it?" she answers with finger on her chin. The rain begins to pour. The staccato pitter-patter gives way to soft roar.

"When I first met you," she hops onto the windowsill, her strange skirt billowing in her wake. "You were fury and rage incarnate. A wild soul to match any Deva." She makes a theatrical gesture to nothing in particular. "I was sure the heavens themselves could not hold you back." The dark sky groans as if to be indignant in response.

She pauses, glancing out at the weeping clouds. "Yes, five winters ago and I believe it was raining just like today."

"And yet," she continues, "when the Lunarians cowered before you, you did not destroy them," she exclaims in feigned shock. "Never did I think you would abandon your plan!"

My vision flashes white as I whirl on the redhead. "Clearly it was the fault of that meddlesome shrine maiden," I snarl through clenched teeth. A lie. Why had I stopped? I narrow my eyes at the smirking goddess. "Do you question my resolve?" I ask to myself more than anyone.

"I do not," she states. "But you burn too brightly and with wild abandon. I see a deep tiredness in your eyes growing day by day." Her eyes pierce through me, yet her face softens.

"Perhaps you do," I dismiss her with a wave of my hand. A deep breath to stoke the flames of my heart. "It is of little matter to me. I will rest when she is dead."

A slight tilt of the head and a slow blink of those ruby eyes. "And then what?" she plainly questions.

"I..." My voice falters for the briefest of moments. "I will cross that bridge when I come to it."

Hecatia slides off the window sill, extending an arm out to me. "Of course," she reassures, "But I won't let you burn yourself up either. Here." I feel her playful digits clasp mine. My palm brushes up against something willowy and pliable. Surprised, I let go of her hand to examine her gift.

It is a small flower, soft and tender yet with fashioned with an otherworldly resilience. It is an explosion of red, petals of crimson flames flanked by sparks shooting from a slender stem. A flower that captured the essence of release - a firework frozen in time. As I hold it up to inspect it further, I find myself gazing instead into the eyes of its creator.

"It is called the Red Spider Lily. A flower that blooms near the dead to guide them into the next reincarnation," Hecatia smiles, as if recalling some distant memory. "Of course, I have enchanted it to be unaffected by the savagery of the world."

I break away from her eyes. Insolent. I raise an eyebrow. "Do you mean to mock me?" I scoff.

She turns to look out the window into the distance. "Not at all. Those flowers tend to remind me of fireworks. Brilliant as any danmaku and a vividness unmatched. Yet what makes a firework special is how fleeting it lasts."

She turns to face me again, the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks.

"You are too much like a firework. I wish it were not so."

"You mean to tell me to temper my brilliance? I cannot abide."

A small frown crosses her face. "No, I do not mean that."

She circles around me out of my view. Was she angry?

"I-", my words are cut off as a pair of arms ensnare my waist, pulling me into an embrace.

My shoulders tense as her words spill into my ears. "Junko, you are a blazing, radiant flame in this world – my world. You are mighty, but you are not invincible.  Promise me that when all is said and done that you will return to me.” Hecatia’s embrace tightens. “I suppose you could call me greedy, but I want to trap this firework so I can have it all to myself forever," she murmurs.

I turn my head to give her a reply, but the words in my mouth are blocked off by a pair of those cherry lips.

Perhaps I’m not just pure fury after all.

((and then minoriko returned to find 2 girls having a really gay moment in her shrine))