(What is this I don't even…

Well, hello everyone. *waves* Relatively new to Touhou, but that doesn't stop the plot bunnies from coming, right?

I've recently re-developed an annoying habit of not finishing anything I start, but let's see if we can't fix that.

All characters © ZUN)

Impossibilities

Chapter One: Challenges

The bamboo forest is never quiet anymore.

"Phoenix Tail!"

"Dead of Night!"

Fire and bullets blast away the bamboo trees, setting the fallen trunks ablaze; they're already growing back by the time the danmaku battlers rise from the explosion, broken and bleeding but far from dead.

Fujiwara no Mokou glares hatefully at her enemy, pulling out amulets that quickly begin to burn.

"Tenacious tonight, aren't you, Mokou?" Kaguya sneers, summoning several familiars to surround her. "You know nothing will change if you kill me again!"

"And the same for you, yet you sought me out this night!" the white-haired girl shouts. "You left Eientei to look for me this time—"

Kaguya's familiars explode in a flurry of blue bullets; just before they strike her, Mokou manages to throw several circles of flaming amulets at the lunar princess. Their deaths are quick and silent this time, but no less painful for them both.

The lunar princess is first to open her eyes, the full moon shining bright upon her as the world spins wildly out of control. Shortly thereafter, she hears Mokou's pained groans as her rival revives herself as well.

"Oh… my head," Kaguya groans, fighting off her dizziness as she forces herself to sit up. "Death is such a hassle… What will it take to stop this?"

"'What will it take to stop this?'" Mokou repeats mockingly, struggling to her feet. "I really don't know, Princess. What will it take to make you stop dragging my father's name through the mud? Don't you think a millennia of mocking him is enough?"

"Dragging his name through the mud? I merely put your father in his place!" the princess snaps, leaning against a bamboo tree for support. "For thinking he could fool a Lunarian with a false jeweled branch and a tale—"

"Fujiyama Volcano!"

"Red Stone of Eija!"

Their voices cry out simultaneously; the resulting explosion from their spells sends them flying apart from each other, setting the nearby trees aflame as their dead bodies fall to the ground.

Mokou is first to resurrect herself; she coughs up blood as she forces herself to sit up, the world slowly coming back into focus.

She sees the lunar princess sit up as well, parts of her black hair burnt down to singed stubs.

"S-Someday… One day, I will defeat you for good," the white-haired girl growls, hissing in pain as she tries to take a breath. "And then the dishonor you cast upon my family will finally be erased!"

"Your father brought dishonor on himself!" Kaguya retorts, too exhausted to summon the danmaku needed to kill her rival again. "He knew exactly what he had to do when he sought my hand, and I would have said nothing if he chose to give up! But instead, he bribed some of his men into making a fake branch… He never even tried to go to Hourai!"

"And neither did you!" Mokou glares. "The jeweled branch you have is real, but you made Eirin bring it back for you. Even the great Lunarian Princess wouldn't go and get her own favorite Divine Treasure!"

For a few brief moments, Kaguya struggles to find an excuse — but Mokou is right; there's no reason she couldn't have gone to Hourai herself. Not when she had the wisdom of the Lunarians and immortality at her side…

But a thought comes to her, and a wicked grin spreads across her face.

"Well then, this can be your chance to regain honor for your father," the Lunarian taunts, brown eyes flashing. "He failed to bring me a branch from Mount Hourai… But you can bring one back to me in his place, if you want. You can take up his trial."

Mokou's breath catches in her chest, eyes widening.

"And if I do that, you'll acknowledge my father's efforts in bringing what you asked for?" she asks, hardly daring to believe.

"I'll even go so far as to say I was wrong for humiliating him for his deception. That's what you want anyways, isn't it?"

Both immortal girls hear approaching footsteps; Mokou feels Keine dragging her back to her feet, while Kaguya sees Eirin standing over her, arm extended.

"Really, Princess, you must find this to be tiring," the Lunarian physician sighs, helping the black-haired girl stand up. "Murder is unbecoming of you both…"

"I thought you said you were going to leave her alone tonight, Mokou!" Keine hisses, draping Mokou's unbroken arm over her shoulder.

"Hey, she came looking for me!" Mokou snaps back, not taking her eyes off the innocent-looking lunar princess. "I was minding my own business and everything… You know that, too! Why do I have to tell you this at all?"

"Forget it. It's not worth the argument right now… Let's just get you out of here. Come on."

With seemingly little effort, the hakutaku picks Mokou up, carrying her through the bamboo forest.

In the last glimpse the white-haired girl catches of Kaguya that night, she sees the same sharp look in the princess' eyes from before.

"Ow! Is that really necessary?"

"Well, maybe if you and Princess Kaguya would stop killing each other all the time, you wouldn't be breaking or dislocating your bones. The thought has occurred to you, right?"

Mokou scowls, but bites her lip as Keine finishes wrapping up her broken right arm.

"Ever since that night that the shrine maiden came, you and Princess Kaguya have fought every day," Keine continues, shaking her head as she tends to the immortal's wounds. "What would you do if Eirin and I didn't look after you two?"

"Just keep fighting, I suppose," Mokou shrugs. "And don't you dare try to hit me for saying it, you know it's true! You and Eirin have been trying to get us to stop for ages — well, you can see how well it's worked. And that's with your help."

The hakutaku can only bring herself to let out an annoyed sigh, red eyes narrowed as she finishes bandaging the gashes on Mokou's abdomen.

"One day," she mutters, "you two are going to stop fighting. And maybe you won't know what you're going to do with yourselves, but I'm sure that Eirin and I are going to celebrate. The day may even become a holiday in Gensokyo…"

Mokou snorts, but says nothing, even as her friend finishes wrapping her wounds. Her mind is elsewhere at the moment, stuck on a single moment from her fight with Kaguya.

"I'll even go so far as to say I was wrong for humiliating him for his deception… That's what you want anyways, isn't it?"

"Here."

She's startled from her thoughts as Keine thrusts a small cup and a shirt towards her.

"Tomorrow I'll go to Eientei and get more medicine from Eirin," the hakutaku says as Mokou takes her shirt back, pulling it over her shoulders before taking the cup filled with bitter medicine. "You're almost out again. It wouldn't be like that if you didn't have to keep healing yourself…"

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Keine," the immortal nods briefly, staring into the drink in her hands for a few moments before drinking the medicine.

She feels the fire burning through her body; a sharp hiss escapes her lips as she feels the pain flood throughout her, a feeling more agonizing than death itself. But it quickly passes; with it, the pain from her injuries fades as well, regressing to a dull ache.

She can almost feel the medicine mending her broken bones.

"One would think that if the pain of dying wouldn't stop you from fighting, then the medicine would," Keine shakes her head, taking the cup back from Mokou as the girl buttons up her shirt once again. "But I suppose that if death won't stop you, nothing will, will it?"

She doesn't get the sharp reply she expects; in fact, Keine doesn't get any response at all.

"Mokou?" the hakutaku asks, turning to see the determined look in her friend's dark red eyes.

"Keine, I… I'm leaving on a journey tomorrow. There's … somewhere that I need to go. Something I have to do."

"Tomorrow? Where could you possibly have to go on such short notice?"

"What, you mean you don't already know?" Mokou chuckles faintly, shaking her head. "Some hakutaku you are, Keine, even if you are only half-so."

Keine's eyes flicker briefly before suddenly widening.

"No. No. You can't be serious!" she gasps. "It was called an Impossible Request for a reason, Mokou!"

"Keine, this is my chance!" Mokou growls, eyes narrowed. "After all these centuries… I can finally get back at Kaguya for shaming my family! I'm not going to let this opportunity pass me by!"

"But… Mount Hourai! Mokou, it isn't even possible to reach Hourai without intervention from the gods. How do you plan on getting there in the first place, let alone back?"

Truth be told, she hasn't thought that far ahead.

"I suppose I'm going to ask Eirin how she got there before I leave, then," the immortal girl shrugs. "She's been to Hourai before, so that means it has to be possible. And she isn't going to deceive me if it means that there's a chance Kaguya and I will stop fighting."

"That may be, but… it doesn't mean that it's wise to go—"

"I have to try, at least!"

"Then at least let me go with you!"

"No," Mokou shakes her head, scowling. "Absolutely not. This is something I have to do, and will do, on my own."

"Mokou, you can't—"

"You will not come with me for this."

For several long moments, there is silence in the small house in the bamboo forest.

"…fine, then," Keine growls, storming out of the sitting room and into the study. "Fine! Go alone!"

"W-Wait, what?" Mokou blinks, unused to her friend not putting up a fight. "Hey—Keine, what are you doing?"

When she receives no answer, Mokou gets up from her chair, following after the hakutaku.

Keine is sitting at the table, furiously scribbling out notes on parchment.

"Keine… What are you doing?" the immortal girl asks, leaning against the doorway.

"I'm writing your future history," Keine snaps, not looking up from her work.

"…Mount Hourai is in the outside world," Mokou frowns, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "I thought you couldn't change the history of the outside world."

"I can't. But if you shut up and let me work…. Then I can write a history where you come back to Gensokyo. And I don't have much time left to do it, so unless you're going to change your mind, then get out of here and go to sleep! …You're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

Mokou can't help but smile faintly, even as her friend continues working.

"Alright, then," she says, turning to leave. "Good night, Keine."

"…good night, Mokou."

It's the only time for the rest of the night that the hakutaku looks up, when she watches Mokou leave the room.

(End chapter one.

Blaaagh I always feel like my chapter ones suck. Hopefully this one did less so than my earlier works.

Please review!)