minor edit to one sentence inconsistency.
Mokou shot up and immediately regretted it, falling back down onto the futon she had been laying on. Waking up had been almost instantaneous and she wished it had not been as her head felt like a dormant volcano that was anything but. She cringed as she tried to calm down, in the hopes of stopping the throbbing in her head, but to no avail. Only when she felt a finger push against her forehead did the pain recede and stop. Finally able to sit up without killing herself Mokou sat up on the futon, though much slower this time, and looked around.
She was inside the Hakurei shrine and before her she could see Yukari sitting at a table that had two Glasses of green tea upon it. Yukari took a quick drink of her tea before placing it quietly down on the table and looking toward her, "Morning Mokou, did you sleep well".
Mokou cringed slightly at the obviously sarcastic tone that was thrown her way. "Not really. My dreams were completely all over the place and my head still feels like it's attempting to explode."
"That is because your mind is still organizing all of the new knowledge you have gained. You will likely have similar migraines for a couple of days and then it should stop."
Mokou grimaced. A couple of days of such severe migraines would likely feel worse than getting killed she thought as she threw the cover off of the futon and slid over to the table with Yukari. "I was meaning to ask this, but I'm guessing there is much you will need to tell me right?"
Yukari shook her head. "Not as much as you would think actually, but I'll explain that in a moment."
"Why not now?"
Yukari did not say anything but pointed down. Confusingly Mokou looked down, and then realized she was wearing literally nothing.
"Oh, um, I,- where are my clothes!" Mokou panicked slightly as she looked around.
Yukari pointed beside the futon to a small bag. Mokou slid carefully over to it while covering herself and pulled out was inside, revealing a Hakurei Miko robe that looked exactly like Reimu's.
"Um, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think these will fit me."
"And why would they not?"
"I'm taller than Reimu was and our various, sizes, are different."
"I made those for you, they'll fit." Yukari said without looking away from the table in front of her.
"Oh, um alright then." Mokou commented as she went about putting them on. She did not expect them to be difficult to put on but after a matter of minutes the Miko robes were on her and she realized they did indeed fit her. In fact they fit her better than her old pants and shirt ever did shockingly enough.
Yukari waited until Mokou sat herself down at the table before sighing to herself before starting. "To answer your question from earlier, there is actually little I myself will need to teach you. Most of the basic knowledge you will need is now a part of you, as it has been for every Miko of the Hakurei."
"So I know everything already?"
"Almost everything. You know the basic knowledge and lore but there are some things you will have to be taught."
"Such as?"
"How to repair small portions of the border, how to access spiritual power, how to proceed with the rites only a Miko can do, that sort of thing. I will teach you these things once you have become comfortable with the power of the Hakurei."
"So after winter then?"
Yukari smiled. "Yes, being so close to winter I would normally be asleep already, perhaps Kanako thought it would keep me out of the way, but I will do anything to protect Gensokyo. Today will likely be the last time you see me until after winter has ended. As such, your first act must be to learn how to control the power of the Hakurei, or it will destroy you."
"How could it destroy me of all people?"
"Let me explain then. Every Miko of the Hakurei is chosen according to their potential to master its power. Only Reimu and Reimu's mother have direct lineage to the first Hakurei Miko."
"So in the history of Gensokyo only three of the Hakurei Miko have been related by blood?"
"Precisely. In the over 1200 years of Gensokyo's history only three have been related by blood. But all of them are related by spirit."
"Huh?"
"The power of the Hakurei is not just the power to hold the border and exterminate youkai, as you will soon see. It is not my place however to explain all of it to you, I will leave that to Reimu herself."
Hearing that made Mokou very confused, but it did make her realize the one thing that was missing from the previous night. "Um, where is Reimu's, um body?"
Yukari seemed to almost smile, but not quite. "Reimu's body has been cremated and her ashes added to the Hakurei gravestone, and that will be your first duty."
"What?"
"I said yesterday that today would be her funeral, and most everyone would have known what I meant. There is no service for the Hakurei, instead people may come to pay their respects, and you will need to be there to accept people's goodwill. Come."
Following Yukari, the two of them left the shrine and walked out onto the grounds. The sun was just coming over the mountains and its beams shone through the shrines gateway, flawlessly illuminating the shrine grounds. Right beside the shrine, with no cover over it or any kind of decoration, stood the large grey marble stone with the single word upon it. Hakurei. Mokou stood there for many moments before realizing that it would only be right that she pay her respects before anyone else. She knelt down and as she did, felt the slight autumn wind that had been blowing stop immediately. Kneeling in front of the stone, Mokou could almost hear whispers from all around her, and felt herself tense up. The whispers quickly died down however and as they did she felt as if something or someone had given her a chance.
Yukari stood a few feet back completely quiet and motionless as Mokou paid her respects before standing up and walking over to Yukari. "I assume you still need to?
Yukari shook her head. "I paid my respects when I buried Reimu's ashes early this morning before you awoke. Something I have done many times before, and will do many times again."
"How so?" Asked Mokou in a confused tone. "I'm immortal, unless I have a kid at some point, which I can't-. "
"Just because you are immortal do not think you will be the Hakurei Miko forever. Because of the nature of the power of the Hakurei it must change vessels on occasion, usually at least every one hundred years, though it is often done more often than this."
"But I cannot die."
"Mokou."
"Yes?"
"A while ago you were searching for a way to truly die, correct?"
"Yes?"
"Then you may have found it. When the time comes and the power of the Hakurei must be transferred to another, it being transferred away from you just may be able to kill you."
"Wait, seriously? But I can't die by any means!"
"The power of the Hakurei is far from normal Mokou. But enough, the sun rises above the lands and people will soon come to pay their respects, many will even come to speak to you as well, and you must prove your acceptance to your new life."
"R-right. Is there anything else I should know or do?" Mokou asked as Yukari opened a Sukima in front of herself and prepared to step through.
Yukari turned around and faced Mokou. "Yes, you will need to practice controlling the power of the Hakurei, your new skills of sealing techniques and many other things. If you need help doing this I suggest you go behind the shrine and speak to the Elder of the Pond. Until the spring, I bid you farewell," Yukari said and quickly hopped backwards through her Sukima, which closed up immediately.
Mokou stood there and sighed to herself. She knew that Yukari was like this, but she didn't expect it to be such a shock to have to deal with. Looking up, Mokou saw the sun slowly rising above Gensokyo. Yukari was right. Mokou smiled to herself. It was a simple thing to do first, but she figured it would be good to sweep the pathway to the shrine and to the grave, it was the least she could do.
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Throughout the day, Mokou was continually astonished with how many people came to pay their respects. humans from the village, youkai from the forests and mountains, even demons from the deep underground. All coming to pay their respects and wish her luck. Only in the evening though was she greeted by people who actually came to speak to her without looking away as they did.
Mokou was sitting on the walkway outside of the shrine, talking a break, when Keine Kamishirasawa came and sat down beside her. Neither of them said anything for many moments until Keine turned and looked straight at Mokou.
"I was surprised, you know. I did not expect you to do this."
"I don't think anyone did," Mokou replied.
"True. How is it?"
"It is what it is I guess. I won't really know until I've been doing it for a while."
"I guess so. I'm sorry it took me so long to come by. With teaching at the school and-"
"I understand Keine; you don't need to make excuses. I had originally though you and Rinnosuke would have come together though."
"He came this morning."
"I know. I talked with him a while. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your wedding last month." Mokou apologized quietly.
"That's the fourth time in as many weeks that you have apologized, Mokou. It's fine. You were protecting some villagers from angry youkai so it's completely understandable. Id rather you not have made it and protected people then have left them just to be there."
"I know I'm sorry."
"Don't be, we're friends and I'll always be there for you."
"Okay, I'll just be careful of when I come to say hi. I don't want to interrupt you and Rinnosuke," Mokou said with an obvious snicker making Keine blush from ear to ear.
Keine coughed a bit while hiding her face before recomposing herself. "Well, I should probably head out. I heard that Marisa wanted to speak to you as well so I'll give her a chance to." Keine stated as she stood up and gestured toward the shrine gate that Marisa and Patchouli had just come through.
Mokou waved goodbye to Keine and after a few minutes, true to her word, Marisa walked over and stood before Mokou looking far from comfortable. Her eyes were red from fresh tears and Mokou could still see a few tears hanging onto her eyelashes. Mokou motioned for Marisa to sit down but Marisa shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Mokou. I shouldn't be like this." Marisa said with a sniffle.
"I know you and Reimu were close, it's understandable."
"Still I'm sorry. A few days ago Reimu told me she had a bad feeling about how things were unfolding in Gensokyo. She wanted me to keep helping stop incidents and made me promise to do so.
"So she knew what was going to happen?"
Marisa shook her head. "I don't think so; I think she just had a bad feeling, her intuition was always good. I just wanted to tell you that I will be there to help you if any incidents arise. And I'd like to thank you."
"For what?"
"For talking over as the Hakurei shrine maiden. You're one of the few people who is strong enough to do so that is not a youkai. I would have gladly taken over for her, but with me now being a true magician and not human-"
"I understand," Mokou quietly interrupted Marisa. "I'm glad to know I'll have such good help with me should an incident arise, and I hope we may be able to know each other better over time."
Marisa wiped her eyes and nodded before running off, and walking out of the shrine grounds hand in hand with patchouli knowledge.
Mokou sat on the shrine steps well into the night as the last of the people came and paid their respects. By the time it was quiet, it was almost midnight and the small lamps on the shrine's deck burned brightly. As Mokou stood up and slid open the door to the shrine she felt a presence behind her. Turning around she saw a woman she did not entirely recognize standing at the floor of the steps. The woman had short blonde hair and wore a blue and white dress that accentuated her body very effectively. Her shape was not familiar, but her presence was, she just couldn't think of the name.
"You don't recognize me, do you?" the woman asked casually but with obvious pain in her voice.
Mokou shook her head.
"I'm sorry. I'm Suwako Moriya"
Mokou looked temporarily stunned at that concept. When did the Loli goddess get to look so good? Was she holding out on everyone?
"When Kanako died, the long standing deal between us was severed and I have once again become the primary god of my shrine and gained my full power once again, though it does not make me happy at all. You're wondering why I'm here, aren't you?"
"I can make a guess."
"Please don't," Suwako said as she dropped to her knees and pressed her head to the ground. "Please forgive me for what has happened. I'm so sorry."
Mokou could only turn her head to the side as she spoke. "Well, it's not like you need to apologize. You had nothing to do with what happened, you only tried to protect your family."
"That is why I am apologizing to you. Because of my selfish desire to keep Sanae with me, you volunteered to take her place as the Hakurei Miko. Please, I'm so sorry."
"I did not do it to protect Sanae. I did it to protect Gensokyo. You did not do anything needing of my forgiveness, just please don't let something like this happen again if you can."
Suwako stood up and nodded causing tears to fall to the ground. She then turned and shot off into the air, leaving Mokou to herself.
Mokou entered the shrine and closed the door behind her. Tomorrow everything would truly begin, but she needed to learn what Yukari would not tell her. Looks like she was going to talk to this 'Elder of the Pond' tomorrow.
Authors notes: you would not believe how much I had to fiddle with my word editor to stop it from autocorrecting Miko to Mike. I swear it was doing this just to piss me off.
I'm sure you have noticed some things you may not have expected but if it was not completely explained it will be farther into the story.
