12. Rehabilitation
(Savato93's AN: My god, I can't stress enough how much that last chapter was a PAIN to write. It's like I have this sort of image in my head of what I'm trying to write, but when it comes to emotional scenes, I can never seem to put it into words in a coherent way. I actually had well over 3,000 words of this chapter written by the time I finished. Anyway, on to the next chapter…)
(My AN: And here we are... Lucy is now trying to adjust herself with female mannerism since she's basically Luke being gender-bent. This particular chapter is what inspired me to add her in my head-canon. Also, how come anyone didn't answer my question about where Lucy/Luke came from? Come on...)
XXXXX
Silent pokes to my shoulder roused me from sleep. "Wake up, Lucy. Are you ready to begin the first day of your new life?"
I yawned. "Screw that…"
Kaguya huffed and pinched my thigh. I shot awake with a yelp, falling off the side of the bed. "Alright, alright, I'm up…" I shakily got to my feet.
"Come on, get moving!" Kaguya pressed me to move, but I barely budged.
"But I'm still so… tired… can barely move…" I yawned.
"Weird. I'll call up Eirin." Kaguya shuffled through her robe and pulled out a pager-looking device. She pressed a button.
Eirin popped into existence next to us. The sudden displacement of air created a shockwave, sweeping me off my jittering legs. However, I just didn't have the strength to get back up.
Eirin looked slightly surprised at first, but she quickly composed herself. "I think I'm starting to understand why Reisen is upset about the teleportation device... so, what is it you need, princess?"
Kaguya simply pointed to me and said, "Lucy's not getting active. She's had plenty of time to lay around, so I don't get why she's moving at a snail's pace.
"I see." Eirin looked to me, and her expression soured. "So, you're going by Lucy now? Not very original." Regardless, she pulled me off the ground and gave me a quick examination, checking my pupil dilation and pulse.
"I knew I forgot something…" the Lunarian finally said after about a minute. Pulling out a syringe, she bent my head to the side and jabbed it into my neck.
Within moments, my body, having previously felt heavy as lead, began to grow incredibly warm and light. The weariness melted away almost instantly, and I pushed myself off the bed, this time successfully remaining upright.
"Er… what did you just pump into her?" Kaguya asked.
Eirin pulled a small biohazard waste disposal bin from hyperspace and got rid of the used needle. "A cocktail of vitamins and nutrients. Good to kick-start your body when it has no energy."
"My god, I feel like I'm on fire!" I said. "Why did you do that!?"
"Your metabolism is fluctuating periodically due to your recent… transformation." She glanced away as she said this. "Anyway, there's no need to worry, it'll stabilize after you start moving around."
Thankfully, the burning receded after a few seconds. "Oh. That's a relief." I stretched my body—and heard a loud rip above the popping of joints. Startled, I looked around. Eventually, I looked down and discovered that the ripping noise had, in fact, been the flimsy hospital gown I'd been wearing, torn wide open. "Fuck!" I squealed and wrapped the bedsheets around my exposed body.
"Well, Lucy… looks like you already know how to react to a wardrobe malfunction," Kaguya chuckled. Off to the side, Eirin smirked.
"Not funny," I growled. "I need something real to wear. What happened to the clothes I had when I came into your clinic? Where are they?"
Eirin fidgeted a bit. "Your clothes are fine, but… I was planning on burning them. I'm not sure they'll fit on you as it is."
The room was dead-silent for three seconds. "Just bring them to me. I'll be the judge of that," I stated flatly.
Eirin held her hands up. "Alright, I'll get them brought here."
A few minutes later, my shirt and jeans were brought to me by a little rabbit. I put them, taking comfort in the familiar feel of the worn fabric. "That's better," I said, "… although it IS rather loose. Thank god I was wearing a belt when I got gapped." Curious about my appearance, I stepped to the mirror.
Now that I could get a closer examination, I spotted some differences in body structure between me and Eirin. I'd shrunk a few inches in height through the transformation, so I now stood over half a foot shorter than Eirin, which was odd considering her near-Amazonian stature. But while she had me beat in height, her figure was actually rather stick-ish. Instead, I trumped Eirin in width. Wider hips, more rounded thighs, a narrower waist, and, of course, the breasts. Overall, my decreased height gave me a much curvier figure than her. Not exactly something to… on second thought, this would be something to write home about. From the average unfit young man to a girl with a near-perfect figure.
"It looks good," Kaguya commented "Fits your form quite well. But it doesn't exactly fit in with what everybody else wears in Gensokyo. You'll have to find something to wear that's more in line with everybody else's fashion. Maybe Eirin can spare one of her outfits so you can warm up to dresses…?"
"…I'll see what I can do." Eirin's answer was short and brisk, with the slightest hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Er… alright, I guess that's okay. Also, my hair… just doesn't seem right." It hadn't magically grown out through my transformation, so my hair was only about two inches long, making me look like a very well-endowed tomboy. "Can we fix that?"
"You're going to be here for a while, so you'll have time to grow it out."
"Alright, now that you're clothed, take a seat." Eirin said. "It's time you learn the more biological aspects of the female form in detail."
I stared at the Lunarian, eyes wide. "You're kidding me."
"I'm afraid not." Eirin pulled out a tablet. "You need to know about your new body as much as possible before you get released into the outside world again. All the better you're getting it from me, a female physician."
"I'm not an idiot, Yagokoro, I was in college before Yukari gapped me. I've taken basic anatomy."
"Indeed. Basic anatomy. I'm going to teach you everything the textbooks leave out."
In the end, I ended up sitting through her lecture. Once she was done, she told me that, since I was now part-Lunarian, my body would for the most part stop aging thanks to my newfound ability to regenerate degraded and dead cells. "…That, also, includes your body's egg cells," Eirin finished rather awkwardly.
"So, what, no menopause?" I joked, nervous.
"No. For now, though, your reproductive system is in a 'dormant' state, not releasing any eggs, so you're in no danger of menstrual bleeding or mood swings. I'd be extremely careful, Lucy—if your libido is stimulated, by an aphrodisiac, for example, your lower body's going to wake up."
"I don't understand," I said. "If Lunarians don't have to worry about running out of eggs, why are there so few of you?"
"The one drawback to having a near-impenetrable immune system? Our body will viciously fight any foreign substance that isn't food. Long story short, Lunarians are fertile, it's just very, very hard for us to conceive. You're not pure Lunarian, so you likely won't have so much trouble, if you ever decide to have a kid. Just make sure you know what you're doing beforehand, or else the sex just gets awkward as hell."
"I'll keep it in mind," I replied sarcastically.
A sudden, sharp pain shot through my lower abdomen, and I doubled over. It wasn't an unfamiliar pain: ANYONE with a bladder has known the feeling at some point or another in their life.
"Oh, god… er, if I may…?" I looked up with a pleading expression.
"Bathroom's that way, down the hall." Eirin pointed. With a nod of thanks, I rushed away to relieve myself.
XXXXX
"I'm not sure about this…" I examined the strip of cloth in my hands. And this is considered modest in terms of lingerie!
"It's either this or bloomers, and I don't see you as the type for frilly outfits," Eirin argued. "Besides, those boxers are rather loose around your legs."
"Can't you just make some new boxers that fit me?"
"We're scientists, not tailors. You'll have to make do with what we've got."
"Are you absolutely sure there's no other option?" My grip on the underwear in my hand tightened in anxiousness.
"Alright, listen." Eirin gripped my shoulder. "You aren't doing yourself any favors turning down my offers of help." She help up the red-blue dress I was going to don. "So unless you'd rather wander Gensokyo in bare skin, just swallow your pride and put on the blasted panties."
In a single motion, Eirin spun me on my heels and pushed me into the dressing room. I could feel Eirin's gaze on me, even through the closed screen door. Slowly, nervously, I undid the belt holding my jeans up. Almost instantly, they dropped to the floor around my ankles. Stepping out of the jeans, I tucked a thumb into the elastic band at my hips.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tugged the boxers off. Working on touch, I fumbled with the underwear in my hands. Put one foot through… then the other… and I quickly pulled them up.
It felt so strange. The lingerie was uncomfortably snug (one of the reasons I went with boxers over briefs in the first place as a boy), but it covered everything It had to. There was nothing to ride up or feel strange on my skin (that is, at least I'd thought at the time; boy, was I proven wrong), and nothing shifted as I moved around. "I guess… it's not too bad…" I mumbled, and, raising my voice, called out to Eirin. "Ready for the dress."
A hand jutted out from the screen door, holding out the red-blue garments. "Alright, it's not anything you haven't done before," I said to myself, . "Just think of it like putting on a bathrobe… only I'm going to wear the robe in public…"
A minute later, I emerged from the dressing room. "Well?" Eirin asked.
I tugged at the skirt of the dress. "…Too tight and narrow around the legs."
"What!?" Eirin said in disbelief.
"Surely, you've seen how I walk around. I have a wide gait. My legs have so much less range of motion in your dress."
"Well, I'm sorry I don't conform to your standards!" Eirin threw her hands up in exasperation.
I held my hands up. "I'm not trying to insult you. I'm just saying, if I'm going to wear a dress, I'd like to have some leg room. What can you suggest?"
Eirin glared at me for a little longer. Finally, her expression softened and she sighed. "I can think of two options. The first is a cheongsam, a Chinese side-split dress. It's a tad exotic in my opinion, and impractical for combat, but it fits your criteria, and it's a one-piece for quick and easy removal. OR, you can compromise between a dress and your preferred attire by wearing a tabard over a simple shirt and leggings; take out the leggings, and you've got a similar (though bolder) result as the cheongsam.
"I'd recommend the tabard. It, as well as the rest of the outfit, can be easily bought down in the village. They're expensive, but much less so than the cheongsam, which would have to be custom-tailored for you and would take time to make. If you're lucky, though, the Chinese girl who works at the SDM (if she IS Chinese) might have one laying around that could fit you."
"I see. Well, thanks for the advice."
"It's nothing. Just remember to return that dress to me later." Eirin handed me my regular clothes. "Now, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to the living room."
XXXXX
A few days later the inevitable occurred.
"The familial hierarchy of Gensokyo is a fairly simple matter. If there is no magic in the blood of the family, then the father is the head of the household, period. However, magic runs primarily on the mother's side of the family, so if magic does run in the family's blood, odds are only the mother and daughters will have any potential—"
Suddenly, a loud snap echoed in my head. I brought a hand to my skull in confusion…
"Hei! Anata mo watashi no hanashi o kiite imasu ka? Watashi wa nani o kurikaeshite inaidesunode."
…wait, what did she just say!?
"Nani ga kiniiranai noda. Anata wa zutsū o motte imasu ka?" Eirin said something that sounded like it was a question.
"I can't understand what you're saying! Something's wrong!"
Eirin blinked, then spoke again, this time with that strangely-smooth and light yet energetic accented English that just didn't seem to fit her personality. "What are you talking about? You've been able to understand me just fine over the past few days."
"That was with the help of a translation enchantment put on me by Sanae Kochiya. It must have worn off…"
"That's unfortunate. You won't be able to communicate with anybody in Gensokyo if you can't understand Japanese." Eirin checked a nearby clock. "…I suppose we have the time for it. I'll teach you Japanese the old-fashioned way."
I paused, then shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat."
"Good. Let's start with the basic vowels and enunciations…"
XXXXX
Days at Eientei turned into weeks. The going was slow, but progress was made—in fact, Kaguya and Eirin claimed I was recovering faster than expected. For the most part, I went through the female mannerisms easily, as I pretty much conformed to some of them already. In the meantime, Eirin was instructing me in Japanese. I was quick to catch on to the language, to her surprise, memorizing some basic terms and grammar in a matter of days. In fact, to bridge the gap between writing left to right and writing down and towards the left, I simply wrote the Japanese characters sideways, something Eirin stated as highly unorthodox but effective. I chalked it up to being the result of listening to a lot of Japanese music and anime.
Right now, I was arguing with Kaguya about the necessity of makeup. "I honestly don't see why I need it. If I've got such good looks thanks to Eirin, and she doesn't wear makeup, why should I?"
"I know where you're coming from on this, but there's eventually going to be an occasion where you absolutely have to put something on your face!" Kaguya countered. "At the very least, you need to know how to put it on!"
"...Fine."
Kaguya guided me through the basic stuff, like blush and eyeliner. When I looked at my work in a mirror, I was honestly surprised—my skin looked a lot more radiant and healthy than before. Having spent years of my life as a shut-in, I had a rather pale complexion (not as pale as Eirin though), so I was fairly pleased that I had a light pink shade to my normally-clammy skin, and the ever-present bags under my eyes weren't as noticeable as before. Now my bright chestnut hair, which I'd grown out to my shoulders by that point, didn't look so out of place on me.
"See, it's not as bad as you think. You look beautiful."
My cheeks turned an even brighter pink at Kaguya's compliment. "Wow, uh, thanks…"
"No need to be bashful, I'm only stating the truth. Now, close your eyes and hold still." Kaguya grabbed a nearby cloth and rubbed the blush and eyeliner off my face. "Next, we work on the ceremonial makeup, used for a variety of occasions in feudal Gensokyo."
"Please tell me you're joking."
"No, I am not."
To keep my mind off of the sheer ridiculousness of the matter at hand, I started chatting with Kaguya. "What do you think of the Indoctrination Theory?"
"Load of crap. A desperate attempt by disappointed fans to justify the horrible ending Bioware gave them for Mass Effect 3."
"Are you kidding me!?" I exclaimed. "It was EA's fault! They pushed Bioware into releasing the game earlier than intended. If they'd just pushed back the deadline, the ending would have been better."
"They also planned a perfectly good original ending based around dark energy, and thanks to the fandom hunting down and leaking that information, they had to change the ending."
I turned and stared at Kaguya, jaw hanging. "How can you be so blasé about this? One of the biggest letdowns in videogame history (aside from Duke Nukem Forever, but I never had much faith in that game to begin with), and you wouldn't at least be grasping at straws if there was a chance it could be saved?"
"Not really."
"Why, you!" I grabbed a towel and wiped away the makeup on my face. "I know a few fan-made documentaries on the Indoctrination Theory. Halo 3, first to ten kills wins. If I win, you have to watch them. If you win, I finish putting on the makeup without a fight."
"You're on."
About an hour later…
Damn, I didn't know you could do THAT with a shotgun… "Hey, easy with the shading, it's going to look ridiculous!"
"Hey, the black eyes are figurative of the ass-kicking I just gave you. Now for the powder…" Kaguya puffed me in the face a few times with a fluffy pad, then turned me towards the mirror.
"…Okay, now you're making me look like a mime."
Kaguya burst into laughter, drowning out my vows to eventually get back at her.
…
That night, the Eientei crew, plus me, sat around the kotatsu in the living room, content to relax and say nothing. After a while, I started to yawn. "Well, I guess I'll be heading to bed," I excused myself from the group, practicing my Japanese.
"The grammar is correct, but you're putting too much emphasis on individual syllables," Eirin judged me. "Each vowel should flow into the next seamlessly. To a native, you'd simply be making a string of incoherent sounds. Don't worry, though. We'll work on your pacing tomorrow."
"Alright." I got to my feet and did a short bow. "I'll see you ladies in the morning." I made my way to the guest room where I was staying, and tucked myself into the bed. A few hours passed, and I hadn't yet fallen asleep.
Then again, I wasn't trying to sleep.
Sometime around midnight, I slipped out of the bed and moved to the doorway. I held my ear to the closed door, using my heightened senses to listen to the noises on the other side. Save for the soft pitter-patter of rabbit feet scurrying through the halls of Eientei, all was quiet.
Good. The others were in their beds. Time to move.
Being as quiet as possible, I slid the door open and tiptoed out. My heightened senses were a godsend right now—instead of playing trial and error wandering through the maze that was Eientei's halls, I simply followed the scents of chemicals. Sniffing lightly, I turned to the left and moved quickly down the hall.
Turning the corner, a small youkai rabbit bumped into my feet. It (or was it a she? Hard to tell with the rabbits) looked up at me, wrinkling its nose in surprise. I simply raised a finger to my lips. "I was never here, understand?" I whispered in Japanese. I held my breath, hoping the message got across through my fractured accent.
The rabbit stared at me for a few more seconds. Finally, it twitched its head in what looked like a nod and hopped around me, moving on. Letting out a sigh of relief, I continued down the hallway.
After a few more turns through the hall (somehow avoiding another confrontation with any rabbits), I arrived at a stainless-steel hinged door that looked plain out of place in the oriental mansion. I opened the door and stepped into Eirin's lab. My first action was to don a pair of latex gloves, so as to leave no fingerprints. Flexing my fingers in the gloves, I scanned the room. After a few moments, I located the medicine cabinet, which was protected with…
You've got to be kidding me. Millions of years of technological advancements, and Eirin uses a freaking KEYLOCK!? And an old one at that… I glanced around the lab and spotted a key sitting on the counter in front of me. Shaking my head in disbelief, I took the key and opened up the medicine cabinet. The bottles of medicine were lined up neatly and arranged mostly alphabetically. Their labels were in English for some reason, but I didn't know what any of the drugs were; fortunately, each bottle had a sticker detailing its uses.
I carefully and quietly examined each bottle. Antibiotics, anti-biotics (er, what?), anticoagulants… wait, amnesiacs? Those might be useful. I popped the cap off and took out a few of the capsules before setting the bottle back in place.
Now, where was I… THERE it is! I snatched the bottle labeled aphrodisiac from the shelf. Cracking it open, I found it was filled with blue pills. "Fuck…" I said to myself silently. I'd been hoping for capsules—those, I could just break open to get the drugs inside. Pills, I'd have to grind into powder. "How am I supposed to get anything done with this?"
And would you believe my lopsided luck, a mortar and pestle lay on a tray nearby. Grabbing a handful of the aphrodisiacs, I stepped over to the bowl. A couple minutes later, I had a small supply of blue powder. I grabbed the nearest empty, unlabeled bottle and poured the powder into it. After a moment's consideration, I grabbed a second bottle for the amnesiacs.
I paused for a moment. I wonder… maybe there's something else here I could save for later… I returned to the medicine cabinet. Moving quickly but cautiously, I examined each and every bottle for anything that could be useful. If it looked good, and there was more than one bottle of it, I took one. It took somewhat longer than I'd expected, but I came away with a bottle of nutrient supplements similar to what Eirin injected me with; some all-purpose antivenom; sleeping medicine; and some kind of healing salve. Coming from Eirin, this stuff was sure to be more powerful than the work of any human doctor.
The first phase of my plan was complete. I carefully cleaned out the mortar and sterilized it with some alcohol pads before setting it back on its tray, and closed and re-locked the medicine cabinet. Confident I had removed any traces of my presence, I left the lab and returned to my bed.
In the morning, I greeted the others in the living room. Reisen, Eirin and Kaguya sat at the kotatsu, each with a mug of tea in hand. On the vacant side of the table, there was a cup of plain water for me.
"Would you mind if I went outside for some fresh air?"
"Go ahead," Kaguya said cheerfully. "Nobody's stopping you. Just don't stray too far into the bamboo forest."
"Thanks." I stepped out into the hallway towards the doorway, which was thankfully very close by. I gently gripped the door and slid it open. A gust of cool morning air buffeted my exposed skin, and I took a deep breath of the crisp, wild air. Shivering, I closed the door. Stepping away from the door, I leaned against the opposite wall and waited.
A few minutes later, I pushed myself off the wall, opened the door and slammed it much more forcefully. Taking a breath, I sprinted back to the room where Kaguya and the others were sitting, rather startled by the sudden noise. "Mokou! Outside! Furious…"
"Oh, god." All three Lunar migrants shot to their feet.
"She must have heard about me from Keine, thought I was joining your crew and flipped," I gasped. "What's going to happen to me?"
"Nothing, as long as we have anything to say about it." Eirin gestured Reisen and Kaguya towards the door. "Stay here, we'll try and shoo her off."
As the last of the three vanished from sight, my posture relaxed. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the bottle of blue powder, smirking to myself. "Well, that was easier than I thought."
Pulling off the cap, I bent down to the kotatsu. Within seconds, I'd sprinkled a good amount of the powdered aphrodisiac into each of their mugs and stirred it in. "Phase two… complete," I muttered. "Now to keep my cool long enough for them to fall for it."
Eventually, the women returned looking rather confused. "False alarm… Must have been a feral youkai. My god, Lucy, don't scare us like that!" Kaguya said.
"Sorry…" I panted.
"It's alright. Nobody's hurt. Now, just sit down, take your mind off of it." And so, the four of us sat at the table, sipping our beverages and discussing miscellaneous topics.
Finally, the drugs began to take effect. The first to fall was Kaguya, who started groaning. "I'm feeling feverish all of a sudden… ugh!" Kaguya stood up, clutching her gut. "I think I ate something rotten… I'm going to the latrine!"
Eirin watched as the princess darted off into the depths of the mansion. "Looks like the Princess ingested something…" She struck me with an accusing glance. "Did you put something in her tea?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, taking a long draught of my water. It was tough to fight the urge to run from impending danger, and I could only barely hold up a poker face in front of the other girls. "I nearly had a damn panic attack fearing that I could get caught in crossfire between the immortals, and you accuse me of putting something in Kaguya's tea?" I would never single her out; I drugged you and Reisen, as well.
"Master…?" Reisen asked in a hushed tone, beginning to waver. "My body feels hot…"
"What? What are you…" Eirin started, but drifted off. She realized that her words were suddenly sounding slurred. Both girls' faces were burning a bright red, and their words were punctuated with stressed panting.
"You gals alright?" I asked.
"I think… aphrodisiac…"
"Tewi?"
"It has to be…" I said, slowly moving away from the table.
Eirin yanked at her collar. Reisen was two steps ahead of her master, having already ripped off her shirt and skirt (seriously, why does every depiction of Reisen give her horizontal-striped panties!?)… and beginning to crawl towards me. I shot to my feet, quickly moving away from the horny rabbit.
"Lucy… get out! Run, while you still can!" Just when she seemed about to pounce, Eirin tackled her, giving me time enough to run out through the front door and escape to the edge of the forest.
It took approximately two minutes for the moaning to become audible all the way out at the edge of the forest. Alone at last, I began to laugh. I'd never thought it would be so easy…
I was laughing too hard to acknowledge the footsteps coming up behind me. "What's a human doing this far into the bamboo forest?"
Startled, I shot forward and landed on my face. I spat the dirt and grass out of my mouth as I turned to face the not-stranger. She had long silver hair, a white shirt with crimson overalls, talismans all over her clothing, and an expression that said, 'Don't fuck with me.' "Who are you?"
"Fujiwara no Mokou." The silver-haired girl pointed to herself, then to me. "An outsider, I presume? Your face is too round, your eyes too pronounced, for you to be Gensokyan. Plus, Keine said somebody came to the village, walked into the Inaba's clinic, and never came out. I always figured they had a backdoor to Eientei in there."
"Yes…" I whimpered. "I'm not a bad person, honest. Please don't hurt me."
Mokou's expression softened. "Relax, kid. I'm not gonna kill you. Just because you share a roof with the Lunarians doesn't necessarily mean you align with their interests. I can understand that." She crouched down next to me. "Now, why don't you introduce yourself and explain what you're doing all the way out here?"
As I talked about my predicament with Mokou, she opened up a little. Her personality seemed exactly what I thought it would be: she was a bit gruff at times, but if she could identify with you, and didn't see you as any threat, she could be very friendly. Soon enough, we were both rolling on the ground laughing at my handiwork.
"You sure you can get away with this?" Mokou asked between fits of laughter.
"I don't come across as a prankster type, so they'll go right over my head. Once they snap out of it, they'll reflexively blame the little rabbit, and no one shall be the wiser." We returned to laughing our asses off.
I eventually got over the novelty of the prank, before Mokou. Thinking to myself for a moment, I looked to her. "Hey… Kaguya told me about what happened to you to make you hate her. It probably doesn't mean anything, seeing as I had no part in it, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry for your suffering. No living being should have to go through that."
Instantly, the laughter stopped. Mokou fixed me with a burning glare. "I don't need your damned pity."
I was taken aback by her rapid change in attitude. "I'm sorry."
Getting to her feet, Mokou hauled me up to her level. "Look, kid, I don't know what kind of sob-story you put on to make her open up to you like that, and frankly, I don't care. But for your own sake, do not pry into the history between me and the princess. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Smart kid." She dropped me and sighed. "Now, you are going to stay here, and I'm going into Eientei and snapping those women out of their sex-craze. Got it?" I nodded. "Good."
Mokou shot off into the mansion, where I could still hear the orgy going on. Within an instant, however, the moans of pleasure turned into agonized screams. As I watched, the eastern wall of Eientei exploded outward, sending the unconscious bodies of Tewi (where'd she come from?) and Reisen flying. Eirin and Kaguya, however, were nowhere to be seen.
XXXXX
"You wanted to talk with me, Kaguya?" I asked.
"Yes. Go ahead, take a seat." Kaguya gestured for me to sit with her at the kotatsu. She had a can of soup within arm's reach, and offered me my usual mug of water. "And you're free to be casual with me, remember."
"Oh, er. Okay…" I cleared my throat. "…Alright. It's just that Eirin's had me speaking, writing, hell, even thinking in Japanese for the past two weeks. It's become so confusing."
"That's great. You've come a long way from that dribbling wreck in a hospital gown all those months ago. There've been some bumps along the road, sure, but nothing you couldn't overcome…"
"Oh, how you have maimed my spirit," I crooned. "Let me count the ways… okay, there was that training me to sit on my knees, that left the lower half of my body numb for nearly twenty hours; Reisen force-feeding Japanese food to me (have to admit, not as bad-tasting as I expected); Eirin educating me on... feminine paraphernalia..." I cringed as the images of that particular lesson resurfaced in my mind.
"Hey, it could have been worse." Kaguya shrugged. "It could have been me teaching you how to utilize sex toys."
"…Touché."
"So, as I said, bumps on the road. Anyway, back on topic—I asked you here to talk about something."
"If it's about that night with Mokou and the aphrodisiac, I swear, I haven't told anyone."
Kaguya shook her head. "While that was absolutely hilarious, it's not what I was talking about. You're here so I can help you to accept, once and for all, what Gensokyo has done to you."
"What do you mean?"
"I won't lie; you've made great strides in overcoming your emotional trauma. But I can tell that somewhere, deep down, you're still clinging to the hope that you could possibly return to being Luke again, that you could return to a normal life. But the fact is, Lucy, is that once Gensokyo gets a hold of you—once Yukari gets a hold of you—she won't let you go until you're six feet under. If you are to truly say you've moved on, you have to stop lying to yourself. Let it go."
"I… that's a lot to ask of me."
"Yes, it is. But it's for your own sake, Lucy."
This was the point of no return for me. If I went through with this, if I threw away my identity, I might never have a chance to get it back… or even want it back. I would be accepting that I might never see my friends and family again. At the same time, if I didn't go through with it… I didn't know what would happen, but I might never be right in the head again. The decision was difficult…
Too difficult. "I… I can't." I shook my head solemnly. "I can't just throw away everything I left behind… my home, my family. I may not be the same person on the outside that I was when I came to Gensokyo, but damn it, I'm still me. By taking this vow, I lose everything that defines me; I'm losing the things that give me hope, keep me moving forward." I looked down at my hands—slender, smooth, with neatly-trimmed nails. These hands don't belong to me. "If accepting Gensokyo means giving up my hope, I won't do it."
When I looked back up, Kaguya had the barest hint of a smile on her lips. "That's what I wanted to hear."
I blinked. "What?"
"You're right to cling to your identity, however distanced it may be from who you are now. If you were truly willing to destroy your identity, you'd be lost to Gensokyo for good. Nothing but a shell of your former self, with no moral code to guide your actions. That's how so many other outsiders end up; Gensokyo destroys their identity, makes them into husks that act on a whim. You may be rather… disconnected at times, that's true, but you're not that broken on the inside, are you?"
I shook my head. "…no. No, I'm not."
"That's right. You are who you are. Now, I want to hear you say it."
"I am my own person, and I won't let anyone or anything try to change that." They were only words, but as I said them I felt as if a weight was lifted from my chest. I felt surer of myself now, more willing to take Gensokyo's madness head-on.
"Excellent. You've done a wonderful job." Kaguya said happily. "You've done so well, in fact, that I have something I'd like to give you. Now, just close your eyes…"
I did as she said. Out of nowhere, I felt a burning sensation in my forehead…
I blinked. Kaguya and I sat at the kotatsu, Kaguya sitting on her knees and me sitting Indian-style, legs crossed. An empty soup can lay on Kaguya's side of the table that hadn't been there before. I looked to the clock on the wall, I was shocked to discover the hour hand had shifted backwards several hours. "I… what's going on? What day is it?"
Kaguya chuckled. "It's your first day. It's only been a few hours since you woke up and received a set of clothes to replace that flimsy hospital gown."
…What? "But I've been at Eientei for almost three months! What do you mean, it's only day one?"
"Let me answer your question, Lucy, with another question: do you know what my power is?" Kaguya asked, a grin on her face.
"What? I, er…" I wracked my mind, trying to call up Kaguya's entry on the wiki. "Manipulation of eternity?"
Kaguya's grin grew larger. "Close…" She picked up her empty soup can and held it up. "Watch."
Right before my eyes, the can started to disintegrate in the Lunarian's palm*. The label was the first to vanish, wrinkling and yellowing until it fell off the can and rotted away. As the label peeled away, the metal underneath, once dull silver, began to turn blue and brown, suddenly overtaken by rust. Within seconds, the rust enveloped the entire can, eating away at it until all that remained in Kaguya's hand were small, brittle chips. Finally, the chips themselves crumbled into a brownish dust, and nothing remained.
"Controlling the flow of time; that is my power. A moment of pure bliss, made to last forever… a grievous wound, one that would take many years to scar over, healed in the span of seconds under my influence… this is the source of the Hourai Elixir," Kaguya said calmly. "I'm not sure how it works—not even Eirin can find a logical explanation—but that's beside the point. I've given you back the months you spent rehabilitating here in Eientei."
"How does that power help accomplish… this? This isn't manipulating the flow of time, it's outright time travel."
"Can you think of a better explanation?" Silence. "I thought so. As I just said, I don't know the specifics, I just roll with it."
"I… this… Kore wa don'na imi ga arimasen..." I slapped a hand over my mouth. What the hell did I just say!?
"Sore wa imi o nasanakute mo kamaimasen. Kore wa kekkyoku, gensō gōdearu." Kaguya replied, smiling. Switching back to English, she continued. "You should start speaking like that more often. It will take some time to get used to speaking primarily Japanese instead of English, but it will work wonders towards building trust with natives."
"I… I don't know how to thank you enough for everything you've done for me…" I stammered, bowing my head.
"I could say the same for you. I've never had so much fun with an outsider before. As much as I interact with people through the virtual world, I get very lonely at times. Sure, there's Eientei, but Reisen hardly gets what I'm usually talking about, Eirin just doesn't care, Tewi is… well, Tewi, and the rabbits can't speak. Plus, Fujiwara no Mokou hates my guts, as I explained a while ago. It's nice to chat face-to-face with somebody who actually shares my interests, trading thoughts and stories with them." Kaguya huffed. "Lift your head, Lucy, just a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. You're just disgracing yourself like that."
I hung my head for a different reason, though. "I… I guess it's my turn to say that I understand your pain."
"What do you mean?"
"Well… before I came to Gensokyo, before this," I poked a finger to my chest, "Happened to me, I was a lot like you. I was born with something called Asperger's Syndrome—you can ask Eirin about it later. Bottom line, I had a lot of trouble with social interactions. I had rather narrow interests—most of which I've been discussing with you—and I couldn't pick up on social cues if my life depended on it. Over time, the few friends I had started drifting away, one by one. They were moving on with their lives, while I was simply too rooted in home and habit to follow. It wasn't long before my only common interaction with them was periodic text conversations.
"At that point, I'd entered college. I'd almost completely stopped trying to form connections with anybody I met, content to shoot the bull with people I met online. It just seemed to make it easier for me, talking to people without faces… but it wasn't enough. I always had this feeling like a hole in my gut, a need to really bond with somebody, but I just couldn't. I don't know if it was because I didn't believe I could make a meaningful bond, or…" My words drifted off.
"…you were afraid that if you did, you would end up hurting them, or being hurt yourself." Kaguya finished my statement for me.
I nodded. "But then, in the short time before Yukari took me away, I had finally realized that I wasn't doing myself any good. Isolating myself in my home, with nobody but my dogs for company during the day, was only making it harder and harder for me to socialize. Had Yukari not stolen me away from my life, I would have-
I started to choke up. "Now… what am I… what am I going to do? Even if Yukari ever lets me return, nobody will even know who I am. My friends will think I'm some random chick… and if I try to prove I'm me by telling them about something only I'd know, they'll call me a stalker. And what about my family? Will they look at me and still see their awkward, quiet, dog-loving boy?"
I noticed I had a tear running down my cheek, and wiped it away. "Look at me. Reduced to tears by a question of 'what if.' I should be above this."
"You don't have to be." Kaguya moved to my side and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Everyone and everything has flaws. Worrying like this just shows you're still a good person at heart, in spite of everything that's happened to you."
I looked to her. "That's great and all, but what good will it do me? I'm a stranger in strange lands. Any bond I make will be one of necessity; Gensokyo isn't safe enough for an actual relationship, with my lack of strength."
"Just remember this, Lucy: this is Gensokyo, the land of opportunity—"
"That's America."
"Beside the point! As long as you're in Gensokyo, no matter how bleak things seem to you, just remember that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel."
"Light at the end of the tunnel… I guess you're right." I nodded. "It's funny. You always seem to know exactly what to say to snap me out of my depressed state. How do you do it?"
"I'm immortal, remember? I've had a long time to learn how to play therapist. Especially after learning what I did to Mokou…" she trailed off.
"I guess so…" I thought for a moment. "Hey, do you think I would be able to remain at Eientei just a little longer?"
"You? Stay here? Aw, HELL NO! I'd lose my spot as top player in Eientei within a month!"
The room was silent for a few seconds before both of us burst into laughter. "Is that really a bad thing?" I chuckled.
Kaguya's expression turned dead-serious. "Yes, it is." Another pause, and the laughing resumed.
Finally, Kaguya managed to catch her breath again. "I understand it's been comfortable for you, staying here at Eientei, but your presence here endangers not just yourself, but Eientei's political standing, as well. Eirin will never admit it, but we aren't the most liked group in Gensokyo, just slightly-less distrusted than outsiders like you. Where others express their power through straightforward physical force, we Lunarians express ours with 'underhanded' science and medicine, so honor is rarely a term used to define us. If word were to leak out that you were staying here, humans would stop coming to Eirin for healing, and we would stop getting income."
"I thought Eirin sold medicine just to be a Good Samaritan?"
"That's not entirely accurate. Intelligent as we are, Lunarians can't break the laws of matter/energy conservation—whether it's for personal experiments or for making prescriptions, Eirin has to get her supplies from SOMEWHERE, and that somewhere is the outside world. The money she gets from selling medicine, Eirin gives to Yukari to purchase her goods beyond the border."
"…Damn it, I knew I forgot to tell Yukari something!" Eirin just happened to be passing by when Kaguya said this. Kaguya and I simply watched as Eirin hurried away to her lab.
Once she was out of sight, Kaguya turned back to me. "Okay… anyway, we're the only group the civilians can actually boycott—were you to lodge with anyone else, they wouldn't really be able to do a damn thing about it.
"Let me break it down: in the cases of Yuuka Kazami, Marisa Kirisame, and the Scarlet Devils, people would simply be too afraid to piss them off by protesting. The Underground is entirely beyond their jurisdiction, but it's a city of freaking oni, so the question of whether taking up residence there is a smart choice or not, is rather hit-or-miss. Lastly, humans rely on the Moriya Shrine, Hakurei Shrine, and Myouren Temple for spiritual guidance (well, technically, the Hakurei Shrine is more known for incident resolution than a stable religious following); it's not their place to question the will of their deities if an outsider is allowed room and board."
"What about the groups on Youkai Mountain? The tengu, the kappa…" Memories of the socially-inept kappa and Aya Shameimaru came to mind. "…wait, forget I asked."
"For what it's worth, if you're ever in need of a shoulder to lean on, you can always come back to visit us. But right now, it's in everybody's best interests if you returned to the people who originally gave you shelter."
"The Moriya Shrine," I said.
"That's good. You're under the watchful eye of two goddesses, three if you count Sanae herself. Now, they're sure to be worried as hell, having you vanish from the face of the earth for four days with no contact. In fact, now might be a good time to let her know you're okay."
Silently, I brought out my phone and typed a message to Sanae: Are you there, Sanae? It took mere seconds for a response to come, in the form of Sanae calling me directly.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! You went to the clinic four days ago to get your head checked, and nobody's seen or heard from you since! What happened!?"
"It's… a long story," I replied quietly.
"… What's with the voice? You catch a cold or something?"
"That's a part of it… Eirin ran an experiment on me while I was sedated for an MRI. Fused her genes with mine. It cured me of all my health problems, environmental or genetic, but she destroyed my Y-chromosome. Now, I look like the two of us had a lovechild… with most of her good genes."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Oh... well… this isn't good."
"I know. I freaked out and killed Eirin when I woke up and discovered what she did to me. Good thing she could heal."
"That's not it. You can't return to the Moriya Shrine."
"…What?"
"My matron goddesses won't let women into the shrine. Before you say anything, it's not about sexism; they don't want competition."
I was dumbstruck. "Competition? What the hell kind of competition!? I've never even met Kanako or Suwako, and you're telling me they'd kick me out of their shrine for being accidentally gender-bent?"
"It's a long-standing tradition in Japanese culture; during times when priestesses and goddesses just can't garner enough faith to remain strong through their words and actions, they do so with their bodies. Ever since Reimu and Marisa screwed up Kanako's plan to introduce nuclear power to Gensokyo, she's taken to making… house calls to fill her quota. If she thinks a woman poses a threat to her attractiveness, she'll pitch them (literally, once) off the mountain."
"You have to explain things to her! Tell her I have no intention of outshining her! Besides, I've live my entire life as a man, and you can't change a person's sexual alignment that easily (which, ironically, may get me places in Gensokyo, what with all the chicks)."
"I'll do my best, but it's going to take some time and a lot of convincing. I'm sorry, Luke—"
"It's Lucy now…"
"—Lucy, but until I can persuade Kanako otherwise, you can't come back. You're going to have to find somebody else willing to take you in."
The call ended. I sat there, jaw slack, the phone emitting a dial-tone in my hands, before finally turning to Kaguya. "What? What's wrong?" She asked.
"…I just got fucking evicted."
XXXXX
(Savato93's AN: Longest chapter I've ever written! Spent about a month making sure nothing was too out of place. It's definitely still rough around the edges, but delays are delays. For those of you wondering, the Romanized Japanese near the end of this chapter IS relevant to the topic at hand.)
Lucy's line: "This doesn't make any sense…"
Kaguya's line: "It doesn't have to make sense. This is Gensokyo, after all."
(My AN: ... Dang... I just found a good reason to made Lucy OP in my head-canon... Keywords are time flow. Anyway, like I said above, this chapter inspired me to add Lucy to my head-canon. Hint for the question about Lucy/Luke's home state is a certain bull worm in Spongebob Squarepants.)