"Wow! This is the village?" Medicine asked, overjoyed and standing next to her now best friend, Mokou.
"Yep. Nice place. A lotta good stores, nice people, a lot to see and do. Plus, if you could eat I would have treated you for some food." The immortal said, keeping her hands in her pockets.
Medicine still looked around from where she stood. "So much to see...can we stay here all day? Can we? PLEEEEAAASSSEEE MOKOU!" Medicine pleaded.
"Hey, hey settle down Medi. 'Course we can stay. You got permission from Su-san?" She chuckled.
"She knows I'm with you. She trusts you more than anyone else, in all honesty. I told her I was going with you and she said 'take you're time. I'm good.' She's really sweet." Medicine said, smiling lightly.
"I can tell. That little field of yours has been with ya for all you're life, right?"
The tsukumogami nodded. "All one hundred years."
"How do ya know that long?" Mokou asked, starting to walk around the town with Medicine following extremely close behind.
"Eirin told me. She had a book that said that objects need to be inactivate and to be in working condition in order for one hundred years in order to become a tsukumogami, like me. I just was left in the right place and Su-san brought me to life and gave me poison powers." Medicine told her friend.
"Uh-huh..interesting. My past...isn't a good one." the Fujiwara sighed.
Medicine looked up at her. "What happened?"
Mokou looked at Medicine. The immortal didn't want to tell her, as nearly everyone knew, but seeing as how the doll was naive and lacking in knowledge of the outside world, she decided to say. She sat down on a nearby bench with Medicine nearly on top of Mokou.
"Well...I'm an immortal, you know that. I can control the power of a phoenix's fire. I didn't get these powers from birth. Kaguya sort of... 'gave' them to me. She was going to marry my father, but she has these impossible requests and anyone who can do all of them, gets her hand in marriage."
Medicine gasped a bit. "Isn't that...like cheating or something?" She asked, confused on her terminology a bit.
"Yep, one low blow. But..anyway...my father couldn't do it and she disgraced my family, the Fujiwara Clan. I was enraged at her. I wanted revenge under any costs and ran after her when I heard what happened. I did have some of a sheltered life, so I really had no idea what I was going to do. The only thing I knew was that I had one of the swords my father kept around the house, a plan, and the way she left. So, I ran after her only to see her leave...for the moon somehow."
"The..moon? That big white thing in the sky at night?"
Mokou nodded. "Kaguya, Eirin and Reisen are all from the moon, they're Lunarians. I'm a human. Anyway, back to the story. I saw them go to the moon somehow, not like I cared, but I swear something on the ground where they took off from. I went over and looked at it. It was a small bottle, nearly empty. I thought it was some water, so I drank it. I was really thirsty then and anything liquid would have worked. I started back to my village, then I felt an extremely strong burning in my chest, around my heart. I fell to the ground and yelled, clutching my chest and passing out. I woke up a few days later and hurried back to village. I was welcomed back, though with mixed feelings. My father punished me until I was old enough to leave the household and start a life of my own."
Medicine listened very closely. "Oh my...then what happened?"
"Well, time went by again and I found something weird about myself. I was still furious at Kaguya for what she did, and one day I was outside and looking around. A tree leaf flew into my face and I swatted it away, only to see it burn to a crisp. I jumped back, seeing a small ember wall to the ground. I put it out, but I looked at my hands a bit. That's when I found out about my fire power. But I got scared of it after some time. I was able to make fires, but not control them. I still can't. But..one night, something happened."
"W-what happened?" Medicine asked, curious and fearful for what would come next.
Mokou sighed. "I got into another fight with my father. I must have slipped into a fit of anger and..well..burnt the village down by accident. I tried to put it out, but it didn't work. I..killed everyone there. I didn't want to be alone, so I tried to kill myself. I don't know what happened next, I blacked out. I woke up the next day with no traces of burns."
Medicine bit her lip. She wished she didn't ask now.
"I...I kept trying to burn myself alive, but it didn't work. I soon figured out I was immortal. I lived from place to place and avoided any kind of relationship with people. This has been going on for nearly 1,100 years..."
Medicine hugged Mokou gently, not knowing what else to do. "I'm..so sorry."
Mokou put an arm around Medicine. "Yea...thanks." She said. "But..that's my life. Kaguya and I have made up a bit, so we stopped fighting."
"That's good..right?" Medicine asked, looking up at Mokou.
"Yea..it is Medi, it is." Mokou said. "Hey, I want you to meet someone." Mokou told her friend, getting up.
"Oh? Who is it?"Medicine asked, standing next to Mokou.
"C'mon." She said, grabbing Medicine's hand and walking with her to a large building in the distance.
Medicine looked at their hands together, blushing if she could. "..who's the friend?"
"I known her for a while, she's nice, don't worry." Mokou said, starting to run with Medicine, reaching the building in a minute. She knocked on the door, waiting for a reply.
"Who is it?"
"It's Mokou! I got a friend!"
"Oh really? I'll be right out!" the voice said, making a bit of noise as it opened the door.
"Medicine, meet Keine!" Mokou said.
Keine smiled as she closed the door, waving. "Why hello there. A friend of Mokou's?"
Medicine nodded, hiding behind Mokou a bit. "I'm..Medicine."
Mokou chuckled. "C'mon Meds, she won't bite!"
"I'm a nice person, honest." Keine said, walking over.
Medicine looked up and slowly came out from behind Mokou.
"So, Medicine, how old are you?" Keine asked, not noticing the joints.
"I'm..one hundred." Medicine said, seeing Keine looked a bit shocked.
"She's a doll, Keine." Mokou replied.
Keine giggled. " I know she's cute Mokou, but you're really calling her a doll?"
Mokou blushed and glared at Keine. "I m-meant she's a t-tsumukogami!"
Keine giggled more, Medicine oblivious to the joke she made. "What? I am a living doll." She said, pointing to her joints.
"Oh! I see!" the were-hataku said, slowly stopping herself from giggling.
Mokou sighed, trying to regain her composure. "Yea..I wanted her to meet new people. She's from that hill."
"Well, you brought her to the right place. If she came from there though, she probably doesn't know much about the outside world. I'll be more than happy to teach her!" Keine said.
Medicine looked at Keine, then Mokou. "I want Mokou to teach me though."
"Eh? What? I say you go with the teach over there." Mokou said, wondering why Medicine said that.
"Someone has a crush~" the teacher sang.
Mokou blushed again. "S-shut up!"
Medicine looked at Mokou. "Why is she turning red Keine?"
"Well, Mokou's embarrassed. I think she likes you." Keine whispered, Mokou turning even more red and storming off in the direction of the Nameless Hill.
"Where are you going Mokou?" Medicine asked after doing a double take and starting after her.
Keine sighed a content sigh. "Mokou's really found someone. Medicine's a doll..so they're both immortal."