Disclaimer: Touhou belongs to Zun, and the only things that belong to myself would be Usagi the Mimic, and Moegi the Japanese Beetle. Everything else belongs to their rightful owner.

A/N: Well, it has been a long, long time since we last did this, hasn't it?

Y/N: ...Who are you talking to? You're the only one doing this, you realize.

A/N: I'm talking of you.

Y/N: Since when have I helped?

A/N: Do you want credit, or not...?

Y/N: ...Well, I suppose undeserved credit doesn't have the best ring to it, but I'll take it. Not that I truely need it.

A/N: In that case, I'll give it to Cirno. Thank you Cirno, for giving me a crush on you, and as such making me want to spend more time with you as Usagi! You're probably bad for me in the end, but I really don't care!

C/N: Stop bothering me, not-Usa! Gyaaa! Stop hugging me, dammit!

A/N: Ehehehe...

C/N: Wai- Where the hell do you... think you're touching, you pervert?! Your warm hands'll only get hurt if you try and rub my winds!

A/N: But it'll still make you feel good, riiiight?

C/N: ...I don't like where this is going.

Early morning, one week later, Human Settlement:

Like any other day, I awoke well rested. The bed was quite hard, and I was surrounded by many, many books.

Needless to say, I was well rested, and comfortable, even if I technically don't sleep. ...Save for that one time I did in fact sleep. I hope to never have to hibernate again, if it can be helped.

Ahh, it would seem that miss Hieda would like reading material again... "Hello, miss Hieda. Are you here to atempt more than your prior record of twenty seven pages, or are you here to fufill the common pattern of needing texts for your class?" For a human, miss hieda was a fine specimen... Strong of arm, strong of mind, agile, and a tad limber. Nothing sexual was involved in the aquisition of the latter most bit of knowledge, not that I need to write that. She wore a simple kimono of blue, and had a pair of getta upon her feet. She was somewhat tall, but not overly so, and had a particularly bright pair of brown eyes.

She shook her head of long black hairs, while giggling without any sign of holding back. "No Patchouli, I'm not; I actually came by for a book on ancient hungarian histor-"

Not giving her the time to finish with the last letter of her statement, I decided to be of assistance. "Row seven, bookcase twelve, the shelf third from the bottom, nineth from the top, the books twelveth from the right, to the forty-first from the left." If she is not here for my book, it would be best to give her that bit of information with all the haste I could, as she was likely in a hurry. Not that it was much, but that is unimportant. She did save me, and the least I could do is save her time.

...Although, it is times like this that I wish she would stop leaning like that, as it causes her breasts smack into the spine of the books. I do so hate that... The other books agree, to a lesser extent. The non-sentients are always a fair bit more agreeable with being treated with the common handling of a man. Or in this case, man-handled by a woman.

As she spun around, that long black hair of hers smacked a number of books across the spine, leaving me slightly annoyed. Before I could request her to stop doing that every time she turns to leave, she called back, "And call me Keine; you've been living with us long enough that such formality isn't needed! Sheesh..."

This human... Formality is an important thing to uphold, and I will not stand for it being tread over with such wild abandon! However, before I could voice my further irritation with her, she was already gone. Humans always are in such a hurry, aren't they? In a hurry to do this, in a hurry to do that, to the point that they rush themselfs into an early grave. ...Or simply rush their way to their grave. Even a not-so-early grave is a rather short time for humans. If I were human, I would have died around 900 years before I even became sentient.

But I shall ignore this transgression against good manners, as do I always. The last year came and went, and that girl of only 17 winters rushed through the whole thing... She really should take her time more, and not rush so much. Sit down, and relax with a book, in one of those oddly fluffy chairs that humans do so enjoy.

With a sigh, I picked myself up, and made for the front desk of the library, changing my hair from purple to a more human-like brown along the way. Such dull colors their low magical composition produces... I do wish that they had enough magic within them that purple hair was seen as one of the many norms. Instead, to have purple hair is seen as somewhat of a warning to one being unnatural, even if dye could just as easily make one have such a color. ...Although, I do suppose that would still be unnatural, albeit in a different way.

And so I sat down at my desk, and began my day the exact same as I had for the last 463 days, save for minor variation on the book in which that girl needed. I do wish that it was more interesting in this place... Not to mention that there are so few visitors that I'm lucky if I get more than Keine in a week.

And as if to prove my prior passage as incorrect, the other Hieda sister entered my domain, not that I found this to be an unpleasant way to be proven wrong. Variation does cut-down on boredom. "Hello, miss Hieda."

The little girl gave me a bright smile, and ran over to my desk with far more haste than I would have preffered. "Hi, Patches!"

At being called that name, my brow twiched; I am in no way a dog, wolf, fox, or any other form of kanine, dire or otherwise. "...Should you not be in class?"

At being called out on skipping class, little Are began to look about shiftily, as if trying to locate an answer that would grant her passage. Before she could make use of the poorly cobbled together excuse one would expect of a child, I asked, "And you chose to be in a library, instead of class? Well, I suppose that earns you an exemption from myself looking into the matter." I am sure that the girl would like variation in her life as much as I, and this does kill a pair of birds with but a single stone.

With my permission to stay given, the girls face drained of the once building fear, and she gave me smile that could likely likely match sol itself in its intensity. "I was wondering if I could read some stuff!"

I blinked in mild confusion at the vague answer, and gave her a risen brow out of curiocity as to what exactly it was she intended to read. "Such as?"

The small girl of twelve winters began to stroke her chin in thought. She looked much like her sister, although her hair was a few shades lighter, and it only reached her shoulders in a clean, angled, strait line. However, before long her face lit up in a deceptive amount of certainty. "I have no idea! Maybe a book with dragons, and fairies, and heros saving the day!"

Somehow her uncertain certainty put a slight smile on my face, as well as gave me an idea. "I have a tale like that I could tell."

The young girl gave me a look of wonder, amazed that I did. "You do? Does... Does that mean that you were an adventurer before you came here?!"

Shaking my head with a soft chuckle, I said, "Not quite, but I suppose the party couldn't have done it without me..."

And so I opened my book to a page to the very start of my creator's adventuring, and told her a tale of a wizard, a fighter, a rogue, a cleric, a ranger, and the inanimate spellbook of the wizard that regularly saved the day. Of course, I was that book, not that she needed to know that.

Oddly enough, she decided to sit on my lap as I read to her, and she quietly read along, even if I warned her that it was not a particularly wise decision.

Odder still, she never felt even the slightest pain from viewing my book for the hundreds of pages I turned through. Odd, indeed... Normally 100 pages would be enough to kill a human by way of filling their small mind with more information than it is able to handle. How would a girl of such a young age be able to withstand so much?

Midnight, Hieda household, Keine's PoV:

Closing the door behind me, I made my way towards the library with five new books in tow. Normally I would save bringing my weekly purchase from Suzunaan to the library in the morning, but tonight was different. I had a question that I had been dying to ask that book for months now, and it's now or never... I'm normally far too busy with teaching to ask her, but now that I have this chance... Well, it's best to take it. With my mind made up, I made my way into the library.

My opening of the door didn't go un-noticed. "Ahh, miss Hieda. What brings you here at this hour? This is... unexpected of you, but not unwelcome." From the usual shelf, I heard the voice of the youkai who I was letting live in my library.

"Well, there's something I would like to... request of you, actually. I also have the usual books needing to be shelved. Not many, but still." There was a slight nervousness to my voice, and I knew that Patchouli could tell; just because she has stated on numerous occasions that she doesn't truely feel emotions doesn't mean that she can't understand them. Her little immitations were enough proof to prove that much.

Suddenly allowing her purple-haired form to appear sitting at the desk, the form asked in her usual monotone voice, "And what would that request be?"

I allowed a silence to set in for a few moments, in the room only illuminated by the light of the moon. Eventually I simply bluted out my request, not knowing how better to convey it. "Please make me into a youkai...!"

"No." At the unexpected answer, I looked up at the girl of long purple hair, before she went on to say, "I see no reason as to why I should. Furthermore, it would likely only endanger my ability to reside here, if suddenly the owner became a youkai. My title is rather suspicious, after all."

I blinked once, and then again. I... actually didn't expect that. I always figured that youkai would be interested in making more of them. "...Please?"

Firmly, she shook her head. "No."

This time the silence between us was longer, as I began to formulate a way to convince her. I'm sure she enjoyed that, as she does always say that I should take my time more. "...I saved your life, right? Then couldn't you pay me back by extending mine?"

Giving me an uncharacteristically long pause, before she eventually replied. "...Very well. But do be aware that anything I do for you from here on out is you being put in my debt, instead of myself making up for my own."

I smiled brightly at the answer. Good! "Yeah. That's fine."

Her body suddenly vanished from sight, as she figured this conversation to be over. "Come back on the next full moon, an hour before midnight, and I shall be ready to grant you this gift. There is much that I must prepare."

I gave the purple book a nod, and sat the five new books on her desk. "Alright." As I turned to leave, I called back, "...And thank you, Patchouli."