Separations

A hand grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her forward. She tried to resist, but as her arms were bound behind her back she found herself forced down to her knees.

She could see nothing. All of her hair had been shaved off and a heavy metal helmet had been bound around her head. But thanks to the tiny transmitter imbedded in the helmet's material she could hear just fine.

"Criminal," said the deep, resonant voice of her judge, her own father. Apparently he wasn't using her real name anymore. "You have disgraced our people and brought shame upon what once was your family."

She said nothing.

"Rather than being content with your privileged station, you sought to violate the laws of succession and take the throne for yourself. And in your treacherous bid for power, you deceived one of our most respected citizens, Eirin of house Yagokoro, and seduced her to your cause!"

Low voices murmured all around the girl. She wondered how many members of her family were in attendance. Likely most of them, if not all. The entirety of the Court was probably there too. After all, it was not every day that a princess of the Royal Family was put on trial for treason.

"And not only that," her father continued. "But you took something that was never yours to receive. The gift of true immortality, something that should have granted to the heir, not the least of the family!" Though she could not see him, she could well imagine the anger veins popping out on his forehead. "And especially not to an ungrateful, selfish brat with designs of treachery!"

The girl found herself thankful for the mask. Though she did care much for the king, he was still her father. And his words still hurt. Bitter tears stung her eyes and dripped down her cheeks.

"How could this have happened?" she heard him mutter. "From my own family. My own seed, no less. How could such a taint have appeared?"

And then another voice answered him, that of a woman. It was filled with scorn and mockery, and was all too familiar to the captive girl. "Oh my King, let not your heart be troubled," she said. "The blame lies not with you, nor your noble blood. For cruel nature often deigns even the finest of trees to occasionally produce bad fruit. Rather, let the fault lie sorely upon this ignoble traitor. For she was rotten from the beginning, and no attempt to correct her was met with success. It is a trick of fate, my King, not a slight to your honor."

"Be that as it may, Yorihime of house Watatsuki," her father said acidly. "The fact that this fruit was born from my tree cannot be ignored."

"Then, oh King, let us do what one does with bad fruit appears, and prune the tree. Remove this blight, and let it trouble your eyes no more."

The girl's fingers clenched. She found herself wishing that her hands were free and wrapped around that daughter of a velmick's neck.

"As much as it pains my soul to admit it, you are correct," her father said."After all, the law is quite clear. Treachery of this kind can be met with only one punishment. Death."

This pronouncement was met with a chorus of whispers from those gathered. He cleared his throat, silencing the crowd.

"However," he continued. "She has drunk the Elixer of Immortality. She cannot be killed, which means that what small redemption she might have gained from dying like a Lunarian is also lost to her."

"Nothing lost by trying," the hated voice suggested.

"Silence," her father said heavily. "This is not a matter served by mockery." He sighed. "Well, as execution is denied her, there is but one thing we could do. It is not a punishment I would have chosen, but considering the circumstances it will serve. Yes, it will serve."

Here it came. The girl's muscles bunched up in anticipation. Eternal imprisonment. A permanent feature in the dungeon. Or perhaps she was to be dissected and the Elixir of Immortality drawn from her blood. It had the advantage of poetry, at least.

"Exile," her father said at last. "You are hereby stripped of all titles, privileges and ties to both the Royal Family and the Lunarian people, and shall be cast out, sent to live out the rest of your miserable existence on Terra. Be queen of that dirt heap and its filthy natives, if they'll have you."

Again the court burst into excited babbling, over which the sound of self-satisfied snickering could be heard. As for the girl herself, she was struck numb. She was to be thrown away? Kicked out of the Lunarian society entirely, cursed to spend the rest of eternity among the backwater savages of Terra? To always stare up at the shining jewel of Luna burdened with the knowledge that never was to return?

"No!" she said, forgetting that she intended to remain silent. "Please, no! Forgive me, Father! I-"

"ENOUGH!" her father roared. "How dare you call me 'Father'? You forfeited that right of your own free will. You have no part of this family!"

"No!" she cried again. She tried to stand, but a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and…

…shoved her forward. Kaguya stumbled but managed to keep her footing. She cast a reproachful glare at the rabbit soldier that had pushed her and called her a word that Tewi had taught her.

She, Mokou and Rumia were effectively captured and were now being led back to…somewhere. Logic dictated that they were being taken to some sort of dream simulation of the Lunarian Capital, but they could be headed toward a giant outhouse for all the sense this world was making.

The three of them were marching in a row, Kaguya in the front with Mokou bringing up the rear, in the middle of the platoon of rabbit soldiers. Their arms were bound tightly behind their backs, but that meant nothing. All three of them could slip their bindings with ease, but Mokou had insisted that they go without resistance.

Why, Kaguya couldn't fathom. Okay, granted, Mokou's father was leading the whole unpleasant parade. And okay, he was wearing a Lunarian officer's uniform, so there were probably loads of issues at play. But why couldn't they waste the rabbits and let Mokou resolve her problems with her old man directly, instead of meekly being led along like prisoners of war? And closer to the point, why was Kaguya going along with it?

To hell with this. She could worry about making it up to Mokou later. Which, of course, she had no intention of doing. She let her gaze casually flit over the neat rows of rabbits that surrounded them, picking out the best plan of attack. Her bound arms relaxed and her shoulders tensed, ready for the swift dislocating motion that would bring her arms to her front.

"I wouldn't try it," said a soft voice in her ear. "Wait until later."

Kaguya glowered over her shoulder at Rumia, who had sidled up to her. The lockpicker was wearing the same smug smile she had been wearing ever since Mokou's father had showed up. "And why not?" Kaguya hissed back. "This is stupid. We can take them."

"With the greatest of ease," Rumia agreed. "But seeing who's leading this merry caravan of travelers and what he's wearing, odds are we're being led to someplace of horrible significance to both of you. That means the center of your subconsciouses. Like I said, think of it as an escort."

"I'll think of it as a bunch of armed soldiers led by my rejected suitor taking us prisoner, thank you very much," Kaguya said in a cool voice. "And what are you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing important," Rumia said brightly. "It's just that we're being marched along by a bunch of armed soldiers led by your rejected suitor! Who, it should be mentioned, is also Mokou's father, and from what I can pick out so happens to be an essential linchpin on your mutually murderous rivalry. No matter what happens when we get to wherever we're going, it promises to be very…entertaining."

One of the soldiers smacked the back of Rumia's head. "No talking among the prisoners!" she snapped.

"Yes Ma'am," Rumia chirped. She favored Kaguya with a conspiratol smile and a wink. "I hear and obey."

Kaguya shot her a venomous and looked away. But as she did so, she caught a glimpse of Mokou, who was marching silently along behind Rumia.

She had never seen her rival like that before. Mokou wore the look of someone heading toward her mother's execution. Her face, normally pale as it was, was now completely without color, and her eyes were wide and empty. Her gaze was fixed unmoving on the back of her father.

Kaguya wanted to yell at her for letting what was obviously a fake affect her so much, but then she remembered her own break down upon realizing that they had wandered onto the Moon. Like it or not, she wasn't one to throw stones for letting this place get to her.

"Eyes forward!" snapped the same soldier that had hit Rumia. She gave Kaguya's shoulder another rough shove.

Kaguya hissed but obeyed. Up ahead, Fujiwara no Fuhito continued to stride forward, completely heedless of the drama that was occurring behind his back. Kaguya couldn't help but wonder who he held the most ill intentions toward: herself or his daughter.

As much as she disliked the smirking youkai, Kaguya had to admit that Rumia was right about one thing. Whatever awaited them at the end of their journey promised to be very, very interesting.

...

Mokou slouched forward, head down, concentrating on nothing except putting one foot in front of the other. She stared at her feet as they tread over the Moon's surface, adding her footprints to those left by those marching in front of her, only to have them stomped out of existence by the feet of those who followed behind. All the while, she did her best to keep from thinking.

Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right…

Her father was here. Her father had come. The dream had sent Father to them. And wearing a Lunarian uniform, no less. Before, the dream had certainly done its best to make their life difficult. Encountering her brother and his scornful words had been a slap to the face. But this was a whole new level of cruelty. This was nothing less than a coldly sadistic nightmare.

Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right…

What was strange was that she had been expecting to run into Father sooner or later. After the thing with her murdered brother, it was only inevitable. And during that overlong boat ride, she had often passed the time by mentally preparing herself for the meeting. She had rehearsed the encounter in her mind, practiced what she would say, fed him scornful lines to spit in her direction and readied her nerves to receive them.

But when he had finally showed up, the only acknowledgement she had received from him had been a moment of disgusted disregard. And, after ensuring that she and her companions were properly restrained, he had paid no attention to her at all.

Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right…

She could be telling herself not to let it get to her. After all, it wasn't as if her father were actually there. But what her brain said and how her body reacted where two wholly different things. As far as her heart was concerned, Father was back. And he was most displeased with her.

Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right…

So deep she was in her self-loathing ruminations that she didn't notice that everyone had stopped until she nearly walked right into Rumia's back. She blinked and looked up.

There, sitting by itself in an otherwise empty field of moondust, was a magnificent palace. It seemed to be woven from crystalized spiderwebs and set with sparkling white gemstones. Graceful turrets rose along the perimeter, and in the center a single shining tower rose high into the air, shining like a jewel-encrusted spike of ivory. Though she had never been there, Mokou recognized it at once. After all, she had seen pictures of it plenty of times during her frequent trips to Eientei.

"Palace Houraisan," she heard Kaguya mutter darkly. "How typical. Not to mention predictable."

"Home sweet home, eh?" Rumia chimed in. "Though I can't help but notice that they seemed to have forgotten the whole Lunar Capital." She snickered. "Well, well, well. Getting a little impatient, are we?"

"Shut up," Kaguya hissed at her.

"What? I wasn't talking to you."

"I said no talking!" said one of the near-identical rabbit soldiers. She drew her hand back to strike Rumia yet again.

Rumia shot her a look of annoyance. "Yeah, you're second on my list," she said. "Right after tall, dark and sulky up there."

The rabbit slapped Rumia, or at least she tried to. Rumia simply ducked the blow and rammed the top of her head into the rabbit's stomach.

There was a distinct metallic clang and Rumia staggered back. The rabbit, however, was unaffected.

Rumia blinked in surprise. Then her smirk returned. "Oh, cheating again, are we? That's not at all authentic, you know. What's wrong? Lost your appetite for playacting?"

The rabbit struck her across the jaw, this time with a closed fist. The force of the impact spun Rumia around so that she landed facefirst in the dust.

Mokou watched as the lockpick-for-hire twist her head to the side and spit out blood and dust. "Okay, check that," she muttered. "Welcome to the top of the list, bitch."

"Shut up," Mokou told her. "Stop fighting. Right now."

Rumia turned her neck so that she could look up at Mokou. "Why, afraid that I'll embarrass you in front of daddy?"

Mokou kicked her in the face.

Rumia's body was literally lifted right off the ground and sent sprawling back. There she lay, blood streaming from her nose and mouth. She blinked, and then turned her head to spit out something like looked a lot like a tiny but sharp tooth.

The rabbits moved to intervene in an instant. Two of them seized Mokou and pulled her back away from Rumia, while three others grabbed Rumia by the arms and hauled her back to her feet. As for Kaguya, she just watched the whole proceedings with a look of resigned annoyance on her face.

"Hey now," Rumia said as she was yanked away from Mokou. "That was uncalled for."

"No, it really wasn't," Kaguya said.

"When the hell did you start taking her side?"

"Silence!" screeched the rabbit that had grown so fond of hitting Rumia. She turned to her fellow soldiers. "Line them up!"

Mokou was jostled forward. Nearby, Kaguya and Rumia were likewise forced into position, until the three of them were standing side-by-side at the front of the procession.

Once they were lined up, Father turned around to face them. His dark eyes regarded them each in turn. Mokou cringed under his gaze, but he afforded her no more disdain than he did for Rumia and Kaguya.

"You," he said, "are standing before Palace Houraisan, the ancestral home of the Lunarian Royal Family."

"No," Kaguya said. "Really? I never would have guessed."

"You know, I can't help but notice that you've stopped freaking out about this place," Rumia said.

"Hmmm, well, let's just say that this is getting a little old. Besides, after the velmick, all this really doesn't impress."

The rabbits shoved them roughly from behind, shutting them up. Mokou remained silent.

Father continued as if they had not spoken. "As prisoners of the Lunarian Empire, you will be taken into custody to await judgment for your crimes."

"Yeah, yeah," Kaguya muttered. "I've heard that before."

"During that time, any attempt to resist will be punished. Severely. Do you understand?"

"Sure, whatever," Rumia yawned.

"Shut. Up," Mokou hissed.

Rumia gave her a sidelong look. She snickered and rolled her eyes, but said nothing forward.

"Good," Father said shortly. He turned away, toward the palace's entrance. He signaled, and the pure white doors unfolded like a curtain.

"Wait," Mokou said suddenly. "Father."

A heavy silence fell. Kaguya and Rumia turned their heads to stare at Mokou expectantly, Rumia's smirk never leaving her blood-covered face.

"Father, please. May…May we speak?"

Father ignored her. He strode forward, heading into the palace. The procession followed, moving the prisoners forward.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," Rumia remarked as they walked through the entrance. "Oh, by the way, I really hope you snap out of your funk soon. Because the next few hours promise to be great fun, and I'd hate for you to miss it."

Mokou slowly turned her head to look at Rumia. There was murder in her eyes. "Lay one hand on my father," she said emotionlessly, "and I will kill you myself."

Rumia glanced around in interest. The inside was just as spectacular as the exterior, with flawless ivory walls, a line of floating golden orbs glowing overhead and a floor that seemed to be made from solid silver. "Hate it break it to you, sweetie," she said as they marched through Kaguya's childhood home, "but your father's been worm food for a really long time. That fellow's just a manifestation of your daddy issues. If you want to get out of here and back into Gensokyo, I suggest you do yourself a favor and get over them."

"One finger," Mokou promised. "You lay so much as one finger on him…"

Rumia favored her with a bloody grin. "Well, at least I was right about this being entertaining."

Suddenly the rabbits leading Rumia jerked her to one side, forcing her down a hallway to the left. A second later Mokou's own escorts did the same, pushing her to the right. Kaguya paused to watch, but the remainder of the soldiers gave her a hard shove, down the main hallway.

"Well ladies, looks like this is where we part ways," Rumia said. "Have fun now. See you during the inevitable jailbreak. Oh, and Princess? Give my love to the family."

"Fuck you," Kaguya hissed.

"I love you too," Rumia laughed. She was then smacked in the face. "Ow! What is it with you and…"

Mokou ignored them. Her head fell and she let herself be led forward, down toward wherever the dream wanted her.

...

Kaguya watched as the dream's representations of Lunarian soldiers wrestled the two people she liked the least away from her and escorted them to places unknown. A part of her told her that, despite her ill feelings toward Mokou and Rumia, they were still essential to her escape from Rin Satsuki's mind. As such, she really should start fighting back, Mokou's idiotic protests be damned.

She didn't.

There was a reason for her lack of resistance, one that had nothing to do with Mokou's wishes. During the march here, she had been putting the pieces together in her head. Ever since they had arrived, the dream's attacks on them fallen into two variations: brute force (the Zerg and the sailors) or mental and/or emotional abuse (the repeated appearances of their families). Sometimes it resorted to a combination of the two, such as the velmick and the riot back at Kamakura. But given where they were and the direction they were marching, Kaguya had a feeling that what awaited her wasn't going to involve a great deal of physical torment. In fact, seeing how the dream had no inhibitions about digging deep into her cavernous memory for inspiration, she had a pretty good idea exactly which little piece of her past she was going to have to relive.

There were just a few problems with that. First, she now saw it coming. Sure, while being suddenly transported to the Moon had sent her into a state of shock, it had long since passed. Having to face down a velmick tended to put certain things in perspective.

Furthermore, while she often reverted back to the person she had been when reliving her past in her dreams, that was neither here nor now. She was, for all intents and purposes, wide awake. She had more than a century of emotional growth and change since the original event. Things had happened to her since then, things that had reshaped her, physically, mentally and spiritually. In short, she was not the same person she had been.

She almost pitied the dream, having to resort to such an obsoleted tactic. But in the end, it was limited by its own nature. Her last few days before her exile had been tremendously traumatic, and so it made for excellent raw material in which to shape nightmares from. However, it was not dealing with the same Kaguya that it usually did. She wasn't Kaguya Houraisan, the youngest princess of the Lunarian people, anymore. She was no longer driven by a desperate need to prove her worth to her father. And she certainly was no longer bowed by the culture that had raised her. She was now Kaguya Houraisan, Princess of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, Ringleader of the Court of Conflict, proud resident of Gensokyo and wholly unimpressed by threats of death or disgrace. Mokou might be so weak that she fell apart every time she was confronted by a piece of her sordid past, but Kaguya was made from sterner stuff. Now that she had time to think about it, she had come to the conclusion that having her dark memories paraded before her was not a form of torture, but rather an opportunity to redress old grievances. It was a shame that it was all an illusion, but she'll take what catharsis she could get.

And so, without the need for encouragement, she strode forward, outpacing her captors. If the soldiers were at all surprised at the lack of shame being exhibited by their prisoner, they showed no sign and continued to march smartly behind her.

As she doubted she would get the chance once the show started, Kaguya sidled up to Mokou's father. "Hey," she said. "Look, I know you're trying to impress with that whole 'strong, silent type' veneer you've got going, but I really got to tell you: it just makes you look like you're fighting off some really nasty constipation."

He didn't answer. He didn't even acknowledge her presence.

Kaguya grinned. "Or maybe you're just trying to rein in your burning lust for me. That's what started this whole mess, isn't it? You wanted some of this so badly, you even went on a great and dangerous adventure to fulfill my impossible requests. You did know that it was a waste of time, right? You'd think the 'impossible' bit would be kind of a tip-off. But that's men for you. Always thinking with your dicks. And look where that's gotten you."

"Shut up, scum," he said, his eyes focused directly ahead.

Kaguya's eyes widened in delight. "Oh, hey! You can say things besides marching orders. And you sound a little tense…what was your name again? Fu…Fu…miko? Diko? Burrito? Sorry, they all blur together after awhile. But still, this must really be eating you up. I mean, okay, I know you're not actually real, but I've been known to do a little roleplaying here and there. So anyway. Having both me and your estranged daughter here at the same time? The woman you couldn't have and the daughter you couldn't keep. That's got to be a blow to the old pride, now isn't-"

He slapped her.

Or at least he tried to. The unexpected blow might have been quick enough to take a normal person by surprise, but Kaguya was one of the two best unarmed combatants in Gensokyo, perhaps even in existence. She had conditioned herself to give and take life-ending blows on a regular basis for several centuries. As such, the slap was not so much a single unavoidable strike as it was a series of still pictures, to be studied and responded to at Kaguya's leisure.

However, her hands were still bound behind her back, and there was no time to slip her bonds. Of course, she could always dodge, but where was the satisfaction in that? And so her arms came up over her head, shoulder joints popping out and back into place to give her the needed flexibility, just in time to stop the swinging hand with her forearm. It hurt, of course, with her shoulders screaming at the impact, but Kaguya paid it no notice at all.

"Too slow," Kaguya said. Then she clasped her fingers and bopped him on the nose.

It was like punching the side of a mountain. Kaguya's hands rebounded back, causing her to stagger.

"Wha-" she started to say, but then she was interrupted by several loud, popping sounds.

The next thing Kaguya knew, she was slumped on her knees and bleeding from numerous small wounds in her torso. It was not until several hands grabbed her under her armpits and yanked her back up that she figured out what had happened. The rabbit soldiers had evidently decided to stop hanging back and moved to intervene by shooting her full of holes. Now, that hadn't been fair at all.

And, as the tiny, burning holes closed, she figured out why she hadn't been able to hurt Mokou's father. It was just like when Rumia had headbutted that rabbit in the stomach. The dream was cheating again. Although annoying, it did give her some measure of satisfaction that it had to resort to such tactics in order to keep up with her.

As the spots cleared away from her vision, she saw Mokou's father glaring at her with hate-filled eyes. She smiled and opened her mouth to say something scathing.

Instead of letting her, he crossed over to her and grabbed her by her shirt's collar and brought her up until they were eye-to-eye.

"It's just as well that I failed," he told her. "It saved me from being trapped with a dyke like you."

Kaguya's eyes popped wide open. "What," she said, "did you just call-"

He slapped her again. This time it connected, and Kaguya was sent sprawling back into the rabbits gathered around her.

"No more speaking," he said. "It's not my place to punish you anyway. That privilege is currently held by your father. As I understand it, he's looking forward to seeing you."

Well, that confirmed most of her suspicions. Kaguya quickly stood back up and shook off the hands holding her. "Is he now?" she snapped. "Well, I'm looking forward seeing him too. Oh, by the way, you know my friend Rumia? Apparently she wants to kill you."

"Is that right?" he said without the slightest hint of concern.

"Yeah, but I think she's going to be disappointed. Because I'm first in line now."

The smile he favored her with told her exactly how worried he was. Kaguya felt burning rage flame up inside of her, but quickly beat it down. If this was really how the original Mr. Fujiwara had been like, than perhaps Mokou's endless cycle of vengeance was a small price to pay for rejecting him as a suitor.

Mokou's father motioned, and the rabbits grabbed Kaguya's arms and forced them back behind her back. Of course, they didn't bother with loosening her bonds, resulting in her healing shoulder ligaments being torn anew.

"Tie her doubly so," he said. "I don't want a repeat performance."

They complied, this time harnessing her elbows together.

"The helmet, please," he said.

"Helmet?" Kaguya said. Then she remembered. "Oh crap, are you really-"

A heavy eyeless helmet was shoved down over her head, completely blocking her sight. She fumed, furious that she had forgotten that little detail. This was going to complicate her plans of payback.

A shove to her back, and they were moving again. Beneath the all-concealing mask of the helmet, Kaguya gritted her teeth. She wasn't quite sure how, but one thing was for certain: this time, things were going to be different, restraints be damned.

Though there was one silver lining to be found. At least this time around they had let her keep her hair. That was a plus. Defiantly challenging an empire just didn't carry the same weight while bald, at least not for her.

...

Far from Mokou's defeated slouch or Kaguya's angry stomping, Rumia's pace was calm and carefree. She willingly allowed herself to be led forward, all the while humming a happy song while smiling cheerfully. In fact, her manner was more suggestive to someone making a routine visit to the market rather than being taken prisoner and led to her probable execution.

At least, that how it was until Kaguya and Mokou were well out of sight. Then she stopped short and said, "Yeah, I think that's far enough."

Her resistance was rewarded with, yes, yet another slap. "You will keep moving and-"

"Remain silent," Rumia finished for her. She sounded bored. "Yeah, I don't think so."

The rabbits that had been assigned to guard her immediately cocked their weapons. The one that had been striking her said, "You have five seconds to obey or we will be forced to shoot you."

"Is that so." Rumia laughed. "Oh man, now we're just getting silly. Come on, don't you remember what I did to your worm?" She shook her head. "How about this: you let me go, right here and right now, and I won't completely thrash the place on my way out."

"Five…" the rabbit said, her voice filled with warning.

"Four," Rumia filled in for her. She bared her spiked teeth.

"…three…"

"Two."

"One!" the rabbit cried, and she signaled for the others to start firing.

But before she could finish her order, Rumia's shadow shivered and lost shape. Multiple appendages shot out and spread across the floor, each one growing spindly fingers that seized a rabbit's shadow by the neck. The rabbits started choking and gasping. Most of them dropped their weapons to clutch at their throats. Others tried to fire but their shots went wild.

And then they floated up into the air, held aloft by an unseen force. One-by-one, the bodies of the Lunarian soldiers started to blacken, beginning from their necks and working its way to consume the rest of their flesh. Their bodies shriveled like months'-old corpses, until that's exactly what they looked like. The force holding them up released its grip, allowing their wasted bodies to clatter to the floor like so much dead wood.

In the end, there was only one rabbit left, the one for which Rumia held a special antagonism. She stared at her companions' demise, her arm still outstretched with the order to fire.

Rumia wiggled her fingers, and the ropes holding her hands together fell away. She held up her hands. Instead of the normal, humanlike fingers she had possessed before, in their place were curving metallic talons, each one sharper than a saber.

"Now, I know this is kind of a pointless question, but you know that feeling you get when you've really, really fucked up, and you're just starting to realize just how much it's going to bite you in the ass?" Rumia asked conversationally. Her sword floated up from where it had landed to her deadly grasp. "Because you should be feeling something very similar right about now." There was the sound of something ripping, and two massive leathery wings spread from her shoulder blades and snapped open. "That is, of course, if you were capable of emotion. But I suppose I shouldn't hold your limitations against you."

The rabbit turned and ran.

...

Mokou's entourage didn't take her far. In fact, they only went as far as halfway down the hallway before stopping in front another one of those curtain-doors. This they opened and roughly shoved Mokou through.

Mokou stumbled but managed to keep her feet. She turned, expecting her guards to following her in, but instead they merely slid the door shut behind her, sealing her inside.

So, imprisonment it was. A little anti-climatic, seeing how she had been expecting something a bit more painful. The thought didn't encourage as much as it would someone else. She was used to pain, and she had been nursing a faint hope that her father would be conducting the interrogation. At least it would have given her the opportunity to talk with him, even if the conversation was awful.

With a sigh, she turned around to see what kind of room she had been stuck in and immediately froze. She was home.

It was her shack, the one she had set up on the border of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. The walls were all boards of uneven sizes and sloppily nailed together. Bits and pieces of trash lay strewn about the dirt floor, and the furniture consisted of a rough-wood bedframe and table that she had put together herself and a cabinet with a broken leg that she had salvaged from the rabbit tribes' rubbish heap.

Mokou stood stock-still, her eyes flitting from one end of the eerily familiar scene to the other. While she shouldn't be surprised, given that they had discovered Kaguya's bedroom at the end of a rock tunnel, her shack's sudden appearance here out of all places was rather unexpected.

When nothing jumped out to attack her, Mokou moved to investigate. Her shack had two windows, neither of which now displayed anything but a black void and both of which refused to open. She tried to smash them open with her elbow, and received a bruised elbow for her trouble. As for the cabinet, it held nothing but her chipped and cracked dishes.

The black void beyond the windows aside, so far things were looking fairly normal. Mokou hesitated, and then tugged aside a few loose boards from the wall, revealing a hidden alcove. There, sitting on a square stone block, was the sword of house Fujiwara. But unlike the blade that had been confiscated by the rabbits and the one currently worn by her father, this one was broken and partially rotten in the handle, just like the actual article back home. Which, as she realized upon reflection, meant that there were now three replicas of the same sword in the palace. In her opinion, that was just overdoing things, even for this place.

Mokou replaced the boards and returned to her investigation of the room. It didn't take long to establish that yes, the wooden walls and ceiling were quite fireproof and indestructible as the windows. And digging through the dirt only revealed Palace Houraisan's silver floor.

So, she was going nowhere for the time being. Mokou sighed and sat down on the bed to wait. Sooner or later, Father would be by. The dream had yet to miss a chance to torment her about her past sins, and surely it would not pass this one up. He would come.

And then they would talk.

...

Memory is an odd thing, and the way it chooses to work is something that cannot be predicted. Why, for example, does it choose to let important details of the last week slip away, while it is still able to recall irrelevant events from early childhood with perfect clarity? Why are three witnesses able to, with perfect honesty, give three contradicting accounts of the same event?

For immortals, the situation becomes even more complicated, especially for those for whom nature had never intended to live forever. As one grows older, their perception of time changes, and periods that had once seemed to last forward seem to flit by without notice. For immortals, this can mean entire decades will pass by without notice once sufficient time has passed. And at the same time, it becomes more and more difficult to record important information, so that old friends, family and perhaps even personal identity becomes lost in the long trek of the centuries.

Fortunately, Kaguya Houraisan (and by association, Fujiwara no Mokou as well) were, for the most part, inoculated against such drawbacks. For one, her power over eternity, which had served as the base of the Hourai Elixir, functioned as exactly that: the preservation of an object in a single moment of time. Of course, there were slight changes. She could acquire new skills, allow her personality to develop, develop her muscles and improve her overall physical wellness. Eirin had seen to that. But even so, Kaguya and Mokou were spared the worst of the drawbacks immortality had to offer because rather than having their lifespan expanded into infinity, they simply continued to exist, partially frozen in time. Of course it wasn't perfect. Given how routine Kaguya's life had become, there were many, many years that had become lost in her mind. And the passage of a year no longer meant much at all. But she was at least able to live each day more-or-less normally.

It also meant that she was able to remember specific events, especially ones that had made a significant enough impression on her. And while it had taken place over a thousand years ago, being put on trial by the Lunarian court and banished had made a most significant impression.

Thus far, this recollection was nearly identical to her recollections. The bound arms, the all-concealing helmet, the tramping feet of the Lunarian soldiers as she was led to her judgment, it was all the same. Granted, there were one or two differences in addition to the lack of her shaved head. For one, Mokou's father was going to be present, something that was a bit odd but not something she couldn't deal with. For another, she was not dreading the trial. In fact, she was downright eager for it to begin.

Oh yes. This was going to be fun.

She heard the shuffling sound of Lunarian doors sliding open and was greeting by the babbling voices of the Lunarian court, just as she had before. Even though she had not actually seen the court during the original event, she could still picture it in her mind: a tall, square room, with the walls curving into a dome at the top. Three levels had been cut into the white crystal of the walls, each on top of the other like the layers of a cake and encircling the whole room. When the room was in use, the member of the court would fill these walkways and lean over the railings to view the events proceeding below. Kaguya herself had taken part in many a court session in her time, squeezed among her relatives, the Lunarian nobles and military officers while doing her best not to be bored out of her mind.

As for her father, the High King of the Lunarians, he stood apart from the rabble, upon a floating platform made from a silvery liquid metal that would change shape depending on his wishes. Most of the time it resembled an overturned teardrop with a flattened top. It was on this amorphous throne that he had stood while stripping Kaguya of everything she had held dear.

She was already running the calculations through her head and decided that she could be free from her bonds and on that platform before anyone had the chance to kill her. And once there, with her so close to the High King, they would lose all motivation to try. Of course, that was assuming that these simulacrums acted as their real-world counterparts would have, but Kaguya was flexible. She could adjust to any surprises.

As before, a rough hand took her by the shoulder and shoved her to her knees. She complied without resistance. Here it came. Soon her father would begin to speak. And as she could remember his words perfectly, she would be able to mouth them along with him.

The voices quieted down, just as they had done before. And, just like before, the deep, sonorous voice of her father boomed through the chamber.

"Scum," he said.

Kaguya, who had been mouthing a different word entirely, jerked up in surprise. What had happened to "criminal"?

"Trash," her father continued. "Defiler of the worst kind. The first time you appeared before us, it was to answer for your crimes against your family and your people. But apparently you were not content with those disgraces and decided to drag yourself your disgusting self through filth as well."

Kaguya sighed as she realized what was going on. So this wasn't going to be so much a rerun as it was a sequel. Disappointing, as it rendered many of her prepared speeches obsolete. But still, she could adapt. "And how would that be, father mine?" she called, her voice dripping with scorn. "Does my life as a Gensokian displease you? I fail to see why, as it was your wish that I make my new dwelling place there."

A wave of surprised murmurs swept through the room. Kaguya smiled to herself, beneath her helmet. Why, they were asking themselves, did she dare interrupt the High King?

Indeed, her father seemed to be harboring those same thoughts. "How dare you speak without leave?" he bellowed. "How dare you?"

Kaguya rolled her eyes and laughed. "Blah, blah, blah. A thousand years, and the same old, same old. Hey. Dad. You kicked me out, remember? I'm not a Lunarian anymore. Your laws and culture don't mean crap to me. So drop the pretensions and cut to the chase."

Her open defiance birthed a whole new bout of whispering, this time accompanied by an angry shout or two. Kaguya grinned to herself. She had been right, this was fun.

Her father, however, simply said, "As you wish." Though he did not raise his voice, the crowd quieted immediately. Kaguya had to give the man credit. He did have presence.

"You are here," he said, "to answer for your crimes against nature."

"Again?" she said. "Been there, done that. I drank the elixir, we all know that."

"Not that," he growled. "I speak of your…perversity."

Kaguya blinked, though no one could see it. "Come again?"

"With your soul corrupted beyond repair, you next set to work defiling your body. Is there no depth you will not sink to?"

"Okay," Kaguya muttered. She took a deep breath. "Look, I know this big, self-righteous speeches with a whole bunch of adjectives were always par the course for you, but it's getting kinda wearisome, not to mention really cheesy. So what say you talk plainly for once in your life and tell me what the hell you're going on about? Are you referring to-"

"Yes," the king said. "Your shameless defiance to the natural order of things by lying with women!"

Kaguya choked. A bit of saliva got caught in her windpipe, making her next few words a sputtering cough. "Wh-h-hat? Are y-y-you fucking serious?"

The door to Mokou's cell (house? Room?) slid open. She straightened up, hope written all over her face.

One of the rabbit soldiers was standing in the entrance. "Fujiwara no Mokou?" she said.

"Yes?" Mokou said.

"You have a visitor." With that, the soldier stepped to the side and stood at attention.

Well, here it came. And much earlier than she had expected. Mokou took a deep breath, straightened her clothes and stood up.

However, the person who entered was not her father. It wasn't even a member of her family. However, it was someone Mokou knew well, and was perhaps the only living person she was genuinely fond of.

"Keine!" she blurted out in happy surprise. She ran across the room to embrace the silver-haired woman.

Mokou had known Keine Kamishirasawa ever since the latter had been a little girl. Keine had rescued Mokou from an extremely uncomfortable situation and Mokou, first out of gratitude and now out of friendship, had looked after her ever since. She had even ended up saving Keine's life a couple of years later and more-or-less raised her for a few years after that. And though Keine was now a grown woman who lived in the Human Village and had a life of her own, the two still remained in touch, with Keine coming by to visit at least once a month.

Of course, the fact that Keine's half-youkai parentage meant that she was something called a Were-Hakutaku, with side-effects including sprouting horns from the top of her head and taking on a more bestial nature every full moon, would explain why she sought refuge with Mokou whenever the change fell upon her, but they were always happy to see each other.

Mokou had not expected to see Keine here; though, upon reflection, she wasn't sure why not. Perhaps given the state of her dreams, she had expected to encounter the bits from her past that made her miserable, and Keine was one of the few bright spots in her life of violence and hate. But now that she was here, she wasn't going to complain.

"Hey!" Keine said happily as Mokou seized her up and swung her around. "Careful! I don't heal like you do."

Mokou's grin expanded at the old joke. "Maybe not, but in this place, who knows?" She put a hand on Keine's shoulder and stepped back. "Man, I didn't think I'd see you here, especially not in this part! Everything's been so crappy lately that-"

Her sentence cut off as rationality caught up to her. "Wait," she said, her brow furrowing in suspicion. "Are you the real Keine? I mean, did this Rin Satsuki person eat you too and send you here, or are you just another part of this dream?"

The smile on Keine's face wavered. "Uh…the latter, I'm afraid."

Mokou stared. "Okay. Well, are you here to torment me by telling me how you've always hated me and wish I would just disappear from your life?"

"No!" Keine said, her cheeks pale with shock. "I would never…Mokou, you're my oldest friend! How could you think such a thing?"

Mokou relaxed a bit. "Sorry, it's just this damned dream screwing with me at every turn. You start to expect everything to turn out bad."

"I guess I understand," Keine said, her face softening. "But not every dream needs be a nightmare."

"News to me," Mokou said with a bitter chuckle. She thought for a moment. "So…if you're not the real Keine, and you're not here to make my time even more miserable, are you…" She seized upon a happy possibility, "…kind of like the compilation of all my memories of Keine?"

Keine tapped her lower lip as she considered this possible explanation. "You know, I think that's probably the best way to put it." She took off that ridiculous hat she always wore. Immediately two curving horns pushed their way up through her hair. "If you like, I can look like this, since this is how I always am when I come by to see you."

Mokou's smile returned. "Well, hey. If that's what it is, I'll take it."

She gave Keine another quick hug and then took her by the hand. "Come on in," she said. "Place is a wreck, but then, it always is. Leave it to the dream to get at least that part right."

"I can see," Keine said. She gingerly sidestepped a small of rags that looked like a rat's nest. "It's a good thing you're immune to disease, because otherwise someone could use you as an incubator."

Mokou laughed, which felt surprisingly good. "Come on," she said as she hopped onto the bed and stretched out her long legs. "Have a seat."

Once Keine had sat, Mokou said, "So, how come you're different from all the other dream people I've met so far? Because they all act like these blank shells that just do whatever the dream programs them to do. But you act like the actual Keine."

"Is that really so surprising? Think about it. How many living people do you actually know? I don't mean were introduced to, but actually see and interact with on a regular basis?"

Mokou frowned. "Well, there's you, of course. And Kaguya-"

"Who is already here in the flesh. Metaphorically speaking."

"Right. And…" Mokou shrugged. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. You're the only person I really know and can talk to, so you're the only one that gets a real personality."

"That's a good way of putting it," Keine said. "You're better at this than you think."

Mokou shrugged again. To her, the simplest answer was usually the correct one. Keine was the only person she had been able to truly confide with since her rivalry with Kaguya had taken off, and she had figured out Keine's "affliction" the very moment they had met, during a time when it had been known to two other people. They knew each other secrets and thus could be fully honest with one another, which they always were. So if anyone in this crazy world would be developed enough in her mind to actual like a normal person, it would be her.

"So what brings you here?" Mokou asked. "I mean, not that I'm not happy to see you, but it can't be just to cheer me up."

"Did it?"

"Well, yeah! But, even so…"

Keine nodded. She looked troubled. "It's not, unfortunately. I'm here to give you a warning."

"A warning?" Mokou sat up, her guard rising. "On behalf of whom?"

"Yourself, of course," Keine said. "Who else?"

Mokou settled back down. "Well, this has gotten metaphysically bizarre," she muttered. "Again. So by me, I'm guessing that you mean my subconscious. The same thing that's been making my life something of a hellish experience."

"Don't be too hard in it," Keine said. "It's limited by what it is."

"Then why'd it send you instead of just warning me in person?"

Keine cleared her throat. "Ah, Mokou? This is warning you in person."

Mokou sighed. "Fine, fine. Okay, let's skip that part before I get a headache. So, what exactly is this warning? Because if it's more mind games-"

"It isn't," Keine said quickly. "It's about your…travelling companion."

"Eh?" Mokou frowned. "Which one?"

"Rumia Yagami. You shouldn't trust her."

That got a bark of surprised laughter from Mokou. "Wait, what? Seriously? I already don't trust her! In fact, I'd ditch her in a second if I wasn't sure I didn't need her to get out of this hellhole."

"You don't," Keine said. "Need her, I mean. Get rid of her."

"Why?" Mokou said in befuddlement. She had no problem with those instructions, but she was confused as to why her memories of Keine would be so adamant about them. "What is she?"

"I…don't know," Keine said, squirming uncomfortably. "The dream doesn't know. It's not like anything it, or you, has ever encountered."

That got Mokou's attention. She already had a suspicion that Rumia was more than the lockbreaking youkai for hire that she claimed to be, and it looked like she was getting a definite confirmation. "How do you mean?"

Keine shrugged. "It's…we…felt it the moment it came in here. She feels…wrong."

"Well, yeah," Mokou said. "She is a trespasser from her own little dream world. So of course she would."

"That's not what I mean. It's Rumia herself. She…" Keine scowled at the floor. "Okay, this is a bit awkward, but do you remember the velmick?"

Mokou closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answer. "Yes. I do. And thank you for that, by the way. We had such a lovely time together."

"Oh, stop," Keine said irritably. "You know that was from Kaguya's mind, not yours. And it was Rumia we wanted. You two were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Then why'd it go after all of us?" Mokou said, her voice thick with accusation.

Keine shrugged. "Again, you can thank Kaguya for that. It was made from one of her oldest nightmares and beefed up. The dream is determined. What it isn't is discerning, at least not then. Besides, it's a velmick."

"And now?"

"Circumstances necessitated a change in tactics. But we're getting off track. The point I'm trying to make is the reason why that worm hasn't bothered you since is because of Rumia. She killed it."

"Hey!" Mokou protested indignantly. "No she didn't! I did! Remember?" She created a small ball of flame (which gave her a brief twinge of satisfaction as it meant her powers had returned) and held it suspended between her hands. "Torched it from the inside out!

"I know! And it was very impressive. But Mokou, it wasn't real. It was a dream. You think it wouldn't be able to come back from that?"

Mokou extinguished the ball of flame. "And…?"

"And, it would have, but then she killed it!"

"Uh…No, she didn't," Mokou said, staring at the horned woman. "She was with me the whole time. I burned it, we buried what was left and never went back."

"I know, but she did it anyway! After you had left, it started regenerating, but…It was like she just willed it to die, and it did! It was helpless against her!"

This wasn't making any sense at all.

"Then why didn't she just do that from the beginning?" Mokou asked.

Keine shrugged. "Because she didn't want to risk hurting you too, maybe? Or she had to wait until she could do it without tipping you two of to what she really was? She did indicate as much, when she killed it. But either way, she isn't to be trusted. And there's something else about her, something you desperately need to know."

"Yeah?" Mokou cocked her head to one side. "And what might that be?"

And then something strange started to happen.

Compared to the strangeness Mokou had been encountering, the open defiance to the laws of reality and random shifts of setting, this really wasn't that bizarre. But, in its own way, it was just as worrying, perhaps even more so.

Keine's body had started to shake. It began as a small shiver before growing into a noticeable tremble and finally escalating to violent jerking. She clenched the side of the bed and squeezed her eyes shut. Her teeth bared in a grimace.

"Keine!" Mokou cried as scampered to her side. "Are you-"

"I'm fine," Keine managed to force out. Her voice was ragged with exertion. "This is just…really hard to dig up."

"What?"

Then Keine looked at her. Her face was pale and glistened with sweat, but her eyes were full of determination. "I got it," she whispered. "I got it, or some of it."

Mokou shook her head. "Got it? Got what?"

"Your memories, or at least as much as I…you…I could dig up. They're almost gone, but…it's enough to give you a start."

"A start? A start for what? Keine, what in the world are you going on about?"

Though it seemed to take an actual physical effort on her part, Keine whispered, "You know the name Rumia Yagami."

The rabbit soldier fled through the bone-white corridors of the palace, moving quicker than anything had a right to. Behind her, the shadows pursued, devouring everything in a field of black that consumed the walls, the floor and the ceiling. Within the darkness two malicious red eyes burned and low, mocking laughter followed the soldier every step of the way.

The hallway came to an end and a door opened to receive her. But before the rabbit could reach it, the shadows shot forward, passing around her to block off her path of escape. They bled all around her like ink, consuming every patch of space save for a square-foot of the silver floor for her to stand upon.

"Nice try," the trespasser purred. "But you're not slipping away that easily. I still owe you for all those slaps."

The rabbit turned toward the eyes. To her credit, while most people would be soiling themselves and screaming in raw terror, she wasn't so much as trembling. But then, given what she was and what she represented, this would be expected.

If only to further punctuate the point, the rabbit then started to change. Her body shot up, her limbs lengthening and gaining corded muscle. Ripping claws grew from her fingers and toes, and her mouth opened wide, displaying a horrific maw of razor-sharp teeth.

"Yeah, no," the trespasser said in a bored tone. A smoky black tentacle shot out and speared the morphing rabbit through the heart. Her transformation halted as she let out a gasp of surprise.

"Come on. If the velmick didn't work, did you really expect this to? You're really gonna have to do better than that."

With that, the tentacle retracted, dragging its half-rabbit, half-demon victim with it to disappear into the darkness. The shadows slithered forward, consuming the final patch of ground. And then there was nothing but the sound of crunching bones.

Kaguya was quite beside herself. Having entered this scenario expecting a retelling of her past only to receive something completely different, her mind was racing to recollect itself and come up with an appropriate response. But unfortunately, the implications of the accusation itself were preventing her from making any notable progress.

The problem was the source of the condemnation. And that wasn't to say that it was surprising that her father would be violently opposed to her homosexuality. Indeed, had he not exiled her for drinking the Hourai Elixir, he might have done it anyway had that bit of news reached his ears first. All traditions and customs aside, a princess with no purpose other than being married off as a political favor was useless if she didn't like men. But the problem was that this wasn't her father. All roleplaying aside, she had to face the facts that the person shouting at her was merely an extension of her own mind. As such, having to relive her trial and subsequent exile wouldn't have made her bat an eye, as it had been a traumatic experience, and while she had eventually become grateful that it had happened given how much she preferred living in Gensokyo, she still had issues with the people who had done it and their reasons for doing so. Some very strong issues. But instead, the nightmare was choosing to focus around her sexuality, something she found…troubling, to say the least.

After all, Kaguya had come to terms with her sexuality a long, long time ago. It had taken her a few years of living among Gensokyo to shake off the traditional moral code of her people, but the fact of the matter was that while being a lesbian may have been a shameful thing to the Lunarians, people in Gensokyo simply did not care. Sexual preferences among the youkai were so openly varied depending on species and origin that it just wasn't something worth commenting on. In fact, when she had finally come out and admitted it to her close acquaintances, their overall reaction had been something down the lines of, "Oh, so that's why you kept rejecting all those suitors! Wish you had mentioned it earlier, it would have saved everyone a whole lot of time." These days, most everyone knew, and while her occasional fling with the girls from the rabbit tribes weren't exactly smiled upon, it wasn't something that people commented upon other than sometimes rolling their eyes and saying, "Oh, that Kaguya. There she goes again." Not even Mokou, the person who had every reason to care, never made mention of it.

In short, the issue had been long resolved. She was a lesbian, she liked girls, and that was that. There was absolutely no reason for her subconscious to form a nightmare of this caliber around the subject. It was like trying to condemn her for liking boiled peas. And yet, here it was, doing just that. Did that mean that a part of her, deep down in the darkest recesses of her mind, the part that still clung to the ways of her upbringing, still felt the smallest twinge of discomfort?

Perhaps she was reading too much into this. After all, the dream had steadily escalated its attacks ever since they had arrived. Perhaps this was just its way of taking her off guard. But that also came with its fair amount of unfortunate implications, as to believe this to be would credit the dream with a certain amount of intelligence, creativity and, by association, sentience. That was not a possibility that comforted her at all.

She almost decided to forget roleplaying and call the dream out on its bullshit. After all, why should she take this if she didn't want to? But in the end, she decided to continue as she had. After all, if this still was somehow an issue, what better time was there to confront it?

With that in mind, she inhaled deeply, let it out and said, "You're right. I'm gay. Congratulations on stating the overwhelmingly obvious. So?"

"So?" her father repeated, his voice dripping with scorn. "Did I just not explain the depths of your abomination?"

"Abomination is a noun, dad, not a verb or an adjective. And yeah, I know it's against the Lunarian laws and would be a horrible thing to find in one of your darling breeders, but ah, dad? You exiled me, remember? Stripped me of all my titles, privileges, rights and claims as a Lunarian and as a member of the Royal Family. I live in Gensokyo now. Got a card of citizenship and everything. And there, it's really not a big deal. At all. So what right do you have to judge me by your laws?"

"Exile though you may be," he growled, "we cannot let this disgusting display of perversity continue. And it seems that lying with women is not enough, but you defile yourself further by lying with animals!"

"Youkai," Kaguya corrected.

"Evil spirits!"

"Youkai," Kaguya said again. "And pretty damned civilized ones at that. And their culture is a damned sight more advanced than yours!"

The uproar her words created warmed Kaguya's heart. Everyone, everywhere was shouting in fury. Kaguya chuckled to herself. She was going to have to remember that one, should she ever be reunited with her father in for real.

And then, before the king could unleash more abuse, another voice rose about the others. "Oh, my King. Let not this vermin's words trouble your heart. And do not judge her too harshly. After all, had she been capable of finding a real man to love her, she would not have had to go searching among female animals for fulfillment."

A smatter of laughter mixed with the angry cries. As for Kaguya, she simply turned her head in the voice's direction. "Is that Yorihime I hear? Hey there, sweetie. I figured I'd be hearing your screechy voice sooner or later. How are you doing?"

"Just fine, Princess Kaguya. Enjoying the upper ranks of Lunarian nobility, along with my husband. Meanwhile, you spend your days living in a dungpit!"

Kaguya laughed. "Is that what you keep telling yourself? And I love the whole 'unable to find a man' thing. Come on, I had to invent an impossible quest just to keep them off me, remember? Oh, and did you forget that the only reason your loving husband so much as looked at you was to get back at me for rejecting him first?"

Yorihime started screeching, and the other voices rose up to join her. By now, Kaguya's grin was threatening to cut her face in half. Though she was now at least on neutral terms with the actual Yorihime, that had felt extremely good.

"SILENCE!" her father roared. "I will have no more of your open defiance-"

"No more? Dad, I'm just getting started. I've lived in Gensokyo for over a thousand years. Wanna see what I've learned?"

With that, Kaguya stood up.

When Kaguya had first started experimenting with mutable nature of the dream, she had found limited success in turning its fragile reality against it. Not enough to defeat the velmick, but it had been a start. And when it came down to it, as imitating as they were from an emotional standpoint, the Lunarian court was no velmick.

With that in mind, Kaguya snapped her bonds.

Immediately she heard the footsteps of three of the rabbit soldiers as they moved to interfere, no doubt counting on her lack of sight to cripple her. Apparently they had not been informed of the numerous times she had had to fight Mokou with her eyes gouged out.

As soon as they drew close enough, Kaguya dropped low and spun her leg out in a wide arc, sweeping all three of them off their feet. Two more immediately leapt in to help them. Kaguya slammed her helmeted head into the stomach of the first to come into range, grabbed her as she doubled over in pain, and shoved hard into the other, sending both of them tumbling back. Then, taking advantage of the few seconds she had just bought, she tore off the helmet.

Full credit had to be paid for the dream. The replica of the Lunarian court was perfect: not only matching her memory of the actual place but filling in many of the details she had forgotten. For one, her own recollections often left out that floating chandelier made from blue crystals, or the statues of her ancestors that lined the room. But she had no problem remembering all the people that filled the levels above, the rows of rabbit soldiers behind her, or her father in his royal robe and holding that silver staff topped with a spherical white gem as he stood on that floating teardrop of his. And, true to form, he looked furious.

Kaguya grinned. Good. Authenticity only made the roleplay easier. She saluted the scowling figure of her father and turned her attention back to the soldiers. After witnessing Kaguya take down their companions with such ease, they were now moving out of range, cocking their weapons in the process.

In response, Kaguya rolled back, landed in a crouch and swung both arms out in a cutting motion. Energy in every color of the rainbow shot out in a wave that slammed into the soldiers' middles and flung them back to crack against the hard stone of the wall. They did not get up.

The room filled again with voices, but instead of offended whispers, angry shouts or mocking laughter, the Lunarian nobility was now crying out in fear. Many of them were shoving against each other in a mad rush to get away. Even her father was looking a bit unsure of himself.

Dusting herself off, Kaguya stood and turned to face the High King. "But you know what?" she said. "I'm actually glad you brought me here. Because it gives me the opportunity to tell you something I've wanted to say for a long, long time."

The pandemonium quieted down, and those who remained stared down at her in interest. Kaguya could see Yorihime standing on the middle level, her face red with indignation. So she had stuck around. Good. Kaguya winked at her and blew her a kiss before turning her attention back to her father.

"Thank you, Father," she said to the king. "Thank you for putting me on trial. Thank you for rejecting me. Thank you for casting me out of the Lunarian society and exiling me to Earth. Because the life I've had since has been absolutely wonderful. I now have friends who actually like me for me without caring whose daughter I am. I get to make my own decisions. I get to live my own life. And please note that my life includes dying horribly at least two nights per week with full knowledge that there's going to be plenty of messy deaths waiting for me in the future. And yet, even that's preferable to the absolutely miserable existence I would have had living here." She clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward. "Oh, and FYI? I was liking girls even when I was suffering under your thumb, so you really can't blame Earth's influence for that. Sorry daddy, this is how I was from day one."

"And thank you, Mr. Dream," she said, looking up at the ceiling. "I know this is breaking character and all, but even if this isn't really happening, it sure makes for great practice when I actually get the opportunity to do this for real."

She might have said more, but apparently the dream had finished with letting her get the best of it, because that was when every single remaining member of the Lunarian court drew a gun and fired.

There was too many for her to dodge, and soon Kaguya found herself leaking from hundreds of holes. She fell briefly into the darkness of death, and though the holes closed quickly and she returned to life in short order, it was just in time for her to see Mokou's father coming out of whatever corner he had been lurking in. Without a word, he drew his sword and brought it down on her neck, severing her head.

"You know the name Rumia Yagami."

Mokou sat up straight. "Hey, say what? You mean we've met, back in the real world?"

Though Keine still seemed to be struggling against some sort of internal resistance, she managed a brief nod.

"Okay," Mokou frowned. "I'm guessing you mean more than just running into each other in a tavern. I mean, I've been around for a long time, and so have many youkai. It's…not out of the realm of possibility that we've run into each other and just forgot about it."

"I don't mean 'met'," Keine said. "I mean you know her."

Mokou felt troubled. Now that Keine had introduced the concept, there was something about the name that tugged at her memories. But it whatever it was, it wasn't strong enough to come fully to the forefront.

"All right, you're gonna have to give me more than that," Mokou said. "I've known lots of people, and I've got centuries worth of memories to dig through. Can you narrow it down, at least?"

Keine sat up. "I've said…probably more than I should," she muttered.

Then she started towards the door. "I should go now," she said on her way out.

"Wait, hold on!" Mokou leapt after her and grabbed her by the shoulder. "You've got to give me more than that! If there's something more you can tell me to help me narrow it down, even if it's just a hint…"

Keine grimaced, almost as if in actual pain. But she said, "It's me. I'm the hint."

"What?"

"Think…think about how…how we first…."

"What, Christmas? When you pulled me out of that snowdrift?"

Keine shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't say more…"

With that, she abruptly stormed toward the door.

"Keine, hold on a minute!" Mokou sat, following. "The dream sent you to warn me, right? Please, I just need a little more."

Keine paused by the door. She took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry. Good luck, Mokou. And remember what I said."

With that, the door slid open, and she and the ever-silent rabbit guard left.

"Wait!" Mokou called, but it was too late. They were gone. Mokou stared at the sealed door for a moment longer. Then, with a growl of frustration, she stomped back to the bed, kicking the table over on the way.

How was she supposed to figure this riddle out? She had met thousands, if not millions, of individuals in her lifetime. How could Keine expect her to recall one single name?

Well, Keine had said to focus on the way that met, so that at least cut out everything save for the last century. That did narrow it down quite a bit.

Mokou bit her lip as she scanned her memories after that, during her time at the orphanage Keine had grown up in. It had been two of the best years of her life, but she hated dwelling upon them, given how violently they had ended. She made a point of never discussing them with Keine, and Keine had never brought them up. It was difficult, dredging them up from the weight of decades that followed, but if she concentrated, more details could…

…wait…

…hold on…

…the orphanage…where she had met Keine…and…

The scab came off.

Rumia. Rumia. Fucking. Yagami.

But…that was impossible. That girl was…

Mokou's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. The pieces had finally fallen into place. It had been right there, in front of her nose the whole time, and she hadn't even noticed.

And then her pupils constricted.

Seconds later, the formerly indestructible cell that had been dressed up as her home was being consumed by a raging inferno, fueled by Mokou's righteous wrath. A second after that the door was blown outward, and Mokou was screaming through the hallways of Palace Houraisan. Flames surrounded her like armor, the wings of the Phoenix were spread wide, and her eyes were blazing as brightly as the Sun. Mokou the girl cowering in the presence of her long-dead father was gone. Mokou the Avatar of Vengeance was reborn.

But for once in her life, her fury was not directed at Kaguya. Bizarrely enough, it was her intention to protect her hated rival, protect her from someone she had once considered a friend. She just hoped against hope that she wasn't too late.

Resurrecting from decapitation was always an unpleasant experience, because for some damned reason the resurrection itself always decided to happen before her new head had finished reforming itself and she had to endure a few extra painful moments as her skull finished shaping.

True to form, this instance was just as uncomfortable, though something was very different. Apparently the dream had not finished being a pain in the ass and deigned that instead of her body growing a new head, it was her body that was chosen for regeneration. As such, her head felt fine while splintery lances of pain flared from all over her torso and limbs as her skeleton finished filling in.

Finally it finished, and Kaguya sat up with a groan. That had not been fun, and whatever good feelings she had felt toward the dream were now fading. She was now leaning toward the "Dream is Sentient" theory. It would certainly explain its sick sense of humor.

She checked herself over. The regeneration seemed to have gone off without a hitch, at least. Her Slytherin uniform had returned in full, down to the scarf. That was a relief. For one, she liked that uniform. For another, Mokou and Rumia had already gotten more of a look at her than she would have liked. Having to go search for them while butt naked would have been nothing short of degrading.

That done, she took a look at her surroundings. She was still in the Lunarian courtroom, though it seemed to be after hours. The place was deserted and the lights dimmed. She sighed. They hadn't even removed her body. That was somewhat depressing, though she wasn't sure why. It did at least mean she wouldn't be waking up in a trash heap. Having done so numerous times in the past, Kaguya could personally attest to how disgusting of an experience it was.

Kaguya stood up and brushed herself off. She licked her finger and rubbed it across her neck, cleaning away the dried blood. As she did so, she scanned the room, looking for her previous body. She didn't really expect to find it, as the dream had probably swallowed it up, but idle curiosity drove her.

She found it. And then some.

Kaguya Houraisan found herself staring at Kaguya Houraisan. A perfect duplicate of herself, down to the flowing raven hair and Slytherin uniform, stood across from her, looking at her with an expression of total astonishment. Kaguya, who knew her own face must have been wearing that exact same expression, stared right back.

What was this? Another one of the dream's weird metaphors? The final boss? Would she have to fight some sort of mirror image of herself in order to progress?

Then the other Kaguya spoke. "Holy shitting sun, moon and stars, it actually happened."

"What?" Kaguya blinked. "What happened?"

Pointing a shaking finger, the other Kaguya said, "You came back. All the way. I thought you were going to stay dead. You know, like you always do? But you came back."

"Came back? But why wouldn't I-"

And then it hit her. It was as if Eirin had attached a series of electrodes to her brain and thrown the switch. It was as if pure caffeine had been injected directly into her brains. It was like three orgasms, all right on top of each other. The realization was like all that, plus more.

Judging by the wide grin on the other Kaguya's face, she had reached the exact same conclusion. "Starfish?" she said.

Kaguya nodded. An identical grin split her own features. "When Mokou got decapitated?"

"Yeah." The other Kaguya laughed. "Good thing we put her back together after all."

They looked at each other again, neither of them a duplicate, neither of them a copy created by the dream, but both the original, somehow split in two identical Kaguyas by the weird, twisted nature of the dream's reality.

And then, at the exact same time, they blurted out, "Oh FUCK YEAH!"

...

This is the second update of Imperfect Metamorphosis' two-year anniversary celebration, and it looks like Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire is coming near its conclusion. Hopefully this storyline will wrap up within a couple chapters, four more at the absolute most.

And it's kind of odd, openly addressing something that's such an important part of the Touhou fandom but has generally been overlooked in my stories. Namely, that of sexuality. Of course, we all know the "Everyone is gay in Gensokyo" meme, but since relationshipping is such a small part of IM and RoSD, it really hasn't been addressed. So I guess now's a good a time as any to clear things up how things work.

Kaguya's a lesbian, no surprises there. It's been hinted at plenty of times, and now it's been outright stated. Mokou is...I really don't know. Disinterested in sex altogether, would be the best way to put it. As for the other characters, in this story Humans fall into the normal spectrum of sexual preferences, with most being somewhere on the heterosexual side of the line, a few on the homosexual side while others, like Marisa, are somewhere in the middle. And like I said, it really isn't a big deal. At all. Reimu is straight but, like Mokou, mostly disinterested. As is Sanae, though she's a bit closer to the line and has a rather active social life.

As for the youkai, those that employ sexual reproduction (the Kappa, the Kirin, the Tengu, the Satori, the Oni, etc.) fall within the same parameters. As do youkai that spring from animals, such as Mystia, Ran, and Chen, though they lose their need (and means) to reproduce and simply carry over whatever orientation they had as animals.

Youkai that evolve from inanimate objects or metaphysical concepts (like Kogasa and Rumia) are, to a hilt, bi-sexual, and as they lack the need and drive to reproduce, whatever relationships they develop are for pleasure and companionship only. Also, despite what the games themselves might tell us, there are male youkai.

Fairies, on the other hand, are all female (at least in this story) and are all asexual. Which isn't to say they're not extremely affectionate with people they like and incapable of romantic attachment, but sexual desire is alien to them. Though some of them do grow curious...

As for Yuuka, she's, well, she's just Yuuka. Nothing more to be said there.

Also note that this is how things work in my story, and how the actual canon world of Touhou works is entirely up to ZUN.

Until next time, everyone!