Chapter Text
The rubble of the elaborate mansion made each step feel more treacherous than the last, but after so many years she grew more careless about all of her movements. Of course, each of her motions still carried some tact, but they were nothing like they used to be.
“This place used to be so renowned, it truly was beautiful…”
She picked up a large portrait off the ground. It quickly became apparent that it wasn't a portrait, but rather an ornately painted paper wall. Well, former wall.
“FUJIWARA NO MOKOU!”
A voice rang out from the distance. About what she had expected; the Princess of the Moon. At least, that's what she calls herself, even to this day.
“I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE OF THE CENTURIES!”
Mokou didn't respond. “Battle of the centuries,” has been her call for a few months now. To Mokou, the line had quickly become tired. What did it even mean?
Kaguya stood in the distance on a large stack of the rubble, holding her jeweled branch whilst waving it in the air. The moonlight behind her perfectly outlined her beautiful frame, it made the branch gleam in ways only it could; in ways only such a rare artifact could muster. The presentation, however, fell flat in Mokou’s eyes. She was already familiar with every square centimeter of the tool. It was Kaguya’s favorite weapon to use after all.
She swiped the tool through the air. It made a distinct swoosh, before a wave of danmaku orbs appeared in its afterimage. They immediately went flying in the direction of Mokou, homing in on her.
With a hand in her pocket, Mokou simply casually threw her other hand up, a brightly lit flame appearing in her palm while her entire body started emitting a soft orange glow. A sort of fire shield formed between the two, absorbing each of the balls of light, which in turn only caused it to grow brighter. She then made another motion, which caused the shield to turn into a series of fireballs that all flew in the direction of Kaguya, however in contrast with Kaguya’s pattern they flew aimlessly.
Kaguya threw her hand in the air with the stick again, ready to send out another pattern, however the arm quickly fell. All of her fell, collapsing to the ground in utter defeat. Hunched over, sitting where she was standing, she began to sulk.
While Mokou was standing at a slight angle, glaring up at Kaguya, she quickly turned her whole body, a surprised expression growing on her face. She started shuffling through the destruction in the direction of Kaguya.
While not loudly, Kaguya was audibly sobbing. Mokou knelt down in front of her, then adjusted her position to be sitting directly next to her. She wrapped an arm around her back with a hand on her shoulder. She expected Kaguya to blow up at her for such closeness and contact, but she didn’t. Kaguya expected herself to act irrationally, but she was too wrapped up in emotions to do anything about it physically.
They sat together in silence for a good while. Time can easily fly past you after so much time on earth, the months and the days and the seconds start to merge.
After a good amount of time, someone finally spoke up.
“I-I miss her, Mokou.” Her voice was choked up.
Mokou didn’t respond. She simply hung her head low, squeezing Kaguya harder.
The former princess picked her head up, looking around at the rubble that surrounded them, before throwing her head back into her hands, the wetness that made her vision blurry only getting more intense.
Hearing Kaguya’s mourning ended up making her remember her own losses, namely the loss of Keine. It had been over 140 years ago at this point, while Eirin’s return to the moon was a good 100 years ago. Despite the time, Kaguya grieved all the same.
After a few seconds of thinking of Keine’s smile, her laugh, the earnestness with everything she spoke, the fact that she was the only other human that understood and sympathized with Mokou’s plight. The sadness and shame all hit her like an oni punching her directly in the gut. She forced her other arm around Kaguya, squeezing her in a side hug.
They silently sulked until restfulness took over.
…
Kaguya awoke first. When she woke up she sucked up a line of drool, before realizing what exactly she was sleeping in.
“UNHAND ME!”
Mokou’s arms were still wrapped around Kaguya, clutching her tightly. Looking up, Kaguya realized Mokou had never actually fallen asleep. A dark shadow hung over her face and obstructed her eyes.
“Y-You’ll always be around Kaguya.”
Kaguya quickly pacified in response to what Mokou had said. The tone in which she spoke…she was so sure, but the words she said were more of a question. Her assuredness of her line left her more focused and less explosive.
“W-Well, yeah…I suppose so, yeah.” She started glancing left and right awkwardly. They didn’t usually break out into emotions like they had the night before, especially Mokou, but whenever it did happen, it always became awkward.
After a few more seconds of the hug Mokou released her, standing up. While she did have a more emotionless expression, it looked nothing unlike what Kaguya was used to. It was like nothing had happened.
“Alright, what to do today.”
She stood over her, both rough hands in her pockets. She then took out one of her hands, holding it out to the princess so she could hoist herself up.
“I’ll have you know, waking up in your warm embrace was overly embarrassing!”
Mokou looked down at her as she spoke. Kaguya awkwardly stammered for a second after, then decided to drop it. She stood up beside the white haired immortal; notably not using her support.
The two of them decided to wander over to the human village. Eighty years and the village was still hobbling around, just as technologically behind as it always was. Without Eirin, the villagers started making their own medicine, and opening their own pharmacies. Without Keine, the temple school hired new historians to teach. The village was effectively in a new generation, but things were still effectively the same. There was a time before the two were around, but having known their presence the time after felt unnatural.
In the streets of the village they only continued to wonder. The truth was with their eccentric dressing and notorious destructiveness towards each other, people usually tried to avoid them. A few shops shuttered their windows as they walked by. Unlike the villager’s social stigma, they have never caused destruction within the village. They're very careful to leave it as unchanged as it always is.
“Every time I walk through these streets…it's like nothing ever changed.”
Mokou looked down at Kaguya as she spoke, Kaguya’s arms wrapped around her own arm. Her previously more general expression quickly turned to a smug one. “Unlike Eientei,” she added.
Kaguya’s face quickly morphed into an entertained but annoyed expression. She pulled off Mokou’s arm then started lightly smacking her with her sleeve.
“Th-That was a while ago, okay!!”
The few villagers who were still outside saw the two talking, then they saw Kaguya’s playful smacking on Mokou. They started backing away, scared it may quickly evolve into a more explosive exchange. They knew what the princess had done to Eientei when she lost Yagokoro, and they knew any seemingly unchanging place may be next in her unstoppable force vs. immovable object scenario.
Mokou pulled her cheek, grinning still. “Dont worry, it's super-duper hot~!”
Kaguya continued smacking her, her motions slowly stopping.
“L-Lets just get something to eat and go”
Her face burned red from the fallout of the interaction, her mouth being covered by her sleeves.
“Where?”
Mokou quickly went back to her usual cold self. Only Kaguya could tell she was still deeply entertained from the teasing, but she decided to drop it for the good of the walk.
The villagers who were still around heard the proposal to eat somewhere. They went inside to tell the others. Out of their line of sight, shops all around them closed in a rush. They weren't exactly subtle about it. Mokou was more favoured by the general populace, however she and Kaguya both knew of their reputation. Kaguya’s in particular was bad, but theirs together was the worst of all. They didn't mind much though, Kaguya in particular found it entertaining.
The two of them decided to take a stop in a restaurant on the side of a dimly lit alley, run by a larger figure with eyes he didn't seem to ever open. He seemed to be a no-nonsense type of man. Other people eating at the place didn't seem to like being seated by the two immortals, quickly leaving their seats and rushing past them. The server working there didn't seem the most comfortable working that particular shift, sweating profusely while staring at the sun’s progress in the sky each opportunity he had. The guy running the place didn't seem to mind all of his business leaving so suddenly, only continuing to cook.
They enjoyed their food and left. By then they wanted to peruse, maybe visit a shop and buy a knick-knack to keep around. Particularly Mokou in this case, who unlike Kaguya, was not homeless. It seemed like every other shop decided to close up early like last time though.
“They really don't like you,” Mokou teased.
“They don't like you either!!”
…
As the sun in the sky dimmed, casting wide shadows on the village, they decided to walk back to the rubble of the former Eientei hand in hand. The village didn't have much for them, anyway.
“The moon looks real bright tonight, dont’cha think?” Mokou was on a roll today, it seemed.
Kaguya’s flustered face was enough confirmation that the roll would only continue. “It looks as bright as normal!!”
Mokou wasn't lying however, it really did look beautiful glimmering in the darkening sky.
Sitting out on a porch overlooking the Ayakashi’s zen garden, Yuyuko and Youmu in the netherworld noticed its beauty. Junko down in hell noticed it. From one of the few windows in the SDM library, Koakuma noticed it, however she failed to convince Patchouli to come up and see it. The newest Hakurei shrine maiden noticed it, wondering if it was an incident. It had been enough time since the last to warrant it, and she had heard rumors of incidents happening related to the moon in the past. She may not have a human companion, however the shrine still had Suika, who told her it was a sign to drink more.
Mokou thought of pointing out that she wasn't lying and the moon truly was different on this particular night, but she didn't want to keep playing into it out of fear of opening up old wounds. Before her departure, Eirin made sure to place a special spell on the moon so that staring at it wouldn't slip people into lunacy, since she was in charge of the normal hiding and didn't trust Kaguya to do it herself. She made that much clear to Kaguya, which made every full moon a bit of an emotional stunt.
When they eventually made it back to the rubble there was an odd presence that couldn't be described with words. It felt distinctly pure, yet even that was a pretty loose description of how it felt.
Kaguya eyed the destruction curiously. “M-Mokou, does this place feel off to you?”
Mokou glanced left and right. There was a bit of an odd feeling, but she just assumed it was placebo from Kaguya pointing out weirdness just a moment before. “Uhh…not really? Is there something off I’m not noticing?”
Kaguya quickly moved over to the rubble. At this point she was acutely aware of every chunk left around from the old structure, but when she was searching for something the entire place felt completely foreign.
Mokou watched as she struggled in the distance, confused more than anything. Wondering what was exactly making her so sure that she would immediately lose all decorum and just go searching. What could it even be that's so interesting? She was used to the princess getting a little sloppy from time to time, but the look she had… it was something Mokou herself hadn't seen. She assumed she had seen everything and knew every side of Kaguya.
Eventually, Kaguya ripped out a letter from near the top of the rubble. Attached was a small vial of some sort of glowing liquid.
She quickly brought the two items over to Mokou, almost tripping over the loose rubble with how quick she was.
“Uhh, what’s that?” Mokou questioned.
Kaguya quickly realized the letter was not written in a language Mokou would know. It wasn't a language any human would know. In fact, it was a language she quickly realized she was growing incredibly rusty in.
Instead of paying much attention to the letter, Mokou tapped the vial a few times.
“What’s this?”
Kaguya couldn't help but move her gaze to the phoenix, nothing but emptiness in her eyes and fear on her face.