Author's Notes:
Just finished watching Nurarihyon no Mago and also came across several fanfics centering around Tsurara, our favorite not-so-typical yuki-onna and Rikuo, the lovable but oblivious kind Sandaime, and it inspired me! I've come across many terms in my Math subjects and asymptotes were one of them. For those who doesn't know what this is, just look it up in the net, pretty sure that it will answer your questions.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Nurarihyon no Mago franchise... That's why I'm writing this story... . How sad...
Anyway, enjoy minna and I'd love to hear your comments...
&iluvu&
"Change is the only thing constant they say
And somehow, it makes me wonder why."
?
"No matter how much my heart can take
It still has a limit
It still can tire..."
?
"The world leaves me weary
And sometimes I wish you'd take me away from here."
?
Sounds of running footsteps could be heard loud and clear along with a frantic cry of 'WAKA!' from a certain yuki-onna. Other yokais looked at the girl or maybe lady that was running in full speed looking for her beloved young master who was nowhere to be found.
"Whoa there Tsurara, what's the rush?" Kurotabo, the monk-turned-yokai asked her as she bumped into him while running around the compound. Tsurara puffed and huffed as she tried to catch her breath before answering.
"Kurotabo-san, Waka is missing! He wa supposed to be in guard duty tonight, but when I went to relieve him of his post, he was nowhere! And nobody knows where he is!" Kurotabo laughed heartily as he messed up Tsurara's hair by rubbing her head, to her annoyance.
"Ne Tsurara, you should know where young master is. He's probably gone to that Kana girl since I heard she was sick, you know him, he's always worried about that girl" Silence met him and he thought that the yuki-onna had became upset again. After all, she used to harbor romantic feelings for their Sandaime, so imagine his surprise when he was met by her smile and worry-free eyes.
"Geez, I'm really stupid, worrying about him all over again." She had bonked her head with her hand and laughed slightly while her eyes were closed. Kurotabo became silent and stupefied, this was not the reaction this yuki-onna was supposed to show.
"I'll go now Kurotabo-san, sorry for the intrusion." With a final smile and wave, she disappeared in a flurry of snow, leaving her trademark snowflake insignia. Kurotabo stared at it for a long time before finally walking away as it disappeared.
"You and I are like day and night
No matter how hard the moon tries to chase the sun
They never meet."
?
"You who is oblivious to everything
Can you not hear my heart breaking?"
?
"I will not always be there for you...
Because someday I'll grow tired and leave."
?
To say that Rikuo was ignorant would be an understatement, he was the most oblivious, the stupidest and the most insensitive clan heir they had. Even his father, the Nidaime Rihan Nura wasn't that cold and he was sensitive to what his subordinates would feel. In fact, most of his underling yokais had face palmed themselves during the time when Tsurara still voiced out her adoration to the Sandaime. They all had thought that the young man also felt the same way as the yuki-onna, but nothing seemed to make any difference.
"Waka, where have you been?" Tsurara asked, acting as if she didn't know where he had been again. Rikuo smiled and shook his head, knowing full well that the girl understood what he meant. When she didn't asked anymore, he silently thanked her which went unheard.
"Tsura-*Achoo!" Rikuo sneezed and shivered, it had been raining when he decided that they might miss him and look for him again, so he arrived inside the compound wet and cold. Thankfully though, not many were awake but his best friend, Tsurara was.
"Geez, Waka, you shouldn't forget to bring an umbrella. Leaving without notice is one thing but being so stupid as leaving without an umbrella, you sure are taking this stupidity to a higher level." Tsurara said while bringing him a towel and warm water to place his feet in. He pouted and was met by a glass of water and medcine making him raise his eyebrow in question.
"You might get a fever, drink this. Your body temperature is warmer than normal, it would be bad if our Sandaime got sick in my watch." He snorted as he took the glass and placed it on the tabe near him along with the medicine.
"You just think that, your always so cold that you normally can't differentiate hot from co- huh." He was surprised when Tsurara tsk-ed and placed a warm and wet towelette atop his head.
"Just shut up and drink, okay? It would really assure me that you are just fine, understood?" Rikuo nodded, dumbfound at the difference in the girl's tone, that was the first time she tsk-ed and didn't dragged out the WAKAAAAAAAA! thing she usually did.
"AH! Waka, where have you been?" Rikuo froze when he heard the voice of Nattou-Kozo, he was usually nosy and Rikuo hoped he wasn't in the mood to prod him for answers. But luck wasn't in his side as the yokai approached him, his look suggesting that he was going to saute for answers.
"Nowhere.." He said, trying to sound indifferent but failing to do so as his voice suddenly cracked.
"Really? Did you go by that ninge-." He was unable to finish as he felt the cold draft that entered when the yuki-onna came back, with a tray filled with two teacups, and dango.
"Nattou-Kozo, what are you doing here?" She asked, placing the tray gracefully on the table and placing one hand on her hips with her eyebrows raised. The said yokai mumbled something incoherent and walked away while giving him the look that clearly spoke volumes about his curiosity of his nightly escapades.
"Arigatou!" He said, gratefully to the yuki-onna who merely smiled and poured tea for him and for herself.
"You should really be subtle about your intentions for Ienaga-san or you'll be placed in the hot seat always." He smiled and looked at Tsurara before answering her.
"But you always save me, don't you?"
"And I won't always be there..." He had missed the way her eyes went blank before looking at him again with the same facade she was so used to donning that it became part of who she was already.
"Would you rather be loved
Or be the one to love?"
?
"Would you rather hurt
Or be the one to hurt?"
?
"Would you rather leave
Or be left behind?"
?
A loud slap resonated in the Main House of the Nura clan house. The usually cheery atmosphere was heavy with tension as the yokai's watched their Sandaime's fiancee slap the lovable and kind yuki-onna who didn't do anything to her at all. Nobody spoke a word and everyone was agitated at what they had witnessed, and Rikuo was slightly out of place as he didn't know what was happening.
"H-how dare you say all those things behind my back? What did I ever do to you? Even when Rikuo-kun had spent so many times with you than me, I never told him to stay away from you! So why did you do it?" Tsurara remained impassive and silent, in fact, she seemed like an ice sculpture as her usually pale skin was paler and her eyes devoid of any emotion. During the course of the confrontation, she had not spoken a single word at all. As she turned her face towards them again, everyone could see how red her right cheek had become after the slap.
"Tsurara, what is happening here?" Rikuo finally butted in when Kana began to sob and bury her head towards his chest, her tears wetting the front of his yukata. Tsurara tsk-ed again and turned away from them, her face obscured by her long hair that seemed shinier than usual.
"W-waka, I think this is all just a misu-." Rikuo silenced him with his glare that left them all stupefied that their waka had changed immensely just by being with the human girl.
"Stay out of this, all of you leave, this is between me and Tsurara, whatever problems she has with my fiancee, she needs to clarify with me." Aotabo looked at the yuki-onna whose face was still turned away from them with pity in his eyes, whatever that ningen was accusing of her, he knew that she was not the one who started the rumors. In fact, she had tried to correct those and gve the girl a better look so that the yokais would be comfortable around her. Rikuo continued to comfort Kana whose sobbing slightly receded making him not notice the guilty look in one of the yokais that had left.
"Kana-chan, shush, don't cry now." But this seemed to provoke Kana even more and make Tsurara more unreachable, she had not moved but Rikuo could feel the strength and pressure of the youki emanating from her.
"How annoying..." Tsurara had turned to look at them, her eyes blank and emotionless, her voice was sweet yet cold and deadly.
"Tsurara, so it is true. You do know that I have told you many times that I love Kana-chan, why can't you still accept that?" Rikuo asked, his eyes mirroring the hurt that his best friend was unable to understand the dilemma of his finacee at being judged harshly by the yokais.
"I have accepted that."
"Then why? You know that you will be punished, severely for insulting Kana-chan, so why would you risk your own self-comfort?" Tsurara had spoken nothing but turned around and opened the tatami door and prepared to leave. Halfway to closing it, Rikuo stopped him, only to exprience full blast of the youki around her.
"Stop! We are not yet done, Tsurara."
"Yes we are, I shall accept my punishment as you deem it fit for me, tell her the details if you want, just to appease her." Without another word, she disappeared, leaving behind a frozen yellow carnation.
Rikuo looked at the door and sighed, somehow, he hoped that this would be resolved before Kana began to hate his yokai underlings and his yokai bloodline.
"I'm sorry, Kana-chan." Kana smiled and nodded, comforted that Tsurara would be punished for talking bad about her. But inside his mind, he was saying sorry to Tsurara for disappointing her.
"If leaving is the solution
Then I shall willingly go
And part in silence."
?
"No matter how pained my heart is
Everything I do
I do it for you.."
?
"Leaving you is hard,
But remembering is harder..."
?
Rikuo looked up at his room's ceiling, after that incident, Kejoro had approached him and told him the truth.
-Flashback-
"Kejoro, what are you doing here?" Rikuo asked, surprised that the yokai would approach him with a grim face.
"Release Tsurara already, she hasn't done anything wrong." Rikuo frowned, even if he wanted to stop the humiliation that Tsurara had suffered after the intense torture she had experienced under the punisher, a sin was a sin and the yokais needed an example.
"No. I won't release her, not after what she has done."
"Don't you even care for her health? She hasn't eaten for a week and she has suffered inside the torture chamber for a crime she didn't even committed!" Rikuo was taken aback, he had been so caught up in making his fiancee comfortable enough to revisit that he had forgotten to investigate everything.
"What do you mean?" Kejoro placed a hand in her hips and glared at him with such hatred he could almost feel her youki spikes.
"Don't you dare what do you mean me, young man. Did you really think Tsurara would badmouth your woman? She was trying to make her arrival accepted by everyone until one yokai had accidentally made it slip that the girl you had chosen was Kana Ienaga, your childhood best friend whose been taking you away from you duties. Tsurara was trying to correct that stupid mistake done and you do that to her?" Rikuo stood up and walked out of the room, transforming into his yokai form already and appearing in front of a tied up Tsurara. The yokais who were silently pitying the yuki-onna who had been so kind were initially scared when they saw the conflicted look in their master's eyes.
Rikuo snapped the rope holding her and Tsurara began to fall down, her feet not supporting her body for the pain and hunger she had experienced. Her clothes were torn and her hair was matted with dry blood, she had a still bleeding wound in the leg and Rikuo felt ashamed of his decision. He raised his sword and unsheathed it when Natto-Kozo stepped out and stopped him from unsheathing it completely, tears in his eyes.
"Please don't do this to Tsurara-chan, it wasn't any of her fault! We were drunk and we began to talk about her, we didn't know that someone would accidentally tell that to Kana-sama, so please, don't hurt her anymore." For a moment anger clouded his judgement and he would have plunged the sword right into Natoo-Kozo had he not been hit by Tsurara's youki.
"Don't you dare h-hurt them..." Rikuo looked away when she coughed blood and still maintained the vigilance she had. He sheathed the sword and the youki had immediately receded. If Tsurara had not stopped him, he would have killed the yokai who had caused his best friend to suffer like this in behalf of them and for not speaking out when they knew what Tsurara would suffer.
"Kubinashi, go and carry her to her room." He turned to see his grandfather looking at him with disappointment.
"Oyaji..."
"I would have released her earlier than you did, but as you are the Sandaime, I did not interfere, how does it feel to see one who is so loyal falsely hurt?" Rikuo's eyes widened in realization and he grabbed his grandfather by the collar of his kimono.
"You knew!" He said accusingly.
"Yes."
"And you never told me?"
"You are a leader, you should know when one has done good or bad and not judge one for something someone, even if you love that person, accuses your Hyakki Yako." Rikuo dejectedly dropped his grandfather and stared as Kubinashi carried her to her room, one hand hanging limp.
-End of Flashback-
Rikuo sighed, he had came across Tsurara after that incident but she spent most of the time avoiding him and attending meetings with his grandfather for unknown reasons. One time, she had left the room with a sad look and ignored him, he had tried to catch her but she was too fast in leaving, leaving yet another frozen flower, this time a white carnation, probably a manifestation of her youki getting stronger.
"Tsurara, can we really not fix this?" Rikuo's ears perked up and he looked outside of his window, seeing Tsurara clad in a different colored furisode while talking with his grandfather.
"Ie, this is my kaa-san's last wish. This was arranged right from the start and to back out now would be bad... Please, do not take this wrongly, but I do this for you and everyone else." Without another word she walked away, leaving his grandfather looking in thin air sadly.
"Setsura, what should I do?"
"I want to say goodbye to you
But I can never do so."
?
"We started off as far apart
Then in one point
We draw closer to each other
For us to drift apart yet again..."
?
Tsurara looked at Kana without much acknowledgement, in fact, she seemed to be so cold and unwelcoming to the human female when she was trying to like her before.
"What are you doing here?" Kana asked when they met in front of Rikuo's door, but Tsurara had walked past her, only stopping when Kana held her wrist in place.
"Even after all that he has put you through, you still stay here?" Tsurara laughed in mockery of her statement and turned to face her with eyes that meant harm. And surprisingly enough, her voice was different as well, becoming lower and colder.
"Girl, you won't see me here again... This will be the last time we meet..." As she removed the grip in her wrist, she gave Kana one last look and a word of advice.
"Take care of Rikuo, you took over that duty of ours when you agreed to marry him..." And she vanished, into thin air.
True to her word, Tsurara had vanished from the Nura clan house, Rikuo would have wanted to search for her, but his grandfather disapproved and told him that wherever Tsurara was, she was safe and well cared for. Besides, he had to focus in leading and training himself for preparation of taking over the title in a few years.
Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months and not a single word from Tsurara had been heard, until they received an invitation.
"Oi, look what we got here, a letter from Tsurara-chan!" Everybody cheered, this was the first letter, but their joy did not last long when they read the inscriptions. Rikuo had just arrived and approached them, looking lost again in seeing their crestfallen faces while holding a letter.
"What's the matter here?"
"It's from Tsurara-chan." He read the letter but at the first line, he dropped it and had transformed into his night form.
"No, Oyaji, how could you?"
For written in the letter was the inscription:
You are cordially invited to the union of the Nura clan
and the Tetsura clan,
Oikawa Tsurara & Tetsura Shin
this coming December 22.
We hope to see your attendance at
The venue...
Author's Notes:
So, what do you think? I made some changes and added an OC of mine. Maybe I'll make a sequel, depends on my time, but hopefully yeah. So, tell me what you all think, okay?
Thanks for reading!