KANA
WARNING: This is a Yokai Rikuo x Kana story, so if you guys are anti-Kana, don't read this story. Rated T, maybe a little bit on the M side due to future sexual content and language.
Disclaimer: Nurarihyon no Mago isn't mine.
A/N: Okay, so I've just watched the anime and I think that I very much like the idea of Kana and Yokai Rikuo to be an item. And because there aren't that much RikuoxKana stories, so I figured that it wouldn't hurt to try one. The reason I chose Yokai Rikuo as the main character is obviously because I prefer him better than the sweet cuddly Human Rikuo, so I would like to remind you guys that I use only Yokai Rikuo in this story.
CH1
His eyes narrowed as he saw his target, kneeling down on one knee to inspect the soil on that particular spot. The wide gash he'd managed to inflict on the underside of the red-eyed yokai's chest a few weeks ago was covered by his black kimono, tucked into a pair of matching black hakama, and as if the injury was one of his previous foes, it was left ignored by the third head of the Nura clan.
As expected from the third head of the Nura clan, Nura Rikuo. The white-haired Yokai had always been attentive to his surroundings and the area governed by his clan, a little injury on his body didn't really affect him much. A long tongue crept out and licked Hebidayu's thin lips as he watched the white-haired Yokai slant his eyes towards his general hiding place. Smirking, the snake-headed yokai decided to lunge towards the now-prepared Rikuo.
The first thing Hebidayu noticed was that Rikuo had trimmed his hair, and he could really say that he looked too much like his human form with the trimmed hair. Clashing swords with the third Nura, he couldn't even care less.
"I knew it was you, Hebidayu."
His red eyes bore into the yokai's head, and for a second it actually unnerved the snake-headed demon. With a grunt, he shifted his sword to slash the red-eyed demon vertically. Rikuo managed to block the sword with his own, a smirk playing his lips.
Hebidayu was reminded yet again, why Nura Rikuo had to die. The man absolutely refused to die and was it him or had his opponent gotten even stronger? He was faster, more forceful than he'd been a few years ago, and definitely better than when they'd been comrades all those years ago. Not that Rikuo would bother remember any of the events surrounding that particular part of his life anyway. He blocked a horizontal strike and used the opening to aim a kick at one of the spots where he was certain he'd wounded the yokai in front of him when they last fought.
It had the desired effect and he heard ribs crack before down the demon fell, into a heap of white hair and intense ruby eyes. You may act like a demon Nura Rikuo, but in some ways you're more human than anyone else I know. And that will be the trigger of your downfall. He brought his sword up and aimed for the heart, driving it down swiftly.
A small movement in the corner of his eye was the only warning he had before he was knocked off balance by a tightly clenched fist that belonged to the delicate looking creature who claimed kinship to his first target when he resurrected. He remembered the brown-haired girl too much, because he had clearly recalled killing her so-called sister, who was that dark-haired Omyoji again? Ah yes, Yura-chan was what the brunette called her. The girl that he would have preferred to leave alone if it wasn't for the fact that she had seen too much and he didn't need a petite omyoji girl coming after him and ruining his plans to take over the Nura throne. In the end, the Yura girl died, and it slipped his mind that one day her best friend who was there to witness the murder would be the one to deliver a punch to his scaled head.
Hebidayu spit out some blood from his broken tooth and as soon as he saw the girl lunging at him again with two short swords in her hands, he managed to dodge the double swords and used the opening to deliver a slash to her flank with his own poisoned sword. He cursed as the blade of his sword sliced through the girl's side. He wanted to reserve that newly concocted poison for Rikuo, but the girl had interfered with his plan. He didn't wait for the girl to collapse when he swiftly turned around to attack the now-standing Rikuo. This time he was going to make sure the third head of the Nura clan to perish once and for all.
Even if it took all of his poison to be wasted on that brown-haired Omyoji girl.
It took a while for Rikuo to stand up again, and with half of his mind wondering about the certain brown-haired girl whom suddenly punched Hebidayu, he prepared to strike his previous opponent. Whoever the woman in the omyoji attire was, he was going to really kill Hebidayu for hurting a woman from the Nura area.
A flash of white and red appeared before him, and suddenly, he found her between him and his opponent, sword raised in effort to fend off the other yokai's blow. The sharp scrape of their weapons as they came together startled him out of his confusion. Kana blinked up into the snake-headed yokai's face but rally enough strength to keep him incapacitated for a moment.
"Woman, what are you doing." The agitation was focused directly at her, and she knew that his red eyes were burning a hole into the back of her head.
"This is my opponent, Yokai." She turned her face just enough to see him with one eye.
Her brown eyes made it all come back to him in a flash of distant memories… memories from his human side. The memories before Human Rikuo decided to give all of his body to be taken over by the Yokai Rikuo.
There was a flicker of recognition in her eyes for a split second before she spoke up. "Please don't interfere with my fight."
She turned all of her attention on the yokai who was bearing down on her with phenomenal power. She could feel the intensity of Rikuo's gaze for only a second longer, then his crushing aura moves to the edge of their arena. By that time Yuki-Onna and Kubinashi arrived, crying out to their master. Rikuo held up a hand to silence the two yokais as he focused his eyes onto the match between the omyoji woman and Hebidayu.
"Hmph. Who'd have thought that the great Nura Rikuo would be cowed by a mere dog." The Yokai's dark eyes shone with fury as Kana had stolen his prey from his grasp.
"I. Am. Not. A. Dog." Each syllable bolstered her strength, and with the last word, she was able to break apart from her foe. He immediately came at her with a flurry of hard slashes that she barely managed to parry or outright dodged. He followed his slashes with a lunge that was too full of anger, and he overcompensated. Kana got in a swipe along his side as his momentum carried him past her.
She turned and watched as her enemy righted himself, using his free hand to apply pressure to his wound. The gash was ugly but not life threatening. Damn.
The yokai sculpted his expression into that angry sneer before he came at Kana again. Inside, she wanted nothing more than to drop her sword and flee like a screaming little girl. But, she knew that Yura was somewhere out there watching her, and she would not let her down. Kana took a deep breath to calm her nerves and reached into her sleeve to summon one of her shikigami.
"Rokuson!"
The piece of paper transformed into a large deer. The animal lunged at Hebidayu, but the snake-head managed to dodge and counter the attack by elongating its neck to strangle the deer.
Kubinashi narrowed his eyes as he looked from the deer to the brunette in the white and red omyoji attire, panting while a hand applied pressure to her wound.
"Yuki-Onna, do you recall that deer?"
Nodding, the snow Yokai turned to her master, his hand applying pressure to his re-opened wound while the other was still holding onto the hilt of his sword. Did her master remember the ex-classmate of Human Rikuo? She frowned as she watched Kana summon another shikigami. The summoned canine pounced towards the startled Hebidayu and managed to bite off a large chunk from the snake yokai's arm.
"Kana!" The wolf abandoned the snake, which was crying out in pain as his neck retreated; making Rokuson able to free itself from his grasp.
"Kana!" Tanro growled again as he rushed to the Omyoji's side when he noticed her faltering posture.
Kana managed to put on a shaky smile as she pressed her wound harder. Sweat was beginning to form on her temples as she sheathed her double swords.
"I'm okay… Tanro, is Hebidayu injured?"
Rokuson rushed to Kana's side to let the woman rest her slumping body against his. The dog nodded. A pained smile graced her lips once again as she clutched the sleeve of her Omyoji attire.
"Just a little more, Yura-chan. Just a little more, and I'll avenge you…"
Her knees started to buckle, and she managed to call out to Tenro.
"Yes, Kana."
She let out a heavy breath, and inhaled shakily as she directed her gaze onto the still-writhing Hebidayu. Without taking her eyes off the snake Yokai, she clutched her sleeve tighter.
"Finish him, Tanro."
With a curt nod, the dog lunged towards the Hebidayu.
Kubinashi and Yuki-Onna averted their gazes somewhere else as they saw the dog lunge towards the screaming Hebidayu. Rikuo watched as Kana closed her eyes as Hebidayu's voice begged for his life when Tenro ripped the damned snake-headed yokai into shreds. A few moments passed as the summoned animals disappeared from the fighting arena as the brunette started to fall face-down onto the dirt, and Rikuo could hear her breathing heavily as unconsciousness started to envelope her.
Zen appeared moments after and was surprised to see a limp body in Omyoji attire lying on the dirt.
"Rikuo, what happened to her?"
Rikuo sheathed his sword and with a hand pressing the wound on the lower part of his chest, he neared the semi-conscious body. He knelt down and removed some brown strands covering her face. Her eyes were unfocused, and he could hear her mumbling something.
"Yura… chan… I did… it…" she managed to whisper out those words before her eyes closed.
"She's Kana."
Zen knelt next to Rikuo and noticed the yokai's re-opened wound.
"You've busted your wound. Are you injured anywhere else?"
Rikuo kept his eyes trained onto the unconscious body lying before them, and nodded.
"Some of my ribs are broken."
Yuki-Onna stood behind the men. "Zen-sama, Rikuo-sama encountered Hebidayu just now. That's why his wounds re-opened. But this woman interfered before Rikuo-sama was further injured. It seemed like she was slashed by Hebidayu's sword… but she managed to defeat Hebidayu."
Rikuo nodded, affirming Yuki-Onna's story. Zen narrowed his eyes as he inspected Kana's injury, his hand removing Kana's hand that was still kept pressed onto her wound.
"Rikuo…"
"What is it?"
The medication master placed her hand back into place. "Hebidayu's sword was poisoned. She could die."
Standing up, Rikuo nodded towards the limp body. "Bring her home and treat her wounds… Yuki-Onna."
"Yes, Rikuo-sama?"
He turned around and prepared to take off. "Get my mother to clean her up."
"Hai, Rikuo-sama."
With a last glance towards the limp body in Zen's arms, he disappeared from the site.
They waited until Rikuo was really gone when Kubinashi inspected the girl in Zen's arms.
"She's really Ienaga-san. How did she know Hebidayu?"
Yuki-Onna frowned as she noticed the edge of two scars peeking from Kana's collar below her left ear and another just before her right collarbone.
"This is weird, Zen-sama…"
"Why?"
Yuki-Onna sighed. "It seems like she recognized Rikuo-sama…"
Zen frowned as they started to hurry towards the Nura manor. He was sure the Nura clan had managed to erase the memories of those who knew about Nura Rikuo. But how could this girl recognize Rikuo? And he was even in his yokai form, a form his friends had never encountered.
He could feel Kana stirring a bit in his arms, and he fastened his pace.
Whatever it was, they needed to treat Kana first.
To say that she was surprised was an understatement as soon as Zen had come home with an unconscious woman in his arms, bleeding heavily. It was even more surprising when she recognized who the woman was. It had already been ten years, but she couldn't forget the girl's brown hair. She would've been happy to see the girl again after so many years, but seeing the battered condition of the once cheerful girl, she wasn't so sure if she should feel so happy.
Rikuo had dropped by the guest room where Wakana had been changing Kana's clothes, his face unreadable as his mother asked for an explanation. He had just stayed outside the room, glanced a bit towards the blanket-covered body lying in the middle of the chamber, and walked away. His mother was quite upset by his behaviour, but she understood that he had his own questions too. Questions that could only be answered by the person lying unconscious from the lethal poison which could've killed her had not Zen treated her as soon as they reached the manor.
A sigh escaped her as she looked at the patient's pure face. Kana had really grown up into a beautiful lady, even at the age of twenty three. Her brown hair which was once short, had grown several inches past her shoulders. Before she changed Kana's attire, her eyes caught sight of the edge of a scar peeking out from the front collar of the yukata. She traced a finger along the tip, starting from the right side of her collarbone, dragging her fingertip lightly downwards, and stopped as the scar disappeared beneath the front collar.
She knew the scar had run between her breasts, and slanted to the left, tapering just before the girl's waistline. She had found another scar starting from Kana's nape, which started just below her left ear, and slanted downwards to the right, stopping on the small of her delicate back. Poor girl. She hadn't known what Kana had gone through during those ten years, but judging from her injuries and the Omyoji attire she wore when she came into the manor, it was enough to tell that the girl hadn't had her memories erased by the clan, as they had estimated. Maybe she had escaped the ritual somehow, and she didn't know what to do if the girl wakes up.
Sighing yet again, also for the hundredth time, she went to get a tray of food for the girl if she woke up.
As the door to the room was slid closed, she missed the two sheathed swords lying by Kana's side which pulsed and vibrated, rattling the tatami floor as they did so.
A/N: That's it for the first chapter. I know, there are a lot of unanswered questions, but bear with it, this is just how I do my stories. Hehehe… I will be very busy, but I hope to finish this fic. I've typed most of the chapters in my notebook, but who knows if there will be changes, right? Hope you enjoyed this, don't forget to leave reviews. Hugs and kisses!
