I probably shouldn't be writing this... I schools started and I already have a story going that I'd rather not abandon... But this is too good an idea(In my Opinion) To pass up... GAH! Screw it. I'll do two fanfics at once and handle everything with school at once. Can't be too hard right? *Nervous laughter* ... Don't expect frequent updates. Oh! And I'll be using Last name first then first name for this fanfic. ( Nura Rikuo rather than Rikuo Nura )

Warning! Possible AU, OOCness, OCs, Spelling and grammar mistakes(sometimes I just don't catch things...) and terrible knowledge of japanese clothing names. Also, I'm no expert on japanese culture so go easy on me if I mess up (I don't mean ignore it though. Tell me. Just don't yell at me)

Disclaimer: I do not own Nurarihyon no Mago but the OCs in this fanfic are mine so don't take them.

Chapter 1

When Red Meets Crimson

For once, the sky was completely clear. There wasn't a real cloud in miles. The moon was full and you would have been able to see the stars if it weren't for the lights of the city near by. It was a Hot-Blooded night, a night for mischief. All sorts of Youkai both big and small would be out tonight to cause their share of trouble; however, no one would get hurt. For that was the Third Heir's law and his word was absolute. High above the lights of Ukiyoe Town was the Third Heir and his Hyakki Yako, who watched the night go by from their perch in their magical clouds.

Kuromaru flew to Rikuo, who sat at the head of his parade in his night form, "Sandaime! There's trouble on the east end of town. A fight broke out and there are too many youkai fighting for us to handle. We request support."

Rikuo looked over at Kuromaru for a moment then nodded,"Right." He then addressed him Hyakki,"Come on you lot! We have a fight to go to!"

The response was immediate. Their blood felt like it was on fire at the thought of a fight and a chance to show off. Those chances didn't come often any more for the Nura Gumi. Not since the final battle with Abe No Seimei nearly 10 years prior. The parade was off, following Rikuo's lead to where Kuromaru had said the fight was.

When they arrived the place was already a battlefield of fear and chaos. It was difficult to tell which side was which. When the Nura Gumi arrived the stronger and more eager fighters went off instantly. Kurotabo and Aotabo went at another of their 'contests' to see who could subdue more enemies. Tsurara started freezing the more violent youkai and kubinashi and Kejoro teamed up to take down any who tried to flee the scene. Rikuo didn't fight, rather he watched his subordinates take care of the situation. Which turned out to be a good decision, because he was the first to notice something was off. Amongst the many Youkai of the battle, there was a single human woman dressed in a multi layered Kimono who stood in the middle of the scene. She had long pure black hair and kind dark brown eyes. She simply smiled and watched, and didn't move.

A woman . . ? Thought Rikuo. He walked towards her, a cautious yet curious look in his eyes. When she didn't react he reached out to touch her and called out,"Hey."

His hand passed through her and for some reason, he kept going. He fell forward, falling through the human whom he couldn't touch. And he kept falling. And falling. And falling.

How bland. . . I muse to myself. I sit before two men who have come as my suitors. The two both wish to marry me, and my father has approved of them both. But because they both wished for my hand and my father did not wish to chose, for fear that he may choose the wrong one, the two were holding a contest of sorts to win my favor. First it had been poetry. They each took turns writing extravagant poetry in my honour. Then it had been horseback riding. They rode to see who could be the better of the two. Then it had been archery. They shot arrows at targets and they both hit the bulls eye many times, and it was evident that neither was better than the other. And now they had insisted on a sword fighting competition. We were at 6 matches finished and they had two wins each plus 2 draws and they were still going at it.

I had stopped paying attention long ago. Neither of them interested me. They were both very nice people. They were kind, and strong, and brave. They were both talented and rich and quite good looking. There wasn't a thing about either of them that was wrong in any way. But they didn't interest me. They were boring. They were, in my eyes, the type of people that didn't have a face.

They were too perfect and that blended them into the crowd of many other 'perfect' suitors that had come knocking at our doorstep.

It's not that they were bad in any way, they simply just didn't click with me.

I glance at my father who sits next to me. He watches that fight intently.

"Father?" I speak to him.

He looks at me and smiled kindly,"yes?"

"It has gotten quite late. Might we postpone this for another day?"

He stares at me blankly for a moment then nods,"of course. We should be getting dinner soon as well." He turns to the two suitors who are fighting,"let us stop for now!" He calls out.

The two men stop fighting and turn to look at my father, both appearing startled for a moment. Then they both bow with respect and go to clean up and put away the wooden swords that had been used for the match.

"I think I shall retire to my quarters for now. Send someone to get me when the meal is ready." I stand up and leave without waiting for a response.

I enter our home, its a very large house with many rooms that don't get much use, and that makes it rather easy to get lost. I make my way to my room and glance outside a passing window. The sun is setting and it appears as if the sky is ablaze. When I was little, I rather enjoyed looking out at the sunset and sit there for long hours watching it set and the stars appear in the sky. I smile at the memory. It was back before my brother had gone off to war and disappeared.

I finally reach my room and I stop reminiscing in old memories. Instead, I began to wonder what I should do while I wait for dinner to finish.

I open the door.

"What on earth...?" I whisper to myself.

In front of me lies a man unconscious. He looks to be maybe in his twenties. His hair is long and white on the top and black on the bottom. As his eyes are closed, I'm unable to see what color they are. His kimono is black and he wears a indigo blue cloak. A sword lies at his hip.

When the shock of seeing the man disappears I go to his side and poke him with the fan I've been using all day,"hello?"

I lean over him to get a better look at his face. He is quite good looking. No! Don't think like that! You have no idea who this man is! And he obviously doesn't seem quite human. Is it one of the ayakashi I've heard so much about?

"Nmh..." He mumbles and I lean in closer to hear him more clearly,"Don't... Fight..."

Don't fight? Don't fight who? Don't fight what? I sigh and, by my surprise, be moves.

I sit up straight immediately and spread out my fan to use it to cover the spreading blush on my face. He sits up and looked over at me. Eyes of pure crimson stare back at me.

"Who-?" He starts before wincing in pain. I reach out my hand and touch his shoulder, a worried look on my face.

"Are you alright?" I ask him, tilting my head a bit to one side.

He blinks and looks at me. Though he still appears to be in pain, he smiles,"I'll be fine."

I withdraw my hand and place them both in my lap,"Who are you? How did you get in my room?"

He looks confused then he looks around,"Oh... Uh... Well I'm not entirely sure."

My eyes widen and I lean forward just a tad, "You aren't? Well at least tell me your name."

His face contorts and he grips his forehead tighter,"My... My..."

I frown at his pain and begin to reach out for his shoulder to comfort him again,"Your what?"

He looks at me and frowns, a sad look on his face,"My... My name is..."

I smile softly at him and rub his shoulder,"It's alright. You don't have to push yourself."

He's quite the curious person... I muse to myself, If he's a person at all.

he lowers his hand from his face and takes deep breaths, betting over whatever pain he must be experiencing.

"Rikuo." He says after a few moments.

I tilt my head again,"Is that your name?"

He nods slowly,"It's Nura Rikuo."

I smile kindly at him,"It's a nice name, Rikuo-san. My name is Tsukino Mai."

The woman before him was the same one he had seen on the battlefield; although, he couldn't fathom why she was there comforting him or where he even was. He had trouble enough trying to endure the pain he felt. He felt like he had taken a direct hit from Tsuchigumo. He tried to recall the events that had taken place. He was leading his night parade into battle and spotted the woman before him standing in the middle of the field. He went towards her and when he found he couldn't touch her he suddenly felt like he was falling. And then... What had happened after then?

...

He couldn't remember. Why couldn't he remember? He remembered everything else that happened. Had he passed out at that point? Nothing made any sense. And at the center of it all, he thought, is this woman.

"it's a nice name, Rikuo-san. My name is Tsukino Mai."

"Tsukino-san..." I mumble as if testing the name out on my tongue.

She smiled warmly at me,"Rikuo-san. I know it might be rude to ask, but... What are you?"

I blinked in surprise. she's a bit blunt. "I'm a youkai." I responded calmly,"But not fully."

"Not fully?" she questioned, looking curious.

"I'm 3/4 human."

She clasped her hands together,"Ah! So thats why you don't seesm normal." she smiled sweetly,"You're 1/4 youkai!"

My sweat dropped. Cross that. She's very blunt.

Someone called out for Tsukino. "It appears as though my time is up." Tsukino looked in the direction of the caller and then back at me,"You can stay here for as long as you like. I'll see if I can sneak back some food for you. Okay, Rikuo-san?"

I looked surprised and stopped her when she stood up to leave,"Wait. Why are you being so kind?"

She paused for a moment to think then she smiled once more and said,"I don't know. I just feel like it's the right thing to so. I'll be back soon, Rikuo-san."

I left the room and the Youkai with it and headed to go eat with my father. Dinner was quiet. My father occasionally asked questions relating to the suiters from earlier in the day and I responded with as few words as I could. When father wasn't looking, I hid bits of food. When dinner was finialy over I stood up to leave.

"Mai."

I look at my father,"Yes, Father?"

"Is something wrong?"

I must have looked confused because he elaborated,"You're quieter than usual today. Did something happen?"

I did? Huh. "No. Nothings wrong. And If there was, I'd tell you immediately."

He watched me for a moment as if trying to discern if it was the truth or not, then he simply nodded and let me leave.

When I arrived back in my room I found Rikuo standing and stretching. I held out the bowl of rice I had managed to sneak as well as a pair of chopsticks I had asked one of the cleaners to get for me. He glanced at me and then took them, "Thanks." He mumbled.

"What will you do now?" I asked him.

He stopped eating a moment to look at me again. He looked back at his food and said, "I'm not sure. First off, I need to figure put where I am. Then I need to figure out how to get home."

"Well you're in Edo now. Where do you live?" I tilt my head a bit to one side.

His eyes widen, which confused me. Was there something so shocking about being in Edo?

"What year is it?" He asked, sounding nervous and slightly panicked.

"It's 2021. Why?"

Now he looks utterly confused. He stays silent for a while and I can't help but wonder what he's thinking about.

"Are you sure its Edo? And not Tokyo?" He asked, his voice much quieter than before.

"Whats Tokyo?" I ask. I've never heard of such a place before. Is it one of the smaller districts?

He shook his head,"Never mind. I think I know what happened now."

"What happened then?"

"I traveled to a parallel universe." He looked dead serious so I tried not to laugh.

"A... Parallel universe?" I ask.

I must have looked skeptical because he frowned, "I'm not kidding you know. I'm serious."

"Well how could that be possible?" I frown as I try to think about it.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that where I come from, Edo has long since changed it's name to Tokyo. But I can't have possibly gone back to the past because the year hasn't changed. Therefore the only logical conclusion is that I've gone to a parallel universe. Question is, how?" He crossed his arms and closed his eyes to think.

I sat there and watched him for a little while, waiting to see what he would do. It seemed a long time passed, but that probrably wasn't true, before he finally stood up, "I'm going to go and look around."

I blink in surprise at the sudden statement, "You will?"

He nodded,"Yeah."

I stay silent for a moment longer before smiling at him,"Then be sure to tell me what it's like when you come back."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Tell you what it's like? Wouldn't you already know?"

I shook my head,"No, I don't. I'm not allowed to leave without my father with me, so I've only seen the outside when I'm surrounded by guards. I'm quite curious what it's like for common folk."

He stays silent for a little while. Then hold's out his hand,"Then why don't you come with me? I can show you."

I shake my head,"No. Thats not possible. You'd never be able to take me out of this place without being seen."

He smirks,"Oh, but thats where you're wrong. I'm a youkai called a nurarihyon. Not being seen is our specialty. I can get you out and back and no one would ever know."

I jump at the chance,"Really?!"

He looks surprised at my sudden change in mood,"Y-yeah."

"Then please!"

He doesn't move for a moment then smiles a bit, "you're an odd one, you know that?"

I blink then frown,"How rude!"

He laughs and then picks me up bridal style. Being so close to his face and chest makes me blush and I use the sleeve of my kimono to cover it.

"Ready?" He looks down at me.

I nod. He leaves the room and we walk past some of the staff employed in the mansion. For some reason they don't see us. so he wasn't kidding . . . I think. When we reach outside he starts to run. He jumps the wall and we reach the town quickly.

The town was still very busy despite it being late at night. Lanterns cast a yellowish glow across the stalls and people are alive with chatter. Salesmen call out to sell trinkets and charms. Delicious smells come from the food stalls cooking all sorts of treats.

"Wow! This is really cool!" I hold onto Rikuo's Kimono a little tighter and smile up at him.

He smiled back,"It is, isn't it?"

I nod,"It's so different from when I'm riding with my father. People look so relaxed, It's wonderful!"

I nod at Tsukino then look around again. I jump up onto a near by roof in order to get a better look at where I was. It looked familiar. Many of the roads I knew where there, they simply didn't look like the roads that I knew. Rather they reminded me of how the roads were depicted to look like back during the Edo period. Does that mean that this is a place where time moves on, but technology does not improve? How is that even possible? No. That doesn't matter. I already know that I'm in some sort of parallel universe. Now I need to figure out a way home.

Something runs past me and I turn to see what, or who, it was, but it disappeared before I could get a good look at it.

"NIDAIMEEEE!" An all to familiar voice calls out. I turn to look who it is and see a body with a floating head going straight at me.

"K-kubinashi?!"

Aaaand thats all for this chapter! I'll be uploading the second chapter as soon as I can, but after that the updates will be a bit more spaced out. Since school has still only just started updates might still be frequent but I won't expect that to last long (I'm taking an AP and an honors class sooo heellooo essays) What do you think about Mai? I based her appearance a bit after Yohime. In fact, Yohime was where I got her original personality. But I've changed a bunch now and she's her own character now rather than another Yohime. By the way, she's not a Yohime reincarnation if thats what you're thinking. She's her own person thank you very much. Tell me what you think and, if you'd like, what you expect from this. I actually like this story a lot better than my other one(Sakura Resting on a Mirror) But that might be because I actually know where this ones going. Haha ^^;