Disclaimer and Warning: See chapter 1

A/N: I'm sorry for being late in posting this~ have to update NGD firs *lol*. Waaaai! XD Thank you very much for the enthusiastic reviews, guuuys! You're the best! XDDD. Saa, now this is the 3rd chapter! ENJOY!

P.S. I'm also still looking for a beta so I can update faster (since I don't have to double and triple check my own work if I have beta for this fic *snifs*).

Chapter 3: Sandaime of the Nura Clan

Yoru opened his eyes slightly as he felt the warmth of someone else's presence near his worn out body. His sight was still blurry and there was the dull throb of pain in his entire body, but upon seeing the hints of brown hair, he had immediately assumed it was Rikuo.

"Hey…," he whispered lightly and tried to smile to the boy, but somehow, he could feel the person stiffen. He couldn't really ask why when the sleepiness and drowsiness pulled him back into the bliss of unconsciousness.

The second time he woke, it was almost dawn. Yoru knew because he could feel his body skin tingling, a light sensation that he would soon turn back into Rikuo. The silver-black haired youkai then realized something when he saw the ceiling.

It was the same as the last time Yoru regained consciousness. He blinked slightly, trying to remember. He thought that last night he was in his inner world together with his Rikuo, but it seemed he had been wrong.

Yoru blinked again before the crimson eyed mix-breed tried to move his limbs. They weren't damaged too badly. The wound on his chest still hurt, but was already closed. He had recovered his strength some too, but he still couldn't use them carelessly.

Yoru immediately sat up in alert, cringing slightly at the pain of his injury, when he remembered about his sword. Where was Nenekirimaru?

The young master and Sandaime of the infamous Yakuza-Youkai family then frantically looked around until he spotted the katana laying just beside his futon. It seemed, last night he didn't let go of the sword at all.

Good. It wouldn't be funny if Yoru lost the last tool to maintain his lifeline. In his current condition, he couldn't really activate his fear for long without getting drained completely after all…. If his only back up instrument for self defense wasn't with him, he was as good as doomed.

Yoru held the sheathed katana close to his chest, minding his injury, while he was sighing deeply, slightly in relief. Now if he could just guess where he was…

The youkai then blinked as he felt another presence in the room. He turned slightly, facing across the still dark room, spotting another futon with someone laying on top of it under a blanket.

Yoru then remembered about last night incident. He met a human… and a big wolf-like Youkai who could turn into a maneki-neko. That youkai was strong… he actually took care of the pursuers that were sent to hunt Yoru down and that gave him quite the trouble.

So… in other words, Yoru was probably saved by that human and that youkai, huh?

Yoru sighed again. He moved slowly from his futon towards the sleeping figure across the room. He saw that human boy more clearly… a teenager, probably wasn't older than 17. He had light brown hair…

Huh?—Now, Yoru understood. It seemed he had mistaken this boy as Rikuo the first time he opened his eyes last night. They had the same brown hair, but Rikuo's was a shade darker. Though, in the darkness of the room and with only the moonlight as the source of light, this boy kind of resembled Rikuo.

The boy was sound asleep, and he looked peaceful like this. He had a strange sensation last night when he had a dream… or a nightmare, apparently. It was almost like feeling he wasn't alone in that dream and that somebody was with him there… taking all the fright and terror he felt whenever he had it. Was it possible that this kid channeled his dream somehow?

Well, Yoru supposed it wasn't that strange. After all, the kid was with another youkai when he met him last night, and he called the youkai 'Sensei.' Maybe that youkai taught the boy some kind of technique… but even without it, he already felt tremendous supernatural power that was quite impressive from the boy.

Maybe the boy was an Onmyouji or some short? But… ah, speculating like this wouldn't help. He should just ask the boy after waking him up. After all, he needed to know where he was so he could decide to move away as soon as possible.

It was bad enough getting this kid and that youkai involved last night. He couldn't possibly endanger anyone else in his run.

Yoru reached out to the boy to shake him, but before he made contact with the boy's skin a paw appeared out of nowhere and tapped the back of his hand. Yoru stopped as he felt the claws which came out from the paw prickling his skin slightly.

"What are you trying to do?"

Yoru turned aside and saw a fat cat face. He blinked once before snorting involuntarily. That chubby overweight form was very funny!

"What are you laughing at?" the cat narrowed his eyes dangerously at Yoru and he shook his head immediately, still trying to hold down his laughter, though.

"S-sorry… it's just… been awhile since I saw something funny…," Yoru coughed slightly, trying to calm himself down.

"What is funny?" the white chocolate-tinted furred cat asked again, its eyes narrowing even more.

"Nothing," Yoru coughed once again before calming down completely. "Right… I just want to wake him," he then turned to look at the sleeping boy again. "I need to know where I am," he continued slowly.

"Aren't you supposed to tell us who you are first before you disturb anyone else's sleep?" the cat asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"Oh, right… I'm really not used to doing this…," Yoru muttered under his breath, feeling slightly bothered because usually, Rikuo did this kind of stuff, sweet talking others and manipulating them to do what he wanted. Yoru was straight forward and brazen, so words weren't really his thing.

"Name… alright, I'm Yoru Rikuo," he said, and then he looked at the cat expectantly.

"Madara," the cat said with a smirk.

"It's Nyanko-sensei."

Rikuo was surprised when he heard the second answer. He looked down at the sleeping boy who had woken up now. The boy then sat up slowly. "I'm Natsume Takashi," the boy said yawning slightly.

"Sorry for waking you up, Natsume," Yoru said, feeling slightly bad as well when he remembered how he had pointed his katana at his neck as well. "And sorry about last night… I was kind of confused. I thought you were one of the enemies," he continued, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"It's fine as long as you don't try that again. How is your injury, Yoru-san?" It seemed Natsume had woken up for sometimes because he knew his name. He must have been listening to their Yoru and the cat's conversation at some points.

"It's getting better," Yoru nodded gratefully. "Thank you for helping me last night. Err…, where is this place?" he finally asked then, rather nervously.

"It's a temple. My friend owns this place," Natsume said with a slight smile. "You can rest here until you feel okay enough to move around, though… you already moved around…" the boy's sweat dropped at that.

"I heal fast," Yoru shrugged.

Then there was silence… awkward silence.

"Oh, for youkai sake, speak something. This atmosphere is so thick I can even cut it with my claws," Madara… Nyanko, whatever the cat name was, said so suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Ah… no worries about it, I'm not good with words, but the other me will be chatty enough to keep you company," Yoru said with an ease. That he could be certain. Rikuo would be very polite to them after all and he'd try to do anything to thank them for saving Yoru and his life.

"The other you?" Natsume looked up, looking confused.

"Yeah… the dawn is coming up. As soon as the sunlight hit me, I'll…" and just like a cue the first ray of sunlight crept from the window and hit Yoru's head and the corner of his eyes.

Yoru shut his eyes as the tingling sensation got stronger on his skin until his consciousness was pulled back and Rikuo hugged him from behind.

Time to change…

Rikuo's voice whispered, tickling Yoru's hearing. His feather like touch caressed Yoru's skin and Yoru smiled as he was being taken over by the smaller, slenderer boy.

"Take care…" Yoru whispered back as he got back to the inner world when Rikuo took over.

Rikuo opened his eyes only to be greeted by the open-mouthed Natsume who widened his eyes and a whistling Nyanko who seemed gleeful seeing him.

"Ah… good morning," Rikuo smiled with his cute beaming expression.

There was a brief silence before "He—he suddenly turned into a kid!" Natsume shouted in a shocked gasp. "Moreover, a different kid from his big version…!" Now, he looked so comically surprised that Rikuo had to chuckle seeing his expression.

"No… it's still me, Rikuo," Rikuo said with a slight grin. "This is my form in daylight," he explained.

"See, a mix-breed," Nyanko snickered wickedly from his spot.

"You figured that out?" the chocolate haired boy turned to the cat while raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Of course, I'm the mighty Madara-sama after all," Nyanko said with proud smirk.

"I see… that's quite impressive for a cat," Rikuo giggled slightly, stroking his now brunet hair, feeling amused.

"I'm not a cat!" Nyanko protested immediately, but Rikuo just giggled more.

"Ah, don't boost his ego anymore, Yoru-san. He'll become insufferable if you do," Natsume huffed, looking annoyed at his cat now after getting over his initial shock.

Rikuo turned to Natsume and smiled apologetically at the teenager. "It's Rikuo. Yoru is my night form. I prefer you calling me Rikuo in my day form," he said.

"Oh… sorry then, Rikuo-kun…," Natsume blushed slightly for the slight mistake.

"No problem. I can call you Natsume-kun, right?" Rikuo threw a cheery grin again to Natsume and he looked slightly amazed. Rikuo noticed that of course. "What's wrong?" he tilted his head aside, and looking at Natsume questioningly.

"I'm… just surprised…. You… look like a totally different person from your night form," Natsume didn't sound sure. He looked confused as well.

"Hmm… how can I explain this…?" Rikuo mumbled slightly, raking his brain to look for a suitable and acceptable explanation for his body condition and his co-existence with Yoru.

"Ah, here is easiest way…. We're like two beings in one body, kind of Multiple Personality Disorder. The difference is we really do change appearance when the personality changes as well. Do you get it?" Rikuo explained then, trying to simplify it.

Natsume nodded slightly. "I see…"

"So… who are you and what are you doing in this village?" Nyanko asked to the point then.

"Nyanko-sensei…" Natsume's sweat dropped.

"Ah… how should I say this…? I think it's better if you don't get involved too deeply into our problem," Rikuo looked down on his laps, feeling worried so suddenly after the question was thrown. "You can get into serious trouble as well. I don't want you guys to get hurt because of me, so… I'll leave as soon as I'm strong enough to move far away," he continued with a troubled smile.

"Don't be so distant, Rikuo-kun," Natsume said, smiling softly and ruefully at Rikuo. "We already got involved enough because of last night."

"Ah… I'm sorry…" Rikuo looked up at Natsume guiltily.

"It's okay. You don't have to go into detail. Just… tell us what we're supposed to be worried about," Natsume responded kindly.

Rikuo was contemplating this for a moment before nodding. "Are you guys familiar with Nura Clan from Tokyo?" he tested how far he could tell these guys about his family.

"Nura Clan… is it a big family or famous family?" Natsume asked, looking clueless. He turned to Nyanko, but the cat just shook his head, not familiar as well.

I see… so it's the right decision to come here. This place is strangely secluded, unaffected, as if it was clad by a layer of fear that hide this place from the outsiders youkai radar like Tonoo. But in exchange… the youkai in this area don't seem to know about the event outside this village as well…

"Rikuo-kun?"

Rikuo was silent in his own musing for too long apparently, because Natsume had already called him again in confusion.

"Oh, sorry…" Rikuo shook his head. "Okay… Nura Clan is a youkai clan that controls Central Japan Night Time," he said and both Nyanko and Natsume widened their eyes in surprise at that. "And I…am Nura Rikuo, Sandaime of that Nura Clan…." He watched his listeners' reaction carefully. But strangely, they didn't shout or yell or anything.

If not… they were utterly speechless. Shocked, yeah, but speechless.

"B-but…" now Natsume spoke up, "You're still a kid…."

"I'm 16," Rikuo hurriedly corrected earnestly. He hated it when people did that, still calling him a kid and a child just because he looked younger, smaller and shorter than he was supposed to. He was a high-school student too, damn it!

Natsume was silent again, like he was thinking about something before saying "Yoru-san looks like 20."

"Yeah… he looks older, but we're the same. After all, we share a body," Rikuo said, nodding.

"Okay…" Natsume seemed taking that normally, which was odd because it was supposed to be so weird for human to hear it. But then again, Natsume probably had witnessed his own fair share of oddity in youkai world that he didn't bother to rationalize it anymore.

"So… what's the Sandaime of Nura Clan doing here, in our little village?" Nyanko asked again, strangely not deterred from the main question.

"Right… the Nura Clan is having a war right now… with the youkai clans under the lead of Nue who was born in Kyoto three years ago by Hagoromo Gitsune," Rikuo explained.

Nyanko reacted as he heard the two names. "Nue and Hagoromo Gitsune?" the cat hissed and looked really surprised.

"Y-yes…" Rikuo found that odd and Natsume looked utterly confused.

"Sensei… you know them?" Natsume asked.

"Of course I know them. Hagoromo Gitsune is a fox youkai who likes to disguise herself as human to manipulate people, the only youkai which can be reborn over and over again by possessing human. Nue is the strongest evilest youkai that's ever lived. They are very famous in youkai world… and you're having a war with those two?" Nyanko looked skeptical.

"Three years ago, Kyoto was in jeopardy because of Hagoromo Gitsune… I went there to defeat her. She was killed, but she gave birth to a Nue. Since a long time ago… my family and Hagoromo Gitsune has never been docile with each other. But Nue… he's the pure evil that has to be stopped before this world turns into permanent darkness…!" Rikuo said seriously while unconsciously reached his palm to his stomach.

"I… am on the run… from Nue right now…" Rikuo gritted his teeth. "I can't stay here for too long or he will come here and destroy this village as well…" he continued regretfully.

Nyanko and Natsume glanced at each other, one in worried look and one still in perplexity.

For I carrying the only hope… that can defeat Nue and restore the peace of Japanese youkai world…

Rikuo thought, caressing his stomach tenderly….

End of Chapter 3

Tbc…

A/N: Ow, ow, ow… what happened here? This story has turned out to be more serious now after Rikuo woke up…. Yeah, so what do you think? I haven't put the interaction between Natsume and Rikuo into more detail for the sake of plot progress, but there will be lots of funny moments and fan services in later chapters! Stay tuned!