I'm soooooo~ sorry that it took me so log (2 years O.O) to update but please don't behead be or there won't be any updates anymore in the future. For everyone who still follows this story, you have my gratitude for sticking with me ol' lad that can't even update faster *bows so deep that hell needs to repair a street, if they have something like streets down there*
Well then, I hope you enjoy the following chapter and stick with me even if the next chapter takes a long time again (hopefully not 2 years O.o again)
6. Off to Shizuoka
The Shinkansen arrived at the station while a voice told everyone over a speaker that they arrived at the Shizuoka main station. A group of eight teens exited the train and went towards the northern exit*.
"Fewh~, man I'm tired. Why did we have to depart at three in the morning?" Maki asked no one in particular.
"Well, of course so that we have more time to do some research, Maki-kun," an ever eager Kiyotsugu answered.
They walked into town and searched for their hotel. Or at least thhey hoped it would be a hotel since it was Kiyotsugu who organised everything they weren't sure if they might end up in a really old building with a mysterious background.
"When are we there?"
"Just a few meters, it's a very lovely little hotel on the edge of town." Kiyotsugu told them.
They walk for almost half an hour before finally arriving at their destionation.
"Why the hell didn't we just take the bus?" Maki asked their 'leader' annoyed.
"That's because there are no buses that drive anywhere near here. You ask why?"
"No not really." Maki mumbled to Torii while waving her hand in front of her dismissingly. But Kiyotsugu either didn't notice or didn't care.
"That's because it's said to be haunted by the spirit of an old lady that died here decades ago." He finished his unwanted explanation.
"And you really want us to stay here for a whole week?" Maki asked him in disbelieve and anger.
After more verbal fights and and almost physical one that was luckily prevented by Rikuo they entered their hotel for the first time.
It was a small but cozy hotel and if it didn't have that rumour around it, it probably would be a good-visited hotel. But due to the rumour they were the only customers right now or so the owner said.
"We occasionaly get some guests who want to see for their own if the rumours are true or not. So even with the few customers we get, we can still manage somehow," he told them.
The hotel only had double rooms so there was a little problem with dividing the rooms.
"Well, this sucks. Either we stuff three of us in one room and have the last one to have a room for him- or herself or we have to make a girl share a room with a boy." Maki stated.
True, they were short for one boy/girl or both.
"That reminds me, why didn't Oikawa-kun or Kurata-kun come along?" Kiyotsugu asked.
"They said that they couldn't something about helping their family or doing some really important buisness." Rikuo answered.
The truth was that Rikuo insisted that they don't come along since it was to dangerous to let a yokai anywhere near a god. When they argued that he himself was a yokai he just said that most of the time he was human and therefore a complete different story.
'It was a hassle to convince them to stay behind but now maybe I should have let them come along.' Rikuo thought.
"Well, either way we still have to settle this room-sharing-issue." Seika said.
"Senpai's right. So do you boys mind occupying a room with the three of you?" Torii asked them.
"Not really." Rikuo answered.
"It would be really cramped though." Shima kind of complained.
"Oh come on Shima be a man and suck it." Maki told him.
"But..."
"I don't mind sharing a room with a boy. I'm used to it since I always shared one with my little brother when he was still..." Seika suddenly grew silent.
Somehow the mood felt heavy and nobody knew what to say or do to lift it.
"Well if that's the case we should let Rikuo and Senpai share a room." Kiyotsugu exclaimed.
"Eh? Why me?" Rikuo asked shocked.
"Well if it was Nura I think we can trust him to not do some weird stuff to her, right?" Maki asked Torii who nodded in reply.
"But... I don't think it's a good idea to let them share a room." Kana suddenly interrupted.
"Why's that Ienaga-kun?" Kiyotsugu asked.
"Well, uhm..." she stuttered.
"You don't have to worry Ienaga-san. I'm sure that nothing will happen. Rikuo's far too kind to do 'something'." Seika smiled reassuringly at Kana.
There were no more protests.
"Well then, since that's settled now lets put our stuff in our rooms and get going." Kiyotsugu said.
- With Kana and Yura -
"Nee, Ienaga-san, are you okay?" Yura asked her friend that was unpacking her things with a dark cloud hanging above her head.
"Yeah, I'm alright. It's going to be alright, right? I mean he wouldn't do anything to Senpai, right? She's older than us. And pretty. And probably has a lot of admirers..." Kana kept on mumbling to herself.
'I wonder if that's the work of a yokai. Though I don't feel any youki here.' Yura thought to herself.
- With Seika and Rikuo -
"Haaaatchiiii!" Seika and Rikuo sneezed at the same time.
"You okay Nura-san. You're not catching a cold, are you?" Seika asked her kohai**.
"No, I don't think so. What about you Moji-senpai?" Rikuo asked in return.
"Nope, I feel fine. Thanks for worrying though," she replied before turning back to unpacking.
After everyone was finished unpacking they met up at the entrance of their hotel.
"Well then minna, since everyone is finally here let me tell you something about the God of Fire, Kagutsuchi. He was born as the son of the goddess Izanami but burned her when she gave birth to him. His father Izanagi beheaded him with his sword and cut him to eight pieces. Those pieces turned into eight volcanoes and his blood that dripped off his fathers sword, Ame no Ohabari, created a numbers of deities such as Watatsumi or Kuraokami." He finished his little mythology lesson.
"So now that we know that a god can create more deities out of their body there is one question that's left to answer. Can yokai too be created by them? In order to answer this question we came here to search for more information about Kagutsuchi's legend."
And with these words he lead them towards a secluded place where he thought he would find information about Kagutsuchi. And he found a shrine but it wasn't like he expected.
"What's with this run down place?" Maki asked aloud what everyone was thinking.
"Hum... weird, I got a mail that said that here should be the shrine we look for. But this can't possibly be it..." Kiyotsugu trailed off.
"No it seems it is Kagutsuchi's shrine." Yura stated.
"How do you know, Yura-chan?" Kana asked her friend.
Yura pointed towards an old board that withered away over the years. On this board was written: 'Kagutsuchi Shrine'
"Oh..." came the simultaneous answer from everyone.
"Well then minna, let's go inside and look for clues," Kiyotsugu exclaimed before marching off towards the entrance.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Maki told Torii and Kana who both shuddered as a cold breeze blew past them as if to underline the omnious atmosphere.
- Meanwhile on the way to Shizuoka -
'Damn that Rikuo, going off on a frield trip with his human friends when he has some training to do.' A very angered weasel yokai jumped through the trees in order to reach his destination.
'If it wasn't for Yuki-Onna I would have searched form him high and low in Ukiyoe. He's definetly going to be punished for not telling me.'
Suddenly there was a blast of air that made Itaku loose his balance while in mid-air and forced him to the ground. He reached for his weapons on his back while turning around and faced the one that was responsible for that blast. A lone figure walked into his field of vision and he knew that that person was a yokai who looked like a human man in his early twenties.
"What do we have here, a weasle yokai out here in this woods? I thought that alll of you left this place ages ago," his deep voice rang through the clearing thy stood in.
"I'm not from here," was all Itaku said before spreading his legs apart preparing himself for a fight.
His opponent lifted his right hand in a gesture that was meant to calm him but didn't have any effect.
"I'm not here for a fight weasle. Just wanted to warn you," he said. Itaku raised an eyebrow at that.
"Warn me?" he asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to warn you and that other yokai you were with. You should stop hanging around that girl my master took a liking to. If not I can't guarantee that you won't die," he said before vanishing in a gust of air.
Itaku stared at the place that yokai occupied only seconds ago and was more than intruged about that 'master'.
'This is the second time. Just what is up with that girl.' As he thought about the girl he met in the park and then in the streets and about the thing that happened at that time his face burned bright red. 'What the heck is wrong with me?' he thought while shaking his head to rid himself from his thoughts and the redness in his face. As soon as he thought he was calm enough he continued his travel to Shizuoka now with an addition to his goal of scolding the Sandaime.
- In the Kagutsuchi Shrine -
"It's so dusty here. If this really is the shrine of the fire god Kagutsuchi why does nobody take care of it," Maki complained for the upmost time since she could have taken a stroll through the city instead of being here walking through a dusty old place.
"It sure is strange, isn't it?" Torii added to her friends statement.
"There are places like this too. Even though the god is a strong one and ought to be worshipped there are times when the people just stop coming and the shrine will be abandonded like this one," Seika replied to her two kohais with a sympathetic smile. She knew that they wanted to do other things than search this place for something that wasn't even here. She sighed while following their enthusiastic leader through the corridors.
"Cheer up, Maki-kun, Torii-kun. I'm sure our search will bear fruit and we will finally have some clues about the origins of some yokai and maybe of 'his' as well," Kiyotsugu exclaimed as per usual.
They reached what looked like the archive of the shrine and they entered after a quick exclamaition of joy from Kiyotsugu and Shima who just went along with his friend.
"Now let's get back to business. We'll search this archive for any information that concerns the god Kagutsuchi and yokai."
"Say, Kiyotsugu-kun, are we even allowed in here? Even though this place was most probably abandoned doesn't mena that we can just trespass," Seika told him her concerns.
"Don't worry Mori-senpai, I'm prepared for this. I asked the monk that was responsible for this shrine and he said that as long as we don't destroy any documents we're allowed to do as we please," he answered his upperclassman.
And with that they started to look through the old papers and books and scrolls that were stored in this room. After the first few seconds Maki only sat there and watched the others while Torii would show her some of the scrolls with the funnier content. Yura who knew how to work through old documents was in her element and Kiyotsugu and Shima watched her in amazement. After an exclamaition that he'll definetly find something Kiyotsugu literally bounced on the papers before him and told Shima to do the same. Seika and Rikuo worked in the other corner away from the others and talked lightly about some of the contents while Seika saw at the corner of her eyes that Kana slowly shifted her way to Rikuo's left side.
'I see, so that's why she was against me sharing a room with him.' she thought while giving a small smile in her direction which resulted in her turning light red.
It took them a few hours to work through all of the papers but at the end they found nothing.
"I knew it this whole trip to this shrine was just a waste of time," Maki exclaimed annoyed that they wasted their time here instead of having fun in the city.
"It can't be helped Maki-chan but at least there were some really interessting tales there," Seika tried to calm her.
Kiyotsugu was a little down since their search turned out with nothing but since he was Kiyotsugu he overcame his little depression in record time and started to cheer the others up by saying that they still had six other days to find something concering the connection between gods and yokai.
"Well then let's return and rest for the day so that we can work even harder tomorrow," he said before leading his friends back to their hotel.
On their way back, Rikuo noticed that they were followed by something in the trees and lett himself drift to the back of the group until he was far away enough to face who- or whatever was behind them.
"Who's there?" he asked facing the dark treeline. As if on cue Itaku emerged from the trees and casually stalked towards his student and third heir of the Nura Gumi.
"Itaku!" Rikuo exclaimed surprised to see his teacher and friend out here when he thouhgt that the weasle yokai was back in Ukiyoe.
"What are you doing here? Is everything alright back home?" he asked a little wottied that something terrible might have happened while he was away.
"Don't worry, nothing has happened expect someone not mentioning that he'll be skipping training for a week," he said in a monotonous voice.
"Ahahahahaha... I'm sorry Itaku, I totally forgot to tell you." Rikuo scratched the back of his head while trying to apologize to his friend.
"Hmpf. Don't think that you'll get away with this. As soon as you're back your training will be a hundred times harder than it is now, so look forward to it," Itaku said somewhat amused about Rikuo's terrified face. But then his face got serious again and Rikuo lost his concern for his wellbeing as he saw that there was smething else on his friends mind.
"What's wrong Itaku?" he asked in his serious Sandaime voice.
"On my way here I came across a yokai. He suddenly appeared and told me that we should stay away from that girl," he told Rikuo.
"'That girl'? Do you mean Moji-senpai?" he asked.
"Yeah. At least I think they mean her since he said something about his master liking that girl."
"The yokai's in the park said something like that too, didn't they." Rikuo fell into deep thought. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the person approaching him from behind untli it was to late.
"Yo Rikuo-kun, what's wrong? Everyone was worried about you since you suddenly vanished," a female voice rang from behind him. Startled he jumped around and came face to face with Seika who peered into his eyes as if to see if something was troubling him.
"No... no, I'm alright senpai. I was just a little in thought and must have lost sight of everyone," he glanced back to the trees to see if Itaku had vanished but to his surprise he just leaned against a tree with his armes crossed over his chest. Seika followed his eyes and saw the man she bumped into the other day.
"It's you. Sorry for the other day I really should have wath´ched where I was going," she said to Itaku who just shrugged. Rikuo who didn't knew about their first or rather second encounter turned to his senpai.
"You know him Moji-senpai?"
"Yep, I bumped into him after school and then..." she trailed of at the end and averted her face from her kohai to hide her blush that spread across her cheeks. Rikuo looked from her to Itaku and saw that he too had averted his face from his view but he could have sworn that he saw a blush on the yokai's face.
A cough brought him back out of his musings of what exactly happened that made both of them this embarrassed. It was Seika.
"Well, we should hurry back before everyone starts to look for us. Nice to have met you again," she said towards Itaku before turning to the direction their hotel was supposed to be. Rikuo turned to Itaku and gave him a look that said that he wanted to talk to him later before following after Seika.
Itaku watched as the two disappeared. To his surprise, he followed that girl's movements with his eyes and even caught himself thinking that he swaying hips were the most attracting sight he had ever seen.
'What the heck am I thinking?' he shook his head before giving a last look into the direction they disappeard into before jumping into a tree and followed them. As soon as he caught up with them so that he could see them clearly he forced himself to not look at her.
It was dark outside and everyone in the Investigation Squad was fast asleep, well everyone expect one particular Sandaime. He was sitting on the roof of the hotel he was currently residing in and waited for his companion to joing him for the talk that they had to postpone to a later time. His appearance has changed from brown-black to silver black hair that defies gravity, his eyes no longer the warm brown color that was the same as his mother's but instead a piercing crimson color. He also grew a few inches. He looked at the shining moon when he heard a light thump behind him indicating that someone has arrived.
"I was waiting for you, Itaku," Rikuo said with a deep voice. He got no response from his friend who just approached him. Rikuo didn't intend to stand up so he indicated Itaku to sit down which he did.
"So, let's continue where we left off," he said.
"I told you everything that was important already. What we must do now is to confirm if he really meant your friend or not. And for the chance she is the one they mean what are you going to do?" Itaku said to the Sandaime who sat beside him stoically.
"You know, I have that feeling that tells me whatever happens here has something to do with Seika. But I don't really know what a yokai would want from her," he said.
"Well, she is pretty and most probably smart too. Not to forget that she can beat up yokai that are above the average... What?" While Itaku was pointing out all of Seika's good points Rikuo looked at him like the cheshire cat.
"You like her," he said with a grin on his face.
"No."
"Oh yes you do and you know what? I allow you to court her."
"As if I need your permission to do that..." a meaningfull look from Rikuo told Itaku that he had said something that confirmed the Sandaime's suspicion.
"... if I really wanted something from her that is," added Itaku who finally caught onto what his first answer implicated.
"Yeah sure~. But if she really is their target we can't let her be alone especially at night. Since I'm full during the day I'll leave watching her in that time to you. At night I can take that role since I already share a room with her," Rikuo said and to his amusement got a reaction from the weasle yokai that just got Itaku deeper into the hole he has started to dig for himself.
"You share a room with her? YOU?" he screamed hin shock. How could his friends leave a girl as pretty as that Seika, shit now he already uses her first name, ah whatever, be alone AT NIGHT with Rikuo. Of course when he is human he's responsible and would never lay a hand on someone who's against it, but AT NIGHT he's a yokai and more than just a flirt.
"What's wrong Itaku? Worried that I might lay a hand on your woman?" Rikuo teased him. He didn't get a reply.
"Don't worry. I won't do anything to her but if you really are that worried about her why don't you watch her at night to?" It was meant to tease Itaku further, he didn't think that his friend would utter the words he heard next:
"Fine, I'll watch her at day and at night. You go somewhere else so that I can be undisturbed while doing my duty," and with this words Itaku left the roof and looked for a place from where he could observe the sleeping Seika.
Rikuo who was now left alone just stared after Itaku with raised eyebrows before a smirk spread over his face. He turned back to the sight of a shining silver moon and took out the pipe he 'lent' from his grandfather.
* I don't know what the station in real life looks like, so everything is made up. Also aplies to the city, 'cause I'm to lazy to do proper research
** underclassmen