Kurushii na Kokoro

by Dennou Writer

Ienaga Kana is the arranged fiancée of Nura Rikuo, who feels that his relationship with one of his most trusted servants might be blocking the way to her happiness. RikuTsura and T for safety. Geez, I suck.

7. Possibility

Previous warning, guys (please read it all): much like the prologue, the first three parts or so of this chapter will be mostly in Kana's point of view, so I guess you can already tell there will be a lot of Kana and some RikuKana ship tease in them. It was a little hard for me to write it, but I need to make Kana have her part in the story and show more of her good side (since I've been treating her quite badly the latest chapters), right? Besides, that was the only way to write about her introduction to the Nura-gumi. I just wanted to say you guys can skip those parts if you want, because the parts dominated by Kana are more of her introduction to the guests and their companions as well as her first impressions about them, but you guys already know them all very well, so I'm quite sure you'll be bored and annoyed to read that. That's why I wanted to prevent you from wasting your time with something that might displease you and maybe even make you want to abandon the reading (but please, don't do that TT3TT). Because, also much like the prologue, this chapter has not only RikuKana, but RikuTsura ship tease, but it's by the very last part of it. And I worked hard on the RikuTsura, so I'd be quite sad if you didn't give your opinions about it.

PS: I have a little surprise for you at the bottom author note! Anyways, on with the chapter:

~o0o~

It was surprising.

Ever since Kana had arrived at the Nura mansion, she had only been wearing her usual European clothes, aside from when she had gone to Hatsumoude at the Kokehime Jinja. That was why it had been quite the pleasant surprise to see her making her entrance at the meeting room with a completely traditional Japanese style. Watching her stand all by herself and bowing to everyone, while doing the same herself, Tsurara concluded that maybe her future mistress's intention had been to show everyone her Asian side to prove that, even though she had parted from Japan when she was still young and spent quite a while in another country, she hadn't yet forgotten about the place where she was born and that she could readapt easily. The aide had first thought the brunette would be in her usual western style because it would be something more uncommon for the guests to see, and so more alluring. But, now that she reflected better about it, everyone already knew Ienaga Kana was half-British, so they would already be expecting such a thing, even because she had already worn those kinds of European clothes for the first welcoming event that was made for her. And Kana had probably anticipated that, so she had decided to come out in the exact opposite of everyone's expectations. Smiling knowingly, Tsurara cast her master a look to see what his reaction was at his fiancée's good job.

Kana's preparation that time was quite a bit different from the one she had worn for Hatsumoude. This time, she wouldn't commit the same mistake of dressing up simply, but of course, she wouldn't wear anything extravagant, either. She had also thought that would be the perfect occasion to start wearing one of the expensive kimono Rikuo had bought her some days before with the kind help of her future mother-in-law. The one she had picked had been a beautiful light green furisode with stamps of weeping tree branches, various flowers and some ripples here and there representing water, tied in a light yellow obi that had stamps of butterflies. Her hair was tied up in an agemaki with some flowery ornaments complementing it. Her make-up wasn't strong, but this time, it was more implemented than general. It wasn't necessary to say everyone was giving her approval for the work on their own way of showing it. But the problem was that the serious and the coolness of their eyes didn't make it as easy for the Ienaga heiress to see.

It was terrifying.

Ever since she had learned her future husband was a Yakuza leader, Kana had understood she would have to deal with all sorts of people when she inevitably became involved with such matters through their marriage. For that reason, she had constantly asked her parents and mother-in-law-to-be what they knew about that world so that she could earn some of their experience, since she didn't have courage to talk about those matters with the leader himself. Still, she could have never guessed reality could be so much more pressure-adding than what she had been warned about. In fact, now that she was facing some of the people she would have to get along with later on, she felt like she had been immersed in a horror book. The more she looked at the scene before her, the more nervous, anxious and insecure she felt. As she mustered all of her courage to do something as simple as walk, she hoped the way she was trembling wouldn't affect her pace or posture, for they were supposed to be as lady-like as possible. She also prayed that it wouldn't disturb her balance, for the zouri she had picked to wear were a little taller than usual. And, as much as she had constantly told herself to only look at the man of her affections so that she would feel more motivated to go on and wouldn't be disturbed by everyone else, she couldn't help but glance at her sidelines as she walked.

On her left side, there was a considerably big old man who she certainly couldn't mistake – it was definitely the current head of the Ooshuu Toono Ikka, Toono Akagappa. Her father used to make a few jokes about the huge size of his head and its reddish rosy color. He also liked to assimilate the Toono leader's features to the ones of a kappa, which was an a slightly cruel implication with his name. Kana had never thought the elder would be exactly how he had been described. To her, he almost looked like a monster with the face he had, and the way he dressed – in a worn-out ochimusha – didn't add anything good to that aspect.

After him, there was a bald middle-aged man. Also due to his appearance, Kana assumed that he was Mokugyo Daruma, one of the Soudaishou's counselors, the head of the Daruma-kai and one more of the targets of her father's jokes. According to him, the counselor looked a lot like a dharma doll, so he also made ironic puns regarding his appearance by comparing it with his name. But, in fact, with the man's Chinese-styled moustache and beard, oddly-shaped eyebrows and nose, round cheeks, and almost inexistent small mouth, he really did resemble the strangely-designed doll. Kana had always imagined him to be funny to look at because of that, but she concluded it was rather bizarre by facing the real thing.

Beside him was a muscular man that looked younger than him, but not quite healthier. In fact, he seemed very careless with a badly-done beard and a rather weird and messy hair tied in a high ponytail. His clothes were loose and wrinkled, and just like his face, made him look like he had just woken up. Beside him was a considerably big cheap Sake bottle, which obviously wasn't being served as a drink for a breakfast, so she assumed he had brought it with him. A Sake-loving carefree man – Kana concluded that must have been Dassai. As Wakana had said, he was a bit dense and constantly raised his voice or made inappropriate comments, but was a good man. Still, Kana's first thought about him could only be one word: "filthy".

Trying hard not to grimace, she decided to calmly avert her eyes to the other side so that she could spare them from such an unpleasant sight.

The first person sitting on her right side was an old man with a well-built body. Since his hair was the only one in a chonmage, Kana didn't have to think twice – he was certainly Hitotsume Nyuudou, the head of the Dokuganki-gumi, owner of the Kokehime Jinja and legal guardian of the Kokehime Miko. With his strong arms crossed, he held the same intimidating stare Kana's parents and Wakana had once described, which sent shivers up her spine. She wondered how such a man, whose appearance seemed to scream "brute" and "self-centered", could be in charge of an innocent little child who she once had the pleasure of meeting.

Following him was someone Kana also couldn't mistake. His long hair and feminine face already gave it all away that he was Oosaru Hihi, the current head of the Kantou Oosaru-kai, which was also known as Hihi-gumi. Whenever her father had commented about him, he would always point out how feminine he looked, despite his rather huge size and strength. What didn't help it was that the Oosaru leader liked to let his hair grow freely, but since it disturbed his field of vision, he kept his bangs tied with two really girly pink laces, so one indeed could think he was a woman had he not been hiding his face. Her father had also said Hihi used to wear a mask to hide his face exactly because of its features, but of course he couldn't wear it while eating, since it had no opening for his mouth. Still, even though Kana thought he was quite interesting to look at – mostly because, at first, she had mistaken him for a woman – she would have been quite grateful if he had been wearing that mask, because, even if it wasn't his intention, his stare at her seemed rather frightening.

Next, there was a very cool-blooded-looking man, whose face was half-hidden by his long black hair – that was the trait that had allowed her to recognize him as no one other than Umewakamaru Gyuuki, the leader of the Gyuuki-gumi. He was, pretty much like the others, tall and well-built and had a characteristic look that made Kana's throat feel like there was a knot forming in it. Similar to Hihi, he looked like he was on his forties and was staring at her with a rather frightening look. As she had heard from her parents, in the past, he used to be an assassin. Kana thought his dim appearance couldn't suit his nature more, for it seemed to be very dim as well.

Feeling the urge to look away again, Kana turned her head a little to the other side, and was a bit relieved to have found someone that didn't seem so distant from her in terms of age. But that changed as soon as she noticed his glance towards her didn't seem like he thought the same – in fact, he was one of the people in the room that seemed to look at her the worst way. She wondered how someone that didn't seem older than sixteen could have such a heartless glance. And, because of the thin scar crossing his face and the fact there was a small dog sleeping peacefully beside him, she remembered who he was – Inugami-gyoubu Tamazuki, the former head of the Shikoku Hachijuuhakki Yakou, who had been betrayed by the ones he once considered followers. According to Wakana, that scar had been made by Rikuo himself in a previous conflict they had had, and Kana couldn't help but think the damage on such an exposed area of his body served him right.

Then, beside him was another odd sight – a woman dressed in a black kimono, with her white obi and nagajuban as contrast, as if she was mourning for something. She had long and perfect black hair that cascaded down the floor smoothly and an incredibly pale skin that didn't seem natural (or healthy) by any means. Her appearance was, overall, extremely impacting, in a level that not even the woman Kana had once considered to have beaten her mother in beauty could reach. Immediately, with widened eyes, Kana had a mixed feeling of both admiration and envy towards her as well. She was like the embodiment of an incredibly enchanting darkness, and, unlike the woman that went by the name of Oikawa Setsura, it seemed that no one could ever surpass her in beauty. But still, no matter how amazing she was, her eyes were just the same as everyone's. Since they were completely black and, surprisingly, didn't have any sighs of light in them, she looked much more like a Shinigami than a woman, her gaze making Kana's insides feel like they were twisting in disturbance. But, unlike the others, she held a smile – one that Kana wasn't able to read, so she wasn't able to tell if it was ironical or welcoming, but it was most likely the first one. She then understood that was Hagoromo Gitsune, one of the supporting allies of the Nura-gumi, current head of the Hyaku Monogatari-gumi and the twin sister of the Nura-gumi's Nidaime's first wife. From what Kana had learned, she was a very gorgeous but equally dangerous woman, and now she had just had the chance to confirm that.

After her was, coincidentally, the woman Kana had been previously comparing her to, sitting right between her and the current Nura mistress. As always, it impressed Kana quite a bit how that woman had still not presented big changes in her appearance, not even a single white hair, despite her age. And, unlike Wakana, who held a very supportive and friendly smile, Setsura had her white furisode's yuki over her mouth, so Kana couldn't read her expression. Still, by the way her cheeks and eyes moved, she was most likely smiling. Realizing that, Kana had to policy herself not to make a face again. Was she making fun of her? There was no other reason Kana could think of for her to hide a smile. Already annoyed, she didn't even want to look at the next person, who was the daughter of the insolent woman. The thought of soon becoming her superior made her feel better inside, though, but in a smug way.

The next person was a considerably tiny old man, whose figure was almost comical. Because of that, the way he frowned so seriously at her could be threatening, but not as much as the others. Due to his disproportional stature, she assumed he was another of her father's targets for jokes, Karasu Tengu, the general supervisor and the closest subordinate to the Soudaishou. And, indeed, he was also just like her parents had described – small yet extremely rigid and centered, which made him quite a bit adorable somewhat. But that still didn't change the fact he was doing the same thing as the other guests and making her feel nervous as never before (on his own way).

Their judging stares were nightmare-ish. They felt like they were burning her slowly, torturing her in all their cruelty as they analyzed her every detail. And, maybe it was just her overreacting, but she could swear each and every one of them was laughing at her back somehow. Within every step she took, it became harder and harder to go forward, since the more she walked, the more their eyes seemed to persuade her into backing off as her heart pounded so loudly it seemed like it would rip her chest apart any time. Soon, she was feeling ill all over again, her experiences from the night before were coming back to her. In short, she just wanted to disappear from there, her legs itching to make her turn on her heels and run away the quickest she could.

But she wouldn't.

She had long promised herself she would never run away from whatever was on the way of her happiness. She had also swore she would become a wife worthy of Nura Rikuo, so the test she was having now was one of the essential parts of her development's process. After all, what good would be a wife that didn't want to understand her husband's world? She couldn't afford to just turn her back at most of his life. If that was a part of him, it would become a part of her as well, no matter how disgusting it could seem to her. But if he was capable of making it seem like it was acceptable and somewhat even fun, then she wouldn't be the one to disagree. Maybe he could later on show her the better side of it. Besides, she would also have to get used to atmospheres like these, since there would be a lot more of those moments in the future. Then again, what would they be, compared to a lifetime of joy? On the brighter side, soon, all of those people would be sitting at the Nura mansion's ceremony hall, honoring her wedding, respecting and treating her the same way they did with her arranged husband – she could already even picture the scene.

Trying her hardest to go on, Kana struggled to stay still and keep her head up, the positive thoughts making her feel much more confident for a little while.

Beside Karasu Tengu was the Soudaishou of the Nura-gumi himself and her future father-in-law, the one she had wanted to cause the greatest impression of all that room. His looks were just like how she remembered from the last time they had met, with some differences – she was now taller than him, so he looked smaller, he had less hair on his rather long head and he seemed to have gained more facial marks. As he gave her his lop-sided signature smile, typical of a man of such an advanced age, she felt like a weight had just been lifted off her tense shoulders, easing her a little. His sympathy for her was just the same as always, so that was already enough for her.

After returning his smile for a little, she couldn't help but allow herself a look on someone that had been bothering the corners of her eyes. When she dared to spare a glance at the busybody head aide, she thought she would regret it, but in fact, what happened was the opposite. As cautious hazel orbs landed on the figure of the servant, she found out the girl had her attention to somewhere else. And, before she had time to look away, she was caught by the girl's sky blue stare, since she seemed to have sensed her mistress-to-be's eyes on her. Her immediate response was to give her a full-fledged, motivational smile – one even brighter than Wakana's or Nurarihyon's, but with a hint of bitterness Kana failed to perceive. The gentle gesture in such a good timing had the heiress quite touched, and so she didn't think twice before returning it. Now more than ever, Kana was willing to award her attendee-to-be for her support, not only for the previous night, but for that morning as well.

When she averted her eyes to the side again, the one she first laid her eyes on surprised her. He was overall small, but judging by his appearance, Kana assumed it was just because he was still very young, for she wouldn't give him more than twelve years of age. That, together with the obnoxious birth mark on his left eye and the white bandana with blue stamps of cat paws on his head, was also the trait that made it easy for her to recognize him. He was most likely Ryouta Neko, the head of the Bakeneko-gumi and owner of Bakenekoya, the place where she and Rikuo had been to before he earned his injuries. She hadn't had the pleasure to have met him personally until the time being, and she was quite surprised that he was as adorable and boyish as the rumors said, no matter how serious he was trying to be.

The last guest she looked at, who she had already met many times before, including the night when Rikuo was hurt, was Yakushi Zen, head of the Yakushi-ippa and Nura-gumi's best medic, whose life was sadly being affected by serious health problems. He was one of the Nura-gumi's Kashimoto and Rikuo's first and only Gikyoudai, so it was needless to say the two of them were really close. Zen was also probably the person that understood Rikuo the best, and right behind him was obviously Tsurara, but that was something Kana was more than determined to change. What the purple-haired man held was also a collected and examining expression, but much like Ryouta Neko's, his wasn't the slightest bits scary (she could even spot a little hint of friendliness in it).

And then, finally, there he was. With her heart starting to pound a little loudly again, she let her chocolate eyes travel to the main seat, which was being occupied by the Nura-gumi's Wakagashira himself in all his glory. With her smile wavering a little stupidly, she had expected to find his usual protective, warm burgundy look to awake in her even more confidence and security than the other people that had already done so. That was why there couldn't be a bigger letdown at that moment than seeing that blessed look of his was being carelessly cast somewhere else. Rather, at someone else. When she followed his deep and constant stare, she was almost irritated at herself for not being surprised at all to find out he had been observing his head aide with eyes that only raised her wish to fade in a puff of smoke to somewhere far away.

"Rikuo-kun... please..." her own voice in her thoughts was helpless and pleading, "I'm right here... look at me..."

Why was it that he always looked at that girl so differently? What was the reason behind the unusual shine in his eyes and that longing kindness? Kana feared so much to understand such a thing, yet she couldn't help but think about it for more time than she would like to admit. Whatever was the place the raven-haired aide had in his heart, she was sure it was special. And, as selfish as it could be, she wanted to steal it all for herself, being the only one he would actually notice.

And she was willing to make that happen.

Frowning as she saw in him no signs of looking forward, despite the fact she was about just a few steps away, she decided to step the slightest bits harder and make her tall zouri collide a little louder with the wooden floor. By then, her voice in her head wasn't faltering or begging anymore – it was firm and demanding, just like her eyes towards him, almost like a mute shout she had been wanting to let out long ago. And, this time, she would make it reach him.

"Look at me!"

At that very second, she didn't know if it was a coincidence or if she had actually been able to make him snap back into the present time, but her trial had worked out well. As soon as her mind let out the long-held cry, the Sandaime's eyes were all hers. He finally noticed her presence coming closer, raising his head to look at her with an encouraging expression, one that could beat the previous smiles she had received quite easily. It was his usual handsome smirk, which bore much more support than she could ever ask for, and that was what made her the happiest about it. With her heart about to overflow with emotions, she almost let out a few tears as a satisfied grin made its way to her lips. And then, unexpectedly, he extended his hand to her, as if he had guessed she would have problems trying to sit with her tall zouri. Trying to keep calm and graceful, she accepted it with contained joy.

The moment had been so magical she had almost wanted it to last forever.

After that, the breakfast went on quite smoothly, much better than Kana had thought it would be. But, of course, the fearsome atmosphere was still there. However, she was feeling much better now that she was by her future husband's side, so she would be able to handle it. Of course, that didn't mean she was completely well, and she would probably not be as long as she was still in that room. The loud chattering and laughs, the slight stench and the frantic servants circulating the area weren't adding anything good up.

"Kana-chan, aren't you gonna eat?"

"E-Eh?" she raised her head to look at her arranged man, not knowing how to answer his sudden question. "I..." she began, hesitantly. "already had breakfast." was her truthful yet doubtful response, her eyes back to her lap as she sensed him raising a brow at her.

"Say, are you..." she flinched at the concern in his voice, "still sick?"

"O-Of course not." She lied pathetically, restraining her posture even more with a blush. Was he that perceptive before? No, maybe it was just her who was too obvious.

"Don't worry, Kana-sama." From behind her, the head aide smiled reassuringly as she changed Nurarihyon's gohan bowl, "It'll end soon."

"T-Thank you." The chocolate-haired one said with a shy smile, and then went back to staring at her hands, already oblivious of the hateful feelings she was having towards the young subordinate earlier, for she now found herself with something that was, in her opinion, much better than the look Rikuo had been giving her before.

"By the way, Kana-chan," Rikuo said softly, "that kimono... I'm glad you're wearing it."

Hearing that, the brown orbs of the Ienaga heiress became the size of a pea as her cheeks became beet red, and she couldn't help but turn her head to look at him again to see if he was actually saying the truth, surprise and flattery written on her face. "I-I-Is that so...?" she sputtered, despising the way she acted so childishly around him. Nevertheless, the indescribable glee deep inside her could make it up for that. She was also feeling silly for being so happy, but it was not like she could do anything against that.

After all, she and her arranged husband were finally looking like a real couple again.

The way they were sitting so closely together, the way he spoke about something he had bought her, the way some people looked at them and commented discreetly about how their relationship seemed to be going well – it all reminded her of the night at Bakenekoya, before that unfortunate accident, when everyone was thinking the two of them were lovers. It also pretty much reminded her of the evening before, when she and her friend Jirou had been mistaken for a couple by a nurse at the Kokehime Jinja. Indeed, the feeling she was having at the present moment was much better – it was even able to ease her feeling of sickness a little bit more.

By then, Kana felt like the tables were finally turning to her side. That morning was the first moment she had ever had all for her and her fiancé without the interference of the indigo-eyed servant and of herself with the troubles she would always get into. Now, the people that had been practically trying to murder her with glares seemed to have become a little restrained towards her after seeing how she and her white-haired "knight-in-shiny-armor" got along so well.

What she didn't know was that he had only made the comment because of a gesture Tsurara had done at her furisode.

~o0o~

The following half-an-hour or so was reasonable. The Ienaga daughter spent most of her time talking to her spouse-to-be, Wakana and Nurarihyon, while some times she would stop to give attention to some of the guests, who would ask her to tell them a little more about herself. Some had asked her about her family, some had asked about her age, some had asked about how her trip back had been, and some asked about her and Rikuo. Obviously embarrassed about the last topic, Kana had some difficulties on that matter, but the Wakagashira had done her the great favor to take the lead in those occasions. And one of the things that had her wondering deeply about was how he had been so secure when he affirmed everything was okay between them. Anyone could have perfectly thought he was saying they had established a "couple" sort of relationship by that statement and by looking at them, but was it really so?

It couldn't be.

As much as they looked like a couple, Kana was certain they had a long way to becoming one, for obvious reasons. One of them was that it had barely been a week they had met again, so there hadn't been enough time for them to even catch up properly, let alone start a romantic relationship. After all, after Sandaime found himself physically unstable, and so unable to spend time hanging around with her as he had promised, he had decided to come back to his very busy work-life, for he had no time to lose. Meanwhile, the Ojou decided to fill up her own free time to take lessons about her up-coming routine as housewife from Wakana and her female subordinates. Another was that Kana's own affinity for getting into trouble had already ruined her chances to become closer to him in a romantic way two times. And the other was that the other chances she had were ruined by a third party, who wasn't worth being mentioned, exactly because said party was the worst threat to anything that could possibly represent a relationship between the heiress and her future groom.

In other words, when Rikuo said everything was okay, he could have perfectly been just talking about the simple fact nothing bad had happened between them – at least, nothing that could break them apart. That was one of the things Kana was grateful for, because it seemed that, to Rikuo, once he formed a bond with someone, he had do his best not to let it break. Yet that was one of the things that worried her about their relationship as well, because it also seemed that, once he formed a bond with someone, it would hardly become something else.

Still, she didn't want to let something like that make her feel down.

By the end of the meal, the guests dismissed themselves. With the exception of Daruma, who had come alone and already lived at the main house, the others made their way to the house's main entrance, where their respective companions were waiting for them after having their own meal, followed by the Sandaime, the Soudaishou and the future Nura mistress, while the current one stayed to help the servants clean everything. While walking through the corridors right behind the two Nura leaders, Kana was still deeply immersed in thoughts.

In the eyes of those people, who had come there with the idea of seeing the two of them becoming a married couple soon, they already looked like one, and to her, that was what mattered for the time. After all, it meant she had been able to take one step closer to her main goal in life, since the Nura-gumi at last seemed like they were starting to support the once unwanted wedding. Even the servants that had seemed to be looking down on her before were now beginning to show signs of thinking otherwise, and that only added up to her motivation. If things went on like that – with everyone starting to actually accept her – soon, her only obstacle would be making the Sandaime himself see their relationship in a different way. After all, if his vision of it became the same as everyone seemed to be having, the most probably thing that could make a romance between them impossible wouldn't exist anymore.

The possibility of him falling for another woman.

~o0o~

"Oi, he's coming~!"

The hazel-eyed brunette's shoulders rose quickly at the sound of a rather loud masculine voice, which she couldn't see from who it belonged to because of the people walking in front of her. But she was certain that whoever had spoken was one of the companions of one of the special guests of the day. After all, not only it was coming from the place the companions were supposed to be at, but also said voice sounded much more carefree and lively than any other she had been able to hear during the breakfast, even Dassai's obnoxious one. And out of confusion about who was the "he" whoever had spoken was referring to, the heiress cast her fiancé a look that he didn't correspond. Still, the expression he held as he stared straight ahead already made it quite clear that person was him himself.

As soon as they arrived at the main entrance of the Nura mansion, the guests, the two Nura heads and the young Nura-to-be were welcomed by an atmosphere that completely distorted the one of earlier. With mostly warm smiles and laughs, the ones that had come accompanying their respective commanders strangely seemed to be the opposite of them. As Kana was finally able to see the scene, she concluded the contrast was quite noticeable, for the thick air of the room she had been earlier was long gone.

The first one that caught her attention was a green-haired man, who seemed to have been the one to speak first. His golden eyes were shining with tomboyish glee as he crossed his arms and flashed a wide grin while commenting something with the one beside him. Since Kana hadn't asked anything about the companions that were tagging along with the other Yakuza group leaders, she couldn't tell who he was. Still, by the way he was closer to the biggest amount of people, she assumed he and they were the oh-so-famous Ooshuu Toono Ikka.

The second one to catch her eyes was obviously the man beside him. With a pudgy nose and a beard that connected with his brown, messy hair, the one tapping his elbows on the golden-eyed man and laughing with him had a rather ape-like sort of appearance. With a big smile, red tribal-like painting on his cheeks and round ears, that was the sort of impression the unknown man gave the heiress – of a monkey. But, nevertheless, she wasn't scared of him at all. In fact, she found herself giggling a little at how joy and playful he and his comrade seemed.

Close to them was a small girl with very short black hair tied in a high bun and shine-less eyes that stood in the middle of the group, her features taking away any suspicions that she could be just an adult with possible growth problems. Already taking a liking of her because of her cute and innocent appearance that resembled the Kokehime Miko's, Kana was more than shocked to notice the little girl had quite the wicked tongue as she heard her include herself in the conversation of her comrades without the same discreetness they had, and throwing around some inappropriate and blunt comments. With her first impressions destroyed, the brunette mentally prepared herself for whatever could come next as she kept on looking.

The next person caught in her field of vision was an ashy blond young man. Much like the other two, he was tall and muscular, but also opposite of them, his facial features and hair style were quite a bit feminine. Still, they suited him surprisingly well, and even made him look more handsome than them somehow. While he listened to his friends' talk, he constantly chewed on a thin stick. And, as something funny seemed to have been said, he flashed a smile that made the heiress's cheeks heat up slightly as she averted her eyes to the floor in embarrassment. That man really was quite attractive, but not as much as her Rikuo, she decided while blushing a little harder. She wasn't taking much notice of how shameful her thoughts of self-encouragement were, and it was with them in mind that she was able to regain courage to raise her eyes. Ironically, they seemed to have landed on the same person, which made her blush return. But it was only after she looked a little better that she understood it actually wasn't the same person, for the person she was staring at didn't have a stick on their mouth. And as she examined better, she was able to see that the person she had laid her eyes upon seemed to be the attractive blond man's twin sister, who was also very beautiful herself, almost like a female version of her sibling.

Beside them was a brunet with a red bandana that seemed to be a little younger than them. He wasn't as tall or muscular and his features pointed out he was somewhere near Rikuo's own age, if not a little younger. He also seemed to be the more reserved and observant person of the group, with his arms folded across his chest and a silent air around him. And by the looks of it, he didn't seem like the distant type of person at all – it was the other way around – but he indeed seemed to be hard to reach, since even with his comrades, he was obviously minding his actions and words, keeping his personal space and not talking much. For being that different from the rest, Kana thought he could be quite the alluring one. And, as her blush refused to disappear, she tried to get a hold of herself and stop paying so much attention to the males since she already had her heart taken. But, as soon as she led her gaze to the second biggest group in the room, she concluded such a thing was most likely impossible.

As she stared at what she took to be a part of the Bakeneko-gumi (since all of the members wore on their head the same cat paw-stamped bandanas their leader had), the presence of other males – those ones seeming a little young – kept bothering her and her stubborn insistence of trying not paying much mind to them. It didn't take long for her to give up on that, though the ones that had caught her attention in that group had been mostly the females, especially because of their different hair styles. One of them, a green-eyed young woman, had her long blond hair tied in pigtails with ribbons cascading their way down around them. Another one had her hair dyed with a flashy shade of pink and cut short. But the one that seemed more intriguing, in Kana's opinion, was a girl with purely white mid-length hair tied neatly behind her head, for her ruby red eyes and excessively pale skin made it clear she was an albino.

Next to them were two boys that seemed to be around her age, but even though they were muscled, they did have some childish features, and although they seemed a bit taller than her, they were surely shorter than Rikuo. One of them looked serious and cool, almost holding an adult-like composure, which was the opposite of the other boy, who looked rather lively and playful. Said lively and playful-looking one could only be differed as a male because of his clothing, since his appearance seemed to be much like Oosaru Hihi's – feminine. Maybe that was the reason why the upper half of his face was hidden within a horse skull he wore over his head, as strange as it could be (but then again, "normal" would never be a fitting word for a Yakuza). As for the collected young man, he had dark brown eyes and hair, which was tied just like the one of the albino girl of a moment before, only with one difference: he used a part of it to cover one of his eyes, much like Umewakamaru Gyuuki did. Because of that and because of the air he seemed to give, which also resembled Gyuuki's quite a bit, Kana assumed he and the other young man were his followers.

Not far from them was an outstanding young man. He seemed to be, overall, the biggest of the accompaniers, and the fact he had a black hood over his head only seemed to make him draw more attention, though it was probably meant to have the opposing effect. But even with the hood, his face was still visible, and it was quite the handsome one, but had some feminine features, which reminded her of Oosaru Hihi. That, together with his rather huge structure, was what made it possible for Kana to assume he was his relative – most likely his younger brother or son. And, much like his face, part of his hair was also visible, and she couldn't help but find it amusing that it seemed to be naturally white, but had beautiful crimson highlights contrasting with it and making it impossible not to be noticed.

After him, there was what seemed to be a mother with her children – a little family, which was probably Karasu Tengu's. He, who lived at the main house, had gone on the trip not only to accompany the Soudaishou, but also to fetch his wife, who lived at Takao-san, to where he and three of his children only returned once a year. His wife, who was very beautiful, was pretty much on Setsura's level – she seemed to be a rather zealous yet somewhat cold housewife. But, unlike the original "Yuki Onna", her taste was more extravagant and a little dark, as she was dressed in black clothes and had black ornamental crow feathers on her inky raven hair. Amazed, Kana observed her carefully, especially the two light pink, outstanding strands of hair framing her delicate face and the interesting feathers on her tied hair. While she was at it, the heiress also watched as the mother seemed to be patiently adjusting the tokin of one of her children. Said child was the only one that could be distinguished as female, since the other two standing beside her were clearly young men, and the ones being carried on a bag hanging on her back Kana couldn't tell, for they were mere infants.

The one whose tokin was being adjusted was a pretty young woman, though she was not yet apt enough to surpass her mother's beauty. In fact, the two of them didn't have many similarities to each other, so Kana could only guess she had taken a little bit after her father too, believing his features could be more like his daughter's when he was in his younger years. She wore glasses, and, much like her two brothers and mother, she seemed to have a diligent personality. Yet she and her siblings seemed to be more comfortable with the atmosphere of the main house, which was only the expected, since it could be considered their second home.

The other sibling, who also didn't look much like his parents, was a rather funny sight, since his quiet and centered behavior didn't seem to match his taste. After all, his hair, which had two peculiar colors, – yellow and green – was on the shape of a very indiscreet and gaudy tosaka, and his pitch black thick eyebrows had a very odd, spiky format. With her furisode's yuki in front of her mouth, Kana held herself back not to share some giggles at him, for he was an important and respectable Nura member, just like everyone else – or at least, he was supposed to be.

Lastly, the other young man, who wore a tokin just like his sister, seemed to be the only one who was actually somewhat able to resemble Karasu Tengu a little. But even so, with his spiky black hair and shiny onyx eyes, he was more like a male and young version of his mother. His expressions also matched with the rest of his family's (save the babies) and his observant and calm air made him seem quite mature as well. That, together with his rather slightly feminine features, made him look quite a bit cute in the heiress's opinion, as she mentally slapped herself.

"Heeeh, it's really him!" another one shouted, "Rikuo~! You've grown up, you little bastard!"

As the last statement was caught in Kana's ears, she flinched slightly and frowned deeply at the word "bastard". Trying to find the one had said such a thing of her beloved, whoever they were, she immediately swore she would make them regret ever insulting him, until she heard a response before she could do anything.

A laugh.

As Kana spared a side-glance at her arranged man, all she could do was feel a little stupid for her last thoughts, since he didn't seem the slightest bits offended – in fact, he looked more like he had missed hearing something like that being thrown at him. Then could it be... that insults were viewed as a friendly way for his comrades to treat him? Maybe, she decided with a sigh. However, that was quite different from what she had witnessed at the breakfast earlier – even though the older ones were familiar with Rikuo, they didn't act as intimate of him, and neither did the younger guests, Zen, Ryouta Neko, or Tamazuki. But perhaps the older ones really weren't as intimate of Rikuo, most likely because of the great difference of ages and way of thinking. Besides, most of them had joined Nura-gumi during the times the Soudaishou and the Nidaime were the ones to shine as the Nura leaders, so they were most likely closer to them than to the current head. And since Zen and Ryouta Neko seemed more comfortable now that they were among people of their own age, Kana took it as a proof they were just restraining themselves during the meal time.

Thinking about it a little further, she finally perceived that in the main house, the only people actually Rikuo's age were she herself and his personal aide. The others, regardless of how they could look young, were in fact older. Maybe that could explain why he was much closer to Tsurara than to anybody else, and it also could mean that, if Kana tried harder, she did have a good chance of taking the position of the closest person to him. With the simple idea of being just as intimate of her future husband as her undeclared enemy was, she let herself smile, the feeling of smug happiness returning to her. And said happiness only increased she watched the younger accompaniers approach their Soudaishou-to-be so friend and welcomingly, and the way he responded to it.

Kana now seemed to have understood that the Yakuza world – at least, the one surrounding the Nura-gumi – was divided in two sides: the dark and cruel one, filled with blood-shedding and conquests, and the bright and lively one, in which the bonds of companionship seemed to be almost unbreakable. And now that she thought about it, everyone at the main house had been showing that to her ever since she had met them – she only hadn't realized that. But now, experiencing such a great difference of environment, she had finally perceived what she had been missing without knowing.

Needless to say, she liked the side she was seeing much better.

"Excuse me, Ojou-san, but who might you be?" in the midst of her many thoughts, Kana would have lost herself in her own mind with the scene before her, had she not heard someone's voice from beside her asking such question. "Could it be... you are 'the one'~?"

"Eh?" immediately, the brunette turned around at the source of the unknown feminine voice that spoke to her in such a friendly manner. The one she found a little bit too close to her was a pretty young woman that seemed to be a few years older than her. The first thing that caught Kana's attention to her was her unmistakably natural pink hair, tied in twin buns and braids. The other was her shiny, metallic yellow eyes, which observed her with curiosity. It was then that Kana noticed they had ringed orbs, which was a very particular trait that reminded her of a certain someone – not only that, but her porcelain-like white skin and her cheerful smile were familiar as well.

Almost like...

"She's the current Nura bride, if that's what you're asking about, Reira." another feminine voice said from the heiress's other side, making her turn around abruptly to face whoever was its owner, and finding exactly who she was expecting. "The Ienaga's only daughter, Ienaga Kana-chan."

At the kind honorific, Kana frowned for a second, but regained her composure in time not to be noted. Taking the liberty of acting so familiarly with her... was she making fun of her yet again? If so, just who did that "Yuki Onna" think she was?

"Ara, is that so, Setsura-san?" the so-called "Reira" asked, as if for confirmation.

"Yep, that is so." out of the blue, the rightful owner of the young woman in question stepped in, as if he had magically teleported to behind her, with a rather nonchalant tone and expression. Nevertheless, it was still enough to make her jump slightly and almost shriek in surprise.

"R-Rikuo-ku...?!"

"Ah, I knew it!" Reira clapped her hands noiselessly, as if closing an imaginary book, "From the very second I saw her, it was clear for me. She already does look like a real Ojou-sama and Yome-san."

"Eh?" With her cheeks pink, Kana asked shyly, "I-Is that so?"

"Of course it is~!" another feminine voice, this time coming from Kana's front, affirmed rather enthusiastically. "You're so cute!"

"H-Heh...?!" becoming red, Kana turned around again to see the accompaniers had approached her without her noticing, but not invading her personal state at all. She soon found out the one who had spoken was the short-haired ashen blonde woman she had taken to be the twin sister of the man with a thin stick in his mouth. "Ah, th-thank you..." she finally replied, remembering her manners.

"Yeah, the only way Rikuo could ever score someone of your level would be through an arranged marriage." commented the little girl with the high bun, with a hand over a rather sly smile.

"Guh...?!" Sweat-dropping, the Wakagashira sputtered, "H-Hey, Yukari..."

"It's a pleasure to meet you personally, Ienaga Kana-sama." the young woman with glasses bowed politely, together with the young man with a tosaka and the one with a tokin on his head.

"I-It's a pleasure to meet you, too." Kana returned the bow a little clumsily, still blushing.

"Please take care of Rikuo-sama." she added.

"Ah," Caught by surprise by the request, the heiress couldn't give a proper response other than, "y-yes...!" but in her head, her answer was firm and strong, since her will to accept that job was quite big. And now, she seemed not to be able to reach any higher level of joy that day, just because of a simple yet very significant fact – they were actually entrusting Rikuo to her. It seemed that, much like what had happened in the breakfast, she was already being accepted as the new Nura wife. And it also seemed that those people thought she would be the one taking care of their master in the future, instead of a certain aide.

"Welcome to the family, Ojou-sama." another man, this time the one with a hood over his head, bowed to her slightly with a slightly shy smile – the last thing she would expect from someone with such an intimidating figure. "It seems now Tsurara-nee-san will finally be spared of some hard work."

"Yeah, looks like she doesn't need to look after you as much anymore." the brunet with the red bandana added, his arms still crossed.

Giggling a bit in response, Kana felt more than satisfied with the confirmation of her previous thoughts. But the feeling was gone as soon as she looked at the Sandaime, wanting to see his reaction to what had been said. And what she found wasn't very pleasing – he was eyeing his young allies with an almost blank expression, as if carefully trying to process what he had just heard from them.

Could it be he didn't like the idea...?

As the heiress stopped to think a little better about it, she began to wonder if she herself should like the idea as well. After all, she knew those words were meant to motivate her to always look after her future husband as his personal servant did, but, wouldn't that be the same as saying she would be like a substitute for her? That could be exactly what she would become after they got married, wouldn't it? Because, when they started their life as newly-weds, she would most likely take the aide's position as the closest person in the world to him and many of the responsibilities regarding his welfare would fall upon her. And the worst of all – if that was really so, she would be bound to always be compared with the servant many times in the future, depending on how she would do her job as wife.

Then... that meant she would have to do a better work than Tsurara had ever done.

With her blood starting to boil and her hands forming fists inside of her nagajuban, her small inner conflict was transformed into pure determination yet again, as she was suddenly hit with a long and overwhelming desire – to surpass Oikawa Tsurara. Maybe the way she was now wasn't good enough to be a wife, maybe she was still very far from even reaching somewhere near the servant's level, maybe she would have countless difficulties trying to change (like she did earlier that morning). But nothing of that meant her task was impossible, only that it was a really hard one, which would only increase its value when she accomplished her goal. Yes, when she accomplished it. She could do it. That was what she believed...

"Hold on, you guys. Watch how you are talking there."

...until her arranged husband himself objected...

"It's like you're suggesting Kana-chan is here to replace Tsurara." With a frown that clearly showed annoyance and slight irritation, Rikuo crossed his arms, "I guess you still don't see it now, but the two of them are very different. Tsurara is Tsurara; Kana-chan is Kana-chan. And I think it's obvious Kana-chan doesn't need to go through any changes to be accepted in this household. Besides," as he lowered his head a little, it was impossible to see his eyes, due to his bangs covering them. But as he looked up again, the expression he held was so firm that his arranged bride doubted she had ever seen him so certain of anything in her life. And with that very face, he said everything she had prayed he wouldn't, "no one can ever replace Tsurara. That's why, even after Kana-chan and I get married, I won't lower Tsurara's position – she will continue to be the head aide and assist Kana-chan daily."

...and ruined the biggest part of her expectations for the years to come.

For a moment, Kana was more than glad everyone's attention seemed to be concentrated on their young leader, for she couldn't afford to let anyone see her face the way it was. After all, she was completely stupefied. And, as much as a part of her begged her to recompose herself while no one was looking, it seemed that it couldn't reach her senses so easily, so she took a little longer than she should to mask her feelings and return to her normal state. But even after she did, her mind was still very disturbed. Her arranged fiancé's words were too painful for her to hear, since he was indirectly affirming he was never letting go of his aide, even if he knew he wouldn't need her as much after getting married. And he knew that much – it was obvious to anyone Kana could perfectly take her place. Tsurara had always acted more like a wife to him than a servant, so when Kana became his wife for good, that would become her rightful spot.

Then that meant he didn't think she had a chance against his aide.

Perhaps it was just Kana's overreaction, but he could be implying he didn't think she would ever be able to reach his personal servant's level. After all, hadn't he said it himself she was supposed to be assisted daily? If that was what he really thought, to him, she would have to be forever under Tsurara's care. Or, on an even worse hypothesis, maybe he thought she could have a chance, but he didn't want to give it to her for the sake of keeping his aide close to him.

If either of those was true, Kana began to ponder about many things at the same time. Was she really that limited in his eyes? Was Tsurara really that much of a good worker? Did he really not want to let go of her that badly? The many questions in the poor heiress's head tormented her, and because of that, she tried to search in his words an answer to them. And while she did, the conversation continued, yet she couldn't bring herself to pay full attention to it as she blankly observed everybody, hearing them, but not actually listening to them. Thankfully, she seemed not to be the main subject anymore.

When Rikuo had started his little speech regarding his future wife and all-time aide, the one he was actually trying to defend was the Ienaga lady. After all, he did say she was not there to be a replacement, just nothing more than herself, and that he hoped everyone would accept her the way she was. By then, everything had been quite okay, and his words even made her feel flattered. But then things started to go the wrong way – it seemed, by the way he spoke, that he wanted to maintain his relationship with both her and his personal aide unaltered. And that was the same as him saying he wanted to keep his wife as his childhood friend forever. Then, did that mean he wanted Tsurara to be the one he would keep the closest to him? If that was so, then Kana's chances with him were close to none – and that was what he seemed to be indirectly affirming. Whether she would be a good wife for him or not, if her interpretation of his words was right, he had already decided who he really wanted by his side.

Either that or he was having difficulties accepting such a huge change in his daily life.

That could also be the reason, right? Rikuo had spent his entire life with that girl. Maybe having his fourteen years of life's routine change so drastically with a single event wouldn't be as easy for him as it was for his arranged fiancée. But with time, Kana knew she could carve her mark deep inside him. She just needed to try very hard, because it now seemed to be much more difficult than she had previously thought.

But then again, those were all just theories – she couldn't be sure about any of them just yet. She also didn't have enough courage to personally ask her fiancé himself to cease her doubts, so she was stuck with having to depend on whatever hints he could show next. Until then, the questions would still haunt her mind. What if she really didn't have almost any chance with him? Should she just give up? That could spare her of some incredibly painful experiences in the future, couldn't it?

"No...!" her thoughts burst up loudly. "I can't... give up just like that!"

With newly-found motivation washing over her whole body, the hazel-eyed one started to feel eager again. She wasn't a coward – she would not give up her future so easily. If her first thought was right, all she could do was fight her difficulties back with all her might instead of giving up. In the past, she had given up some opportunities life had given her, and she regretted that deeply, so she was certainly not doing the same again.

Moving to another country for a while was another thing that only made her more willing to win her beloved's heart – she had come to understand her feelings better after being separated from the one she wanted to be with the most. And she certainly wouldn't just forget about them and admit defeat that easily. So what if he could want another? Or if he could fear change? Or if for whatever other reason, her chances to actually gaining his heart were low? It still didn't mean she couldn't do anything about it. Those were just obstacles, and to her, obstacles existed to be overcome.

So overcome them she would, even if the biggest of them was her special person himself.

She had to give it a try, even if it could turn out to be just a fruitless attempt. After all, in the end, at least she would be able to say she did her best fighting to reach her goal, not that she just miserably surrendered for being afraid of getting hurt. But she didn't even want to think of failing as an option, for it would do nothing other than push her down. She would win – that was what she had decided that day, no matter how much she would still be hurt by him.

Because, with him as the big prize, no risk she could take would be worthless.

"B-But, Rikuo-sama... I've never said Kana-sama was a potential substitute for Nee-san." the embarrassed white and red-haired one shot his hands up in defense, "I meant now Nee-san finally has someone to share her loads of work with."

"Ah?" with slightly widened eyes, Rikuo seemed quite a bit surprised and somewhat sheepish for misunderstanding and making a bigger deal of what had been said than he should have made. "Really?"

"And I was only complementing what he had said."

"I-Is that so, Itaku?" the drop of sweat on his forehead had become visible.

As she finally snapped back into her normal self, the first thing Kana processed was the young man in the black hood and the one in the red bandana trying to make what they had said clearer, embarrassing her fiancé in the process. And she had to admit she felt much better with the actual meaning of their words than what she and her rightful man had taken them to be.

"Huuuh, who is this 'Nee-san' again...?" the monkey-faced man asked, obviously feeling left out and cluelessly scratching the back of his head, until he remembered the person in question. "Oh, yeah! The super-hot aide of yours~!"

"H-Hey, Dohiko..." Reira waved her hand slightly while sweat-dropping, as if gesturing for her comrade to mind his words.

With an arched brow, Kana couldn't help but stare skeptically at the ape-like man for a couple of seconds, not only disgusted by the way he spoke of one of her future subordinates, who was yet young to be considered attractive by an older man, but with a little hint of jealousy in her mind, which she tried to convince herself that didn't exist. Looking up at her arranged fiancé, she found it rather disturbing to see he had a small frown at his comrade's comment.

"Haa? 'Hot'? That flat Yukinko?" The one with a part of his glossy hair covering his face asked, trying to make a disgusted expression and putting a bit more emphasis on his own childish adaptation of the aide's nickname. For a moment, Kana had wanted to laugh at the sarcastic question and the way the young man referred to her undeclared enemy, but when she looked at him better, she could see a light blush on his cheeks as he added, "I don't think we're talking about the same person here."

"Is he lying? Does he actually like Oikawa-san's looks?" the heiress asked herself in her mind, her previous thoughts of how the brunet resembled Gyuuki forgotten. "Could he be a... tsundere...?" while wondering about her own questions, she couldn't help but cast another look at the white-haired Wakagashira. Again, his reaction wasn't very pleasing, for his frown had deepened and one of his hands was about to form a fist, as if he was holding himself back not to argue with what had been said. She had to admit she was becoming quite a bit irritated with where the conversation was going because of that.

But, when she thought a little better about it, wasn't that exactly how Rikuo was supposed to react to someone insulting an old friend of his? What if she herself was in the aide's place? She was almost sure he would have behaved the same way, since he had always been the type of person that wouldn't let his friends receive those kinds of critics. Besides, there wasn't much difference between his reactions and Tsurara's mother's, who also looked like she was on the verge of taking the initiative to go teach the boy a lesson, but it seemed like she was holding herself back in respect of whoever he was accompanying.

"Oh, yeah, Gozumaru... I've always wanted to ask... why do you call her 'Yukinko', anyways?" Zen asked matter-of-factly with an arched brow.

"Isn't it obvious?" Crossing his arms, the one who went by the name of "Gozumaru" lowered his eyelids as he answered simply, "She isn't suited to be called something as mighty and frightening as a 'Yuki Onna'."

Hearing that, Kana sweat-dropped, together with a few other people. She was sure that she wasn't the only one that had noticed Gozumaru looked like he was trying to imply hints of disdain for the aide. Still, his words were ambiguous, despite his body language – she wasn't mighty or frightening or anything of that sort, but wasn't that a good thing? Wasn't he indirectly saying what actually suited her was a cuter and lighter nickname, such as "Yukinko"? If that was really it, the heiress's suspicions were right – he was quite the tsundere and most likely had a certain interest for the hardworking aide.

"But then why don't you just call her 'Tsurara' instead?" the one with a horse skull on his head asked with a rather mischievous smile. "It's a cute name~!"

"Ugh...!" awkwardly, the brunet seemed to have run out of words to speak back as he lamely sputtered, "L-Like I would ever do that, stupid Mezu!"

Not able to hold back anymore, Kana giggled with herself discreetly. Surely she was a little disappointed the subject of the conversation had suddenly changed from her to her rival, yet she couldn't help but enjoy seeing everyone share laughs at the dark brown-haired youngster's obvious embarrassment. And as she looked again at both her arranged husband and the retired "Yuki Onna", she was impressed at how their faces had changed so quickly. Rikuo was now smirking at how Gozumaru's words had been turned against him and Setsura seemed to be having fun seeing how he reacted to the little provocations everyone was starting to make. She also looked rather amused with the young underling's possible interest in her daughter (which was something the Wakagashira seemed to be completely unaware of).

It was good while it lasted, but the happy chattering and jokes were soon interrupted by the sound of the old main gates of the mansion being opened, giving free path for a fancy western-styled carriage to enter. It was only then that Kana noticed the special guests, with the exception of Setsura, Zen and Ryouta Neko, had gathered near the gate, as if they had been expecting the carriage the whole time while giving space for the young ones to have their own time together.

Everybody watched the beautiful black carriage move elegantly (even on the uneven ground), the two white horses that pulled it being skillfully handled by a very serious and composed gyosha. As the heiress observed his perfect posture, which refused to sway within the movements of the carriage, she couldn't help but wonder if the old and muscular grey-haired gyosha was a member of Hagoromo Gitsune's Kumi.

By the moment the carriage stopped near the group of youngsters, the gyosha politely bowed as far as his sitting position allowed him to, greeting them. And as everyone responded in the same level, they noticed one of the curtains of the carriage being pulled open by considerably tiny hands, following by a rather adorable face sticking out with a childish, cheeky smile. Another little girl, Kana concluded. That one had peculiar, reptile-like golden eyes and long, curly raven hair. Her smile, which let her canines show, made the heiress's eyes grow a little wide in admiration as the word "cute" was chanted in her head.

"Good morning, minna-sama! Ah!" not giving time for replies, the little one waved happily at someone coming from the opposing side, "Onee-sama! We've come to pick you up~!"

"Just in time, Kyoukotsu." Harogomo Gitsune's voice could be heard as she classily walked up to her carriage, smiling warm and gently at her young subordinate, like a mother would smile at her child, completely contrasting the creep and frosty smile she had given the Ienaga lady a while before.

"I see. So the witch does have a heart." Kana thought with herself, frowning yet again as she half-hid her face behind her kimono's yuki. "I wonder why she didn't show it to me. Perhaps... she thinks I'm not worth it?" smiling a little with herself, she added the possible dislike the beautiful woman could have of her to the list of things she was supposed to change in that household.

Much to the heiress's content, right after she made that decision, it didn't take long for said Yamato Nadeshiko to bid her good-byes for the time being as she hopped on her expensive carriage and left to her own mansion, which was located on a slope not very far away. The carriage's disappearing figure was observed by everyone just like when it was arriving as the gates closed. And, after they were completely sealed, it also didn't take long for the groups to come inside and part to their respective rooms after chatting a little more amongst each other.

~o0o~

He would be lying far too lamely if he ever said he didn't enjoy it. Words like "lolicon" or "pervert" could be the right ones to describe that side of him. But he couldn't care less about that, since he could never help but have a little fun watching the many sorts of protest his aide would give against his advances. Sometimes, she would try to be cold and melt away; sometimes, she would try to scold or lecture him and succeed; sometimes, she would find herself in a helpless situation, so she would appeal to begging for mercy. Whatever she did, she would never fail to be utterly cute.

Just like now.

"W... We caaaaaan't!" the raven-haired beauty complained in a furious whisper with her face in many shades of pink and red, one of her hands clutching her master's black yukata tightly and the other covering his lips.

For the second consecutive day, she had been caught by surprise by her master, this time while delivering some recently dried clothes before going to help Wakana and Kejourou with other chores. In a second, she was peacefully organizing his wardrobe while he worked on some scrolls behind her, and in the other, when she was done, she was literally nose-to-nose with her commander.

As always, her response was to back off, but the wardrobe was on her way, so she ended up slipping down to the floor as she tried to stay as far as possible from the ruby-eyed young man's lips by pushing him off with her hands. Had it not been for the fact she had been off-guard back then, she would have thought of a better way to prevent him from getting what he wanted than pushing him away, for his unyielding structure wouldn't even budge. On the contrary: it was her body that had been pushed down instead. In short, the more strength she applied to push him off, the more she pushed herself down and slid beneath him. Unfortunately (for her), she ended up only seeing she had been trapped when she had no more space to escape. In that situation, her only choice was to put a hand over his mouth as she argued against what could possibly be coming.

Not that it would work.

"Waka... please... let's not—kyah!" she began, but wasn't able to finish her sentence as something moist and soft made its way across one of her palms. She immediately withdrew her hand back and whipped it off on her obi, her blush becoming deeper. "W-What was that for, Rikuo-sama?" she asked in a low but demanding tone, even though she knew very well the answer to her question.

"Your hand is tasting like soap, Tsurara." ignoring her obvious question, he laughed smoothly at his own comment and the way she reacted to it.

"W-Whaaa...?!" with her face about to melt from the exaggerated heat, the servant didn't know what to think anymore.

"Tsurara... you're the only one, right?" after staring down at her for a little while, he asked absently, holding the hand that still had a strong and trembling grip on his yukata while having to hold back the urge to laugh out loud at the funny, confused face she made at his statement.

"H-Hah...?"

"You're the only one who keeps rejecting me, right?" the white-haired one continued slowly, his smirk lowering to a smile as he pulled her small, slender pale fingers off his clothing one by one. "Do you hate me?"

"EH?!" by the second she was able to process what she had just heard, the aide could feel sweat drops forming on her cheeks from blushing so hard. "T-T-T-T-That's not iiit! I lov... awawawawawah! That's wro~~~~~oong!"

Adorable.

Now resting one of his elbows, with one of his hands supporting his head from his cheek, the Wakagashira delighted himself as much as he could as he watched his personal servant try to recompose her sputtered statement and explain herself, but only ended up making more confusing sentences. As her arms frantically wailed and her ocean blue eyes refused to meet their opposing burgundy comparison, her denial of her master's previous question and her own interrupted justification took a little while more, until she understood she was just being teased. By then, the embarrassed babbling became embarrassed scolding as she hammer-fisted his chest in exasperation, still not able to make his muscular structure move the slightest bits.

He only wished it also wouldn't hurt his heart.

It was something impossible to ignore – the excruciating pain that would stab his chest every time he was remembered his life should belong to another woman. And he mostly felt said pain when he spent time with the one he actually wanted to pledge himself to. That killed him inside bit by bit as time went by, ever since he had found out about his feelings – those that were never supposed to exist. And the fact his special person would most of the time refuse to reciprocate the little three words he had wanted to hear from her for so long, regardless of how hard he tried to steal them from her, only made it worse.

Still, one day, he had promised himself, he would have her say them, no matter what.

Until then, he would have to be contented with how things were at the moment, as he continued his attempts to make her accept him the way he wanted her to. The ironic part was that what actually motivated him the most to do so was the fact he was almost always repelled in the end, for the more negation he received from her, the more he felt the need to be reminded she only did all of that for his sake and that what she really wanted was just the same as he did.

"Okay, okay, I get it." as his thoughts completely took away the feeling of fun he was having while observing his little aide's frustrated self, he silenced her softly, grabbing a non-hurtful hold of her tiny wrists. Skillfully, he led them to both of her sides, above her head, easily fighting back any resistance. Soon enough, the two of them were in the most suggestive position they had been ever since his last birthday. And, as he leaned his forehead on hers, his flashy bloody pools quickly seized her widened ocean ones in their firm gaze.

Petrified, Tsurara was left taking a second or two too long staring straight into her master's eyes, watching his expression change drastically from a playful smile to a serious thin line with a hint of sorrow. She was only brought back to the rest of her senses by her master's warm breath tickling the tip of her nose, and, as she came to, her instinctive response was to ask for him to stop, regretting it as soon as she perceived how close his lips already were to hers, "Ah... w... wai–" A little moment before a connection could be made – which was just a matter of milliseconds – she only had one thing in mind.

That once again, she had nowhere to escape.

"Waka~!" a cheerful, mature feminine voice was heard on the other side of the closed shouji of the room. The master and the servant easily recognized it as Kejourou's. "Forgive my intrusion~!" With her request, which meant she was coming in, the look between the two of them changed completely from longing desire and bittersweet defeat to alarming despair, and soon, the previous atmosphere was all gone.

Only to be replaced with an even heavier one.

"Ara...?" a puzzled brunette mused with herself as she slid the shouji doors of the room open after receiving no response. "Waka...?" allowing herself to go further into the place than just sticking her head in, she looked around twice, confirming there was no one in sight with a sigh. "Weird... Waka is usually here at this time. Then, could it be... he's back to that horrible habit of skipping work?" she whispered thoughtfully to no one in particular while scratching her chin, staying in a quick moment and pondering with herself before taking her leave for good. "I'd better go find Tsurara, then..."

Upon hearing her name, the aide's heart skipped a beat, which made her feel the need to take a deep breath, but it wasn't possible – at least not with her mouth and nose being covered with a fairly bigger comparison of her hands. Successfully sneaking an arm out of a strong hold around her waist area, she tapped the obstacle blocking her only sources of oxygen, which caused its owner to let go immediately, whispering an apology into her ear right after. Greedily inhaling and exhaling, the raven-haired one was both relieved for finally being able to breathe normally and uneasy because of the situation she now found herself in.

Sharing her master's wardrobe with him.

Rikuo had been quite quick. As soon as he had heard Kejourou coming, he tackled his personal servant with one arm and swiftly half-rolled into the wardrobe, – which hadn't yet been closed – sliding its wooden doors shut with his free hand and then using it to cover the mouth of the confused girl in his grip. For such a rushed and sudden action, he was very thankful he had landed on some piles of soft and recently-dried clothes, not hurting his back. He had also been careful enough not to hold his mate too tightly that time, so that what had happened the night before wouldn't be repeated. But he had still moved a little too quickly for someone who had broken bones, and so it wasn't long before pain reached him, only with a lower intensity of the one of the previous time.

"Ri-Rikuo-sama...!" the white maiden struggled to turn around with her superior's arm still around her so that she would be able to face him, after hearing an angsty moan from behind her. Irritated that she couldn't see his state well in the darkness of the narrow space they were in and that it was partly her fault he was in agony again, she mentally cursed herself with a frown and immediately tried to pat his head slightly to provide at least a little bit of comfort. Much to her surprise, all she did was get her hand caught in his as he drew it to one of his cheeks and nuzzled himself into it, reminding her of the morning after the night he was injured, when she had done the same thing with his hand, after he had carefully taken the liberty to wipe off her cold tears. In a small daze, Tsurara took a couple of seconds staring at her master's closed eyes in silent admiration. But, as she noticed the hint of pain in his facial expression, she immediately tried to get up from her lying position on the clothes she had just delivered.

Zen.

The first thing she thought of as a solution was, obviously, to seek help from the Nura-gumi's best medic. Since he was going to be at the main house for a while, he would be the perfect assistance for the reckless Sandaime. But as she gave her suggestion, all she received as response was to be pulled back to face her commander – this time, with her body a little closer to his, almost like he was itching to press her against him. Yet since he couldn't do so, he just brought her as close to him as possible without him getting hurt again, and asked her to stay with him like that for a while, assuring he would be just fine if he stayed put for a bit. She complied, but only because she understood that he would have to take a while to start moving again, and she wanted to be there to help him when he was ready. And, while she was in his half-embrace, Tsurara couldn't help but notice something under her hand, coming out of her master's loose yukata.

A sapphire pendant.

Automatically, many memories of her future mistress came back to her, flashing through her mind right before her eyes, as if even her subconscious wanted to torture he already castigated self. Uncountable moments from ever since the two of them had met flowed freely – most of them about the Ienaga daughter and the current Nura heir and the times she saw the two of them together. How they managed to draw closer to each other within time (despite the childish trials of her younger self to separate them), how her undeclared love rival had always tried hard to maintain a steady relationship with her fiancé, how she was still fighting to be a good enough spouse... everything pierced through the indigo-eyed maiden's heart like a sharp stake.

And the worst part was that her master seemed to have sensed her grief.

With his hand traveling its way to the back of her neck, she felt her head being pulled closer to his warm, broad chest. The first thing she noticed, while blushing madly, was that his heartbeats and breathing seemed to be slowly going back to their normal rate, which meant the pain was easing. Faintly, she could hear him whispering into her ear, which sent chills all over her body, "See? Tsurara's here, so I'll be fine."

Hearing those words, she was a little confused for a moment, but immediately understood what he had implied after a couple of seconds of thinking. He had already once told her how embracing her felt before. It had happened on the day of the Nidaime's funeral – she had fallen asleep in his arms on his futon while consoling him. When she had woken up in the middle of the night, she figured people would find it strange to see her coming out of his room by dawn, so she tried to sneak out, but ended up awaking him. As he had noticed what she was doing, he immediately stopped her, ordering her to stay with him until morning. When she had tried demanding why he was so uncharacteristically insisting on such a thing, he didn't hesitate to answer in his sleep-drunken state. And even though back then he was a little drugged with sleep, she could tell his words were honest. He had, of course, later regretted what he had done out of embarrassment, but no matter how much he begged for her to forget what he had said, the memory would never leave her, so all he could do was to live it down. But now she could see he actually hadn't been able to do so, and even seemed to be using his words in his favor to make her feel better and remember the old times when everything was easier and seemed like it would last forever.

But all of that had changed too suddenly.

As Kana's return was announced, the two of them seemed to have snapped back into cruel reality. Soon enough, their relationship had started taking completely unexpected proportions as their feelings continued to pile up within time. While he would try to convince her to give in to him, to show her he wanted her by his side rather than on his back, to open his heart to her, she would try to remind him of his duties, preserve his position, make him choose the path of a peaceful future, yet assure she would still never leave him. As a result, she would neglect his way of showing affections as well as he would neglect hers. In resume, it seemed they had become trapped in a vicious cycle of hurting and healing each other – like a curse. And there wasn't anything they hated more in the world.

But at the same time, there wasn't anything they loved more, either.

She watched him slowly open his flashy burgundy eyes as he gazed down at her in a daze, not blinking, like she had done many times before with him. With her chest tightening, courtesy of the many overflowing feelings prevenient of the memories that had been awakened in her, the corners of her eyes started to become disturbed with water. Pursing her lips and cursing her incapability of controlling her emotions and reactions, she immediately broke their connection as she downed her head and began to rub her lashes with her hands frantically.

She was more than displeased to show such weakness before the person she admired the most.

"W... We must hurry up, Rikuo-sama!" she stated out of the blue, her tears dried and her sad face replaced with a strange look of determination that seemed to have come out of nowhere. "If you're okay to walk now, let's go to Zen-sama so that he can take a look at those wounds!" she said, more like ordered, quickly sliding the wardrobe's wooden door open and letting herself out, giving no chance for her master to pull her back. "You have been acting to carelessly with them, and the medicines he gave you may not be enough to—wah!" she trailed of suddenly, almost tripping on the hems of her white furisode.

Hearing her abrupt stop, but unable to see what exactly had happened since the aide was out of his field of vision, Rikuo slowly let himself out of his wardrobe as well. "What's wrong, Tsur...?" his turn to trail off came not so long after hers as he stopped mid-way out. Staring almost blankly at the scene before him, it had taken him a few seconds to understand what could have led things to turn out the way he was seeing them, but soon enough, he was able to put the pieces together. He had thought it had been his impression, but while they were in the wardrobe, the moment she had struggled within his hold, her obi had loosened a little without her notice.

And the result of that was quite a bit awkward.

She was miraculously able to catch her obi before it fell down. But that still didn't mean she was able to prevent her kimono from stirring, which exposed her a little bit. And she seemed to have perceived as much as her face became as hot as lava. "P... Please, don't look..." she asked faintly, barely able to form a coherent sentence out of embarrassment, let alone look at her commander properly. He, however, didn't seem to be able to pay attention to her request – or to anything other than her bare left shoulder and a little piece of a not-so-small-anymore cleavage that were slightly exposed by her nearly falling furisode and nagajuban. All he did was stare as if he was seeing through her, motionless like he had become a part of his own furniture.

Before nose-bleeding uncontrollably.

"Rikuo-sama...!" without thinking, the aide instinctively stepped forward to provide some help to her leader, regardless of her condition.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm totally fine." he immediately claimed with one of his hands up, wise enough to turn his back at her as he finally found the will to move again and looking up at the ceiling while holding his nose so that no more blood would come out. "Just don't... don't come here, alright?"

"A-Alright." She replied quietly, watching him use his black yukata to wipe off his blood, until she noticed something was missing. "R... Rikuo-sama, where's your haori?"

"Kinda hot today." he answered between sniffs. "I prefer not to wear it."

"I-I see..." she muttered, lowering her head and staring at some of her master's blood that had spilled onto the once gleaming wooden floor. Indeed, it was becoming a little bit hotter every day. The warmth of spring was coming. Not that it wasn't about time – after all, February was almost over.

Soon enough, her master and his childhood friend would be...

"I..." she broke her trail of thoughts as she covered her shoulder. Thanks to them, though, she had managed to get her act together and steady her voice. "I will be fixing my furisode now. So please don't look."

Hearing the announcement, he flinched slightly while finishing cleaning his sore nose. He was going to ask her to let him go across the room before she got started, so that he could use his scrolls as a distraction to the fact she would be actually exposing herself right behind him. But as he heard the sound of her obi being dropped to the floor for good (as she was probably in a hurry before anyone else let themselves in), he automatically dismissed his idea and just sat on the floor, unable to do anything other than stare at nothingness and try to control his thoughts.

Yet that was surprisingly harder than he had expected.

He started massaging his aching nose's bridge, his face covered with heat, which he suspected that wasn't only prevenient of his sudden little burst of blood. While listening to the soft sounds of her clothes' fabrics, he couldn't help but wonder about what the rest of her could look like. In a split second, with the simple idea of picturing such a thing, his mind was invaded with all sorts of inappropriate thoughts with incredible speed, as if they had already been within him for quite a while, just waiting for a chance to resurface. As a result, his face only became hotter. That made him automatically place his hands over it and massage his cheeks, in order to spread his blood and contain his desire to slap himself.

Hard.

How did she even do that to him? She was young and her body was still developing. It shouldn't be such a big deal to see her, let alone to see so little. He also had already had more intimate contact with other females' bodies before, – but of course, not willingly – those being actual adults and very attractive ones. Still, his reactions to them were nothing close to what had just happened. He had even been shoved into cleavages of women of Kejourou's caliber before, but at most, he would only blush slightly. Then how could something like that have such a greater effect? It could be because it was a rather rare opportunity, since Tsurara was different from the women he had had more intimate contact with – instead of being showy and overly secure of her body, she preferred to preserve and guard it. It could be because he was caught by surprise by how she had grown more than he had expected – or more than her clothes allowed him to see. It could be that was just his subconscious manifesting how much he desired her. Or it could be all of those options.

"'Hot'? That flat Yukinko?"

"Hot" indeed wasn't the right word to define her or her body in formation. And, even if she actually became attractive to that point in the future, he would never use such a disrespectful term to refer to her. He also surely wouldn't call her "flat" either, for the same reasons. So he embarrassedly decided with himself that "beautiful" was the one word that fit her perfectly.

"I-I'm done." A wavering voice said from behind him, "Feel free to turn around now, Waka."

When Rikuo did as he was allowed to, he was surprised to see his aide was neatly ready once again. He wasn't any specialist in women clothing, but it didn't take much to know kimono were more complicated than they seemed and the process of dressing them up took a little while, yet she had managed to put it back on and even tighten it in a rather short span of time. Was that how efficient she was?

"Ou..." he thought with slightly widened eyes. "as expected of Tsurara..."

"W-We can go to Zen-sama now, right?" the raven-haired one asked timidly, her blush still there. "B-But first, Rikuo-sama... y-you won't tell anyone... r-right...? I mean... a-about..."

"O-Of course not, idiot." he blurted out, still not free of his own blush, but she thankfully wasn't seeing it with her head down. What was she even thinking? That he would ever want to share what he had seen with anyone? Not happening. Not ever happening. She was his, nobody else's. No one should ever be conceived the right to see her except for him.

If it depended on him...

"I-Is that really so?" once again, his aide's voice broke his trail of thoughts. But this time, her tone was back to normal.

"What, are you doubting me?" at last with his excess of blood almost completely dissipated from his cheeks, he arched a silver brow at her, almost sounding annoyed.

"E-Eh?!" taken aback by the question, Tsurara couldn't help but raise her head and widen her eyes at her commander. "Of course not! Never! I just–"

It was needless to say the aide had regretted her automatic response. The moment her head shot up was the moment she was caught, and her defeat was defined by nothing but a quick and gentle peck on the lips. It was a subtle move, but it had her petrified for a couple of seconds, for it had taken her a little bit more than necessary to process what had happened.

She had lost.

"You just" he continued her sentence a little mockingly, despite his serious look, "lowered your guard."

Even though her master was also feeling pretty awkward with what had happened and with what he had just done, he still had a little hint of cockiness in his voice, and she could almost read the word "winner" in his eyes as she stared back at his ruby gaze. All of that somewhat annoyed her, aside from the fact her loss had been quite miserable after she had done her best to fight him back. And because of that, it took her a while to be able to muster out words. Tough when she actually did, it only worsened her situation, as they came out more little a soft gasp while her blush only deepened, "Mo... Mou...!"

He was just too dense.

~o0o~

GUYS. GUYS, IT'S OVER. IT'S OVER AND I'M SO DAMN SAD. YET I'M KIND OF HAPPY. AND NOSTALGIC, TOO. AND THE OVA. THE FREAKING NURARI OVA. GOSH, THE FEELS. THE FEELS, PEOPLE!

Speaking of the OVA, I don't know if you know, but a kind soul has uploaded it on Media Fire. It's not the best quality, but at least it's something. If you don't feel safe about downloading it, someone has also posted this very archive on You Tube. But warning: it's without subs, so this amateur translator (me) posted a resumed translation of it on tumblr and Manga Fox. I REALLY wanted to give you guys the links to all of that, but it's probably against the rules to post it here. So if you want, I can give you instructions through PM to get all of those. Anyways, have fun, guys! The long-awaited OVA and this update are my presents for you!

And, man, as expected... the number of alerts is still going down. I'm so sad, guys! It's not even because my story is getting much less attention than before, but because the fans are all leaving so quickly I'm starting to feel lonely. I hope the third season comes out soon. The OVA is already bringing the fans back, but... ah, damn, I'm being such a whiny idiot! Sorry, guys, I wanted to share a bit of my sadness with you. I'm just so sure that even if manga like Naruto or Bleach end, there would still be a lot of fanfictions there for them, but NuraMago... what even happened to NuraMago? It had used to be so popular before... it had so much potential... but the sales... gah. I'm still trying to accept this early end, even though it was quite a bit epic. I wonder if you guys feel the same.

PS: firstaidkateee and hungrydotfridge! My beautiful stalkers! How did you like this chapter? I really wanna know! Please, leave a comment there for me~!

Well, let's just go on with the remarks:

1) First, explanations about the names of some characters!
Akagappa: I gave him "Toono" as a surname because, to me, it kind of makes sense, since he's the head of the Toono family.
Dassai: much like Kiyo, I couldn't find affiliations to his name to make one up for him, so I had to leave it like this...
Hihi: Well, it's pretty much like Akagappa. Since he's the head of the Oosaru alliance, I don't see why not give him that as surname. And it suits him quite well, don't you think? He was a great ape Youkai after all.
Gyuuki: I guess I don't need to explain much about his case, just that the name of the type of Youkai he is became his surname.
Hagoromo-gitsune: I did the same thing as with Hitotsume and split her name. Lol, yeah, assassinating Japanese grammar.
Zen: I also attributed him the name of his Kumi.
As for Ryouta Neko, you may be wondering why I only refer to him with name and surname all the time instead of just picking one, but... hell, I can't just call him "Ryouta" or "Neko". It's just not the same!

2) For those who are wondering who is the green-haired, golden-eyed dude I introduced up there, it was Amezou. I really hope you guys don't mind the "human transformation" I made for him and the splitting I did for Awashima. I mean, I couldn't write about Amezou being a Numagappa because there aren't youkai in my story, and since we don't know how he would be in human form, I adapted him to my needs. I just didn't want to leave him out because it wouldn't be the same without him. I also didn't want to leave out any of Awashima's two forms (I know male Awashima barely shows up, but I think it wouldn't be the same without him, either), but I obviously couldn't unless I separated them. So, here you have it – twins!

3) This remark may be a little useless... but here we go: some of you may be thinking that I changed Tsurara's speech a little when I embedded in this chapter a scene from chapter 209, but I actually didn't. So, if anyone asks me about it, here's the explanation in advance – as an amateur translator, from what I've understood after reading the raw scans in Japanese, what she said back then was: "Me-me-me-me-messooo~ mo nai (T-T-T-T-That's not iiit)! Daisu (I lov)... awawawawawa! Chigauno desu~~~~~uu (That's wro~~~~~oong)!". But yet the translators wrote it in English like this: "N-N-N-No! I lovava—youdon'tunderstand!", and I really don't know why.

4) I know I shouldn't be doing this but, yes, I included Rinko in the Bakeneko group. I just thought I'd add as many characters as I could to this lovely reunion, and Rinko was drawn once serving Rikuo sake with the other Bakeneko, so... yeah.

5) You guys may be wondering about Kana's character in this chapter. Well, I shall cease your possible doubts: yes, her development is starting to take proportions! Finally! Man, I think I'm giving her what Shiibashi-sensei never did, and that feels wonderful to me! Wanna know why, folks? Because, not trying to offend Shiibashi-sensei's character-handling or bash the original Kana or anything of the sort, but I think she and her feelings for Rikuo are too weak. And because of that, to me, I had always felt like Kana's chances against Tsurara were low after I understood the two of them liked him – and that was on freaking chapter two. And as I read more, it felt less and less that Kana actually stood any chance at all. I only thought she could have a chance on chapter nineteen, but at the end of chapter twenty, all of that was gone and the little development she had had was all thrown away. I wanted to change that. I wanted to make Kana more human. I wanted to make her be the original weak self she was, but after she grew up a little, she would understand her feelings better and become stronger – that's one of the reasons why I wanted to make the characters a little older. I wanted to make Kana struggle over the same thing many times, actually show pain for not being good enough, and try to do something to gain Rikuo's love – that is, as you can tell, the total opposite of what original Kana is. In other words, I wanted to make Kana a more worthy rival for Tsurara, so that in the end, Tsurara's victory would be much more meaningful and Kana's character would have a much better development than the original one ever had. She shall not be over-shadowed by the other humans like she was in the manga! That's why I said and repeat: if everything goes as I've planned, you will be loving my Kana by the final chapters of this story. I promise you will be pleasantly surprised.

And, yes, I know that she may have seemed kinda like a double-timer with the way I made her analyze some of the Nura boys (as cute, handsome, etc.), but I don't think that was OOC of her part at all. I mean, yes, she does have Rikuo as the one she loves, but that doesn't mean she will go "shoujo manga character" and not feel attraction to anyone else, or at least think other guys can be attractive, as long as it's not as much as Rikuo. After all, she's just human. Besides, that happens in the original story as well: Kana is in love with Yoru, but she also has a crush on Rikuo, and she seems to consider the possibility that if she can't be with "that person" she still has Rikuo, who she used to swear that liked her. You may just say she only thought he liked her in the Tankoubon, when her dialogue with Yura was changed for comic relief, but in my opinion, it wasn't just that. Kana had already shown many times within the development of the story that she considered Rikuo to be something like her "property", seemingly because she had been his first school friend and thought it would be natural for him to fall for her, so when Tsurara appeared out of nowhere and ruined that (at least, in Kana's point of view) she tried to somewhat push Tsurara out of her way. For example, when she tried to use Yura to separate him from Tsurara or when she suspected he and Tsurara had gone somewhere throughout the woods of Nejireme-yama to spend time together and immediately went to stop them herself. In other words, while Kana tried to see if she had a chance with Yoru, she tried to guarantee hers with Rikuo as well, in case she had a negative feedback. And if she didn't, she could just say good-bye to poor old Rikuo and have her happy fantasies with Yoru. Not double-timer to you? XD

Whoa, those were quite huge paragraphs... lol.

6) I've just turned seventeen! (Let's see how many people will care about this, lol.)

7) FORGET ABOUT MY PREVIOUS RAMBLINGS ABOUT HAVING ACHIEVED 13,100 WORDS SOME CHAPTERS AGO. I ACTUALLY GOT MORE THAN 19,000 WORDS ON THIS ONE. AND I WILL MAKE EVEN MORE IN FUTURE CHAPTERS. SEE WHAT YOU GUYS DO TO ME?!

8) Last but not least... OMG, THE RIKUTSURA MOMENTS ONLY BECOME MORE AND MORE CLICHÉD AND PERVERTED! WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH ME?!

Now, anons, the responses (and his shitty authoress still hopes you guys make your own accounts so that I can reply properly to them and we could talk more~)!

eucliwoodsctyhe: Thanks!

Yup, drunken Kana was very OOC.

I'm sorry if RikuTsura wasn't quite the focus of this chapter...

Thanks again! I'm always waiting for comments like yours too! It feels gratifying to have such nice readers!

slight: Whoa, a RikuKana hater? Then let's share a virtual high-five. I'm a pro RikuKana hater. I like Kana, but just can't stand the idea of her with Rikuo in any way possible, so let's just say I love RikuTsura as much as I hate RikuKana.

I hope I've updated fast enough and that it met the expectations.

Thank you for reviewing!

Kuro: Kuro-saaan! I missed you so much! *weeps as well* I'll give you such a gigantic reply now!

You didn't have to apologize, silly you. Take your time with my story.

Y-Your... "heaven"?! D-Does that mean you see my story as your little paradise or something? OMG, I'm so honored...

It's okay. Actually, it had only been a month, but you weren't impatient at all. I was the one who was late. And when I got your review hurrying me up, I decided to do my best, for you and for a friend of mine who was needing some support and a good distraction because she's going through some hard shit. I was able to finish it on that day thanks to you guys!

Awwwn, I'm so happy to know that!

Well, the only new couple was MamiYura, but it had already been hinted on the chapter before.

Hohoho, I love Kubinashi with Kejourou so much~! I'm glad their lovey-dovey scenes were good enough.

I'm also glad the RikuTsura moments were worth the read.

Oh, hun, she's not "ignoring him". She's just trying to preserve his welfare and position as well as the Nura-gumi, so she has to avoid him while being with him, that's all. It's not just because they love each other that they can be together. This kind of stuff also happens in the manga with Yamabuki and Rihan. Tragic cliché, eh? Besides, it's not just Rikuo who is suffering.

Hehehe, yes, things got out of hand for Jirou and Kana. It was a little fast, but it wasn't meant in the romantic sense, so their relationship is yet to be developed~!

Kuro is such an adorable tsundere. Lol, yeah, Natsumi has to get a hold of herself... and her relationship with Kuro.

Really?! Fufufufu, I shall take responsibility for turning you into a hardcore MamiYura shipper... BY MAKING MORE MAMIYURA SHIP-TEASE! MUWAHAHAHAHA! Man, why do I keep doing this? And Mamiru is cool, but not the "sexy" type of cool. Well, at least, that's how I think people saw it because of the "punishment" thing. But it was actually meant to be his usual "innocent self" acting there.

Itaku is with the Toono guys, of course! ItaRei shall be shown... as soon as I get an opportunity.

RikuIta moments? Y-You mean... like "that"...? *remembering the ton of doujin I've seen before and shuddering*

Rikuo and Kana's won't. Actually, arranged marriages are fated not to work, but Itaku and Reira's would be an exception. If I make them arranged weds, that is.

Hahahaha, it's not a lie. You're overdoing it. But thanks, anyways.

Whoa, there.

Yes, and Indonesian writers, too.

Oh, well, it's not hard to understand when you write, but I admit it wouldn't fit for a story. Still, you can always make an account so we can talk more like real friends! I mean, when this story ends, I don't intend on writing any more NuraMago stories. Then, how will we keep contact? Please, make an account~!

Thank you again!

Man, your school looks really horrible. I wish I could say I understand, but in fact, I don't (and I really don't want to). Still, I can tell you one thing: DO YOUR BEST. NEVER GIVE UP, OKAY?! I'M CHEERING FOR YOU, SO DON'T DISAPPOINT ME OR YOURSELF.

"Suspicious gestures"? I'm not sure I understand that... and what "came from a 'she'"? By "she" you mean your mother?

You're welcome!

It's okay! Like I said, you can take your time!

"Contests"?!

Ugh! *out-shown by Kuro-san's sparkling eyes* I-I'll try to update... ASAP...!

What word is provocating?

Yes, you guys are all too awesome!

Again, you're making my author notes sooo huge! This time, it was more than one page! XD

Guest: okay, just because of that? If you had said you got bored reading my story because it was bad, I would understand, but because it's long? Seriously?

fsa: why, thank you!

Once again, guys, thank you for reading one more chapter! I really do hope it wasn't as boring as it seemed and that those who had enough patience to read the first Kana-packed parts have at least liked the reunion and introduction of more characters into this story. I was really bothered by how I couldn't place as much dialogues as usual in this chapter, and I think it turned out to be quite a bit uncomfortable to read because of that. But to introduce everyone in Kana's point of view, I had no choice. And even though I did try to resume it as much as I could, it ended up being almost full five pages purely of descriptions of characters that are already known. And the worst is that those parts may not be all that important, but you surely will miss some stuff you might need to know in the future if you don't read them all... argh, damn. I'm so sorry, guys. This one chapter must have been disappointing for you.

And, well, I guess now I'll finally have more to write about other than just the love stories, but of course, they will still be the main topic! And with more characters, I can add even more tease and maybe more love stories and triangles (squares, pentagons, whatever) with more of my NuraMago OTPs! I'm looking forward to know what you think of all this and suggestions are welcome as well as good or bad comments, as long as you're as honest as possible with me!

Merry Christmas! Till next chapter!