Author's Note: I'm back very late again. I'm very sorry but suffice to say that I absolutely detest summers. They never let you do anything but sweat. Miserable excuses are all I can manage, I've been trying to make this longer but I failed. I'm sorry, I know I've done a bad job this time, even though I had fun writing this.

Please excuse OOCness.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but some variations in the plot line which ultimately cause the fiction to move in a Parallel Universe direction.

"BUKYOKU!"

Kyuso leapt back with a shocked grunt as a red staffed naginata, thrust through the bars, nearly sliced his face in two. Standing with yet two other shikigami at the ready, Yura stared at him, fearless with fierce determination to turn the tables, the black armored, huge samurai standing guard in front of her while Kana staggered fearfully to one side, closer to her friend. This was the ochimunsha shikigami, clear by how two arrows were stuck in his head. His face was covered by flaps with the kanji of his name.

"Stand back, Ienaga-san!" exclaimed the onmyouji firmly, then lowered her face so her expression could not be seen. The brunette did catch her teeth gritted however.

"I will definitely not lose a second time…" she growled with the voice coming out muffled.

Kana barely heard her, her eyes scanning the intimidating shikigami while trembling. Its face was covered by a paper with kanji that her nearly tearful eyes could not read at the moment. Now it was slicing their prison as easily as though cutting through a line of breadsticks. So she was forced to yelp in surprise as a pale hand grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the space now made for them to escape.

The rat youkai all around them had started shifting into their true forms, fanged, wide mouthed faces bursting from their heads and hair growing all over them. The blond playboy became the blond rat with no sense of play left in his face, only surprised fury.

"So, you had another one left, did you?" he rasped, coming closer to them again as the two girls stepped outside the cage.

The samurai shikigami was now waving the naginata fast enough to deal with several anthromorphic rats who seemed to be trying to fall on him and overwhelm him with numbers. Screams and howls of pain indicated how their attempt was going.

The brunette stared sideways, both hands gripping the onmyouji's shoulders while at the same time doing her best not to tremble. Although the situation had changed how she would never have thought it to…it was hard for her to decide who was more intimidating, the youkai or her classmate who had not bothered answering Kyuso's question but changed direction and started walking more quickly. The placid look was back on her face, yet with Bukyoku changing maneuvers to keep their path safe as they broke into a jog, and with her two ofuda raised like she would summon other shikigami at any moment, she had never looked more terrifying to Kana.

The smaller rats who could compare to the average rodent, were swarming the floors, having appeared out of nowhere. The older one of the two girls gritted her teeth to prevent herself from gasping or shouting but they were scampering over to them with alarming speed, their slit-pupiled eyes glowing this time. Yura felt the burden increase on her shoulder.

"We won't get out this way," she muttered to her friend and then cast a sideway glance to where she had seen Kyuso, only to find that he was not there anymore.

"YOU WON'T GET OUT ANY WAY!" roared a voice above them.

The young Keikain gasped and the brunette yelled as both their heads turned upwards at the source of the noise. With his fingers curled to make his claws prominent and his teeth spread into a wild snarl, the demented blond was coming straight down at them.

Bukyoku was at their left, throwing off the rats who were desperately trying to score a scratch or a bite and the leader had taken the chance to attack from above.

Before the brunette even had time to glance elsewhere, a hand pushed her far back. The impact was such that she was staggering away uncontrollably, trying to regain her balance and watching as her friend jumped backwards too. The result was that Kyuso landed on an empty spot and the two girls had been separated.

The black headed onmyouji gritted her teeth too now that she saw the position they were in. Highly reminiscent of the terror so many yet such short hours ago – she had pushed her friend right into a carpet of those same rats which had been frightening her at that time, for whose removal, she had agreed to withdraw Tanro. She now gave a bitter mental laugh at how disordered her line of thinking had been. Why had she ever expected them to stay away from her if she did as they asked? She had not dealt with this like an onmyouji, but like a girl who was concerned with protecting her friend. The former should have led to that concern as well but her disgrace was not having fought with all her strength and instead endeavored for negotiations of all things. Negotiations. With youkai. If Kana had not returned the pouch, it would have led to her end as a gullible little girl instead of a youkai hunter. Maybe she had just lost trust in herself when she had seen the brunette surrounded behind her which led to that surrender.

Behind the slowly advancing Kyuso who most likely wanted her to see it, the rodent rats were not just scurrying through the brunette's downed body but actually aiming their teeth and claws at her flesh. Rolling and turning, tossing and swinging, the again threatened girl was trying not to give any one of them the chance. Surprisingly, no screams could be heard from her, only grunts and gasps as she fought to keep them away.

"Your little games are getting old, onmyouji girl."

His drawl of a voice brought Yura back to his hairy face. It was turning into a hostage situation again. The roars and howls on her left kept reminding her that time was running out – the ochimunsha could not hold all of them off for very long. And, smart clanks on the floor told her that he was advancing towards her with that murderous relish that only emphasized the importance of getting away from him, or killing him if the chance presented itself.

She shook her head furiously. Continuing with this line of thought would make her get sucked up by his Fear…although for a peculiar reason, the maniacal smile on his human disguise looked more frightening than that of a youkai rat's, possibly because monsters were supposed to look this way. She already knew what his next order would be for her to 'save' the struggling brunette again. "Put away those dangerous scraps of paper" no doubt. Both of these thoughts combined still made him frightening to the point that she actually started to retreat backwards, unable to withdraw her gaze from his hungry eyes.

"YURA-CHAN! JUST GET US BOTH OUT OF HERE!"

As soon as she heard those words, her face jerked to the right, tearing the eye contact like paper. And while she had only done this much, a loud smack to her front was heard, followed soon by raspy chitters and a louder groan.

She blinked. Then she slowly looked at her front again, trying to ignore the sudden increase in the volume of Kana's protests. Kyuso's face, his now growling, slightly open-mouthed face, was swerved downwards and a little to the left, a big dent in his cheek which was the point of impact…impacted by the smaller rodent— which in turn was now flat on his back and had a swelling on its side, looking unconscious.

With his teeth slamming against each other again, the rat leader's head snapped backwards.

"Why you…" he began and turned to the direction of the girl Yura knew to be the culprit, although she had not seen much of her to suggest this, back when the brunette had shouted.

This was probably her only chance. Although he might have been wary of her from the start of their breakout, nothing would have caught him off guard as much as Kana's stunt. Concentrating on her left hand, she quietly summoned a koi fish shikigami, which flopped in her hand before covering most of her lower arm in a water explosion the shape of a beehive, and emerging as much larger with his wide open mouth, where her fingers should have been.

"Yomi Okuri! Yura MAX!" she yelled from the blond rat's behind, just as he had been about to make a snide remark at the brunette.

Kyuso was blasted off his back when a glowing, big bullet of water hit him, scooted far past Kana and crashed onto the bronze colored wall, tore through it involuntarily, nicely replacing the flower engraved there with a large crater of the outside. The force was such that it caused the rats crawling over the twelve year old to be pushed away from her considerably.

"Bukyoku, stay with me!" the onmyouji shouted as she ran towards her friend, who by now had suffered several bite marks on her thighs and was wincing along with her trembling.

"Yes, Yura-sama!"

Bukyoku had a booming voice, fitting of his stature. With one great swipe, he threw off the surrounding ayakashi who had become enraged at their master's hit, and matched his directions with his mistress. Yura looked deranged at the state of her friend.

Kana had her hand yanked once again. Even out of fear it was suddenly very difficult to run. She felt rather crippled even though these were just minor bites with only a minute amount of blood leaking from them. But, in amazement, she just realized that she had stopped shaking.

"Yura MAX! Yura MAX!"

Anyone in her situation would have stopped shaking by now. The sight of all charging youkai being bombed by water the moment they got near spitting distance of them and…the brunette hardly dared believe it…the big door to outside getting closer by the second, it was all reassuring to say the very least. Trying not to think about what would happen if an accident happened, for example, if Yura's arm was to slip or a youkai managed to jump them from behind, she continued running as fast as she had ever run in her life, all the while letting the groans of the defeated sink into her for security.

And she had a very strong intuition that her onmyouji friend and savior was not going to leave anything to chance this time.

Her eyes were wide, small tendrils of azure flames were licking at her silhouette as she continued blasting every rodent youkai near the hazel-eyed girl and herself. Something was bothering her at the back of her mind, threatening to surface and cloud her confidence again but she shook it off, tightly clutching the other ofuda she had.

With a great BANG, followed by a small sling, the luxurious door burst – both open and in two. With its planks flying vertically past the small staircase, the retreating group emerged. The females flung themselves onto the ground and Bukyoku jumped at their side immediately.

The door pieces made heavy clanks across the cement as they crashed onto the ground. Wincing at the noise, the two friends quickly got to their feet. Thundering of many left behind rats was even now growing deafeningly loud behind them.

"Ienaga-san," panted Yura as they ran towards the entrance, hand in hand, "Don't let go of me, whatever happens."

"Alright," squeaked the 12 year old, flinging her chocolate hair from her eyes while sprinting.

The samurai was just behind them. He had paused to swipe his naginata at the air, releasing a mild shockwave to stop the rats from getting out so quickly. If his mistress had not been blasting practically all in range of her, they might already have been overwhelmed as soon as they stumbled out.

Blond hair and the khaki furred face seemed to loom out of nowhere, right when they were about to open the entrance doors. The white suited youkai snarled ferociously at them, suddenly blocking their path with both clawed hands spread out to prevent them from going – or to make wider swipes at their flesh, whichever he favored. Meanwhile, his subordinates had now started spilling out through the door deprived exit and were beginning to strategically spread out to surround them. Bukyoku could not stop this since he stayed nearer to the onmyouji to help her and none were foolish enough to approach him straight on anymore.

"Let's see how your armored friend there deals with THIS!" Kyuso sneered in a hollow deathly voice, his grin looking maniacal, even for a monster.

His body trembled for a moment before his clothes started tearing. The fur on his limbs became bigger, fatter and greyer as it emerged from his coat and legs. The fangs on his face became more pronounced, curled, vicious and in a mere instant his height tripled. Crack and thwack sounds further defined the change as his claws became longer and sharper, a brown, wiry-skinned tail emerged from behind and the irises of his eyes flared red. The gain in height did not stop and all the while he continued roaring – or groaning, the two could not distinguish very well.

And it turned out, they had not stopped either.

The subordinates had not done anything but surround them, respecting their master's wishes and on their own wanting to see the spectacle of his true form ripping the humans apart. Having noticed that and Kyuso's temporary immobility, Yura had swerved both herself and Kana to the extreme right with Bukyoku jumping ahead of them. As she expected, about ten rats instantly tried to fall on them.

"ROKUSON!" the black haired onmyouji yelled at the exact moment, the closest one reached the apex of his jump.

Kana was too weak from shock to scream at what happened next, although she would have liked to. Her legs were forced into a sitting position when the rich brown fur of an enormous creature sprang from below them. The Keikain pulled her more securely on its back, having already seated herself easily.

The creature they were riding sprang into the air, pushing one of the rats aside with its mere mass. It rose higher into the indigo sky and they were greeted with a twinkle of lighted monument scenery when they looked down.

Putting her middle and index together the younger one of the two sighed and the samurai reverted back to an ofuda which came zooming towards her. Both girls looked at the south direction where they could see the probably gigantic form of the rat, miniaturized and snapping its teeth at them as if itching to get a bite out of them.

"Sorry for not letting you finish in time! I told you I'm not a big fan!" the short haired girl said with both hands cupped over her mouth. Rentei was gone too.

Actually, sorry for not annihilating you, she thought viciously to herself.

Kana simply averted her eyes from the scene, feeling chills passing through her when she pictured herself down there. Right now she wanted to focus on her exhilaration which was making her stomach churn. But she also noticed that the creature…a Sika deer shikigami with 'Rokuson' in kanji present on both cheeks, was losing height. Staggering backwards to avoid its branching antlers, she turned backwards and asked

"Yura-chan, we're not flying, are we?"

Although the deer soon landing on the roof of a tall plaza was answer enough, the onmyouji obliged to explain anyway.

"Rokuson can spring really high in the sky. That's why I didn't summon him until we reached the gate and I was sure it could work."

The brunette nodded in awe at how this time the short haired girl had already been planning their escape since the moment she got her shikigami back. Her respect for her savior just kept on growing now.

"Quickly, Ienaga-san, tell me exactly which direction you live in," she announced in urgency.

As relief spread through her at the thought of her home, and the assurance of safety, she felt too giddy to even thank her properly.

"O-Okay."

"AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"

The grey, monstrous rat's roar of frustration caused all of his subordinates to collectively shiver around him. They even backed away, sensing that he would probably go berserk any second.

"CURSE" he made a large swipe with his hand, taking out one of his comrades in uncontrollable fury, "THEM!" he flicked his claws to clean the blood drops off, "WHAT'RE YOU ALL STANDING HERE FOR? FIND THEM!"

Before a single one of them could reply or get past their cowering, wisps of purple mist began to seep in through the large manor gate. It was covering a very big part of the ground outside as well, showing up very suddenly.

A new voice spoke, making all of them turn fully towards it.

"You have other things to worry about."

Replies to anons:

Guest

Thank you! I did not keep it up though, really sorry about the slow updates. 'Tis just that this chapter was difficult to finish. And no problem about the late reviewing, I still considered it early seeing as I updated so late :D

A random person

Thank you!

I know some people might have liked our favorite Nura to come but you can watch the anime for that. I always hated how Yura was almost always forced into a helpless position in season 1. :P Oh and once again I apologize. Thank you all!

Special thanks to Guest, a random person, Alaia Skyhawk, Fede194, Dennou Writer, Lord Nayrael, Rose Rain 7, Awesome D.T, Guest, Snowy1219, izzy walz 1999, mafia king, uchiha sakura 193, Tactical Fan, Betula, Capt Jack Harkness, Crossover To The Dark Side, Not-Gonna-Update, ShinigamiNoKitsune 129, Thanatos The Forsaken and Vongola Ventitreesimo. All the support really caught me off guard.