Author's Note: And I thought the last chapter was bad...anyway, I know this is...'tis far from good. It seemed okay at the time but now...I know I've made a mess. There are some things I want to point out and I'm doing that at the end.

"This isn't serious," Kana mumbled to herself. Treating this whole scenario like a dream, game or test was how she worked out most of what she knew now. She still could not understand where this calculative reasoning came from or how she was able to put up such a good façade in front of Yura, until break time anyway. Yes, her life had been in immense danger last night and she had been panicking like herbivores in a butcher's shop. If she ever hypothetically put herself in that situation before the like arose, she would conclude that she would be too scared to do anything, even for Yura's sake and she expected the same from her before. After all, how long had they known each other? Yet the onmyouji did not mind that fact at all and stayed true to her duty. Maybe she, Kana, had wanted to be brave like her and perhaps she had used that to distract her from her panic, apart from deeply, strongly wanting them both to stay alive.

But there were no distractions now and she had still been hanging on to every detail which directly concerned her chances. Her mind had miraculously not let her throw tantrums of fright and she still wanted to believe that it was not real.

"No, this really is some kind of prank…" as tears began to leak from her eyes, she found that her mentality had reserved the tantrums of fear for later, once she had deduced as much as she could.

This had all come out of nowhere. Her childhood friend being a youkai: he had talked about it quite a lot when they were in elementary school but she remembered rejecting the idea, telling him that she was too scared. She wished she had not done that or she would have known sooner.

I would have known…and then what?

Would knowing this have stopped the bus accident? It had something to do with him, she was sure of this much since she remembered that long-haired person, addressing that hood-wearing monster with familiarity. The exact words were too foggy to clearly repeat in her head but they had to have had some association with each other, likely a link in this clan her friend was apparently from.

The brunet had been shamed into hiding the truth and she could recall an awful lot of ridicule he had to face. But she could not wrap her head or rewire it to rationalize the decisions he had made regarding his identity. He gullibly accepted a deal of their release from a youkai with no knowledge but even worse, no doubt of his intentions. He pretended that he was a totally normal person with no suspicion that they might be in danger because youkai knew who his classfellows were but his classmates did not know who youkai were. Even if they did how could they protect themselves? Yura Keikain coming to this town and walking at night was a mercy to her but what if it was Kiyotsugu or Shima next? What would they do? She had even better reasons to stay away from youkai now. So long as people such as that rat youkai knew about her association with Rikuo Nura, she was just not safe. Rikuo could probably not have had a handle on this situation, being it that he had also been kicked out of their estate and she greatly appreciated his concern – but him having no control was not her problem. Her problem was safeguarding her life. She had, as a small girl, not welcomed his trust in her, being phobic and childish and she was sorry for it, but she knew one thing – he was safe, she was not and he had enough comrades to regret losing one.

The picture of the girl who brought him his lunch flashed in her mind and she gritted her teeth, wiping her streaming eyes.

"There's a way to use a secret identity, Rikuo-kun, and that's not it! I can't believe this, I didn't even do anything and now I'm wondering about whether someone else will come after…why is this happening to me?"

She sobbed some more and then grabbed a tissue from the bedside table, starting to wipe her face next, on the verge of a new, severer headache. She felt like she barely knew what or who Rikuo was. It was nearly impossible to believe that in all the good, jolly times he spent together, he had been keeping this heavy a secret. He did not need to tell her then but could he not keep it completely? Could he not hide his relationship with her then too? She was rather sure, however emotional and sensitive she had always been, fangs ripping through her flesh would have hurt a lot more than her childhood friend starting to act ignorant of her presence. He was a good person but this revelation was too much – she did not think she could stay around him anymore even if she ignored all this danger, simply because of all the negativity in her head. Her parents would take some time getting back. She had received the phone call an hour ago and had been advised to journey to Sumida and stay with her aunt and uncle until then. Ordinarily, she may not have worried if Yura was willing to stay but for now she had to think about her own safety. Everyone else could take care of themselves and by everyone she meant the onmyouji and the youkai both.

"Is everything okay, Ienaga-san?" the black-haired onmyouji inquired from the couch once she stepped in the living room. Embarrassedly, she understood that it was asked because her eyes might still be bloodshot and she might seem distressed because she could not hide it any longer. But, in her defense, she had not expected her comrade to be waiting there.

"I'm fine," the brunette straightened her school uniform and then went inside her room again. While closing the door, she said, "I'll be out in a bit."

The girl had heeded the brunette's request for the time being but was not about to back down now that she knew where her targets lived. Her goal had been to defeat Nurarihyon and as far as she was concerned, he had not done anything to help them. And how much did she know about his grandson? All she suspected was that he had taken after him and was going to take over after him too. That brought her must-be-beaten opponents to a number of two. The only reason she had stopped was to accommodate her friend's mental struggle with a revelation. Once she had confirmed what Kana was going to do, she would make her own plans.

Soon, the twelve-year-old came out, dressed in blue jeans, a half-sleeved blue jacket and a black shirt underneath. She was also carrying a red traveling bag over her shoulder.

"My parents called a while ago," she explained, "They wanted me to go live with my aunt and uncle in Sumida City, and that's what I'm going to do."

"Why, won't they be coming here?" Yura asked, surprised at this development.

"They said something came up at work and they have to stay for a fortnight or so. Talk about inconvenient…" she soon began to busy herself hunting for goods she might need for the journey, her face looking rather forlorn.

"Hold on a minute." From the sofa, the Keikain heiress got up and went in front of her, "Maybe you should pick a better time, it's already evening. It's not safe right now."

"I just want to go as quickly as I can. But I wouldn't mind it if you came with me to the train station, Yura-chan."

So this was the state of mind she was currently in. She could not put up with all this uncertainty here, at least until she had time to settle herself.

"Alright, I'll come."

While they were talking they heard the phone ringing in the brunette's room. Both of them looked at it through the slightly open door, one with her usual placid gaze while one had an uncertain face.

"I'll get it," the onmyouji declared after two rings and went through the door quickly, "Kiyotsugu-san…" she muttered and then raised her voice, "Hello?"

"Yura-kun? Oh you're there too!" came the energetic voice of the youkai fanatic, "Hey, I was wondering, how come neither you nor Ienaga-kun came to the meeting today?"

"Well, that's…" she paused to see the mentioned girl mouthing 'parents!' to her and then gave a quick nod. "Ienaga-san's parents were going to be out of town so she's going to –" she was forced to pause again as the brunette whispered 'gone!', "–going to be living with her relatives. She thought she better head out early."

"Ah, really? Then what're you doing at her place?"

The Keikain heiress already had an answer prepared for that.

"She called me here to explain everything. I was just going to leave."

"And lock up in her place?"

As always, Kiyotsugu liked to look into everything when his club members acted disinterested. Kana sighed to herself when she gathered that he still was not relenting to her friend's explanations.

"All I have to do is shut the doors. The locks are already in place," however she could certainly applaud Yura's aptitude for providing explanations.

"Oh. Okay then do you know when she'll be back?"

"I told you what I knew. But it'll be soon, like she said."

"Alright, but make sure you don't miss the next meeting! You'll regret it if you do!" his eccentric voice replaced his puzzled, curious tone in an inkling, surprising even her.

"Why, what's going to happen?" she asked, shrugging a shoulder in the other girl's direction who was looking impatient to leave, more so every minute she spent on the phone.

"We agreed that we'd all go to an expedition for youkai sighting on this weekend! It'll be on Umerakuen and we're leaving tomorrow!"

"Everyone?"

"Well, if I count you in and leave Ienaga-kun out, that makes, Maki-kun, Torii-kun, Shima-kun, Nura-kun and Oikawa-kun."

'Oikawa' was probably that girl who had been with Rikuo at school she had seen when narrowly avoiding the club until they left.

"Umerakuen, huh? And where will we meet?"

"At the train station. I've already booked rooms at an inn at our destination!"

"Alright, I think I'll come." Even if only to make him end the call, she thought it would be best to consent. As she put down the phone with a tapping sound, the brunette proceeded to exit, signaling to her to follow.

She was very surprised at this outcome, mostly because whatever was bothering her, she expected her to at least talk to someone at school about where she was going. Yura supposed she would have to give her explanations at the next meeting of the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol to Kiyotsugu and the others. The reason was valid enough but if she had been the same as she was before, what she would have done would be to stay at home and invite her more often to spend the night. No normal girl would be this willing to go across the city, lose contact with acquaintances and school and make the decision in just a few hours.

One thing was for sure; her timing had been perfect if she had truly had enough of youkai.

"So, is everyone going?" the taller girl asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the footpath they were walking on. This time, both girls were rather wary even though some people were walking on the other side too.

"Excluding you, yes. Ienaga-san, are you sure you don't want to talk to Nura-kun then?" the black-haired one posed another question.

The brunette did not reply immediately, her face remarkably impassive as she stared around, swinging by a lamp post in their way. But, her grip on the white strap of her bag tightened noticeably.

"I've…I don't need explanations," she said slowly and then went on to add, "His explanations, that is. I know he's a good person and I know I don't want to be used by other people to make him do things."

The young Keikain did not intend or attempt to criticize her move. Being it, that she was a normal human, she thought it was a very sensible one. She was aware of the terror of youkai and she was doing what needed to be done, the only thing she could do for herself: staying alive. But, in her opinion, this was her closest childhood friend evidently, and she was still doing it far too easily. Or maybe her unusually expressionless face was trying to show that and she, Yura, was falling for it.

They were now in the station, silently having walked down the staircase, neither one of them using the curved metal railing. As they approached the counter, the brunette practically hurtling through the evening rush, hastier than ever, Yura was reminded of something.

"Do you have the money to do this?"

"Eh?" Kana exclaimed distractedly, taking her spot in line which, thankfully, was short, "Yeah, Mom left some emergency notes and I didn't use up my allowance."

Her train was due in exactly sixteen minutes. After swiping her card at the stile, she waved a cheery goodbye to Yura, who waved lightly back, both of them pleasantly smiling at each other and turned away.

The middle-schooler really hoped this was not going to turn out into the typical horror-movie trip where, while boarding the train, as she was now, she would see a monstrous face in the crowd which would suddenly disappear or that something would be waiting to get at her in the train and if not there, then while she exited Omurai station. She was becoming more and more of a nervous wreck but the thought of getting away from the turmoil she had been facing last night, even if her current, physical journey only served as a metaphor for that psychological objective, still kept her going. And of course, that lingering resentment of a certain something that had bothered her for a few days now, something which made her rather angry, was also a feeling she would rather avoid.

The intuitional peril was what made her feel frightened, the cause was what made her shocked, the memories were what made her dazed, the events were what had her nearly traumatized if someone had not been by her side and all those put together had left her stunned. All this time, ever since she had come home, even though the resultant headache had stopped, his bespectacled face kept popping into her head over and over… and then that other, more mature version of it came, except that it did not come alone. It came accompanied by a long line of silhouettes belonging to tumultuous creatures.

But she did not have second thoughts. If there was something to be regretted, it was on his part, not hers. Her brown, doe eyes briefly closed while she sat there, still clutching her packed bag, asking why it had to be like this, why it had to be him of all people, why it could not have been someone who was not such a good friend to her.

Then she opened them in her paranoia to find no extra people there, only normal, human passengers, teenagers, businessmen and women and the average adults talking with each other or checking their cellphones. Suppressing a relieved sigh, she started to survey the dark scene outside the window, directly behind her.

As promised, on the cloudy start of the weekend, she had shown up at the train station she had been to just the other night, dressed in a lime green shirt and carrying a small bag over her shoulder. She hoped Kana had made a safe journey since they had no cellphones to stay in touch with each other. In any case, she was about to make a different one, with new classmates, much like a fieldtrip except that there was a possibility that it could be dangerous.

They had all been there, boarding the train with her, Natsumi Torii, Saori Maki, Jirou Shima, Kiyojuji Kiyotsugu, Tsurara Oikawa and him, all of them dressed in their casual outgoing clothes. The questions had only been started once the boarding had been done.

"So, was everything okay with Ienaga-kun last night?" the wavy-haired leader asked while he and the blond started to arrange for a game of youkai poker that she had declined.

Saori and Natsumi had concernedly curious looks on their faces, Shima made it clear he was listening by glancing at her, Tsurara too gazed at her in bewilderment but Rikuo was staring at the view outside, his face turned away to give attention to the lush greenery they were passing. She wondered whether they even knew that Kana was gone. No one had asked about her absence until they were inside.

"Yeah, you mentioned something, Kiyotsugu-kun, what happened?" the green-haired girl suddenly piped up.

"Like I said, Ienaga-san's parents were going to be late getting home so they wanted her staying with someone for the moment. Also…" she might as well add this so that it would not look like she was hiding something, "…I think she needed a little time off because she felt under the weather."

"Hope she gets well and back soon," Saori sighed and the Patrol turned their attention to the cards that Shima was now about to hand out.

Author Note

-So Kana's internal disorder has still not been dealt with completely and I don't think it will for a few chapters. It has a lot to do with her character in this story so I could not possibly wrap it up in one chapter. And I know I have made a bad choice in the way I portrayed it, I apologize.

-There is no telling what Yura might be up to. She's worried yet she acts placid too.

-Only one reviewer was wondering whether Rikuo had a fever here or not. Well, my (poor) explanation for that is that since Kana and Yura escaped and Yura did some real damage to Kyuso's forces, it did not take them nearly as long to wipe them out, so Rikuo did not overdo it at night and had only symptoms of a fever.

And I thank you all for still being able to read this.

Special thanks to Zepharia,Rose Rain 7, Awesome DT, Girl from stars, Tactical Fan, hawakeyeriku, izzywalz 1999, vampire princess 141, mafia kng, team x cution, uchiha sakura 193Alaia Skyhawk, Androgynous-Heron, Ankou13, Betula, Blackhole Magician, Capt. Jack Harkness, CrossoverxToxThexDarkxSide, DarkReaver724, Dragon God xxx, ELIZABETH-of-Darkness, hawkeyeriku, Kari-neechan, LadyNightRain, LavieTyme, Lord Nayrael, Mystearica 'Primal' Fende, Not-Gonna-Update, OkitaRetatski, Rose Blood Cat, ShinigamiNoKitsune129, SmileRen, snowy1219, Thanatos The Forsaken, Vongola Ventitreesimo, xLollipopLovex, Dennou Writer and a random person for so much support!