Author's Notes: Ah, sorry for the slow release, this is a chapter that marks my summer vacation ending.
To be honest, I'm really slacking on this story, and I'm not having any motivation and when I do get motivated from seeing a review/alert/favourite, etc I think to myself that I'll do it tomorrow, and by then...I will have already lost some motivation. Sadly because of that, I'm sorta rushing through the story. But, I will try my best to make sure everyone reading enjoys this fanfic :3
* My friend found it awkward that the Western Youkai were also saying terms like 'Youkai' so, I made them say Demons! Or...Monsters! Enjoy!
Rikuo dropped Cyclops in front of Yura, they were standing inside the Keikain house.
"Yura," Rikuo glared at her. "Do you know what type of Youkai this is?"
Yura observed Cyclops from a bunch of angles, "It's definitely not from the one-eyed demon clan. I haven't seen a Youkai like this in Japan."
"Hahah! I'm not a Youkai you idiots!" Cyclops burst out laughing, "You stand no chance against us Demons from the European countries!"
"Demons...Yokai, same thing, just different terms." Yura explained to Tsurara and Rikuo before they ask any questions. "Same thing with Exorcists and Onmyoujis."
"What an idiot. Fufufu~" Tsurara grinned at him. "You revealed your identity so easily."
"Because you Demons aren't a threat to us." Cyclops spat onto the floor. "Especially a Demons that works alongside an Exorcist."
"Oh?" Rikuo smiled at him and looked at him face to face. "And what exactly are you Youkai of the west suddenly doing here…on our turf?"
"There is the rumour that a Demon known as 'The Master of All Spirits' has had control of Japan for a few decades now. We've heard he has a 'Night Parade of a Hundred Demons." Cyclop explained to them. "You must living under a rock if you haven't heard of him, his name has even spread to our countries."
Night parade of a...oh my Hyakki Yako. Rikuo remembered.
"Do you even know what he looks like?" Tsurara poked his forehead.
"Obviously not, he seems oblivious." Yura sighed.
Rikuo shook his head, "What kind of question is that Tsurara?"
"We have a vague description to go on." Cyclops answered Tsurara's question.
"We don't care about the description." Rikuo's voice became serious. "What the hell are you Youkai doing here?"
"I was getting there, the Master of All Spirits is known as the Demons, Nurarihyon. We heard he resides in Ukiyoe Town." Cyclops grinned.
"Don't tell me…" Tsurara began to shake.
"Right now, we sent in some low levelled monsters, to shake up the place, wreck some havoc."
"Low levelled Youkai? You seem pretty weak yourself." Rikuo gave him a smug smile.
"Are you making fun of me? These monsters are the most useless of the bunch, in our region, they're known as 'Zombies'."
"Yeah, got it. Thanks Ryuuji." Kiyoshi hung up his phone.
"What was that about?" Rio asked him.
"Oh I got a call from my teacher, about some Youk-…WAIT don't try and get off the subject we were discussing before!" Kiyoshi yelled at him.
Rio scratched his head, turned away and muttered, "It's you're fault for being on the phone."
"I don't care! How do you know a Youkai?" Kiyoshi grabbed Rio by the shirt and dragged him forward.
Rio simply turned to Ame-Onna "Ren, I can't believe you're Ame-Onna…" Rio was astonished.
"Don't ignore my question!" Kiyoshi seemed annoyed.
"Well the third told me that you might need a bodyguard during school, and I seemed like a good fit, since I can turn the sky dark, so you can transform anytime." Ren explained to him. "Not to mention, I'm also half human so we can relate to each other. But I might have more control, since I can change into a Youkai at will."
"Ugh, I'm lost. Can you just answer my question…Rio was it?" Kiyoshi asked him, and let go of his shirt.
"What are you, an idiot? If you listened to the conversation it would have been so easy to decipher." Rio shook his head in disappointment.
"Shut up Rio, I was focused on the question that was never answered." Kiyoshi focused his attention towards Ame-Onna. "So, are you responsible for those Youkai that appeared inside this school a while ago?"
"Nope, not at all. Are you going to kill me, right now, during school hours?" Ame-Onna asked a question in return.
"I don't care if you are half Youkai, I won't kill you. But I'll make sure you never cause anymore trouble." Kiyoshi simply told her.
"Then this is just self-defense!" Ame-Onna jumped back, and had one palm facing Kiyoshi.
A jet of water shot out of her palm, but Kiyoshi dodged it and had cards out in between each of his fingers. Ame-onna took a deep breath and stretched to the sky, suddenly the nice sunny day immediately turned cloudy and rain began to fall.
"Rain?" Toru looked up as he stared at Misaki.
"I have no idea." She told him.
"Ahhh! There's a fight going outside, the new kid Kiyoshi's involved!" A classmate announced to anyone who heard her.
Toru and Misaki looked at one another and ran to look outside the window.
"Heh, Kiyoshi is an Onmyouji, I bet he's fighting a Youkai. Actually, better yet, I bet it's Rio." Isao smiled as he then looked outside the window. "W-wait that ain't Rio! That's a girl Youkai."
"Toru! It's that Youkai that attacked Rio a while back!" Misaki nudged him.
Ame-Onna continued to send out streams of water from her palm, but none of them were hitting Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi threw one card at Ame's left leg. Her leg moved, but the card skinned her, causing her leg to bleed.
Ame-onna stared at Rio. "H-help."
"Who's going to help you Ren everyone is clear that I am an Onmyouji." Kiyoshi stared at the school, and saw students watching from the window. "Which means that I have to be fighting a Youkai."
Kiyoshi slowly walked up to her, giving her a sadistic smile. He slashed at Ame-Onna's right leg, causing a deep cut wound.
"That will take a while to heal up." Kiyoshi just looked at her, then brought the card to her neck. "Should I…?"
Suddenly there was a tug on Kiyoshi's body and a sword point up to his neck.
"I've had enough Kiyoshi, quit it." Rio demanded as he was now in his Youkai form.
Kiyoshi's body disappeared and soon he appeared out of the trees. "So that's it Rio! You are also a Youkai! How do you like my Shikigami?"
Kiyoshi threw barrages of cards at Rio but Rio took a deep breath and blew out of his mouth. The air froze all of cards in mid-air and they shattered before they could touch anyone.
"T-that one! The new Youkai that appeared, that's Rio!" Isao stammered a bit. "Watch, when that Onmyouji kicks his ass, he'll reveal himself as Rio!"
"Shut up Isao, you're still going on about that?" Misaki sighed.
Kiyoshi used his Shikigami again, and now there were two Kiyoshis. They ran around jumping, confusing Rio. Both of the Kiyoshi's were on separate sides of Rio.
"Hey Rio, you wanna fight this one! I'm the real Kiyoshi!"
Rio charged towards the other Kiyoshi. "Like hell I'll believe that!" He swung his sword at the Kiyoshi he was aiming for and it disappeared in an instant.
"I told you! But then again, I tricked you." Kiyoshi threw two cards at Rio, and they got him in the forearms. "So, Rio…which Youkai are you?"
Rio seemed unfazed by the cards that got him in the forearms, and charged at Kiyoshi, recklessly swinging his sword, as Kiyoshi was dodging each and every single attack, while using his cards to slash him at his chest and at his cheeks.
"You know, I'm going to dodge each and every single slash right?" Kiyoshi grinned and raised an eyebrow.
Rio was panting heavily, "You don't know, you might tired out first." Rio seemed exhausted, that he felt he needed to take a deep breath.
"Really? I'm not the one gasping for air." Kiyoshi laughed at him.
As Rio exhaled, the air froze Kiyoshi from the neck down.
"W-what the hell?" Kiyoshi had a panicked look on his face.
"I'm sorry." Rio stood up straight, not looking tired, but sweating a bit. "I also tricked you. Now calm down, we aren't the Youkai to cause trouble. I'm a Nurarihyon after all."
Ame-Onna made the clouds disappear and Rio immediately turned back into a human, and Ame-Onna turned back into Ren. Rio closed his eyes and began to rest on the field and the ice around Kiyoshi's body shattered, and his body was intact.
"N-no way, Rio really is a Youkai." The students began to gasp at the development.
"Ren's Ame-Onna?" Toru was coughing.
"Why did she attack Rio?" Misaki was furious.
"What did I say?" Isao grinned, "Rio's a Youkai, but I would have never expected that shy girl to be one too…"
"Nurarihyon huh? Then this is completely an accident, your dad told me I had to work together with you." Kiyoshi started to chuckle.
"You better apologize to Ren, she's hurt. Right?" Rio asked her.
"Y-y-yeah, my leg hurts." Ren was holding onto the cut wound.
"Well," Kiyoshi extended his arms out to Rio. "Let's work together to stop this new flow of Youkai known as 'Zombies'." He went out for a hand shake and Rio accepted it.
"Well…" Rio seemed embarrassed, "If I knew what zombies were."
Kiyoshi's eyes opened up widely, "W-what is this?"
There was a solo clap, but six pairs of footsteps began to approach them. "So~ you're Nurarihyon huh? Nothing special."
"Along with those zombies, there are also the Top Five in Ukiyoe Town. The Top Five, are the strongest Demons. One of them includes our leader. The Top Five were supposed to cause destruction here, in Kyoto…but after hearing that our comrade got killed so simply, they wanted to do the work there themselves." Cyclops continued to talk.
"Comrade?" Tsurara asked him innocently. "Hmmm who could that be?"
"He was our spy, but we lost contact with him." Cyclops explained. "I don't know if it was someone from that Hyakki Yako, but they killed our spy, Werewolf."
"W-Werewolf?" Rikuo was shocked to hear that name.
"No way!" Tsurara gasped.
"There was this Youkai he was called a werewolf, he captured me, Toru and Misaki. Then I turned into a Youkai and cut him down, that's about the general idea of how I became a Youkai." Rio smiled at his mom.
No way, they were in Ukiyoe Town that early…? I didn't even notice! Rikuo thought inside his head.
"Do you know him?" Cyclops asked them.
"So you're saying the Top Five are in Ukiyoe Town right now? You sent five people to take down an entire Hyakki Yako?" Rikuo snickered.
"That may sound like a little, but you have no idea, how dangerous they are. Besides, every other Demon is HERE in Kyoto! To take down this group you call Onmyouji!" Cyclops laughed.
"Hmph, not a big deal." Rikuo smiled at him. "So just what Youkai are these Top Five?"
"You might be frightened just by hearing their name, they are well known around the world, they have gathered way more fear than you'll ever have." Cyclops smirked at them.
"Stop acting so confident, when you don't have the slightest idea what Youkai I'm supposed to be." Rikuo told him angrily. "So? Hurry up and spill it, who are these 'Top Five'?"
"Alright, listen to these names, and learn them. Chimera, Doppleganger, Dullahan, Valkyrie, and then our leader, he's ¾ Yokai which is a good thing because he gained some immunity from the sun."
The figure that spoke to Rio looked pale and was holding an umbrella, he looked no older than twenty. The figure vanished, as the other four Youkai just stared and looked at the three children on the ground looking helpless. The pale figure appeared before Rio, threw his umbrella in the air and quickly sunk his teeth into Rio's neck.
"Wha-!" Rio was shocked and too afraid to move, the pain in his neck sent a surge through his body. "Who!"
"I could kill you right here, right now…but that isn't savouring the fun." The man smile and walked back to his group. "Oh, Nurarihyon, I'm Vampire, leader of the western Demons."
Rio held his neck tightly. "Western Demons, as in those not from Japan?"
"That's correct." Vampire smiled at him. "Hey, small Nurarihyon. I saw a man who looks like an older version of you he was with a woman with dark blue hair, could that be…your parents?" He smirked slyly at him.
Rio's face looked surprised but he tried to conceal his thoughts.
"Oh, I got it correct, didn't I? Oops, better call back some of my army. Go call some from Kyoto, Dullahan." Vampire commanded.
The headless horseman dressed in clothing, covered by a black cloak, didn't say anything just dashed off with his horse.
"What are you planning to do?" Kiyoshi asked demandingly.
Vampire shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing, just feel like having some fun. I know I said I didn't wanna kill you early, but that's only if you can survive my pet's rampage."
"P-pet's r-r-rampage?" Ren said in a shy voice.
"Valkryie, if you will?" Vampire gestured to her.
Valkryie took out a sword from the sheathe on her side and rose it to the sky, she then brought it down to point it at the three kids. "Go get them, Behemoth!"
Possible Title for Next Chapter : The Behemoth's Wrath
