Fire.

Everywhere was on fire.

Her heart, mind, body, everywhere.

It was thrashing against her insides like a wild beast on the loose. She was so furious that she nearly wanted to reveal her real identity and set ablaze the whole entire Nura House on flames.

Dammit, how could he...

He has a child? A second wife too? Moreover, a human!?

She was extremely pissed off. By the looks of it, Rihan was apparently leading a much more happier life than what she was expecting. What was she to him then? In his heart, was she no more than a useless wife? He got over her so quickly and found himself a new wife because she couldn't bear him a heir?

Didn't he truly love her?

She couldn't believe she actually loved him so much in her previous life. Even when criticisms were made and the elders were so stern towards her, she endured for fifty long years because of her love for her husband. Ex-husband, she corrected. She remembered reproaching herself then for not being able to give birth.

When Rihan called her old name, there was this weird feeling in her heart. It was as though her feelings of love and affection for him that she have buried deep in her heart threatened to resurface. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not, but she heard his voice trembled with emotions when he saw her. There was a look of pain in his eyes too. Her name rolled off his tongue like it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

Could she somehow...be wrong about him?

Reika, a voice at the back of her head jerked her away from her careless thoughts. Remember what he had done to you...

Cast away your feelings and bear only grudges in your heart.

Hatred, they will make you stronger...

But feelings are dangerous enough to destroy you.

The warning in her head slammed her back to reality. That's right, she mustn't let herself wavered over Rihan and lost sight of her goal. She wasn't here to get him back, but to seek her revenge.

Unlike her old self, her current self was stronger and smarter. She was no longer the weak and foolish girl she once was.

She was going to make the Nura Clan pay for what they did to her.

Before she reached Ukiyoe, her initial plan was to sneak into the mansion and take a good look at Rihan and the elders just out of curiosity and perhaps, leave a small warning, before she led her clan on with the fight against the Nura Clan. But that little brat actually foiled her plans. His baby skin reeked of the human scent and this made her even more mystified. When she finally found out whose child he was, it added on to her anger and a new plan started forming in her mind. She smirked to herself inwardly.

She was intending to stir up confusion and trouble in his family, and flip the whole mansion upside down during her stay.

Besides, she was already starting to have her fun - by giving a fake name to Rihan, lying to him about her parents, pretending to be ill just so she could enter the mansion. She was wondering how he would react if he was starting to harbour suspicions that she might be his child. Would he treasure her even more than Rikuo? Did he realize that if she was his child, her blood contained three-fourths of youkai blood as compared to his human son, who has only a pathetic one-fourth of youkai blood in him?

It would definitely be interesting to find out his thoughts about her.

"...Nidaime, who is this girl?"

Reika recognized the familiar voice, it was Kubinashi's. He, along with Kejoro, Kurotabou, Aotabou and the rest, appeared right before them just as she, Rihan and Rikuo stepped foot into the mansion. She noticed that there wasn't much change in their looks over the years. They were still the same old bunch of lively people.

As they stared at her, the glint of curiosity in their eyes instantly changed to shock. They gaped at her with their jaws dropped while Reika just slipped on her acting mask and gave them a confused blank stare. But of course, she knew exactly why they were reacting like this. There were unfamiliar youkai there too, which she assumed that they must have joined the clan after her demise. They just shot her curious looks but nothing more than that.

As for those who have stayed in the Nura Clan long enough to know Otome, their reactions were simply exaggerating. She wasn't granted the power to read minds, but she could tell from the looks on their faces what exactly was running through their minds. They were scared stiff because they thought that they were seeing an apparition of Otome's ghost. Her chilling ruby eyes made them even more frightened.

All of them opened their mouths and spoke at the same time;

"Oh my..."

"O-O-tome?"

"No way!"

Kubinashi, Kejoro and Kurotabou gasped in shock at her. But the one with the biggest reaction was Aotabou, who was already shrieking his head off.

"Yikes! A GHOST-"

Rihan interrupted their absurd reactions. "Calm down, you guys. She's called Hanako and she'll be staying with us for a few days. Treat our guest nicely, will ya?"

Hearing their commander's words, they calmed down a little. However, they kept shooting her skeptical looks and scanning her from head to toe in disbelief. She gave them a small smile.

"Tsurara-chan, can you show her to the guest room?" Rihan ordered one of his servants before turning back to Reika. He flashed one of his signature smiles at her that always sent females blushing.

But not her, she wasn't going to fall for that anymore.

A Yuki-Onna with large, amber eyes that have multiple rings in them, came up towards her with a warm, welcoming smile. Her hair was a mix of black, blue and white colors with two wavy black horizontal markings. Her appearance very much reminded her of Setsura, and Reika wondered if Tsurara was her daughter.

This reminded her, where was Setsura? She hasn't seen her anywhere.

"Please follow me, Hanako-chan!" Tsurara offered a friendly smile, albeit a little guarded towards the stranger whom her commander has brought back. She gestured to Reika to follow her as she would lead the way to the guest room.

Before Reika left with her, she turned back to look at Rihan once more, who smiled at her charmingly. She forced a grateful smile on her face, hoping that it looked convincing. At the same time, she noticed that the rest were giving him a look of complete incomprehension. She was certain that they were going to bombard Rihan with a million questions after making sure that she wasn't able to hear them.

One side of her mouth pulled up slightly in a small smirk. She was wondering how would Rihan handle their questions and confusion.

A small tug on her rompers made her jerk her head downwards to look at the small figure who was walking beside her. She frowned at him, puzzled. Why was he sticking to her so much?

He looked up at her with a playful smile and made a "teehee" sound. Tsurara turned around immediately when she heard his voice.

"Rikuo-sama! You can't pull a lady's clothes!" Tsurara scolded him, but not in a harsh manner. Rikuo just grinned at her before turning to grin at Reika.

Tsurara brought them to one of the guest rooms located at the east side of the mansion. She lit the candles in the shoji lamps and lay out a futon on the tatami floor properly. Turning back to Reika, she spoke to her politely. "Please make yourself comfortable here. If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to tell me."

"Oh yes, have you eaten dinner? Would you like something to eat?" Tsurara asked. Reika shook her head and smiled gratefully at her. She wasn't hungry at all.

"Rest well, Hanako-chan."

"Thank you so much, Tsurara-chan."

Tsurara gripped Rikuo's hand, who was whining something about wanting to play with Reika. "Hanako-chan needs her rest, Rikuo-sama. And it's going to be your bed time soon. You can play tomorrow instead..." She pulled him out of the room with her and closed the shoji doors.

Silence filled the air and Reika welcomed it gladly. It was a pain to pull fake smiles for so long and her cheeks ached. She walked over to the shoji window and opened it to let the cool wind blew in. Since there was nothing for her to do now, she lay on the futon in an attempt to sleep.

But she couldn't. She was wide awake, probably because staying in this mansion made her remember a lot of stuff that she didn't want to.

Half an hour later, she sat up and threw the covers aside, making her way out of the room. She didn't want to stay in the room any longer and decided to take a stroll in the garden.

The cherry blossoms trees were still there like how she remembered, its beauty never failed to captivate people and took their breath away. Rihan would always talk about his mother and she would hear stories about Yohime from Nurarihyon too.

But not anymore. The beauty of flowers, or rather, the beauty of this world was no longer her definition of the word, 'beauty'. The true beauty actually lies somewhere in the near future, where darkness reigned supreme instead and light was extinguished completely.

She was excited for she simply couldn't wait for that day to finally come.

She stood there for a while, gazing at the cherry blossoms and the inky blackness of the night sky dotted with glittery stars, before making her way to the yamabuki garden. This was the only thing she could do to kill time here. Most of the youkai have returned to their rooms so there wasn't any need for her to pretend or anything.

When she walked past one of the rooms, she stopped abruptly. The shoji doors were closed halfway but she could hear soft voices coming from inside there. She recognized one of the voices, it was Rihan's.

"...he's asleep finally."

"Shh... Don't wake him..."

A woman's voice?

She stepped closer, making sure that her footsteps were quiet. She was curious to know whoever was with Rihan. When she was nearer, she looked through the gap in between the shoji doors.

A dim orange glow from the shoji lamp lit up the room. Rikuo was asleep with his arms outstretched above his head. There were two people sitting at the side of his futon, watching him as he slept. She recognized the bigger figure because of his long, gravity-defying hair that protruded out of his head. And she realized, that an arm of his was wrapped around the shoulders of a smaller and delicate figure.

It was a woman with short hair. And...she was obviously Rihan's human wife.

Reika's blood boiled as she stared at the loving couple. She has this sudden urge to split them both apart and destroy their relationship. Destroy their family. Destroy the whole Nura Clan. This feeling... It wasn't really anger, it was something else. Something that she hasn't felt before.

Feeling a sense of betrayal, she felt her heart turned hard and icy cold. Another layer of unbreakable wall was starting to form around her heart.

Look closely, Reika.

Take a good look at him.

He's the man that killed you.

...EXAMS ARE OVER! HOHOHO! HERE COMES HOLIDAY! WHEEE! *twirls around the room excitedly* More time for writing, reading, watching dramas and hanging out!

Many thanks to Rose Rain 7 for the request of RihanxWakana moment. Gosh, a jealous Hanako! Wait, I mean Reika. Oh hang on a second, she's Otome... Arghhh whatever they are one same person! *smacks my forehead*

Here's a shoutout to those who left reviews on my wall! (I'll be doing this for every five chapters.) There are 12 reviews now! Words can't describe how much I'm grateful towards you guys for sharing with me your thoughts and feelings on this fanfic. It has definitely helped me a lot in coming up with ideas to make this interesting!

QueenDeeDee, Hell Vanguard, Rose Rain 7, little lily(guest), JasminDragon92, a random person(guest), vampireprincess141

And of course, I'll be waiting for more readers to review my story! *crosses fingers*