When Rihan left, he brought along Kubinashi, Kurotabou, Aotabou, Sanba Garasu and a few more youkai with him to the headquarters of the Yakushi Clan. The remaining strong youkai such as Tsurara and Kejoro, who were left behind in the Nura House, were nothing that Reika couldn't handle.

It was finally time for her to set her plan in motion while waiting for her clan to arrive.

She sat in front of a dressing table and looked into the mirror while brushing her hair slowly with a boxwood comb. If she was going to reveal herself as the leader of the Yami Clan, she wanted to look magnificent and leave an indelible image of herself in people's minds so that they would never forget her. She smiled to herself, for she absolutely loved the black kimono that she was wearing currently because the color represented her clan perfectly.

Once she was done, she stood up and adjusted her kimono and sash properly. She picked up a blood red wagasa (a Japanese umbrella) with white petals of cherry blossoms printed on it, and slid open the shoji doors. When she stepped outside, the moonlight illuminated her and her raven hair shimmered. The light on her pale skin made her glowed in the dark, making her even more beautiful.

She laughed a little to herself. It was amusing to watch how Rihan was bewitched by her, to the extent that he didn't listen to his subordinate or his father. Her pet, which was a shapeshifting yokai and its true form was a raven, eavesdropped on their conversations while disguising itself as a rat, and reported every single word that they said to Reika after her meeting with Rihan.

He should have listened to them and kicked her out of the house earlier. And now, it was too late.

Smiling to herself, the beautiful ayakashi strode away.

Let the fun begin.

The mansion was unusually quiet today. A sense of paranoia has settled in the air, causing one to be on tenterhooks while awaiting for further news from the group that has left the house an hour ago. None of the youkai in the Nura House would be able to sleep tonight. They stood on guard, their minds set on protecting their Supreme Commander, the Second's wife and son, from any possible danger that lurked in the shadows.

The only one who was able to sleep in the house, was Rikuo. Wakana patted his tiny body softly to lull him to sleep. Both of them were the only ones in the house who were calm. The rest were high on alert, as she could feel their eyes watching her every second.

When Rikuo was finally asleep, she pulled up the covers over his chest properly before slipping out of the room quietly. She closed the doors behind her silently and turned to a girl, who was clad in a snow-white furisode. She was sitting right outside Rikuo's room as a guard, her usual warm and friendly eyes were now sharp and focused.

"Tsurara-chan, don't wear yourself out, okay?" She smiled to her.

"Hai!"

She smiled again, before leaving and making her way back to the kitchen. She has to bring sake to her father-in-law first before she could head back to her room.

As she walked along the hallway, the floor started trembling suddenly. "What-" she began saying but was cut off when the tremble turned violent and shook the ground tremendously like an earthquake. Wakana couldn't grab for support in time and she pitched forward, landing hard on her right side of her body. Pain flashed through her quickly and she winced.

But...what happened?

The roof of the mansion exploded suddenly above her and she crouched on the ground instinctively while covering her head with her hands. Pieces of wreckage dropped and a large piece of heavy wood hit her left ankle sharply.

"Ow!" She cried out painfully. She tried to move away, but realized that her leg was stuck under the weight of the broken wood, pinning her to the ground. Any slight movement caused an excruciating pain to course through her left leg. She bit the insides of her cheeks to endure it and remain calm.

And Rikuo! How was he doing? She hoped that he didn't get hurt from the explosions. But if Tsurara was there with him, she thought positively, he would be alright.

Her body stayed still because her leg was hurting a lot. Her ankle must have been bruised badly, and there might even be a likelihood that her bones were fractured. She grimaced at that dreary thought.

She was definitely sure, that help would arrive soon. She told herself to remain patient and compose until then.

And like what she expected, someone soon found her lying there on the ground, wounded and surrounded by the wreckage. But she didn't recognize the person.

"Eh... What do we have here?"

A bulky blonde man stared down at her. A jagged scar ran diagonally across his left eye and muscles of his brawny arms like thick iron bands gave him a menacing look that easily intimidated people others. He crouched down beside her and cocked his head to the side curiously.

"What a cutie... You smell nice too." His eyes slowly trailed from her face to her left leg that was trapped underneath the large chunk of wood. She noticed that his eyes were wild, like the eyes of a beast. He must be a youkai.

"You're hurt? Aww, it must be painful." He made a 'tsk tsk' noise before walking around her. Wakana froze, keeping her eyes on him. He surprised her when he lifted the heavy wood off her leg with ease and tossed it aside. Although she was grateful towards him for removing it, his action confirmed that he was a youkai with his inhuman strength and she was in grave danger at the current moment.

He took a step towards her and frowned amusingly. "You aren't afraid of me?" he asked, flashing a crooked smile. The human was interesting, she didn't tremble when she saw him. Perhaps staying in a house full of youkai has made her unafraid of them anymore.

Brave but weak, he thought to himself. "You should be afraid of us. You have no idea how terrifying we can be. Look." He pointed at the destroyed roof. "She could have blasted the whole house, but she only blasted the roof. See? She doesn't want to completely scare you guys off, not yet. But that doesn't mean you should underestimate us." Having said that, he picked her up effortlessly. She struggled against him but winced from the pain coming from her injury when he threw her over his shoulder.

"Don't waste your effort and stay still. Our Mistress is waiting for you."

And this was when she realized that they weren't the only ones around, there were more unfamiliar youkai watching them all along, probably around five. Some smirked at her while the others sneered. Their eyes, with a murderous glint, simply told her that they were thirsty.

Thirsty for blood to be spilled.

Before the explosions happened, Tsurara sensed great Fear in the Nura House suddenly and she knew that something was terribly wrong. When the tremble below her feet started, she rushed into Rikuo's room and carried him out quickly in the nick of time before the roof exploded and collapsed.

She panted heavily and looked down at Rikuo, who has awoken because of the deafening noises. "Rikuo-sama, thank goodness you're okay." She sighed in relief.

"W-what happened?" he stammered. He gave her a frightful look.

Poor Rikuo-sama... To wake up in such a state must be scary for him.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you, Rikuo-sama," she assured him firmly. Her eyes were set in determination to protect her precious master at all cost. Even if it meant her life.

From wherever they were, shouts and screams could be heard from all corners. The house must be in complete chaos as people might have been trapped and buried under the wreckage when the explosions happened. She was worried for them.

A heavy presence behind her made her turned around swiftly to face the three intruders. Huge amounts of Fear were emanating from them. Their leader stood in the centre, donned in a black kimono and holding a red wagasu in her hands which covered part of her face. Her Fear was the strongest among them all. She must have been responsible for the explosions.

Tsurara was against the odds - one against three clearly showed who would lose. However, she wasn't going to back down without a fight.

"Give him to me," a feminine voice spoke. When the wagasu lifted a little, Tsurara could see the face of the leader clearly under the moonlight. Her eyes widened in surprise when she recognized the girl standing in front of the group.

"Onee-chan!" Rikuo exclaimed loudly at the sight of her, but his smile faltered when he felt that something was different now and she wasn't smiling at him.

"Hanako-chan... What's the meaning of this?" Tsurara's arms that were wrapped around Rikuo protectively, tightened.

"It's exactly what it looks like." The cold girl made a sweeping motion with her arm elegantly with a icy smile on her face. The Yuki-Onna behind her grinned viciously at Tsurara while the assassin just stared at her impassively, emphasising on the fact that she was no match against them.

"Oh yes," their commander smiled wider. "My name is Reika, not Hanako."

Tsurara let her jaw dropped in horror. She has briefly heard that name before. She couldn't believe that the person standing in front of her was the leader of the Yami Clan and she was the same exact frail girl she had spoken to earlier. B-but... What could possibly explain the situation right now? She finally realized that Hanako, or Reika, had fed them lies just to enter the house. And she has probably suppressed her Fear during her stay so that none of them would get suspicious. She must have waited for Rihan to leave the house before she could remove the veil that suppressed her Fear and spring the surprise attack on them.

"Why?" she asked nervously. "Why are you doing this?"

Reika rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I don't have time for this. Why don't you ask Rihan? He should know better than one. Now, give the human to me before you regret it," she demanded harshly. But Tsurara stubbornly refused and held onto Rikuo tightly. Seeing how adamant she was, Reika faked a sigh. With a flick of the fingers, she signalled to her subordinates to take Rikuo away.

"Allow me to handle this, Reika-sama." Yuya approached Tsurara with an ice scythe in her hands, her lips pulled back in a cunning smile. Tsurara put Rikuo down and pushed him behind her protectively. Her lips moved as she whispered something softly. An ice naginata appeared in her hands shortly after that and she gripped it tightly. Both Yuki-Onnas exchanged death glares, before Yuya attacked first.

She swung her scythe at Tsurara, who blocked the attack with her naginata. They pushed against each other with their weapons, their faces a few inches apart. Little Rikuo stood behind and stared up at them with a frightened look on his face. Since Yuya was keeping Tsurara busy, Reika decided to take him away. She threw her wagasu away and walked slowly towards Rikuo.

Tsurara saw her from the corner of her eye. "Rikuo-sama! Run-" Slam! That one second of distraction allowed Yuya to strike her once more and the impact threw her to the side. Tsurara cried out in pain due to the gash on her left shoulder where Yuya had attacked her.

"Keep your attention on ME!" Yuya shrieked loudly. She got even more angrier when she was ignored by the other Yuki-Onna, who was screaming her head off when she saw Reika closing in on her young master quickly.

"RIKUO-SAMA! RIKUO-SAMA!"

Ignoring her screams, Reika picked him up and carried him. A second after that, she felt massive Fear coming up from behind and heard a light swish. Yuya shouted and glared at whoever was behind her. When she turned her head slowly, she saw Nurarihyon pointing his blade to her neck with a murderous look in his eyes. Of course, his precious grandchild, the heir to the Nura Clan, was in her hands and that made him mad.

"Put him down." His voice was angry and firm.

She raised her eyebrows at him, making no move to do what he has asked her. "Put. Him. Down." He hissed at her, but she wasn't moving.

"Otome!"

A grin broke on on her face. "Oh. So you knew it was me? You're really impressive." The ancient youkai has certainly lived up to his name. After seeing her true colors, he must have guessed who she really was.

"You should think twice before you point that blade at me," she smirked and her eyes flickered to the person behind him. Nurarihyon followed and turned his head a little, noticing that the assassin was pointing his blade at his neck too.

Damn.

He turned back to Reika and tried to talk sense into her.

"Let the innocent child go! He's Rihan's son! How can you do this to your-"

"-to my what?" She scowled at him. "He's nothing to me!"

He shook his head sadly, his eyes full of pity for her. "Otome..."

"ENOUGH!" she shouted. "IT'S REIKA!" Saying her old name disgusted her and annoyed her. It got on her nerves to hear people calling her that.

Black flames burst out between her and Nurarihyon, causing the wise old man to be stunned by her powers. He jumped backwards, but he wasn't fast enough and the flames burnt part of his sleeves. He cursed silently at his slowness. He could have been really burnt badly if he was any slower.

A giant ball of black flames came flying towards him quickly and he blocked it with his katana. "Argh..." It was so damn hot! But he was able to slice through it with his Fear. The flames spilt into halves and hit the grass, burning it quickly. Damn, he would have been turned into cooked meat if he didn't dodge that attack.

Kino, with his double ninja swords, attacked him numerous times simultaneously in lightning speed that Nurarihyon was having difficulty in blocking and keeping up with his attacks. He moved backwards and nearly tripped on a debris. Kino saw that as an opening for him and without hesitation, slashed at his shoulder. The old commander fell backwards and gripped his injured shoulder that was already wet and pouring out blood profusely.

When he got up hastily, he found Reika missing. Even Rikuo and her followers too. Dammit, they seemed way stronger than any average youkai. Reika has really outdone herself in getting such ridiculously strong youkai on her side.

Kejoro and a few others arrived at the scene at that moment, looking disheveled. They were startled to see Tsurara, who was starting to cry, and a wounded Nurarihyon, with a furious look on his face. But Rikuo wasn't around and they understood the situation at once. Although they were flabbergasted, they snapped back to their senses quickly to help the injured. The first ones to move were Kejoro, who ran straight to Tsurara, and Natto-Gozo, who rushed to the Supreme Commander and started asking him worriedly if he was alright.

But Nurarihyon was too busy cursing to himself. His mouth spewed something unintelligent as he became angry for letting that obnoxious girl took away his grandchild.

Where was his stupid son at a time like this?

This is a reeeally short chapter. I did the last part in a rush. I'm sorry, I'm really bad at writing fight scenes. D:

I almost forgot to mention this - I have just started writing another fanfic, but it's under Soredemo Sekai Wa Utsukushii. You guys may go ahead and check it out if you want. The title is 'The Sun King's Desires'. :)