This omake is safe to read even for those who did not yet start reading The Shin Sekai

Chapter 0 – Young Parents

"So it is clear now…" Kurotabou spoke during a Nura Clan meeting. "…the Hyaku Monogatari has moved to Kyushu."

"Why are you making that face, Kurotabou?" Hitotsume asked. "We should be celebrating that they have moved away from our turf."

"Because they do not need to be here in order to cause trouble for us." Kurotabou spoke with annoyance, as if what he was saying was supposed to be obvious to everyone. "They will use the media to spread their tales on Tokyo while Yanagida and his goons rest in Kyushu."

Rikuo, who was in his human form at the time, had to give his best not to yawn. Everything that Kurotabou was saying was old news to him, but it was something that had to be said to the others. This was all just a formality… or at least the first half of the meeting was supposed to be such.

"You are overestimating them, Kurotabou." The Nura Clan's Jorogumo spoke in her deep, creepy tone. "Without Enchou and… how was he called…. Ah yes, Kyousai… their tale-making abilities are limited."

The young Houkou had, as usual, taken Kurotabou's side in these arguments. "We have overestimated them too many times in the last three hundred years, Jorogumo-dono. Who will have to die next for the clan to realize that they still pose a threat?"

During all this commotion, the wooden doors slid open though only few, including Rikuo, noticed that. Rikuo smiled when he saw his wife, Tsurara, silently enter and walk towards Rikuo's side. Rikuo threw a smirk at her and when she caught it, she blushed and looked away. I thought that she had gotten over that part of herself long ago.

"I agree with Kurotabou-dono and Houkou-dono." Karasu Tengu spoke. "We should do something about them."

"And do what exactly?" Hitotsume crossed his arms. "Kyushu is divided between the followers of the Tsukumo Clan and the followers of Mizuchi." He let out a big puff of smoke. "And by what Kurotabou told us, Yanagida ran to Mizuchi's side of the island."

"And that man will not let us just walk in." Gyuki shook his head.

In meantime, Rikuo looked at his wife as she walked to him while starring at the floor. She sat down beside him without moving her eyes up. She looks like she is worrying about something.

"And just how is that a problem?" Jorogumo asked and looked towards Rikuo. "The Supreme Commander should go there and if Mizuchi has complains, he can fight us. I for one think it is nigh time that we teach this man a lesson."

"I want to avoid a war, Jorogumo." It was Rikuo's time to speak. "Kyushu has suffered enough, no reason to have more blood be spilled."

"But-"

"Enough about that proposition." Rikuo looked away. "We need to find another way around this."

We noticed Tsurara looking at him and opening her mouth, but then she looked down again. Rikuo was annoyed at the fact that all attention was at him because, like this, he could not ask her what was wrong.

"Maybe we could ask Mizuchi to show us his good faith by removing them from Kyushu." Sorobanbo, the head of a merchant youkai clan, suggested.

"Mizuchi show us good faith?" Hitotsume spat. "If we ask him that, he will give Yanagida a royal treatment."

"If he hadn't already…" Jorogumo noted and looked at Rikuo again, but he did not intend to give in.

Rikuo wanted to say something, but then thought he heard Tsurara whisper something. He looked at her and noticed that her face was red.

It was Gyuki's time to speak. "I am sure that Mizuchi-dono is well aware of a threat the Hyaku Monogatari pose to everyone."

Aotabou finally broke from his silence. "That just means that he may deal with them himself."

"That man may do anything." Jorogumo was growingly frustrated by the conversation. "He may even challenge the strongest youkai clan in the Western Japan and, in extension, the second strongest youkai clan in Japan, which is led by a village of Tsuchigumos." She looked towards Rikuo once again. "OH wait, he is doing just that, all while taunting us and our Supreme Commander."

"Jorogumo…" It was Zen's time to speak. "Would you stop giving the Supreme Commander such glances? We already know you disagree with his decision so shut it."

"Hmph." Jorogumo looked away.

And Rikuo could swear that Tsurara said something again.

"So, what should we do?" Karasu Tengu restarted the topic.

"Maybe…" Sorobanbo tried to give another suggestion. "…a gift and a friendly exchange of intel could make-"

"Do not even dare to finish that sentence, Sorobanbo!" Hitotsume hit the floor. "Mizuchi's dishonorable attitude towards our clan should not be tolerated or forgiven!"

Rikuo sighed. He wished he could have taken Sorobanbo's suggestion, but Hitotsume was right: after all that Mizuchi had said to their clan, the Nuras could not afford themselves to treat an dishonorable upstart like him with respect.

And then he heard Tsurara whisper something again. But this time, Rikuo did not want to just let it pass. "Tsurara, what did you say?" He asked his wife who was now as red as a tomato.

"I am expecting a child!" She yelled and the entire room went mute.

"…huh?" Everyone was shocked, but nobody as much as Rikuo.

"I…" His wife looked at him, smiling from ear to ear and with tears of joy in her eyes. "I am pregnant."

The whole room exploded.

"Oryaaaaa!" The ground shook when Aotabou jumped up. "We are getting an heir!"

"Good job Rikuo, I knew you had it in you!" Zen smiled before starting to cough blood.

"Was about freakin' time!" Nurarihyon and Hitotsume said at the same time.

The other youkai were also cheering and the merry atmosphere quickly spread through the rest of the mansion.

But Rikuo still just starred at his wife, who also starred at him. And then he pulled her towards him and hugged her. He was about to become a father.

~)(~

"There there, my little one…" Tsurara whispered while rubbing her belly. She was in the ninth month of her pregnancy and the child was already hitting left and right. "Fufufu, you are quite an energetic one."

"It will not be too energetic I hope." Her mother commented. "We don't want it to start freezing everyone while you are still giving birth." Setsura then sighed. "We should have brought a few more Yuki-Onnas here."

"The two of us will be enough, Setsura-san." Reira, who also kept vigil over Tsurara, replied.

Saori Maki, who was also here alongside Torii, was not as laid back. "We should be having an entire medical team here. To think a woman still has to give birth outside a hospital in this day and age…"

"Are you forgetting that we are youkai, human girl?" Setsura threw an angry glance at her. "Tsurara can't possibly go to a human hospital."

"Well shouldn't you have a youkai hospital?" Saori did not give up easily.

"Huh, you humans have sure gotten spoiled." Reira took Setsura's side. "I am horrified that you are even considering sending the mother out of her home while she is giving birth."

"Yeah." Setsura nodded. "This is a sacred event for family and friends."

"And what if it comes to complications?" Maki continued with her arguments.

"Zen's entire clan is here." Setsura replied back.

"As are the best doctors from Toono." Reira added. "And so is Yukari."

"Yes." A small child said while hanging from behind Tsurara's shoulder. "Nothing bad will happen while I am here."

"You know what, forget about it." Maki put her hand over her forehead. "This is just a completely alien world to me."

"Don't worry, Maki-san." Wakana, who just returned to the room, tapped Maki's shoulder. "You get used to this."

Maki gave her a suspicious glance. "Why are you looking at Torii while saying that?"

Tsurara giggled. Even though this was bound to be awkward for Maki and Torii, it was the two of them who volunteered for helping her when they heard that Tsurara was to give birth at the Nura Clan's mansion rather than in the hospital.

The fact that they saw themselves as her close friends as much as Rikuo's made her feel happy, and a bit guilty for thinking of them as side characters for such a long time.

This will be your world too, dearie. She rubbed her belly again while looking at the two human women having a heated, yet friendly, argument with the youkai women.

And though she was a youkai, she hang with the humans so much that it seemed to have affected her. After all, the old her would not have wanted her child to go to school like Rikuo did, but right now she believes that it would be a beautiful thing if her child could go to school and make friends both amongst the humans and the youkai.

~)(~

"What are you doing here, Rikuo?" Nurarihyon asked his grandson and sat beside him at the porch outside the mansion. "Your wife is likely to give birth soon." The old youkai said and lighted his smoking pipe.

"I know." Rikuo said while smoking his own pipe. "But I felt like getting out a bit and think."

"And just what are you thinking about, if I may ask?"

"About myself." Rikuo looked at his hand. "Now that I think about it, I was a child not that long ago."

"Yes, the time sure passes quickly for humans and Hanyous (part-humans)." Nurarihyon said and let out a puff of smoke. "I did not become a father until I was a hundred years old… not that I feel old even now."

"You are bluffing, old man."

"Shut it, Rikuo." Nurarihyon made one of his grumpy faces. "Don't you smile like that. You will get a small baby soon, but before you know it that baby will grow and take the entire clan and all of your ambitions away. And then you will join me in feeling like an old fart."

"Hahaha, maybe I will." Rikuo laughed. "But I think I have a century or more in me, just like dad."

"You underestimate children, Rikuo." Nurarihyon shook his gourded head. "We are all ancient old farts to our merciless children."

"Was dad that merciless towards you?"

"You bet he was! Even though I was aging fast, I was still youthful enough to lead the clan for good century or two." Although Nurarihyon tried to sound angry, there was warmth in his eyes. "But he had none of it. He made himself the Second Commander, found himself a wife and overshadowed me before I even realized what was going on."

"Dad sounds impressive." Rikuo's memories of his father were hazy, and he never saw him in his true glory.

"He was… just as one would expect from my son." Nurarihyon let out another pouf of smoke. "Now that you were any worse. You were still just thirteen when you killed the strongest youkai in history."

"It was not my earning alone though."

"You are the leader of a Hyaki Yakou. It goes without question that others were fighting beside you."

"That is not what I meant." Rikuo smiled and looked at his grandfather. "I could come so far only because you and dad were there before me." And then he looked away again. "I would not have been able to come so far if you two were not there to support me."

"I see." Nurarihyon allowed himself to smile.

"It is coming!" Someone yelled from inside the mansion. "The child is coming!"

Rikuo immediately jumped up and turned toward the source of the voice.

"Go Rikuo. You don't want to miss this even if Seimei himself appeared in your courtyard."

"You don't need to tell me that old man." Rikuo smiled and ran… but then he stopped. "Won't you come, gramps?"

"No, this is the moment for you and Tsurara." Nurarihyon continued sitting on the porch.

"Are you sure?"

"What did I tell you Rikuo? Go and hold that child even if Seimei challenged you for a damn rematch!"

"As you wish… gramps. But don't take too much time!" And with that, Rikuo left.

"Another heir, huh?" Nurarihyon thought aloud. He still vividly remembered the first time his hands took a hold of Rihan. He remember every detail of him and his wife, and even every cry that came from his son's mouth. He knew that if he went there, those memories would resurface in their fullest…. And with those memories, the sadness in his heart. He could not let others see the First Commander of the mighty Nura Clan cry, especially not the tears of sadness.

And for that reason, he was grateful that nobody was paying him any attention. "I wish you were here Rihan…" He said while remembering his son as he always did: a child that he could still hold in his arms.

~)(~

The moment they told him that he could come in, Rikuo rushed into the room. He smiled from ear to ear when he saw his wife lie down and hold something in blankets in her arms.

"It is a girl, Rikuo-sama." She said to him while he was still walking towards her and while the other women were leaving. "She is a beautiful little baby girl."

The child was crying and the room's temperature was low, but Rikuo did not care. He knelt in front of her and looked at the child.

"Come on, hold her." Tsurara offered the child to him.

"Yes…" Although various doubts were going through his mind, like him wondering if he even knew how to hold a baby, he still accepted his wife's offer. He took the child as if fearing that it could crumble if he was too rough and tried to be as gentle as possible. "She is so… tiny." Rikuo said while looking at her. He was sure that he could hold her in one hand, but he was not crazy enough to even consider doing it.

"You weren't much bigger either."

"Would you not bring up that topic right now?" Rikuo said while blushing from embarrassment.

"Fufufu…" His wife laughed into her sleeve. "She will grow, don't you worry."

"I am not worried." He said while smiling at his baby girl. "She will grow up and mercilessly leave her dad behind one day."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, I just talked with gramps a few seconds too long."

Then someone knocked on the door. "May we come in now?" Setsura said while looking inside with part of her face.

"Sure, come in guys." Rikuo invited them with a smile and the next moment his mother-in-law was already sitting beside him, freezing the room further.

"Ah, look at her! Aren't you a precious and strong little Yuki-Onna?" Setsura mumbled to the child while giving her best not to grab her from Rikuo's hands. "I dreamed about you for good four hundred years you know!"

"He Fear is very strong." Gyuki said and looked down at her. "Yes, she will lead this clan well."

"Bah, she looks way too much like her mother. She probably won't amount to anything" Hitotsume tried ruining the mood, but before anyone could complain the child sneezed and cold air hit Hitotsume right into his eye. "Not again!"

"Ha, she is my granddaughter alright!" Setsura smirked. "You got what you deserve, Hitotsume." And as if satisfied with what she did, the child cried with little less intensity.

"Ah, it makes me want to get a child soon too." Kejorou commented.

"She is very cute." Kubinashi said and then looked at Kejorou with a confused expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"My granddaughter is so adorable!" Wakana sad and then asked. "So, what will she be called?"

"She will be called… Ritsura." Tsurara spoke while taking the girl back into her arms. "Nura Ritsura."

~)(~

"Are you sure, Rikuo-sama?" Tsurara asked her husband once again in front of the mansion's gates while Kejorou stood beside her. "It wouldn't be a problem for me to."

"I am sure!" Rikuo, in his human form, repeated while holding a four months old baby in his arms. "You have been holding her non-stop for four months now. It is time for you to take a break and let the father take care of her for a while."

"Are you sure?" She asked again, this time with her eyes narrowed as if not believing that he was up to it.

"Tsurara, I am the Lord of Pandemonium." He tried imitating a smile that his night self tended to make. "You really think that one baby will be a problem for me?"

"Men who say get over their head with it." She asked, still looking at him with doubt in her eyes.

"You watch too much TV, Tsurara." Rikuo shook his head. "Just trust me!"

Tsurara opened her eyes to complain some more, but Kejorou stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Come on Tsurara, let Rikuo-sama take care of it. Nothing bad will happen if we go out shopping for an hour or two."

"See?" Rikuo nodded. "Kejorou trusts me."

"Sure…" She made a smile and forcefully turned Tsurara around.

"Alright." Tsurara finally gave in and started walking away. "Call me if there are problems, okay?"

"Sure~" Nah, there won't be any problems. Rikuo watched over them leave and then turned around and returned into the mansion. Doing good deeds always feels so nice. Rikuo thought with pleasure. His wife had been spending every bit of her time with their daughter, even taking her out shopping or to the baths. Naturally, taking care of a baby for all that time exhausted her so Rikuo decided to jump in so she could get to spend some free time for herself. I should have done this sooner… well, I did try but Tsurara never trusted me.

"Rikuo, you can't hold a baby like that." His grandfather said while passing him. "You don't want your wife to see you like that." The veteran added before turning around the corner.

"Hm?" Rikuo wondered what he meant while holding Ritsura atop his shoulder in a sitting position.

(15 minutes later)

It did not take long for his daughter to start crying. But since crying was something she often did, Rikuo did not think it was much of an issue. Also, he saw Tsurara calm her down so he had a general idea on what he had to do.

"Yosh yosh!" Rikuo said while throwing her up and down. True, Tsurara just rose her into the air, but he was sure that this extra effort would be more efficient.

And when she started laughing, he knew he was right.

"There, perfect!" Rikuo was satisfied. "What do you say I throw you a bit higher?"

(In front of a mall in Ukiyoe)

"Ugh!"

"What is wrong Tsurara?" Kejorou asked her in a worried tone after seeing Tsurara suddenly stop and catch her chest. "Do you feel pain or-"

"My senses tell me I should get back immediately."

"Come on Tsurara, you worry too much!" Kejorou said while pulling Tsurara into the mall. "You are just nervous because you are not used to having Ritsura-chan away."

"Then why do I feel like someone is throwing my heart up and down non-stop?"

(20 minutes later in the Nura Clan's main house)

"She started crying again…" Rikuo threw her in the air a few times, but nothing changed. "Doesn't work anymore, huh? Well, it is not like calming you down ever had only one method… maybe I should try singing?"

"Rikuo-sama, you can sing?" At some point, Nattou Kozou must have appeared beside him because he was the one who asked him that question.

"No, I can't really sing… at least not in this form." Rikuo scratched his cheek while thinking about what to do. I could try singing but… what if she doesn't like it? I would fail as a dad! "Does anyone in the mansion know how to sing or play music?"

"Did someone just ask if there was someone who could sing and play music?" Aotabou broke into the courtyard while holding a pair of drums between his hands and a large grin on his face.

"Let me just say, we are actually quite good at it." Kurotabou also appeared, but holding an electric guitar and wearing a leather jacket and black pants. "The modern music is actually quiet fascinating."

"Hm." Yami nodded while holding a microphone.

"You guys…" Rikuo had to shake his head to confirm that he was not imagining it. "Since when do you guys have a band?"

"For many years now." Kurotabou made a hair flick. "We have been waiting for years for someone to ask if someone here can sing and play."

"Yami too?" Rikuo looked at the silent youkai whose face was hidden behind ofudas (paper talismans). This youkai was so silent that Rikuo could imagine him singing.

"He may not talk much, but he sure can sing!" Aotabou spoke while plugging in the instruments.

"Now…" Kurotabou moved his hand over the guitar to test the sound. "Let's rock!"

And so, on this at first glance normal afternoon day, sounds of Death Metal music could be heard from Nura Clan's mansion.

"Hahaha!" Fortunately, the baby liked it.

(Back at the mall)

"What are you looking at, Tsurara?" Kejorou asked the Yuki-Onna whom she was accompanying.

"I am looking at these music CDs." Tsurara answered. "And for some reason I wanted to run back home and yell at everyone to not play bad music to my little girl."

"Tsurara, that's so random. You are worrying too much. I am sure-"

"I know, I know…" Tsurara cut in and sighed before turning around. "I am not sure why I am suddenly so distrustful of Rikuo-sama. I was never like that before."

(An hour later at the Main House)

"I have called this small meeting…" Rikuo spoke to the executives while holding a crying baby. "…because neither games not music nor cold temperature can calm down my baby girl. So we… wait, where are the women?" He asked the youkai in front of him when he noticed that there were no females.

"Well, Commander…" Karasu Tengu flew up and started explaining the situation. "Tsurara and Kejorou are out shopping, which I am sure you know. As usual, nobody knows where Setsura is; my daughter Sasami has taken a vacation to enjoy some time at a beach; Kokehime is visiting Kyoto; Jorogumo is having some important business at her territory; Asajigahara no Kijo-"

"So in short, every woman is somehow absent from the mansion…"

"Besides the kids."

"Damn, this might make it harder… mah, we men will come up with something, I am sure!" Rikuo put on his optimistic smile again, though everyone looked worriedly at the crying baby. "Alright men, let us start brainstorming a solution to this current problem."

"Have you tried dancing with her?" Kurotabou suggested. "I have seen women constantly calm the babies by dancing with them."

Hitotsume had something to complain. "That isn't dancing but-"

"Alright, let us try it." And so Rikuo started dancing with his baby girl by holding her body with one arm while with another he held only her hand.

"It is working! She is calming down!" Someone yelled but after only a few moments, Ritsura started crying again.

"I think she was just dumbstruck with what you were doing, commander." Hitotsume scratched his cheek.

"What about making some grimaces?" Aotabou ran to the girl and started making facial expressions that would horrify both a human and a youkai child.

Ritsura calmed down, breathed out a gust of cold air right into his face and returned to crying while Aotabou fell onto the floor while screaming and rubbing his eyes.

Kubinashi's head turned towards Zen. "Zen-sama, do you maybe have some medication or-"

"Last time I tried giving that child something to make her fall asleep, Tsurara almost killed me." Zen answered before Kubinashi could even finish his question. "Since we can't afford to wait for thirteen years until that girl is ready to lead the clan, it might be better to not endanger Rikuo's life. Tz, that Yuki-Onna has sure gotten all rude and commanding since she became a mother…"

After a few more failed attempts at making the baby calm down, the youkai have become so frustrated that they started arguing with one another.

"This just makes it worse…" Rikuo sighed while Ritsura tried to outcry the other youkai, constantly lowering the temperature while doing so. "We will all freeze to death like this…"

And, as it was usual for this youkai clan, an argument turned into a punch and one of the youkai crushed close to Rikuo and Ritsura. Everyone must have remembered that a baby was there so they stopped arguing before it got worse.

But then Ritsura started laughing and looked happiest since Tsurara left her with Rikuo. "That's it!" Rikuo finally knew (or thought he knew) what he had to do.

(25 minutes later)

"Don't make such a face, Tsurara." Kejorou spoke to her partner while they were returning to the mansion with shopping bags in their hands. "You were taking a break to relax, remember?"

"I know…" Tsurara sighed for who knows which time that day. "But I am not used to not having my baby girl with me, you know."

"I think you are being over-protective." Kejorou shrugged.

"I am definitely being over-protective… I hope I don't spoil her." Tsurara sighed once again. "But sorry for ruining your day like that. This was supposed to be your break too, after having cleaned the mansion and all."

"Don't mention it. You still cleaned the most, even though you had to take care of Ritsura at the same time." It was Kejorou's time to sigh. "I swear, you are way too diligent. It will just exhaust you."

"Haha… but at least the manor will be all nice and clean for-" Tsurara suddenly stopped, with a smile on her face that looked like it was frozen in time. "What is that loud music coming from the direction of our manor?"

"And why are there sounds of brawling mixed into it?" Kejorou added while sweat collected on her face.

The two women looked at one another before continuing on their way with a fast pace. And when they arrived at the mansion, they clearly heard the sounds of Death Metal as well as sounds of brawling and things getting broken… and then two youkai broke through the walls and fell down unconscious.

Both of the women were so shocked that shopping bags just fell from their hands.

"Kejorou, what is written at that table in front of the gates?" Tsurara asked while starring at the ground.

"Blood Tournament of the Ages…" Kejorou read with a face that looked like her entire life had lost meaning. "…all youkai are welcome (Onmyouji too if there are some)."

"I see. Thank you very much, Kejorou." Taking the bags back into her hands, Tsurara walked into the mansion. There were some youkai fighting around her, but she did not pay them any attention. However, her Fear was sipping at all sides so she unintentionally froze everything she walked past, practically taking down every youkai in the courtyard. "Rikuo-sama…" She spoke when she saw a brown-haired man sit on the griund with a baby in his arms while both of them looked at the chaos that wrecked through the entire mansion. She put on a smile in order to hide what was actually going through her head.

"Ah Tsurara! Welcome back!" Rikuo welcomed her with his trademark goodie-two-shoes smile. "Ritsura would not stop crying, but I found out that she likes Death Metal and youkai brawling with one another." He spoke while turning his head back and while the baby in his arms smiled from ear to ear. "Did you know that Kurotabou, Aotabou and Yami had formed a band? They are very good." Then his smile disappeared to be replaced by a tired one. "But Ritsura got more and more demanding and simple brawls were not enough." He then turned around again and gave Tsurara a thumb up. "So I organized a Grand Tournament where youkai could give their all! I am sure this will sustain her hunger haha!"

"Rikuo…" Her face turned so red that Rikuo realized that his wife was actually quite angry.

"Um… that face and the lack of honorifics…" In contrast to her Tsurara's reddening face, Rikuo was becoming paler and paler. "…are you by some chance angry?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIIIIIIISSSS?!"

On that day, a blizzard that Ukiyoe had never seen in its entire history hit one small mansion, freezing and terrifying everything in its path… besides one small baby which seemed to enjoy all the chaos.

(6 hours later, after the Yuki-Onna calmed down and everyone was confirmed to be alive)

"I swear it, Rikuo-sama!" Tsurara lectured her husband in their bedroom while taking care of her hair, which got messy after she went berserk. "All you had to do was give her a pacifier!"

"Sorry, I completely forgot about that…" Rikuo lay on the tatami mattress. Their daughter was being taken care of Kejorou while all the male youkai were cleaning the mansion… as did Rikuo until Tsurara decided she would lecture him some more.

"How did this all even happen? I would have expected this from the First and the Second… and even from your Youkai side! But I expected more from your human side."

"Haha, I guess I got way too excited…" Rikuo scratched his cheek.

"Excited about what?"

"Well, you know… taking care of our daughter." He smiled. "This was the first time I was alone with Ritsura and I… I don't know, every time I had to think of what to do next, I thought of the most over the top thing that came to my mind."

Tsurara sighed… again. "You sound like a TV character."

"And there I was telling you that you watch too much TV yet whenever I tried thinking of what I good dad would do, only TV dads came to my mind." He admitted where the root of his problem lay.

"Rikuo-sama, sometimes you are a dork." Tsurara giggled.

"Oh, is that giggling that I hear?" Rikuo asked and it became clear from the tone of his voice that he changed forms.

"No, I am still angry." Tsurara pouted and continued grooming her hair. "Hey!" And then she felt his arms embrace her from behind and him landing a kiss on her neck. "Fufu stop that! It tickles!"

"I reject your offer." He put his fingers under her chin and turned her head towards his face. "What was the last time we cuddled?"

"It was a year ago." She smiled. "While we were making Ritsura."

"A long time." He kissed her lips and pulled her kimono down.

"Now?" She pulled herself and asked with a smile.

"Better use the time Kejorou gave us productively." And with those words, he pushed her down.

~)(~

"Rikuo…" Nurarihyon spoke while smoking his pipe. "I always thought you were chaster than me and Rihan yet there you are…" He looked at Tsurara who was happily, though pointlessly, explaining the situation to her daughter. "…your first child is not even half a year old and you…"

"Well, it happened…" Rikuo turned red. "I got too ahead of myself…"

"It is not a bad thing though." Karasu Tengu joined the conversation. "The more heirs, the better!"

"Yes, the more kids the merrier!" Wakana put her hands together. "So did you two decide on a name yet?"

"Well…" Rikuo scratched his head. "I am still not sure of a name for a girl but…"

"It will be a boy." Tsurara suddenly proclaimed.

"How do you know that?" Rikuo asked.

""A mother's intuition"" Tsurara and Wakana said at the same time. And then they laughed for it.

"That makes the matter simpler I guess." Rikuo just accepted her claim with a smile. "It is a name I had in mind for a long while…"

Although he did not say it, both Nurarihyon and Wakana seemed to have known what name he chose. "Hmph, I see." Nurarihyon said and smirked and Wakana too had made a special kind of smile.

"I don't get it… what is the name?" Karasu Tengu asked and everyone just laughed at his confusion. "What?"

"It is…" Wakana took mercy at the poor youkai advisor. "…Rihan."

I-I-I-I-I

Author Notes:

As per Helga's request (though admittedly this isn't exactly what she asked of me), here is an omake focused on early day of the fourth generation of the Nura family. I am not sure how good it is, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!