Master and Yokai
I feel like I'm updating a little too fast... Oh well... That habit will die down after a while. Always get so hyped up when starting a new story... Somehow I always forget Kurata/Aotoubou...
Yu-na milan: Probably, it depends how well some of them can fit in. Kejourou is going to be in this chapter.
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Chapter 3 A Not So Normal Day
'Why do I have a really bad feeling that something will happen...?' Rikuo tried to shake off his feelings as he was consuming breakfast. Tsurara, Kappa, and Kubinashi were troubled by their master's complex emotions and expressions. He kept shaking his head in an attempt to remove the thoughts.
"Waka-sama..." Tsurara mumbled. She poked his upper arm to catch his attention. He jumped and turned towards her.
"Ah, sorry."
"Waka-sama, is something wrong?"
"Oh nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it. Anyways, we should head off to school now." He didn't even give her or the others time to counter. Rikuo grabbed his lunch and ran off with them chasing after. Aotoubou is actually on patrol duty so he cannot attend class with them, but he will be near the school if anything should happen.
At school, they took their seats and waited for the others to come. The two that weren't with them at the time are already there, in their respective seats. Twenty minutes to spare. Is it just me, or are they arriving earlier each time? "Okay, so remember to be on the lookout for and yokai. Be sure to not let the humans notice. If it happens during class, we all can't go at the same time. Probably at most, two. We'll just take turns, if multiple show, so they don't suspect anything. Got it?" Rikuo ordered and they responded with either a 'yes' or a nod.
"Look who's here so early!" An arrogant voice echoed.
"Ah! Kiyotsugu, Shima, ohayo." They, some of them anyways, waved to the two boys.
"Ohayo!" He's always so full of energy, probably even at four in the morning. "The ladies are being slow; they'll be here soon." WHACK!
"Who are being slow?" Saori glared at him, readying another punch.
"Ohayo," Rikuo greeted.
"Ohayo." The girls sat down and waited for the meeting to begin as soon as Kiyotsugu stops massaging his bump, curtesy of Saori.
"Okay!" He began,"So my research tells me that yokai maybe lurking around this very school building." Urk! Now there's another thing the Nura Clan has to worry and be extra careful about... "We will keep our eyes peeled at all times! During lunch and after school we will thoroughly search for them!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You expect us to skip lunch to do this stupid hunt?" Natsumi protested. She and many others are much against this.
"Relax! We'll finish it in no time!"
'Yeah right Mr. No Luck With Yokai...' They all had a feeling that they won't be eating that day... Other students started entering the class. Those students went to this huge party and all got food poisoning. Therefore, none of them attended class in the past two days.
"Whoa! We got new students?" Rinko, a girl part of the Nura Clan but is only an eight yokai, asked. She has gotten quite popular after she opened up, thanks to Rikuo. All of the gathered around the four and began harassing them with their interrogations. The questions aren't even comprehensible with all of them talking at the same time. Lack of personal space and it was suffocating.
"HEY! BACK OFF!" Gozumaru exploded. He looks ready to rip someone's head off, but Mezu was restraining him, trying to calm him down. Aoi and Shiranami were irritated but said nothing. Rikuo gave a pleading look that screams 'Please do not fight'. However that wouldn't make that much of a difference as Gozu isn't very keen of him in the first place. The students backed up, apologized, took their seats. Yokotani-sensei entered.
"Morning class. Welcome back students."
"Morning, sensei."
"Today, we'll have class outside because we will be doing an experiment." She led them outside to a clearing with a cart of flasks and unknown fluids. "Do not touch anything until I instruct so. Get into groups of two's." The students shuffled around until they finally settled with one. Group A: Rikuo, Tsurara. Group B: Aoi, Shiranami. Group C: Gozu, Mezu. Group D: Kana, Yura. Group E: Saori, Nastumi. Group F: Kiyotsugu, Shima. You could have guessed it but oh well. "Each group, pick up a flask and pour in one of the tubes labeled 'A'." oddly enough each were a different color. Food coloring? "Now pour in tube B." As Aoi poured it in, the liquid barely came into contact with the other and BOOM! The flask exploded, which was not suppose to happen... "Everyone stop! Are you two okay?" Aoi and Shiranami nodded. "Go to the nurse's anyways!" They walked to the nurse's office.
"Someone must have swapped the labels..." Shiranami concluded.
"Most likely..." Aoi responded. Just then, a little mischievous yokai ran past them. They chased it, crashing into trash cans, falling down the stairs, tripping over a banana peel, etc. Finally, they eliminated it. The fused liquid from earlier began to sting, so they hurried to the nurse, which took a while a find. Inside the nurse's office, they see...
"KEJOUROU?" They see a fellow clan member playing with the needles and their fluids with no idea what so ever of what they are or are for. How was she hired so be the school's nurse?
"Oh, hi hi!" She waved at them, tossing the needles aside. They seemed concerned about the needles until the fused liquid began to sting again. She noticed they were sufferring from foreign substances, so she did the first thing that came into her head. Hose them down. However, she accidentally had the water pressure on turbo, so one of them was forced into the wall behind.
"Ow..." Kubinashi muttered. Luckily his head didn't go flying off. That's probably because he's in his human transformation, and he's only wearing the neck cast thing just in case he accidently reverts. He wanted a scarf, but scarves can slip off.
"Sorry."
"Hit me again," Kappa demanded. Splash. They changed into the spare uniforms there and dried up. Well, Kubinashi dried up...
"What are you doing here?" Kubinashi asked.
"I wanted to look after the young master too. While I'm here as a nurse, I can slip off and look for yokai when I'm on 'break'." She winked at them and looked around for some lurking yokai.
"I see. Okay, we'll leave this up to you until lunch and afterschool." They returned to class. The experiment was put to a stop while the teacher investigated what happened and tried to reorganize it. Everyone was just chatting now.
"You guys okay?" Rikuo asked them upon their return.
"Yeah." Aoi whispered to Rikuo, "Kejourou is the nurse. She'll take care of the yokai during class." If they look closely at the windows, they could see her chasing those yokai. It looks like the yokai are winning, but in reality, she's winning. "I hope..."
"Ohh. Okay, that'll help a lot. I'm sure she's doing fine." He had a little bit of doubt in his voice. Another little yokai ran by. They started panicking when it appeared and looked at the other studens to see if they saw it. Whoops, they blinked and missed. It's a speedy little guy. Kejourou was handling the ones inside she didn't see it. Kubinashi used his strings to secretly tie up the yokai and yanked it gone. That teacher is so fixated on that experiment that they're wasting precious learning time.
"Okay class, unfortunately something went terribly wrong, and we have to put this off for another time. Also, something new this term, since today is right before vacation, the day is shorter. So have fun and Happy New Years." She waved to them as the bell rang and everyone was shocked to the news. Recall in the last chapter where Shima said it was nowhere near vacation. Yeah, he had no idea what he was talking about. You see... He lost track of time, happens alot.
"Yosh! Then we shall start yokai searching now!" Kiyotsugu burned with a fiery passion.
"But we can't do that," Kana added.
"Why not?"
"Weren't you listening? They're closing the school for vacation in five minutes. We can't look for any yokai in just five minutes in a place like this."
"... Fine! Then today we'll do what I was saving for tomorrow!" They waited for him to continue.
"Let's get out of the snow first," Yura suggested. They somehow relocated to Nura's house. Inside they warmed up, some of them changed, with some hot chocolate, expect Tsurara who loved the snow, before continuing.
"Okay! Are you guys familiar with the 'Seishin'?" Seishin means spirit (may or may not be the spirit I'm think of) and are not referring to yokai, creatures of Japanese folklore which are still called spirits. I'm making this up, do not take it seriously. I know near nothing about folklore.
"Seishin?" Seishin yokai did not sound familiar to them. It sounds more odd and repetitive than anything.
"It's a harmless yokai, but it lives in Kanagawa Prefecture."
'Kanagawa Prefecture.. That's where the Yakushi Clan resides! Zen's Clan!' Rikuo thought. Zen wasn't in the main house either, so that means they'll probably see him there.
"Let's go!" They said their goodbyes and thanks and then headed off towards their destination. When they entered Zen's part of the territory, a figure appeared behind them.
"What are you kids doing here? It's dangerous, go home!" They turned around to see Zen overflowing with Fear.
"Zen! It's me, Rikuo!"
"Oh, Rikuo! What brings you out here?"
"Just walking around with my friends."
They tugged on his sleeve. "Who's that guy?" the humans asked. In the manga, they did not meet Zen. In the anime, they did briefly and were terrified.
"Oh, this is my sworn brother, Zen. Zen, you shouldn't be out in the cold. You're healt-"
"MY HEALTH IS FINE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" he shot back. He's pretty sensitive about his health.
"Fine, but don't come to me if you're coughing up blood..."
"I won't- (cough, cough)!" Now the snow is stained crimson red.
"... That's it! You're going back inside!" He started pushing him back to his house. "Excuse me for a bit." Everyone just stared at the sight. After maybe ten minutes, he returned. "Sorry for the hold up."
"Waka, should we send someone to look after him?" Tsurara whispered.
"Yeah, but who...?" Tsurara's specialty is snow so she may come in handy. Kappa's is water, but only if the snow melts that will be handy. Kubinashi's is strings. Aotoubou is still patrolling. Rikuo doesn't have complete authority over Gozu and Mezu; they only take Gyuuki's orders. "Aoi, can you go back and watch over Zen?"
"Okay, have fun." Kappa ran back to the building and there was shouting in the distance.
"Uhh... Okay, he's gonna miss the fun." They continue walking north until they reached a split road. They separated into two groups: yokai and humans. Humans should be fine; they got Yura. Rikuo's group found an area with a line across the trail
"What's this?" Kubinashi examined the line. "Why would there be a line here?"
"Is there someone you like to see?" a soft, unknown voice spoke.
"Who is it? Who's there?"
"Seishin."
"Where?"
"Right before you." They saw nothing about the line and snow. Um... Is that suppose to be a joke?
"The line?"
"Yes." Okay, not a joke.
"Are you part of the Nura Clan?"
"Yes. Who would you like to see?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is there something who passed, but you'll like to see and speak to them once again?" They were silent. Could a Yokai do such a thing? It's sounds impossible.
"Umm... Surprise us?" It couldn't hurt. This is said to be a harmless yokai. Right before them appeared a beautiful woman in an elegant pink, sakura pattern kimono with long black hair, larger bangs on the side of her face. They were stunned by her beauty, but. Who is she?
Rikuo tried speaking to her. "Um, who are you?"
"I am Yohime. Who are all of you? Ayakashi?"
"Yuki Onna."
"Kubinashi." The other two didn't say anything because they didn't feel oblige to. "That Gozumaru and Mezumaru."
"I'm Nura Rikuo. I'm only part yokai."
"Nura... Rikuo..." She mumbled at the familiarity of the name 'Nura'. "Ayakashi-sama...?"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry. It's just that name sounds familiar." It should... They just looked at each other.
"Nurarihyon?" Kushinashi tested. She gasped at the name.
"What? Did grandpa do something to you?" Rikuo panicked.
"Well, yes. Wait, grandpa? You mean, you're his grandson?" I believe that's why he said 'grandpa'. The humans in the series are definitely not the brightest. "our grandson?"
"You're my grandma? Grandpa said he married a beautiful princess, and she has to be human for me to be a quarter yokai... Awkward..."
"So we finally meet." She beamed. "But I'm still dead, and I cannot move from this spot. I'm glad I get to see you." She disappeared.
"Sorry, the atmosphere felt kind of awkward..." Seishin spoke.
"It's okay, thanks. If I were to draw a line somewhere else, could you be summoned there?"
"Yes, why?"
"I kind of want to mess with gramps... Heh, heh..." His pranking blood returned!
"RIKUO!" The others were shocked. Mr. Nice Guy being childish and pulling pranks again?
"That sounds... interesting. Summon me anytime."
"You're going through with it?" Tsurara and Kubinashi freaked out.
"Rikuo, you're getting respect points for that one," Gozumaru smirked. Is he opening up to him just because he decided to be mischievous? They started heading back to meet up with the others. They agreed to meet up again at Zen's after twenty minutes.
With those guys... "HOW FAR ARE WE WALKING?" Saori and Natsumi complained.
"All I see is snow..." Yura also complained.
"Let's go back! It's been thirty minutes already! We're over time!" Kana begged.
"Fine... Maybe we took the wrong path..." Kiyotsugu gave in.
"You picked this path..." Shima added.
"Ahh shut up..." They went back half frozen in ice. That's what they get for being late. So they let them defrost. "Did you see it on your path?"
"No, sadly.." Rikuo lied. Well, they only saw the line, but is that how it really looks?
"AW! We'll get the next one!" They bid goodbye to Zen, and secretly good health, and went home. At the Nura household...
"We're back!"
"Welcome back!" everyone greeted. Rikuo went to an empty room, slid the door leading outside, and drew a line into the ground. "Seishin?"
"Yes?"
"Can you bring our Yohime?" Yohime appeared.
"Eh? This place is..." she murmured.
"Wait a bit please." Rikuo ran and dragged the Supreme Commander there.
"What are you doing? Rikuo!" he complained until he saw his late wife. "Y-Yohime?"
"Ayakashi-sama? You sure have aged." He was so shocked he couldn't speak. In fact, he's frozen still.
"Grandpa?" Rikuo waved his hand in front of him. Nothing. "GRAMPS!" He yelled in his ears. Nothing. Yuki onna tried putting ice down his back.
"YUKI ONNA!" He raged.
"Ah! You wouldn't move!" she cried and ran.
"Yohime, " he turned his attention back to her, but she's not there anymore. In place of her, you see... "Rihan?"
"Second?" the others cried.
"Dad...?" Rikuo was caught by surprise a little, but he's still messing with Nurarihyon.
"WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY?" Rihan shouted when they all shouted at the same time. "Oh hey guys, pop, Rikuo. How did I get here? Didn't I pass? Can half humans return and become full yokai?" They just stared. They never heard of such a thing. "Hey Rikuo, you're not gonna give your old man a hug?"
'Am I going to go through him...?' "Uh... Can I?"
"Why not? Wait, if you ask that... You don't love me? I'm hurt!" He's jumping to conclusions.
"HUH? It's not that! But are you whole?" Wasn't he supposed to mess with his dad, not Rikuo? Well, Seishin can't control their emotions and actions.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Uh... "What about you, dad? Aren't you gonna give me a hug?"
"Now why would I give a stupid son like you a hug?" He sounded like Karasu Tengu just now. They hang out around each other too much.
"HEY! Oi, you got old reeaaally fast..."
"... At least I'm not dead yet."
"I'm back, aren't I?" Nurarihyon walked up to him. He caught on. He looked over and saw a line. "So that's it. Seishin." Rihan disappeared.
"So, you've found out," it spoke.
"Rikuo..."
"Sorry..." he dropped his head.
"You got back to pranking! I'm so proud of you! At this rate, you'll be a great yokai, no matter how much human blood you have inside you!" He wanted to give his grandson a hug, but Rikuo stuck his hand out.
"Sorry, this was a once in a life time thing." He went to bed. Nurarihyon's jaw dropped to disappointment. It's been a long day so everyone went to rest. But hey, where's Kejourou? At school, she's still eliminating them.
"Finally! That's the last of them" It's the dead of night, and everything's locked up. Now how is she going to get out...?
...
Longest chapter yet! I think I improved from the previous chapters. So whatcha think? I'm still trying to get yokai interaction going on, but haven't really thought it through yet. No way I am gonna bring the dead back to life. I may be a sucker for family reunion or so but I probably won't do that 'cause it ges too hectic. For sure, they aren't going to Kyoto and I'ma prevent them from doing so with all my might 'cause I have no idea if I can make a long chapter with that. Kejourou is not a student because I don't think she fits in as a student. In the anime, she did wear a middle school outfit. In the manga, she didn't. In the omake, or extra, Karasu Tengu was selecting people to go to school with Rikuo, and she wore a nurse's outfit. For the next chapter or so, I'm going to follow the manga a bit, but only up to the Hundred Tales arc and the past arc.
R&R please.