RedChocoboMageOnABlackChocobo: Uh huh. But then again, what else are they supposed to do besides worry about you?
Guest Reviewer, animelover: Kyaaa! *slaps hands over mouth* Excuse me, I meant OMG ME TOO!
riridreaheart: Yes'um. That they are. Thanks you for reading!
Aozora12: I am truly honored that you consider this fiction one of your favorites. *bows* Thank you very much.
Halley Vanaria: As much as I am truly tempted, if I do I'll go way more into depth and attempt to change the ending… *dramatic sigh*
Sesshomaru's Secret Admirer: (chapter 4) Yes, yes. I was watching it when I saw it and I choked on the cake I was eating. It was hilarious! The face he had on when he said that!
*giggle*
Sesshomaru's Secret Admirer: (chapter 9) I love Inuyasha, I think he's a great character. One of the reasons why he's dead is because if I had kept him alive, he would have turned out to be a villain.
Professor: Eh, who cares? Sank you!
Guest Reviewer, nana: Thank you! It's readers like you who keep me going!
Guest Review, Nurarihyon 3: Thank you! No, yes, yes. *thumbs up*
Important!
My dear readers, I call upon your creative imagination to help me in my time of need. I am trying to come up with an enemy for Nurarihyon to battle against and I need people's advice. I would like to make the enemy something like the Hundred Tales Clan (those of you know haven't read the manga, think something like the Band of Seven) powerful enemies that takes a while to defeat. Also they're targeting those who are close to Nurarihyon.
Any suggestions would be immensely appreciated.
Thank you for your time, enjoy the chapter!
Last time:
Far above, yet closer than you'd think, the gods smiled to themselves, satisfied their blessed soul had found another who would give her everything.
They nodded to themselves regally, and turned their attention to other matters.
Another, however, emerged from the shadows and made their way to the windows covered the wall at the end of the room. Lifted a string entwined hand, the figure placed it on the smiling face of the blessed soul, Yohime.
"Arrogant fools," a feminine voice spoke sadly, "They know not what Fate has in store for their precious blessed soul."
A single tear slid down pale wan cheeks and dropped to the floor.
"One of my red strings has already tied together three souls, one of whom is this soul's son. Ah, such suffering and such sadness us supposedly wise gods will force you to endure, Kagome."
Fate's hand, for surely only Fate can tie the red string to people's fingers, pulled away from the window and she sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping.
"I hope you can forgive me, the burden you will be forced to take, Kagome," Fate whispered as she returned to the shadows.
"I will, one day, beg your forgiveness and pray that you accept it."
And with these words, she departed through the shadows, a crystallized teardrop the only
evidence to the turmoil displayed moments before.
The following week was filled with activity. Yohime sudden developed cravings. Nurarihyon set out to find what she wanted, but he ran into several problems.
He had no idea what 'ice cream' was.
Or chocolate.
Or hamburgers.
When he had said so to Yohime, she burst into tears wailing that she already knew that. Needless to say, it was very confusing.
Due to her mood swings, if anyone dared to call her 'sama' they were quickly snarled at and once, she'd even chocked Hitotsume. 'Hime-chan', 'Yohime-chan' were the only names she was called by.
At the end of the week, she woke up and asked to go shopping. This was probably due to the fact that during the last seven days, the child had grow quickly and she appeared to be at least 3-4 weeks ahead of a normal human pregnancy.
The instant the petite woman disappeared from sight, a breath of relief filled the air. As much as they had come to respect and admire this woman their Commander had fallen for, she was scary when she was angry.
And tears, oh gods, they couldn't handle all these emotions.
The tall cyclops learned to talk carefully around Yohime, as did his friend, Sorobanbo.
Gyuki found that he rather enjoyed their conversations together, regarding authors and poets.
Setsura discovered that the human woman was actually someone she got along very well with. She sometimes forgot who was the older one as Yohime seemed so wise.
Hihi wasn't much for talking, but he did appreciate the dishes Hime insisted he try.
Mokugyo Daruma didn't really seek out the human woman, but he did treat her with respect, greeting when he came across her path (even though he had no mouth).
As for Gagoze, the ayakashi who kidnaps and devours children, he stayed out of the woman's way as she threatened to purify him if he ever showed his face to her again.
The rest of the smaller ayakashi and demons followed her around begging for stories or for her to play a game with them.
Yohime found she actually enjoyed the time she spent with them. They were a great help when she needed to fetch something and held no desire to move.
Karasu-Tengu was gone most of the time, only returning in the evening to report to Nurarihyon the state of the town's affairs.
Many times the Commander went out to speak to ayakashi, youkai and demons who came to Edo. Once word spread that Edo was the territory of the Lord of Pandemonium the more honorable ones stayed away, or didn't cause trouble. Yet there was still many ayakashi and youkai who saw Edo as their property and cause disruptions.
Since the fight against Hagoromo Gitsune, where only Nurarihyon was able to defeat his opponent, his Hyakki Yakou spent a good deal of their time in the secret underground dojo that was located beneath upper ground dojo.
Yohime lent a helping hand to Setsura's training as when they visited the meadows that were filled with flowers. She would mark several she wanted to have and the Yuki-Onna would freeze only those from stem to bloom.
While this was very easy for the Yuki-Onna to do, it required concentration, precision and great skill to be able to do so.
Yohime was slightly disappointed that no one could handle a bow and nearly everyone had a flying projectile attack. She firmly resolved to teach her child archery.
A day or so after Nurarihyon had taken her shopping, he was called away on an urgent matter. While they were called away at night, she had slept the whole day and was wide awake when they departed. Nura had asked Setsura to stay behind before kissing her goodbye, assuring her he'd return.
She had decided the wait for them under the sakura tree. Yuki-Onna had provided her with a blanket and a small lantern, though the moon was full she found she did not need it.
As she laid her head against the bark, she felt a slight stirring in the aura of the tree. Closing her eyes Yohime loosed her hold on her reiki allowing it to rise to the surface. To her great delight and surprise she felt power running up and down in the tree's veins. Though it was not as strong as the God Tree that Inuyasha was sealed to, the sakura tree possessed desires and held a will. It was not sentient, per say, but it was much more than your average tree.
She turned to snuggled up against the rough bark relaxing as she did so. To her pleasure, its branched ruffled as if to hug her in return.
"You and I are going to get along just fine."
A perfect blossom landed at the crown of her head. It was uncommon in summer to have flowers, but it appeared that this tree after being exposed to youkai and Fear on a regular basis had managed to bloom its petals year-round.
"Will you become a cornerstone for me?"
Yohime asked carefully.
"I wish to protect those around me, so I would like to know the instant blood is spilled on these lands."
The branched stilled, and a quiet hum resonated from within the tree. She seeped her reiki into the core, accepting the hum for an affirmative.
When Setsura, feeling the strengthening power in the air, came to check on Yohime she found her with a blissful expression curled up under the fully blooming Sakura Tree. A small smile came to the ayakashi's face. Nurarihyon would see her as soon as they entered the grounds. No doubt he would also pick up on the great power that particular tree now held, and the clearing of the air.
Taking a deep breath, the faint scent of sakura wafted to her senses along with the newfound cleanliness of the atmosphere of the mansion.
A/N When you find out Hyakki Yokou is actually Hyakki Yakou..And that you find almost nothing about the original one. *tear*
When a reader gives you a manga to read and you love it, but literally everyone dies (and you kinda cry at each death), and then you discover that it has a sequel. And that sequel has a sequel.
Stop-
I just can't-
No, leave-
Just-
Please, I can't deal-
The feels-
*huddles in emo-corner*
*rocks back and forth*
*sobs quietly*
(P.S. That's my excuse for the late update. P.S.S. I've changed my name to 'northpeach'. P.S.S.S I'm not sure if you know, but there's a poll on my profile.)
Reviews are my sunshine, my only sunshine. They make me happy when skies are grey. If you ever knew, readers, how much I loved them, so please don't take my sunshine away…