Act II
friends' big brothers and duties
"What? Onmoyji in town that aren't Yura?"
"It looks that way, Young Master. Please return home. Unlike your friend from school, these do not seem to take exception to us."
"You worry too much, Kurotabo," Rikuo said, smiling and waved at the rest from Kiyojuji Patrol to go ahead. "I'm human right now so whoever they are shouldn't be able to tell me apart from random people on the street. I'll be fine."
"Young Master -"
Rikuo hung up.
More onmyoji. How...interesting.
Slipping out on the search for Yura, Rikuo folded his hands behind his head and casually headed in the direction of Yura's flickering ridiculous fire power.
If she had been fighting with someone, Rikuo would have gotten a report, but it still surprised him to find her training.
The abandoned building already looked well beaten too. Rikuo felt a bit guilty for not checking in on her earlier after that thing with Tamazuki.
"You're hard at work, Keikain-san," he observed, and she jumped at his voice.
"Nura-kun! Don't startle me. I could have shot you." But she smiled, if a bit unsure. In fact, everything about her looked to be unsure.
"That would have been bad," Rikuo grinned, not the smallest bit concerned that she would have, not when he looked like this, maybe not even when he looked different. "Thanks for checking first."
"….What are you doing here, Nura-kun?" She didn't ask how he found her.
"You haven't been to school in a while and summer holidays have started now. Everyone was worried, so we went looking." He looked around the training grounds a bit more closely. Always an eye on your surroundings, Itaku's voice said in his head. "You missed a trip to the Shogawa River Valley. It was beautiful. And full of yokai."
She bit her lip and looked away, shoulders burdened. "Even if I had come, I would have been of no use. I'm way too weak."
….huh?
"How did you get that idea? It's definitely wrong," Rikuo was able to tell her honestly. Everything else impressive about her aside, she was an onmyoji even his grandfather praised after all. "You spend all this time training. And on your own too. Without a teacher. That's hard."
Yura turned her back. "And I haven't really accomplished anything because of it."
"- Want me to help you?"
She looked at him so fast, it was a wonder her neck didn't snap. "What?"
"...Er, I mean, is there anything I – or the others can help you with?" He hurried to correct and felt for a moment like he was five years old again, struggling with the way twilight messed with his head.
"Nura-kun, you -" Yura started, eyes wide.
Wooden sandals clicked on hard stone, echoing through the abandoned building.
Rikuo's eyes focused on it's origin on autopilot.
"Yura," the smaller of the traditionally dressed men said. "We told you to keep in touch with the Main House." And didn't that phrase sound familiar, almost making Rikuo roll his eyes on habit alone. "Training all the way out here? You just need to walk through town if you need targets."
...That would be the onmyoji who they reported from bakeneko alley then. Nice guy.
Grinning widely was definitely not a good choice right now, not when the only doubt Yura still had was based on an ofuda that he had already bypassed when he visited her home. Which she knew.
"Onii-chan."
Oh?
The man's eyes slid over Rikuo. He stopped.
"Oi, Yura. Who is that?"
Yura tensed all over. "No one. Just a friend from school."
She did not look in Rikuo's direction.
Rikuo raised an eyebrow at the man, who's altogether nasty expression only darkened. "You've got to be kidding me. That's a yokai."
Well.
This one wouldn't be any fun, Rikuo could already tell. "Oi. You go around accusing everyone you come across of that? People could take offence, Keikain-san's Onii-chan."
"Nura-kun," Yura hissed in warning.
"Hoh. Mouthy, aren't ya. For a filthy parasite."
"Onii-chan. Stop it." Yura tried, and Rikuo did not like the way her voice sounded when she said that. Yura and pleading didn't belong in the same sentence unless there was a 'made someone' in there. "Nura-kun is just..." She wasn't even able to finish the sentence.
Rikuo folded his hands into the sleeves of his yukata and smiled his best innocent smile. "We're friends from school and we belong to the same club. A Yokai Search club, that is. Maybe that's what got you confused? We did run into a really interesting one just the other day."
He could almost see the blood pressure of Yura's brother rise. Hey, maybe he wasn't so boring after all.
Yura would have spluttered or shouted something, but her brother only pulled out two bamboo flasks.
"Onii-chan!" Yura protested.
And stepped in front of Rikuo.
What?
"Oi, Yura -"
"Shut up, you. Onii-chan, stop it! Nura-kun isn't the enemy. Here, look." She smacked an ofuda to Rikuo's forehead again.
Urgh.
Twilight was already past its prime. His blood was stirring. That ofuda hurt.
Very carefully, Rikuo pulled it off his skin and handed it back to Yura.
"See." She said triumphantly. "He can't be a yokai."
Her brother just looked even more irritated. "You fool," he said flatly. "That just means he's skilled enough to slip past your wards. Which means he's all the more dangerous." His eyes narrowed. "Step aside, Yura."
"No."
Her small back and narrow shoulders stood solidly in front of Rikuo.
Her brother's voice pitched dangerously low. "What?"
"I gave you proof. If you are trying to harm a human, then I will stop you." Her goldfish shikigami grew to her hand. "You can't hurt Nura-kun."
Her brother stared. "You are serious." There was note of disbelief in his voice. His eyes darkened. "Garou!" He called. A shikigami that looked more like a yokai bubbled into form. "Devour."
Yura shot.
Rikuo took careful steps back to give them some room. Sibling against sibling. There was something wrong about this. (Onee-chan, who're you?) How the hell did this happen?
Had this been a long time coming or something?
Or, er. Was this maybe Rikuo's fault?
If it was, he couldn't just skip out on them while they were occupied with each other. Not that he would have. Just, you know…
...The outcome was going to be his responsibility, wasn't it?
Speaking of responsibilities, as Third he couldn't just leave two aggressive onmoyji run around Nura territory unsupervised.
The second onmyoji just stood to the side as well, though he had not taken his eyes of Rikuo once. That was skill. Rikuo focused back on the fight.
And wow, Yura's brother was brutal. There was such a thing as though love (and or teaching), like what Itaku did, and then there was this.
It was never easy to watch while was being protected.
Being protected – Rikuo had his issues with that.
This-
Yura had no obligation to protect him. She didn't even know him long. She knew he was a yokai. Yet she got beaten up for standing in front of him.
What the hell?
...Why was he standing on the side again?
Rikuo moved.
Yura was cold in his grip. Her body was trembling and she needed a number of blinks to focus enough to recognize what had happened. "You moron," she choked. Water dripped from her and out of her. "How's this going to be fine now?"
He set her down behind the remains of a wall. She looked defeated, and not just in the physical sense.
Her brother meanwhile...Rikuo turned.
"So you've shown your true face." Water gathered at the feet of Yura's brother, forming back into attack dogs. "How dare you deceive my sister, filthy yokai."
"That's funny coming from you." Rikuo leaned his blade against his shoulder, not even facing the onmyoji completely. From the corner of his eye, he looked down on him, calculated to provoke. "I was just thinking how you're curler than most yokai."
"It's necessary, for humans to beat yokai." The onmyoji opened another of those bamboo flasks. More water poured out, spirit energy rose. "Shikigami fusion. Gyogen." Flowers, silverly gleaming in the fading light and rising darkness, bloomed in the air.
"Yet your sister is neither yokai nor like you and she does fine." Rikuo observed, and slashed one of those flowers in half.
They burned. Worse than sunlight, worse than Yura's canon. He dodged the next wave. Eyes narrowed, Rikuo recalculated. "What are those?"
"Heh," the evil big brother smirked. "Most people don't know. Water in its purest form is more dangerous than acid."
Rikuo slashed at one and vanished. The drops of liquid only hit his after-image. "In other words," Rikuo said from the other end of the flower field, making them jump, "it's just a matter of not getting hit."
They came at him in a wave.
The point was to move faster than drops were able to fall. It took precision and more patience than Rikuo usually employed in his fights but he managed. Eventually there were only five left. Then two. None.
With an arc of his sword, drops of liquid splattered from his blade to the ground. "That was fun," Rikuo stated casually. "Wanna have another go or are you willing to talk now, onmyoji."
"Heh," Yura's brother said, and made a sign with his hands.
Runes started glowing in the ground around Rikuo's feet.
"Gyogen. Konjosui Formation," summoned the dangerous, lethal onmyoji.
An entire tank worth of that water spilled out of the ground and swallowed Rikuo's form.
Uh-oh.
"I'm not that talented. It takes a bit of time to form one of those," he said coldly, without regret. The menacing features became a little less offensive when they turned away from the remains. "Now you see, Yura. You shouldn't bother giving your time to yokai."
Oi. "Honestly," Rikuo said, holding his sword to the onmyoji's neck, letting himself be visible. "Be it Yura or you. Doesn't anyone do their research before they enter a territory anymore?" Rikuo felt a bit miffed.
"Wha-"
Yura clapped her hands before her mouth. "Onii-chan."
Light of the moon glinted off the blade as Rikuo changed its angle slightly. "As if you can capture a Nurarihyon with a trap like that."
Pause. Minimal changes in body posture.
"Nura – Oh, the- "
And because humans were extraordinarily stubborn in nature, Rikuo ran Nenekirimaru (which the Nidaime still didn't need) through the guy before he could do more than think of attacking again.
Might to something to exorcize that evil nature of him – irony of irony.
Yura made a gasp of horror.
How annoying. And with that he meant the second onmoyji who suddenly tore Rikuo's illusion apart like paper. That could have hurt.
Under the cover of Kyouka Suigetsu, Rikuo observed this one. There was something very different about him.
Whatever it was though, didn't stop Rikuo from strolling by behind the onmyoji while he was attacking the latest after-image.
Sitting down on a collapsed bit of wall, Rikuo eyed the berserking powerhouse and the lying liar who was slowly recovering from the shock of being cut without being hurt. Rikuo was fairly sure there was a reason they came as a team and it wasn't to be intimidating.
"Onii-chan," Yura breathed. "You...aren't hurt?"
As if Rikuo would.
But going by her brother's expression he would have preferred being cut down. "What sort of trickery – " Evil Brother cut himself off and studied his unhurt body. After a moment, he growled. "That sword of his is a spirit blade." He glowered around, particularly into shadows. "Oi, yokai bastard! What's the meaning of this?"
Rikuo remained silent but he did let go of Kyouka Suigestu. Might get messy and confusing otherwise for all the involved, which were about to become a lot more.
Presence perceived, Yura's big brother slowly turned to face him. There was something ugly in his expression but it was also less bull headed. First step achieved.
The man eyed Rikuo before he let his eyes drop to the blade in Rikuo's lap.
His lips twisted in a sneer.
Rikuo waited.
That human attack dog didn't.
Not bothering to move, Rikuo watched Kubinashi's strings ensnare those sparking fingers. There was a pissed expression on one of his father's most loyal. "Dare take another step, human, and you will regret it."
Fear manifested as mist, ghostly light bathed the area in blue. The Hyakkiyakko had arrived. Rikuo allowed himself to drop his guard slightly and glanced at them all doubtfully. "Did the old man send you?"
Kurotabo's eyes did not leave the onmyoji even as he bowed. "We came of our own violation, Young Master. Letting you play with onmyoji out of sight is not good for our hearts." Pause. "Though I must admit that Rihan-sama was most amused when we requested leave."
Yura's brother turned, turned, and turned until he had completed a full circle. When his eyes fell on Rikuo again, he seemed to think Rikuo was an alien. "Who the hell are you?"
Rikuo smirked. The lazy, sharp way with which he studied Yura's brother took hold on its own. "I am the Young Master of Kanto's great yokai family, the Nura Clan." He sheathed Nenekirimaru in his lap. "Grandson of the Shodaime, son of the Nidaime, Sandaime Heir Apparent, Nura Rikuo." His lips curled. "Like I said, do your research."
Yura clenched her fists, uneasily glowering at all the yokai even though she still looked ready to kneel over. "See, Onii-chan. If you exterminate him, we'll have war – Wait. Nurarihyon's what?" Her voice jumped about three octaves higher.
"Nurarihyon's...grandson?" Yura's brother whose name Rikuo still didn't know made face like he tasted something bitter. "Grandson? What the fucking hell are the onmoyji around here doing?"
Good question.
"They're employed by us," stated Rikuo, just to see the face that uptight stick in the mud pulled.
It was well worth it. Yura choked on her own spit.
"Rikuo-sama," Kurotabo scolded.
Rikuo smirked. "What? It's not like they know the truth."
Kurotabo's eyebrows shot up. It took him a brief moment to catch up with Rikuo's ploy. When he did, he deferred, "Of course," and smirked. Chuckles ghosted all around.
"What? What?" Yura got out. "Are they now or aren't they paid off?"
Rikuo grinned and said nothing.
"Don't buy into it, Yura," her obviously less naive brother cut in, voice strained to a painful degree. At least some of it was annoyance at his sister which Rikuo further took as a good sign. "Can't you see he's playing mindgames with you?"
Yura's mouth dropped open in indignation, Rikuo's grin widened into a smirk and her brother said to her, "Whatever. I'm not send here to put up with this." He completely seemed to dismiss every present yokai and wow, not everyone could pretend that good. "Yura, two of our brothers are dead. Two barriers have fallen. The message from the main house is this: They are on the move." He gave her a tolerant glance. "You're ordered to return."
Ominous. Also more than just slightly intriguing.
"They. You mean," Yura breathed, frightened, "Hagoromo Kitsune?"
- What.
Hagoromo Kitsune.
Rikuo's heart jumped three beats.
(Onee-chan, who're you?) Rikuo wasn't the only who suddenly had a lot sharper interest in this conversation.
Her brother snorted. "Who else? Mamiru, we're leaving. Come back to Kyoto, Yura."
"Wha- Onii-chan!" Yura called, but her wounds stopped her from actually running after him.
The onmyoji duo left, kicking the smaller yokai in their way out of it.
Before the black forms were completely out of sight, energy rushed out of the ground – an unused trap, apparently. Yokai eeped.
"Rikuo-sama," Kejoro said quietly, advice in her tone.
Rikuo slid down from his perch on the wall. "Tsurara."
"Yes, Young Master?" The yukionna responded, making Yura choke on an "Oikawa-san?!"
"Take her with us and treat her wounds. She got them on my behalf." He tossed his head back and looked at the Parade. "We're leaving."
They cheered as they generally did when ordered as a whole. Only Tsurara and Yura made noises of horror.
TBC
