Act III


of dreams granted and new friends


"Oi, oi, why is Rikuo here?"

Heads snapped around.

"Rihan!"

"Rihan-sama!"

"Hey. Settle down you two. My ears'll fall of – ouch." Rihan's hand slipped to his chest and touched on the thick layer of bandaged as he tried to sit up.

"Don't move." Kubinashi ordered, voice tight, and carefully prevented Rihan from further attempts at moving. "The wound only just closed."

Kejoro dropped to her knees at his futon's side. "Please forgive me, Rihan-sama. I couldn't protect you." Kejoro herself did not look much better than Rihan, though her chest wound had been a lot less dangerous.

"I'm the one who should apologize. I screwed up. Sorry, Kejoro. You got hurt because of me." Rihan tugged at a strand of her hair. "Look, it cost you so much." It was cut off, burned, tied into knots and otherwise in a state she would never let it reach naturally.

"Never, Rihan-sama. To see you safe I would have given gladly my life," she bowed as deep as she could. Next to her, Kubinashi had somewhere in between Rihan passing out and waking up found that horrible look on his face again. Who had he terrorized while Rihan was out, he wondered.

"And I'll gladly see you not do that," returned Rihan, but even he knew a hopeless argument after he had had it for a couple hundred times or so. "But does one of you want to explain to me why you haven't broken up that hellish combination over there?"

He thumped at the far end of the room, where the horrifying sight of Rikuo and his Old Man putting their heads together had been greeting him since he managed to open his eyes. "What is Rikuo even doing here? Did something happen?"

Kubinashi's expression became pinched. Kejoro eased out of her deep bow enough for Rihan to see that she was studiously studying the floor.

"Leave us," said the Old Man to them. Once they did he added to Rihan, "I called him."

Urgh. That tone.

"What did you do that for?" Rihan demanded. He tried to sit up because this was not a conversation where he could afford the disadvantage of a lower ground. But his body didn't obey.

While he was trying to convince the black spots to leave his vision, sandals and bodies shuffled. When Rihan could properly see again, Rikuo was sitting next to him.

Damn that Old Man.

Rikuo's expression was simultaneously as cold as ice, as black as a storm and as pissed as Rihan had never seen him before.

Ouch.

"What did you tell him?" Rihan demanded of his meddling father.

The first Nurarihyon had an unlit pipe between his lips, his expression compassionless. "I called him because you're half-assed. Get your head back on straight, fool. Or you'll die."

"Is there something I can't know?" Rikuo questioned and, wow, angry. His following prompt was merciless. "Something about a girl in black?"

Rihan groaned. "By the sound of it you already know."

"Depends entirely on what you mean by that," Rikuo commented shrewdly, coldly. "You mean that Hagoromo Kitsune looks like the woman you married before Mom? Or that she was the girl who almost killed you? Or maybe you mean the fact that I distinctly remember her calling you 'Father' that day?" He crossed his arms and stared icily down at Rihan. "That wouldn't have anything to do with why you can't cut her, now would it?"

"Hey now," Rihan gave Rikuo a look. "Even if you don't respect your father, give some to your yokai commander. Do you honestly think I would allow myself to be stopped by that?"

Rikuo's eyes were glowing ominously in the dark. Emotion coiled around him, but, Rihan suddenly became aware of, while he was seriously pissed of, that wasn't all and it wasn't all at Rihan.

"Despite what you think, I do respect you. Old Man. That's why I know you wouldn't let something as superficial as appearance stop you," Rikuo pronounced slowly, deadly calm. "I understand it has been centuries since that woman. Which is why I don't get what happened to land you here, mostly dead. Again."

Rihan blew out a breath. His chest ached, his body felt weak. She crossed his mind again, that girl with that smile.

A smile like -

With his hand he reached out, and tugged Rikuo down against him. His son's skin was warm, his body stiff before he allowed the pull. He was so miraculously alive, he existed. The child Rihan thought he would never have.

"I'm sorry."

Rikuo's voice was tight. "What for?"

"...what for, I wonder."

His son stiffened and pulled away. "What's that supposed to mean?" And yeah, that was a pout. No anger in sight for now. Cute.

Rihan chuckled. "Still such a brat." He glanced at his father. "I got it, Old Man. No more distractions. That's why you wanted him here, right?"

The Old Man grunted. The way he eyed them both was more than a bit unsettling. "That was the idea. Rikuo, tell Rihan what your investigation has lead to so far."

A ripple of puzzlement appeared between Rihan's son's brows, but he shrugged. "A tunnel from the Three-Eyed Party's compound lead to an urban house. It location and appearance was ideal for hiding and secret meetings so long as they happened infrequently. We discovered enough pictures and information on you to assume that the Clan of a Hundred Tales is seriously obsessed with you, which is nothing new, I guess." He shot a look at Rihan and at his grandfather and continued. "Some people are decoding some serious network of notes - but that isn't our strength so it might take awhile. What we can say for sure by now though is that they've definitely got a hand in that incident eight years ago."

"Listen to this Rihan," the Old Man said, grim. "Repeat what you told me, Rikuo."

Rikuo's lips thinned. "There were pictures structured like a family tree. Dad, Yamabuki Otome-san, me and that girl. The woman's painting was crossed out, lots of notes attacked with things like 'dead' and 'resurrection failed' and stuff. I never had a sister but they seemed to be obsessed with the idea. There was a list of nonsense conditions, like -" he pulled a disgusted face - "giving birth, that they ticked me off against though and not that imaginary sister."

Rihan sat up.

Rikuo startled. "Oi, Dad, your body -"

"What? Oh, yeah. Never mind that. More importantly. That list. Those notes." That smile. "Did they say what became of those ideas?"

Annoyed, Rikuo pushed him back to lie down like the worrywart he pretended he wasn't. "Haven't you been listening? Besides, Sanmoto Gorozaemon or whoever that yokai is, is clearly mad – there's no telling how much is complete craziness. We need time." He looked irritable. "I'd still like to know, though, where they found a girl that looks just like they needed to."

Rihan glanced into the darkness to meet the eyes of the old man. They were hard. But Rihan could also tell that they were following the same train of thought.

So it wasn't just him again, getting carried away, getting caught up, falling, failing. Getting a feeling in his gut that unsettled him beyond word.

(That smile.)

"Rikuo, you'll be staying here." The patriarch of their small blood line declared. "Keep Rihan's head straight with all these distractions. The Hyaku Monogatari will have to wait. Use this as a chance to learn, but your main task is to remember that someone with enough power to move two enemies of our family seems to have specifically targeted the Second. Be vigilant for yourself too."

"Gotcha." Suddenly Rikuo tossed Rihan a lazy smirk. "Would you look at that, Old Man. You couldn't keep me from Kyoto after all." He paused considering. "You owe Mom an apology. She got a real fright when she heard."

"Oi, don't tell her things like this."

"She was right there when I got the summon," Rikuo said unapologetically, folding his hands into his sleeves. "What was I supposed to do? Send her away? She'd know something was up then anyway."

A sigh left Riahn's lips. "Let's change the subject. What did I miss?"

Ah, there was tension again. Rihan had just about thought he had somehow misplaced it.

The Old Man twirled the pipe in his palm. "The fourth seal fell and they're expecting an attack on the third any minute. The onmyoji have an ambush planned there." How he knew something as top secret as that wasn't even worth questioning. "We'll see how it goes there before we decide on the next move. With you in that state, we'll have to change tactics anyway."

"Don't exaggerate. I'll be able to move again by this time tomorrow."

"Move." Repeated Rikuo distastefully. "You know, Zen already had a look at you and you're still in this 'state'."

"Zen? You've brought him here?"

"Don't be stupid, of course I did."

"Not just the healer," the old man threw in, and smirked. "He's brought his entire own following."

Rihan stared at Rikuo, horror dawning, who held his hands up defensively. "I'd already invited the guys from Toono since it looked like some head busting was going to come up soon. Then this interfered - No way they'd turn down the chance for Kyoto. It just snowballed from there, you know." Rikuo paused. "By the way, during the day I'll hang out with my human friends."

...Who were currently at the main house of the onmyoji. "You know, I heard it isn't good to have two separate groups of friends. I feel it is my parental duty to advice you to introduce them to each other," Rihan stated, a slow smirk starting to form. The Old Man smirked too.

Rikuo turned his nose up, miffed. But only for a moment before he too smirked.


"I can't believe you! I seriously can't believe you! Are you trying to get me kicked out of the family?!"

They heard the voices first. Or rather Yura's voice.

"Have you entirely lost your mind! Are you suicidal? I can just spare you the effort, just say so!"

As a group the bored Kiyojuji Patrol looked in the direction of the door.

It smashed open with the force of Yura-chan's anger.

"Hi," said Rikuo-kun. "How have you guys been doing?"

"Rikuo-kun!"

"Nura!"

"Nura-kun, I thought you were helping out your family business?" Maki wondered.

"I am. But dad needed some help, so I'm here. I'm free for the day, though." He slid into the room and onto a couch as though he wasn't straining his natural enemy's hospitality to the limit. He took a cookie. "Let me introduce you. Those are my friends from far away, like pen pales. Except family business related."

People filled into the room, all of them intimidating looking. Yura-chan glowered at each and every one. She threw the door shut behind the last with vibrating force. "Don't you dare set one foot outside this room, yokai!" Her shout rang through the wood.

Kiyotsugu, Shima, Maki and Toori tilted their heads in question. "Yokai?"

Kana was still trying to pick her jaw back up.

Rikuo-kun chuckled. "From left to right, they are Itaku, Reira, Awashima, Amezo, Dohikoa, Yukari, Gozumaru and Mezumaru. Also, my dad found Tsurara." Rikuo-kun's smile was so innocent, Kana wouldn't have believed it for a second. "They're also all very interested in yokai, so feel free to talk to them about it."

Yeah, right.

Those were all yokai.

Kana went through her mental inventory of the Nura Clan and had to admit that she hand never heard of them (as 'seen' didn't count for much since they were all disguised as human). Which, if she knew Rikuo-kun, only meant trouble.

"Oikawa-san." Shima jumped up. "You are here! We've been waiting."

The yukionna greeted him politely and then promptly forgot about him again in favour of eying the strangers with vague distrust that she curiously seemed to share with two younger dark haired boys. Kana felt her nervousness rise.

"Hoh," a blond boy glanced them over like they were a rarity but overall friendly. "So you're the guys who have to suffer spending eight hours a day with Rikuo in a confined room in that school place. You've got to have guts. I'm Awashima." He grinned a smile not unlike Rikuo's when he was laughing at an inside joke. "Like the yokai. Nice to meet you."

Kiyotsugu jumped up as though he had been sitting on hot coals. "What a marvellous name! Awashima, the yokai both boy and girl! With it surely you are predestined to encounter yokai!"

The boy looked mildly intrigued. "You know about that? You really aren't half bad, like Rikuo said." He slung an arm around Kiyotsugu-kun's neck and all but shoved his face into the computer screen. "Show me what else you got. I want to know about strong yokai. Strong yokai in Kyoto."

Someone actually asking Kiyotsugu something about yokai – it must be heaven for him.

The two girls, one very young, joined Kana, Maki-san and Toori-san on the floor. "What manner of game is this?" The older one of the two asked curiously. She seemed to radiate chill. "I have never seen its likeness before."

"That's because that moron over there made it," Maki-san thumped in Kiyotsugu's direction. "A yokai version of Go Fish. I'm Saori by the way, that's Natsumi and Kana."

"You may call me Reira."The strange girl picked up one of the cards. A peculiar sound passed her lips that Kana realized was very dignified laughter.

"Yukari," said the little girl. "I am looking forward to make your acquaintance."

Maki grinned. "Same here. I didn't know Nura had other friends, never mind girl friends." She smirked at Kana. "Looks like you've got a lot of competition."

Choking on her own spit, Kana felt her face burn. "It's not like that!"

"Sure it's not. By the way, Tsurara is hogging Nura again."

"What?" Too late Kana realized that she had walked right into it as her head turned automatically. She expected Rikuo-kun and Oikawa-san to be discussing something alone, but instead a relatively short boy leaned against the back of Rikuo-kun's couch, eyes sharp, talking to him in low tones.

Yukari-chan was expressionless, but something gave the impression of rolling eyes. "So here too. Rikuo sure is popular."

Kana blushed.

Reira-san searched her face. "There is no shame in admiring Rikuo. He is merely the kind of person where you must be aware of it, lest it grows without your knowledge to overwhelm you at inconvenient times." Her head tilted, as though pondering her own words. "Though, with him being what he is, it admit being aware might be difficult."

Yukari-chan giggled.

Maki blinked at them. "What, you've got crushes on Nura too?"

"I respect him," Reira-san clarified. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap. "I dare say there are very few who don't, even those who care nothing for his well being."

"Where the hell are you from?" Maki-san looked stupefied. "This is Nura we are talking about. The guy who eats your lunch under your nose and who's crazily helpful just to see your weirded out expression when he does it."

Kana bit her lip and said nothing.

"Yes, really." Reira-san said, and her and Yukari-chan's expressions were suddenly wooden and pinched. "He does that too. That spoiled brat."


TBC