#Forever redeeming myself from the sins I've committed lol.

Itaku~ dear, say the disclaimer.

Itaku: Who are you to order me around? *Glares at her*

... You have such a fantastic hairstyle!

Itaku: *sighs while shaking his head* She doesn't own Nurarihyon no mago because if she did it would be a really bad anime.

HEY!

Chapter 8

"Don't push yourself too hard." Rikuo warned Kana as he helped guide her to a seated position. He had been on the edge ever since the last incident that almost killed her. He had this ability to not help but worry about everything. They couldn't find the culprit or any information that could be useful for their search. So far, they were going nowhere.

She smiled and nodded to him. He found it suspicious how she was not talking to anyone. Countless thoughts have invaded his mind as to why she was not saying anything.

"Did someone threaten to kill you if you talked to us?" He asked, on guard. They could be spying on them if she was still quiet till now.

She blinked of few times before her lips stretched to a grin in amusement. She made some hand gesture by point an index finger to her throat and making a 'No' sign. Rikuo just stared at her blankly feeling really stupid for not understanding what she was trying to say.

"Ummm," He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"She is trying to tell you she can't talk, idiot!" He heard someone shushing the person that talked making him sweatdrop. He looked back just to find them all hiding somewhere. Some did a good job in hiding while some were quite obvious. He facepalmed really hard and shook his head at their antics.

"So you can't talk?"

She nodded her head to him.

"...Why?" He felt afraid of the answer like he knew the answer but couldn't seem to believe it until she confirm it. "I'll bring a paper and a pencil for you to write." He said rashly and left the room.

Now that he was gone she went back to staring at the pumpkin. It had been acting strange ever since she woke up. It would usually stare at her all day like she was the only one that existed in this room. Even if someone else got in, it would ignore them like they didn't exist but now it stopped staring at her and had been looking at Rikuo instead. She had a pretty good idea why and that didn't cease her worries.

"I'm back." Rikuo announced, setting a sketchbook and a pencil down to her. She took them and started writing on it before she showed it to him.

'I'm mute.'

It took a few minutes for the words to sink in. It made sense why she wasn't speaking to him or anyone at all. He hung his head in shame and regret. He truly wondered what happened to her.

"Do you want to eat lunch with us?" He changed the subject feeling rather uncomfortable with it.

She nodded as they both stood up. He held her hand and walked her out.

"Everyone wants to see you if you don't mind. They might look scary and strange but they aren't like that." He continued his rambling about his family members while Kana listened intently to what he had to say. He would make few jokes about them making Kana laugh soundlessly.

"We are here." Rikuo proclaimed, waiting for her signal to get in. She just stared at the door, hearing a lot of chattering and laughing on the other side. She forced a smile on her face in reassurance. She was nervous but she didn't want him to know that. She wondered if they will accept her after all the things she have done to them.

The moment he opened the door everything suddenly became quiet. Their stares were making her really uncomfortable but she tried her best to conceal it. A small crow flew towards her and started to observe her.

"This is the girl that single handedly took out some of our warriors?" He held his hand on his heart and he flew down on the floor dramatically. "Our clan is ruined." He choked out a sob before he gave a sigh and died.

"Our father is so embarrassing." A woman with a shoulder length hair who wore a pair of glasses, sighed at the scene. The other two siblings agreed with her.

"Hey, do you remember me?" Natto tugged on the hem of her kimono."We met at Ryota Neko's restaurant."

More of the small yokai greeted her and chatted with her animatedly. They let her sit and started to show her their 'yokai' skills which were pretty much arm wrestling. It turned into a fight at the end which amused her greatly, especially when everyone ignored them which made her assume that they do this often enough for them to be unfazed by it.

Out of all the people in the room, she felt herself bewitched by one of them. She couldn't take her eyes off him. The way his head floats above his shoulders was plain amazing. On top of it he had no neck. It fascinated her and made her wonder how he can live like this.

He felt someone was staring at him so he turned around to see who was looking at him just to see it was Rikuo's friend. She averted her gaze embarrassedly for being caught staring.

He let out a heavy sigh before he walked toward her and kneeled down in front of her. He swept the two yokai, who were rolling and punching each other by the collar.

"You are making our guest uncomfortable." He scolded them. He turned to Kana to apologize for their behaviour just to be taken off guard by the way her hand swayed at where his neck was supposed to be. She then stared at her hand like it turned invisble. He could have sworn he saw stars in her eyes. He felt a sudden urge to leave before an event he feared the most would happen. He didn't even get a chance to escape just to have his head taken away by her already. She was faster than she let on.

"Wa- not the head." He closed his eyes, breathing in and out to calm his nerves. He hated it the most when someone played with his head or take it away. No one had ever done this to him before other than Rikuo when he was young. It must be human nature, wait, scratch that.He remembered having his head punched by Ao, Kurotabou and Kejoro before.

Kana on the other hand just swing his head around just to make sure this was real. How is this even possible? She bought his head to her eye level just to see a deadpan look. Kubinashi was NOT amused.

"Let go of me." He commanded her. For some reason Kana couldn't take him seriously when she was carrying his head so instead she hugged him affectionately. It was like having a teddy bear to be your hugging partner.

"Hey! I said let me go!" Kubinashi tried to free himself helplessly. She grinned at him clearly satisfied and then she placed his head back to his body. Kubinashi blushed from embarrassment and shyness. He couldn't believe a human would do this to him. In the Nura clan, he felt like he was the last person humans would accept because of his floating head. Whenever a human found out he had no neck they would either scream in horror and probably faint, or would run off in fear of what they saw. It was the first time he saw a human other than Rikuo that liked him this much on their first meeting and humiliated him while she was at it.

She hastily wrote on her sketch book something and then showed it to him to read. He resisted the urge to back away from her admiring look and looked at what she wrote.

'How do you function exactly?'

From what she knows the brain usually send signals to the body by passing the neck first but he had no neck so how does his brain send signals to his body? Unless his brain is a wireless then it is not possible.

"Ummm." He didn't know how to answer that question. He was saved though by the small yokai who attacked him.

"Are you trying to steal our Kana?" One of the yokai shouted before they tickled him. Kana chuckled soundlessly at the scene in front of her.

"The food is finally here." Kejoro announced and everyone drooled at the feast they have made. One of the yokai sneaked his hand to take just to have it slapped by Kejoro. "Wait."

Kejoro, Wakana, Tsurara, Yukari and Reira helped setting the food on the table for everyone to eat. Rikuo sat next to Kana and enjoyed the food with everyone accompany. The girls gossiped about the latest news with Kana while the guys argued about something she didn't pay attention too. She had never felt so welcomed before.

"We are going to a hot spring tonight. Do you want to join us?" Yukari asked her. Kana thought for a moment before she shook her head.

"Why?" Reira gave her a confused look. "You should steal this chance to relax physically and mentally."

Kana hesitate on telling them why but decided to trust them. She wrote the reason why and gave them the sketch to read. All of the girls grouped together to read.

'I still have scars on my body.'

"Don't worry about it. You can still wear a towel to hide them but don't let that hold you back." Kejoro winked at her. Kana thought over what she said: she did believe she deserved a good, hot, relaxing bath. She made an 'Ok' sign and finished eating her food.

Few hours later…

They all took a ride with this magical carriage (That's what Kana thought) to a reserved famous hot spring they have went to before. Rikuo's grandfather decided not to tag along for some unknown reason and told them to enjoy their trip.

They all rushed in and made themselves at home. The men had their own room while the women had theirs too. They were just so many of them that they had to share rooms with at least someone.

"Ienaga-san, hurry up!" Tsurara shouted, ready to leave the room. Kana quickly signaled to her to go ahead and that she will be coming right after her. Tsurara nodded in understanding and left the room.

Kana was busy unpacking her small backpack she bought with her. Tsurara was kind enough to let Kana borrow some of her clothes for her stay with them since they wore the same size. I should hurry up. She finished packing her back and hurriedly left the room.

"Hey, Kana, over here." Awashima waved to her. Kana looked at her just to see her walking in her own direction.

"Want me to show you the way to hot spring?" Kana just found herself staring at her chest. She didn't know what made her do it but her hands placed themselves on her breast. Awashima reacted by backing away.

"Why did you do that?" Awashima couldn't help but ask.

Kana blushed embarrassedly by her actions. She made some hand gesture about her chest and for some reason Awashima understood her completely.

"Oh about that? I'm a woman at night and a male in the day." Awashima explained to the confused girl. Kana looked at her in amazement. Yokai can do that too? Awashima noticed the look and gave a chuckle.

"Not all yokai are like that. I'm special." She bragged to her and wrapped her arm around Kana shoulder like they were best friend. "Anyway, let's go."

Awashima led the way to the hot spring and no one was in the changing room which led them to think that they were the last to go, Awashima pretty much just stripped naked and didn't care about the towel while Kana had hers firmly wrapped around herself.

Awashima ran toward the hot spring and jumped while screaming her head off to announce her arrival. Kana decided to follow her lead since it seemed really fun and jumped happily, splashing the poor person near her just to find her happiness cut short immediately when she found out she made the biggest mistake in her entire life. Her jaw literally dropped to the ground when she found out where she was.

All the males stared in shock at the uninvited person who stood out the most since she was the only woman here minus Awashima. Kana quickly brought a hand to her eyes to cover them. She wanted to scream and apologize but no sound come out. Excuse me while I leave... She walked back just to bumped into someone. She spread her hand a bit to peak on who she bumped into and saw night Rikuo.

"Why are there two women in the male hot spring?" Kurotabou asked, regretting taking his towel off. The other guys were trying to find a place to hide from the eyes of a certain person.

Itaku slapped his forehead, glad that he didn't take his towel off yet. He had a pretty good idea why there was a woman here. He could only give an accusing look to Awashima. He was used to Awashima invading them in her woman form but he can't say the same for another woman.

"Awashima, you should have known not to bring a woman here." Itaku said, annoyed. Those from the Tono village gave Awashima an accusing look when they heard him say that while those from the Nura clan were confused at what Awashima had to do with this.

"Come on, guys and girls should start bathing together."She was the only one who shared that thought seeing how everyone shook their head frantically. "Right, Kana?"

She took advantage of Kana's weak defense and tugged the towel off her before she pushed her to Rikuo with a mischievous grin on her face. Rikuo lost his balance from the sudden movement and fell down dragging Kana with him. The sound of the water splashing alerted everyone to look at the couple. The first one to get out was Kana, she wiped the water out of her face with her hand just to find her towel was missing. She covered her chest area hurriedly and tried to snatch her towel back blindly, and wrapped it around herself. She let out a sigh of relief just to see Rikuo come out with Natto covering his private part with a wooden plate.

"Why do I feel like I have done this before?" Natto muttered, being hit by deja vu.

"Who stole my towel?" Rikuo shouted angrily just to see Kana's face as red as a tomato. He gave a confused look just to realize why.

"A-WA-SHI-MA!" Rikuo shriek was enough to make the birds nearby fly away, scared.

On the other side…

"Hey, did you hear that?" Kejoro asked.

"It is probably the guys having so much fun." Wakana said, carefree.

"Yeah, that could be it." Kejoro nodded in agreement.

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It was early in the morning already and Rikuo still couldn't sleep. He couldn't help but turn right and left, restless to find a comfortable position. The snoring of Ao wasn't helping him sleep at all. It sounded like a volcano erupted to his ears. Much to his surprise, everyone who was sharing the room with him managed to sleep with this much noise. He let out a heavy sigh and then decided to just get out of the room to breathe in fresh air.

There was a beautiful Jacaranda tree nearby that caught his attention. He was about to go and climb it when he noticed a figure sitting, watching the cold breeze sway the tree in a gentle motion.

"Kana?" She snapped out of trance and looked at him. She smiled and patted the seat next to her for him to sit. He complied with her wishes and asked her a question.

"What are you doing here?"

She opened her sketchbook and wrote something on it.

'I couldn't sleep so I came here to get some fresh air.' She showed it to him before she added another detail.

'Want to eat some fruits with me? Wakana-san gave them to me to eat.' He noticed the fork and knife on top of a plate full of fruits then continued to read.

'What about you? What are you doing here?'

"No thanks." He replied to her previous question and answered her other question. "I couldn't sleep either."

She nodded her head in understand and they both stared at the tree. The scenery relaxed both their mind and soul. For the first time in a long time Rikuo let his guard down.

"Are you happy?" He asked her. She nodded, smiling while cutting a large piece of watermelon into piece.

"I'm glad to hear that." He smiled and turned to look at her just to see her visible trembling back.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly, reaching his hand to hold her shoulder just to look at her in shock at the unexpected turn of event that suddenly happened. Of all the shocking things that happened this past few weeks this one took him completely off guard. He never thought or even dreamed of the day where Kana Ienaga would stab him in the gut with a knife. His eyes widen in shock as blood oozed out from his gut.

Why did this happen? Why?

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Man, I just love how this chapter started out happy and ended up like this. I'll be waiting for the death threats xD I have Nayrael to my rescue.

A lot of bad news happened this past week so I kinda lost half of my soul with it XD but seriously T_T why is this happening to me? So I just need to be happy now by watching some happy/funny videos to regain back my happiness :3 I'm so done being depressed!

Awesome D.T:Maybe I am? xD I want mah revenge lol I think needing Zen now is too soon because from now on you will be saying this in every single future chapter XD

No, don't do this to me! Let me out of here! How dare you swallow the key! Now how will I ever get out of here? *Threatens you* If you don't go the the bathroom and get me back this key, you can consider Kana as a good as dead. *insert crazy laugh here*

Awww thank you.

XxThe-Crest-Of-AnubisxX :I hope it did with the Kubinashi,Awashima, and Rikuo moments :3 It is painfully short for an author xD but I do get the feeling well since I'm a reviewer myself and no I can't LOL! It is already too much for me.

Fede194:I appreciate the fact you would go through the effort of writing this for me *throws heart*

O yeah! You got it right. :3

Aww thank you! I love every single on of my reviewers!

I doubt he will be jealous tho but we need jealousy from now on.

Nayrael:I like that quote! It is awesome *-*

You think? Well, well~ how about now? XD

xNightDreamerx:Here is a cookie *gives you one* Just don't bite me XD We should be in a team called "Kubinashi for the win" LOL

Put your studying first than my story. It is important to have you succeed and since you said that, I won't abandon this story.

I want to say that even though silvergoldmoonlighthad been very busy these past two weeks (She is back!) she still managed to beta my story in her already restricted time. In my eyes she acted in a very professional way and I totally love her. I can't give her a trophy but an ice cream should totally work xD I mean, who doesn't love ice cream? I'll make sure to work hard and hopefully, I will be able to finish this story. Thanks Silvia so much for you effort. Have a good day :)