You can kill me for this late update U.U

Beta: You can kill me for this late proofreading.

Chapter 15

It was a tranquil night where the deceiving antagonist wandered around the Nura mansion with satisfied thoughts. He had already informed Beyond of what happened and like he expected, Beyond laughed it off with the words "My wife is so interesting." He had to admit that he also thought the same, minus the wife part.

Across the distance, he saw a lit up room in this dark narrow passageway. Deciding to take a peek at what's inside, he was met with the back of whom he assumed to be Zen.

"Zen-san?" the crossed legged guy turned to look at who addressed him, confirming Kei's guess. "What are you doing?"

Zen let out a sigh in exasperation and replied indifferently. "Nothing."

The faint smell of blood wafted up to his nose. He smirked when he figured out what he was doing.

You're a clever man, Zen. Very clever.

The insane glint in Kei's eyes that went unnoticed by Zen shone brightly.

But you're too late.

If he had checked it sooner, he may have found some evidence in her blood.

"Can I ask you something?" Zen said after he went back to do what he was previously doing. "Why did you agree to help us?" the distrust in his eyes was hidden from the angle he was in.

Kei calculated how much he should tell him because he knew some lies won't do him any good if any information leaked out.

"I don't even know." he lied. Even though helping them wasn't part of the plan, that didn't stop him from taking advantage of the situation that presented itself. "I guess because he is the new commander of the night parade of a hundred demons and I thought having him owe me might help me in the future."

Zen was surprised by how honest the guy was. He didn't sugar coat his words or lie about his intention, at least that what he thought.

"What do you want from Rikuo?" he wanted to know if this guy wanted to harm them or get some help.

"I'm not obligated to answer." they had a long staring contest until someone interrupted them.

"Zen-sama!" those two words were the only thing that Zen had been hearing these past few days. It's irritating.

"What now?" he snapped. And people wondered why he was always mad.

"Kana Ienaga..." he gasped for breath, trying to tell them what happened.

Kei raised an eyebrow at him. He couldn't handle the fact that this guy had to breathe for so long before he could tell them what happened.

"Something is wrong with her!"

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She huffed and puffed savagely, face beet-red. Traces of sweat could be seen trailing down her face to her dampened kimono. There was an unbearable pain in her chest such that she could barely move a muscle right now to save herself.

"She must have a fever." Zen reached out his hand to feel her forehead just to jerk it back involuntarily like he touched a hot kettle. She was literally burning.

"Do you have any ventilator here?" Kei asked while observing what was wrong with her.

"I'll go get it now." he stood up and ran out.

Kei frowned noticing the sudden change in her. Few hour ago she was like an wild animal and now she needed nursing?

"What's wrong?" he whispered gently to his patient.

She stared weakly at him before she opened her mouth to talk. Even though no sound came out, he managed to read her lips.

"It changed?" he repeated what she said in confusion. "What changed?"

His head followed her wobbly hand to where it pointed. Although her aiming was off, he still couldn't see anything that attracted his attention in that area.

"Am I supposed to see something?" he asked her.

She weakly nodded her head and with so much effort, she lip synced between her severely short breaths.

"The pumpkin changed?" what pumpkin? He once again looked at where she pointed. Nothing was there.

Hallucination?

He pitied her so much right now. She truly had became crazy because of them that she started seeing things.

It could be because of her current state too.

He reminded himself that it could be another fever's symptoms. Either way, she wasn't stable or in her right mind.

The sound of the door being smack closed startled him to reality. Kei helped Zen apply the gas mask and injected in her some medicine to calm her fever down.

"Where is Rikuo-san?" Kei asked the fellow doctor next to him. From what he had seen, Rikuo was very protective of her so it was strange not seeing him around.

"Training." Zen gave a brief reply. Rikuo was busy training with Itaku for his fight with Nue. Kana's case wasn't the only one in his mind.

Kei nodded his head in understanding, not at all bothered by his absence, in fact, he was planning to leave.

"I've got to go back to my clan." he already discussed what he would do to her with Rikuo. "I'll leave her under your care."

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He ambled out of the shower room exhaustedly. Itaku didn't hesitate to rough him up till his body became sore. Not only was his fight with Nue unpredictable but he also was unprepared for it.

Water dripped down to the floor mundanely when he used his towel to dry his hair. There was no use worrying about that fight when he still had other things to worry about like Kana's case.

Deciding to visit Kana before going to bed, he opened the door slightly to check on her without disturbing her sleep. There was a ventilator on the side that he didn't remember seeing. It only made him curious to know why it was there.

He entered the room so lightly that his footsteps were barely audible. He would sometimes, surreptitiously come here to watch her sleep because it eased his stress but this time he found her awake. Upon further inspection, her face was very pale like her life was sucked out of her. The skin on her lips took on a bluish tint and her eyes lost their sparkle.

He reached out his hand to touch her face and shivered from the coldness her face emitted. His eyes widened when he found out her entire body was freezing. Now that he noticed it, the room was incredible chilly. His head whipped around at the unusual atmosphere the room left. There was no time to dwell on what was wrong with the room when he had to warm the frozen girl. The only solution he had would be giving her a hot bath. It would quickly warm her up. He swept her off her futon and carried her to the nearest bathroom.

He then positioned her to sit on the closed toilet seat and shook her to wake her up because she seemed out of it.

"Kana-chan." Her lifeless eyes met the scarlet eyes of Rikuo. "I'll get the bath ready for you to take." He made sure she was aware of what he would do. She slightly nodded before she hung her head down.

He turned the knob of the hot water to pour on the bathtub after he covered the drain. It rose up with average speed so he averted his eyes off of it to the girl that was about to fall. Quickly rushing to hold her back from plopping down to the floor, he sighed when he realized that right now she was undependable. He would have to get someone to clean her instead. The question was who? Who should he ask? Most of them have slept and were traumatized by what she did to Kejoro. Nobody would be willing to help her genuinely like how Kejoro used too.

He resisted the urge to blush when the last option was him. Stopping the water from over pouring in the bath, he sighed heavily at the thought of changing her. The mere thought was enough to make him collapse.

I could give her a bath while she is fully clothed... why didn't I think of that before?

It seemed like he became retarded all of a sudden because in the end, he still had to change her. In fact, the second option was worse than the first one so he needed to take them off.

Rikuo clenched her kimono tightly with so much hesitation because of the internal conflict inside his head. One was telling him to do it while the other one was telling him not to do it. Never in his entire life had Rikuo's invulnerable confidence faltered as significantly until today. It was at the size of an ant, one that could never hold an object 10 times bigger than itself.

An image of an ant being flattened by a tomato invaded his mind. Of all things he had to imagine... it had to be that one..

With a puff of smoke, two tiny creatures appeared out of nowhere. One looked like night Rikuo with two horns on his head and a tail with an arrow at the tip. While the other one was day Rikuo wearing pure white clothes and a halo floating above his head with his wings on his back.

The devil flew to him and poked his cheek with his trident. "Why are you hesitating, Rikuo? Go for it!" he pointed the spear toward him,

The angel flew to the devil to convince him not to do it. "He shouldn't do it. He has to respect he-" the angel didn't complete what he wanted to say because the devil hit him with his three pronged spear causing the poor angel to fall inside the filled bathtub.

Rikuo sweatdropped at these two while rubbing his cheeks from the small injury the small creature had inflected. The devil then gazed at his victim making Rikuo immediately raise his hand in surrender. The devil nodded in satisfaction at his obedience.

"Now do it." He disappeared after saying that.

I'm sorry, Kana-chan.

He planned to do it so he pulled her staggering body toward his chest so he can take the clothes off. Seeing her exposed shoulders was enough to make him pause on he was doing. His heart was pounding for a reason he wasn't too sure of. Her head stirred slightly before both her eyes gradually opened.

Time stopped ticking in Rikuo's world but much to his disappointment, she didn't react. It proved to him that she was really sick so quickly took it off, exposing her night gowns that was underneath. Averting his eyes somewhere else, he swept her off her feet to the warm water, soaking her, and then knee down on the floor. He really couldn't strip her clothes completely but it didn't matter.

He got a hold of her drenched hand and then intertwined it with his. Her hands were so cold compared to his warm ones. His scarlet eyes stared intently at her boney, weak and fragile hand. Why did she have to suffer? Why wasn't it him in her place? He spared her a glance. Her clouded eyes were staring lifelessly at nothing. Seeing her like this brought nothing but heartache to Rikuo. He wanted to end this quickly so she could go back to her ordinary life where she was happy. But these were just hopeful wishes. Things could never go back to how they were. She was nothing but a shell of what she used to be. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead on her hand. If only he had the power to turn time back. If only he could save her. If only he could cure her.

"Rikuo..."

If only he could hear her say his name one last time. His head whipped around out of reflex. Someone called him... the only person that was here was the mute brunette. Her pained face brought him back to reality. It was his imagination that played tricks on him. He smiled bitterly at his stupidity.

Checking her temperature with his other hand, he found out that there was a slight rise in her body temperature but nonetheless still cold.

The next minute went on with Rikuo contemplating his biggest dilemma. He didn't know what he should do with this. Maybe increases the hot water? But it would do more harm than good.

The sound of a door creaking open and something dropping can be heard. Rikuo froze at being caught in such position. He gulped and robotically turned his head to face the intruder. Whoever it was must be getting all sorts of wrong ideas on the situation.

He knew he was doomed when he saw his mom gawking at him.

"I..." he didn't know what to say. "Can explain?"

His mother's giggles was the last thing he expected to hear.

"My son is all grown up." hr sweatdropped at what how laidback she was. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone."

Whatever she was thinking, Rikuo didn't like it.

"Wait don't go!" he managed to catch her before she disappeared. Now that she was here, she could take care of Kana instead. "Can you help me?"

She blinked at him in horror. "It is not what you are thinking!" he almost rolled his eyes at her.

"So what is it?" she curiously asked.

He pointed at the girl behind him too embarrassed to look at her any longer. "I think she is sick." Wakana checked to see what's wrong with her just to be creeped out when she noticed the resemblance she had when her husband passed away.

"Do you think she has an illness?" she asked her son worriedly. She was cold even when she was taking a warm bath.

Still not looking at her, he shrugged. "I don't know but can you change her?"

"What? You don't want to do it?" she teased him.

He shook his head vigorously with a blush on his face.

"I can't do it alone." his mom admitted. She usually got help from Tsurara or Kejoro. Her eyes saddened when she remembered the deceased woman. Rikuo was keeping the reason of her death a secret from her so she never bothered to dig information.

"I need you to get her out." Rikuo obeyed her orders, not caring if he got himself wet and sat her down on the toilet seat.

"Now you can look away." his mom gestured for him to look away. "You can look if you want." she continued with her teasing but Rikuo ignored it.

"Can I go?" he asked eagerly.

"Not yet."

"Do you even have a change of clothes?" he questioned.

"Yes. Before coming here, I took her dried clothes from the clothesline and was planning to tidy them in my room after I put clean towels in all the bathrooms." she explained.

"Oh..." Rikuo responded awkwardly. He believed this is the first time he spoke with his mother in this form.

"Help!" Wakana shrieked. He immediately turned around to see what's wrong. The sight was extremely uncomfortable especially when Kana was hovering on his mother shoulders and she still isn't fully clothed either.

He pulled her upward to his arms while his mom let a sigh in relief.

"You hold her, I'll dress her." she stood up with the kimono in her hand, glad she finished changing her nightwear to another one.

He spread one of Kana's hands for his mother to get the garment on and she complied. The same was done the other way too, he then spread both hands so Wakana fixed the front part.

"She is free to go." Wakana gazed at her work with satisfaction. "Make sure you use the blankets in the wardrobe to warm her up."

Rikuo nodded and thanked her for helping him before carrying Kana back to her room. He lay her down to her futon and brought more blankets to warm her up.

"Sweet dreams..." He closed her opened eyes like bidding the dead farewell.

He was about to leave when a hand barely caught his. Ruby eyes met the pleading eyes of hers. She was conscious? It surprised him a bit since she was as good as dead back then. The way her eyes looked at him was indescribable. He couldn't bear the guilt of leaving her alone so he lay down next to her and intertwined their hands once again. She seemed to relax permanently by his presence. It made him smile involuntarily knowing she trusted him so much. He watched her as she slowly drifted off into a deep sleep, soon followed by him.

The night was peaceful until a fog spread through the room gradually. Within the room was a pumpkin that seemed to rot each passing day had a figure fly gracefully outside of it as well into the top of its head. Kana's look alike twirled around happily knowing she could finally get out.

Her red eyes stared at the two sleeping forms in entertainment. "Let the last dance begin."

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I have an announcement to make... Puppeteer is coming to an end! Wooohooo! Just few more chapters and we are done :3

Fede194: I'm sure you don't :3 It may get worse...

Awesome D.T: "I fear you are going insane." LOL Shitty Nura yokai indeed XD they don't know that so they won't kill him! :P Tono village for the win! Silk-chan *-*

Lord Nayrael: - Yes! you got it right!
- LOL dude, less blood U.U
- Too bad they didn't

Hell Vanguard: Vanell-chan! LMAO murderous privacy?

It did play the role.

LOOOOOOL

vampireprincess141: Thank you :)

XxThe-Crest-Of-AnubisxX: Muahahha finally you got into the dark side *pulls you in*come my love. Come deeper inside *evil laugh*... wait! This might stab me in the back someday lol She is still unstable so it only makes sense she would bite his leg.

a random person: You welcome :) how sweet of you xD