Um...Hi? Am I still allowed on this site? After leaving you guys for more than a year? orz
I made this chapter really long though! It's my longest chapter yet! *puffs out chest in pride*
But in all honesty, a lot has happened this summer. One of my relatives recently died, so we spent a lot of time preparing for the funeral, and because of obvious reasons I haven't been doing much.
Anyway, enough about my life because I'm sure you guys don't care about that.
On with the fanfic!
"...and that concludes the reports for today, Third." Kurotabou finished as he handed the pile of papers to the Third. Rikuo took the papers and stared at Kurotabou. He seemed to be looking at someone or something else, but there was nobody else inside of the room.
"...Is something the matter, Rikuo-sama?" Kurotabou asked, shifting uncomfortably from Rikuo's stare. Rikuo snapped back to reality.
"H-huh?"
"Well, Rikuo-sama's been staring at me a bit weirdly," Kurotabou confessed. Rikuo sighed and took off his glasses. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"It's nothing. I just thought I was...seeing things." Rikuo replied, closing his eyes. This had been happening a lot lately. His recovery had went pretty smoothly, and he regained all of his bodily functions, but Rikuo had always felt that something was off ever since. Often times he would walk around the main house and suddenly see unfamiliar youkai roaming around. Then he would blink and the youkai would disappear. The youkai would always look hazy, like there was something obscuring his vision. Other times Rikuo would see black haze floating around, sometimes even following people. Of course, he had told the rest of his family members, but it seemed that no one else but him could see them. Kishi had said that it had to do with him being revived, and told Rikuo not to worry about it, since it had only been little over a month. But Rikuo couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Rikuo sighed again. He wished Kishi would hurry up and visit again so he could pry some more answers from her.
Kishi visited sporadically; sometimes she would come once a week, and other times she would visit ten times within two days. She hadn't visited for almost two weeks now, and Rikuo needed answers. It didn't help that he seemed to be seeing more and more of the unusual things lately.
"Rikuo-sama?" Kurotabou called again, snapping Rikuo back to reality. Again. Kurotabou was still kneeling down from across the coffee table, shifting around.
"Huh? Oh, sorry Kurotabou! You are dismissed," Rikuo hurriedly said. "I'll call you if I need you again." Kurotabou gave a small nod, stood up, and walked out of the room. Tsurara came in a short while later, holding a tray with a teapot, and two teacups.
"Rikuo-sama, you shouldn't work yourself too hard. Are you sure you're okay? I mean, with the whole Hangon no Jutsu and all that. Not saying that Rikuo-sama isn't strong enough to recover within a month, but Shizue-san did say that…." Tsurara rambled on as she set the tray down and poured Rikuo some tea.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Tsurara. Thanks for the concern." Rikuo smiled as he took the teacup offered in Tsurara's hand. He glanced at his tea. Yep. It's frozen.
"Well, you still shouldn't work yourself too hard Rikuo-sama." Tsurara said as she drank her frozen liquid. Rikuo still had no idea how she did that, considering his tea was now a popsicle. Without a stick.
"And besides, there's the clan party tonight! Oooh I can't wait for it~~~!" Tsurara suddenly brought up, jumping up and down in her seat. Rikuo had almost forgotten about it. Ever since the battle against Seimei, all of the youkai had been eager to party. However, because of Rikuo's recovery, everyone decided to wait until he was completely healed before throwing one. The other youkai that fought with the Nura Gumi had already partied with them last night, and many of the Nura Gumi members still had hangovers.
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot about the party, since we just had a wild one yesterday." Rikuo smiled. Tsurara shook her head.
"Rikuo-sama! We just defeated Seimei, so you should loosen up. Besides, with Rihan-sama around, we'll have to party twice as hard." Rikuo smirked.
"Don't forget that Yamabuki's also back." After Kishi had successfully separated the two souls from each other (that still no one understood how it worked), Yamabuki had moved back into the main house. At first there were fears that Yamabuki and Wakana might clash with each other, but the two women hit it off quite nicely, and you could always count on the two to gossip about their husband in the kitchen.
Rikuo stood up and stretched. He prepared to walk out of the door when Tsurara piped up.
"Where are you going, Third?"
"Just looking around the house. No doubt everyone's working on the decorations by now. Wanna come with?" Tsurara nodded and stood up. The both of them walked out of the room and headed straight for the backyard.
Youkai flittered around hanging streamers and lanterns, preparing for the night. Rikuo didn't understand why they had bothered taking down the streamers and lanterns in the first place. They all knew there was going to be another party tonight.
"Yo, Rikuo!" Itaku called out from the branch of a nearby tree.
"Oh, Itaku!" Rikuo waved in greeting. "I thought you went back to Toono yesterday."
"I was. ...But," Itaku paused, biting his lower lip. "Something bothers me about that Shizue."
"Shizue-san? What's wrong with her?" Rikuo tilted his head, not understanding what Itaku was talking about. Sure, Shizue was a contract youkai, whatever that was, but she revived him and his father, didn't she? Although, Rikuo hadn't seen her at all in the last month. Shizue seemed content with sending Kishi as a messenger, even if Kishi was prone to accidents and forgetfulness.
"...She's dangerous." Itaku said, "And besides, didn't she mention something about being Seimei's teacher? And something about Seimei being a failed student? If Seimei was a failed student, then…" Itaku left the sentence hanging, but Rikuo picked up on his thoughts. If Seimei was a failed student, then how powerful was Shizue?
"For the record, I didn't teach him onmyoujutsu." Rikuo, Itaku, and Tsurara jumped at the sudden voice. Shizue stood right behind them. "He learned that on his own when he decided to run off and completely ditch everything I ever taught him."
"Then why does he refer to you as 'Sensei?'" Tsurara asked. Shizue rose an eyebrow.
"That's because he doesn't know my name. I never told him. Aaaand," Shizue held up a finger, indicating that she was still talking and would probably answer the unasked question. "I never told him because he was only my student for two weeks. Rihan didn't know my name until five months into training."
"I'm assuming your secretiveness has something to do with the fact that you're a contract youkai?" Itaku crossed his arms and gave Shizue a level stare. Shizue promptly returned his stare with a bored look.
"Of course. Shizue isn't my actual name either. It's one of the many aliases I use." Shizue waved her hand, "At any rate, I didn't come here to talk about Seimei. There's something I need to tell you." She directed her statement at Rikuo.
"Yes?"
"Cancel the party tonight."
"Huh? But why? We waited all month for today's party! Besides, you can't tell the Third what to do." Tsurara huffed and put her hands on her hips. She pouted and glared at Shizue.
"I'm not saying you guys can't have a party. But I would suggest you postpone it to some other date. Just don't have it tonight."
"That still doesn't answer why there can't be a party tonight!" Shizue looked to the side.
"...Instinct." Shizue finally answered. "Something's going to happen tonight. Obviously, it's not going to be good."
"Hah? So we have to sacrifice our party for your 'instinct?' That makes no sense!" Tsurara stamped her foot, clearly unhappy. Rikuo gestured for her to stop.
"What's going to happen?" Rikuo asked.
"...I don't know. I just know it's not good. Nothing good ever comes out of a new moon." Indeed, tonight was the night of the new moon. Rikuo didn't see anything significant about that. Apparently, neither did Itaku.
"So? What does the new moon have to do with anything? True, it's a night where youki is stronger, but that shouldn't interfere with the party."
"Trust me, something's going to happen tonight whether or not you decide to have a party." Shizue inclined her head. "Unless you lot are the kind who likes enemies crashing in on your parties, I suggest you postpone it."
"You're a contract youkai aren't you? Why don't you just get rid of the threat right now?" Itaku countered. Shizue snorted in reply.
"Fine, have your stupid party. But if anything happens, it's on you." With that, Shizue vaulted over the wall surrounding the backyard, and disappeared.
"Who does she think she is?" Tsurara huffed.
"Who does who think who is?" A new voice chimed in. Rihan strolled up to the three. He had a laid-back smile, which matched his just-got-out-of-bed look.
"Otou-san." Rikuo nodded his head. "We were talking about Shizue-san. She was going on about how we should cancel the party because she thinks something bad will happen tonight."
Rikuo had expected his father to laugh and joke about it, based on the few memories of him he had. Instead, Rihan's face turned serious and drew his mouth into a straight line.
"Did she say what was going to happen?"
"No, she just said her instincts say something bad is going to happen." Rikuo blinked when Rihan looked down. One could almost see the gears in his father's head turning.
"...Otou-san?" Rikuo prompted after several minutes of silence. "So, should we trust her?"
"Mmm, I don't know. Sensei's instinct is usually pretty accurate," Rihan confessed. "The problem is that you never know whether or not she's lying about her instinct.
"It should be okay to have the party, since Sensei is still technically bound by her contract, though." Rihan added as an afterthought.
"Well, if you say so, Otou-san." Rikuo shrugged. His father had already said it was okay, so why did he feel uneasy?
That night, the Nura Gumi partied like there was no tomorrow. Preparations had gone smoothly, and there seemed to be a never ending supply of sake and food (courtesy of the Bakeneko-ya) despite just having a party yesterday. All throughout the house, youkai danced and drunk and cheered for their victorious Third Head, along with the return of their Second Head.
Rikuo at first had attended in his human form, but as the night went on he somehow found himself in his youkai form, and being dragged into random games by his subordinates.
So far, there was no sign of whatever Shizue had alluded to, and they had already been partying for several hours. Rikuo shook his head and accepted another cup of sake. Looks like her instinct was wrong. He watched as another one of the smaller youkai fainted and had to be dragged back to main house.
"Well, everyone seems to be in good spirits. I've never seen Tsurara so drunk before." A voice chuckled behind Rikuo. He turned to face the amber eyes of his father. Nurarihyon followed close behind.
"Yo, Oyaji. Jiji." Rikuo acknowledged. He turned to look at Tsurara. Indeed, her face was completely red, although how that worked Rikuo had no idea. Shouldn't her face be melting by now? She was also holding a kettle in one hand, and a pillow in the other while laughing and dancing in circles. Rikuo put a hand over his mouth in a futile attempt to stifle his laughter.
"At least Setsura can hold her liquor. Somewhat." Nurarihyon snorted. His face was also slightly red from all the drinking. The smaller youkai excused themselves, leaving the three heads sitting in a triangle.
"So what exactly did you do for the past eight years, Rihan?" Nurarihyon asked. His son grimaced.
"Well," He started, drawing out the word. "Mostly it was doing chores around their house. Although they did train me too, because apparently they 'didn't have time to protect and save my ass all the time.' But in all honesty just doing the chores is a form of training. Have you seen how much Kishi can buy in one day? If I didn't know any better I'd say she buys up an entire warehouse of clothes and stuff a day. Just washing and sorting all that takes forever." Rihan huffed and sipped at his sake.
"Hey, how did you meet Shizue and Kishi anyway?" Rikuo asked. The two seemed to be pretty secretive, and according to Gyuuki, contract youkai were hard to find nowadays.
"I've been wondering about that, too." Nurarihyon confessed, although he still tensed up at Shizue's name. "That woman isn't the type to just let anyone who's seen her face leave unscathed without significant compensation." He resolutely refused to use Shizue's name.
"How I first met her? Uhm, let's see… I think I was about...five or six at the time? Remember when I ran out of the main house and got lost and you had to send out Karasu Tengu and a lot of other youkai just to try and find me?" Nurarihyon nodded.
"So anyway, I was lost and somehow I managed to get myself involved in this murder that involved a youkai serial killer. He noticed me and chased after me, since I was a witness and he knew I was the heir to the Nura Clan.
"I managed to run all the way to the nearby mountains, but he was still hot on my tail, and I was almost out of stamina…
Rihan panted heavily as he stumbled forward. He didn't dare look behind him, but the crashing of the trees and the snaps of nearby branches told him his pursuer wasn't far behind him. Fear clammed up his entire body and his heart pounded in his throat.
All of a sudden, he saw a figure drop from the trees in front of him. The figure rushed at him, sword ready to be drawn.
Rihan shut his eyes, sure that his death was imminent. He heard two loud, metallic clangs, and he tripped and fell face-first into the dirt. He rolled around slowly and took a peek at the situation.
The youkai that was chasing him had backed off slightly, and the person who had his-her- sword drawn was slowly sheathing it. Rihan looked at his saviour.
She was tall, maybe about six feet without her heels. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail and she wore a mask that resembled the top half of the skull of a bird. Black feathers edged the top rim of the mask, cascading down her hair.
"...You're Onigumo, the serial killer." His saviour stated. The youkai that was pursuing him clicked his teeth.
"So what of it?" The youkai resembled a giant spider. His eight legs stretched out menacingly.
"...I have been hired...to put an end to your life." His saviour spoke again.
"Hmph. Let's see you try!" Onigumo lunged, moving so fast that his image blurred. Rihan's saviour swerved her head to the right. Rihan watched as the mask on her face broke, and fell off due to the narrow miss.
The woman jumped backwards, and Rihan was able to get a glimpse of her face.
She's pretty… A small part of him thought. However, his thoughts were cut off when the spider suddenly lunged at him.
Crap-! He thought. Blood splattered all over him. The spider screeched in pain. The severed leg fell in front of Rihan, making him jump and scramble back in disgust and fear.
The woman swung her blade around with impressive speed, and then sheathed it again. Iaido thought Rihan.
"Move, kid! You're in the way!" The woman bellowed. Rihan jumped and scrambled backwards as fast as he could. He ducked behind a nearby tree and peeked around the corner, silently watching the fight.
The woman stared at her opponent cooly. She drew her sword slowly, the blade black with Fear. When the entire length of the sword had left its sheath, the Fear stretched, making the blade twice as long as it supposed to be.
The blade radiated Fear. Rihan could feel the energy roll off the blade in waves, and it sent shivers down his spine. He made a mental note to never be on the sharp end of that sword.
Apparently, the spider had the same idea. Onigumo took a step back, hesitating. He cowered slightly at the sight of the blade.
"What's the matter? Afraid?" Taunted the woman before shrugging. "Well, it doesn't really matter anyway, I guess." She rushed forward.
Her blade swung around in an impressive arc and four more hairy legs fell off. Onigumo reeled backwards, stumbling due to the lack of limbs. He opened his mouth, and spat something at the woman.
The woman flicked her wrist, and her blade sliced clean through the sticky substance Onigumo had spat at her. She dashed forward once again, her blade singing as it cut through Onigumo's attacks and the nearby trees.
In one final swing, Onigumo split in half and fell to the ground, dead. The woman flicked the blood off her sword carelessly, and sheathed it once more. Rihan stepped out of his hiding place in awe.
"Uh, uhm, thank- Thank you!" Rihan stuttered. However, the woman ignored him and proceeded to walk in the direction of the city.
"Wait!" Rihan called out and ran forward. The woman stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"Uhh...Are you part of the Nura Gumi?" Rihan asked. If she was, there was a chance he could get home safely!
"Nura Gumi? Ah, that hyakki started by the brat, huh." The woman mumbled to herself. "Sorry kid, but no. Although," She suddenly knelt down and leaned forward, inspecting Rihan's face. She leaned so close Rihan had to go cross-eyed just to see her properly. "Are you the son of that brat? That-what was his name...Nurarihyon?" Rihan perked up.
"You know my old man?" He asked excitedly.
"Somewhat. He hates my guts, though." The woman chuckled as she stood up. She turned and resumed walking back to the city.
"Hey, where are you going?" Rihan asked. He knew it was risky; she was a possible enemy of the Nura Gumi, but he had no other ideas on how to get home safely.
"Getting my bounty." Was the flippant reply. Rihan jogged after her.
"So, you work for money?"
"What kind of stupid question is that? Everyone works for money. That's why it's called work." The woman didn't even turn around when she answered.
"Are you an enemy of the Nura Gumi?"
"Not really. I haven't been paid enough to be one yet."
"So-so you'll do anything for money then?"
"If I get paid enough and if it's within my powers, yes."
"Then can you send me home?" Rihan blurted. The woman stopped.
"Now what would you have that I would want? I was under the impression kids like you didn't even get allowance yet."
"I-I could always sneak money out of the main house!" Rihan exclaimed. The woman snorted.
"Big talk from a brat like you."
"Hey! I got this far without anyone from the clan noticing, didn't I?" Rihan pouted and stomped his foot. He wasn't that bad at sneaking out!
"...As much as I hate to say it, you make a convincing argument, kid." The woman scowled. She crossed her arms. "Fine. but I'd better get paid or I will turn into an enemy, got it?" She didn't even wait for Rihan's reply before once again stalking towards the city. Rihan ran to catch up with her.
She first led him to a random house, where she collected her bounty, and then led him through a series of small alleys.
"Why aren't we taking the main roads?" Rihan asked after a while.
"Because I'd rather not have the members of your clan find me. If your father hears about me things'll get messy real fast." The woman replied.
"But you don't seem like a bad person." The woman stopped and turned around to look at Rihan. She cocked her head inquisitively.
"Oh? And what makes you say that?"
"You're sending me home, right? And you didn't kill me."
"You are way too optimistic, even for a kid." She stated, and continued walking. After about thirty minutes of walking and Rihan trying and failing to start conversations with his saviour, Rihan found themselves in front of the gates to the main house.
"Th-Thanks." Rihan said and bowed slightly. "So where should I meet you then? To pay?"
"Just walk around the streets. I'll find you eventually." She turned around and started walking away.
"Wait!" Rihan exclaimed, just realizing something. The woman groaned.
"What now?" She huffed exasperatedly.
"What's your name?"
"You stopped me just to ask that?" She deadpanned. She huffed, closed her eyes, and shook her head. The woman turned away.
After a while, she opened one eye and turned to glance over her shoulder.
"...Just call me Sensei."
"Anyhow, I paid her like, a week later and that's how we met. I may or may not have picked up on that one-eye habit, though."
"So that's why there was a dent in the treasury reports that month." Nurarihyon narrowed his eyes at his son, who laughed sheepishly.
"Was that the only time you met her?" Rikuo asked. Rihan shook his head.
"No. I saw her a couple times after that. She sorta saved me again during the Great Fire of Meireki. Then there was that time with Sanmoto when I needed info…."
"Wait, she helped with defeating Sanmoto?"
"Not physically. Like, she didn't participate in the battles. Sensei's also an info broker and I had trouble finding Sanmoto for a while. She was the one who gave me info on their base. I also paid her for info on Kurotabou." Rihan sipped his sake as Nurarihyon stared at him incredulously.
"Geez, how often did you go to that woman for help?"
"Um, a lot?" Nurarihyon scowl deepened.
"Don't trust her. She'll wipe us from the inside out if you do." Rikuo frowned.
"What do you have against her? Hey, how did you guys meet then?" Rikuo asked. Sure, Shizue seemed like a pain to deal with, but he couldn't see what she had done that would warrant Nurarihyon's hatred.
"...I don't want to talk abou-" Nurarihyon was cut off as the ground suddenly started shaking violently. Youkai all around the yard lost their balance and tripped, sending food and sake flying. Some youkai accidentally pulled down some of the decorations when trying to grab onto something stable.
"An earthquake?!" Rikuo exclaimed, scrambling to get away from the tree they were sitting under.
"Everyone get to open ground!" Rihan ordered, struggling to keep balance. "Rikuo, you too!"
"I know that, Oyaji!" Rikuo only managed to take a few steps before something caught his foot, causing him to trip.
"The hell?!" He swore as he turned around to see what exactly he tripped over. His eyes widened.
Rikuo watched in growing horror as the skeleton grabbing his foot slowly pushed itself out of the earth.
So some backstory! Nurarihyon's backstory with Shizue will be explained later. And Rikuo's condition will be explained in the next two chapters or so. Next chapter will be a fight chapter! I have no idea how to write those, but I'll do my best!
Please R&R!