What Happens on the Bus Stays on the Bus - Part Two

So I guess this was pretty good since I got a fair amount of people asking me for an epilogue for this (YAY!) so I'm adding this as a continuation. You'll get to see Kiyotsugu's and Shima's reactions to the whole revelation, as the first part was Kana-centric.

At least I don't have to come up with a title. You're all saved from my lack of naming skills.

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. This. Hiroshi. Shiibashi. Does.

"Hey, Rikuo-kun, I guess this is why you're always late to the bus, huh?"

Shima's head whipped around at the sound of giggling and he spotted Kana grinning at the youkai in front of them, the same type of beings that had just tried to kill them. The same being that apparently their classmate was as well. Fear gripped his whole body and he shivered from his place on the floor, staring at Kana in disbelief. Their classmate wasn't human but a monster straight from legend who had killed such as fearsome creature so easily - doing the same to a human would be a much simpler task. This didn't seem to faze the little brunette at all as she continued watching the youkai in amusement, one small hand covering her lips to keep her laughter from spilling out.

Frantically, Shima turned to the other form standing in front of him. Surely, being the genius that he was, Kiyotsugu would have realized the danger they faced in this predicament by now, maybe already developing a plan to escape before the youkai shifted their attention back to them.

Whatever small hope that Shima had burned out the instant he laid eyes on Kiyotsugu. The boy was a complete mess - his face was blanched, his normally tame black curls covering most of his eyes in an overall disheveled appearance. His friend was frozen, an incoherent babble about his research the only sign that he was even conscious. The shock of everything had been too much for the young genius and it was definitely taking its toll on him.

"K-Kiyotsugu-kun? A-Are you alright?" Shima was tentative about disturbing Kiyotsugu's delicate state, but if they were to escape, they had to do it quickly. There was no time to waste.

If possible, Kiyotsugu stiffened even more. His thoughts had all been directed on the inevitable truth in front of him, one that shouldn't be possible. He had proved it all to be silly folk tales, legends to scare little children into behaving, nothing more than stories. When Rikuo had called him out on his presentation, while he had been mostly irritated at the challenge, there was some pity for the boy who believed in such mediocre storytelling, going so far as to insert himself into the legends.

That was, of course, before he had seen that boy transform into one of those very creatures of the night.

Was this what it was like to be wrong? To have your world flipped upside down as easily as flipping a coin. Kiyotsugu caught a glimpse of Rikuo lying on the ground, youkai fretting over his unconscious state, long white hair shrinking back to light brown strands. He blinked.

Wasn't it just a few moments ago that he and Shima had said those awful things to him, and yet Rikuo had fought for their lives. Why would he do something like that? According to his research-no. Kiyotsugu mentally shook his head as his thoughts went on that track. Hadn't he learned anything from what he had just witnessed? The books and websites had lied, maybe not on purpose, but nevertheless he could no longer trust in them so blindly. The only truth was experience. Kiyotsugu continued to stare at the boy that had saved his life, a sense of awe bubbling inside of him. Yes, experience was the only truth, and right now, it was telling him that Rikuo was an amazing person that saved his life, even if he wasn't human.

Shima sighed in relief as Kiyotsugu stopped his mutterings, yet he didn't dare make any sudden movements in fear of his friend relapsing. Eventually, he saw Kiyotsugu blink, the fog clearing from his eyes as he returned to his sound mind.

"K-Kiyotsugu-kun?" Shima tried again. This time he got a response.

"Y-Yeah?" Kiyotsugu frowned at his own trembling voice. Apparently he was not completely out of shock just yet.

"W-We've g-got to hurry! B-Before they notice us!"

"W-What are you talking about?"

"W-We have to escape! O-Or else the youkai will come after us!"

Kiyotsugu tilted his head at his friend's words. Escape?

"What are you talking about? Why would we need to escape?"

Shima blanched at his obliviousness. He gestured wildly to the youkai who were slowly being to turn their attention from the unconscious Young Master to the very conscious human children.

"The youkai will come after us! We need to leave now!"

"But, the youkai aren't going to hurt us."

Kiyotsugu said it so confidently that Shima wanted to believe it. No, Kiyotsugu was blinded by the discovery of the existence of youkai. He needed to snap him out of it.

"Kiyotsugu! Remember everything we researched! Yokai are demons whose only purpose is to strike fear into the hearts of humans."

"That was based on a bunch of old folk tales, legends and myths that have no actual worth."

"Open your eyes! That youkai just tried to kill us!"

"And Nura-kun saved us!"

"He's one of them. He's not even human."

"Actually Shima-kun, Rikuo-kun is still human. I think."

Both boys jumped as Kana interrupted their argument, the normally cheery brunette glaring heatedly at Shima's accusations. Kana had been happily enjoying her own little world when the increasing volumes of Shima and Kiyotsugu had yanked her out of it. Hands on her hips, Kana found herself agreeing with the genius boy she had yelled at what seemed like hours ago, but was really only a few minutes.

"What are you talking about? Didn't you see him turn into his true form, or did you close your eyes like he told you to?" Shima shivered as he spoke, remembering the cold chill that had traveled down his spine at the sight of those red eyes. How could Kana think that was a human?

A pink flush dusted the young girl's cheeks at the remark, but she recovered quickly. "Of course I saw him! But he's human! At least, part of him is."

Kiyotsugu stepped forward. "What do you mean, 'at least part of him'?"

Kana pointed a finger towards the group of youkai who were now watching the human children with wary eyes. What would happen to the Young Master if his friends decided to turn on him? Yuki Onna narrowed her eyes at them, suspicion and distrust filling her gaze. The other day Rikuo-sama had come home upset from school, and ever since then he had been adamant about avoiding her and the other youkai servants. If they tried to hurt Rikuo-sama, she would not hold back.

"The one with the long black and blue hair said something about him being only one fourth youkai."

"Eh?! How can you only be one fourth youkai? Is that even possible?"

"It's a lie! They probably want you to think that so you trust them!"

"It's not a lie. It's true."

The bickering eight year olds froze as soon as Yuki Onna spoke. She stepped towards the humans slowly, trying her hardest not to startle them. Yuki Onna hated to admit it, but these humans were important to her master, and so she would try to help them understand, for Rikuo-sama's sake. Even if it would be much less complicated to freeze them into good little snow children.

The blond boy sent her a look of distrust mirroring her own, taking a step back when she started to approach them. The curly haired boy gave her an awed expression and Yuki Onna had to resist the urge to rolled her eyes at his face. The girl had the most interesting reaction of the three. The little brunette's eyes had widened in excitement while her mouth twisted into a big smile, seemingly unfazed by the fact that Yuki Onna was not human. Not one of the humans uttered a single noise, and Yuki Onna took this as a sign to continue with her explanation.

"It's true that Rikuo-sama has the blood of the Supreme Commander flowing through him, but while his grandfather is a youkai, his grandmother and his mother are both human.."

Surprisingly, Kiyotsugu responded first. "What about his father?"

"Rikuo-sama's father, Rihan-sama was, a hanyou - half human and half youkai."

"And if his mother is a human," Kiyotsugu thought aloud, "then that makes Rikuo-kun three-fourths human and one fourth youkai, right?"

"Yes. Actually, because he is only one fourth youkai we were all under the impression that Rikuo-sama did not inherit any youkai abilities until today. This is our first time seeing this form as well."

"Really?" asked Kana.

Yuki Onna nodded, relieved that these children appeared to be accepting her explanation with ease. However, that relief was short lived.

"How do we know that you're not lying? You're a youkai - a master of deception. I won't trust you."

Kana elbowed Shima in the ribs.

"Shima-kun! You can't just go and accuse people of lying just because they're youkai! That's rude!" To say Yuki Onna was surprised was an understatement. She had never imagined that one day she would be defended by a human. Maybe… maybe these human friends of Rikuo-sama weren't all that bad.

"Ouch! Why are you yelling at me?! She's a monster!" Yuki Onna flinched, but otherwise remained as composed as possible.

"Well, technically the term 'youkai' refers to a broad spectrum of supernatural beings…"

"I don't care, Kiyotsugu-kun! Youkai are evil monsters, and that includes Nura-kun." At the mention of her Young Master, her control snapped.

"Oi. Shima, was it?"

The air around them chilled instantaneously, the floor slowly becoming encased in ice. Shima was about to retort when he was met with a murderous glare in the amber eyes of the Yuki Onna. Kiyotsugu and Kana shivered, and not just because of the cold.

"You can say whatever you want about me, but don't you dare insult Rikuo-sama in my presence ever again, or next time I won't be as forgiving. The same goes for you two," Yuki Onna said, sparing a quick glance at Kiyotsugu and Kana. "Remember that it is only because my master holds you in such high respects that I tolerate your insolence." And with that she spun around towards her fellow youkai.

After a few steps, Yuki Onna paused and turned her head back to the humans, her eyes locking with Shima's. "Would an evil monster go through so much to save people that don't even appreciate his efforts? If anyone is a monster here, it's you."

Silence followed her retreating form.

The two other human children quickly turned their attention to Shima, completely in agreement with the youkai. Kana's face was red with anger, closely resembling a balloon about to pop at any second, but Kiyotsugu simply shook his head at him, disappointment clear in his gaze. Why were they acting like this? Shouldn't they be on his side? To Shima, they were the ones would had been reacting oddly to almost being killed by a youkai! The reptilian youkai had been so close to ripping them to shreds, and would have probably succeeded if he hadn't met his demise by that blade. The blade… that was wielded by…

Shima felt as though he was a blind man seeing light for the first time. Images of the day's earlier events flashed through his mind like a movie. Rikuo as a youkai, slashing at the monster with claws ready to slice them to bits. Rikuo as a human, standing between them and the demon, unaware of his own abilities and only concerned with protecting his friends, even at the cost of his life. How could he have ever let his fear consume him like that? Shima stared at the youkai's retreating form, the words he so desperately wanted to say - needed to say - stuck at the back of his throat.

One glance at Shima was enough for Kiyotsugu and Kana to know that he finally understood. Kana whirled around to call back the pretty female youkai and apologize, but they were too late. Where the youkai once stood surrounding Rikuo was now empty, the light from the full moon flooding the tunnel through the hole they had entered in.

"Where did they go?" Shima asked, head tilted completely upwards.

"Up? That's the only way out."

"Eh?! What about us?! Are they just gonna leave us here?" And to think he was just starting to warm up to youkai…

"They probably left us 'cause they were mad at Shima-kun."

"Oi, Ienaga-san! What do you mean by that?!"

"But not completely without help," Kiyotsugu interrupted, his sight focused on a corner of the edge of the giant hole in the tunnel ceiling. (A/N: There goes the city taxes… ) Kana and Shima followed his gaze, the barest traces of flashing lights visible from their position, and soon enough they could make out voices. Someone was coming.

A fireman shined his headlight down into the darkness and called out to any survivors.

"Can anyone hear me? Are you okay?"

"OVER HERE!" The blinding light flashed over to the sound of the children's cries. The fireman could make out three kids, two boys and one girl, all roughly the same age and equally as scratched up and covered in concrete dust. He yelled to his teammates to bring more lights, and soon the darkness was replaced by enough light to rival a football stadium, the edge of the hole dotted with light towers.

More children could be seen strewn across the floor and seats of the bus, unconscious but alive. The fireman sighed in relief. No one had been seriously injured from either the initial cave in or the collapsed ceiling, a real blessing. A shuffling noise behind him made him turn around to see the rest of his teammates readying the ropes to the harnesses so they could pull the kids out of there. He spared one more glance at the three that had caught his sight before leaving to help with the rigging.

The insurance agent from the city bent down until she was at eye level with the three small witnesses sitting on a makeshift bench, each wrapped in a small grey wool blanket. The only girl of the group held an ice pack on top of her brown locks, but she still chatted happily to her two male companions. Taking a deep breath, the woman couldn't help but sigh internally at her misfortune. It's not like she hated kids or anything, but they weren't exactly the most reliable source of information when it came to these types of situations. Unfortunately, the only adult that had been on board was the bus driver, who was currently unconscious.

"Hello there. I'm Nadeshiko Furuha. And what are your names?"

The blond boy flinched slightly at her voice while the taller boy pressed his lips into a thin line. Neither seemed like they were willing to speak to her. On the other hand, the small brunette girl seemed all too happy to answer her question.

"I'm Kana! Those two are Kiyotsugu-kun and Shima-kun." The little girl pointed to the taller boy and blond boy respectively.

"Nice to meet you, Kana. I was just wondering if any of you guys would like to answer some questions for me?"

The two boys continue to eye her warily, not an unfamiliar response, yet Kana nodded at her earnestly.

Nadeshiko took this as a sign to go on. "Did any of you kids see anything unusual about the tunnel before the accident?"

"Like what?" Kana swung her legs as she spoke, ignoring the looks she was receiving from her companions.

"Were there any cracks or pieces missing from the tunnel? Or were there any suspicious people on the bus?"

"Nope!" she chirped. "There was no suspicious people on the bus."

The odd phrasing made Nadeshiko stop for a moment. Looking up from the messy scrawl of notes on her clipboard, Nadeshiko locked eyes with the little 8 year old girl, who held her gaze expectantly. "And what about outside of the bus, then?"

The little brunette closed her eyes tight, a finger raised to her chin as if struggling to recall something before she finally spoke again. "Well, I think I saw a strange man holding some sort of box outside of the bus. But then again, it was kinda dark in the tunnel, and my head really really hurts when I try to remember him." Kana made a show of pointing to the ice pack slowly melting on her head, her lips forming an adorable pout as if she really wished she could help more.

"Don't strain yourself trying to remember. Any details you can come up with will be valuable," Nadeshiko stressed. No way would her superiors be happy with her if they found out she forced a child to provide a statement, even if she was the only witness currently willing to speak.

"Okay, um, I think he had black hair, but he was wearing a green hood so I couldn't really tell. His skin was super pale though. It looked kinda gray." At this point, Kana began to giggle, leaving Nadeshiko to question how hard the poor girl had hit her head in the crash. "Hey, Kiyotsugu-kun! Do you remember that man?"

Something clicked in the eyes of the tall black haired boy. Kiyotsugu couldn't hold back a grin as he met Kana's gaze. For an average intelligence girl, her plan was ingenious. "Oh! Now I remember him! He had a big, flat nose, too!"

Shima picked up on the game. "And a narrow chin!"

"With loads of wrinkles on his face."

"Not to mention those long fingernails! They almost looked like claws!"

Nadeshiko blinked. By now, all three children were spit firing detail after detail about the man they supposedly saw outside of the bus and in the tunnel before the accident. She also couldn't help but notice how they were all dying of laughter, barely able to eek out another description before more giggles escaped their lips. "That's… an awful lot of details for just a glimpse of a man from inside a bus."

"On the contrary," Kiyotsugu gasped, "children tend to notice more than the average adult."

"And there's three of us!" Shima chimed in.

"So we probably noticed everything combined!" Kana finished, her cheeks flushed from laughter with a smile on her face. "Is that all, Ms. Furuha-san?"

"Um, yes. Thank you." Nadeshiko stood up gently and started to walk away, still reeling with all the information thrown her way. She shook her head to clear it. At least this would make for an excellent police sketch for the culprit…

Once the woman was out of earshot, Kiyotsugu and Shima spun around to face a smug Kana with her small hands on her hips. "That was brilliant, Ienaga-san!" Kiyotsugu praised. "Where did you learn to get out of that kind of situation?"

Kana scoffed. "Do you know how many times Rikuo-kun has dragged me into his silly pranks? If I didn't learn how to do that, I would've been grounded for life!"

"Well, to be fair," Shima pointed his finger at Kana, "those were some pretty funny pranks. Like the paint bucket over the door!"

"Okay, I admit, that one was pretty good. Until Ms. Hideki-sensei started looking for us."

"But, I thought only Nura-kun was behind that one."

"Who do you think told him to use paint instead of wate-"

"KANA-CHAN!" Kana paused abruptly at the sound of her name being screeched so loud all of Japan probably heard it. She quickly turned back to the direction of the emergency responders to find none other than her mother in tears running towards her. Before she could even say a word Kana's mother scooped her daughter up and squeezed her so tight that Kana felt all the air leave her body. "Oh my baby girl, are you okay?! I saw the accident on the news and I just ran over here and I will never let you take the bus agai-"

"Okaa-san! I'm fine! We all are!"

"Oh thank goodness! Are you sure? All of you?" Kana's mother lifted her head from her bear hug to see Kiyotsugu and Shima both staring at her emotional form. Shima offered her an awkward little wave as she frowned, noticing someone was missing from the group. "And what about that troublemaker friend of yours? The boy with the reverse pudding hair?"

Kana's mother felt her daughter shifting in her grip as she spoke. "He didn't take the bus home today, okaa-san. He walked home."

"Eh?! But it's at least a five mile walk to the other side of town! Not to mention that house of his - it always gave off this odd feeling."

Kana felt another bout of laughter escape her lips, with Kiyotsugu and Shima not that far behind her. All three children once again started to crack up, ignoring the worry etched on Kana's mother's face, enjoying themselves as if the giant hole in the tunnel besides them had never happened.

"Guys! It's his stop!"

"Ooo! Can I ask him about the ice youkai lady?"

"Hey, I thought we agreed Kana-chan was asking all the questions."

"Shush, guys! And be nice to him or I'll pinch you."

Rikuo raised an eyebrow at the sight of Kana whispering to Kiyotsugu and Shima from the back of the bus. He stepped towards the human trio cautiously, sitting down in the seat just in front of them. Rikuo gripped the metal handle of the seat tightly as the bus started up again. His head still throbbing with pain from the night before and the motion was definitely not helping his headache. According to Aotabo and the others, there had been a tunnel collapse which led to the bus crash that knocked him unconscious. Everything from beyond that point was a blur to Rikuo. "H-Hi, Kana-chan. Kiyotsugu-kun. Shima-kun."

"Good morning, Rikuo-kun! About last night-"

"Where did your sword come from?"

"How does your hair stand up like that? Is that a youkai thing?"

"Why are you taller in your other for-"

"HEY! I'm the one who's supposed to ask the questions!"

Rikuo sweatdropped at the bickering humans until he noticed a crucial detail of their conversation. "Y-Yokai? But they don't exist?"

The identical faces of disbelief they gave Rikuo was enough to make him shrink back into his seat. "What do you mean youkai don't exist?!" Kana whispered fiercely. "Don't you remember about last night?"

"You mean the bus accident? The tunnel fell in on us…"

Kiyotsugu and Shima looked at him with gaping mouths while Kana scowled as if he had just told her he had another prank idea. "What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"You really don't remember anything?"

"Didn't I get knocked unconscious?"

"…"

"HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER?!" Rikuo winced as all three of his classmates screamed in unison, his enhanced hearing leaving him with a ringing in his ears. A quick glance around the bus told him that all of the occupants were equally as shocked, some even throwing the children dirty glares.

"Well, the tunnel collapse was actually caused by this youkai dude-"

"Who was trying to kill us all-"

"And then you stood up to him-"

"Got your butt handed to you good at first-"

"But then you changed into a youkai-"

"And sliced him up with a sword-"

"Oh man you should've seen yourself it was so COOL!"

The flood of answers overwhelmed Rikuo and he gripped his head, which had begun to hurt even more once the others started to bombard him with their explanation. "W-Whoa, guys, slow down! I can't understand anything you just said."

"I mean it's kinda a long story, if we hafta go from the beginning," Kana started, "so can we maybe come over to your place after school and tell you then?" The brunette leaned closer to Rikuo as she spoke, her eyes wide and pleading as she proposed her idea. Kiyotsugu and Shima both nodded vigorously behind her small frame, a completely 180 from their behavior towards him yesterday.

"… um, sure I guess," Rikuo said.

The whoops and hollers coming from the three new youkai fans could be heard from even outside the bus as it continued its route to Ukiyoe Middle School. All the while, Rikuo couldn't help but wonder one thing.

"How come they believe me all of the sudden about youkai?"

The End, Again

Welp, I finally completed the Part Two for this thing! *pats self on back*

Truth be told, I had the plot for this planned out like 6 months ago, but I've been pretty lazy - I blame senioritis! Anyways, hope this lived up to people's expectations (it probably didn't but a girl can dream, can't she?). I tried to make Kiyotsugu's transition from his dislike of Rikuo's day form into awe for Rikuo's night form believable, as well as Shima's fear temporarily blinding him from thinking straight, which I'm pretty sure has happened to all of us at one point or another.

I also thought it might be funny if Rikuo just didn't remember anything just to mess with Kana and the others ;)

Thanks for reading guys! Maybe I'll even get my lazy butt to add an epilogue for Seals and Secrets while I'm at, but right now I make no promises.

- HimuroMiharu102398 (^_^)