My first Nurarihyon No Mago fanfic; re-uploaded into a one-shot!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Nurarihyon No Mago, nor am I making any money off this fanfic. (Thus, you have no reason to sue me)

Enjoy~!

"Rikou-sama! W-We can't do this -"

"Fine! I'll do it myself! C'mon, Ko-oni! Natto Kazo!"

"Rikou-sama, don't make me tell Wakana-sama, please!"

"Then don't tell her." Rikou turned to the two yokai and a devilish smile covered his small face, "C'mon! Let's go play then."

"B-But..." The blue and black haired girl groaned, rubbing her nervous hands on her white kimono, "Ohhh...! What should I do?" She watched as the young Nura ran off down the immense backyard of the main family's household. "What...What should I do?" Yuki Onna swallowed, glancing around. Her gut told her to tell Rikou's mother, Wakana, or even his father, the Second, Rihan, but at the same time she didn't want to tattle on the young master. She put both hands on her head and squeezed her eyes shut, "What do I dooooo?"

"Hahaha! Gotcha!" Rikou crooned, doing what looked like a happy dance. In front of him, stuck in a pit dug by Kurotabo and Aotabo earlier that morning, sat a handful of small gaurdian spirits. Confusion and bewilderment on their little lemming faces. Rikou briefly wondered if he could get Aotabo and Kurotabo to fall in a pit that they dug themselves.

"Hey you!" Rikou's cries of victory haulted suddenly when he heard the voice of a leader. A half man half yokai who could lead hundreds of demons into the darkest of nights without hesistation, striking fear into the enemy. "What are you doing?" A large but reassuring hand tapped Rikou's shoulder.

"Hey dad! Guess what? I caught a buncha yokai! Look!" Rikou pointed into the hole and smirked. Rihan, dressed in black and blue robes looked over Rikou's small frame and cocked his head,

"So you did. You're not torturing these poor fellas are you?"

Rikou snorted, "Not yet. But I will if they don't ack...ackno...ment...me when I'm the leader of all the yokai!" Rikou stuttered.

"Acknowlege?" Rihan asked helpfully. "Well..." He slipped his hands into the sleeves of his robes and half shrugged, "No harm done. Now c'mon, you can play later."

"I'm not playing, dad," Rikou responded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm hunting yokai."

"Really?" Rihan said, as they headed back to the house, "That's not what I heard when you were yelling to Ko-oni and Tofu Kazo wanting to, ahem, play."

Rikou stuck out his tongue, "You heard wrong." Rihan made a face back at him,

"Nu-uh."

Wakana turned the corner at the same time that both father and son were making faces, yokai turning their attention towards the oddity. She shook her brunette head, her hair pulled back and her yellow kimono stained with flour, "I honestly don't know which of you is more immature." Rihan looked up in and in a sudden motion, pointed to his son,

"He started it."

Rikou's eyes went wide, "Wha? Dad! That's not fair!"

A sly grin crossed Rihan's face, "But you didn't deny it."

Rikou pouted, crossing his arms angrily and sneered up at the Second: Commander of the Nura Clan. No one would've dared defy Rihan - a man as well as a yokai, with such power and respect - except those closest to him, and even they were cautious about their words and actions. Yet here was a boy, a child no less, who stood up straight and sneered into this both loved and feared leader.

There was a pause before Rihan suddenly scooped up Rikou and threw him helplessly over his shoulder, turned towards his wife and followed her to the main room for supper. Rikou dangled uselessly over his father's back, knowing with experience that kicking and screaming to get down wouldn't help him in the least.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Supper consisted of a large feast of white rice and noodles as well as exotic stews and vegetables, most of which Rikou had never heard of. Rihan explained that some of the foods they ate tonight were delicacies to yokai at this time of year, "Yokai eat different things than humans," Rihan had said once.

As Rikou dug his chopsticks into the mysterious orange and yellow coloured vegetable laid before him, he glanced at his father beside him, "Why are we being all fancy tonight?"

Rihan scooped rice into his mouth and whispered back to him, "Becawf ifs a spefal nighf..." He chewed then swallowed, "Because it's a special night." He paused, "Don't speak with your mouth full. It's a bad habit."

"Wha?" Rikou asked, the mystery vegetable stuffing his cheeks. Rihan let out a sigh,

"The meteor shower is tonight. Falling stars and such"

"So?"

"So," Rihan said, "It happens once every one hundred years and it's a good excuse to have representatives from the other Nura factions to get together and catch up on what's new and stuff."

"Oh..." Rikou mumbled. Rihan rose a questioning eyebrow,

"What's wrong?"

The soon-to-be Third glanced up at his father, his deep brown eyes swimming with emotions, "Are they pretty?" Rihan blinked, totally confused.

"What?"

"I said, are they pretty?"

"Areeee...what pretty?" Rihan asked, drawling out the first word as he reached for another helping of yokai delicacy mystery meat.

"The falling stars. Are they pretty?"

The raven haired half yokai half smiled. He caught Wakana's eye on the other side of Rikou and leaned over as if telling Rikou a secret although loud enough for Wakana to hear, "Oh yes. They're very pretty, but not nearly as pretty as your mother." Wakana smiled warmly, her cheeks flushing pink.

"Dad! No goo-goo eyes at the table! That's gross." The young master's retort was loud enough for the first uppermost yokai to hear including Nurarihyon who nodded,

"You heard him; no lovey-dovey." He winked at Rikou who beamed back at him. Coolest grandpa ever.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The sky was a deep, rich black. Black as a broken soul with hundreds of millions of tiny gleaming eyes watching the petty beings on planet Earth. It was midnight, way past Rikou's bedtime but after a brief two minutes of Rikou and Rihan protesting against Wakana, Rikou was allowed to stay up and watch the meteors.

Rihan and Nurarihyon had spent the evening after dinner talking and conversing with the other clans within the Nura household learning of news and stories. During this time Rikou had "caught" twelve other yokai, nine of which he guessed had traveled from other related clans since he hadn't recognized them. Regaurdless, they all gathered outside and in the gardens, out on the balcanies, and on the roof where Rikou sat between his father and his grandfather.

His father was lovingly flirting with his own wife, telling her a story about things Rikou wasn't paying attention to. Nurarihyon was taking a deep breath of his pipe, and blew it out in smoke rings. He glanced at Rikou out of the corner of his eye, "Don't you ever smoke, boy."

Rikou scrunched up his face as the smell hit him and he shook his head, "I won't."

Someone gasped, "Look! It started." A series of "oohs" and "aahs" followed as the first of many meteors streaked across the sky. A blazing white trail followed suit.

"Hey dad," Rikou turned to his father and met his somber eyes, "What are falling stars exactly?"

Rihan smirked, "They're meteorites that break apart in space and then plummet through the Earth's atmosphere. The streak of light is the meteor rock burning up." The confused look on Rikou's face gave away how much of that he understood. Rihan chuckled, pulling Rikou onto his lap as another white streak shot across the sky, "Just watch the stars, Rikou. It's soothing isn't it?" Rikou nodded with the hints of sleep in his actions, "Everything in this world is so simple once you stand back and look at it. Simple like the soul, the mind, life...even the stars in the sky."

An abrupt snort followed by deep breathing made Rihan glance down. Rikou had fallen asleep, clinging to his father's green and black kimono, his small face buried in Rihan's chest. Wakana sighed, leaning over to place her head on Rihan's shoulder her eyes listlessly admiring the flashy performance of shooting stars. She felt Rihan wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to their little family. Rikou mumbled something, a small smile lighting up his small face as he shifted to get more comfortable. Wakana giggled as the Second placed a loving kiss atop her forehead and directed his attention to the skies.

Three bright, white stars shot across the sky in unison, one trailing behind slightly.

Nurarihyon glanced over at the happy little family and couldn't help but smile as he took a deep breath of his pipe. Such a perfect family dispite their different backgrounds and history. He closed his eyes content and exhaled. Such a simple family. Such a simple story.

~Days of Despair