Author's Notes:I think this is the only chapter where there's only one scene, no cut to another scene, or time passing by. So it's just going to be a stream of lines.

I was writing this chapter thinking, 'We would all be happy readers if you stuck to what you initially thought.'

Now enjoy this chapter while manly tears are shed! :'o

"Ahhh~" Tsurara showed a relieved smile on her face, "It's reassuring to know that these two are on our side."

"Oh, did you just say this is Keikain territory? Quite the bold statement you made there, little girl." Gitsune's tails waved in the air. "Seeing as you Onmyouji are struggling with these Demons. I wouldn't mind helping you out, for a price that is."

"What did you say?! The Keikain aren't so weak as to ask Youkai for help!" Yura argued back.

Rikuo raised his hand like a child, "You asked me, and I'm a Youkai." He turned his head to Gitsune, "Can you stop holding me like a princess?" To which Gitsune complied.

"Rikuo whyyyyyyyyyyy?" Tsurara began crying. "You're supposed to help them get along!"

"My my, I guess you really are that weak." Gitsune grinned mischievously and then patted Yura on the head like a dog. "It's okay, you don't have to be embarrassed. My faction was even kind enough to your lives and never once attacked you after the war with Seimei."

Yura swiped Gitsune's hands off her head, "I don't need your help with this! We can handle this ourselves; after all, it's KEIKAIN territory. Just stay back and enjoy the show."

"Why, thank you. I'll enjoy hearing your screams of agony." Gitsune smirked at Yura and then walked to Tsurara.

"H-Hi there mother in-law." Tsurara greeted shyly.

Gitsune crossed her arms over her chest, "No need to be so formal. I haven't seen you two since your wedding…after Setsura almost killed me." Gitsune muttered to herself.

"Yeah time flies doesn't it? Hahaha" Rikuo laughed awkwardly, which only made the atmosphere more intense for the wedded couple. "I've really been wanting to see you, and catch up."

Gitsune gently caressed Rikuo's cheek, which made him shiver, "You really are my favourite son." Gitsune seemed very motherly, which sent shivers to everyone's spine. "You know, Seimei never even told me he had children! I mean, what kind of child doesn't tell their parents they had children of their own?"

"R-right~? W-w-w-we can't even have kids because of that curse you put on the Nurarihyon bloodline." Tsurara nervously responded back to Gitsune's question.

"Interesting…" Yura's ears had tuned into the conversation.

"Curse? Didn't Rikuo tell you? I removed that curse years ago." Gitsune seemed a little dumbfounded.

"She remembered?!" Tsurara began shaking.

Rikuo whispered in Tsurara's ear, "I think she would know if the curse was still active or not! She even called me her favourite son."

Gitsune had a worrisome look on her face, "Don't tell me that you two didn't have any kids because you believed the curse was still active." She scratched her head using one of her tails, "That's no good. You're getting pretty old for a human, Rikuo."

"This is my chance to get them back for using me! For all those times I suffer in their self-proclaimed 'Hotel Yura'!" Yura slyly smiled, she raised an eyebrow as she directed her attention towards Gitsune. "Oh~? Didn't they tell you, they already have a child together? His name's Rio, Rio Nura."

"Hmmmmmm?" Gitsune, Rikuo and Tsurara all stared at Yura with a nervous smile.

"That's right. Those two lied to you." Yura had pointed her index finger at the wedded couple. "If you visited Ukiyoe Town, you would have seen him for yourself."

"T-t-t-that can't be right." Gitsune slowly began losing her composure, "R-Rikuo's my favourite son he wouldn't hide something so important from me! I bet he was just waiting for the right time to tell me!" Gitsune looked at Rikuo with hopeful eyes.

Yura delivered the finishing blow, "He's 12."

"TWELVE?!" Gitsune ran up to Rikuo, grabbed onto his shoulders and furiously shook him, "You hid this from me for 12 years?!" Gitsune turned towards her daughter in-law, "AND YOU! If I never removed the bloodline curse, you'd be sharing Rikuo with that Kana girl! To think I was shipping you and Rikuo."

"Sh-shipping? Isn't that a term fans use to describe their ideal couples?" Rikuo hushed toward Tsurara, as he put his arm over her shoulder.

"I never would have thought that the great Hagoromo Gitsune would become interested in otaku culture." Tsurara nodded her head, "I approve."

Gitsune's face flushed red from the slip up, "F-F-Forget it." Gitsune had slumped over, her face facing the floor, her long hair made her resemble a popular horror movie character. She brought her head back up, with a yandere look in her eyes, "I'll just have to show Rio what an awesome grandmother I am." Gitsune began panting heavily.

"Stop it you fox, you're embarrassing Kyoto." Yura scoffed at the sight of the great Hagoromo Gitsune. "Now our guests can't take us seriously."

"I heard rumours of the legendary Hagoromo Gitsune. The King's group even warned me of you in case we ever met during this mission." Lance glared at the fox-like girl, "But it seems she's a pathetic woman who craves attention. You make me sick."

Lance's body flew right into the trunk of a tree and he found himself gasping for air. Gitsune had one of her tails wrapped around Lance, another tail up against his neck, acting as a sharp weapon.

"H-hey I thought you'd leave them to me!" Yura yelled at Gitsune as she began readying another God Arrow attack.

"I'm letting off some steam. Stay away, if you don't want to get hurt, little Onmyouji girl." Gitsune warned Yura, who immediately shot another arrow.

The arrow caused a shockwave as it flew towards Mamiru. Mamiru gripped one hand over the other, creating an electromagnetic wall, as the arrow touched the wall, it immediately disintegrated.

"He blocked it so simply?" Yura stared astonished at the wall, shaking, "That's impossible. Gone? So effortlessly?"

"That's a really nice move, Yura." Mamiru motioned himself as if he were wielding an imaginary bow, "Mamiru MAX, Electrical God Arrow."

"Huh?" Yura stared at Mamiru and felt a sensation of Fear running down her back. "Huh? Fear?"

Suddenly a bow formed by electric currents appeared in Mamiru's hands. The God Arrow shot out at light speed towards Yura who had no time to react. The arrow made impact and a large of cloud of dust appeared.

"Hey, your partner seems to be losing." Lance pointed at the dusty cloud, his other hand grabbing onto the tail that was strangling him.

"That girl isn't my partner. She's my enemy. But we aren't about to lose to some Exorcists that don't belong here in the first place." Gitsune's tail slid back; ready to pierce Lance's stomach.

A stream of lightning was directed towards Gitsune, who jumped up in the air with Lance still in her grip, helplessly flailing about. Gitsune had landed in front of Mamiru and brought out a huge iron fan, stored within her tails. She opened up the fan and swung it like a sword at Mamiru, and realizing he was on the defensive, kept jumping back, avoiding every strike.

"Is this fox really going to take on two Top-Class Exorcists by herself?!" Lance began struggling from Gitsune's tails.

Gitsune had caught up with Mamiru and used her remaining tails to wrap him up. The two Exorcists struggled together, but resistance was futile.

"I feel like I'm really being underestimated here." Gitsune grinned at the both of them and then looked at Lance, "You put up a much better fight against Rikuo."

"Well it looks like that'll be his last fight." Lance smiled as he pointed at the cloud of dust clearing up.

Rikuo stood in front of Yura, who had been pushed on the ground. A hole the size of Rikuo's fist was where his stomach should have been and the hole was dripping red.

"Rikuo, why'd you do that?!" Yura felt helpless as she stared at him. "Why did you take Mamiru's arrow for me?!"

Rikuo began to wheeze, "C-couldn't help it. You were going to die."

"A-ahhh! Rikuo!" Tsurara ran up to her injured husband, examining the condition of his body then turned towards Yura, "Is there anyone here that can heal him?"

Yura shook her head, "No one that can heal Youkai."

"Rikuo…" Tsurara's began to cry drops and those drops turned into a stream running down her face. "Rikuo don't die…" Tsurara put her hand on the wound, "There's no choice Rikuo, I have to do this, I'll try not to freeze anywhere fatal." Tsurara froze the wound, stopping the blood from flowing out of Rikuo.

"Haha…" Rikuo's hand touched Tsurara's cheek, "Thanks Tsurara." After he finished his sentence, he began to cough up more blood.

"Huh?" Tsurara's expression dropped.

"He's still bleeding from the inside! You haven't tended to the wound yet!" Gitsune screamed at her.

With Gitsune distracted, Lance and Mamiru both kicked Gitsune, which loosened her grip on them and they escape from her tails. Gitsune jumped back and scowled at them.

"Well," Lance licked his lips, confidently wielding Gae Bolg, "Guess I'll put him out of his misery."

"Don't you dare!" Gitsune howled at them, she spread out her tails, hid away her fan and extended her claws.

"Tsurara, its not stopping," Rikuo continued coughing up blood, "You're gonna have to do 'that' technique."

"B-but that's forbidden! It's not safe!" Tsurara tried to stop the tears from flowing but couldn't.

"I'm not exactly in the safest position right now." Rikuo lightly laughed through his pain.

Tsurara away from Rikuo, shaking her head, "I-I can't control when you'll come back." Tsurara nodded and made her resolve. "I'll do it."

Rikuo tried to turn his head towards Gitsune, "Gi-…Mom. Rio's gonna be so happy when he meets his grandmother."

Gitsune tried to laugh through the tears; "I'll make sure he wishes he met me earlier."

Rikuo looked at Yura, his vision was beginning to blur, "Yura…get married already, will ya?"

"HAH?!" Yura raised an eyebrow, irritated at his words, but then smiled at him sincerely, "I-I'll try."

Rikuo then patted Tsurara's head, smiling with his eyes closed, "Better make sure you find a good healer now. Okay? I love you."

Tsurara held his hand, "I love you too." She let out, took a deep breath and crossed her arms in an 'x' across her chest. "Here goes."

Swirling snow began to wrap and spin around Tsurara, it began lightly snowing on the battlefield but the snow would melt before it reach the ground. Tsurara when swiped her hands over Rikuo's body.

"Flash Frozen!"

All the snow around Tsurara then swirled on top of Rikuo's body and then in an instant, Rikuo's body had become encased in a large shell of ice.

"W-what is this?" Yura who was startled, took a step back, covering her mouth with her Onmyouji robe.

"Don't touch him! Flash Frozen is a forbidden technique to Yuki Onna's." Tsurara began sniffing, "It allows us to cryogenically freeze our target. But we can't control when to thaw the target out. The only way to get Rikuo out of that iced shell is to wait until it defrosts or to forcefully thaw him out, but that may kill him." Tsurara paused for a moment, "Then again…I'm not entirely sure if I did the technique correctly…I…I might have already killed him with that technique."

Gitsune touched her chin, "Cryogenically frozen? Sounds like something out of sci-fi…" Gitsune took note of the odd stares directed towards her, ruining the mood, "I-I like to read…"

Tsurara began to burst into even more tears and Yura immediately comforted Tsurara by hugging her. Tsurara had used up all her energy and rested her entire body on Yura.

"Here, just stay here." Yura attempted to place Tsurara's body beside Rikuo's.

"Don't…" Tsurara tugged on Yura's robe, "It's too dangerous to be near Rikuo right after Flash Frozen has been performed on him."

"I can settle for a shattered Rikuo." Lance dashed past Gitsune and pole-vaulted himself with Gae Bolg.

Gitsune turned around to try and grab him, but heard sounds of electricity surging behind her. Mamiru aimed for her head, to which the fox crouched down and slashed at Mamiru's stomach. Gitsune's claws shred through the clothing and Mamiru's stomach had been imprinted with a bloody claw mark.

"Stop him, Onmyouji!" Gitsune pleaded out towards the head of the Keikain household, as she was too busy with Mamiru.

"Got it!" Yura was ready to throw Onmyouji charms at Lance, but felt a tug on her robe, which made her trip. "Tsurara! W-what are you…"

Tsurara still had her eyes closed, she only sounded half-conscious, "I told you didn't I? It's too dangerous to be near Rikuo right now."

Lance went to strike Rikuo's frozen body. "I'll break this shell right now, and shatter Nurarihyon's grandson to pieces!"

Gae Bolg touched the outer layer of Rikuo. But that's all it did, Gae Bolg had only gently touched the shell. Lance tried to pull out Gae Bolg with all his might.

"W-wh-what's going on?!" Lance stared at the tip of the spear, it became frozen in ice and slowly the ice was creeping up the rest of the lance.

Lance's had a horrified expression on his face, and with one last tug managed to pull Gae Bolg away from the shell. He stared at the lance looking relieved.

"If you or anything else touches a person after they've been Flash Frozen, that thing will also…cryogenically freeze." Tsurara finally became fully unconscious, sleeping on the battlefield.

The ice on Lance's lance continued to creep up the lance. Lance began fumbling Gae Bolg then dropped it, causing it to shatter into unfixable pieces.

"G-GAE BOLG!" Lance's eyes had opened up in horror. "I-it broke!" Lance looked at his hands, which were shaking.

"Lance no longer has a lance? That's disappointing Lancelot." Mamiru commented immediately after seeing what had happened.

"Shut up Mamiru! And don't call me Lancelot!" Lance's face looked like it was in agonizing pain.

"Rentei!" Yura summoned her koi Shikigami and shot out a water cannon at Lance. His body began to fly back from the force. "Bukyoku!"

Yura's samurai Shikigami appeared and targeted a defenseless Lance. The samurai swung his sword down, and a clash of metal grinded against the sword. A black headless rider with a black scythe, riding a black horse stood between Bukyoku and Lance.

"D-Dullahan?" Lance stared at the dark rider.

Dullahan's simply bowed down before Lance.

"Perfect, perfect. You came at a good time," Lance rubbed his hand behind his head, "Gae Bolg kinda…broke. So I can really use your services."

Gitsune kept pummeling Mamiru with her tails. He tried creating an electromagnetic wall, but Gitsune created a whirlwind with her iron fan. Mamiru lost his footing and the wall disappeared. Gitsune closed her fan jabbing the entire mass at Mamiru. He dodged it by ducking diagonally, brought his fingers close to his palm and struck Gitsune's side.

"You should put more force into your attacks." Gitsune held onto Mamiru's shoulders as leverage, and hoisted herself up, "Like this!" Gitsune smacked him with the fan. Mamiru's body kept rolling on the ground and his body was flailing as if he were a ragdoll.

Mamiru tiredly stood up, retreating beside Lance and Dullahan. He wiped the small drop of blood dripping out his mouth.

Lance smirked as he motioned his head towards Dullahan, "Should I? Or you?"

"I haven't even gone all-out yet. Besides, you're the idiot who broke his legendary weapon… You do it." Mamiru coldly told his Exorcist partner.

"Ugh…" Lance shook his head, "I feel like shit whenever I think about it."

"It was five minutes ago, idiot." Mamiru's stared at his partner, disappointed.

Lance cracked his neck staring at Kyoto's strongest Youkai and leader of the Keikain Onmyouji, "Matoi, really is an interesting technique. If it weren't for Mamiru I would never believe, a Youkai could do what we do."

"Do…" Gitsune paused for a moment.

"What we do?..." Yura finished the sentence.

"Yeah, what we Exorcists can do." Lance stood in front of Dullahan and placed both hands on his shoulders. "Fusion."

A blinding light shined on the battlefield for a second before it just disappeared. Lance and Dullahan disappeared, becoming one single entity but initially with Lance as the main host. Lance's fusion with Dullahan forced him to don a black cloak, his eyes had no pupils and he was now wielding Dullahan's scythe. Dullahan's horse made an uproar at its new master and Lance put his hand over the horse, sending it back to its realm.

"Exorcists…can Matoi?" Gitsune's couldn't keep her eyes off the new Lance. Her fingers were slightly shaking. "Exorcists really are a step up from Onmyouji."

"This isn't the time for that, we're in trouble." Yura clenched her teeth as she scolded Gitsune.

"Then you do that Fusion thing too, Onmyouji girl."

"Shut up you hag! I don't need Fusion to win!"

Gitsune appeared irritated at the comment, "Hag?..." Then shrugged her shoulders, "Fine by me, you're handling that guy anyway."

"Wa-wait, me?! I have a personal score to settle with Mamiru." Yura explained to Gitsune.

"Exactly. But he's become an Exorcist now. He fights using Exorcist techniques now, you can't predict him but he can predict you."

Yura turned away from Gitsune, embarrassed from hearing her response, "It's weird when you're nice and logical. Stop that, you're creeping me out."

"Hah?!" Gitsune raised an eyebrow and backed away from Yura, "This isn't for you. It's for Rikuo who sacrificed himself for you."

Yura smiled at Hagoromo Gitsune and stretched her body before the battle, "Well in that case, I'll have to listen to you." Yura then summoned her strongest Shikigami, "Hagun!"

Chapter 20 - Rightful Rulers

*And there we have it, an out of commission Rikuo. Not part of the plan when I was starting off this chapter, but thats the way writing works sometimes. May you rest in ice, Rikuo Nura.