pika318: I had this idea for a while now, but I had to finish Closure haha. It's a very short chapter, but it should be an enjoyable read. 10th chapter, wow. It's the longest fanfic story I've written so far. The -man ones which are beyond 10 chapters were all written by Moko-chan, not me, so those don't count. Okay, on to the story

Disclaimer: NuraMago belongs to Shiibashi-sensei.

Chapter 10: Gift

Youhime tried not to let the pain show on her face as she was guided to sit on the floor, with soft cushions supporting her back, her legs stretched out before her. Normally, she wouldn't sit like that at all, but for the past few days, she had no choice but to do so.

"Youhime, are you comfortable?" Youhime turned to see the face of her worried husband, Nurarihyon.

"Yes, Ayakashi-sama." She answered as she smiled, trying to assure him that she was perfectly fine.

Well, perfectly fine except for her ankle that is. She had twisted it quite badly when she took a wrong step while walking in the city with Kokehime. That poor girl had to run all the way back to the Nura Mansion to ask for help and even now, she still felt guilty for not keeping a look out for Youhime that day, even after Youhime, Nurarihyon and even Hitotsume told her that it was fine and it wasn't her fault.

Youhime continued to speak to her husband, "Ayakashi-sama, I'll be fine here, so please go and do your duties. It is not good for a leader to neglect his responsibilities."

"Ah…right." Nurarihyon finally said as he stood up and walked towards the door. Before opening it though, he turned to Youhime, as if he wanted to say something. She only smiled in return and said,

"I'll be fine, Ayakashi-sama. There's Nato Kozo and the rest here keeping me company after all. You don't want to be late for your meeting with the guests."

Nurarihyon nodded and finally left the room.

As the door of the room closed, Youhime sank back into the pillows and the small youkai took it as a cue to approach her.

"Youhime-sama, are you feeling any better from yesterday?" Nato Kozo asked.

"Well, it still hurts a bit, but it's not as bad as it was initially, so it'll get better soon."

"If only you could heal yourself too, Youhime-sama." One of the other youkai commented.

"Wouldn't that be too convenient? I'm sure that whoever gave me this healing gift wanted a balance, and being unable to heal myself is part of establishing that balance." Youhime explained patiently.

"But seeing you hurt isn't a good feeling…"

"I'll get better soon. Thank you for caring about me, everyone." Youhime said sincerely, and all the youkai couldn't help but blush at her radiance. Even after having a child, she still retained her beauty.

As if on cue, they heard a young boy's voice as the door slid open.

"Mum, I'm home!"

"Welcome home, Rihan." Youhime said as she smiled at her six year old son who walked through the door and sat down in front of her, carefully avoiding her ankle.

"We're home, Youhime-sama."

"Thank you for taking care of Rihan, Kokehime."

"It's nothing, Youhime-sama." Kokehime replied as she sat down elegantly next to Youhime. Youhime turned to her son.

"Did you have fun today, Rihan?"

"Yeah!" Rihan replied enthusiastically.

"That's good. What did you do?"

"We played hide and seek today with Ren and the other children." Rihan answered before he glanced down at Youhime's ankle. Then he continued to speak.

"They asked about you today, since you normally take turns with big sister Kokehime to play with us."

Youhime smiled gently. "I'll take you out and play with the other children when I get better, so be patient until then, Rihan."

Rihan nodded, then as if he clapped his hands, as if he just remembered something, "Ah! There was one time when Ren got hurt and his mother cast a charm to make him all better, maybe it would work on your ankle. Mum, can I try?"

Youhime tried very hard not to laugh. After all, she knew very well what the 'charm' was. Deciding to humour her young son, she replied with an "Of course you can try it Rihan."

Rihan's face brightened and he turned towards her ankle. Placing both hands on it carefully, he said,

"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. Pain fly away!"

What happened next shocked everyone.

Rihan's hand started to glow and Youhime felt the pain in her ankle lessen. To everyone else, they saw the swelling in her ankle go down quite visibly.

"Ehhh?" All the youkai in the room exclaimed just as Rihan said "All better!" Then he turned to Youhime and asked, "Did it work?" with a hopeful look on his face.

Gingerly, Youhime stood up, holding onto Kokehime for support. As she slowly rested her weight on her twisted ankle, it didn't hurt at all, like it was completely healed. Bewildered, she turned to Rihan, who was still waiting for her answer. She breathed in and out to calm herself down, then she said,

"Yes, Rihan. It worked very well."

She was answered with her son's beaming smile.

pika318: So this is the short chapter on how the Nura Gumi found out about Rihan's healing abilities. Hope it's cute enough and you enjoyed reading this.