Chapter 1: High School
The city of Tokyo was experiencing its usual amount of nightlife. On a rather busy street corner, a teenager with long red hair watched the steady flow of traffic, both pedestrian and automotive pass through his field of vision with only the slightest bit of attention. It was an odd feeling to be standing amongst the crowd of people so unaware of what had gone on only days before. If things had gone just a bit differently just a week ago, the urban jungle he was standing in would have been something between a battleground and a desolate wasteland.
With the Demon Tournament over and a somewhat peaceful ruler now imposing his will over the other realm, Kurama wondered if things would be settling down for a few years. It was a bit of a disturbing thought really. Ever since he had decided to remain in the human realm, he had been taking care of monster problems in one form or another long before even meeting Yusuke or the others. It seemed that might not be the case anymore.
There would still be the minor demon showing up to cause trouble every now and then, but the earth-shattering stuff wouldn't be happening for a few decades at least. He could handle the occasional small fry that was bound to creep up from time to time.
A small demonic aura on the edge of his senses made Kurama look back the way he came. He tried to search for the energy he had felt a moment ago to determine if it was up to anything, but decided to forget about it when he couldn't pin it down beyond a general direction.
Probably nothing anyway, the fox assured himself. Despite this being the Human Realm, there were several other sentient species that made their homes on the planet. Most of them were pretty much harmless, and few of the really powerful ones actually dwelt in large cities.
Kurama turned his thoughts away from such things, and back towards his plans for the future. The lack of any real problems meant he could concentrate on more…mundane things, like the task he had finished today; his high-school entrance exams. Soon he would be going off to high school like an everyday human. That would be followed by getting a job, then starting a career, and pretty much just living a normal human life.
The thought was a little…disconcerting. While he had no problems with never having to get involved in a life or death struggle, at least until the next tournament to decide the ruler of Demon Realm, such a life for a being like Kurama was simply….wrong.
As the crossing sign turned green, Kurama went with the rest of the group he was in. They moved into the road, and Kurama listened to the other people make pleasant conversation with each other. There was a young couple talking about the boy's first meeting with the girl's parents, some kids discussing about the latest manga, low-ranking businessmen on their way from a meeting, and half a dozen others just in earshot as the group got onto the other side of the street. He broke apart from the crowd and headed into the subway station to board the train that would take him closer to home.
Once inside, he took a seat and looked at his ghostly reflection in the window. For a moment his imagination took over, and Kurama saw the reflection of his old self. It seemed to stare back at him in a mocking manner, reminding the demon what would always lay just beneath the surface. The simple fact is, I am not a human, nor will I ever be one, he told himself.
Of course had he chosen to remain in the Demon Realm, Kurama knew that he would have been even more dissatisfied. He would be constantly thinking of his human mother, if his human side had been able to win out in a battle of natures under such circumstances. But such a thought was irrelevant now. He was Shuichi Minamino, he was in the Human Realm…and he was alone.
Kurama was brought out of his thoughts by the presence he had felt earlier. It was stronger now, closer. In fact he could sense it slowly moving towards him in the opposite direction that the train was going. Which mean that his pursuer was on the train despite the fact that Kurama hadn't detect him get close enough to have boarded at the station.
"A teleporter?" he mumbled too low for anyone around him to hear.
After considering his options for a moment, Kurama got up and headed towards the back of the car and into the next one. He continued on till he made it to the last car on the train. With him a proverbial corner that he had chosen, Kurama went to the very back of the car while leaving some seeds on the floor along his way as he walked. He sat down before letting some of the restraint free with his demonic aura.
It took a few moments, but Kurama watched as the humans in front of him became more and more nervous, each one eventually deciding that it was a better idea to head up into one of the more cramped cars than stick around. They would have had no idea why of course. It was just a feeling, a tingling in the back of their minds; something left over from when demons roamed the earth freely and used humans as food that told them it was best not to stay where they were now.
A minute after everyone else had left, the owner of the aura Kurama was sensing came into the car. He must have been one of those out of touch with humanity monsters. The stranger had on heavy white robes and a hood that made him look something akin to a western priest. Even without the aura he was putting out, anyone would have been able to see something was different about the man.
"I'm afraid I need to get off at the next stop, so let us skip the usual banter shall we?" Kurama said as the door closed behind the man automatically. "Tell me why you're following me."
"My, such a rude young monster you are," the stranger replied before reaching into his robe to pull out a folded up piece of paper. "But I suppose that's to be expected of teenagers these days. Tell me, do you enjoy going to school with humans?"
Kurama frowned before he let his demonic aura flare to intimidate the stranger. "I told you to get to the point."
"Now now, there's no need for that young man," the priest said before holding up his hands. "In answer to your question, one of my associates that works in the testing office you left half an hour ago informed me of your presence, and the various schools you sent your test results to. Of course, Yokai Academy doesn't require an entrance exam, but I'm certain you'd be placed in the top class judging by your test scores. As-"
A bit lost, Kurama held up his hand to stop the man from continuing and kept his voice steady to hide his confusion. "Excuse me, what are you talking about?" From the sounds of things he was giving out a sales pitch…for a high school?
"Why, your oversight in not applying to Yokai Academy of course," the man explained as it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Mr. Minamino, I can see that you seem to be fitting in among humans to some extent. In fact it may be going better than that, but as we seem to have no records of any previous human society integration training, I do advise you to at least look over our program. You do indeed seem to have the intelligence to of hidden inside human society for the time being, but there are humans out there that still actively hunt monsters down. Even if the majority of their kind do not know of our existence, there are a small minority that actively pursue creatures such as yourself. It might be the prudent course of action to at least consider this institution.
"Of course, it is a credited high school. In fact it's considered a top notch private academy," the exorcist quickly added. "There's no point in having such a place unless it also fulfills its secondary role of education."
"I…see," Kurama said while doing everything to keep the confusion from showing on his face. There is actually a group in existence that is trying to train demons to fit into human society? There was also the question of how people could think a place that didn't require an entrance exam was a good school, but Kurama left that question unasked.
The idea seemed almost laughable. Not in the fact that there was someone trying to do it, but that someone actually thought it needed to be done. When it really came down to it, humans and demons weren't really all that different. They simply came from two different worlds…literally. If anything, demons were just more honest about their nature than humans.
Still, he couldn't feel any deception in what the stranger said. The man was being serious.
"Well, thank you for your concern," Kurama told them man before letting himself relax a bit. "Perhaps I shall look into it after all."
After the priest took his leave, Kurama gave himself a good thirty seconds before getting up to retrieve the brochure and letting his demonic aura dissipate so that humans would start to come into the car again.
To any human, the front of the paper would look like a normal advertisement for a private school, albeit one with an odd name. The tingle Kurama was getting from the writing on the back told him that only spiritually aware people would be able to see it. That side of the pamphlet explained the school's real purpose: training to fit into human society.
After reading the paper over, Kurama sat back in his seat and frowned. From what he could surmise, whomever was behind this place was in it for the long haul. As far as Kurama knew, there were no more beings left alive capable of actually threatening the human race. Any hope a would be conqueror in the Human Realm had was to bide his time, and slowly build his power base while keep off of Spirit Realm's radar.
Which was eexactally this place seemed to be attempting to do.
Well, I suppose I should just hand this information over to Koenma and be done with it, Kurama thought before he moved to put the brochure into his pocket, and stopped.
Of course if he did that, it would be back to a human life. The whole idea had even less appeal than it had ten minutes ago before learning of this Yokai Academy.
There was also little fact that as far as he knew, Koenma was still banished from Spirit World and had a death warrant with his name on it, sighed by his father no less.
Kurama looked down at the brochure again. If it really was the to be the source of the next big headache, Kurama supposed he could take care of it. Even in his human form, he was one of if not the most powerful demon in the Human Realm. But then again, doing so would mean missing the beginning of high school, despite the fact the place he was thinking of going to was technically a high school.
Kurama thought over it for a moment more, and let out a small laugh at his own foolishness; as well as the fact that he was still going to go on with it. "I suppose, one last excursion couldn't be too much trouble, or time consuming."
One week to take out this Yokai Academy place, and then he could get into a real high school. At least this time he'd be getting rid of the problem before it became a world endangering catastrophe; and the thought of having one last excursion before he moved on with his life seemed somewhat appealing.
Now he just needed to talk his mother into letting him go to a boarding school…
-1 week later-
Kurama made one last check to make sure he had all of this things out of the car before saying goodbye to his mother's husband who dropped him off at the bus stop. As soon as the man drove off, Kurama took a seat on the bus stop's bench to wait for the transportation that would take him to Yokai Academy.
What came along next was a bit surprising. Before the bus showed up, Kurama watched a boy that looked about Kurama's physical age drag his luggage up to the bus stop. He didn't look like anything special, average height, weight, and build. He was just one of those people that was the perfect example of forgettable.
The newcomer looked around for a moment, then down at a piece of paper he was holding, and then finally over to Kurama. "Excuse me, but are you waiting for the 10:13 bus?"
Kurama resisted the urge to frown. He knew the odd schedule that the bus was due to stop at, which was out of necessity since it wasn't an actual city bus, but from looking at the boy's aura… Strange, I could swear this boy is a human. There was something a bit odd about it though, something Kurama couldn't quite put his finger on.
After realizing that he still hadn't answered the boy's question, Kurama looked over to the kid and gave a fake smile. "Yes that's right, have you been enrolled as well?"
The newcomer let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, it's just a little odd seeing someone else here, I thought I'd be the only person being picked up at this stop."
"Yes…well…" Kurama said as he tried to come up with a reply that wouldn't make him look out of place. Although it seemed he wouldn't have to. "Oh look, here's the bus," he told the boy before pointing to the coming vehicle.
The arrival of the bus cut their conversation short as Kurama and the boy got their bags and went onboard. Once they had taken their seats, the conversation resumed.
"By the way, my name is Tsukune Aono."
"Shuichi Minamino," Kurama replied with a false smile.
For the rest of the short trip, Tsukune seemed to ask any question that popped into his head while Kurama answered in the most roundabout manner he could; or avoided the question altogether. He didn't want to get into a deep conversation with the boy. Kurama was too busy trying to figure out an explanation for the human's presence. The boy had no spiritual power that Kurama could feel beyond what a normal human his age should have.
What he did learn was that the boy was indeed going to Yokai Academy, and was a second year student at the school; although Kurama didn't bother asking if he was a transfer student from a different high school. That was obvious with him being a human. There was also the disturbing fact that the more time Kurama spent with the boy, despite how out of place Tsukune was, Kurama was more and more certain he was human.
A few minutes later, the bus pulled into a dark tunnel that seemed to swallow all light coming from the outside at its edge. Kurama felt the telltale shift in the air around him that told him something was different before they even exited the tunnel. When they did come out, the color of the sky and feel of the atmosphere had changed to something more akin to the Demon Realm.
He marveled at the careful engineering it had taken to create such a place, but stopped when a realization hit him. Wait, humans can't survive in this kind of environment! He spun around to look at the human while thinking what he could use to prolong the boy's life…
Tsukune blinked at Shuichi's disturbed expression. "Something wrong?"
…and calmed himself down when he saw the boy was alright. Whatever changes the area had undergone, they seemed to be only cosmetic. Humans couldn't survive in a demonic atmosphere unless they had a considerable amount of spiritual energy to help them, and even they couldn't last forever. So either he really is a demon, which I suppose would make more sense seeing as how there's only one of him. If the group running this place actually wanted humans here, there would be a great many more people coming on this bus. "It's nothing," Kurama said before the bus came to a stop and he quickly gathered his things.
"Hey wait up," Tsukune shouted from inside the bus as he struggled to get his luggage down from the compartment where he had stored it.
"Sorry, but I really need to get these put away in my dorm before the entrance ceremony starts," Kurama lied before he took off towards the school. What he really needed to do was conduct recon on the other monsters currently on site, find whatever dark lord/master/whatever was running this place, and figure out the easiest way to deal with the problem as fast as possible before getting on with his life.
But there was no need to share that bit of information.
Tsukune moaned in despair as he watched the pretty-boy take off towards the school at a speed he couldn't hope to catch up with even if he didn't have to drag a pair of suitcases around; which was a pretty big blow to his ego as it seemed Shuichi had even more luggage than Tsukune but didn't seem affected by it all that much.
Unfortunately Tsukune's vampire strength that had been absent all break had neglected to return when he came back to the academy. Maybe Moka needed to give him a booster injector or something?
"So does that mean he's really a monster after all?" Tsukune asked himself. During the trip over he had asked Minamino some casual questions to try and figure out if he was just another monster, or a normal human. It was rare, but they did end up at Yokai Academy from time to time.
Tsukune was still too divided on the issue. He seemed pretty polite, which was a point in the human column, but Minamino hadn't really given Tsukune much in the way of personal information to help the human try and figure out if the redhead really was a monster. Then there was his red hair of course, which was a huge point against him. Can Japanese people even have red hair?
He was so lost in thought, Tsukune didn't even notice where he was going until he started hearing the usual amount of school gossip.
"So did you guys hear the rumors? There's a bunch of other kids saying that there's some new ruler in Demon Realm."
"Yeah I heard there was this big war, and now one guy is the boss of the whole thing."
"I heard it was just a fight between a dozen or so guys, like a tournament or something."
"What are you stupid? No way something like that would have worked. If the fights were one at a time it would've taken years."
Tsukune looked over to the small crowd quizzically. What in the heck is the Demon Realm? I guess it just shows I've still got a lot to learn about monsters. But considering that the school was actually meant to teach monsters about humans, Tsukune had a feeling he couldn't just go asking around. It would be like a human asking what the colors on a stoplight meant.
"So what's going to happen now? If one guy's calling the shots isn't that-one hot girl!"
The new gossip quickly switched to the old lecherous comments, questions, and jeers, causing Tsukune to look around to find who was the new topic of conversation. He just looked to where everyone else was staring, and sighed. I should have guessed.
The center of attention was one Moka Akashiya, an impossibly cute girl with pink hair, a perfectly proportioned curvy body, and cheerful innocent demeanor that made any guy in sight of her fall in love. Even now, after spending a whole year with her, Tsukune had trouble comprehending the fact she was also a vampire. Of course if the cross she wore on her choker was removed her personality would do a complete 180 into something more deserving of a scary monster, but at the moment she looked like an impossibly cute human girl.
"Tsukune!" the impossibly cute girl yelled before she ran up to the boy and latched onto him. "I missed you so much."
The new attitude made Tsukune blush. "Well Moka-"
"It's been so hard to get a good meal since school let out," she said before biting down on his neck.
Then again, when she does this, it gets much easier to think of her as a vampire.
-Meanwhile-
Kurama snatched the letter addressed to him that was tapped to the from of his dorm room, and checked it for dangerous wards before opening the envelope. He took a second to read the instructions, then dropped off his stuff and headed to the chairman's office.
When he arrived at the location mentioned in the letter, Kurama was struck by a strange sense of foreboding. It wasn't the Halloween décor, that stuff was scattered all around campus. It did have him wondering why a school that was supposed to help demons fit into human society was given such an inhuman atmosphere though.
On closer inspection of the area, Kurama managed to pin down the source of the energy that was rubbing him the wrong way. It was imbedded in the walls. Numerous magic circles have been drawn throughout this portion of the school. Defenses, traps, barriers. So, this is most likely also the chairman's main powerbase.
It was nice change that he didn't have to track the man back to some secret lair. Kurama took a moment to prepare, then moved through the rather elaborate entry room and stepped inside the man's office.
As soon as Kurama entered, the chairman looked up from his desk and smiled. "Ah Mr. Minamino, please sit down, there are some things we need to sort out before you can be properly enrolled at the academy."
It was the same man he had met on the subway, the one who'd given him the information about Yokai academy. It would seem I've made a slight miscalculation. He had thought the demon from the subway to be a simple messenger. Now that he stood within the man's office and felt his unrestrained aura, Kurama could tell the man in white had been suppressing it on the train.
Kurama looked at the chair, then back to the man. For now, he supposed he should simply play along. "After such a long bus ride, I'd prefer to stand, thank you."
The chairman nodded. "Very well. It's a matter of your classes. Apparently you took a great deal of extra courses while at your junior high in the Human World."
"That's correct. I don't see why that should be a problem though." With his mother working all the time, Kurama had filled his hours until the school closed down as much as he could as to lessen the amount of housework she would need to do insofar as cleaning up and lower their electricity bills. Although he also did the housekeeping, that only took up so much time; and Kurama had to find other ways to occupy his time.
"It's not a problem per say, but as you know, Yokai Academy was created to simulate the average human high school experience. As such, we do not have some of the accelerated programs that you were enrolled in. To compensate for this, a few of your classes will be at the 2nd year level, although you will still have Freshman homeroom and are expected to be at the welcoming ceremony." The exorcist reached into his desk and pulled out a piece of paper. "Please take a look at this and arrange your schedule accordingly."
Kurama frowned at the man and his seemingly normal request. "Let us drop the pretenses, shall we?" There was no possible way that someone who was able to establish an organization like this one didn't know of Kurama's past, at least as far as his participation in the Dark Tournament, if not his involvement with Yomi. "Why did you invite me here? Tell me the truth, or I will extract it forcibly."
The chairman looked at the demon for a moment, studied him, and finally sighed. "Very well, if you're going to be so direct about it… Tell me, how many demons in this world possess enough power to actually cause a real threat to human life. I'm not talking about on a one on one basis, I'm talking of monsters like the ones that entered that Dark Tournament."
"If your talking about demons in the C-Class range with any real ability, then I would say that the total number of creatures within that category in this world number somewhere around one-hundred to five hundred. D-Class probably number close to ten-thousand, and the rest are E or F, the later of which being only slightly above an average human," Kurama surmised.
The chairman stared at the boy for a moment, then coughed into a fist. "I see…if I might ask, exactly what scale are you using to measure the ranks?"
"At the moment I stand in the upper ranges of the B-Class, if you want to use me as a point of reference," Kurama explained. "Although I do not currently know of any other demons at this level currently existing in the human realm, caution dictates that I must surmise at least a handful exist that try to keep out of the public eye. Now, answer my question and tell me why have you brought me to this place."
The man nodded to himself after a moment. "Different scale it is then…but I digress. The point I am trying to make Mr. Minamino, which I remind you that I explained when we met earlier, is that since humans rule the world and the majority of our kind cannot survive if revealed, then we must learn to co-exist with humans. As such, I founded this academy many years ago in order to teach young monsters how to integrate into human society. An ideal I believe someone like yourself can relate to.
"In all honesty, I'd normally stay the hell away from someone like you. Not only are there scores of demons lying dead at your feet, but your connections with the Spirit World would allow you to easily expose this academy to hostile forces that would demolish it given half the chance. However, last year there were several…difficulties involving numerous factions that wished to undo my work here and came within a hair's breath of succeeding. This led me to believe that someone such as yourself was needed here in order to stop a repeat of last year from occurring."
Again, I don't sense any deception from him, Kurama told himself as he mulled over the chairman's proposal. But the idea seemed…to be frank, ludicrous. "And if I refuse?"
"Then I am undone, and this academy falls apart faster than I had anticipated it would," the chairman answered as he put up his hands in a shrug. "All that really changes is the amount of time it takes. Without the aid of several students, I am afraid that my project is doomed to die a slow death. Then we go back to the old days, with demons living apart from humans in fear and vice versa, each ones heroes hunting and killing the others. A sad state of affairs all around.
"To avoid this, I decided to bring in someone such as yourself, who has experience dealing with several different kinds of problems the school has faced, and dilemmas that even I have little experience in dealing with. I know someone with your background would have to think of a world were humans and demons can live together is neither a foolish dream, nor an impossibility."
Kurama ran through the options in front of him, and sighed. He hadn't considered something like this when he had first come to this school. But still, it was a school filled with demons. Even if they were pretending to be humans, that didn't make it so. If it hadn't been for the contact with his human mother, Kurama knew he never would have changed to be the person he was now. More than likely the same would hold true for most of the creatures dwelling here. They were just being taught how to blend in. Which would end up making most of them all the more dangerous.
"Allow me to think over your proposal. I'll have you an answer by the end of the week."
Author's notes: A quick note about the continuality. Currently Yusuke is still in the demon world and will be there for the remainder of the year, while Kuwabara is also just entering high school. Tsukune is starting his second year at Yokai Academy.