A/N: Well, here is my first Blue Exorcist story, though it'll only be the first chapter until I get some feedback on how this is so I can decide on whether or not I should post any more. Also, there are six footnotes in this chapter, so just be aware of that. Thank you for reading, and please review so I know how my very first Blue Exorcist story is :D
Summary: Mon, a Chinese student recently transferred to True Cross Academy; Bon, a hot-headed genius of a student whose silently implied job is to stop Mon from getting too far lost in translation; Furfur, a demon with a score to settle with a certain remote village. Put them together, what do you get? This story.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Blue Exorcist characters that may or may not appear. The only ones I own are the ones that don't belong to Kazue Kato, got it? Good :D
Dragon Tamer
Chapter One
With a clatter of heels two people stopped in front a strangely ornate doorway; from within the room the sound of frustrated muttering resounded, making the young girl outside even more nervous than she already was. There were already a number of quavering thoughts running through her head, not a single one positive.
This place looks like something out of a fantasy mànhuà(1)...Was one of the things she thought, looking around the corridor at the tiled floor, the high roof, the door, everything; it was all so different to what she was used to. I can't understand a word they're saying in there! I'm doomed, I'll never understand Japanese! Everything Dad taught me's just gone... The girl groaned inwardly as the young man next to her smiled slightly and said something that she couldn't understand. He opened the door and stepped inside, motioning for her to follow him. At least I can understand body language...that hasn't changed.
"Right! I think that's enough from you, Mr Okumura," An elderly, dumpy woman with an odd accent called above the floundering voice of one of the male students. Without much of a complaint the boy dropped the book out of his hands and sat down, seemingly relieved to not have to read from whatever it was that had been assigned.
"Christ, you can't even read somethin' that simple? What the hell's wrong with you?"
The boy who had so recently sat down turned in his seat to look at one of the other male students, a glare fixed on his face. He was a good looking boy, with blue eyes and dark hair, but it seemed that he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. "You wanna say that to my face?" He growled, only causing the other boy to laugh and glare back, leaning back in his seat.
"Heh," the laid back one muttered, turning his face away from his adversary. This boy looked like most delinquents; he had dark brown hair which had a large blonde stripe going down the middle and back, as well as a number of piercings in each ear. Even if he did seem to be wearing the right uniform, he didn't seem friendly in the least. "Just 'cause you can't handle the truth!"
"Bon, don't start on Rin," the boy sitting beside the one called 'Bon' said, leaning towards his friend slightly. "It's not worth the trouble."
"You bastard..."Rin muttered, seemingly ready to get up and start a fight in the middle of class; and he would have, if it wasn't for the people who had just walked in, one being a young man in uniform, and the other being a very confused looking girl.
What the hell are these people saying...? Panicked, the girl fidgeted nervously as she stood out the front of the minimal class. Looking out at the people in front of her, she just knew if they stared at her much longer she was going to be sick; the after effects of the flight over weren't helping.
"Well," the young man who seemed to be a teacher despite his age, said in what seemed to be almost complete gibberish to the girl, "Here is the new student I told you all about. She has very little Japanese and has transferred here from an exorcist's school in Xi'an, China; her name is Onishi Mon, I hope you will all treat her well."
"Hmm?" Rin muttered, staring stupidly at Mon standing out the front. "But she has a Japanese name, doesn't she, Yukio?"
Yukio, the young man standing beside Mon sighed and propped his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Rin, but I don't have time to explain all this now. Anyway," Yukio turned to Mon. "How about you go and sit next to Konekomaru? I'm sure he will be able to help you catch up."
Huh? What's he saying? Why's he looking at me like that? Oh god! What do I do? Mon looked frightfully from Yukio to the class in front of her, not really knowing what to do. It seemed as if all the basics of Japanese which her father had taught her before she arrived had simply left her; her head was sore, her stomach felt queasy, and she hadn't the slightest idea as to why her mother had agreed with her father to come to Japan. Ah dear god!
Yukio sighed as he once again adjusted his glasses, and turned towards the class. "Konekomaru, please raise your hand for Miss Onishi."
"Yes, sir," Konekomaru, the boy sitting behind Bon said, raising his hand slightly and watching as Mon tried to make the connection between his raised hand, and Yukio motioning towards him.
Oh! Mon put her hand over her mouth as her face began to redden; I need to go sit next to the one with glasses...but what's his name? Gritting her teeth, Mon ignored the questions that ran through her head and headed down the aisle between the tables to sit next to Konekomaru.
Konekomaru was a small boy from what Mon could tell, he looked no taller than her, and she thought she was short. He had sticky-outy ears, large red glasses, and a close shaven head; to her he looked like a little monk.
That's it! That's what I'll call him! 'Little Monk'! Mon's face lit up as that realisation hit her; even if she didn't know their names, she could just call them something that she could remember them by, if not their names. Now, what about the rest of them...She mused, her chin resting in her hand as she looked around the classroom.
Looking around the classroom, Mon was already noticing some strange characters; she already knew the ones sitting beside and in front of her, but there was also a girl with dark hair and strange, reddish eyes, and sitting next to Rin was a shy looking blonde girl; the weirdest of all was probably the boy sitting right at the front by himself with a puppet on his hand.
Hmm, she thought, looking from one person to the next, maybe it'll be harder to give these people nicknames than I thought...huh? Mon's musings were soon interrupted by the confusing voice of one of the boys in front of her; this one was the one who had tried to cool down the fight between Bon and Rin. He had turned around in his seat and was trying to talk to Mon, albeit in Japanese. Oddly enough he had pink hair. Mon couldn't help but pray that it was dyed.
"Hey, you're Mon, aren't you?" The boy was saying, grinning slightly, not even pretending to pay attention to the teacher who was seemingly lecturing the class on some Bible verse. The boy not only had strangely coloured hair, but he had such an air of carefreeness and laziness around him that it was almost concerning. "That's a pretty name, but why've you got a Japanese name if you're Chinese, eh?"
"什么(2)?" Mon simply stared at the boy in front of her, not even trying to speak in Japanese; she was too confused and nervous, so she simply talked in her native language, Chinese. She could tell by the look on the pink haired boy's face that she had confused him just as much as he had confused her.
"Ah, well, here's an interesting problem..." He said, scratching his head and laughing as Mon continued to flounder in everything lost in translation.
Mon looked to Konekomaru –or as she knew him, 'Little Monk'- as he said something to the pink haired boy. I'm doomed... was the one thought that went through Mon's head as she looked from one to the other, trying to make sense of their foreign communications.
"Shima," Konekomaru said to the pink haired boy, a frown on his face. "Can't you tell that she can't understand what you're saying? Don't confuse her any more than she already is."
Shima, the pink haired boy looked at Konekomaru with mock hurt. "Don't say that Koneko! I'm just trying to be civil to such a pretty lady!" Once again he grinned at Mon, causing her to be even more scared of the people she had been forced to sit with.
Damn the bastard that made me sit here! She thought, hanging her head as 'Little Monk' and 'Pinkie's conversation passed on around her, unintelligible.
"Keh, will you two just leave it?"
Mon lifted her head as another voice joined in the conversation; she couldn't understand what this person was saying, but she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was either annoyed, or very good at acting annoyed. The most she could get out of the conversation was that this one, the one with the blonde skunk stripe in his hair, was arguing with the other two, namely Shima, 'Pinkie'.
"It's obvious she can't understand what any of us are saying, so just leave her." Bon said, turning away from Konekomaru and Mon. "We're in the middle of class anyway...why'd that damn Mister Okumura have to dump her with us? Damn it...she can't even understand Japanese, so what the hell's she doin' here?"
"Now, now, Bon," Shima said, turning away from Konekomaru and Mon. "There's no reason to be so rude to Beppin-san(3)."
Bon scoffed and continued to ignore Shima, Konekomaru and Mon, seeming to be concentrating on the lesson they were in.
That was...odd... Mon thought, and slightly terrifying. She sighed as she finally looked up to the teacher out the front of the classroom; even if she couldn't really understand what anyone was saying, she was starting to pick out some words that she remembered. None that seemed to be any help though, unfortunately. The best she could do was sit there and pretend she understood at least a little of what everyone was saying.
Sighing, Mon put her head in her hands and listened to the muted gibberish around her; she knew she would be lucky to get by in the exorcist's cram school, she thought she would have even more trouble than Rin, the boy who was obviously having trouble reading things out aloud. Her school life was going to be interesting.
X
Outside it was hot enough so as to see the heat rising off any and all flat surfaces. The sun was at its pinnacle, burning down upon everyone and everything within its grasp; it seemed to be mocking them all. Any student at True Cross that was crazy enough to be outside would have to be turning into a lobster by the time they got inside. No matter, it seemed that three people didn't have much of a problem with the heat, or at least, none of them showed whether it was bothering them or not.
"Gah, what was with that chick?" Bon, one of the three boys sitting outside said almost fuming; certainly not good for him in that weather. By then, the previous class, the one in which Mon had first been introduced to the cram school students was over, and everyone now had a break before, it seemed, a PE class. Konekomaru, Shima, and Bon were all wearing purple track suits, and were sitting on the edge of a water fountain.
"Now, Bon," Shima said, mock hurt once again taking over his facial features. "Why're you being so mean to Beppin-san? It's not her fault! Maybe I should ask her for her number..." He mumbled with a euphoric grin on his face. Even though Shima had only mumbled the last part, Konekomaru and Bon both heard.
Konekomaru said, "Shima, you need to purge yourself of your worldly desires; are you a monk or not?"
Shima stared at Konekomaru, his eyes going wide with pretend shock. "Koneko, you're so mean!" By the way Konekomaru sighed, and how Bon just ignored what Shima was saying pointed to them having similar conversations quite a bit –probably more often than was healthy. "Where'd she go, anyway?"
Bon sighed, "Who knows?"
"Mm-hm," Konekomaru agreed, nodding his head. "Isn't it about time we go to class now, anyway? Maybe we'll see her there, if she doesn't get lost."
Bon simply grunted a reply, and Shima nodded, all concerns seeming non-existent in his head. As they made their way to their next class, it seemed as if they each had forgotten all about Mon.
X
That was traumatising. Mon thought as she tried to find her way to her next class. And it's so hot! Growling as she wiped the back of her hand across her forehead, Mon once again looked at the piece of paper in her hands; on it was a list of times, classes and places, though all of them were written in Japanese. It seemed that she was even worse at reading Japanese words than she was at speaking, because she had somehow managed to end up in a number of places, each one obviously not being the place she was meant to be; one of them being the cafeteria.
The heat wasn't helping as Mon stopped beside a tiered fountain and looked around; she could see a few students walking around, both to and from classes, or just walking around for the hell of it, but there was nothing and no one that she knew. She realised that she was utterly lost, and the size of the school was making things even harder for her. Who makes a school this freaking big anyway? It's like a damn city!
Sighing, she resigned herself to sitting by the fountain and watching the other students walk around, not seeming to realise just how large and daunting their school was to someone like Mon. Holding the paper in front of her she tried one last time to figure out what it said.
Even if she probably wouldn't be able to make it to her next class, or even the one after that – if there was one after that- she could at least sit beside the fountain. She like the look of it, the stone work, the tiers, the water flowing out, around, and back up to start its route again; she liked the light from the sun, even if she didn't like the heat. She was also happy that she could at least find her way back to her dorm room if everything else failed.
"Huh?" Mon muttered, looking up as a few voices headed towards her. To her horror, it just had to be the three boys from her class before; 'Little Monk', 'Pinkie' and 'Skunk' – as Mon had so recently decided to call the one with the stripe, Bon. Shima, who had been the one to scare Mon the most, stopped in front of her, closer than the other two with a casual smile on his face.
"You know, you should probably get to class now, it's going to start soon." He said, smiling and resting his hands behind his head.
Mon just stared at him, once again not understanding what he was saying. She couldn't help but wonder: When in hell will this guy understand that I don't understand a word he's saying? Maybe if I just yell at him in Chinese he'll go away and leave me be... Sighing, Mon just shrugged and shook her head, trying to indicate that she didn't know what Shima was saying.
"Ah, well," Was the only thing Shima said before looking back to Bon and Konekomaru, as if for backup; "What do we do?" was clearly visible as the expression on his face.
Konekomaru just shrugged and laughed nervously, obviously not sure what to do, while Bon just looked at Shima like he was either insane or quite thick, possibly both. Mon was sure to be confused and scared once again.
Bon took a few steps towards Mon and just stared at her; Mon couldn't tell what he was thinking, but by the slightly mean look on Bon's face, she didn't think it was anything good. From the slight flush on his cheeks from the heat of the sun, the glinting of his piercings, she was certainly not sure what was going to happen at all.
That was why when he took a hold of her wrist and started to drag her away from the fountain, she was about ready to open her mouth and scream; but when Bon turned around and said something to her, she could easily tell even without actually knowing what he said, that she shouldn't say anything, let alone scream.
Th-th-th-this is kidnapping, isn't it? Was the thought that ran through her head as she walked –or was being dragged- behind Bon. As she looked around and behind her, she could see that Konekomaru and Shima were following. The former had a slight look of concern on his face, and the latter looking about ready to burst with laughter.
"Hey, Bon," Shima said, jogging to catch up with his friend. "What d'you think this looks like to everyone else, eh? Dragging some girl off to god knows where..."
"Shima..." Was all that Bon mumbled in reply, not loosening his grip on Mon's wrist in the slightest.
Inwardly Mon sighed, giving up her internal struggle with whether or not to try and get away from these people; she simply decided to go along with them and trust that they weren't as scary as had crossed her mind. This time sighing aloud, she couldn't help but wonder just what her mother had gotten her into by sending her to True Cross Academy.
X
This...is not what I signed up for...
Mon stared, open mouthed down into the circular pit where two other students were fighting each other; she could easily tell that it was only practice for real battles, but either way she was slightly scared. She had no idea whether or not she would be called to go down into the pit to verse one of the other students, and she definitely hoped she wouldn't. She didn't know what she would do if she had to fight one of the students; to her they looked too strong for her.
Standing on a platform above the circular pit was the one who Mon could only see as the teacher; he was a middle-aged man wearing the same uniform as the young man that had introduced her to her first class. This one was standing on the platform as if he owned the place, but he also had a weird air about him; unknown to Mon, his name was known to the students as Mr Tsubaki.
"All right!" He said, raising his hand in the air to indicate the end of the match. "That's enough!" Mr Tsubaki had to repeat himself a couple of times and even get down into the pit and try to break up the fight before the two boys in the pit stopped wrestling each other. It just so happened that the two who had –begrudgingly- stopped their fight were both Bon and Rin. Both of them had quickly declared that they would beat the other before they hurried into an all-out brawl. They were lucky that the teacher let them go on for as long as they did; though they came out with more bruises then they probably intended to get.
"Honestly, those idiots..." One girl with dark hair and strangely shaped eyebrows who was sitting a little way off from Mon muttered, shaking her head as she watched the pair of boys climb up the ladder. The teacher was also making his way back to the small circular platform above the pit.
"I swear I'll beat you." Rin muttered as he reached the top of the pit and sat down, letting out a long held sigh of relief. It seemed that even if he hadn't been beaten by Bon, he hadn't won either.
Bon scoffed as he sat down with Konekomaru and Shima, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead. "You'll never beat me, and you'll never defeat Satan!" He said glaring daggers back at Rin.
Rin growled and glared straight back at Bon, ready to retort, though he stopped mid-way through opening his mouth as a sweet looking blonde girl crouched down and sat beside him. "Ah, Shiemi!" He muttered, obviously a little startled.
"Well done, Rin," Shiemi said, smiling at Rin. "You were good against Suguro."
"Uh, yeah..." Rin muttered, looking away from Shiemi, obviously blushing – though Shiemi seemed totally oblivious to it all.
"Strange..." Mon muttered. Even though she didn't understand the words everyone was saying, she could at least tell a little bit by what they were doing when they spoke. She still had no idea what to do about anything though; the fact that she was the only one still wearing the formal uniform was making her feel awkward as well as simply nervous.
As Mon continued to look Rin over, she noticed how he was carrying a wooden sword with him; she was fairly sure he had had it with him the first time she saw him, in class as well, but she couldn't be sure. She could already tell he was going to be an interesting classmate.
"Next we will have," Mr Tsubaki yelled from his spot above the pit, scanning the small number of people as if searching for his next victim. "How about you, Miss Kamiki Izumo, and you Miss Onishi Mon?"
"Okay," the girl with the dark hair and strange eyebrows said, standing up and sliding down the wall into the pit below.
A complete silence ensued; the Leaper's cages that sat in the middle of the pit were empty for the class and none of the students were making any noise except for Izumo, who was walking around in the pit below. After a few moments, Mr Tsubaki's voice drifted down from his spot above the pit; "Miss Onishi, would you please climb down into the pit!"
It took a few more moments and a few more brain taxing internal translations before Mon understood what was going on. Oh... She thought, feeling her cheeks redden. He actually wants me to go down there and fight against...that girl... Thinking there was nothing to be done about it despite her nerves and doubts; she squared her shoulders and headed towards the ladder, climbing down into the pit below.
As she came to stand near Izumo, she could hear some talking coming from above her. As always she didn't understand what they were saying, though she could pick out a few words like 'interesting' and 'watch'. She was even able to recognise some of the voices talking, but unfortunately not by name.
"Listen carefully!" Mr Tsubaki called down to Mon and Izumo, interrupting the conversations above. "This fight will be just like the one before, but do not act like Suguro and Okumura and turn it into a wrestling match!"
Bon scoffed and Rin growled at the last comment made by their teacher, though they made no further comments of their own.
"However," the teacher continued, "You are allowed to use whatever means necessary to win, but you are not to overly injure each other. This may be a form of combat training, but you do not need to incapacitate nor kill your opponent."
"Hey, Rin," Shiemi said, turning towards him. "What do you think this new girl will do?"
"I don't know," Rin said, shaking his head and looking down at Mon and Izumo. "We don't even know what Meister she's going for, so who knows? I doubt she even understood a thing Mister Tsubaki said."
Shiemi nodded her head in agreement, "Mm-hm," she muttered, turning slightly to watch just as the match was about to get under way.
"Do your best, Beppin-san!" Cupping his hands around his mouth, Shima yelled down to the two opponents as if without any sense of shame. From the look both Bon and Konekomaru gave him, they thought so too. "But you know," Shima said, lowering his hands. "Izumo's just as good an option to root for..."
"Shima..." Both Bon and Konekomaru muttered.
"Right," Mr Tsubaki called down to Izumo and Mon. "Ready, go!" He yelled for the fight to star, raising his hand into the air.
The moment the word "go" left Mr Tsubaki's mouth Izumo had two small squares of paper in one of her hands; straight away she bit her thumb hard enough to draw blood and promptly wiped it across both papers saying, "I humbly call the Gods of Harvest. Follow my wishes, leave none unfulfilled!"
"怎么回事(4)?" Mon couldn't help but speak in Chinese as she saw the familiars that Izumo had summoned; there were two of them, and they seemed to simply appear out of the air. They looked like white foxes, their tails disappearing into ghost like vapours; they had some strange black markings on their faces and coloured cloth around their necks. As they stood near Izumo, Mon couldn't help but wonder just what that girl's familiars were.
Shima, who was sitting almost anxiously above muttered, "Oh, I wonder what Beppin-san's going to do..." And from the looks on everyone else's faces, they were wondering the same; the girl had only arrived that day, and now they were probably going to find out what Meister type she was going for. It was pretty obvious that even though Mon had only arrived that morning that they were still curious about her; after all, a new addition to such a small class would be a bit strange.
Izumo closed her eyes as if to concentrate and said, "Quaver, gently quaver...rite of the quavering soul!" And without any hesitation her familiars went straight for Mon.
Mon had no idea what was really going on as the most she could do was close her eyes and protect her face as she felt the fox spirits move around her; she felt strong tugging at both her uniform and her hair, as if a strong wind was trying to knock her over. By the time she was able to open her eyes her hair had be blown all over the place and covered most of her face; she was also feeling dizzy and more than a little disoriented.
"Well this isn't good." Mon mumbled as she felt around the collar of her shirt, watching the spirits suspiciously as they returned to their master, albeit poised and ready for another attack. "Got it," she said as she pulled a medium sized pin out from her collar, though just as she started to roll up the long sleeves of her blouse Izumo called for her familiars to go again, and they went without any hesitation.
"Come on," Izumo called towards Mon, her hands on her hips and a smirk dancing across her lips as she watched her familiars dance around Mon once again. "This isn't supposed to be so one sided; why are you even here?"
From above Shima muttered, "That was harsh, Izumo..." as he watched the fight unravel; some of the other students like Rin and Shiemi were talking to each other as they watched, but Konekomaru, Bon and Takara, the one with the puppet, were watching it mostly silently.
What the hell's that girl doing? Was the thought that ran through Bon's mind as he watched the fight; from his viewpoint it looked like Mon was getting the crap beaten out of her by Izumo's fox spirits. The familiars continued to circle and attack Mon in various ways, starting to draw blood and bruise her, tearing her uniform; it looked as if Mon had never fought against a Tamer's familiars before.
From beside Shiemi, Rin continued watching the fight wondering if it was okay. "Is this fight even fair?" Rin called up to the teacher as he watched Mon once again get hit by Izumo's familiars, audibly hissing in pain.
Mr Tsubaki looked away from the fight for a moment to look over to the few students. "It may not seem fair, and if it goes too far then I will stop the fight, but at the moment there's nothing wrong!" Looking back to the fight and ignoring the dirty look given to him by Rin, he too wondered just what Mon was going to do, if anything.
Mon was breathing heavily by the time Izumo called her familiars back again; she was bleeding from a number of small cuts that stung like hell, she could feel some bruises forming, and parts of her uniform were torn; she glared as Izumo said something that was obviously not all that nice, even to Mon.
Finally, she's stopped those stupid cats... Mon thought as she finally rolled both her sleeves up to just above her elbows. What was on her arms caused a wave of confusion to run through the few people above; running up the top side of each arm and finishing just below her elbows was one line of characters per arm, obviously written in cursive and almost completely illegible. Wiping some blood off her face and pricking herself just below the writing with the pin she was still holding, she closed her eyes and got ready for the fox spirits to go after her again.
Ugh, I hate having to do that; it always hurts, no matter what... Mon thought, wincing slightly at the pain where she had pierced her skin.
"What's on her arms?" Was the general question that was asked by Shiemi and Rin, and Konekomaru and Shima; the only one who was able to even try to answer the question was Bon.
"It looks like Chinese writing, but it looks pretty different to anything I've seen," he said, folding his arms and trying to get a better look at the writing. "I think she's going to summon something." Is she a Tamer, too?
"Huh?" Izumo hesitated as she watched Mon start to wipe the blood up her left arm. "Heh, summoning something won't help you now; one more time," she looked to her familiars, "Quaver, quaver, rite of the quavering soul!"
The two fox spirits didn't even make it all the way to Mon. They only managed to get half way across the distance between Izumo and Mon before each one was stopped dead in their tracks; the look on Izumo's face was priceless.
"Wh-what's going on?" She asked staring at her familiars in disbelief as they each got thrown around by a seemingly invisible force. Each of the foxes was being thrown to the ground and into each other; they were growling and yelping in pain. "What's happening to them?"
Above the pit everyone was a perfect picture of shock –except Takara, of course; Rin and Shiemi were staring down at the fox spirits being thrown around like rag dolls with their mouths open fit for catching flies, Shima was the same, but he had a strange twinkle in his eyes, and Bon and Konekomaru were looking critically down at the creatures being attacked by, it seemed, nothing.
"What did that chick do?" Bon muttered, staring down at the scene. "If she had summoned a demon we'd be able to see it, right?" He asked, tearing his eyes away and looking at Konekomaru next to him; "right?"
Konekomaru nodded. "Yeah, we should be able to see it if it's a demon, but..." He left the rest of the sentence hanging, not quite sure how to finish it. What could Mon have summoned if no one in the class could see what it was –that is assuming that the others couldn't see it either? Did she even actually summon something, or was she doing something completely different to Izumo's familiars?
"What are you doing to my familiars?" Izumo snapped at Mon, clenching her fists by her sides and glaring at the girl in front of her as her fox familiars continued to be batted around on the ground. "What did you do?"
As Mon ran another line of blood up her other arm, presumably summoning something else, she coughed and tried to speak and say something that Izumo might be able to understand; she even tried to say it in Japanese, but it didn't seem to get through as Izumo just continued to glare at Mon and tried to call her familiars back.
"I," Mon began, trying to speak in Japanese instead of Chinese; she knitted her brow in concentration as she tried to pull together all the Japanese she could remember. "Onmyōji...is what I am." Shaking her head to try and clear it, she tried one more time as Izumo held the two pieces of paper in front of her, ready to be torn and release her familiars. "Shikigami," Mon said helplessly.
Shima almost laughed. "She has such a funny accent!"
"Huh?" Rin muttered almost under his breath. "Onmyōji? Shikigami? Is she really speaking Japanese? What the hell is she talking about? She made more sense when she was talking in Chinese!" Rin wove his hands into his hair and grit his teeth as he tried to make sense of what Mon had said.
Rin turned to look at Bon as he started to explain, not taking his eyes off the fight in the pit: "Onmyōji were specialists in divination and magic; they used to have the responsibility of keeping track of things in astronomy, nature, the keeping of time and calendars," he unfolded his arms and stood up, never taking his concentration away from Mon. "And a Shikigami is a type of demon an Onmyōji is supposed to be able to control, like an exorcist's familiar. Shikigami are invisible, even to us, I guess."
"Huh..."
"So you control Shikigami?" Izumo asked, still poised to tear the seals. "That would make you a Tamer, wouldn't it? Whatever." Just as Izumo began to tear the paper she noticed something strange; her familiars were no longer being attacked by the invisible Shikigami, they were just standing there looking around as if searching for the creatures that had attacked them.
"The abominations are gone," one of the foxes said.
"That was tiring," Mon muttered reverting back to Chinese; she stumbled forward a bit and put one hand to her forehead and the other out to steady herself. "But why's the floor moving...?" Before Mr Tsubaki or anyone else could do anything, Mon collapsed face first to the ground, her hair splaying out around her.
"Beppin-san!" Shima yelled as he stood up and followed the others who had jumped down into the pit –namely Bon, Shiemi, Rin and Konekomaru; Takara didn't hurry. Mr Tsubaki and Shiemi were the first ones to Mon's side.
The teacher turned Mon over and knelt down beside her; he checked her over a couple of times, checking that she was breathing, that her heart was steady and so on. By the time he spoke Mon's breathing had become the kind you would hear from someone in a deep sleep. "She's okay," Mr Tsubaki said, sitting up. "She collapsed because she was tired, probably."
"Heh," Bon scoffed and folded his arms across his chest, saying: "Of course, but more likely because she's weak then anythin' else."
"At least she's okay..." Rin muttered, kneeling beside Mon.
Shima nodded, "Yeah," he said, relieved.
Bon looked at Mon as she lay on the ground; her hands twitched and her mouth looked to be forming words, though she didn't say anything. She seemed to just be asleep more than unconscious; Bon could've sworn he heard her stomach growl. What is up with this girl? Bon thought as Mr Tsubaki's phone rang a couple of times before he answered it.
Mr Tsubaki turned away from the students and partially covered his mouth with his free hand. "I'll be right there, my kitten..." He muttered before hanging up and turning back to his students. "Alright," he said, placing his hands on his hips. "One of you take Miss Onishi to her dorm room –it should be written down with her classes somewhere, check her pocket- and get a Doctor class to take a look at her. I have some business to attend to," he added. "So I will be back some time later." And with that, he ran off with the students staring after him.
"So," Izumo said as she walked up to everyone around Mon. "Who's going to take her and check her pockets?"
"You make it sound like we're going to mug her!" Shima laughed, crouching down. "Well, I guess I might as well do it." He said, reaching towards the pocket of her skirt. "Hey!" He said as someone grabbed a hold of his wrist; he turned around to see Bon crouching beside him, glaring.
"You're not going to do anything to her," Bon said as he pulled Shima's hand away and he went to searching her pocket. After a moment with Shima complaining to him and Konekomaru once again lecturing him on discarding his worldly desires, Bon pulled out the piece of paper that had Mon's classes, times, rooms and so on written on it. He looked it over a bit before he stood up, picking Mon up with him.
"What're you doing?" Rin asked as he stood up as well.
Glaring, Bon said, "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm gonna take her back to her dorm. You go get Mr Okumura or some other Doctor class and tell them to go to the dorm room on the timetable." He handed Rin the paper he had looked at, nodding to it as Rin took it.
Rin looked it over just as Bon had and nodded. "Okay," he said. "I'll go get Yukio." And with that he left the same way the teacher had with Shiemi following after him, jogging to keep up.
"C'mon," Bon called over his shoulder to Shima and Konekomaru as he too, started to leave.
"Yep," both Konekomaru and Shima said, following Bon as he carried Mon away, cradling her.
"Wait!" Izumo called after them. "You're just going to leave me here with Takara?" When there was no reply, all Izumo could do was glare in the direction everyone had gone. Those bastards... She thought glancing at Takara as he seemingly held a telepathic conversation with the puppet on his hand.
X
A single thought floated through Mon's clouded mind; it's warm. That fact was the only thing she could think of, that and that she seemed to be somewhere warm and comfortable like her room back in Xi'an. Xi'an... Mon's rapidly clearing mind began to put together more thoughts. But I'm not in Xi'an, am I? As that realisation settled and her eyelids began to flutter open, the sight Mon was greeted with was a strange one.
Mon bolted upright from where she was lying. "Nĭ zuò shénme ne(5)?" She yelled at the ones who had been leaning over her when she woke up. Standing around the room were Bon, Konekomaru, Shima, Rin, Shiemi, and the one who had originally introduced her to the class, Yukio. As she looked around at them, her heart racing she wondered what had happened to her to have her end up back in her dorm room, not being able to remember.
"It's okay," Yukio said, stepping towards Mon. "You collapsed during your physical training class. Suguro brought you back here," he said the last part as he nodded towards the ones behind him, namely Bon – or Skunk, as Mon still thought of him as. He wouldn't meet Mon's eyes when she looked at him.
"You're okay now, aren't you?" Rin asked from beside Bon, a grin on his face. "With someone like Yukio looking after you you'll be great in no time!"
Mon smiled; even if she didn't completely understand what he had said, she knew by his grin that it had been something good. To her Rin was certainly interesting, and he seemed like a really nice guy. No wonder that blonde girl seemed to be such good friends with him... Mon thought, having to supress a giggle.
Shima grinned and pointed to himself. "I could take care of you just as well," he said.
That time Mon really did laugh. She could tell just by the way Shima talked that he was trying to chat her up, and she could tell that he would just about say anything to any girl. "Um," Mon said, trying to pull up the Japanese word she was thinking of. "Sank you(6)?"
Mon's face reddened as Shima all but broke into fits of laughter. Just as Mon was wondering what she had said wrong, Shima said, "That's such a cute accent! You should speak in Japanese more often, Beppin-san!"
"Shima," Konekomaru said, shaking his head. "You're worrying her, stop laughing."
As Shima started to calm down and Rin said something else that Mon couldn't quite understand, Yukio tried to talk to her. She wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying –not that she would be able to understand it all that well anyway, he was probably just saying something about staying and resting for the day, drink plenty of fluids, et cetera, et cetera. Really, her mind and eyes were focused on one person in particular; Bon.
Mon had finally managed to pick up on a few names, and she had figured out that the pink haired one was called Shima, and that the one with the skunk stripe was called Suguro by the teachers, but Bon by everyone else. When Yukio had said something and nodded towards Bon, she could figure out that he was the one that had brought her back to her room. She could almost say that she was deathly embarrassed as well as slightly freaked out.
As Yukio finished his spiel Mon tore her attention away from Bon and simply nodded. After saying something to everyone and leaving with the others filing out of the room behind him, Mon wondered what to do.
"A Chinese to Japanese dictionary's what I need..." She muttered, going back to Chinese, as she stood up and started to search through her belongings that were scattered around the room. Eventually she found what she was looking for; a Chinese to Japanese dictionary that her dad had given to her before she left Shibuya –where her family was now living- for True Cross Academy.
Mon picked up her time table that was sitting on her desk and sat with it, the dictionary and a pen on her bed, ready to translate and hopefully learn a bit more Japanese.
Finis
Footnotes:
1 "mànhuà" Chinese name for "comics" or "manga"
2 "什么?" Chinese word (shénme), meaning "What?"
3 "Beppin-san" Japanese Kansai-ben pet name (別嬪さん) meaning something like "Pretty Lady"
4 "怎么回事？" Chinese phrase (zenme hui shi), meaning "What the...?"
5 "Nĭ zuò shénme ne?" another phrase (你做什么呢?), meaning basically "What are you doing?" (for future reference, "shénme" means "what")
6 "Sank you？" This time Mon tried to speak in Japanese; the reason the "thank" is spelt like "sank" is because of the accent Mon would have when speaking Japanese. She's saying it kind of like a question because she's not sure if she got it right.
A/N: Well, there's the first chapter...kind of long, but whatever, I wanted it to be since I won't be posting the rest unless I get some feedback, whether it's good or bad, I don't mind :D I've got a lot more written up already, but I want feedback, so...yeah, anyway, please, PLEASE review. Reviews are like my own personal brand of heroin...hopefully you lot'll kill me for making a Twilight reference.