A Friendship True

Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire or any other references, only the characters I come up with :P

Chapter 1: New and Old Friends + a Vampire

It was a seemingly normal day at Youkai Academy when the final bell of the day rang. Students told teachers goodbye and either headed to their dorms, clubs, or other after school activities. One specific club had a meeting scheduled so that they could finish up before their deadline. It was the school's Newspaper club, they needed to complete their paper so that they could pass out the news the following morning. The first to arrive in the club room was Gin, a six foot second-year student who had black hair held back by a red band, his eyes were brown, and he wore a silver choker with a wolf head emblem on it, conveniently he was the club's president, "Well I'm never this early, how did I manage this?" Suddenly the sounds of screams echoed throughout the halls, "Ahh, there's my answer!" He chortled as he pulled out his camera.

After Gin arrived he saw that Tskune, Moka, and Kurumu were surrounded by a mob meant purely for Tskune, but from a bystanders point-of-view it was different. It was then that a baritone voice cut through the air, "Hey pick on someone your own size!" Gin turned to see a hulking figure that stood at about six-foot-five, his shoulders looked wide enough to fill a doorway, he looked well toned and powerful, he had brownish-black hair and hazel-blue eyes, He wore a pair of long black athletic shorts along with a black T-shirt and you could see tattoos wrapping around his arms and legs in a double spiral pattern, but what seemed a tiny bit strange was that he had a black leather necklace that clung to his neck and had golden runes written upon it. He took off his large black duffel bag and handed it to Gin, "Hold onto that please, this won't be long."

"We don't wanna hurt you, you ain't done nuttin' against us." Someone said.

"Well, you brought me into this when you decided to attack the innocent!" The giant of a man squatted down and placed his right hand on the ground in a three-point stance, "I'll be generous and give you a five second head start." He began counting down using his free hand. Instantly the mob turned tail and ran as if their lives depended on it. Once all the extra folk were gone, the man took the bag from Gin and walked over to Tskune, "Sup dude, its been quite the while hasn't it Tskune?" His tone was warm and friendly as he addressed the brown haired, brown eyed boy who looked up in wonder.

"Tskune who is this giant desu?" Yukari asked rather bluntly.

"Hmm. . .can you give me a hint at least?" Tsunke asked the large man.

"Sure," The man reached into his shirt and pulled out something that looked small, old, and weathered, he squatted sown and showed it to the much smaller Tskune, "I've been through hell to keep this in shape."

Tskune examined the item and saw that it was an ornate necklace that had a gold cross which had an ornate obsidian stone in the intersection, also there were blue topaz stones on the four sides of the cross, then it hit him. "Z! Dear gawd, I haven't seen you in five years!" He stuck out his hand which Z gladly shook, "It's good to see you, but how'd you get here though?"

"That's a long story for another time, right now I'm looking for Miss Nekonome at the moment."

"Why? School's over." Kurumu asked while sauntering over to him, her light blue pony tail swayed slightly with each step toward him, she looked up with her violet eyes and decided to have some fun, she tried her 'charm' ability at its strongest effect while pressing her more than generous bust against him.

"Nice try, but I've been affected by stronger succubae than you, luckily I was able to break free." He smiled while gently moving her back, "To answer your question, it's because I just want to meet my new homeroom teacher."

"She's our club sponsor, so you can meet her later if you want to, but right now we have a newspaper to finish drafting!" Gin said enthusiastically.

Kurumu smacked Gin in the head, "We got it covered pervert. C'mon we have work to do."

"Mind if I sit in? I promise to be quiet." Z asked.

"Why not? We'll probably use you for a good opinion." Tskune smiled eagerly, the girls noticed a considerable change in Tskune's liveliness, "We don't have much more to go anyway."

Soon they were all in the classroom working diligently to finish what little work they had left to do even though they had plenty of time left in the day.

Z had sat down at a large table in the back and pulled out three items from his duffel bag: a laptop that looked next to brand-new, an pod, and an accordion binder about three inches thick. Tskune looked over to his friend to see that he was swaying with his music and reading something on the screen. Z was oblivious of Tskune sneaking up on him until Tskune tapped him on the shoulder and then he popped out one ear bud. The large man looked over his shoulder, "What's up?"

"Just wanted to see what you were doing." Tskune then grabbed the binder and looked at the tabs labeled with the names of multiple women he never heard of, until he came across a familiar name: Mizore Shirayuki. He then walked over to Z, "Where did you meet her?" He pointed to the name.

"Oh, about four years ago, I passed through her little mountain village and stayed at their inn, she was a good looker, purple hair and blue pupiless eyes, but the best part was the hot springs they had, almost as good as the one in Iceland!" Z grinned stupidly. He then turned off his ipod and looked at Tskune, but saw an ominous flash in the window, "OH SHIT, NO!" He leapt for the door and almost made it, "RUN AWAY!" But it was too late, his legs had been encased in ice, "Save me Tskune!" He cried out, only to be ignored, "Oh, I am sooooo getting you back for this." Then a blurred figure flew in and landed on Z, "AHHHHHH!" The giant man screamed in a very unmanly way.

"Z-kuuuuuuuuuun! You came back to me!" Mizore cooed as she proceeded to fondle and press against him.

"Oh gawd this isn't right!" Z cried out.

"Oh come on, you wanted this three years ago." She whispered seductively in Z's ear.

"Again, that was YOU in MY bed when I got back from the hot springs and you knew that I moved around in my sleep!" He sighed, "Why me Mizore, don't you like Tskune?"

"Yes, he'll be my lover, you'll be my pet." She had reverted back to normal cold tone of voice which sent a chill down his spine.

"Pet?" Z had never thought he'd be reduced to such a term, and hell would freeze over before he let that happen. He closed his eyes and with as much force as he could, he forced his legs outward and shattered the ice, "AHA! Freedom!"

"Now that that's outta the way, we are finished with the draft, but I feel that it needs something new to make it more interesting, any ideas?" Gin asked.

"Do you have a short story or a column that answers letters and gives advice?" Z asked.

"No, but those are good ideas!"

"I can take care of those sections, I have more than enough stories to choose from, but the trouble is in needing to find a letter from someone needing advice." Z said.

"Actually, Ms. Nekonome gave me these this morning," Gin held up three letters that he pulled from his jacket pocket, "She said that I should talk to the club about them."

"Perfect!" Z grabbed the middle letter of the three and took his seat once more, "This will take about half an hour." He said after beginning to read the letter.

Thirty minutes later after the club paid intense attention to how swiftly he typed with minuscule error in his work, "Done!" Z exclaimed proudly. He then turned his computer so that everyone could see his work, as everyone read the column, the emotions played across the girls' faces like a movie on the silver screen. By the end of it all there were tears in their eyes, "That's so beautiful!" Kurumu started to dry her eyes .

"That was rather moving." Moka sniffled.

"It was amazing desu!" Yukari said.

"That is some of the best writing I've ever seen!" Gin patted Z on the back.

"So do I pass the test?" Z asked with a wide grin.

"Yeas you do, we'll use that letter and you can pick a story to use."

"I have one in mind already, just hand me a draft sheet, I have a program I can use to print out the page, but I'll have to take about ten minutes to do it, why don't yall go get a drink from the vending machines?" Z asked while Kurumu handed him the draft sheet.

"Sure, you want anything to drink?" Tskune asked.

"Water would be nice thank you." Z said as he started to pull up another program on the computer. They all left to get drinks while the giant man sat there working.

"Who exactly is that man Tskune?" Kurumu asked after latching herself to his left arm, "He cares for others just like you do, and he wrote that amazing column in just thirty minutes!"

"I don't think anybody else I know could do such a good job in that time frame." Gin said.

"So how did you meet him Tskune?" Moka asked while taking Tskune's other arm.

"Well it was a cold and rainy day before I had started the 5th grade. I saw him chasing off some delinquents that were messing with him, so I walked up with my umbrella and asked him what was wrong, I'll never forget what he said about the bully's insults, 'I coulda eaten alphabet soup and shitted a better insult.' That cracked me up." He took a deep breath and sighed, "After that I invited him for dinner at my house, we've been friends ever since, even though we haven't talked in five years we still have that bond."

"Typical Tskune, slow to judge" Gin said

On their way back from the long trek to the vending machine, the troupe talked about their new friend. As they strolled back into the room, they saw Z packing something into his duffel bag, "Back so soon?" Z joked.

"This looks amazing!" Gin was looking the draft sheet over for any problems, "Oh yes, this will be a big hit with everyone, especially the ladies!"

"That's always a good thing." Z chuckled lightly.

After that Ms. Nekonome came in and Z was introduced to her, then she was informed that he had joined the newspaper club, "Well then, I guess we'll have to put a bio in the next issue then." She said.

"I'll write it!" Tskune said.

The Next Day

The Newspaper club set up outside the school entrance once again so that they could sell the papers. Z showed up in the black athletic shorts and a thick black wet suit tee that showed off his huge toned biceps, "Sorry I'm late guys, overslept a bit."

"It's okay, we just got here too." Kurumu said with a slight yawn.

"Alright, so where are the customers?" Z asked only to hear voices approaching from behind him, he looked back to see many figures approaching from the dorms' direction, "Alright, lets share the news with our public shall we?" He asked in a rich character tone.

After about forty-five minutes enough people came by to get all the papers, save the one or two extras. During the span of time there were girls, both teary eyed from his articles and flirtatious, that came to him giving him slightly more attention than he would ask for. Closer to the end of their selling period, there weren't as many people around, but a beautiful freshman walked up to the group, "Which one of you is Z?" She asked timidly while nervously playing with her fingers. Six fingers pointed to Z who grinned sheepishly, "Th-th-thank you v-very much." The petite girl stuttered slightly with a light pink tint in her cheeks.

"Would you come here for a minute?" Z asked while motioning over to a spot slightly away from the group where he squatted to reach her level, "I'd like to thank you for sending in that letter, I couldn't have written that article so well without it."

"You could have, I-I w-was a coward, I couldn't ask anyone for help in person so I..."

Z interrupted, "On the contrary, just asking for help shows that you've got courage, but doing so in a letter is braver, so much more are the words written in ink than those by word of mouth. Tell me, what is your favorite flower?"

"I've always loved lotus blossoms!" She whispered excitedly.

"Ahh, well just give me second." He pulled out a spiral and pen and wrote something down on a piece of paper then began folding it in rapid succession until he wound up with a paper lotus, "There we go!" He handed it to the girl, "Open that and read it when you're feeling down ok?" Z got a curt nod from the girl before she ran off.

"So is that a wrap for today guys?" Z asked lightly.

"Yup, but tomorrow brings new news and scoops to be found!" Gin exclaimed.

"I can't wait to read the article over Z." Kurumu said.

"It will be good because Tskune has known Z for so long." Moka added in.

"It's gonna be a great, I just hope it doesn't make me too popular." Z scratched the back of his head again.

"Sorry, but your page in the paper already did that." Gin grinned.

On that note the seven of them began heading to their classes Kurumu jumped onto Z's back, "Aren't you going to walk Kurumu?" Moka asked.

"It's okay Moka, she's really light." Z's comment made Kurumu squeal in delight.

Little did they know that there was someone watching them, "So Z, I've finally found you! Just wait, I'll get you and make you mine before THEY even know what happened!" An evil laugh emanated from the figure. Z felt a chill go down his spine that had never happened before, "I have a bad feeling."

Later when class started

"Alright class we have a new student joining our class today, he just moved from the United States, so try and make him feel welcome, you can come in now!" Ms. Nekonome called to the door. The door slid open and Z ducked inside, then he walked to the front of the room, "Go ahead and tell us about yourself!"

"My name is Z, hopefully you can remember it," the class chuckled at this, "My hobbies include writing, singing, music in general, I love playing north American style football, and many other things." He smiled before taking a seat at a table in the back of the room, seeing as he was too big for the desks.

The day's lessons went by rather quickly for Z, he sat listening and took only small notes on things he thought he might forget on his laptop. At the end of the day Z was swarmed by girls who were asking questions he didn't feel up to answering, "Please excuse me ladies, I have to go do something."

Z walked out of the room and saw everyone except Gin waiting for him, even Mizore who he didn't know who she was staring at was there, "You guys didn't have to wait for me you know."

"Well we wanted to see if you could escape the fangirls." Tskune chuckled.

"Well thanks. . ." Z sighed while walking over to an open window to take a breath of fresh air, "I don't remember the last time I had such a relaxing time." Suddenly a breeze brought him a familiar scent and without a word he started running down the hall.

Then they all knew why, a blurred figure shot through the open window and tackled Z into a wall rather harshly before he could escape. Dust lingered for a minute before dissipating to reveal a stunningly beautiful girl with dark green hair tied into a pony-tail, "Ha! I finally caught you." She said while staring at him with dark blue eyes.

Z smiled as if nothing had happened, "It's nice to see you again as well Lola."

"I've been tryin' to find you forever." She embraced him tightly.

"I missed you too but I had to keep moving."

"I could've gone with you!" She yelled into his face.

"You would have been in danger." He retorted.

"I can take care of. . ." She began.

"YOU COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT!" Z had raised his voice slightly, then thought to himself, 'If only you knew what I have become while trying to survive. . ."

Tskune thought on his feet, "Why don't we all go get dinner?"

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up, I need to talk to Lola for a bit." Z said before starting up the stairs to the roof.

No argument arose and Lola followed him to the rooftop. Once they were up there, Z locked the door behind them, "It has been much too long Lola." He said while walking over to look at the scenery around them.

"Yes, it has been too long Z." She said while walking over and standing beside him timidly, she was a rather tall girl about five inches shorter than him, but her figure was very womanly, "You do know it took me a year to catch up with you right?"

"Sorry, I just couldn't stop for any period of time, someone might have discovered me." He looked to her dark blue eyes and saw the pain in her soul, "You know I would have gone back if I could have, but I didn't want you to get hurt."

Lola lowered her eyes and then looked him in the eye with hot tears of anger, "Stop treating me like I'm a human! I can handle myself perfectly well. You know I'm a blade harpy, we are just as powerful as vampires, you have seen my power all too well."

"Yes I have," Z said as he absentmindedly grabbed the right side of his neck, "And it is crazy power too, but it still can't make me not worry about you."

"I know," She embraced him lightly, "That's one of my favorite parts of your personality, you care for your friends."

"So you came here to get me right?" Z asked with an amused smile playing across his lips.

"I did, but more importantly I'm not losing to THEM!"

"Alright, alright," Z chuckled as he walked over to the door, "How about we go have dinner with out eavesdropping friends?" He said before unlocking and opening the door and bodies fell out in a pile, "How's that sound guys?"

From the bottom of the pile of bodies came a muffled, "Sounds great to me!" It was Tskune.

"Then lets go." Z said right before he felt Lola jump onto his back.

"Shotgun!" She yelled before getting a pouting face from Kurumu who was about to do the same. Lola silently retorted by sticking out her tongue.

They headed to the cafeteria outside the dorms and got their dinner, that night they were serving Salisbury steak with vegetables on the side they all sat at a large table, Tskune sat down with Kurumu and Moka on either side of him, and across from him was Z with Mizore and Lola at his sides. They ate while making light conversation, everyone but Z talked until Moka decided to try and loosen him up, "Z, where exactly in America did you come from?"

He looked up from his clean plate and swallowed his last piece of food, "Texas was the last place I was, it was awesome, football was like a religion there, I got the opportunity to stay three months and play as a starting center during the season."

Moka smiled inwardly in victory, "Thats cool."

"It was," Z smiled, "There were a lot of good people there, but I've missed Tskune a lot, none of my friends were like him. Anyway, the places I've been have opened my eyes to the beauty of the planet, on both human and youkai sides."

"Still, in Texas, there were two coaches that acted like fathers to me, I stayed at a nearby hotel that they knew the owner of and had gotten me free stay for the rest of my time there, but on Thursdays before games I would stay at either one of their houses, eat with them, and go over any extra game film they thought they needed to look at." Everyone at the table saw Z's eyes light up and begin to tear up.

"Is everything okay Z?" Lola looked at him with her dark blue eyes.

"Yes, I just miss them, that's all, I left some great friends behind."

"That was a good meal wasn't it?" Tskune said to break the saddening mood.

"Yes, it was Tskune." Z grinned.

"Z what's your dorm room number?"

"I got room number 177, why do you ask?"

"That's great, my room is 178." Tskune beamed, "It'll be nice to have a friend in the same dorm."

"Thats great." Z widened his grin slightly then yawned, "Anyone else tired?"

A small chorus of yes' was his answer. Then they all put up their trays and began heading for the dorms.

They were met with the cool evening air when they left the cafeteria, "My, what a nice breeze." Z commented.

"It does feel good doesn't it?" Moka asked with a smile.

Z felt a tug on his right arm, he looked to see Lola staring at him with her dark blue orbs, "Z, can I speak to you alone?"

"Sure," He motioned for everyone else to continue onward to the dorms after giving Tskune his bag, and when they had disappeared from view they walked over to a clearing that was surrounded by trees, "What is it you want to talk about Lola?"

"Why didn't you stay in Texas? You spent a long amount of time there, you could've stayed and been happy!" She exclaimed with clenched fists.

"I had a strange feeling come over me and my senses said 'find Tskune and protect him.'" He looked up at the sky, painted with the dark, rich colors of dusk with a full moon rising in the sky.

"That's never a good sign, your senses have always been dangerously close to powerful events."

"Yes, but I don't know what to do!" Z said as he leaned on a boulder.

Lola sauntered over to Z with her hands clasped innocently behind her back, "Then let me help you forget." She whispered while embracing him as if he were going to abandon her.

"Lola. . ." Z looked down to see her teary eyes looking at him, pleading for him to trust her, this made him smile lightly, "I won't leave without you ever again." He returned the hug and picked her up to his level, "I am truly sorry that I left you, I owe my life to you, you convinced your parents to let me live at your village when I. . ." He was cut off by a finger to the lips from the green-haired young woman.

"There's no more that needs to be said Z." She smiled brightly.

There was a slight whistling sound in the air before their lips touched and Z switched places with Lola while standing facing the sound. A split second later Z was on his back in a crater with a pair of onyx metal gauntlets keeping a five-foot long, foot wide sword from killing him. Said blade was being wielded by another tall girl with dark blue hair and multicolored eyes, the left was violet and the right was a dark hazel color, "Z! I can finally make you all mine!" the girl exclaimed when she was about to begin tearing away at his shirt.

"Ryoko, you have impeccable timing." Z said with a good trace of sarcasm.

"I do?" She asked in a puzzled manner.

"Yes, you do, I was trying to have a moment."

"Oh well, I shall make you mine now." Ryoko set the blade to the side and started closing the distance between them. Suddenly a surge of youkai occurred behind them and in immediate response Z flipped over as Lola attacked what she thought was Ryoko.

Lola slashed through the back of Z's shirt in blind rage with the claws and blades that protruded from her hands, "He's mine!" Then she stopped after impaling him around the lower back. Lola's eyes went wide, 'Oh no, what have I done?'

Z stood up and his shirt fell off from being completely shredded in the back. His back was beginning to bleed out. He stood like a statue for three minutes with the girls staring at him in shock. The moonlight shown brightly over Z revealing the tattoos and scars that covered his body, the tattoos all connected in the middle of a strange dragon pattern in the middle of his back. The deathly silence between them was interrupted by the sound of Z's footsteps as he moved toward where he thought the hospital annex was, but he felt his legs give out from underneath him and he fell really fast toward the earth. Instead on hitting the ground really hard, he landed on something soft, then a woman's voice sounded, "Ahhh. . .I see that you haven't forgotten me Z." He looked up from his comfortable position to see another tall, womanly figure with silver hair and ruby red eyes. He noted that she held a silver and gold cross in her hand. She began to wrap her arms around him and felt the blood seeping from his wounds. Swiftly she scooped up the giant man and disappeared to the hospital.

In the Youkai Academy hospital annex

The vampiric maiden pushed open the ER doors and found immediate help for Z. She waited patiently as doctors worked at a ferocious pace to save Z, the puncture wounds had gone so deep they had pierced his stomach, small intestine, and spleen. They removed the spleen and patched up the other organs in about an hour. That was when the doctor stepped out, "Miss, your friend will be fine, at the rate he's recovering he'll be fine in about two to three days." He smiled.

"Thank you for all your help." The vampire said almost monotonously.

"You're welcome, he has been moved to room 203 so he can rest." With that the doctor went to take a break.

The silver haired woman went to said room and slowly slid the door open and saw a sleeping Z with his body heavily bandaged and a machine pumping blood into his arm, she began to slide the door shut when a Z's low voice called to her, "What are you doing here Riika?"

"I came to claim what is mine." Riika said monotonously, "And now would be the easiest time to strike."

"I wouldn't let you." Z said weakly.

"YOU belong to ME!" She said with a growl while gripping his shoulder harshly.

Suddenly Riika felt a tremendous pressure building on her forearm, "You don't own me quite yet Riika."

She growled lowly at him and leaned toward his ear with a sadistic grin she said, "Oh, I will get you one day Z, and that day will come sooner than you think."

"I will put up a fight that day Riika, you know I won't go so easily." Z said before feeling a slight pain in his neck, "Well your welcome, thanks for asking first."

When Riika pulled back she showed a fierce grin, "You know I always do." With that she disappeared and a knock on the door was heard.

"Who is it?" Z called.

"Its Lola, can I come inside?" Her voice sounded weak.

"Come on in Lola." He said with a smile.

The door slowly opened and she quickly entered while closing the door behind her, she walked over to the bedside and sat down, "Z. . ." She trembled a bit, "Why?"

He knew what she wanted to hear, "Because I want to protect my friends, even if it is from each other. It is what I vowed after that happened."

"I see. . ." Lola looked down to her hand resting on the soft sheets.

Z moved his hand to hers and rested it atop hers, "It wasn't your fault, I chose to take the blow, you couldn't stop."

Lola just started to sob over her actions and Z comforted her, he knew she had a long day, and the days to come held shrouded events that they would endure when the times came.

So that's the first chapter, I hope that you enjoyed it. Read and Review! PLZ :D