(This is my first Rosario+Vampire fan-fiction which is weird because it's my favourite manga. Well, it is right now, anyway. And Kiria's my favourite character. At the moment anyway.
(The first Sexuality Hat I saw was made by my friend, Izumine Kisamine [ u/3449658/Izumine-Kisamine] and it was a paper sailor hat with 'SEXUALITY HAT' written in pink highlighter on the front. I loved it, but… I've still not worn it. Ha ha! I've got the same problem as Kiria in this fan-fiction… poor guy. Hope you like it. –Itite Emakoiji xxx)
The floating base was intriguing, but there was almost no one to look upon it. It was so far in the air, and so smothered it the clouds that no intrigue could be detected from the world below. That gave the members of Fairy Tale a lot of free time.
When they weren't working out plans to quench their thirsts of dominance, the majority of members had some way of relaxing and unwinding. They weren't necessarily evil, because Fairy Tale always believed they were doing the right thing. Or, at least, it felt right to them.
Everything was going their way, after all. Akua had Moka up here and was keeping her out of the reach of her friends. Their allies were growing stronger by the day. However, there was a lot of doubt in some of the members' minds, and not just doubt about their plans…
"Kiria. You need to come train."
Kiria Yoshii, a monstrel, jerked awake out of his nap. He had been meaning to fill in official documentation about signing up to free medical care within Fairy Tale, but he had been so tired that he had put his head on his arms, just for a second, and had fallen asleep. Kiria sat up. He had no idea how long he had been out for.
"Kiria! Kiria! You need to come train!" the door to Kiria's bureau swung open and Hokuto Kaneshiro, also a monstrel, wheeled in. He had been in that wheelchair for almost a year, now.
Kiria blinked and supressed a yawn before turning around in his chair, "Okay, okay. I'll come."
Hokuto nodded seriously. Since he used to be human, he was more fragile than Kiria, so it was taking his injuries that confined him to the wheelchair longer to heal than it would have taken in Kiria. Still, Kiria reckoned that Hokuto was coping well. He had been through a lot, after all.
Hokuto wheeled himself over beside Kiria and took a peek at the form that was on the desk, half filled in in blue pen, "What's this?"
"It's the Free Healthcare form thing," Kiria said, leaning backwards. He had cramp in his shoulder. Hokuto laughed shortly, evidently in a good mood.
"Ah, I filled that in ages ago. When I got in this," he patted the left wheel. "Now, are you coming?"
Kiria nodded and stood up. He had no idea why he was so tired. He was aware that he was missing out on sleep; he was finding in immensely difficult to get to sleep in the first place. The area wasn't particularly loud and it was a comfortable temperature. Kiria hadn't any major worries at the moment… apart from this stupid form. Why couldn't he just be entitled to free healthcare anyway? He was employed at Fairy Tale after all.
There were a few sparring halls dotted around the Sky Fortress. Kiria followed Hokuto down the corridor to one of them. It wasn't the nearest hall, that one was down two floors, but Hokuto obviously found it easier to stay on the same floor. It didn't take long to get there, however and, before Kiria went to open the doors, Hokuto spoke up.
"You're quite out of it, aren't you?" it sounded jokey, but Kiria could tell that Hokuto was worried for him. Not that Hokuto really cared, but Kiria was a strong fighter and Hokuto was dependant on Kiria for certain things that Hokuto could no longer manage.
"I'm fine! Come on, let's have some fun."
The pair went into the sparring hall. The walls and floors had cracks everywhere from power attacks. They weren't the only ones in the hall; Kahlua Shuzen, one of the stronger members of Fairy Tale and the second-eldest daughter in the Shuzen family, was in there with Miyabi Fujisaki. It was obvious that they had been fighting a bit because of the spattered blood on the floor around both of them. However, now they were just standing there, staring at each other. Then, to Kiria's surprise Miyabi took a single step back and bowed solemnly. Beside him, Hokuto was smiling.
"Well done, Kahlua. You've definitely gotten stronger. If Moka's friends come looking for her, I'm sure we will be able to count on you to take them," he said, raising his pale eyes to her. Kahlua never trusted those eyes, and she knew what his statement really meant: "Killing Koko will be easy for you." She wiped the tears off her cheeks and sighed in pain as the razor-sharp blades ripped and shrunk back into her arm. She had not totally transformed as she was only training against Miyabi. Miyabi took a handkerchief out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her.
"For the bleeding," he explained shortly. Then he turned to Hokuto and Kiria. "You're here for training too?"
"No, we came to get lunch," Kiria grinned, "Of course we came to train. Well, me. Hokuto probably isn't."
"Ha ha, yes… I hope you're patched up now," he said.
Hokuto nodded, "Yeah, I'm getting there. I should be able to walk again. Sometime."
"Hopefully. I mean, you always looked cooler when you stood up because you're so tall," Kiria mused. Miyabi raised an eyebrow as Hokuto laughed again.
"Do you want me to train you?"
"If you would, Miyabi. I won't be much use, as usual," Hokuto wheeled himself over to Kahlua, who was sitting in the floor, her eyes glassy and her breathing heavy.
"Lay into me."
Kiria looked at Miyabi out of the corner of his eye. He knew how powerful Miyabi was beneath the upright and sly exterior. Besides, Kiria didn't really feel like fighting. He was tired, but it didn't look like Miyabi was going to let him get away. Unwillingly, he quickly turned his right arm into his trademark scythe as Miyabi came for him.
However, Kiria was a lot faster than Miyabi and moved swiftly to the left, but Miyabi swung out his right leg into the back of Kiria's legs. Kiria stumbled, but not far. He regained his balance and, as Miyabi was turning around to come at him again, swung his right arm round and caught Miyabi with the back of the scythe. He continued his twist, and ended up facing Miyabi, who had stumbled off to the left.
Without hesitating, Kiria brought his left foot up into Miyabi's jaw, then slashed across his chest with the end of the scythe's sharp blade. It cut through his dark coat and the grey shirt and both were splattered with blood instantly.
Kiria assumed that this would at least stop Miyabi for a few seconds, but Miyabi wasn't going down that easily. He fought back by punching Kiria hard in the chin. The chin was always a good place to hit; it shook the brain.
Hokuto's eyes were narrowed. He didn't like the way Kiria was acting. Usually, Kiria cared about nothing but having fun, no matter what the cost. Kiria would give up his job, money and even somehow bring down Fairy Tale if it meant that he could have fun. But Kiria was treating this fight as if it was hollow. Miyabi couldn't see it, but Hokuto could. He had a bond with Kiria; he knew Kiria better than anyone. And he could see that Kiria was not acting normally. In fact, he was losing.
Kiria was backing away from Miyabi, blood running down the side of his face and his red eye was glowing but half closed. Every few seconds, he lashed out at Miyabi, occasionally hitting him, flailing desperately in an attempt to strike him. His left arm was now a thick, shield-like plate, but Miyabi was strikingly at the areas that Kiria wasn't protecting.
Kiria grunted and finally landed a successful hit on Miyabi, which sent him whirling a few feet away, giving Kiria a few seconds to catch his breath and recover.
Hokuto, seeing an opportunity, sped over to the pair and sat between them, staring at Kiria. Kiria stared back.
"Is it over?" he asked weakly.
"It's over," Hokuto said, "and so is your career if you don't tell me what's going on."
Kiria's eyes widened with surprise, "What? What's going on?"
"You tell me, Kiria. You've been acting weird all this time, and I need to know why."
Hokuto didn't care. At this point, all he really cared about was Kiria's strength; it was something that Fairy Tale used a lot, and they could almost not afford to lose it.
There was silence in the room as Kiria and Hokuto were staring at each other. Miyabi hadn't moved, but was leaning forwards with his arms over the wound on his chest. Kahlua wasn't paying attention.
Then, Hokuto spoke up loudly, "We're leaving. Kiria."
Kiria swallowed. There was a sharp edge to Hokuto's voice, like it was made of flint. Kiria couldn't say no, so he followed Hokuto out of the room. They went back to Kiria's room where, as soon as Kiria shut the door, Hokuto stood up. Kiria didn't get time to be surprised.
"Yes. I know. Tell me what you're hiding."
"I'm not-"
"Tell me why you were fighting so badly back there then!" Hokuto shouted. "Tell me what's wrong with you, you've been acting like this for days!"
"I-"
"Tell me the truth, Kiria."
Kiria knew he couldn't get out of this; he had to tell Hokuto what he wanted to know, or risk worse things. He ducked out of the way and sat down heavily on the leather armchair next to the small window. Hokuto wheeled himself over next to him, still staring hard. His glasses caught the sun and glinted and shimmered in Kiria's eyes.
"I've not been sleeping properly," said Kiria slowly. When he was aware that Hokuto wasn't going to speak, he continued. "I don't know why, but I think it's something to do with that fact that…" he sighed quickly, "I don't know… I don't know my sexuality."
Hokuto was silent.
Kiria didn't move, "It's a stupid thing to worry about…"
"No. It's a common thing. Especially for teenagers. Is that it?"
"Mm-hm. I don't know. I think so. But… I'm not, like, attracted to girls."
"Maybe you're gay."
"Y- you think so…?"
Hokuto considered. Kiria had often said that he 'wasn't into girls'. There was a lot of stuff happening in Fairy Tale that wasn't anything to do with 'world domination', as a lot of them put it. And by 'stuff'… well, that's pretty easy to figure out. In a way, it was like high school, but without lessons. There were still couples skittering around, breaking up and getting with other people. But, as far as Hokuto knew, Kiria hadn't been out with anyone.
"You've shown fondness to that Kurumu girl," Hokuto said coldly.
"She's fun," Kiria said, smiling.
"Is that it? Is that all you're worried about?"
"Well, yeah."
"I went through this. I just decided to not think about it and get on with my life. Whatever happens will happen."
Kiria thought about this. It did make sense. He didn't mind what he was; gay, straight, bi, pans…
"I still want to know."
Hokuto looked down. "Wait there," then he wheeled off out the door.
Kiria watched him go. What Hokuto said did make absolute sense. Besides, there wasn't really that much time for relationships anyway in Fairy Tale. People struggled through with them, but they often ended much sooner than the people involved were comfortable with.
"Kiria!"
Hokuto plundered through the door again, an object on his lap made of lined paper. He looked at Kiria, grinning. It was nice; it had been a while since Kiria had seen Hokuto smile properly.
"Wh- what's that?"
"Here, turn the chair around."
Kiria frowned but did as he was told and shuffled the heavy armchair around to face Hokuto. Hokuto laughed, then lifted the paper hat up and showed Kiria the front.
Kiria grinned. "What?"
"'The Sexuality Hat'."
"Oh my God."
Hokuto looked at it, "I've used it a few times. Once for me, once for Kahlua… and I think I used it on Tsukune."
"Really? How did you get him to wear it?"
"When I was at Yokai Academy. I was bored and made it, then I said 'hey, let's have a Sexuality Hat stall in the summer fair thing.' I thought it was quite a good idea, but he just laughed at me. I got him to wear it anyway. I think it worked for him."
Kiria was grinning, "How does it work?"
"You put it on, and then you know your sexuality, and then you say what sexuality you are. Out loud."
"Ah."
"So, it's your turn."
Kiria nodded. It was just a paper hat, but still, it was nerve wracking. Carefully, Hokuto placed it on Kiria's light hair. Kiria concentrated. He couldn't feel anything coming up, no feelings, no clear emotions, no obvious signs or anything. Then Hokuto gasped.
Kiria felt a heat blazing above his head instantly.
"THE SEXUALITY HAT!" Hokuto screeched.
Kiria snatched it off his head, saw that it was on fire, and chucked it at Hokuto, who swept it on the floor.
"Argh!" Kiria jumped on it and stamped the fire out. Then he turned back to Hokuto.
"You stepped on the Sexuality Hat."
"Because it was on fire!"
"You set the Sexuality Hat on fire."
"I… I did."
Hokuto looked at Kiria. "What the hell are you?"
Kiria shrugged then looked down at the Sexuality Hat, which was black and in many pieces on the floor.
"I guess we'll never know."
