Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Hayate The Combat Butler or to Rosario + Vampire. I'm simply a fan exercising his imagination for a while. Besides, I'm constantly broke and making no money off of this, so please don't bother suing me. It's not worth it.
Chapter 1 : Prologue.
For once in his life, things were finally starting to look up for Ayasaki Hayate. He'd finished middle school with average grades (no thanks in small part to the little time he could devote to studying due to having a few part-time jobs), but the future was still quite bright for him he was sure.
Not being able to afford the cost of a decent education, Hayate would have had to settle for going to a normal high school with normal classmates. That was no longer an issue. Thanks to an unexpected windfall one day while on his delivery job, he happened upon a brochure for a private high school somewhere in Japan. From the looks of things, room, board, and tuition would all be covered by the school. Lucky!
'Now, if I could just get Mom and Dad on track for once before I head off to school, I'll be all set', he thought. Hayate knew deep down the chances of that happening were the same odds his mother bet on the horses at the racetrack: which was to say slim to none. Yet, he still held out some small hope for his parents's redemption from their life of moral inturpitude.
Pedaling along on his ten-speed, Hayate weaved in and out of downtown traffic. A few more hours, and he'd be home to start packing.
"Mom... Dad... I'm home!"
Hayate's mother (with the kanji for 'Mom' on her face, oddly enough) looked up from the paper she was reading.
"Welcome home, dear. Good day today?", she inquired sweetly. His father (similarly featured as his mother was, the kanji for 'Dad' on his face) looked away from the television he was watching and gave his son a wave.
Hayate sighed inwardly. His parents knew very damn well what days were pay day for his various jobs. Today just happened to be two job's worth of pay he brought home to this vulture pit.
"Well enough, Mom. There were a lot of calls today, so I was kept moving until the end", he blew out a puff of air and smiled gently. Yep, they were looking for their handouts.
His father spoke up. "So, Hayate... what's this I hear about you going away to school? I thought you were going to enroll in a high school nearby?"
Hayate narrowed his eyes slightly at this question. He turned his head to look at both of his parents, and then sweatdropped. It wasn't a racing paper that his mother had been reading from prior to his arrival. It had been the filled out application for the private school he'd been planning on going to for the past couple of weeks. The application he'd specifically hidden in the false bottom of his sock drawer.
"Err, well... this school is waiving the fees you'd usually associate with a private school, Dad. I figured that'd be less of a burden to both of you", Hayate offered sheepishly.
"Nonsense, Hayate, you're our son!", his father exuberantly declared. "And of course, you're not a burden to us, dear," his mother added in. "Even so, Hayate, why did you feel the need to go behind our backs on this important decision? It shows that you don't trust us." She put on a sad face.
'That's because I can't trust you, Mother. You or dear old Dad', Hayate thought bleakly. Things looked grim. This could take a while. But nothing would crush his determination to go to school, not even this pair of albatrosses, he vowed.
Drastic measures would be needed.
"Father, Mother, I'm off!", Hayate cheerily called out, waving back at his parents who both stood just inside their apartment door. The two of them looked a bit nervous but resigned as they waved back.
"Goodbye, my baby boy! I hope this school is everything you wanted it to be", his mother called back and started sobbing. "My little boy is becoming a man, Papa!" She collapsed into Hayate's father's arms.
"I know, Mama. I know", his father said comfortingly, rubbing her back with one hand while still waving at their son. 'The apple didn't fall far from the tree after all', he thought ruefully.
It was such a lovely spring day Hayate just couldn't help whistling. He unlocked his bike and stored his luggage on the back rack. There was no way in Hell he'd leave this old faithful friend for the two two-legged vultures to find and pawn. Hopefully, the school bus had a bike rack. If not... well, maybe the bus driver would allow him to follow up behind on his bike? It wasn't as if he couldn't keep up with the traffic speed on public roads.
Turning onto a secondary road, he passed a number of students off to their first day of high school. Some of them wore the uniform of the local school he would have been going to had the application not shown up. One of those students, a girl, was walking in the opposite direction Hayate was leisurely pedaling in. She had an onigiri in one hand up to her mouth in readiness to take a big bite of it. A small paper bag was in the other hand, presumably holding more of the store-bought rice balls. Her mousy grey hair was done up in small pigtails... quite cutely done, in Hayate's estimation. He did a doubletake, finally realizing that he knew her.
Hayate stopped his bike not far from where the girl stood staring at him, and greeted her. "How's your bike working now?" He gave her all 100 watts of his best smile. The sparkles were nearly visible to the naked eye.
Her onigiri apparently forgotten midchew, the girl's green eyes widened. She frantically swallowed the chunk of nori-wrapped rice while gabbling for something nice and witty to say. The paper bag slipped from her fingers, and she gave an inarticulate cry as it hit the ground, spilling her breakfast out on the roadside.
"Hauu!", she mourned, tears of embarrassment forming in her eyes.
Taking some pity on her, Hayate bent over while still on his bike and picked up the onigiri which had rolled closest to him. "I'm sorry about that", he offered more quietly. "I hadn't meant to startle you". Gently smiling, he handed her back her rice balls. "You'll have to forgive me, but I didn't quite catch your name the last time we met".
"Hawawawa!... T-that's okay. My name's A-Ayumu. Nishizawa Ayumu", the girl stammered out nervously.
"Nice to meet you, Nishizawa-san. I'm Hayate. Ayasaki Hayate." He saw his watch and swore under his breath. "I'd love to stay a little longer and chat, but I've a bus to catch soon." he started cranking the pedals for all he was worth. "Maybe I'll see you during Summer Break, Nishizawa-san!", Hayate called out waving with one hand.
The girl Ayumu waved goodbye to him until he quickly vanished from sight. 'At least it wasn't a total bust', she thought to herself. The boy who'd saved her from going over that cliff last year would still be returning home on vacation. Plus now she knew his name! With that positive line of thought in mind, she nearly skipped on her way to school. The hamster on it's wheel inside her head was furiously scribbling down the name of the boy she'd only just been reacquainted with into a battered memo pad.
Going around moving cars at a fast clip, Hayate swore vehemently. It was always nice seeing a face which didn't bring up unpleasant memories, but this was cutting it a bit close. Rounding a delivery truck which was turning off to the side, he caught sight of a yellow school bus sitting at the roadside at a schedule sign on the curb. There was a tall man wearing a bus driver's uniform leaning against the sign puffing away on a cigar. As Hayate brought his bike to a screeching halt behind the bus, the driver's head snapped him a look, taking in his features carefully.
"Another five minutes, boy, and I was going to give you up for lost", the Driver grinned at him cheerlessly.
"I am so sorry, sir. I just had a bit of a delay, is all", Hayate said and gave the driver a bow.
"Now, now, my boy... no need for the formality here. Let's get your stuff squared away and we'll be off." The Driver's lip curled a bit in amusement.
Hayate watched as the Bus Driver stowed his luggage in the bottom storage bays, and promptly locked them up afterward. He stared hard at the young man's bicycle a moment.
"Will you be locking that up here, boy? It'll be a long time before you see it again, if ever", the Bus Driver gave a 'He hehehe!' of a laugh.
"A-actually, Bus Driver-san, would you be able to fit my bike on the bus? I dare not leave this back home", Hayate said, a bit creeped out by the Driver's manner.
"You're in luck, young man. As it happens, this bus does have a bike rack, on the very front", The Driver stated, the eyes showing under the bill of his cap glowing with good cheer to match the smoldering stoggie clenched in his teeth.
A few minutes later the bicycle was strapped onto the pullout rack with the bungee cord used for Hayate's luggage, and both individuals were in their seats on the bus. The Driver turned his head around a bit to stare at Hayate with one eye.
"You're my only passenger on this trip boy, so make yourself comfortable. It's going to be a looooooong ride to Youkai Academy." He flipped the switch to close the door, and then pushed another button as he simultaneously turned the Bus's ignition key.
The sign over the bus's windshield changed to read in Kanji 'Youkai Gakuen'. As the bus started to roll away from the curb and join traffic passersby were treated to a rolling eerie laughter, causing many to sweatdrop nervously. Back on the bus, Hayate relaxed when the Driver's laughter died out. After what he'd been subjected to in his short life, if this was the worst he'd face at his new school then things were definitely looking up for him. But, as always, Hayate was the sort of person who thought deep down that if there was a light at the end of a tunnel it couldn't possibly be anything other than oncoming traffic. A lot of it.
Things couldn't be much worse where he was going compared to where he'd just been.
Could it?
Author's Notes: Whew! Banged this chapter out pretty quickly. It's my first fan fiction, so I wasn't sure what to start off with. This story is one I'm planning no set pairings with. I have a few idea I'm playing with at this point and I may have a few surprises in store for you guys, so please be patient with me. I have medical issues I deal with IRL, so they'll take precedence over this.
So, please read and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome. PM me if you feel like it.
This is the Priest, signing off.
