Maybe it all was because I was not explaining what happened until this point, for those who read this and wondered why the fuck Ichigo and Inuyasha were running through a Meidou, towards the unknown, coming from the unknown. Maybe those who read and wondered about that were all.
Well, Inuyasha and Ichigo are the main characters of these three written stories so far. It all started on 'Oddyssey of a Hanyou', when Ichigo and Inuyasha met, and started their journey to stop Aizen, the root of everthing. On the second part they reached the doors of the Nura Clan, the story continued on 'Cold Summer Nights'; a crossover between Bleach, Inuyasha and Nurarihyon no Mago, and the purpose was the same: stop Aizen and the revived Naraku. So for many references to past events on this story, maybe the answer is on the stories before this one. And now here we are, on 'The Cross of her Rosary'.
After saying goodbye to the people of the Nura Clan, Inuyasha and Ichigo used the way provided by the 'Meidou Zangetsu Ha' to travel to their next destination... To the lives of the people in the Youkai Gakuen, after their battle with Alucard.
And about grammatical mistakes, I hope you can forgive me. English is not my native language. It's not an excuse, and I will keep improving and fixing the chapters.
Once they got into the Meidou, the atmosphere around them got so heavy that it seemed to push them down, into the depths of its blackness.
For Inuyasha, saying goodbye and that kind of things were not his forte at all. They were his flat point and always menaced to bring parts of him that he did not wanted to show. The strong of the feelings was something to fear, due to what he could witness and felt. A real sadness about a goodbye, and to two beautiful women.
So he tried to not think about it anymore, with the decided jump he took into the Meidou.
And with him, Ichigo. He always had tried to maintain his strong man façade, and made look as if the departures did not affect him a big deal. He had always been like that, just like that time when he say goodbye to his Shinigami powers and to Rukia, he tried to go from the Nura house with a smile, but it cost to him since that was not his best part. And even less if he had to say farewells that often, and to many people which he appreciated now. That was his case. He had met many people and Youkai, and he felt down to say goodbye.
Inuyasha was feeling the same as him for sure. They both had said goodbye to everyone there, but Inuyasha was having a harder time since Ichigo saw what Inuyasha did with Setsura and Gitsune. Both kissed him and he returned them their kiss. Ichigo could only think about what Kagome would do if she found that out. She would emasculate Inuyasha, before allow such a cheating on her.
But both women had fallen with something that Inuyasha had, and was undefinable. At first, Ichigo thought that Inuyasha was good hiding his emotions, when he managed to resist the obvious feelings of those two. Now he was clenching his fists, with a very hard expression on his face.
They were thinking those things and more, when they got into the Meidou and when it closed behind them, they saw the infinite blackness of the corridor of time and space. Then Ichigo remembered that he should create the floor of energy which they would use to cross through that place…
"Shit!"
"What happened? Oh, shit!"
Inuyasha cursed too, when he thought that he would fall, but Ichigo grabbed him by his tunic and creating that platform of light with his Reiatsu, he landed there with Inuyasha falling funnily on that floor.
"Sorry. I've completely forget about this…"
"Damn it, Ichigo."
Inuyasha got up, and started to run with Ichigo through that platform of light. Both of them could felt the usual pressure over them which the Meidou had on its deepness.
"Don't you think… that we are getting used to this?" asked Ichigo, not stopping running.
"Do you think? I didn't notice."
"Bullshit…"
They laughed and kept running, trying to not think that Kagome and Orihime would not stand that heavy pressure anyway. That was a shame. A shame similar to that one they felt when they realized they were in the same city as them, but so far away at the same time.
They kept running for a little while, when suddenly the Meidou opened again and they both went out of it like bullets.
They were on a road in the outskirts of Tokyo, on the same night they just left. Were they still in Tokyo? That was a lonely street, and the only think they could saw was the city on one side behind a hill, and the entrance of a tunnel on the other side of the road. There was not a single car nor a soul around, and there were only they both, watching the place. The Meidou brought them there? Naraku and Aizen were somewhere there? Ichigo thought ironically that they could got there on a cab if they would knew about it.
They did not said a word yet, when a yellow bus appeared on the road, coming from Tokyo, towards the tunnel of the other side. Ichigo, knowing that the people inside the bus could not see him, and moved by his boredom, raised an arm when the bus was close enough. Inuyasha looked at him confused.
"I was kidding…" explained Ichigo to Inuyasha, and after the bus passed next to him. But he got some confused when the bus stopped a little far from them, fifteen meters ahead.
Ichigo looked at the bus and saw that it had stopped and was staying there, like if it was waiting for someone to get on it, but no one was around. What was the bus waiting for, then?
And suddenly the doors of the bus opened, and from there a beautiful girl went outside. She was dressed in a black dress with pink parts. Her black hair was picked in two tails on the sides of her head, and she was wielding a long wooden wand on her right hand.
"Are you two getting in or what?"
Ichigo looked behind him, waiting to see someone else, except him or Inuyasha, but no one was there. Maybe that girl could see something even more intangible than the souls? Ichigo looked at her, then again to his back but he did not saw anyone.
"Boy, don't make us lose more time," keep saying the girl with someone which Ichigo could not see. "You make us stop, didn't you? Or were you joking around?"
Then Ichigo knew it. That girl could see him.
"Can you see me?" asked Ichigo, feeling somewhat fool. Inuyasha was confirming his thoughts with his glare.
"Of course, dummy. Why wouldn't I?" answered her, and Ichigo had not doubts.
"How is that possible?"
"And why shouldn't I? Look, we are in a hurry and it would be good if you hurry up as well. The academy goes easier with the admissions nowadays."
"Academy? The Youkai Gakuen?" remembered Ichigo. Rikuo and the others told him about that place once.
"Youkai Gakuen?" asked Inuyasha. "What the hell is that?"
"You don't know a thing, do you?" ironized Ichigo.
"We just left that place, of course I don't know a thing, damn it."
"Which Academy else could be, then?" answered the girl.
Ichigo sighed, not able to believe his luck and skills. He could even be a detective. Somehow he had the feeling that they would got to that place, or almost…
"Alright," said he, decidedly. "Let's go."
He started to follow that girl, and she moved to the bus with an expression of slight distrust. Inuyasha stayed where he was, not understanding it yet.
"What are you waiting for?" asked Ichigo, in the entrance to the bus, were that girl was waiting as well.
"What are you doing?" asked Inuyasha, watching Ichigo.
"We are going with her," said Ichigo, as if it was obvious. When he saw that Inuyasha was still not understanding it, Ichigo sighed and approached to him. "Look, I can bet my own life that Tessaiga brought us here to go to that academy. I don't know why, but is a feeling I have."
"Really?" asked Inuyasha, sceptical. "I guess we have not choice for now."
It was true, since it was better to go with that apparently innocent girl, than stay there without any trace to follow. Ichigo returned to the bus and went in when the clueless girl moved away to let them in.
When he entered into the bus, Ichigo saw the driver. It was a man dressed in blue with beard and a mustache, but Ichigo could not see his eyes, since they were shining mysteriously in two spheres. The driver looked at him intently, and Ichigo, thinking that it would be better to not call unwanted attention, nodded and boarded the bus.
But Inuyasha was looking at the man with the same intensity as he was looking at him. Ichigo cursed his luck.
In the seats there wasn't anyone. Of course not. For all Ichigo knew, it was still Saturday and there would not be students coming nor going from the academy that night. Damn it. Ichigo should ask more of the academy to the clan.
He sat two seats behind the driver, taking his two Zangetsus out of their sheaths to be more comfortable and, not wanting to, a little of his Reiatsu was released, and the driver, who had started to move seconds before after the girl went in, lost control of the bus for a while.
"Hey!"
The girl and Inuyasha were looking at him reproachfully, and Ichigo bowed his head somewhat embarrassed. Doing that was not his intention, but he could not helped it.
"What kind of Youkai are you?" asked the girl, even more distrustful, while Inuyasha was sitting next to Ichigo.
"We are…"
"The guy in black is not a Youkai," said the driver, not stopping looking ahead of him as he was driving the bus and getting close to the tunnel. "He is a Shinigami. Aren't you, son?"
"Well… Yes, I am," recognized Ichigo, not wondering about how they could say that anymore.
The girl turned to see Ichigo again and exclaimed:
"Wow! I have heard of them but I've never seen one before! Amazing!"
"What the hell? Why did you invite us to come in, then?" asked Ichigo, scandalized.
"Since you raised your arm. That means that a Shinigami wants to study in our Academy. The Chairman would be very proud," said that girl, sitting in the chairs behind the driver and with her body towards Ichigo and Inuyasha.
"He would? He is not in the academy?"
"Well…"
Ichigo noticed that the girl was looking sad suddenly, as they were getting into the tunnel and Inuyasha was yawning.
"Did something happened?"
"Many things. And even when we could fix many, other will not be the same as ever."
"What are you talking about?"
Inuyasha opened his mouth at last, bored as he was.
"Being with a Shinigami and you don't know?" asked the driver. "A very lazy Hanyou are you, don't you?"
"You are a Hanyou?" asked the girl, looking well at Inuyasha at last.
"What if I am one?"
"Nothing at all," said the girl, smiling. "The new policy of the academy…"
"I don't give a fuck," said Inuyasha. The girl looked at him, surprised. "What happened?"
"It was something big," said the driver, while Ichigo was punching Inuyasha on his head. "Terrible enough to shake the structure of the world as you know it. Are you sure you didn't know it?"
"Well, no. We were… absent."
The girl and the driver looked at each other. She sighed and the driver was still driving through that dark tunnel.
"Some days ago we were involved on a big battle, that ended showing the world about the existence of Youkais," said the girl to Ichigo.
"What?"
Ichigo said that, after he remembered that Rikuo and the others told him and Inuyasha about that event, some days ago. Then that girl was involved in such situation?
"So you did not knew it," said she. "That was what happened."
"And how happened that?"
"What is your name, Shinigami boy?"
"Ah? Oh. Kurosaki Ichigo."
"Ichigo…"
"Not that kind of Ichigo," said Ichigo, remembering that some people used to mock him with the other meaning of his name. Strawberry. "My name means…"
"The one who protects. I know. I am Toujou Ruby," said that girl smiling. "And you are…?"
She said that to Inuyasha, who had his arms behind his head and was laying lazily on his seat.
"Inuyasha…" said he.
"Inuyasha?" asked the girl, without believing it. But soon she thought that what she was thinking was impossible, and she took away that thought of her mind.
"That's what I said."
"Okay…" said Ruby, sceptical about the choice of names of that boy. And he even was cosplaying that ancient legend. "You see, Kurosaki-san," kept saying Ruby. "Some days ago we had to go and rescue a friend from the hands of a very dangerous Youkai mob. Things got out of your hands, and even when we managed to defeat the bad boys, the mess that the matter provoked could not be helped and… even many people died."
"When that happened?" asked Ichigo, even when he knew already.
"Almost two weeks already. The people saw what happened worldwide, and even tried to stop it with their army, but even with all our efforts we could help but show them that the Youkais exist, since Alucard was big enough to try and fight him secretly," Ruby was trying to be cheerful but her tone was sad. "His apparition hit us hard, and many people died with the destruction he caused.
"Many common efforts were needed to establish some kind of order and calm the humans down, and they were out of their minds in some cases. The governments of every country agreed to be the only ones in the planet knowing about us. An enormous effort was made to erase the memory of what happened and fake the images with a well-made farce. The biggest lie of the decade," said Ruby, laconically. "And the dream of Youkais and humans living together of Tsukune-san go to waste.
"And now we are trying to keep doing our things, despite the fact that we had lost much."
Ichigo had many questions on his head. About Alucard, he knew what Rikuo told him. And the government, he saw by himself how the same Japanese defence minister went to the house of the Nura Clan to talk with them. Tsukune? Who the hell was that?
And again there was his anger against the Soul Society, and even Urahara, for not have told he and Inuyasha about that.
Ichigo tried to stay calm. But it was hard since he still was angry that they did not told them some terrifying event, even if now that was fixed.
Ichigo looked through the window and saw that they were out of the tunnel, and the sky had another tone, very particular to be night. Surely that was due to the lights of somewhere out there. And the trees were growing dead and without leaves on both sides of the road. In the horizon he could see a big lake which was shining to the moon sinisterly.
"Will be this your first time in the Academy?" asked Ruby.
"Yeah," replied Ichigo, coming out from his thoughts, and Inuyasha was stretching his body.
"I guess you will not be surprised with the things you will see, since you are a Shinigami. I've heard that some hollows could be very troublesome."
"Just a little."
"Did some of them gave you more problems than the rest?"
"Many, but it's a long story," said Ichigo, remembering Grimmjow and Ulquiorra.
"You have to tell me one day. We are almost there," announced Ruby, looking forward through the front window.
Ichigo looked there too, and so did Inuyasha. At the end of the road of dead trees was a big building of many floors, and with many windows. It would looked flashy and interesting to see if there was not that creepy atmosphere involving that building. There was not any aggressive Youki nor Reiatsu, and the humans could live there probably, but it was hard to think of some human brave enough to try and get into a place that screwed up.
"Welcome," said Ruby, greeted them both, standing next to the driver, "to the Youkai Gakuen."
Ichigo smiled back, and raised from his seat to go out of the bus, after picking his two swords. Inuyasha followed him. Once they were out they saw the Academy in all its extension: big as a few human academies in the human world. So it was true and that Academy was located in another realm.
But why on earth Tessaiga left them in the entrance of the tunnel?
Ruby guided them inside, while the driver greeted them goodbye to her and Ichigo and Inuyasha, and was turning the bus to take it away. Ichigo and Inuyasha walked with Ruby inside the Academy and towards the hall, then to the creepy and empty corridors of that place. Then they went out to a courtyard and Ruby stopped.
"We have to do your paperwork tomorrow. Tonight we haven't time for that. The problem is where you two will spend this night."
"It doesn't matter," said Inuyasha. "We will see where."
"The things doesn't work like that here, Inuyasha," said Ruby, seriously. "I have to check that you are comfortable and safe. You two looked capable, but many students here are dangerous and aggressive."
"Really?"
"Keh!"
"I know! I will take you two with the stronger student here. It's a good friend and he is very nice. I am sure you will get along.
"We don't want to be a bother," said Ichigo.
"Not at all. Tsukune-san will be very happy to have new roommates."
"Is that the Tsukune you talked about earlier?"
"Yes. He is a nice person."
"Okay…"
Ichigo and Inuyasha followed Ruby through the big gardens of the place, to another building, which had many of the lights on its floors on. They entered there and went through corridors and stairways, walking next to doors which were emitting weird and sinister sounds, until they reached a particular and quiet door, strangely quiet to be in such a weird place.
"Tsukune-san?" called Ruby, calling and knocking the door gently. "Are you in there?"
They heard sounds inside. Like blankets being pulled and then steps. Ichigo was waiting with his hands on his pockets and Inuyasha with his hands behind his head. The door opened and there was a brown-haired boy, standing in there with a sleepy face.
"Ah, Ruby-san. Good evening," greeted the boy.
"Tsukune-san, Sorry if I awoke you," said Ruby. "I went to the human world this morning for some matters. And when I was coming back I found Kurosaki-san and Inuyasha in the road here, and I brought them with me and…"
Tsukune was looking at them now. And both Ichigo and Inuyasha returned his glare to him.
"Kurosaki-san is a Shinigami," explained Ruby. "And Inuyasha is a Hanyou."
"It's my first time seeing a Shinigami and a Hanyou," said Tsukune, smiling kindly. He stopped rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah. Tomorrow I will sign them in the Academy, but for now I don't have a place to have them tonight. Could you…?"
"Of course!" said Tsukune, so kindly that even seemed previously practiced. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Nice to meet you," continued Tsukune, talking to Ichigo and Inuyasha. "I am Aono Tsukune."
"Me too," said Ichigo, by pure courtesy. "I am Kurosaki Ichigo."
"You are Inuyasha, don't you?" asked Tsukune, when Inuyasha did not said a word.
"I guess I am," said Inuyasha, bored.
"Thanks, Tsukune-san!" said Ruby, happy. Tomorrow we will arrange our things," she said to Ichigo and Inuyasha and turning to get away through that corridor. "Have a good night."
"Thanks."
"Good night, Ruby-san," said Tsukune, making Inuyasha and Ichigo to enter on his room.
Tsukune's room was normal. Or at least the most normal that they could expect for a room of a boy and being on a realm full of Youkais. Tsukune brought two chairs and pointed Ichigo and Inuyasha to sit there, while he sat on his bed.
"How did you dare to apply here?" asked he, still nicely.
"Well, we were thinking of it for a time now," replied Ichigo.
'A few hours, actually.' Thought he ironically.
"This place is very frightening," said Tsukune. Inuyasha just made an evasive sound. "When I got here I was not sure what to expect, but everything went just fine."
"What kind of Youkai are you?" asked Ichigo.
"Ah? Oh, it's true. One of the rules here is never told anyone your truly Youkai form."
"Oh. My bad."
"Don't worry. You are just getting here and it's normal that you don't know it yet. But since I know what you are I will tell you what I am. I am some kind of vampire."
"Some kind of vampire, you said," said Ichigo, while Inuyasha was rubbing his right ear with a finger. "Aren't you a complete one or something?"
"Nope. I am still part human."
Then Ichigo took seriously what Tsukune said, and even Inuyasha stopped showing his indifference to everything there to saw that boy at last. They knew about Naraku's intentions about Rikuo, being part human. Then Tsukune could be on Naraku's priorities since he was saying that he was part human.
"Wow. Are you parents a vampire and a human?"
"Nope. Both are humans."
"Then how?"
Inuyasha could not believe it. How on earth that boy, which seemed so nice to even be in a place like that, had obtained Youkai powers if he was human by nature? So that boy was a kind of Hanyou, and that was calling Inuyasha's attention.
"A friend of mine gave me part of her vampire blood to not let me die once. I was seriously hurt and she helped me to not die. Back then I was a human completely, but I stopped being one when she gave me her blood."
"I didn't knew that you could do something like that," lied Ichigo, since the times that he got his Shinigami powers, he obtained them on similar ways.
"As I told you," said Tsukune. "My transformations were hard at first, but as the time goes by I could improve my Ghoul abilities, and now I can control it."
"Ghoul?"
They kept talking about everything a long while, until Tsukune yawned and Ichigo decided to let him sleep. They improvised two futons with blankets they did not need due to the intense hot weather, which followed from Tokyo to the Academy. And Tsukune, after Ichigo swear to him that he and Inuyasha were comfortable, could not sleep.
Ichigo stayed with his legs crossed over his futon, just like Inuyasha used to pretend to sleep and was doing right now, looking at him with all of that revelation still lurking on their minds.
"What do you think?" asked Ichigo in low voice, seeing Inuyasha in similar position as him.
"I don't know," said Inuyasha, with a hard glare towards Tsukune. "But the Meidou hasn't failed yet."
Ichigo looked to the window and the weird colour of the sky out there. Then the next day they would see what was happening there, to have the Meidou taking them there, from all places.
The next morning the surprises for Ichigo were many, despite his thoughts that there was nothing there that could surprise him anymore. The sky was of a yellow colour instead of blue, when it hasn't clouds, like he saw at dawn. Tsukune awoke, he washed himself, and told him and Inuyasha to follow him and not get away from him while he guided them through the same corridors of the last night towards the main building, which was where the breakfast room was located.
On their way there Ichigo saw why Tsukune told them to not get away from him, sin he was worried that some students tried to be funny with the newcomers, who, despite their looks, hair and glares, could be prone to intimidations.
But no one got in their way when Ichigo and Inuyasha were walking with Tsukune. Ichigo did not wanted to turn off his offer since he knew that Tsukune had the best intentions in mind. Inuyasha just did not cared if he was going with them or not. Besides, on their planes wasn't try to show themselves by defending from some random Youkai, and for what Ichigo could see, he and Inuyasha could with all of those Youkais at the same time, and even he alone if the chance was there.
"This place is very lively," affirmed Tsukune with a nervous smile.
"I can see that," conceded Ichigo.
Soon they reached the dinning hall, which was a big room full of tables and full of Youkais as well, but all of them on their human forms, as he had saw until that moment.
"Which kind of Youkai is Ruby?" asked Ichigo, thinking 'screw with the rules'.
"She is a witch."
"Hey, don't be like that. She is a very nice girl."
"No. Seriously. Ruby-san is a witch. Wand and all."
Ichigo imagined immediately some of those Mahou Shoujos, which he saw changing channels on TV some times, and imagined Ruby with a fantasy pink costume, with a star on the top of her wand and with her pointer and middle fingers near her eyes, saying 'Te-hee…'
He shake his head, since nothing else there could be that insane.
"What is a witch?" asked Inuyasha.
"Is a woman who can do magic, and change things, and potions and stuff…" said Ichigo quickly. Inuyasha did not knew of that since he was from the Sengoku era and then and there maybe there were not witches, or maybe they were called another way.
They entered in the hall and took plates to have their food. Ichigo was thinking that it would have frogs, birds and Youkai stuff, but to his surprise and happiness the food was normal, or as normal as it could be seen.
"I will introduce you two to the others," said Tsukune, after took his food and walk with Ichigo and Inuyasha to a table, sitting around it. "Almost we all are in the Newspaper Club."
"Fine," said Ichigo, trying to hide his lack of enthusiasm. A thing that Inuyasha did not wanted to hide.
In all the time that Ichigo and Inuyasha were there, since they got into the bus to that moment in that room in the academy, they didn't noticed any strong Youki nor Reiatsu. Why Tessaiga would send them there? There was the place where they were supposed to be? Totosai said that, that Tessaiga was working as it was supposed, there was no doubt about it.
While they were having their breakfast, Tsukune talked to them about the life in the academy, and the classes that were starting again the next day, and to which surely Inuyasha and Ichigo would assist.
'I am in the fucking college!' thought Ichigo, but all of that would be for the sake of their purpose, so he tried to hide his discomfort.
And Inuyasha just did not cared and he did not even knew what were those 'classes' things. So he kept eating like if there were not a next day.
"Ah! Moka-san! Everyone!"
Tsukune had just called to a bunch of girls which entered into that big hall. The girl in front of the group was way beautiful, with long and silver hair. Her eyes were crimson, and she was dressed in a one piece pink dress. The girl behind her was another beautiful girl of long and blue hair, (wow), picked in a ponytail, and her breast were enormous; she was wearing the girl's uniform which Ichigo saw in other girls so far, made of a white shirt with long sleeves, a yellow jersey over it and a squared skirt, brown and yellow. The third girl was little; her hair was short and black; she was wearing a uniform like the second, but she was wearing a pointed hat; and she was so beautiful as well. The fourth girl had the same skirt as the other two, and she was wearing a white and black blouse, and she had grey socks to her thighs; her hair was purple and not so long. She had a lollipop on her mouth and was licking it from time to time. Ruby was with them, discussing something or so it seemed.
"I went to the city and they had all under control. The terrorist had not make contact yet, but they will catch them, or so they told me," was saying Ruby. "Ah!" said she, noticing Tsukune, Ichigo and Inuyasha. "You came to have your breakfast, good."
"Something happened?" asked Ichigo, looking at her and the other Youkai girls. The Youki of the silver-haired girl had called his attention. He looked at her furtively while he was drinking his coffee. Inuyasha for other hand, just did not cared for them at all and was still eating.
"No. This selfish girls want to be superheroes and go to the city and check by themselves if the last attacks of the last days are not part of the fuss about Alucard," explained Ruby. Hearing that, Ichigo spouted his coffee.
"Attacks?"
"Yes. You were absent. The last days there were some attacks on Tokyo with biological weapons and explosion on neighbourhoods of normal people. There were also attacks on trains and stuff like that. The weird of the situation is that those places were used only as places to illegal trades and traffic of weapons. It's so rare…"
Ichigo stayed silent, and even Inuyasha stopped eating, and both looked at each other, remembering. That lethal explosions of Naraku's Shouki and the explosion caused by the Getsuga Tenshou and the Getsuga Juujishou of Ichigo, and also the attacks of Kidou of Aizen were things they would not forget soon and Naraku and Aizen would pay for sure.
Ichigo sighed tired, because despite being Sunday and early in the morning, there was a lot to do…
This is a very long, LONG, story. And it will involve many universes. I hope to have people with me on that journey.
