Human or Vampire?

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
-Robert A. Heinlein

Disclaimer: I don't own Rosario + Vampire, and that's it, end of story. What, still reading this?

Tsukune Aono was born to a human father and a vampire mother. Life seemed like it was perfect for the happy family, but some things are not tolerated.

Do not turn rogue.

Do not drink the blood of the dead.

Do not marry those of impure blood.

By impure blood, they of course meant do not ever marry someone who is not a vampire. These rules have been in place for a long time. That last rule, however, was eschewed as nobody really followed it anyway.

But there is a fourth rule, an unwritten rule.

Do not birth a vampire of impure blood.

What is impure blood to a vampire? Well the only beings who qualify are those born of a human parent and a vampire parent. Why are half humans feared by the vampires and other monsters alike?

Their human heritage grants something that no monster could match.

Adaptability, Versatility, Willpower, and an Instinct to survive that was so strong that the humans would stoop to any level to win and live. Humans call it the Human Spirit.

Put the Human Spirit behind the traits of a vampire, no… any monster and you have a deadly combination.

These vampires of human origin, called Dhampyrs, take the best of both parents and reject the worst. While they will never be as powerful as a pure blooded vampire (naturally of course, some can still do it with… unorthodox means), they do not hold the weaknesses the vampires have. 'Pure' Dhampyrs, those who are directly born from a vampire mother, have the immortality of a vampire, as well as some of the innate strength of one. Their human traits are less clear, though they still hold a strong Human Spirit… just not as strong as those of 'Impure Dhampyr Blood'. 'Impure' Dhampyrs, born of a human mother, are more human than vampire and hold less power on the Dhampyr scale of power naturally… however, the Impure Dhampyrs have the best of humanity, and they have a powerful Human Spirit.

Dhampyrs, regardless of blood purity, are feared by all monsters because they have the tendency to side with Humanity on the many conflicts between the two sides. Dhampyrs are responsible for thousands of monster casualties, especially vampires… because they hate Dhampyrs with a passion.

As stated earlier, Tsukune Aono was born to a human father and vampire mother… making him a 'Pure' Dhampyr. Life seemed good for the happy family, but all good things must come to an end.

"Open up Kasumi, we know you and the half-breed are in there!" The powerful and very angry voice of a vampire called.

Kasumi Aono, Tsukune's mother of course, responded in her own powerful voice, "You will not hurt my child Issa! I will protect him if it's the last thing I do!"

The door was smashed open by a very pissed off vampire, probably named Issa if Kasumi's call was anything to go by, and he glared FIRE at her… no not literally that would be bad. "I care not for your pathetic pleas and oaths. I WILL destroy the taint and YOU to protect our society." Issa growled.

"Run Tsukune, get away from here quickly, run and never look back. Please, live for me." Kasumi whispered to her six year old son. Tsukune was terrified, but nodded. He turned around and jumped out the window. If not for his Dhampiric traits, he'd be dead by the time he landed, but thankfully he was only majorly bruised by the fall. He looked up to the second floor window, which he had just jumped out of. He heard the sound of fighting up there.

"Mommy…" Tsukune whimpered. He felt a pair of hands on him and his eyes widened. He turned around and saw a pink haired woman with green eyes looking at him.

The woman looked over the boy with a hint of curiosity.

"Please don't kill me…" Tsukune whimpered. The woman smiled softly. "Then you better run, child. Or else my husband will come down here and get you." She gestured for the child to run into the alleyway behind her and he bowed. "Thank you Mrs.…?"

"Mrs. Bloodriver, now hurry along child, I think my husband is almost done fighting." The woman said, shooing the boy away. The child bowed again quickly and ran off.

"I wish him luck… I know that he'll need it." Akasha Bloodriver said sadly as the sounds of fighting above ended. "I only hope that his existence will help bridge the gap between our races, and perhaps he will…" She mused to herself as her husband, Issa Shuzen looked down from the window.

"Where is the child?" Issa called down.

"He must have run off before I got here, I didn't see him." Akasha lied. Issa growled and said, "I can only take solace in the fact that his human brethren will not let him live either, once they discover what he is."

Akasha frowned sadly. She looked at the alleyway the boy had run into and silently hoped for the child's safety.

It had been almost a decade since that fateful day. Tsukune Aono, age 15 looked into the mirror and knew that he was always going to be different, that he'd always be a freak of nature, that he'd have a hard time having a happy life… But he'll be damned twice before he just gives up.

His reflection showed his strange inhuman features. His right eye was like a ruby with a slit for a pupil, kind of like a reptile really. His left eye was normal and brown. His hair was black and messy, though it was tipped with silver, which was really weird since he thought that going gray would show at the roots of the hair… not the tips.

His life had been rather difficult from that day on. He grew up learning how to survive, and he knew that he wasn't entirely human… the thirst for blood proved that theory. He drank the blood of whatever he could get to survive through the day, and he noticed that he didn't even need to eat normal food if he substituted it with blood… that was very helpful in the beginning.

The people, the normal people who passed him by always showed pity… not disgust in the beginning, it was just pity. Despite all of that pity though, no one would approach him… perhaps it was out of instinct?

The school district wanted to show off how charitable and kind it was, so they enrolled him in a good private school for free. There Tsukune learned of the bad part of Humanity. Children would either shun him, bully him, or simply gawk at him… but he wasn't without friends.

Truthfully, Humanity had many oddities in it. The children who befriended Tsukune did so out of pity at first, only to discover that he was indeed a good friend… or they thought that he just looked badass with silver tipped hair and a red eye. Tsukune wasn't always lonely at that point, but like before… all good things come to an end.

In Middle School, the friends he had made in the beginning began to shun him as well so that they could have normal friends and a normal life. Tsukune didn't blame them one bit, he only blamed himself for it… he was a freak, who would want to be friends with him?

The only comfort he had was that his 'old' friends never bullied him like the others, because that might have been overkill for the poor Dhampyr. Kids can cruel and evil sometimes, and Tsukune wasn't the only kid to have to go through with this.

One day, years before, while he was in Middle school, Tsukune stood outside and he noticed a girl with long pink hair being bullied in a small secluded area just outside of normal viewing. Tsukune wasn't a coward, and he certainly didn't like watching other people suffer… so he did what he could.

"Hey, stop bullying her!" Tsukune called as he ran over. The bullies in question, all girls, jumped at his voice, and looked at him with varying degrees of fear and disgust as he ran over.

"Go away freak, we're busy." The oldest said.

"Why are you bullying her?" Tsukune asked, gesturing to the pink haired girl. She had, as stated multiple times, long pink hair, and her green eyes were fixated on Tsukune with pure… terror. There was a rosary on her chest, and even it seemed to be staring at him… EVEN THE JEWELRY STARED AT HIM IN FEAR!

"Look at her, she's a freak! Just like you!" A second yelled.

"Wait a minute… you're bullying her because she has pink hair and is pretty?" Tsukune asked in disbelief. The other girls clenched their fists and the pink haired girl blushed, but was still watching him with undisguised and absolute horror. "At least bully me. I mean come on, look at me!" He said with a grin, gesturing to himself. "I have a red eye, silver tipped hair, and I swear that I sometimes have fangs for Christ's sake!" This was a common tactic that he used to divert attention away from other bullied kids to him… he'd show himself to be better prey and the predators would attack him instead.

Today he felt like scaring them a bit, so he opened his mouth and let one of his fangs show. The other girls blanched, pinkette included, and the bullies ran away screaming for help for being attacked by a lunatic psychopath… kind of redundant but okay.

"Are you okay?" Tsukune asked the pinkette, walking over to her. The pinkette's eyes widened in fear and she stood up, shaking. "What's wrong?" Tsukune asked again, feeling confused. The pinkette murmured one word, and it would bother him for a long time after that.

"Dhampyr…"

And with that said, she ran past him with tears in her eyes. She ran like the devil was chasing her down and she never once looked back or thanked the boy who had saved her.

Tsukune was completely depressed by her reaction… but what did she mean, Dhampyr? Did she know what he was?

"You know, everyone else at least says, 'Thank you' first…" Tsukune muttered as he began to walk around, looking for a rat or something to feed from for blood.

Tsukune didn't see her again for the rest of Middle School.

Tsukune did a bit of research on Dhampyrs after that day. He was surprised to realize that he seemed to fit many of the 'ideas' that were related them. If it was true, then it meant that he was a half vampire, half human. It made sense, as vampires drank blood like he did and had fangs like he did. He assumed that the silver hair and red eye must have been from his vampire side of his family… but who was the vampire?

It must have been his mother… his memory was pretty sketchy when it came to his mother and father, but he remembered his mother being the one to spend all of time… and he remembered that she was attacked over him… It must have been his mother.

He began to wonder just how much of this vampire literature was real or not. He wasn't undead… at least, he was pretty sure that he wasn't.

His schooling was, sadly, over. He had no public school to go to since he was homeless and had no family to take care of him. The private school decided to give up the 'charity project' and informed him that he'd not be allowed to return for high school. He was out on the street again, alone and without a good future.

Where people once looked at him with pity, they now looked at him with disgust. He was ignored and shunned like a victim of the Black Death back in the Middle Ages… hey, at least they didn't lock him up for it like they did to the Black Death victims.

So here he was, sitting in his usual alley, wondering what to do now. He had no job, no education at high school level, and he was barely even normal to begin with… most people in his situation would call this 'being screwed', and he agreed with that sentiment.

He didn't even notice the priest guy walking up to him. The priest chuckled when he saw the Dhampyr and approached him. "Well, well, I never thought I'd run into someone like you out here."

Tsukune looked up at the voice. It wasn't normal… it seemed to radiate this unnatural power and he was… terrified. "Who… who are you mister? What do you mean?"

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mikogami, and I am the Chairman and Headmaster of a boarding school called Youkai Academy. I'd like to extend an invitation to my school to you, young man."

"My… my name is Tsukune Aono, Mikogami-sama." Tsukune thought for not even a moment about the offer before he decided. "And I'll accept your offer." Tsukune said standing up. Mikogami grinned behind his hood and his glowing eyes looked over the boy in front of him.

'Yes, he will be perfect for this…' Mikogami thought to himself. He extended his hand to the boy and there was a flyer in it. "Just go to the bus stop listed here tomorrow and wait for it to come."

"Thank you sir." Tsukune said taking the flyer and bowing quickly. Mikogami's grin did not leave as he left the alley and went back to Youkai Academy.

'This year will be interesting; I hope that the boy proves to be a success.'

Tsukune stood at the bus stop, in a black shirt and ripped up jeans. He needed to get a uniform when he got there, but until then he just took what he had with him… which was very little sadly. He had nothing but the clothes on his back, and a few spare pairs of clothes in a small sack he had with him.

The bus rolled up and came to a stop. The bus driver was dressed in blue and had glowing yellow eyes.

"Hey kid." The bus driver called as Tsukune stepped aboard.

"Yes?"

"So you're going to Youkai Academy huh?"

"Yes sir."

"I should warn you, that school is a terrifying place."

"As much as I'd like to take your warning into account and leave… I have no other options here; I can only go ahead and not look back at this point." Tsukune bowed. "I mean no disrespect, sir."

The bus driver looked over the Dhampyr and chuckled. "I think I like you kid, go take a seat. We'll be there soon." Tsukune went to the middle of the bus and sat down.

A few other kids got on the bus from the next, and last, stop, and they all sat in the front of the bus… as far away as they could from Tsukune.

Tsukune sighed, at least they weren't bullying him… but why were they so afraid of him?

The bus finally came out of a tunnel and deposited the students at the stop just outside of the tunnel. The other students flat-out sprinted away from Tsukune, which made him really curious about their behavior. 'Why are they so scared? Am I really that scary?' He wondered as he took in his surroundings.

He was standing next to a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head. It had a sign labeling this place as Youkai Academy. Far below, a drop that would easily kill anyone was a red sea… 'Okay, I'm not an expert on the environment… but I don't think the sea is supposed look like that.' The sun was hanging in the sky, but it seemed to give very little light and warmth. The sky was darkened, kind of like there were clouds covering the sun… but this wasn't the case. The ground was dirt, though the forest nearby did have withering grass on the ground instead. There were trees all over the place, all dead and making the place look like it was in a perpetual Halloween. Crows and bats flew about in high numbers, which only proved to support the perpetual Halloween theorem Tsukune had come up with.

He decided to go towards the school, which was fairly reminiscent of a mansion or something like that. It wasn't long down the road that he heard someone scream something at him.

"Ah! Look out!" A female voice called. Tsukune turned around to see a girl on a bike… and then felt her coming when she collided into his face.

Tsukune and the girl rolled around onto the ground, and Tsukune had a massive headache now. "Ow…" He muttered. He tried to stand up, but when he moved his hand, he moved it onto a warm and smooth surface. When he put his hand there, a soft moan was elicited from the female, which made his eyes snap open.

The first thing he noticed was that his hand was on her thigh! But he was quickly entranced by the girl in front of him and didn't notice his hand anymore. She was very familiar to him… she had long pink hair, and she slowly opened her eyes to show green eyes. When she looked at him, it was with a mixture of a blush and… fear.

Tsukune remembered where his hand was and removed it quickly, but not before a nosebleed erupted on his face.

"Ah, oh no…" The girl murmured. She looked like she wanted to jump him, and she had this… hunger in her eyes. At the same time, he knew she was scared.

The hunger seemed to win though. "Gomen, I can't help myself." She leaned into him, aiming for his neck. "We're a little alike, you and I… I'm a vampire, you see." And she bit into him.

The feeling of the fangs pricking his neck? It was kind of like a needle really. The feeling of her drinking his blood? Oh god, it felt… good. 'Oh crap, I'm becoming a masochist.' Tsukune lamented.

She quickly jumped back when her thirst was sated. "Ah! Dhampyr!"

"Wait a minute… I remember you now." Tsukune said when he heard her say the magic word. "You're that girl I help back in middle school… And you didn't even thank me either…" He muttered that last part. "Are you… scared of me?"

The girl nodded, but made no attempt to move. She seemed like she was paralyzed with fear.

"Well, you shouldn't be." Tsukune said firmly. "My name is Tsukune Aono, what's yours?"

"M-Moka Akashiya…" Moka whispered. Tsukune was barely able to catch it.

"Akashiya-san, why are you so afraid of me?"

"You're a Dhampyr! You hunt monsters like me!" Moka exclaimed in terror. The eye on the rosary opened up again, and looked at the Dhampyr in a mixture of hatred and fear. (The dark side is strong with this one…)

"Calm down! I don't even know what you mean! You seem nice enough, so how are you a monster?" Tsukune said, trying to be diplomatic.

"Please stay away from me! I won't hurt you or anything, just please don't hurt me!" Moka yelled, scrambling back from Tsukune who was standing up.

Tsukune looked at her with sadness. "I pity you, Akashiya-san."

"W-what?" Moka asked in a whispered voice.

"You seem like a nice enough person but obviously you are prejudiced to the point where you won't even listen to me. I wish you luck on your school life, because even I can only take so much abuse from people." Tsukune bowed. "If you ever need any help, and actually get over these stupid racist ideas that you got from the humans, then I am always around." He walked away from her, leaving a saddened and confused vampire to mope.

As Tsukune disappeared from sight, Moka wanted to cry.

'He's right… He hasn't ever hurt me… and the last time I saw him he actually helped me… I'm just as bad the humans are…' Moka thought.

The truth was, Moka had thought of the Dhampyr every day since he saved her. He was like a knight coming in to help her, but she was so afraid of what he was that she didn't even thank him. He was like her fantasy come true … and her nightmare.

'The next time I see him, I'll apologize… Who knows, maybe he's actually a really nice guy?'

'Just don't get yourself killed.' A voice called from within her. Moka looked around but saw no one around her.

'Oh no, I'm going crazy.' Moka thought sadly.

She stood up and walked to school, determined to find the Dhampyr and apologize.

AN: Okay, done with chapter one. I have thought about something like this for a while now… mostly because I rarely see any stories with Dhampyrs actually involved at all. Hell, I might have accidentally stumbled across a tabooed story.

Meh, I'll find out eventually, won't I?

Quick note: I'm trying to make Tsukune similar to how he was in the manga… except for not being a total pushover. Sadly, that might be what Canon Tsukune was, but I wanted to keep him being the nice guy.

After all, him being bullied and shunned doesn't automatically make him a hard-ass with a chip on his shoulder.

Let me know what you think, please.