Thanks for your reviews! I'm more than happy that you guys liked the first chapter and the concept itself! Since I haven't planned out this story as far, it's safe to say that my updates won't be often like the last few chapters of Dance of Swords. Example of my 2 week absence :'D (sorry about that)

CHAPTER 2

Monster

The next day, Nenna didn't have classes. Instead of cramming all her classes in one day, she spread them out. Now a quarter more awake than yesterday, she managed to do a decent job of personalizing her side of the dorm. There was a desk next to her bed where she put her laptop and notebooks. She rearranged her drawers to make it look a bit more decent than yesterday, and she hastily put on a collage of her and her friends over the years of high school on the wall.

Sen was sitting at her desk with a pencil end in her mouth as she continued to type furiously on her laptop. Nenna sat crosslegged on her bed as she rifled through the small boxes at the bottom of her luggage, probably filled with some trinkets from home. Looking up, she inquired, "Why didn't you wake me up yesterday?" It wasn't at all accusational, just out of curiosity.

Her dorm mate pivoted in her rolly chair, and gave her an apologetic grin. "Sorry―I tried to! Honest! But you were knocked out! You refused to budge―kinda like a rock."

Nenna nodded at her understandingly. Her mom had the same problem with her back home. Some days she would be completely out of it...others she would wake up hours before her plethora of alarm clocks would go off. Sen scooted her chair towards Nenna and rested her arms on the back of the chair.

"So," she started, "how was your first day?"

"It went...surprisingly well. I couldn't believe it, I met so many people." Nenna's hazel eyes flickered to the box sitting in her lap. Inside the small parcel was a handmade locket that one of her friends made. She smiled at the memory before returning to Sen. "They're nice...pretty dorky too." Dorkier than her old friends.

A smile curled the brunette's lips. "That's good! Glad it went well." She glanced out the window and then back at Nenna. "You seem livelier today," she said thoughtfully.

Nenna shrugged. "I have my days." She was still tired; she could still feel the weights inside her, but the intensity was lessened by a quarter. Closing the box, she reached over to her nightstand to set it down. "I'm going to take a wild guess; you're from Japan, aren't you?"

"Yeah," she giggled. "How did you know? Did my name give it away?"

"That and I just assumed. All of the people I met yesterday were coincidentally from Japan."

"It's so weird, I know!" She nodded in agreement.

In speaking of weird...her thoughts went back to yesterday after the guys showed her where the kendo club was. That guy! Her lips fell into a frown as she reminisced the meeting.

Sen arched a brow, studying her facial expression. "What's wrong?" Nenna blinked and looked at her new friend, shaking away her frown. It wasn't that big of a deal, since she had a bunch of creeps back at her old school, and then one who wouldn't leave her alone.

"It's nothing." It wasn't enough to put this guy on the people-she-hated list. She only met the guy once. Nenna tilted her head back and let gravity pull her down, flopping onto the covers. Stretching out her arms, she stared at the ceiling, letting out a thoughtful sigh as if she were thinking of something brilliant. Which, in turn, was nothing important.

"Hey, you wanna go to town and...do something?" Sen asked. Nenna's eyes flickered to her, a sudden spark of interest lighting her hues. "Sure; got nothing else to do."

"Great! Have you been there yet?" Rolling back to her laptop, she shut it off and stood.

"Yeah, went there yesterday." Nenna slowly rose and raked her fingers through her hair. "We went to a restaurant."

"We?"

"―the people I met yesterday. He wanted my notes and I was hungry―"

"He? You didn't tell me that." She grinned at her. "Was he cute?"

Now Nenna started to feel comfortable. It seemed like she was talking with one of her other friends from back home. Nenna shrugged, "I wasn't focusing on looks really," she trailed off to recollect her memories. Scanning them briefly, she broke her attention and affirmed, "Yeah, I didn't have much time to look."

"Mhm," she giggled and snatched her purse off the corner of her desk. Nenna did her utmost best to not roll her eyes. After readjusting her overall appearance, she grabbed her bag and the two headed out.

"So you're from the other side of the country!" Sen nodded in fascination. The two found a small cafe, in which they claimed a table and sat there for what it seemed like eons. The ice broke long ago during the shuttle ride to the town, and now they were trying to figure each other out like some puzzle. "You miss your parents? Or are you one of those people who don't care?"

Tracing the edge of her glass, Nenna looked up, "I'm not homesick. Not in the least―It's not like I hate them or anything," she said quickly, "ahh, it's hard to explain." Nenna scrutinized the fact that she didn't feel homesick at all look like she wanted to get out of her parents' hair. She didn't want to get away from them at all―but she didn't have much of a choice. Giving up on trying to defend her statement, she took a sudden interest of the napkin holder on the table.

Sen tilted her head, trying to understand her vague response. After some thought, the girl let it go. "Alright, alright."

"What about you?" Nenna's conversation skills, at their finest.

"I guess I'm the same. I'm not homesick, or anything. I do this a lot―travel without my parents." Her light brown eyes glinted for a moment, as if it were hiding away something. She couldn't shake this feeling that there was something that was being kept from her, but she wasn't sure what.

Nenna nodded and glanced out the window. I might as well ask now… "Hey, do you know this person?"

"Hmm?"

She brought her eyes back and added, "I met him yesterday. Blonde hair," she held up a few strands in comparison, "and...red eyes. Does he wear contacts or something? It's creepy."

Sen pursed her lips, indicating that she did know someone who fit that description. "Really. Yeah―I know him, for a while actually. We surprisingly went to the same college in the end." It sounded forced. "Chikage Kazama."

She let the name sit in her mind for a while. "Do all of you guys know each other?" She chuckled halfheartedly. "Anyways, yeah, he talked to me a bit yesterday. God, he was being such a weirdo," she scoffed and folded her arms, leaning back in her chair.

"What did he say to you? He can be such a jerk."

"He didn't say anything mean," she affirmed, "he was just saying things...things that didn't make sense. Like I should be careful, or something like that."

Sen leaned forward and propped her head up with her hands. "Now that you mention it, that's pretty weird, even for him. Usually he's all haughty and stuck up," she rolled her eyes, "I honestly don't know what's up with him."

They sat there in silence, and the dead noise was gnawing at Nenna, causing her to shift in her seat. Her laggy mind strolled through her thoughts, thinking of something else to say.

"So, what did you do in high school?" Sen's voice snapped her out of her trance.

A half smile curled Nenna's lips. Taking a sip from her drink, the blonde responded, "Nothing really. I was on the swim team, but that's pretty much it." The familiar scent of chlorine came back to visit. The sound of crashing waves rung in her ears as the swimmer raced down their lanes. Out of those four years, swimming was the most enjoyable.

"Oh! Why didn't you say so? We have a pool on campus! It's really nice." Her friend grinned. However, it turned into a frown as Nenna shook her head.

"Nah...I haven't swam in a while," she shrugged, "I'm not into swimming now." Her eyes lowered, and stared at the beads of water trickling down the glass.

"Hmm, that's too bad. It's a small campus, so not a lot of people use it." A pause. "Or maybe we can visit your friends in the kendo club?" She smiled followed by a giggle. Nenna arched a brow, wondering if this was some way to make her nervous-as it was a method her friends used if they thought Nenna liked someone...it was a waste of their time.

"Sure I guess," was her reply.

Sen sighed and scowled at her. "You're no fun." She got up and tilted her head, "C'mon! We're wasting daylight."

The two headed out and hopped on a shuttle. The ride went by quickly as Sen continued to ask her questions, where when Nenna tried to ask her something, she would try to put her back in the light.

The girls arrived at the kendo club a little bit in the evening. Inside, guys wearing funny clothes were whacking each other with bamboo swords. Nenna knew it was more than that, but it's what it looked like in her eyes. The helmets looked pretty funny too, but then again, they weren't using foam swords.

Nenna didn't even try to decipher who was who and just continued to watch the pairs spar. Within a few minutes, practice was over and guys and girls walked off, talking to their friends as they got their stuff together.

A cheery voice greeted the two. Nenna half smiled at the familiar face as Heisuke walked up to them. His hair was damp from the sweat, probably steaming in kendo garb. Resting the bamboo sword on his shoulder, another hand holding his head gear, he said, "I don't suppose you're joining?"

"Nah," she shook her head. "She was the one who wanted to go," she nodded at Sen. Sen rolled her eyes, grinning, "You make it sound like a bad thing!"

One by one, the pack grew. To Nenna's surprise, not really, Sen knew the guys at a very young age, but she moved by the time she was in middle school. Nenna concluded that everyone knew everyone, and she was the only one standing outside the bubble. Tuning out of the group's conversation, her eyes glazed over the room as more members left at a snail's pace...and then she found the same pair of red eyes. She tensed up at the sight of Chikage, and tried her best not to scowl at him.

He simply looked at her with a second-long interest before going about his business, collecting his things and heading out of the room, accompanied with two other men, who looked like they wouldn't be students. One was hulking with muscles and the other had an intricate tattoo crawling up his arm. Both of them as well shared apathetic glances at her before staring onward, and leaving the scene.

Weird.

"So you like swimming?" Sano's voice took her back to reality. Nenna blinked and pulled off a tight smile. She told Sen she wasn't interested in swimming again, why couldn't she just leave it at that?

Her frown was neutralized by Sano's smile. "Yeah, I did. But not anymore." She didn't want them to try to convince her to do it again… she couldn't. She didn't trust herself when it came to swimming.

"Ah, just wait until you see the pool though! How about I show you?" Okita asked, only to be given looks from Sano and Heisuke reading: You're flirting now? By now, Nenna expected Saito to say nothing, and her theory was about to be proven right until, "If we want to show her now, we need to hurry up. The pool closes soon." His voice was low with a little hint of interest in everything that was going on around him.

With Saito's approval, it seemed that the group couldn't be knocked off their pillar, while Nenna tried to bring them back down. The guys asked the two to wait a while as they got their things together and changed out of their uniforms. Nenna stood with an uncomfortable expression. Shifting her weight endlessly to one foot and back, Sen couldn't help but notice her obvious discomfort. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing." Her eyes couldn't meet Sen's at the moment. Stop being such a wuss!

When they came back, Nenna's trip to the pool arrived. The pool was located in the same building she was in, only it was further down to the back. Nenna masked her uneasiness while cruising on the conversations, but she couldn't stop her heart from dropping to her stomach as the scent of chlorine hit her senses.

"Just wait, Nenna, the place is amazing!" Heisuke grinned as he swung the black door wide open.

Humidity and chlorine enveloped her, as if greeting an old friend, but she regarded in the recesses of her mind as a double edged blade. They all stepped inside, and the guys started to go on about how new it was. Sen was enjoying herself, making Nenna jealous of her new friend.

Unlike her old school, it was well lit. From the deck tiles to the pool itself, it was as they said: fancy. It was like the pool was untouched since it was built. It was a well lit room with bay windows sitting where the diving tank was, which had three diving boards. Six lanes and bleachers aligned the wall, adjacent to the doors.

"So, what do you think?" Okita nudged Nenna out of her train of thought. "Pretty cool huh?" It occurred to her that her party was already circling around the perimeter, and she just stopped the moment she stepped inside.

A shiver ran up her spine, despite the interior being so warm and humid. "Yeah. Cool. Like I said," she said too quickly, "not interested in swimming." Scrunching her toes, she picked at a nail occasionally so it wouldn't look like she was dying to leave the place.

First there was a pause. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. If I weren't, I wouldn't be here right now." She replied coolly. After a few minutes of antagonizing silence, the rest came around. Sen smiled at Nenna, and before she could ask that question, Nenna answered: "Yeah, it's nice." Her hues flickered to the placid water, and glared at it. "I'm gonna head back now." Without giving much thought, she spun on her heels and dismissed herself from the rest of the group and briskly exited the pool area. The cooler air nipped through her clothes and the hairs on the back of her neck stood. Reaching the halfway mark of getting out of here, she heard the pool doors creak open and a pair of footsteps going after her. She debated to walk faster, but making someone chase her down seemed childish.

Keeping at her normal pace, she arrived at the doors, but was stopped by Sen's voice. "Hey, what's up?"

Now was not the time, she thought. "I'm just tired, that's all." She bit her tongue when she looked at the unconvinced expression.

"You sure? You looked like you really wanted to get out of there." Her friend's prodding was tempting her to just say it, but she took a hold of it and refused to let go. Nenna sighed and pushed open the door, letting the warm air send away the goosebumps. By now, the sun was nearly gone, and was being chased away by a dark sky.

It didn't take much for Nenna to realize that Sen was still following her. "You don't need to worry; I'm fine."

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me, but don't keep it to yourself you know." Sen sighed, admitting defeat. Nenna nodded, hoping that she didn't offend the girl with her sudden mood swing.

The two headed through the courtyard, slipping between two buildings as a shortcut. Seeing that the sun had already set, Nenna just wanted to be inside the dorm. Still, something in the pit of her stomach sat uncomfortably. She couldn't shake off this looming cloud, and she didn't know the cause of it.

"Look," Nenna stepped in front of Sen, facing her, "I want to tell you, really―but I can't. It's nothing," she paused, "bad, but...not right now." Sen nodded, smiling slightly. She slipped her hands in her pockets, "Don't worry. I know how you feel."

Trust me, you don't. Nenna smiled, but she couldn't get rid of the bitterness. As she spun around, she collided into another person, who, again, was much taller than her. "Sorry," she quickly added as she stepped back to pass him.

The same uneasiness reached from the pit of her stomach and gripped her heart. The man had his head hanging low, his shoulders slumped, and his body leaning forward ever-so slightly. A painfully dead silence overcame the three as the one lifted his head, and his snow-white hair fell away from his face.

Nenna instantly felt tiny as his blood red eyes burned bullet holes in hers. "Nenna...run…" Sen murmured. Her legs wouldn't respond, it was the fact that she wasn't even thinking about running. Instead, terrified curiosity overcame her.

"Blood…" the ominous man said.

"W-what did he say?" Nenna choked as she glanced at Sen. "Is he a―

"Give me blood!" He sneered and he lunged for the two. The two gasped and jumped back as his attempt. He took a step forward, his breath was ragged as if he hadn't had anything to drink for ages. That's what made her nervous.

"What do we do?!" She yelled over at Sen. Why is a Rasetsu doing all the way out here?! Yes, those things. A mistake created in the name of science. Scientists pursued the idea of trying to live longer and become stronger: a superhuman. The experiments started with great results, but the professionals looked over the side effects; the insanity, lust for blood, and eventually resulting into a pile of ash.

They've been around for a while, but they started to become a problem as the populations grew. Some states back home started to set up boundaries, including a couple countries around the world. Nenna was fortunate to live a rather normal life without the interference of the Rasetsu, but she had heard about accidents caused by them over the news.

"We need to get it away from the dorms, away from people―get his attention!"

"Why me?!" Her rebuttals were cut short as the demon lurched towards her. Nenna took a couple more steps back, "Okay―where to?"

"Follow me!" With that, the girl took off. Nenna huffed and scrambled to make her feet respond to her commands. Dreading the sound of those footsteps that rushed behind her, she powered on and tried her best to keep up with Sen.

As her surroundings started to change, she could see the fountain of the courtyard come into view. The lights inside the fountain just turned on, and the light posts flickered on one-by-one.

"Hey!" Sen immediately stopped and spun around, causing Nenna to veer over to her left and jump behind the girl. "Stop right there, or you'll get what's coming!" She ordered.

What the hell is she thinking?

"Heh?" He tilted his head, giving a toothy smile with dilating eyes. Letting out a crazed chuckle, he broke into a sprint with one hand reached out for Sen. Hazel eyes widened and didn't think a moment sooner. Grabbing her friend's arm, she harshly yanked it back, causing the demon to miss by a couple inches. Stumbling, she cursed, "Are you nuts?! Do you want your head ripped off? These guys are powerful!"

"I know," she replied calmly, taking her arm back. "But I'm stronger."

"What?" she joked, "Do you have a gun or something then?" The girl contemplated on asking more, but the was something more important, more dangerous, standing ahead.

Sen refused to look at her. She stood defensively in front of Nenna as if she had done this before. "He's...a student here."

The hulking figure with beady red eyes and white hair was a student? She gaped at him as he continued to stand there, as if waiting for something to happen. Did Sen encounter this guy before? Was Kondou even aware that he admitted a Rasetsu in his school?! Nenna started to panic after realizing that they couldn't hurt him to save their necks―if they could hurt him that is.

"Watch it!" She yelled as he suddenly lunged for them again. Nenna braced for impact, but instead just stared at the sight before her.

Sen, a girl roughly around her height, which wasn't that tall, was holding back the demon. With both hands on his shoulders, he snarled at her, cackling as the bloodlust continued sending him in spirals of insanity. "Give me blood! I need it!"

Backing away, Nenna cried out, "Sen! A-are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," she replied, albeit it was somewhat forced. "Stay... back!" She exclaimed, sending her foot to the guy's chest. The blow sent him back a few feet away, making his shoes skid across the cement. With confused eyes, the guy ran a hand over his chest as if it inflicted some damage, but he straightened himself out within seconds.

"Are...are you―"

"One of them? No," she glanced over her shoulder, meeting Nenna's eyes with a surprising color of gold. "I'm the real deal," she winked and gave her the thumbs up. Nenna watched in fascination as the ends of her brown hair slowly grew white. The color crawled up her hair like rain drops running down a window, only backwards. Nenna heard of these people before...only a handful of the entire population were pureblood demons. Just like the Rasetsu, they were blessed with inhuman strength and agility, and there were no catches. These purebloods were socially acceptable to say the least.

Shaking herself out of her trance, Nenna asked, "What are we supposed to do with him? Keep him busy all night?"

Their conversation was cut short as the demon ran around Sen and charged at Nenna, realizing that he was no match for the pureblood.

"Nenna!" Sen screamed as she whipped around, catching the sight of the demon clawing at her.

The girl didn't see it coming, nor realizing that his dull, human nails managed to cut her skin across her collarbone. She yelped as she felt her own skin splitting and scrambled backward. Her sudden movements didn't correlate with her sluggish mind, as she fell backwards a few feet from the fountain. Just as the Rasetsu had his sights on the trickling red, he was thrown back as Sen snatched the collar of his shirt and yanked him back.

"Are you alright?! Oh, god! I'm so sorry―I should've paid attention!" She panicked.

"No, no, you're fine, both of us... didn't...see it coming…" the brute force knocked the wind out of her, causing her a series of coughs as she sat up. Her fingers ghosted over the small streamers of blood as the demon got back on his feet again. Getting back up with Sen's help, Nenna pressed the top of her shirt to blot out the blood.

His nose flared as the scent of blood wafted into his personal space. Without much thought, he lunged for the source, but was knocked down by Sen. "Leave her alone!" With a hand on his chest, she kept him nailed to the ground as he cursed at her, swiping his arms at her, but failing to smack her away.

Nenna' eyes flickered to the stirring water behind her. The soft splashing lulled her into a calm state despite the circumstance. Reaching over, her fingers interrupted the streamers of water that cascaded down the multiple tiers. She sighed and brushed the water softly across the scratches going along her skin.

"There he his…!" a voice shouted from behind. Nenna jumped at the sound, immediately relieved as she saw Sano point at the Rasetsu. Okita and Saito charged after the demon, grabbing him by both arms. He growled and screamed his displeasure as he was hefted to his feet, being held back by both guys.

The white on Sen's hair receded and was replaced with her brown hair as she spoke, "Geez you guys, what took you?" she grinned as if nothing happened.

"Sorry," Okita replied as he slapped some silver cuffs on the Rasetsu. Almost immediately his rage simmered. "He busted out of Dr. Sannan's place and we had to go chase him down."

"Maybe if you screamed a bit louder, we would've gotten to…" Heisuke's eyes flickered to Nenna, and immediately exclaimed, "Oh! Nenna! God, are...are you okay?" He paused and sniffed, "Is that blood?"

An eerie silence overcame everyone. Saito stiffened a bit, while Okita swore under his breath. Sano, who looked more composed of the four, emitted a bit of uneasiness as he glanced at the blood stains on her shirt. Nenna shifted uncomfortably under their gazes until Sen broke the silence. "Don't worry you guys, she's fine! Just a scratch."

"Y-yeah," she added, "I just need a little bandaid." She could still feel his nails pierce her skin, and three burning trails across her collarbone. The bleeding was small and reduced to little beads forming on her skin.

"Let's get him back to Dr. Sannan's clinic," Okita abruptly said.

"Wait," Nenna sighed. Looking up at the four males, she asked slowly, "are you…?"

It took a moment for one of them to respond. Sano tilted his head, smiling bitterly at her. "We can talk about that once we get inside."

I wanna thank: Jinxes, smileyface209, GlaceonGirl2, feliciatcb, xXAnimeLoverpotterhead4lifeXx , Puppylove7, scorpia1029, Guest1995, Trufflerabbit13, Maro75, and Soraja for your reviews for the kick-off of this story!

Sorry for the long wait you guys! I ran out of steam halfway through this chapter and I just got it back :'D I hope this was alright for you guys, and let me know if you have any questions, comments etc in your review!

I'll be back with the next chapter, hopefully soon.

-Jen