Chapter 2

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
– John F. Kennedy

Disclaimer: I don't own Rosario + Vampire, and I doubt that I ever will…

Tsukune finally arrived into class after the entrance ceremony. It was okay, he supposed, but everyone avoided him like the plague. He was beginning to see a trend, and it was going to an annoying trend for sure.

He looked around the room, and it was rather barren all things considered. The desks were arranged into straight rows, and Tsukune was seated in the back corner. He was completely surrounded… by empty seats. Funnily enough, the most colorful things in the room were the hair colors in the room. There was a girl with lavender hair, shying away from everyone… though she certainly kept closer to them then Tsukune. There was a girl with blue hair who was staring at him hungrily and made him a little nervous. He briefly wondered why they even had hair colors like that, and even the vampire girl from earlier had pink hair! What's up with these hair colors? Are they bleached or dyed?

He shook his head, realizing that he was beginning to focus on unimportant things. He thought about that vampire girl, Moka Akashiya and how she was absolutely terrified of him… But why is she afraid of him? What did he do to her or any of them for that matter? She said that he was a Dhampyr and that he hunted monsters… was that it? Are Dhampyrs monster hunters? But what does that have to do with him? And better yet, even if it was true and she was a vampire afraid of a half vampire, then what about everyone else around here? Are there more monsters here?

"All right class. Everyone sit down please and I'll give you a brief introduction to what Youkai Academy is." The teacher named Ms. Nekonome said while eyeing Tsukune warily like everyone else. She wore a small jacket over what appeared to be a tank top. She also had a small skirt on… like all the other girls. She wore glasses, though her eyes were squinted shut, except for when she was eyeing Tsukune of course. "For those of you who don't know…" He had a strange feeling that she meant him for this one… "Youkai Academy is a school exclusively for monsters."

Wait, what?

That… would explain a little bit… Like maybe why he was here… Why there were such strange hair colors… Why everyone was terrified of him as a Dhampyr 'Monster Hunter'…

Even though it did answer a few questions, Tsukune was shocked nonetheless and it probably showed due to the confused looks aimed towards him. He recovered quickly and cleared his throat, inadvertently causing everyone – nearly everyone – to jump at the action.

"Okay, not to point out the pink elephant in the room but… why are you all terrified of me?" Tsukune finally decided to ask.

The silence was not only deafening, but extremely annoying to the Dhampyr.

"Fine, fine, ignore me as though I'm not here." Tsukune muttered. The class was still staring at him, but now with confusion and curiosity instead of fear… and a few of those fearful looks turned into glares of hatred.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" A familiar voice said as a certain pink haired student walked in. Tsukune blinked in surprise, as it was indeed Moka Akashiya from before. She was wearing the school uniform, a green jacket of a sort with long sleeves, and she had worn the usual miniskirt like all the other girls.

Which lead Tsukune to another question, what the heck is going on with this place and the rampant sexuality? Putting aside the blue haired girl with breasts that are far too large for her, the skirts in this place barely go below the uh… womanly areas. Other girls were dressed in slightly provocative manners as well, though it was nothing quite as insane as the blue haired girl who was still eyeing Tsukune like candy. He tried not to look at her, because she gave him a bad feeling…

While Tsukune went over this stuff in his mind, the pink haired vampire seemed to notice him. She walked over to him and bowed her head. "Gomenasai Aono-kun. I'm sorry for what I said before." She apologized with regret clear in her voice. The classroom gasped at her actions as she had just left herself vulnerable to a Dhampyr of all things.

Tsukune looked at her, her head was still bowed and her eyes scrunched tight as though she was readying herself for a blow, verbal or otherwise. Not only that, Tsukune could tell that she was genuinely sorry for her previous actions, and he knew first hand that people say things they don't really mean when their emotions run high.

"Well… I forgive you Akashiya-san." Tsukune said, accepting the genuine apology. Moka's head perked up and she smiled at him, which made him blush because it was now of all times that he realized just how cute she was. She took a seat in front of him, as there were a lot of empty seats around him, and the class looked at her like she was nuts.

And you know what? She might have been a little on the wacky side, but Tsukune wasn't one to judge harshly.

Even though she said she was sorry and apologized for her actions, that didn't mean that he wouldn't keep an eye on her… just in case. He was surrounded by monsters after all.

Then again, he could use a friend around here, and she might be…

"Well then, now that we've got that out of the way let me hand out your course supply lists for those of you who had lost them. I will then give you all directions to the campus store and library before we finish up for today!" Ms. Nekonome chirped, suddenly cheerful after the display.

Class ended not too much later, and Tsukune wondered briefly about the merits of visiting the library to learn about what kind of monsters there were… on the other hand, he had a feeling that if found reading books that describe monsters and their potential weaknesses, well… that might be one hell of a misunderstanding.

His musings on what to do now that class was over was interrupted by the pink haired vampire.

"Um, excuse me, Aono-kun…" Moka began hesitantly. "Would you mind accompanying me while I explore the campus?"

He thought about that option. Moka was an attractive girl, and she seemed to be pretty nice… racism issues aside that is. Besides, it's not like he had anything better to do. And he'd love to have a friend around here.

"Sure." Tsukune decided. Moka smiled and took his arm slowly. Tsukune nodded for her to go ahead and he was soon dragged away by a now excited vampire.

'Well, she can be pretty energetic when she wants to be…' Tsukune thought to himself as he was dragged around the hallways.

The little 'guided tour' from Moka was going pretty well until they ran into big, dumb and ugly. They were crossing a clean, white hallway when he showed his ugly mug.

"Hey you, your name's Moka Akashiya right?" Big, dumb and ugly asked. Moka nodded nervously as he easily dwarfed both her and Tsukune in terms of height. Tsukune got a better look at the guy from his spot, which was being dragged around on the floor, and he didn't really like what he saw.

The guy had wavy unkempt black hair and beady little eyes that made you want to dislike him. He had narrow eyebrows and despite having a grin on his face he still managed to make it look like a scowl. His ears were pierced and even his lips were pierced. The very air around him screamed 'juvenile delinquent.'

"My name is Saizou Komiya, I'm your classmate." Saizou said with his scowl-grin. Moka nodded nervously, acknowledging that he was indeed her classmate. Saizou then grabbed Tsukune from the ground and lifted him into the air. "So what are you doing with scum like this anyway?"

Moka gasped and tried to say a few things to Saizou to convince him to let Tsukune go, but Tsukune beat her to the punch.

Literally.

Saizou dropped Tsukune, and then crumpled to the ground, sliding a meter or so before seeming to go unconscious. Tsukune blinked in surprise. "Huh. I didn't think that would actually work." He admitted. Moka quickly grabbed him by the hand, and dragged him off before anyone else did anything.

Once Moka and Tsukune were a good distance away, and in a secluded stairwell, Moka said, "Thanks Tsu- I mean Aono-kun. Although did you really just have to punch first and ask questions later?" She asked while panting slightly from the exertion of dragging a Dhampyr a good distance and up a few flights of stairs. She quickly added, "Not that I don't appreciate it, it's just that he might come after you later."

"Well no… then again I didn't really think it would hurt him that bad." He smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I just don't know my own strength." He added, chuckling nervously.

"I guess there's really nothing you can do about it though…" Moka said after catching her breath.

'I should probably learn how to control this power of mine before it's too late… at least if the first day here is any indicator of how the year's going to be.' Tsukune thought to himself. He wasn't sure what came over him, he just felt angry and then when he punched Saizou… things just kind of happened.

"No, not really." Tsukune finally said. The pair looked at each other for a moment and Tsukune finally asked, "So Akashiya-san, why do you hang around me? I mean, it's obvious that I'm not the most… popular person around. And yet here you are, dragging me around the school. That's not even mentioning our heritages…"

"Well, Tsu… Aono-kun…" Moka said looking down nervously. "I just want a friend… and you're so nice and I was hoping that… you'd be my friend…" Moka finished with a nervous look at the Dhampyr.

Tsukune blinked. Then he blinked again. 'Whaaaat? I mean, I could understand her not having any friends in middle school, but here… surrounded by other Youkai… how would she still have a hard time making friends?'

"You… you do realize that by being my friend, you might not get any other friends, right?" Tsukune asked slowly. "And then there's that whole mess about you actually being friends with me even if we were to stop being friends… it seems like a bad idea to me, Akashiya-san."

"Would that stop you?" Moka asked.

Tsukune grinned. "Nope. I honestly don't care about the opinions of the many faceless people out there. I only care about my friends."

"Well… by trying to make sure that I understand the consequences, wouldn't that meant that you care about me?" Moka asked.

"Well I…"

"And if you cared about me, then wouldn't that make me your friend already?" Moka continued with growing excitement.

"In a way it would but…"

"Then we're already friends! Yay!" Moka said and she tackle-hugged the Dhampyr.

Tsukune struggled but her vampire strength overwhelmed him. "Err… but… Yeah Moka-san, we're friends." He finally said. Moka smiled.

"Then can I call you Tsukune-kun?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure, you've already almost done it… twice now? Or maybe it was three times?" Tsukune said rubbing the back of his head smiling. Moka's smile grew wider but she looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"Well, I have to go finish up some homework, so I'll see you later, right Tsukune-kun?" Moka asked. Tsukune nodded. "See you later."

Moka ran off to go to her dorm room, obviously happy with the day's events while Tsukune decided to go check out the library.

When he walked in, he immediate gaped at his surroundings.

The library was built in a circular fashion, with the main check-out desk in the center and the brown wooden shelves were arranged like fragments of a circle. The shelves themselves go up higher than most ladders could. There were ladders all over the place, and from what he saw they were obviously magical as they were able to extend a student to the very top, which had to have been nearly 10 stories! The place had this nigh-indescribable feel to it… kind of like a nap room or something. It was very… cozy. Yes, that's the word: cozy.

A librarian walked up to him and she had a small whiteboard and marker with her. She was as obviously and previously stated a woman and was wearing a uniform that marked her as a librarian. She had curly, shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. She looked like she might be in her twenties, or maybe thirties, but that was stretching it. She wrote on her whiteboard and showed it to him. "Can I help you?" It read.

"Uh yeah… I've been in the human world my whole life, is there a book that talks about all the monsters out there and maybe a book about magic?" Tsukune asked hesitantly. Magic was always something interesting. Maybe he could learn some?

The librarian nodded and gestured for him to follow her to the circular desk. He did, and when he arrived there were two large, text-book sized books waiting for him. One read: Monster Dictionary. And the other read: Magical Arts & Their Practical Uses.

"Is there anything I need to sign or something like that?" Tsukune asked. Back in his old school, you were given a number and that was like your ID. You'd enter the number into a machine and it would know that the books were currently in your possession.

"The books have a special enchantment on them…" The first side of the sign said. The woman flipped it over. "We'll know that you have them."

"Oh cool. Thank you very much, librarian-san." Tsukune said with a cheerful bow.

The librarian looked at him hesitantly, as though making a decision and wrote something on the board. She showed the board to him and it said, "Please, call me Amane. And you're welcome to come here for some peace and quiet."

"Thank you Amane-san." Tsukune smiled. "Will do… I have a feeling I might need some peace and quiet every now and again." With that said, Tsukune walked out of the library, eager to read these new books and learn about this new world.

Tsukune was sitting on the roof of the school, breathing in fresh air and basking in the heatless sunlight, and was currently reading the Monster Dictionary. What seemed like the most obvious thing to look up first was… himself. He opened the book and scanned the table of contents for an entry about Dhampyrs. He was not disappointed as he had found a page-long entry. He read through it and it told him quite a few things.

The summary of the found information went like this:

Dhampyrs are human-vampire hybrids that have varying traits and abilities based on their vampiric parent. There are two 'breeds' of Dhampyrs, 'Pure-Bloods' and 'Impure-Bloods'.

Pure Dhampyrs are called such because their mother was the vampire, and they possess a vampire's body and abilities, though they are severely limited due to only half of the chromosomes being vampiric in nature. Pure Dhampyrs are easy to notice, as many have Heterochromia Iridum (different eye colors) and sometimes mixed hair colors that indicate their less-than-human heritage.

Impure Dhampyrs are born of a human mother, and do not possess as much natural power as a Pure Dhampyr due to having a human body. They do possess enhanced senses and are usually quite the powerhouses… among humans at least. Impure Dhampyrs are mostly human, and therefore few ever discover their Dhampyr heritage. Impure Dhampyrs are far more common than Pure Bloods, as most vampire women would never allow themselves to be taken by a human… but there are always exceptions, of course. Male vampires care not for that, and many times the Impure Dhampyrs are just born on accident after a one night stand.

Dhampyr Pure Bloods have a great deal more strength than any human, but will almost never reach a real vampire in terms of power. The benefits of their mixed heritage make them immune to the natural weaknesses of the vampire race, i.e. water and rosaries. Their bodies, being vampiric in nature, are able to channel and make use of youki, and therefore make them closer to being a Youkai than a human. As previously stated, their power will never be as overwhelming as a real vampire, but they have their human heritage to fall back on… in other words, technology, adaptability, a survival instinct that drives humans to do the worst things imaginable to live… these things make Dhampyrs what they are today, half-vampires that are not afraid to cheat and lower themselves to accomplish their goals and live to fight another day. Pure Blooded Dhampyrs also have the advantage of immortality whereas…

Tsukune slammed the book closed immediately. 'Did I just read that right?' He thought frantically. He slowly opened the book and found the page again. Pure Blooded Dhampyrs also have the advantage of immortality… It read. Tsukune read it again, then he read it a fourth time after that. He slammed the book shut again.

Pure Blooded Dhampyrs are immortal… Pure Blooded Dhampyrs have two differently colored eyes, Pure Dhampyrs have mixed hair colors sometimes…

'I'm… Immortal?' Tsukune thought. "You've got to be kidding me." He said in a depressed tone.

"What's wrong?" A soft voice behind him asked. Tsukune slowly, and carefully, turned his head to see one of his classmates standing behind him. It was the girl with long violet hair, aurora-like eyes and pale skin. The uniform she was wearing was rather… unorthodox to say the least. Her outfit consisted of a white wide-necked sweater with blue sleeves over a black tank top, a short plaid yellow skirt which was part of the Yokai Academy uniform, pink and violet stockings, and a belt that was wrapped around her left thigh. She was very pretty, much like Moka.

"Oh, it's… not that important, really." He lied. "Hi, my name's Tsukune Aono, what's yours?"

"Mizore Shirayuki." Mizore practically whispered.

"Well, Shirayuki-san, would you like to sit down?" He asked, gesturing to a spot next to him. She nodded and sat next to him. Her very aura made him shiver to the bone, but he tried to act like it didn't bother him.

"What's with the books?" Mizore asked. She wouldn't look him in the eye; she just stared straight ahead and spoke in a flat tone.

"Well I grew up in the human world, so I don't know much about… anything, really. I was just looking up my own race." He said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Did you not like what you found?" Mizore asked.

"I found out that I'm immortal, and I get to live forever." He said sadly. "Whoopee…" He muttered sarcastically.

"Wow, that's lucky." Mizore said, finally looking at him. She was slightly surprised by the depression in his tone. "Most of my kind, as well as any other Youkai here would kill for that."

"I'd rather live one life than a thousand." Tsukune said, leaning back. He sighed. "I never really liked the idea of being immortal, though that might have been because of my background. I don't think that it's all it is cracked up to be…"

"But if you find someone to share your immortality with, a vampire or another kind of Youkai that's immortal for instance, than it's probably not so bad." Mizore told him softly.

"Hah, yeah I'd be lucky to find a human girl to look past what I am… let alone a bunch of Youkai who are terrified of me." Tsukune said bitterly.

"I'm not afraid." Mizore stated. Tsukune looked at her, appraising her calmly.

"Then would like to be my friend as well?" He asked. Mizore blushed and looked down.

"What do you mean as well?" She asked slowly.

"Well, Moka-san is a friend now after I forgave her, but I would like it if you would be my friend as well." Tsukune said with a genuine smile.

"Sure." Mizore said in a small voice. She didn't like the idea of a girl like Moka being near him, when she wanted him, but she supposed that if she tried something like attacking her, he'd never forgive her. He offered her his hand to shake; she smiled with a light blush on her pale face, before taking it. "And please, call me Mizore-chan, Tsukune-kun."

"Alright Mizore-chan." Tsukune smiled. He pulled out a second book now, and it said something about magic on the cover.

"What'cha reading now?" Mizore asked curiously.

"I checked out a book on magic while I was at the library… I wanted to know what's out there, after all." He smiled as he checked out the table of contents. "I can't really control my natural power, but I think I know someone who might be able to help me with that… in the meantime, I wanted to see if I could actually learn magic." He chuckled. "It would certainly give me an edge if I needed to fight someone."

Mizore nodded. She could only wonder who could help him, but she had an idea that would help him get stronger, as well as potentially making them grow closer. "Most Human-Youkai hybrids can learn magic, but it's nearly impossible to master unless they have a lot of time… but you do. For example, I could teach you some things." She offered. "Wait, you are a Human-Youkai hybrid, right?"

Tsukune's head perked up and an eager smile crossed his face as he nodded his answer to her question. "What kind of things?"

Mizore smiled as she saw a way into his heart. She held up her hand and claws of ice formed over it. "I'm a yuki-onna… I control ice you see, and I could teach you. You wouldn't be able to match me, not for a few centuries at least, but I can teach you some helpful, basic things if you want."

Tsukune grinned. "I'm all for it." He then quickly added, "Whenever you have time, of course."

Mizore's smile grew wider, though it was only barely noticeable. "Can we start tomorrow?"

"Oh yes, definitely." Tsukune grinned back. "So why can I learn magic, can't all the other Youkai learn?"

"You're half human, which gives you the adaptability of one… humans were always able to learn magic… but they discriminated against themselves when it was discovered. The reason hybrids like you, no offense of course, are feared is because… you can learn many different abilities… and we're stuck to what we've got." Mizore slowly explained in her flat and quiet tone.

At that moment, a scream pierced the air and it was nearby. Tsukune stood up as it sounded pretty familiar. "I think that was Moka-san. Mizore-chan, we have to go help." Mizore nodded, as she was slowly beginning to understand the Dhampyr in front of her. She summoned a bridge of ice leading downwards and toward the sound.

The yuki-onna and the Dhampyr ran for the scream, and Tsukune was determined to help his friend.

Well that's chapter two, and I hope that you've all enjoyed it.

Response to reviewers coming in 3…2…1…

To both Guests who requested more information on Tsukune's Family background: Don't worry, I'm going to reveal that eventually, it's just not something he or anyone else (in the current cast of course) knows right now, and it would make no sense to just mention it to you through my almighty omnipotence. I don't have a Morgan Freeman that explains the plot either… [Reference to the latest South Park episode. ;)]

I totally apologize for the lack of details going on in the setting and with the characters, and I will most certainly work on that… as I hope that I've managed in this chapter (but hey, you never know… I'll reread it, just in case.)

Oh and I thought that it was obvious, but what I've mentioned with Akasha letting Tsukune go was, I believe, "I only hope that his existence will help bridge the gap between our races, and perhaps he will…" Coexistence, of course… it seemed like something the dark lords would do, after all.

There will of course be a little more detail in that and family history and etcetera, but that will all be revealed as time goes on…

I'm not saying anything definitive about pairings, other than this of course, so there. Why? Because I for one judge stories, on accident really, based on the pairings… and I know that I should avoid spilling all the secrets of the story too early. (Though this was slightly ignored in my Assassin's Creed and Rosario + Vampire Xover…)

Special powers? Well other than the aforementioned lack of vampire weaknesses, and Mizore's offer, I think it will become more and more apparent as to how what he might be able to do… but I also have some unorthodox ideas in mind.

I'm probably going to have to change the rating very soon, as one of the 'unorthodox ideas' that I have in mind will be… well… it'll be very obvious, let me just say that. Honestly I rate a lot of my things as 'M' even though they could probably pass for T, and it's always a just in case measure.

I apologize in advance if I make any story decisions that you all don't agree with, especially pairings, but as you may have noticed with the very early introduction of Mizore… I'm just going to do things my way. At the same time, I don't want to make things so unbelievable and non-cannon that you'll all be shaking your heads and say things like, "Yeah that's so unbelievable" or something of the like.

A note on why he decided to go to the library and stuff rather than spend time doing… nothing. Honestly, if I found out that we lived in a world of magic and monsters, I sure as hell wouldn't be doing sitting around and wasting my time in that world. I'd find out what my limitations really are, and start learning things like magic and getting more powerful and things of the like… it would be awesome! To put it bluntly, my Tsukune will not be sitting around and be doing nothing while just waiting to spend time with the girls… he's going to be busy.

And one last thing: I'm sorry if I can't upload this fast enough, as I am pretty focused on my AC/RV crossover right now… There will always be points in time where this is uploaded quickly, but the reason I might end up uploading this slower than I could is because I spend a lot of time on the crossover. The chapters in that one are, with the exception of chapter two, twice as long as this chapter, and therefore it requires a little more attention to upload at a decent rate of speed.

Alright, sorry about the rant… did I miss anything?

Doesn't look like it. Well, I'm off to reread and edit! Have a nice day!