A/N: I now wish to hug the people who have submitted such thoughtful starting reviews, but since I am still studying up on how to spontaneously project my molecules through the internet directly to all desired profile users, I suppose another chapter will have to suffice… (…sigh…)
Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire
Chapter 2: Welcome to Paradise
The hand never let go.
Rather, it squeezed much tighter around Tsukune's, the pale digits of the fingers wrapping around his, almost on the verge of snapping them at right where the brusque pressure was applied.
The formerly wounded academy student took a deep breath to absorb the pain and bitter cold coming off of the hand and through his entire arm, realizing to himself that whether deciding to go was a good idea or not, it was far too late to rethink decisions.
The equally pale forearm keeping the hand to Tsukune was the only connection between the Youkai Academy and the world that he knew he was about to see. He wondered the simpler questions to himself first. Questions like, Is it the human world? Is it home?
It didn't take long to realize, however, that his body had had about all that it could take from…whatever the hell kind of creature that could inflict so much torture just by maintaining contact with one limb. It was more joyous than a kick from any vampire, that much was for certain, but nevertheless, it felt like it was freezing him from the inside, limb first, vital organs immediately after. The arm gripping the stranger's hand had already gone numb, and anything that hadn't already was being jarred by a mysterious prickling sensation. It reminded him of the times that Mizore had frozen him completely to the ground to keep him still so that she had an opening to get to him and that he had a serious lack of one to haul away at top speeds.
The stranger just on the other side of the mysterious blue portal was slowly gaining its confidence in getting Tsukune through. He could immediately tell that it wasn't planning on coming in from the other side, and all the while, the oppressive grasp clung to his wrist, pulling him closer to the face of the river, rippling with discord. The bright blue light kept the stranger's face hidden from plane sight. Tsukune squinted for a look, only to find the light much too offending for his eyes.
Using his free wrist with the holy limiter wrapped around it, he briefly rubbed against his irritated face while turning it away. But the arm pulled him even closer still, and he could now hear deep inhales and exhales emulating from the other area of the bank, instilling Tsukune with a great blanket of discomfort.
And then in spite of the numbness, he felt his arm as it went through a peculiar coolness. He knew for certain.
He was passing through.
The feeling was tense, like a thousand tiny ants completely enveloping his arm and moving up. But at the same time, he couldn't help but think ice. The foreign hand, devoid of color, held on, entrapping him in an almost cryogenic-like state of mind as well as body. He found himself thrown into a sort of trance…or was it just paralysis?
He refused to look back at the light, but he heard the voice, again in a whisper. "Look to the door. If thou shall lose thy confidence, 'tis very easy to get lost on the way…"
He shot his eyes open. "G-get lost? Get lost how??"
The bony hand squeezed tighter only for a brief moment in an attempt to ease him, but it ended up shocking him even harder. "Shhhhhh…"
Tsukune swallowed, gulping in the anxiety, but slowly turned back to the reflection to adjust his eyes to the blinding light. It burned a lot at first, but he then became somewhat clear to the limitless well in front of him, where light never stopped spewing forth.
He couldn't shake the warning from his mind. "You sure this is…alright?"
"Thou fined weakness through lack of faith! Just trust in me! Only in me!"
"Don't drop me then! Hold on to me!" But he doubted his own words, because the ice continued creeping up his arm, making a glacial crackling while it froze from the water making up the strange gateway between the worlds. The hand burned deeper into his skin.
"Gah…my hand…feels like its being dipped in liquid metal! Hurtsssss!" He gritted his teeth in pain while emphasizing on his word with a sizzling hiss.
The taller reflection on the other side wasted no more time. With one great yank, the arm pulled Tsukune off of his feet and plunged him straight through the teeming light with only a moment more. His entire body almost instantly became as chilled as the arm that was now unwillingly subjoined to the stranger. And as he found himself dragged through a wormhole of light weaved in tight fabrics, and out into a pit of limitless darkness, he was immediately crushed under invisible weight all around. It was like the gravity was being amplified tenfold.
He could no longer see the hand he had grabbed a hold of in front of himself, much less feel it. He could no longer see the sky, or the moon, or the water, or the faceless creature he had met.
He fell alone, plummeting through a spiral of terrifying stars bathed in purple; a spiral downward through a bottomless Hell. His mouth shot open to let out a silent scream, falling…falling…
The sound of a collision, the booming of speakers exploding in his ears, a flash of white, then everything went black. And silent.
The next thing he knew, he was being dragged up off of his feet by an invisible force, dangling limp like a fish on a hook. His eyes were either barely open from exhaustion or wide open in a frozen shock, but it mattered all the same. He couldn't see.
That's what made the force holding him up so invisible. It blended in with the rest of the dark. It was a dark that was much too dark to be night. It was…pitch dark. No lights, no sound, nothing in plain sight.
Tsukune had to be dreaming. He was drifting alone in the middle of a limitless void held up by something he didn't even know what, and seeing nothing. What happened to the voice? To the shape that had reached for him? He couldn't remember what it looked like, or how long it had been since he had even seen it. But here he was, alone with his thoughts, the only tool he had left.
His legs dangled loosely – he had no idea how far he was from the ground, if there was a ground. His head hung heavily.
"Awaken." His whole body jostled slightly. After another moment, "Awaken I say."
His body shook a bit more. He let his gaze set on one direction for awhile, and he kept still for a moment.
'Who's there…?' He didn't find himself asking it like he wanted to, but thinking the question instead.
He heard a hissing inhale and exhale, and then the whisper again. "Open thine eyes and thou shall see."
'My eyes are open…'
"…Test not of mine patience."
Tsukune drew in a deep winter breath in his effort to concentrate, and he instantly let out a gasp when the world around him lit up only a slight bit more. He weakly turned his head up to find that something was holding him up by the scruff of his worn shirt, suspending him above ground. Whoever it was, he still couldn't see. There was still only thick darkness.
"Ah-huh…" The voice's volume increased slightly. Tsukune wondered if this was because its character was getting a bit more excited or because he was snapping from the drowse. "Child, o' child, looketh at what thou hast done. Went and exhausted thyself from half a minute's journey jumping the realms, thou hast."
Tsukune was still panting, but responded with his own voice this time, "Huh…? Realms…? And no way…it seemed much more…like days…"
He was unpleasantly cut off when the invisible shadow behind him abruptly threw him forward, and the fatigued student grunted when his chest hit something solid, but slightly cushioned. Then he heard the shuffling of something below him kicking along the ground, and felt himself moving steadily along with it. He was thrown into even more surprise taking in the current situation.
"Are…are you hauling me on your shoulder?"
"Be silent. The dangers around this place at the moment…are incomprehensible. With each and every nightfall, there is a new abomination that appears. Not that they pose much of a threat to me, but all of the creatures around hither hunt. And thou hath neither defense nor pardon from any of them."
"Well I understand that part, but I'm not a carry-on…"
"Silence, I spoketh. We taketh no chances. Thou art far too laggard to leave at work on thy own accord. Now respect mine wish and keep thy volume to minimal significance."
The voice always whispered. Its tone was unreadable, but it felt as sharp and as real as the pain it gave him when it touched his hand with its own. Knowing that it had that kind of capability, Tsukune decided that it was best not to take any chances with this guy's temper. He was much too tired at the moment to do much talking himself anyway.
"O-okay…" He stuttered in barely a whisper. 'But how come it's okay for him to talk and not me? Wouldn't we get spotted either way…?'
Instantly as he thought, Tsukune spotted the only thing that he could see. Protruding out of the thick haze was a single tiny spot of golden light. And then the wispy voice spoke, breaking the tension. "The reason that only I may speak is that I do not truly speak at all… I shall take thee to place most confidential where thou in turn shall retire for the night…"
Looking at the strangely luminous orb made Tsukune's eyes grow heavy. Every second weighed him down even more. Finally, he was far too weary to even question himself as to how this stranger had apparently managed to read his thoughts. He could not keep awake through the whole trip. He fell, slowly, into a sort of dream within a dream, lapsing from consciousness into a well-needed sleep.
And as that tiny golden light faded out, he heard the anonymous whisper finish its small discussion through an echo.
"This I say to thee…we speaketh once more in the morn."
Tsukune was out before he even realized it.
His vision was blurred for a moment from morning drowsiness. That was kind of a common with him. His eyes adjusted to a bright light beaming down on him. Letting out a yawn and raising his head, he looked over at his surroundings. Stone columns, some sturdier than others, kept up parts of the ceiling, and there were areas behind them that were almost too dark to see clearly. In some places there were statues of angelic figures that he felt were staring directly at him, but some of them were too flawed to identify the faces. Over and all, a temple ruin-like feel. But somewhere, there was a little bit of rural courtyard like feel to it growing around too.
Vines and various plants were growing everywhere along cracked, stony walls. A strangely dark orange sun was radiating its light from the gigantic gaping hole in the ceiling – the same light that he had woken up to.
It didn't take a while to realize that everything that had happened to him earlier wasn't a dream. And it brought his mood down real quick.
He heaved his upper half off of the ground and looked down over him to find that there was a bed-sized patch of leaves that had been laid beneath him for comfort. Although he was now shirtless and was given no covers to sleep with, the sun above cast a pleasant ray of warmth over him. A long scar was revealed over his bare torso. A scar that he had carried since around the time he had experienced his temporary transformation into a ghoul. There was a long streak over his otherwise well-built chest, a shorter scar was overlapping to give it the shape of an X.
His pants were still muddy with the soil of the Youkai Academy's woods.
Carefully, Tsukune got up and dusted himself a little to explore the ruined area around him. It was quiet and calm. A surreal room, almost like something out of a fairytale. He would give more thought as to why there was a sun of that particular color, but truth be told, he had seen stranger things.
The stranger was gone now for the moment. The first thing that Tsukune had started to think about, aside from his own hunger, was taking the silence and privacy of the large room he was in to think and to plan. Sitting upright in a cross-legged position on his leafy bed, he rested a hand against his cheek and stared at the statue closest to him. The only statue without a single flaw. Its slender hands were clasped together in a prayer's pose, and a feminine face smiled politely back at him. Angel wings were spread to either side as it continued to silently watch him.
'That man…or whatever he was brought me here. I just know it. And if he's not with me…then what was the point of coming here? I just needed some guidance. About how I should handle Moka-san. That was all…'
It was then he had started to realize what a fool he was being. Guidance? From a person he didn't even know? Was he losing his senses by the minute? The chance that this stranger wanted to do him harm was just as high as if he wanted to help him – no strike that – even higher. It wasn't like he hadn't been through this kind of thing before. He had hoped he would have learned his lesson after he had decided to trust that Ueshiba so quickly, who was revealed to be a member of ANTI-THESIS shortly after. That only started a chain of betrayals, because good friends of his were members too. He thought he'd learn, but nooooo. He had to trust just one more time. Sooner or later, this little habit would be the end of him.
He gripped his hair with frustration, falling into a depressed demeanor. He raised his head to continue looking at the statue across from him. The female angel kept smiling. The face's gentle expression reminded him not of the Inner Moka, but of the Outer. But being reminded of Outer Moka in turn would remind him of her dangerous counterpart.
'Moka-san…even though I can hardly say I understand you…how you could have been so cruel…'
These were the makings of a statement he would reserve just for her, should he ever see her again.
He stood up on his legs and stared on.
"Thou art awake."
Tsukune jumped. He spun around frantically trying to find the source of the whisper. He came upon statue after statue, all staring at him from their pedestals, some faceless, some not. His head spun and spun looking for the person that he knew had brought him here.
"Where are you? Who's there?"
A pause.
"Thou soundeth healthier…more…full of life… How quant." The whisper bounced off of the walls everywhere. There was no tracing it.
"Huh?"
He heard footsteps behind him clicking against the stony floor. Tsukune slowly turned his head to face a tall shape moving slowly towards from the darkness behind the columns. It stepped into the light. Tsukune was blinded for a brief moment from a flash coming off of the stranger's footwear. Apparently he was wearing something metal.
Tsukune winced, but recomposed his vision, and his eyes were set about a long cloak as black as the void. It instantly reminded him of Ruby's master, whom they had confronted when they first met her. There were tatters all over the cape and the sleeves had pieces of the cloth practically shredded and hanging down, but still concealed the person's hands. His hood was up to make the face nothing short of a riddle that Tsukune wanted to solve, and as he looked at the opening, he saw long clouds of breath coming through the passage, like the kind that you would breathe on a wintry morning. But the temperature in the area was perfect, so how could that be true?
'Wh-what's up with this guy? He's got me so unnerved. So scary!'
The sleeves of the dark apparel hung loosely like long appendages drifting to and fro, and the figure stepped closer to further narrow the distance between he and the boy. With each step, his apparel became more detailed in Tsukune's eyes. Through the black color he could see tears and holes in the robes, like he had worn it since the Beginning of Time. The column of the cloth below his hood was outlined by a long row of golden feathers, and he moved as if he was nothing tangible under that dusky shroud.
He stopped a few yards away and stared. His ominous cloak was drenched in the light of the sun; the cloud of breath escaping from under his hood was now a stunning bright blue. Just what was he?
The tension in the atmosphere was enough to make Tsukune break it.
"Ah, I'm forgetting my manners! Excuse me, please!" Tsukune bobbed his head down a couple of times in a goofy respect to the tall pile of rags standing up in front of him. The figure remained silent, keeping perfectly still. Another stream of icy breath escaped from under the shadowy hood. "I'm Aono Tsukune. I'm a student of the Youkai Academy. You've heard of it right?"
Silence.
Tsukune felt a bit discouraged, but didn't give up. "You must've! Aren't you the one who brought me here from that place?"
The hood nodded slightly.
Tsukune felt an utter need to know the dark shape's name, but tried to play around with subjects to seem less abrupt and pressing. "So…what is this place exactly?" He asked, fidgeting for an answer.
This time, the concealed being decided to answer, though he drew exasperation while doing so. "I welcometh thee, Aono Tsukune, to Paradise."
The boy's eyes widened. 'Paradise…' "I don't understand how I got here. Before, I lost my way and fell into someplace completely dark."
"Thou hath nearly fallen. I admonished thee about consequences that may unfurl, should thou taketh mine hand with such frail tendency, so I…"
"…You what?"
The tall garb motioned with its tattered sleeve at Tsukune's left arm. Following the gesture, his attention shook alive at a hand as pale as Mizore's naturally snowy white skin. In peering at it, ice shot through his shoulder and delivered a chilling shiver directly into his spine. He got down on one knee in astonishment. It was a completely new type of pain, one that he had never felt before, but it still hurt like hell.
"You…what did you do?!"
The black shape in front of him shrugged. "That is what is to pay for such inconsideration. Thou, whom art already feeling the effects of this realm, should hath laid thy hand unto mine while brimming with much more confidence. 'Twas the impression thou hath given me, but now I see…'twas farce…and nothing more. But then again, and even so, I expected not a…" He slowly halted, and placed a sleeve up to the opening of its hood in a manner of deep thought.
Tsukune winced up at him. "…what…" He grunted out through a frigid voice, trying to keep his body temperature together.
The sleeve lowered back to his side in the normal pose. "Nay. Pay it no heed. Thy hand shall relinquish to normal color, rest assured. The only thing that piques concern is the nightmares, but lo and behold…"
Tsukune couldn't tell if he was speaking to him any more than to himself. He looked far too…out of it.
"Hnh…nightmares?" He ventured curiously.
"Oh, pay it little heed, fair child, thou shall see it for thyself…best it be later than sooner, I doth suppose… Now then, about why thou hast cometh."
"No," he pressed. "Tell me."
"Nay, I shan't. 'Tis a trial, a challenge of pandemonium unseen to findeth for thyself. That which doth not slay thee shall make thee mightier. Consider it an unplanned gift, child."
The hooded being stared at him through an invisible expression and raised a tray with something steaming on top of it to his chest from out of nowhere. Tsukune's eyes brightened. The smell emitting from it was unbelievably mouth-watering. Suddenly, he forgot all about what happened to his arm and the previous conversation.
"Wh-where did that come from?" He asked in bewilderment.
The cloak gently set it to the ground in front of hidden feet and with equal delicacy, slide it across the stone floor of the temple. "Dine." The whisper quietly commanded.
"Oh-oh! You made me breakfast? Thank you!" Tsukune looked down at the silverish tray supporting the sizzling body of some dangerous looking fish creature. It had jagged fangs jutting out through its lips like a barracuda, and bore an everlasting glare through the eye up at him. Tsukune shuddered at its ugly face. "Um…if you don't mind me asking…what kinda fish is this, exactly?"
"Lochstress larvae. A marine organism that can be found in the warm spring rivers miles off. 'Twas once treacherous, but now dead, and I hath rended the venomous spines diligently from the carcass for thee. Just bare mindfulness to the teeth – there is venom yet stored inside of the bone."
"Venom?!" He responded on guard. "You mean this meal can kill me?"
"As what was explicated, the teeth, child. Lochstress attack their usually larger prey with a potent poison fivefold the effect of cobra venom. Avoid them. And forgive for the lack of dining tradition, for it appears that there are no eating apparatuses for thee to feast with."
By this moment, Tsukune was struggling to look cool about such unusual hospitality. He was naturally accepting of even strange customs, but having a cooked dish that could take him out was sort of a drawing line. However, being the gentleman (and to put bluntly, fool) that he always was, he would suck it up and persevere.
"Ah, no worries. It's actually good to have somebody around who doesn't mind – sometimes it just seems better to eat without the fancy appliances, know what I mean?" The cloak continued to stand there waiting for him. "Usually I don't get many opportunities to act so much like a kid again, in high school, more is expected out of you."
"Hmph…I have not attended a high school in…a long time."
Tsukune nodded his head hesitantly and looked down at his breakfast. The meal sitting in front of him near the leafy surface of his bed carried the hunger-awakening smell of his personally favorite dish from his favorite sushi bar that his parents would take him to on special occasion. It was because it was so pricy to visit. But there was a difference between those times and this one: he was getting the meal for free.
He smiled wolfishly up at his tall host. "Itadakimasu!" He stated cheerfully, using the proper eating etiquette he grew up with.
The shape turned his head for a brief moment and then responded in his silent whisper the only response that he deemed appropriate, "God bless you."
Tsukune turned his head in a bit of confusion at the misuse of occasion, but shrugged it off and continued eying the steaming, cool-colored scales on the side of the morsel, doing his best to remember about the hazardous teeth. Still, the steam had his nose tingling with delight, and he wasn't about to refuse an offer when he hadn't eaten in what seemed well over a week. Picking it up gently off the tray with both hands, he searched for a nice soft place to sink in. He found one off the side, and prepared to assert himself.
But all of the pleasant morning features exploded in his face as he was blindsided with incredible force by something small.
"MAAAAAASTERRRRRRRR!!" Shouted a male, riley voice with utmost glee.
"Uwaaahh!" Tsukune flew trailing dust right into a pillar, knocking it down and becoming submerged in rubble and smoke. Meanwhile, the swift, tiny bolt of black sped like a jet for the fish-like meal that would have become Tsukune's a moment later.
The creature gripped for the head with infinitesimal legs and flew high over to the cloaked figure staring blankly onward. "You found me a meal, chuu!" It concluded with the fish dangling underneath while it zealously flapping its wings overhead.
A distance away, Tsukune was seeing wheels spinning. He groaned in delirium, holding his head and shaking off the shock from being tackled like a victim of the quarterback in his old high school. "So powerful…" His vision cleared, and he saw the black spot looming in midair with his breakfast next to the ominously tall wanderer. Approaching woozily for a better look, he saw a small, pitch-black bat continuing to actively flap its wings with the fish. His eyes widened at the sight of the two red dots making up the eyes; a chibi-style smile was wrapped underneath them.
"Hey…you look a lot like…" Tsukune narrowed his eyes while he was trying to remember the resemblance. He snapped his fingers when he did. "…that chibi bat that always narrates the fights with Moka-san in the academy."
The dark-robed man's cold aura seemed to come slowly alive. "Whom…?"
"Ah, just this bat that announces fights back where I'm from, sorta' like a referee–"
"Nay, nay, child. The name that thou hath brought to light also. Who is…?"
Tsukune was startled by his ability to pick up on other details. It wasn't intended to bring her up. "Oh her, well she's…"
"Say, you picked a fine specimen!" The cute yet somehow malicious-looking bat interrupted, breaking away from his nibbling on the morsel's head. By this point, he was perched on the mysterious man's shoulder, wings folded over to hold the food steady. "I thought the River was supposed to be miles and miles away, chuu!"
Tsukune wasn't joking when he said that the small mammal looked like Koumori Nazo, the narrating bat. Any chibi fan would recognize the tiny hamster on a pair of wings that would engulf the camera shouting what monster so-and-so was, followed by a summary. When Moka won the fight, he was the first one to rush in and out, shouting 'The time of this fight was one whole second!!' Wow. One second longer than the last fight…
"That meal was reserved for the guest of honor, Selzix, thou troublesome bat…"
"Ah! You don't say!" The tiny mammal answered with his cheeks stuffed. "But I haven't eaten in nearly an hour! You should know that the key procedure for a bat keeping fit and healthy comes with three steps. Eating, sleeping, and…" He stopped his rapid-paced talking to pluck out the glaring eye of the marine animal with his mouth. "…eating, chuu!"
"You said eating twice." Tsukune spoke up with his index fingers pressing together in a nervous pose. "And waaaaasn't that supposed to be…um…my breakfast?" He muttered before attempting to force a laugh.
The tiny tater-shaped bat snapped his head to look at the high school student whose meal he just robbed. "Sorry yosomono-kun, but the procedure grants me access to seven meals a day. These things must be handled certain ways! Just be thankful I didn't mention eating five more times."
"I fear that Selzix cannot bear with his own soul to miss out on even one of his more important feedings…" The whisper under the hood mumbled.
"That's correct, chuu! And I'm not about to slow it down now for a…" He trailed off, and his red eyes flashed like flares for a moment. He took off of his master's shoulder and flapped hastily yet warily to the student, eying him sharply with the meal still in his grasp. "Just…what kinda ayashi are you?" He asked inquisitively.
Tsukune was a bit shocked by the question, not really wanting to announce so soon that he wasn't a monster, but a human. From having heard Inner Moka use the word so harmfully the last time he saw her, he was growing to hate it by the sec. "I'm a…uh…umm…ehh…I mean…" The two black bodies continued to watch him struggle over his words for half a minute.
Suddenly, he heard his stomach growl noisily. He swiftly cuffed a hand over his bare belly and felt his skin go white. 'Oh, oh no! I still haven't eaten! I'm starving, and when I'm starving, I can't think straight! This is no good!!'
The pressure on the boy was building like water on one side of a dam about to split. He struggled and struggled, feeling around for an answer. Racking his brain to the limits, he felt the temperature get a degree warmer every second, and the beads of sweat that were starting to go down his cheek were showing it. "I'm a…" At last, he blurted out the ultimate first word that came to his head…and he instantly ended up regretting it. "GHOUL!!" He instantly slapped his hand dumbly over his mouth, feeling incredibly sheepish for the outburst and name choice.
Both of the other figures were quiet. So here he was, practically confessing to being a flesh-eating zombie in front of two threatening advocates of death, wearing nothing but a pair of muddy pants. 'And now comes the part where I start to feel awkward.' It was a casual thought. One that came into his head at least four times every other day in the Youkai Academy – including at least one for every girl knew in the whole school.
Selzix's red dots of eyes increased threefold. "Ahahaha…a…what?" He squeaked out uneasily after another half second.
Tsukune swallowed in a guttural gulp.
With nothing more said, the bat fluttered hastily again to his master's side and perched on the ragworn shoulder, crouching near the hood's opening. "Master," he whispered apprehensively, "I know that it could just be the cool breeze I get from getting so close to you ruffling my fur, but…um…we should do something. This really isn't good."
The cloaked figure gazed on silently at his guest's long scar across his torso. "Agreed." The whisper dragged back.
Then the hood turned its position to set its invisible sight upon a tiny rock sitting to his side. With no gestures used, nor words spoken, the tiny pebble darted itself off of the ground and up his dark, dangling sleeve.
Tsukune's eyes widened in awe. "Amazing powers…"
The shrouded creature then tossed the stone effortlessly up to his feet. It rolled against the floor and tapped against his foot before stopping. He looked down at it, half expecting it to spontaneously combust in his face. It didn't. Was this stranger really as much of a hardass as he looked?
Somewhat disappointed, Tsukune pulled his face back up to meet with the black tattered hood completely blocking his view. In a split second, the mysterious being had moved silently, diligently to being from half the room away to nothing more than an inch away from him.
Tsukune grunted loudly and fell back on his leaf bed. The disheveled robe knelt down over him and breathed a long fog of blue in his face. He caught some of it with his nose, and just a tiny whiff made him feel…drowsy.
'Wh-what is this…stuff…sleep…powder…?' His head bobbed for a moment, but he quickly came to. Looking back up into the darkness of the hood where a face lay hidden, he felt his own body rumbling. 'I'm…trembling? Is that because I'm sensing that this person is…very powerful?' He tried to speak, but couldn't.
The hood sank in a bit closer to get a good look at the boy's frightened expression. Tsukune heard the unsettling loud noise of inhales…exhales…inhale…exhale…
"Aono…Tsssssukune…" The temperature around them dropped twenty degrees. Instantly, Tsukune felt the very effects of only this specter's voice on him – like the worst frost that refused to thaw.
"Mm! Mm-hm…?" He responded with the confidence of a kitten right in front of a T-rex.
"Come with me." The voice was more insidious than ever before, and Tsukune thought that he heard an ulterior voice echoing in the background. The entire shape instantly hovered away with the hood still turned towards him, and then glided to the light opening of a doorway, the shining black bat on his right shoulder.
Tsukune was left alone in the silence of the morning once again, the unnatural orange sun beaming its rays down upon his bare back. It felt like he was getting called to a corner.
"Ah. I guess I've officially worn out my welcome." He hung his head. 'Suuure, calling yourself a ghoul, no one around you'll mind. Come on, stupid, stupid! Aww…and I didn't even get a chance to eat…'
Youkai Academy was in session, and right now, Akashiya Moka and the other girls were bored. Completely, utterly, top-of-the-feel bored. Since Tsukune was absent, the class wasn't nearly as fun to be in. In fact, they each wondered how they could have survived first semester without him. Half of the trouble was deciding which one would become partners with him, the other half was duking it out in a fight to the death…to decide which one would become partners with him. That's high school.
Kurumu rested an arm against her face, her face revealing a disinterest that she normally saved for one of the drooling fanboys that hit on her nearly every trip she made from this class to the next. Now she could somewhat see what they felt like. As energetic as a neko-musume could be, listening to Shizuka's lecture without something to gawk at…was just a plain, flat-out bitch. Half out of mind, she brushed her hand slightly through her radiant light blue hair, and continued to daydream about the man that she knew for certain would one day become hers, and hers alone.
A desk away, Yukari was sitting up straight like the golden shining star that everyone was aware that she was. She didn't know why, but she was rather happy that she seemed to be the only one who held any appreciation for school. Just to her, that meant that she enjoyed doing what she was good at. And, to not be taken out of context, it was good to be the best. The best at something. The best.
However, she had also felt a bit dreary noticing that Tsukune was absent from the class, because with only Moka, it was only half the fun. Even though she disregarded him as nothing more than a pervert when they had first met, she grew equally attached to him as she had with Moka. Considering that it was one of the only boys that she had befriended since the beginning of the year, that really didn't seem like something worth losing.
She shrugged off of her silent thoughts and resumed her participation in the lecture.
And yet another desk away from her was that ice goddess, Mizore. She was always more of the silent type, but everyone had also probably known what would be on her mind. There was no hiding it, and she wasn't about to try. She didn't care what others thought. Only of what he thought.
She could shout out to the world that she was plain freakin' in love with him if that would get him to become hers, and considering her shyness around others, that was really saying something. Yet, she paid no attention to fairytales, so it just looked like she would have to strive for a way to win him over, herself.
She picked up the thin pen that she kept in the corner of her desk with her fingertips. She held it up in front of her face.
Nothing was going to get between her and the one she loves.
Her eyes glowed in an enchanting blue, and the writing utensil in front of her froze instantly into a long, pointed needle of ice.
Nothing.
"Ah, Shirayuki-chan! Please refrain from using all youkai abilities during session!" Nekonome stated nervously, halting the lecture briefly. "Keep all powers restricted, pllllease!"
Mizore emotionlessly took the sucker out of her mouth to answer her teacher. "Eh, sorry sensei. I was having a small relapse."
The teacher's eyes remained shut, but her cat ears twitched comically. "…Are you still taking the pills that your psychologist assigned?" She quickly asked with a straight face.
"Yes, I'm still taking the anti-anxiety pills."
The teacher instantly made a foxy smile to show drastic change in her brief concern. She threw a leg up in the air behind her to exercise her restored mood. "Fabulous! No worries then! Aheheh! Now moving on…"
As her conversation drifted in the background, Moka sat in her assigned spot, trapped in her own thoughts.
'Tsukune has never been absent in class before… Did something happen?' A tiny voice in the back of her head said yes. '…could it have been…something that I did?' She gripped her rosary pendant around her neck and flashed a small glare down at the scarlet gem in the center. 'No…' she concluded in her thoughts. '…something that you did…isn't it?'
The rosario didn't respond, but she knew it as just facts. She didn't mean to hurt him, but how could she control what the other her did? Her powers are crazy as it is.
Her grip on the rosary let go. She looked mournfully down at her empty desk. 'Tsukune…'
The bell rang.
Looking up in alert, Nekonome announced with her arm thrown out wide to the side, "Okay kids! Meet back here first thing in the morning with bright-looking faces, 'cause we gots a quiz ready to gooo! Yahoo!"
There was a wide commotion of groans, and soon after, the class was devoid of students.
Moka hauled her small backpack on and joined the small circle that she and the others formed to go to their next class. There she saw Kurumu crossing her arms in a stern pose.
"I just don't get it," she heard her say as she continued over, "Tsukune's never really been absent before, has he? I mean he's been late a few times, but…"
"Ne? A few times, desu. He's been tardy every day through at least half of each semester."
The succubus ran her knuckle into the pointed hat of the younger witch, who yelped in pain. "Not my point, brat! And stop calling me that! I'm saying that even though he may not always make the first bell, he always shows up regardless."
"I think we know who we can talk to about that…" Mizore calmly hinted with the sucker to one side of her mouth. She turned around to peer at the vampire from the side along with the rest of the girls. "…Akashiya Moka."
"Huh?!" Moka abruptly stopped and put her hands up in front of herself. "What did I do?"
"Don't play the fools' game with us, Moka. Everyone saw what went on yesterday, and you had a front row seat."
Moka realized almost instantly what she was getting at, and she hung her head in shame. "I know…" But then it snapped up. "But I swear! I couldn't do anything to prevent it from happening! That was the other Moka – not me!"
The others looked at her with each their own faces – Kurumu, a bit unforgiving, Yukari, as if trying to make it look like she understood, and Mizore, always devoid of any emotion.
"Whether it was one, the other, or both, you are both still you, Moka." Kurumu stated, holding her index finger up in a matter-of-factly pose. She then began to drift away, leaving the rest of the group behind to go out into the hallway to her next class. "As a girl, you adore him, but as a vampire, you beat the hell out of him. …So you'd better pray long and hard that Tsukune doesn't have changed feelings the next time he sees you…" She turned back from the doorway to give her one last heated glance over her shoulder. "…if he even wants to see you at all."
She walked into the hallway, ignoring the vampire as she persisted to shout, "It's not my fault!!" But the succubus was already gone. "…I would never purposely hurt Tsukune…"
Turning to the others, she saw Yukari shrugging her shoulders, but she finally said, "I believe you, Moka-san. Don't pay any attention to what big-breasted desu tells you. She's probably just in a bad mood from hauling all that weight around on her chest, all the time. It can do things. You'll find a way to resolve this." Pause. "…Actually, we all will! Hug!!" Before the pink-haired S – Class could respond, Yukari had already wrapped herself around her waist, nearly knocking her off of her feet. Shortly after, she jumped off and left the group with a cheerful skip.
It was only the vampire and the yuki onna, now. Mizore ran her fingers through her ice-coated hair, giving her an indifferent look. "Well, at least the thrashing lasted for more than one second, right?" She spoke plainly. Moka's guilt had long reached the brim. Leaving her head hanging, the snow enchantress ambled slowly out, only turning back to say, "If it's Tsukune, I'm sure he'll understand. Just give him a while to recover – physically…and mentally. I know that you mean well for him, but what that other you put him through was no little thing. …Anyway, see you next period."
With that, she walked out into the hall crowded with identically green uniforms. The room that Moka was standing in was now empty, except for her.
If she was given a chance to answer her vouch, she still wouldn't take it. She continued to look down at the tiled floor, her grip around the rosary tightened.
"Tsukune…I don't care what the others tell me…I want to see you again…so please…" She felt tears start to well in her eyes. "Please find it in yourself to forgive me…"
But underneath, she knew that there was something worse to be afraid of than no forgiveness. A lot worse. She knew that she was keeping it bottled up inside, and there she would do her best to avoid thinking about it. She had gotten a lot of time to know Tsukune, and in most ways, Mizore hit the nail spot on. But Tsukune was still human in the end, and there is only so much that a human can take, no matter how strong, or how pure of heart.
The thing that Outer Moka feared the most was indeed never to have her closest friend look at her the same way ever again…but Inner Moka's deepest, darkest fear – wasn't a simple grudge…
…It was revenge.
A/N: Aaaaaannnnnnd do any of you know what day it is?? Yes! It is that day! Everyone getting out of school have a great summer! This chapter is commemorated to the last ringing bell! And might I add that the reviews do help, so for anyone who reviewed that I did not thank, thank you!