Author's note: Chapter 2 has now been updated, with all grammar problems fixed. Much like the last chapter, I will go over these later in the week to see if I can improve the story.
"So someone is going around attacking girls and you said you saw the latest victim with werewolf standing over her last night?" Naruto asked as Kokoa explained what had happened last night to the Newspaper Club.
"That's right Namikaze." The girl answered. She still didn't like the boy or Tsukune, but she was at least being respectful enough that she wouldn't flat out ignore him. "He had on a hair band, a silver choker and spoke with a noticeable Osaka accent." Naruto nodded as he figured he'd look for someone fitting that description while the older students all shared nervous looks. When the group reached the club room they were greeted with the sight of the club president, Ginei Morioka, sitting in a chair reading an older copy of the school newspaper.
"Hey, guys, what's up?"
Chapter 2: Running Through
"It's him!" Kokoa instantly accused as she recognized the voice. Plus Gin was wearing the same hairband and the same choker as the werewolf last night.
"Hm? Who're the two new faces?" He asked as he set the paper down and the sophomore club members calmed Kokoa down.
"New members." Naruto started as he walked forward. "Name's Naruto Namikaze." The blond offered while holding out a hand.
"Ginei Morioka, club president. Please, just call me Gin." The teen replied while shaking Naruto's hand. 'Namikaze… why does that name sound familiar?' "Nice to see another dude in the club. I mean the pretty ladies are welcome but it was kind of unfair that Tsukune and I were the only males here." Naruto smirked for a second for a second before stepping aside as Kokoa came up. Her actions were extremely shocking when she grabbed Gin by the neck and started choking him.
"You're the prankster! Admit!" She shouted before being pulled off the man by Moka.
"So you're the little sister I've heard about huh? Well, you're not bad but…" He started as he stared down at her. "You could use a little growth here ya know?" Gin commented as he cupped Kurumu's chest. Most of the girl's flushed but said nothing while Tsukune blushed in shocked of his act. Naruto blushed then facepalmed muttering about another pervert, and Kokoa just gaped. Kurumu though was quick to get him to back off by slamming her fist into his face. "Nice to meet you Kokoa."
"Yeah… you too." She replied but in her head, she had other thoughts 'I'm going to expose you for what you've done.'
"So… following him around?" Naruto asked as he stood behind Kokoa, who had been hiding behind a trash can and staring at Gin as he walked around campus.
"I'm going to prove it was him." The girl responds.
"Mind if I help?" Mizore asked as she popped out of the can Kokoa was hiding behind. Both Naruto and Kokoa jump back as they never realized she was there then let out a shout of fright. The two heard rustling next to them and turned to see Kurumu pop out of the bushes.
"Yeah, we've got a whole bunch of grudges against Gin anyways." She said before joining Mizore in spying on Gin with Kokoa and Naruto catching their breath from the fright of the two appearing out of nowhere. "I feel like we're detectives on a case."
"Wait a sec, what kind of grudge would you have against Gin-sempai?" Naruto asked as they watched Gin flirt with a random girl.
"Well, to be honest, we owe him a lot." Kurumu started.
"He taught us how to fight." Mizore finished while Kokoa and Naruto were still confused as to why they had a grudge against him. "But the pervert took advantage of that."
"How?" Kokoa asked as Kurumu held up a fist as she shook in silent rage at the thought.
"The entire time he'd grope us or flip our skirts! Mizore and I are just waiting for a shot to take him down!" Kokoa stared in shock at the very odd and horrible 'student-teacher' relationship they shared with Gin, while Naruto facepalmed at the news muttering under his breath about perverts and pranks. The group was so distracted they never noticed when Gin appeared behind them. With a rather perverted grin, the teen flipped the skirts as he dashed by them. Naruto blushed at the sight while Kokoa actually held her hand to her nose to stop the blood. Apparently, the little vampire was a closet pervert.
"You always need to keep constant vigilance girls." Gin turned before the two started attacking him, Mizore glaring and Kurumu shrieking in rage. It didn't take very long before Gin knocked them both down.
"So what about you Kokoa? What is it that you want?" Gin asked as the girl got herself into a stance.
"Just admit that you're the one attacking the girls! You're the prankster!"
"Alright, I'm the prankster." He casually admitted making Kokoa stutter in shock at how easy it was while Naruto narrowed his eyes. "If you want to know everything then come to where you met me last night." He told her before turning away, however before he could walk away he found Naruto standing in his way.
"Why?" The teen quirked an eyebrow so Naruto continued. "Why offer to explain everything there? What's wrong with here?" He asked as he crossed his arms. "I mean, if there's some kind of reasonable explanation then you'd do it right here. Telling her to go out to the woods around the school at night just screams hidden intentions. You think we'd all just let you get rid of her like that?" Gin smirked before using his races speed to vanish and appear behind Naruto.
"Not bad Namikaze-san. Why don't you come with if you're so worried about her?" He offered before vanishing again. Naruto stared at the spot before looking over to see Kokoa helping Mizore and Kurumu up.
"I wouldn't go," Naruto said as he walked over. "It just doesn't feel right and in my experience, it probably won't be either. You're better off just getting your sister, Yukari and Tsukune so we can have the entire club confront him on this."
"Your opinion is noted Namikaze but I'll do what I want." Kokoa rejected before walking off. Naruto gritted his teeth and was going to go after her but Kurumu placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I wouldn't if I were you. She doesn't like you or Tsukune-kun for that matter."
"Huh?"
"The only reason she's being nice to you is because Moka asked her to," Mizore explained. "She was the only one against you and Tsukune for your races. Moka reminded her of something her mother had told them so she's giving the two of you a chance but she still doesn't like you right now."
"Oh…" Naruto's shoulders slumped down at why she was so frigid to him so he shook his head. "Well, it's not like I'm not used to that shit." He muttered darkly before he began walking away. "I'm still going to help her tonight." He called out over his shoulder. "I mean if she's at least giving me a chance instead of outright attacking me or hating me then I'll help her."
"We'll see ya there Naruto!" Kurumu called out as he left.
"If you can defeat me then I'll tell you everything." Gin stated as fur grew over his entire body. His nose elongated into a snout as he stared at the girl before vanishing.
'He's fast! So I'm going to need something to deal with his speed.' She thought before holding a hand out. "Kou-chan!" She cried out as the bat that normally traveled with her changed form into an elegant yet cute rapier. "Let's go!" Kokoa shouted before lashing out at Gin. The werewolf, however, was able to block the strikes without harm before lashing out and punching her back.
"Not good enough!" Gin yelled as he prepared for another strike.
"Then how about this?" A voice yelled before a blue fireball flew towards Gin, who jumped back to dodge the fireball. Kurumu and Mizore then rushed out behind him though he again used a burst of speed to dodge there strikes. The two girls took up spots next to Kokoa as Naruto walked towards them, casually throwing a blue fireball up and down in his hand as if it were a baseball or tennis ball. "So Gin sempai… why not take us all together?" The girls smirked at the change of pace in the fight while Gin sniffed the air. He then grinned as he caught a certain scent when the girls charged in while Naruto hung back to pick Gin apart with fireballs, his next actions were not what any of them expected.
"Oh no! Four on one! I don't know if I can survive this!" He cried out, suddenly acting like a terrified child. The girls paused for a second in confusion as Naruto narrowed his eyes then let his fireball die out. The second didn't last long though as he would pay even if he decided he would act like a wuss.
"Stop" A girl cried out as she jumped between Gin and his attackers. Everyone paused as Kokoa spoke up as she recognized the girl.
"You! You're last nights' victim" she cried as the girl stood in front of Gin with her head down. "Why would you defend him when he attacked you?"
"Because Gin didn't attack her," Moka stated as she walked into the clearing with Yukari and Tsukune behind her. "Yukari brought me a list of all the victims and they all shared one common point. Every one of them is an ex of Gin's" She stated before walking towards the girl. "Except for you. You're the only one without that connection. Gin was never the prankster. You were the entire time, always framing him for your acts."
"I just wanted him to notice me!" She shouted as her eyes started tearing up. "I've always watched him but he never saw me. So I thought if I got rid of the others, he'd have to see me. That's why I used my powers over blood to attack the other girls while they were near him, so they'd think Gin was the doing it to them. Then they'd all get fed up with him and leave, and then Gin would be mine.
"I knew it," Gin said as he changed back.
"Wait, if you knew then why'd you say it was you?" Kokoa shouted at the now shirtless werewolf.
"Well I had to draw her out somehow so I decided to play the villain for a bit and it worked!" He said as he smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "But thank Kami it' over. I mean do you know hoe pissed all those girls are at me?" He asked as he began listing off various girls. Naruto's eyed just twitched a few times before he started walking away seeing as it was over while Kokoa, Kurumu, and Mizore began attacking Gin again, this time for his womanizing habits.
The next day they released an article in the newspaper saying that the prankster had been caught and was to apologize to each of the victims. No names were mentioned.
"So is this generally how the stories go here?" Naruto asked as he sat with Tsukune in the club room reading the article that was written. "We just stumble into something dangerous or risky, solve it and then make an article about it?"
"Well, that's how it's gone for our major articles at least., Tsukune admitted as the girls came in. "Does it bother you?"
"Not really. It's just way different from the newspaper work I did at my old school." Naruto said before tilting his head to a side. "Then again that was a human school." He mused as Tsukune nodded as he knew that feeling, after all, he was human. Everything at this school was different.
"Hey, guys! What're you doing?" Moka asked as they got close to the two.
"Just chatting about stuff," Naruto commented before setting the paper down. "So anything we should know about?" Moka shook her head before Gin rushed into the room.
"I knew your name was familiar!" Gin shouted before stopping right in front of Naruto. The boy began to sweat lightly since to the best of his knowledge Gin didn't know his secret. Maybe the guy had a kitsune friend or two that told him and he was going to try to kill him.
"Why would his name be familiar?" Kurumu asked as she and the nearly everyone else in the room was wondering what he was talking about.
"I was taking pictures with my camera when I dropped it and noticed the logo as I picked it up. I knew his name was familiar for some reason and it only came to me once I looked at the camera's logo! He's Naruto Namikaze, heir to Namikaze Technologies, the biggest tech company in the world! He's rich!" Gin exclaimed while pointing at the blond. Everyone stared at him as he sighed.
"Yeah, it's true." He admitted. "Though I wish you didn't find out."
"Why not? That's the sort of thing people brag about." Gin asked as the others nodded.
"True, but most of those guys are usually stuck up pricks. When people find out that I'm rich they usually think I must be like them. It's annoying as hell." He said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose to hold back the headache that was forming. "Or they try to get close to me so that they can get me to buy them stuff since obviously, I have the cash to spend. Having billions as pocket change will give them that idea." Naruto muttered darkly. The club looked at Gin to see him looking sheepish.
"I wasn't thinking that. Honest!" He stated as he held his hands up. "I just wanted confirmation that I was right. I mean, Namikaze is a very specific name after all." They nodded but kept an eye on him as he begun to sweat under their gaze. "And maybe since my birthday's coming up…"
"No." The blond deadpanned. "I'm not spending hundreds upon thousands for any of you. I don't know or care about you guys that much since we've literally just met this week." The junior shrugged as it wasn't much of a loss to him. "Besides my mom would kill me. She doesn't like spending cash like that. We actually live a simple life for some of the richest people around. The only time I've seen her go nuts on buying things are for Christmas and my birthday." He admitted before standing up. "Anyways, I'm getting kind of hungry so I'm gonna get some ramen." The group watched as he walked off before discussing the new news.
"You'd never think he's rich." Gin muttered before taking the seat Naruto had just vacated.
"Um… technically Kokoa and I are rich too," Moka muttered.
"You're loaded?!" Kurumu shouted and the girl nervously nodded.
"The Shuzen household is the strongest and the oldest vampire family in all of Japan," Kokoa explained. "Otou-sama also masquerades as a human businessman and holds stocks in various companies, even some in Namikaze Technologies." The girl noted with a small glance at the door where Naruto had left. "As such, we're the richest vampires on this half of the world."
"Then why didn't I get some super-rich present for my birthday last year?" Kurumu asked Moka with a pout.
"Otou-sama may spoil us, but he doesn't let us have access to the family fortune so that we don't waste it all." Moka said, getting the succubus to hang her head at how she wasn't going to have any of her rich fantasies fulfilled.
"You know, something's been bugging me." Tsukune started "Namikaze Technologies… Naruto-san would be the heir right?"
"I would think so since he shares his name with the company." Mizore chimed in.
"Well, around ten or eleven years ago, the founder and CEO of the company died, didn't he?" He asked getting them all to share confused looks.
"Um… I can look it up." Yukari offered. "But why would it matter?"
"Don't you get it?" Gin butted in "If Naruto's the heir, then that would mean he's either directly related to either the current or the previous CEO that's currently running the company. The CEO Tsukune's talking about could be the parent that died."
"Well, he's always talking about his mom as if she's still around so if that's the case then it would be his dad," Moka stated, getting nods from the others.
"Wasn't his dad the human parent?" Kokoa asked getting the other girls to flinch since they knew Gin would've caught that tidbit.
"Wait human? But didn't he use fire last night?" They slowly nodded so he shrugged. "So which is it; turned human or hanyou?"
"…The latter."
"Okay" He answered with a nod.
"You don't care?" He snorted in response then pointed at Tsukune.
You think I would after all the shit I went through for him?" The group chuckled at the somewhat dark and insulting joke but knew it was okay.
"What is with the S-class today?" Kokoa grunted before walking out of the room. She was only giving Naruto and Tsukune chances because of Moka and Akasha. But she still expected others to be against humans and hanyou's because they were lower than them. But nobody was. Nothing was like her father and mother had told her. While she never really liked her mother, her father held her highest respect and adoration. While he never outright hated humans or hanyou's, he had taught her that such beings were beneath S-class beings like themselves. They were trash to be ignored or avoided. And yet nobody seemed to be doing that. It was rather confusing and irritating. She was always taught to adhere to standards and social class rules, but outside of her family's home, it's seemed like none of those mattered. So the girl was understandably lost and confused. She merely clung to her sister and followed her lead since the older had been in the human world far longer than her. But at the same time, she was still trying to stay true to her father's teachings, and they were conflicting with what her sister was showing her. "Ugh… I need to clear my head."
Naruto grinned as he dug into the food of the gods. He was sitting in the cafeteria with a small stack of five empty bowls of ramen next to him and another three full ones to the other side. Such an appetite would be considered inhumane to most but it was acceptable in the youkai world. As most youkai needed to get more nutrition and their metabolism was faster than humans as well so it was only natural that their meals tended to be on the bigger side.
"Hey, Naruto."
Said blond looked up from his meal to see Gin had taken the seat across from him. "What is it Gin-sempai?" He asked, mentally hoping that he wasn't going to start begging him for stuff since he found out that he was rich.
"The girls accidentally let slip what you are." Naruto froze mid-bite. "I just wanted to let you know I don't really care. I mean it's kind of a shock and all but I don't see how it matters much in the long run." Naruto looked back up to see Gin wasn't even looking at him but at some of the girls walking by. "I mean, you're still some billionaire rich kid that tries to hide it so what difference does your race make in that equation? It's just something else to hide in a school where hiding your true nature is supposed to be a rule, not that anybody really follows it but whatever." He said while waving his hand dismissively.
"You don't really care?"
You know what Tsukune is right?" The blonde nodded. "I'll admit that pissed me off at first. But the girls dragged me along to help him and things went from there and now I consider him a friend. You haven't brought me into any life-risking shit yet so you're already better in my opinion." He finished with a grin. Naruto let out a smile.
"Thanks." He answered before going back to his ramen. The teen across from him shrugged as he saw another girl with a nice hourglass figure walking by.
"So could you hook me up with some stuff for the ladies?"
"No." The blond answered without looking up.
"Damn man! What's the point of having money without spending it on a pretty lady? You could have anyone if you just flashed a bit of cash around."
"No"
"Please."
"How about N and O?"
"Come on I'll be your best friend…"
"Let me think about it."
"…And?"
"Nah, I'll stick with no."
"You suck."
"So this is what I found." It was the after Gin learned about Naruto and the club, minus the blond and the wolf were all in the club room as their youngest member had found out about some of Naruto's past. Yukari laid out a picture of a tall blonde man with blue eyes and old new article about an accident. The title of the article 'TECH CEO KILLED DURING FAMILY RETREAT' and had a picture of a home in the mountains. "The man is Minato Namikaze, confirmed dead of one Kushina Namikaze and father to teen named Naruto."
"Wow," Kurumu muttered as she picked up the man's picture. "Naruto's almost a dead ringer for his dad. Just round out his eyes and give him the whiskers and bam they're twins." The others nodded in agreement while Kurumu set the picture down and picked up the article and skimmed through.
"The article is almost eleven years old," Yukari explained since she'd read it. "It says that while on a family retreat with his wife and son, an assassin after the Namikaze fortune snuck into their grounds and killed the man before going after his wife and son. He was quickly stopped and killed by a guard and paramedics were called but by the time they arrived, it was already too late to save him. He died from a knife wound to the heart." She finished as Kurumu passed the article around.
"That's so sad. Naruto must've only been around six or seven years when he lost his father." Moka stated having a small flashback of her losing her own mother at ten. Though Moka couldn't remember any of it, she could remember a birthday party before everything went dark, and she woke up a week later being told that her mother had gone missing. During that week-long blackout of her memories, she had also had the seal placed on her, but neither her outer or inner could remember what happened during that blank.
"He doesn't seem to let it bother him," Mizore mentioned as she skimmed the article. "I bet he's simply doing his best not to focus on the past."
"Yeah." Tsukune agreed as he was slightly regretting bringing this up in the first place. "I don't think Naruto-san would like that we know this about him." The girls all nodded in agreement as Kokoa looked at the picture.
'For a human, he's not bad looking at least. And Namikaze isn't bad himself either I guess.' She admitted to herself before looking at the article. "Hey, did any of you notice how there's no interview with the wife or the guard that saved them?" She pointed out as they looked to her. "I'm new to this newspaper stuff but isn't that something that they at least try to get? Plus, who brings guards on a family retreat? I think the story's fake. At least partially."
"Hey, yeah. If his mom really is a powerful kitsune then she could stop any human assassin desu." Yukari pointed out as Kokoa made a valid point.
"Unless the assassin was a Youkai." Mizore shot down before Kurumu shook her head.
"He said his mom was one of the stronger Kitsune so I don't think that would matter too much. Kitsune go by a class range and fall into three categories entirely dependent on the number of tails they have. At one to four they're considered B-class, five to eight is A-class, and a full-fledged nine-tails is always S-class. To be considered one of the stronger, kitsunes she'd have to be at least seven tails which would put her as an upper A at the very least. Not many outside of S-class Youkai would be able to get past someone that strong and kill her husband without her stopping them." Kurumu explained as the rest nodded as the girl made a good point. "Still, Tsukune-kun is right. I don't think Naruto would be happy if we were to ask him about this."
"Ask me about what?" They all turned to see Naruto walking into the room with a soda in his hand.
"Nothing!" The succubus shouted as Yukari gathered the stuff she had found together then put it away before he could see it.
"She just wanted to see if you might have the answer to a homework problem she's having trouble with." Mizore lied. Kurumu sent a mild glare at the jab as it was common knowledge to the older members that she had horrible grades.
"You do realize that sounds like bullshit since no one would ask a freshman to help with a sophomore's work no matter how hard it was, right?" Naruto countered before taking a drink. The girl chuckled slightly at how Naruto shot down her lie so quickly while Kokoa decided to simply go through with it.
"We were wondering if your dad was dead since you're the heir to Namikaze fortunes and the company is on its second CEO. We were wondering if you were related to the first or the current head." Okay so maybe she would slightly lie. It was at least partially true as that was their original intent, but at the same time, it was a lie as they had already figured out that on their own. Naruto grimaced slight but answered.
"Yeah, he's gone. My dad founded the company and my godfather took over when he died. I'm supposed to take over once I finish college if I want to." He admitted. "Mom doesn't have the business know how or she would've already. I'm not sure if I want to yet but I'm still studying as a just in case sort of thing." The girls nodded while Kokoa pressed on.
"How'd he die?"
"I'd rather not talk about it." Naruto turned to the side and set his drink down as he started looking down. "It's not a good memory." Kokoa looked like she was about to ask again when Moka laid a hand on her shoulder to get her attention before she shook her head. The girl huffed but let it drop.
"Well, you can tell us when you feel like it." Tsukune started before changing the subject. "Right now we need to get some more topics for our next issue." Naruto nodded his head in a silent thanks to Tsukune for the change in the subject before joining the girls in trying to think of things that they could write about.
"Do you honestly, believe that?" Yukari asked as she stood with Kokoa in line for some food at the cafeteria.
"A little." The girl admitted before walking to a table with the witch following. "I mean think about it. The guy dies on a family retreat from an assassin. A guard manages to subdue and kill the assassin without any harm coming to Naruto or his mom. And the news doesn't even bother trying to talk to the guard or the woman."
"Well yeah, it seems a little farfetched but to think either Naruto or his mother killed the guy is going way too far."
"But you saw his face when I asked how he died."
"You ever think that maybe he was there and saw it happen?" Yukari countered getting Kokoa to open her mouth for a comeback before realizing she had a point. "Maybe Naruto was with his dad and the guy was killed right in front of him. That's more likely than a six-year-old killing their father's murderer."
"I guess… but I still think there was a cover-up of some sort."
"Oh, definitely desu." The witch agreed. "I'd be more than willing to say it was to hide that the wife killed the assassin. That seems like the most probable scenario. She killed the killer and then set up the guard story to hide that she did it and avoid the press. I mean, paparazzi never leave their targets alone and stuff." Kokoa took a sip of her drink as she mulled it over in her head before shaking the thoughts from her mind.
"I still want to know what happened." Yukari nodded her head in agreement but stayed silent. Everyone had something they wanted to keep secret, just as everyone else wanted to know those things. It was just the way of the world.
"So what do you think happened?" Moka asked as Tsukune looked up from his work with Mizore next to him. "About Naruto's father." She clarified as both seemed confused as to what the vampire meant.
"Well, he's obviously still in pain at the thought of it," Mizore said as she recognized the look Naruto had on his face from before. It was one she had on herself a few times when she thought of what her seventeenth birthday would bring.
"Yeah, but I think we should leave it alone really." Tsukune set his pencil down as he thought back to how Naruto had asked them to drop it. "He really doesn't like the memories so it'd be best to wait until he trusts us enough to tell us himself."
"Well yeah." Kurumu chimed in as she set some papers down at the table with Tsukune. "But we're pretty much reporters now. We're supposed to be inquisitive and stuff. Besides, there's no harm in wondering what happened. We just won't find out if we're right or wrong until Naruto decides to share." Tsukune reluctantly nodded as she was right. "Personally I think his mom probably took out the killer and bribed the paper to make a false story."
"I was thinking that maybe the guard could've been a family friend they had brought along and the person simply wanted to remain anonymous." Moka supplied. Both theories were sound actually and had both Mizore and Tsukune nodding in agreement.
"Well whatever happened, I think Naruto saw the whole thing." Mizore gave her input causing them to look at her. "He really seemed shaken up at the thought of his dad's death, as if he knew it personally. So I'd say he saw the whole thing possibly from up close."
"I still think we should drop it and get back to work," Tsukune muttered getting the girls to stop and return to what they were doing. They were curious, he couldn't blame them. But he could get them to worry about it later.
Naruto sat in his room as he looked down at a picture of his family. There was a small four-year-old version of himself in a bright orange t-shirt smiling wildly with his hands up in the air as he sat on his father's shoulders. The man was wearing a white button-up shirt and smiling up at the child even as one hand held him up. His other arm was wrapped around a woman with long red hair and violet eyes wearing a dark blue blouse. The woman was resting her head on his shoulder, even as the boy's foot was right next to her hair. Naruto ran a thumb over the picture before grabbing the laptop at his side and setting the picture down. He quickly opened up a chat and was happy to find his target online.
Hi mom.
Hi Sochi. What's up?
Not much I guess. School had this thing where we had to join clubs so I'm in the newspaper club.
Well, that's great. I'm guessing you've made some friends then?
Yeah. They even found out about my status and they're ok with it.
Wait, which status? The one from your father or the other one from me?
Both.
And they really don't care?
Nope.
See Sochi? What'd I tell you all these years? It's not what you are but who you are. I knew you'd be able to find some people who accept you.
Well one of them actually does have a problem with me. But she's giving me a chance because her sister said something to her apparently.
Well, at least you've got that. So just work at it and she'll come around eventually. So who's in the club with you?
The club president is this junior whose a perverted werewolf. Then there's this child genius witch. She's only twelve and she's a sophomore!
Wow. Impressive. Anyone else?
A yuki-onna, a succubus, and a vampire that are all sophomore girls that seem to like the only sophomore guy in the club. Technically the witch likes him too. They get into fights over him every so often.
Sounds like it'd be fun to watch.
Kind of. And the last member is a freshman like me and is the vampire's younger sister. She's the one that doesn't like me.
Well, just keep working on it as I said.
I will. Anything new back home?
Not really. Your godfather stopped by to talk business a bit and told me to wish you luck at school but otherwise nothing.
How is the old pervert?
About a step away from losing his manhood if he tries to get me to send you his books again.
Sounds about right
Hey, do you know when anything's going on that would give me an excuse to come up there? I wouldn't mind meeting your friends.
I can check but nothing comes to mind right now.
Well, you do that while I enjoy my freedom.
I wasn't that bad.
Sochi, I didn't make as much trouble as you did when I was your age and I'm a full-blooded kitsune. I know we're pranksters by nature but come on! You alone beat five of me!
Lies! Those are slanderous lies!
Your second-grade principal.
He had it coming.
How about that Sai kid in fourth grade?
Little bastard wouldn't stop talking about dicks to everyone. It was creepy and we all wanted him to stop.
That one redhead from the beach when you were thirteen?
She wouldn't stop cussing me out over how I beat her at volleyball.
Your godmother, godfather, even your father when he was around.
Old drunk, stupid pervert and dad thought it was funny so you can't count him. I even got you a couple of times.
And that helps your point how?
Oh, right you're still wrong.
Sochi, I'm your mother. As your mother, I'm always right, period. Even when I'm wrong, which I never am, I'm still right. Or do you think you can back up your words with strength now?
You just want to hit me for switching your shampoo with black hair dye before I left.
YOU LITTLE BASTARD I KNEW IT WAS YOU! WHEN I GET THERE I'M KICKING YOUR ASS TO THE MOON!
… :P
Make your little smiles while you can Sochi. Your days are numbered.
Nah. You love me too much to get rid of me.
You sure about that? I mean you cause so much trouble I think it'd probably be easier to have a life without a kid.
Mom…
Or you know, maybe I could start dating again, and replace you with a newer model.
Mom.
There are lots of options out there. I don't really need you now, do I?
Mom!
What Sochi?
You wouldn't really replace me, would you?
Maybe. :P Anyways, the phone's ringing so I've gotta go. Love you Sochi.
Love you, mom.
Naruto signed off with a grin after his conversation with his mom. She always knew just what to say to make him happy, even when she didn't know he was feeling down. The blonde put his laptop away before realizing something and facepalming. "I forgot to tell her Neko-chan works here." The boy muttered before sighing. "Oh well, I'll tell her next time."
It was extremely hot. That was the main thought going the minds of everyone in the club room as they waited for Moka, Mizore, and Tsukune to arrive. Apparently, something happened with the barrier covering the school to cause the climate change but nobody knew the specifics. Yukari was looking through her spell book hoping to find some kind of 'anti-heat' spell to use so that she could cool off as Kokoa was holding a bottle of iced coffee to her forehead. Kurumu was sweating up a storm, making her top stick to her body, while fanning herself with a folded newspaper. Naruto had just slipped off his jacked but otherwise seemed fine. Eventually seeing the boy go about his work without sweating got on the busty girls' nerves.
"How the hell are you not sweating like the rest of us?!" She shouted so Naruto looked up for a moment before going back to his homework.
"As a Kitsune, I'm a creature of fire. Heat doesn't bother me unless it's taken to the extremes like a volcano or something. According to mom, Kitsune live in hot climates anyways." He answered casually as he penciled in an answer. "This sort of thing is nothing to me. I only took off my jacket because everyone else looked like they were suffering. You probably would've yelled a lot sooner if I left it on." Kurumu was going to retort when their three missing sophomore members walked in.
"Hey, guys. We've got some news." Moka started as Mizore nodded and walked forward.
"I was wondering if you guys wanted to visit my home."
"Wait; go to the land of the yuki-onna?" Yukari asked for clarification. At Mizore's question, the girl closed her book and grinned. "Sounds fun! When can we leave?"
"Oh hell yeah! Vacation time!" Kurumu cheered as she stood up with her hands in the air. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"Alright." Naruto nodded with a small smile. "This oughta be fun." Kokoa merely shrugged but was happy to be getting out of the heat herself.
"Pack your bags for tomorrow then. I'll get everything set up." Mizore told them before leaving the room as Moka and Tsukune grinned. It looked like the Newspaper club was going on a trip.
