This will probably be the last chapter for this fic for a while so I can concentrate on my other stuff. This is also an exposition chapter, so you may want to keep some sugar and/or caffeine on standby.
I do not own Devil May Cry or Rosario + Vampire.
Mikogami fought the urge to sigh in irritation at the sight before him. As Tsukune's Aono's parents were human, it was easy enough to write a letter saying that their son was enrolled in a special summer program and would not be able to write over the summer. The parents of his friends however were not so easy to placate. They had come to him demanding to know why their daughters were not returning home, and thus he found himself sitting in front of Tsurara Shirayuki, Ageha Kurono, Fujiko Sendo and Lord Issa Shuzen.
"Headmaster, perhaps you could explain where exactly our daughters are?" Tsurara asked. She spoke in a kind, motherly tone, but there was an unmistakable chill in it that hinted at her anger. Ageha and Fujiko nodded in agreement. The hooded being felt irked by being harried for questions in his own office, but he figured that it would be quicker and easier to simply answer their questions and make them leave so that he could get back to repairing his school.
"As I have already told you," he said patiently, "your children helped to stop some unsavory individuals from causing havoc at this school. Unfortunately, there were some concerns for their safety, so I arranged to have them take lessons at a secure location to learn some extracurricular skills. Rest assured, they will return to school on schedule."
"But why can't we know how to get in touch with them?" Ageha asked, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "We're their parents; don't we at least have that right?" Mikogami fought off another sigh; he never did like dealing with weeping parents.
"I'm sorry, Missus Kurono, but for their safety I simply cannot allow it," he said. Lord Shuzen finally lost his temper and slammed his cane into the ground, causing the women to jump.
"Enough of your games, Mikogami," the vampire snarled. "I demand to know where Moka is!" The three women immediately began to discreetly edge away from the man; Lord Shuzen tightened his grip on his cane as he realized his mistake, but maintained his face of cold arrogance. Mikogami for his part was equally annoyed and amused. It's clear who Moka's inner self inherits her arrogance from, he thought dryly.
"Lord Shuzen, I understand your concern," he said. "However, the more people know about your children's whereabouts, the more likely it is that someone who may wish them harm may find out as well. Do you really want to risk compromising their safety to exchange a few letters?" The women hung their heads in shame when they realized that he had a point. "I give you my word that they will be returned to Youkai Academy safely at the beginning of next term. You may leave now." As the four parents stood up and bowed before turning to leave, Mikogami added, "Except for you, Lord Shuzen. I'd like to have a word with you in private." The vampire lord scowled but remained where he stood while the others left.
"What is it you wished to speak to me about?" Lord Shuzen asked.
"Your concern for your daughter's welfare is commendable, Issa," Mikogami said. "However, you overstep your place by demanding anything of me, within my own realm no less." The hooded man looked up at the vampire with glowing eyes. "Just because you are the mate of Lady Bloodriver, it does not make you the steward of her entitlements in her absence. Am I clear?" he asked.
"Very," Lord Shuzen replied, brushing back a stray lock of hair. "I apologize, my lord. I will not make that mistake again."
"I hope not," the Great Dark Lord said. "You are free to leave," he said with a dismissive wave. Giving a final bow, Lord Shuzen turned and exited the office. As Mikogami turned to his paperwork, he idly noticed that it had been two days since he left the merry band of six in Dante's care. As he worked, the headmaster wondered how they were doing thus far.
The first thing that Tsukune noticed was the pain: His entire body seemed to throb with a dull ache, like he was one giant bruise. The second thing he noticed what that he seemed to be lying in a bed, one that he did not recognize. The third thing he noticed was that he was surrounded by his makeshift harem. They were asleep, but his waking groan stirred them from their slumber. Moka blinked her eyes sleepily, but immediately perked up when she saw her friend awake.
"Tsukune!" she cried out, jumping on top of the boy in excitement, only to immediately jump back off when he cried out in pain. "I'm so sorry, Tsukune!" she gasped in apology, recognizing her error. Tsukune tried to mumble out a response, but was drowned out by Kurumu.
"Are you trying to kill him, Moka?" the succubus accused, leading Moka to hastily defend herself. This quickly dissolved into a shouting match with Ruby vainly trying to play the role of mediator; had he not been in the middle of experiencing a body-wide migraine at the time, Tsukune would have gladly helped the witch. As it was now, however he simply grabbed a pillow and covered his head to drown out the loud noises. The argument was quickly silenced by a shrill whistle. Tsukune removed the pillow from his head to see Dante standing by the doorway with a bemused expression on his face.
"I'm guessing from the racket that you're making that the kid's awake," he said. "How you feelin'?" he asked Tsukune.
"Been better," the teenager groaned.
"Well, get used to that feeling, kid, 'cause you're going to be feeling it a lot this summer," Dante said with a chuckle, ignoring the withering glares the women sent his way. A faint ringing from the telephone downstairs interrupted the conversation. "Duty calls," Dante sighed as he left to answer the call. With some effort and help from his friends, Tsukune managed to pull himself into an upright position.
"What happened?" the boy asked. "The last thing I remember is the fight," he continued as he held his head in confusion.
"Well…" Moka began, tapping her index fingers together nervously. "When Dante-sensei was fighting us, you kind of…lost your temper."
"She means that you turned into a Ghoul," Mizore added bluntly.
"What?" Tsukune asked in shock, quickly checking the chain on his wrist to confirm the snow girl's statement. True to her word, another one of the locket's links was cracked. "What happened then?" he demanded. At his query, all five of the girls suddenly looked away nervously and even began to look slightly ill. "What did I do?" Tsukune pressed, panic creeping into his voice.
"You threw Dante-sensei into a tree," Kurumu said quickly, still looking uneasy. Tsukune figured that something more must have happened to cause this reaction, but decided that it was probably for the best that he did not know. The girls were spared further interrogation by the sound of Dante stomping up the stairs and poking his head into the room.
"Hey, I just got a job, so I'll be out for a while," he informed his guests. "There's pizza in the fridge if you're hungry. Be back soon," he continued as he departed. A minute later they heard the sound of the shop's doors opening and closing, followed by a motorcycle roaring off into the distance. Once the vehicle's rumble had died away, the six Japanese residents looked at each other in uncertainty.
"What do we do now?" Yukari asked.
"We could look around," Mizore suggested. "Get a feel for where everything is." Lacking any better suggestions, the group agreed with the snow girl's plan and helped Tsukune out of bed. He managed to slowly but steadily shuffle out of the room on his own, but still required help navigating the stairs.
The first place that they explored was the kitchen. Mizore opened the fridge and raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"I guess Dante-sensei really likes pizza," she quipped. Half the fridge was occupied by stacked pizza boxes; the other half was completely filled with beer bottles, along with a couple of soda bottles. With no one feeling particularly hungry at the moment, Mizore closed the refrigerator and the group moved on. With nothing else on the first floor besides the main lobby area and the bathroom, the group carefully helped Tsukune back up the stairs. There were only three rooms in the upstairs area: The room that Tsukune had woken up in, which judging by its size was the master bedroom, a spare bedroom, and the room with the "hazardous materials" sign that Dante had warned them about. Even though he was relatively insensitive compared to his companions, Tsukune felt the powerful youki energy radiating from behind the door.
"Do you think we should look inside?" Moka asked nervously, clutching to Tsukune in fright.
"W-well, Dante-sensei did say that we could look, as long as we didn't touch anything," Yukari pointed out, although she seemed unsure as well. As the oldest of the group, Ruby took the initiative. Slowly she reached out and grabbed the doorknob to turn it. As she opened the door, the contained youki energy poured out with such force that the youkai teenagers felt as if they were about to be bowled over. Once their senses had become acclimated to the overwhelming force, the group of six cautiously stepped in.
The room was roughly twenty feet square and completely devoid of furniture save for a few tables pressed against the walls. What caught their attention however was what else was in the room: Weapons of all shapes and sizes lined the walls and tables in the room. While many of the items were swords, there were several that defied reason like a large metallic briefcase, a wicked-looking guitar that had arcs of electricity flowing up its strings, and a strange evil-looking skull with a pair of featherless wings and oddly enough, a rose clutched between its pointed teeth. Kurumu felt a strange connection to the guitar, an aura that seemed familiar but she could not recall why. Meanwhile, Mizore was drawn to a nunchaku that seemed to radiate cold.
"What are these things?" Ruby asked, fear and awe filling her voice in equal measure.
"Look brother, we have guests," a voice said behind the group, causing them all to scream in terror and spin towards the source of the sound.
"Loud ones too," a slightly deeper voice replied. The teenage monsters franticly looked around for the source of the voices. "Up here," the second voice said, forcing them to look straight ahead to see two crossed, jagged scimitars with small, bald heads on their pommels, equal in form except for their colors: One was a fiery orange while the other was a turquoise blue.
"Greetings," said the blue sword, its mouth flapping with its words, "I am Rudra."
"And I am Agni," said the red sword.
"W-what are you?" Kurumu asked, trembling in fear.
"We are the Firestorm Brothers," Agni said with a hint of pride in his voice. The teenagers' fear was replaced by looks of confusion.
"I do not think that's what they meant, brother," Rudra said.
"What do you mean?" Agni asked, confused by his brother's statement.
"Never mind," Rudra huffed. "We are devil arms," the blue scimitar said to the youkai below him.
"Devil arms?" Tsukune asked and all heads turned towards Yukari, silently questioning the resident genius.
"I've never heard of them," the young witch said with a shrug.
"Never heard of devil arms?" Agni asked in surprise.
"That is strange," Rudra continued, "considering that you have devil blood yourselves." This time it was the youkai who expressed their surprise.
"We're not devils!" Moka shouted out, though her newfound confidence quickly dissolved. "…I think," she added uncertainly. The two swords were momentarily silent as they processed the outburst.
"If you are not demons, then what are you?" Agni asked.
"We're youkai!" Yukari declared proudly.
"'Youkai?'" Agni repeated, pondering the unfamiliar word. "I do not know this word. What of you, brother?" he asked his twin.
"I too have not heard of it," Rudra replied. "However, they do not seem to be from the same land as Master Dante; perhaps youkai is simply their word for demon," the blue sword reasoned.
"Possibly," the red sword acquiesced.
"Wait, 'Master' Dante?" Ruby repeated in confusion. Again the two swords were momentarily silent while they formulated a response.
"Perhaps an explanation of what devil arms are is in order," Rudra finally said. The young youkai nodded their heads in agreement. "In demonic society, your social rank is directly determined by how powerful you are; the stronger you are, the more respect you command," he began his lecture. The youkai nodded their heads in understanding; this was how their world worked as well.
"Generally, when powerful devils are slain in battle," Agni continued the lesson, "their souls are infused into weapons called devil arms and are bound to serve the victor until disposed of."
"Or they in turn are defeated," Rudra added.
"That's horrible!" Tsukune burst out. Though he was now technically a youkai, he was still mentally human and thus found the idea of forced slavery abhorrent.
"That's how things are done in our world, Tsukune," Mizore said, causing him to look at her in shock. "The weak serve the strong; that's how it's always been," the snow girl continued nonchalantly.
"We are proud to serve Master Dante," Agni said before Tsukune could respond. "We met on the field of battle and emerged victorious. By right, we will serve him faithfully and without question."
"So, all these…devil arms are people that Dante-san's defeated?" Ruby asked, feeling slightly faint at the implications; there must be over a dozen weapons stored in that room!
"Not necessarily," Rudra said. "For example, these are me and my brother's true forms, and some of these were already weapons when Master Dante found them."
"But he always passed some sort of trial to gain their control," Agni continued. "Master Dante is a powerful one indeed to command the loyalty and respect of all of these devils."
"Except Beowulf," Rudra quipped.
"True," his brother agreed. The overwhelming demonic energy was beginning to affect the youkai, so Ruby decided that it was time to leave.
"Thank you for the lesson Agni-san, Rudra-san," the witch said, bowing quickly to each of them, "but we really must be going now."
"Very well," Agni said. "It has been good talking to you," he continued.
"We very rarely get any visitors," Rudra continued. "Please come again sometime." Ruby did not reply as the six quickly vacated the room and closed the door, plunging the room in darkness.
"A strange bunch," Agni mused. "What do you think they are here for?" he asked his brother.
"I do not know," Rudra replied. "Students of Master Dante's perhaps?"
"Perhaps."
Outside, the five teenagers were gasping for breath, glad to be free from the oppressive atmosphere of the room.
"All that power in one room," Kurumu gasped. "It's one thing to beat all of us, but to be able to control all those weapons? Just how powerful is this guy?" she demanded half-rhetorically.
"Don't know," Moka murmured as she breathed in Tsukune's scent. Almost two days without feeding had left her starving, and his scent was impossible to resist. "I'm sorry, Tsukune," she muttered as she bared her fangs.
"Wha-?" the boy asked dumbly. Before he or any of his friends could react, Moka chomped down on his neck and began to suck his blood.
"Chuuuuuu~!"
And there it is, an infodump chapter starring our favorite chatterboxes. I used Agni and Rudra because while it's popular fanon that the devil arms can communicate telepathically, I think only they have been confirmed in canon to be able to talk, and Dante doesn't seem like the kind of guy to sit down and tell stories.
I hope that it wasn't too boring for you. Don't forget to leave a review!