Chapter 11

Under the Full Moon

As minutes turned to hours the sun from above made its way below the horizon as its companion took over the night sky. Unlike the last two nights though this time the moon was full and glowing with the power it possessed. Before long the final day would be upon them and the day after that the wedding would ensue. Many were worried about their friendMinami but to clear their heads both Malon and Selina decided to rest not only their eyes but their minds under the full moon.

For Malon it relaxed her mind and body throughout, but for Selina it rejuvenated her power. It was said the moon was the gateway to the afterlife and to those who could not die it would merely supply them power to live on. Even being one of the undead she could still feel and if anything she never wanted to leave. A family, children, and a husband that would love her for all eternity, that's what she truly wanted.

"So are you almost ready?" asked Malon as they sat, legs crossed as the light of the moon poured over them both.

"Ready for the big day?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be as ready as I'll ever be I guess. But this place still disgusts me."

"Disgusts?"

"It smells of rot. A putrid odor fills the air. It's like the smell of death."

"Really? I don't smell anything." asked Malon as she sniffed the air.

"Of course not you're not like me. Our kind, we can smell when something terrible has happened. The scent will never fade until what needs to be done has been done."

"And what would that be?"

"Who knows." she said as she focused on the moon above.

As they sat there though the young witch couldn't help but get the same feeling as well. Something wasn't right. It may had just been her mind but something didn't fit right. Why marry a girl that's still young? Sure eighteen was a fine age, but most tended to wait until their women have matured into even better women.

"Oi, I'm getting hungry..." she whined as she lowered herself to the ground.

"Going in for a bite?" asked Malon.

"Yeah."

"Guess I will too, it's about that time." said Malon as she jumped to her feet.

With a full night rest ahead of them both jumped up and stretched a bit before heading towards the front doors, though when they approached them they heard something rather strange coming from behind the building. It sounded likesome kind of dance music the closer they got to the source. Whatever it was they didn't want to spend too much time wandering around since their stomachs were begging for food. As they turned the corner though they saw Ryo, Kuruma, and Diataro dancing along to a song that was playing on Ryo's MP3 that was attached to a boombox sized speaker system.

"So whatcha all doing here?" Malon asked them as Diataro jumped up from the ground.

"Just doing a little something to keep ourselves awake." replied Kuruma.

"Ok...so why don't you lot exercise or something? Won't this disturb everyone else?" asked Selina.

"Yeah but sometimes you've just gotta break loose and go with the flow." Ryo followed up.

"True it's actually pretty relaxing." said Diataro as he brushed his shirt off.

"But what about dinner? Aren't you getting hungry?" asked Selina.

"Eh we'll grab a bite later but for now let's crank thing up a bit more!" exclaimed Kuruma as he turned up the volume.

Now it was getting pretty obnoxious and they weren't the only ones who thought so. Only seconds before leaving the door to one of the bedrooms opened up as Issa looked out towards them with an angry look on his face.

"Could you turn that blasted thing down?!" he exclaimed in frustration.

"Sure thing pops!" Ryo answered only to turn it up even more.

"Gah you damn kids!" he exclaimed before clean out the window towards them.

They had no time for talk as everyone took off in an opposite direction but he was more focused on getting his hands on that numskull student of his. Seeing as they were busy though both decided to head out and chow down before it got too late. That night at dinner though there was nothing but quiet as everyone partook in their meal.

"Gah you didn't have to hit so hard you know." Ryo groaned as he rubbed the large lump on the top of his head.

"Then you should learn to keep it down when others are around." Issa replied.

"Yeah you're a bad man." Shaun followed up as he slurped down his pasta.

"Watch it short stack..." Ryo thought angrily in his mind before grabbing his fork.

If there was one thing he wasn't up for it was the little munchkins nagging. The silenced continued though until Kanji broke it up as he asked Ryo a question that had been on his mind.

"So Mr. Keno what are your plans for after graduation? Going to college I'm guessing?"

"Not really no. I plan on completing my training and become a member of the E.D.F before long so there's that."

"Ah putting your life on the line for others well-being, that's very commendable though aren't you a little worried about what could happen out there? The world is a dangerous place and you never know what could happen."

"Heh yeah considering what I've been through it'll be more or less training."

"Taking out a few monster hardly requires that amount of cockiness." Issa interrupted as he sipped his wine.

"Oh but what were those monsters trying to do? Do I hear kill the other students? Or how about destroy all of human kind?"

"Talk it up but without our help you probably wouldn't even be here."

"Oh yeah Minami and my friends and her parents along with my family, but where were you doing during all of that? Where were you to help out?" Ryo boasted without even thinking twice.

"And who was it that made that seal?"

"My father."

"With my help."

Seeing them at each other like that wasn't a rare sight for Minami her family but to Kanji it was very interesting. But before it could escalate into all out fight between the two their heads were smashed together at the hands of his own daughter.

"Settle down the both of you." she demanded before sitting back down.

"So are they always like this?" asked Kanji.

"Not all the time but they do have their little scuffles every here and there." answered Tsukune.

"Right and unless they both want to be sleeping outside tonight it would be best if they both were in their best behavior." Moka followed up as she glared as them both.

Well now that she settled their little situation it was back to eating, that was until they heard two high-pitched screams. It wasn't clear who it was until they Oshira pointed out something strange running across the floor.

"Hey panty thief." he told him before pointing to the moving shadow who seemed to have two pairs of panties attached to itself.

"Oh for hell's sake Danni..." he groaned.

"I got this. Hey you get over here!" Diataro growled before sprinting towards the thief.

"Hey wait for me!" Shaun demanded as he jumped out of his chair to give chase.

This only worried his father as he got up as well to chase after his curious son. To them though that was per the norm for their friend of the shadows so it didn't bother them that much as they went back to their meal. As she ate though something began upsetting Selina as she pushed her plate back to leave.

"Finished?" asked Kanji.

"Sorry sir but I've gotta use the bathroom." she told him before running out of the room.

"Huh was it the food?" he pondered as he watched her leave.

But unknowing to them she had other plans which involved a bit of snooping around. Ever since she got there had always had this sense of sadness and anger that none of the others could sense, but as the days passed it only got stronger and stronger. Was it another spirit? It sure didn't feel like it as she took a hard right. If it were another of her kind she would also sense its presence but instead all she got were a jumbled mess of emotions.

"What is this and why is my heart breaking?" she asked herself before grabbing her chest.

Though she was a phantom one of her unique abilities allowed her to sense others emotions whether they were living or dead and this was just making her stomach turn. Anger, sadness, fright, all of it came from the room she stood in front of. When she reached to pull of the two handle though she found it was locked; cut off from everyone.

"Trying to keep others out huh? Well let's just slip through here and bingo." she thought as she passed through the wall.

It was dark, like almost nighttime dark but from what she could see there were cases among cases of stuff. From different chunks of armor to many different weapons it all stuck out as thing someone would probably collect if given the time and the space.

"Hoarder much? Now let's see where it's coming from."

And with a kick off the ground she was off as she opened up both eyes and ears to the feels. She floated and floated above every case while checking to see if the feeling was coming from one of them. Normally it wasn't hard to find the source of ones misery but in this case it sounded as if it was coming from all around. From every which way she kept having that feeling until eventually it stopped. Her body settled as she dropped back down to the ground.

"Ah, whatever, maybe I'm just tired or something. Yeah that's it my mind is just playing tricks on me after all the decorating today." she told herself as she left the room.

As she stepped out into the hall though she bumped into Aki who looked surprised to see her.

"Selina? What are you doing over here?" she asked nervously.

"I was just using the bathroom." she answered in a calm tone.

"But the restrooms are upstairs..."

"Oh yeah well I got kind of lost. Thanks for the directions though." she said before running off.

As much as she wanted to know what was going on with her she was feeling pretty tired. With both her arms and legs worn out she found herself wandering to the bathroom for a bit relaxation when she heard a lot of noise coming from her master's room. As she snuck over though her conscious began getting the better of her as tried to pull herself away.

"I should spy on master like this, but what are they doing in there? No, just walk away Aki just walk away and take a bath like a good girl." she thought to herself.

But temptation got the better of her as she slowly pushed the door open slightly to look inside but what she saw wasn't all that much. They weren't messing around or anything but instead Kuruma, Ryo, Diataro, and Shaun were all sitting in his room watching a movie; a pretty bloody movie at that but nothing she hadn't seen on T.V before.

"Dude what about the plan?" asked Ryo as he slouched back against the sofa.

"Movie now plan later." replied Kuruma as they all relaxed back in their seats.

Seeing them all together with her master it lifted her spirits that maybe he wouldn't be so down in the dumps from that point forward. If anything it was her central duty to ensure the happiness of those who she served but especiallyKuruma. He seemed pretty preoccupied though so without disrupting them she closed the door slowly and made her way to the bathroom where a nice bath waited. Before she could open the door though she heard Kanji come up behind her as he called her name.

"Aki." he called out as he moved up behind her.

"Sir?"

"I need to ask you for a favor if that's alright with you."

"What is it?" she asked out of curiosity.

"I feel terrible for separating Mr. Keno from Ms. Aono like this so would it be too much to ask that if you could make surehis needs are satisfied from now until the end of tomorrow?"

"Oh but sir what about Kuruma?"

"Ah we've got two others to handle him. All that matters now if lifting the spirits of the lad before the wedding. Can you do that for me?"

"So you want me to treat him just as I do to Kuruma?"

"Hm, try to be a bit more romantic with him. No doubt his heart and soul are still in pieces and I know if he had someone though to lift him up he'll find the light again." he said with a smile.

Seeing him smile like that kind of made her uneasy about what he wanted her to do with him, but in the end she was still his servant and it would be against her contract to disobey. With a nod of her head she gave her answer.

"Yes sit I'll ensure his happiness for you."

"Good, by the way my son hasn't been rotting his brain again with those games and movies has he?"

Looking back the movie they were watching did seem pretty mindless but nothing that would harm his brain.

"No sir he's clean."

"Very good, you may carry on." he told her before walking off.

After he left though she began worrying about what she would do. She had never had a boyfriend let alone seduced anyone and this was her new job for the next day? Something told her she was gonna need to read up on a few things before the next day.