Author Notes : I curse ff for the Xth time, can't believe it erased our protagonist initial in the sign last chapter. Really the way ff remove some things from documents really puzzle me, no choice but to deal with it but it's still really annoying. Otherwise do not hesitate to send me private message or mail if I don't update for too long, I frankly didn't realize it had been so freaking long since this story was last updated. Anyway since then I've somewhat improved and I've half a mind to rewrite this story in first person, I await your advises on the matter.

I wondered a good fifteen minutes if I should add more scenes to the chapters or cut as it's here. I am hoping to maintain the same quality as this chapter, your opinions on the length and quality would be very welcomed.

I bid you a good reading.

Cunning Foxes(2) : Storm, Sin, Safe

The supermarket had gone silent again. Wandering between the many shelves Tsukune wondered what should be his next course of action. Outside a pouring rain started, the usually dry ground of the academy now bore ponds in multiple places. Moving slowly the human head toward the area the golem went by earlier, he briefly wondered if he should go after the sand monster. Tsukune shook his head, going home was a better option at this point. The image of Moka's face flash in his mind.

Tsukune glanced around, the faint feeling of pain in his lip failing to register as his teeth bite nervously on it. Hurriedly he released the flesh, this bad habit was worsening ever since he arrived in this school, sometime he found himself biting his own tongue. The image of Moka flashed again and he inwardly cursed at his failed attempt to derail them.

He didn't want to go back yet, it was childish and he knew it, but still their recent argument felt still too fresh in his mind. Probing himself onward the human advanced toward the area where the golem should still be, he repressed the vague wish of fighting the monster. A hint of worry, in the human world within teen fights there had always been a sort of unspoken rule. A tactic law that no-one ever attacked someone else home however Tsukune isn't sure if this rule apply in a world of monster. Annoying bullies until they couldn't stand it, scare them, disturb them or even disgust them with whatever unconventional method he could come up with. In a world where nor peace or tranquility where absolutes, such was the way the non-violent human named Tsukune Aoko fought. The presence of the vampiress had forced him to use direct methods however he couldn't let that continue forever, else he would regret it once his time expired.

All those questions gathered into possibilities for his close future. Should Tsukune Aoko rely on the overwhelming strength of Moka Akashiya, or should he confront the golem in hope to frighten the public-whatever to stay away from his master home? The human bound by a contract scoffed lightly, the decision wasn't easy. There was so many way an encounter with the golem could go either way, and still he advanced forward.

There was no need for a battle, he had already proved that he could escape the golem's grasp. The golem monster reacted with words after attacking him, thus communication was not an issue. A smirk shone upon the human lips, feeling very much like the '7th Overlord of the East' that he proclaimed to be in the letter, whatever what an Overlord was. It didn't matter, only what the other person thought mattered in those twisted paths.

*break*

The rain continued to pour, Tsukune paid it little mind. It seemed the golem went farther than expected, right now the human was wandering outside the large hall where the clubs made their demonstration to attract new members. Tsukune continued to let his feet echo loudly on the desert place. He had hoped the forcibly loud noise would be loud enough to draw him, but so far the results were nonexistent. Tsukune glanced up toward the clouded sky, the moon should still be visible at this time of the month but for now its light was completely hidden by the humid mass.

"Definitively don't like this place." He muttered, the setting reminded him of the night when Moka had rushed at him in the middle of night. He cringed at the memory, in the absolute darkness of that time and with only an handful days since their meeting, he frankly thought he was done for.

The human froze, his eyes hurriedly checking his surrounding as he was getting more and more uncomfortable. The visibility was strongly hampered by the heavy rain and he hesitantly continued forward. The sound came again, this time more precise. A furious scream yet also filled with desperair. A form in the distance, the drops of water in Tsukune's clothes, shook him with a cold chill. Then others forms appeared to his eyes as he approached, many many humanoid-like things standing around a place that Tsukune noted was the pool.

None of them reacted to Tsukune presence, he was most likely too far away to be noticed under the heavy rain. The human froze, his body completely still as he imbued his eyes with the supernatural power provided by his master. He gulped with great difficulties as what was before him resembled to a dark ritual.

An execution.

Inside the pool a man kept trying to get out of the water but was continuously pushed down by some invisible form. A few of the others things, monsters he assumed, were pouring something into the pool and the man inside kept raging, raging again and sending death threats. Kuyo, the fearsome leader of a corrupted organisation of protection, the monster whose last name Tsukune ignored was struggling into the mass of water like he was bathed in acid.

Which might just be the case seeing the students continuing to pour some unknown liquid inside the pool. A minute passed and Kuyo continued to struggle in what was most likely a lose cause, none of his now fewer watcher seemed worried.

fewer?

Tsukune felt his body going even colder than it was, his eyes hurriedly scanning the surrounding as his terror doubled again. The rain proving insufficient to hide the figures of the monsters, a dozen of them covering circling around his location. As they realized the intruder became aware of their presence, the monsters started to close on him. Their bodies still looked humans and yet for many of them their arms or legs looked distorted and black. Tsukune found that he couldn't move, his body refusing to simply move toward a safer location. He didn't even think of cursing his own stupidity for using youki so close from a pack of monsters. Behind him a surprised voice spoke while still staying close to the pool.

"Aono-kun... I didn't expect you to be here tonight." Tsukune didn't answer, his tongue unable to move as he recognized the brown haired student president. Hokuto Kaneshiro observed him for several seconds, the distance and the heavy rain hiding the president's frown at the human appearance. The two looked at each other for several seconds, one astonished and the other pondering while the dozen of monsters around the human waited for their leader signal. The rain kept falling.

tic-tac

Tsukune didn't think of anything as he used the Clock recklessly, his whole body thundering away from the scene. For less than one second a violent gust of wind pushed away the nearby monsters as the human already distanced himself from over one hundred meter from the scene. Then a violent tremor shook his entire front as an invisible wall obstructed his way, the impact sending the human up and backward a dozen meter. The fall proved almost as unforgiving for Tsukune's back as his front suffered from the impact, the second hit sending a painful shock wave over his entire body. Several seconds passed as Tsukune's mind tried to catch up with the situation, before this happened a voice spoke once again.

"It seems that my theory was indeed correct, the headmaster is a fool." Hokuto's voice hold no contempt, joy was similarly absent from his voice. "Ironic, isn't it? I suppose you will become the scapegoat in her place now. how ironic indeed..." Maybe it was because of his sad tone, but his voice was too weak for Tsukune to heard anything else than fragment of the president's sentences. With a sentiment of finality, Hokuto gave a signal that Tsukune couldn't see. The human rose to his knee as the monsters closed in, one of them merely ten meters away.

Tsukune bite his tongue, the wave of pain in the organ so feeble in comparison to the pain in the rest of his body that it went unnoticed. Taking several heavy breaths that already showed that he was hyperventilating, Tsukune rose to two uncertain feet. An overwhelming fear rendered his movements maddeningly slow, an insurmountable terror making his heart desperate to break free from his ribs. The rain melted with faint drop of blood, a few unforgiving rocks having pierced his skin when he fell. The first monster was before him, a slim figure yet a little over two meters tall. It seemed female. Its chest, arm, legs and head sprouting black sharps lance-shaped things that looked vaguely organic and moved around like an infinity of sickening appendices. The eyes normally aligned horizontally like an human were now bizarrely twisted into a vaguely vertical line with two unfocused pupils that kept moving in all directions. Behind it/her, the other monsters were bearing similar transformations, as if they were all one unique kind of monster.

One scythe-like arm with many end towered Tsukune, the fine frame of the raised corporal weapon going as high as the second floor. Still Tsukune's body refused to move, the events happening a far cry from the battle with Saizou or the training with Moka. None of the beating he had been through so far even mimicked the thick group of distorted abomination gathering an abnormal youki-like aura that reminded the human of rotten bodies left under an unforgiving sun for weeks. The scythe-like suddenly fell and Tsukune noted Kuyo screams weren't echoing in the air anymore.

A violent noise was heard as the body was sent flying through the air, crashing into the ground several meters away. Touching the ground after her upward attack, the fearsome female monster tried to shake off some drops of water from her large cloak. The gigantic dark aura thundering into the area made the rest of the monsters stand back in apprehension, their ally not standing up from the terrifying high-kick. A glance toward the right would have revealed that the woman had come from over the roof, the safety fence broken under an empowered rush. The rain kept falling, sole source of noise in the faint moment when no-one moved.

The frightening S-ranked monster named Moka Akashiya entered the scene, her white cloak and hood fooling none of the present people due to her overbearing dark aura. Once again Tsukune realized how poorly he was at sensing the link between them, the arrival and presence of his master having been previously completely unnoticed. Then the monsters around them started to slowly make a circle around them, eyeing carefully the hooded form all the while.

"What is going here Tsukune?" Moka voice finally helped Tsukune break free from his stupor.

"Stumbled here, Kuyo getting killed, me good for scapegoat." he extremely simplified while holding back an immense feeling of relief at seeing the strong vampiress. Said vampiress clicked her tongue loud enough for him to heard despite the heavy rain.

Rain?

The human bite his tongue again, cursing on the Clock against the string of bad luck. "Why didn't you run away?" The hooded vampiress asked as she took a martial stance. "That's too many for you to fight alone." Tsukune refrained from biting his lips or tongue once again, the absence of anger in his master's voice didn't reassure him in the slightest.

"Blocked by a barrier, an invisible one." He added the last three words quickly to make his point understood. This time he noticed a hint of tension briefly breaking the vampiress's posture at his words. As one of the monster started to approach Tsukune turned his back to Moka to cover some of her possible blind spots and faced the hostile monsters now before him.

"This is a night for the unexpected." Hokuto commented almost amused by how the situation had turned. "Even so, I do not know what came over you to come in such a rainy night, Akashiya-san." He left the proximity of the pool, apparently Kuyo was no longer potent to cause trouble, whatever that means. The rest of his group advanced, seeing that the enemy was going to get reinforcement Moka tried to attack the three closest members. She was stopped in her attempt by yet another invisible wall. Hokuto scoffed at her outburst of surprise. "You know, I really didn't expect that learning barrier-making would come in handy against a vampire. There is even one little hidden use, here." As he spoke his last word, the hood Moka wore suddenly pushed apart from her head until it tore apart.

The raw water poured onto the vampire, her cloak suffering the same fate merely a brief moment afterward.

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Moka!" Tsukune shout was drowned by the screams of pain from his master, her skin fully exposed to the pouring water. "Hold on!" He grabbed the girl with one arm and then-

tic

-an inhumanly fast punch tore through the invisible barrier surrounding the two, only to be violently stopped by a second barrier. Completely taken by surprise Tsukune couldn't press forward or leap backward in time and his arm continued to hurl pointlessly into the barrier, the shock wave resulting from the collision breaking the joint and dislocating his whole shoulder. It was only thank to his nerves that the arm didn't just tore apart from his body.

Hokuto seemed surprised at the display. "Look like I was too late, she must have already transformed you a lot in order for you to bring that much power. It's sad, if the rain wasn't so strong there would be almost no chance for us to beat you that easily." Tsukune bite his lips again for what seemed the hundredth time of the night, he barely paid attention to the president's words as he placed himself above Moka in an attempt to shield her from the rain. Maybe if she could give him an advice on how to break those barriers, they could get out from this situation.

And then his eyes settled from two monsters by Hokuto's side, both holding hoses used to fill up the pool. Giant water gun to blast onto the already weakened vampiress. He cursed his foolishness for coming here in the first place, even powered by a vampire he was still but a human and really nothing like a fighter, getting out from there was looking more and more hopeless by the second. The only thing that still delayed the attacks of the closing monsters was the barrier that would hinder both sides.

"Also, it was a little tricky but I managed to alter a bit those barriers. It weaken them a bit but, once properly done nothing can go out, but anything can enter. Anything." Hokuto spoke as if to crush his last hopes. A infinity of black distorted thin or thick sharp root-like things almost covering his vision as the monsters surrounded their invisible cage.

And then the attacks came.

*dead end*

The supermarket was still silent, the image of Moka flashed again and he inwardly cursed at his failed attempt to derail them.

Tsukune was unwilling to go back yet, it was childish and he knew it, but still their recent argument felt still too fresh in his mind. He repressed the vague wish of going to fight against the sand monster, a hint of unease overtook him as he realized that he was actually considering fighting in a violent manner. Of course he would try to throw off his opponent in a way were they didn't have to directly fight beforehand. However maybe this time he wouldn't be able to break down the giant monster like the spider-woman. Then he was even more put off by the fact he actually considered using non-violent mean as a battle, if not as a war. Why? Did his stay at the Youkai school change him that much? Because he fought against people and trained under an overly violent woman? An unexpected side effect of the pact with his master? Because his time was drawing shorter.

Or was it a combination of all those reasons?

In the human world, Tsukune had taken peace for granted yet he had quickly realized that tranquility was not an absolute constant. In this twisted version filled with monsters, peace wasn't an absolute either. As a human among humans, Tsukune Aono used always indirect ways that caused those who bothered him to abandon before a proper fight. His unease grew, one of the last thing he wished to be remember for was to be a blood thirsty fighter. Was he fated to become something he naturally hated to be?

All those questions gathered into possibilities for his close future. Tsukune had no tragic event that made him a pacifist, though the Clock might have affected him, fighting was just an inherent dislike present into the core of his human nature. Was it right to fight the sand monster just to satisfy an unwelcome thirst for battle and feeling of superiority? Tsukune frowned, he couldn't help a nagging feeling that something was wrong. He knew what it was although it was something he preferred to avoid. Regret, it was regret. How he discharged his anger at the girl who was his master. The enormity she said still made him furious but she really was not at fault, it was one of those times where no-one is truly wrong and it's even more painful because of it.

Tsukune shook his head with a sigh, there was something wrong with how he treated the girl who was his master by a pact. In retrospective he shouldn't have told her about the Clock countdown, that was yet another one regret in his relationship with Moka. For someone as Tsukune who wanted to avoid regretting as much as possible by the time the Clock would run out, this was troublesome. One last time sighed, turned on his heel and then proceeded to leave the supermarket, groaning as he noted that the rain was pouring down heavily. He would be not doubt drenched by the time he got back home.

tic-tac-tic-tac

*break*

The rain continued to pour, much to Tsukune despair. It was almost certain he would get a cold after a few thousands drops of water sneaked their way inside his clothes, maybe he should have grabbed a coat from the supermarket? he froze suddenly in the alley surrounded by escaped dead tree, a very uncomfortable feeling creeping over him as a common worry assaulted him. He had been using hundred of sweets to frighten the spider-woman, surely he wouldn't have to pay for them, would he? His savings wouldn't appreciate being drained for such a reason.

With this nagging question bothering him, Tsukune started to walk again under the clouded sky. Then suddenly stopped, a sudden overbearing dark aura spreading around like a promise of death. A frown of worry appeared on his face and he started to walk again this time at a faster pace. His eyes briefly checking the dense humid mass in the sky before going back to scan the darkness. It didn't take long but he was surprised when the figure appeared less than fifteen meters from him, the intense rain proving just how efficient it was in reducing visibility. The figure faced him, standing still under an ensemble of hood and cloak completely white.

"You... at last!" The feminine voice of the girl reached his ears despite the pouring rain, both anger and relief present in her voice. Tsukune finally closed the distance between then and stopped yet again as the sight before him proved to be very attractive. The usually taller frame of the girl was bent forward like she was cowering against a nonexistent thunder and her long coat was split open from the ankle it reached to her neck. Seeing that he didn't speak the girl spoke again. "What?"

"I'm just surprised that you came while it rains so much, that's asking to be hurt master." He commented sincerely.

"Why do you only call me 'master' in unusual situations?" Tsukune heard the girl faint complain despite the heavy rain but chose wisely to stay silent. Using the key word as a self defensive system against the rare display of Moka's high ranked cuteness grade was a reason he didn't believe his master would accept with a straight face. It still didn't change the fact that the vampiress currently looked very attractive. Her two bare hands were grabbing the open borders of the coat yet carefully avoided the rain by staying inside the white clothe. Her two red eyes were shining into the night like a cat and her delicate features formed a frown, one of her long canine biting faintly onto her lips, much to Tsukune surprise at their shared habit. She was still wearing her school uniform, the fact that she was bending only drew more the eyes toward her ample chest. Her skirt that was still so abnormally short really seemed inappropriate into the rainy setting, her long bare legs gave the same attracting effect. Despite the protection of the coat it seemed that she got drenched at some point because most of her clothes and body was wet, the legs even giving out purple black sparks in a continuous manner.

Tsukune frowned as he caught the lightning-like disturbances that kept coming in and out from existence, he found himself biting his lip again. He had learned of that particular weakness of vampire rather quickly, the element a terrific existence to the frightening monsters as it disturbed the flow of youki inside their bodies in a painful manner. Small rain proved little problem, however in large amount water was terribly efficient in weakening the vampiress. Of course the dense curtain of water falling down was above the requirement of 'large amount'. Worst, in addition to the pain and weakening, the rain was dropping a vampire's body temperature until it was almost unbearably cold.

Shirou had once told Tsukune that the reason rain was so much used in epic battle against powerful monsters in human games or novels was entirely derived from that fact and not because it was either 'heroic' or 'romantic'. It was one of the sad things that his live at Youkai Academy changed, now it was impossible to read that kind of event without screaming at the sheer impossibility of the scene.

"So, where were you this time?" Apparently the vampiress was running out of patience as her voice hold dangerous intonations. Tsukune sighed as he felt the rain continuing to lower his corporal temperature, still he complied if only because it was indeed his fault that his master was shaking in the rain from cold and from being hypoallergenic.

"Well, I was cooling down when-" His words suddenly ended in a stuttering as his eyes caught a weird looking form with a mountain of what seemed to be an enormous pile of sand at its side. He couldn't utter a word as his initial incomprehension was replaced with astonished recognition. The girl saw him looking behind her and turned to follow his gaze, then she looked at him again as if daring him to make a comment.

"First, I am sorry." Tsukune finally said as he didn't even attempt to figure out how the sand golem and the spider-woman coated in sugar ended up here. "Second, I humbly propose that we continue this later, in a warmer place." One of the vampiress's eyebrow twitched at his words, then wordlessly started to walk away much to Tsukune relief.

Approximative time lost : 0 days

Remaining Time : 578 days