Disclaimer: I don't own Rosario + Vampire or Moonlight Act/Gekko Jorei
Author's note: For those who might be wondering, no, I didn't forget the existence of Kiria Yoshi (or the foreshadowing Season 2 had in the end). And yes, he is planning something sinister in this story.
To Jason: Here's a wild guess, but probably not many people remember Tamao existed since she only appears in one chapter of the manga (I had to google her name). Not to mention her characteristic kind of overlaps with Kurumu, so anyone who want to pair her up with Tsukune might as well just go for that ship instead.
Kuyo opens up the massive double door to Kiria Yoshi's office. The Chimera is currently on his computer, busy typing something. Kiria doesn't even spare a glance to the fox demon before he asks a question with no emotion behind it. "I trust your mission was a success?"
"The Inner Council made it too easy," Kuyo replies with a smug looking smirk. "So many monster kin feel oppressed by those self-righteous big shots. They practically jump the chance to join us. Pick up the talented one and promote them into captains is the easy part."
"What about your little brother? What was his name, Shippon, no? As I recall, you started hating human because they hurt your brother." Kiria still doesn't move his sight away from the monitor. He does move his right hand onto the mouse. "From what I know, he's a pretty loyal attack dog to that new headmaster of Yokai Academy."
Kuyo looks away for a brief second with the mention of his little brother's name. He opens up his palm, let an ember dance on the center. "To let himself become captured by a woman, and a Witch no less. That brat has forgotten his pride. When the time comes, I'll see whose loyalty he truly lies: Our family or that Witch."
"And if he refuses to join you?"
"It's better he die by my hand." The fox demon closes his hand, crashing the dancing ember. "That's enough about me. What about your part? Are you sure HE will hold his end of the bargain?"
"Oh, don't you worry about that greedy old bloodsucker." Kiria smiles as he looks at the screen. It shows a line design of humanoid construct. "Moka did well on her part. This human designed 'super robot' is an outdated piece of junk but it has its merit. Applying our technology and arcane research to it, we can construct something that'll even rival Alucard in his prime. I only need three more pieces of the puzzle."
"To build something that'll rival Alucard, it sounds like you are more ambitious than being a pawn in this game between the vampire lords."
"Do not mistake, my friend. I won't let me, or you become a vampire lord's disposable piece. Once when I finish this plan, we'll be another player on this board."
Light Pink Lover
Chapter 20: The time of my life
Kaya Kudo pulls a book out of her bag. She is currently sitting on a wooden armchair underneath an umbrella on the beach. The book-loving high school girl barely gets through a single paragraph before she starts frowning. She looks to the side and sees the face of Joshua leering at her like he wants to lick her all over with his eyes. "Go away, Joshua."
"Miss Kudo, you don't seem to know how much charisma you possess." The cat demon puts down a bowl of shaved ice and a glass of cocktail. "How can I control myself, when I see your soft white milky skin..."
The high school girl tosses him away before he manages to finish his sentence.
"What a shameful display." Tsukune shakes his head as he looks up from his sand castle. He turns around and comes face to face with Yukari's fox-like smile. "What?"
"Oh, I don't know. I was just thinking about a certain someone back in high school." The Witch tilts her head sideways as she chants with a sing-song voice.
"Hey! I wasn't THAT pathetic when I had my crash with Moka." The salary man vampire puts his arm up defensively across his chest. "Was I?"
Yukari simply smiles at him without saying anything back.
"Okay, alright, I was as pitiful as Joshua back in Yokai Academy. I shouldn't chase after Moka all the time like a puppy dog. Are you happy now?" Tsukune throws his arms up in exasperation.
"Yes, I'm happy you finally realized your mistake." Yukari giggles as she leans in closer towards Tsukune. She closes her eyes and sticks out her lips. "Are you going to do something about it?"
Does she want me to, kiss her? Tsukune suddenly becomes aware of how sweaty his hands feel. He's fairly sure it's something else other than the beating sun on the beach. Something doesn't feel right despite how fast his heart is beating. It is true he enjoys spending time with Yukari, but does he sees her the same way as Moka back in Yokai Academy?
I probably shouldn't leave her hanging.
Tsukune leans his face closer towards Yukari as he swallows hard. Yukari suddenly pulls her head away before their lips make contact. "GATCHYA~!"
"Did you think I'm going to let you kiss me that easily? Mr. Aono? Sorry, but you better work hard for it." The Witch jumps up as she winks back at Tsukune. She quickly turns around and runs after Kaya. "Let's go play some beach volleyball, Kaya~!"
"I'm not good at sports..."
"Nonsense! You are in Team Yukari! Let's just have some fun." Yukari ignores her friend's weak protest as she drags Kaya to the beach volleyball court.
"Didn't expect that." Tsukune blinks his eyes as he looks back at the spot where Yukari was. Now that his heartbeat has managed to calm down, he can tell his feelings with more clarity.
He should probably feel pity that Yukari was just teasing him. All Tsukune feels is the indescribable amount of relief the moment Yukari pulls away. Tsukune honestly doesn't know how he should treat Yukari if their relationship moves into next phase and becomes something more than friends.
"Yo, drop out. You want a soft drink or beer?" Saizo's voice makes Tsukune look up. The orc is carrying an icebox in his hands.
"Do you have tomato juice?"
The orc look confused for a moment before he sets the ice box down on the sand and starts to dig into the bottom with one of his massive arms.
" I was just asking. You don't have to kill yourself for it." Tsukune can imagine both the piercing coldness and the burning sensation from water with the rumbling sound of Saizo shoving ice. Before long, the orc tosses a bottle of tomato juice into his hand. Melted ice on the glass burns Tsukune's hand. But nothing his fast regeneration can't fix. "Thanks."
Saizo wordlessly sits down beside him. He takes a can of beer out of the icebox and drinks it down in one go. "What was it like living with a vampire?"
"I'd rather not talk about it. It is both very dumb and very dull." Tsukune drinks a mouthful of his tomato juice. He looks at Yukari and Kaya playing beach volleyball against Kyoko and Jun. The bookish girl is more athletic than he thought. She manages to hold her own with Yukari against Kyoko's agility and Jun's strength. Saizo's girlfriend Wakaba is on the sideline, keeping their score and handing energy drinks and towel to the players. "Aren't you feeling lonely? Your girlfriend is all the way over there."
"How needy do you think I am?" The orc rolls his eyes at Tsukune's question. He throws the crushed tin can towards a recycler. It lands with a woosh. "What about you? Do you feel lonely now?"
Tsukune looks down at the sand castle he build beneath his feet. He knows Saizo is referring to the fact he's no longer the central attention of multiple girls. "No, at least I don't think so. I guess I always feel a bit overwhelmed back in Yokai Academy. I mean, what should I do when I suddenly went from professional wallflower to center of the attention everywhere I go?"
"You know. Lots of boys envy you back in Yokai Academy." Saizo lets out a mirthless chuckle as he sits back. "What does this weak, stupid loser has over us? All the good girls are all over him when he doesn't do anything while we have to bust our asses trying to get anyone's attention."
"Maybe if you guys aren't trying to be a bunch of horny rapists or bullying murders, all of you would have better luck? Have you thought of that?" Tsukune snorts at Saizo's complain as he rolls his eyes.
"If someone told me this back in Yokai Academy, I'd send them packing. Now, I guess there's some merit in your weakling human ways."
Tsukune doesn't understand what Saizo mean by it, so they simply sit in silent as they watch the girls play volleyball. He looks at Yukari, who leaps up from the sand to slam the volleyball hard to the other side of the court. Dark hip-long hair flutters behind her back like a silky cape.
It's a good look for her considering the youthful energy Yukari always carries. Now she's no longer little, Tsukune Aono realizes Yukari's charm can easily stand together with Moka.
The salary man vampire briefly wonders why Yukari decide to keep her hair long. It's probably not due to lack of time since she obviously takes good care of her hair considering how healthy it looks.
Tsukune feels he barely knows anything about Yukari at all. She seems to know people everywhere she goes. Both from the other Yokai Academy alumni, to human who has no connection to her monster half.
Could she also have someone important between those ten years? Perhaps her change of hairstyle is for the person she cares.
Tsukune moves his sight onto Saizo's girlfriend Wakaba, the girl with dull shorthair. It's probably a bad thing for him to admit it, but she looks kind of plain. She reminds Tsukune of a small animal, like a hamster, a squirrel or a bunny.
"How did you meet your girlfriend?"
"Wakaba? She brought her bicycle to the workshop I worked. Nobody wants to bother with a beat up old bike. I took some time to fix it for her after my shift ended. We got to spend time talking and went from there." Saizo shrugs his shoulder as a nostalgic smile creeps up his face.
"That's it?" Tsukune looks at the orc with a disappointed look.
"What did you expect? Do you want me to save her from a mob of lizardmen or something?" Saizo rolls his eyes at Tsukune's response. "Life isn't a manga, you know."
"Touche." Tsukune looks away, remembering how he met Yukari after all those years. "Did you at least tell her your true form?"
"I showed her after our first time going out. She thought I look like a big teddy bear."
"It just feels so unbelievable. You of all the monsters living a normal human life."
The life I wanted. That sentence is left unspoken between the human turned vampire and the orc.
"If it makes you feel better, I was the one who wanted to make a vampire my girl." Saizo shrugs his shoulder again as he looks at Wakaba tossing the volleyball back to Jun. "But you know what they say: you win some, you lose some."
"Touche." Tsukune decides to break away from the conversation and concentrate on his sandcastle.
"What happened to you, Gin?"
"Don't ask."
Tsukune turns his head back up. Instead of the werewolf, he sees a vaguely human shaped bundle of seaweed in front of him. "When did you enter a Pokemon cosplay contest? Did you win any prizes?"
" #$% you!" Gin lets out a garbled curse inside the bundle of seaweed. It plops down beside the other two. "Which stage are you with Yukari?"
"Why the hell should you care?" Tsukune gives Gin an annoyed glare. The salary man vampire isn't someone who gets angry easily, but even he feels Gin is seriously overstepping his boundary.
Granted, he still hasn't beaten the werewolf a single time in their training spar yet. But Tsukune is fairly confident if he removes his seal he can kick Gin's ass.
"You know what? You are right. Don't tell me. I don't want to know anyways." The bundle of seaweed seems to shuffle a little. Tsukune guesses Gin is trying to shrug inside. "My point is, you should stop leading Yukari on. If you aren't going to have a serious relationship with her, you need to let her know now. She doesn't deserve it."
Tsukune wants to end the conversation as soon as Gin brings it up. But now he wants the werewolf to continue because he feels like there's something going on behind his back. "Excuse me? Care to elaborate?"
The bundle of seaweed stays still for a moment. It almost like Tsukune suddenly grows another head in front of Gin. The werewolf finally continues after a deep sigh. "You have no idea what's going on at all, do you? My point is: Yukari is serious when she is spending time with you. I'm not someone who knows her the best from last ten years, but even I know she never had a single boyfriend or girlfriend for that matter. That's not normal for someone like Yukari. She's been waiting for you to come back all this time. So tell me, what do you see Yukari? Do you consider her as important to you as Moka?"
"To be fair, I been living ten years without seeing Moka..." Gin extend out one of his seaweed covered hand and hit Tsukune on the head. "OUCH!"
"You know which Moka I'm talking about, don't dodge the question."
"I don't know. I mean, I'm happy when I spend time with Yukari. Just like when I spend time with Moka back in Yokai Academy. They are very different, opposite of one another more likely. Still, I like spending time with Yukari." Tsukune looks away from Gin. He starts to pull his finger while rambling whatever comes to his mind. He has to admit even he feels embarrassed about how disjointed he is being.
"So, it's just as I thought. You are using Yukari to relive the time of your life back in Yokai Academy."
"What are you saying!? I'm not using Yukari!"
Gin stands up from the hot sand as he walks in front of Tsukune. "You keep telling yourself that. The truth is: You lack the courage to be in a serious relationship with her, but you also like the attention she's giving you. So you simply sits back and enjoys your time with her without realizing what's going on in her head. That's the same thing you did to Kurumu and Mizore back in Yokai Academy. Answer me this, did it work out in the end?"
Tsukune thinks back to that brief reunion in Yokai Academy. Kurumu's open antagonization and how Mizore seems to ignore him. Still, he doesn't want to admit Gin is right. Especially considering how patronizing the werewolf is acting. "It wasn't like I wanted anything to happen between us. That's why I went steady with Moka after our second year. It's not like that relationship worked out well."
"See, that's your problem. You keep on playing innocent, saying you didn't want anything. The girls, on the other hand, give their all in their relationship with you. You hurt them back then. You'll hurt Yukari now if you don't learn anything." Gin's lecture is suddenly cut short as a volleyball hits him with the power of a cannon ball. He falls on the sand with the ruffling sound of all the seaweed tangling together.
Both Tsukune and Saizo look toward the source of the trajectory. They see Yukari running towards them with an innocent wink on her face while sticking her tongue out. "Oops, my hand slipped."
"Yukari, you heard what Gin said, didn't you?" Tsukune stands up and walks toward the Witch. He opens his mouth and tries to say something, but no word come out.
What should he say right now? He doesn't even know how he feels.
"Don't mind what the old mutt said. You just take your own time." Yukari picks up the volleyball and hugs it in front of her chest. She gives Tsukune one of her usual smiles. For a split second, Tsukune feels like there's something more in that smile. It wasn't exactly sadness, but it wasn't her usually energetic happiness either.
The salary man vampire looks back at Saizo. "What do you think-"
"Hey, don't look at me man. It's not like we are pals." The orc holds his hands up like a shield.
"You are right." Tsukune tilts his head sideways. He tries to sort through all the things Gin said, but it only ends up confusing him more. Maybe he should simply take what Yukari said at face value. Take his time, and sort through the thing when he figures them out. After all, he doesn't want to jump head first into a relationship again after what happened with Moka. "I think I'll just go back to my sand castle for now."
Just as he's about to sit down, the sand castle in front of him exploded. Tsukune turns his head to the side while spitting sand. He wipes his eyes with hands, trying to clean away all the sand and tear. When his sight finally clears, he has to fight against a groan coming out of his mouth. "No way, you."
"Prepare yourself, Tsukune Aono!" The petit vampire with red hair points her finger at Tsukune. "Today, I'll finally beat you and retake my pride!"