Chapter 28
Normal
When Tsukune's panic subsided enough for him to register the source of the wailing coming from just outside his bedroom, his first thoughts for the morning were along the lines of 'Not again…' He stared at the door in dazed incomprehension, his eyes squinting against the light flooding in from the glass door that led to the balcony outside his room. The screaming coughed to an end as he threw the blankets aside and stepped onto the floor, staggering towards the door in the hopes of discovering who had tripped the Seal of Screaming, and hopefully sending them away so he could steal just a few more minutes of peaceful slumber.
Those hopes died when he opened the door and found Ageha Kurono on the other side, a transparent smile failing to hide her continued wince from the piercing sound and a corner of the Seal peeking out of her balled fist. "Sorry," she said sheepishly, offering him the wadded piece of paper. "Didn't know how to shut it up, but if you didn't either, that seems to work pretty well. I hope it wasn't expensive or anything…"
"Mother!" Both people standing at the bedroom door could hear Kurumu padding towards them, and they both flinched from the anger in her voice. As Tsukune looked woefully down at the seal, trying his best to smooth it, the elder succubus turned to face the glare her daughter was directing towards her. Kurumu stood with her arms crossed under her chest, shaking her head in disbelief. "Don't tell me you were trying to sneak into Tsukune's room!"
"Of course not!" Ageha chimed brightly, her broad smile doing little to convince her daughter of her innocence. "I was merely coming to wake him up for breakfast."
"Breakfast? Did you cook?" Kurumu asked incredulously.
"Well, no, that was why I was going to wake you up next." Ageha patted her daughter on the shoulder before turning back to Tsukune. "Be a dear and come down soon; we can talk while she cooks, what do you say?" Shooting her daughter another grin as she brushed by, Ageha walked towards the stairs, calmly ignoring the stares she was receiving from the others who had flooded into the hallway after the seal's alarm. A moment later, after offering Tsukune an apologetic shrug and soft smile, Kurumu trailed after her, realizing the merits of her mother's suggestion. Tsurara had prepared the previous meal, but Mizore hadn't contributed much to those efforts; now it was time for Kurumu to show what she could do.
With the seal mostly restored to its previous shape, Tsukune turned to make his way back to his bed, but he didn't make it more than halfway there when he heard a soft voice calling his name from the door. He turned to see Moka peering in at him, a concerned frown on her face. "Oh, good morning, Moka! Is something wrong?" She fidgeted for a moment before responding, stepping into the room as if she didn't want to be overheard.
"I've misplaced something, ever since the night before last, and I was wondering if you had seen it…"
A minute later, Moka stepped out of the room with a determined, if nervous, expression, and Mizore moved to the side of the hall to let her pass. She glanced back at the vampire as Moka entered her room, wondering what was behind her friend's hurriedness. Shaking her head to dismiss the concern, the snow maiden was the next to enter Tsukune's room, and he greeted her with a warm smile that was only slightly tinged with exasperation as he abandoned the notion of ever getting to claim another few minutes of slumber. "Good morning, Mizore."
"Good morning, Tsukune." Despite her nervousness towards the topic she had come to discuss with him, Mizore felt her cheeks warm pleasantly as she looked at him, and she decided to procrastinate for a moment in order to prolong her time with him. "Did you sleep well last night?" She already knew the answer; even after she had snuck onto the roof of the shed outside, he had spent at least an hour tossing and turning.
"Not quite, but I'm fine. There's been a lot going on, so I was a little keyed up." It was almost the truth, he reassured himself. The final moments of his time with Kurumu the previous evening had been at the heart of his sleeplessness, but it would be best not to admit that.
"Yeah, things have gotten a little… chaotic recently." Mizore motioned obliquely towards the hallway, and Tsukune nodded, understanding who she was referring to. Mizore stood silently for a moment more, watching him with a slight smile that only served to feed his curiosity. He didn't ask what had brought her to his room, certain she would tell him in her own time; truth be told, he already had a good idea.
"I was thinking…" she finally started, glancing away nervously. "Today is my day, and I was wondering- since they are here, and it's hard to find any peace and quiet- we could maybe take a walk together?" She motioned subtly towards the balcony, and the forest that lay outside the house.
Tsukune leaned back, considering the idea. She was right, it would be nice to get out of the house, especially since they had hardly left its confines since their trip to the karaoke club. Plus, he had been somewhat curious about the land around the Resting Place, and whatever dangers the forest might hold would surely pale in comparison to the skeletal woods that bordered Yokai Academy. And, he admitted to himself, it would be nice to enjoy some time with Mizore in a setting that would be a little less… intense than his earlier sessions with the others.
"Sure," he agreed, "that sounds great!"
Mizore beamed at him before stepping back towards the door, stopping at its border to glance at him a final time. "How about a little while after breakfast, then?"
"That'd be fine." Mizore smiled once more before exiting, closing the door behind her as she went. In the sudden, now-foreign silence, Tsukune fell back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he thought about the three girls he was living with. So early in the day, and already they were each calling for his attention or help; strangely, now that the clinging grogginess had faded, he found that he didn't mind. He had gotten quite used to this system, even though he hadn't been at the Resting Place for two weeks yet. He thought back to the months that he had spent at home while the academy had been closed for repairs, and tried to imagine how that would feel now. It would be far, far too quiet… and empty. He had missed his friends terribly then, but now…
Now, he needed to go downstairs and have breakfast, Tsukune chided himself. He had done more than enough deep thinking over the past little bit, and there was no reason to stay in his room when he could be enjoying the company of his friends. He would have all the solitude he would want when he returned to his bed that night.
And with that decided, Tsukune stood, and left his room.
"So, I presume you spoke to him about your time with him?"
Mizore paused, lips tightening before she turned to face her mother. Tsurara wore a slight smile as she sat on her daughter's bed, hands crossed in her lap as she waited expectantly for Mizore's response. The snow maiden's eyes flicked to the bottle that sat on the nightstand beside her, the milky, pearlescent liquid inside almost shining in the morning light. Tearing her gaze from it, Mizore turned to her mother with a nod. "We're going to take a walk later, out in the forest."
"Wonderful!" Tsurara's smile brightened. "Very wise, taking him somewhere where no one will be able to interrupt you, no matter what happens. If he does decide to make up for… the lack of developments in your relationship, then you would be free to enjoy yourselves to your hearts' content." She paused, her eyes hardening almost imperceptibly, and her hand swept gently towards the bottle of Snow White perfume. "Of course, you could make certain that would happen by-"
"No." Both women waited for a long moment after Mizore's sharp refusal, warily eyeing the other. Hoping to circumvent any further pressure, Mizore finally continued. "I know that Tsukune cares for me, and I want him to realize that on his own. I've come so far now, and I won't waste everything we've shared for an easy victory. He will come to me, of that I am certain."
"I can tell that the bonds between you have gotten stronger," Tsurara ceded with a fading smile, "but I could say the same for the other two girls as well. While he is obviously being far more open-minded, your relationships seem more… volatile. At this point, I would say that any of you could win his heart, but is that enough for you, my dear? Especially since it seems that the other girls have a head start on you."
Grimacing, Mizore looked away. "That doesn't matter. Today is my day, and by the end of it you won't be able to say that any more."
Swallowing her fears of her daughter's overconfidence, Tsurara nodded. "Very well, then. But, at the least, use this opportunity to find out how Tsukune views you and the others. If things are not as equal as you think…" She deliberately did not glance at the bottle of enchanted perfume, but her meaning was obvious.
"I will, I promise. If I can't get any closer to Tsukune today, then I will…" Mizore swallowed, glancing at herself in the room's mirror. "… I will consider other options."
"Good. Now, shall we go downstairs and see what that succubus friend of yours is fixing? I'm hungry enough to risk it, whatever it might be."
Still staring at her reflection, Mizore nodded. "I'll be right down, I need to grab a few things." Leaving her daughter's vague statement unquestioned, Tsurara stood and left the room, the snow maiden still standing in the same place as the door closed. Only when she knew she was alone did Mizore let herself slump slightly, biting her lip as she considered what she had told her mother. She regretted her promise, but it wouldn't matter; she remembered the talk she had with Tsukune during their date, and knew that she could learn even more about him during this trip. She would get him to open up to her, to reveal to her his feelings, and then she would be able to take things at her pace again without worrying. Since they would be alone together, nothing would be able to stand in her way.
A moment later, Mizore closed the door as she stepped out into the hall, the bottle of Snow White perfume sparkling brilliantly in the silent bedroom.
"…so Kyoko told them to cut her hair as short as mine! They compromised and left it as long as it is today, but after that I wasn't worried about it anymore." Tsukune chuckled as he pushed a branch out of the way, holding it in place so Mizore could safely pass as well. "She always watched out for me like that. If it weren't for her, I don't know if I would have survived growing up!"
"Oh, I don't know about that," Mizore smiled, "if you can survive Yokai Academy as a human, you're more capable than most."
"Well, I've had a lot of help there, too," Tsukune reminded her with an embarrassed grin. "If it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't have survived a month there. Actually, I almost didn't make it through the first day, now that I think about it."
"And now you're able to protect us in return," Mizore pointed out, stepping over a tangle of roots.
"Yeah, well, a lot's changed since I started high school," Tsukune admitted with a gentle smile. His head lifted, and he looked to the side, pointing a finger to indicate something ahead of them. "Hey, is that the stream you mentioned?"
"That's it." Mizore grinned as she saw the water flowing a short distance away. She could remember the surroundings enough to approximate how close they were to arriving at the end of their trail; they were close now.
Once breakfast had been finished, and after they had taken enough time to digest (a process lengthened by their over-indulgence, which in turn was thanks to Kurumu's culinary skill), Tsukune and Mizore had left the Resting Place on their walk together. Both Kurumu and Moka had complimented Mizore on her idea for her session with Tsukune, though something in Tsurara's smile had made them seriously consider all answers to the phrase 'What's the worst that could happen?' After leaving the house behind, the two teens had slowly worked their way up the forested hillside, Mizore trusting her memories of the one other time she had made this journey to see them to their destination.
The ending point of their trek was not something Mizore had revealed to Tsukune, but he was content to follow her lead without questioning her on it; she obviously wanted to surprise him. So, instead, they had taken their time hiking up the hill, talking the whole while, the subjects of their conversation varied and personal. Primarily they had reminisced on their lives growing up, trading little tidbits of their pasts that rarely emerged in normal discussions. Tsukune had been surprised at how similar life in Mizore's village had been to life in the human world, though there were glaring differences scattered throughout her stories. She called on him to point out places he remembered from his sole visit there, and then reminisced about things from her own life that had involved them, weaving her memories into his in a way that made him look at the village of the yuki-onna in a new light.
Tsukune, in turn, had told her about his family, and his middle school. Mizore had eagerly pressed him for more information, though he was surprised several times when she asked him to explain certain elements of the human world; it seemed that her exposure to it, like Yukari's, had been rather limited. Trouble with schoolwork was one thing they'd had in common; Tsukune had always been cursed with perfectly average grades, and Mizore had rarely put much effort into her work at school. For her, at least, attendance at Yokai Academy had always been possible, unlike Tsukune's unusual circumstances after his string of rejection letters from the various schools he had applied to.
But, as they climbed further up the hill beside the stream, it became clear that the past was not all Mizore wanted to discuss. "So, Tsukune," she started, reaching up to adjust the sucker in her mouth, "have you thought about what you want to do after you graduate from the academy?"
Tsukune paused momentarily, reminded of a similar conversation he had shared with Kurumu on their date. "I… I hadn't really thought about it as much as I probably should. I guess I've been busy trying to stay alive, you know?" He laughed in self-deprecation, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I had always figured that I might go on to college, or get a job, but…" He frowned, realizing that his perspective on those ideas had begun to change without him noticing. If he did get into a good college, who was to say that the same would be true for the girls? Were there monster colleges that they would be attending, or had they intended to return to their homes after high school was finished? Would they have to split up after their graduation? And the same might be true if he got a job in the human world; after all, he could hardly expect them to all come with him.
And when had the notion of a life without all three of them started to feel so empty?
"Well," Mizore started, breaking the silence that had fallen as he had delved into his unsettling realization, "there's no reason to make solid plans, I guess." She shrugged casually, looking back at him with a faint smile. "There's still a whole year in front of us, and we have enough to keep us busy anyways, with Fairy Tale and whatever the Headmaster has planned for us. We'll figure things out as we get to them." She stopped walking, and he stopped to look back at her, surprised at the confidence in her blue eyes. "No matter what happens… we'll find a way." Despite the lack of evidence for her statement, just hearing those words made Tsukune feel relieved, and his smile communicated that to her. She started walking again, reaching her hand out as she passed him. "We're almost there; it won't be long now!" And so, as they topped the rise that had hidden their destination from sight, Mizore and Tsukune walked hand-in-hand.
"Whoa…" Tsukune openly gaped at the scene before him, his jaw dropping slightly as he drank in the view that Mizore had brought him to. The pond was small, but managed to exude a serenity that instantly calmed Tsukune, and even seemed to have a similar effect on the nearby environment; the trickling of the stream that it fed was the only sound they could hear. He stepped closer, noticing the slickness of the moss-covered stones nearby, and tried to peer into the water's green depths without success. He would have never imagined such a place would be nearby, just within walking distance!
Beside him, Mizore stared not at the pond, but at the boy she had brought to it. Her smile grew as she savored his reaction, thrilled to be sharing her discovery with him; it was obvious that he appreciated it just as she had. She released his hand but stayed at his side, bending down to pick up a small stone. "Do you like it?" she asked, twisting her wrist back and sending the stone skipping across the water.
"Yeah!" Tsukune turned a beaming grin towards her. "I've not been to many places like this. I grew up in a city, so there wasn't much around; certainly nothing that comes close to this!"
"I'm glad." Mizore stepped away, moving towards one of the larger stones near the pond's edge. "I thought we could spend a little while here before we had to head back down, if that's alright?"
"Sure." Tsukune chuckled as she hopped up to take a seat on the stone, bending down to pick up a rock of his own. He couldn't help but remember a time that the two of them had shared something like this, back at the academy: just after he had met Mizore, she had brought him to the shores of a nearby lake to skip stones. Of course, back then he hadn't been eager to enjoy it, more concerned with Mizore's clingy hunger for his attention and, when he had tried to leave, her less-than-peaceful demands that he stay. Now, however… He drew back and sent the stone skipping across the water. Now, he was perfectly happy where he was.
"You're getting better at that," Mizore complimented him, leaning forward to watch as he picked up another. "Keep up, and you'll be better than me someday."
Realizing the challenge, Tsukune grunted as he threw his next rock, which wobbled into sinking on its third skip. Blushing as he heard the tinkling laughter from where she sat, he bent down to pick up another in the hopes of reclaiming his pride. This stone quickly joined its comrade in the depths, however, and his head sank as Mizore laughed behind him. "Or maybe not."
"Hey, I've not had as much practice at this!" Tsukune protested, claiming another stone in the hopes of honing his skills. He winced as he let it fly, realizing that his words would bring up a darker time in Mizore's life, her first months at school when she had isolated herself from her classmates.
"True." Mizore looked down at her lap, but her bittersweet expression fell no further. "But I've not had to go back to the lake as much recently, since I met you and the others." She kicked her legs back and forth absent-mindedly. "I almost kind of miss it, sometimes. Not that much, but-"
"Well, why don't you take us along sometime?" Mizore looked up in surprise at Tsukune, who grinned back at her as he prepared to fling his next stone. "We could all go after class, maybe. It would be nice to get out sometimes, take a little breather when we're not swamped with work for the Newspaper."
"That would be nice." Mizore chewed on the stick of her sucker, mustering her courage. "Or, if the others were busy, sometime you and I could…"
The water splashed as the stone hopped across its surface, and Tsukune nodded slowly, not quite meeting Mizore's gaze as he felt the warmth spread in his cheeks. "That would be nice, too."
Now it was Mizore's turn to redden, and she fought to hide the uncontrollable grin spreading across her face. Seeking to distract herself, she pushed up off her improvised seat and walked over to Tsukune, picking up a stone on the way and standing beside him. The two nodded to each other, and threw their stones at the same time.
"Mine skipped three more times!"
"Yeah, well… mine went further!"
Several minutes passed like that, their joking competition soon consuming all the easily noticeable skipping stones nearby. Tsukune reach down to pick up a bulky, uneven stone, hefting it as he wondered how far he could toss the stone before it fell into the lake. Leaning back, he grunted as he forced the stone skyward, staggering forward as he watched it plummet down towards the depths. As it met with water's surface with a resounding 'ker-plunk,' he slipped slightly on the mossy ground, losing his balance. "Whoa!"
"Careful," Mizore admonished him with a smile, catching him by wrapping her arms around his stomach. Tsukune regained his equilibrium, twisting slightly to face her with a smile of gratitude. However, his solid stance did not convince the snow maiden to release him; much the opposite, as she tightened her hold.
"Ah, I'm alright, so you can let go," Tsukune commented, and immediately regretted the statement, realizing that she knew full well he wasn't going to fall. To his surprise, however, Mizore's grip around him did not relent, and she looked up at him with a mischievous smile.
"But why would I want to do that?" she asked, grinning at him coyly. He chuckled nervously at that, but soon after smiled, and his arms curved around her in turn, holding her closer to his chest as they exchanged silent stares. They stood like that for a while, any coherent thoughts sinking into the other's eyes like the stone into the pond, as they instinctively drew nearer and nearer. As their faces turned slightly and their lips parted, hovering so close together, they failed to notice the ripples that continued to spread across the pond's surface, now in two separate locations.
That was why they were caught entirely off guard as the pair of monsters lunged up from the depths, roaring their victory as they rushed for the two entangled teens.
"I wonder how things are going with Tsukune and Mizore?"
Kurumu grunted loudly, shoving fiercely against the heap of clothes that refused to be sealed within the suitcase, before turning to glance at Ageha. Her mother was daintily inspecting the common room, searching for any other personal effects that had escaped her notice, while Kurumu and Moka both worked to collect and compress her belongings enough to fit in her luggage, which was already beginning to creak ominously with every attempt to close it. Once again, Kurumu wondered how she and Moka had gotten dragged into helping her mother pack; they hadn't had anything better to do, admittedly, and it did help distract them from their thoughts about Tsukune and Mizore- well, until Ageha brought it up herself, completely defeating that purpose. Tsurara had returned to Mizore's room to collect her own belongings, which might be fortunate considering the topic and the mothers' tendency to clash over certain topics. Still, one of them was enough keep her on edge, Kurumu grumbled internally.
"I don't know," Kurumu responded haughtily, leaning against the straining suitcase, "but I suppose we'll find out soon enough."
"I suppose you're right," Ageha relented, but her eyes gleamed mischievously. "Speaking of, did that massage oil I gave you work well last night?"
Horrified, Kurumu froze in place, eyes wide as she felt Moka's stare burning into her. She had been careful not to speak of what she had done with Tsukune for her session, certain that the other girls would be less than pleased, but her mother had just erased those efforts. She felt like demanding her mother to tell her whose side she was on, but perhaps first a little verbal maneuvering to spare herself the worst of Moka's wrath-
"Oh, and did you get to use any of those special techniques I told you about? They can be tricky for a novice, but if you do them right, any man would be putty in your hands." Ageha beamed at her daughter, oblivious to the dark glare that the vampire was directing towards both of them. "Of course, those aren't the only techniques I could teach you-" The elder succubus paused as she heard the soft growling coming from behind Kurumu, and she glanced at Moka with an innocent smile. "Is something wrong, Moka?"
The vampire didn't answer, frowning at Kurumu, who responded with a hapless shrug and eyes that begged understanding. Resolving to speak with her friend later, Moka turned to Ageha and shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong," she said, forcing a pained smile onto her face.
"Really? You sound mad." Ageha shrugged indifferently, turning back to her aimless searching. "I don't see why you would be, though…"
This drew both of the other girls up short. "What do you mean?" Moka finally hazarded, cautiously preparing herself for the worst.
"Well, I suppose you might be jealous, of course, but such possessiveness is rather childish, don't you think? I have never understood all of this bickering over Tsukune, anyways. Don't get me wrong, he is a rather handsome young man," her lascivious tone drawing cold stares from the two girls, "but really, are your goals all that mutually exclusive?" With her back turned to them, neither Moka nor Kurumu could see the gleeful excitement dancing in Ageha's eyes.
Kurumu and Moka shared a glance, alarmed and confused by what the older woman was suggesting. "Do you mean… share?" Kurumu asked warily, her mind stumbling as it tried to imagine that notion. At first, all she could picture looked… remarkably like the life they were already living.
"Why not?" Ageha asked blatantly, turning to them and spreading her arms grandiosely. "Wouldn't that solve most of your problems? You all care for him, and he for you; why make things any more complicated?"
"What you're suggesting sounds even more complicated!" Moka protested.
"Details, details. Sure, there's things like who gets to marry him, and where you would all live, and what everyone else would think- wait, not the last one, that doesn't matter at all. But really, can't you just figure those things out later?" Though her smile didn't waver, Ageha's next words carried a sharp edge to them. "While those arguments might be tough, wouldn't it be better than spending the rest of your lives waiting for Tsukune to make a decision that he'll never come close to?"
"You sound very certain for someone who's only met him a few times." Moka glared at the succubus, but her anger had begun to subside, a hint of weakness in her expression giving Ageha hope that her words were having the intended effect. She didn't have to win this fight, Kurumu's mother admitted to herself; she only had to plant the seed and leave it to them to grow it in their own way.
"Call it… woman's intuition. Or experience." Ageha glanced down at the floor, resuming her search for anything she might be leaving behind. Her eyes widened as they fell on a leather-wrapped handle sticking out from beneath the couch, all but entirely hidden from sight, and she bent to pull the item from its hiding place. As it slithered into view, her eyes grew even larger as she whistled appreciatively, letting the metal-studded whip dangle from her hand. "Oh my, I didn't think I included one of these in the box…"
"Box?" The nascent fury crept back into Moka's voice as Kurumu waved her hands frantically before her.
"No, no, that's not mine." She pointed to her friend without thought. "It's hers!"
"Oh!" Ageha stared at Moka in surprise, the vampire blushing under the frank inspection. "I wouldn't have thought it of you, dear… but, considering your other side, I should have." She extended the handle towards Moka.
"No, you misunderstand, it's-" Moka stammered, instinctively reaching out to take the offered end of the Belmont. The surge of monstrous power staggered everyone in the room as the power of Moka's seal was dispelled the second her hand closed around the whip's handle, releasing her true form. As the effects of the transformation diminished, the now silver-haired vampire opened her crimson eyes and stared at Ageha with a dark smile. The elder succubus blanched as she saw the triumph there, and realized the danger she might have just found herself in.
"It's a magic-cancelling artifact," a chagrined Kurumu explained belatedly, drawing her mother's gaze to her briefly. Ageha eyed the whip with a new degree of respect; such items were rare and all but priceless.
"Now, what were we discussing?" Inner Moka asked calmly, her smile revealing her fangs. Ageha regarded her cautiously, but her own lips soon curled in a grin of her own. This was unexpected, but it didn't have to be a problem. No, she would merely have to improvise.
"I believe we were talking about a compromise," Ageha responded smugly as Kurumu's gaze darted from her friend to her mother and back. The elder succubus had known it would come to this eventually; better sooner than later. Now the real fight would begin.
"Stand back, Tsukune. I'll take care of these two."
'It looks like they've already been taken care of!' Tsukune exclaimed to himself, blinking at the two mounds of ice. Topping each frozen block was a green head, which stared at the two teens with differing expressions: the one on the left, with the ring of red hair around a central bald spot, looked panic and dejected, with the other one fumed at Tsukune with a dangerous glower through the spectacles atop its beak, the frizzy red hair topping its head bristling. Tsukune had had only a moment to catch a glimpse of the monsters after they had lunged from the water, before Mizore had instinctively immobilized their attackers, but he had managed to register a few details about the bodies that were now sealed in ice: they had been green-skinned with turtle-like shells, and with long-nailed hands and feet, and beaked mouths.
"You kappa should have known better than to attack a snow maiden near water," Mizore growled, her growing anger apparent. To be interrupted, just when-! "Start talking, and I'll not leave you here to float like ice cubes until you melt!"
"You wouldn't!" shrieked the monster on the right.
"Maybe not," Mizore responded, her words coated in threatening confidence. "I'm not certain you would float, but I'm willing to see."
This had a greater effect on the pair. The one on the left visibly swallowed, while the smaller one on the right shivered before, inexplicably, turning a glare in Tsukune's direction. He started as he recognized that expression; where had he seen someone that looked at him like that? And that red hair, and the bald spot the larger kappa had…
"Mizore, wait!" Tsukune stared at the pair, shaking his head in disbelief. Could it be? "Is that you… Mr. Cooper? Mrs. Cooper?" Beside him, Mizore blinked in shock before turning her scrutiny to the river monsters, her face paling.
"Good guess, boy!" Roy Cooper bellowed, his booming laugh failing to hide the tension in his voice. "But, since you know who we are now, would you mind terribly…?" He nodded hopefully down at the block of ice that kept him locked in place.
"I can't believe you!" Wendy Cooper shouted, drawing a despairing glance from her husband. "I warned you that this boy would end up taking advantage of you! Men at that age will do anything to exploit a poor maiden's heart…"
"No, you've got it wrong, we weren't-" Tsukune started, quickly realizing that he wasn't sure where to take that sentence. They had been about to kiss, there wasn't any denying that. "I'm not exploiting anyone!"
"Then you haven't been taking each of the girls out on dates?" Roy Cooper asked, curiosity overwhelming his discretion. "Sorry, son, but sneaking around on girls sounds like exploitation to me." His beaked face wrinkled as he shook his head sadly.
"I wasn't sneaking around on anyone; they all knew-!" 'Oh my,' Tsukune thought to himself, feeling sweat begin to pour down his temples, 'this isn't helping at all.'
"The shame! The horror! The indecency!" Mrs. Cooper's icy prison cracked as she began to thrash about in rage, reminding Tsukune absurdly of a turtle trapped on its back. "I knew this would happen! The Hell-King sent them here to live in sinful depravity! They've been corrupted by-"
"Don't judge us," Mizore snapped, thrusting out a hand. Heeding her command, Mrs. Cooper's ice-shell reinforced itself and, judging from her surprised squawk, tightened around its prisoner.
"Just tell us we're wrong, Tsukune," Roy Cooper offered calmly, eyeing his wife cautiously as she slumped back, staring dazedly towards the sky. "Tell us that you aren't dating all three of the girls you're living with simultaneously, that you're not leading them all on, and we'll go in peace. We want to believe in you, really." He stared at Tsukune hopefully, waiting for the reply. When it was slow in coming, his face plummeted.
"I… I'm sorry," Tsukune offered lamely, drawing a sympathetic glance from Mizore. "But, I have taken all three of them on dates. I haven't chosen one of them to be with. I… I love all three of them." His eyes lowered to the ground, which meant he didn't notice the shocked expression that his final words had drawn from Mizore. "I guess I'm as bad as you say."
"…Then I'm sorry, too." Roy Cooper sighed deeply. "But this is the only way we can fulfill our obligations as adults." His head seemed to sink into the ice, and motion could be seen within his frozen covering. A moment later, when he was completely hidden from sight, the ice began to creak ominously, and soon after exploded into shards that pelted the teens, who raised their arms to shield their faces. For just a moment, his shell could be seen, still spinning as it sank into the depths of the pond.
With Mizore distracted, it took Mrs. Cooper only a moment to break free of her own prison, but she was not their immediate concern. Mr. Cooper resurfaced close to the pond's edge, sending before him a chest-high wave that crashed into Mizore, knocking the snow maiden from her feet before she could regain control over her powers. Before Tsukune could move to her defense, he felt a scaled hand grasp his wrist, pulling him away.
"Don't worry," Mr. Cooper rumbled as he interposed himself between the teens. "I've already taken care of the arrangements, just this morning. We've leased a small apartment nearby that you can stay at, while the girls remain at the Resting Place. It's close to a convenience store, and I'll gladly drive you over to visit your friends-"
"With supervision." Mrs. Cooper interrupted, emerging from the water near where Mizore was climbing to her feet.
"-so you won't have to worry about that." Roy Cooper smiled sadly down at Tsukune. "This is for the best, you know."
"I won't let you take Tsukune away!" Mizore shouted, her eyes glowing icy blue as her hands formed into frozen talons. "He belongs here, with us!"
"No, you have to understand," Mrs. Cooper started, compassion in her voice as she stepped between Mizore and her husband, her arms spread to shield him. "We only have your best interests at heart. He needs time to realize what he has been doing to all of you, time to come to his senses. Maybe, after all that, he will be able to overcome his selfish desires and have a normal relationship with one of you-"
"I don't care about that!" Mizore cried. "We're happy the way things are!"
"But it isn't normal-!" Mrs. Cooper wailed, interrupted by the growled word from behind her.
"Enough."
Both Coopers turned to face Tsukune, their shock painted on their faces. Tsukune stood with his face turned to the ground, but the pain in his expression, the way he clenched his teeth, told them all they needed to know. "I don't care any more." He raised his head to face them, anger burning in his eyes. "Forget normal! I know that my relationships with my friends- with the girls I am in love with- aren't what you think of as normal, but that doesn't matter! I don't care what you think, I don't care what my family thinks, I don't care!" Now even Mizore gaped at Tsukune. "Maybe it isn't right, maybe we would be happier some other way… but that is for us to decide, not you!"
Roy Cooper blinked incredulously, fighting down the respect that Tsukune's impassioned speech had stirred in him. Behind him, Wendy Cooper was silent, her beak open. "Tsukune…" Roy started, not certain what to say.
"I'm going back to the Resting Place," Tsukune declared, looking past the Coopers and extending a hand to Mizore. "I'm going to be with my friends." His eyes met Roy's for a fleeting moment, and the kappa took a nervous step back. "Don't try to stop me."
Tsukune and Mizore were almost to the edge of the nearby rise when Mr. Cooper mustered the ability to speak once more. "But… you should…"
"Wait." All four of the pond's visitors turned to face the man stepping from the edge of the forest. "Let's talk things out a little more, shall we?" The dark-haired, black-suited man smiled grimly at Tsukune. "Why don't you explain to Wendy Cooper the exact nature of your relationship with the other girls- how all this came to be- while I have a little chat with Roy Cooper here." Michael nodded to the male kappa solemnly. "I'm sure that they'll have more peace of mind if they know the whole truth… or at least fewer questions."
Tsukune glanced over to Mizore warily. "Do you know him?"
"He's one of the Headmaster's guardians. We met him- ah, a while back," Mizore explained, not willing to reveal exactly where she had encountered the guardians; Tsukune would not approve of her and Kurumu's spying on his date with Moka.
"Alright," Roy agreed, stepping towards Michael, who turned to walk back into the forest. He glanced over to the teens with a chagrined shrug. "I guess a little more information could change our- er, my mind." And with that he walked out of view, leaving the teens alone with Mrs. Cooper, who was looking at them as if they had both grown an extra pair of heads.
Tsukune swallowed nervously, trying to think of where to begin. This was not going to be easy, he knew. "Well, you see, it all started with a bicycle…"
"So, Michael, what is it that you needed to tell me?" Roy asked nervously, scratching at the base of his neck. The taciturn guardian had been staring at him for a long moment, and the kappa desperately wanted to disappear back into his pond.
"You do realize that your little plan would have completely defeated the purpose of those teens being here, right?" Michael sighed sharply, continuing before Mr. Cooper had a chance to question him on that statement. "But, in the long run, I'm glad you did it."
"Er… what?"
"You renting that apartment for Tsukune has worked out well for us. You see…" Michael paused, considering his words carefully. "We have decided that you two are in need of a short vacation. Just a few days, maybe a week, and then you can come back to your home. But not before then," he added quickly, eyeing Mr. Cooper severely. "Consider this a break from your duties. And, for that matter, an order."
"But… why?" The rotund man stared at the guardian, searching for something to help him understand. "Who will take the kids to town when they need it? Who will watch over this place to make certain nothing makes it past the wall- oh, well, I suppose you two will still be here." Michael's face was immaculately blank at that statement. "But still, why would we be sent away?" Roy's voice wavered slightly, as if dark comprehension had begun to flood into his heart.
"For your safety." The harsh words confirmed Roy's worst fears, but he could do nothing in the face of the cold glare he was receiving from the guardian. "You are not directly involved in this. It is in your best interests that it stays that way."
Roy Cooper looked to the ground dolefully, his fists gradually clenching. "So you want us to abandon those kids, then? What we did just then, that was because we want the best for them. And now that you tell us that they really are in danger, you want us to leave without saying anything?"
Michael's sunglasses hid the sympathy in his eyes, an emotion he struggled to quash. "You have to trust in the Hell-King. He has a plan for all of this. Have faith in him, and all will be well." The words flowed smoothly from the Headmaster's protector, polished by all the times he had recited them to himself.
"I suppose you're right. There really is nothing we can do," Roy Cooper's words were fatally heavy, and he slumped as if all life had been drained from him. "But…" He glanced up at Michael, his eyes gleaming. "Can you promise me that they will be alright?"
Michael didn't respond for a long moment. Finally he smiled, the expression utterly foreign to Mr. Cooper, and nodded gently. "At the very worst, if you can't believe in the Hell-King… believe in them." He turned around, moving deeper into the forest. "Gabriel and I will be waiting outside your house. We'll help you pack anything you'll need for the next week, and see you safely to the apartment. Don't worry, the academy will pick up the tab for its rent." He disappeared into the woods, but Mr. Cooper stared after him for a long moment, his expression conflicted, yet hopeful.
Michael was right, he knew. Tsukune had showed him that he was willing to defend that which was important to him… whatever that might be. That, he could trust in. With a soft smile on his beaked face, Mr. Cooper turned to walk back towards the pond, a new lightness in his step.
Everything would be alright.
The walk back down to the Resting Place passed mostly in silence, both Mizore and Tsukune struggling to come to grips with what had just happened. They had left after finishing their story, one which had left Mrs. Cooper unable to complete a sentence, despite her frantic efforts. Even Mr. Cooper had eyed them with surprise and, to Tsukune's discomfort, a little awe, but he had lead his stammering wife away when the teens realized that their time was nearly expired; soon their friends would start worrying about them, if not hunting them down. The Coopers had walked into the forests, but a minute later the teens could hear Mrs. Cooper's bewildered shout: "The girls! It was the girls, the whole time!"
Now Tsukune and Mizore were making their way back to the house, lost in their own thoughts. Tsukune's quiet stemmed from the fact that he was still struggling to come to grips with his furious declaration to the Coopers. He now knew that was how he really felt; his relationships with his friends were more important than anything others might think. Still, he was picking among the fragmented shards of his imagined future, wondering what he may have unleashed with those emotions. And, far worse, what would the girls think when they heard that?
Beside him, Mizore had concerns of her own. She had heard Tsukune's declaration that their unusual relationship didn't bother him, but what stuck out more for the moment for her was his revelation that he was in love with all three of them. On the one hand, she was ecstatic; he really loved her! On the other hand, where did that leave them to go from here? Would he ever be able to choose, and, if not, would they be stuck like this forever?
'Would that be so bad?' a rebellious voice inside her head asked, but she couldn't hear it over the descending gloom.
More importantly, what about her time with Tsukune? She had promised herself that she would get closer to him, would at least get a kiss, but the Coopers had ruined everything! Now, the mood was spoiled, and soon they would be back at the Resting Place; she wouldn't be able to steal time alone with him for a while to come, at best. She felt cheated, and her anger built upon itself, until her fists clenched as the house came into view. It wasn't fair.
Seeing it, Tsukune stopped in his tracks, his expression conflicted. Mizore paused beside him, wondering what had made him hesitate, and he looked to her with a sad smile. "I'm sorry that our time together got interrupted," he apologized, reaching out an arm to her. She allowed herself to be enfolded in the hug, squeezing his ribs tightly in reply, unwilling to let go for several long moments. Finally she stepped back, blinking away the frustrated tears that had begun to gather at the corner of her eyes.
"It's alright," she lied with a smile. "We'll get another chance, right?" When he nodded, her grin became genuine. "Come on, let's get inside and tell the others what happened."
And so they stepped towards the house, Mizore's expression not wavering even as the image of a bottle of perfume danced before her eyes. This wasn't over yet, she knew. He loved her, and she loved him, and that was enough for now.
She couldn't understand why that failed to erase the doubt that lurked at the corners of her mind.
Author's Note: First, again, allow me to apologize for this chapter being a day late; however, I have come to the conclusion that Wednesday is perhaps a better day for my releases anyways. Now that I have settled into a weekly schedule (due largely to the larger chapter sizes, which tend to tire me a bit more than the quicker ones I had earlier), I find that I get a lot of writing done Tuesday night. The reasons for this are… well, alright, because the servers of the MMO I play are down that night, so I am bereft of distractions. ^_^; However, since these chapters are far more important to my greater ambitions for this tale, I prefer to send them past the scrutiny of my press-ganged beta-reader- I mean, my beloved lady, before I post them, and as such I must choose between posting blind or being late. That doesn't necessarily mean that I still manage to get everything to her, this chapter being an example, but her efforts have been of a great help nonetheless… so, yes, ahem, Wednesday.
So it shall be next week, I pray. I will also admit that my delays partially come from a general creative tiredness recently, or perhaps from my inner muse's incessant wanderlust; I have no problem writing once I settle down to do so, but my imagination has been trekking along other paths when I should be plotworking. It was for that reason that I should have taken a week's break after the last chapter, but too late now; this installment, a 'crisis chapter' of sorts, is the first in a string of connected sections. So, no rest for the wicked; I work well under pressure anyways. ^_^; And perhaps I will rogue a few hours here and there to work on my other projects… I have a sequel story I've been refining for the MGU forums over the past few weeks, and my Project Toren deadlines are ever-present, and my poor, poor neglected Love Hina fanfiction…
Ah, but enough whining! Next chapter, the resolution of one of the girls' major conflicts comes after a different sort of fight, and Tsurara and Ageha will have plenty to say before they exit the Resting Place. Monstrous mothers, mysterious magic, mayhem and more in Chapter 29 of Rosario + Vampire: Into Dreams! Hey, maybe I should look for a job in advertising, or maybe one of those voice-over guys that speak at the end of anime episodes-
God, I need sleep.
~Wynn Pendragon
P.S.: On names – bonus points to anyone that, now that I've unveiled their true identities, can point out the real reason I named the Coopers thus. Both the first and last names were chosen for a reason, though perhaps not a good one… (If no one guesses, I'll explain in the next author's note; I don't assume that people will be able to make it through the tangles of my mind).
P.P.S.: I deeply regret this, especially since I have been a day or so late with the past couple of chapters, but I am afraid that the release of the next installment will be delayed a full week. Despite my efforts, chapter 29 is progressing at an agonizingly slow pace, mostly due to difficulties I am having with a crucial scene. While I originally believed I could rush and get the thing out on time, I realize now that it would be better to spend the extra time polishing this important scene than to risk undermining much of my endeavor with this tale. Again, I apologize for my tardiness, but trust me when I say that it will be better this way. So, I shall return on the 5th, with a more worthy installment in hand.
