黒色のフォンセ!

Kokushoku no Foncé!

I do not own Konjiki no Gash! Or Konjiki no Gash Bell! Or Zatch Bell! They belong to Makoto Raiku, Shuukan Shounen Sunday, Shougakukan, VIZ Media, Touei Animation, and Cartoon Network.

Arisha, Mikoro, and Dantes are property of Rahkshi500.

Level 37: 晩上好, 蛇泰公

Level 37: Wanshamuhau, Serpenté-Kamu

So much excitement. My dear mistress was so tired, but she promised a big celebration for us all tomorrow! How wonderful! Mistress sure is generous, is she not Journal?

—from the Journal of Ishtar

Foncé and Ken were greeted with open arms (Foncé more so) when Yadau returned them to Château de Fouché, and there was much rejoicing even if Foncé didn't actually destroy Kage's spirit book. Foncé and Ken were very tired by then though, so they retired to their rooms very quickly to recuperate. Foncé promised that they could celebrate the following night though, after some rest and preparation. They fell asleep as soon as their heads touched their pillows.
Mikoro stirred and groaned, her head throbbing. Her eyes fluttered open. It was dark and she wondered if she had dreamed meeting the pale, effeminate boy who had kicked her in the head. But then why did her head hurt so much? Had the dream been so real that it had given her a headache?

She sat up slowly, trying to take in her surroundings. She could feel that she was in a bed. She saw that she was in a small, modestly furnished room that she couldn't recognize. Mikoro blinked, wondering if perhaps she was still dreaming.

A door creaked open behind her. She turned around and found a kindly looking elderly man in a black cassock leaning on a cane for support, and behind him was…

Mikoro blinked, scarcely believing her eyes. "Jeeno?"

Jeeno smiled sadly. "Bonsoir, Mikoro."

Mikoro looked past Jeeno and saw an unfamiliar boy standing behind her. "Where am I?" she asked.

"This is my home," the man in the cassock answered. "I'm Caïn, the priest of Auseuil, but I used to be a medic so you friend brought you to me. That was quite a nasty bruise on your there! You were out cold for hours! What happened?"

"The last thing I remember," said Mikoro, "is being kicked in the head by a strange boy."

"Kicked?" asked Caïn, alarmed. "I thought someone hit you with a blunt instrument of some kind. A bruise like that couldn't be caused by a limb unless your attacker was unusually strong."

Mikoro looked around. "I think I'm fine now. Where are Arisha and my book?"

"Arisha? Book?" Caïn shook his head. "Your friends only brought you in."

Mikoro felt a sense of panic rise up inside her. "But Arisha—she was just standing next to me. She's a little girl with long black hair with purple streaks. You haven't seen anyone like that?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Father," said Jeeno quietly, "can we talk to Mikoro alone?"

"Certainly," Caïn nodded. He moved past Jeeno and the mysterious boy and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Mikoro looked at her friend. "Jeeno?" she asked in a frightened voice. The girl looked tormented with grief and regret.

"Arisha's…gone," Jeeno finally said, avoiding Mikoro's eyes.

"Gone?" It was as if all the strength left Mikoro's body. She sagged over, her eyes stunned. "Arisha…" she whispered as tears began to form. She refused to believe yet she knew it was true. Her good friend was gone forever now, and she didn't even get to say good-bye. She felt sickeningly empty now.

Jeeno began to cry too. "I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. "I couldn't do anything! I tried but…"

Jeeno couldn't say anything further, and broke up into uncontrollable sobbing.

Foncé opened her eyes. A glance at the window told her that it was nighttime. Her body felt fresh and active, rejuvenated by the cool darkness.

Such a beautiful night, she thought as she sat up. I can't just spend it in here.

She rubbed the remaining sleep out of her eyes and scampered out of her room. As far as she could tell, the lights were off all over the castle, so she guessed it must have been very late indeed. Well I'm wide awake now—What shall I do this beautiful night?

A bit of wandering later, it was evident to Foncé that everyone had gone to sleep, even the other Creatures of the Night. She sighed; with no one around to talk to she might as well get back to finishing that copy of Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azkaban Fouché had lying around, even though she had decided that it was her least favorite in young Harry's adventures so far.

Foncé made her way to the bookshelf where she had last put it and removed the large hardbound edition. Fouché owned the rest of the series and Foncé briefly scanned the other titles. Harry Potter à l'École des Sorciers. Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets. Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu. Harry Potter et l'Ordre du Phénix. Harry Potter et le Prince de Sang-Mêlé.

Foncé made a mental note to track down the Harry Potter books in the language they were originally written in just in case something had been lost in translation as she turned around to find a good couch to read her book on.

"Is the night calling out for you too?"

Foncé's heart nearly stopped in her chest from the shock, but she managed to keep her outward composure. "Ginwan shi, Yadau," Foncé said dryly in Yadau's native tongue, without turning around.

"Wanshamuhau, Serpenté-Kamu," Yadau replied respectfully.

"So is something troubling you?" Foncé climbed onto a couch and set Prisonnier d'Azkaban to the side.

"Nothing at all, my lady." Yadau was back in his human disguise, dressed in a red shirt and blue trousers. "Like you, the night calls to my blood. There isn't much difference between Creatures of the Night and An'uuto."

"Indeed."

Yadau sat across from his mistress. "It's been a while since we've talked together like this, just the two of us."

"A while? It's been several millennia. Back when I had my original, beautiful body." Foncé held up her small hands and slowly turned them around, inspecting them. "Before I had to rely on this stunted little incarnation. You got to keep your gorgeous true form, but I have to be a little girl again." Her tone was bitter.

Yadau stood up and crossed over to Foncé. He knelt before her and gently took her left hand into his own. "You're as beautiful as ever," he said, pressing his lips to the back of her hand. "I think that new lover of yours would agree."

"New lover?" Foncé asked. "You don't mean Ishtar do you? It's not like that."

Yadau stood up. "You two seem awfully close. She certainly loves you very much."

"I know she does. I love her too, but I'm not in love with her." She sighed and lowered her head. "Still, she's the only one who's willing to fall in love with me as I am now."

"She can see you for what you really are. I would return her love if I were you."

"But it's not her I love! It's Ken! I love Ken!" Foncé exclaimed. She abruptly covered her face with her hands, trying to hide her embarrassment. How could she just let her emotions take over like that, giving in to childish outbursts? Foncé swore inwardly; emotions were the damnedest things.

"Just as you loved Lord Fudimo," Yadau stated.

"Just as I loved every bookkeeper I've had," Foncé groaned. "Each of my incarnations have unconsciously tried to live out my first life to varying degrees. Each time I fell in love with my partner. My last incarnation, Dernié, had a female bookkeeper, Livia Augusta, and they—we—became lovers. It's a conditioned reflex, one that inevitably leads to pain since I will always be wrenched away from my partner sooner or later."

"So love someone else this time!" Yadau urged. "Break the cycle—you've regained your memories and can learn from past mistakes. You just admitted to loving another girl, so why don't you just get together with Ishtar?"

"I need to have a man," Foncé answered. "It's essential that I produce a female heir. I must give birth to a girl to continue living after death. When you come right down to it, the entire Ying clan exists solely to provide new bodies for my spirit to indwell. My daughter Morté became my second incarnation, her daughter Rosé became my third incarnation, and so on. But in nearly every case I married only to continue the line, not for love. I was rarely ever happy after returning from the Battles. If I loose this time I'll most likely be forced into marrying Shengde, continuing the tradition of post-Battle unhappiness."

"You could keep Ishtar around as your 'special companion'," Yadau suggested.

"Did I not say just a little while ago that we don't have that kind of relationship?" Foncé grumbled.

"But you've considered it," Yadau countered. "You said she's the only one willing to love you as you are now, that you have little hope of finding someone else."

"That isn't what I meant."

"Does Ken know you love him?"

"He knows well enough that I love him."

"How so?"

"I've kissed him."

"Where?"

"On his cheek."

"That's it?"

"For the moment."

"Does he know that you're in love with him, or does he think you're merely being affectionate?"

Foncé was silent.

"Well?"

"Alright, he doesn't know how I really feel about him."

"And do you plan on telling him any time soon?"

Silence again.

"Lady Serpenté?"

"…No," Foncé finally answered, feeling as though she just punched herself in the stomach. She was loath to actually admit it, but she knew it just couldn't be.

"Why not?"

"Because…because there's no way he would accept my love," Foncé said quietly. "No matter what, I'd still just be a child to him, in his eyes."

Yadau nodded. "I see. So why don't you just go with the one who actually has feelings for you?"

"Why are you so insistent all of a sudden?" Foncé asked sharply. "Does it excite you that a girl is in love with me? Is that it?"

"I merely wish to help you, Lady Serpenté. I don't want you to be hurt again."

"I can make my own decisions," Foncé said. "I don't need your help."

"I'm just throwing out suggestions."

Foncé pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She knew Yadau only meant to help, and in truth she was beginning to wonder if she did feel an attraction of some sort to Ishtar. She couldn't put her finger on what she found attractive about the girl in first place though. The feelings she had were strange and unlike any she knew off, different from her attractions to Ken, Fudimo, and the rest of her bookkeepers, even Livia. The best she could describe was as a sort of peculiar fascination. Not being able to understand such a feeling was simply maddening to her, like an itch she couldn't scratch.

"I just don't understand how I feel about Ishtar myself," Foncé said with a slightly sad note, more than she intended to.

"You know," said Yadau, "I really should've brought you to Cuilü Island by now. I convinced Lord Muyauwamu that you and Ken would need rest, but he wants to see you soon."

"I trust he'll allow my friends to come with us?"

"Yes, although he's interested only in you and Ken."

"Alright," Foncé said, "Now, would you mind explaining who this Muyauwamu is and what he wants with me?"

Yadau hesitated, looking uneasy.

"I'm not going anywhere until I know," said Foncé as she crossed her arms.

"You'll find out in time."

"No Yadau; I need to know if I can trust you on this."

"When have I done you wrong before?" Yadau pleaded. "I woke you up! If I meant you harm—"

"Yadau."

The An'uuto looked at Foncé nervously, and then lowered his head. He explained everything. Minutes later, Foncé sank back into the couch, bewildered and dazed.

"I can't believe it," she whispered, her eyes wide and her heart pounding. "I just can't believe it."

"It's true," said Yadau, "every word of it."

Foncé glanced out the window, the faint light of dawn just beginning to tint the darkness. Once again, her life had just gone topsy-turvy. Will the surprises ever cease?

"I promised them that we would have a celebration first," said Foncé, "so we're still going through with that. But as soon as we're done we're going straight to Cuilü Island."

To be continued...

Author's notes: Ooh, a big secret! What could it be? You'll just have to read more to find out! Please read and review!