The doctor had sent Utsuki away before it got dark so Tekeshi had a while to just lay there and think. He had suffered six cracked ribs and one broken rib. There had been no reason for it, he should have been able to take down almost any opponent in one blow. In the human world he had been known for bringing guys twice his size down without breaking a sweat. Had just fighting humans ruined him for fighting stronger opponents?
He shook his head. If he got on a proper exercise and training regimen he should be up to where a vampire of his stature should be. He might never live up to his father's power, but he wasn't going to be a disappointment to him. He looked down at the limiter on his left hand, his parents had given it to him just before he left for America. They said he needed to wear it to keep himself from showing too much power.
After the defeat of Alucard twenty years earlier coexistence almost occurred, but the outcry against ayashi made the attempt too much of a risk at the time. At the worst it could have meant humans committing genocide against yokai. Luckily humans are gullible enough that a few rumors about a terror attack or some kind of advanced bioweapon getting loose was enough to get them to forget the more unbelievable thing of monsters really existing. At times he didn't understand the point of living with a race that could so easily be lead astray with the words they would like to hear, rather than the truth.
He couldn't say that humans were bad though. Well, maybe a few like his friends in the states weren't the best of the race. They smoked, drank, fought, and whatever the hell they wanted to do, though Tekeshi kept them from doing anything that would get them thrown in jail. He enjoyed running with them, it was never dull and almost always gave the chance for some asshole to get a beat down. He knew his mother, father, and multitude of aunts looked down on them, but at the very core they weren't evil or anything, they just really didn't spare a thought for anyone but those close to them.
He really missed Phoenix. He hadn't liked it at first, the air was dry as a bone, and he couldn't see the Sea of Japan. There was so much sand and the air had a particularly foul odor to it. He couldn't understand how anyone, let alone a witch could stand to live there. It felt so wrong, so unfamiliar for the first year, not to mention he could barely speak English at first, and everyone he met looked at him like he had two heads when he spoke. Over time though it started to feel more and more comfortable. When he turned thirteen and he started hanging around with, he might as well say it, his gang everything fell into place. They laughed at his accent and lack of understanding half of what he said, but they did it in good fun, not to be jerks.
It had been a somewhat tearful goodbye (Tekeshi was the only one not crying). They understood that the world wasn't going to do them any favors, so they accepted it. Honestly he had expected offers of helping him runaway, kill his family(not joking, a couple of them were psychopaths), or having him declared legally emancipated. To celebrate his last days in America they gone down to Tucson and did a suicide run up one of the mountains, and took it easy coming back down. Times like that were something he was going to miss.
Tekeshi finally decided to sleep. He could reminisce tomorrow. He should be getting out, and he needed to get to know his charge some.
Utsuki lay on the floor shivering. Since her room had a gaping hole in the wall the twins had decided to let her stay in their room until it was repaired. She was grateful for the offer, but would have declined if she knew that they kept the room cold enough to form icicles. Thinking about what Tekeshi said about them freezing men solid she should have expected this. She understood why Yusa and Asusa shared a room though, and she had wondered at it when they had told her.
Burrowing a little further into the blankets her mind wandered to Tekeshi. How had he known that she was in danger, and why did he come to save her like he did. He really didn't seem like the type at first glance. That he was dangerous was an obvious fact, but he gave off this vibe that he cared for others. He didn't make sense to her.
The whole situation didn't make sense to her. She was just some girl from Shibuya, not some... she couldn't even think of something to compare this to. Getting through high school had been her only goal, and then attending a decent university and going from there. What had she been forced into here, for the loved of all that was sacred she almost died, had almost been murdered. She might have even been eaten if Tekeshi hadn't shown up when he did.
With luck she was going to wake up and the whole thing would have never happened.
Tekeshi finally drifted off to sleep. He didn't dream much when he slept, he attributed it to an extremely calm and disciplined mind. Others just said he had no imagination. He wasn't much one to argue with others on the point. He wasn't awfully creative except when fighting was involved.
So the fact he started to dream intrigued what little bit of his conscious mind that was still active. So far he wasn't impressed by the completely black surroundings. Usually when he did dream there were more women in bikinis and less... suck. Honestly he would take an old lady walking past him over nothingness, but it didn't look like that was even going to happen.
"Kind of boring isn't it?"
Tekeshi turned his head to where the voice had come from only to see more nothing. Disembodied voices were a first for him even in a dream. The fact it sounded eerily similar to his own started his mind to going over every situation it could dream up. Try as he might he couldn't understand what was happening.
The voice appeared again, "Maybe a change of scenery will help you feel at ease."
Suddenly the blackness receded and he was standing in the living room of a modest house. Looking out of a window the vampiric youth noticed snow and a large building made of what looked to be ice. Only one place matched that in his memories. He was standing inside his Aunt Mizore's house in the Yuki-Onna's village, somewhere in central Hokkaido, one of the few yokai settlements in the human world.
"A little more homey isn't it, though if we were really here you might fear for your chastity."
Tekeshi whirled toward the voice and was stunned at what he saw, which was him. Literally him, Tekeshi, talking to, him, Tekeshi. No, not him exactly. The him he was looking at had platinum hair and pupils of such a deep red he didn't know how to describe it. The figure also exuded an aura of power that made Tekeshi back away in caution.
"Well, I can already see this may end up being an extremely one sided conversation. It is a shame to see you so powerless, or see myself so powerless as the case actually is. I don't know why you don't grasp for the power you know is there. Breaks my heart. All you have to do is look within yourself for the iron cross."
Tekeshi didn't say anything. Honestly was there anything he could say, or even think? This was pushing towards being a nightmare. And the nonsense this semi-doppleganger was spouting. 'Look within yourself for the iron cross'? The only iron cross he knew of was the medal that Nazi Germany awarded to soldiers for valor. Though he was definitely powerless next to him.
"Wake and think upon what I've told you."
Tekeshi's eyes opened to sunlight streaming into the room. He wasn't prepared for anything like that, and he was having trouble getting his thoughts together. His blood was running cold, and he felt like he had been dunked in a river, minus the feeling of being electrocuted by the touch of water. He was honestly scared.
As Tsukune approached his office he saw something he didn't expect, Tekeshi leaned against the door frame. He had known that the younger vampire would be released that morning, but he had expected him to head for his room and stay there for a while then find Ms. Shiraishi. The look on his face made it look like he had seen a ghost , or the equivalent for a yokai. In all honesty Tsukune was still figuring out some of the finer points of the different cultures and races.
"Pops, I have a couple of questions, and you aren't getting out of answering them," the boy said before Tsukune could open his mouth.
Motioning for him to enter the office the elder vampire settled himself behind his desk as his son sat rather roughly in a chair opposite of him. For a while they were silent and Tsukune took the chance to survey Tekeshi's face for clues on what was bothering him even though he had a rough idea.
"What is it you want to know," He asked finally when Tekeshi remained silent.
"Have you ever had a dream with some alternate version of you telling you that you had large amounts of untapped potential locked away?"
Tsukune thought on this for a second, "I don't recall ever having a dream like that, though I may have and just forgotten it. What is your next question?"
Tekeshi straightened up in his chair and looked his father dead in the eyes, "This dream told me to look within for the iron cross. And before you go off saying something to distract me, it didn't put enough emphasis on the words to mean Iron Cross. It was talking about a generic iron cross."
It had been twenty years since he had faced such a daunting task, but he had to find a way to distract Tekeshi from this question. The possible consequences from him knowing could be fatal to him at the worst, and he wasn't really sure what the best case scenario could be, or if it would even be good or bad. Fighting Fairy Tale again would be easier. Luck was shining on him though.
From the doorway a cold female voice called, "Kodomo, front and center."
Whether from some long conditioned response, or his mother's sheer display of power Tekeshi had left the chair and was standing stock straight before her. Tsukune could not believe in the grace that life had just given him. If anyone was able to control the boy it was his mother, which wasn't a surprise given her somewhat martial attitude towards raising a child. If it wouldn't have snapped Tekeshi out of it he would have run over and kissed Moka right then and there. And the fact he knew she was about to send their child through the wringer due to yesterday's conflict against the orc made him relieved he would have time to think up something to tell him that wasn't all lie, but wasn't all truth.
After the eighth mile Moka noticed that Tekeshi started to lag behind. No doubt he hadn't done much running or training during his time in America, and he was suffering for it. One thing she believed in more than anything was keeping herself in perfect physical condition. And if he was going to go to school here she was going to make sure he was in perfect condition. However she wasn't going to kill him his second day back in Japan.
"Take a break then we'll slow jog back to the school. We need to do this on the weekends to get you able to run the full twelve miles," Moka said, but she wasn't able to discern his reply.
She watched as the boy fell face first on the ground and took deep breaths trying to replace all the oxygen he was using at a very high rate. It wasn't a big surprise to her that he was in this bad of shape. Yukari had never been one for heavy exercise, and from the letters Tekeshi sent home he just couldn't run down the street without having to push a half dozen people out of his way. Why Yukari had chosen to live in a place like that was a mystery. Of course thinking about it she couldn't understand why Kurumu decided to live in a high rise in Tokyo either.
Tekeshi gasped a couple times, "I don't know whether you are trying to kill me, or help me stay alive."
Moka gave a half smirk. In all honesty she should have had him change clothes before making him run like this. Jeans and combat boots were not well suited to the activity and could do more harm than good. She would remember that for the future and make sure he wore a track suit and sneakers. It was going to take a few weeks, but she was going to shape him into a picture of martial perfection before the year was out.
"HELP, HELP," Both vampires perked at the yell.
Tekeshi was the first to react, immediately going from flat on the ground to a full bore run towards the origin, Moka close on his trail. They ran for a minute before reaching a clearing with three figures in it. Two male standing over a smaller female. Even to a human what was going on was obvious. They watched for a second to see if there were any others hidden back in the trees. Satisfied there wasn't Moka stepped forward into the clearing, her emerald green track suit seeming to catch the light in a way that caught the attention of the two men.
"I believe you should leave the young lady alone before I am required to take action against you," Tekeshi couldn't hear the reply from where he was, but it didn't do anything for his mother's temper.
What followed only took forty-three and three-quarters seconds. The taller of the two males had turned out to be an ogre, and was trying gather enough strength to crawl away into the undergrowth and disappear. The second was some kind of lizardman and was probably going to require serious medical attention. Tekeshi looked on in jealousy. His mother was at least twenty times more powerful than he was with his limiter, and about ten times without it. He didn't look to ever reach her level, mostly because she and his father were shinso vampires, not a regular one like him.
Granted he was still more powerful than most because of his Shuzen bloodlines. Whatever the sickness he had contracted as an infant was it had affected his power in a negative way. His mother could split a boulder in half with a single strike, he could barely chip one. He wanted to think that there was some kind of magic potion or ceremony that could free him from the impact of the disease, but he hadn't been able to find anything that would give him hope.
Still there was more to life than power. Music for one, making a suicide run up the side of Mount Lemmon, and hanging out with good friends. There was also fighting, the one thing that Tekeshi truly loved doing. All his friends said he should join the Marines when he graduated, and he didn't have the heart to tell them at that time he was eventually going to return to Japan, but he did think of join the JSDF, or maybe becoming a mercenary. Who knows he might even become an enforcer for one of the leaders of some of the major yokai families, the Wong family was always offering openings, and he had a definite advantage over most.
He shook his head to clear the thoughts out of it, he was bad about getting off on a wild tangent. He watched as his mother helped the girl up, and realized she was not as young as she had originally appeared. His mother was about five foot seven, and the next to her the woman appeared about five four. He placed her about her mid twenties, and rather attractive, if he was into older women he might go for her. Her figure was moderately curvy, but wasn't what one would consider bombshell sexy like an American pornstar. Her eyes were probably the only thing weird on her; they were the same color as mucus when someone had a sinus infection.
"Tekeshi, I want to introduce you to your homeroom teacher, Miss Steyr," His mother said as she led the woman over to him, "I hardly expected to find her out here, so would lead her back to the school while I finish dealing with the two delinquents over there."
"Yes ma'am. Follow me Miss Steyr," Tekeshi knew to take the chance to get away from his mother without hesitation.
Utsuki managed to slip away from the two yuki-onna, albeit with a great amount of difficulty, not long after she woke up. She visited her room to change her clothes and then decided to explore the grounds before visiting Tekeshi. She was surprised to see him leading an older girl to the school building instead of in bed resting. She decided to go intercept him and see why he had snuck out of the infirmary.
"Tekeshi, why aren't you in bed," she demanded forcefully after he broke off from the other female and started towards her.
He looked at her with a crooked smile, "Because I'm all better."
He walked past her, and she followed him. Every time she tried to make a point he reminded her that he was a vampire. She was so caught up in chiding him that she didn't notice them enter the male dorms. She would have probably continued on if Tekeshi hadn't sat his arm on her shoulder, the contact making her feel a little warm and making her notice her surroundings.
Tekeshi asked smoothly, "Would you like to come in?"
"Umm," She turned red, "I should go."
"Don't worry, you aren't going to get in trouble, school doesn't start until the day after tomorrow. Besides you still have something to say, and I want to change my shirt."
Utsuki followed him into his room. She was surprised to see it completely unpacked. Honestly she expected it to be a mess of boxes and items waiting to be put in their proper place. Looking around a picture caught her eye. Approaching it she examined it. There were seven people in it, Tekeshi in the center. Most were holding a gun of some sort, Tekeshi a rifle with a scope on it, the girl to his left had a shotgun, the rest were holding an assault rifle or pistol.
"That's the gang I ran with in Arizona. Good friends, not so good people. They hated to see me leave, we took that a few days before I left. I could knock the wings off a fly and never touch its body, that's why they gave me that rifle to pose with. The trouble we got into, and we should have gotten into. You had more you wanted to say to me on the reason I should still be in bed."
Utsuki turned her head to start in again and stopped when she noticed he hadn't put his shirt on. He was Adonis, perfect, and indescribable. He should have been immortalized in the purest white marble, no black marble to match his personality. That was what her hormonal teenage girl side was saying, overriding her more logic centered processess, though they did agree that Tekeshi's muscle definition was perfect.
"Lizzy was right, anytime I have my shirt off girls seem to short-circuit," he commented as he slipped the T-shirt over his head.
It took him a couple of minutes to get Utsuki to leave her dreamland after he was fully covered. He wasn't sure if he really just looked that good, or if the charisma that was inherent to vampires was responsible for it. He had used it to excuse himself from swimming, citing the problems of mass drownings and female lifeguards being distracted.
After she had her senses back Utsuki made a hasty retreat leaving Tekeshi with a crooked smile, "Wonder how much I could make if I became a male model?"
A/N: Looks or vampire charisma, even I don't know. Just wish I had it. Also Moka still has it. I find this kind of hard to write in a way that satisfies me, so I may see why some of you are not liking it as much as others, but keep in mind, if you don't like it you aren't being forced to read it. Please make all criticism constructive and well-mannered. Flames will be used to deal with Hydras.
