A hand exploded out of the orc's back. Blood ran from the twin wounds spilling down the monster's bare flesh. The hand withdrew and the corpse fell to show a tall muscular man with long silver hair, dark red eyes, and a cruel face. Raising his hand to his mouth he licked the blood from it in an act of pure defiance. Even though he was human he felt no fear from the great monsters that had raided his village so often as he was growing up, and the time for vengeance had come.

"Is this the best you can send against me. Send your finest warriors, and I will take their lives as you have taken the lives of my kin and clan. Send for your chief, and tell him that I, Shinso, of the village of Vampiris will tear his very soul from his body," the man yelled in a voice that could only be called bestial.

The orcs appraised him silently. On occasion they had met resistance from the villagers, but they only ever lost one or two. Before them lay the bodies of a dozen warriors, all felled by a single man. Orcs rarely took the time to consider a plan of attack against their victims, they rarely needed to. They stood at least two measures above any of the humans in the valley, and were more heavily muscled. Their skin was also tougher, which amazed them that the man had punched completely through the warriors body as easily as he had.

The largest orc approached, "I am Exentera. I lead this band. I will send your greeting to our chief, and then return five hundred strong and kill every human within five thousand long measures around this pathetic village, and it shall be on your head. The Valley of Dragons shall run red with your blood."

At this the orcs retreated, mayhaps a little faster than was dignified, but they retreated all the same. Shinso stood there watching them. He had no doubt that they would return, and that they would return with numbers. He did not fear them though, five, five hundred, or five thousand. No matter how many came he would not breath his last until the final beast had been slain. It was his vow, given with his own blood at the altar of the earth.

"You would doom us Shinso, son of Folium Quercu. You dishonor the name of your revered father by taking this route. There is no tribute we could give them to atone for their dead. No number of women as slaves, nor food, nor goods. May the Dark Immortals take your soul for this," an old wisened man, so stooped it was amazing he could stand even with the long staff he carried, called.

Shinso looked at the thirty or so men that stood before him, and then beyond at the crowd of women and children, "I dishonor the memory of a great warrior by choosing to fight for those that I care for. The man who carried a six measure long blade against the tyrant Porcum Cor. Have you forgotten when we need not fear these monsters. When they respected us, and counseled with us. My father said that as long as there was one man to hold the blade, then they could be driven back. Is there not a man among you who will pick up even a knife or spear to drive them back. Have you all lost your hearts to fear. Once the village of Vampiris was known for the warriors that were born here. Am I all that is left of that legacy. Will no other stand beside me. Or will YOU dishonor the memory of your fore-bearers by hiding your faces and treating the orcs. If you will stand with me then should you die the Immortals of White shall take your souls to the forever grounds to stand among those men of honor, and if you hide then the Dark Immortals shall take you to the Black Mines for eternity. Who will stand with me, and bring low these beasts?"

Silence greeted him as a reply. He had not expected anything else. Since the death of his father from the wasting sickness none had the heart to fight. He alone had the heart to stand against this tide of beasts and turn them. He entered his family longhut. He alone occupied the structure now, for no other of his family lived, all taken by the orcs. He might have been human, but he was not cattle for the orcs, nor the lizards, nor ogres, nor any type of beast. He walked to a large box, an unusual item in the buildings. Opening it he revealed a large sword. Six foot long, with ornate scroll work along the inside of the blade, and the tooth of a dragon on the pommel, a sword like it world not be seen for several thousand years.

"Sword of the Great Immortal, blade of my father. I call upon you to aide me in these dire hours. For those whose blood you thirst for have once again come, and threaten to overrun us. Stand with me so they are as the waves dashed against the rocks, rather than the flood to wash us away."

Shouldering the blade he left his family home. He looked upon his village. For three hundred turns it had been a village of warriors and men, but in the sixteen seasons since the death of his father the warriors had buried their blades in mourning, and the orcs had beaten the fight out of them. He did not blame them. When a great warrior died it was traditional for those who fought beside him to renege their blades for a period of eight seasons, and the orcs had taken advantage of this to start their raids. Any experienced warrior was killed within days, and the novices within a few weeks. Soon the only warrior left was Shinso. He felt great sadness for this.


Tekeshi slowly woke. He let his brain catch up before he started to consider his dream. Shinso, the first vampire. His oldest ancestor. Why did he dream of him? Or was he just dreaming odd things due to the large amount of stress that he was under due to the case pending against him.

He knew without a doubt that it was due to his father's position. Vampires understood politics like they understood blood, it was simply a part of who they were. Even as young as he was Tekeshi could outmaneuver the entire U.N., and his father could more than likely have himself declared Lord of Earth. He tried not to think what his mother could do, her idea of negotiating often involved someone shedding blood. An excellent example of an American turn of phrase, "Only a fool negotiates with the muzzle of a loaded gun."

The big question was if his father could get him off. It was hard to deny that he had done the crime. He wasn't sure that he deserved to get off though, not after attacking Utsuki. He knew his mother was more than capable of wearing down a full blown ghoul, but Utsuki was just a human. He could have easily killed her before he was able to come to his senses, and he wasn't sure if he could have lived with himself if he had.

To be honest, he felt like the school board was going to have him executed as an example. Had it been any other student his father would have handled it alone. Just a few months back in Japan, and he hadn't even been home yet. It seemed like he would never get to see Osaka again. Woe was Tekeshi, for his actions were his own, fully self-aware or not.

Beyond all things though, he did feel calm. He understood why things were happening. He understood he was responsible. He was willing to take the responsibility. The only thing he wasn't willing to do was to leave Utsuki alone and unprotected. The Twins were nowhere near the level of combatant a vampire was, and Harumi seemed to hate her unconditionally. He had to come out of this for her sake, even if he was as much a danger to her as anyone else.

"Are you feeling better now," the voice he was least interested in hearing asked.

"No, grandmother, I am not. I am more than likely going to be snuffed out like an ant in the next few days for something that I was not capable of controlling. How the hell could I be feeling any better?"

Akasha sighed, "I understand that you blame me for this. If I had not appeared then you would not have come into conflict with your parents, and your mother wouldn't have had to flatten you as she did."

"You have a distinct talent for understatement. She steamrolled me with a single blow. I'm lucky that she didn't kill me by accident. I don't know how the hell you're even here, or why. All I know is that you have caused me nothing but problems. I have suffered a snapped neck, and been put into a coma. If it isn't too much to ask, could you leave me the hell alone for the rest of my life."

Akasha felt her shoulders drop as she sighed, "I know that there is no way that I can apologize for the trouble that I have caused you in these few short weeks. It was never my intention, nor did I even realize that I would cause such. Even I, with all my hundreds of years of experience do not understand what I truly am. If I could take the actions that led to this point back, I would with no hesitation. I can't though. I never wanted to cause my family any kind of sorrow. In doing so I have caused myself such heartache as cannot be described in words. I would not expect those closest in my heart to forgive me for the events that have befallen our clan."

"Sincere or not, you have failed to sway me towards any show of pity or remorse for my words. I don' care if'n ya think I'm being cruel or not. I jus want you to leave me be so that I may have a few more hours of peace afore I die. Great, now I'm butchering my own accent out of irritation. Why couldn't I have gotten through high school without having any complications? Is it because of my family line, or am I just too damned smart I can't see when I'm about to do something stupid."

"Don't be hard on yourself like that. I don't know exactly how all this works, so I can't just go away forever. Just remember, you only lose when you come to believe you have lost," Akasha said as she faded from view.


Moka wasn't prone to crying, she was pretty much vampire royalty and royalty wasn't supposed to cry. But before all that she was a woman and a mother, it was only natural for her to be crying at a time like this. Her only child was facing execution for something that was more public service than crime, and she was completely helpless to do anything about it. The only thing she could do was pour over old photo albums.

So many memories. There was one with Tekeshi trying to eat a chicken leg and it got stuck on his fangs, her sisters had been mortified, she and Tsukune thought it was adorable. One with him and the twins building snowmen was next to it. There he was learning the first moves of the dimensional sword technique, and subsequently cutting through her favorite standing vase. She even had a picture of her teaching him to use a sword, his actually being more of a long curved practice knife than a sword since he was only six years old at the time.

Time had seemed to speed up since he was born. If it wasn't for the traditions she observed as the wife to the head of the Shuzen clan she would probably gushed over him like Kurumu did Harumi. It seemed like tradition only served to get in the way of a healthy family relationship. She wouldn't have minded a small apartment in Tokyo, Tsukune going off to work every morning, getting letters from Tekeshi at school and seeing him on breaks. It would have been her idea life, she might have even liked a house like the one Tsukune's parents lived in. However, fate had not seen fit to give her that kind of a life.

Her and Tsukune owned an eighteen room mansion in Osaka. Tsukune was the headmaster of their old highschool. She was a gym teacher at the same school. To top it all off she had only been around her son for the longest time in eight years, and was quite possibly about to lose him. It wasn't fair.

She had braved high school, bullies, having to host a fake personality that was an almost carbon copy of her mother, and her feelings for Tsukune. She had come out on top as his wife. She had faced what had to be one of the most powerful creatures that had ever existed. She should have been entitled to a nice quiet life in the suburbs, with the most pressing issue being if it was going to rain or not. What sin had she committed for life to turn out as it had.

Finally the crying overwhelmed her. It was wont to do that as the hours of despair and depression lasted. In the end she curled herself into the chair she occupied and cried herself into a fitful slumber.


Tsukune heard the repeated cracks from the wood backing of the pillar. He learned long ago that a punching bag had trouble standing up to the abuse even when he completely pulled his punches. One of the few downsides of becoming the most powerful being known to yokai, at least "known" even if he father-in-law was still alive but in hiding. It didn't bother him as much as it had at first, the years had seen to that, and the idiots that still thought that they should rule both humans and yokai.

Bare handed and using maybe a thousandth of his raw strength he could bust an oak tree in half. He felt it was more curse than blessing in everyday life, and it really didn't serve him any use outside of a fight. The first weeks after his transformation he had crushed several drinking glasses without realizing how much strength he now had. Luckily he hadn't had to put any of that strength against any other students after the Alucard affair.

As it was, he was feared by most that served under him, believing him to show a kind face to throw people off balance when they were talking to him. Honestly it worked in his favor. The kind of people he employed were not the kind that a man should trust. If they believed that he would have them executed for just a breath of dissent, it kept them loyal to him. Money was all well and good in the intelligence business, but at the end of the day you had to be alive to receive that money.

Maybe he could use his spies to dig up something on the School Board's members. Everyone had their secrets that could ruin them if they got out. Even something as innocuous as a man or woman's sexual fetish could ruin them. Well maybe not Kurumu, that getting out would make her just a little too popular, and Moka would probably cut him off for a year if she found out he was spying on her best friend. It just wasn't worth it.

He ceased his exercises for the night. There was no point in working himself to exhaustion over this. Time was limited, but not exactly pressing yet. The trouble would be if they came down to the wire and them out of shot. Vampiric pride would dictate that he should summon the finest warriors within the House of Shuzen and decimate the School Board, however that would accomplish very little in the scheme of things since they didn't exactly have him in a maximum security prison.

As the elevator finished the trip from his office to the headmaster's suite he worked his shoulders. Exiting he saw Moka fitfully asleep on the floor. Despite himself he had to smile. She was perfect in his eyes, and even if she were to sleep naked in a mud pit he would think nothing less of her. She was as precious to him as anything he could think of, which wasn't much to be honest. Even if what he had initially become friends with was fake, he had fallen in love with both of them.

"Wake up Moka, you fell asleep looking at old photos," he said as he gently lifted her into a bridal carry.

She stretched slightly, "Mmm, I did. I don't want to lose him. Tsukune, what can we do? I wish father was around, he always knew how to work something over on someone. He may have had his faults, but he did care for me and my sisters, even if he had an ulterior motive with it. I doubt that the Board would have argued with him at all. Maybe he will find out and come back," with that she fell asleep again.

Taking her to the bed and undressing her, he covered her and went to look at the photo album that was still sitting in the chair. It had actually been his idea to even buy the camera that had been used, mainly because it kept it from being imbedded in Gin's skull. Photos meant a lot to him, they were memories frozen in time. He had forgotten about the chicken leg incident, three year old Tekeshi was almost angelic, something that the sixteen year old version was anything but. If only the days could be turned back. And if only they were filled with less combat.

Combat? Maybe, just maybe, that was the answer. It might be a bit of a stretch to think it would work, but ancient laws were still recognized and upheld. Of course if it backfired, the atomic bombs had less fallout to be honest. However, nothing ventured nothing gained.


A/N: I have no clue what is going to happen in the next chapter yet, so don't get impatient. I can only say that it will be posted when it gets posted. In other news I am going to be starting a page to help offset the fact that I am unemployed and this is the only thing I am really capable of doing at the moment. So please consider donating when it gets posted.