"445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450," Utsuki could hear Tekeshi as she approached.

She was aware that he had taken to training whenever he could, and often without his limiter like now. There was always a feel of electricity in the air when he had it off. To her it kind of tickled, and made her feel comfortable. Most other people took notice, unless they felt they were stronger than him, which they rarely were. She didn't understand how he could feel he was weak, when she had yet to see him lose a fight.

As he came into sight she lost focus. Every time she saw him without a shirt she lost all ability to think. The ghost sight of a black marble statue of him in a classic Greek pose kept imposing itself in her sight, though to a degree of dissatisfaction it always had a half toga covering his more interesting parts. She knew that there was something going on besides him being really attractive, and that he probably didn't have full control of it, but she didn't care. If given the chance she would stare for the rest of her life at that mortal perfection.

"Yo, 'Suki, I'm dressed now. You have the right to wake up. Failure to take this right will end with a 'Kick Me' sign on your back. Or I might have Yusa freeze your panties. Come on, wake up. Why the hell does this happen every time I take my shirt off. I'm getting tired of it. That settles it, I'm going to just get fat," Tekeshi worked trying to snap her back.

Shaking her head she replied, "Sorry, I try to fight it, but I just can't. None of the women here can. Its even difficult when you have your shirt on at times. What causes that?"

"I really don't know. I need to ask my old man about it, but I keep forgetting to. Oh, just remembered, are you going home for the Summer break?"

"I can't. My parents are in America at least until after Christmas. I don't have anywhere to go, so I was going to stay here with Ruby-sama. She seemed a little disappointed that I would have to. Why do ask?"

"That won't do. Why don't you come with me and my folks to Osaka. Or if you like the cold enough, Asusa would probably be happy for you to go with her, though I don't recommend that. Great Aunt Tsurara, is a weird one. I'm not sure Mom has ever gotten over her teaching me to snipe at age three, though it was fun, until I tagged Mom on the ass and got mine torn up so bad I couldn't walk straight for a week. Don't recommend at all."

Utsuki laughed slightly at the story, "Your family is so strange, but you seem so happy. And its so big, even if you aren't blood related. I never had that. Mom and Dad were loners who drifted together in college, and were single children. All their family were older and have already passed. I think it's great for you."

"I want to argue with you, but I really can't. My family can get on my nerves at times, but there is always someone there for you when you need it. I can't really imagine what it would be like to not have them there. Thinking about it, it scares me, to be alone. Even when I was away from home I was always with my friends. Truthfully, they were like a second family as well. I haven't told you much about them have I?"

"No."

Tekeshi leaned his head back, "God, my gang. Everyone called us The Mongrels. All of us were from other countries, so we just kind of fell in together because we were outsiders. Lorelei and Dehlia are twins from Scotland. Had every guy half in love with them, and running the other way when they opened their mouths. They can curse worse than a drunk sailor. Heavy is Russian, and he is huge. I stand straight at 182cm, around 86 kilos in weight. Heavy stands 208cm and weighs in at 128 kilos of muscle, bone, and sinew. I have never sparred with him, though come to think of it I don't ever remember him getting into a fight. I think I see the correlation. Akoni is Nigerian, and bloodthirsty most of the time. His name supposedly is supposed to mean "The Brave Warrior" in his homeland, unfortunately he upholds the old stereotype of savage tribesman that seems to stick around. Chun-hee and Black are siblings from Korea. If I remember right, they came from Yeong-ung-ui Huisaeng City, what used to be Pyonyang before the end of the Second Korean Conflict. They utterly hate their heritage because of the Kim Family's reign, never mind they were born after reunification. They absolutely adore Harumi since her father was one of the soldiers involved in the kill team to kill which ever Kim was left ruling the country. Those six, they are something else. Almost sounds like a story how they all had family to end up with around Phoenix. But they always did call America a melting pot of other cultures, even though you could always find the prejudice."

"I'm kind of jealous. I think the only reason anyone wanted to be friends with me is they thought I was beautiful. I don't know where they got that idea though, I don't I look all that great. I know all the boys just wanted to my skirt around my waist, the filthy pervs," Utsuki said repressing bad memories from middle school.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. You are gorgeous. Do you know how many death threats I give out on your behalf during a day for the reasons you just stated? They aren't calling you a china doll just because your skin is so pale. Plus, you aren't kidding most guys around here are straight up perverts. I have no clue why, unless hormones hit most other akashi like a truck. Vampires don't suffer as much from it, at least I don't."

"So, if I just happened to flip my skirt as I turned around, it wouldn't affect you," Utsuki smirked as she teased her friend.

"You do remember Harumi, right? She used to parade around in her underwear in front of me every chance she got. I am immune to panties," said friend replied, rather unconvincingly.

Utsuki was not one to do anything close to lewd for the most part, she just didn't care for that kid of thing much. She imagined that might change if she found someone she thought she liked enough. She didn't quite see that in Tekeshi yet, but she found she just could not let that stand in the moment. So she spun in place hard enough that her skirt flipped up to give him an eyeful, and she was rewarded with him suddenly doing the world's greatest imitation of a piece of lumber.

"You were saying...wahh," she didn't get to finish as she was suddenly tackled to the ground and felt Tekeshi push his ring into her hand.

"Run, get my father. DON'T LOOK BACK."


As Utsuki bolted Tekeshi turned back to the beast that had left a long gash across his back. It was vaguely humanoid, in fact he would say that it was specifically female in shape. However instead of smooth skin, it almost looked like it had some kind of purple amorphous solid for flesh. Long claws hung from human like hands and fingers, and a crown of horns circled its head. The only thing that he found good about it was that it was severely weaker than him, not that that meant much. Strength was all well and good, but those claws were wicked sharp, and he didn't have any natural defenses against that.

Of course he already knew what it was, a result of his access to a large supernatural focused library and his intellectual need for knowledge. It was a true demon. Not a mortal one like a succubus. This was one that lived between the worlds. The kind that witches and warlocks would summon and bind to create pacts to increase their power. Information rushed into his head at an overwhelming pace even to him as he prepared to keep it away from it's prey.

Utsuki.

Why it was after her was a question that could wait. His number one duty was to protect her, and right now that meant delaying until his father could arrive to give the coup-de-grace. Just because it was weaker than him didn't mean that it wasn't going to take massive power to kill. As much as he knew, there was more he was aware that he didn't know. Such as how you actually killed one of these things. All those books, and someone never had the idea of writing that little detail down. Given that his dad was the single most powerful Yokai alive, he hoped he could brute force it though.

His movement was almost instantaneous, and his blow plowed a hole through the thing's, rather voluptuous chest. He hadn't been real focused on that part of things, but being this close he couldn't help but notice how stacked the thing was, and the depth of it's resemblance to women of the mortal plane. And the lack of any clothing like covering of it's body. This was going to be an easy fight.

As fast as he was, he found out then it was faster in every way. It seemed to float back and heal instantly. It looked him in the eye, and without missing a beat delivered a roundhouse kick that would have made his mother proud straight to his chest, and he was weightless.

He almost didn't believe it. He was flying backwards through the air with more force than he could comprehend. Trees seemed to just powder as he impacted against them. He couldn't believe it. Things seemed still in front of him as he flew backwards. He couldn't believe it. Somehow he passed a dead run Utsuki frozen in time. He couldn't believe it. He felt the walls behind him crumble upon impact. He couldn't believe it. The only thing that he could believe was the sword blade that suddenly pierced his heart as he came to a stop.


He couldn't tell how long he stayed in the limbo he found himself in. It had to be death though. He couldn't imagine that he could survive this kind of injury, not something so direct to such a vital organ. He couldn't feel his heart pumping anymore. He was dead, it finally happened.

"You have a lot of power."

'I do?'

"Yeah, I don't know how long it has been since I have had this great of a meal. Actually, I don't even know how long it has just been. I know that I got left somewhere and became hungry, and then you come out of nowhere to imitate a shishkebab with me. Hey, what is a shishkebab?"

'Meat and vegetables cooked together on a stick over an open flame. I never really cared for them.'

"Well, interesting. You have a lot of weird jumbled things up there. I kind of like poking around in it. Some of it seems a little scandalous. Well, maybe not. What are you, a prude. My last master had tons of naked women running around in his head."

'Your last master? What are you?'

"Oh. I'm a sword. A sword that feeds off of forces that travel through worlds, and influences events. Looking through your internal dictionary, hehe it says dick, you call it youki. Coming back around you have a massive amount. Enough that I don't think you would miss it if I siphoned some off for a meal. Is that ok?"

'I'm dead, what does it matter?'

"Your not dead. Proof, we are having a conversation. I can't do much besides eat youki, change my shape, and cut things. Talking with the dead is not one of those. Which confuses me, since I seem to be cleaving your primary vascular muscle in two. That is just freaky."

'You should add annoy people to the list of things you can do.'

"True. I do have a proposition though. I can see the sweet young girl you want to protect, and see what danger she was in when this happened. I can help you contain your power to a great degree, though I don't know if I can control it for very long. I also should be able to damage the demon severely. Whether I can kill it, I can't guarantee, though I should be able to force it into retreat. Accept me as your blade, and I will do what I can."

'I'm not a swordsman. I'm just a weak vampire. Even at the full power I can wield I only reach the bottom of average. I don't use a sword. Knives, guns if I have no other choice, which hasn't happened thankfully, and my bare fists.'

"I can see your ability myself. You learned the sword in early childhood, though you did not keep with it. You have a choice. The demon will catch up to her long before she can get any other help. I can let you fight long enough to keep her safe. Do you want her to live long enough to return your feelings?"

'What?'

"Your mind is open to me. Even what you don't see yourself, I can. Do you want her to live long enough to return your feelings?"

Tekeshi froze within the void he felt himself in. He didn't know what these feelings the voice was talking about were, but somehow he knew the answer.

'Yes.'

"Then wake up, and take me up."

His eyes opened and without thought he pulled himself off the blade. Weakly standing he turned. Somehow he felt his heart mending itself, and his strength trickling back. Looking he saw the blade, and it was huge. It wasn't a very wide blade, but it was as tall as he was, and that wasn't counting the hilt and cross guard. Three full feet of it had gone through his chest. He was in awe.

'Pick me up. I can't very well do anything on my own. I don't have legs, arms, or genitals.'

"What, genitals, really," He said weakly.

'It's true.'

"Did you have to say it though. Why the hell am I talking with a sword? What is wrong with me?"

'About to be even more girless if you don't hurry up.'

Thoughts of Utsuki's peril slammed into his brain as he reached for the hilt. Grabbing it he felt something shift in the blade. The blade began to curve and one edge dulled to a square. The crossguard curled around itself, twisting into the image of two snakes poised to devour one another. A beautiful delicate hamon defined itself along the blade as it shortened. Quickly the greatsword once present gave way to a beautiful odachi that would have gained a place as a national treasure without a doubt.

'I feel a little bit sturdier like this. And pretty. Not quite sure how to feel about that one. Enough stalling though. We have a demon to fight."


Utsuki scooted back as well as she could. She had never been this afraid at any point in her life. She didn't even know if fear was a strong enough word to describe what she was feeling. She had become stronger of will being here for sure, but that was mainly due to Tekeshi being there for her. His presence just made her feel happy, like there was nothing to worry about. She didn't even know if he was alive after she saw his limp form fly like that.

She shook her head and refocused on the beast that was hunting her. She saw why he had said not to look back. What she saw was simply a twisted facsimile of a woman's body. Like something out of a fever dream. Of all the danger she had ever felt, this was the moment she most thought she was going to die.

It approached closer, and suddenly her fear faded. If it let her rejoin Tekeshi in the next world, what was there to fear. Somehow she knew that her friend would be there to guide and protect her in that moment, and she couldn't even find a hint of fear as the demon stood above her and raised its claws. She closed her eyes just as a pungent spray of blood came across her face, and into her mouth. She swallowed involuntarily and it burned like acid for a brief second.

"Utsuki, open your eyes. You're safe. Thank god you're safe."

She opened her eyes to see blood red orbs looking directly into them. Something felt different though. She recognized them, but they seemed deeper than usually. It was hard to place them at first.

"Tekeshi-san. Is that you?"

"Yes. Thank whatever... why can I feel you?"

She could feel his hands on her shoulder, "Because your touching me," she said as she realized it felt kind of nice.

"Not physically. Usually I look at you, and its more like I am looking at a picture or a video. You actually feel like you're there. I don't get it. Like somehow you developed youki out of nowhere."

"YOU WHORE. WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"

They looked to where the demon had fallen in two pieces. Tekeshi's strike had severed it just below the breasts, which currently were not purple, or covered.

"What, who are you? And, why are you naked and in two pieces? Tekeshi, give her your blazer," Utsuki hadn't quite put two and two together at that moment.

"'Suki. That is the demon that I just cut in half for trying to kill you. Uh, they don't usually look like that, unless they have been bound."

"How do you bind a demon," she asked innocently.

The demon answered with more hostility than any mortal creature could bring to bear, "You drank my blood, you bitch. If I could kill you, I would make it so painful..."


A/N: I'm just going to say, hopefully the demon and the sword don't start talking to each other. That might get awkward.