Disclaimer: I don't think any of you believe that I'm Natsuki Takaya.

I forgot to do this last chapter, but here. Thank you, Cerii-chan Kawaii and Cat-eyed Princess, for your generous reviews. If the vast web network didn't separate us, I would give each of you gigantic hugs, or maybe a dollar. Anyway, I appreciate you!

Chapter 3: Strange Dreams Come to Slayers

Tohru dreamed vividly that night, as Hatori had predicted she might, but the dream didn't seem to be prophetic. It consisted of Ayame prancing about his shop, outfitting the members of Yuki's fan club with various revealing costumes.

Tohru forced her eyes open. That was a bizarre dream. She groggily turned her head and saw that Rin was looking at her.

"Are you okay, Tohru? That looked liked a pretty nasty dream you were having."

"Oh no, I'm fine. It was a little creepy. That's all. I was going to ask you when I came home but… why haven't you gone home?"

"Shigure and Hatori want me to stay here for awhile, until things calm down at the Main House."

"Oh, of course!"

Tohru got up and started to get her school uniform, when she remembered sensing Haru's presence the night before. She turned around and saw Rin getting up, as well.

"Um, is Haru staying here, too, by any chance?"

"Yeah, in Yuki's room. What tipped you off?"

"Oh…uh… just a lucky guess! I'm going to go get dressed."

···

Breakfast was an unusually quiet affair. Tohru was still too busy absorbing the information, and so apparently was Kyo, since he wasn't fighting with Yuki.

Afterwards, the three, plus Haru, got their school items together and started heading for school. It, too, was a quiet walk. I wonder how much more silence we can take before someone snaps, Tohru reflected. It was already starting to drive her a little mad, but she didn't really feel like talking.

Class 3-D was even more silent. Tohru knew instantly something was very wrong the moment she walked into class. Before school the class would never be this quiet. They were all sitting silently in their seats. Tohru took her seat next to Uo and Hana.

"What's wrong?" She whispered.

Uo looked at her funny. "Didn't you hear? One of the second years was found dead this morning in the library! She'd been bled dry."

Kyo and Yuki both looked sharply at Uo, their hearing very good. Kyo appeared more startled then Yuki, though. Tohru's stomach knotted up and her throat tightened. A vampire had killed one of her schoolmates! She was already failing in her duties! Well, that wouldn't happen again. She was going to train hard and learn to fight. Then she could stop things like this from occurring.

"Who was it?" Tohru asked. She had to know.

"It was one of Yuki's fan club members." Hana's soft and emotionless voice spoke louder then Uo's whispering.

"Class, Listen up!" Their Sensei called out, "There has been an unfortunate accident in the Library and the police are looking into it. Everyone should be extremely careful here, and at home, until they figure out what's going on, but school's still in session so we're going to get right into things."

Tohru tuned out most of the things the teacher said. Luckily, she wasn't called on and no one tried to talk to her. Everyone was lost in there in own worlds thinking over what had happened. Who had done it? Would it happen again? And if it did, who would be next? The teacher didn't try to get their attention, seeing as what had happened.

What Hatori had said to her the other night came back: the vampires would be coming now, coming for her. It would be the innocent bystanders who would pay the price for Tohru being a Slayer.

In that moment Tohru decided that she would do this, to help those innocents. She would train and slay vampires and demons, and she would find the vampire who had killed that girl.

…

During a break in between classes, Tohru excused herself from Uo and Hana, telling them that she had to use the restroom. She walked away from them, towards the library.

When she got there some policemen and school staff were attempting to disperse a crowd. Tohru did not sense anyone in the Library, but knew she couldn't get in this way. She vaguely remembered the location of where the windows were outside and was thankful that it was an area few kids visited.

Once she was outside, she looked up at the windows and tried to remember which one it was. All of the blinds had been pulled to prevent bystanders from looking in on the crime scene. She knew that it was on this side of the building but there was no distinguishing feature beyond that.

Oh well, eeny-meeny-minie-mo. Tohru randomly picked one that looked about right and started looking for a way in.

"You do know which window the Library is, right, or are you just going to randomly pick one?" Kyo's voice came from behind her.

Tohru jumped about a foot. Guess I didn't sense him.

"Kyo! What are you doing out here?"

"I figured you were going to try and get into the Library, and judging by the police the doors aren't an option, so here I am. Why do you even want to get in there? It must be pretty messy."

"I just feel like I have to check for something, like a clue, but I don't know which are the Library windows, or how to get in once I find them." she admitted.

"Well, the window part is easy. Those three over there, at the corner, are the library windows, and don't you have, like, super strength or something? Shouldn't you be able to pry 'em open?"

"I'll try, I guess."

She checked to make sure no one was watching before she yanked. It took Kyo's sharp eyes to realize that these windows were locked from the inside

"Just break it." Kyo told her.

"But it's school property! That would be vandalism!"

Kyo sighed and reached across to punch the window next to the latch. It seemed to Tohru that he had done this before, as he applied the perfect amount of force as to not punch in the entire window. He reached in and undid the latch. The window swung open.

"Ladies first."

Tohru jumped in and Kyo followed.

The Library was dark and seemed foreboding, but the body of the fan-girl was easy to find. She was sprawled next to the checkout desk and she had two nasty holes on the side of her neck like someone- or something- had bitten her.

"That's strange. It looks like she didn't run, or fight back, or… anything." Kyo commented as he observed the body. "I know her. She's the new Number Two in the Yuki Fan-Club. The old one moved away after Rika Aida got voted President of the Fan-Club. Everyone says there was bad blood between them."

Tohru remembered when Rika got voted in. It wasn't so much by vote as by force, seeing as the entire Fan- Club was scared of her. She also remembered when Mai, the old Number Two, had moved away. It had been the talk of the school, especially considering the circumstances.

Tohru moved next to Kyo, who was nudging the body with his foot.

"She's not completely drained, there's still some blood in her."

"I feel so sorry for her. She was too young to die. I should have been there, protecting her."

"Don't be. I feel so much better now, Slayer." It was the body.

It was all Tohru could do to keep from screaming her head off, especially when the girl- no vampire- opened her eyes and looked at Tohru.

"I'm going to drain you dr-" The vampire never finished her sentence as Tohru jammed the stake in her book bag into the vampire's heart.

Poof!

Kyo looked at her, "We could have tried to get some information from her, you know."

"Oh, I'm so stupid! First I couldn't save her, and then I mess it up so we don't get any information. I could've asked her who killed her! I am so STUPID!" Tohru looked close to tears.

"Well first off, you couldn't have saved the girl, no matter what. You had no idea what was happening, or even when. Second, it's all right we didn't get any information from her. She couldn't have known anything useful. And thirdly," Kyo grabbed Tohru's hand and pulled her back towards the open window, "I think it's time to get lost."

Kyo hauled Tohru towards the window and they both jumped out, just as the library's doors open and some people walked in.

"… and I want a report on-"

"Hey! The body's gone!"

"What?"

Kyo and Tohru had safely landed and were on their way back to their classrooms. News travels at light speed in a high school, so the school was already abuzz with the rumor of the body's mysterious disappearance.

"Hey, Tohru! We've been looking everywhere for you! Did ya hear? The body is gone! Just Poof! Gone!" Uo's excited voice came from behind Tohru.

Tohru turned and saw Uo and Hana standing behind her.

"The body is gone! Does anyone know what happened?" Tohru feigned surprise, and she didn't do a bad job of pulling it off.

"No, it was there one minute and gone the next. Just a pile of dust remained." That was Hana.

"How strange. Oh! We're going to be late, come on!" Tohru and Kyo rushed for their class, leaving a confused Uo and Hana.

"Huh, since when does Orangey want to go to class?"

"I have the feeling that something very strange is going on. Have you noticed? Tohru seems very different and her waves are, too. She seems…stronger, more confident."

…

"Now, Tohru, as the Slayer, you have an innate knack for any weapon you pick up, as well as hand-to-hand fighting. But that isn't enough to keep you alive. Kyo here will teach you the basics and more, and then we will move on to swords and crossbows." Hatori was lecturing Tohru out in the spacious backyard of Shigure's house. Kyo was standing around looking bored and sullen.

The rest of the residents of the house were out, something Hatori might have had a hand in.

"But, Hatori, where are we going to get swords and crossbows? Where would we put them!" Tohru looked a little worried about storage. It might have had to do with the fact she was the housekeeper.

Hatori coughed and muttered something that even with Slayer hearing, Tohru wasn't able to fully pick up. She heard the words 'business arrangement' and 'Bracken'. She didn't press.

Kyo, apparently, was getting annoyed with Hatori's lecturing. "Could we just get to the training?" he yelled. The cat ears and tail that he had when he was a little angry appeared and disappeared.

"Hm, yes, yes. Training. Let's see, where to begin…"

"Hatori, I thought I was going to teach her."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Begin."

Kyo sighed, and turned his attention back to Tohru. He looked a bit lost in thought, before straightening, and clearing his throat. "Alright, now, let's begin with the basics. Copy my pose." He shifted into a beginner defense pose, able to quickly change into offense.

Tohru did so, perfectly. Kyo looked a little impressed. "Okay, now follow me as I begin a simple kata…"

Some time later, Kyo called a break. Tohru hadn't even broken a sweat. She had found the training rather simple. Her body had acted like it already knew it, and she found herself wanted to learn more, to fight. She wasn't sure if she liked that. Tohru wasn't a fighting creature by nature, and she found herself a little scared at how much she had seemed to change in a matter of a few days. She didn't really want to hurt things, but she knew she would have too, and deep, deep down, a part of her wanted it.

Kyo broke thorough her reflections. "Hey, Tohru, I think you're good enough, and you seem to know everything, that we can go onto the more advanced training. But first I think I want to spar with you, to see how good you are in a fight. Training and fighting are two different things."

"O….o…okay." She stammered.

Hatori looked up in interest. Sometime during the training, he had found a book and a chair and proceeded to split his attentions. Right now, they were all on Kyo and Tohru.

"Yes, I do think that is a good idea. Kyo is good enough, and him being the cat will help make sure he isn't injured. Likewise, you being a Slayer will also protect you."

Kyo walked so he was standing about seven feet away from Tohru. He got into the offensive ready position, and after a moment of indecision, Tohru got into the defensive ready position.

"Ready?" Kyo asked. "I'm going to trust Hatori's opinion, and not hold backkk!" His last word was drawn out as he started attacking Tohru.

His first attack was a right punch to her stomach, designed to knock her down, and take the breath in her windpipe out. Tohru reacted without thought and brought her left hand up to bear as she blocked, also lashing out with her right leg in an attempt to hook around his legs and bring him down.

Kyo jumped and missed the leg attack, using his two hands to grab her left arm to twist and bring her to the ground. Tohru used her Slayer strength and broke the hold. They broke contact and backed up a few feet, looking for an opening.

Since Tohru was a very new Slayer with hardly any training against a boy who trained in martial arts since he was very small and was the cursed cat of the Zodiac, the two were relatively matched.

As Kyo came in for a roundhouse kick, two things happened: 1.) Tohru's old pre-Slayer self came crashing back and she 'eeped' and dropped her defensive pose to bring her arms up to shield herself, and 2.) Kyo suddenly found himself thrown back about twenty feet. Tohru looked up in confusion.

"Would you please tell me why you are attacking Miss Honda?" Yuki's voice was very, very quiet and soft, and very angry.

(End Chapter 3)

AN: Oh, Yuki, you sly rat, sneaking up on people like a sneaking thing. The story picks up from here, with the arrival of a few familiar characters, some snappy dialogue, more violence of an entertaining nature, and romance. Excited much?