I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx, Rosario + Vampire, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, or any other franchises used in this story related to the for-mentioned or not. The events and people in this story are completely fictional and any resemblance to real events or people in purely coincidental.

Frosty Stalkers and a Big Fight

As they handed out the follow-up paper to the Ishigami incident, the members of newspaper club's little troop wondered just who their friend really was…

'Jaden held that sword like wielding it was a natural part of him...' Tamayo pondered on the flawless white sword. 'Just what was it? It couldn't have been the Nenekirimaru, could it?'

'Jaden was terrifying fight alongside that giant monster,' Yukari thought, for a few seconds when he raised his blade against Samantha his eyes were not like the soft and playful ones she had gotten used to, 'And that look in his eyes… It was like he could really kill someone…'

'I knew that Jaden was special, but that spirit he summoned…' Moka thought about what he had called the Winged Dragon of Ra, 'Just how powerful is he?'

Within the confines of the rosary seal the inner vampire self of Moka thought over all of the things that the others did, she couldn't help it. Whatever she thought about, the sword, the duel spirit he summoned, her thoughts returned to one thing, 'Why can't I get him out of my head? It's not like I like him or something… So why can't I stop thinking about him?'

Meanwhile Jaden's thoughts were disturbed by the feeling that he was watched. Looking around, he saw no one but still felt unnerved as he handed out the last of the copies.

"Only one left," Tamayo said as she looked around empty stand and the newspaper in Jaden's hand, "Not, a bad day's work."

"How about we have a party at the club-room to celebrate?" Moka suggested.

The others all voiced their agreement and disapproval at informing Gin. "After all he hasn't been out in the field since the P.S.C. tried to shake us down, except to take pervy photos." Yukari said dismissing the club president as someone to invite.

Jaden told them he would like come as soon as he could as he pulled his bag over his shoulder, "I'll have to call the office landline to make sure that those two back at the office are okay."

"You guys are really friendly with each other…" a monotone voice said off to the side of the newspaper club's stand.

The group turned to see that the speaker was a girl with long light purple hair and blue eyes which had blue pupils instead of black. She was dressed with different apparel than her classmates. She was wearing the light brown checkered skirt from the school uniform, but instead of a green blazer she was wearing a white sweatshirt with long dark blue sleeves with a black singlet underneath, and adorning her neck was a yellow pendant, covering her legs was a pair of long dark & light purple striped stockings with white shoes and she also had a belt tied around her left leg.

She starred at the club members with a vacant gaze as she finished her earlier stamen, speaking around the lollipop in her mouth, "…I really don't get stuff like that."

The silence that fallowed was only a few seconds long but still uncomfortable until the girl spoke again. "Can I have a newspaper?" she asked pointing to the one in Jaden's hand

"Oh, sure." Jaden said, offering his copy to her.

Instead of taking the paper, she took hold of Jaden's hand and leaned in close to him until only a few inches were in between them and starred at Jaden as if she were searing his features into her mind. Jaden started to turn red at how close she was to him and was trying not to lose what little composure he had left when she spoke again. "You're cuter than I thought you'd be." She said, her cheeks slightly reddening as she took the paper and headed off toward the school.

"Another one so soon," Yubel's voice echoed in Jaden's mind, "You keep attracting women to you at this rate and you're going to make me just a little bit jealous."

'Bite me,' was Jaden highly eloquent response to Yubel's commentary.

"I thought that was your vampire friend's styxk, but if you want me to I did wouldn't mind." Yubel said, not missing a beat.

Jaden would have issued a speedy come back if Kurumu hadn't decided to host a remix of the inquisition and thoroughly interrogate him on who that girl was and how he knew her.

x-x

After calming the succubus down and explaining that he really didn't know who that girl was, Jaden and the others tried to have a sedate school day which was impeded by the discovery that she was in their homeroom and then utterly trounced by Ms. Nekonome bringing up the class president elections, when a student asked why she hadn't brought it up earlier she clawed up his face, and the blue-eyed girl nominated Jaden for president. After avoiding any new responsibilities by running through reasoning, and proving not to being above teary-eyed begging on his knees (I tried to write this scene down in detail again but it still isn't as funny in print) Jaden nominated Moka who was successfully elected class president.

x-x

After making sure that lunch, and now dinner too would be sent to Gabriel and Samantha, and calling the Cheshire Cat to baby-sit the Yakushi. Jaden headed to clubroom for the party and ran into the same girl from earlier. "You almost got me a whole load of problems I don't need with that whole stunt in class… Not that I'm not flattered… Who are anyway?"

"Mizore Shirayuki," she said identifying herself. "I read the paper you gave me. I really liked your article as usual… I'm a huge fan of your work" she said, her face turning a little flush as she continued to speak to the two-tone-brunette, "Your articles are always my favorite. There written from a withdrawn or alone perspective."

Jaden felt a pang in his chest when he heard his writing being described as lonely. The angle of withdrawn he could attest to trying not to mention his self so he wouldn't cause trouble for the others. But still he couldn't help but wonder if all that time he had spent getting the office read for business was really him trying avoiding the others.

"I missed out on a lot at the start of the semester. But I always looked forward to Ms. Nekonome bringing me a copy of the newspaper. I keep your articles in here." Mizore said as she showed Jaden a notebook that had a white rabbit dressed in "Alice in Wonderland" outfit complete with a mediaeval fanfare horn on one cover and a heart design on the other.

'She doesn't seem like a bad person.' Jaden mused as he opened the book, 'It just seems she's…' Jaden was going to finish with that thought with "a bit shy", but changed his mind when he saw that there was a copy of all his articles written on with strange sentences like "love this article" and "want to meet him" until the words had sank into the paper.

'A stalker?!'

x-x

A stone skipped five times across the lake/bog before sinking to the bottom. "Did you see that?" Mizore asked excitedly, as Jaden clapped in answer.

He was actually enjoying his time with the strange girl, now that she was had taken them way from the hustle and crowds of the school she was starting to liven up and show off her smile… But it was getting close to time for Moka's little get together and he need to start heading to the clubroom.

"Your thinking about that Moka girl from your club, aren't you?" Mizore asked her eyes overshadowed by her bangs. Jaden's own brown orbs widened as he realized he must have let his thoughts become apparent on his face.

"Even when we alone like this you're still thinking about her." she said, clinching her hands in frustration as she spoke, "I want you so badly... you should be mine…"

Jaden tried changed his position so he could be ready for anything, but he found that the base of his shoes were slowly being covered by a thin, but quickly growing, sheet of ice.

"You will be mine and mine alone." Mizore said, as Jaden took in the sight of her new form. For the most part she was physically unchanged, which Jaden was starting to recognize as a bad sing when came down to over all fight capability. Her hair was now cloudy purple ice that was it impossible to tell if her hair had changed into ice, or had just been covered and her hands were the same with thick ice that made a pair of ice gauntlets that had five large ice blade-claws.

"I'm a yuki-onna, a snow woman. All from the ocean to the vapor in the air is mine to turn to ice and control." She explained as the lake behind her froze into an icy wasteland.

Jaden had actually heard a couple of the stories about the yuki-onna from his mom who was half Japanese. They were known for appearing in a blizzard and being non aggressive toward humans, unless they were provoked and then they would turn freeze them to death, or in the cases where they encountered a man that they liked they would offer shelter from the cold so, or just abduct them outright, and keep them as their husbands.

Jaden tried to break the ice around his feet with Yubel's strength but it was too late. The ice was too high up his legs to make any progress freeing him without ripping his human legs off with Yubel's demonic strength. As Jaden gave up on using brute strength to free him and the ice was starting to rise up to his chest, the ice to his left was rising up and forming an ice sculpture of the snow woman's head which spoke like it was real, "We were meant for each other, I want you to be mine for ever, so just I'll have to use my powers freeze you and after my ice-puppet takes care of that nuisance Moka there'll be no one to interfere."

x-x

"You are not getting married to a creature of the ice!" within the "Hotel", Burstinatrix shouted in to Yubel's ear. Trying to use the fiend as an intercom, this earned her a large bump on the head and very stern lecture about giving fiend spirits proper respect as powerful entities.

x-x

Moka waited for everyone else to arrive for the party as she sat at the club-room table. She was the first one there, but she was early. Still she had hoped Jaden would be here before the others so she could visit with him alone.

"Moka Akashi…" Behind her was the girl from earlier, "If it wasn't for you Jaden would be mine."

Moka turned around to face her, but she lunged forward and grabbed the vampire by the neck intending to strangle what she viewed as her nemesis for Jaden's love.

Not want Moka reached behind hind her and grabbed a plastic tray that she was using for party-treats and smacked against the other girls head. But instead of being knocked out, a shattering sound rang out and as several cracks appeared on her head, "I'm sorry but this is just an Ice-puppet. The real me, is with Jaden."

x-x

Jaden's eyes narrowed as he realized what Mizore was saying through her icy replica and used shadow magic to make tongues of dark orange flame appear from his hand and dance around his feet, melting the ice around them.

"Mizore, I would be lying if I said that everything life threw at me in past year hadn't made me a bit reclusive." Jaden said to the yuki-onna, who backed up when she saw the elemental opposite of her powers dance around the brunette, "But, there are people keep dragging me out of where ever I choose to hide and make me a part of the group with I like it or not… and they are irreplaceable friends to me."

"So you better hope they're alright." Jaden said as he willed a baseball sized fireball to form.

"JAADDDEEEEN!" Moka's voice rang out, drawing attention to the duo of the pink haired vampire and Kurumu, carrying her in her true-form, flying toward the lake.

"My ice puppet should have dealt with you! Why are you here?!" Mizore demanded, clueless as to how the pink haired vampire survived her attack.

x-x

(Earlier)

Moka's vision was starting to blur as the Ice-puppet's strong grip threatened make her black out, leaving her at the mercy of the hostile duplicate.

Pair of loud crashing and shattering sounds, coupled with unique splattering sound of a cake hitting something was heard as Kurumu hit the ice sculpture with a large surviving plate which was loaded with a heart shaped cake, decorated with pink icing and the words "I Love You Jaden".

The weightier and more solid plate with the add payload weight from cake gave it far more potential for an effective attack then Moka's plastic tray had, and made for a very comical seen as she slammed it cake first into the Ice-puppet's head. Splattering pink-icing and chocolate cake on the icy replica as it broke into pieces of normal ice with a look of pure surprise and confusion on its face.

x-x

"I worked for hours to bake that cake from scratch!" Kurumu bemoaned the wasted effort, "I even put the special love potion my mom sent me when I told her that I met my mate of fate in it."

'Love potion...!? Man, I'm having hard time figuring out which is scarier… A yuki-onna, who is trying to freeze me alive so she can keep me to herself, or a succubus, who has openly confessed to trying to making me ingest a love potion." Jaden thought to himself as he weighed the two trying figure out which was the lesser of the two evils. His reflections on the methods of displaying affection among the two races of yokai were interrupted when Mizore made a throwing motion with her ice-clawed hand, sending a volley of icicle spikes at the succubus.

Doing her best to doge the frosty missiles for both her and the sake of her passenger, Kurumu almost flawlessly demonstrated all countermeasures in the ace pilot handbook on attacks from the ground. But while she had plenty experience flying solo, she had never practiced while carrying a passenger and Moka was completely unused to it.

Meaning that Moka didn't know what to expect during the flight and couldn't keep a solid grip throughout the fight, and Kurumu didn't know how to absorb the shocks from the sudden stops and sharp tugs from the necessary quick change in direction. Two factors that never equaled a good fight experience when put to gather.

As the vampire lost her grip and slipped out off the succubus's and started flying toward him, Jaden thought process became occupied with one thing as he canceled his flames and braced for collision, 'Oh, bother! Here we go again…'

'First thing that happens is the compromising position…' Jaden started to mentally list off what he was starting recognize as a pattern as Moka crashed into him, her chest ramming into his face, as he focused on falling so neither he nor her would be hurt, 'Check'

'Then somehow her seal comes undone, even though I barely touched it…" Jaden continued his mental check-off.

*Click*

The sound of Moka's rosary cross coming off its chain rang out, in spite of Jaden having no clue how it did since his hand had only brushed against it and closed around the jewelry piece after hearing the sound, as Fangs' aura flared up to its true overwhelming strength as she took control of the body she shared with Moka. 'Check'

Mizore had had it with this Moka girl. She was even trying seducing her Jaden by shoving his face in her chest. "I'm really going to kill you Moka Akashi." she said with murderous tones in every syllable as she charged in to strike.

'And finally…' Jaden sat down on the frozen lake and watched the last thing on his list unfold, as true vampire within Moka landed the first and last hit with a decisive high kick to the yuki-onna, who landed in a snowdrift and slunk off afterward, 'The completely one sided fight; where Moka finishes off the opponent in one move, saying her signature cry of "know you're place", and flashes everyone doing it…Check…Looks like she decided to get new underwear recently.'

x-x

Hidden behind a tree a little ways from the path to the dorms, Mizore looked through the scrapbook she made of Jaden's articles. She had fallen for the writer she hadn't ever met before and she had been rejected.

And now she felt like her heart had shattered. Unable to help it tears started to run down her cheeks.

Two members of the soccer club walked back to the dorms after practice chatting about little things when they heard her crying. And started to run their mouths when saw what see looked like. One asked if he could, "help her forget whatever was bothering her" at his room.

"Leave me alone… You're annoying me…" she muttered under her breath as the temperature dropped down low. The boys didn't hear her clearly and came closer, exactly what she didn't want.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that." The boy was going ask her to say it again.

"I SAID THAT YOU'RE ANNOYING ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Mizore shouted as freezing winds and snow started to blow creating a miniature blizzard.

After the isolated snowstorm had ended, the two boys were frozen in a solid block of ice and Mizore half cried in sorrow and half whimpered in longing, "Jaden…"

x-x

As Fangs looked over to Jaden to collect her cross from him, she saw him holding it in one hand and moving the other around it as if he was trying to make it move without touching it.

The platinum-haired vampire blinked her red eyes a couple of times as she tried to figure out what he was up to. After a few seconds she gave up on figuring it out just asked, "What are you doing?"

Jaden looked up at the awakened vampire, "I'm was trying to figure out why this seal of yours always seems to be attracted to my hand like some kind of magnet. I thought it might be that it was caused by some kind of interaction with my 'Youki', but it looks I was wrong." Jaden explained, using the term for a yokai's energy instead of saying powers of darkness, as he stood up, "Looks like there is some sort of requirement based release feature…"

"But, that aside need we talk about you." Jaden said, Fangs raised an eyebrow at that, his eyes were still his natural brown color but were sharp and calculating, "Namely, your choice of fighting style."

"Is there a problem with it?" Moka's eyes narrowed, as her tone made it clear that saying yes would be viewed as a challenge to a fight.

Jaden tossed the rosary to Kurumu, who caught it confused, and then freaked both of the other two present parties out when black smoke crawled up his clothes and replaced them with the outfit from he had made in his dreamscape only without the cape.

"Yes." He said.

As Kurumu stood by and watched the since unfold, she was thankful that the other members hadn't come to the clubroom in time to see the whole incident with Ice-puppet and then come along to see this. She gripped the cross from Moka's seal tightly in her hand. This was getting completely out of hand, Jaden knew he was basically provoking fangs to a fight by saying that her fighting style was flawed and using that black smoke to change his outfit into what they were starting to recognize as his new battle gear with Nenekirimaru strapped across his back.

Right now the succubus knew that there wasn't any way for her to stop them, all she could do was hope that they would back off of there and hide behind a tree, praying for their well being, if they didn't.

"I'm going to ask again in case I misheard you…" Fangs said levelly, giving one of the only people she'd ever use the word "friend" to describe if she was asked, a chance to back out, "Are you saying that there's a problem with my fighting style?"

"Actually there are three problems, two with it and one with you. The first that it is immature, the second is the fact that it is completely incompatible with skirts causing everyone present to receive an eyeful every time you attack someone." Jaden spoke very seriously until a sarcastic tone came into play, "Unless of course you were intending stun your opponents with panty shots, in which case, bravo. You're skills are second to none."

Fangs wasted no more time with words and attacked with a spinning kick intending to demonstrate to him why vampires are the highest of apex predators. But the sheathed form of Nenekirimaru took the blow instead of the herald of darkness, who held his ground with both hands braced against it, while Fangs felt a pain in her shin where she had made contact with the white weapon.

"And the second and biggest problem is your pride." There was no sarcasm in any of

Jaden's words now. His eyes were hardened by battles and all the secrets of his ancient past, "You are so damned sure that no one can beat you because you're a vampire you will get yourself killed."

Flipping back to put some distance between the two of them Fangs noticed the beginnings of a burse on her leg. It was only a burse but it was still unthinkable that she could be harmed by the brunette, who had been subdued by the mad-slug and medusa.

"Nuraihyon wasn't a vampire, but a yokai of a nameless type, and he was still the supreme commander who led the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. He won the loyalty of his subordinates not because of what he was, but because of who he was and what he did." Jaden spoke in a low steady voice, took slow and deliberate steps toward the silver haired vampire. "In terms of raw power, if a vampire ever challenged him to a duel for control of the Night Parade, he should have lost. But many vampires did come to challenge him and he won every time, because they were blinded by their own pride."

Fangs tensed when Jaden took the sword by its handle and removed it from its scabbard with a smooth movement that made a song with a single note.

Tossing the white lacquered wood to Kurumu for safe keeping, Jaden took a relaxed stance with the sword's handle in his gauntlet free left hand and the back of the blade resting on his shoulder.

"Now, I would prefer to just talk to you about this, but the worst problem with being prideful is that you can never admit when it's a problem. So that means I have to take advantage of the fact that one way of writing 'to training' in Japan also 'to forge' and hammer out that fault by hand," He said jovially, making the "come here" gesture with a metal covered finger.

Fangs immediately obliged him by rushing at him and attacking with a side kick from her left.

"I've seen London," Jaden said in a sing-song voice as he side stepped Fangs' attack then grabbed her leg by the ankle in his right hand.

"I've seen France," he continued to sing as threw the vampire's leg up and forward, making her lose balance and fall back as Jaden moved in close using his hand to keep the leg locked up and rested the point of Nenekirimaru at her chest.

"And what did I just tell you about your attacks and underpants?" he asked as Fangs glared up at the boy and blushed at the mentioning of her wardrobe malfunction, as she had started to become increasingly self-aware now that it had been mentioned and Jaden's expression changed again from toying to analytical and disappointed, "Congratulations by the way… Not on your attack. The shortest fight between Nuraihyon and a vampire was seventeen seconds, congratulations breaking the record."

As Fangs felt the red hot rage burn in her chest at the insult as she slapped the blade away from her and used her strength to pull her leg free and try to kick Jaden in the face.

As he dodged the kick, Jaden took notice of the intense youki that was pouring out of the vampire and condensing as black bats around her as she stood up.

"Looks like you've become the center of her attention." Yubel commented as Fangs tensed up to attack and then disappeared and reappeared right in front of Jaden her leg raised for an axe-kick.

Using the shadow-skates to lunch himself back away from the attack, Jaden narrowly missed the devastating blow which tore up the ground as it concaved one itself. "Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that you've become the center of her killing intent." Yubel amended her earlier statement as she surveyed the damage.

Fangs stayed in the position she had been in since she had finished her ground breaking attack. She knew that the bangs of her hair were covering her eyes so that meant they couldn't betray her shock to the others there. She had first she just wanted to prove that Jaden was wrong about her skills but now she had just attacked Jaden with the intent to kill; things were getting completely out of hand. The best thing that Moka could think of to do at this point was to keep claim and say something about how fighting someone like Jaden was beneath her and walk away, this way her pride would stay intact and no one would be seriously hurt.

"Moving on to the second problem… You know that your technique looks like something designed for a twelve year old girl?" Jaden asked.

Fang's red eyes narrowed as her lips pulled back in a snarl making her fangs completely visible as the burning rage returned and she zeroed in on Jaden, unleashing dozens of furious kicks at the smirking swordsman, who dodged the ones that he could and when he couldn't he would move his sword into just the right place to force Fangs to stop her attack or risk having her leg amputated.

Fangs was steadily growing angrier as she fought Jaden who danced around her and continued to talk, "I wasn't trying to be insulting earlier, I was stating a fact. Your style looks it was developed when you were twelve. In fact, for a child's technique it's probably the greatest fighting-style ever designed. You obviously had a good teacher who was skilled enough to know that at the time you needed the extra reach and strength your legs afforded and needed to be trained to take on any opponents larger than you."

"Whoever your teacher was, they must have been one hell of a fighter," Jaden said respectfully, Fangs let up on her attacks as she heard those kind words as memories of a pink-haired woman in a red dress holding her hand and smiling kindly at her filled her mind until she pushed them back and returned her attention back to her opponent.

"But you aren't a child anymore and a style that focuses solely on kicking is predictable when used by someone in our age group. And since you haven't let yourself improve since then, you're tossing aside all the effort that your teacher put into training you," Jaden said as he changed his fighting stance from relaxed and fluid to solid and focused as his brown slightly changed color. But his eyes weren't taking on their normal bichromic blue-green and deep orange colors. They were both still the same color, but were flaked with golden-yellow, "And I can't wait for you to learn that you're not all powerful the hard way. After all, vampires have natural transformation abilities but they forsake them for vanities sake, the only thing that will make it through that kind of idiotic pride is someone getting seriously hurt or maybe even killed. I am going to have to shove you down into a sewer and drag you up a mountain so you can visit the scenic hot spring bathhouse."

With speed that Fangs was sure wasn't possible for a human; Jaden rushed forward and brought the sword down in a slash that would have cut a deep gash from her shoulder to hip if she hadn't dodged. She would have tried to counter attack but Jaden continued to attack with strikes intended ether take her down or keep her off balance so she couldn't counter attack or put any distance. As she continued to dodge his strikes, she grew increasingly frustrated that her kicks were unable to land and because she couldn't keep her balance her form was becoming increasingly sloppy and…

'… Childish' Fangs realized as Jaden's words repeated in her head and the swordsman started a swing from his left that would cut her into two haves at the waist, 'Jaden was right. My style is no longer a fit for me and is going to get me or someone else killed…'

Time seemed to slowdown as the blade neared its target. Knowing that Fangs wouldn't be able jump back Jaden prepared to turn it on its side at the last minute to prevent it from dismembering the vampire, but the blow would still sting like hell and would prove two both parties who the winner was.

Fangs knew that none of her normal moves would work and Jaden would have proved his point, defeating her completely, regardless if he struck her with back off the blade or the sharp edge. 'He was right about my way of fighting… but I won't let him rob me of my pride!' Fangs spun into the attack getting in close as she grabbed Jaden's sword arm by the wrist, hard, making him wince in pain. Not noticing Jaden's pained expression, Fangs continued by releasing his wrist and punching him in the chest making him tumble to the ground three yards with the wind knocked out of him and his blood pound painfully in his vanes as it crossed over where he was hit.

Shaking as he stood up slowly Jaden almost collapsed back to the ground as a sharp pain shot through his right foot, it wasn't broken or sprained but it was banged up pretty good. As Jaden changed his stance he felt his grip on his sword getting weaker; he swapped Nenekirimaru to his gauntleted right hand and took a few deep breaths as he heard Kurumu come out from behind the tree she was hiding behind yelling that it was enough and begging them to stop.

"Be quiet, Kurumu!" Jaden ordered her as his eyes turned even more of the golden-yellow color, shocking the succubus into obeying as he returned his attention to Fangs. He had managed to get her realize the need to change her fighting style but she still needed to let go of her pride.

Fangs sighed as she shook her head and tried to talk him down, "That's enough, Jaden. You can't beat me. If you try to-" The vampire was genuinely concerned for her friend but he stopped her in a loud voice, "Fangs!"

The vampire looked back up to Jaden's face which was set in a smirk as he lowered his knees down. "Know your Place," and with those last words Jaden used the shadow skates to launch him high into the air. When he was at the peak of his jump he point the blade up, where it caught the faint sunlight from the overcast sky, and sent a charge of darkness in to the former sacred sword which made its blade glow silver laced with wisps of shadows, and then brought it point down to ground.

It narrowly missed impaling the vampire and cut the front of her school uniform open as it buried its self in to the ice, discharging purple energy from it where it pierced the ground.

Fangs gaped at the power behind the move and at the cut in her shirt, which reviled her plain white bra and turned it in to a scowl pointed toward Jaden. Who grinned as he twisted Nenekirimaru in the ice, causing a large spider web of cracks to spread across the ice he and Fangs were standing on, that was when she remembered where she was standing, on top of a frozen lake and thought with a horrible realization, 'I'm standing in the center of a frozen lake…that means I'm standing above water!'

"Oh-" Whatever Moka was going to say next was lost as the ice broke and dunked both her and Jaden into the lake.

As Moka felt the water's purifying nature take effect, draining her powers and lashing out at her painfully as it pulled her under, her mind was filled with thoughts of outrage at her first true defeat, 'That little idiot! He knew that I wouldn't be able to continue to fight if he broke the ice and would have to be helped out of here! …And now he'll be insufferable once he pulls me out.'

But then she saw Jaden was sinking down next to her, weighted down by the shadow-skates, and his eyes were closed. 'He must have exhausted himself…' Moka realized with horror, 'He must have known that he wouldn't have the strength to swim after using that move… So why didn't he back off?'

'I would have…' Moka start to mentally criticize his decision until she started to compare it to what she would have done, 'I would have done the same thing… Looks like my pride really can get me or others killed if I don't learn when to let go of it…'

As she started to blackout she saw Kurumu dive down to rescue Jaden. 'So he's going to be alright… that's good.' Moka thought as her vision went black. Not noticing the large scaly hands hold onto her and carry her up and out of the water.

X

Once she was out of the water Moka's youki started to correct its self and strengthen, making her wake up to see Tamao preparing to give to her mouth to mouth, but thankfully for the vampire she stopped as she noticed that the other girl was awake.

"Oh, thank god you're alright." Tamao sighed in relief as Yukari glomped the sliver haired vampire. Ignoring the little witch, the transmuted aquatic yokai continued to speak, "I was worried that I had fished you out of the water to late. But it looks like I got here right in the nick of time."

Prying the sobbing Yukari off of her, Moka couldn't help but wonder what the two were doing at the lake in the first place. Anticipating the vampire's question Tamao explained, "When we saw the pink icing and the half melted figure, we were worried and went looking for you three. Thankfully we happened to be nearby when you were unsealed, so we felt your youki and managed to get here in time to see the last part of your fight with Jaden."

"Jaden!" that name shot through Moka like an eclectic current as she remembered that the darkness harbinger had fallen into the water too. "Is Jaden alright?!" she asked franticly in concern for the young "Nuraihyon" swordsman.

"I'm fine aside from a couple of burses, thank you for asking," the duelist said from where Kurumu was helping him keep pressure off of his bad leg, "How about you?"

Moka thought of everything Jaden had said and how he kept growing stronger all the time, proof that there was truth to what he was saying. Nodding the vampire stood up and walked over to fights victor and the succubus. "Yeah, I'm going to be just fine. Thank you. I won't let my pride be my master anymore or let it stop me from asking for help if I need to." She said sincerely as held out her hand for Jaden to shake.

Taking his arm from Kurumu's shoulders Jaden took a couple of steps forward, and took the platinum-haired vampire's right hand in his gauntleted one and shook it, "What are friends for?" he asked rhetorically.

"And Jaden..?" Moka asked as she continued to shake his hand. "I won't let pride from being petty about something like my outfit being torn." She said, referring to the modifications to her uniform made by Nenekirimaru.

Jaden blinked as his brain tried to change gears, but that took two little seconds to long.

"KNOW YOUR PLACE!" Moka bellowed as she kicked the swordsman in the side of his ribs, sending him flying into a tree with a crunch as it broke and the warrior continued on to a second tree that made Jaden stop with a jarring halt.

Very glad his battle gear was made to reduce impact, the harbinger of the darkness groaned in pain. Battle gear or not it would still be a miracle if he didn't get any broken bones from that attack, "Could someone help me get to the school infirmary please?" he asked weakly.

x-x

As Moka woke up the next morning with the seal sound and secure around her neck, her mind was full of confusion and a lot of questions that tied into one labyrinthine mystery, just what was Jaden's power? Jaden's power was growing all the time and she couldn't imagine how it was possible for a human to become so strong in such a short time.

But Jaden had already said that both of his parents were human, so it had to be true and it was possible, but that power didn't feel right. Like it was always calling out and something in the dark and lonely corners of her heart was trying to answer…

But, maybe she was over analyzing things, she thought as she changed into her uniform and headed to for the classes of the day.

x-x

As far as Moka and Jaden could tell everyone at the class-room was present… except for Mizore, who once again had skipped coming to classes.

"Mizore missed a lot of classes at the beginning of this school year due to her being suspended because some kind of incident, and she can't afford to miss too many more or she be too far behind to catch up with her class this semester." Ms. Nekonome told the pink haired vampire and the "Nuraihyon".

Jaden's attention was gained at the mentioning of an "incident".

The parties involved in closed cases involving the teaching weren't allowed to mention the specifics unless the chief of the internal affairs or the student police reopened it for investigation. So for Ms. Nekonome who was obviously involved as the yuki-onna's homeroom teacher to mention it like indirectly was little odd, especially since she had "accidentally" called for internal affairs chief along with the class president…

"So, I want you two to drag her to class, okay?" The feline teacher continued to speak, "She'll either be in her room or at the cliff near her dorm."

As the two started out the door to do just as the teacher had asked, a person in his mid-twenties/early-thirties, who Jaden recognized as the gym-teacher Kotsubo Okuto, came in and passed the both of them and marched over to the other teacher and said, "Ms. Nekonome, Mizore attacked two of my soccer team members."

Jaden turned a critical eye toward the gym teacher and told his friend, "Moka, head back to the newspaper club for now… I'll handle things with Mizore."

x-x

Jaden didn't like the way things were starting to take shape.

After Moka had left, Jaden had asked the teacher why he hadn't brought the case to the Student Police and was told that, "The only way you can get something done that way is by showing how much "respect" you're will to give them."

After he asked if he could interview the team members, Jaden found out that they had been "beaten a half to death" and the bases for the gym teacher's accusation was the fact that there was ice on the scene and Mizore's notebook.

Both were very condemning pieces of evidence… but something about that Kotsubo guy, didn't feel right. Even after he had left Jaden couldn't shake the feeling that something nasty was hanging around him like the stench of rotten sushi. And "beating" someone didn't sound something like a creature of snow would do.

"Well if it isn't my favorite trouble maker, Jaden." A seductive female voice rang out from behind Jaden. Its owner, Kagome Ririko, was a woman with light-colored hair, circular glasses over her brown eyes, dressed in a white v-neck shirt with a wide collar and a dark skirt, and a matured figure that surpassed Kurumu's still developing one.

"Hey, how are you doing Kagome?" the student/chief of Y.I.A. asked, unfazed by her antics.

"I've fine, but you need to be careful or you'll get hurt if you cause too much trouble for yourself. Not all the teachers here are as nice as me. That Kotsubo Okuto is a prime example of that." Kagome said soberly, "He's well known among the faculty for making fast moves on the girls and being very strict. If he sets his eyes on a girl he never lets go… I think that in the start of this semester a girl was suspended because of him."

Jaden remembering what the feline teacher had said about the yuki-onna and, never trusting coincidence, looked the lamia squarely in the eyes and asked, "Ms. Ririko, was that student Mizore Shirayuki? Please tell me, this could be really serious."

x-x

Mizore had been at the cliff as Ms. Nekonome said she might be, trying to come to grips with her rampant emotions as tears rolled down her face, when she heard someone behind her, "As usual you came here. You always come here when you get depressed, Shirayuki."

The yuki-onna was going to turn around to face him, hoping that she was wrong about whom it was, but two strong hands grabbed her from behind and she was only able look over her shoulder. But even that confirmed her fears; it was the gym teacher Mr. Okuto. He said, "You should be careful around here. The wind is strong enough to make someone fall over the edge of the cliff"

"What are you doing-?" Mizore began to say in fear, until she saw his face and that smirk and knew what he was thinking. She started to fight her away out of the gym teacher grasp as he tried keeping his hold on her until she broke free and tried to push Kotsubo away from her. Shoving the adult squarely in the chest pushed with all her strength… and realized with horror that she had pushed him off of the cliff.

Mizore rushed over to the edge to help him, hoping that he was fine; she didn't want to hurt him, but her concern was missed placed. A tentacle shot out over the edge of the cliff and wrapped around her leg and pulled her down over the edge's lip. The yuki-onna would have been pulled off the cliff entirely, but she managed to grab onto a small tree growing out of the cliff.

As she clung on to the tiny plant for dear life, Mizore looked down and felt her heart stop. Kotsubo had changed into his true-form, a kraken; it looked like he had an octopus on his back but the eight strong, suction-cupped tentacles were no laughing matter. "You really are troublesome girl, Shirayuki." The crocked gym educator said, as he continued to pull on her leg, "I was just joking before, but you already tried to kill me before when you attacked me at the start of the school year, and now I really am going to drag under!"

"You tried to molest me!" Mizore yelled as she tightened her grip on the plant to the point her hand was being cut on its rough bark.

"YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME RIGHT?!" He shouted, "IT SHOULDN'T MATTER WHAT I DO TO YOU IN THAT CASE RIGHT?!"

'When I first met him, I thought he was charming… I never would have fallen for him if I known what he was really like.' Mizore thought, as the tiny little tree sprout she had been clinging to came uprooted, and remembered the brunette in the black coat and wished that he would come and save her but she still continued to fall, '…I guess I was alone from the start…'

And the yuki-onna fell down to the rocky red lake bed. Her bloodied hand stretched up to take a hand that she knew wouldn't be there. Except it was there and it clasped on to Mizore's out stretched arm. "Jaden, why are you here?" the young, purple-haired girl asked in surprise and bewilderment, unable to comprehend why he was there.

"While I'm not an expert on detective work or anything like that, I have sense for reading the darkness in a person's heart." Jaden said as he continued to hold on to the ice yokai, "And both the story Mr. Okuto tried to sell everyone about you beating two students without being provoked and the good teacher himself had the unmistakable stench of sinister intentions."

"SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE IDIOT!" the kraken shouted, another one of his tentacles shooting out to wrap around the brunette's neck so he could simply break the little shrimps neck and finish off his little stocker friend.

But then a young man appeared next to the two. There was no smoke or flash of light he was just suddenly there. Moving too fast for anyone to make out any of his features; he raked his hand over the appendage that threatened to break Jaden's neck causing a set of five scratches appear on it, making the teacher wince and then scream without warning. The second the stranger's hand was no longer in contact with the new scars, they lengthened and grew deeper with a discharge of purple energy until the tentacle was cut completely through in five places.

And then he nimbly flipped over the cliff's edge, spinning like a top upside down, and cut the tentacle holding on to Mizore's leg and disappeared again.

Without resistance of the kraken pulling on her, Mizore was not only pulled up but half flew, hitting Jaden on the way up, knocking him off balance and setting them both tumbling to the tree line where they stopped Jaden laying prone on the ground and Mizore on top of him.

"Gee, you sure move fast, boss." The stranger said as reappeared near them, letting Jaden finally recognize him. "Shut up Gabriel," Jaden glared at the Cheshire-Cat, who was now in his true form. The best way to describe it was a werecat with gray fur and neon purple stripes.

"What did you do, you little piece of trash!" the kraken yelled as he hauled himself over cliff. His tentacles had completely regenerated already, but they didn't fell right, it was like they were the turning numb.

"The power of a Cheshire Cat is not just simple invisibility…" Gabriel said solemnly, as he flexed his hand letting his obsidian colored claws unsheathe to their full length of two inches, and the kraken lashed out with a tentacle that passed through the feline yokai like he was a marriage, who glared at the perverse teacher, "To full comprehend the power a Cheshire, is to feel the fear of facing an opponent who can warp his own existence to disappear and then reappear somewhere else entirely, or become like a sinister spirit who fights with agility and ferocity like a crazed wildcat. And as for what I did to your tentacles, I used the first of the Wonderland techniques…"

A flash of five claws brought the five scars in to being heralding the inevitable limb severing effect.

"By pouring youki into my claws, anything I cut with them becomes infected with my power, like how things become irradiated in a nuclear fallout area, letting me warp the reality of the cuts changing them to dismembering attacks." The gray furred yokai explained, "The attack I've been using in this fight is the first of the Wonderland techniques, Playful Kitten... And that numbing feeling you feel spreading in your tentacles and body is the chemical agent I use in my nail polish… if you were curious about that."

"Stand down. I will handle things form here." Jaden said as he walked in front of the two others and faced the enemy, "Kotsubo Okuto, by the powers invested me as chief of the internal affairs department; I am placing you under preventive custody under the charges of assault and battery, sexual abuse, and tempted murder."

"YOU CAN"T ARREST ME, YOU LITTLE WANABE COP!"

"And resisting arrest" Jaden added not missing a beat.

"DON'T THINK THAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO TAKE…me in… without o-out… a… fight…" The kraken's voiced faded as he fell to the ground face first.

Jaden shook his head, while Yubel and Manna started to chant an old shadow spell to make the kraken change to his human form, and took a pair hand cuffs. "You already fought Gabe and lost..."

"Not my fault it was over before the starting bell rang."

'Starting before the bell is against the rules of every organized sport ever created, you head case...' both of the still awake parties thought.