I think you could tell from last post, but I am, indeed, alive. So good to see the ones following are alive too! That made me happy. I'll give my best to deliver chapters of three to four thousand words once per month and will be doing a few experimentations at first to see both what style is more liked and what fits me better. Now, here we go.

YUKI ONNA

"Even if they drive you, dreams are mostly only oneiric experiences, no more, no less."

Chapter Two: Name

Mizore was actually born in China.

That was, for some reason, a hard information to process, maybe because she spoke so fluently in both Japanese and English when we first met all those years ago, and nothing in her would make you say 'that's a Chinese over there.' Her eyes were almost abnormally big, but, as a child, I only though they were beautiful. On better though, any rubbish could pass as Japanese for me at that time, and I don't really know much about Chinese people, so my opinion is almost worthless.

I use the word 'fluently' lightly; it's not like her speech was perfect on any of the languages, but it was enough for me to be amazed. Even then, I already though that her way of speaking English to check if she would receive understanding was absolutely cute, even if English was not the official language. At the time, my English was quite bad too, so the two of us only presumed what the other was saying.

It must have sounded like this lasted for a period of time. Well, for sure it did, but her mother's intervention was really quick to follow.

My memory isn't foggy; it's just extremely hard to remember all the little things of that time, almost like I was born fifteen, already friends with her and background is just something made up at the spur of the moment, full of plot holes. Well, I heard that's not really uncommon, although the degree is a great variable.

What I DO remember is that it was a really good stage of my life. I really loved my life back then. Of course, it's not like I'm not attached to it nowadays, but those days were golden for me.

South America, Brazil. It was quite lucky of me that she came close to where I live.

As I've been repeating, I can only say we were young back them. Well, I was, and I was told Mizore was too, but she is, indeed, a specimen of Yuki Onna. And I admit I know nothing about their kind, save what Tsurara told me. And that, although I believed it fully and blindly when I was told, I can see now it was kind of idealized. But we humans are the same, so it would take a big deal of hypocrisy to complain about that.

Tsurara Shirayuki, she called herself. She was an elegant, beautiful woman, whose kindness was extremely attractive. My friend's mother was also a legitimate polyglot; I don't remember the number of languages she spoke, but she could be comfortable anywhere in the world with what she had. She decided to teach me a few, and for that I am eternally grateful, even if, at the time, I only saw it as cool. From there, my English knowledge advanced at a terrific pace, and even my Portuguese got better. She also taught me a few things in Japanese, but I can only remember how to write a handful and know a few by phonetic only.

She was a rigid teacher, but also an awesome one. My parents also proved themselves very rigid about time; Tsurara could, of course, call them to expand the limit a little, but I was really afraid of what they could have done if I didn't always arrive on time. I still am.

I remember that at that time my classes were on the afternoon only, covering about four hours. My time with Tsurara and Mizore was usually after that, but sometimes she picked me up at home during the morning. On the weekends, we didn't have a routine, but most Saturdays I spent in their company.

"Japanese", I remember answering back then. Japanese. Not too long into the intensive classes with her, Tsurara asked me what other language I would like to learn.

"It can be quite hard, you know?" she shot back.

At the time, I think simply wanted to speak whatever languages my best friend spoke, plus Japanese is really cool. She said it was hard, but that didn't matter, as long as it was possible. I was quite naïve then.

It's not like I regret it, but I underestimated that language. I managed to understand little, and to write less. Well, it was worth it. Really worth it.

Now why am I reminiscing about that now? The answer is quite simple, you see.

For all I know, it's really common for the human mind to create tangent thoughts while trying to focus on something that's slightly related to it, to the point that the final result sometimes is worlds apart from your first though. For example, I can find a sound beautiful, and then remember how birds singing is also beautiful, in my opinion, and then think about endangered bird's species and we end up thinking about environment related stuff. Well, that's just an example, even if a little exaggerated at that.

The thing is, I'm thinking about Mizore. My whole objective in coming to Youkai Academy was to be, as Tsurara had phrased it, her support again, what guarantees that her next step won't be the last, even if she trips. Quite the poet that woman could have been, if she wasn't preparing for a large scale battle. I have no idea what it is about, or against whom, but that was what she told me when she sent me.

I was supposed to help Mizore to get over her trauma, but…

"Here it is, Daichi."

…Why is she so happy? The last thing I remember was falling asleep, frozen by her tears, under her. And yet…

She is so happy I feel guilty about wondering why, I think I should focus on keeping it that way. Still, I'm forgetting something, I'm sure of it. Something happened between late last night and early this morning. I…I can't seem to recall any of it. Did I do something to get her this happy? Even though I remember nothing about it?

Still, I woke in her bed this morning, dry I add. When I got up, there she was… managing to turn a number of things into something edible. How I'm not sure, but ice molding can be quite convenient. Knives, forks, anything of the like, you can simply create. Well, technically Yuki Onnas utilize all kinds of moisture to turn it into ice, but here that's pretty much creating it out of the blue.

The thing is, she got something that LOOKS LIKE some kinds of berries, like blueberry and strawberry, although I have no idea of where she could have gotten it from. Deciding that wondering wouldn't make it any simpler, I grabbed one of the fruit look-a-like, which was surrounded by scraps of ice. I took a bite

"!"

Big mistake. The flavor sure reminded me of strawberry, but it was, in fact, ice. I was having ice (with taste) along with MORE ice, only in scraps, for breakfast. But… Even though she is talking, I can't listen, not now. Not while I am still worried about why she is like this. What can I be forgetting?

I pass the time wondering about that, until I came up with another logic error: I've come to her room during lunch break, if I recall correctly. If I don't, I came after class. The point is that, either way, I've been unconscious for way too long, right till morning. Besides not being a heavy sleeper, my sleep routine tends to be six hours most of days. Usually twice per month, I end up sleeping eight to nine hours, and if I end up doing an all-nighter, for twelve hours. Instead, it seems I stayed unconscious for fourteen to eighteen hours. Something happened in my sleep, I'm sure of it even more now.

By now, I'm already on way to school. Mizore is still acting like a happy child, and my head is already starting to hurt while I go over ALL the possibilities I can think of.

I call them 'possibilities', but that's way too kind. They are mostly things involving invaders, some involving cloning and a few even have aliens in them. In short, most are ridiculous ideas that might be possible in another universe. Hey, we know nothing about what's out there, so I can't say it's utterly impossible.

Some of them I thought were too ridiculous to finish the thought, but then I reminded myself that monsters DO exist, and I advanced with them. Keeping that in mind, I can find solutions to my unconsciousness, but not to Mizore's behavior, and I'm certain they're connected. Well, there IS a possibility they aren't, but that thought won't go anywhere.

While going to school, that was all that was on my mind. That is, until I heard the sound of concrete-like substance being smashed. Unless it's a comedy, this sound tends to attract the immediate thoughts of those who hear it.

"Wow!"

"The wall was smashed to pieces in one punch!"

My thoughts exactly, to be quite honest. It doesn't matter if I'm willing to admit it, that IS an impressive strength. For a human mind, at least. But judging from the monsters' reaction to it, I think that is considered pretty strong even for their standards.

"Vampire, you say?! Vampires are immortal atrocious western monsters! It's even said that they're the best of all monsters at using their supernatural powers! Are you such a vampire?! Don't lie to me…!" Saizo's hand had transformed into a giant one, with absurd nails. Tsukune's face was as pale as a ghost.

"Anyway, don't go near Moka again! If you even talk to her you're a dead boy!"

With the threat gone for now, Tsukune slid down the remnants of the wall. You could see in his face how seriously he was considering Saizo's words, and he should. After all, just like he was muttering, Saizo had smashed concrete with his bare hands.

Saizo had gone away because I had found a rudimentary hiding spot, and dragged Mizore with me to it. Well, behind it, really. It really was just a tree. So, I think Tsukune must have passed yesterday in Moka's company all the time, so Saizo let his anger get the best of him no surprise, and gave a serious threat.

"Now that's a little problematic…" I muttered while going around the tree to show myself. Tsukune was already running to the boys' dorm, probably to get his things. I followed him, and, surely, he emerged out of his room with his luggage. He walked aimlessly for a while, probably thinking about leaving the school.

Then came the fuel.

"Morning! If we don't hurry we're gonna be tardy!"

"Mo-Moka!"

The vampire in question had thrown herself on his back and hugged him. What yesterday was his joy, however, now served only to drive him further away. My thoughts, as I approached them with Mizore, were that he probably figured that, with Moka's personality, it would be impossible to keep his distance.

That showed when he was on verge of tears after she let go. Moka then notice all that was in his hands.

"Tsukune? What's wrong? All that luggage…"

"I can't help it, Moka! This school is just too scary! I wanna go to a human one."

"A human one…?" I can say I didn't like her intonation. "No way1! You can't go off to some human school! I hate those humans!"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Both I and Tsukune showed our surprise. I think now they actually noticed I'm here, with Mizore (who is too quiet, now that I think about it...).

"Actually, I went to a human school through middle school…"

Moka explained her situation, and no one could blame the vampire for her dislike of humans. I mean, she was exposed to a bad kind of human, no doubt. I can't agree with her on hating humans in general, but the ones who are the focus of her hatred surely deserve it. Seems like they didn't believe in monsters, and that made Moka feel really bad. They weren't even mature enough to put up with what they thought was a kid's fantasy…

"But you said I was all right even though you found out I'm a vampire and so… This has been the first time in my life I haven't felt alone!" Tsukune's face is getting paler and paler as Moka's speech came to an end "You can't go, Tsukune! Let's study hard in this academy, together!"

And I presented you the last straw.

"If… If I said I was one of the humans you hate… Would you still stop me?"

"Huh?" Moka is really surprised it seems. Well, I am as well.

"I'm… Human." I didn't think he would have said that so fast. The secret is out already, for Moka at least.

Tsukune then explained his circumstances. About how a human ended up in this school because of some mistake, and all that. In the end, he ran away to the bust stop, and Moka, shocked, didn't move an inch.

"Well, this really is problematic… Mizore, stay by Moka. Try to cheer her up. I'll go get our little runner" I say this again, Mizore's behavior is unnerving. She did as I said, without saying anything. Maybe I'm a little paranoid because of her recovery, and she is speaking and I'm not listening to her, but the fact is that she moved closer to Moka while I ran after Tsukune.

As mentioned before, the guy was pretty average, so even I managed to catch him.

"Slow down, Tsukune! I'm a lazy guy, so I won't catch if you run a little bit faster!"

Maybe because we were together in the bus, or it might not have anything to do with it, Tsukune slowed down to a stop.

"You're one of them, right?" He muttered. He put up a brave front, but even if I didn't come after him, he would probably have turned back anyway. His resolve was to face this school, not run away from it.

"Yeah" I answered him. I took my time to think this sentence through "I am one of them."

"Ha" he laughed bitterly "If Moka is a vampire, what would you be?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm one of them. Also, one of the ones who would prefer you to stay here, Tsukune" I thought on my sentence, and that was really lame. That's because I had originally intended to say here that I am human too, but decided against it in the last second. "It's not like the species matter, in this school, it's a rule to act like a human. This should be even easier for you."

He actually laughed a little.

"My point is, Tsukune, you can't leave now. It would turn out to be one of your biggest mistakes. Human or monster, I, for example, would have come here either way."

Now he looked surprised. God, how much longer will I have to drag this speech on? The worst part is that I'm not even sure if it was necessary.

"Why? Beside this school looking fun, there's someone important to me here, who I can't leave alone. Isn't that the case for you, now, human?" The 'human' at end served to emphasize the idea that I wasn't one of them. I felt a little dumb because that was a lie I wouldn't believe. When we manipulate someone's though about what we are and aren't, the stronger you defend a position, the less likely you have it. Still, it worked.

"Someone important…"

To sum it up, the human called Tsukune grabbed the self-named human Daichi's hand with his own.

But when we returned I started wondering if I shouldn't have encouraged Tsukune to leave instead.

….

...

Saizo's fortune ended when he decided to get both of them.

Or, to be exact, when he took such a hasty decision. There was a high probability of him getting the worst end either way, but he ended choosing that moment.

Saizo was a proud slave of lust, one could say, to the point where he cared about nothing but who his next girl will be. When he entered in that state, it was quite hard to contain him, something absolutely impossible for humans, so it was an utterly helpless situation for all the girls he took an interest to in the human world.

He was not one to listen to reason, or to listen to anything at all. So, he ended up coming out of hiding not long after Tsukune and Daichi left, walking to Moka, throwing Mizore aside for now.

"Hey, why is it you're alone?!" He asked, grabbing Moka's wrist and totally disregarding Mizore's presence.

"Saizo…!"

"You shouldn't be lonely, Moka Akashiya, when you can be with a man like me!"

Moka made an effort to rid herself of the grip and jump away.

"Mwaha… I'm serious! Your beauty is incomparable to all those humans I have molested!" Saizo continued to spout these as if any girl would be attracted by it "I want you in all seriousness, Moka Akashiya!"

It was at that point that Saizo started changing out of his human disguise, showing his true form. For some people, it could be quite disgusting, probably even more because he made a point of letting his tongue half a meter out of his mouth.

"I'm going to enjoy this little violation of the school rules!"

With that said, his dripping tongue shot towards Moka, touching her cheek. But it continued going forward.

Moka closed her eyes when she felt the tongue touch her cheek, but soon the sensation left her, passing her ear, and dripping a different type of liquid on her face.

A scream then reached her ears.

Was it pain or was it terror? One won't ever know what sensation had a bigger role in Saizo's scream as he realized that his tongue wouldn't ever return to his mouth again.

Tears of pain, or maybe of fear, clouding his vision, he barely managed to see the ice returning to the form of moisture in the air, his blood falling like a small rain, seemingly out of nothing.

With terror numbing most of his senses, and what pain he could feel taking care of the rest, Saizo could only fall to his knees. A thrusting motion was done soon after. Still, Saizo could see he still had his life. As his consciousness left him, he became a servant to something other than lust. Vengeance.

…..

...

"Shit! It hurts! Ahg!" It's my left arm that hurts this much. Why? Because I have an ice blade inside it, that's why. It hurts!

'Why?" I don't know if she's fearful, or if it's just my hearing that has become bad with my internal screams of pain.

"Ha… Haha… Why, you ask?" I'm becoming crazy with pain. Maybe I am even becoming mad. So, I laugh a little, in that unconvincing way crazy men and madmen laugh. "Why I saved this… scum? Haha…!" No good. I think I'm losing my mind here. Now I'm sure she is trembling a little, because every time she does, so does the blade she put inside my left arm, and it makes the pain worse, but at least keeps me awake.

The angle at which she thrust it was quite a problem. The blade entered my arm through my palm, and buried itself in me, reaching my elbow.

"This won't be… your sin to bear."

She widens her eyes and her focus is even more lost, so the blade ceases to exist. My numb extended left arm fall, and water pour from the hole in my hand, washing away a good deal of blood as well.

"Give me your hatred." I said to her what I had had likely rehearsed more than ten times last morning. "Give me your hatred and let me get rid of your enemies. Your revenge will be my sin alone. That's why I am your… 'Daichi' (大地), remember?"

"Your-your arm!" I had, by now, fallen on her. My arm looked like the mess it was now, but I will convince myself it could be worse.

"It's okay. I don't feel the pain anymore" Just not telling her it's probably because she stopped the blood flow to it. It must an utterly useless thing now, this left arm of mine.

"…!" I opened my mouth to continue my already rehearsed speech, but I fainted before I could.

…

...

The Youkai walked at a briskly pace through the halls of the mansion. This mansion was his home, but was home to seventy other clan's heads as well, so it was quite big in order to decently accommodate everyone and to receive their guests, if they ever have one. Until now they didn't, but the mansion is relatively new, so most Youkai from outside didn't hear about it yet. About the mansion and about what it represented.

The eerie hallway extended for over a hundred meters and so he made his pace even quicker while trying to keep from being noisy. It was night, so a lot of the Youkais were out, but the few who slept shouldn't be disturbed.

Doors and more doors adorned the hallway's right side, while the left extended for about two meters before reaching an abrupt end, with a wall and two massive windows showing the city outside. This design made no sense to him, but his master ordered this layout specifically, so he was out of turn to speak against it.

Turning right in the end, he entered another hallway, with doors on both sides this time, with a distance of about two meters between the ones in the right and the ones in the left.

Hurrying even more, he finally entered the big room he was going to this late at night. Inside, he scratched his head and sighed.

"What was that sigh?" asked his master of him.

"It's just too hard avoiding the awakening of all those light sleepers. Why are you calling me here now, while half the Hyakki is out and the other is sleeping?"

"I am anxious for the report on the situation with them… Could you tell me?"

He sighed again. "It seems it went all according to what you envisioned. The boy ended up sleeping with her in his first day there. And before you ask, 'sleep' means sleep."

She pouted when he stopped her next joke. "But I hear not everything went well?"

"No. While the procedure was perfect, it seems her trauma is worse than we anticipated. It's enough to contain her in everyday life, but if situation arises where it might surface—"

Now it was her time to sigh "Well, I was hopeful her trauma would go away and Daichi could just have fun being by her side at the school. Looks like he will have some real work to do after all. Well, the rest we leave for him."

"You haven't called me here just for that, right?" he asked. It's strange enough to be called at this time, but it's even worse if it's just to give a report.

"But of course not." She answered "I wouldn't call you just for that. Our preparations for battle are going smoothly?"

"Yes."

"Well then… I got a mission for you, Kubinashi."

Another risky chapter done, one that was written a few times as well, in totally different settings, before came one that I had the guts to post. Well, I guess this will only get a steady style after a while.