Yuki Onna

"Death is a harsh blow."

Chapter Four – Confront

Part 1

Mizore Shirayuki was a happy woman. Not long after her trauma resurfaced by the hands of the PE teacher, he came for her. In the long run, it made everything worth it.

She had an excellent memory, and her memories of him, when they were children, were really precious to her. All those years back, when they met, and when they learned together. That was all part of the perfect past that lead to a great future.

After he came, things took a turn for the better. She was able to study normally, and, naturally, had great grades. His were pretty good as well, but not as much as hers. Must be because of his lack of study. During the years of high school, nothing out of the ordinary happened, as far as that can be in the youkai world.

When they graduated, they went to the same university, located somewhere in America, although their courses were not the same. He graduated from university two years before due to his course being shorter and started working, even if Tsurara sent money, and visited, on a regular basis. The place where they lived was a moderately sized house, which was bought by Tsurara as well. Speaking of the genius Yuki Onna, she even gave them, and his parents, special cell phones, which made no difference if they were on the other side of the globe.

By the time she finished university, he had gotten enough money to buy the house Tsurara, a little game of theirs that finally permitted the two of them to get married. And so they did, in the most perfect way for her, although he almost died with the cold and there were no religious relics involved.

Not that long after, they got themselves children. Two of them, both girls, who were a quarter Yuki Onna and human the rest of the way. With quiet personalities, just like a mix of their parents', the intelligent twins worked their way up to high school. But it was then that they came for them. And made her trauma resurface after all those years. She was in despair now, not the sense of happiness she felt all the way there.

And yet…

After all those years passed for Mizore…

We're back to Youkai Academy, as well as she. Why would that be?

Part 2

Roughly a week before the beginning of the school term in Youkai Academy…

"Was that narration any good? Won't it sound weird, like this?" Tsurara questioned Kubinashi, the first to be let in on Mizore's existence, and the only one at this point in time.

"You're telling a story, Tsurara-sama, as you should be. It sounds perfectly impersonal, even if it is about your own daughter."

"Yes, but I don't remember having dreams like these…"

"I think most people had most dreams, in this kind of sense. They simply don't remember them. I could try to reminiscence about my own dreams, but that might take too long."

"It's not needed. I'll take your word on this. That would all now."

"Tsurara-sama. If that's all, isn't it a bit too cruel? Get rid of it and bring it back?"

"That is not finished. It's my daughter's future we're talking about here, Kubinashi. I'd never end here and I would never end it badly, even if it's not the truth."

"Right, sorry. I'll take my leave." Kubinashi turned and started walking out of the room.

"Kubinashi, one more thing. I think we're close enough. Call him."

"As you wish."

Part 3

One week passed since we received the announcement of Okuto's death and Kuro's employment. One week was a long time when the teachers, seemingly on purpose, were acting more depressed than that bastard deserved. Of course I was not happy to hear that he died. I'm still a student AND I'm weak and I'm slow. I'd never kill someone in these conditions, so I'm not satisfied with his death. If it was left to me, I probably wouldn't have gotten anything done, so maybe it's for the best. The truth is, life and death is a complicated matter. I didn't even get to see his face, so of course his death would have a much smaller impact on me than some people. His colleagues, for example. Maybe he was a good person when he wasn't trying to rape his students? I don't know and, frankly, I don't want to. He tried to have his way with Mizzy. I don't want to risk being even a little sadder for his death.

One day, Nekonome even cried. I don't think it was forced. That teacher is way too sociable and seems the type that makes friends really fast, so that's that. Still, there were some students who didn't seem affected at all. I honestly don't know what to think about them. Someone just died near you. That's not something so easy to ignore.

As sad as all this is, school year continued. The grades were displayed normally on the board outside the school.

Caught by surprise with that test (look how I'm already making excuses) I was in 27° place. Not so bad I would think, but the aim should always be higher. Tsukune gave proof of being the incarnation of mediocrity by scoring as 128°, which was somewhere along the middle. Moka surprised me a little by being the 13°, but that was I jumping to conclusions. Frankly, I don't really know why I didn't think she would score this high. Maybe I just overestimated myself in the first place?

The biggest hit was Mizore being 2°. I don't remember her having anything but perfect scores back when we were children. The first seemed to be some Yukari Sendo. Must be quite the genius, this one.

"I'm surprised to see you're not he first as always, Mizzy." I said to her. I didn't bother to actually see the other's results, but since they shouted, complained or, in Moka's case, had their shouted by other's students. Therefore, I only didn't know Kurumu's, whose grades must not be really praiseworthy.

"But I am first", she answered.

I was taken aback from getting a verbal reaction out of her, who's been nearly mute this past week, and reacted, only to that little joke about falling for Tsukune.

Seeing my expression, she must have though I didn't get it and pointed to the board, telling me to look.

Under closer inspection, she's actually the one right here. She scored first, together with Yukari Sendo. But her name is listed below her. That's because alphabetically her surname would come after Yukari's. That means that there's one more person who scored higher than me. I don't know to feel about that.

But Mizore's talking. She's talking. And that's the most important thing to be taken from today.

"What's wrong?"

I must have been staring. Saying it's nothing, I look around for Moka and the others, but they're not on sight. The two of us head to the classroom by ourselves.

Part 4

Happy. Married. With children. A lot older.

Through the past week, that is what occupied Mizore Shirayuki mind. Tearing illusions from reality was no easy task, and she took the half month that already passed to assimilate which was which, but there were no guarantees.

First, his coming. That seemed to be real enough. Everything that happened afterwards? Not so much. Starting from the basics, such as grades, they were always together. For instance, they both had scored second place on the first test. Now she was first and he was twenty eight. Then, there was the simple fact that they were at Youkai Academy, instead of having already finished university.

She was a girl, not a woman. But she could clearly remember having from fifteen to fifty five birthdays. In those memories though, she aged like a human and, as far as she remembered, her mother hadn't found out why.

Weird thoughts dancing on her mind, class passed as a blur. He was so close, and yet never said anything about such future. That's one of the reasons she chose to regard it as a dream in the first place. And so, lunch break came. As if the classes never existed to begin with.

"Let's go, Mizzy. Ah, I've been calling you this all this time, but is it really okay with you? That's what I called you when we were children."

And he came for her again. After a frustrating half a month of trying to decipher what was probably just an odd dream, she decided to just act naturally again. But still, it was kind of good they were apart 'till recently. She was acting naturally, yes, but she couldn't help but think it was her 'older' self natural.

"It's okay. Let's hurry to the roof."

Part 5

Actually, we were not quick enough. If we had been, we would have been having lunch, which I actually cooked and brought, in the peace of the rooftop. Instead, we are now witnessing the birth of an improper relationship. For god's sake, isn't that girl supposed to be eleven?

" Love, you say?"

The girl who tied with Mizore for first place, Yukari Sendo, seems to be clinging to Moka while confessing over and over. What I am seeing now is one thing I will force myself to take lightly, or else I won't feel well. An eleven years old girl is clinging to Moka and rubbing her breasts while clearly stating her sexual desires. What is the world coming to?

"Ah, the younger generations…" What is this ice girl saying?

"Where did that come from? You're at most sixteen. Don't talk like you're three generations ahead of her."

She lowered her head, but raised it again with a smile before I could think of asking he what was wrong.

"You're right. Anyway, why such concern? Ignoring common sense, there will be no new life accidently pulled into the world."

"Mizore Shirayuki, you've been giving everyone the cold shoulder for almost a month and you start speaking, this is the best you can think of?"

"I guess so. Hehe." she giggled cutely, but was soon interrupted by the sound of something hard hitting wood. Oh, that's Tsukune's head hitting the table.

We are currently in the cafeteria and Tsukune just explained to us what happened. That little witch seems quite attached to the vampire. Tsukune is full of bruises from when she stopped him from getting close to her.

"You seem to be in bad shape, Tsukune. I guess you've been hit pretty hard by her?"

"Yeah. Those spells of her were so annoying."

"Well, best of luck. I'll be heading back to the classroom. Break's almost over anyway. Mizzy, you're coming with me?"

"I'll be there soon, I need to use the bathroom first".

"Right. Take your time", and I took my leave from the cafeteria.

While walking back, I once again saw Moka. Yukari was still hugging her. I know I would be annoyed, but I can't really judge for Moka. Remembering Tsukune and the fact that I am a human as well and the state my left arm is, I decided to ignore the little pest. I felt a little bad for ignoring Moka as well, but she has dealt with it for the whole of lunch break. I'm sure ten more minutes will not be the end of her world.

Since today is Thursday, next class will be math. I'm hoping that the math teacher isn't as bad as she looks with her classes. Not that she looks bad, but she gives away a bad vibe.

Ten minutes later, classes started. Tsukune and Moka had come back. The others were at their respective classes. The little witch I couldn't be sure of, but I would rather assume she has gone back to class.

But more importantly, Mizore hasn't come back yet. What's taking her too long? My expectations were met, since the math teacher is terrible, but her period is over already. Where is Mizore, and what could she possibly be doing? Roughly one hour after I first started asking that to myself, the door slid open and she came in.

In surprise at her state, I actually rose to my feet.

"Mizzy?"

She turned to me and I could see a small smile. Her clothes were dirty and a little torn, particularly her right sleeve didn't exist anymore. There were a few bruises covering her body and a few places where blood had already dried. Half of her face, and hair, was covered in the red substance and she actually scratched her face with her right hand, which made a bit of the dried blood covering her right half fall to the ground.

But she turned to the teacher in the room at moment, which happened to be Nekonome, and raised her left hand while asking the question.

"Sensei, what should I do with this?"

There were a few screams.

Part 6

After parting with Daichi, Mizore gave Tsukune's shoulder a tap and left the place. Just as she said, she went to the bathroom. Getting out was another matter. When washing her hands, she noticed two peculiar items that were not present when she entered. First, a piece of wood. Second, a little piece of paper with the word 'come' carved into it.

The state the wood was in was a great hint for finding out the place where she was supposed to go. There were a total of ten general places where it could be found plus the unexplored part of the forest, since she wouldn't know if the trees there were suitable or not.

The last ten minutes of lunch break were spent going from place to place while wondering which the correct one was. On the sixth was when the scythe descended. A small step was all that it took to evade the downward strike, and after Mizore evaded the rising slash that followed, the enemy got some distance between them by herself.

"I'll kill you. I'll kill you!" As soon as she stepped back, she jumped forward once more, her blade arm raised overhead, aiming for a crushing strike. Its target quickly maneuvered to the left of the impact site and closed her eyes.

The crazed girl, whose only particular trait was the fact that her right arm was a scythe blade cried in anger and slashed again. Mizore, on the other hand, found time to sigh, while evading her straight forward attacks. It didn't matter the direction, all blows aimed to cleave her in half, one way or another, but the bloodlust made it only the more predictable.

Stepping in all directions, her hand movements, meant for equilibrium, seemed more of a dance of sorts, one where one mistake could lead to death, but would lead to great pain one way or another. Like water getting around an obstacle, the Yuki Onna easily evaded each and every blow that was meant to take her life.

That was the result of the 'not so rigorous' training Tsurara had put her through. The girl felt the attacks from miles away almost naturally, but that would be for naught if her body was not quick enough to actually dodge the blows. Finally bored enough, she sighed again. The wind that came forth created a heavy cluster of ice on the scythe, and after two more blows, Mizore took hold of the now horizontal slash.

"It really was you… Damn you!" A lot more strength was put on the scythe, but it didn't move and Mizore barely trembled. Applying a little more strength to her hold, Mizore broke the flesh scythe, which reacted just like a steel one, and pieces scattered around them, along with blood. Now freed in one of the worst ways, the other girl screamed in pain and jumped away.

"You damn Yuki Onna…!"

The pained girl took hold of her right arm with her left one, which missed a piece in the piece, but was still bladed. The girl then revealed her left arm as a second scythe, predictably, and jumped to the offense with tears of both anger and pain in her eyes.

No information was given by the girl, and Mizore didn't bother asking. This was the kind of opponent that didn't answer questions, so they were better off not thought of. 'Who' and 'Why' were irrelevant matters once the conflict has truly started.

With no drifting thoughts, Mizore met the girl's bladed arms with her human like members. They clashed a few times and it was soon made clear once again Mizore's superiority. The other girl's left arm was as sharp as the other, but the right one lost a lot of its potency due to the pain she was feeling in that arm.

Soon, Mizore took hold of the other's weapons once again. She made a point of holding the right one where it hurt. The Yuki Onna's state was disasters clothe wise, but she was fine physically. The opponent had blood over her uniform and was extremely hurt in her right arm, while she was extremely cornered mentally.

She kicked Mizore, but the later didn't even bother guarding.

"Damn you!" seemed to be the girl's whole vocabulary.

The weak feet made contact again and again with her waistline, stomach and below, but that didn't make Mizore even flinch.

Mizore started putting pressure in her hands once again. A little more and that right arm would be no more. At that moment, a sharp object left the woods aiming for her back. Mizore opened her opponent's arms as if to hug her and let her go, while dodging to the side.

The girl closed her arms on nothing and the identified knife carved its way into her left shoulder. She screamed and cried more intensely, with a fresh presented reason. Out of the woods, came a pale girl, holding a second knife in her left hand.

"Damn you, Hebi!" the first girl took the knife off her shoulder with extreme difficulty, since her now turned human right arm was missing enough flesh for the bone to show. She passed the blade to her other human turned hand and threw it at Hebi. Since she was clearly right handed, she missed her mark. The blade carved itself into a tree and Hebi was quick to collect it.

With two furious opponents, Mizore entered a battle stance for the first time.

"Here" Hebi simply said while tossing a syringe to the first girl "I guess you need it after all, 'unknown'."

"Shut up! Damn!" The cussing girl was quick to inject whatever the liquid inside the syringe was into her neck. After a few spasms, she was back in her normal state. Turning her arms back to scythes, she faced Mizore again.

Hebi jumped at Mizore this time, and the sound of steel cutting flesh was heard. In fact, Mizore's skin was getting destroyed, and she only managed to stop the blades welded by Hebi a few millimeters into her flesh, so she was truly getting hurt this time around. Still easily deflecting blows, she irradiated cold from her wounds, and when both knives reached for her flesh, she made a point of keeping them.

The frozen blades were abandoned by their master, as Hebi jumped away as soon as the blades were stuck. The still unknown girl soon took her place and faced Mizore again. Without wasting time, Mizore hold both the girls arms again on the first chance she got. Things became complicated then. From the emptiness of the right scythe, three bones started to grow outwards. Their sharp points tried to strike Mizore, but the right and left one hit the knives instead, and Mizore turned her head left before the middle one hit it.

Jumping away for the first time, Mizore watched in amazement as the bones all retreated, until they covered the empty space on the right scythe. Whole again, the pain still didn't go away from the girl's face.

Running rather than jumping this time, the two locked weapons one more time, but the bones appearance clearly crippled the Yuki Onna's advantage. Having to release the lock they had, Mizore moved in order to avoid the bones and block the weapons.

Full of scratches now, Mizore jumped away from the fight and into the woods. Her opponents started circling, cursing at her. It seems cussing was all that girl was capable of. Like a gale, Mizore jumped behind the enemy.

From the unknown girl's back, tens of small sharp bones surged forward, impaling her attacker through multiple vital points. The inertia of their growth led them to be quite tall and fragile looking.

Suddenly, they gave way. Broken into thousands of tiny pieces, the bones fell to ground and what little remained connected to the girl's back retreated into her body while she screamed in agony.

"You though you wouldn't feel pain from broken bones?"

Mizore emerged from the forest and the form broken with the bones melted.

"As fragile as a chicken's it seems. In that angle, there was no way they would resist a human's body weight."

Mizore walked to the pool of water on the ground and touched it with both hands. Soon, both her hands were covered in gloves of ice that went till the elbow. Dashing forward, she stroke her enemy first this time.

The tearful and agonizing girl was able to defend, but they reached another lock of weapons. Bones reached out of her body once again, but Mizore kept her ground.

"Not used to pain?"

All of the bones stopped as soon as they scratched their target. It seemed the girl was afraid of breaking them again and feeling all that terrible pain.

It was in that moment, when Mizore regained her full advantage, that she was suddenly wrapped up.

"Never give your back to a Lamia, Yuki Onna." Hebi was apparently waiting for such a moment to attack. Her lower half was revealed as a serpent's and she had a strong hold of Mizore's whole body. She proceeded them to continuously slam her head first into the trees surrounding them and the ground. A grunt escaped the Yuki Onna's lips every time she was met with the hard surfaces. When a tree broke and fell from this treatment, Hebi stopped and held the Yuki Onna still in front of her.

"Now it's over! Finish her off!"

The scythes' girl rushed forward at inhuman speed and prepared for the slash attack.

"Slow down! What do you want to do?! Cut us bot—"

Two heads flew while blood scattered everywhere.

Part 7

She spent some minutes unconscious and a few more hiding her presence. When she deemed it safe to get out, she started struggling. Completely covered, she started struggling, while wondering if it really was that safe already. The last thing she wanted was a blade stabbing through the serpent around her. There would be no surviving that.

But it only got tighter and tighter, until she could barely move. That was a snake characteristic. Even dead, they open and close their mouths and their body contracts. Seeing no other way, she transformed her right arm.

The ice arm caused an explosion of blood and body parts, and Mizore emerged from the remains of the dead snake. Her arm quickly turned back to human form, but the sleeve was utterly destroyed. That was the least of her concerns, tough.

In the clearing, remained Mizore, dirtied with blood, giving her a sinister look, and the multiple parts of what was once Hebi, who could only be described as pieces of flesh. Her head was quite a distance from the rest.

Panting a little, Mizore sat down and rested against a tree. She was careless. That Lamia's attack almost proved to be fatal, by itself and because of the binding. Luckily, it was stopped soon enough, or else Mizore would be too dizzy to react.

All the while she was having her head hit, she was gradually passing the ice from her hands to her head. First forming a kind of helmet, it gradually covered the form of her head, and Mizore slipped her head into the snake's embrace. If she was hit a little stronger, she wouldn't have managed to create the clone head. If she was hit a little more, the head would break, and her plan was finished.

Luckily, none happened. The last hits actually broke some of the ice already. As proof, there was ice covering the roots of some trees around her.

After all was said and done, although not much was said, Mizore started finally thinking about some important things. Who were they? What did they want? Why the sudden attack? What could motivate them to seek her life so strongly?

She didn't have the answer for any of that. For now, she was tired, and her head was hurting. Perhaps she should sleep a little. But sleeping next to a corpse she didn't produce was not a good idea. Anyone who found them would think of her as the killer. So, she decided to produce evidence of her innocence.

She would, first of all, report the murder. And she knew just what the more practical way was. Of course, she wasn't in her right mind at the moment. Maybe all those hits damaged it.

Part 8

Mizore must have just earned herself the title of scariest monster. Who else enter late into a classroom while holding a head?

Surreal. Too surreal.

Again, someone died someplace close to me. And I still don't know fully how to react. Selfishly, I am happy that head is not Mizore's, because the state she was in indicates that they were fighting.

Mikogami heard her sinister story. I did as well, since I made a point of going with her to the headmaster room. Frankly, I am scared of it. This day was scary, actually. How could it start with something as simple as a complain about how an eleven years old is rubbing someone's breast could end up with me worrying about assassins? In a fight, Mizore seemed to be really hurt. What if they came back to attack while she was sleeping?

With thoughts like this in mind, I made a decision. I may be useless, but I'll sleep once again in that hated place of mine, the infirmary, because that is where she is spending her night.

Between the Lines 1

"Treason? Did he have the guts to use that word?"

"Yes, he did, or so is the report"

Miyabi Fujisaki asked for the report itself.

Soon, he was watching the video himself.

It showed a headless youkai handling tens of their subordinates with his strings. Soon, his head made its appearance, holding one end of the string join his mouth.

A few minutes into the video, the youkai clearly said it: he was betraying his Hyakki Yako to join Fairy Tale.

"He wants to join? Well, who are we to deny him?" Although that's not the look of a traitor…

Reaching a perfect conclusion after a few seconds of thinking, Fujisaki laughed.

And that is another one done. Questions are presented, and one tiny answer might be considered given. I tried hard with this action scene, and I want to try and get a lot better for the future, which will involve tons of fights. This is a crossover of two action manga after all. I really love the way Kamachi Kazuma-sensei divides his chapters with the 'Between the Lines' at the end, so I am being influenced. So, next is the June chapter.