To Tame a Demon

by SilverTreeandGoldLeaf

In a world that has been split in three, Nagisa Shiota is training to become a Demon Hunter. However, instead of hunting them down, he wants to befriend a one - but first, he has to tame it. Can he and his classmates tame the demons they have summoned and become Hunters? Especially Nagisa, when the demon he summoned is a red-haired boy, who ran away from Hell.

9. Chapter 9

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu: To Tame a Demon

D/C: I don't own anything from Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, I only own my own OC's.

**Ansatsu Kyoushitsu**The arc of Hunters**

Chapter 9

Nagisa's pov:

The new transfer student was… a demon?!

Okay, that was not good news. Especially when Itona was a demon-king as well, since he could take the form of a human. I noticed the angry glares the white haired boy kept giving to Karma, who answered with equal hatred. It was obvious that two demon-kings in the same room was not such a good idea. Not when Karma was the superior one, and when it was obvious that Itona had no intensions of submitting to the red head.

"A Lightning Demon?" Kayano muttered next to me. "I've never seen a one before."

Neither had I. Lightning demons weren't as rare as Ice or Fire Demons, but they were pretty rare. They were said to be the fastest demons of all and they were also even more short-tempered than Fire Demons. Now did we need an another demon with short-temper in our class? Nope.

"Well, this is interesting", Shiro, the weird white guardian of Itona chuckled. "Seems like Itona-kun isn't the first demon here. You're… a Fire Demon, am I right?" Karma answered him with a cold glare. "Spectacular, it's wonderful for me to meet a Satan's offspring in here out of all places. I hope you'll get along with Itona here - though, he might not get along with you."

Is Shiro Itona's master or something? I wondered in my head.

"He's not", Karma answered me and I could practically hear how he gritted his teeth together, even though he was at the other side of the class. "Itona isn't chained into a human. And that's why I don't trust him - it's stupid to keep a demon free, especially a demon as strong as Itona. But…"

But what?

"There has to be another way Shiro is keeping Itona under control."

Another way? I didn't even know was there any other ways to keep a demon under control.

"Shiro, could you please explain this to me?" Koro-sensei said, his voice uncertain. The white haired boy, Itona, was sitting at his seat, eyes not leaving Karma. I could feel how uneasy that was making Karma, who refused to get any closer to Itona. "Why did you bring an untamed demon to our class, when it can harm my other students?"

"I have the permission of the principal", Shiro calmly answered. "You could say that this is an experiment."

"So, you're a scientist?" the yellow octopus questioned like the answer would be important.

"Not really", Shiro said. "But that's not so important right here. Itona-kun, would you like to tell Koro-sensei the real reason we are here."

The white haired boy stood up from his seat and let out a strange sound close to growl. He eyed the red head for a moment more, before he started to walk towards Koro-sensei. I sensed Karma's disapproval towards Itona, but he wasn't scared. It seemed that out of the two, it was obvious who was stronger. Except, neither I or Karma knew how well Shiro controlled Itona. I didn't really know how to fight with Karma and how to truly put his power into use - all I knew was how to order him to kill others.

"Relax, it's not like we'd need to fight against him", Karma said in my mind, giving me a reassuring smile. "Though, it would be interesting to see how strong Itona really is…"

The white haired boy stopped in front of Koro-sensei, maybe too close for the teacher's liking, but Itona didn't seem to know about personal space or other important things like: how to use the freaking door. Itona took a deep breath in - was he smelling Koro-sensei?

"I… no, we came here to kill you", Itona said, his voice lot more quieter than I had thought. His voice was also a quite light yet somehow deep at the same time. He reminded me of a kid who was lost. Except, Itona's eyes were unusually big and staring right into Koro-sensei's two unusually small eyes, like he would be trying to kill Koro-sensei just by looking at him.

"Is he the same with Ritsu?" Maehara asked. "Are you here to test new techniques on Koro-sensei?"

Shiro chuckled once again. "Well, of course. Or should I say you're half right. We, or in this case I, do have some other reasons behind my actions, but that isn't for you to know. It's none of your business, to put it correctly. I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings by saying that", Shiro explained. "My new weapon here is Itona-kun. He's a special kind of demon - I've been modifying his powers for a year now. He's been doing quite well for someone so young. We've come here to try him out. And of course, our goal is to kill you, Koro-sensei, as fast as we can."

Koro-sensei looked nervous. "I see now…", he mumbled. "Then, if you could wait until the day is over. I do have to keep teaching my class."

"Ah, well of course we'll wait! Itona-kun, you can go sit now", Shiro nodded, seemingly happy. "I'm glad you can understand us so well, Koro-sensei. I can't wait to see how Itona kills you."

"Someone's confident", Sugino whispered. "Even Ritsu with all her crazy guns wasn't able to kill Koro-sensei."

"True", I nodded. "But that just makes me wonder… what kind of new techniques is Itona-kun going to use? Is Shiro really on the side of the Hunters or what? He doesn't seem like a Hunter to me." Sugino let out an approving hum, both of us eying the man dressed in white.

Suddenly I felt something jump on my lap and once again, I was surprised how quietly and fast Karma could move. He was now sitting on my lap, in his cat-form. The red furred cat let out no sound, but climbed on my desk to keep an eye at Shiro and Itona. I was little surprised by his actions - I mean, he's the superior one, why run away? Or was there something more into it? I had a feeling there was.

"Seems like someone doesn't like us being around", Shiro calmly chuckled.

To that, Karma answered with an annoyed hiss.

"I don't like this", I heard Karma mutter in my mind. "That demon… Shiro has done something to him. He's not normal and I'm not planning to find out what's up with him. And this smell! I'm suffocating here."

What smell? I could only smell a smoky scent, but it wasn't strong or anything.

"Itona doesn't know how to hide his odor, it's making me gawk. And his guardian is even worse - but in his case, I think he's just trying to hide his true identity. There's gotta be someone in this class who knows him. Why else would he try to hide?" Again, Karma had been thinking far ahead of me.

"After school that is", Koro-sensei nodded, sighing at the same time. But soon he had the same grin back on his face. "Let us continue the class now!"

**Ansatsu Kyoushitsu**The arc of Hunters**

Karma's pov:

I didn't know what to expect from Itona when the school ended. I honestly had no idea what kind of changes Shiro had done to him - but one thing was for sure, he was not going to use only his electric power. There had to be something more into it.

Well, as the last lesson ended, everyone decided to stay and see what Itona was going to do. The white haired demon was very confident that he'd win, so I guessed he had some kind of plan. We helped our teacher to move the desks so they would have a fighting-ring kinda thing in the middle of the classroom. We students gathered to the sides with Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei. It seemed that the other teachers didn't know what was going on either.

"Hmmn", Koro-sensei hummed thoughtfully. He and Itona were standing inside the ring. "I don't think this is a way to kill any demon. What makes you think a demon would stand around so long? This is also rather straightforward. Fire Demons are quick thinkers and can analyze their opponents within a blink of an eye. They aren't much slower than Lightning Demons and with the power of fire, they are the strongest demons. What makes you think a set-up like this could kill a one?"

"It's quite a good observation you have there, Koro-sensei. I can see that you know lot about Fire Demons. But please remember, this is just a test", Shiro said while Itona threw his jacket away, preparing to fight. "I know Itona isn't ready to face a superior demon, but I'd like to test him. If I would've come here to kill a Fire Demon, I would've already done it." I could feel the man looking straight at me, and that made me little nervous. I knew that Nagisa couldn't control me yet and we hadn't really made any progress. It was possible that Shiro had the power to actually kill me as I was now. Without Nagisa, it would of course be a different story…

"You're talking about killing one of my students", Koro-sensei pointed out. "I do not like that. In this class, we do not harm each other for nothing. Karma-kun is a student just like Itona-kun - which also means that I'm not letting neither of them get hurt."

"I see", Shiro nodded thoughtfully. "But let's set the rules now. The one who steps out of the ring first, loses. If you lose Koro-sensei, you die. And just like you said, you can't harm any students and that includes Itona-kun. You can push him out of the ring but that's about all you can do. Of course, it's not like you could do it anyway. If Itona-kun loses, the match is over. He'll continue being your student and we'll try killing you some other time."

"Who would accept something like that?" Sugino-kun asked. "It seems like either way, Koro-sensei dies."

"The octopus will accept", I said, as I took my human-form. For the rest of the school, I had been in my cat-form, observing Itona and Shiro - I didn't know did the man dressed in white know this, but I also didn't give a shit. "If he cheats, no one will see him as a trustworthy teacher anymore. This is a good way of handicapping Koro-sensei. Shiro has obviously done his homework."

"I accept the rules, but if Itona harms anyone of the spectators, he is the one that loses", Koro-sensei said, just like I had expected.

"Humans can be different too."

I could basically hear Mayu's whisper, like she would've been standing next to me. But that was just wishful thinking, Mayu was dead. I had seen her die with my own eyes… but there had been something shady in her death. I couldn't really remember what had happened after life had left her eyes. I just remembered that at some point, I had returned to Hell without Mayu.

This isn't the right time to think her, I reminded myself. I need to focus on the fight and find out what Shiro is doing to demons.

The fact that Shiro had been modifying Itona, a Lightning Demon, was concerning. Was he really trying to create some kind of weapon against Fire Demons? It wasn't the first time a human used a demon against an other demon - I mean, that was a daily thing. But Itona wasn't tamed and yet, he followed Shiro like a loyal dog. How was it possible? It had never happened before. No matter what, humans had never found a way to actually make a demon submit to them without forming any contracts. If there was a contract, the demon was basically in the use of the summoner. Of course it would need to be tamed first, but anyone could see that Itona was definitely not tamed. So what was going on? I needed to find out - even though, I usually didn't like other demons so much (unless they were under my protection, like the demons in my classroom), but this was different. I hated when humans did experiments on demons. Didn't they know it hurt? Didn't they know that we could also feel pain?

"On my mark", Shiro said, raising his right hand up, eyes glimmering coldly. He then lowered his hand down with a one fast movement. "Begin!"

Not even a second passed, when all of a suddenly, Koro-sensei was missing his other tentacle arm. The class was quiet, it took a moment for everyone to realize it. In the end, we all had shocked looks on our faces, even the teachers couldn't act like they wouldn't have been surprised. Even Koro-sensei seemed honestly shocked. I could feel my heartbeat speed up and my eyes focused on Itona…

"No way…" Nagisa gasped next to me, putting my thought into words. "TENTACLES?!"

"Unbelievable…" Kayano whispered, her hand in front of her mouth, eyes wide in shock.

Is Itona… the same with Koro-sensei? But it can't be! No… how is it possible?! Even looking at Itona made me sick - he was reeking of strange, suffocating smell and he was obviously trying to make me submit to me at the same time he was fighting with Koro-sensei. The white haired boy was freaking looking straight at me, with all the hatred possible visible in his eyes. How can a demon have tentacles like that? It's not natural! Who… wait, could it be Shiro?! I needed to stay calm - it would make no good if Nagisa would notice how uneasy this was making me. Stay reasonable. There has to be an explanation.

But was there? Our worlds were full of unexplainable things, including us demons. Why couldn't Itona have tentacles?

Because it's obvious that those aren't his own! something was screaming in my head. Someone… but who? Could it really be Shiro? Does he have something to do with Koro-sensei as well?!

I looked at the teacher, who had been just staring at his severed arm on the floor, his face covered in shadows. Itona wasn't making a move, he was waiting to see Koro-sensei's reaction. And yeah, he was still staring at me. I tried to ignore him, and instead, I focused on my teacher.

Koro-sensei was leaking murderous bloodlust, and I had never seen him so angry. His face was colored pitch black and I could even see few veins pop in his head. The usually grin was replaced by a murderous something-close-to-smile. It was quite terrifying to see him like that. What got him so pissed?

"Where… did you get those tentacles?" Koro-sensei asked, his voice deeper and stronger than usually. I noticed how few of my classmates, including my master, took a step back, fear evidence in their eyes. I didn't know what way to react, but why not make a poker-face and act like everything was okay. I wasn't human, this problem didn't affect me… but wait, it did.

What if Shiro had actually managed to create something able to kill a Fire Demon?

Obviously, Koro-sensei was right about the fact that Itona would not be able to kill a one now, not when he needed so much preparations. But it was only a matter of time until Shiro would come up with something worse, a matter of time until he'd actually create a weapon capable of killing my kin.

I needed answers, so I butted in before Shiro had the chance to answer Koro-sensei's question. "Are you using demons in order to make tentacle-monsters…?" I asked. "It's obvious that Itona-kun is faster than Koro-sensei… does this also mean you've used his speed as a Lightning Demon as your advantage?"

Shiro gave a silent applause. "I knew you'd be able to figure it out, young Fire Demon!" he said cheerfully. "And correct~. Without Itona's demonic-power, I wouldn't have been able to create him. It's wonderful isn't it? I wonder… how long will it take for me to create a weapon even stronger than him."

"What kind of sick experiments have you been doing to him? I don't think it's a fast project to make tentacles grow out of people's heads", I said, narrowing my eyes at the man dressed in white. Shiro chuckled quietly.

"Is that worry I hear in your voice?" he playfully asked. "And you're correct again, it's not a fast project. Tell me your opinion - what would happen if I'd catch a Fire Demon and do some experiments on it…? Would it become the invisible weapon I've been wishing to create?"

That got me angry and I unintentionally let out bloodlust as murderous as Koro-sensei's. Except, I was probably roasting the people standing next to me. "You don't have what it takes to catch a Fire Demon. Don't you even dare to try", I hissed, almost summoning my spiritual weapon.

Suddenly Nagisa grabbed my hand and I could feel his spiritual-energy pass through his finger into me, and it forcibly made me calm down. But again, I don't think the bluenette had any idea what he was doing, once again. "Karma… please, I know you're angry", he said, worried look in his eyes. "But don't kill everyone in here."

"Tch! Fine", I muttered, backing down. But obviously Itona had an other idea in his mind. One of his tentacles moved towards me faster than an eye could catch, but luckily my reflexes were faster than a humans, and possibly faster than Itona's considering the power difference between the two of us. I was just able to tilt my head to the right a little, when Itona's tentacle passed me and pierced the wall behind me. I let out a sigh at the same time everyone else gasped in horror.

"Violation of rules!" Bitch-sensei yelled out. "He tried to hurt one of the students!"

"But did the student get hurt?" Shiro responded, staying awfully calm. I would liked to see him losing his cool. "No, he's completely fine. He was not harmed - though I'm surprised by this."

"Annoying Fire Demon", Itona muttered, biting his lip in anger.

"You're quite slow for a Lightning Demon", I teased, sticking my tongue out playfully. "Can you even be called a one?" That seemed to piss of the white haired boy, just like I had thought. I saw Itona's muscles tense and how he was preparing to launch at me, but Koro-sensei was there to stop him. Itona was stopped by several tentacles, that made him back away towards Shiro. But the white haired boy was not even close to stepping out of the ring.

"If I correctly remember and may also remind you, Itona-kun", the yellow octopus said, a dark look on his face. "Your opponent is I, not Karma-kun."

Itona let out a low growl, giving Koro-sensei an annoyed glare. I had spend few hours with him, but I had done pretty good job at analyzing. Itona was rather hot-blooded and didn't use even half of his brain. He did things without giving it a second thought, but that was nothing new from a Lightning Demon. They were impatient and Itona was a good example. But he had his guardian with him, Shiro. The man dressed in white would certainly always make sure the white haired boy would stay calm and under his control. I had the feeling Shiro had created some kind of drug which made Itona submit to him - but what else did the drug do? And how had he created something like that? Poisons and drugs didn't usually work on demons, so it had to be something new.

"Itona-kun, calm down. You can fight with the red head after you've killed the octopus", Shiro said, calming Itona down as I had suspected.

Itona turned his attention from me back to Koro-sensei, who was following the white haired boy with interest. I had a feeling Koro-sensei knew what he was doing, meaning he had to have some kind of plan. He wasn't stupid, even if he didn't seem wise. If sensei would use his skills to kill demons, he would be an opponent worthy of fighting. Possibly, he could even defeat me. But… my older brothers were a whole another thing. The oldest child of Satan was decades older than me and honestly scary. I didn't have a good relationship with any of my siblings or my father, but he was even worse. I always made sure not to cross path with him in Hell and I hoped that father would not send him after me. Kazuo was lot more easier to deal with, even though I'd rather have no one after me.

Koro-sensei and Itona continued their fight, but it was obvious that Itona was faster and the white haired kid managed to sever few more tentacles. To me it seemed that Koro-sensei was slowing down each time Itona was able to hit him. The octopus was losing. And if he'd lose, he'd die.

"C'mon", Sugino-kun said, his voice wavering a little. It seemed that I wasn't the only one who had already realized what was going on. "Koro-sensei… he has to have some kind of trump card hidden in his sleeve…" Sugino's uneasiness and the despair I saw in his eyes, was making Kuro stronger by the second and I could already see how the black demon was starting to radiate darker bloodlust. And Sugino wasn't the only one who was starting to lose faith into Koro-sensei's victory.

Idiots, don't you know that demons feed on your despair! I thought, gritting my teeth together. I was a demon - helping humans was absurd for someone like me! Yet again… I found myself doing the exact opposite I was supposed to do as a demon.

I smacked Sugino to the back of his head, earning his and the others attention.

"Calm down, it's not over yet", I casually said, putting a bored look on my face. "You're all forgetting a one thing - Koro-sensei has more experience than Itona, especially when it comes to using tentacles. He'll find a way to win. He still has a class to teach."

"Karma's right", Nagisa chuckled next to me, giving Sugino a reassuring smile. "Koro-sensei wont give up, so we shouldn't either."

Sugino stared at me and my master for a while, before giving us a small smile. "How can the two of you stay so calm?" he asked.

Nagisa sweat dropped. "I'm not calm, alright? Inwardly, I'm screaming in panic… but I suppose that Karma here is affecting my mood as well", he explained. "He's the calm one here."

I would've liked to correct Nagisa by saying that I was screaming inside my mind too, but I decided not to do it. "Just control your feelings, otherwise your demon will take over", I sighed. "The fight should be over soon."

"How can you tell?" Nagisa asked from me.

"Just a feeling", I answered, shrugging my shoulders. In reality, I could see that Koro-sensei had some kind of plan in his mind - otherwise he wouldn't have that shit-eating grin on his face. "This match was over before it even started."

**Ansatsu Kyoushitsu**The arc of Hunters**

Kazuo's pov:

I don't really know should I say that I was happy to kill Dracula, but at least he deserved it. I mean, he had been old and respected amongst demons and monsters - but he knew as well as everyone else, that drinking blood from a Fire Demon was strictly forbidden. And by killing him, I was only following my orders. But because I killed him, I was called back to Hell to meet the oldest Blood Demon, also Dracula's older brother. He had accused Satan for killing his younger brother for no real reason.

Which was not true, if you asked from me. My father had every reason to kill Dracula who had broken the law number four. For breaking that law, he was sentenced to death. The decision had been my father's, I did not have power to refuse him. After all, Satan was the absolute king of Hell, the ruler of evil, the father of darkness. He had many names and humans kept coming up with more every hour. To me he was just the king and a father. Someone I could never wish to refuse. No one should ever go against him, especially not his own children.

Yet, two of his offspring had done it. One of them being Karma, the youngest child of Satan and also the most apprehensive of all. The red haired kid was always going, where ever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He never listened to anyone except Mayu and our mother - but now that neither of those two women was alive, there was no one who could control Karma. And the death of Mayu had triggered Karma's fire and made the red haired kid more capricious than ever before. I knew Karma didn't trust anyone, not even his own siblings. I had always had a better relationship with him than the others, but now it was all gone. Karma had completely turned his back at us.

And our father had ordered me to make sure he would submit to him. I admired the fact that Karma was able to say no to our father, but at the same time, I despised him. And in the end, Karma had always submitted to father. That had been of course, before Mayu had died. Because now the red haired kid was just out of control.

I cared for Karma, and I wanted him to see this. He needed to understand that he was not safe outside Hell. Not until he was completely matured and knew how to control his temper. He was still growing. Hunters would realize this, if they already hadn't. They kill him, or worse, tame him. He was already chained to a human boy, but I was glad it was only a boy, not a grown up Hunter. And despite the fact that our father might seem cold even towards his own children, he too, cared for Karma's safety. Though, the reason might be the fact that Karma was supposed to become the next Satan.

The reason Karma was able to resist our father better than everyone else, was because he had been born to become the next king of Hell. He was already stronger than a demon at his age should be, even for a Fire Demon. And he could wield Hell's Blade, the strongest spiritual weapon there was. The blade that was made from the core of the first Satan, our grandfather. Hell's Blade was originally our father's katana, since he created it in the first place. Hell's Blade had the strongest flame in it, with it, Karma could kill our father. He could be invisible. But, the problem was that the red haired kid had no intensions of learning truly how to control the katana. He didn't show any interest towards the katana or becoming the next Satan.

How did Hell's Blade end up to him, when it was Satan's katana? Well, that is a long story, but to put it shortly, our father gave it to our mother, who gave it to Mayu before passing away and then Mayu gave it to Karma before she died. It's complicated as hell, but in the end it ended up to Karma. Like it was supposed to. Hell's Blade knew it owner, it only listened to it rightful ruler. Right now, the master of that katana was Karma and no one else. Until the day someone would kill Karma, the blade would belong to him. And I was supposed to make sure no one would kill him.

I was lot more older and experienced than Karma, but it was honestly hard for me to keep up with Karma's sudden mood changes. He could be the best brother you could ever wish to have, but then he could be an asshole. And I firmly believe that Karma would say the same about me. Okay, he would say that I'm a total asshole with no good sides - but hey, I think I can be a pretty decent person. But not a decent brother, that's for sure. I - like almost every other demon - didn't know, how to act like a brother. A member of family. Someone you can rely on. Maybe I would never hurt Karma, like really hurt (the way he would be bleeding a lot, because I'd love to kick his ass for making me go through all this pain), but I was never close to him like Mayu or our mother.

Mayu had been a… weird one, if you asked from me. Of course I felt sad that she had passed away, but I didn't know her. The only ones who did were Karma and our mother - the other one was dead and the other refused to speak of her - so it was kinda you-lose-either-way situation. Mayu herself never cared for anyone else except Karma. She had been the fifth oldest child of Satan, and the oldest daughter. I had had an another little sister too, but she was killed by a Hunter… um, was it… ten years ago? I wasn't sure, but obviously the Hunter who killed her was dead now. Mayu had actually been the one to take care of that part. But what made Mayu so weird, was the fact that she cared for humans. She let herself be tamed by a one, and for the last three years of her life, she lived with her master - and ultimately, it cost her life. What did we learn from this?

Not to let us be tamed by humans, that's what.

But obviously Karma did not learn, because he was now being tamed! And where was I? Sitting in Hell of course, because the freaking older brother of Dracula just had to start complaining and I needed to explain everything to him. My father didn't want anything to do with anyone at the moment, not until Karma would be back home. Then he'd make the red haired kid pay - probably torture him for five years. It didn't mean much to a demon, but one thing was for sure. Karma would not stay put for five years, not even for a month, if he could decide. That's why it was so surprising that he had let himself be chained to a human - it meant that he was stuck in one place. I knew for sure, that behind all of this was Mayu. She hadn't been a bad person, but I did not consider her as a good role model to a young Fire Demon. Mayu hadn't been supposed to teach Karma about how good humans were, she was supposed to teach Karma how to survive and how to stay away from humans! Whatever Karma was thinking, whatever he was doing now, it all lead back to Mayu and to the day she had died.

Her death had been a strange one, I personally hadn't seen it - but I had been the one to get Karma after she died. The two had been in Middle World when it happened but still Satan had been able to feel Mayu's death. So, he send me to get Karma, because his flame had been burning awfully low for a Fire Demon. The reason had been that he was hurt badly (barely alive) and when I had found him, Mayu had been long dead. Her master had lied about five meters away from her a strange note next to her body, but I hadn't paid much attention to the human woman back then. My attention had fully been on the red haired kid, who was lying next to Mayu, his life energy slowly disappearing. Karma had wanted to die, I had known it from the very moment I laid eyes on him back then. He still did.

I still hadn't figured out how Mayu had died - she had been one of the strongest demons ever born, yet she had died so easily, right under our noses. How? Just what happened? And like I already mentioned, Karma did not speak about it. I got him back to Hell, he was healed, he was punished by our father (reasons being something about our mother, Mayu and Middle World, I didn't know for sure and I didn't ask) and about four months after Mayu's death, Karma started to visit Middle World occasionally. Each time he went there, he would stay little longer. And about a month ago, he left Hell and didn't come back.

"Kazuo?" a voice called out, cutting off my train of thought. I was now sitting on a cliff hovering above a lake of fire and lava in Hell, preparing to leave back to Middle World to look for Karma. I had just gotten my talk with Dracula's older brother over the way he would not start a war against Satan - which he, by the way, would not win, because no one with brains would go against my father - and I had just needed a moment before starting to look for an idiot.

I looked behind me to see a turquoise haired woman standing there, a worried look in her icy blue eyes. She was young, looked like a twenty years-old human and her turquoise hair reached her waist easily. She was little elf-like (yes, I knew what elves were, since some demons were considered as ones), with pointy ears, big blue eyes and pale perfect skin. But what made her a demon, was her frightening power and also she happened to have ice wings attached to her back. Did I forget to mention, that she was the fifth oldest Ice Demon alive? The oldest Ice Demon was her mother, and known as the snow-woman by humans.

"Rin", I nodded to the woman. "It's strange to see you here at Fire District, so may I ask, what brings you here?"

Hell was divided into four main-districts, Fire, Water, Air and Earth and between there districts were smaller ones, like Ice and Lightning. Usually those demons with elements stayed at their own districts, but sometimes demons visited other districts to fight or to just meet some old friends. Satan didn't interfere with fights, unless they got so big that the whole Hell was shaking (had actually happened). Demons without any particular elements wandered around districts or stayed at one, but usually no demons came to the Fire District, for obvious reasons. No one really wanted to accidentally cross paths with the king or his children. Though, it made the place seem boring and empty, because Fire District was a big place with only few demons in it.

Rin let out a chuckle. "I came here to see you, of course", she said and walked closer to me, icy wings fluttering in the hot wind. "I heard Karma ran away and you are supposed to find him. Do you need help?" She sat down next to me and gave me a questioning look.

I shrugged my shoulders, turning my gaze back at the fire lake. "Not really. I've already found him, but I can't bring him back just yet. It's only waiting now, but within a month, I believe I'll find a way and we'll both be back."

"Find a way…?" Rin asked, confused look on her face.

"He's chained to a human", I bluntly said.

Rin let out a snort. "Should've guessed something like that from him", she sighed. "Karma sure likes to get into trouble, wherever he goes." She stopped talking for a moment, before she chuckled.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"I'm just glad you're the one who's supposed to bring him back", Rin said. "If it would be someone else, Karma would probably end up destroying to Middle World. You know, he doesn't like anyone except you and he'd rather die than be dragged back to here by Satan-sama's other children."

I sweat dropped. "I can't say that he likes me… but I guess I do have better chance at getting him back than the others. I just hope Mayu would be alive, so she could've done it."

Rin was quiet for a moment, somehow sad look in her eyes. "Mayu-san… I wonder… If she'd still be alive, would we have a problem like this anyway?" she mumbled. "Karma would be with her, not in Middle World - unless Mayu would be there. We both know, that those two were something you can call siblings."

True.

"I didn't mean to sound mean", Rin quickly added, when I didn't react.

"No, you're right", I sighed. "Mayu was more human than I could ever wish to be and I'm afraid that Karma's following her footsteps."

"By being tamed?" Rin asked.

"Exactly. We cannot trust humans, especially Hunters", I bluntly said and stood up. Rin followed my lead, eyeing me worriedly. "I can't let Karma be tamed, not ever. He himself is obviously too young to realize the danger lying in this, but sooner or later, this is going to cost him his life. I'll stop it from happening, we can't lose any more Fire Demons."

"So it's really true…", Rin whispered. "Your element is dying, the fire is burning low." The worry in her eyes grew and she suddenly grabbed my hand. "That can't happen! What will happen to you? What about Satan-sama? What about Hell?! We can't survive without Fire Demons!"

"Calm down Rin", I said. "I'm still here, aren't I? And don't worry, as long as Karma survives, we'll survive too. He's going to become the next Satan and he's going to make us strong again. Then we can show humans what true fear is."

Rin took a deep breath in and her tight grip loosened. "Right, you're exactly right", she said, her ice blue eyes meeting my own. "You'll be going now? To get Karma back, I mean." I nodded to that. "Then promise me you'll get back safely, okay? And of course, bring Karma back too. You two are important to me. Hell will be a lot more boring without you guys." She gave me a sweet grin at the end of her sentence.

I smiled at her. "I promise to be back with Karma as fast as I can", I said, ruffling her hair lightly. "But you should get back to your own district. Be safe, Rin." With that, she flew away, leaving behind a little bit of frost, but it melted quickly.

With the turquoise haired woman, I always felt little easier than usually. I had known Rin for decades and she got along with Karma - better than I did, but the reason had to be because she was a female demon (or maybe she was just nicer). But Rin was a good and loyal friend, despite being an Ice Demon. Ice Demon and Fire Demons didn't usually get along and you could say that the friendship between me and Rin kept the two elements from destroying each other. The snow-woman was a terrifying demon, I had met her few times and I honestly didn't want to meet her again. She hated Satan, but still respected him. Probably because my father was stronger. But she hated Satan's children, and she had no respect for us. She didn't even act like she would - but it wasn't like we gave her any respect either.

In Hell, you needed to be strong to be recognized and in order to live. Our world was a lot more crueler than Middle World, and maybe that was one of the reasons Mayu and Karma both liked the other world so much. Those two enjoyed peace more than any other demon - even though, Karma was a little mischievous shit-head. No one could decline that, not even the kid himself. Though, he didn't even try declining.

I watched Rin fly away, until I no longer saw her and then I walked to the edge of the cliff. The fire lake under me emitted hot, dry air, the hotness being able to melt (yes melt, kinda disgusting actually) any human. To me, it just felt warm and like home.

"Open portal", I commanded to an invisible force. On the surface of the lake formed a black circle, leading to Middle World. Funny how we demons were able to open portals to Middle World with such ease, but for humans shit like this was hard. But it wasn't like they'd even want to come to Hell - that would be a suicide and plain stupid. But I'd pay to see that happening (wink wink).

I took a deep breath in and jumped down, straight into the black circle. It took about a second until the darkness around me turned into light and I dropped to the wet ground. I was standing in a forest and the sky was crying water above me. It seemed that the rain was going to stop soon and the sky would get clearer. It took a moment for me to get used to all the different scents around me and the moist in the air was just plain disgusting. I was now in my human-form, but to keep my presence hidden, I changed into my fox-form. Done changing forms, I headed out of the forest, towards I big building. I could smell many different kind of scents coming from the building - hundreds of small demons and humans, few Hunters.

I sat down next to the main-gate of the building. It was pretty late already, but the building was still full. It was pretty risky for me to be so close to Hunters - especially when one of those Hunters happened to be the fifth strongest in Middle World. But I was confident that I only appeared as a weak monster at the moment.

Kunugigaoka junior-high, huh? I thought. So, this is where you're hiding, Karma.

End of chapter 9

**Ansatsu Kyoushitsu**The arc of Hunters**