Once more I only claim to be heavily modifying an existing story. If you send me any money I will not send it back just to prove how stupid doing so was.
/.../ means thoughts
"..." is speech
Hey this is turning out to be more popular then I expected, and don't worry about the fast pace of things, music is my muse and I found a song that makes the little sprite more hyper then Su.
Story
Motoko was shocked; she had just finished writing the letter her sister's pet bird Shippu who was her sister's constant companion and messenger. Shippu was carrying a scroll in its claws that it dropped into Motoko's lap before gracefully soaring away and out of sight. Opening it with trembling hands she started to read through the well written letter. Dearest Sister, it's been far too long since we have spoken. I am disappointed in your aversion to men but it is ultimately your choice and I know that if I try to convince you other wise I will merely make things worse. I have decided that we should however, spend some quality time together. I will be visiting at 2 O-clock today, perhaps we can spar? I am eager to see how much you have improved. I look forward to seeing you and your friends. With Love Tsuroko. It read and Motoko struggled to stay calm, then she grinned. "Well demon you may have admirable fighting skills but you will be no match for my sister." She muttered under her breath. /However if Haruka is correct, which I doubt, then I will gladly admit my mistake./ she thought then laughed at her own train of thought. /An innocent demon, yea right!/ she thought through her laughter.
She idled the time away until it was two O-clock exactly and Tsuroko appeared at the top of the steps, she smiled warmly at Motoko then spotted Haruka nearby. "Urashima!"
"Aoyama!" Haruka said in surprise.
"Tsuroko!" Keitaro shouted out jumping off the rooftop and landing in front of her.
"Keitaro!" Tsuroko said as she gave him a warm hug. Needless to say Motoko was shocked to her core and staring with her mouth wide open.
"Ts-Tsuroko! That man's a demon! Why are you embracing him!?" Motoko demanded and was surprised when Tsuroko laughed at her and let go of Keitaro who was blushing slightly.
"Motoko, he's harmless and quite frankly cute in his normal form. If Hina hadn't adopted him a few days after his birth he would have ended up being your nephew." Tsuroko said and Motoko began to stutter.
"Ts-ts-Tsuroko he's a demon! Our school hunts down those monsters we can't befriend them!" Motoko spat her eyes wide.
Tsuroko shook her head. "It's our schools teaching to destroy evil no matter its form. Although many demons are evil there are just as many who are not it's our job to protect the benevolent and passive ones as much as it is to destroy the evil ones." Tsuroko said calmly and Motoko stepped back.
"Are trying to tell me that the gods cry school consorts freely with demons!?" Motoko demanded her eyes almost glowing red from her anger.
"Technically the name of a benevolent or passive demon is celestial, and it was a celestial lord that started our school and bloodline. The only reason that this is not public knowledge is so that we can induct new members and they are informed of this when they are sufficiently loyal. Our school was started by an Okami demon who is your direct ancestor!" Tsuroko said narrowing her eyes at Motoko and they began to glow white.
"B-wha? My whole family... My whole life..." Motoko said as she fell backwards only to have Haruka catch her and drag her onto a couch inside.
"Hello? Earth to wolf girl? Hello?" Keitaro asked waving his hand in front of her face and snapping his fingers. "You know I think I get why Granny Hina said I could come back. She found a bunch of girls with a tiny bit of demon and brought them all together, people I'll be safe with in the place that it all started... How the hell does she come up with this stuff?" Keitaro asked scratching above his right eye.
"I dunno but mom knows her stuff alright." Haruka said smiling, "Any ideas on how to snap her out of this?" She asked glancing at Tsuroko.
"Keitaro how's your grasp of water magic?" Tsuroko asked politely and Keitaro thought for a moment.
"Well I can control it to a degree, heat it up and cool it down a little. And I can turn water from mineral springs into healing water, but only a cup or so." Keitaro said after a few moments of consideration.
"My you certainly have improved since last time. Could you make some healing water for Motoko it looks like she could use some." Tsuroko asked and Keitaro nodded and walked into the kitchen to grab a cup and a few moments later he had dunked it into the hotsprings' water, he sighed to himself and bit his left index finger until blood flowed. He used the slightly bloody finger to stir the water which instantly turned a deep crimson. He pulled out his completely intact finger and walked back to thee entrance and handed Tsuroko the cup. She glanced at it and raised an eyebrow. "Blood?" she asked sounding surprised.
"Kinda, my blood is the medium that transforms mineral water to healing water. A side effect is that all the water takes on the same colour." Keitaro said comfortably sitting down. He watched grinning as Tsuroko brought the water up to Motoko's lips and she drank it on reflex. Her eyes went wide a moment later as she snapped back to reality and spat out the water. "Welcome back to reality dear sister." Tsuroko said biting back a laugh.
"You were feeding me blood?!" Motoko demanded shocked staring at her sister then at Keitaro who started chuckling.
"Did it taste like blood? No, it was crimson healing water. Yes a little bit of blood was in there but all it was only a focus for the healing magic. Thanks to your own drop of demon blood it actually had more kick then it would for a full human. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get a good whiff of those other three to figure out just what they are." Keitaro said and all three of them starred.
"I bet two thousand yen he gets smacked fifty feet by Naru." Haruka said causing Tsuroko to giggle and Motoko to sigh.
"Sister, how do you know that... boy?" Motoko asked grudgingly admitting Keitaro was a person causing both Haruka and Tsuroko to smile.
"Simple I spotted a flaw in his disguise when he was practicing transformation. I forced him to a secluded area and dispelled the power. You can imagine my surprise when I thought I was holding a young kitsune and a neko popped out of the smoke. I recognized the breed instantly and apologized to him, he tried to run but ended up tripping and knocking himself out in his panic." Tsuroko said smiling at the memory.
"YOU GODDAMNED DEMON PERVERT!!" Naru hollered and Keitaro once again in his natural form went flying though the room and skidded to a halt in the hallway opposite of where he flew in. Tsuroko giggled again and handed Haruka a couple thousand yen bills. "I'm gonna kill him!" Naru said stomping through the room.
"Naru calm down, what did he do?" Haruka asked grabbing Naru's arm.
"That pervert just started sniffing me! I don't care if he's a kid I'm gonna break him!" Naru spat trying to wrench her arm away but Haruka used to Keitaro's demon enhanced strength didn't lose her grip.
"Naru he has an enhanced sense of smell, him doing that was like him trying to hear you better or get a good look at you. He's just trying to know who you are, and you sent him flying for it." Haruka said and Naru's shoulders slumped.
"Oh um oh crap..." she said slowly as Keitaro came walking in holding his jaw. He let it go and they all watched it slide back into place and he opened and closed his mouth as if testing it.
"Oww, smells like tanuki hits like oni." He mumbled in a bit of a daze as he stumbled past her then took a sip of the cup of healing water shook his head rapidly and stared at Naru. "So... did anything about you ever change because you thought you would look one way or another?" Keitaro asked with a straight face his slitted eyes boring into hers.
"What?" Naru asked surprised and Keitaro thought quickly.
"Did you always need your glasses or did you just need them when you started studying big time and thought of being a nerd?" Keitaro asked and Motoko's eyes went wide.
"She only needed them for the past two years when she studied at the expense of all else..." Motoko said slowly staring at Naru with wide eyes.
"I thought so, Naru your demon nature will slowly and subtly shape your body to fit whatever mental image of yourself you hold. You thought nerdy so you started to need glasses and could look nerdy with the right outfit. Nothing on an actual tanuki transformation but hey it's not a bad power." Keitaro complimented her as he examined Naru up and down closely. "But I think you've been a little too envious of Kitsune's figure seeing as your reflecting it." he said smirking then dodged a halfway playful half angry swipe from Naru. "What? It was a compliment!" he said grinning impishly and Tsuroko was giggling again with Haruka chuckling and even Motoko was smiling a little. He jumped back and out of Naru's reach then thought a moment. "I'd better go see what type of demon Shinobu and Su have in them." He muttered and walked off in the direction of their rooms.
"Hey don't you dare go sniffing two young girls you pervert!" Naru said and she took after the now running Keitaro. He flung open the door to Su's room and just stopped his jaw hanging loosely. Naru skidded to a halt and looked curiously for whatever had stunned him, it was just Su's rainforest of a room. "What's your problem?" She asked him looking down and he slowly looked up at her.
"How is that even possible!?" Keitaro demanded looking around the room with flourishing plant life despite the lack of both earth and sunlight.
"Says the fully androgynous demon cat?" Naru asked and Keitaro raised an eyebrow.
"Touché" he said simply stepping into the room. "Still how is this confined to this one room? Putting aside the lack of sunlight, water and earth how does she stop them from growing? Life breaks free and refuses to be confined, why is it staying in this one place and why isn't it damaging the inn?" Keitaro asked stepping in and looking around. After stepping into the centre of the room an alarm blared and a net shot up from under his feet tied itself up and dumped him into a metal container with bars slamming shut locking him in. "WHAT THE HELL!?" He demanded struggling in the net and slamming against the side of his small prison.
"Hiyas Keitaro what are you doing?" Su asked dropping out of the leaves near the ceiling and staring at Keitaro in his prison.
"Getting very, very angry." Keitaro growled his eyes glowing deep red and a small breeze began to move in the room moving towards the caged and netted demon. His eyes glowed a deep red and a wind blades started bouncing around the inside of the prison shredding the netting and most of Keitaro's clothes but doing nothing to the cage itself. "Let me out." He snarled at her and Su waved a finger at him.
"Not until you saw Pwease!" Su said and Keitaro nearly burst a blood vessel but quickly calmed himself down.
"Could you please let me out?" he said stiffly the glow in his eyes fading as he calmed down, Su seemed to think about it for a moment before saying Ok and opening the cage. "Why did you even have that kind of trap in here?" He asked glancing at his shredded shirt and noticing that his pants still managed to keep him decent.
"I'm preparing for the final battle against Tama!" Su said expansively as Keitaro got confused and Naru was exasperated.
"Who's Tama?" Keitaro asked confused and Naru coughed.
"She's the pet turtle of Mutsumi, she's out visiting her family now." Naru explained and Keitaro's eyes went wide. "Cool it, she's very gentle and sweet... If weird." Naru said then Keitaro remembered why he was in there in the first place.
"Hey Su I'm doing a kind of experiment and I need to get a good smell of everyone around, can you let me?" Keitaro asked and Su shoved her right leg right under his nose and he got a good smell. "Monkey! You're part monkey demon!" he exclaimed. "Actually, that's not very surprising." He said after a moment's thought. "Alright then let's see what's sleeping in Shinobu!" Keitaro announced and Su gave of a cheer as Naru glared at him. /You know grandma this really is helping, just knowing that each one of these girls is part demon and living here... I don't know they just seem more trustworthy, friendly and ironically more human./ he thought grinning as Naru ranted at him about being a pervert and Su true to her nature was bouncing all around.
He knocked on Shinobu's door and she answered her eyes red from crying. "Yes?" she asked obviously not in any real mood for company.
"What happened?" Keitaro immediately asked his thoughts about figuring out her demon nature vanishing as she broke down in front of him.
"M-mom and Dad! They keep fighting!" She wailed as she grabbed onto him for support and he hugged her tightly in return mouthing Help Me to Naru and Su who were too stunned to do anything.
"There, there um... Sometimes people do terrible things while doing what they think is best." /Like those bastard slayers for instance./ "And you gotta realize that your parent's still love you" /I think/ "and they're not doing this to hurt you. Sometimes this stuff just happens, but it's not now and never will be your fault." /unless you planned this and are looking for pity points./ "I've barely had a chance to talk to you and I can tell you're a very caring and gentle person who's just been caught up in something unfair." He said trying to comfort her and keep his more negative thoughts bottled up, he was completely out of familiar territory and was just trying to comfort her the same way people comforted him in the past.
He breathed in deeply and caught her scent. "Shinobu, did you know you're part inugami?" he asked her looking her straight in the eyes.
"Part what?" She asked her tears drying up a little as she got off the topic of her parents fighting.
"Dog demon, I think grandma Hina purposely looked for and found you as well as everyone else here. To bring a large group of part demon's together, I don't know why though... Anyways, from one demon to another if you have any more problems I'll try to help you all right? Think of me like a big brother." He said smiling sincerely and Shinobu giggled.
"A big brother? But you're so small!" she said starting to laugh a little.
"Oh rub it in why don'cha?" he said in tones that made Shinobu laugh even harder Su just joined in whole heartedly and Naru chuckled a little. "Augh I need a good long soak." Keitaro muttered as he walked off "Later!" he said waving to them. He quickly threw off his cutup shirt and pants in a corner grabbed a towel that he dropped at the edge and dived into the pool with barely a ripple, memories helping him avoid bumping into things he surfaced with an appreciative "Ahh!" Then he heard the sound of a sword being pulled out of its sheath and it instantly rested against the back of his neck. He wisely froze.
"Did you think you had me fooled demon? I must admit it took you a while to leave the company of those misguided civilians, but I knew that if I caught you alone you'd be much easier to kill." The slayer from earlier said veiled in the mist and crouching on the centre boulder with the tip of his sword on Keitaro's neck. "Now how to kill an upstart worm like you... I admit I've never seen your species before but nothing lives without a head... Unless your brains in your tail, which it must be if you really believed you could live with humans in peace." The slayer snarled at Keitaro causing tears to flow to the young demon's eyes.
"I'll admit, it is an... optimistic outlook but I've been long trapped in the world of man, I'd be a fool not to try." Keitaro said slowly bracing himself to dive away from the blade.
"STRIKE OF THE HOWLING WOLF!" Motoko's voice shouted out and Keitaro sensed a huge blast of wind magic mixed with an enormous amount of Ki coming straight towards him. He wasted no time and ducked under the water the slayer's blade just nicking the back of his neck as the magic and Ki struck the man and sent him flying into a nearby boulder knocking him out instantly and breaking his right arm.
Keitaro resurfaced and first looked at the broken form of the slayer then back to Motoke whose wind magic was constantly clearing the mist. "Wow, um, wow... I think I'll stay on your good side for my own sake." He said with a nervous laugh as everyone else present came pouring in.
Polls!
Well it's unanimous that everyone wants Keitaro male so I'm not even gonna ask anymore. Tsuroko is happily married so I won't be putting her up. And I'd like to thank Yukariko for giving me the demon blood idea.
Every Girl available: 2
Motoko: 3
Kitsune: 9
Shinobu: 3
Su: 1
Mutsumi: 2
Naru: 1
My Choice: 1
Original Character: 0
Kanako: 0
I plan to put out a chapter based around Neko Keitaro's interactions with each of the girls, a chapter for each one. The catnip bit will come at random, trust me you won't see it coming! Oh and don't worry slayer incidents will not blow the story off of it's original idea, if anything they will enhance them.