This story is for yukinothekoneko's July contest.
Here are the rules for the contest:
1. Any and all fandoms are accepted.
2. You must commit to the month of July.
3. Each chapter must be at least 100-1,000 words.
4. One of the genres must be Comedy, Gender Bender, or Boy x Boy.
5. Talk about the challenge in the first chapter.
The chosen Genre for the story is... (Drumroll please) GENDER BENDER!
Please enjoy. ^^
Disclaimer: D. Gray Man and Ouran High School Host Club do not belong to me.
Cookie scoreboard:
Soulless Ghosty and DGM otaku have each earned a cookie!
Soulless Ghosty is in the lead with five cookies. (9)
DGM otaku in second with four cookies. (6)
Miss. Jessi-Pon in third with three cookies. (3)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Begin
I yawned for the millionth time that day as I read through the pages of yet another Hell's Horsemen book.
I had skimmed through all the books, which took about two and a half hours, then choose a few, (*cough* a hundred twenty nine *cough*) and took them with me to the japanese branch.
It was ten p.m. when Lupus and I got to the branch and everyone looked at us wearily. They weren't used to seeing two people whom they knew hated each other's guts, studying together without threatening to do bodily harm against one another.
We were currently sitting on the edge of the training pit with all the books stacked behind us, but Lupus wasn't reading any of them. Instead, he had a laptop and was trying to download information from Timcanpy, but it was near impossible since neither of us knew how he worked.
I sighed and tossed the book into the pile of books I already read. Lupus coughed and glared at me and I said, "Alright, I won't throw the books, yeesh." I looked at my watch and saw it was six thirty. I stood up and stretched, then said, "I'm going to go change for practice. Feel free to continue..." I looked at all the wires he had plugged into his computer, then looked at Timcanpy. "Whatever it is you're doing..." I finished wearily. He glared at me a moment, then went back to work on his laptop.
I yawned, then started walking towards the supply room for the training pit. When I looked inside, I daw some dummies that one would use to improve their blocking, then some that would be used for weapon training, and then there were a bunch of different weights for a multitude of things. Finally, I saw the cabinet I had been searching for and went over and opened it. Inside was a multitude of different clothes for training. I grabbed the first shirt that was my size, then a pair of pants too. I walked over to the other side of the room since they had changing stalls with curtains there, then slipped behind them and changed out of my school uniform into the easier to move around in training clothes.
When I stepped out, I tossed my clothes into a storage unit locker. I then walked out of the room and Lupus looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I had a dark blue sleeveless top that showed my stomache (which was still covered in bandages) and a pasir of black pants that were slightly baggy. The clothes were quite comfy and easy to move around in, so I didn't care if he judged me. He just shrugged, then went back to work on his computer.
I checked my watch and saw it was still twenty minutes till seven, so I went back over to the stack of books I had yet to read and grabbed a random one. I sat back on the edge of the pit and opened the book.
"As there is a heaven, there is a hell. As there is a God, there is a Satan. As there are Angels, there are Demons. But what of the living ones known as god's apostles? There are Horsemen that follow and obey Satan.
Exact opposites, but the same goal: To follow and obey the one they believe in.
Horsemen are loyal to Satan, not for power, not for favor, but because they truly wish to obey Satan and only Satan. Their power is based on hell's fury. Any damage they inflict on another being is ten times worse than it appears. It's as though an invisible poison is dripping into the wound.
Horsemen favor axes or scythes, but never wield a blade. No one knows why.
It is also known that horsemen wil not give up on their goal. Even if their prey escapes, they'll continue to pursue it.
Horsemen also have another interesting ability, once they draw blood, they can follow their prey where ever it goes."
I sighed as I finished the first page. It was pretty much the same information I got form the other books. I flipped through some of the pages, briefly skimming them, then tossed the book to the 'read books' pile and layed down on my back. Lupus was glaring at me again and said, "Hate the Bookmen, not the books."
"Sorry, but the books are pretty much repetitive after the first fifty." I growled. Lupus massaged his temple as if he had a headache, then put his laptop on the ground and stood up. He went over to the pile of books I had yet to read and looked throught them. I watched him curiously and then he pulled out a really dusty black leather cover book that had a red pentagram on the cover.
"Try this one." He said while handing me the book.
"Why's this one supposed to be any different?" I asked. Lupus sat back down and put his laptop back on his lap before saying, "Look at the author."
I cocked an eyebrow, but looked at the spine of the book to read, 'H.E.L. Horsman'
"Lupus," I stated to get his attention, "This is just weak attempt at humor."
"It's worth it to give it a shot." Lupus said with a shrug.
I sighed and was about to open the book when seven people entered the training pit, most of them were half asleep.
I growled in frustration and put the book aside, seeing as how it was time to teach. I glanced over them and saw they were in different training outfits. Honey and Mori had karate outfits on while the other Ouran guys were shirtless with black sweats. Haruhi had black sweats too, but was wearing a grey tanktop.
"Alright students," I said, catching their attention. They looked at me, then at Lupus and started murmuring. "Lup-ass is only here because we've been exchanging information. So, just ignore him and pretend he isn't here."
Haruhi raised a hand and I cocked an eyebrow.
"Yes Haruhi?" I asked.
"What information were you exchanging?" she asked.
I sighed, then said, "I know I promised to answer questions today, but that is one I'm going to have to refuse to answer."
There were some mumurs as people remembered I did say I'd answer questions today.
Hikaru and Kaoru raised their hands and I said, "What's your question?"
"When we were first at the order HQ and you were talking to Racquel, why was she going to Holloway?" They both asked simultaneously.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "There was a funeral going on at Holloway on Thursday."
"Who's funeral?" Tamaki asked, concerned.
"Miko Walker, Hitoroshi Walker, Kikiro Walker, Kokori Walker, Kyonaii Walker, Hitosho Walker, Jajanei Walker, Itarii Walker, Ichina Walker, Ichiro Walker, and Kayla Walker's funerals." I answered.
All of the Ouran teens gaped at me and their eyes went wide. "Your family was murdered?" Tamaki exclaimed.
"No, my relatives were murdered." I stated.
"So you still have a family?" Haruhi asked to try and lighten the mood.
"No. My parents' names might've not been in that list, but they've been dead for years now." I stated with a shrug.
"So... you have no one?" Kaoru asked weakly.
"Nope. I don't even have my twin brother. He was killed before he was even born." I stated.
"Wait, how could you have been born, but not your twin?" Hikaru asked.
"On the night of my birth, I was born first. Before my brother could be born, somebody killed my mom, then my father. No one knows why they spared me, but they did curse me." I stated.
Everyone was quite for a while and I waited. I did say I'd use the first hour to answer questions.
"You're curse..." Haruhi started, getting everyones' attention, "Is it... Is it those pentagram scars?"
"Yep." I said with a sigh.
"But... what does the curse do exactly?" Haruhi asked.
"You know how the pentagrams are around the Innocence shards?" I asked. She nodded her head. "It made me take longer to learn how to control my Innocence, and it also makes it quite painful when I do use my Innocence. Although, since I've had this curse all my life, I'm quite used to the pain and it doesn't bother me anymore."
Another awakward silence hung in the air a while. "How exactly are we going to learn how to use our Innocence?" Kyouya asked, obviously trying to steer away from the awkward conversation.
"Well, you all know how Innocence has a will, right?" I paused and everyone nodded. "Well, that means it can also think, which in turn means it also knows when its wielder's life is in danger. Basicially, I'll be sparring with all of you, but I'm not going to go easy. Your life will be in danger and you'll have to hope your Innocence will save you. After your Innocence has activated for the first time, it should activate on command in the future. When we get to that stage, we'll just do Innocence endurance and training."
"What?" Many angry protests were made by the host club.
"So," I said, ignoring their protests, "Who wants to spar first?"
All of them were silent. I sighed and was about to just pick someone, but Honey spoke up and said, "I'll go first!" I cocked an eyebrow and the host club just murmured for a moment.
"All right then, those not sparring now, step to the side of the pit." I stated while standing up.
The host club quickly went to the side of the pit, although Mori was a little reluctant. I jumped down and said, "Alright, we'll spar for one and a half hours, then I'll spar with someone else."
"Alright." Honey said with a smile. I raised an eyebrow. How could he be so happy even though he's about to spar?
I sighed, then activated the Innocence on my left hand. A green light emited from the Innocence before my fore arm transformed into a blade. My hand was one end of the blade while my forearm was only a third of the length of the blade. It extended past my elbow and about two and a half feet before ending in another blade end. It had a light green glow to it, symbolizing it had Innocence.
I immediatly felt the pain from the curse, but ignored it like always. "Ready?" I asked casually even though there were many protests being given by the teens on the edge of the pit. Honey smiled and bobbed his head up and down. I raised an eyebrow. This kid, well, teen, seriously confused me.
I sighed, then took a fighting stance and got ready to charge. Honey tilted his head to the right innocently. My eye twitched when I realized he was messing with me.
I sped forward and swung my left arm/blade at him, but he jumped and threw kunai at me which surprised me. Since when did he have them and where'd he get them? I quickly rolled to the right to avoid them and immediatly got back on my feet. Honey was several feet away and was waiting for my next attack. This kid was skilled, so I didn't need to hold back as much.
I charged at him again, then quickly read his movements. Time seemed to slow down for a brief second. He was going to jump, and probably to his right. He was also preparing some more kunai to throw, maybe three or four. I snapped out of the time phase and swung at him, then when he jumped to the right and threw four kunai, time seemed to slow down again as I ran past the kunai till I was behind him and jumped in the air. Time sped up again as I swung my leg around and kicked him so he went flying towards the wall of the pit.
He quickly twisted his body around so his feet went towards the wall, then jumped off of it and flew back towards me. I brought my blade up as a shield and he kicked off of it and threw a few kunai. I let the kunai bounce off of my blade before slowing down time again. I peeked out from behind the blade and saw he was wreparing to throw some kunai for when I moved my blade. I narrowed my eye, then let time return to normal and swung my leg around so sand from the pit floor sprayed at him. He covered his eyes and I advanced towards him. He opened them and jumped back right as I swung my blade at where he had been at.
The 'battle' continued with him throwing kunai, me either dodging or blocking them, and using time to my advantage. It was an interesting match since he never used the same trick twice.
After a while, a sharp whistle pierced the air and I turned my head to glare at Lupus.
"It's been one and a half hours, shouldn't you spar with another of your students?" Lupus stated without glancing up from his laptop's screen.
I rolled my eyes and deactivated my Innocence. "Alright, who's next?" Honey tilted his head and I just motioned with my hand for him to go join the others on the side of the pit.
"Are you insane? None of us are as skilled as Honey!" Tamaki exclaimed.
"Then I'll go easy on you. I would've gone harder on Honey if I knew he was a ninja with a limitless amount of kunai... I mean, where does he get them?" I asked while looking around at the countless kunai on the ground.
"Tis one of the universe's greatest mysteries." Lupus said as he clicked his tongue, but contiued working.
"Nobody asked you." I hissed at him. "Anyway, who's next?" I asked. I looked at all the Ouran guys and none of them seemed willing. I sighed, then was about to choose someone when Mori suddenly stepped forward. I looked at him, then said, "Are you another ninja with a million and two kunai? Or is it throwing stars this time?"
Mori simply took a judo stance and didn't respond. "Alright then." I stated as I activated my left arm's Innocence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip
It was now twelve thirty and I had sparred Honey, Mori, and Tamaki. Mori had been almost equal to Honey, but he didn't use kunai or any type of throwing weapon. Tamaki... He was okay... but if I hadn't stopped my blade in mid-air a number of times, he would've been dead.
"Good match, but why didn't your Innocence activate?" I stated as I deactivated my Innocence.
"I don't know." Tamaki said while panting.
I sighed, then said, "Alright, go rest with the others." Tamaki just nodded his head and went back to the other hosts. I ran my hand through my hair and glanced over everyone. They seemed pretty scared. Except Haruhi... she didn't seem scared, but she didn't seem eager either. That's quite peculiar...
Lupus coughed and I turned to my left to look at him. He gave me a serious look, then pointed past my right on the other side of the pit. I spun my head around and my eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in anger. Anthony J. Rouvelier was heading towards me with Link behind him to his left. Behind him were six crows that were used to restrain Exorcists.
All the Ouran teens looked at him curiously.
"Anthony." I greeted bitterly.
"Walker." He said with obvious detestment in his voice.
"Before you start complaining about meaningless things, might I ask for you to let Howard Link escort my disciples to the café? I don't want them getting any bad opinions on the order." I seethed.
He glared at me, then nodded his head towards Link. Link saluted then went over to the Ouran teens and gestured towards the door.
"What's going on?" The twins asked.
"Whatever it is, I can handle it. Now leave." I answered while never taking my eyes off Anthony.
They left, but seemed a bit reluctant since they wanted to know what was going on. When they were gone, everyone stayed quite for a while to make sure they were out of earshot.
"Alright Rouvelier, for once I'm dumb founded as to why you have to ruin my day with your presence." I hissed.
A scowl remained on his face and he said, "You know the procedure before conversing."
I glared at him, then held my hands out in front of me. A crow stepped forward and put Innocence barrier cuffs on me. My arms immediatly felt heavy and I silently cursed. The crow then proceded to put a small barrier around me, making my body feel heavier. All the crows then formed a circle around me and put up another barrier, making it feel like I wouldn't be able to move, even if my life depended on it.
It became a slight struggle to breath and I hissed out through clenched teeth, "What accusation do you have for me this time?"
"Ravenel Adrian Walker, you are charged with the crimes of Treason and Murder, how do you plead?" Rouvelier asked.
"Not guilty. Care to elaborate on what the crimes are?" I seethed. I hated how Anthony always accused me of ridiculous crimes that are impossible for me to have commited.
"You are charged with eleven counts of murder, the victims being Miko Walker, Hitoroshi Walker, Kikiro Walker, Kokori Walker, Kyonaii Walker, Hitosho Walker, Jajanei Walker, Itarii Walker, Ichina Walker, Ichiro Walker, and Kayla Walker. You are charged with treason since you did not report in for more than twenty four hours and no one can vouch for your whereabouts or actions during that time span." Rouvlier explained. "Do you still plead not guilty?"
"I was at school during the time it was supposed my relatives were murdered. Not to mention, I would be a fallen one by now if I had killed them since three of them were Exorcists. And as for the charge of treason, I had caught sight of and pursued a level four Akuma that led me to a trap where two other level fours were waiting. I used too much energy defeating them and passed out afterwards to wake up hours later and find out it was Friday. So, again, I plead, not guilty. Not to mention, I reported in immediatly when I found out how long I had been out." I defended myself.
"The treason charge is lifted," Rouvelier grunted, "But how can you explain why you're the only Walker left?"
I reached into my pant pocket and said, "I have reason to believe the Walker line is close to it's end." I pulled out the card and held it up, even though it took a huge amount of effort because of all the Innocence barriers. "I don't know who sent it, or what it says, but doesn't this mean I'm the next target?" I asked/lied.
Rouvelier grabbed the card from my hand and looked at the front and back of it.
"And where did you get this?" Rouvelier asked.
"I simply found it in my hand when I woke up yesterday." I replied/lied.
Rouvelier glared at me, then looked back at the card. "Ravenel Adrian Walker, you are found innocent of all crimes." Rouvelier stated. The crows started taking down the Innocence barriers. As soon as they were down, Rouvelier dropped the the card and said, "There's no longer a reason to try and convict you, you're going to die soon anyway."
"Joy." I hissed while bending down to pick up the card. Rouvelier turned and left and the crows followed.
"I didn't know a lot of the things you mentioned." Lupus stated from his seat on the edge of the pit. I put my hand up as a sign for him to be silent a moment, then when I was sure no one else could hear me, I said, "Most of it was lies anyway."
"Oh?" Lupus said, intrigued.
"I'll explain later, I just need to rest for now." I said as I struggled to walk over to the pit's wall. When I reached it, I leaned my back against it and slid to the floor.
"Why do Innocence barriers take so much out of you? Other Exorcists' energy returns once they're out of it." Lupus inquired.
"I don't know." I replied, then yawned. "But staying up all night, then being stuck in a barrier is just too much." I yawned again.
"Take a short nap. I'll wake you when your 'students' return." Lupus stated.
"You're being nice... Who are you and what have you done with Lup-ass?" I asked.
"Have you ever considered that you don't know me that well since you've always seen me as a spy giving Rouvelier information about you even though I'm just a Bookman apprentice and I'm recording facts for history?" Lupus asked.
"Touché." I stated with a yawn.
"Sleep. You have over an hour before they return, you might as well do something useful." Lupus stated.
"Something useful would be to study more about the Horsemen." I yawned as my eyes drooped. Before I could hear or say anything else, I passed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~POV Change
The host club sat at a lunch table in the cafeteria and looked at all the chattering Finders and few Exorcist. From what they could tell, there were three other Exorcists in the cafeteria. Two of them were parasitic because they had a lot of food and empty plates stacked around them.
"Does being parasitic type really mean we'd be that gluttonous without the nutrition pills?" Tamaki asked with a nauseated face as he watched the other Exorcist eat.
Haruhi wasn't really paying attention. She was watching the door where Link was waiting and silently wondered who that Rouvelier person was and what made Raven act so bitter towards him. Raven had said not to trust anyone here that easily...
The twins were also disconnected from any conversations as they silently dreaded having to spar with Raven after lunch was over.
Honey, however, was having the time of his life eating hundreds of different cakes. The chef, Gary, was pretty excited that Honey was a parasitic type and that he loved his cakes.
Mori was simply keeping an eye out for anyone he might deem dangerous.
Kyouya, for once, wasn't writing in his book, but listening to the gossip around him.
"Did you hear? The Devil's apprentice didn't even go to his family's funeral!"
"No!... Really?"
"I've heard he's the one that killed his family himself."
"I've heard he's turned against the order. He was missing for an entire day and no one knew where he was!"
"Kyouya!" Kyouya's attention returned to his friends as he realized he'd zoned out while listening to the gossiping Finders.
"What, Tamaki?" Kyouya asked with a frustrated growl.
"I said your name six times! Why were you zoning out?" Tamaki asked worriedly.
"If you listen carefully and keep your mouth shut, you can listen to a Black Order version of high school gossip." Kyouya stated.
"I didn't think you'd be the type to listen to gossip Kyouya." Haruhi stated.
"Well, when you're in unfamiliar territory, it can be quite the useful way to gather information." Kyouya staed as he pushed his glasses up.
"Hey, Haruhi." Hikaru said to get her attention.
Haruhi turned her head towards him and said, "Yeah Hikaru?"
"Goldilocks isn't guarding the door anymore." Hikaru said while pointing towards the door.
Haruhi turned her head towards the exit and saw what Hikaru stated was true.
"Hey guys, I think we should go back to Raven now." Haruhi stated.
"Are you crazy? That just means we'll have to train our butts off!" Hikaru near-exclaimed.
"Honey sempai, Mori sempai, and Tamaki sempai all survived, you will too." Haruhi stated with a huff.
"Haruhi, going back there is like suicide! You'd have to be crazy to go back!" Tamaki exclaimed, earning some strange glances from the surrounding crowd.
"Then I guess I'm crazy." Haruhi said as she stood up so she could head back to the pit.
Hikaru grabbed her wrist and whispered, "Do you have a death wish or something?"
"No. The way I see it is no matter what, we're Exorcists now. Raven's been an Exorcist for a his whole life and he's taking time out to just train us. He even joined the host club just to make sure we'd be safe. Isn't it our duty to at least try and get our Innocence to activate so we can help in this 'sacred' war instead of being burdens in it?" Haruhi stated, making the other hosts freeze in realization at her words. Hikaru's grasp on her wrist loosened and she pulled her arm free and headed towards the door.
"She's right you know." Kyouya stated as he stood up. "Staying here is like admitting we're afraid to take another step forward. Besides, I'm sure Raven would hunt us down and drag us back to training eventually." He started walking towards the door as Haruhi disappeared behind it.
"As much as we'd hate to admit it," Hikaru started.
"He's right." Kaoru finished. The rest of the host club sighed, then stood up and went to the door and started heading back to the pit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Skip
Haruhi walked back into the pit and was surprised to see Raven sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. Before she could say anything, Lupus said, "Don't worry, she's just sleeping."
Haruhi looked up at him and asked, "Why?"
Lupus sighed, then said, "She's been up all night researching and she just went four and a half hours straight of sparring with three different opponents. Then Rouvelier had to come with the crows and put up an Innocence barrier..."
"Innocence barrier?" Haruhi asked curiously.
"People of certain descent have a type of magic that can restrain Innocence. Problem is, when they use it on Raven, it just seems to sap her strength away instead of restraining it." Lupus explained.
"Why'd they restrain her Innocence?" Haruhi asked as she walked towards Raven.
"The Rouvelier line has never liked the Walked line, so any way they can annoy them or torture them without getting in trouble pleases them greatly." Lupus stated.
"But, the Walker line seems pretty decent to me." Haruhi stated, obviously confused as to why they'd detest the Walker line.
"Did you know..." Lupus said, gaining Haruhi's full attention, "That the great hero, Allen Walker, was also, a Noah?"
Haruhi's eyes widened and she was at a loss for words.
"Because descendants or relatives of a Noah also tend to be Noah, Walkers in the Walker line have been repeatedly falsely accused of being a Noah." Lupus stated with a click of his tongue.
"Have any...?" Haruhi let the question hang in the air.
"No, none of the Walkers after Allen have been Noah." Lupus stated.
"Than doesn't it seem unfair that he tortures them for no reason?" Haruhi asked.
"Yes, but we have no say in the matter." Lupus stated. "Now, could you do me a favor and wake Raven? I have a feeling the others are going to be here soon."
Haruhi nodded her head, then walked over to Raven to wake her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Chappy
Sry, a few hours late, I know, but I got writer's block a couple of times and wasted an hour banging my head off the nearest wall trying to get rid of it.
Anyway, REVIEW-s are greatly appreciated. ^^