Author's Note: Holy Fucking Dog Shit, it has been forever since I've worked on any of my stories, another reason to hate boot camp. Anywhore, I'm so glad I get to write on these again, it make you bastards happy which makes me happy. =D. If you read my other halo story it has been updated, so go read that, anywhore, onto the story.
Andrew slowly joined the world of the living after an unknown amount of time unconscious. The first thing he became aware of was the weight pressing down on his chest and the cool numbness that accompanied it. His first instinct was to lash out violently against what was (to him) attempting to either freeze him or crush him. However, he found that his arms and his legs had been strapped down. Now in a near panic, Andrew starts to thrash about wildly.
Mizore, who was the one sleeping on-top of Andrew, instantly woke when Andrew started to thrash around. She idly wondered when she had moved from her chair to Andrew's chest but put that to the back of her mind as she had a thrashing solider to deal with. "Andrew! Andrew! You have to wake up Andrew!" she yelled as she shook him by the shoulders. It wasn't doing the trick, so she did the only thing she could think of, she slapped him.
The resounding smack from flesh striking flesh finally broke Andrew from his panic. His head had been turned from the force of the slap, so he slowly turned back to looking at Mizore. He looked into her eyes and saw the barely contained concern and sorrow within them. Andrew then realized that it was Mizore that was the one giving off the numbing sensation and was responsible for the weight on his chest. He looks down at his arms and finds them bound by ice; he can only assume that his legs are as well.
He looks back at Mizore who had not moved from her spot after slapping him, "Mizore…" he breaths softly. Mizore looked deeply into Andrew's eyes for a time and did something neither of them expected, or in Mizore's case believed she could do. She bent down and planted a kiss on Andrew's lips. Andrew could only lay in shock, with his eyes wide. Slowly his body goes on autopilot as it kisses back, while his brain is shut down. Eventually, Mizore ends the kiss and pulls away, continuing looking down at Andrew.
With dawning realization and horror, Mizore thinks back on what she's done. Like a frightened dear or rabbit she leaps off of Andrew and bolts out the door. Andrew watches her go unable to comprehend what happened or attempt to follow. He lay in his, what he now recognized as a hospital or infirmary, bed, just starring at the ceiling, not understanding what had happened or why.
The next few days were just one big blur for Andrew. Various nurses and doctors visited him checking vitals, seeing how he was doing, the typical routine of an infirmary. Of course he wasn't the only patient in the infirmary. The wounded from the Sangheili's attack were there as well. As he lay he could count upwards of a dozen people were in the infirmary with him. Most of them were being treated for plasma burns, a few others were being treated for shell shock. Andrew could only shake his head; he remembered seeing those exact faces on his fellow soldiers. Now though, seeing it on civilian faces, it was worse. They didn't have any military training to help offset the emotions, feelings or thoughts. It would take a long time for them to recover.
Tsukune and his harem visited him several times throughout his stay, though Moka was not with them when they did. Other than when he had first woken up, Mizore was also conspicuously absent from their visits. He didn't really mind though, he needed the time to come to terms with what had happened as well and decide where he stood on the matter. On the one hand, he did like her maybe not that way but things were rarely boring with her around. However on the other hand he knew the bitter truth about people like him. Soldiers who joined up to fight the Covenant because that was all they had left. Their home taken, their families taken, nothing left but kill and be killed by the very thing that had taken everything else from them.
Well, it was still early, and those thoughts only lead to depressing topics. Eventually, the nurses declared him fit to return to classes, provided he avoided any fighting whatsoever. With his previous clothes destroyed in his fight with the Sangheili, he was now dressed in the Academies uniform as he made his way down the halls of the Academy towards the Headmasters office. He paused at a window and looked upon a sight that he was familiar with but was totally alien to the residents of Youkai Academy.
The dead students of Youkai were lined up in a row with white sheets covering their faces, girlfriends and family members crowded around them as they wept for their fallen loved ones. Andrew made a face and continued walking on, 90% of the time post a battle with the Covenant where he was from you didn't even get that. You just heard about how the Covenant attacked another Colony and then the casualty lists would become available. Most of the time you never got a body back that you could bury.
Andrew shook his head to clear his thoughts as he arrived at the door to the Headmasters office. He took a deep breath, and pushed the doors open.
He was met with the raised voices of at least 6 different individuals. All the noise instantly silenced when the doors were opened, as they turned to look at the individual responsible for interrupting them. Andrew sized them up just as they were sizing him up. The woman on the far left was dressed in a pale kimono with a floral pattern adorning it. He got a chill when she laid eyes on him and he instantly made the connection. 'That must be Mizore's mother.' he thought.
The woman just to the right of Ms. Shirayuki was a woman with the largest bust he had ever seen. And it was obvious that she knew that with the way too small red dress that barely contained anything. He made another connection just on that alone. 'Well I guess I found out where Kurumu gets her looks.' he thought wryly.
To the right of her was a couple dressed in capes and pointed hats. It was so easy to see who they were the parents of. 'And that would be Yukari's parents.' he thought with a slight tinge of envy.
To their right was a man dressed in regal attire though it was a little out of date. Well, that wasn't saying much considering that he was from around 500 years into the future. 'And that would be Moka's father.' he thought.
And in the center, sitting behind his desk was the Headmaster himself, Tenmei Mikogami. He had been rubbing his temples to ease the headache that had sprung up from being talked to by 5 different people. Well, yelled at, would be the more appropriate wording. Andrew shifted his gaze between them once more then made his way to the only open chair in the office, which, if he was honest with himself, was probably placed there for him. As he began to sit the wound on his chest flared, causing him to grab his chest and grimace at the pain. The group infront of the Headmaster raised their eyebrows in question at his action, but thought nothing of it and turned their focus back to the Headmaster.
"Mr. Sampson, it's good to see you up and about." he said with genuine happiness lacing his voice. "How are you feeling?" he asked, again with genuine concern lacing his voice. Andrew shifted slightly so that pressure wouldn't be placed on any of his injuries before he replied. "All things considered? I'm just happy that I wake up every morning." he replied. He took a deep breath and looked into those glowing orbs that were the Headmaster's eyes. "All right old man, how badly were we hurt?" he asked.
Mikogami dropped his gaze to his desk before he answered Andrew. "9 dead, with 27 injured, including yourself." he replied softly. Andrew let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Well, that's a lot better than I would have thought." he said after a moment. Mikogami wasn't quiet fast enough to head off the outburst that followed that statement. All the mothers in the room rounded on him.
"HOW CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" Kurumu's mother screamed at him. She twisted in her seat to more directly glare at him. "9 children are dead with another 27 of them with burns that their natural healing abilities almost can't heal!" she continued. She took a breath, which allowed one of the other mothers to take a turn with him. "As much as I wish too, I cannot disagree with the Walking Boob Monster. If this had been one of our villages, the deaths of those 9 children would be felt by the entirety of it." Mizore's mother said. Kurumu's mother made a noise of indignation at being called a Walking Boob Monster but otherwise kept silent.
Andrew looked at the faces of the others in the room. Though they didn't say anything, the expressions on Yukari and Moka's parents signified that they followed the same thought process. He looked down, his bangs covering his eyes as he took a deep breath. "Yes, well, when you come from a history where the casualties are damn near 95%, and this was on victories mind you, then you can see how only losing 9 with 27 wounded is very good in my books." he said softly.
Moka's father's expression didn't change but on the inside he was reeling. '95% casualties?! After a victory?!' he yelled in his head. The others in the room were less composed after this revelation. Kurumu's mother, who had stood so she could yell at Andrew more effectively, slumped back into her chair, too in shock to do much else. Mizore's mother's face didn't change overtly but the widening of her eyes was the equivalent of what Kurumu's mother did. The witch and the wizard could only stare in shock at Andrew, their minds already working on this new information. Mikogami only stared at Andrew with sad eyes, or they would have been sad if their glow went out and you actually saw his eyes. As it was their glow dimed considerably.
Andrew turned his attention from the shocked parents back to Mikogami. "You know as well as I do that this isn't over." he said with finality in his voice. Tenmei nodded gravely. "Then you know what I want, no need in order to save this school and the planet." Andrew continued. Moka's father could no longer keep quiet. "You think that there are more of them." it wasn't a question. Andrew turned to him "Dozens more where that bastard came from." he answered. The following silence was deafening. Andrew turned back to Tenmei "I'm going to need equipment, weapons, armor…and bodies to fill it." he said, slightly hesitating with the last part.
Tenmei nodded gravely, but was interrupted by a sudden outburst. "Wait, wait, wait, are we actually going to trust this boy's word? I find it hard to believe that there are more of them and that they pose such a large threat to this school, especially with a Dark Lord as the Headmaster of it." said Moka's father.
If the silence before was deafening, then this silence could have been heard throughout the school. Andrew's bangs cast a deep shadow over his eyes hiding them from view. He stood shakily, so as to not upset his chest. He started to remove his Blazer, dress shirt and his tie, causing both Mizore and Kurumu's mother's to blush. Tenmei, knowing where this was going, only sat in silence. Andrew threw his dress shirt away and stood bare chested in Tenmei's office.
The women stared in shock and horror at his scars while the men only had grim expressions on their faces. The most prominent scar was an angry red one that ran from his right hip up to his left shoulder, were another angry red scar sat, though this one was a circular one. "You think that your 'Dark Lord' will be able to protect this school? Tell that to the families and loved ones of the nine dead people lying in a row with sheets draped over their bodies, or to the twenty seven people currently in the infirmary fighting to stay alive." he said. "And to answer your other question on how I know there are more? The answer is simple. I brought them with me." he continued
Andrew then went into his back story, and the H-CW, omitting several personal facts. By the end of it, everyone in the room was silent. Even Moka's father, who despised everything human, could only look in awe at the boy, no young man before him. Tenmei looked at him with something between pity and pride. Here was a man who had lost everything and bounced back to become something even greater. Though, he did catch some subtle hints. What those hints were hinting at he didn't exactly know however he would be keeping a closer eye on him from now on.
"What are you going to need in order to protect this school?" he asked. Andrew looked back at Tenmei after redressing. "Towards the end of the war, I started carrying a data cache in my helmet. I didn't know why at the time but I filled it with the technical specs for the standard load-out of the UNSC Marine. Now, well, it almost seems like I was preparing to come here." he said. Andrew thought for a moment, returning to his seat. "The weapons, armor and equipment is going to be the easy part. I'm sure you have ways of acquiring or creating anything I need, however, the hard part will be getting volunteers." he continued.
"I can work on volunteers later, I'll get you the information as soon as I can get my armor and helmet so that you can start getting me what I need." he said, waving off his earlier comment. "If that's all, Headmaster?" he asked. Tenmei nodded and Andrew stood and left the room. Once the doors were closed, the people who were still inside turned their attention back to Tenmei. "His story is certainly fantastical, and if he is to be believed, it was one horrifying and traumatizing experience." said Moka's father. The others in the room shot him dark looks. "You can make up a story like that, not with that much emotion behind it." spoke up Kurumu's mother. "I agree." said Mizore's mother, which shocked everyone in the room. It was almost unheard of when and/or if those two ever agreed on anything. "He did not tell us everything, though what he left out was probably just personal information. But what he did tell, throughout his story his eyes never wavered, I have never seen such pain and sorrow in anyone before." she said.
The group was in silence after that, not trusting their voices after such revelations. Finally, it was broken by Tenmei as he cleared his throat. The five parents in front of him looked at him, breaking out of their own thoughts. "Today has been an emotional one, go, and be with your children." he said softly. They stood slowly and exited Tenmei's office. He let out a ragged breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding and looked out his window. 'Things just keep getting more interesting by the day.' he thought sadly.
Andrew cautiously made his way through the silent halls of Youkai Academy. He lost track of where he was going and found himself back at the infirmary where he found the remains of his armor piled up next to the very bed he was in, that now was occupied with another wounded student. He grabbed the pile and left the infirmary, not wanting his own memories of being in such a place to return. After leaving the infirmary, he made his way to his dorm room. Intent on getting the data cache to the Headmaster so that he could start delivering the materials needed to defend the school.
It was while he was walking that he noticed a chill run down his spine and heard a slight gasp from behind him. Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out he spoke. "Hello Mizore." he said just loud enough to be barely considered a whisper. He turned to catch her stepping out from behind a bush, though he felt another chill wash over him, though this time it was more pronounced. "And Mrs. Shirayuki, nice to see you again." he said. The older Yuki-onna stepped out from the same bush "How were you able to tell I was there?" she asked head tilted in curiosity.
"I'll give you the same answer I gave to your daughter when she asked me that same question. Paranoia has its uses." he answered simply. She nodded sadly "And it's Ms, I'm not married anymore." she said, with a wistful tone to her voice. "You have my condolences, Ma'am." he said inclining his head slightly. Her cheeks gained a little color from the way he addressed and she had to avert her eyes. "Please, call me Tsurara, Ma'am makes me feel old." she said. He nodded "Is that all ladies?" he asked politely. Tsurara nodded, while Mizore did nothing. "In that case have a good day." he said as he turned and continued to walk to his dorm room.
The two ladies watched him go, when he turned a corner Tsurara turned her head to look at her daughter. "Was that him?" she asked. Mizore didn't bother answering but she nodded her head all the same. Tsurara nodded sadly and turned to go down the hall away from where Andrew had gone. "Come on Mizore, we have some things we need to discuss." she said over her shoulder. Mizore continued to look at the spot Andrew had disappeared from for a short time after her mother called her, then turned to follow her mother down the hall.
Andrew eventually made it to his room, where he stripped out of his Academy uniform and took a shower. After his shower, with his towel around his waist, he went over to his desk where he had placed the remains of his armor. Sitting in the chair he sorted through the pile of burnt, melted metal until he found what he was looking for. He pulled the damaged helmet out of the pile and examined it.
It wasn't as damaged as his armor was but still with the cracked faceplate and dented cranial, it was almost useless for its original purpose. He smiled ruefully as he remembered how many times the helmet had been damaged in his relatively short stay in Youkai. Andrew pushed those memories away and looked inside the helmet itself. There it was the little spot in his helmet where he stored the data cache. He stuck his fingers inside and pulled it out, careful to not damage it on the helmet itself. But then he thought back to how much damage the helmet had sustained and decided that if it had survived, then it was stronger than he gave it credit for.
He finally managed to gimmy it out of the helmet and held it in his hand. It was about the size of those chips that held the smart AIs, though it couldn't hold that much information on it. Still, it was good for what he was using it for, now he just needed to get it to the Headmaster. He idly wondered how he was going to transfer the information into a way for the Headmaster to interpret, but he figured that the Headmaster would find a way. Closing his hand into a fist, he opened his closet to find something he could wear that wasn't the school's uniform. Alas, it seemed the Fates had it out for him today, for there was nothing in his closet except spare Academy uniforms, and with his armor damaged almost beyond repair, he was limited to the uniform.
He sighed heavily as he donned the uniform; he still didn't like the color scheme or the overall look of it… wait a minute. He turned back to look in his closet and damn near whooped in joy. His coat was still hanging where he had left it… however long ago he had fought the PSC. He threw off the blazer that he had put on and donned his trench coat instead, reviling in the feel of it. He looked back at his armor and started sorting through it to actually see what was damaged and what wasn't.
After about 20-30 minutes of searching, and separating he had two different piles. In the pile to his left were all of the damaged pieces and in the pile to his right were all of the undamaged pieces. The pieces in the left hand pile consisted of his chest piece, left paldron, and helmet. The right hand pile consisted of his leg armor, right arm, back piece, and left arm minus the left paldron. He put his leg armor on, and then looked at the remaining pieces.
An idea came to him then; why not armor his coat? He could weave the back piece into the back of the coat and then stitch the arm pieces into the arms of the coat. Granted it would take time and material that he didn't currently have, but at least he now had a project to keep him busy in his off time while organizing the schools defense. He strapped his weapons onto his legs, grabbed the chip, and left his room. Ideas running around inside his head as he walked.
Andrew was almost back to the Headmasters office when he paused and tilted his head back, just in time to avoid a shard of ice. He looked to his right where the shard had come from and saw a sight that made him shake his head in exasperation. Tsurara and Kurumu's mother, who he idly remembered that he hadn't gotten the name of, actually now that he thought about it, he hadn't introduced himself to the people in the office, nor had they been introduced to him, were fighting and they had already torn up a pretty good section of the area they were fighting in.
Tsurara's hands had turned into ice claws and her hair had morphed into ice as well. While the busty woman's nails had grown to about a foot long and she had sprouted a tail with a spade on the end and a pair of wings. The object of their clash was standing about 20 feet from the fight being hung onto by Moka and Kurumu, while Mizore stood off from them a short distance and Yukari hung off of Tsukune's back like a cape. Moka's father stood behind the four of them with both an amused and annoyed expression on his face. It was rather quick for Andrew to figure out what both annoyed him and amused him.
He was amused with the fight between the two grown women, though Andrew knew that this wasn't like the 'girl fights' back home. And the only thing that Andrew could think of that would annoy him, the fact that his daughter, a super vampire, was hanging off of Tsukune like some kind of fan girl. Well she wasn't really hanging off of him so much as holding his arm like Kurumu was doing to his other arm.
Andrew shook his head and was about to leave the two women to their fight when Kurumu's mother body checked Tsurara and she flew at him. Before he could do much more than curse Tsurara slammed into him and they both slammed into the wall behind them. Tsurara climbed up and shook the hit off like it didn't happen and rushed forward to rejoin the fight. Andrew on the other hand didn't, he continued to lay on the ground in pain from the two hits when he felt something warm and wet on his chest. He put his hand to his chest and when he drew it back it was covered in blood.
When Tsurara had hit him it had opened his main wound that he had gotten from the Sangheili. He slowly stood, his bangs covering his eyes from view. Andrew then slowly started walking forward, towards the two fighting women. They had just disengaged from a short melee and were a good distance away from each other. They stared each other down for a moment, then, wordlessly, they charged. The two women were 10 feet from each other and coming hard when they both heard a snap-hiss and twin beams of energy appeared in front of both women, who had to back-peddle hard in order to avoid being impaled.
"Enough!" a voice said that everyone had heard before. They turned their heads to get a look at the person who had stopped the fight. Andrew stood before them, energy swords aimed at the two women who were about to continue their fight if he hadn't intervened. "You two are fighting like bitches in heat." he said evenly. There was a sharp intake of breath by everyone around. "You don't talk about my mother like that!" Kurumu yelled, letting go of Tsukune's arm and taking a step forward raising her hands in front of her.
Andrew shifted his gaze to her and she shivered slightly under it. "How old are you Kurumu?" he asked suddenly. "Wha…" she was slightly thrown for a loop by the out of the blue question. "I asked; how old are you?" he asked again. "15." she answered. Andrew nodded and looked to his left where Kurumu's mother was. "When I was your age, my mother was killed infront of me…" he looked back at Kurumu, "I joined the Marines after that to get back at the monsters responsible for that. I wonder what you would do if the same thing were to happen right now." he said conversationally, like he was talking about the weather rather than killing Kurumu's mother.
Kurumu recoiled as if struck and Ageha turned her attention from Andrew to her daughter. Tsurara and her own daughter didn't say anything, but they did turn their attention to each other. Andrew let his swords drop to his sides and deactivated them, then turned his attention onto Tsukune. "And you!" he said stepping towards Tsukune. "You are the main cause of all this." he swung his arm wildly to indicate the situation. Tsukune couldn't meet Andrew's eyes and looked at the ground. "All because you don't want to make the decision on whom you want to spend your life with." he said with venom.
Tsukune flinched and kept his head hung low. "That's not a nice thing to say." Moka said, coming to Tsukune's defense. Andrew turned to her now, "That's what you say, but let's see what the psycho has to say." he said as he grabbed Tsukune's hand and had him remove the rosary. After a moment, which allowed the people in the group to get accustomed to the weight of Inner Moka's Youkai, she opened her blood red eyes. She looked at Andrew then at Tsukune then back. "He's right." she said after a moment of silence. Then turned back to Andrew, "And I don't really appreciate the psycho comment." she said to him. Andrew shrugged his shoulders "Meh" he said dismissively.
"I just don't want to hurt any of the girls' feelings." Tsukune said softly. Andrew rolled his eyes "A real man would never have allowed himself to get in this situation in the first place." he looked at Kurumu, "What do you want?" he asked. She looked startled for a second then looked at Tsukune "If I can't be his wife, I'll settle for mistress." she said after a moment to think it over. Andrew nodded then looked at Moka but didn't wait for her to say anything. "And you would never allow yourself to be second to anyone." he said simply. Moka said nothing but nodded slowly after a moment. Andrew then looked at Yukari who had slid off of Tsukune's back and was standing next to him. "The best you can hope for at this point is to wait a few years and become another mistress." he said. Yukari nodded, she had already figured out what he was doing and what he was going to say to her.
Andrew turned to look at Mizore but she spoke before he could as well. "I have my eyes set on someone else." she said simply. Andrew nodded, he had a very good idea who this other person was but didn't comment. He looked back at Tsukune who was trying to burn a hole in the ground with his eyes. "So this is how this plays out. You marry Moka after proving yourself worthy of being called her mate, take Kurumu and later down the road Yukari as mistresses. And don't even give me that look old man, vampires are the top of the food chain, I'm sure you have a few mistresses around that your dear daughter doesn't know about." he said, cutting off the comment from Issa before he could even fully form it. "There problem solved, the girls get what they want, and you stop pussyfooting around with your decision." he said cheerily as he turned his gaze back to Tsukune.
Tsukune still hadn't changed his posture, if anything his shoulders had slumped as Andrew had laid out his life for him. Finally, he couldn't take anymore. Tsukune clenched his fists and stared defiantly in Andrew's face. "How can you just decide how we're going to live our lives? What gives you the right to decide that, did you even actually take the girls feelings into account?" he asked angrily but also foolishly. Everyone shifted their gaze between Tsukune and Andrew waiting with bated breath for what was to come. "If you had been paying attention instead of feeling sorry for yourself about how much of a pussy you are you would have heard me. I asked what Kurumu wanted; she said she would settle for mistress. Moka is the top of the local food chain so to speak, there for she would never accept being anything less than your wife. Yukari, well Yukari is Yukari, I bet she'd be happy for the rest of her life if she could simply say that she was the future mistress of Tsukune Aono, and fuck toy of Moka Akashiya. Because that's what both of them would be. Mistresses of you and if Moka pleases they would be her fuck toys. That is the reality of this world boy, but if you're too much of a pussy to admit that then you need to just go…" he didn't get to finish as a throb of pain cut him off.
Andrew suddenly remembered that his wound had opened and he dropped to a knee, one hand holding him up, the other covering his chest. At that point both Moka and Issa caught the scent of Andrew's blood as his shirt was covered in it. How either of them had missed that was anybody's guess, though it was probably because Andrew was such a good speaker. Mizore was the first to act; she dropped down next to him and laid Andrew out on the ground, opening his coat and shirt so that she could see the wound.
As soon as she saw it she had to stifle sob, she hadn't seen the wound the first time when she and Moka carried him to the infirmary. So now looking at it, she couldn't help but get choked up. 'He was so close to dying that day.' she thought. Mizore looked at it and did the only thing she could think of, she froze it. "We have to get him back to the infirmary." she said, as she closed up his shirt and jacket. Surprisingly it was Issa that nodded, he reached down, grabbed Andrew and gently threw him over his shoulder as he marched towards the school.
The others followed but Tsurara waited for a moment then looked at the ground where he had fallen. There was the data chip that Andrew was going to give to the Headmaster so that he could start preparing the school's defenses. She bent down, picked it up and walked into the school, making her way to the Headmaster's office.
She gave the data chip to the Headmaster's secretary and told her that he needed to get that as soon as possible. The secretary nodded and Tsurara turned to go to the infirmary where everyone else was. She arrived just as the nurse on duty had bodily shoved everyone out of the infirmary mumbling about stupid people disturbing her patients or something along those lines as she did so. After the nurse had returned to the infirmary, soundly slamming the door shut to make a point of no visitors, everyone just kinda spread through the waiting room.
It was during this time that Issa turned to look at his daughter. She was still in her unsealed state, but he could detect a slight undercurrent of worry in his daughter's features which was uncharacteristic for her. "You realize that even if the boy proves himself to you, I will never give my blessing." he said finally. Moka turned sharply to look at her father with eyes slightly wider than they were before. Tsukune also turned to look at Issa with wide eyes and questioning.
"Because you're human."
DUN DUN FUCKIN DUN! What's up ma biznatches? I have returned, cue the mass celebrations. So, I do believe that this is the longest chapter in The New Storm story but I could be wrong. Fuck it, I don't care. I'm sure all of you are going to be happy for a new chapter. So, not much really happened this chapter, but don't worry it's all a setup for the next one. ;) Review as you see fit. Love ya fuckers.