By the time the sun was rising, Rei had returned back to Grandpa Hino's chapel, while Usagi headed home... to face her parents.

She landed in front of the house and transformed her clothes back into her regular school uniform. She approached the door and took a deep breath.

"No worries, Usagi," Luna told her. "They will get used to the new you… in time. Well… good luck!" And she flew up to the nearest rooftop.

"I guess I need it," the half-vampiress sighed as she stepped forth. Before her finger reached the bell button, however, the door opened… and she was faced with the stern face of her mother.

"Young lady," Ikuko Tsukino scolded her only daughter. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Usagi gulped nervously. "Um… morning, Mom."

"Don't you 'Morning, Mom' me! Your father and I were worried sick. Just look at you! You're so pale…" She felt her daughter's forehead. "Are you ill?"

"But Mom, I…" Usagi winced. "Look, just let me in and I'll explain."

"I sure hope so," her mother frowned. "And you better make it a good explanation, or you'll be grounded for a week. Come, your father is in the living room."

They went inside, where Usagi's father Kenji was sitting in front of the television screen with wide eyes.

"Well, dear, your daughter says she has an explanation for why she's been out all night," Ikuko began, before she noticed that her husband wasn't even paying attention. "Honey… are you listening?"

Kenji pulled his eyes away from the screen. He briefly looked at his wife, before he stared at his daughter. His gaze then wandered back and forth between the TV set and Usagi.

"Ikuko… have you seen the news?" he finally blurted out. Usagi's mother raised an eyebrow before stepping in front of the TV. And when she saw the image on the screen, her jaw looked like it was ready to hit the floor.

Usagi stepped next to her parents… and gulped when she saw herself, in her vampire garments, with a pair of dark wings growing from her backside, flying next to a red-skinned gargoyle girl.

'Oh no,' Usagi thought to herself. 'Someone filmed us?'

Her father stared back at her. "Usagi… is that you??"

Usagi winced. "Yes, Papa…"

Kenji looked back at the screen, then at Usagi and shook her head. "But… how?"

Usagi sighed before forming her black cloak in front of her parents' astounding eyes. They both gasped at the display.

"Wow, that's cool, sis!" came a voice from the door. They all turned around to see Usagis younger brother, Shingo standing there in his pajamas.

"Shingo!" Kenji scolded. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"Never mind about Shingo," Ikuko shouted. "What happened to my little girl?"

"Mom, Dad, Shingo… I guess I'll start at the beginning," Usagi sighed. "We better sit down, this will take a while…"


"So… you're a vampire now?" her father asked in a disbelieving voice after Usagi had finished her tale.

"Half-vampire, actually," Usagi corrected him.

"Awesome," Shingo blurted out. "Does that mean you'll go flying around and suck out blood from everyone? Will you bite us, too?"

"No, I won't," Usagi rolled her eyes.

"Darn," Shingo cussed.

"But honey… you are so calm about this. Aren't you even upset?" her mother asked.

"Well, it was a big surprise, I admit," Usagi said. "But I think I got used to it… in fact, it really feels natural to me. But… are you okay with it?"

"Well…" her mother hesitated. "I guess it will be hard getting used to… on the other hand, you are our child and will always be. So if that is what you want…"

Usagi smiled at her. "Thanks, Mama!" She then looked at her father. "Papa?"

Kenji sighed. "I don't believe this…" he murmured. "I know that many teenagers do many things their parents don't understand. But couldn't it have been something harmless, like a tattoo or a piercing? Nooo, my daughter had to become a vampire…"

"Sorry, Papa," Usagi smirked. At least he was taking it with humour.

"And now what? Are you going to sleep in your coffin all day?" Shingo asked.

"I don't HAVE a coffin," Usagi sighed. "I'll go on with my normal life. I'll go to school and everything."

Her mother smirked. "Good, because there's a test coming up on Tuesday."

"Did you have to remind me?" Usagi groaned.


Two days later…

It was a Sunday and Usagi was dreading the following day, when she had to show her new self in front of the whole school. Sure, she had Naru to back her up, but she was still nervous.

Usagi was lying on her bed, on her back, her wings lazily spread behind her. Luna was sitting on the windowsill. Up to now, Usagi hadn't told her family about the talking bat. She didn't know how they would react to that, especially since they hadn't even met Rei yet. Usagi wanted to reveal one surprise at a time, or else, she feared, the shock would be too big for her parents to handle. It was bad enough that over the past few days, several onlookers and paparazzi had assembled in front of their house. Apparently, someone had recognized Usagi during her night flight with Rei. Finding out her address was a piece of cake for any competent journalist. It seemed as if every newspaper in the area wanted to shoot a picture of Juuban's very own 'vampire girl'.The only reason Usagi wasn't on the title page now was that her father had threatened the reporters to call the police… and after that didn't work, he pulled out his old shotgun. That was more enough to chase most of the onlookers away.

Luna watched Usagi as the young vampiress spoke into her cellphone. "I'm telling you, Naru, I envy. I mean, even if they knew you were the successor of a clan of monster hunters, that wouldn't be nearly as big news as the 'Juuban Vampire Girl'. I was even thinking of staying home tomorrow…"

"Wouldn't do you any good, Usagi-chan," Naru said. "You've got to go back to school at some time… better get it over with. You'll see, at some point they'll all get used to you."

"I wish I had your optimism," Usagi groaned. "Say, how's your mother? Did you manage to get rid of all the rubble in the store?"

"Yeah, the police didn't even ask any questions regarding the rocks that remained after Medusa's death. Still, after I helped my mother clean up, I packed the stones into a bag and threw it into the river. I certainly don't want the remains of an ancient snake monster lying around in my house. Oh, I read a few of my father's books. Did you know the whip can be magically powered up?"

"Sounds fascinating," Usagi yawned. "But can we make this short? I'm a bit tired after last night…"

"Why, what happened?"

Usagi sighed. "City patrol with Rei. Looks like she takes her job pretty seriously. She says that it's better to find Carmilla's monsters before they show themselves, to avoid any unnecessary victims. I swear, that gargoyle never relaxes."

"But that's a good idea, isn't it?"

"Yeah, maybe, but it kept me up the whole night." Usagi yawned again. "And while I certainly love flying at night, I need some sleep, especially if I don't want to fail at the test on Tuesday."

"You've got to introduce me to her one of these nights," Naru replied.


Monday morning.

Usagi stood in front of her school. She looked at the gates and gulped. Today, she looked just like she did on any school day… no vampire wings, no black cloak, just her regular school fuku. The only difference about her was that she was a bit paler than usual.

Naru, who was standing next to her, put a hand on her friend's schoulder. "No worries! I'm here with you. It won't be that bad… and if anyone decides to say anything funny, he'll get a taste of my whip." The redhead giggled.

"But you left your whip at home."

"Then I'll just kick them."

Usagi sighed and looked at the nearest tree, where she could see a dark shape. They had decided that Luna should stay nearby as a lookout, in case any of their enemies was nearby. This way, the little vampire bat could quickly warn them.

Even though Usagi was hoping for a normal, quiet school day.

Together, they approached the gate. After taking a deep breath, Usagi opened and stepped in.

The entrance hall was full of students. As soon as Usagi stepped inside, everyone became quiet and stared at her. Feeling everyone's gaze on her, Usagi wished she could just turn around and go back home.

Gathering her courage, she tried to look as normal as possible and kept on walking. All the pairs of eyes in the room were following her.

Just before Usagi reached the stairs that were leading up to her classroom, a harsh voice spoke up from the crowd of students: "Why are you here? Go back where you came from, monster!"

Usagi stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't believe her ears. Monster? Her?

Naru spun around. She furiously glared at the crowd. "Who said that? Who insulted my friend? Say that to my face!"

Those who knew Naru were a bit surprised that the normally shy girl stood up this resolutely for her friend. However, the girl who had shouted the insulted wasn't so easily impressed. The crowd parted and made way for her.

The girl had blonde hair that was falling over her shoulders in long curls. Instead of the common school fuku, she wore a dark red fuku with a blue tie. She also wore a blue bow in her hair, red boots and a pair of red, fingerless fighting gloves. Naru gulped when she recognized the girl… this was Karin Kanzuki, the snooty daughter of the rich Kanzuki family. She wore whatever outfit she wanted and acted in whatever way she wanted, since usually no student or teacher dared to go against her influential family.

She also was a trained martial artist, so that's just one more reason why no one stood up against her. Usually, Naru would have never dared to oppose her.

But ever since she had decided to take up the whip of her father, she had become determined to be stronger so she could become a good vampire hunter just as her forefathers. And in her eyes, this also meant going against any sort of injustice. Also, she didn't like the way this girl was talking to her friend.

"Keep your comments to yourself, Kanzuki," she said, stepping up to the blonde. "Usagi is a student like anybody else here. She's not a monster and she's definitely not dangerous."

Everyone gasped when they saw Naru standing up against Karin. The rich girl just smirked. "You are kidding, right? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen the news on the weekend. Are you saying the vampire flying over Juuban was not Tsukino?"

"No!" It was Usagi who replied. She stood next to her friend. "I won't deny it, I'm the one you saw on TV. However, I'm just a half-vampire."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Naru intervened. "That she's not a danger to you or any other one."

"How can we be sure?" a boy from the crowd spoke up. "She's clearly not human."

"She admitted she's a vampire!" a girl shouted. "Do you want us to wait until she sucked out all of our blood?"

"You see?" Karin sneered. "We don't want a monster like you at our school. So why don't you move your undead self out that door and never come back?"

"Hey!" a girl from Usagi's class spoke up. "Usagi never did anything bad. I'm never willing to believe that she could be dangerous."

"Yeah, let's give her a chance," an older boy nodded. By now, the crowd was clearly split in two: Those students that sided with Usagi, and those who agreed with Karin.

"See, Usagi?" Naru told her friend. "There are more than enough people who don't care about what you are."

"Well, I don't care what those losers are thinking," Karin said. The tall girl took a step closer and put her hands on her hips as she towered over Usagi. "Either you leave… or I'll make you leave!" And with those words, she cracked her knuckles.

"You think the teachers would allow that?" Naru grumbled.

Karin snickered. "You think they'd dare throw a Kanzuki from this school? Don't make me laugh. And now step out of the way before I have to hurt you as well."

But Naru moved no inch. She stood protectively in front of her friend.

Karin huffed. "If you wanna get hurt that badly…" She drew back her fist… until someone grabbed her wrist from behind.

"Who dares?" the rich girl yelled.

A girl with a brunette ponytail, equally tall as Karin, was standing behind her. Also like karin, she wasn't wearing the regular school fuku, hers was colored brown and white.

"Hey, isn't that the new girl?" a voice in the crowd began to whisper.

"Yeah, that violent one. I heard she thrashed four boys the other day."

Karin looked at the brunette snidely. "You've got a lot of guts to do that. What's your name?"

"Makoto Kino," he other girl replied. "And I suggest you try picking on someone your own size for a change."

Karin pulled herself from Makoto's grip. "Well, if you insist…"

At that moment, two teachers were coming down the stairs. "Hey! What's goig on here? No fighting, girls!"

Karin lowered her fists and grinned. "Looks like you're lucky this time, Kino… the same goes for you two!" She glared at Naru and Usagi.

"No, YOU'RE the lucky one," Makoto growled. "In a fair fight, you'd have no chance against me."

"Oh? Is that supposed to be a challenge?" Karin smiled.

"You bet it is!" Makoto nodded.

"Students!" the teacher spoke up again. "Haven't you heard the bell? Go to your classrooms, right now!"

"Today, after school, on the basketball field," Karin whispered to Makoto before she left. "Don't disappoint me."

"Don't worry, I won't," Makoto snarled.

Since Makoto was in the same class as Naru and Usagi, they went to class together.

"You didn't have to do that, Makoto," Usagi told her.

"I know, but I can't stand anyone who acts like they own the world. She must be taught a lesson."

"You know, I could have taken her…" Usagi said. "But thanks for the help anyway."

"Ah, it was nothing," the tall girl grinned. "Besides, I somewhat know how it is to be an outsider. At my old school…"

"Well, you've never had the problem of being a half-vampire," Usagi sighed.

Makoto sighed and looked down at her hands. "No… I guess not…"

'Still, we're not that different from each other…' she thought to herself.


While the first lesson of the day had already begun, someone was standing outside of the school premises, watching the building with a great interest. It was a tall man with dark skin, blonde hair and several scars on his muscular arms.

"So, I've finally found you…" His eyes began to gleam while his fingernails briefly reformed into deadly-looking claws. "Makoto 'Blue Crescent Moon'…"


Author's Note:

I guess only Castlevania fans can understand the hint at Makoto's true identity at the end…

Also, I hope you're okay with my decision to add Karin Kanzuki, a character from Street Fighter. I needed a snobby, arrogant school girl who can fight at least as good as Makoto, and she was ideal for the role.