Chapter 2
Author's note: So I realize that the last chapter was pretty short . . . sorry about that. And sorry this update is so late. Anyway, I'll do better this time. Also, I forgot the disclaimer on the last chapter, but just in case you don't know, I do not own Rosario + Vampire, or any of the characters.
Scene Break
Kurumu walked up next to her brother, who was waiting for the bus outside their condominium. She was humming a happy little tune, with a smile plastered on her face. "You seem really excited for this whole 'Destined One' thing, Kurumu," Tsukune commented, causing her to blush a little.
"Yeah," she sighed, "I just hope I can find him easier than momma. It's hard to believe that, with all her charm, she still hasn't found even an acceptable guy!" Kurumu frowned at that thought. Tsukune, knowing where those thoughts would lead, decided to cheer her up.
"Just make sure that you don't take my friends away while you're charming people left and right," he joked, nudging her with his elbow. Smiling back, Kurumu commented, "If all your friends are girls, then I won't have to worry, now will I?"
Tsukune chuckled. "Haven't we been over this," he asked. "I'm not an incubus. There's no way I'm going to meet THAT many girls." He rubbed her head affectionately; an action he knew would resolve her feelings of doubt. After hugging her little brother, Kurumu joked, "yeah, you're so average, no one will even know you're human."
With a shudder, he replied, "boy I hope you're right on that." At this point, the bus pulled up, and the siblings got on the bus. "Good morning," Tsukune greeted the bus driver. The man removed the cigar from his mouth to reply, "And to you." His voice sent chills down Tsukune's spine, but he managed to escape the creepy grin of the bus driver. Looking around the bus, he realized that there weren't a whole lot of people on board. In fact, the only other passenger was a red-haired girl with pigtails, and she looked too young to be going to high school anyway.
Taking a seat a few rows from the front, Kurumu asked, "So how do you think mom got you in to Yokai?" Ageha might be a formidable succubus, but no one had that kind of power over the legendary Mikogami.
Tsukune shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted. "Frankly, I'm just glad that I made it in to high school. I had such solid C's that even the slackers out-scoured me in the entrance exams."
At this moment, the red-haired girl in the back leaned into the isle to shout, "You idiots! Of course he made it into Yokai! He's a monster, right?"
Tsukune grinned nervously, and replied, "Oh, um, right. Of course, how silly of me." This seemed to assuage the strange girl, but not his sister.
"Hey! Just who do you think you are, yelling at my brother like that," Kurumu retorted, her nails subconsciously lengthening into claws.
The girl stood as best she could while in a moving vehicle, and began to declare, "I am Kokoa Shuzen, proud daughter of-"
The bus then entered a tunnel, and took a sharp turn, causing Kokoa to fall back to her seat with a yelp. Kurumu giggled at the display, returning to her seat with Tsukune.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Climbing back to her feet, the girl, Kokoa, shouted her displeasure at the bus driver. With a deep chuckle, said bus driver replied, "sorry about that, miss. These tunnels always have sharp entrances." As the light at the end of the tunnel grew larger and larger, he continued, "Anyway, here we are."
Anxious to see his new home, Tsukune glanced up from his seat. "Wow, I had no idea we lived so close to the school," he commented to Kurumu.
Chuckling, the driver commented, "Technically, you don't. That tunnel acts as a dimensional-"
"Whatever, just let me off," Kokoa demanded. She was already standing by the exit, bag in hand, with what was apparently a permanent scowl on her face.
The bus driver took the rudeness well, grinning as he said, "Sure thing, miss." He opened the door, saying, "Ride safely," while she unstrapped her bike from the back of the bus.
As Tsukune and Kurumu got off the bus, the man turned his yellow gaze to Tsukune and said, "A word of advice, boy." Though thoroughly creeped out, Tsukune decided to listen anyway. "When students here smell a human, they tend to get . . . violent. You might wanna take the time to fix your smell before you get on campus."
Now extremely worried, Tsukune nervously replied, "Heh, sure thing, sir." He hurried off the bus before the man could do anything creepier. As the bus pulled away, Kurumu turned to her brother, concern written all over her face. "I forgot about your smell," she lamented. "How are we gonna pass you off as a monster when you reek of human?"
Trying to assuage her fears, Tsukune replied, "I'm sure we'll think of something. Besides, it's not THAT bad, right?"
"Oh, it's bad all right," Kokoa commented from behind the siblings. Startled, Tsukune jumped at the sound of her voice. "In fact," the redhead continued, slowly drawing closer, "I wouldn't be surprised if I see your corpse hanging from a tree by the time I leave today." By the time she finished her sentence, she was less than a foot from his terror-stricken face. With an audible sniff, the little girl grinned evilly, and then swiftly leaned in to bite his neck. Tsukune shrieked in pain, but when he tried to pull away, he found that the hand she'd placed on his shoulders were not entirely unlike vices.
Just as quickly as it had started, Kokoa released the poor freshman, who staggered back and slapped a hand to his neck. Much to his surprise, there were no wounds, just the telltale signs of a bruise. With a slight feeling of relief, he looked back up at the girl who had bitten him. She was licking her lips in apparent satisfaction, as though she were pleased with herself.
"Mmmm, that's good," Kokoa murmured, a slight blush on her cheeks. "What's your name, human," she asked. If her plan proceeded as she expected it to, she might want a treat every now and again.
Stammering, the boy replied, "Tsu-Tsukune Kurono. So, are you a vampire," he asked.
With a chortle, Kokoa said, "Well duh. What other creature drinks blood?"
By now, Kurumu's wings were extended, claws poised for attack. "Just what's your deal, blood-sucker," the succubus shouted, murder spelled out in her posture. Just before she lunged in for the kill, Tsukune put himself between his sister and Kokoa.
"Easy, Kurumu," he said soothingly, taking her hands, carefully, into his. "She doesn't know."
Now intrigued, the on-looking vampire piped up. "What? What don't I know," she asked. Though Kokoa came from a noble family, she did not pride herself on being insensitive. If she could avoid being offensive, she generally tried to.
Tsukune sighed, then answered, "It's a bit of a story. If you really wanna hear it, find me later on." He glanced at his watch, then did a double take. "Gah," he shouted, whipping back to face his sister. "We better hurry, or we'll miss home room!"
Kurumu relaxed from her hostile pose, settling into a smirk. "Silly brother," she chided. "We'll be on time, no problem." She shrugged off her book bag, and handed it to him. "Hold on tight, Tsuki," she teased, before wrapping her arms around his waist and, with a great flap of her wings, sent them skywards.
Scene Break
A few minutes of nerve-wracking flight later, and the Kurono siblings were back on the ground, just outside of the school grounds. Tsukune handed Kurumu her bag just in time to hear the bell ring throughout Yokai, signaling that classes were about to start. "Good call, Kurumu," he said as they began walking to class. "Just be careful not to get us in to trouble. I'd hate to get detention before first period."
As fate would have it, the two of them were in the same home room. Tsukune walked into the room behind his sister, and instantly felt awkward. Everyone was starring. Tsukune began to panic. "Is my scent really that bad," he wondered. He was about to ask Kurumu, but when he looked over at the succubus, he realized why everyone was starring.
Right before the entire class, Kurumu stood, hip cocked, working her generous figure. Half of the class was jealous of her, and the other mesmerized. Sighing, Tsukune moved past her, and quickly took his seat. Kurumu took hers shortly after, managing to draw the entire attention of the class with her.
"Settle down, class," an energetic voice called, quelling the general chatter in the room. Through the door came a young woman dressed in calico patterns, holding her hands up in a feline manner. "Good morning, and welcome to your first day here at Yokai Academy." She stopped in the front of the classroom, and gave a slight curtsy. "I am your home room teacher, Shizuka Nekonome, and I'm very excited to get to know each and every one of you." While she was talking, parts of her hair rose, revealing cat ears. "As you all know, this academy is a school for monsters to learn how to coexist with humans. This means that you must always remain in your human form." Out of her skirt, a cat tail rose and swished back and forth. "No exceptions. Now, let's take attendance, shall we?"
Just as Nekonome-sensei finished her sentence a series of loud crashes erupted from just outside the classroom. Two voices could be heard shouting; one was young, yet full of anger and defiance. The second was older, yet more afraid than anything.
"Give me back my real sister," one voice shouted. Kurumu recognized it as belonging to the girl that they'd met earlier.
"Tsukune," she said to her brother. "Isn't that-"
"Kokoa-chan," the other voice wailed after a series of crashes. "Can't we just talk?"
At this point the door flew open, and in ran a beautiful, bedraggled, pink-haired girl. She had fear in her eyes, and after quickly scanning the room, ran to duck behind the only open desk left. The one right behind Tsukune.
In burst Kokoa, with murder in her eyes and a comically large battle axe in her hands. After whipping her head back and forth, she spotted her target and, with a shout, hurled the axe in her direction.
Tsukune watched in horror as the axe came flying in his direction. Sure that he was down for the count, he gulped and shut his eyes, as though not seeing death approach him would somehow make it easier.
A split second before impact, the student to Tsukune's right stood up at the wrong moment. The handle of the axe smashed into the unfortunate student's head, knocking both him and the weapon to the floor. As the axe touched down, it morphed into the shape of a bat, which shook its head before flapping back to sit on its master's shoulders.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Tsukune turned his attention to the girl for whom the blow was meant. Cowering in fear, the girl looked cuter than anything he could have possibly dreamed of. The boy wanted nothing more than to hold the girl in his arms, maybe run his fingers across her cheek, or . . .
"Fight, you pathetic fake," Kokoa shouted, pointing angrily at the pink-haired hottie, and shaking Tsukune from his thoughts. Fearing a showdown was about to ensue, Tsukune shot a look over to Kurumu, who returned a reassuring nod. Getting to her feet, the blue-haired succubus slowly approached the enraged vampire.
"Kokoa, may I talk to you for a second outside," she asked innocently, gently but firmly pushing the younger girl into the hall. As she closed the door, Kokoa managed to sputter "Wait a minute, I'm not done with-", and then the door slammed shut. While Nekonome-sensei tried to resettle the class, Kurumu managed to get Kokoa far enough from the classrooms that no would hear the ensuing conversation.
"-and I don't appreciate being pushed around, you cow," Kokoa continued to vent her rage as they stopped walking. After taking a few deep breaths, the disgruntled vampire managed to cool off enough to ask, "do I even know you?"
Relieved to be dealing with a sane person again, Kurumu sighed, then spoke.
"I'm the girl you met on the bus earlier. My name is Kurumu Kurono, and my brother almost got killed by your-" Kurumu gave a wary eye to the bat- "axe."
With a shrug, the vampire replied, "it wouldn't have killed him. If he were human, it might have, but-" Kokoa paused when she saw the pointed look coming from the older girl.
"Oh," she finished, understanding suddenly dawning on her. With a nod, Kurumu continued.
"Yeah, and I'd really like for him to live through high school, so can you NOT threaten his life every half hour or so?" Hands on her hips, the succubus tried to give off the most intimidating appearance that she could, given the caliber of monster that she was dealing with.
Kokoa was silent for a while, and then a grin slowly spread over her face.
"Okay," she answered. "But I've got a condition."
Panic shot through Kurumu, as she decidedly did NOT want to know the deal. However, the succubus steeled herself in order to maintain her façade of confidence. "Oh, and what's that," she inquired guardedly, staying alert.
Kokoa grinned wider, much like a cat about to stalk wounded pray.