Troubled Festivities
The second day of the festival began much like the previous one, but Tsukune would be the first to say he had not slept well. It was what happened that night as he made a few patrols around the closed festival grounds, trying to settle his paranoia. He had heard a cry from atop the roof and he had gone to investigate, seeing as even the banshees were asleep by that time.
Instead what he found was a rape attempt. Someone, by the looks of it an old student, had cornered a girl onto the railing and was trying to force himself on her. She was one of his classmates, a rather weak type of youkai but a nice person none-the-less. He had been the one to assign her the position to make an inventory of the first night as a form of 'behind the scenes' survey.
Instead, his choice had led to her getting molested. But Tsukune, at that moment, as he saw the girl's face, the terror and horror on her face... he didn't see her at all. In her place was another, several others.
Moka. Kurumu. Mizore. Yukari. Even Ruby and Nekonome.
The assailant didn't get a chance to cry out in pain when Tsukune fell upon him, his wrath breaking a link of his Divine Lock to grant him the power boost he needed.
'She's just... just like them...'He had thought, referring to his friends.
At that moment, without his knowledge, the Headmaster's plan had taken a big step forward. At that moment, Tsukune was able to sympathize and connect with a person not of his group. At that moment, Tsukune's eyes opened to a far larger group of people. Because, where before the people around him were a mere crowd, faceless, without identity, now they had a name and a face and an existence.
The oni, for that was the true form of the attacker, a large alcohol-binging combat type of ayashi, tried to fight the enraged Tsukune. But the boy had become a committee member for more than just a bait; he had the strength to back up his position. And that is what he did. The oni was delivered in the hospital a couple of hours later. Weird claw and bite marks were marked but the most apalling wound was the lack of genitals as if someone had bathed them in high-concentration magical acid.
The girl was also found in the psychologist's ward getting counceling on how to get over the experience. Neither she nor the injured oni would ever disclose Tsukune's name, but the next time the girl saw him, she would blush and turn into a stuttering mess. Kurumu had been less than overjoyed about it.
But the morning was not the night and Tsukune could say that despite his other half's recent release, he had managed to sleep relatively calmy and without any mind-shearing torture. Of course, that did not make him happy when the first thing he heard in the morning was his demonic side's voice.
At least he and Moka saw each other in the morning rather than noon and, as was natural, their meeting was followed by their own morning routine; namely Moka biting on Tsukune's neck to get his blood. She had been two days without it after all.
It was then that Tsukune's greatest shock came. When she bit him, he felt... something... within him. He observed the sudden urge and recognized it, the constant thirst that had annoyed him for the past two days suddenly grew by leaps and bounds into an unbeareable need. Her scent in his nostrils was almost a drug and his motions were made as if in a trance, his arms wrapping around her. He was just ready to sink his teeth into her vulnerable neck when... Kurumu kicked Moka away and took her place.
The sudden shock of a body colliding with his own shook Tsukune out of his reverie and allowed him to think on what he had just experienced. "K-Kurumu-chan!" He gasped, for the first time thankful for her interruption.
He took the first chance he got to escape his friends and go to the Headmaster, but Ruby was quick to tell him that he was absent at that time, something to be expected considering all the high-profile guests.
Tsukune, having no alternative, went to where he always went when he wanted to think about things. Namely the roof, overlooking the festival at his feet and the scene of 'character'-istically dead nature ahead, an ocean as red as blood under the dark blue horizon. It was peaceful, at least for the most part.
A great antithesis to his troubled mind.
He had wanted blood. Moka's blood.
Why? Why had he that thirst? He hadn't had it before. Was it because of his Lock's alterations? Had he broken off one link too much? Was his demon trying to affect him in some roundabout way?
Then he remembered his demon's words and, while he didn't trust it, he could believe it; "No, this is all you boy, this is all you. Remember that!"
That's what it had said. But could it be true? Was it him? Was it some part of him, some tainted, dark, vile part of himthat caused him to thirst for his friend's blood?
What the hell was he?
He wasn't a human, he wasn't an ayashi, hell he wasn't even a regular demonblooded and that spoke a lot about how messed up his situation was.
He groaned and sighed, repressing the urge to smash his face against the railing with all his might.
He recognized it as his sanity; that little part of him, the little voice in the back of his head that told him it was stupid.
Damn, he expected his sanity to at least have another suggestion instead of just cancelling his own.
Maybe he should take that psychologist's offer after all...
Nah, he was fine, by his group's standards anyway.
Hearing Moka and Yukari coming up, he tore himself away from his philosophical search for his own sanity and turned to his friends smiling.
"Hello Moka-san, Yukari-chan! How are you? All alright?" Greeting his friends lifted Tsukune's spirits, seeing some of his precious friends always made him happy, even more so with the events going on.
As it turned out, Moka and Yukari had done their shifts at their homeroom's stall and were trying to enjoy the festival. Tsukune was only too happy to join them, he too had been swamped with work and needed some time off.
Wandering from item to item, from homeroom to homeroom, Tsukune and the others commented at how outlandish or weird some things were, for humans and ayashi both. At some point, their talks came to the matter of family.
It was a sore point for Tsukune, seeing as he didn't know how to breach things to his parents. Could he leave them in the dark about the ayashi world and his own changes? Should he tell them the truth and thrust them, them being weak humans, into the world of monsters where fighting and death were commonplace?
What was he to do? What was the best choice?
Hiding his troubled thoughts, Tsukune pushed the conversation to the girls next to him.
Yukari talking about her parents came almost right after, when they appeared suddenly, as if by magic. They probably did appear by magic.
They seemed like a nice couple. Yukari's mother didn't talk much, if any at all, but the girl's father made the 'translation' of his wife's looks and body language.
Seeing as how it was Moka's turn, the girl sadly told them that no one from her family would come to the festival, they never did. She also told them how she had two older sisters and a younger one.
Unfortunately, that brought Tsukune's family to the forefront, though the girls were smart enough to do it away from people, where one might overhear.
"W-Well... I'm an only child really... but I do have a cousin, she's more like a sister to me though..."
"What? A cousin that's like a sister?" Both girls answered in a very surprised tone that had the boy wondering what was up with that.
"Well, yeah... She's two years older than me, but she lives really close by so we kind of grew up together. My 'sister' Kyouko is a very nice person... She's really headstrong though and that got me in trouble sometimes..."
His voice had taken a sad melancholic tone that somewhat worried the girls. Not for the reasons they feared however but instead because he didn't know how she would react if she heard of his... changes...
"Eeeh..." Drawled out Moka in a weird, way-too-interested way. "And how does this cousin of yours look?"
For the moment, Tsukune thought she was... jealous... But that can't be true right? "Well... I guess she's kinda cute, my classmates said so anyway... but's she's real tomboy-ish... Oh, look, that girl's haircut's exactly like K-"
And then he froze. The girl he had pointed at didn't have just similar hair, she also had a very similar face and dressed exactly the same as his cousin.
"Kyou-chan?" His voice betrayed his fear at seeing his cousin, and not just because of her reaction to him.
"Kyou-chan?" Whispered two girls beside him conspiratorily. Their fears were intensified when the girl looked at Tsukune.
"Tsukki?"
"Tsukki?" And then they were wondering exactly what kind of relationship their friend had with his cousin.
Unfortunately for Tsukune, he couldn't take cover behind somewhere or hide in time because he was spotted. His cousin ran at him and promptly glomped him, calling out his nickname.
"Tsukki! I missed you so much!" Tsukune could only try to free himself from his cousin's grip, but he was too afraid to put any real strength in it and her grasp was almost suffocating. "You never called me and I was so scared and..."
And then it degenerated into mumblings and accusations about how insensitive he had been and how he should call more often and how he should come live at his parents' house so she can see him and...
Well, you get the point.
"K-Kyou-chan! What are you doing here?" The question was asked with more than one meanings, not to mention more than one emotions behind it.
Kyouko pouted at him. "What, can't I even visit my Tsukki?" Of course her definition of Tsukune being 'hers' was quite offending to the ears of Yukari and Moka. "You didn't call me at all, and you used to follow me around everywhere, taking baths with me..."
"Kyou-chan! Don't say such weird things! Besides that was really long ago!" Tsukune tried to prevent the oncoming disaster, but he already knew that a lot of damage had been done. Really, of all the people to hear about his cousin, did it have to be Moka? At least it wasn't Gin. The pervert would probably hit on his cousin. "Anyway! What are you doing here?" He didn't voice his true question however: how had she gotten there?
Kyouko took a step back to look at her cousin. For some reason he felt... different... than before. Was it some bout of confidence? Was it the girls he was talking to before? Heck, he even seemed to work out if she was judging correctly. "You never called, never told me anything! It's natural that I would check up on you! And if this school has not been treating you right, then I have no choice but to take you home!"
"WHAT?" This time it wasn't just Tsukune's voice, but also Moka's and Yukari's.
"Well of course! I can't have my little cousin in a suspicious school! And this one seems suspicious enough already! Look at it!"
For a moment, the boy was afraid his sister had seen a monster or something.
"It's so lively!"
And cue a facefault. That was the last thing they expected the girl to define as suspicious.
"It's so lively and there's so many people! Definitely suspicious! And beyond that! Tsukune! You're suspicious too! No other explanation as to why such a beauty would be around you!"
'What the hell's that supposed to mean?' He wondered inside. Geeze, it was as if his cousin had absolutely no confidence in him. "K-Kyou-chan! Don't say such things! Besides, she's not just a beauty! She's my friend, Akashiya Moka. And next to her is another friend, Sendo Yukari. You should call them by their names you know!"
The girl turned to the two girls and examined them closely. In the end she wasn't satisfied, not that it surprised Tsukune. "You're suspicious! Forget the pink hair, what are you some kind of goth-cutie-lolita combination! Too suspicious! And you! Are you into cosplay or something?" Then she turned to Tsukune to rant on about how suspicious the place was.
It was a good thing too; Tsukune never knew how much like her Inner Self his friend could look when angered, nor how evilly Yukari's eyes seemed to glint. They were damn scary, that's what they were.
"A-Anyway, Kyou-chan! What are you doing here and how did you get here?" He had to know. He was pretty darn sure humans were prevented from coming over to the school, especially considering the Great Barrier, so how had she managed to? He doubted she found any fliers left by a mysterious robed man...
Tsukune decided to leave interrogating the Exorcist for another time. If his suspicions were correct, the robed riddle-maker had wanted a normal human to attend Youkai Gakuen, much like Hokuto had originally been. What had he been thinking, or rather what the hell had he been smocking? A human in Youkai Gakuen? How far into the future had he seen? If but to save himself a headache, Tsukune refocused on his cousin.
"Well, I tried to find the school by the adress on the flier uncle had, but it just led me to an empty lot. There was no one there! So suspicious... But then a woman came by and she showed me the bus and told me how to come over here. So, here I am! And I find this place too suspicious! It's been corrupting you! I will find the truth behind this suspicious school and take you away from here!"
Try as he might, Tsukune couldn't shake his cousin's ideas or change her mind. He knew he couldn't but he did try and so had Moka and Yukari.
In the end, he was forced to give the woman a tour of the festival. He cringed at that. He would need to work overtime to divert her from some of the more... exotic... exhibitions. Karate club shows were one thing, but an alchemy convention or a banshee opera? He was sure the Headmaster was laughing somewhere.
It began out well enough though, guiding the girl to where he wanted was easy enough if he took into account the fact that he knew how she thought by now. Sometimes it was hard to predict her, but between the three of them, they managed it.
The first bump in their plan however came in the form of a near-flying succubus and her subsequent glomping of the sole male of the group. It became worse when she started ranting about the 'maid cafe' that her class was doing. It wasn't the 'maid cafe' part that drew Kyouko's attention, now that would have been normal and she was all but. No, for once, she had to focus on the one pair of important words Kurumu spoke; 'human world'.
Thankfully, Yukari was quick on her wand and quickly summoned a basin to slam the poor succubus on the head and knock her out without too much fuss. Well, for Youkai's standards anyway.
Thanking all the deities watching over him for Yukari's and Moka's presence, he pulled his cousin away from the twitching form on the ground. He hoped that maybe his class' item, goldfish scooping of all things, would alay his cousin's suspicions.
Fat chance.
Why? Because the moment he entered, he was treated to the sight of Mizore in a yukata. Now, that wasn't much of a problem, despite him blushing a bit. No, it was the fact that Mizore, completely failing to read the situation turned to him, full of seriousness in her voice and caused him an unbelievable amount of trouble...
"Tsukune, if you're getting another girlfriend before you give me a child, I will freeze you to death." And of course she had to put her hand into the water and pull out a frozen goldfish. "Like this..."
Sometimes he hated it when his friends didn't pay attention to the going-ons.
Things got worse after that.
A girl asking him a favour because of his strong monster form.
A group of girls, if he remembered well these ones had been turned into Ishigami's statues at one point, thanking him for beating up the teacher.
Another trio that giggled and asked about what type of girl he liked.
Gin who... just spoke to him really.
Even Ruby who wanted to talk to him about the Headmaster.
Each and every one of them got a large basin in the head. Well, Ruby just got a small fan while Gin got a larger-than-life spiked ball.
In another realm, an orange-haired girl was wondering if vampires actually do get sick; no other explanation for so much sneezing.
To avoid any more 'mysterious falling basins' questions, Tsukune pulled his dear, dear cousin to the woods. Seriously, did everyone have to speak about Ayashi stuff today?
While he kept his cousin busy, an angry Moka and an exhausted Yukari (she had knocked out no less than thirty school mates) were scolding their succubus and yuki-onna friends. Gin was weakly calling for help and something to stop the bleeding while Ruby had gotten herself tangled up in some ropes... again... Putting that behind them, especially and pointedly Gin, the group decided to do the least suspicious thing of all; spy on Tsukune.
"Alright! If that harpy wants to take my Destined One away, I'm going to charm her brains out!" Came Kurumu's declaration.
Naturally it was followed by Mizore's threat. "Not if I flash-freeze her first!" She had just began making some progress with Tsukune, she wasn't about to let someone, anyone, take him away from her.
"C-calm down you two! We'll get found!" Cautioned Moka, but that did not mean she wasn't also thinking of several nasty things to do to Kyouko if she took Tsukune away. Fortunately she lacked her Inner Form's imagination and ruthlessness. It was still pretty damn scary however, all things considered.
Yukari preferred to stay silent and observe. Years of pranking had taught her how to best observe her 'mark' before making a prank of such indisputable quality none could object to her genius!
Scratch that; she was actually chuckling evilly.
The conversation in front of the eavesdropping girls wasn't going on nicely.
"I don't care about your excuses Tsukki! This place has a bad effect on you! Why do you want to stay here so much anyway? Don't tell me those bishoujou got you? You were so shy around girls and look at you now!"
"Kyou-chan, I want to stay here, there's a lot of things going on and I'm actually having fun for a change! I mean, what's wrong with me not being that shy around girls anyway? Didn't do me all that good before. At least now I can speak to people without turning to a stuttering mess!"
Even she had to agree that he had a point there. "Still! You don't call, you don't write, you don't tell us anything! And I come here to find you being around this and thatkind of girls!"
"What is that supposed to mean? Don't you get it Kyou-chan? I like it here. Matter of fact, I don't want to leave, ever! It's like another home. Sure, sometimes things get weird and more often than not we get into fights and stuff. But, even so, I'm having fun. I'm actually making friends Kyou-chan. And that I won't let anyone take away from me! Not even you!"
"Tsukki!" She had definitely not expected that. Her gasp and step back put her surprise to plain sight. She would have replied, probably in some attempt to intimidate him to submission, but she didn't get the chance.
Tsukune put his hand on her shoulder and his visage was different from what she was used to, but not in a bad way. His eyes were confident, determined and his face was hard. "Kyouko... I will not leave. As much as I miss you and mom and dad, I will not leave. These are my friends, my first friends and I will not leave them, for any reason. I know you don't trust me, but know what? I don't care. I just don't care about it. I will stay here, with my friends, regardless of how suspicious that may be to you."
"Tsukune..." She was only looking out for him after all, trying to protect her naive little cousin from the dangerous world around them. When had her little cousin grown up so much? When did he start acting like a... a man? Since when was Tsukune so manly? It seemed paradoxical; Tsukune was the definition of average. He was at the exact middle of everything. And yet, at that moment, before her stood a man that was not average in anything. In the end she sighed.
She had come to take back her meek little cousin. The man in front of her wasn't meek in the slightest. He was strong and confident. It was almost nostalgic in a sense; she had wished so often that he would grow up, but for him to so suddenly do it... It made her sad. "Alright Tsukune. I'll trust you. But you better call back, hear me mister! I won't have your mother breaking down my doors because she wants to know how you are!" She poked him repeatedly in the chest to make her point known. "Though I doubt she'd actually do something like that..." She all but whispered that part, but it caused Tsukune to laugh none the less. In the end, she looked back at the bushes that hid her cousin's female entourage. "And as for you! Get out of there! It's rude to eavesdrop!"
The girls cringed at being called out, but complied. Tsukune wasted no time to introduce Youkai's newest human to his friends, namely Kurumu and Mizore, since he had already introduced Moka and Yukari.
Of course, Kyouko still considered them 'suspicious', but at least she kept her mouth shut. They might seem suspicious, but they also seemed like nice enough people, even if they were weird. She just couldn't figure out what their relationship was. It was obvious that they cared for him as much as he did for them, just as it was obvious that at least Kurumu was very obviously interested in him, and if she were right then so was Moka and Mizore. But the problem was, why didn't Tsukune act on that? She saw how attractive they were, and how much he cared for them. With his new confidence, he should be able to at least get one girl, right? Besides that, how could all these girls get along so well? Did they have no feeling of jealousy amongst them? They did like the same boy after all. It made no sense!
Several minutes later, Tsukune once again brought up the ever-important question of how she had gotten there. After all, they had just picked up some food and gone out to one of the many dead tree clearings, away from prying ears.
"So, Kyou-chan, how did you end up getting here? You never answered that question..."
Kyouko looked at Tsukune curiously; he had insisted a lot on that particular question. It was very suspicious! But, deciding to trust him, seeing as he had seemed so mature, she shrugged. "Well, I was looking around the empty plot that was supposed to be the school's adress when some weird woman came up to me. She said something about helping me get here and gave me this envelope." With that she showed them the item in question. It was just a classic large envelope, like those used to transfer documents. It had a large bulge however, so it was probably used to transfer something else. "She said that someone would ask me to give it to them, but no one has come yet. Anyway, a weird bus driver came and picked me up almost immidiately after. He had glowing eyes for crying out loud!"
Tsukune chuckled uneasily along the rest of his group. Their bus driver was definitely suspicious in more ways than one. However, the boy also wanted to find whomever it was that his sister was supposed to get that envelope to.
It may be his budding paranoia, but he wanted to investigate it. Maybe it was drugs or something illegal like that? There was mail from the monster world after all, just not from the human side. Asking for the folder, he shook it a bit. It was kind of heavy, like it had something of metal or similar material inside and it was round. So it wasn't drugs. Maybe some contraband item? Who knows.
"Well, we better get this to whoever it belongs to. Maybe they lost it or something..." Of course, he said that to calm Kyouko's suspicions, he was going to find who it was. After all monsters in the human world, talking to humans... it was forbidden for a reason. He was sure however that he wasn't as paranoid as his cousin. He was sure of it!
He didn't get the time to think about it much. A terrifying roar caught the attention of the entire group and a large amount of youki pushed down on the senses of those able to perceive it.
Which meant that Kyouko was left wondering why the heck her cousin and his friends suddenly looked so darn pale. It wasn't just the roar that scared them; their palor came several seconds after they had written it off.
She was quickly forced to abandon that thought when a large shadow fell over the group and, when their heads rose, they bore witness to a toad. A toad as large as a building that is.
There was only one reply to that; run like hell.
Tsukune grabbed his cousin and hoisted her up in his arms, much like a bride. His upgraded body perceived her as light as a feather and he was quick to speed off as fast as he could. Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari and Moka were very quick to follow him. They didn't voice however how annoyed they were that they had to run while his cousin could enjoy being in the arms.
The group ran away from the threat behind them. They knew only two of them could fight it off with any form of certainty about their victory; Moka and Tsukune. However, Moka would have to be unsealed from her rosario and Tsukune... Well, it wouldn't be a good thing to have a human witness an Akuchi's power, especially since Kyouko was his cousin; who could say how she would react. If she reacted badly then... the psycological pain on the poor boy would be unbelievable. Especially if she talked about what she saw. At best she would be placed in an asylum, at worst? If the wrong words got to the wrong people, a new 'dark age' would begin.
So, they ran, hoping that the monster was after someone else or something.
Fat chance.
It chased them down, to the exclusion of all else. In the end, Tsukune stopped and put his cousin down.
"Alright, everyone keep running! I'll take care of it!"
That sat well with none of the girls, especially Kyouko, the poor girl had no idea just how tough he really was. "S-s-stop saying things like that Tsukki! T-t-that has to b-b-be a p-p-prop of some kind! We're in a movie school right? Right?" The poor girl was approaching hysteria in her fear. "Or! Or i-i-it's a prank! That's it right? You're playing a prank on me! Ha-ha, very funny now stop it!"
That was met with another earth-shaking roar and the human girl ran off screaming.
Tsukune looked at the girls around him. "Go, I'll do something about it. Just take care of my cousin. If she sees something she shouldn't..."
They understood. Unfortunately the girl had already disappeared so they had to split up to find her, leaving the sole male of the group to face off the monster.
Tsukune's eyes were burning with anger at the one who attacked his friends and the irises of his eyes changed to a fiery orange-red color. He saw his enemy approached and he began removing part of his clothes. His shirt was tossed to the side, followed by his shoes and trousers, revealing that underneath them he wore highly elastic cloth; he didn't want to appear completely naked before someone, so he had had to adapt. His form began to bulge and deform as his blood was ignited slowly, giving his enemy the time to realize who it was up against.
The gigantic demon toad landed in front of the boy and he crouched in return, his hands already claws and his balance causing him to lean forward.
Then a voice came from atop the frog and the startled boy could only blink at the figure on top the monster's head.
"Hey boy! No need to try and kill me! I'm only looking for a mirror, have you seen it?"
What in the nine circles of hell was the Bus Driver doing there?
Poor Kyouko was running around panicked and tired. Exhausted she stopped and tried to lean against a tree, get a breath before having to run away again.
"T-this... this is a movie school right? That's props and actors and they're playing a prank on me right? Y-yes, t-that must be it, right? A prank, this is all a prank. Or a bad dream. Or they put something in that juice they gave me, it didn't taste normal... oh god I've been drugged!"
Well, the juice wasn't of a human fruit at least.
"Don't stop running for this master! They are still after us!"
Oh great, now she was hearing voice. It was kind of queaky and high-strung though. Like it came from a really small person -that or someone who had breathed too much helium or something. Also, it seemed to come from the envelope still somehow tucked in her arm.
"What the hell?"
The envelope, or what was inside it, seemed to vibrate a bit as the voice came again. "No time now! You must run away master! They're coming for us!"
It just had to be right too; the inhuman roar that had scared her before came again and this time it seemed to be moving... straight to her!
Knowing that something is the result of a really bad trip is one thing. Not following what that trip tells you to do is a whole other business.
Kyouko screamed at the top of her lungs again and ran off, the envelope and whatever was inside it still in her arms.
Several minutes of frantic running later and the sole human girl in the entire campus found herself at the edges of civilization; namely the festival.
"Safe... I'm safe..." She breathed out relieved. Damn, she hadn't ran that much since school! It hadn't been that long, but still...
The weight on her hands told her to pay attention to whatever was held there.
"Well, no one has come to get it yet so... Might as well see what it is I'm carrying..."
The paper was cut in short order and the packet opened to reveal... a mirror.
It looked like an antique, with beautiful golden embroidery and a perfect finish.
But it was a mirror.
Kyouko, with little patience in her at that time, began waving it around. "What the hell's with this thing? Where did the voice come from! What's with this school?"
"Hey!" The voice came again, this time louder and from Kyouko's hand. "Don't move me around so much! You need to treat me more gently master!"
"What the?"
The mirror began to glow and ripple as if it were water of some kind. The light blinded the human holder and from it seemed to rise... a small fairy-like being.
"Hello master! Finally I can see you! I am Lilith! The spirit of this mirror! Pleased to meet you!" Said the fairy.
"THE WHAT?" Was pretty much the only reply Kyouko could give. Not her fault; she was already terrified. "T-T-That's a... a lie right? T-T-This must be some sort animation or something, right? A holographic projection! Yes! That must be it! Eheh-ehehehe!" The laugh was awekward and forced, trying to 'define' a situation best left undefined.
"Hey! That's rude! I really am a spirit!" The fairy actually pouted as she floated around the girl's head. "Here, see?" And with that, she poked her 'master'.
As was expected, Kyouko freaked out, letting out a loud scream and dropping the mirror in her hand.
"Ah! Don't drop me like that master! I might break!" Spoke the spirit and dove after her mirror, lifting it up rather easily, despite the difference in size.
"T-t-there's no way I'm going to believe you're a spirit! Spirits don't exist!"
"Now that's even more rude! And I'm right in front of you, so how can I not exist?" Now the pint-sized spirit was getting annoyed. It was frustrating to have a master that did not even believe in her! "Alright, how about this; I will make one wish of yours come true, as long as it's in my powers!"
Now, that was something that Kyouko could use. Even if it wasn't real, just for the hope that it was, she'd take the chance. "Fine. I want you to show me the truth of Youkai Gakuen!"
The sprite saluted mockingly at her 'master'. "That's the easiest thing ever! Youkai Gakuen is a place for monsters and spirits, like me! But, you won't just believe me, will you? No, I have to show you. Watch this!" She chirped before zooming off, mirror in hand.
The little spirit came up in front of a wandering student and placed her mirror in front of him. "Excuse me, can you look over here for a bit? Thank you!"
And suddely, the boy had three eyes.
Chaos ensued after the boy realized he couldn't reapply his human transformation. Not that Kyouko saw it, she was huddled behind a wall, shaking.
"W-w-what the hell was t-that?" She cried out to no one in particular.
"I told you master!" Came the happy voice of the mirror spirit. "I'm making your wish come true. Didn't you ask me to? Show you the true face of Youkai Gakuen. So, trust me now?"
Despite all evidence to the contrary, Kyouko shook her head and stuck to her beliefs. "O-o-of course not! Whoever is playing this prank is good, but I'll find out the truth!" Well, she was good in denial at least. She quickly grabbed the flying mirror and took off in the search for more people, more truths to 'reveal'.
However, each and every one of them... were monsters. They were real monsters merely disguised as humans.
Unfortunately, the girl's actions had one nasty result; namely the mob that had somehow decided to chase her down, most of them wanting to eat her.
"This is not happening, this is not happening!"
Kyouko's screams reached the ears of the few people that were looking for her without harmful intent.
Too bad they also attracted the attention of every monster in the school.
While poor Kyouko ran, Lilith was laughing maniacally. "Yes! Run! Run! This is so much fun!"
"Alright, alright! I get it! Everyone here's a monster! Now please make them stop!" Kyouko's frightful squeal only made the monsters chase her harder and Lilith to sneer at her, suddenly going from happy and cheery to evil and sadistic.
"Stop them? Why would I stop them? What, did you think I would give you your wish out of the kindness of my heart? As if! All I want to do is eat your soul!!"
So shaken by that, the girl missed her step and tripped, falling down. Horrified, she realized she didn't have the time to get up, not with her ankle twisted like that. She screamed in fear and terror.
"Let her go desu~!" A little girl cried out and metal basins started falling out of the sky, smashing monsters on their heads. It also gave them a new target. Once Yukari realized that, she too joined Kyouko in her squealing.
"Oh no you don't!" Suddenly, Yukari was hoisted in the air, safe in the hands of a winged girl, while in her place landed another. That second one slammed her hands to the ground and caused sharp icicles to erupt, stopping the assault in its tracks. It wouldn't last for long, but it would do well to help her leave.
Kyouko stiffened when a hand grabbed her own and pulled her away. Quickly she recognized the pink hair, it was a dead give-away of the identity of the one holding her.
In her shock, the girl didn't even resist as Moka pulled her away from the monster mob, but when she said that they should be safe, Kyouko exploded.
"Leave me alone! Don't touch me! Y-you're all monsters aren't you? You want to eat me or something don't you~?" The poor girl was paralyzed in fear. "Tsukki... You're planning on eating Tsukki as well, don't you?"
That line caused Kurumu to snort. "Eat him? Nah, only Moka does that, every day too at that."
"Kurumu-chan!" Cried out said vampiress. "That's not a nice thing to say! Besides, it's not my fault! It's just that Tsukune has such tasty blood that... that..." And then she started blushing as her mind began conjuring up several types of images she wasn't ready to admit to. She couldn't help it; Tsukune's new blood had a weird effect on her, not entirely unanticipated. His blood always tasted good, but now, with the added onset of puberty, their morning ritual had taken a whole other meaning, one she wasn't going to admit to anyone. Mostly out of fear of either migraines from her Inner self or a vicious beating from Kurumu and Mizore.
Speaking of the Yuki-onna, she came out from behind a tree, somehow managing to look without even a hair out of place despite having obviously run away from several monsters. "Cool it you two, this isn't the time for it. Besides, she looks freaked out enough. No need to know what you two are planning to do to my future husband." No one said that Mizore held anything back in her pursuits.
"You're all insane!" Cried out Kyouko, only to have the girls around her laugh merrily at it.
"Yeah, so we've been told." Said Kurumu. "But enough with this, we need to get you out of here. If anyone found out you're a human..."
"No! I'm not going anywhere! You're just going to eat me or kill me or something!"
"Of course not, why would we do that? Only a few types of monsters do that and we don't belong in them, well unless you take out Moka's obsession with Tsukune's blood..."
"But I can't help it! I'm a vampire after all..." Moka was off sulking to the side, with Yukari trying to console her.
"Vampire? Forget that, I don't want to know, Tsukki, where's Tsukki? I must take him out of here, he doesn't know you're all monsters, that must be it!"
A creepy, cheery voice answered Kyouko's claims, that of the mirror spirit Lilith. "Doesn't know? Master, he is one of them after all! Why do you think he didn't want to leave?"
"You! You pint-sized pain in the ass! I'm going to get you!" Kyouko tried to make good on her threat, but the spirit was agile and could fly, making it an exercise in vain.
Lilith giggled mockingly as she dodged hand after hand, until two hands caught her and promptly froze her wings. "Well, so this is the one causing all that trouble. Tsukune will be happy I caught her, then we'll go make a baby-"
She was cut off by Yukari slamming a basin on her head and Kurumu tackling her to the ground for one of their patented mock fights. Thankfully, Moka had the presence of mind to grab the mirror spirit.
All that stopped when a familiar voice reached them. "Moka-san, everyone! Here you are!" It was Tsukune. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Kyou-chan, are you alright?"
Kyouko shook as she looked at Tsukune. She tried to find some hint of him being a monster and it came from his total lack of surprise at the true forms of a Yuki-onna and a Succubus being released. She flinched away. "Am I alright? Am I alright? HOW CAN I BE? I came here to see you and I was chased after monsters, am surrounded by monsters and they have tricked you! Can't you see? They're going to eat you! They're going to eat us! They're all monsters!"
Now it was Tsukune's turn to flinch, along with the girls around him. "Kyou-chan, it really isn't like that..."
"Like that? Like what? They're all monsters aren't they? They are going to kill you and eat you Tsukki!"
Lilith giggled from where she was trapped, between Moka's digits. "Hehe, master, I have one more thing to show you. There is a reason after all that he doesn't want to leave!" Kyouko turned to look at the fairy terrified at what that could mean. Lilith just confirmed her fears. "Yes, he too is a monster! The worst of them all! He is actually a demon!"
A flash of light came from the fallen mirror that had laid forgotten.
After it ended, true forms were released from all the monsters present. But what drew their attention wasn't that. It was the screams.
Inhuman screams of absolute torture as Tsukune had transformed into his battle form in an instant. However it wasn't like any other transformation; this was painful and had blood-red currents of lightning flashing all over his body as he held his head with inhuman hands and cried out in pain.
"Tsukune!" Three voices cried out in worry, seeing their friend in such pain.
But the fourth had a different expression in her face. It was horror. It was fear. It was mind-numbing shock.
Tsukune's jaws opened a bit and his youki pushed down on them ever harder. His snarl, furious and animalistic told them that he was losing the battle.
"Run... Gragh... RUN!"
He couldn't even say anything more to them as he felt his Inner Demon overpower him through the cancelled Lock in his hand.
The girls obeyed. Even Moka did, but not for the reasons the others did.
While Kurumu, Mizore, Kyouko and Yukari left out of fear, Moka left in a far different purpose.
Or, if she was really honest with herself, for multiple purposes.
Where the other girls ran away from Tsukune, Moka pursued another, the one who had started it all, Lilith. In the short moment after the flash and before Tsukune's screams pierced the air, she had seen the creature's face warp into something else. Something far different than what she was before. When Tsukune screamed, it just added another reason to chase the spirit.
After all, if she could control the artifact's power, she wouldn't need Tsukune to remove her rosario, right? A little voice in the back of her head also told her that she had another reason to do it, a more vengeful, harmful, reason, but she pushed it back down. Her goals were clear; catch Lilith and gain her power. What she would do with that power... she didn't waste time thinking about.
In her rush however, Moka didn't notice that someone else was following her just as she was following the spirit. Blue eyes narrowed behind a tree.
Elsewhere, Yukari was running away from the near-berserk Akuchi. She knew she couldn't fight him, she knew he could, and considering how he acted also would, kill her in a second if she stopped. But, she had something far above physical power, or even magical power. She had a brilliant mind and she was putting it to work.
Ideally, she'd want Ruby near her to help with the casting, but even alone she could do it. It would just take her time. She tured to Kurumu, who was holding her in the air as they fled. "Kurumu-san, I need you to distract Tsukune-san, but keep him near me! I should be able to re-inforce the seal and help him, but it's going to take time!"
Kurumu sighed. It beat running away for sure. Not to mention Tsukune could just abandon them and go hunt someone else-someone innocent or even his cousin.
She let Yukari go and turned around to fight. At least her illusions would help her.
She was in for a sore surprise.
Just as she prodded at Tsukune's mind to create an illusion of him being grabbed by roots... the link was destroyed.
It wasn't his youki that did it. It was the sheer inhumanity of his mind, the alien mindset, the completely different way of thought. Her illusions just couldn't get a latch on him. It felt like tossing a glass of water in a raging inferno.
However, Yukari was behind her, already casting her spell and she couldn't, wouldn't, abandon her friend. Much less her Destined One.
Gathering all her youki, she closed her eyes before snapping them open and letting a veritable torrent of illusions batter Tsukune.
Individually, they were simple, one dimensional, like a sound or static image. However, they were just so many of them that Tsukune's mind couldn't process them, or so she hoped.
Thankfully, her hope came true and the raging monster stopped in his tracks before flailing wildly around. Knowing she had found the gap in his mental armor, Kurumu pressed on and weaved illusion after illusion in a mutli-leveled weave of control, lies and deceit. Few things had tired her out as much, but seeing Tsukune pacified was enough for her.
Behind the succubus, Yukari finished her spell and unleashed it on her friend. Both girls could see the ethereal chains wrap around Tsukune and the tension in his muscles leave as he fell to the ground, his form slowly changing back to that of a human.
In another area of the school, Moka wasn't having as much luck. She had chased after Lilith, but the spirit was quick and flew away from her. Even her inborn youkai detector was pushed to keep a lock on the fleeing monster as she forced everyone in her path back to their true forms.
But, after a bit, Lilith had suddenly turned around and went for a roof, followed by Moka.
The vampiress wished she had thought about it more. Because there she came face-to-face with Ishigami, the arts teacher that had petrified half her class.
The worst part? The mirror's effects weren't permanent; they wore off over time and by the time she had caught up, it was only her personality that remained unsealed. Her power, her strength... that was gone and she hadn't even realized it.
And now she was forced to hear Ishigami's gloating about her victory. Annoying woman, she thought she had won just like that. Unfortunately, and here she was very angry at herself, it had seemed so.
Fate did not wish well upon the former teacher however. As soon as the woman let her guard down... a prison made of ice erupted around her, every bar of the cage wrapped by what seemed to thorny vines, making any attempt at breaking free painful. Mizore landed in front of the trapped Moka, a ninja-to made out of hard ice in her hand.
"You're so troublesome... If removing your rosario was that easy, we'd have known. Now look at you, you actually have to work for our victory." Mizore's crooked grin almost made Moka chuckle.
Sealed she might be, but she also was a warrior-queen, she wouldn't submit to anyone that easily! Well, that and the snow-woman was right; she would actually have to work for her victory.
Mizore and Moka took up their stances, ready for the inevitable escape of the disgraced teacher. When it came, they roared a battlecry and charged, knowing that they had to be quick in defeating her; Mizore herself couldn't take her on alone and Inner Moka could feel her Outer side awakening slowly.
In the back of her head however, Moka hadn't let go of the mirror yet; it also had one more use to her. She could use it for one more thing, this time not for herself, but for another. An absolution of sorts, an apology she still hadn't had the courage to make.
The Headmaster, flanked by Ruby, sighed as he watched the chaos ensue. Things were messed up in this festival. Behind him, several old students and VIPs were secured behind his barrier. They were all worried, but not for themselves, most, if not all, of them were worried about their children.
So absorbed he was that he didn't notice, or didn't show any outward sign of noticing, the three women and a man that exited his barrier. A succubus, a yuki-onna, a witch and a warlock. They were off to save their children, the Exorcist's commands be damned! They were in for a big surprise.
But the Headmaster wasn't the only one who was working for the protection of his Academy, so was the Student Police, including their leader, the now reformed Kuyou.
Said Kitsune was fighting his fellow students. Unlike before however, unlike before Tsukune that is, he wasn't going full-power on them. They were after all innocent, controlled by an outside force. To kill them for something not of their own fault was unacceptable. So, he was forced to hold back against numerous enemies who were under no such obligation. Good thing he was as strong as he was then.
Fire exploded outwards of him in a ring of flames so hot they could melt metal, but he knew he couldn't hold everyone back. There were ways past his fire wall and someone was bound to find them. Not to mention he was getting tired. Having to fight like that for nearly an hour was getting to even him.
An ayashi, a Tengu if he was correct, judging from its wings and extremely long nose, leapt over his fire and he cursed, making a fireball in his hand.
A soft, feminine whisper in the air though and mind-magic burst forward. "Charm..."
It was as light as the wind, but there none-the-less. To Kuyou's surprise, the Tengu flinched and turned back as if it got burned. But it was above his flames, so what...
When a succubus and an all-too-familiar boy landed in front of him he knew. The girl had weaved an illusion of his flames reaching higher than they actually did. Simple, but effective.
"Kuyou..." Tsukune's voice caught him. "Please take everyone behind you and go. I'll take care of it." He gestured to the frightened students behind the Kitsune, cowering for their lives. Amongst them... there was even a human, but no one could tell. She did though, she noticed something in Tsukune's body language and her eyes misted. "Kurumu-chan, you go with him, I know you are too tired. If... if you can, go look for Ruby-san or Moka-san."
The succubus wanted to disagree. She wanted to scream at him, bash her hands onto his chest... but she couldn't. He was right. She was dead tired, she had very little youki left after the assault she had sent to his mind. Sadly she nodded, but whispered something in his ear before stepping behind Kuyou. Three simple words of encouragement and hope: "Please be careful." She would have said another three, but she knew she couldn't, not at that moment. She promised she would tell him though, when she could stand at his side as his equal.
Tsukune's form began to bulge and disform and Kuyou realized that the clothes he had seen on the boy were an illusion as they disolved into nothingness. He didn't bother with it though; that was inconsequential. No, what he cared for was the fact that Tsukune grew...and grew... and grew... And he became ever more disfigured and monstrous.
He became ever more vile and malicious.
Because, in front of him, there was Tsukune no longer. It wasn't any form of Tsukune he had ever seen before, not the normal brown-eyed boy, not the red-eyed berserker, not the incessed flame-eyed man... No, this was far, far worse.
Because this was controlled, this was intentional and this was truly, thoroughly vile. Despite himself, he shuddered at the feel of his youki. But, he wasn't the head of Student Police for nothing, so he composed himself and gave his men the order to get ready to evacuate the students away from the battlefield. He would... trust... Aono Tsukune.
When the wall of fire fell, Kuyou only paid enough attention to hear the screams of fury and pain before he focused solely on saving the few students that were uninvolved with this mess.
Which is why neither he nor Tsukune saw the horrified and awed faces of four parents who had come to rescue them.
"Akuchi..." Yukari's mother spoke for the first time that day and those around her only nodded dumbfounded.
What surprised them even more was how controlled the Akuchi seemed. Even though he fought wildly, he controlled himself and never went for killing blows, only hurting his fellow students enough to put them out of the fight.
It took him quite a bit before they realized they had to help him; as strong as an Akuchi was rumoured to be, there was a limit to what they could do.
Ageha took the lead by weaving illusion after illusion into the poor students' minds, subduing them quickly and painlessly. Tsurara kept up the pace by freezing monsters solid or conjuring snow to bury them in. When the Sendou couple joined in, it became a massacre; basins fell from outer space like comets, striking with pinpoint accuracy.
In the end, the berserk students were defeated with no one getting more than a concussion, or two. It would hurt, but it wouldn't kill them.
Tsukune turned to a rather group of parents, still in his transformed form and gave them a wolfish grin. "Thank...hrr... you... Sorr-rr-rry..." He growled out. He even took a couple of steps towards them when he suddenly went rigid and turned his massive head to the side.
Someone... Moka... was in danger. He could feel it, he could feel her pain, he could feel her life ebbing away. "Moka!"
Poweful muscles coiled and sprang, tossing him through the air like a catapult stone, heading in Moka's direction. He could feel her, in his transformed state. He had never noticed before, because she was either so close to him anyway or she was safe and calm. But, at that moment, he could feel her. Like a voice in the back of his head, like goosebumps down his spine, like an unwitting clenching in his heart, he could feel her.
He would not let her down.
Soaring through the air, mid-leap, his sight fell on a roof where a hated and despised figure stood. In front of Ishigami's feet, Mizore glared at her, despite her lower body already being turned to stone, an expression mimicked in Moka, who had lost control of her right foot and left arm.
The demonic roar shook the self-important medusa from her speech, giving her just enough time to twist her body at just the right time to avoid having her intestines turned to mush from an unbelievably powerful backhanded strike. That did not prevent her from going through a wall. It also told her that the newcomer was much more powerful than she had anticipated.
Ishigami lashed out blindly when a hand touched her shoulder, but the one behind her avoided her with ease. "Relax Ishigami-san, I am here to offer you a deal... a deal that will get you Akashiya Moka in your hands for as long as you want her to be and any number of other models for your beautiful art..." It was soft, seductive and male. It sounded really good to Ishigami and she turned away from the vampiress, this time of her own will. She would be seeing the silver-haired model later and that time no one would prevent her from getting her statue perfected.
Tsukune had already kneeled next to Moka after sending the traitor flying. He looked at her and she looked back at him weekly. He made to remove her rosario, hoping her youki would break the petrification effect, but he didn't make it there. A lucky shot had struck his forearm and torn it open and he hadn't healed from that wound like he had from others, his healing factor running low. The scent reached Moka's nostrils and it had a very anticipated effect on the tired and famished vampire.
She bit his arm, seeking the arteries near the wrist.
Moka's eyes widened as she drunk his blood. She remembered its taste from her Outer's memories, but it didn't even compare to the feeling of the warm liquid running down her throat like liquid fire. Her eyes were fluttering close as she focused on drinking Tsukune's blood. She didn't even noticed when his own closed as well, but in focus, as if he was controlling something.
Tsukune knew she would be thirsty, or hungry or whatever. Being near a vampire for so long had taught him something basic; the more youki inside the blood of a monster, the greater the reward reaped by the vampire. So, he focused his own youki into his blood, something that came to him ridiculously easy after he knew what he had to do, and then through the wound in his wrist. In his youki, a command; heal.
And so it was.
Moka's eyes snapped open and she would have moaned at the taste, was she not that busy drinking what she could only compare to liquid ambrosia. It wasn't mere blood any more. It was raw, unadulterated power that passed her lips and it brought with it a haze of want. It was with a supreme force of will she stopped drinking after she was sated instead of gorging on the offered blood.
She wanted to pant heavily, but she controlled herself, only letting a few out and disguising them as lack of oxygen. It was then she noticed that the petrification effect hadn't stopped, in fact it was gaining ground. Then, she noticed something different; she could still feel Tsukune's blood inside her stomach. Most of it had been disgested already, a necessity for vampires to replenish their blood quickly, but a bit of it remained still inside. Even more importantly; it still burned with the same power it had when it first went down her throat.
Moka curiously poked and prodded at it, mentally at least. She felt its power as if caged within her, ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice. However, her 'queries' to the blood within her activated its power, releasing it into her blood stream.
The world shook for Akashiya Moka, coming in and out of focus. She could hear Mizore's skin petrify bit by bit, she could smell the scent of many monsters over Tsukune , she could feel the vibrations of the wind on her skin. And then it came. A rush of bloodlust, hate, malice, fury. She could feel her instincts rising up, telling her to rip everything around her apart, tear them down with her own hands, destory, kill, maim.
She pushed them down easily enough, despite her tireness she was still strong. The rush of power lasted only for a few seconds, though she knew that if she wanted she could reduce its effects to drag it out more, but in these short seconds, she broke free of the medusa's poison, breaking the stony shell that had wrapped her limbs.
"Tsukune," She had to take a deep breath to control her voice and betray nothing of what she was feeling. "Tsukune, I need you to give Mizore your blood, now. Trust me, give her your blood, just like you did for me, with your power it-" She gasped as she felt the rosario's pull lull her to sleep. She tried to resist for a few seconds. "It is... strong... and..." Her consciousness fled and her form, now with pink hair, would have hit the floor, had Tsukune's large hands not caught her.
He didn't understand what she had said. He had seen her react differently when he infused his blood with youki, but he didn't know what that meant. Looking at Mizore however, who was now a statue from her chest and below, he knew he had to trust her. He had no choice on it anyway. So, he used a claw to slice open his forearm and offered it to Mizore.
The yuki-onna didn't know what to do either, but she was in a similar situation; she had no other available option and she could feel the venom gaining ground faster and faster. So, she decided to trust her friend/rival and drink the blood.
It didn't taste like human blood that was for sure. It tasted similar, very similar, but not the same. It had an underlying sweetness in it and behind it a font of power that she didn't need her supernatural senses to tell.
Like Moka, Mizore came to the same realization as the vampire and activated the offered blood, burning it in a sudden burst of fury-filled awareness, feeling her body become re-energized in seconds, stronger than ever before, strong enough to defeat the venom she had been injected with.
It was only when she relaxed in his arms that Tsukune allowed his transformation to fade away along with his consciousness.
In the mind of sealed vampiress, her true form looked outside through her sole window to the world; the gem of her rosario. Were one to pay attention to that eye-like gem, they would not see the anger, arrogance or pride that usually looked out. No, at that point they saw only pride, but pride for another. Because, even if she wouldn't admit to anyone, Akashiya Moka, both sides of her, were extremely proud of her friend Aono Tsukune.
She had felt the fury he had to shoulder every moment of his life, she had felt the malice within his blood, she had witnessed the demonic soul that now inhabited his body. And, though she wouldn't say it, she was so proud of him, for holding it back as he was.
A/N: This one came out fast. Nineteen wordpad widescreen pages... seriously, I should stop doing that. Next chapter will be smaller and will cover the time skip. Just what I need to start setting up the changes to the world. Also, yes, Ishigami will return at a later date. She's one of the few monsters strong enough to at least do something against Tsukune's group, so I kept her. Besides, it wouldn't make sense if she stood and fought an Akuchi; she could have won if she was at full power, but after taking on Mizore and Moka she was anything but.
Fun fact: monsters call themselves ayashi, which is pronounced a-YA-shi. However, Kyouko all the time says 'suspicious', which in japanese is also translated as 'ayashi', but pronounced a-ya-SHI. Anyone else caught up to this inside joke? Anyone else caught up to the other jokes? And I'm not referring to the obsession Moka's family has with drinks. Also, the monster name 'ayashi' seems to come from the word 'ayakashi', which means monster, spirit etc.
Today, on this 9/6/2012, I, Soulblazer87, do hereby leave this site, possibly forever.
I shall not update this, or any other story.
I shall leave them on, however. Should you desire to follow my stories, do so in my new site of residence: www dot yourfanfiction dot com.