Rosario to Elf

Disclaimer: I do not own Elfen Lied, Rosario + Vampire, or any characters associated with either of the series.

"talking"

thoughts

The Innocence of Youth

~ Yokohama ~ (eight years ago)

"Father, I'm leaving now. I'll be back as soon as I can OK!" shouted Kohta as he was exiting his cousin's home with a sketch book in hand.

"Be careful son" called his father as he still continued to read his newspaper.

"But uncle" said Yuka, Kohta's cousin. "You shouldn't let Kohta go wandering like that!"

The elderly man gave a calm smile to this as he patted the brunette over the head. "You worry too much. You should know that Kohta is capable of taking care of himself. Plus if he does run into trouble, he knows what to do from there".

Yuka gave a slight pout to this. Looking to her cousin, she was very well aware of some of the amazing things he was capable of. But still it didn't stop her from worrying.

"Oniichan, can I come with you?" asked Kanae, Kohta's little sister. She then picked up her stuffed bunny plushie as she put it to her ear. "Bunny also says he wants to go as well".

"Sorry Kanae" Kohta softly smiled. "But I would like to take this trip on my own".

"Hmph!" as the child turned about showing a slight scowl.

"Ahh don't be like that" as he started rubbing the top of his sisters head. "I'll tell you what; I'll take you somewhere special sometime soon OK?"

Kanae soon turned around sporting a wide smile. "Anywhere I want right?" to which Kohta gave a nod too. "Yay! OK, I'll think about where I want to go then".

Kohta gave a strained chuckle to this. "Just make sure it wasn't as far as the last one OK". Then turning towards the door stepping outside, "Good-bye everyone, I'll see you all later" to which everyone waved him good-bye.

Now wandering the neighborhood of Yokohama, "I wonder what I should try drawing today. So much to see and yet never enough time to do it all". Looking about that's when he saw something peculiar, "what is going on there?" In front of him he saw a group of children around his age as they seemed to have been following a strange little orb of light which was floating around as it wobbled in the air as it went along. "That's interesting, what could this be about?" So seeing he had nothing better to do at the immediate moment, he decided to investigate as he followed the group of children from behind as they followed the orb as if under a hypnotic trance.

After what appeared to be a good hour of walking there was at least enough of them to fill in a classroom of thirty. As they continued to walk, Kohta looked around to see that they were now entering the business district. Looking about, many of the adults that walked by didn't even find it strange even in the slightest of a group children walking around without supervision. "But how can you blame them?" Kohta then thought as he looked to the orb of light. He could see the façade it emitted as it appeared to be in the form of a middle aged woman sort of looking like a day care worker. "This isn't going to turn out well . . . ."

Then after a bit of walking the group soon found itself walking down a dark alley way as they approached what appeared to be like a dead end with a large wall blocking their way. But soon enough the ball of light passed right through it as the group of children started filtering in slowly one after another. "That's interesting" as Kohta continued to watch. "A perception filter . . . . Well at least it's good enough to keep away normal folks. But I wonder who is gutsy enough to be taking children like this in the middle of the day". But then placing his hand to his chin in thought, "I think I might need to call father".

Once inside, one of Kohta's eyebrows arched at what he was seeing. It was like a direct scene out of a horror film as the room they had just entered was filled with tools from a slaughter house as some of the tools that were around had a kind of rusted look to them. Catching the stench in the air, "blood . . . . And fresh too . . . ." he then thought as his nose twitched at this. Normally, a sight like this would scare any child his age. Of course Kohta was slightly scared at what he had just walked into, but was still able to keep a level head in the situation he was in. So closing his eyes for a moment, he looked around to which he knew who was doing all this. "I see now . . . ."

Momentarily a huge looking demon emerged with reddish skin, large fangs, waving black hair, and two enormous horns on his head. As he walked out the demon was sporting a butcher's apron while holding a massive meat cleaver. "Such a scrumptious pickings we have today" chuckled the oni as his big yellow eyes scanned through what his little trap brought in. "But I wonder who I should start with first?"

"An oni huh?" then thought Kohta. "And a primitive one too by the looks of it, nowhere near as refined as today's oni".

"Which one to eat? Which one to eat?" the oni slobbered as he could barely contain his drool at how delectable all his victims looked. But upon scanning over his food, that's when one of the children caught his attention. Now looking at the tanned looking boy, his eyes didn't appear to be glossed over showing how he wasn't under hypnosis like the other children. If that were the case, he didn't even look as scared as he should be. "What do we have here? A little boy who doesn't know his place is it?"

Kohta just blinked at this as he tried to remain calm."Well truthfully I am kind of scared about what's happening" as he tried to steady his tone, "But you're a bad monster, and I was always told I should never be scared of bad monsters like you".

"Why you!" as he raised his cleaver knife, "then I'll give you a reason why you should be scared of me!" At swinging his knife down fully intending to cut Kohta in half, the oni became wide eye at what had just happened. "Impossible!" At that instantaneous moment, the tanned youth had completely stopped his weapon with just his index finger as a miniature spell circle emitted at the very tip of it.

"You should know better as to not cause trouble in the human world as written by demon law" as Kohta raised his other hand up lifting the oni telekinetically. "Demons like you who still think it's OK to do whatever they wish should have diminished a long time ago". But then his eyes twitched a bit at seeing the demon before him now giving out an ominous chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"With all these children" as the demon gave an ugly smile, "did you really think I was alone?"

Kohta's eyes went wide as he sensed the presence of others in the room to which looking back now a knife was only but a foot away from cutting him.

"Heh, got ya" but that's when the demon gaped as his victim was neither bleeding or bellowing out in pain as an arm had suddenly reached out from his shadow grabbing his knife before he could finish his strike.

"Now I can't be allowing you to be hurting my son on my watch" as now Kohta's father appeared to have been climbing out of his son's shadow as he was now back to back with him.

"Father!"

"You really have the weirdest way of getting caught in situations like this Kohta" as the elder man in an instant broke the blade in his hand as he raised his other hand to the demon's face blasting him away to which more oni began to filter into the room.

"Magis! Why is your kind getting into the affairs of us oni?"

"You should know better by now" as Kohta's father began emitting a kind of aura which began intimidating the oni. "It is against demon law for as ordered by all clans that no monster may purposely hurt let alone kill a human. So as an enforcer of this great law you are all under arrest".

"Father! You can't fight this many on your own!"

The elder man simply smirked at this. "I can easily handle these low level demons. But I have been teaching you to control your magic better. So I suppose this would be a good opportunity to get some practice".

"Yeah! I get to help father with his job!" as conduit lines began to light up on his skin before fading off as Kohta got into a fighting stance.

"Just don't get a head of me OK. Support me and follow my lead, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" to which the battle began.

The red oni was absolutely dumbstruck to what he was seeing. A child and his father were fighting a group of adult demons who should have been physically stronger than them were being pushed around like they helpless children. The elder man was easily fighting off three of them at a time while his son blasted them from afar with some sort of concussive force while also teleporting in and out from the shadows every time an enemy got too close to him. With each attack the duo dealt out, the enemy numbers quickly dwindled until not many of them were left.

"Attack the children! That should offset them!" But as some of the oni tried, they were immediately stopped as they suddenly couldn't move. Then looking down they saw shadow like arms twisted around them inhibiting their movements.

Kohta then teleported in front of them as he waved his finger to them, "There is no need to be doing something as mean as that is there?" to which he soon blasted them all back. But then after a little more time the battle was finished as Kohta and his father gathered all the beaten demons to one corner as a restriction spell was placed on them all.

"Feel grateful that I spared your lives" said Kohta's father. "This incident will be reported back to your clans as they will be responsible for your punishment" as he snapped his fingers which began his spell to send them away. But then looking to his son, he gave a calm smile. "Kohta, I'll stay and clean up here. So please take these children home now".

"Yes father!" Kohta chimed as he guided the group out. Upon leading them out, the spell on the children began to wear off as some of them began to look around quite bewildered to which panic slowly started to settle in. Kohta then out a sigh, "This might be quite the mess to sort out . . . ."

"Where are we?"

"Wahh, I'm scared!"

"I want my mommy!"

Kohta then gave a slight sigh to this, "yep troublesome indeed" he quietly said to himself. So putting on the best smile he could, "Hey, can everyone listen up for a moment?"

"Why would we do that?"

"I want my mommy!"

"I want to go home!"

Kohta then closed his eyes as he focused on the spell he wanted to use as he faced towards them as he raised his hand. "It's better that they forget this incident ever happened. How did father's spell go again?" to which several spell circles formed around the children before dissipating in which they started to look around confused.

"Where are we?"

"Why are we here?"

"Oh yeah, we were on a field trip. But how did we get here? And where is our guardian?"

"Memory alteration a success", so giving a cough to catch their attention "actually the teacher just told us to go home. So please do so now while there is still plenty of sunlight".

"How lame" said one of the kids, "this field trip sucked".

"Yeah, let's go home".

"Uhh, excuse me . . . ." as some of the kids looked to Kohta. "We . . . . Don't know how to get home . . . ."

"That's perfectly alright" he smiled. "I'll take you all home. All I need is either your address or at least a good description to which I'll take care of the rest". Then after a good two hours Kohta took them all back to their homes which left a single boy unaccounted for. "So where do you live?"

The boy remained silent to this as he looked away.

"Is there something wrong?"

". . . ."

"Do you not know where you live?"

". . . . It's not like that".

"Hmm? Then what is it?"

The boy then rubbed the back of his head as he pointed to a certain direction. ". . . . I live up on those hills".

Kohta looked at the said direction as his eyebrow arched at this to which he instantly understood why this boy didn't just head home. "He's an orphan", "so you don't want to go home or something?"

The boy shook his head to this. "I just wanted to spend time away from that place. It's kind of suffocating being there . . . ."

"I see".

"But I was suppose to return back a while ago to deliver an item. Honestly, I don't really want to go back yet as I was supposed to be hanging out with some friends here. Although . . . ." as he thought about it, "I'm not sure . . . . Why I'm not currently with them".

Kohta gave a strained laugh to this. "Well . . . ." Kohta then thought "maybe I can go there and deliver the item for you if that's alright with you".

The boys face brightened at this. "Thank you so much!" as he pulled a small booklet from his pocket handing it to him. "You can just drop it off at the front door. I've already left a note inside. So thanks again for your help" as he soon ran off.

At seeing this all Kohta could do was let out a light sigh as he smiled a bit.

~ Hillside ~

Kohta at this time was humming to himself as he walked up the hill towards the orphanage. "Sure has been a while since I've been through this forest" to which he soon saw a building up a head. "Well since I'm here, I guess I can pick some scenery from around to draw". But upon approaching the front door that's when a chilling sensation hit him as his eyes widened in shock. "This feeling . . . . It's death". Of course he knew death was always around him as it was a constant in the universe. However for it to be at an orphanage and the feeling to be this thick, ". . . . Maybe . . . . I should take a look at this".

So finding a big tree which casted a large enough shadow, Kohta stood within it as he closed his eyes focusing on where he was going. Pinpointing his location, he sank into the shadow to which in the next moment found himself in a room that even the most heinous of murderers would find disgusting. Looking around, the sight was rather grotesque as there were body parts and internal organs littering the floor all around him. Even the walls and furniture were red as they were painted in the blood of its victims. At this disturbing sight, Kohta tried not to vomit at what he saw. But then noticed an extra presence in the room, he then looked to it to see a female dressed in black robes as she was holding some kind of notepad. "Shinigami, can you please tell me what has happened here".

The reaper of death looked to him before giving a slow nod, ". . . . This feeling, it's 'him' isn't it? But I guess 'he' hasn't awakened yet . . . . I suppose it wouldn't matter if I answer him or not". She then picked her pad up as she scrolled through it. "The victims here are three boys, one girl, and a dog".

"This is horrible, was this done by a demon?"

Scrolling through her pad, she then looked back to Kohta. ". . . . We don't know".

The tanned youth quirked his eye at this as he looked to her to further explain.

"The record is sketchy at best. But we do know that the dog died by being beaten to death by that boy" pointing to his dismembered head which made Kohta feel queasy at the sight.

" . . . . And what of them all?" indicating the other corpses still trying not to look at them.

" . . . . Uncertain".

"Are you saying you have no idea? This had to have been done by a demon or at least by some sort of half breed".

"No, there are rules behind this and no demon would be foolish enough to break them in such a blunt way like this". So looking back to her notepad, her eyebrow rose at this. "That's interesting . . . ."

"What is? What does it say?"

"According to the data, this . . . . was done by a human. But more specifically by a little girl who is or rather at this time was a resident of this facility".

"A human did this? There has to be a mistake".

"That's where the data gets a bit weird . . . . We don't really understand how she did this as this wasn't a form of magic. Only the fact she was the direct cause of these deaths".

" . . . . Ok, so who is she? What's her name? Actually never mind, I'll look into this myself" as he slightly intrigued in playing detective right now. "But about these kids . . . . did they really have to meet their end like this?"

"As a magi, your kind should know best how the cycle works" as the shinigami raised two fingers up drawing a circle with her hands. "Life and death must only go in one direction. That's how it's always been and that's how it must always be".

"I see" Kohta then said sadly. But then spotting the puppies soul he looked to the shinigami. "Can I take him with me then?"

The death god gave a nod to this. "You may, I see no reason why you can't".

"Thanks" as he faced the puppy still looking shaken up from his earlier ordeal, "it's OK, you can come with me" to which a moment later the puppy wagged its tail as he ran and disappeared into his art book. "You'll be OK now little guy" to which he then put his art book away as he teleported out.

~ Forest (elsewhere) ~

"I'm so sick of everything . . . . I'm so sick of everyone . . . ." At this time a young girl of seven years with pink hair and horns on the side of her head stood in front of a large tree with a stone placed at the base of it. After what had happened to her dog, it was too much for her to face the young canine's corpse. So in his memory she placed a stone at the base of the tree as his grave marker. " . . . . It's my fault. If I had taken better care of you . . . . You would have still been alive . . . ." Her face then scrunched at this. "Why? Why are people always trying to hurt me? Is it just because I have horns?" as her eyes narrowed at this as she grabbed the bone appendages squeezing them in her hands.

She then let out a sigh as she relaxed her arms to her side. "So what am I going to do now? I just killed some people . . . . But I don't feel sorry for what I did". Those 'people' were her bullies who did everything and anything they could do to hurt her. In their last and absolute act of cruelty, one of them betrayed her trust as they all killed her puppy right in front of her for the sake of a laugh. "But what am I going to do now?" she now wondered. Looking herself up and down, the only real possessions she had in her name were the cloths on her back which were one set of undergarments, shoes, a red skirt, and a button up white shirt. But seeing the invisible hands stretching out from her, "but with these powers . . . . I'll just take what I want".

"That's right, take whatever you want. There's no force in the world that could possibly stop you now".

The horned girl just nodded her head at this. She didn't really understand what it was only that it was some sort of voice in her head. But nonetheless it made perfect sense in what it told her. "Yes, I'll take whatever I want in this world and no one will ever hurt me again". But then hearing a cracking branch behind her, she turned to see a boy standing there looking at her.

"Are you OK? You don't look so well" to which he then looked to her more closely. "And your head . . . . Are those horns real?"

". . . . So tiresome" to which in an instant she sent her psychic hand at him fully intending to kill him, she was just completely fed up with people who looked at her like she was a freak.

Kohta saw the translucent hands coming right at him as it surprised him that this girl would just attack him so suddenly. Out of instinct, a circular shield of runes appeared to stop this attack. However the psychic hands still kept coming as it passed right through his shield. In gut impulse, his eyes clamped shut expecting to find himself in pain. But seeing he wasn't hurting, he slowly opened his eyes to see the translucent hands just an inch away as he looked to see the pale girl frozen stiff as she shook slightly as if she had just seen a ghost.

The horned girl couldn't understand what came over her. For it was almost like a thick blanket of fear had draped itself around her as she felt every muscle in her body completely freeze up. Beginning to feel her consciousness waver, she soon passed out to the ground.

Kohta scratched the back of his head to this. "What was that about?" but then looking to her quizzically, "well I guess I should take her someplace better". So picking her up, he pulled her till she was against the tree and took a seat next to her. Looking to the pale girl, he couldn't help but be curious. "Not a demon, not a half-breed. So what is she exactly? And what were those weird arms she was using? Hmm? What's wrong with her now?"

At looking to her face, she seemed to have a pained look on her face.

"A bad dream? Maybe I could see what's troubling her". So taking her hand, Kohta closed his eyes as he linked to her sub-consciousness.

~ Inner World ~

"That's interesting" inquired Kohta as he looked around in the girl's mind. "It's rather . . . . gloomy in here, and what's with all these mannequins?" as he saw a bunch of them standing around in no particular orientation or purpose to their placement, "hmm I wonder what their purpose is for . . . ."

"You do not belong here . . . ."

Kohta looked to see a girl peeking out from behind one of the mannequins as her head was completely bandaged revealing only one of her eyes. As she stood out, it was apparent she was in her birthday suit which forced him look away in embarrassment.

"Get out! You do not belong here! This mind is my territory!"

"So wait, you're the one that attacked me? Who or . . . . What are you exactly?"

"Your death!" as those translucent arms came at him again.

At seeing this Kohta ran for it. Even if he was just a mental projection, dying is still dying whether it was physically or mentally. "I think I might be able to lose her in those mannequins!" as he took refuge in the forest of dolls.

"Where are you?" the specter roared angrily. She scanned the area back and forth as she would not tolerate intruders in her territory. But after walking around, that's when she saw him. "There you are! Now die!"

However the victim in question simply turned about looking somewhat bored as he caught the specter around the neck as he started to apply pressure. Then looking the creature in the eye, he gave a bit of a smirk. "What an interesting creature you are to be able to attack me like that".

The specter gave a choking sound as it tried to wiggle itself out from the boy's grasp. "What . . . . Are you?"

"That does not concern you, not that it would matter" as the tanned youth recalled the malice this creature reeked of. "Simply for the welfare of 'me' and this girl, I think its best that you are permanently removed" as several spell circles appeared around her. Tried as the specter might, it was too late as its body began to disappear out of existence. Sensing its end, the creature let out one final howling scream. But soon it was over as the specter faded out of existence leaving the boy there alone in the dark. With that done, the boy turned around as he gave a soft smile. "I suppose Kohta can handle the rest. I better return to where I belong" to which he soon disappeared.

~ Inner World (mannequin forest) ~

"I think it should be safe to go out now. I wonder what in the world that thing was," Kohta thought out loud. "But I better be careful. Who knows when that thing will come back?" So quietly sneaking through, that's when he heard it. "Is that . . . . Is that crying?"

So following the sound, Kohta eventually saw a figure in the distance. As he got closer, that's when he saw the horned girl with her back face to him as she was sitting up in the fetal position.

At sensing someone's presence behind her, she looked back as she was startled to see who it was. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" But then a moment later, her expression soon became solemn as she settled back down into the fetal position. "It doesn't matter . . . . You're just another projection . . . . Leave me alone . . . . I'm just so tired right now . . . ."

Kohta eyed the girl strangely before giving her a warm smile. "I don't quite understand what you're talking about, but I can assure you that I'm quite real as I'm talking to you with my magic".

"Magic?" said the horned girl as she gave scoff. "Don't talk nonsense. There is no such thing as magic".

"Sure there is" as he took her hand which surprised the pale girl from the contact. "Here let me show you" to which a ring of runes formed around his index finger as he began to write something in the air. Then in the next instance the world around them began to change as the darkness around them started to change into light as they soon found themselves standing in great meadow surrounded by trees underneath the infinite blue skies.

The horned girls face reflected absolute awe as she looked around at how magnificent and beautiful everything was. "This is amazing! Was this the work of magic? What did you do?"

Kohta gave a warm chuckle as he smiled to the horned girl as she gave a blush of embarrassment to how she acted. "Yes, this was magic. What I casted was a revealing spell".

"Huh?"

"Simply all I did was cast light on your true character to which" as he looked around keeping his warm smile. "You have a really beautiful soul. Just as beautiful as you" as he turned to look at her.

The horned girl immediately turned red at this as she turned away trying to recompose herself. "Don't . . . . Don't say strange things like that. I'm not beautiful . . . ."

"Of course you are" as Kohta held his smile. "You shouldn't think less of yourself you know . . . . Umm. So what's your name?"

"Ehh?"

"Sorry, I kind of got a head of myself. My name is Kohta, Kohta Hizashi. So what's your name?"

The horned girl looked a bit surprised at the question as she contemplated whether she should say it not. But after a moment the girl gave a soft smile as she looked the strange boy in the eyes. "My name is Kaede. It's nice to meet you".

To be continued . . . .

Author's notes: This concludes another chapter. Now in the Rosario+Vampire world, is was stated in the second season that demons were prohibited in causing trouble in human world. So I contemplated and came to a conclusion that the demons must have some sort of policing and judging system that keep their own in line.

Now Kohta for the sake of this story does know magic as he started his life as a magi which is another term for magus, witch, or wizard (I just thought magi sounded cooler). As this memory arc will go, he's not an ordinary magi as there is much more to him to which there is a secret that any demon in the whole world would kill to have.

So I thank you all for reading this fic and I further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.