Business
Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario Vampire or any part of its franchise. I would also like to thank lord of the land of fire for giving me permission to write this.
This is a sequel to The Unsealed Vampire story by lord of the land of fire and The Unsealed Vampire: Tsukune's Revenge by yours truly.
I'm back earlier than I anticipated, the chapter is a little shorter that I was hoping it would be but it still meets the minimum size I promised. We are now officially at just over half the planned length of the second volume of the story.
Now that I am done wasting your time with author's notes, let us move on to the main attraction.
Enjoy:
The conference room was extremely quiet, not a single person dared to be the one to break the silence. And for good reason, it would have very bad manners to start discussing business without the leaders of the two most powerful families in the world being in attendance. This Five Family meeting was also lacking the presence of both a Fairy Tale representative and a Dark Lord to properly discuss the bit of news that brought the families to convene said meeting in the first place: The HLF was becoming a problem and this was greatly upsetting the elder patriarchs.
It was at these kinds of meetings that the laws and decisions concerning their race were made. Each family was in charge of one area of the world. In their designated lands, they held the power: most minor families and lower clans of the same species owed the ruling family their respect and allegiance. They had absolute authority to do as they please, the decrees these ruling families put forth had to be obeyed by the other clans and families no matter what.
It was in the middle of the afternoon in downtown Tokyo, the extensive glass window which covered the near totality of the wall gave the whole conference room a stunning view of the Japanese landscapes, one of the great advantages of being at the top of one of the highest skyscrapers in the city. Here, they were guaranteed to not be interrupted in the middle of important deliberations and risk giving away anything to someone from another monster breed.
Still, the stunning scenery did nothing to calm the nerves of one of the patriarchs. Fidgeting with the lucky coin in his hand was the only thing keeping Juan Castillo, leader of the Castillo family and ruler of South America, from staring at the clock. He was by far the weakest of the Five, his antisocial attitude combined with the fact that he was the only one here to not have fought to obtain a seat at the table, on account of having had it passed down to him by his father, made his worth questionable. He could stand up in a fight, sure, but he knew that he would be killed if one of the others decided to test him out. So you can understand why he felt a little nervous during these meetings.
Sergei Dyachenko, leader of the Dyachenko clan and ruler of the ex-soviet bloc, seemed incredibly bored. He was the most confrontational of the leaders, he was under the impression that his lineage had been given the leftovers and since has made it his personal calling in life to make things as difficult as possible until he received what he wanted: land concessions on behalf of the leader of Eastern Asia who coincidentally also was his sworn rival.
It was a one-sided rivalry, the ruler of all in the Pacific Ocean and east of India, excluding the frozen steppes of Siberia, hardly saw him as a rival. In fact, he honestly couldn't care less about Sergei, he had too much to worry about within his own family to pay attention to a two bit pretender like the Dyachenko boy. Despite numerous attempts, Sergei never succeeded in defeating him in battle.
The last leader in attendance was the calm and collected Hector Smith, head of the Smith clan and ruler of western Europe and North America. It is important to note that his influence, along with Sergei's, did not reach the Mediterranean seeing as how it had been sectioned off and belonged to the fifth leader of the Five: Lorenzo Pontedra. Beneath the cool exterior he put on hid an opportunistic and calculating genius, it was a common trait in his family. They had been the first ones to offer this present arrangement so as to avoid seeing the entire kin butchered after centuries of brutal warfare. He was currently busy messaging someone on his phone to stave off his apparent boredom, he always was the most tech-savvy of them all.
It was a curious thing to see such different people all sitting around the same table with their chosen heirs next to them. All wore very expensive looking suits that ranged from modern to traditionalist depending upon their personal preferences on the matter. Short and light brown hair covered Hector's pale head which constantly saw a bead of sweat dropping down when temperature went beyond the 10 degree mark. As for his behavior, he was the perfect incarnation of an English gentleman, right down to the rigidity in posture and, when he spoke, the soft intonation of voice that was usually used to make a quick observation or witty remark. Yet he usually stayed quiet when outside of Great Britain, speaking freely had never been one of his fortes when he felt in foreign territory and only ever spoke when absolutely necessary.
Finally, the ultra-sensitive hearing of the already seated leaders picked up the subtle movement of five individuals approaching the double doors of the conference room, the wait was apparently over. Suddenly, the doors flew open to reveal a man that looked in his early thirties accompanied by someone with a strong resemblance to him though seemingly younger by a few years. And so, Lorenzo Pontedra, ruler of the Mediterranean and Africa and head of the Pontedra clan, entered the room accompanied by his only son and supposed successor: Antonio Pontedra.
Once they were seated at their designated spots, along came three more who had been summoned. Issa Shuzen and his two wives came forward. Having no chosen successor, the ruler of eastern Asia sat at his designated spot with a vacant seat next to him. Of all the vampire leaders, he alone had not found one he considered worthy enough to take his place in the event of his death. In all honesty, so long as his clan was divided, he could not in all good conscience put forth a candidate if he or she could not command the loyalty and respect of the rest of the family. He refused to forgo his honor to facilitate his family's position. If the Shuzen clan could no longer muster the respect of the other clans, another more worthy family would step up and take power his family would no longer deserve. He was the leader with the most integrity at this table.
As for Akasha and Gyokuro, they both sat at their given seats which put them on opposite sides of the table with the other vampire elders in between them. Now, the meeting could finally commence. As the one to have summoned the Five, Lorenzo was the first to speak. "My friends, it is good to see you all in good health. Especially you, Akasha, convening a meeting with you still imprisoned inside Alucard would have been problematic to say the least."
Akasha bowed her head with a small cordial smile and nodded. She could tell he couldn't care less about their health, he was only concerned about the protocol. Only vampires had the right to attend the gathering and not inviting a Dark Lord would have been a disaster, denounced as favoring Fairy Tale over the ruling body would not bode well for relations between the Five and the other two Dark Lords. And to think it was the Five who literally begged for Akasha and her two companions to get rid of the growing menace to their power that Alucard had become in the first place.
"Now, onto the sole reason for bringing you out here on such short notice: the HLF has been very bad for business, I am sure we can all agree with that." All leaders and both emissaries nodded with an added sigh of relief on behalf of Castillo, he had been so certain it was finally going to be his turn on the chopping bloc.
"What are our options? We cannot really say that this is vampire business or we risk upsetting the other species. Our jurisdiction does not extend that far." A few sounds of agreement could be heard in response to Smith's comment. However, Dyachenko looked none too pleased and immediately made sure to voice his divergence of opinion.
"We have every right to discuss this. They have stepped up attacks in my lands and in South America in the last few months. Isn't that right, Juan?" Said vampire ruler did acknowledge that that was the truth, that they had even gone so far as to target members of his family. Another round of nods and agreements could be witnessed which excluded Issa and his wives..
Despite having made his case, Dyachenko could not resist the opportunity to attempt to discredit his most hated rival. "And let's not forget that they went so far as to hold hostage a gala of our own kind hosted by the present Lord Shuzen. Do not tell me you would be so weak willed as to forgive and forget such an affront to your honor. Do you not wish for just retribution?"
Issa was beginning to feel greatly annoyed by the Dyachenko boy's pathetic open provocation, he would put him in his place fro daring to presume himself capable of calling out his betters. "I have neither forgiven nor forgotten that offense. But, as you all already know, the culprit responsible for the attempt against my family has been punished for his crimes. Or did that slip your mind, Lord Dyachenko? I would assume someone such as yourself would be capable of remembering such facts and thus not falsely incite this court to act without legitimacy. If you did recall, that would mean you were quite competently trying to manipulate this council. That, as you know, would be a most heinous act."
Checkmate. Either Dyachenko confesses to manipulating the rest of the Five and he would see his authority either diminished or completely forfeited. Or he could claim he did not recall and discredit himself before the rest, branding as incompetent in the best of cases. At worst, see his authority challenged by his own people. He dug himself into a hole he could not climb out of, all that was left to see would be if he would be buried by his lies or entombed for wanting to deceive the Five and add the final nail to a proverbial coffin created by centuries of distrust and loud disdain for the others that would take away his political career for good.
"Apologies, Lord Shuzen, that has indeed slipped my mind." Not even vampire enough to tell the truth, Shuzen had even less respect for him now. There was nothing lower than a leader with absolutely no pride. Alas, making him pay the price for such deceit would have to come some other day. For now, there was a more pressing matter.
"Ah yes, that Reaper fellow. And you are absolutely certain that he is dead?" Lorenzo inquired as he remove the glasses that he wore up until now. They did not do anything for his eyesight, he simply liked the look of wisdom they bestowed upon him. The temptation to appear wise when confronted with his own kind demonstrated a certain vanity that Shuzen abhorred.
"I can answer that query, Lord Pontedra." Gyokuro was quick to intervene. "It was Fairy Tale that led the operation that ended Reaper's reign of terror. I can promise you he will not be a problem to you ever again." Both Akasha and Issa were mildly surprised, they assumed she would have thrown Tsukune under the bus at the first possible chance. They had urged her to keep quiet about him, granted, but when was the last time she listened to instructions? This was both very welcomed and very disturbing news.
To be honest, if they could have avoided it, Gyokuro would not even have been convened. There was even a good explanation they could have come up with: Gyokuro had been ousted from her position by Miyabi. Hence, she didn;t really represent Fairy Tale anymore. Alas, telling that to a gathering of vampires that prided itself on always being fair and impartial was extremely difficult, especially when regarding that little rule stating only vampires could attend. Akua was off in the wilderness somewhere and bringing Kahlua would have been the same as inviting Gyokuro herself with the added headache of justifying a young one's presence at an elder's meeting. So they were forced to take a chance and hope for the best. Besides, in the other Five's eyes, Gyokuro was Fairy Tale, now and forever.
Now that the best case scenario had occurred, Issa had to understand why it happened. Did she have a change of heart? Definitely not. Did she want to make him happy? That was a possibility, she always was very attentive when it came to pleasing him. Yet he couldn't help but suspect something else was at play here. It had something to do with the Aono boy, that was for sure. So what could it be? He could see it plain as day, he would be spending many sleepless nights wondering about her motives just as he always did.
"Can you confirm this, Akasha?" Pontedra asked the pink haired True Ancestor seated to his right, he sounded skeptical of Gyokuro's input. Then again, he always sounded skeptical when asking a follow up question, another trait he picked up to make himself look more the part of the impartial judge. It didn't matter, if the Dark Lords and Fairy Tale agreed on a topic, nothing could be said thereafter to disagree or doubt that claim.
"He is gone from this world, Reaper has disappeared from this plane of existence." Akasha had worded it just as carefully as Gyokuro had, it was bad manners than to lie to the Five. They told the truth, it wasn't their fault if the leaders understood a totally different meaning. Besides, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
Lorenzo nodded in response as he slid his glasses back on his face, a small smile graced his lips as he did, he felt so distinguished with these on. "Very well then, since Reaper is gone, I suppose I cannot condone any intervention on our part in the matter of the HLF. Who among you agrees with this decision?"
Issa and Juan were the first to raise their hands. Sergei disapproved of the decision but the majority had already taken a stand against it so his discontent was irrelevant. As for Hector, he felt the need to ask one last question in order to make an informed decision. "I assume both you esteemed emissaries have plans to rid the HLF menace with the rest of your respective groups, correct?"
Akasha and Gyokuro nodded which brought Hector to agree with the majority, Sergei was the only one still in favor of intervening now. And thus was concluded another meeting of the Five Families. Business had been discussed and a decision had been made. Whoever acted now would be shunned by the rest and might possibly incite another blood feud. However, since no clan in their right mind wished to be hunted down by the rest, no one had to worry about that.
At that, Lorenzo brought the meeting to a close. He wished his brethren a safe return home and parted by saying he hoped it wouldn't take another century for all of them to be convened once again to discuss vampire business. It was an open and flat out lie but everyone played along as they were supposed to. All exchanged a few goodbyes before they began to exit the conference room.
Within the next few minutes, the conference room was cleared with the various leaders returning to their respective domains. Once home, Gyokuro had quickly excused herself from present company and went about summoning her eldest biological daughter. By the end of the hour, Kahlua was back home and receiving her latest orders. Her newest appointed task was without a doubt the one assignment that had brought her the most joy in her entire life. Her orders were as followed: Find Tsukune Aono...
And protect him at all costs, no matter who opposed him...
XXXXXXXXXX
An ominous and foreboding atmosphere could be felt all around Paradise. Recently, there always was an uncomfortable aura surrounding the pocket dimension but today was different. None of the masters of this realm were present at the moment, Akasha was required to leave for a few days. Thus only her two daughters along with the beasts remained.
The animals knew their place by now. There still was the occasional suicidal wyrm that would try to fight the Mokas, as you can imagine, that never ended well for the lower class dragon in question. It's distant cousins currently residing inside Lilith's Mountain would feel ashamed to be related to such stupid creatures. Then again, dragons didn't exactly hold many people in high esteem, less so ever since their enslavement at the hands of the Succubi and Incubi.
The two youngest vampires of the Bloodriver lineage were preparing to face off against one another. Why, you ask? In order to settle once and for all a dispute that has pitted the two twins versus one another, the only disagreement that has been haunting the both of them for several months now: who would be worthy enough to claim Tsukune for herself.
They could have agreed to be co-wives and be done with it. Unfortunately, neither was particularly inclined to enter a polygamous relationship. It didn't matter that they were once the same person, polygamy was not acceptable. The winner of the coming battle would be able to bind herself to Tsukune, the loser would have to consent to the union and step aside. Seeing as how they were quite evenly matched, the two agreed this was a fair way to settle things.
Two silver and cross shaped seals were discarded in unison and the combined aura of the owners made the air around them all the more oppressive. After training for such a long time together, their powers had grown exponentially, so much so that their combined powers almost equaled that of their mother's, the key word being almost.
Slit eyes met slit eyes as intense killing intent poured out of the two super-vampires, the ground was now quaking beneath them. Trees in the vicinity withered and died upon being submerged by the aura, leaving a no man's land around the two. The grass under their feet dried up and left dirt and sand in it's wake. The desolate landscape continued to grow the longer the two remained unsealed.
That was the least of their worries as they faced each other and waited for the other to make the first move. Every fibber of their being was in this fight, emotions fueled their abilities so much so that what was created was an inferno of power, burning rage fused with near fanatical love for the brown haired ghoul. It was truly going to be in no uncertain terms a battle of epic proportions.
The first move came quicker than the human eye could see. In typical fashion, Ura disappeared from sight and closed the gap between herself and her once Outer persona at dizzying speeds. She extended her foot and aimed to make contact. Her leg passed through Omote's after-image, giving said Moka ample time to aim for her doppleganger's head as Ura rebalanced herself after a failed attack. Omote's foot collided with Ura's arms that had come up to block the oncoming assault, a shock wave shook the area as the seemingly unstoppable force of her kick collided with the unmovable object that was Ura's arm.
They each were pushed back by the strength of the collision and fell back on their feet and immediately charge one another. The next few seconds bared witness to a flurry of close quarter attacks and dodges utilizing both fists and feet until Ura finally caught Omote's arm just as she dodged one of her hits. She promptly used both hands to gain leverage as she snapped her twin sister's forearm, a sickening crunch could be heard as said arm was being bent into an impossible angle.
Omote barely winced as she held onto the Ura's arms and used them as leverage to kick her newest nemesis in the stomach with both her legs. Ura felt her lungs being emptied of the air they contained just as the double kick pushed her back with such strength that her body went airborne. Omote had let go of Ura's arms and did a back flip before landing on her feet with feline grace as her Inner counterpart went flying through several trees before hitting a nearby conglomeration of naturally assembled rocks that halted her in mid flight.
That gave Omote enough time to snap her arm back into place and make sure it would still be useful for the remainder of the fight. She then went off to see the extent of the damage she had created; The newly formed hole in the rocky formation was filled with dust which made it impossible to see if Ura was still capable of fighting. That would have been a pointless gesture, she knew full well that her ex-Inner persona would have been able to carry on fighting after a blow like that prior to being trained by their mother. Still, she would have felt a bit calmer if she could at least see Inner's form.
She settled herself into a fighting stance just in the nick of time. Without warning, her vampiric sight saw that the dust emanating from the crater had just been disturbed, something had just moved. She rapidly ducked just as a kick passed over her head, Ura had gone up behind her and launched a surprise attack.
In response, Omtoe rolled out of the compromising situation and jumped up into the air, taking cover in the still living trees that dotted this new battle terrain. Was she attempting to hide? Most definitely not, the trace amounts of energy she was giving off would have been easily noticeable even to a human. Instead, she was trying to get a good vantage point to properly assess the best angle to strike.
Meanwhile, Ura had been sensing Omote's movements as she traveled through the thick foliage above her head. The moving dot of energy stayed stationary for a brief few micro-seconds which told her all she needed to know, Omote had found what she was looking for and was preparing to launch an attack. A blur burst forth of the sensed location and headed straight for Ura who had already moved out of it's trajectory.
The pink blur crashed into the ground next to Ura who took the opportunity to throw a punch. It connected with Omote's defensive arm and created another shock wave. She was about to go in with another punch when Ura felt a kick connect with her jaw, making her bones crunch loudly under the increased pressure and dislocate her jaw in the process.
She went airborne once more, this time for a considerably shorter amount of time, landing only a few feet away as her jaw snapped itself back into place. The two closed the distance once more and began to savagely attack one another until Ura was able to send an uppercut right into Omote's stomach that caused her to cough up a lot of blood.
However, whatever internal damage she had caused was quickly healed as her opponent went on fighting as though nothing had happened. They were no longer putting emphasis on blocking their adversary's hits, preferring to dish out as much as they could before they received another hit. Each injury healed almost instantly and the battle continued to go on for several more hours.
Neither of them realized how much of a strain this was putting on them, their powers were being stretched to the limit with the unending need for healing and attacking. No matter what they tried, one could not get a lasting advantage over the other. When one got wounded, the other would too within a matter of seconds. When one was healing and got back into play, the other was not far behind. It was a perfectly evened match.
Hours passed on by, the landscape was dying bit by bit as the two powerful monsters went on fighting. They were both exhausted, breathing heavily as they each took a step back to examine the opponent. It was nearly ridiculous how closely the two resembled each other at times during this battle. At times, it was almost like a perfectly choreographed joust. In truth, this was anything but anticipated. Both realized the former other half of their persona would be hard to take down, having been there to observe the other one's methods and tactics did nothing to increase their chances, but this was becoming ludicrous.
The sun began to set as the two came to understand how long they had been at it. With a renewed rage and a mental promise to be the one to prove themselves worthy of being Tsukune's mate, the two focused all of their remaining energy into one last defining strike. In unison, they leaped at the opposition and forced what was left of their power into one last well placed roundhouse kick. It would be a glory or death scenario.
The kicks found their intended target and both felt the full wrath of the enemy's last ditch effort at winning hit them squarely in the face. Feeling also that they managed to make contact, they allowed each unconsciousness to take them, hoping with all their being that they wouldn't lose Tsukune. As for the terrain, well, there wasn't much left of it.
What survived of the local wildlife had been both schooled in the art of battle and deeply traumatized by the savageness and raw power the vampires dished out seemingly without much effort. Did any dare approach the two sleeping vampires? No, no one. Even the brutal wyrm had learned to stay away, this was going to be the most peace and quiet they would ever get with these two predators on their territory and shortening the blessed peace was not a foreseeable option.
When they awoke, they found themselves in their respective beds, they were only mildly surprised at the development. Odds were Akasha had returned and brought them back to paradise Castle. The battle must have exhausted them more than they would have expected. Each tried to remember who had fallen unconscious first, to no avail.
They could recall seeing the other fading just as they backed out which was most troubling. By all accounts, this was a tie. If it was a tie, then how would this work out in terms of who claimed the prize? Omote came upon a solution that made her positively livid. If it was a draw, then they both were equally suited to be with Tsukune. That meant that this entire little show and dance had been for naught, how annoying.
She kept pondering another possibility, any possibility that didn't involve polygamy. She hardly noticed When Ura casually walked in and began leaning against the arch of the doorway with her arms crossed. When she finally noticed her visitor, she raised her head in a quizzical matter, urging her Inner doppleganger to speak her mind.
The angry look she received meant Ura had come to the same conclusion and she was definitely not happy about it. "I assume you know what I'm thinking?" A slight bit of of her frustration rubbed off on her tone which made her sound quite annoyed at the recent complication. After all, wouldn't you be if you had to share the one you loved with someone else?
Omote weakly nodded her head, she didn't like her option anymore than Ura did. She therefore decided she would do what she had always done up until now when she found herself in a bind, ask for advice. "Hey, Inner-me? Do you think there's another way to settle this? Something that wouldn't involve polygamy?"
Ura sighed at that comment. As much as she wished she could think of an alternative, she came up blank. Sharing with her Outer self? Better than sharing him with someone else, at least. No, this was still wrong. She didn't believe in polygamy. And they were completely different people even though they shared more than most, more so now that they were in different bodies. They had to think of something.
"You know, polygamy isn't all that bad," came a reply from behind Ura. They both turned to watch Akasha walk past Ura and into the room before she turned around and faced them both. Although the Mokas were not in the best of moods, their mother's contagious happiness and smile made things a little less tense. "I can tell you that from experience."
"But what about Gyokuro, she tried to destroy humanity while you were gone. And she hates you! The fact that you are both with father obviously didn't help much in that regard." Inner Moka blurted it all out with Outer Moka nodding vigorously at her Inner counterpart's argument. They weren't just afraid of having little less of Tsukune's company, they might also end up hating each other and they most assuredly did not want that to happen.
"I'll admit we haven't always been the best of friends but things can always change. With a little effort, I know we can get passed a little bit of animosity." It was frightening how lightly she spoke of facing the destruction of Humanity and Gyokuro's crusade for power. She made it sound like it was some minor disagreement. She either dealt with much worse or liked to emphasize that she believed it was a passing hobby for her co-wife. "Besides, do you really think you would feel any less angry if you weren't the one with Tsukune?"
Both bowed their head in contemplation, it was equally as scary how insightful she could be. There would actually be all the more reason to hate each other because Tsukune would have chosen one of them and left the other one's heart broken. Was it not better to both be with him? Sure, things might be a little unstable for a while but they would eventually fall into a routine at some point.
It was ironic. Vampires generally were extremely prideful of their species but more so of themselves. And yet they were the one's who were the most open to the idea of polygamy among their own kind. The greatest paradox of their culture: being willing to sacrifice a bit of your own importance to accommodate a fellow co-wife and your blood-mate and still retain your own pride.
Having said her piece, Akasha quietly left the two to think about the matter in private. It was not something to consider lightly, she of all people knew that. But if anyone could make it work, they would be the ones to succeed. Hopefully, they wouldn't go through that same hatred Gyokuro has gone through.
In the long run, this was the only way for both of her daughters to be happy. She had a sneaking suspicion that this would work out for the best. Why? Because no matter how down in the dumps they were, the mere mention of Tsukune's name made their mood improve considerably. He had a very positive impact on the two of them. And for that, she was going to have to put in a lot of thought for a decent wedding gift. Maybe Issa would have some ideas...
Meanwhile, as Akasha exited Paradise, the Mokas finally come to agree. This was going to be hard, they were compromising one of their most important principles by doing this but Tsukune was worth it. They already gave up their pride for him, so what was one more step? They agreed, they would both bind themselves to him. They would deal with any complications together. If either of them was feeling resentful or uneasy about the arrangement, they would talk it out until things were better.
At the very least, they wouldn't have to worry about anyone else getting bound to Tsukune. They had no idea how they would react if something ;like that happened. It was hard enough to share him with yourself, so can you imagine how much harder it would have been to let someone else become Tsukune's blood-mate?