Ancient, Blood Kings* Chapter III –Reverberations part ONE: Their afflicted behaviour.
AN/ Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter! As promised in my previous chapters, things will start to make sense.
I've decided to make this a four chapters long arc since my original chapter got longer, and longer, and longer. By the time I almost finished the 'chapter' I realised this became an arc on its own, therefore I split it up. Please bear with me while I spice up the rest of the chapters, since it became so long (at least to me). I will update this faster than my previous two, since everything is almost done: It's just that I want to keep you guys on fire for a bit - I need to build up the trill :D
On another note, thank you, my reviewers for the helpful advice. It definitely helped me avoid some mistakes and boost me up! (especially ParanoidShadow's latest review, I felt I cannot disappoint you. Your fault it got turned into an arc hahah)
And so, with no further ado, here's my latest chapter:
The forest seemed to hold the same amount of darkness and yet peacefulness as the previous year. Only this year something was off, a lot more off than usual anyway. Many of the tombstones were pulled out or extremely damaged, signalling a fight took place. 'I wonder what happened here' he started thinking of possible reasons only to be pulled out of his trance by noticing the dress (AN/ backside of) a known old friend, bending down on one of the tombstones.
He starts running towards her for a surprise bear hug when she suddenly spins around "STOP RIGHT THERE!"
With a wand in his face Tsukune frantically reacts by grabbing the tip of her weapon, only to have it emanating a strange light followed by Rubi sprouting a pair of crow-like wings and point her death-bringer upon him. "Are you accomplice in this irresponsible act?!"
Tsukune brings his arms up above his head. A desperate move to show peace, perhaps. "O-ofcourse not! Rubi-san … I just got here. Please calm down!"
(AN/ Never tell a woman to calm down, you'll make it worse.. xD)
"CALM DOWN?"
With a series of motions and magic purple lights she summons one of her plant-pets. Even though it was three heads shorter than him (think Kurumu bite-sized monster) it had super razor sharp teeth emanating a strange metallic glint. Being a plant-pet, it was green and had long stem-like arms. 'A carnivorous plant? Whaaat.' He waits for her comeback performance to come to an end, but Rubi is not finished:
Rising to the sky, she angrily shouts "You touched my wand!" as the plant runs towards him.
'There's still time until that little fella gets near me, maybe I can calm her down…' "Look, Rubi-san, I'm really sorry. Didn't know I'm not allowed to touch your wand! ... I just wanted t-" suddenly Rubi's companion opens its mouth to reveal a two metre long tongue. At the end of which was … another mouth!
"Inceptioooon." Dumbstruck, he just stares wide eyed before he realises the monster's mouth-tongue is getting closer and thus sprints away from the scene.
Meanwhile, Rubi performs another magic trick and summons a flock of crows for Tsukune's punitive capture. 'I cannot believe that delinquent dared and TOUCHED one amongst the few possessions bringing unimaginative pleasure to myself…' The always collected Rubi Toujo, while a bit flustered and muddled by her previous thoughts sends the murder after our afflicted young teen.
'Maybe I can slow down now. Though, I never seen her so pissed since the sunflower incident…Hopefully she gave up the chase.' Looking back, his breathing is brought to a halt by the hugest flock of crows he ever seen, darkening the sky above the forest's road to a perfect pitch black. "Nope. NOPE NOPE NOPE!"
The road ahead seemed to be never-ending 'Is this road getting longer or what?' when suddenly a wild Yukari Sendo appears! He stops next to her, grabs her shoulders and desperately starts shouting "Yukari-chan, thank kami I've found you!" while Yukari starts shouting too, only … something a little bit different:
"Kyah! Help, a paedophile… HENTAAAAAAAAAAI!"
AN/ Now, my dear readers, you have to understand Yukari's predicament: A 13 year old girl suddenly being grabbed by an unknown giant, all sweaty and not wearing the school's uniform, huffing and puffing in your face calls you 'chan'. What do you do?
The little genius starts throwing a series of tarot cards at him but he dodged them all. "You dodged all of them? Hmm… you must be a really good fighter!"
"Did you forget? All of you girls chased me around at first. Reflexes are an acquired skill necessary to my survival!"
Still throwing more tarot cards "'You girls'? You know us. Masaka? Fairytale?!" now adding yellow washbasins to her series of attacks.
AN/ Let's say this story follows what happened up to the end of Volume 03. They know of Fairytale and Anti-Thesis (supposedly a sub-division?) but Tsukune hasn't trained yet, they didn't meet Fong Fong yet and Moka's rosary is still fine. Wanted to make sure we follow the same page. Arigato! ^_^
Having dodged Yukari's attacks for a while and with Rubi's searching party, Tsukune finds himself in quite the predicament, therefore once again runs towards the academy.
"Ladies, please stop! We are getting close to the school grounds!" he turns around and starts yelling at the top of his lungs, with the last of his stamina juice wearing out.
"Then stop running you fool, this will be over quick! Academic genius Yukari Sendo promises you, desu!" the little witch evilly grins in such a way making even Rubi's questionable antics appear innocent.
'She's my old friend, she wouldn't hurt me.' "Ok, Yukari-chan!" Tsukune abruptly stops and spins around to a raven flying mere centimetres by his face. Alarmed by the 'sudden' attack, he brings up his right arm to shield his eyes, only to receive another incoming round from Yukari's cards this time- leaving a three inch slash across his arm and above his holy lock. "ARGH!" 'She almost left me blind! Better run to the safe-house…'
In a rush, he opens the heaven gate of his appointed classroom only to see everyone taking their seats after welcoming the homeroom teacher, a second later and he would've been late!
Looking around, he sees his old friends assigned to their seats, his own empty. Another tremor is heard and the classroom door is once again being yanked from its closed position. 'That's Yukari-chan for sure; I'll take my chair and act quiet. She won't do anything crazy in the middle of our induction lesson.'
'Ah…In my rush to grab my old seat next to Moka-san, I forgot to greet everyone. I'll turn around and wave at least, that won't disturb Nekonome sensei..' No doubt expecting to see the smiling faces of his friends, but instead, every one of them seemed to be reading some inconspicuous micro-note 'What are they reading that's so important?' turning once again, Tsukune faces Yukari, the only one who was not reading anything but rather waiting for some kind of confirmation from others 'Did she tell others of the misunderstanding? The peep tom incident is happening all over agaaaaain!' . With anime teary eyes, our unfortunate fella stares at the ceiling in a sign of praying for hope while holding his head. But…all hope is lost when he feels a jolt, or rather, stabbing pain, at the back of his head. Reaching out, he pulls out a sharp and icy object and brings it to the front of his face for better examination. 'Thank kami it didn't cut deep….eto…an ice kunai? M-MIZORE-CHAN?!'
After a few minutes of deep, careful pondering, the troubled teen turns around to the small witch. She was still watching him, and she was going to chastise him for fondling both her and her senpai. The little girl in question finishes her glaring threat with an 'I got my eyes on you, watch out' gesture.
Deciding that this has gone too far, he plans to go after the girls when the bell rings. 'At how things are now, they think I've attacked them. I know I've changed a bit but it's not like the ghoul controls me…*sigh* we've only been apart for few months since academy renovation and summer vacant-'
*fuaaah* think chilly fog effect -'
'…AGAIN?'
And once again, his contemplating thoughts are brought to a halt by the infamous yuki onna chills. 'Seems they really think I'm a peeping pervert…though, those warning chills are not as bad. With my youki problem, this saves me the trouble of having to exercise myself to death in order to calm and cool down …'
Meanwhile, at the back of the classroom, the yuki onna is becoming suspicious 'He doesn't react to my chills AND he sits on my future husband's chair. He doesn't wear the school uniform: He's either strong or stupid …. Or both. But his youki is almost non-existent. Yukari was right, he might be Fairytale…I'll stalk him ASAP..' and sends another spine breaking chill as well as increasing the dosage.
'heheh … seems she realised it has no effect on me. A little bit more and the whole class will be a popsicle… this is kind of amusing, but I want my old friends baaaack' Turning back once more, he catches a glimpse of a mad, fuming and freezing Kurumu throwing an oversized rubber with pen inscribed letters saying: 'Stop, Stalker!'
Tsukune follows the trajectory of the missile which whacks a blow exactly in the middle of a forehead, belonging to our unsuspecting victim, Mizore Shirayuki. "Bulleye." He says to himself while trying to read the pen-stamp mark left on her forehead and waiting to see what happens next.
Mizore, on the other hand, makes a haste recovery from her hit and rapidly scans the classroom in search of the perpetrator only to find 'the idiot sitting on Tsukune's chair' with a plastered grin all over his face 'I'll freeze you and make shaved-ice curry to my beloved.'
'What's with that dead-pan face? I am not the enemy. K-kurumu…' Turning around to see whether Kurumu will take responsibility for her actions, he sees her trying to supress an uncontrollable laughter and teary-eyed.
Feeling that she's being watched, Kurumu examines the damage she's done and quickly assesses: 'that Fairytale guy' was blamed for her deed. 'Yo-hoo success! Serves you right for sitting on my destined one's chair! Where IS he? … He should know that Fairytale infiltrated to our school again. Seriously, did they think after the Hokuto/ Kiria thing and Miyaby scene that we'd be blind and unaware? This is pissing me off! When that bell rings, the girls and I need to make a plan before we take this guy on. We're not inexperienced anymore!' With new found determination, Kurumu passes fresh notes to everyone else.
A clearly unaware outer Moka firmly grips the side of her skirt thinking 'This guy smells a bit like my Tsukune, but he doesn't look like him. Did he do something to Tsukune?' while the vampiress considers several theories, she's suddenly hit by an incoming projectile: Kurumu's note.
*pock*
'Ouch…what is this?'
'A note?'
Reading it, she looks at others and nods before shoving the note at the back of her notebook.
Sensing that everyone has calmed down, and without Mizore's persistent chills, Tsukune falls into a blissful trance, most commonly known as 'The boredom limbo'. From a faraway place he could vaguely hear Nekonome sensei getting to the part when humans coexist with monsters, the part where one such as Saizo Komiya would interup to act like a douchebag, therefore he starts listening more intently. Surprisingly, this time not one soul spoke out. 'Perhaps we are out to a good start this year…apart of the fact that I'm a misunderstood peep tom again *sigh*'
AN/ The boredom limbo: when you are stuck between watching the trees grow old and falling asleep in classroom. T.T I end up doing neither and just … leave my body and raise my spirit to the sky..
Tension was so thick; you could cut it with a knife. Our yuki onna never ceased her freezing spells on Tsukune and the surrounding area, thus every other student was sitting on needles too. Adding damage to the cause, not one student could tell of Tsukune's identity.
*BRRRRIIIIIIING* School bell signals the end of the lesson.
And so, as soon as the bell was heard, the classroom was emptied within seconds. Looking around, Tsukune was left confused. Even Nekonome sensei left, and that must mean something was up: she usually stays behind at her desk seemingly 'doing teacher stuff' but everyone knew she eats delicious fish. Glancing at the door, Tsukune wonders why the sudden cold shoulder and runs after his friends to apologise 'Even though I have no idea what just transpired since this morning…'
He was holding his one-strap black leather bag over his left shoulder, the leather strap ran across his torso to his right side. His hand was held in the middle of his chest, gripping the strap so tightly, making rubbery sounds with every crushing grip. He was confused, and upset that his friends did not spare him a second look. Turning right from the now empty classroom, he could see the corridor. Countless ghostly faces with no name, but at the end of the corridor, he saw it: a strand of pink hair turning left. He starts running and soon he is in their viewing range "Kurumu-chan, Mizore-chan, Moka-san! Wait up!". Not one pair of feet stopped running and soon enough they find themselves behind the academy, near the sports area which was mainly made of a basketball court, running fields and other things necessary to outside P.E activities.
"Our meeting is compromised, desu! We'll need help! Guys, distract him while I get Rubi-san.." Yukari takes off running as soon as those words left her mouth, but not before she throws one last washbasin on Tsukune's head. The three girls left create a human barrage with the purpose to protect Yukari-chan while she retreats, though this is proved unnecessary as Tsukune was taken by surprise by Yukari's previous attack. Kurumu uses the stun as an opening and creates an illusionary plant of ten metres high and uses it as another protective wall for her, Mizore and Moka. She starts controlling it and moves its tentacles towards Tsukune who is still bent down from the dizziness, unaware of the attack. As soon as his hands and feet are immobilised by the plant's stems, Kurumu raises him off ground and propels him against the stalk. 'Why isn't he attacking us already?'
While Kurumu waits for Tsukune to repel her weak attack in some way or another as she believed he was a strong Fairytale soldier, Mizore uses this as a chance to finish him off. She launches a barrage of ice spears and calmly adds 'I'm gunna do you like Vlad The Impaler.' at which Moka shudders and shrinks away from Mizore and stops next to Kurumu 'I-I think that's a bit extreme, Mizore…'
Tsukune lifts his head up from his sorrow after seemingly sensing an incoming projectile. His reflexes kick in and uses what strength he has while hanging in the air to move his body and avoid her ice spears. Luck so has it that Mizore's spears sever the stem parts bounding Tsukune and so he falls to the ground. He uses one knee to support himself while his left hand holds the cut inflicted by Rubi earlier on.
"I've had enough of this…" a now slightly more distressed Tsukune lifts his head up to take a look at his old mates. Sensing the animosity in his voice, the girls take on a fighting stance while Tsukune starts walking towards them "Why is this happening? Tell me." His bangs were covering his eyes, hiding any emotion.
"Guys, I can't find Rubi, desu!" Yukari appears from behind a large tree. The sudden yell made all three girls spin around while Tsukune was getting closer. "I can't find her and they don't let me see the chairman, they said there is no unwanted youki present within the barrier and there's no-MOKA WATCH OUT!"
A scared Moka turns around and starts screaming while flailing her arms about after realising that 'the Fairytale guy' is in front of her. The equally scared Tsukune raises his hands too, after thinking Moka is going to slap him. Moka indeed slaps Tsukune, only over the arm which was closest to her body, thinking 'The Fairytale guy wants to grab me!' after which both Tsukune's hands ricochet towards her Rosary and smacks it off as a result from her slap.
Wide eyed, all four girls hold their breath in worry and confusion. It was evident on the girls part: 'How the heck did he do it?' but mostly worried because this meant he was a very strong opponent. Could he beat the unsealed Moka? If so, all hope was lost.
The eerie atmosphere soon eases in and replaces the already tense mood while waiting for the transformation to take place and other Moka to unseal.
I hope you liked this first part, please feel free to review and comment on your favorite parts - IT MAKES HAPEEH ^.^
Also...since I'm in such a good mood and chapter four is almost written out too, here's a small preview from my second!
Preview:
*swoosh, swoosh ¬fast forward*
"What do you mean Moka-san? It's me, Tsukune.." He felt dejected.
"Prove it." She calmly adds while watching his every move with the interest and curiosity of a feline watching its prey.
*swoosh, swoosh ¬fast forward*
"Don't kill him just yet. I prefer torture until he speaks." Mizore firmly states in her always monotone voice. "He seems to have immunity to ice."
*swoosh, swoosh ¬fast forward*
"Silence! I will not partake in this idiocy. Our time apart seems to have made you all forget who's in charge here. Here's a reminder…" her death glares and spiked youki a sign of her burning rage. Not one soul dared to move as crimson irises bore into their skulls. So perplexed they were that no one realised she was now in front of them.
End of preview!
(I was so excited about this arc that I couldn't sleep well: Ideas kept popping up so I had my phone under pillow to write reminders LOL)