Chapter 8: Witchcraft

Tsukune was deep in thought as he remembered the voice he heard before he fell asleep; oh no, I thought they'd gone, but they're back again- all these events happening here made me forget about it completely, he thought with frustration. As far as Tsukune could remember, he'd been able to hear a sinister voice from within himself since he was young; when he asked his parents, they shrugged it off as being a young child's imagination, and as he grew older, Tsukune realised that its origins might not be human at all. During his training at Coalition (that he worked for), Tsukune asked one of the instructors, who himself was a Youkai, and had years of experience with many other creatures, about this phenomenon that he experienced. The instructor had replied to him that this voice was probably another part of him… a part that probably was monstrous itself. However, what it was specifically was still unidentified as the instructor classified it as something he hadn't come across before. As for Tsukune, he just went on with his life, ignoring the voice from within that spoke to him occasionally.

He released himself from his thoughts, focusing on the present time- oh no, the midterm test results… last time I checked, I'm not great with this type of stuff, he thought with a sigh as he looked at the results. He spotted his name about halfway through the tables at 128th place; hah, well it's better than being at the bottom end, I guess? He tried to be optimistic about it. Scanning further towards the top, seeing Moka's name at 13th place; wow, she's amazing… she's got the body and brains.

"You're incredible, Moka-san- I've gotta follow your example hah," Tsukune said with a smile as Moka looked away with slight embarrassment.

"Teach me your study methods next time, Moka-san," he continued with a smile and his hands behind his head.

"Sure, and in return, let me suck your blood, okay?" she replied with a cute smile as Tsukune fell onto the floor.

To their side, a short, small black-haired girl with a matching black cape & witch-style hat was watching them, slowly fiddling with her hands as an older figure came up to her.

"Congratulations, Yukari-san! You're number one again… not surprising since you're a girl genius, and only 11 years old. Seems like you didn't skip ahead for no reason at all," a white-haired man came up to her, his menacing figure contrasting with the class representative band around his left arm.

"But listen up; don't get cocky, because in my eyes, you're nothing but an immature brat who reeks of her mother's milk," the man closed in, looking down on the girl.

People started to look towards their direction, whispering and looking at the scene with uncertainty.

"As for this ridiculous outfit… it completely defies school rules. I hate people who stick out- it just makes my job as a class representative that much more tedious!" he said with annoyance.

"But then again, you are a witch; a vile creature, I feel like throwing up just knowing that you're in the same class as me," the representative stated with disgust, as his face came closer to hers. But before anything could happen, a lone pebble flew up and struck the representative on the back of the head, much to the witch's enjoyment.

"What the hell did you just do to me!" the representative shouted with anger as he tried to attack her, however, the figure of Moka stood in between them both, her arms held out.

"I'm sorry, I don't have anything to do with this but I can't let this go. Please stop using violence towards girls," she stated with a serious look, much to everyone's surprise.

Seeing that Moka had stepped in, the representative started to walk away, but gave a warning to the witch, "you'd better remember this Yukari, this isn't over yet."

After a brief introduction, in which they found the witch was called Sendou Yukari, Tsukune was subjected to many attacks from the witch, and Moka herself was also attacked, although it was more in a sexual kind of way.

"I love Moka-san, and I don't want her to be bought down into the dirt by someone like you," Yukari had said, declaring that she was the one for Moka. Since then, he had been attacked by object such as brooms, rocks, and even a washtub. He was annoyed.

"Please do something about that girl otherwise my katana might slip up," he said with an irritated glance at the witch hiding behind Moka, as his hand started to grasp the hilt of his katana.

"Let's all calm down," Moka replied with a thoughtful smile.

"She's a pain to all of us- you've got to tell her that she's being a bother. If Yukari-chan hangs around with just you, then won't she just lose all her friends, and then be completely alone?!" Tsukune questioned with frustration as the witch suddenly started to look down.

"I am a genius, I don't need such low ability friends. Besides, I've always, always been alone," she replied with a sad smile. However, her normal behaviour returned a while later when she ran off, causing a washtub to fall on Tsukune's head.

"Tsukune, it's awful to be mad at her like that!" Moka shouted at him, as he looked confused.

"Why are you mad at me?! Just leave her alone, Moka-san!" Tsukune replied with exasperation, as nobody seemed to understand his words.

Meanwhile outside, Yukari had managed to bump into the class representative from earlier and his gang.

"I told you that this wasn't over, Yukari-san! Especially after that earlier disgrace, I can't forgive you for that! We've been waiting to get you alone, Yukari-san… doesn't this seem like a great opportunity for that?" the representative said as a reptilian tongue slipped out from his mouth.

"I can't just leave her alone! Why can't you understand Yukari-chan's feelings? Don't you feel sorry for her?!" Moka stormed off as Tsukune felt a pang of regret.

Tsukune just gazed in her direction, as her figure got smaller.

"Tsukune, witches are the hated race- they get discriminated against just because they're in the middle of being human and supernatural. Even in the human world, witch hunts would kill many of them…" Kurumu explained with a sad voice.

"That girl may have really been all alone until now…" the words rang out in Tsukune's head as they repeated over and over again, as he went off to in Moka's direction.

In front of Yukari stood a fearsome reptilian man, having the face like of a dragon, and possessing extremely large claws on both hands; it was a Lizardman. Its eyes glinted with hunger; "let's just eat her up- with a fog like this, nobody's going to notice anyways". The other Lizardmen nodded in agreement as they all started to close in on the helpless girl.

"Stoppp! Get your hands off Yukari-chan!" Moka's voice rang out as she appeared from out of the fog.

"Moka-san, get out of here while you can, otherwise you'll be eaten," Yukari said in fear as she saw the Lizardmen focusing their attention now on Moka.

"It's okay, Yukari-chan- it's okay to ask for help when you can't make it one your own. Don't you do all these things like play pranks & saying you love me, just because you need someone to be kind to you and give you the attention you need?" Moka stated as she started to walk towards them.

"I understand, you've always been lonely, haven't you, Yukari-chan? It must have been tough being all alone… I too have been always alone… that's why I want to help you, and why I can never leave you alone, Yukari-chan," Moka declared with a kind smile as Yukari looked away.

"Stop!" Yukari shouted as she clamped down her teeth on the lizardman who was holding her, but it was futile.

"Oww, what do you're doing, you little brat?!" the representative shouted with anger as he lifted his other arms up to strike her. But before he could strike, a blur passed by, kicking the reptilian man, and knocking Yukari out of his grip.

As he put Yukari down, she gave him a confused look. "You're probably wondering why I'm here… I'm really sorry about before, if only I'd understood you a little better earlier, Yukari-chan. Let me help you as well! So, don't think of yourself as alone anymore!" Tsukune stated with a smile as he looked towards Moka.

"Same as last time, Moka-san?" Tsukune asked as she walked up to Moka, and started to tug at the rosary.

"Hmpf, not another one! I'll turn you all into mince meat, you weaklings!" the enraged lizardman announced with fury as the rosary came off. Unfortunately for him, that fury would soon morph into fear as a huge influx of power flowed around him- it was a super vampire.

"I've got the two ahead Moka-san, the ringleader's all yours!" Tsukune shouted as he jumped to attack the other two Liazrdmen. Moka also jumped, but Tsukune turned ahead to face his opponents. Then the voices came again… don't worry my child, I'll assist you for this fight, hehehehe, the sinister voice whispered to Tsukune. He glanced downwards, only to see parts of his bandaged arm glowing in a crimson light; carrying on forward, he dodged the strikes from both the Lizardmen and formed a fist as he punched them both with unnatural power. Wow! That was a strong feeling of adrenaline and power, he thought as he saw the crimson fading from his arm. Looking back, he saw Moka fly kick the remaining Lizardman in the mouth, sending him flying even further.

"Small fry! After all, you're the type of garbage that can only wield power over weaker beings!" the unsealed Moka said with a strong amount of scorn mixed into her words. When she turned to see the two other Lizardmen also injured, her face showed slight surprise- that Tsukune can't just be a human to be doing that…

"Why? After all the horrible things I've done… you still came for someone like me?" Yukari asked with regret.

"From now on, let's be friends okay? We're in this together okay… not alone," Tsukune responded with a smile as he offered his hand. Yukari started to cry, much to Tsukune's surprise.

That voice… it sounded rather demonic… Tsukune thought with trepidation. Seriously… what is inside of me?

Hey everyone, another chapter here. More details there towards the end about what the voice inside of Tsukune has the power to do- hopefully, this story is making more sense, and it's not just some overpowered fully human guy fighting Youkai. Please review if you can, and hope you enjoy. Next chapter will be this coming weekend so see yas! Enjoy your bank holiday people!