Th mood at the Aono manor was bleak. What else could be expected when three members of the household disappeared without a trace? No indication of whether they were safe, or even where they could be reached to rescue them. Of everyone there, it was Moka that was taking it the absolute hardest.
"Moka, it is Tekeshi-kun we are talking about. He doesn't go down easily, and when he does he refuses to stay down. He is YOUR son, he is a warrior, not a peacemaker like Tsukune. Whatever has decided to put itself in front of him, I feel sorry for it," Kurumu was doing her best to reassure her that her only, possibly only ever, child was not gone forever.
"Every fight he gets into he gets his ass kicked just as bad as he beats the other guy. But when that happens we know where he is, there isn't a question. That isn't even taking into consideration that he hasn't fully healed from that battle a few days ago, and he doesn't have his sword with him," there was no emotion as she replied from the bed she had been lying in the past two days.
"Moka, for the lo..."
Moka interrupted, "Not to mention Utsuki isn't a fighter, and with her condition, a fight could incapacitate her without injury. The only guaranteed combatant is Deesseedra, and that is only if Utsuki is still alive. I thought I might have found the perfect daughter in law, they are so good together, and she is in need of so much love. They are always so happy together, and any time they have any kind of disagreement, they end up laughing it off. I know that Harumi and her don't get along, and that would cause tension since we know that Tekeshi wouldn't think of breaking off contact with her. He has always put family before everything else."
Kurumu could only look at one of her best friends, and think of how she had been the same way when her true destined one passed. Heath had meant so much to her, even if he was rough around the edges. All of the soldiers in his unit were that she had met. They cursed, drank, and most of them really liked women. Heath changed when they got together, even if he never stopped some of the bad habits. Harumi was all that kept her alive, even if she nearly lost the fight the moment she felt him pass from the world. She understood.
"Moka, I know better than anyone how you feel. If I lost Harumi, I would die, there isn't a question. I know that you may recover, and I am so thankful that you have that chance, but please don't let it kill you. It makes me think too much about Heath, and how he was stolen from me by death. Please, don't kill him off before you know without any shred of doubt that: He. Is. Gone," tears welled in the Succubi's eyes.
Moka turned over"Kurumu," the vampiress' voice was cracking as she reached for her friend.
"Moka," Kurumu was the same.
They lay crying in each others arms, each thinking of their own loss. Outside of the door Tsukune listened to the two women. He took a breath with his eyes closed and opened them. It hurt him a little to be reminded of Heath. It was amazing how well he had gotten along with the American soldier. At first he was skeptical, being very protective of Kurumu, and all the other girls that were precious to him. However he had been a really great guy, and they both adored the Succubus in different ways. Moka and him had been with Kurumu when the soldiers arrived in their dress uniforms. The men never had to say a thing for it to be confirmed.
"Haiji," he heard Kokoa whisper as she leaned onto him.
"It's ok, we will get through this, and he will come back. Like she said, Tekeshi may be of my blood, but he is truly Moka's child. He has the will to kill that I lack, and the heart to not do it needlessly. Not to mention he may not understand how much he actually loves Miss Shiraishi, but he was willing to go into single combat with something he didn't even know how to beat for her sake, I don't know if there is anything that could stand against him right now," he knew how much pain this event was bringing up for everyone.
"We haven't had any luck, how is everyone holding up," Ruby asked as she, Yukari, and Machiko walked up, looking completely exhausted.
"It could be better. Akua hasn't left her room since yesterday. Mizore and the twins should be here tomorrow. She knows what has happened and she is keeping her usual cool head. I thank all gods that we have her, I don't know how long I am going to be able to keep my head straight right now. I told my parents, and they are doing their best to get here as soon as they can. I know they aren't the most reliable people on Earth, but I will feel better with them here. The House Guard are doing everything they can to search for him as well, but I doubt they can even hold a candle to anything you are capable of."
Yukari wrapped her arms around the two vampires, "Tsukune, none of us are going to look down on you if you break down right now. You don't have to force yourself to stay together like this. We all know you as well as you know yourself, and we can see how much you want to cry, just go ahead."
Tsukune shook his head, "I can't while there is a strong chance they are ok. If I break down crying, that is me admitting that I have given up hope, and you know that above all I refuse to ever give up hope on anything. He is coming back, and I will not believe anything different unless I see his corpse before me."
"That would mean even if a century went by, you would still believe, Uncle Tsukune," Machiko asked, much more subdued than any living would have thought possible.
Breaking free he knelt down to hug her, "Of course, Handsy. You should never believe anything without evidence. No matter what, he is coming home. He is going to bring Miss Shiraishi and Deessedra back with him, and he is going to say..."
"Hey Pops, we're home."
It took an hour for everyone to register that indeed Utsuki, Tekeshi, and Deesseedra, were indeed alive, well, and back. Once it did, Moka and Akua had maintained physical contact with him all times. It was starting to get awkward with him needing to go to the bathroom, but not being strong enough to break away and run.
"Mr. Aono, it is a great pleasure to meet you. I must humbly beg your forgiveness, as the absence of these three is largely my fault. Allow me to properly introduce my companions and myself. I am Madonna, Grand Mother of the Sisters of the Order Demona. The young dark skinned lady is Dibea. The red head is Anne Bonny. Neither of them speak Japanese, though they are fluent in English. The Japanese lady is Tomoe Gozen. We are the same as Miss 'Suki. What you call "Witches of War"."
"I see, um, why did you take them in the first place," Tsukune asked the woman.
"We have a hidden fortress where I have summoned all our sisters when they discovered their power. A place where they can be safe, and separated from the world of men. To prevent them from being used as weapons in the wars of men. We only meant to summon Miss 'Suki and Deesseedra, your son was holding onto her and was unintended. He, rather forcefully, made us understand that Miss 'Suki and himself would not be remaining with us. Discretion being the better part of valor, I decided that I would return with them and act as her instructor. These are my, unwanted, Honor Guard."
Moka suddenly sat up straight, "WAIT A SECOND. TOMOE GOZEN! You, you, you are the most famous onna-musha to ever live, how, you, witch, are, war, a , of, oh my kami! I am so honored, I cannot express just how grateful I am to have you in my home."
Tomoe bowed, "Please, I am not worthy of such praise. I am only a humble swordswoman who wishes to instruct young Tekeshi-san in proper swordsmanship. I must say that you have a beautiful home and ask that you take good care of me while I am in your care," the reply was so perfectly proper and Japanese.
"Don't gush over her too much Mom, you are going to make her faint with embarrassment. She isn't as grand as the stories make her out to be. Though looking at how beautiful and refined she is, it isn't a big surprise that her battle prowess gained her such grand legends," Tekeshi managed to get his arm free from his mother, which left the even tighter grip of his aunt to break from.
"Gozen-san, we are honored to have you with us. I hope that my thug of a child does not cause you too much issue. He may seem rough edged, but he is, ok I can't say that he is harmless. He is quite dangerous, though controlled."
"Aono-san, I have talked with him at length. I understand just how dangerous he has the potential to be. That is why I wish to become his instructor. No matter how well you believe to control an avalanche, to do it properly you must guide it with firm walls. I believe that he could be as powerful as one from the top of Mount Fuji," there was a dark glint in the woman eye as she spoke, and a slight evil grin on her lips.
Tsukune switched to English and addressed the other two women, "Miss Bonny..., Anne Bonny? As in the pirate? What... oh god. No pillaging, murdering, or raping. I can't say that I am very wild of the idea of a hardened criminal under my roof."
The Irish woman threw her head back and laughed, "Oh ho, I 'aven't don' any o' those in centuries. I don' remember doin' any o' the rapin' though. Le' me get control of me mouth real quick. Oh lord, I needed that. Mr. Aono, I 'ave gone through a reformation since joining the Order. I quit pillaging, and murdering. There have been temptations, like the Roman tart, but I have resisted. You won't get much out o' young Dibea here unfortunately. Since seeing him manhandle our great leader here she has had a bit o' a crush on the Lad, and it has had her tongue tied."
"What? Not another girl trying to take him. Ok Dyke, you and me are joining forces, she will not get him," Harumi had been watching from beside her mother.
"Shut up Harumi, If Tekeshi-kun wants her, that is... up to him. We don't have anything... we can say against... it," the hesitance in Utsuki's voice didn't necessarily match what she was trying to say.
"Come on, the Snow Tramps will join me, why won't you?"
"Because Tekeshi-kun is my best friend, and I will respect whatever... whatever he decides," she wasn't fooling any of the adults, though the guy being discussed was apparently in a deep conversation with his sword over something.
"Madam Madonna, we will discuss the terms of your staying privately. Do you have any unique skills or knowledge that you could teach on a large scale," Tsukune turned away from the young women's conversation.
"I am afraid that I am mostly only worth training others of my kind, and acting as a weapon of war. I don't know if there is anything that I could teach others."
Tomoe tilted her head, "Great Mother, you know almost every language that is or has been spoken on this planet. Surely teaching language would be of no difficulty for yourself?"
'Language, all of them, I can't be this lucky,' the cash sound went off in his head as he remembered that the academy's last language teacher had been found partially devoured two years earlier.
"I, uh, I believe that I could be capable of that. I don't understand straight off, but I will question further in private. We do not expect to be put up for free, and if needed I will be able to arrange alternative quarters for us. However I would prefer staying fairly close to Miss 'Suki in order to monitor her, and step in should some of the... stronger downsides of what she is."
"You mean the strong sexual excitement she feels upon witnessing mortal combat. We do have a degree of understanding of the side effects, though we don't have a great understanding of the majority of it. If possible could you perhaps compile some notes in order that we can produce some literature on it for reference purposes?"
Madonna's expression darkened, "I do not wish to make knowledge of us well known. I have been willing to provide what information I have due to the impression your son has made. I only intend to pass information on to Miss 'Suki, I cannot stop her if she relays it, but I will not myself."
"I don't mean on your Order itself. Our interest is in having resources available should we encounter others in order to prevent similar problems to what we encountered with Miss Shiraishi. It was, rattling to say the very least. And, given the, peculiarities, of our school, such problems are going to be common. We would much like to prevent her from committing sexual assault against my son," Tekeshi threw a pillow at his father hard enough to send the older vampire tumbling over the back of his chair.
"Tsukune, I love you so dearly, but you deserved that completely," Moka was giggling at the sight of her husband trying to figure out what had happened.
"Miss 'Suki, I must say, they are as whole... interesting. I don't believe I have ever seen a man and his son with that good of a relationship. How did you get involved with them?"
Utsuki was walking next to the older woman around the perimeter of the estate, "Mr. Aono manipulated things so that my parents enrolled me in Yokai Academy. They let me know what was going on, and they made Tekeshi-kun my bodyguard."
"That is, bizarre. Didn't you have any apprehension at such? I may not be in the same situation, but I would have tried to run away from things."
"I considered doing so in the beginning, oh I can't take this anymore. Deesseedra, come on out. I can't stand the feeling. It's heavy," she complained suddenly.
"You need to get used to it. It isn't like I can just walk around all the time when we get back to the school. Most of your classmates would probably notice if I did, and that could cause some issues. I believe you already placed the rule that I can't eat anyone that doesn't try to kill you. So, don't call me fat," the demon said refusing to show herself.
"I have never seen a demon actually disobey their mistress. This is, wow. I really can't believe it. Most of my sisters would have imposed some order to penalize them. I really can't believe how well you two have meshed. Even me and Rougar are not so close after all this time. What is going on here?"
They had come to the back of the gardens. Before them was a large, what appeared to be a practice arena. Standing in it were Tekeshi, his mother, and aunts. Tekeshi was stripped to the waist, and the women were dressed in rather, brief, workout clothes. Though on Akua, it looked like a child trying to look like a mature woman.
"Alright Kodomo, this is the first real good chance we have had to assess what we need to do to bring you up to where you should be at. Your skills should be compensating for your power handicaps. I love you, but you are starting to worry me with how often you are getting beaten up," Utsuki was in awe at the appearance of the older woman.
"Mom, I will gladly get through this as fast as possible so I don't have to see my mother dressed like that anymore. Though Aunt Akua, you look hilarious," the hole was dug.
There was pure killing intent as the short vampiress launched herself at her nephew, and met thin air. It didn't look like he had moved, but he obviously had. Utsuki knew what he had done though. His mother came suddenly with a roundhouse kick that he blocked with both arms. Sliding back he kicked himself into the air and came back and planted both feet on her upper back and pushed off forcing her into the dirt. As she stopped sliding she got up with a look of fury.
Moka hated getting dirt around her breasts, she could not stand the feeling of it. The hole got dug even deeper. She came back with a sudden axe kick that drove her son to his knees as it contacted his shoulder. Rolling back to avoid another roundhouse he took a double overhead blow from Kokoa to his chest. He coughed as he grabbed her ankles and pulled them out from under her. Going into a handstand he brought he his knee down on her stomach. He rolled off of her onto his feet as they surrounded him again.
"Impressive isn't it? They are all limited to the same level of power. If they were human, they wouldn't be as spectacular in their movements. Most of those blows delivered at human strength would break bones, and possibly cause concussions. The hardest ones could kill. Right now they are fighting with the intent to kill," they hadn't noticed Tsukune sitting on a bench watching.
The two women joined him to watch as Madonna asked, "They're family though, and they are trying to kill each other? I don't understand it. It's sheer brutality among them, even with a will as strong as mine, I am starting to get excited. I can't believe my eyes."
"Mother Madonna, this is normal for vampires. Tekeshi-kun told me a long time ago that vampires didn't train in anything other than life or death. 'If you can't put your life on the line on the mat, how can you do so in the field,' I believe is how he explained it. It isn't really doing anything for me personally, of course I know they will stop before anyone actually dies. Though is the phasing thing allowed in training," Utsuki looked at the older male vampire.
"Nobody said anything about it in the beginning, so fair game. Plus it doesn't hurt them to train against it. Akua hates it since she can't manage to pull it off, just me and Tekeshi. But like Miss Shiraishi says, vampires don't do half measures. That is part of the reason they are all wearing limiters to bring them down to the same level as Tekeshi wearing his. While they are at the same level he isn't going to develop his skill as much, it slightly reduces the chances of one of them accidentally getting killed. Right now the two most skilled ones in that ring are Moka and Tekeshi, followed by Akua, and then Kokoa at the end."
"But Tekeshi-kun is the youngest. How can he and his mother be equally skilled?"
"You would have to train with Moka to understand. Right now she is making sure the rust is shaken off, anything new she learned, you can bet that she will drill it into his head. Also you have to remember that he is a genius, especially where combat is concerned. He learns movements rapidly, and brutally. If you pay attention you will actually notice where he is incorporating moves that have used against him. He is like me, he has his own style that he has developed, though his is closer to kickboxing rather than straight up boxing or a pure kicking style like his mother."
"Aren't you going to train with them? I don't think I have seen you even go running with them at the school."
"For some reason limiters don't function on me. I am not quite sure why. My leading theory is that it is related to me having been born human, the next in line is that I am just so powerful it isn't possible to contain it effectively. While I can control my power by force of will, I don't know that I could keep it under control through a training session. The only one that I can train with without worry is Moka, and since she can be limited theory one looks most plausible. She really hates dirt around her boobs, he is going to be feeling the beat down he is starting to take for a while."
While they had been talking it had gone from Tekeshi keeping pace with his three opponents, to him getting completely pummeled. While he did have the skill to fight multiple opponents, he mother wouldn't have let him not develop such, he just didn't have the staying power to do so. The match had been going on for about five minutes, and he was close to hitting the ground and staying there. Sweat shone where skin was exposed on all the participants, though it was pouring off the teenage guy like a river. Finally it ended.
"Enough," Akua called as Tekeshi became unable to lift himself above his knees.
"That was sloppy Kodomo. You failed to take advantage of so many openings, and you left so many as well. If you had been in conflict with another vampire you would have lost handily. We will be continuing this at school, and if you start complaining, I going to start fighting in a thong bikini."
"Dad, Mom is being a pervert," Tekeshi called from where he was laying on the ground.
Tsukune snickered as he replied, "Push her hard enough and she might threaten to make all of you train naked."
A/N: I keep meaning to say something about this, but I keep forgetting. I really recommend getting signed up with an account on here. Due to my personal life I have sometimes gone as long as three years without updating or publishing anything new. Making an account and following or favoriting the story is going to be the most reliable way to know when it gets updated. Rosario+Vampire isn't that large of a fandom, and I even write for smaller ones, but it isn't unheard of for this story to get pushed two or three pages back during long periods of inactivity from me. Also I like being able to reply to reviews personally, I will even reply to troll reviews.