It was a Saturday tradition for everyone of the family present on the campus to come together for breakfast. At first it was just the girls, Tekeshi, Galdia before they realized, and Moka and Tsukune. Now the table was quite full. Though Galdia was now replaced with the real Ruby, who was recovering much faster than expected, it had Amethyst, Yukari, Machiko, and Utsuki and Deesseesdra eating at it. Moka had never been happier, especially since Mizore and Kurumu were there today as well.
"So let me get this straight, you let Tekeshi drive THE BUICK, and your marriage has survived? I missed way too much. Amethyst, you don't have to eat like that anymore, Aunt Moka will jump up and cook more at the drop of a hat if she has too, we won't be hungry like that ever again," Ruby had come along so far in just the few days since her rescue.
"Aunt Ruby, she is just so adorable, even if she looks so rough. I wish Galdia could give you all the memories that you missed with us, but we are going to make sure they are the best ones going forward," Asusa had become enamored with the child.
"I can't even say how much she means to me. I wouldn't have made it without her. I am worried about all the trauma she has gone through though. That isn't talk for the breakfast table though. Who are these Mongrels I keep hearing about?"
Moka swallowed the bite of rice she had taken, "They are a group of six humans, Machiko, and lead by Tekeshi. Apparently they mostly control the underground of Phoenix, Arizona. Leave it up to my son to take over a city. I won't say they are harmless, they are far from it, but I wouldn't worry about them too much. I am hoping, though not holding my breath, that mister "I have a great idea, let's enroll them since Miss Shiraishi is not a complete human anymore" isn't about to eat his words. Even Tekeshi here thinks it is a bad idea, and they are his friends."
"Moka, it isn't the worst idea. They honestly fit right in if you think about it. I mean, Heavy knocked out a Minotaur, with one blow. If that doesn't scream Yokai Academy material, I don't know what does," Tsukune said as he took a drink of blood.
"Aunt Ruby, do you know a good way to get blood out of fabric. If not I need to go have a new uniform made. Actually thinking about it my blazers are getting tight again, I may have to anyways," Harumi asked.
Kurumu's eyes went wide with shock, "Oh no, you cannot possibly make me believe they are growing that fast. That would be the fourth set since school started. You know what, no more milk for you," she said as she reached over and took the protesting girl's glass.
"I don't understand how you two do it. I can't feel pain, and my shoulders hurt when I look at the two of you. I mean, I don't even know how men would find that attractive, you look so unbalanced, like you are about to fall forward all the time," Deesseedra said as she took a bite of eggs.
"Oh trust me, I put a lot of effort into not tripping over things. Thankfully when we do, we have have plenty of cushion for it," the older succubus said smiling.
Tekeshi just picked at his food as he watched. This was truly bliss. All of his family gathered here, just being happy. There wasn't some bully picking a fight, no big bad trying to kill of them, and no reason to have any bad feelings. It was just a feeling of home. He loved this feeling.
"Tekeshi-kun, you seem awfully quite. Are you feeling ok, you usually have quite a bit to contribute," Utsuki asked him quietly.
"Oh, I was just enjoying the atmosphere. Hey, how are things going with you and your Mom? You know can invite her to join us. Wait, that might not be a good idea," he replied.
"That's why I haven't. It's going alright though. It wasn't anything that was just going to be resolved over night, no matter how well things started off. I still have my memories really clear, but she is having, flashes, of hers. At times we can be having a nice easy conversation, and then she slips into calling me a conceited bitch. Mrs. Wong is working with her some to help her start to make more sense of things, but it is just going to be a long road," Utsuki picked at a piece of sausage with her fork.
"You know if you need to talk about anything, I'm always there. I can't even imagine how that is on you with everything that has happened lately. How are things with Tomoe, I know she won't come near me since she tried to rape me last week."
"Pretty much the same. According to Mother Madonna, she won't even talk to any of them right now. Apparently after being, assisted, to her senses she took off into the woods with only Yltoun, and hasn't come back yet. They haven't seen her more than once or twice. Sister Anne is rather upset by it, I don't think either one wants to admit it for sure, but I think they are actually really good friends. They just like to bicker and fight," Utsuki took a drink of milk after she finished speaking.
"How are the English lessons coming along? Oh, hey Mom, did Aunt Akua have any luck finding another bike like my old one yet, when she was here a couple days ago she said she was looking, but not to hold my breath," Tekeshi switched tracks in the middle of his thoughts.
Moka thought for a second, "No, she hasn't found anything yet. She thought she found a newer one, but was really looking for something almost the same."
"I don't care too much as long as it is still a Nighthawk model. If she can't, I would be fine with another bike around the same size. If she can't find anything like that, then I would settle for a cruiser in the same size range. Honestly that would probably end up better, most sport bikes have you hunched over with your ass in the air, and I just really don't like that."
Ruby looked over at Moka shocked, "You let him have a motorcycle? Why?"
Tsukune answered, "I got him one for his sixteenth birthday since I wasn't going to be there for it. I knew he liked motorcycles, most boys do, so me and Akua found an old Honda that wasn't too big, and well, he loved it. Sadly it was totaled a few weeks ago, and we really don't want to talk about the specifics. Moka wasn't happy with it initially, but we worked it out."
"Mama, I'm sleepy. I want to go take a nap," Amethyst said suddenly.
"Curl up here, Baby. Moka, I remember years ago you hating to cook large meals like this. I am glad you got over it, because this is the greatest meal that I have had in my life," Ruby said as the girl climbed up in to her lap.
"Thank you Ruby. I imagine their cuisine did not set a really high bar. But yes, we had, discussions, vampire discussions, over the motorcycle subject. I finally relented, but only because he said that he wasn't giving him anything as powerful as his. And before you ask, I don't mean the one that he was riding a decade ago, I mean his current bike, that literally rattles windows when it starts up. I will never understand the obsession," Moka shrugged.
"Miss To-," Utsuki started.
Ruby shook her head, "If you are at this table, you call me Aunt Ruby. If you are here, you are family. That is always how it was, even before my imprisonment. I don't want any of this Miss Tojo stuff, it makes me feel like an outsider."
Utsuki hesitated, but Tekeshi lightly elbowed her and nodded, "Aunt Ruby, your impostor, when I first got here, she showed me her wings to prove what she was. She only four, but everyone says you have six. When you get well enough, can you show me them. Tekeshi said yours were more beautiful than hers were."
"Mama has wings? Where are they, I've never seen them," the little girl said sleepily.
"When I am well enough I will show you. It will be nice to fly again, I missed it so much. How freeing it was. Oh, has there been any luck in finding my grimoire? Galdia said she didn't know anything about it, that they didn't have it to give to her when they cast the spell," Ruby asked as she patted the head of the sleepy girl in her lap.
"No luck yet. We never even thought about it until you said something a few days ago. I did manage to find your wand though, so it's something. I will keep looking though," Yukari replied as she took a bite of her food.
The normalcy was amazing. That was Utsuki's thought. All this was so normal, like they weren't all beings of incredible destructive potential. Like they were just people. She thought back to when she had been a little down, and had thought of herself as less since she wasn't truly a yokai, but also wasn't a human anymore. Tekeshi had told her to never think of herself as less, and right now, she understood why.
"Now you're the quiet one. A farthing for your thoughts," Tekeshi asked.
"What is a farthing," came the confused reply.
Tekeshi chuckled, "Sorry, something my grandmother said to me a while back. A farthing is like a one yen coin if you are British a hundred years ago. But still, what's on your mind?"
"I know what all of us are now, I have for a while now. But, it all seems so human right now. Maybe with a little bit of oddity in the subjects, but still so human. I remember what I said to that fox guy, but I just didn't realize how true they were. I like it, and I don't want it to ever end," Utsuki turned her head toward Tekeshi with a broad smile.
Tekeshi's heart started beating completely out of time as he saw her smile, and he was barely able to reply, "I don't either. None of us do," he sighed as his expression darkened and he turned his head to the blade that sat in a corner nearby, "I'm not sure if we have a choice in whether it continues or not. Something in the back of my mind tells me that we are in some kind of danger that we don't truly understand."
"I know. I don't understand how I know, but I do," she looked around at everyone else caught up in a strange web of conversations, some two or three at once, "Tekeshi, I, have som-," she started to try to confess to him but was interrupted.
"Kodomo, how long would it take for you and your friends to get ready for a show," Tsukune asked out of nowhere.
"Oh, uhhhhhh, maybe a weeeeeeek, a little overrrrr. Why are you asking that? I am not sure I really like where this is going," the look on his face showed major trepidation.
"You know that the cultural festival was pushed back due to some conflict in the student council. I was wondering if all of you would like to put on a concert for the school? Something unusual that might help my goals some," the older vampire fixed his son with a waiting look.
"I already know they would agree, but they would leave the ultimate decision up to me. How long a set, anything to avoid, and how elaborate," he didn't have any illusion that he had a real choice in the matter.
Tsukune smiled, "We will discuss that along with the student council. I think it will be good, something that most of the students aren't all that familiar with. Plus, I know how much it would mean to your Aunt Ruby here to get to see you perform live."
"That's playing dirty, especially when I already asked the particulars. I'll do it, I will round the rest of the Mongrels up and get things in order. Have we got the infrastructure available to set it up in this short of a period. I don't really like short notice shows like this, they always run into issues," Tekeshi replied.
Ruby took a somewhat sadistic smile on her face, "Oh, we can just put that on Galdia. I am really impressed with her abilities. I guess I have another thing to thank Fairy Tale for. We will make sure everything behind the scenes is taken care of."
"Wait, we get to see a live Mongrel's show here? Oh, boy. At least it isn't going to be in a bar, so no bar fights. I just don't know that it isn't going to be worse if something does kick off," Machiko piped up.
"Wait, what do you mean bars? Yukari, please tell me you have not been allowing my son to play music in drinking establishments, without informing me so that I could tell you that you would be in such great pain if you did such," Moka suddenly became quite dangerous in her manner.
Yukari paled, "I only let him because they were willing to pay him, and Fangfang always went along to supervise. I wasn't giving him carte blanche to be a barfly. Moka, I don't like that look. Moka, please say something. Tsukune, please, help. OHOHOHAOAAHHAOH," she couldn't do anything as the vampiress grabbed her cheeks and started stretching them.
"Moka, be an adult," Tsukune was trying not too laugh.
"Take that Loli, take your punishment," Kurumu and Mizore cheered on the event.
Utsuki laughed. She felt like she should have been more upset that her confession had been ruined. She couldn't help but really enjoy everything going on. This was a family, this is what having people that loved you meant. This was something she had wanted for so much of her life, and something she never thought that she would have. Light tears appeared in her eyes from the utter happiness that she felt. This was everything she could have ever hoped for.
"That is, very interesting. So you are actually, whole, mentally now," Kiria was, confused by his subordinates story.
"I don't understand it either. The boy had sliced most of the way through my body, and I know that I was dying. At my strongest he killed me. The girl though, she didn't let me die. She didn't do it as a punishment, and then she gave me my mind back. I can't understand why. Why was she even able to? Wasn't she supposed to be human? Humans can't do that," Kuyo was still confused as to what to feel.
Hokuto sat further back into his chair, "No, humans should not be capable of this. Either she was never human, and was meant as trap for us, or she ceased being completely human. I wonder, you mentioned there was a demon there the first time you confronted the Aono child, did you not?"
"Yes," Kuyo admitted, "I hadn't thought much on it though. Akashiya said that the girl had become a witch, but I figured that was just someway to play with my head. There isn't anyway to become a witch, you have to be born one."
"That is false. Where do you think the original witches came from. They were the children of those who had bound demons to themselves, but from what I have found this kind of power was not something they possessed. Interesting, very interesting. I wonder, if she didn't come across a different way to bind one," Hokuto smiled widely.
Kiria looked questioningly at the look on his friends face, "I have to question why you even know all of that. What is it you are thinking though?"
"No, I don't think it would work. Sadly, I don't think I have had a chance to inform you yet. Apparently, the elf must have gotten discovered due to this, complication. However, while a loss, I think having Kuyo in top mental form is a much more impressive asset. According to her reports the girl and Aono are nearly inseparable. I do find it interesting that she never said anything about her having been bound to a demon. We may not have had as good a grip on her as we thought, sadly it looks like all of our bluffs have been called now, and she will probably start singing the second she realizes we can't do anything to her. What is worse, is that the prison of Tojo was assaulted, and her rescued."
Kiria was surprised, "Who, could have possibly accomplished that?"
"The Aono boy, and a succubus. It had to have been a succubus with tits like that. They slaughtered all but two, two, of the staff there. We don't know what happened to them, only that they realized they were alive and ran out into the Gobi Desert with no food or water. Two people, in less than three hours, devastated an entire facility. It is actually rather impressive, and unexpected given their families," Hokuto said, with legitimate admiration in his voice.
"Do we know who the succubus was? Wait, succubus. It would have had to have been Kurumu's daughter. Interesting, very interesting. How much does she look like Kur-," Kiria was interrupted by Hokuto coughing.
"Please get over it. Just get over it. Regardless, we need to deal with this. You did give them the invitation, did you not," Hokuto turned back to Kuyo.
"The girl did. Though she didn't give the particulars, nor did I. In my defense, I had other issues on my mind after my healing. I do believe that it should be safe enough to send a less threatening messenger. I was able to gather that the school cultural festival is occurring soon. It might be a good time to approach them," Kuyo replied.
"I believe that it might be appropriate to send Miss Elizabeth. It shouldn't cause too much trouble I believe."