Between Us

Rebecca smiled a bit again. "A friend of the family does minor enchantments and the like, I had this done. Anyway, basically it lets you know your family is alive and well. My pendant is a blue, Elsa's is cyan color. If one of was hurt badly or worse then said color would glow more brightly. So in another sense, I suppose could be a warning pendant as well."

Elsa nodded. "But its okay, I'm sure we'll be fine. Besides, I have you all and my big sister with me."

Ruby smiled brightly. "Yeah!" She really had accepted Rebecca and Elsa as her family. She still missed her parents of course, but...

Nine years had passed since the day of Tomoya's father's death, and while things had changed there were many things that stayed the same. One of the things that had changed, was when Tomoya and Elsa were around ten, a young snow girl and Succubus, Mizore and Kumuru respectively found themselves in the group. Over time, Elsa and Tomoya had gotten even closer though they weren't the only one. Adell and Moka had gotten closer over the years as well, and Reizo did like spending time with Mizore when he was able.

Reizo had taken up fighting, learning something called 'Rayzoku' so he could better protect the people he cared about. The change of why that was could be explained by the fact he was normally helpless during fights and didn't always want to be useless on the side lines. Adell's mother Samantha decided she wanted to train both Mizore and Kumuru, seeing a lot of untapped potential and the fact she felt they wouldn't abuse her teachings.

Rebecca had also invited Atsuko and Tomoya to live with her some time after Tomoya's father's death. She knew being a single parent it was hard to be there all the time for your child and couldn't always look after them, so it worked for their benefit more or less.

There was two others who had been introduced into the group. One was a young man named Emanulle that was slightly older then the others, though not by too much at least. While the second was a young half Nosferatu named Dysis.

Then there was Levante. He was rather...interesting. In the sense he might have a few screw's loose but otherwise you wouldn't know it half the time unless they got into one of their 'moods' and such.

And now, finally, the strangely close group of teenagers from different walks of life that had all come together for the first day of 'Youkai Academy...'

* *

Elsa was sleeping in her room, currently dead to the world. Her mother was suppose to wake her up but she had to leave early on business. So that left Ruby, Tomoya or Atsuko to try to wake her up before she was late on the first day of her new school. The door was cracked open, so anyone could have came in at any given time.

Atsuko was a very... interesting person, at times. Such as, at this moment, she was waking up Tomoya and Elsa at the same time. Namely, she was carrying a sleeping Tomoya, humming softly to herself. Over the past nine years, she had made it a point to get back in fighting shape, and train Tomoya as well, along with the training he got from Kanzi. Of course, another thing was that, as Tomoya got older, she didn't feel as much need to restrain her more playful side. He could handle it now. Which was why her way of waking Elsa and Tomoya up, was dropping him onto Elsa's bed right next to her. Tomoya jolted awake, scrambling a bit, with Atsuko laughing her ass off. Ruby peeked her head into the room as well, giggling.

Elsa didn't wake up at first. Despite having the sensistive senses of a vampire, the young woman was a heavy sleeper. In fact, she was sprawled somewhat sloppily on the bed, head half way off the bed. To normal people that would have been mighty uncomfortable, but Elsa..was well herself. It was a different contrast to how she normally was.

That was why instead of Tomoya being sat near her didn't wake her up, Ruby's giggling did. She slowly opened her eyes, then noticed Tomoya turning a bright red and pulled the covers to her. "T-Tomoya what.." She realized she hadn't been sleeping in her undergarments tonight, which she was relieved for and relaxed a bit.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. "You guys are having too much fun..what time is it?" She hadn't fully woken up just yet.

Atsuko chuckled. "Almost time for school, that's what time it is. Both of you need to hurry up and get ready. Ruby and Kahlua will be able to show you all around, but you can't be late for orientation. So come on, get up, get dressed, and grab your suitcases!"

Elsa hurriedly got up, almost bumping her head against something in the process but she wasn't concerned about it. "Ah! I knew there had to be something wrong. I need to get dressed!" She hurriedly tried to get Tomoya out at first before she did so not wanting to see. But would it be so bad for him to..no! Can't think about that right now!

When the young woman was done, she had hurriedly came out the door practically running to catch up with Ruby. "I was going to wake up earlier but my alarm clock wasn't working for some reason." Elsa looked annoyed about that but let it pass. "I'm a bit nervous about going to school..but all our friends are going and you Kahula go there so it can't be too bad."

Ruby grinned. "Of course! The place can be scary at first, but it's a good place, no worries. THere used to be some rather bad teachers, but they got rid of them last year. Nobus did an investigation on some things... but it's alright now! Though there's rumors of potentially replacing the headmaster... hm..."

That made Elsa a bit curious and worried, but if Nobus had some some investigations about it then there should be nothing to worry about. And she trusted her older sister about it. "Why was there a investigation in the first place? And how are we going to get there? I don't really recall..."

Come to think of it, Elsa didn't remember a time Ruby mentioning it. Maybe she just didn't remember due to bad memory? That happened more then once. Elsa was hardly dumb or anything, though sometimes things slipped her mind and she forgot about various things. Because of this, at school she had gotten the impression of being 'lazy' when it came to studies by certain teachers. She didn't particularly care about that though.

Ruby sighed. "Well, just some rumors of teachers doing things they shouldn't, allowing students to do things they shouldn't, things like that. It's all been fixed now, though."

"..I see.." Elsa commented neutrally, not really having anything else to say to that. If Ruby didn't expand on it then it must not have been overall too important for the most part or she'd heart of it.

When Elsa found Tomoya, she pushed what happened into the back of her mind as she went over. "Did you want to eat first before we went or go now?" Her things were already packed; she had done so the other day.

Tomoya thought about that. "Not sure..." As usual when he was thinking, his ears began to twitch a bit; something that he was often teased about, though he took it in stride. "I tend to eat a lot, so probably best to just go."

Elsa nodded to that, not commenting on the fact she thought Tomoya's ear's twitching cute, he already knew. "All right..hang on." She went to go grab her suitcase that was off in another part of the huge mansion. It was somewhat heavy, to normal people that is. To Elsa and pretty much everyone in the household it was light--even Ruby was a bit stronger then normal physically thanks to Rebecca pushing her more not to completely rely on range attacks and magic.

She came back within a matter of five minutes. "I'm ready. Go ahead Ruby, we'll follow you." Partly nervous as she was, she couldn't help but feel excited about this. Plus her close friends would be there with her.

Ruby led the way to the bus stop, and once there, Atsuko pulled the three teens into a hug. "Oooh, I am going to miss you three... but I'll visit when I can. I'm sure Rebecca will as well, though I'm sorry she couldn't see you off today." Tomoya waved it off.

"Eh, we know she cares, and she's got work to do, so it's cool."

Elsa returned the hug smiling. "Yeah. I already know how mom feels, I don't have to second guess myself anymore."

"What's all this talk about me not coming?"

Standing there, as if she had sneaked in or was there all the time was Rebecca. Almost instantly Elsa went to go hug the other woman. "Sorry for the delay. I finished up things early so I could be here to see you three off."

Ruby immediately hurried over to hug her as well. Tomoya stayed behind, but was clearly pleased to see her there.

Rebecca hugged both her girls, then went to Tomoya and gave him a hug. While she didn't mean to, the action would briefly cause the woman's rather..large chest to brush against him. It wasn't her intention nor did she notice when she backed away. "Take care of Elsa for me while I'm there, okay? Both of you."

Tomoya blushed a bit, though it would seem it was only because of being hugged at all. "Yeah, yeah, I will..."

"Yeah, you know how we are, Mom." Ruby smiled, just as the bus pulled up. The door opened, and immediately, Kahlua poked her head out.

"Hello! Everyone's already on the bus, so please hurry!"

Elsa quickly headed inside of the bus after Kahula's greeting, hugging her a bit. The two had become rather close during the past few years. There was also others she knew such as Emanulle, Kieth, Adell, Reizo and Dysis.

Seeing everyone put her even more at ease. She decided she wanted to take a seat with her. "How have you been?"

Reizo waved a bit to the others, currently reading a thick book of some kind. Dysis was there in his own while Kieth and Adell were as well.

Kahlua smiled happily. "I've been fine. I don't cry as much anymore!" Issa and Akasha had been working on undoing the damage Gyoukuro had done; the woman in question had disappeared after being expelled from the Shuzen estates. Mizore was sitting with Reizo, quietly sucking on a sucker as she always was. Moka was chatting with Adell, and Kurumu was humming to herself, kicking her legs, while Ashi sat near the back, seemingly sleeping.

Elsa's smile brightened to that. "Good. After that..woman left things have gotten better on that front. You could sit with us and Tomoya." She was just going to enjoy the trip for what its worth and catch up with her friends. Out of them, they seemed preoccupied already. Adell was sitting with Moka, and Reizo with Mizore. It wasn't really surprise for those who knew them. Funnily enough, Manny seemed to be doing the samething Ashi was.

After a moment, Kieth went to sit by Kumuru to keep her company. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Kurumu blinked. "Huh? What?"

"I think you are overpricing the value there, Kieth." Kurumu looked over at Mizore at this, confused, then realized what had been said.

"Wh- hey!" Mizore shook slightly with silent laughter, and Kurumu fumed.

Reizo sort of ignored the banter between Mizore and Kurumu. Anyone who had known them for any entrench of time would know that was just how they were for the most part. They kind of had a sister-like dynamic going on. Though, really, the whole group was like a strange large patch work family from all over the place. It wasn't everyday you had someone like a former demon prince, a few other people of high upbringing, along with everyone else.

As long as nothing's broken...

He noticed a marker on his book during a certain page as he was reading. I don't remember putting that there. Curious, he went to examine it. It was a note, the frantic scribbling was from his older sister.

'Hey little bro! I knew you'd get to this point so I slipped this in..'

Sounds like her. Reizo thought.

'We'll, after I brought you this book, I decided to leave a little going away present when I went back on my Pokemon training journey. See, I know you'd get to this point like I said. Anyway, if you haven't figured it out by now, the story you're reading has parallels to you and your friends. Heh, sorry, Our friends.'

'The boy in the village that wanted to stop being helpless and weak so joined up to be a knight? Kinda obvious you. The princess that has a barrier around her heart until you get to know her? Come on, pretty obvious Mizore. For the others, I'll let you figure it out but there's a point to it. Trust me.

P.S.

Don't wait forever to try to get what you want.'

Reizo blinked, the note ended and he put it away. Seemed like his sister hadn't changed much. Suki was a mixed case. Sometimes she was very direct when she was trying to teach or make him learn something other times it was a oddly effective round about way. Such as now. What she was trying to he didn't quite know yet.

We'll, he figured it out he guessed. He put the note and the book away for the time being.

"Suki is something else." Reizo said to Mizore. "Trying to teach me something by saying a lot of the characters in the book she gave me have parrels between us. Not sure what she's getting at..but its Suki."

Mizore raised a brow. "It means that she wants you to look at the relations between the characters, to learn something about our group. Did she say anything specific?"

"I guess so. Anyway..here." Reizo handed Mizore the note over so she could read it herself. The other characters, he guessed he'd find out about in time.