What's meant to be will always find a way.

XXXXXXXXXX

This is it, Tsukune thought. He held in his hands a letter from Inzumo High School. He had taken the entrance exam for all three of the High Schools nearest where he lived. He wasn't anything special when it came to academics (or anything else really) but he wasn't terrible either. He was a solid C student who always managed to do enough to get a passing grade. Honestly he'd figured that would be plenty good enough to pass all three exams. High School entrance exams weren't that tough. So he'd been rather shocked when Ouzo informed him he'd failed to pass. Then he'd gotten notified Jinki had also declined him. Shock was upgraded into panic. Now if his last hope also failed he would plunge into despair.

"Well don't keep us waiting!" His mom said. "Open it!" Both his parents were standing over him, as worried as he was.

"Okay," he said and took a deep breath. Taking his future in his hands he slowly tore open the envelope. The instant he saw there was a form included he felt relief, the rejections had come on single sheets of type written paper. He pulled out the letter. "Dear Aono Tsukune, we are pleased to inform you…"

That was as far as he got before both parents yelled out in delight. "Thank goodness! Our son's not a failure!"

"Thanks mom," he said sounding aggrieved. All the fear and anxiety of the last couple of days were now gone. When he went back to middle school tomorrow he would tell everyone he was going to Inzumo. He would also tell everyone it was his first choice. None of the three schools were much different so everyone would believe him.

"She's just kidding son," his father laughed. "We both knew you'd make it into at least one of them. Now let's go out to celebrate!"

Tsukune nodded, everything was right with the world.

XXXXXXXXXX

Akashiya Moka saw room 103 and hurried towards the door. I can't believe I'm late on my very first day! After the horrors of attending middle school in the human world she was finally among her own kind! She was sure she would make lots of friends! Everything was right with the world.

The door was open and a blonde teacher with a tail was talking. "Excuse me, I'm very sorry for being late, I got lost following the entrance exam."

The teacher flashed her a comforting smile. "Oh that's all right dear, please take a seat anywhere."

As soon as she entered the room the boys did a double take.

"Sooooo cute!"

"Man I am so glad I'm in this class!"

"What a hottie!"

Some of the boys actually whistled and applauded. She felt herself blush. In middle school she had been ostracized and ignored because she actually told people she believed in monsters. She was not used to this sudden spotlight and felt very insecure drawing so much attention. She quickly took a seat in back.

Many of the boys stopped paying attention to the teacher and instead were all looking at her.

As soon as the introductory class ended they were all freed to go and explore the campus. She barely made it to the hallway before being swamped by boys who had both been and not been in her homeroom. One bruising boy named Saizou had actually tried to drag her away but some of the other boys had objected. During the ensuing fight she managed to escape.

She'd been planning to explore, but instead she got to her dorm room and decided to just stay in for the rest of the day. Hopefully things would get easier.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I am the succubus Kurono Kurumu and I am your rival! I won't let you have your way with all the boys here!"

"Huh?" She blinked at the aqua haired girl. Rival? Have my way?

"I'm supposed to be the number one beauty at this school! Me! But instead all the boys want to talk about is you!" The shorter girl glared up at her. "I don't mean to put up with it! So just to show you who the real queen around here is I'm taking away your boyfriend!"

"Boyfriend?" She asked dumbly. "Uh, who would that be?"

The big chested succubus growled. "Don't play dumb! I mean Saizou, obviously! I saw you two walking arm in arm! I'm going to make that boy mine!"

She must have seen it when he was trying to drag me away, right before all those boys jumped him. "Ah, all right, I hope you two are happy together." She then quickly walked off.

Kurumu watched her go and began to grind her teeth. She'd wanted tears and pleas; instead her rival didn't seem to even care. "Does she think I'm bluffing?" Kurumu muttered. She stormed off to find Saizou and make him her willing pet.

XXXXXXXXXX

Things should be better than this.

That was what Moka thought halfway though her first semester. Things were better than they had been in middle school; she was no longer the freak. She had plenty of friends and she got lots of attention from the boys. Kurumu didn't like her much and seemed to make a point of making out with her boyfriend in front of her whenever she could. Moka didn't understands the reason for that but it didn't really bother her any.

Her grades were excellent and she was in the top 5% of her class. She had no real problems with anyone. She was in the cooking club and enjoyed spending time there learning to make human foods. Her anemia bothered her but she was able to get enough transfusion packs from the infirmary to manage. Fortunately no one knew what she really was. If they had they would have been frightened off. It was much easier to make friends with her powers sealed.

And yet…

Though she had more friends than she could count she didn't have a single real friend. There was no one she could trust with her secret, no one who she felt completely comfortable with. As for boys, she'd gone on several dates, but no second dates. So far every boy was only interested in her physically, none of them really wanted to get to know her. She was sure that every one of them would run for the hills if they ever met her real self.

So everything was fine… just not as fine as she'd expected it to be.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So Mitsune, would you ah, like to see a movie with me this Saturday?"

Tsukune saw the look of embarrassment cross her face and knew what the answer would be. "Oh, I would but I have plans. Maybe another time?"

He forced a weak smile. "Sure."

"Okay, I'll see you later," she got away as fast as she could without breaking into a run.

Things should be better than this

As he glumly headed to swim club he wondered just how long it would take for him to get a date. So far High School was turning out to be just an extension of middle school. He did well enough to pass everything with his usual C's and he had plenty of friends to hang out with. Swim club was great and there were lots of cute girls there in swim suits, but they all gravitated towards the boys with more muscular bodies. He was stuck with being, 'just friends.' Oh how he hated those words!

It wasn't so bad, he did have fun and he was managing to do everything that was expected of him. He just wished he could find one girl who would see him as something more than an average face.

So everything was fine… just not as fine as he'd expected it to be.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Oneesama!!" Kokoa screamed with an iron mace waving above her head.

"Kokoa leave me alone!" She wailed as she ran for her life. Her second year suddenly looked to be a lot worse than her first.

"Not until you let my real sister out!" Kokoa screamed as she continued to give chase.

"But I can't!" Moka cried desperately. "I told you no one can remove the seal but father!"

"Then I'll just have to beat her out of you!"

She wondered why these sorts of things only happened to her.

XXXXXXXXXX

"How do you like your meal Shinobu?"

The little dark haired girl grinned at him. "It's really good sempai, thank you again for inviting me out."

"No problem, thank you for saying yes." This was his very first date! Shinobu was a very shy and quiet freshman girl who'd joined the swim club. She was cute but a little short and underdeveloped, so most of the boys ignored her. He'd asked her to go and have something with him to eat after club and she'd said yes! Finally life was really improving for him.

"Sempai I'm really glad you asked me out because there's something I was hoping to talk to you about."

"What is it Shinobu? I'm happy to talk with you about anything."

"Well… it's a little embarrassing…"

Laughing he waved that off. "Don't worry whatever it is it'll stay just between us, I promise."

She looked relieved. "I knew talking to you was the right thing to do, all the girls say you're a really nice guy, not the sort to hit on someone. You see there's this boy I really like but he doesn't even know that I'm alive. As a guy what do you think I should do?"

Tsukune managed to screw on a false smile. Once again he was 'just a friend.' As best he could he gave her advice and pretended to be happy to be having a meal with her as 'just a friend.'

He wondered why these sorts of things only happened to him.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Gold fish scooping! Who would like to try some gold fish scooping?" A line of eager men formed from out of the crowd. All of them more interested by far in her and her Yukata than in the carnival game.

This was her last cultural festival. She smiled and tried to make the best of it. When her shift was over she would go among the stalls and games and try to have fun.

Alone.

She'd had plenty of boys offer to go with her but she had turned them all down. What she longed for was one special boy who could be a real companion to her. She wanted to be part of a real couple, not to be with someone who was just desperate to steal a kiss or cop a feel.

She'd tried so hard to find someone, but it really did seem that every boy she met was only interested in what was on the outside.

Well, she had lots of friends. She would definitely run into some of them. She might not have anyone, but she wouldn't be completely alone.

She just wished she'd found someone.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ring toss! Who'd like to win a prize? Three tosses for just 100 yen!" Tsukune called out.

It was his last cultural festival. In just a couple more months he would graduate.

Still a virgin.

Every time he saw a couple walking past a hand in hand he had to keep himself from crying in despair. He'd gone to parties and gone on a handful of dates. He'd had a great time on his class trip and made lots of fun memories.

It was just that none of those memories included anything that could be called a girlfriend. He had never even kissed a girl. Was he really that bad? Granted he wasn't the toughest, or the coolest, or the richest, or the best looking. He was, well, average. But average wasn't bad, it wasn't terrible! Why couldn't he at least get an average girl to go out with him? There were plenty of them!

He didn't understand just what was so awful about him. So many girls liked him… as a friend! But honestly if he had enough good traits to be a friend to so many why couldn't at least one be interested in him as something more?

Sighing he tried to forget about it. College entrance exams were coming up and he would have to study really hard.

He just wished she'd found someone.

XXXXXXXXXX

Back in the human world, she thought. If there had been a monster college she would have gone there, unfortunately there was no such. Well the last three years had prepared her for this, at least she knew better than to tell people she believed in monsters. She could have gotten into a higher level school but she chose a mid level one deliberately, she didn't want to stand out too much. Shinto College was vast and there were lots of people here.

She looked down at her map, not paying attention to where she was going.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tsukune was excited. This was his first time being away from home for longer than a week. He'd actually made it into Shinto, the top college he'd taken the entrance exam for. Now if he could just graduate he could become a salary man like his dad and have an average life. Chuckling he figured that was just what he was destined for, an average existence. He'd already given up expecting anything really amazing to ever happen.

He looked down at her map, not paying attention to where he was going.

XXXXXXXXXX

That was how Akashiya Moka and Aono Tsukune ran into each other… literally.

"Oof!" He said.

"Owie!" She cried.

He found himself lying right on top an incredible beautiful girl with the most amazing green eyes.

She found herself suddenly pinned to the ground with this really cute boy on top of her. She could pick up his scent… it was so tempting she felt the urge to bite him right there and then.

"Aw! Sorry! I'm really sorry!" He quickly scrambled off of her. He then offered her his hand and helped her up.

"That… that's all right, it was my fault," she said trying to fight off her blush. Some how getting knocked down had felt rather nice.

Staring at her he was at a loss for what to say and so did the only nothing he could come up with. "Hi, my name is Aono Tsukune." That earned him a smile that made his heart skip a beat.

"My name is Akashiya Moka, I'm very pleased to meet you Tsukune!"

"Ah, same here, are you a freshman too?"

She nodded. "It's hard to find your way around, the buildings are kind of confusing."

"Yeah, we'll probably figure it all out about the time we're ready to graduate."

Laughing softly she agreed. "Probably, ah, if you don't mind maybe we could try and find out way around together. Two sets of eyes are better than one."

Surprised, but really pleased, at this invitation he agreed and together the two of them began to get to know each other as they tried to navigate the campus.

Somehow they both got the sense that something very good had just happened.