Author Notes : Hello there. It has been a while since I dusted this story. This chapter was actually written as it's here relatively little after chapter 14 was posted, and is posted here as it was. Was I the only one who ever wondered what Yukari did with all the utensils she summoned?

As for the future of this story, this is still being weighed. I still have the most important plot issues stacked around, so it's doable. Split between original stories, another fanfiction which I vowed to finish and this one, I cannot say how this will go at this point. So far, I've actually reworked a chapter one. Done so and if inspiration keep me going then it's possible that I'll get through this. If -when- that happen, then I shall put the reworked chapter as another stories, since indeed some plot corrections and chapter length would make it incompatible with simply replacing them here.

In any case, I do hope you enjoy this little chapter. Hopefully, we shall meet again for more of Tsukune and Moka wonderful miseries.

Cunning Foxes(4) :

Kuyou was death.

The sheer weight those words created brought an heavy silence over the room. Not of sadness for none here bore much affection for the sadistic male monster, but rather the fact that someone dying was an event that had already happened. Tsukune and Damian shared a glance, their earlier conversation in each other minds. True, they had just admitted the possibility of that kind of thing happening however both had acknowledged it as a distant event, not that it would happens the next day. They certainly didn't expect that the dreaded event was already part of the past. The two males eye-contact was meaningful.

Tsukune drew his gaze toward Moka. The vampiress's expression wasn't one he expected, truthfully he didn't know just how close to death and killing his 'master' had been and was, yet Tsukune found himself genuinely unable to understand the emotions displayed on the Akashiya's daughter face. There was a smile that could only be described as bitter and ironic, with one canine thrust onto her lips starting to leak drops of blood. Confusingly, there her face was stiff and her eyebrows were furrowed, her red cat-like eyes bearing something akin to anger. It wasn't the look of someone innocent to the horrific reality where anyone could die at any time, but neither was it the expression of a slaughterer standing above countless corpses. The human didn't know what to make of it.

"I gather this wasn't an accident?" Tsukune was the first to recover, a fact he found surprising. The rest of the room minus Yukari and Kurumu starred at him, the two girls still too stunned to react. From the looks of the three others starring at him he had asked a stupid question, he shrugged. The fact that as an human he considered the chance of someone's death as being accidental before considering otherwise somewhat lifted his spirits, though this wasn't telling much good about the living in the monster world. On the other hand it might just have been because of his and Damian discussion beforehand.

"Why would someone like her" Moka began to answer sharply as she gestured at Deshi Deshiko, the vampiress's previous expression gone and replaced with a hard face of annoyance. "come to tell me that if this was an accident?"

"Good point." Tsukune admitted "though not impossible to counter." he added in a much quieter tone, Moka glared briefly at him no doubt having heard however her youki-infused glare fell flat as Tsukune ignored her in favor of studying intensely the until now ignored redhead. The girl still hiding behind the frozen Yukari didn't strike as the dominating kind although Damian earlier tests of the air resistance within a vampire's residence proved that she wasn't weak in both physics and mind. "So, what did you come for?" Tsukune noted that Damian had gone interestingly silent, the incubus focused on the redhead although he couldn't help but sneak a couple glance at the female counterpart of his specie. Likely he was currently considering if he shouldn't drag Kurumu and leave the school and get to safety as fast as possible.

"That's actually a very good question, care to answer little miss?" It was Moka who spoke this time and despite her way of phrasing, her tone was neither benevolent nor pitying. Her aura had increased in intensity, wholly focused inside the room and making it hard for half of the room to breath. Tsukune was barely affected and he was surprised to see that the only other one holding well was Kurumu. At Moka's display of power Deshi tried to cower even more behind the young witch, an attempt doomed to fail. The young monster tried to speak several time but failed to pronounce a word every time, seeing that Moka decided to force her to go on. Meeting a vampire during said vampire first-time cold wasn't a good setting for peaceful talks. "Do you think I killed Kuyou?" She attacked abruptly.

"No!" the instant protest from Deshi didn't quiet down the supernatural aura of dread within the room, seeing that her answer didn't affect Moka's hostility in any way she continued. "No, we really don't think you did it! Not a chance, none at all!~deshi"

"Do you mean I couldn't have killed him?" Moka asked with an unsettling predatory smile, the redhead who had raised herself to shout her protest caved on the floor even faster than she had gotten up.

"We? that's interesting..." Tsukune muttered, the vampire and the incubus trading a glance with him to signify that they too considered the detail useful. While they did so Deshi was getting closer and closer to a panic attack, seeing that Tsukune decided to take the lead. "You know Deshi, I think everything would go much better if you started with the beginning." Because as it stood they were going pretty much nowhere. The green eyed Deshi blinked at him a few times, looked at Moka who nodded lightly in hope of seeing this chaotic morning end soon. The petite monster took some few breaths and looked lost a few seconds as she supposedly tried to find where she should start the story.

Apparently since three days Kuyou had been under fire from invisible attackers, poison infused sticks that were thrust into his body from a distance. The fact that he couldn't find his opponents hurt his pride and so none of the Safety Commission members knew of it till the end of the second day, which was a day before yesterday. Then their elite, the four Kings as they were named, had gathered and attempted to capture the assailants but they couldn't find them. Deshi had great details on the event because she was one of said four Kings despite the general look of disbelief. It wasn't that they had anything against the female monster, it was just that compared to Kuyou she couldn't seem threatening. So, they finished the day without finding their slippery opponents. Once back in their building they got flooded by the same poison, over one centimeter of the liquid lazily checking for an escape. Going to superiors floors they found more of the accursed liquid, their enemy having dropped it from the highest floor and let it gather down on the lowest floor by itself. Such an important amount of liquid entertained the idea that a monster in whatever camp the hostile poison maker was, was able to secrete it and had prepared the attack since quite some time.

Shortly afterward they noticed that some of their members were impossible to contact, some search around allowed to find a certain Keito. However they couldn't find any of the other members. Only five of them remained when the date changed, that group including Kuyou, a male cerberus named Cero, a golem named Termor, Deshi were four of them as the four Kings. Keito being the fifth. Kuyou wanted to take immediate revenge as well as the other but a problem arose when they realized that they still have no clue of who had done it. The public safety commission had more than one enemy and none of them matched the description so far, so all were suspects. After long discussions they had fortified their positions and waited for the day to start tightening their list. The fact that they had waited was not born of being wise, but rather because listing all potentials suspects had token hours. There were a few favorites of course, the student council president among them, but after nearly a year of being around, the public safety commission had collected a ridiculous amount of hostiles.

"I am still somewhat curious, giving the current climate shouldn't have the student council be prime suspects?" Damian asked. Deshi shook her head while sighing.

"True, they're but Kuyou was fearing the attempt of a third party to turn the four Kings against Hokuto in order to take both sides down during the fight." She glanced briefly at Tsukune as she said that, the human shifting uncomfortably as the rest recalled the rumours ongoing about the supposed dark mastermind who had a vampire within his ranks. "Despite what some say, Kuyou isn't... wasn't that stupid..." No one bothered to contest the claim, most probably because they didn't care rather than respect for the deceased. Though all but Moka felt at unease as Deshi had to correct her use of tense.

The five members had split afterward to try and figure who it was that were after them. She had searched for the whole day but didn't find any lead, on the afternoon she had regrouped with Termor and Keito. Neither Kuyou nor Cero had been around, after 'asking' some students they had heard about Kuyou going to see Tsukune on the roof and being kicked by Moka. It appeared they then decided to check the rumor about Tsukune planning to becoming the ruler of the school, but they didn't plan to do it right off the bat. Rather it was when searching for their leader, Termor stumbled upon Tsukune and decided to check whether the rumor of Tsukune Aoko being very dangerous was true and if that could affect their current situation. At some point, first Termor had found Moka Akashiya after losing Tsukune Aoko and started the fight as he figured the vampiress was here in reinforcement, and that the dangerous mastermind that was Aoko was planning to make a counterattack after their provocation. It didn't exactly end up well for the sand golem. As for Keito, Deshi didn't know what had happened but from what both Tsukune and Moka knew, the spider-woman had rushed after her ally while fleeing from a monster-eating Aoko and rushed into the vampiress. The fate that befell the spider-woman was history.

"So... the reason I had to get Tsukune under this cursed rain was because... of dumb bad luck?" Moka commented not looking the slightest remorseful at having knocked out violently two people during said rain. Tsukune carefully looked away innocently from his ill master, for a moment the human thought about whistling but he contained himself.

"What happened after?" Damian pressed on, wanting to have the final word of the story before anyone realized he hadn't exactly been invited in the dangerous vampiress room. That and really the death of Kuyou being slightly more important in his opinion that the deceased man doubtful level of intelligence.

"Well, back then I was trying to find where Kuyou and Cero were..." Deshi continued in a faint voice as Tsukune faced the urge to facepalm. Those people were obliviously in danger and they didn't hesitate one bit to split and go each their way. Either monsters had never seen an horror movie, or the PSC members were far too used to rule the school. "...Then I ventured outside and... by the side of the pool..." Her voice grew fainter and fainter until she became unable to speak any further.

Soon afterward, the girl fell asleep.

*break*

"So, you're staying?" Tsukune asked to the departing Damian, the succubus girl standing behind the male monster.

"For now, the situation isn't clear yet but..." The red scarfed incubus looked thoughtful, from the moment he had gotten over the shock of Kuyou's death announcement, he had been lost to the surrounding people. He glanced at the still sleeping Deshiko before taking his eyes back toward Tsukune. "The fact that Kuyou is the one death isn't necessarily a bad event." Damian admitted although the look in his eyes was doubtful.

"You don't seem very sure." The human pointed out almost needlessly. Damian rolled his tongue over his teeth as he continued to ponder.

"No, there are too many people who could have done Kuyou." his words made Tsukune raised in eyebrow in interrogation. "A student who got fed up with him and was slightly stronger than expected, there are mostly young monsters here but sometime that doesn't mean anything. Otherwise there is the student council..."

"...And the school." Tsukune finished in a whisper.

"You know, I didn't even think of it." Damian said, giving him a surprised look. "But regardless of who did it, things might get violent around here for any suspect." This time it was Tsukune's turn to give him a curious gaze. Seeing it didn't click in the other male mind Damian elaborated. "No matter how bad the people from PSC were, they had tribe or family. Once Kuyou's death reach the right ears, things will become dangerous and once it begins it'll be too late to escape the school."

"I see..." Tsukune somberly commented as he assimilated the new information.

"Today will be difficult, but I'll keep my ears open an see if I can find something. If I find something bad however..."

"Got it, I'll help you get out of here." Tsukune reassured him again. Damian nodded and he left with the female succubus who didn't seem in a hurry to get back in her neighboring room, probably an aftereffect of being exposed to Moka's aura more closely than usual. The human glanced a last time at the black haired incubus and was surprised when he saw him giving Tsukune an intrigued glance. It seemed that the incubus hadn't been completely honest. Or there was another possibility, Tsukune mused, it was entirely possible that the monster more used to the human world had seen through the boy's human nature.

If that was the case he most likely wondered just how a human could survive being in company of a confirmed violent vampiress for an extended period of time. Tsukune shrugged as he turned toward the two others visitors who were in their way of leaving.

"Do you need some help?" He asked the young witch who was having trouble pulling the still sleeping Deshi Deshiko. The young witch shook her head as she moved her wand around and incanted some kind of spell. True enough, as soon as she finished casting a stroller appeared out of nowhere before her, with a content smile the witch put the short redhead on it and turned to Tsukune who smirked at the casual use of her magic. "Any clue where you'll let her?" She shrugged mentioning that she would improvise, she probably would look at the dormitory record to find her room and ditch her there. Anything was better than letting her in the presence of the Akashiya vampiress whose frightening aura of doom was deliberately ignored by all surrounding parties. "By the way" The human glanced over at the two small girls form. "What is the deal with those things?" he gestured toward the white fluffy things which seemed content to grab on the two girls's clothes.

"Ah...well..." Yukari blushed as she looked down in embarrassment. "I was washing the dishes..." It didn't exactly explain anything to Tsukune who encouraged to her to further explain. The short girl finally seemed to gather her courage and looked up. "You see, after some attempts I've managed to.. well... I use those white things as sponges."

"Aren't those a bit small to be efficient?" Tsukune pointed out somewhat confusedly.

"No, I use many of them simultaneously." She answered happily, further confusing Tsukune who asked her how she used many of them at once with only two hands. "I don't use my hands! I amplify the whirlpool with magic and use the strings to clean dishes in chain!" Unfortunately it didn't made as much sense to the human than it made to the young witch because he looked even more confused than before, although he was trying very hard to imagine what she meant. "I know! Why don't you pass by my room sometime? I'll show you what I mean."

"A tempting offer, I'll hold you up with it." Tsukune then glanced toward the room from which a terrific aura erupted "Though not today." He added meaningfully still keeping his gaze in the direction of the unstable force. "That said, how did you two get covered in those 'sponges? And why did this one" he said gesturing toward the asleep female monster "come to see you?"

"That's simple..." Yukari said mournfully "She crashed open the door and rushed into me, and since I was standing above the sink with the controllers strings... when we fell from the chair, the whole ensemble of sponges followed us and hold onto our clothes." The human decided wisely not to comment on some details of the description and pushed on. "How I meet her? Well, we're more acquaintances, I met her after miss Moka gave me her protection. She was sent by Kuyou to learn why an Akashiya would take a half-monster with her." Once again, Tsukune again decided not to comment, this time on the detail of Yukari being apparently half-monster although it made him curious. "Afterward... let's say we shared a common feature which somehow created a bridge in our relations..." Despite the boy's intrigued look the witch didn't elaborate any further. There was no way that she would admit to Tsukune just what kind of common point they shared.

Being membership of the 'flat chested alliance' was not something you told one from the masculine side without some preparation. Following that the young witch left with a last goodbye that Tsukune answered with a 'see you later'. Then the human finally entered back the room in which his master awaited in a most terrible mood.

Approximative time lost : 0 days

Remaining Time : 577 days