Once More, With Changes.

Dear readers, I would like to ask for a favor. My goal here in Fanfiction is to hone my ability to write and enrich my sometimes lacking vocabulary. As such, if there is any mistake, lacking in description, or odd phrasing, that you happen to come across in any of my stories, I beg you to immediately write me a review or PM me to inform me of the error. It is my hope that I will be able to improve my writing and bring you fine people more compelling stories as a result.

"I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side."

― Bram Stoker, Dracula

"Who the hell are you?" A voice yelled from somewhere in the assembled mob of angry villagers.

Tsukune stared at them blankly, he would have been resisting the urge to ask them that very same question were he capable of understanding them.

"Oi! Move outta the way, punk!"

The boy was completely lost. The last thing he remembered was running towards Akasha as the four elder monsters prepared to disintegrate themselves. There was the sickening smell of charred skin and a pile of ash where both the Headmaster and Tohofuhai previously stood.

Whatever happened, Akasha was certainly not pleased. She shouted something at Alucard that Tsukune did not quite catch. The would-be destroyer of Humanity retorted. Akasha turned back to the vampire that had leaped up to where she towered over the wreckage of the torn city. She grabbed him by the shoulders, implored his forgiveness and kissed him.

When their lips parted, he felt a strange warmth course through his body. By the time he turned his attention away from this foreign sensation and back to the matter at hand, he found himself falling backwards in abysmal darkness. He kept on falling, unable to move or make a sound as his eyes were met with nothing but the endless void that surrounded him. He tried to think, to comprehend what was taking place.

Alas, his mind was sluggish and slow. His brain reeled as the same thoughts looped again and again into his head: Where was he? Where was Moka? What was going on?

Finally, after what seemed like an endless fall, he landed on solid ground with a grand thump. The shock of the contact, as well as the subsequent pain, were enough to return all of Tsukune's faculties back to their master. By the time he got up and dusted himself off, he was met with the incredulous looks of a good old fashion lynch mob who bluntly inquired the student's identity.

Tsukune heard a whimper behind him and noticed two frightened children. It seemed they were the reason the villagers were up in arms.

"Look at his face!" A baritone voice announced.

"He's one of them!" An elder woman cried out in the crowd.

"Monster!" Another one yelled.

The ex-ghoul felt the great amount of animosity directed at him, the one part he did not require a translator to understand. These peasants were about to murder him alongside two innocent little girls. Faced with that chilling reality, the boy did the first thing that came to his mind: he grabbed the two little ones and made a run for it.

When the humans finally gathered enough of their wits to make chase, the trio had vanished in the vast expanse that was the Chinese countryside. Hidden under the nighttime cover that Nature provided, they ran through grassy hills and patches of trees for several minutes before stopping at a safe distance from the hostile village.

"Thank you." The silver-haired girl squeaked after checking to make sure no one had followed them this far. She could have been no more than eight years of age. The other girl, black hair, appeared to be a bit older than her friend. Were Tsukune to guess, he would have imagined her to be around the age of twelve.

The younger child, dressed in a traditional Chinese ensemble made up of a white jacket and black pants, bore a fleeting resemblance to Moka. The older one, dressed entirely in black, wore a cheongsam. The duo possessed the same alabaster skin and red pupils, an obvious indication of their vampiric nature. They flashed a toothy smile at their protector, revealing another feature of their monstrous ancestry.

Wait. Tsukune silently observed the black-haired girl for a moment. The face, the mannerisms, they all reminded him of someone else. The realization was almost enough to jolt the newly made vampire into a second run. Only this time, it would have been to get away from the girl who defied all logic. Incredibly, he was faced with a young Akua Shuzen.

The boy was alarmed, looking left and right, trying to find some clue that might explain how such an impossible thing occurred.

"Is something the matter, sir?" The young Akua asked her rescuer with genuine concern, a far cry from the attitude he knew her grown self to have.

"Umm..." The boy hesitated, trying his best not to act suspicious. This was a conversation that became more and more awkward by the second, and not simply due to a gap in linguistics.

A flash of genius hit the black-haired vampire. "Are you by any chance Japanese?" She inquired, pleased to notice that the teenager was finally appearing to understand her.

"Ah… Yeah. Actually I am. Ha ha ha." He nervously laughed as his hand instinctively went to rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, so that's what it was." Jasmine, or at least that was whom Tsukune surmised the younger girl was, exclaimed in relief. She feared she had offended the elder vampire in some way judging from the grave expression the Yokai student sported just a second ago.

"Thank you for saving us." Akua retorted. "If you hadn't shown up when you did..." She shuddered at the prospect.

"Don't worry about it. I was glad to help."

"But how did you appear out of nowhere like that?"

Jasmine's question was problematic for the young Yokai student. He was starting to piece together what Akasha had done. However, the more he pondered his next move, the more he realized that it might be best to keep some details secret for the time being. Better feign ignorance, for now at least.

"No clue," he lied, "I just sorta ended up there, y'know?"

Neither seemed convinced with his explanation but they decided not to press the issue. They were far too grateful for the rescue to want to put the teenage monster in an uncomfortable position.

"What's your name?" Akua's attempt at changing the subject were quite welcome.

"Tsukune." He answered, still unsure how much he should divulge. Staying silent would have been worse. Besides, he reasoned, if he was right about where he ended up, the eldest Shuzen girl would have several years to forget the name before they were fated to meet again.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Akua, this is Jasmine." She announced, pointing to her friend that stood beside her.

"Happy to make your acquaintance."

The courteous tone, though respectful, was extremely uncomfortable for the fledgling monster. He was not use to hearing people speak to him with such deference, nor did he feel at ease about who the well behaved speaker was. It had barely been more than a few minutes since adult Akua tried to slice him open with her hands. That sort of trauma stays with you for a while.

"You two don't have to be so formal. We're all friends here, right?" Another round of nervous laughter passed his lips.

The two vampire maidens looked at each other, then back at Tsukune apologetically. "Sorry, we haven't really met a lot of other vampires other than relatives."

Vampire?

Alucard's taunting and the Headmaster's confession rung in the boy's head. He recalled being told that he was no longer human. He had set that knowledge aside during the battle but, now that he was in no immediate danger, he allowed the words to fully sink in.

He lifted his arm up and searched for the Holy Lock he grew accustomed to having wrapped around his right arm. It was no longer there. It was of no real importance; however, it did feel strange to no longer possess it. As for the news of his grand change, he had long ago made peace with the idea of becoming a monster. Being a vampire was a step up from being a creature incapable of sentience, so he was not particularly inclined to complain.

Admittedly, he was a bit curious over how his appearance changed. Had his pupils changed colors? Was his hair still the same shade of black it was after Tohofuhai modified his body? These questions, like many others, would have to be answered at a later date.

When he turned his attention back to the two, he noticed they were in the middle of a heated argument, all of which was in Mandarin. They must have decided it would not be wise to interrupt the elder vampire while he daydreamed. Thus, they moved on to other matters.

"I don't care. That is where I want to live!"

"You can't be serious. Those no good humans were going to kill us."

"I don't care about that. That is where I want to live."

"Oh jeez, could you help me talk some sense into her?"

The problem was not that Tsukune was unwilling to lend a hand. It was mainly that Tsukune had not understood a word other than that which had been intended for him. Even then, he still had some trouble.

"Aiya?" Tsukune repeated dumbfounded. He heard her say that a lot, but he never knew what it meant.

"She wants to go live with humans." She practically spat the word. "After they tried to kill us." Her attention turned back to her younger friend. "How could you even think of it?"

"But sister…"

"She's right." Tsukune gravely stated, much to Jasmine's chagrin. For some reason, she felt like this stranger might sympathize with her pro-human views. "Going back there would be suicidal. Especially now that they're up in arms."

"You see?" Akua non-rhetorically scolded.

"However, you also have a point, Jasmine." The four eyes that turned to him in surprise was exactly the sort of reaction he was expecting. "Humans aren't mean. They're simply scared, just like us. The best thing to do is to stay separate for now and work so that we can all one day peacefully coexist with each other."

Jasmine was positively inspired by the insightful pep talk. Akua, not so much. "Humans are cruel and vicious animals!" She screamed. "A human can't think of anyone but itself!"

The comment deeply wounded the Newspaper Club member. It was true that he had heard other monsters make the same claim, yet to see a young child who should be filled with hope spout that same line pained Tsukune greatly. Regardless of what race he may now be a part of, he still felt he was a human, deep down.

"We can talk more about that later. For now, we should think about finding you two a place to stay. Do you have relatives you can go live with?" He inquired, fully aware of what the answer would undoubtedly be.

"I do, in Japan." Akua mentioned. She fidgeted as she spoke. Tsukune imagined it was due to the nervousness she was feeling at the prospect of meeting the Shuzen clan for the first time.

"Perfect. Now, how do we get to Japan from here?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Akasha trembled as the burst of magic passed through her, momentarily causing her to lose her balance. Once the shock had worn off and she was steady enough to stand upright, she let go of the table she had hung on to keep herself from falling.

"Mother, are you alright?" Moka was worried the Shuzen matriarch may be feeling ill. The concerned look was terribly endearing to the centuries old vampire.

"I'm fine. A little dizzy, that's all."

Having alleviated her daughters fears, Akasha watched as Moka turned the corner of the mansion corridor and went to play with her sisters. The First Ancestor was extremely worried. Somehow, somewhere, someone had just used a mind-boggling quantity of magic. What was most troubling was the very reason for which she was attuned to the backlash: The spell bore her mark.

"Impossible," she murmured to herself. An act requiring that much power must have been nothing short of cataclysmic. Even if she were to use all of her abilities, she was certain she would not be powerful enough to replicate a ritual of that magnitude.

She was confronted with a veritable mystery. On one hand, she had suffered the aftershock of magic that bore her signature. Yet she possessed neither the memory of having cast it nor the apparent capacity to match such a phenomenon.

She breathed in deeply and brushed off a bit of dust on her purple Victorian dress. Thinking about it here would do her no good. All she could do was find Issa and tell him immediately, he might be able to shed new light on the enigma.

For some reason, she intuitively knew that it had some connection to the creature in the basement. Hopefully, it was merely paranoia visiting her for a bit. If it were not…

She shuddered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hong Kong. Tsukune was beginning to despise this town with a passion. Hiding in a Miao Family safe house was not exactly helping s to provide with fond memories of the metropolis, either.

As it turned out, his new traveling companions had not lied when they described his newly transformed appearance: Red eyes now replaced the once visible heterochromia whilst his hair became a very light shade of brown, a far cry from the raven color attribute his capillary once held.

This had dampened his first few attempts at walking around in broad daylight. From what he gathered, cosplay was nowhere near as popular in China as it is, or will be, in Japan. Without a proper excuse to explain the strange pigmentation his pupils displayed, people would assume he was not entirely human or on some new, highly illegal, drug. Both scenarios involved the police being alerted on the spot and entailed a very long time spent being interrogated, or tortured, by frightened officials.

Therefore, he was forced to wait until one of Akua's contacts, a Miao agent, sent him some lenses and enough money to last for a few more weeks. The plan was to stay put until a cargo freighter, captained by a Lizardman that owed the Miao a sizable amount of money, came back to Hong Kong and transported the trio to Tokyo, thus paying off the monster captain's debt through services rendered.

Akua must already have been a formidable asset to the Miao for them to be jumping through hoops like this. Of course, it would have been simpler to get a single person to the Japanese archipelago. Unfortunately, sneaking three vampires across airport customs was an almost impossible task, regardless of how much pull a monster crime syndicate had. That signified that they would be ferried by boat, surrounded by the vampire's worst enemy.

The younger monsters were a bit nervous about the idea of being locked away on a ship. If, by some stroke of bad luck, it took on water, that would be the end of them. Tsukune was a little less fearful of the eventuality of drowning. Mainly because he did not remember hearing of a Chinese freighter sinking of the coast of Japan in the year 2006.

June 23rd, 2006. Several newspapers that catered to English speakers working in the city were his primary source of information. His mastery of the English language was touchy at best, true. However, Moka had tutored him extensively in both mathematics and languages. Not all of it stuck, granted, but it was sufficient to get a grasp of the articles' intent. Besides, it was leagues better than staring dumbly at Chinese and asking Akua or Jasmine to translate every other word.

He looked at the date once more. If he subtracted the days he spent running around since he landed in that flower field back in countryside village, he went back exactly seven years.

It was still difficult to imagine that he had time traveled. For what purpose? Why did Akasha send him back? She was willing to sacrifice herself to end Alucard's threat. What made her change her mind? Did the process go wrong? Was there some trickery involved? Had the spell that sent him back been an accidental side effect of the magical blast?

The cause of his temporal misplacement did not truly matter, not anymore. He was given a second chance to make this right. A second chance to prevent Alucard from threatening the world again. A second chance to keep Moka from ever having to suffer the loss of her mother, and the subsequent agonizing years of solitary suffering. A second chance to halt all the bloodshed the war with Fairy Tale ended up costing.

His gaze went between contemplating the nighttime sky through the sole window in the dark, cramped, damp, and colorless safe house and the two sleeping children who were in his charge. He already changed the future by saving Jasmine's life. Without him there to temper her desire to go home, she would have left to try and make peace with the villagers. He knew all too well how that story would have ended, had ended in the future.

Reality was not yet ripped to shreds because of it. Odds were that a few more twists to the continuum would not destroy the world, either. Hence, all he required was an opening… an opportunity.

The two were on their way to the Shuzen household. Akua had already notified her father of her desire to come live with him by means of a third party liaison inside the crime syndicate that employed her, as well as elaborated on the recent events that led her to send out the unexpected request. As expected, Issa Shuzen consented instantaneously, or so the envoy relayed.

The messenger did have one more bit of information to bring to the trio's attention: Tsukune was cordially invited to continue to watch over Akua and Jasmine as he so diligently had up to this point.

That was precisely the sort of opportunity the boy yearned for.

Allowing him safe access into the vampire compound would undoubtedly put him face to face with the elder Shuzens. Among them, the pink haired, centuries old, monster who was responsible for the bending of Time.

Convincing them to listen to him might prove the most troublesome part. Rescuing the patriarch's daughter was only going to earn so much of a chance before he was kicked out for being insane, or murdered for attempting to play a cruel joke on the most influential vampire in the Eastern Hemisphere.

He remained undeterred in his self-imposed task. He would have the entirety of the trip to come up with a suitable argument.

In the meantime, there was still the small problem of surviving until he got there. Subsisting was difficult, especially with the newly acquired craving for blood that hounded him. His mind, if not focused, would wander back to the crimson liquid his parched throat cried out for.

How many times did he catch himself idly dreaming about assaulting a passerby in a dark alleyway and gorging himself on their life force? For all the advantages his nature granted him, the cost was beginning to weigh heavily on his mind.

He grabbed a plain grey hoodie, left the chair he occupied, and marched out of the safe house as he pulled on the concealing article of clothing.

With the new contacts in his eyes and the hood over his head, he made his way to the nearest store.

The shop was deserted, save for the lone employee behind the register and a guard at the front. The guard obviously appeared more than a little suspicious of the hooded individual, but let him through nonetheless. The small tip Tsukune left the guard was extremely helpful to easing a potentially awkward situation.

It was a high end clothing store in the middle of a busy hub of men and women in suits who scurried about at all hours of the day, and that included the very late, or very early, hour of the day Tsukune chose to visit. It was open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and specialized in suits and dresses that most high school students could not even phantom buying.

Luckily, the allowance the Shuzens sent was vast to say the least. It was meant to last them a few weeks if some unexpected delay was to upset the carefully laid schedule that was planned out. What the boy had trouble understanding was the difference between what he envisioned being an amount of money that lasted for a few weeks, and what they consider such a sum to be. A lot more opulent than what the ex-ghoul was used to.

He was not browsing the rows of suits and hats for himself, he owed Akua and Jasmine some new possessions after they were forced to flee to the city. He tried to rescue some of their belonging before the villagers burnt down the shack they lived in. He was not able to retrieve anything but the most essential of their possessions.

He bought replacements for most of what they lost, save for a black hat and matching coat he was currently trying to find for Akua. While he was at it, he could try and look for something a little more presentable for when he was to escort the children to their new home.

He flipped through the racks when something else peeked his interest. It was not the clothes, nor was it the store clerk who checked his phone every couple of seconds.

It was a sensation Tsukune felt tingle at the top of his spine. An uncomfortable tingle that warned him of impending danger. He could feel a creature of great power approaching, a monster that was not to be trifled with.

The boy reached out to identify the unwelcomed visitor. Whoever it was, they bore no ill intent towards him. Still, he felt he was the one it came to this store to find.

He did not turn his face from the rack, preferring to hide his face from the newcomer. The power was not foreign to the boy, he knew exactly who the monster that approached him was, and it chilled him to the bone that it had taken him so little time to find him.

"Alucard…" Tsukune mumbled under his breath.