Two days after he announced his choice of schools, Kurama found himself waiting in front of a buss stop with the two suitcases in his arms. Luckily, the day for pickup was one when both his family were either too busy with work or already attending school, so he was alone as he had hoped.
He didn’t want any humans around when the bus for the academy came to pick him up.
Founded by some of the more liberal demons in the human world many years ago, the Youkai Academies taught demons how to blend in with the human world. Unfortunately, that was all they taught. Getting along with humans and adapting to their way of life wasn’t really a requirement to getting a diploma, just the ability to camouflage oneself as a human. Still, the degree they gave did count in the human world.
After years of having to hide his true self, Kurama needed something to help ease the pressures of a normal human life. By the time he was done, Kurama would have at least made enough contacts in the secret demon community that that lived in the human world he wouldn’t need to act human all the time. It was the only way his family would be able to have a peaceful life, yet allow Kurama a way to balance the side of his nature that needed an outlet.
The irony of the whole thing was that despite this was a school for demons, he was lying to them about his true nature as well. Although pretty much everyone at the Black Tournament had died, and the Demon Tournament participants were all on the other side of the barrier with a few possible exceptions, Kurama’s name alone was enough to attract trouble. So he was simply Shuichi Minamino, a 15 year old demon. Even if someone recognized him, Kurama could pass it off as an attempted imitation of a Black Tournament participant of whom he happened to be the same race as.
After setting his things down, Kurama took a seat on a nearby bench to wait for the bus that was supposed to take him to his final destination. There were still a few minutes left until the thing was due, but waiting wasn’t a problem for him… unlike most of the other people that ran in his particular crowd.
He would just need to wait by himself for awhile.
However, the idea that he would be the only person coming to this specific stop was proven wrong when another boy that looked the same age as Kurama seemed to be came running up the sidewalk. The large suitcase he was dragging behind him and the uniform he had on told Kurama they were both going to the same place, for the same reasons.
Unlike Kurama, he had no spiritual aura. In other words: he was a normal human, or a demon that was very good at hiding his powers. Considering this school was supposed to be for demons around their teenage years, there was no way this boy was a demon. The scent he was giving off was Kurama‘s second clue, demons didn’t sweat as much under such light loads, or stink as bad.
“Excuse me,” Kurama said as the boy looked over to the kid and gave him a disarming smile. “It looks like we’re going to the same school.”
Had there been some kind of mix up?
The boy could simply be at the wrong bus stop… No, he was wearing the same school uniform as Kurama. The school sent them ahead of time a to make sure the students molded their disguises to fit perfectly before school even began.
Was the school also accepting humans? Kurama hadn’t read that in the information but… No, if that were the case, there would be more than one of them trying to enter.
He wasn’t spiritually aware either, Kurama could tell that much just by looking at him.
The boy in question raised his hand in greeting. “Hey there, I’m-”
The only plausible explanation Kurama could think of was that the boy in front of him had either been mistakenly admitted to this school, or they were brining him in for some other purpose. A good many demons ate humans after all. They provided a boost to a demon’s yoki as long as the demon could find enough to eat, which wasn’t really a problem in this world.
Kurama quickly cut him off. He really wasn‘t interested in making small talk, just getting within arms reach of the human. “Oh, here’s the bus.”
With the redhead pointing to the bus, the human boy turned around to look. “Hmm, looks a little worn down,” he mumbled to himself. Although he supposed he couldn’t be too picky, this was the only school around that didn’t require passing grades on entrance exams.
For a moment Tsukune wondered just what kind of school would accept him…
“Judo chop!”
… and then quickly fell to the ground and into unconsciousness.
After knocking the kid out, Kurama threw his body and bags behind a conveniently placed bush that he grew behind the sidewalk a few seconds before the bus came to the stop. With the kid out of the way and disposed of, Kurama headed into the bus.
One look told him the bus driver wasn’t normal, not even to the naked eye. His appearance was mostly human, good uniform, passable skin, believable mustache, and a cigar rounded out the disguise; although Kurama had to frown at the thought of someone smoking on what was supposed to be a high school bus. Still, anyone who looked at his face could tell his wasn’t human by the bright glowing eyes.
“Just one?” the driver asked.
It took him a second to come up with three quick cover stories that would explain the whole thing. One of which made sure he wouldn’t be waiting around.
“I ate the other one,” Kurama said before he took a seat behind the driver. “It was a human. You people really need to check up on these things before you send the transportation.”
“Oh, uh, very good then,” the bus driver replied before closing the door. “It happens from time to time with these human world pickups.”
He noticed a slight reaction to the last statement and frowned. Had they been expecting a human to be enrolled? Did they believe Kurama himself was a human? He hadn’t been requested to fill out his species on the entrance form. Attracting food to the school maybe, Kurama asked himself as the bus started down the street and towards an extremely dark tunnel.
Then why only one?
Well, it didn’t matter. The academy was unreachable to anyone who couldn’t break through its barrier. Humans couldn’t even see it. If the boy tried looking into it, he’d just come up with a dead end.
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(Posted Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:15)
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