As the limo returned her to castle Akashiya with her new slave Ria thought again about her good luck.

Flashback

Ria entered her father’s study to inform him of an important matter concerning their family business. As she entered he was reading a letter.

“Troubling,” the elder vampire muttered.

“Is something wrong Lord Akashiya?” Though he was her father she always addressed him as such.

Nodding to her as he waved the letter about in his hand. “My fellow Hades Lord informs me one of the nine Demon Lords will be arriving at Youkai soon.”

One of her coal black eyebrows jumped. “A Demon Lord? A ruler of one of the Hell dimensions?” Demons were not considered true monsters. Monsters were creatures born on and belonging to the earth. Demons were not native to the earth at all, but came from other dimensions. They could be weak or strong, but their rulers, their Lords, had awesome power. “Why would such a being attend a school?”

Lord Akashiya sighed. “It’s complicated.” He gave her a rough idea of the circumstances.

“A human containing a Demon Lord? Oh me, oh my I did not know such a thing was possible.”

“It would not be possible for an ordinary human,” Lord Akashiya confirmed. “Ninja are border beings similar to witches. One of their master spell casters was able to trap the Demon Lord Kyuubi into one. That individual has access to the Kyuubi’s power, but lacks full mastery of it.”

“Oh me, oh my I would say so if he accidentally annihilated an entire village. Still,” her voice heartened a bit as her interest rose. “Possessing that sort of power even with imperfect control is a… frightening proposition.”

Lord Akashiya nodded. “Just so, which is why I offered to send you to the academy to act as his instructor in mastering that power, and as his watchdog. The Chairman has declined my offer, he insists that there is no danger of the seal unraveling and wants him to be treated as an ordinary student. I am… concerned, but I will trust eh Chairman’s judgment in this matter.” Her father momentarily took on a faraway look. “I just hope Moka will be safe, that’s all.”

Typical! His main thought would be about her! Ria had to keep from snarling. Her immediate wish was that this container’s seal would unravel and that the demon lord would make a meal of the student body there. Especially Moka! But if the Chairman felt it was safe she doubted there was any chance of that happening.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ria laughed at her amazing good fortune at finding a girl with an item like the Lilith Mirror who hadn’t even known what she’d been holding! No one could possibly know or even guess that she’d had access to it. Which meant that when the demon Kyuubi went on a rampage she would be totally innocent in her father’s eyes.

I wonder what Moka will taste like? Like chicken I suppose.

The servants who welcomed her back looked startled at her sudden gales of laughter.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Next Morning

“A mirror?” Naruto said to himself. “Who would send me a mirror?”

Curious he held it up and looked into it. He saw his own face smiling back. He was going to meet Kurumu again; this was going to be a fun day.

And as he looked into the mirror he saw the left half of his face begin to change…

Without warning he found himself inside his own mind. In a dank and filthy sewer. He’d visited this place many times. The last when he had asked for the power to destroy Sasuke and avenge Sakura.

As always he was standing before a set of iron bars with a single paper seal. Behind the bars a pair of monstrous fox like eyes opened and long set of sharpened canines appeared. And as he stood there watching the paper seal simply fell away and fluttered down into the sewer water. A single claw reached out and threw open the iron gate.

“Free!” The Kyuubi’s voice mocked.

XXXXXXXXXX

As quickly as he had gone he came back. He was in his room staring at the mirror he was holding. The right side of the face he saw was still his. The left side was a grinning fox with red fur and a murderous look in its single slanted eye. Inside himself he could feel the fox stirring and coming awake. He didn’t know what had happened, but he did know that the fox’s mind and personality were trying to take him over. He also knew that he would not be able to hold out long. No matter how he fought against it he could sense the fox trying to overwhelm him.

The mirror fell to the floor with a clatter. His right hand grabbed a kunai and he tried to stab himself in the throat. It was the only way… the only way to protect Kurumu and the others. But his left hand which was now a claw covered in red fur grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

Try as he might he could not kill himself.

I won’t let Kurumu be hurt! No matter what! He’d seen one girl he cared for die; he wouldn’t let it happen again. He couldn’t hold out for very long. If he couldn’t kill himself there was only one other thing he could do to protect the people here.

Outside the dorm were bike racks where people kept their bikes. He managed to keep enough control over his body to tear the chain from one and head as past as he could down the main road towards a tunnel. Among the other things Kuyou had shown him was the simple incantation needed to turn a tunnel into a dimensional gateway. He hadn’t used it yet and didn’t know how to control where the gate would take him, but as long as it was far away from Youkai and Kurumu that would be enough.

Quickly using the spell he pedaled into the tunnel and was engulfed in bizarre and flashing lights. He huffed and pumped his legs as hard as he could, he could sense a mounting desire for blood starting to consume him. Images of buildings being crushed beneath his paws and of humans running from him in terror flashed through his mind. He could taste the scent of ashes mixed with human terror and felt his heart beat rising and his appetite sharpening. Bit by bit his humanity was being stripped away.

At last, mercifully, the end of the tunnel approached. He prayed that where ever he was he was a long way from Youkai. As he exited the tunnel he was thrown into the real world again. He was startled to see he was on a huge paved highway with metal machines like the ‘bus’ only these were much small and seemed to only carry one or a handful of people at a time. On all sides were buildings that dwarfed event the Hokage Tower. Seemingly made of glass and metal they stretched up into the sky. There were green and white signs over the road and he made out the word, ‘Tokyo.’ He had no idea where this ‘Tokyo’ was, but it was obvious he’d arrived in a huge city.

He tried to turn around and go back in the tunnel, but the bike tipped over and fell. His whole body began to shake as he lost control of it. His human side was drowning, and after a last desperate thrashing was gone.

XXXXXXXXXX

A couple cars came to a screeching halt at what looked like an accident with a bike. A man was just starting to roll down his window when the biker jumped to his feet and let loose a monstrous howl. The poor man had a clear view and saw that it wasn’t a person at all but some kind or real life monster. As he watched a sickly red mass started to flow out and surround the creature.

That was all the motorist saw before slamming down the accelerator and racing away as fast as he could. In the rear view mirror he saw something begin to grow. He was already on his cell phone calling the police about the ‘monster on the highway.’ His was the first call but it would not be the last.

XXXXXXXXXX

In his office the Chairman had a television with satellite access to all the world’s available broadcasts. He watched grimly the image of a gigantic fox with eight tails and without skin or fur destroying city of Tokyo. He couldn’t help but be reminded of the old cheesy Godzilla movies where Tokyo always got smashed. Indeed the only things missing were the little toy tanks and jets trying to shoot at it.

But this was no cheesy movie production as the terrified voices of the news crews made clear. This was actually happening, and these images were going out to the entire world. From this day on everyone would believe in monsters.

For a man who had believed in coexistence and dreamed of a day when humans and monsters might truly live together in peace this was the worst possible outcome.