The last day of break approached after a spell of uninterrupted peace. Tomorrow youkai academy would once again flood with idle chatter, the bells would boom across the campus early in the morning, sleepy eyed students would sulk into class and everything would resume as if the past two weeks were only a pause to the year.

"The others will be back tomorrow." Tsukune said.

Moka chirped in, "I guess we'll all be going to class together again won't we?"

"Yeah," he replied slowly. He had made no mention of it to Moka, but for the last several days Tsukune pondered what would happen when the rest of his girls returned. A number of scenarios came to mind. In one Kurumu had actual succeeded in suffocating him in her chest. In another, he had revealed his engagement to Moka and Mizore chocked to death on her lollipop. Just last night he had dreamt that the others would walk in on a kiss between himself and Moka – the world blew up immediately afterward.

He turned to Moka. "Moka-chan, I've been thinking it over, and how are we going to tell everyone we're together? No matter how I play it out it seems to end badly." Tsukune paused, "No, horribly, it seems to end horribly. Catastrophic even."

Moka thought for a moment. "I guess I hadn't thought about it, I've been enjoying our time together and never stopped to consider how it would fit into our day-to-day lives. But," she jumped on his lap and kissed his cheek, "I guess I could tell them you're mine."

"I don't think we should tell them so bluntly." He replied

"We don't have to tell them at all, we could just act all lovey-dovey in front of them."

"Definitely not." Tsukune glanced over. "You look a little disappointed."

She giggled. "I am a little. I've spent about two years trying to win your heart over them, so I'm a little excited to tell them honestly."

Tsukune laughed, his partner's words had sounded quite uncharacteristic. Normally so sweet, it was hard to imagine Moka rubbing the other girls noses in it. It was nonetheless pleasant to see that she wanted to flaunt their relationship. Inner Moka's voice sounded from the rosario, "I think Tsukune's just worried the girls will get unruly. How about telling them with my rosario removed?"

"No way! That'll end in broken bones!"

"Just theirs." The cross chimed back.

"Moka-chan!"

"Tsukune, you can't expect to control this situation. I've stolen your heart and they have to accept it, but no woman would accept this sitting down."

"But I don't want everyone to fight!"

The pink haired Moka interrupted. "Tsukune, I think my other self is right. If the situation were reversed I don't think I could just sit idly by and see you with another woman."

A heavy sigh followed by silence. It was a harsh reality, but she was probably right, he thought. It was not an alien idea, after all every guy in the school would through knock their mother down for a chance to be with Moka, so he could empathize.

"Alright," he answered finally, "tomorrow we'll remove your seal and walk down so we can tell them, but follow my lead; I want to let them down easy."

The next morning rolled around quickly. The cold over the academy had subsided slightly as if to allow ease of access to the drove of students surging back onto the campus. Some, who lived near by, strolled in briskly, others biked, and those who lived too far from an access point were shipped by bus. All around students were greeting, arguing, and speaking of their time off and sweeping a sense of unrest to the place which had been silent just hours ago.

"I don't see the girls yet." Tsukune said, "You think they're on one of the last busses?"

"Moka shrugged. "My guess is that they waited up at the bus stop so they could walk in together."

Sure enough an excited cry fell on their ears, and, peering in the direction of its origin, they saw Yukari jump a good foot into the air shouting their names gleefully. She turned back and cried a ways into the woods, "Mizore, Kurumu, I found them." A trample of footsteps came forward and the remaining duo emerged from betwixt a set of trees.

Moka and Tsukune returned a wave to Mizore, and in the time necessary to do so Kurumu, having foregone the gesture and rushing toward Tsukune at full clip, closed a good three quarters of the gap between them. She leaped vigorously toward her male friend only to bounce off Moka's outstretched brick wall of a palm.

"Moka! What the hell?" the Succubus barked. "What was that for?"

"That, Kurumu, was for behaving in an overly friendly manner with my mate."

"Well that doesn't give you the right to…" There was a pause as Kurumu shifted from an aggravated tone to a full bellow. "Mate! Don't call my destined one that, and you accuse me of being overly friendly! Just look at how you've upset poor Tsukune!"

Upset just failed to describe his face; his head rested on his palm seemed to be the only thing holding up his traumatized expression as his lips quivered with the words "That - was - not subtle."

The other girls rejoined the rest of the group. "What's going on?" Mizore inquired, "Why does Tsukune look like he just ate rotten meat?"

Kurumu started up again, "Moka claimed to be Tsukune's mate and got him all worked up. See, now his nose is bleeding."

Exasperated, the vampire sighed. "I simple spoke the truth; this," without missing a beat she slapped him on the butt, "is my mate.

Tsukune fainted.

Yukari, noting the mounting tension between Moka and Kurumu, began to shake Tsukune frantically in an effort to review him. When this failed she struck him in the cheek. "Wake up, they're gonna kill each other!"

"I could freeze him," Mizore suggested in a deceptively serious tone. Tsukune hopped to his feet with impressive coordination, threw up his hands and proclaimed that he was alright. The timing fit perfectly; he was just in time to intercept a threatening advance by Kurumu.

The blue haired girl leaped half way over Tsukune's shoulder and began to shout frantically. "Don't treat my destined one like he's your property you little,"

Fortunately, Tsukune interjected. "Kurumu!" he spoke sternly, "Leave my destined one alone!"

Mizore's lollipop fell from her mouth. "Did Tsukune just declare Moka his choice?" she whispered lowly.

Yukari answered, "Did he just refer to her as his destined one in front of Kurumu, that's just…"

"Brutal." Mizore finished. The term seemed right on target, the wall of tears that seemed all at once fill Kurumu's eyes came like a surge of pressure to an already collapsing flood gate.

"Tsukune?" she muttered softly.

Glancing about so as to address everyone at once Tsukune reaffirmed himself. "What Moka has said is true, we are mates."

Nobody spoke. Moka gave a small, but deeply satisfied smile, Mizore hung her mouth agape, Yukari stared on in disbelief, and Tsukune maintained his assertive glare,

Kurumu's eyes glimmered for a moment longer before tightening into an intermingling of anguish and frustration which forced the tears down her face. In a cold tone that could not mask her feelings completely, she spoke. "That sudden profession of your love, I thought it was strange for you to say anything so confident. Your eyes, they're blood red. I thought it was just your forceful words exerting that feeling at first, but you - she…"

She shot daggers at Moka, tears still running profusely down her cheek. With a shriek she advanced on again only to struggle uselessly in Tsukune's arms when he intercepted her once more. She surrendered, went limp, and a moment later wrenched herself away.

She cast one final look at Moka before she ran away. The silver haired girl marked the expression with interest, a little remorse, and sadly enough, a tingle of pity, for it was the first time she had seen true hatred in her friend's eyes. She turned to survey the faces of the others, and was satisfied to see expressions of silent confusion, to which she responded, "We'll explain everything in time."

"What happened?" asked a new voice that turned out to belong to Ruby. "Kurumu nearly knocked me over on my way her, she was crying her eyes out."

"She took the news about Moka and I rather hard." Tsukune replied.

Ruby frowned, "I see, how sad. It's unfortunate, though, that this had to happen now because the headmaster sent me to retrieve her along with Yukari and Mizore. He wants to brief them on what happened while they were gone."

"What has happened since we were gone?" Mizore asked. "Apparently it's been pretty drastic." Her eye flashed for a second in Tsukune's direction.

"Um, why don't you two go see the headmaster while I see if I can collect Kurumu?" Ruby suggested. The girls obliged with hesitant glances and walked away.

"Oh," Ruby turned to Moka and Tsukune, "I almost forgot; the headmaster also has orders for you two to see Katahito in chemistry lab number four. He said explicitly that this should be the next thing on both your agendas, so hurry along."

A downcast looking Kurumu walked into the office; eyes to the floor, the only thing keeping her on course was Ruby's guidance. Wordlessly, she plopped into a seat between the other two girls.

"Glad you could all make it here so promptly." the headmaster began with a grin. "You must know by now that a lot has happened in your absence, as my sources tell me you've already gotten back in touch with Ms. Akashiya and Mr. Aono."

"You mean Mister and Miss Aono?" Kurumu asked sharply. The headmaster simply grinned as usual.

"Well, that's certainly the best place to start. You see, even before the break started Moka and Tsukune were romantically entangled, and they have been so ever since he first recovered from the initial attack by the dream demon working under the command of Fairy Tale."

"So they were trying to assassinate Tsukune." Yukari observed.

"So it would seem, and given the past obstacles he and the rest of you have presented their organization, it's unsurprising to say the least - I recommend you all stay on your toes. You all should be happy, however, to hear that, with the assistance of an acquaintance of mine, Moka and Tsukune have managed to kill the somnequam."

All the girls, even Kurumu, perked up a bit at this. The enthusiasm was short lived however, as the headmaster offered another gloomy forecast. "Of course, this doesn't mean that any of you are secure by any means, but, for now, at least one threat has been dealt with."

Kurumu spoke again. "The confrontation with the dream demon, is that why Tsukune became a vampire? Was he injured severely and given too much vampire's blood?"

"No, Mr. Aono was not injured. In fact they dealt with the demon quite easily once they confronted it outside their dreams. Part of the reason he was transformed may have been to offer him a means of fighting back, but if I had to guess I'd say he did it to so that he could commit to Ms. Akashiya, a relationship between mortals and immortals doesn't look so great on paper or in practice after all. But, whatever the case, I can assure you he chose this fate of his own free will, and you should take solace in that fact."

"I see." Kurumu answered. She felt that he had a point, it was better for Tsukune's sake that something so dramatic was not force upon him, but she could not help but selfishly wish that he had not made that decision on his own.

"Anyway," proceeded the robed figure from his desk, "I thought I should fill you in on the basics and caution you to keep your eyes open and your ears to the floor in case of another strike, and I'm sure you're friends can fill you in on any specific details you wish to learn of." And at that the group was dismissed to go about their business.

Tsukune opened the door to the chemistry lab and entered ahead of Moka, who had once again donned her Rosario and sealed her more bold self, only to find the room pitch dark. "Katahito?" they called into the room.

"In the back!" came an echoing voice.

The two moved toward the backroom, which was generally reserved for students with impeccable marks who were on the advanced science track. The lights were on and they proceeded straight in.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" Tsukune asked, reeling.

"What do you mea - oh!" Moka pulled her shirt over her nose. "That's so, so putrid!"

Katahito stepped away from the table at which he had previously been occupied with a scalpel and several other silvery instruments. "Sorry, I tried to keep it fresh, but you can only work on organs so long without the proper equipment before…" He trailed off with a shrug. "On the up side you get used to it after a few hours."

Moka groaned with disgust, and Tsukune turned a sickly shade as he peered at what he guessed was a rather beaten heart, or at least the remains of one, pinned to a dissection pad by a number of pernicious looking needles. "Hehehe," Katahito laughed knowingly, "Care to continue this discussion in the other room?"

Moka and Tsukune turned on their heels and marched promptly out the door in pursuit of fresh air.

Katahito searched the dark wall for a light switch, punctuating his eventual discover with an "Ah!" He walked back over to the pair, taking a seat on a counter opposite them. "So, I'm guessing you two want to get strait to the heart of the matter, yes?"

"Please don't mention hearts." Tsukune responded queasily.

"Right," he continued, "well the reason I sent for you was to keep you posted on some of the curious details about that demon you fought.

"Curious how?" Moka questioned.

Katahito looked to the upper right as he recalled all the details, and then spoke, fixing his gaze back at them. "Well, you remember that I sent the two of you ahead of me on the night in question? The reason for that was so that I could conduct a deeper field investigation. As a matter of fact, my autopsy project actually began up in those mountains; it wasn't until I discovered an unsettling fact that I decided the situation warranted bringing the body back here and conducting further research. But I'm getting sidetracked, you see While the two of you fought I observed some abnormal characteristics in your enemy. The first was the form it chose to take, it was roughly the same size as the two of you, and it remained in s fixed human-like form. Somnequam typical exhibit the potential to expand their body's up to four time the size possible of their visual mass, and moreover they almost never fight in such an orthodox condition because they have rather limited offensive ability in the waking world. Typically this sort of enemy will compensate by adapting to a more fluid form.

The second thing I noticed was the limited regenerative capacities it exhibited. Did you notice that when it re-emerged from beneath the ice it hadn't recovered from any of the damage to its body? Shadow based monster tend to heal quickly, but this one couldn't.

I postulated at a possible cause for these two problems. The fact that he could not expand his body told me that part of his body wasn't meant to expand, and because it is the flow of blood that governs the recovery power of most demons, it seemed only logical that the problem on both counts lie in the circulatory system."

"I think you're getting a little sidetracked again." said Tsukune.

Katahito glared. "Not really, all this information is necessary to understand what we're up against. Oh, and please don't interrupt me again Aono, I take my work very seriously.

Anyway, when I cut the thing open I discovered that my theory was correct, the somnequam did not have a normal circulatory system; it had a human heart and almost all of its veins and arteries were from a human as well."

"What the hell!" Moka and Tsukune exclaimed, both changing hue in the cheeks again. "How is something like that possible?"

"That's the part that troubles me the most." Katahito replied. "A creature like this, called an Amalgamation, can only be made by sacrificing a living humans and demons. By doing so the creator, a youkai known as an alchemist can create a new, more powerful creature in which either the soul of the human or the demon may be dominant."

"What a scary thought." Moka whispered.

"Exactly. What's worse is this means that Fairy Tale may be able to gain the assistance of members of any race, even those which refuse to cooperate with them, simply by creating that species through alchemy. For example, the somnequam are nearly extinct, it's no wonder they had to create one to target you. But, there is a bright side."

"Such as?"

"Well, just look at the result; for a dream demon I'd say that thing was pretty incompetent, and far too easy to take down. The work of a complete novice. If that's the best they can do then it seems Fairy Tale doesn't have access to a skilled alchemist at this point, so we aren't in as much danger as we could have been."

"So, why are you telling us this?" Tsukune asked.

"I think it's important that you know what you're up against now that that enemy is targeting you specifically. Plus there are going to be times when you two are on your own, and in light of this fact its crucial that you know everything you can to assess the situation. But, for now, that's all I've got, I'll get back to you with more in a few days. You two should head off and get back to you studies."

Later into the evening Moka and Tsukune returned to the dorms. As it got later the weather had gotten less and less merciful and it seemed wise to retire for the next days classes. By habit they both moved toward the girls dorm, but Moka stopped midway up the path.

"Tsukune," she started, "it's probably time for you to go back to the boys dorm, isn't it?"

He felt his heart sink. Living with Moka had benefits that he would sorely miss, but, then, the attention it would draw from their classmates was an unwelcome drawback. "I suppose you're right." he replied "After all it would only create a mess if the other student caught wind of our coed arrangements, but it's something I'l miss quite a lot."

Moka smiled, "I'll miss it too, but it's too much to work with now that school is back in session." She gave a thoughtful pause. "And I'd hate to upset Kurumu anymore than I already have.

Tsukune felt his heart take a second dive. That was a prospect that had passed from his mind, and thinking about it reminded him just how distraught their friend had been before storming off.

"I wish my other self would have eased into it a bit more." She continued.

"Let's not worry about it for now, maybe we can try to mend things tomorrow."

"Yeah." was her weak reply.

Tsukune paid one final visit to Moka's room so as to round up his belongings, and, with a kiss, they parted ways until the dawn. He followed the now familiar path around the corner to the stairs only to stop dead in his tracks.

"Kurumu-san." He said with a feeling of guilt as he looked at the downcast girl who still hesitated to look up at the world. Moving closure she lifted her chin and looked up at him squarely.

She paused with a blank expression for a moment, then spoke. "I liked you old eyes better." And then she walked away into the unforgiving night.