To start things off, yes I am alive, and I cannot begin to say how sorry I am to everyone. The fact that this chapter has taken THIS long to write and post is nothing short of appalling. Quite a bit has happened in the last eighteen months, including my hard drive getting completely wiped out not once but three times and forcing me to restart this entire chapter from scratch, on top of re-creating all the business related files that were destroyed at the same time. Sorry but having to recreate so much data takes a lot of time, which I had to manage on top of all of the new work that was being piled on as I rushed to meet certain deadlines. This story took a backseat during all of that insanity.

It was only a short while ago that I truly had my first chance to get back to writing. At least, my first chance in several months since the last time my hard-drive got wiped. In order to make a better attempt at re-creating the chapter for the fourth time, I re-read the story up until now. It had been more than a year since I last read it. I did not like what I saw.

The story was rushed, details were managed in a mediocre manner, mistakes were made, and loads of exposition was shoe-horned in at inopportune moments. There were a lot of things that I did wrong. Among them were the sins of giving too much information on some things too soon, and giving that information in a bad way. I saw a lot of potential go to waste in those seven chapters. Once again I am my own harshest critic, and the review I have given myself leaves little option but to scrap it and start fresh. Unfortunately, I have another problem. Namely, the problem of my motivation.

It is undoubtedly true that I write primarily because I enjoy it. That was why I started writing this. Unfortunately, something happened along the way. Maybe it was frustration after having to completely remake a chapter twice, only to have it get deleted a THIRD time. Maybe it was the loss of momentum caused by a solid eighteen month hiatus, but my muse, as fickle a bitch as there ever was, refuses to see reason in regards to this story. The ideas don't flow so well any more.

It's selfish and horrible, but after so long a wait I will not be continuing this story. I apologize. The only thing I can do is to give the details of what plot I had already worked out at the time, and allow your imaginations to take care of the rest.

My plan was, in chapter eight, for Tsukune to accept Moka's apology and rescind his claim that the Bond should be broken. However, it would be made clear in private that Tsukune would want nothing to do with her for quite some time, and that they would be Mates in name only. He would do his best to make Mizore and Kurumu happy, and Moka would be the one to assist him in doing so by helping him get the permission to do so. Moka believed that if she did this, Tsukune would accept her back one day.

Ria meanwhile would be doing what she could to sabotage the newly repaired relationship between the two. Her immediate plan being to leak security details of the party to a group of individuals who would attack the party, killing several vampires and disrupt the entire thing. This would be done to prevent Tsukune's entrance to proper Vampire society, save him from doing something that would forever close to him the door of living like a human being. And she would make sure that Tsukune knew who was behind the incident and know who helped him retain his humanity. Needless to say the attack itself wouldn't really go anywhere after the initial shock wore off.

Tsukune would travel to the Yuki-onna village with the intent to find Mizore and return her affection after five years of essentially cutting her out of his life. He would find Tsurara and ask to see Mizore, well aware of the possibility that Mizore would already be a married woman and that what he hoped for might be impossible. What he would hear from Tsurara would be both good and bad news. The good news that Mizore was not married, the bad news that she had fled the village with no intention of ever returning. She escaped her marriage vows by apparently being rendered sterile due to an illness and used that to get out of being married off to a stranger. The reality, known only to Tsurara and learned by her only after Mizore left was that Mizore intentionally poisoned herself with the intention of sterilizing herself. Her belief being that if she could not have Tsukune's children then she would bear no children at all. After being shamed in the eyes of her society by virtue of being sterile, she left the village with no intention to return. The real reason she left being that if it became known what she had done to herself that she would be facing criminal charges rather than a bit of social stigma. Tsukune would set out to find her and that was about as far as I had gotten with the idea before all of this nonsense happened.

In regards to Kokoa's backstory and the reason for Issa's hatred, the reason lies in Shuzen Gyokuro, Kokoa's mother. Akashiya Issa had three different women bear him children. Ria's mother was the first, Gyokuro was the second which explains Kahlua and Akasha bore Moka. It was then that Kokoa was born, Kahlua's sister. During a period of disagreement between Issa and Akasha, Gyokuro, who hated Akasha for stealing Issa away from her and wanted Issa to be hers alone, took the opportunity to seduce him. She succeeded. Naturally, she did so with the intention of becoming pregnant and succeeded at that also. This child was Kokoa. With news that he had sired a child with a woman other than her, Akasha broke the bond between herself and Issa almost immediately. Gyokuro got her wish. Unfortunately, while the bond with Akasha was broken, Issa refused to take Gyokuro back into his life. She left Kokoa with him and left, making it clear that he was always welcome with her. To Issa, Kokoa was the child he never wanted, and a living reminder of what he considers one of his greatest mistakes. Hence why he all but despises her and makes it clear that she is not the equal of her sisters and never will be. This is also one of the reasons that Issa reacted as harshly to Moka's transgressions as he did. He saw her making the same mistake he made with Akasha and Gyokuro.

That's about all I had planned. There are plenty of details of course, world details that I would have put to proper use later in the story, but that's all rather beside the point now. I can only hope that all of this exposition has helped ease the feelings of betrayal that I have no doubt caused by all of this. Once again I give my most sincere apologies that things will end this way and I can only hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I am a slave to my muse, I can only follow blindly wherever she may lead me, and she leads me elsewhere. I only hope that you are still with me when she drags me to her next destination.