The wind was cold on Tsukune's skin. The night was filled with a waning full moon, its shadows dancing across the snow. It was a day past its greatest strength, a day past its fullest beauty. Thoughts ran wild through the young shinso's mind. Thoughts of his wife and her trial. Thoughts of his plans. Thoughts of his friends. Thoughts of Akasha.

That last topic was taking up more of his mind than he liked. He kept thinking back to that night, how easily he had let his mind leave Moka. That night was the reason he was able to forgive Gin, even how he let Moka go. It was easy to let go once you let yourself forget. The conversation he had with Akasha after saving Moka's life flashed back to him now;

"Tsukune, what is it you plan to do on the morrow?" Akasha was covered by naught by a heavy sheet. She draper her arm over her new lover and pulled tight against him.

"I plan to do what is right, for both Moka and myself. I plan to ask for my bond to be absolved."

Akasha drew a sharp breath. "Are you certain this is wise? It may do more harm than good."

Tsukune rolled on his side to look her in the eye. "This is not the daughter you raised, nor the one I fell in love with, anymore. I don't know if they are still actually in there. This may not be the easiest, or necessarily the smartest course. It is, however, the right one. Moka needs to have an unbiased experience in the world. The knowledge that our bond is still between us may cause more harm than good. Even if she refuses to allow our bond to be absolved, I need it suspeneded."

"It's because of the other girls, your friends, isn't it?" Her emerald eyes flashed in the darkness of the room, they blurred the edge of caring and danger.

"I know you love your daughter Akasha. But there are others I must help for now. I have the chance to fix lives that would otherwise not be fulfilled."

"What about the Succubus?"

"Kurumu? If she will have me, I will become her destined one."

Akasha's eyes burned as he said these words. She sat up in bed suddenly, no longer able to hold his gaze. "You would forsake my daughter to do the same things she did to you?"

"This coming from the woman who slept with her daughter's husband. Twice. After the worst had been done."

"How dare you judge me." She spun and whipped her arm around, intending to slap him. The hit never connected. Tsukune caught it and pulled her close with it.

"I still love your daughter, Akasha Bloodriver, however, why can't she find another that she loves as well. Someone who will make her as happy as I did." In that moment, the Queen of Vampires was no longer on her pedestal. She could feel it. This young boy had cornered her. Had moved steadily forward with things and completely disarmed her with a simple statement. He didn't intend to hurt her daughter, but to give her another chance at life.

"Why did you choose the seventh trial?"

"It was the only one that allowed me, arguably the person who knows her best, to judge how she changes alone. At the end of the year, regardless of what happens, Moka will come out of this unharmed, save for what she does to herself. She is in control of her own fate now. However, if she finds happiness elsewhere, I will not be the one to stop her."

"Why then, did you sleep with me?"

"I would be lying if I said it wasn't to find a distraction," Akasha started to look hurt, "at first. I came back to you because I want something more."

"Who says you can have this?" She smiled slyly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the one screaming, 'Take me Tsukune, take me!'" He smiled a toothy grin as she grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. He fell over, in mock wound, making her laugh. It sounded like an angel to him. Though, one different from either-any now- side of his wife.

The thought stopped as he heard sounds of a nearby village. He could see a soft glow coming over one of the ridges of snow. He knew Mizore sat somewhere there. Right now, he wanted her; for now, simply as an old friend.

A friend whom he believed could help him.