Weeks passed without any mention to the subject or any visible alteration on their behaviours. Internally, however, the conflicts did not cease. Behind the apathy expression that he always had, there was a deep concentration, and a thorough observation of his own feelings. Rima was impatient, she longed for Shiki, wanted to be able to kiss him like she was to call his name. But she preferred to be killed by his own hands, than to remind him of what he certainly already knew. She was sure he had felt all her feelings on her blood, in a way that she could never explain with words. And he liked it, she knew. She watched him closely while he was savouring her blood. She saw the pleasure face he had, in a way that could not be just feeding. He liked the taste of her blood and what it carried. She ruffled at the memory of his lips on her skin, and smiled to herself as she remembered his closed eyes. Warmth gain her body when she revived her favourite moment, the one that he showed he wanted more.

It was time-out in the nightly class. Rima was seated at the teacher's desk, distracted nibbling a strawberry pocky, while leafing through a book of poems. Shiki stopped when passing in front of the door, and rested on the anvil.

The angle where he was, allowed him to see the skin stretched over the vertebrae of her neck, and also the lobe of her ear. The quiet boy mentally traced two perpendiculars out of those points. He felt his heart tighten and relax. It was there, exactly there.

Shiki silent crossed the room, moved his hands around her waist and sunk his fangs on her neck. A mixture of surprise, pain and pleasure took Rima. The sharp fangs were lacerating her muscle. He chose the most painful spot to bite. With the senses knocked out, she surrendered to a new kind of ecstasy, to the sound of her blood trickling down Shiki's throat. And barely noticed when she sighed: "Senri."

That name. His name. He felt a wave of happiness when Rima's voice pronounced it. How could he take so long to decide? He felt something moving inside him when she first said that name, but it needed weeks for him to be sure about everything. It was only when he understood how much perfect was that voice saying his name, that he understood that the choice was already made.

Since that night his vampire blood stirring as he saw her. He wanted to feel that taste once more, and while his mouth was filled with her blood, he realized it seemed even more flavoured. The softness of the skin under his fangs, the strong smell, the feelings diluted, was blunting his mind with a numbing pleasure, and he could not notice when she fainted in his embrace.

He wouldn't have thought of doing anything about his feelings if she did not had ended the lull…

"Shiki!" Kain's distance voice called.

But she did, and it made him realize that his feeling for her was bigger than anything. Then he decided…

"Shiki!" This time he looked up, with non-focused eyes, like he was in a dream.

"That's enough, she is very weak."

Then he realized the dead weight on his arms and froze. He gently laid her on the table, watching her with a guilty air. Of such great need of her, he had harmed his beloved one. Shiki shook his head to clear his mind and whispered: "Do you forgive me?"

"She will need some blood when she wakes up." Kain commented approaching.

Shiki send him a warning glance. He laughed and withdrew:

"I didn't know you had another expression. But don't worry; I didn't even think in offer myself. I'm just saying it for you to be close."

It had been a time he was watching Rima's sleep when she finally moved. She reached out and pulled him closer. Shiki couldn't help but smile when he saw her deliciously starving eyes.