Chapter 3: Filling in the gaps

Yes! 3rd chapter already! I'm having a little poll to decide who of the harem I'm going to
develop more. I'll probably have polls like this quite frequently, and
I'll use this space here to warn you if and when I do. Just think of
this as a little notice board. Anyway... Chapter 3!

Tsukune woke up in a place that he was now becoming pretty familiar
with- the school infirmary. Looking down, he could see he was wearing
the same clothes as before, although they now smelt of medicine. He
was too tired to get up, so he lay back down, resting his head once
again on the pillow. After a few minutes, he sat up, and walked
towards the door, thinking to himself that he shouldn't be wasting a
hospital bed in a school like this, where they were constantly in high
demand. However, just as he reached the door, he was ambushed by what
felt like a sea of cotton.

"Tsukune!" shouted Kurumu as she leapt through the door. "I came as
soon as I heard what had happened--" She stopped abruptly as a bathtub
smashed her in the head, causing her to pass out. Yukari stepped out
from behind her, and was about to say something when she was suddenly
encased in a huge ice cube. Mizore walked in, only to be knocked out
by Yuuto, who seemed to have appeared from the corner of the room.
Yuuto was wearing a long rosario over black jeans and a shirt with a
dragon on it. Tsukune turned away from the carnage to look at him.
They held each other's gaze for a while, until finally Yuuto spoke.
"About yesterday... I didn't mean to do that to you. I haven't used my
powers in a while and when I released them I couldn't properly control them".
Tsukune didn't respond, so Yuuto continued.
"What I was referring to last time isn't what you think. It's quite
funny actually. A few years ago, whilst trekking, she went and fought
a necromancer without having any idea what her (the necromancer, not
Moka's) powers were. She won, but set off such a ridiculous amount of
enchantments and curses she nearly died on the spot. Anyway, I found
her a day later and tried my best to look after her. When she woke up,
she was delirious and was convinced that I was Kokoa, who she shared a
bed with for years, and refused to go to sleep until I slept with her.
I didn't do anything to her, but I've been teasing her ever since."
Tsukune's shoulders sagged with a combination of relief and tiredness.
"Yuuto-san, I'm sorry for judging you. If I'd known--"
"Tsukune!" Moka shouted as she ran in, before diving into his neck.
Yuuto's hand twitched towards the rosario on his neck, but he did not
touch it. His face darkened as he left the room.

"Tsukune!" Moka repeated when she finally dislodged her fangs from
his neck. "Are you ok? I'm sorry about Yuuto, he tends to do that."

Tsukune barely heard her. "Moka-san, how long have you known him?"

Moka blinked with surprise at the sudden question. "Well...", she said
after a pause, "As long as I can remember really... You see, before
Ura-chan first put on the rosario, I don't really remember very much,
because I technically didn't exist. Ask her if you really want to know".
Tsukune didn't hesitate to pull the rosario off the chain, which for
him was very uncharacteristic for him. Inner Moka could see something
was bothering him, so she did not comment.

"Well, Moka-san?"
She looked him in the eyes, trying to discern his thoughts, but was
met with the same unreadable eyes that Yuuto was known for.

"Since we were six..." she said quietly to him, "he was the only real
friend; when everyone else bullied me he got me through it. We
revealed our true forms to each other a little later... You may have
been Omote's first blood partner, but he was mine."

"What is a blood partner?" asked Tsukune without looking away from Moka.

"Blood is everything to a vampire, so it means a lot if someone is as
willing to share it as you are. It is said that two friends who share
blood will be close forever."

"Right. Well, I guess we had better get to the next lesson then."
Tsukune said, with clearly forced cheerfulness.

The rest of the day, and the next day passed uneventfully, apart from
the fact Tsukune refused to talk about or even acknowledge the
existence of the conversation until Yuuto found him one lunchtime by
himself. Yuuto sat opposite him, and looked at him, his eyes hard.

"So you're just giving up?" he asked coldly. "Are you really that
pathetic?"

Tsukune looked at him with wet eyes. "Giving up? I've already lost.
How could I possibly do better than you, when you're so close that
even the proud inner Moka can talk about you like that?"

Yuuto looked surprised. "Are you serious? In such a short period of
time, you've gotten so close to Moka that she refused to leave your
side while you were in the infirmary. I'd say that is pretty close."
He sighed. "Why am I helping you anyway? Here, I came to give you
this." He threw a small package at Tsukune. "It's your birthday soon
right?" He sighed again and walked off.

Tsukune opened the wrapping to see a delicate gold watch with miniature
diamond rosaries for clock hands. There was a note attached: Must be
annoying lugging that lock around right? Well here is a custom made
replacement. Tsukune put it on and watched as his holy lock fell off.
He felt stronger than before, but at the same time he definitely wasn't
a ghoul. He was smiling when he came back to lessons.