Iridescence

by argos29

Seperated from Tsukune after a horrible act, Moka must now race to find him in a world that hates her.

6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Isn't Something Missing,

Isn't Someone Missing Me?

"You like that, don't you?" Ria asked softly and tenderly.

"Aaaah!" He cried as she allowed hot wax from a lighted candle to pour onto his lower stomach, causing him to shudder involuntarily. The chains that bound his wrists to the bed posts clinked, reminding him that he was unable to release his rosary seal and was helpless; she had wanted to start with his human form to easily dominate him in bed, as she always preferred with her "lovers". For Ria, there was a certain, twisted pleasure in tormenting a helpless human, an almost predatory instinct to toy with a victim at her mercy. But, after a while of this she at last removed his rosary, wanting a vampire's incredible endurance to satisfy her physical needs and fully meant to exploit it until exhausted. With his renewed strength, though he could have easily broken free, but she threatened him not to under for his family's safety if he didn't satisfy her; enjoying the feeling of having him remain powerless was still very thrilling.

"Does it hurt, now?" She asked as she held onto the candle precariously over him.

Another drop of hot wax fell on him and he gasped slightly.

"I've felt worse," Tsukune said, trying to remain calm and defiant. Lying naked on the bed with his wrists chained, watching and experiencing her various forms of S&M games since this began, didn't offer much in the way of dignity, but he tried to salvage what little there was. And yet, at the same time there was a part of him developing from within that seemed to confirm every ounce of bullshit that she claimed about him. There she was kneeling over him, naked except for a black garter and matching nylon stockings, her large, soft breasts sliding methodically against his chest.

"You do like it, don't you?" Ria teased, leaning down and licking his neck.

"No…W-we've done enough."

The pleas of mercy was like a strange signal to her, as he felt her teeth tear into his neck as if to cowl him into obedience and began to greedily suck out his blood.

"Aaaaaah! Stop! That's enough already, I said STOP!"

She suddenly pulled back, a little red stream of his blood trailing down her chin from lips that almost resembled ruby red lipstick and he watched as she laps it all up with big smile.

"I hope it tasted bitter."

"Oh me, oh my, but I like it bitter. It's like tasting your tears brother dear." She set the candle down and casually put her hand on his already worn cock. "Are you ready to go again?"

"Please no, please no."

"Do you not like it?" She purred, her red eyes staring down into his with a strange innocence, while at the same time giving him a hand job.

"No I… ahh...I hate it."

"You're lying. You're such a liar Tsukune, just like all men."

"No, I'm not… I swear, it's true. I…I love Moka, she's the only person I want to do this with."

Get a hold of yourself, Tsukune! He coached himself as it almost felt like he was beginning to enjoy it. Don't let her get to you!

"Oh me, oh my, you dirty, dirty man! I had no idea you wanted to subject my darling little sister to such nastiness! I've always thought of you as that kind of guy, the whole 'I'm 100% loyal to my girlfriend' bit was just that, a bit. I know for a fact that a man's mouth, eyes, and even his heart lies, but this!" She gives a soft, yet firm squeeze of his fully erect penis. "This, is the only part that has always been honest. Face it, I'm what you think about when you're with my sister, it's my face you see, isn't it? My face on her body, because I'm all you think about?"

"Ria..."

"If you don't want me, then all you have to do is not get hard."

"That…that's not true, none of it," he gasped. He tried his best not to give in to her, tried to think of what was at stake and for whom this was for. He tried to picture Moka crying, of his parents and friends in peril. Then he tried thinking about mundane things, anything to get her off his mind, and yet she seemed to know so much more about him than he knew of himself. It was sad to admit, painful to come to terms over, but ever since meeting her, he had felt a mild attraction to her, but it was only because she beautiful, not an intimate interest of having sex. However, since having had sex with her, the feeling of it all, and of her, was gradually becoming overwhelming. He could feel himself getting hard underneath her expert touch, and it shamed him deeply. She proceeded to kiss him and slipped her tongue into his mouth, playfully sliding against his own as their lips sucked on one another, and as she did so, a very sickening realization came over him. Though he didn't want to admit it, didn't want to acknowledge it, but Ria's touch was far better than Moka's, and as her tongue swirled around inside, she began stroking him a little harder, and a little faster.

Oh Moka, he thought in despair, unable to control himself. Why'd you loan me out to her? I wanted it to be with you, not your sister.

"Why pretend? You…like…it." She said, almost as if reading his thoughts, each word punctuated by a kiss as she grew more and more excited, herself. "Admit it, just admit it, you like fucking me."

"No," he said, but his dick was so hard now it began to hurt.

"Liar! Your mouth cannot deny what your cock is saying to me."

She ran her tongue leisurely down the length of his body, licking his neck and the burn marks on his chest, parting her mouth to leave wet kisses over his belly, as she went further down and parts his pubic hair so as to run her pursed lips over the entire length of his cock.

"Do you want me to stop?" She asked in a teasing voice.

"I…I would like that very much," he whispered.

He could feel her entire body shake against his legs as she made a throaty laugh.

"Oh me, oh my, that doesn't sound very convincing. Who are you lying for, me or yourself?"

She squeezed her large tits together and rubbed them up and down slowly against his penis, giving him a nice, relaxed feeling of soft pillows pressed over.

"I… I…"

Who was he lying for? He didn't really know, but it felt so good and for a second he wondered if Kurumu's tits would feel just as good doing this, but then a flash of guilt for thinking that fell over him, and tried to shake the thought away; it would not.

"Mmmm, what's the matter brother dear? Not so sure?"

She moved faster as he tried to mentally and physically restrains himself.

"...Uhhh, uh," the words suddenly escaped from his mouth.

Ria grinned and licked the top of his penis with the tip of her tongue.

"You like it slower or faster?"

"Fa…f-faster," he said.

"Then say, 'please titty fuck me faster Ria.'"

He thought about Moka and how this would hurt her, and tried to resist the urge, but he had no choice; even if he managed to refuse her, not only would he be in danger, but his family too and Moka would feel devastated. He had to do this, but was it so wrong then to actually enjoy it?

What am I thinking? He thought with a mounting panic. But, really is it so wrong? Wait, of course it is, I love Moka not...not...Oh god, please don't say it!

"P-P-Pleease... titty fuck me faster, Ria," he said with eyes closed and shame washing over.

He heard her laugh and felt her tits shake.

"All right, since you ask so nicely Tsukune."

She went faster, harder and more aggressively. The feeling of control turned her on and she decided she wanted more of him and like a glutton, moving both tits out of the way and brought her mouth down, sucking him hard her cheeks pulling in a sucking fashion, almost gorging herself greedily on his large dick, her nimble hands rubbed the base of his cock as she expertly moved her lips up and down. She enjoyed every minute it, enjoyed him, now that he had finally stopped resisting her and fully released his inhibitions. She sensed how hot he was becoming, feel the pressure in him building up, making her wet, and as such she could feel her own pleasure steadily building up.

"Fuck me!" She gasped, scrambling around to sit on his hardened cock, which slid right into her as soon as she lowered herself. "Yeah, fuck me! Fuck me like you mean it!"

"Ahh! Ahhhh!" Tsukune gasped as her pussy clamped down tight around him, so hot and wet, gripping him with her thighs and riding him while his hard cock went up all the way into her, spurning the woman on and filling every ounce of mounting pleasure.

"Uh, fuck yes! Aaah! Uhhhhh!"

"Ahhh, ah, I'm going to…"

"Me too! Me too! You're making me cum!" Ria cried as her crevice throbbed painfully against him, constricting violently.

"Aaaahh! GOD, RIA!" He cried out, unable to control his own climax.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhh!"

She could feel it fill her insides and then leak out, and just hearing him call out her name and her name only made Ria climax all over him, and continued straddling him until the last pulse of her orgasm passed and she could feel him gradually getting softer. When it was all said and done, she spread on top of him, rubbing her nylon covered legs over him and pressing her tits into his burned chest. She next covered his mouth in eager kisses and ran her tongue along his sweaty body.

"You going to tell me you didn't enjoy that little brother?"

He looked up at her with his own red eyes and flushed cheeks.

"I… I enjoyed it," he admitted in a shameful whisper.

She laughed and playfully nipped at his throat.

"I'm beginning to really like you little brother; you keep fucking me like this I just might decide to take you away from Moka for good. Let's rest for a little bit and then go again. We have all night to play."

Vampires did have an amazing amount of stamina, as he found out to both his pleasure, and dismay. By the early morning hours she had brought him back to his parents' house where she plucked him up from, having fucked all night and "enjoying" breakfast brought up to their room, which Ria decided to play with him some more afterwards before finally escorting him home.

"We ought to do this again, brother," she said to him. "But, don't worry about your little secret, it's safe with me."

As he steps out of the limo, stuffy with their hormones as they had little time to wash up, he was greeted by a sky that had gradually turned from a dark blue to a lighter tone, the crisp and soothing air comforting his worn out and defiled form, though it could not wash away his shame.

"Oh, and before I forget, brother. Here."

She holds out a small business card with a name and number on it, which he takes.

"Don't forget to call me whenever you need me," she cooed. "And trust me, you will. You will. Your body doesn't lie, remember that."

With that said, he closes the door behind him and listens as the limo pulls away without even bothering to look back. Slowly he walks up to the door, taking his time, unsure if he should even go in after what happened, afraid to face Moka, let alone his parents in case they were up. The whole experience was both confusing and frustrating, and it left him feeling like a completely different person, one unworthy of being in Moka's presence.

Moka, he suddenly thought, remembering that she was still there with his parents and wondering what she was doing. How am I going to face her like this?

The thought scared him; tramping back into his home and lying next to her in bed after what he did and said to Ria.

How could you have been so stupid? How could you say all those things, how could you have even enjoyed it when it's Moka you should care about!

It suddenly all became about Moka, bringing himself back to his sense of priorities, where her needs usually superseded his own.

How am I going to face her like this?

He stood outside for the better part of two hours, with the sun steadily rising, yet he stays just within inches of the front door as though it was covered in poisonous spiders.

"Tsukune," he heard a familiar voice call from the other side, a voice he easily recognized as belonging to Moka.

Had she been waiting up for him this whole time? It terrified him to think that she was still up and that she could smell him even on the other side of the door. Nevertheless, the jig was up, and hearing her encouraging voice did give him some courage to face what may come. Slowly, he enters the living room where she greets him from the couch bed, watching TV, but appearing as though she had been crying. They both looked at one another for the longest time, neither sure of what to say to the other, but he knew Moka could clearly smell the stench of sex on him, as well as the scent of her own sister's.

"I-I'm glad you're back," she said quietly, averting his eyes.

"...Yeah. Moka, I...I'm..."

"...You did what you had to do," she said. "No one's blaming you."

She rushes past him, hand over mouth as the emotions came flooding out uncontrollably and ran up the stairs into his room, slamming the door behind.

"I'm sorry," Tsukune said, standing all alone in the darkened room, with his shame and could almost feel the tears rolling off her cheeks from where he stood, and tried unsuccessfully to keep it from affecting him internally.

Just the memory of that first session with Ria made him sweat, more so than the others. It was his first time doing that with a woman, he was ashamed to admit, and it wasn't even very intimate, but done in a way to where he was nothing more than a pawn to get back at her sister, and his fiancée and lover. Knowing how she had used him like that only made the experience that much more unbearable; Gin would've loved it, but then again that was Gin, not him. Still, after it was all said and done, Tsukune had hoped never to have to deal with her again, spending the next couple of months at school trying to reconcile things between him and Moka, and hoped never to tell their friends. Things were going good at first, Moka was speaking to him normally again and it appeared they would get past this incident much stronger than before. That was until, one fateful day when Tsukune received a correspondence from the many letters he'd written home, delivered to him personally by the Bus Driver, sent to him in urgency. In it, he read that his father wanted to talk to come clean with him private, though would not give any details. Concerned, the Bus Driver sent him in secret to the location his father had requested and there was told something most distressing, about how his own father had been having an affair with none other than Ria, and wanted to come clean with him as he feared it would jeopardize his relationship with Moka. Livid, Tsukune went over to confront her alone, half blinded by anger that she would do this. It was one thing to manipulate and toy with him, but to seduce his own father and threaten to hurt his mom through this, after he had done so much already to ensure nothing would happen to them, suddenly he found himself literally anxious in inflicting bodily harm on a woman, something he thought would never happen. Tsukune elected not to tell Moka or his friends about this, unwilling to cause her any more undue stress in regards to her older sister and preferred to deal with this matter alone; in hindsight that turned out to have been a mistake. Ria would go on to make short work of him, firmly and effectively putting him in his place after a sound beating, and then blackmailing him into resuming their affair in secret lest she destroy his parents' marriage.

And so, he kept seeing her behind Moka's back, their various rendezvous always at some palatial hotel suite, their sessions as tawdry as before, but his hands were tied and it was all he could think to keep Moka and his parents out of Ria's clutches. Eventually, she became trapped within his mind, a virus that had taken hold, seeing her whenever he looked at Moka, while his body seemed almost obsessed with fucking her. Tsukune knew, however that for Ria this was all just another game to her, that much was plainly obvious, and he couldn't have been more right. It was true she'd had dozens of lovers, and yet Ria never fully enjoyed herself as much as with him, as his refusal to admit just how much he was enjoying the things she did to him, in spite of his bodily reactions, only added to her determination to break him completely. She had decided to make him her willing lover, her mate and was determined to steal him away from Moka by getting her lover to admit that she could not possibly give him what he truly wanted. Ria was in complete control of him and the situation.

And then, one day during a short break after a furious bout in bed, his wrists bound to the headboard and blood dried against sore neck, and as a sweaty Ria laid nude next to him, covered in sweat and some of his cum, he did something that surprised even her. The respite was brief, with his endurance they would soon be going at it, but for the moment Ria was content to just lie next to him and noticed him staring down at her most peculiarly.

"Be patient darling," she said with a grin, "we still have plenty of time to go before dawn."

"May…may I ask you a question, Ria?"

She was quick to notice just how respectful and obedient he'd become, and not indignant as before.

"...You may ask," she said pleasantly.

Sometimes she was cruel and unforgiving one moment or gentle and kind the next, and nothing pleased her more than to watch as she was slowly breaking and turning him into the shape that pleased her best. And yet, she couldn't ignore the fact that he was gradually becoming more acclimated to her, and because of that she would be generous, for now.

"What's on your mind, brother?"

"Well, it's nothing really, just that...do you never kiss, sister?"

She lifted a single, questioning eyebrow. "What do you mean?" She asked. "I do all sorts of things with my mouth. What do you mean kiss?"

"I don't mean when you force your tongue into my mouth Ria. I mean a gentle, regular kiss."

"You mean the sort you give my sister?" She asked curiously.

He nodded his head warily, for Tsukune knew by now that any mention of Moka was dangerous.

"I was just curious, really. Do...do you not like to be kissed that way?"

"Not especially," she gave him a patronizing look. "Do you enjoy it Tsukune? Those boring little kisses?"

"I don't think they're too boring," he answered carefully, almost fidgeting under her scrutinizing gaze. "They're how you show you care for someone. Could I...could I kiss you? Just once?"

"Like you kiss Moka?"

"Is that so bad? You might like it."

"All right," she replied, licking her lips. "If that's something you'd like."

"Could you untie me first, Ria? It's not like I'm going anywhere."

She nodded and freed his wrists, a bit surprised as this was the first time he'd taken any kind of initiative in their encounters and wanted to encourage it by indulging in his curiosity.

And so, they sat up together in bed, staring at one another as they explored this new territory of intimacy where he reached for her, taking her into his arms and looked into the woman's guarded dark eyes, offering an odd nervousness that was different from the fear he usually displayed when she began to get a little rough and slowly leaned in to place a light, tender kiss on the lips. It felt so gentle and grazing that she could barely feel it, and yet it was an affectionate, sweet filled sensation that left her with a vulnerable longing.

She was almost surprised when she responded to it, kissing him back without thinking, never realizing that kissing like this felt so…good.

When they broke apart, Tsukune continued holding her close to him in his arms.

"Did you like it?" He asked.

Something unusual came over her, spreading throughout every muscle like wildfire and felt an odd kind of excitement she had never experienced before.

"It wasn't terrible," she admitted, but bit her lip coyly. "I wouldn't be completely against another."

He gave a slight nod and brought her in close for another kiss. It was odd for her, letting him touch her so intimately, so carefully as if she was something delicate and fragile, something that didn't involve pure dominance or mocking him as a man or a person. It also felt weird that he made her enjoy it, this mild and slow building of warmth and protection quickly overwhelming even her. And so, instead of making frantic and demeaning forced sex, they spent the whole night embracing each other and kissing.

When they ended the meeting and she returned him home, Tsukune could see how much the experience affected the once cold, heartless woman as he watched her run a thumb over her lips in a thoughtful manner the whole ride home. If he could've read her mind, he'd know just how conflicted she'd become; it was such an odd thing for her to be effected so by something as simple as a kiss. Yet when he tasted her like that she'd felt something she hadn't known for a very long time: real genuine love.

Impossible, she thought.

Had Tsukune's kiss affected her that much or was it because, for one brief moment in her dark and proud life she literally felt like the very center of the galaxy itself? Was that the reason Moka and those other girls loved him so much? Was that the reason he was able to reach her in a way none of her lovers ever had? Oddly, she had never sought that out before in her many one-night stands; she'd always looked for handsome, powerful men who could satisfy her carnally and whenever they spoke of love she ignored them, thinking they were just mouthing the sort of words they thought she wanted to hear, but every relationship revolved around sex and pleasure, love never had anything to do with it.

Gradually, though their meetings began to change in tone; though there was still plenty of sex, she stopped tying him up or trying to dominate him. Instead, it was slowly becoming tender, with her becoming more willing to act as if they were equals, and continued seeing one another behind Moka's back where he'd always show up with flowers or some affectionate gift without Ria ever asking for it, and kissed more often than ever before. Ria could to tell that he was enjoying their time together more and more, and he seemed to be opening his heart to her, compelling her to do the same by surprise, and for the first time she began to consider the possibility she could find love from someone other than her father. Ria thought it was nice for a change and had to admit there was something to be said about being held as a woman who lets herself be pleasured by a man who encouraged her to be so, exhausting themselves more on an emotional level than a physical one. Then, one evening after another round of sex, and she laid in bed content, half expecting him to be up and gone by the she awoke, like he always did, but he instead did something that surprised even her. The dark vampiress, so accustomed to cheap debauchery awoke to the smell of food cooking and the sound of plates being set on a small kitchenette. She hadn't even known there was a stove and table in her room, as it was never an area that she cared to explore, but now it woke her up with a startled realization: Tsukune had not only stayed, but was making breakfast.

Ria rubbed the heel of her hand across both eyes as she wrapped on a robe to find the answer to this curious behavior. It took her further by complete surprised to see Tsukune finishing up, pouring a glass of orange juice in a cup and putting a carafe next to a plate.

"Oh Ria, you're up," he greeted with a warm smile as he wiped his hands with a towel, and pulled a chair out for her.

"What's this?" She asked, stunned at the care he took to prepare her a simple, but well-cooked morning meal.

"I hope you don't mind, but I didn't know what you liked. I made a few things I thought you would enjoy."

Before him, he gestured at plates filled with french toast, omelet, sausage patties, and a few pieces of strawberries put in a bowl for her. A small bag was empty to the side where he must have gone to get groceries, and bothered to come back.

The gesture left her dumbfounded; there were many men who had taken her out to breakfast, spending untold riches to show her their "love" of her, but none had ever gone through the trouble of doing something as simple as making breakfast.

"I have to get going Ria, but I'll see you later on this evening, right? You know, you look beautiful with bedhead, by the way."

Placing a simple trio of daisies in her hand, he kissed her lips gently before he was already out the door.

Many a man had tried endearing themselves to her, but there was always that underlying sense of lust, and of false affection. Yet, as she sat before this large, and well cooked meal, confused as to what she should actually do, Ria felt that this was as real and sincere as she ever witnessed, and continued sitting in stunned silence for at least a minute before touching her nose with the white flowers and seemed almost overwhelmed. It seemed to her that he was finally being won over and yet, at the same time she found herself being won over by him; what had started out as a game soon became something much more than that.

However, there was a method to his madness as it was indeed a ploy, but without any desire of lust or conquest: Tsukune had hoped to win her over, just not as his lover. Since resisting and defying her wasn't helping anything, he thought that if he was instead nice to her, that maybe it would make the difference. It had worked before on all of his friends, all of whom had at one point been both his and Moka's enemies, yet at the same time were each troubled individuals with their own pressures, and after he had bestowed upon them a certain level of kindness did they all become friends; he hoped it would work on Ria. It was a long shot; however he was able to tell from her hatred of Moka that she was only motivated by jealousy, not due to some kind of vanity, but a longing to know a love and appreciation she'd known. So far it worked and he could already see a change in her cold personality and hoped he could somehow work what they had into a lasting friendship, instead.

He would make the effort to show his sincerity, setting up meetings behind Moka's back and initiating sex after some romance, all of which he was pleased to see was having its effect on her. Then, one day after arriving to a hotel of his choosing, and after they had spent another romantic evening of love making they laid in bed in quiet reflection of what they experienced, her mind completely blown away by the simple majesty of it, the heart and soul filling ecstasy of having someone not only fill her physically, but with tender, thoughtful emotion, never, ever so happy to be with a man in her whole life, he asked rather curiously:

"Ria...you mind if I ask you something?"

She looked over at him a little worriedly, but sure she already knew what he was going to say. Tsukune half expected a dismissal of his request from her, but as he looked into her dark eyes, he could clearly see a change had taken hold of this once, malicious individual. For as the dark haired vampire knew that he would ask her to let him loose, she'd nevertheless had to admit that being with Tsukune these last few months have been nothing short of inspiring and fulfilling in ways never imagined in her entire, long life. He brought out a different type of woman she never knew existed, having been with such a unique lover whose talents she had no idea he could posses with such limited experience. It would be a lie for Ria to say he had opened different parts of herself, and it was all due to being with the man who was now looking back at her at this moment, so out of generosity she would indulge his request.

"Let me guess...you want to leave?" She asked wearily, yet with a pleased smile, nonetheless.

As Ria intertwined his fingers with her own, he knew if he made any motion that he wanted to go, she would gladly give it to him. He didn't know at the time, but as she was far from having had her fill of him, Ria was satisfied of having secretly made her point with Moka and enjoyed the company of her mate, and Tsukune had to admit that he, too enjoyed her company as well, just not that way. That in the end, it seemed Tsukune's efforts were paying off and he hoped, in time they would seek each other out as friends with their union a little more enjoyable as it had been these couple of months.

"No...Ria," he replied, reaching over and kissing her lightly, kindly, and mildly possessive. "I've enjoyed the time we've spent and, I just wanted to say to you that...I like you."

"You...you do?" She asked incredulously. "Like as in...love?"

"Yeah, you can look at it like that."

She'd heard those words used before, just about all her lovers had proclaimed how much they loved her at one point or another, but their promises of undying and eternal love had never mattered to her; just words. Hearing them from Tsukune was different; if there were two people in this world she dearly wanted to hear those words from, then she had heard if from at least one of them.

"Really?"

"Yes, I do."

"...More than Mizore?"

"Yeah."

"More than Yukari?"

"Sure."

"More than Ruby?"

"Yes, Ria."

He saw her smile more and more, unsure of where this was going, but with hope filling him anyway.

"Kurumu?" She asked. "Do...do you love me more than Kurumu?"

"Yes. I like you, you know? You're a very special person and I just wanted you to know that."

More and more he saw her dark exterior seem to erode away, leaving a very vulnerable and tender individual yearning for his affection just as he predicated and it appeared that the real Ria had finally been exposed for him to, in some way, help her. But, she next catches him off guard with the next question:

"Please, tell me, how special am I? More so than Moka? Do...do you love me more than her?"

She looked into that honest face of his and saw a shroud of confusion cross it.

"I'm sorry?" He asked.

"You said you 'liked' me, right? You liked me more than all the other girls; so do you like me more than Moka? You do love me more? Please, I'd really like to hear you say that."

"...Well..."

She grabbed hold of his hands with both of hers in earnest and looked into his eyes like a hopeful, little child.

"Say it Tsukune, say those words and I swear to you, I will be yours."

He didn't know how to respond to that, it certainly wasn't something he planned on.

"Um, I do think you're very special, and all. I mean, maybe if we had met first it would be a different...no...I can't say that...I love you more than her, just differently is all, Ria. I would really like it if we'd be happy together, not just you and I, but all of us, hopefully. No reason you can't be a part of that."

She stared at his smiling face and he stared back, hoping for a positive response. However, as he looked into her eyes, all he saw was a disappointment slowly devolving into dismay, followed by anger that eventually morphed into a hideous rage as if she'd been slapped hard across the face. Tsukune had terribly underestimated Ria, for he couldn't have known that for her everything was a game, a contest to win absolutely, and saw that she had been played this whole time, as though he tipped over her king and finally laughed as he said, 'checkmate.'

"Ria?" he asked, his voice simply oozing with concern. "Are you..."

SLAP!

Her hand slapped him so hard he fell over and was knocked flat off the bed.

"SHUT UP!" She screamed at him. "I was going to tell you that I loved you, you worm! I was going to offer you my heart and be yours and free you and your pitiful little father from my hold...And I...I would've even settled on being your mistress, if you wanted! Me! A mistress to a lowly, human turned second born vampire, but I would've done it too, all that mattered, all I wanted was for you to want me more than her, and instead what do you tell me?! That you still love Moka over me! That after all this time and all the sex and passion and all that crap! That, you still love her more than me, that this whole time you wanted me to be just another member of your pathetic little harem! YOU STUPID PIG! How dare you?! How dare you think you could turn me into one of your fawning pets? Me?!"

"No, Ria you don't understand, I…"

"SHUT UP!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs and hit him again so hard her glove ripped. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Straddling over him, she punched him again and again as hard as she could, while Tsukune covered up as best he could while trying to reach for his rosary seal still wrapped about his wrists before she killed him, but Ria saw it and held his arm away with one hand while maintaining the barrage with the other.

Ria was beyond furious; normally calm, and plotting by nature, he hadn't realized just how much he hurt her in a way no one, but her father had ever could. When she finished and he was semi-conscious, she grabbed some rope from a nearby stand and tied his hands to the bed. They hadn't been playing their usual games of late, but all the tools were still in the suite just in case, and as soon as she had him tied up, next brought out a bullwhip and stood over his battered form, panting heavily like a large, wild animal.

"You fucking little man!" She spat, but soon she was laughing at him in an almost hysterical way. Any sense of affection for him or desire to be gentle and be genuinely cared for had dissipated as quickly as her vicious slaps had been. "Did you actually believe everything I said to you? Did you really think I was starting to care for you?"

"Ria, please..." he tried to say through a bloated lip, but his efforts were met by a painful stomp on his groin.

"SILENCE!" She bellowed. "You think yourself so amazing that a few boring, little kisses would make me fall for you? It was all a lie, you fool! I was trying to steal you away from Moka! You never mattered to me!"

"Ria...don't do this, please. I swear to you, I do like you, I only wanted to try and help you!"

"Help me?" She chuckled mockingly.

"Yes, because...because I know deep down you want to be loved, and that's...that's what I was trying to do."

His eyes were already starting to swell up, making it harder to look up clearly, but before his eyes started to shut he saw Ria make a face as though he'd said something incredibly stupid, and she wound the bullwhip tighter, and menacingly in her grasp.

"You poor, deluded fool," she mocked. "You thought I ever needed your pity? If you should feel pity for someone, then pity yourself for underestimating me, for you did so at your own peril."

"Look, if you are angry at me, then I understand and I'll accept any punishment you dish out, but what about you? I know you cared what I did, you were happy and if you love someone and hurt them, won't it make your heart hurt as well? Please, don't do this, Ria. If you go down this road, there won't be any turning back and you will feel it for the rest of your life."

His concern for her seemed hallow to her ears no matter how much his sore lips ached or how much hope and faith he tried to reach to her with. His face was starting to swell up and the fresh cuts on his cheek caused him to wince, but what made her pause for a moment, for just a short breath were the tears; not for himself, but for her.

"How dare you…how dare look at me with such pity!" She spat, literally spitting in his face with her hate-filled words, twisting the leather whip even tighter in her hands, making it creak noisily.

Tied up, near blind and helpless he could do nothing, but lay underneath her threatening form.

"Then why are you so angry if everything meant nothing?" He asked.

"Because you compared me to her again! That you'd dare tell me you love me, and then turn around and say I matter less than her? Are you crazy?"

He then heard the familiar PING of a rosary being plucked and felt to his dismay the swirl of demonic energy engulf the entire suite.

"Ria..." he tried to plead desperately before she began her painful, brutal onslaught.

"KNOW YOUR PLACE!"

She swung the whip with every ounce of her unleashed, vampire strength and he felt it cut clean through his skin, sending a spray of blood onto the bedroom window. Tsukune screamed in pain, but she drew back and lashed at him again, and again, each time with more ferocity than the last.

He screamed for her to stop, begged her as each time he felt a sliver of blood splash on his face as there was no denying that when the friction of the leather marred him, and the torture was so mind numbingly painful that, for the first time in his life he actually felt fear, fear not just for someone else, but for his own life. Then, when he finally stopped pleading with her to stop, he suddenly cried out for Moka, lamenting that this would be the end and he would never see her again. However, saying her name only made it worse than it could have ever gone, and Ria didn't stop whipping him for the entire day, her vampire stamina kicking into overdrive as she whipped, kicked, beat and even clawed him into a bloody mess as blind rage took over all thought and reasoning. Mercifully, however unconsciousness came to free him of this burden, blacking out before Ria even came close to utter exhaustion.

It was sunrise by the time she finally tired of it, and noticed his entire back was ripped open. The smatterings of blood graffiti's the walls and floor, the bed itself ruined and soaked through. If he were merely human he'd have been dead already, but even as a vampire this was reaching his limit and it would take days for his body to fully recover.

For several breaths, she actually contemplated on killing him for his insult; she had killed people for a lot less. But, he was under father's protection, and even if she revealed the whole truth about him being human her father might still be angry with her for disobeying him. A few tears from Moka and he was all too likely to punish her for going this far, so she let the bloodied whip fall from her quivering hand, stooped over to rip off the ropes from around his wrists, and noticed he was slowly coming to.

She then, with an angry groan grabbed him by his hair, purposely digging into his scalp and twisting it, pulling out gouges of clumps of skin and tufts of his dark locks at the same time while she brought his inhuman looking mask for a face before hers.

"Get out of my sight, you cur, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! I'll leave you be for the next week, if only to give you a chance to heal. But understand this," she said, emphasizing it with a lethal edge in her voice to drive home her point. "This is not the end. Oh no, this is far from being settled between you and me. You will not speak of this to anyone. If I ever learn you have, especially to her, I will rape your scrawny little father and then kill your entire family, Tsukune! And I will have it recorded, in High Def, so you can watch it! Do you understand me?"

"...Yes...Ria," he croaked, coughing up a stream of blood.

Her hand cracked down about his face for good measure.

"Now get up and go rest now so that you can get out of my sight, and when you call me again to set up our next outing, and you will, I intend to make everything we did before look like child's play."

She stormed out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, leaving him bloodied, bruised, and overall fearful of the future with her.

Stupid, stupid! He scolded himself for even thinking such a plan would work. The brutality of it, and the overall futility of it was a painful lesson that Ria was unlike anyone he's had to deal with before and she would be impossible to deal with. One fact was deathly obvious above all else: it was hopeless.

Their remaining sessions were brutal as she made it her mission to utterly break his will completely, yet she never did, though without lack of trying. However, she was also very aware that he never touched her with friendly familiarity again or told her he loved her. He only did what was instructed of her and suffered through those agonizing sessions with robotic acceptance. This annoyed her even more; saying nothing unless spoken to, responding as if he was just one of her many slaves.

She really had beaten the soul out of him, save for one token of resistance. Through it all, in every brutal bout, she would ask him if he loved her more than Moka, and again he said he didn't.

"Say it," she growled as she had him stretched by his fingers from the ceiling, staring into his beaten and bruised face. "Say you love me, more than her. Just say it, and I'll let you go."

There was a long silence, as though it seemed to her he had to contemplate his response, thinking it may be dawning on him how beneficial it would be to cave into her demands.

"All of this will end, Tsukune, all of it, the beatings, the constant agony you feel…I'll even stop with what I'm doing to your father," she whispered into his ear, causing him to look up with a start. "That's right, Tsukune, what we're doing now, is the same I'm putting your dear old father through. And, I'll gladly stop all of it; all you have to do is say 'I love you, Ria, more than Moka'. Say it, and I'll spare both your lives."

She had to have been lying, he wanted to believe that nothing like that was happening to his father right now, but then again he wasn't sure about anything relating to Ria, and Tsukune's lips appeared to be moving as it appeared, for a while that his will power might be wavering, enough to say those words she had tortured him to utter for months on end to hear.

"Mo...k..." he managed to croak through blistered lips before Ria cracks his jaw with a fist.

"...I grow tired of this," she muttered and releases him, letting him drop to the floor with a loud thud. "Heal up and get the hell out of my sight, you little shit!"

Ria grew increasingly aggravated with him, and would reach the point of abject dementia if not for the small satisfaction that Moka was also in the receiving end of it, as it was doing terrible things to her knowing someone she really cared for was enduring such pain, but it didn't matter. It was obvious Tsukune Aono was no longer going to be 'that' kind of person who could easily break to her will no matter what she did. Despite taking such punishment, deep down Ria could see that he had a strength she never understood, and could only hope to humiliate her sister's lover and make their lives as miserable as she would be allowed to.

At last, though Tsukune had had enough, enough of the whole tortuous affair and of having to deal with Ria alone, and finally decided to come clean with Moka. He worried that she might hate him for seeing her behind her back or become distraught that Ria was still causing more aggravation, but Moka's reaction had been slightly more understanding than he thought.

"I might've known she would do something like this," she said to him.

"You did?" He asked with surprise.

"I know my sister; she wouldn't have been satisfied enough the last time she had you, seeing how much it bothered me! Once she stabs you with a knife, she doesn't just remove it, she twists it around so that the pain is excruciating. She won't stop until I've suffered enough."

Tsukune turned away, his face blue as her words plagued all of his doubts and fears. He knew this wasn't going to go away, so long as Ria hated Moka, this would always continue for the many years to come; he knew something had to be done.

"It's unfortunate that your family have now become involved," she went on to say. "I would've preferred they be a non-issue in our affair, but it's far too late for that. If not for them, I could easily go to father about this and stop her."

"...Maybe there's another way," he said thoughtfully. "You might not like it, though."

"What is it?"

"I can't say yet, but you might have to wait awhile to implement it."

"Wait? For how long?"

"Until I can talk to your father in a more secure place, think you can hold out until then?"

"...I guess," Moka said after a short pause, patience not being one of her strong suits. "I don't see why we should wait, though. It'll be better if we both confronted Ria, she can't defeat the both of us at once!"

"Maybe not, but knowing her she'd only find some way to get even with us and I don't want to have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life; we need to I to do something that'll guarantee she won't meddle in our lives, permanently and I just happen to know of a way. It's a gambit, but it seems to be our only way out."

That gambit came on graduation day, the long awaited day, a moment in his life that at times during his many years there, Tsukune thought would never ever see, but had finally arrived.

Buses, cars and trucks packed with family and friends came in throngs, some parked all along the rows of tombstones in a rather macabre, impromptu parking lot, and the mass of visitors were directed towards the gym where the ceremony would take place. From inside, Tsukune kept glancing out the doors, nervously waiting in his green graduating gown as though waiting anxiously for someone to arrive. He knew his parents were not coming, having purposely failed to mention to them the date and time of the ceremony; still, seeing all his classmates with their friends and family around them did make him feel a slight twinge of jealousy that he quickly put in check.

Stop it, Tsukune, he scolded himself. You know it's for their own good that they not come, and besides there are more important things to worry about.

Amongst all the vehicles coming through, however came a lone horse drawn carriage with four, black as night horses descending upon the gathering. It was obvious to all who was inside the cab even before it opened, yet all were in quiet reverence to their arrival: Lord Issa Shuzen, his wife Gyokuro and mistress Akasha Bloodriver, along with his daughters Ria and Kahlua, had finally arrived.

Good; for a moment there I thought he wouldn't come.

On the gym floor, where lines of folding chairs had been set out with place tags set on them, the graduating seniors were led out to take their places, all in their green caps and gowns, and set to walk up to the stage in alphabetical order to receive their diploma. Moka and Tsukune were separated by four other students, and waved to each other in happy anticipation.

He looked behind him and managed to pick out Yukari, who was standing on her chair and waving both arms frantically to be sure they could spot her, while a forlorn Kurumu eagerly blew him a kiss, however Mizore was strangely absent; he couldn't remember the last time he saw her and hoped she would at least show up for her own graduation. Tsukune wanted to worry about her, but looking back at Moka reminded him that there was something that needed his immediate attention, and so his friend had to wait. Ruby stood up on stage along with the Chairman and other members of the faculty, waving back at her friends on the floor below. On either side of the gym the stands were absolutely packed with friends and family, with more than a few of them holding up banners proclaiming their pride and joy in a particular graduate. So many happy faces were there, cheering for someone in particular as every classmate had family rooting for them, even Moka's family had all come out to celebrate with her, and knowing that brought about another momentary pang that Tsukune had found odd and never experienced before, one in where he wished, in spite of everything, that his own family could be here. He knew it was impossible though, and had made sure they would not attend, but he couldn't help wishing they could be here to share this moment with him.

He didn't let the sadness linger, however. He still had Moka and the girls to share this moment with and it was enough. More importantly if his plan worked everyone he cared about would be safe and they would all get the chance to be happy. Warily, Tsukune looked out to the stands, trying to pick out where Ria might be, but failed to spot her, though knew she was there without a doubt.

After what seemed a long delay the Chairman at last approached the podium, gave the usual commencement speech, despite his rather unsettling gaze upon the student body and got the ceremony underway. One by one, the seniors were called up, Ruby handed them their diplomas and received a hearty hand shake from the Headmaster before sitting down. Moka quietly thanked the Chairman and hurried back to her seat, Kurumu yelled 'Yahoo!' at the top of her lungs followed by an enthusiastic jump, while Yukari went up, witch's hat on instead of the usual cap, and accepted hers with as much dignity as she could, receiving a big hug from Ruby before she left the stage.

When it was Tsukune's turn, the Chairman had shared a few quiet words with him.

"Tsukune, I want you to know that I had great hopes for you and still do. Good luck to you in the future."

"Thank you very much Chairman."

But, as Tsukune walked past the Chairman and smiled, he heard him mutter under his breath.

"You're gonna need it."

Tsukune's head snapped around and he was going to ask what that meant, but the Chairman was already calling the next person up.

Before long the last student had received his diploma, the seniors threw their caps into the air, and marked the end of an era for Tsukune, who was relieved to have finally gotten through four years at Yokai Academy, but now the hard part was about to begin.

With the ceremony over people exited the gym to gather together and celebrate, and all around him students were revealing their true forms and being congratulated, but of course Tsukune remained in his form. Kurumu was chatting lively with her mother and aunt, while Yukari stood next to her parents and Ruby, while Tsukune's gay friend, the Chinese sorcerer Fang-fang, was surrounded by his rather unique family which included the zombified sister, Ling-Ling, their triad-affiliated parents, and even Fang-Fangs' aging grandfather, the martial arts master Tohofuhai; pretty much everyone had someone to congratulate them, but him. As he took note of this however, he had barely made it outside when everything around him went dark as a pair of hands suddenly covered up his eyes.

"Guess who, Tsukie!" Recognizing the voice, Tsukune spun around and was shocked to see his cousin, Kyokou standing happily behind him with a broad smile on her face. "Congratulations, cousin I'm so happy you finally made it!"

"K-Kyokou! How did...what are you...why are you even here?"

"Duh, to see my baby cousin graduate, you didn't think I'd miss it?"

"B-But I..."

"Don't worry, I made sure aunt Kasumi and uncle Koji didn't know about this, but did you honestly think you could give me the slip; really Tsukie? I mean, c'mon, I snuck in here on my own the last time, you didm't think I wouldn't find a way in just to see you graduate?"

"So, you've been here this whole time?"

"Yeah. I wanted to cheer for you from the stands, but I knew I had to be incognito or they'd find out we were humans, besides I decided it be better if I surprised you. Boy, a long time ago I would've been freaked out by all of this, but now it seems almost normal; strange huh?"

"Kyokou, I really wish you hadn't come."

"Face it, Tsukie!" She said as if talking to a petulant child, and in a way still viewing him as such, much to his annoyance. "You wanted some of us to be here for you, didn't you? Don't act all tough; deep down underneath that tough macho act you put on, you're just as vulnerable as the next guy. Just admit it, Tsukie you're glad to see me."

As much as he wanted to deny it, a part of him was glad someone had shown up for him, and strangely enough he felt no longer alone despite his friends having been there.

"Alright, so I do appreciate you being here, but really now isn't the time to talk to me, I..."

"You're going to meet with Moka's folks, right? Yeah, I saw them come up in their 19th century carriage. So, that was Mr. Akashiya, eh?"

"It's Lord Shuzen, and yes that was her father, who thinks I'm a vampire and was never a human, which he hates. If you don't get out of here, I'm worried that..."

"Oh Tsukune!" A woman called out and smothered his face with a pair of large, pillow sized breasts spilling out of a flimsy blouse. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your graduation! How about you come to my room tonight and celebrate? I promise to make you happy that you've finally become a man. What do you say darling?"

"MOM!" Kurumu shouted. "Stop that!"

Ageha grinned and continued to smothering Tsukune with her chest. "What? I'm just giving him a graduation present."

"Uh, excuse me!" Kyokou shouted. "Could you please take my Tsukie's face out of your chest!"

"Move along dearie, he's my Tsukie now...and my daughter's, of course."

Kyokou was dumbfounded and Tsukune felt like melting into a puddle right there.

"Mom! That is his cousin! Show some respect!"

"Oh! Oh dear, I'm so sorry! Well, it is a pleasure to finally meet one of Tsukune's relatives."

"Ms. Kurono," Tsukune started to say after a long breath of fresh air.

"Honey, when are you going to stop being so formal and call me Ageha?" She corrected him.

"Ageha. Let me introduce you to my cousin, Kyokou."

"It's a...pleasure to meet you, Ms..."

"Ageha," she replied, "being that we're about to be family and all, real soon."

"Come again?" Kyokou asked, but the only response she received for her trouble was a face full of boob as Ageha brazenly plunges the girl's face in between her huge mounds.

"I am so happy to have such a cute neice in law, too!" Ageha squealed as she shook her about excitedly, smothering the girl all the while. "Oh, you're just like your cousin Tsukune, too!"

"Ahhh! Kyokou!" Tsukune screamed.

"MOTHER!" Kurumu yelled. "Let go of her!"

At last free, Kyokou stumbled about, looking dazed and frazzled that she was nearly smothered by another woman's bosom.

"I am so sorry, Kyokou," Kurumu apologized. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, no problem," a dazed Kyokou responded. "Um, is this...normal for you, Tsukie? I mean, an everyday kind of thing?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

"Now that that's out of the way; oh Tsukune," Kurumu cooed and aggressively grabbed his neck, burying his face into her bosom. "Yahoooo! We did it, Tsukune, we finally graduated, aren't you happy?"

Tsukune could only muffle a response as both a pleased Ageha, and a shocked Kyokou looked on. Suddenly, a judo chop to the back of her head caused the young succubus to release her hold and fall to the ground.

"OKAY, WHO'S THE WISE GUY!?" An irate Kurumu yelled, half expecting it to be either Mizore or Yukari.

"That would be me, you big breasted fool," Moka replied, standing before the angry succubus not in her happy, pink haired persona, but in her natural, silver haired and more imposing form.

"Moka?" said Tsukune.

"Hmph, you again," said Ageha.

"Why the sudden change?" He asked.

"Does my real form displease you?" She teasingly replied, hugging his neck and ready to bite it.

"N-No, it's just that you were Outer Moka a while ago."

"Yeah, her I can handle," Kurumu interjected. "What gives?"

"I wanted to see my intended mate in my natural form today, that's all. That tawdry little ceremony was for my alternate's behalf, and any way I thought I'd meet father in my original form before….

It was then that she noticed Kyokou standing nearby, who was pleased to see her, more so than Moka was.

"Moka?" Kyokou asked, looking confused. "Oh, that's right, you can change form whenever your seal is removed. Its Kyokou, Tsukie's cousin, remember me?"

"Yes I do, I didn't expect to see you here. Tsukune, what she doing here?"

"She sort of showed up, hehehe."

"Yeah, I wanted to see Tsukie's graduation," Kyokou replied, a bit taken aback by Moka's strange behavior.

"Tsukune, your cousin ought not to have come here, especially now, you know what's about to happen."

"I know."

"What?" Kurumu asked. "What's about to happen?"

"Yeah, Tsukie what's going on?"

Neither Tsukune nor Moka had time to explain as there was a stir in the nearby crowd.

"What is it?" Kyokou asked.

"I think her family has come to congratulate your Tsukune as well," Kurumu said quietly, up in guard.

Her family? Kyokou wondered as she looked on at the parting crowd.

Sure enough, as people parted it suddenly revealed a small knot of vampires approaching their way. The towering Lord Shuzen led the way with his family remaining one step behind him, appearing like an ominous procession to the human girl, while Tsukune and Moka stood stoically, side by side as though firmly ready for anything. As he came up to them he, opened his arms and embraced his daughter in a surprising show of affection.

"Congratulations on your graduation, Moka."

"Thank you father." Moka replied and gladly reciprocated the embrace.

After hugging his daughter he next faced Tsukune and surprised Kyokou when he embraced him, too. "And, congratulations to you to, my son."

"Son?" She quietly asked herself.

"Er, thank you my Lord," Tsukune responded.

Kyokou found it all rather awkward, as did Tsukune, but to him it was a vampire custom that he had learned to embrace, especially since he needed his would be father on his good side today. After that, of course Akasha went up and hugged both her daughter and son in law in a joyous, if not bone crushing hug.

"Oh, you have no idea how proud I am of the two of you!" She squealed.

"Th-Thanks, Akasha," Tsukune grimaced.

"Please, call me mother, Tsukune," she said, much to Ageha's chagrin.

"Oh right, mother."

"Don't I get a hug, too?" Kahlua stepped up next, arms held out.

"Kahlua, do please have some sense about you!" Gyokuro griped.

"Oh, come now, let the kids celebrate," Akasha argued. "It is a day of triumph for them, after all."

"Triumph? By graduating from this...wretched institution? Ha! If they want to act like a bunch of fools, then by all means."

"Thanks!" Kahlua cried and hugged Tsukune and Moka even tighter.

"Kokoa?" Akasha asked. "Would you care to congratulate your sister for completing her studies abroad?"

"Uhh, no," came her reply. "I, uh, agree with mother."

"Well, at least someone has some sense about them," Gyokuro said.

"My, they're certainly alot more friendly than I thought," Kyokou whispered to Kurumu.

"Hmph, don't believe it, it's all for show," she replied.

"Do I get a hug too brother, dear?" An all too familiar voice asked him, who tenderly held out her arms.

"No," Tsukune said flat out.

Ria crossed both hands over her heart and pouted like a child.

"Such harsh words, brother dear and all I wanted was to share my warmth with you. But, that's okay, you and I can commemorate your accomplishment much later, if you'd like?"

"Um, excuse me," Kyokou spoke up after noticing how uncomfortable Tsukune was getting, "I don't know what's going on, but I'm pretty sure whatever you want with Tsukie can wait as long as he says it should be, you know."

Ever since she showed up at their house and whisked her cousin away, Kyokou has always had a bad vibe from this Ria person. However, the bold stance she took in defense of Tsukune, only alerted them to her presence and inadvertently put more pressure on her cousin.

"And, what might this be?" Gyokuro asked.

"Uhhh..." was all Tsukune could utter.

"Oh me, oh my, well this is a surprise," Ria said with a hungry smile, as she sized up his cousin like a hungry animal. "I didn't think anyone from your household would bother showing up, brother dear."

"This person is from your household, Tsukune?" Issa asked, eyeing him curiously.

Oh god, he thought, noticing how Ria dangerously let it slip who she was.

"Uhh, well..." he tried to say.

"She smells nice," said Kahlua as she began sniffing Kyokou. "Like a human."

"Yes, this creature does reek of being a human," Gyokuro agreed.

"A human, well that's impossible," Ageha interjected. "No humans are supposed to be allowed within the confines of this school."

"And who might you be?" Gyokuro asked the succubus.

"I am Ageha Korono, mother of Kurumu Korono and the future mother in law of young Tsukune Aono!"

"Mama," Kurumu responded.

"That may be so, if I had my way, but since that isn't the case, why don't you save your little comedy act for another other time, grown monsters are talking."

"I beg your pardon."

"Mama!" Kurumu whispered, not wanting trouble from the vampire clan before them and worried about Tsukune's cousin. "There's been some misunderstanding; as my mother said no human has set foot on this campus and wouldn't dare show up here, now."

"So, are you calling me and my daughter liars, little one?"

Damn it, Kyokou! He thought frantically as he noticed a crowd of onlookers gathering around. I wish you hadn't come! Now, how am I going to keep you safe?

"Well?" Issa demanded.

"You see, my lord..."

"It will have to wait father, there is much that needs to be discussed with, father," Moka intervened, looking boldly into her father's eyes.

"Indeed we do," he replied. "But first, I'd like to know who this child is that would dare to address my Right-hand in so rude a conduct."

Frantically, as Kyokou realizes the spot she put herself, Tsukie and Moka in, she desperately tried to come up with some way to come out of this in one piece.

"Um, okay you got me! I am...uh, one of his human servants sent here to accompany my master, as...his...parents could not make it. Yeah."

"Is that a fact?" Issa asked, giving off one of the most intimidating stares she's ever seen; if he could see through the ruse, then she couldn't tell.

"So, brother dear," Ria said. "Do you normally allow your servants to speak so rudely to an S-class vampire or is your household more...liberal in dealing with humans?"

"No, I think she's just plain stupid, father," an annoyed Kokoa remarked, knowing full well who Kyokou really is and the folly she made in coming here.

Left with no choice, Kyokou did the noble thing of bowing humbly before the group and showing a desperate display of humility.

"Uh, please forgive me," she said, sweat pouring from her brow. "I...spoke out of turn; I only saw my master looking upset and tried to...protect him."

Moka sighed, shying away from this rather embarrassing spectacle, yet knowing just how stupid the Aono family can be in foolishly risking their lives against superior foes to protect someone who didn't really need it.

"Well, she is indeed quite stupid if she thought a vampire needed her protection," Gyokuro replied.

"Oh me, oh my, you have no idea. You wouldn't know anything about the folly of humans, would you Moka?"

"That's enough!" Tsukune yelled. "I won't have you talk to her like that!"

Almost all of the vampires looked at him with surprise, surprise that he'd stick up for a servant, a human servant no less.

"Awfully bold of you to defend a lowly, servant girl," Issa remarked.

"That's because…because she isn't my servant. Moka's right, there is much we need to discuss, and you know something, I'm actually kinda glad she's here, because I don't want to feel ashamed of the truth anymore, and besides I think it'll help make what I have to tell you a little easier."

"Tell me what?"

"Tsukune," Akasha whispered, yet offering a warm and encouraging smile.

"Tsukie stop, you don't have to do this," Kyokou whispered fearfully.

"No," Tsukune replied, more to himself than to his cousin. "This...this has to be done."

"Tsukune, no!" Kurumu whispered. "Moka, aren't you going to stop him?"

"Well, my son."

As he felt all eyes upon him, the sweat building about his brow, he began to worry more for Kyokou's safety than himself, and yet plowed forward anyway.

"I don't wish to be kept waiting, my patience wears thin," Lord Shuzen calmly, yet impatiently says.

"Yes, brother dear, do tell," Ria said with a huge smile, confident that he would not go through such a thing and risk himself or his cousin and even his entire family.

"Who is this girl?" Issa asked.

Tsukune gathered up his nerves, takes a deep breath, and says:

"...Her name is Kyokou Aono, she's my cousin from the human world, where my human family resides. I lied to you when I said I came from a vampire household; the fact is I never did, because I...was always a human before being turned by Moka."

The range of emotion varied, but all who heard seemed genuinely surprised; Ria certainly was, as was Moka who never imagined he'd do something like this, and even Ageha displayed some shock and appeared ready to faint. Akasha, on the other hand appeared pleased by his brave stance, while Gyokuro looked sick and ready to throw up.

Their conversation didn't seem too well confined though, as Tsukune could hear eavesdroppers gasp and soon word spread throughout the throng of students and visitors alike that Tsukune Aono and his cousin were both humans. Naturally everyone gripped at this news with fevered interest at one degree or another, not only at the knowledge that a human had been attending this school, but that he would so boldly proclaim it to a Vampire Lord, and all waited with baited breath at the possible consequences to come.

That little…Ria angrily thought to herself. What the hell does he think he's trying to pull?

"I knew it!" Out came a familiar voice, nearby. "I knew you were human the very first moment I laid eyes on you! Only now do you come forward with your admission."

Oh great! Kurumu thought with a panic as she saw the head of the Public Safety Commission and five tailed fox demon, Kyou standing nearby with his amber colored eyes a blaze, ready to pounce. That's just what we need.

"Tsukune!" Moka hissed. "What are you doing? Is this your plan?

"Tsukie," Kyokou whispered, fearfully clutching his arm, as he bravely placed himself in front of her like a shield, determined to protect her.

"Tsukune, what are you thinking, you fool!" Moka whispered. "Do you want to die?"

As scary as the situation was, Tsukune felt like he didn't have any other option, Ria had pushed him to his limit with all the threats and tortures, and now decided to take his chances; to either reason with Issa, which was monumental in of itself, or fight him off to protect his loved ones. Whatever the case, he was going to do everything in his power to protect the people he cared for, even if it cost him his life, and then Ria would have to find a new boy toy.

"Kyokou," he whispered, "if things start to get ugly, I want you to run toward the tunnel as fast as you can, I'll try to slow em down."

"What?"

"Well, my lord," he fearfully proclaimed, trying to be brave, yet quivering inside, "I-I've just admitted to deceiving you, you and everyone else here, hiding the fact that I was a human this whole time I was with your daughter right under your nose. What say you?"

"I'll tell you what I will do, boy!" Kyou barked as he walked menacingly forward, his fiery aura flaring up, wild with his anger. "Years of being made a fool of for trying to expose you, and now you'll pay!"

But, before the fox demon could even take a single action against him, Issa raised his hand, signaling him to stop and calmly smiled at the boy.

"So, I was wondering when you would finally come clean, son," he said, which took everyone by total surprise.

"W-What tha…you mean you knew this whole time?" Gyokuro yelled, shocked by her husband's flippant attitude.

"Did you?" Tsukune asked in obvious shock.

"Father?" Moka asked, just as shocked, if not as wary.

Akasha looked on at her husband with a shrewd smile, a smile which seemed to anger the lord's wife that the two were privy to such knowledge behind her back.

"I had my suspicions; talking with your headmaster about you, notwithstanding, of course he never said it outright that you were human, but I did suspect."

Tsukune stared at him with mouth agape.

"Come now, you really must give me more credit. I am the majority shareholder of a multi-national conglomerate and a being who has lived for more than a thousand years. You don't manage those things by being blind."

"So, now what?" Tsukune asked. "What are you going to do to me and my family?"

"Nothing."

"What?" Ria asked.

"You may relax, my son, I will take no action against you or your cousin here or even your entire family."

"What do you mean?" Gyokuro asked as her temper was livid with anger. "Husband, my lord, he has shamed you by keeping this secret and dared to sully our house, our very gene pool with his inferior genes; worse yet, was the fact that Moka knew full well and lied about it, and yet you will do nothing!"

"No, I will not. Did you think my words to be vain? I have already said that he's earned my respect and place as my son and heir and as a mate for my daughter; the fact that he used to be human and that his relatives are human is beside the point, I've named him my heir and I certainly am not going to let this or anything else deprive me of that. Of course, this will have to remain our secret and under my protection, unless anyone thinks otherwise."

Issa casts an eye in Kyou's direction, making the fox demon not so much afraid, but unwilling to challenge the vampire over someone like him.

"So, my family is…I mean, are you… are you going to hurt them?"

"If I were going to make an issue of it, I would have already. It does not mean I'm happy about being kept in the dark and under normal circumstances I might have taken offense, however you seem to have great promise and am eager to see where it leads to. Who knows, in a few centuries we may even laugh about it."

"Th-Thank you, my lord," Kyokou said, relieved that Tsukune was safe, but not half as relieved as he was in knowing that his family is safe.

"Wait father," Moka now spoke up. "What about Ria?"

"What about her?"

"Did you know that Ria also knew about Tsukune's secret and didn't tell you?"

Issa casts a glance at Ria, and suddenly the normally reserved, patient woman began to show signs of nervousness and fear.

"Don't be absurd," she argued. "How could I have been aware of this, I was just as much in the dark as the rest of us."

"I would certainly hope so, my lieutenant," he calmly says to her, remembering full well how he asked her what she knew about Tsukune's background, as did she.

"Well, she's lying father."

"How dare you say that to me!" Ria snapped. "What would you know, I've been ever faithful to my lord, you know nothing!"

"Ria!" He barked. "Do not same yourself here, not before my presence!"

Ria fell silent and all of a sudden every eye had shifted from Tsukune and were placed firmly upon her ever shrinking form, as she knew the jig was up. Ria knew Moka and Tsukune were about to tell her father everything she'd done behind his back and there was nothing to stop them.

"Oh, she's done more to shame you, father," Moka went on. "She's done plenty behind your back, without your very wishes, and contrary to what you just said here, today."

"Meaning?"

Moka cast a glance at Ria and it was one of victory and merciless determination, like she was about to stab her deeply with a rusty knife.

"What has she done?"

But, just as Moka was about to reply and end Ria, Tsukune suddenly spoke up:

"Permission to speak, my lord?"

"...You may speak."

Tsukune looked at Ria and then Moka, before returning to Issa.

"Don't be angry with Ria, please. I'm sure she didn't know anything at all about me or my family."

He could feel not only Moka staring at him incredulously, recognizing that this was their chance to remove Ria from their lives for good and that Tsukune was blowing it, but also knew Ria was staring at him with equal shock at his sudden defense of her.

"Tsukie?" Kyokou asked, equally confused as she was sure this Ria had personally come to their home and posed some unseen threat to her cousin.

"You defend her, my son?"

"I'm only telling you what I already know about her. That she is a loyal guardian of yours, who always, always acts in your best interests."

Tsukune then looked at Ria square in the eye, as he continued talking.

"If she knew anything at all about my human family, then I'm sure she'd have told you right away and would not do anything so...underhanded against your wishes."

Issa looks at his expectant son-in-law, and then back at Ria, who didn't take her eyes off of Tsukune, once, and a sort of cold, yet knowledgeable smile had shown as if he could read at what his son-in-law was doing.

"Well," Issa finally says, "how very shrewd of you, my son. It would appear you're already turning into fine addition to the family. Very well, I suppose that settles that, then. If there's nothing else, don't do anything I wouldn't, Tsukune. Good day, Ms. Aono."

"Umm, thanks...my lord," Kyokou said, acknowledging him with courtesy as he began to leave.

"Ohh, welcome to the family!" Kahlua squealed, squeezing Kyokou in a bearlike hug.

"Tsu-ki!"

"Issa..." Gyokuro started to say, but a glance from him told her that his stance was final, which didn't sit well with her at all and glared at Tsukune with murderous intent in her red eyes. "KAHLUA! Put that thing down and come! You too, Kokoa!"

"Bye," Kahlua said happily to a wobbly Kyokou and skipped away.

"Congratulations, Tsukune, I'm quite proud of you" Akasha happily said before leaving to join Issa, but her daughter was less than thrilled with him.

"Tsukune, what were you doing?" Moka asked, livid that he would defend Ria. "Are you insane! After everything she did to us, we had one chance to rid ourselves of her and you defend her?"

"Yeah, what gives, Tsukune?" Kurumu asked.

Walking up to him, Ria boldly approaches with a huge smile on her face like she'd scored a surprise win from the brink of defeat.

"Oh me, oh my, I would hate to admit it, but I'm inclined to agree with my sister; you must be insane. But, then again I have that way with men, maybe you simply hadn't had enough of me."

"That isn't true, is it?" Moka angrily accused, believing that may be the case.

"Oh me, oh my, don't be so hard on him, dear sister, he only wishes to help me. Isn't that right, Tsukune or is it Tsukie. Oh, you should've heard him the other night, saying such kind words of love and understanding in a rather weak, but noble attempt to win me over into his hapless little harem; it would've cute if it also wasn't so very, very stupid."

Both Moka and Kurumu looked at him with obvious surprise at this revelation, but Tsukune remained stoic in his stance and slowly smiled.

"Oh, I didn't do it for you," he said.

"Hmph, then why did you..."

"You see, like in chess I saw an opportunity and took it. But, being an avid chess player, I'm sure you knew that."

In their confusion, both Moka and Ria had only begun to fully realize that he had done something against her without even knowing it.

"What did you..." Ria began to say.

"I'll make this as clear as possible," he said. "I got you where I want you. If you do anything against me, Moka or my family and friends, I'll tell your father everything that you have done behind his back, and I mean everything; now I wonder how he'll take that bit of news?"

"You're blackmailing me?" Ria chuckled. "Oh me, oh my, now that is cute. But, after you'd just lied to protect me, I doubt..."

"You heard your father, I'm his heir and mate to Moka no matter what happens or is said, and that my family's secret is safe, I mean if he found out I lied to him all this time about being human and was okay with it, well...Bottom-line is, I'm immune, Moka is immune, Kyokou and the rest of my family are immune, you on the other hand? Well, just how is he going to take knowing that his own Right-hand was acting against his wishes? That you were undermining his 'interests'?"

Ria's expression took a more serious turn and she looked as though she would rip him in two, but Tsukune didn't seem too worried.

"Ah-ah, I wouldn't do anything against me, sister dear, father might not like it if you killed his one and only heir."

"Don't play with me, fool!" She laughed, dryly. "And, my position as his Right-hand is more secure than you would think, it'll take a lot for him to decide to remove me from his side and you can't hurt me."

Tsukune tilted his head slightly to the side, his gaze playful and innocent as he mockingly asked:

"Do you really believe that?"

Tried as she could, wanting to believe that this former human didn't have the backbone to follow up on his threats, let alone that would work at all, a sliver of doubt began to show in her eyes and she knew he could see it. She glanced over at her sister, and it was evident she could see it, too and smiled once more her malicious grin; it made Ria absolutely livid at this bizarre turn of events.

"You..." she growled.

"I wouldn't, if I were you, sister dear," Moka mocked. "You heard what my mate just said; father might not like it if you hurt his heir."

Helpless, and beside herself with anger, Ria was faced with the fact that she had no choice in the matter at all, but endure the unendurable: resign herself to defeat and put up with her sister's victory. It was inconceivable to her that this boy, this naive young man who she toyed with and thought could break to her will had all of a sudden concocted a scheme to blackmail her and actually succeed. Little did she know, she had underestimated him; for as he had to physically adapt to challenge Akua and Alucard, Tsukune once again had to adapt towards challenging another vastly superior foe, and while he couldn't defeat Ria in combat, he had defeated her through both tact and guile; traits he'd learned from her.

"Checkmate," he said with a smile.

Her anger being greater than Gyokuro's, Ria reluctantly storms off, unable to tolerate their presence any longer. With her gone, the mood seemed to change and everyone started talking with greater ease, patting Tsukune on the back and congratulating him, okay with the fact of his being a human.

"Tsukie, that was...wow," Kyokou said, surprised to see such a change in her cousin. "You really knew how to handle the situation."

"Tsukune, I'm so proud of you; yahoo!" Kurumu yelled, hugging him happily.

"Well, whether you're a human or not, I'm certainly glad my Kurumu picked you as a mate," Ageha said with a seductive smile.

"Hey Tsukune!" Yukari yelled. "My parents want to meet you!"

"Hands off, everyone!" Moka yelled. "He's mine!"

She yanked him away from Kurumu and a throng of curious people and had him snuggle firmly against her ample bosom.

"Isn't that right?" She asked, coyly.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, smiling as if floating in heaven.

"Tsukune!" Yukari yelled again, but no one heard her.

"Moka! Where do you come off taking my man!"

"Because he is my mate, for the last time!"

"No he isn't! You stole him from me, he's my mate and you know it!"

Kyokou smiled as she watched the two girls argue over Tsukune, who was caught blissfully in between, and for a while, at that time everything seemed so right. Even though he defeated Ria, he still felt a need to mend things and would later try one last time to win her over at their human wedding ceremony.

"Oh Tsukune," she said to him. "You are so naive. Even now, you still think that way."

His effort to mend fences with a woman who's very hatred for her sister has caused so much grief to him and everyone he knew, was perhaps only half-hearted when implemented and as he watched her walk away from the dance floor, a wave of relief washed over him that it was at least finally over. He and Moka were free of her machinations and now the two could live out their immortal lives together for all time to come; nothing seemed more perfect then, Tsukune thought he'd never have to see Ria again. And yet, he here was four years later riding in the back of a limo with her, after actually seeking her out after the so-called love of his life, who turned out to be every bit as worse as Ria had been, broke him severely and now he needed this same woman to deliver him from his "perfect" union. The irony, the disgusting bitterness of it all, was too much to bear as he silently sat on the far left side, looking aimlessly out at pitch blackness as they rode through a dark tunnel. He could feel her leering gaze upon him, just casually sitting on the far right and staring at him like a hungry vulture waiting patiently for something to die; he didn't need to look to see that she was smiling also.

"You know, brother dear, this looks familiar," she said, her soft voice breaking the heavy silence in the air. "It was over four years ago, am I right? Almost to the day, I believe. We were in this same position on our way back from a business meeting, it was a nice sunny morning and I felt refreshed. You were sitting in that very same spot, and I was way over here and I remember feeling lonely, so I tried to 'cozy' up to you, but you rejected me. Do...do you remember what you said to me on that day, you remember why you would not touch me? Do you remember the exact words you used to shun me away from you? Let's see, I know my memory is a bit fuzzy, but yes, I do believe, in fact I'm positive it went something like this: I don't compare to Moka. Yes, that's it, isn't it?"

Tsukune remained silent, but Ria continued.

"Well, you found out differently, didn't you? It would seem me and Moka are more alike than you realized, well when it comes to sleeping around with other men, of course I would never sleep with another man, much less a werewolf, for the inane reason of having his brood. In that regard we're different, so for you, me being unable to compare to your beloved Moka would be a good thing, am I right?"

Tsukune doesn't reply, but continues staring at the changing landscape, now out of the tunnel and driving along a seaside cliff. Annoyed, Ria then asks: "You know, I

think I'll take off all my clothes and masturbate a little, would that be okay with you?"

Again, Tsukune's silence permeated throughout the cabin from his still form, hunched up against the window, watching listlessly at passing trees, half wanting to see if he could recognize the very spot where he and Moka met, and half not wanting to. Seeing a challenge in trying to illicit a response, any kind of response from him, Ria began to see it as a little game and slides closer over to him where she playfully walks her fingers up his back, an act that caused him to tense up from her touch, yet Tsukune said nothing; he was in a state of shock and awe, everything having happened so fast that he barely had time enough to react and that, mixed with both shame and depression, left him too distraught to acknowledge anything that was going, so she could've light him on fire and it wouldn't phase him in the least.

I wish she could, came a rather forlorn thought, one that even in his state almost surprised him. Secretly, however, as he looked up at the night sky, he wished that every star would fall onto earth and wash away everything in one blazing inferno; that would've brought instant relief.

"Well, we should be nearing your precious Alma Mater, anyway," Ria said with a disappointed sigh. "I'm sure that'll make you happy, won't it?"

Nothing would've made him happy, that much he was sure of, not even upon seeing old friends.

While he suffered away in utter silence, elsewhere within the bowels of the dark, quiet school he approached, with its hallways devoid of all life, itself suddenly played host to a most peculiar moaning sound wafting through the air, both haunting and menacing in nature. The sounds zigzag around corners and up stairs, leading its way towards a series of rooms where, as the source drew near the sounds grew louder and more defined, taking on the form of someone in dire need of help. On the other side of one closed door was a person whom he or she moaned greatly in pain, the sounds plaintive, yet indiscernible and one could only ascertain that this person in danger had no way of calling out for help. Inside, however, nestled within a large chamber of witchcraft implements and artifacts, underneath a broad bedroom window laid the very person in "trouble". Lying on a bed of spikes was a young woman, whose porcelain skin became dotted underneath with red points of blood oozing out from around the spikes which pierced it, gently. Long, raven colored hair splayed all about her head in a small, dark pool while both eyes closed tightly, and demure lips constantly lets out a moan, giving the appearance that she was relaxing in some kind of spa-like atmosphere, were it not for the slabs constantly being pressed on top of her by living plant monsters.

"...More weight," she ordered, almost plaintively to the plants, which obliged. "Oooh, baby take it easy, don't lap it up too fast."

She wasn't able to look down and see, but she could tell that the tickling sensation she felt was the woman's own little, brown and white puppy still hungrily licking up the remnants of smooth peanut butter from around her toes; the part of her body where some it still remained, that is. Just as the mixture of both pain and tickling sensation was sending the woman to an indescribable level of euphoria, a sudden flash of light and smoke filled the room as another young, dark haired woman with a stack of books in her arms popped in from out of nowhere.

"Hey Ruby!" The woman yelled, causing Ruby to lose her balance and spilled all of the slabs all about as she tried to roll over, exposing her bloody butt and lying in an awkward position. "Ooops, did I interrupt one of your...?"

"Ugh, Yukari!" she replied, sore and embarrassed.

"Sorry. Hey, you!" Yukari called out to the little dog that wanted to happily greet her with a lick to her face. "And, how are you? You've been a good boy? Yes, you have! Oh, yes you have!"

Whereas the gypsy sorceress, Ruby Tohou hasn't changed much since Tsukune last saw her, he would be surprised to see just how kind the years have been for sweet, little Yukari Sendo. No longer the diminutive, younger classmen whose underdeveloped body was the source of constant jokes from more developed girls like Kurumu, as puberty had since assaulted her body with a vengeance, making up for the years of low self-esteem. The once precocious, young witch had blossomed into a talented, tall and sultry looking sorceress, whose once short dark locks now hung down to the small of her back, framing a pair of purplish colored eyes that had one time seemed adorable, but had become very enticing today to all who saw them. Her once underdeveloped body now sported a svelte figure, with long smooth legs, and a chest size that, while still not as large as Kurumu's, was plenty larger than either Moka's or Mizore's. It wasn't lost on her that she was hot, having already popped her cherry some time ago, and after enrolling in the newly constructed Yokai University nearby, worked part time by Ruby's side as an officer in the Public Safety Commission, often sporting a very tight fitting, black mini skirt and low cut halter top vest, which only accentuated Yukari's figure greatly. The one thing about that had remained the same however, was her trademark witch's hat, still adorning her head as it always had.

"Yukari, I thought you were going to be doing the rounds all night?" Ruby asked, wearily.

"I was, but I got some of the subordinates doing that for me. I went by the bookstore to get these; see, I found them the other day and, remembered we talked about conjuring up this spell, well I figured we can go shift through them now and finally create that thing we were talking about."

"What thing?"

"You know, that thing. The thing where we create the perfect man."

"'The perfect man'?"

"You know, perfect as in down there, hmm?" Yukari said, nodding down suggestively below herself with a wink. "Oh, and with a great personality of course, I mean, I figured 'why not', why wait til later when we can do this now, without anyone around to notice."

Ruby painfully gets back on her feet and after stretching her stiff, yet nude, pearly white body, tries to slip on her long black skirt and pink corset, wondering how exactly they ever came to that idea, as they had been talking about conjuring up many strange things for the last few years to pass time.

"Yukari, I can't believe you came all the way over here and shirked your duties, and interrupted my 'session' for this," Ruby replied.

"Well...why not, I was bored. Besides, if it was a 'session' you wanted, all you had to do was say so and I would've joined in."

"Yukari, I wanted to be by myself."

"Why? You know I can pleasure you better than any torture equipment could give you," Yukari said with a wry smile.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about," Ruby replied, trying to laugh it off, but to no avail.

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about. What I don't get is why you decided to cum without my special brand of magic."

Ruby's face turned red, hands shook as she fumbled with fixing her hair in the mirror, and could see Yukari's wry smile grow wider.

"Look...that was just...a-a one time deal, okay?" Ruby nervously responded.

"One time you I know you didn't forget, did ya?"

"Well...I…I had never done it before with a…girl."

"And?"

"And? Look, normally I wouldn't have, I mean there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, I just don't normally swing that way."

"Then why did you then, hmm?"

"I...I felt sorry for you okay, because you had just turned 18 and you were bummed that Tsukune and Moka didn't come to your birthday party so you can have your three-way with them, and so I wanted to cheer you up and...yeah, I wanted to cheer you up. I figured you wanted your birthday present to be about losing your virginity, so..."

"Yeah and I thank you for it, but there's a little more to it than that. You loved every minute of it, didn't you?"

"Yes, you were great."

"Great what?"

"What do you mean, what?"

"What did you call me, Ruby? Say it."

Her face turned even redder and she secretly wished Yukari would've forgotten that night or what she had called her in the throes of passion.

"C'mon Yukari, don't make me say it."

"I know you enjoyed it, because you called me a word that begins with the letter 'm' and ends with 'er'. Ring a bell?"

"Can we drop it, please? Change the subject, why don't you."

Yukari laughed and laughed at Ruby's predicament, but then became a little thoughtful as she began remembering the past.

"You know, I wish the gang would all get together again, like we used to," she said. "It just isn't any fun without them."

"Yeah, I know."

"I never thought I'd admit it, but I really miss Kurumu's constant, annoying jokes about my boobs. Man, if she could see me, now."

"I know what you mean, but remember you know she isn't allowed to return to Japan after that incident."

"Yeah..." Yukari replied with a somber reflection, and then her mind shifts over to Tsukune and Moka and their current whereabouts. "I wonder what Tsukune and Moka are doing now? Especially Tsukune, we could definitely use him for the experiment. I sure wish they would at least write to us, every now and then, it's like they've forgotten about us."

"Oh, I'm sure they got plenty on their plate right now, and are probably too busy to write."

"Still."

"You've got some friends over at the college, don't you? You're not completely alone."

"It's just not the same, besides most of them seem interested in my goodies than being my friend."

"I wonder what would make them think that," Ruby responded with veiled sarcasm as she thinks about all of the skimpy outfits she wears around campus.

"I dunno, but I know I still got you," Yukari said with a sigh, and then looks down at her dog and holds him in her arms. "And, you too."

Ruby smiled as she turns to look at all the framed photos of their friends sitting on her desk, reflecting on the times spent with them, especially of Tsukune, and even Moka, whom she herself would used to rival for Tsukune's affections with. One photo in particular stood out from the rest though, a rather artistic photo done by Gin on his last day at school portraying the silhouettes of Tsukune and Moka in a loving embrace. It was almost done by accident; he had been out trying to get one last lewd photo of the girls on campus when by chance he happened upon the two of them and, with the lighting too ideal to pass up, Gin took this shot with his last remaining film and wound up making it his best snap shot by far. Ruby hated to admit it, but she shared Yukari's longing and at times wished the gang would all come back together again for old time's shake.

Hmm, we had so many moments, so many adventures, she thought wistfully. I kinda wished Tsukune had chosen me, at least he'd still be...Nah, I shouldn't.

As much as it hurt to admit, even now, she had to acknowledge that he had made the right choice in Moka Akashiya. It was painfully obvious to everyone, from rival girls to casual observers that these two kids were right for each other and him proposing to her seemed like a breath of fresh air to everyone who's watched them grow up together at school and gone through so much hardships as a couple. Still, she wished it had been her Tsukune proposed to, if not for a romantic reasons, then just plain puppy love.

"Well, let's get going, Yukari," she said upon finishing one of her braids.

"Aw, more patrol duty? C'mon, it's after hours, nobody is going to come prowling around, let's chill for a bit and skim through these books."

"Yukari, when you signed up to be one of the Headmaster's servants, you agreed to perform all of the duties asked of you just like me. It's not all fun and games, you know."

"Yes, but this is ridiculous, nobody is gonna pop up and cause trouble around here."

Just then, they hear a tapping at the window and look up to see one of Ruby's ravens flapping eagerly to be let in.

"What is it, Poe?" Ruby asked it as lets in the creature and allows the bird to perch on her finger.

The two seemed to share some mental link that only Ruby could perform and Yukari secretly wished she could read the minds of animals.

"Well, what does he say?" She demanded impatiently.

She then noticed Ruby magically produce her hooked shaped wand, the ruby in its center glowing bright red, and three black wings magically sprouted from her back as the cheerful face of Yukari's friend took on a more serious tone.

"Go get the others," Ruby said, "it appears we've got company."

Out of the darkness, the black limousine came to a stop outside the school gates, its rectangular shape small before this massive monolith of a building and its turret gates.

"Oh me, oh my," Ria remarked as she and Tsukune stepped out and looked around, "and here I thought this place was pathetic, but I see it takes on a far better look at night. Too bad, it looks as though nobody's out to roll the red carpet for you."

"Thank you, Ria you've done enough," he said as he looked up at the shadowy building with tired eyes.

"My, the first thing you've said to me for the entire drive here, but seriously what am I supposed to do, just leave you here to curl up by the gate until someone finds you by morning."

"Thank you, Ria, you've done enough!" He said a little bit forcefully.

"Brother dear," she begins to say, walking around the car to be near him, "is this all there is of you now? Making random and rather rash decisions? Now is not the time to be flaky."

"No, now is the time to receive divine punishment for trespassing!" Came a voice from above, a voice and its threatening tone Tsukune seemed to know all too well, but before he could look up, both he and Ria found themselves assaulted by strong vines that popped out of nowhere and wrapped them up, tightly.

"W-What the hell is this?" Ria growled as the vines only grabbed a hold of her wrists and ankles, stretching her legs high up and leaving herself "exposed". "Whoever is responsible for this will pay dearly, I swear it!"

Seeing Ria in such a humiliating position, her face flushed with anger as her garter belt and panties were exposed as she dangled in a rather compromising position, Tsukune knew it could be only one person responsible. Upon looking up, silhouetted against a full moon was a woman in a long, flowing skirt hovering menacingly overhead on three sets of wings, a hooked shaped wand in her hand glowing red as she magically kept the vines under her control.

"Who are you and why have you come?" The woman asked.

Pretty soon, the gates opened up and a small army of black dressed men and women came flooding out, quickly surrounding them.

"Well, well, look what we have here," said Kyou, their leader as he calmly strolls out to meet and greet their nighttime guests. "What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a legend! A living, breathing miracle on two legs who, came to our school, uninvited of course and unwanted in spite of our 'no humans allowed' policy, and whom in spite of said law that those who dare cross this threshold be put to death, not only survived but managed to win the hearts of everyone here at this school, including a certain S-class monster that you may all be aware of, and now this miracle of the Headmaster's 'experiment' has foolishly returned, why, I have no idea, though I did vow to myself that I would guarantee his miraculous string of good luck would run out should he ever show his human face around here again; you must've thought you could creep in here unannounced and unnoticed, but I could smell your once human stink coming a mile away, Mr. Aono."

Instantly, the woman from above descended, and quickly pushed Kyou out of the way to come face to face with Tsukune, her large violet colored eyes widening with both shock and joy at who she had bagged.

"Tsukune?" Ruby asked. "Tsukune, is...is that you?"

"Ruby," he replied quietly.

"Excuse me!" Ria screamed. "You mind releasing us before this tender reunion becomes tear-filled one!"

Ruby quickly frees the two of them and happily rushes forward to give Tsukune the biggest hug she could give.

"Oh, Tsukune I'm so happy to see you, how you've been?"

Just the feel of a woman, any woman, with her frail arms wrapped lovingly about his worn figure, delicate fingers caressing his tired back in such a tender, heart-felt embrace after what he had been through affected him, deeply. It reminded him of whenever Moka would embrace him like that, before these dark times in their relationship, and it reminded Tsukune with great bitterness how it should be her receiving him this warmly, her showing that she cared this much, not casting him out and sleeping with another man.

"...Moka," he said through gritted teeth. "Damn it, Moka! Why?"

Ruby opened her eyes and stood back to look at him with open concern.

"Moka? Tsukune...?"

His gaze was averted from hers, and yet she could tell something was terribly wrong.

"Tsukune, is everything alright?" She asked him, and again it bothered him that he had to drive so many miles to find someone who would show this much concern for him, someone who was not the woman he married, and with this bitter irony apparent he tried desperately to fight back the tears that threatened to emerge.

"I'm sorry, witch," Ria interrupted. "Oh, who am I kidding, no I'm not sorry. Any who, my dear brother here didn't come all this way to pay a social visit, we actually have some business to conduct, so if you don't mind."

"Tsukune, why are you with her and where's Moka?" Ruby asked, looking around for her. "Is everything okay? Is Moka alright?"

"...Is the Headmaster available?" Tsukune finally answered.

"Tsukune."

"Is the Headmaster here!" He snapped, causing her to jump.

"Oh, I do hope its trouble you've come all this way for," said the fox demon. "You come here in the middle of the night with your vamp sister-in-law, making demands and being all around petulant, I must say that vampire wife of yours must've rubbed some of her high and mighty nature off on."

"Vamp? Oh me, oh my, I do believe we might have ourselves a fun filled evening after all, don't you agree brother dear? You were right, coming here was worth it, just what you need to forget my sister's transgressions against you."

"Transgressions?" Ruby asked. "Is...is this about Moka?"

Tsukune didn't answer, but only gave her an agitated look through a pair of reddening eyes that glistened in the darkness.

"...Kyou," she finally ordered. "Go summon the Headmaster, tell him Tsukune Aono and his...sister wish to see him, at once."

"You must be out of your mind!"

"Just do what I say, so we can get to the bottom of this."

Agitated, Kyou reluctantly does what he's told, leaving Tsukune to remain quietly rooted to the spot and wondering himself what might've changed this boy's demeanor. Soon, both Tsukune and Ria found themselves standing before the Headmaster inside his official chambers, the enigmatic priest sitting at his desk in his usual white, hooded robe which generally obscured all but an intimidating grin that typically greeted the young man; however, after being woken up and summoned before them there wasn't a grin on his face tonight as he seemed to foresee what was going on. Ruby however, stood silently behind his chair, watching Tsukune with great concern as she wondered what could've befallen him or Moka, for that matter.

"Well boy," he began, "I take it you didn't come all this way to say hi. Speak up!"

"My brother, here requests lodging for the time being while I take care of his affairs."

"Lodging?" The Headmaster asked, raising his eyebrow. "This isn't a five star resort, if you need someplace else to stay then I suggest you try one of those, instead."

"As much as it pains me to say to a...lower creature such as yourself, I must agree with you, but dear brother insisted I bring him here. You talk some sense into him."

The Headmaster took a long look at Tsukune, who stood silently as though he was half dead to the world, noting just how quiet he had been since seeing him for the first time in years.

"And, what pray tell might these affairs pertain towards?" The Headmaster asked, though it seemed he already knew the answer.

"Why securing a divorce from his beloved Moka."

"D-Divorce?" Ruby spoke out of turn, shocked and confused. "But, why? Tsukune, I don't understand, what's going on?"

Tsukune remained silent, but she noticed his jaw clench.

"Believe me, I'd love to spill all of the details," Ria interjected, "but my brother has had a rather long day and does need his rest."

"I see, so I guess being married to a vampire isn't turning out to be everything you hoped it would be," he said to him.

"Tsukune?" Ruby whispered.

"And, for how long will Mr. Aono be with us?" The Headmaster asked.

"As long as it takes, which shouldn't be too long. First I need to finalize divorce proceedings surrounding his sham of a human marriage, but in the meantime we will have to wait for my father to return from overseas; he'll need to annul their genuine marriage and that might take some time."

"I...I can't believe..." Ruby stammered.

"...You know there are penalties for coming here unannounced?" The Headmaster asked. "I like you, I really do. But, you're no longer a student here, you're a grown man and one whose connections could pose a threat to me and my students, I can't..."

"Headmaster," Tsukune finally speaks, his voice worn and tired, yet forceful, "you can put me in one of the underground holding cells until Ria comes for me, or do whatever, I don't care. But, I'm not going back, I'm not going back...so you do what you gotta do."

The two looked at one another quietly, the atmosphere unnerving especially for Ria, who was annoyed that a high class vampire like Tsukune would ask to be set up inside of a holding cell.

"That...that won't be necessary," Ruby speaks up. "He can room with me, I have plenty enough space."

"If you wish, he's all yours."

"Thankyou," Tsukune replies and as they leave, the Headmaster says to him:

"For what it's worth, young man, I am...sorry to see things not work out for you two. Whether anyone saw this coming or not, no one can say for sure, no one, just remember that."

Tsukune said nothing; he couldn't figure out what it meant, but was hardly in the right frame of mind to much less care and continued on following Ruby back to her chambers. The whole way there, Ruby didn't say a word, too stunned to find the right words and troubled by her former friend's disturbingly evasive demeanor.

"It's a little messy," she said upon entering her room. "You'll just...need to move these books around and then...well."

"Ugh, how...less than quaint," Ria remarked.

Tsukune walks about the room, noticing all of the strange artifacts and totems lying around, yet at the same time hardly seeing them at all.

"Sorry for the mess, as for sleeping arrangements, my bed is a king size, so we can both..."

"The couch will be fine," he said quietly.

"...Sure."

"Now that you're set up, brother, I think I'll take my..."

But, Ria had barely finished speaking when another witch suddenly popped into the room in a flash and immediately propelled herself onto Tsukune.

"TSUKUNE!" Yukari squealed, surprising him with a breast smother and hugging him tighter than Ruby had. "I can't believe it, we were just talking about you! How've you been? Oh, we gotta catch up...Oh! And, hey how do you like my breasts? I told you they'd grow."

When she didn't hear him make a reply, she jumps off and allows him to come up gasping for air, but wasn't anywhere near as happy to see her as she was of him.

"Tsukune?" She asked. "Oh, hey is Moka here? Did you guys come to vi..."

"Yukari, Tsukune has had a long day, maybe you shouldn't bother him with questions," says Ruby.

"Oh me, oh my, I've forgotten about your grab bag of female acquaintances, they must be lying around here somewhere, and here you've gotten another one without even trying."

"Hey, I know you," Yukari said to her. "You're Moka's older sister aren't you, Ria right?"

"...And, I'm supposed to know you?" She asked with little fanfare.

"I'm Yukari, her and Tsukune's friend, we met that day when we all came to your house."

"I hardly remember little trash like you."

"Huh? W-Well, I ain't so little anymore, as you can see!"

Yukari bunched up her sizeable bosom in a showy competition with the vampire's own, but Ria merely laughs her off.

"I'll be going, brother dear. Word of advice, when you go to meet father about this, don't come to him like you are now, because it'll really make your case look bad so try to remember that. Hey, why don't you use 'wonder bra' here for some quality time, that'll get your mind off of my sister for awhile."

"Sister?" Yukari asked. "Hey, what's she talking about? Is something going on between you and Moka? It is, isn't it?"

"Yukari, please," Ruby whispered to her, but the ever persistent witch wouldn't budge from finding the truth, no matter much an increasingly aggravated Tsukune wished.

"...I think I know what's going on," she said, prompting him to literally hold his breath and grow a little tense as he knew there was nothing that got past Yukari's meddlesome nose.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"I know what happened. You two had a fight, didn't you?"

Tsukune looked at her smiling face, beaming ever so innocently as he always remembered, but didn't dignify her question with an answer; nevertheless, she carried on without much care.

"Why else would you be crashing here without any luggage; did Moka kick you out? She did, didn't she? Tsukune, what did you do? Oh Tsukune, how could you?"

"Yukari," Ruby said.

"Whatever it was, I'm sure it's not that bad that you can't apologize for."

"Yukari."

"You should go apologize right now and ask her to forgive you, I'm sure she'll take you back if you just swallowed your male pride and say you're sorry. I'll even go with you and help smooth things between you two; who knows, maybe the three of us could..."

"Yukari!"

"What?"

"Would you please, stop! I don't think you understand."

"But, I'm only trying to help. You know Tsukune sometimes doesn't know his place, and it usually takes Moka to put him in his place. But, since you're here anyway, Tsukune, me and Ruby were wondering if you'd help us out with a little experiment we were discussing."

"Oh...oh this is too rich," Ria laughed uncontrollably. "...S-See ya around, brother, I hope you have fun, hahahaha!"

Tsukune didn't acknowledge her leaving or anyone else for that matter, as Yukari's words seemed to only twist the dagger already placed there by Moka even harder; he didn't want anyone else to know what was going on as it was far too humiliating and though he tried to hide it, Ruby could clearly see that the something that bothered him, was only made worse by Yukari's meddling.

My fault? He wondered. Is it really all my fault?

"I'll go see Ria off," Ruby said to him. "Yukari...Tsukune isn't feeling well, so...I'd appreciate it if you take it easy with him, okay?"

"Fine."

But, after Ruby reluctantly leaves the room, indicating clearly to Yukari that she too wanted to know what was troubling him just as much as she was, she takes it upon herself to find out.

Oh, Tsukune, she thought to herself. Being a man, and stubborn like all men, I bet. Let me go digging around your brain and see what the problem is, I might even call Moka and tell her he's here so that they can...

But, as she began digging around his thoughts, peering into his recent memories, her face suddenly turned pale and the color in her beautiful and youthful, purple eyes seemed to age as if the work of some dark spell. When Tsukune didn't hear a peep from her, he glances over at her and noticed the shocked look she was giving; it was then that he remembered Yukari had the ability to read minds.

"Oh dammit, Yukari!" He screamed, his cry reaching Ruby who immediately comes running in to find Yukari pressed against the wall, almost catatonic.

"Yukari, what's..."

"...I'm sorry," she wept. "I'm sorry, Tsukune! I...I only wanted to help, I didn't...I'm so sorry!"

She runs down the hall like a bat out of hell, leaving Ruby to glance at Tsukune, who was in a stunned and grim silence, before racing after her towards her room. There, she found the usually cheerful Yukari curled up in a ball on her bed, crying and shaking uncontrollably.

"Yukari," Ruby said to her, but the girl was unresponsive.

"It can't be true, it can't be," she heard her repeat again and again in some trance.

"Yukari, talk to me. Did…did you see something? What did you see? I know you read Tsukune's mind, you're bad about doing that, but I can't help you if you don't talk to me. Now, tell me what did you see, maybe I can help."

Slowly, Yukari rolls over to face Ruby, and Ruby was nearly shaken to find on her the same distraught look as was on Tsukune's face. The very mystery of what either one of them had witnessed and just how devastating it must've been put fear in the witch and a part of her almost didn't want to know, yet another insisted that whatever happened should be told as a friend for both their sakes.

"Is it Moka?" She warily asked and saw Yukari about to cry again. "Yukari, Yukari, please...please tell me...is she alright? Is Moka okay?"

"R-Ruby...you don't understand, Moka...it's not her, it can't be her, it's gotta be anyone but her!"

"Yukari!" Ruby snapped. "Talk to me, you're not making any sense. Now, calm down and start from the beginning, what happened?"

Yukari tried, with every fiber in her being to compose herself, to stop the tears and muster her thoughts enough to make some coherent narration of the events she witnessed for a curious Ruby. So, she told, detail by devastating detail of every sordid thing that was struck into his head, all that he had witnessed with his own eyes and ears, and by the time Yukari finished before another onslaught of tears came up, Ruby's mouth hung open in what could be described as a silent scream.

"Oh Ruby, this has got to be some kind of mistake! Moka wouldn't do something like this, she wouldn't be this cruel, maybe she's being forced...uh-uh, blackmail or something! Don't you think we ought to go talk to her, maybe she'll explain everything!"

"...No," Ruby replied after thinking hard on it.

"But..."

"Tsukune entrusted us to provide him with some shelter and support, obviously he's had a...a pretty rough night; if we confront Moka about this, she'll most likely know that he's here and I'm sure he wouldn't want that, right now. It's best we don't say anything."

"...This has to be a mistake," Yukari wept. "Moka wouldn't do this, not the Moka we know, not my Moka. This has got to be a mistake."

"I know, I know."

"Not my Moka, not my Moka," Yukari repeated as she plops her head onto her pillow, sobbing uncontrollably.

Unable to say anything comforting or do much of anything at all, Ruby quietly leaves the inconsolable girl to cry herself to sleep and walks slowly back to her room, mind asunder and a heart heavier than lead. Upon returning to her room, she finds Tsukune already curled up on her sofa, half asleep and quiet except for an occasional murmur Ruby could barely make out at first, until drawing near enough for her to faintly make out as what sounded like:

"I'm sorry," over and over again.

I'm sorry? She thought gloomily. Oh, Tsukune...

In a single night, a friend she hadn't seen in years had come back a changed man, and watched a cheerful young girl's world fall to pieces, with her along with it and it angered her to know there was very little she could do about it to alleviate either of their pain. She grabs a blanket from her bed and carefully drapes it about him, thinking this was the only thing she could do, however miniscule this gesture was after something like this. Ruby stood over by her desk, watching him sleep in agony, watching over him like a guardian angel, and wondering herself what could've happened to change everything so much this way. Before she knew either of them, Ruby was a hate-filled witch who despised humans and even killed many, while under the orders of her former master whom stoked the fires of such intolerance. Yet, she knew had it not been for both Tsukune and Moka, who showed her the error of her ways, she wouldn't be here today. So, it surprised her the same way Yukari felt, that the Moka she knew would do this, however what seemed shocking the most was not only the action committed, but the reasoning behind it. She knew Inner Moka carried with her such intolerance to anyone not a vampire, but that Outer Moka would go along with it, after all they had been through and the lessons learned, and as for Gin, Ruby always thought he was half-way decent, sure he had his flaws, but in spite of that he was a pretty okay guy; she never thought he'd do a thing like sleep with Tsukune's wife right in front of him and then laugh about it in his face. Nothing made any sense, all she knew was that two friends were hurting whereas two more, former friends seemed to be enjoying it, and there wasn't a single thing she could do. As she looked down at her desk though, seeing all of the photos of Moka and the gang, landing her eyes upon Gin's iconic photo, the one that she coveted as special and heartwarming, Ruby realized there was one more thing she could do, however small. She goes over, forcefully removes the picture from its frame and, dangling it over a waste basket, utters a spell that sets the abomination aflame, watching as the two loving silhouettes become slowly engulfed and disintegrate into the basket, its pieces falling down in yellowish ambers into the trash, in company with some of her own tears.

Elsewhere, the mood was even more somber at Ria's hide-away, as the guards there stood at attention outside two to a row while one badly injured guard, the one Moka had skewered stood in front alive but a little worse for wears, as their mistress paces back and forth before them. She had just left the tunnel leading to Yokai Academy when she received news of Moka's escape, making a bee line straight to this location where, upon arrival surveyed the damage her sister made during said escape, and yet remained strangely calm throughout it all.

"Now, let me get this straight, just so I hadn't missed anything," she began to say. "My darling sister, whom we've kept locked up below for the past four years, without incident, all of a sudden decides to bust out of her cage, evade all of your, waylays you, and jumps some 80 stories into a moat only to wind up missing, and managed to do all of this while her powers were sealed away and helpless?"

"I...I know how this must look, my mistress," the wounded guard said. "It...it surprised all of us, as well. She just...got stronger, I suppose."

"You suppose? Oh me, oh my."

"B-But, rest assured, I have men scouring the area as we speak and if she survived the fall, will bring her back in no time."

"No," she said.

"Ma'am?"

"I don't want her brought back alive, my little monkey. If she could do all of this in one night, then obviously she's too strong to be kept here, assuming she is alive, which would be a miracle in of itself, but then this is a night full of miracles, isn't it?" She chuckled. "Now, worst case scenario, she escaped and is out there lost and no doubt scared, and most likely on foot. She couldn't have gotten far and the nearest town would be where she'll likely go, maybe find a phone and call for help or maybe she crawled into one of the weeds and died, who knows. Whatever the case, I want you to find either her corpse or her alive and then make her into a corpse."

"But, she's your sister."

"She's a liability. I can't have her reaching either Tsukune or father and inform them of what has transpired here, I've worked long and hard to get what I want and now that everything is well within my grasp, I'm not about to let this set back ruin it."

"Well...you can rest assured, mistress, my men won't rest til she's been found."

"Oh me, oh my, I do believe you, truly I do. And, to help, allow me to give them the proper initiative they need."

In a flash, she eviscerates the guard and decapitates the first row in mere seconds, their blood splattering upon their comrades from behind, who remained standing in stoic perseverance, but were no doubt affected by her brutal display of "showing initiative" to her subordinates.

"Now that I've motivated you all," she says to the remaining men, "find her, I don't care how or how many of you it'll take to do so, just find her and let me know once she's dead, understand me?"

"Yes ma'am!" They all say in unison and begin dispersing into search patterns, eagerly taking to the field and carrying out their mistress's orders, while she stands by in utter frustration, agitated that what had been a good day would end badly for her as well, thanks once again to Moka.

"Moka," she muttered angrily.

Back at Yokai, Yukari wakes up in bed realizing she had been asleep for well over an hour. Groggy and disoriented, it didn't take her long to remember what had happened, and wondered if it had all been a bad dream.

It had to have been a dream, she thought to herself. Moka...

Determined, persistent and ever resourceful Yukari wanted desperately to get to the bottom of this despite Ruby's warning, and even though she didn't want to make things any more difficult for Tsukune, she had to know what was really going on. Rifling through the top drawer she finds the new crystal ball her mother gave for her eighteenth birthday and wastes no time in going into a meditative position on the bed, where she immediately recites an incantation spell.

"Oh spirits," she said, eyes closed and hands hovering over its smooth surface while nestled in-between her crossed legs, glowing brilliantly, "...show onto me the one named Moka Aono. Show onto me both woman...and beau."

She reopens her eyes, sensing the spell complete and watches the image she wants to see slowly come into view; and what she saw causes this 18 year old girl to wither away some eighty years.

Miles away, along a dark and lonely road, two highway patrolmen make their rounds on the outskirts of a nearby city, their shift nearly over.

"Hey, you see that?" The driver asked his partner.

"See what?"

Coming up into their headlights, they could see a strange figure walking awkwardly in the middle of the road. Slowing to a stop, they tried to make it out, but were unsure of what it was. At first glance it looked wet and hairy and they almost began to think it was some kind of monster or prankster. But, as the figure slowly stepped into the headlights, they could clearly see it was a naked woman, her long matted, pink hair draped completely over her face, creating the illusion of some hairy monster as she slowly walked aimlessly towards the car.

"Dispatch come in, this car 54, come in," the driver said over his radio.

"Car 54, this is dispatch, we read you," came the reply. "Report."

"Yeah, my partner and I are on Fujinee Road, south, and seem to have come across this woman in the middle of the road, she appears to be drugged; walking erratically, behaving strangely, undressed and completely nude. We're going to check it out, over."

Just then, the woman collapses onto the road in a heap, disappearing underneath their hood.

"Hold on, she just collapsed, may need to send a paramedics team to our location."

Jumping out of the car, they quickly jog to where she lay and shine a flash light on her.

"Miss, are you okay?" The driver asked as he checked her vitals.

"What's her condition?" His partner asked.

"There's a strong pulse, I think she's going to be okay."

Slowly, the girl regains consciousness and begins stirring.

"Hello, Miss, can you stand?" The driver asked. "Are you able to get up on your feet?"

Without needing to speak in reply, she slowly, yet wobbly stands on her feet and they gently help her to their car.

"You mind telling us what you're doing out here?"

The strange woman mumbles something incoherent, but otherwise remains silent as she had no idea where she was, her vision a little blurry.

"Scratch the paramedics dispatch. Looks like we'll be bringing her in to the station, over."

The partner reaches in the trunk and brings out a large blanket to drape around her. As her vision quickly returns however, she soon finds herself in the company of two, strange human males standing closer than she would've liked and shining a beam of light into her face.

"Ahh!" She screamed and began to struggle.

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy there, miss we're not trying to hurt you," the partner said as he tries to hold her down.

The woman was inconsolable, and finding her a little stronger than they thought, the officers had no choice but to have her handcuffed.

"Man!" The partner said. "I didn't think we'd have a work out tonight."

"Yeah, we better take her straight to the station. Maybe, they'll know what to do with her."

Terrified and confused, the girl curled up against the seat, watching fearfully at her human captors and wondering what they're going to do to her. When they finally brought her to the station she kicked and screamed all the way in, but found herself far too weak and unable to put up much of a fight as they led her to a small, square room with a table and chair, where they leave the frightened girl alone in. She could hear them talking outside, debating on whether it would be safe to put her in a cell with the other detainees, the thought of being caged up frightening her for some reason, and when the door opens three other men, accompanied by an overweight woman enter, in which she greets by crouching in the chair, and glaring at them like a frightened animal.

"It's alright," the woman said, slowly walking closer, "we're not going to hurt you, we're here to help. You must be hungry or thirsty, aren't you? Are you hungry or thirsty?"

Some refreshments did sound inviting to her and she nodded.

"Would you get her some coffee," she said to one of the men who disappears shortly after. "So, do you know what happened, how you got out there on the road?"

The woman remained silent and indignant.

"That's a pretty necklace you have," she said, pointing to a large, cross shaped rosary with a red jewel in its center attached to the choker around her neck. "Did someone give that to you for a present?"

Again, she remained silent.

"You were all wet and you looked like you'd been in a struggle. Did someone hurt you?"

The woman hoped to gain the girl's trust and get her to cooperate with them, but she remained sullen. Finally, one of the officers returns with a foam cup of steamy, hot coffee, its wafting clouds almost beckoning to the tired, worn out and shivering girl who carefully sips its hot contents, allowing it to gently relax her tensed body.

"There, that must be better, isn't it?" The woman asked. "Now, is someone missing you? Do you have friends or relatives out looking for you? Why don't you tell us your name."

The girl stopped drinking and looked up at the woman, a look of curiosity etched about her.

"Could you tell us your name? We'd really like to help, but you're gonna have to speak up, sooner or later. What is your name?"

Finally, her lips began to part and it looked to everyone present that this mystery girl would at last open up and tell them everything they were dying to know.

"I...dunno," the girl said in a pleasant sounding, yet frightened voice. "I...I can't remember."