Chapter 6

The Whispered Words of the Wolf

That day, the second since the battle with Mori Retsu and the second without news of Tsukune's recovery, passed with the same insufferable tedium for Moka and her friends. After a half-hearted attempt to work on the next issue of the Yokai Times, they chose to yield to their exhaustion and return to their rooms, seeking rest and silence to again go over the thoughts that had tormented each of them since that ill-fated struggle. It was obvious that the nightmares were taking their toll on each of them; all of the girls wore dark circles under their eyes and tended to lapse into absent-minded staring at inopportune moments. Yukari and Kokoa had admitted that their dreams were getting worse, and murmurs around the campus suggested that was true for many of the students. Even Ms. Nekonome had seemed dispirited, losing her place several times during her lessons.

Moka Akashiya felt particularly weakened. No only was she, like the others, feeling the full effects of sleep deprivation and constant worry over Tsukune's well-being, but there was the unpleasant fact of her biological needs, needs that had gone unsated since she had last seen Tsukune. Her thirst for his blood had only grown, becoming an incessant distraction and had no doubt played a role in her bouts of faintness. She knew that soon she would have to resort to transfusion bags, her meal of choice before she had met Tsukune, but even such pragmatic concerns had failed to penetrate the fog of worry and helplessness that had surrounded her since he had been taken from her.

"Hey." The calm greeting snapped Moka out of her reverie, and she turned to see Gin, her upperclassman and leader of the Newspaper Club, step around the corner of the dorms that she had been walking towards. "Want some company?" The handsome man flashed her a toothy smile, an expression that many girls would have found charming, assuming they didn't know the truth of his character.

"No thanks." Moka coldly turned her head and took another half-step before the obvious problem with the situation struck her. "H-Hey, these are the girls' dorms!"

"I know." Gin's silky tone and indifferent shrug showed he didn't intend to feign innocence. "But don't worry, you're the only one I came here for."

Moka knew that she shouldn't rise to his baiting, but her frayed nerves couldn't handle his lack of morality. "How could you! Tsukune's injured, we're in the middle of a crisis, and all you can think about is taking advantage of the situation. This is low, even for you, Gin."

When Moka advanced toward him angrily, Gin backed away a step, hands raised in nervous defense, his smile strained. "No, you've got me all wrong! I'm here for another reason, trust me." He stopped, all mirth sliding from his face. "I've been doing some research, y'see… It's about that Retsu guy."

"Mori Retsu? Please, tell me!" Moka implored him, eyes widening in hope.

"Listen, it's not that much, and it's all second-hand, but I trust my sources." Gin smiled in consolation, smoothing his dark hair back from his trademark headband. "I don't know if it will be any help, but…"

"Please, anything will be a relief at this point!"

Nodding, Gin placed his hand on the dorm's wall and leaned on it. "She – my source – said that Mori Retsu is something of a celebrity… he's mentioned in old stories, all the way back to the times of ancient Greece. He preyed upon the nightmares of humans back then, only to disappear and reappear centuries later, again and again. He had last been seen in the American West nearly a hundred years ago, but no one had heard anything of him since then."

"But… why would he come here, especially since he targets humans? And could it really be the same person, after all that time?"

Gin nodded reluctantly. "I had trouble believing it myself, until she told me that the story is that his soul is bound to an object, called a phylactery." Gin pronounced the word carefully, uncomfortable with the notion. "It seems that was what turned up here in Japan. Somehow the Headmaster ended up with it, and he decided to keep it in the vaults here at the Academy, under lock and key. He seemed to think it would be safer that way." Gin gave Moka a wry smile. "Guess not."

Moka's shudder had nothing to do with the chill wind that swept over the Academy. "He used his control over dreams to trick that girl into freeing him... but how did she make it into the sealed vaults, even under his control?"

"No one knows. I'm afraid he may have had outside help… it all seems a little too convenient, if y'know what I mean, especially considering the fact that he immediately went after you and the others. But, beyond that, I wasn't able to find out much else, not even what this 'phylactery' is supposed to look like." Gin shrugged, pushing away from the wall. "Oh. She told me his original name… if I can remember it."

"Oh, yeah, that's it. She said he was called Morpheus."

Moka nodded gravely, offering Gin a gentle smile of gratitude. "Thanks, Gin. I'm sure all of this will be a big help."

"Don't worry 'bout it." Gin turned to leave, waving casually over his shoulder. Before he took the first step, however, he hesitated, finally turning back to face her. Moka's eyes widened as she saw how uncharacteristically serious his expression was. "Hey…"

"Y-Yes?"

"I just wanted to say… I mean, I know I have an image to uphold and everything, but I wanted you to know that you girls aren't the only ones worried about Tsukune. Seems like everyone that knows him is. I didn't want to give you the wrong idea earlier." Gin scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, as he forced out his unexpected confession. "No offense, but I've given up on ya. You and Tsukune, I wish you only the best."

Blushing fiercely, Moka saved her hands in front of her. "No, we aren't… we haven't…" Gin's laughter only making her discomfort worse, she desperately tried to think of a way to change the topic. Suddenly, an ice-cold realization loomed in front of her. "Wait a second!" She stabbed an accusatory finger in his direction. "I see what you're up to! You're hoping that me and Tsukune will, will get together, and leave Kurumu and Mizore for you!"

Gin slumped, his hanging head hiding his shame. "Aw, geez. You gotta think that I'm the scum of the earth to think something like that." He deliberately ignored Moka's enthusiastic nodding, mulling over his next words. "You've got me all wrong. Those two… there's no way I'd go after them."

"What? But they've talked about how you trained them during the summer, and how you kept groping them and-"

"Well, yeah, of course." Gin shrugged indifferently. "I considered that a fair price to pay, all considered, and didn't it make them faster and better at dodging incoming attacks? But there's a line between a little appreciative contact and dating someone."

"Only you think that, Gin."

Gin smirked at her, but there was something cold in his eyes. "Sure, it will take some effort and time, but I'm sure my heart will be able to move on after you. Those two… I'm not going to spend the rest of my life being compared to Tsukune Aono. Come on, I'm not a second-place prize!" He saw the blossoming pain in her expression as she considered what he was implying, and pressed on. "When you get together with Tsukune, those two are your burden, not mine. There's plenty enough girls out there for me without going after someone that will never be happy enough with me."

When Moka didn't respond, he turned again to leave. "Anyways, I'm sure you've got plenty of time to worry about that. Worry about finding Mori Retsu, and then we can put this whole mess behind us for the time being. I'll keep in touch, and let you know if I find anything. Later!"

For a long time after Gin had left, Moka stood there, pondering her upperclassman's words. When she was with Tsukune, it was all too easy to focus upon him, to dream about what it would be like if they could become even closer, and occasionally she had even viewed her friends merely as rivals towards that end. When she thought about the price of winning, however, she couldn't help but regret what might happen. After all, she could barely imagine what it would feel like if Tsukune chose Kurumu or Mizore over her, and she knew that they undoubtedly felt the same way. She knew that if it were her, she would hate the other girl, even though she would try to be happy for their sake.

Shaking her head to clear those clinging worries, she turned to make her way to their dorms, starting with Mizore on the first floor. Like Gin had said, those things could wait, would have to wait. Defeating Mori Retsu and helping Tsukune recover were the only things that mattered now, and hopefully by sharing Gin's news with the other girls she could find a way to speed up their searching.

She needed Tsukune back. They all did.

Author's Note: Each of the key characters get to experience their nightmares in this story. I have one about it, and it's that the story will turn out to be what I've been referring to as a Cartesian Failure.

Several years ago, I worked on a paper about the Cartesian Circle, Renee Descartes' grand philosophical failing. Y'see, in order to find the big Truth behind everything, Descartes figured it would be smart to take everything apart, disprove everything, until he found the one thing he could be absolutely certain of (I think, therefore I am), and then worked his way back up. Turns out he was really damned good at the first part… not so good at the second. Sorta like a child that figures out how to take apart an alarm clock, but stares at the pieces and realizes that he really shouldn't have done that, afterwards.
This story is kinda like that. With characters so indecisive, with such a tragedy looming at the end of the series (I expect), I have to do an awful lot of disassembly if I want to create the progress I desire, yet still watch each component carefully so I KNOW where the bloody thing goes in the end. Thus, the worse things get, the greater the progress that can be achieved… I hope.

…Now, where does this piece go again? I don't even remember that one…

Anyways, its always darkest before the dawn, resolution requires conflict, etc., etc. Wish me luck in putting it all back together. I have the picture of what it's supposed to look like in the end, though I'm lacking an instruction manual. I never really want to use the stupid things, anyways.

Anyways, onto business, specifically the release schedule. Two chapters this time, and two more in a couple of days. Since I don't have to worry about finishing chapters in time to publish them, as I'm so far ahead, I can release at whatever pace I choose. Still, releasing a chapter a day (essentially, since it's two for two) is kinda fast, by my reckoning. Perhaps, once I get past the halfway point of Ch. 7 (which was a bloody nightmare to write, let me tell you), I'll slow things down a bit. After all, there's something of a balancing act that goes on with posting these: post too rarely, and my readers lose track of my story; post too frequently, and all the sooner my story shall sink further down in the list of this manga's fics, depriving me of the reviews I may attract closer to the top. And, let us be honest: while the writing itself is an uncontrollable burst of creative force, posting our writings is often motivated largely by the hopes of reviews, praise or criticism, hopefully in the proper ratio. On that note, to the three stalwart reviewers who have trudged through my work, I offer a grateful salute; domo arigato.