Despite having to stay up for the rest of the morning to manage Tsukune's dreams, Kurumu knew her tiredness wasn't due to lack of sleep.

Blocking most of her telepathic connection to Tsukune took considerable effort to maintain. Separate minds were no longer their natural state, thus blocking the connection was fighting Mother Nature in a way.

She had got up an hour after sunrise and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. The vampire sisters were the first to come down ten minutes later followed by Ruby, then Mizore, and finally Yukari.

Tsukune had woke between Moka and Kokoa coming down and Ruby, and had come out right as Mizore had appeared.

He gave them all warm smiles and pecks on the cheeks, much to Moka's subtle yet real annoyance. When he exchanged smiles and pecks with Kurumu she had returned it in kind.

He thought he was successfully deceiving her like he was the others, but they both knew his apparent good humor was all a gigantic façade. Moka, at least from the way she was looking at him with mild concern, also seemed to doubt his joviality was genuine.

After last night they all should plainly see now he was putting on an act for their benefit.

As Tsukune took the seat at the near end of the table that Moka had apparently just been warming for him until he arrived, Kurumu could already see a permanent seating pattern forming around this kitchen table after only the third meal here together.

Ruby, who had been in this house for months already, had set the first location around the table. She clearly liked the end of the table near the way to the water closet, garage, and Tsukune's bedroom suite.

After Moka and Ruby both insisted so, Tsukune took the opposite end of the table as the titular head of the household at yesterday's lunch, thus he now faced Ruby directly down the long side of the table.

It wasn't lost on Kurumu that Moka had already made a point of sitting in this same place whenever Tsukune wasn't in the room. She was both letting them all know who she thought was the top female in the house and also pointedly laying claim to ownership to the usual occupant of the chair as well.

The fact that even when Tsukune sat at the table Ruby had the next best seat from a prestige perspective and thus from an outsider's perspective might seem like the top woman of the house was apparently lost on Moka, who was more eager to sit next to him than in an apparent position of greater respect.

Kurumu then had made a point to claim the chair directly on Tsukune's right while Moka was seated in his chair, forcing her onto the bay window bench to his left once he sat down.

It was all silly really and didn't mean much in reality, but Kurumu was still proud she claimed the position on Tsukune's "good" side for herself.

On her own right and thus Ruby's left was where Mizore claimed her place.

Beside her sister on the bench, much to Yukari's obvious disappointment had become Kokoa's place, with Yukari on the other end of the bench between Kokoa and Ruby.

Three meals so far had resulted in the exact same seating arrangement, and Kurumu judged that as these things tend to go, it was probably all but permanent now.

After the meal, Tsukune had again awkwardly apologized for last night and the five girls that admitted their love for him freely stumbled all over each other to assure him it wasn't a big deal to varying degrees matching their personalities. The sixth girl at the table covered herself with sneers of derision for how the rest of them fawned sickeningly over him, except for her precious Onee-sama, of course.

"….um."

Her lips involuntarily curled into a frown when thinking of that particular person. She quickly and purposefully dismissed Kokoa from her mind.

When Kurumu mentioned to them that they had to head back to the store today for more food they all seemed dumbstruck.

The truth was that yesterday's shopping excursion had mostly netted personal and household hygiene products and semi-permeant foodstuffs like boxed and bagged food and spices.

She had underestimated the number of vegetables, fish, and meats she'd need, thinking she had enough for four days but realizing now she'd barely get two days out of those same amounts.

The rice alone needed to feed the seven of them for three meals a day was staggering. Lunch today would probably wipe out what remained of the four-kilogram bag they had bought just yesterday. With a week to go before school started back, she was tempted to tell them all, except for Tsukune of course, that during the school term they had to eat in the cafeteria.

She sat on the edge of her bed now with a pencil in hand and a pad on her lap, putting in all the items she knew they needed and checking it over for missing things.

They had agreed to go after lunch, but somehow her going with Tsukune and another of the girls had, after rather vigorous debate, turned into all six girls taking the Bus, and letting Tsukune stay home to rest.

She wasn't looking forward to the expedition now nearly as much as she had before, especially with the prospect of herding all those girls and trying to maintain control of the effort while Silver pretended to be in charge the whole time.

"Tsukune could use the rest though."

She heard the sound of a large riding lawn mower passing by their window then.

Tsukune had been almost as eager to try it out as the Continental.

When he was awake, distractions like cutting grass helped them both out tremendously. Even with a riding mower, the huge property would take three or more restful hours for him to complete.

If he had something to focus his mind own, thoughts of "her" stayed in the back of his mind, and that was good for both of them too.

When he was asleep, like taking a nap while they were out shopping, even from as far away as the moon so long as she was awake she could manage his dreams, but it wasn't as relaxing as him being successfully distracted by something else.

"Maybe I'll get him playing video games before we leave?"

She knew those were great distractions for him, much better than cutting grass. Fully emersed in a fantasy world, he'd not let his ailing mind wander.

She put the pad and pencil down and stretched her arms out over her head to yawn.

This drew the attention of Mizore, who had been perusing a webpage on her laptop while she sat at the desk they shared now. She took her cooling lollipop from her mouth before speaking.

"Made your list and checked it twice?"

Kurumu shot the mildly smirking yukionna a joyless smile before rolling her eyes.

"You should have tried to go back to sleep."

Mizore had correctly guessed earlier that Kurumu didn't go back to sleep that morning and had suggested she do so now.

Kurumu rejected that suggestion as the only thing possibly worse for blocking Tsukune's thoughts or her own than them both being asleep at the same time would be for her to fall asleep while he was awake. She'd have virtually no control over what he heard from her mind in that situation. It would have been better to just open the bond up fully herself then and deal with the fallout than to let the realization pour into his mind uncontrolled and have him totally unprepared for it.

She had brushed off Mizore's suggestion with another made-up excuse though.

She wasn't ready for Mizore to know the truth, not yet.

They both flinched suddenly and exchanged odd expressions when they heard the sounds of a knock, not on their door, but the wall behind the bed.

Before either could speak or move a sudden magical portal appeared in the same wall between the bed and the door. They both stood rapidly and braced for anything.

You could even see the wooden joists and the drywall that formed the wall there in the portal gap. You could also see into the Plum Room next door, whose occupants now stepped through the portal into their room.

"Knock! Knock!"

Yukari stepped through with her wand in hand and the star on the end glowing, indicating this magic portal was her creation. She proudly wore her trademark broad-brimmed conical witch hat now, which made her look even odder than usual as she had on a yellow logo t-shirt and purple jean shorts instead of her usual modified school uniform.

Stooping in behind her through the obviously Yukari-sized portal was an apologetic looking Ruby in her usual gothic attire.

"Please excuse us for intruding."

Her wand was also in her hand and the purple orb glowed as she motioned that end of the wand at the wall with the hallway door in it. The lock immediately closed and the wall glowed purple for a split second.

"A…barrier?"

Ruby turned back and nodded to Mizore's question.

"A one-dimensional panel sound barrier, actually."

Seeing the two confused expressions looking back at her Ruby was about to respond but Yukari beat her to it.

"Means that we can hear from our side but no one else can hear from our side."

Mizore's expression became more serious as she turned back to Ruby with an even more curious look now.

"Why do we need to go stealth?"

Ruby's eyes drifted down to an equal part angry and embarrassed looking Kurumu as she replied.

"I think it's best we limit those that know certain things for the time being, don't you agree Kurumu-chan?"

"Damn it! Not NOW!"

Kurumu bristled and grit her teeth as the curious expressions of Mizore and Yukari now fell on her for answers.

Ruby sat down beside Kurumu on the bed and spoke to her with great sympathy.

"He's distracted now, right? Like I said yesterday, it's best to jerk a bandage off, less pain that way."

She could feel Yukari and Mizore's curiosity turn to suspicion as their probing glares now bore into her. She briefly shot Ruby a very dirty expression. For her part, Ruby took Kurumu's obvious anger with her in stride.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Yukari's pointed question came with furrowed brows. Mizore stayed quiet now, but her attention was squarely on her roommate.

"Damn it, Ruby!"

Now she didn't really have a choice anymore. The other two would hound her till she told them the truth.

She took in a deep breath, held it for five full seconds, and then let out a frustrated sigh. Only then did she begin her story.

"You guys remember how Tsukune was while we all were in Reverse Hong Kong?"

Everyone gravely nodded. Yukari blurted out an emphatic confirmation.

"Do we ever!"

Tsukune had been so focused on rescuing Moka from Fairy-tail that he became like a machine. He was so dedicated to his mission he fought sleeping and even eating to try to have even more time to master his own emerging Yokai abilities.

He took grave risks too, especially with his own life.

"We remember how both of you were then."

Mizore's expression was blank but her eyes bore into Kurumu uncomfortably. Since taking Tsukune into Moka's mind had greatly disturbed Kurumu, because of the intensity of his love for her, she had come back and progressively fallen into deeper and deeper despair as Tsukune seemed totally focused only on Moka.

Kurumu felt like she was dying of a broken heart back then. Even now that she knew the whole truth of Tsukune's heart, the memory of that time and how she felt still stung just as fresh as it did then.

"Remember when he went off with Master Touhou Fuhai and he didn't tell us why, but then I had a bad premonition something was wrong."

Yukari cringed, remembering how near to death Tsukune had come.

"Of course! We found out Master Touhou was performing the Ninety-Nine Needles procedure on him!"

Mizore's unreadable expression continued as she recounted the details of that time.

"Yeah, you all said he went crazy and turned back into a ghoul. That Master Touhou thought the only option then was to put him out of his misery, but that you arrived in time and were able to reach his mind long enough for Master Touhou to apply the last needle."

Yukari seemed over her awkwardness about the troubling memories and confirmed the facts now as she understood them with a happy smile.

"Then he was all better after that! It's true! It's true!"

Mizore had a rather suspicious sounding addendum to add to Yukari's bright sounding words as her eyes still were locked onto the almost miserable looking succubus.

"And so were you."

Kurumu was avoiding direct eye contact with Mizore as Yukari blurted out her reassuring catchphrase once more, seemingly oblivious to the building tension in the room.

"It's true! It's true!"

"Right….."

Kurumu awkwardly wet her dry lips with her tongue as she struggled to find the best way to tell these two the whole truth now. Ruby, with a sympathetic smile, placed her right hand on Kurumu's left one and gave her a reassuring nod.

Kurumu took in another deep breath, and let her words out with the long exhale.

"You see though, I didn't have time to put my tail on him, so I….I reached his mind by the quickest way I could."

She was steadying herself for the next and toughest words for her to say, but in a calm and clear t,one Mizore saved her from having to say the words herself.

"So you kissed him, right?"

Kurumu and Ruby stared back at her in stunned silence. Then Yukari spoke up with a mildly stunned look on her own face.

"She kissed…Tsukune?"

There was nothing accusatory in Yukari's question or tone, but Kurumu immediately became defensive.

"It was….the only thing I could do to save him."

Ruby, however, was still focused on the toneless and expressionless Mizore with a slight grin of admiration showing on her face.

"You knew?"

Mizore shrugged before replying, without ever showing a drop of what she felt behind her no-mask-like face.

"Not for certain, until now. I suspected though. When they both came back fine at first I thought it was a done deal. Then we headed off after Moka and I then assumed the opposite, which was the mate of fate bond didn't take because Tsukune was obviously still all about Moka."

"Mate of fate…..bond?"

Yukari asked in a tone that perfectly matched her plain confusion, but Kurumu was looking at Mizore now with deep suspicions of her own.

"How do you know about that?"

Mizore calmly replied to Kurumu's brusk inquiry.

"Back in the day the current boys' dorm was the only dorm, they only built the girls' dorm about twelve years ago. Guys were on the bottom floors and girls on the top ones, and everyone had to share rooms with a roommate."

When Kurumu didn't seem to get the point, Mizore spelled it out for her.

"Guess who my mother's roommate was."

Kurumu still didn't get it at first, but then shock and amazement showed on her face.

"…mom?"

For the first time since before she mentioned the kiss, Mizore showed the slightest bit of emotion on her face. It was a tiny smirk.

"They may have been rivals for that guy's affection, Saizou's dad, but they spent a lot of time together being roommates and usually they were in the same classes too. Your mom told my mom a lot about succubi. When mom found out you were my rival for Tsukune's heart she told me everything your mother had told her. So yeah, I've heard all about the mate of fate bond."

The room went silent as Mizore's face again dissolved into an emotionless mask. Yukari still had a perplexed expression on her face and Kurumu seemed like she still couldn't believe their moms had actually been roommates, much less that her mom told a yukionna anything about being a succubus.

"So…I guess you won, right?"

Mizore's toneless, seemingly emotionless question pierced the silence that had descended over the room. Only those that had become used to her, like her three companions now, could understand how much anguish she was bottling up behind that expressionless face.

Her heart was breaking, and they all knew it. That's when Yukari began to understand and began to panic.

"Huh…..what do you mean she won? Won what?"

Ruby tensed as her eyes looked to her left at the younger witch whose face now looked more desperate than confused, but it was Mizore, again tonelessly, never taking her eyes off the sad but irritated looking succubus sitting on the bed, who answered the question for her.

"Tsukune, she's won Tuskune. The mate of fate bond is for life. By succubi rules, they're already husband and wife."

Yukari's eyes widened even more and her jaw slackened as Mizore's words struck her now fragile mind like a sledgehammer.

"Wait…..what?"

Yukari's eyes began to dart furiously back and forth between all three of her companions, apparently searching for someone to refute the dire claim Mizore had just made. The yukionna and the succubus never looked her way though, still focused solely on each other.

"Are you saying…..are you saying Tsukune-kun…they're married? That's not…..that's not….."

Yukari began to stumble back towards the door in disbelief. Ruby rose to try to comfort and reassure her but then suddenly realized Yukari still had her wand in hand as the star at its tip began to ominously glow.

Wands can read their masters' mental states and reflect it by activating. Younger witches like Yukari have an even harder time not letting their emotions seep into their wands by accident. Ruby knew Yukari didn't mean to threaten any of them, she had only panicked, the wand reacting to her agitated state.

Instead of walking toward her to comfort her as she had planned to do, Ruby retook her place calmly beside Kurumu on the end of the bed and smiled benignly to her young friend with a reassuring smile.

"Yukari-chan, please calm down and listen to the whole story before jumping to any conclusions."

It was only then that Yukari seemed to realize she had inadvertently active her wand. She immediately seemed deeply embarrassed and was about to apologize to Ruby, when Mizore threw more fuel on the fire.

"What else is there to listen to? It's a done deal now. The mate of fate bond is for life, till death literally do them part."

Her wand didn't reactive, but poor Yukari began to panic again.

"Death? Death! What does she mean...death?"

Ruby held up a palm slowly to Yukari and again spoke to her in a reassuring tone.

"Yukari…calm down. Focus."

As Yukari tried to master her raging emotions, Ruby also resisted the urge to send Mizore a dirty look of exasperation.

She knew the yukionna was also fighting her own internal conflicted emotions.

If any more evidence of this was needed, the desk, chair, and wall around her had begun to frost over.

"This is getting out of control."

Not for the first time did Ruby have to suppress the urge to sigh when she thought how difficult a task she had ahead of her, getting all these girls to stay focused on the ultimate goal and not to war amongst themselves.

Ruby quickly worked to regain the initiative before anyone did or said something they would later regret.

"That's not exactly the case this time. As usual, our Tsukune-kun seems to be an exception to many established rules."

Both Yukari and Mizore sent her strange looks then, but Mizore quickly put that expression on the miserable looking Kurumu for an answer.

"What's Ruby talking about?"

Kurumu looked like she was biting her lower lip in frustration now. When she finally spoke that frustration was obvious to see and hear.

"She's right, once again our Tsukune-kun just can't be normal at anything."

After another long and awkward pause, Kurumu realized they were all waiting on her and after an equally long and dramatic sigh, she began speaking once more in frustration.

"Did my mom tell yours what it was like to experience the call of the bond?"

After a brief look of confusion, Mizore shook her head from side to side. Kurumu sighed again and began explaining.

"Well, that was before…right."

Ruby noticed that Kurumu seemed distracted halfway through her statement, and rather abruptly forced herself to stop and redirect.

"Interesting."

"Succubi, like yukionna, are a single sex species. We depend on human or other Yokai males to breed with. We only birth other succubi though, thus no males at all, all our offspring are female succubi no matter the species of the husband."

Mizore's face had become placid again, but there was less hostility obvious behind her expression now.

"It's the same for us, yukionna I mean."

Kurumu nodded vaguely and continued. Yukari and Mizore both now focused on her words as if she'd tell them the secret of life at any moment.

"Where we differ is that while yukionna can generally fall in love with any male and have children with them, we can't."

This was something Ruby already knew, thanks to Oyakata-sama's book, and Mizore also clearly knew this too by her lack of amazement. Yukari though was obviously learning new and valuable info with each word from the succubus's lips. Her eyes widened with each statement.

"For each succubus, there's only a one in fifteen million chance of finding a compatible mate of fate to breed with."

Yukari could no longer contain her amazement when she heard this.

"But…..that's next to impossible. You might never find a mate of fate…..ever, at those odds."

Ruby, who fully knew how tired, distracted, angry, and exhausted Kurumu really was, decided she had best take some of the burdens off her friend when she could. She turned to answer Yukari's question.

"Mother Nature gives the succubus ways to compensate for this numbers complication though, right?"

Kurumu inhaled heavily before agreeing to that assessment.

"Yeah….."

Then she continued on with her explanation.

"When we reach puberty, we develop the ability to sense genetically compatible males. It's kind of like a sense of smell, but then it's also kind of like a telepathic sense. We wrap it all in mysticism and legends but at the end of the day, it's simple biology for us. We are biologically wired to find the right man with the right genes to mate with, otherwise, we can't produce daughters. I've never heard two succubi describe their experience the exact same way either."

Ruby threw in some more of her knowledge to give Kurumu a tiny break now.

"Oyakata-sama's book speculates that it's the pheromones of compatible males that succubi can detect. Of course there's been no scientific research on it to verify that hypothesis."

Kurumu vaguely shrugged to that, then wearily turned to ask Mizore a question.

"Did Tsurara-san ever say anything about a Near?"

After furrowing her brow in thought, Mizore again shook her head from side to side.

"A 'Near'? Not that I can remember being mentioned."

Kurumu nodded, then began to speak again.

"Mom might not have known about that back then, it was before…."

Ruby again noticed that as Kurumu was coming to the end of a statement she forcefully stopped herself and redirected. For the briefest moment, an indescribably painful look went over the succubus's features, but it was so brief Ruby couldn't be sure it was anything significant.

"Anyway. A Near is a man that at least partially is genetically compatible with a succubus. Before Tsukune, I had no way of knowing what it was like to detect your mate of fate outside of what my relatives told me of their own experiences, each sounding different from the other."

Kurumu readjusted herself and then began to speak again.

"My aunt couldn't resist my uncle at all, not that she would have tried to anyway. She tracked him down from his….'scent' and launched herself at him without them ever having said a word to each other. They learned each other's names with all the other info transmitted by the first kiss through the bond."

"Wait a second…"

Yukari again had a stunned expression on her face as she asked her obviously burning question.

"You have a telepathic link….TO TSUKUNE?"

Ruby stepped in before Yuakri could get sidetracked again.

"Yes, she does Yukari-chan…."

Now Yukari's eyes bulged so much Ruby thought they might fall to the floor at any moment. The excited young witch began to stammer out her next question.

"But that's….."

"AND…we'll get to that in a minute."

Yukari was about to protest but Ruby's calm smile forced her to back down, with the promise that answers were forthcoming enough to sate her intense curiosity for the moment.

"Please Kurumu-chan, continue."

Kurumu wearily nodded to Ruby.

"Right….."

Then she began again.

"For my grandmother…."

She paused here again, but the look on her face this time was obvious to judge because she clearly felt some awkwardness over mentioning her grandmother. She all but confirmed that awkwardness with her next statement.

"Let's say, there were complicating factors, but she managed to hold out on kissing my grandfather for a few weeks."

Having something to now compare it to, Ruby deduced the common theme to her other two awkward pauses. She also realized then that Kurumu had talked about her aunt's experience, and now her grandmother.

"Still no mention of her own mother's experience though."

Was it not natural to talk about your own parents' similar experience first? Why go to the aunt and uncle first, then the grandparents, while still skipping her own parents?

The two awkward pauses before had been when she was seemingly about to talk about Ageha's own situation, but she forced herself to stop. Now she's ignoring her mother's experience in favor of her aunt and grandmother?

"Why?"

Ruby tucked that away for later analysis and refocused on Kurumu's words.

"And how they knew the particular men we're their mates of fate all were different too, so when I first met Tsukune-kun, I assumed right away he was my mate of fate because I sensed it and to me it was more than powerful enough, but as time went on without kissing him I began to doubt it all because even though I desired him greatly, I shouldn't have been able to hold out as I did for months, according to all the stories I had heard. So I started to get confused by my strange ability to hold out. No succubus I have ever heard of went as long as I did."

She again wet her lips before continuing.

"When I brought it up to my super-g-ma….."

"You're what?"

Yukari asked the question, but Ruby and Mizore both had never heard that term before and directed curious gazes toward Kurumu. Kurumu also looked confused, but by their reactions.

"Super-g-ma…..oh right! My great-great-grandmother…"

Mizore and Ruby instantly understood it was a short-hand way to avoid having to say "great" over and over again, but Yukari was astonished by Kurumu's answer.

"YOU'RE GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER? SHE'S ALIVE?"

Kurumu sent the younger witch a dirty look as if she were insulting her super-g-ma. Ruby wanted to clear the air quickly between them by resolving Yukari's confuse.

"Succubi live fairly long lives Yukari-chan. It's not unusual for there to be seven, eight, or even nine living generations at a time."

Yukari instantly realized her mistake, since she already knew about long-lived species like this, vampires being a great example of a very long-lived species too.

"OH! Oh, right, sorry."

Kurumu still twisted her lip up at the youngest person in the room but was apparently satisfied enough with the apology to continue without comment.

"When I finally brought it up to her she said Tsukune was probably a Near for me. Really all mates of fate are actually Nears to some varying degree. My uncle was clearly nearer a hundred percent compatible for my aunt while my grandfather was slightly less for my grandmother, and thus reflected by her ability to resist kissing him for longer."

Ruby tried not to show that she was thinking of something else while she listened.

"Again, no mention of Ageha, or her….FATHER."

It then struck Ruby that Kurumu, nor her mother, had ever mentioned her father before. At least not that Ruby knew of. True, today was the first time she had mentioned having an aunt and grandmother….and super-g-ma, but still, a father was something a child usually wouldn't skip mentioning for nearly two years to her friends."

"And he obviously is Ageha's mate of fate too, but where is he? And why has Kurumu never mentioned her own father before?"

Yukari's next question brought her mind back to the topic at hand.

"So kissing seals the bond?"

Ruby decided this was another great time for Kurumu to have a mini-break and answered for her instead.

"Yes, the transfer of bodily fluids between compatible individuals allows their minds to synchronize, opening the bond between them to telepathically communicate. The actual science behind it is unknown and they're probably is a huge component of magic that makes it possible too."

It was only then she saw Kurumu sending her a strange look and began to wonder if she were stepping on her friend's toes instead of helping.

"According to Oyakata-sama's notes…sorry."

After Ruby's meek and recalcitrant sounding statement addendum, Kurumu's expression softened.

"Sounds about right."

It was Mizore's turn to again ask Kurumu a question.

"So Tsukune-kun was more like a fifty/fifty Near?"

Kurumu twisted her lips briefly before affirming her friend's assessment.

"Probably. My super-g-ma said the best way to find out was to kiss him. She couldn't understand why I hadn't already. We'd either both bond and be mates of fate for life…or…."

The look of remembered fear and dread on her face was easy for everyone that witnessed it to understand. They all had the same fears where Tsukune was concerned because they all wanted the same things from him.

"That's why you didn't kiss him though, right? The 'or' part?"

Kurumu didn't directly answer Mizore's next question, because they all already knew it was the truth.

"It's very hard to find a mate of fate, given the numbers, that's obvious, but by that point, I….."

Again her remembered dread shown on her face. Ruby threw a warm arm around her friend's shoulders and gave a smile to the sad looking succubus.

"You didn't want to know because you were already in love with him, but if you kissed him and he wasn't your mate of fate you'd have to move on from him."

Kurumu sent her a sad expression back, then turned away to sadly nod confirmation.

"Yeah…"

Mizore asked another question then.

"Then….after Moka gave him her blood, things began to change, right?"

"Huh, how so?"

Yukari seemed confused by the meaning behind Mizore's question, but Kurumu now explained it for all of them.

"It became…..more difficult, to resist him."

Yukari instantly had a Eureka moment then.

"So Moka's blood…..changed Tsukune, making him even MORE compatible to be your mate of fate?"

Ruby felt now that it was safe to again answer for Kurumu and did so.

"That's probably why Kurumu was having an even tougher time dealing with Tsukune's dedication towards Moka while we were in Reverse Hong Kong."

Kurumu gave a small shrug then agreed.

"As good of a guess as I can come up with for it."

After a pause of a few seconds, she began speaking again.

"When I did finally kiss him, we both immediately passed out because of both of our extreme mental and physical conditions at the time. When I woke, I couldn't sense him at first, but I did feel a lot better, so I just assumed…"

Again her remembered sadness showed on her face as if it were fresh in her heart. Mizore finished her statement for her with a sympathetic look on her face.

"…it was over?"

After exchanging a long look of understanding with the yukionna, Kurumu nodded and continued.

"Of course, we all immediately went on the mission to rescue Moka in the Hanging Garden, and with all our lives constantly on the line…I guess neither of us had time to rest long enough to let our minds wander and find each other."

That memory too seemed to cause her pain, but Mizore's next statement brightened Kurumu up a bit.

"But in the Hanging Garden, you were always able to find Tsukune-kun no matter where he was though."

She took in a deep breath then, before speaking.

"I…suppose so."

"And he, you as well."

Hearing that from Ruby seemed to raise her spirits even more.

"Yeah, it was probably the bond, but we were all too distracted to focus on anything but the threats in our immediate faces at the time."

She nodded more to herself than to them and went on.

"It wasn't till we had left Minato Mirai, and things calmed down a lot, that it finally dawned on me that I could sense his emotions and even strong thoughts. It was on the Bus ride home that I fully figured it all out."

"That's when the two of you started finishing each other's statements."

Even Yukari seemed to notice how in sync the two had been for the last two day.

"And that's when you began suppressing the bond, right?"

Ruby's statement was needed for the group's clarity, but it still made Kurumu slightly more depressed. Seeing her deflate, Ruby regretted that she had to point that fact out.

"Suppressing it? Why would you do that?"

Kurumu sent Yukari and incredulous look as if what she had asked was completely stupid and thoughtless. Luckily she didn't transmit that feeling to her tone as she answered.

"Think about what Tsukune has been through the last few days."

Yukari was a very smart young woman and immediately got Kurumu's point.

"Oh….oh."

Yukari looked sad and mortified to have been so obtuse just then, but Kurumu swiftly moved on to another point behind her suppressing the bond with Tsukune.

"That's not all though. Remember Ruby mentioned earlier that this bond was different?"

Mizore asked her to explain.

"How so?"

Kurumu looked like she were about to answer but also looked like she suddenly felt pain in her head. Her hands immediately rubbed at her temples and she tightly closed her eyes.

Ruby still heard the distant sound of the lawn mower so she ruled out something happening directly with Tsukune as the cause behind Kurumu's sudden discomfort.

She was about to ask her what was wrong when Kurumu spoke out first.

"I need…to relax for a bit. Can you take over?"

Kurumu's back was already on the mattress before Ruby could even reply.

"Yes, if you'll correct me when I am wrong."

A mildly irritated head nod confirmed she could listen and correct, then Ruby took over the story for her.

"So, Kurumu-chan still felt Tsukune-kun's deep love for Moka-san…..and Moka-chan, even after she sealed the bond with him."

Mizore asked a confused sounding question then with her brows deeply furrowed.

"That's not normal. Mom said that Ageha-san told her that when a mate of fate bond is sealed, even with another woman's husband, that he can never love any woman again but his succubus."

Ruby nodded to her as she continued.

"And according to Kurumu-chan and Oyakata-sama's book that has always been the case, until now."

Yukari snickered then and covered her laughter with the back of her hand as she smirked down past Ruby to where Kurumu was still rubbing at her temples.

"Hehe! A whole race of happy home wreckers, hehe! Not surprising at all!"

This elicited a brief death stare from Kurumu, before she again closed her eyes and refocused on relieving her pain and weariness.

"Tsukune-kun…..is different though?"

Ruby nodded again to Mizore as she answered.

"He shouldn't have had eyes for anyone but Kurumu-chan after their kiss, but she could feel his deep love for Moka-san, both of them, and yes, it was romantic love he held for them that she felt."

Mizore's eyes finally widened at this news, but it was Yukari that had the next question.

"What about his feelings for Kurumu, though?"

Kurumu then let out a frustrated sigh before speaking.

"Yes, he is also deeply in love with me too."

She never opened her eyes and continued to rub at her temples as she answered.

"That…..should not be possible."

Kurumu sat up now and smirked back with irritation towards Mizore.

"HA! Tell me about it!"

Then she began to descend into a potential tirade on the topic.

"He's always got to be the exception though! DOESN'T HE?"

Ruby put a reassuring arm around her agitated companion again.

"Focus on suppressing your bond Kurumu-chan. Getting upset with him will only make it harder."

After a brief look of irritation for Ruby, Kurumu again closed her eyes and focused on taking steady, deep breaths.

Yukari still didn't seem like she completely understood what was going on though.

"So he's in love with Moka-chan, and Moka-san, AND Kurumu?"

Always far too blunt, Yukari got straight to the point. Mizore also slightly leaned in, a clear indication of her interest in the answer. Ruby's awkward look was all the indication anyone seeing her now would need to know that she didn't feel conformable answering this one.

"Go on!"

The terse reply from her right was the permission she needed to provide the other two in the room the answer.

"Tsukune's probably able to do this...be in love with multiple women besides Kurumu...because he's a shinso."

Yukari and Mizore's eyes widened again and they exchanged brief glances before refocusing on Ruby. Kurumu, eyes still closed tight, endorsed this guess with her own supporting statement.

"There's never been a mate of fate bond between a succubus and a vampire. Believe me, I would have heard that story if it had ever happened. We are a race of professional gossipers."

Ruby took the pause as an indicator to take over again and did so.

"Needless to say that there has never been a mate of fate bond between a succubus and a shinso before either since only four shinso have ever been known to exist."

Yukari twisted up her lips before speaking with another incredulous expression on her face.

"So it's just an educated guess, but it has a high probability to be true?"

Ruby nodded to her, but it was Mizore that had something to add to the point now.

"Well, he already has no normal vampire weaknesses like water or needing to drink blood, at least for the moment. If he can resist vampire weaknesses then succubus issues probably can be resisted too."

Kurumu let out a slightly irritated sound at this, but when she didn't speak Ruby did.

"My speculation is that his ability to be in love with more than one of us was a 'pre-existing condition' that because of his shinso powers, succubi genetics and magic couldn't overcome it."

Kurumu was the first to pick up on what Ruby had just revealed and let out a low growl.

"Errrrrrrr."

It might have slipped pass the other two girls for a while had she not growled, but Yukari then took in a sharp sounding inhale, before suddenly speaking out in excitement.

"Wait just a second….."

"Errrrrrrrrrrrrr."

Kurumu's next growl interrupted Yukari, but made Mizore's eyes now bulge wide in her slender face.

"Did you just say…"

"Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

By this last growl, Kurumu's angry eyes were open and glaring back and forth at the two of them, but they didn't see her at all now.

Both had stunned open mouths that bees could safely make hives inside of without fear of closure.

Both had now understood what Ruby had meant when said "his ability to be in love with more than one of….US."

"YES!"

Kurumu's angry pronouncement made Ruby glad again for the sound barrier covering the room's inner wall. Moka and Kokoa would both have heard this shout and come running otherwise.

"DAMN IT! YES!"

She angrily crossed her arms and stewed in anger as she let out all her pent up frustrations.

"HE'S DAMN-WELL IN LOVE WITH ME! AND YOU! AND YOU! AND THAT SILVER-HAIRED HUSSY OUT THERE TOO!"

Finally, she seemed to have released most of it from her system and only mildly nodded with irritation towards the still completely stunned Yukari.

"….even YOU. Though your age is still a big mental speedbump for him…..FOR NOW!"

"He's…..he's in love with….me?"

Kurumu's anger was palpable as the young witch looked like she had entered a state of Nirvana.

"…..YES!"

That angry answer finally made Yukari's head turn in Kurumu's direction, but her eyes were still glazed over in shock, reflected by her next disbelieving question.

"Are you certain? I mean…."

Kurumu was near her breaking point and replied in anger.

"OF COURSE, I'M CERTAIN!"

Kurumu blurted out in supreme frustration as her anger continued to rolled off her tongue.

"What possible advantage to me could there be to lie about you or the rest having a piece of my Tsukune's…"

Ruby tightened her arm around Kurumu and leaned in to whisper gently into her ear.

"Relax, breath, focus."

As she tried to steady herself the room had gone quiet. Mizore had also been strangely quiet for some time now, but it was only now they noticed. She seemed to be mumbling to herself with an unreadable expression on her face. They even began to lean in to try to hear her words.

Then they could finally hear her words.

"He…..loves me. He's…..IN LOVE…with…..me?"

Kurumu just barely avoided another growl and then sent the yukionna and sneering and sarcastic retort.

"You just going to ignore the fact he's in love with the rest of us too? Must be nice!"

From her left, Yukari, still not believing what she had heard, managed to get Kurumu's rage refocused on her.

"So…he's…..with me…too?"

"…..YES!"

Yukari ignored her anger and began to inquire further on the topic.

"But my age is…"

Kurumu nearly growled at her now.

"Look! You're twelve. What he feels for you…..HELL! What he feels for all of us is…"

As Kurumu began to falter on the right way to respond, Ruby had a quick guess to support her with.

"Very complicated?"

Kurumu sighed heavily and hung her head down despondently as she began to reply.

"…..yeah, complicated as….."

Ruby saw the signs of another tirade developing and quickly moved to snap it off before it began.

"So, one of the complications for his feelings for Yukari-chan is her age, which is understandable since you are only twelve."

Yukari still seemed dazed by it all. For that matter so did Mizore. Yukari still seemed in disbelief though.

"But he's in love with ME? RIGHT?"

"I DAMN WELL ALREADY…"

Ruby gently tugged the suddenly bolting Kurumu back down into her arm-hold as she responded to Yukari.

"Yes, Yukari-chan. Kurumu-chan has already said so."

Yukari's eyes began to glow, the haze of amazement and doubt finally lifting from them. Her lips curled upward and then she began to laugh.

"Ha…Haha…..HAHA! HAHAHAHAH! YESS! YES! YES!"

Yukari was celebrating a victory of epic proportions for her. Ruby understood, but the tight and angry coil of succubus beside her was barely containing her urge to pummel the poor little witch to death.

"And this is why I put up that sound barrier."

Mizore, who had turned back to face her laptop and away from the others was feeling at her face with her hands as if she were stuck in an alien body she didn't recognize. She still seemed dazed by it all, but the glow in her eyes and the beaming smile on her face were radiant to behold as she mumbled over and over again.

"He loves me. He loves me. Tsukune-kun loves me."

Suddenly Kurumu let out another cry and again forced her eyes closed, balling her fists up next to her temples.

"AWWWWWW!"

All three of her companions now leaned in toward her in concern, Yukari spoke up for all of them then.

"It…causes you pain? His love for us? Like what happened over Moka in Reverse Hong Kong."

Kurumu slowly opened her eyes and moved her head from side to side, still in obvious discomfort with her fists still pressing into the sides of her skull.

"IT CAUSES ME A LOT OF FRUSTRATION!"

"Kurumu-chan….."

Ruby was still concerned for her, but Kurumu finally lowered her fists and spoke to them then in a forced calm voice.

"No….it's not like then. It doesn't…..hurt."

Mizore, having witnessed Kurumu's condition first hand in Reverse Hong Kong, still had her doubts.

"Really, how can that be?"

"I DON'T…I don't…..honestly know. I KIND OF WISH IT DID! Kind of…"

Mizore and Ruby exchanged curious glances, but again it was Yuakri with the next question.

"What….what does this all mean though?"

Seeing the other three looking back with odd expressions, Yukari clarified her meaning.

"I mean, when she finds out…."

"She" needed no explaining. One of the people who were in love with Tsukune who lived now in this house had purposefully been excluded from this conversation, for a reason.

"That's a bridge we'll cross…."

Kurumu finished Ruby's reply for her.

"….when we get there."

Mizore's skepticism in this delaying tactic was clear in the tone behind her question.

"So….we're not telling Moka-san?"

Kurumu bit off an angry sounding reply.

"Are you crazy? Of course, we aren't telling her!"

"Not until she's been made ready to hear it."

Ruby's last statement drew looks to her from the others that seemed to indicate they thought she had lost her mind by saying that.

"Huh?"

"What?"

Kurumu shook her head and looked from the disbelieving Mizore to the downright terrified looking Yukari.

"I said the same thing when we discussed this at the store yesterday. There's no way SHE will ever accept this. EVER!"

Ruby understood why they all had their doubts that Moka could ever accept that Tsukune wasn't just in love with her. The truth was Ruby, who had developed a general idea behind how to weld this group into a real family hadn't fleshed out how to fold their most...dominate personality, into her plans.

She had to be honest with them.

"I….haven't completely figured that out yet, but…"

She took a steadying breath and mustered her strength to begin to tell the younger witch and the yukionna what she had already discussed with the succubus.

"We will get her there. We will find a way to make this work."

Both Yukari and Mizore spoke the same confused question at the same time.

"Make…..what work?"

A broad grin stretched itself across Ruby's lovely and delicate features.

"Yukari-chan, Mizore-chan, I'm glad you asked."