I do not own Rosario Vampire or any of the characters.

Cold Misery

Damon rested his head against the window, watching the tunnel outside the bus passing. The others were excited for a vacation, apparently expecting it to be a resort, or the woods, or somewhere warm but not too hot, the way the academy had been for them recently, though Damon had still been cold, even with the others all practically dying of heat stroke. Finally, they left the tunnel into a blizzard and were all kicked out of the bus. Before it had even retreated into the tunnel, Damon was trembling, fighting tooth and nail to restrain his shivering. It was awful. Worse than he could have imagined. It had to be in the negatives, both in Celsius and in Fahrenheit. The others, minus Mizore, were all cold too.

"It's this way," Mizore said. "Stay together so we don't get separated. Once we get there, the wind will die down and the temperature will settle."

She began to guide them and the others all followed, Damon coughing a few times, sneezing even more.

"Hey, are you scheming something Mizore?" Kurumu asked. "This is way too nice for you. You're being so well-behaved it's weird."

"I don't really care what you're thinking," Mizore said. "But I wanted to show you guys this view. That was my original plan, actually."

They all stopped as they stepped out of the blizzard, staring down at a city of spires, castles, and square buildings, all formed entirely out of ice, and the sky above them an eternal aurora. Damon inhaled slowly, staring at it, remembering exactly why he had gone to such extremes to end the war.

"It's beauti-" Damon began to cough, staggering backward and falling to his hands and knees, coughing hard, staining the snow red, everyone able to clearly see it this time.

"Damon!" Mizore gasped, kneeling beside him.

"Are you alright!?" Tsukune asked.

"I'm...I'm al...right," he forced out between coughs, sweat running down his face despite the cold.

Finally, it subsided and he took a few seconds to catch as much of his breath as he could.

"You're not alright, are you?" Mizore asked.

"I'm fine," Damon said. "Come on. Your mother's not someone we should keep waiting."

He started down the path toward the city and after a moment, the others followed, Mizore once again taking the lead. After a few minutes, they found Tsurara waiting for them, several Yuki Onna hiding behind the corners of buildings around them, watching them, most glaring at Damon.

"Welcome, I've been waiting for you," Tsurara greeted them.

"Mizore's mom!" Tsukune said.

"It's Tsurara," she smiled. "We haven't met since that school festival, have we Tsukune?"

"Mother," Mizore said worriedly, whispering to her for a moment.

Tsurara simply smiled. "He'll be fine, dear. He can handle a little cold. He chose to come, after all, didn't he?"

"But..." Mizore trailed off before nodding. "I suppose you're probably right."

Tsurara began to lead them, explaining about their city's barrier, which kept the city cold enough for the Yuki Onna to survive, then told them about their species' declining birth rates before telling Tsukune he would start having kids with Mizore, only for Mizore to stop her, saying those concerns were unnecessary. Finally, they reached Mizore's home, one of the larger buildings, and were seated for a feast.

"You came home for tomorrow's flower offering, didn't you, Mizore?" Tsurara asked.

"Flower offering?" Tsukune asked. "What's that?"

"Oh you haven't heard of it?" Tsurara asked, completely ignoring Damon, who was coughing into a handkerchief he'd brought with him.

Mizore watched him worriedly, but he waved her off. "A flower offering is just what it sounds like. It's a ceremony where you gather flowers from the mountain and offer them at the temple. Little flowers called Snow Whites."

"Snow Whites?" Yukari asked, glancing at Damon as he tried to get his trembling hand to still long enough to work his chopsticks, failing miserably.

"Snow Whites are said to have the power of matchmaking," Mizore said. "The daughters of this land who are turning seventeen offer these flowers to pray for a good match and lucky find."

"Well, it's something like the coming of age day that humans do," Tsurara said, casting a withering glance at Damon as he dropped a piece of meat on the small table just short of getting it to his mouth. "Tomorrow we have to dress Mizore up."

"Coming of age day!?" Moka gasped excitedly.

"That's nice," Kurumu smiled. "I want to do it too. I want to dress up and get married."

"It's not really a m-marriage," Damon said, fighting not to start coughing again as he stabbed one of his chopsticks into the piece of meat he'd gotten tired of failing to pick up. "It's to pray to find a match later."

"Shall we have all of you participate?" Tsurara asked. "I'll lend you the kimonos and everything."

"Really!?" all of the girls who weren't Yuki Onna gasped.

"Alright Tsukune, look forward to my beauty," Moka smiled.

"Y-Yeah," Tsukune stammered, just as Damon began to cough again, worse this time.

"Moka!" Kurumu scolded. "Taking advantage of the confusion, you...You're looking forward to me more, right Tsukune?"

"I...I'll do my best too, Tsukune," Yukari said.

"Thank you Mizore!" Kurumu cheered, hugging her.

"Are you alright?" Ruby asked Damon quietly.

"I'm fine," Damon muttered.

They chatted and ate for a little while longer before heading to bed. However, about three hours after they had all gone to sleep, Kurumu suddenly screamed, waking everyone up and announcing that Kurumu and Tsukune were gone. Damon began to cough as soon as he tried to stand and collapsed, Ruby catching him. He slowly managed to stop and tried to catch his breath as Yukari explained that the Snow White flower's pollen functioned as an aphrodisiac, and that Mizore was probably taking Tsukune to use it in order to win him over.

"We have to stop her!" Moka decided.

Damon began to stand, only for his legs to give out and him to start coughing again.

"You're not going anywhere!" Ruby snapped. "You shouldn't even be here in the first place and you know it!"

"Ruby," Damon said.

"No!" Ruby snapped. "I understand why you came, and I understand why you're being so stubborn, but if you go outside now, you'll die!"

Everyone stared at them, eyes wide.

"So...you really are dying?" Moka asked.

Damon grit his teeth. "Don't you have a boyfriend to save?"

The three of them hesitated for another moment before leaving, closing the door behind them. Ruby shifted to hold Damon's head in his lap and he held his handkerchief to his mouth as he began to cough again. She stroked his hair gently as he did, then once the coughing fit had subsided, she continued to trail her fingers through his hair until he drifted off to sleep.

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