What's up my dudes? I got another chapter for you all! Expect a fair amount of exposition. But I'll try not to drown you with it. Anyways, on with the show!

…

I awoke in a cold sweat in the morning. "What the hell was that dream?" I thought. I quickly looked around and was shocked.

My blanket, pillows, mattress, everything in my bed was ripped to shreds. I stuck my fingers in my mouth, and found bits of fabric between my teeth.

"Jesus Christ. What that fuck did I do? Did I swallow any?" And then another thought hit me. "What am I going to tell the others?"

…

I eventually called over Kaien and explained what had happened. The incident earned me a few weird looks from him and later Kaname, but I was able to explain it away as a nightmare of that vampire in the woods. The looks then became sympathetic. We were eventually able to change out all of my bed stuffs and then things turned back to normal.

I went on with my life. I didn't just forget the dream, but I sort of filed it away as a random act of mania.

Things weren't all the same though. I had started reading Yuki bedtime stories when Kaname wasn't visiting, during which time he would take over.

I had also managed to form something vaguely resembling a friendship with the young vampire. He had been grateful to me for helping him get Yuki to trust him again, and I got the sense he didn't have many real friends. And so, after the bathroom fiasco he sort of latched onto me. He still kept his distance of course, he was a bit of a snooty bastard like that. But we would joke and laugh, like that time Yuki had tried to cook breakfast and somehow burnt everything in the kitchen except herself. We had still eaten what she had made to keep her happy, but we would bring it up from time to time and laugh.

Today, Kaname had actually brought a friend over. A cheerful blonde vampire around our age named Takuma Ichijo. And for once, Kaname wasn't spending as much time with Yuki as possible. If anything, he seemed to simply want the three of us to hang out.

"Huh, will wonders never cease."

We gave Ichijo a tour of Kaien's extensive property, showing him all the various buildings, fountains, and gardens. It was a truly large place, apparently passed down through Kaien's parents. And it didn't even keep to the buildings, the woods within a dozen miles of the main property were all part of the estate.

"So Ichijo, Kaname tells me you're a fan of the katana." I said as we neared the training grounds. "Would you like to spar? I'll admit I haven't had the chance to test myself against someone my own age. I'm eager to see how I measure up."

"Oh, so you're a hunter? I suppose I should have guessed, given who your father is, adopted or not." Ichilo mused. "Sure, I'll give it a go. But don't complain if you lose!"

I smirked, trying my best to mimic the way Kaien could intimidate his opponents. "Only if you promise the same, can't have you whining about losing to a human!"

…

Me and Ichijo stood at opposite sides of the training field, squaring each other off. I had my blunted cleaver and BB hand shotgun, he had a blunted katana. Off to the side, Kaname stood, observing. I could tell by the inquisitive look on his face that he was interested in how this would go down.

We watched each other, waiting to see who would act first. As this happened, I studied Ichijo, trying to strategize. He was a vampire, so he had enhanced strength. But there was also little to no actual muscle on him. The thing about vampires is that they tend to rely on their natural gifts, not bothering to actually try and improve their base capabilities. And it seemed Ichijo was the same, having very little muscle for his vampirism to enhance.

I, on the other hand, had plenty of muscle to enhance. I wasn't exactly bulky, and would likely never be, but my musculature was obvious to any who looked at me. So while my hunter's blood did not enhance my strength nearly as much as Ichigo's blood did his, I had much more muscle to enhance in the first place. Given all this, I determined I would be physically stronger than him, and by a considerable margin at that.

And Ichijo likely knew this. He was skinny even by vampire standards, and likely didn't rely on strength. He would probably be a speed based fighter, trying to end the match as quickly as possible. I couldn't let him have the first move.

I charged him without warning. If he was reliant on speed then we couldn't fight on his terms, so I forced him to fight on mine. As he braced himself during my charge, I fired a round of BBs at him. He flinched, and I punished the momentary lapse in guard by striking down at his katana with my cleaver, trying to take down his defense.

The katana lowered, and I tried to hit him with the butt of my gun. And then, as fast as the wind, he jerked his head away. He then became a blur. I was right, right about him being a speedster. I was too right.

I felt the pummel of his blade drive into my side, right where my kidney was. He was trying to stagger me. But I had been training with Kaien nearly every day for a few months, and Ichijo's hits weren't quite up to snuff.

We danced around each other like this for a while. He would weave around for a while, then move in to strike. It was getting tiring, having to block his long blade with my short one. I couldn't use my shotgun, he was ready for it now and would doge. I had to make him forget about it in some way.

I then had an idea. It would be risky, and if it failed would leave me completely open to counter attack. But I didn't really have a choice at this point. I dropped my right hand, the hand holding the gun, to my waist. I then made sure that my cleaver was always at eye level. I needed him to forget about the gun, if only for a moment. I then waited for him to attack with a downward slash.

Before long, Ichijo did just that. I blocked it with my cleaver, and then guided it to the left side. If this failed, he would be able to strike my stomach, a loss for me. I then raised up my gun as quickly as I could. I saw the surprise in his eyes, my ruse had worked! Like lightning, I brought it up to under his chin, and fired. A 'lethal' blow, and a win for me!

"Ouch!" Ichijo yelped as he fell to the ground. "That hits hard, Cross!"

"I bet it does, Ichijo." I responded. "You fought well though, for a good while I was unsure that I'd win!"

"Thanks, you're not bad yourself! And please, call me Takuma."

"Only if you call me Marcus." We both smiled. It seemed I had made a new friend.\

Throughout this exchange, I could see Kaname watching us with distant eyes. As if he was plotting something. That look made me shiver.

…

I know this chapter took a longer time than usual to get out, but school has been a bitch. I hope that you all find this to have been a good chapter, gods know it was hard to write. I need more practice writing fights.