The feeling of warm, soft lips lingered as I woke the next morning. Staring up at my ceiling, I tried to remember what might have caused that feeling. I remembered Tamaki-sempai tucking me in, us talking about our parents, and me eventually falling asleep. But wait a second, I thought. For me to feel lips on my forehead, that would have to mean that someone had put them there in the first place. And the only person who could have done that was...

I sudenly threw the blanket off of me as I sprang up from the bed. There was no way that Tamaki-sempai would... I mean, I shouldn't even consider... urgh, I must have just imagined it. Because just the idea of that possibility was fiction. Quickly throwing a look at the clock, I saw that it was a little over 10 o'clock. Weird. I mean, I wasn't the kind of person that usually slept in late. Then again, I wasn't the kind of person that usually had midnight rendez-vous with an older guy, so I guess that I was't one to talk.

I went to my closet to get ready for my day out with Yuki-chan, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Looking closer, I saw that it was a single white rose on my window sill. Walking over to the window, I picked it up with gentle fingers and was sudenly overcome with the feeling of soft lips. I shook my head. This doesn't mean anything, I thought to myself quietly as I fingered the rose.

Still, I couldn't do anything to stop my quick-beating heart or the blush that was gently climbing up my cheeks.

~,~'~,~'~,~

Since then, life at the Academy wasn't nearly as bad as it used to be without Haruhi.

That day, Yuki-chan and I had a really pleasant day in town. She picked up some pencils and a new notebook and I got myself a cute pen that had little bunnies on it and a mystery novel that looked really promising. We even went and ate some delicious parfaits. And coming back, we got Yori-chan a Get-Well-Soon gift.

After that, Yuki-chan and I sat together whenever we had the same class. We had lunch together and studied together, and when Yori-chan got better she started to hang out with me, too. I was really happy. I mean, a part of me still missed Haruhi and whenever I saw her that part would ache. But I had made two new friends!

Of course, being Yuki-chan's friend ment that I got the same treatment that she got. Well, not as bad. Since I didn't have any association with the Night Class (that they knew of), I was mostly grilled for being friends with her. Once, this girl even acused me of 'getting in close with the Guardian so that I could get closer to the Night Class", to which I replied that even if I went so low as to do that I was pretty sure that I could think up of something a little more fool-proof then that. Actually, most of the comments were pretty funny, considering how stupid they were.

And to make things even better, Tamaki-sempai had been coming to visit more frequently. Not too frequent, seeing as we didn't want him to get in trouble, but frequent enough that I was starting to get used to him climbing in through my window. I wasn't even suprised anymore when I heard a knock on my window. Well, most of the time I left my window wide open so that he could let himself in when he came, but anyway. I guess that was the only time I got suprised anymore; when he suddenly grabbed me from behind.

But going back to Yuki-chan, there was something else that I noticed about her besides the whole sleeping-in-class-often-falling-kind-of-clueless thing. I noticed that every now and again, she would have that bandage on her neck. By now, I knew that Yuki-chan would never do anything like that to herself. But still, it had to bother her, having to wear it in public. I mean, if I noticed it then others were bound to, too. Since she was my friend, I really wanted to do for her. But I just didn't know how.

I eventually found the answer one afternoon when I was going through a box in my closet. I had decided that my room was in need of a cleanup (considering I had a guy that showed up whenever), and I had almost all of it cleaned up except for that one box of junk that had been sitting there forever. It was basically full of junk knick-knacks and other stuff that I should have probably thrown out a long time ago. At the moment, I had emptied the box completely so that everything was in little piles of stuff. As I started placing some of the more important stuff back into the box, a single black ribon glided out and onto the floor. When I picked it up, I noticed how soft and pliable it was. Looking at it, I was hit with an idea. Quickly, I looked through another pile and took out some black thread, a needle, and a little silver pendant in the shape of the academy's coat-of-arms. Forgetting the box and the piles, I walked over to my bed and got to work.

The next day, I had a huge smile on my face. Yuki-chan smiled back at me as she sat down, and I noticed that Yori-chan wasn't there. Of course, we were in the class a little earlier than usual, so it didn't suprise me.

"Here Yuki-chan!" I said as I handed her my little package. She looked at me curiously, and I smiled. "Go on, open it!"

"O-okay," she said. I watched as she pulled the little package open and saw that her eyes widened slightly as the newly made necklace slid out of the package and into her hands. "What... "
"It's a necklace I made for you," I told her quickly, realising a little too late that it might have been weird for me to have made and given her a present. "I just thought that maybe you would like something to cover the bandages you're always wearing and I guess it's my way of saying thank you for being my friend and being so nice to me these pass few weeks." Sudenly, I wished that I could slip through the floor. What if she didn't want it? And why did I have to mention the bandage? God, I'm such an idiot.

Just as I was about to stammer out an apology, Yuki-chan smiled. "Th-thank you, Mistuki-chan! That was really nice of you!" She fingered the pendant. "It's beautiful."

I smiled in relief. "I'm glad you think so," I said.

Pulling her hair back, she asked, "Would you mind tying it for me?"

"No problem," I said. I took the necklace and placed it so that it covered the bandage completely, and tied it tight enough so that it wouldn't slip but lose enough so that it would bother Yuki-chan.

"There you go," I said as I sat back in my chair.

Yuki-chan let her hair go and brushed her fingers against the pendant again. "Thank you, Mitsuki-chan," she said again. "You said you made it yourself?"

I nodded. "It looks great on you," I said.

She blushed slightly. Yori-chan came in at that moment and said as she sat down, "Hello Mitsuki-chan. Hi, Yuki-chan. That's a beautiful necklace."

I elbowed her. "See?"

Yuki-chan smiled, and the three of us fell silent as the teacher walked in.

~,~'~,~'~,~

"So you gave her a necklace?"

"Yeah," I said as I leaned against the headboard. Tamaki-sempai was sitting at the end of my bed, playing with the corner of my blanket. It had been a pretty quiet day and when I came to my room (I had to stay later than usual because I hadn't finished my test) Tamaki-sempai was already waiting for me. "She liked it, which was a relief on my part, believe me."

"That was really nice of you," he said as he smiled. I almost forgot to breath; he looked so beautiful when he smiled. Uh oh, I thought. Got to stop thinking like that.

"That's what she said."

"You must have some sewing skills if you were able to make that yourself," he said.

"Well, yeah, but i'm not that good," I said as I looked down at my fingers. "It's just that my mom and I would make those kind of things when I was younger."

"Your mother sounds really talented," he remarked.

"Oh, she is!" I said as I smiled. "She knows how to do everything! If ever I had a problem my mom always had the answer. She's really cool!" I thought for a moment. "What about your mom?"

"Huh?" Tamaki-sempai asked, startled at the question.

"Well, what does your mom do?" I asked. "I know that your family runs the most well-known blood bank, but you never really mention her at all. Or your dad, for that matter."

A sort of dark look crossed his face for a moment, but it was gone before I could wonder why. "Oh, my mother's okay," he said. "My father's the one that's head of the company. He takes care of everything. My mom, well, she's kinda like my dad's shadow. Where ever he goes, she goes."

"Oh," I said. "That sounds... important."

"Yeah, it's a pretty demanding job. But they do okay at it," he said. "My mom likes flowers, though."

"Really?" I asked, suprised.

"Yeah," he said, smilling gently. "Whenever she's not with my dad, she works in her little garden in back of the house. It's really beautiful when all of the flowers are in bloom."

"Sounds wonderful," I said, trying to imagine all of the flowers. "My mom and I tried to plant a rose bush once. We did everything we could, but in the end it died anyway. Mom was laughing at the time, saying that she couldn't grow a plant if her life depended on it." I laughed. "I really wish I could see all of the flowers, though."

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "I have some pictures in my room... maybe I'll bring them over next time, if you want."

"Really? That would be great!" I said excitedly. "I can't wait to see them! I'll bet that they're breath taking!" I gasped. "Hey, do you have any pictures of your parents?"

"Not really, why?" he asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to know what they looked liked," I said. "Sorry, I shouldn't pry..."

"It's no problem," Tamaki-sempai said quickly. "If you really want to see them, I'm pretty sure that the newspaper has a picture or two in there. If not, well, my parents look pretty much like me."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Both of my parents have the same coloured hair and eyes as I do. It's almost scary."

"I can imagine," I said as I snickered. "I can just imagine what happens when people look at your family photos."

He laughed, too. "Hey, speaking of family photos, I do believe that you said you'd show me a picture of your mom."

"Oh, that's right!" I exclaimed. "I'd forgotten!" Quickly, I reached into my night table and pulled out a little square picture. Handing it over to him, I said, "That picture was taken last year. Mom sent it over the day after she had it taken, 'cause I lost the old one I had. I think it's nicer than the last one I had."

He looked at it. "You look a lot like her," he said as he studied the photo.

I shook my head. "Nah, not really. I look more like my dad, she says. Except for the eyes."

He shrugged. "If you say so," he said, passing back the picture. "Either way, you're still beautiful."

I almost froze as I took the photo back, but camly forced my hand to keep working. I hoped to God that I wasn't blushing. "I'm... uh... thanks, I guess." He smiled the breath taking smile again, and I had to look away as I placed the photo back into the nightstand. I probably shouldn't have, since all of a suden I felt a pain shoot up through my finger. "Ow!" I said, pulling my finger back. Looking closely, I noticed that the picture had given me a papercut. It was nothing to serious, but I was still a little suprised to see the blood well up onto my finger.

"Urgh, great," I muttered. Looking up, I asked, "Hey, Tamaki-sempai, would you excu-" But I stopped short. I had been to pre-occupied to notice that he had tensed up, but now that I looked at him, I could see that he looked strained, with his eyes closed shut and his hands gripping the covers. "Tamaki-sempai?" I asked slowly, crawling closer towards him. Every warning bell was going off in my head, alerting me that something was wrong, but I couldn't tell what. "Tamaki-sempai, are you okay?"

Tamaki-sempai looked like he was about to say something, but then he clamped his mouth shut and stood up quickly. Turning his back to me, I heard him say, "I'm sorry, Mistuki, but I have to go now."
"Wait, why?" I asked, as I jumped off of the bed. He started moving towards the window, but I ran up to him and grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn around. "Tamaki-semapi, please tell me wha..."
Tamaki-sempai looked pained as I backed away slightly. "Mitsuki..." he said, but my name came out strained as I saw fangs brush against his lips. I looked up at him, shocked, to see that his beautiful emerald-green eyes were now glowing a dangerously brilliant crimson. I could feel my legs shaking, and I could almost hear ringing in my ears. Tamaki-sempai looked away. "Mitsuki... I'm sorry."

All I could do was stare. I almost couldn't believe it. Tamaki-semapi... was a vampire.


*pops head out of cookie jar*

Hiya folks! Glad you could make it...anyone wanna cookie? No? Ah well...

God, I had so much fun with this chapter! *sigh* Why won't anyone give me a rose? I'm a nice person, aren't I?

*light bulb flickers on above cookie jar* I know! Today is EVERYONE GETS A ROSE DAY! And I'll just pretend that Kaname gave 'em to me X3

And pooooooooor Mitsuki! I mean, WE all knew that he was gonna be a vampire (cause we're psychic! :D) but it still must have been a shock to her!

I wonder how she'll cope?

AND WHERE THE HECK IS ZERO AND KANAME?

*starts steaming over the absence of her two favorite bishies*

Whatever. I'll get them sooner or later. You'll see.

Till next time!