Chapter 3

"Toshiro… Toshiro…" he heard a faint voice as if it were being echoed through the mountains. "Toshiro." The voice got more clear and closer to him. It was Mizore's voice.

"Huh… what? Where am I?" He asked trying to sit up but fell right back down due to dizziness.

"You're in the nurses offices. When you passed out after the battle against Kuyou, Tsukune carried you here."

"Wait, did you just say Tsukune carried me here? Tsukune Aono? I need to speak with this Tsukune person now." Once again he tried to sit up and once again he fell back down on the nurse's bed.

"No." Mizore said brushing Toshiro's hair to the side. "What you need to do now is rest. You need to get your strength back if you wanna start attending classes again. I know that's not what you came here to do but it's what you should do until you get back on your feet." Toshiro blushed out of confusion. Why was this girl caring so much for him when the two had just met? And it's not like they met under the best circumstances either. So why? Mizore then left the room to go to class.

That's not what I need to be focused on right now. Toshiro thought to himself. I need to be focused on what I'm going to do about this Tsukune Aono person. I know my orders were to extract the target and get back to the soul society but, I'm almost sure of it now. Every student in this school is giving off weird energy readings. So should I extract Tsukune Aono and head back to the Soul Society or stay here and investigate a little bit more? "Damn it!" Toshiro said in frustration with the situation. *Sigh* "Oh well. I guess that girl was right. I should probably get some rest. I'll sort this whole thing out tomorrow."

Meanwhile, Mizore did not do what she said she was going to do. She did leave the room, but immediately after words she started to walk to her dorm to think over some stuff of her own. She finally reached her room after, about, a twenty minute walk. She then entered her room, locked the door, and crawled up onto the bed in a beetle position with a pillow separating her knees from her chest.

"What do I do?" She started saying to herself. "I know I love Tsukune, but when I saw how heroic that new kid was to me, I felt the same as when Tsukune saved me from falling off that cliff. Listen to me; I just called the person who saved my life 'that new kid'. I can't even call him by his name without feeling the way I do about Tsukune. Am I a terrible person for loving two people at the same time?"

All these thoughts running through each ones head, neither one knowing what fate had in store for them once they arrived at school the next morning.

It's a new day at Yokai Academy and the group was in their normal spot in the classroom near Tsukune's seat. Mizore, Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari were all sitting there chatting when Toshiro walked in. They all ran to greet the newly healed friend.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little heroic pervert. Ya know if I didn't know any better I'd say he's a mini Gin." Kurumu said as they all started laughing.

"Just shut up, will ya. That incident with the pencil was all just a big misunderstanding. An accident, you got it."

"Yeah, we know." Tsukune said still chuckling. "But we're all just glad that you're ok and that you've recovered so quickly."

"Yeah, you said it Tsukune!" Shouted Yukari. Toshiro's eyes widened. "Could it be?" Toshiro thought to himself. "Could this person actually be Tsukune Aono? I never actually saw who picked me up and carried me to the nurse's office, so I guess it's possible. But who woulda guessed a weak looking person like that could give off enough amounts of energy to alert Squad 12." Just at that moment the bell rang to start morning classes.

While the teacher was talking, Toshiro was off thinking about other things. "If this person is Tsukune Aono, then how should I go about approaching him? Should I try to get him to come peacefully, or should I just capture him by force right from the get-go? Or maybe I should… maybe… maybe… um. Toshiro's heart started to beat faster and faster with each passing moment. He started wondering why he had lost his train of thought and why his heart was beating so fast. But then he realized; he was looking at Mizore. Why the hell can't I get this girl off my mind! I've only felt this way about one other person before and that's-" Toshiro gasped. "Could it be that I've fallen in love with this girl I've just met?" Before he could answer that his train of thought was stopped once again, only this time by the lunch bell. Before the whole gang left the room they saw a sophomore school girl approach Toshiro.

"Um, hi. I, uh, heard what you did for Mizore and I just thought that that was really awesome of you. So I was just wondering if, um, you'd uh. Well, I mean, if you're interested. IF YOU WOULD WANNA GO OUT SATURDAY NIGHT?"

Toshiro stopped packing his things for next class and stared down at the ground. "No." he said with a cold yet sad look in his eye. "Now if you don't mind I'd like to eat my lunch in peace." The sophomore couldn't believe what she was hearing, and neither could the Tsukune or the others. Was this the same heroic figure the school girl had heard about? More importantly, was it the same Toshiro that the group came to know within the past couple of days?

The girl ran out of the room, head in hands, crying her eye's out from the cold response he just gave her. Tsukune and the girls walked over to him.

"What the fuck was that about!" Kurumu screamed.

"What was what about?" Toshiro asked in a calm voice.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about you bastard!" Kurumu was now lifting Toshiro up off the ground by his shirt. "You just completely broke that girl's heart in the coldest way possible!" Toshiro swatted Kurumu's hand away and landed back on the floor.

"I'm just not into relationships and love and all that." Toshiro knew he was lying to himself when he said that, no matter how much he wanted that statement to be true. However, Mizore did not know that statement was a lie so she got discouraged and everyone saw it including Toshiro. So he followed up with the statement, "But, I guess that doesn't mean I won't be into it in the future." Mizore got a grin back on her face and Toshiro blushed. Kurumu got an evil grin as if she had just figured something out.

"Ooooh, I see what's going on here. Mizore you like Toshiro now too, don't you." Mizore started to tremble at the remark. "Well, it must be nice being in love with two cuties now, huh? After all, if you scare one off with your stalking, you could just follow the other one around." Just then Mizore separated from the crowd and ran out of the classroom. She had dropped her lollipop in the process but she didn't need it right now since the barrier was undergoing construction again. Only this time it was so cold it was snowing outside.

"That wasn't cool Kurumu!" Moka said.

"Oh come on." Kurumu said. "She's just over-reacting. She's just being an over dramatic,"

"Shut up."

"over emotional,"

"Shut up."

"over sensitive brat."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Toshiro screamed at the top of his lungs. "You have no idea what it feels like to love two people at once! Right now her emotions are playing tricks on her! Her heart is telling her one thing, and her mind is telling her another, and she feels like she's the only one in the world who truly understands what she's going through and you just threw that back in her face like it meant nothing!"

They were all staring in awe. To think this was coming from the boy who just broke a school girl's heart. Kurumu started to talk. "I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't know that-"

"Sorry's not good enough! How could you ever grasp the complexity of loving two individuals at once?" Toshiro then stormed out after Mizore with thoughts of Momo, the person he had feelings for back in the Soul Society, and Mizore, the Snow Fairy he had just met a few days ago. Meanwhile, Mizore was running through the snow, her tears turning into ice drops as soon as they left her eyes, with thoughts of Toshiro and Tsukune running through her head.

Then, Toshiro finally caught up to Mizore, who was still running. "Wait, Mizore, I know how you-" Just then, without either one knowing if he meant to do it or not, the unthinkable happened. With one swift tug to the wrist, Mizore got turned around and Toshiro and Mizore's lips met. Each of them just stayed there a few seconds, and then they each backed up and stared at each other in surprise, not knowing what to do next.