"Well Sis, you ready," Tekeshi said as he and Yusa stood looking up at the school building, both dressed in their uniforms.

"Not sure. Nervous," Yusa looked over at him.

"Yeah. I am too. 'Suki and Asusa should be here soon. I... Yusa, thank you."

The girl looked at her brother with a questioning look, "For, what?"

Tekeshi looked over at her as well, "You didn't have to interfere. It didn't benefit you in any way. You almost died from it, and you did it without a second thought. You, helped give me the push to finally win. I'm so glad to have you back," he knelt down and hugged her tightly.

"Utsuki, needed you. You, need her. I, need to find, me," the snow fairy returned the hug regardless of her words.

"Ok you two, watch the PDAs. Are you both really ready for this," Utsuki asked as her, Asusa, and Harumi walked up to them.

Tekeshi stood up, "Yeah. We're ready. You have our schedules?"

"Yeah. Yusa, unfortunately, you are going to have late remedial classes. Tekeshi here, was supposed to. When the teacher found out about it, she went ballistic and said that, and I quote, 'That smug little nepotist bastard just needs to be given his diploma and kicked out into the world to be humbled. He thinks he knows everything, so let's see how far he gets', end quote. It's that weird math teacher that keeps shaking her hips in the face of most of the boys," Utsuki handed each of them a piece of paper.

Yusa made a disgusted face, "Kagome-sensei, blech."

"Oh god. She is weird, really weird. I don't know you need to be alone with her. I really don't think you need to be alone with her. I'm going to go find Uncle Tsukune and...," Harumi was cut off as Mizore walked up.

"Don't worry about it. As soon as I found out who was given the assignment, I took it straight to him. Apparently Kimura-sensei forgot about a certain directive that forbids her being allowed to give individual lessons. Yusa, are you really sure you are ready to start classes so soon. I won't be upset if you want to put it off," Mizore put her hands on her daughter's shoulders, deep concern written deep in her face.

"Ready. No more waiting," the girl said.

"Sis, it has only been a few days. No one would hold it against you to wait until after summer vacation," Asusa's face was written with concern.

Yusa squared her shoulders, "Ready. No putting off."

Mizore gave a small smile, "Ok then. I won't stop you. Tekeshi, I know you want to get started back, but would you mind if I talked with you for a moment before you went in to classes?"

Tekeshi looked over at the girls, then back to Mizore, "Yeah, you all go on ahead. I, will follow on when we get done."

"You sure," Utsuki looked somewhat concerned.

He smiled, "It'll be fine. I will catch up to you as soon as I can. I love you."

"You better. I love you, too. Alright everyone, we need to get to class," Utsuki herded the other girls off toward the building, leaving Tekeshi and Mizore alone.

Mizore took a deep breath, "How are you?"

"What do you mean," Tekeshi asked, not wanting to look at her.

"Your father told me and your mother about the conversation you two had a few days ago at the garage. I know how hard it can be to explain emotional things to a vampire. I have had to do it more than once over the time I have known your mother. It was easier when your father was a human, or much more of a human, before that last battle we had against the original Fairy Tale. I'm not a vampire, so I'm not as emotionally stunted as their nature makes them. So again, how are you," Mizore pushed, knowing he really needed to get his thoughts straight.

"Honestly? I'm a god damn mess. Maybe worse than I know I am. So I'm not even sure what you are even asking. How am I dealing with being a freaking butcher, a murderer? I'm not sure. I am trying my best to not even think about it. I, I'm afraid of myself. What if whatever was wrong with Shinso, it is just waiting to hit me? What will I do to the people around me? Is that what you are wanting to hear," Tekeshi still wouldn't look at the woman.

"You were raised a soldier, most soldiers have to deal with those thoughts. How are you?"

Tekeshi closed his eyes and tilted his head back. He couldn't understand what she wanted, no matter how hard he thought about it. He would have had an easier time facing down another one of those golems, than answering the question.

"I, I, I'm afraid something is going to make me leave again. I'm terrified that I am going to be torn from 'Suki and Dee- Karasu again. That I will lose all of you. That I might end up hurting all of you. I don't know who I am anymore, and that is the thing weighing harder on me than anything else," he walked over to sit on a bench.

Mizore sat next to him, "I can understand how losing sight of who you are can weigh you down. Until you and Utsuki woke her up, I was in a fog of sorts, doing my best not to let anyone see how depressed I was."

"Aunt Mizore," he looked over, "You're a Yuki-onna, most people can't get a read on you anyways. I, I'm really straining myself to not breakdown. I have to smile, I have to crack the dark and slightly offensive jokes I'm known for, and I have to find a way to not let my eyes lose their brightness. I'm, worried that I'm going to slip, and let everyone know just how weak I have become."

"Yet, you are strong enough to sit here and talk about it? Vampires have a very narrow view of strength, so I can understand why you would see yourself as weak for being afraid. Haven't you ever listened to what your father said about you?"

He had to think back hard. He could remember almost everything, he just didn't have a really good recall ability. It was there though, and he didn't know why he hadn't paid attention.

When he had just been a weakling, who never stopped to think before he threw himself into a fight. Those days, which seemed so far back now, even just being a little over a year ago. His father had said that he was the strongest vampire that he had ever seen, because Tekeshi fought like that, while being so weak.

"Aunt Mizore, I know what he used to say about me, but I'm not the same person. I am the single most powerful individual alive. I don't want that. I would rather just be a simple human, than what I am now. If I don't pay attention, I could simply hold your hand, and turn the bones to dust. I could try to skip a stone across a pond, and send it through a tree on the other side. Those facts, are terrifying. I have literally stood while being pounded with machine gun fire, and didn't even blink. Do you know what my main reason for using a gun to my killing these last few months was?"

"Because you were afraid of losing sight of yourself, and becoming an animal if you used your bare hands like a proper vampire," she said simply.

Tekeshi's eyes went wide, "How, did you know that?"

"Did you know that your father, at one point was a ghoul," she asked.

"What?"

"It was during our first year of school. Your father completely fell to it, not just showed signs of it. He was nearly killed by your mother, and her by him. Do you know what a holy lock is?"

Tekeshi nodded, "Yeah, it's a regulator of sorts. I don't know much, but I know Dad had one. I, how did he go from a complete ghoul, to what he is?"

"I'm really don't know, I don't understand much of that. I taught elementary school, and never tried to learn beyond that. I didn't have, I'm sorry it's, it's hard to talk about. It is, really hard to not only see myself as Miss Shirayuki, and the hardened soldier that had spent twenty years fighting against Fairy Tale. What you did, terrifies me to even consider following. But, even if you are afraid of yourself, I will never be afraid of you. I know what is in your heart. You may have always acted like you didn't care, but you always were the first to stand up, when no one else would. Now is the time, though, when you don't have to be strong, you just have to be the kind of person that Utsuki can love. That Karasu can love. Right now, they should be you biggest priorities in life," Mizore smiled as she took the larger boy in a tight hug.

"I guess I am more like my old man that I would like to admit," Tekeshi said as he returned the hug.

"How is that?"

He smirked as he said, "Neither of us were given a choice in having two women in our lives."

Mizore only gave a snort as she looked up into his face, "Hey, it's better than the women finding out about you going behind their back like my ex-boyfriend was. It helps you keep certain parts of your anatomy, that I really doubt you want to lose."

Gears ground in Tekeshi's head for a second, before a certain phrase came to mind, "So, I guess he is completely out of sausage, and isn't going to be getting anymore?"

The Yuki-onna chuckled, "Yeah, the eggs are gone too."

Issa had a concerned look on his face. He didn't know why he did, considering that the person causing it could have wiped the floor with him even then. There was just something in the back of his mind that he couldn't explain.

"Alright Miss Bloodriver, up we go," the Orc woman said as she planted herself and Akasha pulled herself to her feet, only to sit back down hard.

Akasha breathed hard for for a few seconds, "Why is this so hard?"

"Akasha, even if you are a shinso, it is still going to take a while for your body to learn everything. This body, has never walked before. While you may have the mental part of it, you have to develop the physical part of it. Now, Annalise, pull her back to her feet," Yukari stood stock straight, looking every bit the sadistic taskmaster her words made her sound like.

"Mrs. Huang, is this, really... necessary? Pardon my interruption," Issa decided to back down at the smaller woman's look.

Issa was considered one of the most powerful Vampires alive, even approaching the strength of his shinso daughter despite not having that particular advantage. Yet here he was, backing down from a witch. Any other witch, and he wouldn't have, but most didn't have Yukari's extreme knowledge of vampiric physiology.

"Yukari, please don't threaten my, uh, fiance. He has a very soft spot when it comes to me. Alright, please be gentle," she was suddenly pulled to her feet and did her best to just stand there.

It was taking her way more effort than she would have liked, and it was making her exceptionally hungry. Hungrier than she had been since she had been brought back. It was more than annoying, it was making her feel an emotion that she really didn't like. She was starting to feel angry.

Issa noticed it quickly. Akasha was not easy to anger, but when she was, it had the potential to escalate quickly. While she was this beautiful, and serene, angel to so many people, they often failed to realize that her last name had been earned, not inherited.

"Mrs. Huang, I think a break for her to have something to drink would be very prudent. Now," he said sternly, "For your own sake."

Yukari turned her head to say something just as what he had said clicked, "Annalise, let her sit back down for a while. Mr. Shuzen, may I talk to you outside for a moment?"

Issa followed her out of the room, "Yes?"

"I would very much appreciate it if you would not stand there and undermine me when I am doing my job. I have never liked you much, and you have never given me a good reason to start. So if you are going to be in there, shut the hell up, and don't interfere,"Yukari ripped into him in a low voice.

"Do you want your daughter, to grow up without her mother," he asked, keeping the tone of his voice level.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Are you considering the fact that you are working with one of the most powerful vampires to ever live, who is in a body that has not been put in the position to redevelop her emotional control? Have you thought about that, or did you not consider it,"the tone never changed.

Yukari started to say something, then realized, "I, haven't. It's Akasha though, she isn't really that dangerous to us."

"Might not have been had she never gone through this. The question, is if she knows how to maintain her calm demeanor as well now. Akasha is not given to being quick to anger, but when she is angered, she can be extremely dangerous to anyone around her. You need to pay attention to how she speaks, and how she holds her eyelids. If you see her start narrowing them, and she becomes obnoxiously sweet in how she speaks, you are approaching the point of danger," Issa told her.

Yukari suddenly paled, remembering how Moka acted the same way when she started getting angry. To her knowledge, Moka was the third most powerful shinso alive, and she knew how destructive she got when she completely lost control of her temper.

"I may need to reconsider how I am handling this. I apologize, I shouldn't let my own arrogance and prejudices get ahead of me. I should probably keep in mind that much of the reactions people have to emotion are as much chemical, as they are mental. It, might not hurt to have Tekeshi here for future sessions, until we are sure that she is completely normal," Yukari backed down knowing she was wrong in this case.

"It would be a good precaution, and might make her feel better given how close they have become. Don't feel too bad about this, there isn't any kind of precedent for you to draw from. That said, I am glad that you are the one that has taken over her care. Even with your disdain for me, I have the utmost trust and confidence in you, and your abilities," Issa gave a warm smile as he placed his hand on the younger woman's shoulder.

"Thank you. I will tell Annalise that we are ending the session for today, and you can spend more time with her. Once I have had a chance to talk with Tekeshi, I will schedule the next session," Yukari gave a small smile back.

"So, you have no clue how to read this map," Candace tilted her head at the piece of paper on the wall.

Simona grimaced as she looked at the map, "I, honestly have no clue. I just know we are in Tokyo. At Tokyo-Haneda Airport, but that is it. Do you feel anything more, or any direction?"

"Uh, northwest? I'm not a cartographer. Really it is amazing that I got us this far. I'm kind of hoping that my husband is going to feel that I am here, and come find me. I've lived a pampered life, ok," Candace looked a little embarrassed.

Simona's face went completely chalk white. She had just been drug across a hemisphere, by someone that had no plan at their destination, except to sit and wait for someone to come to them. She couldn't believe it. Was... it was best not to let her thoughts go any further given the ability that Candace held.

"I, actually kind of agree with you. I'm, not exactly the smartest person out there. I never had to be, my husband always took care of everything, and the servants did everything else. I, may, need to, work on my competency in life now. Even if I am still the Lady of the Estate, this world, I have noticed it doesn't work the same anymore. I don't quite fit into it as a noblewoman."