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Living for Love	By : DrunkenScotsman Category: +M to R > Rosario Vampire Views: 21023 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Characters and world of Rosario+Vampire are the intellectual property of Ikeda Akihisa. I make no money from writing this piece.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Chapter 3: Charm Monster
Later that afternoon, as the Newspaper Club meeting wrapped up, Tsukune frowned. After the incident in literature class this morning, Mizore had told him and the others at lunch that Kurumu had returned to her room to “pull herself together” and that she’d be in class again this afternoon. She wasn’t, though, and her absence didn’t go unnoticed. Now Tsukune worried that something might be seriously wrong with her.
From the looks on Moka and Yukari’s faces, Tsukune got the impression they were worried too. Earlier, they’d told him they hadn’t seen Kurumu in gym class, nor had any of the other girls. He smiled a little, pleased that the girls’ friendships with each other could override their romantic rivalry over him. Then again, he thought, maybe they think that having slept with me gives them an advantage, since they don’t know I’ve slept with all of them thus far. He shook the thought from his head; he had faith that his friends were better than that.
“Maybe we should go check on her,” suggested Moka, her gentle voice breaking into Tsukune’s thoughts.
The young man beamed. “That’s a great idea! I bet it’ll really cheer her up,” he replied.
“You’re probably the one she most wants to see,” Yukari pointed out. “But you can’t wander the girls’ dorm alone, so we’ll just have to tag along.”
“We’ll give you a little space once we make sure she’s okay, though. Knowing we’re nearby will protect you in case she tries anything dirty,” Mizore added.
“I don’t really think that’s a concern,” muttered Tsukune.
Mizore shrugged. “She did seem pretty bummed about being skipped last week after I told her we had a nice afternoon.” Tsukune panicked, wondering how much the ice-demon had spilled about their afternoon to Kurumu. Her expression was, as always, inscrutable.
“It’s not nice to gloat,” chided Moka.
Mizore opened her mouth to retort, but thought better of it. Instead, she merely shrugged again. “We should probably go ahead,” she suggested, “and get it over with.”
~~~~~
En route to Kurumu’s room, the group received a few odd looks from other girls passing them in the corridors, especially those from their own year. The girls of the Newspaper Club formed a protective wedge around Tsukune, though none of the other girls seemed interested in him specifically. Still, all three of them thought, can’t be too careful.
The Newspaper Club soon arrived at Kurumu’s door, which currently sat closed. After an awkward moment of staring at each other, waiting for someone to take the lead, Moka knocked gently. “Kurumu? Are you there? It’s your friends,” she addressed the door, receiving no response.
“Yeah, we’re all out here,” affirmed Yukari, “worried about you after you didn’t show up for the Club meeting this afternoon.” This, too, received no response from within.
“We even brought Tsukune,” added Mizore to prompt the young man. “We had to fight off all the other girls to get him here,” she embellished.
“Uh, yeah, I’m here too, Kurumu,” said the young man, hoping his voice would provoke a response where the others had failed. “Are you okay? Please answer us.”
The four of them strained to hear Kurumu’s response, but they heard only silence. Tsukune looked at the other girls helplessly, worry written all over his face. Yukari shrugged. Mizore twirled the lollipop in her mouth and muttered, “I know she was embarrassed this morning, and she told me she feared everyone was mad at her.” Moka twiddled her fingers, looking a little guilty.
“No one is mad at you, Kurumu,” Tsukune assured the succubus. The young man placed his ear to the door, but he still couldn’t hear anything. His brow furrowed.
“I can’t sense any monster energy from her,” Yukari told him. “If she’s in there, she’s completely unconscious.”
“I’m going to pick the lock,” Mizore intoned. She herded Tsukune out of her way and knelt in front of the door. A pair of oddly-shaped tools made of ice appeared in her hands, tools which she began using on the latch.
Long moments passed, during which the only sound was the rattle of Mizore’s tools against the door latch. Tsukune tried not to dwell on how, exactly, the snow-demon knew how to pick locks, instead choosing to feel grateful that she could. Finally, a click from the door signaled Mizore’s success.
Tsukune thanked her and led the girls into the room, which sat shrouded in darkness with the curtains drawn. “Kurumu?” he called into the seemingly-empty room.
“Tsukune?” came a faint whisper from the center of the room. “You’re really here? I thought I was dreaming.”
One of the girls – Tsukune couldn’t see which – found the light switch and flipped it. Beside him, Moka gasped and covered her mouth at what the lights revealed: Kurumu lying sprawled on her bed, still in her blouse and skirt. Her skin, though, was pale and her face drawn. Her unbuttoned blouse exposed her ample, bra-clad bosom heaving with short, shallow breaths.
Tsukune rushed to Kurumu’s side and took her hand in his. To his alarm, her hand felt clammy in his. Her head lolled towards him, a faint smile on her lips. “Something’s really wrong,” she whispered. “I’ve felt terrible all afternoon, like I can’t breathe.”
The young man turned to his friends. “I think she’s sick,” he relayed to them, barely keeping his voice calm. We can’t take her to see the school nurse, he observed to himself, since she’s currently “on leave” after the stunt she pulled with Yukari.
“I can make some soup,” Moka volunteered.
“I’ll go check my library to see what I can find,” Yukari added.
Mizore started looking around Kurumu’s room. “If I can find her diary, it might give us something,” she mused.
Tsukune smiled at them as they sprang into action, again glad that their friendship was more important to them than their competition for his affections. He turned his attention back to the supine succubus, his smile still in place but tinged with concern. He noted that a little color had returned to her cheeks, but her eyes remained unfocused. “I’m right here,” he reassured her.
“My chest… doesn’t feel so heavy,” Kurumu replied. Mizore snickered. “Just having you here… makes me feel better.”
Elsewhere in the room, Moka assembled the ingredients for soup and began preparations. Mizore browsed the contents of Kurumu’s desk, running her hand over the surface. A frown crossed her face as she encountered what felt like teardrops. “What happened?” she wondered aloud.
“I don’t really know,” answered Kurumu. “I was thinking about Tsukune… wondering what he feels about me.” She winced, whether at the memory or from a resurgence of discomfort. “My chest hurt, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe.” Her eyes searched Tsukune’s. “I feared… you hated me… or worse… saw me only as a friend.”
Before Tsukune could respond, Yukari chimed in, “I think I know what’s going on. Kurumu is suffering from Succubus Love-Sickness.” Unseen by the others, she’d reentered the room with a tome in her hand, ostensibly retrieved from her library and flipped open to a page depicting a tastefully-nude succubus, her wings obscuring her bosom and her tail obscuring her groin, in mid-swoon.
“What’s that?” asked Mizore.
“I think this is what you warned me might happen during our date,” commented Tsukune.
Yukari nodded. “Succubus Love-Sickness occurs when a succubus doubts that her Fated Mate loves or even cares about her,” the witch explained. “That doubt saps her life-force and monster energy until the succubus turns to stone, according to this.”
At the stove, Moka gasped. Mizore’s eyes widened as she muttered, “Holy shit.” Even Kurumu seemed taken aback by the seriousness of what had happened to her.
Tsukune swallowed. “I do care about you, Kurumu,” he assured her. “Please don’t doubt that anymore.”
“You can’t just say it,” Yukari interjected. “You have to show her how much you care for her.”
Tsukune nodded resolutely. “How do I do that?”
Yukari read further and reddened. “According to the text, you have to, uh, do ‘this and that’ with her,” she answered.
Kurumu’s smile was faint but sheepish. “I guess we need some privacy, then,” she suggested, her voice a murmur.
“There has to be another way!” blurted Moka.
Yukari shrugged. “The text doesn’t say anything about other, um, ‘treatment’ options.”
“Maybe Tsukune can just… show her he cares by nursing her to health,” suggested Moka.
Kurumu giggled. “That would be very sweet. If our positions were reversed, I’d do that for you,” she informed the young man.
Tsukune nodded resolutely. “I’ll do it, Kurumu,” he vowed; he then flushed when he realized he’d misspoken. “I mean, I’ll nurse you back to health. Once you’re feeling better, I can take you on the date I owe you.”
Kurumu’s brow furrowed. “I’d hope you see it as more than just an obligation, Tsukune,” she scolded. “If you’re going to take me out on a date, I want you to do it because you want to, not because you think you have to.” Her face paled again.
“Does this mean I don’t have to read Kurumu’s diary?” asked Mizore, hiding the small booklet behind her back.
“Please don’t,” the succubus pleaded.
“Okay,” the snow-woman lied.
At that point, Moka brought over a bowl of the soup she’d made. When she handed it to Tsukune, the two shared a look of mutual affection that wasn’t lost on the other girls. The young man helped Kurumu sit up and fed her the first spoonful.
“Next time everyone comes over,” she promised, “I’ll cook for us downstairs in the common room.”
“Once you’re feeling better,” added Moka.
Kurumu nodded wearily. “A date with Tsukune will have to be my incentive.” She winked at him half-heartedly. “With that as my goal, I should be up and around in no time.”
“How’s the soup?” asked Moka, suppressing the temptation – which she later attributed to a stray thought from her more-ruthless inner persona – to add various chemicals to Kurumu’s soup in the future, to make sure the succubus would remain too ill to go on dates.
“It’s good,” Kurumu complimented her rival. “Ultimately, I think it matters more to me that Tsukune is feeding me than what he’s feeding me.” Moka frowned at the remark but withheld her response.
“I have an idea for our date,” Tsukune interjected, sensing the tension between succubus and vampire. “I thought you might like to spend the day at the beach in the human world. I’ve already checked the weather this weekend; it’s supposed to be perfect.”
Kurumu, having by this point half-drained the bowl of its contents, blinked in pleasant surprise. “The beach?”
The young man grinned with relief on seeing her starting to perk up. “Remember? You sang all about it when I was looking at the Swimming Club, how the beach would be a romantic getaway for you.”
Kurumu giggled, the light starting to return to her eyes. “Yahoo! I didn’t think you paid attention to that.”
Tsukune flushed. “Well, you’re also simply the best choice for a beach date, and I’ve wanted to go with someone for a while now.”
“Right – Moka’s vampire weakness, Mizore’s heat intolerance, and Yukari’s… what? She’s not shrimpy anymore.” The witch preened at the compliment. The vampire pouted. The snow-woman flipped to the next page of Kurumu’s diary, her face thoroughly red from what she read.
The young man laughed. “I, uh, don’t think she has a swimsuit that fits her after her ‘growth spurt,’” he explained. He noted the color returning to Kurumu’s cheeks as she polished off the bowl of soup.
While he was feeding her, Tsukune’s hand brushed against Kurumu’s. The succubus felt a brief but intense jolt pass through her whole body. The tightness that had seemed to envelop her chest seemed to dissipate.
“I’m so excited for the weekend now,” the succubus told him. “I’m going to wear my favorite bikini just for you. Don’t worry,” she assured him when his face reddened in anticipation, “it’s modest, but still sexy.”
“R-Right,” Tsukune replied, unsure whether or not to believe her and imagining the succubus wearing what amounted to a glorified collection of string. His face flushed, and he wondered idly if he’d sprung a nosebleed. “Anyway,” he continued, pulling his thoughts away from string-bikini-clad buxom succubus girls, “I was thinking we could spend all day Saturday. Meet me at the bus stop at 8:30?”
Kurumu beamed. “I’ll be there. And Tsukune?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for coming to check on me. It means the world to me to know you really care about me,” she explained. “The witch was right: I’d started to worry you didn’t.”
“Of course I do,” he answered, feeling himself drawn towards her. “Never doubt that, okay?” They looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment. “Kurumu,” he whispered.
“Tsukune,” she whispered back.
“Kurumu…”
“Tsukune?” she murmured, realizing she was getting the sort of googly-eyed stare the young man normally reserved for Moka. The realization made her heart leap for joy in her chest. Her lips parted as she leaned closer to him.
“Hey, I think Kurumu’s okay!” crowed Yukari, as if on cue to break the moment. The other girls closed quickly in their excitement. On reaching her, they all shared warm, friendly hugs.
They stayed with her the rest of that evening, and the four Club members visited their sick friend each evening afterward. Each time, Kurumu seemed less weak and more like her old self. Throughout these evening visits, the grin never left Kurumu’s face, and the weekend couldn’t arrive soon enough for her.
~~~~~
Moka readied herself for bed, far less elated than Kurumu had been when they had to call it a night and rush Tsukune out of the girls’ dorm, only a step ahead of the guard-beast. The succubus was her friend, just like Yukari and Mizore were; but the vampire just couldn’t shake her feelings about Tsukune and Kurumu on a date together. She couldn’t even provide her feelings with a name – foreboding, unease, fear, disgust, worry?
Jealousy?
That’s silly, she chided herself. What’s to be jealous of? Kurumu might be my romantic rival, but Tsukune picked me first. She blushed at the euphemism “picked,” imagining the actual activity she and Tsukune had engaged in on their date. Even if he does… this and that… with her, it won’t mean what it meant with me, she reassured herself.
The pink-haired girl paced. There’s no harm, right? Kurumu has promised not to use her succubus powers on Tsukune anymore, so it’s not like he’ll forget about me afterward.
< Don’t you mean us? > came the inner Moka’s voice from within the rosary. < Don’t forget – I have a stake in this as well. >
Outer Moka winced. “Of course. We’ll have to share Tsukune regardless. I’m just afraid…”
< That she’ll be the superior lover? > inner Moka finished. < It’s likely. As a sex-demon, Kurumu is born and bred for the sole purpose of pleasing men. We can never compete in terms of physique or technique. >
“Wh-What are you saying?” stammered the stricken teen. “We’re going to lose him, no matter what?”
< Hardly – I refuse to lose him, > replied the disembodied girl. < We have to trust that Tsukune wants more than just… the physical part. Unless I miss my guess, he wants an emotional connection – with you, specifically. That’s our trump card. >
“What if… what if he decides he likes you best?” outer Moka fretted. “That you’re the one he wants the emotional connection with?”
< Do you really think… that might be possible? > inner Moka wondered, and for some reason outer Moka pictured her counterpart blushing on asking. < No, I doubt it. I’m the cold vampire side that holds everyone at arm’s length. Tsukune will merely appease me to keep seeing you. > Outer Moka blushed at the euphemism “appease,” knowing exactly how much her inner self had enjoyed her tryst with Tsukune. < You’re the warm, approachable one with whom Tsukune will wish to settle down and build a life. >
“I think you’re underestimating yourself,” insisted outer Moka. “In fact… I’m starting to think… you’ve never needed me.”
Inner Moka laughed aloud. < Now who’s selling herself short? > scoffed the sealed vampire personality, the rosary jewel flashing with her words. < Can you imagine me navigating that middle school? I’d have been expelled for fighting a dozen times over if it weren’t for you. >
“Still,” outer Moka sighed, “ever since your date with Tsukune, I’ve felt… useless. Like I’m just in the way.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Like I should just disappear, and let you live your life.”
Only silence came from the rosary for a long moment. < Please don’t think that way, > inner Moka finally replied. < I’d miss you if you vanished. You’re more of a sister to me than Kokoa. > Outer Moka didn’t seem convinced, so inner Moka added, < Who else could I discuss Tsukune’s… nighttime prowess… with, if you weren’t around? >
The pink-haired girl giggled and blushed. She stood in front of her mirror so she could look intently at the jewel of her rosary, as if she were looking her counterpart square in the eyes. “Promise me this much, at least: if Tsukune chooses you, you won’t put on the rosary and seal yourself away anymore.”
< I won’t make that promise, > she replied. < I’m still happy to share him, if it means keeping you around. That’s final. >
Outer Moka sighed. “What if he picks one of the others – Mizore, Yukari, or Kurumu? I think I could live with his decision if he chose you, because we can share.”
< Yukari would likely share Tsukune too, > inner Moka pointed out, < if in a different way. >
“Do you like girls that way?” asked outer Moka, somewhat alarmed.
< I don’t. >
“Neither do I,” the teenage girl affirmed, “so that’s a problem. Anything involving Yukari would be too weird for me.”
< What about if he chooses Mizore? She might let us borrow him from time to time, > suggested inner Moka.
“She might let you borrow him,” outer Moka answered. “I know you feel a kinship with her, but I don’t think she feels that for me.”
Inner Moka mulled that over. < Kurumu won’t share at all; succubi are rather possessive of their so-called Fated Mates. Whatever else happens, the succubus can’t be allowed to win. >
“What can we do, though?” asked the outer Moka in despair. “It’s her turn, and we can’t interfere.”
< We’ll just have to wait our turn, > inner Moka instructed, < and remind him who his first love is. Both of us can show him that two are better than one. >
_________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter, especially those who said "I hope this doesn't turn out like 'Died in Your Arms Tonight'" or something along similar lines. I thought the last chapter might have hit some of the same emotional notes as the DiYAT one-shot, but I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. It made me smile, at least, to see that some of y'all read my earlier work and drew the connection! :D
As usual, feedback via rating, review, or PM is not only encouraged, but welcome!
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Living for Love