OK, after a somewhat longish pause I continue. But the good news I will be here in Goa for two more days and I already have about a third of the next chapter written, which picks up where this one ends. And if I have time I will try to answer the reviews in this two days also - for now, just believe that your opinion is hugely important for me - it's indeed the lack of time and being constantly on the move that prevented me from answering earlier.

And I still do not own VK in whichever form, and am just using its characters and plot for my own little character development in this story - just for the fangirly fun.

Touga Yagari felt tired, and it was putting it mildly…

First of all – he hadn't slept since early the previous morning…

…previous night. Face it, Touga, the sun wasn't nearly up by then, so – face it, Touga, that was night…

Then there was the fight, and then – Cross left for the Hunters' Association – partly to extricate himself from the charges the former President had filed against him, partly to pull some strings and push some buttons that he still had within since the olden times – to try and sway the now headless Association into the right path. That wouldn't be easy, but Touga had a firm belief that somehow the old fox would make it work.

Just look – who'd think this Academy of his would prove such strange a success…

That said – Cross left and that meant that it was Touga's turn to somehow pull together the rather bewildered hunters here on the Academy grounds and to firmly ascertain that they fight and kill only the Level D's and E's Rido provided in ample quantity, and not dare touch even by chance the already diminished (thank God through wounds rather than more permanent damage) numbers of the Night Class students.

It was, of course, already after the main battle was won, but still an occasional Level D would pop up out of nowhere, or an occasional hunter would wander too close to where pale and exhausted moon-dormers tended to their wounded class-mates and friends, gradually moving them to the infirmary and makeshift beds inside the canteen.

The worst thing, probably, was that the hunters wouldn't remove themselves from the grounds altogether – so, in the end, when everything seemed to quiet down – he just had to tell them to go camp in and around Cross's house. And no – it wasn't out of spite, just the most logical place to keep them out of the way for now…

… and let Cross come and deal with them afterwards…

With that he decided to finally consider his job done and go catch the long awaited nap in the hut – the fully restored but never used by Cross outbuilding - that he had freely availed himself of in the last pair of days. That is – he was going to catch that nap before that girl ran right into him…

No – it wasn't true… at that point he could've well get clean out of it and never think of it twice… and bug his curiosity as to what could've happened to the almighty pureblood, and bug that Cross was for some inexplicable reason so fond of that guy… Yes, he could've just told that girl: "Go find someone else"… And he'd be home and sleeping soundly by now…

It was the sight of the pureblood that did it, and the dire condition he was in…

Overexposure, my ass!..

Or rather – overexposure was a factor in it – the vampire was almost frozen to death, and it was that that hastened the hunter's tired step towards the place where he could carefully un-freeze his first surprisingly light and now almost unbearably heavy burden…

If I wasn't that tired already… or if he was conscious to hold onto me himself…

The purebloods lasting unconsciousness was not what worried Touga either. In his condition it was only natural that the mind would shut out. And in fact, the boy…

…and just when did you start to think of him like this, Touga?..

… the boy had come to briefly – back when he first started carrying him from that lake. The garnet-colored eyes opened – dazed, softly enquiring, but at the same time – already resigned to whatever answer they find… Touga tried to imagine what he himself would've felt if he woke up – weak and dazed and found out he's being carried by a vampire… and shuddered inwardly…

The boy in his arms though didn't show a sign of fear. The lips moved slowly as if the mere act of speaking was demanding all the concentration the vampire was currently capable of:

"You aren't taking me to the m…" he faltered, as he obviously started to say "the Moon Dorms" but then remembered that they were no more.

"My hut… Outbuilding… by the very edge of the Academy grounds", the hunter provided to spare the boy the questioning.

"Good…" drifted softly, just as the garnet eyes closed tiredly again, and Touga could've sworn that the word – if he didn't imagine altogether hearing it – was tinged with relief…

Which nicely brings us back to what worried you in the first place… Overexposure, my ass!..

The pureblood should've been immune to any overexposure to begin with… unless he was wounded by a hunter-spelled weapon or suffered from an immense blood loss… But the vampire seemed unharmed when Touga last had seen him the previous evening – mingling in somewhat remote and distanced manner with the surviving nobles in the Sun Dormitory yard. Nor did he have any new wounds or fresh blood stains on his garments – that was the first thing that Touga checked for when he rushed to Kaname by the lake…

Something irked in his mind, some distant memory of somewhere, somehow having seen a person collapsing for no visible reason long after the battle had been won… but the memory refused to come closer, to reveal itself clearer… and he stopped puzzling over it… it didn't matter now. Right now the hunter hand more pressing things to do on his hands…

…quite literally – and growing colder, heavier and limper by the moment…

"Come on, kid… you just hang on, kid…" whispered the hunter hoarsely as he had done innumerable times since the lake, "Just a little bit longer… just a tiny little bit longer… you just hang on in there, kid…"