Yuki Kuran was abruptly awoken from her sleep by the slightly violent shakes and desperate calls of a blonde haired vampire.
"Lady Yuki! Lady Yuki!" he chanted over and over again. He resorted to shaking and yelling when all his previous attempts to awaken the girl did not work. Annoyed, she pushed Aido away, grunting.
"What is it, Aido?" she asked. Aido quickly fixed his shirt which she knocked out of place and stood by her bedside once again.
"It is Haruki. He is having trouble sleeping because of the storm," he proclaimed. It was only then that Yuki noticed the low rumble of thunder that slightly shook the house, despite it's impressive size. She had been sleeping through it all. Yuki turned her attention back on Aido.
"Where is Kaname?" she asked, noticing that he had left the bed from the time she fell asleep. Behind his back, Aido's hands started twitching a bit.
"Uh, well... H-he's working right now in his office. I-I know that you need your rest since you just gave birth to Ai, but..." Aido slowly pressed his hand to his cheek and looked the other way.
"Lord Kaname has a tendency to slap me when I displease him," he finished. Yuki only slightly smiled. She wasn't in the mood to laugh, but she couldn't help but enjoy the sight in front of her.
"Yes he does," was all she said. Aido frowned and looked back at her, his hand still on his cheek. Yuki slowly stood up, her body still feeling raw from Ai. Aido helped her, as her legs were shaking. He continued to hold her hand and guide her out of the room. Once the reached the lit hallway, Yuki let go of Aido, now able to see.
"Please let Kaname know that Haruki is afraid and I will be staying with him until he feels better," she said. Before she could take a step forward down the hall, Aido protested.
"But Lady Yuki, what if he tries to slap me again?!" he asked, holding out his arm to prevent her from walking away. Yuki sighed. It was like having three children. She gently pushed his arm down.
"You can tell him that I sent you, and if he wants to slap someone he better come slap me," she said. She huffed as she continued walking towards her sons room. Aido felt slightly relieved; he could pass the blame to Yuki if Kaname got upset. Still, the pit in his stomach was getting bigger as he made his way to Kaname's office.
Yuki slightly bugged open the door to Haruki's room, letting in a stream of light that revealed Kain sitting next to a big lump in the sheets. She knew it must have been Haruki hiding from the storm. Kain looked at her with a expression of exhaust. He stood up and quietly walked to her.
"We tried to get him to go back to sleep, but he won't listen to us," he whispered. Yuki smiled and place a hand on Kain's chest.
"Thank you Kain. Please light the candles," she said, referring to the candle holders that circled around Haruki's room. It was built into the house many years ago and almost every room in the mansion had them. Kain nodded his head and began searching for matches. Yuki walked to her scared child. She gently sat on the bed and slightly pulled the sheets down so that she could see the dark-brown head of her son.
"Haruki, don't be afraid," she said gently. At the sound of his mothers voice, Haruki started to pull his head out of the sheets, but upon hearing the storm pick up, he quickly pulled his head back under. Yuki looked at the window that was parallel to his bed and watched as the rain pounded even harder against the glass. She sighed. Mother nature always has a way of making things worst, it seems.
"Is there someone there?" Haruki choked out, his voice faint behind the covers. Yuki smiled at her child's words.
"There isn't any danger. No one is out there. I'm here," she said, gently rubbing what she assumed was the boys back. She slowly worked the blanket down past Haruki's head. He stayed curled in the fetal position while Kain slowly lit each candle one by one, lighting the room. Yuki watched as the thunder made Haruki shake in his bed.
Suddenly, there was a large flash of lightning that hit outside the window, allowing Yuki to clearly see the tears on Haruki's face as he nearly bit into his hands from fear.
"I'm hear Haruki," she whispered, continuing to pet the boy. She prayed that she would find a way to describe what was happening outside. Yuki actually very much enjoyed thunderstorms, as she found them very soothing, but Haruki was deathly afraid of thunderstorms at night when he was alone. It was unlike him, and quite mystery to his parents. More than once they had to call him back inside because thunder had started and Haruki would fail to come inside. There was something about the night time that scared him even more.
Yuki looked once more out the windows near Haruki's bed. They had chosen to place Haruki's bed next to the window because Haruki loved the moon. At night, Haruki was able to look out the window and see the moon looking back at him. Tonight though, the moon was hidden.
"What's wrong with the sky?" he asked quietly. Yuki ran her finger through his soft hair.
"What do you mean?" Yuki asked just as softly.
"Where is the moon?" he asked. He was always nervous when the moon didn't show. Every month, Kaname and Yuki would have to sit down with Haruki and explain what a new moon was. Yuki chuckled.
"The moon is outside. It is still there. It is just hidden behind the clouds now. The moon is still watching you," she explained to him. Yuki noticed a slight change as Haruki seemed to loosen a bit.
"Can we turn the lights on?" Haruki asked. Yuki sighed. He asked this every time, and it always turned into a fight.
"No. If we turn all the lights on, then you will stay up all night. You need to learn how to sleep during the night," she said. Haruki quickly shivered back into a ball and groaned, erasing all the little bits of progress Yuki had made. She sighed.
"Why do you need the lights on? It will not make the storm go away," she pointed out.
"If the lights are on, all the things outside my window go away," he said, pointing to the outside. Yuki stood up and walked over to the window. She examined the outside perimeter of the window and the space just beyond, but nothing was there. She turned back to the bed with her hands on her hips.
"There is nothing outside. What are you talking about?" Yuki asked. Haruki began to shake as he slowly turned onto his back. He slowly raised his finger again, this time pointing at the wall on the other side of the room. Yuki followed his finger to the wall.
"They dance on the wall. It's scary," he said. Yuki studied the wall, confused. She watched her own shadow against the wall, and then she noticed it. Little figures around her shadow began to dance up and down. Even her own shadow moved a bit, even though she was standing still.
"This is why he's always been so afraid of thunderstorms?"
"Sweetie, those are shadows from the trees. They are just branches. The light from the moon and the lightning are putting shadow on your walls of the branches," she explained.
"Why are they moving?!" Haruki insisted. Yuki giggled, slowly moving back to the other side of the bed and sitting down on the spot next to Haruki.
"The wind is pushing on them. They are not moving on their own," she explained. Haruki quickly shoved his whole body back under the sheets that Yuki tried so hard to get him under. He threw them over his head and grunted from beneath them.
"I hate thunderstorms!" he yelled. Yuki sighed. Back to square one it looked like.
"You should love thunderstorms," she said, not expecting him to listen to her. Instead, he responded.
"Why?!" he shouted.
"Because!" Yuki shouted back, frustrated and tired and sore.
"That's how nature works! The rain will fall all over the place, and it's a good thing. All the water will get absorbed by the grass and the trees and the flowers, and they will be healthy! I bet that when you wake up, the world around you will be a even more beautiful place then it was before, because nature needs water. It is a beautiful thing for water to fall on Earth and give life to the plants around us," she explained. Suddenly, all the motions underneath the blanket stopped. There was silence for a few moments and no movements.
Slowly, the mass underneath the blanket began to push itself up, dragging the blankets with it. Haruki gently rested his head back on his pillow and pulled the sheets back down under his head. With his big brown eyes, he looked up to his mother. Yuki almost melted when she saw his face. He was so similar to Kaname at his young age in regards to appearance. Yuki tried to imagine a young Kaname hiding under the sheets from a thunderstorm. The image just didn't seem right though, and she giggled slightly.
"Were you ever scared of thunderstorms?" Haruki asked. Yuki felt a sudden rush of emotions as she thought back to her childhood. Doing so always felt bittersweet. She tried to think to a time when she was also scared of nature. Yuki nodded her head.
"Yes. Once, I was young as well, and I was scared of the thunder outside. I was very afraid of it, just like you," she explained. Haruki smiled. He reached out to his mother, grabbing her hand. Yuki gently took his hand in hers.
"What happened when you were afraid?" he asked.
Yuki smiled at the memory, recalling every bit of it, telling her son the story.
xxxx
"Yuki?" a voice called from behind a door that was opening slowly. Yuki look over her shoulder. She tried to see who was calling out to her, but the sudden loud boom caused her to tuck her head back into the sheets.
She listened as gentle footsteps made there way into her room, stopping at her bed. Yuki still shook in fear.
She felt pressure on the bed as the person sat on the bed next to her. She felt a hand slowly crawl up her side, up her arm, up her shoulder, and finally, down her face, using the sleeve of their shirt to wipe away the tears. Yuki gasped at the sensation. She slowly turned her head and finally looked up at who it was.
"Kaname! Brother!" she called out. She quickly laid on her back and looked up at him. A smile showed across his face. He pulled his other hand of the the pocket of his pajama pants, revealing a lollipop he had taken from the kitchen just for her. She smiled when she saw it, ignoring the thunder boom. Kaname said nothing as he unwrapped the candy and handed it to her. She happily put it in her mouth. She continued to look up at her brother as he continued to look down at her.
Kaname slowly lowered himself down, placing a kiss on Yuki's forehead. He pulled back up and looked back down at her. She giggled, feeling a warmth across her cheeks. Kaname smiled even wider.
Slowly, he once more lowered himself down, place a kiss on each of Yuki's cheeks. Yuki giggled even louder, thinking it was some kind of game.
Kaname stayed with her while she finished eating her lollipop. Neither of them exchanged any words. Instead, they just held hands. Once she finished, Kaname took the stick and the wrapper and threw both of them away. He then laid down on the bed next to Yuki, placing an arm over her tiny body.
"You're going to stay?" Yuki asked, surprised by the boys actions.
"Of course I will, Yuki," Kaname responded. Yuki studied Kaname's tired face, then looked at his body laying on top of the covers.
"Get under the sheets with me!" she said. Kaname, slightly surprised, slowly lifted the sheets up and slid underneath them. Yuki cuddled up closer to him and smiled. There was another short bound of silence.
"Will we always be this close?" she asked. Kaname nodded his head yes, and Yuki responded with a giggle and smile. She slowly placed her small, delicate hand on his chest. Kaname looked at the small hand, and gently placed his hand on top of hers.
"How do you know?" she asked. He looked back up to her, her face still shining with a smile on it. He smiled back, pressing his hand on her cheek.
"Because... One day, we will be like mommy and daddy," he replied. Yuki's eyes shined bright and her smiled turned into a wide, toothy grin.
"You and me, big brother?" she asked. Kaname let out a giggle of his own.
The two stayed together until Yuki awoke the next morning, finding Kaname still next to her.
xxxx
"So you would always be okay?" Haruki asked. Yuki smiled and nodded her head. She still felt the warmth across her cheeks after all these years. Haruki giggled, much like Yuki had that night. He still held Yuki's hand, and shook it a bit.
"Will you stay with me tonight?" he asked. Yuki sighed. This was another request he seemed to make every time there was a thunderstorm. Kaname and Yuki tried to teach their son to be independent, but with his face, it was so hard...
"Well, Kaname is going to kill me..."
Yuki slowly crawled into the sheets, cuddling Haruki like Kaname had cuddled her. Haruki snuggled close to his mother.
"This is just until you fall asleep. You need to sleep on your own," she said. Haruki nodded his head in response. Haruki closed his eyes and gently fell into a light slumber. Just enough to be very tired, not enough to be in deep sleep. Just when he was about to slip into blissful sleep, his door opened once again.
Yuki looked over her shoulder to the man in the door frame. She smiled upon seeing the face of her husband. Kaname quietly walked into his sons room. He picked up the candle snuffer on the bed side table. He went to each candle, placing the antique on each candle, suffocating the flames and sending the room back into complete darkness.
Yuki looked down at her son and decided that he was asleep.
"I know we agreed to not sleep with him at night, but he was scared and I told him I would go back to my room once he was asleep," Yuki explained. Kaname placed the snuffer back on the table. His eyes met his wife's.
"That might be what you said, but you have not intention of doing so, do you?" he asked. Yuki bit the inside of her lip while she looked down at her sons gentle face, slowly taking deep breaths in and out. He definitely was asleep by now, but... she didn't feel ready to leave. She looked back at Kaname and smiled.
"No," she replied. Kaname stood over the bed for a few seconds, lingering. Yuki watched him, wondering what he would do.
Eventually, Kaname grabbed the sheets and pulled them up. He slid himself in next to Yuki. He place one arm underneath her, wrapping around all the way to his son, and placed his other arm on top her, stroking his sons hair. Yuki smiled up at her husband.
Since he had secretly stood at the door when she told the story, the memory of him comforting Yuki played over and over in his mind. Slowly, he placed a kiss on his wife's head. She chuckled, feeling the same way she felt when he did it the first time. He then slowly placed a kiss on each of her cheeks, and she chuckled again. She snuggled deep into Kaname's embrace while she watched her son sleep.
Only, her son wasn't sleeping. In fact, he was pretty awake because of his father sudden appearance. He listened as his parents talked about him.
"We really need to find a better way to make sure he can sleep on his own," Kaname said. Yuki gently sighed, pulling Haruki closer.
"Maybe he will grow out of it," Yuki suggested.
"And if he doesn't?" Kaname asked.
"Well, we will deal with it then," Yuki replied. Haruki smiled as rested his head on his mothers chest.
He felt a wave of confidence come over him as he looked up and saw the moving figures on the wall, now unafraid by them. He now felt safe.
He knew the everything would be fine in the morning.
He knew that the rain would be gone in the morning.
He also knew that, despite what his father may want and what his mother might say, they would still be there in the morning.