A New Light

This fic is an omake for my long KKM fic, Of Age, but it's not necessary for you to have read the long fic for this to make sense. It takes place during chapter 6.

Disclaimer: Kyou Kara Maou is the property of creator Tomo Takabayashi and licensor Geneon Entertainment, Inc.

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"All right, what's going on?" Greta asked her fathers as she paused in coloring her newest drawing, suspiciously eyeing each of them in turn.

Wolfram blinked, startled at the question. He glanced at Yuri over the top of Greta's head, and his fiancé gave a shrug to go with the quizzical expression he wore. "Whatever do you mean?" Wolfram replied, giving his daughter a pat on the shoulder and a charming smile.

"Something is different," she declared. "You two aren't even arguing."

Wolfram met Yuri's gaze again, a slight flush rising on Yuri's cheeks as he realized what Greta was unknowingly referring to. It was true, they weren't arguing…in fact, for the first time since Wolfram could recall, everything was entirely comfortable between them. When Yuri had finally stopped being an idiot and admitted his feelings two nights ago, it was like the barrier between them had crumbled. There were still a few rough spots here and there, because, after all, Yuri wasn't going to stop being a complete wimp overnight – but even Wolfram had to admit that he'd come a long way in the past week.

By now, almost the entire castle knew about the two of them; even Wolfram's mother, who had made her joyous feelings on the matter known that afternoon in a humiliating display of wedding plans and inappropriate commentary. But, while it was entirely possible that Greta had heard something about the two of them by way of gossip, neither Wolfram nor Yuri had said anything to her directly.

Wolfram wasn't actually sure what, if anything, they were expected to tell their daughter about their changed relationship. With all the emotion of the past few days, the subject hadn't exactly come up. How did one even go about explaining such a thing to a child? Judging by the borderline-panicked look on Yuri's face, he hadn't any more of an idea what to say than Wolfram did, but that didn't stop Yuri from trying desperately to fill the silence that had settled over them.

"Um," Yuri began, twiddling his fingers nervously as he spoke, "you see, Greta…sometimes, when two people…I mean, Wolfram and I…well…" Greta gave Yuri a confused look, but waited patiently for him to finish his incomprehensible explanation.

Wolfram smirked as Yuri fumbled with his words and his face reddened further; he could be such a child himself, sometimes. "What Papa Yuri means to say," Wolfram interrupted, "is that we decided to try not to argue so much anymore."

"Right," Yuri agreed hurriedly as he gave Wolfram a grateful look, "that's it."

"Oh," Greta replied. She went back to her coloring with a smug grin, as if her fathers had just confirmed exactly what she had known all along. Although still a child, Greta was rather perceptive.

Greta was right; something was different. But honestly, Wolfram hadn't even noticed the lack of bickering between him and Yuri. What was different was the way the light flickered in Yuri's eyes, and the way his smile was softer but yet more expressive, and the way that Yuri's fingers brushing against the fabric of his uniform was suddenly very distracting.

It was strange, Wolfram thought, that everything could be so abruptly different when the emotion was the same. He had loved Yuri for the past year, and that hadn't changed. But at the same time, everything had changed.

He had never expected that one emotion could have two such profoundly different feelings.

"I'm done!" Greta announced, holding her picture at arms length for her parents to admire. They both obediently fawned over the colorful landscape on the page, earning a dazzling smile from their daughter as she accepted the praise.

Greta hopped up from her seat, adding the drawing to the extensive collection of her work that covered the table in front of her. "Hey, can we go outside for a little bit? It's not too late yet, but I bet the fireflies are out…"

Yuri nodded his agreement – he was always spoiling Greta – and Greta instantly grabbed Yuri's hand and began to tug him out of the room, excitedly going on about how it was Yuri's turn to be "it" in their seemingly unending game of tag. At the last moment before he disappeared out the door, Yuri turned, flashing Wolfram another of those gentle, affectionate smiles that made his pulse quicken.

As Wolfram prepared to follow his fiancé and daughter out into the courtyard, he happened to glance down at the table where Greta's many drawings were lying in total disarray. He heaved a sigh as he began to gather the papers into some kind of vague order, but a smile appeared on his face as he sifted through the past several weeks of Greta's artwork. It seemed that she had improved a great deal in the last few months, with Wolfram's careful tutelage. She was so expressive, even if her art was not necessarily the most realistic. Wolfram specialized in more abstract art anyway, so it was predictable that Greta would do the same. A flash of black caught Wolfram's eye, and he shifted the papers around to reveal the drawing that he was sure had to be of Yuri.

It was, in fact, a drawing of Yuri. He was standing in his usual black uniform, a wide smile on his face as he held the hand of a blond, blue-clad figure who was standing next to him.

Wolfram couldn't help but chuckle as he noticed that the date on the bottom left corner of the paper indicated that Greta had made this masterpiece over a month ago. Their daughter was quite a perceptive little girl, indeed.

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Comments and concrit are appreciated. Thanks!