I screamed.
When I first saw the light, I thought it would be better than the hell hole I was stuck in. But, if anything, it was worse.
The amount of sound, light, and sensation I was bombard with almost caused me to shut down. But, as sudden as it came, the sensation left, leaving a dull pain in its wake. For a few minutes, all I could comprehend in this blank state was numbness.
Then, slowly, feeling began to tickle in. A soft silk texture covered me. A steady heart beat pounded against my ear, a familiarity from my previous residence. The scent of roses and caramel invaded my nostrils, filling my chest with a particular warmth. My eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light, the startling clarity of the world surprising me.
In front of my face were chocolate strands, the color of hazelnuts. Seeing such a color again, whereas before all I could see was darkness, caused me to reach out for it. It was only when I grabbed the strands that I realized that my hand looked odd.
The hand holding the strands was tiny. It was chubby and pale with no scars or blisters. It looked like the hand of a baby, not the hand of a twenty year old.
A voice chuckled above me, causing me to break the inspection of the foreign hand and face upward. In front of my eyes was a giant, one who seemed to be unnaturally beautiful.
The giant had pale skin and a heart-shaped face. Their smile was radiant and welcoming, but their most stunning features were their eyes. They were a wine red, they seemed so magical.
The giant smiled at me before opening its mouth. It took a few minutes to understand that what the giant was speaking Japanese. That was when the niggling doubt that maybe I wasn't in afterlife begin to grow.
It was only when the giant shrugged off their dress and presented me with their nipple that that niggling doubt became the cold, hard truth.
I was reincarnated.
I was reincarnated.
I was reincarnated.
I was reincarnated.
I was reincarnated.
And I was a baby. With that horrible realization, I burst into hysterical sobs.
I couldn't remember much of what happened after my hysteria. I suppose that the giant- I mean Mother -probably did something to put me to sleep. I probably freaked her out a bit but, honestly, finding out that I spent nine months in her womb made me apathetic to her distress.
Like, screw whatever you think, I just witnessed my birth first hand. That is and probably will be the most traumatizing event in this second life.
Speaking of second life, I expected to freak out a lot. But, beside that one panic attack when I was newly born, I'm pretty chill. I suppose spending nine months in the dark just going through the grieving process and thinking about life made me nonchalant about the fact that I am now a baby. Though I don't doubt that I'm going to have some issues in the future.
The sound of the door opening made me freeze. For some reason, I was able to recognize and distinguish noise, see objects and colors, and was able to sound out my vowels right after I was born. I don't know if this was because I was reincarnated or if it was because the body I was in was a secret genius.
But it didn't matter now, Father's face peeked out from the bars of the crib I was in. If I thought that Mother was gorgeous than my Father was sinfully handsome. His hair reminded me of dark chocolate and his skin was pale. He had sharp features but one of the softest smiles I have ever seen. And his eyes were garnet red.
I honestly thought that I might have be born in a family of vampires if it wasn't for the lack of blood.
Father cradled me to his chest. " . . . Yuki . . . see . . . brother . . . excited . . . Mother . . . love . . ."
It took me some time to understand what he was saying. The only reason why I understand as much as I do was because I studied Japanese in my first life as my foreign language requirement. Associating Russian words mentally with the Japanese counterpart was fairly simple.
It was interesting to find out that I had a brother. Ever since I was born, the only people I have seen or interacted with were my parents.
Mother only came when it was time to feed me or play with me. Father came whenever I needed to sleep or change diapers. The only time both parents would be there was at bath time.
It was through this system that I realized that I have been in the same room for a month. This was actually my first time leaving.
Father stopped in front of an ornate door that just screamed wealth and privilege. He shifted me into his right arm and then awkwardly tried to open the door with his left hand.
Before he could fully open the door, the handle was ripped from his hand and the light from the room spilled onto our forms. I hissed in displeasure of the sudden intrusion of light on my sensitive eyes, used to the constant darkness of my bedroom.
A high pitched voice apologized. That's when Father kneeled gently and shifted me toward the voice. I looked at my presumed brother and my mind was blown.
If Mother and Father looked gorgeous and handsome respectively, then my brother looked absolutely beautiful. He seemed to have inherited our parent's pale skin with Mother's eyes and Father's hair. His face was soft with a youth that would soon grow into chiseled features and his lips were in a smile that, honestly, could have rivaled the sun at one point.
My brother opened his mouth and started talking in fast-paced Japanese. I blinked, not understanding a single word of what he was saying, and decided to tune him out. I was more interested in studying his facial features.
For some reason, he seemed familiar to me. Which was odd because I have never seen the kid before.
A familiar chuckle broke me from my observation and instead made me settle my gaze on the person coming behind my brother. Seeing Mother's beaming face, I gave into my urge to coo happily.
That caused Father to laugh softly and greet Mother with a kiss. ". . . Yuki . . . adorable . . . Juri . . ."
Mother smirked at Father. " . . . Yuki . . . adorable . . . daughter . . . Haruka . . ."
Father smiled at Mother, his smile soft with affection and happiness.
The scene was interrupted by a pair of small hands squishing my cheeks. This caused me to squeak out in surprise, gaining my parents attention back to my brother and I.
The sight of an eight year old (or maybe seven, I can't really tell) boy making his baby sister's face resemble a fish must have be ridiculous judging by the laughter coming from our parents. This caused my brother to grin widely, enjoying the attention.
He then turned his attention to me, ". . . Yuki . . . adorable . . . sister . . . Kuran . . ."
Mother smiled at brother and responded. " . . . Kaname . . . love . . . Yuki . . . Kuran . . . sister . . . brother . . ."
I yawned, interrupting Mother's discussion with my brother, Kaname.
Father, seeing my sleepy face, decided that today's social interaction was enough and that anymore would either cause a mental breakdown or a tantrum from me. He got up, gently cradling me, and walked me back to my room.
It was only when I was a few moments away from being put back into bed, that I actually processed what the conversation was about.
. . Yuki . .
. . Kaname . .
. . Kuran . .
Those were all manga characters, familiar manga characters, which came from the semi-popular manga Vampire Knight.
A manga where vampires and vampire hunters were real.
A manga that dealt with political intrigue and manipulations, bloodlust and violence.
A manga in which uncles raping nieces and brother-sister marriages were perfectly acceptable in society.
A manga in which the main character, an amnesiac vampire princess named Yuki, was involved in a love triangle with her fake brother, Kaname, and a emo vampire hunter, Zero.
A manga that I was born into.
A manga that I was born into as the main character Yuki.
Faced with that realization, I then proceed to sob hysterically for the second time in my life.
