Happy belated Chinese New Year everybody^^!

This chapter consists of mini Kuran fluff (again) and after the next chapter, I'll begin to write about Yuuki being 12. Then about a couple of more chapters, I'll get to the present day/Yuuki being grown-up. =]

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight—Hino Matsuri does.

Chapter 3: Her Guardians

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At Twilight's Hour; Yuuki's bedroom

"Onii-sama, are you asleep…?" Yuuki whispered, peeking with one eye at her brother, who appeared to be peacefully sleeping next to her on the rather enormous mattress. She snuggled closer to him, missing very much the times when they slept together with their parents. It was warmer and more fun, as their parents would tell exciting tales of their juvenile days.

"Not anymore," his sleepy voice answered and he peeked back at his sister.

It was slumber time for most vampires as the sun was rising at the horizon. Dawn was breaking and Yuuki should have fallen asleep hours ago. Little vampires shouldn't be up this late, but for some reasons, Yuuki couldn't sleep and was very bored. Hence, she decided to bother her one and only bed companion left in the world.

"Yuuki, you should sleep… Are you not tired?" he looked at her drowsily.

"Nope, I can't sleep."

"Then count sheep."

"I did...and I counted 300 sheep already,"

He softly chuckled at the number of sheep she counted and teased, "Then count 300 more."

"...Onii-sama...you're so mean!" she puffed her cheeks and folded her arms, "It's not funny and it was hard not to lose count."

This time, he couldn't suppress the laughter inside of him and let it out freely. He rubbed his eyes to clear his blurry vision, waking himself up a little more. After he was more conscious, he saw Yuuki looking a bit angry at him, mirroring the all-too-familiar serious expression that he always used when talking to other vampires—she was definitely his sister.

"Ah...I'm sorry. I'm awake now. Would you like to talk?" he changed the topic and hoped she would forget about her childish yet cute small tantrum

Yuuki's face softened and she pondered with her index finger on her chin, occasionally tapping it. Kaname smiled as he knew he had successfully distracted her from the previous topic.

"Do you like it here?" he asked, wanting to know how she felt at the Ichijou's residence.

"Its...okay," she said and then pursed her lips together, "but Ichiou-san looks a bit mean and scary."

"How so?" he wanted her to elaborate.

She tilted her head to one side and thought back to the times she encountered him. Unlike, Takuma with his prince charming appearance—Ichiou seemed to be the polar opposite of him. He didn't smile much and his personality was one word: cold.

Ichiou gave her an unwelcoming feeling and the aura around him was not pleasant at all. When he finally smiled at her, it seemed so forced and unnatural. She still didn't understand how on earth Takuma was blood-related to Ichiou, his grandfather.

"I don't like him," she concluded, "he gives me the creeps and I feel like he is just being 'nice' to me because of my status."

"I see...," his voice trailed off as he knew for sure that Yuuki couldn't stay here with him anymore. He didn't want her to be living in a place where she felt unsecured and not at home.

Frankly, he didn't like the idea of Yuuki being around the corrupted Council of Elders so much. He was afraid that the elders would take advantage of her gentle nature. He didn't trust them-especially Ichiou, the First Elder of the group. Who knew what was up his sleeve? That vampire might be more complicated than he looked.

"Do you like him?" she asked back.

"He's okay," he briskly replied and refrained himself to discuss how 'wonderfully' Ichiou was leading the council. She was too young to perceive this, it was better if she stayed ignorant until later on. After all, ignorance was a bliss.

"Onii-sama… do you think we'll be like Okaa-sama and Otou-sama when we grow-up?" she suddenly asked.

Kaname immediately stopped thinking of Ichiou and stared at Yuuki. Her dark rubicund-colored eyes were full of hope and serenity. She was implying about their arranged marriage and he was happy that she brought it up. He simply could not wait when they become one and live throughout eternally.

He smiled and reached for her small hand, "Of course, we're going to be like Okaa-sama and Otou-sama in the future."

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Evening At Aidous' Residence

Subsequently to their arrival at the Aidous' estate, Kaname decided to reveal who were Yuuki's guardians to her. After countless deliberations, he had chosen to go with the people who were the closest to their family, it was none other than the Aidous.

"We would be more glad than be the pureblood princess's guardians," Aidou Nagamichi humbly said and placed his right hand on his chest while bowing. "We owe so much to your parents and we ensure you that we'll protect the princess with our lives."

"Yes, we'll be honored to," Aidou Michiru added and bowed as well.

"Thank you, Aidou-san, I shall entrust your family with my sister," Kaname gratefully said, "I know your family is well known for intelligence, so I don't think I need to remind you what will happen if you harm Yuuki in any way, right?"

Kaname's eyes warningly glinted at Nagamichi and his wife. He knew the last statement he made wasn't really necessary for he knew that the Aidous were better than to manipulate Yuuki in rebelling against him. The Aidous were extremely loyal and respected the Kurans greatly… nevertheless, it was still better and safer to remind them.

"Hai," the couple replied.

Kaname nodded and strode towards the grand door to retrieve Yuuki.

Yuuki entered the room shyly and curtsied her dress. "Konbanwa, my name is Kuran Yuuki and it's nice to meet you," she introduced herself and gave a heartwarming smile as she lifted her head to meet their gazes.

Nagamichi and Michiru were amazed as it was their first time seeing the pureblood princess.

Yuuki indeed looked like a princess with her wine-colored tank dress that reached to her knees and a long black sleeve shirt underneath it. Her dress was empire waist and it had designs of roses ruffled on the collar area. She wore a pair of simple black ballet flats since she was not old enough for heels. Her long auburn hair was neatly groomed and a red Victorian jewel bow brooch was pinned to hold her falling bangs in place.

Her aura was exceedingly pleasant and sweet, not very terrifying as one would expect a pureblood to carry. Her face was very loveable to look at with her infectious smile that unconsciously caused both Aidous' lips to quirk up ever so slightly.

She was charming and enthralling, the Aidous weren't sure was this due to her warm personality or her pureblood nature, but one thing they did know was that she will surely become a beautiful sophisticated lady like her mother. They were going to aid in any way possible, even if it meant risking their lives when protecting her.

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In Aidous' Garden

"O…ni…sa…ma," Yuuki weakly enunciated and held her head with one hand, feeling the whole world was spinning around her. "I…need…energy."

In truth, she didn't want to take energy from her beloved brother, but she needed it to keep living and be by his side. Her vampire fangs hadn't grown out yet and it would be a while until so, few more years perhaps. She felt ashamed of herself each time as she took energy from him because she couldn't give him anything back…at least not yet.

Hearing Yuuki's request, Kaname went over to where she was and placed her on his lap while settling down on a wooden bench. Without any further notice, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips which was the fastest and most efficient way of transferring energy, mouth to mouth.

The kiss didn't last long and Yuuki pulled away from him when she felt better. To them, the kiss didn't have any strong romantic meaning or feeling as they had done it so many times before when she was low on energy.

"Thank you," she embraced him and closed her eyes to enjoy the scent on his clothes.

"Anytime, Yuuki," he hugged her back and felt a kid's presence nearby, "you can come out now Hanabusa-kun."

A blond hair boy with turquoise eyes stepped out of the tree behind Yuuki and Kaname. He looked a bit flushed, so he must have overheard the siblings' conversation at first. He eyed Yuuki and instantly knew that she was the Kuran who would be living with him for a while. He had been informed couple of hours ago from his parents that he had to look after her and treat her with respect.

"Kan-kan-ame-sa-sama! I-I-I was not eavesdropping," Hanabusa horribly stuttered. "I-I was just passing by to collect some materials for my experiment." He held up his notebook and some rocks he had collected to prove that he wasn't lying. The two siblings only stared at him, making him more nervous. "Erm… I'm going to go now. Gomenasai!" He did a quick bow before rushing out of the garden.

Yuuki was amused by Hanabusa and giggled. "Is he one of your friends like Takuma, Onii-sama?"

He nodded his head and reminisced back to the day they had met. He was five-years-old while Hanabusa was four-years-old. It was memorable and hilarious as Hanabusa refused to be his friend.

However, at the Kurans' condolence ceremony that was held few nights ago, Hanabusa told him that he actually liked Kaname and wanted to be his friend. A smile crept onto Kaname's face as he thought back the night when they became friends.

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Flashback - Few Nights Ago

"Kaname-sama... If you don't like it then just say you don't like it!" Hanabusa shouted and caused Kaname to turn around.

"Because... Why so?"

"I know because I'm your friend."

"You said...you hated me."

"No, I just hated myself for not accepting...that I liked you."

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Hanabusa's Study Room

Yuuki gently knocked on the white door before pushing the door open. She was looking for Hanabusa and wanted to talk to him.

One of the butlers had told her that Hanabusa was reading a book in his study room.

"Hanabusa-san?" her small voice called out and looked at the many rows of books in the grand bookshelves. She wondered if Hanabusa had read all of them.

Hearing a book's page being flipped, she soon found him leisurely reading a book on the sofa. She strolled over and smiled.

"Hello," she greeted.

"Yuuki-sama?" he looked up from his book and was surprised to see her.

"Hi! What are you reading?" she curiously inquired.

"Shakespeare's Hamlet," he grabbed his bookmark on the coffee table and placed it in his book.

"Is it good?"

"Yeah, but it's a sad story you see. It's about this man who is trying to avenge for his father's death, but he kind of procrastinated," he briefly explained and then realized how would a little girl understand that. He glanced at Yuuki and saw her trying to articulate what he had just told her with a confused expression.

"Ahaha, never mind that. So what are you doing here?" he was being blunt and then scolded himself when he noticed the question sounded a bit rude. "Err…I mean what brings you here, Yuuki-sama?"

"Nothing, it's just we didn't officially meet. You ran away at first…" she pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I had to do something so yeah…sorry," he couldn't tell her the reason he left was because he was embarrassed. It would be you know…too embarrassing.

"It's okay," she smiled again, "so do you want to be friends?"

That sentence. Hanabusa froze as his mind tried to comprehend it. The attitude she had when she said it and those eyes, it made him thought back when Kaname had asked the same question. He had refused to be his friend because he didn't want to admit that he liked Kaname. Very mature indeed.

Hanabusa hesitated a bit as he thought he might say "no" by accident. He didn't want to make the same mistake twice and Yuuki was nice. The aura around her was cheery and innocent. Now, how could he refuse a friendship with her?

"Sure, I would...love too," he grinned back and welcomed her into his life.

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Authoress' Note: Looks like VampireMaddy guessed right that the Aidous are Yuuki's guardians^^! Aidou Hanabusa is actually my second favorite male character in the manga (my first one is Kaname xD) because he's so funny, lovable, and cute—especially the scene when he refused to be Kaname's friend. Lol. I had made up the names of Hanabusa's parents as I don't recall it being revealed in the manga. Was it mentioned?

**By the way, I have been doing an outline for this story and I was curious would you readers like it if I include the idea of Yuuki discovering that Kaname is actually her ancestor and not her brother (when they are older)? Would that be interesting (her reactions & acceptance of the truth)? Or should I leave it out (perhaps another story for it)? Because sometimes I do wonder what will happen when Yuuki finds out…

Also if you readers would like to see a particular scene in the story or want to suggest an idea—feel free to do so as I'm happy to listen =].

Next Chapter: Don't Leave Me

P.S. Chapter 47 in the manga was awesome =D

January 28th, 2009

June 17, 2013 - edited