Title: "Family bonding?" – part 4

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Panic flooded the little pureblood at first, at the idea that he had accidentally fallen asleep in his uncle's presence. Not that he could realistically do anything to protect himself by being awake – if Rido decided to harm him, there was nothing he could currently do to stop the older vampire.
But regardless of that, he felt safer when he was awake, and was always wary of sleeping in that house. He made sure to always lock the door of the guest room he stayed in the few times he had to sleep over. It would never have stopped a pureblood, but it might have made enough noise to warn him and let him prepare himself for whatever might come.

Dozing off on a divan in the same room with Rido was very far from Kaname's idea of safety. As soon as he realized he'd been sleeping, the boy quickly went through a mental check up of his clothes and the surroundings, worrying about how long he had slept. He found it all undisturbed and realized nothing had happened, save for a few papers that had slipped off the divan where the little pureblood's feet had fumbled around in his sleep and pushed them off. He froze for a second, hoping his uncle wouldn't mind his sketches being thrown on the ground or pushed around by his feet.

But Rido seemed to be in an excellent mood, which further worried Kaname. The older pureblood was currently standing back and dabbing in last minute little details on the painting, placing soft touches on some areas of it to finish the highlighting and other details.

"Don't just lay there lazily, I know you're awake! Come on, take a look at this. The painting is done!"

The little pureblood jumped off the divan unsteadily and approached his uncle with a wary expression. As he did so, Rido turned the easel around so that the moonlight would hit it fully and Kaname could see the painting in its full glory.

The little vampire's face fell in shock.

"So, how about some praise? I prettified you considerably in my beautiful painting."

"But… but…"

"What? You dare tell me you don't like your portrait?!"

Rido had a contemptuous grin on his face, and was leaning his folded arms lightly on the top of the canvas, uncaring for the excess paint around the sides of it, currently getting on his shirt. That was a common occurrence for him, to the point that he occasionally cleaned his brushes on his tailored shirts as he painted – it wasn't as if he couldn't get new ones, and his changing moods made that he rather liked getting new ones rather than keeping old stuff around.

He feigned anger at the boy's shock, but in truth he was delighted, reveling in every little bit of it with inevitable amusement. A flustered Kaname was even more entertaining than a normal Kaname, and cruel as Rido may be, his sadistic streak could enjoy the cuteness too, especially when it came in such an amusing little package, blushing and trying to find his words to avoid offending him. Scaring Kaname was as delightful as ever too.

Kaname wasn't sure if his uncle was serious or not though – he still couldn't tell – and was wary of what words to use to express his disapproval.

Rido poked on. "It's cute. That's what matters. Don't you like being cute? At your age, it's really the only thing you can hope for, don't go expecting power or glory or whatever grandiose like that." The glint of delight in the older pureblood's eyes was unmistakable. Oh, how Kaname wished he was older and more powerful already, to wipe that grin off his uncle's face.

The little vampire raised hesitant eyes to meet his uncle's again and finally had enough of it. To hell with prudence.

"But I'm not supposed to be a girl!!"

On the painting, he was. An adorable little girl, in a frilly white dress that looked made of countless layers of lace and interlaced ribbons, sleeping on an elegant divan and looking like a tiny princess of times long gone, straight out of a fairytale.

At first sight, Kaname had frozen, because for a second he thought Rido had painted a slightly older, shorter-haired Yuuki, and if there was one thing his parents and him wanted to hide from Rido above anything else, it was her existence. But quickly, he had recognized the couch and himself, despite the dress, and embarrassment at being portrayed in a dress had colored his little cheeks.

"What? Why are you complaining? You'd be even cuter if you were a girl, I'm doing you a favor by painting you that way. Don't tempt me to turn you into a girl in real life too!"

Kaname's eyes went as wide as they could go, before he quickly tried to regain his much abused composure. Could he do such a thing?! Surely, there's no such pureblood ability? Unless he means doing that by some more painful method?!

Kaname felt a irrepressible urge to get away from his uncle quickly, but Rido was just snickering uncontrollably.

"If I had the dress in the painting here with me, I'd make you wear it too! That might teach you to appreciate art!"

The dress was actually one that Juri had worn long ago, thousands of years before, when all three of the siblings had been children, and when he could look at her and feel happy rather than furious. She was absolutely adorable in it. And much as he despised Kaname, he had to admit the boy would be cute in it too, regardless of gender.

Rido wasn't sure why he painted her dress in the picture, or why he went on hurting himself that way. Perhaps it was whatever little was left of his better sides that did that, out of some foolish attraction for the past; what softness he had left, slowly eroding away over the years, eaten up by the raw hatred bubbling up inside him more and more with which second that passed since the day she left him.

It had already taken up such a big part of him that some days he felt there was nothing left of the gentler side he had possessed one day, however much small it might have already been to begin with. But he certainly used to be mellower than he was now, before he was consumed by hatred constantly. That time was long gone, that side of him replaced by the boiling fury that lay waiting during the past few years, hiding inside him, so that no one would suspect a thing until it would be time. Until the day it would boil over, until the day everything would be finally ready and he would be able to exact gruesome revenge on the fools, and hit them where it would hurt most, tearing from them the innocent little boy standing in front of him right now.

Kaname sucked in his breath and stepped back quickly, feeling the stormy darkness in his uncle's aura all of a sudden. Rido's eyes had flashed a gleaming shade of dark red for a second.

"I was going to force you to take the painting home with you and display it, but it's not like it matters or I care anyway!"

The older pureblood concentrated his power in a whirlpool of crackling energy around his hand. He didn't bother drawing blood, the energy alone would be enough for this without having to pull out blood whips.

He was fearsome beyond belief that way, a dark gaze on his face and his teeth clenched in a sneer that revealed his extended fangs, much more frightening than he normally was even when he appeared in Kaname's occasional nightmares. The dark energy swirling around him brought forth all the shadows in the room, like a rapidly growing storm.

The little boy wondered if this was going to be the moment he had always feared might come one day, the possibility that was the very main reason why he hated visiting his uncle.
But Rido merely swung his arm up in the direction the painting was, and it shredded to pieces, canvas, easel and brushes alike, the dark wave of energy consuming it all in a moment and searing through the air beyond it, reaching all the way to the paintings against the wall, destroying all in its path, shredding to pieces the one of Juri and him and much of what was leaning against the wall, paintings and art material together.

Rido's foul mood was at its worst. He walked away from the destruction and the chunks of wood and shredded canvases, leaving them abandoned where they fell, not even caring to check what he destroyed and what might have survived.

Small as Kaname may be, the little pureblood's self preservation instincts were very good and he was able to hide the glee he felt at seeing both paintings destroyed, especially the one of his mother in such a disturbing situation. He watched Rido storm out of the room, not sure what his uncle expected of him, but not exactly feeling like annoying the older pureblood by following him around when he was in such a disposition.

From the corridor, Rido barked "Are you going to stay alone in there inhaling paint fumes or are you coming with me?!" in a tone that left no doubt about whether the boy was supposed to stay or tag along.

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(tbc)

A slightly shorter chapter this time. :)
In the next one, we shall perhaps see what Rido thinks of pets. (And more exactly, how he views little Kaname as little more than a stray cat he wishes he could hand a can of cat food to and let him fend for himself. XD lol)