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Take An Oath


VII: Fireweeds


For once, the pureblood princess of the Kuran family who knows not the worldly affairs and lives in the ivory tower looks like a wreck. Her silky long brown hair, always kept smooth and free of knots is drenched by the rain and sticks to her back, with unruly strands sticking out here and there. The carefree, spirited carmine orbs that are her eyes are drained of their usual liveliness, rendering her expression uncharacteristically hollow.

She is led into the house by the servants who have not forgotten that they used to serve her too, the servants lower their heads, wisely playing oblivious to Yuuki's dishevelled appearance.

When Kaname descends the stairs, he finds a soulless Yuuki sitting on the chaise lounge.

"Nii-sama…" Yuuki turns and her eyes flicker to life when she sees the one man she knows she could always trust, but her eyes soon dim once more.

Kaname is unable to deny the twinge in his chest when he sees her in such a woeful state.

"What happened, Yuuki?" he asks; though his tone is impassive, it isn't hard to detect the foreboding undertows in it.

He's cherished her since she existed. Protecting and caring for her is almost like an innate habit for him, and old habits die hard.

"Nii-sama…" Yuuki quivers and she breaks down completely, seeming as though she is completely helpless as to doing anything other than clutching onto Kaname. "Nii-sama!" she bursts into tears and throws herself in his arms, clutching the front of his robe as she cries into his chest.

"Hush, Yuuki," he holds her close and caresses her head, whispering comforting words to her. It pains him to see Yuuki, his strong albeit reckless Yuuki weeping. She should never have need for tears.

When her whimpering tones down to irregular sobs, he asks gently, "would you like to share what's happened, Yuuki?"

The grip on his robe tightens, but she remains quiet save the hiccups.

He waits for a little while before he carefully posts another suggestion, "Perhaps you'll like to rest for a little bit first, Yuuki…"

She shakes her head.

"Nii-sama," Yuuki addresses him in a shaky voice. "Zero… he's deserted Daiki and me."

~x~

It's been tense in the house ever since the return of the princess of the Kuran family.

Day in day out, the master of the house spends all his time with his sister – once fiancée – and neglects his work. This would have been nothing surprising to the servants; if not for what they have witnessed over the past three months; for it is known throughout the whole vampire society that Kuran Kaname is hopelessly in love with his sister.

Yuuki is really more observant than what people give her credits for. She too, notices that something is amiss, when the servants dare not look her in the eyes.

"Nii-sama, did something happen in the house?" she asks Kaname.

She misses the passing glint in his eyes as he smiles fondly at her, "what could happen, Yuuki?" He ruffles her hair. "Don't let yourself be bothered by these arbitrary thoughts. You need rest."

"Ah, is that so…" Yuuki smiles unsuspectingly and bites down on her lower lip, "Where's Ritsu?"

She lowers her head in embarrassment for only asking about her daughter after a week. Even though she's been distressed… it is really no excuse for her to overlook her daughter.

"She's well," he reassures her, stormy clouds that Yuuki's blind to building up in his jewel-like eyes.

"I'm glad to hear that," A forlorn expression emerges on Yuuki's face. She is aware that Ritsu prefers to see less of her, but she doesn't blame Ritsu for her bitter attitude. It is her fault.

Kaname tucks Yuuki into bed and leans over, darkness concealing his expression as he plants a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Sleep, Yuuki."

"Good night, nii-sama."

~x~

Nobody's bothered to fill her in on anything yet. A sphinx-like smile plays on Ritsu's face. She's waited patiently, but it seems that she's a forgotten member of this household, one to reside in the darkness, away from light.

Ritsu minds none of it. There is no light aside from the moon in their world, but there is something that she does mind.

Reclining before the window, Ritsu lets the moonlight engulf her in its chilling incandescence.

By virtue of her birth, Ritsu is never a patient person. Quite on the contrary, she would more accurately be described as splenetic and headstrong. It is rather ironic that the person who bestowed upon her the right to be wilful is also the person who taught her patience.

She's known it all along, hasn't she? That Yuuki's his beloved princess he is emotionally bonded to, and she's the foolish side character that the King has stumbled upon during his loneliest hours, and she will disappear without as much as a flutter at the finale when the King and his princess unite.

How sickening, Ritsu thinks as she idles with a piece of origami paper. The blank piece of paper; adorned with her magic; switches colour through the spectrum of the rainbow as it folds and unfolds itself, taking on the shapes of all the flowers known to the world.

Bluebells. Purple Iris. Red Rose. Camellia. Star of Bethlehem. Pimpernel.

A burst of frustration surges through Ritsu, and she stops fiddling with the origami paper that is long crumpled through and through. She presses it onto the table, expressionless.

Knock. Knock.

Ritsu's eyes dart up.

"Come in."

"Ritsu-sama," her handmaiden enters and bows in a servile manner. "Daiki-sama has arrived in front of the house."

She pauses momentarily, brows knitted together as though she is in deep thoughts. Soon, she rises from her seat with inborn grace and says. "You may leave now." Waving her hand, she vanishes in her signature storm of sakura petals.

~x~

He looks beat.

Ritsu observes the scruffy silver-haired boy before her, she hasn't seen him looking so rugged and unkempt since hitting adolescence.

"Nee-san," he smiles tiredly, the weariness in his lilac eyes adds a touch of hardened wisdom and newfound maturity on him.

She walks up to him and takes out her handkerchief. "Daiki." As she acknowledges him, Ritsu meticulously removes the dirt from his divinely-sculpted face.

The silver-haired boy remains silent as he lets Ritsu clean him up.

"Mother… is she here?" he asks, breaking the silence.

"She is," she replies, impervious countenance allowing no room for interpretation as to her feelings regarding the issue.

"Do you… know about it?" Daiki asks hesitantly, smooth tenor voice sounding hoarse.

"No," Ritsu answers simply.

Daiki takes a deep breath.

"Can we go somewhere else to talk?" Daiki lowers his head, "maybe… the hills we used to go?"

Ritsu looks at the boy who already stands a head taller than her but seems so helpless at the moment. Wordlessly, she holds his hand and in the blink of an eye they arrive at the hills which were a little distance behind the Kuran estate.

A pleasant surprise awaits them there.

Beyond the lush green hills that are silent in the night, a sea of fireweeds stretches to no end. The pink flowers stand proud like a legion of harvest spirits celebrating the arrival of spring across the vast land.

"The 12 stalks of fireweeds we planted here when we were young… it's become a whole field," Ritsu couldn't help but to smile at the magnificent sight.

"They are like you, nee-san," Daiki says.

"We are nothing alike," the smile doesn't retreat from Ritsu's face, but the warmth is drained from her eyes.

"The choice is yours."

Ritsu's silent.

"What happened at the Kiryuu house, Daiki?" she steers the conversation away and doesn't look Daiki in the eyes.

The last thing she needs is the disapproval or approval of her younger brother.

"… Father left us," Daiki says in a monotonous voice that sounds almost uncaring.

"What?" Ritsu whips her head around sharply.

"He left us," Daiki repeats calmly, gazing at the sky. "He walked in on me feeding on mother… and he quickly got into a dispute with her. Mother tried to explain to him, but he flew into a rage and didn't listen to her. It ended with him leaving the house and vanishing in the night. I tried to find him, but I failed. He's an ex-vampire hunter after all... He hides his trail and scent well."

"Hypocrite," she spits out, scowling with disdain. "Even after all these years of being a vampire… he's still unable to face himself. What a…" she'd have said more, but she remembers that Daiki's the son of that man and she swallows her words.

"Weakling? Fool? Coward?" Daiki supplements with a cool smile. "He is."

"Daiki," she turns to him, surprise vivid on her face.

"Don't worry about me, I'm good. It's just… I'm really disappointed by him. No matter what, he should have talked things out with mother like a rational person first before anything else," Daiki assures her with a boyish smile that is making him look more refined, and like a man. "I'm concerned about you though… nee-san. You… are filled with his scent." He says cautiously.

Ritsu is startled by her half-brother's keen observation. When it all settles in her, a mortified expression emerges on her face. "It's nothing, Daiki." She tries to brush it off nonchalantly, and she straightens her back even though she is shaken up.

Uneasiness, shame and guilt consume her as she tries her best to maintain her composure which is falling apart.

"Nee-san, you can confide in me," Daiki looks at her straight in the eyes, brilliant violets burning in carmine reds.

There's no judgment in his eyes, but Ritsu feels naked before him.

"Daiki, don't," Ritsu says lowly and turns away, quietly pleading with him.

He pauses.

"Alright. But whatever it is… nee-san, please remember that I'm there for you."

~x~

It took Kaname another week before he appears before her.

Ritsu's hand trembles and causes a ripple to emerge across the surface of her drink when he appears, she can only laugh at herself for the effect he has on her.

Calmly, she puts her cup down with the feeble strength she could muster before his captivating gaze that holds people in place.

"What is my verdict?" she asks in a self-mocking manner, a smirk skidding across the side of her lips.

He doesn't answer but embraces her, holding her with such strength that she is almost misled into thinking that he wants her, and maybe, maybe he will choose her over Yuuki, but he shatters it all with his next sentence.

"I'm sorry, Ritsu."

She freezes.

"I'll be withholding the announcement.

"Yuuki misses you even though she doesn't say it, when you have time… visit her in the West wing.

"Ritsu, don't blame Yuuki…"

Ritsu feels like laughing, but she doesn't.

This is what she gets, after discarding her principles to swear eternity to him when all he did was to ask; when she's tried every way to please him despite the burning sensation in her chest inflicted by morality; when she's decided to throw away everything even if just to buy herself a lie. His lie.

Mirages will be mirages. They aren't real. They are more elusive than air and more fragile than glassware. One touch, they disperse; one poke, they shatter.

The weariness suppressed by the lies she's fabricated for herself washes over her, and Ritsu's never felt more fatigued.

She's tired, an impossible body condition for a pureblood; and she's sick of her eternal life at the tender age of 18.

Funny isn't it? Most vampires her age are still kids that are exploring with what their longevity grants upon them, but Ritsu feels that she's lived centuries and millennia in the span of three months.

Ritsu closes her eyes. "This is… your choice?" She asks.

She is still indignant, Ritsu thinks, strangely humoured by herself. Even at this point in time… if he would tell her 'no', she would still believe in the air castle that they have forged between them.

When silence lapses between them, Ritsu finally laughs it out.

"I understand," she removes herself from his arms, eyes void and deathly tranquil. "I respect your decision… father."