To be honest, I don't actually like this chapter, but I've still decided to update it because it's been some time since I have last done that. I might end up changing it in the future, though I make no promises.

On another note, this chapter is probably badly edited. My computer isn't working properly, sorry.

Another important thing is that I'd like to ask you whether you believe that Kaname is too OOC. I trying to do my best to keep him in character, but I'm not sure if I always manage to do that properly. In the series Kaname's personallity isn't truly explored, even though he could have been one of the series' most interesting characters. There just have to be at least a handful of more facets to him than the cold persona he normally portrayed. Besides, it was also clearly shown that he was capable of feeling love, which means that he isn't just some heartless monster.

Lastly, I would also like to ask if you think that the pace of this story might be too fast. It's been a while since I've read the whole thing and I'm not sure if I'm able to judge this properly.

Please leave a review.

Summary: As Reika slowly started to understand her new life, she came to the conclusion that fairness did not exist in this world and that blood was the only thing that mattered. [SI, Self-Insert/OC-Insert as Kuran Rido's daughter]

Enjoy.

To Rule The World

Chapter 10

Leave A Light On

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"The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person."

― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
― Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World

The ride to Tokyo was a rather short one.

After waking up at about seven in the morning, their small group got dressed and ate breakfast together. Then without any further ado, the vampire left the Shiki mansion and started their two hours long drive to their destination.

Senri, Kaname and Letizia ensured that this ride was anything but boring for Reika and before she even really noticed how much time had passed, they had already arrived in Tokyo.

They drove to their hotel first - apparently Takehiko would need more than one day to take care of his business - and decided that they would check in before they did anything else.

Reika ended up sharing a room with her brother and after some insistence Letizia as well. Kaname and Takehiko took separate rooms.

After everything she had been exposed to in this new life of hers, the lavish interior of the hotel did not even phase the female Kuran. She just put her small traveling bag onto her bed, drunk some water from a bottle she had found inside a cooler and then started making her way outside the hotel with her brother and friend. They met up with Kaname and Takehiko there and after a short talk their ways parted.

Since the time the two siblings were attacked by the Level E vampire, they weren't allowed outside without a bodyguard. This meant that they were trailed by two rather smartly dressed men as they explored the city.

A part of Reika felt offended by the fact that no one seemed to believe that she could take care of herself and those she cared about, while another was just grateful due to the extra safety provided for them.

As such, the girl just accepted the men's presence with a long-suffering sight, feeling inwardly relieved that they were being protected.

Earlier when their group was still in the car, they had chosen to go to the Ginza district, which was considered to be the high fashion center of the city. It was filled with many famous shops and some unusual boutiques.

With how long they lived, many vampires managed to acquire a fortune. The Kuran family especially belonged to one of the richest vampiric families in the world. They owned a few important companies all over the world and were involved in both agriculture and technology.

All this meant that Reika never actually had to worry about money. She could buy herself all the material things she wanted to have as long as she behaved somewhat responsibly when it came to spending her money.

There were both many upsides and downsides to this, the girl had noticed that very quickly. While the female pureblood never had to want for anything, she had also stopped appropriately appreciating the smaller things in life.

''You should try it on,'' said Reika as her eyes focused on Letizia who was watching a pretty dress on one of the hangers. The small shop they were currently occupying had previously caught the girl's attention with its rather classy displays.

Senri, to Reika's great displeasure, was rather apathetic when it came to their shopping spree. It was an attitude he showed towards most things nowadays.

''I don't know, Signora Reika.'' The Italian looked longingly at the dress before her. ''This doesn't seem appropriate.''

''Well, I don't think so. If you like the dress, you should just try it on,'' countered the pureblood, a small smile curling her lips upwards. ''You might be my handmaiden, Letizia, but you're also my friend. The dress will make you happy, so just try it on.''

Senri decided to interject before Letizia could offer any protest. ''You know that Onee-sama won't let this go. It's better that you try it on before she just buys the dress without knowing whether it fits or not.''

Letizia narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips in an attempt to stop herself from smiling. The older vampire knew that being on such friendly terms with her mistress would not be seen as appropriate by many of their kind and yet she could not actually being herself to care.

To Reika it was obvious that her friend quickly realized that it would make no sense to argue with the two siblings. The fight was lost before it even begun.

With a long suffering sigh, Letizia took the dress from its hanger and moved into the privacy of the changing rooms, a small smile curling her lips all the while.

Reika had never been in a french restaurant before.

She had tasted some french cuisine in this life, of course, but she had never actually been to a restaurant that exclusively served meals from that country. In truth she had not been in a great many restaurants as a whole.

Despite having gained a semblance of freedom, the girl still spent a large amount of her time inside the Shiki mansion. And when she did leave it, it was mostly to visit other members of their kind or to take a stroll through the small town nearby.

When her small family was finally seated at their table inside the establishment and the waiter brought them the menu, the onion soup on the list immediately caught the girl's attention. Cienna's father used to make one of those and it had always tasted horrible. While he praised it as one of his best creations, the rest of their family did not even want to touch it.

Melancholic wasn't a strong enough word to describe how she felt once the waiter set the bowl down in front of her. The soup looked and tasted nothing how she remembered it - with the golden croutons on top and its rich flavor the meal seemed to be a work of art - and yet it still managed to make feel lost for a few seconds.

''Reika?'' Kaname questioned, his dark eyes focused on her face. ''Is the soup not to your taste?''

Blinking her trance away, the young pureblood answered a little breathlessly, ''No, no, it's not that. The soup is fine. More than that, actually, it's perfect.''

Even after all these years had passed, Reika still found herself feeling the loss of her previous life through small reminders such as this. What might have seemed to be inconsequential to most was sometimes enough to move the once-human to tears. Luckily, she had become rather adept in keeping her tears in, otherwise she would have managed to embarrass herself more than once in this new life of hers.

There was a small pause of hesitation during which Kaname carefully contemplated his next words. A little more than a year ago she would not have been capable of recognizing the skepticism mixed with the smallest hint of worry in his eyes. ''I see.''

''It was a good choice.'' Reika turned her gaze towards Letizia, quite obviously directing the attention away from herself. ''Do you like yours?''

''Mhm, yes, it's quite delicious,'' answered the aristocrat uncertainly. It was clear to everyone involved that she did not feel completely at ease with the situation.

Despite all the years Letizia had spent at Reika's side, she did not feel comfortable with dining with the two purebloods and Senri in such a formal setting. It might have had something to do with the two bodyguards, who shared a similar position with her and who had been forced to stay near the entrance of the restaurant to watch out for any threat towards their charges.

(...just like them Letizia was expected to throw herself in front of any threat posed towards the two Kurans and their younger sibling...

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...in their society her life did not matter even half as much as theirs...)

Or it might have just been the pedestal purebloods and their direct offspring were put upon. Either way, Reika quickly dissolved any of the other girl's expectations. Letizia was her friend and after spending the whole day running around the city with her, Reika would not deny the other girl a meal with them.

Besides, it wasn't as if anyone was bothered by her presence. Senri saw the Italian as a somewhat older sister figure, while Kaname did not seem to have any opinion about her at all. The latter might not have sounded all too positive, but if one considered the few friends and many enemies her cousin had, then neutrality did not seem so bad after all. Reika also doubted that the older Kuran minded paying for the other girl's meal. Their family had more money than a human could actually spend in a lifetime and one meal would not put a dent into their accounts.

''That's good,'' hummed the brunette.

A short moment of silence followed, though it was quickly broken Senri who could probably sense the upcoming awkwardness and had decided to squash it at its roots. ''Did you manage to take care of your business, Kaname-onii-sama?''

For what felt like the thousandth time Reika wondered what she had actually done to deserve such a brother. She knew that Senri often worried about her, but that did not stop him from standing at her side even in situations like these. Just like her he had been taught to hide all his weaknesses and the young boy seemed to have taken it upon himself to do the same for his sister when she faltered. By asking Kaname that question he had hopefully managed to fully divert their companions' attention from the girl's earlier lapse as well as Letizia's mounting discomfort.

Pride blossomed in the female Kuran's chest as she turned towards her cousin with a rather self-satisfied smile on her face. ''Hm, what is it that you were doing exactly?''

There weren't many things in the world that Reika enjoyed as much as seeing things go her way.

''I was visiting an old acquaintance. We haven't seen each other for a while and I found it prudent to come by,'' the ancestor explained smoothly.

(...something in Reika twinged painfully...

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...reading between the lines wasn't hard in this case and the conclusion that he had probably been at Cross Academy to see his sister was a surprisingly unpleasant one...

...

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...proficiently, the pureblood chose to hide her discomfort behind a fake smile...)

''An old acquaintance?'' Senri regarded their cousin curiously.

Kaname nodded his head. ''Yes, he is an old friend of my mother.''

Letting go of her spoon, the female Kuran wiped her mouth with a napkin and then chose to join the conversation. ''They must have been very good friends for him to still keep contact with you.''

Something must have shown on her face because Kaname narrowed his eyes. ''They were.''

Momentarily, Reika regretted her terse answer. She did not want to anger the other vampire and neither did she want to seem suspicious to him. ''My apologies, I did not mean to imply anything.''

What was her problem? Was it the sudden reminder of what was soon to come or perhaps the knowledge that despite the fact that both Senri and Reika had started to see Kaname as a part of their family, he would probably never consider them in the same manner.

(...in life, family should always come first...

...

...and Yuki, well, Yuki was the only person Kaname would ever put above himself...)

The ancestor blinked and his gaze immediately softened minutely. ''It's alright.''

But the sad thing was that in reality, nothing was alright.

Watching Senri during his training always managed to calm something deep within Reika.

(...Just like every other vampire she kept a monster hidden deep within herself...

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...masked only by a childish face and an innocent demeanor...

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...that very same monster seemed to purr in satisfaction when it saw that its brother could protect himself...)

The knowledge that Senri actually knew how to defend himself from the dangers of their world reassured the female Kuran immensely. She knew that he would never be strong enough to fight each and every one of their foes, but the same could be said about herself.

(...silently, the girl vowed to herself that this would not stop her from fighting for her brother ever again...

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...she had failed Senri once already and a repeat of that was not something she would allow to happen ever again...)

There was something very fascinating about her brother's power. Perhaps it was the fact that he manipulated the one thing that defined all of their lives. Or perhaps it was the way his aura kept getting stronger through the years.

Shiki Senri was the child of a pureblood. This alone meant that he had an immense potential when it came to raw power. He would never be Reika's equal in that field, but he would come as close as any aristocrat ever could.

For now, the younger vampire could only manipulate his own blood into a whip, but his teachers theorized that this might change in the future. Some believed that he would be able to change his blood into other weapons as well when he got older, while others thought that he might learn to manipulate blood that wasn't his someday. This would take time and a lot of practice, of course.

Still, the prospects seemed to be promising.

For foreseeable future, his instructors focused on teaching him different fighting styles that incorporated his whip as a weapon. The regular consumption of Reika's blood strengthened her brother's general constitution and presented him with another advantage during fights. He was faster and stronger than his aristocratic peers and his senses seemed to also be heightened. All this made evading and attacking his opponents easier and the instructors made sure to show her brother how to use all this to his advantage.

Reika could only hope that all that would be enough to keep her brother safe in the future.

Curiosity was something Reika knew very well.

It was also something, as the girl was forced to learn, she should abstain from. After all, it seemed to cause her more trouble than it was actually worth.

With the taste of ashes on tongue, Reika squinted her eyes at the rosy liquid in the glass before her. Next to it was a small package of blood tablets, the current cause of her problems.

The girl had often seen her cousin drinking a concoction with one of those and she could not understand how he did that without grimacing even the slightest bit. Her own face was currently contorted in disgust as she tried to open a water bottle.

''I told you this wasn't a good idea,'' muttered Senri, his lips twitching in amusement.

A glare was sent in the younger vampire's direction. ''Shut up.''

Instead of following her instruction, Senri chose to snicker. His eyes lightened with amusement and stopped Reika from uttering a snarky remark.

Besides, it wasn't as if she could really blame him for laughing at her mistake. Reika had known from the beginning on that blood tablets were nothing tasty. She had just never expected that they were quite this rancid. Why Kaname chose to take them instead of consuming fresh blood was something the female Kuran could not comprehend.

''You should have just listened to me,'' the aristocrat said as he pushed an empty glass towards her. ''I've heard the maids talking about the tablets and they did not sound even the smallest bit pleased.''

Reika rolled her eyes. ''I just wanted to be prepared for the future. Who knows, there might actually come a time when we'll be forced to satisfy our hunger with those.''

''But that's the problem, isn't it?'' The pureblood's brother begun. ''They don't satisfy our thirst at all.''

''No, they don't, but they have enough nutrients to keep us alive,'' explained Reika. Afterwards she poured some water into her glass and swallowed a few large gulps of it.

Her gaze shifted to the cup with the pinkish fluid inside of it. ''Anyway, I heard that they still perfecting the formula, so the tablets might taste better in the future.''

''You don't actually believe that, do you?'' His voice was incredulous.

''No.'' A wry smile graced her lips. ''But I do hope so.''

Senri shook his head, an unusually pensive expression appearing on his face. ''No amount of hope will ever be enough to change reality.''

Guessing what exactly he meant with that statement wasn't hard. Reika's brother rarely had such an expression on his face, most often it appeared when he thought about his mother. ''Hoping and wishing rarely leads to anything as long as no actions follow. And even then there are some things that can't be changed no matter the amount of trying.''

The understanding in Senri's eyes hurt something deep within the pureblood. She knew that her brother had long since lost most of his childish innocence and yet the girl always hoped that he had retained a little more of it than there actually was.

Reika always felt incredibly astounded when she saw this mature side of him. Senri was only eleven years old and way too young to have such a mature outlook. Whether this was something caused by their childhood or vampirism was something Reika did not dare to guess.

Ignorance truly was a bliss, after all.

''Though, you also have to consider that with power and a high enough social standing almost everything can be achieved,'' Reika said, her eyes gleaming in the dim room.

''A high enough social standing, huh?'' Senri leaned his head against his palm. ''Then it's a good thing that as a pureblood you stand above us all, ne, Onee-sama?''

A lesson they have been taught many times.

Reika smiled darkly. ''Yes, and as my brother you shall always stand alongside me.''