I do not own Vampire Knight, however the Mizuchi family and their relatives are all mine.
*There are some questions at the end of the chapter if you'd like to answer them.
Please review but no flames.
Thank you
Koneko decided not to go to Hong Kong, or rather, her father told her not to go.
"Jiren is going to be gathering a new guard and Lady Liu sent a message."
Koneko blinked twice, it was no secret that Michio Mizuchi did everything possible to stay out of the way of his grandmother-in-law, she took no crap from nobody and spat on the ground of the patriarchy she'd been born into. Even her husband, Koneko's great-grandfather was a kind soul and completely terrified of his wife.
Like Koneko, she'd been put into an arranged marriage with the heir to Hong Kong despite being raised in Beijing and had only met him twice. It was part of the reason she'd disagreed with Koneko's betrothal to Aido because Zi-Zi Han didn't marry her fiancé...
She married his brother.
His younger brother who was completely in love and completely terrified of the strong woman who'd promptly told his playboy brother to do one. She ignited a fire in him that no one ever had and in the end Zi-Zi had gotten what she wanted, the brother she desired and in her later years, the throne was supposed to be hers anyway.
How funny life was, she married the second brother of Hong Kong and left her family in Beijing...and the first brother married her older sister in Beijing and fell so in love with the ancient city that a swap was made. Great-Grandpa got Hong Kong and his brother took Beijing. Creating a double link between two of the strongest vampire strongholds in China; all because of love and the strength of one woman to chase it.
"What message?" Raiden, her fourth brother asked biting his lip.
"She's sent Meixiu to Korea and is warning all of you-"Michio indicated to the four children. "Not to show up. China's becoming a war zone. Jiren's losing control, Shanghai was just another chapter, Guangzhou is closing its gates and half the court has run..."
"Nana wants Jiren to fail," Osuma said simply, the most studious of the siblings he rarely left Kyoto, choosing to study at the university in the city where he lived instead of the compound.
"He's the heir though and he's good for the city, is he not..." Koneko's voice trailed off as she saw her brothers' faces change. "What? What have I been missing?"
"Jiren's been...different, for a long time. He's getting impatient with Nana, Satoru was worried about it even on the way to Shanghai, and he could tell that Jiren was not happy with the night club or the fact that Nana signed the agreed without talking to him. It doesn't help that Chao Dewei is a supporter of Se Han, whose brother has Beijing and he's got a claim on Hong Kong..."
Koneko stared at her feet, had she become so unattached from that side of her life that she didn't know that her second childhood home had become a political battleground. She knew Se Han, the twin of the head of Beijing, had Nana married who she was betrothed too; he would have been the Hong Kong heir.
Honestly, the only reason Jiren was going to be the Hong Kong heir was because he was a pureblood, the only one left in Hong Kong other than 'Granny Liu.'
And now Se Han was of age...with the right blood to rule and apparently the backing of the best political mind in China.
"So what do we do?"
"Stay out of it. Let them fight it out. Jiren has been spoiled his entire life, maybe he needs this challenge to wake himself out of his arrogant stupor."
"Or he loses the only thing he's ever known." Koneko pointed out. "Then what? Did their lives mean nothing? What did Satoru die for?"
"Hopefully, a chance for a better future." Michio looked at his four remaining children. "For all of us, go back to your lives... try and be happy. That's what Satoru would want, for you all to be happy."
They left the room together in silence, it had been a long time since they'd all been together and the fact they were four and not five just felt wrong.
"Will you return with your classmates or hold on for a while?" Raiden asked Koneko.
"There's trouble there. I saw it," Osuma told her matter-of-factly, the clairvoyant never quite knew when to soften the blow of his visions.
"I know, but I want to go back-"
"With Hanabusa?" Yoichi asked, "He seems...you both seem, closer."
"We are,"
"Ew." Raiden stated simply and four of them laughed together but it quickly faded.
"What's it like living under Kaname Kuran?"
"...He's so cold, so terribly cold in ways... I don't know why people adore him. The only purebloods I'd met in my childhood had been one of two kinds. Shizuka Hio was feral but honest in that depravity, Nana is strength, beauty and grace personified and I always thought Jiren was good too. But I haven't seen his aura change so I don't know. But his is just... he's something very dark and very hard to control."
"And the rest? That human girl with Zero?"
"Out of her depth. Naive, kind but in a clueless way. She's a good soul but she's a part of a world that should eat her alive but somehow it doesn't. It's interesting to watch, a terrible headache to deal with." She sighed and the others laughed.
Then silence befell them,
"Is it always going to feel like this?" Osuma asked suddenly, "Incomplete, wrong to be standing here like this without him...just like it was wrong that we hadn't done this in so long."
"This?" Raiden frowned, "A funeral?"
Koneko fought the urge to roll her eyes, despite his blunt nature the fourth son of Mizuchi spent far too much time looking in the mirror then around him.
"Talk, laugh. Be in one place altogether. We used to be close, what changed? Kyoto is lonely without you all."
The others didn't know what to say, until Yoichi spoke. "We grew up," His statement tasted sour in their mouths and it was a topic they'd all been avoiding.
By now they'd reached the door to the 'living room' they'd claimed as theirs as children and entered.
It was clean, the carpet was vacuumed and it looked lifeless. There was a time when they couldn't keep it clean and it always had some form of noise. Now as they slid into seats at various different spots in the room it didn't feel like it used too. Then again, nothing ever does.
"We've avoided this for years now." Yoichi sighed as he sat back. "They'll come a time when Dad will step down as family head and I'll take his place-"
"That's not news to us." Raiden huffed, "We've always known you were the chosen one."
"There was a time when family tradition meant we stayed inside out bubble and you would all take my direction." Yoichi pointed out.
"And that's why Dad doesn't talk to his brother." Raiden stated, "Listen, I know you're a traditionalist but isn't this conversation supposed to be why we avoid each other and not give us reasons to avoid each other!"
Yoichi shook his head, "That's not what I mean! We were sheltered as children, we stayed in Kyoto or Hong Kong, and we never went to Uncle in Korea until our grandmother died in Busan and even then Dad got us out of there as fast as possible. He hated when you-"
"When I chose to go to Seoul for study yes we all know." Raiden mocked, "But he never had an issue with you in Europe and we all know you weren't learning anything about our familial roots brother."
"Everything changed very quickly in a few years and I just want you all to know that when I do become head of the family that I was us to be close again." Yoichi finished pretending not to hear his youngest brother. "Keep Kyoto for us, just like we all talked about when we were younger, like Satoru would have wanted."
"You can't do that."
All eyes flew to Osuma,
"You're barely here Yoichi! When you are you don't go into the city, you don't know your own streets anymore. What you do you think that we'll all be there to direct you and you'll take the credit? You said it yourself we grew up, we're not children anymore, we don't play games. You can't play games with our lives." The clairvoyant shocked them all by narrowing his eyes. "I won't let you. Besides, you're only doing this because you worried one of us will eclipse your birth right!"
Koneko looked at the ceiling, overall she knew her family loved each other but by god could they fight. Especially her brothers, four boys each with a variant of personalities and abilities but two common traits: Liu stubbornness and the Mizuchi temper.
Thank you ancestors, you really did us a solid with that one.
The last time Koneko had spoken to Osuma he'd talked about how some in Kyoto were unhappy with Yoichi's frequent absences from the region, let alone the city. He was nearing an age to at least take some power from their father but he hadn't truly learned the law of the land. He hadn't paid his dues or walked their streets. How could he own something he didn't truly possess?
Then Osuma said something that caused the two youngest to sit up in disbelief. "How much of this 'I want us to stay together' crap is because of Raiden and Koneko."
Yoichi spluttered "What, what do you mean-"
"We all know that Satoru was going to come home once Dad stepped down, he wanted to raise his family in Kyoto and work with the city's security. He was a soldier, he lived to serve and protect and that's all he ever wanted to do. I'm pretty content with my life in the city, I'm close enough to home if needed but I have my own life and my own friends. I don't plan on leaving even when you finally become the family heir. But you can't expect the same of Raiden and Koneko." Osuma explained simply. "Raiden is going to stay on after he graduates university in Seoul we all know he's going to move to Busan or stay in the capitol but he's staying in Korea."
The psychic spoke in a clear tone having obviously thought about it more than once and like he'd been waiting to finally say his piece.
Koneko blinked twice, Osuma was usually the quiet one in terms of the boys. As the youngest she'd always been separate from the others in some way but she never thought Osuma had it in him.
Raiden nodded, "Yeah he's not wrong. I got offered a job, it works nights and it suits me. I've considered taking it. Like, I was always going to come visit but not live here. Not anymore."
Yoichi sighed, "I guess I can understand that. I just always assumed we'd go our separate ways for a while and come back once we got old enough to realise what was important."
"Koneko was never coming back Yoichi." Osuma pointed out and she groaned, she'd hoped he'd forgotten about mentioning her but so such luck.
The second son ran a hand through his dark hair before focusing his gaze on the heir once again. "Despite your politically correct smile and handshake we know you don't like that father arranged a marriage for our baby-"
"Less of the baby please," Koneko interrupted.
"Our baby sister," He stressed. "But honestly what were you going to do? Call it off? Please, face facts Yoichi, Koneko's about to rise higher than any of us ever will if we're honest. The wife of one of the principal vampire family's heir. And while you mightn't want to admit it, Hanabusa Aido will never let her go."
"I just, I always wanted her to have choice. You know that right?" He directed the last part toward Koneko. "I just want all of us to be happy."
She bit her lip and played with her hands for a minute, before looking up at Yoichi.
"I want to marry Hanabusa." She'd never said the words out loud to them before, it made everything seem so, big and so real. "I...It's not because of social status or duty. I want to marry him because I love him and he loves me. A-and I don't know where we'll end up in the future, but I do love Kyoto and I will always come back home to visit because it's my city too. And I what we'll do in the future, when we'll marry, where or why. All I know is, I've always wanted the Forever Mom would tell us about in the stories before we went to bed. The love that lasts. A-and I know it was arranged but... I want him to be my Forever."
Yoichi's face softened at her nervousness, Raiden looked away trying not to show his blush at his sister's 'mushy' words and Osuma smiled.
"There we go Yoichi." Osuma said as the tension in the room relaxed. "We won't hold court with you, but we'll always be with you in a way. Kyoto was our start and now we're finding our 'forever's' but like you said. Kyoto is for us, Kyoto is us so matter where we are. Or how many there are. We'll always be together in some way. Even with Satoru gone we're not truly incomplete we're just imperfect."
Suddenly Raiden chimed in "Hey I'm perfect!"
Osuma tossed a pillow at him. "Quit ruining the moment!"
And for the first time in years, their living room buzzed with the laughter of the Mizuchi children again.
This isn't edited but I wanted to get it up before I started studying for my Irish and French Orals.
It's all gotten very political hasn't it? Don't worry, we'll get there eventually.
QUESTION TIME!
Well who's your favourite Mizuchi sibling?
Will we ever go to China?
Who should win, Se Han or Jiren?
What member of the family (Chinese or otherwise) would you like to see interact with Aido/Yuki/Kaname in a future chapter?
TELL ME
No flames but please review