100 years after it all began….
Dawn can be defined as the first appearance of light. When dawn breaks, the world changes, as if to start over again. And that was what Kuri was doing. For the umpteenth time Kuri found myself moving, and beginning a new life. After watching sunrise, Kuri stepped back from the window, looking back at the room that had been mine so long ago.
There on one of the residential streets of Forks Washington, Kuri sat on the bed that had traveled with her since her human teenage years. Kuri had moved it in the same spot it had been when Kuri had first moved here, ninety three years ago.
Christ, Kuri was getting old.
The house had stood empty a long time. Grams and Sue spent their time divided between their two homes of La Push and here, and after his long life had ended, Kuri didn't have the heart to come back to the house, much less sell it. So it waited until Kuri was ready, and now Kuri felt she was.
Enough time had passed that no one here remembered the Cullen's or even the Swan's. There was no evidence that we had even been here. Everyone who had known us was long gone. Some absences still hurt to think of, no matter how naturally they had occurred. After all, half our family was gone now.
Paul, Mana, Embry, Jared, Quil, Embry, Leah…all were lost us. Some of their children were still alive and knew of us, but it would only be a matter of time before they too passed. It was the worst part of this life, losing them. But we had their grand and great grand children to carry on. We couldn't stop living just because life did as it should with them. It moved on, and so did we in our way.
But Sam, Mana, Seth, and Kai, Mana and Edward's daughter and Seth's imprint, remained for us.
After all this time, we had decided to go back to where it started. Back to home, even though it would never feel as much like home without them.
It still felt right to be here. Over the last few decades we had been jumping from place to place, settling for five or six years and then moving on. There were worries from time to time, but since the Volturi had fallen and Larten had started that there had been no major troubles. No fights or running. We were finally safe.
With that safety came our freedom for the first time in too long. For decades we went where we pleased, without worries for what could happen. We still had to move often sure, but we at least had each other and no fears of being hunted. Every so often we would visit La Push, or our family there would make trips to see us. The time we had with them was full and watching them have the lives they built was a great joy.
It had been especially remarkable to watch the life her daughter and son in law made for themselves. After Kai had made the choice to remain a hybrid rather than make the human part of her dormant, Seth decided he would continue phasing so he would always be with her. And since she still had a human side, a few decades after we had defeated the Volturi, Kai and Seth had their first child. He was a beautiful boy they named Henry, who was human, ended up falling in love with our friend Irina and made the same choice Kuri had and had been a vampire for some twenty years now. Kuri's granddaughter Sarai was a surprise that came later in Kai's life, and brought a new excitement for us all. She had neither the human or priestess gene, but at the age of fifteen phased for the first time. Now at nineteen, she still moved around with Kai and Seth, who were currently living in southern France.
The rest of the Cullen's had been spread out over the last eight and a half decades. Yet we always ended up finding each other, like we had now. For the first time since we left they were back in the main house, and ready to start another cycle of our living in plain sight.
As Kuri got up from the bed and reached for her clothes, her fingers fluttered over the note Jacob must have left while Kuri had been in the shower. It read, "Gone hunting, I'll meet you at our spot."
Of course Kuri knew what spot he meant, but over our almost century together we had made many other spots for ourselves. We had managed to live in every country Kuri ever wanted, twice over. He showed her everything Kuri had ever wanted to see, and with him Kuri lived more than Kuri ever expected to. He still managed to surprise, excite, and amaze her. Through every fight and bad time, there was Jacob, and there was us. No matter where we went, we were together and had all we needed in that.
Ninety three years, a daughter, grandchildren, and countless homes later, he was still exactly what Kuri wanted, and Kuri could never imagine that changing.
Kuri grinned as she stepped into her jeans, prosthetic leg first, and yanked on her green sweater. If Kuri didn't stop reminiscing and get moving soon she would be late.
A few minutes later Kuri rushed down the stairs, pausing as she locked the door behind her. It felt so familiar. Kuri had to close her eyes as she pictured seeing Grams's car in the drive. Instead Kuri only saw the truck she had bought two years before, and Grams's car.
The buzzing in her pocket snapped her out of it as Kuri reached for her phone, smiling at the name on the screen.
"Hey kiddo."
"Grace is grounded." Kai scoffed.
"Uh oh, can you ground a nineteen year old?"
"Oh I plan to. She imprinted. On some random French dude."
"She did! Oh my god! That's great."
"Do you want to be a great grandmother?"
"Well I am a hundred and ten; it's high time your kid made me one. You can't really be mad."
"Of course I can, she's my last baby and now she's going to chase after this guy and leave me."
"My baby left me; it's the way of life. Least you can have another if you're that cross with her."
"How did you know I was pregnant?"
For the first time in nine decades of being a priestess Kuri nearly fell over. "You're pregnant!" Kuri shouted.
"Yea call the guiness book of world records, I'm the knocked up again. You should have seen the look on Seth's face when I told him."
"Wait til I tell the family! Can I?"
"Yea might as well. I really am happy for Grace I just don't like this growing up business my kids are in."
"Welcome to the club."
After a few more bounces and squeals and a quick chat with Seth Kuri got into her truck and drove the memorized route to Forks High School. Kuri could still dimly see the seventeen year old version of myself making this drive for the first time. And as Kuri walked to her first period class, Kuri smiled mile wide as Kuri saw a familiar someone sitting in the farthest desk by the window. Kuri winked at him as Kuri turned to the teacher and gave him her new student slip.
"Hello, I'm Kurisuta Hikawa."
"Right, go ahead and take a seat next to Mister Black, he's also a new student here."
"We know each other actually, old family friends." Kuri walked down the aisle to the same table Kuri had walked to all those years ago.
"I promise not to trip on your arm again." Kuri said lowly as she sat down.
His crooked grin appeared as he shook his head. "This is what's a trip."
"Tell me about it. I feel like I've been walking down the yellow brick road called memory lane." Kuri laughed as Kuri whispered. "This place has changed yet not at all really."
"Shaunee's granddaughter was the principal here for a little while."
"Wow." Kuri sighed as the teacher began his lesson. "What a ride it's been huh?"
He covered her hand in his and squeezed as we relived a high school biology class.
A few periods later we got another trip as we met up at lunch, seeing Reiko, Edward, Aphrodite, Darius, Kramisha, and Kurda at the table by the window. Kuri tugged Jacob over to them with her, hearing the muffled whispers amongst the teenagers about how we all looked and rumors of our moving here. Some things certainly didn't change.
"And here come the trouble makers." Aphrodite said as we sat down. "What's that face for Kuri."
"Tell them! Tell them!" Kramisha bounced in her chair and then glared at Jacob. "Don't you cheat!"
"What's happening now?" Kurda said as he steadied his wife.
"Oh nothing too earth shattering. Unless you count Kai Clearwater being pregnant again." Kuri announced.
"She's…a….a baby?" Jacob said as a laugh escaped him and he pulled her close to his side.
Everyone erupted in happiness, drawing more attention to us than we would usually want, but none of us cared. We no longer saw ourselves as vampires that needed to hide, but as a family that needed to live as much as we could. And in all our years combined, Kuri couldn't think of a time we were happier. Nothing like today reminded us of how our lives could still change and grow. It was only just beginning.
As Jacob rested his forehead on mine Kuri felt the same flutter Kuri had when they first met in La Push so long ago..
"I love you." He whispered and Kuri smiled back at him, because that was our tale even after all this time.
Kuri had moved here in the dawn of her life to find where her home was, and came to be reborn here. Through feeling broken, the fighting and the times of running away; it was he and ours that made her whole and built the life she belonged to. Kuri found who was herself, and the family Kuri was a fan of. The ones that she could honestly say if we were to die, we would die together. Kuri learned that love wasn't just for the imprints, werewolves, and vampires, but for anyone who let it in. And from the man who could read her mind from just a look, Kuri could finally feel that forever love usually reserved for animals such as lobsters and otters.
So Kuri rested her hand on his face as we listened to the laughs of our family, reflecting on the years that passed, and dreaming of the ones to come. For what we had was love, always love.
