Kaname groggily came to a full week later, aching with the feeling of having slept too long and yet not long enough.
He didn't have the luxury of not knowing where he was or what had happened. He was perfectly aware of both his location and recent events, much to his irritation.
Kaname's last memory was of falling unconscious in Rido's presence, he remembered it with damning clarity.
Kaname wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the one hand it had been inevitable – he'd been exhausted beyond measure in both mind and body and had just had an influx of blood, of course his body would shut down to start putting the blood to use. That's what it did.
But he'd passed out with Rido inches away from him. That was just asking to be killed. It was stupid – and he couldn't afford stupid mistakes.
The sustaining warmth around him shifted and Kaname blearily opened his eyes – the second time in his third childhood – in complaint, and saw Juuri peering down at him.
Huh. She looked huge.
"Finally awake my little one?" She asked, smiling in relief
Her face peered down at him, smiling cheerfully but her eyes were exhausted – and no wonder. Giving birth to a pureblooded child was no mean feat – losing him less than an hour later was horrific. Juuri had to be a mess right now no matter how well she was holding it together. Not to mention that she was also donating her energy almost constantly to him to feed him and had probably been doing so ever since he reformed into a baby.
Older children would siphon off energy with a kiss, they asked for it at regular intervals just like meal times.
Purebloods were different. Their children required enormous amounts of energy almost constantly until they hit the threshold where they could support themselves. The purest form of energy was the chemical energy that another person had already readied for consumption; Kaname needed it in vast amounts. His body was adapted to take it from every second of skin contact not just his lips. He would drink milk too – with a bit of blood mixed in – but right now he had to be draining Juuri constantly.
Kaname opened his mouth to ask if she was all right. "Hum mmm nn m?"
Juuri laughed and Kaname blushed bright red, tiny hands clapping over his mouth as he closed in his eyes in mortification – before snapping them open and peering over Juuri's shoulder and all around them to see if anyone else had born witness to that humiliating moment.
Thank blood. They were alone.
Obviously, Kaname realised reluctantly, whilst his mind might be fully developed his body wasn't. He knew how to speak a great many languages – even the ones that were now considered dead – but his physical brain hadn't made the right connections yet.
Then and there he swore vehemently not to speak a single word until he sounded properly vampiric.
"Oh that was adorable! You're embarrassed!"
Kaname was lifted and found Juuri snuggling him whilst she giggled. He tried and failed to be annoyed. Listening to her melodious voice whilst feeling her warmth and absorbing her energy was doing wonders for his state of mind. He'd succeeded. This was peace.
"Do not fret, in a few years you will be back to normal." Juuri walked over to a carved wooden rocking chair, sitting down and sighing slightly. "But I suppose that answers my first question – you are aware in there aren't you? Your mind wasn't damaged at all by the rough resurrection?"
Kaname nodded to her first question and shook his head to the second, grateful that his body could do that much. How he'd hate to be stuck as a human baby – immobile for months and months. At least being a pureblood he could already move and wriggle and all of his senses were working properly.
"Do you remember what happened, Ancestor? My brother Rido, used my new-born son, Kaname to awaken you. You have regressed into the form of a child. My husband, Haruka, and I will raise you in place of our son, Kaname. I know that it won't change my son's death. But a few knew of my pregnancy, and it will be much safer for you if you take Kaname's place than if we announce your return. Do you agree?"
Kaname nodded again – wishing he could speak. If he could, he'd ask why on earth had she referred to Haruka as her husband? Purebloods didn't wed by mortal law. In the mean time it seemed like events would follow what little Kaname remembered from the first time around. Although he had called himself Kaname for a long time, it was only here and now that he was named as such. It would have been weird to have another name, or his old one, even if he had used several names over the ages.
Juuri's aura lightened at his understanding, she seemed to lose some of the depressive cloud that hung about her and regain a spark of energy.
She smiled wickedly at him.
"You're my son now. I hope you don't mind but I'm determined to raise you as my cute little child," she pinched his cheeks and bent to nuzzle his nose with her own, "you will play with all the cute baby toys I bought, and go on play dates, and be my dress up doll, and I will take photo after photo and never let you forget!" she laughed freely as she outlined all of her evil plans.
Kaname sighed – babies were very good at that. Juuri laughed louder, spinning him around and around as she twirled gracefully around the nursery. Oh good – he was in the upper nursery. The lower one would have had too many memories of Yuki for him to be truly happy there.
"A suit first, I think for a family portrait. Then a sailor, a soldier, a doctor, a girl – yes my dear Ancestor, I said a girl – and then a cat, oh this is going to be so much fun!"
Belatedly, Kaname had to acknowledge that his pseudo-mother had an excellent imagination. It was a pity that she was probably going to get her way, purebloods were good at that, and Kaname was very limited in what he could change right now.
The timeline wasn't as fragile as some stories would have it, but neither was it entirely self-corrective. What had already happened was likely to happen again without direct interference, but once that interference had been made, ripples would spread. Some would be familiar, some wouldn't.
Kaname wanted to meet his 'sister' Yuki and learn what kind of vampire she would have been without the seal. She deserved a chance to live beyond the age of five and that meant that Kaname couldn't change too much here at home. Simply put - Haruka and Juuri had to have sex at roughly the right time for Yuki to be created.
Besides Kaname thought, as Juuri finally stopped spinning and started to make up his cradle, there was a whole host of things Kaname could get away with as a kid that he couldn't as an adult.
And didn't he deserve a break?
This could be so much fun.
It didn't take many weeks before Kaname became irritated. Being an adult in the body of a baby was… intolerable. What had he been thinking? This was nothing but an excruciating trial of patience. He didn't even have Aidou to use as stress relief.
Breast-feeding was his number one torture. How undignified could he get? How low could he fall? If it was any other woman, who he did not see as a mother he would have probably found amusement in it, as it was, it was a whole set of memories he repressed anew every time he got hungry. Stupid baby body. If he didn't need every single calorie just to stay awake in this miserable excuse of flesh then he'd refuse the bloody milk altogether and just subsist off of pure energy until his fangs grew back.
And of course, Juuri knew.
She knew he was sexually aware in his mind, aware of the cringe worthy connotations of the act every time he sucked at her teat. The insufferable woman delighted in teasing him about it. A wet nurse. His kingdom for a wet nurse.
If only he had fangs!
Baby vampires didn't need them since they couldn't yet derive energy from blood and his had unfortunately been decalcified along with the rest of his adult skeleton but oh how he missed them.
Muscle control was another issue. He was an ancient vampire, he did not appreciate flopping his limbs about like a deranged penguin. The few servants trusted around him said he was cute. Cute! He gave a mental shudder. Pink fluffy unicorns he was not. He was fearsome! Powerful! Terrifying! Heck he'd even settle for average – and that was not a word often said to a pureblood.
Anything but cute.
Kaname directed his almighty wrath at the bright red ball he'd been set to play with. Red was a good colour for vampires. He glared at it, willing it to burst into flames, to fly, to burst, anything.
It smirked mockingly at him.
Kaname narrowed his eyes and threw the tiny blue triangle at it – his aura dancing with malicious glee as it flew true and struck the arrogant red ball, puncturing it mercilessly before falling to the ground.
Clapping his hands, Kaname smirked back at the defeated ball, watching with superiority as it deflated in miserable defeat.
Ha! Smirk at him would it? How did it like that?
Then Kaname flushed with embarrassment as he realised that his infant emotions had once again taken over. Holding the green square in a chubby fist, he swivelled his head like an owl – checking to see if anyone had seen.
"Really now, Young Master," Nancy scolded lightly, "Must you be so destructive?"
Kaname clamped down on his aura. It was one thing to be humiliated – it was another for anyone to know he was feeling embarrassed.
Nancy was his… caretaker? Nanny? Governess? Companion?
Haruka and Juuri were busy vampires. Not only did they manage the businesses and investments, but also they had duties to attend to within vampire society that often necessitated their absence from home. They couldn't alter their behaviour drastically enough for one or both of them to stay home for any longer than normal, so Kaname had Nancy.
A mild mannered level C who had probably once been Juuri's lover to get the position of child-minder, she was utterly unafraid of his almighty wrath.
"What were you even trying to do? Oh never mind, come here, up with you now."
Without any care for his dignity, Nancy swept him up into her arms and proceeded to march into the main wing of the house. Other servants – the bare few that Juuri kept on hand - jumped out of her way though they stayed long enough to get a glimpse of Kaname himself.
Some people still had a sense of respect; Kaname thought inconsolably, why couldn't Nancy be one of them? He was sick of being carted around like a lump of lard.
"You must be hungry if you throwing a temper tantrum. Quiet down now, I'm taking you to your mother."
Maliciously, Kaname slid his bare hand onto Nancy's arm and began cheerfully draining her energy. Now who was throwing a temper tantrum?
"Oh you are a vicious little thing aren't you?" Nancy said, hoisting him onto her hip and holding him in place with one arm whilst she used the other hand to yawn. "You might fool the others, but you don't fool me. I know very well you're doing that deliberately Young Master. Don't think I don't. You're still going to the Mistress, the night knows I can't feed you enough for more than a few hours."
Nancy knocked on a carved wooden door – Juuri's private chambers.
"Come in Nancy," Juuri called.
Kaname peered around Nancy's shoulder.
Juuri was ordering her photo albums.
Kaname shuddered.
His pseudo-mother had made good on her threats. Kaname had been dressed in every baby-uniform imaginable and photographed thoroughly. Kaname didn't mind as much as he pretended to – Juuri's aura was wonderful when she was happy and Kaname basked in it – but he had his image to consider.
Those photos must never see the light of the moon.
"Oh, are you hungry my love?" Juuri crooned, holding her arms out for him. Kaname was passed over like a lump of lard once more into her arms where he instantly began draining energy. Maybe he had been a little hungry. "I think it's time for a feeding, isn't it?" Her hands went to the laces over her breast on her corset styled top.
Kaname shut his eyes and turned his head away. If he didn't see it, it didn't exist.
"Oh you're such a precious little thing, aren't you my dear? Oh yes you are. Yes you are. Who's the cutest little vampire in the whole world? You! Oh yes you are. Yes you are."
If he ignored it – it would go away. Eventually.
There was sunlight on his face.
Sunlight, Kaname did not like.
He lashed out instinctively – a wave of kinetic energy pouring from him to remove the irritation. Then he turned his back on it and burrowed into his cashmere blankets. Ooh but he did like these blankets. So soft and they smelled of lavender, and –
-There was a crash of breaking glass and a scream of terror.
Kaname sat up – blinking dazedly as he found himself blinded by the sun once more. His aura rapidly froze and darkened into utter discontent as he wriggled about but to no avail. The sunlight was unavoidable. It even shone maliciously through his blankets, blasted ball of gas that it was.
"What is going on here?"
He recognised that voice. Nancy. She didn't sleep very far away and must have come running, she was clad only in a hastily belted dressing gown and had slippers on her feet.
He felt himself being picked up by her – her scent as familiar to him as Juuri's – and immediately felt better once he was out of the sunlight rubbing his sleepy eyes until they were no longer blinded by the sun.
Glancing around the room, he noticed that the window appeared to be broken. Huh. When had that happened?
"Help!" A faint voice called from below. "Help!"
Warily, Nancy approached the broken window, keeping her body twisted so that Kaname was behind her at all times. Kaname contended himself with curling up in her arms and trying to get back to sleep. He couldn't sense any threat. It had to be around noon he was so exhausted – and the sun was so very bright.
"John! What are you doing down there?"
"I was thrown out the window! I've broken my leg!"
Nancy stepped back, hurrying to the stylish rotary phone that sat on an out-of-the-way side table.
"Suzu? Wake the Mistress, tell her –''
There was a blur and a gust of wind until suddenly Juuri was standing right there – her aura a blaze of wrath – until she saw Kaname safe and sound. Where it settled into agitated placidity.
Temper cooling, she snatched Kaname away from Nancy and began checking him over for injuries even though she couldn't smell blood.
"—Nevermind," Nancy concluded weakly, sweat beading on her brow from fright, "Run to the west gardens. John's been thrown from the window. Help him up and get him some blood from the cellar. Call the guardhouse and have some reassigned to finish the patrol."
"What happened?" Juuri snapped impatiently, rocking Kaname on her hip with clawed hands – attacks on young purebloods were hardly uncommon and she was ready for a full-scale invasion.
"I don't yet know, Juuri-sama, there appears to be no danger. I heard the window crash and felt the Young Master's distress. When I arrived, the window was like that and the Young Master was awake in his cradle."
"Kaname love? Can you tell mummy what happened?"
Kaname had been practicing his speech diligently, but he was still young, not to mention that it was in the middle of the day when he was always at his worst, the blast of sunlight hadn't helped either. He was feeling grumpy with no intention of changing that any time soon.
"Sun bad," he sighed, resting his head on her shoulder and draining energy from the contact, at least by being an adult inside he could control when he drained a vampire and when he didn't. "Sun not move. I moved."
"You threw John out the window?" Juuri asked with barely concealed amusement.
"Sun bad," Kaname replied tiredly. Why wasn't she letting him sleep? There wasn't enough energy in the world for him to be questioned at noon. He wasn't even six months old! He wanted to sleep. Cruel woman.
"My son's first use of power!" Juuri crooned, nuzzling him even as he vaguely tried to fend her off. Sleep. "Nancy go and interrogate John. I need to tell Haruka. Oh what a day. Just six months old! My little prodigy!"
Realising he was moving away from his cashmere blankets Kaname groaned aloud and made empty grasping motions over her shoulder for them. Sleep.
"Oh Haruka will be so delighted! I need a photo of his expression." In high spirits, Juuri danced out the room and despite the ever-present and ever-vexing daylight, all the way to Haruka's solar, situated halfway up one of the larger towers on the western side of the manor.
Now fully awake and hating it, Kaname was reluctantly clinging to Juuri as she barged into Haruka's rooms.
Haruka sprung awake in an instant – his companion was not so aware. Misery loved company so Kaname was particularly content to watch as the girl – was she the assistant chef? – Realised Juuri's presence and scrambled up from Haruka's bed fully naked and lunged for her clothes that were scattered all over the room and bearing more than a few claw marks.
"My Lady!" She squeaked, pulling on her trousers. "Erm, I didn't, this isn't- oh my blood!"
Juuri said nothing though she watched the very pretty young vampire dress with admiring eyes. The silence was affecting the woman and the longer it went on the more she flustered and fumbled with her clothing. Finally, she gave it up as a bad job with one awkward curtsy that had her wincing; she shot one uncertain glance toward Haruka before fleeing out the door as fast as she could.
The silence persisted.
Then, with a snort, Juuri snickered into Kaname's hair, chest heaving with laughter and Haruka soon joined her, cackling into his pillow and thumping a fist onto the mussed sheets.
"Oh did you see her face?" he laughed.
"She thought I was going to kill her," Juuri chortled, having to sit on the bed she was laughing so hard. Happily, Kaname rolled off her lap and made himself a nest with the outer blanket. Finally! And oh this was cashmere too, excellent.
"So, my darling," Haruka rumbled, glancing at the clock mounted on the wall, "Apart from tormenting the staff, and ruining my plans for this evening, why are you here? It's barely gone noon."
"It's Kaname!" Juuri squealed, wrenching Kaname from his soft and warm nest once more and thrusting him into Haruka's face where they both eyed each other dubiously. "His first use of power! Threw someone out the window!"
"Oh really?" Haruka asked unenthusiastically, "That's wonderful," he replied, giving Kaname a quick pat on the head. "Was that it, my love? It is noon, you know."
Pouting at Haruka's lack of enthusiasm, Juuri's lecture was cut off by a polite knock on the door.
"Enter, Nancy," Juuri called, pulling Kaname back to her when he tried to make another escape and trying to tickle him.
"Juuri-sama, Haruka-sama," Nancy bowed politely to each pureblood. "My lady, I have spoken to John."
"And?" Juuri asked making funny faces at a dour-eyed Kaname.
"John was patrolling the nursery when his inspection shifted the black out curtains, causing the sunlight to strike the Young Master. The Young Master then let a wave of force which threw John out of the window and into the bushes below." Nancy reported the matter in a very matter of fact tone though she eyed Kaname suspiciously.
Kaname huffed on Juuri's lap. It was an accident. The idiot shouldn't have been in the nursery anyway. The place was supposed to be warded against everyone but Nancy and his pseudo-parents. Let the servants access an infant-pureblood? Not likely.
But neither of his pseudo-parents seemed too concerned. Juuri's eyes had wondered to Haruka's exposed chest, and Haruka was leaning forward, the sheet slipping even further down.
"Put Kaname back to bed," Juuri ordered Nancy, handing Kaname over to her waiting arms, "And sleep in the bedroom attached to the nursery from now on."
Reading the mood, Nancy wasted no time in hustling Kaname out of there.
It was an exceptionally pleased Kaname that bundled himself up in his blankets fifteen minutes later, the window having been boarded over in their absence. Finally, he could sleep, and come sunset, he could finally begin practicing with his powers once more.
