Juuri was a little sheepish when she and Haruka returned but it didn't last long. They returned arm in arm and smiling indulgently at each other.

Kaname hid a grin. The sight was too familiar. How many times had he witnessed similar scenes in the past?

Despite their skin, purebloods were not human, and they didn't play by human rules. Once Juuri had sensed the pregnancy even if it had just been subconsciously – she'd had no choice but to follow instinct. An instinct that was decidedly vampiric.

Her partner for the child had to be strong enough to protect her in her time of extreme weakness. Before the baby could begin draining her, Juuri had received a violent boost in power from the internal blood conflict of child and mother and had begun the Hunt. The hormones had wracked up her aggression and, really, Haruka should have seen it coming. Juuri's aura at breakfast had been an obvious sign.

Kaname certainly had certainly noted it and recognised it instantly, but then he'd been the Hunted on so many occasions that he had had no choice but to hone his ability to spot pregnant purebloods miles away.

Artorius had found it hilarious when Kaname had had to throw down whatever he was doing and make a run for it – often without the slightest explanation to whoever he was with at the time, to their offence and confusion, and followed by one furious female seconds later. Artorius had always smirked when Kaname returned, with one very contented woman on his arm but looking rather haggard himself, calling it perfect justice with a clap on the back and an aura of utter self-satisfaction.

If Kaname was going to seduce his way through life, he deserved the consequences.

Naturally, Kaname had returned the favour, gleefully tripping him up as he tried to make a run for it from dear Lilith when she'd finally gotten her claws into him. Artorius had assumed that she was coming for Kaname and it had cost him a precious thirty-second head start.

The Hunt was amusing, mainly as it was such an excellent source of gossip. If that woman was chasing that man, then they had to have done the deed, she had to be pregnant, and he had to be the father – more than a few affairs had been rather scandalously revealed via an ill-timed Hunt, but it could also be deadly.

Juuri had had to chase Haruka down. Instinct allowed for nothing else. Physically running after him like a wolf and a lamb, a Hunt in the truest meaning of the word. If she'd caught him before the rage withered, she'd have killed him. Either taking his strength for her own to allow her to survive the upcoming labour or removing the weaker pureblood from the gene pool and terminating the baby before it could form properly, reabsorbing it back into her body's reserves.

After all, if the father was weak the baby would be weak too, and there was no point in carrying it to term if the effort could kill her. The payoff just wasn't worth it from a survival-of-the-species point of view. It had always been their way. Weakness just wasn't tolerated, biologically or socially.

This Hunt had clearly been successful though, Haruka's strength had been proven by the hours that he had managed to evade Juuri and, inevitably, her rage had turned to lust.

Haruka was in a sorry state, his three-piece suit was in tatters with streaks of dried blood running down the trousers and staining the waist, the belt was missing entirely whilst his shirt had been reduced to a few strips of off-white fabric and he'd somehow lost a shoe.

Meanwhile, Juuri was glowing, radiantly happy and extremely pleased with herself. Her aura practically screamed the cat-that-got-the-canary and no one who sensed it could doubt what she'd been doing the past several hours or how good it had been for her. Her clothes were grass-stained, mud-stained and blood-stained, but she was so radiant in the moonlight that it hardly mattered. She could have been wearing a bin bag and still look enchanting she was in such a good mood.

The servants were rather bewildered at their sudden change in mood, but naturally didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow as the two of them walked hand in hand up the driveway looking like they'd just survived a natural disaster. One night their auras were murderously angry, sending everyone into fits of echoed anger and fear that they might become a casualty, and the next night they were acting like newly hand-fasted, all lovey-dovey and disgusting, not to mention sunburned.

Kaname was just thrilled even if he could do without watching them make out like teenagers.

Yuki was here.

"~Oh, Kaname," Juuri called, poking her head around the nursery door, "Can you keep a secret?"

Kaname shut the book he'd been reading about the artificial formation of mithril and stood – carefully- climbing up his favourite fainting chair to plop himself down at Juuri's side with a huff.

He gave her a sidelong glance, gently prodding at her aura. Juuri was happy, worried, stressed and tired. Nevertheless, there was something… just a little flicker of something more, something foreign. He smiled, if he hadn't already known it would have been impossible to sense, but he did know, and the reassurance of feeling tiny-Yuki's presence was a balm to his senses.

A flashing neon light and a blaring klaxon too, mind you, but Kaname was focusing on the positives.

Now that Yuki's existence was secured, he didn't have any reason to delay. He had to have a long and serious talk with Haruka and Juuri – and they were not going to like what he had to say. No one liked being reprimanded, and yet Kaname had no choice.

How many of the mistakes in the future could lead back to their choices? Yuki's insanity, Rido's existence, the decline of the Kuran's social power, the failing associations with other purebloods, his endlessly irritating guardianship by Asato Ichijo and all the damage the low-blood had done by rifling through the Kuran holdings, stealing whatever wasn't nailed down and learning far too much about the past.

It was endless.

What had they been thinking? Had they been thinking at all?

They were purebloods for blood's sake – they were supposed to be cautious, always with a plan. They should have expected to be attacked since they took the risk of children. Why hadn't they prepared? Not even the most meagre of the manor's defences had been activated in years. It was all very well to monitor Rido's movements, but that was passive. The best defence was a good offence – why weren't they doing something.

It was just too… convenient. In their most vulnerable years, they had foregone all the protections and essentials that had kept their ancestors alive throughout the most vicious of the Blood Wars. Any other pureblood took security as a matter of necessity – they flaunted their precautions it was such a natural thing for their kind.

Haruka and Juuri hadn't.

Why hadn't they made assurances for their children? Hidden their finances? Forged the usual human documents? There wasn't even a will for the human assets!

It was disgraceful and alarming. Kaname knew that they knew better, if they hadn't done so, it was a deliberate choice – and that made it all the worse.

But he would get his answers.

"Kaname? Are you listening to me?" Juuri nudged him, causing him to flop over as he lost his precarious balance. Juuri giggled a mischievous little laugh and set him on her lap instead, wrapping her arms around him to help him balance and so that she could cuddle.

"You're pregnant," Kaname deadpanned as he settled into her arms. "It's a girl."

Juuri scowled playfully above him as he tilted his head back to smirk up at her, but then smiled unable to be bad tempered for very long. Purebloods didn't get with child easily, and she'd been extraordinarily lucky to have two heats so close together, but her body had clearly known that her first child had perished and had been ready for a second attempt whilst all of the other conditions were still favourable. It wasn't going to be easy as her Kaname still needed energy and she was the only provider but Haruka had had a point. One of them had to be at full strength. She was just going to have to manage giving energy to two children somehow.

"Yes," she confirmed with a broad grin – showing fang. Purebloods always knew the gender. "It's a secret for now. I'll maintain appearances for as long as possible, but I knew you'd want to know."

Her pregnancy could last anywhere from six months to two years for a pureblooded child. The tell-tale bump might not appear for another twenty months if she was lucky. A few months of seclusion were much easier to arrange without suspicion than a more traditional nine-month absence.

Kaname nodded; he knew the game. "Congratulations," he offered, genuine but distracted as his mind raced ahead to plot out consequences.

A newborn pureblood was a cause for great celebration amongst the nobility and below, but it also painted a giant target on the Kuran's backs. It was best to keep the child a secret for as long as vamprically possible. Just three years would make all the difference. Once Kaname was three, he would no longer be so reliant on Juuri and Haruka's strength. If worst came to worst, he could survive alone from that point onwards, but during the first three years Haruka and Juuri were his main energy sources and as a result they were weakened and vulnerable to attacks by other purebloods – like Rido.

"What are you doing about Rido?" Kaname ventured carefully. Neither Haruka nor Juuri had been willing to talk about their estranged sibling for a long time after the other Kaname's death and Kaname had been unwilling to push for news until Yuki was safely conceived.

"Haruka is trying to keep tabs on him, but Rido knows a great deal of our network," Juuri replied easily, the ghost of old pain in her eyes was clear but not devastating. "He is skilled at evading it."

"He will come for her," Kaname prodded quietly. The timelines had changed, but he could predict that much. A child was power, and Kuran manor didn't defend itself well from other Kurans. Rido was obsessed with gaining more power; a child was a target he would not be able to resist.

Yet Kaname no longer had the advantage of foreknowledge. In the last timeline, Kaname had been able to attack Rido when Rido had awakened him from his tomb, nearly ripping his throat out and draining enough blood to severely retard his healing abilities.

The Council had then taken Rido into 'protection' to save him from Juuri's wrath. Unfortunately, they had gained a lot of power when it came to 'protecting' purebloods and could do almost anything if they said it was for that cause.

This time around, Kaname had been in too much pain to do anything but breathe, let alone attack Rido. Rido had escaped, and yet Kaname couldn't think that that was entirely bad. Without the rather public near-death of a Kuran, the Council had had no reason to stick their noses into the Kuran's affairs. The Council was still their enemy, Kaname knew, and they were still allied with Rido in a bid to eliminate the last traces of the monarchy.

However, Kaname's own existence was still a secret from the vampire public. Rido would have told the Council about a child in order to commit them to an attack, but the rest of the world was still in the light about it. That was no small advantage. It was vexing that his enemies knew, but Kaname could work with what he had. He still had the high ground; Rido would never have told Asato about a plan to awaken the Ancestor. Whatever Rido was, he wasn't stupid.

Asato Ichijo hated the Ancestor, Al'Kyran. Kaname was everything old Ichio feared. The First Vampire and the King. No, Asato would never have committed resources to a plan that could destroy the Council of Elder's snarled authority with the mere mention of his name.

"He will," Juuri agreed sadly after a long moment of thought. Her eyes were glassy and distant.

Kaname bit his lip. It was time to 'fess up and he knew it. Rido would probably wait to attack until Yuki was born, but Kaname knew better than to make assumptions. The timeline had changed, it was best to act as if he knew nothing rather than rely on anything he thought he knew.

"Juuri," he said, drawing his shoulders back and holding his head up high. He was what he was and he'd pretend no longer. "I need to talk to you and Haruka in absolute secrecy. It's important."

Frowning, Juuri considered the child in her arms. She had to tell herself every night that Kaname was not her Kaname or she knew she'd get lost in the illusion to spare herself the grief. She was three thousand years old and her beloved brother had murdered her very first child.

Juuri was a pureblood; she was immortal and powerful enough to be mistaken for a god. It burned that she hadn't been able to defend her child. It was a vile parody. How could she be so powerful and so pathetic? It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. It hurt so much she wanted to scream and scream and scream but she couldn't even show a flicker of grief outside of her private chambers.

She bottled up enough tears to form a river in the night. In the day, she allowed herself to cry for a few minutes in the privacy of her running shower, the streams of water diluting the scent of salt and covered the sound and she turned her music on and let it blare for an extra shield of disguise only twisting the knife a little deeper each time.

Her grief shouldn't be shaming, but if anyone knew it would become an exploitable weakness, so she had to endure. No one but their small family would ever know that she'd lost a son – and it wasn't fair to little Kaname whose birth deserved to be known, the world should be grieving with her… but it just couldn't be.

She was in mourning, not suicidal.

Juuri wanted Kaname to be her Kaname so much that it seemed like her heart would burst, but she felt so guilty she wanted to be sick and forced herself to note the differences. Kaname may act like a child, but he could never hide the ancient soul within. His eyes showed the millennia he had lived. He was her many time distant grandfather.

Her son was dead.

"Very well," she said softly. "Haruka will be back from work by sunup. Come to my solar and we'll talk."

She set her son – not her son – down, smiled sadly as she stroked his hair and left the nursery, unable to endure it a second longer.

She needed a shower.

When Kaname sensed Haruka return, he was left with a conundrum. Juuri's private chambers were a good distance away from the nursery. He could walk… but he'd rather not.

"Kaname-sama! I have a surprise for you," Nancy called cheerfully, pulling a box out from behind her back.

Kaname sighed in despair at seeing a whole crate of red balls. The woman just wouldn't take a hint.

"I'll destroy them later," Kaname promised. Eventually, she had to realise that he really did mean that. In the mean time, there was nothing like the wanton destruction of property to do a body good. A good, clean bit of fun. He had to indulge his infant body some of the time after all if he wanted to maintain any sort of balance.

Then Kaname eyed Nancy again and felt pleased to see her. Excellent. A vehicle had arrived.

Kaname lifted his arms in the universal gesture of children everywhere and Nancy obligingly reached down to pick him up, transferring him to one hip automatically.

"Carry me to Juuri's rooms," Kaname ordered lightly, feeling smug at his problem solving abilities.

Once he had mastered the shadows, he wouldn't have to obey the waddling limits of his body, but the effort still left him a little bit tired.

He had not fainted, no matter what Nancy thought she'd seen.

"Is there a particular reason that you want to see the Mistress, Kaname-sama?" Nancy asked a few minutes later as she was busy climbing the steep steps that led to the next floor.

Normally, Kaname only left the nursery to go to the library. The house was as safe as it was going to get, but his own weakness left him very reluctant to test the self-restraint of any vampire. It was galling to be even the slightest bit wary of a 'C, but Kaname was a survivor first. Pride had never been his vice. Still…

"Are you questioning me?"

"Of course not," Nancy denied, the mere thought was vaguely alarming to her.

Usually, it was easy for her to draw the line between the respect she had to offer a pureblood, and the obedience she required in order to do her job. With practice she'd gotten very good at knowing when she could and should push, and when she ought to step back and bow her head.

It's just that that line grew very blurry the longer she was around Kaname-sama.

Kaname-sama whose games of hide and seek seemed far more like escape and evade; in fact, all of his play looked so very much like training. Kaname-sama who spoke with such maturity it was hard to remember that he wasn't even a year old. The same Kaname-sama who referred to the Mistress as 'Juuri' rather than 'Mother.'

No, Nancy thought, carefully examining the…child she carried with a discreet sidelong glance. She was not questioning him.

"Kaname," Juuri pasted on a company smile as her not-son was carried into her rooms. The 'C set Kaname down on the chair he indicated and Juuri dismissed her with a wave of her hand to wait outside. This conversation wasn't for her ears.

"What is this about?" Haruka asked bluntly, pouring himself a glass of wine. He looked tired and stressed. It probably wasn't the ideal time to have this conversation, but Kaname would delay it no longer.

Kaname looked at the two of them carefully, observing. He'd had months to consider how to approach this conversation but it didn't make the words come any easier.

"You know I'm the Ancestor." He stated flatly. Best to start with shock tactics and gain the initiative. Kaname wanted to rant at them, but it would only get their hackles up. Now was the time for cool logic and pointed questions, not emotion. "I thought it was time that we talked about a few things," he said carefully.

That got their immediate attention. They hadn't talked about the night he was resurrected since it had happened.

"Things like what?" Haruka asked sharply. He walked to stand behind Juuri, resting a hand on her shoulder. Juuri glanced up at him, frowning in concern, her hand rose to rest on his and their fingers tangled together.

"The state of the family," Kaname began simply, "current politics, alliances and so on, I would like a summary of where we stand now and what your current objectives are."

There was much to plan for. The Kuran's needed to start building alliances with other purebloods, reaching out to their foreign counterparts and work out where they all stood if he was to map out some sort of coordinated counterattack on the Council and their current propaganda campaign.

"You're still a child," Haruka shrugged, sipping from his glass. "Don't worry about such things. I will take care of us as I have always done."

"I'm only a child in body," Kaname snapped. "Not in mind. Do not patronise me."

That had been the most patronising tones he'd ever heard directed at him – and Kaname was including every conversation he'd ever had with Ichio in that tally. He didn't appreciate it- particularly from one of the few people who knew better.

"I am concerned about Rido and the Council to begin with," Kaname continued before he could be interrupted again. "What preparations, and with whom, are you making to counter them?" He forced his temper to cool. He would treat this like a negotiation with another Court, not a family dispute.

Haruka rolled his eyes. "We are cooperating with the Council to track down Rido. When we find him, I will deal with him. Really, there is no need for you to bother with any of this."

Kaname stared.

Haruka stared back, one eyebrow lifted in silent question.

"Do you honestly believe the words coming out of your mouth?" Kaname asked, aghast as the silence dragged on and he realised Haruka wasn't making some sort of terrible joke.

"Please don't argue," Juuri said quietly, looking at her knees.

"It is your child I am attempting to protect," Kaname shot back at her, confused and annoyed, "I would think you would be a little more proactive about her defence."

"Don't talk to your mother that way," Haruka hissed. "She lost a son! Not that I expect one of your kind to understand."

Kaname was taken aback. That had been snappish, even vicious. What was going on here he wondered as Juuri seemed to shrink in on herself at the condemnation Haruka was hammering down on her.

"My kind?" he asked slowly, ruthlessly supressing the other feelings. She had lost a son? Not we? It was no one person's fault. Moreover, Kaname knew far too well what it was like to lose children. However, he was not going to bring it up. It wasn't a competition even if Haruka should be able to use the basest logic to deduce that Kaname had lost every child he'd ever had thank you very much. He was intimately familiar with that particular colour of grief. Unlike some vampires he had exacted revenge.

"Old Bloods," Haruka sneered. Shaking Juuri's hand off, he began pacing the room in agitation. "Violent, sadistic and promiscuous the lot of you. I've heard the stories," he added darkly, frowning as he gazed out the window.

"Your point?" Kaname drawled, unconcerned. A vampire was a vampire. They were all vampires here. Kaname regretted nothing and Haruka was hardly in a position to throw stones.

"This is no longer your world," Haruka proclaimed turning back to Kaname and attempting to stare down at him imperiously with his arms folded across his chest. "You have no place here. We are at peace and at peace we will remain."

Kaname examined the light of conviction in Haruka's eyes with mild alarm. Apparently, the vampire really did believe what he was saying.

"I would have thought it was clear," Kaname parried, making sure his tone conveyed all the disdain he felt, "That the Council are your enemies. That Rido allied with the Council in order to facilitate the last attack. It was the Council that provided so many level E's and lower vampires as a distraction. Cooperating with them in any way will only cause you further grief. They want you dead."

Surely, he didn't have to spell that out, Kaname thought, but going by the sheer look of disbelief on Haruka's face, Kaname did, and that was not a pleasant thought. Was it physically possible for a pureblood to be this stupid?

"Oh don't be so paranoid," Haruka sighed, draining his glass of wine and pouring a whisky. "Why must you always see the worst in this world? Haven't you had enough of warmongering?" He shook his head. "This farce has gone on long enough. You will apologise to your mother, and will return to the nursery. We will speak again only when you've grown up enough."

Kaname let the words pass over his head. Haruka didn't deserve to frustrate Kaname, not if he was going to be this obtuse. Kaname wouldn't give the gorebellied, hedge-born gudgeon that much power over him.

"She is not my mother," Kaname replied mildly, glancing dismissively at the pair of them, anticipating that it would aggravate Haruka enough to put him off balance. This chat seemed to have actually become a negotiation with a hostile court, it's lord, and the comparison was not pleasing to Kaname.

Naturally, he appreciated the roles they had to play to keep up the act, but it didn't change the fact that no matter anyone's feelings on the matter, Kaname had known Haruka and Juuri a grand total of eight years and that was including both timelines.

That was a drop in the ocean of his life.

He'd known humans longer than that.

They were Family mind you, which meant something in their world of backstabbing politics. It meant Ally and Friend and that Kaname could allow himself to feel fondness for them without regretting it later, but it certainly didn't meant the kind of respect or deference Haruka was demanding. Besides, his actual mother might get jealous, and no one with any sense wanted to spark that particular conflagration.

Haruka's face was turning an interesting shade of purple. Kaname was morbidly fascinated. He wasn't aware that purebloods could do that. Huh. You really did learn something new every night…

The lights flickered and the room chilled rapidly, Kaname breath came out as mist as Haruka's aura flared in rage.

Kaname was unruffled by the petty display of anger. He'd pulled better auras as a child – the first time around. Haruka was truly terrible at controlling his emotions and it did not endear him to Kaname in the slightest.

"How dare you," Haruka raged, his eyes burning red as he stalked towards Kaname. "We take you in out of the goodness of our hearts, we raise you, we –"

"Haruka, please," Juuri mumbled, wrapping an arm around his waist to stop him moving.

"Silence, Juuri. This has gone far enough. I will not be insulted in my own house."

Kaname couldn't resist.

"Your house?" he asked, archly. Just who did they think had built the place?

Haruka roared. He broke free of Juuri's weak grasp and grabbing Kaname by his shirt, bodily hauling him into the air and shaking him like a dog.

Belatedly, Kaname wondered - his surroundings blurring as his head snapped back and forth with enough force to break a human's neck- if deliberately enraging an adult pureblood might have been a slight miscalculation on his part.

A/N Sorry for the slight delay. Setting the right tone took three re-writes. Also just a quick note on language - I'm trying to replace any saying, idiom or language that refers to daylight, the sun, etc with something that a vampire is more likely to use. So don't be confused if you see 'in the light' as referring to a secret instead of 'in the dark' and every other replacement. If you have any ideas for such changes, do share. In particular if anyone can think of something a vampire might say instead of 'tomorrow' I'd apreciate it. Wolf x