"Young Master, I really must protest. This is indecent."

"Nanny, you're far too old and too young for me," Kaname replied, setting the tray down to one side.

His experiment was a success, Kaname made a few quick encrypted notes in his new journal for the record. Apparently, one could mimic a higher-grade charm by layering multiple smaller ones. Now, for the real test.

"Honestly, Nancy," Kaname said as he stored his book safely away on the highest shelf, behind a complex deflection ward. "Off with the dress."

Thank the night he was able to get back into his experiments again, this world had so many more resources than he was used to from the future. Even better, the last time he'd been able to experiment properly was during the Enlightenment. Not all of the modern advances could apply to blood magic, but enough of them did to spark Kaname's enthusiasm all over again. He was on his second journal already.

"You said it would be a ring!" Nancy moaned, head in her hands as she perched on the end of Kaname's only clear desk.

"Well, yes," Kaname admitted, and she looked up hopefully, "but then I improved it!" Kaname declared with a grin just slightly on the mad side. Nancy dropped her head back down again with a low groan.

"No, seriously," Kaname said, lifting her head up himself so that she had to look at him. "I thought about the ring, but it's too obvious. A pureblood can wear mithril easily; it's normal for us. But for a 'C to wear it – well," Kaname shrugged, unrepentantly, "either you are truly incredible between the sheets my dear, or you know something." He patted her commiserating on the very red cheek. "Both of which would make you a target. I'm trying to protect you, not advertise you."

Nancy was so red she was radiating heat, and Kaname smirked to see it. True, he was ten months old, but his mind was as old as it was filthy even if his body had no idea what to do with a woman. Yet. Stars above but he missed sex.

"You aren't helping your case much," she muttered, hugging her chest as if that would do any good.

"I don't exactly need to persuade you my much-beleaguered nanny," Kaname rolled his eyes. "Take off your dress, please."

He turned his back on her and went back to the tray. On it lay sterile gloves which he snapped on like a professional – he'd spent years in the healing tents after a battle and whilst infection wasn't as much as a problem for vampires, getting blood out from under his fingernails would never get any less irritating.

There was a reluctant rustle from behind him and Kaname bit his cheek to keep the smile on the inside.

His nanny was too practical for modesty anyway.

Sixty-nine mithril disks sat on his tray, individually labelled, the blue-white-silver metal painstakingly engraved with tiny runes over every millimetre. By using mithril, Kaname had erased the need for any messy blood work since the power was in the metal. It would run out, eventually, but by that time, Nancy would be long since crystallised. It would also run out if she was attacked, but the whole point was to avoid that sort of attention so, hopefully, Kaname would never have to recharge them.

There was also a very sharp knife, and a box of sterile wipes.

"Now," Kaname said briskly, "There are a total of sixty nine implants," he ignored her whimper, "Each one is approximately the length and width of a lentil, and be grateful that I managed to refine the rune array enough otherwise they'd be a lot bigger."

That little discovery had also been recorded. Nano technology was so useful. A pity he couldn't order the bigger machines with Haruka still alive, but Kaname could be patient.

He turned around; Nancy was reluctantly lying down on the desk, clad only in her underwear.

"They should be thin enough now that you won't feel them under your skin, but I'm taking no chances, so the first seven will be injected into the walls of your belly button."

Kaname approached his subject, having to stand on a chair to reach, and set about marking his patient with a pen and a template. He could fit seven, excellent.

"The protection must extend over your entire body, these seven will make up the core which is why the closer they are to the centre of you, the better. However," he continued his lecture, "the centre is as much mystical as it is physical, you might think that the centre of you is your brain from where consciousness extends, or perhaps your heart or even your centre of gravity. Each one is technically correct. This is why I'm using a triumvirate array. What matters most is what I think counts as the caster. Do you see?"

"I'm really uncomfortable, Young Master," Nancy admitted, "Can you just do it and we can talk all about it when I'm dressed."

"Nancy," Kaname scolded, "Would you sign a contract without reading it? No, of course you wouldn't," he spoke over her interruptions, "this is pretty much the same. Hush now and listen."

"So seven will go here, seven will go under your hair, and seven will go by your heart. You'll have to take your bra off for those by the way."

"Kaname-sama!"

"Oh relax, will you? I'm ten months old!"

"Your mind certainly isn't!" Nancy snapped back.

Kaname smirked, "I thought you didn't want to know?"

"I don't!"

"Then I'm ten months old, and a babe has no concept of desire," Kaname smiled pleasantly, "Which one is it?"

He'd tell her if she wanted to know – it would be perfectly safe, once she wore these protections and he was really interested to know how she'd react to his true status. Scolding a child was one thing; scolding someone history saw as a God-King was something else entirely. Would she faint? Could a vampire faint?

This needed testing.

"That takes us up to twenty one. The remaining forty eight will be spread over your body. As I said, neither you nor anyone touching you ought to be able to feel them, but they'll go in inconspicuous places anyway. Just in case. In between your toes, under your breasts, between your thighs, the cheeks of your bottom, under your arms, behind your ears… you get the idea."

She groaned again.

"It's not like I can benefit from my photographic memory until I'm at least eleven anyway."

"I should slap you."

"Kinky."

Flinging her arm over her face, Nancy gave in to the inevitable, and tried to ignore the mad cackling above her.

"How do you feel?" Kaname asked, three hours or so later as Nancy was sipping from a large glass of fortifying blood wine to restore her nerves.

She gave him a flat look.

"Exposed."

"The cuts have healed well. A day's rest and no one will be able to tell anything's there," Kaname said comfortingly, feeling proud of his achievement. Indeed, only faint red lines had been visible before Nancy had reclaimed her dress and shoved it over her head before his inspection had quite been finished.

"Shall we test it?" he tried to hide his eagerness.

"I suppose we had better," Nancy replied, emptying her glass with a sigh. "What are you going to do now?"

"Try to nudge your mind," Kaname explained, sliding awkwardly off his stool and toddling over to her, hauling himself up into her lap and standing so that he could just about look her in the eye – when she bent her head. Her arms had come grudgingly around, ready to catch him if he fell though her expression said she'd rather stomp on him.

"That sounds unpleasant."

"Hmm?" Kaname asked, staring into Nancy's warm brown eyes, directing a tiny strand of his power forward in curiosity. Her mind was as open as he'd expect from a C, everything looked normal, but there was a slight feeling to the place. He knew what he was looking for, but it still took him some time to find the web of protection extended over and throughout her mind, 'locking' what she had into place and 'reflecting' his expectations.

Kaname did good work.

Carefully, he tried erasing the memory of one of his more embarrassing accidents that she really didn't need to remember in quite so much detail. He extended a tendril of power and intent and wiped the spark of memory away.

"That was a very long night for me you know. I thought I was dead for sure."

Kaname drew back, the thread between them snapping sharply.

"What did you feel?"

"I could feel… you," Nancy said slowly, pupils blown wide, and a light sheen of sweat on her face as if she'd just run a marathon. "You are so, so, vast," Nancy murmured, staring down at him in wary surprise. Her arms around him were far less grudging and far more reverent. She gave herself a shake and seemed to recover some of her equanimity. "It was like my mind were a book, I could feel you turn the page to when you landed arse over teakettle – "

Kaname gave a loud harrumph.

"Turn the page and try to rub the words out," Nancy recovered quickly, a smirk shadowing the edge of her lips. "But I could still read them."

"It's working then," Kaname replied, just as his legs gave out and he tripped over nothing, landing on his bottom with a soft thump.

Her arms tightened, but the smirk was growing wider. Kaname gave her a very cool look and the smirk vanished. Good. He still had it. Ten months of dedicated practice, aided by using his telekinesis on himself, and he was developing motor skills at a rapid pace, but he was still ten months old and entirely too clumsy,

He stood back up and tried a few more experiments. The modified privacy charm had done its job. If Haruka looked into Nancy's mind – he'd see Kaname acting as a normal child. All of her real memories had been concealed, shifted behind a mirror to reflect expectation.

"You will be protected from most mental effects. It will not be strong enough to hold up under a sustained Command, so I suggest you act like any attack works. Never mention what you're supposed to forget, obey an order and so on. Not being noticed will be your strongest defence."

"Naturally."

"Good," Kaname said firmly. He clambered off her lap, and toddled over to his desk, retrieving the second prepared tray. Thirteen tiny disks of mithril sat there, individually labelled and humming with power to his senses. "My turn."

"Kaname-sama?" Nancy rose, alarmed. "You didn't mention –

"Of course I didn't. Don't worry, I don't need you to operate on me." Kaname added, correctly reading her concern. "I just need you to hold a few mirrors up."

It was a statement of weakness for Kaname to wear an enchantment like the one he had prepared. Kaname knew it, and refused to be embarrassed. So what? He was weak right now. Besides, it was just good sense. It was silly to be embarrassed about it. If he could design a base protection for a 'C, he could design something for himself too. He had to. Twice, Haruka had come too close to erasing Kaname. Twice.

Grimly, Kaname tied most of his hair up into a messy topknot, and began shaving a path around his crown bald. He'd focused on mental protection, and that meant they had to go around his head. A mithril crown. He snorted at the image – talk about irony - but kept the razor steady as he eyed his reflection carefully in the mirror.

"Have you fed recently?" Kaname asked Nancy, turning from side to side, checking he'd gotten all of the hair and that the path was perfectly even.

"Yes. Why?"

"Because these need to go under my skin, so I'll be bleeding. Can you control yourself?"

If she couldn't, he would have to Command her. Her new protections wouldn't work against him. Kaname liked her well enough, but he wasn't that stupid.

"I will do my best," Nancy replied, looking queasy.

Kaname gave her an absently reassuring smile, feeling around his skull with a pen in one hand as he contorted himself to see the back of his head and mark where he'd need to cut. Twelve would be evenly spaced about his skull, and the thirteenth would go right in his forehead, over the third eye.

Kaname wasn't nearly as careful with himself as he had been with Nancy. He didn't need to worry about infection, or healing neatly.

With a sharp knife that was sterile only because it was just out the packet, Kaname made the first precise cut, fairly deep, and nudged the mithril disk – about the size of a sequin – inside with a nail. He healed over instantly, and Kaname wiped the blood away with a damp cloth, checking his reflection carefully. His skin would have healed as soon as he took the knife away if he wasn't 'pulling' the cut apart with his mind, resisting his own healing.

The disk would lie hidden under his hair, but that was no excuse for sloppiness. A tiny imperfection was glaringly obvious on a pureblood. The disk was small however, and lay perfectly flat against his skull, with no sign of its presence, and once concealed under his skin, he couldn't feel the hum of power either.

The next eleven were done inside ten minutes. Kaname spent longer cleaning up the blood than he did putting them in. When Nancy stopped looking so uncomfortably longing, he let his hair grow back.

The thirteenth went in just as easily, but Kaname had to go much deeper so that it wouldn't show since everyone he met would see his forehead.

It took less than half an hour, but Kaname started to feel safe once more.

"Is it normal for babies to be this boring?" Kaname asked Nancy, idling poking Seiren. "Why is she still sleeping? It's been hours."

Bonding with his Shadow, Juuri had called it, but Kaname knew one of her photo op schemes when he saw it. He'd be more annoyed at having to stay in the nursery instead of his workshop, but it was clearly important to Juuri, and just as clearly of her own volition rather than Haruka-inspired. Kaname fortified her original impulses whenever they appeared.

"It's normal, Young Master," Nancy replied from her rocking chair, where she was knitting of all things. "For most babies anyway."

Everyone but you Kaname heard.

Fair enough, Kaname thought, although he was certain his children hadn't been anywhere near so dull.

"How is this bonding?" he asked her, giving his future-Shadow a poke to see if she stirred.

Seiren blinked sleepy eyes open. He smiled at her encouragingly whilst wondering if she was old enough to have developed sight yet, and if the lower vampires developed more like a human or a vampire.

"It's all in the subconscious," Nancy replied, the clack of her needles never faltering. "You could pick her up, if you wanted. Skin to skin contact is very important for infants."

Kaname picked her up. They were only a few months apart in age and development, but Kaname's genetics had a clear advantage. She wasn't light, but she wasn't a burden either. It was kind of nice, holding her like this. He sort of hoped Nancy had sneakily taken a photo, it was just the sort of familiarity that would have Seiren blushing like a tomato in the future.

"You could sing to her too, she'll find it comforting."

Kaname eyed Nancy suspiciously as Seiren made a grab for the fingers he was waggling in her face. Nancy was Juuri's creature, no doubt about it. The camera was probably a video one.

"Do you have a camera on you somewhere?"

"No, Young Master."

She wasn't lying, but Kaname was still suspicious. Then again, he was bored. He was glad to see Seiren alive – but she wasn't his Seiren, not yet and maybe not ever. Holding her like this was odd. It just emphasised the differences he was doing his best to come to terms with.

Seiren started to fuss, wriggling in his arms as he adjusted automatically. Fearing a fit of tears, Kaname began to sing a quiet lullaby. He layered power into his already excellent singing voice, and let it wash over her. She drifted back to quietude after a single verse.

"That was beautiful, Young Master," Nancy praised after a respectful pause. "What language was it?"

"Hmm?" Kaname asked, focusing on Seiren's calm face. "Oh, that was… Enko, you'd call it now I suppose. And I'll want a copy of that picture."

The knitting needles fell silent. "Yes, Kaname-sama," Nancy said quietly.

Kaname's smirk fell when he looked back down. "She's asleep again." He sighed and set Seiren down on the blankets only for her to wake and wail. Kaname hurriedly picked her up again, wincing at the noise against his sensitive ears.

"Alright, hush hush, I'm here."

She was easily pacified, but it became quite clear that she wouldn't be parted from him after Kaname had tried to put her down several times only to have to hold her for her to be quiet.

"Don't you dare laugh," Kaname eyed Nancy dubiously.

She smiled placidly, needles clacking again. "I wasn't going to, Young Master. I'm so glad you've made a friend."

Scowling, Kaname turned his back on her – difficult since he had to carry Seiren too – and sat on his blanket with Seiren in his lap. Apparently, she found his aura soothing since she wouldn't let herself be taken away from it.

Still, she was cute.

Kaname rolled his eyes at his own thoughts. Still, there was no reason that the entire night had to be a write-off. Focusing, Kaname sent his thoughts down into his shadow and tried to coax it into moving again.

"Juuri," Kaname smiled welcomingly as Juuri wondered into the nursery. Her baby-bump wasn't yet noticeable thank the night. As far as he remembered, Yuki was a fast baby, which meant she'd be born within a year.

With the revelation that their security was entirely down to Kaname, news about a new baby pureblood would spread like wildfire at the first hint of it. Kaname had fixing their security on his to-do list, but it was a very long list since he had to assume he was beginning from nothing.

"Kaname," Juuri grinned, but the sight of her happy smile sent a dagger of disgust into Kaname's heart. "It's story time."

Was she actually happy? When Haruka's compulsions died, would she still have the capacity to be happy? Or had he destroyed her emotional nexus? Kaname was one of the best healers in the world, but he barely knew where to begin.

"OK," he smiled, letting her pick him up and settle him onto her lap as had become their usual routine in the weeks after his counterattack. Haruka must have said something to her about children, but Kaname didn't know what. She'd been more active in his life lately though, and she wouldn't have changed behaviour without Haruka's orders.

Still, he could tolerate a few hours away from his other plans, and this did at least give him the time he needed to slowly map the contours of Juuri's mind. He was loath to mess with it any further, but he needed to know if she could be healed, or if he would have to add compulsions on top of Haruka's instead.

To heal would be extremely difficult, and to compel extremely easy as Haruka had already obliterated her defences. Kaname wouldn't blink if he decided he had to compel her, but she was kin, and so he would try to heal her first. If it couldn't be done, then that was that. But he would make the attempt.

"Once upon a night, dragons roamed the earth, and none were more fearsome than Old Irontooth."

Kaname settled back into Juuri's arms, letting the story wash over him as he got down to business.

There was enough skin contact was Kaname to lean back and let his power drift through his aura, empowering it for anyone who knew to look, and focused on her mind.

"Dragons were a vampire's natural enemies. They breathed fire, and ate humans just as easily as they ate everything else they could get their fangs on."

Haruka's attack on her had been just as brutal as the one on him. Juuri's defences were utterly gone; Kaname had no notion of what they'd been before. There was just a green sticky web over her exposed mind that pulsed with a cycle of orders. Parts of it were patched and frayed which suggested Juuri was still subconsciously fighting it, but the web had been layered over and over again. It was strong; Haruka had all the power of a Kuran even if he had none of the sense.

"Old Irontooth was the largest dragon. He was enormous, when he flapped his wings he blotted out all of the stars in the sky."

Gingerly, Kaname focused on one glistening green tendril.

LOVE ME

Instantly Kaname pulled back into the physical, the backlash following him, a pounding headache making itself known as he winced.

This was going to take a while.

"One night, Old Irontooth was very hungry indeed and snacked on a mortal hamlet, eating everyone and everything in sight."

Far more cautiously, Kaname tried again, melding his consciousness with Juuri's.

This time he didn't attempt to touch Haruka's compulsions. No, it was best to start from the very basics. Kaname had to map Juuri's mind, then the damage, and then see what he could fix.

The emotional nexus was completed swamped as Kaname expected. 'Love me' was a rather vague order that even if it were the only compulsion, would affect the entire mind. Haruka would need to dominate Juuri's emotions; her memories and her perception to mimic something like love.

If Kaname was going to free Juuri, it was going to be a very long struggle, and there was Yuki to consider.

A/N - Hey everyone, opinions? Errors? Let me know!