I apologize for the lapse of time that has taken me to update this chapter.
I'm currently assisting a dear cousin of mine with her fanfic works, but the real reason why this chapter took so long to update was because of Kanato. It's fairly difficult for me trying to get in touch with a character whose mood-swings can range on two different extremes, without looking like a babbling idiot in writing.
I do hope this made sense without going into OOC territory for Kanato.
Thank you for your constant support.
Writing these stories for you, and reading your reviews in return, make it all worthwhile.
THE MOON THAT EMBRACES THE SUN
Chapter IX
Teddy's Acrimony: Part I
Resting his head against the wine-colored couch, Kanato felt his mind whirl chaotically toward the sentiment that had imbued his body earlier. The havoc that had once reigned supreme within the large living space, had since died off - leaving everything in a state of lugubrious silence. Making the room with 4, feel almost empty.
Left unguarded with his thoughts, the immortal prince idly glanced down at the toddler sitting in his lap, innocently playing alongside his ruby-eyed sister.
There was a spark of interest shining behind mauve orbs as they watched the boy's every movement with intrigue; and, though obviously curious about this sudden attachment, the young father couldn't help but wonder what it was about him- exactly - that had, since their initial meeting, kept him at wits end.
If in the beginning of it all, he had been so sure - confident, even - that he would never come to accept Luka as his own flesh and blood, why was it, then, that he now felt hesitant to continue believing so? After all, he was still dubious of how this came to be.
Six dhampyrs fathered by each one of the pureblooded brothers, and borne from a woman that had long since left their lives?
That definitely didn't make any sense.
Because if it did, then how was it possible for them to be remotely related to one another if he didn't recall ever having taken Yui intimately?
'I couldn't have...' he stalled, furrowing his brow in evident confusion. 'It's not possible that I...'
Flashes of imagery filled his mind.
Ones that he had often considered as nothing more than a lucid dream.
Yui squirmed against him, writhing beneath the cataclysm of pain and pleasure morphed into one, from the passion that engulfed the two lovers in their embrace. Her creamy-white skin, so warm, so alive, burning within the fiery throes of their lust, 'neath his cold, frigid, touch proved every bit of the emotion he could evoke within her womanly attributes as she did to him. Laying his ear pressed against her heaving chest, he could practically taste the rush of saccharine blood, racing through every vein and every bloodstream that belonged to him, and solely him.
Doubtful of that memory's contents, he had long since discarded the probability.
But the possibility of it still stood.
That had all been a dream...
Hadn't it?
And once again, doubt reigned.
~S.O.V~
He knew that it wasn't under any form of strict religious knowledge, for a man to understand what the sensation emitted from a bare flesh's caress meant, nor what, what followed obviously implied.
Just like any one of his brothers, he too had had his fair share of lovers in the past; and, ultimately, when it came down to the long line of Sacrificial Brides the church prepared for them...
Well...
It was safe to assume all the brothers knew of carnal pleasures and fervid passions at this point in their life.
And he was no stranger to that ancient bit of knowledge, despite what his brothers ardently believed.
He may not have been born with Reiji's smarts, but that didn't mean he was down to the same level of stupidity as Subaru. Which made it all the more questionable for him that, in every intent to remember that night - and all pretenses he gave of it - whatever part of him that knew the existence of his 'inner-desires' (which had long since been left insatiable by the one person whose memory pained him) did not heed to any sort of recollection of having had acted upon them. Leaving both his emotions, and his thoughts, to remain as riled and insubstantial as his proclaimed aversion for the boy in his lap.
Adamant of this, the pureblood violently shook his head. Fervently hoping that he could release himself from the grasp of this withstanding misery.
'It's not like I could accept it.' His heart spoke aloud, ushering his thoughts before he could stop them, 'Because it's still not possible that Luka is my son, even if I really want him to be-'
Wait.
No!
It wasn't that he actually wanted Luka to be his son!
No!
He didn't want it!
There was no way he could!
To accept it so easily?
Lies!
He couldn't!
Not when there was every proof in the world to believe otherwise!
His frown furrowed deeper into his unearthly beauty.
Taking a moment to pause his thoughts after reaching a standstill verdict, Kanato tittered watching as Luka smiled at Luna's incessant babbling. Despite the half-smile trembling against his lower lip, the pureblood tried to reestablish the chaos of his mind to a quasi-order, with no available success. During this moment of respite, however, the dithering male failed to notice the way his hand, which held onto the boy's small body, snaked around him before moving aimlessly atop the child's head, resting on Luka's crown, fondly; that is, until he felt the soft strands of violet mane entangle between his long, slender fingers.
Stopping mid-movement, he retracted his hand almost immediately, as though scalded by the action.
Luka, though none the wiser of his father's gentle - and mostly quick - affection, did notice the somberness clouding the older male's mauve gaze as he looked up in visible curiosity.
It was as though he were questioning everything. Including himself.
And true to it, Kanato was questioning himself.
His beliefs and lack thereof.
If he really wanted nothing to do with Luka, or his parental droit*, then surely there wasn't any reason as to why he should be feeling the exact opposite of it, right?
But then... if that were really the case, why had he defended the boy so fervently against his own brothers if he truly felt no attachment or connection to him whatsoever?
Contemplative gaze set itself upon the bouts of light that flashed precariously against the coffered ceiling, decorated in gold and red, above them.
He drew a heavy breath from his lips.
Nothing made sense anymore. Not now, and certainly not since the day she left.
And rendered to a complete loss of what to feel at this point, Kanato direly realized there was nothing left sustaining him (mentally and emotionally), but that same paternal sentiment, which he persistently denied.
Because it was his denial that acted as a shield against the sentiment he abhorred.
The sentiment he wanted no part of.
The sentiment known as 'love'.
But every shield has a breaking point, and his was quickly cracking beneath the weight of suppressed emotions; and, growing a will of its own, it stood against all he had initially believed in.
Nagging at him relentlessly.
Pleading with him insufferably.
About a single most truth he had chosen to turn his back to since the start of this night.
'No. No. No! This can't be...I couldn't have...I'm not...' but his mind could no longer differentiate the fine line between what had always been real and all that he constantly rejected as reality.
And when his highly rattled emotions had finally calmed down to a considerable point, Kanato's mind began to deliberate on his past thoughts, and current grievances, once again.
He had wanted, arduously, to fight off this cursed emotion.
To spurn it from his sight and side.
But when the end game was reached, his defeat had been eminent; and his endeavors, for naught.
Because he had foolishly fallen deep into its chasm.
So what had been the point of his tenacity? Of his denial? Of everything? If his own body betrayed his will?!
That cruel and unwelcome emotion had already crept up to him, while his back was turned, and in his moment of vulnerability, clung to him almost desperately with a looming need, and a mawkish necessity, that urged him to keep the boy at his side, always.
Protecting him as his child.
Accepting him as his son.
Bizarre, though it was, it felt empowering.
A little too empowering, if he were honest.
It filled him with a possessiveness that - though well known in his everyday life - felt relatively new, when placed within these sorts of circumstances.
It was nothing like the sense of sight, smell, taste, sound, or sight.
No.
This, by far, felt more like an instinct than a sense.
A primal sort of instinct, that no one could abstain from.
And it made him feel crudely Animalistic.
Shuddering at the thought, he felt a rush of emotions overbear his frigid heart.
How was it possible for him to feel that strongly about the boy he just met, when that same affection growing within him for the child was something he had never - once - felt from his own Father?
Never mind the fact that Vampires, and Demons, were known to leave their children to fend alone in the world, without ever knowing a sliver of affection because it was a disgrace to their race, and a denigration to their longstanding pride!
This was forcing him to step into completely uncharted territory!
Yet, for all the questioning contempt, and despite its almost alien form, there was a strange familiarity to this.
Almost, as if it were rather...
...Human...
Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, he gripped the beige-colored sweater within a firmly clenched fist.
Inside him, the emotion roared and raged, like a lion defending its young; practically baring its hideous bite at whosoever approached the boy with darker-than-not intentions.
However, what surprised him the most was the sentiment that accompanied right after.
As strong as it felt, it left him equally bare - equally exposed - to all those who held him at enemy's end.
No margin for error was allowed, and no space given.
That instinct bubbling within him cramped whatever room was left inside.
But one existence managed to fill that leftover void.
A foreign fear.
Which his immortal arrogance deceitfully transformed to choler.
And he hated it.
Hated it with as much passion as his fear of it.
Because he had been this close - this close - to growling at his own brothers like a rabid dog (after the lot had insisted on taking Luka away from him). He may be considered a monster, but that didn't make him an animal!
The doubts that previously disconcerted him, seemed to swim in the back of his mind. Constantly reminding him of things he'd rather not think about anymore. Filling his vision with false truths and duplicitous lies that harassed and plagued his reason.
Before having the chance to shove them straight back from whence they came from, the ragged image of the murderous bear - locked - within a cage far too small to give its frame any real space, appeared in his mind's eye like a recurring nightmare, reminding him that it was hidden somewhere within these dismal walls of the grand estate.
Derision overcame him, then; and, spitting through the confines of his emotionally distraught mind, the third triplet of the set* realized - with a heavy heart - what his beloved stuffed friend's actions had clearly implied.
'How could he do this to me?!'
After everything he did, everything he had confided in the bear, everything they went through together - this treason was what had awaited him in the end? For Teddy, his own friend, to turn against him like that?
What was it thinking?!
Blatantly threatening to maim him?!
HIM?!
The person that had made him, cared for him, and kept him at arms length!
Who carried him!
Dressed him!
Fed him!
Talked to him!
Confided him!
Obeyed his every whim!
HIM!
All of this, for what? For the toy to have been just about ready to forcefully take his son away from-!
The doubts rose. .
'I'm not...I can't be convinced that he's the child I had with that stupid woman, but he is...he has to be...'
His arms, almost as if by habit alone, enveloped Luka's chubby torso, gently; and Kanato was able to feel the frailty of the life sitting before him, for the first time. Turning the boy away from his sister, in order to face him, the young father appreciated the close proximity between them to observe the child's distinctive features better.
There should be something, anything, that proved his doubts right.
Absolutely anything!
But the more he looked at Luka, the more he realized how wrong he had been.
How wrong they all had been.
Because it should have been more than obvious to the vampire that this child wasn't so different from him. From any of them. In fact, Luka - regardless of the distance placed - was quite the carbon copy of himself as a child.
Anyone who saw them together would have no doubt in the boy's parentage.
Yet, his own denial had kept him from seeing the reality placed before him.
Because, all in all, the confused alexandrite-eyed boy staring directly at him with a similarly arched brow as his own, was his son; and, even with those physical similarities between them, Luka, his son, proved to be every bit, undeniably, her child. From the twinkling way in which the cherub showcased his pearly whites within that big, innocent grin; to his scrunched forehead and furrowed brows when baffled by his sister's "baby" talk.
In every expression, and in every action, the alexandrite-eyed boy undoubtedly reminded him of that woman who, though his pride would never openly confess, had meant much more - so much more - than what he intended her to.
"Yui-san..."
A flash of vulnerability reached mauve-colored eyes, and so caught up in his thoughts was he, that he didn't realize he had spoken the name out loud, nor that his younger brother - who stood ever diligently against the shadows of the nearby wall - had heard the muttered name; and flinched in response.
Enveloped by the same melancholy he consistently wore at arm's length, Kanato recalled the many things that had happened before Yui shamelessly abandoned them.
Abandoned him!
And he caught himself wondering just how different things would have been between them had he been born a human like her.
A sardonic laugh almost escaped his lips, then.
Surely, had he been born human, with the same limited lifespan those stupid mortals had, these past 16 years would have been enough for him to forget the pain her parting had unwittingly caused them.
Surely there would have been a semblance of unwilling acceptance in the aftermath of it all.
But, just like any of his kind who had made the same stupid decision as to fall for a human, was condemned to eternity's shackles - so was he.
And the time that had passed, including the pain inflicted, would forevermore remain engraved within the very foundation of his existence; and its remaining scars, as fresh as the day it had all occurred.
~S.O.V~
Strands of a pure snow's contrast, fell atop the searing blood-red glare that bore its penetrating gaze onto the wooden floor below.
The, once usual, choleric wrath enveloping his aura, had - since the start of the night - disappeared from sight; leaving, in its stead, an air of sadness that blighted even the darkest shadows of the cornered walls.
Having heard her name uttered from the lips of his own brother did not only fill him with a twinge of jealousy, but also an onslaught of memories that overbore his senses. Enough to cause him a mild headache.
And as the pain in his head kicked in, it carried along with it the suffocating ache in his heart.
All because he remembered everything from before her abandonment.
He remembered their conversations, their fights, and even, to some degree, the argument that had led them - all of them - to an entire day of separation from one another.
And from her.
A bitter chuckle escaped him at the reminder.
An argument between the six elusive brothers was one thing. It was common. Known for. Practically an every day occurrence in their eternal lifespan.
However, an argument in which the one sacrificial bride involved herself - was a whole different matter.
And the consequences proved disastrously gut-wrenching, because come the following evening, nothing was the same.
For any of them.
It was almost as if she had been swallowed by the very ground in which they stood; and all the things she had once owned remained as untouched as the day she had arrived. Her clothes. Her personal belongings. Even that rosary she carried preciously in her grasp, had been carelessly left atop the washstand beside her bed, as though it were worth nothing to its owner.
Funny thing was that, after that night, he never saw that rosary again.
But he had a hunch as to who kept it.
They had been aware that it was a 'now or never' chance for her, and she injudiciously took it when they had least expected it!
When they had least wanted it!
Placing his hand against his coat's pocket, the silver knife's detailed handle came to mind at the touch, and with it, that damned insignia of the Sakamaki royal bloodline.
After her disappearance, it was one of the few things he could reclaim of hers that his brothers hadn't already kept for themselves (not that the bastards would admit to it). He had gifted it to her long ago, in hopes of having her save herself before she too was consumed by the same madness that drowned them all in eternal despair.
At the time, he had known that - for the sake of her own survival - she would eventually end up using it against them, if need be.
An ironic end their immortal suffering.
But when she hadn't, when she chose to use the silvered weapon - not to end their lives - but to save them...he had dared to hope.
Hope, as he never had, that she could be the one person he could trust.
Trust, to stay forever by his side.
What an idiot he was to have placed his trust on a human!
How pitiful and imbecile he must have seemed to her the night prior to her disappearance!
Blindly, they reacted by the sole emotion they knew - unrestrained rage - over the frustration they felt of her absence, and arbitrary betrayal.
Obtuse from the impassiveness they had been well-accustomed to, the Sakamaki brothers knew nothing more than to pit themselves against one another.
Pointing fingers.
Voicing faults.
Casting blames.
And when the situation had finally subsided, the havoc reigned.
Since that day, their Father had made no attempt in installing a new Sacrificial Bride into their lives; and the Sakamaki were left with nothing else, but a sense of bitter defeat.
In the end, they had no one else to blame but her.
They were morons, that's what they were!
They should have known how much their mental manipulations, their emotional and physical tortures, and their dire need to force her into submission, were what had broken the sanity of many a bride before her!
They all should have known that!
Especially him!
After what he lived through with his own mother, who was to say that she - a human woman - wouldn't be just the same, if not worse, than the pure-blooded white rose?
How could they have foolishly believed she to be any different from the rest?
'No matter how many times we humiliated her, forced her, bit her - she would still defy us! Regardless of the cruelty we showed her, she still claimed that she cared for us!' Angrily, he clenched his teeth, 'No! She never cared! There was no way anyone would ever care about monsters like-!'
A soft giggle reached his ears, and surprised, he looked up at the little girl.
His strongly tensed features softened considerably at the sight of Luna playing with her little brother; and though his daughter's outward appearance reminded him to be as that of his mother - the virtue and innocence she displayed, including that calm serenity she unknowingly possessed could only, ever, be attributed to Yui.
Sweet-tempered.
Adorable.
Kind.
He couldn't believe that such a pure, beautiful being was really born out of someone like him. Someone whose very existence had been an abhorrence created by a man, who would get to any means necessary in order to achieve his vice - regardless of those he wounded in his path.
Lost in thought, he pondered further onto the similarities between his child, and the woman he had once cared for deeply, that the hardened glare - which had once encompassed the brightness of his bloody-red orbs - eased away like a passing wind. Making way for a longing that he had, long since, been starved of.
A longing for affection.
A yearning for acceptance.
Hadn't that been what Yui granted them long ago?
Granted him?
'No,' his arms crossed deeper against his chest, 'She didn't. Don't be an idiot! She was never any different from-'
But, she had proven herself to be different, hadn't she?
Different from all those girls that screamed 'bloody murder' when they came to find out about the boys' true nature? Different from all those humans at school that had adored them simply because of the allure their kind gave off to seduce their prey? Different... so tremendously different, from his sanity-broken Mother that continued to suffer in that East Side Tower, because her weak and sullied son had not the balls to end her agony once and for all?
A morbid thought interrupted him almost immediately after, muddling the rest of his thoughts from what was to come next.
'Maybe,' he paused, 'Maybe Laito's kid is right.'
And the words came afloat, from the deepest recesses of his mind, as if cruelly dangling before him. Haunting him, with images of a wicked deed he didn't recall, and taunting his agony to the brink of the precipice.
"...Father Komori suggested that perhaps you had all entered into a state of bloodlust that prevented you from rationalizing with your instincts..."
Laito's kid, whatever-his-name-was, would never come to understand just how much the possibility of it - of that happening - had tormented him and his brothers for the past 16 years. How the mere idea was revolting to them, and far too sickening to withstand, that they found themselves suppressing their thoughts with consistent denial that she wasn't good enough, or desirable enough, for them to want her for more than just her blood.
In any sense or way.
But they knew it all to be a damned, shameless lie.
His sharpened incisors jabbed the seam of his lips, as he held back a wave of nausea that washed over him at the imagery his mind's eye had suddenly concocted.
Yes, they had wanted her.
Yes, they had yearned for her.
Yes, they had desired her.
But it was all meaningless if their want of her had coerced them to force themselves - to force their attraction for her - against her by pure, unrestrained instinct!
And, for the first time in 16 years, he felt like the monster he was constantly accused of being.
The monster he truly was.
'Damn it all!'
~S.O.V~
Wrapping his arms further onto his son's torso, Kanato incognizantly sought comfort from an external force - in much the same manner with which he relied on Teddy - and was relieved to feel, almost instantaneously, how his previous unease had all but dissipated in a moment.
Pleasantly surprised by the placidity overbearing his turbulent thoughts, the mauve-eyed Prince understood now how his son's propinquity affected him.
This closure with Luka somehow filled him with an indescribable peace that reigned through every crevice of his listless body. Safely securing within him a serenity that he had never once felt since the day he was born.
Grave were his nefarious thoughts on the matter, that he recalled with dole how he - though not a fully unwanted child - was the means for an ambitious woman to reach her goal.
The awareness that had filled him after Cordelia - his Mother (and the primary peccant of his distrustful nature and emotional instability) had died, was also the catalyst that kept him from forming bonds with anyone, including his own brothers.
Save for Teddy, that is.
If ever, there had been a value to which he had esteemed her in, as his Mother, it had since turned to ash; alongside her cremated remains.
Only after her death had he realized how little worth she had to him.
It wasn't as if she had ever done anything in her extravagant life to honor after her death, so the importance of her existence in anyone's life - including his Father's - was like that of a single, insignificant ant's. There was nothing she could have done to make him think otherwise, and sadly - even as her proclaimed favorite - he found no closure in eternally condemning himself to a life of grief and solitude, for a foolish woman that had never been anything other than, well, a woman.
In his youth, he had come to realize the million and one ways his own mother had broken and desensitized him from properly living at all. She had made it abundantly clear that there was no escape from the Golden Cage of their dependence on her; and if there was such a way, well, she had ensured to make it as excruciatingly impossible to leave. Not because they were her beloved sons, but because they were the only connection she had to possibly receiving the attentions she sought from the one man who could dispose of her at a snap of his fingers.
But he hadn't hated her, then.
Even with all he had been aware of, he had still loved her because she was his Mother.
But there was only ever so much he could take.
From her rarely granted love, to her easily distributed attentions, Cordelia always imposed herself to carry her image as more of a woman than a Mother. That was the truth he always knew, and one which he always turned a blind eye to.
Hell, she had been plenty straightforward about it, considering that - when he was a child no older than the platinum-blonde beside him - Cordelia had continued her little tryst with his Uncle Richter, while being in the same bedroom as he.
Adding salt to the open wound, he had also come to know of the favoritism she held for one son in particular, after he found himself practically extortioned - by her, no less - to sing until his vocal chords burst; and his throat was left red and raw, in a bout of boredom that had struck the Vampire King's First Wife.
At that time, he had attentively seen the way her bored expression turned wickedly suggestive as she faced Laito, before seeing his older brother, later that evening, being led to her private dormitory - where more than one man would sneak in, and out, without their Father's notice.
Like a fool, Kanato had always vied for the attention she would never give him, and in turn for her falsified annunciation of love, hated her with a fervency that equally matched his love for her; leaving the concept he had about 'love' to be numb, and corrupted.
It was only when he aided Ayato and Laito in ridding themselves of that demoness' clawing grip, once and for all, that he finally caught a glimpse of that which he had - long since - discarded.
And, as he stood there, watching how her marbled ivory skin, her long lavender-colored mane, and that ethereal beauty that many in the vampire world had profusely envied (which, in turn, made her much more arrogant of) turn to nothing more than ash and dust by the fire he poured over her bleeding, lifeless body; he could feel the cold tears slowly trickle off the corner of his eyes, and down his pale cheeks, before 'clinking' onto the stony path below. Where the cherry-red roses swallowed all that was left of her cremated remains.
It had been in that moment of litany, that the Prince's ruptured sanity reverted his suffocating wails into maniacal bursts of laughter, erupting from deep within the pits of his agonized soul. If his kind was even permitted to possess one at this point.
It had not been the pain of loss he had felt for her that day, nor the agony of having ended her life by his hand.
Not at all.
That smothering sentiment wanting to burst straight out of his throat, was none other than the unrestrained freedom he was granted; finally broken free from its tightly sealed barrier. Finally!
After all this time, the liberty that he and his brothers had insatiably craved for, for many - many - years, was finally theirs!
But it had been at the peak of enjoying that short-lived marvel, where Yui had made her unprecedented arrival into their lives - as swift as a spring storm; and it was, once again, that the Sakamaki brothers found themselves flung back into that whirling tempest of passionate desperation.
He, especially, had felt the repercussions of it to its full effect.
Craving for attention that could not be obtained.
Yearning for affection that could not be given.
Desirous for her eyes to see him, and him alone.
It had been her arrival that had sentenced him for life, and her heart that had convinced him of what remained dormant within.
A sliver of humanity still existed within him, within all of them. Much more than what they were led to believe in. What they chose to believe in.
But, just as he had been ready to accept that part of himself, and what the aftermath entailed, Yui's treason changed everything for him - and his brothers. Much more, so much damnedly more, than his Mother ever did.
And, in wiping her existence off the face of the earth, she made it virtually impossible for any of them to find her.
With that devastating fact in toil, Kanato grew to rue the day they met.
She had always been nothing short of a parasitic leech, wedging itself constantly - deeply - into his body, into his heart; draining every last drop of life left in him.
Like the viperous woman she was, she was merciless.
Saying she wished to cure the emotional scars left within him, within them, from centuries of abuse. As if something of that degree could ever be cured - especially by a mortal like her!
Please!
Since the beginning, that woman was a virus. Infecting him and his brothers with a sickness that knew no cure.
She was an addiction.
One with the most painful of withdrawals.
And in all that year spent living beneath the same roof as they, she had grown on him like a hard to reach itch.
She was intolerable.
Insufferable.
He just couldn't stand her!
He couldn't stand her compassion which knew no bounds.
Her kindness that could melt even the cruelest of hearts.
Her stupid acts of selflessness for those who were undeserving.
And especially that foolishness of hers when it came to acting on their behalf!
Because it had been thanks to all of those little things, that the emptiness she had left behind practically echoed off of each creaking wall, squeaky floor, and broken heart left in that desolate manor.
The sigh escaping him, next, felt almost strangled against his throat; and, vulnerably, he hid his face above the boy's violet head, in much the same manner with which he relied on Teddy to keep his emotions at bay. So that no one could see the weakness swimming in his eyes.
'If she hadn't taught me,' he thought, 'shown me, what it was to lo- No. No! Forget that stupid woman! Forget her just like she had chosen to forget us! That traitor does not deserve an ounce of our sympathy!'
But with Luka's forehead touching his own, staring directly at him, albeit confusedly - with those same round eyes of hers - even wishing to forget was a heavy feat. Because, the truth of the matter was - he couldn't. Not when he held in his arms the only living proof that she had once existed in his life.
Uneasy from all that encompassed his instant revelations, the older male sighed against Luka's shoulder, not realizing that - in doing so - the boy's brow wrinkled further into one.
Locks of pale lavender cascaded above semi-curled violet, framing the perfect ivory of Kanato's skin, like a veil - making the young father resemble a mourning effigy of an angel of grief, that saddened his little mini-me.
Yui had been the only woman that taught him how to trust someone other than himself (because, in all truth, he didn't even trust his own brothers - despite two of them being born from the same womb as he); and, for the first time in his immortal life, he had been inconceivably happy, despite never showing so.
Least of all, to her.
Therefore, the unanswered question remained.
How could she have done such a thing to them?
To him?
He hated to admit to himself that her betrayal had done something worse than scar him. Hated, that the pain she wrought had left him as he was meant to be. Living Dead; to that insatiable degree that would never find remedy or salvation.
And though the brothers would rather act as though nothing had changed in them, and continue to brood and live within their boring immortality, their entire demeanor was meant to hide the tenderness left from their silently bleeding egos and stigmatized hearts.
Regardless of it, in all those situations he had known what to feel. Whether it ranged from anger or resentment, or even agony, he knew what to name those disparaged emotions.
Not this.
Not like that.
He may have known how to cast aside his frustration against Yui, and that of her memory, because he had every right to after what she had done to him! But now, with Teddy's apparent interest in maiming him, and taking his son, Kanato lay at a loss from what to feel.
With a cold, pale hand, the pureblood ran his fingers through the violet strands of his boy, finding comfort in his touch. Luka, in turn, quietly observed his Father's strange antics, understanding what lay at the soul's base of this yandere vampire.
~S.O.V~
Without disturbing the distraught male from his thoughts, Luka held the other hand - the one wrapped securely across his tummy - and inquisitively clasped his father's slender fingers within his two fists, as if offering solace to the man's inner suffering.
He may not have known what was bothering his Father so much, but - by God - he would try to convey, as much as he could, that the man wasn't alone in this world.
As if understanding what Luka was trying to relay, Kanato caught himself smiling at the boy, and hugged him further onto his chest. Resting his cheek against the boy's crown.
Luna, seeing the affection her Princely Uncle poured onto her baby brother (though the male was completely oblivious of it as being 'affectionate') released a small, unsatisfied whimper.
She wanted to be showered with affection too!
When Subaru heard his daughter's muffled whine, he immediately moved away from the wall and, rather discreetly, rushed toward them to see what was wrong with Luna.
What he found, in its stead, was nothing short of vexing for the albino.
With a bumbling timidness known to be solely Yui's, Luna approached her Uncle with care - as if she were approaching a scared puppy - and softly tugged on his sleeve.
Kanato, taking notice of her only after he saw Luka waving in her direction, was surprised to find the girl with an eager twinkle in her eyes - directed straight at him.
"Jii-chama," she said with an innocent blush filling her cream-colored cheeks, much to Subaru's chagrin, "Can Jii-chama pet my head too?"
Taken aback by the bold request from one as young as she, Kanato was left dumbfounded.
"Huh?"
"I...I wanna be petted by Kanato Jii-chama too, just like Luka-kun." Embarrassed by his obvious surprise, she looked down at the ground, believing that he'd deny her request.
"Why?" he started.
"Well, that's because..." Luna stared down at her feet, fidgeting slightly, "Because I'm also a good girl, just like Luka-kun is a good boy and-."
"I meant, why me?"
The little platinum-blonde tilted her head toward him in evident confusion; and Subaru wasn't liking any of this.
Why was she looking at Kanato, of all people, so... so cutely?
Clenching, and unclenching, his fists, Subaru was practically behind the seated three at this point, his face a mask of anger that would put even the men-yoroi* to shame.
"Jii-chama is a Prince! I want to be said 'good girl' by Princely Jii-chama!"
Luka felt a soft chuckle rumble against the chest behind him. Glancing back at his Father, he noticed the small quirk of his lips as he watched Luna fumbling in embarrassment.
"That's rather bold of you." Kanato added with a small bout of eased arrogance, as he looked over at Subaru, triumphantly.
Subaru was not having it.
The distinct sound of a 'crack' filled the ears of the older brother; and should the broken stone-carved pillar before them be any indication of Subaru's rising choler, Kanato took no heed of it.
With a smug smirk on his face, Kanato lifted his hand to rest atop the little girl's silvery-white locks, and ventured his gaze toward that of his half-brother, standing with a ferocious scowl marring his flawless complexion, beside the evident dent against stone.
"You should be honored that I'm rewarding you." He said with a haughty pout that rivaled Ayato's own. "I don't do this often, you know."
Like a puppy in love, Luna nodded, alight with happiness.
"Hai! Thank you Jii-chama!"
Luka, Kanato, and Subaru could practically see the little girl wagging an invisble tail; and, though both father and son thought it to be really cute, Subaru was not thrilled at all.
His daughter was being treated like some damned animal by that pipsqueak brother of his!
Who the fuck did he think he was?!
"Oi!" The white-haired prince called out to the mauve-eyed triplet, his fangs gleaming menacingly beneath the light of the room. Luna, hearing her Father just ways behind her, immediately jumped for cover behind her Uncle's shoulder, burrowing her face against his sweater.
Subaru felt a sharp sting shoot through his chest.
He knew Luna feared him since they first met, and mostly he had himself to blame for it, but having gained this affirmation of what he had hoped to be a figment of his imagination, only served to make him feel that much worse about it.
"What?" Kanato questioned bluntly, bringing him out of his thoughts; and, remembering his current affliction, the white-haired vampire turned rabidly toward him.
"Why the fuck are you treating her like a dog?"
"I wasn't treating her like a dog!"
"You were petting her like one!"
"She asked for it!"
"And you should've denied!"
"So what? You'd prefer she start crying if I didn't-!" Subaru interrupted Kanato by lifting his fist at the eye level of the triplet.
"I'll punch your damn mouth crooked if you make her cry!"
"What the hell do you want me to do then?!" Kanato was wide-eyed, not at all understanding Subaru's mood changes.
And they said he was the bipolar one in this family.
"You better stay away from her!"
Kanato looked down at his shoulder to find Luna's quivering grasp holding onto his sweater, tightly, "Doesn't look like she wants to."
Subaru saw red.
"Listen here you piece of..."
And the fight broke out.
~S.O.V~
While the argument was quickly heating up between both pureblooded brothers, in much the same as the two youngest children recalled Hime and Akumu, Luka (having been placed by his Father to sit beside Luna, in the heat of the moment) stared at the large door where the Teddy Bear had been taken through.
Intent on searching for him, he maneuvered his small body across the seat, hanging one foot off the edge of the couch until he was sure he was close enough to the ground, before letting the rest of his body weight drag him to the carpeted floor without incident.
Luna, hearing the little grunts of exertion behind her, turned to find her little brother on the ground, crawling away from where the two older males were yelling out at one another.
Afraid that he might harm himself, she too got off of the couch and followed behind.
"What is it, Luka-kun?"
Resting from the distance he had achieved in a short lapse of time, the little boy glanced back at his sister and lifted his small arm; pointing directly at the door a few feet away from him.
Luna quickly understood that there was some place he wanted to go to, but was curious as to why.
"Are we going exploring?"
He shook his head.
"Umm...then, are we going to look for something?"
Nodding in affirmation, he made his way toward the door without so much as glancing back.
Nervous of his direction of travel, and even more so after having escaped the somber entrapment of the halls' maze with Akumu and Hime, just moments prior, Luna was adamant to follow through with her brother's whim once they reached the large, slightly opened, maple doors.
Without any sign of nervousness or hesitance, Luka grabbed onto the wooden frame of the jamb and lifted himself upward. Using the rest of his body weight, he pushed the door forward until the gap was large enough for him to exit the living room without disturbing the disturbance that was already taking hold of the siblings' fathers.
"But Luka-kun," Luna stopped her brother as she, herself, took a step back at the sight of the darkened halls, "It's really dark and scary in there."
Turning to face Luna, whose fear-dripped voice did nothing to reflect the obvious animosity she had for the darkness that roamed the halls before them, Luka noticed she didn't seem at all convinced on accompanying him; and though this did little to stop him from finding the Teddy Bear, he did consider it to be imprudent of him to abandon her here when the two males were bickering wildly.
Mainly because she was far too sensitive to strong-willed emotions, such as the ones that appeared out of the blue between her Father and his.
Then again, he didn't really want to stop. Not now. Not when he was so close to finding the bear. At this point, he could practically feel its presence nearby; as if it were, but a short distance away.
And resolute, he turned away from his sister.
Luna, believing that Luka was going to go on without her, started to sniffle.
As he crawled toward the nearby wall, Luka propelled his body forward to rest his standing weight upon the wall, as he tried - with all his might - to stand as tall, and secure, as his older brothers; and though he trembled like a newborn fawn, the smile he gave Luna was full of achieved triumph. Making her smile in turn.
Raising his hand toward her, he beckoned her to follow along with him.
Luna, though still hesitant to continue, was reassured by her brother's actions and tentatively reached out to grab his much smaller hand. Feeling as though he was conveying through that single action an 'it's okay, I'll protect you.'
And though he was nowhere near her height, or that of her brothers and sisters, he still had the strength and conviction to make her feel just as safe, as if she were with Akumu-niichan or Kaname-niichama.
"Okay, I'll come along too."
Nodding in silent agreement, both children set out to finding the Teddy Bear while they left their fathers alone - arguing in the room behind them.
Droit - "right".
Third Triplet of the Set - Honestly the order of the triplets is always confusing to me. When I first saw the anime, I believed Ayato to be the middle child, Laito the eldest, and Kanato the youngest. When I read up on the game version, it said that Ayato is the youngest, while Kanato is the middle child, and Laito the eldest. But apparently, it seems that the design of the triplets is as follows: as per the "DiaLovers World" Laito was born first, Kanato second, and Ayato third, however, whoever is born last is considered first so the actual order would be, Ayato is the eldest, Kanato is the middle, and Laito is the youngest.
I call BS on all that (excuse my language) so in my story, it will be as such:
Ayato is older, Laito is middle, Kanato is youngest.
And that's that.
Men-Yoroi - "Mengu" or "Mempo", is the term used for various types of facial armor worn by the samurai class and their retainers in Feudal Japan.
~S.O.V~
I don't usually end my story with an author's note, but this is very important, so please read into this.
After this chapter, I will be taking a break from updating any new chapters for T-M-T-E-T-S for a while. Now, this isn't just because I decided so, which I did, but also because it's that time of year when work and school clash, and since this year it will be requiring my utmost focus (medicine is not an easy task, for anyone; especially so close to graduation) I will be needing as much of a breather as I possibly can.
Again, this doesn't mean I will be putting you all on hiatus. For sure for sure, I'll be uploading before the end of the year, and to properly reward you all for the patience you give me (if you give me any) I will be uploading 2 new chapters for this story, instead of just 1.
I promised you all I'd see this through, and I intend to keep my word, despite the obstacles I constantly come across.
Last, but not least, I want to thank everyone for the valuable time, and reviews, you have granted me since I first joined FF. I honestly never thought this story would've grabbed anyone's attention, and am extremely humbled that many of you enjoy it.
~Dearly Sent~
~S.O.V~