(A/N: Thank you to everybody who read chapter one! And if you're reading chapter two right now then double thank you! You've made me so happy ahhhhhhhh)

When Ayato was little he was accustomed to bruises and scratch marks. He didn't mind them much anymore, and he only cried a little if it really hurt. Nobody would come to his aid if he cried anyway, and it only got him in bigger trouble with his mother, so he tried to keep his reactions to pain to a minimum. If his mother slapped his face then he could go right on back to playing after she was finished scolding him.

It was on a day after he had been hit, and his cheek was bruised and swollen so his eye was half-closed, that he happened to look up and see a little head in one of the towers. It had white hair. He stared at it for some time, bewildered, and the head stared back. It must've been a kid, since it could hardly see out of the barred window. Ayato grinned when he thought that the kid must be standing on its tiptoes.

When the kid saw Ayato smile, they looked somewhat scared and shrunk down a bit. Ayato realized that they were scrunching up their face and closing one eye, just like he was due to his injury. The kid was making faces at him. Well, two could play at that game.

Ayato went right on back to doing what he was doing (which was drawing stick figures on the ground with his finger), and he pretended not to see the kid. He was giddy with excitement when he felt the kid continue watching him. Suddenly he looked back up at the kid, and he stretched his face with his fingers (though it made his bruises sting) and he stuck out his tongue at him. There was a short moment of silence in which the kid didn't know how to react, but Ayato soon heard a loud burst of laughter coming from him. Ayato felt powerful hearing him laugh so loud, and his mouth broke into an excited grin again. Encouraged, Ayato stuck his fingers in his mouth and showed off his teeth, and crossed his eyes. The kid up in the tower thought it was hilarious, much to Ayato's immense pleasure, and he attempted to imitate Ayato's faces back at him. He was smiling pretty wide too. Even from a distance, Ayato could tell that his smile was peculiar - it was crooked, like he wasn't smiling correctly.

After a while, the kid suddenly ran away from the window and disappeared from Ayato's sight. Ayato was having fun and he was sad to see him go.

He confronted Laito and Kanato about this boy, because he had never seen him before, but they proved to be ignorant of his existence. Kanato even said that Ayato must be seeing things. Ayato decided to ask Shu, even though he wasn't going to get his hopes up because he was aware that Shu had been sort of depressed lately. He didn't know why. But he was too curious about the boy to leave him alone.

Shu was in his room, lying down. Between his tight schedule that his mother forced him into and the fact that Reiji had been saying some rough stuff to him lately, Shu was exhausted. Without knocking, Ayato pushed the door open and leapt on Shu's bed.

"I saw a boy in one of the towers. He had white hair and he smiles like this." Ayato imitated the half-smile he had seen from the kid.

Shu sat up, suddenly attentive now that Ayato was there. "Oh…Christa's son?" He didn't recognize the smile, because he had never seen Christa's son smile, but the white hair gave him a good idea of who it was.

"Chrissa?" Ayato made a face and attempted to say her name again. "Christa?"

"She's one of our father's wives. I don't think you've met her. She has a son." Ayato seemed to be having trouble figuring out what that meant, so Shu explained: "He's your brother."

"No he isn't!"

"Yes he is. Just like how you and I are brothers."

Ayato couldn't fathom the idea of a brother he had never met. "No he isn't," he repeated.

"Whatever."

Ayato whimpered. He didn't want to be ignored. "Okay, maybe he is. How long has he been here?"

Shu shrugged his shoulders. It was a certain amount of years, but he couldn't summon the effort to think about it. He really was exhausted.

"Has he always been in the tower?"

Shu shrugged again.

"Why?"

Again, he couldn't answer him.

"Shu!"

Shu flopped back down on his bed. "Listen, Ayato, I've got a lot of stuff to think about. If you've got so many questions then why don't you ask him yourself?"

A frustrated expression appeared on Ayato's face. "Because you're my big brother."

Shu looked physically shaken when he heard that. He had forgotten that some of his younger brothers were still looking up to him. He started to answer Ayato's questions, but Ayato had already taken Shu's advice. He jumped off the bed and headed for the tower to find that kid.

There were maids in front of the tower with big red eyes. Domesticated demons, like the rest of the servants. They acted as if they were guarding it. Whether they were keeping something out or something in, Ayato didn't know. He ran straight up to them and announced that he was going into the tower, but they stared with their red eyes at him and turned him right around and sent him in the other direction. They said in overexcited voices that there were much better places to explore and that Mistress Cordelia would be furious if she found out that he was sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Ayato couldn't really argue with that, so he gave up on finding the boy for now.

Shu was deeply affected by what Ayato had said to him, so he made an attempt to make it up to him by formally introducing Ayato to his brother. It was sort of a pain getting both of them to the courtyard at once, because Ayato was always studying (and even when he wasn't, he was hard to track down because he was such a wild kid) and his brother had to stay with Christa almost constantly. But eventually Shu found time to round up all of his brothers (including Reiji, surprisingly) and introduce them to the newest addition.

"This is Subaru. He's Auntie Christa's son."

Nobody but Shu and Reiji knew who Christa was (they weren't really informed about their father's wives), but they were all so fixated on this kid that they didn't ask. Subaru was absolutely puny, and he looked terrified of them since they were considerably older than he was. He clung to Shu's sleeve like his life depended on it. His lips were agape and he was missing his front teeth.

Reiji stepped closer and leaned down a little, putting his hands on his knees. "Hello, Subaru. How old are you?"

Subaru answered with trembling conviction, "Twelf." He tried to hold up twelve fingers, but he realized that he didn't have that many. He had been alive for twelve years, but due to the slow aging process of vampires, he was only about five in terms of appearance and maturity.

"Well, Subaru, my name is Reiji. I'm your older brother. That means you have to respect me." Reiji stood up straight and put his hands on his hips. "Not because I'm older, even though age is a factor when it comes to superiority, but because I'm experienced and responsible and I can look after you. You should listen up, because I have a lot to tell you. First of all, it's fine if you call me Reiji, since we're not close enough for you to call me 'big brother' and anything more formal would be inappropriate…"

Reiji kept talking and Subaru looked horrified at the surplus of words he was hearing. Ayato crept up behind Reiji and he put his hands to his eyes so they resembled glasses. He put on an air of superiority and mimicked Reiji's movements as he rambled on.

Shu smiled, and Subaru burst into laughter. His laugh was just as loud as the one Ayato had heard from the tower. However, Subaru immediately slapped his little hands over his mouth, since he knew he wasn't supposed to be laughing.

Reiji narrowed his eyes at them. "I don't remember saying something funny." He looked behind him, where Ayato was standing with his hands behind his back with an innocent smile on his face.

"It's nothing, Reiji," Shu said with a gentle smile. "It just means Subaru likes you." But Reiji had already turned red and stormed off.

"I'm sick of brothers!" he snapped. "I didn't want another one!"

That comment probably would have hurt Subaru, but he was distracted when the triplets ran up to him.

"I'm Ayato," Ayato said, patting his hand on his own chest.

"N-Nice - to-" He was taking quite a long time to speak, and his words came out childishly slurred. "…meet you."

"I've never seen you before. Where've you been for twelve years?"

Subaru timidly pointed a finger upwards.

"Up?"

He nodded.

"You mean in the tower?" After seeing him nod again, he asked, "Why didn't you ever come down?"

Subaru stiffened, and his next words sounded robotic: "Not s'pposed to."

Shu explained for him. "Father's wife Christa lives up there, and Subaru is supposed to stay with her."

Ayato spaced out for a moment. Laito was at Subaru's side next. "Hi Subaru! I'm Laito! You're a real cutie, aren't you?" Subaru hesitantly shook his head.

Kanato shied away from him. "I won't let you borrow Teddy," he warned him.

Ayato was already bored. "Laito, Kanato, let's go back to building our fort." In the span of a few seconds, Subaru went from being overcrowded to almost alone, except for Shu.

After he saw Subaru staring blankly as the triplets ran off, Shu knelt down next to him. "They're kind of funny, but you'll like them. Do you want to go play with them?"

Subaru didn't even need to think about it. He shook his head no.

"Is there somewhere else you want to go?"

"Home." He sounded upset.

Shu frowned. "But this is home."

Subaru looked confused. "Christa," he said, looking at Shu was if he was hoping he would understand what he meant.

"Your mother? Do you want to go back to her?" It was a mystery to Shu why Subaru wasn't calling her "mother," but he figured Subaru wouldn't be able to explain.

Subaru nodded at him. Shu took his hand, since Subaru was still a small child and was dreadfully intimidated of the enormous castle. He walked him back to where his mother was kept. It was a long, long time before Subaru left that tower again. The others practically forgot that he existed.

xxx

Making as much noise as possible for the sole purpose of pissing Subaru off, Ayato stomped upstairs and pounded on Subaru's door. "It's me! It's Ayato! It's me! It's m-!"

Subaru's voice groaned and shouted, "Fuck off! You're too loud!"

"Yours Truly has something important to tell you!"

Subaru's voice said haughtily from the other side of the door, "It can't be important. You never think about important stuff."

"Well, I'm not thinking about it, I'm telling you about it."

"Go away before I get mad! I'm busy!"

Busy being a dick. "Shu's too chicken to tell you, so I have to!" Ayato snapped, angered by his disrespect.

Subaru went silent, and then eventually opened the door. "What about Shu?"

"Shu doesn't want to tell you because he's afraid you might get mad." Ayato crossed his arms. "Of course I'm not afraid."

It must be serious, then. "Tell me what?"

"I don't want to tell you anymore."

"Ayato! What are you, five?!"

"Now I really don't want to tell you." Subaru nearly turned around and slammed the door, but Ayato grabbed his arm at the last second. "All right, all right! I'll tell!"

Subaru looked at Ayato very seriously as he waited to hear the news, and suddenly Ayato felt uneasy. He didn't understand what the big deal was about Christa having another kid, but now that he was face-to-face with Subaru, he realized that for one reason or another, it would be a big deal to him.

"Well?" Subaru said impatiently.

Ayato fidgeted. "Don't get mad."

"Tell me already!"

"Shu was talking to the old man today. He said that he's thinking about having another kid. With Christa." Ayato braced himself.

Subaru was eerily quiet. "Are you lying?"

"I'm not. That's what Shu said."

"I'll kill him," Subaru muttered.

"What?"

"I'll kill that guy!" Subaru's voice suddenly rose to a shout, and he stormed past Ayato.

Ayato jogged after him, since he wanted to see what would happen. "You mean Shu? Why are you going to kill him? What did he do?"

"Not Shu, idiot! That old bastard!"

Ayato stopped in his tracks. "Our father? No way."

"Subaru looked back at him. His eyes were alight with fury. "You think I can't?" His voice was like poison. Ayato was genuinely afraid. "I don't give a damn what happens to me. I'm gonna kill that guy no matter what."

Ayato couldn't respond; he was chilled by what Subaru was saying. Shu, who had a feeling that something like this would happen, had followed Ayato upstairs and chose now to reveal himself. "All right, that's enough."

Subaru flinched, overwhelmed now that two people were against him. "Back off!"

"You're not going anywhere and you're not killing anybody. Calm down."

Subaru's mouth opened and he looked like he was trying to force the words to come out, but he couldn't do it. After another try, he yelled, "I won't let him touch my mother!" He shut his eyes tightly, and grabbed a fistful of his hair. He looked as if he was in pain. "I won't let him lay his filthy hands on her again!"

Ayato broke out of his paralysis. "I didn't mean to make you mad," he said hastily.

"Shut up. Just go away. You don't know anything," Subaru growled.

Shu spoke up. "Subaru, Ayato and I both don't want you to go confront that man."

"I don't give a fuck about what you want."

Shu went on, "The reason we don't want you to go is because we know you'll get hurt. Both of us don't want you to get hurt."

"You don't have to lie to me." Subaru looked dead serious. "If I walked out right now, you wouldn't even stop me. So don't waste your breath with lies like that. I'm not stupid enough to believe them."

Shu was honestly lucky that Ayato was there, because Ayato saw that as a challenge. "Of course I would stop you," he announced.

"Bullshit."

Ayato was already in fighting stance. "If you try to leave now, I'll tackle you," he swore.

Subaru glared at him challengingly, and turned around to walk away, standing up as tall as he could. Ayato wasn't bluffing. Within moments Ayato had flown at Subaru and they were both knocked to the ground, kicking and shouting at each other. Shu looked on, unwilling to break up the fight.

The noise attracted Reiji. "What in the world are you doing?" he demanded in a booming voice. Ayato and Subaru froze mid-punch. "The hallway isn't the place to play foolish games."

Ayato recovered the courage to speak first. "Subaru was the one being foolish! I'm an angel."

Subaru had been awfully shaken up earlier by the news, but Ayato had lightened the mood considerably. "I wasn't being foolish! Ayato was!"

"Why are you two fighting?" Reiji cut them off.

Nobody wanted to answer. Ayato and Subaru quietly separated from each other in order to avoid speaking. Shu wasn't willing to explain either. But Subaru eventually started in a slow, quiet voice. "I said I was gonna kill someone and Ayato was trying to stop me." His impulse to verbally abuse himself wasn't satisfied, so he added: "I said I was going to kill the old man."

Reiji raised an eyebrow. "Karl Heinz?" Subaru nodded, feeling regretful but not daring to show it on his face. "That was awfully stupid of you to say."

Subaru didn't object.

"As his son and the future head of the household, I cannot allow you to go through with this, or even make accusations of that nature. You're forbidden from leaving the house until you've gotten such ideas out of your head."

Subaru didn't look terribly bothered by that, and besides, Ayato had taken his desire to kill away. He only stared icily at the floor.

"You're grounded," Ayato laughed.

"Tch. It's not like I care," Subaru responded, crossing his arms.

"Ayato, you're in trouble too. Picking a fight with Subaru while he was in that state was stupid."

Subaru flushed with embarrassment, and Ayato scoffed, "Only because he wanted me to do it."

Even though Reiji said Ayato was in trouble, Ayato received pretty much no punishment. There were a few reasons for that. First and foremost, Reiji didn't exactly care if Ayato and Subaru beat each other to death, as long as they didn't make a mess. Second, Ayato had more or less stopped Subaru from making an attempt on his father's life, even if he did so in a bothersome way. There was no way Subaru would have succeeded, so Ayato saved him from whatever terrible punishment he would receive from his father. Ayato seemed to know it, too; he treated himself like a hero for the rest of the day.

So Subaru was confined to his room, even though this was not exactly a big change for him. His desire to murder that man had subsided, but he was still tortured over the news that Ayato had given him. As he lay in his room and glowered at the coffin lid above his face, he couldn't stop thinking about how at that very moment that bastard could be putting his grimy hands all over her. He would make her suffer through another pregnancy all alone. She would be in pain and Subaru would be powerless to stop it. He had always regretted his own birth, and now the same thing was going to happen again.

At this point, Subaru was sick of being angry. He felt so anxious he was afraid he might be ill. He clutched at the key on his chest till his knuckles were white and he wished desperately to see his mother.