(A/N: It's been 3000 years…

Descriptions of drowning in this chapter!)

Shu had tried his best to take Edgar's advice and stay out of Reiji's way for now. There was inevitably a time, though, when their relationship reached a boiling point. Even when ignoring each other, they got fed up with each other.

This time came one day when Shu had to creep into the room where Reiji was studying, and he asked to borrow a particular book. Reiji smartly responded that Shu couldn't borrow it, because if he gave it to Shu then Shu would just rip the pages out. Shu shouted at him that he didn't do that, and he wished he would stop accusing him of doing that, because he didn't. They shouted at each other for a while, before Shu grabbed the book and stormed out. Reiji, of course, followed him.

"Where are you going with that?! Give it back!"

"It belongs to me anyway, since I'm the oldest! I only let you use them because I'm so kind."

"No, they belong to Mother, and if Mother gave them to me then they're mine!"

"No, all the books in this house are for me, because I'm studying to be king."

That really made Reiji mad. Shu walked as briskly as he could, gripping the book tightly.

"But you don't study to be king, you go out and play all the time! I'm the one who really studies, and besides that book is mine!'

"It's mine and I can do what I want with it."

"You can't! I'll tell Mother!"

"If you tell her that I'm reading a book, she won't care, because that's what the books are for. They're for me to read. Besides, she wouldn't listen to you no matter what you say."

Shu fastwalked outside, where a couple of his brothers were playing. Laito, Kanato, and Subaru were in a small circle, and in the middle was a cage with a bat in it. They were taking turns feeding it (well, Subaru was passing his turn every time because he was kind of afraid to touch it).

Shu called out to them. "Guys, let's go play down by the lake!"

Kanato looked up. "Why would we want to go to such a dirty place?"

"Because, I have something cool to show you."

"Shu!" Reiji called after him. His voice was high-pitched and upset-sounding. "You better stop! You're not supposed to leave without permission!"

Shu went right on, ignoring Reiji. This intrigued the others, so they got up and followed after him. The promise of seeing the cool thing Shu had in mind was pretty tempting too. Laito and Kanato looked sadly back at the mansion, wishing that Ayato could come with them. Ayato loved cool things. But unfortunately, he was in the middle of a lesson, and there was nothing they could do.

The Sakamaki brothers minus Ayato followed Shu down to the lake - even Reiji followed, in the interest of getting his book back. It wasn't a very long walk, but in fairness, some of them (Subaru) had very short legs and some of them (Subaru) were terrified of new places in general. And upon arriving, the lake was exactly as terrifying as he thought it would be: The whole area was dark and somewhat crowded, and the trees kept rustling with the sounds of owls and bats. It seemed to him that the lake went on forever, and it was impossible to see the bottom. And it was cold.

Kanato was shivering, and he pulled on Shu's sleeve. "Can't you show us what it is so we can go home?"

Shu looked down at his little brother. "Are you cold?"

"Yes."

"Then, let's make a bonfire."

Reiji got deathly quiet for a moment, and then hissed, "Shu-"

Shu placed the book down on the ground, and stepped back. He told everyone else to stand back too, and they all obliged. Subaru backed up into the lake - he was up to his ankles in water now, and it was icy cold, but he stayed there because Shu had told him to stand back. Shu put his hands up and pointed them towards the book.

Reiji was furious, and his body didn't know what to do with all that anger. He stamped his foot on the ground. "Shu, you better not! I'll seriously tell Mother! And you can't, even if you wanted too, because you're too young! You'll never be able to- Shu, please don't! It's mine!"

"Shut up! You've been nagging at me for ages now. This book isn't yours, and I can do what I want to. And what I want to do is use my powers on it. It's practice, for when I become king."

"You can't! You can't! Shu, you're the worst; I hate you!"

Shu dropped his hands, glaring at Reiji. "Well, I hate you too! I wish you were dead!"

"I wish you weren't born! Give it back, give it back to me, it's mine!"

Subaru was watching them with wide eyes, silently committing everything they said to memory. Every part of the scene: the dark forest, the shadows over Shu and Reiji's faces, and the icy feeling creeping up his legs. Shu and Reiji were using words that he had heard his mother say before. It was scary.

"I'm going to do what I want," Shu shouted at him. "And I'll make you sorry you said those things to me!" Shu raised his hands to the book again. Reiji screamed at him to stop, and Subaru turned and ran - he didn't know exactly where he was running, but he had to get away from them as quickly as possible.

There was a loud bang sound accompanied by a flash of light, the screams of Laito and Kanato, and a splash.

The blast had sent Subaru face-first into the water. He took a quick breath in, and choked on the freezing water. He wasn't really aware if his eyes were opened or closed - either way, all he could see was black. He could no longer tell which way was up. He had never been in a body of water so large before - he tried to scream but only heard his voice come out garbled and distorted by the water. He couldn't make a sound. He couldn't breathe.

Shu heard the splashing and looked out to the lake, but he was temporarily blinded by the blast and he couldn't figure out what was happening. But he could hear Laito gasp out: "Subaru - Subaru?!"

There was more noise that Shu couldn't figure out - Reiji had tossed his glasses aside and dashed in the water to Subaru's rescue. He dragged Subaru out from the water; Subaru was clinging desperately to Reiji's waist, and his skin was paper white, and he was shivering violently and bawling out loud. He thought he was going to die.

Panicked, Shu started to rub his eyes and look around. He could make out Reiji staring directly at him, his small fangs bared, and a hateful look in his eye. Subaru had buried his face in Reiji's side, and he was crying his eyes out. They were both soaked.

"Look what you did," Reiji breathed. "You really all the worst! We'd all be better off if you weren't here!" Subaru peeked out from where he had been hiding his face in Reiji's shirt, looking at Shu with a horrified expression. Laito and Kanato, too, were staring at Shu as if he were some kind of monster, and they were holding each other's hands tightly to protect each other.

The book remained on the ground, with the spine bent and the cover nearly blown clean off. Ashes were scattered near it, and the red glow of embers were flickering on the pages.

The next time Shu went to go play with Edgar, Edgar could tell that his friend was clearly upset over something. Since he had a good guess of what it could be, he asked directly: "How are things going with your brother?"

Shu took a deep, shaky breath. "We had a fight."

Edgar stopped in the middle of their hike, and sat with his back against a tree. He patted the ground next to him, motioning for Shu to sit down next to him. Shu looked down at his smiling face, feeling his face flush somewhat, and he sat down next to him. He needed some reassurance that someone didn't hate him, so he leaned against Edgar's shoulder, and felt immense relief when Edgar put at arm around him.

"Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

Shu tried to breathe steady before starting his story. "R-Reiji- I went into his room...to borrow a book, and...he didn't want-" Shu sniffled. "He didn't want me to take it, so I- I just took it, and…" Shu couldn't keep going. Tears were rolling down his cheeks and he couldn't get the words out.

Edgar wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. "All right, big guy. Cry all you want." Shu took him up on that offer, and cried into his shoulder. He could feel Edgar's rough hands rubbing his back.

"I wish you were my brother, Shu. You care so much."

"No, you don't…"

Even if he weren't crying, he wouldn't be able to tell Edgar what happened. Everyone else already hated him - he wouldn't be able to handle it if Edgar hated him too. Even if he had to keep all of the horrible things a secret, even if he were lying to him, he just couldn't take it if Edgar hated him too. Edgar might be the only person left who didn't hate him.

But, as we all know, even Edgar didn't last long. Shu found himself alone sooner than he thought.

xxx

Ruri's muteness was growing intolerable for nearly every member of the family, except Shu, because he hardly talked to anyone in the first place. Shu thought Ruri was an absurdly nice girl because she would bring him his plate of dinner every day without being asked. She had presumably noticed that everyone else had a tendency to forget about Shu, and that Shu never bothered to get food himself, so she had made up her mind to get it for him. Shu was a vampire and he didn't need to eat human food, but he had to appreciate the gesture because she was a little kid and she didn't know any better.

Ruri didn't speak to him but she would wave her hand to Shu sometimes, like she was saying hello, and at first Shu didn't wave back, but eventually he started to. He still thought kids were troublesome, but he had to admit that she was pretty cute, going through all this effort to interact with him even though he never interacted back. And in the past, Shu had five little brothers that were once her age, and Shu couldn't help but think of them when he saw her.

So, naturally, Shu started to get worried about her.

"How have you been keeping her fed?" he asked Reiji (who seemed unpleasantly surprised at the fact that Shu had initiated a conversation with him).

But Reiji wanted to seem responsible, so he dutifully replied, "I've captured a human to supply her with blood. You can rest assured that she's not starving. Though I don't see why you would care. Unless you're trying to insinuate that I'm that cruel?"

Shu ignored that last part. "A living human…? In our house?" He definitely hadn't noticed one. What would Ruri do if she saw it, acting like a terrified hostage?

"It's very out of the way, I assure you."

"What if she sees it? Won't she be frightened?"

Reiji only repeated, "It's out of the way."

Shu dropped it there. But he couldn't get it out of his head, and he started to imagine that he was hearing the faint sounds of chains clinking and a voice groaning for help. He ignored it, convincing himself that he was only imagining it, but in the middle of the day while everyone was asleep, he became positive that he wasn't imagining it. The human must be somewhere in the basement, probably chained up and being drained of her blood daily, for Ruri's sake. He was sure that it would be a horrifying sight for a young girl, so he decided to interrogate her.

The next time she appeared by his side to deliver his plate of dinner, Shu sat up and asked her very seriously, "Do you hear anything?"

She didn't respond.

"It's okay, just nod yes or no. Do you hear something scary? Or something that you can't explain?"

Ruri stiffened a little, but didn't answer. She started to rub her forearm with one hand. Shu noticed she was covered with bruises.

Reiji passed by the living room and paused. He said Shu and Ruri apparently engaged in conversation, which was not a welcome sight. "What are you two talking about?" he asked in a low voice.

Shu looked over to him. "I wouldn't call it talking...She isn't saying anything."

"Of course she isn't," Reiji grumbled. He approached Ruri and ordered her to sit down while pointing to the couch, and she did so. "Young lady, I can't blame you for remaining silent around this person but you really ought to answer the question. It's only polite to answer. Do I need to repeat myself?"

She stared blankly up at him.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Reiji was clearly starting to get frustrated. Shu didn't blame him, because he was aware that Reiji had spent hours each day trying to get Ruri to speak to him. Still, Ruri wasn't budging.

"You're going to be sorry if you don't say something," Shu mumbled to her as a warning. She did not take her eyes off of Reiji.

"Can't you just make one little sound for once in your life? For goodness sake, it's disrespectful! It's - I've-" Reiji's face flushed. "I've never even heard your voice!"

She only seemed to be slightly aware of the fact that Reiji was yelling at her. Shu was struck with the thought that maybe she wasn't aware after all. He decided to test this theory.

"Ruri, over here." He waved his hand to get her attention, and she hesitantly waved back. "Okay, listen, follow my instructions. Like, err...Like it's a game."

Reiji glared at him for interrupting with whatever nonsense this was. "What are you doing?"

Shu did not explain himself - he maintained eye contact with Ruri. "Okay, it's a really easy game. Just do what I tell you to do. Understand?" He didn't wait for her to respond, because he knew she wouldn't. "Okay, uh...Hold up two fingers."

Ruri did so, awaiting her next order.

"Good, that's good. Okay, now five fingers." Ruri paused a little bit to think, then held up five. Reiji was only getting more confused. "Okay, now cover your eyes like this." Shu covered his eyes with his hands, and Ruri copied him.

"Good, now uncover your eyes."

Ruri didn't do anything.

"Ruri? You can take your hands off now."

Nothing.

Shu reached out and gently grabbed Ruri's wrists, removing her hands for her. He didn't let go, holding onto them as he asked his next question: "You can't hear me, can you?" Ruri tilted her head at him. Reiji noticed that, from such a close distance, she stared at Shu's lips whenever he spoke.

She was trying to read his lips. She was doing poorly, since she was so young, which explained why she only seemed to understand short, simple sentences.

Reiji remained dumbstruck as it sunk in, then he started talking fast immediately. "We have to get her to a doctor. Or organize sign language classes. No, sign language won't help her, because none of her family can use it. Speech therapy is what she needs. Or surgery. Could we organize surgery within the week? They use implants these days, don't they? Do you think she'll need hearing aids? Oh, God, I've-" Reiji put a hand to his forehead. The past few days of disciplining her were rushing back to him. All of the times he had struck her for not responding. "She's been deaf this whole time. I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. I can't believe I-"

"Reiji." Shu's voice stopped Reiji dead in his tracks. He sounded calm enough to affect Reiji with his calmness. "Everything's fine. It's not like she's going to die."

"You don't understand," Reiji said desperately. "What use does Karl Heinz have for a little deaf girl?"

That was a scary thought. Shu slowly released Ruri's hands, and she folded them in front of her politely. "...We should have a doctor look at her, at least," he admitted.

Reiji grabbed Ruri's hand and led her off the couch, and towards the door. He was still talking to himself. "Surgery will take too long anyway; she'll have to be back home in less than a week. Not to mention she'll be terrified and she'll surely make a scene. Hearing aids might be no good because you can see them, and if our father finds out...Where are you going?"

Shu had started to follow him. "...I was going to go too."

"You're coming?" he asked, skeptical. Reiji did not see him as the doting brother type.

Shu understood why he was confused and he struggled to explain. "It's just...she's really little...and I want you to keep her feelings in mind too. So I want to come keep an eye on things." God, he felt ridiculously embarrassed, caring about some girl like this.

Reiji narrowed his eyes at him. "You've gotten awfully soft." He turned away. "If you want to help, grab her a snack or something to keep her entertained."

Shu didn't move. His fear of fire usually kept him out of the kitchen, and he wasn't even sure what kind of snacks he meant anyway...He didn't even know what Ruri liked.

"..."

Reiji rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're hopeless." He ushered Ruri towards Shu and headed off to the kitchen himself. He returned shortly with a bag of marshmallows, thinking that it would suffice for a hospital trip.

Shu cocked his head. "Where did you get those?" Their family had never had something like marshmallows in the house before. Even Kanato didn't prefer them because they were a pain to eat with fangs.

Reiji seemed hesitant to answer. "Ruri went shopping with me and she seemed interested in these, so…" He shook his head and grabbed Ruri's hand again, heading for the door. "Let's go."

A small smile appeared on Shu's face. "And I'm the soft one," he said under his breath.

The process of finding an acceptable solution to Ruri's situation extended over a few days, and Shu insisted on joining each day. They had to buy multiple packs of marshmallows to keep her occupied.

Ruri had been deathly afraid of the doctor's office. It was full of strangers, and lots of strong smells, and people kept touching her and sticking things in her ears. She looked like she wanted to cry, but she had made up her mind not to cry in public (it always made her mother look so concerned), so she fought back tears the best she could. She couldn't calm down, even in the waiting room, unless she was holding Reiji's hand, or Shu's hand, or preferably both.

The doctor (who was not affiliated with Karl Heinz's hospital ring, lest he find out what they were up to) had diagnosed that Ruri was not profoundly deaf, but only hard of hearing. A hearing aid would suffice, and that fact disqualified her from having surgery in the first place, much to Reiji's relief. She got a hearing aid in the form of an earpiece, and a rectangular microphone that she wore around her neck. A test measuring how many beeping noises she could identify proved that the hearing aid improved her ability to pick up sounds considerably, but oftentimes one had to speak directly into the microphone for her to understand what they were saying. The doctor reassured them that hearing aids just took time to get used to, especially for kids.

Of course Reiji had to be the first person to try it. When he had the microphone in his hands, he cleared his throat and spoke into it after some deliberation. "Ruri?"

Ruri had been sitting up straight to begin with, but she straightened her spine as soon as she heard her name.

"Is it all right?"

Ruri didn't really know how to respond, but her eyes had lit up. She looked from Reiji to Shu to Reiji again, wanting to convey her excitement, but not knowing how to do so. Then she started to laugh.

She thought her brothers' voices were funny. Every time Reiji spoke in particular, she started giggling and couldn't stop. She was still giggling when they left the doctor's office, holding the microphone around her neck in one hand and Reiji's forefinger in the other. Reiji didn't get what was so funny, but he was oddly satisfied knowing that his voice made her happy. He made it a point to talk more often on the way home.

When she got home, she showed off her hearing aid and microphone to Laito as if they were fashion accessories. Laito acted impressed and told her how good she looked with them.

While hearing Reiji's voice put her in a giggly mood, Ayato's voice was the funniest thing in the world to her. Practically every time Ayato opened his mouth, she would crack up to the point where she could hardly stand up straight. Ayato loved this - he loved making her laugh, so he put on as many different voices as possible till she was laughing so hard, she had tears in her eyes. Kanato happened to walk in when Ayato was speaking in a high-pitched voice, which was making Ruri laugh till she cried. Kanato walked out immediately.

So Ruri could finally hear everyone, at least to a certain extent, but of course that didn't mean that she could immediately speak fluently. She could hear the sounds, but she was unsure of how to produce them. Now that he knew that her inability to speak was a result of never hearing anyone else speak, Reiji started to teach her less strictly and the bruises on her arms gradually disappeared. And she started showing results.

Reiji had said before that she didn't need sign language (considering that no one else could use it), but Shu couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if her microphone ran out of batteries or if she lost her hearing aid, so he started to read a book on sign language and taught Ruri some basic signs too. She picked them up easily, because she already had a tendency to copy his hand motions. Frankly, Shu thought learning the signs was really bothersome, but he was already used to reading books in his spare time so he figured he could deal with it. And besides, Ruri was his only sibling that still actively spent time and interacted with him. Shu had forgotten what it was like to have a doting younger sibling. He didn't want Ruri to hate him.

The first time Ruri ever used her own voice to communicate outside of speech lessons was with Subaru. She had attempted to open his door without knocking again, and he grudgingly opened it for her. He had been locked up in his room ignoring everyone as per usual, so he hadn't seen the hearing aid yet and wasn't quite sure what it was. Ruri took the microphone off her neck and offered it to Subaru, silently urging him to take it.

Since it was rectangular and it didn't really look like a microphone, Subaru took it and examined it, trying to figure out what it was. Ruri was excitedly waiting for him to speak. Finally, Subaru said, "What do you want me to do with this?"

Ruri squealed in excitement and clapped her hands together, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. With this, she had finally heard all the voices of her brothers, and Subaru was probably the most important because she had known him since he was a baby. Ruri reached out to take the microphone back, and Subaru (who was only confused by all this) offered it to her. But she grasped his hand instead, very tightly, with both of her much smaller hands.

She took a deep breath. "Th- Tha-nk y-ou."

Her voice stuttered and rose irregularly, but she seemed proud of herself for saying it. Then she took the microphone back and put it around her neck, and headed off. It took a moment for Subaru to recover from the shock.