Forget me Not, Chapter 2
"But Kaname told me you were dead…" Yuki cried as her mother held her close. They had relocated to the office of her adopted father, Headmaster Cross, and were curled up on the sofa there. Juuri tilted her head against her daughters and was twirling her fingers in Yuki's long black hair. Closing her eyes, Yuki suddenly felt very tired. "Mama, I've missed you…"
"And I've missed you too, sunshine. Now go ahead and go to sleep." With that command, Yuki found herself fast asleep. Juuri smiled and kissed her daughter's cheek before closing her own eyes. How she had waited for this moment, ten years to be precise. How cramped her daughter's soul had been; how distressing it had been as well. She had watched her daughter grow up with such fear and anxiety about herself, and constantly having to wonder if her parents had abandoned her because they didn't love her. Part of Juuri wanted to kill Kaname dead for allowing this to go on for so long. But no, she shook that thought out of her head immediately. Kaname had done just as she would have; anything to protect Yuki. Just as she wished she had been able to protect Haruka…
"It's lovely to see you, Mrs. Kuran." Headmaster Cross was now sitting at his desk watching the maternal scene unfolding before his eyes. "Forgive me if I intruded."
"Silly Kaien, this is your office. We're the one intruding. But it is lovely to see you again." She gently slid out from her daughter and stood to shake the man who had protected her daughter for so long's hand. "Thank you for looking out for her, Kaien. It means a lot to both of us."
"What can I say? She's my daughter, respectively, of course. And I love her dearly." Yuki stirred in her sleep and Headmaster Cross ran around to his desk and pulled out a camera. After a few quick snapshots he smiled. "Well, shall I leave you two alone?"
Juuri shook her head and began to pace the large office, a worried expression on her perfect face. "How has she taken the change? I mean, I suppose it's not so much of a change as a rebirth…"
Deep in thought, cross sat on the edge of the desk and took both her hands in his own. "She's handled it gracefully. I mean at first she was quite conflicted, with the situation between her and Kaname, but I think it helps that she loved him as a human first; not knowing who he was." He paused for a moment, glancing over at his dark-haired angel. "He looked after her well. It's just a theory, but I believe if Yuuki hadn't decided she wanted to remember, she wouldn't have. Granted, Kaname was the one who unlocked the memories, but only because she was forcing herself to remember on her own. He hates to see her in pain."
"That's completely understandable. Yuuki has always been Kaname's world, even before things changed. She is his soul-mate and not just in the terms of purebloods."
Kaname stood silently outside the door to the office, listening to the conversation as if her were a small child listening at the keyhole of his parent's bedroom. With a gentle knock, he entered the room and bowed slightly to his mother. "It's a pleasure to see you, Mother."
Juuri smiled, and vibrant light seemed to pour from her body. Within one large step she held her older son firmly in her arms and laughed. "Why are you so formal with me, Kaname? I don't bite." The ironic twist to her words made him bite the inside of his bottom lip and grimace. "Ok, perhaps that was the improper way to phrase it, but you know what I mean."
He walked over and sat next to his love, gently pulling the strands of midnight black hair from her face. Leaning in, he kissed her gently on the forehead and leaned against her shoulder. Yuuki murmured something softly in her sleep and everyone in the room chuckled.
"Kaname, why didn't you tell me your mother was in town?"
Kaname's face looked cold as stone as he glanced from the headmaster to Juuri. "I was under the same impression as everyone else; that she was dead. It wasn't until I smelt her blood a few days ago that I realized she was here."
"Hmmm…Interesting."
"It's the truth, Headmaster. I am just as puzzled as you are to why she is at Cross Academy after being dead for ten years."
Juuri sighed and rested lazily next to Cross on the surface of the old cherry-wood desk. "I was never dead, child. Do you remember the night….the night your father died?"
"Yes." The reply was sharp and frozen, sending an icy chill around the room. Yuuki shivered slightly, more out of habit than actual physiological response.
"In order to suppress your sister, and give her a way to escape, I sealed myself in her. The body that was found was a projection; false evidence. It was I who kept her memories at bay, her hunger as well. When you released her, I could finally be free." She saw the look of disbelief on her son's face and felt slightly angry. "Aren't you glad to see me?"
"I am, mother."
"Than quit asking so many questions!" she snapped. As the eldest pureblood, he had no choice but to obey her commands. Cross seemed to giggle as he embraced Juuri. The look that passed between him and Kaname was one of confusion and understanding.
"But what about father?" he asked silently.
"Your father and I followed tradition, just as I loved another, so did he. Cross and I…we were always sworn to each other, even when I belonged to your father. It's why he took Yuuki into his care, and why he made sure to look after you both so well."
"Mama?" Yuuki sat up and glanced around the room. When she saw her elder brother, her face lit up as she pressed her hungry lips to his. Kaname responded with a desperate hunger of his own that tasted of a deep sadbness.
"Kaname, I'm hungry…" she purred softly into his ear. He only nodded as she sank her teeth into the leathery flesh of his neck. As much as he loved her, he also needed her help in forgetting.