Chapter 5
A few more months passed and Emi finally turned one. To celebrate, Kyoko had the Kuran manor decorated with floral arrangements as well as balloons and garlands in shades of pink and gold. Together with Juri, she planned a small birthday feast – family only as Emi was not old enough to be introduced to society yet. Foreseeing Rido's reluctance to attend family gatherings, Kyoko made it clear in advance that she expected him home that night. She also warned Rido and Hiroshi to get along, as she did not want her baby's first birthday ruined by one of their father-son arguments.
The night of her birthday, Emi was stuffed into a very frilly pink dress and her head topped off with a giant pink bow. Meanwhile, Kyoko was dressed up in a graceful crimson evening gown and matching ruby accessories. After she and Tae finished getting Emi ready, she carried Emi down the hall and descended the stairs to the large foyer.
From Kyoko's arms, Emi saw all the servants gathered below in neat rows. Her father stood before them, with Rido beside him, followed by Haruka and Juri. Her other family members had also dressed up, the men in dinner party clothes, and Juri in a pretty light blue gown.
"Happy Birthday, Emi-sama," the servants spoke in unison and bowed when Kyoko arrived at her place beside her husband.
Hiroshi began to speak. "Thank you for the well wishes. On this happy occasion of my daughter's first birthday, my wife and I want to thank you all for your service and dedication to our family. We hope you will loyally serve Emi in the future too."
When her husband finished, Kyoko told the staff to ask the butler and housekeeper for their bonuses later and dispersed them.
The Kurans proceeded into the dining room for the feast. At the table they held light conversation, with Hiroshi and Rido exchanging a few polite yet restrained sentences about the food and weather under the watchful gaze of Kyoko. After dinner, a two-tiered cake was bought in and carefully set on the table. It was a fancy cake decorated with pink frosting roses and a single candle shaped like the number one. Kyoko arranged her family around the cake and had photos taken.
After eating cake, the Kurans proceeded to the family room, where Juri played several songs on the piano to celebrate Emi's birthday. When the music was over, it was time for presents. As the oldest sibling, Rido went first, handing over a large box wrapped in sparkly paper.
"Oh my, I wonder what it is," Kyoko said as she unwrapped the gift in Emi's stead.
Inside she found a toy perambulator from a well-known children's toy store. Kyoko smiled at Rido. "I'm sure Emi will love this fantastic gift from her older brother."
Next was Haruka, whose gift was a lovely music box. Kyoko similarly thanked him for his gift. Finally, it was Juri's turn, and she presented a rabbit plushie. It was another one of her handmade plushies, but this time larger and outfitted with a polka-dotted dress instead of a tutu.
"Isn't it cute? It goes so well with the perambulator Rido onii-sama gave!" Juri exclaimed and put the rabbit in the stroller to prove her point.
While Emi pondered Juri's obsession with rabbits, Kyoko and Hiroshi nodded pleasantly in agreement. It was now their turn to reveal their gift. As Emi sat in Kyoko's lap, Hiroshi took out a small red velvet box.
Looking into Emi's eyes, he spoke gently, "This is from your mother and I."
He opened the box to reveal a necklace. On the delicate silver chain hung a pendant with a stylized flower design, lined with small diamonds. Emi thought the flower design looked familiar then realized it was the Kuran family crest that she saw all over the manor.
"An orchid for you, our cute daughter, and youngest princess of the Kuran clan," Hiroshi said and petted Emi's head.
Yay, diamonds! Rich folks sure are different, Emi thought as she marveled at her necklace. This seemed a good start for her escape funds. She happily reached towards it, but Hiroshi pulled the box away.
"Your mother and I will hold onto it until you are older," he said, chuckling seeing Emi's shocked face. "We don't want you to put it in your mouth and swallow it or anything."
Although disappointed, Emi reasoned her necklace would be there for her to claim eventually and decided to focus on that happy fact instead. She spent the rest of the night being held by either her parents or Juri as the adults conversed over drinks. As she sat in Hiroshi's lap, eyelids drooping as she grew increasingly sleepy, she looked at her family of this life. Rido sitting somewhat apart, on an armchair by the window, head propped against his hand as he swirled a glass of gin with the other. Juri sitting beside Haruka on the piano bench, the two laughing as they struggled their way through a duet. And lastly her mother and father, whose presences were so reassuringly protective.
She did not think she was a particularly sentimental person, but she did find this moment very nice. As the call of sleep grew stronger, she reflexively curled up against Hiroshi and closed her eyes. If only things would stay this way...
Now that Emi was one vampire year old, Kyoko became considerably concerned about Emi's development. There was nothing physically wrong with Emi, in fact, she was exceedingly mobile. The length of time between Emi crawling and walking seemed only a blink of an eye. Emi was so mobile that Kyoko sometimes found it troublesome. Nowadays she could place Emi down, look away for a few seconds and turn back to find Emi had run off. It seems her baby had developed a love for hide and seek – Kyoko frequently found her hiding under couches and beds, or behind curtains and vases.
Kyoko's concerns mainly involved Emi's lack of speech. While most babies were already babbling away, Emi was rather silent except when she cried (and she could cry loud enough to make up for all the silence). Emi also made angry or irritated sounds when she was upset, but she never responded when Kyoko and Juri made baby-talk to her. She would only stare back at them blankly with her dead-fish eyes.
Kyoko discussed her concerns with Tae, who replied that based on her plentiful experience caring for babies, some babies are simply late bloomers. Tae mentioned that Emi seemed very aware of her surroundings. Furthermore, although Emi did not speak, she was quite expressive with her facial expressions and body language, often responding by nodding or shaking her head.
Seeing that her mistress was still concerned, Tae added that Emi was a pureblood and purebloods could not be born defective. Kyoko was finally convinced – it was true purebloods were genetically perfect, otherwise the Kurans would have long been wiped out by natural selection given their intense incest.
On her part, Emi maintained her verbal silence. It was not out of any desire to worry her mom, but simply because she had nothing to say. It was not like she could open her mouth and say, "Good evening, ma'am, how are you?" in English. And while she was aware she should babble to appear normal, she was not interested in saying "goo goo gah gah". Her mom and Juri constantly getting up close in her face and baby-talking her, speaking nonsense words in high-pitched tones triggered her rebellious streak, and made her feel less inclined to babble.
However, when Emi was alone, sometimes she would try out new words, letting the syllables fall from her mouth. It was tricky pronouncing the unfamiliar words and often syllables got jumbled as she moved her tongue. When it came to foreign language, she had always found speaking harder than reading and writing.
Besides practicing speech, Emi also worked hard at mastering hiding and walking to avoid her mom and sister. Those two were always buying new clothes and costumes for her, treating her like some dress up doll. Well, Emi had had enough – they can save the penguin and mouse costumes for themselves!
And despite not having been interested in her toy stroller initially, Emi soon discovered it's practical use. It was basically a walker for babies! Shortly after, Emi was often seen wandering around the manor pushing her toy stroller, a sight her parents and siblings (minus Rido) found absolutely adorable.
One night Emi was home with just Kyoko and the servants. Haruka and Juri were out on a date, while Rido and Hiroshi were away dealing with work. After a few hours of building blocks and picture books, Kyoko decided to move on to the highlight of her night. A few hours ago, the dressmaker had delivered the dresses she had custom ordered, and she could not wait to see how they looked on Emi. Gently placing Emi on the sofa, she went to ring the bell and summon a maid. The maid promptly appeared, and Kyoko asked her to bring the new dresses over.
Hearing the exchange and seeing the excited gleam in her mom's eyes, Emi decided it was time to leave, and started looking for her opportunity. The moment came when Kyoko was busy giving in-depth instructions on what accessories to bring with the dresses. Seeing the two women had their backs turned and that the door was open, Emi rolled off the sofa, got on her feet, and toddled away fast as she could.
When Kyoko finally finished giving her instructions and turned around, she discovered Emi had disappeared.
"Oh no, where has Emi-sama gone?" the maid asked, glancing around worried.
Kyoko sighed, her baby's disappearing acts had become frequent lately. "She is somewhere nearby, I'll find her while you get the dresses."
Having said that, she left and headed down the hall, checking the rooms with opened doors. While searching under chairs and tables, behind vases and curtains, she coaxingly called Emi's name. Although she had spent a large portion of her life in the ancestral Kuran manor, only recently did she realize how huge and crowded with objects it was – too many places for a baby to hide.
By now Kyoko had searched five rooms, and arrived at an intersection. She stood indecisively, wondering whether to go right or left. Eventually, she made up her mind to go left first. As she advanced down the hall, she pondered Emi's talent at hiding. Although babies naturally had weak auras, Emi somehow learned to completely erase hers, something difficult even for an adult vampire. The first time Emi hid while concealing her aura, Kyoko had nearly lost her mind and flipped the manor upside down in the ensuing search, terrified her baby had somehow been kidnapped. The entire staff had been deployed, and only after the hall boy found Emi hiding in a laundry basket did Kyoko calm down.
Failing to find Emi in the first room, Kyoko continued to the next room. Upon stepping inside, she was overcome with nostalgia and momentarily forgot her search.
This was the room in which Rido and Haruka had studied with their tutors when they were children. The table they had used was still present, and she walked closer to examine it. She remembered the child Rido helping Haruka with his homework there. Trailing her fingertips along the table surface, she found the rough etching of a little flower and smiled. It was the child Juri's handiwork. Unlike her older brothers, Juri had never been too focused on her studies, often daydreaming and playing instead. Subsequently, Kyoko often got reports from the governess complaining about Juri's behavior.
Suddenly Kyoko felt very tired. She pulled out a chair and sat, briefly glancing over the rest of the room. Except for her breathing, everything was quiet. She felt as though she were the only person remaining in the world, left behind by everyone. Of course, she knew the mansion was also occupied by the staff and Emi (wherever she may be hiding), and that her husband and other children would return home. However, even when everyone was home, there were occasions she still felt this way. Even after having stepped down from his throne, Hiroshi had some work left to keep him occupied. Meanwhile, Haruka and Juri were often lost in their private lover's world, and Rido mostly kept to himself.
It was partly this loneliness that had prompted her to give birth to Emi, reneging on her and Hiroshi's agreement that they were done having children. Hiroshi had refused at first, worried about the risk of having another boy. There was already enough issues caused by their having only one daughter and two sons. But Kyoko had put her foot down, saying she would have the baby, boy or not, and Hiroshi had reluctantly went along with her decision.
Thankfully, Emi turned out to be a girl, and despite his initial objections, Hiroshi was a doting father to their new child. Kyoko smiled lightly as she remembered how just yesterday Hiroshi had sat in the nursery rocking chair, Emi on his lap as he read her to sleep.
In many ways, Emi was a second chance for them as parents. When they were king and queen, they had been too busy to really spend time with their children. By the time they stepped down, Rido, Haruka, and Juri had long grown up. Perhaps if they had been more involved with their children's lives, things would not have ended up the way they are now…
Thinking about her oldest son made Kyoko's heart heavy. She knew Rido was angry and hurt – about Hiroshi's decision to end the monarchy, and about Juri's engagement to Haruka. She wanted to comfort her son, but did not know how to approach him. Since he was a child, he had been fiercely independent, as if constantly trying to prove his competence to her and Hiroshi. Consequently, unlike with Haruka and Juri, there had always been a sense of distance with Rido.
Kyoko wondered if she subconsciously smothered Emi with love because she was afraid to repeat the same mistakes she did with Rido. Maybe she was overwhelming Emi with maternal affection that she failed to adequately give her older children when she was queen, thus causing Emi to constantly run off...
Emi peeked out from behind the floor length curtain, taking care not to make any noise. Although her mom was seated only a few feet away, she had not spotted her yet, seemingly lost in thought. Emi pondered her course of action. Should she wait and hope Kyoko would leave without discovering her, or should she take the risk and crawl away while Kyoko was distracted? Even if she had to hide all night until bedtime, she refused to put on those new dresses!
Emi observed Kyoko some more and was surprised to see her wearing an uncharacteristically sad expression.
A sense of déjà vu and a memory from her previous life briefly surfaced: standing behind a partly open door and watching through the crack as her mother, cloaked in sorrow, slowly flipped through a photo album.
Emi felt her throat tighten. She stood for another minute then released the curtain and toddled to her mom. Kyoko was only roused from her thoughts when she felt Emi touch her hands.
Before Kyoko could react, Emi opened her mouth and spoke. "Mama! No sad!"
A shocked silence settled and as Kyoko stared wide-eyed at her, Emi wondered if she shut have just kept quiet.
Finally, Kyoko hesitantly asked, "Emi, did you just speak?"
"Mama," Emi repeated.
Kyoko broke into a wide smile and laughed, scooping Emi into her arms.
"You're talking!" She exclaimed and nuzzled Emi's cheek, breathing in her comforting baby scent. Emi squirmed in her tight embrace and started to regret coming out of hiding.
"My baby, where did you go earlier? It makes mommy sad when you run off...if only you could stay a baby forever," Kyoko added.
If I had to stay a baby for the rest of eternity, I'd volunteer to be sacrificed to the ancestor, Emi thought, shuddering at the unpleasant scenario.
However, she did feel some pangs to her conscience. Considering how much her parents and siblings (minus Rido) loved her, it would be a rather asinine move to run away and leave them to their canon fates. She eyed Kyoko, who was currently carrying her back to be dressed in the new clothes.
Okay, she sighed. I'll stick around and see what I can do...
Now that Emi had decided to try changing her family's fate, she had to come up with a plan. She decided to start by gathering information on the big villain – Rido. After all, didn't Sun Tzu say something about how knowing your enemy is necessary for victory?
The very next night, Emi commenced her reconnaissance mission.
After faking sleepiness so that her mom and Tae would leave her to nap in peace, Emi climbed out of her crib. Landing with a soft thud on the rug, she grabbed her large elephant plushie, Dumbo, and dragged it to the door. Using Dumbo as a stepping stool, she managed to reach the doorknob and open the door a crack. After making sure the coast was clear, she sneaked out and hurried down the hall.
Ever since she started exploring the mansion whenever her mom and nanny were distracted, she had learned the locations of her family members' rooms and some information about the servant's schedules. When she got near Rido's room, she hid behind a large potted philodendron, and bided her time. Her chance came a few minutes later when one of the maids came to drop off Rido's freshly laundered suits. When the maid opened the doors and entered, Emi trailed after her and slipped in, quickly concealing herself behind a nearby lounge chair.
Once the maid finished putting away the suits and left, Emi emerged from hiding. She had never been inside Rido's bedchambers before, though she had been in the bedrooms of her parents and other siblings. As she took a minute to stretch her cramped limbs, she surveyed the large room. While luxurious, it was quite a contrast to her and Juri's brightly colored and heavily decorated rooms. The color scheme here was much more somber, mostly dark browns and reds. Otherwise, Rido's room was similar to her other siblings' rooms, containing a fireplace, four poster bed, and other fancy furniture and décor.
Knowing that Rido would not be back until an hour or two later, Emi took her time exploring. She was not exactly searching for anything, just looking through his room to gather intel. First, she went to his desk. She hauled herself onto his chair and started opening drawers and rummaging through their contents. They contained the usual things like folders, papers, and pens. A few of the drawers were locked, and Emi wondered if they held confidential work files.
Perhaps one of them contained his private journal! Emi snickered at the thought of Rido pouring his woes into a journal like an angsty teen.
Not finding anything interesting, Emi gave up searching his desk and wandered through the rest of the sitting area. She passed a side table bearing a cocktail tray with an ornate liquor glass and briefly wondered what type of alcohol it contained. She could picture men like her father and Rido sitting before the fireplace, sipping liquor between occasional puffs of a cigar. Eventually she made her way to his walk-in closet.
Opening the drawers and doors she could reach, she found clothes and more clothes. After examining Rido's shoe collection (mostly Oxfords in various shades of black and brown), Emi plopped down on the rug and stared blankly at the ceiling. Having found nothing exciting so far, she felt let down. Considering he spent most of his time at home cooped up in his room, she thought it would be more exciting. Surely he did more than work, drink, and sleep? The man must have a hobby or something?
She suddenly sat up, remembering something – didn't the fan book say Rido had a Juri collection? What exactly was this Juri collection? She had to know!
A disturbing yet wildly hilarious image formed in Emi's mind. In it, Rido was dressed like an otaku, wearing thick glasses and a t-shirt depicting Juri's face while hunched over a computer, extolling Juri's virtues on a fan forum. Meanwhile, the walls of the room he inhabited were plastered with posters of Juri and there were numerous shelves displaying Juri figurines. The cherry on top would be the Juri body pillow that Rido cradled. This part sent Emi cackling madly, but she reminded herself it was bad form to laugh at someone's hobbies.
Where would he hide his Juri collection? Perhaps he had a secret lair? After all, such a collection would be too embarrassing to put in view of the servants. Maybe there was a secret room behind the walls or a hidden compartment under the floors? Emi left the closet and started tapping along the floorboards, listening for hollow spaces.
She was aware that finding his Juri collection was hardly relevant to the goal of changing the future, but she wanted to do it anyway for shits and giggles. Besides...based on her rough estimates, she had around 3000 years before the stuff in canon happened, so there was time for some diversions along the way.
Her search was interrupted when she sensed a familiar presence approaching. Rido had returned earlier than expected. Quickly, she crawled under the four poster bed. From there, she heard the door open and footsteps nearing. With bated breath, she nudged the bed skirt slightly open and watched him walk towards the desk.
Rido removed his suit jacket and tossed it onto a nearby chair. He then sat at his desk, tugging his necktie loose. After settling down, he took out some documents and started reading through them. Emi continued observing him, and wondered when he would leave, because it would be almost impossible for her to exit undetected otherwise. She had not planned her departure from his room as well as she had her entrance. Unfortunately she was stuck here until he left, and she needed to leave soon. By now Tae and her mom had probably realized her absence and were looking for her. More importantly, dinnertime was approaching and despite her snacks earlier, she was hungry.
As if emphasizing her hunger, her stomach growled, and Emi quickly let the bed skirt down and retreated from the edge.
With a slight frown, Rido looked up from his paperwork and glanced around. Finding nothing out of place, he decided it was just his imagination and turned his attention back to work. Seeing she was still safe, Emi relaxed and crept closer to the edge again. She hoped he would leave soon and that her stomach would not make more noises. Unfortunately, her stomach decided to growl again, this time louder.
Rido put down his pen and scanned his room again. It was definitely not his imagination.
The weird sound appeared once more, and he got up to investigate. He focused his senses on his hearing, and waited. It was silent for a few minutes before the sound resurfaced. He traced the sound to his bed, and crouching down, he lifted the bed skirt to discover a pair of eyes staring back at him.
"You've got to be kidding me," he said as he grabbed Emi and dragged her into the open. He plucked her up by the back of her collar so that she was eye-level with him. "What are you doing here, brat?"
Emi assumed her best poker face and kept quiet. They stared at each other for a few more seconds, neither of them blinking nor looking away until her stomach sounded again. At that, Rido sighed and deposited her on his bed. He had no idea how this monkey got into his room, and hoped it would be the first and last time. Roughly picking her up, he left his room and went towards the voices of Tae and his mother, the two women loudly calling Emi's name as they searched for her.
Kyoko stopped mid-call when she saw Rido marching over with Emi in his arms. Now that was an unexpected sight.
"She was hiding in my room," Rido said, and shoved Emi into her arms.
Before Kyoko could say more, he was already heading back to his room.
"Rido, dinner will be ready soon," she called after him.
"I already ate," he replied and kept walking away.
Kyoko sighed at Rido's disappointing but predictable reply and shifted her attentions to Emi after he disappeared down the hallway.
"Tae and I were running all over looking for you," Kyoko said, pinching Emi's cheeks hard. "How did you even get into your brother's room, hmm?"
Kyoko pursed her lips and carefully scrutinized Emi, who just stared back at her innocently. At that moment, the dinner gong rang, causing Emi to wiggle excitedly in Kyoko's hold.
"Dinner!" Emi exclaimed and pointed in the direction of the dining room. According to her sources, they were having beef stew tonight and although her pureed baby serving bore an unfortunate resemblance to puke, it tasted divine.
"You little glutton..."Kyoko smiled at Emi's enthusiasm despite still being annoyed at her earlier disappearance. Unlike Rido, her youngest was always eager for dinnertime. "Alright, let's go eat."
A/N: For those of you that have watched Sakamoto desu ga?, when I imagine Emi hiding from Kyoko, it has similar vibes as the hide and seek scene with Sakamoto and his friend's mom lmao.
At Mia – Thanks for the reviews. Emi will spend more time with Hiroshi later, but for now, he is not as big a presence in her life because he is somewhat old-fashioned, leaving the troublesome parts of parenting to his wife. Basically the sort of dad that plays with the baby when it is happy, and disappears as soon as it starts crying, lol. And Isaya will appear eventually :)