Chapter III heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Sakura glared at the book, not matter how many times she read the passage, the words continued to not make any sense to her brain. Frustrated, she forcibly closed the book with a thud.

"What have this poor book done to you, Imouto?" Sakura startled at her brother's voice, not having sensed his presence coming in.

Haruka was curiously looking at her from the library's entry, a book was in his hands.

More a tome, she mused, snorting as she recalls her bookish brother definition of light reading.

Even at the age of seven, Sakura knew that if she needed Haruka, the most likely place to find him was in the library.

Her pink eyes narrowed when a sudden epiphany struck her. "I couldn't sense your presence!" She gasped, jumping out her chair to reach her brother side.

"How?" She demanded, grasping Haruka's shirt.

Haruka knit his eyebrows in confusion, unsure of his sister request. "What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" He asked.

"Your presence, Haru-chan. How did you mask it?" Haruka's eyes lit up in understanding.

" So, this is what you were reading..." He guessed, smiling at his sister vigorous nodding.

" Rukia-sensei, told me that before learning it, I should learn how to control my power. She gave me the exercises with the leaf, but no matter how much I try... The leaf always burst. I hoped to find something in the library, but the explanations are even more confusing." She deflated.

" Well, Imouto, aren't you lucky that I found you? The leaf exercise is my favorite trick." He winked at her, placing his book on the near table.

"Let's go outside, Kura. The library is not the best place for this lesson." He said guiding her out of the room.

"Did you just volunteer to go out of the library? oh my heart, the world is ending..." She gasped, dramatically placing a hand on her heart.

Haruka shook his head to her. "Don't make me change my mind, Imouto." He said, snorting when Sakura pretended to zip her mouth closed.

Haruka took her outside the Kuran manor. Their home was surrounded by a forest, the perfect place to practice their powers without risking of incurring in their mother's fury.

They didn't venture too far, but as soon as they put a step outside the manor, Sakura could sense their guards shadowing them.

Her brother stopped near to a tall oak tree, taking some of its leaves.

"As Vampires we're able to sense other presences from an early age."

" Can you guess why?" He asked.

Sakura knit her eyebrows in contemplation, when her senses spiked up, alerting her of the movement of a guard in one of the trees surrounding them.

Her eyes met Haruka's expecting ones. " So, that we can be able to perceive a threat in order to defend ourselves."

Haruka smiled proudly to her. " Exactly, we're predators, Sakura-chan. As vampires our senses are enhanced compared to humans. This allows us to survive in case of danger, to recognize other of our kind and to localize our preys." He explained.

"Our powers will act accordingly, lashing out to the perceived source of threat. And if you don't learn to control them you will endanger not only yourself, but the people close to you." He warned her.

Sakura's stomach turned at the thought of hurting her family. "But how can I control it?"

"Patience, meditation and practice." He said with hiding a smile as his sister scowled to him.

" Meditation is important as it will help you to manage your emotions, remember that your powers are in tune with your mood. Vampires spend centuries honing their control, none will begrudge you an outburst at your age, but you need to learn how to limit them. " He continued.

"Now, I want you to pour out some of your energy to cut this leaf in half." He said, handing out to her one of the leaves.

"Close your eyes, Sakura-chan. And breath naturally. It will be easier to visualize your inner energy if you imagine it flow through you like a river."

Trusting her brother's words, she closed her eyes, pacing her breaths: remembering Akira sensei's advice on how important was to relax her body.

She quicky became aware of her energy, and tried to follow Haruka's advice by imagining it as a calm river but its feeling was more as a ranging fire, the wrong move would cause everything around her to burst in flame. She needed to be careful. Sakura grimaced as she tried to tame it, just enough to cut the leaf.

Beads of sweat covered her forehead. almost there she thought, she could feel her power move.

"Sakura... Sakura, Stop!"

Sakura opened her eyes wide as Haruka's shout broke her concentration, her vision faltered for a moment before focusing on her brother's worried face.

"Haru-chan..." She couldn't continue when

A sudden urge to thrown up make her squeeze her eyes closed. She could feel a cold hand on her forehead.

"Kura, keep your eyes close and breath slowly." Haruka shifted her so that her weight could rest on him.

Sakura burrowed her face in his shirt as she breathed in and out.

"Better?" He asked as Sakura's pink eyes met his red ones.

She nodded with a trembling smile, noticing how Haruka's eyes went back to their garnet color. "What happened? Why did you scream?"

"You were trembling Sakura-chan, I tried to call you, but you didn't hear me." He confessed, frowning.

"I grasped it, my energy I mean... I was so close, Haru-chan" she said but her brother shook his head.

" You were hurting yourself, Kura. You were losing the control." He spoke.

" But, why? I don't understand."

"Because our brother is an idiot."

Haruka winced seeing Rido's furious expression.

"Rido-nii." Sakura smiled uncertainly at her older brother who looks soften a bit, but his look seemed to lost any trace of warm as he turned his attention to Haruka.

"What were you thinking?

Making our baby sister practice reaching her powers without any meditation training ... Do you know the damage that you could have caused, she could have harmed herself, Haruka. you idiot!" He lashed out.

Sakura winced at Rido's harsh words, looking guilty at Haruka, who didn't meet her eyes.

" Rido-nii, it was my idea to practice, to ask Haru-chan to teach me. It wasn't his fault" she tried to defend her brother, who was only trying to help her. But a stare from Rido shut her up.

"It doesn't matter if you asked him or not. He knows better, you didn't!"

Sakura looked ready to rebut but a hand on her head stopped her, she looked up.

Haruka's eyes were back to their garnet color, "Rido is right, Sakura-chan. I should have known better, I almost hurt you." he looked remorsefully at her.

"I'm fine, Haru-chan." She reassured him, Rido scoffed to her words.

She met his eyes fiercely until he sighed, coming to stand in front of her and Haruka.

"How are you feeling, Sakura-chan?" He asked.

"I'm good." She said, sparing a quick glance to Haruka but her brothers gave her skeptical twin looks, making her smile shyly. " tired" she admitted.

Now, that she thought about it, her legs felt like jelly, and she was having a hard time in maintain her body upright without Haruka's support.

"I will take you to your room to rest." Rido said, taking her from Haruka's arms. "Haruka, Father is waiting for you in his solar, he was notifying of what happened by one of the guards." Haruka nodded, Rido briefly grasped his shoulder in comfort before leaving with Sakura who hide a smile in his older brother's neck at his action.

Her older brother was a softie under that harsh shell.


" Onii-sama, do you think that Father will punish Haru-chan?" Sakura asked, breaking the silence in the room. She scooted a little bit in the bed making a space for her older brother to sit.

" What Haruka did was irresponsible. "He finally said,

"But he didn't-"

"Sakura, you could have hurt yourself or Haruka if you had lost your control and believe me you almost did if Haruka hadn't reached you in time." He interrupted her.

Rido sighed looking seriously at his baby sister's widening guilty eyes.

"It's not your fault, Imouto" he softly reassured her, " and not even Haruka's fault, not completely..." He confessed with a sigh after few moments.

" See, Tou-sama taught us how to reach our power using the same way."

Sakura knitted her brows confused "But you've just said that this exercise can be dangerous. Why he should?" she asked.

Rido's lips twisted in a poor smile. " Father dotes on you and Juri a lot, He is stricter on his sons. After all, Haruka and I will be representing the Kuran family in the future."

Sakura pursed her lips at his explanation.

" Demo, you could've been hurt too!"

Rido's heart warmed with affection for his little sister, finding her anger on his behalf adorable. "It's okay, Sakura-chan. It was a long time ago."

"Now, tell me how you happened on the leaf exercise." He asked unyielding.

Rido sighed listening to Sakura's retelling of Rukia-sensei's lessons and her request to Haruka in the library.

" I see... I cannot stop you from practicing with Haruka and knowing our brother he will not do the same mistake twice, but promise me that you will be careful, Imouto. Also, I want you to show us anything that you will learn in class before trying it on your own. Don't think that escaped me that you tried to do the exercise before seeking answers in the books." He ended firmly, as Sakura avoided to meet his eyes.

"Pinky promise?" He said, lifting the serious mood descended into the room, proceeding to offer his pinky to his sister.

"pinky promise" she said, locking their fingers together with a sleepy smile as the events of the day seemed to finally crash on her.


Sakura's blinked her eyes open as she felt a soft touch caressing her hair.

"Mama." She mumbled; her voice still thick with sleep.

Ayame smiled to her daughter, seating beside her on the bed, she carefully observed her with a tint of concern in her eyes. " How are you feeling, Sakura-chan?"

"Good" she said pressing her face in her mother's lap, enjoying her warm.

"I heard what happened today with Haruka." Ayame started as she felt her daughter stiffen a little bit under her touch.

"Is Haru-nii okay?"

Ayame sighed at her daughter's avoidance of her question " Haruka will accompany your older Brother at some functions until the end of the month. " Sakura grimace, knowing how his brother hated these events.

They weren't of marriage age, yet but that didn't stop the head of the noble families to pressure their daughters to fan on the Kuran heirs in hope of winning their favor. Some of them were even older than them. Sakura suppressed a shiver as she recalled that lady accidentally pressing her bare neckline too close to his brother's face when they escaped on the balcony of the Aido's villa. Fortunately, Ayame was searching for them as soon as she noticed their absence from the ball. Her mother almost reaped that noble lady apart, if it wasn't for her father intervention. Unfortunately, the example didn't stick in the mind of the nobles, but she remembered her brother's relief as Ayame allowed Haruka to stop attending the functions after that day.

" What you did today, both of you, was irresponsible. Rido told me that you did try the leaf trick alone before asking for help" Sakura grimaced at her brother ratting her out to their mother.

"The only reason that he told me is because he worries for you." Ayame said, she didn't need to see her daughter's face to know her thoughts.

Sakura rose her head from her mother's lap, giving her a shy smile, " I know, Kaa-chan." She said properly chastised, even if Ayame didn't scold her.

" you've all the time of the world to learn to control your powers, my little miracle." Ayame said in a loving voice, caressing her face " I know that you're worried about the situation with the level e vampires and the increasing security is not helping, but your father and I will keep you safe." She said collecting her daughter in her arms.

"Trust us to take care of you, Sakura-chan."

"Hai, Kaa-chan." Sakura mumbled finding solace in her mother's affection.

"Kaa-chan" Sakura called her after few moments.

"Mhh.."

"Rido-nii, told me something before..."

"Oh, what is that?" Ayame asked curiously.

"He told me that Father did the same exercise with Him and Haruka, but if it's supposed to be a dangerous thing why Father did that?"

Ayame unconsciously tight her grasp on Sakura at her question, before softly loose their hug to meet her daughter's curious eyes " Your Father has high expectations for your bothers, your grandfather was the same with him. He seems to forget that these teaching methods don't provoke the best results. But don't worry," Ayame said poking her daughter's frowning forehead " I did handle your father. " She said.

" did you scold him, Kaa-chan?" Sakura asked, clueless at her mother's strange smile.

Oh, I did more than scold him, Ayame thought, recalling their fight after finding out about his little training exercise with Rido and Haruka. She threatened to take the boys and leave if He was so intent in following their father's footsteps. She loves her husband at pieces, she knew how under all those harsh edges, he loved his family dearly but she wouldn't let him raise their children as their father did.

" Your father did surely learn his lesson, Sakura-chan." Ayame answered with an impish smile, softening her eyes when Sakura failed to cover a sleepy yawn.

"You still need to recover, my little miracle." she said, tucking her in.

" Can you read me a story, Kaa-chan?" Sakura asked, looking her with hopeful eyes.

" I think we still need to read the adventures of Kintaro, ne?" Ayame smiled at her daughter's enthusiastic nod.

Their little moment was interrupted by a knocking on the door.

"Come in" Ayame called as she dug out the fairytale from the pile of books on Sakura's bedside table. She hid a knowing smile; her senses had already picked up the source of the noise.

"Juri-nee, Haru-nii, Rido-nii." Sakura greet them surprised.

" Kura-chan, how are you feeling?" Juri asked worried, rushing at her sister bedside. "I'm good, Juri-nee. Just tired." Sakura reassured her sister with a smile. Before her eyes lingered on Haruka but he stubbornly refused to meet her gaze as he remained on the doorstep. Rido rolled his eyes, elbowing his brother in the ribs as he passed him to reach his sisters, ignoring his mother reproaching stare and Haruka's dirty look.

"Haruka, come in." Ayame softly called his son, patting the space on the bed beside her.

Haruka reluctantly entered the room, avoiding Sakura's eyes even if he could feel her heated stare on him.

" Well, children tuck in, let's discover what happened to Kintaro" she proclaimed, as her children settled around her.

Ayame hid a smile as in the middle of the storytelling, she spied Haruka crawling closer to Sakura.

"Imouto," Haruka whispered to Sakura shifting her attention from Ayame to him " I'm sorry." He spoke.

Sakura rolled her eyes before giving him a exasperated smile " there is nothing to be sorry about, Haru-chan." She said laying her head on his shoulder "now, hush, Kintaro is going to save his sensei."

Haruka nodded blinking away some tears as he hid his face in Sakura's hair. He would never admit how scared he felt to see her almost fainting form.

"I'm sorry for your punishment, Haru-chan. I'm going to convince dad to let me come with you for the next ball." Sakura whispered, " Don't worry, I will not let that creepy ladies get close."

Haruka snorted a laugh at Sakura's words before Juri hushed him with a pointed stare as she refocused on Ayame's storytelling.

" I love you, Imouto."

" Love you too, Haru-chan."


author's note:

hello everyone, I apologize for the waiting but I'm juggling between exams and hospital visits. Recently, I did a surgery so I couldn't write or read for a while. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this chapter! Until the next time!