Author's Note:

I've always been interested in the "older" characters in VK (Rido, his siblings and Shizuka) so this pre-canon SI-OC fic was created. This takes place when everyone is still very young and before everything went bad so some characters may seem a bit OOC. Also, when the idea came to me, I had recently watched HameFura so I wanted to do a lighter, more humorous fic and hopefully give them a somewhat happier ending. However, parts of the story will still be more serious.

Disclaimer:

Clearly I do not own Vampire Knight, only the OCs in this tale.


Chapter 1

A loud screeching sound, the feeling of the cold, hard pavement, the wetness of the blood pooling under her, frantic voices, and the distant sound of a siren. It was odd how the pain did not bother her – perhaps she was too far gone to feel it. All she could focus on was the vast blue sky above her.

Such a beautiful blue sky.

Blue like the robin's egg that Holly had shown her years ago.

Holly…

Maybe she will see her again if there is an afterlife.

More likely not…she had stopped believing in that stuff long ago. Death was most likely just a return to nothingness, the state of not existing.

The edges of her vision started to darken, the blue gradually replaced by black.

Pitch black.

Silence.


"Rido-sama, your family is waiting for you to join them in the drawing room," the maid informed Rido as he walked past on the way to his bedchambers.

"Tell them I'm busy," he said tersely. He did not want to see them unless he absolutely had to. As if spending the entire night dealing with the Senate that his father had set up was not irritating enough.

"Your father insists that you join them for a family meeting."

Rido sighed, his hand resting on the door handle to his chambers. It would be better to just get the meeting over with and see what that old bastard wanted now.

"Fine, I'll be there in a few minutes."


The light chattering came to a halt as he stepped into the room.

"Rido, how was your night?"

He glanced at his mother, Kyoko Kuran, seated next to his father, Hiroshi Kuran, on the sofa. She smiled gently at him, waiting for his response. When he was a child, he had loved his mother's smile, but now it only irked him.

"Fine," he replied.

Haruka and Juri were already there, sitting together on the sofa facing his parents. They greeted him and adjusted themselves so that there was room for him to sit next to Haruka. He ignored them and chose to remain standing near the entrance instead. He wasn't planning to stay long.

"How nice of you to finally join us," Hiroshi commented dryly.

Kyoko frowned lightly and placed a remonstrating hand on her husband's arm.

"I still have to meet with the Shirabukis tomorrow so let's just get this over with," Rido said.

"Is that anyway to talk to your parents?" the older man asked. He was about to rise in anger, but Kyoko held him back and shook her head.

Rido didn't reply but merely stared back at him unrepentantly.

"Well, it won't take much of your time dear, it's just a little announcement," his mother said and forced a small laugh. The tension in the room remained despite her effort.

Kyoko placed a hand over her belly. "We will be welcoming another family member. I am pregnant."

There was a quickly muffled squeal from Juri and then silence.

Kyoko blushed lightly and continued. "I know the baby is quite unexpected, your father and I were also surprised to find out I was with child again despite all the care we took."

Hiroshi coughed into his fist and Kyoko stopped talking. An awkward silence replaced the tension in the room as the three siblings tried to push out the imagery their mother's words had unintentionally evoked in their minds.

"It's always a heavy decision to make – bringing another pureblood into the world, but after much consideration we have decided to keep the baby," Kyoko added.

"Congratulations!" Haruka said amicably.

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?" Juri asked excitedly, leaning forward in her seat. She had always wanted a younger sibling.

"Well, it's still too early to tell, the baby isn't due for another three to four years."

"Then we will have to wait to decorate the nursery," Juri sighed before instantly perking up again. "Have you thought of names already? I have some names for both genders that I've always liked."

"That's nice dear, we can decide as the time approaches."

"Is that all?" Rido interrupted the congenial conversation. "If so, I will excuse myself for the night. I have to leave early tomorrow."

Kyoko looked at him, a slightly hurt expression in her eyes. He ignored her and the disapproving gaze of his father and left the happy family to themselves.


Contrary to what she had expected, she still existed – or at least her consciousness did. And there was sound, a constant but calm sound like ocean waves. There was also color again…she was surrounded by a shifting array of colors.

She wondered if this was the prologue to something. Was a supernatural being going to show up soon and sort her into heaven or hell? Were there other dead people's noncorporal forms floating around her? She did hear from some sci-fi show that the human soul was just a bunch of neural oscillations that transcended the physical body. Brain waves or not, that info was not useful to her, and she had never been great at physics anyway. The only thing she could do was go with the flow and try not to dwell on things.

Things like how her mother was handling her death. Hopefully, the twins would keep her tethered to life after another heartbreak. There were already enough questions to worry about.

For one, was this was it? Floating around for the rest of eternity in this nebulous, starry dimension with just herself for companionship? Not existing and not being aware of anything seemed a better option.

Floating.

Floating.

Floating.

She wondered if time existed in this place, and if time ran differently here than it did in the world of the living. Maybe a hundred years or even a few eons had already passed. But forever was infinite…there is no difference between a second, a century or a billion years. Forever is a scary concept, one too abstract for humans to comprehend.

On the upside, it wasn't complete darkness – here in this place the colors constantly changed, blue, purple, green, red. It was like some galactic kaleidoscope. Perhaps those occasional bright spots in the distance are stars being formed.

Hmm…was it just her or was that bright speck in the distance getting bigger and bigger?

Nope, it wasn't her, the brightness was surging forward – or was she being sucked towards it?

Ah well, no point in worrying when she cannot do anything but brace herself for whatever was coming.


Kyoko rested against the pillows, her breathing finally steadying after the long labor ended. Her body and the sheets were damp with sweat and she was exhausted, but she forced herself to stay awake and receive the wailing newborn the midwife placed in her arms.

She had almost forgotten the feeling of holding a baby in her arms – something she had missed. She cooed softly at her new daughter and examined her face closely. It was still too early to tell who she resembled. Haruka and Juri resembled her more with their coloring, whereas Rido resembled his father. The newborn wailed for almost another full minute before it quieted and settled down in her arms.

Kyoko laughed, it seemed this one was a troublesome baby. Even before she was born, she had been a handful – staying almost five years in her womb. It was so long that Kyoko had wondered if she was ever going to meet her.

The maids bustled around her cleaning up. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her husband and kids hurrying in. She noted that Rido was not among them as Hiroshi bent down to kiss her forehead. He then took the baby and Haruka and Juri gathered around him, peering down at their new sister.

"Where is Rido?" she asked, her voice still weak from her exertion.

"He is working and won't be back until tomorrow night," Hiroshi replied.

She leaned back into her pillows and tried not to feel disappointed her oldest child was avoiding them even on this occasion. He had started withdrawing from them back when Hiroshi abolished the monarchy but had distanced himself even more ever since Haruka and Juri got officially engaged. Now she was lucky if she saw him thrice a week and managed to exchange more than a sentence with him.

Juri stopped making faces at the baby and looked up. "Did you choose a name already?"

Kyoko smiled. "Emi. Your little sister, Emi."


She was once more tangible – inhabiting a physical body. She could sense and feel things again and was aware she possessed a head, a pair of arms, and a pair of legs. It seemed she was human again, or at the very least, some anthropomorphic lifeform. And it seemed she was female again in this life, as she lacked a certain appendage between her legs. Being born a male in her new life while retaining her old memories and identity as a female would have been a weird experience to say the least…

Her vision was still blurry, and she could do no more than lay passively, squirm futilely and occasionally voice her displeasure by crying loudly. It seemed whatever lifeform she was now, they resembled humans in that their newborns were so helpless. All she knew was that when she wailed her lungs out, someone or something warm and soft would come and feed her or tend to her other needs.

It was strange, being reduced to an existence ruled primarily by the body's needs and instinct, with little to no control over one's bodily autonomy. She also seemed to have less control over her emotions and responses. She was quick to cry over the smallest things, like being irritated when she was too warm or too cold, despite rationally knowing it's not a big deal. In addition, she was easily distracted by trivial things, such as the rattle-like object her caretakers sometimes shook. Her body seemed to have a mind of its own, and she often couldn't stop herself from reacting like a normal baby, doing things like putting stuff into her mouth and biting. On top of all that, she suspected she was being breastfed. All this was just too embarrassing!

Logically she supposed she should not be embarrassed. After all, she had already experienced this as a baby in her previous life. Everyone went through this at the start of life, humans are just glorified animals at the end of the day. If she thought about it, humans are not that much different than worms, they're all just organic tubes through which nutrients are absorbed and waste is excreted. She tried to comfort herself with mental debates that there was no shame and that it was all simply nature.

Thankfully, there was not much time to be embarrassed. When she was not feeding, she was mostly sleeping and freed from the concept of shame. On occasions when she was awake and not busy fuming over her current helpless state, she could hear the person or thing holding her speaking to her. At this point, it was all just incomprehensible background murmuring to her though, and she often fell asleep soon after being fed.


Some more time passed – she couldn't be sure if it was a week or more, since her schedule was just a cycle of waking up, crying, being tended to, and then falling asleep.

She had only learned a few things about her surroundings so far since her eyesight had not cleared yet. However, based on her hearing, she had come to realize that her caretakers were speaking Japanese. She had watched enough drama and anime in her past live to recognize the language even if she didn't understand much of it. Since they spoke the Japanese language, they were probably not anthropomorphic aliens but Japanese people instead.

She also discovered her sense of smell was oddly much stronger than in her previous life, it enabled her to differentiate between the various people that interacted with her. There was one person who held her the most, and often talked to her. She guessed this was her new mother, since she felt safest and most at ease when this person held her.

Her new mother often said the same syllables over and over when she held her, hence she learned in this life, she was now Emi.


Rido sighed upon hearing the knock at his door – he couldn't act as though he hadn't heard it, and he didn't want her lingering outside either. He put down his pen, rose from his chair, walked over and opened the door.

His mother stood in the doorway, cradling her bundle of joy.

"Rido, are you busy now?" she asked.

"I still have some reports to look over, mother."

She reached out and touched his cheek gingerly. "You should just leave the work to tomorrow and rest more."

He stepped back, shirking from her touch. "I am not a child anymore mother, you don't need to fuss over me."

Kyoko suppressed her unhappiness at her son's response. She gazed down at Emi and stroked the baby's warm cheek. At least her sweet Emi doesn't find her a bother.

"We missed you at dinner earlier, so I came to see you now," she paused and looked back up at her son. How strange it is that the tiny baby she once held in her arms was now an adult man who towered over her. A man who sometimes looked at her with coldness, as though she were a stranger.

"Rido, you should hold your baby sister."

He frowned. "I already looked at her."

"That was weeks ago! You haven't held Emi at all since she was born!" Kyoko protested. "Back when Juri was a child, both you and Haruka were such devoted brothers, always finding time to play with her."

Rido's jaw tensed noticeably at the mention of his siblings, and he tightened his grip on the doorknob.

"She isn't Juri. And that was a long time ago," he said. "I have work to do. Good night, mother."

Without another word, he closed the door. Kyoko continued standing there for another minute, staring at the dark oak behind which her son had retreated.

Her son was angry. He still resented her and Hiroshi for their decision a few decades ago, when they allowed Juri to be engaged to Haruka instead. It hurt to be the reason for her son's pain and anger – but what could she do? She was also Haruka and Juri's mother too.

She nuzzled the squirming baby in her arms.

"Emi…tell me what I should do to make your older brother happy again?" she whispered softly, pressing her cheek against her daughter's.


What seemed to be a few weeks passed by, and her vision had progressed to the point where she could see now. With the ability to see clearly, she discovered some good news and some bad news.

The good news was that her new family was rich and beautiful – she was set for a comfortable life. She suspected they were very rich because aside from their expensive-looking clothing, she was tended by a nanny and a horde of maids whenever her mother put her down. Those maids dressed like they came straight off the set of Downton Abbey. She supposed she should thank whatever higher force or deity that she had reincarnated into a wealthy household.

Her new mother was a lovely brunette with gentle reddish-brown eyes. She usually wore her long hair up in a graceful looking bun and dressed in very genteel dresses. Her father was a very handsome man with very similar coloring to his wife, except his hair was perhaps two or three shades darker. His expressions were usually stern though he could also be gentle at times.

She had some older siblings, but they were all much older than her, appearing to be in their late teens. Her sister looked pretty much the same as their mother, but with curlier hair and taller. Her brother looked like their father, but his hair was wavier and his demeanor much gentler. It seemed she had another brother, but he had never held her so she couldn't see him up close. He barely visited her anyway, unlike the other siblings who frequently came to hold her and play with her.

Anyway, the bad news was that she was mistaken – the "people" around her, and even herself were not human. Yup, they spoke Japanese and looked human enough – but they were not human.

Now that she could see clearly, she saw that whenever they opened their mouths wide, they all sported a pair of pointy fangs. And funny enough, they all seemed to be nocturnal – she had not seen the sunlight in a while. Whenever her caretakers held her near the window, it was always nighttime outside. She had a bad feeling but refused to put her suspicions into coherent thought until there was solid proof.


Then came the night she witnessed the irrefutable proof.

Her new mother was leaning over her crib and cooing at her, stroking her cheeks as she liked to do. Her new father then came up, slipped his arms around his wife's waist and kissed her nape. He whispered something into his wife's ear, in a voice so low Emi couldn't catch it – not that she would've understood anyway. Her mother then smiled coquettishly and leaned back into his embrace.

Emi supposed that was normal behavior for a happily married couple…and hoped they would not get too steamy in front of her. She had no interest in watching anybody getting rated R, much less her new parents.

They couldn't do this stuff in their own bedroom? Emi thought, much displeased.

However, any worries about witnessing her parents engaging in intimacy were thrown out the window when she saw her father bite down into her mother's neck. Emi watched in a mix of shock and fascination as her father drank from her mother and a ruby drip of blood trailed down to her mother's collarbone.

The adults were interrupted by her piercing shrieks of horror.

Kyoko's eyes snapped wide open and she hastily pushed Hiroshi away and bent down to soothe her instead – but Emi was inconsolable.

After 15 minutes of nonstop wailing, which she struggled to rein in, she finally calmed down somewhat. She sniffled as her mother held her and made soothing sounds at her. Darn her baby body's tendency to overreact – she could finally think.

Her parents were not human – and neither was she…they were all vampires! Freaking vampires…fangs, blood, and all that stuff. That explained everything, such as why her family and everyone around her, including the servants were so darn eye-catching and all nocturnal.

The fact that they were vampires also explained why her parents looked abnormally youthful (in their mid to late twenties) despite having kids that looked to be in their late teens. She supposed they were not the undead type of vampire if they were capable of reproduction.

This might also explain why everyone around her dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Their incongruous style seemed to be a mix of Victorian or Edwardian fashion, the stuffy clothing she saw in period dramas. Besides the strange clothing, there was no modern technology! Was it because they were vampires that there were no baby monitors, cellphones, and tablets to be seen? Even her toys and crib looked like antiques.

Previously she had wondered if she reincarnated into an older time period, but that idea was rejected because of a discrepancy – the people around her were not white despite the way they dressed. Regardless of their hair and eye coloring, their physical features were undeniably East Asian and they spoke Japanese! It reminded her of cosplay and watching the live action movies for Bleach and Gintama. Her theory had been that this family had a fetish for cosplay – so everyone around her dyed their hair, wore colored eye contacts, dressed in European period clothing and acted like they lived in an older time period.

Well, it seemed that was all wrong, and she had in fact reincarnated into some wacky alternative universe in which vampires existed, even in Japan.

Emi was tired and decided to leave figuring out all this for another day. She finally fell asleep, to Kyoko and Hiroshi's immense relief.


The following week, as Kyoko and Juri sat in the family room gossiping and playing with Emi, they noticed Rido walking quickly past on his way back to his room. Kyoko called out to him, forcing him to return.

"Mother, Juri," he greeted each of them perfunctorily and made a show of looking at his pocket watch, as though he had somewhere to hurry off to.

Kyoko ignored his acting and beckoned him to sit down on the other side of her. He reluctantly did as she wanted.

"Juri and I were just commenting on who Emi resembles the most – we decided she looks the most like you," Kyoko said.

"Yes, the eyebrows and the hair are the same as Rido onii-sama's!" Juri added and playfully pinched Emi's cheek. "Those strong eyebrows might be too much on a girl though."

Rido looked down unimpressed at the baby in his mother's arms. "She looks like father, not me."

"Well, out of all of my children, you look the most like your father, so we are all correct," Kyoko said then took the opportunity to place Emi in his arms before he could refuse. He frowned but obliged his mother.

"Why is she looking at me like that?" he asked.

The baby was staring up at him, fixated on his heterochromatic eyes. Her own eyes were wide open in shock and she had completely frozen.

Juri looked over and giggled. "Goodness, what a weird expression she is making! I wish we had a camera right now!"

Her giggling was cut off by a sudden loud "WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" emanating from the baby who had started squirming frantically.

Everyone present winced and Rido suppressed his urge to throw the baby far away from him even though she was going off like an emergency siren.

Emi continued wailing until her face was all red and splotchy, even after Rido shoved her back to their mother and beat a hasty retreat with Juri. Kyoko tried in vain to comfort her.

"Oh Emi, what's wrong? Shhh, everything is alright," Kyoko said over and over as she held the baby close to her.

I'll tell you what's wrong lady! Emi raged in her mind amidst her unceasing wails. I finally realized I'm in the messed-up world of Vampire Knight and that I'm Rido Kuran's sister. The same guy who killed his own parents and siblings! Forgive me if I'm a bit upset but my life is in mortal danger! Everything is most certainly not alright!