Title: "Family bonding?" – part 5

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They walked in silence down the stairway, and to Kaname's surprise, Rido seemed to have either regained his spirits somewhat, or was sporting a very good mask, because the little pureblood couldn't perceive anymore even a hint of the stormy aura and seething anger that he had clearly felt emanating from his uncle when he destroyed the paintings.

He was musing on whether that was a good sign or a reason to worry further about the other's intentions when his uncle's voice startled him.

"Last time you came over, Juri was so unpleasant when she came to collect you, just because I had forgotten to feed you for a mere day or two. Pfff."

The older pureblood ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of vague annoyance, perhaps a remnant of the fury he displayed earlier, but remarkably toned down or in any case very well hidden.

He glanced down at Kaname and the boy froze in his steps, his little face jolting up to look at his uncle with garnet eyes gleaming dully red in the dimly lit stairway, trying to guess if he should be worried yet or not. Rido looked morose, but not angry, so Kaname had trouble deciding whether he was likely to be in danger at the moment or not yet.

Rido continued, in a vaguely accusing tone "It's entirely your fault too. You're supposed to tell me if you need food or whatever. I don't know what larvae like you need to survive. I'm a beautiful, powerful being who's lived thousands of years."

At the top of his four years of age, Kaname absolutely despised when Rido did that. He froze on the steps for a second, automatically pouting before he could stop himself.

It didn't matter that Rido was over four thousand years old, it still seemed so unfair. And it wasn't as if guessing when a child might need to eat was such a difficult thing after all. The few times he was forced to visit his uncle, as soon as Juri was out of sight Kaname was treated like an unwanted pet of some sort, or a potted plant whom the uninterested caretaker would regularly forget to water. Rido had fun annoying him, but it didn't go farther than that.

Beyond the passionate hatred and the carefully plotted future revenge, Rido more or less viewed Kaname as little more than a stray cat he wished he could hand a can of cat food to and let him fend for himself without having to bother caring for him. He only accepted the boy to come over to keep the appearances and be able to have access to him when the time of his revenge finally came... as a result, he quite naturally wasn't very motivated to do anything for him beyond the bare necessary.

If Rido could feed Kaname cat food, he doubtlessly would. As it was, he walked towards the dining area with a sudden unpleasant realization in the back of his mind. There was something he had over-looked, and it was about to come bite him back now.

They walked into a dazzling dining room, large enough to easily seat a few hundred guests, with a ceiling as tall as a cathedral and splendid crystal chandeliers hanging in a classic line through the center.
Rido crossed the room in large strides, heedless of the hurried little steps behind him, as Kaname trotted along to be able to keep up. No lights were on, as neither needed them to see in the dark, but the little boy was used to his parents always having a number of lamps on, diffusing a warm and comfortable light that gave any room a cozy atmosphere, and the contrast made Rido's manor seem even creepier than its owner already caused it to be.

As they approached the edge of the room that was closer to the kitchens, the little pureblood slowed down, surprised to find some weird piles of dusty material on the ground, like piles of sand in random spots. He hopped over some and walked around the ones that were scattered over larger areas. What was that?!

He was too young to realize exactly what it was, but his instincts made him extra wary.

"Oh, damn it!" Rido's voice echoed from the kitchen, and Kaname crossed the service area separating it from the dining room and peered in carefully from in-between the double doors leading to the kitchen.

His uncle was looking displeased while standing in front of a sink full of dirty dishes. The whole kitchen was a mess.

Rido spoke to himself in a sardonic voice. "Note for self: Next time the stupid servants annoy you, wait to kill them once they're done cleaning up after the party, not before."

Kaname stared, unsure whether a reaction was expected of him or not. A part of him understood then what the random piles of dust were: dead vampires. A shudder ran up his little spine, and he automatically started frantically rubbing the soles of his shoes on the clean ground all around himself, trying to get rid of whatever creepy dust might be attached to them.

Rido was poking through his cupboards, trying to find anything clean to eat on, and failing. It had been a particularly large party, but it was still shocking that he couldn't find anything.
It didn't help that he'd barely ever been in his own kitchen and had no idea where anything was supposed to be.

He momentarily gave up the search and went for the fridge instead. The prospect of what food they might have wasn't much better. Raw items were out of the picture, as neither of them could realistically cook, and to make things worse, it looked like he might have killed the servants just before market day as well. What bad timing, really.

Idly, Rido found a raw potato and glanced back at Kaname, wondering if he could feed it to him. Amidst his decreasing motivation to go on rummaging through the fridge, the older pureblood was almost tempted to offer his blood so they'd be done and over with it without him having to bother with such annoyances as figuring out what to feed the kid. But that wouldn't do, Juri was adamant that the boy be given actual food, and while blood was necessary for the survival of vampires, so was food, and one didn't replace the other.

Rido was almost to the point where he might overcome the laziness to go out and buy food when he spotted a container of split pea soup that was apparently a left-over from the starters of the previous dinner. Perfect!!

There was way more than enough for two, it could definitely be classified in the "decent food" category as per motherly opinions, and it shouldn't be too bothersome to prepare.

He just wished Kaname was one of those kids who disliked soup, or vegetables or whatever, but unfortunately, the boy wasn't difficult and would probably enjoy it. In his ever present 'kindness', Rido would rather have preferred if Kaname hated the soup.

Preparing it was less of an easy task as it had seemed, as Rido initially took forever to figure out how to work the stove, then promptly set it too high and burned the bottom of the soup contents before he realized re-heating required less fire, or that he should mix the whole thing so that the thicker parts didn't attach to the bottom.

Kaname watched his uncle cook, staying a safe distance away and retreating even farther back when Rido started cursing after burning his hand.
The little pureblood wasn't sure if he might end up being part of the dinner too if he stayed too close and his uncle got angry... When in doubt, stay away from Rido. So he carefully waited at the very edge of the kitchen, partially behind the semi-open door.

Meanwhile, the older pureblood was aware of the hunger in the boy's aura, and was vaguely divided between an inevitable temptation to make him wait longer, and his own growing hunger. He settled for a compromise.

There were no clean bowls that he could find, but he spotted some large mugs normally used for hot chocolate in the winter – rarely ever used, truth to be said – and they could serve as makeshift soup bowls quite well.

Rido poured the soup quickly, grabbed spoons and some paper towels – just as he had no idea where the things were supposed to be in the kitchen, he also had no idea where the servants put the napkins, so paper would have to do -- and set it all in a tray, bringing it out.
The dining room was a little bit chaotic at the moment, so he simply took it all to the drawing room instead, where a comfortable couch and a low table awaited them. Unorthodox and even shocking in the eyes of traditionalists, but it would have to do.

Kaname followed him all along, somewhat reassured that they wouldn't be eating among the piles of dead dust. He still kept a safe distance from his uncle, but he inhaled the fragrant scent of the soup in the air with a look of delight on his innocent little face.

Rido seemed quite decided to serve the soup as fast as possible, and motioned urgently for his nephew to join him, handing him a spoon as soon as Kaname approached.

They sat side by side on the couch, Rido having pulled the table closer and placed the would-be bowls in front of them.

"So? What are you waiting?"

Little Kaname looked at his soup with vague distrust. It's not that he expected it to really be poisoned, but his instincts inevitably told him that it wasn't too reassuring that Rido was so determined to see him eating first.

Kaname looked at his uncle, then at the bowl and as his own spoon, hesitating and trying to gain time. Rido sighed, and took a spoonful from his own bowl, bringing it quickly up to his lips, with a look that clearly said "See?! It's perfectly safe."

Kaname was very hungry, and the soup did look perfectly innocent, so why not?

He took a spoonful and put it in his mouth, then immediately sputtered and coughed, swallowing with difficulty as he realized it was burning hot.
If not for the very few remains of his sense of self-preservation, he would have openly glowered at his uncle, who was now sporting a sadistically delighted look all over his face. So that's why he had been in such a hurry to get them to eat. So that the soup wouldn't have time to cool down.

Belatedly, Kaname realized Rido's spoon was still full, and he had merely feigned to drink the soup to lure his nephew into doing the same.

Oh, that does it.

If his uncle was going to behave like a kindergartener, then the one in age of doing so might as well do the same. Kaname forgot all his prudence as the anger rose to his head.

"Coward."

The word was said in a somewhat quiet voice, but it echoed in the silence of the room like a slap to the face.

"WHAT did you just say, whelp?!"

The outrage was tangible in Rido's voice and in his bewildered eyes.

Surprisingly though, it wasn't tinted with the dark anger he had displayed when he destroyed the paintings, but with the near mirth he felt when Kaname had snarled at him earlier. The little vampire's defiance somehow amused him to no end, insulting as it may be.
He must be going out of his mind, he thought. And yet, it was perhaps precisely because he never expected the little boy to dare to speak to him in such terms that he found himself oddly disinclined to do something horrible to him in return, or at least not yet. He was terribly curious with this unexpected turn of events, and wanted to know how far Kaname was going with this, so he pushed on.

"What did you just call me?!"

"Coward. You want me to drink the burning soup, yet you won't do it yourself."

For all his four thousand years of age, Rido could be childish when faced with such a simple argument.

"Of course I will! Unlike you, I'm not a weakling who gets burned so easily! I can drink and be completely unharmed!"

The look Kaname returned him was clear challenge and told him the boy didn't believe him.

Rido fumed, and quickly took a spoonful of soup and slid it in his mouth, swallowing it as if he was perfectly fine.

"See?!"

"You're in pain too."

"I assure you I'm not."

"You were clenching your fist against the cushion when you swallowed. You underestimate me too much."

"Shut up!! Like you can do better!"

The two proceeded to drink their soup while glaring at each other. Rido was naturally much better at feigning that it wasn't scorching hot, but Kaname did his very best too, and despite the inevitable cuteness, his insistence was like a thorn in the side of Rido's pride, and the older pureblood's was slowly starting to get vaguely more annoyed than he had been amused a moment ago.

This called for a new challenge. Not a good prospect for Kaname.

As soon as they were done with the bowls of soup, Rido walked out of the room and came back with a large box.

Kaname felt his sweat turn cold at the sight, wondering what was inside – and hoping he wouldn't be stuffed inside or anything.

Rido popped open the top and revealed it was actually a large case of blood wine bottles.

"Now we'll see who's a coward!!"

Kaname had a mortified look on his face as Rido uncorked a bottle and shoved it in front of the boy with a cruel glint in his mismatched eyes.

After a few hours, Kaname was horrified by the apparent multiplication of Ridos in front of him. There were three, he could swear, though it looked kind of like four if he squinted. He was quite worried. One was more than enough trouble already, much less three or four.

His uncle wasn't faring much better, which truth to be said was only fair, considering he'd drank several bottles already, while Kaname was falling apart after a mere two small cups and a half.

Rido stared at the boy for a while with apparent surprise, then latched onto him and pulled him closer to him, mumbling in a slurred voice "Juri!!" in response to which Kaname quite frantically insisted "No I'm not!! No, I'm not!" but it was to no avail, as the older pureblood didn't seem to hear him in the least and clung to him in a tight embrace.

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It was the middle of the afternoon the next day when Juri arrived back at Rido's manor. She parked quickly and rushed for the door.

He would only be expecting her later probably, but she had wanted to come and get Kaname as soon as possible, so she just came directly after Haruka and her returned from the airport. She dropped her husband at home first because Rido was usually in a more amiable mood when they didn't come together.

The doorbell rang and rang, but no one came. Juri started knocking on the door hard, but it was also to no avail.

Her patience was considerably smaller now than it had been when she waited in front of the door the previous day – back then, she was just annoyed to be made to wait, while now she was seriously worried about how Kaname was faring.
Vampires should already be awake by now, so Rido had no excuses to not come to the door, unless something was dreadfully wrong.

Not wanting to wait any longer, Juri used her power to unlock the door a bit brutally, and ran in. She crossed the long corridors in a rush, searching, guiding herself by where she felt Rido's aura coming from. She could feel Kaname's one too, but it was so faint. Clear panic was now rising in her chest, multiplying tenfold the worry she had already been feeling before.

She finally narrowed it down to a drawing room and flung the door open, finding herself faced by the unexpected sight of Rido apparently asleep on his side on the couch, with his front facing the wall, his hair tousled and his clothes crumpled, looking like he had fallen asleep in his day --or better saying, night-- clothes.

Juri approached carefully, finding it highly suspicious that he didn't wake up with the door opening, something normally impossible for a pureblood. As she got close enough to see what was between Rido and the back of the couch, she found something both unsettling and almost frightening.

Protectively cradled in Rido's arms, Kaname was sleeping peacefully, his little face buried against his uncle's chest. Both were apparently deeply asleep, curled up in each other's arms. It was a picture of such peaceful innocence that Juri couldn't possibly believe her eyes. She covered her lips in amazement.

In his sleep, Rido pulled Kaname closer, nuzzling his hair gently as he whispered softly "Juri", very clearly mistaken over the nature of the person he held lovingly in his arms.

A vein bulged suddenly in Juri's temple, and right about then, she stepped back and her foot struck something on the ground, which she had failed to see before due to her worry.

A bottle.

An empty bottle.

One of many, to be more exact. There were more on the table and in the box next to the couch, all empty…

So that was why no one was waking up.

"Rido, you are SO DEAD!!"

Her scream echoed through the entire house, jarring the two sleepers awake brutally.

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The End

Sorry that Rido was such a jerk in this chapter. XD;; Well, he wasn't much nicer in the previous ones either. XD;;
About the soup, I think something more fancy like a vichyssoise would be much more likely to be served as an appetizer in the party, but then, it would have been cold rather than hot, and I also happen to love split pea soup, and wanted to feed it to little Kaname, even if his experience of it unfortunately wasn't as pleasant since Rido just had to go and serve it too hot. XD;; Poor little Kaname.

Rido's age is made up, by the way. We only know Juri's aproximate age, canonically, not Rido's or Haruka's.

And unrelatedly, yay, the fic is now complete! :D

It was fun to write, even if it was just pointless interaction between the two, more of a slice-of-life thing than anything more action oriented. But both types are fun to write! :D
I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for reading! :D