Chapter Sixteen - She Came and Went

The room was dark except for the light of the candle dimming the view. Yuuki's arm was laid out with her head resting on it as she stared off into the darkness the room offered her.

Mother, how I wish I could have a conversation with you, she thought.

She gently bent her fingers to make sure she wasn't dreaming and let out a slow and heavy sigh. She felt the new and foreign object against her other fingers.

Dimly, the ring on her left finger could be seen in the glistening of the light.

Yes, Kaname! She recalled in her mind. She was ecstatic and answered with fast approval to his inquiry.

She was so happy, but she felt lonely.

What a strange way to feel, she thought as she continued to enjoy the darkness's company.

I don't remember being human, really. But I do remember, too.

She hadn't been human in such a long time she struggled to remember the experience, but it was all she really had when it came to Kaname. With the memories regarding Kaname, she'd replayed them so much to remember him that she couldn't deny that she remembered what it felt like even if it was barely.

She struggled with the sudden wondering of her humanity because it was the closest she'd ever been to being happy. Her ignorance of her true origins while being surrounded by friends and loving family gave her a sense of completion.

But now, holding on to the ring Kaname presented to her as she said yes to his question, she felt incomplete. Perhaps this was what was needed to bring Yuuki out of her obsession and analyze how she'd been.

Of course with everything she had she would marry Kaname, but she really missed her mother. She wanted to share her happiness with Juuri.

Yuuki barely had any access to Juuri besides the pieces she'd picked up from Kaname who'd picked up pieces from Rido who'd picked them up from Hakura and Juuri herself. They were so far from first hand experiences she couldn't quite enjoy them. They were basically fragments.

It was tiring being the rock to everyone else.

Besides Kaname now, she had Zero. Ai was a rock at times, but only when it was necessary. She tried to keep Ai away from the raw reality of vampire society and wanted to keep her ignorant of the exhaustion the weight of it all could cause.

Because of that, she had no real stronghold beside herself.

She shook her head.

Kaname is here now! He will surely share the weight of it all!

Right after Kaname's encounter with the Kuran children's departure he'd decided it was best for him to sleep. He'd been awake with Yuuki the entire night up until that point.

Yuuki smiled. The natural pull of the dark was always going to happen, but she didn't have to do it anymore. Finally, she thought!

Having let him go to bed by himself, she'd left herself open and vulnerable to the depression of her thoughts. She was happy with her triumphant overcoming of that depression.

Satisfied with knowing Kaname would happily bear her power with her, she wanted to be with him.

She made her way to the room he was sleeping and carefully entered in. She could sense he was awake.

Without saying much of anything and having failed to get dressed that morning, she crawled into his bed without a word exchanged. Kaname welcomed Yuuki, opening his arms to her. She yawned and happily made her way closer to her fiancee.

"I can't wait to tell Ai and Ren", Yuuki yawned.

Kaname responded with an "mm" sound. It wasn't as if they'd of expected any less of Yuuki and Kaname anyways, she'd think.

Being absorbed by Kaname, Yuuki fell asleep almost as quickly as she'd said yes to Kaname's proposal. Kaname half smiled with Yuuki now next to him. Through all his years of slumber, a hazy yearning left a hole in his heart unfulfilled.

His own sense of duty had originally driven him and his actions. He'd locked loyalty to his fellow progenitor from long ago, but along the way tied his love to Yuuki. Because of that interrupting his sense of purpose during those times.

Now that everything was repaid, Kaname could satisfy his heart since his once admonishing sense of guilt was gone. Here his heart was, but what else was there, he wondered.

He was looking forward to truly meeting his daughter and continue living with Yuuki as a partner. It saddened him, even now, to sense the lust of power all around him. He knew before all good things could be asserted, a storm would first pass, and Yuuki would soon know of it too.

It was unforeseen to Kaname as he'd sharply noticed an essence emit itself around him. This wasn't the first time he'd noticed it. On several occasions the past few days he'd felt it. He wasn't scared, but it made him feel uneasy. It felt white, but in an evil sense.

As quickly as it came, the essence disappeared. Kaname knew he'd have to be on his feet. With his whole family confused and with their guard lowered, Kaname was prepared for the worst. He wasn't going to let his little piece of happiness be destroyed by anyone regardless of their plans.

He closed his eyes.

**the Hanabusa residence**

Ai made a swirling motion with her hand that held her teacup and watched the brown liquid inside sway with the motion.

"So the real question is: What could lower societal vampires do to grasp hold of Lord Kaname's powers"? Ruka proposed in question.

Ai'd been listening to the conversation a short while now with Ren at her side who seemed more vested in the conversation than she was.

She was afraid to be more involved with it since it offered a difficult plan.

"Anything involving Lord Kaname is so troublesome", Shiki blatantly commented. His eyes were narrow with what seemed to be boredom almost.

With the truth put before them now, Kain clung to his wife's hand. He didn't like being involved with vampire affairs anymore, but Ruka couldn't excuse herself from their wellbeing. Because he loved his wife dearly, Kain would do anything in his power to make her happy and accommodate anything Ai or Hanabusa might suggest.

Takuma stood away from everyone near a large displaying globe in the room. He eyed it harshly.

"Do you think the second uprising could be after the same result from the first"? Ren asked the room.

"More than likely. They'll probably want to purge the impurities of the pure families and possibly discard the Hunter's Association which would make the past thousand years moot", Hanabusa answered.

"Yokomura isn't a pure one… he's of nobility, right"? Ren asked again.

"Right", Takuma answered from the corner. His back was turned from the rest of the party as he stared at the globe.

Ren turned his head toward Ichijo.

"Do you know anything else about that weird man"? he asked.

"I am confident enough he wasn't trying to hide his intentions. He purposefully let lose his presence in a way that would alert not only us, but people who'd been waiting", Ichijo said.

"Tell me why you think that", Ai requested.

"Because I remember that man when he was part of the vampire council".

That statement semi shook the room, even receiving a reaction from Rima and Shiki.

"You're just now telling us"? the surprised Shiki stammered, the pocky he was chewing on falling out of his mouth.

"I only recognize him now because of that aura he let out last night. Yokomura provided that feeling before during the many visits with my grandfather years ago".

"Figures an ancient one would survive", Kain sighed. He sunk his face into his hand in frustration. He knew what that could mean.

"I'm not really sure where to even begin with going about investigating this", Ren admitted.

"Don't concern yourself with this directly, Ren. Of course we'll keep both you and Ai informed regarding the matter, but all eyes of the currect vampire society are going to be on all of us - especially you two", Hanabusa warned.

"Takuma would be best suited to start digging around, right Ichijo"? Ruka confirmed.

"I'll do my best", he said. He felt frazzled. He knew where to possibly look and to whom he may possibly involve, but… he felt discerned. It was almost a helplessness.

His dear friend Kaname was here again, and because of that, everything was up in the air.

"The pure ones are so troublesome", he sighed. Sayori placed her hand upon Takuma's shoulder to offer peace.

"You've been through a lot but this cannot be helped", she said trying to offer words of encouragement and support. Ichijo nodded.

"How annoying", Rima mumbled, resting her head now in her hands.

Shiki followed in a similar fashion and stared at the ground almost hopeless.

"It is quite disheartening to know this is a problem", Ruka said.

"But for the sake of Lord Kaname and his initial sacrifice, we've got to do everything in our power to keep the pillars of the foundation of our current society from collapsing", Aido exclaimed.

During the discussion, Ai began looking around.

Somewhat like a radio signal, something distorted could be heard and it was displeasing to hear.

"Lady Ai, would you like some more tea"? Sayori asked her guest.

"Eh, sure"! she accepted, attempting to ignore the distortion in sound.

"I suppose for now we'll leave the current investigating to Ichigo, then", Ren stated. "But if any of us encounter anything relevant, we should report to Mr. Hanabusa at once".

"Fair enough", Kain sighed.

"I'll definitely try to be more keen. You two should as well", Ruka looked at both Rima and Shiki. Rima simply nodded.

"...Truly troublesome", he said under his breath.

Ai's stomach was displeased.

She felt a heavy worry come about her as the pulling urge to leave the room grew.

She stood up.

The same presence Kaname'd felt earlier struck Ai. She felt an uncomfortable power emit from an uncertain source. It called her from nowhere specific and every corner.

"Please excuse me", she requested, and left through the doorway.

Ren folded his hands in concern.

"I need to be of help in some way", he said.

"I'm sorry Ren. It's not good to have do much right now when it comes to the society", Hanabusa frowned.

Ren understood why, but it still felt like a punch in the gut.

"And what about keeping Yuuki and Lord Kaname in the dark about this"? Ruka asked.

"For now, I think it best to keep them ignorant of the subject", Takuma added.

"I'll alert you if anything comes up", Ruka said.

"We should end this meeting now, before anything seems suspicious", Kain said.

"Agreed", Shiki said in semi relief. Both he and Rima stood up prepared to leave.

Ren looked around and noticed Ai hadn't come back yet. It'd now been a little while. He paused.

He couldn't sense her presence in the house anymore and quickly came to a panic.

"Where's Ai"?! he screamed.

**Kuran Mansion**

There was a furious and speedy knock at the bedroom door Kaname and Yuuki lingered.

Yuuki growled at it as it woke her up.

Though neither wanted to get up, Kaname and Yuuki slowly made their way to the door to find Seiren's panicked face. It didn't take long after seeing that to move Kaname in a bad direction.

"What is it", he demanded, coldly.

Yuuki was moved negatively by it as well.

She collected herself and revealed, "Lady Ai is missing".

Everything in Yuuki's eyesight began turning black.