Healing Bloody Wounds

A/N: So here's the promised companion piece to The Bloody Ties that Bind! I couldn't help but write this fic once the idea got into my head, so here's my rant about why: As I've explained in previous fanfics, I absolutely LOVE the KyoKao pairing. I think it is just about the cutest thing ever and it's my favorite Ouran slash pairing. (My favorite Ouran het pairing is Mori/Haruhi, please don't make me pick between the two for an overall favorite cuz it can't be done.)

So enjoy, there's lots of drama and romance and sexy vampires that don't fucking sparkle! (Except Tamaki, he's totally allowed to sparkle. So is Honey. But that's it.)

Also, like the last chapter of Bloody Ties, this chapter was written while heavily under the influence of exhaustion and country music, so if it seems a bit off, that's why…

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran Host Club, but I do own my awesome vampire universe!

Chapter 1

In the very beginning of the 14th century, a very young man was crowned king after the untimely death of his father. The new king was fond of his wife, but he found his eyes wandering to the more low-born ladies at court while his queen was with child. So he occasionally indulged himself with trysts with the servants and lesser nobles who would never dare to say no to their king. One of these women was a lovely young thing with corn-silk blonde hair and glimmering violet eyes. She was a servant in the castle, and she was easily charmed into her king's bed.

And so it happened that three days after his queen gave birth to a son, that the king's violet-eyed mistress told her king that she was expecting his child. The king did not really mind; his own father had sired several royal bastards who were serving him at court, and he understood the advantage for his newborn son having half-siblings running around. But the queen was less than pleased, and she demanded that both maid and child be disposed of. Of course, the king was still king, and so the maid stayed.

Several months later, she gave birth to a child with the same golden hair and violet eyes that she possessed. The king was enchanted with the child and instantly saw the potential for such a lovely prince. Within hours, he was drafting marriage proposals to send to potential allies, and mother and child were being packed off to a nearby castle. The day they were to depart, the king summoned one of his dearest friends.

The dark-haired man entered the throne room. "You wished to see me, Your Majesty?"

"Yoshio Ootori, my most loyal friend," the king said, rising to greet the other man. "I have a special assignment for you!"

"Does it have anything to do with the maid and her child?" the shrewd lord asked.

"Ah, the gossip has begun," the king sighed. "Your own dear wife has had a child recently, has she not?"

"She has, Your Majesty, thank you for remembering," Yoshio replied.

"Perhaps your dear wife could use another servant in her household?"

"Ahhh…" Yoshio murmured. "Yes, my king, I rather suspect she does."

"Good, good," the king said. "I expect you will treat them well."

And that was how a pretty maid with a baby in her arms and no father in sight found herself being ushered off to the Ootori estate. Of course with the queen still so angry, the child could not be called prince, and he and his mother were supposed to be treated just as any servant would be treated. Still, the servant woman was very conscious of the king's affection for his child, and she raised her boy with the expectation that eventually he would be treated like the prince that he was.

The little prince grew to be a very curious child, constantly wandering throughout the castle. His host, Lord Ootori, was pleasant enough to the boy, though his wife seemed to feel that it was a disgrace to have the woman and child in the house, and hated being reminded of their presence. She had been trying hard to curry favor with the young queen, and housing the king's mistress and bastard son would almost certainly hurt her standing in court, and that of her children, if she did not show appropriate amounts of disdain.

Lord Ootori and his wife had four children, two boys and a girl who were older than the little prince, and another small boy who was the same age. The little prince thought he would have enjoyed playing with them, but the older children had been instructed not to speak to or play with the small boy, and he had never seen the youngest child.

One day, when the young prince was four years old, he was wandering through the halls of the palace he called home when he came across a child he had never seen before. The boy looked to be the same age as him, with jet black hair and slate gray eyes. The slender boy was sitting on a window seat holding a picture book and frowning down at it in concentration. The little prince didn't know the meaning of the word 'shy', so he went straight up to the other boy.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully.

The dark-haired young boy glanced up from the book, made a 'hmph'-type noise, and turned right back to his book.

"What are you reading?" the little prince asked, quite undaunted by the obvious rebuff. Of course, it might not have been obvious to him…

"A book of fables," the boy said at last.

"What are fables?" the prince asked.

The dark-haired boy snorted. "They are stories that teach a lesson. Don't you know anything?"

The little prince shrugged. "Why are you reading that book anyways? Why don't you play a game or something fun?"

"I have more important things to do," the boy said with a sniff. "My father will quiz me on these fables later."

"You can leave it for now and play a game with me, can't you? Just for a few minutes?" the prince wheedled.

Those gray eyes narrowed and he glared at the prince over the top of the book. "You have to be joking. I do not have time for games."

"We're kids. We always have time for games," and the prince's smile was like sunshine as he said this.

The dark-haired boy found his resolve weakening. He had no way of knowing what a familiar feeling that would be whenever he saw that smile or those pleading violet eyes. All he knew was that he was a bored and lonely four-year-old, and this was the first time another child besides his older sister had wanted to play with him. Slowly he marked his place in the book and sat it on the seat next to him. "Fine… but only for a few minutes."

The little prince's smile could have lit up the darkest dungeon. "Great! Let's play hide-and-seek! I'll be it if you want! I'm Tamaki! What's your name?"

"…Kyouya."

And this was how the youngest son of Yoshio Ootori met the boy who would have such a profound impact on his life.

A/N: I know this is a bit short, but as I explained in the last chapter of Bloody Ties, I have had an absolutely awful few days and it was a bit of a struggle just to get this much out, especially with the deadline I gave myself. But now that I've gotten this started, I'll hopefully fly through it just as fast as I flew through writing Bloody Ties!

Oh, and in case you haven't realized it already, there won't be vampires for a little while, probably until at least chapter three, maybe even chapter four. I was dead-serious when I said I was exploring backstories. Sorry if this disappoints anyone, but the vampire angle will play a HUGE part in the story once I get through all this stuff while Tamaki and Kyouya are kids.