One-shot: Father
World: Combined D.Gray-Man and Vampire Knight
Timeline: 850 years after Le Sang et l'amour en temps de guerre
Location: Random
---
He waited outside the chambers frankly because he couldn’t bear to see Sara Shirabuki undergoing the agony. Even as he sat there, his back leaning on the wall as he hugged himself, her unearthly cries of pain seemed to be rebuking him. He winced every time her voice rose to a higher, inhuman pitch.
She was having twins. His twins.
But neither vampire nor vampire hunter ever had a normal birth of twins.
One twin always had to die, as the stronger one ate it while still inside the mother’s womb. The only exceptions to this were Zero and Ichiru Kiryuu.
But it was still his children - children! - and more than anything, he wished to see both of the babies alive and well. Even if they weren’t human.
He looked up just as the door opened, and the C-class vampire doctor nodded wordlessly to him. He rose quietly, his long hair loose, and he knew he must have looked like a mess.
“Inside, my lord.” The doctor said. He followed him just as silently.
The doctor led him to Sara’s drawing room, which was hurriedly converted into an improvised nursery. A couple of C-class nurses stood back from two cradles, and here he had the first glimpse of his children.
“They’re alive. Both healthy as the other. The girl came out first, and her brother followed her after fifteen minutes. He was clutching her heel.” The doctor informed him.
They were both swaddled in white cloth, asleep. They were impossibly tiny, pink bundles. Though they were still so small they already had tufts of his dark hair on their frail heads. The baby on the right, the boy, yawned, and for a moment he glimpsed pale tongue and pink, shiny toothless gums. These were his children.
“You name them, my lord,” the doctor continued. “The Lady Sara is unconscious. The Naming is always done an hour into the birth.”
He picked up the girl, his eldest, and was surprised to find that he was trembling. He did not know how to carry babies primarily because he had never expected to father children. Hell, he never expected to be a pureblood vampire in the first place. She was so small, so fragile in his suddenly too-big hands. He held her up, closer to him, and took in her baby’s scent.
“Sumi.” It was the first word that came to mind.
“The Lady Sumi.” The doctor intoned, and he and the nurses bowed.
He was still trembling as he put her back down and picked up his son. He remembered Kazumi - Kuran Kazumi, who had died in his hands, a direct stab into the heart with a hunter’s sword. Kazumi, who looked so much like his father.
“Shuya.” He said.
“The Lord Shuya.” The doctor intoned, and the courtesies were repeated.
He didn’t know why, but he just started to weep. He wept quietly as he held his son close, as his free hand touched his daughter’s cheek lightly. But weep he did, and a teardrop fell onto Shuya’s cheek, making him open his tiny crimson eyes and look at him. Somewhere he felt Sumi’s little hand close around his finger.
His children. His twins.
He remembered the promise he made to Kaname as Kazumi’s body finally cracked and turned into ashes.
---
He called them his little S’s. Five years old in vampire reckoning, yet they were already running around the place. They definitely took after him; they had his beautiful blue-black hair and this distinct way of frowning when they were displeased. On the other hand, their mouths and eyes were their mother’s. They also inherited his ability to walk fearlessly and safely into the daylight. Sara had smiled and said that at least they would get to enjoy playgrounds.
He always took them to the nearest playground every weekend. The nearest to Sara’s house was of course twelve miles away, but he’d easily cleared the distance with a quick bout of flight or teleportation, his kids bundled up in his arms. During the weekdays, tutors were home schooling them with vampire lore and human academics. They were voracious readers in their own right.
That particularly sunny Saturday he was sitting on a bench reading a book as he let the kids play by the sandbox. Sumi and Shuya socialized normally with other human children; they ran around and shrieked happily though their playmates were all four-year-olds and older. He kept careful watch even though he was reading his book. Though his children did not yet possess fangs, it would not do if they were to suddenly feed on a playmate’s life spark. A fainting child could not be normal.
As early as they could walk and talk, he and Sara have started teaching them about the responsibilities and powers of a pureblood - that a single bite of theirs, possibly unintentional and harmless, could make a human being suffer forever. That they should never abuse their Voice and use it only in the direst of need. That aristocrats and other low-ranking vampires were good servants and thus they had to be good leaders for them. That one day they will lead the vampire race.
He looked up from his book as he felt Sumi climb up his lap. Smiling, he put aside his reading just as Shuya climbed up his lap too.
“Want to go home now?” He said.
“Yap!” Sumi squealed as her brother nodded.
He stood up and packed away his book and their formula before walking off with them, one on each arm. Sumi had her little arms around his neck, while Shuya pointed at random buildings and tried to name them.
---
They grew up like weeds. They were thirteen years old in vampire reckoning when the council gave them their first real duty - to run the Night Class in the Cross Academy. He felt pride, unexplainable pride, as he stood at the school gates with Sara and watched their children clad in that all-too familiar white uniform as they finally entered the campus.
Shuya had paused and waved frantically at them, and Sumi glowed with excitement.
He waved at them too and waited until they were already out of sight. He felt Sara’s gaze on him. He turned his head and looked at her.
“My earliest judgments regarding you were wrong.” She said. “You are a good man. Our children would not have grown beautifully if you weren’t.”
He only gave a nod of thanks and went into the car.
---
In fourteen years, Yuu Kanda had never raised his voice against his children. He had primarily let Sara discipline them, helping her only from the sidelines. But that evening, when they had received Shuya’s call, he knew he was going to have to hurt his daughter.
He had told Sara to stay at home, that he was going to deal with this. It was easy to go to the Moon Dorm; everything was quiet. Shuya did not need to talk. They found Sumi in her bedroom, clutching the dead Level E to her chest as she wept.
“What happened, Shuya?” he had asked his son calmly.
“He was a boy she took a liking to.” Shuya had explained. “He’s not from the campus. I told her about it, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She bit him, and he turned into Level E thirty minutes after her fangs pierced his neck. I killed him.”
When the Level E turned into ashes, he asked Shuya to step out of the room. His son gave him a nervous glance but obeyed. His daughter looked up at him fearfully.
“What did your mother and I teach you, Sumi?” he asked, his voice quiet.
She sobbed into her hands and could not answer.
“Did you love that man?” he continued. “Or did you see him as a plaything?”
She shrank back, as if he had brandished a hunter’s gun at her. Of his children with Sara, Sumi had always been the proud, assertive one, in contrast to her timid brother. But as it turned out, Shuya had more control over his desires and knew what is it that he definitely wanted.
“Did you love that man, Sumi?” he repeated.
She shook her head; she was pale and her eyes were crimson and wide as she looked at him.
He did not say anything else as he gave her a crisp, back-handed slap that sent her tumbling to the floor as a sobbing heap. He grabbed her, his hand squeezing her chin as he forced her to look at him. She could not look away.
“I did not raise you to become an irresponsible, spoiled brat, Sumi.” He said, his voice at its quietest. “Let this be a lesson for you.”
He left the Moon Dorm shortly afterward; with strict instructions for Shuya that Sumi was not to be let out of her room nor visited or talked to for a week.
---
Thirty years was the deal that he and Kaname had worked out for themselves. The twins were twenty now in vampire reckoning, excellent persons in their own right. But he was yet to tell them the whole story, and finally answer the questions that he had always asked him:
Why did he sleep in another room instead of sharing with their mother?
Why did he never hold their mother’s hand unless needed?
Why was it that the only kisses he gave their mother were chaste pecks on the cheeks?
Why was it that they never had other siblings?
He had decided to tell them now, and have the last ten years with this ‘family’ as a time for his children to adjust and to accept. He waited for them in the library, an old picture in his hands. It was a picture taken by Allen Walker ages ago, on a beach in Marseilles, France. Kaname had thought it funny to grab and suddenly kiss him as they walked, and Allen, damned prankster that he was, captured the moment with a handy phone camera.
The door opened and his twins entered, smiling at him.
“Sit down,” he told them, as he was already seated on the table. “And I will tell you my story - the story of your father.”
---
I promise to you, that if ever I have children, I will raise them with you in mind, with no concealing the truth of who I am, what I am and who is it that I love and why, so another tragedy like this will never happen again.
He stepped onto the car brakes and wasn’t surprised to see Kaname already sitting on the rock, waiting for him. He waited for a few minutes before turning off the engine and stepping out of the car.
Kaname turned his head, and gave a quiet, relieved smile. The ache and longing in his heart seemed to throb.
“Tadaima,” he whispered as Kaname wrapped him in his arms.
“Okaeri…” Kaname answered just as softly.
He tiptoed a bit - Kaname had always been the taller one - and kissed Kaname long and hard, wrapping his arms around his lover’s neck. Kaname held him close and fast, as if crushing him into the embrace.
“Let’s go home…” Kaname said.
“Yes…”
They held each other’s hand tightly as they walked toward the sunset, to resume where they had left off.
Timeline: 850 years after Le Sang et l'amour en temps de guerre
Location: Random
---
He waited outside the chambers frankly because he couldn’t bear to see Sara Shirabuki undergoing the agony. Even as he sat there, his back leaning on the wall as he hugged himself, her unearthly cries of pain seemed to be rebuking him. He winced every time her voice rose to a higher, inhuman pitch.
She was having twins. His twins.
But neither vampire nor vampire hunter ever had a normal birth of twins.
One twin always had to die, as the stronger one ate it while still inside the mother’s womb. The only exceptions to this were Zero and Ichiru Kiryuu.
But it was still his children - children! - and more than anything, he wished to see both of the babies alive and well. Even if they weren’t human.
He looked up just as the door opened, and the C-class vampire doctor nodded wordlessly to him. He rose quietly, his long hair loose, and he knew he must have looked like a mess.
“Inside, my lord.” The doctor said. He followed him just as silently.
The doctor led him to Sara’s drawing room, which was hurriedly converted into an improvised nursery. A couple of C-class nurses stood back from two cradles, and here he had the first glimpse of his children.
“They’re alive. Both healthy as the other. The girl came out first, and her brother followed her after fifteen minutes. He was clutching her heel.” The doctor informed him.
They were both swaddled in white cloth, asleep. They were impossibly tiny, pink bundles. Though they were still so small they already had tufts of his dark hair on their frail heads. The baby on the right, the boy, yawned, and for a moment he glimpsed pale tongue and pink, shiny toothless gums. These were his children.
“You name them, my lord,” the doctor continued. “The Lady Sara is unconscious. The Naming is always done an hour into the birth.”
He picked up the girl, his eldest, and was surprised to find that he was trembling. He did not know how to carry babies primarily because he had never expected to father children. Hell, he never expected to be a pureblood vampire in the first place. She was so small, so fragile in his suddenly too-big hands. He held her up, closer to him, and took in her baby’s scent.
“Sumi.” It was the first word that came to mind.
“The Lady Sumi.” The doctor intoned, and he and the nurses bowed.
He was still trembling as he put her back down and picked up his son. He remembered Kazumi - Kuran Kazumi, who had died in his hands, a direct stab into the heart with a hunter’s sword. Kazumi, who looked so much like his father.
“Shuya.” He said.
“The Lord Shuya.” The doctor intoned, and the courtesies were repeated.
He didn’t know why, but he just started to weep. He wept quietly as he held his son close, as his free hand touched his daughter’s cheek lightly. But weep he did, and a teardrop fell onto Shuya’s cheek, making him open his tiny crimson eyes and look at him. Somewhere he felt Sumi’s little hand close around his finger.
His children. His twins.
He remembered the promise he made to Kaname as Kazumi’s body finally cracked and turned into ashes.
---
He called them his little S’s. Five years old in vampire reckoning, yet they were already running around the place. They definitely took after him; they had his beautiful blue-black hair and this distinct way of frowning when they were displeased. On the other hand, their mouths and eyes were their mother’s. They also inherited his ability to walk fearlessly and safely into the daylight. Sara had smiled and said that at least they would get to enjoy playgrounds.
He always took them to the nearest playground every weekend. The nearest to Sara’s house was of course twelve miles away, but he’d easily cleared the distance with a quick bout of flight or teleportation, his kids bundled up in his arms. During the weekdays, tutors were home schooling them with vampire lore and human academics. They were voracious readers in their own right.
That particularly sunny Saturday he was sitting on a bench reading a book as he let the kids play by the sandbox. Sumi and Shuya socialized normally with other human children; they ran around and shrieked happily though their playmates were all four-year-olds and older. He kept careful watch even though he was reading his book. Though his children did not yet possess fangs, it would not do if they were to suddenly feed on a playmate’s life spark. A fainting child could not be normal.
As early as they could walk and talk, he and Sara have started teaching them about the responsibilities and powers of a pureblood - that a single bite of theirs, possibly unintentional and harmless, could make a human being suffer forever. That they should never abuse their Voice and use it only in the direst of need. That aristocrats and other low-ranking vampires were good servants and thus they had to be good leaders for them. That one day they will lead the vampire race.
He looked up from his book as he felt Sumi climb up his lap. Smiling, he put aside his reading just as Shuya climbed up his lap too.
“Want to go home now?” He said.
“Yap!” Sumi squealed as her brother nodded.
He stood up and packed away his book and their formula before walking off with them, one on each arm. Sumi had her little arms around his neck, while Shuya pointed at random buildings and tried to name them.
---
They grew up like weeds. They were thirteen years old in vampire reckoning when the council gave them their first real duty - to run the Night Class in the Cross Academy. He felt pride, unexplainable pride, as he stood at the school gates with Sara and watched their children clad in that all-too familiar white uniform as they finally entered the campus.
Shuya had paused and waved frantically at them, and Sumi glowed with excitement.
He waved at them too and waited until they were already out of sight. He felt Sara’s gaze on him. He turned his head and looked at her.
“My earliest judgments regarding you were wrong.” She said. “You are a good man. Our children would not have grown beautifully if you weren’t.”
He only gave a nod of thanks and went into the car.
---
In fourteen years, Yuu Kanda had never raised his voice against his children. He had primarily let Sara discipline them, helping her only from the sidelines. But that evening, when they had received Shuya’s call, he knew he was going to have to hurt his daughter.
He had told Sara to stay at home, that he was going to deal with this. It was easy to go to the Moon Dorm; everything was quiet. Shuya did not need to talk. They found Sumi in her bedroom, clutching the dead Level E to her chest as she wept.
“What happened, Shuya?” he had asked his son calmly.
“He was a boy she took a liking to.” Shuya had explained. “He’s not from the campus. I told her about it, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She bit him, and he turned into Level E thirty minutes after her fangs pierced his neck. I killed him.”
When the Level E turned into ashes, he asked Shuya to step out of the room. His son gave him a nervous glance but obeyed. His daughter looked up at him fearfully.
“What did your mother and I teach you, Sumi?” he asked, his voice quiet.
She sobbed into her hands and could not answer.
“Did you love that man?” he continued. “Or did you see him as a plaything?”
She shrank back, as if he had brandished a hunter’s gun at her. Of his children with Sara, Sumi had always been the proud, assertive one, in contrast to her timid brother. But as it turned out, Shuya had more control over his desires and knew what is it that he definitely wanted.
“Did you love that man, Sumi?” he repeated.
She shook her head; she was pale and her eyes were crimson and wide as she looked at him.
He did not say anything else as he gave her a crisp, back-handed slap that sent her tumbling to the floor as a sobbing heap. He grabbed her, his hand squeezing her chin as he forced her to look at him. She could not look away.
“I did not raise you to become an irresponsible, spoiled brat, Sumi.” He said, his voice at its quietest. “Let this be a lesson for you.”
He left the Moon Dorm shortly afterward; with strict instructions for Shuya that Sumi was not to be let out of her room nor visited or talked to for a week.
---
Thirty years was the deal that he and Kaname had worked out for themselves. The twins were twenty now in vampire reckoning, excellent persons in their own right. But he was yet to tell them the whole story, and finally answer the questions that he had always asked him:
Why did he sleep in another room instead of sharing with their mother?
Why did he never hold their mother’s hand unless needed?
Why was it that the only kisses he gave their mother were chaste pecks on the cheeks?
Why was it that they never had other siblings?
He had decided to tell them now, and have the last ten years with this ‘family’ as a time for his children to adjust and to accept. He waited for them in the library, an old picture in his hands. It was a picture taken by Allen Walker ages ago, on a beach in Marseilles, France. Kaname had thought it funny to grab and suddenly kiss him as they walked, and Allen, damned prankster that he was, captured the moment with a handy phone camera.
The door opened and his twins entered, smiling at him.
“Sit down,” he told them, as he was already seated on the table. “And I will tell you my story - the story of your father.”
---
I promise to you, that if ever I have children, I will raise them with you in mind, with no concealing the truth of who I am, what I am and who is it that I love and why, so another tragedy like this will never happen again.
He stepped onto the car brakes and wasn’t surprised to see Kaname already sitting on the rock, waiting for him. He waited for a few minutes before turning off the engine and stepping out of the car.
Kaname turned his head, and gave a quiet, relieved smile. The ache and longing in his heart seemed to throb.
“Tadaima,” he whispered as Kaname wrapped him in his arms.
“Okaeri…” Kaname answered just as softly.
He tiptoed a bit - Kaname had always been the taller one - and kissed Kaname long and hard, wrapping his arms around his lover’s neck. Kaname held him close and fast, as if crushing him into the embrace.
“Let’s go home…” Kaname said.
“Yes…”
They held each other’s hand tightly as they walked toward the sunset, to resume where they had left off.