AN: I'm sorry for a long absence, it had its reasons on which I'd rather not dwell now, but at least I return with the longest chapter I've written so far for this fic. On the down side - it revolves mostly around those, who remain in the Sun Dorms - Kain, Shiki and Rima, but it is very much a necessary chapter plot-wise, and I hope that the many characters I have in this story do not all look/think alike and are at least partially recognizable :D

Edited: Lol at me publishing it two days before chapter 48, which is so Cain-fangirlable :D Feel a bit bad about Aidou-dono now - after all, canon-wise he seems to grant Kaname a benefit of a doubt, or at least - wishes to hear his son's POV before jumping to any conclusions.

Thank you again (and again, and again))) to YenGirl for correcting my mistakes.

Disclaimer is still the same.

Akatsuki hated responsibility and tried to avoid it. This tendency of his revealed itself in the subtle facts – in how he constantly defied the dress-code both at the Cross Academy and at the few soirees where he was invited, in how he never stuck too closely to the rules, in how he habitually forgot to drag the brush through his basically anyway unruly hair when he got up in the evening. It wasn't much, but he wasn't the one for ostentatious means and in his mind at least – it was entirely enough to show the responsibility that he was unsuitable.

It didn't help much though. For whatever reasons – the responsibility just loved him. It followed him around with persistence worth of a stalker fangirl and immediately planned some new advances as soon as he grudgingly succumbed to another one of its tricks.

And eventually he always succumbed…

He was barely four when his cousin's father as much as officially assigned him responsible for Hanabusa behaving (or rather misbehaving) himself, even though in fact Hanabusa was the older one by almost a half-year and it was all too apparent even at so young an age that the spoilt young genius and good behavior were two things that didn't mix, like… well, like ice and fire…

But that was one responsibility so old it had become almost second nature to Cain, to the point that he didn't even bat an eyelid when Kaname-sama picked up on it right where their parents had let off.

When he was seven and his vampire abilities started to develop – his own father, a little shocked that his quiet little son would come to command such raw power, gave him a long and boring in its obviousness lecture on the responsibility that the dangerous art of fire-wielding entailed. "Control and control again," he stressed forcefully. Like Akatsuki needed to be reminded… it was painfully clear that even Hanabusa's ice, equally dangerous as it was if applied unthinkingly, left unattended just melted into a harmless puddle… the fire on the other hand, even a tiny flame, left unattended tended to spread in the most ominous way… and after the first mishap he voted to himself to never ever allow anything of this kind to happen again, silently binding to another responsibility thrust on him by the very nature of his gift.

Then again – there was the responsibility he felt for Luca – self-assigned and as such both easier and harder to bear. He looked out for her for as long as he loved the girl, which was – in retrospect – for as long back as he could remember. Of course, for the greater part of this time she had been in love with another person, never mind that her feelings were never reciprocated, and Akatsuki was left to hover constantly at the fringes of her awareness – someone to whom she turned for comfortable companionship, someone on whom she counted for the mending of her broken heart.

And because both she and his stupid obsessive cousin cared deeply for Kaname-sama, he thought of himself as partially responsible for him as well – not in any real way, the pureblood was too powerful, independent and reclusive for that, and of course, bending to every wish of a pureblood was part of a vampire psychology, - but for Akatsuki it went a little deeper than that – doing Kaname-sama's bidding ensured the satisfaction not only of the Dorm leader Kuran but also of the two people who played the most important role in Akatsuki's life.

Unfortunately, for Cain and his strained relationship with responsibilities at large – doing Kaname-sama's bidding involved a whole swarm of secondary responsibilities – for his precious Yuuki(-sama), for promoting the co-existence (read the endless socializing events that the Chairman thought up for both Night Class and Day Class together), for keeping the rest of the Night Class in line and happy and safely on blood tablets, and even for hunting the level Es in the nearby town – so that the area around the Academy remained all peaceful and safe.

So in fact, he guessed, it was all building gradually towards the last few days – where in absence of both Kaname-sama and Ichijou he somehow found himself responsible for the defense of the Day Class and the Academy grounds, shouldering the responsibility – as always actually – for the simple reason that there was no one else either willing or suited to pick it up besides himself.

It was the second day or more like - the third night since he slept properly and his mind was lagging both from the lack of rest and the sheer multitude of things that still awaited his urgent attention.

Blood tablets… that was a priority right now – the blood tablets… They had already ransacked the infirmary and pulled together what meager supply each of them carried on him- or herself, and he knew without a doubt that it was barely enough (if at all) to last entrusted to him group of battle-tired vampires – some of whom had to heal their own wounds and others had shared blood with those whose condition demanded more powerful measures – through this night… and no further. After that all hell was bound to come lose, and he only hoped that they would have the Day Class (another point that needed attention) safely brainwashed and out of the premises before it did.

The Moon Dorm had to be checked for some supply could still be available amongst the ruins. And also (if he could but locate Yagari-sensei) there were bound to be a few crates freshly delivered to the Chairman's house. Only – he had lost the track of the one-eyed hunter some time just before the end of the battle, and even he wouldn't try to approach the Cross's residence now – with a bunch of trigger-happy vampire hunters camped around it and bound to shoot any vampire who dared come near before even thinking to check if it was foe or friend.

Those were but a few – and enough to take him the night if not longer…

And to boot – my stupid cousin is playing stupid childish games with me…

Cain felt the dark wave of irritation rise inside him and mentally shoved it right back – it was plain dangerous for a fire-wielder to let the emotion grow out of control… though the common lore of the vampires – unscientific and unsubstantiated by any serious research as it was – firmly held that it were exactly the vampires with highly volatile tempers that usually acquired the command of so called "elemental" forces, while those better in control of their own minds were gifted with more intricate and subtle powers… Now, he could accept the theory where himself and Hanabusa were concerned, but as it also meant that Luca with her mind-manipulation was the controlled one…

Yeah, right… tell me again…

But that was beside the point… He rubbed his forehead where a headache had been pulsing with ever growing intensity for the last three hours, trying – as was a long-standing habit of his to analyze the roots of his irritation, which usually (if not always) served to reduce it in half…

He was just tired… deathly tired… and after he had tried to lie down – just for an hour – leaving the partially recovered Ichijou to supervise the place, and was woken in barely fifteen minutes to a raging inferno that cost his cousin a really painful injury – something that could've been easily avoided if he had been there to begin with (and not elsewhere - happily dozing off) – he was superstitiously afraid to so much as close his eyes until he was absolutely sure that it was all over, and until Kaname-sama returned to lead them again.

That was it – the guilt for not being there instead of Aidou – that only strengthened the irritation Akatsuki felt for him - and the fact that he couldn't be sure that it wasn't his fireball that had somehow singed a wooden part of the building, and then it smoldered unnoticed till the fire broke out at the early hours of dawn. It could so easily be so… there were some moments in the heat of the battle when he worked on instinct alone, only intent on keeping enemies from his class-mates' backs, tracing the balls to the point when they met with their targets and not really paying attention to where they proceeded from there…

So stupid – to feel irritation because of your own guilt…

Then again – there was an irritation born from the hope thwarted. When the younger vampire ran to him with the word that Aidou had found Kaname-sama and they could now stop with the search, Cain seriously hoped to see the elusive Dorm leader back at the helm, so to say, and, God knows, it was something he couldn't wait for! Only – upon return – he had found neither Kaname-sama, nor Hanabusa, only Shiki and Rima keeping guard at the doors of the Sun Dorm and looking their usual laid-back and disinterested selves.

"Your cousin?" Shiki answered casually, "He's been and left. Only told us to send someone to you to inform you that he's found Kaname-sama, talked with Takuma and then they both disappeared in a bit of a hurry…"

Oooh, great! The only other person who would assume at least a part of authority!..

Akatsuki mentally braced as he heard a loud crash and an angry wail coming from inside the Dorms. Luca – unlike himself – hadn't stopped to question the guards but proceeded right in (to check that her beloved Kaname-sama was sound and safe, of course), and now she was bound to come out any minute in a murderous rage that – per usual – in the absence of actual culprit (aka Hanabusa) would be diverted to his 'next of kin' (aka himself). Like it wasn't enough that he had to listen to her angry ramblings about 'Hanabusa scoring on her again!' in the whole search-party business all the way as they returned to the Dorms…

"Have you seen where they went to?" He asked tiredly.

"Nope," answered Rima this time, even her habitually bored gaze training somewhat apprehensively on the doors. "He told us to close our eyes and count to ten…"

That's what I mean by childish games, see?

"Oh, and… Shiki!" she nudged her companion non-too-gently into his ribs.

"Ah, yeah! He left you a note too," the auburn-haired vampire searched in his pocket producing first a pack of Pockies, then a handkerchief and then a carefully folded piece of paper. "Here you go."

The paper was longish, but held in fact only a pair of hastily scribbled lines in Hanabusa's nearly indecipherable handwriting.

"Cuz," it said, "I found K.-s."

Like I don't know it already…

"Took Takuma"

Ditto…

"Borrowed some food and fifty pills"

Oh fabulous!

Now, come to that – fifty tablets weren't that much for three vampires, two of whom were recovering from pretty serious injuries… It's only that they had had about five tablets per a vampire as it was, eight for each reserved for the two who were currently guarding the day class – and now this number had to be reduced even further… That's what almost made Cain burn the offending paper this moment, and pity that it wasn't his cousin's ass!

Luckily the next two lines made him squint thoughtfully before he gave in to the impulse – because on the surface of it they seemed just oddly out of place.

"Sorry to leave you all Alone," they said, "Warm kisses. H."

Could it be?.. Yes, he supposed that with his cousin it really could be… He brought the paper closer to his nose – sure enough, even through the overlapping chocolate and wafer of Senri's pockies it smelled faintly of apples…

So, it was apple juice that he used…

That was another childish game of his cousin's. And this time Akatsuki meant it seriously – way in their childhood Hanabusa had read somewhere about the sympathetic ink and from then on, every time they wanted to plan some adventure secretly from Luca or their parents, they'd pass back and forth such innocuous looking notes, the real message in which would only be revealed if one heated the paper – something that never was a problem for Cain, and Hanabusa… well, Hanabusa anyway was usually the one who initiated the prank.

Grudgingly Akatsuki decided to grant his cousin a benefit of a doubt. Maybe there was something serious inside the paper, maybe Aidou's actions had a purpose and weren't just an unthinking irresponsibility that he had been all too ready to accuse him in… but then – who wouldn't? There was ample evidence in the past that Hanabusa was prone to act without consideration, and maybe it was just wishful thinking on Cain's part when he noticed his cousin actually beginning to take the responsibility seriously –in the last few months…

His sensitive hearing detected the angry stomping over the wooden stairs that led from the second floor… Luca… He loved her, dearly… but Hanabusa's note clearly stated 'alone'… besides… frankly… just for once - he wasn't ready to take another bout of Luca's rage on top of his other strains…

"Hey guys," he asked with a faint little smile (Am I not Hanabusa's cousin?). "How about closing your eyes and counting to ten once again?"

Shiki smirked and even Rima nodded with complete understanding. But – ah! He was too responsible for his own good. Bending down, so that his mouth was right by Senri's ear, he whispered so quietly he barely could hear himself.

"Just in case of something serious – I will be at the Moon Dorm, checking for any tablets… Now," he continued in a normal voice. "Close your eyes."

The first thing that shocked him when he neared the place that had served as their 'home away from home' for the last few years was the scope of destruction – nothing but a few walls at the westernmost end of the building survived, and then so barely that even for a vampire it would have been madness to explore the ruins without at least some lighting and a ready backup. Only the guard tower by the gates, where the old gatekeeper used to sit, regarding with equal suspicion both the Night students and guests, looked curiously untouched – as if whatever fairly demolished the main mansion was a controlled blast directed to Moon Dorms and Moon Dorms alone…

He wondered momentarily – who of the three purebloods was responsible for the destruction… or maybe each contributed to it – in their own way… And if one believed what Shiki reluctantly related about the fighting – Zero seemed to participate in this battle in the manner that Cain would've never expected from the ex-human however strong he was and whatever hunter skills the prefect possessed…

The other thing that gradually registered through the initial shock was the sight of numerous bats circling over the ruins like a swarm of troubled birds. Not any ordinary bats either – as a pair of them immediately aimed for him, lowering to the point they were positively sniffing upon his hair (which was actually what they did, as the smell was the only way that the blood bats, the peculiar message system of noble vampires, could distinguish their particular addressee). The one that left after sniffing with a distressed shriek was, he supposed, directed to Hanabusa – Cain and Aidou bloodlines being close enough that their smells could be mistaken from further afar - and the one that remained showed every indication of wanting to latch on every exposed part of his skin, which meant that it was indeed addressed to him… by his father?

Stretching his hand out Akatsuki willed the tiny creature to sit on his finger, but stubbornly refused it the permission to bite, observing the sheer multitude of blood bats flying over the Moon Dorm with a troubled frown. Sending a bat was hardly an everyday occurrence. No, it was a difficult and strength-consuming technique that not even all of noble families could master. The creatures were actually created of their sender's blood and vampiric powers, and for ordinary noble dispatching one would result in a bout of acute fatigue that lasted from several hours to a whole day. They were therefore only used to deliver the news of utmost urgency and those that should and could be received by the only person they were directed to and no one else. In all other cases vampires usually relied on common post or a private carrier.

To see a whole swarm of blood bats could spell only two things – either something of fairly catastrophic proportions had happened in the outside world, or the parents of the Night Class students had somehow got wind of the battle that took place on the Academy grounds and wanted to make sure ASAP that their offspring had survived unscathed. But of course – none of the young vampires had wandered to the destroyed dormitory since the battle – and the bats – simple creatures that they were - directed to a particular place couldn't smell their recipients over the distance separating the Dorms.

But it was no use speculating about the purpose of the messengers when he could learn at least what his own father found urgent enough that he deemed it necessary to dispatch a bat. Closing his eyes Cain let the creature sink its small fangs into his finger, imagining his father's calm voice as he absorbed the words, or rather – carefully lined up thoughts that flooded his bloodstream.

"Son, listen carefully because the news that I convey are of the utmost importance.

The word had spread by and large through the vampire community that your Dorm leader, pureblood Kaname Kuran, had consciously and cruelly murdered the entire Council of Elders. As you can imagine, it caused a great uproar and shock, and even though many of us had desired the end of the Council's rule and the restoration of the monarchy, the actual manner in which the deed was performed has swayed the community, and… to my great sorrow the prevailing opinion throughout it now is that the honorable pureblood prince Kaname-sama has gone mad – much in the same way as the late Shizuka Hiou before him.

It's not yet an official decision – mostly because the very organ responsible for making it official was the one that has been physically disposed of, but I fear – it will be as soon as the word gets further spread. And you know as well as I do what consequences it would mean for Kaname-sama. If there is something that even the nobles fear it is a pureblood, who's gone mad and at that – in a murderous fashion.

Unfortunately it is not only the pro-council families that have been swayed by this incident. Even those who stood firm for monarchy are now considering other possibilities than the Kuran clan, even though it has precedence when it comes for the throne. It's not five minutes since I have received the bat from Aidou, and he informed me that he intended to pull Hanabusa out of the Academy as soon as he could contact him. It could be that he only means to protect his son, but the whole of his message leads me to suspect otherwise – so you see, how deep indeed do the doubts reach.

I hope though that I know somewhat better where yours and Hanabusa's loyalties rest, and I hope to God that the whole mess would right itself somehow, and the actions of Kaname-sama have a valid reason behind them, and that this reason would be explained and accepted by the community before the bad comes to worse.

My heart aches for Hanabusa and the choice he faces… but, please, entreat him on my behalf to not judge his father rashly. He, after all, has a wife and two daughters to protect besides his heir and son.

Me, having no such responsibilities, intend to maintain a neutral position – unless you wish me to support the cause, the choosing of which I entrust entirely to you. Just, please, be careful, son, and whatever path you choose, my love and the support of the Cain clan will always be towards you."

Ow fucking shit!..

Letting the bat partake of his blood and fly away with the simple message of "Thank you, father, I will inform you later", which no doubt carried the overtones of shock and inner turmoil that he felt – Cain wandered aimlessly into the guard-tower, instinctively seeking some kind of sanctuary from the sight of all too many bats (no doubt – carrying the same news), and hunched over the table there as a person who just received a veritable punch in the gut.

What should he do? Send the Night Class students over here – and risk that half of them would leave before the daybreak on request of their families? Keep the information to himself – and risk their lives and also the chance that the decision would be taken all the sooner if the vampire community believed that their children's fate was at stake?

For the first time in those two days he felt that he was out of his depth. Let's face it – he thrived on responsibilities, whatever he pretended to the opposite, - but this was one responsibility he was not prepared to carry. He was reasonably good tactician, but no strategist… He knew where his own loyalties lay – but not what to do…

And Hanabusa… Hanabusa!..

To think that his cousin would abandon Kaname-sama was ridiculous… but Cain knew that what he would deem as 'his father's betrayal' would hurt the younger Aidou terribly…

Ah… I wish I could somehow change this, cuz… I hope Kaname-sama has some plan for it… speaking of which!..

He remembered the crumpled note that still rested unread inside his pocket, completely overshadowed by recent developments. He took it out now and lighted a little flame upon his left palm, holding the paper over it with his right hand and reading the yellowish-brown lines as soon as they appeared. As his eyes reached the lower edge of the letter he let the paper fall into flames and turn to so much dust…

Ow shit… oh holy, bloody shit… The bad news never travel alone, do they?..

But in view of what he read he only needed to inform Hanabusa more urgently about the news. He wished he had mastered the blood bat sending already… or wasn't too fatigued to send one anyway… or at least knew where his damned cousin was… He hoped to God Shiki and Rima had in fact peeked between the lashes at what direction Hanabusa and Takuma took just as they did it when he himself left.

Rima watched the tall figure of Akatsuki Cain walk slowly from the direction of the Moon Dorms.

She knew that Shiki, who faced the opposite direction, was nevertheless as aware of the approach of the red-haired vampire, and the troubled aura that surrounded him – even if he didn't show it outwardly. That was the way with Shiki – half the time he looked as if he was completely out of it, yet Rima knew that in fact he registered what happened around him just as sharply as any other person – he simply wouldn't react to it, but that was alright with Rima – he'll speak when he wants...

So she continued to watch the approaching red-head 'on her own' and she didn't like what she saw.

Usually, she actually thought Cain-san to be rather cool... Well, at least he wasn't so overboard as his two 'charges' – Hanabusa and Luca, providing a stolid axis for their little group and a reliable safety-net for the other two... Now she wondered if Akatsuki himself had a safety-net that he could rely upon (maybe because he looked like he needed one now?)... Somehow she couldn't imagine either Aidou or Luca in this role, and she felt a momentary twinge of pity – the kind of pity she sometimes felt for Kaname-sama (though she never mentioned it even to Senri or Takuma) – for no one should have to stay strong all the time...

But Kaname-sama at least had Takuma, whom he felt reasonably comfortable about... and Takuma had Shiki, and Shiki had her and Takuma, and she had Shiki... They were so lucky that their relationship was a kind of a shifting, constantly changing one, where everyone was allowed to feel down, and everyone was prepared to be a silent comfort and a safe place for each other... Even now, after all the troublesome events, that were bound to mix things up – what with Shiki growing so much calmer and more content, and Takuma had lost some of his sunny exuberance, and she... Rima supposed that she had changed as well... But they were still together, and that was the main thing...

Akatsuki was barely a few meters from them, and up close he looked even worse then from afar... Surely this man should be in bed and sleeping now... 'With Luca,' the impish part of Rima's mind provided. Well, why not? It was high time that Miss I'm-the-Perfect-Lady-here Souen stopped pining over Kaname-sama and recognized the man, who loved her so obviously... Was that exactly the problem? That Cain had always been there for Luca, supportive and strong, had always loved her? Well, maybe if she could see him now – so worn out and defeated, suffering from the headache, if the way he rubbed his forehead almost constantly without even noticing that he was doing so was any indication... Rima played with the mental image for a little while and then dropped it into the imaginary dust bin. Last time she saw Luca (less then half an hour ago, storming in a blind rage out of the Dorm doors), she was clearly not in a comforting mood...

"I'm sorry, Cain-san," Rima explained, "your cousin had asked us to turn to the wall as well... we really couldn't see a thing..." Shit, she wished she could help. "Uh... by the smell of it, they moved..." she started, but caught her words as Senri's hand touched her shoulder in calming and decisive gesture.

Her eyes shot to his face – yes, he certainly looked as if he came to some kind of decision and meant to act on it with the same grim determination that had brought them to the abandoned Council House just yesterday...

"There is no need for it," he said now, calmly looking up into Cain's eyes. "I can find Takuma no matter where he is".

O sure and he proved it already!.. but Rima felt she was missing something and it wasn't until she saw a curious – half-surprised and half-amused way in which Cain regarded Senri that the penny finally dropped, and she couldn't stifle a little gasp...

"We have a double-sided bond, yes," Shiki confirmed simply, continuing in this sometimes very annoying manner of his – not as if he really cared what they thought, but like for some unknown reason he felt the need to explain. "My father bit him – to always know where he were, or to have it as a kind of hold over Ichijou... or just because he could? I'm not sure... But bonds are body stuff, so I... inherited it... That's how I found Takuma back at the Council. And it has only grown more pronounced once the bond was completed."

'Oh,' Rima thought quietly, 'so that's why he hesitated for the barest second before pressing his slit wrist to Takuma's pale lips back then...'

Double-sided bond... It would surely shift the balance in their relationship even further... But it was still OK... well, she hoped... and if not, she supposed that she could always entice Senri somehow to drink from her, or drink from Ichijou herself, or both... and they will all be bonded and live happily ever after...

Her hopeful imaginings drew to a hasty halt as she noted that Senri's gaze had grown ever so slightly defiant, and Akatsuki had this faintly doubtful frown on his face...

Oh, no... will people forever doubt Shiki just because Rido acted so dastardly while he was inside him?

Somehow she had never thought that Cain was the one to jump to conclusions like this... but clearly whatever he wanted to tell his cousin was one damned important matter...

"Your uncle..." he asked unexpectedly, "he was in the Council of Elders?"

Just what did this have to do with everything? Shiki though looked almost relieved, his lips lifting in a small merciless smile.

"My uncle," he searched for the way to put it better, "was the one who... introduced me to my father."

Akatsuki nodded, as if this answer explained everything, and rubbed his forehead again. It once again looked as if she was missing on something that the two understood perfectly, but this time there wasn't a penny to drop, and Rima resigned herself to the fact that it was probably one of the 'male' things...

"I'll write the note. For Aidou mostly, but really – for anyone there..." Akatsuki lowered himself onto the cold steps. His long-limbed frame looked incongruous and touching there – all sharp angles of elbows and knees - as he wrote the small page, torn from a notebook that Rima carried habitually in her pocket. "You too," he said giving the note to Shiki, "read it first. It wouldn't do – for you to jump into something, without knowing what you're jumping in".

He looked grim, Rima thought. In fact – he looked as if he expected that Shiki would refuse – as soon as he had read what was in that note.

But the stormy blue eyes calmly read the note top to end and the pale slender fingers barely twitched, folding the paper in two and dropping it into the pocket.

"I'll go then?" And then Senri made this strange, graceful, uniquely his half-step – towards the place where she stood, giving a little tug to one of her pony-tails. "You... stay safe, Touya?.." And next he was gone – so quickly that if they both weren't vampires as well - they wouldn't have noticed how.

"Well, so... that's that..." Cain sighed, his hand once again lifting of its own volition towards his forehead, as he prepared to stand up, and Rima came to a decision all her own. Her boys should be sound and safe - together as they would be soon, blood bond and all... and she could do something good, so why not?

"No, Cain-san," she laid a small hand on his shoulder, keeping him seated. "I cannot heal, like Kaname-sama does, but when Senri has a headache, he says it helps when I give him a head massage... Please, let me?" She suddenly felt very self-conscious – what if Shiki only said that to make her feel good?

But the read-haired vampire only gave a little nod, as if his head ached just too much to subject it to a more definite movement, "Yes, please..." and leaned a little forward to provide a better access - so trustingly that Rima knew that she had to try.

She took the small pillow that Shiki brought for her earlier, so that she hadn't to sit on the cold stone, and settled behind his back a step above from him, spreading her legs to both sides of the sitting man – in most unladylike fashion - 'Luca would never sit like that,' she thought to herself, somewhat snidely. But she was no Luca, and it was by far not the most provocative pose she had to take for the photoshoots... Tentatively, she stretched her fingers, rubbing gently yet firmly through the tousled red strands.

Apparently, she did something right, since she felt Akatsuki lean subtly into her touch, the way Senri always did, and she became more confident, running soothing circles across his temples, bringing him more back into herself, so that she could work his forehead as well, and getting another encouragement in a form of a soft sigh... Well, she might not be able to rid him of his headache in the long run, but at least what she did helped for now...

In a pair of minutes his head fell a little sideways onto her breast, another soft sigh turning into equally soft, barely audible snoring and Rima recognized with a surprise that Cain was sound asleep – sitting on cold and hard steps, leaning uncomfortably backwards at an odd angle – he was sound asleep and she just couldn't find it in herself to wake him up immediately...