Part ONE of: The Snow, the Past

Author: atemu-mana/Kiyu Yuu

Note: This fanfic is inspired of the fanart by Sagakure, titled Chibi Kaname in the Snow. This is the first of the two-shot fanfic, explanation of why, my author note below!

"Look yon, Kaname. Do you know what you are seeing?"

The young boy stared at his father for a moment and returned his watchful gaze towards the soft yet cold, small balls of ice, which is falling from the deep skies. He reached out his hands to feel the balls of ice, but as soon as it touched his gloved palms, the ice melted.

Noting that his son was clueless with the small incident, he gave a shy smile and said slowly, "The humans called that as 'snow', it is frozen water vapour. When you bring the snow to a heat source, or a flat object, it'll melt."

Not quite understanding but the boy reached out his hand to take some of the snow. "But why does it melt, Father? Why? What is snow? Father?" he asked with wonder. It was the same, again, the snow that fell on his hands melted once again.

Kuran Haruka smiled and patted his son's head. "This is snow. It is made of frozen water vapour, Kaname. When you touch it, you'll feel wet, because snow is actually water. Look around you, feel the surroundings," he told him.

The boy looked around and walked a few steps ahead of his father, just as he instructed. "It is cold. Why is it cold, Father?" he asked. He flinched when some of the snowflakes fell on his head and he felt cold.

"Because it is water, Kaname. That is why we felt the coldness, and that is the reason why we wore thick clothing whenever we step out from our home. To preserve our body temperature like the humans do."

Shaking his head, he told his father, "I do not understand."

Haruka simply smiled and said, "This is your first time out of the house, Kaname. You will get used on seeing this scene. One day, you'll see a layer of snow, then perhaps another day, you'll see some beautiful flowers," he continued a few minutes later. "Then you will feel the hot sun shining for a few months before we get windy and leaves fall to welcome the winter."

"Oh," he cooed and smiled. "I still do not understand anything, Father."

"You will have your time, take as long as you like, my dear boy. Oh, there's your Mother, let's go," said Haruka as he firmly held his boy's hand and walked towards a small shed across of them.

Kuran Juri was sitting them before she noticed her husband, her lord and their child, Kuran Kaname. Smiling, she rose and walked towards them. "I'm sorry, were the two of you standing there? I could not find both of you after I was done with my business, so I sat there and wait. You must be bored."

Haruka shrugged and pulled Kaname closer to him. "Did we, Kaname?" he asked with a laugh.

From a delighted expression, Juri immediately switched to her scolding-type expression. "What do you mean with that question? If I've known both of you were there earlier, I would have run as fast as I could!"

"Juri," called Haruka gently. "It is snowing, if you were unable to see us, I do not blame you. After all, I was just introducing Kaname to this little, small balls of frozen ice." He reached out, the snowflakes fell on his hands and he showed it to Kaname. "This is snow, Kaname. A snow is frozen water and it'll melt when you touch it."

Juri harrumph, and simply said, "Unless you glaze it, it won't melt that fast!"

Kaname looked at his mother and smiled with a slight touch of blush. "Mother, this is snow!"

Juri crouched until she was at the eye level as Kaname. "I know that is snow, Kaname. Yet, you wish to know something, Kaname? It is better to look at the snow when it is raining. Rain is made up of water, and so does the snow, so seeing two things happening from one thing is quite exciting," suggested Juri.

Haruka rolled his eyes and asked, "You've seen it, Juri?"

She snapped and rose immediately, accidentally pushing Kaname towards his father's legs and said, "Mister, just because you're born earlier that I am does not mean you can say you've seen it all! I like rain, if you do not know!"

"Of course I know, I was just teasing you," said Haruka with a crooked smile.

"Go away, Haruka! Hate you!" she cried and walked away with a feisty anger.

Upon realizing his parents were breaking up, Kaname ran towards his mother and due to his height, he was only able to catch his mother's legs. At the very same time when he did just that, Juri almost fell to the ground but was able to stabilize herself before embarrassing herself.

"Ka... Kaname!" she cried and looked at the small figure underneath her skirt. Blushing, "Kaname, not under there! What are you doing?" she half-yelled. Seeing the scene, Haruka flushed and laughed in amusement.

"Mama, don't go!" cried the boy as he clung tightly to Juri's legs. "Don't go!" he begged her.

Juri froze in shock as the memories of the past returned to her. Touching her head, her mind screamed in agony, No, don't come! Stay away, stay back in those secrets, do not come and destroy my life once again. Do not come!

All the instant, she suddenly remembered everything that happened prior to Kaname's arrival to their doorsteps. Haruka knew, and Juri knew, that the boy could not possibly remember what happened the night before he was brought there; the night that changed all their lives forever.

It was a bloody, nightmare of the worst winter marked within the Kuran family history.

"My child. My poor, poor child." Juri had said it and Kaname froze before reluctantly removed himself from his mother's skirt. He stared deep into Juri's eyes, he noted that her pupils were racing around in frenzy and she was shaking in fear.

"Mother?" he called and tried to touch her face as an act of calming her down but paused when Juri glared at him. The harsh, painful glare was enough to keep the boy's hand back to his side as he stepped away, hiding behind his father's large frame.

Haruka touched the back of his son and hushed him. "Kaname, it's okay. Don't be scared," he told him but that only made Kaname clutched to his legs tightly than usual. "Your mother is just having a shock, it'll go away soon."

Shaking his head, he whispered, "Scary. Mother. Scared. Me." Haruka knew what he was trying to say and Juri heard the same thing as well. Another vampire with equal rank could easily hear a soft whisper from a vampire. Sighing softly, Haruka decided to do something.

"It's starting to get dark, how about if we go home now? We can relax and have a hot, dark chocolate drink," he suggested and slowly lifted Kaname and hugged him close. "It'll take a while to reach home, Kaname. Since you are tired, go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we reach home, all right?"

Kaname slowly nodded before placing his head on Haruka's shoulder. "Night; papa, mama—" he wished before his eyes quietly doze away in sleep. Haruka patted his head tenderly before looking straight towards Juri. "Move," he told her. And she did.

"Juri, why did you do that?" he questioned sternly. Juri stood beside him as they walked. "Do anything you like but never provoke his happy thoughts. Kaname's only a child. Think about his feelings. He might do not understand what a snow is, but he loves you as his mother."

"My lord, did you know that the name I've given him is meant for our child?" she asked with a broken heart. "It is not supposed to be like this. This is not what I wanted but it happened so fast I do not know what to do. I wanted to call him as my child but it struck me deep, telling me firmly that Kaname, the one I've been raising together with you, is not my child."

Haruka looked at his wife in disbelief. "Juri, we promised each other that we'll take Kaname as our own blood, in exchange of our loss that that person inflicted on both of us. This is not Kaname's fault. Do not blame him for what happened. He is innocent."

"I know that, but—" her voice stuck, the words could not come out.

"He is also a victim of that man's cruelty!" he told her strongly. "Look back at the first time we saw him when we tried to save our child; he was there sitting on a corner of the room, his eyes were black and blank, his body was heavily shaking and blood was all over him. We asked that man, 'Where is our child?' and he said our child died."

Juri coughed and tried to hold her tears. Yet, she could not help it and left the tears to stream down her face. "You're a cruel man, Haruka. Why did you remind me of this? It hurts!" she said.

"It hurts because you never learn, Juri. God has given us something to replace our lost child. He may be dead from that man's hands, but he could live through Kaname even if he does not know anything about it. If you meant his name to be our child's name, then treat Kaname as your own child," he told her firmly.

Juri stayed silent and looked away, sniffing.

"My dear, my love, my wife; if you choose to hate Kaname, in the end he'll learn of our lies and ask for the truth. Do you wish for that to happen? Do you wish to become broken once again? It is hard to keep you as a happy person because you are not easy to be tamed, Kaname's existence in our lives has cheered your own, do you wish to remove all of this?" he asked, touching her soft hair with his free hand.

"Sooner or later, Kaname will grow up, become a man, and become somebody he will choose to be in the future. He will learn all about us, our lives, the family history, everything. Even if we lie to him that time, he will notice the changes in our face expression and use that special ability of his to ask us for the truth."

"If you wish to hate him now and forever, it is better to spare his feelings and tell him the truth. I do not think you wish to see him get hurt simply because of our lies. Although, I will still accept him as my child even if you don't, Juri."

Haruka took a deep breath before walking away with a sleeping Kaname on his shoulder. "I'll see you at home, Juri. Take your time and think. Your decision will not affect mine. I already love him as my own child. Goodbye."

Juri stood alone as she reversed her thoughts. What did I hate Kaname for? For killing my child?, there's no proof of that happening, except that man. Kaname was too young to even do something out of his mind. Haruka was correct, Kaname was an innocent being. He was there at the wrong time, at the wrong place, and he appeared when my own child was no longer breathing life.

"And I pushed him away," she soon realized her mistake and looked at the sky with regret.

—If you wish to hate him now and forever, it is better to spare his feelings and tell him the truth.—

Haruka's words were simple but surprisingly, it was worth to think about many times. Gripping her fists in whole, Juri was clear of her future, the path she has decided, even if it was decided without her actual child, Kaname was her child. I've started to love him, after all. How could I not?

Opening her own path, she ran towards Haruka and Kaname as quickly as she could. "They should not be far, at least, they could be at the bridge, I hope—" she whispered to herself and quickly ran. Vampires could jump and fly if they like, but she was in the watchful eyes of the humans, it was better not to risk herself.

She reached the bridge but realized nobody was using the bridge at all and that left her clueless in her thoughts. Haruka was ahead of her and if they were going home, they would use the bridge. There was neither other way nor path to use, except the bridge.

If they did not cross the bridge, where could they be?

"Hey," a familiar voice called her. That voice, impossible!

Quickly, she turned around and gasped when the figure appeared after hiding from the trees. Kaname was still sleeping heavily but he appeared to be smiling and Juri sighed in relief. "How did you do that? What if I didn't come after you?" she asked, tears started to form in her eyes.

Haruka walked until he was an inch away from his beautiful, sweet pout-like wife. "Do I dare to leave one of the beautiful Pureblood princess in the human land? Juri, you're mine, if I let you slip away from my hands, you won't come back from me," he said.

Blushing in crimson, she asked, "Th... Then how did you do it?"

"I walked away from you, disappeared for a moment and then I returned to the same place. I hid myself pretty good; you didn't even notice I was there at all. It was kind of cute, seeing you looked like a mess," he laughed at her.

"Damn! Don't laugh at me, Haruka!" she cried and punched his free side, carefully not to wake Kaname from his sleep. "I thought you're really gone with Kaname. If you were not here, I think I will cry myself to death."

Haruka paused and gently said, "Must it really be like that, Juri? Do you think I'll leave you?"

"You said that I—"

"I lied, didn't I? I was just trying to keep you in your sense. So, you chased after me, does that mean you have decided your future path?" he asked, placing his forehead against Juri's.

Juri blushed and said, "I have decided, Haruka."

"And that is?" his face was dangerously close to her own face and Juri started to feel suddenly hot all over her body. "Juri, answer me, my love."

"Stop teasing me, you dolt!" she hissed as she pulled him close to her. "My decision is, I will accept Kaname as my own. Haruka, thank you for knocking some sense into my head. I always know that Kaname is innocent but I just cannot accept it."

Haruka hugged her with his free hand and said, "Just like how I told Kaname that he has all the time to learn of the world, you can have all the time to learn and accept him as your own."

Satisfied with that answer, Juri pulled her husband close to her and kissed him on the lips. "I always love you, Haruka."

"Don't I always, Juri~" he returned her kiss.

Juri saw Haruka was reading a newspaper and quietly entered the room, planning to surprise him with her arrival. She was smiling giddily as she counted to three and she slapped his back and laughed. "Surprise!" she cried.

"Kuran Juri! What are you doing?" asked the angry husband of hers. "I am glad it was not a coffee cup I was holding but a newspaper, else the damage would be worse!"

She laughed and poked him, "Sir, you already knew I was behind you but you purposely let yourself be played on. Aww, come on, smile, Haruka, smile~" she teased him and planted a quick kiss on his cheeks. "I promise I won't do it again, okay?"

"Fine," he said, folding the now crumpled newspaper and putting it to the small side table. "Juri, what do you want from me? Usually if you come this early, you're asking something. Most of the time, I doubt I will fulfill that silly request of yours."

"You know me so well, my lord," she purred.

She landed her head on his shoulder, the very same shoulder that Kaname used to sleep when they were out in the human land. Remembering that day made her heart sore. It was the day her future was decided; she had chosen Kaname as her own child. Not as a replacement to her dead child, but simply another child of hers with Haruka.

"You're smiling like a flower, Juri, what is the matter?" asked Haruka with concern.

She shook her head, still on Haruka's shoulder. "Nothing is the matter, love. Can I not stay with my lovely husband for a while? I missed you so, so much. When are you going to visit me again, Haruka, my lord, my husband, my brother?" she cooed.

Oh, that question again, Haruka thought and rolled his eyes.

"Haruka, when? I ached for you, every single night, thinking about you. I once thought of touching myself to pleasure me, but it would not be as beautiful as your own touch. You are special, Haruka, very special," she leant closer and kissed his eyebrows. "Haru—"

A sound of crashing suddenly boomed the entire place and Juri flinched away from Haruka and looked at the door. "What is that sound, Haruka?" she asked in panic.

"Kaname!" said Haruka in his authority mode as he rose and ran out of the door. Juri followed in the instant. "Where did you leave Kaname, Juri? Is he inside his bedroom or the nursery?" asked Haruka as they chased for the source of the crash.

Juri's head went puzzled as she tried to remember. "The last time, he asked if he could go somewhere, so he could be there. I don't remember what kind of place, but then—" the crash came again and Juri touched Haruka's arm. "We have to find Kaname, I do not know where he could be but I'm afraid if it's him!"

"I already know where he is. Follow me!" he instructed and Juri followed suit.

They opened the door, but not to see the sight of that horrifying scene. The bloody nightmare.

[TBC]

A/N: This fanfic is actually my self-birthday gift, my birthday is today (18/09) so I'm in a very pleasant mode, but it would never be done if Sagakure did not draw that fanart which gave me the inspiration to actually write this thing.

The fanart showed Kaname holding Haruka and Juri's hands as he witnessed the snow when he was little but I added my own twist, though it's very much thanks to Sagakure again that I noted that a mother's love towards her actual child is stronger if to compare with a child she does not give birth to.

The first part is simply a pure Haruka x Juri story, while the second part will continue from what Haruka and Juri seen. Expect a lot of screaming, questions, tears and then a happiness at last.

Reviews are love. Happy Sweet 16th Birthday to myself. :D