A/N:- On the upside, at least it's longer than usual? And a time skip!

Kaname fell.

The golden-black void crushed and consumed him, again and again erasing all he was until the only thing left was pain.

Weakness. Failure. Shame.

He writhed and contorted, screaming into a void that didn't care. Helpless and alone he fell and fell and fell.

The void pressed against the shields of his mind, whispering, taunting, threatening him with utter oblivion of the soul if he weakened for even a moment.

It was endless agony, sprinkled with poisoned hope. If he just held out long enough… if he was strong now when he'd been so weak before, and still it tore him apart.

"Young Master?"

Kaname blazed awake, crackling from terror to confusion in an instant.

"Awake at last, sleep head? Well I suppose even you want a lie-in on your birth night."

Nancy's chattering anchored Kaname to the present. New timeline, that was right. Good. Yes. He'd survived the void, for better or for worse. It had been a dream. A dream which left his mind trembling on the edge of sanity, and his body aching, but only a dream, surely.

And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.

A few shaky breaths whilst Nancy's back was turned, and Kaname was focused once more. Blood and ashes. He did not have time for trauma.

"Happy Birthnight, Kaname-sama."

Kaname groaned.

Nancy proffered the formal yukata he was supposed to wear, Juuri's orders. Last year it had been a suit, this year she wanted traditional.

He supposed it was a good sign in the grand schemes of things, but still….

"Another evening wasted," he sighed as Nancy picked him up to start stuffing him into the clothes (her embrace was disgustingly comforting after his dream. He may have made a bit of a fuss in order to prolong it, but he'd never admit it. His baby-limbs were just being more uncooperative than usual).

"What were you researching so late into the day?" Nancy asked as she brushed his hair, a sign that there would undoubtedly be more photos. "Pureblood or no, you need your sleep."

"Charities," Kaname leaned back into the touch.

"A surprising topic for you."

It wasn't a question, and yet it was – Nancy's polite way of verifying if it was up for discussion or not.

"Juuri is going to become very interested in the environment soon."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because it will make a good excuse to build a few biospheres in the eastern fields. If I have to spend millions, I might as well put them to use. A seed bank and a push for conservation will be very worthwhile in the long run. I want to expand the kitchen gardens and switch to organic farming locally. I'm also contemplating a nuclear bunker, just in case. Even if we never use it, it's more storage space and at worse, a self-contained fall back position."

Kaname, after all, had lived in a world where no green thing lived anymore. He was an amazingly devout environmentalist.

One of the first things Kaname (Juuri) had done when he realised how much he didn't know, was commission a very thorough survey of their holdings, both land and property under the excuse of an audit. A team of forty professionals had spent six months inspecting every blade of grass and loose shingle that the Kurans owned both physically and on paper.

The results had been interesting, amusing and frustrating in turn.

One of the smallest discoveries was that they owned more land than Kaname remembered, which totalled several hundred acres going completely unused.

"I see. I hadn't considered that aspect of immortality. I suppose you can't really afford to ignore the long-term consequences when you can guarantee you'll live to see them."

"Exactly," Kaname said, choosing not to go with his first response of if we make it that long. "Now what new horror is Juuri planning for me?"

"Oh I couldn't possibly ruin the surprise."

#

Baby-Akatsuki was adorable. There were tufts of orange hair sticking out his swaddling and his eyes were enormous in his little baby face.

Kaname was an ancient monster of legend, so he didn't go awww, how cute like the ladies of Juuri's Court.

He just thought it instead.

He was also nothing like the Akatsuki Kaname had known before, and to be honest, that was a relief. Akatsuki had always tried to protect Ruka and Aidou from him – like he was some sort of wild beast- and that personal distrust mixed with professional loyalty had been so exhausting. He was glad to start again.

"May I introduce my son to yours, Juuri-sama?"

Juuri smiled, already standing by Ren and wiggling her fingers in Akatsuki's face.

"That depends on if you are introducing him or presenting him for entrance into his Court," Juuri replied absently, still cooing over the newest baby.

"I wasn't aware there was a difference."

Juuri sighed, "I really do wonder how so much could have been forgotten. If you want Akatsuki-chan here to be in Kaname's Court when he is older, then he needs to be presented to Kaname in a special way – the same way your mother presented you to me, centuries ago."

"Mum did something like that? She never told me!" Miki said. "Was I presented too? Was it, you know, pagan?"

Pagan? Kaname honed in on the word, thinking, and then, continuing to be both a horrible son and a pragmatist, he reached for Juuri's mind. He was so familiar with it now it was embarrassingly easy to plant a few words.

He'd feel guilty, but Juuri had already been feeling indignant, a little nudge wasn't worth getting upset over.

"Well if you want to call a tradition as old as time pagan like it's dirty and barbaric instead of a cornerstone of our society and the sole reason for your presence in this room right now...," Juuri trailed off meaningfully, an unimpressed eyebrow aimed at the vivacious blonde.

Miki winced visibly as she apologised and if she was anything like her future-son there was going to be a lot of research in her future.

Good. If the propaganda campaign had managed to infect even the Aidous, who'd been staunch royalists since the line had begun, then Kaname had his work cut out for him.

"I would be honoured to present Kain to Kaname-sama," Ren stepped in to save her sister, like mother like son apparently, giving Akatsuki-the-peace-offering up to Juuri.

His 'mother' beamed, good mood restored.

"Consent of the mother, excellent, he really ought to be dressed in red, but I suppose we can skip that until the proper ceremony," she said, talking to herself more than them.

Juuri picked Akatsuki up, pulling her own aura into her skin and then without further ado she knelt down and plonked the redhead in front of Kaname on the offensively coloured child-appropriate blanket he was forced to sit on.

"Kaname," Juuri said seriously, "meet Akatsuki Kain." She looked him straight in the eye.

"Yours."

Kaname had been looking forward to this. He leaned over so he could put his hand firmly over Kain's heart. It wasn't strictly necessary, but there was always a case to be made for dramatics.

"Mine."

He pushed his aura out, deliberately smothering Kain with it. The infant aristocrat had no defences against him. The resonance took hold within seconds, creating a tiny spark in his mind. A spark that felt like stoic fire.

"Yours," Juuri repeated, smiling. She'd felt the bond take.

"Mine."

"Yours."

"Mine."

Juuri rose. "Congratulations, Ren, your son is compatible. Well done."

Kaname ignored her in favour of pulling Akatsuki to him. He knew he was giving both Juuri and Nancy far too many photo opportunities, but in this case, he didn't mind.

Huh, he'd never seen Akatsuki blush before… that needed fixing!

He thanked his superior genetics that let him pick up Akatsuki and put him in his lap. That gave him access to the shock of red hair, which Kaname immediately began plaiting.

"Oh aren't they adorable," Juuri sighed.

Oh yes they were, Kaname silently cackled. He was already anticipating the look on Akatsuki's face when the baby photos came out in the future.

"Juuri-sama, would you mind explaining more about the Court? I fear we don't know as much as we should, and I would not like to cause any offence." Suzume was almost certainly planning Ruka's future entrance into his Court, but at least someone had asked.

"Well you already know that it's a political structure centred around a pureblood," Juuri hummed. "It tends to be one member from the core families and bloodlines of our territory but can also include vampires of special skills, lovers, bodyguards, a circle of trust if you like. You each represent your family's interests in my domain and are agents of my will who have my favour. What you don't seem to know is that you all share a bloodless bond with me. Have you never wondered how I always know if you're in danger?"

Ren, Miki, Suzme and Hana all exchanged significant glances in the way females did.

"You are a pureblood," Hana said with a nonchalant shrug, "we don't question your abilities."

The bond did more than that, but Kaname didn't blame Juuri for not mentioning the tracking, emotional reading and heightened susceptibility to Juuri's own powers.

Admittedly, all of those things were generally used to protect the lower class vampires from rival purebloods, but it still wasn't easy to hear.

On the other hand, Kaname was thinking like a pureblood, he realised with amusement, the vampire hierarchy being what it was, a lower class vampire would be honoured by such a 'deep and profound' connection to a pureblood.

"But bonds are only formed with blood," Miki burst out, clearly unable to stop herself.

"Says who?"

"Um, all of my lessons from childhood? All the studies? The journals?"

"Then they are wrong," Juuri said simply, and that was that.

The conversation drifted off into other matters, business, gossip, and the latest episode of that awful Passions of Blood show.

Kaname turned his attention to the baby he cradled, who was now sucking on Kaname's fingers with eyes comically wide. Kaname smiled, prodding at the tiny spark he felt in his mind and feeling monstrously smug and possessive.

Thrice said and done, Akatsuki belonged to Kaname now.

#

"Ah, redecorating! Where do you think we should start, Kana-chan?"

Juuri beamed at him with offensive brightness.

Kaname looked up, distracted, and immediately lost his telekinetic 'grip' on Mr Red Ball the 95th as Yuki made her own 'grab' for it. She was too young to have more than a few wisps of power to spare – most of her energy consumed by the struggle to survive – but she had a good teacher, if he did say so himself. Taking what she wanted was an important life lesson for her.

"Where do you want to start?" Kaname asked instead of answering.

Juuri's recovery was precarious, and he was wary not to stifle any independent thought whilst doing his best to encourage her mind. Never too much at once. Never too frequently. Perhaps it would be enough to offset all the time he puppeteered her. Perhaps it wouldn't.

Plan A was still to put her down like a rabid dog though.

He was a terrible son.

"It's a big project," she mused eyeing the various different blueprints laid out in front of her and the binders of survey results. Some of them were fake for security purposes, and none of them showed everything. Juuri would be looking at the 'accidental' smudges and pinpricks rather than the careful lines. Or she would be if she remembered what they actually meant.

"I can't decide between working from the outside in, inside out or one section at a time and no matter what I choose the wards can't be prepared without knowing the entire plan." She thought about it for a while. "Inside out. First thing to change will be Haruka's offices. The study must stay of course, but it's past time the outer offices were moved further away from the family wing and all that foot traffic has ruined that carpet."

A Persian masterpiece. Kaname had claimed it as spoils of war after his little tiff with Cyrus back in the day. After he'd claimed the man himself on it, naturally.

Ah well, it didn't do to get too attached to material things. They withered; Kaname did not. He'd get another one. Maybe he could raid a museum. That might be fun. Did museums even display rugs? Hmmm, something else to research. Or, no, he had a better idea, steal something from Ichio when he'd thoroughly finished his revenge.

Maybe he ought to stick to a theme and take Ichio on the rug first? Kaname did like his trophies…

"What else?" He gently tugged Mr Red Ball away from Yuki's mouth and let Nancy take her back to Juuri. He still didn't have enough energy to feed her for very long.

"Well if I'm moving the offices, we'll need to rewire. Where did I put that quote? And I suppose if we're rewiring we'll have to factor in the wards. I'm not going to let the workers keep their access to those rooms, particularly not if I turn it into a gallery."

"Gallery?"

Juuri smiled. "I know we have the portraits, and the small gallery upstairs, but we also have quite a few bits we don't have anywhere to display. We'll need plenty of wall space to hang them, there are quite a few bits on the market I have my eye on and your father has been on a real spree lately."

"Oh has he?" Kaname hid a smile, "I suppose you ought to invest in some security then too. Shutters, lasers, CCTV cameras, pressure plates, atmospheric controls, murder holes, you know, the usual."

Juuri laughed, "How exciting! Any other ideas, Kaname?"

"Just a few. Tell me, how do you feel about a moat?"

#

Takuma was born next, not that the baby blonde was presented to Kaname, oh no, not on Ichio's watch. Instead Kaname learned of the birth through his fly-spy. Haruka was at least making some effort at staying on top of current events, which meant Kaname could too.

Keeping to the timeline meant that Takuma would still be his. Kaname would just have to go to a bit of effort to kindle a bond. Takuma was worth putting up with Ichio for a decade, although that was the side dish, not the main course. Takuma did make for a lovely pudding though.

Thinking of Takuma made Kaname think of Takuma's parents. He couldn't remember their names, which was a bad sign, but hadn't they 'died' in an accident? Conveniently eliminating the disgraced son – to think, being an actor instead of a more respectable career – and the pretty but useless wife just in time for grandfather to have a similarly aged kid in the house when Kaname 'needed' adopting.

Coincidence? Unlikely.

On the other hand, a disgraced son and his pointless wife were of no use to Kaname either, and there was less point letting Ichio have his way with him without Takuma there. Nor could he forget that a Takuma with parents wouldn't be half so loyal to Kaname as the friendless orphan had been.

Unsurprisingly, Kaname was a bad friend too.

#

Along came Ruka, who he bonded to in short order (mine mine mine) and shortly after, Hanabusa.

"Kaname! I have another friend for you!"

Kaname abandoned another one of his ridiculously loud and offensively coloured 'toys' in order to eye baby-Hanabusa, cradled in Miki's arms, Juuri at their side.

In the background, he could hear Miki whispering 'Please like him, please, please, please,' which only ensured Kaname would indulge his inner sadist.

Now, did he bully Miki by pretending to reject Hanabusa, or did he bully Hanabusa in the future with the inevitable photos of this moment?

A bloodied face, tired blue eyes staring earnestly even as their light faded, willing him to believe them. "It's OK, Kaname-sama. I wanted this. Anything for you."

Yeah no, there was no way he could even pretend to reject Hanabusa without guilt eating him alive. He had nightmares enough without adding more.

"Mine?" Kaname rose – carefully- to his feet and toddled over to Miki. Then he proceeded to scamper up her leg like she was a tree, bracing himself with one leg either side of her hip, and peered into her arms to examine Hanabusa.

His eyes were the same. They peered up at him, wide, curious, and oh so blue.

"Mine!" Kaname declared loudly, putting a touch of power into his voice. Miki stumbled slightly and Kaname used the chance to lean over her arms to whisk Hanabusa into his own, carefully cradling him as he jumped down.

"Careful!" Miki yelled, reaching out to take Hanabusa back.

"Mine." Kaname snapped, narrowing his eyes. Did she think to take something he wanted from him? My, weren't maternal instincts strong.

"Don't worry Miki-chan," Juuri soothed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Kaname won't hurt Hanabusa-kun. He knows to mind his strength. Be glad, this is a good sign. They're going to have a very strong bond."

"Mine," Kaname agreed slightly more placidly, tightening his grip on Hanabusa.

"Do you agree to give your son to Kaname's Court, Miki?"

Consent of the mother – a powerful force, and far more potent than consent of the father.

Miki looked unsure, and he was certain the word pagan was floating around in her mind somewhere.

"I read Babies and Bonds by Kanzawa, I know why we do this," Miki said, almost psyching herself up then she sighed, "Yes, I do. He's yours, Kaname-sama."

And he was, even as she continued speaking, Kaname saw how her small aura reacted to Yes. It shrunk away from Hanabusa, leaving him exposed.

Aidou started to cry, because he was apparently a sensitive brat, but the tears abruptly cut off when Kaname extended his own far more powerful aura over him.

Resonance.

"Mine, mine, mine," Kaname said softly, looking fondly down into blue eyes and gently rocking him as the baby reached up to touch his face.

He held him for hours, showing him all his toys, carrying him around like a doll, and utterly refusing to give him back until Juuri agreed to a sleepover.

They shared a cot.

#

Time moved on.

Yuki learned to crawl, then babble, then toddle, and then speak.

Rima was born, shortly followed by Senri.

"You seem pensive."

"I have a cousin," Kaname announced, setting down the newspaper (The Night Times – a vampire made and couriered paper. Secrecy was assured by the ink itself, blood-infused and therefore able to carry a small Shimmer. Interesting, that such a thing had survived when other examples of the Old Ways were derided as pagan. Was it the usefulness of the method that saved it, or the fact that it was ultimately owned by a pureblood?)

"How?" Nancy asked, rocking Yuki as she fed from a bottle of the dreaded pink milk.

"Low-born," Kaname tapped the announcement meaningfully. "The Shiki's. A boy – Rido's."

Technically, that meant he was not Kaname's cousin because if you started counting all the half-blood's Kaname;s family tree would start looking like an overgrown hedge.

A pureblood gifting a child to one of their supporting families wasn't exactly rare, but neither was it common. Strengthening the bloodlines was an important duty. Juuri had at least two daughters running around the castle having found the butler an incredible lover back in the night, apparently, and Kaname hadn't bothered speculating about Haruka's weaker get. Suffice it to say, but Kaname intended to be a little more discerning when his body finally passed 'go.'

It was good to have confirmation of Rido's activities though. The timeline was still on track. He pitied Hinata Shiki for a brief moment, but he felt no guilt over something so thoroughly out of his control, besides, he'd never known if she was a traitor too.

Maybe he'd heal her one night and find out, or if he wanted Senri to really owe him. After Juuri, he doubted Hinata's brain could be much of a challenge.

#

The Castle was re-vamped (which Kaname happened to think was an excellent word) from turrets to dungeons (which Kaname might have paid particular attention to). Kuran Enterprises kept a steady expansion whilst turning a reliable profit, with staff being carefully evaluated and good managers being earmarked for promotion. If there were a few goal changes, a few new projects a little outside their usual remit, no one who noticed thought it odd.

Their investments had also shifted rather dramatically. Haruka had chosen to invest heavily into renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and strange companies like 'Google' and 'Apple' but whatever, right? It was his money to lose.

#

"What's the matter Yuki?" Kaname asked his pouting little sister.

They both sat in front of the fire, snacking on homemade strawberry ice cream, every ingredient organic and hailing from their own kitchen garden or farms.

If he hadn't been a cold-hearted bastard (and if Nancy hadn't been watching with laughter in her eyes) Kaname might have wept tears of relief when he was finally permitted to eat solid foods. It was a relief only equalled by that time when he'd been pronounced potty-trained.

"Yori has my ball."

Kaname looked over and yes, Yuki's little shadow was playing with Mr Red Ball the Undying.

"And?"

"I want it."

Kaname had had thousands of children. Most he'd had a small hand in raising, even the low-born ones. He liked to think of himself as a 'good and effective' parent, if not a particularly 'nice' one. After all, the point of parenthood was to teach one's children life lessons so they didn't fuck up like you had.

This was what he liked to call a teachable moment.

"So take it."

Yuki blinked at that then smiled. She walked (at 3 and ¾ she'd mastered that, she'd had a good teacher) over to Yori and plucked the ball from her hands.

Yori, naturally, didn't protest. The hindbrain was basically the whole brain when they were this young, and instincts were amazing things. There was this one particular instinct that said Pureblood, Pureblood, Pureblood.

So useful.

"Play with me?"

Yuki deserved a reward for learning take what you want.

"How about kill the ball? I like that game."

"OK!"

#

Three months later, all of Kaname's plans were ruined when Juuri dismissed the staff at breakfast and made a gentle announcement.

"Kaname, Yuki, you're going to have a new sibling!"

#