Welcome to the first chapter of Kalista and the Rownings!

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The vampires in this story don't follow all of Yuna Kagesaki's rules. I changed a few things around to better fit the parameters of my plot, but the vampires are still recognizable, I think. I'm just putting this note here so nobody points out to me, "Kagesaki's vampires aren't like that." I already know.

I don't own Karin/Chibi Vampire. Yuna Kagesaki does.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

One: Identity

September, 1994

Carol Belle walked into her five-year-old daughter's bedroom and opened up the curtains wide. Sunlight poured in, transforming the room into morning. Grumbling with displeasure at the sudden light, Kalista pulled the blanket up over her head. Carol sat down on the edge of the child's bed.

"Kalista, sweetheart," Carol murmured. "It's time to wake up. It's your first day of kindergarten."

"I don't want to go to kindergarten," Kalista mumbled, her voice muffled by the blanket.

"You have to."

"No. I'm sleepy."

"Yes, I know you are. But you still have to get up. C'mon, Kalista."

With a bit more coaxing, Carol managed to convince Kalista to get out of bed. The child reluctantly dragged her blanket down, revealing her small pale face. Throwing her arm over her head to block the sunlight that was streaming through her window, she stumbled out of her bed.

"Kalista, I don't know why you dislike light so much, but you're going to have to get used to it," Carol said gently. "You're always very pale – avoiding sunlight isn't a good thing."

"But I get headaches in the sun. So it must be bad for me," her daughter said mildly. She then went out the door, heading for the bathroom.

Get headaches in the sun.

Carol let out a long, heavy sigh.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

As Kalista chewed obliviously on her breakfast cereal, Carol gazed at her from across the kitchen table. Kalista wasn't Carol's biological daughter, and that fact was obvious. Carol's hair and eyes were both very ordinary shades of light brown. Kalista had an angular face and long, sharp fingers. Her short hair, inexplicably, was a sort of light lavender shade. And her faded eyes had a hint of fiery garnet in them.

Sometimes, Carol wasn't entirely sure if Kalista was human.

"Kalista," Carol said, "I should warn you. You've noticed, haven't you? There are many people out there who look similar to me, but we've seen no one who looks like you. The other kids at school might think you're a bit strange at first because of that. Try not to get mad at them. You're a very nice girl, and anyone can realize that if they get to know you. You just have to be patient."

Kalista nodded. "Okay," she said flippantly.

Carol winced inside, hoping her daughter would be all right.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

"Kalista, you sit here," the teacher, Mrs. Penn, instructed.

"Yes, ma'am."

As Kalista took her assigned seat at the end of the second row, Mrs. Penn blinked. "Ma'am?" she echoed to herself. She wasn't used to being called ma'am, especially by a kid. And something about the way that kid said, "ma'am," felt unusual. There was something hidden in her voice . . . . Mrs. Penn couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something different about that Kalista Belle. She could feel it.

Just a moment later, she would realize that all the other kids could feel it too. "Bryan, you sit next to Kalista," she told the next student.

The chunky black-haired student called Bryan blanched. "Do I have to?"

Mrs. Penn arched an eyebrow. "Yes, Bryan, you have to. Sit down now, so I can tell everyone else where they sit."

"Seriously, do I have to?" Bryan's voice became increasingly apprehensive.

"Yes." Mrs. Penn said the word as firmly as she could.

Hesitantly, Bryan slid into the seat next to Kalista. He sat right on the edge of his chair, as far from her as he could get. Trying to be nice, Kalista smiled and waved at him. She made sure to make eye contact, because Carol had told her that was polite. Bryan flinched and turned away, apparently bent on not making eye contact. Kalista suddenly remembered the reddish color of her eyes.

"Mrs. Penn?" Bryan sounded fearful, almost desperate. "Do I have no say in this?"

"Yes, Bryan, you have no say in this," Mrs. Penn responded sternly. "There's nothing wrong with where you're sitting, so that's where you're going to stay until February."

"Don't you have an extra seat somewhere? Can't I switch with someone else?"

"You stay where you are, Bryan. Now, Nicky, you sit here."

Bryan glanced at Kalista, then whispered urgently, "Ask the teacher to switch seats with someone."

Kalista frowned. "That not nice, you know," she whispered back. "Don't be mean."

Bryan only repeated his request for her to move.

He just didn't get it, Kalista thought. He did not see her at all, to the point that they might as well been in different worlds. Well, she could accept that, she supposed. After all, people were different. There was nothing wrong with that.

"Okay, now everyone's in their assigned seats," Mrs. Penn said. "Now, as this is our first day, nobody knows each other. Therefore, I am going to ask each of you to stand up in turn to introduce yourselves to everyone else. Just say your name and a little about yourself. I'll go first. My name is Mrs. Penn and . . . ."

Kalista almost immediately lost interest in the prattling of her teacher and classmates. She caught snippets here and there, but couldn't seem to be interested in anything more. This boy liked baseball and that girl liked the color yellow. Someone's birthday was on this day and someone else had a chef for a father. Whatever.

Kalista didn't understand why she felt so detached from her peers. She was hearing what the other kids were saying. She could clearly understand their words. But she couldn't find herself able to relate to any of them in any way. She couldn't become interested in the way they talked and thought. It was almost as if she were living in a different world, breathing different air. Bryan's mind wasn't the only one that was so indecipherable to her, she realized. Everyone's was.

What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she feel any emotions? Why could she not bring herself to listen dutifully to her classmates? Abruptly, it occurred to Kalista that she felt alone. She was sitting in a classroom full of other kids and an adult and she still felt alone. Because she didn't belong here. She didn't know why, but that was incredibly clear. Kalista Belle. Suddenly her name was transformed in her eyes. Her whole short life, she'd believed that she knew who she was. She was Kalista Belle. But now she realized that Kalista Belle was not an identity. It was just a name.

Incredibly mystified, Kalista whispered to herself, "What am I doing here?"

Mrs. Penn called on her. When Kalista started listing generic facts about herself, she felt like she was talking about a stranger. She just didn't know herself anymore. Puzzlement resounded in her head.

Recess came. Kalista sat alone at her desk, deep in thought, not even trying to play with the other children. She paid no attention to the pleasant babbling around her, so she didn't immediately notice when someone spoke to her. Kalista had to be shaken before she realized that she was being talked to.

"Hi," said the classmate in a chirpy voice.

She was small, like Kalista, and had short red hair. She had green eyes behind round glasses. Kalista dimly recalled her name to be Nicky Williams.

"Hi," Kalista parroted flatly.

Nicky blinked, caught somewhat off guard by this unresponsive answer. She persistently said, "My name is Nicky. Yours is Kalista, right?"

Kalista nodded.

Appearing irritated, Nicky said, "You know, when people talk to you, it's nice to talk back."

"Sorry," Kalista said. "I never spent much time outside my house until now. I think you're something like the third or fourth person I've ever talked to in my life."

Nicky seemed stunned by this, but she recovered soon enough. "So I guess you're not a people person," she concluded. "But even non-people people need to have some friends, or else they go crazy. Which is why I am now going to be your friend, whether you like it or not."

And in that manner, Kalista gained her first friend.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

Carol Belle stared across the table at Dr. Mendez, trying hard not to blink.

Nearly four and two-thirds years ago, on a hot summer day in June, Carol had been outside, watering the lawn of the new house she'd just moved into. She thought she heard something in the light wind, and began investigating when the sound persisted. Her search had lead her to the inside of a rusty garbage can, where, to her complete and utter astonishment, lay an almost newborn baby girl.

For a good amount of time afterward, Carol had obsessively tried to track down the baby's parents. But to no avail. No one ever claimed her. Carol had been only twenty-two at that time, a kid just starting out in the world. But in the end, she decided to keep her foundling as her own anyway. She named the baby Kalista.

On the same day that Carol had decided to keep Kalista, her friend (of the time) Luis Mendez had shown up at her house. He had been good enough friends with her that she didn't mind a surprise visit. Luis (whom she now only referred to as Dr. Mendez) was a doctor, and had been curious about Kalista. He'd never seen anyone with red-hinted eyes. Dr. Mendez had gotten permission from Carol to carefully look over Kalista, and afterward made a shocking announcement: the baby wasn't human.

Dr. Mendez had advised Carol to get rid of Kalista. It was too dangerous, he said. Who knew what kind of horrific creature that girl, no, that freak of nature, could grow up to be? But Carol had already grown too attached to her new daughter. She and Dr. Mendez had argued heatedly, with the end result being both of them one friend short.

Dr. Mendez still came over occasionally. He'd never given up trying to convince Carol to lose Kalista. He became even more determined once Kalista grew a little and started to show strange signs. Carol's daughter detested the sunlight, and never really became energetic like most kids until the night. Her senses all seemed unnaturally sharp, especially her sense of smell. Every time a new oddity was discovered, Dr. Mendez would somehow find out about it (Carol had no idea how, since she never voluntarily told anyone about Kalista's eccentricities) and show up at her house for another heated argument. Like today.

Finally Dr. Mendez quailed under Carol's relentless stare, and he blinked. Redundantly, he repeated all his reasons for why Carol shouldn't continue to house Kalista. They fell on deaf ears. She, once again, gave the answer she always gave.

"I don't care if Kalista's not human. She's my daughter. I'm her mother. That's what matters. If you expect any mother to just quietly give up her child, then there is something wrong with you."

"You are not her true mother," Dr. Mendez argued. "You don't know anything about her."

She turned away from him. "Look, I have to go," Carol said firmly. "I have to pick up Kalista-"

She looked at the nearby clock on the wall.

"-an hour ago," Carol finished bleakly. "Oh! I'm so late!"

But just as Carol jumped up from her seat, the front door opened and Kalista stepped through. Ignoring Dr. Mendez, Kalista hastily said, "Hi Mom" and headed for the stairs.

"Wait!" Carol cried, startled. "Kalista! How - why - where - how did you get home?"

"I went back the way we came," she answered simply. Apparently Kalista hadn't wanted to wait for Carol to come around.

Carol had a feeling she was going to be enduring another outburst from Dr. Mendez soon, this time involving how on earth her five-year-old daughter could memorize the way to and from school after only one trip. Trying to prolong his inevitable rant, Carol asked, "How was school? Did you make any friends?"

The child's eyes seemed thousands of miles away. Slowly, as if she were testing out each word, Kalista murmured, "I don't want to make friends."

Then she ascended up the stairs. As soon as Kalista was out of earshot, Dr. Mendez began.

"You see!" he shouted. "I don't want to make friends. Obviously that's because she can't relate to her peers well, which is obviously because she's not human. I know I wouldn't find it easy to be amongst members of a whole different species. Carol, that child -"

Carol mentally groaned as she endured yet another one of his tirades.