I resisted as long as possible, but this plot bunny has been killing me. The reason I was resisting is because I'm paranoid it will turn out horribly Mary Sue. In fact, I still think that it might. If you see any signs of the dreaded Mary Sue please yell at me for a long time. By the way, if this has any weird mistakes that's because I'm writing it using handwriting recognition stuff and my handwriting is very bad!

Oh, I almost forgot: this takes place after Eclipse. The original plan to vampirise Bella was what happened – no Renesmee. Don't ask me 'what happened to so-and-so', because either it will be explained later or it won't be important

EDIT: I decided to change (slightly) where this story is going... so please check ALL the italicised flash-forward thingys for changes. Especially this one.

RE-EDIT: I changed it AGAIN, so please re-read preface for coolness's sake and forget the changes to italiced bits.

Love and War

(yes, the title sucks. My titles always do. And I think someone's already using this title, but oh well. Le sigh.)

Preface

They stood assembled in front of the house. The air was thick with apprehension and fear. They could almost taste it. The eight figrued arranged themselves to recieve whatever came through the trees. One heart raced in the group. The others were near silent.

A change in the air turned all their heads. A slight breath of wind carried a hint of scent, and faint sounds. The seven saw it before the last, the eighth. But even the last figure saw it eventually.

The shapes slowly coalesced through the trees. And in the deadly silence that followed, their was one very clear gasp of pure fear.

(A/N Now how do you like me Clo? You see how annoying it is??)

Kira

Their parents were out, and so the two children were being babysat by their aunt and uncle. The younger child, Joe, was only five, but his sister Mary was nearly seven. She was old enough to have noticed that her aunt and uncle always looked exactly the same. They had never aged. Her aunt, so similar to Mary's father with her chestnut hair and almost cat-like face, came to tell her a bedtime story, and Mary's uncle, very different with his blond curly hair, followed them in.

"What story would you like today?" asked Kira, Mary's aunt, smiling.

"Tell me your story. How you and Jasper met. Was it love at first sight?" Her child's view of the world saw every untold story as a fairytale.

Her uncle, Jasper, laughed at that, and Kira smacked the back of his head. "Be nice, you. Well, it wasn't quite love at first sight, was it Jazz?"

"Not quite's an understatement. It couldn't have been further from love at first sight. You were not nice to me."

"You were a freak."

"I want to hear the story!" Mary was getting impatient.

"Alright, alright! Well, it started when Jasper moved into my school…"

It was that time again – time for the Cullens to move again. The seven (A/N yes, I mean seven!) of them had outstayed their time in Alaska – where they'd moved after Forks. This time, they moved across the bulk of the US to Maine on the north east coast. The Cullen (and Hale) children were joining High School again, with Bella, Edward as juniors and Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper as seniors (A/N I'm English, I don't know the American education system!!). Carlisle had found a job at the local hospital, and they kept the some old story of a doctor and his adopted children. After all, it had always worked before, so it would continue to work now… right?

………………………

It was not a good day for Jasper. Starting school always provoked interest from the other students, and adding that to the already violent cocktail of emotions and Jasper had as close as vampires could get to a headache. It was only third lesson, and he was already considering ditching. The only reason he didn't was because his 'siblings' would assume it was for the other reason – bloodlust – and think he was weak. He hated their suspicious, wary glances following him wherever he went. His control was improving greatly, but he was still the weakest in the family. He wanted to be in control like they were. More than that, he wanted to be as in control as Carlisle, not even feeling the burn, not suffering with every fire-laden breath he had to drag in.

Third lesson was art. Jasper was praying that it wouldn't be another still-life class; he couldn't stand another hour of drawing fruit.

"Ah, yes, Hale, isn't it?" asked the art teacher, a young man with clothes covered in paint and charcoal dust.

"That's right, sir." Jasper had to be polite to authority figures; it was imprinted into his psyche.

"I'm afraid the only free seat is at the back, you'll have to partner Kira."

Jasper couldn't understand why the teacher was feeling sympathetic – what was wrong with this Kira? He went to take his seat at the back of the class, already dreading the close proximity of whoever Kira was.

Just as the teacher turned to write the lesson plan up on the board, the door swung open and a girl walked in. She must be the mysterious Kira.

"Sorry I'm late, sir, I had to speak to Mr Jameson."

"Just get along to your desk, Kira, and make sure you show our new student Jasper where everything is."

She walked – slowly, like she was deliberately antagonising the teacher – back to the desk and folded elegantly into the chair. Immediately someone nearby coughed the word 'freak!' She tensed slightly, but didn't react. Instead, she focused her eyes on the board where the teacher had finished writing. They had to draw a scene containing cliffs and water Jasper glanced away from the board to see Kira laying pencils on the desk.

"If you need materials, they're in the drawers over there," she said grudgingly, like it was an enormous effort for her. "If you need anything you can ask." Her helpful words were at odds to her unfriendly tone.

"Thanks," Jasper replied, wondering what had made her so unfriendly. Her emotions seemed normal enough for a student – boredom, tiredness, a little crabbiness, but nothing which backed up her outward hostility.

. . . . . . . .

Despite her bitterness, Kira was clearly gifted at art. After an hour she had created a black-and- white seascape framed by heavy dark cliffs. It had a sort of intangible, powerful energy about it. Five minutes from the end, the teacher made them all switch work with their partners to compare work. Jasper was impressed by Kira's work –it was detailed and captured the scene well. From the tenor of her emotions, Kira was impressed as well. She ran her fingertips over the pencil lines, lightly tracing the design of the waterfall tumbling down a stony cliff face Jasper had drawn.

"You're pretty good, you know," she said, her tone pleasant for the first time.

"Thanks. You're good too," Jasper replied, smiling. Unfortunately this used up the last of his air. If he wanted to seem normal, he would have to endure the fire. He gritted his teeth and inhaled quickly. To his surprise, the air didn't burn his throat. It tasted cool and clear, as if there was not a human girl sitting a few feet away from him.

"You're staring at me," Kira pointed out, her dominant emotion humour.

"Sorry. Drifting."

"That's OK. Hey, did Mr Acton say anything to you about sitting next to me?"

Surprised, Jasper answered her. "Yeah, he did, actually. His actual words were something along the lines of 'I'm afraid the only spare seat is next to Kira.' Why?"

Kira muttered something along the lines of 'Bloody teacher can't be freaking open-minded.'

"You get this a lot?"

She sighed. "A lot, a lot. Everyone here thinks I'm weird."

"Can't think why," Jasper murmured, not intending for her to hear.

"I hope that wasn't sarcasm."

"Definitely not." She was smiling, and he judged it safe to tease her.

"Alright, class, pack away and hand your work in as you leave," called Mr Acton, interrupting the chatter that was bubbling through the class now that actual work had ceased. The clatter of pencils, bags and chairs filled the room. Kira smiled at him once more, dropped her sketch onto the pile by the door and was gone.

……………………

At lunch, the Cullens met up and wandered to the canteen. On the way, they discussed how long it would take for whichever table they chose to sit to be vacated by the previous occupants. Emmett was betting on less than five minutes. Jasper was preoccupied with Kira. Firstly, there was the fact that her blood appeared to only smell of clean air and water Then secondly there was something about that didn't seen quite right. In fact, it didn't surprise him when, as they walked into the canteen, she was sitting at a table by herself, sketching quietly and eating a sandwich. As hers was the least occupied, that was the table chosen by the Cullen-Hale 'clan'.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" asked Edward, doing the 'dazzling' thing. Kira grinned, and her emotions showed she was clearly not dazzled. Jasper smirked until Edward hit him on back of the head.

"Go ahead, sit here. But no more fighting, or I'll drop a textbook on your head."

"That was a bizarre threat," Bella commented, as they all sat down.

"And I got plenty more where that came from," she grinned. For the first time Jasper noticed her accent was English. Probably a little like Carlisle's had once been. The image made him smirk again.

………………

By the end of the day, the burn in Jasper's throat had changed from smouldering embers to a blazing forest fire. The temptation to skip last lesson was only beaten by his desire to seem strong – even if it was just an act. Last class was film studies, so he was hoping that he wouldn't have to do much. In fact, he didn't have to do anything – the class was watching a film. Once again, the teacher seemed sympathetic that the only empty seat was next to Kira, who was late again.

She wandered in ten minutes after the lesson had started, not offering an excuse this time. Her emotions were not as simply student-like as before. There was a black undercurrent of anger and bitterness. Perhaps this was why no one liked her – it was a violent mood swing. The glare she unleashed on the class reflected that. What could cause something like that?

The film was one Jasper had seen already. In the darkened room, he could let his eyes wander around – no one could see him in the dark. Kira leaned back in her chair, eyes closed. The anger flared again, so strong Jasper's hands clenched involuntarily. He needed her to stop – adding anger to the all-consuming thirst would end badly. He cautiously sent out a wave of calm. It worked – for a few seconds. Then the anger and frustration spiked again and Kira's head snapped up and she looked directly at him. In the dark room, Jasper saw her eyes gleam, reflecting the light like cats' eyes.

Trying to solve the riddle that was Kira, Jasper barely noticed the film ending and the lights snapping on. A burst of noise signalled then end of the lesson.

There was no way to know it was coming. In the process of dumping their things into their bag, one of the class members didn't notice the scissors. One blade slid across their palm. Blood welled to the surface. Suddenly the forest fire blazed white-hot, a furnace, hot as the centre of the sun. Vegetarian morels abandoned Jasper. All that remained was the overpowering call of the fresh blood.

Meh. I don't think this is too good, but what do I know? By the way, I've already written 4 and a half chapters of this before I started posting it so updates hopefully won't take too long, until I hit chapter 5…

Feedback is greatly appreciated; I want to make this better!