AnimeWolfGirl9: Akane is great like that isn't she? She's always there to support the other members of her family. :)
Shadechu Nightray: This chapter is a bit less angst for you. :)
Changes
Things changed for Mika now that he had accepted the fact that this was his new home. For the fact, he now didn't have parents, just siblings but the love that they gave him was a lot more than his parents had. Things were easier now, he didn't have to worry about getting in trouble or beaten. About what his parents would be complaining about that day and how he would be the catalyst for their pain.
But despite this… it still kind of hurts…
Just because his parents had different ways of dealing with Mika, it still didn't mean that he didn't love them. On the contrary, although they were cruel, they had still taken care of him, raised him, and he still felt gratitude for them. In Mika's mind, it was impossible to not love someone, despite how much they hurt you. His new family didn't always share his thoughts, but that was ok with Mika. They would understand when they got older.
I'll have to help teach them…
He smiled at this, before looking over at Akane who was sitting beside him, watching the younger kids play.
She took that entire burden on herself since she was the oldest. Now she has someone who can help her…
She had opted to take turns with the younger kids, although they didn't know like Mika did, that she planned to allow them to play outside all they wanted, even if she didn't get to. Mika was content to watch and help her clean up the mess of paper from their previous craft. Normally it was just drawing and coloring but today was making a collage with different colors of paper. Not that you could really tell what each collage was supposed to be, they were little kids after all but that was what made each of them special. Each picture meant and looked something different to each kid.
Lately, Akane had helped the supervisor cook meals, learning the skill. She always tended to make Mika taste it before serving it to the other kids, always nervous that it wasn't good enough. Mika was happy to comply, if it meant being with his family more, then he would do anything.
Well maybe not anything… but pretty much anything…
Mika found himself more willing to do stuff that he normally wouldn't if it made his family happy. He had once crawled under a bed to get a stuffed animal that had fallen, the younger kid being too afraid to crawl under it themselves, worrying that a monster might be hiding under the bed. He found himself laughing at the thought.
Monsters don't exist. They're just a part of stories to scare children.
He startled a bit when Akane stood up, waving to get the other kids attention. He looked back to the kids, who still had smiled on their faces, with some catching their breath after running around in the grass.
"Why don't I get lunch ready and Mika can read you all a book?"
Despite her asking, Mika knew that the other kids would happily comply. Storytelling was the other thing that the kids loved, Mika often diverging from the story's path to change elements of the story, making it more appealing to the younger kids. He smiled at the kids running towards the opening, moving back so that he wouldn't get run over.
"Which one do you want this time?" He asked, once they were all inside. Each kid quickly took a seat in a circle, leaving room for Mika to sit near the middle so that all of them could hear. Taichi raised his hand and Mika nodded to let him know that he could ask his request.
"How about the one with the vampire queen?"
Mika never understood why kids were always so fascinated by this story.
Must be because they don't answer all the questions…
Mika knew from reading some of the other children's books about vampires that they were normally ruled by a male vampire, not a female one.
Come to think of it… this is the only one so far that I've come across that has a female vampire mentioned…
Mika always tried to make the end interesting. It never really stated what had happened to the female vampire, which made Mika slightly curious. His mind was always making up different endings to the character's story. He quickly went over and picked up the book before sitting back down and opening to the first page.
"Once upon a time…" He began, watching the other kids faces fill with excitement as he began.
Another chapter is here! :) Happy graduation to all the 2015 seniors this year (me and AnimeWolfGirl9 included)! Please let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review! Until next time!
-AnimeWolfGirl16