Hey all,

Once again, sorry about the wait. RL has been rather crazy recently. I also ran out of what I have pre-written in a notebook, I accidentally skipped something further ahead when I was hand writing so I need to re-organize my thoughts again. Anyway, here's a new chapter, a mean cliff-hanger (which I hope gets you to review) and a promise that I have the next part mostly written. Sorry it's rather short. Enjoy

~Nyx~

PS Thank you to my reviewer Tree of Leaves! I would answer your questions, but it's a fun thing that comes up later :D If you are really dying to know about the nickname, leave an email address and I'll tell you.

After meeting her brother, Ana returned home to wait for her children to be done with school. She couldn't wait to hear how the older boys had done with taking over the team. She had no doubts they succeeded, but she wanted to hear everything. The front door was thrown open by an excited Akaya, causing Ana to jump a little. Akaya had been quieter since the older boys started Middle School; it was good that he was excited again, even if it startled her.

"Tadaima~!" He sang out as he ran to the kitchen and smiled seeing Ana just pouring hot chocolate into two mugs.

"Okaeri, Akaya-chan. I see you had a good day today," She teased, smiling at him as she handed him the second mug.

"Yes!" Akaya said, bouncing as he carefully sipped at the hot drink. "I made a new friend! He's awesome! I don't want him to ever meet senpai-tachi, though, he's really good at those stupid word game things."

Ana hid a smile behind her own mug as she listened to Akaya happily babble about his day. It was so good to see Akaya's face lit up like that again. He had not quite recovered from her brother leaving, but now it seemed this new boy had helped him in a way that she and the other boys had been unable to manage. She needed to find a way to thank this boy, though Akaya had yet to mention a name to go with all the wonderful things he was babbling. This last thought caused Ana to have to hid a smile again, it was so typical of the boy that the name was unimportant.

"I know you told me not to, but after I told him that I don't play tennis against people, just practice against a wall, because I can't control my temper well, and I can be very violent, and you don't want me to get in trouble for hurting people, and he said that I should play him and then he made me when I tried to say no, so it wasn't totally my fault I broke your rule, right?" Akaya was winding down, and bright red, as he babbled out the last part without taking a breath as if, if he said it fast enough Ana would miss the fact that he had broken a rule.

Ana just arched her eyebrow, "He made you play him?"

"Ok, well, maybe he just asked me and I said yes because I really wanted to play against someone, but we played and I stayed normal the whole time so that's good right?" Akaya said the first part in a rush, again, trying to gloss over his wrong-doing. "I was really focused because he's really, really, nice and I didn't want to hurt him, ever. He explained math to me!"

Ana stifled her laughter and smile as she leveled a stern look at her youngest child. "You're still in trouble for not following my rules, Akaya-chan," he shifted nervously until she smiled at him, "but good job, I'm proud of you!" She hugged him and ruffled his hair. "Now, what's the name of this miracle boy and when do I get to meet him?"

Before Akaya could answer the door opened violently, not the excited violent of Akaya's but an anxious violent, and seven voices called out "Tadaima."

"Okaeri! Hot chocolate is waiting for you in the living room!" Ana called back.

"'Tou-san, I need to talk to you!" Masaharu yelled back.

"Alright, I'll be right there." She turned back to Akaya. "Well?"

"He's name is Ootori Choutarou, he just transferred from Hyotei because Rikkai allows Elementary students to board and Hyotei doesn't let below Middle School board. I'll see if he can come over this weekend." Akaya said.

"That works out well. Your punishment for playing without permission is 50 sit-ups and pushups then 30 laps around the house." She turned him around and shooed him out of the house where their home courts were.

"Hai, 'Tou-san, sorry." He mumbled, slumping down slightly as he went to complete his punishment. He didn't often get punished, and he hated disappointed Ana, so he wouldn't complain about it, even if he did think it was a lot.

Ana smiled at him back, before turning to go into the living room, watching the boys from the doorway quietly for a moment. Bunta was telling Jackal and Hiroshi about a girl they'd just met, it was an interesting meeting if his wild gesturing was any clue. Masaharu was pacing, confused feeling almost visibly radiating off of him, something was bothering badly. Seiichi, Genichirou, and Renji were watching, silently, on the couch, observing everything going on the room. Hiroshi's eyes tracked his partner's pacing even as he listened to Bunta's story, while Jackal gave Bunta his full attention, a slight smile on his face. Ana walked into the room, grabbing everyone's attention as she sat down and pulled Masaharu into her lap in the motion. She chose her favorite armchair, where she could watch everyone, and absently noticed that soon she wouldn't be able to hold any of the boys in her lap, they were getting too big and lanky for her smaller frame.

"So, what happened, Masa-chan? It's only the first day back from break." Ana asked, combing her fingers through his hair and making another mental note about its length.

"We met the leader of the girls today. She knew that Bun and I were brothers even though we haven't said anything at school yet." Masaharu said, slowly relaxing into her.

"She said she was a friend of yours." Bunta added.

Ana frowned in thought, she didn't have many friends in general, let alone ones in the area. "Tell me what you know about her so far."

Renji sat up a bit straighter from where he had been relaxing into the couch since Ana's entrance. His eyes slid half open, allowing a bit of his golden eyes to shine through. "Oshitari Rin, age 12, blood type A, birthday October 15th, Libra, started Rikkai Elementary in grade 5. She moved up, alone, from Osaka, and lived with a care-giver, Fujimiya Aya, until this year when her younger twin brother and parents moved up. Brother is Oshitari Yuushi who recently helped Atobe-san take over the Hyotei Middle School Tennis Club. Both twins are very intelligent, Oshitari Yuushi is also a tennis tensai while she herself is a tensai of martial arts. Her only known associates are the Saitou twins and her second Suzuki Michiko at Rikkai. She has attended a few society events in the place of her parents, and has some associates outside of Rikkai but I couldn't find names, only that they were also associated with the Saitou twins. She can be rather violent, especially in regards to her family name, but she responds to Fujimiya-sensei. Possibly because of his relation to her caregiver, but not proven. Crazy temper, hates being touched, as noted before, reacts violently to her family name, rules the girls with iron control. She missed First Term this year because her aunt in Osaka had poor health so they sent her to care for the woman, returned after her aunt finally passed."

The other boys stared, wide-eyed, at the data collector. Even Seiichi and Genichirou were surprised.

"Renji-kun…" Bunta started, but trailed off when he couldn't think of how to end his thought.

"You're kind of scary." Jackal finished, diplomatically, for his doubles partner.

Hiroshi and Masaharu just nodded in agreement, stunned silent. Masaharu decided his seat on Ana was too close to the golden eyed boy and went to sit on his doubles partner, across the room, instead.

"That was surprisingly thorough, Renji. Why did you gather her data so completely?" Seiichi asked curiously.

"While she is unimportant to our tennis goals, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on the other major players in the school as well. I have data on all the class leaders and the major sport leaders, just in case." Renji explained with a half shrug, then a slightly embarrassed look crossed his face. "I also did it as a challenge; it was not as easy to gather her data as it was the other leaders."

The four doubles players shifted away from the three on the couch, eyes wide again, "Scary…"

Renji coughed, slightly embarrassed. "To get back on topic. There are two more things I'd like to add. I think it is important to note, she and her twin often act like mother and child or at the very least much older sister and younger brother, more so than they act as twins. I do not know the reason. Also, she has moments where she is completely, well spaces out for lack of better explanation. There appears to be no distinct trigger for these mome-oof!" He was cut off suddenly by Akaya, whose entrance had gone unnoticed, collapsing on him tiredly and curling into his lap. "Hello, 'Kaya-chan, where have you been?"

"Punishment stuff for playing without permission. It's cold outside, you're warm." The smaller boy curled himself more tightly and buried his face into Renji's neck causing the older boy to jump.

"Your nose is cold!" He scolded.

"Your neck is warm." Came the muffled response.

Renji decided to ignore the younger boy and turned back to Ana. "As I was saying, there's no trigger, and there seems to be no set time for how long they last. Did you need any more information, Ana-san?"

"No, that's fine, thank you Renji-kun." Ana sat up straighter and looked at the boys. "You all know that while I am a vampire, I am not normal, yes?"

"Yeah, 'Tou-san, you go in the sun and not evil. Why?" Bunta asked.

"The reason is connected to your Rin-chan." She smiled and leaned forward.

Please review

~Nyx~