Hey all,

Ok, so this one is REALLY short, sorry. I will blatantly beg for reviews now. I know people are reading, please just drop me a line and let me know what you think? I appreciate being added to alerts, but I would like reviews a little more :D

~Nyx~

WARNING! This chapter gets a bit into the supernatural. It's not going to a MAJOR thing in the story, but it is there and will be touched on more than once. It is one of the genre things because this is only the beginning. There's a lot of tell in this, I'm sorry it needed to be done. It's short, but the next chapter will be longer. Please review!

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. "I'll have to give you some of my history to explain about what I suspect of Rin-chan. Before I was turned I was a very powerful witch."

"Did you kill the dinosaurs?" Masaharu asked, grinning when Ana threw a pillow at him.

"As I was saying. I was a very powerful witch. When I was bitten I only went through half of the transformation. My mortal soul left my body, but before the demon could enter the void left, my magic filled it. The result was a new type of vampire. I need to drink blood to survive, my body is technically dead, and I'm Immortal barring a stake through my heart or my head coming off. My magic protects me from religious artifacts, the sun and acts as my soul. However, my true soul did move on to be reincarnated. I've met my soul a few times, and it sounds like your Rin-chan is one."

"How can you tell?" Seiichi asked, interested with the idea.

"It is a longer story for another time. In short, it is what Renji-kun said about her spacing out that tells me. I am a Past Seer, and an untrained Seer will have those moments of losing him or herself in a vision. All of my reincarnations are Past Seers, and from the sounds of it she is fairly powerful." Ana grinned to herself, "Untrained for now, I can fix that, but I think she'll be close to my level. Invite her over this weekend, I would like to meet her and see if I am correct."

"Hai." Masaharu nodded, relaxing as Ana explained his worries away.

"'Kaya? What's wrong? Are you still cold?" Renji asked worriedly, causing everyone to look over. Akaya seemed to be trying to burrow into Renji. The older boy frowned. "Why are you crying?"

The simple question had Masaharu and Bunta at his side in a second, the other boys a half second behind. As they crowded around the younger boy Ana watched, frowning thoughtfully. She ran back over everything said and done since the young boy had entered the room. Suddenly it hit her. That horrible excuse of a mother had called her baby an evil monster, among other hurtful things. He was not fully recovered, though each day he was improving he wasn't completely past it and now Bunta's, and her own, thoughtless statements about vampires had probably set the Halfling off. As soon as the connection was made she had taken her youngest into her arms and cuddled him fiercely.

"No, no, no, my darling, no. You're a Halfling, not a full vampire, and you have magic protecting you as well. It may be different from mine, but it protects you just as powerfully. You will never turn into a monster. Even if you gave into your darker side, you won't be a monster." Ana reassured him. Another connection formed in her mind. "In fact, if you weren't so worried about your darker instincts, and so scared of them, they'd be easier to control and you could play tennis more seriously."

"Promise?" The boy asked childishly, looking up at her.

"I promise. What's more, I promise that I will always love you, no matter what. I'm sure your brothers feel the same." Ana said sincerely.

"We all feel that way, Aka-chan." Seiichi added in.

Ana let Akaya down from her lap and the other boys crowded around him again to comfort him. The rest of the evening they stayed close together, reassuring and comforting. Ana watched this proudly, they were all so mature for their young ages. Well, about the important things, Ana was aware of the pranks her children loved to play. She didn't need to see the future to know that in the next 5 months they would further grow and blossom. Akaya's new friend would, hopefully, help him fully ground himself as his family couldn't. The twins and Rin-chan would make a nice addition of support for the older boys, especially Masaharu and Bunta. She couldn't wait to see how things changed for all her children, not just the ones she'd legally adopted. Her brother was also, finally, maturing. It had taken almost a millennium, but these things come with time. The only thing that kept everything from being perfect was her mate's absence. He was stuck so far away from her, teaching horrid brats and caught in the midst of something that should have ended already, and could have been prevented to start with. When he finally arrived she promised herself that she would share all that she was keeping hidden. She just wished he would come now, even if it was before she was ready to tell the children.

"'Kaa-san?" Jackal interrupted her thoughts. "Are you ok? You tensed up and started growling."

"I'm fine, 'Kal-kun, thank you." She patted his head absently. "I just thought of something unpleasant, that's all. I'll go get dinner ready and call your parents to see if you can all sleep over." Ana smiled faintly at the children of her heart before retreating to the kitchen. For once, unaware that they had now turned their attention and worry towards her.

"Maybe Rin-san will be able to fix it when they meet." Bunta said half-heartedly, smiling at Akaya. "She'll be fine."

"Yeah, she's old, she probably just thought of something bad from her past. She has a lot of it." Masaharu added.

"Let's go outside and hit some balls around before the sun is completely down." Seiichi suggested, holding out his hand to Akaya and then leading the group outside.

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