Hatori frowned at his monitor as he researched Mamoru's parents. He saw birth certificates and schooling records, even when they changed the family registry at marriage and when Mamoru was born. The problem was very little else was coming up. Precisely the same problem Yamato had seemed to have had.

He couldn't figure out why. And he knew there had to be a why. After all, what other reason could there be for the apparent cover-up?

Ring. Ring.

He answered his phone, "Chief Hatori."

He heard a sweet voice say, "it's your great-aunt." Really her relation to him was much more complicated than that, but they settled on an easy title. "I talked with Mamoru about his parents. It's horrible." He heard the grief in her voice. "They weren't werewolves. Well, not in the traditional sense. One or both of them had very latent werewolf in them. It was the strength in my blood that awoke what little there was. I believe whatever the mystery is, it's either someone with deep knowledge of the past werewolf lines or something very human-related."

Hatori smiled. He almost laughed at how she had skated past pleasantries. He didn't believe that was usual for her. To him, it showed how heartbroken she was for Mamoru.

He said, "what about his werewolf past would be interesting to anyone?"

"He's the alpha of his new pack. One that only has, now, five members left. It seems like someone tried to wipe out an entire pack at some point."

"But why would anyone have any reason to think the latent werewolf in him would be awoken? And why in the world would they let him live and only kill his parents?"

"It makes me think it's more of a human thing than a werewolf thing," Usagi replied. "I completely agree with you."

Hatori rubbed his eyes and said, "the good news is if it's human-related, I can launch an investigation if I find any leads."

"Let me know anything you need help with."

"Will do, Great-Aunt."

He paused and could actually feel her reticence. "Despite what you said, you think it's supernatural."

Hatori heard a long sigh over the phone. "Yes. I can't understand the reason behind why yet…." He heard her mumble and then, "I just don't believe in coincidences. But…."

"But if they were trying to kill off the werewolf line, why allow Mamoru to live?"

"Exactly."

He picked up a pen from his desk drawer and flipped it in his fingers. "So there has to be another reason."

"I don't like the unknown."

"Especially when it has to do with Mamoru," he added.

Usagi said, "yes. Especially then. My life ended with the unexpected, though, so to be fair, I have a long history of being against it."

"You have an unprecedented group of strength around you, and Mamoru is the first hybrid in existence."

He heard the sadness in her voice when she said, "and still, I have suffered through believing he would die."

He shrugged and pointed out, "and he didn't. He faced death and won. Keep that in mind."

"Thank you. Right now, I need to be reminded of that fact."

Jadeite pulled Rei into his arms. "What has you making that face?"

"And what face am I making?" She challenged him.

He kissed her forehead and said, "you look constipated." She pulled back and lightly smacked him; she noticed he was smirking. He added, "much better. Now you look annoyed and not upset. I hate seeing you upset."

She frowned, bit her lip, and began pacing. "I-I have something I need to explain to you… About that night… The night that Mamoru almost…."

"Died?" Jadeite finished, raising an eyebrow at her.

She stopped and turned to face him. "Yes. And when I… overdid it, saving him. I was told to heal him slower than that by Mars."

He grimaced. He knew this conversation was difficult for her to have, but he also kind of wanted to yell at her for not listening to the instructions. After all, she had terrified him.

Jadeite forced a calm voice. "You wanted to save him quickly and have the whole nightmare over."

Shock registered on her face. "I thought-" Rei shook her head. "Why aren't you yelling at me? I thought you'd be furious with me."

He smiled and shook his head. "I'm still upset. I was so fucking scared when you were out of it for days. Mars told me how you overdid it."

"He did?! He didn't tell me that. He said to talk to you about…." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Then why didn't he tell me you knew?"

Jadeite pulled her into his arms. "Because you should be the one to tell me. I need to know from you that you knowingly healed him too fast."

"And why." She added.

"What do you mean?"

She blushed and stepped out of his embrace, and faced him. Not allowing herself to hang her head in shame, she said, "I knew he would live if I healed him the way I was told. It wouldn't have…." She couldn't help but fidget. "It was more impressive the way I healed him. I proved myself. At least, that was how it felt at the time. Then I woke up and realized how worried everyone was about me, and I realized I hurt people." Tears sprang to her eyes, and she couldn't suppress them.

He wiped away her tears, looked her in the eyes, and said, "you don't have to earn anyone's affection. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone, either."

She sniffled and said, "I hear that, but it's hard to feel that. My whole life, my grandfather was the only one who loved me unconditionally, other than my mother. My own father doesn't even love me. It made me feel –less than. I wanted to rush out and show everyone that I could save the day. That I could save Mamoru and Usagi."

Jadeite took her face in his hands. "You are going to be trouble." He then laughed. "It's a good thing that I love trouble. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending most of my time making sure you don't overdo it with magic. Well, that and making you realize that you're searching for a place to belong that's already yours. You don't have to impress the already impressed. And I will point out that they like you for you –no magic required." He then pulled her tightly into his arms. "And as for me, I love you absolutely –hero complex and all."

Sapphire stared at the half-full glass of sake in his hand. He downed what was left and filled it again. It had been a long time since he was drunk. Ever since he was a vampire, his body healed too fast to ever be able to over-imbibe. He was cursing that fact now.

Naru insisted on being involved in the whole coming mess with Beryl, and he hated that he didn't see a way to stop her. She was stubborn, beautiful, and just so damn perfect to him.

More and more, the answer he kept coming up against was to turn her. He had worked to gain power as a vampire, and she would have every bit he did. That and they would be on the same side as thee Usagi. That would bring protection too.

The fact was, though, that he hated his rat bastard of a brother for turning him. Becoming a vampire had made him furious. How could he do that to the woman who brought him back from total despair –the one he adored?

He was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't see the bottle of sake be lifted off the table. Naru grimmised as she took a big sip and set it down with a clunk. That got his attention.

She sat next to him and said, "you look like hell."

He plastered on a fake smile and said, "having you here makes it all better, though."

He tried to take her hand, but he failed. She pulled away from him and scowled. "Don't pull that fake smile with me! If you think that fools me, you have another thing coming!" Naru crossed her arms and added, "if you don't want to talk about it, fine. Just don't lie and act like everything is okay. Something is bothering you."

"Don't worry about it."

She rolled her eyes, and then she walked to the counter to grab her purse. "I'm not playing this game right now or ever. I'm going out. Call me when you've grown up."

"What do you want from me?!"

She spun to face him, "not this! You don't even have to tell me what's bothering you! I want the truth. 'Yes, something is bothering me, but I don't want to talk about it.' That would be fine. And don't pull the 'don't worry about it' on me, either. I care about you, so I worry about you."

He frowned and downed his drink. "You deserve better than me."

"Oh!" She then said mockingly, "we're on to the self-pity portion of this conversation. Care to move on to talking like a sensible adult?!"

He stood abruptly, and his face transformed. Along with the obvious fangs, his eyes turned pitch black, and the veins around his eyes turned red. Naru didn't flinch. Not a bit of her was afraid of him hurting her. "Okay," she then amended, "a sensible vampire."

He let his transformation fall away and yelled, "that's the point –I'm not human. My brother turned me into a monster, one that has to feed off the lives of humans to survive!"

She decided not to derail the conversation by mentioning the blood tablets. After all, she felt she was onto something now. "You're not a monster to me," she replied calmly.

"Why!? You forgive so much that I did! He forced me to become this thing, and I loathe him for it!"

And now things clicked for her. They had been talking about her turning, and the vitriol in his voice over his brother turning him into a vampire gave her a good guess as to the problem. He didn't want her to hate him the same way in the end. It would crush him.

Instead, Naru glared at him, knowing she needed to take an offensive position to snap him out of his worries. "Ah. So, you regret meeting me?" The shock on his face was comical, so comical she almost laughed out loud.

He snapped his head back, "no! Where did that come from?"

"You would have been dead before I was even born if you hadn't become a vampire. I hate what he forced you to do, everything but your transition. Without that, we never would have met." She put down her purse and walked over to him, and caressed his face. "Don't hate being a vampire. It's what brought me the love of my life."

He blinked several times. "I've always hated… He forced me to turn and made me serve him…"

"And that was and is awful. Yet, can we be grateful that he lost in the end and that what he meant to use to hurt you brought us together?"

"If I turn you and you come to regret…."

She stepped into his embrace. "I'm a stubborn woman. You said so yourself –many times. I won't change my mind. Trust me to love you and our future together."

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I will need to turn you soon."

She looked up at him with a joyful smile. "I'm glad you finally realized that." She then said, "now, I spoke with Usagi and we have a time to meet with the group. I told her about Beryl's minion flying here and his weird purchases."

"Maybe she can make sense of it all."

She looked up at him with a heated gaze. "Now is the time for makeup sex." He didn't even hesitate. He had her on his bed naked in seconds.