Tachiagaru District

Main Branch Manor - Game Room

"Siblings!!!"

Issho, a five-year-old, pounces on top of her brother Kashi who was playing a team board game with seven others, Minshi, Rin, Kaylos, Maruka, Konas, Bee, and Tsuna, all six years old.

"Guess what happened!" Issho asked, "Guess, guess!"

"You killed our father with cuteness?" retorted Kashi, making an eye smile due to having a mask over his mouth and having fur covering his left eye.

"You baked something good?" replied Bee, earning him a slight punch from Tsuna.

"You found a puppy?!" Rin excitedly announced, the usual animal lover she is. Konas gave her one of her infamous "seriously" stares.

"It's none of those," Issho replied with a smile, "cousins Kamillan and Mika agreed to let me hang out with them!"

"But aren't they from the Kal Secondary Branch?" asked Maruka, "Don't they despise us?" Konas gave a slight nod to him.

"Besides father won't let us, he's got some, how you say, awkward tensions with that branch," Kaylos explained.

"Yeah aren't father and the head of that branch twins?" questioned Bee.

"Okay whatever bye!" Issho runs out the Game Room to meet up with her cousins. Everyone sweatdrops from that.

"Heh, same old Issho," Kashi mutters. Issho sprints down the hallway and slides down the staircase railing and exited through the dojo. As she was about to close the doors she felt a small pebble hit the top of her head. She turned around to see her two cousins. She immediately jumped onto Kamillan, toppling him to the ground. Mika couldn't help herself chuckle from that.

"You always this jumpy Sho-Sho?" calmly asked Mika.

"You could have broken my mask," Kamillan calmly snapped, giving off some mixed signals to Issho whether she's okay or in trouble. Issho grabbed the white orange-striped mask and handed it to Kamillan after getting off of him. "And besides Sho-Sho? What kind of nickname is that?!" Kamillan exclaimed.

"How about just Sho eh?" Mika suggests, jabbing Issho's forehead with her index and middle fingers. Issho chuckled from that gesture. Kamillan scoffed at that more lame nickname. Kashi entered the dojo and saw the three and offered them some refreshments. Mika thanked Kashi but Kamillan declined on the offer. Then out of nowhere Rin came bursting through the dojo paper doors leaving a big tear on it and bear-hugged Kamillan, albeit he barely felt it.

"You actually came big brother!" Rin shouted, with her famous smile. Kamillan hugs back and lifted her up. Issho was very confused, how could Rin be his brother but Kamillan is her cousin?

"If you didn't know Issho it's because our father adopted Rin," Kashi answered, "Their parents... moved away so our father adopted Rin, but Kamillan refused and said that he'll be better alone."

"Well we'll cheer him up, right?" Issho asked, Kashi gives her a little pat on the head and eye smiled.

As the day progressed with a little talking and a lot of playing board games, it became late and Mika went back home and when Kamillan said that he should go too, Issho offered to walk with him to his house. The two walked down the road, saying hi to the other Tachiagarus in the district. A curious sight caught her eye, a building with her family's crest, a purple spiraling void, linked the symbols of a hospital and a police force together.

"I always wondered what that building was for," asked Issho.

"I thought your father gave you a history lesson about it," Kamillan replied, "Our family is the foundation of our town, being very effective at their jobs thanks to our black hole powers, we could immediately entrap criminals in our void dimension and also being a mobile clinic."

"That's pretty neat, maybe we could be like them?" asked Issho.

"That seems like a good suggestion, but... not me," declined Kamillan, "I want to prove myself to your father that I'm worthy of becoming head of our clan and inheriting Ikari of the Flaming Two Tails and right all wrongs and flaws the Tachiagaru Clan has. Issho," spoke Kamillan as he walks away, "Please protect Rin with all your might, even if it means death." That last statement sent chills down her spine. Why would he say that?

"Don't worry she'll be safe I promise!" shouts Issho, putting her hand to her heart as an oath. Kamillan looks back and chuckles, then tosses something to Issho.

"It's one of my old masks, it's broken and looks more like a monocle, but I think it looks good on you," smiled Kamillan. Issho puts on the orange mask where spirals emerge from the eye hole. She put the mask on her right eye and felt like one of those comic book vigilantes Kashi reads about. "I think it looks good on you," Kamillan complimented. Issho smiled from that. With that both of them returned home to settle on for the night

Four Months Later

Tachiagaru Assembly Center

"Happy Birthday to you!"

Issho, now six, blows out her candles and immediately grabs a big chunk of the red velvet cake with her bare paws and devours it, everyone sweatdropping from that little incident. Issho's father Falchion, a tall, muscular, white- striped sabertooth tiger, yanked her from the cake and let others have a piece of whatever remains of the poor cake. As Issho wipes off some cake off her face and eats it, she sees her siblings in each of their unique clothes. Kashi dedicating his "trademark" look by covering his left eye with a bow tie and a napkin over his snout combined with his white tuxedo recording the party with a camera, Minshi with a white Japanese Kimono with lavender and mint flowers adorning the silk talking with some of the elderly guests, Kaylo's with a regular blue hoodie and black shorts chilling in a corner, Maruka with the whole shebang with a black tuxedo and a flower trying to impress others, Konas with a big black robe with red and white outlines and red clouds and with paper flowers placed everywhere making more origami birds and flowers for the party decorations, and Bee next to the refreshment table with average party attire getting pummeled by Tsuna with a cyan sequin dress for reasons unknown to Issho. Then finally Rin was seen hugging and laughing with Mika and Kamillan, who appears to have heavily tinted goggles. Kamillan has been assigned to be a Black Ops squad leader due to his amazing tactical abilities and his black hole powers perfected at such a young age. Mika was his second in command and the two rarely visit due to them being very busy and Rin cherishing every moment with them. Then after a few minutes, Falchion tapped his crystal glass and everyone looked to him.

"Thank you all for coming," Falchion announced, his voice able to inspire such high morale on miserable souls. "With my youngest child now being six, we can now pass along the demons of the family to the next generation." As by signal five men carrying forklifts with weird big jars entered the grand room. Each jar had different markings and colors, one with brown waves with darker dots on it, the second being white with geometrical lines, the third being purple and green faded chrome with some fangs, the fourth being blue waves with a silver chrome finish, and the last with blue flames with black inner flames. Everybody except Falchion, Konas, Kamillan froze with fear from the jars.

"Rin, come up please."

Rin regrettably walked up to the front, trying to act casual.

"Rin, you have been chosen to become the holder of Chikyu, the Tanuki of Earth Manipulation," the jar of the brown markings started to shake a little before the lid and chains holding it down were released to reveal a chibi light brown fat raccoon with darker markings and stripes with yellow eyes. Mika, Kamillan, Issho and her siblings stood dumbfounded with their mouths agape, Rin exponentially more. Then two seconds later she immediately hugged and squeezed the life out of the chunky raccoon. The tanuki tried to push away from her assailant but to no avail.

"Let go of me you brat! I will not tolerate this!" shouted the demon, but led to Rin hugging him even more.

"You are the cutest thing I have ever seen! I'll call you Kyu-Kyu!" smiled Rin.

"I will not be named such a peasant name!" screeched Chikyu, but then Rin let out a monster-sized hug that squeezed the air out of him, making him accept defeat. All previous mentioned patrons' brains shut down from the events that unfolded right in front of them. Kamillan scoffed. Then Falchion bit his thumb, drawing blood, and smeared it to Chikyu's forehead and Rin's right paw. There appeared a big jumble of runes on both places with blood, before disappearing into nothing.

"Now Chikyu is yours, Rin. Please make our family name proud," Falchion smiled before the entire room erupted in thunderous applause. Rin then grabbed the tanuki demon and went back to her seat, the demon's expression saying 'Please help me!'. The next three went smoothly, the second demon being Kami of the Titanium Centerfold, a paper swan made of metal-hard paper that could transform into anything with its razor-sharp body, given to Konas, who befriended the demon by giving Kami a paper rose flower, followed up with a smile which led to Bee shouting 'Get the camera!'. The third demon Doku of the Red Venom, a red, plasma-like snake that can charge its devastating wind and fire powers with the negative emotions of its foes, was given to Tsuna, who intimidated it to obey it, which made the snake who literally takes power from fear, tremble and squeak. The fourth demon, Rai of the Skies, a wolf purely made of white lightning who can replicate itself with enough static electricity, was given to Kashi, who actually took off his napkin mask and the bow tie from his right eye as a gesture of trust to his demon. Finally, there was only one demon jar left, for the first time Issho saw Kamillan on the edge of his seat, figuratively since he was leaning on a wall. Time seemed to slow down fo Issho and, unbeknownst to her, Kamillan and Mika.

"Issho, come on up."

She almost fainted from that phrase and proceeded to the last jar and once it opened, no demon came out. She looked inside the jar and saw what appeared to be a kitten in a position to be scratched. Issho put her hand in, but then what felt like a thousand cuts she saw a blur of blue and black jump to the ceiling.

"''Twas a trap," Issho muttered as her father looked so disappointed at her youngest's demon behaving recklessly again as it did the same thing to him. The two could see the cat trying to escape through a window, but Bee miraculously threw a hor d'oeuvres platter at the kitten, who seemed to be made of fire, in the face and landed in the punch bowl. Falchion immediately drew blood from his thumb and smeared it into the demon cat's face, accidentally hitting its eye, then grabbing the kitten then gave it to Issho. Issho tried to pet it, but the kitten gave a "touch me, and it'll be the last thing you do" glare. Falchion approached his daughter and gave her a comforting pat.

"Don't worry, as troublesome as he is, he's also the pillar that holds this family, the vanguard as they say," Falchion explained. Issho could barely contain her excitement, but it faltered quickly as most of the room erupted in anger at why no Alternate Branch members were chosen and saw Kamillan walking out. Issho followed him outside.

"Kamillan wait, aren't you happy that I got chosen?" Issho called out.

"That demon is Ikari of the Flaming Two Tails, the one I've been vying for for years, yet your father being the biased bastard he is, decided to give it to you! What have you ever done to earn his decision?!" angrily retorted Kamillan. Issho seemed to be on the verge of tears, but then Kamillan's expression changed as if he had an idea.

"Come here for a second, I want to show you a secret," gestured Kamillan. Issho seemed to lighten up a little. "Promise to me you won't say this to no one," he whispered.

"I promise," Issho nodded.

"Look closely," Kamillan advised. He then slowly took of the straps of his dark-tinted goggles. But then-

"Kamillan Tachiagaru!" a voice shouted

Kamillan immediately but back on the straps of his goggles and then turned to see the figures that destroyed Issho's excitement. They were part of the city's private (and mostly corrupt) investigators. "What is it to interrupt this moment?!"

"We have reason to believe you're behind a murder of a legendary ninja clan," one of them called out. Issho could see her cousin's fists tighten.

"Why would you accuse me of something like that?!" Kamillan argued. His voice shook some of his accusers.

"You were the only one who visited Grand Master Masuta regularly every week before your induction to the Black Ops, right after that Masuta was declared missing after returning to his home. After a week a group of explorers found a barrel with his remains, with both his eyes cut out," the seem-to-be leader explained, "and we know what the eyes of Masuta and his clan are capable of."

"And also at that same time frame the prodigy of the family Haku, who now prefers to be called Izanagi, went rogue after killing his younger sister and possibly his elder sister also with her disappearance," added one of the leader's colleagues.

"How dare you make such audacious claims, my record is spotless and you want to tamper with it?!" Kamillan argued, his anger rising to the point you can flambé something on it. Then Kamillan gestured Issho to get close.

"Issho, look deeply into my eyes. I'll explain everything later," Kamillan whispered. As the investigators approached Kamillan quickly unbuckled the straps of his goggles and then took them off completely.

Then he opened his eyes.

Issho only saw a glint of deep red before falling unconscious, or what she thought afterwards.

The Next Day
Tachiagaru Clinic

Issho woke up with her lower body numb. Must've been from last night, she thought, I wonder what happened? Then she heard a gasp and then she felt herself getting hugged by Rin.

"Okay enough I gotta go and see what Kamillan wanted to tell me," Issho muttered as she politely pushed away Rin and got off her bed. But she couldn't make out what Rin was trying to warn her as Issho fell to the floor as it seemed her legs were still asleep, but as she tried to touch them... all she felt was metal. Then she truly realized why were her legs were numb.

Those weren't part of her, only machine.

She screamed.