Chapter 1

"Father," she whispered to herself, as if she were waiting for a reply.

Her deep green eyes scanned the scenery before her, hoping to feel more peaceful than sad. Her mother needed her to be strong and if she spent her time reflecting upon the past, she would not be able to help her only family member. The dim darkness around her began to cave in, blocking out the beautiful sight of fireflies as they skimmed across the river surface and weaved throughout the trees across the bank. Her ears became deaf to the singing crickets and focused only upon the memories and thoughts in her mind.

She had never had much of a chance to really know her father, but it didn’t mean that knowing he was dead didn’t hurt. She could remember only a few things about him, things that her mother had not told her back when she was a young woman. She remembered her childhood and how it had ended when she was only seven years old; when her father was killed. Still, despite the early loss, she could remember a few things about him. She could remember the smile that he only ever gave her mother and herself. She could still hear the sound of his laugh and the amused voice he used whenever he teased her mother. She remembered when he scolded her once, but then hugged her right after, because he knew she was only I child who didn’t understand her mistakes. She remembered when she was in bed for days, sick with the flu, and he took her outside for a piggyback ride when she had finally recovered. She could still recall his funny faces and jokes that he used to cheer her up when she was glum. She could still feel his soft touch from when she had skinned her knee and he placed a Band-Aid on it.

These were all of the things that she could recall about her father, but she still felt void of ever having a father. He had died when she was so little and it had always been so unfair to her. She knew that there were so many more people in the world that had felt more pain then she did, but she couldn’t help herself sometimes. It just hurt so much to think about it and she couldn’t make herself stop. She was sixteen years old and wanted, more than anything, to see her father again. She wanted to see the man who had made her mother so happy and who had always protected her; always protected them both. She wanted him to still be alive. She wanted, for both herself and her mother, the man called Mamoru Kusanagi to be with his family.

"Hi Mom. I’m sorry if I worried you," Unmei apologized immediately, turning her attention back to the river, looking down at it and feeling bad for having made her mother fret.

"It’s all right, Unmei, but please tell me next time you decided to wander so far away from the house." Momiji smiled at her young daughter and moved to sit down on the large rock beside her.

The two sat in silence for several long minutes, neither really knowing what to say or wanting to talk. Momiji, having noticed the emotion she saw in her daughter’s green eyes, looked over at the girl beside her, wishing she knew of someway to make her feel better. Unmei got in to moods like these often nowadays, especially since she had grown in to such a mature young woman, more so than she had been at the age of sixteen. She wished so much that her daughter could be more at ease. It killed her to see her unhappy inside, even if she tried to hide it to keep her mother from worrying. There had to be some way to cheer her up a bit. Momiji looked out at the water and smiled.

"Your father and I used to come here all the time."

"Really? I didn’t know that you and Papa liked this place," Unmei replied, looking over at her parent.

"It’s true. We loved to come here. After the things that happened in America, when your father and I were able to fix our relationship, he began to warm up to me a bit more. He gave me my first real kiss in this place and proposed to me here as well. When I was about four months pregnant with you, he brought me here and told me that this place would be special for every following generation of our family. I think he was right, Unmei." Momiji saw her daughter smile and felt a bit of relief welling up inside of her.

"Thank you, Mama, for telling me that."

"You’re welcome, my daughter." Unmei’s mother looked up at the sky and jumped quickly off the rock and on to her feet. "Oh nuts! It’s getting darker outside! Unmei, we have to get home before the sun sets!"

"You’re right! Let’s hurry!" Unmei replied, eyes widening in slight fear, as she too jumped off the rock.

Momiji took her daughter’s hand and the both began running, their footfalls seeming to echo throughout the trees surrounding them. It was dangerous to be out past dusk nowadays. Nighttime was when they showed up. The two never stopped running, even when they began to become short of breath. Their fear fueled their need to keep going. Soon, the trees parted in to their backyard. Both women ran toward the back door, quickly taking off their shoes as soon as they entered the dwelling. Momiji slumped against the wall, huffing loudly. Unmei shuffled slowly and tiredly in to the kitchen, turning on the lights as she went.

"Thank God we made it," the former Kushinada said to herself, eventually following her daughter in to the now brightened living room.

Momiji plopped down on the couch, stretching the full length of her body across it, covering her eyes with her forearm as she did so. Unmei, who had taken a seat on the windowsill, watched her mother for a few moments before turning her gaze towards the clear glass, quietly scanning the darkened atmosphere of the side yard. How long would they have to live in fear? How long would the night be a sign of death? When would they be able to live peacefully?

"I wish the Aragami would just leave us to live in peace," Momiji murmured, as if reading her child’s thoughts.

"So do I, Mom. Has Grandpa been able to find the Aragami that attacked the Prime Minister’s residence in Tokyo?"

"I’m afraid not. Maybe we should call him and see if they have had any luck. I haven’t talked to him since yesterday anyway," Momiji slowly began to sit upright.

Before either woman could get out of their seats the telephone began to ring. Momiji and Unmei exchanged knowing grins, amused by the irony of he situation, and the elder woman walked out of the living room and in to the hall.

"Hello. Momiji speaking," chimed the brunette as she held the phone up to her ear. Unmei stood in the living room doorway, listening to her mother’s side of the conversation. "Hello Dad. Yes, we’re fine. Yes, Unmei is in the living room. Have you been able to find anything new? No such luck, huh? Yes. Yeah. I’m ready for it, Dad. You know how I’m getting used to hearing nothing, but bad news. Okay." Momiji fell in to silence as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line and her expression slowly became grave. "Oh no. That’s horrible. How bad is it? Oh no. Is there anything that can be done? Oh God. Yes. You want to talk to her? Okay. Hang on a moment, please. Unmei!"

Momiji turned around as her daughter began to walk toward her, trying her best to hide her dark expression, though it was very hard to do so. Unmei had terribly strong perceptive skills and she always knew when her mother was uneasy. The teenage girl flashed her mother a remorseful look before taking the phone from her. She watched her mother exit the room before speaking.

"Hi Grandpa," she said, trying her best to sound a little cheerful.

"Hello Unmei. How are you doing?" replied the deep voice of Daitetsu Kunikida.

"I’m alright. I’m just a little tired today."

"You didn’t sleep very well last night, did you? Was it that dream again?" His tone had become concerned.

"Well…yes…" Unmei replied slowly, hanging her head for a few seconds.

"Maybe you should tell your mother about it, Unmei. She might be able to help you."

"I can’t, Grandpa. Mom has too much weighing on her shoulders right now and I don’t want to over stress her by making her worry about me any more than she already does. You won’t tell her about it, will you?" She heard Mr. Kunikida expel a deep, long sigh.

"No, I won’t. If anything about it changes or if the dream persists to happen then I want you to talk to Matsudaira about it. Maybe she can help you out since she worked with your mother for so many years."

"All right. Well, I had better go, so I can help mom start on dinner. Call us if you get any new information, please."

"I will, Unmei. I love you."

If only he had known that things would not last. It could not be explained. Know one understood why or how the Aragami reawakened. It seemed impossible with Susano-oh and Kaede in their state of rest. There was no chance that it could have been biological tampering; that was something the government had made sure of. How could the Aragami be alive again? It didn’t make any sense. The only thing they could do about the situation was reassemble the TAC and try their best to fight them as they had done before. The results were different this time. The Aragami managed to come back stronger and smarter, led by a dark force that could not be comprehended. These monsters were more difficult to defeat and almost impossible to track.

Slowly, things began to fall apart. The team was devastated when Kusanagi had been killed. They had never expected it and it was a loss that they all took hard. Momiji changed after that. She became more determined to win, more protective of her people and especially her daughter. These might have been considered good things if it had not been for the darkness that came with the changes. Momiji lost her brightness and her vitality. She hardly smiled or laughed, spending most of her time hoping to get revenge for the death of her beloved Kusanagi. Unmei helped her keep a little bit of her old personality and Momiji’s determination to protect her daughter at all costs was what kept her from becoming void of emotion and life.

One by one things began to get worse. The TAC began to fall apart. Another death amongst the ranks nearly ripped the team apart. Yaegashi suffered a severe wound when the Aragami unexpectedly attacked the TAC office. Matsudaira and Kome had been there with him, but luckily they suffered minor injuries. Yaegashi died shortly after. Kome, just as Momiji, changed greatly. She reverted to her tough-as-nails personality, but it was far different than it had once been. She no longer joked or smiled. All she wanted to do was kill any Aragami that appeared, spending her free time waiting in silence for the next attack. Jun, Matsudaira’s son, had taken Yaegashi’s place as the assistant to his mother and collected all of the data for the team. One great loss to a small gain.

Everything was falling apart. Buildings and towns could be fixed over time. Lives could not. The only thing that the people of Japan really had left was hope and even that was beginning to dwindle. Couldn’t anything be done? How much longer would the Aragami plague them?

"Daitetsu?"

Kunikida glanced over his shoulder a he felt a gentle hand fall upon his back. Ryoko rubbed his shoulder reassuringly, her face filled with concern and remorse. Daitetsu turned around and pulled his wife close, hiding his face in her hair as a way to gain comfort. Neither could really think of anything to say at that moment, because nothing could make the situation seem any better.

"Are you alright, Daitetsu? You’ve been standing here for the past hour," Ryoko asked, her voice lightly muffled by his chest.

"I didn’t realize how long I had been standing here. Have the doctor’s said anything different?"

"No. The Prime Minister’s condition hasn’t changed at all. I suppose all we can do is pray that he won’t get any worse. If he dies, the people will have nothing more to hope for. How much longer will we all have to suffer like this, Daitetsu? How long?"

"I don’t know, Ryoko. I really don’t know."

Kusanagi laughed as he caught his tiny daughter in his arms, just before tossing her up in to the air again. Unmei laughed and flapped her arms, as if pretending to be a bird. Momiji sat watching them only a few feet away, her face set in a bright smile. She laughed as her husband hugged their seven-year-old daughter close, tussling her hair lightly as he held her.

"Papa, don’t mess up my hair!" Unmei said, giggling as she tired to straighten out the messy hair at the top of her head.

"Why don’t you let me braid you hair, Sweetie?" Momiji asked, stepping up to the two of them.

"Okay, Mama!"

Momiji took her daughter in her arms and put her chin on top her head, smiling up at the grinning face of her husband. Kusanagi bent down and placed a kiss of Momiji’s lips before repeating the action towards his child, though he kissed the top of her head rather than her lips. Unmei looked back and forth between her parents as they looked back at one another, smiling as they shared a tender moment.

It was then that things suddenly became completely dark.

"Kusanagi!!"

"Momiji! Take Unmei and run!!"

"Die Kushinada!!!"

"Momiji!! Unmei!!!"

A shrill shriek filled the air; echoing on the wind just before everything fell silent, save for the sound of rain falling. Momiji sat on the ground, holding her husband’s hand as she hunched over his body. Unmei sat on the other side of Kusanagi, looking down at her father with wide, confused eyes. Kusanagi looked up at Momiji, taking in the sight of her face, smiling weakly as his free hand lay against the bloody mess of his chest and stomach.

"Oh God, Kusanagi. We’ve got to get help. You can pull through this. You always have," Momiji said, a sob caught in her throat. Kusanagi simply chuckled lightly and placed a finger against her lips.

"Shhh, Momiji. You know there’s nothing more that can be done. I just want you to know that I love you."

"Kusanagi…." Momiji kissed the back of his hand, pressing her cheek against it as tears began to fall from her eyes.

The Aragami-hybrid turned his head towards his daughter, who sat crying as she looked back at him, bunching up the folds of her skirt in her tiny hands. Kusanagi longed to reach up and wipe them away, but could not because of the green blood on his fingers. He knew that there was something he had to do before he died, something of utmost importance.

"Unmei, I want you to do something for me. Place you hand on the bottom mitama on my chest."

"W-why Papa?" The little girl asked, her voice shaking as she wept.

"Please, Unmei. Do it for me," Kusanagi begged, his voice beginning to strain as he felt himself grow weaker.

Unmei nodded and extended her hand shakily until it lay upon her father’s eighth mitama, her palm sitting completely flat. Momiji, as if she understood what he was going to do, released his hand and allowed him to place it atop of their daughter’s. Kusanagi closed his eyes, his brow furrowing for a few moments. Suddenly, his mitamas began to resonate with a bright, blue light. Unmei gasped lightly, feeling her father’s power pulse through her veins, as the light grew so bright that it engulfed everything.

Moments later the light died down and eventually faded in to one small circle of light. Kusanagi smiled and lifted his hand away from his child’s, taking in the expression of awe that her face took on as she lifted her hand. His eighth mitama, once Momiji’s, part of Orochi’s soul, lay embedded in Unmei’s right hand.

"My mitamas will help protect you, Unmei. I’ll be with you both through them, so take good care of them. I love you both," Kusanagi smiled at them both, looking at the faces of his wife and daughter for the last few seconds of his life.

Kusanagi’s lips drew out of their soft smile as his eyelids slowly began to close. His breathing stopped, his head turned limply to the side, and his hand fell unmoving upon the rain soaked soil.

Unmei sat up with a shout that only she could have heard, her hand clutching her heart as she breathed heavily. Her body was cold due to the damp cloth of her white t-shirt and blankets, soaked by her own sweat. The young woman reached up and wiped away the sweat-dampened hair that clung to her forehead, her heart pounding as she tried to recover from the dream. Her eyes began to blur as she brought her knees up to her chest, her fingers caressing the mitama in her hand as sobs began to over take her.

(So what did you think? Was it okay? It’s my first attempt at an angsty fic, so I beg you to be gentle. Please review. I’d really appreciate it!)