Izumi Kinukage

"Izumi! Stop laying on the ground! You can not look pitiful! Get up, right this moment!"

Kenji Kinukage yelled at the little girl who was weakly laying on the ground. He was frowning while watching the girl struggling to get up. The tiny body of the girl was shaking. She was trying to breathe but she was coughing nonstop and unable to breathe air properly.

"You have to master our clan's teachings. If you can't learn them that means you have no talent and you are the disgrace of our clan. Do you want to be a disgrace to our clan?"

"...no..."

"Speak louder!"

"...No..."

"Then get up! You aren't allowed to rest until you at least get the basics."

"But father-"

"No buts! You have to do as I say! Get up now!"

Kenji shouted at the little girl. She was clearly frightened by his father's harsh attitude. She tried to get up even while her body was shaking. She gathered the last of her strength to stand straight but a single flick of the finger from her father made her fly away several meters away.

"Pathetic."

Kenji looked at his own daughter with clear displeasure evident on his face. He clicked his tongue with annoyance. He was about the walk towards the little girl who was weakly laying on the ground when the door of the dojo suddenly opened. Kenji looked at the person who opened the door with obvious anger in his expression.

"What do you think you are doing Masashi?! Do not think that just because you are my son that I will let you disrespect me!"

"Father we are under attack!"

"What?!"

Kenji was dumbfounded by what he heard. His anger from before completely vanished and rushed outside with his son to see what was happening, leaving behind his daughter alone in the dojo.

Izumi weakly opened her eyes. She fell asleep while laying on the ground because of her exhaustion. Her body was being shaken by someone else to wake her up. When she looked at the person who shook her, she saw her mother. Sumire Kinukage. There were bloodstains on her face and clothes. Aside from her bloody appearance, her face was looking even paler than normal.

"...mother..?"

"Sweetie, I'm sorry for everything. I'm really sorry for not stopping your father to treat you like this. I'm really sorry for you not being able to spend time with your brother. I'm really sorry for you not having any friends or seen outside not even once... I'm sorry for being a bad mother to you."

"Mother... what...is...happening..?"

"...You have to escape here, sweetie. Our clan is being attacked right now and... we won't be able to make it out of this one. You are still young, you have a long life ahead of you. Escape and live the rest of your life somewhere you can be happy."

"I don't want to leave you, mother!"

Sumire smiled at her daughter with a hint of sadness. She parted her clothes and Izumi saw a large hole on her chest. Seeing that bloody hole she was left speechless. She knew the meaning behind this action of her mother. Her mother was just moments away from death.

"I won't ever forget you, mother!"

"I always loved you, my sweet daughter."

Sumire closed her eyes and fell to the ground next to her daughter. She was barely alive while talking with her daughter and after telling her everything she wanted she simply passed away there and then. Izumi cried next to her mother's dead body. In her little life, she was always pushed to her limits by her father. Her brother never bothered with caring or talking with her. Only her mother showed her affection and that too was when no one was around.

She was the next in line to succeed her clan. Her father was the brother of the current patriarch. The heir of the patriarch died three years ago and since he didn't have any other child, Kenji's children were selected to be the next in line. But since her brother Masashi wasn't able to be heir because of the defect he had been born with, the position of the heir fell on her shoulders.

Ever since the patriarch and the elders of the clan decided on Izumi being the new heir, Kenji was burning with ambition. Gone was the kind brother and father, replaced with a man who was abusing his child to achieve what he wanted. What he couldn't get himself all those years ago.

"Where is the kid!?"

"I don't know! She wasn't in the mansion."

"Hey, there is a dojo here. Did anyone of you looked in it?"

"No, let's look inside of it."

After hearing the voice of several strangers, Izumi's body starts shaking. She was able to imagine those voices might belong to those who attacked her clan. She looked at her mother and kissed her cheek for the first and the last time. She saw her mother's necklace and couldn't help but became emotional. She took the necklace and left the dojo with a secret passage her father once taught her about.

After escaping the dojo she arrived at the nearby forest from a secret underground passage. She turned her back and looked at her home one last time. It was burning with bright flames. It was the only place she was ever been in all of her life. Everything she ever knew was burning with bright flames. That scene and those flames, she never forgets it. Every time she closed her eyes she saw it again and again.

Izumi woke up with an annoying headache. Her head was hurting like never before. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her. She was laying on the ground, next to a destroyed village. She sit straight and looked at the remains of the village.

"I did it again..."

"Hello, sleepyhead. You sure took your time to wake up."

"Eh?"

She quickly turned toward the source of the unfamiliar voice. There sat a boy similar to her age. He had a bit of curly brown hair and charming brown eyes. He was looking at her with an awkward smile.