“Hello,
My name is Hajimari Kyla, and I’m the daughter of Hajimari Kaeda and Hajimari Ryouta. My family, the Hajimari, was an amazing group of tradesmen originating from the Land of Lightning.. Though my uncle started the family business in our homeland, we moved to other lands in search of business opportunities.
It was quite nice - travelling all over, seeing new sights, meeting all sorts of people. If I had just one complaint, it’d be about my cousins, the “Dōten Triplets”, as my uncle refers to them. They were fighting each other a lot on our travels and often caused trouble for the adults.
But it was somewhat peaceful for a time.”
In the days leading up to summer time, the main branch of House Hajimari began preparations for their semi-annual migration east, towards their secondary household in a distant land. The elders organised an itinerary for the peregrination along with formations of guard, while the servants of the house prepared their belongings for safe travel. The children played together in the garden guarded by several shinobi, however "playing" was merely an assumption made by the servants. With weekly lessons directly from Hajimari Yohta, the triplets had already started to excel in combat and as a consequence, childish antics had always resulted in both verbal and physical fights amongst them.
Both Kyla and her elder brother, Kazuya, were rather estranged to this "interaction" amongst siblings; they were very similar in nature, both of them being somewhat isolated and quiet. With them having still not adjusted to the triplets’ behavior, this was very strange to them. With the attention garnered by the triplets' commotion, it wasn't long before their father, Yohta showed up and had given them a belting for spouting filthy profanities accompanied by coarse brawling. However, there was another reason for his presence; preparations had been made. It was time to leave.
"Previously when we travelled, we would have groups of thugs show up along the way that would try to rob us.. it was why I was always hesitant to go, but this time was different. There was nobody. My mother and father were relieved to have no incidents, and I was too."
As they arrived at the family’s second home late within the night, the children were immediately put to rest. Things were calming. A familiar place, surrounded by family, Kyla fell asleep rather quickly as her worries about any bandits were quelled by their absence.
“When I woke up the first day, I watched as my cousins fought each other in the yard from my window. I could never understand why they didn’t get along, they were siblings, they should get along. Just like me and my brother did.
Maybe there was something I didn’t understand about them. I remember wanting to know more about who they were, what they were thinking. So I decided to join them, copying their behavior to try and understand what I could about them. But they beat me up because of it. They thought I was mocking them.”
As the Dōten Triplets brawled with Kyla, the family head Yohta noticed quickly and hurriedly stepped in, belting the three brothers for what they had done. “Hey, old man! She was making fun of us!”, yelled Saburou, the youngest of the triplets.
“She needs to learn to respect us!”, Ichirou continued. Yohta scowled at the three, and suddenly they fell in line, shivers crawling up their spine from that intimidating gaze. The man simply responded, “You boys know nothing of respect.” Yohta turned to Kyla, offering a warm smile. “Kyla, if you wish to play, you should go and play with your brother. These three devils are too rough for you.”
Kyla was young and naive, however. She still wanted to learn more about her cousins, unable to acknowledge the obvious signs that she should stay away.
Months passed, and Kyla had adopted the triplets’ bad mannerisms and foul attitude. She had grown closer to them, participating in brawls and spitting foul profanities right back at them. She had become tougher by imitating her cousins, leaving her confused about what kind of person she was. This change in her attitude was the trigger for her mixed personalities. She didn’t know that the triplets’ temperaments were disgraceful and inconsiderate. She just knew that, by acting like them, she became someone that could spend time with her cousins. Someone who would benefit more than the person she really was. And that made her happy.
Their opinion of Kyla improved, and the three started to enjoy having her around.
One day in particular, the Triplets decided to bring both Kyla and Kazuya into the woods nearby. They had convinced them to follow, as the Triplets exclaimed they had something crazy to show the two siblings. And so they snuck out of the garden, narrowly avoiding the watchful eyes of the guards.
The Triplets led the way to an open field - it became clear pretty fast that this was no place for children. There were fresh bodies strewn across the ground, a dark red substance stained all over the grass and dirt. Some were burnt to a crisp, some were torn in half, and some were very clearly tortured. There were swords, kunai and various other weapons scattered around and stuck in the corpses. They had only just begun to rot. This was a fresh slaughter.
Upon further inspection, the bloodied rags that covered a few of the corpses displayed the very same design that the guards proudly wore back at the Hajimari household. This was a scouting party that had not returned earlier that day.
Kazuya shouted in a panic, “Aren’t these our guards!?”, and suddenly the pressure in the air grew thick. The eldest of the triplets, Jirou, fell back in shock as multiple shadows in the distant trees were spotted and hurriedly getting closer. “We have to get out of here! They’re gonna kill us!”, he barked. But in the blink of an eye, the kids were surrounded.
There was nothing to be done. They were evidently well trained, for even the Triplets’ training amounted to nothing against them. A brief struggle offered nothing but pointless resistance. In the end, they were no match for these fighters and within mere moments were apprehended and restrained. After being blindfolded, the children were taken away.
When they arrived at their destination, they heard nothing but distant chatter; “...the children ..vacating. ..meeting at..”, after a while the chatter stopped. Loud footsteps could be heard coming closer and closer to the children. There was an eeriness in the air for a while.
Eventually, the children had their blindfolds removed - they were in a tent, dim torchlight illuminating the area with a man of tall posture standing in front of them. This man was a blood-curdling, uncomfortable presence to Kyla and the other children. The type of presence that demands you fall in line to their authority.
After regaining his composure Ichirou finally recognised the man’s familiar face - it was a man that had presumably targeted and interfered with the Hajimari’s business on multiple occasions. “K-Kanjirou?!” Ichirou shouted frantically.
This unpleasant presence was Kanjirou Saitou, the current head of the Saitou Family’s “Senshi” branch. A direct rival to the Hajimari’s trading company.
"Ichirou recognised the man.. I thought we were going to be safe in a brief moment of solace.. I was wrong."
To be continued.
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