Sunset's human world origin

Katon family front yard
Date: Aug 16th, time: 9:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset and Emi were sitting on the porch, “patiently” waiting for their grandfather’s car to come down the road, and by “patiently”, Emi was practically vibrating off her seat. It didn’t take much longer for the girls to see the car. When they did, the girls ran inside to tell their parents. Grandpa pulled into the old driveway, Sunset and Emi were watching them from the kitchen window while Ki watched them, and Brigid and Azhong were coming down the stairs. The moment the doorbell was rung, Sunset and Emi moved to hiding behind the dividing wall. Brigid and Anzhong greeted the guests and sprayed them down in the decontamination spray. The moment the process was done, Emi bolted towards them for a hug. Sunset came out from behind the wall and greeted their guests in a much calmer manner.

“Hello, Grandpa. Greetings, Aunt Ryoko and Oda.”, Sunset said with a bow.

“Come here.” Jiraiya pulled Sunset in for a hug.

“You do not need to be so formal with us, Sunset.”, Ryoko said.

“Okay”, Sunset replied a little squished from within the hug.

Anzhong motioned for everyone to take seats in the living room. Sunset ran into her room to grab what she made for Ryoko and Oda. When Sunset came back out, she saw everyone seated and a couple bags on the coffee table. Sunset walked over to Ryoko and Oda.

“I have something for both of you.” Sunset pulled the paintings from behind her back. The one she made for Ryoko had her as kitsune in human form, and the one she made for Oda had him as a food ninja from the Taruno series.

“These look good, Sunset. Thank you”, Oda said in the thickest Japanese accent Sunset had ever heard. He was doing his best but was clearly having some difficulty.

Sunset got a happy grin on her face.

“Do you like to paint?”, Ryoko asked. She also had a pea soup thick accent but seemed to be having an easier time with the English language.

“Yeah, I do. It helped me to develop fine motor control.”

“That is interesting.”

Sunset thought what Ryoko said was odd but decided to not look too much into it and took her seat.

“We got some things for you girls too.”, Oda said. Oda handed each of the girls one of the bags.

Emi opened her bag first. Inside was a handheld game console and several games. Sunset recognized that the games were ones that haven’t been released internationally and thus were still in Japanese. Emi also got a CSI crime scene kit. It included a black and some fake blood that would glow under the black light. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Emi jumped up from her seat and gave Ryoko and Oda as massive of hugs as her tiny body could manage.

While Emi was giving her hugs, Sunset opened up her gift. Inside was a tactical tanto and a tactical wakizashi. The tanto and wakizashi were black, including the blade, and the hilt and guard had red accents. What really caught Sunset's attention was that the blades were on the straighter end of the scale. Sunset didn’t remember saying that she preferred straighter swords, but she apparently must have. The craftsmanship of the weapons amazed Sunset. “Thank you”

“I figured you would like them. You seemed like the warrior type.”, Ryoko said. “You know, you remind me a lot of my mother.”

“What was Grandma like? Dad has told us little bits about her but not much.”, Sunset asked.

“Yeah, we don’t even know how you and Grandma met.”, Emi said to Grandpa.

“You want to know how I met your grandmother?”, Grandpa asked.

“Yes”, both girls said.

“Okay then, I first met Aoi after my father’s and brother’s funeral, and I was ten years old.”

*Flashback*

Amigata graveyard
Date: July 17th, 1943, time: 5:00 pm

*Jiraiya’s perspective*

Mei, Jiraiya’s mother, and Jiraiya stood at the Katon family grave. Most of the other funeral goers had dispersed at this point. Jiraiya was enraged by their deaths. Akira, Jiraiya’s brother, and Ryuu, Jiraiya’s father, were both killed by the war, and Jiraiya needed someone to blame for their deaths and just started blaming everyone. Jiraiya ran away from the graveyard in rage and ended up somewhere outside one of the rice fields, near the surrounding forest. Jiraiya fell to the ground and just sobbed. He stayed there for some time before he heard the voice of a girl around his age.

“Why are you crying?”, Aoi asked. Unlike everybody else that asked him that over his life, Aoi’s tone didn’t have any hint of sympathy in it. It was pure curiosity.

“Why do you think I’m crying?”, Jiraiya asked with anger.

“I have no idea. That’s why I’m asking you.” Aoi’s tone was so matter-of-factly. It was like crying was a foreign concept to her.

“Isn't it obvious why I’m crying?”

“Hm, no. Humans have a tendency to cry in response to strong emotions in general. That makes it very difficult to figure out what you’re feeling.”

Jiraiya was no longer mad but very confused. “My father and brother recently died.”

“Oh, so you’re crying out of sadness, or at least I’m hoping that it’s sadness. The few times I’ve encountered humans that weren’t sad about someone’s death was… troubling.”

“Yeah, I’m sad. Who are you?”

Aoi looked herself over before answering. “I am - Aoi. That’s still a name that’s used, right?” Aoi took a seat next to Jiraiya.

“I guess so.”

“So, what’s your name?”

“Jiraiya”

“Jiraiya? Can you use toad magic?” This was the first time her tone betrayed anything other than pure curiosity. She actually sounded excited.

“No” Now Jiraiya was very confused. Magic wasn’t real, but Aoi was so sincere that it was like she believed wholeheartedly in it.

“Hm, that’s too bad. You know Jiraiya, you might see your father and brother again.”

“What?”

“It’s the cycle of rebirth. They’ll come back. See you later, Jiraiya.” Aoi got up and walked off into the forest.

*Present day*

Katon family livingroom
Date: Aug 16th, time: 9:30 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Grandpa’s story sounded odd to Sunset. If that was what Grandma really said, then it sounded like she was something other than human. Now, Sunset wondered if Grandpa, Ryoko, or Anzhong knew what she was.

“After that, she would just continue to show up until I asked her to go out with me, and we eventually got married.”, Grandpa said.

“Wait, what happened to Uncle Akira and Great Grandpa Ryuu?”, Emi asked.

“When I was a boy, the world was at war with itself. Japan was facing severe oil and other natural resource shortages and was driven by ambition to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power. Because of that, we attacked a US base called Pearl Harbor. We did so many very bad things all fueled by nationalism, indoctrination, and narcissism. We were taught to believe that we were descended from gods, that the emperor was divine, and that we deserved to rule the world, and my father, brother, and myself believed that wholeheartedly. The only reason I didn’t go off to fight was because I was too young. If the war had gone on long enough, I would have gone out to fight. Both of their ships were sunk by the Americans, and for years, I blamed and hated the Americans for their deaths.”

“But you don’t blame America now?”, Sunset asked.

“I don’t. As much as Aoi didn’t understand humans, she understood enough to understand war and hatred. She made me realize that the Americans were defending themselves, and that we spurred their wrath. I still don’t think what they did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was okay though. Now, I blame the imperial government. War was not the answer.”

“So, the US was the good guy, but what did the US do to Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”, Emi asked.

“Dere are no good guys or bad guys in war. Granted, World War two was a bit more cut n’ dry dan war normally is, but da US was no good guy. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were two Japanese cities filled with innocent civilians. Da US wiped ‘em off the face a’ da planet. Ove’ a hundred thousand innocent civilians were instantly incinerated. Deir shadows are still burned inta da pavement.”, Brigid explained coldly.

All the adults in the room looked saddened, and Sunset and Emi just looked at their mother. Sunset could barely comprehend what her mother just told her. She had seen first hand the evil humanity was capable of, she had heard her mother’s story of the night of the attack, but this was a whole new level. “Why?” was all Sunset could get out.

“Da US government thought dat was what it would take ta get da Japanese ta surrender. Ah was not dere so Ah won’t pretend ta know whether or not dat was da right call, but Ah will say Ah don’t like dat it happened.”

“Whether or not it was the right call, nuclear weapons have not been used since then and are unlikely to be used again. Even the most insane of the world leaders can recognize that mutually assured destruction is not good for anyone.”, Anzhong stated flatly.

-

“How did we get on this topic?”, Oda asked.

“I asked what happened to Grandpa’s family, and I’m starting to learn that asking what happened to family members in this family is a loaded question.”, Emi said.

“I say we switch to a happier topic.”, Oda said.

“How is your training going, girls?”, Ryoko asked.

“Ah could have eyes in da back a’ me head n’ dese girls c’n still sneak up on me. How’s dat f’r trainin’?”

“How about survival? A shinobi, by definition, is one who endures.”

“I could already be dropped in the woods and survive before I was adopted. Although, now I know how to best get food when grocery store dumpsters aren’t available.”

“I’m not that good at meditation yet, too much energy, but considering my current condition, that might soon change.”, Emi said.

“One of the side effects of chemotherapy is reduced energy.”, Sunset clarified.

“I am glad you can find something good in all this, no matter how small.”, Ryoko said uncomfortably.

Katon family backyard

Date: Aug 17th, time: 2:00 pm

*Ryoko’s perspective*

“Hey, Aunt Ryoko!”, Sunset called out. Sunset was just coming out of the garage with two bokkens under her arm.

“What is it, Sunset?”

“Wanna spar with me?”

“Sure”

Ryoko got up from her seat on the porch swing and walked over to Sunset. Sunset handed her the larger of the two bokken, and they took up positions. Sunset charged first and aimed for Ryoko’s stomach. Ryoko blocked and jumped to the side. She attempted to get behind Sunset, but Sunset didn’t let her and spun around to keep Ryoko in her sights. As Sunset spun around, she extended her leg, intending to sweep kick Ryoko. Ryoko jumped back, dodging the kick. Before Sunset could recover, Ryoko charged at her and nailed her in the sternum. Sunset staggered back and collapsed to one knee. Her breathing became heavy and labored.

“Oh no, Sunset! Are you okay?!” Ryoko rushed over to Sunset. She feared that she might have seriously hurt her. As Ryoko approached Sunset, she began to bend down to more easily examine Sunset.

Whack

Sunset nailed Ryoko with a hard hit to the side of her knee, and Ryoko lost her balance and fell to the ground. Sunset stood up triumphantly and pointed her sword at Ryoko.

“You tricked me. You are not actually hurt.” Ryoko was a little annoyed but more impressed with Sunset’s ingenuity.

“A little winded, but no, I’m not hurt.” Sunset extended a hand to Ryoko, which she exempted.

As Sunset was walking to the garage to put the bokken away, they heard Emi screaming for her parents inside the house. Sunset dropped the bokken, and they both ran inside to see what was wrong. As they entered the house, they found Anzhong, Brigid, Dad, and Oda already trying to calm Emi down.

“Emi, tell us what’s wrong, slowly.”, Anzhong said, putting emphasis on ‘slowly’.

Emi took in a deep breath and then skope, still rather frantic, “Our house is a murder scene. Come on, I’ll show you.” Emi ran off and up the stairs.

Everyone else looked at each other confusedly before following Emi. Anzhong and Brigid have lived in this house for seven years. What could Emi have found that they never have? Emi led them into Anzhong and Brigid’s room and shown her black light on their bed. The bed lit up like a Christmas tree.

Looking around to everyone else, Ryoko saw Brigid’s face going red with embarrassment, Sunset, Oda, and Dad were trying to contain their laughter, and Anzhong had yet to be informed of what was going on. Ryoko’s own laughter was starting to build up in her chest.

“See?! There’s blood all over Mom and Dad’s bed! I found it with my black light!”, Emi proclaimed.

Now Anzhong’s face was turning red. Brigid covered her face with her hands and mumbled something about needing to buy better detergents while everyone else broke into laughter. Emi began to look very confused by everyone’s laughter. “Why are you laughing?”

“Well, you’re half right.”, Sunset managed to get out. “That’s not blood, but that is our fallen siblings. Hahaha”

Emi just looked even more confused, and Brigid and Anzhong turned even redder. “Why must ya?”, Brigid mumbled.

Anzhong managed to compose himself first and walked over to Emi. “Sweety, yes the black light makes blood glow, but it also makes -chm- other bodily fluids glow.”

“What, you mean like sweat?”, Emi asked.

“Um, sort of.”

Emi looked back to the bed then back at Anzhong. “That makes no sense.”

Anzhong had no good answer for her and escorted her out of the room and back to her own. “Why couldn’t you have started playing with that thing after they left tomorrow?” Ryoko knew Anzhong did not mean for any of them to be able to hear him, but Ryoko never let anyone know just how good her hearing was. That most certainly included her troublesome little brother.