Fuuma Household.
Aoi had just finished wiping down the last trace of oil from her blade, humming softly along to the video playing on her phone. The house was calm—too calm.
Then the front doors slid open.
"I am home, Mom."
Aoi froze.
Slowly, she turned around.
"…I was wondering when you'd be back."
Leo stepped fully inside—and Aoi immediately slapped a hand over her nose.
"By the Ninja Gods."
Leo blinked. "…That bad?"
Before she could answer, Ryuji walked in from the hallway, took one look—and one breath—and immediately joined her.
"Oh hell no," he said, backing away. "Son, that's not a smell, that's a crime scene. Go take a shower. Now."
Leo sniffed his sleeve, grimaced. "Okay, yeah, that's fair."
Ryuji pointed at him like a commander issuing orders. "Straight to the bath. No stops. No talking. As for those clothes—"
He grabbed a pair of tongs from the kitchen drawer with deadly seriousness.
"—we are burning them."
Leo raised a hand. "Dad, I can just wash—"
"No," Aoi said flatly. "Those garments have seen things they should not survive."
Leo laughed as he kicked off his boots at the entrance. "I fought a few oni. Maybe an orc or two. Absorbed some biomass. You know. Normal stuff."
Aoi's eye twitched. "You say that like you went grocery shopping."
She looked him up and down, her expression shifting from disgust to concern. "You were gone longer than usual."
Leo paused for half a second, then shrugged. "Needed to clear my head. Train."
Ryuji crossed his arms. "And did you?"
Leo smirked. "Yeah. I think I figured something out."
Aoi opened her mouth—then stopped as the smell finally caught up to her again.
"Nope," she said, pointing down the hallway. "Shower first. World-changing revelations can wait until you no longer smell like a demon landfill."
Leo saluted lazily. "Yes, ma'am."
He headed toward the bathroom, peeling off his ruined shirt as he went.
As soon as the door shut behind him, Aoi exhaled slowly.
"…He's pushing himself again."
Ryuji nodded. "Yeah. And whatever he fought out there?"
He glanced toward the bathroom, where the sound of running water began.
"It pushed back."
Aoi tightened her grip on her sword.
"Let's just hope," she said quietly, "that when something stronger comes looking for him… he's ready."
From the bathroom, Leo's voice echoed faintly:
"HEY, MOM, DO WE HAVE ANY EXTRA TOWELS?!"
Aoi sighed. "And alive," she added. "Let's also hope he stays alive."
Kotaro had just slid the door open when the smell hit him like a physical attack.
He froze mid-step.
"…Ah! My nose!"
He staggered back, clutching his face in genuine pain. "Uncle! Aunt! Why does the house smell like a horse took a shit on a dumpster that's full of old molding food, vegetables, and dead fish?!"
The house went silent.
Aoi slowly turned her head toward him.
Ryuji blinked. Once.
"…That was extremely specific."
Kotaro pointed accusingly into the hallway, eyes watering. "I train with demons! I fight oni! I've been covered in blood and mud and sweat before—but this? This is unnatural!"
From the bathroom, the sound of water abruptly stopped.
Leo's muffled voice echoed through the door.
"HEY—WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT—"
"DO NOT COME OUT," Aoi snapped instantly. "YOU ARE STILL A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON."
Kotaro stared at the bathroom door in dawning horror. "…That was Leo?"
Ryuji nodded. "Yup."
Kotaro recoiled like he'd just been told the house was haunted. "What did he do—roll around in a graveyard?"
"He went into the mountains," Aoi said calmly. "Fought oni. Orcs. Absorbed biomass."
Kotaro's face went pale. "…Absorbed?"
Leo's voice came back, defensive. "I SHOWERED!"
Ryuji shouted back, "YOU JUST STARTED!"
Kotaro pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes burning. "Uncle, with all due respect—why didn't you air the house out?"
Ryuji gestured helplessly. "We tried. The smell fought back."
Aoi crossed her arms. "It's clinging to the walls. I think it has intent."
Kotaro took one cautious step inside, immediately regretted it, and retreated again. "I'm going to wait outside until he finishes… whatever that is."
From the bathroom:
"…Do we still have incense?"
Aoi: "We used it."
Leo: "…All of it?"
Ryuji: "Yes."
Leo, quietly: "…Oh."
Kotaro sighed, sitting down on the porch and covering his nose with his sleeve. "I swear, cousin… one day you're gonna kill something so bad the village files a complaint."
From inside, Leo muttered, genuinely confused, "IT DIDN'T EVEN SMELL THAT BAD IN THE MOUNTAINS."
Aoi and Ryuji spoke in perfect unison:
"YOU GOT USED TO IT."
A few hours later.
Tokiko slid open the bathroom door, tying her hair back as she stepped out.
She stopped.
Slowly, her eyes scanned the hallway.
The open windows.
The burned pile of clothes outside.
The incense ashes.
The faint lingering smell of something that should not exist in nature.
"…I just went to the toilet," she said carefully, "why does it look like a war crime happened in the house?"
Everyone answered at once.
"Don't ask."
Tokiko blinked.
She looked at Aoi. Serious face.
At Ryuji. Thousand-yard stare.
At Kotaro. Sitting far away, still airing out his lungs.
At the bathroom door—still steaming ominously.
"…Leo?"
From inside the room came a tired, slightly embarrassed voice.
"…I trained."
Tokiko stared at the door for a long second.
Then she nodded once. "Of course you did."
She turned and walked away, muttering to herself, "I leave for five minutes and the universe punishes me."
Kotaro raised a finger. "For the record, I tried to warn her."
Tokiko paused, glanced back over her shoulder.
"…If the walls start talking, I'm moving out."
Ryuji sighed. "That's fair."
From inside the room, Leo added quietly, "…I think the smell's mostly gone now."
The entire household froze.
Aoi didn't turn around.
"Leo."
"Yes?"
"If you open that door before sunset—"
Kotaro finished it for her, deadpan.
"—we're calling an exorcist."
Silence.
Then, softly:
"…Understood."
Meanwhile, in a different place.
Sakyo stood before a large desk of polished black wood, a thin data tablet resting in his hand. Across from him sat a tall, middle-aged man with neatly combed grey hair and sharp, calculating eyes behind rectangular glasses. His black suit was immaculate—too clean for someone who had lived through as many wars and timelines as he had.
Edwin Black.
—or Cromwell, depending on the universe.
Sakyo finished his report. "This is what occurred when your daughter's Inner Demon reacted."
Edwin's eyes moved calmly across the screen, fingers steepled beneath his chin. He didn't rush. He never did.
"I see," Edwin said at last. "Her vampiric blood responded to external stress and internal restraint simultaneously."
Sakyo frowned slightly. "You're saying it wasn't a full awakening?"
"No," Edwin replied. "If it were, the barrier talismans wouldn't have held her. She would have torn through them."
Sakyo exhaled through his nose. "That's… reassuring. Somewhat."
Edwin's gaze sharpened. "But it is accelerating."
Sakyo looked up. "You felt it too."
Edwin nodded. "Yes. The trigger was different this time. Combat stress alone wouldn't have been enough."
Sakyo hesitated before speaking again. "Leo Fuuma."
Edwin didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he leaned back in his chair. "A variable that does not belong neatly to any known timeline," he said calmly. "Yes. I suspected as much."
Sakyo folded his arms. "This isn't the first time her blood reacted like that. The last time—"
Edwin finished the sentence for him.
"—was when she and her mother were attacked by Task Force G."
The room went quiet.
Sakyo's jaw tightened. "She was a child then. Barely understood what was happening. Fear was the catalyst."
Edwin's expression softened—just slightly. "Fear, loss, and helplessness. The demon blood does not awaken from rage alone. It awakens when it believes survival requires it."
He looked back down at the tablet. "This time, however, the emotion was different."
Sakyo raised an eyebrow. "Different how?"
Edwin adjusted his glasses. "Instinctive protection. Competition. And… attachment."
Sakyo stiffened. "You're saying she was reacting because of him?"
"I'm saying," Edwin replied evenly, "that Leo Fuuma stands close enough to her emotional core to provoke a response from blood that predates this world."
He paused, then added, "That is dangerous. For her. And for him."
Sakyo sighed. "Kurenai isn't ready for this. You said so yourself."
"Yes," Edwin agreed. "And that is why I will intervene—indirectly."
Sakyo looked up sharply. "You will?"
Edwin rose from his chair, walking toward the window overlooking the city beyond. "I have no intention of controlling her fate," he said. "I've done enough of that across universes."
His reflection stared back at him in the glass—older, wearier, but still unbroken.
"But if this world is going to survive its contradictions," Edwin continued, "then certain pieces must grow… carefully."
Sakyo narrowed his eyes. "And Leo?"
Edwin smiled faintly.
"Leo is already growing," he said. "The question is whether this world can withstand what he becomes—before Kurenai loses control again."
Somewhere far away, in the mountains of Gosha, something monstrous roared.
Edwin's eyes flicked toward the sound only he seemed to hear.
"…Troublesome," he murmured.
Sakyo spoke again, his tone more measured this time.
"There's one more thing. Our agent has located Tendo."
Edwin stopped mid-step.
For a brief moment, the ever-composed man looked… tired. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a quiet sigh.
'…Same places,' Edwin muttered. 'No matter the universe, that man never changes.'
He lowered his hand and turned back to Sakyo, his eyes cold and focused once more. "Very well. Inform the Elders. They'll want to move pieces before Tendo does."
Sakyo nodded. "Understood."
Then, after a pause, he added, "Also—go and visit your family."
Edwin blinked, caught slightly off guard. "…That wasn't a suggestion, was it?"
Sakyo gave him a flat look. "No. It was an order disguised as concern."
Edwin sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yes, yes. I'll go." He hesitated, then added, "Tell Kaede I'll be arriving tomorrow."
Sakyo closed his eyes and let out a long, suffering sigh of his own.
"…Why," he muttered, "did I ever give my blessing for you to marry my sister?"
Edwin smirked faintly as he turned toward the exit.
"Because you knew she'd marry me anyway."
Sakyo opened one eye, scowling. "That was not comforting."
Edwin chuckled under his breath and stepped out, already thinking several moves ahead—about Tendo, about Leo, and about a family reunion that was guaranteed to be anything but peaceful.
Somewhere in Gosha Village, fate quietly shifted its footing.
To be continued
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