As Mako bled in her final moments of consciousness, she looked up at Tokaku and saw the fear in the child's eyes. "F-forget... it..." she whispered shakily. "Forget it... all... because it's not your fault." Tokaku tentatively knelt down next to her. All Mako ever wanted was to honor her sister's dying wish for Tokaku to never become like them. Murderers. All she ever wanted was for her sister to be happy. As she gazed into the frightened eyes of the scared little girl, she remembered the events that led her to her current situation right now.

Mako lay on the floor, relaxing during the hot, summer evening. She let her mind wander, thinking about how one by one, the last of the Azuma had either died out or deserted, leaving only herself, her sister and mother behind. She wondered if they would have to continue the bloodline and birth a successor. She wondered if they would let in an outsider or if their mother would be crazy enough to go through the alternate route. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to the house slid open and her sister walked in, looking exhausted and her clothes covered with blood. She sat next to her.

"How did it go, Nee-san?"

"A successful mission as always," Karami sighed. "Although I don't think this particular target was actually deserving of death. But who am I to decide that."

"I wish you weren't always the one to have to do all that."

Karami reached down and stroked Mako's soft, blue hair. "It's not your fault. I'm the head of the clan, remember? It's my responsibility."

"Speaking of responsibilities... mother will expect an heir soon."

"I know."

"Do you really think that she'll make us do it?"

"Mother has always been obsessed with the purity of our bloodline. And it's only us three."

"Who cares about purity? I refuse to do such a thing."

"Being that it's mother's will, we don't have much choice."

Karami was correct. Though Mako was strongly opposed to it, their mother forced the two to try to create a child together. In the end, it was Karami herself that convinced her sister to do it. The Azuma of the East were an interesting clan of assassins in both killing techniques and biology. Their males were physically identical to females, the difference only being their genitals. This was mainly because the lithe female body was better suited to their assassination techniques, and thus, with the help of selective mating, their evolution was vastly different than the rest of humanity.

The twins' mother, having had twins of opposite sexes, saw the opportunity in that and decided that the two of them creating a daughter together would be much better than letting in an outsider. It was not a decision that was made overnight; rather, it was something their mother had been thinking about since the day they were born. Because their mother was so afraid that an outsider would influence their heir negatively and give them inferior genes, she created a plan to ensure that the Azuma's successor would continue their legacy. The two sisters were afraid that their mother would follow through with that plan, and in the end their fears had come true.

Mako was against it the most. Being the one with the penis, she made it more difficult for her mother's plan to work. Her mother regretted the fact that Mako was so weak. So weak that her older sister was almost always the one to be sent out for missions, so spineless that she even pitied the dead. Karami was thankfully more willing to go along with it so after many long months, she convinced Mako to try to get her pregnant.

She hadn't anticipated that it would take such a long time to conceive. Every single time, Mako would feel guilt eating away at her, her conscious telling her that what she's doing is wrong. She felt downright filthy, but what were they supposed to do? Let their entire bloodline die with them? She just hated that no matter how many times she had sex with her sister, she just couldn't give her a child.

When an entire year passed, Mako was starting to have doubts. What if she was sterile? What if Karami was infertile? Was all this for nothing? Nonetheless, their mother still expected a baby from them, whether it take another year or the rest of their lives. After another two months, Karami had begun to experience the symptoms of pregnancy. Mako immediately stopped having intercourse with her and was relieved to have finally impregnated her.

Neither Mako or her mother knew it, but Karami's mental state had also deteriorated as time passed by. Being pregnant with her own sister's child was such a shock to her that she gradually started to rethink her lifestyle. She already didn't like to kill, it was more like a job than anything, but when she gave birth to their baby, then it would surely become a killer just as they are. She would be born to a path already laid out for her but not even have the chance to choose another.

To make things worse, Mako had fled the village soon after she learned of Karami's pregnancy. She had a very hard time looking at her sister pregnant with her own child, so she left in search of a better life. Mako wasn't sure if she would ever come back, as she had never come to the city before, but if she was able to, she would return to take care of their child.

In the city, Mako discovered that most people there were completely ignorant about murder since it didn't concern them. There, killing was irrelevant. Murder was not a way of life for them, people didn't spend their days honing their assassination techniques or chasing after unknown targets. People spent time with their families, enjoyed mainstream entertainment and found love.

Mako wondered if she could stay here. She wanted to take her sister away from the village to permanently settle in the city and raise the child unaware that she was heir to a clan of ruthless assassins. She wanted for her to live a normal life, free from death.

Eventually she returned to the village during Karami's final months of pregnancy. Her mother was less than pleased for her running away, calling her the 'disgrace of the Azuma.' Still, Mako was there to provide her support and tell her sister stories of what the city was really like. Karami would stare out wistfully. When the time came for her to give birth, Mako acted as the midwife and helped her deliver the baby, their mother providing additional assistance. Karami had cried and screamed, seemingly wanting to die. Mako once again felt guilt since she was the one that did this to her.

Once their child took its first breath and cried helplessly, their mother wrapped a soft blanket around it and held her proudly.

"This baby's name will be Tokaku."

"Mother," Karami called breathlessly.

"It means 'impossible.' Whoever'll see her strength will be rooted to the sight thinking 'that's impossible!' It's a perfect name for an heir of the Azuma, right?" Karami breathed heavily, exhausted. She looked over to see her baby, seeing that it had the appearance of any true Azuma with its blue hair. Whether she looked more like her mother or father was both irrelevant and impossible to know. "Tokaku, become strong so that everyone will fear you," her mother encouraged. Karami felt her heart twist at those words, fearing what would become of her daughter. For the rest of the night, Karami was too weak to leave her futon and stayed there until morning came. She didn't realize that she had lost too much blood and was now dying.

The early morning's sun shone through the screen doors, bathing the room in a yellow light. Karami's breathing had become normal but still found herself too tired to do anything. Mako came in to check on her and knelt down at her side.

Karami turned to face her. "I just can't pass the heirship of the Azumas to that baby. I don't want her to become a murderer like us."

"Nee-san..."

"Mako, please." She reached out her hand, Mako taking it in both of her own. "If anything happens to me by any chance, take care of her. She's your daughter, too." Mako could sense the desperation in her sister's voice and the urgency in her eyes. She nodded. Karami smiled and loosened her grip, resting her head on the pillow.

"Thank you, Mako." Within the next hour or so, Karami passed, leaving Mako devastated. Her mother, seemingly unaffected by her death, had already rejected Karami as the heir and instead chose Tokaku to be the clan's successor. Mako, honoring her sister's dying wish, raised Tokaku, never telling her who her real father is. She made up a fake story about how he had died trying to protect the village, the child completely oblivious to the fact that her father was the one standing right in front of her. When Tokaku asked about her mother, Mako would bring her to the shrine of her sister's grave just outside the house.

Mako squeezed her daughter's hand. "Tokaku-chan, if you ever feel like you want to kill someone, recall this small shrine."

"What will happen?"

"You won't be able to kill them. Your mother is watching you from that small shrine, after all." Tokaku gazed at her aunt, wondering what she meant.

Despite all that, Tokaku's grandmother encouraged her to practice her skills by throwing stones at a dartboard or killing small insects. Whenever this happened, Mako remembered her sister and her desire for Tokaku to not become an assassin like them. At one point she even tried to persuade her to leave her grandmother's house to come live in the city, but her grandmother quickly shot down the idea.

Years later, Mako tried to escape with her to the city, running through the forest as she held onto Tokaku's small hand. The little girl tried to catch up to her, but if they didn't escape soon, it would mean certain death for her.

"Tokaku-chan, hurry! We don't have time!"

"Where are we going?"

"We're leaving this village to the World of Sun where murders and rules are irrelevant," she panted.

"World of... Sun?"

"We should've fled sooner. Nee-san wanted this for you so much, too. But because I was too hesitant..."

"Are you talking about mother?"

"It's my fault. It's because I, the younger sister, escaped from the rules of Azuma. She shouldered all of it alone... suffered all alone..." her voice cracked with sadness. She had always regretted abandoning Karami when she needed her most. She was the one who put her in that condition and yet she didn't even have the will to stay with her during pregnancy. She was the one responsible for Karami's death.

"Where are you running off to?" her mother asked. Mako stopped in her tracks, Tokaku almost tripping. Her mother stepped forward from the tree and pulled out a sheathed knife.

"Mother-" Before she could say anything else, her mother dashed forward, revealing the blade, and drove it into her abdomen. Mako gasped, feeling the cold steel inside her, then again with another clean stab through the chest. Her mother let her fall to the ground and looked down at her daughter disdainfully.

"The disgrace of the Azuma," she spat, leaving wordlessly.

And now Tokaku stared in shock, wondering what had just happened and looking at her aunt's dying form. "Even if you don't remember her, me and Nee-san will always be watching... from that place..." she reassured softly. Mako smiled weakly at her, this being the last time she would ever get to see her daughter's face.

A/N: Tokaku and Haru can now make babies together yay