Chapter 1:

Happy Birthday

She stood among the burning city, flames as bright as the sun licked the sky as the titans let loose their battle cries. Both beasts, each the size of skyscrapers, grappled like enormous sumo-wrestlers, buildings crumbling all around them. She held the curved necklace in her hand tight until she could feel it pierce her flesh and draw just a prick of blood. The earth shuddered beneath her feet due to the sheer fury of the clashing titans as their roars reached fever pitch.

"Cuz. Hey, cuz!" A voice began to split the sky, drowning out even the thunderous sounds of battle.

"KIRI, WAKE UP!"

With a shriek, Kiri Tsunade rolled out of bed, ejected from her dream, and was greeted with the sight of her younger cousin, Yukari. The sixteen-year-old currently was wearing her school uniform and had tied her hair into a tight ponytail.

"Yukari," Kiri spoke up, trying to keep her anger inside due to being woken up at such an early time, "there are better ways of waking me up you know."

Yukari rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Mom told me to wake you up, because, oh I don't know, we have to get ready for school!"

Kiri groaned and looked at her clock. "Alright, fine, I'll get ready."

Yukari grinned and walked downstairs while Kiri pulled herself out of her bed sheets. "We've still got thirty minutes before school starts, it's no big deal." she muttered.

After washing up and getting dressed in her uniform, Kiri stood in front of a mirror and brushed her short black hair. Afterwards, she walked over to her calendar, currently set on the month of May, days marked all up to the 26th and etched out the day before with a black marker. She sighed and looked at the box resting next to her futon, a note reading "Do not open until your nineteenth birthday.

-Love Mom."

Today's my birthday. Kiri thought, Maybe I'll open it up when I get back.

"Come on, Kiri!" Yukari shouted from downstairs.

Kiri groaned and snatched up her backpack as she headed downstairs to the living room... or in this case her Aunt Kanna's café, the Genbu. At barely 7:30 am, the café was already getting its first customers sitting down and starting the day with donuts, traditional Japanese breakfasts consisting of Miso soup and rice and coffee. At the register, Kanna, a spritely woman in her late 30's collected the customers' yen while, in the kitchen, her partner Kenji "Kenny" Ichinose helped prepare more baked goods. Kanna was currently dressed in her work clothes; an egg-blue apron with a sewn, purple chibi turtle on the front. Upon seeing her daughter and niece, she waved at Kiri. "Glad to see you're up, birthday girl!" she cried out.

"Glad to be nineteen." Kiri droned as she snatched up a donut. "Hey, Aunt Kanna? Did my mom call yet?"

Kanna shook her head. "No, she didn't. Sorry, sweetie."

Kiri lowered her head before hoisting up her backpack. "'Kay, just checking."

"I'm sure she'll come eventually, Kiri. Keep holding your head up."

Kiri gave her aunt a small smile before walking out the door. Yukari was about to follow before Kanna cleared her throat, eliciting a groan from her daughter. "Yes, Mom?"

"I heard how you woke your cousin up. What have I told you?"

"Don't push her out of bed. Got it, Mom."

With that, the sixteen-year-old followed her cousin out the door as Kanna watched with a sigh. Kenny poked his head out of the kitchen as though he were listening to the whole thing.

"You're gonna have to tell her eventually, Boss." he told her.

"I know." Kanna sighed.

At school, Kiri could barely stay awake while her teacher, Mr. Yuasa, lectured the class about the G-Incident of the 50's, what with Yukari waking her up so prematurely. As Yuasa droned on and on about the incident, Kiri slumped into sleep.

Once school was done, both cousins walked back to the Genbu while Yukari reprimanded Kiri.

"Seriously? You can't even stay up for even one lesson? What's gotten into you?"

"Maybe, it's because you woke me up by pushing me off the bed." Kiri snarked.

Yukari rolled her eyes, "That explains why you're so cranky today. Well, crankier."

"It's also because today's my birthday."

Yukari raised an eyebrow at her cousin's comment, "Really? You're cranky when it's your birthday? You're turning a year older, cuz. That should be reason enough to celebrate!"

"It's not just that, Yukari. It's just that, I would at least like to spend it with my family."

"You already have a family! You have me, you have my mom, our uncles, our aunts, our grandparents, Kenny-"

Kiri groaned, "That's not the point! I meant spend it with my parents." Her voice lowered somewhat, "You know, with my mom and with my dad."

Yukari sympathetically patted her cousin on the shoulder. It had been sixteen -soon to be- seventeen years since Kiri's father died and her mother disappeared, just a day after her own father up and left her and Kanna. She was only two-years-old.

"Don't worry, Kiri. I'm sure your mom'll come back. Now, how 'bout you perk up a bit. It's your birthday!"

With that, both cousins walked together shoulder-to-shoulder back to the Genbu. However, Kiri had no idea her life was going to change.

Underneath Kiri's bed, the wrapped box began to glow as if anticipating the inevitable.