Disclaimer: I do not own Kekkaishi.

A/N.: It's been awhile since I wrote my first fanfiction. This is my second fanfiction. I always want to write a fanfiction on Kekkaishi. Anyway tell me what you think after reading it.

Chapter 1: The Unforgettable Day

"Why should I do it? It's not my job. It's his job. I'm not this family's legitimate successor," Masamori shouted angrily.

His shout echoed through the house. A nine years old, little child who was listening secretly the conversation shrunk at his aniki's shout. Yoshimori Sumimura knew his aniki was mad at him. He wished he could do something about it. Lately, his aniki got into a lot of fights with his Grandpa and parents. And, it was always about the same issue.

His inability to perform his family's job.

Sumimura family came from a long line descendant of kekkaishi. A kekkaishi is an ability user that can create kekkai. They use kekkai to trap and destroy the ayakashi that harm people. It was a dangerous job. Sumimura family had been given a duty to guard a piece of land named Karasumori from any trespassers. This land is no ordinary land. It gave out great power. If this power was absorbed by ayakashi, no matter how weak and small they were, they can become extremely dangerous. For 400 years, generations by generations, the Sumimuras had dutifully guard this land.

Young Yoshimori looked at his right hand. There was a square mark on it. It was a symbol that Yoshimori is the legitimate successor of Sumimura family. As the legitimate successor, it is his duty to inherit his family's job. Unfortunately, he had a weak body. As such, he is susceptible to diseases. As a result, he was often bedridden. His aniki often filled in his place much to Masamori's annoyance. Yoshimori knew Masamori was very mad at him because he had to do Yoshimori's work. Yoshimori tried to make up by being nice to him and training extra hard. However, it was not enough. There seemed to be a huge gap between them.

"Masamori, Yoshimori is still incapable of shouldering this job. Besides, you should know that your brother has a weak body. He can't strain his body too much," Sumiko Sumimura explained, trying to keep her remaining patient. She didn't like her eldest son's rude behavior. It was unacceptable.

"Then, why doesn't Grandpa do it?" Masamori yelled. This 16 years old teen refused to give in to his mother without a fight.

Sumiko sighed, "Masamori, your Grandpa is too old for this. You can't expect him to fight ayakashi like that."

"It's okay, Sumiko. I can still handle it," Shigemori said confidently. Unfortunately, it was not convincing when he coughed badly. The old man really was not in good shape despite his attempt to act like that.

Sumiko soothed Shigemori's back, "Father, you are not well enough. Don't force yourself too much." Sumiko then glanced at Masamori, "Look, Masamori, it's not very hard. It's just until Yoshimori is good and healthy enough to take his responsibility."

"It's still doesn't explain why I should do it. Besides, no one knows when he will be ready. He's too weak. I bet he'll die the minute he steps into Karasumori," Masamori sneered.

"Masamori, that's not the way to talk about him. He's your little brother," Sumiko said sternly. Her patience was running out.

"Then, why don't you just do it by yourself since you're so determine about this whole Karasumori business," Masamori argued. "Besides, it's not like it worth my time after all. That Yukimura girl doesn't put up a challenge to me."

Besides Sumimura family, Yukimura family was also the guardian of Karasumori. Initially, they feuded over who is the legitimate successor of their founder, Tokimori Hazama's kekkai style. However, as time passed, they did not feud over this matter any more. Of course they didn't get along very well but they developed some sort of friendly rivalry between themselves. It was more to see who was the better kekkaishi and who was the better guardian of Karasumori.

"I can't do everything by myself. Lately, there are too many ayakashi. We need all the help we have. Besides, this is not some sort of sport. We defend Karasumori so no innocent people get hurt," Sumiko reprimanded.

"Huh, then I'm better off joining that organization if we are going to protect people," Masamori retorted back.

Recently, someone from an organization known as Shadow Organization had been trying to recruit Masamori as their member. It was a mysterious organization full of many kinds of ability users. Masamori wanted to join them, saying that his talent will be recognized and not wasted for petty thing like Karasumori. Unfortunately, Sumiko and Shigemori didn't approve his decision which leaded to many arguments. And these arguments always ended in a bad way.

"Masamori, how many times I need to say? I don't want you to have anything to do with that organization. We don't know much about them," Sumiko snapped. Her patience had completely gone.

"Well, I don't care!" Masamori yelled and stormed away from the room only to bump with Yoshimori. Yoshimori fell on the floor with a thud. Before he could apologize, Masamori yelled, "What are you doing there? Get out of my way!"

Masamori then pushed away Yoshimori, not ignoring about his little brother at all. He didn't even bother to help Yoshimori at all. Sumiko who saw the whole incident was not very pleased. She was about to call Masamori back and scold him when she heard cough coming from her father.

"Father, are you okay? Should we go to hospital?" Sumiko asked with concern.

Lately, Shigemori's health was not good. He kept coughing and having muscle ache. It didn't help at all when he stubbornly refused to go to hospital.

"I'm okay. I just need to drink some water," Shigemori answered.

Shuji who had kept quiet the whole incident offered a glass of water to Shigemori which Shigemori accepted gratefully. Although he didn't like his wife's job as the guardian of Karasumori, he knew how important this task. He could tell that Sumiko really took her responsibility to her heart. Unfortunately, his eldest son wasn't like that. The adults soon started their discussion. Yoshimori knew better not to eavesdropping them. So, he went outside to get fresh air which was a big mistake.

"Hey, brat. What are you doing there?" Sitting on a tree in Yoshimori's neighbor backyard, a young eleven years old girl with ponytail hair yelled at Yoshimori.

Yoshimori sighed. His luck was bad. He thought he could get away from everything for a moment. In his mind, Yoshimori asked himself why this girl always showed up at a bad time. Can't she read the atmosphere? Can he ever escape from her? Oh, right. He can't. She is his neighbor and they went to the same school. So, practically, he can't escape from her.

"What do you want, Tokine?" Yoshimori asked in bored tone.

Tokine Yukimura, the legitimate successor of Yukimura family, didn't like Yoshimori's tone. Well, it was not like Yoshimori hated her and wanted to be mean to her. It was just that she was annoying. She always teased and made fun of him. And her tendency to compete with him in eliminating ayakashi didn't help to improve her image in Yoshimori's eyes. He meant, like his mother said, this was not some sort of sport. One mistake can cost you your own life or other people's life. Yoshimori shuddered at this thought. It was way better for them to cooperate together.

But, no.

She wanted to compete with him even though it was obvious she can't beat the ayakashi by herself and needed other people's help. Well, if that was not enough. She just had to sour his mood by bragging around whenever she destroyed an ayakashi, lamenting how weak he was and how useless he was. He didn't need anyone to constantly remind him about that. His elder brother had done the job and Yoshimori had to admit that Masamori did a good job on that.

"I was just asking. Don't be mad just because you're way behind than me," Tokine taunted, sticking her tongue out.

Here it goes again. Yoshimori sighed. Why it always had to be like this? Why can't they have some civil, normal conversation that didn't involve Karasumori or their family's job at all? Why did Tokine have to bring up this matter?

"Hey, hey, you know what," Tokine spoke eagerly, "Yesterday, me and my father destroyed a very big ayakashi." Tokine spread out her hands to indicate how big the ayakashi was. "We destroyed it easily. You should be there and see it."

The last part of Tokine's words really hurt Yoshimori. Of course he would be at Karasumori, fighting the ayakashi if only he was healthy enough. However, Tokine didn't notice this as Yoshimori put his indifferent mask. She kept talking and talking how she and her father were a great combination, that she was a great help to her father. Somewhere back at Yoshimori's mind, he wanted to help his mother too. He had seen many times how exhausted her mother each time she came home from Karasumori. However, no matter how exhausted she was, she always smiled.

Many times he had offered to help her out. But, she refused him gently, saying it was not the right time for him to fight ayakashi and he should focus more on getting healthy. Yoshimori could still remember how he sneaked out from the house to help her mother. He was seven years old at that time. It was his first time. He did actually manage to destroy an ayakashi. But, he got wounded in the process. His mother was so angry when she found out about it. That really taught Yoshimori not to sneak into Karasumori alone behind his mother's back. Tokine didn't seem wanted to stop talking and Yoshimori was getting bored.

"Hey, where are you going?" Tokine shouted as Yoshimori retreated back to his house.

Yoshimori didn't say anything. He just ignored Tokine much to her annoyance. It was disrespectful. Yoshimori can't do this to her. She was the legitimate successor of Yukimura family. Nobody can dismiss her like that. However, before she could do anything, Yoshimori has already disappeared from her sight. Tokine bit her lips. That brat really needed to be taught a lesson. A very hard, tough lesson. Next time, she'll definitely show who is better between the two of them.

Yoshimori sighed in relief. He finally got away from Tokine. However, it didn't last long when he saw Masamori was talking secretly in phone. It was suspicious. From Masamori's serious look, Yoshimori could tell it was a very important. In fact, it was probably very important until Masamori didn't realize that Yoshimori was watching him. Yoshimori strained his ears to catch what Masamori was talking. But, it was useless since Masamori was whispering. He just heard Masamori whispering about agreeing on something. Once finished, Masamori put down the phone. Only then, he realized that Yoshimori was watching him.

"What are you doing here?" Masamori asked angrily.

"Nothing. Just passing by. Who are you talking to?" Yoshimori asked back politely.

"None of your business," Masamori brushed Yoshimori off, storming away to his room.

Yoshimori just stood there for a moment. He was confused. What did he do? Did he do anything wrong? He just asked a question, politely if he must add. He was so lost in his thought that he didn't realize someone was approaching him from behind. He only realized when a tiny hand tugged his sleeve. It was his four years old little brother, Toshimori Sumimura. He stared at Yoshimori with bright eyes and stretched up his hand. Yoshimori picked up his little brother with a smile. On Toshimori's hands, there was a piece of card and a lot of colour pencils.

Waving the items in front of Yoshimori, Toshimori said in excitement, "Yoshi-nii, look, look, look what I've found. Do you thing we can make a beautiful card?"

"Of course we can. It's for Mother after all. Well then, let's finish it before tomorrow," Yoshimori put down Toshimori and led him to study room.

"Hey, hey, Yoshi-nii, do you think Mother will be really happy?" It was faint but Yoshimori could sense Toshimori's worry laced in his energetic voice.

Well, it can't be helped especially after what Masamori said to him. Yoshimori can remember it clearly. It all began Tokine talked about the gift she will give to her mother on Mother Day. So, Yoshimori and Toshimori decided to make and give a gift for Sumiko too. They asked Masamori to join them in their plan but Masamori just brushed them off, saying it was wasting time and their mother really won't need and appreciate it. This hurt Toshimori. Yoshimori was used to be ignored by Masamori. But, he couldn't accept how Masamori treated Toshimori. It was not right. They are his family. Family ought to stay together, right?

"Of course she'll be happy. We put all our heart in this, right?" Yoshimori assured Toshimori.

"Right," Toshimori beamed.

And that was what they did for the rest of the evening. They coloured and coloured. They intended to give the card tomorrow since tomorrow is Mother Day. Yoshimori couldn't wait for tomorrow. However, for some reason, Yoshimori had a bad feeling about tonight. He can't put his fingers on it. Maybe, he felt it because of all unlucky things that happened today. First, his big brother has a huge fight with his mother. Then, Tokine made fun of him. If that not worse, his own big brother sneered at him for something he didn't know. This bad feeling intensified as he watched his mother got ready at the doorway.

Something was not right. Something bad is going to happen. Something very, very, very bad.

Yoshimori could feel it to his bone. He wanted to stop her mother badly but didn't know how. What should he say? He tried to push away this feeling with no success. So, he did the only thing in his mind at that time. He tugged her sleeves from behind which surprised Sumiko.

"Don't go," Yoshimori mumbled.

Sumiko studied her son carefully and could sense worry in her son. She smiled, "Don't worry. I'll come back safely."

Somehow, Yoshimori was not convinced at all. It was weird. His mother had gone to Karasumori countless of time. This was not her first time. And, she always come back home safely and alive even thought she sometime suffered a few big wounds. But, he had this strange feeling as if he will never see her again. This terrified Yoshimori greatly.

"Can I come with you? I won't cause trouble for you," Yoshimori asked.

Sumiko was taken aback by the question. She answered gently, "No, Yoshimori. You're not healthy enough." Yoshimori looked disappointed and upset when he heard this. Not wanting to upset her son, she said, "Hey, I know what you can do for me?" This caught Yoshimori's attention. His face light up. Sumiko continued, "Look after the family when I'm gone."

Yoshimori pouted, "How that is considered as helping you?"

Sumiko chuckled, "It is helping me. I can't look after all of you and be at Karasumori at the same time."

"But, you can just use shikigami," Yoshimori argued.

"Yes but it will use a lot of my energy. I'll collapse if I use it excessively," Sumiko explained.

"Okay. I'll look after our family when you're gone" Yoshimori reluctantly promised. He couldn't found a way to counter argue his mother. Reluctantly, he let go his mother's sleeves. As his mother's back faded from his view, Yoshimori said loudly, "Come back safely, okay?"

Sumiko just waved her hand to indicate she heard Yoshimori. With that, she set off to Karasumori. Oh, how Yoshimori wished he never let his mother go. Imagine how shocked and terrified he was when he saw his mother, supported by shikigami, …..

…..was fatally wounded and drenched in her blood.

"Mother!" Yoshimori's shout echoed throughout his home, alerting his Grandpa and Father.

Minute later, footsteps running toward the doorway in a hurry can be heard. Shigemori and Shuuji were shocked with what had happened. She was breathing heavily. Sumiko's wounds were too deep that she may not survive from these wounds. However, they refused to give up.

"Shuuji, go and get the first aid kits. We'll need some bandages too," Shigemori ordered as he went outside to confront the owner of the shikigami.

"Yes, Father," Shigemori nodded without arguing.

Yoshimori's mind couldn't register what happened next. His mind was blank. He just stood there like an idiot. He knew he should do something but he couldn't think anything about it. He woke up from his stupor when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulder. It was Sumiko. Her eyes were watery. However, she tried as best as she can to smile.

"Yoshimori, I'm sorry. I made everything hard for you," Sumiko said weakly. Then, with energy she had, she whispered on Yoshimori's ear, "Whatever you do, don't let your guard down around them."

With that, Sumiko fall on the floor, lifeless. It took a moment for Yoshimori to understand what had happened. Desperately, he shook his mother, calling her name aloud. However, no matter what he did, she didn't move at all. Yoshimori was starting to cry. He cried more when his Grandpa checked his mother and shook his head. It was now very clear.

His mother was dead.