Okay, so I was going to wait until I finished 'Uragirimono', but I hit a block on it, and this was already set to go. I will be updating every Friday or Saturday with this, and hopefully 'Uragirimono' will be finished by the time I post the epilogue. After this, I will be turning my attention to my Digimon fics, so my next Sentai fic won't be up for a looong while. I have a LOT of unfinished fics to complete before I start any new projects.

So this fic is set in May of 2009, 2 years after the Boukenger finale. There might be small references to my in-progress Harry Potter/Magiranger crossover 'Wizards and Mahōtsukai', because that is set in 2008 and 2009, but there won't be much, or possibly not at all - I'm still working on the final draft of this.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Boukenger or any of its characters.

WORD COUNT: 708

Tuesday, June 27th, 1989

They'd reached the front porch, now. Above the twins' squalling, he could hear their running footsteps and shouts to get something to pick the lock. Once they got that done, they'd have to deal with the coffee table jammed under the doorknob, but that was his last line of defence. He had to seal the artifact away before they could get their hands on it. It was unlikely they'd know what to do with it, but they could easily sell it, and it might make its way to someone who did know how to use its powers, which could only spell danger for the rest of the world.

Grabbing the stone off his desk, he turned to the chest he'd designed specifically to keep it out of the wrong hands. He could hear the lock clicking, and knew the cheap, flimsy table wouldn't hold them for long. He was just glad that his wife and sister were out today, that they were out of harm's way. He placed the stone inside the chest and shut the lid. Now all he had to do was set the lock.

Picking the girl up, he took her hand and gently pushed her thumb to the first scanner. He set his 21-month-old daughter back down, grabbing his small brass magnifying glass – her favourite toy – and giving it to her in an effort to calm her down. One might think him insane for setting the lock to his children's fingerprints instead of his own, but nobody would ever guess; people would assume it would unlock with his thumbprint and hopefully leave them alone. He then turned his attention to her younger (by forty seconds) brother, scanning his tiny thumbprint just as the crack of splintering wood reached his ears.

The vital task complete, he took the babies to the farthest corner of the room. He kissed each of their foreheads, whispering: "Papa loves you." Then he pulled his gun out of the desk drawer and placed himself between his children and the door.

The first one through got a poorly-aimed bullet to the shoulder, but the father wasn't so lucky with the others. One bullet went into his stomach, and two more hit his chest. The twins' cries grew even louder as he fell to the floor.

One of the thieves stepped over him and tugged at the now-locked chest. "It won't open!" he shouted, "Gimme a hand!" Two came over and pulled on the lid as well. It would not open, of course. "We'll have to take it with us."

A fifth smacked him on the back of the head. "Aw, forget it," he ordered, "We're not lugging that thing around with us. It's too heavy to be the stone, and who'll buy a big, heavy box that won't open, anyway? This whole thing was a waste of time." The man then turned towards the children, eyeing them. Their father could only gasp and struggle weakly as the leader knelt down next to them. "Or maybe not… I always said the kids we use are too soft. We need one raised to understand our line of work, and here's two up for grabs."

"But Boss," one pointed out, "How the hell are we gonna raise a couple of babies?"

"We won't. That girl who broke her toe last week is too big now to be of much other use anymore, but she's old enough to take care of them." The leader paused. "Well, maybe just one. Two is a little much to handle. We'll take the boy; they tend to last longer, anyway."

The father watched in horror as his son was picked up and carried out of the room. In desperation, he screamed the boy's name.

The last thief paused at the door, then doubled back, pointing his gun between the man's eyes before pulling the trigger.

The father's wife and sister would return from their shopping trip a few hours later, only to find his dead body, his daughter wailing for him and tugging on his cold hand. "Papa… Papa…"

Yes, this is short, but it's just the prologue. I will see you guys next week!

Next week: Eiji meets a strange girl who looks somehow familiar, and Kaze no Shizuka joins the party.