Times and Trails of Etsuko Switch

Prologue—the Clan of Switch

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Ayako was a small village located in Ame no Kuni (Land of Rain). We were a little way off from Amegakure, and we often heard of war refugees coming into that village. The parents of the children always worried because of the consistent wars being held in Ame no Kuni. It was a commonplace battlegrounds for the more powerful lands, such as Kaze no Kuni and Hi no Kuni. Most of the people in our village were plain citizens, but not us. Not me.

No, Etsuko Switch was something different.

My family was different from the beginning. Ame no Kuni even wrote a scroll dedicated to our family. You see, our family is cursed; destined to be humans by day and wolf spirit by night. Well, the whole story is long and you might get lost in the complexity of it. Although, this whole chapter IS about my clan…

I'll risk you being bored. Let's talk Switch Clan.

This curse started with my great-great-great-great-great grandmother Tsukiko Switch. Back then, the tailed beasts were still roaming around, causing trouble and mischief and such. In one account, my fifth great grandmother hid in the soon-to-become Sunahagure. There, she met my fifth great grandfather, Kyoto Hitachi. Now, somebody could've told an animal mortician not to get together with a sorcerer, but their minds were made up and they were in love.

Since my fifth grandmother was an animal mortician, she stayed near the bodies of dead animals, domesticated and wild. She and a coworker started "going out". It seemed innocent enough, going to find dead bodies of animals, analyzing of wounds and identifying cause of death, but the only thing theywanted to identify was each other. So, one night, they did just that while my fifth grandfather was in the soon-to-be Konohagure studying a new incantation to try and seal one of the nine tailed beasts.

When grandfather Kyoto came back home that night, he was not the least bit pleased.

Grandmother Tsukiko and her lover were shocked, to say the least, and she begged for his mercy. Yet, she brought upon the wrath of the sorcerer and he cursed her, and cursed her down to the foundation. Grandfather Kyoto made grandmother Tsukiko a wolf spirit, seen only by other spirit wolves, and able to fight with others he had cursed in the same way. The curse could only be broken when a strange ornament grafted somewhere onto our bodies was broken by the one we had given our hearts and souls (animalistic or otherwise) to.

After many, many generations, the curse started to weaken. Spirit wolves could be seen now, but any human that saw us would have an urge to kill us. It was a terrible curse. This change happened at midnight exactly. My sister, older brother and I had gotten the very, very blunt end of the stick of the curse. Now, let me tell you about US.

I'm Etsuko, as you know. I'm the youngest child, only 12 years old while my sister Pippin is 15 and my brother Yuu is 18. I have the spirit of the white wolf, so, to indicate this, I wear white excessively. It's a family rule; wear the color of your wolf. Pippin wears red, Yuu wears brown, Mother wears black and blue, and father wears blonde (a rare color for a wolf). It is a well known tradition in our family to inaugurate the eldest into the head chair, giving him the responsibility of protecting the family.

And this is where our story begins, where I met my potential love…

And killer.

A/N: YES, this chapter is finally over. I'm so glad. It was kind of a background history on the main character Etsuko Switch and her family. A Naruto OC keeping her family?! It's not possible! Well, and I know Switch isn't a Japanese last name, but the first names Aly and Alyssa aren't Japanese, either. So…(runs)