Disclaimer: Standard stuff here, Macdutton does not own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling.
Pain. Suffering. These were the last things Arthur and Molly Weasley felt in life. But even these things are not the worst the world could offer them. No, the greatest of their pains was the knowledge that they couldn't protect their children.
Bellatrix Lestrange laughed between questions as she cruciated them, eventually becoming bored with their refusal to answer her. And as she had found out with the Longbottoms, torturing them to the point of insanity was not conducive to information gathering.
"I'm tired of this. Any more and they'll be too crazy to be useful. Just kill them and we'll get away before the Aurors arrive," she instructed the wizards accompanying her. Regardless of her disdain for the Blood Traitors that the Weasleys were, she had to respect the couples fighting ability. When their children were threatened the balding man had actually put up an impressive struggle, killing three of her lackeys before he was subdued again.
As she turned away to leave the circle of protective wards around the house, she heard the shouted words, and saw the green flashes that signalled they were finished. "Oh yes, and do make sure to grab the children. Wouldn't want to leave any loose ends, now would we?" The words held a sickening sweetness.
A strange voice, with an accent she didn't recognise answered her. "No, we would not." The words were cold, containing a controlled rage. As she began to turn, angry at the intrusion, she heard a thud. Completing the movement, she beheld a scene that shocked even her. A tall man in strange robes was stood, his arm outstretched, holding a sword. At his feet was the crumpled form of one of the two men to survive the confrontation with the Weasleys.
His head remained in the strangers hand, the blood from his severed neck dripping, his eyes still twitching.
Scrambling backwards, she withdrew her wand, pointing it at this murderous interloper and screaming a curse. The green beam shot towards him and she felt a sense of triumph. He would be easy to deal with; why, the fool didn't even have a wand.
Her happiness faded however, upon seeing him seemingly glide out of the path of her shot, dropping the head and pointing his sword at the other Death Eater, who was just now recovering from the shock of his comrades blood soaking his face. From the tip of the blade, a harsh blue light shot forth, crackling, to put a hole through the Death Eaters hastily erected shield. The lightning bolt continued on, burning a hole into his chest, causing him to convulse and begin to fall.
The swordsman slowly stepped back into a relaxed stance, simply looking at Bellatrix.
"What… what do you want here?" The haughty demand was meant to intimidate the man, remind him of whom he was dealing with. Unfortunately for Bellatrix, the fear was clear in her voice, and she knew the stranger would have heard it.
"I came in response to the wards on the Weasley Clan home being breached." The mans speech patterns were extremely careful and formal, as if English was not his first language. "Our clans have been bound for centuries. When one is attacked, a response must be given. Unfortunately it seems I underestimated the distance." He looked at the corpses, a sorrowful look crossing his face. "My apologies, Arthur-dono, my miscalculation cost you your life." His gaze returned to the woman before him. "My honour is in question. Your life will go some way to rectifying that."
Without another word, he seemed almost to blur forwards, the blade in his hand swinging almost lazily forwards, trailing sparks. Bellatrix fell out of the way just in time to avoid a burst of that same, crackling blue electricity that had killed her minion.
Even though she had avoided the initial attack, her respite was short lived. Looking up, she saw the blade descend once again, this time cutting cleanly through her right wrist. The hand, as well as the wand clutched in it fell to the ground as blood spurted from the wound.
She looked dumbly at the stump of her arm, not quite comprehending what had happened. Again, she looked at this strange swordsman. "The Dark Lord will return. We will find him, and he will destroy all of you who protect Blood Traitors." Her fanatical speech was deceivingly calm, measured.
The stranger looked at her almost pityingly. "Voldemort could not even take over this country. Were he to attack any of my people, he would face the wrath of the Emperor. Do you truly believe any could stand before the wielder of Kusanagi?" The fervour in her eyes was answer enough and he sighed quietly. "You show loyal to your master until the end. At least you have some honour left."
With the last word, he drove the curved blade deep into her chest, cutting through her heart, severing all the way across and out of the side of her torso for good measure.
Turning away from the dying woman he cleaned the blood from the weapon, planting it into the ground next to Arthur Weasleys head before kneeling beside the dead man. Bowing, he mumbled in a foreign language, seemingly praying, until a small sound from the house drew his attention. Looking towards the door, he saw a small, red haired head duck out of view.
"Please, come out. The ones who attacked are no longer a threat," he called, wishing for all the world that he had been quicker, had been better prepared. Seven children slowly made their way out from the house, the eldest carrying two babies, the second child holding the hands of twin toddlers, the final child hiding behind his elder brothers. They eyed this stranger warily, Bill knowing what must have happened for this man to be alone, soaked in blood amongst the dead bodies.
"I am sorry," he said, addressing the two eldest boys. "I was not in time to save your parents. But now I bear the responsibility of adopting you into the Clan."
"Why?" Bill asked. The simple question cut into the man, the loss of his friend cutting deep as he realised he would have to explain.
"You are the last of the Weasleys. By the binding of our clans, I must protect you until you come of age. To do that, we will need to leave here and return to my home. To the only family you have left." By this point he was struggling to speak, the weight of his failure like the hand of a god pressing down on his shoulders.
"Where's that?"
"Tokyo." The word was forced from him as he struggled to hold himself together. Just then, a soft pop could be heard nearby, causing him to jerk his head up and grasp his sword, sliding upright into a fighting stance.
Seeing who had just apparated though, he simply fell back to his knees.
As the beautiful young woman took in the scene, her face became horrified. "No. You were too late?" The question was rhetorical. She could see that it was so.
The man simply looked down, his shame unbearable. "Hai, nee-san."
"We should just have apparated straight here." She said angrily. "To Yomi with international relations, because of their bureaucracy," she hissed the word, "We were too late. Damn the consequences, we should go kill them now!"
"No, nee-san. We have other duties now." The man nodded towards the children, causing the young woman to look ashamed of her outburst.
"Of course." She walked over and knelt in front of Bill. "I am sorry for our failure. But we will protect you. Now come, William. We need to leave before this becomes a greater international incident."
"But who are you?" Bill asked, the question finally permeating through his numbed brain.
"I am Kagane Ayame, and that man is my twin brother, Kagane Hiroki. We are members of the Kagane Clan, and we are bound by blood and honour to the Weasley Clan. I can explain more about our clan once we are in a safe place, but the wards protecting this area are unravelling. We must leave." She held out her hand to the young boy, who looked into her eyes for a few seconds, before nodding.
"Okay."
With that, Hiroki arranged the bodies of Arthur and Molly into restful positions, closing their eyelids. Walking over, he took Charlie and Percy's hands, while Ayame held Bill close. Nodding at each other, they disapparated. For several minutes, a crushing pressure worked on the group as they moved halfway across the world.
Eventually, the pressure vanished and they appeared underneath a torii gate at the entrance to a garden, facing a large, beautifully crafted house. The single story structure spread out in front of them, the path to the main entrance paved in beautiful patterns, flanked by trees and flowers.
"Welcome to Japan, Weasleys."
