Kuri's first memory was of being held in the arms of her Protector as she screamed and cried. Tears not of childbirth, but of loss.
"Don't do this!" Kimiko screamed.
Mana, her eldest sister, was holding spiritual chains binding their father, Yuzuru Suoh. She looked up at Kaori, a question in her eyes.
"Mana." Kaori said. Kaori was the current head of the Watanabe family, and Kuri's Grandmother. "There is no need for pity. Pity your mother if you must, for loving a mortal."
Mana held fast to the chains. Yuzuru, for his part, was struggling, but could not speak. "But he is my father. And hunters know a lot about magic and spells. Maybe he can help—"
"That is enough!" Kaori exclaimed. "We are lucky. You and your sisters were born magical, like the rest of us. But with a mortal ignorant influence, you could end up harming the creatures you are meant to protect!"
Yuzuru fiercely struggled at this, but it was all for naught.
"I still don't understand, Grams." Mana said. "Why must I do this?"
"If you do not do as I say, Kimiko will be punished for her betrayal." Kaori said threateningly.
"What has mother done that is so bad?" Mana asked, looking at her father's panicked face.
"She mated with one of them." Kaori spat. "The enemy. She is lucky that she and her children are to be spared."
Kuri could hear every word. She struggled vainly in Jacob's arms, but he had her like a vice. She could recall this trembling form, not angry, but crying. Kuri wondered if her other sister, Reiko, age two, could hear them. She was just a baby, in her mothers arms, but she was aware of it all.
"What exactly is this man?" Mana asked.
"He is a mortal." Kaori said it as if it was a curse word. "He is probably planning to kill us all."
Yuzuru's eyes pleaded with his child, his mother-in-law, his wife.
Kuri remembered crying then. She didn't like the cruel words they were saying about her father. She wanted him back.
Jacob trembled more. Kuri realized he was crying too. He felt as helpless and sad as she did. That made it a tiny bit better.
Kimiko didn't shush her. She screamed and cried as well. Other members of the Watanabe family grabbed her and held her back, and shushed Kuri.
But still, Kuri could hear Mana's final words to her father, hushed so Kaori couldn't here.
"This spell will only last as long as Kaori, the current family head, lives. When she is dead, you will wake and remember us. Come back to us alive...And when you do, kill me first, would you? That will be all I can do to make this up to mother. I'm sorry."
And with those words, Mana held out her hand. A rune blazed upon it.
"SHI-NI!"
The rune hit Yuzuru in the face. His eyes went vacant as the memory of his family disappeared. The chains shattered.
That was the last time Kuri could remember ever crying and Jacob pulling her into his arms, patting her back. After that, it seemed nothing would ever match her sorrow on that day.