I own nothing except the idea

Chapter 3: Darkness

It took a few days of training in front of the pond, watching as the kame children studied his every move, before they eventually came out again. At first he had not even noticed, for their agility made them nearly soundless and what little noise they did make was often covered up by the nature around them.

But eventually he spotted them in the wisteria tree and smiled.

"Why don't you come down?" He asked causing them to quickly hide again. "No one will harm you, I promise." With this he heard them talk amongst each other again and waited patently for their answer until finally one landed on the ground as soundlessly as a cat.

Clearly he would not have to train them in the art of silence.

Yoshi smiled again as the Yōkai moved to stand on his feet and carefully inched toward him obviously curious, which was how he realized it was the one with blue eyes.

"Hello." He offered quickly smiling once more when the kame jumped at the sound. "Where are your brothers?" He asked and the child simply pointed at the tree causing the man to laugh. "Clearly." He added as the little one tilted his head in confusion.

"Are you the oldest?" He asked next and the creature quietly nodded. "Are you the leader?" Another nod. "Very well." Yoshi acknowledged as he looked back at the tree. "Who is second?" He asked the other three, hoping they understood his meaning.

After a short minute he finally got an answer when another form hit the ground, the red-eyed one this time. "Ah." Yoshi proclaimed in understanding. "Our little hot head." He added with a smile causing the child to stand up straighter like he wasn't sure he liked that title.

This time he didn't have to ask for the next oldest, as the purple-eyed one quietly made his way to the ground next, though clearly much slower than his brothers had, which worried Yoshi.

Was he still recovering his energy?

"Our healer." He acknowledged the little one as he hid behind his brother who had protected him before. Obviously he was still shaken up from nearly being cut in half. "I am sorry for the way my brother treated you." Yoshi added kindly. "He will not bother you again."

This caused the little healer to peek around his sibling curiously, but neither of them approached. He had to wonder if it was because of fear or because their leaderhad told them to stay where they were.

Yoshi was about to call the last one out when he looked up to find the youngest leaning so far out of the tree that he could see him almost completely. However when the little guy realized he'd been spotted he quickly dashed back into cover only for a sharp crack to announce itself through the air and a second later he crashed to the ground along with a thin tree limb that was obviously not big enough to support his weight.

This made his two brothers by the tree jump away in shock before taking on stances that clearly spoke of annoyance and the fact that they likely dealt with the youngest's antics more often than they were willing to admit.

Yoshi honestly couldn't help but laugh at this, though he tried to remain professional as the two middle brothers helped the little one up allowing the man to realize that though he had fallen, he had turned to land on his back thus allowing his shell to take the impact; leaving him unharmed.

It would seem that even in their blunders they were graceful.

"How nice of you to join us." Yoshi proclaimed toward the little one causing him to pout, clearly embarrassed. "Oh come now, there's no need for that. We all make mistakes." He chided kindly leaving them all to look at him in shock.

Obviously they weren't accustomed to being spoken to so – respectfully.

"Now, what do you say we continue our training session?" Yoshi asked as he got back into his stance and waited for them to join in.

Though they were clearly startled by all this they eventually moved to copy his stance and quietly started to move in the same ways he did, until they were genuinely learning the basics of Ninjutsu.

…

This continued for a few days; with the Yōkai brothers only showing themselves when Yoshi or Miwa were near and would normally hide when someone else showed up during their training.

But eventually they grew accustomed to Tang Shen and a few of the servants that brought them food, until eventually they started to curiously venture into the halls of the complex to check out the rest of the human dwelling.

Of course when they first encountered another ninja they panicked and fled but Yoshi was able to show them that, though they wore masks, they were still only people underneath.

The man had expected a similar reaction when they finally met Yūta, but he was mistaken. For one day when the old man paid them a visit during their training the Yōkai just stopped to stare at him.

"Hello." Yūta greeted with a polite bow as they slowly made their way toward him in their usually crouch when examining something they weren't familiar with. But eventually they stood and bowed back.

"You know me, do you not?" Yūta stated with a smile causing his son to look at him in confusion.

"Yes." The oldest answered simply before pointing at the old man. "Hamato." He added and Yūta nodded.

"That is right; I am leader of this clan." He explained. "And as such I would like to be the first to thank you and your family for protecting us all these years."

The little Yōkai only nodded in agreement as Yoshi walked up in understanding. Clearly they were very much aware of their ancestor's role in the past and what roles they themselves were here to play.

"Do you know yet the tragedy that will befall us?" Yūta asked next causing them all to nod.

"Tragedy?" Yoshi asked his father and man looked at him as he answered.

"They would only be here if the Hamato Clan were in danger my son." He said sagely as he looked back at the kame. "The fact they are so young proves that we have time, but – we should still prepare."

"But what kind of tragedy?" Yoshi asked leaving the kame to look at him next.

"Darkness." The oldest answered causing the two men to look at each other in confusion.

"Do you not know more than that?" Yūta requested but they only shook their heads and he nodded. "I understand. Thank you for your warning all the same." He said with another bow which they returned again.

"Father –" Yoshi asked as the man turned to walk away only to reach out and place a hand on his son's shoulder.

"I will see what I can learn of this – darkness." He answered wisely. "You must continue their training. They will need it."

"Yes father." Yoshi acknowledged with a bow before the man finally left.

Sorry, that was a little short

Chapter 4: Title of Power {Coming Next Monday}