As the Hyoudou mansion family fell quiet, the Hajime clan were having their own party. However, it was not a joyful experience. All of the members of the clan came to the hidden burial grounds in the mountains, where generations of Hajime clan members were laid to rest. It was considered a great honor to be buried here, but today did not look well.

The Hajime clan suffered a huge loss by losing their future leader to the sniper. Now the clan only had one son left to take up the mantle and he was only 2 years old. If this son where to die, than the only member left to lead the clan would be the child between Shuri and Barquale. This angered many of those loyal to Suou, who were just as hard liners in their views of the supernatural worlds. However a new majority of the family were angry at Suou himself as he let the situation play out like it did. Now, everyone that even had a small connection to the family was frowned upon by all of Japan. There have even been a few "Demonstrations" during the later part of the week, during the final Diet meeting, where a few of the shrines under the Hajime's care were destroyed.

The general public was angry at the clan and it had shown to many in the clan that there was a need for new leadership. In fact, a few rumors were abound about assassinating Suou, his wife and son in order for another person to take the role of clan leader. There had also been a few rumors about having Suzaku, Shuri sister, to take the throne. She had been adamant about leaving Shuri and Baraqiel allowed and that if the clan continued to pursue the two then the family would have a great loss. She knew of this because she was one of the few to have a precognition ability.

She was often heard during the meetings of the leaders that if they did not change their ways, then the family would suffer. Turns out she was current and now the family, as well as the clan as a whole, were suffering the consequences of their leader's inaction. Suzaku also had heard the rumors along with her father. Each would have to take a long time to think about what they would do in the future, but for right now both daughter and father mourned the loss of a brother and son; even if he discovered the punishment for the actions he took.

Two Hours after the Funeral

Suzaku's POV.

I had been kneeling and praying to the Shinto gods for the past three hours. My knees were sore and I was very sleepy. It had been a trying time for the clan and it could have been avoided if father and the elder took my warning to heart. Now my foolish brother is dead and a baby boy is going to be without a father. Not only that, but the clan as a whole has taken a major hit; not just in face but also financially as well. Since the details of the attack had been made public, several shrines under our care have been burnt down. Making the situation worse is that the repair cost as well as the contractors to bring materials to the sites have quadrupled in price, making a huge dent in the amount of money used to keep the shrine maintained. Since I am the final master, I am going to have many sleepless nights until I have a better understanding of the financial damages incurred by my brother's actions.

As I walked to my room, I saw a small group of people start to approach me. I stopped when one of the men asked if they could have a minute, just a minute, of my time. I was unsure of it and was about to say no when she saw Miko, the daughter of Susu and Tika, a woman from the Nakiri Clan. In her arms was her newly born son, Tobio Ikuse, unlike most children born into the HIMEJIMA clan, Miko wanted their son to take his father's original last name that he had before they became husband and wife. Seeing the emotional state that Miko was in, I nodded my head and allowed the group into my room as I knew what they wanted to talk about.

After an hour, the group left as I began to get ready for bed. They wanted to know if I would consider challenging my father for the position of head of the family. I had already been asked a few questions before and answered them just the same. I would only challenge him only to preserve the family from falling into Civil conflict. After explaining that to them, I was finally allowed to get some much needed sleep. I would be up early in the morning to start going over the records of the damaged shrines and make allocated funds for rebuilding available.

Just before falling asleep, I said one final prayer to the gods in an attempt to ask them to watch over the clan. But I know that they would more likely than not look down on us and to an extent; the clan deserved it.

At the Same time

Susu's Quarters: His point of view

I was tossing and turning in my bed as I tried to get some sleep. My wife was takefully in Akio's room as the trauma of having your First son killed in front of the nation tended to have a deep emotional mark on a person. Having no luck in going to bed, I got up and place my family robe on. Walking into the section of my room that held our family's heirlooms, I walked past scrolls, books, weapons, shields and paintings passed down through generations of family heads. Akio loved walking though this area as he was infatuated with them. He especially liked the paintings of passed family heads which lead to the section I was now looking at. It was the Sword of the Phoenix, A beautiful Katana with the colors of the Phoenix covering it from tip to base. It was gifted to us by the sun goddess to defend humans from the dangerous spirits that covered the lands and we have ever since.

But now that I look at the sword, I now wonder if it is really worth it. Is the power that I weld wrought the sight of my family falling apart. I was raised in a different time. A time where Fallen Angels, devils and even angels were considered monsters and that we should kill them if they dare to enter our territory. However, some of the other clans began to make small deals with those three factions allowing some of their species to enter and leave Japan at will. Hell, even the gods themselves handed out special badges to allow members of the faction to enter the shrines without feeling pain to increase the funds for the maintenance of the shrines.

Our own clan has a large stack of these badges, but I had never allowed them to be passed out as I still believed at the time we received them that all three were evil and did not have the intersis of humans in the best of light. However, since it was the Goddess Amaterasu who handed ours's to, we had to accept them or else we would… no, I would have brought shame to the clan. I also know that I can't simply start to change right now. There are just too many hard liners that would not allow anyone other than the humans to enter the shrines, even if they had these badges.

As I looked at the badges, I picked up the swords. Giving one last look at the badges, I took the sword and left for my personal training room. It was a special room as it was fireproof; which allowed me the ability to let loose with the power of Phoenix that I held within my body. Taking my stance, I began to practice. Slashing, throsting, swinging the sword like I was trained to do. I allowed the fire to cover me as I blocked fake swords from hitting me and spread my fire onto the training dummies in front of me. After three more hours and several breeds of sweets later, I placed the swords back in its place and entered the bath house. As I entered the warm water, I finally realized the error of my ways. It may be cynical for me to believe that My son's death would be what finally makes me listen to my Suzaku, but now I really have no other choice in the matter. My country is angry because of Akio Attacking not just the Hyoudou family but the U.S.A. That nation is the only reason why we are not in a slave state like China and North Korea are today. Who knows what would have happened had the U.S. not been the occupation force that settled on the mainland. Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine. As I completed my next actions, a messenger entered the bath house and handed me a letter. I already knew what it was as I had noticed the seal on it. It was from the elders, members of the clan that have been around a long time and put together are just as strong as me. I don't even need to read the contents of the letter as I already knew what it was.

They were summoning me to tell me what is going to happen to the clan now. Those Five old hags are even more hard liners than myself and are the reason behind our clans disapprove of supernatural beings. They are probably going to tell me to hand the seat of the leader to my son; even though he is just a boy or they want me to lock up Suzaku. I really hope it is not an elimination order. That would spark the civil conflict that I know is starting to brew within the family. And since they all will be there, it would be a very bad struggle to fight them off. Hell they might just make it a trap and kill me to take the position for themselves.

I soon find the motivation to sleep, even with this new letter laying heavy on my mind. Hopefully the gods will guide us, but after what happened I doubt they are right now.

Third POV

Deep in the underworld, a group of beings are sitting around an elongated table. These beings were meeting to plan one goal. Total and complete chaos. Many of these beings were alive during the great war and were dissatisfied when the three great powers created the ceasefire agreement. One of those beings was Kokabile. As a man that believes in Fallen Angel superiority, this group of people was a group he liked. Wanting to start the war again was a goal he wanted to accomplish. They all had just finished watching the video of the assassination that he directed. The other members were silent until one woman asked, "It is impressive, but are you sure the U.S.A is not going to link the attack to us?"

"Of course not, my man made sure of that. He hasn't been found before and will not be found now; not with the amount of money I have and continue to pay him. He won't be found and we will have a trump card in our operations." Kokabile smiled. After the video ended, the group applauded his action and a few asked to have the contact information for the assassin. After a few more decisions, the group dismissed themselves leaving Kokabile and one other man in the room.

The man was 6'5" with long, bland hair that reached down to his back. He wore a White military uniform with gold trimmings on his left sleeve with a gold shoulder cap holding four feathers. Hanging on his right shoulder was a white fur cape that touched the floor while he held a saptar in his right hand. Once everyone was gone, the man tapped a button on his chair, a hologram of a man appeared. The unknown man looked with his green eyes as Kokabile became very happy at the sight of the hologram as he said.

"It still surprises me that you were able to get That from Hades." Kokabile said as he examined the hologram. "He knows that when we start, he will get more dead to collect. It is just simple for him to lend us this in order to improve our goals. Besides, We both know that Micheal would never check up on this thing." the man said with a sneer grin. Looking back at the man, Kokiable asked; "Who is working on research and development?" "A very close associate, however, I Would like it if you also did a few experiments. If you were so inclined." Kokiable just nodded as his communicator began to light up. Glancing at it, Kokabile cursed as it was Azazel requesting his presence for a meeting.

Looking back to the man as he prepared to leave, Kokiable said, "Give me a few days to set up an area that Azazel won't be able to track. Don't need that man snooping around and finding out what we are planning now."

The man simply smiled as his green eyes sparkled as Kokiable as he disappeared into the light as he left. The man then looked to the sky as he awaited for chaos to arrive.