Located next to the waterfall ground floor, the cabin is home to the newly formed Izayoi family of Hiko (Father), Zheng (Mother) and Hibana (Daughter).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Outside in the nearby lake Hiko seems to be bathing his baby daughter. As he sprinkles some water in her face she giggles at him, he smiles at her.

"Who's a big girl? Who's a big girl? Thats right you are." Hiko says while he laughes at his little girl playing in the shallow water.

After wandering the mountains with no luck at finding anything that looks like a shrine or something built to hide something important, Drei finds the cabin.

"Well maybe someone here can help me find that damned sword. Or maybe there's an old hermit who can train me or something..." Drei gets the image of some ancient looking man with a beard that almost reaches the floor.

She walks closer to the water completely forgetting she's still dressed in her dark red ninja gear.

"Oi, mister. I'm looking for something really important. Think you can help me?"

Hiko turns his head and only sees the ninja outfit and he freaks out. He just out with ninto in hand aimed very closely at the newcomer. Hiko's muscles tense up but he stands tall at 5'9 and built like a brick house. Donned in only an eye patch and ninja pants he glares strongly at the newcomer.

" Identify or Die", was the only words that the newcomer would hear.

Drei is startled and slips falls backwards on a rock. She quickly throws her hands out to show she's not armed.

"K-Kaname Toeiama!" she blurts out. ~Kyaaa...I'm going to get myself killed before I can even get started.~

"I'm a relative of one of the s-samurai in town. I'm looking for something important regarding Edokyo."

Hiko looks at his little girl who is just staring at him with her head tilted. Hiko looks back down at the ninja and narrows a glare at her, then points the tip of his ninto at her nose.

"You better give me something more" says Hiko as his body cast a shadow over her.

Kaname gets a feeling in the pit of her stomach that seems to say 'I'm going to die here.'

"H-honestly! He was the guy who was causing that panic in the underground 10 years ago! He's in Moritsune's fortress getting his memories erased or something so he'll do it all over again! I'm just up here looking for a way to stop him!"

~I need to find a better excuse than that! He won't believe me.~

"Just introduce me to the old hermit who lives in that cabin and i'll be on my way!"

The hardness of Hiko's eyes suddenly turned into a softer look and he placed his ninto down.

"I killed one of Moritsune's generals, Kuro Toushin"

He turn around and picked up his daughter, the looked at the newcomer.

"Kaname huh?, well that old hermit your looking for....is me" walks to the cabin

"come inside where it's warm"

She sat there dumbfounded for a moment as what Hiko just said sunk in.

~But.....he only looks about 30.~ The thought bubble above her head with the ancient hermit with the beard goes 'poof' as she shakes her head and returns to reality.

She gets up and follows Hiko inside, unable to believe she actually found an 'old hermit.'

"Sorry about startling you like that. I was in such a rush to get started looking I forgot what I was wearing."

~That's got to be at least the 3rd time I've nearly died since I came to Edokyo...~

Hiko closes the door behind them and he places his sword on top of his fireplace next to many more blades of different cultures. He then placed little Hibana on the bear skin rug while he goes in the kitchen and gathers some tea.

"My aplogizes if I startled you" he laughs alit "I don't normally get visitor unless it's my son or my wife." he said as he came back in the living room with a tea set tray. Once he places it down he looks up at her "please, take a seat. So your looking for an old hermit? Well I know i'm old but I have been called a hermit in 3 yrs. What's your business with Moritsune? And why you come to me?

Kaname/Drei takes a seat as Hiko suggests. She takes in a deep breath before letting a sigh out.

"Well where should I start? For starters, Moritsune isn't in the fortress. One of his leftover generals is watching over the place in his absence. The guy I used to work for was hired by that general to catch my brother. I was double-crossed in order to catch my brother.

I'm not sure if you've heard of him. He goes by the name 'Scythe Master.' He has a number of brainwashed minions, and so far only 2...well 3 now, have escaped. My brother was the first to escape. His partner, Scythe's first minion, was the second. I guess I'm the third."

She looks out the window as she says the last part as if the words were reminding her of the harsh reality she is living in.

"They'll start coming after the 2 of us now that Scythe has his ultimate weapon back." She clenches her fists. "If I can't defeat that damned thief, there's no way I can stop my brother."

She looks back at Hiko. "I came here because of some rumors. I need to train my abilities further, and there's something I need to find on the mountain somewhere."

Hiko listens as he pour tea for both of them and he sits back and picks up Hibana from the bear skin rug and rocks her to sleep.

"Scythe Master huh, the name does strike a thought. Ok so who is this thief might I ask?"

He then sees that she fell asleep and he take Hibana to bed then return to the living room and sits down and sips his tea.

"Akisu Yoru Toushin." She pauses for a second.

"I've had a couple of run ins with him in the past. Little did I know that he was the guy who we were working for, and that he was as skilled as he is. He even went so far as to stage a fake kidnapping and rescue of me to catch my brother."

She stops to drink some tea.

"The other guy who helped rescue me and I confronted him after he confessed. He laughed in the face of my Suzaku style and whatever style the other guy has."

*shrug* "He'll realize his mistake when Scythe turns on him eventually."

Hiko's eye widen and began to cough up some tea.

~ What the hell has that brat done now ~

"Akisu Toushin?? Really?? I didn't think he'd be trouble really. What do you know about Akisu?"

Hiko was stunned but not at all surprised at what has been going on with Aki. He'd wish that kid would get some senses before he's killed or captive but he knows Aki is still a child at heart. But Hiko was thinking should he tell her that Aki is related to him or not. But he would to learn more about the problem at hand before doing anything.

Her right eye twitches for a second.

~'...didn't think he'd be trouble.' Either this guy hasn't fought with Akisu in a long while, or he's just that good.~

Kaname put her hand on her chin and thought about it for a moment.

"Well here's what I've gathered. My brother and Akisu have apparently been long time rivals or something. My brother's had the upperhand for the most part, but Akisu ended up becoming Moritsune's general."

She stops to think another second.

"Let's see...what else...I heard another rumor that he was involved in the extermination of the Hebbi Samurai Clan. Come to think about it, it would make sense. My brother was a member of the clan after the incident in Kyoto 10 years ago."

She looks like she was starting another train of thought in her head before getting herself back on the topic on hand.

"Anyway, the other person who escaped from Scythe met up with my brother and helped him get his head straightened out. Scythe found out and came here looking for my brother. Moritsune wasn't here so Akisu was the next best person to dupe into doing the dirty work. The idiot probably thinks it'll be the ultimate revenge if he's the guy pulling the strings on Scythe's ultimate weapon."

*nod nod nod* "That should bring us up to the staged kidnapping and the present. If I don't snap my brother out of it, before the demon wakes up, he'll kill Akisu probably and a large number of people in Edokyo too."

~That should cover everything. I probably shouldn't tell him how I've been wanting to kill my brother for the past 10 years up til now.~