In this story, we time-warp ahead a few years. (Well, GOT to if flashbacks are to happen, LOL). Tsukune has managed to be successful in his Yokai /Human relationships, and since he and his wives are now boring adults working seriously at their endeavors, we'll look at what their kids are up to with their own growing pains and difficulties – including having near-gods – as the general population sees them- for parents. IF you think their lives will be care free, well, you should know better than that by now ... So on with the story!

Note : I don't have the whole thing fleshed out yet, the first chapter is just a teaser :)

CAPU 5

CH 1

Chief Inspector Yamada sat at his desk, gazing at the cork board with no new clues on it. He was assigned the Diclonius case. Since most officials believed the Diclonius dead or moved to another country, the self defense forces had handed the matter over to the police. The last update he had was 10 years ago, when Kikumura Emiko had come home and he'd seen that video of a diclonius wedding on a place called Witch Hill. The recording was scrutinized and tested by every conceivable method. There was nothing fake or modified about it, it was the real deal. He and his team had searched all of Japan, and not only could they not find this Witch Hill, there was no reports, sightings, or even rumors about any Diclonius anywhere. One would think with that many monsters concentrated in one place, someone would see something.

Normally, this case would go into the archives after ten years of nothing, but the Emperor himself insisted they work it until they found and removed Diclonius as a threat to Japan. Inspector Yamada had five years left to produce something, then he would retire and hand this frustrating case over to whoever replaced him. Until then, he would keep working at it and producing nothing.

There was a constant watch on Ms. Kikumura's house, and there was no sign of any unusual activity. She was his only link to this invisible place that was crawling with monsters. He would love to pass that recording off as a fake, an attempt to throw them off the track. There were too many things in it though, that proved it wasn't a fake. He loved the diversion of a good murder case, scam, or any case that let him forget about this mysterious place called Witch Hill, and do some good solid police work.

Hearing his phone ring, Inspector Yamada prayed that some dead Yaukza was found in an alley with a lot of drugs on him, and he could get down to real police business.

"Inspector Yamada," he said tonelessly into the phone.

"Inspector, there is an ambulance at Kikumura Emiko's house ... Paramedics are bringing her out on a stretcher."

"Assist them, I'm on my way," he said, and got up to go see what was happening with her.

.

During the drive to the hospital, Inspector Yamada learned Ms. Kikumura had been suffering from a fast acting cancer. She fallen down, broke her hip and managed to press her life-saver button she wore around her neck before she passed out from the pain. She was in critical condition, and wasn't expected to live.

Inspector Yamada felt sorry for her. Even as he thought that, a small part of him knew that if she died, then his last link to any clues would be severed, and he could petition for the Diclonius case to be shifted to the archive files. He did feel a twinge of guilty relief at that thought.

Arriving at the hospital, Inspector Yamada talked to Ms. Kikumura's doctor in charge of her care. With pain relievers they were making her comfortable, but they dared not operate on her in her weakened state. He listened to the doctor explain the details, then asked, "Will she regain consciousness?"

The doctor tipped his head slightly to the side and said, "She is in and out. I don't think she will be able to answer any questions."

"That's fine. I just think someone should be there for her."

Finding her glass walled room so the nurses could keep a constant watch in her, Inspector Yamada got a cup of coffee and settled down on a bench outside her room for the long haul. Ms. Kikumura's hair was thinning and gray, a sign of the disease that was ravishing her body. The monitors hooked up to her showed her vital functions, and an IV bag of clear liquid was plugged into her arm.

It was a sad sight indeed.

As he watched, Ms. Kikumura's eyes fluttered open. She let out a moan, and flopped her head over to look at him. Inspector Yamada got up and went to the door of the room.

"Ma'am, do you need a nurse?" he asked.

Emiko shifted her gaze to him. "Please, call my daughter for me," she asked weakly.

"I'd be happy to. How do I do that?"

"The yellow button on my kitty."

Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Excuse me?"

Speaking in short spurts, she said in a strained voice, "Yellow button ... on the Kitty ... at my house. Push it and wait."

"Is this a live cat?" he asked.

"Please hurry," she said in a whine.

Inspector Yamada nodded and left. She had just given him permission to enter her home. He now could search her house without a warrant. Finally he could either get some evidence, or better yet, find nothing get this case closed.

.

Kikumura Emiko's house was nothing special, just another house on the block. Inspector Yamada radioed ahead to let the surveillance team know he was coming. He parked in front, and was not surprised to find the front door unlocked. Inside, Emiko's house was immaculate except for a few out of place things he figured the EMS people had moved to get her out.

Studying the living area, Inspector Yamada walked slowly, taking everything in. He noted the long shelf of knick-nacks, and a box shaped display case on the wall. On the opposite wall was a full length, oval mirror. In the display case, each cubby was filled with a stuffed animal. Fuzzy dogs, racoons, rabbits and many other animals stared blankly back at him. Top center was a calico cat wearing a collar. Focusing on the collar, he saw a tiny yellow button on it.

"Let's see what happens," he mussed, and pushed the tiny button. Nothing happened that he could see. The button didn't glow, no secret walls shifted, no speaker called out, the phone didn't even ring. So much for the yellow button.

.

On Witch Hill, the pack of young teens walked up the path from school in a gaggle. Two wore the black and silver trimmed uniforms of the High school, the other six wore the dark blue, silver trimmed uniforms of the middle school. In the center of the pack, the two high school students, one with blue hair, the other with pink, followed a girl with long dark hair that reached almost to her hips, and was tied off in pigtails. She was carrying a glass globe.

"Bet she drops it," the lone boy with dark hair in this gaggle of girls, said with a grin.

The girl rolled her eyes," I'm not going to drop it, Kashiro," she said with a huff.

The girl beside her, with pink hair and horns, glanced back at the boy. "If Jade drops it, I'll catch it, so don't worry."

Jade frowned at her. "I'm not going to drop it, Kanae!" she stated.

"Bet she does," said the girl with pale pink hair who had one green eye and one red eye. She currently wore a smirk as she eyed Jade. Azami was Moka's second child, one of the 'doll children', though none of them were sure what that meant. All they knew was that 'doll children' refereed to the now 12 year olds.

"Yeah, Jade's clumsy," the smaller blue haired girl agreed.

"Um," the dark purple haired girl with the lollipop in her mouth said with a nod.

"I am not!" Jade snapped. As she turned to glare at them, she tripped and let out a yelp as she fell. The globe went flying.

The pink haired high schooler raced forward and caught her before she hit the ground. The globe stopped mid-air, then drifted to Kanae, who caught it.

"Told you I'd catch it," Kanae beamed with a grin.

Regaining her feet, Jade muttered a, "Thank you, Akemi." She moved to reclaim the globe, but Kanae pulled it back out of her reach.

"This is safer with me," Kanae stated. "Aunt Ruby will be upset if we break it."

"But Mama told ME to take it home!" Jade complained.

"I think Aunt Ruby wants it in one piece when it reaches her magic room," Akemi offered.

Jade's face flushed with anger. "If Kashiro didn't start picking on me, I wouldn't have tripped!"

"Yes you would," the dark blue haired middle schooler said with a smirk.

"Can it, Kaiyo!" Jade barked.

"Come on guys!" the blue haired highschooler said with a roll of her eyes. "Let's just get that thing into Aunt Ruby's magic room so we can go change and get down to the beach and go swimming."

Akemi eyed her sister, "That's good for you, Kumiko. What about me, Azami, and Kashiro?"

"You can play on the beach too," Kumiko said defensively.

"Volleyball," Moka Junior intoned.

"Yeah, volleyball's good," Kashiro agreed.

"But our pool has herbs in it, we can swim there," Akemi countered.

"Don't like smelly water," Moka Junior stated flatly.

The group argued over where to go as they approached the Kurama house, the very first house that had been built on Witch Hill a long time ago. The portrait of the original owner was still in the wall or the foyer greeting everyone who entered. She was The Master of Witch Hill when it belonged to a coven of witches.

Trooping into the house, they went into Ruby's magic room, a place they were allowed in only if they were invited. Since they were delivering a glass globe, all of them took this as an invitation to check out Ruby's 'neat stuff' she had in there.

Kanae went over and placed the globe on a wrought silver stand as the rest of the kids notice a portal flicker open in the center of the magic circle.

"Why is that open?" Jade wondered aloud.

Kanae turned. She knew that living room. "That's Gramma's house. Maybe she wants to see us."

"Maybe we should wait," Akemi cautioned.

Kanae ignored her and stepped through. "Gramma?" she asked as she entered the room. She immediately caught sight of a man directly at her side, who had been eyeing something on the wall as he walked towards her, but stopped and stared at her before he ran into her. Kanae did the normal thing a young girl surprised by a stranger would do. She belted out a piercing scream.

.

Inspector Yamada backpedaled and fell, his heart pounding in his chest as he eyed the pink haired Diclonius girl who had suddenly appeared right in front of him. By the time he scrambled up to sit, his heart pounding in his chest from fright, the room was filling with young school girls.

Pointing at him, the pink haired Diclonuis announced, "Gramma has an intruder!"

Ice formed on the hand of a purple haired girl who had a lollipop in her mouth. "Let's freeze him," she said in a toneless voice.

"I got a better idea!" the older blue haired girl in a black uniform said. She bend down to look into his eyes. The air wavered.

Suddenly. Inspector Yamada was looking at the cutest girl he had ever seen in his life! That blue hair was so exotic, and those eyes! She was young, but damn her chest was huge! He could easily imagine how soft and warm those fleshy globes would be. His heart went from pounding in fear, to thumping hard in lust. If he was a younger man, he would have been on his knees, begging to be her lover. His mind raced in fantasy, maybe she was an orphan, and he could be her daddy.

"Stop that!" A pink haired girl in a black uniform barked, and pulled his gorgeous blue haired girl away. "Kumiko, you can't go Charming strangers!"

"Can we suck his blood?" Azami asked expectantly as she eyed him with her dual colored eyes. Her open grin bore fangs.

"No!" Akemi snapped.

The diclonius girl marched up to him and asked in a demand, "Where's Gramma!"

Kaiyo's face scrunched up. Holding a hand to her mouth, she hitched a couple short breaths, then sneezed. Her jacket became strained like something was pushing out, and wingtips appeared up from her collar on either side of her head. "Owww! Kumiko, help!" she cried as she arched backwards.

Kumiko smiled and pointed. "Look guys, Kaiyo got her wings!"

"It hurts, help me!" Kaiyo cried.

Kumiko rushed over and extended one sharp claw on her index finger, and popped the buttons off Kaiyo's jacket to open it. The jacket flew away, and Kaiyo's wings blossomed out. Kaiyo let out a sigh of relief.

"WHERE IS GRAMMA?" Kanae shouted at the man sitting on the floor.

Inspector Yamada's mind was spinning. He gapped at the monster girls before him, and managed to say, "In the hospital."

Akemi pushed Kumiko towards the mirror. "Go get Ruby, quick. Kanae, you better go get your parents."

Kanae glanced at Akemi. She moved to leave, the turned back to Inspector Yamada and snapped, "Don't you EVER scare me like that again!"

"So sorry," he replied weakly.

Inspector Yamada sat and watched girls walk into the mirror. Although he had a gun and a radio, he didn't dare move with that purple haired girl eyeing him with her blank stare and that hand she had somehow covered in sharp looking ice. She could be waiting for an excuse to kill him. She did not look friendly.

A boy in appeared in the room. "Akemi, what's going on?" he asked as he looked around.

Akemi told him, "Aunt Emiko is sick." To Inspector Yamada, she asked, "What hospital is she in? How bad is she?"

Although his mind seemed to cease working, her voice demanded to be answered. "Kamakura General, and she's not doing well," Inspector Yamada replied from his seat on the floor as he stared at the strange looking girls.

"Kashiro, you better go tell Papa, and whoever else is home."

"Right, Akemi," Kashiro said and walked back into the mirror, disappearing.

"Ohh, my jacket is ruined!" Kaiyo whined as she held her ripped jacket up. Inspector Yamada also saw the back of her white shirt was torn open, a large set of bat type wings had blossomed out from the rip. Her bra had been torn also, letting her generous breasts droop slightly. She stomped her foot to make the wood floor shudder and put a crack in the floor where she was standing.

"Kaiyo, stop that!" Akemi barked. "Why don't you go home and help Kashiro find our folks?"

Kaiyo eyed her. "Just because you're in high school now, doesn't mean you're in charge!"

"Just go, please?" Akemi asked.

Frowning at her, Kaiyo said, "I'm telling our moms you're bossing us around!"

"And I'll tell them you broke Aunt Emiko's floor!" Akemi shot back.

A crash sounded. Kaiyo looked behind her. In flapping her wings, she'd knocked a glass pitcher on the floor. "Oops," she said quietly, then pointed to Inspector Yamada. "Let's just say he did it!"

"Please go," Akemi pleaded.

"Right, I'll go tell Papa HE'S to blame for the damage!" Kaiyo announced, and walked back through the mirror, ripped jacket in hand.

Glancing at the cracked floor, and the glass, Jade said, "Um, guys? I think Mom's gonna be mad at us. We should all leave."

"And leave this intruder alone in Aunt Emiko's house?" Moka Junior asked in a flat tone.

"Jade, can you fix that pitcher?" Akemi asked.

Jade pulled out a short, plain wand. She waved it at the glass on the floor and spoke a few strong words. Grass seed appeared over the mess and sprinkled down on it.

"Wrong spell," Moka Junior said.

"OK, I got it this time!" Jade announced. She waved her wand and did her magic again.

The grass seed began to smolder.

"Ohhh!" Jade whined and raised her wand again. At the same time, Moka Junior raised her hand, and the floor where the glass and smoldering grass seed was, became covered in ice.

Akemi grabbed her wrist. "Jade, stop before you hurt yourself!"

Jade spun on her, face flushed. "Yeah .. well, you do it!" In her fit she tilted her wand back, accidentally pointing at the long shelf of knick-knacks. A short bolt shot out from the wand to hit the shelf. The shelf crashed to the floor, the little figurines scattered broken across the floor.

Akemi grabbed her wand and held it away from Jade. "Stop it!"

"That's mine! Give it back!"

"No."

"I'm telling mom!"

Glancing at the damage, Akemi said, "Fine, go ahead."

Jade stomped into the mirror.

Inspector Yamada sat trying to absorb the weird things happening in front of him. One thing did get his attention, these kids who were obviously real monsters, were getting their parents. This was not good. He then noticed a hand extended to him. He looked up to see the pink haired Akemi offering him her hand.

"Do you need help getting up, Sir?" she asked.

"I , ah, can manage," he got out. As he got to his feet, an icy claw rested on Akemi's shoulder.

"Ahh!" Akemi cried and seemed to instantly slip out from the grasp and move to the side in a blur of motion. "Moka!" she barked, scowling at the purple haired girl.

"Too close," Moka Junior replied tonelessly as she eyed him.

Inspector Yamada immediately backed up. He'd never seen anyone move so fast as Akemi did. "I mean no harm," he said, raising his empty hands up for them to see.

"It's OK, just sit and relax," Akemi told him, then cast Moka junior a scowl. "And keep your ice claws to yourself."

"We don't know who he is," Moka Junior stated.

"I am Inspector Yamada," he said. "Ms. Kikumura asked me to come here and push the yellow button on the stuffed kitten's collar," he explained. And it would have helped his heart condition if she would have explained WHO would be answering the call. "May I ask, who you are?"

Akemi bowed and said, "My name is Aono Akemi, this is my sister, Aono Moka Junior. Pleased to meet you, Inspector Yamada."

"Yes, a pleasure," he agreed, returning her bow. "I should go and tell Ms. Kikumura that her, um, call has been answered." He moved to leave and the purple haired girl stepped in front of him.

"Stop," she intoned.

Inspector Yamada stopped. There was something very disquieting about this one. It was as if she was radiating cold, and that stare seemed to go right through him.

"No need to be rude," Akemi told Moka Junior. To Inspector Yamada, she said, "Please wait until an adult gets here."

Although her voice was pleasant, he was sure they were they were going to keep him here until one of the full grown monsters showed up. He found a seat and sat down. He knew it would be futile to try and run.

.

The first one through was Nana. Seeing Inspector Yamada sitting down, with Moka Junior and Akemi standing guard, she scanning the mess, and asked, "What's this about Emiko being sick? And what in the world have you kids been doing here? Emiko's house is NOT a play room."

Inspector Yamada noted who this was. She was older, but he knew about the one called Nana. "She is very sick." He explained everything as Nana's face scrunched up.

"Oh no! Akemi, has someone gone to tell Kouta and Lucy?" Nana asked.

"Kanae is on her way now," Akemi assured her.

A pair of younger diclonius girls ran in through the Mirror. "Mama! Does Gramma have ice cream for us?" the slightly younger one asked with a big smile.

Nana hustled them back through, saying, "Nina, Miki, this is not the time. Go get your Papa and Aunt Mariko." With huffs of disappointment, the girls went back through the mirror.

'Damn!' Inspector Yamada thought, 'How many of them are there?' He then remembered the wedding video. Right, there were hundreds of them. He wondered briefly if he could get to that mirror and break it. Then again, if even one was left behind on this side of wherever that mirror went, he was sure he would not make it out of this house alive.

Clasping her hands together, Nana said apologetically, "Nana is sorry, Inspector, but you'll have to stay here until Moka, Tsukune or Ruby arrives. We can't let anyone know we visit here."

And there it is, he thought. They were going to kill him. "I have a family, please, I won't tell anyone," he pleaded.

"No one is going to hurt you. Someone will erase your memory of us," Nana explained.

"You can do that?"

"Nana can't, but Moka, Tsukune or Ruby can," Nana explained. She then frowned slightly and asked Akemi, "Akemi, can you do that too?"

"Not yet. Mama Moka said she'll teach me how when I'm ready. Mama Moka has me doing combat training now."

Inspector Yamada understood now why there has been no reports of any monster activity. Anyone who saw them had their memories erased. These monsters could be everywhere, and no one would remember seeing them. He glanced at the door. It was too far away. He wished he'd brought a recorder with him. They seemed very familiar with this house, obviously they had been here quite a few times, right under his nose.

"Akemi, Moka Junior, would you start picking up this mess, please?" Nana asked.

"Yes, Aunt Nana," they chorused, and got to work cleaning up.

Seeing their attention was off him, Inspector Yamada reached for his radio. He then felt his wrist grabbed and the radio came out and drifted over to Nana, who caught it.

"Nana is sorry, but Inspector Yamada is not allowed to call anyone," Nana said apologetically.

At least they were nice when they were holding him prisoner, he thought. To cover up his true intention, he said, "I was just going to call and ask how Emiko is doing."

"The hospital does have a phone, do they not?" Nana asked.

A dark haired woman, looking much like the girl Jade, appeared in the room. Wearing a leather corset and a long, full skirt, she held a large, ornate wand. Her long pigtails were tied and wrapped in a criss-cross fashion with silver threads. She frowned at Inspector Yamada then said to Nana, "Yukari is watching Emiko, we'll have to pull her over, she is very sick and injured." To the girls, she commanded, "Akemi, Moka Junior! I'll take care of this mess, both of you leave." Holding out her hand as she eyed Akemi, she asked, "Jade's wand?"

Akemi handed it over on her way into the mirror. Moka Junior paused as she eyed Inspector Yamada. "Don't trust him," she said flatly, then left.

"Ruby, is Emiko going to be all right?" Nana asked.

"Time will tell. Go on back, Nana, I'll handle things here," Ruby told her.

Inspector Yamada watched the Diclonius hand Ruby his radio on her way back through the mirror. Now alone with the lone whatever-she-was, he watched Ruby wave her wand, sending colors spiraling though the air mixed with flickers of light. Entranced by the show, he sat in awe as the pale, rainbow colors splashed on every surface on the room. The wet spot on the floor that had mingled broken glass and burnt seed, became clear and clean as if nothing had ever happened. The pitcher on the table reappeared intact. The shelf reappeared on the wall, with every knick-knack in place. The colors played over him as well. He lifted his arm to see the colorful sparkles dancing on his arm.

.

Inspector Yamada stepped out of Ms. Kikumura's house, and froze in place. He turned to look back into the neatly kept home, feeling like he'd missed something very important. He had gone in and looked over the entire immaculate house, and found nothing. Why was it he felt he had missed something big?

His phone rang. "Inspector Yamada," he said, still wondering how he had missed anything in that house. He had to be imaging things.

"Inspector, the Kikumura woman is missing from her room. The nurses report she was there, then she wasn't. The entire hospital staff is searching for her. Just how does a woman vanish from a glass walled room surrounded by staff in an intensive care unit? Even if she was capable of walking out, which she isn't, someone should have seen her leave."

Inspector Yamada felt he had the answer on the tip of his tongue. He looked at that full length mirror again. He had looked behind it, and found nothing hidden. "I don't know. File the report and send me a copy," he replied.

That was all he could do. This Kikumura Emiko was one very strange woman, and now he had to put her on a missing persons' list. In his bones, he knew it had something to do with the Diclonius case, but for the life of him, he had no idea what it could be.