The Prodigy of Prodigies

In the world of Martial Arts, there are two rival factions.

Katsujinken and Satsujinken.

Conflict between two beliefs has spanned hundreds of years between warriors who mastered and refined their art, be it ancient, or a new style they created.

Katsujinken is a belief among martial artists where it is believed that martial arts practitioners should not kill an opponent, even if their own lives are at risk. They believe that life is sacred, that one man can not take another's life, and so they never fight to kill, always looking to end fights with those involved alive, they always seek to preserve the lives of all. The strongest representative of this belief, is Ryouzanpaku.

And Satsujinken believe that killing the opponent is the way to use their martial arts skills. It is the yin belief that martial arts were created to kill and destroy. There are also those who walk this path for revenge, hoping to kill a certain person instead of just using their martial arts to kill. The organization Yami and their disciples in Yomi embodies this principle and recognizes that it cannot prove that Satsujinken is the true meaning of martial arts without defeating Ryouzanpaku, who embodies the principle of Katsujin-ken and the Strongest group of masters. In practicality, it seems that practitioners of Satsujinken have the advantage over Katsujinken, as they do not need to hold back while fighting.

How opposite they are even goes as far as their resources.

Yami as a whole, is full of resources while Ryouzanpaku, is flat broke!

And since that fateful day, Sawada Hibiki has lived in darkness, receiving the best education money can buy.

She knew Manners and Etiquette, the native languages of foreign Ryouzanpaku Masters(Thai, Malay, Hindi, Russian, Chinese, Spanish) other than Japanese and English, and has unusual affinity for Italian and French. She learned up to Master's Degree in Math and Computers. Learning Science, Music and Art, and obscure knowledges other than 'training from hell' in Martial Arts.

She is learning Unarmed Kuremisago Martial Arts, Survival Skills, Crafting and even Cooking. Her skills were prodigious in cooking that she was also capable of medical pharmacology when made to study it. Food in the organization was cooked according to how she wanted it DONE that everyone enjoyed eating after a hard day's work and tended to overeat even, but Masters approve in order to recover and heal faster for next day. Her cooking has health benefits for martial arts. Sure there's dessert, but the traditional goods kind as the Masters frown upon cakes and pastries. Too much bad sugar, they say! The only sugar they approve of, are natural kind such as raw sugar and raw honey.

For a young fledgling so young picked up by Senzui, she learns faster in regards to knowledge, faster than Kushinada Mikumo's pupil and the best in cooking, but understandably needs more work in the physical department as out of all unarmed disciples, she was fourth physically weakest, but made up for that in Ki and skill. She was Sei-type and a quick study that she was Expert Class in the field in a short time. The masters feel that before she is sixteen, she would master her Ki before she becomes a master in her field of Martial Arts. They have to make both skills equal to earn her, her rightful status.

She was raised to be a cold-blooded warrior and fight to kill even if she was nice and friendly to others. She tends to apologize in advance before killing, and grew up humble, modest and noble. She grew up alongside Kajima Satomi who was six years her senior.

Right now, she is thirteen years old and he, nineteen.

They are currently in a mansion that houses Yomi Unarmed Members when on meetings.

Present in the venue was Satomi, Hibiki and her personal subordinate, Tirawit Kokin, Kushinada Chikage, and Enshin Chou. They were playing a four-way board game of Chess, Go and Shogi on a large board. Hibiki was giving her male subordinate health supplements on the side.

Boris Ivanov, the Stanley twins and Asamiya Ryuuto reported going-ons in the DofD Tournament.

'I see, so Kanou Shou died.' said Chikage. 'We believed he has the most potential.' she spoke in formal, but cool monotone.

'Indeed he has, used to be the perfect one. But he has one critical flaw.' said Hibiki. 'He flew way too high...and got burned.'

'That's one way to put it.' said Satomi. 'He never tasted failure his whole life.' he said. 'Failure, is a critical element in life needed to grow up.' he would say as he laid the final blow on the game. 'Tsumeta. Checkmate. You lost.' Tirawit, Chou and Chikage scowled at their loss. 'Failure is needed to succeed at life! All masters of One Shadow, Nine Fists have gathered over this matter. What a rare sight.'

'Hohoho! This time Kanou's failure has severely damaged the reputation of God Hand...' Rachel Stanley, disciple of Diego Carlo's Lucha Libra laughed.

'It is unbelievable to hear that he has been defeated in a fight.' Chikage quipped. Kanou Shou never lost to anybody in Yomi which was why he was their leader.

'Don't forget he got shot down by bullets too.' Hibiki reminded them. 'Bad enough he lost, he even got a lousier way to go. Death by coward's metal by the Allied Forces led by FBI. Nobody deserved that.'

That got everybody silent. As warriors, they have this pride. If they are to die, it is to be in respectable hands of someone stronger. Dying under such indignity was indeed, a spit upon them. Its a disgraceful way to die, in the hands of cowards. For one of Kanou Shou's pedigree, it was a fate he had bad luck with and he didn't deserve it.

'The world of martial arts has always been like this.' Satomi stated, picking up a chess, go and shogi piece. 'What tells life from death apart isn't power or technique, but the 'heart'...as what our master always say.'

'Hibiki-sama, there's one thing I want to ask.' said Hibiki's subordinate. 'Ryouzanpaku's just 6 masters and 2 disciples, right? Those Shinpaku guys don't count as they're a bunch of misfit ignorants with some ability. Can't we just ignore those guys?'

'Few they may be, but Ryouzanpaku is just as famous and influential as our Masters worldwide behind the curtains. And those idiots clearly allied themselves with Ryouzanpaku through its disciple, Shirahama Kenichi. They cannot be overlooked as they'll gain actual training soon instead of horsing around.' said Hibiki. 'They are also, the strongest representatives of Katsujinken, they who oppose what we are, the Satsujinken. We cannot turn a blind eye as we will not back down on who is far better than the other. We do not settle for second place.'

'Indeed. Two ways of life ideals have always fought, long before we were even born.' said Satomi, agreeing with his junior. 'It is true that we, Yami have the power to control the Underworld, Politics and Economics, but as long as Ryouzanpaku, the embodiment of Katsujinken exists, we can never prove that Satsujinken is the superior way of Martial Arts. It is our duty to erase the likes of Katsujinken from this world.'

'I see.' said Chikage with a cold smile. 'So now what do we do, now that our leader is dead?'

'Well, elect a new one, only, we're not doing the electing. We're too much of a powder keg waiting to go boom for that.' said Hibiki wryly. 'Our masters are the ones who're gonna squabble on who will be our leader. That matter, is out of our hands now. They're arguing next room over.'

'Yeah, no clue on who'll be leader of Yomi from here on.' Satomi agreed. 'We'll just wait on our next orders...'

Kajima! and followed by a loud ki-enhanced fingersnap causing Satomi to blitz his way out to the masters.

'...no fair.' Rachel huffed with a pout.

'Well, he's currently the oldest and strongest among us all in the unarmed and armed, no arguments there.' said Chikage.

While Hibiki is the strongest in Ki but has work to do with her physicals, her senior was equal in skill regarding that, and was thus, second strongest after Kanou.

'Hmph, for now.' Tirawit huffed as they all vanished.

xxx

'Boss...' Gokudera Hayato walked behind his employer who dressed in just a side-tie ninja dress, a fundoshi, pair of black leg tights and straw sandals. He was embarrassed in his first few months, but got over it in time. She took him in, when he was ten years old, traveling with her Master and Senior. They were the same age, and she saw his potential, a level her masters agreed on to and agreed to let her take him in. His master who's beautiful and deadly to match. And because of their master's origins, they tend to dress like ninjas. Heck, he was even dressed in ninja outfits and allowed to customize with freedom as long as he shows excellence in both training, skill and his work.

For now, his supportive skills, health and body are being honed, as well as knowing basics of fighting before learning actual martial arts. And he too, learns under her masters but for some reason, the other went on a sabbatical so they're mostly doing their other master's art and orders.

For that, he was grateful as he gets his chance to get stronger, gain new skills and shine, and he gets paid big for his troubles. But there are times that they were happily doing stuff together, but in gatherings like these...their eyes are as cold as ice, and deeper than darkness. It still terrifies him to this day even if he got used to it. He cannot speak against, or die as for disciples, their master's word is LAW. Hibiki will mourn him but that's it as even she will side with her Master due to her upbringing. However, when their master and Satomi goes somewhere, they were exempt from the trip because they weren't a member of the Kuremisago Clan even if they knew the art. But his boss showed incredible talent and prowess, her only weakness being her age which reflects her physical strength available to her.

Her ability was such, that Satomi wondered what her lineage was because she has incredible aptitude as their masters found her injured at the forest, clearly tumbling down from above and when they looked, it was a camp site sealed with Crime Scene tape. When they investigated, her school was there on a camping field trip, bullying classmates deliberately shoved her off, committing murder at seven frigging years old simply because they could and she was just 'useless, clumsy Sawada' even teachers don't care for, earning the school quite the stink eye in Kyoto, and the Law acted in full force in response.

However, her masters deigned not to send Hibiki home as one, she got amnesia and, well, she can't go back to her old life, being more vulnerable to that sort of thing even if her mother mourned her daughter, suing the school and parents for all she could even if it won't get her, her daughter back. Hibiki wasn't from a known pure lineage of martial arts yet was born a genius as opposed to her senior who bull-headed his way through as despite his lineage, he had no talent with an ill body to match, but he claims martial arts saved his life and perfectly fine with paying an eye as long as he defied his fate.

Not only that, she was also the daughter of the Young Lion of Vongola who flew home and enacted worser revenge while grieving with his wife, when Gokudera investigated his own boss. She was of mafia stock from a big time name at that.

Hibiki learned the truth when she was well enough, and decided not to go home anyway. Why?

'Well, I'm a total blank Hayato...they're my family but I remember nothing...I'm a total zero...they're strangers to me now and it'll be weird, not to mention they accepted my death after getting justice for me.' Hibiki told him with a sad smile. 'Not only that, our lives are totally different.'

And when Gokudera told her of her lineage he asked her NOT to tell their master and senior due to Omerta and the Vindice? She flatly doesn't care for a lineage that uses 'coward's metal' and gains its power by killing each other's kin and crossing lines even warriors would not cross and she couldn't believe her father's job was that and has zero respect for it whatsoever, and if she has her memories back, she would shudder that the home she once lived in with her parents, clothes she wore and food she ate, came from acts of cowardice instead of rightfully-earned, thus preferred her life in Yami as she rightfully-earned what she has now.

It made Gokudera decide a career change as in mafia, your lineage gets you what job you can get thru your connections and bloodline. He, a 'damn half-breed' gets shorted most of the time and gets the short end of the stick. In Yami, he gets his dues with a fat paycheck and education! So he ditched the Mafia before he got in too deep to the point he cannot get out. So he was wealthy on his own. But his boss feels Yami won't last long. It was something she confided only to him, so they should save up their money and build up a reputation so they won't lose work incase Yami dissolves.

And three years after her public death by the time she was ten, she gained a younger sister named Neon. Theme naming in memory of the daughter they lost because of a no-good school whose teachers can't even do their jobs right, nevermind being decent adults! The girl is currently three years old this year and Hibiki is fine watching her family from afar. The parents of the murderous children faced stigma at work and the neighborhood, questioning their upbringing of their children and teachers lost their jobs. That was how his boss ended her tragic tale.

'I know how you feel, but this is how it works.' said Hibiki as she took Gokudera to training. 'Meetings are always like this. You cannot show weakness. Give an inch, they'll take a mile. We can only be ourselves if its just us. But you did a good job concealing your emotions back there.' she praised him kindly. 'For now we're an organization in name only as for now, we share the same goal: make satsujinken supreme in martial arts. However, once we get that, it'll be a free-for-all. Fights will occur to prove whose art is the best in the world.'

'Er...'

'I'm serious.'

'Boss, you...you'll fight too should that happen?'

'Yes. My duty is to prove the supremacy of ninjutsu, the true martial arts of Japan.' said Hibiki seriously. 'The younger arts born after it are a mere footnote in history.' she snorted derisively. Gokudera felt his master feels absolutely sure of that fact. 'Ninjutsu came first in Japan in regards to unarmed martial arts and as a Japanese, it also means fighting for my art to prove it as the best in my country's.'

'Heee...'

Gokudera sweatdropped.

She disregarded Karate, Jujutsu, Judo, Aikido and Sumo and sees them as worthless. She better not say that within hearing range of God Hand!

'Well, you're still a youngster regarding this side of the world...you'll understand and accept things as the way they are eventually.' Hibiki chimed. 'Your body's almost cured so we can finally get some serious business done! Maybe next time Italian Manners be damned, put your life first, especially if you know the cook sucks and there's no access to pumping!'

'If it was that easy I'd have lived in an underground bunker by now away from her...' Gokudera moped miserably. And he ended up with a boss who was so good at cooking.

xxx

'Hayato, you have a mission from upstairs.' said Hibiki, facing Gokudera. 'You will join the unarmed division in entering Kouryou High School. They'll handle the fights, while your duty is communication and information, pretend you don't know them, reporting only to Satomi for now since Master will train me. You're practically unassuming in appearance, just don't do flashy stunts or they'll know.' she warned. 'Be a normal boy that you once were, before you gained the strength and skill of Yomi training, m'kay?' she smiled with one clap of her hands.

'Er, we're not together in this job?' Gokudera blinked owlishly.

'Nope. I'll do training program, so can't come.' Hibiki shrugged before patting his left shoulder. 'Do your best out there, OK?'

'Yes, boss!' Gokudera saluted. 'But regarding Shinpaku, what if I'm roped in? That alien dude takes in people.' his boss looks happy at the idea though.

'Trojan Horsey~ all the better!' Hibiki squealed in delight. Gokudera mentally hit himself for not thinking of such a great opportunity. 'Make it look normal-natural for now while being a normal boy who likes arcade, hanging out with friends or even read porn.' Gokudera choked at that. Just what are her ideas regarding normal boys?! 'Stuff like this takes time. Nurture a sprout of chance well. Goodness knows those guys can't infiltrate even a wet paper bag so I leave that to you, OK?'

'Yes boss! I won't let you down!' said Gokudera earnestly.

'Get packing and settle down in the area and memorize it well after settling in an apartment. You have the whole summer vacation to prepare!' and Hibiki skipped off.

'Right, normal boy...I'm not gonna read porn though.' Gokudera shuddered, walking away, hands in his pockets. 'What's with men liking looking at naked women pictures anyway and why do women pose naked for public? I don't get them...'