Disclaimer: If you think I'm a member of Clamp you're crazier than I am. So bear that in mind if you decide to read any more chapters cos I can't be bothered to keep saying it over and over again.

Shinrōgumi

Prologue - Hiding

Yūi was thrust into one of the many secret compartments hidden around their home by Fai as they heard the men approaching the house. Their father's position in support of the Shogun and his contributions to the Shinrōgumi made them a frequent target of the rebels. So far they had been lucky in avoiding any damage to either themselves or their property. But the fear that something could happen to one of them had prompted his father to have the compartments installed. All he could do was hope that Fai, his mother and father would make it to one of the others in time.

Through the small cracks in the wood he could make out nothing but he could still hear. He could hear them break in, hear them attacking his family and he could hear one voice in the silence that followed. A smooth, quiet voice that Fai knew belonged to a dangerous man. A man much more dangerous than those that had been making the clamour moments before. He heard the sound of a blade fall for one last time followed by retreating footsteps and casual conversation between the men.

He had heard everything but had been unable to do anything but remain cowering and hidden.

He didn't know how long he had remained hidden but when he crawled out there was nothing but corpses before him. A few he didn't recognise but there was no mistaking the bodies of his family.

The beautiful blond hair of his mother and Fai stained red with blood. He reached out to touch their faces staining his fingers with their blood. He put his stained fingers to his hair, making it match theirs.

All he could do was take Fai's body into his arms and weep.

This is set in a period that's pretty much the same as the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Shinrōgumi are based on an actual group of samurai that policed Kyoto called the Shinsengumi. As for the name Shinrōgumi it's kind of a play on a couple of different things. The Shinsengumi were also known as the Miburō (Wolves of Mibu) and the kanji for wolf happens to be the last kanji in Syaoran's name (it just has some funny reading I've never come across before) so that ties it all back to TRC. Shinsengumi translates roughly to New Chosen Group so using the same kanji except for sen Shinrōgumi translates to New Wolf Group. For those of you that followed that explanation, well done, you guys deserve cookies cos I'm incoherent.

Ok, I'm gonna explain everyone's positions in the group now so I don't have to do another large ramble at the start of the next chapter.

Commanders: Kurogane, Seishirō and Yasha. These guys founded the group and are in charge overall.

Division leaders (in order, 1st-10th): Fūma, Subaru, Kamui, Ashura (from Shura), Dōmeki, Tōya, Kendappa (otherwise known as Amaterasu, I've chosen to use her RG Veda name because I see Amaterasu as her title like Tsukuyomi is Tomoyo's so it feels weird to use it as a regular name), Sorata, Arashi and Kusanagi. These each lead groups of men in terms of taking them out into combat, training and so on.

Pages: Syaoran and Ryūō. These two wait on the commanders since they're not old enough to actually fight. When they get old enough they can join a division. I'm fairly sure the Shinsengumi had pages but I'm not sure about the age restriction thing in terms of fighting. It's just something I made up.

Spies: Sōma and Yuzuriha. These two are the sneaky ninjas.

Kitchen staff: Sakura, Tomoyo, Watanuki and Yukito. Quite clearly these guys cook for everyone.

So on to the first chapter if you've enjoyed this little prologue and apologies for the giant ramble. If there's anything you're not clear about by all means feel free to mention it in a review (subtle hint) or send me a message. I'll do my best to clear up anything that I've done a poor job explaining here.

I will write the next chapter…but will I really write the next chapter?