Streets of Tokyo.

Night.

The air was rich with the scent of motor oil and ramen. The boy weaved through the crowd of busy people, all in a rush to get home from the workday. Horns honked. People yelled. Merchants from the small shops lining the sidewalks pestered bystanders to come in and buy something.

The boy smelled a bit of sweat, typical for just coming out of practice with a quick shower and dash of body spray. It was a hard workout. Running, pushups, stretches, the works. The big tournament was coming up, and their star player had to be in perfect shape to compete. As he walked, a baseball bat bounced from the pouch it was secured to on his backpack. It was a classic wooden Louisville Slugger imported straight from the U.S, a gift from his father he cherished and used daily. He never liked the metal regulation ones.

He hummed to himself a rock song he had blasting in his earphones earlier. He could still trace the lyrics a bit with his mouth...escaping ever so lightly as he casually trotted through the heaps of people before him.

He had medium height, spiky dark blue marine hair with eyes of the same color. He wore his baseball jersey untucked, his last name and the number 17 printed in blue along his back. It was common to see him wearing a backwards sun visor as he was now, as he almost never took it off. Along with this, blue matching sweatbands on his wrists were always part of his outfits, reflecting his athletics no matter what he wore. As for his after practice getup, it almost always consisted of all of that, plus his baggy blue joggers and a clean white pair of sneakers.

Finally, the boy reacher his destination—a quaint suburban home tucked between two others on a already packed block. Slowly he let himself in, jamming the key in the front door before slowly opening it. The room before him was pitch black, which immediately triggered several alarms in boy's head. He had a hunch...

Biting the bullet, he set his backpack on the front porch and slowly entered, pulling the kendo sword against the wall inside close to him. There was a chilling silence in the room, broken by his steps which rang out like echoes in the distance.

There were light taps against the ground surrounding him. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

They began to close in on the boy. Closer and closer. He couldn't help but sweat a bit by whatever was advancing. But when it struck, he knew exactly what it was. CRACK!

The wooden kendo sword in the boy's hands shook around, making him stumble a bit in response. But alas, he couldn't afford to. He quickly recovered as he corrected his stance, flinging around to counter another hit from behind him. Keeping your eyes open in a situation like this was useless. It was better to become fully blind, that way all focus could shift to one's ears.

He could audibly hear each advance from each angle and direction. Crack! Wood struck each other again. Over and over these loud cracks grew normal, and all sound in the room consisted of it. This, obviously was an attempt to drown out the attacker's movements, which were audibly detectable before.

Whoever he was up against, they fought with great strength and speed, quickly rebounding off each unsuccessful hit and trying again at a different angle or position. Despite not seeing his target, he could read them efficiently, just from where his sword struck and from what angle. His hunch was right.

And finally, after onslaught seemed to end, the lights flicked on, revealing none other than the boy's father, Adachi Kagemori.

"Good stuff, Ikkei! That's the Kagemori ear in action! Can you tell me why I did that?" Adachi said cheerily, producing a slight laugh.

He was a rather large man in stature, possessing the same spiky dark blue hair his son had, albiet shorter and more trimmed, as well as the matching eyes. Unlike his son, he bared a large muscular build, towering over the boy like a giant. His casual outfit consisted of a dark blue tight fitting shirt and some gray jeans. Ikkei took a second to catch his breath as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change of light.

"You've told me this a million times, Dad. Back in the days, the Samurai and Shinobi fought in the night to keep bystanders out of conflict. To compensate for poor vision in the dark, people like our family began to rely on their ears to see! Here I am thinking someone robbed the place when you were just teaching me an old lesson..." Ikkei sighed.

"Psh! Robbing THIS house? With ME in it? Come on, Ikkei...you know your old man will kick any other middle aged panzie around with no trouble! Hell, I WANT to see someone come in and try to clean this place! I'd have em seeing stars..."

Ikkei swiveled around, having caught a glimpse of his mom in the corner sitting. Strangely enough, a giant black helmet with special tech enhanced goggles stared back at the boy, strapped to the woman's head firmly.

"What the...!? Mom! What are you doing with that?" Ikkei clambered, pointing in confusion at the odd apparatus.

"Ah! She just wanted to watch. Ya know your uncle Kizaro? The military contractor? I made a call or two and convinced him to let us borrow a set of night vision goggles! Your mom saw the whole thing. Isn't that right, honey?"

"Absolutely, dear. You're just as agile and keen as your father, Ikkei! Great work!" Inari Kagemori said softly, but with an air of genuine appreciation. She was a medium sized, rather frail woman with long flowing Orange hair, a soft face, light complexion, and a smile every time you saw her. Ikkei would always compare his parents growing up, and would often note how physically they were exact opposites. Even in terms of personality the two were quite parallel, but this didn't prevent genuine love and a stable, happy relationship from being sustained.

"Thanks, mom. You can take the alien gear off now...heh" Ikkei said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, yet again you've demonstrated your skills, and I must say Ikkei, you are growing into a fine warrior. I think you're just about ready to take the next step. Come! Let's talk about this over curry. Is it still hot, dear?" Adachi chanted, swerving over to the kitchen.

"Of course! Have a seat. I'll serve." The woman insisted, raising the goggles from her eyes as she danced through the home with the helmet still strapped to her head.

Adachi and Ikkei took a seat at the dinner table, and immediately one could tell a lot from how they sat. Adachi, a rather carefree and joyful spirit, kicked his legs up on another chair, leaning back on the one he sat in with his hands behind his head.

Ikkei say quite conservatively in his chair, not taking up much space or sporting any odd quirks. These sort of traits were prevalent in his mother, who was a much kinder and mindful soul.

"So, how was practice?" Adachi began, scraping his teeth with his fingernails. His voice reflected his visually large appearance, as it boomed and roared each time he spoke.

"The usual. A whole lot of exercise. Got in some hitting practice too...I hit a few out of the park just for the hell of it." Ikkei bragged.

"That's my boy. Are you guys still on track to win the tournament?"

"I'd say so, as long as our pitcher keeps his arm in good shape."

Inari swerved onto the kitchen table, setting a few dishes full of curry before them.

"And your classes? Are ya keeping up?"

"Of course. Just got a four on my math quiz today."

"Hmm...just because math is your weakest subject, I'll let it slide. But I want to see fives all around every where else!"

Just as Adachi blew on his spoon to eat, he slowly turned to his wife who sat alongside him, still wearing the night vision goggles.

"Honey...please. No military grade equipment at the table."

"You see, I'd love to take it off. But It seems I tightened it a bit too much..." Inari laughed playfully, giving an air of genuine concern at the tail end of it.

"Let me take a crack at it."

Adachi got up and fiddled with the straps, which had gotten tangled in his mother's hair. The two spent minutes tugging and pulling with Adachi producing odd grunts in each direction he pulled, with his mother reacting similarly in response. Ikkei awkwardly kept his glance forward as he continued to eat.

"Shit...almost there...just a bit more...GOT IT!" Adachi cheered, clapping loudly as the helmet slid off. Inari, who was red in the face and stuck with her hair in a mess, smiled sweetly as she disregarded it and proceeded to eat.

"How's the food, love?" Inari asked, her son looking up from his dish.

"It's great as always, mom. Thank you."

"Of course! I'll make sure you leave this house one day with that recipe in your back pocket. The woman in your life will really appreciate a day or two off from cooking!"

"Absolutely. Your mother tried to teach me to cook once. I don't know if you remember the sudden vacation to Osaka in the summer of 2012, but that may or may not have something to do with it..." Adachi admitted, sweat dropping down his forehead as he maintained a concerned grin.

"So that's why we had to get new cabinets...the old ones weren't turning black from mold!" Ikkei declared as he connected the pieces.

"Adachi! You weren't supposed to say anything!" Inari snapped suddenly, whacking her husband on the arm. Suddenly, the large brazen man acted as if he had been emotionally scarred in a quite childish and overdramatic way.

"Come on, Inari...he was gonna find out anyways! Besides, you gotta make sure he doesn't make the same mistake I did! Ikkei, believe me when I say this. DO NOT TRY TO PUT OUT OIL FIRES WITH WATER!!! THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!"

"Huh? Why's that?"

"I HAVE NO CLUE!!"

"AHEM! Adachi...I know you had something to tell Ikkei..." Inari paused, looking over at her husband warmly.

"Oh, right! So...where do I start. Well...follow me." Adachi signaled, getting up from his seat as his son and wife followed, directing them to the back guest room which had been transformed into a dojo of sorts.