As always there's a few trigger warnings for this chapter including the following.

• Minor Gore
• Minor Nudity

With that being said, please enjoy Chapter 2: A Family Divided?

Asuka would take a seat in her father's office now, as she was very intent on listening to what he had to say on the matter. As he took a seat back in his chair, he would clear his throat quietly and begin from where it all started. Recounting the night that Miyuki showed up on his door step with Asuka in her arms in the freezing cold, as Asuka would start to grow upset.

"No, I-I can't be adopted, it's not true father is it?" She looked to her father now as he would just not give much of a answer, instead he would end up showing the document of her adoption now. Providing proof that Asuka was indeed adopted, at the very tender age of 2 months old.

"W-what happened to my mother, do you know?" She asked, crying into her hands now as this was visibly upsetting for Asuka in almost every way possible as she always thought she wasn't adopted into this family.

"Your mother died giving birth to you, but from what I was told she..well ended up turning into something monstrous that night, frightening yellow eyes and claws and fangs that were sharp as razors" He continued as Asuka stood up, running out of his office crying her eyes out as she ran to her room, not believing her mother was dead and that she turned into a hideous monster.

"I-it's not true, it can't be!!" Crying into her pillow now, as she would look to her family photo besides her bed on her night stand now, seeing the happy smiling faces of her siblings, her father and herself all dressed up for it, sniffling and wiping her eyes now trying to calm herself down.

Hearing a knock on her door now, it would be Hikari, standing at her door as she was concerned now, being told "One minute" by Asuka as she would go over and open the door, peeking to see it was her sister there, not sure if father had asked her to check on Asuka now.

"Y-Yes, big sis?" Asuka asked somberly as she stood there, wiping her eyes with her kimono sleeve now, as Hikari would just throw herself into a gentle hug for her sibling, since she had known the truth for a while now and probably knew that father had told Asuka all about what happened that fateful night 15 years ago.

"Do you..well still think of me as family, Asuka?' Hikari asked now, holding her little sister in her arms and hugging her as she had asked this, wanting to be sure this wouldn't tear them apart or anything.

"Y-Yes, but um" Asuka sniffling now as she had managed to calm down somewhat, hugging her big sister back now, but ended up sobbing into her as she would not truly be emotionally stable right now. Asuka being comforted by Hikari now who was softly stroking her sibling's hair, trying to soothe and relax her.

"Is-is it all true sister, am I adopted?" Asuka looked up at her big sister now, wiping her eyes which had gotten a bit red and puffy from all the crying she was doing, as Hikari handed her a tissue now, hearing Asuka blow her nose with it.

"Asuka..you may be adopted but I don't love you any less, I'm sure father doesn't love you any less, neither does Akari, in fact we won't stop loving you as you are family to us and always will be" Hikari told her little sister now, sighing contently as she would end up taking her sister on a walk downstairs, explaining this as they went, politely knocking on their father's door now as it was open already.

"Asuka, Hikari..' Haruto spoke as he would let them in now, knowing that Hikari had managed to calm Asuka down now as Asuka politely bowed to him, apologizing for her outburst earlier.

"Father, I am sorry for my outburst earlier, it was rather rude of me" Asuka mentioned as she bowed her head politely, but as she rose her head, Haruto would be bowing his head now realizing his mistake from a long time ago. Raising his head now and handing Asuka a envelope now, as he had received this many years ago and it was marked for Asuka's eyes only.

"This arrived in the mail many years ago, I kept it till the time was right daughter" He spoke now as he would place it in her hands now, Asuka quickly opening up the letter now as it was from her mother.

"My darling little one, when you read this I might not be present in your life, so I wish you a happy and long life. I don't know how beautiful you've become or how old you are when you will read this, but please know that you are always loved by me and I am forever grateful to have anytime in the world I could with you, no matter how short it was.

Signed your mother - Clara"

As Asuka read this letter, she would see how much her mother truly loved her and start crying again, this time Haruto and Hikari would be holding her together now, comforting her as Akari was running a errand so she had no idea what was going on at home. Asuka quietly sniffled now as she would fold the letter up and place it in her kimono sleeve now, treasuring it always.

"Thank you father, Big sis" Asuka gave them both a very soft smile as she would end up emotionally much better right now, a tear or two falling down her cheek still as she looked up to both of them, the two just still holding her in their arms now.

"I-I, need to find Miyuki though, she has answers to my past I need to know about" Asuka mentioned as she would end up needing to find out the truth behind why her mother died in child birth, giving birth to her now. Stepping back, she would look to Hikari now and gave her another quick hug, as Haruto cleared his throat again.

'You should try this address, to start as that house has been abandoned for years now" Haruto suggested as he wrote down the address which was about a mile's walk from here, being her old home where her mother gave birth to Asuka all those years ago.

"Thank you, Father, I will go there first thing tomorrow morning" Asuka would answer as she would be thankful she had somewhere to start at least on her quest to find out what happened to her mother. Bidding Hikari and her father a good night now, she returned to her room and would prepare for bed now like normal as Hikari looked to her father quietly downstairs.

"You know what she'll find there, father you're sending her to her death by helping her" Hikari stated as she gave him a stern look now, having been there herself a few years back to investigate the place on her father's behalf as he would nod, understanding the threat this represented as Hikari shut the door to his office now, going into the living room to await Akari's return now. Asuka quietly undressed for the night and slid under the covers, going straight to sleep, eager to find out what was going on here.

The next morning when Asuka woke up bright and early, she was checking over her things in her bag now to make sure she was fully prepared for whatever may come in her eyes. "Notebook and Pencil, check, binoculars, check, spare food and water in case something goes wrong, check. Well that should be everything needed"

She quickly packed up her essentials and would bid her sisters and father a good day, running off to investigate her old home now which was a decent walk but still a fair distance. As she arrived about 20 minutes later, she would see the front gate to her old home decaying and rotting now as she pushed it open, noticing that there was dead flowers and a old sakura tree in the yard, looking closely to find scratch marks on the tree now which was odd indeed in her eyes.

Entering the premises now, Asuka would end up immediately finding the main living area of the home, with items strewn all over the place, a non functional radio and even some old tattered journals called "Miyuki's Daily Logs" as she opened them and found out Miyuki was the maid servant for her mother before she was born, detailing all of her lady's daily activities and the like, including her meals now during her pregnancy period as she put them in her bag for further study later.

Hearing a strange rustling from her mother's old room, she ran to check it out and discovered the elusive message on the wall "The Child is Mine!!!" written in dried blood as Asuka gasped now, realizing it was her mother that wrote this in her own blood after she had turned.

'Mother.." She whispered to herself as suddenly she was approached from behind now by a mysterious woman in the shadows, holding a katana to her throat.

"Who are you, answer quickly or you die" The strange kimono laden woman demanded as she would press it tighter to Asuka's throat, only intending on threatening and not causing harm here as Asuka would not struggle now.

"M-My mother used to live here, my name is A-Asuka!" She screamed as she would hear a gasp from the woman now, letting her go as she sheathed the katana now, having trained herself to wield it as she sighed contently.

"Master Asuka?" The kimono laden woman asked now as she would stand there, shocked to see the young child in front of her, as Asuka looked nothing like she expected to see.

"No, I'm a girl.." Asuka quickly corrected her and would give her a stern look now, as she didn't know who this person was, but investigating the blood stained message on the wall now.

"Pardon, My lady, but my name is Miyuki, I served your mother for quite some time and am only here to collect my journal in my old room" Miyuki mentioned to her as she went to go besides Asuka now, touching her shoulder gently as she sighed.

"15 years ago, three people discovered this eerie message on the wall, then we saw what used to be your mother jump out of the window in nothing but her undergarments on, for she had become a demon that prays on the living." Miyuki mentioned as Asuka would look at the old photo of her mother on the nearby night stand, sticking it in her bag as it was the only remaining photo of her mother left today, touching the blood stained message as she would sigh.

"My mother became one of those things.." Asuka said softly as she would smell smoke now from inside the residence, as a large explosion would occur setting fire to the living area of the old house now, Miyuki being grabbed by Asuka and they dove out of the window avoiding the brunt of the explosion now as she sighed.

"Someone doesn't want us to find out it seems, Lady Asuka" Miyuki stated as she hadn't noticed a intruder in the house earlier as she got up to leave now, finding the reason she was here as Asuka would grab her arm.

"Y-You knew my mother, didn't you?" She asked as she would see Miyuki nod now, but continue to leave choosing to leave since she finished why she was here after all.

"I'm sorry Lady Asuka, but I must depart, I hope we meet again" She threw a smoke pellet now disappearing as she had been trained by Ninjas in those 15 years she had disappeared from society as Asuka coughed now, disappointed now.

"That was so cool!" Asuka would tell herself as she had learned something about Miyuki today, she apparently knew the secret techniques of Ninjitsu as she would leave the premises now secretly as the smothering fire was being put out by the local fire brigade, returning home after finding nothing of real importance except learning both Miyuki and her mother are still alive to this day. Hearing a knock on her door, Asuka would see Akari at the door, letting her in.

"So did you learn anything bout your mom?" She was told where Asuka had gone prior as she would see her little sis shake her head no, hiding the fact she was a demon now which would have put a rift between her and her sisters.

"I see, did you at least get a chance to see your old home?" Akari asked as Asuka nodded, not wanting to talk much since she had returned as she gave Asuka a gentle hug to welcome her home again.

"Oh it's almost bath time, you better get ready okay sis?" Akari asked again as Asuka would giggle, returning the hug and grabbing her towel now, heading downstairs to the bath area of the house. Setting foot inside of the beautiful onsen of their home, Asuka would undress and wrap the towel around her body now, sitting on the edge of the water and dipping her feet in, appreciating the beautiful half moon night as she smiled.

"I know two things today, my mother is alive and she's a demon and I know Miyuki's alive and well too, that's a successful day if i say so" She muttered to herself as she sighed, taking off her towel and going into the bath water now to relax after a adventure filled day like today. Closing her eyes and relaxing now, she would let the bath water take all of her troubles away and just sigh things away, looking up at the starry filled sky of the night and thinking "I'll find you and bring you peace one day Mother, I promise" as Asuka would spend about a hour in the bath water just relaxing and dreaming of the day her mother's soul finds peace.

Meanwhile at the temple of Mikazuki, strange ongoings could be heard from the temple gates as police had been called to the scene as one of the temple's priests were murdered out in the open, his guts and such hanging out of his corpse as the police were puzzled what kind of monster could do such a thing, little did they know that the monster lay in wait in the shadows of the very temple with glowing yellow eyes and talons for hands basically as it was Clara waiting in the shadows to finish her latest kill, growling now.

Is Clara beyond redemption, or can her soul be saved by her child Asuka? Where did Miyuki learn her secret Ninjitsu arts and why did she learn them? These questions and more answered in "Chapter 3: A Troubled Awakening"