Isshin noted that his son was more depressed than usual. Which was why he went up into the attic to get something.

"What's this?" asked Ichigo.

"Something your mother bought years ago. She never had the chance to figure out what it was," said Isshin.

It was a book, bound in chains with a gold cross on the front. The cover was a deep mahogany brown, and it looked old. Very old. There were many pages, easily over five hundred by Ichigo's guess.

Ichigo never thought about the book again, though he did take care of it. After all, it was something his mother owned before her murder. Occasionally, when he was really bored he would try to open it.

He never believed it would change his life until April...

Ichigo was finishing his homework when he noticed a gleam from behind.

"What the..."

The book on his shelf, which he took care of in memory of his mother, rose up in the air with nothing holding it up. The chains broke like they were made of cheap metal, and the book's pages began to flip around as if in some sort of strong wind.

(Anfang.)

Ichigo stared in shock as four people appeared inside a strange circle with the same cross as the one on the book. They were different ages and sizes. And the only male of the group had wolf ears.

"The Book of Darkness has awakened," said the oldest. She had deep pink hair in a long ponytail framed by twin braids.

"We are the Knights who collect the magical power for the book," said the blond short haired woman.

"It is our duty to follow our master's orders," said the male with wolf-ears.

"We are the Wolkenritter. Please give us your orders," said the youngest, a girl with deep red hair in twin pigtails.

All four of them were wearing a form fitting black outfit, which thankfully covered them properly.

"What...WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Ichigo, dinner is..." started Yuzu.

She stopped cold when she saw the group, still kneeling.

Ichigo had a feeling this was going to be a very migraine-inducing conversation, which was why he grabbed the ibuprofen from the medicine cabinet before he went downstairs.

"So you four are 'Knights' to the book my mom had in the attic," said Ichigo.

"Yes," said Signum.

"And your main job is to collect these...linker cores...to fill up the book," said Ichigo. A vein was already throbbing on his forehead. Fortunately for the Knights, Yuzu handed him a medicinal tea which he drank while downing two ibuprofen.

"We also serve as protectors for the Master, though usually that's never been a problem," said Shamal, the blond. She didn't add that most of their previous masters had finished the book using the Knights.

"And I'm supposedly the Master of this...Book of Darkness," said Ichigo. The pills were already taking effect, as the tea sped up the relief.

Isshin watched the four talk with Ichigo like a tennis match. It was clear his son would lose his temper soon.

"Yeah, the newest in a long line of them," said Vita.

"Why me?" said Ichigo, his head thumping the table.

"So what are we going to do with you guys? We can't exactly explain four new people in the house that fast!" said Karin.

"What exactly can you guys do anyway?"

"Well, I'm a healing and support specialist," offered Shamal.

"Great! You can help in the clinic!" said Isshin cheerfully.

"What about me?" said Vita.

"Heavy combat, right?" said Ichigo. She nodded.

"You can protect Karin and Yuzu during school and on the way home," said Isshin. Vita did look about their age after all.

"I happen to know there's a spot open in for the P.E. Teacher for the next year or so since ours just went on Maternity leave," said Ichigo to Signum. The only problem would be to get her papers.

"I suppose I could guard the house," said Zafira in his wolf form. He was surprised at how quickly the family took to his usual form as a massive wolf.

"Mind becoming a little smaller outside the house? You're kinda hard to fit through doors otherwise," said Karin.

"Not a problem.

"Great! I'll get your papers tomorrow. Until then, we just need to find where you four can sleep!" said Isshin cheerfully.

He knew they wouldn't try anything...and this might protect Ichigo from the Soul Society later.

For the first month, things were great. Except for the fact Isshin noticed his son's spiritual pressure suddenly vanishing. He suspected the book was absorbing it all.

The real question was what the limit on it would be.

Ichigo was a little over fourteen years old, yet in his blood was the power of the Soul Reapers. His potential was enormous. His capacity for spirit energy was even larger than the run-of-the-mill Soul Reaper.

Then he noticed that Ichigo's spirit energy wasn't coming out of the book. Rather that it was slowly be absorbed.

When he looked at it, he noticed a good portion of the pages had already been filled. Shamal told Isshin that as a result of bonding with it's master, the Book absorbed their spells first, to give it the first boost it needed to cast.

According to her, the book ate pages to cast spells until it was full. That was the reason why the Master had the knights collect linker cores, so he could focus on other things.

When Ichigo turned fifteen, Isshin started to notice that his son limped a few times. As if his feet were bothering him...

Ichigo was cleaning his computer when he noticed something rather...odd. It almost looked like someone had hooked up a USB to his computer when he wasn't looking, except he checked and didn't see anything that wasn't there a thousand times before. Finally his eyes landed on a familiar book that he barely paid any mind to.

Because he didn't want to cause trouble by stealing 'linker cores' from other people, he hadn't ordered the knights to gather them. Even though he suspected that the book's revenge for that fact was the slow and extremely painful numbing of his feet which was working it's way up his legs.

Every day, a little bit of his legs felt the same painful feeling as the bottom of his feet. It was almost like they were perpetually asleep, only the pins and needles feeling refused to go away.

Why on earth was the book showing up on his bi-yearly maintenance of his computer?

(He only did this because the computer guy had complained he wasn't keeping his computer up-to-date and he was tired of fixing simple mistakes. So Ichigo bought a book on computers and tried to keep up the maintenance himself.)

Curious, he clicked the disk with his mouse...and was horrified when he saw the results of the analysis.

Quite a bit of the book's programs were fragmented. Looking at the files, he found that the defense program, the reincarnation and Knight program were shredded. He had a feeling that one of them was responsible for his legs hurting recently.

Since he knew the book had enough magical power to use at least five high level spells, even though he hadn't added any pages, he figured it had enough power to take him to the nearest planet to see if he could repair the programs that were wrecked.

He waited for the weekend, where he convinced Zafira and Signum to watch his sisters while he went shopping. At least, that was the excuse. He did tell his father that he was going to see if he could get the book repaired...and Isshin gave him an advance for the next three months of his allowance just in case.

"Book, where is the nearest world that is capable of repairing devices?" asked Ichigo.

(Nearest world is Mid-Childa, home of the Time Space Administration Bureau. I have coordinates from previous incarnation,) replied the Book of Darkness.

"Just out of curiosity, do you have any other names? Book of Darkness is a bit of a mouthful," asked Ichigo.

(Previous designation is Tome of Night Sky, Master,) said the book, rather happy he had bothered to ask.

"Okay, Night Sky, can you teleport me to Mid-Childa? I'm going to see about getting those broken programs of yours replaced or fixed," asked Ichigo.

(It can be done, my Master,) said Night Sky.

A familiar magic circle appeared under him, as he used what few pages were in the book from him to teleport to Mid-Childa.

By the time the Knights learned where Ichigo had really gone from Isshin, it was already too late to stop him.

Ichigo's first thought of Mid-Childa was that it was big. Mages walked like everyday people, and familiars walked around everywhere. He liked it immediately.

Ichigo was glad they spoke the same language, it would have been very awkward otherwise. Finally someone directed him to a shop that repaired broken devices.

"Excuse me," said Ichigo when he reached the counter.

"Hello young man! What can I do for you?" said the old man.

"Do you know where I can go to get an old Belkan device repaired? My mother left it to me and when I had it checked out a few of the programs were pretty damaged," said Ichigo. It wasn't a lie, more like an obscured truth.

"Afraid I can't help you there. We specialize in Mid-Childa devices only."

"Darn."

"However, you might find help at the St. Kaiser's Church. They still follow the old Belkan traditions there, they might be able to help you."

"Where is this Church?"

"You'll have to hail a cab. It's fair distance away," said the old man.

"Is it too much trouble for me to ask that you call one? This is actually my first time in Mid-Childa."

"What sort of currency you use?" asked the old man immediately.

Ichigo showed him, and the man shook his head.

"You'll have to get it converted at the bank first. That looks like Non-Administered world currency and no one will take it off world."

Ichigo got directions to the nearest bank and an hour later had all of his cash converted to the currency used in Mid-Childa. It was surprisingly reasonable, but he didn't have time to dwell on it.

One of the tellers called a cab for him, since he had no clue how to use the phone and he was on his way to the St. Kaiser Church.

Signum was not happy. Not one bit. Their Master had ditched them for the day and had gone off to who knows where with the Book.

She would almost fear that he was handing it over to the TSAB, if it weren't for a few facts.

One, the book was something left behind by his mother, who he had been extremely close to. He wouldn't throw something like that away. Two, they lived on a world that the TSAB had no official presence in, and the chances of a reward for turning the book in wouldn't have any appeal when the reward couldn't be used. Plus Ichigo didn't strike her as that type.

But the biggest factor was that Ichigo had admitted to Vita that he viewed them as part of his small family, even going so far as to treat Vita like one of his sisters. He had even bought the girl a rabbit doll she had taken a liking to.

Shamal had been taking classes to be a real doctor to avoid trouble. Signum actually liked teaching classes and Zafira acted like the family pet.

Signum had even started teaching Ichigo how to use a sword at his request. He was rather good, for an amateur just now learning how to use one.

Plus Ichigo was the type of person who would do anything to protect his family, even if it meant killing.

He was completely different from their previous masters...he actually cared about them!

So it was only natural they have a minor freak out when they learn he wasn't even on the planet anymore!

Ichigo woke up when the car slowed down...the old man hadn't been kidding when he said it was too far to walk.

"How much do I owe you?" yawned Ichigo.

The cab driver gave him an amount, and Ichigo barely resisted wincing. It would wipe out nearly all his available funds.

Ichigo paid him and looked at the church. It was big, easily cathedral sized.

"Welcome to St. Kaiser's Church. How may I help you?" asked one of the sisters.

"Do you know anyone who can fix old Belkan devices? I found one that my mother had, but when I had it looked at several of the programs needed to be replaced," said Ichigo. That was his story , since Signum had mentioned the TSAB hated them for what previous masters had them do.

That was why he had left them behind, even though it would have been more reassuring to have one of them with him.

"What sort of device? And how old is it?" asked another Sister, this one with a different uniform. She had been passing by.

"It's really old, I don't know how old. It also had a Knight system attached that's been damaged, though not to the extent the defense system was," said Ichigo promptly.

"Why don't you come inside?" she suggested.

The room was quiet with shock when Ichigo pulled out a familiar book which had been the bane of the TSAB for years now.

"The Book of Darkness," said Sister Carim in shock.

"According to her, the real name is Tome of the Night Sky. I found out that the programs were damaged by accident, and I though it would be better to see an expert before I attempted to use it," explained Ichigo.

"Are you the current master?" asked Carim.

"According to the Knights, yes. The moment I found out about the damage, I made plans to come to Mid-Childa to have it repaired. I haven't ordered them to attack anyone because I didn't want the trouble," said Ichigo. He was rather calm, considering.

"Why didn't you go to the TSAB? Wouldn't it be easier to hand it over?" asked Carim.

"My mother had this book shortly before she was killed. I'm keeping it because of that. Besides, the Knights are like family now," said Ichigo in return.

"I'm sorry for your loss. But it is a reasonable question. So why did you come here?"

"Like I said, I wanted to get the book repaired before I even consider using it. If the defense and reincarnation programs are as badly shredded as I saw by accident, then using it could be too risky. And when I asked around, they referred me to the Church," said Ichigo.

"Well, I suppose we could take a look. Perhaps you can help erase the stigma this poor device had been given by previous Masters," said Carim kindly.