Crimson Ribbons
A/N: Welcome to all new readers and welcome back to all you old ones (not saying you're old... or anything...)! Well... I hope you will enjoy this story! I'm going to put in lyrics... or quotes in each part... if I find any. If anyone knows any good songs or quotes that relate to this story please, please, please tell me!
Disclaimer: Don't own... don't sue.
Note: The heroine in my story is Inuzuka Hana. She is a real character in Naruto, and she is Inuzuka Kiba's older sister. There is an OC, Okamisora Kyoshi, who is currently dead.
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me when September ends
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
-Wake Me Up When September Ends-
Chapter 1: Once Upon A Time...
Once upon a time there was a girl living in the world of the shinobi. She was ordinary but somehow extraordinary, with a huge heart but a heavy attitude. She knew a boy, a prodigy of one of the strongest families in her large peaceful country. He was handsome far beyond his years, the best of the best. And secretly, the two fell in love. Of course, like any budding relationship between two people that should never, ever, be together, things changed towards violence. The boy tortured her mind in the way it could never be the same again before fleeing their country... and if that wasn't enough, he also killed his family along with incinerating the girl's friend in flames. Once upon a time, five years after that night, is where this story starts...
Her eyes stayed fixed on the table, unable to summon any courage. Taking a breath, she closed her eyes and lifted her head. She finally slowly opened her eyes and stared at her reflection.
It takes courage to look into a mirror... she thought.
And as always, the face she saw was a stranger. No, she knew it was herself; she knew it was the exact same person she saw every morning for the past five years.
But, this person... was always different.
Dark eyes bore into her own, scaring her at how intense they were. Her skin, tan and almost golden, was somehow bone-white at the same time. Prominent cheekbones, full lips, long eyelashes, chocolate brown tresses... this wasn't her. This person, this woman was so different than who she really was. This reflection was too much prettier, too much stronger, too much better than what she really was inside. Ugly, fragile, inferior. How could this woman be her? Shivering, she stared into those dark cavernous eyes, seeing nothing.
She was cold. It was always cold.
She tore her eyes from the mirror, walking almost in a trance towards the door. Three ash gray dogs solemnly followed her, whimpering ever so slightly. She opened the door, closing it behind her as the three dogs bounded out.
She looked up at the sky, watching gloomy gray clouds travel idly across the sky. She sighed.
The sky is mourning today, she thought.
Walking through the crowds of people, she picked out the people dressed in all black. So few. It had been five long years, and that night was fading to the back of people's minds. Those that were still mourning met her eyes, watching her, recalling her past.
She stopped at a small shop, reading the sign. Opening the door, she was greeted by the tingle of bells addressing her presence. Her eyes met bright pastels of red, orange, violet, white, blue, yellow, pink, and green. Her nose filled with the strong floral fragrance, dulling her usually strong and impeccable senses. The dogs brushed against her leg, urging her to hurry.
She touched a petal on a brilliant red rose, and smiled softly at the softness between her callused fingers.
"Hello! Welcome to Yamanaka Flower Shop! How may I help you?" a male voice sounded from behind her.
She spun around, her dark eyes meeting kind blue ones.
"I'd like to buy some lilies."
Inuzuka Hana smiled painfully.
"Hello again."
She played with the hem of her olive green flak jacket, fidgeting.
"I got you some flowers..." she blurted out, looking away.
Awkward silence made the air heavy. Hana hated it. Why won't he just say something?
"I... want to thank you again... thank you for trying to save me," she dropped her head, a tear trailing slowly down her cheek. "You... didn't have to do it... you could have just left."
Silence. The three dogs, together named the Haimaru Sankyodai, dipped their heads.
"I'm sorry..."
But the name on the memorial stone did not speak. It could not. One of the three dogs, Haruko, padded forward to touch his grayish-black nuzzle against the engraving of the name. The female and oldest of the group, Aneko, nipped his brother's tail for touching such an honorable thing. The youngest, Jiro, brushed against Hana's knee, wanting Hana not to be so in grief. Hana, absentmindedly placed a hand on the dog's back.
Hana reread the name.
Okamisora Kyoshi.
"I couldn't save your body..."
Hana lifted her head back up to the sky, and the breeze blew against her body. She shivered involuntarily again.
"I know... I know you're watching over me. I know you don't want me to feel guilty. But it hurts Kyoshi..." Hana murmured. She could only cry once a year, on this certain day when a certain friend died in the hands of another.
Hana closed her eyes, her world spinning around her. She needed to leave. But she had to stay... Kyoshi wanted her to.
"It's been five years..." she whispered. "Why does it still hurt?"
Hana never loved Kyoshi. Okamisora Kyoshi was so normal, so weird, Hana couldn't love him then. But Kyoshi was also so powerful, so determined to save her with his very life, that Hana did love him.
She knew he was a friend, a friend who was more than a friend. He would die to save her, or at least try to, and he did that. A shinobi's life consisted of fighting for what he believed in, for what he loved. And a shinobi's life would end when he would die to protect what he believed in, to protect what he loved.
But why do the good always die first?
She stared at the name, and then the name of his wolf carved right next to his. She quietly traced his name with her finger, then his wolf's name. Her eyes slowly traveled up to other names. Hana knew none of them.
She shut her eyes, her hands holding onto the memorial stone for support. Another dizzy spell hit her.
"Hana-san."
Hana opened her eyes, her mind still spinning. When did the world get so wet? When did it start raining?
Firm hands gripped onto her arms spinning her around.
"Hana-san."
Hana saw a blurry figure, clad in black and olive green, with a dash of silver.
"What do you want?" she growled irritably, her senses blurred.
"You've been here for two hours. I think it's time for you to leave."
Did the hours already pass before her? It felt like she just got there.
"I'm... not ready..." she protested weakly.
The Jonin sighed and said firmly, "Hana-san. You are leaving now."
Hana frowned, and turned around back toward the memorial stone.
"Oh yeah... Happy Birthday Kyoshi. Rest..." Hana hesitated as more tears dropped from her eyes, landing silently on the stone, along with the rain droplets pounding against her and the memorial. She shivered and continued in a softer voice.
"Rest... rest in peace."
A/N: How'd you like it? I know, I know, no action... but it's just the first chapter and more will come! I hope you liked it! Please review if you can and let's see... conversation with Chibi Itachi!
Chibi Itachi: I wanna cookie.
Author: You can have a cookie! -hugs Chibi Itachi while he nibbles on a raisin cookie-
Chibi Itachi: -spits raisins- I hate raisins! -sends Author to Mangekyou hell-
Author: YAHHHH! SPIDERS!
Chibi Itachi: mwa ha ha ha ha ha... -shifty eyes- Look I'm a dinosaur! Rawr! -hops-
((Author will now stop simulating conversations with chibi versions of sadist assassins that are not real, but are real in her obsessive mind.))