During the moonless night, a family could be seen dashing through the densely grown, p.r.i.c.kly bushes and large trees. Their powerless legs kept on moving desperately as if they were trying to escape from the grim reaper himself.

"Mom, Dad, where are we running to?!" a girl was hardly able to follow two adults. Her soft horse tail was now muddy and some of the parts were torn away. Pinkish ears were twitching uncontrollably and small wings were hanging low, trying their best to increase her speed at least for a little bit.

"We are almost there, dear. Endure just for a little longer." A tender voice from the girls mother, gave the girl some strength; however, she was feeling that this will not be able to last for much. A three-years-old girl looked up to her parents that were holding her hands, unwilling to let go at any cost.

A tall,slender figure of her beautiful mother reflected in the eyes of the girl. Long, prussian hair with a stip of purple mixed in, were outlining her oval face. Big, bright red eyes were looking up ahead with determination an glowed in the darkness of the night. Her golden ears were restlessly picking up on any sound of the forest, forcing her to move faster.

Next to her, a young, well-built man with short red hair and ocean-coloured eyes was running a little bit ahead of his wife and little daughter His handsome face showed only the unspoken words of his, 'I will never abandon them. We are either saved together or I will die protecting them!'

They had nothing on them except one, ancient scroll in the other hand of the mother. She was unwilling to part with it and in the end brought it with them.

"Look, dear! The cave!" Mother told her husband and pointed in to the distance. "Look, my sunshine, we are almost there. You will be safe when we reach it." Father's pink, horse ears twitched at the words of his beloved and his majestic wings opened behind his back. With the last bits of his strength he picked up his daughter and wife and flew in the pointed direction.

Tightly packed trees were in the way and were leaving cuts all over the body of brave Father and the mother who was sheltering their only child.

"ugh.." A silent moan of pain escaped Fathers lips, but he continued forward without faltering. Finally reaching the place he put down his pa.s.sengers and sat on the ground, exhausted from his endeavours, trying to recover as much as possible, while holding his right eye with his wide hand.

The mother quickly shoved the scroll into the tiny hands of here daughter, placing her inside the cave. With the last bits of mana she had, she put up the spell.

"Let the spirits of the forest guide you on your path, Mother Earth be you refuge and the limitless Sky be your shield. Oh, nature, I beg of you, protect this little soul from the enemies." Right that instant, vines popped out of the ground and started to rapidly grow, completely blocking the entrance of the cave.

"MOM!? " The girl cried out trying to reach out to her parents through the small gaps between the vine-barrier. Two different, large hands grabbed her tiny palms, gently caressing them, as if trying to engrave the feeling into their hearts.

"It's alright! You are a big girl right?" The mother said with soothing voice. The girl nodded while sobs would occasionally escape her mouth. "Since you are so big, listen to Mama carefully. The cave is a straight path to the capital city. You must follow the road and meet with the guards of the capital gates. Tell them that you are lost and they will help. Now go. " They tightened their grip for a few moments. Hot tears were dropping onto the hands of three-years-old girl. She looked through the vines to see the faces of her parents. They were smiling brightly with tears streaming down their, once beautiful faces. A horrifyingly deep slash had long ago ruined the face of her mother and the right eye of her father was crying with b.l.o.o.d.y tears. It will never be able to see the sunrise or the face of his only child. It was poked out by a tree brunch during the flight.

"My baby girl must go now." He said with wide smile on his face and reluctantly let go off of her. The mother kissed the back of hand and let go as well pushing her daughter back inside. Turning around both of them dashed in the direction of the forest; however, the fate decided to play its cruel games yet again. 6 Tiger-like creatures emerged from the shadows of the forest surrounding their prey. Sharp claws tore apart their bodies and fresh stream of blood was now covering everything.

******************

I woke up sweating with tears streaming down from my burning eyes. I covered them with my arm and layed down powerless.

'That nightmare keeps on getting more real each night...' This time I wasn't just a spectator. I was myself. I was a helpless, little girl that was forced to witness horrendous deaths of her parents. They didn't know and probably hoped that I will forget them, but my memory betrayed them and myself. I remember every tiny detail of that night.

I stood up from my futon and teleported onto the roof. Looking at the miliards of stars on the midnight sky, I tried to calm down. The vast, clear, black sky was stretching its arms over the world, keeping all of the beings in the embrace of the dream world.

'Looks like you couldn't keep me under your protection.' I stared at the stars with the blank mind. Hours pa.s.sed by like minutes and the dawn broke down the absolute rule of the Darkness. The Uzushiogakure was slowly waking up from its deep slumber and was becoming lively and busy as minutes pa.s.sed by.

I teleported back into my room and was berated by my escorts, well, the teenagers. Their fathers knew when I left and what was I doing. I sensed their presence after a few minutes of my arrival on the roof.

I apologised to them and after taking a shower, we went out to eat. The breakfast was great and when everyone were finished we exited the small restaurant.

"Alright, everyone! You are free to go and sightsee. We will meet in the inn by 5 pm." The teenagers energetically nodded their heads, while their fathers didn't say a thing. They stared at me and their auras were literally telling me that they do not plan on leaving me alone.

"It is an order. Contact me through 'them' if you run into the situation where force is required. Of course I will do the same."

"Yes!" We parted our ways.

I wandered aimlessly through the village or that is how it looked like from other people's perspective. In reality I was carefully observing the village, while mapping its layout. I secretly made two shadow clones and made one of them fly and fill in the gaps on the map, while the other one was turned into an insect and was studying their seals, emergency shelters and gathering a little bit of new information.

'Since we are going to be allies, we must know the layout of the village incase of emergency.' I thought. Few hours had pa.s.sed and I was finally finished with that task. "Ma~ being the Hidden Leader is taxing..'

As I was strolling, I found myself in the park filled with trees, flowerbed and even a small fountain. I sat on one of the benches and took out a packet of sunflower seeds, my favorite snack.

"Hey! You have been tailing me for an hour by now, come out!" I addressed my mysterious stalker.

A beautiful girl 19-20 years of age appeared out of thin air. Her soft, rosy hair were tied in to two bans and had a few decorations over them. She wore a pastel coloured shin.o.bi outfit and had a seal on the paper in her hands.

"Nice to meet you, mysterious stalker! My name is Malika, shin.o.bi of the Konohagakure." I smiled at the cute girl. She looked a little embarra.s.sed but still introduced herself.

"Mito Uzumaki, the second child of the Leader of this village, nice to meet you." Oh so I met a Young Miss.

"Mito-sama, why were you following me?" I couldn't address her otherwise, she is someone of great importance.

"No need adding 'sama', simply call me Mito." She answered seemingly a little annoyed.

"Alright, Mito." You don't want me to use honorifics, I won't, so stop making this surprised expression! "Why were you following me? I don't think you fall for my cuteness, right~" I love teasing others. Her face turned rosy and she started to mumble something under her nose.

'Hey...'

She sat down next to me. Still a little red, she faced my gaze and asked me the question on her mind.

"Do you think Hashiramsama will like me?"

"Eh?"