Chapter 1

They say that love is never far from anybody, that you just have to look hard enough. Some people find it with their first try, while others wait years or perhaps just never find it. Some love burns forever bright and some flicker out and eventually fade. But for some, love comes when they least expect it to.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sunlight filtered in through the old bar windows, illuminating everything in its path. A young girl stood by the counter, wiping any dust that may be hidden away on the brown surface or any spilled drink that had been knocked over. Her (h/l) (h/c) was another thing the sun caressed as it, to, got illuminated. It was the start of a new day, and this young girl planned to make the most of it.

I hafta finish soon; I wanna be done before the owner comes back. A sudden knocking was heard and she turned her head towards the door. "Open up! Gimme some booze!" Panicking, she quickly dropped the cloth she was holding. The bar wasn't open yet, besides, the owner isn't even here and all the local customers knew that.

"Sorry, we're not open yet," She called out, just as the door swung open and about five men, all with dirty clothes and grease stained skin walked in with annoyed looks on their faces.

"Gimme some booze, ya damned woman!" The 'leader' of the gang looked at her as if she was a piece of mean and he was the hungriest man in the town, he grinned, "Ah, nice body ya got there!"

She stepped back, "So-sorry, we're not open till late afternoon," she stuttered.

"Huh? Ya wan' us t' go away, don' ya!" One of the other men suddenly reached forward, forcefully bringing her towards him.

"No! Stop! Pl-please!"

"Stop? Booze and woman are doctors' orders!" the man currently holding her dug a hand in his pocket and brought out a very sharp looking silver dagger. Her throught was too dry to say anything. Bringing his hand up, he put the knife on her cheek just hard enough that a small pool of blood started dripping down.

"Somebody help!"

Bang

The sound of a gun silenced the room and blood poured onto the girls' shirt and she gasped as she watched the man that had been holding her fall to the floor, clutching his arm in agony. Looking up, she saw a blonde haired man standing in the door way. He had dull blue eye that looked as if they held pain somewhere secretly in their royal blue depths. He wore a black eye patch covering his left eye and she realised he held a gun in his rough hands, he glared at the man on the floor, "Too many bottom feeders around here."

Suddenly, the strange man looked up at her and raised an eye brow, "Stop flirting with kids, it's embarrassing." A kid? I'm not a kid! That's an insult so he must be a bad guy too!

"Who are you?" The leader barked at the man but the man just ignored him.

"You go for a scrawny one like this? Not even Mathias would stoop so low." Again that angered the girl and she glared at him.

"That's it! You're gonna get it now!" The men charged at him and he started fighting back as he came into the bar when a taller man, a blonde guy wearing a red scarf and hat burst in behind him. "Lukas! Don't go alone!"

The man that was on the floor sat up and yelled, "You're only two, ya know ya got no chance!"

"Who are you!? And who is this guy!?" the frightened young girl shouted at them but they all just ignored her. Watching from behind the bar where she had retreated too, she realised the newcomer had a axe, a really big one at that. An axe wielder? Wow that's so rare! I've never seen one of them in real life! The man was beating his enemies one after another with little effort and a cocky grin on his face.

Turning her gaze no to the first man, the one that the newcomer had called 'Lukas' she realized that he was only shooting at the other men's' weapons, as if not to hurt them. "Who-Who are you guys!?" One of the men stuttered.
"You...You...You are the Nordic..." Nordic?

Lukas was now right in front of her and he slammed his hands onto the bar counter, "Yo woman!" He grabbed her arm, not roughly but not very gently either. "Don't just sit there! Get out!"

Her eyes widened, "Uh no! I can't!" she protested.

"What?"

"I hafta protect the bar while the owner is away!"

"You're talking in your sleep! Get out!" In my sleep? I'm damn serious! But not wanting to argue with a man with a gun, she nodded and left the bar for safety. Oh my gosh, those two guys saved me! But who were they? Exceptionally tough... Huffing as she ran slightly out of breath, she remembered what the other men had called them. They said Nordics, what's that? A constellation? She wondered. "There she is!" No! There they are! Looking for me...

"Cause of you, our buddies got hurt!" I hafta get out of here! "Where did she go!?" there distant shouts unnerved her as she looked around for any type of hiding place, all she saw was a barrel. That'll hafta do.

"Shit, where is she!?"

"Damn we lost her!"

Their voices got more distant, but not wanting to chance it, she decided to stay a little longer in the barrel. About ten minutes passed in black silence before she decided that the coast was clear when she felt the barrel being lifted up. "Wait stop!" she shouted. But suddenly the barrel got turned on its side and her head hit the side of it, and her vision slowly started fading consciousness.

-

A low groan was heard as the eyes of the unconscious girl grew wider. It was cramped in the small space she was in, and she wondered exactly where she was before the events from the day before, or at least what she thought was the day before- came back to her. She wondered how long she had been in there and how she was gonna get out. She pushed against the top of the barrel and realized it wouldn't budge and something was probably on top of it. "Somebody help!" she banged against the roof of the barrel loudly. What am I gonna do if it won't open forever?

"Ok! I'll bring you some booze!" A man's voice sounded from outside the barrel and the top was lifted off. She saw the face of a young male with greyish-whitish hair and violet eyes that she instantly thought were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, when the strange boys mouth fell open and he dropped the lid of the barrel, "A woman!?"

So, this is the first chapter of this story.
I do not own the original idea of this either,
it's from a game and all rights go to them.
I am simply writing this because it's something I've always
wanted to do and I hope you like it even if, as I said, the idea is from a game.

~Kayla, Gaara of the Desert.