Hey there! This is more like a prologue than a first chapter since it's in past tense but I hope you still enjoy!

Back before I was even conceived, there used to be a village settlement not far from the village I was born in. It was known as the village of the Seiryuu. When I was small, my mother traveled with me to that village and asked for permission to live there. However, unlike the village my mother came from, outsiders were not welcome in the village of the Seiryuu. Despite this, my mother somehow convinced the elders of the village to let us stay, but only under certain conditions. My mother worked for the village to pay for food and rent. However, we were treated as outsiders by the villagers in every other sense. We were not allowed to form bonds with anyone in that village. We were only allowed to live there as long as my mother worked. As a young child I did not understand this. Desperate to make friends I tried talking to the other children regardless of the rules but they always ignored me or ran away. My mother often apologized to me about our situation. She told me that it was the only way I could stay safe. I still didn't understand and craved friendship more than ever in the times I was left alone.

One day I decided to explore around the village since my mother was busy. As I was walking along the path I saw a few kids nearby playing with tops. Excitement bubbled in my chest as I heard their laughter. "Maybe today will be different" I thought to myself, "maybe if I ask nice they'll let me play with them today." Just as I was about to get their attention, one of the tops spun away from the group. As one kid turned to retrieve the toy, he froze in his tracks and a few of the children gasped. In front of them was a boy wearing a mask that looked to be about my age. The masked boy picked up the top that had spun away from the children in his hands gently. He then spoke in a soft timid voice.

"Um... Sorry... Um..." he looked down shyly before continuing, "Can... I... Watch?"

He had just barely gotten his last syllable out before the group of children had already started running away in fear. The masked boy and I were the only ones left standing. I hadn't moved because I was utterly confused by the other children's terror. Were they running away from the boy with the mask? Why? The boy then sighed in defeat as he looked down at the toy he still held in his hands. Maybe he hadn't noticed me yet?

Realizing my voice was still caught in my throat, I tried to say something but a man with long blue hair appeared behind the boy.

"Seiryuu!" the man shouted.

Both I and the boy jumped at the man's voice which caused the boy to drop the toy he still had in his hands.

"Ao..." The boy replied softly.

"Come here!" The man commanded seemingly agitated as he grabbed the masked boy's arm and began to pull him away.

As they walked back through the crowd of villagers, the one known as Ao pulled the boy along behind him. I instantly took notice of how the other villagers reacted to the pair walking down the path beside them. I heard gasps and whispers from the villagers as they passed. While following the pair, I overheard some of the villagers whispering that the boy was cursed and wondering why he was outside. I didn't understand. All I knew was that the villagers seemed to treat him like an outcast just like me. So even though part of myself told me it might be a bad idea to follow, the other part of my self desperately desired someone I could call a friend. That desire pushed me forward despite whatever curse the villagers spoke of.

The man with long blue hair led the boy to a stone house on the outskirts of town and roughly pulled the boy through the doorway. Once they were inside I ran up to the house as quickly and silently as I could and listened through the wall.

"I told you not to go out so much! Why won't you listen?!" The man asked the boy angrily.

"Sorry, Ao... But..." the boy replied desperately in a soft voice "...I want... Friend."

"And..." The man started slowly with an edge to his voice.

Suddenly a hard splash hit my ears and I heard the boy's small gasp of surprise as the man loudly finished where he left off "...are you close to making one?! Huh?! It'll never happen! Now that you know, stay inside!"

The boy fell backwards unsteadily and gave a small exhale of uncertainty when he hit the ground.

"Oi, you outside, I know you're there! Why don't you mind your own business?!"

This time I knew he was talking directly at me. In both surprise and embarrassment my face went red and I tripped over myself at being caught.

"S-Sorry!" I managed to squeak out before I ran.

I didn't stop running until I was all the way home. Later that same day, I was looking out the window of my house at the sunset when I realized I would never know how that conversation ended between them. I wonder why I wanted to know. The only thing I could keep thinking about was the way the boy said the word "friend." Despite what people said about a curse, at the time I could only think about how nice it would be for that boy to call me his friend in the same way.

It had probably been months since the last time I saw the boy with the mask. Every time I went to visit his house no one ever seemed to be home. I was too timid after being caught the last time to check to see if it was truly empty inside as well. My mother also seemed to grow suspicious of me.

"Hina, honey, where are you going this early in the morning?"

"Um… ah… I just wanted to go exploring."

"Mm... okay. But Hina please be careful when you go out today."

"Why?"

"I overheard some people saying the previous Seiryuu died last night."

This stopped me in my tracks. The moment I heard the name my eyes widened. I bolted for the door and just barely told my mother "I'm off!" before the door shut behind me.

Even though it was morning, it was chilly and the sky was gray. The humidity in the air told me it would rain. Villagers ignored me as I ran straight for the edge of the village. If anything, there was an ominous feel in the air. When I finally got to where the Seiryuu lived, I bent over trying to catch my breath. I could see the puffs of air leaving my mouth as I exhaled. When I finally caught my breath, I tiptoed over to the house. I'm not sure why I was so nervous. When I reached the wall of the house, at first I heard nothing. Then to my surprise I heard the prettiest sound of bells tinkling. Did they always have bells before? Before I could wonder for too long, I heard the agonizing sound of a lonely sniffle that came after. The boy was at home this time… and… he was crying… all alone. I could feel my heart ache in my chest. Before I knew what I was doing I peeked through the curtain covering the doorway.

"Little Seiryuu?"

The boy jumped at the sound of being called and quickly tried to wipe his face with his sleeve. With a hiccup he responded "W-Who... are you? Why… are you here?"

"It's okay I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. My name is Hina."

The boy seemed to relax a little at that and sniffled again barely able to hold back his tears.

"Ao is… Ao is…" he couldn't finish his statement but I already knew what he was going to say.

"I heard about what happened to Ao…" I began slowly moving closer to boy as if he was a wounded animal. "It's okay to cry…" Soon I was right next to him.

"W-wait!" he gasped in surprise "I'm cursed… aren't you... afraid?"

"No." I replied without hesitation.

He stared at me as if not sure how to respond before hugging his legs back to his chest. It wasn't too long until I could hear him silently crying next to me again. At first I wasn't sure what to do and then it hit me.

"Little Seiryuu?"

"Mm…?"

"When I'm sad my mama always lets me rest my head in her lap while she pets my head. Then she tells me 'it's alright' until I stop crying. It always makes me feel a lot better. Do you want to try?"

The boy hesitated at the suggestion.

"It's alright." I promised while patting my lap gently "You'll feel a lot better."

He finally seemed to give in at the request. Carefully, he placed his head into my lap causing the bells to tinkle. At first he seemed shy. I placed my hand on his head and noticed he had beautiful blue hair. It was as soft as it looked. Then soothingly like my mother would always do, I pet the boy's head in small strokes. At first he seemed surprised at how soft it felt, but as I continued, his sniffles turned into silent sobs.

Copying the gentle voice of my mother I told him over and over, "It's alright… It's alright…"

When I did so he seemed to hold on tighter to a fistful of my skirt. It was almost as if he had been starved of affection. The beginning of rain started to hit the roof of the house and slowly turned into a soothing melody. I'm not sure when it happened but eventually we both fell asleep like that together.

Almost the whole day had gone by when I was woken up again. The boy that was once in my lap pulled back the drape covering his window and was looking outside. I rubbed my eyes sleepily.

"Mmm… what is it little Seiryuu?" I yawned.

"Someone's coming… a bunch of them… troops…"

"What?!"

I instantly stood up and looked from his window at the horizon. Despite my best efforts though, I didn't see anything like that. All of the sudden the boy next to me gasped and backed away from the window.

"What is it?" I asked sincerely.

"A man… escaped last night. He went to get troops. What should I do? My sword skills aren't good enough to fight them all off. And I have my mask on, so they can easily tell it's me. What would happen if the secret of the village got out?"

"We need to tell the others. There's no way you can fight troops all by yourself…"

"No… Because of this power, the villagers are afraid, and it puts the village in danger. It's a curse! It's a curse, but…"

He turned to leave the house but I just barely grabbed his arm before he could leave.

"Wait! You can't fight them alone, curse or no curse!"

He pulled his arm away from mine and frowned behind his mask.

"I'm sorry Hina… but… Ao has been protecting this village!"

Before I could try and stop him again, the boy was already out the door running off in the rain towards the troops.

"Seiryuu! Seiryuu wait!" I cried, but he continued onward.

In a panic I did the only thing I thought I could. I ran back to the village to get help fearing the worst for the first friend I ever made.

When I came back with everyone from the village, no one could believe their eyes. Thunder boomed in the background. Corpses upon corpses of soldiers covered the terrain. At the center of it all stood the boy holding his mask in his hand. While everyone stood there in awe, I began to cry.

"Seiryuu! Seiryuu!" I screamed.

"Hina stop it! He's dangerous!" My mother yelled while trying to hold me back.

I managed to pull my arm out of her grip and ran towards him with tears in my eyes. Jumping over the corpses beneath me I ran forward and at one point I slipped into the mud. Gritting my teeth I got back up and kept running. Just as I was about to reach him, the Seiryuu's golden eyes locked with mine for what seemed like forever as lightning flashed in the sky. Everything around me seemed to slow down. For a moment all I could think was how beautiful his eyes were and how much softer they seemed than I had imagined them in my head. That was until reality sickeningly reminded me of its presence when I watched him fall forward towards the ground. My hand was outstretched to catch him but just before I could reach, one of the villagers pulled me back and I heard the awful sound of his body hitting the ground.

There was screaming all around me. I can only remember bits and pieces. People saying I was crazy and that I could have been turned to stone if I looked him in the eyes. I was given back to my mother who was crying and hugging me but I was numb to it all. It felt like I was plunged underwater. I knew there were sounds going on past the surface, but the water dulled it and made sounds mix together and become jumbled. I wish I had known at the time that this setting would be the last I would ever see of that village and the last I would ever see of the boy again.

After what occurred at the Seiryuu village my mother and I were instantly banished from being part of the village completely. We were forced to leave and if they caught us following the clan, they promised to kill us. We were left with nothing but the clothes on our backs, some food, and some money. With nowhere else to go we were forced to travel back to my mother's old village. At the time I didn't think it was going to be so bad. I didn't know why my mother was always so afraid to go back. However, I quickly figured out why once we got there.

Until that time I had never asked or been told about my father. I never knew I had a father until we reached mom's old village. Due to our circumstances and my mother being joblessness, she was forced to go back and beg to the man that she left to take us back in. He did, but not before slapping my mother so hard in the face that she fell to the ground crying. That was all the wakeup call I needed. It was then that I understood why my mother took me away as a baby to the nearest village. It was then I understood why she never mentioned my father before. This was just the start of worse things to come. But that was 13 years ago.