From childhood's hour I have not been

As others were; I have not seen

As others saw; I could not bring

My passions from a common spring.

Alone, Edgar Allan Poe

Prologue

A child's laughter filled the halls of a small home on the outskirts of the village Hidden in the Leaves. Outside the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky and the gentlest of breezes caused the grass to dance. Back inside a man sat at a wooden table, sipping on a warm mug of citrus tea while his wife prepared the rice for the next meal. A young girl wobbled into the room excitedly, her black hair pulled into pigtails and a brown teddy bear in her small hands. She teetered her way over to her father and held her arms up and shouted for him to pick her up. The man smiled warmly and hoisted the toddler up off the floor.

The young wife looked over her shoulder and smiled brightly as she watched her husband smooth out their daughter's wrinkled dress. They were a happy, bright family, and no one could take that away from them.

They lived a peaceful life, and kept away from the ninja village the best they could. This helped the shinobi outside of the home -who were standing outside- stay in a state of semi-invincibility. So the family continued on their day normally while the ninja made their plans to take out the young couple. They knew not of the small girl who was being bounced on her father's knee. The young mother took her daughter up with a smile and walked down the hallway to her room. She was oblivious to the fact that right at that moment the shinobi from the grass had broken into the home and slit her husband's throat…

Chapter 1

A young black haired teen sat on a hard bed with her knees pulled to her chest. Her blue eyes stared forward with a blank expression as she hummed to herself loudly. A creaking erupted from her bed as she rocked back and forth in a slow motion. She could hear the children outside laughing happily as they played on the equipment and rolled around in the dirt. Crazy they all called her. She wasn't crazy though, no, she'd never be like them, and she'd never judge a person, no matter how many times they inflicted pain on her. That's why the doctors treated her with such care she thought, that's why even when they touched her in ways that she didn't like, that she apologized for being so childish. Or at least she thought she was childish, she wasn't completely sure.

"Mommy… Will I ever be like them? Like the other children outside?" She questioned herself, her voice ringing with a child's innocence.

"No sweetie, you'll always be only you. My sweet girl," she responded in a deeper, woman's voice that she often thought sounded of her mother. A shaky sigh escaped her rosy lips as her eyes wondered, "They're coming Kazumi."

Than a deeper voice came from her, a man's, "Quiet now little one, don't need them giving you anymore of those useless drugs."

Kazumi covered her eyes in worry, rocking faster, her childish voice ringing loudly in the silent room, "L-Last time they found the pills under the bed they t-tied and beat me!"

She licked her lips nervously and her hands dropped from her face turning emotionless and her voice calm and more her age, smooth, almost seductive, "Let them find them, see what I care."

Standing to her feet she walked to the corner of the room, almost gliding across the floor with grace. She looked out the window, watching the other children play and laugh happily. Her long black hair cascaded down her slender back, the hospital gown hanging off her loosely. Her blue eyes studied everything that was going on outside of her cell. This was the room that she had been raised in, the room that had once brought her comfort. She heard the lock on the door click and her heart skipped a beat. Her fragile features turned to worry as she fell down into the corner and returned to her previous rocking movements.

"Hello there Kazumi-chan," her doctor said, stepping towards her. "How are you today?"

She looked up slowly, her eyes shining with tears and she responded in her childish voice, "I-I'm okay."

The man smiled at her warmly, his green eyes shining, "That's good, that's really good. Now I hear that you haven't been taking your medication, why is that?"

Her voice lowered and she tilted her head, smiling darkly, "You and I both know that those pills do nothing for me, doc-tor."

Kazumi frowned and spoke in her normal high pitched voice, "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean that!"

"Kazumi…" He frowned, "I thought we went over that it wasn't good for you act like this."

She frowned more and tears spilled from her eyes, "M-Mommy said it was okay! She s-said that if i-it m-made me feel better than i-it was okay."

The man shook his head, his short hair becoming a mess, "No Kazumi-chan. It's not okay."

Her tears stopped falling and she leaned towards him, her face twisted with hatred, "Fuck off."

"I see your split self is still as bitchy as ever also."

"I see you still spit when you talk," she leered.

She turned her head away and her voice deepened, "Now sweetie that's no way to talk to the gentleman, he's only trying to help you."

Her features softened and she looked back at the doctor, "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to be mean." She reached out and hugged the man tightly, her childish voice sending chills down his spin, "I'm sorry," she looked up at him. "Forgive me?"

The doctor pulled away from her and looked her over. He was unsure of which was actually the real Kazumi. Was it her childish spirit? Perhaps forever frozen in a child's mind? Or was it the sassy teenager that was angry and bitterly cold?

"P-Please forgive me…" She trembled, black hair falling in front of her, "I-I'll be g-good I s-swear!"

The man pulled away from her and stood to his feet, "Your nurses will be in within the hour, please understand we're here to you help you, Kazumi-chan."

With that said the man stood to his feet and left her in the cold white room.

"Ah fuck, what room was it again?!" Hidan questioned, looking around the deserted hallway.

He and Kakuzu had decided to split up and search the hospital. Apparently they were looking for some little girl that had a bounty on her head, or at least that's what he'd picked up from Kakuzu. The money-whore hadn't made to much sense… The only things that Hidan had heard was, bounty, girl, …Okay so he hadn't been paying much attention at all. Sue him, no wait, don't do that… He was flat ass broke… Damn Kakuzu and making bets that he was always right with.

The silvered haired man walked down the hallway, cursing to himself silently for not listening to what his partner had said. What was so special about a little kid anyways? Was she superwoman or something? Hidan reached behind himself and cracked his neck loudly. Fuck, his neck was killing him. Fucking Kakuzu thinking it was cool to cut his head off.

Reaching the end of the hallway he took a left. When in doubt, always go left… Or was it right? … … …Did he even have to right motto at all? Ah fuck it who gave a shit. He highly doubted that he'd find the girl anyways; it's not like he knew who was looking for. For all he knew it could have been the nurse that that had fainted on the second floor. At first he'd considered sacrificing her to Jashin-sama, but as soon as she passed out he'd just glared and walked over her. She would have been a disgrace, like a slap in the face to his god if he had given it even a second thought. It was so hard to find a good sacrifice these days.

Hidan sighed in irritation as he took another left which led him to staircase that would take him to the basement. Heeeey, maybe he had got the saying right after all. Smirking at his own brilliantness he walked down the stairway. His step now had a slight bounce to it as he felt surer of himself. Fuck he felt like a small child who had just been handed a handful of sweets. What could be better- A damn it all to hell! It was a fucking dead end! Of course it was a dead end. Hidan glared at the wall… Well it wouldn't be a dead end much longer! He was about to pull his scythe from his back when a man walked out of the wall.

Hidan's eyes bulged slightly as he pointed at the man, "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

The man looked up quickly and frowned. His green eyes focused on the man in front of him in confusion.

"What are you doing down here? All of the patients are upstairs sir."

The silver haired man smirked, "Okay, either he just walked through that wall, or there's a fucking door there."

"Who are you?" The man questioned, reaching into his white lab coat.

Violet eyes studied the man briefly. Hidan growled; this damn village had a bunch of scrawny ass people who were hardly worth his time. He was really starting to get annoyed with this place. Cracking his neck he reached behind himself and got a firm grip on his scythe.

"Okay look fucker, if my cloak doesn't say enough of who I am. Then you're just shit outta luck shithead. You're so far from being worthy of being sacrificed to Jashin-sama… But I haven't killed anyone all day," Hidan pouted. "So I'm gonna fucking kill you anyways, than find a better sacrifice for god!"

The man stepped back slightly, his hand moving about in pocket, probably looking for a pen that he thought he could stab Hidan with. The cloaked man laughed darkly and pulled his scythe in front of himself and charged forward.

Kazumi looked up at the door; she could feel someone else had entered the hallway. It was strange…and dark. She backed into the corner and hid behind her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks now.

"M-Mommy… I'm scared… I'm so s-scared…"

"It's alright sweetie, don't worry, everything will be okay, I'll keep you safe, I swear to it my baby…" She hugged her own trembling form, "I won't let you get hurt ever again, I promise you my daughter."

The dark haired girl curled into a ball and cried silently, holding herself in a tight embrace. She could hear screams coming from the other side of the door now. What was she going to do? What could she do…

Her head shot up and she let out a loud laugh, "You're such a little kid. Grow up. Is the little baby scared," she cooed. "Go back into hiding, hide in your mother's arms you little bitch!"

Tears fell harder and she hugged herself tighter, "I-I'm not a baby… I-I-I'm not a baby…"

Kazumi trembled uncontrollably and pulled on her hair.

Hidan put his scythe back in its place on his back and cracked his neck. The walls where now splattered with blood and a dead body laid on the floor. His stomach had been cut open and his organs where lying in a pile next to him. His eyes still twitched slightly as Hidan stepped around him.

The silver haired man had just wasted precious moments of his long life that he could never get back, and he was pissed. So everyone in the damned building had better hope that the little girl was in the room behind the jutsu protected room. Not that anyone even knew that he was in the building in the first place.

Hidan stepped forward and placed his hand on the wall. It was surprisingly solid. He ran his fingers across the concrete until he felt a door knob. A smirk spread across his lips. Oh yeah, he was good! He wrapped his fingers around the objected, twisted, and pulled the door wide open. His violet eyes wondered around the room. He glared. There was nothing in the room; it was completely and utterly empty.

A string of curses flew from his mouth as he angrily marched into the room and looked around. There was absolutely nothing in this shit hole! No more playing around, time for to get… Serious. Ah fuck who was he kidding, he could really careless if they found the little girl or not. Turning around to leave the room his foot caught on something and he feel forward. Being the great ninja that he was he simply fell flat on his face.

Hidan cursed angrily for the umpteenth time that day and rolled onto his back. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and felt around the floor. Sure enough his fingers brushed across a latch type of object. He took it into his hand and pulled. Pulling open what seemed to be a trap door revealed another staircase. Hidan smirked widely, nothing could hide from him!

After descending down the dark, scary- Ah who was he kidding it wasn't scary at all. After descending down the boring stairs and walking through the (A/N: My cat just snored O.o … Sorry for interrupting… Anyways ^^;) equally boring hallway he came to a regular looking door. He kicked door open. Using your hands was so outta style these days.

The silver haired man smirked widely as his violet eyes landed on a small form curled up in the corner. She was rocking back and forth and her long black hair hid her face from view. He could hear her chanting to herself quietly as he stepped forward. The closer he got the more he hear the sniffling in her words.

Hidan growled in irritation and cracked his neck, "Hey! Bitch! Stop the waterworks! It's annoying as fuck right now."

Kazumi's head shot up and she looked at a tall, muscular man. He was easily a foot or two taller than her, and his width showed that he was no weakling. She tilted her head to the side, her tears no longer falling. Who was he, she wondered. She'd never seen him before. She liked his eyes; she'd only seen that color a few times, when she'd woke up early enough to see the sun rise. And his hair reminded her of her bed sheets, it was smoothed back and it looked soft, especially the part that rested against his thick neck. He wore a cloak, which was black and had strange red clouds on it. She liked that too.

Kazumi looked at him with her still watery blue eyes, "A-Are you gonna b-be my friend? I-I've never had a friend before…I-I'd like to have a-a friend… P-Please mister I-I'll be a good f-friend I swear t-to it!"

Hidan raised an eyebrow, "Well ain't that fucking cute, the little bitch wants a friend." He glared at her, "I got some news for you bitch, I ain't your fucking friend."

He reached out and grabbed a fist full of her hair and lifted her into a standing position. Kazumi cried out loudly and struggled in his grasp. The silver haired man sighed at her weak attempt to escape and looked around her room. It was pure white, rather well kept, and there seemed to be a jutsu placed on the wall where her bed rested. It gave off an illusion that there was a window and that there were children playing happily outside. He grunted in disgust.

I have decided to end the first chapter right there. I hope it wasn't… I'm not sure you say it, boring? Stupid? Annoying? I don't know, but I did have a ton of fun writing it XD … I know nuthing :) Anyways review please? Please? Please? …I'll do your maaaaaaath :) Just kidding but serious please review :( I wanna know how the first chapter was and I just forgot to warn you all I haven't proof read it yet… Yeaaaaahhhhh… So uhh, press that little review button… It giggles XD

(A/N: So in case your wondering, I have posted this story before, and had it taken down because I made a dumb mistake with it, and like it to much to let that childish mistake to keep from being up)