AN: Oh my gawd you guys. I finally managed to gather up the courage to post a fanfic, this is big. I've been writing little things before, but I've never actually entered anything. This fanfic is kind of inspired on a book I read a long time ago, by Diana Wynne Jones. I think it was called "The Game" or something like that, but in the book the protonagist came to a house wich was just kids running around everywhere. It made quite the impression to me, I thought it was kinda neat to have so much siblings... well, in the first chapter you won't really notice this, but hey, I have tp get the plot starting right? Enjoy~!

Chapter one : Red

It was another peaceful day in a certain village in Japan with everyone enjoying the nice weather as long as it would last and the shopkeepers doing good business. Walking trough the small town, two kids who were about seven and ten years old were arguing with each other. The townspeople watched the familiar pair with an affectionate smile plastered on their face, which only grew when the younger of the two glared at them.

The older one, a girl with short navy blue hair, was carrying a white katana in one hand and a plastic bag of groceries in the other, while the tan green haired boy was carrying four of those.
As they continued walking, the arguing grew fiercer.

"Why is it my fault?" Hissed the girl with a frown to the boy. "It was your idea to fight with real swords, wasn't it, Zoro?!"

Zoro scowled at the older girl and shrugged. "And? You were the one who wielded the sword."

The girl bristled in annoyance and narrowed her eyes. "Yes, that might be true," she said slowly, as if she was on the edge of hitting the younger boy. "But how is it my fault if you were just whacking those three swords on mine?"

Zoro remained silent for three seconds, and Kuina was about to announce her victory when Zoro stated otherwise.

"It is your fault your sword got blunt. End of the discussion." He said with his nose in the air, stamping forward and glaring at everyone who dared to laugh at him with his almost black eyes.

Kuina bit her lip and ran after her little brother, still not giving up on the topic. "How come you are the one to say that? It's obviously your fault!"

Zoro whipped around with his face in a scowl."No it's not!"

Kuina sighed and rubbed her temples as if she had a headache. "Shut up Zoro. It doesn't matter. We've already brought it to the blacksmith so there's no point in arguing anymore. If you really want to know whose fault it is, you can ask father." Kuina said to the scowling boy.

"End of discussion."
She added with a smirk.

Zoro's scowl deepened by those words and remained silent for the rest of the walk back to the dojo which was located a few hours away from the village.

Kuina wasn't Zoro's biological sister, and neither was her father. Kashiro-Sensei, the man who took the three year old Zoro in when his parents died in a fire, was the one who taught Zoro to protect himself and his loved ones trough kendo, a japanese way of sword fighting. It didn't take very long for Kashiro to see that Zoro was different from the rest. He was much more ambitious and trained whenever he could, this resulted into what Zoro was now, his second best student.

The only one who was able to beat Zoro was Kuina. Kuina trained even harder than Zoro, which seemed almost impossible, and Kashiro knew the reason for this all too well. Kashiro was a man of tradition, and he knew that he couldn't let his only child Kuina inherit the dojo. All because she was a girl. Kuina knew and hated this fact, and was really upset by it. That is why she trained so hard, it was in order to prove that a woman can be strong too.

The night before, Zoro and kuina had engaged into a duel with real swords. Zoro had lost, and kuina had confessed that her dream was to become the world's biggest swordsman, but that she knew it was impossible, because she was a girl. Zoro had denied this though, and had asked her how she dared to say that when she had just defeated him while he was a boy. In the end, they promised that one of them would become the greatest swordsman or woman of the world. The morning after, kuina discovered that her sword was blunt when she wanted to put it back in the cellar, and decided to go to the only village nearby which still had a blacksmith who worked with katanas. She had stated that Zoro should go with her, because it was his fault the sword became blunt. This was why they were traveling the entire way to the village, while they lived so far away from it.

Neither Zoro or kuina complained about their legs hurting,because that would be like giving up and letting the other win. Zoro and kuina were very competitive with each other, which resulted into them being very stubborn kids. As they walked over hills, trough forests and crossed rivers, they neared the dojo when twilight had already fallen, and it was getting darker and darker. Zoro let out a yawn, (which obviously didn't count as giving up as he was always yawning,) and looked at the red sky and pinkish orange clouds. Zoro never really liked sunsets, nor the color red. It was the color that came to his mind as he tried to recall his parents, and thus he came to detest the color greatly. As they walked up the hill that would lead to their home, kuina sniffed audible, and frowned as she recognized the ominous smell.

"Zoro,"
She muttered, the worry clearly present in her voice.
"Do you...smell fire too?"

Zoro gulped when he indeed smelled the scent too, and slowly he again turned to the sky.
Zoro gasped softly as he saw smoke curling in the red sky above them, and with a trembling finger he pointed to it.
"Kuina," Zoro said with a trembling voice. "I don't think that smoke is coming from the chimney. "

Kuina started running up the hill, and Zoro followed her, stumbling on the way.
He almost bumped into his sister as she suddenly stopped running, and dropped her bag and sword to the ground. Her face was illuminated by a reddish light and her eyes stood wide in shock as she regarded the sight in front of her.

Slowly, trembling as well, Zoro turned his head to see the cause of her shock, even though he could figure out himself what it was.

Zoro was sure he would never be able to forget the sight he then saw. The entire dojo was red, engulfed by long red tongues licking at the wooden building, and the dead bodies of his fellow students, also red of the blood still flowing out of their fatal wounds.
Standing between the red corpses in front of the red dojo, stood a man with a red katana facing three men all of them with guns. It was Kashiro.

Zoro stood frozen as his entire world was for the second time in his life drenched in red, and memories started flowing in his head. Zoro had always thought that that was something that happened only in books and in stories of drunk sailors, but it happened to him there and then. And he just stood frozen next to his sister. His parents didn't just die in a fire, they were murdered. Murdered by men dressed in black, just like the ones about to kill Kashiro Sensei. When zoro looked back to it, he still wondered how he could remember things that happened when he was only three years old, and why he remembered them then, but what he did know is that the anger that rushed into him was overwhelming. So overwhelming he could not move an inch.

After what seemed like hours, kuina swiped her katana from the ground, and started running towards the men in black in an inhuman speed. Zoro could only watch in complete fear as kuina charged the men and managed to bring one down, and how Kashiro kept telling her to run. Zoro would never forget the first and last time he saw Kashiro cry and act so hopeless. Zoro would never forget how the remaining men pulled their trigger and shot the only two people walking on this planet who truly meant something to him.

At that moment, that moment filled with utter despair, hate and fear, something in Zoro broke. If it was either his heart, faith in humanity or his sanity, he would never know, but he wouldn't be surprised if it was all three.

Zoro ran forward unarmed, blinded by the most intense shape of hate, and was shot in the shoulder and leg. He continued running forward though, determined to kill the ones who did this to his loved ones.

He saw Kuina's copse move, and there was a tiny moment Zoro felt hopeful. Maybe they'll get out alive, even if it's just two.
But that tiny spark of hope disappeared in doubt when Kuina started screaming.
"ZORO!"

A high pitched shriek cut trough the silence, causing Zoro to stop dead in tracks.
"NO! RUN!"

Oh how Zoro would've loved to follow her advice, he was scared, so scared, but what did he had to lose? A family? No, they were dead, laying next to each other. A life? No his life was here, and if he'd turn around now he knew he would never forgive himself.
As he started running once more, he heard the sickening sound of a gunfire, and the last words of his sister.
"YOU PROMISED ZORO! RUN!"
And then the body went silent for eternity.

She was gone.

Everyone was.

If it was possible to make the fiercest shape of hate become even more heated, it happened to Zoro then.
As he charged, his entire mind went blank, and he didn't realize what happened for the remaining minutes.
Zoro managed to land a kick in the chest and few punches in the face before he was hit in the head and crumbled to the ground. Tears streamed out of his eyes as his wet eyes met Kuina's blue dead ones, and he then knew it was all over. All because he wasn't able to protect his family. Again.

"What's wrong with this kid?" Mumbled one of the men, his voice drenched in disbelief and disgust. "Beats me, I've never met a kid so stupid to think he could think he could kill an adult with a gun. Let alone two. "
Zoro saw how a black shoe nudged the limp body of the third man that kuina had defeated, who gave a soft groan in response.
"Good. The fool's still alive. "
Zoro bit his tongue to keep him from screaming, and prepared to die soon. He knew he wasn't going to last much longer.

"Now, only to finish off this kid and we can get outta here..."
Zoro closed his eyes, ready to die, when he heard a scream and a curse. His eyes flashed open, and again red filled his vision. In front of him, stood a red haired man with one arm and a sword in his hand, which was dripping with blood.

"I didn't think so." The man said in a steady voice.
What happened next was still a bit vague to Zoro. All he what came to his mind when he tried to remember what had happened was the color red.

Zoro closed his eyes once more in hope that the color would disappear from his vision, and was all too thankful when he passed out, and all he saw was black.