It was a winter night and Rose had just come back home. "Where have you been, Rose?" A woman with light brown hair said to the seven year old girl that came into the house with blood stains on the bottom of her skirt. "I was outside in the forests fighting monsters." The woman looked at a man when a little girl that looked a little younger than Rose was coming into the room.
"Why do you always fight those...beasts?!" said the man as he looked away from Rose. "Why can't you except that I like killing them to become stronger!" said Rose, as she raised her tone of voice at the man. The three kept fighting until it was pitch black outside.
The little girl, with brown hair, went over to Rose. "Why do you always come back home with red on your skirt?" asked the brunet. "Because, I protect you and mom and dad from bad monsters." said to the little girl with a calming tone. "Then why do mommy and daddy yell at you every time?" The brunet asked Rose with a small and fragile voice. "Because...They don't know that I'm going to save the ones I love and care about everyday soon." Rose said looking down, but immediately back at the girl in front of her. "How?" the girl asked courteously. "Well, I'm going to become a huntress." said Rose proudly. "Cool, big-sis!" the girl said amazed of her sister.
"Rose! Are you telling Violet fake stories again?!" yelled a loud, low sounding voice from another room in the house. "NO! I've never done that!" She said with no hesitation. "I was telling her about how I'm going to always protect you in the future!" Rose said winking at the brunet/Violet. Rose went over to the room the voice was coming from. A few minutes later Violet saw Rose running out of the house with a furious face that scared her. Rose ran for what seemed like miles and then saw a sudden red light from the corner of her eye. The light was coming from the direction of her home. When turning around she saw that right where her house stood was a fire. Rose started to run towards the fire as white specks of snow started to fall down. When Rose finally stopped in front of her house, it was on fire and being burnt down. Rose, soon after getting over what had just happened, ran towards the fire to get inside hoping that she would save her family if they were still inside.
"Come back to me!" Rose yelled out towards the burning house as she tried to get inside, but it seemed that the fire kept her from getting in. "Why can't you came back! You damn Parents! Come back to me!" Rose yelled out to the fire as she ran off giving up hope of finding them in the fire. After, not even the embers were in sight, Rose went to look through the pile of rubble and find, at lest, her families re manes. She found her parents on the ground all burnt and crumbled into ashes, but not her little sister. "Violet? Violet...Violet! Where are you?!" Rose started to cry and fell to the ground thinking that her sister may have perished in the fire and her ashes were just mixed in with the cinder from the burnt wood of her house and surrounding trees that got caught in the fire or she was killed by one of the beasts in the the surrounding forests. Rose went around the neighboring towns that were made around the forests on both sides of her house. She stocked up on items that she would need. Nothing in her house had survived. Rose also thought that the fire was no accident because it started to rapidly.
Rose thought to herself "Why did it have to be today that they had to die? I wanted to show them that I could become a huntress someday and save and protect them. Then they couldn't say that I was lying to Violet! Now their all dead! Why!" Rose was yelling in her mind, but whispering with tears coming from her eyes with every step, not even looking at where she was going. Soon she came to a weapons shop that she went to to help out and gain money for her family and kill the monsters in the forests that were killing innocent people. Rose looked up to get away from her thoughts to see a big "Closed" sign on the door, but she went in anyway.
"We're closed now—Rose?!" The man at the desk looked at Rose in shock. "I thought you died in the fire that was in the center of the forest! We closed up shop because we thought you were dead and wouldn't come back. Steven and I were so sad that we closed up shop for the rest of the week." The man said with, both, enthusiasm and sadness. "It's good to see you, sir." Rose said as the man became very happy and practically jumping for joy. "Does that mean that the family you always mention are alive, too?!" The enthusiasm on the mans face was so hard for Rose to bear and look at so she turned her head away from him and looked down at the ground. Silence came over the room in an instant as a young boy with lavender hair that was only wearing dirty pants and no shirt, around the age of 10, came in.
"What did you say, dad?-" The boy stopped in his tracks as he saw Rose in the doorway. He rushed over to her as a single tear fell from her face. He took Rose to the doorway that he just came out of. Rose silently following him to a room that he shut after sitting her down on a bed. "What happened Rose? I thought you died..." Rose said nothing, but her tears made him feel bad for saying that he thought she was dead. "Are you OK?" Rose's tears just got louder every second it seemed to the boy. "Rose... I was...worried about you... I even went looking for you, going to the fire, seeing your house burning! Hell! My shirt was burnt to ashes from the fire when I was looking for you!" Rose stopped her crying, but still wouldn't say anything or look up at the boy.
"I hope your happy that you destroyed my favorite shirt! I was worried for nothing-" Rose interrupted the boy and started to talk a little. "Steven..." Rose started to talk, but only in a whizzy and quite tone. "What?" the boy said softy, knowing that if he were any more loud she would be crying. "Is...is, is Violet...here?" Rose said slowly looking up and straight ahead of her. "Who?" the boy said confused. "Violet...a-a...family member..." Rose looked into the boys eyes with watery tears welling up in her own. "I thought you hated all your family. You always said that." the boy said even more confused. "She's the most precious thing in my life! NO, The most precious 'person' in my life!" the tears that were almost coming out busted out all at once after that outburst. "She's my sister! The one person in my family that believed me and I wanted to protect more than anything! I love her..." Rose yelled to the boy, but got quite at the end of her statement. "Rose... I'm sorry." The boy said with much sympathy. "Steven...I'm sorry I worried you." She said with a big smile across her face. "Rose...I hope you'll feel better soon. For now, please stay here." the boy, Steven, told Rose. "I couldn't..." Steven didn't let her say the rest because he already started to get clothes that looked a little to small for himself out and gave then to Rose. "What's this for Steven?" Rose asked with a little giggle coming out of her mouth. "Get changed into that, Rose." Steven said with all seriousness in his tone of voice. "W-What do you mean?!" Steven didn't answer Rose at the time. "What do you mean?! ...Steven! I'm a girl!" Rose punched Steven in the gut and tried to get him to speak to her, but he wouldn't saw a word. "Steven!" he finally looked down at Rose with a silly smile on his face. "What's so funny?!" Rose said sounding annoyed. "Just get dressed and I'll leave. I'll be coming in, in a few minutes." Rose obeyed.
"I'm coming in, Rose. Ready or not." Steven came in as Rose was standing up straight with her long skirt and shirt next to her on the floor. Rose still had her gloves and shoes on along with her black hat that covered all of her hair. "Why don't you every take your hat off?" Steven walked over to Rose as she was unable to move. "Steven...!" Steven had only a little hesitation in his movement, but Rose noticed it. Steven still kept coming to her and slowly touched her black hat, lifting it up carefully. A strand of bight red hair came out from under the hat. Rose suddenly could move and pushed Steven away from herself and yelled "Stopped!" but Stevens hand was still holding onto her hat and it slipped off her, revealing long blood-like colored red hair that was in a side braid from the black hat. Steven stepped back from Rose even more than the push would have once he saw her strangely colored hair. "W-what's with your hair?!" Why is your hair the color of blood?!" Steven looked terrified of Rose's hair color as she only walked over to him. "W-What 're you doing Rose!" he said because Rose tilted her head, only enough for him to see her blood colored hair clearly. "W-why w-won't you f-face me?!" He said that, but he knew that rose wasn't listening to a word he spoke. Steven tried backing up, but ended up cornered to a wall, in his room. Rose kept coming closer to Steven and looked down to his hand that still held the hat and moved her hand closer to his. Steven started to seem very nervous, because he was cornered to one of his walls by a friend of his that looked like she killed so many beasts that her hair turned red with all the blood shed that she did. Rose's hand finally landed onto his own. Steven was immobile and stood there like a statue. Rose grabbed her hat, but touched Steven's hand and pulled away after, leaving her hat in his hand. Rose was so scared by the one feeling of touching Stevens hand...accidentally.
Rose backed away from Steven with terrified eyes. Once she was cornered in his room, but felt his window up on the third floor of the building. Rose turned around and jumped up onto the ledge of the window and slowly looked down. Steven was surprised at how suddenly she left him. To him, Rose looked like, just, a little girl that had a big crush and had just seen him. That's was he could make of the face that she made towards him. "Are you OK, Rose?" Steven asked, only with concern in his voice. She turned her head around to see Steven standing right behind her. Rose jumped out of the window, only, looking at him. Steven raced out of his room and out of the building. He went outside, hoping to find Rose. As he ran out to find her he easily found her, she was running into town. Everyone that saw Rose moved out of the was, because they thought she was some kind of demon or beast form the forest because of her bloody colored hair. Rose noticed this and ran into the forest. Steven soon came to the town that Rose ran to. "Have you seen a girl with red hair?" He asked each villages man. He finally came up to a woman with a little daughter that had brown hair. "Have you seen a little girl around that girls age?" He pointed towards the brunet girl next to her. The woman shock his head. "She has strange, red hair." The woman was surprised, but said nothing. She then walked away from him, but looked back at Steven and started to walk again. Steven realized that he was supposed to follow her. He came to a shop that was close by. As Steven came in the woman spoke. "What color was the red of her hair?" she asked in a mode of all seriousness. "Bl-" was all Steven could say until she cut him off and said something. "'Blood', Right?!" Steven nodded his head in agreement slowly. "Yes, but how do you know?" the woman signaled Steven to come closer. "She ran into a the forest at the sight of the people scared of her and saying that she was one of the beasts with a human form... I knew that someone would be looking for her, not as an enemy, but a friend. Is she your friend young boy?" Steven was resistant to answer, but nodded. "How did you know that?" Steven asked the woman. "She had a face or fear, but only one a friend could make. And her hand was over her heart as if she were trying to calm herself. I believed that it was not death, but something else that she was feeling. Now, you should go into the forest and you shall find her." She told him. "But, how will I find her? Where in the forest?" Steven asked not knowing where she would be in the forest. "If you are truly her friend, then you know where she is already. Steven thought about the woman's words and then thanked her. "Thanks, lady." The woman asked on last question. "Where?" Steven answered immediately. "The center!" The woman said quietly "I hope you do find her, boy."
Steven went into the forest to find Rose. By mornings first light, Steven found the, blood haired, girl sitting in a pill of ashes. There were two figures that could be seen from where he was standing. Rose hadn't noticed him there. She looked around, but still didn't see Steven. Slowly, she got up from the spot she had been sitting at. Steven could tell she was there all night, because of the deep marks of where she once sat. His eyes followed he movements closely. Rose steadily walked around in the ruble and ashes, only looking down. After a few minutes of watching her, Steven saw a small twinkle of light that shined as it hit the ground. Steven looked up from the spot that the twinkling light had fallen, only to see more of the small light, that shimmered in the sunlight, to fall to the ground from the tip of her chin, one after another. Steven knew that Rose was crying and he wanted to comfort her in any way he could. Without thinking, Steven ran over to Rose and hugged her to try and stop the tears that always haunted him, since he met her, all scratched up and tears that ran all over her face. In an instant he grabbed Rose's hair and put it, neatly, in the hat, not leaving a red strand in sight. When Steven looked back at her face, letting go of her, her eyes were widened and tears slowly streaming down each of her cheeks. Rose wavered a small smile towards him, trying to tell him that she was alright, but he didn't buy that for one second. Steven looked down to the girl. She was blushing with widened eyes, the small smile fading away with every second. The slow tear streams overflowed as she opened her wavering mouth, letting all the tears she held back flow out all at once. Rose stumbled down, slowly, with all the tears flowing down her face onto the cindered ground. Steven keeled down to the ground, only to hug the sobbing girl and stop her tears from flowing.
As the afternoon sunlight came up, Rose woke up and looked around her for the warmth she had felt what seemed to only have been seconds ago, that had left her. Realizing that Steven was gone and that the house of cindered wood and ashes was in the same place as it was before, she knew that the warmth she had felt was from Steven. After Rose was fully awake for the first time, she noticed that she had nothing, and that the fire was no accident, but was done by someone that wanted to kill her family hidden in the forest, with the 'deviled hair-color girl' that was with them. Rose decided that she would become a huntress and find the person that burn her house down.
If you want to know more about the characters of this story then please read my other story, or short explanation of their past and personalities on 'R - B - W - Y - B'~