Chapter 1: The Beginning
Run…
Don't look back…
He'll kill you if he catches you…
RUN!
Hana ran through the moonlit forest. She was trying to escape the hellhole that she called home. She didn't care if anything happened to everyone else; she just wanted to get out of there. No one cared about her anyway; everyone treated her like dirt, even her so-called guardian, Muraki Shimura. He had experimented on Hana and turned her into a half human, half bird freak. Everyone in the village shunned her because of that.
"Why me? What did I do wrong?" she asked herself.
Hana kept running until the sun came up. She collapsed in front of a large tree. She curled up into a ball and she started to cry.
"Help me…please, somebody, help me." she whispered.
Just then, she heard someone approaching her. Hana started to panic. Had Muraki followed her here? Did he send the ANBU after her? This was bad, very bad. She stood up and started looking for an escape route.
"What's wrong?" she heard someone ask.
Hana turned around and saw a man standing behind her. He had long, black hair, white skin, and yellow snake-like eyes.
"What's wrong? Why were you crying?" he asked.
Hana sat back down and started crying again. She didn't want to talk to this man, but he probably would be able to help her.
"I ran away from home. Nobody cared about me and I was being treated bad." she answered.
"How so?" the man asked.
Hana unfurled her wings. "My step-father gave me these stupid wings!" she replied. Tears started clouding her vision.
The man sat down beside Hana. He brushed some of Hana's hair out of her face. When he looked into her eyes, all he saw was sadness.
'She's such a beautiful child. Why would anyone want to hurt her?' he asked himself.
Hana blushed slightly. Why was this man being so nice to her? Did he actually care about her?
"What's your name, little one?" he asked.
Hana brushed the tears from her eyes and replied, " Hana Namikaze."
"Hana…that's a very beautiful name." the man said.
Hana blushed again. No one had ever complimented her name before. It actually felt nice. Maybe this man did care about her.
"Th-thank you. What about you, what's your name?" Hana asked.
The man replied, "My name is Orochimaru."
Hana smiled. For some reason, just hearing his name made her feel safe.
"Hana, I have to ask you something. Would you like to come and live with me?" Orochimaru asked.
Hana was shocked. She didn't know how to react.
"R-really? Orochimaru do you really mean it?" she asked.
Orochimaru nodded and replied, "Yes. I understand how you feel about the way people have been treating you, Hana. I don't want to see such a beautiful young girl, such as you, get hurt."
Hana smiled and threw her arms around Orochimaru's neck. "Thank you, Orochimaru! Thank you so much!" she cried.
Orochimaru wrapped his arms around Hana. "There's no need to cry anymore, Hana. I will protect you, no matter what." he said softly.
This was only the beginning…