[Rose 1: Relief]
On a snowy mid-winter night on the outer country lands of Tokyo, a small old lady sits on her large temple's back porch watching the silver flakes fall. As she sips hot coco the wavy grey haired woman spots a small sparkling object on a tiny figure amongst the dark forests edge.
"A child?" the woman places her cup down in enough time for the small orange haired girl to fall face first into the snow.
Picking the kid up she sees; the little thing has a sakura-pink gem necklace, can be no older than five years old, and DOESN'T have a scratch on her. This she finds odder than anything, considering all the demons and traps set up in those woods.
"Lady Genkai? You sent for me?" a young dark-brown haired stoic man walks into the temples living room.
"Come with me, Lin." Genkai begins walking down a new hall.
The confused brown eyed man follows her. When Genkai stops in front of a room, she knocks on the wall. A small sakura-pink eyed girl slides the door open but quickly shuts it when seeing Lin.
"She's interesting." Lin laughs. "What's here name?" he glances at the little shadow clearly listening by the door.
"She doesn't know." Genkai stares at the door sadly. "She knows basics; how to dress, eat, and where most kids are with speech at that age. But other than that she's blank." The old woman sighs heavily.
"The poor girl." Lin's eyes shake slightly at the thought of what the small figure could have gone through or seen. "But why did you call me here?" he turns to his old teacher, still unclear of the part he plays.
"There are no schools by my temple and I'm too old for such a young girl." Genkai smiles cunningly to him.
"Wait a minute. You aren't suggesting…" Lin backs up a bit. Genkai simply nods. "Oh come on master. I- my school is still small and I… I'm…" he panics.
Before he can finish his sentence, sees the little girl peeking from behind the door. The two lock eyes and Lin's body relaxes as the young girl stands in the doorway.
"You are exactly what she needs." Genkai speaks in almost a whisper as she stares at him seriously.
Lin walks over to the room stopping just in front of the shy little thing. "Aki Hatsune. That'll be your name. Do you like it, Aki?" he smiles tenderly as he bends down to her eye level.
"A-Aki… Hatsune?" the girl says softly as she listens to how it sounds. "Aki!" she cheers seemingly pleased with it.
Ten years later in the mist of Tokyo during early spring, light shimmers on left over puddles from last night's rain as a teenage girl shoots arms at a target. While releasing each arrow she seems to be in deep thought.
-Dream Flashback:
Aki is dressed in a priestess outfit picking herbs. While doing this she suddenly looks up to see a faceless yet clearly handsome silver haired fox demon. As he approaches she can see him mouth something she can't quiet hear.-
'Who? Who is he? And why do I keep dreaming of him?' Aki draws back another arrow.
"Hey! Aki!" calls a young bald man from the dojo doorway. "If you don't hurry, you'll be late for your first day of high school!" he motions to the clock.
Panicked, Aki places the arrows and bow away as she races to get ready. Darting out the door she hustles to the bus. Aki tries to speed up as she sees the doors closing. A young guy stops the doors so she can make it in time.
"Th-thank you. I…" Aki huffs with her head down yet freezes as she stares into the forest green eyes of a guy wearing the same school uniform as her.
The two stare at each other, as if pulled in by the others eyes. This haze is broken as more people board causing the long red haired guy to pin Aki to the door.
"I guess, we'll have to endure for a while." The boy flushes slightly.
"Y-yeah." Aki turns her head to the window, yet can't help but to glance at the pretty faced guy. "U-um… I'm Aki by the way. Aki Hatsune." She tries to break the acquiredness.
"Shuichi. Shuichi Minamino." Shuichi smiles tenderly at Aki.