A little girl clad in a mask that sits upon the side of her head sits playing with a small ball in a large palace garden with her black cloak with red flames on the bottom and red ember like ash melting out of them forming up half way blowing in the wind. The bottom of the cloak shapes out like fangs all the way around her short legs stopping just at ankles length pierced the ground and crumpled into the grass as she kneels to pick a flower from the ground, her villages headband slacks sideways and hangs on around her small hips in which marks her as the young princess of Amegakure. Her bright oak brown eyes stare with awe at a mysterious figure watching from a tree in the reflective shadows far beyond the castle gates where she was not allowed to enter, first he was there and then he was gone like the wind. Curiously she steps a little closer to the high stone walls where bricks slowly crumbled from age while rubbing the metallic steel and carvings of her small knuckle dusters attached to long black fingerless gloves that reach all the way up her small arms and stop just above the elbows. In the radiant sunlight of the summer months the silver knuckle plate's gleam brilliantly and also embroil with the village symbol. Placing a small chubby hand upon the cold dusty stones she leans as far as possible at the gate while leaning her forehead against the icy iron bars of the large black gate, shuddering softly she grips the plain open black cloth shirt with silver threads embroiled into them until stepping back in confusion and then going back to play with her small green pock dot ball. Long black flared trousers with rips along them inch slowly upwards in mud from the gardens bumpy surface while maids scurry vast the veranda trying to clean as quickly as possible for the Leader of the castle. Her little elusive eyes suddenly shift towards the ground as she gives a lonely kind of expression, her tubby fingers pulling at the long grass until they give a small pop when they are taken from the root. Her feet shift onto their sides so she can check the bottom of her light skater shoes which are black and white with a charcoal crimson lace to find that they are housing small rocks and a couple wriggling worms that had become trapped by accident. Most of the items this little girl wore looked expensive right up to the finely straightened and brushed black hair that shone a mossy green in the light and flowed down to the shoulders stopping in the middle of her spine.
From a door a man had stopped and much like this mans eyes hers bore the red in replacement of white where any normal persons eyes should hold, the small girls cheeks blushed a rosy red when he starts to step forth and glances upon her with a small smirk. Making his way over her mouth became agape at his sight and before even he knew it she was running towards him as fast she could go without tripping over from her small and weak legs, kneeling she leaps into his arms happily and snuggles her face into his shoulder. "I've been looking for you Rima-chan" he softly speaks rubbing the back of her head gently as she nuzzles happily, her head shifts back so she can glance curiously upon her fathers eyes.
"why?" she questions while tilting her head to smile sweetly, his face does not make the same expression however and gives a distant and saddened stare making her pout and cuddle him further.
"I'll be going away for a little while but I'll be back okay?" her father smiles as she blinks and turns her attention to a man in armour standing close at hand, her delicate features crumple as she looks back at her father with worry. Giving a delicate kiss to her forehead his own mask slides over making his breathing sound much like that of a vent, water trickling down the side of his forehead to moisturise the breath apparatuses.
"Hanzo-danna, we must leave now or we will be late on arrival" a guard calls quickly seeming uncaring of the small moment between father and daughter, he scowls slightly but lightens it to look back down at the infant standing with her head chucked back to look up at him with shaky eyes.
"Rima-chan, remember that 'Security is the greatest enemy'" he speaks in a hushed tone stepping away and leaving the small girl to stare vacantly at his back while tears weld up upon her eyelids. She knew that running after him was not an option as she had done many times before, her only hope was that her father would come back as he always promised when he left to do something away from the mansion.
It had been two weeks since that day now and still her father had not returned from his trip, over this time she had become lonely and felt slightly forgotten by the family. Her mother never had time for her during the day and because Rima was an only child she had no one to speak to, she had everything she could ever want, from soft toys to a large four poster bed all to her self; but there was one problem. She had been forgotten by absolutely everyone, her advisers where always too busy with the work of the day and the servants where paid only to clean and never to speak to her. Even the guards set to keep an eye on her wouldn't truly take notice of her existence, there where no books or bed time stories for her only the growing mountain of cold lifeless toys that couldn't scare away the boogie monster or admire her drawings; or more importantly love her back. Rima would try her best to be a good little girl for everybody and then she tried very hard to be a bad little girl but either way no one would pay attention to her.
One day as Rima played around in the large green garden with her stuffed bear she shuddered and soon glanced upon the figure of a man like before not only 2 weeks ago when her father left of a man, quietly watching from beyond the forest as if trying to observe her. Rima blinked and then noticed he was gone again just as before, getting to her feet she slowly starts to wander the gardens in search of something to do. Her oak eyes trail the moss covered walls before shooting to something black falling from the sky from over the towering wall, gasping she runs and hides in a hedge in fear of the horrible sounds being made. Two large black birds fight each other violently as one seems to be winning and starts to claw and peck after a couple swoops upon the larger bird, taking a rock from the grass she carefully throws it towards the fighting birds while scowling. The crow like bird screeches after being hit by the pebble and jumps back to glance over at her small face peeping out from the green leaves but before it can shriek or attack the other again little Rima throws another stone this time scaring the bird away back over the wall. Now everything was again silent except for the rustle of her little figure pulling its way from the bushes and slowly stepping closer to the injured bird, it's wings flap momentarily while its hooked claws scramble to attempt to stand up only to become fruitless. Stretching a shaky nervous hand out towards the bird it squawks loudly at her making her jump and fall over, scrambling back she makes no sound but covers her head in fear. Opening her eye again she glances at the bird still squirming around on its damaged wings, feeling a little braver she pouts and puffs her chest out while crawling closer to the apparent raven. To her astonishment he was much larger than any kind of bird she had ever seen, compared to her it was at least half her size.
Again it makes an angry sound making her tremble but she refuses to back off this time and places a hand on its ruffled wing before pulling it back to stare at the red inking on her small palms, she had never seen it before making her blink in confusion. Carefully she starts to touch the large bird that had now given up on its angry yelling to just stare at the young girl nervously trying to lift him up onto her lap, after a short struggle she finally manages to help the over sized bird and starts to mumble something soft under her breath. The raven just struggles slightly using its wing to bash her roughly until she pouts again and grips the bird sending a shock of pain down its body as a subconscious warning from the girl, her multicoloured eyes stare at the attack wounds a moment longer before she runs away and comes back at least 10 minutes later with a box and some blankets. At first it seemed as if the bird was looking at her in mock as she slowly and carefully pulls him up into the box using the black covers, for some reason the bird seemed to smoke under the heat suddenly making her panic and run as fast as possible into any kind of shade, eyes wide she looks it over again before making swift darts from tree to tree and wall to wall until she finally gets inside.
It took at least 20 minutes for the little girl to eventually get the large bird to her bedroom where she placed him on a table near a mirror, she didn't know why but something seemed to be telling her what to do with it. After a lot of fidgeting and disagreements from the large bird she wraps the wings up in cotton wool and lolly sticks with a bandage wrapped around just like she pictured it in her mind. With a wet cloth Rima quickly washes his feathers then starts to dry the raven in a towel, laying him on the bed it sits silently watching her leaning on a small stool from her dressing table again nervously watching anything it does. "my names Rima…do you have a name?" she suddenly asks with a soft and slightly croaked voice but the bird says nothing, her eyes sadden at the silence before she carefully starts petting his back. "I could give you a name…" she mumbles putting her lips against her small arm and leaning against the bed's fancy red covers.
The bird again says nothing but blinks before turning its head to glance around the room, for some reason it seemed as if it hadn't noticed her odd eyes until now as she smiles innocently. "can I call you…" she mumbles squinting her eyes in thought and then glancing up at the high ceiling before looking back down at the raven rustling its feathers calmly to get comfy again. "Kakuzu-kun?" her voice seems to trail off as the bird for once makes a strange sound making her seem more than happy, a knock at her bedroom door makes her jump and then edge off the bed to go see who it is.
Rima's Adviser steps in before she can allow him access and gives her a questioning look before suspiciously looking around the room. "who were you talking to?" he demands starting to step further in as she looks around giving a confused stare at the now missing raven. "Kakuzu-kun" she replies as the man turns sharply and raises a furrowed brow towards the young child. "who is Kakuzu?" the man demands again while she still gives a questioning glance about her. "a raven I helped" she softly replies as he just shakes his head and steps towards the bed that was now messy but then only groans in annoyance before shrugging it off. "I think you need your rest Rima-chan" the adviser (as he is to-do) advises the small child who only pouts at this response that clearly told her that he thought she was hallucinating, as soon as he came he was gone out the large wooden door.
When Rima turns her eyes widen to see Kakuzu now sitting back on the bed as if he had never left making her even more perplexed than before, stepping closer an unsure hand starts to touch him again as if checking that he was in-fact real and not a figment of her imagination. "do you want some popcorn?" she asks softly rustling under the large bed and pulling out a hidden bag, the bird only gives the little girl a strange chirp while she holds it out on the ball of her hand towards him. For a moment he glances at the yellow and white puff and pecks at it carefully but with a swift snap it vanished to her amusement that seemed to blast from her brown and red eyes. For ages this simple thing kept her entertained until, to her disappointment and that of the ravens, they had finished the bag off completely. "I hope I didn't spoil my dinner" Rima giggles petting the raven one last time before getting up and brushing dust from her trousers. "you can sleep while I go eat…" before she goes the small girl leaves a dish of water next to Kakuzu and runs out the room, closing the door behind her as she goes but just to make sure she opens it again and peeps in to make sure the bird was still roosting there.
During dinner she ate quickly with her mother whom who didn't seem interested in her young child, instead her eyes where placed upon a scroll that she had been crossing and ticking profusely for some time now. Her blue eyes shifting up to watch her daughter stick some of the food into her pocket but she only rolls her eyes and glances back down. Rima and her mother seemed to have little in common from their taste in clothes to their actual features, her mother was tall with long blonde hair that curled and perpetual crystal blue eyes. Despite this her young daughter had gained one thing that only her mother could possibly conceal, looks and hopefully talent that would gain her fame when she was older. It was her dream for Rima to get married to a rich family and converse with many famous nobles where as Rima's father wanted his daughter to grow up and become a powerful ninja just as he was. Running up the stairs to her room she trips over several times climbing the carpeted floor but finds her bed room door and enters quietly to find that the raven had apparently fallen asleep to rest. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she sneaks across the rug carpet and into her dresser where she changes into her small PJ shirt and trousers and climbs into the bed at the far end unnoticed by the large raven to her relief.
By morning when she awoke to the sound of the small birds humming outside the raven was no where to be seen and the items that held the bird together where scattered across the room, giving a surprised and worried expression she jumped up and looked around drastically until her eyes shifted to look up towards the large corvid roosted on the bed post staring at her from above. Rima's strange eyes suddenly brighten to see Kakuzu was fine, getting up from the bed she stands on her tip toes reaching upwards towards him but can't quite reach until he shifts to move his head down so that her fingers can barely brush the top of his head making her smile in delight. The small infant gives a questioning glance only to blink when the bird seems to give an irritated peep towards the closed window. Rima glances at it then back at him knowing exactly what he wanted, giving a slow nod her small frame slumps off the bed and slowly approaches the door where she pauses to the sound of a swift beat of wings. Her small oak and red eyes look into the glass where she jumps back when towering above her in the windows reflection shines a very tall man with the same eyes as her fathers except he was much taller and had a pale tan.
Keeping his figure concealed was a long black cloak with red clouds and a hooded mask covering his face but when she spun around in confusion all that was to be seen was the very large and very bulky raven staring up at her waiting. Rubbing her sleep filled eyes she kneels down and gives the large bird an unrepentant cuddle before she stands up and opens the large glass doors with a short sigh. Rima closes her eyes and looks away towards the shining wooden surface where that same figure seems to walk right past her, a hand ghosts over her head and to her shock she can feel him give her hair a friendly rub that seems to bring small tears to her eyes. Looking to where the bird and man once stood they where gone making her sniffle secretly behind closed eyes and a PJ sleeve, giving another confused glance her ears prick up to hear the bird shrieking for her attention. In his gripped claw was her favourite silver hair pin that her father gave Rima as a baby, with a horrified gasp she runs towards the balcony and watches him make another loud screech and fly off towards the wall where he swoops and drops it upon the freshly green cut grass where shrubs and other manners of large plants had over grown. With haste Rima runs around grabbing her clothes and quickly runs as fast as possible down the stone steps and jumps right past the passing maids or butlers that hardly notice her and out into the garden, running as fast as her small feet can carry her she can see the large bird circling before disappearing into the same bush then back out over the wall.
Rima stops right by the bush where her eyes scan it before falling upon what looked like an opening, glancing around with a sneaky expression she climbs through the branches while pushing them away from her face. For some time it was dark because of the plant covering above but soon she found her self pushing out from the bush and tripping over onto something very hard and sharp. Wincing she opens her shut eyes slowly and looks to see that the wall had been broken down and a, fresh, hole to the outside was now in its place, gasping she bounces up and looks around to find the plants had completely over grown concealing it completely from anyone who had no idea of its existence. Without much more thought she finds her self climbing out from the stone wall and glancing along the long the front of that same wall towards the gates then back at the tall brown tree's that blew in the wind but her hair clip was no where to be seen nor that of the big black bird that had taken it.
Gripping the small brown shoulder bag she starts to make her way through the forest for the first time, excitement flowing through her veins like sugar. Animals she had only seen in books run past after seeing her and birds shout loudly in awe of the new presence, everything seemed friendly and safe until now where the green seems to cut back and slowly turn to a dingy brown and all the tree's seemed to lose their leaves and turn a rotten black. Rima was too innocent to recognise fear and danger because it was something that she had never faced on a daily bases under so much protection so all of this just looked silly to her, the weird noises just made her that much more excited to go deeper into the dieing woods where something howls and another thing makes a horrible cry from beyond and above.
It had been an hour since she had left the castle walls and ventured into this new dreamscape, something large had been following her for some time now but when she turned to see what it is it would disappear. Shrugging she turned away and kept walking along the rusty forest track that seemed untouched by anyone, there that same loud crunching could be heard making her stop but not turn while it creept closer. With a small 'hah' she jumps around and gives a happy smile to have caught the follower but nothing moves except for leaves in the unfamiliar wind, her arms drop as she pouts and glances around slightly annoyed. That same loud crunch makes its self known and she steps backwards right into something, turning she comes nose to black with something very big.
Glancing upwards her neck can barely take the angle she had to stretch to just to look at the strange creature looking back down at her, little Rima being the slightly dim person only smiles up at the beast that had its claws out stretched at either side of her, that could easily be lunged down and taken upon her before she could do anything but instead it just stands watching silently. Small podgy hands rise up and touch the rough surface of the beasts stomach carefully, the beast seems to suddenly shift and move downwards to be just that little bit closer to her but she still had to look up just to see the mask that looked a lot like that of some kind of bull.
Rima's hands venture up to touch the cold white mask with yellow painted patterns followed by a couple failed attempts to stroke the horns making her gasp then giggle randomly. "pretty…" the little girl softly speaks making the beast rather surprised but then it goes back to being still as stone, Rima takes her hand away then grasps in her fingers a piece of string which she strokes in a confused manner. "do you know where 'kuzu is?" her little voice requests as the beast seems to nod and suddenly wrap its large black claw hands around her tiny waist, after some time Rima eventually squirms out from the arms of the rough string beast, who despite this was rather gentle, and up onto his shoulder where she sits looking around in astonishment at how high she had gotten now.
"this place is so big…" Rima gasps in awe clutching tightly to the lumbering creature that she felt had been perhaps going around and around in circles for some now, looking down she soon caught sight of another of the beasts except this one had what looked like wings on its back and walked on its fours. "are you sure you know where 'kuzu is?" her little voice questions as the Black Mass abruptly pauses and looks around then puts her down, with a confused face they back off and suddenly disappear. Turning to look forwards again she looks up at the same man that had been in the reflections. His build reminded her faintly of the dark figure who would hide by the tree's sometimes as she played, he said nothing but in his hand he had a firm grip of the silver hairclip making her eyes blink curiously. "'kuzu?" she enquires stepping a little closer finding her self to barely reach the higher inch's of his thigh, the tanned male squats down and looks her straight in the eyes where both seemed to be exact apart from the green and brown difference. With a smile on her face she surprises him with another cuddle while nuzzling into his shoulder happily and for that moment the larger male seemed to tense and twitch slightly under the mask. "thank you…" she suddenly mumbles into where his ear apparently should be if it wasn't hidden by the black and white cloth, this seemed to knock him from the confused trance and give her an unsure cuddle.
"I should be saying the same thing to you" the miser remarks only to blink in confusion when a soft muffled sound is suddenly heard from the black cloak cloth of his shoulder where Rima's small face had buried its self endearingly out of affection causing his eyebrow to raise. "are you crying?" the deep voice questions as she shakes her head to say no but accidentally lets a soft sob loose for him to hear. "you might say that but your emotions seem to tell something else" the miser seems to half heartedly laugh making her mumble something foreign into his shoulder, the sniffles slowly deteriorate into heavy breaths when he starts to rub small circles into her back to try calm her down.
Eventually his legs had become tiered of kneeling and so he knocks him self off balance to sit down with her still cuddled into his chest but sitting on his lap with small arms placed around his neck as if trying not to lose the large figure. "you're not scared of this place or my pets?" he questions as his perpetual green eyes shift from her to the masks that had seeped out and where making their way back to his body where they hid until needed without her noticing.
"no…should I be?" she questions innocently finally pulling away from his shoulder to sit on his lap comfortably and look up at him, she hadn't noticed until now that the hair pin was in her fringe. "most people are" the miser replies watching her shift from eye contact and start fiddling with the red clouds on his robe enjoying the company. "how old are you?" he questions curiously glancing down. "5 I think…" her small brown and red eyes look up at him unsure making him chuckle. "you're a princess then? Shouldn't you be in a dress?" he again questions starting to fiddle with the bottom of her robe stroking the flames between his thumb in thought.
"but if I wore a dress.." she mumbles looking up at him with hope in her eyes powerfully. "how would I play?" she questions with a chirpy smile that seemed to glow past the dying tree's and depressing atmosphere, it seemed like a breath of fresh air for Kakuzu. "I want to be like my daddy when I grow up" she giggles with a big smile again but slowly it seems to crumble and her head drops to look at her hands gripping the cloth on her shirt tightly. "I'll be just like him when I grow up" her voice seems crooked now and her head stays tilted until a soft feathered touch to her cheek is given by the back of Kakuzu's finger, she looks up at his elusive green eyes unafraid of their fiery flickers. His thumb catches and allows some of the small tears to pool onto his finger nail, he wasn't sure how to comfort the small child but the strokes, how ever icy cold, seemed to make her happy. "you'll come see me right?" she questions as he seemed to stare out at the dark forest, unsure of how to reply. "perhaps" he singularly replies as she holds up her small pinkie and gives a stern expression making him blink and glance at her hand in confusion then back to her face that was now housing a blush.
"pinkie promise" she bubbly requests while he only sticks his hand out to do the same watching Rima wrap her own around his pinkie and gave it a small squeeze like hug that he returns. "now you can't go back on your words, nii-sama~" her body bounds into his chest again as she cuddles her way into him as if she would lose her self in his cloak and stay there, everything stays silent apart from her breathing until Kakuzu finsd him self jumping stupidly when he hears a snap and looks at the girl in complete confusion until she takes his hand and cups something in it before closing his palm and jumping up all at once. "I have to go now, I'll see you later" her little voice chimes and her skin gives off a small radiant glow, before Kakuzu can how ever say a word the young infant had run away down the old forest track home leaving him to stand in awe then look down at his closed hand remembering she had given him something.
To his surprise in his palm was one half of the hair pin that embraced 've' carved upon its metallic surface, making sure no one was around he slipped the pin neatly inside his hood pinning it carefully to part of his hair while giving a faint smile. "how odd" where his last words as his form took to his raven like features and made quick work of flying into the air again, disappearing above the dark grey clouds that haunted the skies of the forest.