UNKNOWN P.O.V.
It's so dark.
What's going on?
Why is my head in pain?
I don't understand...
I struggled to move my body. It felt as if I was tied down by heavy chains. It hurt to move. I listened around me, but it was fruitless. I couldn't hear anything but silence. I felt the surface I was laying on, it felt so grainy and hot. My head was propped up on something hard and uneven. I felt heat around me along with a slight breeze. I forced my eyes open, only to close from the intense light. I opened them much slower this time and let them adjust to it. I looked at my surroundings, orange sky with the sun looking like it was just about to touch the earth. I was in the middle of nowhere, all I could see was hills of sand. Despite the pain in my head and limbs, I sat up. I noticed a medium sized rock in the sand where my head was, I also noticed a dark red substance on the stone. Is that blood? My blood?
Where am I...?
I looked down at myself while dusting sand off my back side. I had no shoes or socks on my feet. I was wearing a mid thigh length black skirt. I had red hooded cloak that came down to my waist over a loose fitting sky blue tank top. I had medium length choppy inky black hair. I couldn't see any of my facial features at the moment since I was in the middle of the desert. Next to me was something black with shiny and smooth surface and different sized strings going down it. There was a necklace hanging around my neck with a strange heart shaped black stone. I had a strong gut feeling that I should never take this off under any circumstances.
Who am I...?
Why am I here...?
I reached up to the side of my head where it hurt the most physically but quickly retracted when my hand came in contact with it. I looked down and saw my fingers were coated in red. I started to walk a little ways but my knees gave out on me making me fall onto the warm sand. My back hurts too, I feels as if I've just been throne down from enormous heights.
What happened to me...?
I wish I knew...
I got up, picked up the black object and forced myself to walk. How long have I been out here? The blood was kind of fresh, it couldn't have been that long. I stare out into the horizon looking for something. Anything! I don't even know what, just something! Then I spotted something in the corner of my eye. Some sort of village. Maybe someone there could help me! A small smile made it's way to my face at the thought of getting some answers for all these questions. Forgetting about the pain, I ran. It seemed like forever until I finally reached it. I started to walk around, trying to get someone to listen to me, but no one even spared me a glance. I felt my eyes started to water up. My bare feet were burning from the hot sand, I was about to give up hope until I heard a scream.
"Get away from us you-you MONSTER!" I heard a woman scream. Curious, I ran towards where it was coming from. I peeked my head around a corner to see a woman, staring at a boy in fear mixed with hatred. The boy seemed to be on the verge of tears. He had short fiery red hair, innocent sea foam green eyes with dark black rings around them, reminding me of a panda. He also had no eyebrows. He was wearing a some sort of tan shawl with a high collar, black capris and sandals. He looked around the age I would be if I knew exactly how old I was. He looked like he didn't even know what he did wrong. I felt the need to do something about this.
"Hey lady!" I shouted at the woman, my voice cracking a bit from lack of water. That defiantly got their attention. I walked over to the boy and stood in front of him. "Quit being meany and leave this boy alone!" I yelled pointing a small finger at her. She looked at me not believing what I just said.
"Why would you defend a monster like him?!" She asked, shocked.
"Cause I can." I smiled, making her glare at me and walk away. "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all!" I yelled at her retreating form. I turned around to look at the boy, he was about the same height as me if not a little bit taller. His eyes were wide in shock with his mouth slightly open staring at me. I waved my hand in front of his face, taking him out of his trance.
"Why did you do that?" He asked. I thought about it for a second. Why did I do that? Sure that lady was being mean but I don't know this boy. After a few seconds I answered,
"Well, you don't look like you did anything wrong. Plus you looked like you could use a friend." I smiled at the thought of having a friend. Which gives me another question, did I have friends before this? His eyes widen to the size of plates.
"Y-you mean you're not afraid of me?" He asked timidly with so much hope in his voice.
"Well, no. You haven't given me anything to be afraid of." I said while smiling. He smiled a huge smile and I mirrored that, making me momentarily forget about the situation I was in. I smiled so much my lips hurt from being chapped.
"I'm Gaara. What's your name?" He asked.
"My name is, uh...It's um, no that's not it it. Wait no it's...uh. Huh, what is my name?" I asked, placing the tip of my thumb between my chapped lips while looking at my bare feet.
"You don't know your own name?" He asked shocked. I shook my head no, losing the smile that was on my face just seconds ago.
"I just woke up not to long ago, not knowing anything about myself, or what happened to me. That's why I have this." I said, lightly touching the injured spot on my head-that still hurt a lot- were the blood had dried and blended in with my matted up hair making it hard to see. Tears filled my eyes and the adrenaline from earlier wore off, making me fall to the ground and almost break the object I held. I felt something grasp my hand, I looked down to see Gaara's hand in mine.
"Here, come on." He said, while gently tugging on it to get me follow him. He lead me to what I'm guessing was his house. "Yashamaru!" He called, a man with shoulder length sandy blonde hair and light gray eyes walked into the room. "Can you help my friend? She's injured." He asked the man. The man's, or as Gaara called him Yashamaru's, eyes widen just a bit in shock when Gaara said 'my friend', that's strange. Gaara seems like the type to have lot's of friends. So far he's the only one in this village who has shown me any kindness. Yashamaru's eyes shifted over to my and took in my injuries before lightly smiling. I propped the object I still carried on a wall by the door and looked back at Yashamaru.
"Alright Gaara. Come this way." He said to me, walking up beside me and put a hand on my back making me flinch. My back feels like it's on fire. He reached around to the red ribbon that held my crimson cloak in place. "May I?" He asked, I silently nodded as he untied the bow and gently took off the cloak. I heard two quiet gasps behind me. I turned my head a little so I could see them,
"What is it?" I asked.
"Here, come on. Gaara you stay here, we'll be right back." Yashamaru grabbed my hand and lead me to a bathroom. While he was looking in a cabinet I turned towards the mirror and saw my face for the first time. I looked like just an ordinary kid except one feature stood out. My eyes. My eyes were as red as the blood on my finger tips. There was something really unusual about them, I can't describe it. It's one of those things you just can't explain with words. I moved my hair to the front and then turned around and tried to look at my back wound to see what the big deal about it was. I couldn't see all of it but what I did see was horrifying. Garish purple bruise that went from my shoulders and pasted the baby blue tank top that I was wearing . But that's not all. Right in the middle of my upper back placed just were I could see was some sort of marking or tattoo in the place where I felt the burning sensation the most. A kanji.
死
Death
I felt like crying. What is this? Why do I have this? Who would do this? Yashamaru walked over beside me with medicine and bandages and gave me a sympathetic look and then tended to my wounds. A few minutes later I had bleach white bandages only visible on my forehead while the rest was under pieces of my hair covering my head injury, healing medicine was rubbed on my back for the purple bruises and Yashamaru also wrapped my feet in bandages since they started to blister from the scorching sand. We walked back into the living room were Gaara was waiting patiently.
"Thank you." I said quietly to both of them.
"No worries, Miss...?" Yashamaru trailed off, silently asking my name. I looked down sadly, wishing I at least had an idea of what my name was.
"She doesn't know." Gaara quietly answered for me. Yashamaru looked at the bandaged covered injury on the side of my head once more and understanding washed over his eyes.
"Well, we need to call you something for now. If you were to have any name, what would it be?" Yashamaru suggested. Suddenly the edges of my vision turned red. Time seemed to have slowed down.
Hikari...
I blinked and the redness went away. That was really strange. That didn't sound much like myself at all. It sounded like a man. What did it say? Hikari? I wonder what it means. Wait a minute!
"How about Hikari?" I asked. They both smiled.
"I like that!" Gaara said.
"Alright then, Hikari it is. Now Hikari, do you remember anything?" Yashamaru asked me. I nibbled on the tip of my thumb like before while thinking long and hard, trying to find one memory or a clue to how this could have happened. I even tried to see if that voice would talk again. But I got nothing. I removed my thumb and slowly shook my head left to right.
"I'm sorry I can't."I told him.
"Alright, I'll talk to the Kazekage about this tomorrow. I'm going to bed, Goodnight." Yashamaru said as he walked into another room. I looked out the window noticing the sky was a dark blue with dazzling stars and a beautiful crescent moon.
"Goodnight, Uncle Yashamaru." Gaara replied. So he is Gaara's uncle. He seems nice.
"Well...I guess I'll leave then." I said sadly, walking to the door and grabbing my cloak and the object that has been with me since I woke up.
"Wait!" I heard Gaara behind me before a hand grabbed mine. "You're leaving?" He asked.
"Not for good, we'll definitely still see each other. We're friends after all." I smiled at him, "How about we play tomorrow?" I asked, in return he nodded with a smile. I turned towards him completely and took a few steps forwards and wrap my arms around him, making him tense. When's the last time he was truly hugged? He slowly melted in it, hugging me back. I eventually let go and walked towards the door again. When it was opened, I turned back around and waved slightly. "Bye, Gaara." I said. He waved a bit back.
"Bye...Hikari." He murmured just loud enough that I could hear. I closed the door and started walking. I had no idea where I was going. I just needed to find a place to sleep tonight. I would have stayed there, which now that I think about it would have been smarter, but I didn't want to be an even bigger burden than I already was. Unlike when the sun was out, it was cold. I wrapped my cloak tightly around me, trying to keep warm. I eventually ended up in a random alley, I sat down leaning against the wall and started to go over what had just happened a few hours ago. I looked down at the object next to me. How does it work? I slowly lowered my hand towards it and gently plucked the biggest string. A beautiful sound emitted from it. I picked it up and set it on my lap to where it almost reached my chin. I place my left hand on the long part and my right hand went around in front of the strings on the wider part of it. I strummed down the strings from top to bottom causing more lovely sounds to flow from it. This seems oddly familiar to me. For most of the night I experimented with it, slowly getting the hang of yet somehow knowing what to do. Strange.
*~A/N: First Naruto Story! ^-^ Please Review!~*
