Disclaimer: Okay, first of all, I know what you're thinking. "She made an OC just so she could put her with Sasuke?!" Well that's not true. And it's not why I decided to create my OC. Akane was created for a Naruto fanfiction me and my good friend Rei are writing (I'm thinking about submitting it here, but it's gonna take a LONG TIME to edit that thing...it's way too long). We were both pretty into Naruto at the time, and we both liked to write stories. So we were bored one day in class and decided we should write a joint fanfiction about some made up Naruto characters...that's where Akane came in. I suppose I should tell you about Akane and her past...That way you will be able to understand why she does some of the things she does.

START, CHAPTER ZERO: PROLOGUE

(The real story doesn't start until the next chapter...Sorry guys! shot What? I've got a lot to explain!)

Akane Mirasaki was originally from the Sand Village. Until one fateful day, she was seperated from all she loved most: Her family, and her home. The attack on that day left a lot of people homeless. Thankfully the damage wasn't critical and it could be repaired quickly. Akane found herself living with her best friend Rei for quite a long time. This made a very large impact on Akane. She was only 6 or 7 years old. Maybe younger. As she got older, and started to attend the Sand Village Ninja Academy, she realized something about her had changed; she didn't feel the same way as she did when the incident had happened. It was as if her memory had been erased.

Akane and Rei graduated from the Academy like all their sensei's said they would from the very beginning. Indeed, they were highly skilled at such an age. Possibly feared by some of their classmates. Akane was always quiet when it came to school; she rarely participated, but when she was called on to answer a question, she would answer it willingly, and correctly. Akane was shy and timid, but she was very intelligent and she had a lot of stamina. She was one of the top students. A lot of students thought she was creepy because she had red eyes and very pale skin. (She's not albino!) Maybe they were just jealous...she was a top student, after all.

One day, Akane and Rei were called to a very high-ranked mission, not very common for the ninja class they were. They accepted the mission with hesitation. Akane knew something bad was going to happen. And something did. While they were running to their destination, they had the feeling they were being followed. Akane was always good with that sort of thing. So they decided to take a different route to throw off their persuers: To an isolated place that was very far away from where they needed to be. Feeling stuck, they decided to go back and retrace their footsteps. With all this running, Akane was getting tired. She found it very hard to focus on the tree branches, even though it was so natural to her that she could almost do it with her eyes closed. Her eyes lowered a bit and she lost the rythm. Her foot hit the branch she found hard to focus on and she fell forward with a wince. Rei tended to her ankle in the forest below...but now they really had no idea where they where. This area was a lot darker than the previous one. Akane was in pain. Rei was starting to regret accepting the mission in the first place.

At this moment they knew they were being followed. A man approached them; at first his appearance was strange. But as soon as words escaped his mouth, Rei knew they were in trouble.

Orochimaru, the enemy of many villages, was standing right before their eyes, gazing down at Akane in such a defenseless state. She was conscious but she could barely register what was happening.
"Ahh...such a pretty face," he laughed. "It kills me to see you in such a way, my darling."

"Get away from her!" Rei shouted, grabbing her friend's hand and getting away from him.

He laughed even harder. "You won't go very far! You see the look on her face, don't you? She's completley exhausted!"

Rei couldn't let Orochimaru get close to Akane. She had known about his interest in her abilities, but she didn't think he would actually confront them in such a way. Eventually, she had distanced herself and Akane from Orochimaru, but this didn't stop his efforts. He was persistent; he would do what he had to do to get his way. Unfortunatley it was always easy for him.

Rei hadn't noticed, but he was nowhere to be seen. She looked everywhere and she couldn't find him. "Great..." she muttered. Suddenly, Rei heard something from behind them and she discovered it was too late to do anything about it. Orochimaru had his teeth in Akane's flesh; Akane was now aware of her surroundings. She tried her best to get away, but couldn't. Her ankle gave out and she fell to her knees, coughing and holding the spot where Orochimaru had bitten her. On the right side of her upper neck was a symbol; a curse mark. She had heard about them but had never really understood what they were. Her eyesight went blank and she hit the ground with a rough thud.

Orochimaru cackled with pleasure and slinked away into the darkness. "I'll see you again soon, Akane..."

Rei ran to Akane, checked if her pulse was still good, and cried at the result. They were lost, Akane was on the verge of death, and now, Orochimaru was pursuing them. All seemed hopeless at that point. They hadn't even reached their destination. Rei felt horrible. But just then, she heard a voice; it was familiar. She looked everywhere and couldn't find the person. All was clear when several Jounins appeared before her eyes. She was completley confused as to why they appeared at that very moment when she felt all that she had done was a failure.

"Is she alright?" one of them said. Rei was silent and shrugged her shoulders. They looked at one another. "Send the medical team, ASAP!"

"Y-Yes sir!" another replied.

"Lord Kazekage told us all about it. You don't have to worry about the mission. Some of our other Jounins took care of it."

Rei sighed with relief. All she wanted to know now was if Akane would survive.
"Wait a minute," he said nervously. "What is that on her neck?"

Rei found herself speechless again. "I-I think they're called...um...curse marks?" she said weakly.

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. When the medical team gets here they should be able to explain everything. More importantly..." he shifted his gaze from Akane to Rei. "Are you alright?"
"U-Um...yes, I'm fine. But my friend Akane here lost focus on a treebranch while we were heading to our mission and broke her ankle." Rei looked at her sleeping friend with sorrow and worry. "I tried to heal it as best I could, but unfortunately I'm not very skilled in that sort of area..."

"It's alright. At least you tried," he smiled slightly.

"Yeah..."

Soon, the medical team arrived.

"Can you explain to me how she recieved such a curse mark?" he asked.

Rei flinched, realizing she had been asked a question. "Um...it's kind of hard to believe, but...Orochimaru showed up after Akane had broken her ankle. We both had the feeling we were being followed, so we changed our course of direction, but then we were completley lost. We tried to retrace our footsteps but all we ended up doing was going farther away from where we needed to be."

Everyone had concerned looks about their faces. "Orochimaru, you say? Hmm..." he examined the bite mark with intense thought. "We shouldn't let her lye here for much longer. We need to get her to the hospital as fast as we can, or she may not survive." Rei was prepared for anything now.

(Wow. This is getting almost too long! D: I didn't plan this out beforehand, you know. I'm making it up as I go along uneasy laugh I'm not going to go into perfect detail about this last part because my eyes are tired from staring at a computer screen for so long! Dx)
Okay. So Akane gets bitten by Orochimaru...almost like a vampire! (has been reading too much Vampire Knight LOL) And she gets a curse mark, kinda like Sasuke... shot The reason why Orochimaru is persuing Akane so intensely is because she has a very rare demon inside of her, and Orochimaru seeks that power. Akane's brother, Ryuu, also possesses the demon. He was actually like a test subject for Orochimaru when he had first discovered the demon and its full potential. I still don't know what it will be called, but basically the demon is like a second half. It can control your emotions, and it plays with the host's heart like a toy. It can be activated by sheer rage. Once activated, the host almost co-exists. Slowly, they start to lose their sense of being the longer the demon stays activated. If the host fails to regain conciousness, it's game over. They simply vanish and never come back. Of course, one must train to control their emotions. Alright...my back hurts...and I think you get the idea. Oh yeeah, I forgot to mention that Rei and Akane transferred to Konoha because of Orochimaru stalking them. But unfortunately, the insanity does not cease to exist. Poor Akane...

Chapter One will be coming soon I just have to type it all out. painful sigh Hope you liked the prologue though! :3

END, CHAPTER ZERO: PROLOGUE.