So this is Chapter 2, Enjoy.

Note: I do not own Naruto, just the plot and the OC.

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Since today is fortunately my day off, it means I have plenty of time to do what needs to be done. Packing my bag, buying some things from the market, and so on. Packing the bag is the matter of throwing in the leftover biscuits, a jacket, a change of clothes, a candle (although I would think they would have one), my notebook, and as a last minute thought, my pocketknife. There, I think to myself, slinging it onto my back. "Guess that is settled." I tell myself, and from my small hiding spot under my bed I pull a small bag of coins. Not much, but hopefully enough for what I'll be needing to buy. Closing the windows so precipitation doesn't start causing mold, I look around the barn one last time for anything I might need. "I'll will come home tomorrow, so be good." I say to no one in particulier, and with that I close the front door, lock it, and head out.

It is such a nice day out, well at least I think it is. Even though the last bits of snow still cover the ground, the buds are starting to pop onto the trees, and-

My thought is interrupted with the sensation of someone sticking something into my mouth, thick like cotton and muting my desperate screams. "What is going on? Let me go!" I try to shout, but my words are muffled. Thin, bony arms wrap around my waist, and when I turn around, I see the lecherous priest grinning at me menancingly, although he is barely keeping his grip on me as I struggle to free myself. Pain erupts the back of my head as someone strikes me with a blunt object, and my vision is swimming, the last thing my eyes see is the despicable Jasper smiling while my vision goes black.

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I do not know how long it takes me to awaken, but when I do, I feel as though I am in a predicament of sorts. It seems I have been blindfolded, so if when I open my eyes, all I see is nothingness. Furthermore, I feel as though my hands and legs have been bound, which definitely is a bad omen, not to mention I feel the sensation of sitting on a carriage. Kidnappers? Hm, I knew Jasper was curr. At least the gag has been removed and I can breathe properly, but as I shuffle and start to try to shake out of the bindings, a familiar voice breaks into whimpering apologies.

"I'm sorry Ren, I'm so sorry, but I've been left with no choice. It wasn't me, it was the council, all their doing, I just have to follow orders, or they'll throw me out, sack me. There was no oth-" "Quit your snivelling, Aldo, you are simply make yourself appear more of a bumbling idiot than you really are. And don't act as though you were powerless in the matter, coward that you are." Jasper hisses, and Aldo is silenced, save for his whimpering. "If you feel so guilty, why don't you unbind me and let me go?" I ask the mayor, but his crying only gets louder. "Because we have been put in a difficult situation, and you seem to be the most viable solution." "Ahh, so you are in on this too, Hamish. Care to explain?" I state, venom dripping in my words for the village's primary landlord, and one of the few in the village who has received any proper secondary education.

"Hmph, fair enough, I suppose, considering the circumstances. As you know, Pieter returned a few weeks ago from his work in the city, and he was rather battered from the journey home." Hamish says, and I shrug my shoulders. Pieter is probably the best merchant in town, and when it comes to making business propositions to the wealthier towns, he does his job well. I don't talk to him much, but I had heard from his niece Sophia that he had quite the trip back home, although she wouldn't give me any details (Other then the fact that his back and legs looked as though they'd been raked with hot knives). Hamish doesn't wait for me to respond. "While the stories have spun about, it is only the Council who know that Pieter went off track in the impeding weather, and accidentally entered the demon's territory. He was chased out of it rather quickly, but not without receiving a parting gift and a warning."

"You aren't saying that the Council is scared about a couple of myths, are you?" I demand, and I hear him sigh as Jasper snaps. "Impudent wench! The demons of the forest are nothing less than Satan's devoted followers, full of malice and bloodthirsty discontent. You are blinded by your lack of faith to see the truth, which lies right in front of your nose!" he hisses, effectively spitting the words in my face. "Well, I might be able to see better if you take this blindfold off of me." I reply, and SMACK goes the old priest's wrinkly hand into my face. "Silence!" he hisses, and then he groans as a loud THUMP fills the carriage. "That's enough, Jasper. Don't make me lose my patience with you." Hamish mutters, effectively shutting the pastor up. For a moment the only sound is Aldo's whimpers and the movement of the carriage.

"To answer your question, the Council is not concerned of myths, but of real threats. The demons, although you may not believe it, do exist, and would easily destroy the life we have built here if they are provoked. The Council fears that the trespassing of territory has provoked the demons, and that unless we appease them, they may decide to strike." "And this is where I come in, hmm?" "Yes, Ren. To sacrifice Pieter would damage our relations and commerce with the other villages, and his disappearance would cause suspicions in the people. However, considering that you are a wanderer, a stranger to these parts, with no ties or relations to speak of, well, your disappearance could be explained as the decision to move on, and there are plenty of fine young boys to work for Gustav. Furthermore, it is known that it is advisable to offer a young, female sacrifice in re-" "Don't you dare finish that sentence. Who else knows about it? Gustav? Cliff? The whole bloody village?" I interrupt, dreading to hear the answer. "No, no, of course not. Only the council is, or was, supposed to be aware of this. However, a certain individual" Pause "Decided he couldn't keep a secret, and revealed the secret to Cliff."

He knew. And he didn't tell me, the selfish fiend didn't even give me a warning in advance! Hamish seems to notice my change of mood, because then he speaks again. "If it is any consolation, he offered to take your place, essentially begged to take your place. It was only after we threatened to have you whipped beforehand in front of the town before sending Felix to the workhouse that he promised to keep silent, on the condition that you be allowed to bring whatever you had on hand. Despite appearances, he really is a weak willed person." Hamish says dryly, and through the blindfold I glare at him, realizing the implications of what he had intended. The threat of sending Cliff's sole grandchild to the workhouses makes my blood boil. Next thing I know I ram my head forward in the direction of his voice, slamming into Hamish's gut and trying to move my bound hands to punch his head. Aldo finally stops crying at the eruption of my savage behaviour, and Hamish, who is unfortunately a big man, manages to push me away back in my seat. I kick and flail and howl, enrages at the injustice of it all. Thin skeleton arms make a vice grip around my neck while another set of hands grab my legs and bind them together. It is only once a steely tip is brushing my neck that I stop moving, and Hamish begins to speak.

"Tsk tsk, little Ren, I would have thought that your manners had improved since you first came. Good thing you are the one being offered up, I suppose- I am sure that you would fit in perfectly with the demons, if they had the self control to resist ripping your throat out." He muses, and I take my time to speak. "Hamish, you are the most despicable being I have ever known, yet all of you disgust me even more. I hope you all rot in hell, and that the demons come in the night to tear you all to shreds, leaving your bloody remains for the whole town to see." I mutter darkly, and Hamish laughs at this. "Hmm, famous last words. Care to give her a final word of peace, Jasper?" "I pray that your death is swift and your eternal punishment fitting for the sins you committed in this life, so that your soul may be cleansed of its foul impurities." "Thank you, Jasper. Aldo?" But the mayor has no words for me. "Hmm, I suppose he is speechless with emotion. How sweet. Stop the carriage."

The carriage stops, and I feel the cool spring air touching my face as the door opens, and I am ungracefully pushed out of the carriage and into the last of the snow. We must be deep in the woods for the snow to be so thick and plentiful, I think as I shiver. I hear footsteps, and I am lifted up briefly before being placed in what feels to be a piece of wood. Once I am effectively tied to the wood, someone starts pulling me away from the whining horses and the carriage, someone following behind me. We walk for what seems like forever, well, more like I am dragged, and I imagine what any passerby might imagine of this scene; a bundled girl on a piece of wood being dragged by a tall, passive looking Hamish (Hamish is the only one strong enough to move me anywhere) and a weepy Aldo (Jasper certainly wouldn't be crying for me). We finally stop, and it is quiet. "Demons of the forest! We wish to reconcile for our prior faults, and so we offer you a tithe, in order to maintain the peace between us. Do with her as you will, but offer our village benevolence in return. We now will leave you be." Hamish shouts to the woods, and with that starts walking away, presumably to the carriage. "Re-ren, I am s-so-sorry. I didn't want t-this to happ-ppen…" Aldo whispers, stuttering his apologies as he cries, and I can imagine the tears streaming down his chubby red face. As much as I hate this, I cannot help but feel my heart soften for the mayor.

"…I understand, Mayor. Please don't cry- makes me think you don't think that I will get out of this alive. Can you get this blindfold off, though? I want to see it coming." I tell him softly. I can hear him shaking in his boots, and Hamish calling for Aldo to hurry up. A bit of shuffling and I can feel his hot breath on my neck. "Can't untie it, but I should be able to loosen it enough so you can let it fall off, same with the stuff on the board." He pants, and I can feel his pudgy fingers pulling at the ropes, until I feel them go slack, and I nod my head. "Thank you, Aldo. Just so you know, I don't hate you." I tell him- even though it is a lie, and though my anger is still burning, I know that later I will not be able to stand the thought of the guilt that would be eating at him for the rest of his days. He seems overcome with emoion as I feel a hot fat tear drip onto my cheek from above. "Tha-a-nk y-ou. Goo-od luck, Ren." He says softly, and after another moment, I hear him go jogging off to Hamish, who I can hear scolding Aldo even at this distance. Finally, after what seems like forever, I am alone in the woods, with the 'demons'.

The first thing I do is squirm through the bindings until I am off that god-forsaken board and in the snow. While my hands are still bound, I can still at least move my thumbs a bit, and I spend who knows how long pulling at the blindfold until it finally falls off, and it takes me a moment for my eyes to adjust to the rays of late afternoon sunlight pouring into my eyes. When I finally can manage to not blink every two seconds, I see that my predictions were correct- I am deep in the woods- very deep. If it wasn't for Hamish and Aldo's messy footsteps in the snow, I would have never thought that people had ever come this deep into the wilderness. Judging by the way the sun is slowly setting over the horizon, I probably have a few hours of daylight left. Which means that I have a few hours to find some shelter or trek into the next town over. Because I highly doubt that Hamish and the rest of them will just let me stroll back into town after supposedly running off. I mean, Cliff might take me in, but how long could we realistically keep that façade up? "Getting off track…" I mutter to myself, shaking my head clear of the thought. I have to stay focussed- overrated myths aside, if I don't find somewhere warm to bunk for the night, I might freeze to death. It may be spring, but the nights are just as perilous this early in the season as winter.

It takes me at least ten minutes to gnaw the rope around my wrists so I can free my hands, and another few minutes to unbind my legs so I can walk. I quickly search my sack, thank god they let me keep it, and grab the last crummy biscuit (Picking off the funny green spots of the surface) and my dagger, sticking the dagger in its leather pouch on the side- demons aside, I would imagine that wolves and coyotes may be roaming around here, and I would rather have something to pull out in case they decide to pull a fast one. And with that, I start following the footsteps, munching on the cold biscuit to pass the time. It does not fill the stomach, but it simply helps knowing that there is something in my gut. I vaguely note that the trail goes downhill, and with the descent, the snow becomes less thick, until I reach that point where the tracks of my captors fade off, and there is nothing but a dead leaf carpet and a bunch of trees to follow. Yes, this is not the most helpful thing.

I look back at the sun, which is setting over the trees and is reduced to a golden orange sliver, the sky alight with a rainbow of pinks and yellows and magenta and blue. It really is a beautiful sight, and if I had the time, I could spend all day looking at it. Unfortunately, time is not a luxury I have at the moment. "Soooo, what to do, what to do." I ponder aloud, pacing around the spot where the footsteps fade, making the snow fade where I step. I obviously can't just stay where I am- I want to at least try to make some more progress, hopefully find a source of water before calling it a night, if it comes to that. It appears that the trail continues slightly left, judging by the line of squished, muddy leaves that continue from where the footsteps end. I suppose I can only hope to hit the road eventually, which runs parallel to these woods, I believe. "If I can just stick to the trail…" I murmur, and nod to myself. As much as there is a possibility that there would be a shorter route to the road, I would rather not blindly walk in the woods with nothing to follow. Not that I exactly have much to follow anyways. I check my pocket, feeling for the knife and hoping to find a morsel of food, but find nothing else. As such, I keep walking.

After 5 minutes of walking, I start to get bored of just following the faint outline of footsteps on the ground and praying that I am going the right direction. And when I get bored, and I happen to be in the middle of nowhere, with no one to hear me for miles, I hum. And sing, from time to time, but mostly humming. I never remember the words to songs, but I can hum a tune pretty well. So that's what I do as I go along; I hum, starting with this violin piece I heard some fellow playing in one of the Concert Halls they have in the big cities. Its kinda crazy, with all these chromatic notes that sound demented until you make chords out of them. But since humming is monophonic, I do the best I can. And while humming, and following the trail, I think, a lot. A little bit about the sudden circumstances, but mostly about what to do next. I do not want to go begging again- to beg on the streets, having people stare at you in pity and disgust, is truly demoralizing. I could travel to one of the villages and find work there, make a new name for myself, but the only risk would be that perhaps someone might hear about a girl coming out of the woods, and Pieter or someone from the village will find out, and then Hamish will realize that his sacrifice escaped, and then that would cause a whole lot of unnecessary trouble for everyone.

I could go to a big city, I muse, debating whether that would be a good idea. Last time I was living in the city, I was little more than a hobo, with no job and living off scraps I could steal. That was probably the lowest time for me, and I do not want to go through a rerun of that. "But this time it would be different." I tell myself, and it's true. I have work experience now, I can do trades work. I know many folks are hesitant about hiring a woman, especially one who has no record or references. But surely somewhere in such a big place with so many people, someone would be willing to hire me as an apprentice or what not. And if I live in the city, and if I could save up the money, maybe I would be able to get some education, go to school…a music school even! I know it be next to impossible, but I know that they have a lot of good schools in the south, especially in Wien. That would be cool- I don't know if I would be any good, but I would get to play all the piano I want, and try some other instruments too, or I could even write music. I laugh out loud at this, although I don't mean to. It seems absurd, the kind of things that only happen in dreams. "Well, I suppose it's possible." I mumble, feeling a small grin spread across my face.

And it is in my stupid moment of childish glee that I stumble over the root. I groan, spitting wet dead leaves and pine needles out of my mouth, trying to wipe most of the mud and gunk off my face. It is at that moment that I realize how dark it has gotten, looking up at the sky to find it a somewhat dark blue, the moon shining brightly in comparison to the tiny stars I spot here and there. "Damnit." I mutter to myself, pulling myself off the ground and looking around, finding the forest to have thinned out a bit, and I can see a river to my far right, shining like liquid silver in the moonlight, gurgling softly. But when I stare at the ground, even with the poor lighting I can tell that I am the first one to have stepped here. I curse again at my stupidity, frustration filling me up. "How could I be so stupid?" I ask myself in disbelief, and put my hand over my eyes, trying to wipe my face of fatigue. I release and long heavy sigh, and open my tired eyes. Ok, it looks like there isn't much choice. There are some trees over by the river- I can cut of some dry branches and start a fire to keep warm, I think to myself. If I am lucky, there may be some dry leaves beneath the wet ones, or at least some twigs. Heck, they may be cattails by the river side. I will have to rest there for the night though, and keep going and figure out my next move in the morning. And with that conclusion, I start walking towards the river.

I do not know how long the footsteps were following me, but when I finally heard them, I freeze up. The footsteps stopped a moment too late, and I heard the soft CRRISH PLIISH as they landed in the soft mucky debris. I start sucking in deep breaths, my muscles tightening in panic, my mind whirling with the possibilities. 'It could just be a squirrel or- No, has to be bigger. Deer are pretty shy animals, and I doubt they just go stalking people. Coyote's usually live in open spaces, and I do not know if this would qualify as open enough. Wolves, well that is possible, but a lone wolf is generally not a common thing. And bear would have to be waking up pretty early from hibernation to be lumbering about. A person, but who in their right mind goes stalking the woods in the middle of the night, other than myself? Killers, gangmen, shadowmen, psycho's.' I really do not like any of those options. 'OK, it knows that you know it is there. Either confront or run for the hills. But you aren't supposed to run from wild animals, because they generally chase you. However, the chance of me being able to overpower a full grown psycho killer rapist is not in my favour. As if you could take down a hungry wolf or bear, but let us make the hypothesis that you can. So, turn around, slowly, and then once you know what it is, you decide. But if it is an animal, you are supposed to stay completely still! Attacking it would just provoke it- "Ackk, screw it." I mouth to myself, and, hand on the hilt to the knife, I slowly turn around.

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Of course there has to be a cliffhanger, but I'll get the next chapter up soon. This chapter kind of became longer than I thought it would be though... anyways I promise that the next chapter will include the introduction of the Inuzuka's.

Later,

clarinetti