It began only two weeks ago...two weeks! That's all! My father always warned me against playing my grandmother's shakuhachi at night. He claimed that its music would draw out the onis. I never believed him for the simple fact that the "oni" was most likely an owl or toad. I didn't believe that demons would randomly materialize and attack innocent girls in the forest. Maybe I should have taken more caution.

I was just in a huge argument with my mother and I didn't want to wreck anything…or hit her. It wouldn't have mattered if I did. She's a ninja and is far faster than I'll ever be. I grabbed my bamboo shakuhachi and rampaged from the house, ready to kill something.

I stormed from the small village, not sure of where I was going. I only stopped once I reached the shallow river partially up the mountain. My favorite spot was unknown to others, I was sure. I sat down on the rock, more so slammed myself down, and jerked the flute to my lips. In sheer frustration, I blew across its top so hard that it shrieked with an extremely high note. Letting my anger out felt good and relieved a lot of stress.

I was so strained the past week trying to clean the house, cook for the guests, and carry messages to Kazekage. My father died four days earlier and funeral business is no joke. I was slaving around cooking most of the time while my mother received those who had come to give us their sympathy…mostly crazed out ninjas. I didn't like ninjas. They always made me feel inferior, though most of them seemed to have suffered a few too many blows to the head. Too often they would pause and glance at me curiously. Some would even venture into testing the absence of chakra in me and would perform jutsus. It got really annoying, and almost frightening, really quickly.

Too much was happening at our house and this was the first chance I had to get away. I almost felt bad about leaving my mother alone to deal with the remaining few guests like Tsunade and Kiba from Konoha, and even Kazekage, Gaara, himself. I hadn't known my father was know very well amongst these two villages until tonight.

But I had forgotten about most of that as I played ever so softly on my shakuhachi. The tune I played was slow and mournful, serpentine and smooth. With words, it would have been an ancient folktale song from my grandmother's world. The tale would have told of an oni that visited a girl and her brother as they flew kites by a stream. The oni came out and attacked the boy, carrying his dead body away, leaving the girl alone. A young crane, a white snake hatchling, and a tiger cub came from the woods and lead the young girl from the stream and back to her village where her family mourned over her brother's body. Seeing the grief of the little girl, the white snake offered its own life in exchange for the little boy's. The tiger offered its life to seal the oni away forever and the crane offered its life to bring joy and happiness back to the girl's family.

It was my favorite tale that obaasan had taught me and I never got sick of playing its beautiful melody over and over again. The notes slowly increased in volume and the music from my flute, swelled through the forest. The shrill call of the crane; the low, mysterious notes of the snake; and the midtones of the tiger almost came alive. And as I played, I cried.

I'll never be able to tell how long I sat there, but the moon had already risen to midnight. Still, I kept playing, and with it, rivers of tears came down my face. Otousan, why did you leave me here as the only one of our kind?

But I do know one thing, I hadn't expected for the next thing to happen.

HSSSSSS

I knew that sound al too well. The notes I had just been playing suddenly cut short as did my breath. I dared not move.

HSSSSS….HSSSSSSSS

I looked down, ever so slowly, that it seemed a million years before my eyes fell on the thing that had just hissed. It was a white snake. My jaw locked in fear. This wasn't any plain white snake…it was an albino cottonmouth. I was shocked since these snakes weren't supposed to live in the area. The snake didn't seem threatened for it hadn't flashed its mouth yet. It was simply hissing.

The serpent was slithering towards my feet and was inches within striking range. I didn't know what to do for moving might startle it and staying where I was…well…I couldn't say much. I simply sat there and cringed as the smooth scales ran over my bare toes. Cottonmouths are semi-aggressive snakes so it was like walking on eggshells not to upset it. I prayed so hard that it would slither away peacefully…but it did not.

I watched it carefully for about five minutes and slowly began to relax when it simply stopped slithering and hissing. By this point, it was draped around my feet and ankles. Then I understood…it was cold and was trying to warm itself on my feet. I would let it do so in hopes that it would soon go away. Something worse happened.

To my left, caught movement in the leaves on the forest floor. I glanced over to see a Sakishima-baikada (white banded wolf snake) slithering through the leaves. The long, thin snake wasn't venomous, but it speed was sure enough to creep the blazes out of me. I groaned when I realized the little reptile was heading toward me.

About the same time that the wolf snake reached the spot I was sitting, I felt something cold slide easily onto my shoulder. I yelped, but dared not move. My eyes followed the object that had glided onto my shoulder…it was yet another snake. My jaw trembled and I could feel the color draining from my face. I longed to faint right about then, but I could not.

The inland taipan, or fierce snake, curled its blue and green scales around my neck and its head was poised right by my throat. This was the deadliest snake in the world and I bet it could hear the blood pounding through my veins.

I don't know why or how. Maybe I smelled like a tasty rabbit to them all, but about ten minutes later, at least fifteen snakes either slithering over my body or simply resting around me. I was crying though not able to hide my tears due to the tigersnake curled around my left arm and the diamondback rattlesnake around my right. I simply moaned and whimpered in sheer terror as tears fell freely down my cheeks. A giant, heavy anaconda had draped itself over my lap and its head rested on my shoulder.

I was so relieved when I heard footsteps approach. I was terrified, tired, sad, and hungry. I wanted to go home and the sound of feet signified that someone had come to take me home. The footsteps stopped behind me and to my surprise, none of the snakes were startled. I twitched when the inland taipan was gently lifted from my neck.

"You're a good snake," said a soft, slightly crackly, voice from behind. I closed when I realized I didn't recognize that voice and it didn't sound warm and comforting at all. "Even with your venom, you resisted attacking my specimen."