Trying something out, tell me what you think!

"Can I play with you?"

The question echoed through her being as she stood at the village gate. One of the last times she was there she'd innocently asked someone everyone seemed to ignore that very question. Her grandmother was talking to a shinobi, checking up on what's been going on while she'd been gone for a few weeks. Her grandmother had come to get her after she'd been gone for a couple years.

The young girl stood behind her grandmother and received several strange looks from those around her. She was quite pale with a long chestnut colored ponytail and exhausted looking golden eyes that seemed to dart around rapidly as she took everything in. Her small fingers twitched absentmindedly as she held onto the handle of an umbrella her grandmother had given her to shield her from the sun. She was dressed for the heat in black shorts and a cropped pale purple tank that revealed a strange, almost invisible, mark on the center of her stomach. She didn't know what it was, it's just always been there.

"And who might this be, Kin?" Someone asked her grandmother during a lull in the conversation, nodding towards the unusual girl who seemed to be wobbling tiredly as she stood.

Kin turned and looked at her, chuckling as she picked her up slipping the umbrella out of her grip but still held it over her. Turning back to those she'd been talking to she responded almost playfully," What, you can't tell? This is my granddaughter, Miss Hanako, returning to us with her parents' blessing after being in the leaf. I fear her prolonged exposure to that area may have made her soft. But, I'll fix that right up won't I Hana?"

She nodded along as she laid her head on Kin's shoulder. She intended to just rest her eyes a little. Her vision was starting to blur and it was getting harder to keep her eyes open. She was drifting out when she heard someone nervously ask,

"Are you sure about this Kin?"

That was the last thing she heard before the unexpected exhaustion really set in and when her repeated bad dream began. But… was it really a dream? Or some memory she just convinced herself was a bad dream?

It was shades of gray. A full moon. Typical warm night. A perfectly clear night with a great view from her home's roof. It was peaceful… right until it wasn't. There was an explosion, near the center of the village.

That was followed by a being. A huge, angry, terrible being. It began to rampage as the smoke cleared.

She couldn't help but scream, frozen to her spot. The being, as if it heard her over the chaos it created, looked at her. It never moved closer to her but a question began to fill her, echoing loudly as she just stared at it.

Can I play with you?

Then her blood ran cold as horrible laughter filled the air around her, drilling itself into her head.

It was an abhorrent dream that she just kept having. But it also felt like more than that. No, it had to be a dream. It just had to be. Because, if it wasn't that would also mean the darkness trying to devour her as she slept was real too. She'd worked far too hard to convince herself otherwise.

So in her mind, it was all a dream. Instead the truth simply was that she tried to befriend the village outcast and the next morning her parents decided that it would be best for them to move.

Hanako's eyes shot open and she hadn't a clue how much time passed. She was drenched in sweat and had the image of a monstrous face lingering in the back of her mind. She gasped and shook her head. Wiping sweat from her forehead she looked around.

She didn't recognize the room she was in. It had pale gray walls, a dresser, and a rocking chair. Sitting up in the bed she stretched her limbs.

"Um… Gran?" She asked loudly.

"Ah, you're awake. How did you sleep?"

The person that spoke was not her grandmother but she did look similar. What with graying black hair, blue eyes and a slight tan they looked quite similar. Though Kin's face was a touch… kinder.

"Um…" Hana shyly bit her lower lip.

"Oh, right. I guess this is technically our first time meeting. I'm your auntie Chiyako."

"Pleased to meet you." She nodded, blinking slowly as she got out of the bed. "Um whose room is this exactly?"

"Hm? This room? Seems to be where we'll be keeping you. But previously it was your dad's boyhood room. Why don't you explore a little? Kin will find you eventually. Ta." Chiyako winked playfully with a laugh.

Hanako tilted her head confused as she walked off. Her face was quite stern but that interaction seemed quite… exuberant. Shrugging she tried not to question things too much and decided to do as she suggested, wandering through the house.