Chapter 2:

There was darkness surrounding Aiya. Almost as if she was floating in an endless void, not knowing if she was drifting up or drifting down: nothing but emptiness. That is, until, there was a small orange flicker in the distance. She tried to reach that light at the end of the tunnel, reaching her hand out to see where this light would lead her. The flicker became brighter and brighter as she came closer until the flash of light seemed to blind her causing her to squeeze her eyes shut.

She opened them slowly to hear screaming people around her and a fire blazing. Everything seemed like a blur to her, she couldn't make out the faces of any of the people, nor did she know where she was.

"There you are little one," a voice said from behind her. Aiya turned to, still unable to make out the face of the person talking to her.

"Don't worry, you will be safe with me," The strange figure said as it reached out to her. There was a sudden jolt in her body as she found herself sitting upright on a bed, in a dark room where only the light from under the door was shining. She looked around; it seemed that she was shut into a room with no windows: thinking maybe she would have escaped on them. Aiya then remembered, about the monster that attacked her and her savior, a boy, around her age, with black hair. And what's more, a metallic band with the symbol of a leaf. Aiya had no idea what that meant, where she was, or who these people were.

Remembering back when she was around the age of five, she and her mother were standing on the street, along with the rest of the town, watching the construction workers finish building the wall. She asked her mom why the wall was being built, to which her mother replied.

"There are scary beasts on the other side, and the only way to protect everyone was to keep the monsters from getting in."

That told Aiya that there were no inhabitants living in that forest, and all that was there were scary stories of monster and strange beasts.

The creak of a floorboard caught her attention as she could hear whispers coming from the other side of the door.

As carefully as she could, she slipped from the top of the bed, lightly touching her feet to the floor as she tiptoed towards the voices.

Leaning in, she listened closely.

"We can't keep her here, we have no idea who she is and she could probably give us away and our location!" one male voice whispered with anger.

"You know we don't kill innocent people," hissed another.

"That's not what I was saying!" the first snapped back."

The other one spoke again, "She's just a kid; I'm sure if we bring her to him, then everything will be fine."

It was hard for Aiya to hear the whole conversation. She just had a lump in her gut, as her heart pounded. She gulped, backing away from the door and making her footsteps sound louder as the whispering ceased. She knew she was caught.

The door swung open, the force of wind knowing her backwards as two people looked down at her. Both were wearing the same leaf sign as the boy she had met. The one on the right had a pale complexion to him, and having black hair. While the one on the left had a more dark skin to her, a female, with dark brown hair and yellowish looking eyes. Both of these strangers looked as if they were both many years older that she was.

"Come with us, the older male of the three of them, gestured with his hand out towards Aiya, giving her a smile. A smile that looked convincing but as far as she could tell was a bit forced in this situation.

Having her blindfolded from in the room, the two strangers led Aiya out of the building where the crickets were chirping and the cool air made her slightly shiver. It was an awkward silence between the three of them as they walked, but Aiya made an effort to speak.

"Can I …uh…at least know who you people are?" She asked; with a half unsteady voice from her fear. Neither of the strangers spoke for a moment, but finally the female said something first.

"You can call me Chocho." She said with a slight chipper in her voice. She was kind hearted and didn't want Aiya to feel afraid more than she already was.

"I'm Sai." The man said, trying to sound happier like chocho but failed.

Chocho spoke again.

"But our question is, who are you?" she said a bit perplexed.

"My name is Aiya," she said without a beat. Her fear caused her to speak pretty fast.

"No more questions," Sai said, with a more harsh tone that was directed at Chocho. Then all three of them went quiet again.

It had seemed like forever, but Aiya was able to hear more voices coming closer and closer as they walked. The voices, that sounded chipper, began to die down to a cautious whisper when the three passed through. It made Aiya feel a bit uncomfortable.

"There is a stair there so watch your step," Chocho said as all three walked into what was another building, hearing a pair of sliding doors close behind her. They walked further and further in until they stopped Aiya and instructed her to kneel where she was. She did as she was told and knelt down.

Sai removed the blindfold as Aiya tried adjusting her eyes to the light in the room. It was an old style Japanese building. Tatami mats lay on the floor while the walls were made of wood and paper. Aiya looked in front of her as a person was kneeling there.

"Wow she is elegant." Aiya thought. Long dark brown/grey hair draped on the shoulders of the person kneeling; Aiya noticing the old styled kimono.

But what she saw was strange was the eyes. The strangers' eyes were a pale hue with s light indigo tint to them. Almost like those of an alien. The figure spoke to her.

"Who are you? And how did you find us?" A shocking deep voice revealing that the person was a man. That made Aiya jump.

"M-my name is Tanaka Aiya!" she said with a loud voice, sitting with her back as straight as possible, showing her manners to the best of her ability.

"As to how I found you, well, you see… I was just wondering what a strange sound was that I had heard the other day and I t was coming from beyond the wall, so I snuck myself through a small hole and—"But the boy cut her off fast.

"Did you say you came from the other side of the wall?" He asked in an alarming tone, ready at his feet, looking at Aiya: a shocked look draped over his face.

The other two, Chocho and sai, who were seated to both the right and left side of her, looked at her with a shocked faces as well. Aiya was a bit confused as to what the fuss was all about.

The man shook his reaction off of his face as fast as he could as a fourth party in the room came over and whispered into his ear," Maybe we should tell—".

"No!" The man said in a hush.

He paused for the longest time, standing there, with his eyes shut.

"We can't allow you to leave…there could be a chance that you would tell someone that we are here." He said opening his eyes slowly.

"But I—"Cut off again.

"So in saying that, you will remain here until further notice."

And with that he motioned the two ninja beside her to blindfold her again.

Aiya was a bit crushed. She was sure that her mother must have been worried sick about her by now, and she had no means of communication to her to say that she was fine, and not to worry for a while.

But Aiya had finally snapped. Fearing that her life would be taken by these people, she waited until they were outside of the building and leading her away through the woods again. She decided to hatch up a small plan for herself.

She waited a little bit, with silence, and said, "If I have to stay here, can you at least remove the blindfold please?"

She asked with the tone of an injured Deer. The two were kind of hesitant, but figured that since Aiya was not" one of them" that there would be no harm in at least doing that. Taking it off herself, Aiya looked around. They were leading her through what once looked like a village. Most of which was in ashes, and the ones that did survive were covered with the weeds and stalks of plants which overtook them.

Aiya was then ready to enact Phase two of her plan. She shyly motioned for Chocho and whispered in her ear.

"Oh?!" Chocho said with a bit of shock. Alright, but, just make it fast okay?" she said, allowing Aiya to rush in the bushes. And as soon as she did and she knew sai and Chocho had turned their backs to her, she made a mad dash towards the buildings. She made her way through, crisscrossing down paths of crumpled wood, and ducking under branches and eventually crawling into a small hole in the side of a lone standing home. On the inside were almost all the possessions, including furniture, which had remained untouched. She walked further in seeing books scattered all on the floor and burnt pictures that were illegible to the eye. But there was a framed picture that was faced upside down on a table in the hallway towards the front door.

Curious, Aiya lifted the frame to see the picture. It was a family portrait of a mother, father and about a year old baby. It was the only picture that hadn't been destroyed. She noticed that the mother in the picture had the same eyes as the man that she had just met, probably because they must have been related somehow. Sister maybe?

The father, however, where his face should have been there were burn marks on it so all she could pick out was his blue eyes. The baby had small blonde hairs on its head and blue eyes like the father.

She sat the picture back down and looked at the rest of the long table. There were more pictures that were placed face down. So one by one she looked at each of the photos. It was almost like telling a story. The baby had grown older and older and soon the couple having another child, and soon the father didn't seem to be in any of the photos. She let a slight sigh out. She didn't know her father either, and felt that the kids in these photos were in the same boat as she was.

Aiya then came across the last photo on the table. Turning it over so that she could see, it was a picture of a young man and a pregnant young girl. The man had a kind smile and had brown eyes and brown hair. While the young woman had shoulder length dark blue hair and blue eyes. But Aiya just stared at her for a long time.

She had a nostalgic feeling, like something she was supposed to remember.

There was a sudden memory that flashed from within Aiya. It was again blurry and she could barely make out the faces or words to what was going on.

She muttered a name to herself over and over again.

"Hima….Himawari…?"

Not realizing that Chocho and Sai had caught up to where she was. They were behind her, but both heard her muttering.

Chocho spoke up first.

"How do you know that name?" she asked calmly placing her hand on Aiyas' shoulder. Aiya turned her head to Chocho, a small tear falling down her cheek.

"Who…is…Himawari?" she asked, with a hurt look on her face.

sorry for not uploading a new chapter in a while. i get busy with work since i am a fulltime. but here is the second chapter and i hope to have chapter three up sooner than this one. again remember to send a review of what you think so far, i love reading them!