"I was born in the Land of Honey. It's a very small village east of the Village Hidden in the Rain." I began

BEGIN FLASHBACK

"Hey mama, are we still gonna go to the festival tonight?" A six year old Kin asked her mother.

"Well of course we are sweetie, we've been planning on attending for weeks now. Why wouldn't we go?" A short fair skinned woman answered.

In the land of Honey an annual festival was held to commemorate the honey bees for the pollination of their dying crops. The belief of the village was that without the work of the bees, the people of the village would have died of starvation.

Then what's taking so long?" Kin huffed in frustration. This was her first year attending the annual celebration as her parents never had enough money to allow their daughter to experience the festivities in it's fullest. Fortunately enough, Kin's father got a promotion seven months ago and his pay raise allowed them to have extra money to spare.

The festival started a little over a hour ago and her parents were taking their time to get things ready, Kin's impatience and aggravation grew by the second. "Mama we have to hurry!"

"I know dear, just a few more minutes okay?" Kin's mother bent down to her level and gave her a firm hug of reassurance. "We won't miss anything more"

"Alright, everyone ready to go?" A voice bellowed.

"Daddy it took you forever, come on!" Kin trotted to her father and reached her hands in the air to be picked up and placed on her father's shoulders.

"I'm sorry. How about I buy you some delicious cottoned candy to make up for it?" He smiled.

"Hmm, okay."

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"This is the best day ever!" Kin cheered. She had become a sticky mess with the cotton candy all over her clothing and face.

"We're glad that you're enjoying yourself sweetie." Her father responded. "Would you like to watch the fireworks display next or play more games?"

"Umm" Kin drawled, "I wanna watch the fireworks, daddy."

"Okay then. Let's go find a good spot to sit, I know the perfect place." Kin's mother spoke. She grabbed Kin by the hand and led her and her husband to a forest clearing. "We should be able to see the fireworks and not be disturbed by other people."

"The view is amazing Kaede, how'd you know this was here?" Kaede's husband asked. The forest clearing was surrounded by many different types of flowers that gave a very pleasant aroma. The trees swayed slightly in the moonlit sky and tiny nocturnal creatures bounded about their business along the soft green grass. "My mother used to take me here to gather honey. And during night like this, we used to catch fireflies as well."

"Fireflies? Can I catch some fireflies mama?" Kin pleaded.

"Don't you want to watch the fireworks, sweetie?" Kaede asked. She smiled at her daughter's short attention span. Kin never seemed to keep her mind focused on one thing.

"Not anymore. Daddy can I catch some fireflies?" Kin stuck her bottom lip out in attempt to bribe her father with the puppy dog face.

"You need a jar to catch fireflies, Kin." Her father advised

"I can use the bag from my cotton candy." She told him.

"No you can't. They won't have any air to breathe." Her mother informed. At that information, Kin's face fell into disappointment. She had never seen real fireflies before and at her mother's mention of them, her mind was set on seeing some tonight.

Kaede sighed, "Hiroto love, may you please get a jar for Kin?"

Kin's ears perked at Kaede's request. She was finally going to go firefly catching, now her night was going to be perfect.

"Sure sure. I'll be right back." Hiroto stood up and slowly walked back to the festival grounds.

"I'm so excited mama, thank you so much!" Kin gave her mother the biggest hug her six years old body would allow.

"You're welcome sweetie." Kaede whispered in Kin's hair. "Now all we have to do is wait for your father to return."

"Okay mama." Kin let go of her mother and sat down next to her and laid her head in her mother's lap. Kin at quietly and listened to her mother hum a song as she stroked her fingers through her shoulder length hair.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, voices were heard interrupting the mother daughter duo's intimate moment. "Is daddy back already?" Kin sat up.

"Y-yes, probably." Kaede grabbed Kin's arms and forced her to her feet. "Would you like to play a game of hide-n-seek to play a trick on your father?" She smiled. Kaede had a terrible feeling in her gut that something was about to go wrong. Those voices were unfamiliar to her; it couldn't have been Hiroto considering the distance they walked from the festival grounds to their current location. He should be just entering the festival grounds rather than on his way back.

"Okay mama. This'll be fun 'cause daddy isn't good at hide-n-seek." Kin giggled

Kaede chuckled and grabbed Kin's hand a dragged her to a small berry bush, "I want you to hide here. This is a perfect place isn't it?"

"Uh-huh, it sure is." Kin happily crawled underneath the bush and settled in. "Aren't you going to hide to mama."

"Um-hmm. I'm going to hide behind that tree." Kaede pointed to a large Sakura tree in the direction the voices were coming from. "But first I'm going to tell you a special rule okay?"

Kaede crouched in front of Kin's hidden form and smiled, "no matter what, I don't want you to come out of your super secret hiding spot until I tell you to, okay?"

Kaede was vey nervous, if not unbelievably frightened at this point. But she had to protect Kin no matter what. If these people approaching meant no harm towards her or her daughter than she would be able to easily play off her suspicions with a few laughs. Then hopefully shortly there after her husband will arrive and she wouldn't have to be so on edge. But until then, her daughter's safety was top priority.

"Okay mama. I won't come out no matter what. I promise."

Kaede kissed Kin's forehead walked towards the Sakura tree. Her true intention wasn't to hide but to confront the voices approaching. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Kin was still hiding despite passing the Sakura tree she claimed she would hide behind.

"Well well. Are you here by yourself?" A voice asked. A petite male with blonde hair stepped out from the shadows, followed by a much larger man with bald head and full beard.

"The voices I heard must've come from these men." Kaede thought.

"No I'm not. I'm here with my husband actually; he should be on his way back right now." Kaede folded her arms across her chest and stood as tall as she could. She didn't want to show these two men any amount of fear.

"Oh you mean Hiroto, right?" The other man spoke. His crooked yellowed teeth stood contrast against his black beard. "No, he won't be joining us."

"H-how do you know him? What do you mean?" Kaede asked the fear within her was beginning to surface at the mention of her husband.

The bearded man chuckled and stroked his greasy beard. "You know that 'job raise' he'd gotten?"

Kaede gulped but kept her eye glued to the two men standing in front of her.

"He only got that promotion because of our boss' influence. He was supposed to do him a few favors but he failed to do so. So he told us to do something about it."

"What did you do to Hiroto?"

"You shouldn't worry about a lowlife like him, honey" The blonde man roughly yanked Kaede by her arm closer to his body, and pulled her light brown hair back to expose her neck. "Someone who involves themselves with people like us don't deserve to have women like you."

"No, don't touch me! Tell me where Hiroto is!" Kaede lost all of the confidence she had in the beginning.

The two men sighed in unison.

"If you insist." The blond man kept his grip on Kaede's hair tight and pulled her further into the forest. As she was being forced to some unknown location her mind began to go into overdrive. If her worst fears were confirmed Hiroto would be dead when they brought her to him, or at least very well near. Then of course they wouldn't allow her to live once she saw Hiroto's body, meaning that Kin would be left all alone.

Tears welled up in Kaede's eyes at the thought of her daughter becoming an orphan. She wanted nothing more than to see Kin grow up into a beautiful young woman, marry, and have an even more beautiful family. But now that may be impossible... Unless she is able to do something about it.

Kaede struggled in the man's grip, but he kept his hold on her hair tight. Giving up on trying to break free Kaede allowed all of her weight to drop to the ground, taking the small man with her. In the few seconds of confusion, Kaede kicked the bearded man in his groin and stomped the blond man on the ground as she attempted to run away.

Though she was able to get away, Kaede was still very much in danger as she had no where to run to. She didn't want to run towards Kin's location in case she decided to come out of her hiding place due to her her parents taking so long what with her natural impatience; and she didn't want to run to the festival grounds leaving the men to search the forest for her and stumbling across Kin instead.

"Hiroto, just what have you gotten yourself into?" She said to no one.

"I think I saw her run this way!" One of the men yelled.

Kaede's heart jumped into her throat at the sound of their voice. She frantically looked around for somewhere, anywhere to hide. Eyes landing on the river, Kaede stepped into the icy cold water and swam underneath the old, molding dock.

"I could've swore she ran this way." One of the men said. Kaede looked above her through a crack of the dock and saw the blond haired man pulling at his hair. "Goddamn it where the hell is she?!"

"Hey aren't you listening to me?" The blond man asked.

"Shut up idiot. Look over there, isn't that their kid?" The bearded man stood on the edge of dock. Kaede silently gasped and cursed under her breath as she saw Kin on the dock across the river with a large stick swirling it in the water's surface. She flinched at the creaking as the molding wood struggled to bare the large man's weight.

"Yeah, I guess." The blond man said digging deep within his pockets, "she looks pretty similar to this photo." The blond man handed the photo over to the bearded man. "Yes, it's her. I'm sure that Boss would appreciate her more than her parents."

The two men stepped off of the dock and stood on the water and began walking in Kin's direction

"Oh no, they're shinobi. I don't stand even the smallest chance against them." Kaede whispered. "But I still have to do something." Kaede quietly got out of the water and searched the ground for anything she can use as a weapon. Spotting a large rock, Kaede picked it up and ran along the perimeter of the river through the trees to hoping to reach Kin before they did.

"I have to save my daughter no matter what."