Kuda and Rin walked hand in hand to the village's grand hall. The villagers we already sitting and waiting for them to make their appearance. Rin nervously hid behind Kuda as they approached the table located at the back of the hall. "Esteemed Elders. I, Kuda Fitche have decided to foster my dear friend's child. I humbly ask that you allow me to selfishly raise this child as my own and have her learn the ways of the Gelta Tamish Village." Kuda asked as she cupped her fist and bowed to a row of elderly people.
The people in the room started to murmur to one another as the elder sitting in the middle stroked his long white beard. "Child who is your mother?" The man asked but Kuda spoke up instead. "Please Elder Siavash, it was a very dear and old friend who just passed away. I do not want this child to relieve her grief." An old lady sitting at the far left slammed her hand against the table. "Insolent child! How dare you hide behind one of our own when the head elder asks you a question! Come out now! Show us your face and tell us who your mother is!"
"Really Elder Layal, how can you scare a sweet child who lost her mother like that? Hhhhm I think you are trying to mask your ulterior intentions again?" Elder Layal instantly flushed, she crossed her arms and silently sat in her seat. "Elder Donella, Elder Layal and Elder Onyx we must remember we are here to council. You must not let your petty arguments or distractions stop you from seeing the bigger picture." An older man said. He was sitting right in between of Elder Layal and Elder Siavash.
Rin had peaked around Kuda to look at the five elders sitting at the table. A friendly looking grandpa sitting on the right had noticed her and started to smile and wave. Rin shyly looked away but remembered to wave back. The old man was overly delighted that people could have sworn that they saw hearts floating above his head. When he heard what the other man said he quickly became stern.
"Elder Nisang! How dare you accuse me of anything other than sticking to the agenda! We called them to look at the little darling! How long has it been since this village has seen a little one?! The youngest group here are all pre-teens and aren't cute anymore!" Elder Onyx yelled as he pounded his fist against the table.
"None of them are going to popping any babies any time soon and by the time they do I will be dead! So go suck a cod and let me enjoy my time with this little one!" He finished shouting as he straightened out his grey robe.
Elder Donella cleared her throat and turned to look at Elder Onyx. "Elder Onyx don't you have 3 great grandchildren right now? I mean yes, it is exciting to see young blood but without verifying her background how are we to know she is not some sort of spy? Are we going to have a repeat of what happened 25 years ago?"
Elder Onyx started to smile and Rin couldn't help but step forward. Her eyes grew big as she stared at the old man with the mischievously, alluring coper eyes and cheeky smile. "Elder Donella, I can honestly say that what happened back then was the best decision we ever made! That child was a ray of sunshine and made every one of us feel special. How can you only look back on something that had no answer?"
"Nonsense that child betrayed us! She up and left the village without a word of goodbye. How is that making us feel 'special'? She took our secrets and ran!" Elder Layal hissed as Elder Nisang nodded his head in agreement. "No, I don't think that is the case." Elder Siavash said as he slowly raised from her seat.
"Ahh good friend, you saw." Elder Onyx said as he jumped from his seat and landed in front of Rin. He stretched out his arms and picked Rin up. He snuggled against one of her chubby cheeks and he beamed with happiness.
"Elder Onyx what are you doing?! Do you not see that this child has the colouring of those bastards up North!" Elder Donella spat out as her beautiful face turned sour. "Really now, how long is it going to take for you to see who this child is." Elder Onyx said as he planted a kiss on Rin's cheek causing her to giggle. The innocent laughter caused half the room to melt. "Really now Elder Onyx how can you ... be.... so... Angela!" Elder Layal said before she started to cry. "The girl looks so much like Angela!"
The other Elders looked at her closely and Elder Siavash had finished walking around the table and was already standing beside Elder Onyx. Motioned with his arms and hands for Rin to climb into his embrace. "You know Angela would never go near the Esau Obadiah clan. Let alone produce an offspring for them. Little one can you please tell us what happened." Elder Siavash said as she stretched out to him.
Rin looked into his face then to the other Elders and tears started spilling out. "Daddy loves mommy so much and he couldn't save her or the baby! Mommy told me to run! I'm a bad, bad girl I left daddy crying! He's all alone but mommy, my mommy didn't do anything bad! But they wouldn't let her live! She knew they would kill her one day so she made an escape plan.... I don't know if daddy is dead too, he said he couldn't be without us."
"It's okay, little one. It's okay." Elder Siavash said as he gently patted her back. Elder Layal looked conflicted while Elder Nisang was just furious. "See this child will bring destruction to our village. The Esau Obadiah clan will want her back and she has lead them here!" The villagers started murmuring again but Elder Onyx quickly silenced everyone.
"Angela would have had a plan to have this child come to us in the most discreet way possible. If they had her this entire time, why haven't they come to kill us? Easy that child loved every single person in this room and sacrificed her life to keep us protected." Elder Onyx said firmly.
Elder Donella stood up and moved beside them. "That's right! This child looks no more then 5 maybe 6 years old at the most! If Angela betrayed us the Esau Obadiah clan would have already attacked us long ago. The least we can do for her is protect her child, teach her the ways of the world so she can survive!" She said with a conviction that it caused the villagers in the room to echo her opinions.
"Really Elders, can you honestly believe this child!" Elder Nisang shouted but it was Elder Layal that stopped his rant. "We have already lost. What we think is irrelevant now... Little one can you tell us your name?"
Rin smiled brightly as she hugged Elder Siavash. "My name is Rinera Bloom and I am 4 and a half!" She said proudly. "Rinera Bloom, we welcome you to our village." Elder Layal said as the room erupted into cheers.
The years flew by in a flash, Rin had successfully followed in her foster mother's footsteps. She became an excellent shadow ninja and had already completed more missions then anyone her age had previously accomplished.
Everyone in the village loved her and she felt like she was on top of the world, that is until the spring of her 7th birthday. Rin was called in by the elders and was told she had been selected for a very special mission. Failure was not an option as death was not even a sever punishment for the crime.....
....
"Ariana, I'm sorry but I can not tell you too much about the details of my mission." Rin said apologetically. Ariana was confused, Rin had been so talkative until now what was stopping her from moving forward. "Don't give me that look! It has nothing to do with me not wanting to talk about but not being able too. I'm sure Cayden had to go through a similar oath." Rin said as she turned her gaze towards him.
Cayden averted his eyes and fiddled with his thumbs. "Worse huh? Well you see, speaking about your true identity is forbidden. Even if I uttered the truth of it, I would die a slow painful death. If memory serves me correctly it should take three days for the curse to complete."
"No! That is ridiculous! Who would do this?! I can't believe how close I am to finding out the truth yet I'm nowhere nearer then I was before." Ariana said as she dramatically fell backwards from her sitting position. She laid on her back and stared at the ceiling.
"Can you tell me anything?" She mumbled. "We called you princess." Cayden started to say and Ariana sat up quickly, giving Cayden her undivided attention. "We were told that your house hold had wanted children around your age to become you playmates but in reality we were to be your guards."
Cayden looked at Rin seeing is she could continue the conversation. With a heavy sigh he kept going. "You are right Ariana, we played a lot together. In a very short time we all grew very close to one another. We ate together, we cried together, Rin would always be so over protective of the both of us... she loved you so much yet we couldn't protect you back then." Cayden said as he gave Ariana a bittersweet smile.
"Next thing we know, a whole year went by.... We were so happy and carefree when they said we could have a picnic we didn't think anything about it. We didn't see them coming or realise it was a trap." Rin sighed and decided to pick up from where Cayden left off.
....
"We are leaving the house! Big sister Rin we are leaving the house behind!" A small voice said as her eyes sparkled with awe. Rin giggled as she watched Ariana's world widen just a bit. Cayden tried his best to suppress his smile but was having a hard time. He was excited for Ariana who had only know her own property and nothing else.
Today was a very rare treat, one of her guardians had suggested an excursion outside the estate grounds since the day was too beautiful to stay indoors. She had packed up a wonderful picnic and arranged for a carriage to take them to a near by meadow where they could enjoy the scenery.
Rin could already imagine the meadow. It had been so long since she was able to actually run freely under the open sky. It did not take them long to get there and it was everything Rin had dreamt it would be. Lush mounds of green, some patches of wildflowers, a forest near by and a gentle wind.
They rolled around the grass, watched clouds pass by as they guessed their shapes, played tag then sat down for lunch. After lunch, Cayden had sat down with Ariana, they were huddled together whispering and giggling in a wildflower patch.
Rin sat down watching them for a while before she decided to close her eyes. She wanted to remember the feel of the sun and wind, before they had to start packing up to go back to the estate. She heard little footsteps and held in her urge to laugh. She felt a plop on her head and opened her eyes. "Big sister Rin, I made you a crown! Your a princess now too!" Ariana said happily.
Rin touched the crown with the tips of her fingers and smiled brightly. "I love it! Thank you princess." Ariana looked a little disappointed and puffed out her cheeks. "What's wrong princess?" Rin asked as she gently poked Ariana's cheek.
"Can't you call me by my name? We are both princesses now so you have to call me by my name." Rin's eyes grew wide as a red blush spread across her cheeks. "I can not do that! I have to follow the rules!" She said a little to loudly causing Ariana to deflate.
"Princess, what's on your finger?" Rin asked. Ariana changed moods so quickly Rin's body started to shake as she held in her laughter. Ariana held out her hand properly so Rin could see a tiny white and pink flower ring sitting in her left ring finger. "Cayden asked me to marry him. So I said yes."
.....
"What?! What?! WHAT?! I don't remember this!" Ariana shouted as she blushed a deep red. She looked at Cayden and he had a shaky smile but was equally as red. "It was cute!" Rin said with a giant smile. "Honestly, if you stayed at that place you would have already been engaged two years ago to someone they choose for you and probably married off next year." Ariana brought her hands up into her hair and tried to process the information.
Then something hit her, did Cayden truly believe they were engaged? If so.... "Ahh! What I said in the first aid room, it wasn't me proposing!" She shouted. Rin became intrigued and scooted just a little closer to Ariana.
Ariana averted her gaze and glued it to the floor while Cayden looked like he turned to stone. Rin's eyes flashed with laughter as she stared at the two. To save them from embarrassment she coughed.
"You do realize the two of you were so young you had no idea what marriage was. Considering, you asked me to marry you too... giggle... right after you showed me the ring!" Ariana thought she would faint from all the blood rushing to her face. "Those were some of the happiest years of my life and then fate had to stomp on my heart again."
....
Rin helped a sleepy Ariana and Cayden into the carriage as she watched the horseman climb up to his seat. Ariana had clutched the picnic basket as if it was an amazing treasure. Rin giggled as she pulled the blanket from within the basket.
She shook off some of the dirt and grass outside of the carriage and then placed it around the two as the slipped into a deep sleep. When the carriage started to move. The gentle rocking of the carriage lulled Rin to sleep.
Rin woke up to Cayden shaking her. She wanted to ask him what was going on but he covered her mouth with his hand and placed an index finger over his lips. He removed his hands and then pointed to the window.
The scenery was different from when they first got there. It looked like they were traveling along a cliff. A sea of trees could be seen below them and to the left another forest. Rin's senses went on high alert. She nodded to Cayden and readied her weapons. Cayden sat back down beside Ariana and tries to gently wake her.
Ariana started to rub her eyes. "Are?!" She started to say but when she saw Cayden's face then turned to Rin. She knew something was wrong. She silently sat in place, straining her ears as she tried to catch the slightest sound. air wasn't long before they felt they felt the carriage commence its descent.
"Ahhh!" The heard their driver scream and a hard sound from above. The next second they caught sight of their driver's body flying by the window and heard him hitting the ground. The carriage started moving faster. Rin steadied herself while Cayden grabbed Ariana and kept her in place.
Rin kicked open the door as her eyes started to turn from green to red. Cayden scooped up Ariana and the three jumped out if the carriage. The new driver heard the noise and looked back. He clicked his tongue and jumped off the carriage, leaving the horse to wildly run off.
The man wore a navy blue ninja garb while her wore a full face mask. He pulled the mask off and Rin froze. "Harmon?" She said as she lowered her shurikens. The man smiled wickedly the brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly.
6 more ninja appeared out of thin air but what caught Rin's attention was a tall man with long silver hair, tied neatly into a ponytail. His face was covered but she knew with ever fiber of her being who it was. "Daddy?" She asked as she dropped her shurikens into the ground.
"Daddy?!" She yelled a little louder as she allowed her red eyes to become green. The man flinched as he stared at Rin. "It's me daddy! It's Rin, Rinera Bloom! I listened to mommy and got away, the people taking care of me all say I look like her!"
The man reached for his mask and pulled it off. Standing before her was a slightly older man with sharp features, he was colder and scary looking. Littered with scars across his face and one sapphire blue eye was now completely white.
"Daddy!" She yelled as tears rolled down her face. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" She kept calling out as Ariana stepped beside her to try and comfort her but Cayden kept his guard up. "Rin pull yourself together! I don't think he's here to see you!" Cayden shouted and Rin stopped crying immediately. She looked at her father and saw that he had pulled out a chained sickle and started to spin it.
Rin's felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped on her. She scrambled to pick up the two shurikens she had dropped. She quickly got off the ground and stepped in front of Ariana. The chained sickle was now leaving gashes on the ground. The man looked into Rin's eyes and watched as she changed them from green to red. "Forgive me." Was all he said before he started his attack.