Another GaaraxOC story! It's my favourite ones to write!

I hope this gets a good response!

Chapter 1: And So Her Life Crumbled

"Riko! Don't stay out too long, honey!"

"Ah! Ah!"

"Shizuna, your daughter still can't speak? I wonder what is wrong with that poor girl."

Shizuna, Riko's mother lowered her head at her neighbour's comment. Riko was already five years old and she still couldn't pronounce a single word. All she did to communicate was moving her arms around and making incoherent sounds. Despite that though, she was a brilliant little girl. Brilliant and kind. She would always do her best to take care of her mother, who often got sick. Riko's eyes were an unusual bloody red and her hair was of the darkest black, giving the impression of swallowing every shade of colour around.

Since Riko couldn't communicate like normal kids her age, she didn't have any friends. Some of the adults even thought that she was possessed by some sort of demon that prevented her from being able to speak. As a result, most people avoided her and always kept their distances around her and her mother, omit some minor exceptions. Shizuna was fully aware of that and tried her best to shield her daughter from all the negativity that people directed towards her.

"She might not be able to speak, but she's the most wonderful daughter any mother could ask for."

Shizuna looked at her neighbour and smiled a very gentle smile while thinking of her dear Riko.

Both of them lived together in a small house in Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass. Every morning, Riko would leave at the same time and come back, without fail, right before the sunset, right when her mother would return from working at the local restaurant. What her mother didn't know, however, was where Riko went during that time. She trusted that her daughter was fully capable of taking care of herself, since she had proven being able to do so several times before.

Riko followed her daily path again that day, making sure not to attract too much attention. She went through alleys, climbed some short buildings, trying to reach her destination with agile and controlled steps. She had always been very quick on her feet. Doing that little parkour of hers every day only increased her natural swiftness. When she reached her destination, she stood there, proud of getting there yet again without any complications along the way. She looked ahead and there stood Kusagakure's Ninja School, the place she went to almost every day. She had always wanted to enrol in that school, but so many things prevented her from applying. First, she didn't want to become a ninja and go on missions that'd force her to leave her mother alone for long periods of time. The other reason why she didn't was because the people of the village treated her like an outsider. She knew better than anyone that the ninja school would use her inability to speak as an excuse to not accept her as a student. She didn't mind, though. As long as her mother loved her, she didn't care what other people thought.

She went around the school, making sure she is unseen by the ninja who worked there. She always thought that it was rather curious how such highly trained ninja couldn't even sense her presence. All she did was hope really hard that they wouldn't spot her. And that was exactly what always happened. She climbed the tree that was located, conveniently, right in front of one of the classrooms' windows. She made sure to position herself in a way that concealed her enough for her to be able to be unseen while spying on the class. That day they were being taught the transformation jutsu. Riko would always followed along the instructions, but, somehow, she always overdid it. The last jutsu she learned from that class was the clone jutsu. Most of the students were able to do one clone or two at the very most. When she tried it back home, she was able to make about ten clones. At first, she felt proud of herself for being so good at it, until her clones started going out of control. They had started running around screaming and making strange noises. She remembered thinking that it was a relief that they were clones with no physical bodies. It was also a good thing that her mother wasn't home at that time. This time, it was the transformation jutsu. She thought to herself that nothing could go bad with that one. She watched how everyone in the class was doing it and decided to call it a day early so that she could go try it out at home before her mom returned.

When she reached their little humble wooden house, she got inside and closed the door and covered her windows. She didn't want anyone to know what she'd been up to for so long. It would make things more complicated than they should be. She made the appropriate signs for the jutsu and pictured transforming into her mother. Nothing happened. She was confused at the fact that it wasn't working. She wasn't even able to transform into anything at all. She went up to the mirror, hoping that maybe something might've changed. All she saw was her own face staring right back at her with the same puzzled look she had. She tried to do it again, but it was no use. She kept trying for a few hours until she heard her mother coming in. Nothing worked. She just couldn't transform.

"How are you, Riko? Did you have a nice day today?"

Her mother smiled at her with a tired expression. Riko nodded and went to the kitchen to get her mother a cup of warm tea. She always did that when her mother came back from work. Shizuna always told her that it restored her energy. Riko knew she wasn't completely honest about that, but, as long as her mother was happy, she would do anything she can for her, even if it's just a mere cup of tea. Riko was still very worried, however, since her mother was looking more and more exhausted every day. The black circles under her eyes were also getting deeper.

Shizuna always tried to hide the various problems that she was going through. Many things worried her. She didn't even know how long both her and her daughter could go on like this. The truth was that her job wasn't providing her with enough money even just for the basic living expenses. Her boss was underpaying her, due to the constant prejudice against her daughter. Some people would even call her an evil witch that got punished by giving birth to a half-wit child. The only person who didn't treat her so harshly was her neighbour. But even she still kept her distances. At work, she was mistreated by the owner. He would not only be violent with her, but even sexually harass her. If she was only taking care of herself, she would've quit that job ages ago. However, there was Riko. She had to do everything in her power to take care of her beloved daughter. She had been actively looking for another job, but no one would even let her in. Was this all because of the sin she committed with that man back then? Is it the forbidden love that she shared with a demon caused all this misfortune to fall upon them? Wasn't it enough punishment that her love died after committing to always love her? Of course, their daughter wasn't fully human. That conflict between the two natures in her body caused her to be unable to normally function. In a sense, it was because of a demon that Riko couldn't speak, but it wasn't because she was possessed. It was because she was half-demon herself. By demon, Shizuna didn't mean an evil entity, just a supernatural one. The father of her child was by far the kindest man she had ever encountered. She met him in the forest, when he saved her from wild animals. She had asked him about the reason why he was out of his realm. At that time, he answered that it was because he wanted to go around exploring the human world. They would then meet up regularly in the forest, until they started developing romantic feelings for each other. Both their families shunned them for doing such a taboo thing. They both then wandered around together until Shizuna fell pregnant. That was when the man she loved started to slowly die. He then burned away into ashes after his last breath was drawn. Shizuna made it to the closest village, Kusagakure, and gave birth to Riko there, alone, in an abandoned house. The amazing thing was, as soon as Riko was born, Shizuna's birth wounds closed up instantly and she felt herself gaining back all the energy she lost. With her strength back, she was somehow able to take care of her daughter while providing both herself and Riko with food. Even now, Riko was still able to give her back some of the energy she lost. The tea that she always prepared her with the intention of giving her strength had actual effects to keep her going. It seemed that, whatever Riko truly wished for, it would come true to some extent. However, she didn't know how long that would last. Shizuna was feeling herself fading away. She knew she didn't have much time left. She also knew that, if she was gone, the village would immediately turn against Riko. She didn't know what to do. She just wanted to hang in there as much as she could. Riko needed her. She never told Riko about her father. She was waiting for her to get older. She wrote down everything in a sort of diary, in case she wouldn't live to tell her.

"Ah. Uh."

"What is it, sweetheart? You're hungry?"

Riko nodded.

"Alright, I'll go prepare something for my little angel."

It was ironic how she called Riko an angel, since she was actually a half-demon, the total opposite of an angel. However, the purity of Riko's soul was that of the brightest angel.

As soon as Shizuna got up, she felt her legs give in. Her body felt numb and her sight became hazy. Before she could react, she saw the ground getting close; she was falling.

"Aaaah!"

Riko screamed as she saw her mother falling down. She didn't want her to fall. She wanted to help her. She wanted to stop her from falling. That was when her mother was stopped in midair. She was floating, right before her face touched the ground. Riko went up to her and held her.

"You did it again, didn't you, my little baby? Just like that time when you dropped your cup of milk, but prevented it from touching the ground."

Riko looked at her mother with a worried expression. Tears were starting to form at the edges of her eyes. Shizuna started stroking her daughter's hair to soothe her. She felt like this was it. It was her time to go. She couldn't stop worrying about how her Riko would be able to live on without her there.

"Riko, you're a strong girl. You're smart and beautiful, just like your father. I want you to listen to mommy carefully. I don't have much time left… I'm sorry, baby, that I won't be able to stay with you, but I know you will be able to move on. You're my strong little girl."

As Riko listened, tears were rolling down her cheeks. Her nose was also starting to run and she started sniffling unconsciously. She had a feeling of what was about to happen. She saw her mother's soul starting to escape from its body. It was the first time she ever saw something like that, but she knew what it meant. Deep down, she knew.

"I wanted to spend more time with you. I wanted to see you grow up to be a beautiful young lady. I wanted to tell you about everything, but…"

Shizuna had also started crying. She was choking up on her words. She wanted to stay strong for Riko, but she just couldn't.

"After I leave, I want you to go look for a notebook in my room. Take it, take all you can from this house and leave this village. You have to run away from here. Run away as far as you can. They will hurt you if you don't. I know it will be hard on you, baby… Just remember that I will always be with you… I… will always… love you…"

As she said that, Shizuna's consciousness started to fade away. Riko was bawling by that time. She was looking up at her mother's soul that was starting to float away. Her mother was also looking at her, giving her a gentle smile.

After a few hours, Riko was still hugging her mother's dead body. She had stopped crying, but she was still hiccuping a bit. She then remembered what her mother told her. She laid her mother's corpse on the floor and got a blanket with which she covered the body. She then went to her mother's room and started looking for that notebook her mother was talking about. As soon as she found it, she opened it and started reading its contents. Even though she couldn't speak, her mother had taught her reading and writing. She would sometimes communicate through writing to express more complicated things.

As she flipped through the pages, she started learning more about who she really was and who her father was. It all took time to sink in, but she was able to accept all of this quite well. She didn't understand everything, but she was able to get the general idea. She was the daughter of a demon and a human. She was never going to be treated like a normal human being, since she never was one. There was only one thing left to do. She had to run. She had to run away from this village where everyone feared her. She didn't want to leave her mother's body to those people, however. The best thing to do would be to burn the whole house, she thought. She got out, gathered as many flammable things as she could, and lit the house on fire, with tears in her eyes.

"Uuhuuh… Uuuuuh…"

Pained crying noises were escaping her. This felt like burning away a part of her life. A very dear and important part of her life. Before the villagers arrived, she left the place and headed for the gates. She passed through the gate undetected by the guards, just like how she was able to do that at the ninja school. That time felt like it was so far away now… She knew that it would never come back.

If there's anyone out there who liked it, I'll keep this story going! :D