The Rose and the Beast

Chapter 1: A Child's Kiss

Pudgy small bodies ran around the feet of horses, giggling madly when the many drivers snapped at the children to quit their troublemaking. It only made them laugh harder and ran faster.

The caravan of merchants steadily traveled through the outskirts of Konohagakure. The line of wagons attached to horses was endless, going as far as needed for the whole group to continue forth. The merchants held no special bloodline, and no name worth mentioning. They were all ordinary people, civilians at most. And most didn't mind, they just existed to continue the trades between countries for valuables they called their own. And through this cycle, the trade has passed on from generation to generation, hoping that the future of their own blood would carry on this journey with the same people.

Lilting melodies of the children's laughter were the joy and pain to everybody over the age of sixteen. It was either too much, or too little, but either way the high-pitch giggles were making everybody's ears bleed.

The horses neighed again, pawing the air when the children came too close once more.

"Momiji-chan, I told you to never go near the horses while you're playing!" A gentle woman chided a small child, at the age of six at most, a finger waggling at the child's shamed colored face. "You'll get hurt!"

The child felt her cheeks flush from embarrassment when she noticed her other friends laughing and making faces behind her mother's back. Without thinking, Momiji frowned angrily before blowing a raspberry.

"Momiji-chan!"

Her mother grabbed her upper arm and swatted her behind.

"Okaa-san!" Momiji cried out, swinging about from her arm as she attempted to dodge the continuous attacks to her bottom. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Said mother frowned at her daughter's messy appearance. "Oh, look at you, you're dirty!" She crouched down to her daughter's level, fixing the crooked hat (which was bought from Suna). "This dress was expensive, Momiji-chan!" A hand started dusting the small yellow sundress decorated with tiny white flowers. Lucky enough, the mother was relief that she did not make Momiji put on the matching cute yellow shoes.

"Okaaaa-saaaan," Momiji whined, jumping up and down. "I want to go play!"

"Just a second," her mother said, rearranging the yellow ribbon in her hair to catch all the brown stray strands of hair. "There we go." She tweaked her daughter's nose before advising her wisely, "Play safe and stop running near the horses."

"Hai!" The twerp chirped before running off.

Momiji panted in excitement, running along the length of the moving caravan to find her friends. She cleverly kept away from the horses as she ran through each wagon in search of familiar faces. When Momiji found the love of her life, a small squeal escaped from her lips before she darted to him.

"Kenji-kun!"

The eight-year-old turned to Momiji. Even though there was a grimace on his face from the overbearing hearts surrounding the small six-year-old. He even waved his hand around the air for good measure but it was impossible. The girl who he really liked was sniggering behind him.

"Look, Kenji-kun, there's your bride," his crush teased.

He scowled, narrowing those green eyes of his as the annoying six-year-old ran closer with a smile that challenged the sun.

"Kenji-kun!" Momiji blushed as soon as she drew near, coming to a complete stop. She was breathless, grinning foolishly up at the popular child of their group.

Momiji was irrefutably in love with him.

When he had rolled his eyes and turned away with her, it was no problem. She didn't mind at all. For an attractive boy to ignore a girl riding on cloud nine was completely fine. It was mechanically engineered in every female on the planet to scavenge for an excuse when a hot, uninterested boy shrugs off the sadly love sick puppy. And Momiji was no exception to this.

Giggling, she dutifully followed Kenji and Fujiko with a mad grin. Soon enough, more children followed the group.

The children laughed. The rules their parents placed over their heads were soon broken, and the children were running wild once more. Because they were in a wide grassy plain, the elders did not mind as much, allowing the children to tire themselves out quickly so they could look forward to a peaceful voyage. But it wasn't possible. As soon as the children's eyes fell upon an odd forest, they stopped and stared in awe.

It was a forest of bones.

As the caravan continued onwards with their journey, the children stopped and stared. They gazed up at the tallest of bones, approaching it cautiously despite their parent's warnings echoing in their little itty-bitty heads.

These titanic white things particularly took Momiji by surprise. She did not know what it was. A couple of her playmates mentioned at the possibility of bones, but she did not believe. Bones just can't be that big! Her violet eyes grew bigger with each step she takes, consuming the breathtaking view. Her small hand reached forward, skimming her unscarred hands against the rough texture.

"Hey, let's play!" One child screamed, and before anyone could stop him, he ran into the forest of bones.

Momiji watched apprehensively as one by one each child darted into the scary forest. She whimpered, clutching her sundress with her tiny fists.

A scrawny child crowed at the idea, waving at the small group of playmates after the disappearing child. "Come on, let's play tag!"

"Ah, Kenji-kun!" she cried out, watching as her childhood sweetheart ran in the obvious danger with a whoop of joy. Fujiko followed quickly after him.

"Come on, Momiji-chan!"

"Let's go!"

"I wanna play hide and seek!"

The little girl turned around, her eyes desperately searching for her mother. She wanted comfort; she wanted the arms of her mother around her. The choice to go into the forest was something she did not want to make. She wanted her mom to demand her presence, because if she didn't, most likely the other children would tease her of her fright.

"Come on, Momiji-chan!"

Momiji didn't want to go in the forest.

"Scardy cat, scardy cat!"

But Kenji-kun was there.

"Ahahaha, she's such a chicken!"

Closing her eyes tight, Momiji gave a small grunt of effort before darting in. She breathed hard, never opening her eyes as her scrawny legs moved one in front of the other. An image was summoned from the inside of her eyelids. Colors swirled, slowly morphing into a something…a face! It was Kenji and he was smiling gently at her.

Just as she was about to squeal his name, Momiji slammed into one of the bone thingys.

She bounced off the bone tree, falling onto the ground. Tears erupted in her eyes and a small whine growing in a crescendo was about to explode when she heard laughter.

Fujiko laughed, her perfectly straight teeth glowing. It entranced the other boys, in all her beauty. "Oh, Momiji-baka, why were you running with your eyes closed?"

Momiji hiccupped, rubbing off the tears streaming down her face as she weakly glared at Fujiko. "I'm not stupid! I…I-I had something in my eye!"

"Whatever, let's play," Kenji said, his monotone voice carrying off a hint of annoyance. "I'm getting bored."

Fujiko smirked. "Let's play hide and seek! Momiji's it!"

Before the violet-eyed child could rebuke at the unfairness, the children screeched and scattered like cockroaches. Momiji stood there, picking herself off from the ground and not bothering to dust herself off of the dirt clinging to her. Her watery eyes glanced around her, reddening nose sniffling in helplessness, as she was required to become the 'it' of this game.

Momiji little body shuddered. The sun shone down upon Earth. It was even strong enough to penetrate through the tall spine-like bones of this forest. Though there was light, Momiji couldn't shrug off this ominous feeling.

She walked slowly, gasping and coming to a stop as she heard quiet giggling and scurrying bodies.

"Kenji-kun?" The child called out, walking leisurely.

There was no answer.

A whine escaped from the child as her head looked from side to side.

"Fujiko-chan?"

Again, no answer.

Just when Momiji was about to drop on the floor and cry to her heart's content, her not so keen ears picked up on something. Her hair swirled around her shoulders as she turned to the left, catching bits of colors from the white bones and green grass. Not a gasp later, Momiji dashed towards the recognizable colors of clothes, and came to a stop when she saw the children gazing up at a specific towering rib bone.

Fujiko's eyes glittered with curiosity as she continued to stare up at the sky. "What is that?"

A small child whose face was splattered with freckles squinted his eyes. "It…it looks like a person!"

"It can't be a person, it's too still!"

Kenji frowned, circling around the tree-like bone. "I can see a face…"

"No way!" Fujiko glanced around the area. "I wonder if there's a way to get up there…" Her eyes caught an awkward staircase that was created from bones. "Is that safe?"

"There's only one way to find out!" Kenji, who has been thirsting for adventure and fun, literally ran to the bone staircase. He carefully put his foot on one bone and pushed his full weight upon it until he was satisfied that it would possess his weight. The grin Momiji loved so much spread across his face as he climbed the stairs like a monkey.

Fujiko then followed after him, determining it safe if the boy could pass safely.

Before the others can get a chance to run up, Momiji grunted and rushed up the stairs. If Fujiko can do it, than surely she could! The laughter of the other three kids echoed behind her as she continued to climb up.

The walk up was long and somewhat scary. There were times were Momiji was compelled to take a glance down and would regret it dearly. The climb up was not low; it was high. And when they had reached the top, Momiji could clearly see the caravan continuing on forth towards Konohagakure for their next trade. The line of their caravan was stretched out! It was something she had not realized before.

Momiji turned to look at Kenji and Fujiko. They had opted to hoping to a huge plane of floating sand like the adventurers they were.

"Is…is that safe?" she called out, warily staring at the floating sand.

Fujiko groaned under her breath. "Ugh, she's so annoying."

"You just noticed?" Kenji scoffed.

His crush merely rolled her eyes. "We should make her do something…" But before Fujiko could come up with something spectacular to humiliate the six-year-old brat, her eyes caught the human-like body they had seen from ground below. "Wooooah, look at that Kenji!"

Momiji frowned when she saw the two older kids running off the sand plane. Child-like jealousy hit her like a bullet, and it was that that made her jump on the sand plane despite the warning bells ringing in her head. She took off after Fujiko and Kenji, ignoring the cries of the other children, pleading for her to wait for them.

She didn't care about them.

She only cared about Kenji.

Her thoughts deteriorated as her run slowed to a complete stop four feet away from Kenji and Fujiko. Violet orbs took in the one thing that made her small heart palpitate faster.

There was a man, half a man, forming out of one of the bones. His body was limp, hanging off of the bone like a piece of accessory. On his right arm was a drill of innumerous bones, twisting maliciously and grotesquely that came to a pointed sharp end while the other arm was completely normal. His skin was grey, much like all the colorful paints mixed together in a single bowl.

Momiji started to whine in fear, which was immediately cut off by Fujiko's harsh glare.

Kenji studied the corpse, creeping closer for a better look. He took notice of the man's peaceful face, and noted the odd dots above the man's brow. The eight-year-old backed off before turning to the crowd of children behind Momiji. "He's dead…I think…"

Fujiko stood next to Kenji, peering at the man's face. "He's…look, he looks like he'd be around my oniichan's age."

"Your brother's sixteen, though!"

The girl shrugged. "I'm just guessing."

The group was quiet for a moment, staring at the unusual entity before them.

"What do we do now?" The freckled face child asked.

Kenji pursed his lips, scratching his head as he assessed the dead teenager. "I guess we can play tag up here." He jumped up and down, checking whether or not the sand plane would hold all the children.

"No," Fujiko grinned gleefully, a cruel idea entering her mind. "Let's play truth or dare."

The children oo'ed at her idea and cheered at the idea. They started off with small, simple things: whom do you like, I dare you to kiss her/him, is it true you wet the bed, what kind of underwear are you wearing, etc, etc. It was until they reached the sixth round did Fujiko get the chance to pick Momiji's dare.

"I dare you to kiss him."

Every small head swerved towards the direction Fujiko pointed at, gasping, laughing, and barfing at the sight of the dead man hanging there.

The blood escaped from Momiji's face as she croaked. "H-him?" she all but squeaked.

A Cheshire grin grew on Fujiko's face, showing sharp teeth and a demented mind by that smile. She nodded her head slowly before continuing. "On the lips."

"Ewwww!" The freckled boy yelled.

Momiji gulped audibly, ripping her eyes away from Fujiko to stare at the man. "I don't want to do it!"

"You have to!" Fujiko commanded.

"No!"

Momiji almost started crying at the prospect of kissing a dead person when Kenji managed to come to her rescue, or that's what she thought.

"Whatever, let's go. She's not gonna do it." Kenji stood from the small circle and made his way to the stairs to go back to the caravan. "Let's go, it's late anyways."

Fujiko didn't have a chance to complain before everyone followed the leader of their group. She rolled her eyes and scoffed at the sniffling child. "You're no fun, Momiji-baka, you're annoying. All you are is a pain in the ass!" With those last harsh words, Fujiko turned heel with a small 'hmph!' and pranced towards Kenji.

Momiji watched as all her childhood friends disappeared one by one chanting 'scardy cat'.

A cool breeze swept up, circling around her before going off into the direction of the north. She shivered, rubbing her hands up and down her arms as if the breeze had given her a chill. Though she knew she could be following the rest, Momiji didn't move. The strength to move had left her body as Fujiko's words reverberated in her head.

"I'm…not annoying," she whined.

Momiji peeked at the hanging man and quickly looked away.

Scardy cat, scardy cat, she's nothing but a scardy cat!

Anger flowed through her veins. She was irked at their name-callings, and she wanted to do something about it. Momiji even realized that Kenji did nothing to deny those claims or come to her rescue. It was as if he agreed with the other children.

But she's not! Momiji was not a scardy cat!

Momiji fully turned her body till she faced the man. She marched right up there and peered up at his face to see that this man didn't even look dead! Her eyes of wonder took in the fresh, young-looking face, and hair that seemed too perfect to be dead. If she didn't know any better (which she didn't), she would assume that he was alive! Momiji wasn't thinking when she reached up to touch his face.

It was then that she had realized she was too short to even reach him.

A draft once again flowed by her, but this time it carried something else to her.

Momiji spat out the hair of the man's as it drifted her way, brushing up against her opened mouth of awe. She screeched in disgust and walked backwards as she swatted at the white hair snaking towards her.

"Oof!" Momiji tripped over her feet and landed on her bum.

Her lovely eyes narrowed at the man and pointed at him. But before she had the chance to scream at him for his trickery of a hair, Momiji perked up at the sound of her mother calling her.

"Momiji-chan!"

"Uh, oh, okaasan is looking for me," Momiji chirped. She picked herself up from the ground and was about to dart off to her mother when she remembered about her dare. Gritting her teeth, Momiji ran up to the man, harshly pulled his hair down and landed a kiss upon the shockingly silky strands before taking off.

After the child disappeared, the body hovering over the forest of bones stayed the same.

Air wisped by, birds flew by, the sun lets all that's known know, and the bones of the forest stayed strong and tall.

The boy who had died at the age of fifteen had been there for less than a year, in an exposed solitary confinement. His body was preserved by usage of nourishments the bones connected to his body stole from the ground, using the earth's life force to conserve the exterior shell of the boy it served. This boy was to be dead, like a child's doll: a porcelain doll. But instead, it was given a second chance; a chance that not anyone was graciously given, especially by a child whose lineage and blood were unknowingly one of utmost importance.

Eight years, after that innocuous child's kiss, turquoise eyes opened to the world once again.

New story C: Run away from reality.