The girl with the red hood

Red fluttered behind a small fleeting figure as it ran through the dark damp woods. The gnarled branches of trees turned to hands in the darkness and reached out to grab the small child, scaring it even more than it already was. If we look closer, we are able to see that the child is a little girl no older than five. If you'd pay close enough attention, you could see that she wasn't running from the gnarled hands of the trees, or the creeping darkness threatening to pull her in. She was running from 3 kids, older than her, age ranging from 8 to 10, 2 boys and 1 girl. They were persistently chasing her, rapidly gaining ground.

The young girl ran with all her strength, confused why they were being so persistent, the woods was her territory. Where she often escape because none of them dared to come near the dark horror filled woods. But now it's different, the little girl had done something that even she was aware of.

Running faster and faster, the young girl's red cloak fanned out behind her like a red flag, a signal for help. One of the kids grabbed her cloak and began to pull, but the young child quickly slipped out of it before she could get caught. Revealing the dark murky green backpack she had on.

It wasn't much longer before she burst through a wall of trees and into a concrete filled opening. She stopped for a brief second, peering at the dark towering mansion looming before her behind a closed gate. The shouts of her pursuers brought her back, she yanked open the gate and ran through the courtyard to the large double doors.

"Help! Please! Open up! Please let me in!" She yells, pounding on the door.

A loud 'BANG' next to her head made her jump and turn around. There stood her 3 pursuers, holding multiple rocks in their hands. The one with her red cloak in his hand tossed it into a dirty mud puddle a few feet away from the 5 year old.

The little girl, terrified, curled up in a ball in the corner of the door. Then without warning, the 3 older kids started throwing the rocks at the child. Using her murky green backpack as a shield didn't help her very much, the rocks striked her head, her legs, her feet, and her arms. Blood slowly flowed down her temple, mixing with the salty tears that poured down her cheeks, they wouldn't stop and she didn't know why. Why? Why was she so hated? So unloved?

She suddenly felt cold, freezing, and wet. The child looked up, one of the older boys held an empty water bottle above her head, an cruel smirk present on his face. That's when he looked up and his face twisted into a look of fear and shock. He dropped the bottle and backed up quickly, the other two kids looked scared as well.

"So this is what all the noise was." A voice says.

The child looked behind her, one of the large doors was open, and there stood a man. His pink eyes glared intently at the 3 older kids, seemingly not noticing the youngest curled up about 4 feet away from him.

"Demon!" The oldest girl yells before turning and running as fast as she could, the two boys following close behind.

The man at the door chuckles and pushes up his glasses before turning to the small child, who was now picking up her wet and muddy red cloak. She looks at him and gives a tired smile, "Thank you." She says.

"Don't thank me, I simply didn't want anymore damage done to the door" he says, geturing to the now paint chipped door, "Now if I were you I would leave."

The man with dark hair turns around and walks back inside.

Rather than leaving like the man said, she slipped inside just before the door closed. Looking around, the man with glasses was no where in sight.

Unknown to the small child, the same man observed the brave, and or foolish, girl from the shadows.

Her shoulder length fiery red hair was soaked with water, a white eye patch covered her right eye and her left was a sparkling blue, and she wore a little white dress, stained with mud and blood, that had a bow on the left sleeve. In her left hand she held her green backpack and in her right she grasped her muddy red cloak. She literally had no shoes.

"Hello?" the young girl calls out.

She sets down her backpack and puts a hand to her temple, blood stained her ivory skin. The man in the shadows was sure that the smell had reached everyone in the mansion by now.

The child unzips her backpack and takes out a first aid kit, to the man's surprise. Opening it up, she took a rag and put it on her bleeding wound.

The man walks out of the shadows and stops behind her, she looks up at him and holds out the rag, "Help, please?" she asks politely.

The man looks at her and sighs, maybe if he patched her up she would leave. He took the rag and kneeled down to her height, he roughly wiped the wound clean of blood, making her wince.

As he was doing this, the young girl looked at him in curiosity, "What's your name?" She asks.

The man stops for a moment, "Reiji." he says bluntly before returning to the blood.

She smiles at him, "That's a nice name." She says.

"And you? What is yours?" Reiji asks, not really caring.

He took a large band-aid from the kit and cover up the large soon to be scar.

"I don't have a name" She says sadly.

He looks at her, his curiosity peeked. "Oh?" he questions.

She looks down at her red cloak at her feet, "Well, everyone calls me Red... So you can call me that to! That's my name! Red!" she looks at him and gives him a bright smile.

"Well then, Red, time to leave." Reiji says then begins pushing her towards the door.

"Where will I go?"

"Home, obviously."

Red turns around to look at him, "A five year old walks into your house asking for help, she has no name, and you really think she has a home?"

"That is not my problem." Reiji snaps, pushing up his glasses.

Next thing Red knew, the door was slammed in her face. Reiji, on the other side of the door, sighs and starts walking towards the staircase.

"Kicking out a little girl with no where to go, just when a storm is about hit no less. That's cold even for you."

A man with headphones stuffed in his ears who appeared to be sleeping on a couch by the staircase speaks.

"Shut up, deadbeat. I didn't see you doing anything." Reiji snaps, glaring menacingly at the man.

The so called 'deadbeat' ignores the glare and goes back to sleeping.

A few hours later, rain was pounding on the roof of the mansion and thunder echoed down every corridor like a lion's roar.

The man who Reiji called deadbeat was still asleep on the same couch. Opening his blue eyes, he sat up and sighed, and ran a hand through his dark blonde hair before standing up and walking to the front door.

Without even taking off his headphones, he could hear the faint humming of, what sounded like, a little girl.

Opening the door, he takes a step out into the freezing cold as though it was your normal sunny afternoon. Looking to the right, he instantly notices little 5 year old Red curled in a ball in the far corner, doing her best to stay dry and warm. Her red cloaked was draped across the ground, obviously she had rinsed off all of the mud that was previously on it, and was drying, and her green backpack was next to her. The poor girl was shivering, her lips were blue, her skin was pale, it appeared as though she was only half asleep because the faint humming that he heard was coming from her.

Looking at the girl, he couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of pity for her. He walked over to her and gently picked her up bridal style, taking her pack and then her cloak. Carrying her inside, he shut the door then walked up the stairs and down the hall, "Watch'ya got there Shuu?" a man with semi-long murky red hair and a fedora on his head, leaned against the wall. His sharp green eyes peered at little Red being carried by 'Shuu'.

"None of your business, Laito." Shuu says, ignoring Laito.

Shuu walked into one of the many guest rooms, setting the girl down on the bed, hanging her cloak to dry in the bathroom, and tossing her backpack next to the bed.

"Helping a small girl, and letting her stay here. That's strange even for you." Reiji suddenly appeared inside the room.

"Shut up Reiji." was all Shuu said.

The two men looked at the peacfully sleeping child, now with a small smile present in her face, and had the same thought in mind...

'What did I get myself into?'