Limerence - Prologue

• (n) A state of being infatuated with another person.

The compliments and gossips that has rose after being recognized by the Supreme Grandmaster has never got into Hanabi's ego. The situation has brought her into a realization that she better have her feelings unaffected as possible to have complete concentration on the upcoming duties laid out for her after catching the attention of their people with her natural talent.

The point of striving to be noticed is to inherit the place of the next Supreme Grandmaster of the Scarlet Shadow Ninja sect that is said to be chosen once every ten years and at the age of 12, Hanabi has pledge to herself that one day, she will eventually achieve the place of the next Grandmaster in order to fulfil her parent's dying wish.

This day is the start of the leisure week given to her as a reward for continuously keeping up with her training for months after being chosen as a candidate for the seat of Grandmaster.

Everyday after the training session ends, she would do her routine of hiding from Maya, the Grandmaster's assistant who is also incharge of Hanabi's midnight class, and immediately heading back towards her minka. The minka that her parents left for her is a typical traditional Japanese house that was luckily located at one of her favorite places, the forest. She never felt alone in that house since the feelings of having someone by your side was something her parents never gave her.

At a young age, Hanabi accepted the fact that she will never be officially part of their household since what her parents wanted from the start was a child born of the opposite gender. She knew and that made her strong. No matter how many beatings and maltreatment that are thrown to her, she never shed a tear. That made her realize that, it is her destiny to be alone. As she grew old, to find a place to call home she can be comfortable with is a blessing to come and that was the time she started spending her days in the forest while coming up with the perfect plan to kill her parents.

The day of the massacre at Hanabi's household bought fear to their village since they are known to be Scarlet's best ninjas and to be killed brutally in broad daylight was unbelievable. The Grandmaster was the first to respond to the situation and the only one to find Hanabi covered with blood, strongly gripping the weapon in her hands. Nobody knew except the Grandmaster and Maya of what really happened, Hanabi was then placed in a solitary confinement for six months serving as her punishment. Maya was the one that suggested for Hanabi to be killed but the Grandmaster disagreed as he knows that by honing Hanabi's skills, she can even overcome what both her parents has reached and can benefit their place when war suddenly breaks out between the sects.

Maya has then been assigned of keeping an eye on Hanabi's lifestyle. With years of staying with her, Maya took notice of her actions and knows that she goes deep inside the forest bringing with her dishes that are clearly too much for one person to eat. Hanabi will either enter the class with her face full of bruises or have a broken bone. Maya never bothered to dig deeper into her student's business since she trusts her and knows that what Hanabi might be doing deep inside that forest means no harm to her or their people.

Hanabi never planned on sharing her packed dishes. Those were made as bait to lure out her prey. Little did they know, that inside that dark forest where no hint of light is seen, she has been brawling with different kinds of monsters and goblins to test her strength. It is not that she does not trust Maya's teachings but she thinks that it is not enough to make her stronger, so the idea of fighting with the monsters came up.

This routine of hers continued till the age of 16 since Maya found out and told her off. Even if Maya ever found out of what she has been upto, she never planned on stopping until the Grandmaster has made that sudden announcement.

It was all about the news of the betrayal of one of the ninjas from the Shadow sect that has been rumoured as someone that is dangerous and has tons of suprises up on its sleeves. With that being said, the Grandmaster cut back four years of the inheritance ceremony. The plan has changed because the elders of different villages decided that the traitor needs to be locked up as soon as possible which was agreed both by the sides of Scarlet and Shadow ninjas.

Ever since that day, Hanabi has started to further wander off deep inside the forest to test her strength on stronger goblins. The deeper she goes the lesser the prey that appears and carcasses of dead rotting monsters are seen on every direction. Simple things like that never scared her, what made her still was not the cold breeze or rotting smell of corpses that has stuck on her skin but the sudden movement of shadow that not some goblin can do.

'A goblin can never do that,' she thought. It was the work of a ninja, a part of shadow sect to be exact. By the time her senses has calmed down and saw an opening, she immediately threw her blade hitting the target's thigh. He fell down groaning, the young ninja was a boy based on his voice. She really could not get a glimpse of his figure since he is completely covered in cloth.

Wanting to meet who this newcomer might be, she forcibly removed the headscarf he was wearing. Hanabi was then met with the blood-red color of his eyes that made her locked memories rise from deep within. Despite those memories piling up, she was more distracted by the figure before her, to the point that she has not realized that he has already burned a sleeping essence.

While he hastily arranged his headscarf, Hanabi has started to lose balance that was followed by her fading vision. The last thing she felt was the feeling of being dragged harshly by the rough ground of the forest.