Prologue

Where her journey begins

Prologue

               The night is young and the winds were harsh. Running away from home, not wanting to be sold the merchant that made her parents an offer, Saki sat on an alley as cold rain drops began to drizzle. Quickly wrapping her cloak around her shoulder as it covered most of her upper body, Saki lowered her head and wrapped her hands around herself, hoping to get warm. Still cold as the drizzling rain fell from the heavens faster and harder, her long soft and light dark brown hair became heavy and soaked with rain.

            “What am I to do now?” She said to herself as she wrapped a black cloak tighter around her upper body. “I don’t have no where to go.”

            Hearing something coming closer towards her from her left, Saki slowly lifted and turned her head and watched as a cat meowed and slowly walked over to her position. “Sorry kitty.” Saki softly said with her light toned voice as the cat rubbed up against her cloak. “I guess that you’re hunger?” She asked as the cat rubbed it’s face of the soaked cloak. “Well, I have nothing for either of us.”

            “Hey you! Stop!” A man yelled as she quickly took her eyes off the cat and towards her right as a whistle was blown. Not seeing anyone but hearing footsteps getting closer and closer, Saki quickly stood up as the cat ran off and disappeared around the building. Beginning to feel the ground tremble, Saki stood back and placed her back against the wooden wall as two ninja dashed out from the corner of the meat market. Watching as one ninja jumped to the rooftops and continued his escape, the other continued to run on ground and quickly reached Saki’s position. Widening her golden brown eyes as the ninja slowed down at took a glance at her with his sword in hand, he then stopped and turned his head as the sounds of horses filled the silence. Taking another glance at her as she pressed her back harder onto the wall, the ninja slowly took a step forward and then made a dash down the dirt road.

            “Hey where they go!” A man yelled as she turned her head back over to her right and saw four guards on horses rushing out from the corner of the meat market. “Hey girl!” The guard on the white horse shouted at her and slowly approached. “Hey, what are you doing out here?” The guard shouted as she lowered her head with nothing to say. “Damn it girl, I asked you a question!”

            Still not replying and hearing the guard moving, she raised her head as she watched as the guard dropped from his horse and walked in front of her. “Where did the ninja go?” He asked as she kept her silence and lowered her head once again, not caring about life anymore. “You little b***h!” He yelled as he smacked her across the side of her head and causing her to fall to the ground as he cloak fell into a puddle of brown dirty water.

            “Commander! Stop it!” One of the guards shouted. “You questioning my methods Ben?” The commander asked as he turned towards his fellow horseman. “With all do respect sir, leave her alone. She’s just a little girl. There’s no way she has anything to do with this.”

            Taking a deep breath as he turned and looked back at Saki as she slowly got to her hands and knees as the rain slid down her cloak and hair, he then grabbed onto his horse and hopped back onto the saddle. “Ben.” “Sir!” “Next time you meddle in my affairs, I’ll kill you. You got that?” “…sir.” Ben replied in a low soft voice as the commander kicked the side of his horse and made a dash down the road after the ninja.

“Little girl…” Ben said as his fellow horsemen followed behind their commander and leaving him behind. “Go home, this is no place for you. Next time you won’t be so lucky.” He said as he caught her attention. Looking up at him then down at her stomach as it growled, she then slightly lifted her head as Ben chased after his commander.

“Home?” She said to her self as she slid back down the wooden wall. “What home? The place where my parents tried to sell me?” She asked herself as anger build up inside her. “I’ll never go back there…” she promised herself. “Never.” Placing her left hand on her cheek as the sting from the commander’s slap reminded her of the pain, she reached over to her right and pulled her cloak from out of the puddle and watched for a moment as chucks of mud slid down back to the ground. “I hate this place…” she said as she squinted her eyes. “It’s time for me to leave.”

Sliding back up the wall and still not knowing where to go, she turned her attention towards the way the ninja and guards ran. “I’ll go that way.” She decided as she began walking in that direction. Letting her eyes wonder as she walked down the road, she stopped as she spotted a banana the table at the fruit market. Diving under the table and grabbing the banana, she slightly smiled. Peeling and dropping the banana peel, she took a bite of the banana and herd a cat meow. Picking herself back up off the ground, Saki turned around and saw the cat from earlier begging her to share.

Squatting down as the cat quickly took a few steps back with concern, Saki broke off a small piece of the banana and placed it in front of her. “Here you go.” She said to the cat as she waved the bigger piece of the banana in her hand. “The rest is for me.” Standing back up as the cat dashed over and nibbled on the banana, Saki turned back around and followed down the dirt road. Taking a moment to look back, she watched as the cat continued to eat what she shared. “Goodbye.”

Reviews

[Kena Dawn Augustine]

wow. your writing has improved. we've known each other on here for along time, so i've been accustomed to reviewing your writing, and you def write good now. Your dialogue is great, and to write from a female's perspective is hard for a man. Biut you can do it. Are you going to follow up with more?

[Kasey Klein]

I feel this is certainly a fun read for those readers who like this sort of canned adventure story.

You need to work on your fundamentals.

[LizLadyNinja]

HEY! I started to read this, and it has great potential, but you have a lot of grammer mistakes. You switch from Past to Present tense. And that is very distracting. Also in several spots you have incomplete sentences. I really think this could be a great piece, it just needs a lot of editing. I plan on coming back later and leaving you a note with corrections that I think will help you. Unfortuntaly I can't do it right now. So please look for my suggestions in the next couple of days! I look forward to reading more from you! ^_^
Liz