I'm so hungry...

It had been a week and no other berries had grown outside her window, it's just the odd cherry-looking creature-thing that she hadn't seen before...but it's better than nothing. 

With a deflated sigh, the small girl quietly pads over to the window, climbing on top of the small box and peeking outside, her eyes immediately spotting the strange fruit and a wave of dread instantly washing over her, though it's immediately silenced by her rumbling tummy.

Etching the window open gently as to not be heard by her mother, she reaches out and tries to grab the fruit, her fingers only lightly brushing the green stem but she's unable to get a grip on the food.

A startled gasp escaping her pale lips when a small and unfamiliar hand reaches in and grabs the cherries instead, the girl jolting back on impulse, pure terror filling her eyes as she glances up at the dark-haired boy. She had seen him a couple of time within the village but they've never interacted at all, her anxiety spiralling as she tries to think of something to say, she's never interacted with anyone outside before - let alone ask them for food so she's quite overwhelmed by the situation. 

Though, in an act of kindness, the boy merely slips the food into her window before walking away - probably finding her a little strange but that doesn't matter, he did just save her a little bit of grief after all. 

Finally, some food. 

A small smile spreading across the girls lips as she stares blankly at the window before a single word comes to mind; "Thank..." At least, she's pretty sure that's what people say when they're grateful.

Bringing the food to her lips, she reluctantly takes a bite and--is hit by a foul taste, her face uncontrollably morphing into a look of absolute disgust as she forces herself to eat the nasty-tasting fruit. 

No wonder why the boy didn't want it.

A deep shudder runs down her spine as she swallows a piece of the fruit but despite her distaste, she finishes it with much difficulty, it's all she has of course. 

Though something odd happens upon finishing the fruit, her vision seems to change colour, everything has a reddish hue - though it only lasts seconds before her heart pounds inside her chest, she can see her hair turning a deep crimson colour, the shock causing her to fall on her butt as she grabs the ends of her own-red strands, staring at them with wide and petrified eyes.

What's happening?!

In a state of panic, she begins to run up the stairs of the cellar, trying to reach for the doorknob but it's much too high for her. Though, much to her surprise, a red line suddenly shoots out from her fingertips and turns the knob for her, opening the door successfully but only managing to freak her out even more as a nervous cry tears from her lips. 

She stumbles her way through the kitchen and into the living room where she sees her mother standing at the window, it would seem she was originally peering outside but she had now turned her attention toward her daughter instead but the look on her face is anything but welcoming.

"What are you doing up h--Is that blood?!" The woman asks, her anger swiftly turning into a more fearful look as she instinctively backs away whilst the tearful child approaches her. 

"Mother, ple--!" The child is silenced when the woman backs away once again, one hand stretched out before her as if to say 'stay back' whilst her other hand scrambles around the small end table beside the window.

The child can't even speak anymore due to fear, her mother usually grabs a weapon right about now, which is clearly what she must be doing. 

Why this child thought she could rely on a woman who hated her for help? Nobody could say but it's likely about to cost her dearly.

Within seconds her mother has a gun in hand and points it toward her child, her tired and skittish eyes filling with tears as she hisses "Stay away!" through gritted teeth. All she can see is blood in this kid's hair, why is there blood in her hair? Who knows - maybe she's killed a cat or something, that's how murderers start, right? Killing innocent animals. 

Of course, she knew this child had bad blood from the start, she's going to be evil. Just like her father.

"Mothe--"

"Shut up!" The woman barks, her voice shaking as she finally cracks, tears rolling down her cheeks as her hands begin to tremble. "J-Just shut up!" She can't pull it, she can't pull the trigger on a child.

Especially one that looks so frightened; the red-headed girl's eyes are larger than dinner plates, her small body frozen in place like a morbid painting and her tiny heartbeat can almost be heard filling the room.

And within that same instant, her mother finds herself turning the gun on herself instead as her tears fall from her weathered face, she can only say one short and hushed sentence; "Please forgive me...." before a loud bang sounds and her light turns dark. 

Though that can't be said for the little girl, she had rushed for her mother on impulse, hoping to stop her from hurting herself somehow but she can't move as fast as a bullet. 

The face she knew so well and even feared is now shattered, just like that.

Only half of it remains now. 

"Mother..." She chokes out at the still-standing woman before the corpse falls down on top of her, the both of them hitting the floor hard and the young girl stuck underneath dead weight, a drop of blood dripping from the large bullet wound in her mother's skull and landing on the girl's small cheek as realization dawns.

The girl letting out a loud and high-pitched scream as she struggles beneath her mother but she's unable to free herself. 

Her second scream only growing louder when her eyes slowly adjust on her mother's face - or half of her face anyway since that's all that's left - the girl still fidgeting and crying out loudly for help but nobody comes to save her. 

At least, not yet.

It's about an hour later when the girl starts to struggle, her throat too sore to continue her screams and her body too drained from the sudden change as well as the trauma to stay conscious for much longer, she feels so sick and there's nothing she can do about it. She can't even move. 

A knock at the door causes her to snap alert though, followed by a muffled voice. 

"Oi, marines! Open up!" 

The marines have been patrolling more recently, she noticed them out of the cellar window several times. 

The girl doesn't know what words to say, only letting out a loud yelp of the word; "Help" which they oblige to, within seconds the door is kicked open and a handful of marines flood the room although none of them seemed prepared for the sight before them. 

"Dammit..." One calmly murmurs before stepping forward, his eyes scanning the room before landing on the little girl, he immediately drops to his knee and begins to drag the child out from underneath her mother all while trying to speak to her, possibly to reassure her. "Hey kid, it's okay! My name is Garp. What's your name?" 

Of course, she doesn't have recollection of her identity and even if she did, she's not in the most social of states right now. The small child only staring at the grey-haired male in complete and utter shock.

"Okay, can you tell me what happened here?" He finally asks instead, the other marines seemingly looking around the room and drawing their own conclusions in the process. The girl only making a gun-like hand gesture before pointing the 'barrel' or in this case, her index finger toward her temple. "I see...so no pirates?" The girl shakes her head instead of answering with words once again. "D'ya talk?"

"Looks like a suicide here, Captain." One of the younger marines comment, earning a small hum in acknowledgement before Garp's eyes shift toward the men. 

"Where's this kid's father?"

"Uh, we don't have any records of a man living here."

"So the mother was single?" 

"Yeah, we didn't even know she had a kid."

Naturally the marine captain doesn't seem too happy to hear that but with a short sigh, he accepts the information and plucks the girl up from the ground effortlessly, gesturing with his free hand to one of the marines - it would seem they understood what he was requesting because the underling marine immediately hands the older man a bag of rice crackers. 

"Sir, I don't think she will hungry ri--"

"You want some crackers?" The male questions anyway, causing the girl to shake her head, which only seems to exasperate him immensely. "This girl looks malnourished, she must be hungry!" 

One marine comes into view with a dirty slip of paper in hand, presenting it to his commanding officer politely. "I think her name is Kyo, sir. According to this birth certificate anyway." that takes the girl's attention immediately, her eyes shifting toward the piece of paper to see the words - her first name.

Though her surname looks like gibberish to her since it's smudged and she can't read regardless. 

"Right...no father on the paper either." Garp grumbles with a deep frown, still holding the kid in his arms as he thoughtfully mumbles to himself. "What are we gonna do with this little one?" 

"It's rumoured that a lot of orphaned kids around these islands are joining the Donquixote pirates, so maybe we shouldn't leave her here..." One marine voices which definitely piques the older marines interest. 

"Hmph. Well, we gotta go back to marine base anyway, let's take her back there and see what we can do with her." The captain finally concludes before marching out of the home, carrying little Kyo along with him. He doesn't miss how the child squints when the sunlight hits her face, trying to shield her eyes with her dirty hands. "Don't worry, girlie, we'll get you washed and give you some clean clothes real soon."

"...Thank...?"