"Who are you?"

It's a field of flowers. White flowers swaying in the breeze and a little boy with blonde hair stands among them. He stands tall as he curiously stares at the woman for an answer. She wasn't regarding him at all because her back was facing him and he himself couldn't quite make out her front.

Although, she was indeed tall; the boy did notice he happened to be about half her height and maybe a few centimeters taller. She had her golden hair wrapped in a bun atop her head, and from what he could see, was clipped with a big, red flower that held it together.

As she's fiddling with her hands and perhaps something in them, she finally drops her arms to her side. There's a gun in one of her hands- he flinches- but she looks to the sky and and takes a breath.

"Who am I?" She gradually turns around to him, then abruptly stops midway. She pauses and says hesitantly, "That doesn't matter."

He and the woman stand face to face with a distance between them. He sees her scars on her shoulders, her arms, her legs, and the one slashed right across her nose. There are also bandages that enwrap her arms and half of her face; all that one eye is staring apathetically at him.

He tries smiling to lighten the mood. "Well, I'm Len!" - she clenches her fists- "I'm... only nine, but that's all right." He watches her remain unmoved, so he exclaims, "I know! Why don't we play hide n' seek? You hide, I'll seek."

Len presses his hands to his face and counts aloud in a muffled voice he seems to be oblivious to. "One... two..."

As for her, she isn't moving a muscle. She stays put like she hadn't heard a thing from this little boy, and merely scrutinizes her gun, thinking about something- someone- as he resumes his counting in the background.

"Nine... ten!" He removes his hands and takes a good look of his surroundings while yelling "Ready or not, here I-" As he turns himself around, his gaze lands on the woman, "come..." Len walks up to her and raises his head to look her in the eyes. "Why didn't you hide?"

"I did," she responds nonchalantly.

"No, you didn't. You're supposed to hide and I'm supposed to find you."

She calmly takes something out of her flower pin and puts it in her palm. It's a ring resembling a small four leaf clover. She keeps herself attached to it and mumbles, "What's the point of hide n' seek... if you still haven't found me?"

Len, confused by her statement, looks down at what she's looking at. He recognizes what it is and furrows his brow. "That's the ring I gave... Rin." Her hand clenches back into a fist.

"Who are you? Are you-"

"I'm not Rin!" she howls.

"Then how do you-"

"Tsubaki." She's panting. "My name's Tsubaki."

Quiet.

"Tsubaki..." he whispers her name as if he knew there was more importance to it. However, he blinks and pulls something out of his shorts pocket- a white armband with a red symbol shaped in a curving X like a small spiral spinning in one direction, the edges of it giving them the looks of ferns.

Timid, he holds it out to her and inquires softly, "Do you... know what this is?"

Her eyes widen and she snatches it out of his hands. Now the armband and ring sit in the palm of her left hand and she nearly sheds a tear.

Tsubaki raises the gun to Len's forehead. He's paralyzed in fear.

"I don't... I don't want you to grow up and become corrupt like them!" She's shut her eyes.

The field of white flowers around them turn to a bleeding red color.

"Tsubaki-!"

Her finger trembles on the trigger. "When I count to ten, you come find me. One-"

"Tsubaki, please!"

"Two... three, four... five, six... seven, eight... nine-"

"Rin... don't do this..."

"Ten..." With a smile, she begins to tear up. "Congrats... you've found me."

Tsubaki pulls the trigger.

. . .

Word Count: 689

. . .

Side notes: Karakuri Series

A/N: Why do a lot of my drabbles end with gunfire?