~Chapter One~

On a night such as this, a horrible storm had swept the land. In the benevolent tempest, a small carriage rode through the dark and mysterious forest. The driver did his best to navigate through the dark and winding road but it was a bit difficult with the strong gale and pelting rain. 

The driver continued yelling and whipping the horses to make them go faster. They were almost out of the woods. When the carriage had finally exited the woods, there was signs of civilization along the rural road and the driver felt a little relieved but knew it was still a long journey. Up ahead he spots a set of big iron gates illuminated by the lights hanging on either side of the entrance.  

He stops in front of the gate and opens them himself before driving the carriage through. Meanwhile, inside the carriage, one of the curtains opened and a woman quickly took a peek at the sign on top of the gates that read, 'Welcome to Sunny Manor' 

When the carriage parked in front of the manor, the driver went over and opened the door for his wife. She slowly steps down carefully cradling her baby that was squirming in her arms. She didn't have time so the two rushed towards the front doors of the grand manor. Before they could knock, the mother placed a necklace around the baby's swaddle and fondly caresses her beautiful child for one last time. It broke the mother's heart,this may be the last time she could hold her baby again. What happens after she can never go back or it might endanger her child. She had to do this so her child could live. 

Her husband's expression mirrored hers. He glanced at his child too who was peacefully sleeping in the warmth of her swaddle. They were grateful at least that their last image of their daughter's face was her peaceful and sleeping expression.

"Are you ready?" he reluctantly asked his wife who replied back with a shaky nod. "We don't have much time dear. Quickly put her into the basket. I'll ring the door and we'll both have to leave before they see us."

She slowly places her child into the big basket they provided but the baby began to wake up. Her soft gurgles and whines almost tempted the mother to cradle her again but she stopped herself. So she kisses her on the forehead and tearfully whispers to her, "I love you my little flower. I hope one day we will meet again." 

Unbeknownst to the mother, the necklace around the baby glowed the color of sakura pink for a quick moment before the light faded away.

When the husband knocked loudly on the doors, he starts backing away towards the carriage. "Dear we need to go." her husband urgently put his hand on her shoulder pulling her away from the child laid in the basket. 

They both left without looking back because they knew at least their child was safe as long as she wasn't with them. Luckily, someone had heard the knocking over the sounds of the storm. A couple of locks clicked open and a middle aged woman with a messy bun on top of her head, stepped out holding a candle into the stormy night wondering who could be out here at this time? 

She looks around but sees nobody when she sees a huge basket by the side of the door. "What on earth?" she gasped when she finds a baby inside of it. Without a second to spare, she grabs the child as it starts to wail from the loud crackling sounds of thunder. 

"Oh no shhh please don't cry. I'm sorry." the lady kept mumbling soothing words to calm the baby while she looked around one last time wondering who could have left this child at her door? Much to her disappointment, the child's parents must be long gone by now so she brings the child inside to warm the baby. 

Even though the baby was sheltered from the storm, she wouldn't stop crying. The woman hoped the other children wouldn't wake up to the sounds of the baby wailing so she did the next best thing and went into the kitchen to see if she could find some milk. 

Thank the kitchen staff for placing it where she could find it easily. She feeds the baby the warm and delicious milk making the baby stop crying. She sighs in relief as she held the bottle up for the baby to drink. "Now why would someone leave you out in the middle of a storm? You could've gotten hypothermia." She must be going crazy talking to an infant but she was just skeptical about a baby being left on her doorstep. There wasn't even a letter or even other essentials for the baby except maybe for the basket. 

As she was fixing the baby's swaddle, she noticed something wrapped around the child. She carefully takes it off of her and studies the necklace before putting it on the table and continuing fixing the baby's swaddle. 

"Mama." the woman immediately turns behind her and sees one of the kids was up but half asleep judging by how he kept repeatedly yawning. 

"Choji, what are you doing up? It is not time for breakfast mister." he stretches his arms over his head before sitting next to the woman at the table.

"What's that Mama?" he curiously peeks at the little creature in her arms while the baby waved her tiny fingers around the boy's face. 

She shows the baby to Choji softly smiling at the baby making cut gibberish sounds. "It's a baby, Choji."

"Where did she come from?" he asked curiously watching the baby move it's arms around.

"She just showed up at the door like a present."

"But what about her mama and papa? Where are they?" he continued asking.

The woman pursed her lips wondering the exact same thing for a while, "I don't know. They weren't at the door when I found her." 

"That means she's like us then right Mama?" the boy's sleepy eyes lit up and he kept bouncing with excitement. The woman just wondered where did all that energy come from just a second ago? 

"Yes, yes Choji she's like you guys. But you've got to be quiet she's sensitive to noise."

"Oh right sorry" he whispered curiously looking at the baby while the woman chuckled at how cute Choji was acting around a baby. "What's her name?" Now that might be a slight problem since the woman didn't know at all. 

"Mama?" Choji asked again snapping her out of her thoughts. 

"Oh sorry. She doesn't have a name." 

"Oh! Oh! Can I name her?!" he enthusiastically asks again while the woman wearily allowed him to suggest some names. "I'll call her.....Fangs! Oh no wait! Crusher!" The woman sighs exasperately at the peculiar names.

"Choji, I don't think she wants be named something scary." the little boy pouts at his ideas being rejected and sat back down giving up while the woman noticed something very interesting under the cloth covering the baby's head. 

She unwraps it and found something very unusual. Her hair was a beautiful light pink color that vaguely reminded her of sakura blossoms blooming in the spring. "Wow her hair is so colorful Mama." Choji exclaims as she couldn't help but her fingers through the pretty hair and that was when she came up with the perfect name. 

"Hanako." she tries out the new name and repeatedly says it to the baby. Obviously the baby couldn't understand her and approve her own name so she turned to the only person who could understand her. "What do you think of the name Choji?"

The little boy shurgs, "I still think Crusher would have been a better name." 

"Honestly why did I even ask you? You are only four." she muttered, before she started to feel sleepy again and calls it a night. "Alright Choji, lets get you back into bed. As for you Hanako, I hope you don't mind sleeping with me tonight." the baby gurgles in reply making the woman chuckle. As the two laid in bed she couldn't help but softly touch the baby's cheeks, "From now on Hanako, you're part of the Sunny Manor family. I just hope whoever left you here, is safe."

Meanwhile, somewhere far off in the mountains, a rugged looking man gets off of his horse followed by the rest of his crew. They all went ahead of him and treaded down the bottom of the cliff. He peeks down holding a light amongst the dark abyss. Just like he pressumed, at the very bottom of the cliff was a smashed carriage. It looked like no one could have survived that fall but he'll be fully convinced when he sees signs of bodies. While waiting he brings out a cigar from his coat pocket and lights it before exhaling a huge ring of smoke into the night sky. 

Suddenly one of his crewmates comes running up to him. "Any survivors down there?" he asked in a monotone voice. 

"No sir."

"What about that thing we were looking for?" His crewmate looked disappointed and shakes his head.

"We found nothing inside. We checked all through the wreckage but we found nothing boss." he clicks his tongue in annoyance before turning away from the edge of the cliff to think about the next phase in their plan.

"Damn, all that trouble for nothing."

He blows another puff of smoke and watches it disappear. He looked so troubled thinking about the next order in their plan. Meanwhile, the crewmate hesitantly speaks up. "Shall we keep looking boss?"

"No." he abruptly answers. "We'll go back. Master won't be too happy about the plan being delayed but at least we got most of the job taken care of." he then brings out his sword to look at its shiny reflection. Even with all the blood spattered on it, his smile was sinister looking at it. "It's too bad that they didn't survive. I would have had all the fun torturing information out of them right before I slit their pretty little throats." the crewmate gulped at his boss's twisted pleasure before he stiffened in place when his boss turns around. "Round up the men and tell them we're heading back." 

"Yes boss." he walks back to his horse and takes one last smoke before stomping his cigar out with his worn out leather boots. As he saddles up onto his horse he pulls his sleeve down and shows a incripted tattoo on his left wrist. "Bloody hell this better not ruin our plan. Just wait, we'll find them no matter what master..."

~~~~18 YEARS LATER~~~

For the next eighteen years, the beautiful kingdom of Hiiro, one of the Twelve Great Kingdoms, grew more and more as well as the Sunny Manor. Kids grew up and left the manor while new kids came in and were welcomed into the family. Asako, the caretaker of Sunny Manor, still watched over the manor even as she was becoming a bit older. 

You would expect Asako, now 64 years old, to be stressed with handling so many children in the manor but it was what made her happy every day. It was like having her grandchildren stay with her.   

"Rise and shine my little ducklings! Isn't it such a beautiful day to be out and about?" Again, Asako may be 64 years old but she could still move about like she did eighteen years ago. She marched along the children's quarters opening up all the curtains letting the light pout into the room. 

Few of the kids groaned and stirred in their sleep when they got a hit of that fresh sunshine in their face. Some of the older kids, whose beds were at the very end of the room, whined and complained more than the little ones.

"Mama san~ I don't want to wake up." Usagi lazily whines through her pillow while Asako came by to pull away the curtains.

Then another girl above Usagi's bed yawned and turned towards the other side to continue sleeping. "Can you wake me up in the next five hours Mama? I'm not feeling to get up today" Akira slowly goes back to sleep as Asako rolled her eyes at how dramatic they could be.

Meanwhile, Fuuto's bed was next to the girl's he seemed to be deep in sleep. He had his arms and legs all over his bed and even had drool pooling around his pillow. "Mmm why yes butler I'll take that huge piece of prime steak for myself~" he sleepily mutters as he smiles at