Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hot Blood ❯ Hot Blood 1 ( Chapter 1 )

~Drip...Drip...Drip...when will it stop? That infernal racket that's plagued my dreams as of late. Drip...Drip...Drip...what is it? I try to look for it but I see nothing but darkness. Nothing but a bleak, dark environment.
Drip...Drip...Drip...why won't it stop!? Squinting into the foreboding darkness, all I can discern are faint shapes. Walking over to a strange shape in the corner, I stop and look at it. Whatever it was it was slumped and ready to fall.
Drip...Drip...Drip...the sound was closer over here. Reaching out I touched the slumped object and gasped, withdrawing my hand. Something wet clung to my hand. It was warm and wet, and it was sticky. I looked at my hand real hard but could I couldn't decide what it was. I rubbed my fingers together and it was slick and slightly sticky and then I brought it closer to my face and it had a slight metallic scent to it. Then it clicked in my mind and my eyes widened in horror. At that moment of revelation, bright light filled the room and the red color confirmed it. It was blood. I looked at the slumped figure and a scream erupted from my mouth. Blank, glowing, red eyes stared straight into mine and cold, pale lips curved into a cruel smile. A small child held in his arms, dead. Blood leaked from those cruel lips and fell to the floor with a Drip...Drip...Drip...~

Shooting up into sitting position, the young pink haired woman let out a shrill scream and tears leaked out from her pale green eyes. Her body shook with fear and a strange coldness seemed to permeate the room. She took several deep breaths and slowly tried to calm herself.

For several weeks now she'd been plagued by these nightmares of red eyed cruelty. At first she knocked it off as stress and imagination but now she sensed that something was seriously wrong. She never remembered the face of her red eyed creature, only the strangeness of their glowing eyes and their cruel bloodstained lips. She's seen red eyes before of course, Sasuke and his brother Itachi both had red eyes when they activated their sharingan, but theirs never glowed with cruel power. Whatever creature that visited her in her dreams was definitely not Itachi or Sasuke. Thinking of the tall, dark, and handsome Uchiha, she sighed. It's been seven years since Sasuke left her team. Seven years of hoping and praying that he'd come back. Seven years of nothing. She bit her lip and jerked herself from anymore of her depressing thoughts. She had enough to deal with, considering her nightmares and besides...she was sure he'd return. It's just when. That's the question...

Looking over at the clock, the young woman saw that it was four 'o one. Sighing, she got up. It was way too early for this damned crap.

'First Sasuke and now these stupid nightmares...come on Sakura; you can overcome these silly things! No creature can stop Sakura, Konoha's best medic...well second-best!' And with those thoughts, Sakura went to her bathroom and turned on the cold water in the shower. Sighing, she hopped into the shower and suppressed a squeal as the ice cold water hit her. Leaning against the tile, she let her body adjust to the water.

'Why are these nightmares recuing? It can't be stress...I haven't had a mission in weeks and the hospital actually hasn't had many seriously ill or injured patients. It isn't because of my social life. Naruto may have been on a lot of missions as of late, but I've had others to hang out with. My love life is non-existent, but I don't see any relation between that and my nightmares. So what could it be...I think I'm going to go hang out with Ino and have a girl’s night out. I've been scheduled off for the next few days so I'll definitely need something to occupy myself with and distract my mind on something else besides those damned nightmares.' With a new determination in mind, she rinsed the soap from her hair and turned off the water.

Exiting the bathroom, she put on a pair of white shorts and a red tank top and she slipped on her ninja sandals. Looking at the clock, it said four forty nine. The only place open at this time would be Ichiraku's ramen stand. Sighing, she walked out the door.

It was still dark out, the sun having yet to make its appearance. The street lamps casted a strange light on the dark streets and a cool breeze swept past her door. She shivered slightly and made a note to start buying warmer clothes soon.

"Oh hello Sakura, you’re up pretty awfully early. Is everything alright?" Sakura glanced at her elderly neighbor and smiled. The woman was always up early. She was always going to the hospital for prescriptions for her insomnia. Even with the pills she only got about three or four hours of sleep. Despite that, she was always pleasant and cheerful. She and Sakura always held interesting discussions in the middle of the night when neither of them could sleep.

"Hi Mrs. Minamino. Everything’s good, I just haven't had a very good night. I'm going to go grab some ramen. Would you like to join me?" The elderly woman smiled but shook her head no. A grey lock fell astray from her bun and her kind blue eyes sparkled with cheerfulness. A grey cat jumped into the frail woman’s arms and her shaking hands petted the cat with tenderness.


"No, but thank you dear. I'm rarely hungry first thing in the morning. Take care though. Last night someone was murdered and the killer is said to still be lurking about." Sakura gasped. A murder here in Konoha? The killer's still lose?

"Do you know who it was?" Again the elderly woman shook her head. Her eyes saddened.

"No but I heard that it was a youngster. Fresh from the academy. Poor dear, had their whole life ahead of them..." She drew a shaking breath and brushed the stray grey lock behind her ear.

"I see...thank you...well I'll be on my way then." I said as I took off down the street.
"Okay dear, be careful!" Sakura heard her call out and she smiled to herself and then the smile was replaced with a contemplative frown. Who would murder a kid?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In the shadows of Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Watching the rosette haired woman run down the lamp lit street, a shadowed man licked his lips at his next target. This one would be special. This one would draw out HIM. She would do. She would have to do. She fit the description perfectly.

'Just wait my little blossom. It's almost time.' The man, cloaked with the shadows, let out a low, dark laugh. His glowing red eyes were the only things that could be seen from the shadows and slowly disappeared.

Not too long after the shadows started to disappear when the rays of the sun began to peak down the abandoned alley. Nothing was there to signal that someone had been there...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ichiraku's Ramen Stand~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Here you go Miss. One bowl of shrimp and beef ramen. Hope you enjoy." An elderly, grey hair man placed a huge bowl of ramen in front of Sakura. Her stomach growled loudly at the sight of the food and they both laughed.

"Thank you Teuchi. I'm sure it will be great." The man smiled and Sakura dug into the ramen. Soon the bowl was empty and her stomach full and she let out a content sigh. Naruto got her started on eating ramen here almost every day. Well at least it was very good. Much better and healthier than the instant ramen that Naruto always bought her for her birthday. Guess it's the thought that counts.

"Sakura!" Speaking of the devil...or is it thinking in this case?

"I'm surprised to see you here so early! Oh I know! You wanted to get up extra early so that you wouldn't miss me and came to ask me out!" With a sound punch to the stomach, Naruto doubled over.

"No you dobe. I happen to have something important to do this morning!" Sakura growled. Naruto would never learn. Even though he was her best friend, he never ceased to amaze her with his stupidity.

"Geez Sakura, did you have to hit so hard? I was only joking." He gasped. Sitting on the stool next to hers he ordered a ramen bowl with everything on it. Sakura rolled her eyes. She couldn't see how he could eat all of that at the same time. She sighed and a frown graced her lips.

"Naruto...have you heard anything about the murder earlier this morning?" She watched him gulped down several bits then he looked to her quizzically.

"Murder? Here in Konoha?" He asked surprised, a couple of ramen noodles hanging out of his mouth.

"Never mind, it's just something I heard about this morning." She shivered as a cold wind blew through the ramen stand. An omen? No just coincidence. Winter was only three weeks away and everyone was getting ready for it. Summer had been horrible and fall wasn't much better with all the rain we had. Winter we hoped would be much better. We should know better than that though.

"Sorry Sakura, I just got back not too long ago. I came here and decided to get something to eat and then hit the sheets. I guess we'll find out soon though. Don't worry too much, Sakura. If it did happen, then they've probably already caught the bastard." Naruto gulped down the rest of his ramen.

Sighing she nodded. He's probably right. No need to worry. It's just that for some reason it seemed as if she had been watched this morning. Counting it off as paranoia, she glanced at her long time friend and partner. Ever since Sasuke left, he's been there for her countless times and she was thankful to have him around. She didn't know how she would of dealt without him. She smiled at how she used to avoid him like the plague but now she couldn't help but notice how striking his blue eyes were and how long his hair gotten or how much of a man he has become, even though he's picked up one too many habits from Jiraya. Yes she was attracted to him, she'd admit, but he seemed to have gotten over his crush on her. She guessed it was kind of a good thing. She didn't need one more complication in her sad life. So once again -Sakura would say this only once more- she had no love life to speak of. Besides, she still loved Sasuke. Even if it was a hopeless kind of love, it was there none-the-less.

Snapping herself out of her thoughts she glanced back at Naruto. It was then that she noticed the dark circles under his eyes. He's probably haven't had much sleep on this last mission. He swayed in his chair for a second and then shook himself awake. She nearly growled.

"Naruto!" Making the blonde head leap out of his skin he looked at Sakura and horror dawned in his eyes at her angry look. She nearly laughed as she imagined him contemplating on what he did this time.

"Naruto Uzumaki! Get home before you pass out where you are! You need rest and you need to start taking care of yourself better. No buts! Go!" Naruto tried to deny he was tired but Sakura made her point clear. He grumbled and stood up from his stool.

"Fine, I'll see ya later Sakura." He yawned and walked off towards his apartment. She nearly laughed as he nearly did a face plant but she kept close vigil on him until he disappeared from sight. Sighing, she paid and left the stand and looked at her watch, six o' clock. Ino should be awake by now. She'd go ask Ino if she wanted to hang out later and then she'd figure out what to do for the rest of the day afterwards.

Walking around the corner she glanced at the shadowed street. The sun had just peaked over the horizon so it was still a little dark. Ignoring that feeling of being watched, she walked down the lifeless street and hurried down to the other side and looked to her right. The sun's rays illuminated the street here and the feeling passed. Looking behind her she shivered at the dark street and quickly walked to the brighter street. Soon she forgot all about the feeling as she came up to the flower shop Ino and her family ran. Walking in she glanced and saw the yawning blonde at the counter. The blonde's sleepy sky blue eyes immediately spotted her and a smile graced her lips.

"Hey forehead, what you doing up so early?" The blonde muffled a yawn behind her gloved hand.

"Well Ino-pig, I couldn't sleep well and I figured I'd come and see if you wanted to hang out." Sakura smiled at the old nicknames. Yes they used to be at each other’s throats but that was a long time ago and they've became friends once again. It's just that the nicknames never died so they've kind of kept them.

"Must have been a bad night...sure, what you have planned?" Ino walked over to one of her plants and picked a few leaves from them. Putting them in a small bag, she handed them to Sakura. Sakura raised her eyebrow in question.

"I don't really know. Maybe go to a bar or something. What's this for?" Ino smiled.

"It's something that you just boil with water or tea and it'll make you sleep like a baby. Just one leaf though...a bar eh? Sounds like fun. What time should I come over?" Sakura pursed her lips in thought and then nodded.

"How about eight forty five. We can go to that new bar right by the outskirts." Ino nodded.

"I haven't been there yet. They say some sexy men work there though...maybe we can get poor little ol' you a boyfriend...or maybe even a lover!" Sakura blushed and blanched at her friend.

"Ino, please, I don't need a boyfriend and I definitely don't need a lover. I have two jobs to worry about as it is without having to worry about a third." She sighed as Ino laughed.

"We'll see, Sakura, we'll see." Sakura sighed, thanked her for the leaves and then parted ways with Ino, heading back to her apartment. Stopping suddenly she noticed that she was about to turn on that creepy street again.

'Come on Sakura. It's only paranoia. That killer has probably already been caught!' Inner Sakura said, annoyed at her behavior.

'Well what if the killer hasn't! That means he's on the loose and to avoid the anbu and other shinobi, they'd have to be a very established shinobi...or maybe a monster even?' Sakura shivered at the memory of the strange creature of her nightmares. Inner sakura rolled her eyes but shivered at the memory none-the-less.

'Come on, get a grip. There are no such things as monsters. Besides we don't even know if there is even a killer. We've only heard about it from the old lady.' Sakura sighed. She's right. It's only paranoia and I shouldn't be bothered by it.

Straightening her shoulders, she turned the corner and sighed in relief as the hustle and bustle of life played out down the street. The sun’s rays shone brightly through the streets and life continued on.

'See! I told you it's only paranoia!' Inner Sakura laughed.

'I guess you were right.' Sakura felt relieved that the sun decided to make its prescience known down this street

'I'm always right.' Inner Sakura said smugly.

Rolling her eyes, she made her way down the street and made the long trek back to her apartment.

------------------------------------------------------- ----------------

I hope you enjoyed it. I've got a plan forming in my mind about how it will end but I'll leave it to fates hand. Review and tell me how it was. No flaming please.