Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hot Blood ❯ Hot Blood 3 ( Chapter 3 )

"Ugh...that is so the last time I drink that much." Sakura grumbled around her hot cup of coffee. Her hair was tossed in every which way and her head felt like it had been hammered with a crow bar. Her eyes were circled with dark rings and her dress was wrinkled and scrunched up. To say she looked and felt like crap was an understatement. Taking a sip of her hot coffee, she sighed and smiled as it temporarily eased her rolling stomach. Taking out the morning Konoha paper she began to read it. As soon as her eyes hit the front page, she gasped.

"Two killed in Konoha. Murderer still on the loose. Early Friday morning, Mitamoto Katsu was found dead and cause of death is still unknown and late Friday, about 7:52, Haruno Mina was found dead and the cause of death is still unknown. Officials say that their seems to be a pattern here. Both girls had pink hair and green eyes, both around their mid to late teens..." Sakura read aloud and stood up where she sat. Katsu had been fourteen and she had just got out of the academy. She had asked Sakura to help train her...and Mina was Sakura's cousin. She was seventeen. She and Mina had played together as children...she had been her only living relative besides her mother...

Shocked, Sakura sat down and looked at the newspaper one more time to see if she had read correctly. Shaking her head, she went to the bathroom, showered, and changed into some different clothes. She decided to wear her usual attire- white skirt, black shorts, and her red top with the Haruno family symbol on it... She then put on her ninja sandals and walked out the door. Groaning as the bright afternoon sun pierced into her brain, she squinted and waited for her eyesight to adjust and spotted the usual afternoon crowd. Rubbing her temples at the loud crowd, she hopped to the rooftops and traveled towards the hokage's tower. She needed answers and she needed them now.

'Why wasn't I told sooner? This is serious and she didn't even warn me! Tsunade, I don't know what is going on but I intent to get answers.' Sakura thought furiously, her hair trailing behind her. She had grown out her hair from all those years ago. It now reached past her waist and it's caused her much grief from tangles. Maybe she should cut it soon...Sighing and trying to keep her aching head on track of her personal mission, she quickened her pace.

It didn't take long as she glided across the rooftops and reached the tower. Deciding to take the traditional way, she walked up the long flight of stairs and when she reached the wide double doors she knocked. Not waiting for an answer, she barged in. The doors hit the walls with a loud boom and slammed shut. A rumpled blonde mess jumped up from her sleeping place on her desk and glared at the intruder. She too had dark circles under her eyes and she smelled strongly of alcohol. Seemed like Sakura wasn't the only one to be suffering from a hangover from hell this morning.

"What the h..." She didn't even finish as Sakura slammed the newspaper in front of the woman.

"Explain this Tsunade-sama. Why wasn't I notified sooner! There's a killer on the loose and it seems to like picking on pink heads with ties to me!" Sakura didn't care if she wasn't making much sense. All she wanted was answers.

"Wha...this wasn't supposed to get out!" Tsunade snatched the papers and read them closely, ignoring Sakura completely.

"Well they did! Now are you going to answer me or not!" Sakura growled out. Tsunade's eyes flashed and Sakura knew she overstepped her bounds.

"Sakura! Watch yourself girl. Don't think for a second I haven't been trying to take every precaution! I was going to have an escort sent to your apartment today and I was going to explain the situation. This wasn't supposed to get out in the papers. We were trying to keep the public from panicking!" Tsunade sighed and began to rub her temples.

"I'm sorry Sakura...it looks like we both had a rough night last night, Sakura...I think Donzou had something to do with the papers...I had wanted to tell you in person but...at least the cause of death didn't leak out..." Sakura's brows furrowed together. Wha?

"Cause of death?" She asked, almost too afraid to find out. Tsunade's voice had some strange, unknown emotion hidden in it. That was never good.

"...Sakura sit down..." Tsunade ordered, not in the mood for anything less than obedience. Sakura sat down and watch Tsunade, biting her lip.

"Sakura, as soon as possible, I want at least one person around you at all times. Preferably Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, or even some of my handpicked anbu. Whatever we're dealing with is completely different from what you've or I've ever fought before, Sakura. Maybe not even human..." Tsunade held up her hand for silence as Sakura tried to cut in.

"As we were examining the bodies we saw no signs of conflict. No scratch marks, knife wounds, or even broken bones. There were no signs of Ninjutsu's, Genjutsu's, Taijutsu's, or any other type of unknown jutsu performed on the two women. You know there would be left over traces of someone’s chakra. We found none. When we examined further, we were shocked to find this. There was not one ounce of blood left in their bodies...they had been drained dry." Sakura gasped and stood up.

"But...But how? How can that be possible?" Sakura looked at Tsunade surprised. She thought she knew what Tsunade was trying to get at but she wanted to hear it from Tsunade's own mouth.

"As I said Sakura, what we're dealing with here...I'm beginning to suspect...isn't human." She said slowly, watching Sakura worriedly. Sakura seemed to be acting too strange in her opinion.

"What are you saying that this killer is some type of...vampire or something?" Sakura tried to swallow the lump in her throat. This was way too much of a coincidence. The re-occurring dreams, the red eyes, the strange killings, and more recently the Sasuke look alike...but Sakura didn't believe in monsters...so it HAD to be coincidence...didn't it?

"Yes Sakura...that is exactly what I'm saying." Sakura slumped into the chair and ran her fingers through her tangled hair.

'This is so stupid. Come on, vampires? Pssh!' Inner Sakura rolled her eyes and thumped Sakura soundly.

'I know it's just so strange though. Maybe Tsunade's had too much stress on her shoulders lately. I mean this is strange for even Tsunade to say. Vampires? Right!' Sakura nearly laughed out loud but wisely kept her mouth shut.

'Yeah...you know what? Since Tsunade's at her wits end here, let’s do some..."snooping" and try to solve this case for her. There has to be something that we're all missing in this puzzle. Who's better than us at it?' Inner Sakura seemed to beam at her idea; Sakura nearly objected but thought twice about it.

'You might have something there...it won't hurt to give it a try. I mean this killer will have to target us sometime right? If he's targeting pink heads, there isn't many here in Konoha. Wouldn't it be better to just target him first?' Inner Sakura agreed and they made an agreement to look into it after they got out of Tsunade's office. Looking at Tsunade, Sakura nodded.

"Tsunade, I stopped believing in monsters a long time ago. I believe there is more to this than what is in front of our eyes...I'm a capable shinobi. I need no guards but if it'll put you at ease I'll stick close to the others." Sakura tried to be careful with how she worded her words. If she didn't, Tsunade would figure out her plan and lock her up safe and tight in some high security place.

"Very well Sakura. Be careful and report back here to me if anything strange happens." Tsunade watched as Sakura bowed and exited the room. Tsunade's eyes saddened.

"I thought so too, Sakura...but even when we stop believing in monsters, Sakura...they'll never stop believing in us..."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Street's of Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sakura sighed and leaned against the old abandoned building. It had once housed the main branch of the Uchiha clan. Yes, this was Sasuke's old house. Sighing for the hundredth time, she re-read the newspaper and sure enough this is where they said they found the second body, Mina's body...The first place, an abandoned alley near the training area, had proved unfruitful. There were no struggle signs, no marks, nothing. So Sakura decided to look for the second place and was shocked that the body was discovered in the old Uchiha mansion. When she arrived, she grimaced at all of her memories of her childhood partner and friend. Shrugging them off she stood against the building, watching the sun began to dip over the horizon. It was almost night time.

'Well standing around won't solve anything, I need to find a way in...' Sakura stood straight and began to check all the doors and windows for any open ones, but she couldn't find any. Nearly giving up, she spotted one window she had missed. She gave it a little shove upwards and it gave way. Climbing into the abandoned house she stood still and waited for her eyesight to adjust to the darkness. The room was empty and barren. A lone cockroach scurried it's way over the dusty floor and disappeared into a crack between the floorboards.

What did she expect? A brightly lit room with polished floors and everything squeaky clean? Sighing she glanced at the dust covered room and shrugged. She guessed no one but Mina and her killer had been in this placed for seven years. Shrugging off the creepy feeling she was beginning to get, she walked from the dusty, empty room and into a dark corridor. Pictures hung here and there on the walls but she couldn't discern the content of them because dust caked them. Taking the edge of her shirt, she wiped dust from one of the pictures and stared into the eyes of a child Sasuke. Quickly walking away from the picture, she couldn't quite get the image of Sasuke's face from her mind.

'Get over it Sakura. It was only a picture.' Inner Sakura berated at Sakura. Continuing on, Sakura walked to a room at the end of the corridor and stopped at the yellow no crossing tape. Stepping over it, she walked into the room and looked at the white outline on the floor. The outline in the shape of Mina's body.
Shaking of the memories of her childhood friend, she stopped by the outline and began to look for any signs of struggle or anything.

'Nothing...how can someone be killed and leave behind no signs of struggle? I know Mina would have fought for every inch of her life. Maybe I should check again...'

Looking it over once again, she confirmed that there were no signs of a struggle. Hell there wasn't even any footprints on the dusty floor. Only hers. Damn...looking around she glanced at the room and if she remembered the layout of the house, this should have been Itachi's room. Strange...thirteen years ago, Itachi had been the mad killer on the loose. Now this new killer had killed someone in Itachi's very room. Kind of...gloomy and creepy.

'Well there goes that plan. What next?' Noticing the dimming light from the windows she stood up and glanced around one more time. She then noticed something shinning between the floorboards as the light hit it. Stooping down to it, she got out one of her kunai and lifted it out from the crack. It was a small bobby pin. It was shiny, black, and used.

'Who the hell uses bobby pins anymore? Maybe the killer? Could have fell out or snagged...Great a strange murderer with a need to be introduced to modern fashion...' Pocketing away for further examination, her heart stopped as a floorboard creaked behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Cold, low, sensual...it sounded so familiar. Frozen to the spot, she stood there too afraid to turn around. To afraid that she was hallucinating again. Another floorboard creaked and a hand grabbed her shoulder gently and spun her around. Her eyes connected with those all too familiar cold, onyx eyes.

"Tell me Sakura...what are you doing here...all alone?" His eyes warmed as they met hers and her eyes began to water.

"Sasuke...is it really you?" Slowly she lifted her hand and touched his chest. Her hand connected to his warm, firm chest. Tears leaked out from her eyes, she had completely forgotten about the murder that had taken place just right behind her. He was real...he was here...

"You came back..."Sasuke sighed as he watched the pink haired woman cry and slowly he shook her shoulders. He didn't have time to deal with this. She could do this later in a safer environment.

"Sakura, there isn't time for this. You shouldn't be here. Alone for that matter...We need to get you to a safer place" Sakura's eyebrows furrowed together and she shook herself out of her stupor. Her eyes narrowed and Sasuke would have smirked if he hadn't been in such a rush. There's that spitfire he knew in his youth.

"What the hell do you mean Sasuke? I came here to try and solve these murders and then you show up right out of the blue! What do you think my reaction would be! Then you tell me that I shouldn't be here and then tell ME that I need to get to a safer place! I am not running and hiding like a child! This killer killed my cousin and my friend!" Sakura seemed to puff out as he implied she go "to a safer place." Crossing her arms, she glared at him.

"So the real question here is...what are YOU doing here? Last time I checked, YOU were listed as a missing nin!" She bit her lip and looked at him hard. By all rights she should have handed his ass over to Tsunade, but he had at one time been her friend and partner. She couldn't just hand him over. Not yet, not when she had hoped and prayed for this moment every single day.

"I don't have time to explain, Sakura. He's after you and when that sun sets, he's coming for you." Sakura didn't know what it was, but something in his eyes told her that what he was saying was true. Dread filled her and she remembered what Tsunade had told her. That the victims had been completely drained of blood. It was at that moment that nothing else seemed to matter. She had wanted her answers, and Sasuke had them all...but the question was...Did she really want to find out?

"Sasuke, who is after me," she said in a near whisper. He looked long and hard at her. He had really changed since she last had seen him. She was surprised she hadn't noticed it before. Her body warmed as she looked at him. His long raven black hair fell around his shoulders and he was much taller than he had been when they were genin. He towered a good foot over her. His body was lean, hard, and powerful. When he walked over to the window, he reminded her of a jaguar stalking his prey in the rainforest...Wild, untamed, and incredibly sexy. Black hakama's graced his legs and the white haori gapped open, showing his toned and muscled chest. A simple blue obi was tied around his waist. He seemed to had shed the dreaded Oro wardrobe. Somehow in her absence, he had made the change from boy to man.

"Sakura...the only reason I returned here to Konoha was because he has targeted you. I can't tell you anymore right now, but we need to leave soon. I need to get you far, far away. He's powerful and he could easily kill the both of us." Sasuke walked up the Sakura and tilted her chin up. Something compelled him to explain. Explain what he didn't know but she deserved it after all, just not all of it here.

"I know I haven't made the best of choices in the past seven years, but I won't let not saving you be one of them. After I had defeated Itachi I had planned on returning but...something had happened to change that." His eyes saddened and Sakura sighed.

"Sasuke...for a while now I had almost given up hope on you ever returning. You've no idea how much we've all missed you. Especially me...all those years ago me and Naruto believed you'd come back, even when we encountered you the first time and you told us you had broken all our ties. I knew you couldn't have, not the ties we three had..." Sakura sighed and calmed her rapidly beating heart. Being this close to Sasuke wasn't helping her. She knew she had been very attracted to him all those years ago but...the effect he had on her now was ten times worse. Bad Sakura! Concentrate on what's important!

"I had to break those ties Sakura. I couldn't give Orochimaru leeway to control me. I had been foolish then to believe that I needed his power to help me defeat Itachi...to think Orochimaru had actually been weaker than me in the end..." Sasuke let out a bitter laugh and turned towards Sakura.

"I had done many horrible things while I was serving under Orochimaru, Sakura. Blood stains my hands and no matter how hard I try, it never washes off. Sakura..." He sighed and then glanced out the window. Sakura looked at him sadly. He hasn't had it easy these past seven years and she highly suspected it got only harder here on out. Sakura knew this all too well. She too had done horrible things on missions. All for the 'sake of Konoha.'

"Sasuke we've all done horrible things, even I. Just don't lose focus and keep on moving forward. That's how I live with the things I've done. You may never be able to forget the things you've done, but someday you'll realize that you have those that care about you and support you no matter what. They'll be there to help you get through thick and thin. If you'll let me Sasuke, we can get through it together. Heck, team seven is capable of anything!" Laughing slightly, Sakura looked Sasuke in the eye. She knew he wasn't a black hearted monster. He may have tried to act it more than once, but she knew deep down inside that he always had cared for them. Sasuke smirked a little and glanced at the fading light. He returned to frowning once more.

"We need to leave." He walked over to Sakura.

"Where are we going to go?" Sakura frowned at Sasuke. She didn't like the sound in his voice.

"Far, we need to get you away from here. As long as your near his reach, he can get you. Do we need to stop to grab anything? We need to hurry. We're leaving Konoha as soon as possible." Sakura gasped. Leave Konoha? Leave her friends and family? Looking at how everything had been going as of late, Sakura sighed. She knew she was going. She hadn't been on a mission in ages and the hospital hadn't had any need of her in a long time. Her friends were out finding their own paths and she needed to find her own path. Straightening her shoulders, she knew what her decision was. She just needed to do one thing.

"No, I've got everything I need with me....but we need to do something first." Sakura looked at Sasuke and he waited for her to continue.

"We're not a complete team seven without all the members. We need to get Naruto as well." And for once, Sakura actually saw a true smile on Sasuke's face. Now to hurry to Naruto's.


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So how was it? Was it good? I was trying to keep Sasuke in character, but I was also trying to give him a bit of maturity too. Tell me your thoughts and Review!