Moon Shadow

By: Scarlet Flame

Disclaimer: F.O.R. doesn't belong to me nor do any of its characters etc. You know the drill!!!

A/n: So this is my first official F.O.R. fan fiction. My friend (Fire Arrow) & I were sitting and talking one day when she came up with the general idea of this fan-fiction and I developed it and wrote it out and put it up for you guys to see. I really hope you like it. It may have some To-Fu pairing later on, but right now I'm trying to keep it straight and simple. This story will have around 8 chapters and I will try to put up the next chapter as soon as you guys give me at least 8 reviews. Do tell me how well or bad it has turned out to be or anything else. Okay… Here goes…

Prologue

Exams were over and the hokage team was exhausted from all the hard work i.e. studying, giving their exams, training, studying, studying and did I mention studying?

Fuuko, her family and the hokage were impressed with her grades. She had finally managed to score seven A's. Now she realized that studying hard really paid off.

The intense heat and the non-stop training obviously did not make a good combination & the boring and monotonous routines were more than enough to motivate the hokage members to take a break, to get away from it all. So they decided to pool in their money & everyone's parents chipped in a bit and money was also got from baby-sitting and other odd jobs and finally they had collected enough money to afford a trip to the neighbouring island of Tropicana.

It was the perfect place to go because this island was said to have existed even millions of years ago and amazingly all its history was well preserved. Another aspect that made this island so great was that it was not publicized much therefore it was largely unknown to tourists so there was never any rush on it. This island was also famous for its beautiful coral reefs and scuba diving was an activity that no-one could NOT resist.

So the hokage got the tickets. They decided they would leave the day the summer vacations would start.

Everyone was really excited including Kage-Hoshi. Yanagi, Fuuko & Shadow went on a shopping spree buying all that was in sight- swimsuits, clothes, shoes, hats, you name it!

As 'the day' approached, excitement rose in everyone's hearts. Some of the team members (such as Domon and Recca) could barely contain themselves, while (I'm sure you know exactly who I'm talking about) were practicing strong control over their emotions (in other words: looked as if they couldn't care less).

But even though everyone was looking so forward to this trip, Shadow was getting strange notions. At first she did not show, but as the day inched closer the fear (that something would go wrong) started to show on her face.

At first when the team asked her what was wrong, she would laugh it off by saying that they were imagining things or that her age was finally starting to show. But tell me, can a mother hide anything from her child? Every child has the ability has the ability to literally read their mother's mind. It's kinda like all children are born with a sixth sense.

Thus Recca finally got it out of Shadow what was wrong. When Shadow told him about the weird feeling she'd been getting about the trip he reassured her nothing would go wrong. And even if something did go wrong, then the rest would be there to help.

This didn't completely convince Shadow, hey, how good a job could Recca do as he wasn't convinced himself?? But it did sooth her momentarily.

Recca knew that if Shadow was getting bad vibes about this trip, something was bound to go wrong. Shadow's four hundred years of life experience gave her this sixth sense, this power to predict the future. So Recca hoped and prayed that even if something did go wrong, it wouldn't be something major. But everyone else's excitement pushed this fear-this notion- out of both Shadow & Recca's mind.

Finally 'the day' came. Everyone said their good-bye. Tears were shed by parents. Their babies were all grown up & going on holidays by themselves.

Ganko was too young to go with the team so she was staying at home, but she made no big fuss about it-after all, she was very mature for her age. She wished everyone a safe and happy trip and told Mikagami to try to soften up a bit for just this occasion. Now if someone else had said this Ice Boy would have pounded them into minced meat but it was Ganko who said this, and he had a soft spot for her, he politely replied Thank you.

So the team boarded their ship and went to their respective rooms to relax. The cruise lasted for about 5 hours and they would reach the island around 3 p.m. so some of the team members (e.g. Domon) decided to sleep throughout the cruise.

As soon as Fuuko got on board she headed straight for the deck. As it was just the beginning of the summer vacations, there wasn't much rush. Hence when Fuuko got there, the deck was deserted (or she thought so).

Fuuko went to the edge of the deck and leaned over the railing. The ship was now in the ocean and moving fast, alongside it swam a bunch of dolphins. The view was breath-taking. If only she had someone to share this view, this happiness with.

She sighed and slowly stepped away from the railing, but not roving her eyes from the dolphins. Then she stopped, just three steps away from the railing and stared long and hard at the dolphins. After that she closed her eyes to see if her eyes could regenerate the scene using her memory. She could. She promised herself she would never forget it because it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

She opened her eyes and turned around. She decided she'd go see what the gang was up to. As she was passing by her eyes caught something in the shadows. It was someone's silhouette. But when she called out who's there and went to check, she found no-one. "Strange," she muttered to herself, and then she shook her head and concluded that she was imagining things.

But as the day went on, Fuuko kept getting the feeling that someone was watching her. Several times when she was walking down hallways in the ship she felt a presence behind her, as if someone was following her, but when she turned around no-one was there. And each time she calmed herself down by saying she was probably imagining things.

Even though she did a good job of hiding this from everyone else, Fuuko could not hide it from Shadow. Shadow saw the look in Fuuko eyes, the posture of her shoulders and the way she walked had changed. She could detect the look of distress in Fuuko's eyes; she could see now Fuuko walked as if in a hurry. When the two of them were finally alone, Shadow took the opportunity to ask Fuuko what was worrying her. At first Fuuko seemed hesitant and told Shadow nothing, but after a little coaxing Shadow finally got it out of her.

When Fuuko finished telling her story, Shadow got worried. First all those bad vibes Shadow herself had been getting, and now this? But Shadow calmed Fuuko down and told her to stay with everyone else and try not to wander alone, just in case.

At that moment, everyone barged into the room to announce that the island was in sight and that the two of them have got to see it. They told the two that it looked like paradise (and it probably was one anyway). When Fuuko saw the island (though from afar) she was speechless.

"Isn't it beautiful?" exclaimed Yanagi.

"Yes. It looks breath-taking," replied Fuuko.

"Wait'll you get there! That place is a sample of heaven. The people there are friendly, the prices are cheap, the water is clean, plus it's got plenty of stuff you can amuse yerself with," said the old Captain.

"Oh but I can't wait!" said Domon.

"Too bad, you're gonna have to unless you think you can swim there faster," replied Recca.

"Great idea &Thanks" said Domon. "I couldn't have ever thought it up myself!" he said climbing onto the railing and getting ready to dive.

"Hey! I was only joking," said Recca and pulled Domon off the railing.

"Everyone should go and get their stuff from their rooms now, we'll reach the island in about 30 minutes," said the captain.

Fuuko didn't bother as all she had brought along besides her suitcase was her shoulder bag and that she had with her right now; instead she went back to the dock. As she stared into space she wondered what had startled Shadow so much when she was talking to her. Fuuko could distinctly remember Shadow straightening up and looking worried-but not the usual worried, this worry-look was a mixture of horror and surprise.

Just then from the corner of her eye she saw a movement. Scared yet ready to face whatever (or whoever) it was, Fuuko spun around only to find Mikagami all the way on the other side of the deck. He had been there all the time but she never noticed and still his back was turned to her and the movement she had caught was him running his hand through his hair.

"Where you here before I was here?" she asked him.

"Yes," he answered, he probably thought that was enough information as he didn't continue and still had his back to her.

"Oh," Fuuko was so caught up in her own thoughts that she never realized.

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In 5 minutes the ship would reach the island of Tropicana. Fuuko, Recca and Shadow wondered what fate had in store for them.

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Okay, this is the end of the prologue. Review and tell me how it is!