Note: Revisions added.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto does.
Haunted
Chapter 1: Voices
A cold wind blew across Konohagakure, The Village Hidden In The Leaves. Some of the more superstitious villagers thought it an omen, for it left a trail of cherry blossoms in its wake. A certain pink-haired kunoichi (1) thought it delightful regardless.
She smiled brightly as she walked down the street, heading home after a long day working at the hospital. The strong wind blew her pink locks about in a wild manner. She heard the cheerful laughter of children and turned to urge them to go home, it was quite late for them to be outside. But when she turned, there was no one.
It's late. I must have been imagining things. She told herself firmly. But she couldn't't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong. Looking around one last time, she turned and continued on her way home.
It wasn't long before she felt a gentle tug on her skirt. She glanced down, expecting to see a lost child. But once again, there was no one there. She looked around her again, after all, the child could've become frightened and run off. But she hadn't heard footsteps, and thee was clearly no one there.
The wind howled and she continued home, albeit at a much faster pace. She stopped and turned once again when she heard a voice.
"Go home…" The wind moaned.
"H-hello?" Now she knew something was up.
"Run…" She was going to kill Naruto for this one.
"I know it's you, Naruto. It's not funny. Where are you?" She demanded angrily. The nerve of that boy.
"You are in...grave danger…" The moan came again.
He's dead. I'm going to murder him.
"Naruto. Knock. It. Off." She hissed.
"My s-son…" The voice moaned. She realized with a sickening thought that it sounded like the owner of the voice was dying. Like they could have been bleeding to their death at that very moment.
"Naruto, please. It's not funny. You're scaring me." She pleaded.
"He comes…"
She turned and ran.
It was just Naruto. He was playing a dirty joke. Tomorrow, he'll apologize and it'll all be fine. She assured herself as she changed into her nightgown, back in her apartment. But she had to be sure.
She threw open her window and leaned out, letting the wind caress her face. Her nightgown billowed softly about her feet. Her emerald green eyes looked out at the village, lit only by the moon. There was no one there, the streets were empty. She smiled softly to herself and moved to shut her window.
"Sa-ku-ra," she heard the whisper. She froze before looking about wildly.
"W-who's there? Show yourself!"
"Sa-ku-ra…" The eerie whisper came again, sending chills down her spine. A ghostly silhouette was beginning to form in front of her.
Shut the window. Run. Get Naruto. Hell, get Kakashi if you have to! But do something, dammit! Inner Sakura screamed. But Sakura couldn't move. Instead, she stood frozen, watching as the cherry blossoms swirled around it. Or him, as the form was clearly masculine.
"Sa-ku-ra…" The whisper came once again as he extended a hand toward her. Her stomach flipped as she realized she could see the floor through it. But she found she couldn't resist putting her own in his, as though she'd lost control of her own body. The instant their hands touched, her eyes glazed and she found herself following him out her second-story window (2) and into the dark night.
They floated slowly to the ground and Sakura noticed that although she thought it might be the case, she was rather unnerved when his feet made no sound at all upon contacting with the ground. He dropped her hand. She wanted to run; she wanted to throw a kunai at the man (boy?) and run home screaming. But she found she still couldn't move of her own free will – and she'd left her kunai pouch, along with all her weapons, at her apartment. So she'd no choice but to continue following him. She noted mournfully that she probably wouldn't get any sleep that night.
Where are we going? Inner Sakura questioned nervously. But Sakura found herself unable to tell, for she could only see what lay directly in front of her, as though she were wearing blinders (3). All she could tell was that they were near the Uchiha district, for it lay some three hundred odd feet from where they were then, straight ahead. And then, minutes later, they stopped, the gate to the Uchiha district looming in front of them. And the figure turned. His silhouette was slowly becoming clearer. He was definitely a boy, probably around Sakura's age. Black hair was becoming visible on his head. Along with pale skin that had nothing to do with the boy's being transparent. And cold, onyx eyes she'd recognize anywhere.
"Sasuke-kun…" And he vanished, leaving her standing all alone, with the gate looming ominously before her.
(1) Kunoichi Female Ninja
(2) I have no idea what story Sakura's apartment is on. If you know, please tell me.
(3) Blinders are those things they put on horses so they won't look to the side and be distracted. They can only see directly in front of them. You know how when you wear glasses (actual glasses, not sunglasses) it's all blurry outside of the rims? It's kind of like that, but if you were wearing blinders you wouldn't be able to see any of the blurry part. Hope that clears things up a bit.
For those of you who couldn't tell for sure, this should turn out at least somewhat SasuSaku by the end, so if you don't like that pairing, you've been warned.
What'd you think? I hope it wasn't too bad. I did try. Please let me know if you found any spelling/grammatical errors. I tried to correct them all, but I might have missed a few. Also, English is my native language, so spare me the pity, please. I've no excuse for making stupid errors.
Was Sakura OOC? I couldn't tell. This is set in shippuuden, for those of you who didn't read the summary. So she should act accordingly. Sasuke wasn't meant to be in character all that much. He's just there to guide her to the compound, though he might come into play later, I haven't decided yet. If he does, I'll try to keep him in character. Am I confusing you? If I am, I'm sorry. It'll all be clear in time but if I told you now it'd ruin the story. Which would be bad.
Reviews: I accept all of them. Flames, constructive criticism, anything. If you flame me, I swear on my life I won't flame you back, no matter how much I want to. Flame wars don't sound fun. And constructive criticism is AWESOME. There is a very clear line between a flame and constructive criticism (or at least it's clear to me). The difference is, while both may say "this sucks," in constructive criticism the reviewer tells the author why it sucks. Also, in constructive criticism they don't tell you to commit suicide. I won't mistake one for the other. Reviews are great, even if they're really short like "good job" or "this sucks." (Though I'd much prefer the former to the latter.)
I'll probably post the next chapter within the next few days. (Key word: probably.) I haven't started writing it yet, though, so I'm not entirely sure how long it'll take. It all depends on how easy/hard it is to write and how many revisions I have to make to this chapter.
Out of curiosity, how many of you actually read all that? If you did, great, but if you didn't, I understand completely. That was long. Bye now!