-1Note: Look for . 's are explained at the bottom of the chapter. Don't expect paragraph long descriptions.
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'That jerk, how dare he! On her birthday!' To say Ami was distraught would be less then an understatement; it'd be a damn lie. Distraught is being stood up for dinner at your parent's house watching the dishes cool as your father plays with his fork and your mother tries not to crowd you eyes flickering nervously to the clock. Distraught is a lonely night in your tiny apartment listening to his happy voice tell you to leave a message for the fourteenth time in an hour. Distraught was better than an hour ago. She is gonna kill him, as soon as she stops bawling and can form a complete sentence.
He woke with a start barely disturbing his bedmate - long, lanky and blond tattoos everywhere. Shook his head and checked the time. 6:00 a.m. buttery light barely slicking through the curtain. His cell phone sits by the alarm clock flashing desperately. Desperately like the dream he had something about Ana-Ami? Yeah, Ami's number lines black and blank against the pulsing green background. One message from Ami Kuricho 3:23 a.m. play now? He's got a bad feeling about this like water holding him down as he frantically claws for air - a face above him like an angel. He presses the confirm key and holds the phone to his ear. Seconds later the phone breaks a part as it is forcefully thrown into the nearest wall. Eight minutes later a mechanical voice ask if he would like to play his message again.
This one would make oh, seventeen in a fortnight. People were sure to panic soon - or not. Niizuma-sama wouldn't hear of it. Wiping his hands on the already bloody towel beside him Kabuto decided it is times like these when he wished the old man hadn't given up and left. Through of course the same thing that had made him such an effective leader was what broke his heart. Those fools who'd 'taken care' of the demon brat hadn't actually done anyone a favor, least of all Orochimaru murdered by Akatsuki because of the part he played. Before he has time to sink into brooding a familiar shadow drapes over his desk - Ibiki Morino.
Morino is one constant in the constantly shifting dynamic within Konohagure. When Sarutobi abruptly abdicated his position to Niizuma many of the loyalist among the shinobi left soon after - leaving the council to realize just how premature their celebrations had been. Still nothing seemed much changed at first, but gradually it was as though a constant mist prevailed upon Konohagure. At times walking through Konoha you might as well have been in a ghost town. After a while tourism fell flat even as contracts slipped. Niizuma was able to turn that about, but he could do nothing about the civilian exodus which took with it many talented ninjas who wouldn't be parted from their families. The remaining civilians wavered about remaining… until now at least. Just yesterday he'd seen a family of six generations - three living walk through the gates with all their possessions in four large carts.
Morino snaps his chakra just inches from the medicnins face effectively bringing him out of his reverie. "What's the news?" Same old, same old. A body this time female - average height, muddy brown hair - formally identified as one Ami Kuricho age nineteen, unmarried though romantically tied to one TokiToshi Shiota. Never pregnant, not assaulted - sexually, bloated with signs of advanced decomposition, cause of death seem to be asphyxia by way of drowning. The same as at least four others. Nothing new except for certain particulars.
Obviously this isn't something Ibiki wanted to hear. Already sixteen others without apparent pattern or reason were found dead more than that had simply disappeared, worse there had been a few who'd have been better off dead - things far more disgusting then the bloated, pus weeping corpse on the table in front of him. Somehow it is all connected - somehow it is just one man, one monster doing this - but who? Kabuto notices with the ever evaluating eye of a medic that Ibiki could use more sleep and a few good meals, but then so could he. This shit is running everybody ragged.
"I do have one other tidbit of info for you Ibiki-san. TokiToshi is said to have gone off his head." "Most people do when they're long-term significant others die in unfortunate manners,' "Ah, but Ibiki-san, he was well nigh mad before anyone even knew she'd disappeared much less died." Their eyes locked, Kabuto smirks even as he falls into those eyes so reminiscent of a certain sennin. They are thinking the same thing - 'what did he know, and why hasn't he told anyone else?' The older man doesn't say thanks, his smile is enough - it is more then Orochimaru had been wrought to give. Closing his eyes he leans back against the cool stone wall and listens to nothing; distantly he hears a door slam shut.
She loves her job, but she hates this part of town. Everybody says its haunted and it certainly looks it. Rundown buildings, an overabundance of filth, and a general atmosphere of apathy…and pain. Who'd want to live here and why the hell did she have to make this delivery? Oh, well - the sooner done, the sooner gone. Cheered by the thought Sakura brushes her fine, if short pink locks from her eyes and readjusts her carrier pack. It is still daylight at least even though that hadn't saved anyone before. "Stop it forehead girl, you're scaring yourself!" Still it is true, the disappearances, the killings, and all the other creepy stuff happens whenever - day or night. Worse all of it happens around this area especially around five. It is 2:20 now so engrossed was she with her personal rendition of a ghost train ride it takes a minute to recognize that she has reached her destination.
He doesn't like strangers, they always looked at him with such distain as though he is something to be scraped off their shoes; but worse is the pity. Like he's broken or something instead of a kid with problems who deals the best he can. Still aniki wants a soak before he makes dinner and he deserves at least that much so Sasuke is going to have to deal with things - like the door - for a while. This is easy, really easy all he has to do is answer the door politely or whatever. Easy right, so why are his hands shaking like this? Fuck it, he just has to open the door and say ' hello, what da hell do you want?' The doorbell rings again.
What the fuck is taking so long?! Maybe it's a geriatric and they like fell down the stairs trying to hang up and they broke their hip and died! 'Oh, my god! I'm a murderer!' Before she can go into full out panic mode she is badly startled by the abrupt opening of the door by a rather flushed young man her age. As she waits for her heart to restart she thinks - rather inanely- that the eyes she is staring into are the deepest, darkest, saddest things she has ever seen. "Hello?" 'He has very nice hands, unlike mine.' At that moment her heart turned over and her pulse points jumped painfully jolting her back to reality i.e. she realized he is waving his hand in her face to get her attention.
"Hey! Cut it out brat, I'm not stupid unlike certain geeks about to lose hands." Sasuke was about to defend himself when he felt his brother's profound amusement from behind him. Sakura meanwhile is drawing on all her delivery training to avoid fainting through massive blood loss. This is beginning to look like an epic story: first a creepy hike through total desolation, then a near stroke thanks to autistic boy, followed by death by hemorrhaging thanks to the ultimate bishonen … and his lack of covering save a towel. Stupid towel.
'Stupid towel', she thinks once again as she all but floats back to work munching a cookie and attempting to remember exactly what happened between towel boy's appearance and well… now. Not twelve feet ahead of her a set of trashcans falls over. 'Shit! I shoulda let them walk me back!' Abruptly her rigidity deflates as the offender is small, furry and a tan kind of blue puppy-type creature. Suddenly she is staring at a pair of grey eyes, "You should run. It's coming and it's hungry." She sits quietly watching a flicker of fog some distance away her cookie in the middle of a large puddle. She's too shocked to jump when he speaks from behind her, "I know you don't want us to, but Sasuke and I shall walk you home or back to work if you like, as long as you don't go alone. It isn't safe." It isn't safe. Slowly she cranes her head back to stare into towel boy's cool, clear eyes like starlit water. She isn't sure why she shivers.
A room papered in gibberish little scribbles, snatches of non-existed dialogue, half a half-learned song. This is a room lined with madness. "TokiToshi." In the far corner what he took for a mound of clothes becomes a man. It, he skitters toward him like a spider miming toy. "You know too?" This how Ibiki begins his dialogue with TokiToshi. Conversations that seem to last for weeks. In fact did go for one week and then another in which time two more bodies were found… outside the walls. A farmer and a recent petitioner with nothing in common except being a new trend in an already mind-boggling case. Checking further it is discovered that this case, formerly assumed to be confined to Konohagure, has steadily been creeping out into the surrounding area and has been so for a while.
'Who the hell wastes valuable resources watching a damn river?!' Meikai Kusabara is cold, tired, and apparently very cranky. For the record it is 4:25a.m. on a cool, foggy Tuesday and he's been patrolling the same stretch of water since 8:15 on a cool overcast Monday morning. Still it's at least a mission and one that might well be very dangerous if it isn't a wild goose chase. 'Ah, anything's better then being on suspension - no thanks to him.' Even half a mile upstream Raharue Michi knows they- her idiotic teammates- are about to get into it: she gives them five minutes and a prayer. Four minutes, twenty-two seconds later she sweeps her oddly draped hair outta her malamute eyes and begins to wander downstream. 'Shit and we just got off suspension. Morons.'
Hondon Uchiha, one of the remaining Loyalists - that is those who remained dedicated to Konoha's ideals, hated his team with a vengeance. It was his own opinion that some Uchiha hater or an overlooked supporter of the Nobles sect had him placed on this team precisely to hold him back. Why else would he be stuck dealing with Meikai Kusabara the troublemaker to end all troublemakers? Meikai was a legend for all the wrong reasons, luckily they were mischievous rather than malicious - most times anyway; even so he wasn't bright, his skills were mostly average or below average, and he didn't understand the concept of teamwork.
Of course Hondon's own concept of teamwork involved little of any involvement with his teammates. Not that that makes him a hypocrite so much as it makes him a narcissistic little prick with hypocrtic tendencies. As it is he was a half mile downstream form Meikai brooding over his remaining clan's faults and the vagrancies of fate. Then he was looking at Meikai's ugly mug. After which he spoke to Meikai who replied - with his fist. Following which there was violence and now he found himself bleeding, stunned, and staring up into the wide peregrine grey sky.
From the edge of his vision his other barely more tolerable teammate walks up and bends over him. Her brown eye twinkles with amusement while the other analyzes him criticism inherent in it's cool, clear marble-like depths. "You two are complete idiots." How the hell she always manages to make him feel like a naughty two-year-old still eludes his reason though it might have to do with how pretty she is. "I am not an idiot- he is!" Trust Meikai to run his mouth while standing mostly naked (and dripping wet) to his right. "Put your clothes back on freak, you're in front of a lady." There he has contributed to the conversation which means he is no longer obligated to give a damn. "I don't mind." Drowning would be dishonorable in his current state of mind. "Must be the pecs." Not like Uchiha are very honorable anyway.
Ibiki wasn't an unfair man nor was he without his own weird sense of humor, but well… If Konoha didn't need every bit of manpower he'd of drowned his stupid team when he had a chance. Instead he sits behind his desk contemplating the relative merits of self-inflicted head trauma. "It is so totally your fault Huni (pronounced honey)." Meikai apparently has a death wish as both his teacher and his male teammate twitch rather hard. Eyes so dark pupil is indistinguishable from iris bore into tawny orange ones. "Call me that again and die." The only present female by gender as opposed to looks (Hondon) sighs explosively, "Why didn't you both just frown?" Hmm, maybe he would have just drowned the boys. "I could be out shopping away my "grief" right now." Ibiki's head meets the oak wood desk in defeat , 'oh god she's serious. Why?!'
Fifteen minutes later Ibiki puts away the first aid kit and Raharue rises out of the floorboards. She is becoming entirely to adept at hiding like that. His other, slower and in his opinion stupider students meanwhile continued to glare at him despite their glowing assortment of bruises, cuts, and miscellaneous other hurts. Folding his neatly bandaged hands he gives his best - 'I'm not exactly sane or morally inclined' smile before briefly inclining his head as he sits back to listen. Mekai begins the report, husky voice sullen with frustration, Michi continues it idly picking at her cuticles robin egg blue polish flaking to the floor, and Hondon finishes it eyes hooded with distain. Lowering his gaze their sensei waits for them to leave. The door closes and Raharue sits down before him.
End Chapter One
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Kabuto: Most of you should have figured it out, but with Orochimaru dead Kabuto has no one to turn to except the village he hates. Thus he has become the medic-nin he should have always been. And with that job comes the task of autopsies.
Niizuma: Niizuma is an original character who isn't orignally from the elemental countries although is quite strong and has become well versed in the fighting style.
Niizuma is not quite cruel, but far more firm in his stance then either Tsuande or Sarutobi. He has done well by Konoha although his way is rather militaristic.
In appearance he is taller then Asuma although similar in built. He is also the same coloring as Ibiki with a scar quite similar to Pride's in FMA.
Meikai Kusabara: Original character around fifteen years old teammates with Hondon Uchiha (chunin) and Raharue Michi (chunin).
His other brother was killed by a Uchiha and he has as such never forgiven them.
Personality/Skills: Think of an incredibly odd cross between Naruto and Kiba and that would be his approximate personality and skill level.
Appearance: About Shino's time-skip height, but broad and built for endurance and strength. His are eyes are a tawny orange color, but like Kurenai's red eyes it is an inactive dojutsu. His hair is silver and his skin is lightly tanned. He favors cargo pants and windbreakers with wife beaters beneath. Standard sandals.
Raharue Michi: Original character around sixteen years old teammates with Hondon Uchiha (chunin) and Meikai Kusabara (chunin).
An orphaned by the Kyuubi attack she dedicated herself to becoming a worthy Kunoichi.
Personality: Two parts Temari, one part TenTen and equal parts Inner Sakura and Kurenai- that will give you her approx. personality.
Skills: In terms of skills she is closer to Temari at the Chunin exams then say Hinata after the three year skip. Her specially is ninjustsu with a side focus on physio-manipulative genjustsu.
Appearance: She is about Temari's pre-timeskip height, but much slighter. Think Fey (fairy). Changes her hair-color at the drop of a hat. Hair is cut in an asymmetrical pixie bob. Her eyes are different colors one is a very clear blue and the other is a light brown like amber. Constantly gnaws at fingernails despite what fingernail polish she wears. Favors baggy overalls with skin-tight long-sleeve shirts. Toad-stomping boots.
Hondon Uchiha: Original character around fifteen years old teammates with Raharue Michi (chunin) and Meikai Kusabara (chunin).
He is a Loyalist meaning that when the Fracture occurred he fought for the ideals of Konoha as opposed to the rise of the Clan. However he has since become quite bitter with affairs as all Uchihas are viewed with distrust and distain. Dealing with Meikai has only
exuberated this bitterness.
Personality: Typical Uchiha with a distinct taste of Hyuuga fatalism.
Skills: Above average in skills more akin to a low-level jounin then the chunin he is.
His specialty is strangely enough taijutsu unlike most Uchihas.
Appearance: Think Sasuke, but a tiny bit more masculine and timeskip height.
His hair is mid-shoulder and he has a large scar in the shape of the Uchiha fan on his back. Tight black jeans and an over-sized black silk tee. A broken fan is screened upon the back.
Loyalists: When the Uchihas fell out there emerged three groups of the two largest the one which emerged victorious is the Loyalists. Those within this group were spared execution and allowed the choice to either become shinobi or to leave as cilivians. Loyalists are those believing
Sarutobi's vision of Konoha.