Fiends: Chapter One

My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm a member of the FCA, The Fiend Control Agency.

I know, sounds lame right? Well, it is more often than not. You see, monsters are real. To be more specific would take too long. There are a lot of creepy crawly creatures roaming the earth and the human race is usually the food staple for said creepy crawlies. Or rather more often, the meaty punching bags for the fiends that get pissed off enough to come out of hiding. Humans, on a whole, don't know of the danger that surrounds them and it's the FCA agents' job to keep it that way. To be honest, it's a battle we are slowly but surely losing. But I shouldn't complain. We save lives more than we take them. At least, I hope that's the case.

I grinned widely as I placed my certificate of graduation on the wall just above my bed. It read; Naruto Uzumaki, class of 2013, Team 7. The gold leaf emblem of the FCA shined brightly underneath my name. A normal, everyday person would have no idea what the certificate meant. It didn't look impressive. It was plain really, but to a FCA agent it meant the whole damn world. I was finally free to start going out into the field with my two team mates. Every agent has to go through years of training before their allowed out into the real world to face the even more real monsters. For me, this was the end of my torturous and excessively awkward school days and the beginning of my long awaited life of being a hero. I would save lives, kill evil badass monsters and, of course, I'd get the girl like every hero does.

"Naruto, come on! We're going to miss our train," speaking of the girl, Sakura Haruno, my teammate, yelled from downstairs. She is the girl of my dreams and guess what: now that we're both graduated agents, we get to live in the same house. Yes, this was the life of a hero. "Naruto! Sasuke is already leaving without us!"

And then there was Sasuke Uchiha, my other teammate. Before I start off on a rage-fueled rant, I'll say this simply; I hate him.

I huffed and called down to Sakura, "I'm coming!" I snatched my duffle bag off my bed and trudged downstairs. Sakura was standing at the front door, arms folded across her chest with her right foot tapping the hard wood floor aggressively. Yep. Someone was having a rough morning. "You look great in the morning, Sakura." I said a bit too nervously with a grin. "I don't know how you do it."

She sighed deeply and replied, "Shut it. Let's go before Sasuke sprouts wings from sheer force of will and flies away."

Compliments never work on her. I gave her a crooked, apologetic smile and walked past her. Without her even saying so, I grabbed her two bags and shuffled towards the taxi waiting outside. I could hear her behind me sigh again. That wasn't one of Sakura's you're-annoying-as-hell sighs. It was her you're-sort-of-endearing sighs. Was it creepy that I could interpret so much from such a small thing? Maybe. Maybe not.

I tossed the luggage in the trunk and opened the front passenger door for Sakura. She looked at me with squinted eyes and, again, sighed and plopped into the seat. She wasn't a morning person by any means. I carefully closed the door and went to the back seat to be greeted by the unimpressed gaze of Sasuke Uchiha. He looked even more uptight than usual. His black raven hair was clean cut, bangs pulled back for the first time I'd ever seen. He wore a suit, equally black as his hair and eyes, even more so clean. He even sported a dark, navy blue tie and shiny, polished shoes.

"Well, don't you look professional," I chuckled, sat down with a meaty thud on the hard, slightly uncomfortable seat and closed the door.

"One of us has to," Sasuke replied dryly as he eyes gave me a quick, uninspired glance.

Ok, so gray sweat pants, my favorite orange shirt and a pair of white sneakers don't look professional. Hmp, so sue me.

"I pull off the lazy look way better than the stick-up-my-royal-ass look, trust me," I retorted with an enthusiastic grin. "And besides, this job requires that we're actually capable of moving. You're fancy suit looks more restricting than my comfy pants. But hey, if we need a lawyer/angry funeral home attendant, I'll give you a heads up."

Sasuke replied with one of his usual death glares and then turned to look out the window as the taxi began rolling down the road towards the train station. I felt like I won that argument. At least, a little bit. I caught a glimpse of Sakura looking at us through the review mirror with an accusing frown pointed at little old me of course. And I was having such a good morning.

It was my turn to sigh as the first leg of our journey began. Fifteen minutes later we were at the train station with three one-way tickets to a village down south far from the FCA headquarters. When we finally settled down in our private booth and had all our bags tucked away under our seats, Sakura pulled out the file that contained the details of our first real mission. She sat across Sasuke and I as she opened the folder to read through several pages of data. The more she read, the more her face revealed a stronger expression of stress.

"Of course they give us the most annoying mission they could find," she began after reading everything. "Don't they give the easier jobs to the new agents? I mean we did just graduate last night."

"There's no such thing as an easy job. A job is a job," Sasuke answered with little patience as he reached out to take the folder from Sakura.

"What's our first job?" I asked, trying my best to ignore Sasuke.

"Just read the file yourself when Sasuke's done," Sakura scoffed.

"But that'll take forever," I grumbled.

"We have to hunt down a Kappa," Sasuke began as he leaned back into his seat. Well, someone reads fast. "I'm not waiting for the loser to read this." He tossed the folder on the empty seat next to Sakura. "We'll be here for weeks before he can actually participate in the mission."

"What was that, you pompous, tie-wearing ass?" I asked loudly as I shot to my feet. Screw his fast reading skills. I'm going to punch him till he chokes on those words.

"Focus," Sakura snapped, grabbed my arm and slammed me back down into my seat. "This Kappa, from what the file says, has gone full rogue and is extremely dangerous. The body count is five this month and rising from what the HQ can tell."

I sneered at Sasuke, folded my arms and admitted defeat. Not to him, of course. To Sakura. I shoved my anger down hard and said, "Kappa live in rivers and usually keep to themselves right? Maybe drown one or two people a few hundred years. What's got this one's panties in a bunch?"

"The village right next to the Kappa's river is developing fast and just started construction on a dam that'll help further the village's success. Problem is," Sasuke said as he rested his head in his hand leaning against the window, "the dam will change the flow of the river and even dry parts of it up. That's enough to drive any Kappa mad and into a killing frenzy."

Well, great. A normal, everyday Kappa is a nasty monster to deal with if you were unfortunate enough to bump into one. A pissed off Kappa must be a nightmare and a half.

Modern society took the legend of the river spirit, Kappa, and turned it into a likable little creature with many different shapes and sizes, used mostly for advertising in the agricultural business. The real deal was no more than a monster obsessed with keeping its river lair clean and flowing. Ok, so the Kappa wasn't really all bad. Rivers inhabited by them were always the healthiest, full of fish and fresh, crystal clear water. Kappa's questionable diet of cucumbers, seaweed and the occasional human innards is what makes them a bit of a problem. Not to mention, they were some ugly looking things; a big, gaping mouth with razor, curved teeth, four clawed fingers on each lanky hand and two beady black eyes were the last thing you'd see if you ever came across one. The FCA allowed them to live simply because human victims are a very rare and special treat. One or two every few centuries or so. It could be forgiven. But any more than that and you were on our hit list.

"Locals don't know what to make of the victims." Sakura picked up the folder, opened it, pulled out a small envelope labeled VICTIMS and handed it to me. Just as I was about to unseal it Sakura warned me, "That's the photos of the victims' bodies that were found floating in the river. Remember Kappa eat human innards through-um-" She cleared her throat, "their anus…I already confirmed that the pictures accurately depict a Kappa attack. Have a look if you need any confirmation for yourself, but yeah. It's pretty gruesome."

"Oh," I grimaced and handed her the envelope back. "I'll just have to trust your judgment there. We really did get the most annoying job HQ could find." I shuddered. Frickin' Kappa. Nasty things.

"We find the Kappa, follow the book and put it down if necessary," Sasuke spoke a bit too softly. It was still ridiculously early in the morning and the graduation ceremony ended late last night. Neither of us got much sleep. Sasuke was always a bump on a log, but a sleep-deprived Sasuke was like a zombie with an attitude. It was almost cute how his head began to nod down as he started to fall into unconsciousness. But he opened his eyes which we all noticed had been closed till now and caught Sakura and I staring. He glared after realizing he looked vulnerable if for only a moment and sat up straight.

I grinned and teased, "Aren't you just the most adorable killing machine when you sleepy?"

"Another word and I'll crush you," Sasuke snapped.

Sakura groaned, "Can't you two get along for two seconds?"

"No," we both answered simultaneously.

Well at least we agreed on something.

I opened my eyes and reached high above my head, stretching my back out after a 12 hour train ride to the village named Toono with the Kappa problem of the century. Sakura and Sasuke were still asleep as the train pulled into the station and creaked to a halt. They were both leaning against the window, shoulders at ease and arms folded to their chest. My teammates sure don't have a lot of energy. At least in comparison to me. I was a big bundle of energy. While they slept through most of the ride, I explored the train again and again. My legs were dying for some open space.

"Hey," I murmured as I leaned over to gently shake Sakura's shoulder, "time to wake up."

Sakura stirred for a moment before her eyes fluttered open. I smiled. Couldn't help it really. She looked beautiful as always and getting the opportunity to actually spend so much time with her was overwhelming. I was seeing more sides of her than ever. Right now, I saw her sleepy dazed side and well, it was the most endearing thing I'd seen in a long time.

"Naruto," she mumbled lazily. Even the way she said my name right now was different. She was always alert before and ready to say my name with contempt, but right now I was just Naruto. No contempt. No anger. Just me. It was nice.

"Yeah, it's me," I said softly with a chuckle at the end. "We're at Toono Station."

"Oh," she yawned, "Ok, is Sasuke awake?" She rubbed her eyes with her palms and then stretched.

"Nope, still out like a light," I grinned. Let's keep it that way, I thought inwardly.

"Wake him up for me, ok?" She replied while leaning forward to crack her back.

I frowned, happy time regretfully over, but listened. "Ok, ok," I groaned. "One wake up call for the angry stiff coming right up."

"The 'angry stiff' is already awake, Loser." I turned around to find Sasuke glaring at me after a small yawn even he could fight back.

"Morning grumpy," I replied with a sneer.

A voice came over the speakers placed throughout the train to announce we had arrived and passengers were to embark from the train. I took a deep breath in and grabbed my bags from under my seat and, for course, Sakura's luggage as well.

"It's time to start our first mission," I said excitedly. "I'm about to jump out my skin I'm so excited."

"You won't feel the same way after meeting that Kapa," Sasuke huffed, but even his negativity couldn't ruin my eagerness.

I slide out of the booth and sauntered down the aisle towards the exit. Sakura and then Sasuke followed, not nearly as inspired as me as we stepped off the train into Toono station.

It was early in the morning, right before the sun came over the horizon. Summer darkness, gentle and warm, greeted us as we reached the open air. Another taxi waited for us outside of the station. This one was unique, because plastered across the side of the yellow car was a banner that read: Toono, The City of Folklore. And a happy little caricature of a Kappa held the banner up with chubby, clawless fingers and a smile so wide and inviting anyone would think it the last creature to gobble you up. The only thing accurate about the picture was the large lily pad pan that topped the water imp's head. Kappa used the lid to carry water that gave it the strength of ten men and an attitude to match a used car salesmen. They were strong, smart and could trick a chicken farmer into buying eggs. The only way to defuse a Kappa was to trick them into spilling the water from atop their head. But tricking a trickster was harder said than done.

"Well, isn't that cute?" Sakura laughed. "It makes Kappa's almost huggable if I didn't know better."

"Thank goodness we know better," I grimaced at the thought of such close proximity to a Kappa.

"Let's get moving," Sasuke walked past us to slip into the backseat of the cab. Sakura followed suit and jumped into the front seat. I frowned at the thought of cramming myself back into a vehicle, but trailed behind the two and flopped next to Sasuke.

"Welcome to Toono," the taxi driver turned to face us with a large smile, "The City of Folklore."

Sakura and I replied with half-assed, polite smiles.

"Bring us to Sarugaishi River where the dam is being built," Sasuke demanded coldly. "And make it quick."

The taxi drivers' smile died tragically and so did his welcoming attitude. "Yes, sir," he scoffed and turned to start driving down the road. Sakura and I gave Sasuke disapproving stares that he effectively ignored. As we chugged along, I stared out the window to take in the village. It was rural from what I could see, but charming. I liked it. I really did. Getting rid of a Kappa menace from this homey town would make me proud to be an agent.

When we arrived at Sarugaishi River twenty minutes later, I noticed that the construction site of the dam was not only lacking but empty of any activity at all. Even this early in the morning, people should be out working on such a massive project. I guess the workers wised up and high-tailed it out of here. Abandoned tents, equipment and massive stones hooked up to cranes were left by the river side.

We stepped out of the taxi which then left in a hurry thanks to Sasuke's endearing attitude. Sakura placed her hands on her hips and said, "Well, let's get to it. First comes first; we find the Kappa."

"Where should we start looking?" I asked. "This river encircles the entire village."

"Idiot," Sasuke insulted me as he walked past us and towards the river, "You never paid attention in class. We don't need to find it. It can find us."

"We need cucumber or seaweed. We can attract it to us with some of its favorite food. Pickled cucumber would be even better," Sakura suggested.

I sneered at Sasuke and then addressed Sakura with, "We don't really have any of that right now. Should we wait till the market opens and buy some later?"

"No," Sasuke answered, "It has another favorite food right here." With that, Sasuke began stripping off his suit and tie.

"What the hell are you doing?" I stammered as Sakura froze in astonishment, her face flushing brilliant red as Sasuke's undershirt came off to reveal his bare chest and back.

"This particular Kappa has been eating human guts like potato chips. I'll attract it. Naruto comes from behind and cuts off its escape. Sakura, you'll be waiting on the river bank when we chase it out of the water. Kappa are known for their love for women. It'll let its guard down for you."

"Did you say, 'love for women'?" Sakura said, exasperated, "More like they lust for woman, the little perverts. You're just going to throw me to the thing after throwing yourself to it? This is a bad plan, Sasuke."

Wow, for once Sakura was actually disagreeing with Sasuke about a plan. When we were in school together, every practice mission was led by Sasuke and not once did Sakura complain. I guess things change when the monsters are real.

"There are no witnesses right now. It's perfect for a quick capture. We won't have to hold back for fear of creating a scene if things turn violent. It's now or never." Sasuke retorted quickly as he slipped out of his shoes. "Now, get in position," he demanded.

"Ok," I snapped officially pissed. "Who died and made you leader of Team 7?"

"You have a better plan, Loser?" Sasuke asked.

Well, now that he asked yes, yes I did.

Ok, so maybe my idea wasn't any better, I thought as my body was flung into the air like a Frisbee to land with a wet thud on the river bank. My ribs screamed as I curled in on myself to writhe for a moment before the Kappa grabbed my leg with impossible strength to drag me back into the water. This guy was the ugliest thing I'd seen in a long time. It was no taller than a ten year old with long arms and skinny legs holding up a body seemingly consisting of a single round belly full to the brim with...well, it wasn't full of cucumbers, that's for sure. Its circular head sat atop a neck that looked too thin to hold it up, sporting a mouth that took up more than half of its face. Razor sharp teeth, curved inward greeted me with a smile as I was pulled towards the deeper part of the river.

Crap, crap, crap, I cursed inwardly as my lungs began to burn for air. The Kappa's beady black eyes never left mine even as I thrashed in the water like a fish caught in a net. I didn't want to end up like the rest of the Kappa's victims who looked like they had a colonoscopy gone horridly wrong. I scrapped my hands along the river floor, desperately searching for my katana that I dropped when the Kappa first sent my ass flailing through the morning air. Sasuke wouldn't let me live it down, losing my weapon like that. Well, that's if I even lived through this. Just as I was about to run out of oxygen, my fingers touched the cool, slick blade of my katana. Success! I grabbed the blade without a second thought. It cut into my skin as I pulled it to my other hand and grabbed the handle. I turned the blade towards the Kappa with a grin that said, 'Now, we're cooking with fire!'

The Kappa's wicked smile curved into a furious, tooth filled snarl when I swiftly cut off the hand it used to pull me by my leg. Before I shot to the surface of the water, I snatch the detached limb, still twitching wildly in my grasp. I gasped for air as I scrambled to my feet. My eyes searched wildly for Sasuke. He was running towards me through the water, his eyes focused and ready. I gathered all my strength and hummed the Kappa's hand straight at Sasuke. There was a split second between my throw and Sasuke catching the hand in his arms. Just a split second, but it was enough time to take two years off my young life. This job was a lot more stressful than I thought it would be.

Sasuke didn't miss a beat. He turned to face Sakura who was yelling from the riverbank.

"Sasuke!" she called, waving her arms expectedly. Sasuke threw her the hand. Sakura fell back as the hand landed right in her lap.

I grinned widely at our success, but was interrupted when the Kappa resurfaced besides Sasuke to drag him down to the depths. "Sasuke!" I screamed as I sprinted through the waist deep water as fast as I could. The river was too shallow by Sasuke's end for the Kappa to pull him far. The struggle between the two created chaos in the water, sending white foam flying wildly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sakura screamed as loudly as she could towards the fight. She held the hand high in air. Its sickly green skin seemed to bleed out into a paler version of itself as she continued, "If you kill him, you'll never get your hand back!"

Kappa were formidable creatures in every sense of the word, but if you got a hold of one of their limbs, they'd break down and do practically anything for it back. Getting said limb though was a lot harder said than done. My officially bruised ribs could attest to that.

The river immediately calmed and a second later Sasuke shot up out of the water, coughing and panting. The Kappa's shadow slithered underneath the water toward Sakura and stopped just before the bank. It stood up and stared directly at Sakura in only a foot of water.

"Give it back," it growled. Its voice sounded like the muffled cries of a drowning man gargling down a lung full of water.

"Get out of the river, empty the cap of water on your head and then we'll talk negotiations," Sakura said stiffly. Sasuke and I made our way out of the river the same time the Kappa crawled onto the bank, sneering and clawing the ground angrily. It glared at her before admitting defeat and tipping in head forward as if to bow. The lily pad on its head was empty, making the Kappa no stronger than a normal man for now.

So, my plan was reckless but worked so far. Sakura didn't need to face a horny Kappa at full strength. Take that, Sasuke.

"I've done what you said, now give it back," the Kappa reached out towards Sakura, desperate.

"Not yet," Sasuke said. He came up behind Sakura and stared down the Kappa with such cold contempt that only he could pull off. "We are agents of the FCA. You have killed over five construction workers in the past month. Do you plead guilty?"

Guilty or not guilty. No matter what you said, if the evidence outweighed your case, we'd put you down. That's how it worked. We were judge, jury and, if need be, executioners to the supernatural.

"I killed those men," the Kappa admitted surprisingly, "Though guilt, I do not feel. They were destroying my river, my home. I've protected this river, even provided fresh water to this village for centuries. Now these humans disrespect my kindness and dare to threaten my waters."

"I don't care why you did what you did," Sasuke interjected as he lifted his own weapon, a slick black gun, to the Kappa's forehead. "You either stop killing humans and leave this river or I'll put a bullet in your head. And trust me, we'll leave the rest of you out to dry in the sun, so there'll be no bouncing back, understand?"

Kappa can heal from practically any injury, even a bullet to the brain, as long as they have water to keep them wet. A dried out Kappa on the other hand is a dead one.

"We'll even provide transport if you agree to our terms," Sakura started, her voice sounded rather gentle considering who she was talking to. I guess she didn't want to see this thing die if it could be avoided. "There are plenty of rivers that would benefit from you."

The Kappa looked up at Sakura, black eyes filled with anything but pleasant images.

"This is my home," the Kappa hissed, "this river will die with that dam and I will die fighting to protect it." It turned its gaze to Sasuke and stared down the barrel of the gun. "Humans will never understand."

Sasuke's eyes didn't leave the Kappa's. He was emotionless and didn't even flinch when the Kappa grabbed the gun and pressed the barrel to it head.

It repeated, "You'll never understand."

Sasuke replied, "You're right," and with that, he pulled the trigger. The Kappa's body convulsed at the shock and then collapsed to the ground. "I'll never understand monsters like you," Sasuke said so quietly I thought I might have imagined him say it.

Sakura came to my side and grabbed my shoulder. Her knees were shaking when she passed the Kappa's hand to me. "I need to sit down," she murmured.

I watched her as she walked to the river's edge and collapsed on her backside to sit with her legs against her chest. Our first mission didn't turn out like I hoped it would. I guess she was thinking the same thing.

"I'll take the corpse and handle the rest," Sasuke said when he appeared next to me and grabbed the hand. "You and Sakura go to the motel."

"You sure?" I was surprised. I didn't expect Sasuke to be so…uh…nice? He was letting us off early while he found a field to leave the Kappa out to dry.

"I want to do this right. Having an emotional wreck and a wounded idiot around will only slow me down," Sasuke huffed and walked back to toss the Kappa over his shoulder.

"Bastard," I cursed and let him go. He disappeared down the street to who knows where. Sasuke probably spotted a field on our way here. I didn't mind letting the work-a-holic do the rest of the job. Hey, I probably got a few bruised ribs and a hand that defiantly needs stiches. Sasuke walked away without a scratch. I call this even distribution of work.

I sighed, scratched my head of sopping wet hair and slowly shuffled my way to Sakura. Carefully, not to upset my sore ribs, I sat down beside her and groaned loudly.

"Well, this was a big heap of fun," I looked at her and grinned sheepishly. She just continued to stare at the river, eyes somber. My lips pressed into a hard line. I scooted closer to her and gently reached for her hand. She turned and gazed up at me, tired and confused. "I know this was hard," I began softly, "They're a lot scarier in person, right?"

She shook her head and replied, "No, actually, I imagined them much more terrifying in my head. I just didn't expect it to seem so…human."

My eyes widened and I tilted my head in confusion. "I…I don't really understand what you mean," I said.

"It's ok," Sakura breathed and smiled lightly. "I'm being silly, I guess."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Sakura's fingers curled around mine, warm and accepting as she leaned her head on my shoulder. My heart began to pound in my chest as my face flushed with heat. We rested our legs over the bank of the river glistening against an orange sun rise that began to grow over the horizon. A gentle breeze carried the sweet, sizzling scent of summer over the vast, impossibly green fields that surrounded us. This land, in a simple word, was beautiful.

"I could see why it didn't want to leave," Sakura murmured soberly as she turned her head to look up at me with light green eyes, "This was its home."

Then I understood…She felt guilty.

I wanted to tell her what we did was the right thing to do. But, well, there was no right and wrong in our line of work. There were no black, white or gray areas. It was all one big canvas painted red. Creatures like the Kappa had only two choices; do what we say or die. If the FCA tells you to take a hike, leave all that you've ever known, then you pack it up and you go. The Kappa, like many of its kind, rarely ever listens. It usually ends in someone getting shot, decapitated or eaten. Fact is someone dies in the end.

No black, no white and especially no gray. This world was red. Plain and simple.

Yet, it didn't make the guilt go away any easier.

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading. Please review and tell me what you think. I thought it would be fun to take request for monster/spirits Team 7 should hunt down on their next mission, so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to speak up. Again, thanks for reading.