-1Here is my first story under this penname. I have another but I hardly use it anymore. I hope you enjoy the story. It is a GaaraXSakura pairing and I hope you like that pairing. This is kind of a depressing start, but it gets happier! I swear!
Chapter 1: The First Flame
Every time the wind blew, every time the leaves rustled and moved ever so slightly, the foul stench of the dead, rotting flesh consumed all surrounding areas. Thunder clouds, dark and ominous, loomed overhead and the leaves swirled again, and the reek of the dead came back to fill the village.
Seemingly, the village was dead, lifeless. All that was left was the occasional small animal and the burned, destroyed buildings. Homes, shops, restaurants, the Hokage tower: all destroyed from the blazing fire that had overtaken the town just the night before. It was one in the afternoon, but no sun shined through the clouds of ash and thunder.
Crack. Lightning lit up the dead village and more life could be seen then what appeared to the onlooker from afar. Three ninja ravaged through the town, searching desperately for survivors. They bent over a fallen jewelry shop and pulled up the roof that had collapsed over the store.
"Do you think she's dead?" asked one, staring at the body of the plump woman in workers robes laying on the floor. She was curled into the fetal position and her face was hidden by a mess of black hair. Her head and back had blood piled on them. It appeared as if the roof had collapsed in on her.
"Well, check her pulse," said the annoyed voice of the other, a female. The third ninja bent down and placed his fingers onto the woman's neck.
"Dead," he stated solemnly. "Look for others. She was clearly a customer. There may be workers, other customers, in the store."
The first ninja yanked the roof up and threw it in the direction in which they had already removed the dead and injured. "How many have we found?" asked the second, quiet voice of the female ninja.
"One-hundred-twenty dead. Forty seven alive," responded one of her male counterparts. "We're not even done with half the town."
"How come no one else can help us find people? I mean, we shouldn't be the only ninjas who find all the dead," commented the other male. "People could be dying out there."
"Naruto! Stop being so god damned insensitive. Imagine what Sakura, Shizune, The Hokage, and all the other members of the hospital staff are going through right now. We just bring them the injured and the dead, they have to actually try to save them, or do autopsies. I mean, we've got it good compared to them," replied the female, the annoyance in her voice was unmistakable.
"Ino, calm down. Try not to get so emotional in a time like this," said the third voice, just as quiet as before, very monotonic. He tried not to show much emotion in a devastating time like this. He was an ANBU leader, and he had to stay strong in front of his teammates.
The three ninja left the area that had once been the jewelry store; apparently everyone else had escaped because there was no more remains. They moved to the clothing shop next. It's previously white exterior had been reduced to back and brown, some red. The roof hadn't caved in as they entered the store, but the second floor of the building had fallen on top of the first.
"I know, Neji, I know. But how can we not? Someone set our town on fire, and not one ninja noticed. How does that happen? Clearly, an accelerant was used. This is terrible! We got lazy. We thought we were safe," Ino began to rant, her breath became short.
"This was an inside job," Neji interrupted. "Whoever our enemy was, he had someone in the village, probably a ninja, that knew exactly when and where to put the accelerant, and where to start the fire."
"The fire had multiple origins," said a deep, stoic fourth voice from the doorway of the clothing shop.
"Eek!" Ino yelped turning around, a kunai at the ready. Her bangs fell into her face, blocking her vision. She swished them to the side quickly and stared at the new face. A chuckle was heard from the newly added fourth member who had just found the team, "Sasuke, don't do that…ever again," Ino panted out.
"You were right when you said Konoha had gotten too comfortable. I can't believe you didn't hear or sense me coming. That's ridiculous. I wasn't even trying to hide," Sasuke replied, his voice colorless, but slightly amused. "But back to what I was saying before, the fire started at the base of the wall surrounding the village in four different places at four different times. We would try to control one portion of the fire, and another one would start from the opposite end of the village. And then, the big bang, and then a fire burst from the Hokage tower in the middle of the village."
"How'd you find that out?" asked Naruto, picking up more debris.
"Shikamaru and Hinata have figured this all out. Anyway, more and more people are showing up at the river and Sakura did a head count. We are only missing seven more people, three of them are ninjas," Sasuke replied.
"Which ninjas?" asked Neji carefully.
"Shino, Ibiki, and Anko," Sasuke replied, "but Lady Hokage made it very clear that we are to search for students first."
"How do we do that!? Our comrades are out there somewhere and we don't even know if they are okay right now!" Naruto burst, his face red, "We can't just leave them to die!"
"Kakashi and Gai were sent to search for the missing ninja. Our job is specifically to find the missing four village members. We talked to those who knew the missing: one is suspected to be in or around the jewelry store-"
"Yeah we found her. She's dead," Ino interrupted. "We'll get her on the way back…the others?"
"A male and his son at the docks, and an elder lady in her home about two blocks from here. I have the address, but I don't know if it will do much good. If we don't find them, then we're to go back right away," Sasuke finished.
"Ino and I will go to the docks. Naruto and Sasuke, take care of the women, both of them," Neji ordered.
Naruto nodded and turned. The wind whistled again and the scent of dead, burnt flesh crept up the noses of the four ninja. The entire village took on a red color, from blood and burnt buildings. Even the sky was red from the ashen clouds. Another set of lightning bolts struck through the sky, accenting the rusty-red to make is shine like blood in the sunlight.
"It's supposed to rain soon, or that's what Sakura thinks anyway," Sasuke commented. All the ninja stood still, peering out the door of the clothing shop staring at the black and rust-colored sky.
"Good," Naruto's voice broke the silence. His voice was solemn, gloomy, "It will wash the death, blood, and the smell of this night away."
"Huh," Sasuke said, "that's exactly what Sakura said."
Ino and Neji walked silently over the dirt and wreckage that was their beloved Konoha. The village that was loved by allies, feared by enemies, and respected by all. They were the super power of all the villages, and they had gotten comfortable that way.
At the base of a relatively small river that ran to the side of Konoha, there were docks that mostly held small fishing boats. It seemed like most of the boats were unharmed. The boathouse was gone--completely burnt down--but the actual dock was still there.
Boom. Another angry thunder blast and another crack of lightning radiated through the village. Ino shook slightly at the cold air that brushed over the town once again, and wrinkled her nose as the smell of fire and death wafted into her nose once again.
"Neji. Can you make this easy? We can't look under every piece of rubble," Ino said, exhaustion and sadness pure in her voice. Nothing else was there, just exhaustion, just sadness. It was difficult for her to be a ninja in these kinds of situation--it wasn't even finding everyone dead. She had trouble staying unemotional. Her heart ached as she looked around her fallen village.
"Yeah…" Neji replied, his voice trailing off. He looked down at the black and charred ground at his feet, and when he raised his eyes again his Byakugan was activated, veins lining his pale lavender eyes.
He stood perfectly still for several seconds, what felt like an hour to Ino, and he spoke softly, "They are lying on the beach about one hundred yards east of here. They aren't under any debris, but I don't sense any movement from them."
Neji didn't have time to say "let's go" before Ino had taken off in the direction in which Neji had spoke of. She ran along the calm waters of the small river until she spotted an old man with brown hair and a young boy, not even ten years old, laying half in the water, half out. She grabbed the young boy and Neji grabbed the man and pulled them completely onto shore.
"Hey, hey, boy, are you okay. Can you hear me?" Ino spoke quickly, shaking the boy slightly. "The boy has a pulse."
Neji did the same to the man, but the outlook wasn't so good as the boys, "The man doesn't. I think he's dead."
Suddenly, the boy coughed in a hoarse sound and pulled himself onto his side. Ino held him place and patted the boys back as his coughed up water. "Are you okay?" Ino asked when the boy finished.
The young boy stared at Ino with incredulous eyes and tears quickly formed, "My daddy's dead. I pulled him to the shore when I could, but he was under water for a long time. He said we'd be safe from the fire if we jumped into the river."
"You are a very strong, brave boy, and your father would be proud that you pulled him to shore and that you survived such a terrible ordeal," Ino replied, hugging the boy. He began to cry, and finally, so did she.
"Ino," Neji said quietly, "we need to get them back to the base."
On the other side of town, Naruto and Sasuke had found the old woman's house, although it had been very difficult to identify which one was hers. They creaked open what was left of the door. The insides were charred and burnt.
"Can you see anything, teme?" Naruto asked, peering into the abyss that was this house. Sasuke just entered the house, his red eyes watching Naruto, "Ugh, of course you can."
Naruto held up his finger, "Light," he muttered and a small piece of chakra imploded onto the top of his finger, creating a radiating light. Naruto was taken aback by the destruction of the small one-level home. A dresser was turned over in the corner, a couch was completely burnt in the middle of the room, and all that was left of the bed in an adjacent corner was a bit of frame.
"Naruto, I think she is under the dresser, and I think someone is with her," Sasuke said quickly, yanking up the dresser, "Oh no…"
Naruto sprinted to the other end of the small home, and saw the dead woman with someone. Naruto couldn't tell who it was, so he bent over and stuck his finger close to the face.
"I think I'm going to throw up," Naruto said quickly moving away from the dresser and ran out the door of the home. Sasuke followed close behind.
Naruto felt a knot in his throat and a lurch in his stomach. He leaned over the almost destroyed fence that surrounded the house and heaved up anything that was in his stomach. Sasuke stood close by but looked away as he listened to Naruto throw up. When Naruto finally stood, tears rushed down his face. "Sasuke…"
"I know," Sasuke replied.
"Sasuke, it's Shino," Naruto said, breathless, sobbing, "But I could barely tell. His glasses, that's the only way I could tell. His skull… you could fucking see his skull!"
"I know. I know!" Sasuke replied loudly, rubbing his eyes, not wanting Naruto to see the tears that had formed in his eyes, "I will carry him back because I know you can't. You take the woman, and I will pick up the other woman in the jewelry store. Go straight back to base."
Naruto nodded and waited for Sasuke to go in and retrieve Shino's body. He wiped the tears from his face, the knot still in his throat, and now there was a large, gaping hole in his heart. He bent over and threw up again. His forehead was sweaty and he felt incredibly hot all a sudden. How was he going to tell Hinata? Kiba? They were his teammates from the time they were twelve-years-old. It wasn't right.
Sasuke was gone for a few minutes before Naruto could go in and get the body of the old woman. He headed back in the direction of the lake, where everyone in town was staying.
Depressing, I know. It really is, but like I said before, it gets happier. Okay so I will update soon. I'm really looking for reviews on my word usage and description, because I think that is what I struggle with the most. Please, give me some critisism and advice!
If you review, I will make you virtual cake! Everyone likes cake! And even if you don't like real cake, I'm sure you will like virtual cake! So please review!!!!
Lyndsey