The Fairytale Murders

Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posies

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down...

It was late in the middle of night. Not a sound stirred, it was thought that everyone in the village was asleep. The full moon shone overhead, giving the village a peaceful look. An old man, the lantern-lighter of the town strolled through the village. Alone, lonely yet utterly satisfied he walked, whistling a merry tune. He raised his old, tattered hat and grabbed his lantern and proceeded to make his daily round and the village, putting out every lamppost there was.

As he reached the last lamppost, he was given the impression that somebody was watching him. Observing his every move, under the full moon of that night. He turned around, glancing from left to right, only to discover that he was alone in the infinite darkness. He thought he was going crazy. It's because it's late, he told himself. Nearer, nearer he approached the lamppost, yet the farther, farther from it, he seemed to walk. Then suddenly, before he could reach the lamppost, a sudden gust of chilly wind blew in the warm summer night and all was dark. Clouds covered the bright moon and then... he heard a sound. Of little footsteps running down the cobblestone road.

Pitter, patter, pitter, patter.

Nearer and nearer the footsteps came, more frightened the lantern-lighter became. Then, a little girl, no more than 6 years of age skipped along the cobblestone road. With a sweet and sharp little voice, she sang:

Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posies

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down...

The lantern-lighter sighed. "Why it was only a young child!" he thought. Bending down, he asked the little girl kindly. "What are you doing out so late, dear? Wouldn't your mama and your papa be worried?"

The little girl paid no attention to the kindly old man and continued her singing, her petal-coloured hair blowing in the wind and her skin shone almost luminously despite the lack of light. Captivated by the sight, the lantern-light could only watch as the little girl twirled around and around. Around and around. As she reached the last line of the nursery rhyme, she stopped and turned her face to the lantern-lighter. And with a grisly smile she sang:

We all fall down...

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"Wake up, Sakura! Wake up!" cried a pretty blonde girl, trying desperately to wake her sleeping roommate. She was going to be late to meet her team!

"5 more minutes, Mom... 5 more minutes!!!" mumbled a sleeping lump, snuggled comfortably under the pink and white comforters of her bed.

A vein popped out of the pretty blonde's head. She gritted her teeth. Mom? Who was she to call her, Ms. Yamanka Ino, only 17 years of age, MOM. Ino could already feel her infamous temper starting to rise. With an evil glare at the sleeping lump in the bed, she decided to give her the most unpleasant awakening.

Sure enough, five minutes later, the former sleeping lump shot out of bed, howling.

"INO! Why the FUCK, did you pour ICY cold water on me? What the HELL were you thinking?" cried a slender girl with tousled short pink hair and big green eyes. (I.S: You stupid bitch! How dare you to wake me up in that crude manner from my much-needed beauty sleep! You will pay...)

Ino smiled menacingly.

"You called me, a lady of 17 years, MOM. Look, Sakura, honey- I may be your best friend but don't ever, ever call me MOM."

"AND THAT GIVES YOU REASON TO DRENCH MY SHEETS WITH COLD WATER?" yelped Sakura, obviously exasperated at her roommate's lack of common sense.

Ino ignored this comment.

"Kakashi-sempai, Sasuke-kun and Naruto dropped by earlier this morning. Said that there was an important meeting in the Hokage's office- you need to get there in uh... approximately 5 minutes."

Sakura shrieked. She ran over to her closet and began throwing around random pieces of clothing. She threw on a black tank top and a pair of black cargo capris and rushed out the door.

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A tall man with silver hair stood outside of the Hokage's office. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. She was late... again. Kakashi sneaked a glance at his two teammates- one with raven black hair and brooding dark eyes stood with his arms crossed and glaring at the other, the one with blonde hair and clear blue eyes dressed in a tight black muscle tee and dark pants. They held a glaring contest for a while, but then- it was nothing new. They were rivals after all, two of the most prized ninjas in Konoha. The third was late. Yet again. As the two thought about their teammate, they both lost concentration and ended the glaring match. Both of them sighed. Why couldn't she ever be on time? It was as if her and Kakashi had switched roles!

But then, as if she knew that they were thinking about her, she appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait!" she greeted them with a bright a cheery smile. Their anger that they had felt for her melted. All except for one.

"Why can't you ever be on time?" muttered Sasuke, with an annoyed look. With that, he stalked off. Typical Sasuke behavior.

Sakura shrugged.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" she asked the remaining members of the team with a smile.

Naruto and Kakashi both smiled. Nothing was ever going to change.

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"So. I have gathered all of you here today to discuss your new mission. It seems that one of our neighbouring villages, in the Fire Country, have encountered some mysterious deaths. Nobody knows the reason for these deaths for sure- but the village authorities seem to claim that they were murders. They are paying us to investigate these murders and to get rid of whatever is causing them."

"What about these deaths? Are there any details, Tsunade-sama?" asked a curious Sakura. She had an uneasy feeling about this one.

Tsunade grimaced.

"It seemed that they had died of drowning... in their own blood."