Summery: Sakura lived a normal life, until her best friend disappeared. Her world spins out of control as an old family's past comes back to haunt the town of Torid Falls. Neji and Sakura are thrown into a world so dark and dangerous, they may not get out alive.

The Weeping Angel

Part One

Torid Falls, Louisiana

1920

1111 West Thead Street.

Where a two-story mansion sat, proud and grand as the end of Thead Street. Numerous houses surrounded it, but paled in comparison.

It was this very house, where a young boy had grown up. His name, had been Sasuke Uchiha. Youngest son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha. Younger brother to Itachi, the rightful heir to the family fortune and prodigy of the Uchiha lineage. Years had passed in blissful happiness.

Until Mikoto received a strange gift from an old friend. Two stone statues, Angels dressed in flowing robes. One had both hands over it's eyes, wings tucked into the center of it's back. The other had one hand against it's stomach and the other over it's eyes. It's wings, however, were open and reached the span of nearly 6 feet each.

It was strange, but due to the beauty of the weeping stone, she had her sons set them at the entrance to the grand staircase that spiraled up the middle of the foyer. She had bid her farewells to the blonde lad who had delivered it, then shut the door.

It was the last time anyone saw them.

--

35 years later...

Present Day, Torrid Falls

" Come on you idiot!" Sakura Haruno hissed, glaring at her best friend Ino Yamanka. The blonde beauty sent her pink-hair friend a scowl before tossing her brush in her blue bag and following after. The street of Thead was stone quiet on the cool October night. A chilling wind blew slightly to the west, brown and orange leaves dancing across the wet sidewalks and landing in one, lone yard.

1111 West Thead street.

It was an old house, standing two stories high with a wrap-around porch, high pillars and a small tower nestled between two humps of the second story. The paint was cracked, weathered and falling from the wood. Water dripped steadily from the gutters, puddling around the bushes surrounding the porch.

" You can't be serious." Ino hissed, clutching her green jacket closer around her chest. " No one's allowed in there, the sherif'll have your hide if he finds out!"

Sakura snorted, bag slung over her black-coated shoulder and flashlight in her hand. " That old fart? Please like he could do anything to me."

Blue eyes rolled, " Just because you're daddy's rich doesn't give you the right to nose around."

The pinkette sighed, turning to look at her friend. " Look, I just want some pictures for my project. We'll sneak it, snap some shots and leave."

Ino eyed the house hesitantly, then her best friend. 17 years together and she still didn't understand the thrill Sakura got from scary adventures. Every Halloween, she was dragged to at least one haunted house within miles of their small town.

And this years winner?

The Uchiha Manor.

She let out a weary sigh as Sakura scrambled over the low gate and started for the front steps. Ino followed behind reluctantly, trailing behind her pink friend and eyeing the groaning trees. She clutched her own flashlight closer to her stomach, clicking the light on as Sakura pushed open the front door.

It creaked open, the darkness within a black pit. Sakura's light clicked on, landing at the foot of a red-carpeted staircase. A rat scampered through the light, causing Ino to jump slightly. Jade eyes rolled, before she stepped forward, light dragging along the floor and towards the left wall, where a large entrance stood.

The high arches were carved in breathtaking Celtic knots, spiraling from the window's peak at the top, down to the floorboards. It lead into a room full of old furniture, dust covering old paintings, vases and a dying cup of daises sitting on the coffee table.

Two tea cups and a plate of moldy scones sat to the far left, towards the generous fireplace, where a large painting hung above it. Sakura swallowed, lifting the light to the portrait. Ino gasped, " Oh My..."

Three men dressed in suits stood around a red-dressed lady on a stool. High society, from the look of their clothes, well painted.

Except for the faces.

Sakura took a step back, hand over her mouth. She backed into Ino, who let out a small squeak at being touched suddenly. " Their face..."

" I know." Ino whispered.

The faces were ripped, scratched, the indention's in the wall giving witness to five claw marks. Had they been smiling? Frowning? Serious?

Who was this family, Sakura wondered, looking down at the pile of bread and half-drunken tea on the small, termite bitten table. And why was everything left as it was?

" It's almost as if no one has been here for...nearly...30 years." Sakura muttered, scanning the rest of the old living area.

" And these too." Ino gasped, pointing to pictures along the foyer walls. All the faces were scratched at, claws marks sunk into the white walls. " It's...it's..."

" The Uchiha family." Sakura stated, " There are no records of them at all. Only that they were a family of four, wealthy, steady and very gracious." She ran a finger-tip over one of a two boys on a swing. Ones face was clawed, but the other, was very much clear. Her head tilted slightly to the left, spiky hair and laughing eyes. The young boys friend?

" I wonder what happened?" Ino whispered, stepping up beside her.

Sakura shrugged, fingers wiping away the remaining dust on the picture. " They just...disappeared."

" Just...like that?"

The pink-haired girl nodded, turning to the front door. " Come on, lets go. All this is making me sad. " She opened the door, stepping out into the cool air.

Ino was right behind her, turned back to look at the photo's and noticed two statues on each side of the stairs. Hadn't one of them...? She snorted, shaking her head and shutting the door behind her.

Leaving one Angel with it's hand outstretched towards her retreating back.

--

" The Uchiha's?" Sheriff Tsunade Sanin muttered, brown eyes glaring holes in the papers that were held up by her hands. " Never heard of em'."

Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. " Come on, you're lying."

Tsunade looked up, blonde eyebrow raising slowly, " And how would you know that?" She eyed her young niece suspiciously, " Ain't nobody asked about them in, tsh, 20 years."

" Well I'm asking now." Sakura growled, uncrossing her arms to set them on her hips.

" Why the sudden interest?"

Sakura scrunched up her face, thinking hard, before smirking. " Daddy wants to buy it and tear it down."

" NO!" Tsunade shot up so fast, Sakura actually jumped back a foot, eyes wide. The blonde woman scowled at her, " No."

" Why?" Sakura hissed, regaining her courage and walking forward. " What's so scary about getting ride of something that old? It just sits there."

" Exactly." Tsunade whispered, falling back into her seat and rubbing her temples. " It just sits there. Never moving, just...sitting."

" What, is it supposed to move?" Sakura snorted.

Tsunade sighed, lifting her eyes to the ceiling. " My father, God rest his soul, used to say they were so full of life. That, even when they were gone for months on end, the house was alive. Always bright, always...happy." Brown eyes closed. " Then one day, it was just...gone. Like that. The house just...stood there. Rotting away."

Sakura sat on the arm of a chair, blowing out a breath and rustling a strand of pink hair that had fallen into her eyes. " That's all you know?"

" No one was paying attention." Tsuande looked back at her, eyes sad and sorrowful. " No one was expecting it, Sakura. It just happened. In the blink of an eye."

Sakura nodded, standing up and heading for the door. The phone went off and her aunt sighed, picking it up and giving a tense 'hello'. She opened the door, stepping out and turned to wave.

" Sakura."

Jade eyes blinked, taking in her aunts worried expression as she hung up the phone. " Yea?"

" When was the last time you saw Ino?"

--

She couldn't breathe right. It was like, her lungs were clogged up, strangling the air supply and rendering her lifeless. At least, that's what it felt like when deputy Kiba Inuzuka walked into Ino's house with a sad expression. He shook his head and Ino's mother burst into tears.

Sakura whimpered, pressing a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes. She faintly heard Tsunade whispering to the parents.

" We looked everywhere. She's not in Torid Falls."

The crying got louder.

" Sakura, where were you two last night?" Tsunade asked from across the living room. The pink-haired girl looked up, hand trailing down her face and eyes watery.

" We always go to Haunted Houses the last few days before Halloween." Sakura whispered, throat dry and scratchy. Man, she needed water. " We...I mean...I..." She swallowed again, " We went to the Uchiha manor."

" Sakura." Kiba hissed, jaw dropping open.

" I told everyone in this damn town not to go there." Tsunade snapped, " What the hell makes you so special?!"

" It's just a house!" Sakura snarled, standing up and fisting her hands, " What does that have to do with Ino running away!?"

Silence fell over the room, Ino's mothers sniffles now falling into wet hiccups and her husband whispering words to her. Sakura could hear the anguish in his tone. Her hands uncoiled, resting limply against her thighs.

" Tsunade?" She whispered.

" Don't even talk to me..."

" Who was the closest family to the Uchiha's?" Sakura cut in, eyes narrowing.

" The Hyuuga's." Tsunade shook her head, " What the hell does it matter?"

Sakura turned and stormed out of the house, ignoring her Aunts yells to come back. She kept going, got into her car and headed for their small library.

Hinata Hyuuga sat behind the front desk, book in hand and her short halo of dark hair framing her face as silver-gray eyes frantically swept over the pages. Sakura walked up, set her hand on the counter and sent the poor girl into the roof.

" Hinata."

" Y-yes...Sakura...Oh!" She slammed the book closed, " What is it?"

" Do you have a brother?"

The girl blinked. " Er..."

" Do you?" Sakura sighed exasperatedly, " I don't have time to waste."

Hinata nodded, " Well, he's not my brother, he's my cousin, but father took him..."

" Where is he?" Sakura cut in.

" Well, he's a history major at Cambridge, but he's..." The doorbell jiggled merrily and both girls turned to it simultaneously. A long-haired brunette walked in, book-pack slung across his chest and silver eyes narrowed at them.

" Hinata, you were supposed to meet me at the airport."

" Oh!" Hinata gasped, standing up, " Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Neji, I completely forgot...I..." He held up a hand.

" Don't ramble, Hinata. It's annoys me." The girl nodded, clasping her hands and sitting back down.

Sakura lifted an eyebrow, leaning against the counter and sizing the tall man from head to foot. " A bit of an asshole, but he'll do."

" Excuse me?" Neji glared, " He'll do what?"

Sakura flounced forward, looping her arm through one of his and marching out the door. " You'll be helping me uncover the Uchiha's mystery disappearance, so I can find my friend." She sent Hinata a wave and the door shut behind them.

Hinata blinked, waving back nervously, before smiling. She then giggled, picking up her book and resuming where she left off.

Good luck, cousin Neji.

--

He was surprisingly eager, Sakura mused later on as she waited for Tsunade in her office, to take the case on as soon as he was told the Uchiha's were involved. He sat in a chair beside her now, leafing through a text book and pushing up his glasses every time they would slip down his nose.

She frowned, shaking her head and turning as her Aunt walked in, a stack of files under her arm. The files were then thrust ed into Sakura's arm. " Some of the stories are stupid. Pictures salvaged from the negatives at the photo shop. Jiriya found them in an old store room."

Sakura nodded, " But it's not the whole story, is it?"

" No one knows the whole story." Tsunade took a seat behind her desk, eyeing Neji. " She drag you into this?"

He nodded, " As...brutal as her insistence was, I am just as curious as to how our family acquaintances vanished."

She nodded, before turning back to her niece. " Sakura. I can't believe I'm letting you do this on you're own."

Sakura clutched the files closer to her chest. " I don't want any unnecessary...missing people." She muttered.

Tsunade nodded, " I can understand that, but..."

Sakura's cell phone went off in her pocket suddenly. The girl sighed, setting the files onto a chair and whipping out the phone and pressing the accept button. She blinked. " It's a text."

From: Akatsuki

Body: Beware of the angels!

She glared, showing the message to Neji, who lifted an eyebrow. " Who's Akatsuki?" She shrugged, showing her aunt, who snorted.

" Some prank text." She shook her head, " Just be careful. Both of you."

The nodded.

--

" You're insane." Neji muttered, shuffling through the files now spread out on Sakura's bedroom floor. He picked up another photo, peering at it. " Some of this junk is too blurred to make out."

" They're all old photo's." Sakura sighed.

" Can't we just get one from the house?" He sighed, throwing down yet another blurred photograph and glaring at her from over the pile. Her face changed, going from concentrated, to pained.

" You can't see the faces."

" Um...what?"

She looked up, eyes serious, " I mean it. In every picture, the faces have been clawed off." Her fingers stilled over a group of photo's, she picked them up and started leafing through them.

" And you've seen them, haven't you?" Neji whispered, moving across the room and sitting beside her. She tensed, but he didn't move away. Then she froze, eyes on one picture as she moved it to where they both could see.

" Oh...they're as pretty as I imagined." She muttered in awe, running a finger over the smooth cover of the photo. Three black-haired men and a dark-haired lady. Handsome, beautiful and brooding. Well, the men were brooding and the lady was smiling.

It was a husband and a wife, two sons, far apart in age, standing together in a group in front of the large manor.

Sakura stood up, walking to her window and leaning against the glass. She pressed the photo to it, covering up the large house in the distance. Neji stepped up beside her, eyeing the house. " When I was little, I remember my dad telling me the Uchiha's were close friends. They had grand parties, beautiful attire and wonderful cooking." He chuckled, " Then he told me that they just...vanished one day. Ran off somewhere, he said, that they couldn't take being kind anymore. That their true nature was unkind and cold-hearted."

She glanced at him, " Do you believe that?"

" When I look at the house. Yea. It nags at me." He muttered, " I mean, why would they leave like that? Over night? Leaving all their stuff behind."

" That doesn't explain the destroyed photos." She sighed.

" I suppose." He looked down at her, tilting his head slightly. " Why did you choose me?"

She looked up, " I want a stranger. Someone I'm not attached to and who isn't attached to me. So if something happens to either of us, the other will go on searching."

A ring spilt the air and Sakura sighed, pulling out her phone and glaring at the message on the small cell screen.

From: Akatsuki

Body: Beware of the angels! 1111

" They send me a message every hour." She hissed, her hand sliding the photo over the garden in her neighbors backyard. Her head shook slightly, typing a response to them asking who the hell they were. Neji watched as she moved the photo.

" Wow, they've got an awesome statue."

Sakura blinked, " What are you..." She turned back to the window, gaping at the sight of a tall statue of an Angel sitting her neighbors garden. It's hands were on it's face, wings outstretched. " Neji..."

" What, I think it's pretty, in a sad..."

" They don't have an Angel statue in their garden." Sakura whispered.

" Oh Shit.." Neji hissed, grabbing her curtains and shutting them quickly. Her phone went off again and she whipped it out.

Meet us at the library.

She pressed the end button, grabbed Neji's hand. " Lets go."

All he could do was nod and follow as they rushed out the door, got into her car and drove down to the library, not even risking a second look into the garden.

They arrived, climbing out of the car and rushing inside to see Hinata glaring at two men. Both wore black cloaks covered in red-white outlined clouds. The taller one had his hood down, blue hair spiked up in odd places and arguing with Hinata.

The shorter one turned to them a pale hand lifting and shoving the hood back to reveal long black hair, red eyes and a pale face.

" Oh My God." Sakura gasped, pressing a hand to her chest.

" You have got to be kidding me." Neji shook his head.

The pale man stepped forward, extending his hand. " Itachi Uchiha. I believe...you have alot of questions."

To Be Continued...

OMG. Did you like it? The second part is coming soon, I've vowed not to go to sleep till this is COMPLETE, or I will loose the inspiration for it! -gasp-

Worry not, Guardian Bay shall be typed up the second I get back to my home state. Yes, this is based off the Doctor Who Episode 'Blink' but I'll I'm using are the angels. Not what they do in the episode. Nor the story line.

So sit back and wait patiently for part two.

Thank You! (review please!)

Blessed be,

Angel