Preface

All rights to characters go to Masashi Kishimoto.

This is just the preface – with luck, a real deal chapter will be posted within a few hours. R&R~

Naruto pressed his hand to the gateway of the village on a cliff overlooking his home, a small cabin in an equally small village. All day, during training, a feeling of dread had possessed him, but there was nothing he could do about the feeling, for he could see nothing wrong in the hushed valley.

Naruto ignored the way the warm, smooth stone was too hot on his hands. He tried to ignore how the village seemed too quiet and how his horse, Kushina, had refused to descend into the valley where the village the village, Naruto pretended not to feel the soot smeared ground beneath his boots and turned his gaze from the crushed flowers in each flower bed under the windows.

His trained warrior nose could smell the death from his place in the streets, but he paid no mind to that, telling himself that all was well, that his surrogate father, Jiraya, would be waiting for him at home. Jiraya would want to know how he'd spent his time in the mountains, and how hard he trained, and how many pretty girls he'd met….

Hinata would be at home, too, asking about his stay, too, and waiting with her warm, amazing soup. She would sit down with him next to the fire and talk… but as Naruto's heart pounded and as his brain continued to lie to his eyes, he could no longer take it anymore.

Naruto sprinted down the streets to the cabin, now taking heed to the way his leather boots slid across the soot and crimson stains on the streets. Fumbling, his hand found the sword that was strapped to his belt, close to his left hip.

Minato will protect you if nothing else will. Jiraya had told him, giving him the sword. But why would he need protecting, Naruto thought, if he couldn't protect his own village?!

Dread fell over him like a black sheet as he stopped in the town square. Empty. The flower shop, where the gossiper Ino worked? Empty. The ramen shop? Empty. The stables? Empty.

"No… no, no, no, no…" Naruto chanted to himself, checking every door, every shop, only to find them empty. He stopped, panting as he stood in his door way, only to find it just as empty as every other house. This struck him with a sense of finality that he couldn't grasp. They were… gone… everyone in the village. Not dead, not traveling… just, gone.

Behind him, there was a sound, the slightest sound, and he stood quickly, removing his sword and pressing it to the neck of the intruder.

"N-Naruto-kun…?" The quiet voice stuttered, and Naruto saw the pale hand first, a small hand firmly grasped on its own sword.

"Hinata..." Naruto breathed, dropping his own sword on the crimson ground and pulling her into a hug, quickly so that his mind didn't have time to let her disappear. The small girl went stiff in his arms, her body barely shaking. She gave herself a few seconds to relax, to tell her hands that there were no more invaders, no more attackers, and no need to attack.

When they finally pulled away from each other, they realized that they'd sunken to the ground, and Hinata's pale face was red, her pale eyes swollen and puffy. "Na-Naruto…" Hinata stuttered, her voice quiet and hoarse. Had she been screaming?

Naruto tried to shush her, but she seemed determined to tell her something. "Everyone… th-they were taken…" She choked, "they-they were all taken…"

Naruto's blue eyes flared and he looked down at her, staring intently into her pale ones. "Who? Who took them?"

"I don't know… they just… they came in the village and took everyone…" Hinata took in a deep breath. "They had red eyes… crimson, evil eyes…"

Naruto stood up, frowning, but reached down to help Hinata up. She looked up at him with knowing eyes as he sheathed his glowing sword. "We're going to look for them, then?"

"We? You mean me, Hinata. If they could take everyone in this village, I can't risk putting you in danger." He looked at her steadily but was surprised at the anger rising in her expression.

"This is as much my home as it is yours!" She protested, glaring up at him through a long bang of hair. "In fact, it's more min—" She stopped abruptly, completely ceasing her sentence. "I am going with you. Hanabi is waiting with our horses on the other side of town, which means I can go with or without you, Naruto-kun." Her anger was cutting through her tears; her voice no longer sounded fragile.

"Hanabi's fine, then?" Naruto asked, sighing. "If you're determined to go, I'm not going to stop you. But I'm still going to protect you, Hinata." Naruto looked down at her as if to say, "Okay?" and Hinata nodded, her pale eyes softening. "I'll meet you at the lake," Naruto said, his voice monotonous. "Kushina's still at the gates of the village."

Naruto walked off, leaving Hinata to gather Hanabi from the back gate of the village, and soon, the two sisters mounted their horses.

"Sister," Hanabi said, her black hair covering her face. "Is it really okay to look for everyone?" She looked up, her eyes not giving away any of her feelings. "The Red-Eyes are dangerous."

"Did you think I didn't know that, Hanabi?" Hinata adjusted her rations – gathered before she found Naruto – on top of her steed, and spurred him to move forward. Hanabi followed suit, their horses trotting along silently until Hanabi spoke up again.

"Sister?" She asked, her voice flat. "Sister, why did they attack us…? I heard one of the Red-Eyes say, 'It's been sixteen years'. What does that mean?"

Hinata's hands tightened on the reins and she clenched her jaw, thinking about the meaning of the Red-Eye's words. She lied smoothly, shocking herself, although she did desperately want to believe her words, too.

"I don't know."