The Search

by theBrillianceofNight

It starts with a robbery, a fake name, a pair of gloves. The wind howls, the moon glows, and a snake slithers along. Then come the smell of gunpowder, a race against time, and paths that lead to nowhere. AU.

1. Prologue

-Prologue-

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The pale full moon shone down on the streets of Konoha while the chilly September night wind swept through the city. The only sounds on the silent street were the wind whistling through trees, the muffled protests of a large crowd in nearby Hotaru Park being shooed away by park officials from the now over 'Friday the 13th' concert, and the shuffling of feet along the road. The street was deserted but for a solitary man, hunched over and walking slowly down the sidewalk, dragging his feet along.

Within the boundaries of the park, the crowd broke up into groups and dispersed. Some walked in towards the center fountains, while others wandered off to the beautiful Sakura Avenue. A particularly large pack of people pushed its way down the street, engulfing the once solitary man in a horde of many other bodies. The crowd meandered down the street quite quietly and rather aimlessly until alarms and ringing bells shattered the near silence. The Shattered Glass jewelry store had been robbed.