Ello! Well, I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the last chapter, it really made me happy! At I reviewed my work, though, I noticed I had a few spelling mistakes, but you would only really notice them if you were looking for them, but sorry anyways!

Also, this is like a little treat, because I updated really really early, but, WOOO !

Well, this would be chapter nine, and I tried to make it longer and more romantic than the other chapters. So, enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, my user name would be iiMOKAYANDRICH.

Also, Deidara would be the new main character. I lovee him.


Anomoly. Chapter Nine.

Shikamaru had practically sprinted out of the door, and Sakura followed, attempting to catch up with the ninja, but lagging behind just a touch. She had not fully recovered yet, she was still weakened a bit.

Shikamaru slowed down when he saw Sakura far behind him in the corner of his eye.

"Sorry, it's just that I don't want another person getting hurt because of something I seem to be incapable of solving." Shikamaru said quietly.

"You're not incapable of solving it. You're just thinking too hard about it. You need to relax a bit and list the clues, actions, and possible suspects. And why they would attack all these people. That's all." Sakura retorted.

"Plus, maybe he'll just stop. Maybe the guy thought it would be too risky to hurt anyone else." Sakura theoried.

"No. He'll strike again. Once you murder someone, you get a kind of a thrill about it. Next thing you know, you've attempted to murder someone again. You still haven't been caught, and you think you never will now, you get cocky. So, you murder someone else. You keep doing it until you're caught, dead, or too sick to do it anymore. Murder isn't just something you can forget about, or leave it. It starts becoming an addiction. Only it's worse than those drugs you find on the streets, because it effects far more lives than just one." Shikamaru explained.

His eyes opened up, in more than one way.

"This person, or persons, has probably commited murder before, which leads me to believe it is a ninja. Or, a missing ninja."

Sakura eyes widened.

"Do you think it could be... a... Well, do you think this person, or persons, could have possibly been involved in a sort of organization?" Sakura quiestioned.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Perhaps Akatsuki!" Shikamaru and Sakura nodded heads in agreement.

"But we need to find Naruto first. We need to warn him."

The two sprinted off into the day, looking in the most obvious places for Naruto.

KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII

The nurse looked into the empty hospital room.

"Where the hell did those two go." She asked no one, for she was alone. The nurse hastilly checked the room for any notes indicating where the two had gone, but none were found.

"They better not be getting in trouble, because then I'd be responsible." The nurse complained.

"Maybe they went out together... perhaps going on some adventure together... how cute! They did seem to get along awefully well, they'd be a killer couple. Oh, this is just like one of my soaps! Two friends go on some adventure, and come home lovers. Ah, how romantic! Well, I guess I should be checking up on the others..."

And with that, the nurse left.

KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII

Ino and Hinata sat on Ino's leather red coach, planning out the dinner.

"Alright, so who to invite? So far I have Me, you, Tenten, Shikamaru, Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Lee and Neji. But I feel like I'm missing someone..." Ino said, tapping her pencil's eraser on her thick bottom lip.

"The Sand Siblings should be in, so we c-could invite them as well." Hinata commenting, and Ino gave her a loud "Aha!", and scribbled three more names on the paper.

"And didn't you forget Shino?" Hinata spoke. Ino slapped her head with her hand.

"Of course! Sorry, I forget about him a lot. He's so quiet. But he better not take out his bugs during the dinner, I don't want spiders or ants or whatever in the salad... " Ino said.

"Yeah..." Hinata said, not thanking Ino for the visual.

"This is going splendidly. Alright, so your going to go with Naruto, I assume?" Hinata blushed in response.

"And I will go with... Hmmm... I'll have to think about it." Ino concluded.

Hinata spoke up. "What about Kiba?"

"I don't know, what about him?"

"Well, m-maybe you could go with him. He's nice and funny, and your both awfully loud. In a good way, though." Hinata said.

Ino pondered about this for a few minutes.

"Perhaps." She said with a smirk.

KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII

Naruto was sitting on a stool outside of the Ramen Shop, awaiting his precious noodles to be done.

The taunting aroma of the flavorful food teased him to no end, he wished the waitress would hurry up and deliver his food already. He didn't understand what was taking so long, ramen wasn't very difficult to make.

"Eh, maybe they're making it with love. At least, they better be, with how long it's taking!" Naruto exclaimed to no one in particular, for he was the only one sitting at the little shop. He looked behind him in search of something to entertain him while he was waiting.

It was then that he saw Shikamaru running towards him, and Sakura slightly lagging behind.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Naruto inquired, wondering why Shikamaru had come out of his way to see him, especially running like that.

"Naruto... you're... in... danger..." Shikamaru said in between breathes. Naruto looked at Shikamaru as if he had ten heads.

"What?" He asked Sakura.

"Naruto, we think you're in danger! From the person who tried to assasinate me! We just wanted to warn you, before it was too late. Kakashi was just recently attacked, and we didn't want you to be next."

Naruto scowled.

"Who is this person anyway? He's starting to piss me off! Putting all of my friends in danger. I hope he tries to attack me, because if he does I will make sure that he pays for the stuff that he's done!" The blonde exclaimed.

Sakura smiled slightly. 'Same old Naruto.' She thought to herself.

"We're not even sure if it is just one person. We believe the attackers did their horrible deeds in pairs, it would be far too risky to do it by yourself." Shikamaru said, finally catching his breath.

The trio sat in silence, and a waitress who was unfamiliar to Naruto handed him his noodles.

"Here you go, sir." She said, clumsily handing him the bowl and beaming.

Naruto sighed. "New chick." He said after the girl dissappeared in the back somewhere. He cracked open his chopsticks and began shoving the food down his throat.

"Maybe we could catch the guys in the act?" Naruto suggested. Ramen seemed to stimulate his mind.

"That's actually not a bad idea. What do you think, Shikamaru?" Sakura questioned.

Shikamaru sat in silence.

"It could be done." He concluded. "We'd have to plan it perfectly, and we'd have to be extremely sneaky, but not suspiciously so. We could do it, I'm sure."

Naruto beamed. "Excellent! So, when are we doing this?"

"We could all meet at my house tomorrow. Hopefully you won't get attacked by then, but I have a feeling that they won't attack just yet." Shikamaru replied. Naruto nodded, gave Sakura a hug good-bye and Shikamaru a wave, and turned his attention back to his noodles.

"Finished! Hey lady, didn't you bring out seconds yet?" Naruto questioned, confusing the new waitress greatly.

Naruto sighed again.

KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII

Shikamaru and Sakura walked back to the hospital, only to find that a new patient was sitting in their room.

When they asked the nurse about it, she said that they could just go home now, they were healed of all short-term problems. She said that if they noticed anything wrong with themselves, to come straight back right away.

Shikamaru and Sakura were walking silently back towards their houses.

The moon was full and vibrant, the stars were out and alive, and the sky was a beautiful deep blue. The couple agreed on how gorgeous the scene would be if it was painted.

The two rounded a corner, and were slowly approaching Sakura's house, when she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked her, head cocked to the side.

"I... I don't think I want to be alone tonight. With a murderer in our area and all. I don't think I'd get much sleep. Wouldn't be a good night..." Sakura said quietly. "It was much nicer feeling safe and secure in a hospital, and even better having you in the room with me."

Shikamaru nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, if you want, you could come to... my house. And sleep there for the night." Shikamaru said slowly, metally slapping himsefl for saying such a rediculous thing.

"Really? That'd be wonderful! Thanks, Shikamaru!" Sakura said in delight.

"There's a spare pull-out bed in the den, so you could sleep there. Or, you could sleep in my bed. Not with me though, but if you want to sleep with me, then... uh... I guess you could? Unless you'd rather just sleep alone. But, yeah, it doesn't really matter..." Shikamaru immediately wished he had shut the hell up five minutes ago. Sakura giggled in amusement.

"I suppose I wouldn't mind sleeping with you." Sakura said with a sly grin. Shikamaru smirked.

KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII-KAWAII

"Hey, Kiba, it's Ino." Ino said into the phone, praying that he wouldn't hang up on her. Which he wouldn't, but you know how we girls always think that the guy we're calling will say "Ew, you." And hang up. Luckily for Ino, that did not happen.

"Oh, hey, Ino! How are you?" Kiba questioned. Ino smiled to herself.

"Good. I just called because I was having a dinner party on Friday, and I was wondering if you wanted to come? Pretty much everyone from the good 'ole Rookie Nine is going, plus a few other people." Ino said, praying he would be able to go.

"Sounds good. I'll be there." Kiba said happily, Ino swore she could heard Akamaru barking happily in the background.

"Cool. So I'll see you then."

"Alright, bye Ino."

"Bye, Kiba."

Click.

Ino smiled proudly at Hinata, who was sitting across from her.

"See? I called him." She said smugly.

Hinata smiled. Ino's jaw dropped.

"You planned that!" She cried. Hinata's smile grew even larger.

"Well, anyways, so far everyone I've called can come."

"Good job. Hey, what's that noise?" Hinata asked, referring to the laughing noise coming from next door.

Ino crawled over to a window, taking a peek to the outside world.

"OHMIGOD." She cried.

"What?" Hinata asked.

"SHIKAMARU AND SAKURA ARE ENTERING SHIKAMARU'S HOUSE, LAUGHING, AND HOLDING HANDS." Ino nearly yelled.

Hinata peeked her head through the window. Shikamaru and Sakura were walking up to Shikamaru's front door, hand in hand. Shikamaru must have made a funny comment, for you could plainly see Sakura giggling like a maniac. They slowly approached the door, and Shikamaru took a key out of his back pocket. He opened the door, the pair entered the dark house, and they were out of their friends view.

Hinata gasped.

"HINATA, WHAT IF THEY'RE HAVING A ONE NIGHT STAND OR SOMETHING?!" Ino aksed, shaking Hinata furiously.

Ino fumed. "THEY BETTER USE PROTECTION."


Hehehe, nice ending, right? Well, anyways, thanks for reading another chapterrrr! The action will be starting soon!

Tune in next chapter to find out what Shikamaru and Sakura will do this night! Will the murderer(s) be caught? Will the murderers strike sooner than they though they would? WILL I STOP ASKING QUESTIONS WHICH YOU DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO?

Well, read and review!

--iiMNOTOKAY