A/N: Sorry this took forever.
Disclaimer: Never had and never will own Naruto.
"Yesterday a High School girl has been found dead in a cemetery on the border of town, authorities believe that she has been buried alive and pierced to death. What is more shocking is that a dead black cat had been found in her body and on it's skin engraved the phrase 'The Most Dangerous Game'. Could her killer possibly be the same one as the passed High School girl Tamanaki Milla? They're from the same school. Could it have been all a coincidence? The Anbu is looking into the connection between these two girls. This is Fujiku in the Morning News."
He switched off the radio and laid back in his driver's seat. Overnight, he had drove from the city to the countryside, not stopping for anything. Although the fuel ran low and he was tired, he kept on driving and driving until he had reached a place that might clear his thoughts, somewhere where he can try to remember things, recollect memories.
He had stopped driving a few minutes ago, when he heard mother nature's voices.
The crashing of the waves against the sea shore echoed in his head, he watched as the clear blue, aquamarine water ran through the first few inches of dry land before seeping into the sand. The water washed away all the footsteps that was previously left on the seashore bit by bit, just like how his feelings were; they disappeared bit by bit. The car doors were open, just at the front, to ventilate the space. The lovely sea breeze caressed his face and danced around his car.
Soon the sun would appear, far across the horizon and he would have to greet the arrival of a new day.
He didn't know if he should go back.
"Fuck," she got up from the bed and looked around the room.
All the curtains were drawn making the room enveloped in darkness. She reached for the lamp on the side table and switched on the light. It lit up half of the huge room. From where she sat, she could see the door to the toilet, the dressing table, the balcony behind the translucent sheet that circled the king sized bed. The bed was so much larger and definitely softer than the one she owned. The pillows, the bolsters and the blanket were all made of the softest feathers of a dove. She ran her fingers through the smooth satin and silk bed sheets and the velvet blanket.
Temari had just remembered that she did not have clothes to go to school in.
"Damn it," she groaned and looked at the time, half past six, "I'll still have time to make it home…" she groaned again and fell back onto the bed, "I'm too lazy."
She closed her eyes, hoping that by the time she woke up her clothes would just magically appear on the bed. And perhaps her school bag too, but she didn't think she needed them that badly.
"Damn it," she sat up again and smelt herself, she had the mere thought of rewearing whatever she wore yesterday, "fuck, I smell bad."
She could call her friends to bring it over…
"They'd get lost trying to find this place," she muttered to herself, "I'm the only one who reads the map."
She reluctantly slipped off the bed and headed out of the room to Shikamaru's room, the genius had to help her.
Politely, she knocked the door, hoping it would wake him up. She knocked again.
She tried calling his name, but then she remembered how much he adored sleeping. Just when she was felt all helpless and desperate, Shikamaru answered to her knocks.
"What?" cried the boy, his voice was muffled, probably by the stacks and stacks of pillows above his head.
She entered his room and noticed it wasn't much different from hers except the curtains around his bed wasn't drawn.
"Oi," she broke out of her friendly and polite mode, early mornings made her moody, "I just remembered that I didn't bring clothes over."
He just laid there, with his eyes close, not responding to her question.
She sighed, "Shikamaru," she shook him, "I have no clothes to wear to school."
He pushed the single pillow above is head aside, "what do you want me to do? I'm a genius, not a magician."
She knelt down on the floor on the side of his bed, like she was begging him, "I just want you to think," she yawned, "I'm not going to school wearing these smelly old clothes."
He groaned and turned to the other side, "beggars can't be choosers Temari, stop being troublesome."
"But I have a problem," she winced, "and I'm tired."
"Then sleep."
"But I have a problem."
"I solved it, so sleep."
She sunk her head into his bed, "you did?"
"Shut up."
"Fine," she stood up, "I'll go sleep, since you solved my problem. Gosh."
Before she could exit, Shikamaru stopped her.
"Oi," he called out.
She turned around, "what?" she snapped.
"Come here," he waved his hand in the air, beckoning her to come over.
She exhaled a whole chuck of air, "why? I'm tired."
Fatigue was slowly taking over her legs, she felt as if she was about to crumble. Her feet started to act on their own accord and gradually proceeded back to his bed.
"What?" she snapped, "we're both tired, so make this quick."
He tugged on her hand.
"What?" she repeated.
He patted the empty side of his bed, beckoning her to come over.
"And…?" she was starting to sway on the spot, her vision became all blurry.
"Gosh, you're troublesome," he pulled her towards his bed.
She fell flat on his bed, she could feel the lovely soft feathers of the mattress under her and the velvety blanket running under her. Shikamaru was pulling her into place. She felt herself coming upon the silken pillow and the warm grip of his hand on her forearm, settling her.
"I won't bother arguing," she muttered, "but if you dare do anything, I swear-"
"I won't," he said, pulling the velvet blanket over the both of them, "trust me."
He laid back down on his pillow and faced her, she had already shut her eyes, escaping into dreamland. Shikamaru shifted closer to her and ran his fingers through her blond hair, trailed down to her cheeks.
"Um…" she groaned.
"What?" he whispered.
"I just realized that your hair is down," she said, "never seen that before."
He shrugged, "go back to sleep Temari."
They pushed a trolley into the dark alley. There were two figures waiting for them.
"There are more fucking people in the shadows," Hidan muttered, "those fucking men are working for him."
Zetsu nodded, "try to remain as oblivious as possible, we don't want our client to know how powerful we can be. We're just salespeople who so happen to have the Statue of David in our possession, get it?"
Hidan grunted.
They closed up on the two figures in the alley. One of them wore a black trench coat with a high collar that covered half of his face and the other one, rather plumb, stood there grinning like an idiot, his hands at his back.
Zetsu and Hidan nodded and smiled to acknowledge their client.
He tapped his feet at an impatient pace, "you're late."
"Only by two fucking minutes we are," Hidan said in his calmest tone, "is that so fucking unbearable for you?"
Zetsu sighed, "mind… Gregor, he has anger management issues. Just broke up with his girlfriend, right Gregor?" he shot Hidan a glare.
"You're damn fucking right," Hidan muttered, he held out his gloved hand, "I'm Gregor McCabre. This," he indicated to Zetsu, "is my partner, Wyatt Hallow."
The man scratched his head, a few strands of brown her drifted to the ground, "Foreigner?"
Hidan noticed the guy in the trench coat and those in the shadows were armed; guns, rifles, knives. He scoffed.
"Yes," Zetsu said, "we're from the states, came here specially to seal the deal with you. Mister Kawasaki."
Kawasaki walked towards the covered statue and unveiled it true form. The Statue emerged from the dull covering and sparkled in the half down moonlight. Kawasaki snapped his fingers and the man in the trench coat stepped forward, towards the statue.
"This is my assistant, he is here to inspect the statue, you, know see if it's genuine," he explained to Zetsu and Hidan.
The man in the trench coat examined the statue for a while before nodding, indicating that it was the actual one made by Michelangelo himself.
"Very well," he faced the two men, "as you have requested, forty million American dollars, in cash split into two luggages," he pointed to the two luggages he had in the corner.
Zetsu and Hidan took one each and started to heading off, before they were found out.
"One more thing," Kawasaki stopped them.
They paused in their step and got ready to face whatever that bastard was going to do to them.
"Nice working with you," he continued, "Mister McCabre and Mister Hallow."
"Hinata," Ino called from the bathroom, "HINATA!"
Sakura entered with a dazed look on her face, "she left early this morning," she yawned, "to prepare for the art exhibition."
Ino stopped brushing her teeth and looked at Sakura, "what? The art exhibition?"
Sakura nodded, squishing the Colgate on to her toothbrush.
"You know what this means?" her hands on both of Sakura's shoulders, her toothbrush clasped between her teeth, "Sai's going to be there. Sai! Sakura! Hahaha!"
Tenten came in yawning, "and to hear Sai's name so early in the morning," Tenten got her toothbrush, "where's Temari? Did anyone wake her up?"
The two looked at her like she had just said some life changing statement.
"She's over at Shikamaru's house," Ino reminded, "remember?"
The butler had brought her into a master bed room, far bigger than hers and led her to a wooden sliding door at the left wall of the room, "this is it Miss, Young Master's solution to your problem," he flung open the doors.
She stepped into the room which was apparently a walk in wardrobe and gasped, she had never seen anything more extravagant than this. White wooden drawers filled one of the four walls, decked with stockings of every color, swimwear of every design and undergarments of every size. On the opposite side hung a neat row of dresses ranging from different lengths and hues, all properly arranged in a neat order. Then there was also the wall that was facing her. It was filled with cells and cells of clothes, all color coordinated, hanging nicely in their individual cells. That the bottom was two racks of trousers, skirts, shorts etc. She slowly circled the dressing table that stood in the middle of the room.
"This place is way bigger than two class rooms joined together," she turned to the butler, "Shikamaru never told me that he had a departmental store in his home."
The butler chuckled, "that's because he doesn't, what till you see the wardrobe with the handbags, shoes and accessories, this place was way too small to fit everything Mrs Nara owns."
Her heart lurched, "Mrs Nara?" she repeated, "I thought I heard Mrs Nara."
"You did," the butler assured her, "that's Shikamaru's mother," he tired to suppress the shirk that was taking over his mouth, "don't fret, Young Master Nara is not bonded to any woman in any way."
She raised a brow, "I'm not fretting, I'm just…" she paused, "shocked at the thought that someone as young as me would have a spouse."
He grinned and decided not to argue, "yes, I guess you're right miss," he went in and pulled out a dress from the rack, "this?"
Temari shook her head, "have you ever seen me wear a dress before?"
He shrugged and pulled out a denim skirt, "and I suppose this is what you were looking for?"
She smiled, "plus tights."
On the wall hung a calendar. Today's date was circled with prominent red marker with Sai's handwriting next to it: rescheduled ART EXHIBITION TODAY. Sasuke sighed, maybe Sai might meet Ino there, and maybe she'll explain everything to him then. If he went.
Shino came in "it's going to rain, I suggest we get going before we get caught in a jam."
"What about Sai?" he muttered, "what if he gets caught in the rain and can never make it on time for the exhibition?"
Shino came next to Sasuke and held out Sasuke's raincoat to him, "I don't think he's planning to come."
Sasuke played with the fabric of his warm polyester raincoat, "he would love art more than any girl, if he could feel."
"Damn it," Sakura, Ino, Tenten and Hinata stepped into the jeep, "it's raining."
"Did you bring the umbrellas Hinata?" Ino asked, "I wouldn't want to get soaked."
Hinata nodded, "let's go, I wouldn't want to be caught in a traffic congestion and be late."
Sakura drove out of the drive way and headed for school. Listening to Leslie Mill's Radiowave.
"Oh Gosh," Ino squealed, "I LOVE this song."
Tenten laughed, "you love everything."
They stopped at the red light. A black car stopped next to them. It wasn't a routine, but strangely, there was this pulling sensation, they had to look at the driver. His radiating cool waves that were just too irresistible.
"Sai!" Ino screamed at the paled skin boy in the convertible, "oh gosh, it's you. You came back! Sasuke told me you ran away."
He didn't turn to look at her. He stared straight into the road, undeterred by anything. They looked at him and his ignorance. Seconds later, his hands rushed into his school bag which he had on the passenger seat to pulled out a sketch book and a pencil.
"Sai?" Ino called again, before watching him disappear behind them as the traffic light turned green.
He still didn't move his car.
"It's the fucking green light damn it," Tenten screamed, "what the hell is he thinking?"
There was a spot on the windshield. Sakura squinted and before she knew it, there were spots everywhere, all over the windshield, increasing in number.
"Fuck," Sakura muttered, "now it's raining. Perfect timing, just perfect. We're like so far from school damn it. This is about to the worst day, I swear."
"It's about to get worse for you Sakura," Sai muttered, as he stared at the picture he just drew, the vision.
Rainwater was slowly smudging his picture, but he could still tell what it was and he knew it wasn't going to be good. The car behind him honked, he looked back at the driver and smiled. It was Sasuke, the person he just wanted to see.
"I didn't know Shikamaru's mom owned a mini skirt," Chouji commented in the limo, "I didn't know that Shikamaru's mom was slim… I didn't-"
"Yes Chouji, we get it," Shikamaru interrupted him, "you don't know anything."
Chouji smirked, "but I do know one thing," he laughed, very hysterically, "one very cute little thing."
"And what is that?" Temari asked.
"I know that-"
"Yes, you know that," Shikamaru tried to cut Chouji off before he could finish his sentence, "I know what you know and what I know that you know will only be something that me, you and Temari knows. Get it?"
The Butler had opened the car door and he had an umbrella with him to shelter to three of them to the school doors. The got out and hid under the shelter of the huge umbrella.
"No," Temari glared at Shikamaru, "I don't get it."
"I mean I was tired and sleepy and I didn't know what I was saying or doing," Shikamaru said, trying his earnest to hint to her without making the atmosphere around them so awkward, "you know what I mean?"
She nodded, "oh, that," she switched her glare over to Chouji, "yeah, you better not tell."
They were walking to the overly and unusually crowded doors of the school. They had to scrutinize those people under those little black umbrellas just trying desperately to get into the school compounds. There were cameras and lots and lots of talking, there were also vans, those types they use to carry equipment when filming a movie. Those people were the press.
The students were all standing outside, under the rain, waiting for those reporters of move away so they can enter the warm confinements of the school.
"What in the world," Chouji muttered under his breath.
Someone must have turned and saw Shikamaru, cause before they knew it, the herd of reporters making a dash for them. They took a step back, hoping in some weird way their feet would just make a dash like them too.
The first reporter that had magically fast feet came up to them with her mike, "what do you say about the murder of your school mate Shiho?"
They looked at each other, stunned.
"What did you say?" Temari repeated, "she was… murdered?"
"Murdered," Anko tossed the newspaper on to the table, "yesterday. After she went back."
They looked up at her.
"From a friend's house," Anko muttered, eyeing them.
"We-"
"Temari!" Sakura budged into the room with the other three girls, "how was your night?"
She walked over to them with the newspaper and handed it to them, "do you know about this?"
She took it and read the headlines, her eyes widened at the words she had took in, "no. She was killed, in a coffin, with nails embedded in her body, a black- oh my god- cat was-"
"Wait," Temari stopped Sakura, "where was she killed again?
"In a cemetery."
"No, as in where did she die?" Temari asked again, "you said coffin?"
Sakura nodded.
She sat down on the nearest seat and rubbed her temples, sighing endlessly.
"What?" Tenten asked, "we had it with silent people. Just met one on the road. Gosh, those people think their so cool."
"Tamanaki sen pai died just like the Black Dahlia, except, it was revamped, much more, gory and sadistic," Temari explained, "haven't anyone noticed how someone in the history of myth and legends and shits died the same way as Shiho, except, less painful?"
"Who?" Chouji asked.
"Bloody Mary," Temari stated as a matter of factly, "she was in a coma, she woke up and found herself lying in a damned coffin, she tried to get out, but she couldn't, she was underground. The next morning, her father came and dug her out, but she was already dead."
Everyone that was listening nodded.
"Are you saying these cases are connected?" Ino asked.
Temari nodded, "that's the way it seems to me, The Black Dahlia, Bloody Mary, these are few of the most unforgettable murders that went down history. They are the inspiration for many horror flicks. In the Black Dahlia Movie, the killer is someone just brimming with sadistic pleasure, that person killed the Black Dahlia because he wanted to, because he was obsessed with her. In the history of Bloody Mary, her killer is her dad, he was a doctor and he killed her because he was the one who pronounced her dead- when the actual fact is, she isn't.
"The killer behind all this mess is someone who is a fucked up sadist, someone who is has an obsession, like the murderer of the Black Dahlia- but he is not obsessed with these girls, not it's quite the contrary, he is obsessed with killing.
"And not only that, this person is someone that know us, that knows who he is killing, this person is someone close. Compare it with Mary's murderer- her dad, he was someone close to her."
Sakura nodded, everyone, Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino and Tenten agreed with Temari's statement. She was right, it did make sense.
"Then this makes everyone in the school a culprit," Tenten said, "how would it be narrowed down?"
Shikamaru had a light bulb over his head, "the two killings, both victims are drained off their blood, mutilated like their someone's study of the human anatomy. This person who did all this is someone who is well versed in the human anatomy, the insides and the outsides, that's why this person can drain the blood off like a real doctor, dissect the body like it were a science experiment. If I'm not wrong, this murderer should be a student that majors in Biology."
"But what if this person isn't killing for the obsession of it," Sakura asked, "haven't you realized that this person has only been tackling girls?"
"Maybe boy's are too hard to handle?" Tenten said.
"I don't think that is the case, killing a boy would be as simple as killing a girl, you just need to catch them off guard," Sakura claimed, "what if this person really did want to examine the human body? What if this was for hands on experience? Think about it. This person could very well be a boy or a girl, by judging by the victims this person chose, it should be a boy, because if you wanted to study the human body in dept, you only can study your own gender, cause you have the body for it. But how do you study the opposite gender?"
The door to the opened, Kakashi walked in and demanded everyone take their place. Behind him were the two of the four brothers, Sasuke and Neji. The gang broke up their discussion and went to the seats to settle down. Kakashi stood there at the front of the class, behind his desk, crossing his hands. They were waiting for him to say something, they knew something wasn't right, Kakashi normally gave them free period during homeroom, but today was different, Kakashi had something to say.
"The recent killings," Kakashi started, "has alarmed the school greatly on the safety of the students. We realized that keeping you in the confinements of your homes isn't safe enough, that's why we decided to carry on with school as per normal. However, the school warns that idolism and fan girlism shouldn't be taken too far, we must reinforce that there is a limit to all this. Understand?"
"Understood," everyone moaned at his nagging.
He ran his hand through his hair, "no going out alone, be in groups, not twos, but groups, a pack. I don't want you to get hurt."
"You mean 'us'," Sakura corrected, "you is singular and…"
"Ok Sakura," Kakashi sighed, "I get it," he looked around, "where's Hinata and Sai?"
Everyone looked at the bot of their seats, true enough, there was no one there to occupy them.
"Art exhibition," Neji said, "Sai wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Yes," Fumiko said to the phone, "yes, it's with my junior, Sakura. I'll get her to pass it to you. The Art room? Ok. Yes, the one back stage, I know."
She put down the phone and briskly walked towards Sakura's class. She knocked onto the door before entering.
"Good morning Kakashi sensei," she greeted, "I need Sakura to run and errand for me. I'm busy and she's the only one I have who can do it for me."
Kakashi nodded, "Sakura, you may go."
Sakura rammaged through her bag and took out a red bag Fumiko handed to her yesterday.
"Sakura," Fumiko said once they were out of the class, "I need you to run over to the Art Room and hand it to Deidara. Do you know who he is?"
Sakura nodded, "but which Art Room?"
Fumiko started walking away, she was needed urgently, "the one back stage," she shouted to Sakura before running off.
"Eh Sasuke."
He shifted in his seat, he remembered Sai telling him about something today morning.
"Where is Neji and Shino?"
"They're going to be late," he shrugged, "you know them. Where have you been?"
Sai looked down, "contemplating life," he shook his head, "I need you tell you something that I saw."
"Visually or," he lowered his voice, "visionly?"
Sai rolled his eyes, "visionly. It's about Sakura. Keep an eye on her, I'm telling you to do it because you can, I'd be away, at the exhibition, so it's up to you. To save her."
She wasn't very familiar with the backstage, she had never been backstage before. But from the school directory, she could tell that the art room was near by.
There was the door to backstage, it spooked her in a way, like it was some eerie mystery flick. She shook off the thought.
"Don't scare yourself," she thought, "there are people backstage, you know, like Deidara sen- pai."
She pushed the rusty door knob open and entered backstage. There was a long elongated hallway and from the looks of it, the art room was at the end to the left. Sakura couldn't see it but the school directory said it would be there.
She started to walk down the dark, empty hallway, looking at the drama club's props being stashed aside all over the place.
"I don't know where she was, but I know it was dark. Very dark," Sai told Sasuke, "and long, there was a long walkway, like those runways models strut on, except, this is spookier."
"Kakashi sen- sei," he raised his hand, "I just remembered that Sai needs something that I have in possession, can I pass it to him? It's for the exhibition."
There was a fake tree with real leaves, dried up leaves, those that you collect when they fall. Next to it was a black and gold screen on rollers with an oriental Chinese pattern.
Sakura walked further and almost scared herself when she passed a mirror. She stumbled back and caught herself before falling. It was a nice mirror. Elongated and oval shaped. She touched the framework. It was dusty, like no one had touched it for a very long time.
He turned around the corner, not know where he was supposed to be heading to.
"Remember that mirror he saw in this movie?"
"What mirror? There are lots of movies with mirrors."
"The Ring. The one with Somora, or Sonora, I don't know what the hell is her name."
"There was a mirror in that movie? I thought she came out from a well?"
"No, no, listen, remember the tape that circulated? There was this short clip inside with her mom looking into this mirror and combing her long hair?"
"Oh yes the one with the nice framework."
He knew where she was.
Seconds ago he saw a girly walk past his class, alone. He don't know why, but something started to boil in him. Something very tempting.
He clenched his fist, trying to discipline himself, but he forgot he had a knife in his hands and so it went right through his flesh.
"You're bleeding," Shino pointed out, "becareful you might get that wound infected."
He shook his head, not looking at Shino, "no it won't, when the platelets know that there's a damaged tissue, they produce an enzyme called Thrombokinase. These Thrombokinase would convert Prothrombin- an inactive enzyme- into Thrombin, another enzyme. These Thrombin would in turn convert Fibrinogen into Insoluble Fibrin Threads to entangle blood corpuscles and the whole mass forms a blood clot. Prevents foreign particles from entering my bloodstream. No infection then."
Shino nodded, he hadn't taken in everything that he had said, "yes… just say there would be a blood clot next time."
"I'll be going to the toilet," he muttered under his breath, casually sliding the knife into his pocket, hoping Shino wouldn't notice.
"You can leave the knife here."
He smiled, "nah, I have to wash it either way, so I might as well bring it with me, carry on with the experiment."
He left.
To chase after that girly with the pink hair.
"Ok," Sasuke laughed, "so you saw Sakura in a dark place with a mirror and that's supposed to mean?"
Sai sighed, "I'm not done telling you. Behind Sakura, the mirror reflected someone, with spiky hair, you know like yours… maybe it's you I don't know."
"Maybe it's not."
There was creaking sound.
Sakura spun around to see what it was, or rather, who. She noticed that the door was left ajar.
"I thought I closed the door?" she thought, before turning back to complete her errand, "I'll just get this done and over-"
Someone grabbed her hands from the back and covered her mouth with a handkerchief. She tried to fight back, but she couldn't, she was feeling sleepy and weak.
Sakura tried to fight despite her fatigue, she knew this was intentional, this person had some powder on the handkerchief to make her drowsy- she wasn't going to let him get away with this.
"Mmmmmhh," she tried to scream, but her voice was muffled, "mmmmhh!"
"What's that sweetie?" the person whispered into her ear, "you want me to let you go?" he paused and laughed quietly.
Her movements slowed down and she could fight back any longer. Her vision was blurry and the spooky walkway was moving, here and there. She couldn't control her mind, it felt like she had just spun around endlessly couldn't stop to save herself. Her mind was in a whirl. She felt giddy. And tired. Sakura could feel her lids giving way, that can't happen, but it did and before she passed out, the man told her one last thing.
"Funny how life imitates art," he said, "Milla and Shiho wanted me to let them go too."
"So you're the killer," she muttered, before completely losing her conscious.
"Sakura?" a voice trailed in from outside, "Sakura?"
He looked at the girl in his arms and the door. The guy was going to come through that door any moment and if he doesn't leave her here, he might get caught.
"Fuck this," he dropped Sakura on the floor and headed for the exit at the other end.
"Sakura?" he entered just to find someone disappear around the corner at the other end of the walkway, "HEY YOU! STOP!"
Sasuke started running for the guy, chasing him, but he stopped when he saw Sakura in a distance, lying unconscious on the floor. He decided to end his pursue and help Sakura up.
"Sakura," he knelt down beside her, "Sakura, are you ok?"
She didn't respond. He poked her face.
"Hello, Sakura, earth to Sakura," he waved his hand in front of her face, "are you joking or are you really dead?"
No response.
He patted her face, "hey Sakura, hey, wake the fuck up!"
She didn't budge. He lifted her up with all his strength and carried her in his arms. Sakura was heavier than she looks.
"I'll get you to the infirmary," he murmured, brushing her hair out of her face, "just wake up."
"… and when you add Sodium Hydroxide to Ammonium, there will no one precipitate formed, but on heating, ammonia gas is given off," he noticed one of his students was drifting from the lesson, "Yui, how do you test for Ammonia?"
Yui opened her half closed eyes and looked at the board, "erm… I… Ammonia turns moist red litmus to…" she was having double vision, she could be tired, "to…"
"To?" the teacher probed, "to what?"
"To…," her mind was hurting, like she had a clog in her artery that prevents her from thinking, "to…" she looked around but all she was a slow moving picture, blurry and slowly fading.
"Are you ok Yui?" the teacher was walking towards her.
She looked at Itachi who was next to her.
"Yui," his mouth seemed to say, she couldn't hear anything.
"Itachi…"
"Bring her to the infirmary," the teacher commanded Itachi, "she's passed out, something's wrong with her."
"Nurse," he barged into the infirmary, "please help h-," he paused to take in what he saw, "Sasuke?"
Sasuke looked up, "Itachi?"
"You have to protect Mitarashi Anko no matter what Kakashi," his boss screamed through the phone, "I heard that she slept over at your place last night or the night before, or… you know what I mean, she came to your place."
"Yes," Kakashi muttered.
There was grunting, "then did you grab the opportunity? To collect her blood sample? Her hair sample? Her bone sample?"
His eyes widened, "bone sample? What do you mean? That wasn't in the requirement!"
"It is now," his boss said, "go get it and get it quick, the scientists are fuming their complaining that they have to wait for you a little too long. Step on it Kakashi."
"Yes, sir," Kakashi said, "bye."
"Before that," the boss stopped Kakashi from hanging, "do you still remember what I told you? Remember what happened to her in the last mission you were assigned to, we don't want the same fate for Anko do we? This is the last chance to prove yourself again Kakashi, remember that all the time."
He hung up.
Kakashi laid back in his office chair and sighed. There were no other teachers in the staffroom, he was the only living thing there, besides the plants. He took his mug from the table, intending to have a sip of coffee.
"Now how the hell am I suppose to get a freaking bone sample," he thought to himself.
His mug was unusually light, he looked in it. It was empty. Strange, he had just filled it up.
"Unless," he thought and turned his chair around to face the cross hand Mitarashi Anko.
"I skipped Math," she said, "good thing you have coffee, I was getting tired."
Kakashi smiled, "but you had a full nights sl-"
"No," she interrupted him and glared at him with her piercing brown eyes, "I was fully awake last night Kakashi, I knew what you did."
He slapped his forehead, "no Anko, it is not-"
"Kage No Bu Jutsu Project," Anko interrupted him again, "you guys really want to clone me, don't you? Earlier on, that was just a deadly accurate hypothesis. Hah, I hit it, spot on."
Kakashi opened his mouth to protest, but he couldn't, he knew that she could see through his lies. Women are like man made lie detectors.
"Yes," he admitted, "but it wasn't my idea it was the boss's to create droids of the perfect human."
She nodded, sitting down on the couch in the teacher's lounge, facing him, "so I'm the perfect human? Intelligence, bad past, no family, no life. Just perfect."
He stood up and started walking towards her, he felt as though he was all part of this sick plan and that she was disgusted. With him. He felt so horrid, like it was all his fault for her misery, her pain, though she does seem like it, he knew she was hurting inside.
"I hate spies," she muttered, when he sat next to her, "every single one of them, idiots, they took me away from my parents, they killed my foster family, they made me feel so bad. So bad," she looked up at him, "but really, what the heck, if all you guys want is to have my blood, my hair, my bone, I'll give it to you. Cause you took away almost everything I used to own. All that's left is my face, my existence and really, I don't care about it anymore. I have nothing to live for. Everyone gives me pity, everyone forgets about me, good cause I don't need pity or any remembrance of sorts. Really Mitarashi Anko's life equates to worthless."
"Anko," Kakashi muttered, reaching out to touch her, "it's not like that, I… I have to do this. You see my father he's…"
Anko stood up before he could touch her, "I know about your father, I know more than you do. That fucking boss of yours told you that your father is exiled but he won't tell you where. Truth is, Kakashi, your father is not here anymore. Not here, not anywhere, not on this earth. He's dead."
"I don't get you Anko," he said, "are you saying that my father died?"
She shook her head, "more like killed. By who? Ask your boss, he must know."
Kakashi bit his lips, he has two problems on his hands. One was that his father is actually dead and he is binded by a bond that wouldn't bring his father back. The other, Anko hates him- and that was a bad thought, a bad fact, a death stricken feeling.
"I know it's not your fault Kakashi, but I still hate you like how I hate spies," she said opening the door and tossing him a tiny ziplock.
He looked at the ziplock, there were fingernails inside. Anko's fingernails. Anko's bones.
"Why?" he looked up at her solemn face, "why do you hate me?"
She took a deep breath, "I hate you, Kakashi," she paused, "because I love you."
She left and the door closed gently behind her.
Kakashi was enraged, not because he found out that Anko loved him, because he was angry at his fucking boss. He stomped over to his table and picked up the phone to ring his boss.
"Hello?" he heard his bosses voice, "Kakashi? What is it?"
"YOU FUCKER!" he screamed at his boss, banging his fist onto the table, his mug fell off and shattered to pieces on the floor, "YOU BLOODY ASSHOLE, BASTARD! WHY? WHY?" he asked in desperation, "why did you do this to me?"
His little tears soaked into the fabric of his mask.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me about my father?" he asked, trying to suppress most of his tears, "why didn't you tell me that before?"
"Kakashi," he asked, calmly, "who told you this?"
He clenched onto the telephone, "WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I TELL YOU?"
"Because I'm your boss."
"No," Kakashi muttered, "you're not my boss, there is no bond, there is no deal, you would never get her DNA, you will never touch her, you will never create another her, fuck off."
"You're not my only agent," the boss said, "I can send other agents in your place to complete your mission."
Kakashi's breath was heavy. He was right, he had reinforcements, and he might send someone to hurt Anko again, like how he had successfully done.
"ANKO," he dropped the phone and ran after her, "ANKO!"
"I can't wait until the exhibition," Ino squealed, "oh god, Sai!"
"Calm down," Temari slammed Ino's table, "you've been talking about him non stop all day long, it's getting my nerves."
"And mine too," Kiba said, "you're more annoying than Lee on a 'youthful' day."
"What did you say?" Naruto snapped, "Inuzuka Kiba!"
Kiba smirked, "turn back, Hinata is trying to teach you SIMPLE algebra."
Naruto obeyed and shifted his attention back to Hinata, "yes, you were saying about factorization. What about that?"
She smiled at him, "yes, factorization. Well this is an example…"
She was talking but he wasn't listening. That smile she had given to him was charming. It made him weak and chilly inside. It was like ice skating in summer, so breezy yet so warm. Why was it giving him that cool feeling? Maybe it was her eyes, the ones that looked like Neji's, the pale lilac colored one, almost white. Like winter, like ice. And her skin, was as fair as snow. That's why it was cooling.
"Get it?" she looked at him, "cross multiplication is the key."
"What? I thought you were talking about factorization? When did cross multiplication come in?" Naruto asked.
Hinata raised a brow, "weren't you listening? What were you doing the whole time I was explaining?"
Naruto bit his lips, "er… Neji was distracting me."
Neji tuned to look at Naruto when he heard his name, "what did you say numbskull? I was distracting you? Well sorry for being so attractive to you."
Naruto turned red, "no, I'm not attracted to you, I'm totally not gay! Let me get this right, I like girls, I'm totally straight, as straight as a pole as straight as a quadratic equation!" he smiled at his so- called intelligence.
Kurenai slammed her fist on the table, "a quadratic equation gives you a curved graph, Uzumaki."
Neji smirked, "so you're not so straight after all."
Naruto wanted to protest, but Kurenai stopped him, "get back to peer tutoring. All of you."
Naruto sat down, frowning at his defeat.
"Now before we were interrupted," Neji turned back to Tenten, "coordinate geometry. Err… yes graphs. When 'ax' has a power of negative 2, the graph would look like this…"
He drew the graph on his sketch pad, "here."
Tenten was silent, staring hard at the graph.
"Tenten," he shooked her.
She looked at him with one eyebrow raised, "is this why you're so good at math?"
Neji shook his head, "I don't get you."
Tenten pointed to the graph Neji drew, "this graph looks like ovaries."
"What the f-" Neji said, "whatever, so if you see… see… ovaries, you would know that this is the graph when ax is powered to negative 2. Get it?"
She nodded, "mathematicians are perverts."
Neji shot a glance at her direction, "what? Perverts? You're the pervert Miss Ten, I have never, in my whole life thought that this graph looks like freaking girl's ovaries. And now that you said it, every time I see this graph the first thing I think about is ovaries."
"Now you'll pass biology too," Tenten smiled, trying to brighten up the situation, "isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"
Neji felt like strangling her. She was definitely a curse the demons had sent to him. Invading his life with 10s and corrupting his dear mind.
"I feel like I'm sitting next to a boy," Neji muttered, "you sure act like one."
Tenten snorted, "well I feel like I'm sitting next to a girl, you and your long, black hair. I mean which boy learns first aid?"
"Which girl plays football?"
"About every single one of them," Tenten fought back.
Neji looked around the class, "honestly, I can't see Ino roughing through terrains. Her nails might break she may have split ends. I don't think every girl plays football. And you better be thankful that there are people out there who are willing to learn first aid. When you footballers get injured, you're helpless. You still seem like a boy either way."
Tenten's eyebrows twitched, "and you don't feel obliged to kiss a 'boy'?"
Neji's mouth just fell open. He had wished to never be reminded of that incident; it was embarrassing and uncalled for. He looked away and scowled, he had to or else he might blush out of mortification. His mind was scavenging for something witty and quick to reply her, but it all seemed to have frozen solid. People were talking endlessly, they're words filled his mind and screwed the whole think process even more. Hinata and Naruto were having an easy time, smiling and giggling, as if they wanted to remind him of the magnitude of his embarrassment. He looked in another direction. Well Kiba and Kankuro were sure jolly. They seem to click very well, probably because they were the weirdest dressers in the class and because they both have tattoos that decorated their face- not so nicely.
"Evil happy people," he muttered, "tormenting me eh?"
He diverted his attention to Lee the lone soul. Sitting at the corner of the class, with no partner. No partner.
"Where is Sasuke?"
Itachi had laid Yui on the bed in the infirmary, next to Sakura's bed.
"Sasuke," Itachi called, breaking the almost unbearable silence, "erm… has anyone told you that you looked alot like me?"
Sasuke looked at Itachi's expression, he couldn't tell if Itachi wanted Sasuke to look like him or not, "yes. Many times."
Itachi nodded and glanced at Yui. Sasuke watched him.
"What happened to her?" Sasuke asked to cover up the silence.
Itachi jerked, "oh, she fainted during the lesson," he looked at the time, "where the hell is the nurse?"
Sasuke shrugged, "I'm waiting too."
Itachi eyed Sakura, "what about her? She fainted too?"
Sasuke sighed and looked at Sakura, "I really don't know, I just found her there, lying on the ground, unconscious. I think… think, well someone did this to her."
Itachi leaned in closer, as if asking for more.
"Well when I found her, there was someone else there, around us, but I don't know who," Sasuke said, trying to recreate the scene, "you see, it was backstage and it was dark, I couldn't make out the figure. But that person was running away, running away from me. He obviously knew that Sakura was there, she couldn't have been following him, she was supposed to run an errand for Fumiko sen- pai."
Itachi gave Sasuke a serious look, "and why were you there?"
Sasuke's eyes widened, he was shocked, caught unprepared, he had never thought of a rational reason for him to be there, "because I was worried."
"About?"
"Her," he said, partially telling the truth, "there's a killer on the loose, in our school and… I don't want Sakura to suffer the same fate as…"
Itachi nodded, "Milla."
He knew Milla was Itachi friend and Yui's too, they must've been devastated about the death, "I'm sorry."
"Not your fault," he pointed to Sakura, "you better watch her."
Sasuke saw that Sakura was perspiring cold sweat, unconsciously.
Sasuke went over to her side, "Sakura, eh, Sakura," he tore off a piece of tissue from it's box and wiped her sweat away, "Sakura, what the fuck is happening to you. Eh, I'm not trained to held these situations like you are," he turned to Itachi, "what do I do?"
Itachi shook his head, "I don't know what to do, I don't think it's that big of a deal anyway."
Sasuke glared at him, "Sakura saved my life once, she saved me because you almost killed me. Now, I think it's only right if I save her from that damn sicko going around killing little girlies, I don't want that to happen to her."
"Have you ever asked yourself, why?"
Sasuke looked away, "I try to ignore that."
"Tell me Sasuke," Itachi asked, "are you adopted?"
"Yes," Sasuke muttered, "someone told you that?"
"No," Itachi said, "I lost my brother 15 years ago."
He felt something thick and viscous slide down his arm. It was blood.
"Sakura," he sat her up, "Sakura," he ran out of the room and saw the nurse making her way over, "nurse you got to help her something is fucking wrong!"
He found her, squatting in a corner near the school's archery field, with her bow and arrows next to her.
He sat down next to her, "you ran away really quickly."
"You were just too slow," she muttered, giving him hardly enough attention.
He scoffed, "really? I-"
"They're after me now, aren't they?" she asked, "I better save myself."
She reached for her bow, but her hand met his. She looked up at him. He had a very soft face on, like he was apologetic. She didn't like that.
"They're after me too," Kakashi said, "I called him and what you said was true, that my dad, he… he has died."
"You mean murdered," Anko corrected.
Kakashi bit his lips, "yes, umm… murdered. So now, I refuse to work for them and well, let's just say I owe you one."
She shook his hand off and stood up with her bow, before picking her arrows, she looked down at him and frowned, "you don't owe me anything, you gave me quite a lot."
"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked, since it was so damn obvious she wasn't coming back to school anymore, "hey."
Anko stopped on her tracks and turned to face Kakashi, "I have something to check up on."
Kakashi walked up to her, "but they'll get you."
Anko shook her head, "not when I'm in Suna."
Sakura took a sip of water the nurse had handed to her. She got up from the bed and rest against the headboard.
Sasuke waited for her finish that glass of water before asking her about the incident.
"Eh," he said, as the nurse turned to attend to Yui, "what happened?"
Sakura looked at him, "I really thank you. Alot. Thank you. I think you might have saved me from that… that killer. But," she frowned, "how did you know where I was?"
He smiled, he had thought of a perfect excuse while the nurse was trying to awake her, "I followed you. Kakashi sen- sei told me to, remember, he said we can't go around school alone? That's how I found you, unconscious, backstage," he leaned in closer towards her, "do you know who he is? Name? Class? Description?"
Sakura closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her locks, "it was so dark, I couldn't see his face, but I knew he had seen me walk by and followed me, I thought it was nothing. He told me that he was the one who killed Milla sen- pai and Shiho. When he spoke, his voice was rough and deep and I know he's quite huge."
They were distracted by the nurse gasping.
"Take her to the hospital," she told Itachi, "I think there's something wrong with her."
"Yui sen- pai?" Sakura called, but Yui didn't respond, she was still unconscious, "Itachi, was she-"
"No," Itachi cut her off, "she fainted during class," he looked at his watch, "the art exhibition started, you guys should go see it since Sakura looks pretty fine, Deidara would like your support."
The freshmen were given this time allocation to view the art exhibits in the school's gallery. It was important that every student gets a chance to appreciate the arts.
They went in classes, their class was second in line, and when it came to their turn, they entered the art gallery only to be welcomed by a blood splattered painting. Most of them were disgusted, it was so obviously blood, not red paint, and it covered parts of the painting. But when they actually took a closer look, it was a spellbinding, romantic and melancholy piece of work.
"Hi," Hinata appeared, "we're your guide around the gallery today," she beckoned to her partner, Sai.
Tenten covered Ino mouth to prevent her from screaming out Sai's name in the heat of the moment, it would be too embarrassing for him- apparently not. Sai smiled and quite obviously waved to Ino in front o f the whole class.
"Well, this is the center piece for today's art exhibition," he pointed to the blood splattered painting, "this is drawn by Deidara sen- pai for the pass Milla sen- pai."
He was so nonchalant, like it was nothing that Tamanaki Milla had died so gruesomely.
"Initially," Hinata said, "the painting was of a girl in the clouds playing a white grand piano," she pointed to the different parts of the picture to get more clarity, "however, coincidentally, this picture was there when… the… incident took place and so, the blood shed was splattered quite naturally and evenly throughout the painting. What used to be a light hearted, beautiful piece has turned into a depressing, melancholy one."
They moved on to the next art piece and just when Hinata was about to explain what it is all about, the guide from the early group came up to Sai and whispered something into his ear. He bore a neutral expression, while Hinata, who was listening, was soaked in horror.
"Another one?" Hinata whispered to the guide, "but Deidara sen-pai's is the only one…"
"You should come have a look," the guide muttered, "it's nothing to do with the theme, I can't think of anyone who drew this."
Sai hesitated, but he went anyway. Hinata followed and so did the rest of the class. They walked a few pictures ahead before reaching a picture at a corner surrounded by students from the earlier class, pointing and chatting and taking pictures.
"Make way," the guide pushed through the crowd with Sai and Hinata behind him, "this is it."
Sai and Hinata were greeted by the darkest picture in the gallery- splashed with blood of every shade. Their class too made their way to the front to get a clearer picture of the painting.
"Oh my fuck," Kiba muttered, "what the hell…"
Sai went closer to the picture and examined a corner of it, "yes," he said after a moment, "it's blood. Who drew this thing?"
Everyone was staring at a black and red picture of a man with a wide grin stretching from mouth to mouth, holding a chainsaw on his hands, driving it through a person that wasn't in the picture.
"Hey isn't that the Joker?" Kankuro said, "from Batman? Cool!"
After Kankuro had mentioned it, the people around started agreeing so. The man in the picture did look like the Joker from Batman, except this guy was much more… intimidating and blood thirsty.
Tenten noticed that Temari was deep in thought, she was looking at her fingers and busy twisting them around, like there was something that needed recalling. The three of them were at the back of the crowd, it was too congested for them to squeeze through.
When the three of them saw the picture, their reactions were rather so quite different. Ino, for starters, was really horrified, so much so she almost vomited out of disgust. Tenten had to hold on to her just in case Ino fainted. Tenten she just looked at it like it was something ordinary work of art, not amused and undeterred by it's gory vide. Temari, on the other hand, felt that the face was awfully familiar, like she had seen it before, but she doesn't know where.
"Have you seen that face before?" Tenten asked, seeing Temari wreaking her brain, "is it that familiar?"
She nodded, "I've seen it before and NOT in Batman."
The image flashed in her mind. A colored picture of the same man, hung on to the wall of a very grand house.
"Ok," Temari said, "all I know is that the movie this face so happens to be in stars Hilary Swank. She was in the scene the face appeared in."
"Well Hilary Swank acted in The Reaping," Tenten offered, "P.S I Love You, Freedom Writers… That's it I guess."
Temari gave her a face, "that's it?" she repeated, "that's it? Gosh, how many movies have you watched?"
"Lesser than what you have."
"She acted in the 1994, The Next Karate Kid, 1999, Boys Don't Cry, 2000, The Gift, 2001, The Affair of the Necklace, 2002, Insomnia, 2003, 11:14 and The Core, 2004, Red Dust, 2006," she looked at Tenten like she had finally found her answer, "The Black Dahlia."
Tenten nodded her head, shocked, "and she does it chronologically."
"You're starting to scare me," Ino said, "movie maniac."
Temari ignored her, "look at that insignia on his collar," she pointed to the picture, "what does it look like?"
"It's circular with a 't' in the middle," Tenten described what she saw, "a target point?"
Temari nodded, "the picture never did have a target point on the guy's collar," she said, "it's from another movie, based on a true crime, Zodiac," another thing caught her eyes, "a chainsaw, as in Texas Chainsaw Massacre? That was inspired by Ed Gein. And the mirror, behind him, that's Bloody Mary."
"Yes," Ino said, "the legend thingy, er… if you kind of spin around this mirror three times saying 'Bloody Mary' she'll come after you. So this means that…"
They waited for her to say something.
"… I don't know what this means," Ino laughed, "but so far no one has been killed using the Zodiac and the Ed Gein style."
"True," Temari agreed, "but the Zodiac, he shoots people dead, there isn't any style in that. But Ed Gein he… does bad things. The next target would probably be skinned alive, like how most of his victims are."
Ino covered her mouth, "what? Oh My…" she caught sight of Sasuke and Sakura coming towards the crowd, "Sakura! What took you so long?"
"Someone… I mean the killer almost got her," Sasuke lowered his voice.
"But Sasuke was there and…" Sakura was cut off as Ino pounced on her and hugged her, "Ino?"
"Oh thank god Sasuke was there," Ino tried not to cry, she couldn't stand the thought of Sakura being skinned alive, "something bad might have happened."
Sakura pushed her away, "something bad? As in?"
The three girls hesitated.
"I think the killer wanted to skin his next victim," Temari muttered, beckoning to the painting.
Sasuke went over to Sai, who was at the front.
"No wonder all the victims blood has been drained off," Sai told Sasuke, "he wanted to paint a picture."
"Why Suna?" Kakashi asked when they were on board the train to Suna.
After leaving school, the two of them hurried over to Kakashi's house to pack up some things, he knew that the next time he came back, they'd all be in ashes.
Anko laid her head on his shoulder and he stroked her deep purple hair.
"I need to confirm my suspicions," Anko muttered, closing her eyes.
"Suspicions?" he repeated, "what suspicions?"
Anko sighed, "remember there was a war 15 or 16 years ago? Well, Suna was part of the war and there were fighting most of it. Back then, the Kazekage had a baby daughter, he wanted to protect her so he sent for someone to securely bring her to Konoha to ensure her safety. This person was assassinated in Konoha."
"Yes," Kakashi said, "I remember but what are you going to do about it?"
Anko looked at Kakashi's face even if it was behind a mask, "what happened to the baby?"
Kakashi kept silent.
Anko smiled, "I think I know who she is, but… I need to confirm it."
Kakashi shifted in his seat, "how do you know?"
"Well," Anko explained, "the Kazekage did have two children after the war ended, didn't he? And even though he spent his remaining years looking for his baby girl, he couldn't find her, cause the only person who knows where she is-"
"Was assassinated," Kakashi completed, "we know that the Kazekage was close to find the whereabouts of his daughter, but he was too assassinated."
"So both of his sons decided to carry on with the project and find their sister," Kakashi said.
Anko grinned, "and who do we know comes from Suna?"
Kakashi's mouth fell open, "Gaara and Kankuro. They're here to find they're sister."
A/N: Done for this chapter. Sorry it took a long time, my exams just ended. Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this.
Review!