Red Moon Assassin
By: Gardie
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and related things. I just enjoy it and write fan fiction.
AN: iluvanime493: Here's the next chapter. Hopefully it will start getting more interesting. I haven't been
really getting into the story.
Does anyone reading this like Orochimaru? I think he's cool but aside from Kimi and me nobody
seems to like him.
Chapter 5Shikamaru's farm was made up of a few buildings arranged in a ring around an open space and the fields beyond. There was a barn and stable, Shikamaru's house and a few other houses for his workers.
"Let's go and find Shikamaru," said Kimi, "You carry Sakura."
Gaara climbed off the cart and as he walked past Sakura sand poured out of his gourd and carefully lifted her. They walked to the front door of Shikamaru's house, the only one with a light on, and knocked three times.
"How troublesome," came a voice from inside.
The door opened to reveal Shikamaru, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
"Couldn't you have gotten here earlier?" moaned Shika.
"How did you know we were coming?" asked Kimi.
"Itachi and I have a special message system. I think it's because whenever he wants to hide someone he likes to burden me with them."
"Can we come in?" asked Gaara, "It's cold now."
"Sure, sure. Come in."
Kimi and Gaara followed Shika into the house and he led them into the lounge.
"Do you want to put her down?" asked Shika, "You're going to have to spend the night here. Everyone else is sleeping and it's too troublesome to wake them up to let you into one of the other houses."
"Rather early for sleep isn't it?" asked Gaara.
"They work hard here," answered Shikamaru, "They need their rest"
"Don't worry about him," said Kimi, "Gaara never sleeps."
"Not true," protested Gaara.
"Five-minute naps once a week don't count as sleep."
"Do."
Gaara gently laid Sakura on the couch before sitting in a chair and staring out a window.
"I'll just leave you people here," stated Shika, "have a good sleep."
Kimi mumbled a reply and Gaara said nothing.
Sakura woke up and looked around. She was startled when she didn't recognise her surroundings. Light streamed through a window onto her feet. Shikamaru walked into the room, holding a wooden tray with food on it.
"Here's your breakfast," he said, setting the tray down on a small table next to her.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Sakura asked nervously, fearing The Silently Cheeping Birds might have kidnapped her.
"Kya! Don't you get told anything? I'm shikamaru and you're at my farm."
"Where are Kimimaro and Gaara?"
"They're outside, you slept late."
"Oh."
"Don't worry. Eat your breakfast. You're safe here. If you need me I'll be around."
Shikamaru left and Sakura ate her breakfast. When she finished she decided to go and look for Kimimaro to make sure everything was alright.
Sakura walked out into the farmyard. The sun was shining brightly and she could see men working in the fields. While she was searching for Kimimaro and Gaara an older girl, with long blonde hair in a ponytail, came up to her.
"Hi," greeted the girl, "My name's Ino. Who are you?"
"I'm Sakura," answered Sakura, still looking around.
"I'm here with my cousin for a while. What are you doing here?"
"I'm…I'm just visiting Shikamaru."
"You're a friend of his?"
"Not me. I'm friends with friends of his."
"Is that who you're looking for?"
Sakura nodded.
"They probably aren't far," said Ino, "You're going to get bored here. Do you want go ride horses?"
"There're horses?" asked Sakura excitedly.
"Duh. It's a farm."
"As soon as I tell my friends I'll go. I love riding!"
"Alright! I'll help you look."
Kimi and Gaara had been checking the worker's rooms, while they were out in the field, to see if any might be connected to The Silently Cheeping Birds. They hadn't found anything to suggest that anyone was.
"Well, I guess this place is safe then," commented Kimi.
"It should be. Itachi usually does whatever he does perfectly."
"It doesn't hurt to check."
"No. Even Itachi can make mistakes."
"There's Sakura…and some other girl."
"Ino. The one worker had a letter from her. She's his cousin. She arrived early this morning and is staying for about a week."
"Hey guys!" called Sakura happily; "I'm going horse-riding with Ino."
"Fine. Have fun," replied Gaara.
"And be careful," added Kimi.
Sakura and Ino walked toward the stable.
"Should we follow them?" asked Gaara.
"They'll see us. There's nowhere for us to hide. I don't think there'll be a problem anyway."
Sakura and Ino were riding through Shikamaru's empty fields; each mounted on one of Shika's horses. Both horses were a dark chestnut colour, Sakura's had a white blaze and Ino's had a star and socks.
"I'm here for one week," said Ino, her hair flying outstretched behind her, "I thought that I might get bored but now I have someone to talk to. How long will you be here?"
"I don't actually know," replied Sakura, "It's kind of confusing. But I'll probably be here all week."
"That's cool. Hey, I'll race you to that hill."
Sakura looked at the hill Ino was pointing to, just through one field.
"You're on!"
The girls urged their horses into a gallop and began to race across the seemingly deserted field. Ino was ahead of Sakura when nine men jumped from their hiding places and surrounded Sakura. Her horse reared up in fight and Sakura fell to the ground. Luckily she was unhurt when she landed but her horse bolted and ran back to the farmhouses. Ino heard Sakura cry out as she fell and looked behind her to see what had happened. Seeing her friend was in danger Ino turned her horse around and began to ride to Sakura's aid.
"Don't worry Sakura! I'm coming!"
