The Band of Time

Chapter 01 - Sakura Haruno, The Next Victim

Sakura woke up to the sun shining through her bedroom window. She slowly found her way to her closet where she picked out her clothing for the day. "Hum… what to wear, what to wear…" she rummaged through all of her clothing, which was a large task. She had a walk in closet full of every type of shirt and shoe known the man… or woman. She went through all her jean, and then frowned. "No… today I need to make a fashion statement. I need…" then she smiled, "that!" she pulled a small dress off of a hanger, hidden within the back of her closet. "Perfect!" It was a red dress that flowed down to her knees. It was rather tight, but had a slit down the one side, so she would be able to move freely. It had a few simple white circles on it for design. She smiled once again. She then grabbed a pair of black spandex shorts and rushed into her personal bathroom.

After her bath, she got changed and blew her hair dry. She then walked out of the bathroom and over to her huge vanity. There, she placed her hands on her hips, admiring her new outfit. The dress seemed to hug her curves perfectly. Her shorts went to a bit above her knees. She smiled. "This is so going to be a hit." She then through on a pair of black shoes and went down her spiral stairs.

In the kitchen, she grabbed a pop tart and shoved it into the toaster. As she waited for it to pop, her mother who was sitting at the kitchen table began speaking. "Hey hunny, nice outfit." Sakura smiled, "Thanks."

Suddenly, her mother turned the page in the paper she was reading, and her eyes grew wide. "Did you know they found that friend of yours that disappeared a few years back?"

Sakura turned, "Huh?"

Then, her mother began to read from the paper. "Locale Girl Found Dead in Park. She seemed to have some types of foreign objects in her, as if they were used as a weapon against her. She had bleed to death on the forest floor." She then turned the picture over so Sakura could see. Sure enough, a picture of her friend sat on the front page. She was only 10 in the picture, but that's because she had disappeared a good 4 years ago.

Suddenly, just as her mother was about to read on, the toaster popped. Sakura took this as a chance to get out. "Well, I have to go. Bye mom!" She quickly grabbed the pop tart and then flung her bag over her shoulder, rushing out the back door.

As she walked to school, she thought about her friend the whole way. 'God… poor BG…' Sakura then recalled how they had all come up with nicknames for each other consisting of two letters. Her nickname was BG, for 'Background', because that was always where she seemed to be. Sakura's own name was FQ for 'Fashion Queen'. She thought of all their good memories together, and she sighed. 'How could this happen?'

At school, everyone was talking about BG. "Oh my god, I just can't believe that happened to our friend…" Sakura turned to her friends, "Come on guys. Lets not talk about this." Soon enough, they left the topic behind, but they were all still thinking about it. "Hey, I like your outfit! Very… cutie meets ninja girl." Sakura smiled. "Thanks!"

School went on as usual. Afterward, Sakura stayed behind to help plan the school dance for next week. When she left, it was already 6 o'clock. "Crap! Mom's going to kill me!" Sakura quickly took off, running down the road. Her outfit was perfect for the run; it didn't pull on her legs, allowing her to go faster. 'Good thing I chose to wear this today.' Soon, she reached the park. Quickly, she decided to take a short cut. All she had to do was dash through the woods in the park, and then she'd only be one block away from home… and dinner. She fallowed a dirt path for a few minutes, and then turned off, running through the trees with grace.

Suddenly, she felt a chill go down her spine. She stopped and looked over her shoulders. It felt as if someone was watching her, but no one was there. She shrugged, and was about to run again, when a large gust of wind rolled by. Her long hair went flying all over her face, and leaves began swarming. She quickly tried to get her hair back in place. By the time she did so, the wind was gone. She sighed, and then began walking away. Suddenly, something caught her eye. She knelt down, and picked up a piece of blue fabric. On it, was a plate of silver with a symbol engraved on it. 'This will work!' she stood up, and began putting the band in her hair. 'Now my hair will stay back.' She put the band behind her bangs, but before the larger portion of her hair. She then began tying it in a knot behind her head. Just as she pulled the knot tight, she began to feel dizzy. Her sight went, and everything seemed so dark. The wind picked up again, worse then before. Leaves went whipping by her, cutting her arms, legs, and face. She would have called in pain, but she couldn't. Then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The wind and leaves were gone, but cuts and drops of blood were left in their place. Her sight came back, and her head didn't throb anymore.

She stood still for a moment, looking in front of her. As she tried to figure out what happened, she heard a small noise from the bushes. She turned slightly, and just as she did, a knife like weapon came flying right past her face. It gave her a deep cut on her right cheek. If she hadn't turned… it wouldn't have been so nice. She flinched in pain as blood began to flow down her face. She slowly lifted her hand up to her cheek, then back in front of her. When she saw the blood, her eyes widened. She then turned around, and saw the dagger jabbed into a nearby tree. 'Ok… just a little freaked.' She then turned back toward the brush. When she did, she saw a pair of red eyes hidden deep within the forest's shadows. 'Ok… now I'm way past the point of freaked!' She was about to scream, hoping someone, anyone, would hear her and come to her rescue. It all happened so fast she barely caught it. The man… woman… thing from in the forest came darting out. He… she… it quickly ran behind her, and placed a hand over her mouth, muffling the cry for help. Then, just as suddenly, it darted back into the bushes, dragging her along too.

When the kidnapper… murderer… person… thing reached the bushes, it squatted down on the ground. Sakura was forced down as well. She landed on her knees, causing dirt and rocks to move into her cuts that the leaves had made. She flinched again as she tried to cry out. She hoped someone could hear her, even though she was being muffled… and suffocated might I add. She tried to pull the persons hand away from her mouth so she could breath, but the grip was firm. She then looked up at her kidnapper. A boy about her age with messy raven hair sat before her. His eyes were a blood red, with two black swirls in the center. His face held no emotion whatsoever. Strangely enough, Sakura found him… attractive. 'God, he tried to kill you! No matter how cute he is he's evil! EVIL!' 'And you are?' 'I'm you.' '…Ok…' 'Don't worry about me now! This guy is going to kill you! Get away! Or at least try and breath!'

She continued pulling the boys hands away from her mouth, but still, it was useless. The boy turned to look at her. 'Now's my chance.' She mumbled, pointing toward his hand. He understood her, but still wasn't too sure what to do. "If I let you go, will you shut up?" Sakura nodded, and he removed his hand. She stayed on the ground, placing a hand on her chest as she began breathing again. 'God, I forgot how good that felt!' She began contemplating if she should run… or maybe scream, but then she recalled her promise. She sighed. 'Why do I have to always keep my darn promises?' 'Just run!' 'I can't! I pr…' 'You promised, but he tried to kill you!' '…Shut up…'

Sakura sat still, looking up at the boy. He was good looking… She then realized he was looking around for… something. She too began looking up and down, trying to find whatever this thing is. Suddenly, someone hopped down from a tree above her head and landed less then a centimeter away from her hand, which was now on the forest floor. She jumped, falling into the raven-haired boy beside her. The two fell over. Suddenly, a loud laugh was heard. Sakura looked up, seeing a messy blonde haired boy standing before her. She quickly realized she was on top of the boy, so she hopped up. "Sorry…" she muttered. He too stood. Sakura looked from one boy to the other. They were both about 14… maybe 15. The blonde had light blue eyes, and three dashes on each cheek. The blonde seemed very enthusiastic, and the raven-haired boy… well, he looked like the opposite.

"So Sasuke, who's the girl?" Sakura turned to raven haired boy. 'So, his name is Sasuke.' "Not sure." Sakura went against her good judgment and spoke up. "My name is Sakura. And I've got one question… Why the hell did you try and kill me!" She turned and glared at Sasuke. "Sasuke! You've got to be more careful! You can't just go flinging kunai at random people!" The blonde shouted. Sasuke shrugged. "I thought she was one of them." "No! I had to go kill them, because someone was too busy!" Sakura was a bit freaked out now. "Ok, what? Them? Kill? Who the hell are you!" The blonde smiled. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this bastard here is Uchiha Sasuke. We are ninja from the Leaf Village of Konoha." Sakura looked strangely toward the Naruto, 'Leaf Village what? We're in Hong Kong… what the hell is he talking about? Maybe some building downtown?' but she then quickly realized he had something on his forehead. There, a blue band sat. It had a piece of silver with a small symbol on it… "Wait… What's that?" She pointed toward his headband. "Oh, that's our ninja bands. This symbol here means Leaf Village. I…" he suddenly noticed she too was wearing one. "Wait, you have one? So you're a ninja from our village?" Sakura remembered she still had the band on. "No, it's not mine. I found it, and put it in my hair. Then… then you attacked me!" She cried turning to face Sasuke once more.

Naruto laughed. "Well, I'm confused. Ok, let's go back to the village. We can sort this out there." Sakura turned, "Wait, I need to go home! My mom is going to kill me!" Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, then back at Sakura. "So… can I go?" she asked. "Maybe you should come with us first. Your wounds look pretty bad." Sakura realized she was cut pretty badly. "Well… ok. How far away is this place?" Naruto smiled, "Only like 2 minutes. Let's go!" Suddenly, he was gone. Sasuke too disappeared. Sakura looked around, rather surprised. "Wait! Where did you go?" Then, Naruto jumped out of a tree. "You coming?" Sakura stood in shock. "How the hell did you move that fast!" Naruto sighed. "You really aren't a ninja, are you? Sasuke!" Sasuke suddenly jumped out of another tree. "Hey Sasuke, can you carry her? She can't run like us, and I'm too weak from the battle." Sasuke sighed, and then mumbled. "Fine…" He quickly bent down, gesturing Sakura to hop onto his back. She did as she was told, feeling a bit uncomfortable while donig so. Then, the three were off. They hopped into the trees and began racing forward. Sakura was surprised at how fast they were going. 'Ok… these guys are so not normal!'

A/N: Ok, so there is teh 1st chapter. I know, Sakura should have enough sence not to go with the guy that almost killed you, but still, this is my fanfic, and she really isn't to conserned about being kidnapped or murdered or hirased in this situation, ok. So don't go and review saying 'why did she go with them! That's so stupid! Bla bla bla!' Anyways... read on! And review!