Don't make me say this again...we don't own Naruto! It breaks my heart...

Red Herring

iii. The Pill

"Do you understand your first mission brief, girls?" A blonde woman leaned forward, placing her elbows on the desk before her. Before her eyes were displayed five young women of twenty, and although they were all beautiful, they were her next batch of vampire hunters. Yes, her most promising squad.

"Yes, Tsunade-sensei!" Sakura chirped, Temari next to her rolling her eyes at Sakura's clearly suck-up nature. It was no secret to the squad that Tsunade thought of the cherry blossom-haired girl like a daughter, almost. Jealousy? Pfft. As if Temari would be jealous of Sakura of all people. "But, I have a question," She cleared her throat, "How exactly are we going to fight the vampires? I know you trained us all in martial arts, but don't they have some sort of...power?"

Tsunade cleared her throat and gestured to a black suitcase lying on the desk. "Inside there are five guns, and five specially made pills - pills made from a dead vampire's blood. Should you take the pill, you will be granted supernatural powers - the duration and power depend on the person. However, let it be known that the pill may have side effect, or cause fatigue. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing until you take it."

Their boss scanned them over, reading their expressions before continuing, "Also in the suitcase are five guns, as I mentioned before. They are made specifically for wounding and immoboilizing vampires. However, due to the fact that the guns are made of materials that wound and repel vampires and the pills make you temporarily have the powers of a vampire, the two cannot mix. Now, ladies, you may choose your poison." With the explanation done, Tsunade opened the suitcase to reveal five glimmering silver guns. Near each gun was a delicate pill, red like a sinister ruby.

"Huh," Temari huffed, walking over to the suitcase and picking up the gun. She seemed to study it for a moment, before also picking up a holster. "There is no way in hell I'm going to take anything that'll make me even remotely vampiric."

Ino was next to step up, as she eyed the ruby pill. "I don't know...I wonder what my power will be. The pill just seems a lot more fun, you know?" She was always on the more...daring side. They all watched her down the pill with apprehension. Within minutes, she started to cough and wheeze as everyone started panicking. Then, she stood upright and smiled to everyone, "Haha! Gotcha!" She snickered, then pointed at a pale Sakura and said, "I saw you worrying about me, Forehead!"

"Whatever!" Sakura huffed, marching up to the suitcase and taking a pill. "If Ino can take this pill, then so can I!" She popped it in her mouth, immediately shuddering and spitting it out, much to everyone's disgust. "That thing tastes gross!" She turned to Tsunade and bowed slightly, saying, "Tsunade-sensei! I actually have a custom gun that I'd prefer to use! Is that okay with you?"

This elicited another roll of the eyes from Ino and Temari, who were sick of her brownnosing. However, they couldn't deny that Tsunade wasn't charmed, as their boss nodded approval. The emerald-eyed woman fistpumped and gave a triumphant expression to Ino, who just rolled her sole showing sky blue eye. Tenten took the moment to clear her throat, effectively ruining the mood as she skipped up to the suitcase and also chose the gun. "Well, I'll take the gun too! I'm a great shot!"

That only left...Hinata. Ino frowned, hands on her hips as she stared at the girl. Five years hadn't done much - sure, she was a formidable match, but she was still the pacifistic, impressionable girl Ino had always known her to be. Speaking of impressionable.. "Aww, hey, Hinata! You can't let me go solo on the pill! Take it with me! We'll be kickass together!"

"O-Okay..." The lavender-clad girl stuttered, not having the guts to deny the pill, even after Sakura vehemently denied taking it. Almost trembling, the girl reached for the pill, and with reassurance and a wink from Ino, Hinata was able to swallow it. "H-Huh...I don't...f-feel weird..." She pressed her forefingers together timidly and looked to the floor as Tsunade stood.

"Now, we shall split the group into two. Ino, you'll go with Temari and Tenten, seeing as you have a pill. Hinata, as you also have a pill, you should go with Sakura. Understand?" Hinata looked up at Sakura, who seemed to give her a nasty glare out of the corner of her eye, so the purple-haired girl kept her eyes to the floor.

"Understood."

The moon was shining brightly as silvery-grey clouds covered the moon ominously, shadowing the already dark night. According to Tsunade, this was just the time of day vampires liked to feed on innocent-looking people. Considering the fact that the streets were desolate in this part of town, this was also just the place. Sakura and Hinata, both whom hadn't spoke to each other, had kept their senses peeled for something out of the ordinary. Neither knew what to expect, and despite their years of training, Hinata still managed to shake. Were the vampires going to just stroll up to them? Were they going to be hiding in some dark corner? Would they-

Hinata jumped. "D-Did you hear that, S-Sakura?"

Sakura turned towards her partner, straining an ear. "Heard-" She stopped, hearing something akin to metal denting. The pink-haired woman frowned, readying her fists. There was something unsettling in the air. It had to be... "Who's there?"

'Didn't Sakura say she had a gun?' Hinata thought, taking a deep breath as she also poised herself. She felt vulnerable without some sort of weapon to defend herself. She just hoped the pill would prove to be of some use. Little did she know, she was experiencing the effects already - veins popped up near her eyes, and every nerve in the human anatomy became painfully clear. Yet still, the change had been so gradual that she hadn't noticed the difference.

A moment of unbearable silence.

When Hinata heard the silence break, she turned around, seeing a flash of yellow. Without even thinking, her body began to move on it's own. She twirled around, quickly thrusting her palm into whoever had been behind her. That person stopped, and almost to Hinata's amazement, she kept striking the man. Finally, she had control of her own body again. She blinked, looking at the blonde heap on the floor. "W-What..." She looked around, and the pointed at herself almost dumbly. "W-Was that...me?"

Sakura shrugged, and both girls inspected what Hinata had just attacked. It was a person...he looked kind of - "Sasuke, what the hell!" The man stood up, taking a step away from the girls. "You told me the purple one looked weaker!"

"Sasuke...?" Sakura twitched at the name. It took her a moment to comprehend why the name sounded so familiar to her, but then her eyes opened in realization. "Wait, so then you have to be...what was your name, again?"

"Naruto Uzumaki!" The blonde chirped, giving the girls a thumbs-up sign. "Believe it!"

"You're so...cheery..." The chartreuse-eyed woman mumbled, shaking her head. Was this really her villain? It didn't seem so. Sakura watched with sharp eyes as Naruto rubbed the back of his head and seemed to be starting up a conversation with a remarkably flushed Hinata. 'That guy has no brains. So, then the one behind that attack from five years ago had to be that Sasuke guy!'

"Naruto, what are you doing?" There he was. Sasuke. Lord of doom and gloom it seemed, as he came out of the shadows with a peeved expression on his face. He even had that monotone to prove it. "We came here to kill them, not to gossip and have tea time." The raven-haired man with piercing red eyes stared at Sakura; his glance empty of emotion. She shot back with her own icy glare. Sakura decided just then and there that he had the emotional range rivaling a shriveled up cactus. At least Naruto seemed friendly, even if those whisker things on his cheeks freaked her out a little. What was he? Some kind of wannabe fox cosplayer?

"Awww, Sasuke...you ruin all the fun," Naruto licked his lips before grinning, a duplicate of himself appearing as the duplicate to form what looked to be a spinning blue ball of energy. "Rasengan!"

The girl had no time to panic as her body began to move on it's own once more. She barely had time to comprehend what was going on as she effectively defended herself against the azure energy ball. She released a blue stream from her hands and it completely covered her, it was the ultimate defense. Her move had skidded Naruto back, as he hadn't been preparing to deal with this much resistance. She gasped realizing that there was some blood dripping from his mouth. "A-Are you okay? I-I didn't m-mean..."

Sasuke huffed, watching the two in disgust. He turned towards Sakura, who was charging towards him with her fists. "Please. Blazing Fireball attack!" Without even taking a step, he managed to fend her off. He inhaled, placing his hand near his mouth as if he wanted to smoke a cigarette. Then, he exhaled; his breath turning into fire.

She had been told that vampires - because, assuredly, that was what he was - had superpowers, but she was not expecting some pyro. She nearly shrieked as she barely dodged the stream of fire. Sakura gasped, grasping her arm as she realized the brunt of the flames had seared her arm. She bit her lip, releasing her charred arm and clenching her fist.

"You jerk!" She shouted, getting more infuriated when she realized that Sasuke had lost interest in her as a target. He was currently trudging towards Hinata and Naruto, both of whom didn't seem wholeheartedly dedicated to fighting. "HEY!" She yelled, puffing up her chest as he still ignored her. Sakura growled, grabbing a rock with her good hand and chucking it at Sasuke. Without even looking, he sidestepped it as it hit a wall.

"Ahah...heya, Sasuke," Naruto started nervously, "Just having some fun, you know? Ahaha.."

"Fraternizing with the enemy is not fun, Naruto," The red-eyed male spat, and the venom laced in the word 'fun' made Hinata wince. He leaned low to the ground, his hand crackling with electricity. It sounded akin to a thousand birds chirping. With inhuman speed he sprinted towards her, dragging his sparking hand with him. "Chidori!" The blast knocked Hinata back into a wall, causing her to slump over. "Finish her off. I'll deal with forehead."

Oh no. Oh no he did not just say that. Memories of Ino teasing her when she was younger (and even now) about her slightly large forehead came flooding back. Sakura growled, holding her solely usable fist up in the air triumphantly. "I have had enough of your stupid emo haircut, Mr. Hormonal Angst! I am going to inflate that ego of yours so fast, I..."

The moment was broken up a hysterically laughing Naruto. "D-Did you hear that...pffft...Sasuke...Hormonal..." He doubled over in laughter, pointing at his companion. "E-Emo...haircut! Pffft...hahaha..."

Sasuke did not seem amused. "Shut up and help me."

"Geez, alright already!" The blue-eyed male looked back at the violet-haired girl, having not yet killed her. Or done so much as touch a hair on her head, really. He just couldn't bring himself to do it...Well, it was nothing that Sasuke had to know, right? Appearing right beside Sasuke, Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Okay, Mr. Hormonal Angst..."

Sakura gulped. The situation looked grim. Hinata couldn't help her now, and despite the earlier antics, Sasuke and Naruto as a combo were terrifying. She was almost glad Sasuke seemed to have no muscles in his face, because Naruto's grin had an eerily sinister feel.

'Well...there's only one thing to do in a situation like this.'

Sakura clenched her fist and charged.

R&R