Cold Light
By: Sky Fairy 77
The town was just beginning to awake. The first few rays of the sun were bathing strips of the town in golden light, but the majority of town remained hidden. The thick mist hung in the air hiding the town beneath it. Slowly the dark smoke mingled with the mist veiling him from view, concealed beneath the gray clouds.
His body was numb from the cold and the effects of the drug. He took another drag letting the smoke surround him.
Numb… So numb…
He gazed out in front of him from the hill. The trees were barren and brown. The grass was dead. He let out a sardonic laugh at the sight, pushing himself up from his seat on the hill. He threw down what was left of his cigarette letting it smolder on the ground. He gave the dead looking hill one last glance; it was lifeless except for the dying embers of the cigarette. Soon all that was left was the thin winding wisps of smoke. They too would soon disappear.
His feet hit the ground in firm clean strides. He glanced about his hands shoved deep into his pockets. His standard issue vest wasn't providing much warmth in the cool autumn morning. He felt so cold… so lost… He wondered through the streets in a haze taking the route back to his small beat up old apartment. Few people paid any attention to him as he walked one of two glanced in his direction but that was all. There were very few people out at this time of morning so he head no fear of seeing anyone he would know and having to deal with their lectures and concerns. As he turned the corner of a street that led him into his neighborhood he passed a young woman yawning deeply as she began to bring out her numerous numbers of plants. Gradually a song came to him and he began to hum the melancholy tune.
In the cold light of morning when everyone's yawning
You're high
As he rounded the corner the man disappeared from sight diving into the depths of the mist and the town.
in the cold light of morning while everyone's yawning
you're high
in the cold light of morning the party gets boring
you're high
as your skin starts to scratch and wave yesterday's action goodbye
forget past indiscretions and stolen possessions
you're high
in the cold... light
cold light
chapter 1: you're high
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Ugh… What time…" groaned the rosette haired medic glancing over at the clock. " 4:27! Who on earth would be here at this hour?" she groaned rolling into the softness of her pillow for one last time. Slowly she dragged herself out of the bed and making her way through her house to the front door. She felt cold, her thin pajamas didn't offer her much warmth and she was cursing whoever was at her door at this hour of the morning. She stomped through her apartment quite peeved at not getting her sleep after a particularly grueling day at the hospital.
"Haruno Sakura?" said the man before her when she flung open the door. He didn't seem to be surprised at the messy hair that was sticking up in every direction or the wrinkled pajamas that hung loosely from her body or her clearly visible goose bumps.
"Yes?"
"Hokage-sama has requested your presence immediately." He pulled a scroll from out of his standard issues Jounin vest handing it over to Sakura.
"Thank you." she said taking it from him. The messenger gave a half bow before he performed a series of hand signs and vanished from Sakura's sight. Sighing she pulled the door shut and turned her attention to the scroll in her hands.
She lay down on the bed so her legs were dangling over the edge. Sakura flipped the scroll around splitting the seal on it, allowing the seal flutter down to the ground. As she read the words on the page her eyes widen in horror, "Holy shit…" She let the scroll drop to the floor without another word and rushed to get ready.
"I'll need you to give this to the Kazekage when you…" Tsunade stopped mid-sentence when she heard the knocking on the door, "Come in." she called knowing exactly who would be walking in through the doors. "Ahh… Sakura I'm glad that you could join us." Tsunade motioned for her to sit down in the empty seat in front of her desk.
"Good Morning Shishou, Naruto." Sakura gave a small smile towards her former teammate and her teacher.
"I'm assuming that you have read the scroll." Tsunade said taking a large sip of the sake that was sitting on the corner of her desk.
Sakura grew quiet and she stopped eying the sake bottle in a menacing way. Her face become serious and grave upon hearing the mention of the scroll, "Yes I have and frankly it's a bit frightening. I've been to many of those towns that were mentioned in it. Most of them don't even have shinobi living in them. They are peaceful villages! "
"Try going there now…" Naruto shook his head, "It was horrible, the whole area was dead. There wasn't a sole in sight. And some of those places had really good ramen too!"
"Clearly you both can understand the importance of the situation at hand. Sunagakure (1) has become an important ally of ours and I'll be damned if some new organization is going to try to destroy it and everyone living there." Tsunade took another sip of the sake, "That's why I'm sending you on a misssion to find out what is happening out there and if need be help defend Sunagakure. Sakura I'm placing you in charge as the leader for this mission."
"What me? But Shisou this sounds like something that Shikamaru-san's job. Isn't he in charge of leading the misssons like this?"
"Yes… Yes, he usually is, but I need you in charge of this mission."
"But why? I don't understand." Sakura protested.
"It's his smoking habit." Naruto said quietly, "It's been getting worse lately and he's mixing in some type of drug that he picked up someone. It's been impairing his jugement and he nearly killed himself on our last mission because of it. He isn't fit to lead a team anymore."
"Sakura, one part of your mission is to watch Shikamaru and the effects of that drug of his. He hasn't let anyone near it and I'm pretty sure that it is slowly destroying his body. You're the only one bysides myself who can indetify it. Normally I would have Shikamaru remain here but unfortunetly having him not come on this mission is a not an option considering his stragetic knowledge and his relationship with those in Sunagakure. I want you to keep an eye on him. His sitution is troubling me greatly."
"Alright I will try Shishou."
"I have already sent Shizune out to alert the members of your team about the mission. Your team will consist of yourself, Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, and Tenten. This is currently an A-rank mission. I have given Naruto the letter for the Kazekage to guard should anything happen. Alright you're both are dimissed. I have to finish this before Shizune comes back." She motioned towards the sake. "I will meet you by the gates in the morning 5 am sharp.
Sakura and Naruto left the room in a rather gloomy mood, the weight of the mission was already beginning to hang over them and it had not yet begun.
Naruto broke the silence of the halls speaking quietly "You know I sometimes wish I had one of those normal peaceful lives where you never had to deal with any of this shit." He said looking out the window, his usual cheery attitude completley absent.
"Yeah I know what you mean… But think of it this way, we both know you'd miss it."
Naruto shoved his hands deep into his pockets and shrugged his shoulders, "Who really knows." He let out a long sigh.
"Hey Naruto?" Sakura said looking at him worriedly.
"Yeah Sakura-chan?"
"You want to go out for ramen? I haven't eaten breakfast yet and I'm in the mood for ramen." Her face cracked into a smile watching the fox like grin spread across Naruto's face.
"Sakura-chan, you're on!" he cried giving her a great big hug. She laughed at his sudden change in attitude but she knew they both were still bothered by what lay ahead of them.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. And I placed this down here because I didn't want the story to be interrupted at all.
AN: Well folks... Here is yet another Shika/Saku story for you. This is just introductory chapter explaining some things and basics. There will be a lot more explained in the upcoming chapters and I'm hoping to make them longer than this. I'm also trying to using the correct honorifics for this fic. I have not read the manga unfortunately so I'm not sure of all the details so I'll try to keep it as close as possible.
1) So this little footnote is due to the fact that I was trying to be correct in my usage in refering to the village hidden in the sand as Sunagakure. If I'm not using it correctly please let me know so I can fix it.
I'm currently having some issues with my descriptions… I don't think I'm doing a great job with this story so far so yeah…
Feed back is really important for me in this stage because it helps me to get a sense of where to go with the story. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I would like it if you didn't flame my stories but if you feel you have to be that crude about it so be it.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update soon.
-Lin aka SkyFairy77 aka CloudSkies77