Red Moons Glow

Sasuke...

Naruto lay on a bed under a window, the suns rays shined on him harshly. A dry breeze blew through the little hut. Shikamaru sighed, not quite used to the sudden climate change of the high altitude and snowy mountains the deep, dry, hot desert. Sweat dripped down his back, making him uncomfortable, while he waited for their contact in Suna. Naruto on the other hand had gotten used to it quickly, his hair changed to a lighter blond to reflect the suns rays.

Shikamaru sighed, the advantages of being an animal demon, your body automatically changes to match the environment. A soft rapping at the door to their hut caught the shadow demons attention. Quickly standing up he made his way across the small room and wrenched the door open. In front of him stood a girl, human, arrogantly in a light purple kimono, a giant fan strapped to her back with four pony-tails.

“Are you the fox demon everyone is after?” She looked at Shikamaru incredulously. Shikamaru scoffed and moved aside and pointed at the blond sleeping on the bed. The girl made an “Oh” with her mouth and looked back to Shikamaru. “I’m, Temari of the desert and I’ll be escorting you to my lord.” Shikamaru nodded and moved over to the sleeping fox, nudging him.

“Get up, our contact is here.” Naruto, trying to stay asleep, nuzzled into the bed ignoring Shikamaru. “How troublesome.” Shikamaru sighed.

“Let me try.” Temari put a hand on the shadow demons shoulder, urging him to step aside. Temari stepped to the sire of the bed, hands on her hips, looking down at the blond with a mischievous look. Quickly grabbing the fan on her back she opened it slightly, revealing the first moon, and swung it swiftly promptly destroying the little hut and sending Naruto into the street. Needless to say he was up.

“Jeez…” Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think that was necessary…” Temari shrugged.

“It got him up didn’t I?” She smirked as Naruto emerged from the debris and dusted of his cloths, an irritated look on his face. “Come on, we have to hurry, Gaara doesn’t like to wait. We’ll have to cut through the condemned part of the city.” She started off, Naruto and Shikamaru behind her following.

“Shika, why are we in this God forsaken desert again?” Naruto asked rubbing his eyes, still sleepy.

“We’re here to meet Gaara, only he knows the only route through the mountains into the valley of thunder where Tsunade-hime is waiting for us.”

“Um…what if he says no?”

“Then we’ll have to wonder through the desert and die…” Shikamaru sighed. Naruto stiffened.

“Don’t worry about it.” Temari spoke up. “Most likely he will say yes…remember Sabini is also an enemy of Suna so we’ll do any thing to stop him.” Shikamaru nodded to himself and Naruto relaxed.

Unbeknownst to the three traveling through the deserted streets two pairs of eyes watched them diligently.

“Get the blond first…I’ll take the fan from the sorceress.” He smirked readjusting his glasses. She nodded and cut her thumb. Drawing the mark on the wall with her blood she began the jutsu.

The hairs on the back of Shikamaru’s neck stood on end. “Some things off…” He whispered looking around.

“Well I don’t smell anything…” Naruto smelled the air.

“Are you sure?”

“Yep, nothing.” Naruto took another step forward, triggering the trap. A giant black snake arose from the ground and coiled around Naruto tightly.

“Naruto!” Temari reached for her fan but found that it wasn’t there.

“Looking for this Wind Sorceress?” In front of the group stood a young man, a couple of years older than Shikamaru, with white hair and glasses, the iron fan in his grasp. “Good job, Anko.” The woman fell from the building above them, landing beside him.

“It was nothing Kabuto…” The snake carried Naruto over to the two. “This was almost too easy…” She smirked.

“How annoying.” Temari mumbled bringing out a miniature version of her fan from her kimono, swinging it swiftly. Blades of air engulfed the snake, cutting it into pieces.

“What the hell?” Anko stepped back.

“I’ve got you Naruto.” Shikamaru said, sending his shadow into the wind. Taking the shape of a hand the shadows grabbed and engulfed Naruto, transporting him to Shikamaru’s side.

Anko as well as Kabuto’s eyes widened when sand started to crawl up the legs, covering them completely. “I was wondering why it was taking to long…” Naruto looked up, his eyes met with cold green eyes.

“Ga-Gaara?” Temari stuttered.

“Desert Funeral.” Gaara muttered, ordering the sand to rip through both assassins. “I don’t have all day.” He said coldly, stepping over the mangled corpses back toward the tower, the others followed.

Inside one of the condemned buildings Anko and Kabuto sat in the dark. “Hm, so that’s Gaara of the sand eh?”

“It’s a good thing I sent the decoys in first.” Kabuto smirked. “The living corpse curse came in handy.”

“We’ll have to be a more careful now… A demon that powerful will cause problems…Since the direct approach isn’t going to get us anywhere”

“Yes…it seems as though we’ll have to rely on plan “B”.” Kabuto looked at their third, quieter member. “You’re up kid.”

- - - - - -

Shikamaru and Naruto stood before Gaara, still processing the information. Temari stood of to the side with her brother Kankaru. Gaara’s eyes snapped open and gave Naruto a piercing glare.

“Fine.” He said barely over a whisper. Shikamaru relaxed.

“When shall we leave then?”

“Early tomorrow.” He said, closing his eyes. “Temari, show them to the guest quarters.” Temari nodded and showed them into the halls. Naruto seemed uneasy.

“You know…” Temari broke the silence. “I think he likes you.” She stopped in front of a door and smirked at Naruto, who blushed a bit before hurrying inside the room. Shikamaru glanced at the blond girl before following Naruto, closing the door behind him.

“What was that about?” He asked the blond. Naruto shrugged.

“Shika, I’m going to go explore the town a bit.” He headed for the door.

“Be back before nightfall. It’s a full moon tonight.” Naruto nodded before heading out.

Trying his best to avoid the weird desert demon again, Naruto rushed down the stairs of the huge tower and out the door. Being the fox he was Naruto followed his nose, looking for his favorite food.

“Come on ramen…” Taking in a big whiff he smiled. “Aha!” He took off down the side walk zipping around corners and running through crowds. “Ramen, ramen, ramen.” Thinking about his food he didn’t notice the dark haired boy who had just turned the corner, carrying three containers.

“Hey!” It was too late, Naruto ran into the boy, spilling the boys ramen all over the street. “You idiot!” The boy glared at the blond.

“I’m so sorry” The blond apologized. Naruto looked at the boy. Angry black eyes bored into his blue. Naruto’s eyes widened.

“…Sasuke…” The other boys name slipped from his lips.