Decadence

A dark shadow was textured by brick as it moved swiftly across the wall.

"..." A woman, whos name is not important, felt a chill run down her spine. She spun around quickly, paranoid. She had felt as if someone, or something, had been watching her her entire way home and now it was finally starting to close in. Normally her instincts were dead on, and this thought made her worry more. She squinted into the nearly complete darkness. The shadow appeared, huge on the wall. The woman watched in horror, unable to move as the shadow grew smaller.

"Smart lady... you didnt drop your guard."

"Why would I?" she asked in a voice as steady as she could.

"Most people see the shadow shrink, and think its walking away from them..." she watched as the wall shadow mimicked its owner. They held up their hand, wiggling their fingers.

"But you knew... that shadows shrink," They moved their hand slowly towards the wall, smiling to themself, "as they grow closer."

She stared at the gloved hand only inches from the wall and swallowed audibly.


"My dear... fear, is only a mindset." He muffled her screams with his fist, as he murdered her... slowly...painfully.


+++++++++++++

Shaaaa

The rain sounded as heavy as it felt. It was so thick and hard that, despite it being warm, it had driven everyone inside. The fields were empty, the picnic areas were empty, rivers cascaded off curbs to continue down roads. He stopped and stared down at a pool of water being pulled into a drain. There was a deep red tinted streak in it, the colour of rust... no blood. Crouching down he ran his hand through it and made a pretty patten. His eyebrows knitted together and he stood, slamming his foot down into the puddle. The water that splashed up onto his pants, merged with the rain that had already soaked through... only this water left red marks.

"Naruto!! Narutoooo" he turned to the voice as a car pulled slowly up next to him. Sakura rolled her window down, only a smidgeon though, so as not to get wet.

"Naruto what the hell are you doing?! Walking in the middle of roads when its pouring like this, no one would be able to see you!" He plastered on his good ol' naruto smile and winked.

"No worries Sakura! I wouldve heard them."

"Whatever, get in the car! We're taking you back to the house."

Naruto knew she was only being a good friend, she didnt know why he wanted to be out in the rain, she didnt know why he liked to feel the weight of the water, she didnt know what is was he wanted to wash away, she didnt know anything past the happy hyperactive self he was for her... for everyone. Naruto could feel himself going back to normal, so he let it go and pulled his clothes off. He slid into the back seat where towels awaited him, peeling off his soaked undershorts, he wrapped one around his waist and lay his clothes on the other ones.

"Hey Naruto, you dont have to worry about getting the seats wet! Its not like this is an awesome car anyway." Lee smiled at him from the drivers seat. Naruto smiled back.

"Maybe not awesome, but I still dont want it smelling like mildew cause I decided to take a stroll in a downpour." Naruto laughed when Lee had nothing to say to that.

"What have you guys been up to all day?" it was Sakura that answered.

"Oh we went to pick up a few things, stopped by the dojo for a little while, I got a new headband... stuff like that."

"Groceries I hope?" she nodded.

"Of course! And I got you lots of different flavoured ramen!"

"Thanks Sakura!! Youre the best!"

"I know, I know"

They all lived in a house, bought and paid for by their good friend Sasuke. His family had been loaded, so he had used just a bit of their money to save him and his friends the trouble of dorm rooms. It was a pretty big house too. Its sheer size never ceased to amaze Naruto, and he stared in awe once again as they pulled up to it. It wasnt more than one level, it was ranch styled, but it stretched a long long way to each side and back pretty far too. The college campus had let them build it on their property, so long as they passed it off as a 'club', much like a fraternity or sorority, except a club was co-ed. Lee pushed the gear shift to the P and took the keys from the ignition. He was about to open his door when his cell phone rang.

"Oh! It's Gaara, let me get this."

Naruto and Sakura walked ahead inside. Kicking off her shoes Sakura jogged down the hall to Narutos room. She grabbed him some clothes and met him in the hall.

"Here ya go!" She exclaming happily, handing them over.

Naruto was a little confused, he walked around the house in little more than his boxers all the time. She knew that... so then why?

"We've got company." She answered the questioning look on Narutos face. He sighed and threw his clothes on, he was dry enough, the towel around his waist went to drying his hair. Lee burst through the door, throwing off his shoes and coat.

"Guys! Gaara said to put on the local news!! He said they're going to show us something we need to see." Lee bounded into the living room and threw himself down on the couch, Naruto and Sakura following with raised brows. They all sat on the couch and Naruto, being the one to watch the most television, grabbed the remote and tuned into the correct channel.

"Oh man, he said he wanted everyone to see it... but I dont know where theyre at and if I go find them I might miss it..."

"Oh, dear Lee..." Naruto grinned, "Such is the wonder of Tivo." Naruto pushed a button on the remote, and chose yes when asked if he wanted to record.

"You really need to learn how to use it, its quite handy."

"Yeah right, like we could use it if we wanted to, you wont let us delete your precious Sailor Moon... and 200 episodes pretty much takes all the recording space."

"I would delete certain episodes, Sakura. But not for your stupid-ass teen soap operas."

"Oh yeah right! Like Sailor Moon isnt stupid! Its 200 episodes of the SAME THING" She pitched her voice and waved her hands frantically, mockingly, "OH NOES! For some reason the bad guys have decided to target japan, and havent figured out that if they chose elsewhere they wouldnt have to deal with the scouts! JAPAN IS IN DANGER! Makeup power! Fight! Struggle! Its up to you Sailor Moon! NOO Im a whiny wimpy brat who cant do shit! pleeeaaseee dont make me I wanna go home!! Enter the most useless character ever! TUXEDO MASK! I throw my rose at you! Sailor Moon believe in yourself and other stupid encouraging words! WHOOSH Im gone now. Omg! That guy was hot! I can fight now! And instead of killing me while that was going on, or while I charge up my lame tiara, or other, attacks The monsters just kinda wait and then BLAM. Moon Dust. We win. The end." Naruto looked absolutly livid, "EVERY fucking epsiode Naruto..." She smirked.

"SHUT UP SAKURA. You dont know, you CANT know, how can you know if you dont watch it?! And like your shows are any better! Theyre all "Oh god Im a whore, Oh no my best friends a whore, shit we're pregnant! Whos the dad? Who knows? GASP someones dead, dear lord soandso killed him?! and he was the father of my baby!? Veronicas missing! Jake, the father youve known your entire life isnt really your father. ANGST ANGST ANGST EMO EMO EMO DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA LAME LAME LAME!!"

"Guys its on..." Lee interrupted.

"AT LEAST THEYRE LIKE REAL LIFE! Not all stupid and fantasy like your damn ANIME! And whats with the fanfictions?! Like those arent full of ANGST and DRAMA! Youre such a hypocrite!!"

"Guys.... its on." He tried again.

"REAL LIFE IF YOURE A WHORE! And have friends and family all dying from various diseases! and NOT ALL OF FANFICTION IS LIKE THAT! Unlike your soap operas which are ALL that way ALL the time, even if theyre a completly different show!"

"OH No theyre not! Just like you said, How can you know if you dont watch them!?"
"IVE SEEN QUI..."

"GUYS" Lee yelled finally silencing the two, "Shut the hell up! The fucking show is ON and I would like to HEAR it." He settled angrily back into the couch and folded his arms across his chest. They both mumbled sorry and turned to the television as Naruto rewound it to the beginning of the show.

"This is channel 8 news, live, and have we got a story for you! But first..." They watched in slow torture as the reporters moved through the things they didnt care about, the weather and local sports teams etc.etc. until finally the anchor set them up for the good story.

"And now for the shocking story you've all been waiting for." The screen cut to a reporter sitting in an all blue room, "Is there a serial killer in our midst? Has our town been keeping this critical fact from its people? We have here with us today, a young medical specialist," the camera panned out to the chair across from the reporter, "Sabaku Gaara. And he's going to talk to us about it." She turned to face him.

"So Gaara, before we start tell us a little about yourself."

"Im not whats important here. I work at the hospital, and I graduated medical school when I was 17. Thats all you need to know." Gaara wasnt being arrogant, just blunt and truthful, such was his way. The reporter just kind of nodded, and Gaara took it as a sign to go on.

"The town has been keeping these murders a secret for the past month. Seven people, in one month. Two a week. I'm the one credited with their autopsies, Ive seen all the bodies and the brutal ways they were murdered. And I refuse to sit around with this knowledge while the people of this town walk, unknowingly, around at night. They thought that by keeping it a secret, they could catch the murderer before word got out and never have to tell anyone but the families of the victims. I believe its gotten to far out of their hands, and its time to alert everyone."

"And what made you decide to go against the authorities? You could lose your job for this no?"

"I can, and most likely will lose my job for this. But I believe its worth it. I decided to come out and tell everyone because, as I said before this particular killer has offed two people a week for a month. The seventh person was taken two nights ago... but there are four weeks in a month, so that should be eight people right? Im trying to prevent that eigth murder from happening."

"You would think that someone killing so much in so little time would have to have left some sort of clues as to how to find him..."

"Yes, you would. But after careful examinations of each body, I could find nothing more than that the killer is two different people working together, or one person who is ambidextrous. The knife slashes on certain bodies were made from left and right hand held knives. There were no fingerprints, no dna samples, nothing at all on the bodies. There might've been something at the murderscenes, but I dont believe the police are working on this hard enough, which in turn makes me wonder if they aren't corrupt..." The reporter started, surprised at his comment.
"That a very bold accusation! Especially to say on live tv!"

"Well, it is only a thought. But perhaps, if more people were to believe that, there would could be two outcomes. The poilce are corrupt, and we'll figure them out in numbers, or they're not, and will work harder on the case to prove their innocence."

"Speaking of proof, how do we know youre telling the truth?"

"I have pictures, but you might want to tell your audience to have their children look away. I also have the families of the victims waiting by the phone if you wish to speak with them."

"We will indeed show the pictures, and if you could arrange it we'd like to interview the families." The pictures slid across the screen. Bodies brutally beaten, mutilated, burned, all sorts of torture methods. A few chats with families and it was finished, Gaara stood, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you very much for letting me put my story out there." And without waiting for a reply, he walked off screen.

The three of them sat staring blankly at the television. Sakura was the first to break the silence.

She looked at her hands in her lap, and speaking softly said, "And to think... you were out there walking alone today. That... that could've been you, Naruto." she tilted her head to look at him and her eyes widened in shock. His face was twisted by a cruel, evil... feral smile. Very faint laughter escaped through his clenched teeth. Sakura unconsiously moved away from him.

"Naruto...?" He looked at her, his face looked worried, but it was normal. Had she even seen that dark face, or had she imagined it? She decided to believe the latter, there was no way Naruto could look so evil.

"Lee, you make sure Sakura never has to walk anywhere alone... I dont want to see either of you guys on the news like that... or any other way than alive."

Lee nodded vigourously, taking Sakuras hand and squeezing it gently.

"Well now, isnt that a sweet thought." A silky smooth, cold as ice voice crept over their spines and the back of their necks, raising all the tiny hairs, "I would help protect the princess... if I cared." They could hear the smirk in his voice. Naruto twisted on the couch and glared with all the hatred he could, directly into the face of Uchiha Itatchi.

Itatchi grinned at Naruto.

"What? No greeting? No warm welcome?" his smirk widened.

"Hardly." Naruto replied shortly. He looked down at Sakura with an eyebrow raised.

"Naruto, meet our 'company'" Ahh so this is who she meant.

"Why are you here?" Naruto spat.

"Business, boy, Ive been here for a little over a month. Thought I would drop by and see my darling baby brother and his uhm... friends."

Naurto stood, crossing his arms in defiance.

"Well Im sure I speak for us all, including Sasuke, when I say we dont want you here." Itatchi's eyes flashed for a brief millisecond. Naruto didnt miss it. Sasukes eyes did the same thing from time to time. They both had some sort of sixth sense that allowed them to see through you. See how you really felt, sometimes what you were really thinking. It was like they could see into your soul, it worked well for telling if people were speaking truth or not... which helped alot in Itatchi's perfession. But it only worked if they were looking directly into your eyes. Naruto cursed himself for trying to stare down Itatchi.


"Theres evil in you boy... strong evil. A huge mass of anger and hurt... pooling inside you. Still for now, but how long before something upsets it and sends ripples spreading across its calm smooth surface? Or perhaps... its already been disturbed." Itatchi's smirk was still there, but Naruto could swear he saw fear in his eyes. He glanced nervously over at Sakura and Lee. Lee had a look of unbelieving, Sakura looked worried. Naruto growled angrily at Itatchi and stormed out of the house.

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A/N: You ever write a story and then dont wanna finish it... but you do. Like... you just wish someone else had written it and finished it... so that you can enjoy reading it instead of having to write it all out XD Thats how I am with this one. I just wish it was done, so I could read it and enjoy it haha. Oh well

You guys, if you find any mistakes or things I need to correct, point them out? I dont have a beta so Im just kinda takin help as I can get it ^^

Anyway, on the whole Sailor Moon thing, SM is my favourite Anime hahaha so Fans, dont get upset at Sakuras horrible burn on it lol as for the soap operas, I only watch degrassi hahaha which is kinda like that... but not nearly as horrible as the ones my parents AND grandparents watch =)

REVIEW!!! Huzzah! The second chapter is pretty much finished, BUT I will not post it until I have reviews bwahahaha <3

What are you guys thoughts on this whole concept? I wanted to write a much darker story, and I wanted to show another side to Naruto.. hes always so cheery and hyper or else hes angry and determined. The only time you really get to see him any other way, is for brief times when hes with Sakura, Sasuke, talking about Sasuke, thinking about Sasuke, being nice to cheer others up... that kinda thing. He needs a darker half, he cant be THAT uneffected by his past. damn! Sasuke is TO effected, Naruto is not enough wtf. haha anyhow,

They all pretty much have some form of their power in this alternate reality too, like the sharingan being able to see through emotions and what not... they all have something like that, unless I obviously cant work it into 'reality' like chidori or something or the animal summoning haha

Anyway, ONTO CHAPTER TWO!