Out of Place

Chapter8

Sakura looked down at the room from where she had stuck herself to the ceiling. Her guide (who had no idea about her existence) was sitting in his usual spot by the window whilst four heads peaked out from the cots set up across the floor. The owners of the heads appeared to be sleeping peacefully whilst the man was left to take the night watch.

 Her brows furrowed as she examined her guides features more carefully. He had dark circles under his eyes, a clear sign that he hadn't been sleeping well. This wasn't much of a surprise since her clone had told her that he was stressing over something, what, she did not know but she figured it had something to do with the four slumbering males in the room. His brows were furrowed creating a small crease on his brow. His shoulders were tense and the pinkette could tell that he was on edge about something.

'Maybe it has something to do with the ominous presences I sense approaching this village. Shannaro!'

Sakura blinked. 'What?'

'There are.. four dark presences approaching. They will arrive soon so I advise you to prepare, shannaro.'

'..... We need to have a talk about you notifying me about these things sooner.'

The kunoichi exhaled softly as she spread out her awareness. Inner was right about them approaching the village but by the speed they were going at they would arrive sooner then she had originally presumed. She looked at her guide, it was highly probable that the man was expecting whoever the owners of the presences were and that he was anxious about their arrival. 

She briefly wondered whether they were friend or foe but maybe she could meet up with the four dark and ominous presences and see for herself.

'That's an idiotic idea. Shannaro!' Sakura huffed at her other half's comment but chose to ignore it as she switched places with her clone who was still in the form of a fly. Thankfully her clone hadn't ventured very far from outside the stranger's room, instead, she had stayed in front of the door. Sakura exited the building with the speed and stealth of the highly respected ninja that she was. The pinkette sprinted off in the direction of the four ominous beings she and Inner had sensed. 

Whoever the beings who owned the dark presence were they were either very dumb or extremely strong to not mask their presence. As she got closer to the four the air around her seemed to grow colder and more dense. The further she travelled the more the air felt as if it was suffocating her, strangling her until she could breathe no longer. 

Her fiery emerald eyes narrowed, whether or not the group of four were friends of the stranger, she didn't like the aura they gave off. It was one of death and despair, one that brought fear to all who had the misfortune of feeling it. If she wasn't a kunoichi who had experienced the horrors of death and war then she was sure that she would be cowering somewhere, trying to get as far away from the group and foreboding aura as she could.

Sakura stopped short a little ways past a gate that led out of the village as she caught sight of the demonic owners of the horrifying presences. They wore long, black cloaks and had their hoods up, covering their faces from view. Their whole appearance reminded her of a large shadow that was cast over the world to doom and destroy. Her brows furrowed when she picked up on the dark chakra that was rolling off them.

'How odd.' She thought, 'I've never felt such intense killing intent..' The killing intent coming from the four wasn't aimed directly at her but she still felt it head on.

The horses they were riding looked dead. They were black and had on armour, they looked as if they had been bred to ride through war. They were taller than Sakura but that wasn't a very hard feat to achieve since she was only 5ft tall.

"Step out of the way!" Their deadly voices froze the air and Sakura's eyes widened when she realised that they spoke in a language that was unknown to her. 

'Odd.' She thought. 'They are defiantly odd.'

The group of four seemed to grow impatient for one of them stormed towards her, their blade raised, ready to decapitate her. Sakura shunshined behind the cloaked.. whatever it was and punched the dark figure in the back. The dark shadow howled in pain as it flew off its horse and Sakura barely refrained from covering her ears at the terrible noise.

Another one of the shadows (as Sakura was now calling them) charged at her and the pinkette grabbed one of the kunai with the Hiraishin seal wrapped round it out of her weapons pouch. She flung it at the incoming enemy as she prepared three more kunai (without the Hiraishin seal wrapped round them) in each of her hands. The shadow managed to dodge the projectile and continued to charge at her. Just when the shadow was about to hit Sakura with their blade the pinkette disappeared.

A/N: I am sorry that this chapter was so short, I haven't been feeling great so it's been hard to find the motivation to write. I just want to say thank you to all of you for being so supportive and reading my work!

Sorry for any mistakes!

Hope you enjoyed!