Over Halloween I had enjoyed certain great classics, including "Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages" (a 1922 silent film) and "I Walked With a Zombie" released in 1943. The last month was rife on TCM with horror gems in black and white. As well was the Tales from the Crypt movie "Ritual", which was inspired by "I Walked With a Zombie" - these two and "Haxan" bring me to finally give what I carefully had to plan. Next week is Thanksgiving, so we're not gonna spoil Christmas next month with something meant to be horrific. XD

Sasuke Uchiha is a young doctor in Los Angeles, engaged to his beloved fellow physician Sakura Haruno. When Sasuke is suspended following the death of a patient, the couple heads to the Caribbean where his estranged brother has mysteriously fallen ill - but Itachi appears more dead than alive. Can they solve the mystery behind his illness as well as the bizarre killings occurring?

I own nothing of Naruto or the horror films that inspired this new fic.

Chapter One

How could this have happened?

Why did she have to die?!

And worse: why did he have to suffer because he tried doing what he believed was the right thing...and in the end, it was for nothing?

His vision blurred when he read the letter from his and his fiancée's boss which impacted his world with a devastation that rivaled the fault this state rested on. He really could use a drink right now, or maybe a sleeping pill to pass out early, but she wouldn't approve when she came home to find him like this before she made dinner. And he wasn't even hungry tonight, either.

Sasuke Uchiha, MD. Yeah, busting his balls through medical school when he left home with his girlfriend who got a full scholarship and wanted to get away from Japan for a better life in the states. During school, they both ended up getting citizenship and graduating both with their MDs after four years of undergraduate before passing the MCAT. It was rare for a couple like them to go together and pass together. Several years of this painful studying had been worth it. Both of them were now respectable doctors barely even thirty and working at the clinic. Survival rate was on and off, but with him and Sakura among the best, just how often would you find someone who never let a patient go without a fight?

They had been engaged for two years now. Things hadn't exactly been...enriching for them, and even though they had coworkers, their real friends were back home in Konoha, Japan. He just wanted more, and to get away from his family. Sakura was the first in her own to leave the impoverished life and took to America. Her relationship with her parents wasn't great, and neither was his - except his brother whom he hadn't spoken to in years. It was like Itachi to hardly pay attention to him anymore since they were kids.

Family estrangement aside, Sasuke Uchiha became a doctor because he didn't know what to do with his life as the spotlight had always been on Itachi - but it also gave him a purpose. Saving a life...but the times of failure made his temper break like there was no tomorrow.

Just like the night he lost Jennifer Grayson, an eight-year-old LA native with a severe stage of leukemia.

He would never forget the look in her eye as she pleaded with him to help her, still wearing the oxygen mask. There was one way to save her, and it had taken his chance to try and speak to the administrator herself, Tsunade, to let him use the new form of an already existing drug that was being created by Rock Lee, a good friend of Sakura's during undergraduate school, but the medical board, as the head doctor herself stated, took a hell of a while to compare compassionate use and the use of non-FDA approved drugs - and disastrous career consequences.

Tsunade was a good woman, Sakura looked up to her, and he should have known better. He clashed when he knew he was right, but this time, he went too far and paid for it. Within the night, he got the call and made it in time to Jennifer's room where the lines were flat. Electrical currents to the chest, oxygen pumps and an attempt to stimulate the heart - everything was futile. The little girl was gone. And it's my fault.

You are a talented doctor, a caring man, and under no circumstances should you blame yourself for Jennifer's death. However, by prescribing Cyclophosphamide and by disobeying my specific instructions, you have compromised this institution's legal standing. I have no choice but to recommend that your license be suspended for no less than two years.

Sakura wasn't home yet. In a way, he was glad that she wouldn't have to be here - yet - to see the mess he was now. If she was going to judge him, then he ought to delay even if it made him feel worse. When he didn't even feel like it, he decided to get out the boneless steak and rice he chose to make for her when she got home because it gave him something to do.

But as he flipped the meat over in the pan, the rich scent making him feel even more nauseated than he was, the hideous word continued to repeat in his mind: suspended.

Suspended.

SUSPENDED.

The door opening made him nearly knock off the frying pan and burn his arm. He yelped in surprise and whirled around to see his fiancée coming in, equally startled as she didn't expect to see him home so early and making dinner which was her job. "Sasuke?" She was at a loss for words. "I heard some at work talking about..."

Joy, word gets around and comes around. He had never lied to her before, but there were times he wished he didn't have to feel obligated to tell her anything. He wasn't fired, but it sounded horrid and a wicked blow to his pride. Suspended might be minor in comparison, but in a way, it still felt worse. He couldn't practice medicine for two years, and to be stuck at home while the woman he was getting married to would still go in to the place that now made him feel like a criminal was nightmarish. He couldn't stand to be inside all day, and to take that "easy" route wouldn't make it better. With his license on hold, who was going to accept him with his credentials and this mark on his record?

"Sweetheart, maybe you should change and let me finish for you," Sakura offered, pecking him on the cheek, but he pulled away. Any close contact was making him feel worse, and he just hurt her feelings.

"Thank you, but it's almost done," he muttered.

Dinner was silent, with the meat and the brown rice as well as side of greens, and she brought out one of the red wines she bought on her own salary because she wanted to. Knowing it was going to be her he would depend on for a certain amount of time made him feel ill and useless. She saw this and decided what she wanted to know could wait. Whatever she'd heard at the clinic amongst their colleagues - or did she talk to Tsunade in private? - she got enough. Her arms wrapped around his waist from behind when he decided to pick up the dishes for her and handle.

"We're going to make it through, Sasuke-kun."

~o~

Drums and chanting.

Distorted figures dancing.

Vividly outlined fires lapping.

A ceremony.

He didn't sleep that night because of what happened two days ago and that dream he had. Sasuke opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling which was streaked with lights penetrating the glass window; at night, the streets came alive with wilder, more dangerous activity. If he were a teenager again, irresponsible and craving adrenaline, he would have taken his old motorcycle and woke Sakura beside him to have a late-night ride for however long they wanted.

But those days were over. He was a responsible adult with a future - but it went down the drain because of himself. Compassion, his ass.

Compassion was what Sakura taught him to have around those who went to them regarding their health, and it settled in the first time he met a young man of eighteen who was a street biker, with a heart and a bad attitude in one after growing up with a stepmother on booze and his father absent much of the time. He really did try as hard as he could to amount, but nothing ever worked, so he ended up turning to drinking and picking up fights. It sounded like himself in his younger days, with absence of drinking and drugs. He would have fallen too deep in the pit if Sakura and Naruto hadn't been there - and Itachi. This had all occurred years after their mother died.

Sasuke pushed down the sheets, showing off his naked chest to no one in particular but the air that raised his gooseflesh and caused his nipples to harden. His sweat cooled the heat that had festered in his slumber. Beside him, Sakura lay on her side, back facing him, and snoring softly. He smiled and reached over to gently play with the strands of her short pink hair, not tugging because he didn't want to wake her. It was the middle of May. They were supposed to be married in a month from today, at the beach with their colleagues to witness, and it was a relief that it was in time for his disgrace.

I can just hear dear old Otou-san telling me why he wondered that I could have been anything like Itachi.

He distracted himself by reaching for the top drawer of his bedside table, pulling it open and finding the little black box atop, and he opened it to show both her ring and his. The money he'd earned had been enough to get them, and you have any idea how much pink diamonds and white ones together were worth separate - much less together? It had been a good thing that he'd saved up in five months after finishing school, getting both this and his. The moment his eyes laid on the warm rosy band encrusted with tiny white stones and a bubbling swirl of larger pink ones, it was like a magical dream that reality couldn't burn to ashes.

Finally, him: the state of California was infamous in the mid-1800s for the Gold Rush - this golden nugget thing was sectioned by silver. Nature was going to hug his finger for the rest of his life while she was fingered by eternal bliss. He snorted to himself; there was no such thing as eternal happiness, because it could only last one at a time. He might not have been able to do that to his career, but as long as she was beside him through thick and thin like now, then that was more than enough for him.

Except when their friends from Japan came along with their coworkers next month - oh, he was going to be the butt of gossip on that day - he could count one such person he doubted would attend. Or maybe he would just show up and surprise everyone.

~o~

First day of summer.

He had been unemployed for a month now, and yet he and his bride-to-be still managed to make it this far. He had been searching for a new job for a while, one that didn't require a license, but Sakura tried to assure him that it would be fine, and his limits were tested every time he heard those words.

Here he was standing now, before the arch that had been put together with help. It was twisted with branches, giving it the look of something under the sea, crawling with countless different seashells, and white gossamer draped from the top to cover the backdrop that was the turquoise ocean waters. His clothing wasn't anywhere near formal; he chose a loose white shirt and cargo shorts, standing barefoot in the sand, and the guests - a total of twenty - sat on white chairs, the aisle lined with balls of white flowers. He admitted he didn't really care about it as long as he married Sakura, leaving the planning mostly to her, yet now he found himself wanting to look at the details. Anything to not meet the eyes of those watching him.

His skin was breaking into sweat again, not only from the humiliation, but at the sight of his bride coming down his way, escorted by none other than Tsunade who was smiling at him, trying to be kind to him, but the sting of her suspending his license - even though she knew why he did what he had to, and it had been his choice - made his cheeks burn. Sasuke, think about your wife and nothing else. This is what you waited for all your life. Be happy for once.

Focusing on his bride was what he did, and that also meant admiring how she dressed up for him. The dress was white, of course, with billowing sleeves that tightened at the wrists, was pushed off the shoulders, and had a peasant-like rustle around her curves. Over the back of her scalp, ear to ear, was a burst of pearls and crystal. She also still wore the radiant marquise-cut moonstones she preferred every day. Finally, a long rope of pearls suspended with a tear-shaped set of crystals in an Art Deco pattern, dripping with a tassel; in between the long rope and against her exposed skin was the pendant she loved so much.

The five rings, sparkling subtly, signifying unity.

His throat was dry just by the sight of her, his mind frying that he nearly lost track of the preacher's vows when he was asked if he would take this beautiful, fierce woman to be his wife as long as they lived, for better and worse, until death they parted. "Yes," he rasped.

When Sakura was asked the same, she replied in a choke, trying not to cry. When it came to the ring exchange, her eyes sparkled as brightly as the gems he slipped around her digit, which earned murmurs of praise at the choice.

The feeling of being married had never felt so good that he forgot about his problems for now. But then came the celebration by the docks, at the local bar and grill, which he had dreaded. That place had wonderful food and drink, but the last thing he wanted - and could not escape - was the talk of his near bringing down of their clinic regarding Rock Lee's invention which was going to be approved in a few months, he just learned.

In a few months, and here I am without a job for less than two more years.

If he had waited a few more months, he wouldn't have been in this mess. But life had no crystal ball and no direct routes.

Sakura sensed his impending gloom and leaned up to kiss him on the lips, hoping to distract him, and she did. Now he wanted to get them home even faster before the sun went down.

And when the rich evening colors came, here they were back at their apartment overlooking the beach and its surrounding small shops. The seagulls chirped their tune.

Neither of them said a word as they headed right for the bedroom. He was unbuttoning his shirt and turning his back to her, knowing she was doing the same. Somehow he felt this start being more...technical instead of something special. Despite sharing the same bed since moving in together, they never had sex. He stirred with knowing it would finally happen. When he unbuttoned his shorts and pushed them down along with his briefs, the air made his member stiffen with more heated blood. This is our wedding night, not a physical examination.

Sasuke was just turning around when he felt his face heat up at seeing Sakura still in her undergarments while he was completely naked. But it also turned him on to see the triangular bra and bikini accentuating her breasts and the fork of her thighs, all tied with satiny ribbons. He could see through the sheer lace the small, dark outlines of her nipples and pubes. The garter she kept on even after he removed it during the reception was small and delicate, the little flowers set with a few pearls. Sasuke walked over and knelt before her just as she was sitting down on the foot of the bed. Take it slow was what he was going to do, starting with the little garment around her left thigh. He ended up caressing smooth skin smelling of strawberries, kissing it in trails north at the same time he pulled the garter south. He tugged it off her ankle at the same time he touched the base of her thigh where her triangle was.

She stiffened, holding her breath, trying to stay controlled. He smirked. Just watch; he might make her come undone soon enough. He could think of so many things he wanted to do with her, waiting so long for this. Most men were impatient to jump the gun with strippers in one night stands or in high school for rock relief - but here he was with a woman he actually loved. His brother had said that women were not baby machines or pleasure devices to be discarded after use. It was a lesson Sasuke would never forget.

The lace was removed - the bikini by him and the bra by its owner - so all of his new wife was seen for him. Sasuke settled in between her legs as he sat up on his knees on the foot of the bed, starting with both of her breasts, taking her nipples between his teeth to make her writhe and try to fight him off only to fail. He slid further onto the bed, pushing them both towards the pillows, and her legs wrapped around his waist.

He sank deep into her, breaking through the barrier in a single thrust, her muscles closing down on him as she stifled a little cry. Her hold around his shoulders and waist tightened, pleading with him to move. He made love to her slowly but firmly. They had the entire weekend off, so they were going to spend it here at home all day, then down at the beach, and no fancy resort to get away to. This was all he needed.

Love wasn't about money and impression; it was about working together and taking a day at a time, working with what you had already.

Somewhere late in the night, they were both awaken by the sound of his phone ringing. Grunting and scowling, he wondered who the hell it could be at this time of night. Not bothering to look at the caller ID, he growled, "Who is calling at this time of night?" It couldn't be Tsunade, Lee or anyone at the hospital, because they could have phoned Sakura instead of him directly - but then the rasping voice made him bolt upright in bed, startling his wife as she watched with doe-like eyes, just as shocked as he was.

"It's me, otouto."

Cyclophosphamide is used to treat leukemia as well as other forms of cancer. This chemotherapy drug slows down or stops cell growth, and also works by decreasing your immune system's response to diseases. It can also treat kidney disease in children after other methods fail.

Duh duh duh, big brother calls after all these years. Let's see what happens next. Review please. :D