Wanted to try my hand at something slightly scary. To my LAL readers, I apologize for not uploading the next chapter. It's halfway finished, but I'm having trouble finding inspiration for it at the moment due to my new living/working conditions. (I did get a job, and it's as a nanny. I'm living with the mom and her kids, so free time is at a bare minimum. As it is, I'm at school right now. XD)

The supernatural has always been a source of curiosity and fear for the human race as a whole. Curiosity, because seeing something "from the other side" means there is proof of a life after death. Fear, because that something may not be what you expect. Fear, because you may not be able to fight back.

~ Paralyzed, Part One ~

The sound of her alarm clock angrily beeping at her to wake up pulled Sakura Haruno, age twenty, from the blissful world of her dreams to the decidedly colder reality of her apartment's bedroom. Groaning, she managed to push her arm through her layers of warm blankets into the cool air of her room and slapped her hand onto the top of the source of the obnoxious beeping, fingers searching for the snooze button. She sighed as she pulled her arm back into the warmth of her bed and started to doze off again.

That is, until she remembered that she had a medical terminology test in precisely twenty-four minutes and she still had to take a shower.

"Shit!" she cried, wincing as she violently tossed the covers off of her body and jumped to the carpeted floor. Ripping her towel from the back of her desk chair, she raced into the adjoined bathroom, not even bothering to shut the door, and twisted the shower handle on. Deciding not to wait for the water to warm up, she struggled out of her pajamas and braved the icy temperature of the water, rubbing at her eyes to wake herself up more completely.

Mentally reviewing the most recent chapter she had learned in her class, she scrubbed at her hair and body, trying to wake up as much as possible because she just knew she'd have to deal with not having any coffee this morning.

Finishing in a record time of eight minutes, she turned the water off and dried herself, running into her room again to find her scrubs. She always told her fashion-savvy best friend, Ino, that the best part of going to college to be a doctor was that she got to wear scrubs if she didn't feel like dressing up. Of course, Ino was always appalled that her friend wouldn't spend at least an hour before school prettying up and trying to look her absolute best.

Running back to her bathroom, she brushed her damp hair, frowning because now she knew it was going to be frizzy since she was letting it air-dry. Staring longingly at her hair drier for a second, she turned and ran to her desk, shoving her books for the morning into her backpack and simultaneously scanning the room for her sneakers. Spotting them peeking out from under her bed, she sat down and pulled them on, quickly tying them and jumping up to grab her bag. After one last cursory glace around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, she ran out of her room, through the living room, and out the door, locking it and sprinting for the stairs.

"Sakura Haruno…" her professor called, just as she sat down at her desk.

"I'm here," she called breathlessly, having run the quarter mile her apartment building was from the school campus. Some of her classmates snickered at her disheveled appearance, and she ignored it, pulling out a pen and taking some deep breaths.

Having reached the end of the role call, the professor cleared his throat and said, "Remember: cell phones are off and in your bags, books under your desks, and no talking. This test will be easy if you studied." A few students shifted nervously in their seats at that last remark, and Sakura let out a puff of breath. It was a good thing she had studied the night before, apparently.

As soon as the professor ordered them to begin, she flipped her test over and went about the monotonous task of answering the questions.

"Geeze, Forehead. No coffee this morning? Or did you just wake up late," Ino asked, grinning at her friend's slightly frizzy hair and wrinkled scrubs.

"Shut it, Pig," Sakura replied, grinning back. "I set my alarm for eight-thirty last night, but I had forgotten that I had the test first thing this morning, so I had about twenty minutes to get ready."

Ino grimaced. "No wonder you look like hell. What else do you have going on today?" she asked, walking towards one of the lunch tables in the cafeteria.

Sakura took a bite of her pear, chewing slowly before answering. "Nothing, really. I have the day off from work, and I don't have any night classes tonight." Pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down, she looked at the blonde. "Why? Did you have something planned?"

Also sitting down, Ino smirked. "Yeah, actually. You know that house over by where the old town library used to be?"

Sakura inwardly sighed. "The one that's supposedly haunted? Seriously, Ino? We're adults, not kids looking for a good scare because of an old bedtime story."

Ino leaned forward on her elbows, propping her chin up with her fists. "Why are you so against it? Is wittle Sakuwa a fwaidy cat?" She laughed as her friend threw a chunk of pear at her face. "No, but seriously. Why don't you want to go?"

Sakura scrunched up her face in consternation. "I dunno. I just don't think it's such a good idea. I mean, what if the cops just happen to be driving by and catch us in there? That could ruin this whole scholarship thing that I've got going on, you know? I just don't want to risk it."

Ino was about to say something when a guy in a bright orange shirt ran over, dragging another student behind him. "Sakura! You're going, right? Ino, did you tell her yet? Shikamaru said he's coming with us! Right, Shikamaru?" he asked excitedly, glancing behind himself at the one he had been pulling along.

"Naruto, would you please not try to dislocate my arm the next time you want me to follow you? You're such a pain in the ass," Shikamaru groaned, rubbing his sore shoulder.

Ino jumped up and smacked Naruto upside the head. "You idiot! Stop hurting my baby!" Before Naruto, or anyone else for that matter, could get another word in, Ino turned and attached herself to her boyfriend and started cooing and kissing his shoulder. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and muttered something about "troublesome women."

Sakura giggled at the scene. "In answer to your question, Naruto-"

"Yes, she's going," Ino said in an 'and that's final' tone and went back to fawning over her boyfriend again.

Before Sakura could protest, Naruto punched his fist up into the air and gave a whoop of joy. "This is gonna be so epic, Sakura! We're gonna have so much fun! I heard so many creepy stories about that place, it's not even funny! Choji told me that he heard from Lee who heard it from Tenten who heard it from… was it Genma? I dunno, but I heard that there was this one kid…"

Sakura tuned him out, concentrating on eating her pear. She didn't really care about the stories. The sooner this day was over, the sooner she'd be able to go home after the stupid haunted house thing and get some much-needed rest.

Sakura shivered in her black hoodie as she stood with the rest of the group outside of the old Hillside Manor. The hazy glow of the moon was just starting to push through the dark clouds overhead, casting an ethereal glow about the fenced-in property. A chilly breeze swept through the trees and past the group of college students, heading down the dimly lit, dead-end street behind them. Somewhere off in the woods behind the nineteenth century house, an owl hooted morosely.

"Well," Sakura stated aloud. "It's no wonder people think this place is haunted. The property itself is giving me the creeps."

Choji laughed. "This? This is nothing. I've been to a place with my dad where the air makes you nauseous with fear. This place isn't scary at all." Being the group supernatural fanatic, Choji knew just about everything about anything paranormal. He and his family had traveled all over the place looking for haunted houses, hotels, and cemeteries, and to top it off, he was a horror movie buff.

Sakura sighed. "Whatever. Can we just get this over with? I want to be able to get at least some sleep tonight."

Naruto laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "No worries, Sakura. I'll protect you," he said, winking at her and grinning mischievously. Sakura huffed and ducked out from under his arm, walking ahead of the group.

"So, why didn't Hinata and Kiba come with us?" Sakura asked over her shoulder.

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess they're not into the whole ghost thing. Hinata's super religious and Kiba doesn't go anywhere unless she does, being lovesick and all." He snickered when Sakura looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at him.

Sakura faced forward once again, surveying her surroundings nervously. Something about the place felt wrong, but she figured it was just because she felt strange trespassing onto someone else's property, even if that someone was quite dead and had been for about a century. The last owner left town two months after moving into the house for unknown reasons about four years ago. They hadn't stayed long enough to make friends and consequently, no factual information had ever been divulged amongst the townsfolk.

However, there were stories that people liked to tell. They were mostly created to keep kids off the property on Halloween, and most people didn't believe them. There were some who did, but mostly just the "spiritualists" and the elderly. No one ever took them seriously as it was, and when it came to ghost stories, they were even less credible sources for the truth.

One of those stories about the last owner was that he had been pushed down the stairs by an unseen force, tossed around against the walls of the foyer, and literally thrown out the door before it slammed and locked itself.

Another one was that he had been pulled from his bed and dragged down the stairs to the first floor on one occasion before he ran out the door screaming.

There were more stories that were more outlandish that she hadn't bothered paying attention to. These two were the ones that scared her, though. She had always been a bit of a control freak; Ino was always picking on her for it and telling her to just sit back and let things happen on their own for once. To not be able to control something that was happening to you had always been something that Sakura feared, and to not be able to fight back because you can't touch your attacker was something that she found downright terrifying.

Crossing her arms protectively over her chest, she frowned up at the darkened porch and regal front door, catching her pale reflection in the glass. She slowly walked up the porch steps, listening to the creaking of the boards beneath her sneakers and the laughter of her friends getting closer behind her. She frowned as she thought about how long this little trip would take; twenty-five, thirty minutes at the most? She hoped that would be it, as she was suddenly feeling rather tired and drained.

"So this is it: the famous Hillside Manor," Shikamaru drawled as he stepped up onto the porch beside Sakura. "This is gonna be such a drag. This place hasn't been used in four years, so there's bound to be tons of dust built up, and then my allergies are gonna start acting up. Plus, who knows what kind of pests are living in there? Rats, spiders, flies… what a drag…"

Sakura laughed, feeling her sour mood lighten a bit at her friend's sarcastic personality. "Aw, come on, Shikamaru. I want to be here even less than you do, so just deal with it." She started to take another step forward when Ino spoke up.

"Alright, guys. Remember, if you see any flashing red and blue lights, either hide or run out the back door if you can find it. And if anything else happens that could be potentially harmful to any of us, run like hell outta there, got it?" she said, laughing.

"Joke all you want, Ino," Choji said, uncharacteristically serious. "You can never be too safe since you never know what's gonna happen. Just use your best instincts and stick together."

The group giggled nervously as Ino marched up and opened the door, and Sakura stiffened involuntarily as the door squeaked. "How clichéd," she muttered, smirking at her own reaction and how Ino snorted, apparently having thought the same thing.

A hush fell over the five of them as the stale air from within the house washed over the doorway. A puff of dust came up from the floor as Ino pushed the door back even further to reveal a darkened foyer and the depths of the house beyond.

"Awesome!" Naruto stage-whispered. "This place is totally creepy!"

"Shut up and go inside, already," Shikamaru grumbled, kicking Naruto in the back of one of his knees.

Sakura peered down at the dust-covered sofa warily, wondering if something would jump out from beneath the cushions if she sat down. Shrugging her shoulders, she slowly lowered herself to the edge of the couch and faced the flickering candle that Ino had found and lit with Shikamaru's lighter. "So, what exactly are we doing now?" she asked, watching apprehensively as Ino reached into her oversized purse and pulled out a long, flat box. "And how the hell did you fit that in your purse? What is it, anyway?"

Ino laughed. "Take a chill pill, Sakura. This," she said, setting the box down onto the floor between them and drawing everyone else's attention. "This is a Ouija board."

Choji grimaced. "Put it away, Ino. Those things are dangerous. There're other ways to talk to spirits without putting up a neon sign to draw potentially evil spirits straight towards us."

"Please, Ino. This is stupid," Sakura said nervously. She figured if Choji didn't like this Ouija board thing, then she definitely shouldn't.

"Don't worry, guys," Ino said testily. "The reason why bad things happen to some people who use Ouija boards is because they don't do it right."

"And what, exactly, makes you an expert on Ouija boards all of a sudden?" Shikamaru drawled, settling down beside Ino on the floor.

"Yeah, I wanna know how you got so smart all of a sudden, Blondie," Naruto said, smirking as he sat down in front of Sakura's couch.

Ino scowled. "You're blond, too, Naruto. I wouldn't be cracking blond jokes if I were you. But in answer to your question," here she reached into her purse again, pulling out a booklet. "I read the instructions. Duh!"

The group chuckled collectively and settled into a circle around the board. Sakura sighed and lowered herself to the floor beside Naruto. "So, how do we do this? Is there chanting involved? Because if there is, I'm so outta here."

Ino rolled her eyes from her seat on the floor across from Sakura. "No, you dolt. Everyone, put your hands on the planchette, like you're hardly touching it. The whole point is to have a spirit spell out answers to questions that we ask, and it can't do that if people control the planchette."

Naruto and Ino were the first to put their fingers on the small, heart-shaped pointer. Next, Shikamaru and Choji slowly put their fingers on the edges. Sakura stared at the one empty spot on the plank, deliberating as to whether or not she really wanted to participate in something so juvenile. Sure, her friends would laugh at her if she left now, but she felt strange sitting in an abandoned house and playing with a spirit board. What if something were to happen, like the board actually worked? Logically, it's more likely that one of her friends would be moving the planchette, most likely Naruto or Ino. But if something were to happen, it would shake all of her logical beliefs down to their foundations.

"You still there, Sakura?" Shikamaru asked, peering at her in that slightly-concerned-for-you-even-though-it's-so-troublesome sort of way that he had.

"Ah, what the hell," Sakura sighed, lifting her hands and placing her fingertips on the empty space of the planchette. She rolled her eyes as Ino grinned excitedly.

"Alright, remember: don't move it! Let it move by itself, got it?" Ino asked, practically squealing with anticipation. When everyone nodded, she closed her eyes, completely intent on looking mystical and all-knowing. In a giddy, yet commanding voice, she said, "Alright, listen up spirits! If any of you are here, we invite you to come have a little chat with us. And by the way, if you're evil or something, screw you! We don't wanna talk to you, so go away!"

"Ino," Choji hissed. "Haven't you watched any movies about the paranormal? You don't provoke something like that, you idiot!"

"Shut up, Choji, I know what I'm doing." Ino cleared her throat, and spoke again. "Are there any spirits who'd like to speak to us?"

The group waited, hands brought together over the planchette, and waited with bated breath. After a few moments and no movement from the small pointer, Sakura huffed.

"This is so stupid. Can I go home now?"

The planchette shifted, and everyone gasped as it moved directly to the "No" at the top of the board.

Ino smirked. "The spirits say you can't, so I guess you'll just have to stay."

Naruto laughed and Sakura glared at her best friend. "You moved it. I thought you told us not to mess with the planchette, Pig."

"Alright, fine! I moved it. But for real, now: if there are any spirits who'd like to speak with us, please come forward!"

Ino stared intently at the planchette beneath everyone's fingers. Naruto, serious for once, did the same, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration, as if thinking hard would cause something to happen. Shikamaru had a glazed look to his eyes, as if he was sleeping with his eyes open. Choji looked uncomfortable, chewing on his lip and staring at his fingers. Sakura looked around at her friends' faces, looking for any signs of anyone thinking of moving the planchette again. She almost wanted it to move by itself, just to see what everyone's reactions would be, hers included.

A sudden, deep growling sound erupted from nearby, causing everyone but Choji to jump. Shikamaru snorted as if he had been about to snore and was woken up suddenly, and Naruto managed to muffle his shout of surprise. Ino squeaked and Sakura stared, horrified, to her left, where she had heard the noise.

Choji laughed nervously. "Sorry, um… I only had three servings tonight at dinner before Ino called me… So, that was my stomach, not something supernatural."

There was a collective sigh of relief, and Naruto muttered something about a "supernatural appetite" under his breath, and Ino giggled.

There was a pause where no one spoke, concentrating on the board again. "Maybe the spirits don't like Ino," Naruto stated. "That could be why they aren't responding."

Ino glared at the other blond over the candle. "Well, if you're such a smarty-pants, why don't you ask the questions? Hm?"

Naruto grinned devilishly. "If you insist, Barbie." He made a show of straightening up and focusing on the planchette again, and spoke in his loud, obnoxious way, "Yo, spirits! Do you think Ino's annoying?"

Everyone watched the board even more intently, seeming even more interested in the answer the spirits would provide to such a question than they were before. After a few moments, Sakura's skin started tingling unpleasantly, as if she had walked through a spider's web, and her skin prickled with goose bumps. She felt her heart skip a beat and she gasped in shock as she felt the planchette move beneath her fingers, only this time, it felt as though it was actually moving by itself and not by someone in their circle.

After the initial shock wore off, Naruto burst out laughing. "See? Even ghosts think you're annoying, Ino! It said 'yes,' ha-ha!"

Ino scowled murderously as Shikamaru said through his chuckling, "It's okay, babe. Annoying isn't a totally bad thing."

"Alright!" Ino growled. "Enough already. Ha-ha, Ghostie, very funny. Now that we've all had a laugh, how about you tell us your name?"

The planchette moved more readily this time, and everyone read aloud the letters it pointed out. Sakura whispered each letter in awe, "U-C-H-I-H-A."

"Uchiha?" Ino muttered. "That's a name I haven't heard in a long time…"

Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion. "Uchiha? I've never heard of it before."

"The first owners of this house had that name. That's interesting," Shikamaru stated thoughtfully. "What is your first name, Uchiha?"

Sakura watched silently as the board spelled out 'Sasuke.' Her fingers grew cold and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

"Alright, Sasuke Uchiha. What do you want? Why did you come to speak with us?" Ino asked, grinning euphorically at getting answers from an actual paranormal entity.

Sakura watched in interest, and then horror at what the planchette spelled out: her name. Just as she was about to speak, she felt a puff of cold air at the back of her neck, causing her hair to fan out on either side of her face. She felt her heart skip, and then her chest started heaving as it tripled its earlier pace. She jumped up and spun around to face the couch, fully expecting to see someone sitting there and grinning at the look of shock on her face. Finding no one, she shouted, "What the fuck was that? Goddammit!"

"Sakura! What are you freaking out about? What happened?" Ino asked frantically, standing up as well. Her eyes were wide with concern and fear.

Sakura stared at the couch, still looking for evidence of a person having been there. Running her hands through her hair and tugging as a sort of last-ditch attempt at bringing reality back, she stated loudly, "Shit!"

Suddenly, Naruto was beside her, holding onto her shoulders to spin her around to face him. "Sakura, calm down. Breathe, take deep breaths. Come on," he coached, stooping to look her in the eyes. Demonstrating for her by breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, he rubbed calming circles on her shoulders with his thumbs.

Sakura took deep, shaky breaths, trying to calm down and focus on Naruto's concerned blue eyes in the dark instead of the terrifying encounter she had just experienced. After a few tense, silent moments where the only thing she could hear was her own heart pumping frantically, she was finally able to think clearly again. "I don't care who did it," she said, voice low and threatening. "And I don't care how, but it was not funny, at all, and I'm not going to sit around and be picked on and scared out of my wits when I have other things to do that are a hell of a lot more productive. So are we going to continue, or not?"

She didn't concentrate on the genuinely concerned and confused faces of her friends, only on her breathing patterns and pushing whatever had just happened as far away from her conscious thoughts as possible. She sat down again, but didn't touch the planchette. "You all can ask the questions and touch the damn thing, but I'll just watch." She pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms over them, deliberately focusing on counting to one hundred in her head until her heart rate returned to a normal, healthy rhythm.

Ino cleared her throat nervously. "Um, okay then. Spirits… um, could you make your presence known to us? Like, move something, bang on the walls, anything's fine."

She had barely finished her sentence before the planchette started flying around the board, constantly going over and over the letters that spelled "get out now." As the group realized what the spirit was saying, the couch that Sakura was sitting in front of was forced away from the wall and stopped inches from hers and Naruto's backs. Sakura screamed and jumped up at the same time as Naruto shouted and fell forward and the candle seemingly blew itself out. With the sudden darkness, the group scrambled as they tried to get up and find any door that led out of the house. Sakura and Naruto held onto each other as they felt along the walls for the front door as quickly as they could in the pitch blackness.

The only thing running through her mind was to escape. She felt this primal instinct to run as fast and as far away as she could, to run away from this unknown presence that she couldn't see or touch, but that could certainly see and touch her. She pulled her arm away from Naruto's large hands and lurched away from him in the darkness, away from this sensation of electric fear and despair that was pulsating from somewhere behind her. She tripped several times, landing once on what felt like a footstool and at one point running straight into a doorway. Whatever it was, she could still feel it behind her, chasing her… playing with her?

She opened the next door that she came across and flung herself inside the room, slamming the door behind her. She sunk to the ground in front of the door, feeling her heart racing in her throat and her head throbbing with fear. She couldn't see anything, but she felt it outside the door, just waiting as if it had forever.

Maybe it did.

She strained her eyes as she looked up to the ceiling, as if searching for a source of salvation from this invisible monster. And then it clicked: light, she needed to see. If she could see, then she'd realize that this was all just a silly trick her mind decided to play on her. She would see that there wasn't a ghost or monster or whatever this thing was (if it existed at all, which she was now sure it didn't). She jumped up, hope giving her renewed strength as she felt along the wall beside the door for a light switch. Finding nothing, she slid her hands frantically across the wallpaper, desperation heightening her senses as she felt whatever the thing outside the door was seep into the room.

She panicked. She started crying. She whimpered in fear as her hands slid over the walls and it drew closer to her. Her skin prickled in awareness of the other presence, and her tears started becoming streams down her pale face. It was right behind her. She could feel all of the air around her being sucked away and replaced by a solid, tangible terror. She couldn't get any closer to the wall, and it was still getting closer, closer…

Her fingers flicked over a hard, smooth plate on the wall. A quick twist of her wrist and the light switch was flicked on, the room brightening with such a welcomed burst of illumination, she nearly fell to the floor in relief.

Nearly. And then she felt that it hadn't left. The irrationality of the situation had prevailed, and her subconscious wasn't getting the hint that, ha-ha, this joke wasn't funny so it had better stop before she had a heart attack and died before she ever had a chance to go to a bar with her friends, lose her virginity, get married, have kids, grow old and feeble, and learn how to knit sweaters for her future great-grandchildren.

She wanted to blink: her eyes were stinging from being opened wide in shock for so long. She wanted to scream: her mouth was open, but why wasn't any sound coming out? She wanted to run away: but something was holding her feet in place.

She whimpered as she felt a line of goose bumps rise up on her arms, and she flinched when a puff of cold, damp air caused her hair to splay out around her face and away from the back of her neck. It was right up against her, even now, with the lights on and nowhere to hide. It was bigger than her, and stronger than her, and more terrifying than she could believe. Part of her wanted to see what was there in the room with her, to see if it really was a monster. The larger part of her wanted to run far, far away and hide for the rest of her life.

She peeked over her shoulder, and screamed when the lights went out again in an angry pop of electricity. Her sweatshirt was torn away from her neck, and she cried out in terror and agony as a deep pain erupted at the junction between her shoulder and her neck.

When the door to the room was kicked open, she sighed in relief. She didn't care who or what it was: as long is it wasn't this thing, she would be okay. She would be safe.

Her last conscious thought was of how Naruto always managed to be there when she needed him most.

~ Part One - End ~

A/N:

Once again, I'm terribly sorry to my LAL readers. I feel so guilty uploading a new story when I have one that I love and I can't seem to get motivated enough to work on. My sincerest apologies.

As far as this one is concerned: I plan for it to be written in three parts, each between 10 and 20 pages. This chapter was 11 pages. I'm pretty sure I know where this is going, and yes, Sasuke is the supernatural entity and yes, he is targeting Sakura. As far as pairings go, I'm not quite sure. I think I'll leave it as SasuSaku for now.

This will become a bit more mature in the next two parts.

You have been warned. I'm aiming for slightly scary, with a little bit of romance. In the next chapter, perhaps you paranormal fans will figure out precisely what Sasuke is...

I have class in a few minutes, so I've got to cut this A/N short. There's so much more I want to say, but I'll save it. ;) I missed all of my readers, but I hope to figure out an easier way to get online and stuff.

As always:

Much love,

child_of_the_moon

XO