Htrae was the same as Earth. But Earth died out a long time ago, approximately a thousand years ago. Some of the humans, like my great grandmother, had managed to get out just in time before Earth crumpled away. Htrae, is very like Earth, so my mother says; only there is a new kind of raise, the ones that I live with now. Vampires. No one knew how they came about or how they were in this planet. All of them has this weird tattoos on their faces, it's like a birthmark on them; so that's how we different shade vampires between humans; except there is a different type of vampires called ' Tainted Blood', they don't have the weird tattoos on their faces like everybody's one. From most of the vampires I heard from, they said 'Tainted Blood' was damned.
"Sakura, the bus is here!" My mom shouted from the kitchen. I gave long lazy sigh and closed the really old dairy that one the early survivors on Earth. I stood up from the couch I was sitting on in the living room and stretched my arms out. The last thing I did before grabbing my coat off the rack, I did cast a short glance around the room, checking if I had left anything that belonged to me. Nothing.
"Bye mom, I'm off!" I shouted back at her, slamming the door the front door after that.
The bus driver gave me an icy cold glare at me since I made him wait so long as I got up the bus.
"Hurry up and get your butt in here." He said rudely to me. I tsked at him. As if I would be bothered about what he said to me. I took the last seat at the back of the bus and glared holes into the driver's back. Too bad I was too far away to do any glaring, that stupid bus driver should be grateful for that.
"Luce!" A high pitched voice called out. That high pitched voice surely had knocked me off from my little world of glaring at the bus driver. I turned to my left and saw my brown pixie hair cut best friend for life. Dark brown eyes looking happily at me.
"Ino." I smiled. She flashed her teeth at me with a 250 kilo watt smile. No, not like the kind that vampire bares their fangs at you. This was just a 250 kilo watt, totally human smile. Then she slowly dug into my bag, which, she obviously snatched away from me. She pressed her eye brow together, forming a very cute confused look on her. She looked at me.
" You were reading this last week! How long does it take you to read at least one BOOK, Saku?" She shouted, throwing her hands up into the air, waving it around like some crazy monkey which found a banana. Everyone turned around from their seat to look at Ino. Even the bus driver stopped driving and turned to look at her. She froze. Clearly embarrassed, she mouthed the word " Opps" to me and whispered "Sorry" to everyone. It was soft but then again, the whole bus kept quiet and the word "Sorry" sounded like a lion's roar.
After everyone returned to what they were doing and the bus driver went on driving, I told Ino, " That's what you get for acting like a total idiot in the bus," She gave me her infamous puppy dog eyes and a very cute pout; I gave her a look which my mom always uses on me before continuing, " and no, the book last week was my great grandmother's dairy. I just wanted to get to know more about Htrae and this so called planet, Earth."
" Okay, fine, whatever. I'm just telling you, you're just wasting your time reading it." She said and handed the book back to me.
Around 5 or 10 minutes later, we reached Fade West High School. Ino and me squeezed our way out of the bus since no one gave way for us.
We both looked up at our school. In some thought of mine, there was a feeling both of us will never get tired of looking at our school. It was already mid-term and we still kept looking up.
" Don't you think that people will think that we're crazy if we keep looking up like that every day? " I asked Ino as we kept on walking towards the school gates.
" They can think whatever they want. I seriously don't give a damn about them! I mean, can you actually believe that we, Ino Florence and Sakura Ann Taylor, had managed to get into Fade West High School? It's like some kind miracle just happened for us only!" She exclaimed in joy. Her brown eyes gleaming under the sun.
I laughed at her. True, maybe it was a miracle or something, or maybe it was just pure luck. Fade West was a huge school, at least there were 5 blocks around the campus and it was some kind of legend in Htrae, all over the world, people would know the name. Grand, expensive, vampires, humans mixed together, not a single bad reputation was ever made in this school.
" What? Don't you think so?" She snapped at me.
" Well… I don't know? Maybe we're just lucky?"
Ino eyed me before answering. "Maybe…"
I sighed and motioned her to hurry up. We were already late for our classes. Both of us took a quick trip over to our lockers before the hall monitors came to drag us to the principal's office.
School ended and I went home. I didn't get a chance to even read the dairy I brought to school. The more I think about the dairy, the more restless I got. I sank into my soft comfy bed and rolled over and over again on the bed. I picked up the dairy that lay next beside me and studied it carefully. Then, I thought about Ino's words, " You're just wasting your time reading it" the more reasonable Ino's words were. It's gonna be a waste of time and also it felt wrong to read someone else's dairy.
I imagined my dairy taken by someone else and whoever it was, reading it. I'd be totally pissed off. I sighed and placed the book back down on the bed and started at the ceiling. Minutes passed and my eyes wandered off the ceiling and onto the posters that hang on my wall. Sterling Knight, the most handsome guy on Htrae. I have so many posters of him, singing, dancing, posing; anything you name, I got it.
There was one thing I hate doing the most, doing nothing. My body aches for me to move around, and there was nothing I could do. Then, a light bulb appeared on my head, I could go for a walk. And that was how I decided to go down stairs to take a drink before heading out into the woods. Apple juice was the first thing that flashed in my head as soon as I got to the kitchen. Sudden craving, how odd.
The kitchen's refrigerator's door was made in a light quality, therefore, when I closed the door- not considered lightly- it ended with a loud bang. I waited for my mother to shout at me to keep it down but nothing, not a single " Keep it down." To me. Oh well, whatever.
I walked around the island in the kitchen while drinking my box of apple juice and saw a newspaper on it. There was a big heading that wrote, ' Fade West High School'Too shocked to remember what I was about to do, I left my drink on the table and picked up the newspaper.
July 23 3567- Friday, Reports says that a tainted blood, Sasuke Uchiha, went out with his human girlfriend, Temari White at 3.50 P.M, July 22, Thursday. The couple was at an alley exchanging blood. Sasuke Uchiha claims that Temari White wanted to be turned before her birthday and he agreed to do it at 4.00 P.M on Thursday, said one of Sasuke Uchiha's friend. A couple of people saw them enter an alley to exchange blood and those people didn't want to bother them. "There were screams behind at the alley," said one of the people living nearby, "and I went down to check what had happened. But when I got there, there was a dead body on the floor." A group of police men come rushing in after a few minutes, taking the body away for examination. There was two small holes at the tip of her neck and blood on her mouth. The doctors said that there was no more blood in her system. The council had also formed a group of people called " The Inquirers " to track down Sasuke Uchiha for murdering Temari White.
I dropped the papers. Sasuke Uchiha, a tainted blood, one of the most powerful clan in vampire history was on the loose. And to top it all off, Fade West High School has a bad reputation for life. My whole body was shaking wildly, from head to toe just because of pure fear.
Fresh air… I need fresh air, I thought.
I grabbed my jacket and quickly went out of the door and into the woods. My foot steps could be heard as I stepped on the damp grass. I kept walking and walking, until I reached my favorite spot in the forest. The grass was wet and soft against my skin as I lay on the ground. Closing my eyes felt like the best thing I could do now. Letting myself wonder off to never land.
" What are you doing here?"
My eyes fluttered open and I saw a boy with dark brown hair and green eyes staring at me. He was standing next to me, his back bending so he could get a good look at me.
And something dropped on me.
I screamed.
There was blood on his lips. A lot of blood. And there was blood on me.
" Shh… Shh…" The boy said, placing his index finger on his lips after wiping away the blood on his sleeve. " Everything is okay." He reassured me. His hand reached out for me, I hesitated before placing my hand on his.
I balanced myself and took a few steps back, ready to break into a run when the right time comes.
My eyes met his intense stare. I studied his eyes, how the dark green orbs covered by a translucent sliver coating. The more closely I looked at his eye features the more it looked like a wolf's eye. That stern, cold, eyes. His face was striking, dark brown hair covering his forehead, his pale skin clashing with his black over coat.
" Who are you?" It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
He smiled at me kindly and it made my stomach turn in knots, many, many knots. " A tainted blood."
" I already know that!" I snapped at him. " What's your name?" He smiled again; that sick twisted smile. He took a few steps forward and stopped when there was a fine line that drew us apart.
I grew impatient, in order to show my temper in a clam way, I folded my arms across my chest. " So?"
The boy frowned and looked away, as if he was thinking who he was. " I… I'm… Quinn…" The way he said it, it was as though he wasn't quite sure of his name.
I lifted my eye brow and titled my head to one side. " Quinn?"
He looked at me and nodded. " Yeah… Quinn."
And a sudden familiar face flashed in my mind.
" I know you from somewhere." I blurted out. My sudden outburst caused him to laugh, the laugh of a cunning fox. I couldn't see the joke in my sentence, there was nothing, and I mean nothing to cause anyone to laugh. " I think you've mistaken someone as me. I just moved into town, I couldn't be someone you've before."
I ignored him and thought about the picture that flashed just a moment ago, figuring out where had I seen his face. Those eyes, those oh-so familiar eyes.
" At school, we've met at school. You're in biology class, the same class we have after lunch ."
He stopped laughing, his face as solemn as ever. " Like I've said, I just moved here and we couldn't possibly have-"
" Your Sasuke Uchiha." I said before I could even process the information I just said. I gasped.
And the last thing I saw was Quinn figure next to me. Saying something that I couldn't quite make out, before everything went black.
There was light in this dark dungeon, a small flicker of a light coming from a candle flame. And the first thing that came into my mind was, follow that light. I did. It was far away, beyond my grasp… The candle flame was getting smaller and smaller as I ran towards the small light it gave. I followed the light; trying so very hard not to stumble over my feet.
Soft whimpers surrounds me, calling out to me, saying something I couldn't understand. On and on, they went. I ignored them; I couldn't be bothered; all I needed was to get to that light that leads me out.
I didn't know how, I knew that the light leads me out; but it was like the most obvious thing anyone should do.
Cold wind softly brushed against my skin, sending goose bumps to travel down to my toes. I warped my arms around me and continued walking straight ahead. I stopped and squinted my eyes to get a better look at the light. And that was when I fell.
Just a small tiny slip with my footing, caused me my death. I reached out for anything that could break my fall, the wall around me was firm, not a single loose brick from the wall. And down I went, down into the depths of the Htrae, if I was still even in Htrae. There was no telling when I could land.
The cold wind came back, aggressive this time. It warped around my neck, chocking me in a way. I couldn't grab hold of the so called wind at my neck, there was nothing and yet, I felt something sucking the life out of me. I mentally laugh, –even at times like this I could still laugh- sucking the life out of me, it sounded familiar and nonetheless I couldn't remember where I heard it from. And then it was gone.
Only followed by a loud pricing scream that broke my thoughts. It was those voices again.
" Wake up…"
"It's a dream…"
More whispers, more confusion. I froze. Something was crawling on me, a lot of things were crawling on me, my hands, my feet, my body.
I looked down at myself.
Tarantulas.
I screamed. I screamed and screamed and screamed. Only then I realize, I had no voice. Not even a squeak came out. I tried again, turns up exactly how I excepted to be; nothing. Useless, I thought. I couldn't even remember how I've gotten myself in this mess.
And a loud, strong voice said something over the soft whispers of the other voices.
"Licentia. Licentia is locus statim" ( Leave. Leave this place immediately)
And just like that, a thousand needles were pulling my very soul out of my skin. A very painful experience I must say. I could see myself jerking around, getting off the spiders on me and suddenly went limp, causing all the spiders to crawl all over me. Thank goodness I was out of there. And again, the force pull was back again, pulling me into-
" A blinding white tunnel." I corrected myself. My eyes widen, I was talking! My voice was back! But I have no idea where I was. Only I knew it wasn't the dark dungeon I was in a moment ago. But, then again I could. I was still in a dark room, with that similar candle flame in the corner of the room. It wasn't growing smaller, instead, it remained the same never changing. I tried to move; I couldn't. My hands with tied behind my back and I was stuck on a chair. I cursed. What in the world had happened, I thought.
" I see you're awake." A figured said, he stood beside the flame, I couldn't believe I didn't see him just now. " You're the first who actually woke up from the Umbra Terra Of Nex (shadow land of death). I'm impressed, Sakura."
" What do you want." I snapped at him. He laughed at me and took a step forward, the small light shining down on his face. The first thing I saw was his eye, it wasn't green anymore, it was ice-blue; just the way I always saw it in class, sickening. His mouth set in a small smirk, if only I wasn't tied up, I would have run all the way there and punch him in the face; knowing it wouldn't do any damage to him.
" Why would you say I want something, sweetheart?" He innocently said, even though he was nowhere near innocent. I growled at him and struggled against my chair. I needed to get out, inform the police or The Inquirers that Sasuke Uchiha was here. I was so absorbed in getting out, I didn't even realize that Sasuke was standing in front of me.
" I got one energetic one now. So unlike Temari," He paused for a moment before continuing, " it's a shame that girl went to waste."
I coughed in disgust.
" What you did to her was just plain sick."
And just like that, Sasuke laughed. The air around me tense up as his face came nearer to me. Our eyes staring into each other.
" It's only sickening for you, my dear. For me, it's remarkable."
I spit at him but in just one swift movement, he dodged it easily; like he was excepting that from me. He placed one finger above my chin, forcing me to look at him. Sasuke's finger traced my lips slowly before placing a kiss on me. I jerked. I struggle in my chair, kicking him as hard as I can. He didn't even budge from his spot.
After what seemed like hours, he moved away from me. He licked his lips and bared his fangs at me. I tried to kick him one last time but he caught my feet in midair and flung it backwards. The chair broke in two as it hit the wall. I wined as I felt Sasuke pull me up by the shoulder; my hands were still tied up so I couldn't save myself. He slammed my back against the wall, one of his hands on the wall the other holding my face, using all his body weight to press down on my thigh with his right knee, blocking me from running away.
" Don't move, love…" He whispered and kissed me again. I felt his tongue brush against mine. It sent shivers up and down my spine; I needed to make it stop. So I did what I felt was best to do, I bit him hard on the tongue; enough to draw a lot of blood. He jerked back, his weight left me.
And I ran.
It took him a moment to get back his posture. He growled loudly at me. I didn't dare look back at him, I just continued to blindly run around room to find an exit. I knew I had to do it quickly, Sasuke had night vision while I don't. He could find me in mere seconds if I didn't find the exit soon enough.
I followed the candle light that Sasuke was standing next to just a while ago. The exit was there, but who knew how many more exits I had to take before I finally get out of here. Sasuke's footstep got softer and softer as I ran nearer to the candle. But why didn't he just kill me now? He could have catch up easily and strike than play around.
If I killed the lights out, will that slow Sasuke down? Surely night vision would have to take a few minutes before it eventually takes over. I didn't think twice about killing out the only light available once I was running pass it. I quickly bend down and blew out the lights. And just like that, I was in a black room.
But it wasn't long until I got out of that room, next to the candle was the door that Sasuke had used to come in with. And he was clever enough to even leave the door open for me.
Now was my only chance, Sasuke's vision wouldn't come back to him in another few seconds. I had to use my time quickly. I ran straight and I hit a sharp turn to the right. Sasuke's footsteps stopped and I couldn't help but smiled to myself.
My heart beat faster and faster as I went out of more exits. It's like I'm in De Ja Vu, running in the same pattern.
" Sakura! You can't hide from me!" He shouted. His voice was so near me; I gulped. His vision was back already. I couldn't help but look back, telling myself that Sasuke wasn't near me, that I've ran more than that.
And that was my biggest mistake ever.
Sasuke hand crushed my neck. I gasped. He let go of my neck and went for my head. He tilted it so it exposed my throat. Screams were building up my throat but I forced it back down, I didn't want to show him I was afraid of him.
" Sorry dear, up I guess your time is up."
Those were the last words I'd heard before the world slipped away.