I really tend to write as soon as I get any type of inspiration. I know, I know, there are quite a few stories of mine that I need to continue. Trust me, they will be continued. I will hopefully get those new chapters up sometime this week. Anywho, I was watching Stephenie Meyer's Twilight the other day and kept saying to myself how much better the book was. Then, after reading it a 100th time, I kept thinking of how much better it could have been written and how much more there could have been to it. I decided to take matters into my own hands. This is not a retelling of Twilight with Naruto characters. It will be much, much different. The twists and turns will be different, the characters and their backstories, as well as the love story itself will all change. I really hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the Narutoverse characters, of course.
Ketsueki
By Kora Uchiha
Ketsueki (Japanese)
Engligh Translation: Blood
Excerpt
"What I could and could not do was no longer a question. What was real and fantasy no longer had a distinct line between them. His voice like chains that dangled and clanked around me, holding me in place. His hands yanking at them as he touched my skin. His breath making my heartbeat unbearable in my ears. What I could do, what he could do for me, was no longer questions that boggled and bounced through my mind at night when sleep evaded me. What I would do for him was eternal. What I would do for him was absolute. I would die for him. I will die for him. As my vision became fuzzy, as the darkness tried to creep over me, I could see him. His face twisted in such horror still beautiful. I found myself not wishing I could have seen a different view. Even his face in terror was still so precious to me. Even as he reached for me, screaming my name. His velvet voice echoed so far now, yet he was so close. I saw less of him now; only his mouth. I strained my eyes, hoping they'd stay open just a minute longer. His lips parted as he screamed for me again. There was no sound this time. Something warm trickled down my forehead and into my right eye, forcing it to close. He was gone now. Where did he go? He was just there.
'Sakura!'"
Chapter 1
I always loved the sun.
The way it warmed my back when I ran through the trees, the way it made my eyes sting when I looked up too long. My mom always told me I was the embodiment of Spring.
Our small village set right outside the enchanting leaf village, Konoha, my new home. My mother packed up my single bag as slowly as she possibly could, probably hoping I wouldn't notice. Moving to Konoha with my God mother wasn't the worst thing that could happen to us. I could be going where they're going.
"Are you sure?"
My mother looked nothing like me. If there were no records of her giving birth to me, you would think she was my aunt or some distant relative.
I gave her my best false smile, "Yes, Mom."
"You might like it in the sand village, Sakura. You know Gaara don't you? He would keep you safe. Maybe you could even get to know him a little better-"
I cut her off before the inevitable happened, "Stop right there. I'm still young, Mom. Not everyone gets married as young as you and Dad did."
She wrinkled her nose, unsatisfied with my answer, "Well. I have heard that there are many very eligible bachelors in the leaf. Maybe this move is best for you, in the long run."
I let out a deep sigh, staring at one of my shirts she has been folding for 10 minutes.
"We're really going to miss you." She said softly as she finished up the shirt, placing it in my red shoulder bag.
I went over to her, resting my arms and head on her shoulders, "I'll miss you guys."
"Ready?" My father yelled from outside our small cottage. I lightened up a little, "Yeah." I yelled back.
My father looked nothing like me either, except for his hair. We both were cursed with the same pastel shade of pink.
….
It would take about an hour for me to make it to Konoha on foot.
My parents weren't due to leave for the sand for another few days. My dad's mother who lived there alone had gotten extremely ill. He wanted nothing more than to be there for her final years, if she even had that much time left.
My God mother and I wrote to each other a lot. I ended up asking, more like begging, her to train me in medical ninjustu. She knew how my mother felt about ninja. She would have nothing to do with me if I had trained in any of those arts. If I could somehow heal my father's mother, or heal anyone for that matter, I could care less what anyone thought of me.
My mother still doesn't know about my training. I had spent my summers in the leaf with my God mother almost my whole life. Unlike my parents, I was born with chakra, something only ninja have and utilize. My dream was always to become a ninja, and now that I have reached my 17th birthday, I can do just that. I'm a woman now, I don't need their permission anymore.
What my mother also does not know, is that after I heal my grandmother, I'm not coming back.
…
The trees seemed to stretch farther than usual. I had taken this route a thousand times it seemed, but it felt much further than the other times. The anticipation of seeing my God mother and training with her for much longer than just a summer was getting to me. I could not wait to begin my life as a real leaf kunoichi.
I had to wait until I was far enough out of my old village to begin running on the trees. If one of our neighbors saw me, it would be over. My mother would know too soon, and would most likely not give me a chance to talk about it.
When I finally was able to run, my face lit up. My heart skipped a beat in anticipation and pure excitement. The nostalgia of my childhood running through the trees to see the leaf was almost too much. I grinned like a fool as I leaped from branch to branch.
The sun was at its highest and peered through the trees and into my eyes, but I didn't mind. I could sense where I was going, and where to place my feet. I had no need for eyes.
A low menacing growl reached my ears from below.
I immediately stopped, looking down at the forest floor. A bear maybe? No, it almost sounded human.
My eyes tried to see, but the sunlight was placing a soft fuzz on my vision. The shadows on the path below all ran together.
One of the shadows moved on its own, flitting around beneath me.
I gasped audibly and quickly fell back against the trunk of the tree whose branch I used for support. I slapped my hand over my mouth, hoping no more sounds would escape.
I was in the shade now, able to see almost clearly.
It was a man, no, a boy. He could not have been much older than me. His back was turned towards me. He was so strongly built, so statuesque. His form was so eerily..beautiful. His dark short hair spiked out in all directions. It was almost as dark as the shadows around him. He was leaning over something, it looked to be a dead animal. Maybe a deer? He was wearing a sleeveless dark purple shirt with dark pants and sandals. A kunai pouch was strapped to his right thigh. A ninja.
I hadn't noticed that as I watched I began leaning forward. When it I leaned too far, I lost my footing. I quickly regained my balance, but I made far too much noise.
Suddenly, his head tilted ever so slightly to the right. I could sort of make out his profile.
He disappeared into thin air.
My senses all screamed at me to run. This guy was dangerous. The deer that was now extremely visible showed signs of a mauling. It was brutally mutilated. The smell of blood was now everywhere.
I ran.
….
The trees now betrayed me as I leapt through them. Stray twigs and small branches scratched and clawed at me, begging me to stay.
My mind played tricks on me, creating hastened footsteps behind me. Was he chasing me? I had to know.
I won over my battle with my instincts and stopped to turn around, facing my chaser.
There was nothing.
I heard nothing.
My heart pounded in my ears so loud it hurt. I felt every thud as my eardrums vibrated with the beat.
"What?.." I heard myself say out loud.
What kind of ninja would mutilate an animal like that? An animal that would do nothing to harm him, a trained soldier.
Did I really want to become like him? Had he gone crazy with all the training? Was all the leaf nin like this? No. No I will not be like that. I can't do this.
"Sakuraaa!"
An extremely familiar voice rang through the treetops. I quickly jumped down to the path below. I was much closer to the leaf village than I thought. I could see the gigantic entrance gate through a break in the trees.
I hugged the owner of the voice calling out to me, tears threatened to pool up.
"What was up with you? You looked like you've seen a ghost."
I peered up at my God mother, she looked far more like she could be my mother than my own. Though her hair was different than mine. It was much longer, and a pale shade of blonde.
She noticed the water in my eyes, "Hey, you okay?"
I couldn't tell her about the boy in the woods. Would she laugh? Was that customary here? I am no coward, and I am not about to let her think any different.
I wiped the lone tear that fell from my left eye as I released her, "Y-Yeah, I'm okay Lady Tsunade. I just missed you so much."
She grinned her wild smile, "Sakura, I told you, I'm not Hokage anymore. You don't have to call me that. But I do know what you can change it to."
"Hm? What?"
"Master." Her grin grew wilder.
….
Tsunade's apartment was massive. She must have been doing well as Hokage for them to give her such a beautiful place even after the fact, or she must have gotten better at gambling.
She made us her usual cold nasty cucumber soup. I guess I'll have to be doing the cooking from now on. I can stomach her meals for just a summer, but not forever.
"So..Sakura.." she dropped her conversational tone as I washed our dishes.
She sat at her large dining table in her beautiful white kitchen, "Are you sure you're okay with this? I know it isn't exactly what you expected, but it is our policy."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Her face dropped even more, "I was afraid of that."
I took my hands out of the water, reaching for a towel to dry them, "Could you fill me in?"
"Starting school here. You didn't get my letter did you?"
I felt my face growing pale. "No..I haven't gotten one for a few weeks."
"Yeah..Well.." she got up, going into the back room. She returned with clothes in her arms.
She sat the neatly folded uniform down on the table. I could see the leaf emblem sewn in on the back. It was a school uniform for the leaf. It was my uniform.
My sadness grew to rage, "How am I supposed to train while in school? Are you kidding me?!"
"Sakura it is a part of training here. You go to the academy, then secondary, then you pair up and do missions as a team instead of alone, then you take the chunin and jonin exams to become a full-fledged shinobi."
"This would have all been excellent to know about before I came here!"
"Sakura, you have so much talent. You have the most potential I have ever seen in a kid your age next to two others. You were wasting away in that stupid little village and you'll waste away in the sand if you go back now."
I thought about that for a moment, she was right. If I wanted to become a ninja, if I wanted to heal my grandmother, if I wanted to live the life I had always dreamed, I'd have to go to high school.
…
Monday came around much faster than I had hoped. I hadn't thought of the boy in the woods, but I did that morning.
As I brushed through my damp hair, I thought about his ninja uniform. I saw no leaf headband on him, so maybe he was a rogue. There was a weird symbol on his back. It looked like a fan maybe. That's it. He definitely was from the village over or something. There's no way he was a leaf. Tsunade wasn't terrifying like him, and she has been a leaf ninja her whole life. And I have never heard any bad things about the leaf nin.
I slipped on my uniform as I kept running those thoughts around in my head, calming myself down. The uniform was far more suggestive than I could have ever guessed. It was a white slim fit button up blouse with a dark green tie. The same shade of green graced the short skirt and high thick socks. I blushed at the thought of boys, or anyone for that matter, seeing me in this monstrosity.
The school was not far from Tsunade's apartment. It only took me about 10 minutes to get there on foot. The village was bursting with life as ninja prepared for their missions, shop owners opened up their stores, and kids dressed like me walked to class.
The other kids in uniform snickered and laughed at me. Looks like making friends was out of the questions.
I got to school far too early. I sat in the courtyard, pretending to read one of my textbooks. The building was beautiful though. It looked more like a clean hospital with the white walls and many windows.
"H-Hello!"
A boy's voice echoed throughout the almost empty school courtyard. Unfortunately, the voice was directed at me. I looked up at him, pretending not to be extremely annoyed.
"Hi" I forced a smile.
His cheeks went blood red, "I-I..I am Rock Lee! And you are?!"
The kid looked as if he had never spoken to a woman in his entire life. His thick black bowl cut hair and eyebrows told me he cared not about being much of a ladies man.
I stood slowly, not to spook him, "Sakura Haruno, is it that obvious I'm new here?"
His blush grew wilder, "It is not everyday we get such a beautiful specimen here! We are honored to have such beauty and grace at our school!"
"Uhm, thanks, I guess." I laughed off the awkward tension, hoping he'd go on to someone else.
"I am the editor of the student newspaper- argh!" Rock Lee's speech was cut off by a rough kick to the back.
"C'mon Lee leave the new girl alone. She's already weirded out." The kick's owner made me extremely self-conscious. She was a beautiful blonde with long hair pushed back behind one ear. Her blouse wasn't tucked in like mine, she had it up and tied to show her perfect mid-drift.
"Ino Yamanaka. At your service." She pushed her hand out.
I took it and shook, "Nice to meet you. I'm Sakura Haruno."
She roughed my hair at my obvious discontent, "Welcome to Konoha High, big forehead."
….
My first two classes were actually not unbearable. They were pretty informative. I learned how to properly pack up kunai and how to clean them. Tsunade even placed me in a medical jutsu class.
For lunch, I ate in the courtyard with Ino, who after I got over the forehead thing, was actually pretty great. She made things a lot better.
My third class, the one right after lunch, however, was something Ino could not save me from.
Biology, easy enough. The subject matter, however, was not what I became concerned with. I had accidentally went to the wrong classroom at first, 134 instead of 124, so I got there extremely late. Thankfully, everyone was still talking and settling in. I ran into the room out of breath.
"Ah, you must be Ms. Haruno."
The teacher was definitely not what I picture a teacher to be. Yes, all the others were pretty intimidating or pretty like Ms. Kurenai, but this guy was in his own category. He wore a mask over most of his face, but it still somehow didn't hide the fact that he was extremely handsome. His grey hair went in spikes all over the place as if he hadn't brushed it in a while, or ever.
I had been gawking, he noticed.
He gave me a warm smile and stood, "Mr. Hatake, pleased to meet you. Why don't you take a seat over there, next to Sasuke. I believe it is our only open spot."
Sounds easy enough. I walked over to the table he was pointing at. Thankfully, everyone was still busy visiting and didn't notice the horror written all over my face. The desks were not singles like in all the other classes. Everyone was sitting in long black desks that sat two people. Partners. There must be a lot of partner work in this class. That wasn't exactly what I was afraid of.
The boy, Sasuke I think is what Mr. Hatake said, looked familiar. All too familiar.
The look on his face sent chills down my spine. His face emotionless would have given me the same reaction. He was beautiful. his almond shaped dark eyes pierced through me, his spiked black hair neatly framed his face.
He looked like he wanted to choke me.
It was him. It was the boy in the forest. The one that mutilates animals. It had to have been him. He looked far too similar.
I almost dropped my books as I attempted to sit next to him. His eyes never left my face. His fury grew as I got closer. I felt myself shaking as I situated myself at our desk. He was seated so far away from me that I knew he had to have recognized me too. His hand beneath the desk rested on his right leg, shaped in a tight fist. His knuckles where white.
I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. What was I supposed to say? If I confront him, he could kill me easily. This boy..his rage is almost tangible. I only saw him kill a deer, that's it. It's not even that big of a deal if you really think about it.
"You."
His voice made me visibly shiver. I had never heard something so intimidating, horrifying, and eerily arousing in my entire life. I hated it. I never wanted to hear him talk again.
I turned towards him, afraid to look in his eyes. I settled on his mouth, "Yes?"
"Do I know you?" he still hadn't calmed down. He was talking through gritted teeth.
"N-No."
"Hm."
"I…I saw you..in the forest..I'm sorry I honestly just stumbled across you. I meant no harm, really." Was I out of my mind?
His face showed utter shock. I couldn't help but stare. He dropped his eyes, mulling over what to say next.
I was frozen.
"Alright, guys. Settle it down. Class should have started twenty minutes ago. Sorry I was late, you see a black cat crossed my path.." the class then erupted in accusations and annoyance. He must had just arrived when I walked in. He also must be late a lot.
"We'll continue this later." Sasuke's words weren't as ferocious as before, but still dripping with venom.
The class was almost unbearable. I did not dare look over at him, and he did the same. I could see in my peripheral that he was pretending I wasn't even there. Why did he hate me so much? Who cares that I saw him? It's not like anyone would believe me. Besides, maybe he was just practicing throwing kunai or something. And then mauled it to death..
I visibly shook my head, getting the picture out of my mind. I don't need this right now.
He must have saw my head shake. He peered over at me questioningly. I whispered as Mr. Hatake went over the parts of a cell, not looking at him.
"I understand I saw something I shouldn't have. But really, it isn't worth hating me over. It's not a big deal. I won't tell anyone." It was much easier to talk to him when I wasn't looking directly at him.
"Not a big deal?" he repeated. He was angry again. I had to look. His face was twisted in anger again.
"What?"
"I don't think I'll ever meet someone like you. Unpredictable. It's annoying." He looked me dead in the eye as he deadpanned.
Words have never hurt me so much. The bell rang.
He stood, "The back fountain. 5 minutes." He began walking away.
I stood too, absent mindedly reached out for him "Wait! I have class after this one!"
I had stepped over the line, it was obvious. My hand had reached too far, grabbing onto his uniform shirt.
Fortunately for me, he didn't burn me at the stake just yet. He simply slightly turned his head down at me and answered, "Which class?"
"Taijutsu"
"Hmph. Guy is a moron. You'll be better off never attending that one." He began walking off again, I let go.
I could only watch him as he gracefully exited the classroom. The air lifted, I felt immediately more at ease, like I could breathe again.
Should I meet him? The guy obviously has some problems. Who cares that he's the most attractive person I have ever seen? He's crazy.
I'm no coward. I won't be defeated so easily. I'll go and confront him where there are no distractions. I will not let him be so cruel to me if he's going to be my biology partner all year.
…
It took me a second to find the back entrance to the school. I had to ask a few random kids in the hallway for directions.
I walked outside to find him waiting for me by a circular fountain with small spouts of water running every direction. He was turned away from me, the same way when I first saw him in the forest. He slowly turned when he heard me approached. I had already forgotten the power he held over me when looking at me head on. His face was hard to look away from.
Unfortunately, his eyes tightened in irritation, "What did you see?"
I struggled to hold my ground. He wasn't going to intimidate me. "Just you. You and a mangled deer corpse."
"That's all?" He seemed to soften up a little. Only a little.
"Yes." Uh oh.
"It was already like that. I approached it to see what happened." A lie.
No way. He isn't getting off that easy. I watched his shadow dash around like a mad man. I heard that growl.
"I heard a growl."
His eyes widened in horror, "When?"
"Right before I saw you. I thought it was just a bear at first but..it almost sounded human. Like someone was imitating an animal. But it still sounded pretty deep."
He was struggling to keep his composure. Finally, he settled on an answer, "It was a bear. I saw one run passed me with blood all over its face. That's when I came across the deer."
Yeah right, try again, "Really? Why would a bear maul a random deer? That deer wasn't killed for food. It looked like it had bite marks all over it. Like it was killed for sport maybe."
His eyes tightened in fury, "Cubs. There were cubs close by. I could hear them. She was protecting them."
I sighed, almost defeated, "Fine. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone anyway. I was just curious as to why you enjoy killing random animals that would and could never hurt you." Completely over the conversation, and over looking at his porcelain face, I turned to leave. The sooner he was away from me, the sooner I could breathe again.
"Stop." An icey stone hand clamped surprisingly softly on my shoulder, spinning me around. "Why can't you just mind your own business?" his coal eyes suddenly grew bright red. They were the most horrific things I had ever seen.
I gasped and attempted to run, his stone grip kept me in place. Something flashed across his face. Worry? What did he have to worry about? As quickly as they had changed, his eyes darkened once more to their original coal black.
He slowly let my shoulder free. "You know, we could've actually been friends." I wrinkled my nose up at him like a child, immediately feeling embarrassed.
He calmed down. His mood swings were going to be the death of me. Literally.
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why would you want to be my friend?"
"Granted, I don't really know if I'd like to now, but why not? We are partners you know."
He raised a perfect eyebrow.
"Biology partners, remember? Or am I really that forgettable?"
His mouth twitched. Was that a smile?
"No. You are not forgettable."
The way he phrased that sentence. The way his voice flowed into my ears and down my back made me regret meeting him here. I should've went to taijutsu.
"If I agree to be your friend. Would you eventually tell me the truth about what I saw? Sooner than later please, I'd really not like to befriend a serial killer."
His eye twitched at the last words, but he regained his composure instantly.
"Eventually."
"It's a deal." I stretched out my hand, immediately regretting it. If he touched me, skin to skin, I might not be able to live to tell the tale. My heart might implode.
He returned the shake, lightly gripping my hand. My heart palpitated.
"It's Sakura, by the way."
"Sakura." He echoed. My entire body froze. I wished my name sounded that good in everyone's mouth.
"Nice to meet you, Sasuke."