Cirque d'Horreur

Summary: A pale hand reached out to him, thin fingers trying to grasp his wrist. The face was hidden in the shadows, save for white eyes that looked at him with an expression full of sorrow. Soft whisperings reached his ears.

"… Run away…

…Run or they will capture you too…"

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A/N: Another fragmentation of my insane imagination!! XD I had a nightmare, and when I woke up I could remember every detail. Weird, but it turned out to be quite a source of inspiration. X) So, enjoy please!

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- Chapter one: The night it rained blood. -

Wheels rattled severely on the inequality of the road, stones crunching under the weight. The carriage moved forward in a hurried rapidity, almost as if the devil Himself was right behind it. A young man who was sitting inside the vehicle, tapped impatiently against the dusty window.

"How long before we will arrive?"

The charioteer flicked his hat. "Not too long, Sir Uchiha."

The other leaned back, heaving a sigh.

There was an oppressive atmosphere present, hanging in the air like a miasmatic cloud and slowly suffocating him.

Surely, it was because of this sultry barrow.

Yes, that had to be it.

He decided to set a window open, to let some of the fresh evening air breeze in his face. Closing his eyes he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with sweet respiration.

Ah, much better.

A drop was felt on his cheek. His eyelids opened again, dark eyes glancing at the obscure sky showing through the forest. Was it raining?

Another drip. Lifting his hand, the dark-haired man wiped the fluid away with a finger and looked at it.

Red.

He tasted with his tongue, the taste of iron invading his senses.

It was raining blood.

Something moved at the corner of his eyes. Swiftly turning his head, his gaze met with the lifeless eyes of the waggoner who lay on his bench in an awkward position. Blood dripped out of his wide-open mouth, a large secant was drawn along his neck, bare flesh hanging in shreds around the incision.

A silhouette that was bent over the body, turned around and faced him. A sadistic grin appeared on his repulsive countenance, showing rotten teeth.

"Ahhh, look what we have here… A little Aristocrat…"

Dark eyes narrowed, a scowl appeared on the face of the young man.

'If that ghoul thinks I'm just a weak rich boy, he is severely mistaken…'

The door was opened and another man jumped in, a knife glistering in his hand. "You're dead meat, boy!" The smug look on his face betrayed his overconfidence.

The other just smirked. "The name is Uchiha Sasuke… and I believe that it is you who will be dead meat…"

Before the robber could even react, he pulled out a knife of his own and thrusted it deeply into the chest of the villain. A low grumble was heard before the man spewed deep red blood, staining his already dirty clothes. Stumbling backwards he fell out of the door opening and hit the ground, right before the wheels of the carriage drove over him. As the sickening crack of a skull was heard, the dark-haired man grinned slightly before jumping out of the vehicle himself too. He could hear the shouting of the other villain as he rolled into the bushes, protecting himself with his arms.

The hysterical whinny of the horses echoed through the nightly forest when the thief lost control over the carriage and the vehicle capsized before pounding into a large tree. The whinnying faded slowly as the young man crawled out of the bushes, cursing the gods for this unfortunate event. He winced slowly upon feeling a stinging pain at his leg. Looking down he saw a gash, blood streaming out of it and trickling down his leg. The Uchiha cursed another time and slowly heaved himself up, leaning on his good leg.

Terrific.

What could he do now? He estimated that he was approximately 60 miles from the closest civilization; one would say that was too far away to walk with an injured leg.

The scowl deepened. He was not an Uchiha for nothing. Trained in fighting sports by the best, he had learned to never give up. So that meant walking.

Limping a bit, the young man disengaged himself through the thick grove, slapping away a few annoying mosquitoes away in the process.

Suddenly he halted.

Wait.

The presence of mosquitoes meant that there was water close by too. He should better drink something, for he didn't know if he would find anything else on his way.

As Sasuke continued to walk, he was too focused to notice that the sound of insects flying around him was no longer there.

While stumbling towards the source of water, a chilling feeling suddenly dawned upon his senses. A shiver travelled through his spine and he scowled again.

What exactly was the meaning of it?

Never been truly afraid in his entire life, he thought this sense of prospective dread was rather strange. As he looked around, he finally noticed something.

Save for his own footsteps and regulated breathing pattern, there was no sound.

No nightly forest dwellers sneaking around, no owls flying over while hunting for prey, no crickets performing their evening concert, no wind breezing through the leafs.

No sound at all.

How particular.

Although he was worried in the tiniest bit that he apparently was stranded in some weird haunted forest, the dark-haired man kept on walking to his destination: a temporary solution to lessen his thirst.

Finally he arrived at a clearing. His onyx eyes gazed over the sight, seeing dark water a few foot away. It didn't matter to him that it didn't exactly looked inviting. It didn't matter to him that a strange rippling in the middle cleaved the surface, either.

But what did matter to him though, was that a young woman was sitting at the other side of the water, hugging her slim frame. He exhaled slowly, not able to tear his gaze away. She looked beautiful, like a lily blooming in the middle of the night.

A twig broke under his feet as he softly moved closer to the enchanting sight.

Pale eyes looked up.

For one, single moment they stared at each other, losing themselves in each other's gaze. The world around them disappeared, time no longer existed.

And then she disappeared.

Just like that she was gone within a blink of an eye, like a small butterfly flying away to the white clouds.

Like a flower petal being carried away by the wind.

He felt himself being consumed by the darkness, no longer seeing the water that had seemed to beckon him. Cursing softly he took another step, but was held by a soft touch.

A pale hand reached out to him, thin fingers trying to grasp his wrist. The face was hidden in the shadows, save for white eyes that looked at him with an expression full of sorrow. Almost inaudible whisperings reached his ears.

"… Run away…

…Run or they will capture you too…"

His coal black orbs widened a little upon hearing the soft-spoken warning.

'They'?

Did she mean more robbers?

Breathing tickled in his ear; he spun around swiftly to see who it was, but his eyes met only more darkness. Arms wrapped around him, embracing his tall form almost unnoticeable. He stiffened as a hand ran through his hair.

"Please… leave…

I don't want them to get you too…"

Ghostlike whisperings reached his hearing once again, this time he answered them.

"Who are 'they', of who you speak so frightened?" Talking hoarsely, he found that he almost lost his voice due to the strange being that had wrapped its soft arms around him.

The arms let him go out of their embrace and a pale face appeared in the darkness, the same moonlike eyes stared into his own. A sad smile graced pink lips.

"I cannot answer your question…Forget me and this ominous place, never return anymore…Run."

He smirked, having his original confidence back. "I don't take orders from strangers."

The girl in front of him sighed, her breathing breezing alongside his face. "I am very sorry… But you have t…"

Her soft voice was interrupted by the flowing of water. Pale eyes widened in utter horror and she turned around, before looking back at him again.

"Please run… They are coming! Leave while I will try to distract them…" Her eyes held a tinge of desperation now, urging him to leave immediately.

His smirk didn't leave his lips. "I am not afraid of some minor villains…"

The sound of waves rose and so did the fear in the eyes of the young woman. "You do not understand! They are not who you think they are…" Tears shimmered in her eyes, one drop fell onto the ground. They both looked as it faded and a beautiful white flower grew in its place, glowing in the dark like a faint star.

Sasuke was shocked. "How did you do that?"

A soft smile graced her lips before it faded as soon as it had come. "That doesn't matt…"

A blood-curling howl was heard and out of nowhere a large slithery tentacle suddenly wrapped itself around her waist tightly, trying to pull her to the water that was as black as soot. A silent scream left her mouth as she looked at him and gave her final warning. "Please… Run...!"

Stupefied, he looked as she didn't even fight the greasy thing and saw another one coming, reaching out and enfolding itself around her lips. White eyes widened before slowly closing.

He slapped himself to awake out of the sinister trance and ran towards the now unconscious girl, who was already until her knees in the obscure water. A third tentacle arose out of the liquid, trying to get a hold of his ankle. Swiftly he evaded the slimy thing and grabbed a pale wrist.

The Uchiha cursed as he felt the resistance of the being that had a hold on her and reached into his pocket with his free hand. A knife was stabbed deeply into greasy skin, and immediately a low roaring was heard from under the surface of the lake. He saw the tentacle loosen its grip around the girl.

But just as he slightly smirked in triumph, he felt something wrapping around his injured leg. Wincing in pain as the salt water sipped into his wound, he still refused to let go.

Another snake-like arm encircled his arm smoothly, as if forcing him to let go of the girl. When he didn't budge, the tentacle strengthened its grip violently, to the point of almost snapping his arm. He let out a soft groan of pain, but still refused to lose her.

Something slimy swiftly touched his cheek before surrounding his face, covering his mouth and nose. Sasuke gagged at the disgusting feeling of something slithery trying to suffocate him, but couldn't do anything to escape out of the death grip. Fighting against the being that held him, he noticed that his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier with each passing second.

'No. NO! I can't fall asleep! Damnit!'

Cursing inwardly, he now fought against the sleep that tried to overwhelm him. Glancing over at the girl he saw that she was almost completely underwater, her raven hair flowing on the surface before she was engulfed by the dark arms of water. It was then that he ceased his battle and let himself being pulled in the water by the creature that he had believed only existed in fairy tales.

The last thought that echoed through his mind before the world went black was that maybe he should have let himself gotten killed by those morons.

- End of Chapter one -

A/N: Well, that was the first chapter!! Hope you liked it. :) Please review, because I really need an ego boost right now. Tuesday Maths-test…. - -' Yeah, I'm screwed.