Droplets of the heart part 1

Warning: Nothing yet
Pairing: SasuSaku
©Ninehundredtwo & Mashashi Kishimoto
Dedicated to ~SasuSakulovergirl

For centuries the inhabitants of Hawthorn Woods had been sacrificing people to "them." The ceremony was rather extravagant, for village definitions. Tonight was one of those nights. The chosen ones were gathered at the city square. Men, women, children and even babies; no one was spared. But oddly enough, this time the women were in the majority. They were very tensed, as they scanned the sky for an impending attack. After all, it had been quite a few years since the last sacrifices had been made. All morning, villagers had been putting up small oil lamps and flower ornaments to please us. (They did have electricity, to some extent)We had waited in the shadows, men who were helping women always repulsed Erin, but she still enjoyed watching children play around. I, on the other hand, was looking for the heir.

Every so often some of our kind would set out to find them, heirs of the daywalkers. Amongst us, they were the legends. Then again, this was a little bit too much for us. We fed relatively regularly now. 'This is quite the buffet, isn't it?' Erin said after having poked my side. 'Sure is' I replied, watching the woman next to me lick her lips at the sight of that much willing fresh meat. From where she was sitting Sakura guessed that it was probably afternoon by now. The men seemed relatively uneasy, trying to stand in front of their women. If we wanted to, we could jump over or just break their necks. Either they underestimated us, or they were just plain stupid. Erin snorted.

Was there some sort of holiday in order for there to be this many sacrifices? Erin appeared behind me, as she patted my back 'Aren't they just.. mouthwatering?' She noted. Not exactly, I had eaten quite recently. There seemed to be a woman at the back who was desperately trying to protect her son. The boy seemed not older than seventeen, and he was obviously feeling embarrassed because of his mother. Other villagers did not pay any mind to it, as if they had agreed on not looking in that general direction, if anything; they tried to close them in. Either way, it had piqued my interest. The villagers up front looked most terrified, scanning the sky every few seconds. Little did they know, that we were hiding in the undergrowth not that far from them.

Hawthorn did not have many street lights, but there were a few close to where the villagers were standing, it wasn't until a few seconds after Erin had emerged from her own bush, that a woman started to yell. It was over in seconds. Erin grabbed her and dragged her back to the mountain path. I couldn't blame her, her last meal had been somewhere last week. No one could see it though, the undead needed a lot more to change appearance. She bent forwards, her shoulder-length red hair reflected once more in the city lights. I sighed, opting for the boy for real now. I wasn't that hungry, and it'd be good to save myself a midnight snack. The idea gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. The villagers grew more uneasy after this first attack. I appeared behind the boy, his mother's eyes widened in shock, as I flashed my brilliant white canines, before taking her son with me. Erin had crawled over some of the rocks we had been kicking earlier. The traces of the woman she had just assassinated were nearly evaporated. She motioned for me to come closer. I decided to make it a race. She made it to the cave before I did, as I was carrying the boy. 'Remember what Dara told us' Erin added. The boy froze, hearing these words apparently rang a bell. Erin got annoyed and slapped him across the face. This wasn't like other times. The last time we came to Hawthorn, Erin had shut off the electrical lights, making sure there was total chaos, including dogs breaking loose to protect their owners, the raven-haired boy had been there too; she remembered it well now. He had been the one who had dragged his mother back to their house as she seemed nearly shell-shocked. His arms hadn't been covered in these white bandages he wore now. Had he been hoping to take us on? Sakura did what she had been told earlier, and bit the boy's finger as she walked up the stony slope. It wouldn't be far until the cave from here.

His blood smelled different from anything she had smelled before, but she wouldn't dare to taste it. Permission was the keyword. The smell was making her sick, like she was about to vomit. She would have to wait until daybreak to see the color of his blood. She grabbed him even tighter, feeling his heart beat evenly in his chest. He had given up on trying to hit her, or to run away for now. Sakura walked into the cave, watching Erin carefully. 'It's a boy' she noted. 'I'm not sure whether we should keep him' Sakura said, peeling some loose skin off.

'You know how I think about men' Erin replied. 'He could be the one-' we were able to talk freely now. The villagers never knew where we made our home base, so they even gave up on trying to hunt us. It did take them a few centuries to give up on finding us, but now we could come and go in peace. The boy stirred in her arms, his eyes still closed as he tried to grab for something in his pants. He mumbled something in an angry tone, as he turned around against the stone she had put him in front of. The cave wasn't particulary big, but it could hold two to three people for a few days at max. Erin and I wanted to stay for two weeks, extending the ritual every night. But if I had hit gold on the first night, we could head back to the city without any regrets.

The ground showed some cracks and water and moss flourished freely, Sakura and Erin could not care less. But now that they had a relatively human companion, they might have to move earlier than they had anticipated. Erin could not have been more uncaring. She sat, cross-legged on a rock; her eyes intent on a small screen. 'What game is it?' Sakura asked. Erin just replied with a 'Hn' after a few seconds, Erin died. 'I don't know. I stole it from this lame kid, before having lunch' she said, finally capable of talking. 'Why did you take this one home?' Erin asked, jerking her thumb in his general direction. 'I think I might have found the cure to our nightly escapades,' Sakura said, flashing her teeth at the other woman. 'I'm not completely sure about it though, his blood smells like eau du vomit. So I'm keeping him here for observation. Bothers you or what?' Erin batted her eyelashes at me. 'Well.. you have brought home a mighty fine example of a man. Kudos to you. I am going to agree to this, as long as he is going to be tired and I can game in peace.'

Sakura rested herself back against one of the rocks, the moss didn't bother her that much. It wasn't like her male companion would care for how they looked anyways. She crossed her arms and faced down, being bored now; obviously regretting not having stolen a book or something else to pass the time with. The boy stirred in his sleep, putting an arm around the rock. His hand slid down slowly due to the moss. He moaned and Erin let out an irritated noise. 'Does this boy have a shut off button?' she whispered, eyeing Sakura for a second. 'Not yet, I suppose' she replied. Sakura waited for Erin to be completely engrossed in her game before moving on to the boy. She sat down next to him, feeling his heart beat reminded her of the time when she could feel her own heart beating. There were only two ways of having it beat again, and neither of them was achievable at this time. He smelled different from other humans, now that he was released from the group, she noticed a lot more about him. He wasn't a boy anymore, but due to the way his mother had been all over him it was easier for them to see him as one. Sakura went out to the back of the cave and pulled out some chains. She tied him tightly against the rock, utilizing some of the hooks she had hammered into it before they went out to hunt.

For some reason, the blood I had smelled earlier was starting to make me hungrier than I'd anticipated at this hour. I didn't want to eat today. If he was the heir we had been waiting for, there would be no end to the possibilities; they could change him, he could change them. Sakura could hardly contain her excitement. If only they'd known which bloodline they had been from, this could have saved them decades of work. He had woken up and rubbed the sand from his eyes, rattling the chains loudly. For some reason he looked up at Sakura and smirked, his black eyes reflected some water in his eyes, giving it a sparkle. Somewhere within Sakura, her stomach made a little flip. Erin had briefly put her game down, as it was still running; just to look at him. 'So, snack. What's your name?' he looked up at her and managed to spit right onto her hand as she was about to grab the console again.

Erin clenched her fist, but remained her composure. 'Feisty, aren't we?' she threw a wet cloth at him, slapping him across the face again. 'Enjoy your dinner' He eyed her with suspicion, trying to find out whether she was joking or serious. 'What are you people?' he seemed scared, if only for a minute. 'Correction. We're not human either. Scared much?' Erin said. 'Erin!,' Sakura yelled.

'He's not supposed to know-' Sakura tried, as Erin was clearly enjoying the conversation for now.

'Oh, like he's going to tell anybody' she retorted, flicking her hair back.
'So how old are you anyways?' the boy asked, trying to provoke her even further.
'Why would I have to answer to a kid like you?,' She asked, returning her attention to the game.

'All right! Bonus stage!' Erin said, her face lighting up in enjoyment. After she died again, she gave him one last advice. 'If you have to know per sé, ask your mistress then'

This really wasn't going to work due to Erin's Russian heritage, she had been taught to either ignore boys, or use them as a doormat. Since he had spat at her, the latter it was going to be. She didn't change her first impression often anyways. 'He annoys me' she stated. 'We're still keeping him, sugar' That's when Erin slid off her rock and disappeared into the darkness. Sakura supposed that she needed some time on her own as the night passed rather uneventful. She felt bad for the boy, assuming that he chains hurt. Sakura waited for Erin to return and went back to the village at around 3 am. Hawthorn had returned to its former peaceful state, testing Sakura even more not to take an easy prey with her on the way out. The stars shone down on her with an unneeded extra light. After a while she managed to make it to the football field behind the village, at the foot of the mountain. She broke in and started gathering supplies.