Chapter Title: Deal with the Devil

Rating for this chapter: PG-15

A/N: This is my first fan-fic to be posted, please enjoy. If some parts don't make sense I can pretty much guarantee they will be answered eventually. Or if you really want to know leave your question in a review I don't check my email often so I don't recommend sending a message through that. For those who read it when I posted this before, I redid pretty much all of the chapter so reread. I took it down because I was unsatisfied with it and wanted to take it in another direction.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or the lyrics to Majorie Fair's song "Empty Room"

I don't want to go, but if I die young

Fill my empty room with the sun

This doesn't matter like it did before

This doesn't matter much anymore

She tried to remember, she tried to seek out those memories which eluded her so, but it seemed the more effort she put into it the less she got out of it. Over the past four years of living in her small, dark room all she recalled of her past life was her name, her age, and her parent's mysterious deaths. She didn't know how they died or possibly why, just that they were indeed dead. She did know however the reason behind her first name was because of her distracting, unusual pink hair, it was the same exact color of cherry blossoms in full bloom off a Sakura tree. Her last name was still a mystery, or even if she did have a last name though she was almost positive she must have had one at some point or another. Sakura also knew she was currently thirteen years old thanks to the tally marks she had marked on her room wall throughout the years.

Sakura was also an insomniac, she would refuse to sleep until her will power caved in, or her caretakers slipped a sleeping drug in her food. She would spend hours in the lulling darkness forcing her eyes to stay open, stubborn and headstrong. If and when she did fall into the clutches of her dream world, the nightmares would come. The grinding of teeth and bones, blood-curdling screams, and a village massacred beyond all recognition. Sakura was only familiar with two of the people in her dream, and they were the ones wreaking havoc upon the poor villagers.

Her parents…

She shivered at the thought of her dead parents walking among the living, slaughtering everyone. Every time she would scream at them and ask why they would do such awful things, and every time she was greeted with an insane, cruel laughter that pierced her ears and rocked her to the core with horror and a sense of overwhelming grief.

When she did manage to escape that dark dream land she would be crying hysterically, inconsolable but of course there would be no one there to comfort her or tell her it was just a bad dream and nothing else, that everything would be alright. Nobody was ever there for her, just the cold, wooden floor and four silent walls. Sakura was sure the repetitive nightmare was some locked away memory from her childhood, she was also sure she didn't want it unlocked. Whatever had happened would continue to haunt her, but at least she was partly ignorant of it.

The pink haired prisoner would spend hours, even days reading books, thousands of them. It was how she learned about the outside world, strange cultures and foreign languages. It kept her from going insane, despite her solitude. Sometimes in the stories a princess or some beautiful damsel would be in trouble, or kidnapped by an evil creature, but right before something terrible happened to the girl a handsome prince, or knight would rescue them, and carry them off into the crimson sunset. There were tales of great and powerful shinobis fighting to the death, protecting what they believed was right, she wanted nothing more than to become one of those ninjas…

The door to her dark room suddenly opened, startling Sakura out her deep thoughts. A tall man with golden hair, and an ocean blue eye walked in carrying a tray full of food with him. The artist smiled at her and Sakura glared right back at him, tensing. He didn't seem to notice closing the door right behind him leaving the room in pitch black like it had been before. Sakura had very unusual eyes with them she could see in the dark, though it was only in black and white.

She watched him carefully as he neared her setting the tray down next to her rigid form, she couldn't help but notice he smelled of seared flesh and blood. It was rather unsettling, considering he probably had just blown somebody up, and was still smiling at her. Insane, she reminded herself, he's completely off his rocker. He wasn't fooling anybody with that bizarre, crooked smile of his.

Since her small prison had no lighting she took it upon herself to rearrange the furniture to fool her captors into running into things, though he found her unused bed on the other side of the room easily. He obviously had something aiding his vision. She smiled inwardly when she thought of a certain shark-man cussing up a storm when he fell victim to her little schemes. "Think your being pretty cute, yeah?" Impatience had already begun to creep into his voice, it was pretty much elementary provoking him. She actually enjoyed it, it brought her great amusement to see her caretakers just as angry and frustrated as she was.

Deidara quickly molded a clay candle placing it on the floor below the bed. A tiny spark flew from the top and suddenly it lit up, the lighting almost had a magical effect on the room, but neither of the occupants cared to notice. Instead Sakura took to examining the food he had brought, and Deidara watched with passing curiosity as she poked at the contents.

Sakura scrunched her nose in barefaced disgust at the bruised yellow and brown apple noticing the holes where it seemed something else had decided to take residency. A molded stale piece of bread, some strips of dried meat, and a cup of questionably sanitary water were all that was left, she frowned as she leaned forward seeing a strange white powder sprinkled on all of the contents. Did they honestly think she was that stupid? Rolling her large lime-colored eyes, she turned her scowl to the blonde now lounging on her bed. "It looks delicious." Sarcasm dripping off every word like venom.

"You think so, yeah?" Sarcasm matching her own, he sat up meeting the glower with his one visible eye, "I thought you'd like it." The mad bomber was rising to the challenge of her unspoken defiance, he was trying to hide it but she could see his temper flaring as well. Patience was obviously not a virtue today (Or really any other day if she thought about it), she decided to test the waters.

Without breaking the heated staring contest she reached over grabbing the wrinkled piece of fruit and crushed it. Sticky apple juice oozed from between her slender fingers. Outwardly he didn't seem phased by her little act of rebellion, but she saw the way his cobalt eye flickered with annoyance. She couldn't stop herself from smirking smugly at him, really she couldn't. It was just a game after all, one would lose and the other would win. She always lost but she would play and defy them in any way possible, if only to be an instigator and agitate the hell out of them. It was the only fun Sakura ever had in this mundane, dull lifestyle.

Deidara was grinding his teeth with barely contained fury, his aura radiating murder for her sassy attitude, and just her in general. Why did she always make things so difficult for them? For herself? He swore Tobi was taking his next shift as babysitter as well as his own, at least Tobi seemed to keep himself in check when she acted this way. He, on the other hand, was itching for his clay pouches to teach her a lesson in manners.

Still keeping eye contact Sakura stood up suddenly, taking the tray of food with her, and without warning flung the nasty, disgusting food right at the blonde. She watched in mild amazement as it flew through empty air right where he had been, and slammed against the opposite wall.

Sakura stiffened when she realized he was gone, not that she really expected him to just sit there and take it, but still she was dealing with somebody who moved so fast he was impossible to follow. Abruptly she was pinned against the wall, the freak crushing her with his weight. "Why Sakura must you always do this? I'm sick and fucking tired of your constant nonsense, yeah. It's getting past the point of old, yeah." He growled the last part out, the hand wrapped around her throat tightening uncomfortably.

"Just kill me then, I don't care." She whispered back, challenging him yet again. Sakura knew he wouldn't, unless pushed past a certain point. But maybe that's exactly what she wanted, to keep pushing until one of them cracked and ended her misery.

He sneered, and for a second she thought he would go through with it, but then his hand loosened just a bit allowing her to breath. "You don't get off that easy, yeah." Something passed in his eye, a fleeting emotion that came and went so quickly she doubted she had even seen it. It had almost looked like…pity? No way, he was a merciless killer he didn't care about other people or their pathetic lives, he took every available opportunity to let her know that. He had told her before he loved the art of blowing people to itty-bitty pieces, and given the chance she was sure he would be overjoyed to give her a taste of that art. He had no room for emotions like pity, or mercy. "But don't worry your time is coming, yeah." He added almost as an after thought, giving her another one of his shady grins.

"Go to hell asshole." She spat back, her anger mounting with his subtle threats and annoying know-it-all smirks. "And take your little speech impairment with you." She saw it coming, knew the moment those hateful words left her mouth it would be coming, but it came as a shock none-the-less. His free hand came at her open and fast, and she shut her eyes bracing for impact. Nothing came and for a split second she thought he had killed her. Then she felt the cool palm of his hand, and the graze of sharply-pointed teeth on her cheek. How utterly gross and embarrassing. Opening her furious, emerald eyes she saw he was still grinning deviously at her, as though he had won their little competition.

"You really shouldn't test me, I'm not a patient man yeah." He wasn't a man at all actually, the thought giving her some satisfaction, he probably hadn't even gone through puberty. His hand-mouth suddenly licked her blushing cheek causing Sakura to shake with maddening anger. "Now it's time for little brats with smart-ass mouths to go to sleep." Reaching inside his coat with the hand that had almost hit her, he pulled out a long, slender needle. Sakura couldn't help the panic that began to set in.

"No!" She yelled struggling all she could against his iron grip, "O hell no!" There was no way she was going to be put to sleep, not again. Not when those horrible nightmares and memories were waiting for her to shut her eyes.

She heard him growl in frustration, "Sakura hold still or I'm going to miss and hit somewhere extremely unpleasant, yeah." Of course she recognized the threat for what it was; stop with being a hassle or the needle is going in the face. She didn't care as far as she was concerned that needle wasn't going to poke her at all. His weight shifted and for just a split second she found one of her arms free. It was quickly put to use.

Faster than Deidara had ever thought she could move, her clawed hand came up and raked across his unblemished cheek. Shocked at her sudden attack he dropped her to the ground, along with the needle and felt his face. Blood, lots of blood, the cuts were deep and ran from his scope to the bottom of his jaw.

O God, he was going to kill her. Sakura looked up to see the damage done and gasped when she saw a facial bone showing through, half his face torn to shreds. Bones really are white she thought morbidly, staring in disbelief at the amount of damage her nails had inflicted. She had never before raised a hand against one of her caretakers, sure she pulled little stunts to grate on their nerves but never something as violent as this. Sakura could tell he was pissed, he was practically shaking with explosive rage. She didn't dare move, and for several seconds all was silent and still.

Then it came his heavy boot kicking her hard in the side, launching her lithe form across the room. She hit the wall and swore she saw stars. "You little bitch, yeah." Even through the pain she almost laughed at how ridiculous that had sounded, his accent made him sound like an idiot sometimes. Her vision blurred but she could still make out his dark shape stalking towards her. She could taste blood, warm and metallic on her tongue. Her sides hurt so bad, she knew he had broken something.

Deidara lifted her up easily clutching the front of her shirt, he shook her hard, the agony was jarring, her ribs screaming and throbbing sharply. She couldn't breathe. "Your going to pay for this, yeah. By the time I get done with you your going to wish for a needle." She closed her eyes willing herself to ignore the pain--to ignore him. She honestly hoped she had finally managed to push him over the edge, she didn't ever want to wake up.

--

Darkness, that's all there was, surrounding and enveloping her in its cool embrace. She felt better here, she felt safe like nobody could hurt her. The pain was gone, the misery and grief that had consumed her were no more. It must be death she thought, it wasn't so bad; in fact it felt pretty good. If she were to stay here for the rest of eternity she wouldn't mind one bit. She could finally rest in peace, and not be haunted by her tormenting dreams or the specters of her mysterious past.

Something shifted in the shadows, Sakura felt it move more than saw it. Not even her night-vision could penetrate the pitch-black here. "Who's there?" She asked, surprised at the calm in her voice.

Laughter rang out startling Sakura, it was a deep and disturbing laugh that caused goose bumps to rise on her arms and legs--it sounded very familiar. "It's rude to ask such questions when you are the visitor to my lair, Sakura."

The peace and security she had felt was suddenly replaced with growing alarm and confusion. "What do you mean 'your lair'? Where am I?" She was now couched defensively ready to run or fight, whatever the case may be.

"You're being rude again, little girl." The voice was definitely not human, nor was it male or female. It was just spiteful and wicked, and O so familiar. Where had she heard that same silky timbre?

Before she could think of a possible answer she found a pair of huge glowing, amethyst eyes glaring right at her. Startled she gave a yell and fell backwards, she most definitely had not been expecting that. The eyes blinked at her and all she could do was stare in awe of their beauty, they radiated just enough light Sakura could make out an outlining of a face.

Her jade eyes widened when she realized just what exactly she was staring at; a cat, a huge predatory creature that seemed to be smiling malevolently at her. She had never in her life seen something as large as this, Sakura was sure it wouldn't have been able to fit in her room. From the violet glow of its shining, amused eyes she could tell it was laying on its side almost lazily regarding her. I have to be dreaming…no way is this real. I may have been locked away for four years but I know reality from fiction, and a talking cat the size of a small building is not real.

"O but Sakura, I am quite real. I can promise you that." The pink-haired girl stared incredulously at the onyx-furred cat--that proved it, it had to be a dream she hadn't voiced her thoughts out loud. How could it reply to something it shouldn't have heard in the first place, unless it was another one of her awful dreams at work? "I can reply Sakura because your thoughts are very clear to me. I hear everything, I know everything. In this place I am omniscient, there is nothing hidden from me, your darkest secrets, your heart's desires, even your past life."

Even your past life…

Sakura swallowed hard at the cat's words, four of them ringing particularly loud. "Just what are you?" She asked trying to keep the panic and curiosity out of her voice, it didn't work and the whole sentence came out as agitated as she felt.

"Silly, silly girl. I am who not a what, you would be wise to remember this. I do not take insults lightly." It lifted a huge paw then and began to delicately lick it as though it would not be bothered with her intrusions and apparently, insulting questions.

After a moment's pause to digest all that had been said and what was probably going to be said, she asked again in a carefully guarded tone, "Then who are you?"

The wet administrations to the paw stopped and Sakura was suddenly faced with the maw of the great cat, and two rows of impossibly huge razor-sharp teeth. She was hit with a blast of foul-smelling breath causing her to stumble backwards coughing uncontrollably. "You have finally asked something worth answering." It was grinning at her she realized when she backed up enough to get a look at the entire face. It was possibly the most evil, vile thing she had ever in her young life seen, she felt her insides churn just looking at it. "I am," There was a dramatic pause before continuing, "The two-tailed bijuu, Nibi no Nekomata, favored to the Death God, Demon of the Undead."

She supposed by the way the panther's voice took on a proud, superior tone she was supposed to be very impressed--possibly groveling, but she had no idea what it had meant by that long, overly-done title. So she stood there looking bewildered, not quite sure of what to say next. "Foolish, idiotic girl you have no idea the power that resides in you." She was stupefied and alarmed at the black cat's sudden change in demeanor, almost as if he was offended by her confusion. It wasn't her fault she was ignorant! "Ignorant indeed."

The amused inflection was back, but Sakura was hardly joyful for it. He said…power inside me. Could that possibly mean… Her fogged seaweed-green eyes cleared with horrified understanding. "Yes girl inside you, do you finally understand? Can you see the unseen? Can you fathom what potential you have?" The cruel, knowing smirk grew bigger, more maniacal with each statement. "We have…"

Sakura swallowed hard, this was so much to take in. How long had this thing been in her? It knew her past, it knew her current predicament. Could it have been in her from the beginning? Was it offering to help her? If so, then why? What could a creature this powerful gain from helping her? "Yes you brainless fool I am offering a way out of this dull, drab hellhole, but refer to me as a 'thing' again and I will crush your soul. You need not worry your witless little head over why, the reason is very simple."

Sakura put on a devilish smile, "If the reason is so simple then perhaps my witless little head will be able to grasp the reasoning behind your motives."

There was a long pause, leaving Sakura to wonder if she had pushed the demon to far and it was going to go through with its earlier threat of crushing her soul. The feral grin had dissipated into a half-frown, but that twinkle of malicious mischeviosness never left the radiant purple eyes, "Perhaps…" The panther finally eluded.

Nothing more was said was several long tense moments, a fog thick with choking power descended upon her. She refused to show her alarm, standing before the mighty mandible of a demon cat, its beautiful, yet vicious-looking eyes trained upon her; watching, calculating. The rancid stench of its breath nauseating her to the point of wanting to puke. It was like death was being breathed on her; rotten and putrid. Trying her best to ignore the looming evil before her and trying not think of insulting remarks about said breath of death, she spoke, "And what pray-tell do you want in return for helping me?"

"So now the true question is asked," It chuckled darkly, Sakura couldn't help but blanch at the sound. "You agree then? You want my help in escaping?" The questions weren't eager in their tone, but she could sense a growing triumphant note each time the panther demon spoke. It made her uneasy to say the least, but she nodded none-the-less Nekomata may not be desperate but she was. Sakura wanted a life outside the four cold walls of her empty room, she wanted to experience the adventure, the romance, the sheer unprecedented excitement of living that her novels had described so often.

"Good," The cat practically purred the word. "All I ask for in return is your cooperation, now that's not so much to ask for compared to what I offer in return is it?"

The way the demon-cat was making the whole deal sound so easy made Sakura wary, it couldn't, shouldn't, be so simple. Something was amiss…Sensing her hesitation Nekomata grinned, showing off monstrous-sized incisors, maybe the little fool wasn't as foolish as he had been led to believe. "You do want to become a shinobi, do you not? Imagine how powerful you would become with my help, you would be one of the best. Revered, respected." Her will was weakening, he could feel it. "Not even your captors, the Akatsuki would dare to challenge you."

That was all the push she needed; while Sakura was not one for power or wealth, she was all for paying back her captors for all the hell they had put her through--the torture, the mental anguish, the humiliation, and most of all those experiments, those appalling, ghastly experiments, she shuddered just from briefly thinking of it. The mere thought of challenging their authority--Not just pulling little pranks--was enough for her to look Nekomata in its glowing, scheming eyes and smile. "What would you have me do?"

The demon-cat gave a great bellowing laugh, it echoed hauntingly through the shadows of the abyss making the fine, pink hairs on Sakura's arms and legs stand on end. Apparently it was very amused at her change of mind, but more than that Nekomata was extremely pleased with his own cunning. "There is a seal holding back my chakra, I need you to remove it." He offered no further explanation as to how or why exactly it had been placed there in the first place, but then she hadn't expected one.

"Where is this seal?" The impatience in her tone was not lost on Nekomata, but he chose to ignore it, for now.

With the grace only a cat could possibly possess it stood on all fours, sleek black-furred muscles rippling with the movement, towering over the brave green-eyed girl. The odor of a rotting corpse soon followed, almost overwhelming her sensitive nose. "Follow closely, or you will be lost within your own mind." Sakura reached out as though to grab the panther's onyx-colored fur but stopped when she saw it was watching her with a warning glare, "Death is colder than any blizzard Sakura, do not touch me unless you wish to ice over."

She thought it had been the deep abyss that was so chilly, but she realized it was the demon radiating such intense cold. Quickly she pulled back her hand to her side, following Nekomata as close as she dared without losing sight of the great cat. The demon blended in so perfectly with the surrounding dark it was no easy feat keeping up with it. "There." It stopped so suddenly Sakura nearly ran into it, luckily though she was a nimble girl and dodged the cat's hind quarters in time.

Ahead there was a dim light, she could barely make out the tall golden gates that blocked the way. Of course, she thought amusedly, "We're in a cage." It wasn't a question, just a stated fact. A fact that turned the heated, very un-amused gaze of Nekomata on her.

The demon didn't reply just stared hard at her for moment, "You are correct." It admitted, shocking Sakura, "This is my lair, my prison, my cage…But not for long, the seal is beginning to weaken, even without your help in removing it, it would only be a matter of years before it broke."

"I see." She swallowed hard before asking her next obvious question. "Then why ask for my help?"

It grinned at her not quite as wickedly as before, just a knowing smirk. "Because my dear, foolish girl, you will be dead soon enough." Sakura stood there rigid at the news of her soon-to-be death, not so much the fear of her life ending, just the befuddling, cryptic claim. Why did it matter to this powerful, terrible creature if she perished? Again hearing her unvoiced thoughts it responded, "It matters because if you die, I die with you. We are connected Sakura, our life-lines are one and the same. The Akatsuki are planning to extract me from you, and use me as their slave for world domination. I am nobodies slave!"

Sakura had to bite back a cry of horror at the growled-out stated facts--Yes facts she realized, for everything the demon-panther had said rang true in her mind.

But don't worry your time is coming, yeah, the words of Deidara came back to her. In the rush of things she hadn't thought much of what he'd said, but now…

She feared for a moment the cat was using some sort of trick on her conscience to convince her of this instead of the true reason, but that made no sense and even as she stared into those scorching, violet-hued eyes she saw no treachery; only blazing anger, and indignation. She looked away unable to hold that burning gaze for long, "I will remove the seal, but I don't know how."

The air around them calmed, and the smug arrogant look returned. "Why that's the easiest part, it's like a sticker you just peel it off. I can't get near it, it senses my chakra signature and burns me like the very fires of hell." Nekomata turned its great head around towards the looming golden gates. "The seal will not harm you." He sounded almost jealous, but Sakura figured the whole situation was just getting to her she was imagining things or so she thought.

Taking a deep breath and nodding to herself resolutely she marched towards the obscure lighting, even with the reassuring words of the demon-cat she approached with heeded caution. The seal was easy enough to spot, it wasn't hidden like she had been expecting. She reached out hesitantly feeling the air around the strange, slightly-torn paper crackle with energy. It didn't hurt but it most certainly wasn't pleasant, her whole body tensed as the energy around the tag intensified, the rosy-pink hairs on her head stood straight on end. She felt her muscles twitch and spasm as the energy began exploring her chakra channels.

She wanted to run, to scream, to just get away from it, but she couldn't she had to do this. Gritting her teeth to stop the chattering and prevent her tongue from being bitten off, she touched the seal and all at once felt her arm go numb. Like fire and ice the feeling shot up her arm, to her shoulder. It was going straight to her heart, it spread so rapidly she couldn't possibly do anything to stop its deadly burning-cold decent.

Wouldn't hurt, my ass.

Sakura only managed to peel the seal off about half-way before her body gave out. She fell backwards, her surprised, regretful eyes closing ever so slowly. It was laughing, the sound reverbating throughout the pitch-black corridors of her mind.

It was a trick…What exactly had she done?

I've made a deal with the devil…

There was no turning back.

--

To explain some things: I know Sakura is OOC, if you can't understand why she is OOC I recommend you go back and read carefully. Now as the story progresses her real personality will come to light, but as of this moment her life is pretty much screwed up so she is going to act screwed up.

You may also be wondering why Sakura made the comment that Deidara probably hadn't even gone through puberty. Well since Sakura in this story is 13 for now and Deidara probably isn't much older in the anime or manga I made his age close to hers. I tried to look up his age and all I found were very different opinions. One site said he was 110 lol. It doesn't matter much anyway.

Another thing is when Sakura refers to Nekomata as an 'it' it's because she doesn't know if he is male or female, Nekomata knows and refers to himself as 'he'. There you have it. I hope I answered most questions.

Thank you for your time in reading. D