A/N: Yes, I have started a new project! It's about Sasuke, chiefly, if you haven't already guessed. Um, it's going to be a dark fic, at the very least, so if you came here looking for fluff, I'm sorry...

Some warnings for the first chapter: It contains about one line of SasuSaku. ONE LINE. (I don't count Sakura ogling- er, admiring, Sasuke as SasuSaku, because anyone can do that.) There won't be any more SasuSaku in the rest of this fic, because...well, you'll see at the end. There is character death as well! I don't think it's particularly sad character death, but it's important to the story. Know that if you continue reading, most of these wishes will not have happy endings, because this is a moral-based story.

If you still want to read, please continue :)

Beta: Oblivion's Demon, who also made that wonderful summary.

Wish One

A woman paused uncertainly in the middle of the busy road.

Her sudden halt in movement did nothing to slow the hectic flow of people around her; instead of tripping or stumbling around her, they simply moved their paths a little and continued on with their life. They flowed around her like a river, and she was just another irrelevant, useless pebble in their course. It was that easy, ignoring someone. It was that effortless.

And she absolutely hated it.

She hated being oblivious. She hated being nothing. She hated feeling like she was insignificant in the world—that no one acknowledged her—that she was nobody. She hated herself.

That was the reason why she was going to see the 'demon', the rumored granter of wishes, the whispered devil. She wanted to be someone.

Haruno Sakura didn't want to be nonexistent anymore.

"It should be around here," she whispered to herself, anxiously checking the crumpled piece of paper in her hand. Words were scrawled across the whiteness messily, staining it with sin and darkness. She shuddered as she remembered the toothless, grinning, wrinkled old man who had stopped her one day as she was walking home from work, his hand gnarled but surprisingly strong. His words had been raspy and hoarse.

'You look like someone who should live more… You look tired, dear. Exhausted of our world. You have a wish; I'm sure, your kind always does. Why don't you try this shop?

'The demon who lives in it will grant your infinite desire…'

He had slipped the paper into her hand and vanished back into the shadows. When she had stopped to look back for him, the old man was gone.

Or maybe he had just never been there in the first place.

Sakura laughed softly. No, I must be losing my mind. She glanced down at the paper in her hand one more time before marching sharply into the alley, grimacing at the stench that instantly assaulted her nose. It was worse than urine, worse than garbage. Plain disgusting. Gagging lightly, she shook her head and waited for her eyes to adjust to the relative darkness. Once they had, though, she instantly wished they hadn't. The alley itself was just as disgusting as the smell, strewn with trash and filth like the polluted river Styx—and like that river, it reeked darkness and malice from every inch of its brick exterior.

Her weary green eyes focused blearily on the single blemished, wooden door set at the very end of the alley. It was like the path to hell; one must tread carefully if you even wanted to reach your destination. Although it didn't matter much in the end, because as soon as you stepped onto this dark path, you were trapped for eternity.

Are you willing to give your soul to be recognized?

At last, she reached the door (the gates to hell). It was even more imposing up close, looming over her like a fallen angel's shadow. There was a solitary gold knocker set in the middle of the rough wood, strangely out of place for something in the twenty-first century. It gleamed oddly brightly in the evening light; it tempted her. Vaguely, the image of an angel screaming in anguish, carved elegantly in the murky gloom, floated before her eyes. Strange, yet beautiful. Terrifying, yet enchanting. Heaven, yet Hell.

Sakura answered the call. At one feather-light touch, the door creaked and groaned, making such a racket she automatically glanced behind her to see if anyone had heard. But no, she was still lost in the shadows, the (light) end of the alley far away from her reach. Shadows, people, passed by the opening, unmindful of the conflicted young woman hiding just outside of their reach. She had passed beyond normal humans; she would soon be tied to earth by different things. A different wish, something granted by the devil.

A dank breeze brushed past her pale cheeks, causing her to turn back to the now-open doorway. It was forebodingly black, impenetrable, until a single torch whooshed into existence. Then as if answering an unheard summon, the rest of the torches lit all at once, red flames flickering against the gray walls. It lit a passage so long that the end was out of sight.

Sakura glanced back one last time, somehow understanding that when she stepped over the threshold into the hallway, she would be lost to humanity. Something within her would be gone, and she would be marked as different. She would be unable to return to the boring old Sakura she was before.

The thought of that thrilled her.

And so she stepped into the hallway, into her new life.

Somewhere deep inside the winding corridors, he smiled.

Another fly is caught in my trap.

Sakura wasn't stupid.

Despite all things, she wasn't dumb. Even if this led her to a new life, she didn't want to die doing it—and to top it off, she was wandering directly in unfamiliar territory (enemy territory). Who knew what would happen.

Because of that, she kept a torch in her right hand and her left hand on the cool stone of the wall. Her footsteps echoed a little eerily on the floor. Click. Click. Click. The crackle of flames accompanied her footsteps like a harmony. If she ever got lost, all she would need to do was turn around and follow the right walls until she returned to where she began. (click) It was that simple. After all, this wasn't some horror or supernatural movie. (click crackle) This was real life. The hallways didn't change to some unknown force's whim. (click crackle)

A voice nestled inside her whispered tauntingly: Are you so sure, Sakura? (clickclick) You can feel it in your heart, in your bones. (crackle) Something isn't right about this place (cracklecrackleclick) … something isn't human.

"Shut up," she muttered, hand clenching around the torch.

Twenty-three footsteps later (twenty-three clickclickclicks) something new joined the song. She began hearing melodic drips, hollow notes that plucked against her ear. It went like this—click crackle drip click crackle drip until it all blurred into one long, continuous noise. Or maybe that was just the sudden roaring that had replaced her hearing; not the roar of a wildcat, but the roar of a never-ending wind. Her eyes still stared blankly ahead of her, something foreign propelling her forward. She had to see what was around this last turn…around this last bend, all would be revealed.

The roaring wind picked up in intensity, howling and actually becoming tangible. The torches blew out all at once, just as she turned around the corner, hair whipping wildly around her face. Sakura's hand dropped from the wall.

It was utterly dark.

And yet, she felt no fear—until the voice spoke.

"Are you my new prey?"

Instantly, ice shot down her spine, stiffening her into a statue. The darkness became oppressing, weighing down on her like a blanket of steel. It was smothering her! Panic filled her chest, heartbeat quickening.

"Are you scared? Don't be scared. I promise I won't hurt you…" The voice was definitely coming closer, and yet Sakura couldn't move an inch. The darkness had become manacles.

She stifled a shriek when something touched her shoulder, gently, fear overriding every other instinct in her brain. "Poor thing. You're still scared. I see what your problem is now; you simply dislike the dark." There was a snapping noise and then immediately, the room lightened. Unconsciously, the weight slipped from her shoulders and once again Sakura could breathe. Sweat cooled on her brow as she took in the sight in front of her.

Beautiful was the first thing she registered. Deadly was the next.

It wasn't just the room—although that too deserved its fair share of respect. Red and black draped every inch of the void, domed space, painting itself in abstract streaks across the top of the ceiling and dragging down the walls to puddle on the ground. Fan symbols were everywhere, red and white (the only other color in the room), on the floor in rugs and on the walls in paintings. Then, besides all that, there was the main feature: the giant couch resting in the middle of the room, eating up all the attention. Well, no, that wasn't entirely correct: it was what was on that couch that was pulling her attention away from everything else.

He was unworldly. Unearthly. She had never seen beauty like his (he wouldn't have been ignored, not like she was) before in her life. Comparisons desperately raced through her mind, discarding them when she realized none of them fit his description. He had skin paler than the moon, more luminous than an angel, eyes darker than ebony and hair deeper than midnight. His features were like sin itself.

Temptation personified.

"Welcome to my shop, Haruno Sakura. How may I be of your assistance?"

She even drowned in his voice. It folded around her, caressing her. Choking her.

This is truly a demon—or a fallen angel. Either way, there's no one who could compare to this man. This being.

"I—I—want—" To her utter mortification, her throat closed up, words squeezing tight and dying before they ever reached the man's ears. A blush worked its way up to her cheeks while her mouth worked furiously to say something—anything! If this man shunned her like everyone else had, ignored her… She would die.

"You want a wish. You always do." The man's eyes lowered, sooty lashes folding over the piercing black like the hooded gaze of a cobra. Unseen to her, a sneer rose to his lips, cruel and menacing. "And I am happy to grant what you want."

For a price, of course.

Without his eyes on her, rationality began returning. Sakura's brows furrowed as she realized they were the only two people in the room (although was he human, of that she wasn't sure) and therefore, the one who had touched her shoulder earlier—with that cold, chilly hand—must be this man. So how did he get back to the couch so fast? And how did he know her name?

Then his eyes met hers again, and everything vanished from her mind like fog on a sunny day.

"Why don't you come here, Sakura?" he asked smoothly, captivating her. Nodding, she moved over to him and kneeled; that particular motion came naturally to her. Instincts told her it was something she was supposed to do in front of this man, because he was like a god with his presence.

"Introductions are in order, I suppose. I am Sasuke. And you are Sakura." He smirked at her then, causing her heart to skip a beat. His eyes remained passionless. "This is your first time visiting. I remember everyone, you know." His head tilted slightly to the side and his finger tapped his forehead knowingly, all the while maintaining that heady eye contact. "That being so, would you like to hear the description of this shop or would you like me to grant your wish?"

Anything to hear your voice more.

"I see, then I suppose I better describe my shop, shouldn't I." Something like amusement flickered across his face, breaking the earth-shattering spell a little. A tiny part of Sakura was rebelling against his charm: it isn't natural to answer like that… We didn't say anything. He could only do that if he could read our thoughts—and that's not possible. He would have to be inhuman. And to top it off, his emotions aren't even real. You can see it. They're like plastic, masks he is forced to don for the sake of humanity.

"You're quite interesting." She jolted as she realized his eyes had changed color, becoming a brilliant shade of scarlet for a millisecond before flashing back to black. Or was that all her imagination just then? "But we can get to that part later. One of my messengers told you about my shop, didn't they?"

She nodded mutely.

"They're rather useful. They send people here, people like you, who have wishes they want to be granted. People who are lonely and desperate." Sakura frowned slightly. The thought of that didn't sit well with her—the fact that there might have been more girls before her and the fact that he had just called her desperate. "Of course, none of them compare to your beauty." His hand touched her cheek; she flinched slightly at the iciness in his fingertips despite being warmed by his compliment. No human should be that cold without being rightfully renamed as a corpse.

Sasuke drew back, noting her flinch, before crossing his arms. "I fulfill those wishes. That is my purpose, just as seeking wishes is yours—without humans, what would I do to fill my spare time?" Sakura had no answer. "That is what this shop does. It is only visible to those who seek my aid, and those who are prepared to give anything for their one wish. I can accomplish whatever you wish: revenge, true love, political ambition, death, loneliness, or even acknowledgment." She jerked as he said the last phrase, feeling something deep within her ring in exuberance. Finally, finally, she wouldn't be so alone anymore…

Sasuke was still speaking. "At the same time, don't lose yourself to the darkness of human greed." His eyes gleamed, cat-like, in the sultry dimness of the room. A torch crackled near them, spraying red sparks across the blackness of the couch. "I give my three obligatory warnings, although few remember to heed them. Will you listen, I wonder? First, remember, what you wish for cannot be reversed. No matter how much you plead, even I cannot change the flow of time. Second, make your decision wisely, for you only get one choice. Think, is it what you really want? And third, you must accept your fate for making a deal with the devil. There is no heaven; only eternal hell."

This time, she caught his eyes glowing red. They spun, hypnotizing her, blinding her to his warnings and numbing her to her surroundings. Sakura no longer felt the coldness of the floor beneath her, nor did she mind the pins and needles crawling their way up her calves. Her world had been changed into one of a demon's, and she was glad to believe it.

"I…I accept that. And my wish—"

She was cut off by Sasuke, who leaned forward until there were only mere centimeters between them. Sakura was acutely aware of the fact that his eyes were still crimson, patterned strangely with black (they say that the brightly colored snakes are the most dangerous ones…but I think I've found myself a more venomous creature to play with).

"I told you before, didn't I? Your fear is one simply born of darkness." He studied the confusion on her face; she was so easy to read, her every emotion etched into those green orbs she called eyes, allowing him to play her according to what he saw. It was so effortless it would almost be a pity to corrupt her. But then again, the pure ones were the fun ones… "You are afraid of the dark because you have lived in it for so long. Not literally, of course not"—only I can live in the darkness and stay sane—"but in society. You haven't blossomed yet. You're merely waiting in the shadows, and you want to step out; but you don't know how."

"That's what I feel!" Sakura gasped, eyes wide. How could he understand her so perfectly? It was like fate…

"Please don't say that," Sasuke muttered with the faintest grimace. "I control fate here, not the other way around."

"E-excuse—"

"Never mind." He cut her off brusquely by licking his lips, attracting her attention to the small sliver of tongue that peeked out from behind his pale mouth. "The question is, would you like your wish to be granted?"

Sakura hesitated (smart one) for a split second before hastily nodding her head, as if answering too late would make all this disappear. It still felt like a dream to her, like this was some not-horrifying nightmare. One pinch, and everything she had just imagined would be gone.

Sasuke cupped her chin, the look in his eyes unexpectedly chilling. It was like he was measuring her worth with those eyes, like she was trash—and for the first time since she'd laid eyes on this enrapturing creature, something rational began building in intensity inside her. It was her most primal instincts reacting to this call, this predator, who wanted to devour her (and most definitely not in the good way). Her eyes squeezed shut and she shivered when he spoke.

"Very well then. If that is all, you may be released. I hope you appreciate what you wished for, Haruno Sakura… You will be acknowledged soon." His words faded the longer they played, until the stone beneath her changed abruptly to the roughness of concrete and the iciness of his hand wisped away on an invisible wind. She hesitatingly opened her eyes to be greeted with the outside world, harsh and unrelenting.

Somehow, it didn't seem so bad anymore.

She thought that, even while standing shakily and faintly recalling Sasuke's (did he really exist, such a divine being) last words.

'Though… you may not like the way you receive your acknowledgment.'

A laugh escaped her throat, oddly happy and bubbly. Ha! The chains of normality, of dullness, had fallen off her at last. She was ready to emerge from her cocoon of lifelessness as a butterfly in the new world, embrace those who were ready to worship her—she would be an idol! Sakura could imagine her new life already, a life of fashion and prestige and utter happiness. She wasn't nobody anymore.

Sasuke's words of warning completely escaped her mind as she stepped out into the light of her new world. Sure, she would be grateful to him (she would probably even thank him when she was famous by expanding his shop somewhere bigger and less confusing) for giving her fame, but in the end, he was just another tool—

"There! There she is!"

Twin sirens blared into the night air as half a dozen police cars swerved onto her street. She watched in dazed confusion as they screeched to a stop in front of her, pedestrians shying away like she had some contagious disease. Police swarmed out from the cars like ants, rushing toward her. Instinctively, she backed toward the alley, seeking shelter.

What—is going on? Where's my fame? Is this…?

"Haruno Sakura, you are under arrest for the murder of…" The policeman's voice was drowned out in the night and the sirens and the screaming, the roaring of a phantom wind blowing in her ears. Sakura was barely aware of cold handcuffs clipping themselves around her wrists, clamping too tightly for comfort. She was hardly conscious when the police led her gently toward the cars (mentally unstable, this one) and she watched in bemusement as she was folded in the backseat of a patrol car.

It was only when the door closed with a final, ominous click that she finally realized what was going on, and in desperation, she looked frantically over to the alleyway, eyes straining to make out the door she had passed through—what, minutes ago? Hours?

The door was gone.

Or maybe it was just indiscernible in the darkness. It was funny how it was only when she had gotten out of the comforting darkness and into the blaring brightness, starkness, of the light—that she understood just how much she had favored the dark.

You may not like the way you receive your acknowledgment… give your soul to be recognized… my prey? They send people here…lonely and desperate…

Sasuke's sinful voice spread like a poison through her mind, and her eyes blanked out as the policeman settled in the front seat. The roaring wind dulled to a monotonous buzz in her ears, and the last thing she saw before the night vanished in a blur of black and streaked silver was a pair of glittering, dangerous red eyes smiling capriciously at her from the dimness of the alley.

You didn't listen…

I told you to make your decision wisely, didn't I?

You didn't listen.

Humans never do.

One day, far in the future, an old customer returned.

It wasn't a rare sight, not at all—they only got one wish, but that didn't mean they were forbidden from returning. When their misery grew great enough, the door became visible again, and they were allowed to come back one last time.

One last time to plead for death.

"Welcome, Haruno Sakura."

The name was the same, but the person herself had changed drastically. Even when she had been 'a bud', she had retained some of that same light all humans had. Her eyes had glowed, her skin shining with a human's vitality. He was jealous of that vitality, the light that he could never reach or obtain. He was a 'demon', and therefore, he was unable to attain the brilliance humanity had.

(it was because they had such short lives that their spark was so bright)

This person before him now was shriveled. Not physically; mentally. She was a mere shell of who she had been before. He could sense it in her thoughts—they were disjointed and confused, blank. A doll. Time in prison had taken its toll on her, just as being falsely accused for murder had. He had lied before—it really wasn't in his power to control fate, but he did twist the strings a little. He tweaked them here or there so they interceded with his client's, and that was all. Sasuke would never be so impudent as to say he forced fate to hand out cruel and unusual punishments. When humans didn't make it clear what they wanted…

Well, they simply brought it upon themselves.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you do this to—me?" Her words were dry and cracked, passing through lifeless lips. Shadows hung deeply under her eyes.

This doll is already broken.

She's useless.

"Now, I wouldn't do something like that, Sakura. Look at me," he purred, black morphing to red. His eyes gleamed. "Would I do something like that?"

She hesitated, still under his spell even though years had passed. "N—no—yes—I don't know anymore! What did you do? I wanted acknowledgment, not—"

"You didn't listen," he said softly in a sing-song voice. "I told you the rules, I told you what to do. You just didn't listen. You wanted to be acknowledged, did you not? I gave you acknowledgment; now the world sees you as a merciless killer who murdered three children and their pregnant mother even while the real murderer still lies out there somewhere, free. How does that make you feel?"

"You—!" Sakura's eyes grew wide in anger, the first spark of light returning to them only to jolt back in astonishment as Sasuke appeared in a flash in front of her. His face was emotionless.

"I have fulfilled your wish, and now, you will pay the price." His fingers worked with a cruel gentleness up to her neck, trailing over her cheeks briefly before wrapping tightly around her throat. Her heartbeat thudded erratically beneath his fingers, warm and tempting. Even he, a demon by all rights, wasn't immune to such delicacies.

Death.

"Oh dear, did you think you would get away without paying for anything? That's not how the world is, I'm afraid." His fingers tightened slightly, digging into her soft skin. They must have treated her fairly well in prison…although it did nothing for her shattered mind.

"Why?" she choked out one last time as his fingers tightened some more.

"Why do I do all this? I guess it can't hurt to tell you." For the first time, Sakura saw the sneer that graced his lips like a second skin. As near death as she was, fear still raced through her like electricity. "I don't want death, exactly. I don't need the power of knowing I can kill someone, nor do I require the knowledge that I can bend fate. I am merely someone in-between who likes playing with humans. I like your frivolous lives, so carefree and utterly curious. It's interesting to someone like me."

"Is…that all … this is … to you…?"

"I suppose it is." Sasuke saw the hope finally die from her eyes, as something in her gave up its struggle. This was where the deal became a little dull; when the human gave up altogether, the game was over. And Sasuke didn't like games ending.

Because of that, he was a little startled when a soft voice breathed out, "Then…show me a little kindness…and give me one last wish…won't you?"

His eyes flickered up to her face, red analyzing green. No, it wasn't some random trick—she really was begging him, even though she was on the very edge of death. Sasuke had thought she had given up, but no. He had been wrong this one time, and that pleased him enough to answer her unspoken request.

"Very well."

Her mouth was soft against his, her last breath quiet as she breathed out against his lips. Then all was silent once more, another promise fulfilled, another deal done, another game ended.

Sasuke sat on his couch, arms draped languidly over the side. "She was an interesting customer," he murmured, closing his eyes. "Fighting spirit till the end, indeed, though she did make me talk a lot." He sat, lost in his thoughts for a little more, until something thrummed on the edges of his consciousness, alerting him of a new human. A new prey.

Well, it was to be expected someone would come so soon. His work was an everlasting one, after all.

His eyes opened slowly just as the torches in the room were extinguished in a giant gust of wind. The only source of illumination came from his eyes, radiantly bright in the stark blackness. When he spoke, his voice was velvet over ice.

"Welcome… to the Demon Shop."

A/N: Did you like it? I don't know if I should continue it. Based on the responses I get, I guess I'll either leave it as a oneshot or continue.

On that note, please review! I want to know what everyone thinks of it, or if I should continue!