Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of lL0tus. I, lL0tus am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement intended.

Caught in Between

Chapter 1

The scent of blood lingered in the air, he could smell it, and taste it. Hesitantly he licked the side of his mouth where it was wet. The warm substance tasted of rusted metal, jogging his senses awake. Just the thought of digesting blood made Sasuke's stomach churn in disgust. He pried his eyes open slowly; they were red and burning from prolonged sleep. He didn't move but instead just stared at the hospital's white ceiling. The walls around him were tall and thick. They were also covered in black and gold writing, presumably done by hand judging from the sharp edges and blotches of ink here and there. Sasuke stared at the language he didn't understand and didn't care to understand at the moment. He couldn't remember how he had gotten into the hospital or how long he had been under the care of them. But every night thus far he'd wake up with a smear of blood upon his lips with no explanation given other than 'it's necessary for your recovery'.

Bullshit.

Sasuke couldn't remember whom he was, save for his name and age. And the more he tried to recall his earlier years the harsher reality seemed to become. Sasuke Uchiha was twenty-two years old and possibly already dead, or rather undead he concluded. He licked his lips sweeping off the remaining blood. He felt disgusted with himself. He'd had to be dead because why else would he need human blood to 'recover', assuming that it was human blood.

Sasuke groaned in exhaustion before clenching his fists and pulling against his restraints with no luck. Those damned things. He hated them.

"Nurse…" he called.

He stared at the door watching as shadows walked pass blocking light temporarily every time. After a moment of silence the door finally opened revealing a black skinned woman. The woman stood tall and bore a green gem upon her forehead complimenting her emerald eyes. She was also fully wrapped in gauze from ankles to bust revealing her well-developed body. Besides her abnormal skin, gem embedded forehead, odd choice of clothing and combination of eyes; she sported extremely long nails, assuming they were nails and not daggers.

Sasuke eyed the nurse suspiciously as she approached him with a syringe in hand. He wondered if the so-called nurse even knew how to use the thing.

"So you're awake," the nurse said to Sasuke.

"Couldn't help it."

Sasuke watched as the nurse measured and tested the liquid in the syringe. He frowned as a squirt of liquid released from the tip of the needle falling onto the ground.

"What is in that?"

"Additional nutrients."

Sasuke frowned, "Nutrients? Save me the bullshit."

The nurse chuckled as she injected the strange purple liquid into his flesh. Sasuke bucked off the bed harshly, his back curling beneath him as immense pain surged throughout his body. He screamed in agony. The nurse quickly disposed of the empty syringe and pushed Sasuke back onto the bed with extreme force using her elbows for support. He thrashed about yelling obscenities that would surely send him to hell if such a place truly existed. The nurse tried to soothe him by words, "You need to relax. As much as I do enjoy your screams honey you'll need to get use to this." Sasuke growled at the nurse venomously. How could he get use to what-the-fuck nutrients that sent his body into immediate spasms? The nurse grinned at him as if hearing his thoughts. She released his arms and walked toward the door pulling it open.

"Why are you keeping me here demon?"

"Demon?" she turned repeating in amusement, "You are in no position to call me demon father."

The grin never left her lips as she closed the door behind her leaving Sasuke gawking.

Father? What had the stupid female meant by that?

Naruto glared at the golem standing before him. The golem stood short, possibly only four feet, which was average for his specific race. Flesh Iron or Fleshie for short.

"How in the hell did you get my order wrong?"

The golem mumbled something along the lines of mixing up supplies but Naruto heard none of it. Instead he fumed angrily and flailed his arms in the air exclaiming, "This is a fucking hospital! Do you know how many patients will be put at risk now that you've mixed up supplies?" The golem cowered in shame. Naruto sighed crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes calmly as he took several deep breaths. How was he to treat the mare? She'd been attacked by junkies and injected with several unknown substances. Her bodily fluids were all out of whack. It was only a matter of hours before the female turned into mush, fucking hellhound food!

Naruto abruptly grabbed the box of supplies out of the golem's truck. "Prepare to get the remaining supplies and rush back over here pronto!" The golem nodded profusely before disappearing into his truck and driving off. Naruto kicked the hospital's doors in as he mumbled to himself, "Darn good for nothings fleshies." He quickly made his way toward the supply room where he dropped the box onto his worktable and immediately dove into the medical supplies.

"Not quite the patient one, are you?"

Naruto heaved a heavy sigh. He turned to the doorway. "Sakura, do you know those shit-fucks got our order wrong AGAIN?"

Sakura chuckled. "Well Gaara placed the order, maybe he got it wrong?"

Naruto shook his head in defiance. "Not possible. I went over the list with Gaara before he placed the order."

Sakura shrugged, "Then maybe they really are just shit-fucks."

"Agreed."

Naruto resumed digging through the box looking for something. He groaned in defeat. "Sakura, please tell me we have H-blood for mares."

"Nope, but we do have a possible transfusion," Sakura bargained with a wicked grin spread upon her lips. Naruto frowned at Sakura's proposal knowing that she was up to no good. Putting up her hands in her defense she stated, "Nothing of that sort. A mare is simply in the process of giving birth in ER-4B which means…"

"She'll need a blood withdrawal of at least ten-pints," Naruto finished softly to himself calculating the possibility of saving the mare that was about to become dog food.

Naruto pushed pass Sakura and headed to the ER.

"Your welcome!" exclaimed Sakura. Naruto shot thumbs up into the air before disappearing at the corner.

In haste Naruto speeded to the ER ignoring intercoms paging for him. He could hear the pregnant mare's screams as he cornered the hall of the fourth floor. Reaching the ER he pushed the doors open. He saw the pregnant mare strapped down to the bed as her breathing labored. Her black skin beaded silver sweat, which meant she was in excruciating pain. Several doctors worked on the female trying to bring her back down to control. Naruto scanned the room locking onto several blood bags hanging proudly. Without much thought Naruto rushed over to the bags and grabbed them from their prison. Several doctors eyed Naruto questionably but ignored his actions for they already had their hands full. The blond hurried out of the ER and headed down two floors to where the injured mare rested.

He entered the room with hands full of blood and pressed a large red button for the intercom, "ER-2C in need of emergency backup. I repeat emergency backup."

"Doc? Is everything alright?" came a weak voice behind him.

Naruto released the intercom button and smiled weakly at the frail mare. With a soothing voice he whispered just loud enough for her to hear, "Everything is fine Cherlotte. Just rest, we'll be doing a blood transfusion in 5. Okay?" The mare named Cherlotte nodded before closing her eyes again. Bursting through the door was a redhead in the process of rubbing sanitizer on his hands. He looked at the mare and than at Naruto with a questionable gaze.

"What the fuck happened to her?"

Naruto smiled widely, "Didn't know you were on duty today Gaara."

Gaara strolled to the bedside of the mare observing her.

"She was attacked and injected by several unknown substances. I'm guessing she was meant to be dog food but Sakura got there just in the nick of time."

Gaara smirked, "That darned mare. Fend for your own, huh?"

Naruto hooked the blood bags above the bed and leaned down slightly reading the name of the 'donor'. The pregnant mare was a female named Jessica Lovett. Naruto found her surname odd. She must have belonged to the Raven Blood Clan. He only ever had a few patients from that clan for they were always survivors. Most of the Raven's elites were assassins trained to kill anything that opposed their order, at least on their side of the world. Naruto hated the division with a passion. They were ruthless. Breaking away from his thoughts Naruto checked the mare's vitals. He noticed that her skin was slowly turning grey far from the mare's signature black skin, which meant her control was dwindling. Naruto acted quickly wasting no more valuable time.

"Gaara insert this into her vein."

Following orders Gaara carefully inserted the needle into the mare's vein. Within moments the blood transfusion had begun and the mare's skin returned to it's darkest color. After an hour of careful observation the mare had regained consciousness bringing Naruto's worries to ease, or at least most of it. Pulling his gloves off, Naruto disposed of them in the trash followed by Gaara. They exited the room allowing the mare to rest up for a full recovery.

"So I heard from Sakura that our little patient from the ground has made a full recovery."

Naruto pulled his fingers through his golden-orangey hair in frustration moaning, "Ahh, one after the other. Is he still binded?" Gaara nodded giving Naruto the peace he craved.

"But she also found something else…"

Naruto cocked an eyebrow in interest.

"Sakura said he harbored a snake gene."

Naruto smiled widely, "So he's one of us."

Gaara's face darkened, "Not a secondary snake gene. A primary, original, parasitic snake gene."

Naruto paled, "Impossible."

Sasuke rubbed his swollen wrists pleased to be freed from the 'protective' bonds. He looked up at the male doctor standing before him who had released him just moments ago. The man was tall and well tanned. He wore a long white lab coat covering his arms and most of his chest but underneath the fabric he was bandaged up pretty tight with possibly gauze just as the female nurse who'd been taking care of him. He identified himself as Doctor Naruto Uzumaki, head of Snake Origins Hospital and if that wasn't a strange name for a hospital Sasuke sure as hell was losing his mind and fairly quickly.

"So you really don't remember anything?" the doctor asked.

Sasuke shook his head, "Listen Doc if I did, I don't think I'd be in this situation right now."

"All you remember is your name and age, how useful." Naruto growled in agitation. Sasuke shot Naruto a sour look, "Well excuse me for having amnesia."

Naruto chuckled earning an additional glare from the raven-haired man.

Sasuke then noticed something fairly out of place for the first time. The doctor had an orange tail that swayed behind him effortlessly and something told Sasuke it wasn't mechanical either. Slowly regaining himself the image of the black skinned nurse flashed through his memory. Who had pitch-black skin and gems embedded within their foreheads? And then it gradually dawned to him. Amnesia…

"What year is this?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow as if asking mentally are-you-stupid.

"3020."

Sasuke's eyes lit up like saucers, "You've got to be kidding me."

Naruto shook his head, "I kid you not. What year did you think it was?"

"2010…"

Chapter 1 FIN.