-Title: To Write Love On Her Arms
-Rating: M
-Summary:Vampires search for their other half, the other soul that exists — or will exist in the future — to make them whole. To give them a feeling of being alive. For Kakashi, his half was Sakura and he would do anything to have her back. AU story
-Warnings: Violence
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
So... this is my first attempt to make a vampire fic. I don't know why I am doing it but I am. I hope everyone will like it and if not, they will tell me why. Special thanks to XxXChiharu-Chan-1000-SpringsXx for beat reading this and making it so much better. Anyway... Enjoy!
A silver-haired man was lying on a cold stone, inside a dark cave. He was wearing a mask that covered the bottom of his face and his eyes were closed, as if he was sleeping. The mysterious man was holding a piece of paper in his hands—a photograph of a female. The masked man was still—and to the human eye—dead; he wasn't breathing, his heart wasn't beating but he was not dead. He had different needs than those of humans.
Centuries ago, he had lived in a different era.
He was not dead or alive, just a broken creature stuck in this world. Like a photo was a frozen moment in time, he was a frozen relic of the past that existed in the present and would probably exist in the future, never changing, always the same.
In fact, he existed simultaneously between the interstices of life and death.
He had human traits. He felt emotions and needed to eat, but not the same kind of food humans needed. He needed what he had lost—life in its more materialist form and that was blood and fresh flesh.
He once was great—a noble, a leader and fighter, feared by everyone for his unique abilities, immense talent and cunning mind. But most of all, he was feared because of his left eye, a gift from the past. However, for many decades he was hiding inside caves and the shadows of the trees in forests. He could be found in every dark corner of this world—unseen, unnoticed but always present, always watching the humans live—while he was imprisoned in the dark side of the world. If they happened to see him and his people, they would change their point of view for the world. Humans would never feel safe again. They would run to places they thought offered sanctuary and safety, but if they wanted to find them, no church, no army, no prayer, no pseudo-divine creature or symbol could save them.
Vampires and Humans were two worlds, connected, part of a bigger world, and yet, they didn't communicate. One was denying the existence of the other and the second, the dark one, was avoiding the other, unless it was necessary because the dark side depended on them.
Vampires existed in every place of the world. Nobody knows how why they were created. They came from humans, but they were created in an unknown way before history started being recorded. They were a mixture of man and beast, having both the high intelligence and the unrestrained urge to fulfill their basic needs. Through time and unfortunate events, their presence was suspected and they were given names, that differed from place to place. In most languages they were known as vampires but they were also called Vrykolakes, strigoi and many other things by various nations. The more their presence was suspected, the more humans grew hysteric and terrified of them.
Vampires were the source of inspiration for Literature and Art and Music. Legends were created for them to reassure humans that they could be killed and that they were beneath them. It was weird how some humans, especially of the female gender, were so drawn to his kind and despised it so much at the same time. They craved for their stories, found them unique and desirable as an idea. Whenever there was a rumor about them existing, it was these exact women who wanted their death the most. Perhaps it was because they knew so much of them through their stories—that were mostly a romanticized view on them and their few and forbidden loves with humans—and they knew so little in reality because they understood the lie within the tales.
The man in the cave was once an exception.
He tried, along with others, to live among the humans, remembering his humanity and prior life, but he had to do it in secrecy, because humans were known for their fear that gave birth to unreasonable hate for them. He succeeded for many years and achieved a harmony between them, understanding them, and taking care of them.
He maybe even loved them. He lived those years feeding himself with the blood of animals.
In the end though, nothing can last forever.
He and his fellow followers,were found out and they were not accepted. If anyone tried to defend them, they would be killed along with them.
In the place where they were residing, people killed vampires by inserting silver needles all over their bodies and then burning them using one specific type of wood—oak.
That was when his hell began, his solitary and painful life, that he couldn't escape from. He opened his eyes and looked at the photo. It was an old one, with no colors but it showed a beautiful young woman who was wearing a dress, common in another era. He clenched his other hand in fury and hit the ground in frustration.
He sat up and looked around the dark cave. He was so hungry; he hadn't found a human for a week and was only eating animals. He didn't enjoy it when he ate them; they weren't tasty enough. A part of him nearly felt sad that he had to eat them because in all these years that he spent away from the human civilization and close to nature and its creatures, he found himself finding more similarities with them than with humans. It wasn't that he shared a bond or something like that with any of them, but just the fact that in nature with all its cruelness, there was justice.
Everyone played a role. It was simple as that.
Humans considered themselves the highest creatures and believed they were the rulers of the planet. They accused him and his race of being monsters but he had come to wonder what was a real monster was. Does being a monster mean that you eat other creatures? He did that but humans also did.
They actually did it in a far worse way; A wild zebra can escape a wild lion but a pig that has been born for the sole purpose of becoming a human's food is not going to be able to escape, ever. What was crueler between those two?
He hated humans. From the day they appeared at his doorstep with fire and tried to burn down everything he had built, he hated them all. He once had been a human and had tried to remain as close to them as possible but in the end they couldn't accept him. They hurt him in the worst possible way.
He had tried to help them, had protected them and they betrayed him. They killed the love of his life, the one human being that he came to love and had loved him back so much that she had deserted life for him, by allowing him to turn her into a being like him. None of them could replace that, none of them could love him like Sakura and no one but Sakura could help him escape the hell he was living in.
But she was gone, killedby them. And the more time passed, the more he hated them for taking her away.
He loved her so much, had been willing to change his whole life for her, just so she would be happier.
And he did.
She didn't ask him to but he did, understanding what she needed without needing her to put it in words. He felt for her from the day he laid his eyes over her small form.
He had to admit that the time before they were found out, while they were pretending to be human, was happy, even if now it seemed like an illusion he had created and in the end got misled by her. He had forgotten reality and he paid that mistake with Sakura's existence. She was upset when they were forced to run and hide. She couldn't hate the humans for being afraid of them, once they found out about their true identity because she knew that if the roles were reversed and she was the human, she would react the same way. She would have felt terrified, influenced by the tales and the legends. That fear would lead her to decide that it would indeed be better to destroy the source of that fear, forgetting everything that happened in the past, and return to the dull and uneventful life that small villages offered.
He would never forget those last days they had spent together in the mountains, doing nothing but trying to escape and be forgotten so they could get away from that area and try to reside somewhere else, where no one knew about them, another village perhaps.
Or they could built a house in a far away place and live there, forever. No one would be able to force them to leave and they wouldn't have to hide for so long. They could stay there, together. It seemed so nice to him but deep inside he knew that Sakura would secretly crave other beings' company, not having lived as a vampire long enough to forget her human past, or at least accept that they would never accept her because she was vampire.
The day he was about to tell her that a vampire community that had tried like them (and some along with them) to leave in harmony with humans, had decided to create a vampire village and propose to stay there, was the day she was killed.
Kakashi jumped from stone to stone effortlessly, gracefully as if it required no strength until he landed at the entrance of the cave, where he and Sakura were residing until the place was clear for them to move away. He went in and suddenly smelled the scent of blood on the stones. He walked in and found two corpses in a pool of blood.
He looked around terrified, trying to feel his wife's presence but it was futile. Terrified, he ran as fast as possible to the village.
She was caught!
Guilt rushed over him. Had he been there—had he not left her alone—they could have escaped. He reached the village and tried to smell where his wife was. With difficulty he found a light hint of her and followed it with caution. He wanted to hurry and get her away as soon as possible, get her as far away as possible.
He reached the square of the village and witnessed the most horrific sight in his entire life; Sakura was unconscious, with needles all over her body, half naked and engulfed in flames. He froze as he watched her open her eyesand in the far distance find his immediately. She didn't seem frightened about the fire that was getting bigger and bigger, coming closer and closer to her body, hungry to kiss her skin and eventually burn her to death.
She looked at him with so much love and warmness that it could rival the heat of the flames. Everything happened so slow and yet so quickly. He saw her lips twitch and form a smile and then they opened and uttered a word.
And then she screamed because of the pain and he was back into reality.
He ran to her but he found resistance. Not anything worthy of his time, or difficult to handle but they served their purpose; they stole precious minutes of his time, moments needed to save her.
He killed them with no hesitation but more appeared and he couldn't ran past them. Another high-pitched scream made him worry even more. Vampires could endure pain longer than humans, could survive from wounds that would instantly kill a human, but they were not immortal. They could be killed and those needles inside his wife were taking away her power, making her weak so she would die sooner because of the flames and she appeared tired, probably because of the fight that took place in the cave.
He let go of himself, his wildness and violent instincts taking over and he killed with more hurry. He slashed with his sword, with his sharp teeth, his nails. He used every part of himself, every object he had as a weapon. After a few moments he found himself closer to the stand where she burning and grabbed her away. The flames didn't go away and silence ruled.
She was not screaming anymore, not showing how much the flames were paining her because they didn't anymore.
They couldn't.
They already had hurt her enough for her to die.
He watched her burn and turn to dust, like all vampires do. He reached his hand and took a bit of her dust in his palm. It was so soft and warm, like her.
He felt all the presence of the people around him, afraid and pleased at the same time. They had killed one vampire and now he, her lover and mate, would follow her.
Something snapped inside him. He felt his nails grow, his teeth sharpen and he slowly removed the cover over his left eye. He raised his head and hissed like a wild tiger.
He didn't think.
Didn't want to.
Couldn't think of anything else but how much he wanted them dead, wanted each one of them to scream like Sakura did moments ago. He wanted all the men in the village to feel the pain of losing their loved one and being unable to prevent it. He wanted all the mothers to scream for the loss of their children.
He wanted them all to hurt.
He wanted them all to die painful deaths.
And as he got up everyone realized that this was what was going to happen. They were all going to die painfully and mercilessly. Some of those vile humans were smart. Some of them ran away while their friends tried to be brave. Brave? For what? To run into him and to get absolutely obliterated? The thought made Kakashi want to laugh.
They were fools and they paid for their foolishness. He ran at them too, letting go of his sword and using his natural weapons to hurt them.
They were all going to die.
No matter how much they may beg, he would not bend. With them causing her death, he lost the last bit of his humanity and gave in to the beast within him.
They were all going to die, painful deaths.
They died. He killed every single one of them until he was left alone in a bloody village that he had once called his.
He hated them for what they did. It was alive and was killing him inside along with how much he missed her. He hated them and all humans, seeing in all their smiley and happy faces, the murderers of his wife. The look of triumph, the overconfidence that they could kill and capture him too... They though themselves superior racially and he hated it.
And it hurt as he played in his mind again and again her last moments, her last words to him.
I love you
It was cliché, he knew that. She had told him these exact same words countless times with more than one meaning in their joint life but he still couldn't believe that she had loved him enough to choose and direct to him her last words. He was so unworthy of her and her love and yet he was so selfish that he had done the best he could to keep her his, always within his grasp, close enough to hug her, kiss her, make love to her.
In the end it was those three words that he craved the most and she had given them to him like she promised. She had loved him until her dying day. The day he had failed her and was not fast enough to save her.
I love you too Sakura. Until my dying day.
His eyes snapped open when he heard the slight noise of someone entering his cave. He silently got up and walked towards the direction of the noise. In the darkness of the cave, his red eye helped him to find all living creatures by their body heat. He moved closer to the wall of the cave and waited for his victim to come to him.
He enjoyed killing them slowly in his cave, dragging them half-alive there and slowly eating them. This time though the victim was stupid enough to come on his own in the cave. He smirked silently.
As he was about to jump on the human and devour him, he realized that the creature was not human but had the appearance of one. His temperature was too low to be one. It was like a plant's. Curiosity took over him and he moved closer to look at the creature better.
"Are you Kakashi?" a dark voice asked, harsh and emotionless. He walked closer to the and stood behind him.
The plant-like guy turned and looked at the silver-haired male with a smirk.
"I am so glad I found you at last," another male voice said, this time softer and more human-like. He raised his eyebrow at his voice. Did that creature have two faces, thus two voices? Why was it here, interrupting his sleep?
The Vampire silently unsheathed his sword and raised it to the creature's head. It wasn't afraid at all, although he could kill it or him or them, or whatever this was, any moment. "Who are you?" Kakashi hissed dangerously and pressed the sword at its neck. "Why are you here?"
"To talk," the harsh voice that spoke before, replied.
"We are not an enemy. Not right now at least," the other more human-like voice added.
He watched his form in the dark and then, with a movement of his head, instructed him to move forward, leading them to his chamber like room in the cave. There, he lit a small candle and then sat at his seat.
He could finally see the creature and his monstrous form nearly scared him. No, he wasn't scared of anything. He was just badly surprised about his existence and weirdness, one that he had never seen before in all the centuries he had been alive. What race did he belong to?
His body had two different colored halves, one black and one white. The white one had a yellow eye, a mouth and a nose like normal humanoid beings while the other half only had a matching yellow eye. Around his belly were two large fly trap leaf things that he guessed could close and cover his head, making him look a lot like a plant. He somehow merged in the ground and appeared even more like a plant than before, without legs. He was wearing a long black cloak with red clouds on it.
"You have a very nice place, really spooky," the white side said.
"We are not here for the decoration," the black side scolded to the other side.
It seemed that this creature had a split appearance and a split personality. He didn't like this. It was too weird for his tastes.
"So what do you want to talk about?"
There was a pause and the black guy who seemed to be the one in charge more with his maturer personality opened his mouth to reveal the reason of their unexpected and unwanted visit. Kakashi just wanted them to leave already, "Our name is Zetsu."
"Black and White Zetsu," the other voice added.
Like I couldn't understand that on my own. Kakashi thought
"We were sent by our master, a vampire leader to deliver you a message," the black Zetsu said—and from somewhere within his cloak—he pulled out a small envelope outside. Kakashi extended his hand and took it.
"What is it about?" he asked them, not opening yet.
There was a silence for a moment. "It's a meeting," the black guy said.
"You are invited to meet our leader," the white Zetsu clarified.
This made Kakashi raise his right eyebrow and caress the envelope lightly. "How come?" he questioned.
"You and our master share a... desire in a way," the black Zetsu said cryptically and the white one didn't seem eager to insert a comment of elaboration.
Desire? What he desired was something that no living being could offer him. He shook his head. "I have only one desire but unfortunately it is not possible that it will ever be fulfilled."
"You don't know until you try," the White Zetsu declared and the black nodded in agreement.
Kakashi smirked and there was a flash of pain in his eyes for a second. "I think your master has the wrong idea about my desires." he told the plant-like humanoid. "I am sure the meeting will not just be about discussing our desires, right?"
"It will be about a discovery our master made about the realization of your desire. A possible way of making it real," the White Zetsu explained.
"And only a fools wouldn't understand what Hatake Kakashi's wish is. Your earlier actions years ago give you away," the black guy added.
He didn't speak and just stared at the envelope. This guy, the master, was either insane or lived in his own world. Or a mixture of both. No one could bring the dead back, it was against nature.
But Kakashi couldn't deny that if there was a small possibility for him to have his wife back, he didn't mind making a contract with Satan himself.
It had never happened before. Many had tried and the result was their death. There were some legends said about the sinner alchemists that tried to play God, but the result of their endeavors was the creation of a monster that was beast. A beast that had to be killed.
But what if...? What if vampires could succeed where the humans, the so arrogant humans, failed?
No vampire had ever tried to revive a vampire, a creature that was not alive in the way humans were. What if there was a way and that 'master' had found it? What if he let this go and lost the last chance to be with her again?
He didn't have anything to lose by listening to what he had to say. Kakashi was, after all, no fool. He would always choose for himself what he thought best.
"I'll read the letter and think about it," he said evenly, although he had nearly decided that he was going to hear with his own ears what the other vampire was planning to do. He looked at Zetsu who smirked at him. "Does it say inside where the meeting will take place?"
"Of course," Black Zetsu answered.
Kakashi nodded. "You can leave now."
"There is a bunch of humans close to the entrance of the cave," Black Zetsu stated and looked back to where the dark hall that lead to the entrance. "Can I eat them?"
Kakashi looked at him, amazed that he understood the presence of the humans while he hadn't felt anything. He shook his head and got up leaving the envelope on the desk beside him. "I haven't fed properly for a whole week," he said and started walking outside of the cave. He felt Zetsu follow him and the feeling of being followed. He could be attacked any moment and knew nothing of his enemy while the plant-guy seemed to know a lot about him.
"You can take one or two," he said after a moment of silence. "But just kill them and take them away. I do not like eating with others."
Zetsu finished his second human away from where Kakashi was, as he had been told. He licked his lips in happiness and felt his hunger for more delicious young boys. He wasn't eating them like vampires did. He didn't need their blood so much but the flesh. Like how humans fed on animals—he, a humanoid specie of his own—fed on humans. He looked at the sky and decided that it was time for him to start moving again.
He had promised Master that he would be back by sunrise with the news of how the conversation took place. He grinned in delight.
"Master is going to be very pleased with us," the White Zetsu said.
"He is going to reward us for our success," Black Zetsu said in a more emotionless and controlled voice but it was clear that he was also delighted by the way things had went.
"Do you think he is going to give us a dozen of humans, like last time?" the White Zetsu asked in anticipation, his eyes widening slightly at the idea of the wonderful food they would receive for their job.
Black Zetsu didn't answer. He looked at the sky again and then at the road ahead. "Come on, we need to hurry otherwise we'll be late."
"Of course." White Zetsu nodded "And if we are, master will get mad at us."
The creature traveled fast using the earth below him and in less than a few hours he was inside a big mansion, far away from the cave where the conversation with Kakashi took place. A shadow appeared from behind them and the creature smirked.
"You are back," a man's voice stated and soon another shadow appeared next to him. "Did you do it?"
The plant-guy nodded. "It went very well," Black Zetsu stated. He looked around and then at the shadow couple. "I have it all recorded so he can watch it,Where is he? " he questioned and looked around again.
"He will be back in a few days," the voice answered. "Show me what happened."
Zetsu hesitated. "Master said that I must show him first," White Zetsu said in a controlled voice.
"I am his second, Zetsu," the voice tried to reason with him but Zetsu shook his head.
"Master must always be the first," Black Zetsu repeated and he disappeared inside the pavement.
Soon he was in his small garden that he called his room. They all had their rooms and his was this small garden where he planted various types of flowers with poisons and small trees. It wasn't just that he was in a way a plant, the reason he lived in this small garden. It was also because he enjoyed messing with flowers and insects. It was his hobby in a way. He relaxed and soon sleep took over him.
After some hours, at sun rise, his eyes shot open as he heard the footsteps of someone entering his garden. No one would be foolish enough to do it and he had made it clear that he was not forgiving of those who placed their feet in his room. They were all dead, made food for him.
Only one person could enter other than him, and that was Master.
"Master," the White Zetsu said, recognizing his aura.
"Did you do it, Zetsu?" he asked in a calm, controlled voice.
"Yes, master," black Zetsu answered.
"Have you told anyone about it?" he asked in an even voice.
"No,Your second wanted to know, claiming that since you weren't around, I should tell him." White Zetsu said to the mystery man.
Black Zetsu shook his head. "But I always show you first, master," he said and showed through his mind the conversation between him and Kakashi that he had recorded while it was taking place.
When it was over, the man smirked and looked at Zetsu. "Good, Zetsu," he said and put his hands in his pocket. "I am pleased."
"I think he will come, even if it is just out of curiosity." White Zetsu offered his opinion and the mysterious man nodded in agreement.
"He still loves her and will do anything for her. If it wasn't for his blind devotion to her, he wouldn't have been caught then and he wouldn't have been caught in this now," the mysterious man said. He examined a certain flower and then looked one last time at Zetsu before leaving. "The fool is still in love with her," he said through gritted teeth and slowly walked away. Zetsu stood there and looked at the man's retreating back.
"Master is a mystery," Black Zetsu said after he had left and closed the door behind him.
"We know nearly nothing about his past," White Zetsu agreed and he turned his attention to a very beautiful flower that contained one of the most deadly poisons.
Kakashi licked his lips and closed his eyes in enjoyment. Young boys, at their teenage years were the most delicious. He wiped his mouth with his hand and marched towards his bed, taking the envelope that Zetsu guy had left him. He looked at it curiously and then opened it slowly.
There was a small white piece of paper inside that had a few words on it.
Fire country, leaf territory, Hokage mountain. In two weeks vampires from all over the world will be there.
It said nothing else. It didn't even have a signature of someone; just that red cloud which he suspected was the symbol of the man organizing this. Had the messenger said nothing, he wouldn't be able to understand what this gathering was about.
He looked at the innocent piece of paper and then at the photo of his beloved late wife.
Is there really a way for you to come back?
No matter the price he may have to pay, if there was a way, or even a possibility for that to happen, he would pay it without hesitation. Nothing could be equal with Sakura. She had been and still was the sole purpose of his existence.
He looked at the paper again and then tossed it aside as he rolled to his left and tried to sleep. He could just go and listen, right? If the man seemed to know what he was doing, he could be involved.
If not, then he could walk away and continue his miserable life, the one that he would never escape from unless he died. It was a mystery why he hadn't killed himself to follow Sakura. He didn't know the answer himself.
What he knew was that every time he thought about actually doing it, he remembered how beautiful she had made life. Something she had abandoned in a way, along with her humanity, to be with him and make his life as pleasant as possible. He couldn't throw it away like that.
And she really had managed to do it.
Their life had been very beautiful, when she was alive.
I hope you enjoyed it and didin't find it boring. I would appreciate reviews, even if they are bad.