chapter one
She was the girl with pink hair and pale skin, shimmering lightly in the dark. That's why he chose her.


Sakura Haruno woke up with a splitting headache. She reached for her phone, winced when the light from the small screen blinded her, and sighed when she saw 4:20 am.

She rolled in her twin sized bed, and sighed when the painful drumming in her head wouldn't go away. Frustrated, she kicked off her faded pink blanket off of her and stepped on the cold wooden floor. She hated winter, with the cold seeping through her windows and walls, constantly enveloping her small studio apartment with an uncomfortable chill. She rarely turned on the heater, they cost her a fortune and she'd rather freeze to death than pay for a few seconds of fleeting warmth.

But this morning, the cold didn't bother her the way they usually do this time of the year. And she turned around so fast to look at the heater that her headache intensified to the point of excruciating.

"Shit!" she cursed, wincing at the pain, as she wobbled towards the small rectangular box attached to the wall adjacent to her bed.

Her best friend, a chirpy and beautiful blonde named Yamanaka Ino, hated the cold as much as her. Though unlike her, she didn't really care if it cost her a fortune as long as her apartment stayed warm and toasty. But then again, Ino had all the money in the world; coming from an affluent family and being the heir to the Yamanaka fortune and their multi million dollar retail corporation.

That's why every time she came over, she would always turn on the heater, complaining about the cold despite Sakura's arguments on how she couldn't afford even five minutes of heat. Ino always tried to pay her back but Sakura was much too prideful for someone so poor to accept the money.

It never stopped Ino from turning on the heater, and Sakura had given up telling her off.

When she reached the heater, she was surprised to find it turned off. Frowning, she looked out the window above the heater. Pushing aside the white curtain, she brought her left hand to her temples to massage them as the headache intensified. It was snowing, and her confusion tripled when she pressed her hand against the window and she couldn't feel the cold.

"Did I die in my sleep?" she muttered, sighing.

Closing the curtain, she paused for a second when she caught a glimpse of someone standing across the street.

The stranger, looking like a man from his build and stance, had blond hair and seemed to be looking at her. Despite the poor lighting coming from the streetlight, she was able to see how bright and brilliant his blue eyes were. She looked at him for a few more heartbeats before checking for the lock on her window and closing the curtain.

"What a freak," she shook her head, unnerved. Walking into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee, she decided to ignore the fact that he had smiled at her.


"What the fuck happened to you?" Yamanaka Ino asked as she walked into the small studio apartment, setting aside groceries on the kitchen counter right by the entrance. "I dropped by your work and you weren't in."

"I think I caught a cold, or food poisoning," Sakura groaned. "Thanks for the groceries."

"You can pay me back later," Ino nodded, sitting on the blue stool on the other side of the counter. "Should I make you coffee? Tea? Did you eat? You look like shit."

"I can't eat," Sakura gagged. "I had the biggest headache this morning and I had coffee with roasted garlic soup. I don't think my stomach agreed with the latter."

"What?" Ino frowned. "But roasted garlic soup is your favorite. Did you eat anything bad last night?"

"I don't know, I can't remember," Sakura sighed, leaning on the counter. "Ugh, did you get me garlic?"

"Well, yeah," Ino said, looking into the bag and pulling out a mesh bag of garlic. "You go through this thing in a week, of course I bought it."

"Ugh," Sakura winced. "Keep that away from me, that smell is killing me."

"Oh my god," Ino said, eyes widening by the second. "Are you pregnant?"

"What?" Sakura almost yelled. "No?"

"Dude, your headache, you can't even stomach your favorite food," Ino gaped, putting aside the garlic. "Are these not the signs of pregnancy?"

"Or food poisoning. Or the flu. Or both," Sakura sighed. "I'm not pregnant, I haven't had sex in months."

"You can be the new Virgin Mary," Ino grinned.

"Except I'm not," Sakura flicked Ino's forehead lightly. "Come on, I taped Criminal Minds. Grab the popcorn and I'll get the wine."

"Red wine?" Ino eyed the bottle Sakura took out from the cupboard. "You always drink white."

"Well, I felt like it," Sakura said, grabbing two glasses.

"Where did you even get red wine so early in the morning?"

"It's not morning, it's one in the afternoon," Sakura rolled her eyes.

"True," Ino shrugged.

"Through truth be told, I got this at 6 this morning from the liquor store down the road,"

"Did something happen?" Ino looked at her, confused. "You're never up that early."

"I woke up at 4 from the massive headache and couldn't sleep after," she shrugged. "Plus, I thought the wine would help me feel better after I threw up my breakfast and dinner."

"I thought we promised we wouldn't drink our sorrows away," Ino grinned, putting the popcorn on the wooden coffee table and making herself comfortable on Sakura's grey couch.

"Occasional drinks aren't that bad," Sakura laughed.

"Oh, shit, I didn't noticed how dark it is," Ino said when Sakura turned on the TV, blinding both of them at once. "Open your curtains, you vampire."

"Ugh, don't," Sakura grabbed Ino's arm before she stood up. "I opened my curtains this morning but the sun was painful for some reason."

"Dude, you should go see a doctor," Ino shrugged. "At least let me turn on the light."

"The kitchen light's on," Sakura said, stuffing a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

"I don't want to go blind just cause you decided today's a good day to be weird," Ino scowled, turning on the standing light behind the couch.

"Okay, princess, now sit so we can watch this," Sakura shook her head, turning on the TV. "I need me some Reid."

"You're such a nerd," Ino laughed. "Morgan is obviously the best out of the men."

"Morgan's taken," Sakura grinned.

"Morgan and Garcia are completely platonic," Ino rolled her eyes. "Platonic relationships are a thing, okay."

"We're platonic," Sakura laughed, linking her arm with Ino's.

"Deny it all you want, lover," Ino laughed, kissing Sakura lightly on the cheek. "Your ass is mine."

"Yeah, okay," Sakura shrugged.

"God, Hotch is also such a cutie," Ino said when the opening credit played.

"Everyone on this show can get it," Sakura nodded.

"And that," Ino raised her glass of wine dramatically. "Is a fact, my friend."


a/n

So this is long. LOL. And it's slow, yeah.
(If you can't guess it yet, this is a vampire!AU fic. Sakura IS a vampire, except she hasn't noticed it yet. I saw a prompt on tumblr somewhere about how funny would it be if person A got turned to a vampire but never noticed it and thought all the vampiric symptoms are just some sort of weird sickness and that's what I'm going for here.)
Also I love, LOVE, InoSaku friendship but now I'm kind of considering it to be the canon ship instead of NaruSaku. What do you guys think?

Anyway, I hope I can keep up with the fic. School's starting soon and I might be too busy to keep writing but I'll do my best!
(You can message me your reviews/concerns/suggestions if you'd like!)

- dramadelicacy.