Hey guys, this is my first story. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Silver Moon

Chapter 1

Three hacking coughs.

That was their signal.

But she didn't move, not even a twitch.

Desperate, Sakura coughed three times again.

Still nothing. The pale, dark haired girl just hung from the ropes like a limp rag doll, her head slumped lifelessly forward.

No! You can't be dead. You can't leave me alone here, we promised!

She was about to cough again, when she was kicked harshly in the legs.

Sakura forced herself not to cry out. Her wolf snarled in her head like a trapped animal.

"Shut up you stupid bitch", the hunter's foul breath poisoned her strong sense of smell as he sneered into her ear. "Some of us are still trying to sleep."

The disgusting hunter with yellow teeth pressed the silver manacle around her wrist into her ravaged red, skin. She couldn't keep in her whimper of pain. It hurt too much.

"Let that be a lesson not to do that again" He spat, before he walked off, to sit by the dying fire that was surrounded by sleeping hunters.

Tears, sprung to her eyes, more from her fear of being alone with these horrible men than the pain from her silver laden manacles that were around her ankles and wrist that tied her to the tree. If only she had enough strength she could grow claws and cut through the measly rope that restrained her. But the silver poisoning was too severe. A couple more days of this and she would be dead. The lucky ones always managed to die faster. They were weaker. But that meant they didn't have to suffer the horrors the rest of them had been put through.

A soft cough.

Glancing up quickly through her pink bangs, her pained but hopeful green eyes were caught by concerned pale purple.

Relief flared so strongly through her chest she thought she would keel over if it was for the ropes.

Are you ok?, those eyes seemed to ask.

Sakura nodded her head slightly, mindful not to draw attention of Yellow Teeth on sentry duty. Then she conveyed the same question with her eyes, Are you?

The dark haired girl nodded. Then the girl took a risk that took away her breath and slammed a fist of panicked worry into her stomach. We shall have to leave soon, she mouthed.

After frantically looking around from the corner of her eyes to make sure her dark haired friend hadn't caught the hunters' attention, she nodded in reply.

Then their conversation ended as they tried to sleep to gain what little strength they could. They were werewolves and they had been captured by hunters, just like the six other girls of varying ages that were tied to the surrounding trees like them. Sakura had been walking in the forest trying to cool down after a fight with her friends before she had been knocked out cold by a dart. Then she had woken up here surrounded by depraved male hunters with wandering hands and weapons that they were too fond of using to obtain obedience from the female werewolves they had captured. The hunters claimed them, the werewolves, to be the monsters and they were eradicating and showing those they allowed to live their place.

But are we the monsters, after what they have done?, Sakura asked to the starless, black night sky. She shivered in the cold autumn breeze, clad only in the ragged remains of her clothes which only just covered everything important and curled her bare feet in the dirt. We are going to get away from here. Sakura promised herself. I am going to see Sasuke and Naruto again. I am going to apologise and everything will go back to the way it was.

Sunrise seemed to come too quickly.

Sakura had long given up hope that her pack was going to find her. It didn't help that she had gotten into a huge fight with her childhood friend and the man she loved before she had been taken. They would be the first ones to know she was gone and after that fight it would take them at least a day at the most to realise she was gone. And by then the scent from the trail had been washed away by the rain the following day. As much as she prayed and silently begged for them to find her, Sakura knew she couldn't put her faith in them alone to rescue her. This time she was saving herself.

She had been with this group for almost two weeks now and all she wanted to do was go home and say she was sorry for some of the things she had said. Some of the other girls had been here longer or so she thought. She could tell by their eyes that had gone from hopelessness to vacant not long after she had arrived. Sakura didn't want to turn in to that.

Would not turn into that.

But first she had to work on an escape plan. The foul smell of Yellow Teeth announced his presence, her wolf snarled in hate, snapping her jaws weakly from silver poisoning in her head.

"Come on, devil creature."

Sakura was hauled roughly to her feet and shoved roughly in the back with a rifle in the direction of the line of the other girls. Stumbling over on weak legs she prepared herself for another day of endless walking. The purple eyed girl was in front of her, the silver manacles heavy around her seemingly fragile, bony wrists. She had arrived five days after Sakura and she didn't even know her name. Sakura didn't know any of the girls' names. The hunters had forbidden them from talking to each other and if this rule was not met, they would be beaten almost to death.

They had also feed them bare minimum to keep them alive, but very weak. It was no wonder so many of them died. However, if you were desperate you could beg. And in begging you had to use your body just so you could get a measly scrap more of stale bread or another sip of water. But Sakura had never sunk that low, she would not degrade herself nor would she ever beg these despicable human beings. She was also not the only girl who did this either; the purple eyed girl had never begged either nor had two of the others. Unfortunately, that hadn't kept any of them safe from the wandering hands that tried to cop a feel on the defenceless and weak girls. It also hadn't stopped some them from being raped as 'punishment' for trying to run away. Fortunately, neither she nor the purple eyed girl had been subjected to that horror, but it would only be a matter of time if they did escape soon. The eyes of the hunters had lingered on both of their forms more often than not these past few days.

One of the girls ahead stumbled and fell ungracefully to her knees, forcing the line to halt. The hunter that was leading her came over and slapped her mercilessly across the face all the while calling her names and taunting her, before she was hauled to her feet and forced to walk on. Yes, they were all extremely weak from the silver manacles that were poisoning their blood and slowly killing them. Silver was deadly for werewolves and if they were exposed to it for long periods of time they would die a slow and painful death.

All the more reason to escape sooner rather than later.

Sakura hadn't been moping and pitiful of her situation in the two weeks she had been with the hunters. No. She had been watching and learning their patterns just waiting for the perfect opportunity to escape. There had been a few girls who had tried to run away or bolt for it. They were the stupid and panicked ones. Unfortunately, they didn't get that far a well-placed silver bullet in the leg always stopped them and the hunters would drag them back for 'punishment'. The smarter ones waited until dark and when everyone was asleep, but the sentries on duty were always watching them and they never got more than a few metres away before they too were dragged back kicking and screaming before they too were 'punished'.

Fighting wasn't an option either. Now while she and her wolf agreed they might be able to knock out a few of them, she was definitely too weak to take on all of them even with the help from her purple eyed friend. Sakura had long ago realised that making a break for it and fighting her way out was definitely not going to work. She had to be smarter always ten steps ahead if she wanted out. Sakura had therefore concluded that there had to be a very, very good distraction or the hunters needed to be immobilised, preferably dead. Neither of these things had happened in the past few days and the likeliness of them happening seemed to go from a snowball's chance in hell to hell freezing over in an ice age. But she hadn't given up hope and thanks to her diligence and sharp eyes she was rewarded with a chance the next day.

Sakura had been stumbling on in the line behind her purple eyed friend, just trying to stay on her feet, when a plant up ahead caught her eye. There was nothing significant about it; it had leaves, twigs and berries just like any other bush in the forest. But there was something about it something that jogged her memory. The scent of tarty berries and a certain crushed leaves hit her wolf nose.

Then it came to her.

It was widow's love. The leaves were the primary ingredient for a sleeping draught, which in large amounts could turn fatal and the reason why it had garnered its name. Unhappy wives were said to have given it to their husbands with the utmost love and in large amounts and thus, had become happy widows. This was the chance she had been waiting for and the path they were walking would take them straight past the widow's love. There was no time to warn her friend in front of her.

There in three steps.

Two steps.

One.

Sakura stumbled, seeming to trip over her feet, taking the purple eyed girl in front of her with her as the pair of them fell into the bush of widow's love. Making fast work she tore off a few branches as soon as they had landed, being mindful to keep her quick hands out of the sights of the hunters. She stuffed some down her shirt and some down the purple eyed girl's. There girl beside her seemed to freeze. In the background the hunters' angry voices, but the pounding of her heart seemed to nearly erase everything else.

"Sleeping potion." Sakura whispered into her friend's ear, taking a risk hoping her voice was too quiet for the humans to hear.

Two large hands roughly grabbed her and jerked her out of the bush. She was promptly slapped twice across the face, but Sakura barely registered the pain. How could she when their escape was in sight? A feeling of hopefulness and happiness burst in a bright flare in her chest. She had to bow her head so her pink hair covered her face as they trudged on, just in case a smug smile appeared. Her wolf had a smile that was both savage and triumphant even though she lay about tiredly in her mind. There was no point in letting the hunters know when they were so close.

Her only fear was that her friend hadn't understood her, but there had been little time to utter more than that. She had given the purple eyed girl leaves as well in hopes that if she didn't get to use them than her friend would. Sakura could only hope that she had understood the quick words and didn't do anything to arouse the hunters' suspicions. Sending up a desperate plea, she prayed neither of them would do the later. Their lives very well depended on it. Fortunately, they only had a few hours to wait for dinner which would be the best moment for them to act.

Hope you liked it. Please review.