Being Human
Chapter 2


He's a hunter out for cold and bloody revenge. She's an innocent vampire, trying to stay human. Two worlds clash, black and white meet… and sometimes the lines blur and they become grey. This is the story of a monster… and a human.


Paris, Europe…

Mister Valentine Gold was a very, very old and very wise man. Born in the late sixteen hundreds of the early civilization, he knew a lot. And he liked to share his knowledge with people he trusted. And there were only two people on this earth he trusted. Himself and Sakura Haruno. Who had saved his life by only talking and listening to him about his whole life and easing his loneliness with it and helping him back. Valentine was also the only vampire with a very large collection of vampire history and certain artifacts.

Valentine was busy with studying an old book he actually bought from a small shipper in south Egypt a few days ago, when his door flew open and the already cold breeze of the nightly Paris blew into his shop. Valentine looked up from the book and put down his glasses, closing the book in front of her.

"Ah, Sakura! How nice of you to visit an old owl in his nest!" he chuckled and stood up and walked towards her. But next to him, Sakura looked like someone did just die. She was angry, no, not only angry. She was just before explosion.

When he noticed the anger radiating off of her, he frowned deeply and looked her up and down "What happened to you now, child?"

Sakura closed the shop door behind her, the long strands of her hair flying while she pushed it close with a solid 'bang' and turned around, fuming with anger. "He…" she needed to take a deep breath to calm down a little "He put a God damn banning line on me! I can't leave Paris anymore!"

Valentine made an uncomfortable face and took her long coat she practically threw into his face as she stomped past him to fall into her favorite old leather chair close to the chimney. Valentine sighed and folded the coat orderly, draping it over a small dresser. He walked towards her and sat down across from her, feeling entirely confused "Who put a banning line on you, dear?"

She grumbled something and looked down on her tightly knotted hands "Sai! The protector the council forced onto me! He came to me when I took a walk down the- doesn't matter! He told me if I leave Paris to search for the cure, I would have to face the consequences and the punishment of the council!"

Valentine was confused but he could still follow "So your protector showed up out of the blue and put a banning line on you because he was just in the mood, dear?" he asked careful and Sakura growled angrily "No- I mean yes! Well… when I think about it, I could have mentioned to go on another search." The last part was more a mumble and Valentine sighed, massaging his temples "Sakura, you know how tight they are with vampires leaving the safe cities and you blow it out to your protector that you actually plan to do that?"

Her lips formed a hard line and she bit down on her lower lip now "He knew it all the time! Sai knew that I wanted to leave!"

Valentine shook his head… these rookies "Oh, Sakura. He is your protector and the task force has a lot of problems with the hunters at the moment. They can't allow anyone who has not to leave a safe city with safe houses in it. You have to understand the council and you have to understand your protector, he just does his duty or at least he tries his best. Be a little grateful and stop thinking about that cure."

Sakura looked at him blankly "It does exist, Valentine. And I will find it and I will take it and finally become a human again. That's all I want and if I die trying to find it, that's better than living a year longer like this! You know how I feel, you felt the same six months ago!"

Valentine rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head dismissively "Sakura, I am way older than you, don't forget that. I have centuries of loneliness after me and someone took form me what is the most important to a vampire. It's different, Sakura. Don't compare my life to your tiny little twenty-five lives. And for everything's worth, stop thinking about the cure! There is no cure for immortality, finally give it up."

Sakura shook her head furiously "No! I will only give up the search when I find the witch and when she tells me it's a story, then I will give up and not a second earlier!"

"This is insane, Sakura! The cure is a good night story for baby vamps like you! You have a banning line on you and the council will know when you only set a foot into the airport and then they will punish you and let me tell you, child, you don't want to feel that!" he empathized with shaking his head in midsentence.

The baby vampire jumped from the chair and turned towards the chimney, crossing her arms over her chest "I want that cure, Valentine." She turned around, throwing her arms into the air "I never wanted to be a vampire! I never asked for this" she pointed at her body "I never asked to be immortal! I want to be a human, the human I was before those bastards killed me!"

"Sakura, I understand this. Many of us where forced into the situation without wanting it but we have no chance of changing it. We can cope with it and we can learn to live with it. Wanting to be human is not exactly helping it, you know?"

Her shoulders sagged down and Sakura sighed defeated, walking towards the chairs again and sat down "Do you believe in it, Valentine? Do you think there is a cure for us?" At this she looked him right in the eyes and he felt that same sting every time she looked at him like that. Completely hopeless.

Sighing, he leaned back in his chair "No, Sakura. I don't think there is a cure, we are a freak of nature. Nothing more, the tale of the witch cursing that farmer is a legend just like the bat bite. We were suddenly there and without the council we would be dead by now, thanks to the hunters."

"I always hear you all talking about the hunters but surprisingly I never saw them! Or at least one of them! Why are you all so scared of them? They are human, we are no more! We have the strength, we have the speed and yet, we are all afraid of them."

Valentine stood up with a small groan, his bed leg was throbbing with the movement "Well, the hunter's history is probably as long as ours. The first vampires appeared, the first hunters were on their heels right away. When the world changed slowly over the centuries, the vampires had to adjust. We did but sadly the hunters did too, they have better weapons now, they are stronger and faster themselves! Highly trained assassins only out for a cold kill of our race. They don't care if you never killed a human, hunters don't care if you actually are a good person. They see a vampire, they kill it. We almost lost against them one hundred years ago and many vampires were killed in that fight. We simply don't want a recurrence."

Sakura looked at Valentine, her forehead slightly wrinkled in thoughts "And the council decided those stupid rules that we have to stay in constant contact? Ridiculous."

Valentine shook his head "Not ridiculous, clever. We need to stay in contact and we can always warn each other if we have a run in with the hunters." Valentine hesitated "If we survive… nonetheless, it has a sense to stay in contact, you know?"

Sakura huffed, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly "But why the hell did he have to put a banning line on me? He knows I am carful!"

Valentine chuckled with her simple naivety "Sakura, it's not about being careful, it's about your safety. The hunters are all over the planet, they have the resources to be everywhere. Even in a safe city you have one or two cells of them, we are nowhere safe anymore."

She shook her head, while she turned around to look at him "And what am I going to do now? He put a banning line on me, how can I lift it off me again?"

Valentine narrowed his eyes, she was trying to avoid the topic now, while she wanted to know everything mere seconds ago. Valentine didn't pay attention to it any longer "You can only lift a banning line with the permission of the person who put it on you. Or the person who put the banning line on you gets killed, just by luck of course."

Sakura rolled with her eyes "You know I would never hurt anyone, not even Sai. Even if I would love to do it."

Valentine chuckled with her human behavior. He always had to remember that he thought the same nearly three hundred years ago but in time with all the passing decades, you slowly forget how it is to be human. Valentine shrugged his shoulders helplessly when she looked at him "I am sorry, Sakura. These are your two options, either that or nothing. You will have to stay in Paris for a while longer." He smirked "Forced, of course."

"There has to be a way, Valentine! I can't stay in Paris, I need to find the witch and also what happens if your oh so feared hunters hit Paris with full force. What am I to do when I can't leave Paris for another safe city."

Valentine shrugged "Don't know, in the end it was your own fault. No, don't look at me like that! You came here to seek advice, you had it. Now be grateful for it or not, your decision. You can't break a banning line, impossible. Second, the council would know wherever you are, their spies are everywhere."

Sakura huffed "Why being immortal? There's absolutely no fun in it! I had more freedom when I was still alive. This is like living in a prison."

Valentine walked towards her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder "It always was. Did I tell you about my wife when I was still human?"

Sakura looked up at him with sad green eyes "I remember the story, yes."

Valentine watched the fire slowly crackle in the chimney "You know how she died but her life is a different story. Her father was very wealthy and wanted her to marry a very old man with enough gold on his account to support her family the rest of the marriage. She never wanted him and he kept her hidden in his house, afraid that she would finally see the world and-" he paused, chuckling to himself "Discover the dark sides of human nature. She was so innocent." Valentine looked down on her "She reminds me of you in so many ways. She was a good hearted woman, always wanting everyone to be alright around her. Always the others, never her. She tried to please everyone, her mother, her father and her entire family. When I met her, she was the first time outside the walls of her home. She broke out and we fell in love. She was a caged songbird who wanted her feathers to be ruffled."

Sakura smiled sadly "And you were the one to ruffle her feathers?"

Valentine nodded "Yes. It was not about sex… not in the beginning. I wanted to show her all the things the world had to offer. She wanted to know how to breathe, how to run and how to disobey. She was so much more after she finally realized it was perfectly fine to live, after she understood that you needed to enjoy life. After many problems, problems we sometimes thought we could never overcome, we both made it. We ran away, we married and we enjoyed life together."

Resting her head against his arm, he patted her head "I think you need someone to ruffle your feather too, Sakura. I think you need someone to teach you to enjoy your life. Vampire or not, it's still you who decides which way you want live. Happy… or unhappy."

Sakura closed her eyes, taking a deep, calming breath 'Someone to ruffle my feathers…' she sighed deeply "I don't think I can ever live happy like this."

"You will learn it, Sakura. My wife said the same thing and two years later she was a spitfire I could hardly tame."

Sakura smiled softly "I would have loved to meet her. I bet I would have liked her."

Valentine ruffled through her long hair "She would have liked you, Sakura. I am sure she would have."


Somewhere deep in Paris…

"Where the fuck is Uchiha again?" Neji Hyuga bellowed through the crowded room and a few hunters looked up from their training partners and or plastic shooting tags "Don't know! Probably tearing asses. Ya know him, Hyuga."

Neji looked at Bronzon, the bull like ex-soldier lifted the heavy weight, his huge muscles bulging, his bald head glistening with sweat as he put down the weight again "Haven't seen him in two days, Commander."

Neji cursed under his breath "Someone already tried to fucking call him? I need him here, like in, the fuck right now here!"

Bronzon barked a guttural laugh "Won't pick up his God damned phone, Hyuga. Probably on patrol wit Stevens or somethin' like that."

Hyuga looked over the trainings ground, his warriors wrestling and kick boxing, others were throwing silver knives and stakes at plastic targets. Neji did not see the hulking form of the Uchiha, who was several inches taller than himself, probably one of biggest and broadest fighters he ever trained and he was starting to best him "Everybody listen!" his command boomed through the room and it went quiet "I hope everyone of you knows what's gonna happen tomorrow night. I don't care if you miss a fucking leg or arm or whatever! If you're not dead I want you all to be fit for tomorrow and God help you if you are not! Get Uchiha on the fucking phone!"

With that he turned around and left the training grounds. On his way into the base, he saw a bulging figure emerge from the shadows. Neji couldn't suppress a small grunt of annoyance "What the fuck happened to you?" He was covered in blood from head to toe but none of it seemed to be his.

The other gave him a dark glare "Stumbled across a group of 'em. Made quick process with them. A fucking mess."

Neji looked him up and down, the pale, tattoo covered skin, the short black hair and the tight leather pants shimmered with blood "Seems so. Get cleaned up, Uchiha. I want you ready for tomorrow."

"Can't do that, Hyuga. Got other plans, got another kill planned for tomorrow."

Neji arched his brows, crossing his bare forearms over his broad chest "And why the fuck would I want to forgo my best fighter, Uchiha?"

The Uchiha grabbed his phone and quickly uploaded a picture he took a day before "See her? She's in contact with their council. Kill her, her protector will show up and we will have easy access. Bloody but easy."

Neji was impressed "How did ya find her?"

Sasuke pushed the mobile back into his long coat "Took a walk down the Champs Elysees, stumbled across her by random."

The captain braked a gruff laughter "Fucking lucky, Uchiha. You got my permission to hunt her but not tomorrow. We want every single one of them in the club. After that, you can hunt her down."


Okay guys ;) I hope you liked it and leave me a review ;) Before I forget and you don't read on, for all vampire fans, read my other fic Darker than Black with smoking hot alpha vampire Sasuke meeting the journalist Sakura ;) It would be lovely of you to read and also leave me a review ;) the fic had already 222 reviews but was deleted sadly a few weeks ago :(

I have to say… I am immensely pleased with the outcome of this chapter ;) Well, if you are offended by the language of the hunters… well, you read the wrong fanfic, sorry :D I hate to lose readers, I do, but I have to remind you, the hunters are cold blooded killers, mercenaries and ex-military. They are no ladies with expensive perfume! I think it will get better with Sasuke and the curse language but who am I kidding… he will stay badass in this story :D

However, I hope you enjoyed it and leave me a review! See ya all in the next chapter of Being Human…