I don't own Naruto or Shattered Mirror By: Amelia Atwater- Rhodes!!

Chapter 2

"You drove home like this?"Sakura nodded sharply in answer to the healer's question. Hinata Hyuuga shook her head but made no comment.

She was the strongest living member for her line, and had nearly been disowned recently due to her associations with vampires. Sakura had disliked the girl ever since the trial, but Hinata was an effective healer, and Sakura only turned to the best.

Sakura had been raised to ignore pain so it would not incapacitate her in a fight, and tonight those lessons had proved invaluable. Both bones in her right forearm had broken when orochimaru grabbed her wrist and threw her into a wall; her head had hit hard enough that had she been human it would have knocked her out. Instead, she had simply drawn another knife with her left hand.

Fortunately, Orochimaru and his guests had all been more interested in the pleasures willingly provided by their human sycophants than in fighting a vampire hunter, and had quickly lost interest in Sakura and allowed her to escape.

Sakura had been lucky. She had survived because the vampires had gotten bored. That added to the fact that she hadn't seen Itachi grated on her.

it was almost five o'clock in the morning by the time Hinata was finished setting the arm. The healer moved on to deal with Sakura's numerous other scrapes, bruises, and minor sprains when Rina Haruno returned from hunting and came to see her injured daughter. As she sized up Sakura's condition, her expression was calm, but marked with distinct disapproval.

"You were careless," Rina chastised, after she heard the details of Sakura's night. "You went into that group unprepared, and you stayed past midnight." Sakura lowered her gaze, but did not allow her defiant expression to fall.

Finally Sakura spoke up, her voice sure despite Rina's reproach. "Itachi was there." Rina could complain all she liked about Sakura's carelessness, but if Itachi was past of that group, then they had a lead to finding him.

Itachi?" Rina's voice was sharp "You saw him?

Sakura shook her head. "One of his prey marked."

"That doesn't help much unless you saw the vampire himself," Rina pointed out dryly, and Sakura set her jaw to keep from arguing. "And now we have no way of tracking him down." Sakura did not bother turning over the invitation she had received. After having teased and released the hunter they had found in their midst, the vampires would know better than to host the bash she had mistakenly been invited to.

"You're set," Hinata said, her normally quiet voice raised to interrupt the conversation. She patted the cast on Sakura's arm gently. "You'll need a week or so to heal completely, and until then I recommend that you take it easy. Okay?" The last was said with a sharp look to Rina.

The Haruno matriarch nodded. "Thank you for your help, Hinata. Sorry to bother you so late."

Hinata shrugged, her fatigue visible. "No problem. I was in the neighborhood, at a SingleEarth hospital."

Rina did not react to the remark, and Sakura copied her mother's neutral mask. SingleEarth. The organization was growing by leaps and bounds, with humans, witches, vampires, and shape-shifters joining, all working toward a common cause: unite all the creatures on Earth. Though a noble goal, it was never going to work. Vampires were hunters, evil by nature, and most were incapable of containing their need for bloodshed. Even the vampires at SingleEarth, who survived by feeding on animals or willing donors, admitted that it was painful to live without killing.

"I guess you probably won't be at school tomorrow?" Hinata asked on her way out. Sakura glanced to her mother, but saw no sympathy. "I'll be there." No matter how hard a night Sakura had had, Rina was not one to allow her daughter to slack off, not even for a few days so she could start at her new school on Monday. Sakura would start bright and early on Wednesday morning.

Sakura had been expelled from her last school for fighting on school grounds. In the process of extinguishing a vampire, some school property had been broken, and the administration had not been particularly understanding. Only some quick thinking by Sakura's sister, Hoshi, had kept anyone from finding the body.

After the incident, Rina had decided to move her daughter away from the constant excitement of the city and into a dull Massachusetts suburb named Acton. Hinata and her family lived there.

Rina returned upstairs to sleep, and Hinata caught Sakura's good arm. "I should warn you. There are a few vampires in the school." Upon Sakura's look, she added sternly, "They're harmless, and they have every right to be there. If you hurt any of them"

"If they're harmless, I'll just ignore them. I can't afford to get kicked out of another school, anyway. Okay?" Sakura offered. Hinata nodded.

Sakura's pride, already ground into the dirt, deflated even more when the door opened again and her sister entered the house.

"Hey little sis," Hoshi greeted her. Noticing the cast, she added, "Rough night?"

Hoshi Haruno, one year Sakura's senior, was almost as perfect as their mother intelligent and controlled. She had graduated last year, but was taking a semester off before starting collage to train harder, and to "look out for" her little sister.

Right then Hoshi's red hair was tousled, and Sakura saw a smear of blood on her dark blue as if she had wiped a knife clean. She had obviously been fighting, and she had just as obviously won.

Hoshi patted her sister's shoulder as she passed toward the stairs." Rest up. The world will survive without you for a week or so."