-x-

A hand rubs circles into the inside of her thigh, her body draped across his body, the sharp scent of teakwood cologne surrounds her. Anxiety rolls off her in waves, her body still in fight mode. Kiba kisses her jaw, nose nuzzling into the soft curve of her neck. He breathes deep.

"Shh," he whispers. "Quit worrin', y'know I got you" His grin is lopsided and toothy with pointed canines. "The Dogs are trackin' him. Yer safe, babe."

But she doesn't have the heart to tell him, to scream out into this classroom filled with sympathetic onlookers who coo at her that she was so brave to stand up to a man like that, that she didn't want to be safe. That the anxiety she feels is like that of a drug addict wondering if they'll ever get another fix.

She had felt human.

She had felt alive.

A steaming cup of tea is pushed her away, the Academy's number one beauty smiles at her. "You should really eat something, Sakura. Your hands are still shaking," Hinata, ever the group mom, pulls out a small pack of fruit.

Sakura shakes her head, Kiba shushes her, holding on tighter.

"She's fine. Leave her alone." He bites with no heat. "I'm gonna take her home after this." He juts his chin to the shell of a human being beside them. "Make sure you take care of her, eh?"

Hinata sighs, tucking the fruit back into her school bag. "Will they be alright for the masquerade tomorrow?"

He scoffs, his chin resting on Sakura's shoulder. "They have to be," he speaks as if Sakura and Ino weren't there.

I suppose we kind of aren't, Sakura thinks.

"Y'know how importance appearances are at these parties." He nudges Sakura who pulls her dead-eyed stare from the chalkboard to the side of his face. "I got a dress all picked out for you, babe. Pretty little red thing with that mermaid cut you like."

She closes her eyes, his lips finding a spot behind her ear.

The Inuzuka loved her. Really, really loved her. And it made her feel dirty. Because he knew she would never love him the way he wanted her to. He would only ever get half of her. He loved her because of a careless promise they made when they were five, and her father had just died, and she had felt so alone in the world. He swore to protect her. Swore to care for her the rest of her life. Made vows that a five-year-old couldn't keep, but an eighteen-year-old wanted to.

"Marry me," he murmured to her one night, wrapped up in silk sheets, air still crackling with passion.

Her stomach dropped, skin in a cold sweat. "Kiba, I-… I don't-…"

"You don't have to answer now," he assured her with a toothy grin. "I just want you to know that I'm keepin' that promise we made. I'll take care of ya. If you don't wanna be the Clan Leader, then we can run away. Anywhere ya want. Dubai, New York, hell I'll even go to some desolate village in Russia for you." His hand is soft on the bare skin of her shoulder, his lips tracing a line down her back. "I'll give ya the world if you ask me."

His hands, and his tongue undo her, and she falls apart in his arms with a cry on her lips and tears in her eyes.

'But I don't love you.'

-x-

"Speak."

A nervous man, small in stature, receding hairline, stacks of files held tight in his arm, sweat on his brow. "W-well, t-there wasn't much to find, my Lord."

Itachi looks down at the man, lifting a tumbler of bright amber whiskey to his lips. "I have no use for people who do not produce me results."

He flinches, sweat causing his glasses to slide down his nose, he hastily pushes them back up, opening a file folder, he clears his throat.

"H-Haruno, Sakura. Daughter of The Mistress, Haruno Mebuki. Born March 28th, s-she is seventeen years old, blood type O positive. She has h-had private firearm, jujitsu, kenjutsu, naginatajutsu, along with some muay thai training. It is said that s-she had her first kill at eight years old."

His eyes narrow at the comment, the question slipping from curious lips. "Who?"

The beta-male flips through more pages, stuttering and sputtering and god, why do we hire these people?

Color drains from his face, tongue peaking out to lick his lips. "A-an… U-Uchiha… my lord."

"The circumstances?"

More page flipping, more nervous noises. "Hisoki Uchiha grabbed Sakura Haruno on her way home from school. Hisoki was a prominent member in child exploitation rings within the country. I-it is assumed he thought a Haruno heiress would fetch a h-high price on the market, o-or he wanted her himself. She was gone for a week before found walking up the drive-way of her family estate w-with…." The man coughed, holding back a gag.

Itachi cocked his head, curious. He didn't realize that a human could even get that pale. It was almost as if all the blood had been drained from his body.

"She was found in possession of the sev-… severed… head of Hisoki Uchiha."

The image amuses him, a little girl dragging the head of a pedophile up her driveway. like it amused him to see a school-girl ready to throw down with a nail file.

Ruthless, even at that age.

"What about her schedule?"

The man shakes his head. "She doesn't seem to keep a reliable one. She doesn't attend many of her classes, hardly stays at the Haruno estate, takes many trips out of the country. B-but if it pleases you, my Lord, there is word that the politician, Hisashi Hyūga, is holding his annual masquerade. The Clans have been invited, upon signing a treaty of non-violence."

He hides his grin behind his hand, waving the man away from his office.

A/N: Thanks for stopping by and for the really, really lovely comments. I super appreciate them, and they make me feel good about my work! I know the chapters are short, but they kinda work with the flow of the story, right? Little snapshots of their daily life.

Anyways, drop a review on your way out!