Seduce Me

Hey guys! I read your reviews and wow you guys were really observant and cool, thanks so much! I was super happy to read them all, as I always do. If you take time out of your day to review I'll take time out of mine to read and enjoy them. Anyway, I know the last chapter was really short and kind of left you hanging, I noticed one of you were really confused by the way she was acting but you must remember that she just went through a mentally scarring experience and nobody could jump to their feet after something like that, y'know? Sorry the AU is so long on this one, just wanted to clear some stuff up and I've gone ahead in some of the chapters so I promise this story has a bunch of undertones that you'll only pick up on if you're paying mad attention and has tons of plot twists so just remember that everything isn't all it seems.

…

Chapter Four; Gravity

As the sun fanned over her cadaver pale face and the breeze tumbled through her short silver locks she felt something strange. The sunlight didn't feel calming and warm as it once did, as it touched her skin it was a crawling sensation, a teasing feeling, it stirred some kind of agitation in her. It felt like the sun was mocking her, pushing her away, telling her she was no longer a creature of sunlight. She tried to walk off the feeling, but as the light touched her bandaged skin, she walked a little bit faster, fists balled a little bit tighter. She lost aim of where she was going, her body moved on instinct, going for shade.

She ended up walking through a grassy forest on the edge of the village, little rays of sunlight shined through the cracks of leaves, but she felt at peace in the shady forest, the sound of a bubbling stream and slowly made her way closer, seduced by it's calming song. She began tugging away her clothing, her skin becoming more bare to the cool spring air as she stripped down, slipping with a sigh of relief as the water washed over her skin.

She lay floating in the water, feeling the smooth pebbles beneath her toes and the light tug of the current, it felt like gravity didn't exist, as the water touched her marked skin it soothed it with it's gentle touch. She felt at peace. The world around her just blended into a soft song, the birds chirping, the wind rustling the leaves, the hum of the stream. She could feel nature thriving around her, feel the cool current on her bare skin.

She didn't hear the footsteps around her, or the awkward gasp. "Er, miss? -this is such a drag- you know you're in the Nara forest, right?"

Sakura snapped to her senses at this point, clapping a hand over her eye she turned to see none other than the sleepy Shikamaru Nara turned away from her awkwardly covering his eyes as his cheeks flushed a deep crimson red. She couldn't help herself and reeled back, covering her prepubescent chest with a slight yelp. How the hell couldn't she hear him coming? And how had she managed to get all the way to the Nara forest? That was almost on the other side of the village, she must have wandered further into the woods than she thought she did.

"I'm sorry." Sakura said evenly. Her jade orb searching around the foliage for her clothing, "Could you throw me me clothes?" She questioned, ringing out her hair as she stepped out behind the Nara who awkwardly shielded his eyes as he searched the ground around his feet, nervously handing her her wadded up clothes. She almost snickered at the sight, it was so strange to see the usually lazy and easy-going genius stumble while doing things. It was actually a somewhat 'cute' sight had she not been naked.

"I haven't seen you since we graduated the Academy, how's Ino?" Sakura questioned as she wrapped her arm, leg and her eye tightly before tugging on her loose black shirt. She heard a little surprised 'eh?' from Shikamaru.

"We were in the Academy together? Weird, I don't remember you." He said, scratching his head in thought as he tried to remember the odd silver-haired girl, he thought she was just a civilian who had accidentally wandered into the forest, happens sometimes, whatever, but the markings on her skin were pretty strange for a civilian girl, no less one as young as she was, they looked around the same age, maybe a year or two apart.

Sakura felt her eyes widen a fraction, "It's… Sakura." She said slowly, calmly, she contemplated telling the Nara that she was somebody else, to avoid the heartache of trying to come up with an excuse for her odd appearance, but ruled it out, had to come out sometime anyway.

He whirled around, lucky after she'd tugged on the last of her clothing, looking at the silver-haired girl with shocked eyes, well, as shocked as Shikamaru Nara could manage. "Sakura Haruno?" He said with a puzzled tone, still eyeing the girl oddly, Sakura was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She pushed back her hair, unable to meet the eyes of her former classmate. She felt a heavy sensation of dread on her shoulders and contemplated running but that would only make her look like a crybaby as she used to be.

"You look… nice." He said slowly, Shikamaru was a genius, he could tell the girl looked uncomfortable, he could see that she clearly didn't want to talk about it. She was a pain and the bandages were weird, but she did look nice. He didn't really like the super flashy pink hair anyway. She looked alright. For a troublesome girl that is. Not his type, she was too pretty, pretty girls were a drag.

She was slightly taken aback from the compliment and a soft rosy blush touched her pale white cheeks, she awkwardly rubbed her arm, "Well, it's getting late. I should go…" She dragged on, not really wanting to talk any longer, she wanted to be alone today to have a little time to think to herself, or what was left of herself. She chewed nervously on the inside of her lip as the spiky haired boy nodded and rubbed the back of his head, seemingly returning to his usual lazy and relaxed self, "Guess so, see you at the exams." He said, giving a half wave goodbye as he slowly headed off toward some grassy hills for his favorite pastime, watching clouds.

Sakura watched him go, still feeling slightly uncomfortable from the strange encounter, it was so random and strange. It all happened in a matter of minutes. It was all just too odd, but she'd never known the Nara to be a huge talker and he probably had a lot to think about with the… exams coming up.

She really didn't plan to run into anyone today, she figured everyone would be out training and whatnot. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd see anyone else today, she'd have to pick up groceries and head to the Hokage tower, but other than that she'd probably just sit at home, she didn't feel like reading or anything in particular and with the constant paranoia that something was around the corner, she just wanted to go to sleep.

Scratching the top of her head she wondered how she'd ended up in this damn forest, she couldn't for the life of her find her way out, how big could the Nara forest possibly be? It felt like she was walking in circles. She cursed herself for not asking Shikamaru to escort her out, hadn't he ever heard of chivalry?

She rolled her eyes at how stupid she sounded. If she found her way in she could definitely find her way out. Channeling chakra into her soles, she made a leap for the tree branches, reaching decent height before snatching a grip on the slimmest branch she thought could hold her and hoisting herself up, she could at least get a decent look over some of the trees and where they broke off, good thing she picked a decently tall tree, she wasn't too far off.

A subtle thought rolled through her mind and she slowly reached for the bandaged half of her face, touching the spot over her eye with her fingertips. Perhaps she should at least test it out… see what the eye could do… a wave of curiosity, the same curiosity that got her into this mess, rolled over her in waves. She was stuck with it… she should at least know what it is.

She was fighting against herself, what if the consequences were dire? Shouldn't the punishment of her last curious adventure lead her against making such rash decisions? But it was a part of her body now, she needed to know. Where was this curiosity coming from? Just hours ago the mere look of her demonic eye brought a sense of soul crushing pain over her body.

Her body began to move on her own, she was frozen within her own body, it was horrifying, it was like someone was forcing her hand toward her face, forcing her fingers to curl around the bandage and rip it away, she fought against it for a second, but that was all she could bear before she lost the war within herself that she wasn't even aware she was fighting in.

In the craziness and unrealistic events that just happened she missed the string of deep, raspy laughs that echoed through her mind and the distinct sound of some kind of symbolic door opening. Only the fear of what was happening to her body and the shock of power that rocketed through her, beneath the bandages the marks on her arm and leg glowed eerily with power, her beautiful evergreen orb flashed a terrifying demonic red for less than a second, before she began to see things, shaking with fear she looked down at her hands and gasped in fear, slipping from her perch in the tree and not having the proper thought process to catch herself, she was falling, she couldn't do anything but outstretch her hands in fear, bracing for impact and squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

A glowing white circle with a five point star and a series of latin words pulsed on the ground and a portion of Sakura's chakra was sucked into it, with a vibrating pulse a hand carved of rock shot from the ground, she hit the surface hard, but the extending rock cushioned her and she slid to the ground on her belly, once she saw this she looked down to her trembling hands once more.

She could see each individual chakra tunnel, see the bright blue energy force flowing through her. It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. She knew she shouldn't be able to see this, especially at these levels, she wasn't a Hyuga, she didn't possess the Byakugan, she shouldn't be seeing these things… she glanced upwards to the formation of stone before her, a large hand seemingly formed only from earth, open palmed, as if cradling something. Had she done that? How? The last thing she remembered was thinking about catching herself…

Curiously she touched the earth, anticipating another rock formation, yet nothing happened. She tried to think over and over what it could have been that had caused the odd jutsu, if it even was a jutsu, there was no lingering chakra, she didn't even use any hand seals… although she doubted she would need to after her experience in the scroll.

She wondered if there was anything she couldn't do with the limitless information that had been poured into her brain. She shook away the thoughts, what the hell was she thinking? This eye had nearly gotten her killed twice now!

"Kuso!" She cursed, fisting her fingers into her short, wavy silver locks. She couldn't handle any more oddities. She would give anything to have her old life back, pulling weeds with her team, fuck she'd rather stay utterly useless than the price she had to pay for this. She looked like she'd done something forbidden and she had. She used a forbidden scroll, is walking around with a demon eye for Kami's sake! Her small fists pounded angrily on the ground as frustrated tears built up in her eyes. She didn't want this. She knew some ninja that would kill for power like this but it wasn't what she wanted! Hell! She wasn't sure she even wanted to be a ninja anymore!

But could she just quit now? She looked helplessly down at her bandaged appendages, could she fit in with civilians anymore? Not only in looks, but mentality. In the Academy they didn't teach you basic academics, such as science and history, mathematics yes, but to a battle-based extent. The history they taught were of the first shinobi and science was limited to bombs, tear gas, poisons. Could she scrub floors for a living happily?

Would it matter?

She gathered herself and tried to choke back her cluttered thoughts, she needed to go grocery shopping, then she could make dinner, get her resignation papers and resign. That was the end to it. She wanted to end this day as soon as possible, sleep sounded amazing right now. Reality was drastically becoming less and less appealing to her.

She slowly made her way back to village, tripping over several roots on her shaky legs. She was beginning to hate all surprises and anything to do with a career as a shinobi and a civilian. Trying to calm herself down she took several deep breaths, noticing the sun was beginning to set, it seemed the nap she had taken earlier was longer than she had thought, or maybe it was the constant wondering in the woods and the little swim she'd taken earlier. Time seemed to be going by in rapid, confusing motions. Her world felt as though it were spiraling downward into a vortex, violently yanking her back and forth.

She headed toward the market, head lowered as she tried to avoid eye contact, the less people to talk to her the better. She didn't think she could handle one more person commenting on her appearance, not right now.

A foreign pang of anger flashed through her and unknown to her that beautiful evergreen orb, once again flashed an angry red.

…..

Hana Haruno was not a stupid woman. Her husband was a genius in battle strategy, but it was his wife that he sat up with late at night discussing his most recent skill. Yes, he took the advice of a civilian and he trusted it very well. So she was aware that when Sakura returned from wherever that damnable scroll had stole her that something incredibly wrong had happened to her precious daughter.

Her husband hadn't given her any information on what would happen if Sakura were to open the scroll, secretly Hana was hoping Sakura would never find it. She'd always known something was… off about that scroll, the way her husband regarded it was enough to confirm whatever suspicions she had that the scroll was something evil, not good. Hana felt cornered and scared, her daughter had returned with odd markings that made her stomach roll and continued to scream and thrash in her sleep (something she had 'forgotten' to tell her daughter).

She knew there was only one thing she could do and it was something her husband had forbidden her to ever do, but she felt backed against a wall, she had already lost her husband, she couldn't lose her precious child too.

She would have to contact Sakura's grandmother.

…..

Sakura wondered the wares stands aimlessly, buying random foods not exactly planning meals like she normally would, her thoughts were jumbled and messy, she couldn't process things anymore. This had been happening frequently. She didn't bother wondering why she was certain it had something to do with the scroll, thus she didn't dare think about it.

She was mindlessly examining a shiny red apple for bruises when someone tapped on her shoulder, it broke her from her mess of inner ramblings and caused her to jump, starting surprised at the young man who was now speaking to her, though she couldn't quite catch his words. A soft blush touched her cheeks at the handsome man before her. A boy of no older than eighteen with shoulder length deep crimson hair, like wine and light purple irises.

"May I help you look for something?" He questioned, setting down a large crate behind the fruit stand Sakura was currently standing at. She blushed once she realized this was probably the fifth time he'd asked her that. She rubbed the back of her head nervously, "Oh no, I'm just looking." She said sheepishly.

The boy offered her a small, almost invisible, smile. "The peaches are very good at this time of the year." He said, she then noticed how soft and polite his voice was, causing her blush to deepen. What was she doing fawning over a boy at a time like this?

"I'll take a dozen then please." She nodded politely, pulling the money from her pocket, the crimson haired man offered another small smile and shook his head, "On the house, please, enjoy." He said softly. Sakura, surprised by the boy's kindness, thanked him and offered a respectful bow before continuing on with her shopping.

…..

As the silver-haired Haruno made her way home, heavy bags troubling her, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened earlier today, the stone hand jutting from the very earth and the sight of her very chakra tunnels. She couldn't stop her mind from wondering there. What she had done confused her, scared her. She hadn't intended to use a jutsu and some nagging feeling told her it had nothing to do with any kind of jutsu.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek she briefly wondered if it had been a fluke, a one-time chance. No, there's no flukes in this world. She was well aware of that. She breathed out an irritated sigh and once again adjusted the bags in her hands, she hadn't made it to the tower in time today, took too long shopping and wandering around. But what else had she expected? Her mind was a complete mess ever since she'd returned.

"Would you like some help?" A smooth, familiar voice came from the distance. Sakura turned just in time to see a head of deep crimson hair approaching her, familiar lilac colored eyes causing another small blush to touch her cheeks.

"Aaa, sure." She said dumbly, missing the amusement that flashed through the crimson haired boys eyes as she handed him a few of the bags that were causing her so much grief, letting out a relieved sigh, now that the fear of dropping and bruising her fruits and vegetables wasn't going along with her list of things she'd have to worry about. Like how she would support herself and her mother if she resigned… her eye traveled guiltily to the ground as she thought of how selfish she was being.

"You know… I hope I'm not being too forward, but if you're interested, I'd like some help at my stand." The boy she'd nearly forgotten spoke up, face blank as he stared forward, Sakura could feel the puzzled look on her face at his words.

She contemplated it in her mind a moment, would it be so bad? Living a normal life, coming home from work without the need to bandage her own wounds and drag her body into a bed to do it all over again the next day for a cause she wasn't sure she, nor anyone else, should fight for.

Wait? Where the hell did that come from? She thought, taken aback by the treasonous turn her thoughts had just taken. She'd been feeling so strange… why was she acting this way?

Perhaps she'd give it time… both the offer and her thoughts.

"I might enjoy that."