Again, sorry for the delay. This chapter was rather hard to write. But here it is! Not giving up on it!


Her entire body felt numb. A long time ago, her mind had stopped working altogether. She didn't know how long she'd been running, or if she'd been running at all for that matter. She was on autopilot, unaware or where her body was taking her, if anywhere at all.

The surroundings flew by without her registering that there had been any. In a more sound state of mind, Sakura might have berated herself for her pathetic mental breakdown. She was a kunoichi. This was the exact type of situation she'd been trained to deal with and not lose her mind in.

Unfortunately, her mind was not in such a state. Her mind was blank; it hurt too much to think. If she allowed herself to even look around, and realize where she was, the images would come rushing forth, like a turbulent flood, overwhelming and destroying her fragile mind before she could even begin to comprehend what was happening.

Eventually, Sakura must have fallen asleep out of pure exhaustion, too tired to carry on anymore. She woke up the next day in a daze. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she allowed herself to look around.

She was somewhere in the forest. Where exactly, or how far away from home she was, she had no idea. Sakura bit her lip in anxiety. How was she supposed to get back to the village like this?

The village. Her body tensed as memories rose unbidden to the forefront of her consciousness. She remembered when she graduated from the Academy, a full-fledged ninja, and how proud she was of herself to receive her first Leaf Village headband—proof of her abilities. It was the first time she felt like she was truly worth something, like she didn't need to hide behind Ino anymore.

She remembered the time she'd been assigned to Team 7. How happy she'd been to be on the same squad as Sasuke, convinced that it was an act of God, and proof that her love was true.

Of course, she'd also been upset that she had to deal with the obnoxious Naruto as well, and then that her teacher seemed to be a jerk, but in the end, both Naruto and Kakashi-sensei turned out to be decent people, if not enjoyable company.

Taking a deep breath, she continued to run, crashing recklessly through the brush. She had to get home, and then maybe everything would turn out all right. Maybe everything was just a horrible, horrible dream. Of course it was. Who was she kidding? Demons and angels? The only demons in this world were those like the nine-tailed fox. Sasuke a demon and Naruto an angel? It had to be nothing but a nightmare.

Night fell before she knew it. Her body protested against further movement as she sunk down with her back to a tree. Hunger gnawed at the edges of her stomach, making her groan, but there was no food to be had.

"Tomorrow," she sighed, trying to quiet her stomach's growling with the reassurance. At this pace, Sakura would be at the village by sun down the next day. Thinking about the distance she still needed to cover drew another groan from her. It seemed so far away, and her body felt so weak. She fell over onto her side, closing her eyes.

Sleep would not come.

Sakura couldn't stop thinking about this "nightmare". With her body in as much pain as it was, she couldn't fool herself any longer that this wasn't real. She snapped her eyes open as the images of the last week flashed over her closed eyelids.

As she lay there, her eyes wide open to the darkness edging her vision; she was tortured by the images of her teammates being slaughtered before her very eyes. She remembered the feeling of warm blood being splashed across her skin, blinding her, as she watched Kakashi-sensei being torn apart.

She watched it.

The thought brought forth tears, spilling from her unblinking eyes, staining her cheeks and mixing with the blood—her sensei's blood. Blood that didn't have to be spilt. To her knowledge, Kakashi-sensei hadn't been a demon, or an angel, or a vampire, or anything that deserved to die in that moment. Gnawing guilt sickened her more than the remembrances of blood and gore and death. Thus, sleep evaded her.

Stronger than anything was the realization that she could have prevented his death. Maybe not Naruto's—he'd been so very far away, and so very fast—or even Tamaki's, but Kakashi-sensei had been right there, directly by her side. Worse still, she knew Sasuke would go for him.

It was her fault Kakashi's body was back at the house, torn apart with the blood painting the porch a dark, ugly red. She could have done something, anything, to stop the death, or even delay it for the critical second Kakashi-sensei needed to prepare a counter attack.

Yet she hadn't done a thing. All she had done was sit there, screaming uselessly as people—angel, demon, whatever—were murdered directly in front of her.

Protect the weak—the motto of her village, and she'd failed it. She had failed it every time an opportunity arose.

Sakura was worthless as a ninja. She was weak, unable to stop even completely preventable deaths from happening.

Never before had she felt so empty.


The heavy feelings persisted. She felt small, weighed down, next to nothing. Even the horrible guilt was pushed aside by the self-absorbing feelings of discovering her inherent worthlessness.

"You still want to try and get stronger by yourself?"

Slowly, Sakura looked up into the triumphant glare of her demon stalker. Sasuke stood over her, crossing his arms over his chest with an arrogant look on his face as he presented himself to her in his earthly disguise for the first time.

"Y—you killed them." She thought the one-heartbreaking statement would make her cry again. It didn't. The words resounded in her mind, as if her body was hallowed.

Sasuke shrugged. "You could have stopped me," he pointed out casually.

She shook her head. "No. I couldn't. I'm…" Her voice broke and she trailed away, breaking eye contact.

"You're too weak," he finished bluntly.

Again, the words echoed throughout her body, like they no longer held any meaning for her, other than a worldly truth detached from herself. She remained silent and nodded. His words were true. She was weak.

Sasuke smirked at her confession. Such an easily manipulated girl. Then again, all humans were the same—find the darkness within their hearts and they fall apart in your hands, to be molded in any way you wished.

He knelt beside her, leaning so close that his hot breath tickled her ear as he spoke. "But I can make you strong," he said in a husky voice. She shivered. "You won't be worthless or weak. You'll have power. Power rivaled by no man. All for the price of a soul of someone you don't even know—your first born son. And you can have plenty more children, after all."

She stared at him for a while. In a more stable mindset, she probably would have weighed the pros and cons of the decision, but no thoughts would come to her. Only dumb acceptance of his arguments.

"I agree."

Immediately after the words left her mouth, the scene shifted. She was lying, spread-eagled, in the center of a pentagram drawn in blood. Her head, legs, and arms lay in each of the five points. Covering her body, bared of clothing, were various symbols painted in blood (whose blood, she couldn't be sure). A small candle was placed at each of the points her limbs lay in. Sasuke stood at the top of the pentagram, at the point by her head, holding a thick, leather-bound book.

"Hoc sanguis meus, ego pro meis dicunt cognatione tua. In pro viribus lectus vel tertia generatione tua filia filium tuum primogenitum. Licet colligere quid necessarium reor," he chanted in a language she couldn't understand—possibly Latin.

As Sasuke reached the end of the chant, the symbols covering her body began to burn. She hissed in pain as her skin was seared by millions of invisible flames, licking at her tender flesh, arching her back in a vain attempt to pull away from the fire she couldn't see. Her muscles twitched and trembled uncontrollably, but other than that, she was unable to move, and forced to endure the pain.

Slowly, the blood shrunk and disappeared, absorbed into her skin. The pain disappeared, only to be replaced by a new, pleasant sensation. Her body felt light, her muscles stronger. She felt as if she could fun for weeks, or tear down entire mountains.

She looked up at Sasuke, her breath fast and shallow from the ordeal. He smirked and stepped away from the pentagram. When he did, her body suddenly felt heavier, and she had to struggle to keep her eyes open. She felt so tired suddenly, but that didn't make sense. Wasn't this a dream?

"It's done. The contract is made. I'll leave you to sleep now," he said.

All she could do was stare at him as her vision gradually faded. Before she descended into complete darkness, she heard him add, "Until morning, then. Good night."

And she succumbed to the dark.


The morning sun was hot on her skin when she woke up. She was panting, sweat covering her body, her hair sticking to her skin.

What a very vivid dream. She remembered making the contract, all the blood, and the pain—the intense, burning pain. It all felt so real.

Sakura sat up suddenly. What if the dream was real? she thought in sudden panic.

She quickly checked her arms and legs for any burns, but there were none. Her skin, while still bloody (with blood that wasn't her own, she reminded herself with a grimace), only had the same bruises and scratches that she had already acquired over the course of the mission. Nothing new.

Sakura sighed in relief that nothing had changed, but she wasn't completely reassured. Something about her body felt different. She felt renewed in a deeper way than a good night's rest could have given her. The terrible hunger was gone (weird, since she hadn't eaten anything), and her muscles felt rested and reinforced, taut and full. She frowned at this discovery, rubbing her arms gingerly, mostly curious of the new sensations it gave her.

"Happy with your new muscles?"

She looked up to see Sasuke sitting on a branch of the tree she'd fallen asleep under. He leapt down, landing gracefully on the balls of his feet. Sakura scrambled to her feet, increasing the distance between them, regarding him warily.

He didn't pay any attention to her caution. "Of course, you wouldn't have them if it wasn't for me and my encouragement," he said with a wicked smirk.

Anger flared in her gut as she remembered the cold-hearted way he'd killed three—no, thirteen—people without even batting an eyelash.

"You bastard!" she screamed, running forward, drawing a fist back to punch him with everything she had.

Sasuke was unfazed. He only watched as she got closer and closer. At the last minute, he dodged, and her hand smashed into the tree.

To her surprise, the tree trunk simply shattered, as if it was made of nothing but glass. She watched open-mouthed as the splintered wood rained to the ground, and the rest of the tree crashed to the forest floor, taking several smaller trees out with it. The destruction was immense.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad," Sasuke remarked, sounding much like an artist who was admiring his own handiwork. "But you need to remember one thing dear." His eyes were darkly playful as he spat out the sarcastic endearment.

He took the still-astonished Sakura by the shoulders and spun her around so she was facing him. His index finger slowly traveled downward until it rested in the center of her collarbone, at the small dip. A blood-red pentagram was etched into the skin there, a copy of the one that had appeared on the back of Sasuke's right hand.

"You belong to me now."


Latin Translation- With this blood of mine, I claim your kin as my own. In exchange for power, I get either your first-born son or your third generation daughter. I may collect in any way I deem necessary.

Sorry is the translation/grammar is inaccurate. I simply typed it into Google Translate. I don't speak Latin at all.

Phew, now I can get more in depth about the demon world without the info dump in chapter five. Ahaha.

Until next time, then!