Hey everyone, here I am just as promised with a chapter continuing The Lord's Fallen Angel's story, Virgin Blood. I hope that all of you like it. I also want to let you all know; I have no update system yet, so bear with me. On with the story!
Chapter 6: Discovery of a False Dream
Konan lead the confused girl toward the back of the temple, their shadows danced on the walls as they passed each candle that hung there. Outside the sky was dark and bleak; Apollo had finished his ride across the heavens.
The high priestess' grasp on Sakura's wrist tightened, Sakura winced in pain, and her hands endured her mentor's hold on her.
Tripping over her feet, Sakura continued to follow the woman, her mentor quickened her pace. Konan's blue hair swished back and forward fiercely, their footfalls were silent on the polished marble floor.
After a few minutes they came to a sudden stop, Sakura glanced at her mentor in worry, the air around them was heavy and dead, thick with tension.
Konan rested her head against the nearby wall, she took a deep breath. Slowly the woman turned her head to Sakura, her amber eyes stared at her apprentice. The woman's gaze burned holes into Sakura's body.
Sakura shifted her weight from one foot to another, her head dropped.
Konan gave a heavy sigh, "Sakura, what have you done?"
The said girl kept her silence, shame filled her face, and she bit her cheek, her eyes roamed. Sakura took a light, shallow breath, "I don't know..." The girl's voice trailed.
Konan's eyes narrowed apprehensively at the girl, "You don't know?" The woman faced Sakura head on, her hands held at her hips, "Let me rephrase that, why is our goddess, Artemis, angered with you?"
Sakura gradually lifted her head, her eyes stared miserably into her mentor's, "I don't know why Artemis is angered," Sakura broke into a fit of tears, "it could be the marriage, or that dream, or-or something, anything!" Sakura cried desperately.
The woman's eye brow raised, "Dream? Tell me, what happened in this dream?"
There was a pregnant silence, the girl's already flushed face turned even redder as she looked away, she bit her lips and her eye brows furrowed, "When I was in Egypt with Sasuke, I-I had a dream. All I could think of was running away, to leave the room I was imprisoned in."
Sakura stopped, she looked to her mentor; Konan gestured for her to continue. Sakura closed her eyes and drew another shallow breath, "So I took a horse and galloped away from my prison into the desert." Sakura smiled as she remembered her dream, "It felt so good to feel freedom flow through your hair, the rush of the wind against your face, the unbearable heat seeping through your skin telling you you're still alive"
Sakura began to walk along the wall, her hand dragged against its smooth surface. She glanced at the marble ceiling in wonder as she continued to tell her mentor more of her fantasy.
"But then after a while that freedom was short lived, my throat was parched and begged for water, my stomach screamed for a scrap of food, I felt I was going to die in a god forsaken desert, never to see the light of day again. By some miracle, my horse and I came across some water in a small river; I realized that after I had quenched my thirst, there was a man." Sakura brushed the wall with her hands, "He was so perfect, and his skin was like this marble, as soft, smooth and just as beautiful." Sakura lifted her hands off the wall then brought them to her chest and closed her eyes, "His hair was as red as the blood that runs through our bodies."
Konan watched the girl lean on the wall; she saw Sakura's eyes flutter as the girl blushed even more.
"His kisses were gentle and filled with warmth I can't even describe," Sakura's face turned even redder, "his hands roamed my body, and his mouth trailed kisses from my neck to..." Sakura froze, realization hit her as hard as Zeus' mighty lightning bolt, her heart stopped as her eyes snapped open, she went deathly pale, "No...It can't be."
Sakura collapsed, she slid down the wall shaking her head in denial, "No, it was so real, it can't be."
Konan watched the girl fall pathetically to the floor of the temple; she could see the pain in Sakura's face as she mumbled incoherently. "I wasn't a dream was it?" her voice was cold. The woman treaded to the girl, her figure towering over Sakura, "What kind of relationship did you have with this man?"
Sakura hid her head between her knees, she rocked back and forward on edge, "I didn't know him, he took me right by the river." Sakura was filled with guilt and humiliation, "I can't believe I was so stupid..." tears of sorrow welded into Sakura's emerald eyes, her body shook as those tears fell down her cheeks.
The blue haired woman kneeled next to Sakura and pulled her into an embrace, Konan brushed Sakura's hair away from her face, just as a mother would do to a daughter. "You need to leave Sakura."
Sakura stiffened in her mentor's arms, her eyes widened, she looked at Konan's face, it held indifference, "Why?" she asked silently.
The question was suspended into the air and was left unanswered. Konan then pulled the girl off the ground, she lifted Sakura's chin lightly and looked directly into her eyes, "It is no longer safe for you to be here, the temple of Artemis cannot protect you." Konan's voice held its seriousness as Konan took Sakura in her arms once again, "You must run Sakura, run away as fast as you can." she then held her at arm's length, "Your husband will be furious, you have to go."
Sakura fell into Konan's arms; those were the words that every apprentice and priestess feared the most, dismissal and exile. Sakura's lunges heaved as more tears streamed down her face. Konan rubbed Sakura's back lightly, offering the girl as much comfort as she could. The two stood in silence.
Konan saw a shadow pass in the candle light, "Hanabi," Sakura's tears abruptly stopped as she heard her friend's name called, "I know you're there, come out."
The girl crept from behind the pillar, her face flush in embarrassment; her clear eyes glanced to the person who had caught her eves dropping.
Konan pulled away from Sakura and faced Hanabi, "I need you to tell Price Sasuke we are in prayer to Artemis."
Hanabi nodded, she turned sharply, her long, dark hair fluttered with the movement. She walked in the direction of the main sanctuary where a great statue of Artemis stood, the place where Artemis made her presence known.
Konan took Sakura's hand and dashed in the opposite direction of Hanabi. Their shadows moved faster and faster as they sprinted through the temple. Sakura saw a statue of Artemis and swore it was looking at her, following her every movement.
They passed a garden filled with the most beautiful flowers, the smell never reached Sakura's nose for they came to another part of the temple, the outdoor kitchen.
The two women crept inside into one of the back rooms, they came to a set of steep stairs and descended into the cellar. There Sakura saw an abundance of food, water, wine and other offering for the goddess they worshiped.
Konan let go of Sakura's hand, she roamed the wine racks brushing her fingers along the sides searching for something. Konan stopped when she felt a notch in the wood, she removed a bottle from its place on the rack and handed it to Sakura.
Sakura held onto the bottle as she watched Konan stick her arm into the compartment were the wine bottle used to reside, she pulled the wine rack, behind it was something Sakura never would have suspected, was a door.
Konan threw the door open, it creaked from lack of use. Behind that door was an entrance to a tunnel underneath the temple. Konan peeked at Sakura, she smiled as she saw astonishment that adorned the girl's face.
"This was made after the Trogon War," Sakura was shaken from her wonderstruck moment, she heard Konan continue, "The high priestess before me, Tsunade, had it built in case any attack would befall the temple, every person inside could escape."
Sakura stepped inside the tunnel, her bare feet felt the gravel beneath, and she looked to Konan as if she were asking permission to leave the temple.
Konan gave a nod, and also spoke to her, knowing it would be the last time she would ever see her, "Good bye Sakura, know that this was meant to be."
Sakura watched as her former mentor closed the door to the temple, her life, and protection. Sakura turned to the only place she had left, the opposite direction of the door. Sakura flinched when she heard a small click, the door was now locked, and this was the beginning.
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