Sakura waited that night. She knew either Sai or Naruto was bound to enter her room and sit on her bed – or in Sai's case, crawl into it – so she lay facing the door in the darkness, the only light coming from the hallway.

In the space of light that revealed itself beneath her closed door, she saw two shadows stop opposite her door that resembled feet.

Her door creaked open, letting the light from the hallway spill into her room and Sakura closed her eyes quickly to fake her sleep.

She could hear the familiar footsteps creep closer to her.
Her mind became a cruel thing and showed her images of Naruto crossing the room to her with his mouth agape and his fangs readying to pierce her flesh.
She wanted to ignore the images her mind tricked her with, but with each step coming closer her mind raced further with the possibility till she opened her eyes to face the on-comer.

Naruto froze when Sakura's eyes shot open.
He knew she was awake but the motion had still caused him to freeze.

He knew that he was a monster now.
That the closer he got to anyone the more uncomfortable they would get.

But Sakura sat up in her bed and looked to Naruto as though expecting him to move, but he remained frozen to his spot, waiting for something, anything, to happen.

"Naruto" said Sakura softly in the dim room.

Her voice caused Naruto to flinch and he continued to watch her with his black eyes.
Sakura shifted as she sat up further till she was in a complete sitting position on her bed an inclined for Naruto to sit beside her on the bed.

Naruto didn't know what to do so he remained where he was, torn between going to sit beside her or running out of her room to curl back in his corner and hate himself further.

Sakura motioned with her hand for Naruto to sit beside her again and this time Naruto cautiously walked towards the bed and carefully sat the same way Sakura did on the other side of the bed.
Sitting next to one another, they let a moment of silence pass by before Sakura's questions started in a hushed voice so no one besides Naruto could hear.

"Naruto, where is Hinata?" asked Sakura in her hushed voice without looking to him

"I'm not sure" replied Naruto in an equally hushed voice and looked down to his hands that sat on his lap.

"Was she the one who did this to you?"

Naruto looked to her with a deeply sad expression on his face and nodded.

"Why?" asked Sakura

Naruto shook his head in the dim light that filled the room from the hallway.

"What happened to her?" asked Sakura after another moment of silence had passed

"When we first came here, they found out we were sent from the Leaf village. This was before we knew anything about the risen. I had left Hinata alone just for a while and they attacked her. They wanted to get rid of us because we were a threat. Hinata became sick. I thought it was that illness that had been going around. In the end I sat with her till the end. I didn't know she would become a shiki"

Sakura looked to Naruto, who only looked to his hands, and felt his pain. He had to watch her die by himself. She knew how he felt. Sai and she had to watch Naruto die, without being able to help.

Sakura wanted to ask more but didn't when she saw that Naruto was crying silently.
He had hoped she wouldn't notice his silent tears in the dim light, but she did notice and leaned over to hug him.

Sakura's touch surprised him at first.
He never imagined she would want to be close to a monster like him now, yet alone hug him.
Against his will, his body went rigid under her touch, not knowing what to do with himself.

He could hear something strange in the room. A sound that was usually silent. Like the sound of a deep, methodical drum beat.
A heartbeat.
He could hear Sakura's heart beating through her body. He could hear her blood pulsing through her with every beat and suddenly he felt himself being drawn to the beating, to what flowed through her body. His mind raced for a meaning as to why he could hear this, why he was drawn to it.
He was hungry.
He hadn't noticed before just how hungry he was. There was only one thing that would cease his painful hunger. Blood. Somehow he instinctively knew what he was hungry for and what he craved.
To any sane person the craving for blood would be odd, but here, it felt natural to want blood so much.
Sakura was so close to him. He could so easily reach the blood that flowed through her.

Naruto went rigid again beneath Sakura's touch. She had only been holding him for a few second to comfort him but already his body had gone rigid, then relaxed, then suddenly gone rigid again. Something was wrong.

Sakura released her hold on Naruto and sat back to her original position and observed him, trying to figure out what was the matter.

He remained rigid and stared with open eyes to the wall opposite the bed.
"Naruto" Sakura reached a hand towards Naruto slowly, but he flinched so she paused.
He turned his head slowly to face her, his black eyes now containing thin red irises that glowed in the dark room and his eyes wide with what resembled fear.
Sakura said his name again but he only continued to stare to her. He was starting to freak her out a bit.
"Naruto, what's wrong?" she asked softly and slowly bringing her hand back to herself.

Naruto snapped back to attention and blinked for the first time in that short while, his eyes returning to being just black when he opened them again.
He stared to her with a more mournful expression and suddenly jumped off her bed and headed for the door, only pausing to look back.
"I'm sorry Sakura" said Naruto before he slipped out the door and into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him to conceal Sakura in darkness again.