[A/N] I'm sorry about being kinda late. Life's gotten busy with the Homecoming dance coming up (a boy asked me to it last week :D), Honors classes (the worst of which is definitely Chemistry. GUHHHHH.), and some boy drama (no comment). But at least the chappie's here, right? Also, Another thank you to those of you who review every chapter. I'd like to give you all glomptastic hugs but unfortunately that's not possible… Aw, well, E-HUGS TO YOU ALL!
Happy reading~
Shelter from the Rain
a vampire fic
10} hypocrite
.
.
if I could, I would make all your worries disappear
.
"Eh? Where'd Sasuke-kun go?" Ino asked, blinking bright blue eyes and glancing around at Sakura and the other members of the present Konoha 11. "He hasn't been around for like… the past few hours."
Sakura had noticed his absence, too—and apparently so had the rest of the group. They all turned expectant eyes towards Naruto, who knew the most about the cynical Uchiha and could usually give an explanation for all of his best friend's antics.
The blond shrugged. "He skips out on stuff and goes to sleep all the time. Or maybe he's flirting with girls."
Ino sighed and played with a strand of her hair. "I wanted to make him go on a walk with me. A walk on the beach is so romantic, you know? You can sit on the sand, and watch the waves together…"
"That's so stupid," Kiba retorted, rolling his eyes. "You're such a girl."
The blonde's brows contorted. "Oh, and you don't ever wonder why you're still single?"
Kiba's eyes flickered towards Hinata momentarily, then narrowed as he turned his fierce gaze back to Ino. "Well, I don't see you with any boyfriend, either."
"Hey, I'm working on it!" She crossed her arms and returned the glare.
"Sasuke will never like a bitch like you," he replied. "You don't even like him that much, do you? You just like him because all girls like him."
"I am not a bitch! And I don't like him because everybody else does, I like him because…because he's always the one who's in the most pai—"
"Okay, break it up, break it up," Shikamaru said, sounding irritated, and he pushed the two away from each other. "You're hurting my ears."
Ino pouted, but she obediently stepped away. "I really do like Sasuke-kun, you know," she said. She then took hold of her friend's shoulder. "You believe me, right, Shikamaru?"
The boy's expression seemed to harden the tiniest bit. "I know you do," he replied, rolling his eyes.
Sakura resisted the urge to quirk a brow as she looked at him, feeling some surprise rolling through her chest. Was it possible that Shikamaru…?
Shikamaru looked over towards her then, probably having felt her gaze on him, and their eyes met. There was a tacit plead in his dark eyes.
Don't ask.
So… she didn't.
.
.
silence is golden
.
It was the strangest feeling. When she glanced over towards the direction of the inn, there seemed to be some kind of pull that was trying to reel her back towards it, like her soul or something else inside of her was being dragged towards it with ghostly fingers.
"I'm going to go back to the inn for a minute," Sakura said, curiosity getting the best of her.
Tenten looked back with surprise. "Ehh? Why?"
Sakura gestured wordlessly to her bare legs and exposed stomach, which was all the explanation that she needed.
The older girl sighed. "Well, I guess it was an achievement for you to wearing a bikini all day. Go get changed, then. We're going to meet up for dinner, soon, anyway."
Sakura gave her and Hinata a brief smile before turning and heading towards to the inn.
For some reason, she felt like her soul or something else inside of her was being hit with bullets of fear as she approached the traditional-styled building.
…Why was there such an ominous feeling in her chest?
.
.
like everything that happened, it was because of him
.
The vampire grabbed at his chest as he slammed into the wall of the hallway and slid exhaustedly to the floor. Sasuke kneeled there breathless, panting heavily; pain was coursing through his body and his lungs were refusing to take in sufficient air. He tried to focus on the pattern of the wooden tiles to drag his attention away from the self-inflicted torment of his body, but it was completely impossible.
He had grown far too dependent on blood.
Of course, it would be impossible to ever be free from the necessity of stealing human blood—he was a vampire, after all—but this… this was proof he needed to at least grow a stronger toleration. He'd grown enough over the years under his guardian's guidance, that he could ignore his urge to kill, but this terrible thirst was omnipresent.
Be careful, Sasuke, Kakashi had warned him. If you take blood every day, you're going to grow too used to the amount you get. Then if you try to lessen your intake again, your body will have some… very painful withdrawal symptoms.
Sasuke had assumed he was strong enough to go without blood for a few days. Clearly, he wasn't—and that fact was hitting him harder than he expected.
"Damn it," he cursed under his breath. After seeing Sakura faint from anemia a while ago, he'd realized he needed to stop taking so much from her; one person couldn't supply blood for him every day. But the days that had followed that one had been a hell of physical torment, just like now.
He was being stupid, avoiding Sakura like this and denying himself blood. It was stupid, completely stupid, a stupidly stupid reason.
He didn't want her to see how weak and worthless he truly was.
He acted confident, he always did. Showing weakness was just setting yourself up for more hurt; that had been proven by the way Orochimaru had taken control of him so easily as a child, using him to kill and attack. He had been rendered into a little weapon with no mind of its own. He had trusted Orochimaru with his entire heart, but the man he had most admired had been revealed to be a murderer and a liar.
He wasn't afraid of Sakura; what could a tiny human like her to do him? But the look of fear she wore… That frightened expression was painfully reminiscent of the faces of those he had been ordered to kill. They had worn those same wide eyes full of fear and hopelessness, the eyes so many innocent people had worn as he had rushed towards them, his fangs ready to tear their throats into pieces.
The thought of their blood in his mouth sent a shot of pain through his body, and his teeth pulsed violently, throbbing and aching for the taste of blood. He slammed a fist against the wall as a tear, the manifestation of his utter frustration, trickled down his cheek and fell to the floor.
.
.
all he could feel was pain
.
Sakura stood in shock behind the corner.
Sasuke hadn't seen her, she was sure of that—but… A heart attack? Her mind reeled. It appeared to be either that or some kind of terrible convulsions. He was sweating heavily, his head bowed and his hand grabbing at his chest, and he looked liked he was having trouble breathing. His entire body was shaking violently.
He had seemed lifeless all day, hardly moving or even looking at anybody. He'd disappeared off to somewhere after the group had split up at the beach earlier this afternoon, but she had only noticed his absence after Naruto had saved her from those three drunk men a few hours ago. Naruto had said it was normal for Sasuke to skip out on everything and just go sleep.
But the vampire obviously wasn't sleeping.
The sound of rustling clothes reached her ears. As quickly but quietly as she could, Sakura ran into the women's bathroom at the end of the hall and shut the door behind her. She stood with her ear to the door and waited until his footsteps passed by. When she couldn't hear him anymore, she let herself take a seat on the tiled floor and finally make sense in her mind of what she had just witnessed.
She had never expected to see Uchiha Sasuke, of all people, crying.
.
.
even the cruelest man has a weakness he cannot ignore
.
"Naruto, are you sure he's not sick or something?" Chouji asked as he dug into his bowl of rice with a spoon. "He's pretty damn thin but he's never skipped out on dinner before like this." As a member of the Akimichi clan, Chouji was honestly horrified at the idea of skipping dinner.
Sakura felt a slight chill of guilt run through her as Naruto replied, "Yeah. He doesn't eat much, anyway. I bet he's out partying somewhere and forgot about us."
"He's been missing since this morning, though," Ino said. "He's never been gone for this long before."
"You're just thinking about it too much. It's normal for him," Naruto insisted. "I think he has antisocial disorder or something. He does this a lot. Trust me."
And with that final note, the table fell silent.
Sakura swallowed a big gulp of water and debated momentarily whether she should say something—something along the lines of: I think he had a heart attack about an hour ago, actually, but I'm not sure, since he's a vampire and his body is probably different from a human's and he seemed okay after it anyway, since he could walk at least, but I really don't know, and I think he's still at the inn, too, just hiding somewhere, but I'm not sure about that either. I'm not sure about anything anymore, really.
But she decided against saying anything and instead just poured herself another glass of water. It wasn't any of her business. She would let her next door neighbor do what he wanted to do, whether it was killing himself or fighting heart attacks or whatever the hell that scene earlier had been. She didn't care about him, anyway, right?
…Right?
.
.
why was nothing sure for me anymore?
.
"He seemed kind of… dead lately, didn't he?"
Tenten gave the other girl a confused look. "What do you mean, Ino?" she asked.
"Sasuke-kun, he's just… I don't know." Ino shrugged. "Like he doesn't talk a whole lot, but he would always say something sarcastic every so often, you know? And then he was just… Lifeless. Like he lost all his energy or something. And he's been gone since this afternoon… It's past midnight now and nobody's seen him yet. I'm not worried that he'll get hurt or anything, since he's actually ridiculously strong—I mean, you remember when he knocked out that third-year in middle school when he was just a first-year, right? But I'm still worried about him. Like, I feel like he must be having some kind of internal or mental problem, you know?"
Sakura looked down at her bare feet and listened to them silently.
"Well, if Sasuke'll tell us if he wants to tell us, Ino," Tenten said. "And hey, Naruto's his closest friend, and he's not worried at all."
"Yeah, but… Sasuke-kun never wants to tell anybody anything. I always feel like he doesn't totally trust us yet, even though we've all been together since middle school—"
"Ino, please…"
They all turned to look at Hinata with surprise. Her cheeks were a faint red, embarrassed for interrupting, but her pale eyes were surprisingly clear.
So quiet little Hyuuga Hinata did have a strong side, Sakura mused with some admiration.
"Don't… say things like that… I'm sure Sasuke-kun has his reasons. Everybody has… things… that th-they don't… want to t-talk ab-b-bout…" She looked away, hands clasping together nervously. "M-me inc-c-cluded…"
Ino smiled at her, her blue eyes growing soft. Hinata had a kind of subtle power, Sakura thought, that made people want to be… a better version of themselves. Naruto, too, had a similar aura to hers: optimistic and determined, but at the same time, very gentle.
"No, you're right, Hinata," Ino said. "I'm sorry. Let's go to sleep, then, shall we?"
"I, for one, am totally exhausted!" Tenten grabbed Hinata's hand, an affectionate gesture, and led the way to their room. They looked just like a pair of sisters. "Let's go to bed, guys!" she said cheerfully.
Ino gave Sakura a quizzical look when the pink-haired girl didn't follow the other girls down the hall. "Sakura, aren't you coming?" she asked.
Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm going to take a walk outside before I sleep."
The blue eyes were clearly disbelieving, but Ino just gave her a tight smile. "Okay. Well, see you later, then."
"Yeah. Good night."
"…Good night."
They gazed at each other a moment longer, and then Ino turned and walked away.
Sakura waited until the three girls had shut the door behind them before she headed off towards the inn main entrance. She hadn't lied—she honestly wanted to just go on a walk and try to set her thoughts in order.
What Ino had mentioned was probably credible, as the blonde had always had unbelievable perspicacity when it came to other people. Sakura had noticed it, too; the vampire's expression could've been made of stone, the way it had remained perfectly blank and emotionless all morning, besides the occasional forced smirk or two. He was a cruel and manipulative bastard, of that, she was very much aware, but the way he hardly made use of his facial muscles lately was frightening. And that scene earlier—
She turned the corner and literally crashed into Sasuke's chest.
Speak of the devil, she thought as she took a few steps back and put a hand on the wall, regaining her balance. She looked up and defiantly met the crimson gaze of her vampire consort.
No wonder Sasuke had hid himself all day—those red-colored eyes were clearly unnatural.
"Good evening," she said softly, the first words she had spoken to him since yesterday.
The dark gaze was cold. "What are you doing here?" he asked, and looked away.
She was actually a little surprised to hear him answer. It seemed like she hadn't heard his voice in such a long time, though it'd only been about a day. She took a moment to let his words settle into her mind before she replied, "I'm going to take a walk," she said.
"Now?" he asked. "It's past midnight."
"I went last night even later than now and I was fine," she retorted.
Something in his expression seemed to change; it was tiny, tinytinytiny, but she saw it. He was… irritated.
Could it possibly be because she had gone last night with Naruto?
"Then go ahead," he said emotionlessly, and stepped to the side.
She paused, simply staring at him. Seeing how he was trembling only oh so slightly, and the way he was avoiding looking into her eyes, and how his red flickered towards her throat… And those painfully hungry, hungry red eyes.
"I won't stop you," he told her, his voice still so carefully even.
Sakura dug her hands into the pockets of her khaki capris and walked past him, but when the distance between them increased to two feet, she stopped. Very, very slowly, she turned back to face him. She couldn't believe she was doing this, but the words were already slipping between her lips: "Do you… want to go with me?" she asked him, so softly that during the following minute of silence, she was sure he hadn't even heard her.
Then their eyes met, and it didn't matter if he hadn't heard, because as they gazed at each other, a look of understanding passed between them. He knew what she meant without even needing to listen to tangible words.
Without a word, Sasuke stepped up to her, and they set off together towards the beach.
.
.
sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I had never asked
.
She pitied him.
That was all it was.
…That's what they both told themselves.
.
.
but "half the truth is often a great lie"
.
"Your eyes are glowing red," she commented absent-mindedly. Her fingers made swirls in the sand as she waited for his reply.
"…I know that," he said.
"Is that so…" Sakura turned her gaze towards the rushing waves of the moonlit ocean and didn't say anything more. What else was there to say?
He looked at the waves too, and their hands almost brushed as he set his down to sit in a more comfortable position by leaning on them. Just a few inches separated their bodies. The bright moon was glowing brightly, giving the ocean a bright, mesmerizing sheen, and the two were quiet as they sat beside each other on the beach's rough sand. Sakura counted to sixty in her head before she willingly spoke up again.
"If you need blood… you can take it," she told him softly.
Sasuke whipped his head towards her. The dark irises were heavily tinted with his scarlet thirst, and they were gazing hungrily at her neck. Sakura lifted up a hand to cover the soft skin in an unconsciously protective gesture, and then something seemed to break; he suddenly looked away again, and Sakura dropped her hand.
"You don't understand anything," he said in a low voice, the red-colored eyes focusing on the blue ocean.
"I guess I don't." In fact, I hardly understand anything about you, Sasuke-kun. Sakura pulled at the hem of her too-large blue t-shirt nervously, and her eyes traveled to the large hand that rested so close to hers. The veins of his large hands and arms slightly protruded from the rest of his skin, and his long fingers were clenched tightly into a fist.
He was shaking.
The boy beside her was so obviously fighting his thirst; why did he need to push himself so far? For what reason was he punishing himself like this?
"Don't be so hard on yourself…" Sakura pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She rested her chin on the top of her knees. "I don't like seeing people try to handle more than they should… and… it's okay to depend on others, too…"
Her green eyes widened with surprise when she realized what she was saying: She was repeating the words Ino had said to her only a week ago.
The vampire's dark eyes seemed to be glistening as he leaned in and pressed his lips to the warm skin of her neck. His breath was hot. "You're such a hypocrite, Sakura," was all he whispered before he sank his sharp fangs deep into her throat.