Hey, you guys! Well, I'm trying to force myself to write. I have a bit of free time, so I'm trying. I'm also trying to finish up my Sonic story so that one can be over and done with. Anyways, thanxs to Bieri, spazzgirl, xXFoxy Scorpion BlossomXx, The Last Awesome Emo Kid, aly247, black cold heart of a demon, & A.J. Scarlet for reviewing & let's get to it!
Disclaimer: How I wish I owned Naruto's sweet deliciousness. Alas, I don't. But they need to start hurrying up and & put Shippuden back on Cartoon Network! Disney XD my butt... Naruto's not Disney material!!!
Chapter 11
Sakura felt dirty. She felt sick. She's been wearing the same clothes for a week now and has only showered once. The only wash her clothes would get would be from the causal splash of water from the wooden bucket she would carry, filled to the brim with water.
'Seriously, are we back in medieval times?!' she grumbled to herself, walking down the hallway, carrying yet another bucket of water. 'We are in the 21st century here! We could at least have metal pails, not wooden buckets, with cracks so that half the water is gone by the time we get it to them! And really, why do vampires need all this water in the first place?! Does it help the blood go down or something?'
With all of Sakura's mental grumbling, she failed to see someone step out into the hallway right in front of her, causing her to run into their backside, splashing the water on them and her. Fearing it was Sasuke, or worse, some other vampire; she immediately began spewing out apologies. Sasuke was scary, and she knew a master was always hard on their slaves, but running into a stranger vampire could get herself into deeper trouble… or lunch.
"I'm so sorry; I should have been watching where I was going! I'll clean up the mess, I promise!" she rambled on, staring at the floor as she did. Ino taught her an important rule: never stare a stranger vampire in the face, especially if you've done something that could enrage them.
The stranger chuckled, and Sakura thought the sound was feminine. She also realized they weren't wearing shoes like herself. 'This vampire has some very dirty feet…' Sakura thought to herself.
"It's no problem. Please, don't feel bad," the stranger spoke and Sakura's head shot up, realizing it was another slave like her. Sakura hadn't seen many of them, just the others that belonged to Sasuke when he introduced her to the group. They all seemed so close and tight-knit, and Sakura realized that they must need to help each other in order to survive this place. She also realized that they all felt extremely bad for Ino, and now for Sakura as well.
She didn't understand at first, why they would come up and pat her on the back and say, "I'm so sorry." until Ino told her that she was Sasuke's favorite. And now Sakura was too, and that's why they were locked up away from the others.
"Wha-What are you doing out here?" Sakura asked once she was brought back from her day-dreaming. This girl had brown hair, tied up in pigtails with big chocolate brown eyes and was wearing basically the same thing as Ino and now, herself. But the reason Sakura asked is because she wasn't carrying anything. Usually slaves were only out and about to get things, or to shower, and that was with a group. But this girl was just by herself, without…anything!
"Hmm? What do you mean?" she asked, clearly confused with Sakura's statement.
"Shouldn't you be carrying something? You know… like an errand, right?" Sakura said, trying not to sound bossy. She was new here and this girl could have been here for years already.
The girl laughed, seeming to understand the situation now. "Oh, I see. You don't know who I am, do you?" she asked, and Sakura just shook her head. "My name is TenTen," she supplied, like it would jog Sakura's memory into remembering someone she's never met.
"…uh, my name's Sakura," she said instead, being polite.
TenTen nodded her head, greeting her. "It's nice to meet you Sakura. The reason I'm not out on an errand like you is because I'm in a… well, how can I say this?... A relationship, I suppose."
Sakura's mouth felt dry. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was there actually a decent enough vampire in here to want to have a relationship with a human?... "You're dating a vampire?" Sakura hissed out, afraid to speak it any louder.
TenTen sighed, like she's had to answer this question multiple times before, which is probably true. "You're not the first to say that and you probably won't be the last. Yes, I know it's… obscene, but Neji isn't like the others. He's… sweeter," TenTen explained.
Sakura just nodded her head. TenTen seemed genuine that this vampire was not the same as the others. And Sakura had to give the benefit of the doubt. They're had to be at least some good vampires in the world-this was just one of them.
"I know this is a horrible place," TenTen continued, grabbing Sakura's elbow lightly, encouraging her to continue walking. She did, remembering another one of Ino's tips: never stop, vampires don't like to wait long. And Sakura feared she was already gone too long. TenTen seemed to know the rule as well, as they walked together down the hall. "Where are you headed?" she asked, not wanting to mislead her.
Sakura sighed. "To the coven." She hated the place, always filled with vampires, made her uncomfortable. TenTen sensed her displeasure. It was the vampires' main area, the room ten times better looking than the slaves' quarters. And it was just your basic living room, where most of the vampires hung out when they weren't out torturing their slaves or other humans.
Like everywhere else, it was underground, so nobody knew whether it was night or day, except for the vampires. And they kept everything lit so brightly with their white walls; it was hard to keep your internal clock on schedule. Basically, you slept and worked when the vampires told you to. And yet, they seemed to have everything they could possible want down here. Unlimited luxuries for the vampires, nothing for the slaves, even an underground waterfall, where their precious water came from; the same one Sakura had been coming from when she ran into TenTen.
"Ooh, is Sasuke your master?" TenTen guessed, watching Sakura cringe silently. "I figured as much. He treats his slaves the worst out of all the vampires. I'm so sorry."
Sakura sighed. "Like I haven't heard that multiple times already, but thank you. Is… Neji kind to his?"
"Yes, very much so. He still treats us a bit inferior, but I think that comes with being a vampire," TenTen chuckled a bit at her statement, and it made Sakura smile as well.
"Even you?" Sakura asked, watching to see if TenTen's smile would falter. It didn't.
"Not as much as the others. I think it turned to protectiveness over time. He doesn't like me wandering the halls alone, like I was doing. I was actually heading to the coven as well because that's where he said he was going to be," TenTen explained, and for a moment Sakura thought of Naruto.
As soon as did, she step slowed immensely. She's tried not to think of him, because to her displeasure, he had not come to rescue her yet like she hoped he would have. If also fueled Ino 'not-real' theory. 'I know he cares for me, he tried to save me! So then… why has he not come?!' Sakura thought sadly, feeling like just huddling in a corner and crying her eyes out. Her parents must be worried sick, already fearing the worst, her friends devastated they've lost yet another friend, her teacher Tsunade… She felt like she'd never see them again!
"What's wrong Sakura?!" TenTen asked, fearing at her new friend's change of attitude.
"No-Nothing!" Sakura said, clearing her throat as she shook her head softly. The image of Naruto immediately fled, huddled into the deepest, darkest corners of her mind to be locked away. Her pace sped back up, walking more quickly now, wanting to get this job over and done with.
TenTen frowned. She knew something was up with Sakura. You don't just randomly fall into a pit of depression, and then come out of it just as quickly. 'It must have been something I said…' she thought to herself, mentally going over their conversation. There was nothing in it that TenTen saw that could have triggered it, so it must have been Sakura who thought of it after something she said, but what was it?...
"Sakura, please. You can tell me; I'm your friend. Please, what did you think that could have possibly hurt you the way you looked just then?" TenTen asked, grabbing onto Sakura's shoulder so she had to stop walking and look at her.
For a while, the duo just stood there, not saying one thing to the other. "We have to get going. Sasuke will kill me if I'm any later than I already am," Sakura finally said, watching TenTen's face deflate as she continued on walking. 'No body must know,' she told herself, silently holding back tears.
'No one must know how he hurt me so.'
:) :p ;)
Finally, after what seemed like ages, the pair finally made it to some embroidered double doors. It was quite simple but beautiful, white doors with black and gold embroidery around the edges, reminding Sakura a bit of the Victorian age. Though she thought it strange that the doors were white. 'White means pure, doesn't it?'
"White is the form of all colors combined," TenTen spoke softly, causing Sakura to look at her. "While black is the absence of all colors. They feel there is no absence within them, like they are the perfect creation, a combination of everything."
"Except a soul," Sakura mumbled to herself, hearing TenTen giggle.
"Only some. Sakura, I never realized how funny you are!" TenTen complimented her while slowly pushing the double doors open.
It opened to reveal luscious red velvet floors, with various pieces of furniture, all looking like they came straight out of a magazine. There were multiple flat-screen TV's and computers in the room and in the farthest reaches, Sakura thought she saw that the room branched off into a kitchen. Sakura also saw multiple other slaves in the room, tending to their specific master, the which most were lounging about the room somewhere. Sakura tried to search for Sasuke, but she felt her elbow being pulled again, as TenTen hauled her off in a certain direction.
"Ugh! TenTen, slow down!" Sakura cried, trying not to make more of the water spill out, especially not in this room. She cringe to see what would happen to her in here if that happened. Sakura also noticed how various slaves would stop to look at them (not to mention the vampires), even going as far as to bow slightly. She also heard them mumble something about "Hello Miss TenTen." Did that mean they also knew, and treated her like an honorary vampire or something?
"Neji!" TenTen cried, stopping as Sakura looked at this vampire TenTen claimed to be different. She gasped, recognizing the milky light purple eyes of the Hyuga clan. He also had brown hair tied in a ponytail, with a loose fitting shirt and brown pants. He was sitting on one of the many couches, his feet propped up on the table in front of him, tennis shoes adorning his feet. He had glanced, cracking a grin when he saw that it was TenTen that had called him.
"Neji Hyuga?!" Sakura asked, unable to stop herself, immediately slapping her free hand over her mouth afterwards. "I'm so sorry sir! I didn't mean to sound so informal!" she apologized, bowing her head.
Neji merely cocked an eyebrow up, never hearing a slave that knew his last name. "Who's your friend TenTen?" he asked.
"This is Sakura, Neji," TenTen said, softly elbowing Sakura until she stood back up straight again. She then whispered the next part. "She's one of Sasuke's."
"Aah, I see. Tell me Sakura, how do you know of my last name?" Neji asked, deciding to deal with the Sasuke issue later. 'Is this the girl he was bragging about earlier?'
"Um…" Sakura started, staring at the bucket in her hands. "One of my friends is Hinata Hyuga. You two have the Hyuga clan eyes."
"My cousin," he specified. "So, you're new here, I take it? Well, I'm sorry to say that you're not one of my own. Sasuke treats his slaves like they're toys, easily replaceable once he grows tired of them, not like the decent human beings that they are." Neji sighed, TenTen coming up to place a hand on his shoulder.
Sakura smiled, seeing how such a simple gesture seems to calm him. 'They truly seem happy together,' she thought to herself before feeling the image of Naruto creep back up. 'No,' she told herself firmly, closing her eyes in frustration. 'Not now, not ever.'
"Why are you over here?" she heard someone say behind her, their breath hot on her neck. She gulped, almost dropping the bucket. She gripped it, tight enough to make her knuckles turn white.
"Ma-Master," she stumbled before gasping, feeling Sasuke's hand wrap around her neck. This time she did drop the bucket, its contents spilling out on the floor, gathering the attention of everyone in the room, both vampire and human.
"You stupid bitch!" he growled, tightening his grip. "How dare you soil our regal carpet! I swear to God, you're going to pay for this even if-"
"Enough Sasuke," Neji called calmly, slowly standing from his seat. "It was my fault she was over here. Now put her down before you kill her."
Sasuke growled but released Sakura non-the-less, watching her form collapse on the floor, gasping for air. "It's your whore's fault anyway. She's the one that dragged her over here instead of finding me."
"What did you call her?!" Neji yelled, now infuriated, pushing TenTen behind him so she was out of the way. Sasuke stepped forward; the only thing between them was Sakura's crumpled form.
"You heard me," Sasuke called, taunting him. "A. whore."
Neji growled, showing off his fangs, enlarging them. TenTen- who knew when vampires fight, they don't care what happens to anything else that gets in-between them, and right now that was Sakura- knew that she had to stop this before it got started. "Neji, please," she spoke softly, gripping his arm.
"I won't stand here and let him get away with calling you that!" he answered back, frustrated.
"I'm fine, it doesn't bother me," TenTen said, trying to reason with him. "But I don't want Sakura to end up getting up because of a fight."
That seemed to calm him down. Neji never liked useless bloodshed, and one innocent girl dying isn't enough to risk fighting Uchiha. Neji sighed, admitting his defeat while TenTen cheered silently. "You're whipped," Sasuke spat, causing everyone to stare at him again. Neji frowned but didn't say anything.
"By a girl!" Sasuke roared in laughter. "You're pathetic, not even fit to be called a vampire. I can't believe one even had the mercy on you to change you!"
"Take your slave back to its quarters," Neji said, turning his back on Sasuke. "You can't egg me on anymore, so go on, unless you plan to kill her on the way."
Sasuke frowned, growling as he spat on the ground. "Worthless," he called, bending down to pick up Sakura by her collar until she was standing up again. "You're not even worth my time to kill. Come on."
Sakura slowly looked up at him, watching as he turned, his black trench coat rippling with the effect. She turned her head to see TenTen, standing by Neji, mouthing a goodbye to her. Sakura didn't feel like returning it but did anyway before following after Sasuke.
After the doors slammed shut behind them, Sasuke told her she was to never come inside the coven again.
You know what's weird? I'm a big procrastinator, and every time I have free time, I think of writing but then I'm like, "…nah, I'll do it later." And yet, when I finally do write, I can never stop until it's usually complete. I love writing, but I don't think it's a good combination to be lazy as well. Anyways, I'm not sure how that came up, but I guess I just thought I should tell you, in case you wonder why it sometimes takes forever for me to update.
Anyways, this chapter turned out longer than I expected, which is a pleasant surprise. I also was able to get some future plot ideas, which, up until then, I was just winging it. ^__^
So, I do hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought that I'd bring TenTen back, that way Sakura has her two closest friends in the place, though she will be talking more to Ino than to TenTen for obvious reasons. Another thing, remember that this is the Dark Side, so there will be some very unpleasant things happening in the future.
I just thought I should tell y'all before I start getting flames for being "too evil to the characters".
So, before this author's note gets as long as the story, I'll cut it short here. I'll try and update soon & please remember to leave reviews. They make me a very happy author. Thanxs! :) :p ;)