Blue Monotony.

Chapter 11: Colour Me Blood Red.


The room was dark as soon as the double doors slammed behind them. All Sakura knew was that she was tired, more tired than she had ever been in her entire life. It felt as though she was ready to drop at any second. This was not surprising considering the fact that the last few days had been some of the longest and hardest of her life.

As though feeling her displeasure the foreign chakra now lodged deep within her gave a quick spike. It didn't sting as much as it had when it was first put inside of her, but still, it wasn't the best feeling in the world. At least that demon's mind was no longer brushing against her own. That was something she never wanted to repeat.

Ever.

The darkness pressed down on the three of them making her shuffle closer to Naruto. His body heat and the sound of his breathing made her feel slightly better. For once in her life she actually ignored Sasuke. The feeling that she didn't have to depend on him, emotionally or physically, anymore was invigorating. Almost like she was free of the bonds that had held her to him for so long.

The bonds that had always made her doubt her own worth.

Nothing happened, but they stayed silent in the darkness. None of them were sure what excatly was supposed to happen now. They had passed the double doors with two scrolls; each different. According to the examiners they had finished. Then again, could this be another one of those expect the unexpected type of things?

A warm, rough hand slid against her own lax one. Naruto slid his fingers inbetween hers and gripped her hand tightly as though he was afraid she would disappear. Given what had happened over the past few days she really wasn't surprised. She seemed to have moved away from just being the weak female of Team 7 to something more. At least in her own mind she had; Sasuke and Naruto probably thought of her the same way they had.

In a way, she no longer felt like she needed Naruto or Sasuke. It was a really strange feeling; independence. Well, not entirely. The pulsating chakra flowing through her system reminded her of that. She was still... Bonded to Gaara and probably always would be. That didn't frighten her as it really should. Naruto shifted beside her and gripped onto her hand a little tighter. Sasuke made a noise of impatience.

The darkness pressed against her; all around in a choking shroud. This demon chakra within her body didn't seem to like Naruto at all. It moved towards the hand that joined them and spiked violently. Sakura gritted her teeth and forced it down so that Naruto could not feel it. She heard his intake of breath and knew she had failed. That strange spike hadn't seemed to hurt him, but she began to feel things she had never noticed before.

His chakra, the sheer power of it was just plain terrifying. She had never been able to sense it before, but now it jolted and shuddered against her, plain as day. Naruto was much, much stronger than she had ever realised. Though, what had she realised over the past few years with nothing but Sasuke entering her thoughts. A few weeks ago she would never have allowed Naruto to hold her hand like this. In fact, there was an awful lot of things she hadn't done because of her infatuation with Sasuke.

It was still there, her adoration of him; lingering in the recesses of her mind, but it no longer controlled.

"Sakura-chan..." She heard Naruto hesitate beside her. He hadn't said a word about the chakra spike she knew he felt.

Were the two of them just ignoring it? She knew Naruto had felt it and would have been surprised if Sasuke hadn't noticed. As though hearing her thoughts his blood red Sharingan flared to light beside her. His gaze was not focused on her, for which she was grateful, but on their joined hands. His eyes narrowed and she could almost feel the distaste he was radiating burning her skin.

"So, that's how you are now." His voice was icy and sharp. He still retained the power to cut her down with a few words.

"First Gaara and now Naruto. I suppose that Sound girl was right about you, Sakura." Poser. Whore.

That was the first time she ever remembered him using her name. He always used his words as he wielded his weapons; with deadly accuracy. Naruto dropped her hand at that moment and all she felt was that she was being cast out. She would never - could never - regret what she had done with Gaara and what she had allowed him to do. Sasuke made her almost wished that she had ran, screamed and pushed him away, just like everyone else.

And she hated how he controlled her feelings like that.

And she suddenly hated him.

And the realisation of that burned worse than the demon chakra embedded in her very soul.

The massive lights boomed into life high above them and spread across the massive room in seconds. Her eyes burned red for a moment as she adjusted to the sudden change in light intensity. Sakura knew the liquid forming in her eyes had nothing to do with the sudden brightness. A single hot, salty tear dripped down her cheek before she could hold it back. She saw Sasuke watch it with a strange spark in his eyes. She would not allow herself to cry anymore in front of him.

After a moment the reason for the lights coming on became apparent; Sasuke had opened the scrolls. The long trails of paper stretched across the entire length of the massive room and one by one the kanji on them began to sparkle. She watched him with a startled expression. He should not have done that; really he shouldn't have. Strange crackling hisses coming from the scrolls cemented her suspicions.

"Teme! Why did you do that?!" Naruto was yelling, but she could only half focus on him.

The two of them swam in and out of focus as massive plumes of smoke began to filter out into the air around them. She breathed in deeply; wincing and coughing as the malignant smoke invaded her lungs. Naruto must have seen her struggle, moved towards her and pulled her up just as her knees crumpled. At least he hadn't simply left her to fall. Her body couldn't take this much abuse. She had been poisoned, barely slept and was still wounded from earlier battles.

She was still weak, but she fought to stay conscious.

Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. She vaguely heard the sound of the massive doors being pounded on. He must have been trying to find a way out. They were locked inside this place and the smoke was filling the air in a suffocating wave. Her new senses pricked up and once again she felt things she would never have noticed before. The air prickled with a faint charge of chakra - chakra that was coming from the two scrolls spread across the ground.

"Genjutsu."

With that single word the haze of smoke disappeared instantly and the scrolls ceased glowing. She knew she didn't have enough strength left to dispell any illusion. Naruto did not have good enough chakra control and neither did Sasuke. Why didn't really matter then though? The smaoke was gone. The risk of asphixiation had dissipated along with it. Sasuke walked towards them again, his eyes were flickering around the room. There really was no way out.

The scrolls stayed still on the ground - silently mocking them.

Naruto's arm tightened around her waist and she found she couldn't look up from the stone floor to meet his accusing gaze. Sasuke was suddenly far too close to them both; she could actually feel the body heat radiating from him. Which really was strange because he was normally cold to touch. She knew that from the fleeting touches she had stolen over the weeks and months.

The body beside her shifted to half shield her from Sasuke and the anger he was radiating. It was probably the strain that made his emotions filter through and show. She knew that mark was slowly eating away at him, fueling him with tainted power, burning his soul bit by bit and corrupting what little good he still had and... She didn't even know how she knew that. It just seemed to spring to mind.

As usual Naruto was the one to break the tense silence.

"Teme, Sakura-chan... What is going on?!" He was yelling as he always did when the situation was beyond his control.

Naruto, who she had ignored for so long and tossed aside as though he was nothing. He was still beside her now; loyal and unwavering. If anyone was to understand her decision it would be him. He probably understood Gaara better than she did. After all, he could have ended up just like the Sand shinobi. That thought made her shudder because a cold, tortured Naruto was almost unimaginable.

He was always there, always giving. Always warm. Always Naruto. If he hated her for what she had done she would always forgive him. Even if he never forgave her.

And if Sasuke hated her for what she had done...? She would forgive him too.

Because old habits die hard.

The second set of doors swept open when Sasuke grabbed her limp hand with brutal force. Her tender wrist nearly snapped, but she didn't give any sign of the pain. His, now dark eyes, met hers with no sign of forgiveness anywhere in their hollow depths. He knew, of course he knew. His eyes screamed betrayal, and anger and fraternising with the enemy. She felt herself crumble on the inside too as she felt Naruto stiffen beside her.

His pain stung far more than her own.

The second set of doors swept open when they were all touching. Why? This showed that they were united - a team. That bittersweet sentiment wrenched at her heart. Sasuke was almost snapping her hand straight off, Naruto was shaking with some barely concealed emotion beside her and she was almost collapsing from poison, wounds and pain. To an outsider they would have looked like a model example of team spirit.

To an insider they were falling apart.

Such pretty lies. Such a perfect facade. And she knew it was all superficial.

But was it so wrong to want this closeness - to revel in it - to keep that image of their happy team in the recesses of her mind? Was it so wrong to need this? Was it so wrong to want her perfect team back? Naruto's warmth, Sasuke's strength...

Yes.

Perfection is a myth.

The sound of voices broke through them as fresh air blew into the stagnant room. She still clutched Naruto's orange jumpsuit even as Sasuke released her and walked forward. The warm tanned arms around her hauled her body up and helped to set her on her feet. Her movements were still shaky and her vision was still hazy, but the knowledge that this - awful - part of the - soul destroying - exam was finally - finally - over made her walk on.

Her blond teammate flashed her a wide grin as they stepped through the doors together. His pointed canine teeth caught her attention as they always did. The chakra within her began to shift and spill the moment she entered the room. It was almost as though it was agitated, excited. Gaara stood up on a balcony with his female teammate to one side of him. When he barely glanced at her she felt disappointed.

Hurt.

His gaze was fully focused on Sasuke and a slight mocking smile curved on his mouth. She should have known this would happen. She was not important to Sasuke, but he would never allow someone from a foreign village to have her. That was what he was like. He would push her aside, ignore her and call her annoying, but he just couldn't stand the fact that she was with someone he considered an enemy, a rival.

Cool jade eyes flickered over to regard her silently for a moment. He beckoned with a single pale hand. No one else seemed to notice that small, possessive moment apart from her. The room was filled with ninja - including most of the Rookie Nine. When she did not see Lee's team her heart sank. She had still not fully accepted the fact that Gaara could have killed Lee; there was still no concrete evidence.

"Naruto, let's go up to the stands." He seemed pleased that she had spoken. Even if her voice did crack half way through the sentence.

"Sure thing, Sakura-chan! We'll leave Teme to sulk on his own." He smiled and began to drag her up the steps to the balcony.

She stumbled slightly as her weary limbs struggled to keep up with her energetic teammate. The chakra inside her hissed and coiled irritably even as she forced it down. The blond kunoichi from the sand caught her wrist before she had even reached Gaara and lightly tugged her to stand within the small group. Sakura had been far too weak to protest as she was dragged from Naruto's grip. She was sure that if she had struggled her grip would have become far stronger. The rest of the people in the room had yet to catch on; it was just Naruto, the Sand group and her.

Sasuke, she didn't know where Sasuke was.

Temari was her name.

Naruto seemed agitated, for good reason, but had not moved any closer to them. It seemed like he was waiting for something else to happen; unsure whether to be hostile if there was no need for it. After all, he still didn't know what had happened. How she going to tell him was something she didn't really want to think about right now. Temari's dark eyes pinned her to the spot.

They had only spoken once before and there had to be a strong reason for her to publically aknowledge that they knew each other slightly better than they should. There may be an alliance between the Leaf and the Sand, but it was a tense one. The ninja of rival countries were never regarded in a positive light.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was filled with bitterness, anger... And something tinged with regret.

Behind her Gaara's sand began to spill and Naruto pushed past the Sand kunoichi hastily in an attempt to get to her. Temari must have known what had happened and she saw it in a bad light; as though it was something to be feared. As though she perhaps thought Gaara had forced it on her. It had been unexpected, but not forced. She would not have said no, and she almost believed that statement.

How she wanted to believe that.

"Temari." A warning hissed in a deep baritone.

Sakura had no idea what to do now with Temari still staring at her intensely, as though trying to extract her thoughts, and Naruto trying to grab her and get away. She could feel his anxiety, not see it on his features, feel it. She blamed the chakra for the strange change, but actually feeling his emotion worried her even more. It didn't matter how she could feel it. His emotions heightened her own. The final member of the Sand was heading towards them now.

"Don't be." Her voice sounded hoarse and pathetic.

Temari looked at her critically before releasing the grip; she could tell the blond didn't believe her. Kankuro arrived just then, his hands were a little too quick to dart towards his puppet. So ready to fight. She walked away with Naruto. Her shoulder would have brushed Gaara's had he not moved away from her at the last second. Her chakra - mixed with his- made a frantic leap to that part of her body as though trying to rejoin with him.

It was almost like falling off a cliff and feeling like you had left a little of yourself at the top. The spark of electricity that passed between them was nothing short of terrifying. She tried not to let that show as they walked away; tried not to show as though she felt that she should stay with him.

"Please line up for the preliminary rounds." And with that simple sentence she felt as though she really had plunged off a cliff.

She couldn't take much more of this.

oOo

The examiners were right - there were too many of them. Even she could see that as they began to line up on the main platform. Just as they had finished arranging them self into lines the front examiner spoke.

"If anyone does not wish to take part in these preliminary rounds they may leave now." And her heart sank as a few of the people around her filtered out the door.

Because she wanted to leave too.

A thin tendril of sand wrapped around her and moved her closer to him. It was not like she was being pushed; more a sort of nudge. Too tired to complain she obliged and moved closer until the nudging stopped. They were not touching and that seemed to bother her a lot. The chakra was beginning to become annoying now for that very reason. She wanted to touch him just to alleviate the buzzing, and strange jerks of his essence. It wanted to be reunited with him - that much was clear even to her.

It was soon clear that no one else was leaving. Even she could not bring herself to give up after coming so far. Although it was clear that no one else was going to go the examiners did nothing but wait. She watched as they muttered to each other and sent looks at the small side door to the left. Apparently there was still some more people to come and all she could do was hope that -

One look at Sasuke and her thoughts crumbled again. The sheer distaste was painted so clearly on his features now, as he watched her. Her green eyes flickered to the floor; still unable to handle his displeasure with the ease that she should have been able to. She really should have been able to just shake off his anger by now, but of course something like the feelings she had for him would never just disappear overnight.

Another nauseating lurch inside of her and she nearly just collapsed to the floor. At times it was alright - distracting and restless inside of her body, but bearable. At others it hissed and coiled and almost felt like it was burning her insides. Like she was being incinerated from the inside out.

The door to the left slammed open then and three people spilled out. Team 10.

Okay, now she really felt sick.

She almost felt him tense beside her, but couldn't be entirely sure. Although she may have been able to pick up Naruto's feelings Gaara's were still shrouded and completely hidden from her senses. That was not really surprising. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him bare his teeth at Lee in a highly threatening manner. The sound of sand shifting around him was a familiar one now, but still unpleasant.

At that moment Sakura would have liked nothing better than to run out and hug Lee; wrap her arms around him and mess up his stupid bowl cut hair. She stayed still. It had been bad enough to run into Gaara and hear him say those things, and think that he had killed someone she knew well without actually seeing it in front of her. Without actually watching as the life was crushed from his body.

She could almost see his blood splattering across the walls and that made her still.

Instead of running up to him she gave him a watery smile and hated the fact that she could still be so controllable. A blinding grin flashed her way lifted her spirits slightly, until Gaara gave a low hiss beside her and her - his - chakra burned. His anger radiated through the aura into her. It hurt. Sakura silently thanked every god in existence when Lee and his team were told to stand near the front.

She was afraid of what Gaara could do. It was right that she no longer feared him as a person - as a being. Though she feared what he was capable of and how he could crush someone without even blinking. His strength would have been awe inspiring were it not for what he used it to accomplish.

The reason that their team had been kept aside became apparent when she caught a better glimpse of Ten Ten. The kunoichi's arms were heavily bandaged and a little blood was already leaking through the white fabric. Sakura really thought that she should go - it was painfully obvious that she was injured - but Ten Ten made no move to leave even when she was asked. A massive screen boomed to life high above them and a pair of names flickered onto the screen.

Sasuke.

Her heart lodged itself in her throat and she hated herself for worrying so much about him. Then, berated herself for worrying so little about her own team mate. Her eyes were irrisistably drawn to the hideous mark that was printed on his pale skin. The horrible aura that it radiated gave her chills; it was almost as though it had a life of its own. Like some parasidic insect that clung to him and slowly drained a little more of him with every passing second.

They yelled for the floor to be cleared and she did so reluctantly; wishing that there were seats in the massive balconies that flanked either side. Her muscles were screaming as she climbed the stairs and tried desperately to keep up with the stoic red head beside her. Her fingers lightly brushed his as she pushed herself to go faster. The jolt of electricity that passed between them should have been illegal.

Imagine kissing him when every part of skin that touched his tingled, burned -

Her thoughts trailed as the nerves re-asserted themselves and she felt guilty again. Sasuke just looked ill as he stood there under the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights. His opponent was large and looked in pretty good shape. She leaned forward and rested against the cool metal barrier as she watched. Gaara stood about a metre away and behind her so that she couldn't see him.

She almost ached now. The need to touch him was almost unbearable.

The fight passed in a blur and she found that she simply couldn't concentrate on anything. Sasuke won. His opponent lay battered and beaten by the end of it and he was just barely standing. His knees crumpled and she watched as his expression showed that he really was in pain. Strange how she went from worrying so much to caring so little; she felt nothing as he fell to the ground. Nothing as he was carried away on a stretcher.

Again, she blamed the strange essence within her for the changes; how her emotions were swinging from either end of the spectrum so alarmingly. How she would die just to touch him again and stop that ache.

Her skin felt like fire when his pale hand lightly brushed her arm. His hands were gripping the metal railings with a force that could have crushed her own arm easily. Once again, he was not looking at her, but at the massive screen that dominated one of the stone walls.

Ino's name was printing onto the screen in bright fluorescent letters. Her own was underneath it. It almost made her want to laugh when she saw it, or cry hysterically. Ino was already down there, yelling. Swallowing the lump in her throat Sakura descended the stairs and looked her old rival in the eye. The blond kunoichi smiled at her, but it was more like a threat than anything else.

They had been told to begin and still nothing had happened.

oOo

Ino cut off her hair and threw the long, golden strands across the room with almost ferocious force. She was always so worried about her appearance that, Sakura could never really imagine her doing such a thing. She looked at the shorn strands with something akin to remorse before throwing insults back at her.

oOo

Ino's fist slamming into her face with a deafening crack and her own fist making contact with the other girl's face. The fleeting moment of satisfaction followed by the darkness she had craved for days. Deep within her his chakra flared although Gaara himself remained still and with a passive expression on his face. There was nothing his aura could do when the body it was inhabiting was not moving; she was unconscious.

Sakura and Ino were both taken away quickly and efficiently. It was all he could do not to kill them all just for touching her. She wouldn't like that, but he didn't care at that moment. His name appeared on the screen with the Leaf's. The one that had.. Proclaimed Sakura as his.

She wouldn't like what he was about to do, but how could he ignore such a strong craving for blood. One that didn't even originate from his demon. It only took him a moment to move to the floor and watch as the excitable Leaf nin bounced down after yelling with his equal ridiculous sensei. The sand was moving even before the examiner said go... He just couldn't wait to spill his blood. It would a massacre if he got his way.

For touching her. For touching what was his.

oOo

Sakura should have been released early on; and she would have been were it not for the fact that her chakra veins were severely charred. Even then she would have been healed and sent back to the main hall quickly, just in time for the end of the preliminaries, if the healers could get close enough to even touch her.

Every one of them was burned and clawed at by some invisible force, sometimes red chakra, if they dared walk within a metre of her.

She didn't even stir. Not even when a severely injured Leaf comrade was bustled past her door screaming. Not even when long, pale fingers drifted across her clammy skin. No, not even then. The jolt of electricity didn't stir her.


Okay, about the title. This seems to be getting a regular thing isn't it? Colour Me Blood Red is actually the title of a 1965 Horror film about some demented artist who uses his victim's blood to paint his pictures or something like that. I haven't actually watched it, I just liked the title so much that I had to use it. Happy Belated Halloween everybody! Really Belated. It's also Remembrance Day. Poppies for all and, let us never forget.

So,

Disclaimer: The title does not belong to me.

...

Neither does Naruto, unfortunately. This twisted, convuluted plot does, however, belong to me. That and a Mars Bar. Yay.

I realised that I had never written a disclaimer on this story - or I don't think I have - so there it is. In all of it's annoying, extremely real, realness. Thanks to everyone who voluteered to Beta this story. I am in the process of getting back to you if I haven't already. Yes, I did end up writing VK fic(s). Sorry, I got distracted from this.

Thanks for reading!

Silver xxx.