What Will They Do To Us?

An xxKaaat Original

Chapter Eleven

He stood alone in the doorway. The once full loft was now cold and empty. There were no sounds, no sign of friendly love. It wasn't the same place that he'd resided in just over a year ago. The place had obviously never been touched since his pack had left, but there was something different about the place. Was it the darkness, or the way you couldn't feel a presence? Slowly the man walked across the wooden floor to his old bedroom. The walls were still a deep red, but the room was empty. He visited each bedroom and game room. They too were empty. Not empty as in no furniture, because the loft was a hotel room. But there was nothing there to make the place a home, and that's what bothered Gaara.

After checking the whole lost, he came upon the last door of the hallway. With a heavy sigh, he opened the door. Inside it seemed as though nothing had ever changed. Without thinking Gaara flipped on the light switch, and at once the room lit up. He'd done it so many times before that it was almost a habit. There was a laptop on the desk, and the bed still wasn't made. Various things were scribbled on a note pad, and old books lined the floor. The young man took a few more steps into the room. On the computer desk was a small frame. He picked it up to reveal a smiling red head alongside a young black haired man who wore dark glasses and had a large smile plastered upon his face. It brought a smile to his face.

He sat the picture down and slowly walked over to the night stand just right of the bed. On the nightstand there was a black pair of sunglasses. They were round, and one of the lenses was cracked. The man sighed setting them back on the nightstand. At once he looked around the room and caught sight of the walls that were covered in pictures of that same black haired man with glasses, standing with many people. He looked so happy, and so carefree. Gaara stopped and eyes the largest picture on the wall. It was of himself and the man. They stood on a ridge that overlooked the ocean. Both men were much younger, but they looked happy. The black haired boy held a small beer bottle in his hand and he held a hand around Gaara's neck.

Before Gaara could realize, he was smiling an old grin that hadn't appeared in a long time. "Shino, I miss you so much." He spoke to himself. "I wish you were here. I need you here to guide me, tell me if what I'm doing is right.. because it feels so wrong." At once the man felt short of breath and he stopped, choking back a plead. He looked up at the pictures with a tearful face. "Why couldn't it have been me that day... why'd you push me away.." He paused. "Shino it was me who was supposed to die, not you. And now, I'm at my worst," A tear slid down Gaara's cheek. "I don't know what to do, or where to go. I need your guidance, I need your help and you aren't here... If I could do anything, I'd go back in time and make sure that it was me, not you. I'd make sure that you'd never given me half your power.. I'd make sure that I never got hurt. I'd make sure that Sakura was never sent away." Gaara stopped and stared at the picture. Shino was smiling back. At once Gaara raised his voice, screaming. "I'd take it all back! I'd start it all over, because it's not fucking supposed to be like this! Ino's gone, she went to the republic! My whole family is falling apart. What do I fucking do Shino!?" Gaara was in a sobbing mess on the floor.

As the weeks passed, Ino went through ten hours of training everyday. She'd drank from Ay, Kakashi and even her own father. She'd grown to be obedient, and she learned hatred. She'd gained power that she never knew existed, and she learned to control it all. She was able to look at someone, and within seconds they would burn from the inside out. She was only a shell of her former self. She even cut her hair to her shoulders, and she never wore it up. She became quiet and reserved, and together she and Sai rose to the top of two man squads in her class. She was Ay's puppet, toy.

It had been pounded into her head that a full vampire empire was needed in the world. It was pounded into her head that Mei, Gaara and all the others were evil and they had to be destroyed. It was beaten into her that in order to defeat the enemy, you had to manipulate them, become them, and break them from the inside out. She was taught Ay's rules, right from wrong, punishment, pain, hurt, evil. She'd been a child of the darkness, and there truly was no going back from her current state. She'd befriended Kakashi Hatake, and she'd been trained well by him as well. He and her were exactly alike, and they vowed to work alongside one another one day.

They were alike in every way. They'd both been plucked from the light, and created from the dark. They were monsters.

The blonde sat on her post that overlooked all of the castle grounds. She was currently leaning against her lover, wrapped in his arms. The idea of Shikamaru had been nearly erased from her mind. He was now nothing more than trash on the wrong side of the army.

"Ino," Sai spoke softly, kissing the top of the blonde's head.

"Yeah?" She held close to his hands that were holding tight around her torso.

"Do you think the rumors are true? That Gaara's dead?" His voice was quiet but stern.

"It's been nearly four months. It'd be a miracle if the bastard was dead. They must be true. He loved Sakura so much that there's no way in hell he'd just take off for this long. It's unlike him." The blonde smiled. "That bitch is probably in pain. She finally knows what it's like to have her heart shattered." Upon those words the blonde leaned back and snuggled into Sai's shoulder. She leaned up and kissed his pale neck.

"The vampire world is better off now that he's dead. He was fighting for a lost cause, peace. Someone has got to keep the vampires in line, and if anyone can do it, it's Ay." Sai leaned against a large tree trunk in content.

"Do you think this is fate Sai? I was never meant to be a part of a pack? I was always supposed to be in the republic?" The blonde sounded as if she was miles away in deep thought.

"Everything happens for a reason. You came here for a reason. Gaara died for a reason." The man shrugged. "It's destiny, what happens happens and we can't change it."

The pinkette stood on the beach, currently controlling the ocean with her hands. Her eyes were closed as she moved the water into a large wave, then a waterspout. Then opening her eyes, she focused in on the spout and it turned pink. Steam appeared from the top before she dropped her hands and watched the water fall back into place. She was quiet, and she didn't move. Instead she just stared into the distance, lost in thought.

"Impressive. You've really been training hard Sakura." The pinkette turned to see Shikamaru leaning against the back fence of the rose garden. His hair had grown and was now falling into a full ponytail. He'd gained muscle and he was taller. "You okay?"

"When am I ever okay?" The pinkette's eyes narrowed. "It's been months and I can never be alone like I want. Even now, there's security along the beach, in the water, on the roof watching me. You're here." The pinkette turned back to the ocean. "Water always travels far away, but it falls back into place once it's been tampered with. It can travel the world, and be returned back to where it came from." She turned back to Shikamaru. "It evaporates, then is deposited back when it rains."

"Sakura..." Shikamaru's voice was sentimental.

"Save it Shikamaru. I've heard it from everyone, over and over and over. Gaara's dead." Her voice was completely monotone. "It seems that I'm the only one who believes that he's out there, and I'm never left to forget it." She closed her eyes to feel the cold wind against her skin. "It's been four months Shikamaru. And in these four months all I've done is train and search and try and prepare and pray." Tears formed in her eyes. "Days turn into weeks, then weeks into months. And all these months I've forced myself to believe that Gaara's alive. I dream and I see his face. I close my eyes and he's there. In pictures he's there, and when I sleep I feel his presence and I smell him and I-I." She stopped and dropped to the ground, holding her face.

Shikamaru walked toward the girl, and he stopped in front of her. During the past four months all she'd done is cry. When she wasn't crying she was training or she wanted to be alone. Shikamaru was the only person Sakura would even talk to. She's shut out Mei, Ao and even her whole team. Iruka came and went, Even Sakumo came and went. But it was never enough. On most days even Shikamaru wouldn't get close to the girl and it broke him to know that this woman who he cared so much about was falling to pieces as each day passed.

At last Shikamaru leaned down, now squatting in front of Sakura. "You can talk to me Sakura, you know that."

The girl looked up with red eyes and a tear streaked face. Her pink hair fanned behind her as another cold gust crashed against her body. "My world is gone, broken, shattered. I'm so alone on a property that's full of people. I'm empty inside a full body. I'm in the dark in a room that's always got the lights on. I have hope, but it's wearing thin Shikamaru." The girl looked down at her hands. "I look back a year ago and see how I was a human and now I'm a vampire and the person responsible, the person who loves me, the person I'm meant to be with isn't there. Gone. Without a little trace, and I just can't anymore."

With one gesture the man leaned forward and captured the girl in his arms. He held her close as she shivered and released cries that seemed never ending. "Sometimes, things happen and we don't know why Sakura. It seems like the end of the world, but something good will come out of it. Things will be alright, we'll win this war for Gaara." Without thinking, Shikamaru leaned back and stared at the pinkette in front of him.

He stared at her and looked into her eyes. She was broken and she needed to be fixed, but she wouldn't admit that. He put a hand to her chin and pulled her face closer. "Sakura.." He softly spoke, pulling her closer, closing his own eyes.

"No." A force pushed against the man causing him to stumble backwards. "Shikamaru, no." Was all the pinkette said before standing up and taking off back to the house, never looking back.

With hard force, Shikamaru mentally punched himself. "Damn it." Was all he muttered before falling back into the sand, staring at a gray sky.