..:花:..

Chapter Fourteen

Child Tantrums

..:花:..

"Sai, what are you really here for?" Gaara asked as they left the kitchen.

"Uncle told me that you might need some help." Sai shrugged. "Like I really care about you two and your problems, but I'm not about to disobey orders."

"Hn." The tattooed boy grunted.

"Uncle also suggested that you move to France soon. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can go back to Rome." The artist added blandly. "There's a house all set up according to Uncle, and Auntie said that she might arrive to evaluate your humans."

Gaara went silent. Konan was going to come and check up on them?

"She's curious about why you find these humans… a point of interest, seeing as none have caught your attention before."

"Ah."

Sakura appeared behind them. "We're friends with the Uchiha's father. We got bored, you see, and decided to get a job." She glared fiercely at the irritating 'spawn' of Deidara.

"Stupid as ever, ugly. You, of all people, should know what possible problems would arise from your boredom." Sai yawned.

"Whatev-" She was interrupted by a frightened scream.

The trio looked at each other, and bolted towards the sound.

They found a crying Kari, and a whelp of a vampire with messy chocolaty curls and a look on her face that, rather than illustrating triumph and victory, simply reflected her as an inexperienced infant, by vampire standards.

"Oh, shut up, you stupid child. You're going to make Madame and Hidan so happy when they see me with you, and reward me beyond any other of La Armee's dreams." She cackled, tossing her hair back before catching sight of the three vampires before her.

And that's where she made her first mistake.

"Only a couple idiotic humans." The girl laughed, clearly voicing her every thought.

"Think again, you peasant." Sakura's voice shook with barely-suppressed anger, scaring her.

"Wait a second. That pink bitch has thrall. Oh my, it's stronger than Madame's…how could that be? She doesn't look like a bloodsucker!" The girl's milky brown eyes darted around, as if the answers were in this room.

"You don't have the right to trespass on my father's property." Sai hissed.

"His thrall is weaker than that pink girl's." The girl kept right on talking to her death as the three teenagers circled her.

"Tenten is scared! Tenten is confused!" Tenten, the brown-haired girl cried out. She blindly grabbed Kari, and clutched her to her chest, preparing to spring away.

"Tenten." She stopped, eyes wide, as she tried to locate the sound of that harshly scary voice.

"Tenten, put the child down." Gaara's voice was laced with warning.

"Tenten is scared of that voice talking to her! Its thrall is too strong!" She screamed, and dropping the crying child at her swaying feet.

Sai darted and snatched Kari away, saying soothing words (at least, as soothing as whatever extent his apathetic ability enabled him to) and walked out to find Ino, because his father is hopeless at this, and females grasp caring for children better.

He thrust the weeping child into Ino's bewildered arms before running back.

He returned to the wretchedness of the wailing intruder a few seconds later, and watched Gaara and Sakura do their work.

"Where did you come from, little one?" Sakura spoke coaxingly.

"No one!" The girl moaned in pain as Gaara began to agonizingly twist her leg slowly into impossible proportions.

"Liar. At least tell us when you became a vampire." Gaara uttered viciously.

"Tenten doesn't really know!" She yelped. "Tenten's been having a terrible raging thirst since that guy bit me! It seemed like two days ago!"

"Two days is qualified as a newborn, am I correct, Sai?" Gaara called out with his back to him, as he was still pushing Tenten's leg into a painful position.

"It takes about a month to mature." Sai said noncommittally.

Sakura leapt on top of the poor screeching girl, attempting to slowly crush her arms, by standing on them and grinding her heels in.

"Sweetheart, if you do tell us who's controlling you, putting nonsense into your innocent head, we will release you from this current painful state." Sakura said sweetly.

"T-That guy told Tenten not to tell!" Tenten began to sob.

"Aw, that's too bad, then." She clucked her tongue. "I-" she grinded her foot in, an audible crack was heard, and the girl whimpered- "was planning to let you go. I guess not."

"Tenten will tell you! Tenten will tell you everything you want!" She stopped resisting and collapsed from the sheer pain as more cracks were heard.

"Good. Thanks so much, sweetheart." Sakura climbed off daintily, and nudged her foot into the whimpering girl's side.

"First, we'd like to hear where exactly you came from."

"From France." She sobbed. "I'm an exchange student from the US."

"Nice. Do you know what you are now?"

"N-no."

"You're a vampire. A boring newborn, actually. Like a baby." Sai yawned, cutting through Sakura's answer.

"I-I swear! It wasn't my fault! When I woke up, my mind was all blank, and then I met this gorgeous woman that everyone called Madame, and she had this adorable slicked-haired child with his little playmate, and everyone seemed to love them, and then they started to talk, and there was so much thrall in Madame's voice, it was heavy, and making me dizzy. She finally stopped talking, and the cute little boy took over, demanding that I get for him a girl-child by the name of Kari, and that she was in Russia, and I was to sniff this lock of bronze hair, and they sent me out here, where I remembered everything, but the commands by the little boy was too strong, and I set off to find the smell that he made me sniff. And-" She rambled on when Sakura sharply cut her off.

"She's a weak thing." Sakura said. "She's easy to manipulate."

Gaara, who hadn't said anything for a while, and was still bending her leg. "Not too useful, I presume."

"But she may lead us to Madame." Sai said blandly.

"And we will be able to find another little snitchet of a thing from Madame." Sakura interjected.

"Maybe so. But that doesn't mean that we will find another as simple-minded and plain as this little one." Gaara murmured.

"Fine." Sakura sighed. She bent down, and stroked the shuddering cheek of the girl. "Sweetheart, we're going to let you live. Sai here will teach you how to feed properly, and the rules we make and have. You will have a room with us."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" She whimpered as Gaara got off of her as well.

Sai lead her out by her fractured arms, leaving the siblings alone.

"I'm going to check up on Kari. You go wake up Satoshi, he's been sleeping overtime." Sakura said, turning her heel and went out the door.

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Sakura stumbled into the room Kari and Ino were in.

"Sakura, Sakura!" Kari cried, jumping from Ino's comforting arms and into Sakura's welcoming hands. "What happened to that lady?"

"We are trying to turn her good, Kari-chan." Sakura stroked her hair gently.

"Good." The child good-naturedly wriggled out of her arms and back to Ino.

"Where's Sasuke, Ino-chan?" Sakura inquired.

"Somewhere brooding. I don't know." She gestured mindlessly.

She nodded, and lazily began to find her way to Sasuke.

She found him standing in a balcony, where the wind was softly whistling through.

"Are you cold, Sasuke?" She asked plainly.

"No." He turned to look at her with a lusty, burning onyx-eyed look.

She was unaffected, and perched on the rail, watching him intently.

Was he an able candidate to be changed? Would he stay with her and Gaara? Or run off on his own?

She had half a lazy mind to change him, right there on the spot.

Sasuke was the most oddly infatuated male she had ever seen in her entire lifetime. Sakura knew that he was besotted with her for sure; but he didn't seem to have any interesting qualities, except for possessiveness and respect.

Sasuke was slightly uncomfortable as she stared at him. He felt as if he was going through an examination.

"What are you staring at?" He demanded.

"You."

He picked up her delicately-boned hand, and stroked it gently.

She was so surprised that she nearly jumped; but she didn't.

"You are… quite different from all the women I've met." He began dazedly. "Fierce, confident, sly, beautiful, and smart. What would it take to have you want me?"

She raised an arched pink eyebrow.

"Cold, yet warm, distant but close, handsome yet terrible." She said aloud.

Emerald eyes stared bewitchingly into onyx eyes, seeing shards of red flecked in his irises and arising half-formed questions.

"You act cold, but you are warm-blooded. You act distant but you are in close contact with me. You are handsome, for sure, but in terrible turmoil inside."

She cocked her head, pink locks falling to the side. "What makes you think that you have what it takes to have me?"

That question rendered him speechless.

She slipped her hand out of his, and fell backwards.

She floated gracefully to the ground, and didn't bother to look up.

She walked slowly towards Satoshi's window, and shimmied up.

"Gaara?"

"Sakura."

She knelt by the bed, watching the little Uchiha boy sleep peacefully.

Gaara did the same.

"I could hear what you did."

"I know."

"Well, at least you got him to think. He hasn't seemed to do that properly very much lately."

"He beat me in blackjack, brother. That is clearly a bad thing."

"…Really, now?"

"And it didn't look like he was paying attention."

"Now he has my interest. He really beat you?"

"Several times. On the ride here."

"He can't have."

"He did."

"Hmm…" Gaara looked thoughtful. "Satoshi, wake up."

"Ngh. Gaara?" The little boy stirred and spoke groggily.

"Good morning. How are you?"

"I feel better, but I feel woozy."

"…Well, darling, that sounds just about right." Sakura smiled. "You'll feel better in a minute."

Satoshi yawned widely. "I dreamed something weird. Mommy told me that she and Daddy are dead, that they died in a plane crash."

They froze.

"Um, Satoshi…" Sakura trailed off.

"Your dream is true." Gaara whispered quietly.

Satoshi blinked. And with six-year old reassurance and intelligence, he spoke loudly.

"But Mommy promised in my dream that she's watching me, along with Daddy, even if they're dead. So, it's okay!" He said brightly. "Because they still love me no matter what, because they care enough to watch me now, even if they're not here!" He concluded.

"Oh, Satoshi-chan." Sakura gathered him up in her arms, and hugged him tightly. "You're such a strong boy. I'm glad that that you know that they still love you, even if they're gone."

'Unlike another boy I know.' She added silently in her mind.

..:花:..

"MAMA! MAMA!" A commanding, weakly thrall-laden scream ricocheted around the room.

"Yes, my son?" A bell-like feminine voice answered, sickly sweet.

"WHERE'S TENTEN? WHERE'S TENTEN? WHERE'S TENTEN? SHE PROMISED ME THAT TODAY SHE WOULD BRING ME KARI!" The childish voice roared. "SHE PROMISED ME! SHE PROMISED ME THAT SHE WOULD BRING KARI TO ME!"

..:花:..

Kind of short, I know.

If you were wondering, thrall is a power in the voice of a vampire. Depending on the age or maturity of a vamp would change the amount of thrall you can put in your voice, and how much pain you can cause. It's used to make younger and weaker vampires submit and listen to an older, more mature vampire.

Anyone care to guess who was that little spoiled brat at the end?

:E hypheniated

Note: Beta-ed by oxsilvermoonxo.