50alternates

Title: the haunting, part 2/?
Author/Artist: ohwhatsherface
Pairing: Uchiha Sasuke x Haruno Sakura
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: other world, #45 curse
Word Count: 1177
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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"Oi, quit hogging," Sasuke muttered, holding his hand out expectantly to Naruto. The blond rolled his eyes and handed the joint to Sasuke, who waved a hand in gratitude. "Ah, thanks."

Naruto smiled and nodded. "No problem!"

They had left the main foyer of what was left of the asylum and had begun walking around. Much to Sakura's dismay, Tenten and Neji went off to do God-knows-what, with Kiba and Naruto hooting obnoxiously as they left.

"So what the hell are we going to do here all night?" Ino asked. Sakura frowned, hearing the slur in her voice. Her frown only deepened when she noticed that the bottle in Ino's hand was nearly empty. "I'm tired. Can we sit down guys?"

Shikamaru pointed to a door on their left. The word "STAFF LOUNGE" was written on a dusty plaque. "We'll go in here," he said, pushing Ino along. Naruto and Kiba followed along but Sakura remained idle in the hallway, here gaze focused intently on her grey sneakers.

"Look, it's a Mediator!"

"Why is she ignoring us? Maybe she isn't actually a Mediator…"

"Don't be stupid. Her presence is what drew us out!"

Sakura counted to ten in her head, hoping to distract herself from the whispers all around her. She closed her eyes, picturing Sasuke's backyard where they were earlier, before Naruto came up with the idiotic idea of coming to the asylum. She was so stupid. She shouldn't have agreed. Sakura knew her curse and what places it attracted the most ghosts at; it was foolish of her to even come near the asylum.

"Idiot," she muttered, hands clenched at her sides. "Stupid idiot." Her eyes shot open at the smell of weed. She frowned, seeing Sasuke standing in front of her, holding the half-smoked joint in her face. Scowling, she slapped his hand away. "Don't do that. And I don't smoke, remember?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Well you look like you need it. What's with you tonight?"

"Is that—"

"That's Dr. Uchiha! That's him! That monster is back!"

"Let's get him!"

"Come on," Sakura all but shouted, grabbing Sasuke's arm. She pulled on his arm and began to walk away. Sakura jumped when she heard a crash, only to look over her shoulder and find a light had fallen on the spot she and Sasuke had been standing in. "Fuck," she cursed, slamming the staff lounge door closed when they entered.

"This place is fucking weird," Kiba commented, flipping through a random folder that was sitting around on one table. The paper was dirty and dusty but the writing was still legible. "Look, this dude apparently thought he 'shared a body with his mother'. That's… just messed up."

Naruto was by the wall, staring at some photos that managed to stay up on the walls. "Hey, bastard, some guy here has your last name."

"Madara Uchiha," Sakura murmured, still standing by the door beside Sasuke.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "How'd you know that?"

"H—huh?" She swallowed nervously and struggled to find a decent lie. "O—oh, I saw some plaque earlier about him… he founded this place, right?"

"Yeah," Sasuke reluctantly replied. "My family prefers to keep that a secret though. Most of the clan's too ashamed by the asylum's relation to the Uchiha name."

"Of course they'd be," Shikamaru said. "This place is fucked up."

"You guys need a better vocabulary," Ino commented, getting up from the seat she was in. She smiled widely at Shikamaru. "Ne, Shika-kun, want to go for a walk with me and protect me from the big bad monsters Sakura still seems to think are in here?" Shikamaru snorted and got up, ignoring Sakura's annoyed protests. "I love you, Saku-chan," Ino drunkenly crowed as she and Shikamaru left the lounge.

Naruto snickered and nudged Kiba. "Dude, let's go pop out at them!"

Kiba pursed his lips, seeming rather thoughtful. "Nah, I think it'd be better to do that to Neji and Tenten. Neji would get more pissed than Shikamaru."

"True."

"Let's go!"

Naruto paused at the door before they left and grinned evilly at Sasuke and Sakura. "No hanky-panky while we're away, okay? If all goes wrong and we need a virgin sacrifice, Sasuke-chan's purity will need to be in tact."

Sakura flinched, hearing a random glass Sasuke had thrown at Naruto meet the wall and break into pieces.

"Stupid moron," he muttered, as he fought the blush on his cheeks. "Come on, let's go explore."

As he made to leave, Sakura panicked. "N—no!" she shouted. "Let's… let's just stay here." Sakura observed the staff lounge. It seemed moderately safe, in her opinion. No one had ever died in this room, nor did anyone ever suffer considering how the staff was likely quite pampered, so this room definitely did not have any ghosts haunting it and thus had to be safer to stay in rather than wandering in the halls.

Sasuke sighed. "You're such a spaz, Sakura." He relented though, and sat down on the chair Ino had been using earlier. "What's wrong with you?"

Sakura took a seat beside him and smiled half-heartedly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Hn." With that said, Sasuke got up. "Okay, I'm bored. I'm going to walk around."

"Dammit!" Sakura cursed when he left the staff lounge. She ran after him, irritated by how she probably seemed like a lost puppy to him – something Sasuke was clearly taking advantage of to make her go where ever he went. "You're such an asshole, Uchiha."

"Uchiha?"

Sakura's eyes went wide when she realized her mistake.

Around the two of them, roaming through the halls, were at least eight ghosts, all of whom perked up immediately at Sasuke's surname.

Whimpering fearfully, Sakura pushed Sasuke into the nearest room and swiftly shut the door behind them. She wasn't stupid; she knew the ghosts could come through the walls if they wished to, but closing the door made her feel at least somewhat more comfortable.

"What the fuck, Sakura?" Sasuke growled, getting up from the floor. He brushed the dust off his dark jeans. "You've been acting pretty psycho all night, you know—"

"I see ghosts," she blurted out frantically. Sakura stared at him with pleading eyes, begging him not to dub her insane. "I… I can see dead people, Sasuke."

Sasuke snorted. "You're hardly helping your case."

"Dammit, Sasuke, this isn't a joke!" Sakura yelled, gripping the front of his shirt. "I swear… just please believe me."

He held her gaze for a few moments, seeing her desperation. He narrowed his eyes. "Fine, let's say you're telling the truth… so what?"

"So what?!" she repeated incredulously. "You're the grandson of Madara Uchiha! Every ghost in this god forsaken place likely wants revenge on him and you're the next best thing."

Sasuke paused, thinking. "Are you trying to say that I'm in danger because of some vengeful spirits?"

Sakura shook her head solemnly. "I'm saying we're all in danger because of some vengeful spirits."

Before Sasuke could reply, someone screamed.

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tbc

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