Hey guys, and welcome to another chapter of Demonic Love. On my A/N on chapter 3, I had said about an opening and ending for each chapter. Those songs were:
Opening - Turn to you by Mashiro Ayano
Ending - Passcode 4854 by Rei Yasuda
Now, this story (including the summer vacation part) is about half way done. It's now only got one more arc with a last character reveal and then the final arc afterwards. So since it's at the half way point, I've decided to switch the songs which are now:
Opening - Cascade by UNLIMITS
Ending - Zen Zen Zense by RADWIMPS (Tsuko.G's cover version)
I know these songs have been used but I'd use them anyway.
I like to say thank you to the people who had followed and favourited this story and there is something I like to point out.
I got a review with criticism, which I appreciate and if you want to know what they said, then can read it from the review part. But I want to say, like I had when I started this story, that this had been an original story, so some of the characters I used for the roles in this story don't suit the character themselves.
E.g. Sakura being the kind of the cold/stoic character. Hinata what she is, instead of being her shy self from the show. etc. There is a reason why Hinata is like that, but that will be explained in the future, but not in this story.
Anyway back to the task at hand!
Like always, I apologise in advance for any grammar mistakes, repetitiveness and poor writing. And I also don't own Naruto or it's characters. I'm just using them for the story. And any OCs that you see in this story are mine.
Enjoy!
Meditation.
A practice where the individual operates or trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realise some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content or as an end in itself.
And normally, Konan was a master at it. She would sit in her quarters and meditate for hours on end. It helped her to keep focus and prepared for anything, but sometimes she would do mainly because she was bored too. But today was a day she couldn't do it. She was distracted, her thoughts clouded. And she knew why that was.
Her little sister, Sarada. Every time she closed her eyes to try and get focused, the girl would instantly appear in her head. Ever since her father, the Demon Lord Sasuke, tried to kill the younger girl, the girl's expression was stuck in the front of her mind. The girl might not have known it, but Konan knew the spectacle eyed girl had been crying when she exited the throne room.
I need a break, she thought to herself, and stood up from the cushion she had been sitting on. Just as she slid open her door and took a step out, her body instantly collided with another. Konan remained standing while the other person hit the floor, and that was when she realised she had hit one of the slaves working in the castle. It was a girl, and getting a good look at her, she looked to be in her early twenties.
What a cruel way of starting adulthood.
"Are you alright?" the older woman asked, kneeling down to the younger girl and placing a gentle hand her shoulder.
"Y-Yes," the girl stuttered a reply. She turned her head to look at the bluenette and the moment her gaze landed on Konan's amber eyes, they widened with fear. And the woman knew that look all too well. The girl, realising who she had bumped into, suddenly got to her knees and prostrated herself.
"I-I'm s-sorry Konan-sama!" the girl cried. Konan tensed up from having that honorific attached at the end of her name. It made her feel superior. Which she was, but she hate having that feeling. "I beg of you please forgive me! My family is still living in the human world and if word back to Sasuke-sama then I don't know what would happen!"
Konan could feel the bile gather up in her stomach as she watched the girl desperately pleading. The woman kept her face solemn, but deep inside she wanted to touch the girl, again, tell her that she didn't need to do this. But she couldn't do that. No doubt that if word got out that a member of her family treated one particular slave with kindness, they would be isolated from the rest of slaves. In this place, the walls literally had ears. The girl didn't deserve that. Hell, all the humans that had been forced to come here didn't deserve it.
So, even though it pained her to do so, Konan closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them again, the woman's amber eyes were glaring at the back of the girl's head. The blue haired woman then casually, lifted her foot and placed it, hard, on the younger woman's fingers. The girl squeak in pain from the pressure on her thin appendages.
"You had best be careful, human," Konan said coldly, resorting to a persona that she used to be. Before she started caring. "If you make another mistake like that, your fingers won't be the only things I will crush. Understand?"
The girl nodded, let out a pained "Yes!" before she released her fingers. With that, Konan walked away from the slave girl but when she got a few feet away from her, the demon woman could her the sobs. She looked over her shoulder, and saw the girl was clutching the hand tightly. "Mommy... Daddy..."
Konan watched the girl a moment longer, before she turned her head and walked away. But not before apologising to the girl mentally, for the pain she caused and of the threat she made.
She had spent maybe half hour of wandering the halls of the castle. Even after decades of living in this place, nothing really changed. The same old wooden walls. The same old wooden floor. Demons, once they get to a certain age, grow up one year for every decade that passes. So for the older of the demon siblings, Konan has been here for a long, long time.
Coming to a stop, the amber eyed girl made her way to one of the windows and slid it open. She leaned on the frame and looked upon the outside of 'her' world. The sky's were painted a dark, crimson red, and in this realm there were no clouds in the sky. Tall mountains could be seen at a far distance, and on Konan's north-east side, were large trees, the same size as the ones from Konohagakure.
That place was called the Demon Forest. Inside it contained all the wild demons that lived in this realm. It was also a place were the demons would send their slaves or weaker demons for sport, watching as the wild ones attack and tear them apart. Again her stomach churned at the mere thought of the humans being killed.
I've changed. A lot. When had this change occurred? That's right. It was because of her. Even now, Konan can still remember that day, like it was yesterday.
Her father, once, had gone to the human's realm and encountered a woman there. She wasn't just an ordinary woman, however. She had been shrine maiden, with supernatural powers. She also had a family; a husband and a daughter, but he didn't care and the Demon Lord couldn't resist. At the dead of night, he had taken her and brought her to the demon realm.
But the amazing thing was, the woman wasn't afraid. She wasn't afraid when she was taken, and she certainly wasn't afraid when he had became one with her. It was like she had anticipated this kind of event. The shrine maiden, thanks to her father, soon became pregnant and during the nine months everyone was told to leave the woman alone. He had placed Konan, as she was the eldest, as the protector of the shrine maiden until the birth.
Konan remained in the shadows as she watched the woman. Watched as the woman simply did... nothing. She sat in her futon, her body still and eyes closed. If it wasn't for the fact that her chest moved in and out, Konan would have thought the woman had died where she sat. It was after a couple of days of this, of watching the woman doing nothing, that the demon woman spoke up.
"What are you doing, human?" she asked coldly, but with a hint of intrigue.
"Meditating," was the simply, but gentle reply she was given. "It helps me relax and focus." The shrine maiden then opened her eyes and those orbs, which Konan found out to be emerald gems, gently gazed into her amber ones.
"Would you like to join me?"
Konan was surprised by the suggestion and should have then and there refused. She didn't watch this woman so she could be friendly. But the word 'no' didn't come out of her mouth. Instead, she gave a slow nod and proceeded to sit down next to her charge. The shrine maiden then told her the steps. Close her eyes, inhale, hold for a second before exhaling, before finally, she was told to empty all thoughts.
"How do you feel?" the woman asked, after a minute or two in comfortable silence.
And probably for the first time in her life, Konan answered with honesty. "I feel calm, peaceful even." It was a surprise to her. She had never felt like this before. This place was a dog eat dog world, where only the strong survive, and the weak are either slaves or dead.
When the blue haired woman heard the sound of a giggle, she opened her eyes and saw another sweetly sight; her smile. "How can you smile at a time like this?" the Konan asked, baffled.
"Why?" the woman repeated. "That's because," she started and then turned her eyes downward and gingerly placed her hand on her stomach, "if I'm sad, your little sister will know it. And I don't want her to feel that."
"Sister? It's only been a few days. How can you tell?"
"A mother's intuition," she told her. "Would you like to feel her?"
This time, Konan gave the the woman a confused look. Again smiling, the shrine maiden took the blue haired girl's hand and placed it on her stomach. "I don't feel anything," she told her honestly. But she continued to smile and told her to go through the steps of meditation, which she did. With her mind now focused, that was when she could feel it.
Life. It was faint, extremely faint. But she could feel the beginning of life coming from within this woman. The edges of Konan's lips teased themselves up, without her knowing, when she felt the life in the woman's womb, and an unknown warmth spread through her chest.
From that point forward, during the nine months, Konan almost spent everyday with the human woman. She learned many things about the human realm, like places, food. She also mentioned things about her daughter that she been forced to leave back home. And every time she saw the woman, her stomach was growing bigger and bigger. But she could also tell that the woman was getting weaker and weaker. Konan had a bad feeling about it, but decided to carry on.
Until finally, it was the day of the birth.
The blue haired woman was there when the shrine maiden was laying down in one of the chambers, demon doctors at the ready waiting for the baby to come out. The woman's cries were the only thing filling the room as she pushed as hard as she could. Konan was holding the woman's hand and her's was being held tightly by the emerald eyed woman. Then soon, with one last push, the cries of a child were the ones to come after. The doctors had said that it had been a baby girl and for a reason she couldn't explain, the woman trembled. Konan took the new life in her arms, not minding the blood that was still on the little creature and just watched and listened to it cry.
When her brothers and sisters were born, she never did this; hold them. But this child, she did. A warm feeling had started to blossom within her chest seeing the girl wiggle in her arms.
"Konan-chan..." the voice of the woman had called out to her and when she had turned to look, the woman's gentle eyes were drooping. "Can I... see her?" The amber eyed woman gave a nod, and sat down next to the mother of the child, placing the tiny girl in the mother's arm.
"She's...beautiful..." she said. That was when she could feel it. The shrine maiden's life was near it's end. "Listen, Konan-chan," she continued, "this girl... my daughter... she's special. She is... the only thing... that can change... everything." Slowly her heartbeat began to decrease more and more. But Konan continued to listen to every word. These were her last words so she needed to hear it.
"Please... love her... and protect her. I... trust you, Ko... nan...chan..."
And with those last words, the human female was gone. Not even a moment later, the baby in woman's dead arms began to cry, as if it knew what had happened. She knew how she felt though.
Konan wanted to cry too.
"Come on, Jūgo!" a sudden loud voice made Konan leave her recollection and she turned her amber gaze down. From where she was standing, the woman had a clear view of the training grounds that the castle had. The grounds themselves where spacious. It was the width and length of the grounds were of that of half a soccer field back in the human realm. There where also wooden training dummies and target boards, but they were more of a cosmetic than actual use. After all, why use them when you had actual demons to practice with in the Demon Forest.
Standing in the middle where her two brothers; Jūgo and Suigetsu. The orange haired man had his arms across his chest, his eyes closed. Konan could sense that he was irritated. Suigetsu, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. The massive sword he used as a weapon was dug into the ground next to him.
"As I've told you many times," the taller of the two replied, "the answer is still no."
"But I'm bored!" Suigetsu complained. It wasn't just Jūgo, but Konan was getting a little annoyed too. For the past couple of days, all the white haired demon had been doing was complain. He would continually say that he was bored in his quarters, in the corridors of the castle. Once, he even shouted it outside and now it looks like he was now at his breaking point. "And since we're not allowed to leave here, fighting you is the only thing!"
Jūgo let out a tired sigh. "You do know that we have a forest full of demons," he told him. "Why don't you go and relieve your boredom there? That, or go and ask one of the girls?"
The purple eyed man just stared at the orange haired man for a second before he suddenly burst into laughter. Whatever he was laughing about must have been very funny, because he was now holding his sides. Konan and Jūgo cocked an eyebrow at Suigetsu's outburst.
"Y-You're joking, right?!" Suigetsu asked in between fits of laughter. "First of all, there's no way in hell I'm asking Tayuya. When I went past her room, I heard strange things in there so I got the hell out." Konan understood what he meant. When she had walked around the castle, she passed the pinkette's room and her ears picked up multiple moans coming inside. They were either moans of pleasure, or moans of pain, but Konan didn't want to find out.
"Himiko's no doubt sucking up to father," he continued. "Sarada's no where to be seen. And as for Konan..." The woman herself narrowed her eyes, wondering, or more likely intrigued, on what her white haired brother was going to say about her. "...She's just a bore."
And that intrigue went right out of the window. Konan continued to keep her stoic expression, but the delicate, thin fingers crunching the frame of the window told a different story. It seems that I've got to teach my little brother some manners about talking behind people's backs. But for now, instead of interjecting, Konan continued to listen.
"I'm sorry to hear about your predicament, Suigetsu," Jūgo told him.
"Does that mean you'll spare with me then?!" the other demon asked in plain excitement.
"No," was the simple reply, before the orange haired man turned on his heel and began to walk away, clearly having enough, clearly the end of the conversation. Or it should have been. If there was one thing that Konan knew about Suigetsu, it was that he was persistent. The moment that Jūgo walked away, the white haired man's annoyed expression quickly turned into a smirk.
"Hey, Jūgo!"
The man himself stopped in his tracks and let a audible sigh, before turning around to face the annoying demon. "Like I just said, I'm not-" Jūgo's sentence was cut short, his eyes wide, as a sudden water dragon made it's way towards the orange haired demon. Then, it made it's way towards the sky before it made it's descent, the dragon's maw wide open as it swallowed Jūgo whole and splashed on the ground. After that, all that remained was a soaked Jūgo, his head downcast. Silence soon took over the training grounds. But though it was silent, the atmosphere was getting heavier, and Konan, even Suigetsu, knew why that was, and where it lead too.
"Okay, Suigetsu. You want to have a fight, I'll give you one," Jūgo began, his voice a serious, threatening tone, completely different to what it was just a moment ago. His skin began to grow darker, a black stripe running down from the middle of his forehead and down the bridge if his nose and the murderous intent that was radiating off of him could be felt from where Konan was standing. The Jūgo before Suigetsu now was the 'true' Jūgo. A Jūgo that loved to fight and kill. His murderous side.
"I'll warn you now," the demonic Jūgo continued, his smile wicked. "If I kill you, don't go fucking crying to me!" With that, booster-like appendages grew from Jūgo's back, ripping through the tattered shirt he wore and lunged at the awaiting Suigetsu, whom was smiling all the while. The white haired man grasped his massive sword and ran at the charging demonic Jūgo and both men began the match that Suigetsu had longed for.
Men... Konan sighed, watching the fight with disinterest. Feeling that, she was about to move on, until she heard something from a distance. It sounded like a thousand birds chirping and when she turned to look for the source, her amber gaze saw blue lightning come from within the Demon Forest and hit the crimson sky. Chidori?
There were only one person she knew that could do that technique and he was still inside the castle. Even if he wasn't, the Demon Lord would have no need to go in the forest. After all, he was the strongest demon there was and even the wild demons knew not to mess with him. Now this piqued her interest. Ignoring the fight that was going below her, Konan climbed through the open window and jumped out, landing on the training grounds and ran, heading towards the source of the Chidori.
The sound of her brother's fighting moving further and further away.
Her back against a large tree, Sarada let out heavy, laboured breaths. Sweat drenched her forehead, her onyx locks sticking to her skin, as she held her left arm tightly which was bleeding profusely. There was a deep gash on her left appendage, and had it not been for her enhanced agility and quick thinking, her arm would have been severed clean through. The demon girl was also running low on power and her entire body ached. If it wasn't for the adrenaline rushing through her veins, the girl would have collapsed from exhaustion.
Her eyes suddenly went wide as a malicious aura appeared from behind the tree and with quaking legs, lunged herself forward just in time for something to cut through the tree she was leaning against, plus additional trees that surrounded her. All of the trees struck soon began to topple over, but they never got a chance to hit the ground as black flames engulfed them all and turned them into nothingness.
Sarada clenched her teeth and managed to stand up, though she struggled, before turning to the individual that now made the area tree free. Shoulder length pink hair framed the face that held emerald and demonic yellow orbs that gave Sarada a cold, emotionless look. Black flames covered their entire arm before it slowly dispersed, replacing it with a Scythe in their hand, the defined, black robe they wore fluttering to whatever little wind their was in the forest. The onyx haired girl glared at the person that had her father's complete attention.
Haruno Sakura.
Just seeing the mere sight of her made Sarada's blood pump with anger. It was because of her that her father treated the way he did that day. Were he had nearly killed her. She was the one that made her feel like an outcast to her family. That's why, once I kill you, father and everyone else will have no choice but to see me in a different light and she me respect!
With the last of her power, Sarada channelled all her energy to her right hand. After a second or so, electricity began to spark between her fingers and after another moment, lightning had completely gathered in her hand. "Chidori..." the girl whispered, and with war cry, Sarada surged herself towards the pink haired demon, the arm that held the attack leaving a trail of debris in it's wake.
"Amaterasu..."the pinkette spoke in a monotone voice. The scythe turned in black flames before engulfing the girl's left arm once more. Sarada pushed her arm forward, once she was close, the sound of a thousand birds chirping soared through the space between the girls. The Chidori was about midway when a black flamed hand grasped it, snuffing it out of existence like a firework sparkler.
Before she could get a word out, Haruno Sakura's free hand went toward Sarada's face, grabbing it, the onyx haired girl's eyes growing wide through the gaps of the scythe wielder's slender fingers. The next thing the smaller girl knew, the pinkette left her line of sight, shifting forward, before she herself was thrown back with strong force. Sarada flew into several trees, breaking them cleanly in half, before hitting the stump of an already fallen tree.
Sarada let out a sharp, painful gasp, her eyes closed tightly as the pain shot through her back. Damn it... she cursed inwardly, popping open one eye. Just as she did, she saw that the girl's scythe had reappeared in her hand, Amaterasu withdrawn itself from her arm, and instead two wings made of black flame grew out from her back.
"Amertarasu no Tsubasa," the pinkette muttered under her breath. With her new found wings, the pink haired demon began her flight towards the injured and powerless Sarada, her scythe ready for the kill.
But with a flash of blue and her vision of the pinkette being obscured, their monotone voice was the only thing that she could hear as the pinkette's scythe stopped close to their face.
"Stop."
The second the command left her lips, Konan's amber eyes met that of deadly silver, the scythe's blade was just mere finger width apart from her face. "Stand down," she told the pinkette and she complied. As soon as the blade moved away from her face, Konan instantly regretted it. Her chest tightened and her stomach began to knot itself when she saw Sakura's heterochromatic eyes staring into her's silently. Without her realising, the older woman covered whatever distance there was between them, and raised her hand toward the girl's face, her fingers almost grazing the girl's skin.
She stopped herself however, fingers practically brushing the pinkette's cheek bones. Pulling her hand away, Konan clenched it into a tight fist, before placing it back down her side again. She realised, as much as she wanted to touch the person in front of her, she shouldn't. And couldn't.
Because the person before her wasn't even the real Haruno Sakura. Raising her hand once more, instead of the cheek Konan lifted her hand toward the pinkette's forehead, placing two fingertips on top of it. With one last look at the girl in front of her, Konan spoke the word, "Release," before the image of Haruno Sakura was fizzled out. Replacing her was a humanoid of cold, silver metal, it's blank face now the only thing looking at her.
An effigy. That was what the thing in front of her was called. It was a machine which took in data and would become whatever the information it was given. In this case, the data had been Haruno Sakura, from the time when she fought the white-skinned fiend. The woman then turned to eye the girl on the ground. Sarada's widened when they made contact but she quickly looked away, closed them and finally stood up.
"I had it handled," the girl spoke in annoyance. "I didn't need your help."
"That wound tells a different story," Konan said, her amber eyes gazing at the gash on the younger girl's arm. Sarada covered it up with her hand.
"It's nothing serious. It'll heal soon." The onyx haired girl then moved past Konan and stood in front of the unmoving effigy. "Now if you don't mind, I want to carry on with my training."
'Training' was what she called it. Konan highly doubted that. The older demon had arrived just in time to see some of the fight. The way she used Chidori, a lethal attack that only the Demon Lord could use, and the intent on killing her target made it seem more like a personal grudge. That was when a little known fact came into place in her head.
"Is this about what happened in the throne room?"
That question was met with only silence, but it also stopped Sarada in her tracks, which meant that Konan had hit the nail right on the head. It was a personal grudge.
"Sarada-"
"Shut up!"
For once, Konan's amber eyes growing wide betrayed her stoic expression. For the first time, ever since Sarada was able to talk, the girl shouted with such anger. Besides herself, the onyx haired girl was the most calm and calculating out of the family. To hear Sarada go out of character was a surprise for her.
"I hate her," she continued, her voice even now. "Because of her, father almost killed me. I was humiliated, because of her!" The girl raised her hand slightly and gazed at it. The flesh of her palm and fingers had been singed black, a clear sign of someone overusing Chidori that hasn't mastered it yet. If Sarada was in pain, she didn't show it.
"That's why, since that day, I've been training almost none stop, hoping that some day, I'll be able to kill her. And through with that thought in mind, I was finally able to use father's technique. But..." She closed her singed hand into a tight fist, her teeth visibly gritted. "Even with an technique that can pierce through almost anything, it was easily stopped by that black flame."
"Amaterasu, the immortal black flame," Konan spoke, the younger girl looking at her now. "It cannot be extinguished by normal means. Only by the user. And it can burn for seven days and nights."
"How do you know all that?"
Konan was silent for a moment, contemplating on what she was going to say. She understood why the girl was slightly confused. She was the youngest member of the family, but she was the only one who didn't know who Haruno Sakura truly was. As a matter of fact, even Sakura herself didn't know.
"Sarada," she called out the younger girl's name, and then told her bluntly, "Give up on killing Haruno Sakura." The shock was very evident by how wide the girls eyes widened, and she looked as if she was going to protest. Konan stopped her before she could though. "There's a reason for it."
And Konan then told Sarada everything. Told her who Haruno sakura really was, how she came to be and why their father was so focused on her. Once all was said, there was silence, the older demon waiting for Sarada to process all the information.
"You're joking, right?" the girl murmured.
"I'm not," Konan replied. "You, me, Tayuya and the others. We wouldn't be able to kill Sakura by normal means." Not like the woman wanted to any way. "And even if you did, Sarada, killing her would only make it much worse for you."
"I see..." The girl was quiet for another moment, closing her eyes, most likely thinking. Suddenly, a smile curled it's way on her lips. "By normal means, huh..." the girl muttered. Konan narrowed her eyes, hearing every word. Like she had thought before, Sarada was a really smart girl. So the look that she saw on the onyx haired girl's face was a mix of determination and tactfulness.
"I'm sorry, Konan-onēsan, but I must be on my way."
With those words, Sarada jumped up onto one of the tree's branches, that was still standing, and started leaping away. All the while, Konan's amber eyes never left the girl's form. The bluenette knew that their was something going on in her mind. She was hatching a plan.
And Konan had a bad feeling about it.
Sitting in his throne chair, Sasuke smirked. Sakura had unlocked another part of her power. Amaterasu no Tsubasa. The wings of Amaterasu. And it was all thanks to Tayuya disobeying his orders and going into the human realm. He was going to punish her severely, but when he noticed spike in Sakura's power, he decided against. Because thanks to her, the Demon Lord's plans were come closer to fruition.
"Just a little more," he spoke out loud. "Just a little more. One more push, and she'll be ready. And then..."
The massive double doors to the throne room suddenly opened, cutting off Sasuke. Wondering who dared enter without permission, the onyx haired man's eyes glowed threateningly. When he saw that it was his youngest and failure as a daughter, Sarada, the temptation to kill her on the spot was grew in an instant.
"Father," the girl called him, walking up to the steps leading to his chair and knelt down on one knee.
"You would dare show your face in front of me, Sarada. You really are a foolish girl."
"That's right," she responded, calmly and then spoke up confidently, "But this foolish girl has a plan to help you."
Sasuke furrowed his brow and narrowed his visible eye. What had happened to the girl that had been almost crying? The girl's head went up, her eyes looking into Sasuke's and he could see that their was no fear. The Demon Lord let out a hum of amusement.
"Interesting," he said. "And? What's this plan of yours?"
The girl adjusted her glasses and stood up with her head held high. "I know everything, father. The real truth about Haruno Sakura and why you are so fixated on her."
"Do you now. But what's that got to do with this plan you have?"
There was a short pause, in which the girl smiled at her father.
"I know a way to get back what's rightfully yours."
And there we have it. The next chapter is going to be the last in the summer filler, which is Hinata and Sakura, and will link into the arc with the new character.
Anyway, thanks for reading as always and please leave a review and tell me anything that can help improve the story or my writing. Also constructive criticism is also very appreciated.
See ya next chapter!
