Temptress of Babylon

Chapter 1 - Real hearts don't lie

Sakura arched her neck to gaze at the angry puff clouds that could be seen into the distance and she furrowed her fine eyebrows, muttering to herself. "Dark clouds… the sky will be grieving soon." She felt a cool droplet of rain tap on the swell of her rosy cheek, announcing the much-anticipated rain. She never liked rain.

"It looks like there is going to be a storm!" Sakura announced whilst turning her back to the team captain as her arms worked on pulling her Anbu mask back in place.

"Then we might camp somewhere around here for tonight." The male tilted his head only for his orbs to pierce through the maze that the showering drops were creating, for his visage was shadowed by the cloak that cupped his nimble silhouette. His face carefully hidden beneath a mask with a crow on it.

"Thank you, Crow-san." She almost squeaked from excitement. Her muscles were numb and sore from all the traveling she did during the day. She couldn't wait to get back home. It been a long couple of weeks. She never liked long missions. What she hated even more was the rainy season in the fire country, the rain rarely stopped, and it would last for a few weeks at times if not longer.

She looked around again and felt like something was missing. Her eyes met the silvery violet velvet sky that was visible even from the green forest floor she was standing on. The sky was weeping, pouring heavy drips on their forms as they stood.

"By the way, where is Cat-san?" She asked, her voice laced with curiosity as her body finally turned to face Crow-san's.

"He went to place some traps around the area." He bluntly answered.

"Ah." Was all she said back to him not expecting him to keep up the conversation going any further.

By the time Cat-san was back from setting traps, Sakura was pondering which tasteless protein bars they would eat tonight. She dreaded eating that tasteless thing.

"I've found a cave nearby." She heard Cat-san's voice. She would've squeaked again, but she decided against it upon realizing she was with high ranking ANBU members rather than her usual carefree teammates. But the idea warmed her heart, for the first time in a week she wouldn't have to sleep in the cold rain, and they will be able to have a fire as well. "Very well." She heard Crow-san's voice nearby as well. "We shall spend the night there then." He said moments after.

It took them only a few minutes to reach the cave and Sakura sighed upon entering the dark space.

Looking up from her pack she had already placed on the dusty ground, she watched as he laid down what appeared to be a very nasty genjutsu a hundred yards from the cave entrance. Finally satisfied, Cat-san walked over; some of the tension easing out of his shoulders as he quietly told her the coordinates for the rest of his traps.

Her gaze switched to the Crow-san's side, she noticed him making the signs for the fire jutsu. She was getting excited little by little. Finally, she will have a chance to fully dry her hair. The feeling of having a wet head all day was starting to get to her. Her petal coloured locks were long and thick, and although they would dry on their own given the chance, she always had to keep her hair up in a high ponytail and mask it with a dark cloak. It was one way to prevent one's identity and with hair colour like Sakura's it certainly wasn't hard to recognise who she was, there weren't many Anbu from Konoha with pink hair.

She watched intently as Crow-san was putting up a smokeless fire which cheerfully crackled under his hands. She assumed he was cold as well, although he was Anbu that didn't mean the he wouldn't get cold, sick or hurt. He was human just like everybody else, although way stronger than your average shinobi.

She sat down near the fire and started looking through her pack again.

Cat-san stood not too far from his Anbu partners as he curiously watched his female teammate. She was going through her backpack again, intent on finding something. His eyes gleamed with with mischief.

He became really curious as to what she was searching for in her backpack. He decided it was a good chance to tease the pink-haired female, but before he could even speak the pink haired woman interrupted him.

"Is there a water source nearby?" Sakura asked, fingers hovering inside her pack.

"Yes. Why would you ask Blossom?" Cat-san asked, becoming more confused seeing her instantly pull her hand out of the pack as she tossed him a teapot.

"Good." Cat-san lifted a brow underneath his mask, although he knew she couldn't see his expression, the teapot dangling from his fingertip.

"Tea?" They had mostly been sticking with canteens, but she was tired of water and wanted to test a few things out anyway.

"Trust me." She said, he could feel her smile underneath the mask.

He lifted a brow again.

"Crow can go, I've just finished setting the perimeter traps, I'm not really in the mood to go back into the rain." He almost complained, although the idea of having tea was very warming, that wasn't a good enough reason for him to go back outside after doing all of that tedious work previously.

Crow sighed without answering, he grabbed the tea pot from his teammates hand and slipped out of the cave without any protest unlike Cat. By the time he returned she had unrolled their sleeping mats, set out their rations and was twisting a packet of herbs between her fingers thoughtfully.

"Tea?" Crow asked again repeating Cat's question whilst setting the teapot on the fire for her.

"Ah, that, yes just give me a minute." She moved closed to the fire taking off the lid from the teapot. She dropped the package of herbs into the nearly boiling water, watching it sink to the bottom with fascination.

She stood up removing her cloak. A long ponytail sprung out into the dimly lit cave. She took no time removing the hair tie out of her long locks, her fingers caressing the numb spot on the back of her head whilst trying to smooth out the wet mess that was her hair. Finally, she decided that she had some time to relax.

She removed the cloak completely letting it fall to the ground, her black now skin-tight clothes wet even after being hidden under the cloak all day.

She wished to shed of all the remaining clothing just like a snake would out of its old skin, but she had to stop herself, because she was sharing one confined space with two very dangerous men. Moreover, it would be deeply inappropriate for someone like her to shed all of her clothing in front of them. Although she doubted any of the two men would be really interested. She sighed taking a seat on the sleeping matt.

Slowly she grasped the mask removing it from her face completely. Finally, she had a chance to breathe. She had this mask on for days, only removing it for the briefest of seconds during the day if given the chance. It felt suffocating.

She looked at the two men sitting by the fire pit, both were seated opposite of each other, staring into the flame, expressions unreadable given the masks they were wearing. The only thing she could make out were the black eyes gleaming in the dark, reflecting the faint fire.

Those eyes, they would always bring her back to her dreams whenever she would see them. It felt as if it was somewhat of a daydream. Although she was sure the two men sitting in front of the fire had nothing to do with her dreams. Still, she was very much so captivated by their eyes, endless dark abyss.

Sometimes it annoyed her, that the only thing she ever saw of them were their eyes. They never took off their masks which frustrated her in a way, as she didn't care that much about hiding her identity from her teammates. Yes, they were Anbu and keeping a low profile was to be expected, but hell how was she supposed to keep a low profile with that bright pink hair of hers? It was nearly impossible, so she didn't try to hide it from her teammates in the first place.

She didn't care if they knew who she was, they probably figured it out the first time they saw her remove her cloak, and let's be real not a lot of people in the village had pink hair, yet they still refused to call her by her name even if they were aware of her identity. It felt so distant being called Blossom instead of Sakura when one has been looking straight into her face.

She already has taken quite a few missions with the two men and to her it seemed that they somewhat became a team during a short span of time. Well, to be honest 4 months wasn't a short time given shinobis lifespan, but it still seemed short to her.

She didn't know anything about them, and sometimes she thought it was probably for the best, but sometimes she couldn't help but want to rip off the masks from their faces to see what's underneath. It was hard to care for a person whose face you couldn't see, to care for someone who always had a mask on, their emotions hidden and in check. She could only recognise the two men by their voices and masks, anything else was out of question.

It was hard to care for teammates who you knew nothing about, although to Sakura it often seemed that Crow and Cat were pretty familiar with each other, they wouldn't show it discreetly in front of her, but sometimes she'd catch them talking to each other more than a few sentences or they would tease each other with remarks she could not understand.

She felt like an outsider in a sense, invading someone else's perfect dynamics. She knew why she was assigned to this team, there weren't a lot of Anbu medics, and there were none that could actually hold their own on the battlefield, besides her of course. To her it made sense, so she never questioned her Shisou's decision.

The more work she done, the less time she had to think about those dreams of hers, it was easier to live her life without being concerned about the fateful dreams that might not even be truth in the first place. She decided that she would rather be more concerned about finding out the identities of her teammates than those hopeless dreams of hers that she had no way of decoding.

They sat in silence for another hour, just watching the fire dance a slow dance in front of them until Crow spoke.

"I doubt anyone would try to attack us today, especially given the weather I really don't think any ninjas would be wandering around this area. All of us should get some sleep." She heard Crow say, thinking it was probably the most she had heard him say during the whole day. "Also, I doubt Cat would be willing to go outside as he's not a big fan of rain." She could almost feel Crow smirking beneath his mask, a rare occurrence to hear him tease Cat directly in front of her. She supposed it was Crow's way of teasing Cat, because he previously refused to go out and fetch some water for tea because of the storm outside.

She heard Cat scoff underneath his mask. "Whatever you say Crow, unlike you I can't wait to get some beauty sleep." Sakura was sure he was smiling as well by the way his eyes crinkled underneath his mask. "Besides I'm so cold right now I'm pretty sure Blossom-chan would be willing to take me underneath her wing. Right, Blossom-chan?" He looked at the petal-haired woman, voice laced with mischief.

Sakura almost instantly became red. "Ehh?!" A small unexpected squeak left her mouth. Since when did she became a part of this conversation as well? It was one of the first times they had ever included her into their 5 sentence conversation. Today was no ordinary day she concluded.

"What is it Blossom, you don't feel like sleeping with me?" He moved closer to her, she was pretty sure he was smirking. Goddamn those masks! She almost choked on her cold tea hearing Cat's question. What was that supposed to mean? Various emotions played on her face all at once. Was he making her embarrassed on purpose? "W-what?" was all that she muttered her face flushed once again. "All I am saying is that we should sleep next to each other tonight as it is very cold. I don't know what you were thinking about, Blossom-chan." His face moved closer to her and Sakura's breath almost hitched when she saw him wink at her. That bastard.

She heard a sigh at the opposite side of the cave. "What Cat saying is true, we should sleep next to each other to preserve body heat, its one of the colder nights of the season and its better that none of us get sick before we get back to Konoha." She heard Crow's amused tone. "Although I do not approve of your teasing techniques Cat." He said after a moment, his voice still held the same amount of amusement.

Sakura mentally cursed herself, being sandwiched in between the two sinfully dangerous anbu wasn't on her to do list. For god's sake she's going to be sleeping near two male shinobi she knew nothing about! She didn't even know what their faces looked like?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the two men move their sleeping matts next to hers. The sleeping matts were so close to each other that she was left with no personal space at all, it all looked like they were about to share one big bed with each other. Her face flushed again. She didn't know if she was lucky or cursed.

No words were shared as she felt the other two presences shift next to her at both sides. She found this whole situation to be particularly uncomfortable.

She laid down on her own sleeping matt fully covering her lithe body with the thin blanked she carried in her backpack. Her breaths were almost shaky, Cat and Crow were right, it really was cold, colder than usual. For a split second she even wished that she wasn't looking just at their backs.

Sakura tried her best to fall asleep, but it was hard. It was really cold, and it didn't help that she was sandwiched between the two anbu she knew nothing about. She was almost shaking due to her nervousness and the cold air that was pinching at her exposed skin, it was also due to the fact that her clothes were still half-wet and clung tightly to her skin. She almost wished she could at least stare at the starry sky rather than be in the pitch-dark cave with two mysterious men.

She turned her back to what she assumed was Cat-san's own back, but then she suddenly felt him shift near her. His hand snaked up to her waist effortlessly pushing her close to him, her back flush against his warm hard chest. The action was so gentle that it somewhat seemed familiar. Wait. What? Familiar? She was probably going crazy, not a single man has ever held her like this.

She didn't know what to make out of this and when she was about to open her mouth he whispered directly into her ear. "You're cold, just sleep Sakura." His voice was deep, raspy and sleepy. She felt a shiver race down her spine. It wasn't because it was cold, it was rather because of the way her name effortlessly rolled out of his lips. It was the first time he called her by her name and something about it felt so familiar. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she was trying to calm herself down. She was clearly overthinking something.

She really thought she was going to have a harder time falling asleep as she felt his body so close to hers, and his hand touching her body almost directly. Strangely enough his body heat was lulling her into the sleep quite effectively. Something about the way he held her felt safe and comfortable, and she wasn't sure where this feeling kept coming from as she hardly even had an idea how the man looked like.

It didn't take long to lull her into the sleep completely.

In her dream she saw them again. Those black eyes staring at her. They looked like they were smiling at her, endless abyss piercing through her soul again. She felt something grab her hand, and as she tried to pull it out, she found herself unable to do so, her body didn't listen to her commands, it was like her body was doing the opposite of what it was supposed to do.

She touched someone's face, her hand caressing the unknown man's cheek in a loving manner. The man had his fingers softly wrapped around her wrist, his face leaning into her touch completely.

She moved her eyes from the man's hand and looked directly into his face. He had black, unruly curly mane that matched the same pair of black warm eyes. She also noticed his soft looking lips, straight nose and high cheekbones giving off the aristocratic aura. Kami, he was beautiful.

"Priestess, I want you to be mine." She felt his breath on her face as her eyes widened. Dark eyes stared through her completely making her shudder. "Please let's run away, leave this temple together with me." His voice was desperate as his hand reached up to caress her, the softness of her cheek as she nuzzled her own face into his rough palm without meaning to do so. No, more like she couldn't stop herself from doing so. "You know I can't do this Shisui." She said, her voice almost breaking, tears filling her eyes as she found herself unable to stop feeling certain emotions invading her. Wait how did she know his name? And why did he call her Priestess? Her mind was racing.

"But Priestess, you know that I love you, I can't live without you, I don't care that you belong to this temple!" his other hand desperately grabbed the other side of her face bringing her face closer to his. Tears spilled from Sakura's eyes one by one, she couldn't understand why she was crying. She had no idea what was happening, but she couldn't stop her body from doing so. Her heart was aching. "I told you countless of times I can't leave my duties in the temple behind or else I will be cursed, Shisui." She looked into his eyes again, her vision blurry from the tears in her jade eyes. "This temple and I, we are connected, you know that." She smiled sadly, her heart throbbing painfully trying to reject the one she loves. "I will kidnap you from this temple Priestess, then it won't bet your fault for leaving this cursed place." He said, his voice aching painfully, so raw with emotion she was in awe. "I really wish I could leave, although I'm already cursed for even having such thoughts." She sobbed as hair fell into her face preventing her from looking at him. He hugged her, his body pressing close to hers as he stroked her long locks, she felt safe, a familiar feeling filled her again.

"Priestess, you are not cursed, the only place that is cursed is that dammed shrine that is forbidding you from living your life. You are a human Priestess; you are allowed to have desires in life." He continued to stroke her hair, his hands so gentle she thought she would fall asleep in his hands.

"Y-you don't know Shisui, but you might've been affected by my curse as well." She nearly choked on her tears, she felt as if the next thing to come out of her lips will shatter her. "You probably were, from the start. Just like all of you. You don't love me, it's a part of my curse that's making you feel these things." He fell silent but his arms never left her body, holding her still as close.

"I'm no priestess, no I'm not even near of what a decent woman should be. I'm just a seductress forced to be a Priestess." She continued to sob. Sakura felt her own heart break just by listening to the words that came out of her own mouth. Her hot breaths fanned over his chest as she struggled to breathe. "You felt it, the first time you saw me. You felt me pierce through your soul, didn't you?" she asked him after a few minutes. His arms tightened against her form refusing to leave the sobbing Priestess. He answered her after a few long moments.

"I did." She heard him say and she squeezed her eyes together so hard that she thought there would be no way more tears could come through. She was wrong. She was wrong to expect him to not fall under her spell. She had no control over it. She was a temptress after all. It hurt like hell to know that not a single person loved her genuinely, a divine charm given to her deemed useless. It destroyed her life, but maybe it was her own fault as well. She was meant to be a Priestess and she couldn't do her job at all, she was in the wrong.

"Then you know its not real." She forced herself to say it, her heart felt like ripping out of its chest. It didn't feel like a rock was lifted off her chest by revealing the truth, no, quite the opposite, it was crushing her. "It's just an illusion, that's why I can't leave the shrine." her voice became raspy, but her tears were still agonizing, burning her cheeks like liquid acid without mercy, replacing hope with despair. "But please know, that I love all of you. Your feelings might not be real, but mine are and I'm willing to pay a price for them." She whispered; a sad smile graced her lips. His hands surprisingly never left her, yet she was shaking, shaking after revealing her biggest secret, maybe she wouldn't have to deal with all of them if she only told Shisui, he would surely tell the others to stay away from the cursed shrine and Priestess. They would be safe from her charm.

"Priestess…no Sakura, I don't care, I want you for who you are and I'm sure they all would agree with this even knowing the truth." He moved her body away from his just by a few inches, his arms grasped her shoulders gently. "I will get you out of this temple even if I will have to face the biggest punishment, it's going to be worth it no matter what. I don't even care if you won't come willingly, I will kidnap you, Priestess." She looked into his eyes, they were blazing crimson red and this time she felt like it was him piercing through her soul.

"You will go mad." She mumbled; she was aware of what would happen if she were to leave this shrine.

"I don't care. I am willing to go mad if it's for you, Priestess." And then she felt his lips crash onto hers.

Author's note.

This story is going to be UchiSaku so dont worry if chapter 1 is focused more on Shisui, rather than other Uchihas, the harem is about to assemble. Anyways. please let me know what you think of the story so far by leaving a comment! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I've got more ideas planned in the future, so please make sure to follow, favorite and review my story! I really appreciate the reviews as they let me get an understanding of what you expect from the story itself and I make some of the decisions based on that. See you all very soon!