Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Bathing in Blood
23. The Dance
"... daring
And young and proud, exploring the deepest
Seas, risking your lives for no reason
But the danger? All older and wiser heads warned you
Not to, but no one could check such pride."
-Beowulf
"You certainly killed them quickly, little girl. Half a second per person, I'd say."
Sakura didn't need to turn around to know the source of this mocking tone. She'd sensed the orange-gray aura long before its owner had spoken. Now, she could almost feel the spirit itself, licking its chops hungrily behind the mask of its vessel. She could almost feel the eagerness welling in her mind, a chorus of bloodthirsty sirens ready to make the demon eat its words and hers as well.
But all in good time. All in good time. It would spoil the fun to rush right in.
And so the pink-haired girl remained silent, still as a statue, as if she hadn't heard a thing.
"A very neat job, too. Very, very neat." He sounded like some kind of artist, or a collector, or maybe a forensic scientist. "Let's see if you can do the same to me." His fanatical grin hung in the air, like a dare he knew nobody would take. With perfectly choreographed ease, Sakura turned to face her challenger.
"Why?" No emotion there, only a question. A question he wasn't expecting, more likely than not; a question to throw him off a bit. She couldn't give away anything, not the slightest hint of the enthusiasm boiling behind placid green eyes.
"Because I need to prove myself. Does it matter?" A bristling, almost defensive tone. The demon had retreated ever so slightly from the voice of its vessel, she noted with distaste. Time to end the charade, before it began to think she wasn't worth bothering with.
"Geez, don't have a cow or anything." Meaningless phrases, in themselves, but with sarcasm unleashed... A rabid smirk inched its way across Sakura's face. Jade orbs lit up like malicious twin flames. "I was just asking."
Naruto writhed in agony, rolling and twisting in spasms on the rough ground. Unwanted tears crowded in the corners of his sight, refusing to spill but still there. Still there. Another shot of blinding headache streaked like a firecracker through his forehead. He clutched his skull, trying to ignore the throbbing in his stomach. The Kyuubi was seething, howling, beating its head against the bars of its cage and then making him feel the pain. What had always been a benign if not benevolent force in the back of his thoughts was becoming horribly real.
He wouldn't scream, he couldn't scream, he shouldn't scream, he could take the pain-
He screamed.
Through cracked, bleary vision, the blonde-haired boy watched helplessly as his teammate flirted with the enemy—because that's what the man was, an enemy—, gaze intertwining with glassily focused gaze. Practically neck and neck—no, not even 'practically' anymore, just plain there. And then, with the grace of a swan or an assassin or both, the long-haired one leaned forward ever-so-slightly, sinking pale teeth into paler flesh.
This time he wouldn't scream, not this time. No way, no how. Not even gonna happen, not even gonna—
He screamed. He couldn't help it.
He screamed as the waves of dark energy exploded. He screamed again, louder, at the sight of the glowing mark on Sasuke's neck. He screamed once more, loudest of all, as his own misery caught up with him. The sound echoed in his ears.
Oh, how he hated that scream.
Where is Sakura-chan? His panicking worries ran circles in his consciousness. Where is Sakura-chan? Where?
"Not like she could help anyways, the useless little weakling brat," the Kyuubi muttered in aggravation.
D-don't say that about my Sakura-chan! You take that back! Naruto glared at the fox, wherever it was.
"You know it's true..."
And then it went black.
