Warning: Mild violence. Near death. Sasuke.

Chapter Four

"Me?"

Her sister stepped in front of her. Sakura could see the way she shivered - the fear visible. However, she stood strong after a moment. Sakura quickly reached for her but was held back by her parents. She looked behind at them, tears starting to prick at her eyes. She pleaded, silently, and they avoided looking at her.

The horrifying realization hit her.

They planned it.

Her eyes looked over at her sister as she took another step towards where the royals were. Sakura didn't know how to feel about the fact that they weren't refusing her. She tried to meet the eyes of the one who bumped into her earlier.

'Look at me. Look at me. Look at me.' She pleaded silently with every step that her sister took. She wanted to scream out but the tight grip her father had on her now made her think he'd sooner suffocate her than let her do that. Watching her sister step all the way up to where they sat on the platform that sat in the middle of the town was agonizing.

Soon enough, Sakura watched as her sister came to a standstill. Ichika kept her head level but did not meet their gaze. The man from before had an impassive face - he was unreadable. He whispers something that only Ichika hears and Sakura has a split moment to take in the way her body tenses. The way she takes a hesitant step back before his hand is outstretching and he is grabbing her thin wrist tightly. His long fingernails from earlier are now more clawlike and digging into her skin.

"Let this be a reminder to know your place," he says loudly as he pulls Ichika into him. He forces her to face the crowd and he uses his other hand to roughly grab her face. Blood trickles from her cheek and jaw - mixing with the tears in her eyes. She meets Sakura's horrified gaze and she gives her a smile. "You wanted to take your sister's place? Be a sacrifice in her stead?" He growls and Ichika holds her head still, even with the tremors wracking through her body.

The crowd watches. They feel trapped, sad, and remorseful - maybe even confused.

"You needed a human," Ichika murmurs. "Why not me?"

"You know exactly who I was calling, you unremarkable wretch," he whispers into her ear. He nibbles it - the people closest to him getting to witness the sharp edges of his teeth snagging against her ear and causing it to bleed. They wince and take a step back which earns them a warning glance from him. "This will be, perhaps, the most useful you will ever be. Your little ploy to save her is going to be the exact thing that leads her willingly," he sneers before speaking louder and to the people.

"A sacrifice is what she wished to be. Who am I to deny her from becoming what she so desperately wanted to be?" His eyes sweep across the crowd before settling on Sakura. "Everyone, take a good look at your new martyr. May she get lost on her journey to the etherworld." He abruptly lets go of Ichika before kicking her down into the dirty ground before the platform with his boots.

Sakura struggles against her father and mother.

"You have to let me go, you can't let her go through this," Sakura pleads but they only hold on tighter.

"It's what she wanted, Sakura," Great Grammy whispers and Sakura shakes her head. She didn't believe it.

"She would want to live-"

"Blood… where is it…"

Sakura's head whips back up to the front. She watches in horror as behind the royal family emerges a large figure. Bones protrude from its back and it has a smushed face similar to a boar that gives away to a giant circle for its mouth with tiny razor teeth. Rows and rows of them that go all around the lips. Hesitantly, Sakura follows its black beady eyes to where her sister was being held in place on the ground by the man from before.

"Right here - a treat, just for you," the man beckons the creature to walk forwards. Sakura struggles more and more while her parents look away. She couldn't.

"How long has it been? …Years.. Years.."

Thud. Thump. Thud.

Sakura's heart beat in her ears. She couldn't think and couldn't breathe. Her whole world was shifting and spinning with every step that the creature made.

"All of them?" The voice was monstrously gleeful but perhaps the more horrifying thing was the laugh that the man let out. It was insane. He threw his head back like the creature had said the funniest thing he had heard in centuries.

"No, just this one. If you're good though you might have more later," his eyes slide over to Sakura and then behind her to where her family is. Sakura glares at him through knitted eyebrows.

"Please.. Please don't do this.." Ichika whispers and he looks down at her, tilting his head.

"I thought you wanted to be a sacrifice? You silly humans will always be so amusing," he grins with mirth behind his eyes. "You never know what you actually want." His face falls back into impassiveness as he looks at the creature that has stopped maybe a foot away. "Eat her."

He kicks her towards the creature - her body rolling over and over until she knocks into the large feet of the creature. Gingerly, the creature picks her up and though her cries start out small they progressively get louder as she is brought closer and closer to his mouth.

"I don't want to die.. I don't want to die… Someone help, please!" She sobs and Sakura's tears start falling, too. When Ichika lets out an ear splitting scream when the creature rips into her shoulder, Sakura can't take it anymore.

As Ichika claws at the creature's furry skin - kicking and screaming - Sakura is breaking away from her fathers tight grip and running towards her sister.

"Let her go!" She screams.

The whole crowd watches as Sakura charges forwards.

She makes it perhaps a couple of steps before the man from before is right behind her and grabbing her arm. He twists it painfully and Sakura whirls on him, trying to punch his face. He dodges - looking down at her.

"Another sacrifice?" He questions and Sakura tries to rip herself away. She tries to knee him but he grabs her leg, dress and all, and flips her over his shoulder like they were performing some kind of dance. She is flipped over him and lands behind him. Quickly, she spins around and aims for a jab to his rib.

He dodges again.

She lets out a groan of frustration and follows after him. They go around and around like that. It did look like a dance - people were entranced watching them move. They were ripped from the haze that they were in when Ichika let out a horrifyingly loud scream. Sakura stops what she was doing and with a glare at the man, she picks up the skirt of her dress and runs at the creature again.

He doesn't stop her this time. Instead he watches as they all do.

She kicks off her shoes in the process and grits her teeth as she gets ready to leap at the ugly thing eating her sister. Just as she is about to throw her body at him - at his midsection where he seemed to be the thinnest and weakest, the man's voice cuts through the air.

"Release."

Ichika starts tumbling to the ground as Sakura flies past her and right into the creature. Her emerald eyes watch in slowmo as her older sister's body lands with a thump and her head following soon after. Sakura lands in the creature's arms with a thud. It greedily wraps around her but she couldn't find it in herself to care as her sister's head nears the ground.

It doesn't make connection though.

Someone quickly appears beside her sister.

It's the blond from earlier and she lets out a sigh of relief. Her sister was still bleeding out though and that wasn't comforting.

"Sasuke, that was too far," the blond speaks. Sasuke, the man from earlier, rolls his eyes.

"They never learn." Then, he turns his eyes to the creature that is steadily lifting Sakura up a few centimeters at a time. "Don't. Let her go and retreat."

"I'm hungry.. So hungry.. Hungry, hungry.. Blood…" Its voice is ominous and deep. "She smells so good. I need it.."

"Release her or die. It is your choice," Sasuke warns and reluctantly, Sakura is released. She didn't care though. As soon as she was free, she rushed to her sister's side. Her eyes look at her, trying to take her in.

She was deathly pale from all the blood oozing.

"Whatever are you going to do?" Sasuke questions as he focuses on Sakura. "If only you could use magic. That would be a blessing - you know, I thought I saw someone earlier use magic," he taps his sharp chin thoughtfully. "It's a shame I don't remember who they are." He looks over his claws as they retract back to their normal long and sharp length.

"You're heartless," Sakura spits out. "How dare you," she looks up at Sasuke. "You knew it was me. You knew. Why didn't you grab me earlier? You heartless, heartless-"

"Do not finish that sentence or it will be the last time you speak again, do you understand?" Sasuke approaches now. He looks down at Ichika with disinterest. "Heal her."

"I've never healed something this drastic before!" Sakura cries out. She was going to lose her sister and it would all be her fault.

"Try."

"Fuck you."

"Sasuke, don't." The blond speaks up again before looking over at Sakura. His bright cyan eyes were comforting - until she noticed the sharp teeth poking out from behind his lips. "Breathe and try. She doesn't have much longer."

Sakura nods and she fights through the tears dripping from her eyes that were mixing with her sister's blood. Hesitantly, she holds her hands over the largest wound first - the one on her shoulder. Luckily, since the creature's teeth were almost like a cookie cutter sharks, a lot of it was more so exterior damage - tissue and muscle - than bone. Sakura takes a deep breath and summons all of her focus to her hands. She closes her eyes and envisions what she wants to happen. She could feel it trickling - ever so slowly - out from her fingertips and down into her sister.

"Don't come closer, hag, I will step on her weak little human head," Sasuke grouses and Sakura's concentration breaks as she watches her Great Grammy approach cautiously.

"Let me help," Aol speaks.

"Help?" Sasuke scoffs.

"She can heal, too," the blond speaks up.

"There is no way Naruto-"

"I can smell it on her. She is experienced," Naruto finishes and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Very well."

As Aol bends down to where Sakura is trying to regain her focus, she makes it a point not to speak to her. It was partially her fault that they were in this predicament. It was stupid for them to even think that her sister should take her place.

"Focus, Sakura," Great Grammy speaks as she starts working on the other injuries.

Together, they work in tandem. The crowd is forced to watch. There is an eerie silence in the air but it doesn't deter them from their work. It takes awhile and by the end, Sakura is exhausted. She has never had to mend such large quantities of skin before - let alone shift and guide bones back into place.

"You're okay, you're okay.." Sakura whispers softly as she pulls her sister into her arms. She holds onto her tightly and ignores the eyes that are all on her now.

"You all may leave," announces Sasuke. Slowly, the crowd disperses and all that is left is Sakura's family and the royal family. "I don't think I asked you to stay," he sneers at Great Grammy and Sakura's parents that have kept a respectable distance. "Leave."

They hesitate, but slowly they retreat with a sad look in Sakura's direction from where she held her sister who was unconscious.

"Naruto, leave us, as well. Help my family get ready to leave," Sasuke dismisses the blond and Sakura is almost sad to see him leave them alone. She eyes Sasuke cautiously from where she was on the ground as he comes closer. "You know what happens next, right?"

"Your family is going to drink my blood over dinner."

He laughs at her.

She couldn't find it in herself to care or even feel embarrassed. He was practically rolling on the ground.

"No! I almost thought you were smarter than the others. Clearly, I was mistaken," he gives her a side smile. "We aren't vampires. We are daemons - we take in magic a little more," he uses air quotes, "humane than other species."

Sakura raises an eyebrow.

"The wedding will be next week," Sasuke says casually as he picks dirt out from beneath his nails. "You will return with us-"

"Wedding?!" Sakura's head was spinning.

"Yes."

"To you?!"

"No," Sasuke sighs and rolls his eyes. "To my older brother."

It almost sounded sarcastic and to be honest, Sakura didn't know enough about the royal family to tell if he was telling the truth or not. She also didn't care much to ask.

"I will do you this kindness only once. Do not make me regret it," Sasuke goes back to talking. "I will allow you to return to your home tonight to get everything in order. Do not pull anything - clearly I have demonstrated that I have no qualms in killing your family." He lazily gestures to Ichika.

Sakura glares.

"Be ready to go by dawn tomorrow."