Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

XXX

Stupid. I felt stupid.

Sai walked next to me down the cobblestone path, both of us draped in large tattered cloaks, our backs hunched purposefully as we inched forward ever so slowly.

I was careful not to say anything as I'd been instructed. I didn't want the vampires to pick up on my real age underneath this sham of an appearance. Pretending to be an old lady was pretty easy when all I had to do was walk slow and make sure to stay bent over a bit. Under my hood, I could see Sai at the very edge of the village opening. I followed him out of the village just a little before sunset.

I had to admit, it seemed like a pretty foolproof plan to pretend to be old women getting caught outside too late, as if we weren't paying attention to the time. Picking flowers in the nearby field until the light turned dark, when we would appear to be an easy meal to local vampires as we scuttled back as fast as our old, tired legs could carry us.

I couldn't sense Ino, Naruto, or Tsunade, they were well hidden somewhere nearby. I was happy to be the bait in this plan, I wouldn't have been happy to be ordered on the sidelines to watch someone else put themselves in danger.

The tattered cloak was itchy against my skin. It took a lot of my willpower to not throw it off of me. Only the drive to not mess up kept the cloak in place.

Just a few more minutes of walking and we were on the far end of the clearing. The wildflowers bloomed thickest there, a mix of yellows and pinks and blues swayed in the breeze. The smell of pollen filled my nose, a sneeze looming just seconds away.

I held out a second thinly woven basket in Sai's direction, which he took somberly.

It was pretty funny seeing Sai pretend to be an old lady, but then the seriousness of the situation crept through me when I caught sight of the forest's edge that haunted my dream.

My mouth dried up the longer I stared into the trees, my eyes weaving in and out of their lines as if it was a maze.

I pinched my lips together tightly and turned my back on the sight. It made me uncomfortable, but I couldn't bare to face it for a second longer. In front of me, the vivid colors rushed back to the forefront of my mind, calming me almost instantly. All my attention was focused on picking the flowers from the dirt, cracking the stem off with a soft crunch filling the air.

Time passed, flowers were picked. I watched in fascination as the shadows of the flowers moved as the sun did, the only revelation of time passing.

Sai shuffled over to me as an old woman would, and nudged me with his shoulder.

This was it.

I rocked back gently, getting up off my knees. I fluffed the cloak around me, making sure I was still covered. My hands were sweaty from where I crushed the basket handle between my fingers. My eyes darted around under the hood, this way and that trying to catch any sort of movement. It was dark now, shadows were long and the light was faint.

The village gates were rather far, farther than we would make it in the light. The timing was perfect, we'd seem like careless humans, just waiting to be picked off by a group of vampire thugs.

It was difficult for me to shuffle my feel so slowly, each step a calculation for luring out a monster. Beckoning for them to come and eat me.

I wondered how many times Tsunade had done this, she knew exactly what to do and had instructed us to do just that. It made me think of how many missions she had when I was growing up. She'd been out the door by the time I was 14 years old. Six years she's been out on missions while I was living at home. Must've made mom mad with worry, so how was she right now? All alone while her two daughters were off with the monsters.

A cluck of the tongue stood out in the silent night. I twisted so fast in its direction that the cloak almost fell from my shoulders.

He wasn't very tall, that was my first impression of him. When my eyes traveled the short distance from his black boots to his face, I stopped breathing.

He was a tad paler than a human from years without sunlight, his purple eyes shimmered like a thousand stars settled up to his pupils, which were heavily dilated. And his lips, his lips were pulled back in a broad smile showing off his fangs. He had white hair that went down long enough to almost skim at his shoulders.

His gaze was triumphant, and then a split second later he was confused. He saw our youth beneath the cloaks and tried to understand what we were doing.

Sai pulled his cloak back and brought out a pair of daggers. They glinted as he positioned them in front of himself. "Hello," he said, voice coiling around the air like a snake.

Was the vampire alone?

The way he looked around was confusing me. I couldn't tell if he was looking for backup, looking for a way out, or looking for more of us.

I brought my hood down with one hand as I brought out a stake with my other.

His eyes zeroed in on the stake, an unflinching severity in them at the sight of the weapon. His smile gone.

"Who are you?" his voice came out so fluidly, smooth as I'd never heard before.

"We are here to stop you from killing the innocent people of this town." Sai then let out a low whistle, and Naruto, Ino, and Tsunade appeared behind the vampire.

He didn't turn around to look at them. Instead, he laughed.

"Innocent? Who said they were innocent?" He cocked his head, still keeping his eyes on my stake.

My eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"I've been picking off the bad guys, sweet thing," he said so casually, his hand coming to rest on his hip. His white hair blew in the wind.

For all the Academy preparing, I could not understand his flippant attitude. I thought vampires would be more sullen, more...quiet. He was so talkative.

What did he mean by that admission? "I don't understand," I said.

Tsunade hissed softly, a way to tell me to shut up. But, I wanted to hear more.

"There are rapists and murderers that walk among the humans, sweet thing," he said, again giving me the term of endearment. "I've been taking them. If you ask me, I'm doing this town a bit of a service."

Tsunade made her move. She pushed off with her legs and charged at the vampire. Even though he didn't see it coming, he jumped out of the way, going right over my head to escape our little circle.

I whirled around and caught sight of him. He hadn't gone far, just about ten feet in front of me now. His eyes glittering with excitement.

My arm muscle was straining with the pressure I held the stake at, and I was breathing through gritted teeth.

Tsunade was beside me in an instant. "So then what were you doing attacking us?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Can't a guy give a little scare to someone every now and then?"

Disgusting. Vampires were so slimy, lying through his teeth like that. Anger swelled within me, making me burn up. I threw my cloak down so that I'd have easier access to the rest of my weapons.

I sized him up for only a second before my body began to lunge into action.

"Sakura!" Tsunade shouted and grabbed the back of my shirt to keep me from advancing.

I caught my balance and glared up at her. Why would she stop me? Isn't the point of this mission to kill him? I was about to do that!

The vampire stared at my face, really taking in all of my features. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but the way he looked at me didn't feel like he was quite appreciating his next meal. No, it was more deliberating than that.

In that moment, a clang of metal filled the air. The vampire held a dagger up near his throat, blocking a well-aimed attack from Sai, who had been aiming to chop off his head.

Sai's hand was steady, as were his eyes.

The vampire still faced me while defending himself. Eyes roving over my body and face. "Sakura," he repeated.

Tsunade's mouth drew to the side in a pinched frown. She didn't like that he knew my name, and it had been her fault. A slip of the tongue on her end was probably something she wasn't used to doing.

The game was over then.

In a flash, the vampire pushed his own blade back at Sai's causing enough time for him to move away.

Towards me.

Even though he was fast, I moved against him. I lept to the left before he could get his hands on me, Tsunade followed close by, stepping in front of me with her dagger held high.

The vampire's blade crashed against Tsunade's, her left leg digging into the dirt behind her as she braced for the hit.

A guttural growl erupted from her throat, a side of her I'd never seen before.

Her right hand dove to the side of her belt, unlatching the wooden stake she kept there. I blinked, and her stake was almost near the vampire's chest.

His hand shot out to grab the tip of the stake just before it plunged into his heart. Beyond him, Ino and Naruto came to life. There were more flashes of light, blades glinting in the night, before they charged at him. And he was gone. The three of them, Tsunade, Naruto, and Ino, were barely able to pull their weapons back before they crashed into each other.

Tsunade's growl came again, but this time there was a vampire between us to buffer the sound.

I stared into his eyes and he stared into mine.

My leg came up in a kick, he ducked under it to come up behind me. His cold hand wrapped around my neck.

"Sakura," he whispered my name in my ear. "Such a pretty name."

I tried to buck my hips hard enough away from him so that the rest of my body would follow, but his other hand shot out to take ahold of my belt.

My feet left the ground and shot forward, the same with my arms. He brought us back, leaping far away from my team.

"Time to go." I could hear the smile in his voice as he said the words.

There was a pressure at the back of my neck and then everything started to fade to black. The last thing I saw before the darkness completely took my vision was Tsunade running straight at me, a look of fear on her face.

Never before had I seen such an expression from her.

"What do you mean you brought one back?" came a muffled voice off in the distance. "He's not going to be happy about this."

"Her name is Sakura."

"..."

"I couldn't just leave her there after learning that."

"I still don't think this is going to end well."

Footsteps and then a door creaked open. I kept my eyes shut, my breathing even. If my captors wanted me dead, I'd have been dead long ago. I needed more information, I needed for them to keep talking.

"I can't be sure though, I wasn't there." Now that he was closer, and not muffled from a closed door, I could tell that this voice belonged to the vampire from before; the one who took me.

I held in a flinch when I felt what must be the bed move from him sitting on it. I could feel his aura without needing to look at him, and it made me want to scooch far, far away.

"I hope that it's her," he said. "He could really use some good news."

"I think he'll be mad you put her in danger," the second voice said, which now I could recognize as female. I couldn't tell if this one was vampire or not, but whoever it was had a strong aura about them.

"When's he supposed to be back?"

"It's taking him a long time to shake that warlock. It might be a couple more days. Though I hope he'll be able to come back sooner," the female swooned, her voice filled with infatuation.

The male vampire grunted, possibly out of annoyance.

"Well, we should wake her," he said.

"Whatever, I'm leaving anyway. There's a few more things we need to get to complete the daylight ritual. She's your responsibility now, Suigetsu."

The door closing followed her footsteps as she walked out the room. Suigetsu remained sitting on the bed, I could feel his eyes on me as I lay there.

I kept my eyes shut.

He gave out a sigh and then left the room after another minute of waiting. As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, I opened my eyes.

The room appeared to be ordinary, nothing special stood out about it. Dark walls, simple rug, the bed I was on and a dresser nearby.

Even though it was sparsely decorated, it still felt lived in to me.

My fingers roved across the sheets, my head still on the feathered pillow.

How could I have gotten myself into this situation? On my very first mission, I get kidnapped. How pathetic. After all my boasting, after all my thinking I was better than others, I go and get kidnapped by a vampire.

My fingers clenched, bunching up the sheets in my fist. My arm shook from the force.

I had to get out of here.

Very carefully, as to not make any noise, I moved into a sitting position, noting that all my weapons were missing.

I scanned the room for something to use, anything small that I could swing in my hands. There was a candle on the dresser, the tiny flame the only thing casting light throughout the dark room. The body of the holder was warm beneath my touch. I took the thick candle off and set it down on the dresser directly.

Tiptoeing to the door, I held the holder as if I was wielding a knife.

Beyond the door, I couldn't hear anything. It still made me nervous to move the handle, but I needed to move forward, I couldn't stay in this room waiting for whatever fate these monsters had in store for me.

It lead into a narrow passage, lined infrequently by wall lanterns. The grooves of the rock were bumpy and cool beneath my touch. I kept my hand on the wall as I moved, breathing minimally as I focused on listening to my surroundings.

Where was this place? It was an underground labyrinth! How many tunnels were there?!

The further I went, the more panicked I became. My pace quickened, and I could feel my heart pounding in my ears.

Turning this way and that, I was going crazy looking at all of the same look alike tunnels. Every once in a while, there would be a door. I took extra care to move past those, making little noise, holding my breath, taking big strides to avoid walking in front of the crack at the bottom of the doors.

No one crossed my path, but my biggest problem so far was still finding my way out.

Sweat ran down my neck, dipping below my shirt collar. I felt utterly exposed with none of my weapons, but I wouldn't even know where to begin to look for them. I sure as hell wasn't about to go barging into these random rooms.

"Who are you?"

A chill went through me, but it wasn't for the normal reason that it should have. No, it wasn't because of someone finding me sneaking around and the fear of them putting me back in the room.

No.

The chill came from recognizing that voice.

That deep, dark voice that haunted my memories, my waking thoughts.

It felt like forever before my head was able to turn around, to see where the voice emanated from.

And there he was.

Sasuke Uchiha.