Author: Thanks to all readers who wished me good luck! I'll work hard for my exams! And I updated anyway. (Smiles)

The only girl stared at her own knees, not looking up at either the ex-vampire or the hunter.

The blonde, distraught boy was trying to fight the instinct to walk over to the female and demand for forgiveness, which would be a stupid thing to do if he really did.

The vampire was staring daggers at the hunter, who was doing the same. The one who was neither human nor vampire in the room ran out, whining.

Kiba was unfazed by his escaping dog.

The silence went on about ten minutes.

DONG.

Sakura traced her knee with a finger, listening to the grandfather clock. How long are they going to take? Her tracing became more complex as her feelings started to build up into agitation, in addition to the churning feelings of shock, sadness, and anger that were already present. The once-cheerful girl then realized that she had been experiencing these kinds of unpredictable and negative feelings a lot recently.

Naruto was biting his lower lip. His feelings were similar to Sakura's, but the added element in his emotions was guilt and a sense of desperation. He wanted to be forgiven, but he knew she wouldn't. The thought of his loved one hating him for ever was starting to haunt and taunt him.

Neji and Kiba's feelings were rather obvious, and need no further explanation. Their sense of anger and dislike was evolving into hatred with every passing second.

The miracle that broke the tension in the room finally came in the form of a huge

BANG!

-

Kakashi wiped the sweat from his brow. Temari was coughing, her smoking fan in a corner.

Stakes and holy water were all over the place, and in the middle of the dim room was a circle.

"How did it go?" Shino was at the door, nodding at the smoking circle.

Kakashi managed an exhausted smile.

"Look at this." He pointed to now-glowing circle. "We killed it."

"The monster that was the first vampire…" Shino knelt down and saw ashes. They were charcoal black.

"What an unglamorous ending…"

The trio turned. Neji's eyes were unexpectedly bright.

-

Back to Sasuke. No, no more wailing, banging or screaming, like what he had been doing for the past few hours after realizing his new, unwanted identity.

Sasuke was sitting quietly in a corner, his hands covering his face.

It had been rather confusing. He desired Sakura, he knew. But yet it wasn't him who desired her.

Not the still human side of him, anyway.

The vampirism was taking over, and he couldn't stop himself at all.

I hate myself. I don't want to think about blood. Yet I crave blood.

His ideas were starting to overwhelm him. Sasuke touched the tip of his canine teeth with his tongue, now in a half-daze.

"…What am I going to do?"

He needed time to sort out his thoughts. He wanted to plan what he was going to do.

First things first. Was he going to be killed?

No. That wasn't possible. Kakashi or the others may want to kill him to end his misery—that will definitely a possibility, but Temari wanted to find a cure for humans who've turned into vampires, so he'd probably be part of her experiment. They'll need to keep him alive.

So what next? Was he going to escape?

There may be hope for him if he stays on. Temari is one brilliant girl. But how could she succeed in what generations have tried, and failed? And that is the case-- to succeed is almost an insult.

No, that's not right.

Temari had claimed that her grandfather had managed to succeed in finding the formula. But that formula was never made known, even to his sons. (Check Chapter 7)

There may be a ray of hope after all…?

"…Sasuke…?"

Sasuke kept silent, his nose picking up her scent. That troublesome woman! How did she find his room?

Sakura stood, pausing. Then she leaned against the door, her eyes looking at the delicate carved tiles which decorated the ground.

"Sasuke." She whispered. "Have you… Have you…" She swallowed nervously. "I know this is… may be a taboo topic to you but I… just felt…"

She's whispering. It wasn't a problem though. Sasuke walked to the closed door and leaned against it like what Sakura was doing, and listened.

Sakura took a deep breath and continued shakily. "You're… no longer… a human…?"

A pale hand slowly clenched into a fist. How did she know?
On the other side of the room, the pink-haired girl was holding both of her hands tightly, as though it would provide some sort of stress-relief to her troubled words.

"I'm sorry… I just felt. You…You gave off that same…I don't know… aura as the vampire that attacked me." Naruto, she added mentally.

"I blamed you for… saying that Naruto was the vampire." She burst out. "I've apologized, but I'd like to apologize again. I'm sorry that I didn't believe you… and saying… all those nasty words."

Sasuke opened his mouth.

"I know you're going to say that you don't care!" Sakura shouted out loud, wincing slightly at the memory.

Her sentence stopped what Sasuke was going to say, which was, coincidentally what he had told her before—"I don't care."

"Even though I'm just a victim to you…ha-ha…" Sakura laughed weakly. "We don't even know each other that well… but… I'm… worried about you."

She grasped her hands tighter. "Though it seems sudden… but…I think… I've…"

Sakura felt the door opening and moved.

Sasuke stood, his eyes blank.

"I've become a vampire, Sakura." He said, his voice throaty, expecting her to gasp in shock and ran away. The further the better.

Sakura didn't. She stared at him, both-jade-coloured eyes blinking at him through the dim light.

"You won't. You still have your hunter job."

"What pride do I have left as hunter?" Sasuke laughed, though his laugh was not as weak as Sakura's. "I'll go mad. And then they'll kill me."

His onyx eyes narrowed. "No…" He hissed. "I won't let them."

The girl didn't move.

"Go away." He snarled. I don't want to hurt you.

The stubborn girl still didn't move.

"GO AWAY!" Fangs started to sprout out automatically. Sasuke wanted to scare her. Make her hate him.

Go on. Make her hate you.

He grabbed her shoulders roughly and pulled her towards him. "You're going to regret coming to me." He pushed away her hair and placed his mouth just next to her throat.

"You can't bite me. You won't do it." Sakura said, not fighting him. Instead, she placed her arms around his shaking shoulders.

"Because you're Sasuke."

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