DAWN

Like every other morning, the sun rose. Rays of its' warm light spread throughout the entire village, signaling to the world that it was time to awake from their slumber and begin a new day.

For one girl, she wished there wouldn't even be another day.

Michiko sniffled and wiped her tear-streaked face with the back of her bleeding hand. She hadn't slept the entire night, though her partner had gone to sleep right after the orgasm came and left. Sasuke had simply yawned, climbed to the other side of the bed, and said sleepily "Just stay here for the night."

Michiko looked down at the bed sheets and shuddered; they were covered in fresh blood. Making love was always portrayed as being passionate, intimate, and full of unmatched pleasure. No one had ever mentioned excruciating pain and blood.

She held her arms over her stomach and closed her eyes tightly to keep from crying again. She had held down the vomit all morning and the bitter taste of vile was filling her mouth. Blood and vomiting…and not to mention a guy who showed no consideration or sensitivity. She had told him to stop…but he kept going, digging his nails into her wounded arm and causing more blood to flow onto the already stained bed sheets.

Michiko grabbed the comforter and stuffed it between her legs; thick crimson liquid began pouring onto the cotton immediately. 'I…I just want to go home.'

Unfortunately, one of the many things that she missed out on that most teenage girls partook in were sleepovers. No one came to her house and she certainly wasn't allowed to stay a whole twenty-four hours at another's home. On top of her gurgling stomach, homesickness was hitting Michiko hard as well.

"Why are you crying?"

Michiko sniffed and looked at the lump next to her that was Sasuke, who was still lying down with his back facing her. "What?"

Sasuke remained with his face turned away from her. "Was it really that bad?"

Michiko shuddered. "It's hard to believe…that I'm not a virgin anymore. I promised my mother…that I would abstain."

"What can I say?" Sasuke said gruffly. "Once you took your necklace off, you were fair game." He finally turned over on his side and faced her, brows raised. "Isn't that what you wanted, to be more 'wild'?"

Michiko frowned at the taunt but didn't respond. Once again, he was right: she wanted to be live life more freely, and this is what she got. Even she couldn't deny that it was exciting and different.

"You know," Sasuke said, picking at his fingernail. "That was kinda like my first time, too."

"Huh?"

"Because, you know…" He shrugged. "That was my first time doing it with a girl."

"Oh…so does that mean…" Michiko bit her lip. "Were you nervous too?"

Sasuke nodded. "Well yeah. You have a very different body than Naruto." He winced and rubbed his thigh. "And you were a lot tighter, too." He saw the girl's confused expression and added, "That's a good thing."

A small smile tugged at Michiko's cheeks. At least she was of some use to the man she adored.

"That was your first night away from your brother, wasn't it?"

Michiko blushed lightly. "How'd you know?"

"You were showing all the symptoms of homesickness: crying, squirming around a lot, not sleeping…" Sasuke sighed. "I used to do that a lot…after something happened a long time ago."

Michiko leaned forward and laid her hand on his. "What was it, Sasuke-sama?"

Sasuke glared at her. "It's really none of your damn business, is it?" He said coldly.

Michiko pulled her hand away, taken aback by his animosity. "I…I care about you...more than you'll ever know," she said quietly.

Sasuke looked away. "If you truly care about me, you'll let me keep my privacy."

Tears began to form in Michiko's eyes again. "S-S-Sasuke-sama, I-I would spill my heart out to you, but you won't tell me anything. It's like I hardly know you at all."

Sasuke glanced at her. "Tell you what, if you stop crying, we'll talk, okay? But you get to start."

Michiko took a heaving breath and finally plopped back down in the pillows. "Okay."

"So…your family…"

Michiko cleared her throat. "Well, there's me, Naoki, and my mother."

"What about your father?"

Michiko breathed in deeply, ashamed. "My parents were never married. After my father found out that I came out as a girl, he left." She laughed quietly. "He didn't want a daughter. He thought that women were useless except for popping out sons."

Sasuke whistled. "Wow, I thought you're family would be ultra religious."

Michiko shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Mom converted after my father left. She said she was sick of trouble…" She stopped for a second before continuing. "But then she got a boyfriend."

Sasuke scratched his head. "Neh, I've heard worse."

Michiko rested her chin on her knees. "Her boyfriend…was a bastard. He hit my mother a lot, he threw cigarette ash in Naoki's eyes, he…" She hesitated.

"He what?"

Michiko closed her eyes and grimaced. "He touched me in uncomfortable places."

Sasuke scooted closer to the girl. "Why didn't your mother do anything?"

"Because she wanted to have a happy and complete family."

"Mmm…" Sasuke stretched his arms, climbed off the bed, and wrapped one of the blood-stained sheets around his waist. "If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that you don't need your family to be happy." He started to walk to the closed door. "You just need someone to love you."

Before he could leave the room, Michiko said "S-Sasuke-sama?"

He turned around. "Yes…Michiko?"

Michiko traced her fingers around the stitching on the comforter. "You're right: I don't need Naoki or my mother…but I do need you." She looked at him intently. "I love you Sasuke-sama, and all I want is for you to love me back." Her lip trembled. "Please say you love me."

Sasuke returned her stare before opening the bedroom door. "I don't know how I feel quite yet."

"B-but we…we made love just last night!" Michiko said shrilly.

Sasuke took a step outside the door. "Just because we made love doesn't mean that I love you."

With that said, he shut the door behind him, leaving a confused and heartbroken girl in his wake.

Naoki blew smoke out of his mouth and leaned back in the old wooden chair. He smoked when he was sad, lonely, or extremely angry. At that moment, he was more than extremely angry.

"Stupid little bitch didn't come home last night," he muttered, rubbing the stub of the cigarette on top of the table. "And on top of that…" He picked up the newspaper next to the small pile of ash and growled. "There's this shit going around."

There was an article on the front page: Village in Bloodbath from SIN. Apparently, just in the last few hours countless murders of young children and women had occurred. By each of the mangled corpses was a small piece of paper with the word 'SIN' written in red paint.

Naoki reached into his pocket and pulled out the pack of cigarettes, his eyes scanning over the article once more. "This is obviously a corrupt and not to mention sick being doing these terrible acts," he read. "No wonder the murderer left behind a piece of paper with the word 'SIN' on it. ANBU forces were dispatched to capture the culprit ASAP." He slammed the paper down. "Little fucker…using our good name to do their dirty deeds."

He sighed as three loud knocks on the door resounded throughout the small, dark room. "What do you want, Shinji?"

The door opened and beams of light entered the room as the young man stepped inside. "Did she come back?"

Naoki rubbed his temples and sighed. "No."

Shinji shut the door behind him. "Have you read-"

Naoki gestured towards the paper. "You mean that?"

The other man walked towards the desk and rested his hands on the edge. "You think Michiko has something to do with this?"

"No, I tell her when she needs to take drastic actions."

Shinji leaned forward, teeth barred. "Then who the hell is it? If we don't find out soon, our cover will be blown-"

"I already know," Naoki said calmly, putting the cigarette between his lips and lighting it. He took a long draft and blew out a cloud of smoke in Shinji's face. "It's the Uzumaki kid."