Now that I'm just so happy that Hinata's still alive, I'm going to write! Music was Breaking Benjamin, Marianas Trench, and the Goo Goo Dolls. Ignore the fucked-up mix of music. Seriously. I don't know what's wrong with me, either.

Disclaimer: Did you know, I'm starting to get sick of these…

Dedication: To going to Italy. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

---

Kendra, still smiling, raised her eyes to Sasuke. She stared at him curiously curious-curious-like-a-cat-waiting-for-a-mouse, and whispered "Kaeleo?"

As I watched in fascinated horror, Sasuke's eyes glazed over as the two men in Sasuke's body fought for control.

Kaeleo won, hands down, because when he spoke next, it wasn't in Sasuke's normal voice-tone, but a formal, almost aloof voice. "Kendra, my dear…"

She looked at him strangely at him, like she was contemplating an infinitesimally large piece of the universe. Maybe she was.

Then she raised the little crystal phial, and tossed it to him. He caught it, midair, and I watched it shine in his fist for a moment. Unknown terror seized me, and I almost grabbed it out of his hand, but by the time I reached for it, he had uncorked it, and knocked whatever was in it back.

I wanted to scream, but I closed my throat off as Kaeleo and Sasuke both swayed a little. They (well, I guess they were a they… they might have shared a body, but they really didn't like each other…) shuddered, and then they collapsed.

Kendra looked down at the two of them, no pity on her face.

"What did you do to him?!" I whipped around, and screeched at her.

She smiled slowly. "Nothing that will kill them."

She emphasized the 'them', and I immediately got suspicious. There was something off about that statement… Something really weird.

"Fine. What did you do to them?"

She leaned her head on her hand, and she smiled again, her fangs curving over her bottom lips, and I was reminded of a dream -or was it a memory?- from a long time ago. Then again, it might not have even been that long ago.

"I suppose I owe you an explanation."

"Yeah, y'think?!"

"I'll only explain in private."

I twitched. Not cool. I didn't trust her, and she didn't trust me, but we both lov -liked a version of the boy lying on the floor.

Someone touched my shoulder -large hand, thick knuckles, calluses. I guessed Naruto, and when I heard the voice, I figured I'd picked right. "We'll leave, Sakura. I think this is a little big for us."

"I won't be long," I whispered, but I knew I needed this. There was too much I didn't understand. There was too much that I didn't understand that I needed to understand.

And then the presence of the only friendly beings was gone.

I felt very alone.

So I knelt down next to Sasuke, and I brushed my fingers across his forehead. He groaned, and fear gripped me again. What had that crazy bitch done to him?!

"Help me get them up," her voice was quiet, across his body. "We need to get them into the other room. Come along."

I clenched my jaw, and helped the red-headed leech pull Sasuke up. His head lolled on his shoulder, and a thread of foreboding attacked me again. I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.

"Damn," I hissed, and lugged him up. "Sasuke, you gotta lose some weight, you're fat."

She chuckled softly, bitterly, and helped me drag his unresponsive body into a side room I'd never seen before.

It was a high-vaulted room, with almost-gothic-church style arches disappearing into the gloom that was the ceiling. There was very little light, but it all seemed to be emanating from a podium in the middle of the room. It was strange light, the same kind of light that had glittered out of the crystal phial, and all I could think was 'How the hell did they manage to fit something like this in here?!'

"Kendra… what the hell is this?!"

She turned her gaze to me, her eyes tired. "This, little one, is my past, my present, and my future. And yours, too. Help me get them over here; we need to get them on the other bed…"

I complied, suddenly feeling a lot more comfortable. In a fight, I could obliterate her. I was packing guns, silver knives, and a pissy attitude, and we both knew it. So this wasn't about who was stronger.

We pulled Sasuke up the podium steps, and I was presented with the weirdest sight I've ever seen in my life.

There was a bed on the top of the podium. Actually, there were two, but only one had a person in it. It was a guy, and he couldn't have been much older then Sasuke was. His hair was a light-honey-coloured, corn-silk blond, and it was strangely longish, falling limply across his eyes. Every one of his features was aristocratic to the extreme, and I watched as Kendra gently touched his cheek, the most terrible, broken tenderness in her eyes.

My breath left my lungs in a rush. Kaeleo.

So that's what he looked like. Personally, I didn't find him that attractive. I can see how other people might; he was almost beautiful, but it just didn't attract me. I glanced at Sasuke, his head still lolling on my shoulder, unsupported.

"Kendra, what am I supposed to do with him?"

She blinked, taken aback, but carefully directed me to put him on the other bed. I shoved him there, and made sure he wouldn't fall off.

I didn't realize that while I'd been making sure Sasuke didn't fall off the weird little podium-bed, Kendra had been fluttering around, and fixing things, and strangely enough, wincing.

And she kept whispering a mantra that I couldn't quite hear, but it sounded like "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…"

With a last wince, she motioned for me to follow her out of the room where'd I'd left Sasuke. I was loath to leave him alone, but I managed it. I followed her out, and she closed the door behind me with a soft 'click'.

"Kendra, you owe me an explanation, and you damn well know it."

She sighed softly. "I suppose I do." Her voice was wintry wind and dead leaves on pavement, and I suddenly wondered what sort of things she'd seen in her life.

"Come and sit down," she motioned towards a sturdy-looking table sitting in the middle of the room. I did.

"There is much that you don't know, Sakura Haruno. But I suppose I should start there."

I gasped when she said my real last name. How did she know that?!

"I was born in 1793, to a pair of fairly wealthy parents, of Irish descent. That is where my hair colour is from, and my eyes were naturally greenish gray. As a human girl, I knew it would be my fate to marry and have children. And I was right. That's what happened. I was married to a man twice my age, one whom I did not love, when I turned fourteen. And I was soon pregnant thereafter."

She was staring into the distance, an odd look on her face. It was like she was remembering a particularly unpleasant scenario.

"Nine months of pure stupor, that is what pregnancy is. But eventually, I birthed a beautiful little girl, with hair as red-gold as any sunset I have ever seen, and eyes the colour of the summer sky. She was… the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. And I loved her. I may not have loved the father, but the daughter, certainly. She was my pride and joy. Her name was May."

"It was late November, cold and rainy, and deep in the evening. I had just turned seventeen, and that day I was out shopping for groceries, in the middle of New York City, all alone."

She shook her head ruefully.

"I was foolish, little one, foolish and naïve. I should not been alone. Even then, New York was a dangerous place, especially for a woman alone. And I was considered a woman, then. I was considered full-grown, from the day I first held life in my arms. You girls today are… so very lucky. But, then again… that is not relevant to this conversation."

"I got changed that night, and as immortal blood trickled through my veins, I knew I would never see my darling little girl again, not as her mother. My husband searched frantically for me, but he never found me. I learned quickly; too quickly, perhaps, that the world is hard place. I watched from the shadows as my daughter grew up, and she found a man who loved her for her, which made me happier then I can ever express."

I really wanted to interrupt. What the hell did this have to do with me?

She smiled at me, seeing where my though process was going. "The man she married belonged to a very powerful sect of vampire hunters, but I didn't know it at the time. If I had, I would have killed him on the spot. I should never have allowed her to become so immersed in so much that was dangerous. But it happened."

"Ten years after that, I met Kaeleo for the first time. I was already heading the noble line I'd been inducted to, my older sister never having wanted it, and then there was suddenly this boy," she said the word with distaste "Who had the audacity to think that he was better then me."

"We didn't like each other at all, little one. It lasted a very long time, because to us, we who live so long, your human years mean very little. It reminds me very much of Kethryn and Jason's relationship; it held that same quality of I-hate-you-you-hate-me-let's-agree-to-disagree. It lasted forever, and yet, it didn't last so long, at all."

I blinked at her sad smile. "What happened?"

I was already too entranced by her story not to ask the very obvious question. I love stories; I always have, and hers was… interesting, to say the least.

"A war happened. The First World War, to be precise. It very nearly took him away from me, as well as several others. I was devastated. Our race was decimated, little one. So many died… You may think we are unfeeling monsters, but we are not. We simply feed a different way then you humans do; there is nothing barbaric about it. We drink to survive."

She shook her head again, and just as she was about to start speaking, a gargled half-yell tore through my ears. It was Sasuke's voice, and I whipped myself around, and raced towards the door.

It was locked. Bitch.

"Let me see him."

"Them. And I can not do that. There's nothing either of us can do to spare them the pain of this. It has to happen, Sakura. Do you not see?"

"What have you done?!"

"I'm doing what is only right. I'm separating them. It was not even my choice. It was Kaeleo's. He does not want to die with that boy, nor does he want to forcibly make to boy choose ever-lasting life. Kaeleo is not cruel."

My hand clenched around the locked doorknob, and my knuckles whitened. "What?!"

"It was the only choice. Neither you nor I would have simply allowed them both to die. And that is what would have happened. The human body is not built for two people, two minds, two hearts. Kaeleo was killing the boy, and the boy was killing Kaeleo."

There was determined sorrow on her face. "And I will not allow another person I love to die. I refuse to allow it to happen."

I looked at her. "We're a lot alike, you and I, did you know?"

"Yes, I should think we are. Now, come back and sit down again. My tale is not yet complete."

"Will he scream more?" The words forced themselves past my lips; I had no say in the matter.

"They may very well scream more. It is not a happy experience, forcing someone from one's mind. But then, of course, it will be no worse then what they experienced when the boy and Kaeleo merged in the first place."

I set my jaw, nodded, and went and sat back down at the table.

"I told you that the war nearly destroyed us, yes?"

I nodded once.

"Wonderful. So, after the war, Kaeleo and I…, and Jason, too, although he was still so young at the time, we decided that it was better to be together, than to not be together. It was less painful. The war very nearly destroyed both our sanities, and it left us desperate for contact of any kind, especially with those of our own race. We found the remaining line heads, the ones that were living, and we started to rebuild everything we ever had."

"There were thirteen lines, once. Thirteen lines. That first war, as I've said, nearly destroyed us, in more ways then one. Mentally, for sure, but it decimated our numbers. The five surviving line heads went about finding proper humans to change, to repopulate our lines."

"Proper?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She raised one in return. "But, of course. Your kind does not allow random humans to take the training required to become one of your own. There must be a - a spark, do you understand? There must be a light, of sorts. That person must shine. And there are so few that shine the way a noble is expected to shine."

Another terrible scream rent the room, and I gritted my teeth together. I would control the urge to run bawling to his side. I would control it.

Kendra had the grace to wince. "They are in such pain… But they will both be better off for it, once they are through."

"How long will it last?"

"The rest of the day, at the most."

I closed my eyes, took a deep, steadying breath, and urged her to continue. "Go on, I'm not done hearing this story."

She half-smiled. "You are learning. Slowly, perhaps, but you do learn, I will give you that. I spoke of the thirteen lines, and… ah, yes."

"I went and looked for my daughter's daughter. Her husband had been killed in the war, and I searched frantically for my granddaughter any others that shared her blood. I wanted to know her, to know the two of them. I thought it unfair that everything I had ever wanted had been snatched from me. When I did finally find them, all I found was grief. My granddaughter was dead, having aged and died from grief, herself. My great-granddaughter looked very much like her mother, and she had a little boy with her, at the cemetery where I first met them."

"The child was my great-great-grandson. You have no idea, little one, what it is like to cross generations the way I have. I do not age. I do not forget. I have been here so very, very long… It is tiring. Kaeleo… perhaps he did not understand my pain, but he understood that that little boy should have belonged to me. Or, at least, I felt it to be so."

"But that little boy was already learning to hunt, from his mother. And he had that spark that a noble needed. I wanted to change him. I never got the chance. The Second World War took hold of the planet, and this time we were careful. We rarely went out, and we carefully protected ourselves. The leaders of the lines stayed in careful contact. Jagh's mother passed away some years after that; she was killed by her previous human husband."

"It was a sad thing, that funeral. Illiana was a strong leader."

My throat constricted. Illiana… that had been Kakashi's mothers name. What the hell… I mean, it's not a common name… it couldn't be the same woman, could it?

"However, I think she was glad to go… she apparently had another son, before she had been changed. It broke my heart to hear her speak of that little boy…"

She stopped, and looked at me intensely. "You think of us as monsters, killing to simply satiate ourselves. But do humans not do the same thing? You kill because you fear. We do not justify our killing. We see no reason to. We kill because it is our right to kill, just as it is your right to kill us. But we have no morals on the issue. Food is food."

She was avoiding the topic.

"What about your great-great-grandson?" I asked, somehow knowing that she wanted to avoid that subject completely.

She sighed. "He was your great-grandfather, little one."

---

I gaped at her. "No way."

She nodded. "What reason would I have to lie?"

I blinked at her. "That's really freakin' weird."

"I suppose so. It is an odd little thing, that we are related by some means… is it not?"

I nodded, strangely unsurprised. It was no wonder she reminded me so much of my mother… They were related, even though the blood line may have been diluted.

I shook my head in wonder. "Well, now we have the fact that I'm somehow… related… to you, what next? Because I kind of have a problem with being turned into a leech. I have a policy against it. And I still want to know why the hell you didn't go after Kabuto on your own."

She half-shrugged. "I have no wish to turn you. And I doubt you'd let me. I take it you'd kill yourself before you let yourself become one of us?"

I glared at her, and she smiled.

"That's what I thought. And as for Kabuto…" She abruptly changed the subject. "You have noticed, perhaps, that my race has become diluted, become stupid?"

I nodded slowly, remembering that she'd said he'd been tampering with their… natures?

"He has been using them as test subjects, injecting them with our equivalent of a steroid."

I was surprised she even knew what a steroid was.

"And there are other things. He is simply evil; as I'm sure your adoptive mother would agree. He is also a distasteful person, and I refuse to allow him to live. As to why I can not destroy him myself…"

Here, she paused, and smiled coldly. "I do not have the means to dispose of him. I have no qualms about killing my own race, but he has made it fairly clear that if I personally try to annihilate him, he will have everything I care about destroyed, starting with Kethryn and Storm. And those two have only started living. They do not deserve to have life taken away from them so early."

I just blinked at her. "You're so… human."

She nodded slightly. "It is the curse of the noble lines. We keep our human minds, and everything is, at worst, coldly clear to us. We balk at certain things, and find others easy to disregard. Everything is more real, to us. It makes it harder to ignore cruelty."

She closed her eyes. "We are many things, but not cruel. Never cruel."

I snorted. "Silver's cruel." Cruel-like-ice-in-the-middle-of-the-winter…

"He misses Argent, but Silver is a rare breed. It's the blood he has; it's more aggressive."

"And he's just an asshole," I muttered under my breath.

She nodded again, this time with a sharp, bitter laugh. "Yes, that he is."

I blinked at her. "There's a story there. I know it."

"Another time, perhaps."

"No, now. I have to wait here all day for Sasuke to wake up, because I'm not leaving him alone, so I might as well have some fun with it. What happened between you two?"

Her eyes went flinty. "Let us just say that I refuse to allow the council to have its way, and that is all I'm willing to tell you on that subject. Perhaps you ought to ask Silver." She spat his name. "He will undoubtedly tell you."

I smirked. "I'm pretty sure there are plenty of other things he can tell me, as well."

She smirked right back at me. "The question is not whether he could, it's whether he would."

I blinked. "Good point. Silver and I don't exactly get along all that well…"

"That is what I thought."

---

The day passed quickly; after I had left the others know exactly what was going on. I didn't tell them that I was related to the crazy red-head, because I almost found it to be personal information. And really, I had no desire to share that much personal information.

Hinata noticed something though, I think. She had given me one of her I-am-going-to-find-out-exactly-what's-wrong-with-you-as-soon-as-I-get-you-alone-and-then-I-am-going-to-kill-you-for-not-telling-me-sooner looks. I didn't doubt it, either.

Hinata's scary when she's mad.

I checked the time. And then I blinked in astonishment.

The day was gone; I must have fallen asleep and slept the day away. Hell, I had been exhausted…

But seriously, that's bad. I'm surprised I'm still alive.

I'm not exactly the safest of person to be allowed to live. Kendra must have had something to do with this; because I know for a fact that if Silver had known I was in here, and asleep, and vulnerable, I would not still be alive.

We hate each other enough to not waste a chance like that.

I groaned as I stretched my arms, and I was satisfied to hear several loud-ish 'pops' as my back cracked in several places. It felt lovely. I stood up, and went and checked the door to that had kept me from seeing Sasuke before this. I pushed on it.

It was still locked. I snarled.

Fuck it.

I pulled out my pistol, and blew the door handle off the door. It disappeared with a satisfying crash.

Without the lock, the door was just a door, and I kicked it open. I was pissed off. I was going to see Sasuke, whether they liked it or not. I had the right.

I ascended the stairs of the podium, and sat down next to Sasuke, on the edge of the nbed-thing.

The emotions playing across his sleeping face didn't seem very happy. In fact, with the way he was gritting his teeth, they seemed really painful. I gently touched his hair, and his eyes snapped open.

"Sakura…" he breathed, and then he lurched up into a sitting position on the bed, and wrapped his arms around me. I blinked, and hugged him back. Sasuke's not normally this… touchy-feely.

"Thank god, you're alright…" he whispered into my neck.

I blinked at the terrified tone of voice he was speaking in. "Sasuke, of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I had… dreams. Bad dreams. Painful dreams."

"About what?" I asked, my voice very soft, reassuring him that I was, in fact, fine. Sure, I'd been annoyed as hell, but I hadn't been hurt.

"You. Kaeleo. Some girl with red hair. My brother. But mostly you."

"And they were painful… why?"

"You kept dying," he chuckled mirthlessly. "And I couldn't save you."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I very carefully leaned down, and kissed him gently on the forehead. "I'm not going to die."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause I got stuff to do. I can't die yet."

He wrapped his arms around me again, and pulled me down, to lie next to him. We were so close…

"You better not die."

"I won't." I whispered, and tucked my head underneath his chin. I was still so tired…

"Would you two quit it? I don't wish to be sick. Kendra might not be very happy with you," a bored, aloof voice broke through the soft reverie we were in, and both Sasuke and I sat up at the same time, to glare at Kaeleo.

He was back in his body, and he didn't look worse for wear. He was just staring at us like he had nothing else interesting to stare at.

I reexamined him. He still wasn't my idea of attractive, with all that blond hair, and those red red-red-red-as-the-blood-in-Silver's-glass-red eyes. He creeped me out. He just creeped me right out of my mind.

He looked directly at Sasuke. "You do realize that you still annoy me, correct?"

Sasuke sneered at him. "Of course. My sentiments exactly."

"Then we understand each other, on the subject that we spoke about yesterday."

"Yes."

"Good." Then he hauled himself off the bed, obviously not used to having to support a body the way the rest of us did, everyday.

I looked back at Sasuke, who was also forcing himself off the bed.

"Let's get out of here," was what he said, and I nodded in agreement. That place still gave me the creeps.

And getting out of there alive was the only thing on my mind.