A ribbon of smokescreen faded to reveal the Black Room, shifting and moving to synchronize into a plausible reality. Faint and disoriented, Sakura glanced up, seeing her personified subconscious with his back turned. A crisp pop, the cork jumped from the neck of the bottle. He was pouring yet another glass of signature blood.
Her blood.
"I realized something," she reported, aiming to blurt out any stream of consciousness left in her. "I only end up here when I'm dying… or dead."
"Mostly true." He drank and licked his stained lips. "Sometimes your mind wanders here when you're asleep… but that's rare." Dead or not, Sakura still felt the tingles rush under her skin from the irresistible sight. Damn it all. She also noticed he was being quite talkative today – the normal kind of talkative, none of the inauspicious commentary and the hungry look in his eyes. A dream where she wouldn't die for once? That was a change.
"So, am I really dead this time?" Sakura asked, exasperated. "Or are you going to lunge at me AGAIN? It's exhausting being dead one minute and then alive the next, then being on the brink of death five minutes after that. Like, come on, make up your mind." Vehemently, she threw her hands up in the air.
"I feel like… I'm not in control of myself anymore," she added, looking to her counterpart for any sign of sympathy, but in its place, a perilous smile twitched along his lips. Her own nails dug into her skin as her fists tighten. "I'm guessing you know more about this than I do."
"Everyone has secrets, Sakura… The less you know, the better."
Veins throbbing, she stood and slammed her open palms against the table. "Why are you acting like you're protecting me? I never asked anyone to protect me, or to lie to my face, or to play pretend like I'm a five year old who can't handle the truth. I want to know what this so-called 'secret' is. And it's not that much of a secret apparently, because everyone is in on it. But – oh wait – ME."
"Are you always this overdramatic?" He may be talkative today, but at this very moment, it wasn't a good thing. She wasn't getting anywhere! Her face scrunched in anger before lowering herself into her seat.
"Listen," he grunted, massaging his temples. "There are… secrets of yours that even you wouldn't want to acknowledge."
"Well, I'm curious. So hit me. I can handle secrets, especially if it's my own, right? What is my deep, dark secret then?" she challenged, but it was no joking matter.
He interlaced his fingers as he planted his elbows on the table. There was something more to this world than the human eye can see. Now that she had a glimpse of this alternate reality, it couldn't be helped – she needed to know. Sakura was no longer a bystander; she was a victim and a survivor. The vampire world pulled her in but every little detail was jumbled up into nonsense. This charade to keep this hidden world a secret was starting to fall apart; pieces of the puzzle were scattering all over the floor.
It was time for them to finally make sense.
"Fine, let's talk."
[15] The Curiosity
Sakura opened her eyes and first saw the white ceiling above her head. Bright lights ahead embraced her as she prepared herself for every kind of pain known to man. She tried to sit up, but she did so with ease. The recovery process wasn't as brutal as she expected. Her eyes tried to take in her surroundings. The fog of colors began to clear, showing the faces of those standing around her.
Naruto. "Wow, she is awake!" he spoke with an outdoor voice. She flinched, her ears still sensitive to the noise. Naruto rocked back and forth on his backwards chair. It clanked repulsively against the floor. "How'd you know Sakura'd be okay?"
Neji. "This is not the first time this happened…" His cloudless eyes were downcast and subtly irked for some unknown reason.
Hinata. "Are you okay?" she asked softly, leaning forward. A tender hand touched Sakura's forehead. Sakura was too exhausted to react. "You're warming up… that's good."
Sasuke…? "Where's…Sasuke…?" Her coarse voice sounded foreign to her own ears. The minute she opened her mouth, a fleeting shadow glided out of the room. A slamming door followed.
Then came the awkward silence.
"…"
Naruto curled his hand into a fist and jabbed it against the back of his chair.
"Bastard…" he growled under his breath, but the silence picked up on it and vibrated the words across the room. The world seemed dead for the longest time. Then, Hinata sighed and sat at the edge of the bed.
"We're in the nurse's office. Y-You fainted in the bathroom an hour ago," she said so delicately as if Sakura would've shattered into a million pieces if she spoke otherwise. She could've been telling someone they had every type of cancer in the world, and it would still be okay. Hinata had that kind of influence. "Naruto told me what happened…"
A trace of malice twinkled in sapphire eyes. Sakura never noticed it before and yet it was so familiar. Almost misplaced, considering Naruto was the friendliest person she had ever known.
"How… did you know where we were?" Sakura questioned Naruto, who was still straddling his seat. A stream of questions swarmed in her mind. "And how were you able to get Sasuke off me, because he's really strong and you were able to hold him back too, and you came in so fast…and everything happened so fast, I thought I was going to die… and…"
"Everyone has secrets, Sakura… The less you know…"
More pieces were fitting together.
"…the better."
"Oh my god."
Her frail human heart skipped a beat. Blood rushed to her head and the crashing ring in her ears was driving her off the edge as it swallowed up every other sound in the space. She looked at the pale, unmoving faces of everyone in the room.
Only one word formed in her mind.
"Vampire… You're a vampire…," she uttered, directed at Naruto. The voice was quiet and cautious, afraid to be right. He didn't answer, but the look on his face gave it away.
It was the guilt that was incriminating.
"Oh my god."
It was a truth that would kill her.
"Neji…? Hinata… you too? There's no way… You're all vampires?"
"Hinata's only a dhampir – a half-breed," Neji explained efficiently, ignoring the shock value of her entire revelation. Sakura still had her mouth agape, but he calmly placed his back against the wall and continued on. "We may be vampires, but we're not interested in bringing any harm."
"P-Please don't be afraid. We want to help you," Hinata said with upmost sincerity. She took Sakura's hands in her own and pleaded with her crystal clear eyes. Sakura wanted to pull away, but Hinata had the warmest hands… They still felt so human, but…
Her best friend was a dhampir. A half-vampire?
This can't be happening.
.
"He's in psycho mode…," Naruto referred to Sasuke as he scratched the back of his head, still uncomfortable with the situation. "And he's being a HUGE pain in the ass."
"How long has he been like this?" asked Neji with a furrowed brow. On the side, Sakura barely made eye contact with the girl holding her hands. It was too much; enough to generate another hysteric episode, but she tried her best to keep the crazy at bay. So far, up was still up and left wasn't right. That was a good sign.
"Like at first, he was being the normal, emo-bastard he is. Then he started gettin' weird," Naruto recalled.
"Weird, how? Details, Naruto."
"Weird, like, he'd be gone for hours 'nd hours, and I never knew what he'd be doing. I thought he was writing some sad, kill-yourself poetry in the park or whatever emos do these days. But then he'd come back smelling like blood and guts all the time. And now, he's feeding off his friends. That's just wrong! You don't see ME sucking on Kiba, do ya? …W-Wait, you know what I mean." Sakura heard this, but kept quiet, feeling three sets of eyes looking at her. Instead, the bed sheets became her primary focus.
"He can do even worse, Uzumaki… He's out of control."
"It's not like he's not leaving limbs lying around for the whole world to see. He's just feeding… a lot… and on the wrong people. He definitely has a loose screw somewhere in that head of his, but he's not–"
"Gluttony and greed are ultimate sins. Unforgivable. If he keeps acting this way, we will have to report him. At the rate he's going, it's predictable what will happen to him or to us if he slips up. And he will slip up," Neji declared, looking at health posters pinned on the corkboard. Naruto lowered his astringent gaze, but said nothing. Ultimately, Neji was right, but Naruto did not want to acknowledge the sinful path Sasuke chose. Hinata shot her cousin a look, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
"Report him? The police can't do anything. He's a vampire," Sakura thrown in, trying to contribute, trying to feel useful.
"Yeaaaah… but he's not talking 'bout the police, Sakura…"
"The Kages, the proficient leaders of the vampire world. They are the ones who need to be notified. They have the power to keep vampires in check and it's their job to evaluate his sins and they determine his punishment."
"Hahaha! Wait, wait, wait a minute. Am I dreaming?" Sakura murmured with an empty, cynical voice. "Or hallucinating…? Again?"
There was no way this was real. Kages? Leaders of the vampire world? Dhampirs? A vampire subconscious? One vampire was bad enough. But 3 and a half, plus their reigning kings and queens? The room may not be spinning out of control, but her mind definitely was.
This is just another one of my episodes…
Too much crazy for one day, hahaha…
Yeah, that's it.
This isn't real. This isn't real…
"It must be a lot to take in… all of a sudden, too," Hinata sympathized, watching the poor girl's face change from fearful to confused to hysterical. Eccentrically, Sakura's eyes darted around the room and the action only made her look even crazier if it were possible. But time was running out and action needed to be taken. Neji needed to come in with a bitter reality check
"You are in the middle of this now, Haruno. If you do not want to accept it, you have Uchiha to blame for every circle of hell he put you through."
The only thing she heard: Blame Sasuke for everything.
Sounds good to me.
Kakashi admired the craftsmanship of the crossbow in his hand. The smooth, glimmering finish, the fastened components. He placed the stock against his shoulder and aimed through the aperture sight. All he needed was to load a sharpened stake, and he'd be back in business. He was eager to try it out.
He reached on the shelf for a dark, unpolished stake and loaded it into the bow. He practiced aiming around the room until the trigger went off, accidentally sending the spear whizzing through the air. Yamato, in the line of trajectory, luckily and ungracefully hopped out of the way and threw an uncharacteristic glare at his friend. A droplet of sweat rolled down the masked man's face.
"That was a close one," Yamato said bitterly, taking the crossbow away and dusting it off.
"In my defense, I never used a crossbow before." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders.
"You're losing your touch…"
"Modern hunters use guns, Yamato."
"Then wooden bullets can do the trick." Yamato reached and pulled down a jar of his best work. Kakashi held one piece between his fingers. "And be careful."
"Yeah, Yeah…" Kakashi remained passive to his partner's patronizing tone. "They're impressive." Kakashi tossed the bullet in the air and caught it nicely. "But I decided I'm not killing my target just yet. As I'm sure you know, vampires are tribal creatures. When there's one, there's many… And Konoha seems to be crawling with them lately. Did you see the news?"
"Missing persons have gone up all around the city. A mysterious 'animal attack' reported at the medical center. Low 40s for the rest of the week," Yamato recited aloud. With leather gloves snug against his fingers, he measured out pieces of wood. The jar of pellets returned to its spot on the shelf.
"ANBU wouldn't want to hear about this."
"So this became a capturing mission… I might have something in mind…" Yamato pulled more slabs of wood and lined them up against marked dashes on the workbench.
"It could be risky," Kakashi joked over the deafening buzzing of the electric saw. "Are you sure you're up for it?"
Yamato looked up from his impending masterpiece. A complex contraption was in the making. A special order for the ex-hunter. "I'll do what I can…"
Kakashi patted his partner on the back.
"That's all I can ask for."
"Feel better, Sakura!" Naruto called before closing the door behind him. Usually, words like those were empty gestures, but coming from Naruto, they seemed to have an honest quality to them, even if by nature he was technically a cold-blooded killer. Meanwhile, Neji walked out a few seconds earlier, leaving the girls alone together to mend the fabric of their friendship.
"Hm, are you well enough to go to drawing class? Ms. Kurenai is probably wondering where we are," Hinata stated, taking Naruto's old seat. Even if they were missing their last period of the day, Sakura couldn't help but feel empty. She understood that their vampiric nature was a secret that was never meant to come out, but when it did, it still hurt like a burning knife.
It was betrayal.
Her friend, a half-breed vampire. A person like Neji, an upperclassman she was never really close to, wasn't expected to reveal something of this magnitude. A person like Naruto, a kid she met a month ago, wasn't expected so share such secrets. But her best friend, someone she would have trusted with her life, would instead jump at the chance to take her life away… because she was a dhampir. Because she was a killer, a bloodsucker, a monster.
Like Sasuke.
Sure, Hinata's favorite color may still be the same and she still plays the violin and the piano like a musical goddess, but things were different now. At the same time, could Sakura really expect her friend to just say "Nice to meet you, I'm a bloodsucker"? Sweet, quiet, thoughtful Hinata Hyuuga. This was going to take some time to get used to.
"I think I'm okay… but I don't see the point in going to class when there's only 10 minutes left anyway," she mumbled quietly. Sakura wanted to pretend everything was okay because sometimes, it worked. Sometimes, things ended up just fine and she would just over-think everything and get stressed over nothing. But right now, she failed miserably.
"That's true…" Hinata checked the clock. "I think this is the first time I skipped class." She smiled, trying to lighten the mood, and she was so deceiving. Her smile was too friendly to belong to a vampire or anything remotely vampire-related.
"How are you so calm?" Sakura questioned, preoccupied by her anxiety to focus on affable conversation. "Aren't you… hungry? Don't you want to kill me, too? Apparently, I'm on the menu."
Hinata had such a childlike innocent imbedded in her laughter. "No, Sakura. We're not all like that. I'm… not much of a b-blood drinker anyway..." She almost sounded ashamed and Sakura picked up on it right away much to her relief.
'So, Hinata isn't much of a killer either…,' she thought perceptively. Not very vampire-like. For a minute, the anxiety turned into curiosity. It was a curse.
"Is that bad? How do you… feed then…?"
"I don't. I just eat… I still eat cookies, chicken nuggets, human food. I don't really need blood like Neji or Naruto do." Her words were apprehensive, but not in the cowardly way, it was like she was worried to reveal too much. But at this point, all cards were on the table.
"Right, because you're only half… I guess that makes sense. Have you ever tried it before? Blood, I mean."
"U-Uhm…yes. A few times… but it just tastes like blood. Iron-y and dirty…mmm, I-I didn't like it." Hinata stuck out her tongue and made a revolted face. Sakura laughed because Hinata always did that when she was grossed out. It was funny to see her act like herself because it was so unexpected after all that has happened. Hinata was just being Hinata.
"Do vampires need sleep?"
"I need to sleep, but full-vampires don't really need to."
"So Naruto and Neji?"
"…sleep about once a week."
"I see… By the way, does garlic do anything?"
"Um, no… except it makes your breath smelly." Hinata smiled.
"Hahaha, okay, I was just checking."
They laugh lightheartedly and the mood in the room lifted slowly, but surely. Talking was so simple. Laughing was so simple. But everything else wasn't.
"So, what parts of you are vampire-ish? Do you have superpowers or something?"
"Ahh let's see…" Hinata placed a finger on her chin and looked towards the ceiling. "I have a pretty good sense of hearing, but fulls have it better and my sense of smell is normal…"
Sakura nodded her head and urged her on.
"U-Um, generally, we don't age. Physically we DO age, but very, very, very slowly. Mentally, we stay the same, like… no dementia or other ailments like that when you're old. And also when you're physically old, you get wrinkles, but your bones are still strong if you feed correctly…But it will take a long time to get old in the first place."
"Wow. That's… wow. So, even before you moved here, you looked exactly the same?" Sakura asked, never really noticing any changes in Hinata since they met.
"F-For the most part, yes, but I n-never moved here," nervously, Hinata stuttered. "… I actually lived in Konoha my whole life… and undead-life I guess you can say..."
"In our freshman year, you said you just moved in."
"Three years ago, I decided to go back to high school after a really long time, after all my peers graduated and a lot of the teachers changed. I-I just said I moved here to explain why no one has ever seen me before. So, I was new, but not new in town... i-if you know what I mean."
Sakura's uptight expression did show that she knew exactly what Hinata meant. The dhampir looked ashamed and withdrawn after opening her mouth.
"I'm s-sorry I lied…"
After realizing how tense she got, Sakura softened. "No, I understand… You had to lie. You had to protect yourself, right? You didn't really have a choice…" Her words were speaking logic, but her emotions were on a whole other level. "I guess you're more of a liar than I thought you were. What else are you hiding from me?" Sakura teased, trying to see past Hinata's potentially-homicidal half. It was almost working.
"I-I suppose so. I didn't know you were so interested," Hinata pointed out.
"I like knowing about things that might end up killing me. I mean vampires in general, not you, Ms. Vegan."
Hinata smiled at the nickname. "Mmm, is that why you want to be a doctor?"
"Sure, but enough about me. I thought you said you've never seen Sasuke before." Jokingly, Sakura glared ahead.
"Sorry…" Hinata giggled lightly, but blushed from being caught in another lie. "We grew up together…" she said, staring off into the distance. "…but I really don't know Sasuke. I still don't. We were never really friends… He was close to Naruto for a while, and Neji, too… but even then, he started to push them away after…" It was depressing just talking about it.
"He went insane?" Sakura blurted frankly, and Hinata lost the gloominess in her face.
"…I-It's not something we really talk about."
Sakura had so many questions left for Hinata, but to have them all answered would take another year or so. Some about her past, her life, Sasuke. Mostly about Sasuke.
"Hinata," Sakura called solemnly, "Do you think… Sasuke hates me?"
Hinata gathered her books together, noticing the time. She stood and said in the most confident voice she could ever muster:
"… I don't think anyone can ever hate you, Sakura. Especially Sasuke."
.
With Naruto back in class for the remainder of the day, Neji ventured off on his own in search for a certain fugitive. His eyes closed for a moment only to reopen as translucent, all-seeing orbs. Throbbing veins appeared at his temples as he concentrated with all his might. His treasured Hyuuga bloodline: the Byakugan. In an instant, he saw the ins and outs of every hallway, classroom, and bathroom within the whole school. In an instant, he searched through every aisle of books and computers in the library.
In an instant, he found him.
Neji approached and saw his target leaning against a bookshelf with an enormous book in hand.
"Uchiha."
"…Hyuuga."
"Enjoying your reading?" he mocked, fully composed.
"According to The Paranormal Archives, eating pickled pig's feet cures the curse of vampirism…," Sasuke humored him and snapped the book shut. "If only."
"What happened to you? You're losing your mind, Uchiha..."
"I'm fine," he offered, slipping the book into its rightful spot. "I have Sakura to thank for that." His expression was smug. Even so, Neji observed his calmer front and deemed him sane enough to converse with. Meanwhile, Sasuke stood idle, waiting for the bombardment of accusations.
"We know you were the one who originally tried to kill her."
"That's old news."
"So, you're aware of her… condition." It wouldn't strike Neji as shocking if Sasuke figured out Sakura's undying nature for himself. He was considered a protégé in his own clan, after all, even if his intellect was more recently blinded by bloodlust.
"Aa," was all he said.
"So why are you constantly going after her? Clearly, you can't kill her by feeding." Neji squinted his eyes in concentration.
"I never said I was trying to kill her."
"…Then what's your objective?"
They heard the final school bell. Sasuke slung his backpack over his shoulder and was impatient to leave. He was peeved by everyone trying to interfere with his perverted fixation on Sakura Haruno. Why couldn't they just mind their own business? Neji, another annoyance, stood in the way. They stare each other down, neither one willing to back out.
"Stay out of my way," Sasuke hissed, finally shoving passed him and leaving the library. Neji stood there, unsure of what to do next because behind the irritated tone and usual temper, Sasuke seemed…
…completely fine.
He was not the same person he was a few hours ago. He wasn't laughing like a psychopath; he was keeping up with conversation. He didn't seem consumed by his mind-altering thirst and he definitely wasn't hiding behind stacks of books to feed on another innocent person like Neji originally theorized.
Was he really back to normal?
Maybe Sakura really does have a positive effect on him.
.
Sakura turned the dial on her lock and it opened, no thanks to dancing numbers or melting metal. She cheered to herself, taking the smallest victory to top off this hellhole of a school day. She looked forward to a calming afternoon at home since Shizune explicably stated that she was not allowed anywhere near the hospital for at least a week.
"Think of it as a vacation," the physician had said before Sakura was discharged. "You can always make up the hours later, but you really need time to rest." Sakura accepted the arrangement because rest sounded so damn good at the time.
The livelihood in the whole school was wiped away as soon as the final bell went off. Standing alone, she reached into her locker. The empty messenger bag was stuffed with folders and binders needed for the day's homework and its burlap strap felt heavy on her shoulder. With her purse and coat in hand, she reviewed the checklist in her head for other work she needed. Satisfied, she closed her locker, but yelped when she glanced to her side.
Sasuke, coolly leaning against the lockers.
Her throat went dry, and yet she was uncertain of how to feel. Aggravated because this prick tried to kill her, TWICE. Stunned because she didn't really expect him to want more of her so soon. A little excited because this WAS the Sasuke she was pining over and a part of her still really liked his presence... even if it did freak her out a bit, strangely enough. He stood straight and they looked at each other for what felt like an eternity of seconds before Sakura decided to take matters into her own hands.
She raged and stomped away.
"Sakura," he called, swiftly pivoting on his heel and catching her wrist. "We need to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you." Sakura tugged and tried reclaiming her hand, but her efforts were unrewarding. "LET. ME. GO." She thrashed her arm around, but he had an iron grip. The anger was rising to her face and her cheeks swelled with pink. Despite the whirlwind of emotion, it was wonderfully natural to be mad at Sasuke Uchiha. He just made it so easy.
Sakura huffed after nearly separating her arm from the rest of her. Sasuke looked on, bored. "Are you done?"
"…I …hate you," she stated through jagged breaths.
"No… you don't." The vampire towered over her, but his demeanor was not in its usual terrifying glory – it had a slight tinge of remorse and humanity hidden somewhere and for the first time, Sakura felt it. She stood still, not quaking in fear or fidgeting hysterically, and guardedly engulfed herself in his smell and his presence. "I'll take you home," he said.
Trying to force a stern exterior, Sakura responded, "I have feet, thanks. I can walk home just fine," but her act wasn't very convincing. Replacing hostility, his murderous hand tenderly caressed a lock of her hair and every ounce of reasoning simply evaporated from her pretty little head. Damn it, why was he doing this to her? Her life was confusing enough before he stepped in and ruined everything. Cloud nine was just in her reach when incoming footsteps broke her from her trance.
"Don't think that I forgot about your detention, Ms. Haruno."
Mr. Kakashi walked by and unlocked the door to his classroom. He held his arm out, welcoming her to two hours of mindless torture. "Detention for the rest of the week, starting now." In a second, she fell from her heavenly trance and she looked at him in disbelief.
Did he come in to school just to give me detention?
He was still wearing a winter coat and gloves.
"Well, looks like I'm not even going home…," she sighed and detected the irked expression on Sasuke's face.
"I'll go with you," he declared, walking at her side.
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "To detention? Why?"
He doesn't answer, he just stared straight ahead.
Okay then. Sakura kept her head down in shame as she walked into the classroom. The teacher blocked off her other half from entering alongside her.
"I don't remember giving you detention." Kakashi innocently tilted his head; Sasuke didn't like the way he looked at him. "Unless you there is something I should know about?"
"I'm the one who cheated on the test, not Sakura."
"Really? Is that why Sakura's handwriting looks like… Sakura's handwriting? Nice try, Sasuke, but I wasn't born yesterday." Sasuke cursed to himself and now realized that copying her script was counterproductive. Kakashi crossed his arms. Sakura watched uncomfortably from the sidelines. Sasuke was internally fuming. In a switch of pace, he took a step forward in a condescending manner and narrowed his eyes. His voice was sharp and serious.
"Fuck yourself, Kakashi." He always wanted to say it. There was something about him he didn't like and his instincts were never wrong.
"Sasuke!" A scolding voice erupted with Sakura standing at the doorway. What the hell is the matter with you!
With a sigh, Sasuke's rigid appearance calmed and he cracked a cocky smile. "Now do I get detention?"
The girl breathed quietly to herself, getting worked up over nothing because he was just acting, or at least, that's what it seemed like. A crinkle appeared on Kakashi's mask as he smiled in return.
"I can see right through you, Sasuke." The vampire picked up on the innuendo and speculated on what else this masked man could possibly see. He definitely had some secrets of his own. "Again, nice try. Now, excuse me while I do my job."
Of a mere high school math teacher? Suspicious.
Sakura glanced at Sasuke before falling back into her well-deserved penitentiary. Throwing herself into the nearest desk, she pouted, wondering why Sasuke got to walk free when he was an accomplice to her crime.
'My luck…,' she moped. 'It's nonexistent.'
Just when Kakashi was about to close the door and lecture about the villainous path of dishonesty, a clamorous siren went off. Sakura threw her hands against her ears and they both rushed into the hallway. An orchestra of lights from the alarms began flashing in harmony. In the midst of it all, they witnessed Sasuke with his hand on the nearest fire alarm, going through all this trouble just to get detention.
With Sakura.
.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" Sakura took the seat next to Sasuke in the front row. They were in dead center, right in front of Kakashi's desk. "And for the record, I am asking seriously."
"I thought you had nothing to say to me," he countered arrogantly.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was on the phone with the main office. "False alarm… Yes, I found the kid who did it…That won't be necessary… Uh huh… I have it covered…"
"So why'd you do it?" Sakura whispered.
"To talk to you. Alone," he whispered back.
"But Mr. Kakashi's still here. And whatever you have to say is it really that important? Is it worth getting a year of detention?"
"I don't care about that." Sasuke looked at her from the corner of his eye. "But you. I need to talk to you… about what you know."
Sakura tuned in.
"And I need you to stop running away." He sounded pissed. "It's annoying."
"Then can you stop trying to kill me? That's kind of annoying, too."
"I wasn't going to kill you."
"Oh yeah? That's why I ended up in the nurse's office, right?"
"Ahem." Kakashi sat in front of them and ended their hushed argument. "Falsely triggering the fire alarm is a serious offense. Fines, penalties, jail time. Not a smart move on your part, Sasuke." He placed his feet up and leaned back in his chair. "I thought you knew better."
No comeback. Sakura found it out of character because he always had something quick to say. He was being extremely inspective, watching Kakashi's every move, waiting for him to slip up. Waiting for him to lose the mask.
"Luckily, I decided that detention might be the best option. I can keep an eye on you… and Sakura too, of course."
'Yay, I'm unforgotten,' Sakura thought disdainfully when her mouth quickly grinned and dropped back into a straight face.
Sasuke kept a straight face the entire time.
"Now, detention. You got what you wanted," Kakashi said to Sasuke, grabbing a novel from his desk drawer and making himself comfortable. With one eye, he read, never straying from his book. "Satisfied?"
Turning his head, Sasuke eyed the pink-haired girl sitting next to him. She glanced at the clock above his head and sighed, dreading the wasted time in detention and the ugly blemish on her permanent record. She looked worried, bothered, and a bit weary. Her hair was vaguely tangled after hours of lying in bed and her skin was rosy from the blood pooling under her skin.
Despite all of it, she looked… appealing.
"…I am."
.
The whole plan backfired. Kakashi eventually separated them after their whispers annoyed him to no end. They sat on opposite sides of the room: one desk against the window, another desk against the wall. Complete silence. Complete boredom.
'Of course I'm the one who gets to stare at the wall.' Sakura leafed through her binders looking for anything to do, but all her assignments were in the textbooks lying around at home. Maybe if she still had her cellphone, she could have found something to do, but alas, fate worked against her. Defeated, she closed the flap of her bag and dropped it to the floor. In another hour, she could leave, but for now, she decided a nap was the best and only option. Sakura folded her arms for makeshift pillows. Putting her head down, her mind replayed the subconscious vision she had this morning.
"Fine, let's talk, but we can't talk for long."
"Why? I'm not in a hurry and it's not like you have anywhere to go."
"Tch, you weren't knocked out for long. You'll wake up any minute now and don't tell me I didn't warn you."
"Okay, you were right, happy? Sasuke did end up attacking me… again. But I still don't get why I'm not dead yet."
"He held back."
"That's funny because it didn't feel like it."
"He spared you. Ask him yourself. It's only a rumor if you don't hear it from the source."
"Go ask him so I can die again? Yeah, no thanks. He didn't hold back the first time, so I'm going to assume he's waiting in the shadows for the right time to finish me off."
"You're right, he didn't hold back the first time. You should've stayed dead. But you didn't and there's a reason for that. And if you want to live to hear it, I suggest you wake up. You're not safe."
He was right. She wasn't safe.
And that was when she woke up in the nurse's office. And that was when she learned that the vampire world was bigger than just Sasuke. There was Naruto, Neji, Hinata, maybe even their families, their friends, their "Kages". She was surrounded by vampires. This whole town was teeming with them. The truth frightened her.
"Mr. Kakashi," she called. How much time has passed, she didn't know, but she lazily picked up her head and turned towards the front of the room. "Do you believe in vampires?"
"…Why do you ask, Sakura?"
"Mm, I don't know. I'm just curious."
Kakashi placed his book down and sat properly in his seat. "Did you ever hear of the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?"
"I have…"
"It means sometimes curiosity does more harm than good. You learn secrets you never expected to learn and once they're inside you, they're tied to you forever. A secret like that can change a person, Sakura, for better or, more often, for worse. There are some things that are never meant to be made public. Secrets are secrets for a reason and maybe that's something to keep in mind the next time you become curious."
"…"
"But to answer your question, no, I don't believe in life-sucking parasites that crawl around at night," he smiled despite the resentment dripping from every word. "That's just silly."
"…O-Okay thanks…" Sakura stiffly moved in her seat to face the wall. 'Maybe it's a sensitive topic for him…'
For the time being, Sasuke tensed in his seat until a tiny buzzer went off on Kakashi's desk. It was the end of detention. Sakura rubbed her eyes and couldn't believe how fast time flew. She saw Sasuke stand and tilt his head towards the door, signaling her to join him outside. He disappeared into the hallway without a word and Sakura was willing to go after him to settle their arguments.
"Sakura." But Kakashi always managed to get in the way. "I need your parents to sign this so they know you failed and possibly cheated." A red pen defaced her paper even more. He then handed her the dreaded failing mark and she fought every urge to rip it up and throw it back in his face.
"Fine…," she groaned and pulled out a folder. A gloved hand stopped her from just sliding it in a pocket and forgetting about it until later. The unexpected grab shocked her awake.
"I really need your parents to look it over as soon as possible." Desperation was in his voice. "Do you understand?"
"Y-Yeah," she breathed out, sensing the urgency. "I-I'll get it to them as soon as possible…"
"…Good." He returned to his seat and gave her a warning look before she walked out. She took a second to give her test a once over and devised some kind of ploy to tell her mom why she failed a Trigonometry test of all things. But it wasn't the familiar cross-outs and slashes that she was worried about. And it wasn't the giant, blotchy zero that was eating at her. In rushed scribbles, a note appeared at the top corner of her test. She felt a lump in her throat as she read it to herself.
You're not safe.
.
They walked with a good distance between them as they neared the parking lot. Konoha High was already deserted and every footstep sounded like an explosion in the silence. There were stray announcements spewing from the loudspeaker, but it was hard to pay attention to anything else when a murderer was walking less than a few feet away.
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't."
"But should I? Because I really want to… but I don't really know what you're capable of," Sakura lowered her voice to a dismal whisper. "I don't know when you'll go berserk and try to eat me or when you'll be… nice? If that's what you call it."
The biting cold embraced them as they leave the warmth of the building. A black, yet glowing vehicle sat in dazzling sunshine that was swiftly falling behind heavy clouds. They slowly made their way towards it.
"I want to feel safe." Sakura waited for any sign of life coming from Sasuke, but she only received silence. "Can you say something?"
He pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and the headlights twinkled at the touch of a button. The doors glided vertically to open and Sakura suddenly found herself speechless as well. She has seen his car before, but it was a God-given miracle up close. The Oto-Viper, a stunning sports car, was sitting in the shady, dim parking lot of Konoha High School. It didn't belong here. It was too beautiful to be brought down by the crumbling brick walls and smoggy air.
"Get in."
Judging the incoming weather, she did was so without argument but clearly with hesitation, not wanting to ruin the upholstery. She gaped at the multitude of shiny buttons, facets, and knobs in between the driver and passenger seat. The time glowed in a vibrant red along with other numbers and dials that she didn't understand. Everything looked state-of-the-art…and expensive. But it wasn't the price tag that was making her queasy.
"I…think I should walk home," she considered, moving restlessly in her seat. She eyed the ominous skies, threatening to release rain at any moment.
Sasuke stepped into the driver's seat and pulled his door down. With two hands firmly on the wheel, he started up the engine and it roared to life.
"Too late."
The car doors locked and the entire vehicle charged forward. Sakura sank into the leather cushions and her eyes went wide at the incredible speed Sasuke dared to drive at on a busy city street. He swerved through traffic like a daredevil and when they reach a red light, the breaks caused Sakura to jolt forward and nearly tumble through the windshield.
"Whoaa-ooh my god! Are you trying to kill me?!"
"Not at the moment. Wear your seatbelt."
"Right…seatbelt. Good idea… Sasuke, it's not going in."
"It's a seatbelt, Sakura. It's not rocket science."
"Can you just help me put it on?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and leaned over, brushing against her. A tight knot formed in her chest and her heart began to beat a mile a minute; the driver was keen enough to pick up on it. His lips curved into a sanctimonious smile and he effortlessly pulled on the belt to click it into place.
"What would you do without me?" he commented conceitedly. Sakura, with her heart still pumping rapidly, blushed and leaned alongside the water-soaked window keeping the rain at bay. Her mind listed a thousand things she could do without the glorious aid of her knight in deadly armor, but nothing on that list compared to just having him around. As weird as it was, his company was pleasant when he wasn't being a homicidal sociopath.
After a moment of silence, Sakura started conversation. "So…you weren't going to kill me? I'm sorry to say, but that's hard to believe."
"It was only an experiment."
"An experiment? And what if that experiment went wrong? I would appreciate it if you treated my life with more respect than that." Sakura glowered at him, but he kept his gaze on the road ahead.
"…I'm willing to," he bargained, but it caught her off guard.
"Really?"
"Personally, I prefer having you alive."
"Wow, me too! What are the chances of that?" Sakura remarked sarcastically. "So what kind of experiment were you conducting? ...Do I even want to know?"
"If you're curious." They decelerated at another red light, but the view from the windshield was distorted with the falling rain. The pitter-patter of the raindrops tapped endlessly against the roof above their heads. The wipers glided across the glass, but the rivulets kept meandering down and making it hard to see outside. Without the ability to see or hear anything beyond the vehicle, the car became an isolated sanctum.
"You're alive," he stated rather obviously. "I don't know why or how. But the only thing I confirmed is that you can't die from being fed on."
Sakura sat at the edge of her seat because this was the first time she ever heard of this. She was uncertain of how to digest this kind of information because it was strange learning about herself from someone else. Especially learning about her specialized immortality. "…And you're 100% sure about that?"
"Positive… On Halloween, I thought you were dead," he spoke in a dark tone, gripping the steering wheel. "And then you came back."
A memory resounded in the back of her head.
"You should've stayed dead. But you didn't and there's a reason for that."
"So you tried again…," she muttered.
"To experiment. I wanted to see your recovery for myself. I assumed the recovery time was proportional to the amount of blood taken. And if I were to completely drain you, it would have wasted another couple of days. I'm sure you don't look forward to another stay at the hospital." The way he talked about her death, so evenly and calculated, troubled her.
"So, you held back…?"
"I did."
"He spared you."
It seemed that the voice inside her head was right all along. 'My subconscious understands Sasuke a lot better than I do…,' she concluded. A sickness began to boil in the pit of her stomach. 'I wonder why.'
"You survived on your own…"
She sounded a bitter laugh. "And you honestly think I'd know why? I barely get what's going on as it is."
The car bended around a curve and they begin traveling deeper into the suburbs. House after house disappeared behind them and the streetlamps lit the way. The sound of the rain mixed with the purr of the engine and the beat of her heart that was loud enough for both of them to hear.
"What else do you know?"
Eyes closed, she counted to 10.
Very slowly, very relaxed.
Her mind replayed the day and tried to take in everything at once. The flashes of deceptive lies, the mysteries of an unforeseen truth, and every little detail lost along the way. Everything, everything. Overwhelmed, she only made it up to 3.
Her eyes snapped open and she saw the ceiling of her bedroom. Not a hospital room, not the nurse's office. She sat up, alone and without pain. No vampires, no doctors, no visitors. Alone, and for once, it didn't shake her. It was close to peaceful, the feeling of finally seeing through the charade. A foreboding stillness encased her, but she wasn't willing to fight it anymore.
Vampires were her life now, ever since she sold her soul to a monster less than a few minutes ago.
Everything she knew was lingering in the air. "I told you everything I know."
"…Then I want to make a deal with you. Properly this time."
"What kind of deal?"
Sakura brushed her teeth and blankly stared at the reflection in the bathroom mirror. There was an unfamiliar glint in her eye that she frightened her. She knew who it belonged to, that darkness lurking inside her mind. Was it finally making its way outside into the real world? Could her fragile, human mind no longer contain it? She decided to stare at the sink instead.
"I want your blood."
Speechless.
"You can have whatever you want in return."
Blood. In the sink. She spat out a wad of bubbling toothpaste combined with a dash of pink. It was so fascinating watching it inch towards the drain as if it had a life of its own. It disappeared with the rushing water.
"My life would be a good start… and the truth. I want to know everything."
"Everything?"
"Everything."
A transaction that would feed both of their desires. His bloodlust. Her curiosity.
She can't die. What an amazing discovery. She can't die. What variations of relief should she be feeling right now, she didn't know. If there were other ways she could die, she didn't know either. But what she did know was that letting the life get sucked out of her didn't count as a death wish. In one afternoon, Sasuke's inner demons became harmless.
But did that mean Sasuke was harmless?
"You better cooperate with me this time."
"Or what? You'll kill me?"
"I can find a way."
She didn't doubt him on that. Sasuke was still the charming prince with a demonic side. He was obsessive, explosive, and compulsive. Dangerous, psychotic, guarded. No one could get through to him and he never reached out all the same. And yet, that was just okay.
"Can I trust you?"
"You have my word."
She takes it to heart.
Her heart. What happened to it? Once frightened beyond belief, it grew to accept Sasuke for who he is and what he is, but it wouldn't stay silent. She had a craving that was so bad, it nearly rivaled his. Was it infatuation or teenage compulsiveness? A typical Romeo and Juliet? It was no longer a shallow fixation with a beautiful face, a gorgeous body. It was his twisted sense of humor, his absolute presence, the way he made her feel…
Alive.
A life that was moving with dreary mundanity – school, friends, volunteer, rinse and repeat – suddenly became colorful with an abnormal amount of red. It sent tingles through her entire body just thinking about it. Thinking about him. It drove her off the edge. But a good-kind of edge, not the crazy-kind of edge, she told herself.
"Good night, Sakura."
"Wait, just one more question before I go… How did you know where I lived?"
He smirks and looks away. "I'll see you tomorrow."
God, his smirk. Maybe it was the crazy-kind of edge. Because the whole entire world could tell her she wasn't safe, that he was all wrong for her, that everything was doomed to fail, but she wouldn't listen. Maybe all the anxiety and fear she used to feel morphed into a corrupted sort of love that started to seep from every pore of her body. Maybe she was foolish in every sense of the word and if there was any she had to blame, or thank, it would be Sasuke. She would blame Sasuke for everything.
This light, freeing sensation. Feeling infinite. It was all Sasuke's fault. How long would it last?
She turned out the lights and snuggled under the blankets. She could still hear the rain splashing against the ground and it only made her think of him. She had so many questions and so little answers. And tonight, she would fall asleep with all of these questions in mind.
Soon, her nighttime companion sat next to her face and swished its tail.
"Hina, do you know what it's like to be in love?" Sakura saw the reflective glow in the feline's eyes. They were illuminated and hypnotic and they were mirrors to her life. Sakura was no longer in the dark, the truth was shining. She was no longer scared, but still caught in a wishful trance.
Everything felt so surreal.
"…Because I think I do."
The Curiosity
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