Crimson Passion

Chapter 9: Feelings

Minako sat at the top of a tree which was deep hidden in the forest outside the academy. The dark haired teen took another puff from her cigarette and blew the smoke; this was her third cigarette tonight.

The dark haired vampire hunter stood up and kept the cigarette on the branch. She stepped on it and chucked it away. She took out 3 mint sweets and put them in her mouth.

Minako started to jump from tree to tree at the speed of light. She loved the fresh air against her skin and this also got rid of the smell of cigarettes from her clothes.

Within 5 minutes, she got to the Academy and walked around. The dark haired teen was walking on the roof and saw 5 night class students whom she recognised outside; Aido, Kain, Ruka, Shiki and Rima. Then she saw her best friend Naruto holding a sword on his own against the 5 vampires.

Minako jumped from the roof and landed gracefully in front of her best friend. She had an emotionless face but her glare was the scariest of them all.

"It's 3am. Get back to your dorms, now." She mumbled.

"Minako-chan!" Naruto said and in a way it was a sigh of relief.

"Naruto, you must be very tired. You got to bed and rest, I've got this." She murmured and looked at Aido who gulped. "Aido Hanabusa, haven't you learnt your lesson from before? Now get back to your dorms, all of you, immediately."

"Oh, what are you going to do about it?" Ruka asked.

Minako smirked and started snickering quietly. But this turned louder and louder until it turned into a crazy, wicked and evil laugh. It was so scary; the other vampires took a step back at this and gulped. She stopped laughing and then smirked.

"You don't know who you are dealing with. I, too, am a vampire. A Level C vampire. But more importantly, I am part of ANBU. I am part of a special assassination squad carrying out assassinations and torture. I have killed many vampires and killing you 5 will be like saying 123 for me." Minako stated and they stared at her. Her smirk disappeared and her emotionless face appeared again.

"Now get out of my sight." She growled and then her face loosened.

'Minako…' It was his voice; Orochimaru.

"Uh!" Her face turned into a face of shock. Her eyes widened and she was trembling with the upmost fear.

'You have kept it in and you have resisted it; impressive.' She heard him hiss from inside her mind. 'Why don't you release it?'

Minako held her head and shook her head. "Shut up." She mumbled. "Get out of my head!"

"Minako-chan. Are you alright?" Naruto asked.

'You cannot resist forever, Minako. Release it, release the power within you!'

"Stop it! Get out right now!" She shouted and he didn't reply; he was gone. The vampires stared at her as if she was crazy.

She gripped onto the left side of her neck and felt these waves of immense pain. The second most painful thing she's felt after being hit with an anti-vampire weapon from her sister 5 years ago. Minako groaned with pain.

Then she realised what it was; the curse mark was starting to kick in. In all those 5 years, she kept it in, but it wasn't helping.

Minako fell onto the knees and grinded her teeth together. Tears fell down her cheeks and Naruto kneeled next to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders with wide eyes.

"Minako-chan! What's going on?" He asked and she looked away from him. Minako stood up and kept her eyes to the ground. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She mumbled.

"But Minako-chan…" She gripped onto her first and her head snapped up at him.

"I SAID I AM FINE!" She yelled.

They all gasped but the most shocked of all was Naruto. He wasn't hurt, but what he saw made him gulp as he stood back; also the way she spoke and acted…wasn't like her. Minako's eyes were bright crimson red with a very thin dark grey line like a dragon's eye. But this was so unnatural to her, no one has ever seen it.

After around a second, this disappeared and her eyes turned into their natural light blue colour. She took a step back with shock.

"I'm sorry Naru-" Minako gasped when she realised that she stepped back onto the edge of the lower roof.

Sasuke got there like in the speed of sound and held out his hand for her. But then Zero got there too and held out his hand which was nearer to her. The dark haired girl took her silver haired friend's hand and Sasuke watched this with both rage and sadness. Zero pulled her up and she stood up straight.

"Are you alright, Mina-chan?" Zero asked.

"Yeah, thank you." She smiled at him and then looked at Naruto. "Naruto-kun…" He shook his head.

"Just by calling me that is enough. It's been 5 years. Don't worry, Minako-chan." He grinned and she looked at the ground with shame.

"Zero-kun, we better get going to our dorms." She said and he nodded.

They started to walk and Sasuke glared at the ground as he growled under his breath. The dark haired boy grabbed Minako's wrist tightly and she stopped walking. She lost her cool at this and became extremely irritated.

"What happened?" He asked through his teeth.

"Let go of my wrist, first." She stated but it was more like an order. He let go of her wrist and she turned to him with such a sour look filled with bitter hatred. "Why would you care, Uchiha?" She growled.

"It doesn't hurt to ask." He countered back as he turned to her with a glare.

"Do you really wanna know what happened? Well, let me tell you. I was weak and in pain." She said as if mocking him. "Heh, as if you care anyway."

"You know very well that I care about you, Yagari." Zero was getting more pissed off by the minute; he hated it when Sasuke called her that, it was disrespectful.

"That's nothing but a lie, Sasuke Uchiha! You don't care about me or anyone else. You're nothing but a selfish, power hungry, jerk!" Minako yelled.

Suddenly Sasuke's onyx eyes turned into the normal Sharingan. The others apart from his friends thought he was a vampire; but didn't sense that he was. She stared into his eyes as they softened; she regretted saying that. Minako lowered her eyes and walked off with Zero by her side.

Sasuke gripped onto his fist and stared at the ground as his hair covered his eyes.

"She doesn't understand how much I care for her. She doesn't understand how much I care for her safety. She doesn't understand how much I care for her feelings. Naruto, what do I do?" He asked and the said boy stared at him.

"I don't know." Naruto sighed.

"It's been 5 years and you're still as stupid as ever, dobe." Sasuke said and he turned to his best friend who gasped; the Uchiha was…crying. "Minako has become different and I hate it…I hate her but I care for her." Then the dark haired Uchiha left quietly. Naruto just huffed with stress.

"Is that what you deal with, everyday?" Aido asked.

"Yup, it's a real pain in the ass. But Sasuke is my best friend and I love Minako like a sister." Naruto smiled. "C'mon you lot. I'll drop you off to your dorms."

Minako and Zero were walking to their dorm and just as they were about to enter the building, someone called out the kunoichi's name.

"Minako." Tsunade said her name and she turned to her. The dark haired teen bowed with respect.

"Tsunade-sama." She stood up and looked at her teacher.

"You're prefect duties have interfered with my training. I am here to tell you the times." She stated.

"What are they?" Minako asked.

"From 4am till 6:30am." Zero's eyes widened and he looked at his best friend with shock; classes started at 7am. "Starting from today onwards."

"Very well. Where shall I meet you?" Minako questioned.

"Near the forest." Tsunade answered and she nodded. "Get some rest…Mina-chan." The blonde haired woman winked and the girl's eyes widened. The Hokage walked off.

Zero turned to Minako who looked up at him. Her eyes glistened like stars in the night sky. He placed his hand on her cheek and she sighed.

"You'll only have 1 hour and 30 minutes to sleep." He mumbled.

"Don't worry about me, Zero-kun. There were so many times when I've never had sleep for a few days. So I'm used to it." She said and he stared at her as if examining her.

"I'll be alright." She placed her hand onto his. Zero lowered his lavender eyes to the ground and held her hand. He led her into the building. But just when she was about to go in, she turned to the sky with a frown.

'I'm sorry, Sasuke. I really have change and I hate it. I've hurt your feelings.' She said in her mind.

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~Parisa01