Chapter 21 – Bad Dream

2nd April 2004

Sakura woke up with a start, the smell of smoke and the panicked entrance of her father shocking her system awake. The entire hall way was filled with smoke and as it oozed into her room she couldn't help but choke as it snaked its way into her lungs. She looked up at her father's panicked eyes as he grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of bed and running out of the door without any explanations.

"Dad… what's happening? Why's there so much smoke?" She coughed out, covering her mouth with the sleeve of her hello kitty pajamas. She looked around frantically, wondering where the hell her mother was.

"It's them, The Old Ones! They've found us!" Her father yelled back, unaffected by the smoke, his lungs being much stronger of course. Sakura's eyes widened considerably, she may only have been eleven, but she understood perfectly how dangerous they were, after all, they were the reason why they moved to Japan in the first place.

They both came to the staircase and looked over the wooden balcony, the entire hall way was ablaze with red and gold and zangy yellow, climbing and consuming with hungry growls like tigers on a hunt. The entire ground floor was taken over with the dancing heat and Sakura's grip on her father's hand tightened. She looked up at his face; his pink hair dyed a brick orange from the light of the fire. She looked so small next to him; her child-like form was stiff with fear.

The stair's were blocked off, completely engulfed with flickering flames, she could tell her dad was thinking of another escape, of were her mum might be, of how to simply keep his family alive. They'd barley spent a year in this house and already they were being chased out of it again, forced to flee like last time. Where would they go this time? China? She doubted it; they would be seen as illegal immigrants no matter what country they chose to move to, the only reason they were aloud into Japan had been because of her mother.

"Common." Her father ordered as he began to drag her down the dark hallway of their farmhouse, no doubt planning on climbing out of a window. Sakura looked back and noticed that the flames had met the landing, slowly marching up the walls as it burned the flowery wallpaper.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the open door that led to her dads precious music room, his beloved guitar sitting to the side innocently. She stopped in her tracks and looked between her dad's panicked white eyes and the guitar in the room before pulling her hand free from his, running into the room quickly, ignoring his shouts behind her as he followed.

She looked at the guitar for a moment before picking it up in her hands, it was her dad's favorite guitar, she couldn't let him leave it behind, she knew how much it meant to him.

"Sakura! Leave it behind! We have to go! How are you goanna carry that out the window with that under your arm?" He yelled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her away forcing her to drop it. But Sakura was having none of it, she pulled against his hold even though her lungs burned for fresh air, she couldn't get free even though she stretched and pulled as far as she could, but the guitar was just out of reach.

"Dad! Let go! I have to get it!" She cried, her small voice high pitched as she stretched out. Her Dad never let go of her however and just continued to pull her away, knowing that the fire was quickly coming their way.

Sakura knew it was stupid to want to save it, she knew the danger she was putting herself in, even then as she some how managed to rip her hand from her father's and ran over to it all the while coughing into her sleeve. She grabbed it in the same moment her father grabbed her, picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder, having enough with her resisting.

Sakura's eyes were watering from the amount of smoke in the air and she was finding it hard to breath, the lack of oxygen in the air was ridiculous and she knew that if she didn't get out soon then she'd probably fall unconscious. Her Dad then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks; it took Sakura a moment before she understood why he had stopped. There was a loud scream coming from the other end of the house, or more importantly, her mother's screams.

She felt her blood run cold at the sound, it was coming from her parents room and to get there you would have to go through the landing again, which by the looks of it was falling apart. She scrambled down from her fathers shoulder and looked up at his frozen state. His usually calm, kind and friendly white eyes had converted into wide, scared pools that Sakura could read like an open book.

There was a loud crashing in front of them as the roof collapsed and it seemed to bring him back to reality. Without even looking down at Sakura he once again grabbed her hand and ran forward, it was hard for Sakura to keep up, he was so much faster than the regular human and she may not have been completely human but her stride wasn't very long, after all, she was only 5ft by this point.

They were jumping over parts of roof and avoiding flames as they ran, the smoke that had invaded her lungs made her move more sluggishly and as she stepped on a weak point in the floor and fell though, it was hard for her to get back up. She lay there on her stomach, not being able to find the will to move. Her foot was stuck in the floor as her father picked her up again, yanking her foot from the floor, the wood leaving deep cuts in her leg, she could smell the coppery liquid gush from it but paid it no mind, she'd look at it later.

Sakura didn't know how long it was until they reached her parent's bedroom, but they did. Her father flung open the door and had set me down in the next, scanning the room for my mother.

"Sam! Help me!" She heard her cry and zoned in on the corner of the room, where her mother was pressed into the corner with nothing but her nightgown on. She was completely surrounded by flames, Sakura's panicked mind concluded as she looked around helplessly.

Her father was the first to react and before she knew it he had a blanket that was still yet to catch fire and threw it over the fire, making a path to run across. Her mother didn't have to think twice and even though her lungs were burning just as much as Sakura's she charged straight for the pink haired man's arm's, just as the blanket finally caught light as well. Her father then pulled out of the embrace and instead grabbed her hand as well as Sakura's and ran out of the room to the other side of the house were the only decent place to climb out was.

Sakura was careful to not fall again as she ran with the guitar firmly in hand. They all reached the other end of the house in record time and her father spent no time in breaking the locks to open the window, having no time to look for the key. Flames licked up the walls and the roof was turning an ominous black above her head, a sign that the fire had reached the loft and was moments from collapsing.

Both she and her mother gasped for air as the amount of smoke became to much for them to take in, their eyes so watery that it was painful to so much as see. When her father finally jerked the old window up the sudden gush of fresh air was the only thing they could have wanted at that time.

Her father was the first to climb out, wanting to offer support to the both of them, knowing that they'd been affected pretty badly by the smoke. There was a small shaky old shed that was just under the window and her father stood on it with his hand's held up as Sakura's mother all but pushed her out of the window, into her father's waiting arms. The guitar got stuck at one point but with a harsh pull from her mother it came out with only a few scratches up the sides.

Sakura would never take fresh air for granted again, it was like heaven to finally breath it in and even her coughing began to slow to one cough every ten seconds compared to every three. Sakura looked around the open space, over the darkened fields of their home; she couldn't see a damn thing! During the day she was able to make out the skyline of Tokyo in the far distance, but at night she could hardly see past the picket fence bordering the garden. Her father had said that it was the Old One's who started the fire; she had no doubt in her mind that he was correct, so she had to find them! But she wouldn't be able to find them if she couldn't see!

"Come on Blossom." Her mother cooed as she lightly squeezed Sakura's shaking shoulders and leading her over to a near by tree to climb down. It was only at that point, were the sound of crashing and the explosion of flames were herd from the inside of the room they'd just exited. Fire came bursting out the still open window as the roof finally gave way.

All three stood shell-shocked as their once beloved farmhouse fell in on itself, Sakura's watery eyes dried as she simply watched in horror, not even her smoke induced eyes could react. As one of her parents, she didn't know which, probably her father, directed her down the tree and onto the long, lush grass beneath.

Her mother instantly collapsed onto her hands and knee's, huffing and puffing as she tried to regain the oxygen she'd lost. Her father kneeled next to her for a moment, making sure she was okay. Sakura watched the scene before her as she sat on her knees with her hello kitty pajamas worse for wear. It was a while before her father finally came over to her and kneeled down in front of her. Sakura's eyes were level with his chin as she looked up to meet the worry displayed in those white eyes of his, pink hair falling in his eyes as he did so.

"Sakura, are you okay? Let's see that leg." He asked kindly, reaching out for the leg that she had unconsciously been massaging. However, he never got to check her injured leg, before he'd so much as reached out halfway, the vampires suddenly showed themselves.

With one swift move that Sakura's father didn't pick up on, they staked him through the throat, breaking his spinal cord and killing him instantly. Sakura stared with wide eyes and mouth agape in something more than simple shock as her beloved fathers blood spurted all over her face. The sound of her mother's scream never met her ears as her fathers once emotion filled eyes died and his face became emotionless as he slumped to the side and remained still.

Sakura couldn't move, she was breathing in uneven huffs as her eyes suddenly found her tears and let them free like a waterfall, her pupil's nothing more than two tiny pin prick's in her green iris's. Sakura watched the vampires knee as they continued to talk and then at the picket fence when they moved to take a hold of her mother who was crying loudly over her fathers now lifeless body, her sob's more like screams as they pulled her away.

It was at that moment where Sakura finally found herself able to move. The men had her mother by the wrists and were without a doubt playing with her head, telepathy could turn the strongest of minds to mush if they weren't used to it, and her father never used telepathy, she doubted that her mother had ever even experienced it. That was all the motivation that Sakura needed to get moving again, even though her eyes never stopped crying and her pupils never returned to their normal size and even though she was still just a kid, she knew that she couldn't just stand there.

Behind her the house was on it's last legs and finally collapsed, it caused the vampires to look around and Sakura managed to catch a glimpse of them. One had bright red hair and the other had dark purple, the darkness covered up their faces however with shadows. They both looked down at her and Sakura didn't need to be able to see in the dark to know that they were grinning. Even with Sakura's blood stained face and crying eyes she tried to look tough, even though she cold still see the silhouette of her dead father in the background and wanted nothing more than to cry her eyes out and scream to the heaven's, she did nothing of the sort. Instead, she prepared to make a run for it, planning on getting her mother free and then running to who knows where.

However, just as she was about to go through with her plan, her mother's panicked scream stopped her right in her tracks.

"Sakura! Run for it! Get out of here!" Her mother's long chestnut coloured hair fell in front of her face. Covering her green eye's that almost shone in the dark, just like Sakura's.

She was torn in two. She wanted to help her mother but at the same time she should do as told. Her mother looked truly terrified as she stared at her, but she wasn't scared for herself, Sakura realized, she was scared for her, she was scared that her only daughter might died here. At realizing this it only made the decision more difficult.

"Just run! I'll be fine! Now go! Don't make me say it again!" Her mother screamed out. One of the vampires decided that enough was enough and turned to her mother, preparing to silence her. The look in her mothers eye was enough to convince Sakura that she would be okay, it was enough to force Sakura to make up her mind.

As the two vampires turned their backs on her, she ran for it. Sakura grabbed the guitar that had been lying on the ground and ran for the small forest that was at the other side of the house. She knew that one of them would follow and she could hear them behind her, but none of that mattered. She flew through the trees as fast as her small legs could carry her, the odd twig cutting her bare foot and her injured leg throbbing as she continued to run. None of it mattered though, she was numb. Everything seemed to feel like a dream as she kept on running.

As her tears finally began to stop, she vowed that it would be the last time she ever cried again…

…!...

Sakura sat bolt upright in bed, her entire body soaked with sweat as she ran a shaky hand through her wet hair. The only sound's that filled the room were her heavy breathing and the chirp of birds as they prepared for another day.

It had been so long since she'd had that dream, six years to be exact. Why was it resurfacing now? She thought as she covered her eyes with her shaking hand, still trying to work out what had happened. Her cheeks felt wet, and for a moment she thought it was tears before she realized that it was just sweat, thankfully.

So far she'd kept her vow of not crying, and she sure as hell wasn't about to break that vow now. She removed her hand from her eyes and looked towards the window. The curtain's blocked out most of the light, turning it a shadowed yellow as it spilled through into her room. She couldn't help but think about her parent's. She knew that her mother had lied when she said that she'd be fine, Sakura knew that she was dead. It hadn't taken her long to wise up to reality after hitting the streets. When she'd still believed that she'd see her mother again she used to dream of that night every single time her eye lids closed over, the dreams only stopped when she grew up, mentally that is, she was only twelve when the dreams had stopped.

But that didn't explain why it had come back. Was it because that vampire had showed up? What was his name? Harry something? No, it was Henry, but she couldn't remember if he'd given her a last name, she didn't think so.

Sakura fell back in the bed with both hands tangled in her damp locks, she couldn't believe that something like this had happened, she'd been to caught up in everything that she'd completely forgotten about what the publicity might cause. She was being an idiot.

Plus the dream didn't help either, it just made her feel worse, it unearthed old, long forgotten feelings that she would happily shoot down if it were possible. She looked at the pale white roof above her head and sighed, her hands were still tangled in her damp hair and her body was sticky, she needed a shower.

With another defeated sigh she climbed out of bed and dragged her feet over to the bathroom. She'd think about all of this later, a shower came first since she was starting to smell.

…!...

Sasuke walked along the corridor towards the music room of Emerald eye, paper's in hand and fully prepared to pull Sakura away from work and take her out. He was well aware of how irresponsible that was, being one of the top boss's, but he didn't care, he was bored as hell and knew that all Sakura was doing today was practicing, she could easily skip. He was sure that she knew all her parts like the back of her hand anyway.

He reached the door and opened it, noticing how it had become rather heavy and stiff, he couldn't help but blame Sakura for that one. As the door dragged along the floor he took in the rather lazy atmosphere of the room. Naruto was slouched in the sofa with his tie loosened and an instant ramen cup at his mouth, Kiba was at the desk doodling and the light sound of drums drifted though from the back room where Tenten was playing. He rolled his eyes, Sasuke paid these people to work, not sit around and do nothing, then again he could hardly talk, he'd been playing chess on his computer for the last hour…

At the sound of the door opening Naruto looked up from his cup of Ramen and waved at Sasuke, moving over on the sofa so he could join him. Sasuke took the offer and sat down, placing the paper he had on the coffee table in front of them.

"What's that?" He asked curiously. Sasuke saw Kiba turning around on the desk chair to see what Naruto was talking about. Sasuke watched as Naruto sat the Ramen cup to the side and started to flick through the sheets of paper, his eyes filling with excitement the further he read.

"Holy crap! Someone wants' us to go on some talk show for an interview!" Naruto yelled, calling through to Tenten who had just finished whatever it was that she was drumming along to.

"What talk show is it? Is it centered in Konoha?" She asked curiously, not liking the idea of going all the way over to Tokyo for one stinking interview.

"It's here. Over at the Konoha TV Station actually." Sasuke provided. He noticed the relieved sigh that Tenten let loose and rolled his eyes again. He watched as everyone crowded around the small table, it was only then that Sasuke noticed that Sakura was currently absent.

"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke inquired, only showing mild interest when really he was worried, he wasn't even thinking that she might have simply left for the toilet before he came. Kiba looked over and shrugged, nodding over at Naruto who was currently slurping down the remaining noodles in the plastic cup. Sasuke had to hold back a cringe at his friend's lack of manners, if he did that then it would only amuse the blond idiot.

"She called in sick." Naruto simply answered before signing the paper, not noticing the look that Sasuke was giving him.

Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if Sakura was lying about being sick, after all, he was under the impression that vampires didn't get sick. After all the time he'd known her, which had to be what… four, five months? He'd never seen her down with anything, not even the common cold! So it was a little weird that she suddenly felt too ill to go into work. Plus as far as he was concerned, Sakura loved her job, he was under the impression that she would only miss work if her leg was hanging off and blood was spurting from her jugular…

He'd admit that the mental image was grim, but in any case it was true.

"You sure?" Sasuke couldn't help but ask, his eyebrows pulled down in worry. Tenten caught the look and couldn't help but giggle at him. Sasuke turned his attention to the giggling woman and sent her a sharp glare, not that she was looking of course.

"What?" Sasuke demanded. Tenten only gave him a look before answering, holding her giggle for as long as possible.

"I didn't expect the great Uchiha to be worried over a little hang over." She giggled again, not being able to contain it any longer.

This only caused Sasuke to become confused. Why would Sakura have a hangover? He thought. She didn't drink, not even a sneaky sip of wine on special occasions. He'd seen her drunk before and knew exactly why she didn't drink, so why the hell was she calling in sick because of a handover? It made no sense, she had to be lying, there was no other explanation. He knew Sakura pretty well, he prided himself with knowing her the most out of everyone and was confident that he knew all her secrets. He'd have to ask her himself, he guessed, he was bored out of his mind anyway so he might as well.

"Naruto, make sure you send the sheet off by Friday, the talk show is on next Saturday at nine o'clock. I'm going." He simply stated before leaving the room, finding no interest in those people anymore, not that there had been much to begin with.

…!...

Sasuke entered the underground parking lot, not thinking of anything in particular apart from the strange condition of his girlfriend. Sasuke felt the urge to fan girl at the word 'girlfriend' but managed to keep it in, he had a public image to retain after all.

He dug his car keys out of his pocket once he spotted his car, fully intending on driving to his parents mansion when some guy appeared out of what seemed like thin air.

Sasuke couldn't help but jump when he was faced with the blue haired man, taking in his casual appearance and the notepad he had in his hand, inwardly groaning. It was the press, what the hell did they want now? He wondered, really not in the mood for this. He wanted to get to Sakura as quickly as possible.

"What do you want?" He asked, not too politely either. The man simple adjusted the ray bans over his eyes, the lenses so dark it was a wonder that he was able to see through them. The mystery man simply smiled politely before he spoke.

"May I ask you a few question's, Mr. Uchiha?" His Japanese was bad, Sasuke noted. He quite clearly hadn't been in the country for long. If he had to guess, he'd say the man was from America, guessing from the accent, and his features.

"Why?" He asked, his company didn't expand abroad and as far as he knew he wasn't considered as a known face in other countries, a foreigner asking him questions seemed a little odd.

"Ah, I'm from a small time web page that writes story's about the latest gossip. Which just so happens to involve your self." Sasuke had problem's working out what he'd said, his pronunciation was terrible, but it didn't matter, not really.

"Now why would I be the 'latest gossip'?" He quoted with his fingers, something he didn't usually do but felt that it was needed. The man pushed his designer sunglasses further up his nose and smiled politely at him, a pen magically appearing in his hand.

"Because of the rumored relationship between you and the lead singer of Emerald Eye." Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the man, like hell was he saying anything!

"That's private." Sasuke almost snarled. The man raised a light blue eyebrow, catching Sasuke's interest for a moment before mentally shaking his head, pushing the stupid thought away.

"Not really sir, with all due respect, but half the city wants to know, it would help to get the band more attention too." He offered. Sasuke thought about that for a moment. Sakura would probably jump over the moon if she got any more good publicity, the band really needed it and the amount of income would probably increase too…

But he still couldn't trust the guy.

"And why should I tell you anything, you can hardly even speak Japanese. What the hell makes you think that I would believe your little story?" Sasuke growled, starting to get really annoyed with the man. He simply just smiled innocently, pushing his ray bans further up his nose before saying his reply.

"I've just moved here, I understand the written part but I'm still having a little trouble with the speaking part, please do try to look past that sir and answer my questions. There not anything unreasonable, at least by my standards." He said professionally, almost mocking him in the tone he used. Sasuke didn't like him, not one bit and tried to get past the man, but failing. Every time he tried to get away the man would somehow manage to get in front of him and block his way.

Finally he stopped trying to walk around him and stood his ground, now utterly pissed off. He couldn't believe the nerve of the man! This had to be against some law. The man clearly didn't know his place; Sasuke could quite easily make his life a living hell if he wanted to.

"Get out of my way. I could easily report you to the authority's." Sasuke threatened. The man across from him simply smirked, the polite attitude he held before dropping in an instant. A dark chuckle escaped his lips and Sasuke was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with the situation. Somebody didn't just change their personality in the blink of an eye, unless they were actors, and personally he doubted the man was an actor.

"You should have simply answered the question's you stupid human." He said in a menacing tone. At that point Sasuke was starting to understand who the man might just be. The 'human' part sort of gave it away. He hid his shock well, instead he simply narrowed his eyes, taking a step back so he could bolt for it if need be.

The man chuckled again and plucked the ray bans from his eyes, folding the them and placing them in his pocket before placing his pad and pen in his butt pocket. The first thing Sasuke noticed when he looked up was the eyes, they were pale, almost white in fact, perfectly matching the eyes of the vampire who attacked him all those years ago. Secondly he suddenly realized why he had blue eyebrows, it had never really clicked before, he gathered that the man had just dyed his hair, but no, it was natural.

The third thing that Sasuke realized was that he was now in terrible danger. This vampire must know about Sakura, after all, he asked about her, it was quite obvious what his goal was.

"Who are you really?" Sasuke asked in a low voice, not letting him know how nervous he really was. The man simply chuckled again, an evil gleam in his eye that unnerved Sasuke greatly.

"My name is Henry, that's all you need to know, it's not like you'll remember after all." His voice was laced with low menacing tones, showing that he was enjoying every minute of this. Sasuke couldn't help but gulp, something, which didn't go unnoticed by the vampire.

"You know, I've always preferred not using telepathy to gather information, human's are just so gullible. To use my ability's is just such a waste of energy, but no, you had to be awkward." He said, his eyes showing evil intent as he stepped forward, arms at his sides. Sasuke stepped back again, not wanting to know what was about to happen.

Suddenly his back hit one of the thick pillars that held up the underground parking lot, he was trapped, and the man kept on coming. Sasuke narrowed his eyes further, but couldn't control his ragged breathing, memories long since drowned rising to the surface, he remembered how that green haired man forced his way into his mind, keeping him fully alert as he ripped his neck open. The thought of going through something like that again was simply too much to bear.

Suddenly he felt his entire body forced up against the wall, his breathing came out hard and heavy, he felt restricted, the man wasn't even touching him. Sasuke's eyes were no longer narrowed but wide, showing all his emotion. His mind felt compressed, like something was pushing at it to open it up. He met the creamy eyes and noticed the slight concentration in them, it was only small, but enough to let Sasuke know that it was him that was causing this reaction.

Show me your memories

The thought wasn't his, Sasuke knew that, it was the vampires, his voice echoed through his head and it was by far the most unpleasant thing he'd experienced in a long time, apart from the last time. His air became restricted again as his brain unwillingly threw up images of Sasuke's past.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut, finding that it was the only thing he was able to actually move. He could literally feel the man flicking through his memories like they were written in a book, looking for the ones were Sakura turned up.

The image of Sakura busking in front of the shopping centre suddenly popped up, catching the man's attention, then another when she tried to run off a few days later and then the one were he first kissed her in the hospital, then the last one were they had their failed attempt at sex. The pressure on Sasuke's head was getting painful, the memories weren't meant to be looked at whilst conscious. He gritted his teeth.

Suddenly the image of him and Itachi filled his head, it was the one were they were discussing Sakura's vampirism. His body and mind were put under even more pressure as the man forced more memories to resurface, now more than one at a time, the pain only increasing.

It was images of his attack now, much to Sasuke's horror, they forced his to relive the moment before he heard a dark chuckle escape from the man, both out loud and in his mind.

Look's like Sakura's picked up an interesting one. He taunted. The memories of blood and pain filled his mind as he was suddenly let go. The pressure his body had once been under disappearing as quickly as it came. He tried his hardest to stay standing but his legs were shaky and his breathing was hard. He looked up at the full out grinning man through half lidded eyes as he slumped against the pillar for support.

Thank you of so much for your co-operation. Now… remember nothing…

The words filled his head once again, erasing everything that had happened, closing off and destroying the recent knowledge of the meeting. The blue haired man was careful however; he only erased the memories leading up to his use of telepathy and replaced the rest, making it appear that they merely squabbled.

Once he was satisfied with the results, being sure that the half-breed would never figure out what had happened he stepped back placed his ray bans back on his nose and watched as the dazed expression left Sasuke's face.

Sasuke blinked once, twice before narrowing his eyes at the irritating man. He didn't want a damn interview! Hadn't he just explained that like what? Three times! He should sue him!

"Let me past before I personally make sure you never have another job again." Sasuke threatened, narrowing his eyes further at the man as he simply smiled back politely, like he had since the moment he first popped up.

"I'm very sorry sir but it will only take a moment." He practically begged once again! He pulled out his pen and paper; acting like this time Sasuke was actually going to cave.

"My relationship with Sakura Haruno is none of your fucking business!" He growled, finally having enough and forced his way through the man, surprised that he actually let him go this time. Sasuke was going to half to find out where exactly he works, he was pretty sure that people couldn't interview without getting proper permission first. He pulled out his car key's and unlocked the door before climbing in and roughly shoving them in the ignition and driving off, hoping that the stupid man was around so he could run him over…

...!...

...okay... just so you know, i've not died... Sorry i've not updated in ages but life got in the way, and the comp crashed when i was like, 100 words away from finishing and deleted the file =Z and i had to rewrite it grrr so annoying... anyways i hope you liked the chapter and that it makes up for the long wait =]... please review and tell me what you think! i love hearing feed back, even if its bad because at least then i can improve! thank you!