Part 4 in the Obelisk Series:
Kingdom of Man, Kingdom of Beasts, Kingdom of Monsters, and Kigdom of Gods.

OBELISK:
KINGDOM OF GODS

Gladiator Boneyard

The shackles still chaffed. It was getting harder to hide the marks on her wrist when she woke up. They healed a little bit, but they were still angry red rings and winter doesn't last forever. She could hide with long sleeves now, but in a few weeks it would start to warm up.

Tax season was mad of course, but Sakura could feel how close April was drawing and soon there would be a break she could fall into. She was doubling up on so many days, mostly because it helped her avoid people and conversations she didn't want to have. People knew well enough to leave her alone when she was typing and working and quietly swearing to herself about how slow people were about getting the information she needed to complete a transaction.

The second she push her chair away from her desk or step out for a break, someone would be there to ask if she was okay or if she had enough sleep. Even people she never talked to had begun asking her if she needed some extra coffee. Sakura got good at lying real fast.

'My friend just left and her goodbye party was last night.'

'I've been house sitting for my friend out in the suburbs but her dog doesn't like me enough to let me sleep anywhere but on the couch.'

'These spring allergies are kicking my butt. Ugh, I don't want to have to take another Claraden so soon.'

'I haven't had my coffee yet, the machine broke at my house and I don't know how to fix anything more complex than a paperclip.'

A little but of truth mixed into the lies made them fall easier from her lips. She said other things too, but only enough to keep people at a distance. She didn't want to talk to anyone, she wanted to never have to open her mouth again. People around her, adults, workers, employees on payroll with lives to pick up once they clocked out, none of them would understand anything about her so it wasn't worth the wasted oxygen.

Sakura glanced over at her phone when the screen lit up. It was Ino again. Another invitation. At least Ino didn't pry further than Sakura was comfortable with. Sakura knew how to get around Ino's questions, and she knew what Ino wanted. She wanted to feel forgiven, to feel justified, to feel like a good person again. She was naturally predisposed to bouts of self righteousness, but her layers of pride fell away like wet paper alongside Sakura.

Sakura wondered if Ino saw their friendship as anything more than a means to an end, with that end being Ino's loss of guilt.

"What happened to your wrist?" Sakura froze, then looked up and let her breath ease out of her.

"It's old," Sakura commented, looking away from Genma. She didn't pretend to hide it or make anything out of it. He wouldn't press it. And if he did, Sakura didn't mind being harsh.

"It looks like a burn or something. What did you do?"

"Curling iron."

"You curl your hair?"

Sakura glared, but didn't put much energy into it. "Do you want a paycheck this week? Because I'm in your payroll right now and it would be so easy to not do my job."

Genma huffed, pushing off from the wall and pulling out a filled banker box to sit on. "I'm only saying what I think and everybody thinks."

"I don't give a rat's ass how many people think or ask what you think." Sakura went back to the keys and flew through the memorized processes faster than before.

"…Did something happen with that guy you were seeing back in December? You were really happy and it was almost painful to watch, but now you look like death warmed over."

"It's really none of your business."

"I'm too rude to not make it my business and Yamamato is being a dick about it." Genma toed the empty box left by Sakura's desk before pushing it towards her. She kicked it away when it got close and he watched how her legs reacted. She felt like a cornered rabbit. "He keeps agonizing over how he can't eve talk to you about it cause he's afraid you'll be upset."

"I am upset."

"Which is why I'm the one asking."

Sakura paused, sparing him a second of thought before turning back to the screen and finishing up the payroll. She clicked out and began to shut down. When he heard the familiar sign off sound Genma stood, blocking her path. It was enough to make Sakura recoil and forget she wasn't in the dream anymore. Her body fell back into a crouch with hands up and ready to swing or swipe before she remembered where she was.

Danger. She was in danger, but not because of the curse.

Genma was staring at her hard now.

Cursing, Sakura turned away and tried to play off her reaction. She picked up her bag and the empty thirst buster cup from the gas station that had been filled with sugar and ice only hours ago, now sucked dry. She couldn't remember the last time she ate anything good for her, but she drank enough liquids so she wasn't worried about dehydrating.

"Is he hitting you?"

Sakura picked up her keys from where she kept them in the dish by the door. Genma didn't move to her again, but his eyes followed her out, and tracked her when she didn't say anything in response.

She made it to her car without a word. Sliding in she saw him watching her from the open doorway, keeping her in his sights until she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road leading away. Even on the drive home there was no reason for sound, no reason for her voice, so she never uttered a word. When she got home the house was as empty as her stomach, greeting her with silence and the occasional groan from the almost spring breeze. There was nowhere for her voice to go, so she kept it locked in her throat until night crept in.

Sakura pulled out her phone and set her alarm before dressing for bed.

The last few times she had dreamed she had spent what seemed like days in the dreamworld, but when she woke up, it was still the next morning. She could go to sleep and dream for half a week, but when she woke up the world told her she had only been in her bed for seven hours, maybe less.

What would that do to her long term? Would it mess with her aging? Would it get worst? What if she spent weeks and weeks inside the dream before waking? Would she forget what happened the day before in the waking world? How would she be able to function if it ever got worse? What of instead of weeks it was months, or years?

Sakura set her alarm an extra hour earlier and laid down for the night, praying into her bed sheets with genuine honesty and fear for the first time in a long time.

They worked her a bit in the morning, and then the two trainers took her to the pools where a pair of girl slaves in maid smocks washed her and dressed her for the night, braiding her hair in tiny coils as best they could with what little she gave them to work with. She smelled fine when she emerged from the pools, but she doubted that would last for long. The fights were beginning soon and she would have to sweat if she wanted to survive.

They didn't reconnect the links between her shackles and she could feel the cracks in their binding where her chakra could seep though and give her the taste of power, but nothing else. It wasn't enough to use chakra for anything other than minor things. If she was careful, she might find some way to use it, but she couldn't think of anything.

"Oh."

Sakura looked over her shoulder and saw the girl from the day before yesterday, her name was only Ten here. But Sakura remembered Tenten from before and couldn't help but grin. It was better than all the new, mean and unfamiliar faces she found her self surrounded with.

"You did that on purpose," Tenten bit out, keeping her back to Sakura and refusing to turn around.

Sakura looked down and remembered she had been in the process of pulling up her dress from where it bunched around her waist in folds. She was still wearing wrapping around her chest, but they were thin and tight and she wouldn't want to walk out looking so undressed. Hesitantly, Sakura pulled up the sides of her dress and slid her arms in before tying up the front. It was crude and looked like the leftover scraps of something else.

"Sorry about that. I didn't think someone would be walking by."

"Well I was!"

Sakura frowned at her angry tone. "Sorry. It won't happen again."

"If I had been someone else you would have been in trouble."

Sakura shrugged, reaching up behind her neck and rubbing a knot underneath the skin. It was nice to be able to reach behind her now that the links between her shackles were broken. It was almost as nice as the trickle of chakra she could pull at. "I think I can handle myself just fine if I could take on you and live." When she looked back over her shoulder she saw Tenten had turned around and was watching her with a look she couldn't decider. It almost seemed like a cross between hurt and…something else.

"I was going easy on you. He told me not to be lethal."

Sakura didn't wait for Ten to say anything more on the subject. She turned around fully and closed the distance between them. "So, am I fighting you at full strength today or are you not even on the menu?"

Tenten almost sneered, but Sakura couldn't help but think she looked cute in her efforts to appear intimidating. Ten was young in this world, still a teenager. Regardless, she was younger than Sakura. When had Sakura become something older than a teenager? She still felt so young inside.

"I-I'm fighting someone else today. You'll be paired up with only one other fighter on the first day. The-they told me to tell you this much. It'll be three days worth of fights. They do that on purpose to drag it out and get the most out of the people's money."

Sakura shrugged. "Makes sense."

"Well, it'll be three or four days of fights. They say three, but sometimes if it looks really impressive they save the championship fight for a fourth day. I'm fighting, but I'm on the other side of the chart, so we won't meet until later on, if at all."

"Do you know who I will be fighting?"

Ten scrunched up her nose. "Another slave, a man, he's old and has a lot of scars, but no one cares to know his name. I don't think you'll have much trouble with how you were able to counter me. He might be starting you off easy on purpose, because you're new and he needs to build interest. Half the battle is won in the betting stands, you know."

"That's how things typically go."

Ten nodded, glancing upwards at the young sun in the sky. It was climbing steadily. Soon it would be high enough to peer over the edge of the stands surrounding the Gladiator's Boneyard. Each patron had a tent or space reserved for them apart from the mock coliseum, but by the noise of it, most of them were already in their stands. Sakura's master and her brother were no where to be seen, so Sakura guessed that's where they were.

"Fine. Yeah. I-I'll come back after I win my match to see if there's anything else you need help with. I'm pretty early on the chart," Ten said.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready in the contestant's pen?" Sakura asked, nodding to the tunnel that led down to the waiting areas for the fighters.

"Yeah, but you should come for that part to. Even if you're not fighting, you should watch the matches. Some of them-no, it's just better to see for yourself how these guys fight. I don't know what kind of place you came from before, if people fought with honor or decency, but this isn't like that. You should see for yourself."

"I already know they'll play dirty."

"Yeah, but one of those winners will be your opponent, so it's better you see and know how he cheats." Ten started to turn but paused. She eyed Sakura wearily. "You'll come, right?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, right behind you."

Ten spoke the truth when she said she would win her match, and Sakura knew why. The girl Sakura had bested that night in the pits was nowhere to be found in the Boneyard. Ten was cruel and fast and little else. Her opponent had been young for most of the males, but that did him few favors as he still wasn't fast enough to track her movements or catch her swipes.

They dragged the body off the field in time for the next match that hardly lasted any longer. Sakura saw a pattern of easily identified weakling against powerhouses in the next four matches. Even if it wasn't easy to see who was the favorite at first, as soon as they started moving, the difference became clear.

"Sometimes they do that to weed out the weaklings. The attendance is lower in the morning and picks up later in the day. The more closely ranked matches will happen later on," Ten explained from her seat in the stands beside Sakura. She was dusty, but no worse for wear. Sakura doubted the girl even sweat.

"So, which one am I?" Sakura asked. "The fodder or the favorite?"

"You're a dark horse. No one knows for sure, which is almost as interesting as a close match." Ten grinned wickedly, her smile like a knife. "If the people are lucky, today they'll get both."

At the end of the bench Sakura caught sight of Kotetsu and Izumo, talking to each other in hushed tones and then looking at the pit. Izumo looked up at her and glared with his one good eye while his friend smiled sheepishly. Sakura turned her eyes back down to the match and pretended she didn't want to know what they were talking about. Something told her she was a part of their conversation, or at least her fate.

Sakura's attention snapped from it's mindless drift when she heard Ten gasp and lean forward in her seat. "Another dark horse," she hissed.

Sakura looked down to the arena and felt her heart stop at the clear face of the newest contender. A Gaul, or an old tribal Goth from the Germanic region, he stood with heavy shoulders and an older face than the one Sakura was used to. Kiba still had the same red tribal markings on his face, but his eyes were so much harder and his jaw that much sharper. He was older, yes, but there was something more that made him a different person than the one she knew from the Monarch Woods.

"Who is he?" Sakura asked, hating how weak her voice sounded out loud. Her heart felt pain again for the boy with bright smiles who trailed after her with a puppy's love. She had left him to a heartsickness, but no one's attraction had won her over in the Obelisk. She wouldn't feel guilty for it.

"He's one of those wild ones from the North. Someone said he can use chakra. Look at his hands."

Sakura did, and that's when she saw the gauntlets that looked just like hers. They were new looking too, newer than her's at least.

"Who do you think will win? Marius is one of the favorites. He used to be a Roman legionnaire."

"Kiba will win," Sakura breaths, not caring that she's not supposed to know this boy's name.

The match begins and it is one of the bloodiest ones yet. Kiba didn't just win, he dominated. The other fighter's body was a mess of gore and blood and broken bones. The Gaul stood over his kill with blood dripping from his muzzle, thrilled to some degree by the savage cheer rising up from the crowd. They loved it and wanted more of this new vicious killer. All Sakura's heart could do was break for the boy with lost smiles.

"You're next," Izumo said, tapping her shoulder roughly. His voice was sharp as he nodded down to where the waiting pits were. Another pair of fighters were already stalking out to fight, but Sakura needed to be ready once one of them went down.

"That last match was pretty messy, don't you think?" Kotetsu asked, voice light and dismissive as he watched through the gaps of wood that separated Sakura and her team from the pits. "But I think you'll be fine if you have to go up against him. He's feral, not very bright."

Sakura nods, understanding his words. She saw the same fight. She knows what he means. Kiba was all animal out there in the dust and blood. It was hard to see him and think he was human and not wolf.

"You won't have to fight him till the semi finals if you both make it that far," Izumo huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not that you should be worried about that right now. You're going to be going out there soon enough. This one looks like a quickie, they're not evenly matched at all."

"It's the mystery bunch," Kotetsu laughs. "No one knows how the next few fighters will do."

"I'll win."

Both men turn to look at her. She raises her eyes to meet theirs, already hearing the cheer from the crowd of another kill. Blood was in the air and on the earth but none of that mattered.

"I will win," she said again, more slowly and deliberately, as if that made it more true.

Kotetsu reacted first, smiling and nodding. "Of course you will. That's what we believe."

Sakura doesn't wait for Izumo to say anything. He might not say anything, so she doesn't hold her breath, she just pushes the wood back and walks into the arena, feeling the full force of the stench. It's not just blood, but urine and vomit and sweat from fear. It's a mix of hell to her senses, but she remembers Kisame and it's enough for her to keep her face set. She has not come so far to fall now.

'First thing we work on is your stance. I don't care if you're punching or swinging a sword, how you stand and how you breath all are vital to every fighter.'

It's almost as if Kisame was there in her ear, reminding her of their lessons. Even before the nightmares in Obelisk began, Sakura had a body in the real world that remembered fighting, that remembered kids Karate and older self defense classes. She wasn't a stranger to fighting, but in the last two years, she grew that much closer to it. Fighting was a part of her soul now.

So when the aged fighter with more scars than skin walked out, it didn't make a difference to Sakura. She had no limit to her endurance, so she payed to I, running and dodging and never stopping for as long as she was in the ring. He was old, which meant he was slower but tougher. She aimed for his kidneys and she knew she did damage, but he was either really numb to the pain, or he was tougher of skin than she thought. Maybe both.

He swung at her, and it was the first she realized he had a weapon when she didn't. The odds were not for her, but she wasn't the dreamer for nothing. She rushed for his wrist and her teeth caught him and bit down. He tasted terrible, but he dropped the crude knife and it became hers.

When she reached for it his knee found her ribs and she was sent rolling through the dust with the prize in her hand, feeling cracked in two different places. Still, when she stood, she could see the fear in his stance. He had realized it. He was the weaker one.

'Don't look at his face,' she told herself as she closed the distance. He didn't have time to evade. She didn't let him.

Sakura buried the blade between his eyes and stumbled backwards while the body pitched like a debased tree in the forest. For a moment she saw too clearly what she had done, and then the body tipped and fell to one side while the world burst into applause. She tasted bile in her throat, and she swallowed it down.

'Look at what you've done,' a voice that wasn't Kisame's hissed in her ear. Sakura clenched her jaw and refused to move her face in the direction of the body. It wasn't real, he wasn't real, this was no different than a video game kill.

"Good job, now get off the field," Izumo called to her from somewhere over her shoulder.

Sakura looked up to see him glaring at her while Kotetsu cheered. She headed in their direction without looking up into the stands to see shouting for her or the brothers Ashura and Indra watching her with interest. She hadn't even remembered to look for their box where they both sat together. She had seen them once when walking in with Ten, but not again since then.

"You'll fight again tomorrow for sure," Kotetsu laughed before slapping her on the back. Something came away with his hand and he made a screwed up face that almost looked like horror. Sakura knew she smelled bad, but didn't want to know what she rolled through or landed in.

"I want to go see one of the other fighters, is that allowed?" Sakura asked, watching both of them.

"Ugh, Ten?" Kotetsu asked.

Sakura shook her head. "The feral Gaul. Will I be fighting him tomorrow since we both won?"

Izumo shook his head, point out behind her where a new pair of fighters emerged. "Likely no, since the winner of the next match will be your opponent, and then after that the semi final matches are drawn randomly by a priest from Ares' temple."

"So I can see him."

"It's not a good idea, but there is no rule against it. Just don't try to kill him before the match, it will get you kicked out and then one of us will have to kill you on account of the money we would loose," said Izumo.

Sakura nodded and then slipped behind them, trotting down through the tunnels connecting each waiting area. There were a few with bodies still in them, but most were empty. The winners had likely all gone out to the stands, but Sakura knew that Kiba wouldn't the same way she knew he wouldn't be the same boy she left behind so many months ago. Months, years, how long had it been since the Monarch Woods?

She saw him in his shackles, a chain connecting them to the wall as he crouched down on the stone floor. He looked up when he heard her approach and she saw through the slats in the wooden door, how he moved to smell her approach. There was a latch on the door but it wasn't locked. Without his chakra his chains would be enough.

"Kiba," she breathed, watching him stiffen at the sound. She undid the latch and pushed the door open. "Kiba, what happened to you?"

The scars on his arms stood out and she felt it reverberate in her heart, the guilt she didn't want. She ached with him. It was terrible that he had to live this fate again and again with each new dreamer. She hated the idea that he was in agony because of her. Her role in the dream condemned him to this.

Her hands tingled and she wished she had enough chakra in them to smash down walls. It wasn't enough, but maybe there was some way she could break his own bonds. If he would do the same to her, she could get free and together-

She stepped forward to reach out to him, but he lunged for her, more beast than man as his throat opened in a deep bark.

"Back!" he snarled. "Away from me woman, or I'll kill you here before the there!" His eyes were wide and narrow all at once, seemingly impossible. The red marks on his face stood out vibrantly. He snarled again and his chains strained. "I'll kill you, kill you!"

"Kiba, stop it, I don't mean you harm. I'm not here to hurt you. My name's Sakura-"

"I'll kill you!" He lunged again and again, straining and jerking on the chain.

He was a wild thing that spoke the truth, and that broke a part of her heart. Sakura took a step back, holding the side where her ribs were likely cracked. She was in pain, but Kiba was supposed to be her friend here. He was supposed to not blame her for any of this, but instead help her and aid her as the dreamer. She was special to him. She was supposed to be special to him.

Sakura opened her mouth but no words came out. She let her lips still as she slowly backed away. On the threshold of the door she reached for it, prepared to leave him on the other side of it once she eased it shut. "I'm sorry you became like this, Kiba. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

It's your fault.

Your fault.

Dreamer is the fault, you're the fault, the fault is yours.

Sakura stumbled backwards and hit the solid chest of a person. He caught her shoulders and turned her, crossing her legs as she pivoted. She stared up in to the narrowed red eyes of Indra, lined in red war paint. He was just as intimidating as ever.

"You know the boy." He looked up over her head at the body of the screaming man inside. Kiba wasn't a boy anymore, but maybe that's how he seemed to someone who hadn't been there when he had baby fat in his face and a smile too wide to hold.

"I wasn't going to…No. I was mistaken."

"Of course," he hummed disbelievingly. "But he's been a slave in the army for nearly a year now. They couldn't hope to control him anymore, so now he is here. Did you think he knew him before all that?"

"I was mistaken, it's the wrong boy."

He still held her around the shoulders and he didn't seem prepared to let her go. He looked over her shoulder, searching through the gaps in the wood door for something he couldn't find. "You knew someone like that. Maybe not him…but that tone was one I easily recognize. You think to find a friendly face down here in the pits?" His eyes fixed back on her and his hands hurt her shoulders.

"I won, you don't need to come here to scare me like this. I didn't do anything wrong."

"You're my slave, I can treat you as I like."

"I'm not a thing you can own!" Sakura snarled, remembering what it was like to feel anger. It was too easy to start to give in to the words of others, she needed to keep herself safe with truth. She wasn't a thing, she wasn't a slave, she was a person with an identity and she was free.

He almost growled, reaching behind her to drag her forward, but she hissed in pain at the way he made her moved her ribs. One was broken for sure, the other might just be bruised. He flinched at the sound of her intake of breath and dropped his hand to a loose hold. Indra looked over her, searching for a wound and in that moment his hold was slack enough for her to pull away. She held her ribs, backing away, out of his new reach.

He watches her in a way she recognizes and knows too well. She needs to get away. She needs to flee from this man, from this moment, from this situation before it develops any further. Maybe there is softness there under his words, but in some way he's a monster and she needs to flee before he makes her an exception.

"Don't move," he orders her, stern but not cold.

Sakura swallows, conflicted on what she must do as he approaches her Her back hits and wall and the choice is made for her. She can go no further. He reaches for the end of her shirt and lifts it up. A pale hand with fingers made for piano keys runs over her ribs, tracing the blooming discoloration. Sakura hisses again and he pauses.

There is heat there and then a cool replaces it, soothing the inflamed skin. Sakura exhales and looks down to see his hand glowing over her wound. It's such a crude attempt, it does little to set the bone, but the pain is dulled a bit more now. He's not a healer, he doesn't know the ways of healing like Tsunade or Shizune, but he knew chakra.

"What are you?"

He's not a slave like her, not an outsider like her, so why?

He catches her eye and Sakura doesn't flinch, not even when his face draws impossibly close to hers. She breaths and the air tastes like his breath before he kisses her again, bending her to him. She's floating and the world is a messy haze of rose and crystals. It's calm enough to melt into.

Sakura remembers herself a moment later and pushes back, hitting the stone wall and sliding down. Indra watches her, making no move to follow her.

Wordlessly, he turns and leaves her.

That night Ibiki comes to ask her about the boy she called Kiba, and why she wanted to see him so badly. She doesn't tell him and he strikes her across the face, into the hay of her bed. And in the never-ending night of her dream, she's almost afraid, but he leaves her after that and doesn't come back.

In the morning the mark on her face could have been from anything. No one asks, so she doesn't mention it. It's not like she actually slept or anything like that. Last night she lay awake, waiting for the dream to end and release her to the waking world, but none of that happened. She was beginning to loose track of how long she had been dreaming. Was this the second or the third day?

It gets harder to tell after the whole of the day rushes over her in a blur. She doesn't face Kiba or Ten, the only other actors in the line up, but a younger, fitter version of yesterday's outlaw. Sakura remembers the fight, or at least most of it. She remembered the part where she stole his sickle and severed his hand from his wrist in a familiar fashion. Like the way she danced in the Kingdom of Man to Orochimaru's deadly jitterbug, Sakura made herself a collector of souls on the Boneyard's floor.

There were actually two fights for her in one day, and it was late when the last one fell; a imposing viking like woman with long blond braids and one glass eye. She had been harder than the other, and the only one who didn't underestimate Sakura's abilities, but Sakura had lived almost two years in the dream world where death was her shadow. At the end of the day she was blooding, but she was alive and victorious.

Four contestants remained standing, three of those four were important to the dream. Sakura, Ten, Kiba, and a brute that had show no hesitation or seemed to have no difficulty in any of his fights.

"Tomorrow, he's ours."

Sakura turned to the side to see Ten looking out across the yard. Around them the circle of spectators cheered. They had been walked out and put on display in preparation for the next day's main event.

"Ours?" Sakura echoed.

"It's a free for all. A four way fight can only be for our favor. You and I can worry about who comes out on top tomorrow after laying out the competition."

Sakura looks back over across the way to where Kiba stalks back and forth on a short chain, feral like always. He's only let loose to maul and little else. She hadn't tried talking to him again after the last time, but more than once she had rehearsed conversations in her head. She never got far in them.

"Who are you more afraid of?" Sakura asks, looking away from Kiba to stare back over her shoulder at the younger girl.

Ten shifts her shoulders up and then down, not quite a shrug. "I'm fast, but so are you. Our skill sets are too similar for it to make a difference. But isn't there a different reason for you to ask that?"

Sakura doesn't answer and Ten almost looks exasperated.

"I'm not going to tell. Don't look at me like I'm a snitch."

"There's nothing to tell."

"And you got that on your face from one of the fights, right? Ha, no, I watched you well enough to recognize a backhand when I see one. Ibiki came to see you the other night when he heard about how you reacted to the boy. I wouldn't be surprised if Indra set him upon you."

Sakura tried to mask her features and school her face into something dismissive. "And what would you know about Indra? I thought it was Ashura who owned you."

"Yeah, but they're brothers in more ways than just blood. I've been here long enough to know Ashura so well I can see parts of him in Indra. But between the two of them, I got the better end of the stick, I think."

Sakura refuses to touch the discoloration on her face, hoping it dulls by the time she wakes up in the morning, whenever the morning comes. "There is nothing to tell. Not in this life at least. A hundred years ago in a world filed with snows there were stories there worth telling, but I've died and been reborn four times since then." Sakura shakes her head and the short stands of her hair slap the sides of her face. They're getting longer and she plans to cut them again. "Since I know they told you to ask me about it, that's what you can tell them."

Ten stiffens, and her face flushes. Sakura guesses she is not used to being sneaky or civil. She is all steel and fight. Words are not her weapons.

To the side one of the gates opens up and a number of patrons and spectators dressed in finery walk out onto the field. In front of them a child sweeps away the worst of the bloody sand to make it neater for their trek. Sakura's eyes narrow when she sees Indra walking alongside his brother Ashura behind a pair of faceless patrons. One of the unnamed patrons when to Kiba, and the other went to the last champion. A fifth and six circled the whole of the group, likely debating on where their bets would go.

Ashura stopped in front of Ten and smiled wide, humming knowingly when he saw her blush. "Ah, did your girlfriend say something mean to you?" he asked on a childish laugh that only made Ten sputter more.

Sakura's gaze was snatched away when she felt Indra's hand under her jaw. He's staring at her, but she can't tell where his eyes land. He's staring at all of her, taking in as much as he can. Sakura lets her lids drift almost closed as she slides her eyes to the side, obviously disinterested with his proximity.

"You would be wise to not look away from me," he almost growls.

"No one ever accused me of being wise," she says. At her sides her arms hang lifeless, restless, itching to be allowed to do something dangerous.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" he asks, stepping back and letting his hand fall from her chin.

"Sure, fine," Sakura mutters with a roll of her shoulders. He's never asked this of her before. "Why wouldn't I be."

"The boy."

Sakura still herself before she can flinch. She will not react. She will not show emotion. "Huh?" she does her best to appear ignorant. "You want something from him?"

"You're allowed to kill him tomorrow in the matches. See that you do."

Her fingers tense, itching to turn unto themselves and curl into a fist made for shattering the earth. But she's still in shackles so she grins as sweetly as she dares and laughs. Indra's eyes flash at the sound.

"Oi, don't be so mean to your pretty new pet. She'll never smile at you if all you do is threaten her and tell her to kill her boyfriend," Ashura teases, sliding up alongside his brother with anything but brotherly affection in his smile. No, Sakura knows enough to see past the mask Ashura has in place for the audience around them. It may sound teasing, but Ashura wants to wound his brother. Ashura wants to make Indra react.

"Deal with your own bed mates," Indra growls, red eyes flashing.

Ashura pretends to think about it before chuckling and shaking his head, the way a parent would with a child that has just said something ridiculous. "Oh, silly brother, don't be jealous for what's not there. I don't take pets into my bed. You should know better." The sweetness seeps out of Ashura's voice, and when he looks up, his eyes are as hard and cold as his tone. "After all, those things bring cockroaches into the sheets with them."

Sakura's almost thrown as his insult cuts sharply across Ten's features. She goes white, then when she sees Sakura looking over at her, the brunet reddens and looks away, as if ashamed. Its enough to make Sakura stiffen, her eyes darkening. And here Ten said she got luckier with her master. Sakura prefers assholes who are upfront and honest about being assholes. The worst kinds of assholes are the assholes that pretend to be nice and don't think they're assholes at all.

"It's a shame to hear the young lord can not even attract cockroaches into his bed on his own," Sakura mutters under her breath with familiar sass.

It's enough to make Indra whip his eyes back to Sakura in an instant while his brother goes stiff, more shocked than insulted. When neither says anything Sakura lifts her head a bit and schools her features into a look that was too well worn from her teenage years, the years she had nothing to loose and sass to spare. Indra swallows while Ashura tries to fake another smile.

"How amusing, brother, you taught her tricks. Now see if she will listen to some of your commands now." Ashura's tone is cheerful, but his smile is forced while his eyes are sharp as flint.

"I think she's done just fine," Indra replies, faking nonchalance. He turns back to Sakura and touches the side of her face again, the side that was blossoming in bruise. He frowns. "I'll have someone see to this right away. In the morning, first thing the entertain with the actors. Once that is done you will fight for me and you will win."

Sakura slides her eyes to the hulk of a man she intended to go after as soon as the match started. He was the only one unimportant to the story. He wouldn't be easy, but Sakura knew he was the least important by far. "Yeah, well it wasn't my plan to loose, and I kind of don't want to die."

Indra produces something from inside his robe, and from off the side, his brother Ashura watches.

"What is that?" Sakura asks, looking down at the Obsidian shard. It reminds her of the black Obelisk she knows she needs to find.

"This is a shard of the crown you are to win tomorrow. Do not fail me, and the Obelisk Wreath is yours."

It's all Sakura can do to make it back to the barn in one piece before the dream finally ends.

When Sakura wakes, she undresses to shower and stands in front of the old tub with the water turned off, staring off into nothing as all the minutes in the day try to catch up with her.

That evening she drinks enough coffee to drown a sailor and powers through the night. A night without sleep wears on her, but she demands it. She lived in a dream for too many days when she should have only been trapped for eight hours.

But when she gets home the next night and reaches for the empty coffee maker and finds her grounds depleted, she skips her meal and dresses for bed like a samurai dresses for his last battle. She doesn't even wait for night. It's getting closer to summer but it's still spring and it's cool at six in the afternoon. There's light in the room when she lays her head on her pillow and falls.

Next Chapter Teaser~

Blood

Blood

Blood

The earth is singing for it and Sakura is afraid there will be enough to drown them all in it. So much of it is her own as well. This wasn't how she intended the night to go once she fell asleep into the dream of the Obelisk curse.

This wasn't how things were supposed to go.

AN:/I'm almost done with my first year of teaching and it's just a bit longer now before I have the freedom to stay more on top of my stories. It's been rough, and my health has been pretty terrible, but I'm not done with this story by a longshot. I don't think I'e been invested in anything so big for so long and I'm really proud of that.

Next chapter shouldn't take two months to get out though, sorry! I've spent a lot of time writing micro fiction over on my tumblr page and my tumblr user name is vesperlionheart so if you ever want to look up me over there, that's how to find me. (links out don't work very well on this site.) I'll post a few of the things I wrote for tumblr, but some of it is too NSFW for this site so I'll keep it there.

Please remember to review, because really, that's what sustains me.