Author's note: Not sure whether there is any interest in this, but this is a twoshot sequel to The Dotted Line! Yes, really, only a twoshot this time, don't come at me, I mean it! You might want to read The Dotted Line first if you haven't already, if only to familiarise yourself with the setting.

Had a bit of a frustrating day, which is why this also falls under the NOT FOR SAKURA FANS! category.

Warnings: Sakura's pov for now; Alternate universe; demon world; demon Sasuke; established slash; violence; NOT FOR SAKURA FANS!; implied MPreg

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

Part 1

It was no secret that the majority of the female demons – and even some of the male ones – would want nothing more than to gain the honour of becoming Sasuke's mate. The Prince of their realm, he was called, even though their world had no such thing as a kingdom. There were only powerful demons and weak ones and those who fell in between, easily forgotten. The stronger one was, the more territory one had to rule over and subsequently also had more demons working under them.

But Sasuke's ethereal looks, combined with his utter ruthlessness, his strength, raw power and smarts saw him high above the others, with only his parents and his brother equal on his level. Most demons wanted to be him or be with him, but neither one was possible.

Because it was also no secret that Sasuke never favoured any demon above the others. There were some who had been given the privilege of standing closer to him than the rest, but even those lucky few could not call themselves close to the dark haired demon through any means. Certainly not close enough to be considered worthy of becoming his mate.

That did not stop some demons of trying to curry his favour over and over again.

Sakura was one of them. Neither extremely powerful nor weak, she fell in a classification of demons who were often forgotten or ignored. She had not once let that hold her back, however. If she wasn't born strong enough, she would just persevere until she did become stronger. She had been taught to never give up, to strive for the best each and every time, which was exactly what she did.

She started out as a simple underling, those who were ordered around by the stronger ones, often having to do the most menial assignments. Those had been annoying and had her gritting her teeth more than once, but she had pushed through, never once letting the rut of it all drag her down. Her stubbornness had paid off. While she would never be able to become a demoness with her own ritual to be called upon, she had been able to work her way up the ranks nonetheless.

Three centuries after being a simple underling, she had gained the skills to become a Curer: the only ones adapt at curing all the ailed demons. There were demons capable of healing themselves, but the majority of them still required some help when the injuries became near fatal. There was, after all, a limit to how much their body could withstand without shutting down completely. The most powerful Curer in centuries was still Tsunade, the beautiful demoness who had taught Sakura all she knew, but Sakura was considered good enough to treat demons on her own, instead of acting like Tsunade's lackey.

With her position now more impressive, Sakura had started seeking out Sasuke every time she could come up with a viable excuse that wouldn't likely end in her demise if she happened to come across him in a bad mood. Unfortunately, no matter how often she hinted at her interest in him, the demonic prince remained aloof and cool, never offering her more attention than he gave to the other demons. It was frustrating, because how much stronger did she have to become before she would finally pique his interest? It wasn't as if becoming a Curer was that easy either! Only around fifty demons throughout the centuries had become a Curer, leading to her receiving much deserved respect.

After several failed attempts of even getting Sasuke to look at her, let alone speak to her, she had resigned herself to the fact that most likely this was one thing she would never succeed at. She comforted herself with the thought that at least she wasn't the only one failing in gaining his attention. Demoness after demoness, demon after demon even, all left his abode disappointed when they were either fully ignored or strongly rejected. They all shared their commiseration in silence; all of them disappointed that they would never become Sasuke's mate, but still happy that others weren't succeeding as well.

Perhaps Sasuke simply wasn't interested in continuing his line. That happened. Not every demon wanted someone to fuck and Sasuke had indeed always looked above that sort of thing – to Sakura's disappointment.

So, it was no secret that Sasuke refused to take anyone as his mate – until the day he did.

Sakura hadn't paid much attention to the rumours at first. Busy as she was gaining more knowledge, most rumours flitted into one ear and right out of the other. The majority of them was useless anyways, tracing back to demons feeling too bored.

One rumour stood out however and grew stronger and stronger as time went by.

"Did you hear?" the whisper travelling through the air. "The Demon Prince has found someone!"

"He did? Who?" a demoness flicked her serpentine tail in agitation; her forked tongue slithering out, dripping venom. "I'll tear through her guts!"

"It is not someone from our realm. You don't think that person would be gloating if it was?"

A heavy silence followed that derisive comment as they tried to wrap their heads around what this implied. If it wasn't anyone from their realm, then did this mean that …

"That's not possible," another one scoffed; their horns so black they blended in with their long, curly black hair. "He's never shown any interest in anybody here and you're telling me a mere human caught his eye? Preposterous!"

"He has been disappearing more and more often," a wizened, old demon commented thoughtfully. "More times than a ritual normally requires."

"He's in a better mood too," the first head of another demon piped up. The second head, uglier than the first one, added, "He hasn't destroyed one of us in quite some time, not even when that damn rat kept making the same mistake."

"Didn't he get his hooves crushed?" yet another demon asked, frowning until his entire face was swallowed up by the heavy wrinkles already leaving deep grooves behind.

"Well, yes, but he wasn't killed, which means the Lord is in a good mood," the first head replied to that and their giant body tilted slightly to the left as they shrugged. "What else could it possibly be? It appears he is not as immune to lust as the rest of us."

"Makes me feel a lot better about myself," a young demon said in jest, but was instantly clobbered down by the serpentine demoness, who struck him with the tip of her tail relentlessly. Wherever her tail touched him, his skin turned bubbly and steamy, until it started to fall off, exposing the inner muscles and when the venom burnt through those as well, the whiteness of his bones.

They all ignored his painful screams. If he couldn't even withstand the venom of such a low level ranked demoness, he would have never made it that long regardless.

As the rumours turned wilder and wilder, Sakura considered the merit of each one before dismissing them all firmly. They were nothing but outrageous tales, fabricated by bored demons. After all, why would a powerful demon lord such as Sasuke content himself with a mere human? Never mind that those beings weren't even of their world – they would never be able to match his strength nor his importance. They could offer him nothing that a demoness already couldn't.

Thus Sakura dismissed the rumours, declaring them ridiculous – until one day she spotted a completely unknown person standing right next to Sasuke.

"He's finally taking the human out in the open?" a demon muttered bewildered, making Sakura's ears prick in attention.

A human? In their realm? Ah, must be a new plaything won through a contract. Such happenstances were not unusual, given how demons always emerged at the victor in those contracts, but since when were they all so excited about this arrival? If they were that desperate to watch a demon going at it with their newest plaything, they had but to go to the furthest places where debauchery of human playthings was as common as beating each other's head in.

"It appears so," a demoness whose long blonde hair was the only thing covering her body replied. "One of his closest confidants was overheard stating they had warded off the section around the Lord's abode to prevent any accidents."

The first demon clucked his tongue critically. "If he truly plans on presenting the human as his, it would make for a very empty headed demon to try to pull something."

"It wouldn't be unheard of," the demoness answered nonchalantly. She snickered, a scale covered hand reaching up to cover her mouth; her poison green eyes dancing with mirth. "I would love to see the outcome of that."

"Take it from me," the demon grunted, fluttering his iridescent wings in agitation, "you do not want to see that outcome. Particularly gruesome that Lord and he makes no distinction, mind."

"We are due for some entertainment," she argued, lowering her hand to show off the rows of jagged, sharp teeth filling her mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura jumped into their conversation, having become intrigued against her will.

There were not many Lords who had a predilection for indiscriminately punishing everyone, but frankly that list on its own was still too long to narrow down the possibilities.

"Lord Sasuke will be showing off his human," the demon replied to her utter bewilderment.

"What do you mean, his human?" she demanded baffled.

Were they mistaking another Lord for Lord Sasuke? It must be, because why would Sasuke be showing off a human of all things? Everyone knew just how much he despised being called upon by those weak beings, so why would he show one of them off? Hm, perhaps to auction it off? It happened rarely, but it did happen. Only when the demon was either in need of riches or had become bored of their toy.

Sasuke wasn't lacking for riches, however, and he had never even shown interest in anyone that was not his sibling or his parents.

"You haven't heard yet?" the demoness responded in surprise. Her nails scraped against the rock when she settled herself more comfortably upon it. "Lord Sasuke brought his human to our realm. It seems a disaster nearly befell the human and the Lord has kept him in his abode ever since he returned."

"I have never smelt such strong sulphur before," the demon mused, reclining against the other rock. "From what I have heard, four were lost to fate when they displeased him."

"Hm, is he not tracking down another human for revenge of sorts?" the demoness said, unbothered when her hair no longer stayed put, revealing her perky, rounded breasts. "Although I am not intimate with the details of that."

"I doubt anyone is save for his confidants," he said carelessly. "He will be issuing a formal announcement soon, however, so it appears that at least his human has recovered enough for a proper introduction."

She slid her tongue across her teeth, grinning. "Who knew our Lord had it in him all along, though? I would have never thought he would go for a human of all beings!"

"Choosing a human does save him the headache of squabbling demonesses," he said succinctly.

Sakura stopped listening to them and sped away, lost in thought. She wanted to ignore what she had just heard, because really, it had all sounded so idiotic and unlike the Sasuke they all knew. A human of all things? Really? That was just too farfetched!

But both demons had looked completely convinced and there was the fact that basically all demons had done their best to remain away from the lord lately, fearing invoking his displeasure. She wanted to wave it off as yet another baseless rumour, but even she had felt the tremor wrecking the ground when Sasuke had apparently returned; his fury so great it had turned their surroundings pitch black for a while. Back then she had chalked it up to him being angered by yet another summoning, but based on what she had just heard …

She pursed her lips and straightened her back. There was no point in dawdling and wavering. She would go to his abode and listen to his announcement – if there was going to be one. Most likely this was all just another misunderstanding, created by a demoness who couldn't deal with being rejected and had decided to slander Sasuke's name by spreading the rumour that he had chosen a human of all beings.

She scoffed. As if one of the most powerful demons their realm had seen in centuries really was going to choose a puny human.

There was a human standing right next to Sasuke; the demon lord's arm protectively wrapped around the slim shoulders. The human was male, having the nerve to look regal as if he was presiding over his kingdom and not a large part of the demon realm. He was dressed in the finest dark red robes that only a demon of Sasuke's level could afford and in his arms he carried a mewling babe, which blinked its unfocused eyes and was uselessly grasping at air.

The sight of the human dressed so luxuriously whilst standing right next to Sasuke soured Sakura's mouth, but she soothed herself with the thought that she wouldn't have to endure this vision for too long.

Because the luxurious robes made it quite clear that Sasuke had dressed him up in order to give him up for the demon with the most interesting offer. Sasuke had never done such a thing before, but for everything there must be a first time and she had to admit it would be interesting to hear what sort of thing could convince Sasuke to relinquish the human he must have won through a contract.

So she relaxed and admired the way shadows played across his handsome face as he attracted their attention with but one single nod.

"I am not going to repeat myself, so you would do well to listen," he started coolly and Sakura stifled a sigh just in time. Sasuke's voice was truly a balm for her ears!

"These two fall under my protection. You even dare to consider harming them and you will find that death is more pleasurable than what I will do to you," he promised darkly.

One demon in the front was brave enough to ask, "My Lord, may we ask what they are to you?"

The corners of his mouth lifted up ever so slightly, so quickly the smile was gone in the blink of an eye. He tightened his grip around the human, making the human look down at the babe in his arms, shushing it softly.

"My mate and our child."

That … couldn't …

There was just no way!

As Sakura stood there, frozen as if one of those blasted ice demons had got the better of her, she had to watch Sasuke, their feared demon lord, bent his head and tilt the human's head up so that he could tenderly kiss him.

This was not how things were supposed to turn out!

AN2: So interesting enough to read the second part? I hadn't intended to return to this particular universe this quickly already, but the muse wants what it wants, I guess. At least this time it's only going to be a twoshot.

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.