ZERO / BLEACH / TWIST (here) / REVERSE / DYE / RED

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. -Edgar Allan Poe

She didn't know how she had expected Madara to react. For some reason, she had expected a little more… fang?

Instead, Madara pulled his glasses off. They fell against his chest, dangling from the chain he wore around his neck. He reached out with both hands. Sakura stepped closer, turning and pulling her hair off her neck so that he could see for himself.

"The fuck is this shit," Madara muttered. He fumbled to pull his glasses back on.

"It looks like a demon contract, Uncle," Itachi spoke up. Of course, he would know it when he saw one. Itachi's work with the Demonology Division had probably put him in close contact with dozens of these.

Contracts manifested in different ways depending on the demon and the nature of the deal that was struck. A deal to kill someone would look different from a deal for musical talent. And contrary to popular belief, deals weren't only struck for souls. People could offer a few years of their lifespan, money, even a favor to be cashed in later. The only absolute was that when it was time to pay up, the contract would appear somewhere on the body.

"What's it look like?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke whipped his phone out to snap a picture. He showed it to her.

"…a butterfly?"

It was bright red with black markings running along the edges. But at the bottom of either wing was a large splotch of blue that looked disturbingly like a pair of eyes. The colors were so vivid and the shadows so real that it looked as if the wings were about to flap as the creature took flight. She reached back to run her fingers along it again. There was the gentle tingle of some sort of enchantment. Otherwise it was just skin.

Madara pulled his glasses off again.

"Have you ever seen a butterfly before?" he asked Itachi. Itachi shook his head.

"I can go reference the records at the precinct to see if someone else has. I'll go do that now before they close," Itachi muttered, already grabbing his jacket and pulling his arms through the sleeves. Shisui twisted his head to follow his cousin. He looked to Sakura. Then to Itachi again. Sakura offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she nodded towards Itachi.

"I'll go with you," Shisui announced. He squeezed Sakura's shoulder once before he hurried after Itachi.

Sasuke's mouth pulled into a line. He looked like he would also like to go with Itachi. When Sakura nudged his arm, however, he shook his head.

"You shouldn't be alone. I'll stick with you until we figure out what the hell is going on," Sasuke said instead. And even though Sasuke was not an affectionate person, he reached over and took her hand. He even gave it a light squeeze.

Madara let out a long breath. He sounded as exhausted as he looked.

"Alright. Stay put for the day. I'll put together some protection enchantments for the both of you," he decided. And then his hand landed on top of Sakura's head. He gave her hair an affectionate little ruffle.

"Don't worry. I've got you," Madara then promised.

Guilt flooded Sakura. That she still doubted him. That she was keeping secrets from him. Any idiot could see how much he cared.

This was the man who had stayed up to help her make dioramas out of shoeboxes. He had given her 'the talk' and taught her how to drive. If there was anyone in this world she could trust, it should have been him.

But she didn't.

Because of a few crazy visions that had left her with a bitter taste in her mouth.

Sasuke went to make a few phone calls, leaving Sakura by herself in the kitchen. She made sure no one was around before she climbed the stairs two at a time. She shut the door to her bedroom behind her. Warded it just in case. She could always pretend she was changing if someone knocked.

The rib was still sitting in her drawer when she fished around for it. It felt almost like plastic as she weighed it in her palm.

Sakura had stolen plenty of things from Madara before. Half of the shirts in her closet had once belonged to him. Maybe it felt different because this was something he treasured. Even though he always let her borrow them, there was something in his gaze whenever he pulled the bag out of the drawer. The way he pretended he wasn't looking, but he still was. Maybe they were just really expensive.

As her fingers closed around the rib bone, she felt the anxiety swirling in her stomach calm a little.

"Everything's going to be alright," she tried to assure herself.

Her fingers tingled. When she looked down, she saw that the scrying bone was glowing just a little in her grasp.

She channeled into it.

When she normally cast a set of scrying bones, answers came to her in a chorus of whispers. It was like opening a door into a room where everyone was eager to share the same secrets with her.

When she cast the single scrying bone, it sounded more like a friend whispering a comment to her in the movie theater.

Are you wary of the dreams that linger?

It almost sounded like the voice was chastising her.

"I am being careful," Sakura protested.

But you've given your heart away.

"I haven't." Her voice was more firm. She was certain of this one.

The voice from the scrying bone giggled before she said one last thing: Keyless lock.

"Hey. You already said all this stuff. Give me something else," Sakura demanded.

The rib was silent. But it did hum with energy against her skin. Sakura opened her fingers to stare at the bone. There was a long crack running down it. When she channeled energy to it again, the crack glowed gold.

And to her surprise, she felt the bone cast back at her. A simple, basic spell that even a child could muster. Just the lightest brush of magic against her skin.

But it wasn't the type of spell it was that amazed her. It was the form of it.

She remembered when she first met Madara. When he had showed her how to channel the energy through her solar plexus, push it up through her fingers until it sparked to life in her hands. Sparks the color of melted butter flowing from her fingers in a gorgeous river. The first barrier he taught her to cast was smooth and seamless. Like a bubble formed from an impossible bolt of satin.

The teachers at the Senju Academy had taught her that magic was free. To let instinct guide her, even as she struggled to summon a simple flame.

Madara had taught her that magic was the flow of energy. With the right breathing techniques and the proper stance, she could push that energy to push and pull. To pour out of or to take from.

The scrying bone, silent as it was, was telling her that magic was neither of those things.

Magic was a web. Interconnected. Tying to itself to strengthen the bonds.

Sakura tried to recreate the feel of the subtle spell that had touched her. It had settled over her like a very thin cloth.

Her temples began to ache as she narrowed her concentration over a single point on her hand. She watched as the magic gathered in a wave. Then it split into threads that wove together in a single sheet. Before she could manipulate it into any shape, it dissolved.

But she had managed it. Even for an instant.

She tilted her head as she considered the implications.

Would this style of casting prove more malleable? Would the effects of such enchantments last longer due to the bonds, or would they decay more quickly? What kinds of spells could this be applied to?

Her mind automatically drifted to Madara. He was the arcanist. Enchantment and magic research was what he lived for. In all the time she had known him, he had never grown upset at her for trying to learn. She could explain that she had borrowed a scrying bone to test a hypothesis. And then they could pore over references in the library to try to find answers to all her questions.

As she rose to her feet to go ask, the rib suddenly flashed hot in her palm. She yelped, nearly dropping it. When she glance down, she saw that the bone had burned her.

Wary. Protect your heart. Pity the child.

The different divined messages jumbled together to form a slightly different message.

"Who is the child?" Sakura asked.

The bone was quiet.

"Is it me?"

Silence answered, so she ventured another guess.

"…Is it… Madara?"

So much pain. Pitiful child, the voice sighed.

Sakura slept that night with the rib tucked back in her drawer. Sasuke slept in one of the guest rooms.

As soon as her eyes closed, she found herself at the entrance to the dream world. The old wooden door loomed huge and purple over her. It seemed taller than usual. The vines and leaves that framed the door stretched and twisted under her gaze. Her hand froze mid-reach. She stared at the keyhole that she had never needed to use.

Pity the child who trusts the keyless lock.

Sakura nudged the door, as she always had. It swung open under her light touch.

The hallway illuminated in soft, purplish light. Inviting. Safe as always.

She closed the door.

Stared at the keyhole that was a little obscured by the vines. When she brushed her fingers across them, the vines receded.

She imagined a key appearing. Dreams were strange that way. Sometimes she could just imagine what she needed and they would materialize. A watering can for wilting flowers. A hat when the sun shined too bright.

A key did not appear.

She tried other solutions.

A lockpick. A bobby pin. None of them appeared in her hand.

When she started to grow frustrated, the door swung open again. As if inviting her to just relax. This was a dream after all. She would have many more chances like this- night after night.

Sakura decided to grill the scrying bones about this another time. Maybe there was some kind of hint they were withholding.

The corridor seemed to expand and lighten once she set foot inside. The rooms of people who had already passed on remained dark. But as she passed Sasuke's dream, it flared with colors. She continued down the familiar path. Shisui's and Itachi's doors pulsed too with soft light. They were a little too far for her to access, but she could feel their minds stirring. It was reassuring to know that they were alright.

Madara's door was dim when she passed. But the knob was still there- silvery and bright. She brushed her fingers over it as she walked past. He wasn't sleeping yet. Probably immersed in his research. It was possible that he wouldn't dream at all that night.

When she slipped into her room, the door swung shut behind her.

It startled her when she immediately plummeted into a nightmare.

Gnashing teeth and wild, red eyes. Clawed fingers raked across her shield in desperation to slash her open.

He was crunchy, but tasty. You look tasty too.

How could she have forgotten?

Or maybe she had just pretended to forget.

The sight of Naruto covered in blood. Mouth leering too wide. Like if he smiled harder, his skull would split right open.

The side of the dream shattered like glass. The visions tumbled together in random shards as Sasuke's hand punched through. He climbed into her nightmare, his hands filled with fire.

"Why didn't you call me?" he asked. Yelled at her, actually. That didn't bother her. She knew he was more concerned than angry.

He fell silent as he scrutinized the crumbling remnants of her nightmare before they swept away in a gust of wind. Sasuke glared at the void around them. And then he pulled the fabric of the darkness apart like curtains to reveal her room in the dream world. The crystals hummed on the shelves as they entered, as if greeting them. On another set of shelves sat all the different fragments of dreams she had collected in her walking. A cork wiggled out of a bottle with a pop. An airy but smug voice slipped out.

I told you to be wary.

Sakura flapped her hand back and forth, dissolving the essence with an irritable, "Yeah, yeah." She slid to the floor, rubbing her forehead as she tried to gather her thoughts. She felt Sasuke sit down beside her.

"Sasuke."

"Yeah?"

"What if… what if I told you something completely crazy?"

Sasuke snorted. "More crazy than if you told me you woke up one day with a demon contract growing out of your neck?" he retorted.

She tried to fake a smile. Failed.

"Yeah… something like that."

Sasuke studied her expression. And then he shrugged. "I've heard crazier shit before. What is it?"

Before Sakura had a chance to speak, the room dissolved around them. She blinked up at the ceiling. It took her a second to realize that she could hear the faint sounds of someone's phone ringing downstairs. Sasuke's alarm had woken him.

Sakura curled up on her side, clenching and unclenching her hand. The burn mark the rib had left still stung.

Her bedroom door creaked open. Sasuke stood there, his hair sticking up every which way. His eyes barely squinting at her in the morning light.

"What crazy thing?" he questioned.

Sakura sat up. She glanced around. She could feel Madara's presence in his room across the hall. He was probably still sleeping. Maybe it was the nightmare that was making her feel so paranoid.

"Let's fine Ino. I want to tell her too," she said.

Sasuke yawned. "Ok. Might as well find Naruto, too, then."

"Just Ino," Sakura insisted.

Ino complained about being woken this early. But she was the first one to arrive at the diner. She waved at them from a table by the window. She was still in her pajamas with a jacket thrown on top. Bits of her golden hair stuck out from under her knit cap as she watched them settle down across from her.

"You both look terrible," she observed.

"Thanks," Sasuke retorted.

Ino wrinkled her nose at him.

Sakura waited to let everyone order their food before she finally launched into her explanation.

She started from the very beginning. With the puzzling loop of dreams that seemed to bleed into reality, only to become a dream again. She recounted being able to anticipate what people would say and do, as if she had experience all of this before. She even told them about how she'd seen Gaara's bloodied corpse on the floor of the library.

Ino paled. She had never been good with blood.

"So, you're saying the monster… beast… whatever- that attacked you was Naruto?" she inquired.

Sakura shrugged as she pushed a bit of pancake around her plate. It had sopped up all of the syrup, leaving it a sticky, dense mess.

Sasuke hadn't touched a bite of his food since it arrived. He folded his arms on top of the table.

"Did you tell Ino?"

"Tell me what?"

"That she has a demon contract branded into her body."

Ino sucked in a sharp breath. "Sakura, when did you-"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know. I think I would remember if I did something like that."

Sasuke tapped his finger against his arm. Like he was deliberating how to word something. He glanced up to meet Sakura's eyes. And then he seemed to make a decision.

"That description of Naruto… sounds… pretty demonic to me," he slowly pointed out.

They had all taken a basic demonology and summoning class during their freshman year of university. It was one of the required courses. Summoning spirits and making contracts was a simple and usually safe way to gain a boost in power. As long as the caster followed protocols and made the terms of the contract very clear, even a mischievous spirit couldn't do much damage.

"But… Naruto's… isn't he just a guy?" Ino asked the question they'd all been thinking.

All four of them had met during their freshman year. Naruto sat beside Ino during one of their lectures and asked to borrow a pen every day until she had threatened to stab him with one. Once Ino and Sakura had become friends, it had become natural for the four of them to hang out together. Like Sasuke, Naruto's strength lay in offensive magic. The two of them had developed somewhat of a friendly rivalry as they dueled together.

The more Sakura considered the idea, the more ridiculous it seemed. Naruto was so kind. He delivered pizza at night and always hooked them up with free slices when they visited him at work. She remembered him comforting her when Itachi and Shisui had gone missing. Those didn't seem like the actions of a malicious spirit coming to collect on a contract.

But he had also eaten Sasuke's heart straight out of his chest.

"Okay. Okay. Shit. Okay…" Ino muttered to herself. She folded her hands together under her nose. Her eyes darted back and forth.

"First thing's first, we should go visit him," Ino then declared.

"Are you crazy?" Sasuke spat.

"Look. Sakura said all this shit happened on New Year's Eve. It's not even December yet. There's still time," explained Ino.

"Yeah. Time for him to rip her heart out or whatever."

"It could have just been a vision from divination gone wrong. It might not be actual foresight," Ino insisted.

Sakura shuddered as she remembered those long teeth. The joy and cruelty in his cackle as he confessed to killing the people she loved. But also the pang of concern as she wondered what had driven sweet Naruto to do such an awful thing.

And then wondered something else.

"Why do you guys believe me?"

Ino and Sasuke stopped their bickering. They turned to her.

"Why do you believe me? I sound like a crazy person. I feel like a crazy person," she whispered. Hands clenching in her lap. Sasuke's face crumpled as tears began to drip from her eyes. Ino's chair scraped across the floor as she rounded the table. She pulled Sakura into her arms, warm and smelling like perfume.

"Because we love you. And because you're this upset. Of course we believe you," Ino murmured.

The waitress awkwardly hovered to the side as she held the check between her thumb and pointer finger. She lingered, eyes flickering around from place to place. In the end, she settled for placing it at the edge of the table before hurrying off to give them some privacy.

Once Sakura had dried her tears and they'd paid the bill, they made their way out of the diner. Ino kept her arm wound around Sakura's, insisting that it was because she was cold.

After a little more fighting, all three of them agreed to visit Naruto's studio apartment.

"If he tries to kill us or whatever, we'll beat the shit out of him. There's three of us and only one of him!" Ino cheerfully declared. Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a far less enthusiastic look. But when Sakura nodded, Sasuke heaved a sigh and agreed to Ino's plan.

Naruto had clearly been asleep after a late shift at the pizzeria. Or maybe at one of his other part-time jobs. He was barely awake when he opened the door to his place and stumbled off. He scratched his stomach as he gave them a questioning look.

"How are you feeling?" Sasuke abruptly asked.

"Uh… confused?" Naruto answered.

"No, like, physically. Have you had any weird symptoms or feelings lately?" Ino tried to clarify.

Naruto rubbed a knuckle across his eyes. "Not really. Hey, have you been crying, Sakura?"

"I'm fine," she sniffed, slapping a hasty smile on her face. Naruto gave her a look that said he didn't believe her. But before he could ask something else, Ino grabbed his elbow and shook his arm.

"Focus! I'm being seriously. Are you sure you haven't felt… off?"

Naruto stared at Ino now. And then something flashed across his face.

"Actually, my head's kind of been hurting sometimes. And I've been falling asleep earlier than usual. Guess I've just been tired," he confessed.

Ino and Sakura exchanged a look.

Ino dug the pockets of her jacket. And then her pajama pants. She looked around the place before she pointed to the pendant Naruto always wore. She grasped it, jerking Naruto forward a little.

"I'm gonna cast a tracking charm on this. Just to make sure you're ok," Ino explained.

Naruto didn't protest, but he began to look worried now. He looked at Sakura again.

"Wait, what's going on? Did something happen?" he wondered. Ino was busy casting her spell. She threw Sasuke a look that told him to say something.

"Sakura… divined… that something bad might happen to you. We just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt or whatever…" Sasuke let his lie trail off. It wasn't completely false. It also wasn't really the truth.

"Oh… well. Shit. Thanks, I guess. And you guys are good?" Naruto mumbled, blinking a little. He looked more awake now.

"Yeah. We're fine," Sasuke said just a little too quickly.

They stayed for a little while longer, chatting with Naruto and catching up. With each passing second, Sakura felt more and more like she was trying to digest rocks. When she squeezed Sasuke's elbow, he nodded.

"Well, we've got to head to the shop. I've got an appointment coming up soon," Sasuke announced. They hugged. Naruto squeezed her close and whispered that he was there for her if she ever wanted to talk. It was all she could do not to vomit on his shoulder.

Leaving Naruto to catch up on his sleep, the three of them walked to the subway station. Ino promised to keep in touch and to do some research on her part. Her job at city hall gave her access to at least some of the archives there. She hugged Sakura one more time before she headed through the turnstiles towards to the right line.

Sasuke and Sakura waited until she had rounded the corner before they spoke.

"So, not going to the shop?" Sasuke guessed.

"I… I need to get some answers today," she said.

"Can I come with you?"

She shook her head.

Sasuke let out a soft snort. "Figures."

His palm glowed with spectral heat as he offered it to her. She grasped it. The heat flowed into her, traveling up her arm. Warming but not hot. It was a simple linking spell. One that would wear off in a few hours.

"I'll come to the shop later," she promised. Sasuke nodded before he headed down the steps with his hands in his pockets.

Gaara picked up the phone after three rings.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No. I was just on my way back from the store."

"Good. Um… can I come visit? I could use some company."

There was a pause. And then a startled laugh. Bright and breathy. Like he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Of course. Walk slowly. I need to clean up a little."

As she hung up, Sakura tried to stop her other hand from shaking.

She needed to get the truth from him today. A horrible screech filled her ears as a train barreled into the station. She watched as people swarmed forward, waiting for the doors to slide open.

She stared. Decided to wait for the next train. There was no need to rush. As she brushed her hair away from her face, she felt the back of her neck tingle. When she pressed her palm to the mark, she could feel it radiating warmth. She didn't touch it again. Praying that ignoring it would somehow make it go away.