"Temari!" Sakura got up from her seat, happiness evident in her voice as she faced her siblings while Naruto cleaned the kitchen counter, stealing glances at Shikamaru who shook his head at him.

Temari beamed when she laid eyes on the pinkette. "My favorite person in the world." She got close to her and gave her a hug. "Only you can keep me sane, these boys are a pain." She noticed her hair was slightly brushing past her shoulders and felt it between her fingers. "Your hair is gaining length."

"Yeah, I haven't touched it in a while." Sakura replied as they disengaged. "I've missed you."

"Well, of course you have. you've been surrounded by only boys."

"Hey." Temari rolled her eyes when she heard Shikamaru attempt a retort.

"Kankuro, Gaara." Sakura smiled at them as they grew closer to her.

Kankuro ruffled her hair a little with a smile. "Hey kiddo."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him before turning her attention to Shikamaru while running her hand through her hair to straighten it. "At first I thought you were with your mate because..." She stopped talking, observing everyone's faces with a frown. Shikamaru's mate... Her eyes flickered to her siblings. Can it be?

Shikamaru spared Naruto a glance, who immediately averted and started paying attention to the lines on the ceiling.

The silence in the room was suffocating, until Temari decided to break it. "I'm Shikamaru's mate."

The men turned to her with bewildered looks, and Sakura stared at her.

Temari rolled her eyes. "Oh please, isn't it time she knew? Sakura," she looked straight into her eyes, "Gaara, Kankuro and I are lycans." A pregnant pause filled the atmosphere in the room.

"Oh." Sakura's reply was simple and it got everyone staring at her skeptically.

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah." She regarded them all. "I mean, I'm not surprised since a lot of things have been going on in my life now so, it doesn't really bother me. I sort of had my suspicion."

Kankuro stretched out a hand hesitantly. "Are you... really good?"

"Yeah, which brings me to this." She frowned. "You guys should've been able show me a lycan trick or two. I would've had an extra amazing childhood since my siblings were cool creatures."

They stared at her for awhile, then Temari smiled. "You would've died of heart attack."

Phew. Naruto shook his head. He was afraid the Luna was going to collapse right there and then.

She's getting used to it all, thankfully. Shikamaru came through the link

"Oh good, you're all here."

Everybody turned their heads and saw the Alpha coming down the stairs in his usual stoic expression. He spared Sakura a glance before averting, extending his attention to his guests as he gave them a nod.

Gaara, Shikamaru, Naruto and kankuro left the room as the Alpha made his way to the lounge, leaving the two females gaping into nothingness.

Sakura shook the thought of him trying not to make eye contact with her as she knew the reason. She turned to Temari who had her face all scrunched up. "What was that about?" She prodded Temari over to the stools before the kitchen counter.

Temari shook her head as she sat on one of them. "Nothing. Sasuke had invited us over because he had something to brief over with the boys and also to see you. Perhaps, he thought that you would want to see us or you were likely homesick."

Sakura's cheeks warmed at the idea that Sasuke was concerned over her wellbeing that he had to bring her family over. He isn't such a loco person afterall.

No! A voice opposed loudly in her head. It's the mate bond. That's not really him. Don't be fooled by the nice-guy projection.

Sakura shook her head. Where did that voice come from? She noticed something touching her palm and looked to see Temari lightly tapping her hand.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, no. I've been hearing voices more often these days." She replied, walking behind the counter and heading straight to the refrigerator. "Punch? Soda? Plain water?"

Temari regarded her pitifully. She could tell her about them being lycans but it wasn't her place to tell her who she really was, the decisions she was going to make and the great responsibility on her shoulders. She clicked her tongue, pushing it off her mind. Whatever the case, Sakura was strong to face it. She believed that. "It might be your inner mind. Perhaps a conscience." Then she added. "I'd take soda, thanks." She wasn't the type to drink alcohol in broad daylight and Sakura knew it. She always said that night time was the best time to commit to alcohol.

Sakura scoffed, pouring a glass of soda. "An inner? Ha! Try saying I incant into you a spirit of negativity and trouble."

Temari eyed her playfully, trying not to laugh as she collected the glass from her. "Have you told your friends anything?"

Sakura sighed, leaning against the island. "How do expect me to tell them?"

"I told them."

Sakura shot her a look. "What? What did you tell them?"

"That your dorm had a fire outbreak, you no longer have a dorm room and that you are now living with your boyfriend. Don't worry, I left out the part that he's a supernatural being."

Sakura was stunned. Knowing Temari, the way she put it was probably how she told them. And wait... "What?! Boyfriend?" Sakura walked out of the kitchen and stepped in front of Temari who was giving her an innocent look. "Me and Sasuke aren't... we are not what you'd call... like people in a relationship." She groaned. "We are not like that. We're just mates."

"Well, you don't expect I tell a human, other than you, that you're living with your mate. Anyways, Ino said she'd secured an apartment outside the university so they would make use of that."

"No, thank you for telling them in my place but... now, I don't know what to expect."

"Yeah, Ino hasn't called you because she's trying to save energy for the whole talk thing she's going to have with you." Temari took a sip of the liquid in the glass cup. "Why are you so insecure about your friends finding out that you live with a man?"

Sakura blew raspberries. "It's not that simple." One time, she'd read about the dreaded line between humans and warewolves, especially of these kinds. It wasn't as if she was insecure, it was just that, if word got out the world would become a dangerous place for both the supernatural creatures and the humans. "What did they say when you told them that I'm living with a man?"

Temari thought for awhile. "Hinata was like 'oh, wow.' and Ino was like 'what? That quick? She owes me answers' " Then she smiled mischievously.

"Temari."

The sandy blonde chuckled. "Calm down, once they know, it is over. Just say hey, this is my boyfriend."

"It's not that... ughh, my head." She plopped down on stool, groaning.

I know. Temari looked at her. The sooner you start learning how to shape your life choices and words, the easier it'll become for you. And only you have to do this, for yourself. She shrugged. "I think you'll know how to handle it when it comes."

Sakura sighed, throwing her head back. She has to prepare convincing explanations or her nosy beautiful blonde friend will never let her go, never. "I hope so."

"I see." Gaara began, his fingers holding his chin as he thought about what the Alpha had just said. They were seated on couches around an old fashioned but unique glass table, downright ignoring the bottles of wine and elegant glass cups that stood there, and discussing the movements of the enemies and their fruition so far.

"Kakashi sensei said he hadn't noticed." Naruto remarked, looking at their faces seriously. Of course, they trusted him enough to believe that he didn't make the report.

"Will he be joining us?" Kankuro looked at Sasuke who shook his head.

"He's busy searching for Death."

"Ah, the powerful oracle." Gaara nodded. "Has the spy been caught yet?"

"Whoever it is, Danzo seemed to have thought it through. He's nowhere to be found." Shikamaru answered. "Not even his scent. At first, we guessed that Masashi might've helped but we have to ask questions. Jugo has been sent to Isekai to speak with her."

There was silence as the two brothers took the information in. Then Gaara spoke up. "We have decided that we'll join in alliance with you."

"You wouldn't have had a choice."

"What was that?" Gaara looked at the Alpha who gazed up at him.

"Did I stutter? This is a war that'll affect both worlds and lives. Sooner or later you were going to have to make a choice."

"You should have at least been nicer."

"Right." Sasuke said, holding his gaze. "I shall put that into consideration."

"Why do I feel like you're testing us?" Kankuro began and Sasuke's attention was shifted to him, the thoughts that bothered him spilling out.

"How is my mate your sister? Why is she your sister? Why did Rasa specifically have an interest in her adoption?" Rasa was a priest. He must've had a reason to pick a human and gift her a life amongst them, and he wanted to know why.

Naruto and Shikamaru exchanged glances. They weren't sure where this was leading to but they wanted to be cautious.

Kankuro cleared his throat, but it was Gaara who answered. "It is not in our place to tell you what happened to her and how traumatic her childhood was. My late father had his own reasons for saving her from a damaged future."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He's lying. He leaned back, breaking eye contact. "Right. I shouldn't have expected anything." He would just ask his mate what happened in her childhood.

"So, you were saying you had a brawl with the vampire heir imposter." Gaara said.

"And killed him." Kankuro completed, eyeing the Alpha.

An irkmark appeared on Sasuke's head. "Don't ", he told them, "the thought of being played still infuriates me."

"Any signs of the real heir?"

"None." Naruto answered. "Except that we're back to square one."

"Though, what if we're not." Shikamaru looked at them. "The imposter was seen here in the human world. We haven't seen the real heir before but it's most likely that he was with the imposter all along."

Naruto frowned. "What do you mean Shikamaru?"

"Shikamaru continued. "Imposters have to continue impersonating their target. They'll have to watch and observe the quality, likes, dislikes, favetorism of their target to achieve the perfect impersonation, especially if they've been known to do that for years. Some people who've had the opportunity to catch sight of the qualities of the real heir, even from within, will become suspicious if they notice a slight change in behavior."

"So the imposter had to keep it up?"

"Exactly. Another thing is the heir not being home. Obviously they will look alike and the imposter has to be with him all through, and in this case, protect him while impersonating him. Though most times, the heir doesn't need that." Shikamaru frowned. "Meaning he has another personality he's trying to hide, apart from being the heir." Why though? What is he so desperately trying to keep away from the knowledge of the world?

"We don't know yet but it's good we have a lead. That means we just have to watch out for the imposter, even if the heir might not be around him, we can have something." Realization dawned on Naruto as soon as he said that. "Anndddd, the imposter is dead."

"It doesn't necessarily mean he won't still be around. There's something he's trying to hide, if not in Isekai."

"We have some lycans who we can trust in the war, so just be aware that you have our alliance."

"Thank you." Naruto told them. "Hopefully we can become victorious."

"How is Kakashi doing with Death?"

"He hasn't found it."

Sasuke's eyes went to the clock on the wall, watching the hands tick against the cursive Roman numerals solely as he frowned. He felt utterly uncomfortable and uneasy. Something isn't right.

At the far corner of Konoha, a library exploded in an outburst, bursting into flames with burning wood cackling and sizzling. Out of its burning outrage came Lilith and two deadly sins. People around gathered as they screamed, dialing emergency numbers, and shouting, worried that people might still be inside, even as they couldn't see the demons.

Lilith crouched and scrutinized the sphere shaped glassy ball that had dropped to the ground due to the explosion as Mammoth and Beelzebub surrounded her and watched her. It was easy to find what they were looking for. Much easier in the human world than it was in Isekai because Lucifer had his eyes and ears everywhere. He could locate anything he wanted due to the fragile darkness of the human heart and its dealings, which brought them to Konoha's Public Library.

"This is that little globe thing?" Lilith asked to no one in particular as she observed it. It was as small as a light bulb and it had different colours swirling in its transparency. Hypnotized by its splendor, she stretched a hand towards it.

"Don't touch it." Beelzebub warned, frowning deeply at the globe. "You might perish for just one touch."

"So it's shy." Lilith huffed to her feet, flinging her long dark hair as she shifted a hold on her staff. "It annoys me that I can't even touch it. Some Death it is." Then she smiled. "But I did get to burn those humans down, so I don't mind."

"It requires the blood of the sacrifice. If we get even a pint, we can hem its powers in our grasps."

"So, we need the girl's blood." Lilith's grin stretched evily. "Or more."

Beelzebub turned around as Mammoth chuckled. "Not more, the girl is useful so don't kill her, you unpleasant demon. We just need her blood."

"Fine then, I'll take a finger full." She faced a worried looking male human infront of her. "Hey, you, pick that thing up."

The man looked around, perhaps looking for who had spoken, and when he found none, he went back to dialing the emergency number on his phone.

Frowning, she drew nearer to his ear, speaking in a gentle but seductive voice. "It looks shiny, doesn't it? Aren't you curious as to what it is? Why it glows? Don't you just want to feel how small it is? Achieve that longing for something small, hmm?"

She knew she was successful when the human bent down and touched the glass globe, not thinking, not blinking, and immediately he started gasping for air, his skin started to dry up and his face went pale.

Lilith giggled. "Good, just hold it like that." She thumped her staff on the ground and the environment changed.

Beelzebub and Mammoth looked back to see that they were in a dark cave like room, but with fire lamps arranged in rows on the wall and a dried up human like skeleton in the center of the room, holding Death in his hand. They watched as his face imploded, his eye sockets dangling out while his tissues marked the lines on his face. He was dead and Lilith was beside the erect corpse, leaning on one foot, a hand on her hip and giving them a look.

"What? I decided to have it brought here without holding it than leaving it in the human world. You're welcome?"

Beelzebub sighed sharply and walked away. Mammoth spared the corpse one look before walking out too. "Humans are so gullible and too easily manipulated, but that's what gives us the upper hand. Be careful with the way you treat that thing."

Lilith ignored Greed as she stared at the different kinds of hue swirling in the small globe and as a grin stained her evil face. "Now, what we need is the sacrifice's blood and you're all ours."