Naruto 1. Street Rat

**New story up woop woop! Hope you like it! **

**I don't own Naruto (this is for future chapters too i can't be arsed in writing it again)**

**and i will use other peoples songs in the future too mostly cause my lyric's stink so i don't own them either!**

**Chapter 1 – Street Rat**

There is a whole of three rules in the vampire world. All of them equally important. And all of them punishable by death if broken. They're as follows:

You must _never_ reveal the existence of vampires. The result would be mind-blowing.

You can _never_ hunt in the daytime, especially out in the open. You must be as inconspicuous as possible.

You must _never_ create a bond with them. Doing so would be considered a threat and rule one being broken is a huge possibility.

These rules are the most important aspect of vampire society. They are the very things that keep the two worlds balanced, never to be interrupted.

This the story of a certain half-breed who broke these rules, and how she turned from a street rat to one of the most well known people in Japan…

…!...

Sakura sat outside of the entrance of some popular shopping center with nothing but the clothes she wore and the guitar placed firmly on her crossed legs. People passed by with out so much as a second glance her way as she played and sang along to her small performance. The plastic cup in front of her had a total of twenty yen, which to Sakura's surprise was quite a bit considering it was still morning.

A light chilly breeze glided through the air and Sakura instinctively shrunk deeper into her stolen trench coat. Her face was layered in dirt, grease and the smallest amount of dried blood, as well as the rest of her clothes. As well as not looking very appealing she also had to annoyingly admit that she stank too. Not having regular baths every day or week for that matter did that to you. It was because of her obvious state that people tended to ignore her at all costs.

That day was like every other day for her, she would sit outside some busy unknown (to her anyway) shopping center or city centre and played her guitar until dusk. Sakura never expected anything special, she was already over the moon that she had earned about eight yen more than she normally would have at such an early hour in the morning. At this rate she probably could buy some canned soup from a vending machine for dinner…

Oh god now I'm drooling. She thought as she imagined all of the different flavors she had to choose from. She was sick and tired of hanging around street corners at night in run down clubbing area's waiting for some drunk person to stumble her way. She really didn't like draining them half dry. Luckily though, since she was technically half and half she could eat human food as well which meant that she didn't have to hunt. But hunting was cheaper and it actually sustained her the full day instead of just a couple of hours.

Sakura would rather eat human food any day…

Even if she did have that choice though she wouldn't last long and she knew it, the longest she could last without blood was two days, she tried it once when she still had the privilege of three square meals a day. Wasn't very fun, she even went as far as almost ripping her own pet cats throat out, Mr. Tuggles was never the same after that day.

Sakura paused mid note and thought back to that poor cat. She hadn't thought of Mr. Tuggles in years. That poor cat's fur had turned from a dark grey to a patchy white colour from the stress of it all. By the end of the year the poor cat looked like one of those crazed cats you see on cartoons. She a small chuckle left her lips as she continued where she left off.

When her song was closing to an end some old women walked up to her and gave her a one thousand yen note, telling her to go get something to eat. Sakura practically hugged the woman. If it wasn't for the walker that stood between the two then she would have, today was definitely going to be a good one! Nobody had given her this amount of money since she was fourteen! And that was five years ago!

With a huge grin in place Sakura threw her guitar around her back and practically sprinted into the shopping center. She walked around the shops aimlessly, she had decided that she wasn't going to spend it on food just yet; she'd use the change for that. Autumn was right around the corner and last year some asshole had stolen her gloves when she was asleep. She'd spent the entire winter in fear that her fingers might drop off…

She was hoping that she could get some of those skiing gloves at some cheap shop, no way in hell was Sakura Haruno settling for those cotton crap when she had _one thousand yen_ in her pocket!

Her trench coat bounced off her heals as she quickened her pace and pulled the hood of her jumper over her head. She spotted some guards in the corner and she was seriously not in the mood to get kicked out when she had gloves to buy. Guards tended to not like homeless girls walking about, probably thought she was trying to steal stuff, which was usually the case. How else did you think she got her clothes from? Apart from the coat, she got it from some guy that she had just sucked half dry.

Sakura spotted a small second hand shop in the corner and made a beeline for it. As she entered she noticed that only two old women occupied the shop, she guessed that they were probably doing volunteer work or something. They were both very dumpy and had beady little eyes that they used to give Sakura the once over, taking in her tom boyish clothes, her dirty and grease filled state, as well as her greasy short uneven pink hair that stuck out at every which direction.

Sakura merely nodded and gave them a shy and embarrest smile. She was all too used to this treatment and every time she couldn't help but feel her self-esteem getting flushed down the toilet.

Sakura ignored the hushed whispers from the two women behind the counter and searched high and low for a pair of gloves. Of course though ironically enough she found a pair in the corner of the shop in a small cardboard box filled with was could only be described as crap. Sakura had very quickly paid and left afterwards, but not before noticing how the women serving scrunched her nose up and took a very obvious step back. Sakura would have been offended if it weren't for the fact that she didn't blame her.

The next thing on Sakura's list of course was that drool worthy soup. She practically skipped along to the vending machine and readied her money. The labels on the machine showed the many choices to choose from and Sakura thought that she maybe saw a halo above the damn thing. Her mouth was seriously drooling now; there was Tomato, Chicken, Mushroom, etc… Oh wow they even have hot chocolate! Sakura was totally going to get hot chocolate too!

Sakura's day just kept getting better and better!

…!...

Sasuke was pissed. To put it plainly. The talent agency that Sasuke's family owns has pissed him off. The number of talentless idiots being employed has increased, again. The number of people who actually _have_ talent however has gone down, again. So yeah, Sasuke Uchiha was a very pissed man round about now.

People who passed him on the street actually moved out of his way, his aura was plain enough for anyone to see and they liked to keep their lives. Not that Sasuke cares anyway.

All Sasuke cared about was finding someone who could actually play something or sing something or even act, _he simply didn't care!_ And that fact was as clear as day. His brother Itachi was already out there looking and Sasuke needed to do the same. Believe it or not but his father was even more annoyed than him, and the last thing Sasuke wanted was to piss the man off even more.

He was walking home from work when he decided that he needed some coffee. The Konoha shopping centre wasn't very far away and since Sasuke decided to walk today he didn't have to go looking for a parking space.

It was only around five but already the sky was beginning to melt away into reds and oranges. His favored coffee shop was practically next to the door so Sasuke didn't half to walk far, he really didn't like walking around in the dark. Not since _that_ incident.

Sasuke shook himself away from those thought's without a second glance. He walked through the golden automatic doors, which led into the coffee shop and was met with scents of coffee beans and sounds of the espresso machine at work. The walls were painted in swirls of red, gold and copper with dark hardwood floors to match. Everything about this place screamed expensive but to Sasuke that also meant quality. The great Sasuke Uchiha would never settle for something that came from a vending machine!

Once Sasuke had paid for his coffee he was on his way home again, but he didn't go through the small entrance like when he came in, he went through the main entrance. The path may be busier but it was a lot quicker than walking the whole way around.

As Sasuke sipped his Coffee he continued his inner rant on hopeless and talentless dipsticks that he's forced to employ. As he closed in on the huge revolving doors he couldn't help but notice the homeless person camped out across from the door. He'd seen her that morning too but she'd been too busy gulping down some of that hideous soup you get out a vending machine. He will never understand what people saw in that crap, it all tasted the same. The only difference with just now was that the guitar that was once strapped to her back was now fit snuggly on her lap as she played.

As he exited he moving doors he was met with the sound of moving traffic and the chatter of people getting on with their everyday lives. But between all the other noises there was the sound of well-preformed music. He looked over to see the girl who was playing her shabby looking guitar. She was dirty and looked like she'd just come out of a fight, her pink locks stuck up in every direction and were filled with grease from lack of washing, her clothes were equally dirty and the jacket she wore was so big it practically drowned her. But that wasn't what caught his attention, the girl was playing a song that he'd never heard before, and that was saying a lot since it was Sasuke's job to know what songs were in the charts. Her voice was also very unusual, it had plenty of deep tones but was mixed with middle tones and had a sort of ruff and ready edge to it that gave her voice a sort of unique element that Sasuke had never heard of before.

Sasuke just stood there, blinking like some idiot as the nameless girl continued to sing and play along. Sasuke had to admit it, this girl was good. Not only was she good, she had the edge that Sasuke needed to bring the company back from it's steady down fall.

Sasuke didn't even realize what he was doing until he was standing right in front of her. He stared down at the girl for a few seconds her eyes were closed as she sang. He faked a cough to get her attention. Bright green eyes suddenly met with dark coal as she stopped mid-note.

"Yes?" She asked in a slightly worried tone. Sasuke didn't blame her; he doubted anything good came out of rich men walking up to young girls.

"Come with me." He simply stated. Sasuke wasn't in the mood to explain himself just yet.

"W-why?" She stammered. There was the tiniest trace of panic in her eyes and Sasuke let out a sigh. He was surprised that she didn't throw herself at him like every other woman out there. Then again she probably had street smart that was telling her to run for the hills.

"You can sing. I need someone like you. You can live with me." He stated simply before walking away. She could follow if she likes, he knew she would, she'd be a fool not to.

Sakura sat there in complete shock. At first she thought he was some vampire. Which was not good, if he was then he'd probably kill her, which was why she panicked. But when she got a whiff of him it was all-human so she gathered that she was in the clear. All she wanted to know now was what the hell was going through that head of his. Sakura couldn't understand how some complete stranger could just walk up to some homeless person and offer them a home! Unless he was up to no good, which was highly possible, it wasn't the first time that some ass decided to try that on.

Even so though Sakura knew that either way she had the upper hand. Even if he was being completely serious about her singing at least she could get cleaned up and fed for a few days before she runs off again, she'd done it before when some creep tried to pick her up. Plus she needed to skip town soon anyways. With her mind made up Sakura stood up, strapped her beloved guitar to her back and ran after the mystery man.

Sasuke smirked when he heard her rushed footsteps behind him. Yes, he was right, no woman could resist. He was going to prove to his father that he could save the company, and he was going to do it with this girl.

…!...

The walk home was silent, Sasuke had instructed the girl to walk behind him simply because he was ashamed of walking with someone who smelled and looked so bad. As soon as he got her home Sasuke was going to instruct his maids to dump her in a bath, and by god did she need it.

Sasuke was about to turn into his drive of the Uchiha mansion when the footsteps behind him stopped. He turned around and was met with green eyes that were as big as dinner plates and a mouth that was open so wide he was surprised her jaw didn't break. Then he realized that she's probably never seen a house this big before. He gave her a glare when their eyes met and she got the message straight away, 'Follow or bugger off''.

Sasuke began walking again and heard the light feet of the girl behind him. He opened the door and was met with an angry fiancé, Sasuke took in her tight shirt, mini skirt and designer heels, right the way up to her librarian styled glasses and wild red hair with wild red eyes to match. Sasuke did not miss the scowl on her face as he stepped further through the door and into his elegantly designed house. Karin took a step forward and Sasuke knew he was in for it.

"Where the hell where you? You know you're an hour late? What the hell am I meant to do when your Father decides to go all pissed and moody eh? And wha-"

She stopped mid sentence as Sakura suddenly appeared at the door, Karin's gaze shifted from Sasuke to the dirty girl who stood just outside of the door. It was also at this moment that Itachi came walking through and also caught sight of the small street rat at the door.

"What the fuck Sasuke?" Was the only thing that Karin could say. Itachi also seeing the girl at the door decided to investigate, he walked over and gave a questioning look over at his younger brother who was now handing over his jacket to one of the maids. His gaze then shifted over to the girl who was now looking around in wonder as she refused to move from the outside step she was standing on. Itachi was about to say something when Karin beat him to it.

"Oh my god Sasuke she _stinks! _I can smell her from here! Get her out of here now!" Karin held her nose and took a few steps back and towards Sasuke who was simply standing there. Itachi was confused as hell now; he wanted to know what made his brother feel the need to bring a homeless girl home. It wasn't even that hard to tell she was from the streets, going by the state she was in.

"Little brother, why have you brought a homeless girl home with you? Father wont be very happy when he finds out." He stated in a voice so calm that it rivaled his brothers.

"Hn. I saw the girl performing on my way home and thought she might be of some use to us, she certainly has some talent." He shrugged.

Itachi looked over at the girl in question and noticed for the first time the guitar that was held onto her back by a piece of string. Itachi raised an eyebrow; his brother was clearly desperate if he was willing to employ an untrained homeless person.

"What's her name?" He asked. He was expecting Sasuke to answer him; instead he looked over at the girl and barked a command.

"You, what's your name?" If Itachi weren't a proud Uchiha his jaw would have dropped. That ass didn't even ask her name before bringing her home? Sometimes he couldn't even believe his brothers ignorance!

"Sakura Haruno." She answered. Her voice certainly was interesting, it wasn't like the normal tones you would get from a female, and he knew that would only be intensified if she sung. Maybe his brother had hit the jack pot after all, still doesn't mean he can just bring her home of course…

Sakura stood there, feeling in every way possible unwelcome. The way the red head was sending her looks just made her feel all the more uncomfortable. She was starting to think that maybe she should just leave. Sakura could just take a dip in the river or something and go suck some drunk half dry. Then again, the smell of freshly cooked food was wafting through the air and Sakura's stomach showed its protests against that idea.

Every pair of eyes were on Sakura as she tried to silence her traitor stomach. The brother of Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome (even Sakura couldn't deny that the Uchiha brothers were hot) was giving her a pitying look, which Sakura didn't want in the slightest.

"Maybe we should feed her first then we'll talk with father about this. He does have the final say in this after all." The brother nodded over a pale blond maid and instructed her to feed Sakura and give her a well-needed bath.

The blond woman who could be no older than Sakura led her up the marble stairs and into one of the many guest rooms the Uchiha's had to offer. The room was huge and posh looking. Sakura's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets when she walked into the room. Sakura heard the sound of running water and for the first time noticed the single oak door that lead into a very expensive looking bathroom, once again Sakura's eyes popped out of her sockets and the maid let out a small amused giggle.

"I was the same when I started working here too. You'll get used to it." She spoke while grinning. Her pale blond hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail and the tail of her hair led the whole way down her back. Her eyes were a cyan blue and her fringe covered up her left eye.

"I'm not to sure if I can, I've been sleeping on park benches and door ways longer than I care to say." Sakura said in a disbelieving voice. The look of that bed was enough to convince her of that.

"Well you're here now. Come on, strip!" She practically sang and Sakura had a hard time from stopping the girl from stripping her on the spot.

"Eh! What are you doing! Don't make me rub my stink off on you!" The woman just laughed and continued to strip her until she had nothing on but her underwear. Sakura felt slightly ashamed, being half vampire and all and not even being able to stop a maid from taking all her clothes from her, Even her guitar had somehow made its way into her clutches!

"I'll put your guitar next door and I'll bring some food and fresh clothes up for you okay?" She said with that happy-go-lucky smile of her's. Sakura couldn't help but feel slightly nervous when she saw that smile.

"Oh, and before I forget, my names Ino Yamanaka." Sakura nodded and remembered the name.

Sakura stripped herself of her undies and dipped her toe into the bubbly water. Once she was satisfied she got in completely and actually groaned in pleasure, the temperature of the water was perfect and the scent of bath salts and lotions was in the air. Sakura completely submerged her head and her body was completely invisible, covered up by the fluffy white bubbles. Once her head became visible again she decided that maybe it was time to start washing so she could relax in complete bliss later. She started off with her uneven short strands of pink gunk that she called hair, there was a bottle of shampoo beside her and she made sure to wash it twice before applying conditioner. Her face still had traces of mud and speckled blood but was very quickly removed as she washed.

Sakura didn't even realize how long she'd been in when there was a loud knock at the door. Ino poked her head through on the blissed out half breed, green eyes met with cyan blue and a grin which looked an awful lot like the Chester cat was spread over her face.

"You look like you've died and gone to heaven." She giggled. Sakura rolled her eyes; she was actually starting to like this girl quite a bit, probably because she looked around the same age.

"I was until you walked in." Sakura grinned back.

"Aw thanks. By the Fugaku Uchiha isn't happy and is on prowl. So get out I've got some clothes for you, their Itachi's girlfriends since I doubted you wanted to wear Karin's stuff." She visibly shuddered and threw her some clothes onto a nearby chair, which looked more like a golden throne meant for kings.

Sakura walked out of the bathroom with a red summer dress on with white Pokka-dots littered over it. The fabric was light and moved and rippled over Sakura's body at even the smallest movements. It reached just below her knee and the straps had fabric attached to each end that made it look even more flattering on Sakura's tall frame. Her bare feet made no sound on the wooden floor or on the fluffy rug that was placed neatly on the floor.

"Oh wow, for a bum you're pretty hot." Ino commented from the bed, her classic maid uniform splayed over the sheets where she sat. Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch, she did not like that last comment in the least.

"You know that I am very tempted to punch you in such a way that I will create a nice little piggy nose instead of your normal nose." Sakura threatened through clenched teeth. Ino gulped and decided that it would be very unwise to fight with someone who probably mastered the art of street fighting.

"Well if you do that then I will match your forehead. Here's your food!" She said in defense and stuffed a sandwich under her nose. The scent of fresh tomato's, lettuce and other goodies caught Sakura's interest and her blind rage was all but forgotten, to Ino's deepest relief.

The sandwich was by far the most amazing thing Sakura had _ever_ put in her mouth. This didn't even compare with the soup and hot chocolate that cleaned her out of cash that morning! The food was juicy, crispy in all the right places and mouthwatering. Sakura devoured it in well under a minute. Ino was actually thinking that maybe she should teach the bum some table manners; she didn't think that eating with one's mouth open would go down very well.

Ten minutes later and both girls are both lying flat on their backs on the bed giggling like little girls when they were both disturbed when an angry faced Uchiha and his family stormed in. Ino was on her feet in an instant, bowing respectfully to her employer as Sakura just stayed in the same place, the vampire side telling her to not do anything that put her below that human. And since Sakura had lived most of her life relying on these vampire instincts it was hard to tell that this was the wrong move to make.

"You can go now." The middle aged man stated to Ino, she left and the man turned his attention to the woman still laying flat out on her back.

"So this is the Kitten without a pedigree that you spoke of Sasuke?" Sakura stood up and glared at the man, how dare he call her such a thing!

"Yes father. She seems to have a rather unusual voice and with very skilled with the guitar." Sakura raised an eyebrow, believe it or not but this was the first time actually hearing the man's name. Sakura found it pretty stupid that she was only just finding out.

"Ah, I shall see for myself then. You there, girl, play." He looked directly into Sakura's eyes and she couldn't help but glare, how dare he treat her like he owned her!

"And why should I?" She growled back. The man before her narrowed his eyes and once again turned to his son.

"Have you not told her why she is present?" He asked in a bored tone.

"Not exactly, I didn't think she would cause much trouble, seeing as we fed, cleaned and dressed this low life." He answered in a toneless voice, all the while giving her a knowing look.

Damn, he's right, Sakura thought, she wasn't exactly ready to get kicked out yet but she knew if she kept up her attitude then she'd be back outside. She should have known that this Sasuke person wasn't just taking her home out of the kindness of his heart.

With an irritated huff she walked over and picked up her beloved guitar with gentleness that she wasn't showing a moment ago. She once again sat on the bed and placed the guitar securely on her lap, her arms in position as she began to strum the strings.

The notes and lyrics began to play off her tongue and fingers without her even realizing it. She didn't pay much attention to the people in the room, or the whole world for that matter; it was just Sakura and her guitar. Like it always has been and how she always wanted it to be.

She dragged the notes in all the right places; she played with everything she had, like every other song. The song its self was slow and the lyric's were actually pretty sad once Sakura thought about it, it was one of the first song's she'd every written once on the street, it was about how she felt about her very own existence.

As she drew to a close she looked up and was met with four pairs of coal coloured eyes and one pair of blood red. Sakura suddenly felt the heat from their stares and felt slightly self-conscious. The man in the middle let out an annoyed breath and turned back to Sasuke.

"It seems your right son, she does seem to possess some promise, but I'm not having her living in here." He stated in that toneless voice again, glancing over at Sakura who was still sitting on the bed.

"Who knows where she's been." He added as an after thought and Sakura felt the urge to rip his throat out. Her eyes narrowed and she could feel her canines aching to lengthen but she clenched her teeth tight to stop the movement.

"Fugaku! We can't just throw her back outside! The least we can do is give the poor girl a home! What's more is that it's a bleeding Friday night! The streets can be rather dangerous at night!" A woman from behind spoke in a stern voice. Sakura moved her gaze from Fugaku to the woman who stood just behind him. She was very pretty, she had long Indigo coloured hair, like the other two men by her, which reached mid back. She had the same coal black eyes too and had creamy coloured skin.

Sakura had in instant liking for this woman, She seemed like a really kind person unlike the three cold men in front of her. The woman walked over to Sakura and gave her a very kind smile. It was nothing more than a curl of her lips but it was enough to lighten up her face from the scowl it was in before.

"My names Mikoto, it's a pleasure to meet you. And what might your name be?" She held her hand out to her, which Sakura took to shake all the while her kind smile never once vanished.

"Hello, my names Sakura Haruno. It's nice to meet you too." Sakura actually found it weird that nobody was holding their noses or checking to see if she was clean before shaking her hand but she gathered that's what baths were for.

"Come with me my dear, we'll go find something for you to wear when sleeping." She chirped and all but dragged Sakura out of the room.

Karin watched the whole display with displeasure. She couldn't believe that _her_ Sasuke had decided to bring home this, this _low life, _this girl who didn't even deserve to be in the Uchiha's presents never mind their own home. The girl had to be no more than seventeen, when she first walked through that door Karin was sure she was only fifteen but now that all the dirt and boy's clothes had been removed Karin was forced to admit that she looked a bit older.

What was even worse was that she caught Sasuke's eyes linger a little to long on her when they first entered. He was _hers_. Not that little hobo's. Karin felt an instant dislike for the girl the minute she walked in the door. It was a good thing she guessed that she and Sasuke lived in a condo further into the upper end of the city. At least she could help him to forget about that popper in their alone time.

"Where did you find her again little brother?" Itachi asked. Karin had been asking herself the same question so decided to listen in.

"Hn. Outside the Konoha Shopping centre, I was getting coffee and she was outside the main entrance performing." Itachi raised an eyebrow and walked out. Karin moved to the side to let him through and continued watching her Fiancé and soon to be father-in-law.

"I do not approve of this Sasuke, she may have won Mikoto over but not me. Yes she does possess skill that we require but we also have a reputation to uphold and this isn't helping." Fugaku sneered and stormed out of the room. Karin agreed with him completely -for once-, the last thing the Uchiha family needed was some homeless teenage girl walking around!

Karin, taking advantage of the empty room, wrapped her arms around Sasuke's middle, feeling the rock hard abs that he was so proud of and moving them slowly up till they finally reached his solid chest. She rested her chin on the back of his shoulder as she whispered in his ear.

"Let's go home Sasuke, I want some attention." And that was all Sasuke needed to drag her home…

**...!...**

**Thank you for reading the first chapter! If you Review I will probably cry with joy so common pleeease! it only takes two minutes and it makes me happy!**


	2. Suspicions

**Warning: blood and badly written gore! =]**

**Song mentioned: Creep by Anberlin (Acoustic)**

**Chapter 2 – Suspicions**

Sasuke laid there, completely naked with an equally naked red head thrown over him. It was way to early for the Uchiha to even contemplate getting up and he had other things that he wanted to think about. Like a certain pink haired rodent who was going to bring him money…

Ah yes, he could even smell the paper notes rolling in now; of course there was still a small problem. The girl looked rather stubborn and hard to work with, then there'd be the obvious age she was. He'd have to ask that later, if she were under eighteen then he'd need parental consent, which obviously wasn't happening since he found her on the street. Of course it wasn't like he couldn't maybe bribe a few people like the legal department for example to keep their traps shut.

Sasuke looked over at the clock on his bed side table, six fifteen, the red numbers caused Him to frown, he didn't have work today and he was waking up at this god damn hour! He huffed and stared out the huge window that was placed in his bedroom. The good thing about being on the top floor of one of the highest buildings was that nobody could get a peck into your house from across the road. That was something he deeply loved seeing as he didn't want _anyone_ seeing what he and his betrothed got up to.

The street pigeons were singing and the sky was cloudy and thick with rain, summer was definitely coming to a close. With a reluctant sigh he pushed the unconscious woman off him with ease, being carful not to wake her, Karin was by no means a morning person and Sasuke didn't want to have to deal with her wrath. He walked over to his dresser and slipped on a new pair of boxers and walking out into his incredibly large and spacious condo.

Sasuke's condo was made up of the entire top floor; his front door was even the freaking lift! And he was incredibly proud of this fact, he new that his condo was amazing, right from the expensive wooden floors to the wall windows on the far walls in at least every room, only exception of course was the bathrooms.

He padded along on heavy bare feet into his open plan kitchen and opened up his huge fridge. Sasuke had foods from all over the world in here, some of it he had never even heard of, it was mostly Karin's weird dieting crap. He pulled out a bottle of orange juice and drank from the bottle, if Karin caught him doing this she'd probably flip, good thing she wouldn't be up for another five hours at least.

It was only half an hour later that Sasuke was dressed in a black shirt and matching dark jeans, driving in his expensive looking BMW. The road to his Parents house was almost empty if it wasn't for the odd person trying to get to work or somewhere else. When he did turn into his Parents Street though the street was completely empty of all cars, it gave the place an almost eerie affect that would have made someone's skin crawl.

Sasuke didn't come here often, it was mostly only when he was told to come that he'd actually come, but now that he had his investment living under that roof he felt the urge to make sure his father hadn't killed her yet. That man had such a short temper, it was also for that reason that Sasuke never brought Karin over unless he was also going to be there, his father wasn't very fond of the red head.

He shook his head of such thoughts as he got out of his car once he entered the Uchiha mansion grounds. His brother's car was still here which caused Sasuke's brow to deepen. He knew for a fact that Itachi had not arrived earlier than himself, that man was a slave for his bed. Sasuke wondered what reason he could have to stay over, unless his mother decided to go all mother hen on him, if so then Sasuke was glad he got out early. He loved his mother a lot, don't get him wrong, he did. But his mother can get very over protective of her boys. Even though her oldest son was twenty-eight and youngest was twenty-four.

As he opened the front door he was met with maids and butlers hurrying with their last minute cleaning and preparations and the scent of eggs and bacon was in the air. He moved quickly through the house to the corridor, which led to many spare rooms. He opened the door to the girl's (whose name escapes him) not caring in the least that she might be sleeping.

His eyes were on the bed the moment it was in sight. It was completely empty, the sheets were thrown back and the pillows were everywhere but he couldn't see the pink haired girl anywhere. He now scanned the rest of the room and saw a figure sitting on the windowsill. She was wearing one of his mothers night gowns and it hung off her body, she had nowhere near enough hip and chest to fill it and it made her look small and fragile. He knew that wasn't true, she was quite tall for a girl; she just lacked certain assets. He took note of her far away look in her bright green eyes as she stared out at the cloudy sky. Her pink uneven strands stuck out from sleep and she sat stretched out across the wide windowsill.

"Don't you have anything else to wear? You can't wear my mothers night gowns all day you know." Sasuke commented. She turned around and faced him, a small smile on her lips but a knowing look in her eye.

"Yeah, Mikoto said she was going to take me out later. Do you want anything?" She asked. Slipping off the sill she walked over to the bedpost and leaned against it, her arms folded over her non-existent chest as her eyes bored into Sasuke's. He felt a little under pressure under her intense gaze but ignored it.

"There are some legal thing's that I want to go over." He stated simply before grabbing some forms from his pocket that he'd taken from his father's office last night before heading home.

"What legal stuff?" She asked with a confused look. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Sasuke let out an irritated huff. He hated explaining things.

"To join the agency you have to fill out your details and sign a contract." He said with as little detail as humanly possible. Her eyebrows lifted and she nodded in agreement.

Sakura walked over to the large oak desk on the other side of the room and sat down, taking a pen from the drawer and unfolded the paper Sasuke had chucked in front of her. She could feel him leaning over her as she filled in the form, reading what she wrote.

Sasuke felt a surge of surprise, which he bet down very quickly, when she filled in her age, she claimed to be nineteen. She certainly didn't look it, he thought that maybe she was seventeen at most. She was too under developed, there was no way in hell she was really that age.

"You know that lying about your age wont help, in fact it only complicates things later on if you get found out." He stated. Sakura shot him a glare that could scare grown men. She hated people saying that! Just because she had small boobs and no hips didn't mean she was sixteen or whatever!

"Who says I'm lying. Keep your trap shut if you're going to insult me Uchiha, I'm not a little girl." She all but spat. All the while she was willing her fangs to stop aching for release. Sasuke gave her a murderous glare that would have scared Sakura if she weren't concentrating so hard on keeping her Fangs in check.

Sasuke couldn't believe the nerve of this girl! Nobody, and he means _nobody_ stands up to an Uchiha! They were the bosses around here, not the other way around. This girl should learn to not bite the hand that feeds.

Sakura huffed and turned back around to continue filling in her details. Her canines were sore and she knew she'd have to go hunt tonight. When her fangs reacted to her temper like this it only made her thirst worse, she'd probably be going mad by nightfall.

The forms were tedious and boring for Sakura as well as Sasuke and were both happy to see the end of the last form. Sakura leaned back in her chair, raising her arms over her head to stretch them as she also stretched her legs out. Sasuke on the other hand was still standing and was uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot. The clock on the wall now stated that it was half eight and Sakura was in the mood for some of that bacon she could smell, she can't even remember the last time she even _had_ bacon!

"Well, we're done here so I'm going down stairs to go find some of that bacon I can smell." Sakura all but sang as she jumped up and ran out of the room. Sasuke on the other hand was still standing there wondering how the hell she could smell _bacon_ of all things when the kitchen was on the other end of the house.

…!...

Sakura sat at the Island in the middle of the Kitchen with her stomach filled to the brim with delicious food that Sakura is sure she'd never tasted before in her life! In fact it was so good that she was even considering staying for maybe a month instead of a week. Her contract she signed that morning was meant for a year but Sakura was planning on breaking it soon enough anyway, she couldn't be kept here by a simple piece of paper. Sometimes it made her laugh at how simple humans were. Even if she was part human herself.

The cook who had kindly offered to cook for her was looking through the huge fridge in amazement, Sakura had actually managed to scarf down half the bleeding food supply, and that was something when taking in the sheer size of the fridge. Sakura just shrugged it off though when the man mentioned it, she hadn't had a proper meal like that in years and had lived off of blood so it shouldn't even be a surprise that she practically cleaned out the fridge.

Sakura heard footstep enter the kitchen and was met with a tired looking Sasuke lookalike. He was dressed and his long hair was all in place but his tired looking and unconnected eyes told you that he was anything but alert. Sakura never would have pinned him for someone who wasn't a morning person. He was the last one to get up, the other two Uchiha's had already gotten up an hour ago and Sakura was up at six o' clock, her instincts that she'd developed over the years were hard to kill but Sakura didn't mind being up at the crack of dawn to much anyways.

The neat looking Zombie shuffled over to the coffee pot and poured himself a _very_ strong cup. Sakura scrunched up her nose at the smell of the coffee beans, it was overpowering the smell of the food she'd previously devoured.

Itachi sat on the seat opposite Sakura without much grace but he didn't care in the slightest. He watched as she played with her fork and trying not to scrunch her nose up, which she was failing at. Itachi drained the last dribble of coffee and felt himself finally begin to wake up. He looked over at Sakura again and felt the need to begin a conversation, unlike his brother who was, by the way a social reject, and actually liked conversation. Plus she looked like a pretty intelligent girl, leaving out the obvious differences in class of course.

"Say, Sakura, is it?" She looked up and nodded. "Where did you come from?"

"Oh, you mean where I was born?" Itachi gave her a simple nod and waited for her answer.

"Ah, right. I was born in New Orleans but my family moved to Japan." She answered. Itachi nodded his head in interest.

"What made your family move to Japan then?"

"My mum was Japanese and she missed her family." Sakura lied. In reality they all moved because the 'old ones' (vampires that made the three laws, very important people) tried to kill them. They moved to Japan to hide.

"Ah, interesting. So your Father was an American I take it?" He asked.

"Yes, he was." Sakura answered with pride in the voice. Pride that Itachi didn't miss.

"I move around a lot now, I was thinking of maybe going across to Asia, but I don't have the money." Sakura stated. She'd wanted to leave Japan for a while now but she'd never been able to save up enough money for a ferry, obviously, it was way too much for Sakura to even _dream _of making.

Itachi nodded in thought, there was obviously more to this girl that what meet's the eye, and all that was, was a street rat with uneven pink hair. And speaking of pink hair, Itachi wanted to know how she got her hair that colour without the need of hair dye! It was so weird. She didn't even have roots!

"Your hair, how did you get it that colour, it's very unusual."

"Oh, it's natural. A genetic thing. My Dad had the same hair colour too." She stated before chuckling nervously and playing with her uneven blunt strands.

"Oh really, how odd." Itachi didn't believe her. The way she looked so sheepish when saying that was weird, it was like when he asked about her coming over to Japan, she might not have noticed her look but Itachi certainly did. But he decided to be kind and change the subject but he would for sure consult Sasuke later.

"What was that song you were singing yesterday, it was good." He did actually like that song; it was his kind of music.

"It's called creep. I made it ages ago." She stated with pride once again entering her eyes when she spoke, it was rather amusing. Itachi really did like this girl, even if she had some mystery about her, then again that just made her more interesting.

"Well I have to go now, I promised to go clothes shopping with Mikoto at half eleven and that was fifteen minutes ago so cya' later Itachi." She said as she stood up in what he noticed was his mothers nightgown and all but marched out of the room. One of the cooks placed a well-made breakfast in front of him and Itachi would have jumped in fright, but he had his pride to think about.

…!...

It was around noon when Itachi was actually able to track down Sasuke, even though they were both in the same house. They both sat in a small posh café in the centre on Konoha and trying their best to blend in at the back.

"So remind me again why you dragged me out here, Itachi?" Sasuke asked in an annoyed tone. He picked up his coffee and began to drink.

"Patience was never your strong point eh, little brother?" Itachi joked. Sasuke sent him a dirty look that he reserved for his brother and Itachi chuckled.

"Fine fine, have it your way. It's about Sakura." Itachi stated in a casual tone while sipping on his coke.

"What about Sakura?" Sasuke questioned. He closely studied his brother with a careful eye, he had no idea where Itachi was going with this and it irritated him to no ends.

"How much do you know about her?" This made Sasuke frown. Damn Itachi and his Morse code!

"Her name, age, birthday… stuff like that. Why?" Itachi let out an irritated huff.

"Not her form information, about her personally." Itachi said, letting a little of his annoyance leak through.

"That is personal information." Sasuke said before sipping his coffee. Itachi could strangle the man before him right now! He has got to be the smartest dumb person he has ever met in his entire life!

"That's not what I meant you spoon. I mean back ground information you wouldn't get on a form, like her parents or where she was born or her favorite food or something similar." He said with a little more emotion in it.

"Did you seriously just call me a spoon?" Sasuke smirked at his brother's obvious annoyed state. Oh how he loved pissing Itachi off.

"Just answer the damn question Sasuke!" He hissed. Sasuke chuckled and decided that maybe he should just answer.

"Not really. I've only talked to her about legal matters. Why? She's just a girl." Sasuke shrugged it off like it was nothing and finished off his coffee.

"Because there is something that she's hiding. I just know it." This caught Sasuke's attention. His older brother never joked around with something like that.

"What makes you think that?" He asked curiously.

"I was talking to her earlier about how she came here and everything. I asked about why she came over to Japan and she seemed really sheepish when answering, like she was lying. She was the same when I asked about her hair." Sasuke thought that maybe Itachi was reading too much into things, it certainly wouldn't be the first time at least.

"I doubt there's much to it. She's probably just an illegal immigrant or something. Which would also explain her being on the streets you know. Either that or she's a teenage run away." Sasuke answered in an uninterested tone.

"Maybe, but still. I can't help but wonder." Itachi silently agreed with Sasuke, he probably was just reading too much into it or something.

"Wonder about what?" Sasuke asked curiously as he stood up and pulled his money out to pay.

"I wonder what she really is…" Itachi trailed off when Sasuke gave him a look. He just shrugged and pulled his jacket on.

…!...

Sakura pulled on the new thick wooly jumper and light skinny jeans that Mikoto had just bought for her. They fit snuggly around her body and according to Ino (who was still examining the rest of her new wardrobe) she looked great too. Now all she needed was a good haircut but that wasn't happening until it grew another inch or two, otherwise it would be so short she'd look like a boy.

"Hey forehead." Ino called. Sakura's eye twitched at the annoying nickname the blond seemed to have picked up.

"What Ino-pig." She asked in an irritated voice.

"You don't have _nearly_ enough clothes here. I mean common! Five tops? Seriously… And three pairs of jeans? You totally could have gotten a full wardrobe outta that woman. I heard she's been dying to go all mother hen on someone since the two Uchiha's moved out." She commented.

"I probably could but it's all I need. I'm not going to ask for more." It was the truth but it was also because Sakura also felt guilty for getting someone else to buy clothes for her, expensive ones at that! She was so used to relying on no one and only buying the cheapest of the cheap that all these designer labeled shops that Mikoto dragged her into came as quite a shock to her system. Mikoto didn't even let her into the cheaper shops; she kept saying that Sakura deserved it after being on the street for so long. In all honestly she would have preferred the cheaper stuff, it would make her feel better at least.

"Your too good hearted Sakura! Take what you can get! That's what I say!" Ino grinned, an evil look in her eyes. Sakura didn't even want to ask let alone know what was going through her head right now.

Sakura heard movement outside of the door and turned as it was swung open to show an old looking woman in the same uniform as Ino. Ino jumped as she entered the room, not hearing the woman come in. The woman herself looked to be out of puff, grey strands were falling out of the bun on the top of her head that gave her a tired and worn out look.

"Dinners ready Miss Haruno." She panted.

"Oh please don't call me that! Just Sakura's fine!" She pleaded. Sakura hated being treated so formally. The woman nodded and gave a kind smile before motioning with her hands for Sakura to follow.

Ino waved her off as she continued to put her new clothes away and Sakura followed the woman down the hall. The halls were never ending as they both traveled silently along them. If it weren't for the Maid then Sakura would be lost! The halls were like mazes, each and every one of them looked the exact same, fluffy red carpets, white walls and the odd painting hung here or there.

Finally Sakura walked into a huge dining room. Their was a huge dark wooden table in the middle with chairs to match, the wooden floor made her silent foot steps audible and the white walls helped to make all the paintings stand out. The room was very well designed and Sakura couldn't help but once again look around in utter amazement. She was brought back to reality however when she felt many pairs of eyes on her. She looked around the table and Saw the Uchiha family plus Karin plus one new face all staring at her. Sakura moved as fast as she could over to the table and Sat down next to Mikoto.

Sakura looked at the person sitting across from her, she was so sure she'd never seen her before in her life. She had lightly tanned skin and the deepest brown eyes Sakura had ever seen. Her hair was a dark, almost black, brown and fell around her shoulders in corkscrew curls. She looked very European too, her features were soft and smooth, and her eyes were slanted, giving her an almost exotic look.

"This is Taya, Itachi's Girlfriend. She's from Italy." Mikoto whispered in Sakura's ear. At that moment Taya waved and a grin lit up her face. Sakura caught sight of Itachi sitting next to her with a soft expression on his face. Sakura's eyes almost fell out of her sockets, in the short time she'd known Itachi she'd never _ever_ think he'd even know an expression such as this one. The way he looked at her, it was like she was the one thing in the world that he cared about. He looked at her with such an open expression. Sakura looked over at Sasuke and Karin, he was looking at her, but it was in a more guarded look, and not romantic in the slightest. She sort of felt sorry for the red head.

Suddenly a plate of food was sat in front of her and Sakura actually panicked when she looked down. There, on either side of the plate, were at least three different sets of cutlery! And Sakura couldn't for the life of her remember table manners; in fact, the only thing she could remember was to chew with her mouth closed. She gulped, looked across the table and noticed Fugaku looking at her with an expecting look. Oh god, he's testing me! Sakura thought. She couldn't do this; she'd spent far to long eating with her fingers to remember all of this! Sakura gulped, picked up the largest knife and fork there and stabbed the piece of chicken on her plate. She silently thanked the cook however for not using chopsticks, she may be Japanese, but she still sucked at using chopsticks.

Sakura felt embarrassed to the core of her being, she was sitting there with her knife and fork in the most awkward position possible. Her fork was sticking straight up from the chicken breast and she was holding her knife like it was some murder weapon, which it was really, you had to see the sharpness of this thing. She looked up again and noticed Fugaku's quizzing glare had not moved an inch from her plate. With another gulp she began to practically saw the chicken with her knife until it was in edible squares. Then with jaunted movements she stabbed each bit of meat individually before shoveling it in her mouth, remembering to chew with her gob shut unlike yesterday when Ino gave her the sandwich.

Sakura now repeated these movements with effort for the rest of the food, not missing the fact that the longer she sat in the room the more she began to notice that everyone's heart beats were beginning to become louder and louder as they sang to her in that mystic way she'd never understood. Sakura was so stiff by the end of the main course because she was scared to so much as move. If she did move Sakura feared that she might just loose control and rip everyone's throats out. The sun was starting to set overhead but it was nowhere near dark enough to go hunting in. Sakura's canines began to length and she pushed her tongue hard against them to keep them in place. When one of the Butlers came around to take her plate away she had to hold her breath and whisper a thank you just so she could avoid killing the poor man.

Sakura looked over to Taya and was instantly drawn to her neck, she didn't even mean to look, and her heart was pounding hard because Itachi had whispered something to her. Sakura could see the small pulsating motions of her veins and licked her lips. The very motion disgusted her and Sakura decided that she wanted to get out of that room right now! The longer she stayed there the more in danger these people are. With stiff movement Sakura stood up and bowed as low as her body would allow her in Fugaku's direction.

"Please allow me to leave the table I'm not feeling very well." She said through clenched teeth. The pounding of their hearts grew louder and louder and Sakura didn't wait for a reply. She simply walked with speed she didn't even know she possessed to the door and then ran through the hallway until the found the front door and flung it open before running as fast as she could out of there.

Sakura knew it wasn't a good idea to skip her hunt yesterday and she felt like such an _idiot_ for not paying attention to her body's needs! She'd gotten caught up in the moment when Mikoto had taken her away last night and now she was paying for it. Sakura's fangs were completely lengthened now as she ran at full speed along the pavement. The sun had fully set now and Sakura could hunt all she liked until this awful _thirst_ had past.

Sakura ran through the clubbing area of Konoha like her life depended on it. She was looking for the alleyway that she'd been using since her arrival; she turned a corner and saw it right up ahead. Skidding to a halt she practically leaped into the ally and crouched down against the wall holding her uneven strands of hair in her fists.

Sakura had to wait a whole hour before someone who was by themselves actually walked past and by this time Sakura was not even thinking, her human side was completely buried by her unbelievable thirst and the man's pulse was so loud that it was the only thing she could hear. She grabbed him by the back of his color shirt and dragged him into the ally. The man let out a very 'manly' squeal and began to kick and fight back, but it was no use, all he did as make his heartbeat faster with adrenaline and the music was louder than Sakura could bear. She slammed him against the wall bite his neck.

Her teeth tore through his skin and muscle until it reached that vein, that thick amazing _lustful_ vein. His blood spurted everywhere, his clothes, Sakura's clothes, her hair and their skin. Sakura drank in huge gulps, all but sucking and licking everything she could get. The man's cries were getting more and more silent as he slipped into unconsciousness and Sakura felt the burning pleasure of the sweet red desire spread through her body to the tips of her fingers and toes. She hated it so much, yet every time she did this she didn't want it to end, the feel of the red liquid flowing down her throat and dripping down her chin was so irresistible it was so taboo, and she couldn't stand it.

Once she regained enough of her senses she stopped sucking and instead she licked the gaping hole closed. Under her tongue she felt the skin close over and seal itself. Sakura let the man slip from her fingertips and watched as he crumpled to the ground. Sakura pulled off her bloodstained jumper and began to wipe away the evidence. Once she was satisfied she pulled the jumper back on and carefully placed her open hands on either temple. She closed her eyes in deep concentration and tried her hardest to push her mind into his through her connected hands. Once she felt the familiar tickling sensation of the mans mind she whispered two words.

"…Remember…nothing…" Sakura was only able to wipe memories, unlike full vampires. Normal vampires where able to do much, much more, they could not only take memories, they could give you false memories, read your mind and even talk to you, and all with just one glance. It made Sakura's ability look like a party trick.

The man in Sakura's hands opened his eyes but they were just blank. She removed her hands slowly, being careful not to damage his mind in some way. She stood back into the shadows and watched as he blinked a few times before cursing and stumbling off.

The pounding of nearby heartbeats caught Sakura's attention as she stood in position to grab her next unlucky victim…

…!...

It was about one in the morning when Sakura finally made it back to the mansion. She'd wiped her face, hair and clothes as best she could with her jumper. She turned it inside out; hiding the blood stains, and tied it around her waste before tucking her hair behind her ears. She didn't think that she'd run into anyone, but she didn't want to take the chance.

Sakura looked up to her bedroom window on the third floor, and then to the drainpipe that was placed next to it and gulped. It wasn't like she would get terribly injured, she'd heal within minutes so that wasn't the problem, but it didn't mean that she didn't feel the pain. Sakura wasn't a big fan of pain, she tried to avoid it if at all possible but tonight there was no getting around it. This was the only way to get to her room without risk waking someone up.

With a deep breath, Sakura began to climb the drainpipe, for once happy that the years she spent running from vampires and police had hardened up her muscles enough. She climbed slowly, being careful to not break the pipe that had to deal with her weight. As she climbed and passed the second floor window she was tempted to look down. When she did she let out a silent curse, it would _really_ hurt if she fell now. She gripped the pipe tighter and continued her climb.

When she reached her window Sakura nearly had a panic attack when she leaned off the pipe and tried to open up her window. Sakura hadn't locked it so all she had to do was pull it open. Of course that was easier said that done when your three floors high and leaning off a pipe. When Sakura did open the window though the wood of the frame nearly smacked her in the face because she was pulling so hard.

With a few dark curses against window frames she grabbed hold of the ledge and swung her body around. She was now hanging by her hands three floors up and was praying to whatever god might be up there that she doesn't drop. Sakura silently pulled herself up until her upper half was leaning over the wide frame; she kept on pulling herself over until she (not so elegantly mind you) flopped onto a snottery heap on the floor.

As she grumbled she stood up and closed the window. As the window was slammed shut there was a small click behind her, which was followed by a dull light. Sakura froze.

"And where have you been?" Came the familiar voice of someone she _really_ didn't want to deal with right now. Shit, was the only word that was circling Sakura's mind as she turned around…

**...!...**

**Thanks for reading chapter two! I felt really happy that some people had reviewed! You guys are asome, I would hi5 you if i knew where you lived...damn...**

**Anyways please review cuz it makes me wanna write!**


	3. Stress related Uchiha's and new CoWork

**Song Mentioned: Turn it off - Paramore (acoustic version)**

**Chapter 3 – Stress related Uchiha's and new Co-Workers**

"And where have you been?" Came the all to familiar voice of someone Sakura _really_ didn't want to deal with right now. Shit! Was the only word circling her mind at that moment as she slowly turned around.

Itachi Uchiha sat at the opposite side of the room, his hand slowly retreating from where it turned on the lamp. His coal coloured eyes studied Sakura's frozen form in the shadows and waited for a reply.

"Well?" He asked again, letting some ice fill his voice as he spoke. Sakura felt a cold sweat on her skin as she blinked in disbelief. She absently wondered how long he's been there; she'd been gone for quite awhile and had wondered why he hadn't gotten bored yet. He's an Uchiha you idiot, Sakura thought, thinking that was the obvious answer.

"Why are you here?" Sakura questioned, being sure to stay out of the dull light, incase he saw the blood her jumper couldn't clean. Itachi's frown deepened at the question, he was loosing his patience with this woman.

"My mother's been worried sick, do you even know how long are staff were out looking for you? Four hours Sakura! Four! Are you a drug addict or something? Is that it?" He growled. Itachi stood up and walked over to were Sakura was still standing next to the window. Sakura, seeing his advance, jumped out of his way. She needed to make up an excuse, and fast. Then she remembered that he'd practically already made one up for her, then again, he probably wouldn't believe her if she jus admitted it, it would sound too fake, and Itachi was a smart man, that much she knew, so she just had to act defensive.

"It's none of your business Itachi! Leave me alone!" Sakura shouted. Moving completely out of arms reach when he tried to grab her.

"It is my business. You're working for my Company now and I don't want anything bad to come back and trouble Sasuke!" He growled. Sakura noticed how he took the bait, so now all she had to do was milk it for what it was worth and get him out of the room so she can clean the blood off her clothes and body.

"I wont do it again, alright? You can't control my life!" She yelled again, throwing her arms in the air for affect. Itachi watched her through cold eyes and spoke in a low growl that even Sakura couldn't manage. She took an involuntary step back and gulped.

"Just remember that I'll be watching." Itachi simply stated before marching out the door, the menacing aura that had once filled the room following him out.

Sakura stood there frozen for so long that her muscles actually began to ache from standing still for so long. She blinked when her mind finally began to process what had happened. And the first word that came to mind was _Fuck! _Sakura was truly screwed right now, having an Uchiha follow her every move when it came to dinnertime was not the way to go. In fact, it would probably be best if she left in the morning. Yeah, that's what she was going to do; there was no way in hell that she could stay with Itachi watching her like a hawk. Plus she gathered that since she was the first to get up that morning then it would be easy to sneak away unnoticed.

With her mind settled Sakura moved into the large bathroom and began to clean herself off.

…!...

Sasuke sat in one of the many living rooms possessed by his family and waited for his brother to return from his 'interrogation' with his newest employee. It was half one in the fecking morning and Sasuke wanted to sleep! He'd been waiting in there since half eleven when everyone had returned from there search and he was bored out of his mind!

Then the big dark oak double doors were swung open to reveal a very pissed off looking Itachi. Sasuke examined his brother's state and gathered that it hadn't gone according to plan.

"You look stressed" Sasuke commented, noticing the way his brother was slightly hunched over. He was only able to notice because he saw so much of the man.

"You could say that." Itachi replied before sitting down on the fluffy sofa across from the armchair Sasuke was occupying. Sasuke lent forward, resting his chin on his entwined fingers and looked at Itachi straight in the eye.

"And your verdict is?" Sasuke prodded. He wanted to keep this short, Sasuke wanted to go home and sleep.

"I think she's doing drug's. When I mentioned it before she got very defensive. Overly defensive if you ask me." Itachi admitted. Sasuke let out a long sigh; it dragged out of his parted lips in irritation.

"We'll keep tabs on her. Follow her around and see where that leads us. We can't have some druggy working under the companies name." Sasuke suggested. He knew that he couldn't just fire her after she signed the contract, so the only thing he could do was find her dealer and turn then into the police. The only thing he could do was making sure she stayed clean.

"That wont work, we can't just go and follow her off the bat." Itachi added. A frown was very clearly stretched across his brow.

"And why not?" Sasuke growled.

"Don't be a fool. She'd be expecting that, I don't think she's as dumb as she'd like us to think. We'll just keep watch of the CCTV at the gate and see what times she enters and leaves for now, we'll make are move when she least expects it." Sasuke nodded his head in silent agreement. They'd make their move when she least expects it.

…!...

Sakura ran around her room early the next morning picking up essentials and trying her hardest not to wake up the entire building. The pockets of her trench coat were filled to the brim with food and money that she'd found lying around. Her guitar was lying on the messed up bed when she frantically turned around to look for it. What Itachi had said to her yesterday was properly stressing the half-breed out. Sakura was expecting him to be around every corner when she'd finally exited her room.

She marched through the halls with deadly silent movements and was actually proud that she'd managed to avoid everyone in the house, even though they were still asleep. Sakura turned the last corner and was met with the marble floored staircase that she'd come to admire. With careful feet she walked down the stairs and frantically looked around for any maids that might already be up, she highly doubted it mind you, it wasn't even six am yet.

As she marched towards the door and looked around the room checking for any witnesses to her great escape. As her gaze washed over the room until she caught the sight of almost black indigo blue and whipped her head around to face Sasuke.

He was leaning against the doorframe that led into one of the hallways with a triumphant smirk on his arrogant face. He'd caught her red handed, her eyes were wide and they were threatening to fall out.

Sasuke watched Sakura panic with amusement, he'd seen this coming last night and decided to get up really early and wait. Good thing he did other wise he'd be screwed. Sakura was looking between him and the gate at the bottom of the driveway; he guessed that she was about to make a run for it.

"Don't even bother Haruno, my family have been on very good terms with the police for years and I'm sure they wouldn't mind chasing you up." He stated. The smirk never left his lips but when he spoke there was no emotion at all in his voice. Sakura visibly gulped, not liking the idea of being chased down by the police. She stepped back inside and closed the front door, turning fully to Sasuke.

"Itachi told you about are run in last night I'm gathering?" Sakura said. Putting two and two together.

"Yeah, he did." Sasuke simply stated. Not missing the fact that Sakura was becoming more fidgety the longer they stayed in the awkward situation, well awkward for Sakura at least.

"…Right…" Sakura didn't know what to do; she'd been caught with her hand deep in the cookie jar and had no explanation. It was clear as day what she was planning. Eventually after a long silence it was Sasuke who broke it.

"Haruno, what the hell where you thinking. Last night everyone was worried and my mother was convinced you'd been murdered and now you try and runaway?" Sasuke's voice had dropped to a dangerous level, making the room appear a few degrees lower than it actually was. Sakura looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with the Uchiha. Once again she had no explanation, it wasn't like she could just go ahead and tell them that she hid around street corners ripping peoples throats out. She'd just let him make his own conclusion.

"My brother seems to think its drugs, is that true?" He questioned, his eyes never once leaving her stressed out form. Sakura said nothing; instead she looked down nervously, trying to fool him like she fooled Itachi last night. And it worked! Sasuke let out another irritated huff that sounded a bit like a groan and pinched the top of his nose with his finger and thumb.

"My god Haruno, could you be any more idiotic?" He huffed out, speaking more to himself than the girl in front of him. Sakura puffed out her chest, not liking being called an idiot in the least. She didn't say anything, but instead settled for a glare. Sasuke didn't even look at her as he crossed the room, heading for the front door.

As he passed her he stopped on the steps and turned back to her.

"Meet me here at nine, I'm taking you into the office to meet someone. I trust that you won't pull anymore of your little escapee stunts until then?" He raised one perfectly formed eyebrow at her. Sakura just nodded her head, without looking at him and walked away to where she'd come from.

…!...

The car ride to the Uchiha building was silent, neither Sasuke nor Sakura dared say anything, their conversation that morning was still hanging low over their heads.

Sasuke had changed into a black business suit; he had the air of professionalism follow him like there was some sort of magnetic pull. Sakura on the other hand simply wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a sailor stripped T–shirt. Her short hair was held back with a black hair band and she only let her bangs free to frame her face. Both of them looked completely different from the plain black business shoes to the army boots on their feet.

Sakura couldn't remember the last time she was in a car; it must have been years ago. It was something she wasn't very happy about nonetheless, she felt motion sickness from not being used to it and wanted out. As they passed into the centre of Konoha Sakura opted to look out the window. The buildings turned into skyscrapers in no time and to her amazement they seemed to never end and just kept climbing until she was sure they'd passed the clouds.

As the car slowed down to a stop Sakura practically dived out onto the busy pavement, not even waiting for the driver to open the door for her and gazing up at the huge skyscraper that had the Uchiha family crest over the revolving doors.

Sasuke ignored the look Sakura had on her face walked past her into the revolving doors, expecting her to follow, which she did. He saw her out of the corner of his eye following him like he was the mother duck and she was the duckling. Sasuke walked past the main desk and straight to the lift, all the while Sakura never left his side.

She watched with interest as he pushed one of the buttons and stood back with his hands behind his back. Sakura couldn't help but feel out of place, here she was, a girl who was homeless until two days ago, standing in some posh looking lift with one of the richest men in Japan!

"Remind me why we're here again?" Sakura whispered. She for some reason didn't want to break the silence; it seemed so thick that she could feel it around her skin. So at least she could thin it out a bit, plus the Uchiha had never given her the details.

"You'll find out soon enough." He simply stated. He didn't even turn to look at her! Sakura frowned, she would admit that she didn't know much about manners, but she knew that was definitely rude!

"You're being unfair. You're the one that hired me and keeping me here against my will, _and_ you have the cheek to act like you've got a three foot barge pole stuck up your ass!" She growled. Crossing her arms and attempting to look menacing, which wasn't working seeing as he was a good few inches taller than her. Sasuke finally turned around to face her. His eyes stared down at her green irises with a steady glare, staring her out. They were both as stubborn as each other and both refused to give in. Even when people got on and off the lift, they still glared daggers at each other, even when they'd reached their floor they still glared at each other, but this time they were walking along the corridor.

"Mr. Uchiha! Thank god you're here! I need you to sign this!" His sectary asked. Sasuke hadn't even noticed that he'd reached his office but he had. His gaze was forced away from Sakura's now triumphant eyes and turned to the desk that was placed outside his office.

"Haruno, wait for me in there. I wont be long." He said in a toneless voice. Sakura grinned and practically skipped inside. Once in her mouth actually dropped open. The office was huge! It had dark blue walls and a window wall behind his huge desk. There was a sofa in the corner of the room with the biggest TV Sakura had ever seen in her life sitting on the wall.

With a skip still in her step Sakura walked over to Sasuke's office chair and sat down, not caring in the least that he might want it back. She swirled around to face the window and looked down the street that the building was across from. She watched the ant-sized people making their way around the busy streets.

Sakura was once again pulled out of her thoughts when Sasuke entered the room; the sound of the door opening alerted her of his presents as she swung around in her chair to face him.

"We meet again Mr. Uchiha…" She said playfully while stroking an invisible fluffy cat. Sasuke merely raised a brow at her antics and dug some files out of one of the folders that were sat in some mahogany cupboard.

"Haruno, get out of the chair." He ordered. Sakura eyed him through narrow eyes. Did she smell a challenge?

"And why should I?" She answered. Wriggling around to get comfy just to rub it in his face.

"Because it's my damn chair." He snapped after one of his irritated huffs.

"Doesn't mean I can't sit in it." She shot back at him with a big cheesy grin. Sasuke growled under his breath, he refused to sit on the other chair on the opposite side of the desk, it was smaller and meant to intimidate, he refused to be put through that.

"Haruno… You have five seconds to get off that chair before I physically pull you off it." He growled. Sakura took no notice of his threat, she just grinned.

"You know that-"

"Five."

"Could be classified-"

"Four."

"As assault."

"Three."

"Two…" Something in Sasuke's voice must have convinced her to move because as soon as he growled out the two she was practically on the other side of the room cowering in fear. Sasuke on the other hand sat in his chair with a triumphant smirk on his face as he watched Sakura sit on the smaller, not so comfortable chair opposite him.

The next ten minutes to Sakura's despair was filled with him going over rules and regulations that she already knew. Her mind was a complete blank as she stared out the window behind Sasuke in a dream like state, thinking of all the things she could be doing right now instead of being stuck in here, with nothing but the four walls and a boring Uchiha for company.

"-And as for your Manager I'm… Haruno." Sasuke had looked up from the paper he was looking at and noticed the vacant look in those green eyes of hers. Sasuke took a slow intake of breath to calm himself down, to be honest he didn't even know why he bothered. She clearly wasn't interested.

Sakura was pulled back into the room when she heard her name being called, when she turned her head she saw Sasuke with his eyes closed taking in controlled breaths. Wow he's in a pissy mood, must be PMSing or something, Sakura thought.

"Have you been listening to a single word I've been saying?" He questioned. Sakura put on an innocent look and tried to fight back the urge to run when she caught sight of his glare.

"Yes. You were talking about rules and Managers and crap." She answered. Sasuke just let out an irritated huff before continuing with his little 'debrief' before he got interrupted.

"Well anyway, I've got someone I'd like to be your Manager. He's a good friend of mine actually and has been looking for a job for a while." Sasuke finished off. He looked over at Sakura who nodded to show she was paying attention this time.

"Okay well that was all I had to say. Come back here tomorrow at the same time and I'll introduce you to your Manager." He said as Sakura stood up. She was about leave when something hit her; she had no way to get back.

"Hey doofus, I've got no way to get home. It was your driver person that brought us here." She questioned, Sasuke looked up at her and raised a brow, couldn't she figure it out herself?

"Take a bus." He stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No money genius." She shot back. Slapping her pockets for effect.

"You can walk back, didn't you live on the street's for god sake?" He asked in a bored tone.

"Yeah but then a had proper shoes on that I'd broken into." Sakura stated, pointing down at her boots. Sasuke sighed, giving up and reached into his back pocket of his trousers, pulling out his wallet.

"This should be enough to get you there. _Good bye Haruno_." He handed her the money and made sure to add emphasis to the last part.

…!...

Sakura found herself inside Sasuke's office the very next morning on the verge of passing out. She ended up going out to hunt at half one last night and hadn't gotten in until four in the morning, then she was up at seven so she could here at the right time… Yeah, so she felt like a walking zombie that morning.

Sakura and Sasuke sat in silence, just the way he wanted it, as they waited for Sakura's new co-worker. Sasuke glanced over at Sakura again, noticing the dark bags that hung under her eyelids and how she was slumped and yawned every now and then.

For once Sasuke was actually glad that he'd taken his Brothers advice. His brother had said to him earlier that he'd gotten some footage of Sakura's movement's last night so he was glad that everything was going to plan. It was just then that his self proclaimed 'best-friend' came bouncing through the door.

"Teme! Where's my newest co-worker!" He all but boomed. Sakura cringed and turned around to see whom the loud voice belonged to. She was met with a man who had the biggest smile on his face she'd ever seen. As he walked over to the desk and sat down she noticed how his spiky blond hair moved with every shift in direction and how his blue eyes looked like the ocean. His tanned skin stretched over his face as he grinned with all his pearly white teeth.

"Is this her?" He asked. Looking over at the pink haired woman next to her and flashed her a grin before holding out his hand for Sakura to shake. She happily took his hand and gave it a firm squeeze, showing that she was in no way weak. This only caused the grin on the blonds face to widen.

"My names Sakura Haruno. It will be a pleasure working with you I'm sure." She said, mimicking Sasuke's choice of speech.

"Ah, I'm sure it will be. I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way, and just call me Naruto, I hate formality's." He replied, the grin never once leaving his naturally happy face. Naruto turned to his best friend and let out a chuckle while scratching the back of his head. Sasuke wished Sakura luck with this one; it was only by a miracle that Sasuke hadn't strangled the blond yet.

"Well I don't know about you but I like her already!" Naruto laughed. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and lent back in his chair.

"You haven't even heard her play yet dope." Sasuke commented casually. Naruto gave him one of those blank expressions he's oh-so-good at before he realized what Sasuke was taking about.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" He then turned to Sakura. "Would you please play for me?" He asked with an embarrassed smile in place. Sakura merely rolled her eyes before reaching down for the guitar that was resting on the floor by her feet.

"Okay, this song is called 'turn it off'" She stated before resting her guitar secularly on her lap and began to strum out the notes. Eventually she began to sing and the whole room was filled with her music. The notes were more upbeat than the last time she played for the Uchiha and he noticed. The last time the song's notes were smoother. Sakura sang every word to perfection, lowering her voice and raising it when needed, she dragged and shortened her words to add affect. She closed her eyes and let the sounds come out of her by itself.

As the song came to a close Sakura began to repeat the last line for effect, stretching out the notes with her guitar and coming to an abrupt end. She looked over to Naruto and saw his thoughtful expression, when she looked over at Sasuke; he just looked bored, as usual.

Naruto liked this girl, she had a good voice and a skill for lyric's, which was rare, most of the time Naruto got stuck with people who couldn't even tell the difference between their left and right foot. There was only one small thing that Naruto thought she was lacking…

"I like your style, but-" Sakura's face fell as soon as the 'but' was spoken. She didn't like buts.

" But?" She prodded.

"Your music could use more depth." Sakura gave her new manager a weird look. She had no clue what he was talking about, depth? Did that even come into music? Naruto spotted the weirded out looks he was getting and decided to explain, he should have seen that coming. She was untrained after all, in his opinion that just made her even more brilliant.

"You know, um… Your music's too simple right now, there's not enough variation, if we maybe added another guitarist and a drummer then I'm sure the problem would dissolve!" Naruto beamed, showing every one of his shiny white teeth. Sakura nodded along in understanding, completely forgetting the Uchiha's existence across the table.

"Ah, I see." She agreed. The guy probably knew what he was talking about, otherwise Sasuke wouldn't have hired him… or be friends with him (that fact seemed pretty dim to Sakura considering the two completely different personality traits). Naruto was so bright and bubbly, nothing like Mr. Doom and Gloom who was sitting across from her. She rather have Naruto find her in the street than Sasuke, he'd be easier to fool at night anyway… Probably…

"Do you have anyone in mind?" Sasuke suddenly said, reminding the two other people in the room of his existence once again. Naruto scratched his head in deep thought as both she and Sasuke looked at him waiting for his answer.

"Ah, now that I think about it! There are some people who are looking to start up a band; they're looking for a guitarist, vocalist and a Manager I think. I saw their names turn up the other day in some files… What was it again? uh… I'll check it later. The files are on my desk." Naruto all but chirped happily, grinning all the while, shutting his eyes at the end and making the grin more intense.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blond ball of energy, trust him to find a flaw in an, what he thought, perfect performance. Then again, that was what Sasuke paid him for. Although he was hoping to just throw her out on her own and not with a band, it was less paper work that way.

"Okay then, Naruto, take Sakura with you and show her were Music room Twenty-one is. That's the one I'm assigning you too and contact those people you were speaking of, I want to get this done and dusted." Sasuke ordered. He Pulled out some files and beginning to write on them, completely blanking the other two in the room. Naruto rolled his eyes at Sakura and made her giggle, they both knew when they were unwanted and made way to leave the office, Sakura's tiredness all but forgotten.

…!...

Naruto sat in the upscale Music room munching on some Cafeteria bought Ramen and Sakura ate a simple sandwich while writing down some music. They were both waiting for the their possible new band mates. Naruto had managed to chaise them down that morning and had arranged for an audition that afternoon, apparently the two were more than happy to come along. Now all Sakura had to do was write some music that fitted into the song that she sung for Naruto that morning. Music which to Sakura's annoyance was harder to fit in than she thought, it was so much easier to write music from scratch than trying to change it half way through.

"Oh my god! I can't _do this_!" Sakura yelled. Standing up and grabbing her hair in fists. Naruto just glanced at her before turning back to his ramen from the sofa.

"Sure you can, you've already got half the song done, why not the other half?" Naruto pushed while still slurping on his noodles. Sakura turned to him and felt the urge to rip his throat out. He'd been saying that for the past half hour! She'd like to see him try this! But Sakura knowing she'd just get it from Sasuke later if she objected further, sat back down at the small desk and pulled her thinking cap on.

The entire recording Room was silent, minus the scratching of paper and the slurping of ramen. Sakura was nearly done when the door was slammed open. She jumped so far in the air that Sakura was surprised her head wasn't stuck in the ceiling like in the cartoons she used to watch. Sakura's head whipped around and the biggest scowl since Sasuke was plastered on her face when she faced the culprit.

There standing at the door was a man and a woman. The man who stood with his hand on the door, the one who slammed the door she guessed, was rather wolfish in appearance, he had wild brown hair and two red triangles on his cheeks, he was dressed in a simple worn out leather jacket and jeans. The woman who was behind him had two identical brown buns on either side of her head and a blunt cut fringe. Her clothes consisted of a red Chinese styled Top and a pair of black skinny jeans. There was an enthusiastic smile on both their faces and Sakura couldn't help but let the scowl melt away as she sat back down and hurried on with her music, trusting Naruto to handle the situation, she already guessed that they were probably the ones here for the audition.

"Hey Naruto! We here on time yeah?" The man said. Naruto nodded and swallowed the last of his Ramen before standing up to great the two before him.

"Kiba, Tenten, nice to see you. Sakura's still finishing off the song so just sit down for now." He pointed at the black leather chair and practically dived on it, he had his own preferred seat on the sofa! Kiba and Tenten slowly followed, looking around the room with keen interest.

"Is this were we'll be working if we get chosen?" Tenten asked in a polite manner, completely different from her male companion who talked more like a school boy than anything else even though he was well into his early twenty's.

"Yeah, basically. We've been assigned this room so we can do with it as we please." A sort of gleam came into the two male's eyes at that comment, the thought of having there own room to do as they please with was something they really liked the sound of. Of course with two girls in the room at the same time it did sort of ruin the affect but they still wanted to dream.

"Is she the one we're going to be working with as well Mr. Uzumaki?" Tenten continued nodding at the pink haired girl scribbling over the desk.

"Yeah, she is. And just call me Naruto." He waved off. It was at that moment that Sakura stood up, a grin stretched over her face with the two song sheets in hand. The three looked at her with curiosity until they saw what was in her hand. Sakura walked over with purpose and firmly placed the sheets on the coffee table in front of them, grin still clearly on her face. Sakura then held out her hand for one of them to take, Tenten took it and shook her hand with an equally firm grasp.

"Sakura Haruno, I look forward to working with you." She beamed.

"Tenten Kumo. And we haven't even played yet, so you don't know if we'll be working together or not." Tenten replied, a small laugh in her voice. Sakura just looked over to Kiba while introducing herself to him and the other way around before she answered.

"I can just tell, you look like you really want this, your eyes light up every time you look over at the recording room." She said pointing over at the glass room in the back. Tenten just wanted to know how or when she saw that when she was writing.

Sakura sat on the coffee table and waited while the other two read over the music. She could see the concentration on their faces and even Kiba was bobbing his head along to the beat.

"This sounds pretty good. Let's get on with it yeah?" Kiba stated as he stood up and walked over to where he saw some acoustic guitars sitting in the corner. Tenten nodded in agreement and moved into the glass room to sit behind the brand new looking drum set. Naruto handed Sakura her own guitar and they both moved into the large room with the glass wall. Sakura stood in front of the microphone and threw the bit of string she used for a strap over her body to hold her guitar in place. Kiba stood by the other microphone with the company bought acoustic guitar in place. The sheets of music Sakura had finished two minutes were placed on stands in front of them.

Sakura Started off the song with was soon followed by Kiba's expert playing and back up singing. Tenten bet out the slight beat to the song and Sakura finally understood what Naruto meant earlier about depth. The song sounded so much better, more interesting and exiting. She definitely needed more than just herself if she wanted t make decent music, even though she was 'forced' to make music, except that it wasn't really forced seeing as she enjoyed it very much.

As the song came to a much better ending than before she heard Naruto clap from the doorway he was leaning against. His face was lit up like a kid at Christmas and Sakura couldn't help but let a small smile lift the corners of her lips either. Naruto only said two words after that.

"You're hired."

...!...

**okay that's it for today! thanks you for reading. I'll try and update soon! and thank you to every one who reviewed! you guys rock my socks!**


	4. Life as we Know it

**Warning: Drug use and badly written high people =]**

**Chapter 4 – Life as we Know it**

Sakura was having a blast, her life seemed to be getting better and better, and that's mostly because it was easy to see this life being better than the life of a hobo. Before she knew it an entire month had flew past, in one month Sakura Haruno had never felt better about her life than right now, not since her parents died anyway. She and the band had been working pretty hard too; they'd been working on a few songs and had completed only one, much to Sakura's aggravation.

Right at that very moment however, they were doing nothing. All four of them, even Naruto who had been running around since everyone had gotten together was laying flat out on the sofa. It was one of those afternoons', the sort of one's that seem to never end because you have _nothing_ to do. Everyone, even Sakura had seemed to run out of imagination for the song's they're meant to be working on. As Naruto stared off into space Sakura sat next to him munching on a packet of Malteaser's and watched as Tenten doodled at the desk and Kiba strummed his guitar. They'd been like this since two o'clock and they still had one hour until they were aloud to leave. It was definitely one of those Boring Fridays.

"AH! I can't take it anymore! Is there _something_ we could be doing!" Kiba yelled. He swung his guitar around onto the stand and looked over at the two vegetables on the sofa. Naruto looked at him from his slumped position and shrugged his shoulders, pissing Kiba off further. He made a move to smack the blond but the ever so firm voice of Tenten broke him off mid swing. It was weird Sakura thought, Tenten was like some sort of unofficial boss amongst them, even Naruto didn't cross her, and that was saying something seeing as he was supposedly their Manager.

"Oh common Tenten! What if that Uchiha comes down again! He'd go mad if he found us flat out on are back!" Kiba complained. Sakura had also learned over the past month that Kiba had a very short temper and he had some sort of weird thing for the Uchiha brothers…

" You know you're going to have to get over that phobia of the Uchiha brothers eventually, they are your boss after all." Tenten said offhandedly while she shaded in the Chinese Dragon she'd been drawing, Sakura nodded along, throwing her now empty packet in the bin.

"I'm not scared of the Uchiha's! They're just weird yeah? Nobody should be that emotionless." Kiba shuddered and caused Naruto to chuckle.

"What you laughing at?" Kiba shot at Naruto who only chuckled harder.

"You. The Uchiha's aren't really that bad you know. I'm sure Sakura will agree, she does live with them you know." He stated in an amused manner, causing Sakura to chuckle with him.

"I guess so, you should see Sasuke's mum, and she's the kindest person I've ever met, honestly. Plus you'd be surprised, Sasuke's really a smug ass and his brother likes to pry into peoples business." Sakura moaned out the last part, calling back upon her memories for that one. Kiba scoffed and stalked off, picking up the guitar and plugging it into the amp that's in the recording room. Silence passed between everyone again until it was Naruto who couldn't take it, and desperately tried to remember something that he could do to get everyone talking again… Then it hit him like ice hits a sleeping man.

"Oh!" Naruto sat bolt-upright causing Sakura to jump in fright (she's not much of a Vampire when it comes to being scared) and frowned at him in confusion and irritation.

"What? You better not challenge Kiba to another Ramen eating contest, he nearly choked to death last time." Tenten warned, giving him an evil and firm look, knowing full well at how childish they could be at times.

"No no, nothing like that. Sasuke was asking about it the other day but I completely forgot about it until just now." Naruto explained to Tenten, not wanting to get on the bad side of her.

"What is it then." Kiba asked from the doorway of the recording room, still desperately wanting something else to do.

"We still need to give us a name. We can't be official until we have a name to be called by." Naruto stated matter-of-factly. Everyone looked at Naruto in disbelief; they couldn't believe how they'd forgotten about the _name_. How was that even possible anyway? That was like the first thing you do! Sakura thought.

"Okay, so what's it goanna be?" Sakura asked. She motioned for everyone to come over with her hands. Naruto sat back down on his side of the sofa and Tenten took the one seat left so Kiba sat on the edge of the coffee table. Everyone looked around each other, waiting for them to say something amazingly brilliant that they would be known as. It didn't happen.

"How about… Death Date?" Naruto asked. He became unsure of himself as he kept talking and by the end of the sentence he sounded like he was back in puberty. Everyone shrunk away from the name like it was poison; they were definitely _not_ that kind of band. So Naruto took that as a no.

"How does 'Throwing stones' sound?" Tenten suggested.

"Sounds too much like 'The Rolling Stones'." Kiba said while shaking his head. Sakura let out a sigh. This was hopeless…

"How about two point two eyes?" Kiba suggested. Everyone thought about it, the name was better than the others, but something didn't really sit well with it. It didn't sound quite right.

"I like the eye part. We should use that part." Sakura admitted. Naruto nodded and 'hmmed' while Tenten and Kiba just nodded.

"Hey I know." Tenten blurted out. Her chocolate brown eyes practically lit up with her idea. Kiba looked puzzled as he looked at Tenten, wondering what she could be thinking up now.

"What?" Kiba pushed, wanting to know what she's thinking.

"Okay well what if we use one of are eye colours? I mean it could either be like Chocolate eyes for me cause I've got brown; Kiba's got grey so that would be…silver eye? Or we could have… What would green be for Sakura? Grass eye?" She asked. Sakura cringed, she didn't have grass coloured eyes! Well… she didn't think so at least. Naruto saw the look on her face and nudged her arm with his, all the while chuckling under his breath.

"Don't worry Sakura, your eyes are more like green emeralds." He said, causing her cheeks to blush at the complement. It was then that both Tenten and Kiba froze; they both slowly turned their heads to look at each other with inspiration.

"Naruto, what did you just say?" Kiba asked, still looking at Tenten's astonished face. Naruto looked back around at Kiba and Tenten, wondering what the hell was going on, Sakura was also doing the same, seeing as the two weren't paying attention.

"Don't worry Sakura?" Naruto asked in a worried tone, he thought that maybe he'd done something wrong. It wouldn't have been the first time anyways.

"No, after that." Tenten said frowning. Naruto just looked confused now as he tried to remember if he said something that was out of context.

"Your eyes are more like green emeralds?" He stated in a squeaky voice. Tenten's face lit up again and a dimple appeared on her left cheek as she grinned.

"Emerald eye!" Tenten shouted. Kiba nodded and grinned showing his rather large canines that made Sakura slightly curious as to how he got them…

Naruto's face lit up with the rest of them at hearing the name, it was perfect, and the name was unique and easy to remember. It was everything and all that was needed in a band name. Naruto once again thanked the Ramen god for landing _this_ particular band in his care, their imagination knew no bounds and that was what made the money in this business. Because without imagination there was no songs and there fore no band.

"I should go finish filling out the paper work then." Naruto said a little disappointed, he hated paper work with a hot, juicy passion that will most likely never die. Sakura also stood up, feeling the need to stretch her legs and maybe go annoy a certain Uchiha a few floors up. Also they only had twenty minutes left until they could leave anyway, so with that, Sakura said her good byes and headed up a few floors.

…!...

Sasuke was _so_ pleased to get out of the office that night; there were only so many knock-knock jokes one could take… And one particular street rat was beginning to become annoying, not that she wasn't before but he starting to think that maybe his sanity was beginning to suffer because of it.

Sasuke didn't know why, but that pink haired girl had plagued his mind recently, she'd caused a lot of problems for him and his bother, poor Itachi was starting to act like Sherlock Homes. Something Sasuke never really wanted to see. One of Sasuke's main thoughts however was about that certain subject. Sasuke really didn't think the girl was a drug addict, she showed no signs of withdrawal through the day when she's in the office, except for tiredness but that's not surprising seeing as she's going to bed at four in the morning and getting up at seven every morning…

To be honest he's surprised she hadn't collapsed yet.

As Sasuke walked into the lift at his building he stood straight and pressed the top button, his brief case was heavy with file reports and statistic's that Sasuke really didn't want to look at right now, all he wanted was to let out his frustration. And for that he needed Karin, she had some sort of ability that let him forget everything and let go of everything by a simple touch.

As the door's clicked open Sasuke walked into his spacious flat and dumped his brief case on a near by chair before doing the same with his suit jacket. As he walked through the flat he loosened his tie and undid the first three buttons of his shirt, already tired of the thing.

He found Karin in their shared bedroom, and what was better, she was in a towel, her long flowing red hair was wet and clinging to her back as she walked around looking for her hair dryer. When she caught sight of Sasuke and the look in his eye she knew exactly what he was in the mood for. A sly smirk crossed her lips, as she looked him over once again. He was standing at the doorway, tie loosened, shirt undone and looking irresistible at this very moment, and she'd be a fool if she didn't take it.

As she walked over in nothing but her towel, she was sure to walk the way a model would walk down a cat walk, using her expert knowledge to the best of her ability's. The hungry look in Sasuke's eyes only deepened once he saw the expression on her face. Her hand came up and pulled on his loosened tie and pulled him over to the bed. Sasuke happily aloud her to pull him over as he came crashing down on top of her, not even hesitating to start attacking her neck.

Karin groaned from underneath him, loving the way he was so ruff with her. He ripped the offending towel from Karin's now naked body and gazed down at the slightly browned skin, he couldn't wait to get it under his mouth.

Karin panted and grabbed fist fools of his hair, he kept attacking her neck with ferocity that was completely knew to her. He Bit and sucked on her now sore skin like no tomorrow and she couldn't help but wonder what the hell was up with him, not that she minded. She liked it.

Karin pulled Sasuke's head up from her neck and examined his face, now that she thought about it; he did look a little distracted, his eyes looked like they were somewhere else entirely. That wouldn't do at all. Karin wanted his full attention. She turned her head to the side and bit her lip, looking as innocent as a flower and began to slowly work up a blush with a few embarrassing images in her head.

"…Sasuke?" She asked as innocently as possible, in a way she knew would grab his attention, and by god did it. Just not in the way she was expecting, or Sasuke for that matter.

Once he heard that innocent voice Sasuke looked at his red headed fiancé and saw the light blush on her cheeks and how it looked like she was hiding her head slightly, and the way she bit her lip like she was nervous. He'd seen it all before, she did it when he wasn't paying enough attention to her. As he looked at her under him, he noticed how her skin turned from a light tan to a creamy white and how her hair lightened until it was a pinkish colour and finally how her eyes seemed to go from wild red to emerald green.

Sasuke froze in complete panic, that look Karin had just pulled had just reminded him of Haruno! Haruno of all the people to imagine with that look and it had to be her! The thought disturbed him slightly, he didn't even like the girl that much, and it seemed to him that the only reason she's still around is to annoy the living crap out of him. First she invades his work, then she invades his thoughts and now _this_, he really didn't like her. Although if she were in this situation he would bet on his life that Karin's expression and the way she said his name would be exactly how Sakura would act.

With that thought in mind Sasuke was off Karin in an instant, he was at the other end of the huge room; completely shirtless with the most shocked face Karin had ever seen in her entire life from any member of the Uchiha clan!

Sasuke felt dirty, Haruno was so innocent yet here he was thinking of her in such a degrading situation? And imagining her in place of his Fiancé no less? Something was really wrong with him. Sasuke's hand came up to his mouth as he turned and all but ran out of the room, heading for the bathroom across the hall.

Sasuke filled the sink with freezing cold water and began to splash his face frantically, trying to rid the images of Haruno under him. Karin came through in one of her silk dressing gowns and a worried expression on her face.

Karin had no idea what she'd done wrong, one minute their getting it on and the next Sasuke's running off to the bathroom like he was about to throw up.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" Karin was actually believe or not concerned, Sasuke never runs out on anything, especially sex. He was still splashing his face with water so Karin decided to investigate later, but one thing was for sure, she wasn't getting any tonight.

She sat on the sofa outside their bedroom and waited for Sasuke to hurry up in the bathroom. She wondered once again what was wrong with him, had something happened at work? Was it that Rodent again? She'd over heard him complaining about her again to Naruto over the phone. Something she wasn't all too happy about, she'd been way to close to him for her comfort. Karin hated other women near her Sasuke, call her jealous, but when you had a rich and incredibly handsome fiancé who had women flocking like sheep where ever he went then you tended to get slightly over protective.

With that thought in mind Karin let out an irritated huff and flicked her long damp hair over her shoulder and tightened the strap around her silk dressing gown. She heard Sasuke stumble out of the bathroom and she couldn't help but wonder once again what the hell had actually happened to him, if it were her then she'd be incredibly embarrassed and offended.

He rounded the corner looking slightly paler than usual and spotted Karin sitting on the sofa with a stern look on her face. The first word that came to Sasuke's mind was shit. He hated it when she got all worked up like this, then again he didn't blame her, he never acted like this. Sasuke looked at her with a steady cool gaze, which was met with Karin's steady heated gaze. Like fire and ice they both stared each other off, waiting for one to turn to water or was put out.

Sasuke hated where this was going, he didn't want to have to tell her that he'd just imagined Haruno in her place, she'd blow her top! Then she'd go and kill Haruno herself. Come to think of it he and Itachi were meant to be following her tonight…

He pushed that thought out of his mind completely. He'd catch up with him later; right now he had bigger fish to fry. Karin broke their gaze in turn to stand up and cross her arms across her chest. She wanted answers, now.

"Care to explain your little lapse in sexual activity, Sasuke?" She asked. Being sure to make herself sound big. Karin knew there was something wrong with him that he wasn't telling her. Sasuke simply shrugged and grunted before walking past, trying to avoid the conversation as much as possible.

"I was just feeling a little sick. Nothing more." He lied. Making his way to the dresser he pulled out one of his rarely used T-shirts that Naruto was constantly buying him for his Birthday.

He pulled on the bright red T-shirt that had a picture of ramen on the back and pulled on one of his dark hoodies, something he used when he wanted to blend in and changed into a pair of jeans.

Karin watched from the doorway in confusion, she had no idea what he was up to now, plus he had on that stupid top Naruto had bought him last year. That man was full of mysteries, some of which Karin couldn't even figure out.

"Where are you going? It's twelve at night for gods sake." Karin spoke in a softer tone than before, but it still held the strength in it. Sasuke turned around to face her before walking up to her and kissed her. Karin wrapped her arms around his back and deepened it, making sure that Sasuke knew she was the only one for him.

Sasuke pulled away when he felt his control slip, he couldn't just leave Itachi to follow Haruno by himself. Karin pulled back with a groan of irritation and walked over to the bed before slipping in, trusting that Sasuke would be back soon, then she'd get her answers.

…!...

Sakura whipped the blood away with one of the towels she'd decided to bring for once. She was in trouble. As the man she'd just drank from staggered away Sakura couldn't help but smell the booze and drugs that was oozing out of the man in waves.

She could taste it in her mouth and groaned in dread. Vampires tended to react to alcohol a hell of a lot faster than humans would, and drugs were just as bad, if not worse, and that guy had been filled with the stuff, it surprised Sakura that he was still standing and wasn't dead on the street. Of course that didn't help her in the least, the last thing she should have been worrying about was him.

As she began her long trek home Sakura began to feel _very_ light headed and began to stagger like she was drunk, which she was really. People looked at her as they walked past like she was mad. Sakura couldn't help but laugh out loud and call them on their staring, saying that they should take a picture. Luckily though she was still in the ruff area of Konoha so people were probably used to it, unlike the part where she was headed.

About forty minutes later Sakura was completely under the influence of the alcohol and drugs that had entered her system. As she staggered up to the big gate she got ready to climb it like she always did, only this time she failed to even stay balanced long enough to actually get to the second bar on it. With a loud curse Sakura fell backwards and landed on her butt, she rolled over onto her side moaned as loud as she could that the gate was playing unfair. Unknown to her that the CCTV camera on the wall was taking in her childish acts.

…!...

Sakuke and Itachi watched with amused expressions inside the security office of the Uchiha Mansion at the obviously high woman's antics outside the gate. It was about three in the morning now and Itachi had been waiting on Sasuke to arrive, saying that she'd left earlier than normal.

Both brothers had been watching the pink haired woman's failed attempts to climb the fence for at least ten minutes now and were interested to find that she'd now given up and was rolling around on the floor like a kid.

Sasuke watched her with a calm expression, he was glad that the image of Sakura from earlier had moved onto the back burner of his mind. Itachi looked over at his brother with a raised eyebrow, wondering if now would be a good time to go and help her. The last thing they needed was her waking up the entire house with her childish acts.

With a nod from Sasuke he and Itachi walked out of the room and moved in the direction leading to the front door. As they exited the main door into the chilly night air the sound of loud giggling could be heard from the bottom of the drive way and Sasuke couldn't help but cringe at the sound. As they closed in on the dark body lying on the ground Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with the woman.

Sasuke had actually believed that she wasn't into drugs; he even doubted what his brother said and what Haruno seemed to lead on to last month when she'd tried to make a run for it. He'd thought she was made of different stuff, better stuff. She had pride; he knew that, she'd shown him that pride countless times in one of their many arguments. Yet she'd managed to fool him, she really was just another Kitten without a pedigree, like his Father had once said. She was just another lowlife that had managed to climb her way up the food chain. But underneath that pride and stubbornness that she possessed she was just another homeless drug addict.

Sasuke pushed the button to open the gate with a little more force than necessary and earned a raised eyebrow from his brother. He just simply scowled and looked down at the high woman on the floor, she'd turned and was now facing them from the floor.

"Oh whoa. It's – It's you peoples. Man I'm in deep shit." She slurred. Both brothers let out an irritated huff before walking forward and grabbing an arm each and pulling her up.

Sakura was confused as hell now, one minute she was looking up at the two Uchiha brothers' and now she was standing up? Was she blanking out or something?

"Where did Uchiha Twat's go? And I don't remember standing up, did I blank out again?" She slurred, not really expecting an answer but still, she felt the need to voice her thought's, plus she'd said her secret nickname for them so she was probably dead now anyway so why bother?

Itachi looked over at his frowning brother with an amused expression. He'd never even known that Sakura could even be this oblivious, any other time she'd be the first to notice something, even before it _was_ noticeable. The thought was definitely an interesting one.

"Did she just call us 'Uchiha Twat's'?" Sasuke growled. Itachi saw the glare that he was giving the out-of-it woman in their arms.

"I believe she did little brother." Itachi stated in a bored tone. They walked up the steps into the Mansion and had to practically drag the girl up the stairs. Once they got to the top Sakura began to struggle in their arms and broke free before leaning over the rail and throwing up. Both men cringed, not exactly liking the sight of sick. But then Sasuke noticed something, in the light coming from the open door he noticed it wasn't sick she was throwing up, it was blood. The thick red liquid trailed down the side of her lip as she staggered back, causing both brothers to panic, thinking something was seriously wrong with her.

"Holy shit Haruno! Quick, we need to get her to the hospital! Did you see the amount of blood she just threw up!" Sasuke blurted in emotion he rarely showed.

Sakura still had half a mind to know that wasn't good. She didn't like hospitals. They would turn her into a test subject if they found out she wasn't entirely human.

"No hospital, it was just my dinner." She blurted out in a drooled slur, she could feel the blood still on her tongue and swallowed before wiping her mouth clean, hiding all evidence. She hadn't even taken into consideration at what she'd said.

"Sakura, don't be a fool. Come on, your not a bloody vampire. Let's get you to the car." Itachi said in a low concerned tone. He eyed up her state and looked over at Sasuke's equally concerned look.

"No car's, Hospital's are bad places." She mumbled out, the last part was more to herself than anyone else. Sasuke crouched down in front of her, looking at her dead in the eye, judging for himself if he should really bother taking her to the hospital. Sakura looked at him with tired lids, she was completely in a daze, and it was a surprise that she was able to answer at all.

"It was my bad. Didn't know the man had drugs. Was too out of it to tell, m'sorry." She mumbled. Sakura was talking to no one now, she was just mumbling to herself.

Sasuke huffed out in defeat, he'd just get her to bed, maybe question her when she was more lucid. With that thought in mind Sasuke threw her arm over his shoulder and dragged her up, Itachi did the same with the other arm and began to drag her inside.

Itachi looked down at the flopped head and thought that maybe she had passed out. He was proven wrong however when a string of mumbled words left her mouth. Itachi couldn't even make them out anymore, but he'd maybe try and ask who her dealer was. He suspected that in this state she might just tell him.

Sasuke kicked her bedroom door open and walked through, sitting her on the bed and holding her head up with both his hands, looking to see if she was still relatively conscious. Her eyes were open but were unresponsive as they rolled about in her half open lids. Sasuke didn't like seeing her like this, it actually scared him a bit. Not that he'd admit it out loud. Her skin was sickly pale and her lips were chapped, her unresponsive look however scared him the most. It was like they weren't even there.

"Haruno." Sasuke whispered. Sakura's eyes locked onto Sasuke's face but it wasn't like they usually were, Sakura had a sort of stubborn and strong look in her eyes that never seemed to leave them, but right now they were just empty and Sasuke didn't like it at all.

"What did you do?" He asked in a soft whisper, something that he wasn't used to but felt that it was necessary, she probably wouldn't remember tomorrow anyway. Her blank eyes still stared at him as she answered in a slurred voice; he had to listen very closely to actually understand what she was saying.

"Needed to…like every other night… why." There were a few words that Sasuke couldn't get but decided to not go any further. He needed to get home anyway; Karin was probably still waiting for him. Sasuke pulled her jacket off and put her under the covers after removing her shoes and walking back. Itachi looked at Sasuke before looking at the now unconscious woman in the bed, her pink uneven strands were scattered over the pillow and her deep even breathes brought little comfort to the oldest Uchiha brother.

As Sasuke walked over with her jacket a bloodied towel fell onto the floor and caught Itachi's attention. The thought of her throwing up earlier was brought to mind as he walked over and picked it up, looking over at an equally confused Sasuke.

The blood was thick in the towel and made them both wonder once again what it really was that she got up to at night. Even though she turned up high more or less confirmed their suspicions it still striked them as odd that she was puking blood, was that what the towel was for? Itachi wondered. Sakura was full of mysteries, even more so than Sasuke, and both brothers were going to get to the bottom of it.

"Sasuke, we _need_ to find out what the hell is happening with her. We can't just let her run around in this state all the time when she's under a contract to the company." Itachi looked over at Sasuke who had a thoughtful expression on his face. Sasuke couldn't agree more, they had to find out what was happening with her. They couldn't wait any longer. He simply nodded in agreement before speaking.

"We should go tomorrow, we can't wait any longer. God knows what will happen if we do." Sasuke spoke in a low tone that even Itachi was struggling to hear.

"I agree. She'll probably feel like hell tomorrow anyway, so she'll not be as responsive when she does go out." Itachi agreed with him. The two brothers both left the room in silence and walked side by side until they got to their cars outside. Both men said their good byes to each other and arranged to meet tomorrow at seven in the Mansion and left.

As Sasuke drove home that night he couldn't help but feel a growing fear for what the next night would bring him. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to know what Haruno was doing, he had a feeling that he wouldn't like it in the least…

…!...

**Hey people, thank you for reading yet again! Please review! Every time i get a review i want to cry with happiness! And also I don't know about you but when i was checking over my work i actually found myself gaging at the Karin and Sasuke bit! Was I the only one? Should I even _be_ gaging since i'm the one that wrote the damn thing? Anyways... =] thanks again! Ignore my mini rant there!**


	5. Double Edged Fear

**Warning - Gore at the end =] ( more like blood but whatever)**

**Song mentioned - When i 'm gone by Simple Plan**

**Chapter 5 - Double Edged Fear **

Sakura awoke the next morning feeling like death. She couldn't remember a single thing from the night before, in fact the last thing she actually remembered was shouting at some person on the street to take a picture of her? As her heavy sleep crusted eyes opened a fraction she instantly closed them again, the light shining through the open curtain's blinding her and lighting the intense pain and sickness in her head and stomach.

She groaned in pain and turned over, gagging a little when the movement nudged her stomach. She opened her eyes slowly this time and looked over at the clock next to her bed. All thoughts of pain, sickness and sleep left her head when she saw the time; it was two in the afternoon! How the hell had Sakura slept through all of that! That was like a full day wasted! Plus she had work today, why had nobody woken her up!

Sakura sat bolt upright and felt a wave of nausea wash over her, she threw the covers back and ran full speed to the toilet. Thick red blood filled the toilet as she once again threw her guts up. That wasn't good, Sakura knew for a fact that now she'd be going mad like last time when it came to sundown. Luckily for her however the days were getting shorter thanks to the oncoming winter season. She always knew there was a reason why she liked winter…

As Sakura lent over the toilet dry heaving there was an almost silent knock on the bedroom door. Sakura shouted the person in with a croaky voice and cringed at the volume of it. A few moments later Ino came bouncing through the door with a grin that vanished as soon as she entered the bathroom, the smell of vomit and copper was in the air and Ino couldn't help but back out of the room with her hand firmly holding her nose.

"Oh my god Forehead! I knew Itachi said you were sick but this is just taking the biscuit!" Ino yelled. Sakura hissed and shrunk into the toilet seat she was slumped over. Sakura hadn't even realized that Itachi cared enough to even tell Ino, then again he wasn't as heartless as he let on, unlike a certain younger brother whom she believed was just as… Sakura couldn't finish that thought however as another wave of sickness ran over her and her head sunk into the toilet as she spilled the inners of her stomach.

From the other side of the bathroom door Ino cringed once again at the sound of her newest friend as she pucked her insides up and out. Ino had been under direct order's to not let Sakura attend work and also had to stay at her side. The first one she didn't see much of a problem with, in that condition it didn't look like Sakura was going _anywhere_but that bathroom. The second one however wasn't something she was personally looking forward to. She had a date tonight and didn't want to go smelling of puke!

Ino held her breath and walked into the danger zone with the glass of water she had brought up, hoping it could at least help to settle her stomach some. Sakura flushed the toilet when she heard Ino's careful steps coming up to her, the last thing Sakura needed was Ino seeing the blood she'd just thrown up. She turned her head to the side slightly, resting her head on the arm that was keeping her on the lip of the toilet seat. She eyed up the glass of water with caution and the pills that the pig was digging out of the pocket of her Uniform apron.

"Here, this should at least settle your sickness." Ino edged away once the glass and pills were set next to Sakura, her nose scrunched up as she was forced to breath in the horrid smelling air, thinking that she'd get some spray for it later. Sakura happily took the glass and pills. She popped both pills in her mouth and happily glugged the water down in one go.

Ino grabbed her arm and began to slowly help her up, making sure not to disturb Sakura's unpredictable stomach. As they made their way into the bedroom Sakura noticed a small tray filled with different types of food, most of which was bacon. Her face turned a little green and she avoided eye contact with the tray, the thought of even touching the tray turned her stomach in ways she'd rather not experience ever again in her life. Ino brought her back over the bed before practically burring her in the covers. Ino was not going to let her get out of that bed for the rest of that day if she could help it. Sakura looked like death, her skin was sweaty and sickly pale, the bags under her eyes made her look like an old woman and her usually perfect green eyes where bloodshot to the extreme.

"Ino, I need to get to work, I've got tones of stuff to be doing today." Sakura whined, trying to untangle herself from the cobweb of sheets. The blond pig simply pushed her weakened frame into the mattress and scoffed. There was no way in hell she was letting Sakura go anywhere outside of that room, she didn't really want to face the wrath of Itachi if she did, Ino liked having a job thanks.

Sakura groaned in irritation as she struggled to get up under the firm hand that was holding her down. She hated being sick, or in this case hung over, Sakura didn't even remember drinking the previous night! Life sucks, she concluded as she gave up struggling to get out of the room.

"What's wrong with you anyways? Something you ate? You're always the first up so this is weird." Ino asked in that loud voice that made Sakura's head bang. As she cringed Sakura hid herself deeper in the sheets to block off the sound of the banshee cries coming from the pig.

Ino felt slightly offended, that groan of pain and annoyance was directed at _her_, at Ino Yamanaka! Friend and possibly best friend of Sakura Haruno who was the one doing the groaning! With an irritated huff Ino began to prod the covers over the large lump in the bed, trying to get a reaction out of the girl underneath.

Sakura wanted to smack that pig over the face and then rip her throat out with a butter knife, slowly… Couldn't she tell that Sakura didn't want the damn woman here, sure they were best friends and everything but _still_, sometimes she couldn't stand her. The stupid pig had some banshee cry, one that would never fail to make Sakura cringe with the high-pitched volume; she was surprised the dog's next door weren't barking.

"Leave me alone pig, I'm in the mood to sleep." Sakura grumbled. She wasn't in the mood for company at all.

"I'm under orders to stay with you until you feel better. So suck it up Forehead!" She said enthusiastically. Sakura peered over the covers and saw the bright grin Ino had sent her way. Maybe she'd just ignore her for now, that would be a good idea…

…!...

Naruto sat back in Sasuke's office chair while he looked through some of the files on the desk. Sasuke was going through the filing cabinet on the other side of the room as both men went about doing their own thing for the moment, not that it would last long of course. As Sasuke returned back to his desk he motioned for Naruto to move, the blond just ignored him and kept going through the files he was about to submit.

"Dope, move." Sasuke stated in a bored tone, not letting any emotion through. Naruto looked up and grinned back at his 'best-friend' before doing as was asked. Naruto didn't really want to piss him off seeing as right now Sasuke had the power to fire him, not that he would but Naruto wasn't about to chance it. Sasuke sat down and looked over the papers that Naruto had left behind, it was the sheets about finalizing his band, the _one_ that had been due in a month ago.

He picked up the sheet and began to read it over, adding his signature here and there and some other information that the legal department was oh-so-fond of. Naruto looked over his shoulder to make sure he knew what was being written and couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy, after all if there was one thing wrong with the form then the band wouldn't happen. Luckily however there wasn't anything that caused concern for the Uchiha looking over the sheet.

"How's the progress coming along? I expect you have a few songs finished by now?" Sasuke asked. Naruto gulped and straightened up from his position to nervously look over the room. The office was silent for about ten seconds before it was filled with a low growl coming from the indigo haired man. He couldn't believe it! They didn't have a song yet? What about that one Haruno sang last month! Or the one she sang for his father! What the hell have they been doing!

"You don't have a song?" Sasuke growled, letting acid slip into his normally calm and collected voice. Naruto panicked and threw his arms in front of his body in protection.

"W-we have got some songs, just not that much…" Naruto stammered, trying to defend himself and his band. Sasuke just growled even more, what the hell had they been doing this entire month!

"And how many song's have you actually finished?" He enquired.

"T-two, including the one that we finished today." Naruto stammered again. Sasuke's famous Uchiha death glare was in full effect and if Naruto weren't so used to it he'd have been running out the door screaming like a little girl.

"Two, seriously? And you can't complete a song without the whole band's consent, Sakura's not here today." He stated again in an obvious tone. Naruto just shrugged it off, trying to act natural, and failing.

"She's already handed in the lyric's and her notes, plus today was just mostly working out the kinks so really she already did give consent." Naruto replied, this time with out the annoying stutter.

"What's the song's then?" Sasuke asked absentmindedly. He turned his attention back to the paper in front of him, not bothering to get more worked up than he already was.

"The one she played for us and another one called 'when I'm gone. There good, it's different from what Sakura's used to she enjoyed it a lot, her face would light up and everything." Naruto grinned, happy for the change of subject. He also noticed how his friend's body stiffened when he mentioned Sakura, even if it was only for a mere second.

Naruto wondered what could have possibly happened _this_ time to make him act like that. He didn't understand why Sasuke didn't just break up with Karin and go with Sakura; he clearly liked her more than he'd let on, even if he didn't even know it. It was stupid really, he and Karin had nothing going for each other; in all honesty, Naruto believed it was only sex that was keeping them together. That in Naruro's opinion was definitely not the sort of relation ship you wanted to keep, which is why Naruto nearly had a heart attack when they first got engaged. Of course though he will keep his mouth shut about it. That was mostly because he was almost certain that Sakura didn't seem to possess a single cell in her body that was capable of loving, she always had some sort of wall around her in that department.

It was a real shame actually, she was a really nice woman who deserved to be loved, but she just wouldn't have it. It was like that guy that works in the sound department, it was so obvious that he had a crush on her but she just didn't acknowledge it, he almost felt sorry for the guy. Take note of the _almost_ there, Naruto knew he was only following his dick, but it was still a shame, she just sort of left him hanging.

"Why are you here anyways? What happened to that assistant of yours." Sasuke brought him out of his thoughts and blushed at the mention of his assistant. He thought that maybe he should be worrying about his own love life for the moment.

"I-I just felt like talking to you for a bit, you know?" Sasuke didn't miss a beat with that blush, he knew about his friends current love interest. Sometimes he wondered when that guy would actually gather the courage to ask her out. He'd liked her for some time now and she definitely liked him back.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his hopeless friend and pushed the sheet's away from him, not wanting to look at them for the moment. Naruto sat down in the chair opposite him and propped his head lazily on his hand before looking out the window behind him. Sasuke simply lent back in his comfy chair and closed his eyes; enjoying the rare silence he got when in the blonds presents.

The silence was short lived however when the buzzer to his assistants desk outside began to make that irritating shrieking sound. With a groan he lent forward and opened his eyes before pressing the button and speaking in that collected business tone again.

"Yes."

"_Mr. Uchiha, someone is here to see you." _She simply stated, knowing that he hated long explanations.

"Fine, send them in." He simply stated before turning to Naruto who was still sprawled across his desk like a child.

The door creaked open and a pink head of hair caught Sasuke's attention. The only thing that crossed his mind was the image that was forever burned into his memory from the night before. His head snapped around to look for the woman and found her closing the door carefully behind her. She was looking very casual today; she wore only a pair of jeans and a dark hoody with a white strap top underneath. Her face was still slightly pale from her extreme hangover but there was not trace of the slick layer of sweat from before, also the bags under her eyes had disappeared and she looked much better.

"Haruno." Was all Sasuke said as he watched her advance on them both. Naruto's head was up like a shot when her name escaped Sasuke's lips, he hadn't expected to see Sakura until Monday at least, so this was a pleasant surprise, or not considering his earlier thoughts.

"Sakura! I thought you were ill!" He boomed, not caring that both Sasuke and Sakura cringed at his volume. Sakura looked over at Naruto and gave him a grin, it was a little strained from his earlier actions but still genuine.

"Hey Naruto. I was sick, but I feel better now so I decided to come in, I wanted to ask Sasuke something." She chirped in her normal happy tone. Sasuke was glad that she was feeling better, but that didn't excuse her actions, he was still mad at her.

"What do you want?" He growled. Naruto turned round and gave him a scowl, not thinking that it was appropriate.

"Nothing really important, it was about last night actually." She chirped again but he noticed the caution in her eyes this time. Sasuke knew instantly what she meant and thought it would be best to get rid of the witnesses. He glared at the blond, hoping that he got the message without him having to say. Naruto huffed and with an irritated groan as he got up.

"I guess I'll see you on Monday or something, I'm going home. Bye Teme." Naruto waved as he walked out the door, leaving the nervous Sakura and the annoyed Sasuke behind.

Sakura walked up to the huge desk with steady steps, testing the water before taking the plunge, so to speak. He seemed a little mad at her but that was to be expected, she'd been drunk as hell last night and that probably hadn't sat well with the Uchiha brothers, she didn't know if they had helped her last night, but Ino told her that Itachi had said to watch over her. That all on its own was enough for Sakura to guess that Sasuke might have been there, plus his body language was a dead give away right now. As she sat down in the chair across from him Sakura couldn't help but feel the ice cold waves flowing off him, she couldn't help but shudder at the sensation, his coal eyes were so intense.

"I'm sorry about last night, it was my fault and I take full responsibility." Sakura said quickly, making sure to break the ice in such a way that wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass later on.

"You better be! Have you got any idea what you put us through!" Sasuke growled. He looked so intimidating in his big leather chair and black suit, she was finally starting to understand why the Uchiha family was feared and respected so much.

"Actually I can't remember a thing, so no, I have no idea." Sakura muttered. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, he hated it when she acted like this.

"Well would you like me to enlighten you?" Sasuke said in a voice that was dripping with sarcasm. Sakura noticed this and went up on the defense in a flash, not even bothering to think about her actions, her stubborn side was telling her not to take a single word of this, but her pride was telling her to stay calm, something she'd never been good at.

"Yes _sasuke_, that would be lovely." She stated through clenched angry teeth. She hated how he made her feel so small, his intense eyes just kept drowning her and she hated it, she needed to prove her worth too! Even if right now wasn't the best time.

"Then listen closely _Haruno_. You came back drugged up to the brim, acting like a five year old and threw up blood on my parents door step, which I had to clean up no less! You then looked like you were on the brink of death and worried the living shit out of us! Do you even know how worried we were about you!" Sasuke shouted. He had stood up half way through his speech and leaned over the desk, placing his hands firmly on it and looking Sakura dead in the eye.

Sakura was taken back for about five seconds; she hadn't even realized that she had even _consumed_ drugs. No wonder she had acted like a fool, drugs weren't exactly something you gave to a vampire, half-breed or otherwise. Her surprise was short lived however as she saw red, nobody talked down to her! Even if she deserved it or not, and certainly not by this stuck up ass!

"Like hell were you worried Uchiha! When do you worry about anything! You only care about getting money, not about me, I'm just some investment that you want to keep on a leash. Well guess what Cockatoo head I'm not some bank statement, so get off my back!" Sakura shouted. She also stood up when she began to shout and met Sasuke's death glare with one of her own. He seemed unaffected however as he just kept staring her down, both not giving in.

A burst of thunder could be heard overhead and Sakura blinked, successfully breaking eye contact with the Uchiha. Sasuke smirked and Sakura growled low in her throat, something that wasn't entirely human sounding. Sasuke leaned back and placed the cool emotionless face back in place, not letting Sakura see anymore of him without it.

Sakura refused to look at him in the eye and instead settled for the dark rain clouds outside. The sun was beginning to set and because of the near black clouds it already looked like late evening. Sakura could feel her thirst building up again and heard the faint traces of beating hearts. She'd have to make her escape soon, unless she wanted to have the Uchiha for dinner, there was no way in hell she was going to allow _any_ part of that smug, arrogant bastard inside her, the mere thought caused her to shudder.

With one last glare she turned to leave, intent on getting revenge some other day. However the low dangerous voice coming from the Uchiha made her stop in her tracks.

"Where are you going now? Running back to your dealer? I'm sure he'd love that." He sneered. Sakura didn't even bother turning around, she had no interest in seeing that angry heated glare that she knew was in place right now.

"Piss off Uchiha." She simply stated before walking out the door.

Sasuke sat back down after the door was firmly closed. He let out a huff and massaged his temples. He hated how she brought out the worst in him. He picked up the phone with his other hand and dialed Itachi's home phone.

"_Hello."_ Came the tired voice of his older brother and Sasuke didn't even bother with the 'hellos' that one must share.

"Get the car around here, Haruno's on the move." And with that he slammed the phone down.

…!...

The rain was coming down in buckets as Itachi and Sasuke trailed the streets of the clubbing district of Konoha. Itachi was dressed in simple jeans and a waterproof when Sasuke was still in his suit, his thick coat doing nothing to keep the rain out.

About two hundred yards ahead of them they could see the fainted trace of pink bobbing up and down. They'd been following Sakura through the streets for a little over an hour now; she'd walked from one end of Konoha to the other in the teaming rain.

She sharply turned yet another corner which was followed soon after by the two brothers who were hot on her tail. Another crash of lightening was heard from over head and lit up the dull street corner for a fraction of a second. The only sound reaching Sasuke's ears at that moment was the pounding rain and the odd car driving past.

Sakura looked just as wet if not more than Sasuke, her hood clung to her head and offered little protection against the rain and he could see the small tremors coming off of her tall frame, even from that distance.

Finally she stopped outside a dark shady alleyway, the two brothers instantly ducked into a doorway, as she looked around frantically, her hair was stuck to her face and her lips were quivering from the cold rain. Her green pools searched the area over and over again; she swore she noticed some movement behind her a moment ago. But gave up thinking they must have turned into one of the buildings.

Itachi let out a deep breath when she turned into the dark ally. He thought that maybe their cover had been blown, which would suck. He looked over at Sasuke and noticed his far away expression. His brother had been acting weird since he came to pick him up earlier; he was looking really frustrated and confused. Something that was very uncommon with him. Itachi had tried to ask him but was met with a glare every time he so much as breathed upon the subject.

Now that look had only intensified as Sakura turned into the ally. The sky roared once again and let loose another flash of lightening. The weather seemed to be reflecting Sasuke's obvious bad mood, Itachi thought with sarcasm.

Sasuke was on the edge of insanity! He'd been waiting so long for this moment, she was obviously about to meet up with her dealer, yet why did he just want to turn and run? Why did he feel like he wanted to live in ignorance around her? The very thought made no sense, Sasuke Uchiha ran away from nothing! He was so close… so close to catching her red handed… so close to saving her….

The dread in his stomach would not leave no matter how much he wished it gone. That unnerving, gut wrenching fear never quite leaving him, Sasuke felt sick, something he wasn't used to and didn't want to get used to, he just wanted to turn and run. But he wouldn't, he had too much pride and stubbornness for that.

Sasuke didn't know how long they waited there in the doorway in the heavy rain; it had probably been about an hour and a half. Groups of people had walked past, and every time they did he noticed that in the darkened ally there was a small sign of movement, like someone was refraining themselves from something.

At last though a man walking by himself came past, he looked to be no more than late twenties, he had on a business suit like Sasuke but it was a light grey. He walked quickly through the rain with his briefcase held over his head. As he passed the alleyway where Sakura was hiding in however he was suddenly taken off course. It was so fast that Sasuke might have missed it if he wasn't watching so closely. The man had been grabbed by the color of his jacket and basically dragged into the alleyway. Both Itachi and Sasuke knew exactly who had just grabbed and dragged a fully-grown man like it was nothing.

They both stood there in disbelief for a while until they heard it. The most horrible sound to ever reach either mans ears. It was a cold-blooded, cringe worthy scream. The voice was high and panicked, the fear that was thread through it made Sasuke turn even paler than he usually was. The voice was in pain. It was broken and unbalanced.

Suddenly it was cut off and Itachi was the first to react. He grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him out into the rain, having no idea what so ever what he was about to be faced with. The mere thought of what could be around that corner was unthinkable. As both men ran down the street towards the ally they both felt the uneasiness gurgling in their stomachs.

Another flash of lightening lit up the sky as they turned the corner into the ally, the outline of two figures up against the wall were visible. The nearby street lamp illuminated the space enough for the two brothers to see _exactly_ what was going on.

There against the wall was Sakura and the man. Sakura seemed to be wrapped around the man, supporting him in his unconscious state, her mouth placed firmly at his neck. Another flash of lightening announced itself and Sasuke caught sight of the blood…

Blood was everywhere; it was all over their clothes, their skin... hair… his neck, her chin…

Sakura let out a gasp and sharply turned around, letting the limp man fall to the floor. Her entire jaw line and most of her cheeks were covered in the red substance and her mouth was open in shock and surprise. There, sitting in her mouth comfortably was the all to familiar white gleaming fangs with a fresh coating of blood dripping from the delicate points.

The last thing Sasuke remembered was Screaming when the memories began to over flow his already panicked mind…

...!...

**Okay well thanks for reading! Pleeeease review cuz it makes me want to write faster and i get happy! Sorry the chapters not as long but i ran out of things to say =[... **


	6. Memories

**Warning: blood and badly written gore =]**

**Chapter 6 – Memories**

_**November 4**__**th **__**1996**_

_A ten-year-old Sasuke walked along side an equally young Naruto as they traveled back from a long day of playing at his house. Sasuke had decided to walk his friend home since he felt the need to get out of the house. _

_They'd been about half way home when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, he paid no mind to it however, the street wasn't private or anything. Naruto was blabbing about some new game for his game boy advance, Sasuke was also trying to convince the blond to let him borrow it but it was all in vain, their was no way in hell Naruto was giving up the new Pokémon game to _anyone_. _

_As they came up to Naruto's huge vintage styled Mansion they both said their goodbye's as Naruto closed the black steal gates and up the small path leading to his parents home. Sasuke watched him practically skip up the stone cobbled path and rolled his eyes. The blonds preferred fashion at the moment was a bright orange jumpsuit that his mother had given him for P.E at school; the material was moving and jumping with his body as he ran up the path. _

_Sasuke let out a sigh turning around and began the long trek back to the Uchiha mansion. As he turned a corner he let his mind wonder, he had a lot of Math's homework to do when he got home and was thinking of guilting his older brother into helping him do it again. His Father wouldn't be to happy about Itachi helping him do it but he didn't need to find out, he'd tell his mum though, she'd let him. Sasuke had always liked his mum better than his father; his father was so cold and treated everything like a business deal. It was a surprise that his mum even married the man. They were so different._

_As he walked he shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts and ducked his head ever so slightly, giving the look of a brooding teenager. The street surrounding him was quite as the sun from up above leaked orange and yellows into the blue sky as it set. Sasuke couldn't here a single thing around him but there was the feeling deep in his gut that something was wrong. He ignored it however and just kept moving, if he was late home again his mum would get worried and send people out to look for him…again. _

_The sound of ruffling leaves could be heard from one of the huge gardens in the area and broke the pleasant silence that Sasuke had been enjoying. Sasuke looked over at the large beach tree in the garden and took note of the puddle of leaves surrounding its base. He 'hn'ed, a habit that he grew out of by the time he turned sixteen, and faced the street once again. He'd been walking for a little over fifteen minutes when the feeling in his gut returned. _

_Sasuke felt as if he was being watched, the feeling of hungry eyes on his back only increased the tension going on inside of his stomach. Sasuke peered around his shoulder a few times, looking for anyone suspicious but was met with nothing but the cool breeze blowing his indigo strands into his face. Sasuke began to walk faster; he didn't like the thought of being followed at all so all he could think about was getting home, and soon. _

_The sound of footsteps suddenly began to sound behind him and Sasuke's mind began to panic. His mother had told him about talking to strangers many times before, he knew the dangers of being taken, especially being the son of one of the richest men in Japan. _

_Sasuke didn't let his panic show however; he just sped ahead, looking for a shortcut home. The footsteps behind him grew faster also, killing any doubt Sasuke had that he was being followed._

_He looked behind him, seeing a tall filled out man behind him about five meters away. He had on a long light grey trench coat; his color was sticking up and hid most of his face, save for the top part. His dark green hair was layered over his eyes, covering their unnatural colour, they were so pale they could almost be considered white. His skin was ever so slightly tanned and the smirk on his face made Sasuke feel sick. It was a smirk that promised fear and pain. _

_Sasuke sharply turned a corner that led into an alleyway and ran. He wanted to go home, he wanted to _be_ home. He just didn't want to be here. He ran with all his mite, running though all the shortcuts he knew and not once looking back. The minutes ticked by and he kept running, hoping that the man stalking him had been left behind._

_As he turned yet another corner as he ran through the crop of tree's in the local park he bumped into something solid. As he fell to the floor he caught sight of light grey and his panic only grew, knowing exactly who he'd just ran into. He landed back on his butt. Sasuke peered up through his messed up bangs at the towering man above him. The evil gleam in his eye's never leaving Sasuke's frozen form, and his smirk only grew into a full grin at the small boy's intense fear. _

_Sasuke was shaking, more so than he'd ever before, the possibility of death flashed before his scared eyes and Sasuke attempted to move away. When he tried he found that he simply couldn't, the intense gaze of the man had simply frozen him to the spot, stopping all attempts at escape. _

_Inside the man's twisted grin his canines began to lengthen into two delicate points and indented softly against his bottom lip. Sasuke's eyes widened and a small whimper left his mouth. They didn't exist, it was only a trick of the mind, and I'm over reacting! Sasuke shouted in his head, trying to convince himself something that couldn't be convinced. _

They don't exist you say? You're blind boy. That won't help you now. _The voice spoke in his mind like silk. Sasuke's eyes widened even more than before as he began to hyperventilate, that voice wasn't his! _

_Sasuke let out another whimper as he looked up at the man in complete terror, his breaths coming in short hitches every second that past. The man's face was lit up in pure joy as he watched Sasuke break down in front of him, this was the part he loved, watching his victim's beg for mercy and break down completely until there was nothing left. _

_The man grabbed Sasuke by the color, picked him up off the ground and held him in front of his face like the boy weighed nothing. Sasuke felt the sting of tears hit his eyes as he scrunched them up and let the hot liquid run down his cheeks. The grin never left the man's face as he watched the display of fear._

I'm going to make sure you feel _every_ little drop of blood I spill._ The voice whispered in Sasuke head again as a new field of whimpers sprouted from Sasuke's mouth. _

_The man walked into the cover of the tree's and bushes before he all but threw the boy against the trunk of a nearby tree. Sasuke's heavy breathing was all let out in a second and resumed in the next, only more frantic, he knew he was going to die. _

_The man looked him dead in the eye, silently telling him that his promise of pain would be fulfilled. Sasuke scrunched up his eyes again when he felt the hot air on his quivering neck. His muscled clenched as he struggled to get away, but still knowing it was no use. _

_Sasuke's world was suddenly filled with pain when something sharp harshly ripped a hole in his skin and muscle, aiming right for his main blood vessel. Sasuke screamed for all that it was worth. He didn't even know his voice could go so high until now. A ruff hand firmly clamped over his mouth as he continued to scream in agony. The man was sucking at his neck, the pull from his mouth only making the open wound burn worse. _

_Sasuke could feel himself become dizzy and hoped that he would collapse. However every time he came close to it he could feel a light pressing somewhere that he could only guess was his mind and the next thing he knew Sasuke was wide awake and still screaming and crying into the hand. _

_He didn't know how long he was there for, it could have been minutes but it felt like hours. The sound of people shouting out came from nearby was the only thing that got the man off him. He felt his wet slick tongue glide over the wound on his painful neck, closing it instantly. The next thing he knew Sasuke was been dropped to the floor and the man was off running further into the trees._

_Sasuke laid there in a broken mess as strangers surrounded him. Sasuke was coated from head to toe in his own blood and the tears didn't stop streaming from his face as he stared blankly ahead. Not hearing the frantic couple in front of him. _

_That day was forever burned into Sasuke's memory, the night sky that hung over head would forever haunt him and Sasuke was sure that the man wasn't the only one out there. But he had no desire to find out… _

…!...

Sasuke reeled back from his memories like it had burnt him. Never had he ever wanted to witness this again. Never had he wanted the answer to that thought from so many years ago. Yet here he was, faced with another monster. Only difference this time was that it was staring at him like she was the one afraid, not the other way around.

Sasuke took a step back; he stopped his scream a while ago and had now started hyperventilating as realization hit him. He'd been around one of those _things_ for a full month! He'd let that _thing_ inside his childhood home where his parents were still living. He'd let that _thing_ work with his best friend! What the hell was she planning? Was she going to kill them all off one by one?

Sasuke took a step back; the rain was pounding down hard as another bolt of lightening hit the sky. Her green pools illuminated for that one second before it disappeared again. The fear shown in them was the exact same as Sasuke's, they were wide with shock and looking like she'd just been shot.

If Sasuke wasn't so scared and shocked he would have voiced his earlier thoughts, but he wasn't able to. The only thing he could do was whimper like he was ten again.

"S-Sakura…" Itachi whispered through the rain. His eyes were also wide with shock and he felt numb. Sakura didn't respond, she just stood there, like she had turned to stone, the rain that landed on her turned red and slid down her face, giving her an almost demon like appearance if it wasn't for her expression.

The queasy feeling in Sasuke's stomach suddenly left him as he bent over and was violently sick on the floor. The last time he'd seen this much blood had been fourteen years ago and his stomach wasn't up to the task of remembering. This was enough however for Sakura to find her voice and get over her frozen state, even though she was far from loosing her shock.

Sakura brought her hand to her blood stained mouth, not believing what was happening. What had they done! What had she done! Now their lives were in danger! What if they blabbed to someone and a vampire found out! She'd be done for…

"What are you doing here…" Sakura managed to whisper. It was almost lost in the sound of the rain. Itachi looked over at his brother and saw the glazed over look in his eyes and remembered that time he was attacked. Sasuke had been sent to so many psychologists after that day, and not even one of them would believe his story. Then again, even Itachi didn't believe him, but now he did. Those pointed teeth never retracted in Sakura's shocked state and Itachi couldn't help but stare at them. He thought they were only legends, stories even, not bloody reality! Sakura's words finally reached Itachi's ear's as he turned back around to face the creature he was correct in mistrusting.

"What are you..." He breathed out. Itachi noticed how Sasuke flinched at his words.

Sasuke still believed that this was all a dream, but that last sentence Itachi had said woke him up, and he had to stare reality in the face. A reality Sasuke had convinced himself never existed.

Sakura brought her hand away from her mouth, not knowing exactly what to do, they'd never get close enough for her to erase their memories and soon enough there would be a too big a time gap for her to do since she couldn't fill it with anything. That thought then brought her back to the still bleeding man crumpled on the floor.

Sasuke flinched and took another step back when she moved. She turned to face the man before her, slowly kneeling down and picking him up. Sasuke watched with caution as she brought his bleeding neck to her wet lips and licked the wound shut, just like the man had done with him. The thought made him shudder as he kept watching as she sat him against the wall and pressed her palms firmly against the unconscious mans temples and scrunched her eyes up in concentration. Sasuke took another nervous step back and watched as she whispered something that got lost in the rain.

Saukra stepped back into the shadows as the man's eyes snapped open. He got up off the ground with a blank expression before grabbing his briefcase on the floor and walking away. Itachi and Sasuke watched in newly found shock as the man simply got up and left, he didn't even look back at the blood coated woman hiding in the shadows that the alley provided.

As she stepped forward she held up her hands in front of her to show that she meant no harm. Her fangs had disappeared from her mouth and the red was slowly retreating from her face because of the rain. It was only the hardened bits that remained stuck to her face.

It suddenly all made sense now, Sasuke could see it. Her sneaking out so late at night, the blood she threw up, the blood on the towel, the fact she was so secretive, it all clicked together like a jigsaw puzzle. Sasuke felt sick once again as he watched her approach them. He wasn't a scared little kid anymore; he wasn't going to run away, no matter how much she had scared him.

He squared his shoulders and set a deep scowl on his face to hide his horror. Itachi did the same and stood in defense, there was no way they were going to trust her now, not after what they just saw.

Sakura stopped when she noticed the guarded looks and stared at their feet instead, she understood what they felt; she knew how much they mistrusted her now. And Sakura hated it. She was just starting to settle in with everyone, she was starting to feel more human than she'd ever had in her entire life.

Now that was all gone, all that was left was mistrust and disgust; she could see it in their guarded eyes. Sakura regretted being so carless, she'd been so sure that she hadn't been followed yet here they were, after having witnessed something she never wanted _anyone_ to see. They'd seen her at her worst, when the animal inside her had been strongest.

"What are you?" Itachi asked again. His voice was stronger than before and less breathless. Sakura looked up and made eye-to-eye contact, her wide green pools told no lie and he could see the inner debate going on inside her head.

"You… Wouldn't believe me." Sakura hesitated, trying to convince herself other than to two brothers in front of her. Sasuke shifted from foot to foot, the rain was starting to cool down his body and he was sure that he'd have a cold by tomorrow.

"I don't think we should talk out here. We'll head for Itachi's place, it's closer." Sasuke stated, not leaving it open for discussion. Itachi nodded slowly, Taya was staying over but he was sure that she'd already be asleep. Sakura only looked down again as her hands fisted at her sides, trying her best to hide her frustration. They didn't understand! She couldn't 'talk' about this like it was something normal, like getting bad marks in an exam or something. This was serious! She'd just broken the first law of Vampire society! That could be punishable by death for Christ sake! And to add worries to the pile she'd waited to long to erase their memoires, it had been a good twenty minutes! Far to long…

Sasuke moved to the side and made a motion for Sakura to move, there was no way in hell that he was turning his back on that thing. Itachi stayed put, having roughly the same thought as his younger brother. Sakura let out a depressed sigh, deciding to just go along with them. She couldn't hide anymore. She grabbed a small towel from her pocket and removed the remainders of blood that had not trickled down her face yet from the rain. The thunder crashed again as she pasted the Uchiha's and turned left, heading back the way she came.

…!...

Itachi opened the door to his medium sized condo, Sakura was surprised by the size of it actually, she had expected to see something that took up the entire floor or something. The place was simply designed in black and white with the odd colour here and there. The furniture was limited to what Itachi needed, not what he wanted.

It was only around nine o'clock and the sound of the TV was blaring from the next room. Sasuke looked over at his brother with a raised eyebrow.

"Taya's here?" He asked. Itachi simply nodded as the tanned Italian woman walked through the door in nothing but a vest top and pajama bottoms, a scowl firmly in place.

"And where have you been." She asked with irritation and anger lacing her accented voice. Itachi looked at her straight in the eye before answering in a bored tone of voice.

"I had some business to clear up." He answered, peering over at Sakura when he spoke. Sakura gulped and avoided eye contact, instead deciding to look at the only other female in the room. Taya also moved her gaze over to Sakura, a small smile working its way up to her lips.

"Sakura! Hello! My god you're soaking! The rains terrible out there why didn't you get a car?" She exclaimed, all traces of anger gone in the blink of an eye. She grabbed Sakura's wrists and dragged her over to the bathroom. Itachi made a move to take Sakura back, not liking the thought of her being anywhere _near_ Taya. She just ignored him however and pulled Sakura away, saying something about hot showers and dry clothes.

When the bathroom door closed Taya couldn't help but grin at the pink haired girl, it had been ages since she last saw her, about two weeks. Taya really liked Sakura, sure they may have about eight years between them but she didn't care, the girl had an awesome personality!

Sakura was still slightly shell shocked from the events of earlier and couldn't react straight away. When she did however she could help but smile, Taya's warm grin was like a thousand suns smashed into one. Her dark corkscrew curls fell around her face messily as she began combing her finger's through Sakura's pink uneven hair.

"Your hairs gotten pretty long, I'd say we'd be able to cut it soon. I'll make an appointment!" She gushed, loving the thought of all the different styles Sakura's short hair could have. Sakura felt the need to end their little get together in the bathroom, she needed to get dry and there was still the slight problem of the two Uchiha's outside.

Once Taya had gotten some clothes for her and then left to go to her boyfriend Sakura left no time in hanging around. She was in and out of the shower in an instant, getting all the specs of blood that she'd missed off her body and slipped into the Pajama's left for her. Sakura looked in the big mirror on the wall and grumbled to herself. The vest top given to her once again didn't fit, it was baggy around her curve-less form and made her look like a child, the bottoms given to her as well were to big around the waist and fell down slightly, only increasing the childlike appearance.

As Sakura left the bathroom she noticed that the two men she'd come in with had also changed clothes. Itachi had on a plain black T-shirt and a pair of grey joggers, Sasuke had basically the same thing on. Itachi's hair which was usually held back on a low ponytail had been let loose around his shoulders and as he sat, Taya stood over him and made a fuss with towel drying the soaked indigo locks. Sasuke stood against the wall looking at the loud couple; his hair was still drenched and was clinging to his head and face, all traces of cockatoo likeness gone.

Sasuke looked around at the sound of bare feet padding along on the fluffy white carpet. She looked so different from what she had before, the blood and danger had been completely washed off by the shower and now she stood there in clothes that clearly didn't fit her and damp hair that was beginning to fluff up. She looked so childlike and actually, surprisingly cute. He would never admit that out loud of course, but it wasn't like it now meant he had a thing for her, he was simply making an observation.

Sakura felt nervous as she stood in the middle of the room, she could feel Sasuke's strong gaze on her and it wasn't very comforting, she didn't know if it was hostile or friendly. Personally her money was on hostile. As Itachi shooed Taya away to bed in the form of a good night kiss he motioned for them to move into the office in one corner of the house.

As Sakura entered she couldn't help but notice the window on the other side of the room. It had the most amazing view of the city and at night it looked spectacular. The twinkle of car and building lights could be seen through out and created a sea of moving yellows and reds amongst the black. The office itself was more or less the same as the rest of the house. A black sofa was set in the corner with a bookshelf next to it and a desk with the usual other requirements that went along with that were in place.

The white walls were littered with pictures, all photographs; there was one on the end however that caught Sakura's attention. It was one of Taya and Itachi, it was simple enough, they were both in some sort of woodland scene, and there faces were close together as they tried to fit it into the shot. The thing that got Sakura was the expression Itachi had, he had a proper grin in place, showing every one of his pearly white teeth and it was so big that his eyes crinkled. Taya beside him looked to be laughing at something as well. Sakura just simply stared, she would never in a million years picture Itachi smiling like that, heck, the most she'd ever gotten off of him was a smirk. Taya was obviously a good influence on him. With that thought in mind Sakura turned back around and decided that it was time she faced the music.

Itachi and Sasuke took up the couch so Sakura had no choice but turn the office chair around to sit down. Both Uchiha's glared daggers at her, they'd waited long enough for answers and they wanted them _now._

"What are you?" Itachi asked yet again. Sakura felt the need to roll her eyes but restrained herself, now wasn't the time for sarcasm.

"I'm part Vampire." She answered simply. Sakura gathered that they'd question her; they witnessed her in the act after all. Itachi nodded his head, taking in the new information with ease. Sasuke on the other hand just sunk into the sofa; his fears had just been confirmed. He didn't want her to be like that man, and now he knew what that man was, something that just shattered the walls he'd built around himself.

Sakura then began to explain everything, not bothering to hold anything back, they'd most likely find out anyway. She told them about the 'old ones', the three laws, her need for blood, everything. Once she was done, both men were sporting confused looks, she didn't blame them, there was probably a lot of thing's they didn't understand.

"Why is it that you needed blood, you never explained that one properly." Itachi asked, feeling slightly less nervous now that he had a better idea at what he was dealing with. Sakura took in a deep breath, ready to explain.

"Vampires can't produce red blood cells so we have to take it from other living things. We can drink animal blood if we wish but it's not very satisfying and doesn't really fit the bill, but it does work. Human blood is the closet to Vampire blood so we drink that." Sakura explained. Itachi's brow didn't lift as he stared at her, still taking everything in stride, she had to give it to him, he had guts. If it were she, she'd probably have gone insane by now. Sasuke on the other hand hadn't said a word yet; he'd just sat there, slumped back in the couch, staring off at the far off wall.

"What about you." Itachi asked again, looking her straight in the eye once more with that confused look again. Sakura frowned at his question, wondering what he could mean.

"What about me?" She asked, frown still in place.

"I mean how did you come to be? How did you come to be genetically?" He explained, frown still in place. Sakura 'oh'ed when she understood, she slumped a little bit into her chair at the remembrance of her parents.

"My mum was human, female vampires can't carry children because their ovaries don't work after they are transformed. My dad was a vampire though, his organs worked fine because his body doesn't go through changes every month. It works the same as normal fertilization of the sex cells." Sakura explained. Her dad had explained this to her years ago when she'd asked. He'd said the exact same thing as she'd said now, only a little different. Itachi nodded, he was intrigued, the topic of vampires of all things was much more interesting than he would have once believed, he'd even gotten side tracked at what his original mission was, or the fact that he'd caught this girl sucking the life out of some guy a few hours ago.

"What was that thing you were doing to that man before he stood up?" He then asked. He noticed how both Sasuke and Sakura flinched slightly at the mention of it. It also proved that Sasuke was in fact paying attention and not just thinking of his own experiences.

"Uh… It was this sort of telepathic trick I guess. It's something I use to wipe their memories so they don't remember anything. It's like I sort of touch my mind with theirs through contact and I can just sort of flick through and choose I guess." She explained, using her hands to explain. Itachi nodded, eyes wide, he hadn't expected that answer. He was the sort of person that believed magic and mindreading was a lode of crap.

"Can other vampires do that or is it just you?" He asked, eager to find out more. Sakura nodded her head slowly before answering.

"Yes. Their much more powerful though. They can do all sorts like mind read, place their thoughts into your head, erase memories and add them. Also they don't need to touch you like I do, they just need to have a good view of you." Sakura answered. Sasuke stiffened, remembering how that man had spoke to him in his mind, making him think he had gone insane. Sasuke couldn't take it anymore, he had to ask, he had to know, he had to hear the answers to his own questions.

"You spoke of the three laws? What would happen if a human found out? Like lets say a vampire attacked someone but didn't bother erasing their memories because someone was coming? What would happen then?" Sasuke asked, his voice serious and low, his slumped back now straight as he lent forward. Sakura blinked, wondering where the hell that came from. He looked so serious; in fact he was even glaring at her without him even realizing it.

"Someone would catch wind of it and they'd report it to the 'old ones', he'd then be hunted down and killed. Breaking the law is punishable by death." Sakura answered in mild confusion, a small frown knitting her brow together. Itachi's eyes widened, she couldn't be serious? Death? But that would mean…

"What will happen to you now?" Itachi asked in a low voice remembering the first law perfectly, 'you must never reveal the existence of vampires'. Sakura looked over at Itachi, closely followed by Sasuke.

"What do you mean Itachi?" Sasuke asked in a rather irritated voice, he did not like being interrupted.

"We know about her, the existence of vampires. Remember what she said rule number one was?" Itachi questioned his brother in a matter of fact way. Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction, not enough for any normal person to notice, but Itachi noticed, he'd known him to long not to notice, he could tell that he didn't want Sakura to be killed, and not just because he'd loose out on the contract.

"Geeze, don't worry so much you two." Sakura grinned trying to dissolve the tension. The two men just looked at her, Sakura didn't like that at all, it was like they couldn't decide whether to fear her or worry for her!

"How could I not worry Sakura? I'm not exactly cheering for your death here." Itachi pointed out. His voice never left inside volume. Sakura just snorted and lent back, playing it cool, she hated people pitying her. Her pride wouldn't allow it!

"Their already after my head anyway. It's not like they want little mutants running around. Ever wondered why I was on the streets?" She asked, gathering they both knew what she meant. The only reason why she moved around so much was because it was the only way to stay completely off the radar. Sakura could literally see the light bulb going off above their heads as it sunk in, she would have laughed if the atmosphere wasn't so tense.

"Plus it would also help if you kept your traps shut about earlier too. I would have swiped your memories by now but the memory gap was too big." She answered off handedly, her personality leaking through the tense atmosphere. Sasuke looked her over, wondering how she could be so calm about this! She'd just admitted to being on some vampire hit list for god sake! This girl truly had no fears…

Sasuke moved a damp strand of indigo hair from his eyes as he studied Sakura, he just couldn't understand what went through that head of hers. One minute she's a drug addict and the next she's a bloody creature of the night! Speaking of which, he'd been meaning to ask about that.

"What happened when you came back high? I imagine that you didn't actually take anything?" Sasuke said, raising an eyebrow. Sakura began to fidget before giving him a nervous smile.

"Funny thing actually. You see there was this guy that had been _incredibly_ drunk and high and since I wasn't really paying much attention I didn't really notice his condition and by the time I noticed it was already too late. Plus vampires don't mix well with that stuff." She finished, chuckling nervously as Sasuke huffed.

Itachi looked at the clock on the wall next to one of the many pictures displayed and noticed the time. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline, it was half eleven! He hadn't even noticed time moving by that fast, he'd been so engrossed and eager for new information that he hadn't noticed the time. He got up off his seat and headed for the door before turning at the doorway.

"I think we should stop for now. You can both stay the night; the rain is still pretty bad out there. I'll show you the guest rooms Sakura. Sasuke you already know where to go so good night." He stated. As they both stood up Sasuke watched Sakura with a brand new light. He'd never guessed that picking up some girl from the street could become so complicated, and he knew there was still more to come, he just didn't know if it was good or bad yet…

...!...

**okay! thanks for reading! And i got one question, did the flash back work? It's the first proper one i've done so the whole lay out's probably mucked up :L Anyways please review cause then i tend to write faster and it makes me HAAAAAPPY! SO HAPPY IN FACT THAT I PRACTICALLY KISS THE SCREEN EVERY TIME! And guess what? Someone a couple of chapters ago had sent a review that actually made my jaw drop! They'd guessed the fecking plot line! the name of that person has left me (sorry) but by god! i got the fright of my life! I didn't even think i'd made it that obvious! But apparently not... oh well! bye bye!**


	7. Jealousy

**Chapter 7 – Jealousy **

The next morning was rather awkward for a certain Uchiha and half-breed. The air of the night before still hung high over their heads as they both ate in silence. The happy couple were still sound asleep in the other room and had left Sasuke and Sakura to their own devices.

As Sakura munched on a bowl of special K she couldn't help but stare at it like she would be shot if she didn't. Sasuke sat across from her in more or less the same mood, except he wasn't staring at his coffee like his life depended on it. Instead he carefully studied the girl in front of him, to say she looked tense was an understatement, her shoulders were hunched and her face showed worry lines. The thought amused him that something like a vampire of all things could feel tense because of one human staring them out. Then again Sakura Haruno had always been a mystery to him, even now. She was the only person in the world that he couldn't read.

Sakura on the other hand wasn't feeling any form of amusement. All she felt was awkwardness. It was oozing off of her body in waves, and she knew Sasuke could feel it. As she scooped the last of the cereal into her mouth she still refused to look up and meet his eyes, if she could she would have turned around and cooked herself some amazing bacon, but unfortunately she was a horrible cook and would most likely give herself food poisoning, the thought depressed her a little. Standing up she took her bowl over to the sink and dumped it in, rinsing it through and leaving it in there. As she turned she was shocked to find Sasuke behind her. And behind her as in like six inches… a whole fecking six inches!

Sakura let out a small squeak that turned her face a colour that outmatched her hair. She was forced to look up and meet Sasuke's eyes, those cool coal orbs stared down at her with an arched brow, wondering what she was squeaking about. Sakura couldn't turn her gaze away from his eyes, the intensity that never seemed to leave them keeping her in place, frozen on the spot.

Sasuke looked down at her with surprise, he'd never had this sort of reaction from her. She usually would have puffed out her chest by now and gone on defence. He gathered that she was still acting up from the night before. The thought of the night before made him shudder, he'd rather not remember that any time soon. His attention was brought back to Sakura however when she began to finally react in her normal manner. Her eyes narrowed into a small glare and she puffed her chest out in defence, covering up her little relapse.

"Move Uchiha." She said in a low guarded voice. Sasuke merely let out a single chuckle and stared her down, nobody ordered him around.

"And why don't you just turn into a bat and fly away?" He joked without humour. Sakura's jaw clenched and Sasuke could hear her grinding her teeth.

Sakura saw red, nobody made fun of her like that! She should have him snivelling in his boots! Not telling her to turn into a bloody bat of all things! Sakura intensified her glare and the man in front of her just smirked, Sakura felt the need to rip his throat out but kept that little detail to herself. It would only result in her having to clean up the mess, and have a big wound to heal up as well.

"Shut up Uchiha and let me past." She sneered through clenched teeth. Sasuke only moved closer, completely invading her personal bubble. Sasuke didn't know why he felt the need to annoy her, but guessed it was maybe pay back for the night before. And for stealing the tomato soup the cook made for him the other day…

Sakura grinded her teeth together, trying her best to cool her temper down, it wasn't working. All she did was fuel it, making it bigger and stronger. The fact that Sasuke was so close and doing it deliberately to piss her off didn't help either. She hated him, she really did, it was just more obvious when they argued.

"Who say's you can order me around Haruno. I'm your boss after all." He retorted, pissing Sakura off even more. He could actually see her clenched fists shaking, and he could also hear the odd growling sound coming up and out of her throat that didn't sound at all human. He once again raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her reply. He wasn't going to give in so easily, but neither was Sakura, they were both too stubborn to give in. But it wasn't like Sakura _could_ just turn into a bat and fly away…

"Uchiha… why do you persist in annoying me to no ends?" Sakura asked slowly with plenty of acid running through it. Sasuke's smirk only deepened, knowing he was getting under her skin. Sakura raised and irritated eyebrow and awaited his answer. Sasuke stared down into her eyes, coal clashing with emerald, neither breaking the staring match that had unofficially begun.

"I don't know what you could possibly mean Haruno, it's you who's doing the annoying." Sasuke stated calmly in that cool tone that made Sakura want to claw her own hair out. He had no idea what he made her feel, and it wasn't pleasant either, she knew that she had a bad temper, but she'd never lost it so much in one month than she had ever in her entire life. Sasuke wasn't good for her, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she did something she knew she'd regret. Sakura needed to get away from him, she hated the way he made her feel, the way she reacted when in his presents and she hated him for it.

Sasuke noted how she grew quiet but kept on meeting her glare with one of his own, he wasn't going to loose again, he simply wouldn't allow it. He stared into her emerald coloured eyes and saw the annoyance encircling her pretty irises and surrounding her dark pupils. He let out an irritated huff at how he'd been staring into her eyes and not just glaring at them like he intended.

Sakura blinked, breaking the silent staring match and turned her head away like a tempered child, she folded her arms and avoided eye contact. All she wanted was to get away yet she couldn't, Sasuke had successfully blocked her into a corner. Sakura caught sight of the digital clock on the cooker and noticed how long they'd actually been in the kitchen, Sakura huffed in irritation and turned back to Sasuke, intent on simply pushing him out of the way.

When Sakura turned back around, Sasuke was prepared to hear another round of angered comments but instead was met with a firm hand pushing against his chest. Sasuke went flying, surprised that she could even make him move, he was no weakling, and could certainly hold his own and wasn't caught off guard often. Sasuke tripped backwards and rammed into the kitchen table, saving him from falling on his ass. He turned around to see what the hell Sakura was thinking when he noticed that she was gone. He snapped his head around to the door and just caught sight of pink leaving the room at great speed. With a sigh he slumped down into a chair and rested his chin on an open palm.

He seriously didn't understand that woman, he could never guess what she was thinking, which is probably why he never got along with her. Sasuke was surprised to find that despite the previous night he didn't feel any different towards Sakura, maybe even a little more attached, seeing as he knew some great secret of hers. The thought scared him a little, he didn't complicate himself with women, even Karin, his own fiancé. He found himself wanting to keep the secret, not wanting anyone to take her away, and not just because they had a contract.

Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts with a start, he was _not_ going to even go there. She was only around to make some money for the company and bring it back from its downfall. At least that's what he told himself as he heard the front door open and close to what he could only guess was Sakura's escape.

…!...

The morning had gone by pretty quickly in Sakura's opinion, when she finally got back to the Mansion she was surprised to see that Mikoto had been worried sick as to where Sakura had been. So after she had practically the life squeezed out of her they'd spent the rest of the morning talking. Something that she'd actually enjoyed very much, it wasn't often that Sakura got to just sit and talk to someone. With Ino they were usually arguing, with Tenten and the band they had work to do and with Taya she had to be careful not over excite the woman. So it was nice to not have to worry about anything.

Sakura had just finished her cup of tea that one of the maids had given her; she noted how Mikoto had been looking over her. She felt caught on the spot, she wondered if maybe there was something on her face, maybe some blood that she'd missed yesterday. Sakura shuddered at the very thought, that was the last thing she needed right now.

"I think your hairs long enough now to be cut now. Do you want me to get one of the stylist's over that work for the company?" Mokoto said while sipping on her teacup. Sakura brought her hand to her hair and felt the ends, remembering Taya saying something similar last night. Sakura felt the uneven strands, feeling out the length of them and indeed she was right, the shortest strands were maybe two inches below her chin now and were long enough to get a proper cut.

"Taya said the same thing last night. And that would be nice, it might be cheaper…" Sakura trailed off, thinking of the possible prices that haircuts cost these days. Mikoto chuckled in that light giggly voice of hers and shook her head at the thought, amusement clearly stretched over her delicate features.

"Don't worry about the price Sakura, I'd be more than happy to pay for it, I think of you as a daughter anyway so it would be no problem." She said enthusiastically. Sakura couldn't help but let her cheeks bleed red at the comment. She liked the thought of being someone's daughter again; it had been so long since she had someone think so, not since her actual mother died all those years ago.

"And since Taya already noticed we should probably ask her to come along other wise she might feel hurt." Mikoto added, a small soft smile never leaving those pink lips of hers. Sakura couldn't help but grinning back and nodding in agreement. The next thing Sakura knew Mikoto was on her feet and at the phone in the corner in less than three seconds flat. Sometimes Sakura wondered if that woman was even human never mind herself. Mikoto was gushing away on the phone to who Sakura could only guess was Taya and then later on Fugaku.

Time after that just seemed to go by like a speeding bullet until Taya arrived. She of course was spurting lodes of ideas on hair styles that Sakura wasn't even sure were possible. Mikoto and Taya seemed to be very excited however so she just let them, but if they intended to actually cut her hair in one of those styles then they had another thing coming.

"OH! Sakura, we should do it in messy layers, and a side fringe! It would be great!" Taya said excitedly, her Italian accent curving through her words and making them sound even more rushed and excitable. Sakura felt the urge to go hide when she began to play with the strands of her uneven hair.

"If you think I'm getting a side fringe then keep dreaming." Sakura deadpanned. Taya just shook her head in disappointment and continued to gush, leaving her thick side bangs for the moment.

"Sakura, how did your hair get in this State anyway?" Mikoto asked while she threaded her fingers through the candy coloured strands. Sakura let out a huff, but answered anyway.

"My hair used to go down to my waist but it got too annoying so I borrowed someone's pen knife and cut it off." Sakura answered. The other reason was because it was too annoying to clean the blood off afterwards but it wouldn't exactly be a good idea to share that little detail. Mikoto huffed and sat down on the sofa next to Sakura when one of the butlers came in, followed by a happy looking woman.

"Madam, Miss Senju is here to see you." He stated simply before bowing and turning away, leaving the woman behind. She was rather small, and looked to be in her late thirties, but her chestnut coloured hair was expertly placed on top of her head. Her make up was light but very skilled, showing off all her best features and her clothes were the exact same.

"Ah, hello. It's nice to see you again Midory! Please help Sakura for me, she's being rather stubborn." Mikoto chuckled as she got up to meet the woman at the door. She looked over at Sakura and her eyebrows raised at the sight of her uneven self-cut hair.

"I'll see what I can do Mrs. Uchiha." She stated simply before setting down her case and pulling a chair over from the corner. She motioned for Sakura to come over and she pulled out a pair of scissors.

"I can probably only manage to straighten out the bottom and add a few layers. It's very messy, what on earth did you do to it?" She asked. Sakura glared at the wall, choosing not to answer in case she growled.

"She cut it with a pen knife." Taya stated, her accented voice showing her sarcasm. The small woman raised an eyebrow and began to thread her fingers through the strands. Sakura simply huffed and folded her arms, she may have looked like a small child but she didn't care. Mikoto let out a small peel of light laughter at Sakura's tantrum; she couldn't help but remember how her boys used to do that when they were still young.

The woman began to brush out the knots in Sakura's hair gently, making sure not to tug at her head. The slow motion put Sakura's mind at ease, allowing the woman to rhythmically comb her hair, it was rather relaxing, the last time someone brushed her hair had been her mother when she was five. The glare that was placed over her face melted away and her folded arms dropped into her lap, showing her relaxation.

The woman brought out her scissors and began to chop away at the strands, taking her relaxed state as a go ahead to start chopping away. The pink hair fell to the floor in clumps, Sakura felt a bit anxious at first, seeing as it had been years since the last time someone besides herself had cut it and she couldn't help but worry that she might chop off something that wasn't meant to be cut. Sakura decided to keep her mouth shut however, not wanting to let anyone know that she was worried about her hair of all things, she wasn't like that pig Ino!

She ended up cutting about an inch under her chin because of all the split ends Sakura had. She then began chopping a few layers and messed them up with some weird wax stuff that Sakura couldn't pronounce before moving onto her uncut bangs that hung limply by her face. She left them where they were (thankfully) much to Taya's disbelief and instead just evened them out before shaping them to frame her face.

When Sakura finally got to see the finished result she had to admit that it wasn't bad, in fact it actually made her look older, more mature, something Sakura was _very _happy about. Her hair no longer just hung there with no shape but instead framed her face and the newly cut layers added an extra bounce that was desperately needed. Her hair was only about an inch under her chin now but she didn't mind, Sakura preferred short hair anyways, it was easier to clean and hide after meals.

Sakura looked over at the three women in the room and smiled, showing that she was happy with the result. Mikoto smiled and placed her hands together in front of her face like she was praying before she slanted them to the side, showing her kind expression. Taya just grinned like she was in one of her excitable moods and Midory, the stylist, just looked proud of her work.

Sakura felt different now, and not just because of her obvious appearance, she felt like she looked more normal now, more human, and it made her feel like she was maybe more excepted into society now that she looked less like something the cat dragged in. Sakura placed her hands firmly on her hips before giving the people in the room a blinding smile.

"I like it."

…!...

Karin paced the huge condo at high speed as she brooded. Sasuke hadn't come home yet and it was now about twelve, on a Sunday no less. She'd gotten a call late last night saying he wouldn't be home but she'd gathered he'd be back early in the morning. It was a Sunday for god sake! It was bad enough that he worked on Saturday's but the least he could do was be home for her on his one day off! Karin liked his attention, she would have all of it, every single moment of it if she could help it, but that damn pink rodent was stealing it all.

Yes, Karin was very aware of how close that rat was getting to her Sasuke, it seemed that he was spending more time with her than Karin, and the thought made her want to spit. Karin hated that unwanted waste of space, if only she could go back to were she came from, that would fix everything. Of course that wouldn't happen because of that damn contract they had made, Karin wanted to rip it up into a million and one pieces right in that pink bitches face, then she'd rip _her_ into a million and one pieces. Karin knew it wasn't very grown up, but hey, this was Sasuke here, every woman wanted him and it took so long for her to get to were she was now that there was no way in hell she was giving him up.

She turned sharply again and made another round of the open plan condo, her venomous anger only growing for the pink haired rodent. Karin couldn't help but seethe at the thought that the pink maggot might be with her Sasuke right now, giggling and flirting like some dumb whore. The mere thought had her seeing red, Sasuke was _hers,_ not anyone else's. She had the ring to prove it.

Sasuke may have told her that they both hated each other but she had her doubts, they spend way too much time together, time that should be spent with her! Karin didn't care if it was work related or if it was mostly spent arguing, that rat didn't even deserve to be here, her music wasn't even that good! Guitars and drums were so over rated and to be honest didn't even sound that good, plus she had a weird voice, it sounded all low and shit, could that even be considered female? That rat annoyed her so much! Sometimes she wished she could just smash that freaks head into a wall.

Karin walked up to the huge window at the other end of the condo and peered out, she could see the scowl in her reflection that had fixed itself into her wild red eyes. Karin looked over herself, from her bright red fiery hair all the way down her well-shaped body and showy clothes. She was so much better than that curvless runt. That woman still had the body of a girl! Compared to herself she looked pathetic, Karin had curves in all the right places and was very proud of that fact, when the rat had nothing. The thought cheered her up a little.

The sound of the lift door opening caused the scowl to lift slightly from Karin's face as Sasuke walked forward from the other end of the huge condo in what appeared to be Itachi's clothes. Karin's scowl turned into a confused frown as the thought of the rat left her head for the moment.

"Where have you been?" She asked, folding her arms in front of her chest, and being sure to push up her chest, making it appear bigger, once again reassuring her position as his fiancé in the only way she knew would work with the man. Sasuke spared her a glance before his eyes trailed down to her chest, causing Karin to smirk. He knew he was hers…

"I got caught in the rain last night when Walking home with Itachi so he let me stay over." He explained, not letting on that Sakura was in the picture at all. He couldn't be bothered with making up more excuses.

Karin lifted a perfectly shaped brow but believing it, she did see the rain last night and agreed that it was pretty heavy. She unfolded her arms and walked towards Sasuke, adding a little sway to her hips as she did so. She walked right up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her hips against his as she lent back to speak to him.

"You kept me waiting you know. I can't stay home all day without company, I need some attention." Sasuke simply gave her the tiniest of smirks before kissing her full on. It was mostly to get her to shut up and to stop complaining, he hated it when she got in one of these moods. It wasn't like he could give her every minute of every day just being with her, he had a life too, and one that involved him going to work. Although admittedly he wasn't at work today, instead he'd just crashed at Itachi's, his brother didn't seem to mind and he wasn't in the mood to go home, mostly because he knew he'd have to put up with this.

Sasuke ended the kiss once he felt he'd done enough convincing and watched as Karin swooned in the aftermath. Her designer glasses slipping down her nose ever so slightly.

Karin regained herself rather quickly, being used to Sasuke's amazing kisses. She looked down his chest, hoping to get a little more than a kiss when something caught her eye. There, on the black T-shirt he wore was a single pink thread, or more specifically, a hair, or more to the point, the rats hair. Karin stared for a moment, not quite believing what she saw. Sasuke had lied to her, he _hadn't_ been at Itachi's last night, he'd been with the rat, doing god knows what, possibly getting funky when she was sitting at home bored out of her mind! He _lied_ to her!

Karin refrained from reacting however; she just acted like she never saw it. Karin pulled away and headed to the kitchen, a small smirk never leaving her painted lips. Karin was going to _kill_ that rat! She wouldn't tell Sasuke, she'd just get revenge in her own way, that little rodent was going to wish that she was never born, and Karin was going to make sure of that. Her Sasuke was never going to be spoiled by that unworthy freak ever again.

Sasuke watched in confusion, she was just looking at him with one of those 'I want you now' looks and then suddenly turned and stalked off. Was she feeling okay? Sasuke wasn't sure, though it wasn't like he was complaining; he wasn't exactly in the mood for her 'games' today.

"Karin. We've been invited to my parents house for dinner at seven." He stated as he entered the kitchen, finding her digging through the fridge for some of that weird food she loves so much. Karin turned around with a sly look on her face; Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what was going through that mind of hers.

"Oh, that would be great." Karin answered, a sly grin stretching over her painted lips.

…!...

Dinner was something Sakura wasn't looking forward to, sure, she had it every night with Fugaku and Mikoto, but tonight was different. Tonight Itachi and Taya were there; that she didn't exactly mind too much, it was the second couple she minded and that couple consisted of Sasuke Uchiha and Karin.

Sakura slumped in her chair as they waited for their dinner, Karin had not taken that scary stare off her since they'd sat down. Sakura had no idea what she'd done but that look promised pain and possible death. It was stupid really, Sakura knew for a fact that she didn't like her very much and she just couldn't figure out why. She'd never done anything to annoy or harm the other woman to receive this treatment, the only thing she could think of was maybe because she talked a lot with Sasuke, but that was more arguing than anything else. Sakura seriously doubted that Karin was that shallow, or jealous for that matter.

Sakura looked up when the food was brought through and she thanked the butler that handed her the dish. She looked down at the dish and all but swooned, it was duck, one of her favourites. Sakura took her cutlery and began to eat with a newly lit passion.

After her first day at the Uchiha mansion Ino had all but drilled table manners into her head, she said something along the lines of not wanting a friend that ate like a starving dog. The comment made her frown but accepted the lessons anyhow.

Sakura looked around the table and noticed that everyone was now eating happily, except a certain red head that was still giving her evil looks around bites of food. Sakura let out a sigh, deciding to just ignore her. She really couldn't be bothered with someone who hated without reason.

Karin couldn't believe it! That rat had the cheek to ignore her! A rat with no background, no money, not even a home or parents for that matter was ignoring her, ignoring someone who had all of the above! She clearly didn't know her place. And she turned up with a new hair cut, what was up with that? Was she trying to look older or something? Trying to make herself fit in? Cause there was no way Karin was going to let that happen.

"So, Sakura, how are you finding it here? Comfortable? I bet it's _much_ better from the dirty street corners _you're_ used to." Karin asked. She looked over at Sakura with an innocent expression and watched as that weird pink brows of hers turned into a frown.

"It's fine thanks. And yeah, I guess it is different." Sakura slowly said in a confused voice, wondering where she was going. Everyone else also turned their attention to Karin and Sakura, being the only conversation going on in the room.

"Yeah, I bet. Of course it must be very troubling for you, not being raised properly and every thing must make even the simple task of eating a challenge." Karin said, a smug smirk making its way onto her lips. Sakura glared, she was _not_ taking this, there was _nothing_ wrong with the way she was brought up.

"Not really, you see, my parents taught me how to behave in company instead of spiting insults over the table at someone like an unhappy child." Sakura shot back. Karin growled low in her throat, that girl had no right! How dare she call her an 'unhappy child'. Karin gritted her teeth and watched as Sakura's glare disappeared as quickly as it came and continued eating.

Sasuke watched the small spat with a raised brow, Karin isn't usually this bitchy when she was in front of his parents, it was very odd. Sakura had obviously done something upset her but the two hardly even saw each other. It was definitely very odd.

Sakura, deciding to be the bigger man in the situation ignored Karin completely, again. The woman reminded her of those blond girl's who go to high school chewing bubble gum and wearing short skirts while making the 'lower girls' feel bad about themselves. Sakura chewed on her food and began to make idle conversation with Taya who was sitting opposite her.

Karin glared at Sakura, she hated that girl, even more than Sasuke claimed to hate her. Karin watched as she idly talked to Taya across the table through slit eyes, the table seemed to have forgotten about her very existence! That won't do, She wanted the rat to know who was better, and that was Karin.

"Sakura, I'm curious, how long were you homeless for, did you even finish school? That would be so shameful if you didn't!" She giggled, drawing Sakura's attention.

Sakura's brow twitched at that comment, she was seriously wondering if anyone would object to her biting the red heads throat out. Sakura turned away from Taya to give the red head a death glare that would make an Uchiha proud.

"Where are you going with this?" She asked through clenched teeth. She'd always been hot headed, so it didn't take a lot to anger her. Karin however was pulling all the right buttons to release her anger, she could feel it bubbling to the top.

"Oh no where special, just wondering." Karin gave an innocent enough smile, but Sakura could see the intent in her eyes. Was she trying to insult her or something? It sure looked like it, she was deliberately asking her questions that made her appear like some lowlife.

"No, I never finished school, I left when I was twelve." She answered. Karin giggled and looked straight into Sakura's eyes.

"Well now, that sure is embarrassing! Everyone here went to the top University's in the country! You must feel so left out and stupid." She stated in an unsympathetic voice, her eyes gleaming.

Something inside Sakura snapped, she was by no means dumb! It wasn't even her fault that she had to leave school. Her family was forced to move because they had been found out! It was too dangerous to go to school! Sakura stood from her seat, letting every ounce of acid fill her eyes and voice as she glared at Karin.

"Excuse me, Mr. Uchiha. I'll be leaving now, I refuse to put up with this." She growled. Sakura grabbed her plate, not wanting to waste good food and marched out of the room, slamming the door as she went. Mikoto got up to follow her but was stopped by Fugaku.

"Let her be Mikoto. I'm sure she's not in the mood for comfort." Fugaku stated simply. He didn't really mind having the pink haired girl around anymore. She caused little if no trouble and was surprisingly polite when given the chance, despite her background.

He glanced over at Karin and saw her innocent expression, she was up to something, he could tell. He watched silently as she glanced over at the table in mild confusion.

"Was it something I said?"

…!...

Sakura threw her pencil over to the other end of the room and watched it crash against the cream walls. She was fuming! Sakura stood next to her desk where she'd been trying to write lyric's and seethed. Her empty plate sat by her bed and she couldn't help but wonder if a certain red head had left yet. The mere thought of seeing her again anytime soon made her blood boil.

Sakura sat back down and growled deep in her chest, the feeling of her fangs hitting the bottom of her lip only making matters worse. It had been awhile since she'd been this mad. With the Uchiha it wasn't like this, then again he never insulted her family or upbringing. Their arguments were always petty and had turned into an everyday occurrence. But Karin had hit a sensitive spot.

She once again looked down at her lyrics and frowned. She wasn't in the mood for normal stuff. She wanted lyrics that could let her anger out, let her fume and rant without anyone realizing. So that is what she did, given that the lyrics were slightly different from the situation tonight but she didn't want Sasuke questioning her later. She was almost done however when a rather firm knock at the door was heard. Sakura shouted a loud 'come in' and turned to see who had entered, wondering if it was Ino, even though it was her day off.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked when she caught sight of bright red. Karin stood at the doorway with her hip stuck out and her hand placed firmly on it, looking every bit like a model. Sakura's anger returned in a snap and she had to push her tongue against her canines to stop her fangs from appearing.

Karin smirked at Sakura's obvious discomfort, she almost laughed in fact.

"I came here because I wanted to talk with you. Is that not aloud." She asked in an innocent voice, it was lost however since her face was anything but innocent. Sakura glared and gritted her teeth.

"No its not. Bugger off Karin." She growled through clenched teeth. Karin flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked into the room before closing the door, being carful to sway her hips and showing everything that Sakura didn't have.

Sakura stood up, leaving her lyrics for the moment in exchange for getting Karin out of her room.

"Get out, what makes you think I want to 'talk' with the likes of you?" She growled again, her fists clenching by her sides. Karin almost laughed by how she'd managed to affect the girl, it was better than she thought.

"Stay away from Sasuke, you got that rat?" She spat, all amusement leaving from her face as she folded her arms and Stuck out her hip. Sakura blinked, not believing what she said for a second.

"Huh?" Was the genius answer her brain came up with. Karin only glared as she repeated herself.

"I said stay away from _my_ Sasuke." She growled, although it didn't sound as animalistic as Sakura's. Sakura raised an eyebrow, not quite believing what she said. Was she making all that fuss because of that annoying Uchiha? Sakura thought with disbelief. The mere thought of Karin being Jealous of little old Sakura was enough to laugh at.

"Are you jealous?" Sakura couldn't help but asking, disbelief clear in her voice. Karin's glare intensified as she scoffed at her words.

"Like hell! Why would I be jealous of a shapeless rodent like you!" She sneered. Sakura's eyebrows shot up to her hairline, she just called her a 'rodent', which was uncalled for.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Sakura spat. Karin didn't react however, she just stood there like she was the queen bee before speaking.

"Just because you got into _my_ fiancés pants doesn't mean that you've won him over. I'm going to make sure you suffer and make you wish you were never born." Karin spoke in a low threatening voice. Sakura gapped, she thought Sakura had _slept_ with Sasuke? Uchiha Sasuke? That bastard! No chance in hell!

"Like hell would I sleep with that ball bag! All we ever do is argue! I'm sorry but that isn't even funny!" Sakura shouted. Her voice was filled with disbelief. Karin's eyes narrowed a fraction before she unfolded her arms.

"Lying won't get you anywhere. I guess I'll see you later rat." She spoke in another low voice as she walked out the door, swaying her hips again and irritating Sakura.

Sakura sat back down in her chair, completely shell shocked at the turn of events. Karin thought she'd _slept_ with Sasuke! That was crazy, she wouldn't touch him with a five-foot barge pole. With a shake of the head she ridded her head of such thoughts and returned to her lyrics, it wouldn't do any good thinking about it now…

...!...

**whoo chapter seven! Thanks for reading!please review because IT HAKES ME MEGA HAPPY! and i'll love you forever if you do! the people who have already reviewed already have my eternial LOVE!**


	8. I Hate Mondays

**Song mentioned - I hate everything about you By Three Days Grace**

**Chapter 8 – I hate Mondays**

From the moment Sakura got out of bed the next morning, she knew it was going to be a crappy day. She peered outside the window in the company's hallway and took in the gloomy clouds over head and the hailstones that attacked the window with vengeance.

The only good thing about that morning was that she didn't feel like the walking dead. She felt a little more relaxed about feeding now that her Uchiha stalkers knew her secret. For once she hadn't felt the need to go out at unholy hours of the night.

Sakura yawned once again as she marched through the colourful hallway, newly wrote lyrics in hand. Sakura's hair now bounced and swayed behind the red hair band as she walked into the music room. The room was completely empty besides the two men in the corner. Sakura was surprised and rather annoyed to see Sasuke talking to Naruto.

They were both sitting on the sofa discussing some paper work that Naruto had been working on last Friday. Both men looked up when Sakura walked in, Naruto gave a simple hello, which she returned while Sasuke just kept looking at her. Sakura felt rather awkward and began to fiddle away with the edge of paper that she was holding. His intense eyes never left her until eventually Naruto forced his attention on him. Sakura felt awkward, she didn't like that look in his eyes, it was an almost sympathetic look and the last thing Sakura wanted was sympathy.

She walked over to them, pretending to play it cool and not like she was confused and rather annoyed at the look she just received. She leaned over the coffee table and glanced down at the paper. It was something about legal crap that very quickly lost her interest. Naruto looked up and grinned at her, showing every one of his white teeth.

"Hey Sakura. What you doing here so early?" Naruto asked in his usual chirpy tone. Sakura smiled back at him before answering.

"I woke up early so I decided to just come in. I've got some knew lyric's." She added in as an after thought with the same chirpiness that Naruto showed. She handed over the sheets as he began to read.

Sasuke looked at her from the corner of his eye and watched her smile. He didn't know why he found it so enchanting, but he did, probably because she never smiled like that for him. Heck, the only time she had smiled for him was when she won a stare off that one time. Sasuke didn't even know _why_ he liked her smile, but he did. It probably had to do with that new hair of hers; the newly cut locks made her look older and less like a tramp.

He watched as Naruto raised an eyebrow at the sheet and turned a curious eye at Sakura.

"'I hate everything about you'? That's a little dark don't you think?" He asked with a questionable tone added into his voice. Sasuke agreed with him, he'd seen Sakura's other lyrics; they hadn't had a title like that one before. He peered over at Sakura again and noticed her dusted pink cheeks; she gave a nervous laugh before scratching her cheek.

"Heh, I wasn't in the best of moods at the time." Sasuke suddenly thought of the night before, which was probably when she wrote it. He wondered what it was Karin had actually said to her when she disappeared before they left. The thought almost made him cringe; Karin could be very spiteful when she wanted to be. Sasuke actually felt sorry for her, Karin had said some very mean things that he knew were uncalled for, like insulting her parents and her intelligence. He knew now that her parents were dead, and that she was very close to them, the look in her eyes when she so much as breathed on the topic made Sasuke want to cheer her up. He also knew that Sakura was by no means dumb, and that he was forced to admit but had in fact out smarted him a good few times before.

The fact that he was siding with Sakura didn't surprise him as much as he would have liked. Ever since he found out Sakura's heritage he couldn't help but let some of the hate he felt for her melt away. He knew now that she couldn't help what she was and what she needed to stay alive, he accepted that surprisingly enough. He felt like he understood her situation better and found no more reason to hate her in that way. Now he only found her annoying.

"Yeah, I gathered." Naruto sighed. Sakura watched Naruto read through her work as she ignored the feeling of Sasuke's intense eyes gazing over her face. She turned to look at him, prepared to give him a glare for staring. It was rude after all.

She didn't get around to glaring however, when she caught sight of Sasuke's eyes, she froze. There was something in them that she didn't like, they weren't hard or guarded like they normally were. They were filled with fondness and even understanding with a touch of worry. It actually scared Sakura, she wasn't used to eyes like that, she was sure that even he didn't realise he was doing it.

Sakura didn't like getting close to people, or at least anything further than friends. She didn't want another reason to be hunted down, she'd already broken one law and wasn't in the mood to break two.

They both blinked at each other in silence until Sakura felt her cheeks blush. The mere thought of her red cheeks brought her out of the weird trace they'd both seemed to have found themselves in. Sakura snapped her head back around to Naruto, her eyes slightly wide from the surprise of having shared a moment like that with Sasuke of all people.

It was weird; it was like they were both seeing into each other's souls, like they were on some short treaty of sorts. The thought made her want to snort. It could even be considered romantic but Sakura wasn't going to admit that anytime soon.

Naruto looked up from the sheet with excitement clear in his eyes, he looked up at sakura, completely oblivious to the short moment his best friend and Co-worker had just shared.

"This sounds good! It sounds like it's got some deeper meaning you know." He sniffed, waving the paper around as he grinned. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his antics, it reminded him of a hyper child, which he really was at heart, there was no denying it.

Sakura listened as Naruto began to rabbit on about the album everyone was working on, she wasn't really paying much attention, she'd heard the speech so many times she could recite it in her sleep. She noticed how Sasuke seemed to become almost invisible the longer the conversation went on, it was almost like he was deep in thought, which is exactly what he was.

Sasuke didn't know _what_ was going on with Sakura, that moment they'd just shared couldn't exactly be considered 'normal', Sakura looked very surprised when she turned round, and so was he. Even though he didn't show it, Sasuke was very surprised. The fact that he'd been thinking of the woman as anything other than an annoyance was shocking enough, but wanting to build bridges with her? What was that all about? He'd been thinking of maybe starting up a conversation that didn't evolve business or arguing. He didn't know what he was going to talk about; he just felt the need to talk to her, have her attention, all of it.

The thought worried him slightly; this was someone who was like _him._ That fact alone should have him running. But he wasn't, the fact actually had him wanting to know more about her. He'd never felt this much interest for someone before, he had to keep reminding himself that he was engaged, though he couldn't think of a reason why, it was just curiosity.

Naruto had just finished his long speech when he turned his attention to the two other people in the room. Sakura had been listening, but not Sasuke, the teme; it was rude to not listen! Sakura looked over at Sasuke with a thoughtful look, wondering about something. She'd heard that he was coming over to the Uchiha Mansion after work, she thought she could maybe bunk a ride off of him.

"Hey Sasuke? Can I get a lift back tonight? I hate riding the bus." She asked in a bored tone. She didn't like the sound of being in the same car as him but it was better than riding the bus. It took so long on the bus, well over an hour and it was always freezing! Plus it wasn't like she couldn't just ignore the Uchiha.

Sasuke just looked at her blankly for a second, not quite taking in what she'd just said. He thought about it, he was going to see his mum tonight, without Karin. The thought of being stuck in a car with Sakura for about thirty minutes was very appealing, for some unknown reason, he knew they'd just end up squabbling, but liked the idea none the less. So he just simply shrugged and gave an uninterested nod of agreement, hiding his liking for the idea.

Sakura gave him a small smile, showing a few teeth in the process. Now at least she didn't have to wait for ten minutes per stop for the bloody slow pokes to get on the bus.

"Thanks Sasuke!" She chirped and saw the small smirk he gave her in return. Sasuke stood up and walked to the door, preparing to leave before he turned.

"Be at my office by seven." He stated simply before walking out. Sakura felt her jaw drop, seven? Freaking seven! She finished work at five! She didn't want to have to hang around for two bloody hours! It was the curse of Mondays Sakura thought dryly before turning back to Naruto with a broken expression.

…!...

Itachi came into Sasuke's office with a smug grin in place, naturally this got Sasuke nervous. Itachi only grinned like that when it would be at Sasuke's expense. He walked up to his desk and leaned against it, looking down at his little brother with an amused expression.

Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch as he looked down at the files on his desk, what did the twat want now? With an irritated huff he looked up and gave Itachi a dry look.

"Care to let me in on the joke?" He asked without emotion. Itachi just chuckled under his breath, further annoying Sasuke. With a sharp glare Itachi raised his hands in defence, not wanting to face the wrath of an Uchiha, even if he was one himself.

"Just thought I'd let you know in advance but Father is wanting to promote the company." Itachi answered. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, failing to see the urgency in that.

"And I need to know this why?" He asked in an impatient tone, wanting to get on with his work. Itachi chuckled darkly again as he stood up and faced Sasuke full on.

"It's a Halloween Party. VIP only and he wants' everyone under the Uchiha Company name to come including us. Only it's fancy dress." Itachi added the last part as an after thought. The last part made Sasuke cringe in instant dislike. Dressing up was not his 'thing', in fact, the last time he did the deed he'd been eight and went out for Halloween after being dragged out by Naruto.

Sasuke sighed in pain and looked up at Itachi, seeing the amusement in his features, the twat. He hated it when he had to go to social events, they involved, well, being social, something Sasuke wasn't all that fond of. The thing that sucked the most was that his Father never let him skip them either. He'd always say something about 'being the responsible one'. It was stupid really, Itachi was the Heir, not him, he was only his second hand man, Sasuke shouldn't have to go.

"Who came up with the idea?" Sasuke asked. He looked up at his brother with interest, there was no way in hell it was his Father that came up with the idea, he was to boring for that sort of stuff.

"His assistant, I think. He usually comes up with stuff like that. It's a wonder Father listens to him at all actually." Itachi chuckled. He folded his arms lazily as he looked around the office, looking for something to do. He'd finished all his work so decided to pay his brother a visit, but this place was only proving to be slightly more interesting than where he'd just came from.

"Have you seen Sakura today?" He asked with fake uninterested tones. Ever since Saturday night He'd found himself more curious about the woman. It wasn't every day you knew someone who was part vampire, the need for new information was eating away at him like a hungry dog. Plus he was growing ever more interested in her relationship with his brother. He bet neither one would admit it out loud or inwardly for that matter, but they seemed to like each other more than they claimed. Sasuke would never behave the way he does with anyone besides her, he'd always just ignore him or her if they pissed him off, and he'd never talk back like he does with Sakura. He just hoped he'd realise that soon before another man takes her away from him. Even though he highly doubt's it.

"Yes, this s'morning. She asked me if she could ride with me back to the mansion." Sasuke stated, keeping his gaze cool as he regarded his brother. Itachi nodded and raised his eyebrows in question; Sasuke noticed this and gave him a small glare, noticing the surprised sarcasm in his expression.

"What?" He demanded in a low questioning voice. Itachi never lowered his brows but did let out a nervous chuckle.

"Oh nothing really, never mind me." He said playfully. Sasuke's brow twitched, he hated it when Itachi was in these moods, and Sasuke always ended up the victim. With another irritated huff Sasuke massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Itachi chuckled again; seeing his brother's obvious annoyance, he may not look like it but when the moment calls for it Sasuke could be as hot headed as Sakura. The very thought made him chuckle again and caused Sasuke's eyebrow to twitch, further deepening his bad mood.

"So what you dressing up as?" Itachi asked, pulling Sasuke out of his bad mood just to dump him in another one. He didn't even want to _think_ about that. The thought of dressing up was still shudder worthy for him.

"I'd rather not think about it right now." Sasuke groaned, earning a light chuckle from the older man in front of him. Itachi decided to maybe change the topic back to Sakura again, he was very interested in their relationship, plus he didn't think Sasuke could take the current topic of 'dress up'.

"So what compelled you to give Sakura a ride home today?" He asked. Itachi noticed the slight stiffness to Sasuke's back when Sakura was mentioned again, he wondered if the man would talk at all.

"Why are you so interested with Sakura all of a sudden?" He asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed. Sasuke was wondering whether or not to trust him, he could tell.

"You can tell me Sasuke, I'm your brother after all." Itachi assured. Sasuke seemed to consider what he said for a moment before giving up, he did trust Itachi with his life after all, and vice versa.

"I just want to patch thing's up you know? I just feel like I want to get to know her better." Sasuke breathed out, waiting for his brother's response. Itachi wasn't very surprised by his answer; he'd expected it was something like that. A small smile made its way up to his lips; sometimes he wished his brother wasn't so blind when it came to the pink haired Half-breed. Of course he realised that the main reason was Karin, he wouldn't just break it off with her and he probably wouldn't notice Sakura until she was out the picture. Not to be mean about the red head but she wasn't exactly what Itachi would call 'Marriage material', everybody else seemed to think so.

With a shake of his head Itachi gave up on the topic and decided to just go home, his brother still had work to do and him staying here wasn't helping. With a simple 'see you later' Itachi headed home where Taya, the person _he_ noticed before it was too late was waiting for him.

…!...

Sakura sat quietly, cradling a hot cup of coffee between her palms and stared into space. She ran out of things to do in the recording room and had felt the need to buy some coffee in the lunch hall of the company building. The rain was still pelting against the window and Sakura could hear the beginnings of a thunderstorm. She wondered what it was with this town and storms. She shook her head and looked into the dark liquid of her addictive drink.

Sakura still had an hour to go until she could get a ride back and was glad that Sasuke had accepted, if she had to wait for a bus in that weather Sakura would die from the cold.

She was still confused over the look he gave her that morning. Her stubborn side was telling her it was nothing and she shouldn't bother with it, but her logical side was telling her that it meant something, something that she wouldn't like. She refused to look into it however, Sakura liked where she was right now, here people didn't see her as trash, or a waste of space, they saw her for what she was and accepted it. The only exception of course was Karin, but she didn't count her as a person, more like an annoying pet that refused to leave its master, the master being Sasuke.

A frown stretched over Sakura's face, then it left and she snorted in amusement. When she actually thought about what Karin had said the night before she realised it was nothing more than empty words. Karin couldn't ruin her reputation because she didn't have one, black mail would work because she had nothing against her and physical force wouldn't work, Sakura was stronger than Karin, heck, she was stronger than a grown man for god sake! She could easily beat a group of hired skinheads any day, whether it be fight or flight.

With a proud huff she puffed her chest out unconsciously, she could protect herself if she needed to and Karin had nothing on her.

Her thoughts came drifting back to the youngest Uchiha; memories of their first meeting all the way up to that morning came rushing through her head, a small smile playing at her lips. She wouldn't admit it out loud but she would be forever grateful to him. Not only did he give her a home and a job, but also he along with Itachi accepted what she was. They may not have said it out loud but she could tell they didn't mind what she was, and that thought alone got them pretty high on her ranking system, Sasuke being the highest of course. She was convinced that they would report her to the police at the first chance they got, but they didn't, instead they just continued on like it was the most normal thing in the world, even though it wasn't. Sasuke's face came into her mind again and once again she didn't find the urge to spit, maybe she was coming to even-

"Hey Sakura! How are you doing? Miss me?" The annoying voice boomed, breaking Sakura from finishing her sentence. She looked up from her coffee to see the sound producer who had what Naruto called it a 'crush' on her. His slick gelled back hair reflected the light as a few strands fell forward onto his forehead, his dull brown eyes washing over her again and again. Sakura held in a sigh as she forced a grin on her face. Don't get her wrong, he was an okay guy, wasn't bad looking either, but she just wasn't interested, she knew what he wanted and he wasn't getting it, no matter how many times he tried to ask her out.

"Hey Saito." Sakura replied with a forced grin. Holding back the urge to just run. Sasuke wouldn't mind if she hung around the office for a while, would he?

"So, how you been? Got any more songs? I'd love to hear them!" He beamed as he pulled out a chair and sat down. Sakura's grip on her coffee tightened as she held her smile in place, she didn't want to be rude to the guy, it wasn't nice, even if he was just chasing skirts.

"Yeah, I finished one last night actually. Just not the music, I've still got to finish the guitar notes for that one, plus everyone else." She replied. Saito nodded, looking impressed, folding his arms on the desk and peering out the window behind Sakura, a frown appearing on his face.

"I'm so doomed." He mumbled to himself. Sakura raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of her coffee, loving the way it warmed her as she swallowed it.

"And why are you 'doomed', may I ask?" Sakura asked in a polite tone but it showed the sarcasm in it. Saito laughed a little, scratching his cheek absentmindedly. Sakura placed her cup back between her hands and looked at him with friendly eyes.

" My car is about two blocks away in that multi story, in the roofless top floor obviously." He whined. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at that, parking spaces were next to impossible to find around the city centre. A smile lit up his face at having made Sakura smile. A large bolt of lightening smashed overhead, making them both jump, Sakura turned around and glared out of the window, she refused to be scared by a little innocent storm.

"I don't think the rains goanna stop by simply glaring at it Sakura." He chuckled, but stopped when he was on the receiving end of the glare. Sakura mumbled to herself quietly, she didn't care if it wouldn't stop; she just wanted it to know that she didn't like the little scare she got…

"Stupid storms and stupid city." Sakura mumbled, making Saito laugh lightly all the more.

"What did the city ever do to you?" He joked; he couldn't help but think she looked so cute with that little pout on her lips. Sakura gave him a dark look and took another sip of coffee, finishing off the cup with a slightly depressing feeling. she wanted more coffee.

"Konoha's got a thing for thunder and lightening. I've never been anywhere with whether like this." She answered in a grumbled mumble. He blinked and smiled, he hadn't expected an answer but was happy he got one.

"So you've not been here long then? Where are you from then? Tokyo?" He asked in real interest, he wanted to know more about the girl he was trying to ask out.

Sakura thought about her answer for a second, wondering whether or not to tell him about the whole streets thing. She wasn't exactly in the mood for sympathy at the moment plus it would make her feel more normal if she gave a normal answer, not to mention it would help hide her origin better than if she told the truth.

"Yeah, I was. It isn't as bad over there. The sun's out more over there." She huffed. Sakura had been to Tokyo once, when she was on the road and the place wasn't that bad, except for the exhaust fumes.

Saito looked deep in thought for a moment, not quite sure what to say now. Their conversation had seemed to die out. Sakura wondered if maybe now would be a good time to make an escape, she could feel the 'question' floating around Saito's head and she didn't want to have to refuse him, again.

With silent movements she got up from her chair and grabbed the empty cup. Saito looked up from his daze with surprised eyes, he hadn't heard her move at all!

"You going already?" He asked, disappointment deep in his voice. Sakura nodded as she moved away to throw her cup in the bin. Saito stood up also and looked around nervously, wondering if he should ask her.

"Hey Sakura I was wondering if… You know. You wanted to grab some coffee with me tomorrow?" He asked, looking at the roof and scratching his chin. Sakura let out a huff, why did he persist! She was goanna say no so why keep asking!

"Sorry I can't. I've got something I need to do." She stated simply, the same as every other time. He looked her over with the puppy eyes, a very disappointed look on his face, Sakura almost felt bad… Okay maybe a little.

"Okay maybe some other time then." He sighed and Sakura sighed silently, slowly edging closer to the doors before he noticed.

As Sakura practically ran down the hall she could hear him shouting 'bye' so she lifted her hand over her head to show she heard. Sakura wished he'd just go after someone else, she wasn't good for him, she was weird and he'd just end up getting hurt. Plus she wasn't very good at controlling her thirst when she was 'intimate' with people, being so close just brought her instincts up from under the surface she'd created.

As she entered the lift and pressed number thirty-nine she pushed all thoughts of relationships from her head, it wouldn't do her good at imagining things that would never happen. The golden doors glided shut and began to move up she still had half an hour till she had to be up there but who cares? Certainly not her.

Once she reached the floor Sakura felt a little better and marched forward with firm steps. The floor was completely empty, and a little spooky. Sakura puffed her chest out and didn't allow herself to get spooked by anything; she was part Vampire for Christ sake! She was the scariest thing in the entire building! With a frown she turned another corner and then another, wondering if the halls had gotten longer since the last time she visited.

Sakura stopped, looked around and shook her head; she swore she could hear something, like eerie echoing footsteps. A shudder travelled down her spine, remembering that she'd never been a fan of horror films. Her fists tensed as the sound started to get louder and louder. She looked around again the thunder and lightening going on outside not helping her mood in the least.

Her mind kicked into overdrive, what if it was a vampire coming to kill her for breaking the law? What if they'd finally found her after all this time and weren't even going to let her defend herself. What if's travelled through her mind at the speed of light, her mind paying little attention to the figure coming up behind her.

A firm hand slammed down on Sakura's shoulder, the corridor was filled with Sakura's panicked scream. She turned around, fully ready to protect herself, her fangs out and everything to only be met with the amused face of Sasuke Uchiha. He was rubbing his ear like it hurt, and looked down at the now red faced Sakura, her fangs still showing as her jaw gaped open, eyes wide.

"What sort of Vampire are you?" He teased. Honestly? She went around dark alleyways drinking blood and an empty corridor and a tap on the shoulder scared her? Even though Sasuke had meant to scare her, when he'd turned the corner and saw her standing there he just couldn't resist, call it mean but it amused him to no ends that she was scared shitless.

Sakura stood there, completely in shock as he stood there smirking, _fucking smirking!_ Arrogant twat, Sakura thought as she closed her mouth and retracted her fangs. She glared at him and Sasuke merely chuckled, he could never be affected by a glare weaker than his own.

Sakura huffed and marched off down the hall, heading for the office in the mile long hall. Sasuke followed lead and tried not to chuckle at her antics, she was acting like a child having a tantrum. She marched with her arms, as straight as toothpicks and her fists clenched so tightly he was surprised her fingers didn't break. He shook his head and caught up with her easily with his slightly longer stride, walking side by side. He looked down at her face and raised a single perfectly shaped eyebrow. She had a pout, a bloody _pout_ of all things, what was she? Nine?

As they entered the office Sasuke took his normal seat behind the desk and Sakura took a seat on the sofa, turning on the TV and flipping through the channels. Sasuke blanked out the noise for now, he needed to get his work done and then he could talk to her.

Sasuke had taken this moment to be the perfect time to try and build his relationship with the woman, he'd been thinking about it all day, ever since his brother had paid his little visit. He was planning on breaking the news of the Party next month, he was interested if she would have the same thoughts on it as he did, she didn't seem like the sort of person who liked dressing up.

About half an hour later Sasuke saved the last document onto his computer and turned it off. Sakura, who had been watching some film, romantic by the sounds of it, had also turned it off and sat up from where she'd laid down on her stomach. She stretched and watched him as he got his coat from the hook in the corner and packed a few files into his case.

It was still violently raining outside and the lightening had only gotten worse as it crashed outside, huge forks of electricity stabbing the buildings below. Sakura watched with fascination instead of annoyance this time as it danced across the sky to its own rhythm of thunder. She was forced to look away however when Sasuke turned off the light and walked out of the office, waiting for Sakura to hurry up out of there. They both walked in comfortable silence, neither one wanting to break it.

They were just turning the first corner when the loudest crash yet sounded from above. Sakura jumped as the bolt of lightening hit the top of the building they were standing in. The hall lost all light as every single electronic device lost power.

Both of them knew exactly what had just happened, the lightening had hit the power generator on the roof, which was bad, that was the back up. It said on the news earlier that the main power station that supplied the company with power also went out about an hour ago.

Sasuke huffed in frustration; they were both stuck in there, all night by the sounds of it. He looked around the darkness for his companion and saw her shadow slightly.

"Sakura?" He asked. Sakura turned towards the voice and answered once she saw his dark outline.

"Yes?"

"I think we're stuck in here." He answered back. Sakura shifted nervously from foot to foot as she looked up at the dark splodge.

"What do you mean we're stuck here? We can get out the fire escape. Or the stairs." She answered back in a stubborn tone. Sasuke frowned back, not that she could see it.

"Can't. There locked after five, that's when everyone goes home and my key won't work since its eclectic." He huffed back in a worried tone; he didn't want to be stuck in here all night, even if he would be with Sakura.

"What the hell's the point in that? How are we going to get out! Sasuke!" She panicked and whined. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was scared of the dark to. She was looking around frantically like she could see, Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder gently to try and calm her. It didn't work.

"Calm down Haruno. It'll only be for one night." He reassured, not really under standing her panic.

"It's not that! I can't just calm down!" She yelled, hopping away from his hand and out of reach. Sasuke frowned; he couldn't be bothered with this.

"For the love of god Haruno. I'm not asking you to jump into a volcano." He snapped. Sakura only glared into darkness, she had to get out of here.

"You don't understand! I've not fed today!"

**...!...**

**Okay well there you have it! I hope you like it and this hopefully makes up for having so much of Karin in the last chapter =]... Please REVEIW! YOU'LL HAVE MY ETERNAL LOVE AND GRATITUDE! **


	9. Trapped

**Chapter 9 – Trapped**

"You don't understand! I've not fed today!" Sakura shouted in panic. The words echoed through Sasuke's mind, slowly registering the importance of that last comment. He stared blankly into the darkness as the dark shadow of Sakura began to frantically fidget.

"What do you mean?" He asked, still confused slightly. He knew what she meant, but couldn't she just hold it in until morning? Sakura frowned, irritation slightly coming through her panic, although it was hard to tell.

"What do you think I mean you idiot? I need blood! And we're stuck in here! I'm stuck in here with you! Someone who happens to be _filled_ with the stuff!" Sakura yelled, throwing her arms out. Sasuke's eyes widened, finally realizing the complications, she could attack him at a moments notice if she was thirsty enough…

"Can't you hold it in?" Sasuke asked, slight hope etching through his tone. Sakura huffed, deep in thought. She wondered if maybe she should stay in the opposite end of the building but shook her head, it wouldn't work.

"I don't need to pee Sasuke! I can't exactly 'hold it in'! Plus there would be no point in separating cause I know you're here, when I get desperate enough I'll come looking." She whispered the last part, not knowing if she wanted to let him hear. Sakura knew he'd had some sort of experience with Vampires before; the look on his face when he found out what she was had been enough to tell her of that.

Sasuke felt his heart beat speed up in hidden panic, the thought of a blood thirsty Vampire searching the halls for prey wasn't exactly very comforting. Couldn't she just catch a pigeon from the window ledge or something?

"How much did you get last night?" He asked, wondering if maybe she'd had enough the night before to stay away from his neck. He unconsciously moved away slightly from Sakura, heading back in the direction of his office, hoping he might be able to get a signal from his Blackberry. Sakura stayed where she was and looked down even though she knew he couldn't see her, she didn't want to worry Sasuke more than she already had with her words.

"I didn't hunt last night, I was too angry to think of that." She mumbled. Sasuke caught every word and the panic increased inside of him. Instead of showing his fear however, he did the next best thing, he shouted.

"You idiot! How can you be so careless! What the hell am I meant to do now eh? Wait for you to jump me and drain me dry!" He yelled, for once showing the emotion behind his mask. Sakura didn't move, taking everything in stride, she knew she deserved it and didn't blame Sasuke at all for yelling. She would do the same after all.

As Sasuke shouted at her he couldn't help but think of what he had to look forward too. He'd sworn to himself that he'd never allow himself to be attacked in this manner again, yet here he was, the helpless sheep once again. The thought made him want to cringe.

Once he ran out of things to say he backed away from her, wanting to get enough distance between him and his future attacker. Sakura felt a sharp jolt of pain through her chest when she saw the outline of Sasuke's retreating form. She hated that sight; she didn't want to _ever_ see someone who accepted her back away in fear from her. Especially Sasuke, for some unknown reason she hated that idea even worse than anything said already.

"S-Sasuke." She stuttered, stepping forward and reaching for him ever so slightly with her hand, but it went unseen by Sasuke.

Sasuke heard the worry and fear in her voice that brought him back from his own fear. He straightened his back and calmed himself down, there was nothing he could do and he knew it, the only thing he could do was get a hold of someone like the Fire Station to maybe get them out. He looked over at the woman in front of him, he still couldn't see very well but was willing to cope for one night, after all, what choice did they have?

"Come on, I'll try to contact someone to get us out of here." He spoke in a calm and soothing voice that shocked Sakura, the fact that he was the one doing the comforting seemed a little odd. She was the scary monster, not him.

Sasuke didn't wait for a reply; he simply stalked off in the other direction, heading back the way he came, knowing that Sakura would follow. He touched the walls with the tips of his fingers as he felt every bump and curve in the wall that led back to his office.

Once he felt the doorframe of his office door he stopped, Sakura, not expecting it or seeing it for that matter walked right into him with a low 'oof' coming from her throat. Sasuke simply looked back at her and raised an eyebrow into the darkness, he saw the faint outline of Sakura rubbing her nose but didn't question it, and instead he just opened his office door and walked in.

The moonlight and the odd lightening strike flooded into the room, producing little light but enough to see. The office looked cold and haunted, like it had been empty for years. Sakura entered and sat on her knee's by the window, her forehead leaning against it as she gazed down at the ant sized people from the floor. Sasuke watched her for a moment before digging out his Blackberry from his pocket and dialing the number of the Fire Station.

The dead tone was the only thing that could be heard from the other end of the line and Sasuke concluded that their power was also out. With an irritated sigh he hung up and tossed his phone onto the table and crashed onto his chair, leaning back, closing his eyes and bending his head back against the headrest.

The thought of his impending doom didn't help much but forced the thought out of his mind, Sakura seemed to be doing the same as she stared out the window so he would do the same.

**8:21pm**

Sakura was starting to feel the effects of her thirst, her fingers had been twitching for about fifteen minutes and her back was ridged. She stared out the window at the dark city, refusing to look in the room. The slight eco of Sasuke's heart was beginning to make itself known and Sakura didn't know how long she'd last.

They'd hardly said a word to each other because of the dangerous situation they were both in. It had just been under and hour and a half since the power had gone out and already Sakura was feeling her thirst raging in the back of her throat. She was weak, she knew it, but for once Sakura wanted to prove to herself that she wasn't like every other blood thirsty Vampire out there. Because she was part human, and that human side of her was the part she liked. Sakura refused to give in to her inner beast.

Sasuke had turned his chair around to face the night sky a while ago and had noticed how stiff she'd become and the odd sniff here and there. He was beginning to wonder how long she'd last. The thought of having to wait for her to bite him wasn't all that appealing but at least he had time to mentally prepare himself, unlike last time he knew what was coming…

"I'm not going to bite you." Sakura whispered. She could see his reflection in the window and knew that he had his brow furrowed between his eyes in what she thought was worry. Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at her, she was looking at his reflection and he did the same, both gazing into the ghost like eyes the glass had created.

Sasuke considered her words carefully, he had no idea what she was going through right now but he hoped she was telling the truth, even if he didn't believe it.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked, doubt clear in his voice. Sakura turned around to meet his gaze for the first time since the power went out, emerald clashed with coal as they simply held the gaze, neither one wanting to look away.

"I'm not. I just know." She stated simply, still looking into his gaze. Sasuke could see the determination in those eyes that were almost luminous in the dim light, they glowed with colour and Sasuke was sure he'd never seen anything quite like it before. Those eyes were even more incredible than the wild red ones of his fiancé.

He wasn't sure whether or not to trust those words, they weren't solid proof that she was going to last, but the look in her eyes showed her determination. His expression relaxed, trusting her to keep that pride she possesses right up until morning.

**12:45pm**

It had been just under six hours since the power had first gone out. And in that time Sakura was convinced she was going insane. Sasuke had moved to the other end of the room a while ago to 'make it easier' for her but it made no difference, he could have been on the other side of the building and she still would have heard his heart beat. It had gotten so bad that even the people about thirty odd floors down could be heard, there hearts all beating from the buildings opposite and the streets below.

Her thirst had never been this bad before, her hands shook like she was having with drawl symptoms and her fangs refused to disappear once they came out. Her breath was coming out in strained little huffs as she stared out the window with a newly lit passion.

Sakura was going to make it till morning! She was stubborn enough to try even though every single odd there was, was against her. Sakura's instincts were fighting to take control but she bet them down every time they attempted to surface. She wouldn't allow herself to become a monster in front of Sasuke; she refused to let anyone else ever see that side of her again.

Sasuke sat on the sofa on the other end of the room in silence, not wanting to make things harder for Sakura than they already were. Sasuke had made an attempt to leave about two hours ago when her shaking had started but Sakura had insisted that there was no point. So here he was, sitting on the other end of the room and watching the pink haired girl with interest. He was surprised she hadn't gone for him yet; he could see the hungry look in her eyes that were poorly hidden through the reflection on the glass. He couldn't help but notice how stressed she was, her fangs were out for everyone to see and her shaking was only getting worse as each minute went by.

Sasuke wondered what would actually happen to her if she refused her body what it so desperately needed. Would she shrivel up and die? Turn to ash? Or simply go on a killing spree? Either way he didn't like the thought of her suffering.

The woman may be a pain, but she was something that made Sasuke's life more interesting and he didn't want to let her go any time soon, even though it would take a hell of a lot to get him to admit it out loud.

She was so different from every other woman he'd met. Unlike everyone else, she didn't try to impress him or seduce him at all, she wasn't like that, all she did was be herself. That came with a lot of lip, anger and stubbornness, something he loved about the woman. Even Karin didn't compare to her, and he was starting to wonder why he was with her at all.

Karin was exactly like everyone else, she didn't stand out of the crowd like Sakura did. The only thing that made him notice Karin was the fact she was very good at getting rid of her competition. And because of that he thought there was no one else who would love him more, so he proposed. It was only now that he was realizing the complications of that act. Only now was he realizing that he should have waited longer. Now he was stuck with the woman for the rest of his life, because Uchiha's never go back on their word.

The sound of Sakura giving off a pained groan brought Sasuke back to the present as he looked at the shaking form against the window. Her forehead was still placed firmly against it but this time her hands were pressed firmly at either side of her head, fingers bunched into fist's as she tried to hold back the urges to attack.

Her shoulders were shaking and her eyes were squeezed shut in an attempt to drown out the nose of beating heart's and the pain of her own heart as it begged for the much needed sustenance she refused it. Sakura hated this, she'd never felt pain like this before, heck, she never felt thirst related pain. Her own blood was slowly becoming diluted from the lack of red blood cells and she was edging on the danger zone of life or death, but she didn't care, Sakura refused to feed from Sasuke, she told him she wouldn't and she kept her promises. She bit her lip as a rather painful thump of her heart sounded and her fang broke through the skin of her lip. She liked up the small drop of blood it produced but found no good in it what so ever. So she simply licked it to heal it and continued to hold in her pain, not letting Sasuke in on it.

**1:09am**

Sasuke hated this; he could hear everyone of Sakura's muffled groans of pain, yet he could do nothing. He knew she'd just refuse him if he offered his blood, not that he really wanted to. But he knew that it might just be the case, he didn't want her to be in pain, it wasn't fair that she was the only one hurting.

Sasuke hated the thought of going through _that_ again, he was terrified in fact, but he knew it would be different with Sakura. He didn't know how different it might be but he knew it would.

He looked over her form once again and couldn't help the bubble of worry that rose in his chest. She looked so weak, her face was pale and her hands on the window had loosened and her lids covered half her eyes as she slumped down. He could still hear the pained huffs coming from her, which were no longer groans from lack of strength.

Sakura's body was slowly failing her, he knew it, but he also knew that she would still refuse his help, she was just stubborn that way.

With one last huff Sakura fell to the side, she landed on her side and stayed motionless, even her shaking had stopped. Sasuke was up like a shot and over to her in a second.

He placed his palm against her forehead and shied away at the cool temperature of it. He then felt for a pulse and was shocked to find it was so weak and slow. He needed to do something! Sasuke ripped his suit jacket off along with his tie and shirt, not even thinking about what he was doing, the only thing going through his mind was the need to help her.

Sasuke picked up her limp form and sat down against the window, shivering as the cool glass hit his bare back. He held Sakura against his chest and leaned her head against his neck. He slapped her cheek lightly a few times to bring her back. She twitched weakly before moving closer, placing her cool hands on his bare hips and moving her mouth to his neck unconsciously.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut as she found the strength to bite down; he guessed she was only working on instinct, her mind being to weak to even function anymore. His neck was sore, but he put up with it. She weakly sucked at the wound she made on his neck as her tongue would sometimes make a pass, the pain he felt would evaporate at each pass until there was none at all.

Sasuke held her firmly against his body, one arm around her waist and the other held her head in place incase she came to. As she sucked his neck he couldn't help but feel how right her body felt against his, it fit every curve and dip perfectly. He and Karin never held each other like this; with her it was all about sex, she hated intimate closeness unless it had some sort of erotic theme attached. But right now Sasuke felt as if he could hold Sakura like this all night.

He felt blood dribble down his front but left it alone, he could clean it up later, plus it for this reason that he'd removed his top half of clothing. Sakura pulled away before licking the wound again so it shut. Her head flopped forward into his chest and Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little woozy at the whole event also.

He forced himself up on shaky legs however and moved over to his desk were he knew he would find a packet of tissues and a bottle of water. Taking the items he began to look himself over, he wasn't actually that bad, his chest had a few red dribbles down it but he knew his neck would be pretty bad. He took a hand full of tissues and dapped some water on it before wiping all traces away. As he moved over to his neck he braced himself for pain but instead was met with smooth skin, he then remembered that it had happened the last time and shuddered. He had to remove more blood than expected but he didn't care, as long as it was gone.

When he moved over to clean Sakura's now sleeping form he couldn't help but notice the colour her cheeks had gained and how her breathing was so much more even and healthier now that she'd fed. Sasuke felt a little pool of relief in his chest knowing that she was no longer in danger.

He began to wipe away the blood that covered her chin and mouth, wiping right down to her own neck where a few dribbles had escaped. A few pools of red had managed to find there way onto her jumper but it was black anyway so he paid no mind.

When he finished he noticed the thunderstorm was still going strong and wondered when he'd forgotten about its existence. The lightening was still dancing across the sky like a ballerina.

With a shake of his head Sasuke picked up Sakura and moved over to the sofa that looked so inviting right now. He sat her down with ease and watched as she automatically curled up into a ball. Sasuke felt sleep suddenly hit him as he watched Sakura and moved over to his chair, lowering the back as to make it more comfortable, put his shirt back on and sat down before going to sleep as well.

**5:52am**

When Sakura awoke her muscles where stiff from the sofa she was lying on and she couldn't help but feel confused. Hadn't she collapsed? Wasn't she suffering from intense thirst? Why was Sasuke asleep in his chair with nothing but his shirt on? And why was that shirt wide open and showing his well-toned stomach?

These questions buzzed around Sakura's head as she groggily sat up and looked out of the huge window wall. The sky was a complete contrast to the dark, gloomy and hellish obis of yesterday, today it was completely empty except from a few white fluffy clouds here and there, the sunlight shining into the office and illuminating it.

Sakura looked around for signs of what might have happened last night, trying to figure out why she wasn't dead yet and why she couldn't hear every single bloody heart beat in Konoha. With stiff and sore legs she stood up and walked over to the window, passing Sasuke's sleeping form and peering down at the people below. There weren't that many people out walking yet but give it an hour and Sakura would bet that they'd be entering the rush hour.

Sakura turned back around and walked over to Sasuke's desk, wondering what he'd been up to. The desk was just as he'd left it before the power had gone out the night before. It seemed like a lifetime ago now, before all the pain of intense thirst. Sakura shivered at the memory, she never wanted to go through _that_ again.

Sakura scanned the desk again and noticed Sasuke's Blackberry sitting on the desk. She picked it up and turned it on, noticing the low battery. Peering sneakily at Sasuke to see if he was conscious yet she began to skim through the menu, looking to see what sort of stuff he had on it, it was all business crap, loosing Sakura's interest straight away. She looked into his recent calls and couldn't help but gawk.

There were fifty-four missed calls from the Uchiha Mansion home phone, and all from last night. Sakura could only guess who sent them; Mikoto wasn't exactly called mother hen for nothing. Sakura chewed her lip, wondering if she should phone them, it was still pretty early but then again she doubt they would mind. So with a sigh Sakura walked out of the office and into the hall, pressing the call button. Sakura only had to wait for two rings before someone picked up.

"_Hello, Uchiha residence." _A tired sounding butler answered. Sakura felt the need to yawn again but fought it down.

"Hello, it's Sakura." She said in a rather sheepish tone. She heard rustling and whispers on the other end of the line before he spoke again.

"_I'll put you through to Mrs. Uchiha, Miss." _He said politely. Sakura gave her thanks before the panicked voice of Mikoto filled the line.

"_Sakura? Good heavens are you all right? Where are you? Is Sasuke with you?" _She gushed all at once, Sakura felt bad, she sounded like she'd been up all night, poor woman.

"Sorry, the power in the company went out and we couldn't get out so Sasuke and I ended up camping out in his office." Sakura explained. She heard Mikoto sighed in relief and shouted a 'there fine' to whom she could only guess was Fugaku. Sakura began to pace the hallway as she listened to Mikoto talk to her in a relieved tone.

"_Well thank god that was all that happened, Fugaku was thinking of phoning the police if you hadn't phoned, why didn't you phone earlier? It would have put my mind at rest_." She complained. Sakura smiled nervously, even though she knew Mikoto couldn't see it.

"I guess it just sort of slipped are minds." She replied nervously, biting the skin of her lip and being thankful her fangs had disappeared at last. She wondered why Sasuke hadn't phoned her, she thought he had enough sense and cared for the woman enough to not let her worry over them, then again he was probably too worried over whether or not she was goanna have him for dinner.

Coming to think about it she still needed to ask him about that. The fact that she woke up thirst free and to Sasuke with an open shirt was a little weird if not slightly hot, yes she would admit it, Sasuke looked hot. She didn't need to say it out loud however.

"_Sakura? You still there?"_ Mikoto inquired, pulling Sakura out of her little dream as she continued to pace the hall.

"Yeah, I'm here. What were you saying?" She asked, chewing on her lip as she waited.

"_Okay well I was saying that Itachi was even worried, he was out looking for you and everything. He was mumbling something about alleyways. Weird right?" _Sakura's eyebrows shot up. Did Itachi think she'd attacked Sasuke in an alleyway? Well, that was her guess, what else would he be mumbling about?

"Yeah, it is." Sakura asked with barely restrained sarcasm. If Itachi actually thought she'd do that Sasuke she was going to rip him a new one.

"_Anyway, where are you now? You still locked in?"_ She asked. Sakura let out a sigh and pushed her violent thoughts from her mind.

"Yeah we're still locked in. Sasuke's still asleep though." She sighed, getting fed up with the whole situation. She heard more rustling, like someone was passing the phone over.

"_Sakura?"_ Came the low, tired yet still firm and commanding voice of Fugaku. Sakura instantly straightened at the voice; the man had a habit of bringing out Sakura's inner manners, if he was simply in the same room as her she found herself somehow becoming overly polite, something that was still a mystery to her.

"Yes." She answered, being sure not to use any slang.

"_I'll send some people over in a couple of hours to open the place up, do you think you can hang on till then_?" He asked. Sakura nodded into the phone, not caring that he couldn't see it.

"Yes. We'll be fine, I'll tell Sasuke when he wakes up." Sakura replied. She heard the man on the other end yawn before he spoke again.

"_I'll give the two of you a day off to make up for it, it's the least I can do._" He informed. Sakura let out a yawn and thanked Fugaku for the day off before he hung up.

Sakura walked slowly back to the office, being carful not to wake Sasuke up when she entered. He was still out cold, his pale chest rising and falling in even breaths. Sakura walked over and placed the Blackberry on his desk before moving over to the sofa and sitting down. She wondered if maybe she should move Sasuke over onto the sofa instead but dismissed the idea. She may be strong, but she wouldn't be able to carry a sturdy fully grown male without waking him, and Sakura wasn't in the mood to deal with a tired, pissy Uchiha right now.

With a sigh Sakura lent back and stared at the ceiling in complete boredom, counting down the seconds until she was rescued.

**7:30am**

When Sasuke woke up he was surprised to realize that he only had the ability to see the colour…white? With an annoyed huff he pealed off the two post-its that had been stuck over his eyes and read the small note on each one. The first one stated that Sakura had gone away for the moment and the second one said that she'd gone to the vending machine to get food.

His stomach groaned as he read the words again, wondering why she felt the need to stick them to such a place on his body. Sasuke stretched and felt every single bone in his body click and burn in pain; he was starting to regret sleeping in his office chair. As he stood up Sasuke did up the buttons of his shirt, feeling slightly self conscious that Sakura had seen his bare chest, though he couldn't think why, it wasn't like he was a shy virgin or anything.

With a sigh Sasuke walked out of the room and headed to the lunch hall a couple of floors down. The staircase was dim, but Sasuke was able to see just enough to get down the sixteen floors needed to reach the lunch hall. He was glad that neither Sakura nor Sasuke had attempted to go down the stairs yesterday night, it was dark enough just now in broad daylight and he hated to think of what might have happened if they had attempted it at night.

Sasuke walked down the stairs at a slow and normal pace, taking his time and not seeing the need to rush, these stairs were the closest to the lunch hall so if Sakura left before he got there it would be this stair case she would take. He was sure of it.

He exited the staircase and marched down the hall, noticing how the early morning sunlight would shine through the windows and illuminate the entire building, he began to wonder why they had lights at all. The white walls had turned a warm yellow and orange from the sunlight and warmed Sasuke's skin as he walked past, his white shirt allowing the warmth to flood through.

Sasuke had been walking for about two minutes when the two glass double doors of the lunch hall came into view. He swung open the doors and was met with another huge ray of sun light from the wall windows that layered the entire room. Sasuke scanned the space for a flash of pink and found it in the corner.

Sakura had turned around to face the noise that had interrupted the silence she was working in and saw the sight of Sasuke walking over to her. She watched him closely as he grew closer and noticed how he looked at her, like he was checking for wounds or something.

"You look better." He simply commented before sitting in a near by chair before raising a brow and spoke again.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke looked at her crouched form in confusion, she had a clip in one hand and had bent it in some weird angle. Sakura looked back at the lock she was attempting to pick open in confusion, wasn't it obvious, she was attempting to open the door in the vending machine since the lock, for once, wasn't electronic. Sakura looked over at Sasuke and raised a brow, copying his expression perfectly.

"I'm baking a cake. What do you think?" She said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. Sasuke made a face when he noticed the machine was full of nothing but sweets, did she honestly think he could eat _that_ for breakfast.

"I'm not eating chocolate for breakfast. Go pick another vending machine or something." He moaned. Sakura glared; did he think _she_ wanted to eat 'choco-chom' or 'rainbow drops' for breakfast? No way! If it were up to her, she'd have a plate full of Bacon right now.

"Put up with it. This is the only one with a manual lock." She snapped. Sasuke rolled his eyes as Sakura turned around and began to work again. Sasuke watched her again before his mind began to wonder.

She looked a hell of a lot more healthy than she had last night; her sharp tongue and short temper were back. He was glad she was better, he would never admit it out loud but when she'd collapsed last night he felt proper fear for the woman. When he felt her pulse slowly fade he thought she was going to die. He would never admit it out loud or even to himself but the thought of her leaving him for good was too much to be to be considered normal.

"Where did you get the clip?" Sasuke asked, taking his attention away from the subject of Sakura dying on him. He watched as she worked away, not even turning around.

"Your assistant's drawer." She stated simply. Sasuke frowned; did she seriously just go through someone else's stuff? He thought she had more manners than that.

"You can't just go through people's belonging's Haruno." He scolded, making Sakura's eyebrow twitch. Was he aiming for a slap?

"Would you rather starve?" She threatened through clenched teeth, stopping to give him a glare, she was perfectly serious about not giving him any. At that moment she heard the very loud grumble from Sasuke stomach, a small smile of victory edging it's way onto her lips.

"I thought as much." She stated in a toneless voice, she turned back, trying to pick the lock and they both sat in silence. Sakura listened carefully to Sasuke's movements, she wanted to ask him something, but wasn't sure if she should bring up or not, eventually she just thought, ah stuff it!

"Why did you let me do it, Sasuke?" She asked, not wanting to be to obvious yet hoping that Sasuke had enough brains to figure it out.

Sasuke looked at her back in confusion as she worked away. He had no idea what she was referring to, was she still talking about the clip?

"You'll have to add more details than that Haruno." Sasuke deadpanned. It was at that moment that the lock on the vending machine clicked open. Sakura busied herself with opening the door and digging out all the food she deemed 'worthy' of the great Uchiha cockatoo head.

"I meant last night, I obviously attacked you. I'm sorry, I thought I could control my self but apparently not." Sakura looked down at her feet as she dumped her findings on the table Sasuke was sitting at. She felt ashamed of herself; she'd given him her word that she wouldn't drink from him.

She had found the bloodied tissues in the small bin when she'd stuck the notes to his face. She'd been horrified beyond belief, even though she had suspected something along those lines to happen. Her thirst couldn't have just disappeared over night.

Sakura still felt horrible though, to think she'd attacked one of the only people who accepted her, but to have them act like nothing had happened was even worse. She attacked him! She drank his blood even though she knew he didn't want her too. And him covering for her was not helping!

"There was no helping it, I thought you were about to die." Sasuke shrugged. Sakura felt her eyes go wide, how could he be so calm about this! Sakura met his cool gaze with her shocked one.

"How can you just say that? I could have killed you! I was probably acting on instincts! I could have ripped your throat out!" Sakura yelled, not caring how loud she was, nobody but Sasuke would be able to hear her. Sasuke however scoffed at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you think happened but it certainly wasn't like that." He stated calmly before motioning for her to take a seat across from him. Sakura felt numb as she did what she was told. She reached over grabbing a packet of cookies and began to eat.

"What happened then?" She asked slowly before popping a cookie into her mouth. Sasuke looked up and took the other packet of cookies Sakura had salvaged.

"You collapsed, I went over to see if you were okay and found that you barely had a pulse so I gave you my blood, there was no attacking, you couldn't even sit up, I had to hold you up the entire time." Sasuke explained. Sakura's eyebrows shot up, he _gave_ her his blood, and he held her up while she sucked him dry? Was the guy crazy? Sakura swallowed her cookie before speaking in complete bewilderment.

"Are you serious? You actually gave me your blood? You, um… held me up?" Sakura asked. She could see the amusement in his eyes, why did he not get creeped out by that?

"How can you do that? If it was me I'd have just left them there." Sakura breathed out. Sasuke smirked at her before placing a cookie into his mouth.

"What else could I do? I thought you were dying." He stated simply. Sakura just sat there; she couldn't believe that Sasuke would do that for her, that he would give up his blood for her when she needed it most.

"T-thank you, Sasuke." She stuttered. Sakura's cheeks warmed as her own blood rushed to fill them. Sasuke smirked again before replying.

"Your welcome Haruno." He couldn't help but chuckle at her expression; she looked like a little kid again, what with her bed head and everything.

"Call me Sakura, please." She blurted out without thinking. Sakura's cheeks turned a brilliant red and watched as Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"You sure?" He asked, not sure what brought that on, then again she called him by his first name so he guessed it was only fair. He watched as Sakura nodded her head firmly with her bright red cheeks and he couldn't help but smile. It was a small one, but it was there.

"Okay Sakura."

...!...

**well, that was longer than i expected... oh well. and just so you know my updating will probably slow down a bit because i'm trying to finish my art port folio so i don't have as much time as i would like. But anyways i hope you liked it! Thanks for reading and REEEEEEVEIW! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HYPER I GET WHEN I GET A REVIEW, especially a long one 0.0! THANKS FOR READING!**


	10. Attack Attack

**Warning: BLOOOOOOOOD =] **

**Chapter 10 – Attack Attack**

The sound of the front door of the Uchiha company building opening was like heaven to Sakura and Sasuke as they sat at the reception desk the very same morning. They'd been sitting in comfortable silence while Sakura wrote some lyrics absentmindedly. But when the sound of the outside world hit them they were running for the door like a shot, not caring how stupid they looked.

They both ran for the door where they could see some bulky man who, in Sakura's opinion, looked about fifteen months pregnant with twins, was just opening up the door. The look on his face when he saw the two of them charging straight for him at full speed, the poor man let out a very unmanly squawk as he jumped away from the door. Mikoto and Fugaku both stood just outside and also got quite a shock when they saw the pair dive out the door and into freedom.

Mikoto jumped forward and began to fret over the two, making sure they were really okay. Sasuke let her man handle him for a while as she dragged him over to the sleek dark limo waiting for them. He wondered why they'd brought one, they prefer to ride Mercedes rather than limo's of all things, mind you they probably wanted to talk to them in private, and not all of them could fit in the back of the car.

With a happy sigh Sakura took in a huge gulp of fresh air as Mikoto shuffled her along to the car. Sakura (for once) was a little disappointed at having to take the car, she was in the mood to walk back, she'd never take freedom and the outside world for granted again. So with a huff she clambered into the long limo and took her seat next to Sasuke and pulled her seat belt on.

Mikoto and Fugaku both sat opposite them and did the same, the air of calmness flooding the area. Everyone was happy that the small ordeal yesterday was behind them, even though Sasuke would admit that he'd rather enjoyed the time spent with Sakura that morning. After Sasuke had agreed to call Sakura by her first name and not her second he'd felt a little closer to the woman. Whether that was good or not he didn't really care, Sasuke found himself more than happy to drift closer to her, he wouldn't exactly call her a friend, but then again Sasuke never declared anyone, even Naruto, a friend. Then again, Naruto some how managed to drill it into him that he was, even if he didn't admit it out loud.

He peered over at his father opposite him, giving him the go ahead to speak, he'd gathered that his father had wanted to talk to them, why else would he have come? Fugaku straightened up in his chair, and prepared to speak.

"You both have today off, it's the least I can do for everything. But, if I may ask, how did you end up getting stuck in there in the first place?" He questioned, a single brow raised as he regarded to two people in front of him. Sasuke and Sakura both glanced at each other with a questioning look, wondering who was going to answer his question. Sakura nudged his side subtly, indicating that he was to answer and not her, with a roll of the eyes he faced his father and began to explain in his usual monotone voice.

"We were about to head out late since I had extra work to do. I'd agreed to take Sakura home since we were going to the same place anyway and as we were heading to the lift the back up got hit by lightening, I think." He stated as an after thought. Fugaku nodded, lent back and folded his arms, accepting his son's story. Sasuke then began to process what his father had just said; he'd stated that they both got the day off. The thought of going home right now didn't exactly appeal to him very much. He knew that Karin would be there and most likely get clingy because he'd been with Sakura all night, he really couldn't be bothered with the woman right now.

"Could I just go back to work? I don't really want to fall behind and I had a few meetings today." Sasuke pleaded, hoping his father would take pity on him, even if he didn't know what to pity. Every one in the car gave him a weird look, wondering why the hell he wanted to go back to the place he'd just been imprisoned in. Fugaku just gave him a blank look and huffed, he was not going to let his son become addicted to work, well, not at twenty-four anyway.

"No. Your not a robot Sasuke, take the day off and be grateful. I don't offer them often." He deadpanned. Sasuke gave an irritated huff and sat back, arms crossed as he stared out of the tinted window. Sakura held in a laugh, he looked so much like a small kid right now, the way he had his arms crossed and how he frowned as he looked out the window. It was almost laughable that Sasuke would get into a mood about not being aloud to go to work of all places.

Sakura couldn't help but snigger slightly at his actions before turning back around. Fugaku looked from Sasuke to Sakura with his usual blank eyes, an Uchiha trait, she was sure, and spoke.

"Did Sasuke tell you about the up coming Party next month?" He questioned. Sakura swore she heard Sasuke groan in pain before he glared at his father, but said nothing. Sakura frowned in confusion, ignoring Sasuke for the moment.

"No, he hasn't." She stated simply, still ignoring him. Fugaku looked heaven ward and said something even Sakura couldn't catch and faced her again to explain.

"I'm having a Halloween party next month to promote the company and since you and your band are meant to be a big part of that it's also going to be where your first release of your new album shall be. The media will be there so it'll be perfect for advertisement, think of it as a launch part of sorts." He explained. Sakura froze… the release of their album was next month! Did they even _have _enough songs for that? She didn't think they even had six for crying out loud!

Sakura gapped like a fish as she regarded Fugaku, was he serious? Then again, that man was always serious. Did he think she and the band could write an entire album in one month! No way, just, no way.

"We've not even got half the album finished yet, I don't think we'll be done in time." Sakura forced out of frozen lips. Fugaku merely raised an eyebrow at her as if saying he simply didn't care.

"I'm so doomed." She mumbled as she sat back and became vacant. With her looking like an empty doll and Sasuke like a moody three year old, Mikoto found it hard not to snigger at them both. If only she had a camera…

"Sir, we're here." The driver said through the small window. Sasuke just frowned even more as his building came into view, he really didn't want to go home at all but just put up with it. He was engaged to her for god sake, yet he disliked the thought of being around her, it simply wasn't normal.

With a grumpy huff he climbed out of the car and put on his suit jacket that he'd been carrying before he remembered he'd left his case in the office. With an annoyed groan he turned and watched the car drive off with a longing look. He wasn't to sure if he should be admitting this or not but he'd give anything to be back in that limo right now and in the seat next to that pink haired half-breed.

…!...

Karin once again paced the length of the open planned condo with a strong sense of Dai sha vu. With the house phone in hand and wrapped around her stomach she chewed on her thumbnail with her eyebrows creased in a deep frown. She was worried.

Not only had Sasuke not come home but when she phoned the Mansion Mikoto told her he and Sakura hadn't turned up. Various scenario's of her Sasuke and the pink rodent flew threw her head at high speed, refusing to stop. Even after her warning, even after Karin told her personally to _back off, _the little shit goes and pulls a stunt like this, and the very next day no less. She had no nerve.

Karin had no idea where they might be right now but when Sasuke got home she was going to make it clear who he was with, who was more important and who was higher up the food chain, which was Karin, obviously. The mere thought of the rat even being near the same league as Karin made her want to laugh, a hobo had no right being near them. She should just leave, or she'd make her leave.

The sound of the lift doors opening pulled Karin out of her thoughts as she whirled around and marched across the condo, heading for the worn out figure just exiting the doors.

Sasuke wanted nothing more than to climb into bed right now. Sleeping in his office chair hadn't been one of his smarter ideas and was seriously starting to regret it. The sound of stiletto heals clacking against the wooden floor pulled him from his thoughts however, forcing him too look up from where his eyes had been forced to the ground.

Karin walked up to him with a frown in place and her arms firmly crossed under her chest, pushing her chest up in a way that made Sasuke want to cringe. He wondered when he stopped liking Karin's chest, any other time he wouldn't have minded at all to have them in his face, but now all he wanted to do was look away.

Karin noticed his hesitance and her frown deepened, what had the rat done to him! She loosened her arms a little, giving up and instead just took up an angry stance. It was rare that she would get mad at Sasuke, but she had to get it through that head of his that he was _hers._ He'd given her the ring and there was no way he was taking it back, not if she could help it.

Sasuke watched her wearily, this wasn't what he'd expected, and he thought she would have jumped him when he came back, not get angry with him. He didn't think he'd ever seen her angry at him, besides the time he broke her bra when ripping it off but he'd rather not think of that right now. He watched with caution as she glared at him, waiting for him to make the first move.

"Excuse me Karin. I want to go to bed." He tonelessly said. He was not in the mood to talk and really couldn't be assed with the twenty questions' he just knew she was going to fire at him. Karin uncrossed her arms and placed them on her perfectly curved hips, staring intently into Sasuke's eyes. Wild fire met with dark coal as they both stared for a while, both of their brows now creased in frustration.

"Karin wou-" Sasuke tried to say before he was interrupted.

"Where the hell did you and that rat run off to last night." She spoke, acid running into her voice. Sasuke was surprised, he never heard this tone of voice being directed at him before, she was obviously pretty mad at him for not coming home. But then he remembered what she'd just called Sakura; she'd called her a rat, which was uncalled for. Sakura had done nothing to Karin and she didn't deserve this treatment.

"Her name is Sakura, not 'rat'." He replied, a little anger leaking into his usually calm voice. Karin refused to react, even though the comment burned. He was meant to be on her side, not the rats.

"Would you just answer?" She shot, her voice sharp and firm. Sasuke let out an irritated huff before answering.

"There was a power cut in the company and we both got locked in." He explained as simply as he could before he tried to make an escape. Karin saw this and moved in front of him and placed her palm against his well-toned chest, stopping him in his tracks.

Sasuke swallowed an annoyed groan, couldn't she just leave him be? All he wanted was to sleep in his nice warm and amazingly comfy bed, not put up with this shit!

"Karin, move." He growled. Karin just looked up at him, she was used to that tone of voice so it hardly affected her anymore.

"No I wont. Not until you agree with me to stay away from that woman." She all but spat, the mere thought of saying 'Sakura' made Karin want to pull her own hair out.

Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow at Karin's demand. Why the hell did she want him to stay away from Sakura? He wanted to know what Karin's problem was with her, she'd done _nothing_, absolutely nothing. Sasuke didn't know why but he felt incredibly protective against Sakura, like she was something worth protecting.

"Karin…" Sasuke warned. Karin simply held his gaze, not backing off.

"Sasuke, your engaged to _me_, not her. Stop acting like it's the other way around." She cut him off when Sasuke went to continue his sentence. She refused to let him take her side and not Karin's.

"I know something's going on, don't pretend like its not, I'm not stupid." She glowered. Sasuke's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Karin thought he liked Sakura? Now that was almost laughable, he didn't like Sakura in that way, she was simply a close acquaintance. Sasuke ignored the fact that the thought stung a little around the chest area.

"There's nothing going on between us Karin. You're my fiancé, I want to be with you." He said, wondering why it felt like a lie, a complete and total lie. Karin smirked a little, an evil glint in her eye.

Karin slowly got up on her tiptoes, mouth against his ear as she whispered.

"Prove it." She groaned seductively, wrapping her arms around his neck and pushing her hips against his. Sasuke inwardly growled in frustration, why did she have to do this, all he wanted to do today was sleep and maybe sneak some work in as well. Not pleasure her…

With a silent irritated huff he moved her head around and pressed his lips to hers. Karin instantly reacted, she pushed her chest into his and deepened the kiss. Sasuke really didn't want to do this but he knew she was right. Sakura wasn't involved with him at all, Karin was, they were engaged, he had to be intimate otherwise she'd suspect something. Only he didn't know what that was.

He felt Karin's arm slide down to his shirt and pull the buttons open, reveling his pale, toned chest and abdomen. Karin never once let go of his lips as she attacked his clothes, pulling them off one by one.

Sasuke resisted the urge to pull away and instead began on her. Karin pulled him away to their shared bedroom where Sasuke proceeded to convince Karin and himself that Sakura was nothing compared to her when it came to his love life. Only he knew somewhere deep down that it was just the opposite, even if he wasn't ready to admit it to himself yet.

…!...

Karin sat in the surprisingly clean apartment as she watched the man in front of her as he did the same. Karin wasn't happy, she was so unhappy in fact that she'd even went as far as to get the help of Suigetsu, the man who she had to admit she had a thing for.

Karin was ready to get rid of Sakura, permanently, no strings attached, and luckily Suigetsu was just the man for the job. He had his connections, some of which Karin really didn't want any part in but connections nonetheless.

Suigetsu glanced curiously at her, it had to be the first time in months that she hadn't come looking for sex. Her reasons were still unknown to him but he didn't ask, he simply waited for her to speak first, it was the easiest way to avoid getting something thrown at him. It was only then that Karin spoke to him, informing of what she needed.

"I need you to ruff up someone for me." She instructed. Her voice was powerful and commanding, something he personally loved about the woman.

"And who do you need me to 'ruff up', exactly?" He asked, sarcasm clear in his voice. He wondered what had got her in such a mood, to order him to beat someone senseless? Well, in any case, he felt sorry for the poor bugger that annoyed Karin.

"Her names Sakura Haruno, she's living in the Uchiha Mansion at the moment." Karin informed him, she lent back against the sofa and watched the man opposite for his reply. Suigetsu thought for a moment, he'd never heard of this 'Sakura Haruno', it was weird, seeing as she apparently lived with the exclusive Uchiha's.

"Never heard of her." He deadpanned. Karin growled a little in frustration, why did he always have to be so annoying!

"Well of course you haven't heard of her! She's nothing special!" Karin snapped, folding her arms angrily and huffing. Suigetsu simply smirked before leaning forward and leaning his forearms across his knees.

"What has she done to you anyways? It's been awhile since the last time you came begging for my assistance." He said in a bored tone. He wished she would hurry up, Suigetsu couldn't be bothered with this right now.

Karin simply looked at him with a creased brow, she didn't really want to explain herself to Suigetsu, he wouldn't understand. He was to laid back for this sort of thing to matter to him. Sometimes she wondered why she was even 'involved' with him, whenever they were together they would always argue, or have sex…

"That's none of your business." Karin warned, her voice low and threatening. Suigetsu simply raised an eyebrow at the angry woman in front of him. He wasn't exactly going to go beat someone up and not know the reason for it. Karin huffed, realizing what he meant with that look, she didn't exactly want to tell him but he wouldn't do it if she refused.

"Jesus, Fine. The rat is getting to close to Sasuke and I think there might be something going on that he's not telling. Plus he's started to distance himself from me, so I want his attention back and the only thing I can do to do that is get her out of the way." Karin explained. Suigetsu's eyebrows shot up, could she actually be so cold? She wanted to get this Sakura person hospitalized because she was getting close that Uchiha twat? Sometimes he really wanted to know where she got these ideas from.

"You know that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard right?" And he'd heard some pretty daft stuff over the years, not that he was going to say _that_ part out loud. Karin gave him a death glare that she'd picked up from Sasuke and Suigetsu tried not to frown.

"Will you just do it for me?" Karin asked, leaning forward and showing off a bit of her chest, he was always a sucker for her body. His eyes locked onto the low top and she smirked, counting the seconds until he caved.

"I know some people that owe me a favor, I'll ask them later on." He said, eyes never once leaving her chest. Karin grinned in victory, she knew she'd have her way sooner or later, it all just depended on how much skin she showed.

"Where will I find her?" Suigetsu asked, actually looking up to meet her gaze. Karin thought for a moment, she couldn't say at the company because there would be to many witnesses, it had to be somewhere quite. Then she remembered! Sasuke would sometimes moan about the midnight strolls the rat would take every night. If they caught her just by the park that's just a few streets down from the mansion, it may be a little close for comfort but the place had enough cover and if she screamed it probably would carry very far. With a sly grin Karin sat up, cutting off the view of her chest before answering.

" You know the park a few streets from the Mansion?" Suigetsu nodded his head. "Okay well, apparently she has a fetish for late night walks, wait around the park, near the road and you could make a grab for her when she passes. The woods will give you the cover you need and nobody would come running because it's so quite around those parts." She grinned, happy that she spoke complete logic.

Suigetsu pondered over it for a second, it was actually a pretty good plan, considering who thought it up. He nodded in agreement, thinking about all the preparation he had to do now.

"Suigetsu?" Karin asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"I want you to go too, you know, make sure the people you ask actually send her into the hospital and not the grave." Karin warned. The last thing she wanted was to have a dead corpse on her hands, even if it was the rats. She wasn't going to take any chances, after all, she didn't want to kill her, which would be stupid.

"Fine." He replied, having roughly the same thoughts as Karin.

After he'd finished his planning he got up, pulled off his T-shirt and walked over to his bedroom. Karin watched with a questioning look as he turned around to look at her straight in the eye.

"I do want payment you know." He stated with a smirk. Karin felt a smirk also curl up at her painted lips as she jumped up and followed, all the while removing her clothes for the second time that day.

…!...

Sakura sunk her teeth into the warm neck of her victim, blood spurting everywhere as she did so. The man in her arms was clawing at her back to get free and she had a sneaky suspicion that he'd probably draw blood himself.

The mans blood flowed like a river in time with the frantic beating of his heart that only grew faster as that wonderful adrenaline was realized, something that added a wonderful edge. Sakura closed her mouth over the wound on his neck and began to suck. She was glad that she hadn't grabbed the woman that walked by a few minutes earlier, it always felt weird when she had to suck another woman's neck, plus they were always suffering from some sort of eating disorder, or had some STD, coming from this end of town anyway.

Sakura moaned out in pleasure as the warm, thick and glorious substance slid down her throat. The pleasure that swept through her was intense, like every night, but not in a sexual way, more like stretching after being curled up in some uncomfortable position, or like getting free after being stuck in a rather small box. It was the amount of relief it caused that made drinking so pleasurable, nothing on the 'kinky' side like you'd read in some vampire novel.

But Sakura still hated it, unless she was in the middle of the act, then she liked it very much, it was only before and after that she hated it. Drinking blood marked her as a monster, as something that should be killed on the spot, she'd have killed herself if she weren't so cowardly about it. It was only a matter of time before Sasuke realized and got rid of her himself, something she wasn't looking forward to.

It was bad enough that she'd bit him, it only made it worse however that she had no memory of her horrid acts. She did remember the smell of his blood however, even if she were unconscious at the time, Vampires would never be able to forget the smell of their victims, no matter what condition they were in. Surprisingly enough Sasuke seemed to smell of incense and the musky sent of heat, even _if_ that was a small, it would fill her nose and cause Butterfly's to violently attack her stomach.

She'd noticed when she walked into his office that morning, they'd both had their day off and were now back to work. She been so shocked, her eyeballs were probably bulging and caused Sasuke to give her a weird look. Of course after that she'd very quickly left after handing him some files he needed to go over. She hadn't seen him since.

So now Sakura had hit the streets with vengeance, grabbing the first male to come her way that appeared relatively clean, as in he was pretty sober and hadn't consumed any drugs. She did _not_want another replay of last time…

She took another greedy gulp, loving the way the heat of it even reached her tingling toes and fingertips. The man's arms flopped to his sides and his head lolled as his body sagged in her grip, finally falling unconscious. Sakura felt a little bad, but it was soon over come as she took another swig of delicious blood.

Eventually she let go and licked his wound shut before setting him on the ground gently. She pulled out a towel that she'd been carrying in her jacket pocket and began to mop up the evidence. She started with the man's neck and face. Luckily he had very short hair, so none of his blood had been able to touch it, thank god. She hated scrubbing other peoples hair. His neck was coated in the red liquid as she began to wipe it down, covering most of the towel. His clothes were dark and so the red didn't show up from where it had most probably seeped into. Once he looked presentable she began on herself, first of all wiping down her face and as much of her hair as was humanly (or as vampirely?) possible. Her clothes were dark too and she had on a waterproof so it wasn't hard to get all the blood off.

With a deep sigh Sakura placed her open palms onto the man's temples, concentrating carefully as she pushed her mind into his, skipping through his memories before erasing the ones she wanted. His eyes snapped open blankly and Sakura retreated quickly into the shadows, being sure to not be spotted. The man shuffled out into the street before he regained his mind and walked on, believing that nothing happened.

After about five minutes of waiting Sakura walked out of the ally after checking to see if anyone was near. She walked back with her head down and hands shoved in her pockets, she took her time, it was only half one after all, it wasn't like she was out till four am like she used to do. Thank god…

She walked slowly past the empty streets, not taking in her surroundings and instead focused on the near future. She had a lot of work to do, when she arrived that morning with the news of Fugaku's launch idea, the band had been thrilled, except Naruto who paled, he'd reacted more or less the same as Sakura, where the other two were just exited and didn't bother spending almost all of there free time working. Neither did Sakura really, it was more the thought of not finishing in time that worried her, even though she could easily finish her parts to a song in one day her other band members tended to be a little slower.

Sakura entered the more upper class part of Konoha, not once lifting her head to check if she had taken the wrong turn anywhere, there was no need to, she knew her way back like she knew the back of her hand. She lifted her head to look at the full moon in the sky, she noticed how much more clearly the sky was in this half of the city. The stars twinkled and shined from where they had been tossed over the black sky to create an almost magical feel to the other wise simple sky.

Sakura loved the night sky, and not just because she was part Vampire either, it always seemed to calm her fears with a simple glance and make even her most terrifying experiences seem to small compared to the huge space the sky took up. She could honestly stare at it all night, if she had a choice in the matter, Sakura would have liked to become an astronomer. But that was out of the question.

Sakura turned away from the sky and glanced into the park she was walking past, the tree's were right next to the road and even with her eyesight Sakura couldn't even see through it's black cloak. She felt someone's eye on her, in fact, it was more than one, call her paranoid if you want but she wasn't often wrong in that area. Sakura sped up slightly from her slow pace, wanting to get out of there. She was worried that maybe another Vampire was maybe watching her, or it was just some bird.

Suigetsu watched as the girl sped up her pace, according to Karin this 'Sakura' person had pink hair, and sure enough, there she was, at two in the morning, just like he'd been informed. He nodded to the skinheads that were positioned behind him as he pulled up his hood and picked up the wooden bat that he'd lent against a tree. The skinheads behind him sniggered and got ready, some armed with pocket knifes and knuckle-dusters when some just cracked their knuckle's or were armed with the same as him.

Suigetsu had instructed them to not kill the girl, they'd complied easily enough, although he still didn't trust them. He was surprised however to actually see Karin's knew best-friend, note the sarcasm, she didn't look like the usual girl that Sasuke would go for, and that 'usual' would translate to people like Karin. This girl however looked to be everything that had anything to do with the word 'girl'. She was under developed even though she was quite tall, and kept herself covered up. Unlike Karin, who was busty and showed it to the world. He was beginning to wonder if this really was the girl, he ignored the thought however and just got moving, he didn't want to loose track of her.

They were about to close in on a very shady spot that was perfect for cover and he indicated for the skinheads to get into position. Two of them went to join Suigetsu at the front as they all prepared to make a grab for the girl who was just walking past. She looked slightly spooked he noted as she turned the corner, he wondered if she'd maybe noticed them.

She was just walking past now and they made their move, grabbing onto her waterproof and dragging her into the woods. She let out a surprised squawk before he sealed his hand over her mouth and dragged her deeper into the woods. She was pretty strong, he'd admit, as he dragged her back all she did was kick and punch, even if it was near black in there and she mostly hit empty air. He dumped her in the centre of a small clearing and stood back, letting the skinheads have their fun…

**...!...**

**SOOOOOORRY ITS SO LAAAAAAAAATE! When i said that i had my art stuff to finish last time i seemed to have forgotten about my other subject... =[ seriously, school has now officaly KILLED my social life... oh well, thanks for reading! and PLEAAAASE review, it only takes two minutes and i would really love it, getting fed back is so awesome! **


	11. Something to Remember

**Warning: violence and blood =]...**

**Chapter 11 – Something to remember**

Sakura looked around in a panic stricken daze, the fact that the mere thought of skinheads attacking her had occurred a few days ago seemed a little, strange. She was flat out on her back as they all advanced on her, some had hoods pulled up when others simply showed their faces, not worrying that she might see them in the dark. There was about eight of them, she counted, sizing them up as she rolled onto her knees before standing in a defensive crouch, ready to pounce at a moments notice. She took in their weaponry, noticing the odd wooden bat here and there, not good, one of the only things that could kill or harm a vampire was wood, ironically enough. It contained some chemical that didn't allow the wound it produced to heal like it normally would, instead it would heal at human speed, not something she was very fond of.

Some chuckled in glee as they trapped her, cutting off every exit she had, the flight strategy she had been planning completely useless now. Sakura readied her fists, awaiting their first move. Her eyes gleamed in the night sky as she scowled, showing her attackers that she wasn't going to go down easily. They just found this even more amusing however, some even nudged others sides as they made fun off her.

Sakura saw red; she had no idea what she'd done, where they just out looking for trouble? If so then she was going to teach them a lesson. Sakura was a pretty good fighter, especially with her fists, living on the streets had made sure of that, and the only rule to survival out there was to fight for it, by any means necessary. She was pretty sure these guys were vaguely familiar with it too; only it was probably on a duller magnitude.

As they grew closer she growled, deep in her chest, she could feel it vibrate in though out her body. None of her attackers backed away however, in fact, they only grew more exited, wanting to cause her great pain. She heard someone huff in the background before grunting out a simple 'get on with it' before the skinheads moved faster.

Sakura made the mistake of looking towards the voice, wondering where the voice had come from, she didn't remember there being a ninth member when she'd counted them but then again she could hardly see. Then she heard someone shift quickly, she had little time to react before a sharp and agonising pain shot up from her left side. She'd been stabbed. Sakura leapt away from her stabber and punched him square in the jaw, not bothering to check if he was still breathing when he went down.

The others began to attack then, she spent the next ten minutes dodging pen knifes, knuckle-dusters and was extremely careful of the wooden bats that were swung her way. Her side was burning in pain, because she was moving around so much her wound didn't get the chance to close up, she could feel her blood trickling down her side as she moved. Then a bat hit her square in the ribs, knocking the breath out of her and breaking a rib. She cursed herself for being so distracted as she took her chance to swing at someone trying to take advantage of her momentary relapse in concentration. She went full out, allowing her anger to over flow and take control. She took her arm away from were it had been cradling her sore rib and ignored the pain as she lunged at the skinhead. She punched him full force right in the gut and he went down like a rock, she wasted no time in turning around and having another session of dodging attacks.

Someone snuck up behind her and clobbered her on the back of the head with something metal, she went down, her eyes seeing white spots for a second before her body reacted to the large gash that now sat on the back of her head. It closed up pretty quickly but that didn't stop her attackers. They'd started to harshly kick her since she'd fallen to the ground; instinctively she grabbed her head and skilfully wormed her way out of the bully circle quite quickly. It didn't stop her body from aching however; the assault she'd just received was enough to put someone in hospital. She turned around and used the momentum produced to swing for someone else; she hit him straight in the right cheek and sent him flying backwards onto the ground where he laid twitching.

The five remaining skinheads stepped over the unconscious bodies and eyed her a little more wearily than before. It brought a triumphant smirk and a dangerous tint to her usually open green eyes. She took up her fighting stance even though her rib and body screamed out against the movement, she was tougher than your average street fighter, she knew this one because it was one of the many ways she used to earn money.

The skinheads that had no weaponry grabbed the bats left by the unconscious bodies much to Sakura's annoyance. Her fists were in front of her face like a boxer as she ran forward, ducking each and every blow, adding her own every so often. The pained huffs and grunts that came from her enemy's was satisfying to her ears, it was about time that they started feeling her pain.

Then a solid bat came flying into the back of her head, shredding her skin and allowing blood to trickle down her face and scalp. Sakura felt disorientated for a moment before she managed to land a kick in his goolies, he dropped onto his knees and gasped out in a squeal. Sakura punched his head, causing it to fly into the ground with a satisfying crack. She turned around to face the other four, happy to see no more wooden objects.

They were being careful, she could tell. They way they now hovered showed their fear for her. She almost smirked. Instead Sakura looked them in the eye, being sure to fill her gaze with as much acid as she was capable of producing.

"I suggest you bugger off, unless you want to end up like your friends here." She spat, moving back to nudge one of their faces with her foot. They all snarled but quickly shut up as she closed in on them, she marched up to them, preparing to punch the living daylights out of them. Instead they seemed to notice the danger and bolted, not bothering about their fellow skinheads, Sakura snorted, they were really scared little girls once given a piece of true fear. And to think Sakura hadn't even pulled her fangs out.

Sakura felt movement behind her and turned around just in time to knock the wooden bat that came swinging her way, the bat smashed in two from the force of it as wooden splinters flew through the air. A bolt of pain shot through her knuckles and up her hand as her knuckle cracked, she was sure. The man in front of her had his hood up, covering his face, but she caught sight of a few silver strands falling out as he dived back. Sakura took her fighting stance again, she'd completely forgot about this one.

"Who are you? Did someone send you?" Sakura demanded. She tried to clench her right fist but gave up, it would scream in pain at the slightest movement. The man in front of her straightened up, feeling that she wasn't going to attack him anytime soon with her now busted fist.

"That is none of your concern." He replied. Sakura's eyebrows shot up, surprised by his word choice, he clearly wasn't like the other skinheads, he was probably the one in charge. She eyed him carefully, making sure that she didn't miss anything. The man in front of her didn't make any hostile move, instead he just held the broken bat by his side limply and looked at her, even though he didn't show his face even once.

"Why did you attack me?" Sakura demanded again, she wanted answers. Now.

"Because your in someone's way, because of you, they can't get to what they want. That's all I'm willing to share." He said before he dropped the bat and ran off into the cover of the trees and bushes. Sakura made a move to go after him but gave up when her still bleeding side simply refused, the pain she'd ignored was now coming back with vengeance and Sakura found it hard to even move. She took a deep breath to assess the damage done to her ribs, and regretted it. Her entire chest lit up in a sharp pain, like lightening was travelling through it. Wood was definitely not something Sakura enjoyed dealing with… But had come to the conclusion that it wasn't just one rib that had been broken, it was more like four.

Sakura unzipped her jacket and checked to see how bad the stab wound was, it had began to clot and Sakura wondered if it had penetrated anything vital. Not that she should have been worried about it, it was a penknife, she thinks, that stabbed her, it wasn't wood so it would heal pretty quickly. It still really hurt though, and Sakura couldn't help but cringe in pain when she prodded it, the flesh was knitting together underneath before the skin closed up, only leaving behind a thin pink line that Sakura was sure would scar, it was pretty deep after all, deeper than her fangs could ever go.

Sakura gave up on her small check up, either way she'd have to go to the hospital. With shaky legs she began to walk, the only damage she'd received to her legs had been kicks and a few slashes but they'd all healed by know, it was the fact that she was so tired now that made them shake. Sakura looked around the clearing for a bit, searching for evidence of her attackers, the unconscious bodies that were scattered over the floor held no ID or anything relating to who they were or who sent them.

With an irritated huff and a cringe of pain Sakura moved out of the clearing and back onto the road to head back to the Mansion.

…!...

The last thing Mikoto expected was to be woken up at three in the morning, but what she really _didn't expect_ was for Sakura to come trundling in looking like she'd been through a war zone. When the butler led her through to the living room she was met with the bloody mess Sakura was in. To say Mikoto panicked, was an understatement.

"Oh my god! Sakura! Are you okay! What on earth happened to you!" She all but screamed as she rushed over to a cringing Sakura who only whimpered and hissed when Mikoto pulled her into a hug.

"Gah! Broken ribs, broken ribs!" Sakura chanted as she pulled away from the embrace and rubbed her chest as a sort of comfort. Mikoto could only stare as Fugaku finally entered the room, his eyes widening slightly as he took in the blood stained mess otherwise known as Sakura Haruno.

"What happened to you?" He asked. His voice letting some of the worry he felt seep through. She was a mess, plain and simple. Her head had had an open wound that looked sore and her face was coated in blood because of it. Her clothes were ripped in some places and she was covered in dirt, there was even a twig sticking out of her hair.

"I got mugged in the park. I was out for a walk and some skinheads jumped me." Sakura replied. She didn't really want to tell them what she really thought it was, it would only cause Mikoto to worry even more and it was her business, not theirs. It was her problem to deal with.

Mikoto covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide with worry. Sakura felt bad about making her worry, it wasn't fair to dump her problems on them both but she needed this treated, and they were the only people she knew who could do that for her, considering she didn't have medical insurance. Fugaku walked over and gingerly moved her head to inspect the two wounds on her head. Sakura tried not to twitch or wince as he made his inspection, she gathered he was trying to decide what to do. With a huff he stepped back and looked at Sakura.

"We're going to have to take you to the hospital, the wound on the back of your head is going to need stitches." He failed to mention the insurance but he gathered that she didn't have any. He would have gotten her some but he'd never guessed that she would have been mugged.

He then instructed the butler to go get the car as both he and Mikoto left to change out of their nightclothes. Sakura sat back down on the comfy sofa and tried once again to ignore her ever-growing headache that seemed to pulsate and grow with every annoying beat. Sakura instead distracted herself by thinking over what had happened that night.

The silver haired man had caught her interest, he _knew_ what he was doing, he had everything planned out, she could tell, how else would he have known where to find her? Or what she looked like? Or how many people to bring? Heck, he had even made the Skinheads surround her, blocking off every chance of escape. This wasn't just some random attack, he'd _planned_ this. The only question was now was why? It wasn't Vampires, this wasn't their style at all, they did things with their own hands, involving humans would be too troublesome. But there was no one else who Sakura could think of who hated her enough to do this, she was usually a very polite and friendly person, rarely annoying people, unless it was Sasuke, but that was just something that they did, that couldn't be considered a reason to do this to her.

Sakura flinched as someone came through, the noise the door made wasn't something that pleased her ears. A nicely dressed and slightly exhausted looking butler came through the doors and led her out to the car that was waiting for them. She sat quietly and leaned back, a sudden wave of sleepiness overcame her and Sakura couldn't help but close her eyes.

It was at that moment however that Mikoto and Fugaku decided to enter the car, they both slammed the door's shut before turning the small light on, causing Sakura to cringe. Her tolerance to light and noise intensity was only getting worse by the minute. Mikoto then nudged her side before talking in subdued tones.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" She shook her shoulder again and Sakura winced as it agitated her sore ribs. Mikoto then quickly stopped with a whispered apology. Sakura cracked open one eye and looked at Mikoto who had that worried expression on her face again, Fugaku on the other hand had a calculating one, Sakura didn't know whether she should be nervous about that.

Once they had began their journey to the hospital the car grew quiet, much to Sakura's happiness, her head ache wasn't as bad when there was little noise, even if she still wished the light would somehow magically go out. Once they'd actually arrived however it became very chaotic, because the Uchiha's had private care Sakura didn't have to wait long to get looked at, but she was still on edge. Sakura didn't like hospitals.

She kept wondering through clouded thoughts that she might be discovered, she hadn't even thought of changing clothes, which was odd, Sakura was normally on top of things like that. Now she was worried that someone might ask why she had fresh blood on her skin and no wound, or why she had no medical records to begin with. But she convinced herself that they wouldn't ask her that, all she needed was some stitches and a splint for her knuckles. Nothing to worry over... right?

Mikoto had disappeared once they got an appointment, saying she wanted to tell Itachi and Sasuke, for reason's Sakura couldn't quite understand, it was probably her sleep deprived mind that caused it. Sakura sat down on the hospital bed and quickly laid down, her eyelids becoming incredibly heavy as she tried desperately to block out the bright hospital lights above. Just as she felt sleep take over however, Fugaku shook her shoulder, annoying her ribs and pulling her away from dream land, unfortunately. Sakura tried her best to glare at him but the bright lights above didn't help, it only made her cringe and squint.

"Let me sleep." She murmured, not caring at how weak and pathetic she looked right now. Fugaku just gave her a blank look before answering.

"It's not good to sleep after a head injury." He stated simply. Sakura frowned, she wanted to sleep! Sakura closed her eyes anyway, hoping to at least block out the light and tried her best to ignore fugaku who kept on nudging her shoulder.

It was about five minutes later that a doctor in a white coat came through with mikoto trailing behind. He had a clipboard in hand and was writing something down before he turned to Sakura.

"Hello Miss Haruno, would you like to tell me what happened here?" He asked in a gentle voice, something that Sakura liked, it didn't irritate her head as much. Sakura sat up and gave a huge yawn before answering.

"I was out for a walk because I couldn't sleep and got jumped when I passed the park." Sakura explained in a sleepy voice. The Doctor nodded with a creased brow before scribbling something down on the clipboard. Mikoto walked over to Sakura and rubbed her back soothingly, as if she was trying to comfort her, Sakura couldn't help but melt into it.

"Okay, could you tell me where exactly it hurts?" The doctor asked as he walked towards her. Sakura removed her jacket so he had easier access to her ribs as he began to move his hand over her ribs, testing for anything suspicious. He moved over her sore area and Sakura hissed in pain.

"Right there, I think there's about four broken. It feels it anyway." She gasped as he began to prod the area more. He nodded his head and continued his examination of her ribs.

"Yep, definitely broken, but I think it's only about three, I'll have to get an ex-ray. Let me see your hand." He pointed down at the hand she'd been cradling on her lap and held it out for him to see. Her middle knuckle had swollen to twice its normal size and it was pulsating, something she was sure couldn't be considered normal. He took her hand in gentle ones and began to prod it slightly, trying to get a reaction from her, which he did, Sakura hissed out and tried to take her hand back.

"I'll need to ex-ray that too. Lets see your head, I'll clean it up for you." He offered before grabbing a small light from his pocket. Sakura edged away as he made a move to grab her head. He ignored it however and lightly pulled her eyelid up before flashing his torch at it. Sakura hissed as a flash of white-hot pain flashed through her head and she tried to squint. He didn't let her however and only held it open with little effort on his part.

"Follow the light with your eyes please." He commanded and Sakura tried her best to do as was commanded. He switched eyes every so often before he_ finally_ turned it off. He then instead walked out the door and came back shortly after accompanied with a nurse who was carrying a bowl of water, come cotton buds and what appeared to be a pair of tweezers. The doctor left the nurse to wash up Sakura's face as he turned to Fugaku who had taken residence in one of the chairs by the bed.

Sakura watched as the nurse opened the bag of cotton buds and used the tweezers to pick one up and dip it in the water, which smelled a little like disinfectant. Sakura hissed as the damp cotton touched her open wound, the nurse apologised before continuing to clean out the wound. The woman worked slowly, being careful not to agitate the wound further and Sakura was grateful, even if the disinfectant did sting a little.

"Miss Haruno?" The Doctor asked as he walked up to her, the nurse was just finishing up as her walked over and she made her leave, assuring Sakura that her head would get better soon.

"Yes?" Sakura replied though yet another yawn. It had to be about four am by now, Sakura really wanted to sleep.

"How's your head? Are you having any headaches? Are you dizzy at all?" He asked as he gently moved her head to get a better look at her wound. Sakura thought for a moment before answering.

"My head's really sore and my tolerance to light and sounds not to good." She answered honestly. He nodded, his brow creasing again as he spoke.

"Okay, I think you've got extreme tiredness too, I'll have to get someone to watch over you, I think that maybe you've got mild concussion. I'm afraid you'll be staying with us for a while." He stated, Sakura resisted the urge to groan, the last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a bed for a few days, she'd need to feed at some point, maybe she could go to the blood bank…

"Will she be okay?" Mikoto asked, concern running through her voice. Sakura looked over with tired eyes to see Mikoto on her feet at the foot of the bed.

"She'll be fine, just need's plenty of bed rest and some supervision for the next few nights, sometimes people can slip into coma's with head injury's when they sleep so I don't think it'll hurt to be a little careful." Mikoto's eyes widened at the prospect of Sakura slipping into a coma, which was the last thing she wanted, after all, she'd grown rather attached to Sakura.

The doctor then disappeared out of the door again with a quick 'be right back' and left Sakura with a now even more worried Mikoto. She then soon after began to gush over what had just been said. Sakura cringed at the amount of noise that the woman made and once she realised she was causing Sakura pain had quickly shut up.

When the Doctor came back in he had a glass of water in one hand and a packet of pills in the other. He gave them to her and Sakura was more than happy to take it, the painkillers she was given didn't taste all that good but it _was_ rather effective against her killer headache. But what worried her was the curved needle he whipped out from god knows where. Sakura felt slightly uneasy as he advanced with it, slowly threading the thread through it. But instead of jumping out of the way she just gritted her teeth and let him get on with it. The feel of the needle sliding through her scalp was not in the least bit a pleasant experience, but she didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter.

"What did you get hit by? This is a pretty big wound, I wouldn't be surprised if this scars." He asked, concern running through the Doctors voice as he spoke. Sakura sighed, she didn't like scars very much.

"With a bat, he snuck up on me when I was distracted with someone else." She said. Her nose cringed at the memory of her falling flat on her face, though she shouldn't be surprised, it was wood after all, but that didn't stop it from burning up part of her pride, oh well, she still won after all.

"Whoa, that must have hurt." He said, Sakura just replied with a simple 'yeah', not wanting to go into detail.

"There are a few splinters in your skin actually, I'll have to remove them once I'm done here." He commented absentmindedly as he continued his work. Sakura just cringed, no wonder her skin was really irritated, wooden splinters wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone, half-breed or otherwise.

Shortly after he'd done that he began with pulling out the splinters and Sakura found her self thinking that him sticking a sharp needle through her scalp was actually more pleasant than pulling out tiny wood chips that felt like red hot knifes.

Sakura began to daydream, hoping that it would take her mind off of what was happening to her head. The room had become silent as the doctor worked away on her head, something she actually enjoyed, seeing as her ears found no reason to act up.

That silence was shattered however, when the door was swung open and crashed against the wall. Sakura hissed and cringed as the doctor only jumped, luckily though her head remained unharmed from it. Sasuke stood at the door, completely out of breath and red faced, like he'd run the whole way. To say Sakura was shocked was an understatement, she knew that Mikoto had phoned him up but she never expected him to show. A small smile came to her lips at how worried he looked, she liked the fact that he cared.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Fugaku asked, getting up from his seat. Sasuke just looked around the room before closing the door quietly and walking over to Sakura.

"Mum said she got attacked, I couldn't just sit back now could I?" He questioned and shot a small glare at his father. Was he suggesting that he would simply go back to sleep if he heard Sakura had gotten _mugged_ and sent to _hospital_? It was an insult that he thought so.

Fugaku just gave a grunt before taking his seat again. Sasuke had actually had quite a hard time getting there, Karin hadn't been in the best of moods when he told her he was going to see Sakura. In fact, it was almost strange, when he told her she'd been sent to the Hospital he swore he could see some evil glint in her eye, but as soon as he told her he was off she'd went ballistic at him, saying that he shouldn't bother and just stay with her. The thought had angered him greatly, she wasn't the centre of the universe and she needed to realise that. But regardless of that, Sasuke had felt panic stricken, he had no idea what sort of condition she was in, if she was seriously hurt then he honestly didn't know what he would do…

"Are you okay?" He asked, worry never once leaving his voice, but he didn't care, Sakura was his priority. Sakura just looked up at him as the doctor continued to pull out the wooden splinters from her head.

"She's got a few broken ribs, a busted knuckle and mild concussion, but apart from that she's fine." The Doctor said, not once looking away from what he was doing. Sasuke nodded his head, taking in what had been said. Sasuke would have to talk to Sakura later about this, he had a feeling that it wasn't just a mugging, which was why he'd been so worried.

"Will she be okay?" He asked. This time it was Sakura who answered him, even though she sounded incredibly tired.

"I'll be fine, don't worry so much. It's weird when you do." Sakura joked, making him frown at her. But he was glad that she was well enough to still be cracking jokes. A lazy smile found its way onto her lips and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk back, he took a seat next to her and waited for the Doctor to finish.

After about another fifteen minutes the Doctor left and came back with some bandages and a small splint for Sakura's head and Knuckle. He worked quickly and efficiently, gently wrapping the white bandage around the now stitched up gash on the back of her head. After that he made quick work on the splint, it didn't take long for him to adjust it to her hand, something Sakura was happy about, the quicker he finished the sooner she could sleep.

After he finished he began to scribble down some notes on his clip board before he attached it to the end of the bed, he then walked over to the small bed stand and pulled open a drawer to pull out some hospital pyjamas', Sakura and Sasuke both cringed painfully at them, even though Sasuke wasn't even the one wearing it.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to wear this, there's the bathroom over there and I'll leave you for now but I'll get a nurse to come in and check up on you throughout the night. And I'll get an ex-ray ready for you tomorrow so I can take a look at your ribs." He pointed over to the door that opened up into a small bathroom and walked out, waving goodbye as he went. Mikoto stood up and walked over to Sakura, who was now holding the nightwear with instant dislike.

"I'll bring you some clothes tomorrow, I'm sure you wouldn't want to wear that thing any longer than necessary." Mikoto said lightly, but Sakura could hear the concern through her voice. Fugaku then stood up also and walked over to the other three at the bed.

"Mikoto, Sasuke, we should leave her to rest for now, I'm sure we can come back tomorrow." He said in his usual monotone. Sasuke frowned, he didn't want to leave just yet, not with Sakura in this condition anyway.

"I'll stay." Sasuke demanded in his firm commanding tone. Sakura was surprised to hear it coming from him, he usually wouldn't willingly stay in her company for too long, it made her wonder about his intentions, but it did make her smile, the thought of not being alone the whole night in a hospital was rather comforting.

"Fine then." Fugaku said before turning around and leaving the room, Mikoto trailing behind. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, he agreed? Just like that? Maybe he was just too tired to argue, he thought.

Sakura stood up on shaky legs and made her way to the bathroom. Sasuke watched wearily, waiting to see if she would trip up or not. She didn't, to his relief, but his worry didn't die. He would talk to her later, once she's had some sleep, the woman looked like the walking dead.

Sasuke waited for her to come out of the bathroom and held in a laugh when she finally did come out. The hospital gown she wore was at least two sizes to big, and the look on her face was priceless.

"Don't you dare say anything. _Ever._" She threatened. Sasuke only chuckled in amusement, she shuffled over to the bed and climbed in, kicking Sasuke as she did so, silently telling him to move. He complied easily and watched as she closed her eyes.

Within seconds she was under, her breathing evened out and deepened, the bandage on her head slipped slightly as she moved. Sasuke pushed it back into place as he took a seat by the bed. He watched her sleep for a while, finding it enchanting, he turned off the light and let the moon light seep through into the room. Her skin almost glowed now, her hair now looking like an almost red in the dark, or lilac.

Sasuke was glad that she was okay, in fact he was sure that she'd be back to her old self again. The thought made him smile, not smirk, it was weird how she affected him sometimes and he would constantly wonder how she did it. Was it a Vampire thing? He doubted it, she didn't give off that sort of vibe and like he'd said before, Sakura only ever acted herself. And that didn't involve any form of trickery, she was far to pissy and hot headed for that. But then again that was one of her charms.

He wondered idly what it would be like to have her as his fiancé instead of Karin, it would certainly be more pleasant to go home at night, and wake up in the mornings for that matter. She wouldn't cling to him and beg for attention at every move he made, she wouldn't suck up to him to stay in his good books and she certainly wouldn't ask for sex every two minutes. That kind of relationship was the one he preferred, he found. Sasuke had realised ages ago that Karin wasn't the one for him, in fact, it was almost laughable at how different they were. The only problem was that he couldn't just break it off with her, he didn't work that way, and it would be dishonourable to leave her for another woman. He would have to have a very good reason for breaking it off too, and so far he had none. So he was stuck with her.

Sasuke shook his head, he wasn't 'in love' with another woman, yes, he did want to get rid of Karin, but he wasn't in love with Sakura. She was just the catalyst that started his dislike for Karin, all she did was make him realise that he preferred women who had a little more personality than simple-minded lust. Something that was the base to Karin's personality, the rest was just her looks, yes she was very attractive, but he'd realised that he now preferred personality to looks. And he'd be forever grateful to Sakura for that.

But then he wondered, what if he did feel something for Sakura, the way he acted tonight certainly showed that he did. He'd acted purely on instinct as he rushed over to the hospital, he'd been so worried that it wasn't even funny. The thought actually scared him, Sasuke was pretty sure that he'd never actually 'been in love' before, as cheesy as it sounds. He thought he'd been in love with Karin, but that thought had died when he met Sakura.

Sasuke looked down at the sleeping woman, tucked up in the sheets, her face half buried in the pillow and covered by the thick bandage. She wasn't the most attractive female he'd ever met, she had no curves and a huge forehead, not that he'd point this out however, she'd probably punch him into next week. But, she had the most amazing eyes, the oddest hair colour that actually blended perfectly with her eyes and had the perfect height, she wasn't small by any means, it was the perfect height in his opinion.

He tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear, noticing how soft her skin was, his fingers lingered there for a moment. He studied her face to see how deep a sleep she was in, which was pretty deep, if she'd been even the slightest bit conscious he probably wouldn't have a hand right now. He couldn't help it, Sasuke was plagued by the idea of love and wanted to test his theory.

With a little hesitation, and a few deep breaths, he leaned forward, his heart was beating frantically and he thought his stomach would explode from the amount of Butterfly's attacking it. He stopped an inch away from her face, and took yet another deep breath. Why was he finding this so hard! He'd kissed plenty of people before! It wasn't anything knew to him! Yet his nerves still wouldn't die down.

Sasuke closed his eyes, swallowing his nerves and licked his lips before he leaned forward. His lips gently touching hers…

...!...

**Yeah! Early update! I had nothing to do today since the weathers so crap. CURSE YOU SCOTTISH WEATHER! seriously, i think i've only seen the sun about eight times since the summer, no joke. Anyways, i hopped you liked it! And please review! i absoultly LOVE to hear feed back, whether it be good or bad! THANKS FOR READING!**


	12. Something for the MakeBelieve Lovers

**Chapter 12 – Something for the Make-Believe Lovers**

Sasuke closed his eyes, swallowing his nerves and licked his lips before he leaned forward. His lips gently touching hers…

Electricity flew through out his entire being, it left even the tips of his toes tingling as he shot back into his seat. Never in all of his wildest dreams had he seen that coming. Never in all his life had he ever had that reaction from kissing someone. Never in all his life had his heart beat so fast from a simple touch. It wasn't normal, plain and simple.

Sakura seemed completely oblivious to what had just happened however as she just shifted to get into a more comfy position. Sasuke sat in shock, wondering if he'd just imagined that feeling, even though his lips were still tingling from that simple touch. That couldn't have been him, could it? Could it have been Sakura?

Maybe it was some Vampire thing, some technique they used to seduce their prey. Sakura just didn't have control over it because she was asleep. That must be it. Sasuke wouldn't have reacted like that otherwise.

But what if? The thought only crossed his mind for a second but it was enough to throw his resolve down the drain and take everything out of perspective. Not that he really listened to that part of himself anyway. Sasuke was too caught up in what he believed was rational thinking, or he just didn't want to step out of his comfort zone.

What had he been thinking? He never acted like this! And the subject of love? What the hell? Sasuke was over tired, he was sure of it, now that he was thinking straight again maybe he could try and put this little incident behind him. After all, it was only him that was aware of it at the time.

But even if he did try and forget, he didn't think it would be possible. The feel of her lips were forever burned into his memory and his own lips were still tingling from the mere touch.

But one thing was sure, at least he knew now that Karin was the last thing he wanted. Now he didn't know what he wanted. That simple touch had confused him more than anything could, did he want Sakura? As far as Sasuke knew he didn't, but that could always change.

Sasuke looked out of the window, trying his best to distract himself from the woman in front of him. It was a full moon, he noticed, Sakura had said something about liking the night sky, he couldn't remember when, it was probably during one of those times where she thinks out loud. Something he'd forever be amused by.

The night sky was completely clear, there were no clouds and the stars were shining bright in the sky in their own little clumps. It was beautiful, he realised. Sasuke never really paid much attention to the sky before, but from the top floor of the hospital and through a rather large window it look very spectacular indeed. He'd have to get a picture or something, maybe one for Sakura too, she'd like it, he thought.

Sasuke really needed his sleep, he was changing topics like a yoyo, one minute he's thinking about kissing Sakura and the next he wants pictures of the sky? With a small mental shake he threw the stupid thoughts away, preparing to simply stare out at the night sky until morning came.

…!...

Sakura sat up in bed with a book in hand, sniggering every now and then at how ridiculous it all sounded. Ino had more or less forced her to read this book a couple of days ago and Sakura was finding it hard to not laugh out loud. Seriously though, who has ever heard of _'sparkling Vampires'_! Some people really had no taste.

Sasuke had been quiet since the moment she woke up, which was fine with her, he was normally quiet after all, it was the way he would sometimes 'subtly' sneak glances at her every now and then. But she simply ignored it and continued reading so completely untrue story of 'Twilight'. Sakura once again laughed out loud, causing Sasuke to look over at her with a mild frown, then quickly looked out of the window when Sakura met his gaze.

His hand brushed lips for the a thousandth time that day and huffed, every time she laughed or snorted he'd find himself looking up at her, and every time to looked at her his lips would begin to tingle again. Sasuke didn't know whether to growl at himself or the woman in front of him, so instead he settled for touching his lips to ease the sensation.

Sasuke wondered what it was that made Sakura find that book so amusing, he'd never read it personally but he knew enough to know it wasn't a comedy. Although he did find it rather amusing to read about Vampires, seeing as she was part Vampire herself.

"Why are you laughing?" Sasuke found himself asking. Sakura wiped a tear from her eye as she giggled and looked over at Sasuke, her cheeks reddened from laughing so hard and a huge grin on her face, showing her pearly white teeth. He actually found his heart beating slightly faster, even though she was still dressed in that horrific hospital gown and had a huge white bandage around her head.

"Because I have never in all my years ever heard of so much tripe. Honestly, you have to admit it's pretty bad." She giggled. Sasuke only let the tiniest of smirks dress his still tingling lips as he looked at her. He found himself enjoying her company, and liking the thought that for once they weren't arguing.

"What does it say?" He asked, leaning forward as he said so, Sakura only rolled her eyes as she sat up in the bed. The reason she's so happy was most likely because she has a constant flow of painkillers, Sasuke thought.

"Oh common! They sparkle! They don't have fang's, which would make it impossible to hunt without ripping the entire throat out, and the fact that they all have 'gifts'. I mean fair enough with the mind reading but nobody can predict the future. Full stop. Or control emotions for that matter." Sakura explained. She then set the book to the side and leaned back, looking over at Sasuke as she did so.

"Is that so?" He stated simply, also leaning back in his chair and folding his arms.

"It is so. It's wishful thinking on the Author's part, no body can turn into a blur." She joked and gave him another grin, her eyes crinkling shut from the size of it. Definitely too many painkillers.

Sasuke had never received a smile this big from Sakura, the full force grin she was able to create was so bright that Sasuke felt the urge to squint as his lips tingled. He was acting so weird today, mind you, so was Sakura, but that was mostly due to the constant flow of drugs, the funny thing was that she hadn't even had that much. It wasn't even a big enough dosage to get someone high, she'd only had a couple of pills every so often, not enough to get high on. Sakura would never act so cheerily with him otherwise, not that he was complaining of course, Sasuke was rather enjoying Sakura's knew found mood.

"Have you been taking over the suggested dose?" Sasuke asked, he couldn't help but ask, he was a curious person by nature. Sakura looked back up at him again with that big grin, the one that nearly blinded him every time.

"Vampires are more sensitive to that sort of thing, I kind of inherited that part too unfortunately." She chirped, not at all bothered that she just admitted to having no tolerance to something as simple as medicine. Then he remembered that time she came back completely gazeeboed, was that the same? Did she have a headache and took to much painkillers?

"Is that what happened last time? When you came back high?" Sasuke asked in subdued tones, it may have been a private room but there where still people walking about outside. Sakura's brow creased for a moment as she thought about what he meant before it suddenly disappeared and an enlightened expression came over her.

"Oh! That wasn't painkillers. I was hunting and I didn't notice that the guy I'd nabbed was drunk and high, very high." Sakura added the last part in as an after thought before continuing.

"I can't really remember much but the next morning was crap. The pig was convinced I was near death actually." Sasuke frowned at the word 'Pig', he thinks he remembers Sakura calling someone that before but he couldn't quite remember.

It was at that moment that Itachi decided to come through the door in a much calmer State than his younger brother had the previous night. He looked around, his eyes fixating on Sakura and Sasuke as he walked over to them, offerings in toe.

"How are you feeling?" He asked casually and perched on the end of the bed, watching out for Sakura's feet. He handed over the box of chocolates he'd been carrying and Sakura actually raised an amused eyebrow, taking the box with caution.

"I'm fine. And what do you want? I'm guessing this is bribery." Sakura stated, then grinned and opened the box to begin munching on the heavenly treat.

"Wow, Belgian Chocolate too, you really know how to bribe, don't cha'" Sakura grinned around a mouthful. Itachi merely frowned, offended that she had come to such a conclusion.

"It's mostly from Taya, I practically had to chain her up so she wouldn't come with me." He stated. Sakura simply rolled her eyes before in hailing another mouthful of the chocolate.

"Why is she so happy. I was half expecting to walk into world war three, not an overly happy hospital patient." He asked Sasuke who was not to far away from him. Sasuke merely gave a soft snort before answering.

"Apparently she doesn't have much tolerance to drugs." He joked, causing Sakura to give him a dirty look that only lasted about five seconds before another smile broke out. Itachi merely raised an eyebrow before he decided to get to business.

"Sakura, I was meaning to ask you something? How the hell did you get injured so badly? Aren't you much stronger? And faster for that matter." He inquired. Sakura looked up from the now half empty box and addressed him.

"Well yeah. But all that's pretty much useless if you can't see. It was pretty dark, plus I was distracted" She stated simply before popping another chocolate treat into her mouth, savouring the flavour.

"That's a pretty bad excuse considering you have better senses than the rest of humanity." Sasuke observed dryly, earning a quick glare from Sakura.

"My senses may be better but I still have human eyes. Green isn't exactly a colour you'd find in a Vampire. Their eyes all turn silvery white after their first year of transformation." Sakura explained in a huffy manner. Sasuke remembered the Vampire that attacked him, remembering that it had white eyes too. He shook the thought away however, not wanting to dwell on it any longer than necessary. Itachi noticed his downfall in mood and quickly changed the subject, he didn't like to see Sasuke in these moods.

"Still, you got quite a few injury's. The hospitals probably going to be checking out for any previous medical records too, plus the fact you have no insurance." He stated, causing Sakura's mood to hit rock bottom. Humph, kill joy… She thought.

"I didn't really have much of a choice. I got hit by wood, ironically enough." She said with deep sarcasm that didn't go unmissed by the two Uchiha brothers. They merely ignored the tone of the comment, concentrating more on what it was she actually said.

"So the whole wood things not a lode of bull?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow. Sakura snorted and returned to her chocolates, preparing to give them a lesson in Vampires 101.

"Yeah, but we don't turn into smoke or ash, what happens is more or less the same as what might happen if a human got stabbed, plus it doesn't have to be in the heart. Most of the rumours about Vampires are untrue though, like that whole reflection shite, mind you I think I was made up so it was easier for Vampires to hide in." Sakura said, pondering over the last part. Both brothers watched with interest. Itachi sat there with a gleam in his eye, he loved new information.

"What about the whole immortal thing?" He prodded, pulling Sakura out of her thoughts to answer the question.

"Jeeze, I'm like some bloody teacher! Anyways, um… yeah, they do live forever, the 'old ones' were around when the bible was written for god sake!" She grinned. Sasuke's eyes widened at the prospect at someone being _that_ old, was it even possible?

"What about you? Are you even nineteen?" Itachi asked, he'd never actually thought about the prospect of Sakura being older than him, she looked so young, in his eyes anyway. Sasuke had also pondered over that question at some point, he didn't think she could have been very old, after all, she still acted like a teenager, well, at times she did. Sakura let out a very loud snort before stuffing her mouth with more chocolate, she'd been expecting this question.

"Nope. I don't know if I'll live forever, I grow like anybody else so I'm gather that I'll just keep going until I turn grey." She shrugged. Sasuke let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding before turning around to the nurse that had just that minute walked through the door with a clipboard in hand.

"Miss Haruno, how are you feeling today?" The middle aged woman asked, her dark brown hair swishing as she walked. Sakura smiled up at the woman as she began to change the bandage that still covered most of Sakura's head. The feeling of cool air hitting Sakura's still fresh wound stung a little before turning into a light tingle, Sakura didn't like it very much, she was used to having things like this heal over in no time, and it still hurt, despite the medication.

"I'll go get some cream for that before covering it up again, it might reduce the chances of scarring that way." She informed. Sakura nodded happily and watched the woman walk out the door with her old bandages. Itachi and Sasuke stayed quiet, waiting until the nurse left for good before talking again.

She returned pretty quickly with the same equipment that was used to clean her wound off the night before, the only difference was the small tube she had instead of the bowl of water. Sasuke moved so the nurse could get better access to Sakura's head and watched casually as she began to dab the cream onto Sakura's head with the cotton bud and tweezers.

"So, are the two of you together?" She asked suddenly, looking at Sasuke as she did so. Sakura sputtered as a response and caused the nurse to smudge cream all over her hair. Sasuke just turned a bright crimson colour and gapped like a fish. Itachi simply raised an eyebrow at both Sakura and Sasuke's behaviour, it was almost painful to watch how blind they were sometimes!

"We're not together! Trust me, just good friends." Sakura said in a rush, her cheeks were not as bright as Sasuke's but that was probably because of the nature of the comment, not because it was Sasuke the nurse was referring too. However, it was clear to Itachi that Sasuke was reacting _because _it was Sakura.

The nurse gave an amused chuckle and shook her head lightly before continuing.

"Too be young again, eh?" She joked, glancing over at Itachi when he gave a small chuckle. Sasuke took control of his warm cheeks before he even thought about replying.

"I'm engaged." He simply stated, like it explained everything, which it did really. The nurse rolled her eyes and smiled at him, not once pausing in her dabbing the cotton wool with her tweezers.

"Yet you stayed the entire night and all morning? I wonder what your betrothed would think?" She joked. Sasuke paused, thinking over what the nurse said. What _would_ Karin think? He was meant to be marrying the woman, even though he really didn't want to anymore, and he almost had a panic attack when he heard Sakura was in the hospital? It really did look like he had a thing for her!

Oh well, for all he knew he did. But if anything it was a little attraction, nothing else, or at least that's what he would like to think.

"Why do you have to put that stupid bandage back on! It's annoying!" Sakura moaned as the nurse began to wrap a fresh white bandage around Sakura's head. Sasuke was pulled from his thoughts and watched as Sakura pouted and began to swat at the nurses attempts to hold her hands down and wrap her head at the same time.

Sasuke watched the display with a small smirk that could _maybe_ be described as a smile. Sakura had the smallest of pouts on her lips and her eyebrows were almost touching in a V shape, but he could clearly see the amusement in her green depths. It was rather cute, he realised, then almost snorted, the word 'cute' didn't seem to fit into Sakura's personality very well if not at all. If she heard him call her that out loud she'd probably kick him where it hurts.

"I have to put it on because otherwise it might get infected! So put up with it. And don't scratch it!" The nurse warned as she slapped Sakura's hand away from where she was about to scratch. With another huffy pout from Sakura the nurse finally waved good-bye and left the three in the room. Sasuke regained his seat and watched with interest as his brother began to question Sakura again.

"Do you know who it was that attacked you?" Sakura plopped the last chocolate into her mouth before turning around to Itachi to answer.

"I don't know. Couldn't find anything on the guys that I took down. But it wasn't random I know that much. It was too organised for that." She answered, looking Itachi right in the eye. He thought everything through for a moment, wondering who had a grudge against her, he was coming up blank.

"Was it Vampires?" He asked, his voice hinting at scepticism. Sakura frowned at him, her smile vanishing completely from her face, much to Sasuke's disappointment.

"I don't think so. They wouldn't hire thug's, they do thing's themselves. Plus the guy that seemed to be in charge of things wasn't exactly willing to talk either." Sakura answered, she looked over to the lyric's she'd written earlier, not wanting to make eye contact right at that moment in time.

"Did he say anything at all?" Itachi probed. Sakura nodded, with her eyes still fixated on her lyric's she answered in almost a whisper.

"He said I'm in the way of what someone wants." Sasuke's eyebrows rose at that comment. He couldn't think of a single person who had a problem with Sakura, as far as he knew she wasn't blocking anyone.

"We'd better start asking around. What did the guy that attacked you look like?" Itachi asked, getting up as he did so. Sakura finally made eye contact again, and nobody would ever be able to miss the anger behind those green irises.

"He has silver hair. I couldn't see his face very well, but his hair wasn't hard to miss." She said, knew found strength in her voice. It surprised both brothers, seeing as she'd been whispering a moment ago.

"I have my pride to think about here, whoever thought they could get away with this clearly have another thing coming if they think I'm going to back down." She said, her voice solid and showed that it was not open for discussion. Sasuke smirked, he preferred her with the fire in her eyes compared to the overly happy girl from before, here she seemed more real and not someone who was high.

Itachi also let a smirk cross his lips that was identical to his brothers, so, with both Sakura and Itachi's mind made up he said his good-byes and headed out, preparing to start his personal investigation.

…!...

Sasuke swerved around the corner and followed Sakura as they snuck out of the blood bank. It was about eleven at night and Sakura was ravenous from the amount of blood she'd lost the night before. Sasuke didn't even think she'd lost that much until she told him that she'd been stabbed. To which Sasuke had turned into a mini version of his mother.

So there he was, following Sakura around the hospital like a thief with three packs of blood sitting inside his jacket. It felt wrong, the thought of stealing something that could have saved someone's life wasn't the most comforting of thoughts but Sakura had assured that if she didn't get any blood then she'd probably go and drink her weight in patients blood, be it critical condition or not. That was enough to make Sasuke change his mind and tag along as the pack mule.

Sakura was focusing everything she had on her surroundings, avoiding every single person she knew might be out there. When they'd first entered the blood bank Sakura actually had to hold her breath from the smell of it all, even now she could smell the scent of the thick, rich substance oozing from Sasuke's pockets. They causally walked along the corridor as they entered one of the main halls that were pretty busy before turning off into another smaller one. Sakura had tried her best to memorise the route they'd taken to get there so she wouldn't get them lost. Luckily Sakura had a good sense of direction anyway and she had a pretty good sense of smell, the area that they'd come from had smelt strongly of disinfectant so all she had to do was find and follow that scent if they did happen to get lost.

Sasuke sped up when he noticed he was falling behind, this place was like a maze and Sasuke had no idea where he was going; every corridor just looked the same to him. He watched Sakura's back as he moved, idly wondering where she got all this energy from, she'd been sleeping most of the afternoon and had looked exhausted once the x-ray's had been done, yet here she was running around the hospital playing mission impossible. It was probably some Vampire thing.

Sasuke was suddenly thrown in a near by medicine cupboard by Sakura as a group of Doctor's walked by. Her open palm was pressed firmly against his mouth to keep him from giving the small 'manly' squeak that was planning on escaping his mouth. Her body was also pressed up against his as they both squeezed into the small space. Sakura was staring off to the side as she listened for them to leave, apparently they'd decided to chat right outside the door…Great…

Sasuke could feel every dip and curve in Sakura's lean form, his hands grabbed a near by shelf to stop himself from grabbing her by the waist. He looked at her profile and saw the serious look in her green pools that seemed to almost glow in the dark. Her mouth was pressed into a firm line as she concentrated and her brow was pulled together, it was an expression that he felt familiar with. Of course it also helped that he thought she looked amazing with it too.

Sakura's hand slipped from her grasp and Sasuke's head ducked without him realizing and brought it closer to Sakura, she remained oblivious as she listened to the conversations going on out side. Sasuke stopped moving his head forward and simply kept it there, not wanting to draw attention to himself, he was just glad that he hadn't been spotted and that he'd noticed his own head moving.

"What are they doing out there?" Sasuke whispered, being sure not to be to loud, Sakura turned around to face him and spoke in an equally low voice.

"Sora apparently is having an affair with Kenta." She smirked, amusement shining in her eyes. Sasuke tried not to snort but failed, causing Sakura to give him a burning look.

Both of them stared into each other's eyes, not looking away, their heads slowly closing the distance between them. Neither realised what was going on, they had both seemed to fall into silence after the last comment was said.

They were no more than an inch away from each other now and Sasuke felt his breath hitch and heart rate speed up. His eyes slipped shut and he licked his lips, waiting for the contact. He had no idea what he was doing, he only knew that he wanted it, and he was almost sure that Sakura was the same. He could hear Sakura's steady breathing now and felt it brush and tickle his lips and cheeks; he loved the heat coming from it.

Then there was a loud bark of laughter coming from outside and the moment they'd just shared was shattered. Sakura jumped back from her position and attempted to put some distance between them. Sasuke looked down at the ground and moved his hand up to his mouth were he began to rub it lightly, trying to erase the feeling of her breath on his face. His cheeks were burning hot with what he could only guess was a bright crimson colour and peeked up at Sakura through his Indigo locks.

Her face was equally red as she looked everywhere but at him, a sheepish look covering her pretty features. Sakura had no idea what had just happened, one minute she's whispering to Sasuke and the next their faces are barely and inch apart? What the hell was wrong with her? Sakura quickly turned around, pressing her ear against the door as a way to distract herself from Sasuke's presence.

There was no sound coming from the other side of the door so Sakura opened it and peaked outside before practically diving out. Sasuke looked around in confusion wondering if what had just happened, really happened, but ignored the thought as he walked outside, following Sakura's fast retreating form.

Sakura really didn't know what was happening right now, the last thing she wanted was to have him that close, it wasn't safe. She was thirsty, didn't he realize that? She could have easily bitten him yet he acted like it was nothing. Sakura shook her head and slowed her pace, she'd pretend like nothing happened, it was only a few seconds anyway, and it was probably nothing to him anyway. He has Karin, the last thing he need's is a monster like me, Sakura thought.

Sasuke caught up to her when she slowed down but they didn't talk again for the rest of the walk. His lips were aching for that touch, to make contact with hers once again and light up his body with that electricity. But he wouldn't, Sakura seemed to be a little shell shocked from the whole event and seemed to be acting natural, so he would so the same.

Sakura opened the door to her room and walked straight into the bathroom to retrieve a small cup. Sasuke pulled out the three bags of blood and sat them on the bed and sat down in his usual seat by the bed. Sakura came back and picked up one of the bags, brought it up to her mouth where he fangs were now puncturing her lower lip and bit down on the plastic. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as she causally ripped open the bag and poured the blood into the cup. He wanted to cringe as she glugged it all down after getting back into the small bed. He was surprised when she started to moan slightly as she drank, he'd never thought that she'd do that, she'd never done that when she bit him, then again she was barely conscious at the time.

"What's with that look?" She said as she picked up another bag of blood and began to chew it open with her fangs. Sasuke hadn't even realised that he'd been pulling a face.

"I'm not making a face." He stated simply and Sakura snorted before letting go of the bag to face him.

"Oh really, does this ring a bell." Sakura then proceeded to scrunch up her nose and pulled her lips into some sort of discussed pout. She was over doing it a little though, there was no way Sasuke looked like a prune, he didn't pull faces like that, _he _thought so anyway.

"I don't look like that." He huffed, leaning back in the chair and folding his arms over his chest. Sakura simply snorted again before continuing to chew the plastic bag open. Once she did so she poured it expertly into the cup in her other hand and glugged it down in the next, letting out the odd moan or groan here and there.

The third one went down in more or less the same way, Sakura ripped it open, then glugged it down within seconds of it hitting the cup. Something that actually amused Sasuke, she was like some ravenous animal. When she placed the cup on the side and looked at him, he couldn't help but chuckle when he noticed her face.

She had some blood on the corner of her mouth; she looked so child like, it was very unusual. Without thinking his hand moved up and whipped the blood away with his thumb, only his thumb stayed put against her mouth. She looked surprised by the bold move but said nothing, only watching him with her big green eyes. Sasuke smirked as his thumb began to travel up her cheek, across the bridge of her straight nose and onto her other cheek before he began to trace her jaw line with his fingers. Sakura couldn't help but melt into his touch, it felt so nice against her skin, nobody ever touched her like this, it was so gentle. Her eyes slowly slid shut.

"What are you doing, Sasuke?" She whispered. His fingers moved around to the back of her neck as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

Sasuke didn't know what he was doing exactly, he just wanted to, so much. Her skin was so soft and silky that it was almost criminal. His lips hadn't stopped begging for attention ever since that almost kiss earlier and he couldn't help but obey. That electricity flew though out his body once more and he felt Sakura shudder slightly and he knew she was feeling that same electricity he was.

His lips brushed hers again and again, he felt no need to deepen the kiss, it was enough just like this. It felt so right, like everything was finally fitting into place, like a jigsaw puzzle. Everything was so perfect at that moment. It didn't matter that Sakura was dressed in a hospital gown and had a huge white bandage around her head, or that she'd just feasted on three bags of blood. All that he cared about was this feeling and the person in front of him.

The hand that was on the back of Sakura neck began to play with a few strands of her pink locks as the other came up to cup the side of her face, holding her head secularly.

Sakura began to finally react to his touch as she met his gentle brushes with her own. Her hands came up and rested on the base of her neck and shoulders, pulling him in closer. The electricity refused to stop between them at the extra contact they both had now.

Sakura's mind was foggy at best, as soon as his lips touched hers she'd frozen, not knowing how to react. Sakura had never really kissed anyone before, unless you counted kisses over the fence at age seven. She didn't know what to do, and the tingling feeling that was surrounding her entire body wasn't helping, it only made her more nervous. But she liked it; the feeling of his lips brushing against hers was so wonderful that she could hardly even believe it herself.

Sakura hadn't even realised that she'd pulled him closer and began to kiss back; her whole attention was on the kiss alone, not the consequences. Sakura felt her fangs lengthen but she didn't care.

Sasuke's lip brushed over something hard and smooth when her mouth opened slightly, it was only then that he realized it was her fangs. He gently placed his lips back onto hers and added more pressure, his breath hitched as the electricity only intensified thought out his body. How could this one woman bring so much satisfaction from something as simple as touching lips? He never knew that it was possible to feel this way about someone, to feel so complete and so… What? There was something else there that he couldn't put his finger on. It was warm, right in his chest; it surrounded him and made him warm, filling him with happiness and comfort.

He kissed her again and felt her fangs against his lips, but didn't shy away like he thought he might, instead, he rather liked it. It showed him that she wasn't hiding, that she trusted him enough and it made the heat in his chest increase. Sasuke opened his eyes slightly and noticed hers where still closed, she looked so content, her eyebrows were relaxed for once and her eyelids covered his eyes almost lazily.

Unfortunately the kiss couldn't last forever. With a sigh Sasuke leaned away from her, letting go of her face and neck. Sakura seemed a little less willing to let go however, her arms only tightened when she felt him move away. Sasuke let a small smile light up his face as he pulled her away.

Sakura laid back on the bed and stared up at him, her eyes clouded over with something that neither could understand. Sasuke leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against her fore head before whispering something.

"I'll see you later, Sakura." Was all he said before slowly retreating out of the room. Sakura watched him in an almost dazed state.

Sasuke traced his lips with his fingers once again as he walked through the halls of the hospital, his mind only producing one thought as he went.

_Crap, I'm in love with Sakura Haruno. _And that thought alone was enough to terrify him.

...!...

**YEAH! finally! eh? =] anyways... thanks for reading! Please review and i swear i shall hunt you down and HUG you... anyhoo, thanks for all the great reviews for last chapter! Heck i was offered cookies for christ sake! Which by the way i would love but it wouldn't let me reply back =[ plus they'll probably look like moon dust by the time i get them... Anyways... THANKS FOR READING!**


	13. Like it never happened

**Chapter 13 – Like it never happened**

Sakura stood underneath the showerhead and let the water glide over her face and down her body. It had been thirteen days since she was let out of hospital and Sakura had managed to successfully avoid Sasuke for those thirteen days.

She felt so awkward around him now that even the thought of him made her want to cringe. She'd…_ kissed him._ As in, lips touching lips, and she'd _liked_ it. Sakura could literally bash her brains out against the wall right now if she wanted. But would it work? Or just leave a nasty mess for her to clean up afterwards? Not that it mattered; she'd still done it.

Sakura's nose scrunched up under the flow of water as she remembered it, not out of disgust, more like embarrassment. She'd been distracted by his touch, so much so that when he did kiss her she happily complied. Even though she'd frozen at first, she still kissed back, and that was enough to put her in the wrong.

This couldn't be happening to Sakura, she didn't do love, she couldn't do the whole romance thing. Sakura wasn't exactly famous for romance; in fact, she was probably the opposite of sentimental. Plus the last thing she needed was getting close to someone, like she'd already said before; Sakura had already broken enough laws for her liking.

So here she was, ducking and diving from Sasuke's radar whenever the chance presented itself, he was even calling her up to his office at every chance he could get, he clearly wanted to talk about the whole thing, unlike Sakura. She would love nothing more than forgetting the whole thing and act like they did before. Fat chance of that happening any time soon, she didn't think he was the type of person to willingly forget something like that. Mind you he was engaged to Karin, he most likely wanted to forget it as much as her, it might ruin what they had. That red headed sloth was pretty fickle after all and it would give her the chance to clobber her, well, try to anyway. Karin looked like the catfight type, not the fist-to-fist type that Sakura was.

Sakura huffed and spluttered water back up to the showerhead, she was fed up, and was pretty much content to spend the rest of her life in the shower. The world outside the cubicle was complicated and annoying, two things that Sakura hated with passion.

But all good things had to end so with a groan Sakura turned off the shower and climbed out, wrapping a huge oversized fluffy towel around her and another slightly smaller one around her head. Sakura padded out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, the room was warm and cozy, something she loved about this room but was faced with something not so lovely sitting on her bed.

Ino sat there, crossed legged in the middle and leaning back against the headboard, waiting for Sakura to exit. She was still wearing her maid's uniform as she grinned over at Sakura, her pale fringe covering her left eye as her right eye twinkled.

"You do realize you've been in their way over an hour right?" She pointed out, an amused look now covering her face. Sakura merely rolled her eyes as she walked over to the bed, scrubbing her hair with the towel as she went.

"What's up forehead? I'm bored and you seem to be holding back from me these days." She pouted. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her remark and sat on the bed next to Ino, giving up with the towel drying and left it in the messy heap it was currently styled in.

"Who says I'm holding back, Pig?" Sakura shot back, throwing the towel into the corner of the room to pick up later and tightened the towel wrapped around her body. Ino snorted and rolled her eyes, causing Sakura to give her a glare.

"Forehead, you can't hide anything from me. I'm like the Buddha when it comes to gossip." She joked, Sakura laughed a little along with Ino at that one, it was pretty true after all.

"Common Forehead, I promise not to tell and it might help you, you never know." Ino begged, giving her the beaten puppy look, something that even Sakura couldn't resist. After five minutes of intense staring she caved with a huge sigh and looked down at her hands where they'd began to twist nervously around each other.

"Sasuke kissed me." Sakura mumbled. Ino almost didn't catch it; she had to lean forward so she could hear, but when she did her mouth fell open, practically brushing the bed sheets she was sitting on.

"He what!" Ino yelled, getting up on her knees and leaning over to get closer to Sakura. Sakura just attempted to hush her friend as she began to make a scene; Ino was waving her arms around frantically as she knelt on the bed, her mouth open and her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"He kissed me." Sakura deadpanned, speaking more clearly and giving Ino a bored look. She couldn't believe it! Someone like _Sasuke_ kissed Sakura? It was unheard of…

"Forehead, are you shitting me?" Ino asked, she sat back on her knees and faced Sakura her eyes still as wide as before. Sakura's brow scrunched up as she stared out at the far wall, wondering how she could get out of this one.

"I knew I shouldn't have said anything." She muttered darkly. Ino shook her head from side to side so fast it almost looked like a blur. Sakura looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"How could you have kept this from me! Have I taught you nothing?" Ino yelled in her banshee cry, causing Sakura to cringe in pain.

"You didn't teach me anything to begin with!" Sakura yelled back, the smallest amount of acid leaking its way into her voice. Ino gave another beaten puppy look and Sakura sighed, she'd never win with a look like that, you'd have to be heartless to refuse that look!

"Sakura you're so cold." She sniffed. With an irritated huff Sakura leaned back on the headboard, now willing to spill her guts if it meant she wouldn't become another victim of _that_ look again.

" When did he kiss you? What was it like? Was there tongue?" Ino gushed, her lone eye shinning with excitement as she prodded for details. Sakura sighed and began to talk in a bored tone of voice.

"At the hospital, no there wasn't tongue but that didn't stop it from being, oh I don't know!" Sakura groaned, not wanting to admit that it felt so good she thought her kneecaps had melted. Ino raised and eyebrow at her friend and giggled, Sakura was so innocent at times!

"Oh Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, just what _am_ I going to do with you?" Ino pondered, flopping back against the head bored as she stared at the roof in deep thought.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura inquired, raising an eyebrow. Ino snorted at the comment, turning her head round to face her friend.

"I mean you quite clearly have no idea about kissing, do you? Have you ever even been kissed before?" She asked, causing Sakura to choke on her own spit, that question caught her off guard.

"W-what do you mean? Of course I've kissed someone before!" Sakura stuttered, her cheeks glowing bright red as she flustered through her words. Ino's grin only grew wider at her reaction, this was turning out to be a lot more fun than first anticipated.

"Forehead, have you even _been_ with a guy?" Ino teased, both eyebrows reacting the sky as she watched Sakura's reaction. Her cheeks only became redder as Ino prodded for more information. This was going to get good.

"Forehead, How inexperienced are you exactly? I actually feel bad for Sasuke, it probably felt like kissing a donkey." Ino teased, Her flipped her fringe out of her face before it fell back into place. Sakura's face was now entirely red, even the back of her neck was red!

"Oh shut up Pig, I doubt you've done much more than me!" Sakura growled. Ino only laughed at the comment, how ignorant was she about this stuff anyway?

"You wish Forehead, you see I am on a completely different level from you." She stated proudly, folding her arms over her chest. Sakura only raised a pink eyebrow, but it had no effect seeing as her face was still bright red.

"You see my little Foreheaded chum, _I_ have done the _deed._ Unlike you, my little innocent flower." Ino grinned with the air of self-importance and watched as Sakura stuttered and spluttered at the comment, fully understanding what she meant.

"Why are you so persistent Pig, it was only a kiss, nothing more." Sakura growled, her face not turning any other colour except red. Ino only snickered at her, the girl just wasn't getting it, the reason she was being so annoying was because it was _only_ a kiss. This was Sasuke Uchiha she was talking about here, Sasuke… Fecking…_Uchiha. _Sex god of 2011 and the most good looking man Ino had ever laid eyes on, and what was Sakura doing, bloody avoiding him! The woman clearly was blind, or had no taste, either way it was painful for her to watch.

"Forehead, it was not 'only a kiss', you are so blind sometimes." Ino complained. She huffed and slumped on the bed, looking over at Sakura. Her cheeks had finally started to turn back to their normal creamy colour, but she doubted they'd stay that way for long.

"And how exactly am I blind? I can see perfectly fine thank you very much." Sakura said with heavy sarcasm that made Ino snort from her slumped position on the bed.

"I don't mean literally, you moron. I meant that you quite clearly can't see what's in front of you." Ino stated, avoiding the glare that was sent her way from her friend.

"There's nothing in front of me Pig, Sasuke doesn't like me in that way." Sakura huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and towel. Ino gave her a sideways look, silently asking if she really was that oblivious. Clearly though, she was. Damn pink heads…

"Forehead, he kissed you. That all in its self is pretty obvious, and he doesn't look like the kind to cheat either so that means it's a serious liking. Also he's engaged to _Karin_, that all on its own speaks volumes." Ino finished, giggling along with Sakura a little at the mention of Karin. She wasn't exactly very popular around the Mansion, given the way Fugaku talks about her when neither she nor Sasuke are around.

Sakura thought about what Ino had said about Sasuke, it couldn't be true, he couldn't love her. He knew what she was. Sakura was willing to believe anything at this point, she just needed an explanation as to why he'd kissed her, she needed something to make everything right again, back to the way things were.

But there would always be the memory of that kiss, that one hot, simple yet passionate kiss that felt so wonderful and thrilling that Sakura would never let it die. She knew it was no good remembering, but she couldn't help herself, a kiss like that would out shine any kisses she might receive in the future, not that she was planning on having anymore, but one could hope.

With a sigh Ino checked her watch and got up, she had to finish her shift before heading home, no matter how badly she wanted to stay she also wanted to keep her job. Sakura said nothing as Ino rolled off the bed and picked up the towel Sakura had thrown in the corner. With a wave of her hand a quick good bye Ino left the room, hoping that Sakura might consider what she said and get her head out of the sand. That woman deserved happiness, no matter how much she denied it…

…!...

Karin sat in the corner of some unknown bar with Suigetsu slumped over the table in front of her. Karin had finally managed to convince Suigetsu to meet up with her and report back. Karin wasn't too happy with the out come though, so she wanted to know what exactly went down.

Suigetsu sat there with his head resting on his arm as he nursed his beer with his free hand, not in the mood to talk at all. Karin had been holding back on her, something he wasn't too happy about, it may not affect him directly, but it certainly hurt his pride.

With an annoyed sigh Karin leaned back in her chair and looked over at Suigetsu, her arms folded firmly over her chest as she watched him with a cool gaze.

"Well?" She prodded, hinting at him to start talking. Suigetsu only looked up at her from his slumped position before speaking.

"You didn't tell me she could fight, Karin." He stated simply, watching Karin's reaction. Karin just scowled, did that make much of a difference? She didn't think so anyway, she was still out numbered.

"I fail to see how that makes much of a difference. I didn't even know she could fight. As far as I know she just hung around street corners and slept in newspaper." Karin remarked, causing Suigetsu to give her a sideways glance from where his head rested on his arm.

"Karin, she took out six of my men, six! She moved to fast and could knock someone out with one punch, you've gotten pissed off with the wrong woman." Suigetsu warned and sat up, his cheek a blotchy red from where he'd been leaning on his arm. Karin just gave an irritated huff and crossed her arms and legs, staring off to the side, nobody could make her change her mind.

"Are you saying that I was wrong? Don't judge me Suigetsu! It's how I do things." He looked at her with a bored gaze, taking a deep gulp of beer. He'd heard this mini speech many times before.

"How did the hole thing go anyway? She had a pretty bad head wound when I last saw her, that should be enough to get her into hospital." He observed. Karin twitched in her seat, she didn't like the outcome at all, not one bit. Thing's had only gone from bad to worse in face. That little rat had one-upped her, something she wasn't going to admit out loud.

"It's not worked out the way I'd planned, Sasuke seems to be avoiding me like the plague these days. The only time he's home is when I'm unconscious. And to make matters worse he was with her almost the entire time she was at the hospital." Karin huffed. Suigetsu lifted an eyebrow at her comment, wasn't she expecting that outcome? If Sasuke _was_ having an affair with that woman (which he highly doubted) then wouldn't he be a little concerned for her well being and visit to make sure she's okay? He just shook his head at that one, Karin could be so blind when it came to things like this, she only saw things the way she wanted to see them.

"Karin, does he suspect anything?" He asked. Karin looked over at him and raised a perfectly sculpted brow, she guessed that the only thing he'd be worried about was his own back.

"Itachi's been snooping around, but the only thing they have on us is your hair colour. I think you'll be fine." Karin replied with heavy sarcasm, twisting a strand of hair n the fingers as she said so. Suigetsu nodded and wrapped his hands around his beer glass after taking another deep swig, taking in what had been said.

"How did they find out my hair colour?" He asked, slightly confused, if anything it should have been his reputation that they found out first. Karin snored at the comment and continued to play with the red strand of hair as she spoke.

"Apparently the rat caught a glimpse of it when you went in for the kill." She answered for him, giving him a sour look. Suigetsu just shrugged and looked into the amber coloured liquid, sometimes he wondered how this woman ever got him wrapped around her little finger.

"How long will it be until they found out it was you?" He asked, Karin sent a glare his way and humped, she wouldn't be found out that easily, plus Sasuke wouldn't suspect her, she didn't show him her violent side, also he loved her, well, she thought so anyway. And that was enough to put her off the wanted list.

"I'll be fine, I'm not that stupid, and don't you think it was all me! You did it too!" She snapped, Suigetsu just looked at her. He should have known that she'd shove the blame on him, just because he had agreed…

Something that he now regretted.

That woman was something else. She had managed to take on eight fully-grown, armed men and win. She was fast and strong, so strong in fact that she was able to break his bat in half with a simple punch. He had no idea what she was, but he knew for certain that he didn't want to come across her again. If he did then he didn't know what would happen. She was a force that shouldn't be reckoned with when angered. He knew it was only a matter of time before he got caught himself. He just hoped it wasn't by her.

With a sigh he finished off his pint of beer and stood up, ignoring the fact that Karin was watching him like a hawk as he did so.

"Where are you going?" She questioned, not moving from her seat. Suigetsu just grabbed his jacket and looked over at her before answering.

"Home. This is the last favor I'll ever do for you, Karin." His voice was solemn and low, showing his slightly depressed mood. Karin simply flicked her hair behind her shoulder and looked away from him.

Suigetsu was done with this, he knew he'd get caught and was prepared to tell them anything, he just wanted out of this right now. So with a depressed huff he walked out of the pub and walked down the street that led to his home, leaving Karin behind him to fume.

…!...

Sasuke was pissed, plain and simple. He sat there, in Itachi's laughably huge office with a deep scowl on his face, eating his lunch. Itachi sat at the opposite side of him with an amused look on his face as his younger brother sent a deep, dark scowl at the far wall, all the while shoving more rice into his mouth and chewing with vengeance. The whole scene was rather entertaining in Itachi's opinion, not that he was willing to admit that in front of Sasuke, he'd probably swing for him.

But even though he found the display of anger from his brother funny, he knew that something was up, otherwise he wouldn't be up here at all. It was a well known fact to Itachi that he was the only one Sasuke considered close enough to talk to, so when ever he had some sort of dilemma it wouldn't be long before he knew about it. But even then it did take some prodding from his part, as soon as Sasuke was in sight he usually would clam up and brood, much like he was now. So with an amused chuckle he lent back in his comfy leather office chair and looked over at his brooding brother.

"So, Karin still making those lunches I see." He joked, trying to get him to get out of that clam before he started asking question's, otherwise he'd be trying all day. Sasuke instantly stopped eating and looked down at the box in his hand and frowned, well, frowned deeper he guessed.

"Yes, apparently so." He said with heavy sarcasm, causing Itachi to snort. The look on Sasuke's face was priceless, his eyes traveled down to the box in his hands and Sasuke looked at it like it was filled with mold in stead of rice and egg's. If only Itachi had a camera…

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked, raising a brow in what appeared to be an intimidating manner, it didn't work.

"Your face. Your looking at it like it's got some sort of disease inside or something." He said chuckling, not missing the small glance Sasuke gave the box again before looking back at him, his mouth set in a thin line and his eyebrows creased.

"Something happen with Karin? She's not usually this…open? About her affection's. It's almost like she knows her position as your betrothed is in trouble." Itachi mused, giving out a small, amused chuckle at the end. Sasuke eyed him wearily for a moment before setting his box on the side, loosing his appetite.

"I guess you could say that." Sasuke replied slowly, edging a little at what was going through his mind, not knowing if he should just come out with it or not. Itachi gave him one of those looks that told him to just spill the beans, not caring what he had to say, just as long as he said it. With a deep sigh he gave up, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms defensively across his chest as he prepared to just speak his mind.

"It's Sakura." He stated simply. He had been planning on saying more but clammed up half way through, Itachi was going to have to try harder than that to hear his problems.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at Sakura's name before chuckling; he really should have known it was about her. That half-breed was definitely more than a simple 'acquaintance'; maybe Sasuke was finally starting to realize that himself, one could only hope.

"And…" Itachi pushed. Sasuke just scowled at the desk and answered in a muffled voice.

"She's been avoiding me… And it's irritating." Sasuke scowled at the desk and slouched back in the chair he was sitting in. Itachi smirked. If only Sakura knew Sasuke could turn into a ten year old again by simply avoiding him, he was sure she'd find it as amusing as he did.

"And why exactly has she been avoiding you?" He prodded. Sasuke's cheek's turned slightly pink and Itachi's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. Holy crap, what _did he do?_ Itachi thought.

"Quit giving me that 'dear caught in the head-lights' look, it's disconcerting." Sasuke mumbled. His cheeks still dusted with the small pink blush. Itachi blinked a few times before answering, he didn't even realize he'd been making a face.

"Sorry, you caught me off guard for a moment. I didn't think it was possible for you to blush." Sasuke ignored the jibe sent his way before answering his older brothers previous question.

"What I did is none of your concern, Itachi." Sasuke growled slightly in his muffled response and Itachi looked heavenward, why did his brother even bother coming up here to talk if he was just going to clam up…

"If I don't know what happened then how am I possibly going to help you, don't be foolish." He joked and ignored the death glare sent his way.

"Who said I need your help?" Sasuke muttered back under his breath as he sunk further down into the chair, almost making Itachi chuckle again.

"Sasuke, why else would you be here?" Itachi answered with amusement clear in his voice. Sasuke sent him another Uchiha death glare before answering with plenty of acid in his tone of voice.

"You're enjoying this!" It wasn't a question; he just needed to say it. Itachi simply shrugged it off before asking Sasuke the same question again.

"Why exactly has she been avoiding you?" He eyed him carefully, looking for any sign's that might help him figure out what was going through sasuke's mind. However complex or confusing it may be. Sasuke's eyes returned to the spot on the desk again where he continued to scowl, muttering dark thoughts as he went, which Itachi ignored.

"I kind of kissed her." He muttered so quietly and quickly it was almost impossible for Itachi to pick up, but he just managed.

With a deep in take of air he sat back in his office chair, his eyebrows hitting his hair line as he did so. That was the last thing he'd expected, in fact he thought that maybe it was just one of their usual squabbles gone bad and the blush was just Sasuke feeling embarrassed about worrying over it or something. Not him kissing her, in fact, Sasuke kissing her wasn't even on his long, long list of things he might have done, it was very un-Sasuke like indeed. So much so in fact that he couldn't blame Sakura for avoiding Sasuke, he'd probably do the same in her situation, not that he was expecting Sasuke to kiss him anytime soon, but he got where she was coming from.

"How can you 'kind of' kiss someone?" He asked, disbelief clear in his voice as he spoke. Sasuke glared at the table, like he was trying to light it on fire and mumbled his response.

"Shut up Itachi."

"Do you like her then?" Itachi felt very immature for asking, but it couldn't be helped, he wanted to know. Sasuke's scowl deepened as he thought of the answer, but he didn't know how to say it out loud. In his mind he could all but scream it, which was amazing all in itself, but he needed to tell Itachi, he needed to get some outside help, someone who knew about love and loss, someone who had gone through the same as he did, and that someone was sitting right in front of him now.

"I-I…Uhh…" Sasuke stammered, looking up to lock eyes with his older brother who was now staring at him with a small frown on his face, wondering what had his brother stuttering. Then his eyebrows hit the ceiling and he coked on his own breath, the final cog in his head clicked in his head, Sasuke was trying to say he _loved_ her, which he already knew of course, but it was still a major step for Sasuke to be saying it of his own free will. Itachi had all but prepared himself to force it out of him, physically if need be.

"Holy cow, you really do, don't you." Itachi half laughed, half chuckled, his eyes lightening up as he said it. It was about time his brother admitted it, he needed this more than anyone after all. Sasuke only mutely nodded his head, it was a small movement, but enough for Itachi to notice. His cheeks were blazing red now from his still slumped position on the office chair and Itachi could only smile down at his brother.

"Congratulation's, little brother." Itachi spoke with optimism clear in his voice. Sasuke just glared, knowing full well that the optimism in his voice was not needed. Not when he was currently engaged to someone he would rather not see conscious and was also in love with someone who was half vampire and who was also avoiding him like her life depended on it. Sasuke really wanted to slap him silly for that smile his brother had plastered onto his face.

"Not helping Itachi." He growled. Itachi just raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair, intertwining his fingers and resting them on his stomach. He rolled his eyes before answering.

"Sasuke, if she's avoiding you then don't wait for her to come to you, go to her for god sake, use that brain of yours for something other than figures." He joked, earning a look from Sasuke. He was right, Sasuke thought, but keeping her in one place with him long enough was going to be a problem.

"I can't just go skipping off into the sunset with her in toe, Itachi. I'm still engaged to Karin." He shot back with annoyance and sarcasm deep in his tone of voice; he really didn't want to be engaged to Karin anymore. Ever since he'd fallen for Sakura he'd began to notice all the things he wouldn't have noticed otherwise about the redhead. Like how she was too picky and bossy, and how she hated things that didn't go her way and how she was ready to scratch any woman's eyes out if they so much as touched him. He was starting to notice who she really was, and not the woman she'd made him believe she was.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at that one, was he being serious? He was letting Karin get in the way of him actually being with someone he loved and not just simply lusted over. Sometimes Itachi actually wanted to smack him across the head with a shovel, it might smack some sense into him after all.

"Break up with her then. It's not your fault she's a bitch." Itachi deadpanned. Sasuke gave him a questioning look before Itachi spoke again, answering the unspoken question.

"Sasuke, she's a bitch, everyone hates her, heck, even Taya doesn't like her. And that's saying something." That really was saying something, Taya liked everybody, and he means _everybody._ Sasuke just grumbled for a bit before he sat up in the chair and placed his elbows in the desk and intertwining his fingers, his head just behind them.

"It would be dishonorable to leave her for another woman, she deserves a better explanation than that." Sasuke stated, Itachi only snorted from where he sat; now that was just an excuse.

"Sasuke, I will never understand you, you know that, right?" Itachi shook his head and watched as Sasuke stood up, and placed the box in his pocket. Sasuke only glared at Itachi as he turned on his heal, prepared to ignore that comment completely. He'd gotten what he'd wanted anyway, he knew what he was going to do about Sakura now, thanks to his irritating brother. Itachi merely smiled as his brother retreated from his office, so with a chuckle he called out in an overly happy voice, hoping to annoy his brother just that little extra to complete his day.

"Go get her tiger!" He heard Sasuke growl as he slammed the door, making his paperweight shake from the force of it. So with another entertained chuckle he returned to his computer where he'd been writing E-mail after E-mail before his younger brother had interrupted him.

...!...

**...Yo... =] thanks for reading! Sorry that it's been forever since i actually updated but the intrenet decided it was going to be awkward...'sighs'... i put the reason up on my profile if anyone was wondering why i'd stopped but it's started working again so we're all good!...Or so i hope... it might act up again but i've got my fingers crossed in hope that it won't. Anyhoo, please review! =]**


	14. Grab Her by the Collar

**Song mentioned: swing life away - Rise Against**

**Chapter 14 – Grab her by the collar**

Sasuke had just finished work for the day and was currently making his way to Sakura's music room. He knew for a fact that ever since Sakura had heard about the deadline for the Band, she'd been working late. So that meant that he could catch her alone, they'd have no unwanted visitors and Sasuke could speak more freely.

He had prepared everything he was planning to say to her, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Sasuke wasn't going to tell her he loved her, well not yet at least, but he was planning on giving her an ear full. Plus Sasuke had to see her; it was almost like a dying need to catch a small glimpse of her pink hair or emerald green eyes. Sasuke didn't know whether to be happy or scared about the whole thing.

Sasuke came up to the door that led to Emerald eye's music room, he took a couple of deep breaths, calming down the nerves he didn't think he possessed and opened the door. Sasuke was greeted with the sound of Sakura's acoustic guitar and the sound of her singing. Sasuke nearly gasped at the sound of it, he hadn't heard her perform in far to long, it was nice to just stand there and listen to her sing. Which is what he did.

Sasuke closed the door silently behind him and walked over to the recording area where she was practicing. Sakura was perched on a stool with a small table next to her that had a few music sheets flung over the top. Sakura's eyes were planted on the microphone at her mouth as she preformed and Sasuke couldn't help it when his heart literally skipped a beat. He stood at the doorway and leaned against the frame, simply listening to her sing, it probably wouldn't be long until she noticed him anyway.

Sakura's eye's snapped towards the doorway when she caught the scent of expensive after-shave and vanilla, there was only one man in the world who she knew smelt like that. She suppressed a groan and took in the sight of the one man she'd been avoiding for the past fork-night. Sasuke stood there in all his business suited glory, watching her with contented eyes, something she wasn't sure if she should be worried about or not.

At first they both simply stared at each other, one looking a lot more shell shocked than the other. Sakura literally couldn't move, her eyes were locked with Sasuke's and she didn't know what to do, it was like she couldn't look away. It seemed like an eternity since her green emeralds had clashed with his dark coal.

She'd missed him, Sakura realised, as mad as that sounded. The way he lazily leaned on the doorframe or how his cool gaze felt so suffocating and the way his lips were ever so slightly parted and moist looking, always looking ever so tempting.

Sakura took a thick gulp before opening her mouth, only nothing came out, what could she say? There was nothing she could think of to tell the Uchiha right now except to bugger off, only she couldn't bring her self to allow the words to pass her paralysed lips. The heavy silence continued between the two and Sakura still couldn't bring herself to say anything to the man by the door, her only exit.

"Sakura, we need to talk." Sasuke finally broke the silence between them, breaking the frozen state Sakura was in. She blinked a few times, gulping again before answering in a quiet voice, but it still held the smallest amount of acid in it's tone, whether it was intentionally or otherwise.

"There's nothing to talk about." She stated in a monotone that made Sasuke flinch ever so slightly. He hadn't expected her to be so cold with him; it was only a kiss after all, right? But even he couldn't deny that it was more than simple lips brushing lips. She did kiss back after all.

"Yes we do. You know as well as I do that you avoiding me will only cause more problems." He replied, ignoring Sakura's tone of voice for the moment. He noticed Sakura process what he had just said and tried to predict how she would react to his words. Her eyebrows were knitted together as she stared him down, her arm draped over the body of her beloved guitar, the one thing she refused to part with.

"How exactly will it cause more problems? You're my boss, its better for me to keep my distance anyway." Sakura snapped, her eyes showing her obvious rage that she'd been bottling up for the past two weeks. She gently placed her guitar around her back with the new strap Kiba had given her and attempted to walk out the door with her head held high, only that didn't happen.

Sasuke's hand slammed across the doorway, blocking her only exit from the small recording room. Sasuke was actually rather insulted that she wished to distance their relationship, although the insult probably upset him more than anything. He didn't want to stay away from the woman he loved, sure she was five years younger than him and he was technically her boss, but he didn't care. Sasuke wanted to be with her, even if it was just a place by her side. He didn't want to be asked to stay away.

Sakura looked over at him with an irritated huff, she _really_ didn't want to be here, in fact, she much rather be at home, deep in a bubble bath, whilst watching her toes and finger tips wrinkle. Sakura sent a glare Sasuke's way, and he sent one right back, the tension building up between their angry glares. Sakura took a deep, controlled breath before snapping one word at him.

"Move."

"No." Sasuke stated in a low, threatening voice. He refused to let her go, he was stubborn enough to do so too, then again Sakura was just as stubborn as he was.

Sakura's glare increased as she heard Sasuke's response, she really didn't want to deal with this, she wasn't prepared to deal with this! Why couldn't he just leave her alone! Sakura didn't want to remember the 'hospital incident', in fact, she'd much rather erase it from Sasuke's memory, but he probably wouldn't let her get close enough to do so, plus it would take to long to flip through all of the memories he'd had up till now.

"I'm stronger than you, I could easily get past." Sakura threatened, but not making a move to get past. Sasuke only smirked down at her, she wasn't getting away with a simple threat, he was made of tougher stuff than that.

"By breaking my arm? I don't doubt that you are capable of that, but I don't think you will." Sasuke stated, smirking ever so slightly when he saw Sakura's eyes widen ever so slightly, she knew he'd caught her bluff.

With an irritated huff Sakura gave in, sure she was as stubborn as the cockatoo head, but he had more patience than her, it was only a matter of time before she gave up and chose to just simply listen. Sakura sat down on her stool with deep aggression and folded her hands firmly across her chest, a scowl firmly on her face as she regarded the annoying Uchiha. Sasuke simply smirked before walking in and closing the door behind them. He walked with confidence that seemed to almost ooze from him at all times over to the small table next to Sakura and picked up one of the sheets on the top, reading quickly, more out of curiosity rather than stalling.

"'If love is a labour I'll slave to the end'? This doesn't sound like something you'd right. What's it called?" Sasuke asked, it was only a single sentence but it surprised him that it cropped up, Sakura wasn't the sort of person to right about love, even if it was a single sentence. Sakura on the other hand just huffed and gave him a dirty look before answering.

"It's called 'Swing Life Away'. And that line was Tenten's idea." Sakura stated simply. Tenten had said that apparently Sakura wasn't right in the head because she didn't like writing love songs, this was the only thing she could do to make the woman shut up. Sasuke simply nodded and set the sheet down again, he turned to face Sakura now that his curiosity had been settled.

"I want to talk about that kiss, we can't just keep avoiding each other, people are starting to notice." Sasuke said, remembering that Naruto had asked him about it the other day. Sakura simply stared into the corner of the room with a frown buried deep in her brow.

"Can't we just pretend it never happened? It would probably be for the best, it wouldn't be the best idea if Karin found out." She said. Her gaze was still firmly locked on the corner. Sasuke felt slightly hurt at her comment, his heart was giving a slight pained leap as it felt to the ground. He didn't want to just forget, that kiss had been something _real_, something that he'd never experienced until now. And she was asking him to forget it!

"I'm not going to forget it Sakura." Sasuke almost growled. Sakura's face whipped around at the comment as she stood up, he was being so frustrating!

"And why the hell not! It's simple enough!" Sakura yelled, a low inhuman growl made its up her throat from deep in her chest as she felt her fangs begging for a release she wouldn't give. Her short fuse had completely burned up by now, why couldn't he just accept that it was only a kiss, simple lips touching lips! Heck, there wasn't even any tongue! She found it hard to believe that _the_ Sasuke Uchiha would refuse to forget about such a simple thing!

"It's not 'simple enough', god damn it! Sakura, can't you see that I-" Sasuke cut him self off mid shout, he was about to tell her he loved her! He was actually going to do it! Thank god I managed to catch myself, He thought. Sasuke stood frozen in the spot, he literally couldn't move. His almost confession had put him flat on his back, stunned that he was even leading there. He wasn't ready to tell Sakura just yet.

She on the other hand was rather confused, they were in the middle of a heated argument and _he_ goes all ice-sculpture on her! What the hell? Sakura looked at him like he'd grown two heads, Sasuke was just standing there, completely frozen, eyes wide and mouth agape, his hands still balled at his sides. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost actually, and had simply frozen in fear. Sakura frowned at him, rather annoyed now that he didn't have the common curtsy to finish his sentence.

"Can't see that your… What?" She prodded, sarcasm deep in her tone, her mood never lifting from the pissed off cloud that was encircling her emotions. Sasuke straightened up and gave her his best blank look, it might have worked too if it wasn't for the slight surprise in his eyes for his small slip. Sasuke looked over her and noticed that she was still in a pretty bad mood. Why did she have to be so awkward? He's wanted to talk to her, to sort this all out but he wasn't prepared to do it when she was in one of her little moods. The last time she'd been in one was when he failed to tell her that she had some food on her mouth and she'd walked home with it. Although it was rather amusing to watch her fume, this was no laughing matter; he couldn't have her avoiding this. But Sasuke didn't want to answer her questions; it would give away too much.

"That your annoying." Sasuke's tone was dry and toneless, where as Sakura gave a fierce growl that clearly wasn't human, her cheeks blushing with anger. Sasuke felt relieved, it looked like he'd just dodged that missile, but her small fit of anger was getting bigger, it was one missile he wouldn't be able to dodge this time. He just hoped that Sakura wouldn't get physical; he might just end up through a wall if she did.

Sakura wanted to kick Sasuke's head in, preferably until she could pour his brains out of his ear into a glass. How was it so simple for him to simply forget it ever happened! All he needed to do was act like nothing happened; it was simple, yet effective. But no, he had to be his usual bastard self. Naruto was right, he really is a teme. Sakura was fed up, why was he even here, he said that he wanted to talk but not a lot of talking was actually getting done, they were only arguing, like they always do…

Nothing would ever change between them. She knew that.

As Sakura sat on the stool she huffed and tried to settle herself down, if she didn't then Sasuke would never leave, she had work to do after all. So with another angry huff she glared at him through the bangs that now covered her face and addressed him as she saw fit.

"Bastard, just tell me what's got your thong twisted so you can leave already, I have work to do." Sakura growled. Her arms firmly folded over her chest and eyes ablaze with green fire. Sasuke raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her word choice; did she seriously think that saying things like _that_ would get her answers? Sasuke merely sighed; she could be so rude sometimes. Yet that was one of the many things he loved about her…

"Your not going to get anywhere with language like that." Sasuke commented, his blank eyes never leaving Sakura's glare. She just glared harder, not allowing him to change him from the topic.

"Sasuke…" She threatened in a low growl; Sasuke got the message and gave a small sigh and his head a small shake before looking over at Sakura.

"We can't keep avoiding each other, you may think that it'll be better, but I know it won't. Your work will be affected as well as are private lives." Sasuke stated, folding his arms in an intimidating manner. Sakura let out the smallest of huffs and instead glared at the corner of the room, she refused to be swayed by his words, she still wanted to avoid him. Thing's were less stressful and not so complicated.

"Sakura, your release date is coming up next month, I need to work closely with the band starting next week, you avoiding me is the last thing I need. You hold important roles in the band that I need to verify, like every other band out there. Stop being childish." Sasuke sounded like a teacher scolding a child, Sakura's cheeks burned brighter with anger and embarrassment at his manner and words, she was not a little kid anymore, she'd grown up a _long_ time ago, well before most people her age. He shouldn't be telling her off, he may be older, but she had more experience than him. Sakura's arms unfolded and she gripped the sides of her stool with both hands, trying to keep her anger and humiliation hidden.

"Sakura, are you even listening to me?" Sasuke questioned in an annoyed voice, her head snapped up at the comment and her frown deepened on her face. Sakura hmphed and looked at Sasuke's black tie, refusing to meet his gaze. It was at times like this that made her feel so small and pathetic.

Sasuke took her reaction as a yes, she was in fact listening, he didn't know what he'd been expecting but he didn't think she would be listening. She was stubborn enough to just ignore every word that came out of his mouth. Both Sasuke and Sakura were aware of how stubborn they could both be.

"Fine." Sakura mumbled, a pout clear on her lips. Sasuke blinked a few times at her sudden response, feeling slightly confused at what she might have meant.

"Fine… As in?..." Sasuke drawled, causing Sakura to give him a dirty look. He ignored it however and waited for her answer.

"Fine, as in I'll do as you say." Sakura huffed, her cheeks puffed out like a moody child's might and Sasuke couldn't help the snort that ripped its way out of his throat. Sakura's face once again whipped around to face him in a split second, shock and annoyance deep in her expression.

"Did you just snort you ass!" Sakura yelled, her voice getting high pitched in some places from the shock of it all. Sakura was under the impression the Sasuke Uchiha couldn't laugh, let alone snort! Sasuke quickly composed himself and hid the smirk that had made its way onto his face, he knew for a fact that he was walking on thin ice as it was without the snort added onto it.

"I have a cough. Now that you've agreed I guess we can move on from this little incident now. I'd like to get my work done." Sasuke replied. Sakura raised an eyebrow at his obviously bad lie, but said nothing; instead she took this as a sign to hightail it out of there. Sasuke didn't stop her; instead he watched her retreating back with her precious guitar strapped to it. He'd never admit it out loud but the sight of her back moving away from him was the worse feeling in the world.

…!...

Sakura and Itachi both scrambled around on the muddy floor the next day with the air of annoyance and irritation flying high over their heads. Sakura was seriously starting to regret agreeing to help Itachi in his little investigation. She thought they were just going to be walking around shady bars again, not crawling around on the muddy floor of the fecking crime scene!

"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" Sakura whined over at Itachi who was at the other end of the clearing digging through some bushes. From any other situation, the sight might have been rather amusing to Sakura, but since she was joining in, it was anything but. It wasn't the whole getting dirty part that she minded, after all, Sakura had spent seven years of her life sleeping and living in the stuff. It was the fact that she didn't know what she was looking for.

"Stop your moaning and look. I don't want to be here either but we need to find some sort of evidence left behind by your attackers." Itachi replied from his hands and knees underneath the bush. A string of colourful language left his lips shortly after as his long ponytail once again got tangled in the branches. That was the fifth time, Sakura noted, that Itachi's hair had gotten caught in the bushes. His hair was slowly turning into a frizz ball the longer he looked and Sakura was sure he'd resemble a member of the circus if he took his hair tie out.

They'd been hunting around in the dirt for a little over an hour now and had come up empty, by the looks of things Sakura's attackers had taken everything with them when they'd woken up. She heard Itachi finally move out of the bushes with a few pained grunts as his still tangled hair pulled in rebellion. Itachi sat on the damp ground and stretched his arms and legs', hearing little satisfying pops as he did so. He was sure that his hair was infested with leaves and twigs but ignored it for the moment, he was more interested in what he was doing. With a sign he turned around onto his knees and began to rummage through the leaf litter that coated the ground like a second skin.

"Hey, why isn't Sasuke here again?" Sakura asked, the last time she'd seen him was yesterday afternoon when he paid the band a little visit. She wasn't all that comfortable being around him just yet, but she'd just have to get used to it. The entire time he'd been there Sakura had only said a few short sentences, but that wasn't her fault, the whole time he was there Sakura couldn't help but feel his eyes on her back whenever she turned around. It was rather creepy in her opinion, then again he had kissed her, so obviously he'd be staring, or at least that's what she thought.

"He skipped out, saying something about going out with Karin, which if you ask me is a lode of bull." Itachi huffed. Sakura's eyebrows pulled together at his comment, was it weird for them to both go out? They were engaged, it should be normal to go out, Sakura thought with deep confusion.

"I don't see what's so surprising about that." Sakura commented casually back, causing Itachi to snort. Once again Sakura's head whipped around like a shot, what was with Uchiha's and fecking _snorting!_

"Did you just snort at me!" She asked with extreme irritation, she didn't enjoy being at the receiving end of one. Itachi just looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, asking if he should answer that.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed actually, you're probably the only one." He said back, amused that she of all people, the cause no less, didn't even know. Sakura just frowned and gave him a look to continue. With a low chuckle Itachi continued on with his little explanation.

"Sasuke's not that into Karin anymore, he's been avoiding her at all costs actually. He's been going into the office before she wakes up in the morning and been coming home when she's asleep. By the sounds of things he's finally realised how idiotic of a choice she was." Itachi left out the part of him loving her, instead replacing it with an equally believable explanation, Itachi wasn't going to go ahead and make things all the more awkward for the pair, however amusing it may be.

Sakura nodded with raised eyebrows at the comment, thinking over what Itachi had said. It sounded a little weird to her, considering that she was more or less 'Sasuke's type', according to Naruto anyway, and that the last time she'd seen them together they'd been pretty much playing the part.

But what if it was her fault? What if Sasuke felt guilty about kissing someone behind Karin's back? If so then it was Sakura's fault, or at least half of it was, after all it was Sasuke who kissed her, not the other way round. Of course if Karin found out it would all be her fault anyway, seeing as that stupid Sloth hated her guts.

Sakura was suddenly pulled out of her typhoon of thoughts and back into reality when her name was called. As she looked around she caught sight of Itachi holding a discarded penknife by the handle, like it was diseased. He studied it with seriousness before looking over at Sakura with a small frown.

"I found this in the leaf litter, it's got a lot of blood on it." He said in a grave tone. He was still looking at Sakura with that serious expression as she got up and walked over, hoping to get a better look at it.

The knife itself was pretty plain, it had a simple plastic grip with some letters scratched into it. The blade however was covered in crusted blood, showing it's dark past. As Sakura looked at it she caught a whiff of the sent that was slowly oozing off of it, to her surprise, it wasn't human, or not totally anyway. The sent was more or less halved between human and vampire, meaning that it was indeed her blood. Sakura looked over at Itachi to give him her analysis.

"It's got my blood on it. The guy that stabbed me must have dropped it at some point." Sakura summarised. Itachi looked surprised, he looked back at the knife for a moment before looking at Sakura again with raised eyebrows.

"You were stabbed?" He asked with surprise deep in his tone. Sakura just looked up to the treetops before answering.

"Yeah, but it healed up by the time I got back to the Mansion so I never bothered with mentioning it." Itachi gave a small 'oh' before studying the knife again, noticing how most if not all of the knife was coated in blood, he was surprised it hadn't hit anything vital.

"Wanna' see the battle scar?" Sakura asked with an evil glint in her eye and a cheeky grin. Itachi raised an eyebrow at her childishness but agreed anyway. Sakura stood up, turned around and lifted up her jacket so she could give him a clear view of the thin pink indent in the back of her right hip. Itachi looked at the scar in curiosity for a while, once again baffled by her the speed in which she could heal in, but didn't dwell on it, instead he just waited for her to settle down again with that impish grin of hers.

He studied the handle of the knife again, looking over the small scratched in letters. He knew those letters, they'd been spray painted all over the ruff end of Konoha. He looked over at Sakura with a rather irritated expression, one that Sakura noticed very easily.

"Do you know who it belongs to?" She asked cautiously. Itachi nodded his head before answering in an annoyed tone.

"It belongs to a member of a group of ned's*. They like to call themselves 'Konoha Young Team' hence why the letters KYT are scratched in. There just a group of wannabe's, a group of teens with nothing better to do with their time." Itachi answered in that annoyed voice. Sakura nodded her head, taking in the information before replying.

"So where do we find them?" She asked. Itachi looked over at her before shrugging his shoulders.

"The streets I guess." He stated simply before standing up, he refused to dig around the floor anymore than nessesory. Sakura looked up at him before standing up also, stretching her legs and arms as she did so.

"Are we going to look for them now?" Sakura asked absent mindly. She ignored Itachi's small chuckle of amusement, instead she just listened for his answer.

"Looking like this? I think not, I'd rather wait until Sasuke's free too. The more of us there are the better." Itachi noted as he walked away, happy that he'd finally finished.

…!...

Sakura sat in front of a huge rose bush, thanking god that it was over…

Mikoto had demanded another family dinner that night, not excluding her or the two younger Uchiha's partners. Not that Sakura minded Taya, in fact, she was happy that she was there, it was Karin that she minded. That woman had done nothing but stare daggers at her all night. And to make matters worse it felt like Sasuke was staring at her too, not as hostile as Karin, but he was still staring.

Sakura buried her face in her knees and let out a huge irritated groan, letting it hit the high heavens before she ran out of breath. She peeked over her knees at the pretty rose bush in front of her and let her mind drift to her happy place. Not that she'd be getting to go there any time soon. Sakura was almost one hundred percent certain that Mikotot's 'guests' were staying over for the night, since it was a Sunday tomorrow and was only ten minutes away from midnight. Sakura knew that she'd have to go fed soon, but in all honesty couldn't be bothered, she was happy just sitting there all night.

The roses were beginning to die, Sakura noted, a sign that autumn was well on its way. The thought depressed her a little, and not just because her release date was next month. The flowers had been so pretty when she first came to the Uchiha Mansion, they'd been huge and glowing with what looked like red silk, and now most of them had dropped off in a dull brown mess. But Sakura still loved the flowerbed, it was still her spot, the only place where she claimed rights.

Sakura looked up at the star filled sky and smiled, she was surrounded by her favourite things, the flowerbed and the night sky, she couldn't be happier.

Sasuke walked around the corner of the huge garden, happy that he'd finally escaped Karin's clutches. That woman would always get so clingy when Sakura was within the area. But he'd gotten away fairly unharmed so all was good for the moment. He walked along the cobble-stoned path that led around the garden and kept his eyes on the ground, not in the mood for looking up.

He looked up however when he swore he heard someone sigh. With a quick glance around the garden his eyes landed on a flash of pink in front of one of the dying rose bushes. Sasuke's eyebrows rose up to his hairline when he caught sight of Sakura. He'd been wondering where she'd disappeared to after dinner, but even that had been a good while ago. So with quick, paced steps he walked over to Sakura where she had her back turned to him, not realising that he was no more than ten meters away and counting.

Sakura's head snapped up from where she'd been resting it on her knees when she heard the sound of feet on damp leaves. The sent of vanilla and aftershave hit her nose and Sakura resisted the urge to look round and check if her nose was deceiving her.

Sasuke plopped down on the grass next to her and looked at the rose bush, not announcing his presents. Sakura looked at him weirdly, like he'd grown sheep horns in fact. Sasuke looked around to meet her gaze with a raised eyebrow, he lent back and used his arm to prop his body up, while Sakura was still curled up with her knees under her chin.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura questioned in a low, cautious voice. Sasuke let out a single chuckle before shrugging, irritating Sakura ever so slightly.

"What sort of answer is _that?"_ She hissed. Sasuke let out another few chuckles at her sudden mood change, surprisingly or not so surprisingly enough this was one of the other things that he loved about her. It was the fact that she was one of the few people who actually got mad at him, as weird as it may sound.

"I just felt like having a walk, then I saw you and thought I'd join you." Sasuke said with a smirk, not missing the popping blood vessel on Sakura's forehead.

"You could have just kept walked you know... Stupid cockatoo." Sakura muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

Sasuke gave her a look but decided to ignore it for now, instead choosing to stare up at the night sky. It was a clear night, for once, there was only a single shadowed cloud floating up in the sky that ruined the star dusted darkness but Sasuke ignored it for now. Sakura joined him as they both sat in silence, she was just glad that he'd decided to stay quiet and not tease or annoy her.

"Hey Sakura?" Damn, she spoke to soon. With a small huff she turned to face Sasuke and met his coal coloured eyes, now completely toneless from the lack of light.

"Yeah?" She replied in a bored tone.

"Have you fed yet?" He asked with mild curiosity lacing his voice and eyes. Sakura merely shrugged before giving him a simple 'not yet'. They both fell back into that silence they'd been enveloped in before, both of them staring up at the night sky. They both sat there for a few minutes before Sasuke finally couldn't take it, which was odd, he was usually the one who liked silence, but ignored it, he just gathered that things like love did that to people.

"So… Nice sky?" He asked awkwardly, not missing the annoyed look Sakura gave him.

"Yeah, it's real nice I guess." She replied in a bored voice. She was going to tell him to shut up but decided against it, it wouldn't be very nice and he wasn't being hostile after all.

"Do you come out here often?" He asked. Sakura looked at him for a moment before answering, wondering where he was going with this.

"Only when it's dry enough to sit out." She explained simply. Sasuke nodded his head slowly and looked at the rose bush in front of him, wondering what else he could say.

"You should see the roses in the spring, there always really huge and colourful, my mum goes crazy over them every year." He joked with a soft smirk, remembering all the times his mum had forced Itachi and himself to pose in front of the rose bed when they were younger. Sakura smiled at that point, a smile that literally had his heart speeding up, her entire face lit up with that simple curve of the mouth and Sasuke had to swallow hard to stop himself for claiming her lips again.

"I think I'd really, really like that." She stated with the small smile still playing on her lips. Sasuke could feel his cheeks heat up so he quickly turned his head around and covered his mouth with his hand in a futile attempt to tame the blush currently staining his cheeks. He could feel Sakura's curious gaze on his face and felt embarrassed at having been caught blushing of all things, after all, Uchiha's _don't_ blush.

"Sasuke, you okay?" She asked with the slightest hint of amusement in her tone. The unexpected blush from a certain Uchiha had seen to that one. Sasuke scowled at the bush before him, not to happy that he'd been caught. With an agitated sigh he dropped his hand and rested the arm on his propped up leg before answering.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered simply. Sakura snorted at him and ignored the scowl sent her way, but she didn't care, it was pay back for snorting at her. Which reminded her, Sakura still hadn't talked to him about the day before, there was something that she really wanted to ask but had never really gotten the chance to, plus she was too pissed off at the time to ask. So with her hand nervously pulling on the grass with her eyes watching she asked her question, not knowing if Sasuke would answer honestly or not.

"Sasuke, why did you kiss me?" She kept it simple, not wanting to complicate things further by showing her unease about the subject. She could feel Sasuke stiffen next to her and looked up to meet his shocked eyes. She too froze by the sight of them, never before had she seen Sasuke look so panicked before. His eyes were wide and mouth agape, he was completely taken by surprise. Sakura felt the urge to take a picture, this was a once in a life time moment after all!

Sasuke's mouth slammed shut as he finally regained control of his body, his cheeks flamed crimson until it even met with his ears and stuttered a response.

"W-why do you want to know?" He all but squeaked. Sakura looked at him with a raised eyebrow, was she not aloud to know why someone kissed her? Sasuke got the message and turned around, not bothering to hide his burning blush anymore.

"I don't know. I just kind of… you know!" He moaned out as he raked his hand through his indigo locks, showing his frustration. Sakura huffed at the genius response from Professor Einstein next to her, all she wanted was a half decent answer! Was that really so difficult?

"I really don't, otherwise I wouldn't be asking." She stated, ignoring the pained groan coming from the grown man next to her.

"Why do you want to know?" He whined, not caring that he sounded like a five year old. Sakura just rolled her eyes at him before answering.

"Because I do, got a problem with that?"

"That answers no better than mine, you know that right?" He replied, ignoring the glare sent his way. Sakura huffed and puffed out her chest in defence, she was going to get a good answer out of him damn it!

"Just answer the damn question." She demanded, not caring if she sounded rude, she was too annoyed for that. Sasuke fidgeted a bit before settling down quickly before he looked at Sakura, her eyes showing her anticipation for an answer.

"Do I have to answer?" He asked, looking very put out. Sakura face-palmed, almost loosing the will to live with the aggravating man beside her. She was so close, close enough for it to be measured between her forefinger and thumb, to punching his lights out. Let's see what Karin thought about that one.

"You're the most stupidest, stupid person I have eve had the misfortune in talking to!" Sakura yelled out, pointing an accusing finger at him. Sasuke just looked at the finger like it had something weird on the end, completely blowing Sakura's already short fuse. She did not like being ignored!

"You know what, screw this! I hope you and Karin go ad have little mutant babies!" Sakura yelled, causing Sasuke to cringe at the very thought. But stopped when he saw Sakura stand up and march away from him, carrying the killing aura with her. He didn't want her to go just yet, he'd do anything to make her stay with him a little longer. She was just turning around the corner to head onto the path when Sasuke began to chase after her, he didn't want her to be mad at him.

He grabbed a hold of Sakura's arm and pulled her around to face him, they both now stood in the centre of the garden, the prettiest part, much to Sasuke pleasure, but didn't dwell much in his surroundings. Sakura was giving him a death glare that his father would be proud of, she clearly wasn't very happy with him and he wondered if she'd hit him if he didn't let go but it didn't matter.

"What the hell?" She snapped and whacked his hand away from her arm. She turned to leave again but Sasuke was having none of it, in a rush of the moment he grabbed her shoulder, flipped her around again, grabbed a hold of her collar and pulled her against his body. There lips smacked together in that same instant and Sakura went stiff, her entire body filled with that tingling feeling that Sasuke was also experiencing.

Sasuke's hands left her collar and moved to her waist were he hugged her close, loving the feel of her warmth, only increasing the electricity that was running through their bodies. Sakura snapped out of her shocked daze and slowly reacted, her hands came up to grab a hold of his jacket to weakly push him away, instead Sasuke released one of his arms that were wrapped around her waist and used it to untangle her fingers from his jacket, instead entangling their fingers.

It felt so right, even Sakura couldn't refuse it. Her lips slowly began to react like last time, slowly brushing over his again. Only this time Sasuke wanted more, he opened his mouth and used his jaw to force hers open before sliding his tongue inside. At first Sakura was surprised at the bold move and didn't know how to react, but as Sasuke moved his tongue against hers she copied his movement and just went with what felt natural.

Sasuke was in heaven, seriously. He was never much of a kissing person but then again he'd never kissed someone he was completely head over heals for either. They both fitted together perfectly, thanks to Sakura's height Sasuke didn't have to bend down to reach her lips, all he had to do was duck is head, and his arm fit snugly around her waist as well as his hand that was entangled with hers by there sides. There mouths moved together like it was the most normal thing in the world and he couldn't help but let out the smallest of moans, he wasn't even the one to moan at a kiss, but this just simply wasn't of this world.

They continued to kiss for a while, choosing to breath out of there nose's so they didn't have to part. But all good things have to come to an end, which happened as soon as Sakura felt the burning desire to taste the sweet liquid that flowed under Sasuke's pale skin. She pulled away faster than the speed of light, not even giving Sasuke a chance to realise it had ended. He looked through lust filled eyes and Sakura's downcast ones, her mouth was open as she panted for air and he could clearly see her fangs piercing her lip. He felt them when he'd kissed her and in all honesty he didn't mind them at all so he didn't know what the problem was.

"Sakura…" He simply stated, leaning his forehead against hers and stared into her green pools. She met his gaze with a more confused one before responding.

"What was that for?" She asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to break the silence.

"Because I love you…" Was his only response.

...!...

**mwa ha ha ha haaaa ...hello... Well theres another chapter over and done with phew! That one was hard, but i think it worked out okay and it's the longest so far! its something like 7000...O.O... anyhoo thanks for reading! please review trust me reviews make me write faster! =]**

*** I realise that most of the people that read this story are from America and Canada so you might not know what a ned is, since its a scottish term, but it's short for a non educated delinquent. You might know them as chav's or something, they basically spend there time vandilising and harrasing people. Grrr my school infested with them**


	15. Mixed Feelings

**Warning: mild violence =]**

**Chapter 15 – Mixed Feelings**

'_Because I love you'…_

Sakura's eyes snapped open as her mind whipped back from the dream that had captured her during the night. She can't believe he'd actually say that, did he not realize the danger in confessing to a fecking Vampire! Half-breed or otherwise it was till pretty dumb of him. Like when they were kissing, Sakura's cheeks flamed up at the very thought, she'd been so close to ripping his throat out that it was scary. Sakura buried her head underneath the quilt in an attempt to block out her thoughts and hide from her own embarrassment.

Sakura couldn't be with Sasuke, even if she'd wanted to, not only would the 'Old Ones' find yet another reason kill her, but there was also a chance that she'd kill Sasuke. Her self-control was nowhere near stable enough for _that_ kind of intimacy.

She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to do last night either, and all she did was high tail it out of there and went hunting. She didn't even answer him, Sakura felt bad about that, but what could she say? She had no response to something like that, she had no idea _how_ to respond to something like that. It was an impossible void where her street smart and wisdom of life in general came to no use. And to make matters worse whenever she tried to analyze her feeling for Sasuke, she'd just get confused.

Sakura huffed and climbed out of bed with a defeated sigh, she'd have to face Sasuke soon, since they were both currently in the same building, but it hadn't even past six yet. The sky outside her window was still dark as everything slept away peacefully. Sakura stood there, her cheeks still burning bright from remembering the kiss whilst still dressed in Mikoto's night gown that hung from her body, making her seem more like a small child than she'd care to think. It was humiliating really, that someone such as herself could be brought down with such a simple sentence. But those three words were filled with such meaning, it was no wonder that Sakura didn't reply, or rather, couldn't.

But she chose not to dwell on that topic, Sakura was hungry, it was the perfect excuse to distract her. Sakura pulled the nightgown over her head and threw on the first thing she found in her drawer, not caring if it matched or not. Sakura walked out of her room with paced steps and all but marched along the hallway, tiptoeing whenever she walked by an occupied room. The light snores coming from Sasuke's room where enough to show that he'd be out for a while, to which Sakura was pleasantly pleased.

As she arrived in the kitchen she noted how the place was filled with the thick air of silence, Sakura was always the first to wake in the mornings, the cooks would normally arrive for another day for work around noon and the maids that stayed over would cook the breakfast. But since Sakura was always the first up, she cooked for herself, much to the maid's annoyance. Sakura couldn't exactly be described as a 'good cook' and the mess she left behind wasn't for the faint hearted.

She opened the fridge door and pulled out a carton of orange juice, not even bothering to pore it into a glass as she drunk it from the bottle. If only her mother could see her now, Sakura thought with irony. At that very moment the door swung open and caused Sakura to choke on the orange juice she was consuming before chucking the carton back in the fridge and closing it with force that sent the worktops shaking. Sakura spluttered and coughed as she turned around to see who had given her such a fright, Taya stood there, looking like she'd just rolled out of bed with a rather confused expression plastered on her pretty features.

"What are you doing?" She asked through a huge yawn, her Italian accent weaving through her words and only adding to the slur that her sleepiness caused. Sakura just shook her head like a kid who'd been caught stealing a cookie and replied with a simple 'nothing'. Taya only nodded and moved over to the coffee machine, flicking the on switch and crumpled down onto a chair. Sakura soon followed and flopped down in front of her, wondering if she was okay or not.

"What are you doing up at this time? Don't you usually lie in with Itachi?" Sakura asked with curiosity lacing her tone. Taya only looked up and yawned before answering.

"Couldn't sleep, Itachi snores like you wouldn't believe, he's been drinking whisky." She stated with a loud moan at the end, cursing alcoholic beverages or something like that. Sakura's brow pulled together for a moment in thought, she didn't think Itachi drunk that sort of stuff, but Fugaku did, he'd probably roped him into drinking with him. Sakura felt sorry for Taya, she knew that the woman loved her sleep just as much as Itachi did. Sakura chuckled at the thought of Taya trying to go through that, she's surprised the woman didn't punch him.

"You can go sleep in my room if you like." Sakura offered as she got up to pore the now ready coffee, Taya just shook her head, there was no point really, she wouldn't be able to get to sleep now that she was up. However tempting the offer may be. Sakura sat a mug of extra strong coffee in front of her and watched her practically inhale the black gunk, Sakura would never understand how someone could drink coffee that strong. But it did wake up the zombie like woman, within five minutes of drinking the stuff she was as bright as a button, much to Sakura's surprise.

"What would you like for breakfast?" She asked, digging around the cupboards for a pan, adjusting her fluffy dressing gown as she did so. Sakura didn't even need to think of the answer before she rushed out the word 'Bacon', causing Taya to give Sakura one of her dazzling smiles that could send men diving at her feet. She chuckled lightly at her answer, shaking her head with amusement as she did so, there really wasn't any other answer was there? She thought with light sarcasm.

Taya began to expertly fry the bacon, the smell oozing off of the delicacy causing Sakura's stomach to rumble and her mouth to water, heck, even her fangs were threatening to pop out. It was no secret that Taya was a good cook, it was no wonder that Itachi fell for her, really, if Sakura were male and a full human, of course, she probably would have fallen head over heals for her too.

With the sound of sizzling food in the back ground and the gentle humming of Taya, Sakura rested her head on her crossed arms and closed he eyes, feeling content to simply lie there. This whole scene reminded her so much of her parents, how her mother used to hum and her father used to cook them all breakfast every morning. She missed the mornings the most, Sakura thought, she missed the simple family scenarios of everyday life that made her feel almost normal.

She missed her pink haired pale-eyed father and klutzy mother who would trip over thin air. She missed the small cottage they lived in when they were still in America and how everything seemed so safe when she was younger, even though it wasn't.

"What you thinking about?" Taya asked from the cooker, her brows were knitted together as she looked at the face Sakura had on, she couldn't really describe it, it was like a mixture of sadness but contentedness, very odd indeed. Sakura just opened her eyes and looked over at Taya before smiling a little, she trusted the woman enough to not go blabbing so she just told her.

"My parents, my mum used to hum a lot so it got me thinking when you started." She explained. Taya got a guilty look, she didn't want Sakura to remember something that might pain her to remember.

"Ah, sorry." She mumbled before turning back around to watch the slow cooking bacon, hoping that she hadn't upset Sakura too much. However Sakura just snorted and chuckled a little.

"Why? You didn't do anything?" She asked with clear sarcasm, Taya just shrugged as she flipped the bacon.

"I thought it might make you upset or something." She answered truthfully. Sakura just gave a small laugh and smiled, it was nice having someone worry over her, as weird as that may sound.

"Tell me about them." Taya commanded in a soothing voice. In truth, she was dying to know what her parents were like. Sakura was from the streets after all, for all Taya knew they were some gang bosses who used to own half the county or something, then were killed, forcing dear old Sakura onto the streets so her parents rivals wouldn't find her. Or it could be the complete opposite.

Sakura looked up at the ceiling, as if looking into the heavens for answers but replied all the same. The very thought of sharing her parents with another person was rather comforting.

"My mum was a numbskull and a complete klutz and my dad had an unnatural love for cooking." She smiled whilst speaking. Taya also felt a smile playing at her lips, they didn't sound like mafia bosses to her, unfortunately, that would have been more exiting.

"Do you miss them?" Taya asked, she didn't know why she asked, it was pretty obvious that she did, you'd have to be heartless not to.

"Yeah I guess. I miss not having a family to go home to you know?" Sakura said, her smile never leaving her lips. Memories of old home life were playing in her head and she couldn't get them to stop, not that she minded.

"If you miss having a family then you should just make a knew one. Rumor has it the youngest Uchiha has a crush on you." She giggled. Taya never missed the flustered look Sakura had as she served the bacon, by the looks of things Sakura was finally aware of this. She'd remembered Itachi telling her this a while ago.

Sakura's face turned bright red as she scratched her cheek nervously, trying her best to control her blush. Taya just laughed as she sat across from the bright red pink head. She wondered if maybe Sakura might have a little secret crush on him too but didn't dwell on it, Sakura wouldn't admit it even if she begged. But that didn't stop her from continuing on the subject.

"You know that I'm sure he wouldn't mind either, you know. Making a family with him and all, I'm sure he'd be quite happy actually." She teased. Sakura's cheeks only grew darker in shade at the comment, there was no way in hell that Sakura Haruno was going to do stuff like… like _that_ with Sasuke! He may have feelings for her but Sakura sure as hell didn't! Or at least she liked to think so.

"I-I can't do stuff like that! I'm only nineteen! That's way too young for thinking of starting a family!" Sakura stuttered. She felt completely flustered as Taya simply raised an eyebrow, as if she didn't believe her.

"You know that I wanted a family when I was eighteen, I'd even picked out my future husband and baby names." She stated, shushing Sakura into silence as she did so. She did seem the family loving type, Sakura noted, and she had no doubt in her mind that she'd make a good mother.

"Then why don't you and Itachi have kids?" She asked. Taya looked up from her plate with slight surprise in her eyes, she hadn't expected the conversation to centre on her, then again she had just said something that would cause questions. She'd brought it on herself really.

"Ah, just taking it slow this time I guess." She giggled causing Sakura to raise an eyebrow but shrugged it off. She guessed that taking it slow wasn't a bad thing.

"How long have you guy's been together then?" Sakura asked, taking in a big mouthful of Bacon as she did so.

"About three years now." She answered truthfully. Sakura thought about that, wondering what it would be like to have someone she could be with, someone to stand next to or to sleep next to at night. For some reason when she thought about it the image of Sasuke filling that roll would pop up, as disturbing as it sounded, but she just put it down to her mixed up emotions. It was Taya's fault for mentioning it.

"By the way, where were you last night, you vanished right after dinner was over with." Taya asked, completely changing topic's but Sakura ignored that for now. Instead she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind for processing over later and turned her attention to the question that was floating around.

"I was outside in the garden, I had a feeling that if I didn't leave soon then Karin might try to commit murder with the cutlery." Sakura stated, causing Taya to laugh a bit. It was no news to her that Karin and Sakura didn't get along, it was actually rather amusing to watch them shoot glares at each other over the dinner table, Taya was sure that Sakura wasn't even aware that she did glare at her, but that made it all the more fun to watch.

"You know that the woman's just jealous of you right?" She stated. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the comment that sounded a little far-fetched to Sakura's ears. First of all Karin had an amazing body, as in curves in all the right places were Sakura was barely out of the training bra stage and had so little hip it wasn't even funny. Secondly, she was human, simple enough really, but it spoke volumes to Sakura, it meant that she belonged to a species, whereas Sakura didn't, she was stuck in-between. And finally, she had Sasuke, something that made her more depressed than she'd ought to be. But then again apparently he didn't love her, he loved Sakura, but that wouldn't change the fact that he was engaged to Karin, and he wasn't about to break up with her either, that much she knew. So really she couldn't be jealous, could she?

"She is, trust me." Taya confirmed her thoughts like she was reading them, causing Sakura to give a weird look, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Your disbelief is written all over your face." She stated in a calm voice, Sakura just gave an irritated huff, her face wasn't _that_ readable. Or at least she'd like to think so.

"Why do you think Sasuke likes me anyway? He's always being an ass around me." Sakura asked. She was starting to wonder how many people knew about his little 'crush', if everyone knew then she was just about ready to stick her head in the sand for a couple of years. Taya giggled again as she finished off her breakfast, she pushed the plate away from her and watched Sakura with her brown eyes.

"It's pretty obvious, don't you think. You two have chemistry, even if you won't admit it. Plus being an ass could mean that he can act himself around you, which is rare." She answered in a matter of fact tone. Sakura just huffed and continued to wolf down the last of her bacon. She refused to think of Sasuke at that very moment, even though she knew it was hopeless. Taya seemed to get the hint and began to clear the table. No matter how much fun it was to see Sakura so flustered, she had her limits, and she had a feeling that the woman might attempt to stick the plate up her nose sideways if she continued. So with that in mind she began to take the plates away from the pink haired woman and moved them over to the sink.

Sakura huffed again and watched Taya clean up, all the while trying to keep her thoughts away from Sasuke, it didn't work. The conversation with Taya had made sure that it wouldn't happen. She couldn't help but think of Sasuke's whispered confession yesterday, in all honesty she was surprised that Karin didn't come zooming over. Then again it was about midnight so she was probably flat out unconscious at the time, but still. It didn't change the fact that he kissed _and_ confessed, it was way to confusing. She couldn't help but remember that kiss either, which didn't help. It had felt so heated and passionate that Sakura could still feel it on her tongue, and the way he'd held her waist and gripped her fingers around his sent shivers up her spine. If it had started to rain then it would have been the perfect kiss in the rain scene.

Sakura felt her fangs aching for release at the simple memory, which really did speck volumes in how it really affected her. Sakura was in trouble, she knew that much. If Sasuke kept on insisting on locking lips with her then she didn't know what would happen. It was bad enough that she reacted but that was mostly off of instinct, not her own doing. But she didn't know what to feel when it came to that man, whenever she tried it would always appear to be sort of blobby and fuzzy, not allowing her to make sense of it. Part of her would rather it stayed that way, not wanting to know the outcome, but the other half of her wanted to just find out and be done with it. But either way, Sakura had a feeling that she wasn't going to like it.

…!...

Sakura walked with her eyes glued to the ground with the two Uchiha brothers on either side of her. She didn't know what was worse, walking down the streets of the rough end of Konoha, where drug abuse and violence was a common occurrence, or being in the presents of Sasuke. Ever since earlier that morning when she'd had breakfast with Taya, she'd been unable to get Sasuke off her mind. The man had managed to entangle himself into her very mind, causing her already confused feelings to just scramble up all the more. So as you can imagine, when Itachi told her they were going to look for the neds who'd attacked her that very same day, she wasn't all that keen.

She looked up from the cracked pavement to the sky were the sun was setting, causing the light to bleed orange and yellow over the once blue sky. The tall buildings looked shabby up close and the occasional graffiti design was splattered over the walls, the streets were covered in litter and layered in flattened chewing gum. This was the place were Sakura choose her prey.

Sasuke felt the uneasiness rolling off the female next to him and couldn't help but give an irritated huff. He couldn't believe that she'd treat him in such a way, he'd more or less put his heart on the line and what did she do? She buggered off seconds after the fecking confession! It wasn't often that the Sasuke Uchiha would tell someone he loved them, heck, he didn't even tell his own _fiancé _that he loved her, and to be honest he didn't intend to. But that was hardly the point. The point was that Sakura, the woman he loved, had basically rejected him. So much for happy endings, if this had been some soppy romance story then he would have gone running into the sunset with Sakura in toe by now. But no, instead he's stuck wondering the streets looking for a group of scum with the very woman who rejected him and his very annoying older brother, perfect, just perfect.

He looked over at Itachi who could also feel the tension radiating off of the pair next to him, Sasuke couldn't help but get a little annoyed at his brother. He has it so easy, he couldn't help but think. With an irritated huff he sped up his walking pace, causing the other two to quicken up also so they didn't get left behind. The sooner they found what they were looking for the better.

He turned another sharp corner and dodged a couple of drunks walking in the middle of the street. Sakura wasn't so lucky however as she collided with them full force, knocking herself and the two drunks to the floor. Sasuke let out a low growl and stopped waiting for Sakura to get up and finished apologizing to the people who wouldn't even remember it had happened in a few minutes.

"Hurry up, I want to finish this already." He growled, causing Itachi to give him a mild warning glare as he picked up one of the drunken men. Itachi was tired of his brother's bad mood, he didn't want to be here as much as Sasuke didn't, but at least he had the decency to keep his trap shut. Unlike his whinny little brother. He didn't know what had happened between Sasuke and Sakura, but he could literally feel the tension oozing off of the pair, do they seriously expect to get much done when they were both refusing to speak to each other. It was stupid really.

"Sasuke, don't be foolish. We can't exactly leave them on the floor." He stated in a monotone. Sakura looked over as she picked up the other man off the floor and let him on his way, followed shortly after by the other. Sakura sighed as she stuffed her hands in her pockets, starting to feel the cold a little. Her thick jacket would provide enough heat but she was surprised that Itachi and Sasuke had come out in only hoodies and thin jackets, they were both mad.

"We'd better hurry, you said that they hang around the streets so I doubt they'd stay in one place for long." Sakura directed at Itachi who was still finishing off his warning glare at Sasuke, who simply looked away.

"I agree, lets go." Itachi replied, continuing to walk in the direction they were heading before hand. They all fell into step pretty quickly and didn't bother with talking, they were all too busy in looking out for anyone suspicious. After about ten minutes of that Sasuke gave up and looked over at his brother who was now walking in-between himself and Sakura.

"Why do we all have to be here again? Couldn't you just do it your self? I doubt there's much we can do." Sasuke stated. Itachi looked at him like he was an idiot, something that Itachi thought he was at that very minute.

"Your joking right?" He asked. Sasuke just looked at him, being perfectly serious. Itachi let out along breath before massaging his temples.

"I wouldn't have much success if it was just me, the more people there are the more chance there is of finding them. Also Sakura can find people easier than us and is the only one who can actually fight if things get ugly. Is that a good enough answer?" Itachi asked sarcastically, causing Sasuke to give him a sharp glare. Sakura just looked at them, casually overlooking the two brothers, there was no way in hell Sakura was getting involved in their little spat. Although Sakura had a feeling that she was the reason for the bad mood that Sasuke was in.

She couldn't blame him of course, since it was only natural to be mad after her actions, but she hadn't rejected him or anything, or at least she'd thought not. But the way he'd been acting certainly showed that he'd been more affected by her actions than she'd first assumed.

Sakura stopped her train of thought and stopped in the middle of the street when she swore she heard the sound of drunken laughs. Normally that wouldn't have caused her to stop, but it was the number of people there that caught her attention, there where at least ten, and that was too close to the number of people that attacked her.

Itachi was the first to notice Sakura's absence, he stopped mid sentence to look around and found Sakura about a hundred yards down the road with her face twisted in concentration. Sasuke followed his brother's gaze when he noticed Itachi was no longer paying attention. His eyebrow rose when he saw the expression she was wearing, it was careful and calculating, like she was trying to unlock the worlds secrets in one go.

Both brothers walked over to her and stopped once they reached her, neither knowing what exactly to say to her. Finally it was Itachi who spoke, Sasuke was still a little pissed off at her to speak directly at her, as childish as that sounded.

"What is it? Have you found something?" Itachi asked curiously. Sakura gave a little jump before locking eyes with Itachi, she'd been so concentrated on the voices that she hadn't even realized that he was there.

"Ah, yes. Down there, there are about ten people who sound like the guys we're after, although I could be wrong." Sakura said, pointing in the direction she'd heard them. They were close by, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to hear them, and it would only take about five minutes to get there, since there was a huge building in the way. Sakura could have gotten there in less time if she'd been on her own, it was easy for her to clamber up and over the ally way fences and walls, but it wasn't for the other two, after all, they weren't as fit and springy as she was.

"This way." She said simply before walking through them, not even sparing a glance at a confused Sasuke. Both men followed her around the building but stayed quiet, allowing her to keep tabs on the group they were pursuing.

Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little nervous, to be honest, he'd never been in a fight, well, a proper one anyway. He didn't know what he'd do if they suddenly went up on the defense, which was very likely seeing as Sakura more or less pulverized them last time they met. Sasuke wasn't even sure that they were the right people, but he knew it wouldn't hurt to check, or at least he though so.

All three of them turned the last corner and were met with an old car park, the place was fenced off but there was a gap in the fence big enough for someone to fit through. The actual car park was nothing but a square of grey grit with weeds growing here and there, but in the corner you could easily see and hear people. There where ten of them, just like Sakura had said earlier, all of them no older than eighteen or nineteen and all dressed in tracksuits and hoodies. A few had some kitchen knifes out and were showing there friends and others were simply drinking some cheap brand of cider.

Sakura wrinkled her nose, she could smell the alcohol off them in waves and there was no denying it, it was them. They looked a hell of a lot younger than the ones who attacked her and less threatening, to her they just looked like a group of no good kids, despite them being not a lot younger than her, in fact, some of them were probably the same age. But there was no deigning it, they were the guys she was looking for, she'd never noticed at the time, but the smell of burnt out cigarettes and cheap alcohol was fresh on them, just like in the woods, she'd just thought it was the scent of the woods but she'd never noticed the day before when they'd found the knife. Meaning the small was coming off of _them._

Sakura gathered up her courage and walked forward, climbing through the hole in the fence and walked steadily over to the group in the corner. Itachi only looked at Sasuke to make sure he would follow before also climbing through the hole. He felt just as nervous as Sasuke, when he saw the knifes they were swinging about he felt his confidence bubble away, if Sakura wasn't there with them, he probably would have walked away. Ned or not they probably could have killed him if they wanted to.

They both followed behind Sakura silently deciding to let her do the talking, they could just stay back and look tough. Sakura kept walking until she stopped a little ways away, glad that they hadn't spotted her yet, before calling out to them.

"Oi, over here." She yelled in a stern voice, she could feel her temper rising as she actually started to recognize some of them. Some of them turned round and gawked for a moment before going up on the defense, while the other three who weren't there at the time just looked on at her in confusion.

Sakura began to walk forward so she wouldn't have to shout and so she could try and intimidate some of the others. They immediately jumped into action, every one of them started to puff their feather's up with their own self importance and grabbed some sort of weapon they had either hidden in their trousers or already had out.

Sasuke edged back a bit, he'd never really been in this sort of situation before, being a rich kid and all, and he'd never really needed to learn to fight. It was at times like this where he felt useless but was still happy that Sakura was here at least she could fend them off, plus she could see properly this time.

"I'm not looking for a fight you idiots." Sakura said, barely containing her anger.

"Yeah right ya' psycho!" One of them yelled, he was one of the one's who were showing off his kitchen knife, Sakura noted.

"I'm not, I just want to know who it was who ordered you idiots to attack me." Sakura said, the anger still behind her voice but it was more controlled than the Neds she was talking to.

"We ain't tellin' ya' nothin'!" Someone yelled at her. They began to edge closer and Sakura's patience was wearing thin, she wanted so badly to just punch them senseless for what they'd done to her! She still even had her stitches to prove it!

"I really suggest that you just tell me what I want to know, I'm not in a very good mood as it is." She threatened. Sakura was not in the mood for their mindless games, if they didn't tell her what she wanted to know, then she'd make them.

"Fuck off ya' fuckin' freak! I'll fuckin' crack ya' if you don't." One of them said. Sakura could feel a vein on her forehead pulse, that last comment didn't help her mood in the slightest. Itachi could literally feel her darkening mood as the Neds continued to throw empty threats her way. Itachi however was just thinking of their oh so pleasant vocabulary that they seemed to prefer, it was like every second word was a swear.

"Who sent you?" Sakura asked again. She had to speak through clenched teeth, there was no way in her that she wouldn't growl out if she hadn't. The Neds were getting closer to her now, thinking that they could take her even though last time they lost badly. Sakura felt her temper flare at that one moment. A low, deadly growl rumbled from her chest in a manner that promised pain and caused a few of them to slow down ever so slightly but not completely.

"For the last time, who sent you?" She growled out in pure anger, her fist's clenched into her palm, drawing blood but she didn't care, it was only a matter of minutes until it healed anyway.

One of the neds spat at her but she managed to dodge it with ease, her emerald green eyes flared up in white hot anger, she couldn't believe the nerve of these guys! She could kill them so easily yet they insisted on acting like complete morons.

One of them came right up to her, attempting to intimidate her with his arms out wide, pocketknife in hand. Sakura merely punched him in the stomach when he got close enough. He toppled to the floor with a muffled thump and stayed there, Sakura gathered he was unconscious. Then there were a lot of threats thrown her way afterwards, most of which she ignored, they were all empty anyway. One of them came at her from behind but Sakura could see him out of the corner of her eye and gave a sharp turn in order to kick him, he also fell to the ground.

"Who sent you?" She asked again, it was said in a complete growl, it was a surprise that anyone could understand it. One of the other Neds stepped forward, Sakura was getting ready to whack him again if he tried something but he didn't. They both looked at each other for moment, Sakura looked over his appearance, the guy had a shell suit on with the hood pulled up and had a thick scab across his nose, Sakura was most likely the one who gave it to him.

"We donnie' want no trouble, right." He stated. Sakura only raised an eyebrow at the comment, but he only continued.

"Ya' want a guy called Suigetsu. Now piss off." He commented. Sakura only looked at him, before replying.

"Where can I find him?" She asked, her voice completely serious and flat in tone. The Ned in front of her only shrugged his shoulders before answering again.

"I dunno'. Try a pub or sumthin'." He stated before turning and walking away. Sakura gathered that it was all the information she was getting out of those idiots so she simply turned and walked off, knowing that Sasuke and Itachi were close behind. Nobody bothered to come after her, and she wasn't worried about them reporting her, they weren't that dumb. But now she knew a name, and she was going to hunt this bastard down if it was the last thing she did.

...!...

**Greatings... Well theres another chapter over and done with! I hope you liked it! Please review IT MAKES ME HAPPY! And happiness = faster updates!**


	16. Getting Closer

**Songs mentioned : The unwinding Cable car - Anberlin, Dismantle; Repair - Anblerin, Naive Orleans - Anberlin, Swing life away - Rise against, When I'm gone - Simple Plan, Over and Over - Three days grace, I hate everything about you - Three days grace, Rooftops - Lost Profits, The kill - 30 Seconds to mars, Odd One - Sick Puppies, Turn it off - Paramore, Brick by boring brick - Paramore.**

**Chapter 16 – Getting closer**

"Cheers!" Kiba cried followed by the rest of the band as they sat in some posh restaurant. It had been a while since everyone had all been together socially, and Sakura loved it. They officially start recording today since all twelve songs had been completed. And to celebrate Naruto had suggested they all go out to dinner.

"I'll drink to that!" Tenten grinned. All Kiba had said was cheers but it didn't matter, the happy mood had never quite left them and the bottle of wine was quickly getting lighter and lighter. Sakura was the only one there who wasn't drinking, she chose to stick to the excuse that she was still under aged but the memory of what happened last time was still high over head.

Sakura grinned as she took a swig of her coke and began to dig into her starter, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been in a restaurant, but it didn't bother her that much, she was here now and that's all that mattered. And the food was fantastic! Sakura thought as the mushroom soup hit her tongue, she practically melted into her chair as she let the taste of the heavenly food take over her, it was clear now that Sakura had never truly _lived,_ this was food for the _gods!_

"uh…Sakura… Are you okay?" Naruto asked from beside her. He'd put his spoon down from where he'd been slurping up some noodle soup (he'd been upset that the place didn't sell ramen but had settled for noodle soup instead) and looked nervously at the blissed out half vampire next to him.

"Yeah I'm good. This food is amazing!" Sakura suddenly came back to life and sat forward, the sequins on the collar of her borrowed dress twinkling as it hit the lights above. Tenten gave her a concerned look while Kiba barked out a laugh after choking a bit on the wine he was drinking.

"You idiot! Stop drinking my wine! You've got beer for Christ sake!" Tenten complained as she moved the wine bottle to her end of the table, being sure not to spill her own glass down her dark red Chinese styled dress, complete with a golden dragon weaving its way up her right side. Sakura could only chuckle away at the two, she was surprised to see that once Tenten was loosened up with a little alcohol then she could act just as childish as the male members of Emerald eye.

"Jeeze Tenten, stop being picky. You need to get some, then that might make you more at ease." Kiba commented with a sly smirk. Tenten's cheeks brightened till they were the same colour as her dress and Sakura couldn't help but laugh, she'd gotten exactly what he'd meant when making that comment.

"You're a perv Kiba. Just cause I don't get into the pants of every female on the planet." Tenten shot back. Kiba only smirked, not denying anything. Sakura felt her jaw hit the table at that. She never thought in a million years that Kiba was a player, she knew he was a flirt, it wasn't hard to miss really, but he never striked her as someone to sleep around.

"Sakura, you look like Elvis just rose from the dead." Naruto commented again as she tried in vain to close her gapping mouth. Kiba had the decency to blush this time at Sakura's reaction, but he still didn't deny his actions.

"Well never mind that. It doesn't stop the fact that your love life is well, lifeless. As soon as we release this new album the male population is going to start swarming, so what better chance is there at getting some than then!" Kiba finished. He shot Tenten a grin before taking a huge gulp of beer, hoping that his speech was well noted. Tenten on the other hand just blushed as she too sipped her wine, trying to take the attention off of her. Naruto saw her silent plea for help and decided to change the subject.

"Well anyway, hows-"

"And don't think I haven't forgotten about you two!" Kiba yelled, attracting most of the restaurants attention. He pointed a finger over at Naruto and Sakura, dread filled their expressions as they both looked at each other, silently trying to decide if they should run now.

"I'm surrounded my chastity pants wearing woosies!" Kiba barked out, a little quieter than last time but it was still pretty loud. His finger moved over to Naruto first, he took in a deep breath before beginning.

"You've had a crush on that other manager for over two years now but have you done anything about it? No! What was her name again? Hana?" Kiba asked, Naruto's face had turned bright red and Sakura felt the need to take a picture.

"Hinata." He answered simply in a small-embarrassed voice. Kiba snorted before finishing off his chicken starter. He looked up again and pointed his fork at Naruto, signalling that he wasn't done.

"And another thing, that girls got the hot's for you too, just grow some balls and ask her out!" Kiba pointed out with is mouth filled with food. He then pointed his fork at Sakura as the waiter came around to take away their now empty plates. Sakura gave her thanks after he left with their orders but groaned when Kiba still had that evil glint in his eye.

"Don't think you're the only one who'll get pity, Sakura. I have plenty to say about you." He stated with that sly grin of his.

"Oh god…" Sakura moaned out loud as she faced her doom, there was no stopping him when he got in one of his ranting moods, and they all knew it.

"Don't you think I've missed those sneaky glances you give Sasuke whenever he's around, you look like a dog on heat!" He yelled out for the entire room to hear. Sakura gave him one of her best death glares and felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, giving her the brightest of bright angry blushes.

"When the hell do I look like a dog on heat! I do not look at Sasuke!" Sakura growled. Her glare whipped the sly smirk off of Kiba's face as one that showed nervousness replaced it.

"Jeeze Sakura, it was only a joke. Please don't hurt me." Kiba said, bringing his open palms out in front of him in a peace offering. It was then that Tenten spoke up, taking a sip of wine she faced Sakura.

"You know, now that I think about it, Sasuke has been sneaking glances at you lately, more so than usual." Sakura froze where she was, there was no way in hell that she wanted to talk about this! In truth she was convinced that Sasuke officially hated her, he would never talk to her unless it was an important question, and had not once met her gaze. Of coarse Sakura knew he had his reasons, she been pretty cowardly and to be honest, immature, he did deserve an answer after all.

"Do we have to discuss this now?" Sakura whined, just as the waiter came round with their food. Sakura didn't even need to think twice, she dove into her spaghetti with vengeance as she tried to ignore her current company.

"Sakura, is there something you're not telling us?" Tenten asked, amusement and a slight smug tone laced in there too. Sakura choked on her food, being forced to finish her coke in one huge gulp. She gave a nervous look around the table, noticing how all eyes were on her, they all knew she was hiding something, but there was no way in hell that she was telling.

Naruto looked at Sakura, knowing exactly what she was thinking of. He liked to pride himself with knowing Sasuke the best out of everyone, including his parents, so this was nothing. Plus the teme had more or less indirectly screamed it at him the other day. He felt bad for Sasuke, honestly he did, but that didn't mean that he was going to get in a mood with Sakura over it, he wasn't a kid anymore, no matter how much he acted like it, on occasion of course.

"Guy's, leave it for now, I'd rather not start world war three in here thank you very much." Naruto stated, taking a huge chunk of steak and stuffing it in his mouth. Sakura gave him a grateful look before digging into her food again. Tenten and Kiba just looked disappointed as they also began to eat, but not before Tenten got the last say.

"I just thought that they'd make a good couple is all." She mumbled as she sipped on her wine again. Sakura only blushed at the comment, why was everyone saying that! First Taya and now Tenten, was there something wrong with the female population? She even remembered Ino saying something along those lines, but that was mostly because she'd been caught staring at his butt. Sakura still couldn't figure out how her eyes had strayed there…

They all sat in silence for a while as they ate, nobody knowing quite what to say. Naruto wasn't a fan of silences, he was a talker, and if there were a silence it would be filled. No matter what anybody else thought.

"So…um, how's it feel knowing that your first album is done?" He offered. Everybody looked up at him, glad that he'd been the one to break the silence, each gave there own impute, all following the lines of relieved and stress free.

"Oh by the way, what's the order of the songs again? I forgot." Kiba asked, a sheepish grin on his face. Tenten rolled her eyes, acting like he was an idiot but in reality, she was just as clueless. Naruto scratched his head as he tried to remember, he'd seen the list just that day too.

"Ah, I think it's… um… How many songs was it? Fourteen?" Sakura resisted the urge to face palm before she answered.

"It's twelve." She stated simply. Naruto remembered then and began listing the songs with his fingers.

"Um… it's… The Unwinding Cable Car then Odd One, I Hate Everything about You, Turn It Off, swing life away, When I'm Gone, Rooftops, The kill, Dismantle; Repair, Naïve Orleans, Brick by boring brick and that other one… What was it called again?" Naruto asked, a confused look crossing over his features.

"Over and over you twit!" Tenten huffed, that was the only song she was allowed to write! Then the fecking Manager goes ahead and forgets it? Not fair. Where was the justice in this cruel world? Kiba just rolled his eyes, he wasn't all that bothered over the lyrics, they were good so why bother arguing? Then again Tenten was determined to get at least one love song in there, even though it wasn't all that 'lovey dovey'.

Sakura and Kiba both sat there peacefully, trying unsuccessfully to block out the two arguing across the table. Sakura was just glad that everyone was off the topic of romance, mostly because hers was just confusing right now. She couldn't stop thinking of what everyone had said about herself and Sasuke, it was mad, he was engaged, even if he admitted that he loved her instead.

But Sakura ignored that feeling of confusion, choosing instead to simply sit back and enjoy her time spent with her friends.

…!...

Itachi walked through the front door of his apartment in a rather bad mood. After two hours of talking to people in the black market Itachi had come up empty handed in his search for this 'Suigetsu'. Sakura had ended up leaving him half way through to go hunting, something that he wasn't all too happy about. He was tired and grumpy and all he really wanted to do was go to bed, but he also had a sneaky suspicion that this suigetsu guy was some undercover person, the people he was talking to proved that. So he'd check now, before he forgot to do it later on.

He kicked off his shoes at the doorway, remembering the last time he trailed mud through the hall, Taya had practically ripped him a new one. As he shuffled through the hall he looked for signs of life, it was about eleven at night but Taya wasn't famous for keeping regular hours. And just as predicted there she was, on his computer downloading pictures for work.

She sat cross-legged on his office chair without a care in the world, her hair pinned back in a clip and clad in only a tank top and a pair of baggy pyjama bottoms. Itachi had a feeling that he wasn't going to get to the computer anytime soon.

"Don't you have work tomorrow?" He asked. Taya jumped a bit in the chair before turning around and rolled her eyes at him, a few curls falling down to frame her lovely face.

"I'm not in the office tomorrow so nobody will notice if I'm late." She answered. Itachi nodded distantly before pushing the chair she was sitting on across the room. She didn't fight much, just huffed a little like a moody child, there was no point really, she knew he'd win.

Itachi leant on the computer desk and clicked onto the Internet, he was sure he'd be able to find some news reports or something. He began to type in silence, flicking through an odd article on the black market that caught his attention and ignored the woman behind him.

Taya wondered if he was researching for that investigation thing, he more or less told her about it but she didn't really understand that sort of stuff, her strengths weren't problem solving, she could tell you that much. Her curiosity got the better of her however, she pushed against the wall with her arm and rolled back over to the computer desk were Itachi was still flicking through news articles as she peered over his shoulder, trying her best to be sneaky.

"I'd give up on that dream of being a spy, you're not the most subtle person I've ever met." Itachi commented dryly as he kept scrolling down, not even bothering to turn round. Taya puffed her cheeks like she was in a tantrum and sat back down with her legs once again crossed on the chair.

"What are you looking for anyway?" She asked, it would probably be better to ask, she concluded. Itachi swallowed a snort that had been fighting its way up his throat, her voice had sounded so childish.

"I'm looking for a man called Suigetsu, I have reason to believe he's in the black market or has at least _some_ connection to it." Taya nodded absentmindedly, finding it rather boring now that she'd heard it.

"Was Sakura and Sasuke with you today?" She asked, keen to know how the couple where getting along. Itachi rolled his eyes at the screen, but answered anyway, she would just pester him otherwise.

"Just Sakura. Sasukes been brooding ever since Sakura rejected him." He stated. It was followed quickly by Taya's over dramatic gasp of horror. This was not happening! Hadn't she told that damn girl that they were practically soul mates! Well… Maybe not in those exact words, but close enough damn it! Why did she reject him! That man was a fine specimen yet she turned her nose up at him? The next time she sees Sakura she's going to insert her foot up her ass, as lovely as that sounded.

"Your joking right? She rejected him! There made for each other! Why Itachi, why…" She moaned, dragging out the last word in a childish whine. Itachi simply shrugged his shoulders, there was no way in hell he was getting involved, although he didn't expect Sakura to reject him.

"But seriously though! They're like Cereal and milk! Ant and Deck! Romeo and Juliet-"

"Those two die at the end." Itachi pointed out as he clicked on a report.

"That's not the point!" She hissed back, an annoyed glare being directed straight at the back of his head. They both sat in silence after that, Taya trying her best not to show her violent tendencies and Itachi ignoring the killing aura behind him as he scrolled down the page.

This continued for about fifteen minutes until something caught his eye. He clicked on the report and began scanning down, the odd sentence pulling his attention now and again. Then he saw the name of the one man he'd been looking for. His back and shoulders stiffened as he read the same line again and again, making sure he hadn't miss read it.

"Found something?" Taya asked from beside him. She looked down at the screen at the article, it was labelled 'Drug Raid'. Itachi nodded before reading out the sentence.

"'One suspect named Suigetsu has been taken into custody but will most likely have all charges dropped from Lack of evidence, he was not found near the crime scene at the time but has been named as one of the main suppliers.'" This was the guy, it _had_ to be. There was a picture of a man with silver hair and bright purple eyes, his hair colour matched what Sakura had said exactly. Without a second thought he printed off the article and turned to Taya, who stood there with a confused look.

"You found the guy I'm guessing?" Itachi merely smirked one of those creepy smirks that sent shivers up Taya's spine.

"Ah, we certainly did."

…!...

**Okay first off, sorry it took so long to update, i had no idea what to write for the last part so i eventually just gave up and posted (hence why its so short), but i'll try and make up for it. And i have just discovered the two most amazing songs in the ENTIRE world! their called the Martian hop by the Ran - Dells and See Emily play by David Bowie. they are totally amazing! Though See Emily play is a cover version (origanal is by Pink Floid) its so much better! You have to listen to it! There amazing!**


	17. Finding the Truth

**Chapter Seventeen – Finding the truth**

Naruto sat there on Itachi's office chair looking him straight in the eye as Itachi simply looked back at him like he'd grown a third eye.

"Are you serious?" He asked with clear skepticism deep in his tone. Naruto huffed, he was perfectly serious and Itachi knew that, he just felt the need to make sure he'd not miss heard him.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Naruto replied with a small-irritated frown, was it so hard to take him seriously? Sometimes he wondered if people ever did. Itachi could only blink at the blonde man sitting in front of him before he had to ask again, just to be sure.

"So let me get this straight, you want me… to help you… lock Sasuke and Sakura in a room together until Sakura admits she likes Sasuke? Isn't that a little… I don't know, um… childish?" He offered, ignoring the scowl directed his way. Naruto huffed a little more angrily before sitting up in his chair, preparing himself to give Itachi an ear full.

"It'll work! Don't give me that 'childish' crap! It's the only way that I can think of that might make Sakura admit that she likes Sasuke, which she does, I'm sure of it." He shot back with determined blue eyes. Itachi could only huff and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Give me strength." He muttered under his breath, not really in the mood to hear one of the blondes plots right now.

"I can still hear you, you ass! And it will work!" Naruto exclaimed, leaning forward in his chair as he did so, Itachi just huffed as he met Naruto's determined gaze.

"And what makes you so sure that it'll work?" he asked. In all honesty, he was starting to think that maybe it was just one-sided love between those two. Sakura seemed to have the same sexual appetite as a loaf of bread, in his opinion, she just never seemed to be interested in the opposite sex. It was a shame really, Sasuke needed to shake off Karin and this was the perfect excuse.

"Because it'll force Sakura to admit her feelings! I know her well enough to know that she's got a temper, one that out weighs her stubbornness. If we get her angry enough then she'll probably say it. I think locking her up with Sasuke whist egging her along might just be enough." He explained with a thoughtful nod. Itachi just sat back with a sigh, still not believing that it would work. But he had a feeling that he wasn't given a choice in opting out.

"Okay then, so saying that I agreed to this, where and when would we do it? Not saying that I'm going to do it of course." Itachi asked. A huge grin spread over Naruto's face, Itachi was going to do it! He thought, even though he was denying it pretty hard.

"I was thinking of maybe doing it tonight, we finish recording today so the room will be empty. We can shove them in there and we can simply egg Sakura on from outside." He said with a triumphant glint in his eye. Itachi just sighed and shook his head slightly, thinking that Naruto had really put some work into figuring all this out, for once.

He looked over and was met with huge blue puppy eyes, Itachi merely raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hell the idiot was trying to do this time.

"So, you'll do it, right?" Naruto asked with his puppy gaze at full power. Itachi just looked at him like he was mad before he answered.

"You're kidding, right? I'm not doing something silly like that." Itachi stated. Naruto's entire face dropped into a sad pout as he looked over at Itachi, the man could be such an ass sometimes.

"Even if it's for the future happiness of your beloved baby brother? What if he spends the rest of his life in misery with a woman he doesn't love all because _you_ didn't help me lock them both up in the music room?" Itachi sighed, once again pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Naruto was going for the guilt trip, he knew it, and this was something that the older Uchiha was very familiar with.

"I highly doubt that locking them both up will give them ever lasting happiness, Naruto." Itachi said in a flat tone, wanting to get the blonde out of his office as quickly as possible. Naruto only frowned at him, not wanting to leave until Itachi gave into him and agreed to help, after all, Itachi was probably the only one smart enough to pull it off, he needed someone who could think up of a good enough excuse to get them both in the music room alone.

"Please! I'll do anything, just name it!" Naruto all but cried. This caught Itachi's interest, he did have a lot of files that needed done, files that were painfully boring, files that he could get the dip stick of a blond to do instead. He liked this idea very much. Itachi wondered if Naruto had planned to bribe him to do it in the first place, it wouldn't have been the first time anyway.

"Anything you say?" Itachi asked in a sly voice, causing Naruto to get a little nervous. That voice was never a good thing. He gulped before slowly nodding his head, wondering if he should take back his words or not. Then again if he agreed then wouldn't it be worth whatever pain the older Uchiha was planning on giving him? Naruto was beginning to wonder if maybe his theory was wrong.

"Y-yeah, I guess so." He stuttered, a cold shiver running up his spine as a creepy smirk crossed his lips. He watched in fear as Itachi stood up, walked over to his filing cabinet and pulled out a huge folder filled with sheets of paper. He didn't have a good feeling about this, from the loud bang it made as it hit the desk Naruto had a feeling that it was going to be mind numbing.

"Do this for me by Monday and we have a deal." Itachi smirked. Naruto only looked at the huge folder that was practically bursting at the seams and gulped before answering.

"But it's already Friday! You can't expect me to finish all that in three days! Look at it! I don't even know what it is!" Naruto yelled, his voice breaking into a squeak at a few words. Itachi only rolled his eyes before picking up the file to put it back.

"Well, if you don't want my help then I guess you could just leav-"

"I'll do it!" Naruto screamed as he snatched the file off of Itachi, defeat weighing on his shoulders as they slumped down. Itachi's smirk only grew as the thought of not having to do those awful files that month lifted from his mind, they truly were painful.

"So, when do we start." Itachi asked casually, resting his folded arms on the desk as he sat back down. Naruto looked up at him with a defeated look as he mumbled out his plan in more detail. He still didn't think it would work, but it would be worth a try, he guessed.

…!...

Sakura walked back from the cafeteria with Naruto in confusion. He had on one of those fake smiles that basically yelled out that he was hiding something from her, only she couldn't figure out what it was. All he'd felt like telling her was that he needed to speak with her in the music room, nothing else, and now here he was rambling on about god knows what with that guilty fake smile of his, just what exactly was he planning, Sakura thought with a frown.

They both passed the first corner and entered the lift that led up to the floor they wanted. Naruto was starting to feel a little nervous about the whole thing and only hoped that Itachi kept to his end of the deal, if not, then he can have his stupid files back.

Naruto glanced round at Sakura and noticed the suspicious look she was giving him. She was on to him, he knew it. Why did she have to be so frickin' observant? Then again he guessed it might have been pretty clear on his face.

"What are you planning?" Sakura questioned with squinted eyes as she regarded him. Naruto's back snapped up straight and his head shot forward, a panic stricken look covering his face. He been caught out, Naruto had no idea how to respond to something like that without his voice squeaking so he simply shook his head and hurried up his pace, hoping that the music room would suddenly appear before him.

Sakura couldn't help but wonder what he was planning; it wasn't often that Naruto would act suspiciously. Mostly because last time he'd done so Tenten probably would have killed him if not for both Kiba and herself holding her back. It wasn't like she was worried or anything, it was very unlikely that he would succeed of course, after all, if he tried something then she could either whack him over the head or run for it, but hitting him seemed more appealing in her opinion. She'd play with him for a while; it might just prove to be entertaining, as cold as that might have sounded.

"So what do you want to speak to me about?" She asked innocently. Naruto peeked over at her with a nervous look on his face, Sakura could almost see the clogs in his head turning to try and come up with a believable answer.

"N-nothing much, really." He stuttered. He scratched the back of his neck in a nervous gesture and Sakura had to hold in the urge to chuckle evilly. She had such a twisted sense of humor sometimes.

"Then why are we going? It seem's kind of pointless if we're going there for nothing that's all that important." She asked again. Once again Naruto's face became nervous as his hand began to itch the non-existent scratch on the back of his neck with a new found vengeance.

"Because…" He mumbled, not really knowing how to answer that. Sakura chuckled with evil glee in her mind as she watched Naruto have a mental battle with himself as he fought over an answer to her question.

"'Because' isn't really an answer, Naruto." She scolded in a light, amused voice. Naruto grumbled under his breath but she didn't bother to listen to it, it was most likely non-sense anyway.

Naruto knew she was doing this on purpose, she knew he was up to something and was trying to catch him out, but whatever, it wasn't really his problem. As long as he got her into the room along with Sasuke then all would be okay. He hoped so anyway.

They both turned the last corner and noticed Itachi standing outside the door with a rather bored look in place. Naruto gave him a nervous grin before he stopped beside the door. Sakura also stopped a few feet away with a cautious look on her face.

Sakura wasn't too sure about her footing now that Itachi was with them. She knew that he was smart, and crafty when he wanted to be, and she had no idea what was going to happen now. She studied them both with cautious eyes and didn't move from where her feet were planted.

Itachi noticed her sudden hesitation and resisted the urge to chuckle, Sakura was on the ball, he noted. He looked over at Naruto again and gave him a look before proceeding with the plan.

"We need to speak with you about something, so if you please?" He gestured towards the door that still had the card key sitting in the lock. Sakura nervously studied the locked door before looking over at Itachi, raising a brow slightly to cover her nervousness.

"Isn't it usually Sasuke who does this stuff?" She asked. Itachi smirked, he'd expected her to ask that, but it didn't matter, it wasn't all that hard to make up a lie for it.

"He's held up at the moment and asked me to see to you instead." Sakura ignored the urge to roll her eyes. Sasuke was probably still in a mood with her, it had been a good two weeks since the rejection and he was still moping? This was one of the reasons why Sakura tried her best to avoid _that_ unwanted emotion.

"Oh, okay." She said, believing his lie completely. Itachi was practically grinning with glee in his mind at how easily she was fooled. He'd always thought she was rather sharp too; this was going to be easier than he thought.

Sakura stepped towards the door and removed the card before slipping it back in to unlock the door. Naruto actually held his breath in anticipation as she opened it slightly before walking through it, not a speck of doubt in her eyes as she looked back at the both of them. Then suddenly Surprise filled her eyes as Itachi slammed the door in her face before locking it…

Sakura stood there frozen in surprise and confusion before realization hit her hard, they'd locked her in, _this_ is what they'd been planning! Those little _shit's!_ She swore in her head before going crazy at the door, kicking and hitting it like there was no tomorrow as she yelled profanity's at the two men on the other side. How could she have been tricked so easily!

"So, they got you two huh?" She heard behind her. Sakura faltered in her attack at the door and turned around to see a laid back Sasuke slouching on the sofa, looking at her with that cool intense gaze of his. Sakura felt a shiver run up her spine, but couldn't determine if it was from his gaze or the fact that it was Sasuke she was trapped in the room with. She had a strange sense of Dai ja voo at that point.

"Yeah… Mind helping me break the door down and kicking those ass holes till they can't have children, or walk for that matter?" She asked in a flat voice. Sasuke simply shrugged before answering back.

"Already tried that." He simply stated before Naruto's voice was heard from the other end of the door.

"There's no point Sakura! We're not letting you out until you admit you like Sasuke!" His muffled voice explained. Sakura felt a vein pop on her forehead, was he serious?

"Oh for-… Naruto, how old are? Five?" She yelled back, her anger and disbelief clear in her voice. Naruto sniggered from the other end of the door, finding it funny that she could get pissed so quickly; this was going to be over before it even began.

"Actually I'm twenty-four." He answered simply with one of his cheeky grins, even though she couldn't see it. Itachi rolled his eyes before pushing him aside; ignoring the colourful language Sakura was spurting out at the moment.

"We know you do so just give it up, unless you're scared?" He offered, deliberately pushing her buttons. Itachi knew that the comment would hurt her pride, and that she would retaliate, which she did.

Sakura felt her eye twitch, her popping vein making itself more known. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her temper; she was starting to piece together what was happening. It only pissed her off all more. Sometimes Sakura wondered if she should start yoga, Ino said it calmed the soul or something like that…

"Itachi, you have five seconds before I break down this door and personally neuter you and Naruto with a paper clip. Don't think I won't." She threatened. Sasuke was still sitting in the sofa, keeping a safe distance from the psychopath; he for one didn't take that threat lightly, especially since he was locked in the same room as her.

He couldn't believe that they would go this far to get them together, heck, he didn't think they would even try. I made him happy that they cared, not that he would admit it out loud, but he was also wondering why they'd chosen this method. He had a feeling that the dope was behind all this. Then again it was weird that Itachi had agreed to all of this, it wasn't his style, naruto had probably bribed or threatened him, he concluded.

But that didn't mean he was going to participate in any of this, he was still mad at Sakura, as childish as it sounded. After all he had given her so much hassle about avoiding him that one time and then here he was doing the exact same, maybe not as extreme as she was, but he was still doing it.

Sakura battered the door as she gave up on calming down, it wasn't good for her anyway, and all it did was boil up until it eventually exploded, much like now. She took out her anger on the door, pounded it with her fist and even screamed words that didn't exist, even her fangs made an appearance.

On the other side of the door Naruto raised an amused eyebrow, how could she get pissed so quickly? He watched as the door shook and groaned from Sakura's attacks and wondered it would give soon, he didn't think the hinges were meant to cope with this kind of thing. He looked over at Itachi who was looking at the door with both eyebrows nearing his hairline, apparently he was more on the surprised side than amused, a rare sight indeed.

"Uh… What do we do now? I'd say she's probably angrier than humanly possible. I'm actually thinking that Sasuke's life might be in danger." He gulped, looking at the door as a rather loud thump and scream was heard. Itachi looked over at him with a blank face, choosing to ignore the cries of his younger brothers possible murderer for the time being.

"Leave it to me, I'll get her to talk." Itachi stated simply before walking up to the door and knocking lightly to grab her attention.

Sakura stopped her attack when she heard the slight knocking and wondered what they were planning now. She stood back a few steps to survey the door, wondering if they'd let them both out now. Even though she knew that was highly unlikely, no matter how much she wanted to hurt them at the moment.

"Sakura?" Itachi's low voice sounded through the thick wood of the door. Sakura's brows came down in a hard mean frown as an inhuman growl found its way up her throat, she didn't even bother covering it up, her teeth grinded together and her fangs brushed over her lips from the movement as she tried to with hold her anger at that moment, knowing it wouldn't last long.

"What." She replied in a voice that sounded almost exactly like a growl of a dangerous predator. Sasuke felt a cold shiver run up his spine at that one, he felt so glad that it wasn't him who her anger was directed at.

"We're not letting you out until you get over yourself and admit that you like Sasuke. Because we all know you do." He answered back in a very straightforward obvious tone that almost mocked Sakura. She took a deep breath, holding in the huge gulp of air and counted to ten, before she screamed her reply as loud and as angry as she could manage.

"Like hell you fucking ass munching weasel!" She let out all at once, surprising all three men from her choice of language but chose to ignore it at the moment as she panted slightly from not breathing in a while.

Itachi rolled his eyes at her behavior; he guessed that it wouldn't be as simple as that. It wasn't much of a problem however; he'd been expecting a lot more than this and had come prepared.

"I can prove it." He simply stated. He heard Sakura huff from the other end of the door and took that as a go ahead to continue on with the evidence.

"Sasuke kissed you in the hospital and after he confessed to you I believe and both times you kissed back, you don't seem like the kind of person who would just kiss someone without a reason either. Also out of all the men you know, Sasuke seems to be the only one you treat differently. You always argue, which could just translate as misunderstood sexual tension. He seems to be the only one who gets under your skin, and Naruto and I don't count right now." He answered simply. He heard utter silence on the other side of the door and guessed that Sakura was processing what he had said. She was probably trying to find a way to deny everything, which was impossible since it was all true. Itachi just knew it.

Sasuke on the other hand was staring open mouthed at the woman in front of him. Did she really love him and not realize it? His heart had gone into hyper drive a while ago as he awaited her answer.

Sakura looked deep in thought from the look of it; her eyes were fixated on a spot on the door and her hands hung limply by her sides. He wondered if she thought it was true, he sure as hell hoped so, after all, he wanted her so badly that it was almost insane, despite the fact that he acted like a moody teenager around her. The truth was that he was just falling faster and deeper; so far in fact that he didn't think it was possible. So you could probably imagine how much he wanted her to say those three simple words…

"Your wrong." She mumbled, her anger deflating slightly and hiding in the back of her mind for the time being. Itachi noted the sudden change of mood in her voice and wondered if he was finally getting through that stubborn head of hers.

"Ah, but I am, and you know it." He stated back, noting how Naruto chose to stay out of the entire thing now that Itachi had Sakura where he wanted her. He knew that if he kept going the way he was then she'd eventually crack, she had to, her temper couldn't hide forever after all, and when it did come out, he'd be sure to take full advantage of it.

Sakura shook her head, even though he couldn't see it and ignored the hurt expression Sasuke was sending her way. She refused to let his words affect her, she couldn't! They would never work out even if they tried! She couldn't control herself yet; she'd probably bite him if they tried anything. Plus there was the law that she needed to uphold, even though she'd broken the rules by simply living and when Sasuke and Itachi discovered her little secret. She still couldn't do it though.

"N-No, your not." She stuttered. She squeezed her eyes shut as she did so. Sasuke looked at her through saddened eyes; did she even know he was still in the room? The words hurt, the least she could do was be a little more careful of who the audience was.

Itachi just rolled his eyes at the door, he had her eating out of the palm of his hand and she didn't even know it. It wouldn't be long until he had her admitting her true feelings.

"Your just scared. You can't let what you are get in the way of this." He said in a flat voice. Naruto raised an eyebrow at Itachi's words, not quite knowing what he was talking about; did she have some sort of disorder or something? He didn't think so; he would have known about it other wise.

Sakura on the other hand knew exactly what he meant, as did Sasuke. He wondered if she was in fact scared of what she was, after all, he guessed it could be pretty dangerous. He'd experienced that first hand when they'd been locked in the company building all night. That didn't seem it though; he knew she wasn't afraid of her thirst, as far as he could tell she just didn't like it, which was very different from being scared of it.

Sakura glared at the door. That comment had set the fuse to the anger that had been building up at the back of her mind. She wasn't scared, just concerned for the safety of the person everyone seemed to be trying to set her up with.

"I'm not scared you dipshit." She growled back. Itachi resisted the urge to chuckle at how easy she was at being controlled. It was a wonder that she hadn't been caught yet actually.

"Are you sure? It certainly seems that way." He asked in an amused tone, only irritating Sakura further. Sasuke saw this and felt the urge to hide behind the sofa, she was going to blow up any moment, he could feel it. Plus at Itachi's next comment he was convinced it was only a certain amount of time before she broke down the door and kicked him so hard that he'd have to give up on having any future heirs.

"Stop being a gutless coward and admit your damn feelings Sakura." Itachi said, being sure to word it in a way that would make her blow a casket. Sakura looked down at her feet, her bangs covering her eyes and her body began to shiver slightly as her hands clenched into tight fist by her side. Sasuke could literally see the killing aura flying out of her body. Her fangs fully extended as they poked out of her slightly parted lips. Then she suddenly looked up, her glare practically freezing Sasuke in the spot, it wasn't even aimed his way but the sharpness and heat flickering off them in sparks was scary enough as it was, even an Uchiha's best glare had nothing on this one.

"Well so what if I love him! I'm not scared and I never will be! So there! I love him, you happy now?" She screamed at the top of her lungs just as she punched the door, the hinges creaking and already on breaking point from all of her attacks.

Sasuke just stared at her, not believing her angry confession. He swore his heart stopped beating for a moment there when she yelled those three words he'd been craving.

"S- Sakura…" He breathed, not really knowing what to do now, after all, he was still in shock. Her head snapped over to Sasuke, in her blind rage she'd completely forgotten he was there. Her eyes widened when she saw the look on his face, his mouth was parted slightly and his eyes were wide, not as wide as hers was at that moment but considering this was Sasuke, it was pretty wide. She couldn't believe she'd actually said that, it surprised her, but what really surprised her was that it was the truth. She could feel it, when she looked at him her chest would feel light and fluttery. It was like her screaming out her angered confession had unlocked some unknown emotion she was trying her best to hide and avoid at all costs. And she'd just ran face first into it.

Itachi smirked at the door, hearing his shell-shocked brother on the other end of the door. He'd done it, he'd forced Sakura to get her head out of the sand and face reality, and he couldn't be happier. Now the only thing left to do was leave them be.

"Well done, Sakura, your braver than I thought." He smirked and pulled the card out of the door, unlocking it as he did so before walking away with Naruto grinning like an idiot behind him, just as happy as he was right now.

Sakura heard the clicking of the door as it unlocked but made no move to approach it and kick a certain Uchiha until unconsciousness. Instead, she simply stared at Sasuke with shocked eyes and her mouth agape, her fangs still out in the open. Her mind was still frozen from her outburst and discovering that the outburst was actually true. What would she do now? It wasn't like she could simply ignore her feelings like she had before; she knew that Sasuke wouldn't let her.

She was like a living statue, all she could do was stare at the man in front of her who seemed just as god smacked as she was. Sasuke stared into her green, green eyes like he'd just discovered a second sun, which was kind of true, as cheesy as that sounded, since Sakura was like his own personal sun. But he didn't dwell on that little detail, he was too preoccupied on the woman he loved in front of him. It looked like she wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

He got up with slow reacting legs, his eyes never leaving hers, the coal black colour never leaving the emeralds. He felt his heart give a rather loud thump that he was sure Sakura could hear. He took in a deep, shaky breath and opened his mouth, hoping that his voice wouldn't crack at any point.

"Sakura… Are- are you serious." He couldn't help but whisper, not having the gut's to ask the question any louder than that. Sakura's mouth closed so she could chew on her bottom lip, her eyes breaking from his to fixate themselves on the ground.

She gave a small nod and closed her eyes, not wanting to face him at the moment, this would have been much easier to face if the one she loved wasn't in the same room as her. She heard Sasuke's small intake of breath and heard footsteps coming straight for her. She opened her eyes and looked up just as Sasuke's body slammed into hers and his arms locking around her back, making escape impossible. Her head was tucked under his chin and she couldn't help but stare at his neck in amazement. He was holding her so tightly that if she were completely human then she'd probably have trouble breathing right about now.

Sasuke smiled into her hair, not smirked, but smiled. He was so happy right now that if he died right now, he'd die happily. Her hair smelled of flowers and spring. He grinned like an idiot into her hair before he let out the tiniest of laughs.

"I love you Sakura."

...!...

**WOOO finally eh? I was starting to wonder myself when she'd finally admit that she likes him... oh well. Thanks for reading! I hoped that you liked it and REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! I tend to update faster when i get feedback, gives me motovation!**


	18. The Enemy

**Chapter 18 – The Enemy**

Sakura sat with Sasuke in his currently empty apartment with a lazy arm draped around her shoulders as they sat and watched some game show that was on repeat. Nothing could beat a lazy Sunday, Sakura thought. It was weird really, considering that if she'd seen herself a couple of days ago then she'd probably have laughed and wondered if she was still sane. Sakura wondered if she even was in her right state of mind but didn't bother checking, she was happy right now.

Sakura had only thought of the law a while after her rather questionable confession, but pushed it aside, the old ones could shove the law book up their asses for all she cared. It wasn't like they could catch her anyway, she'd managed to escape them for seven long years and she could do it for a lot longer.

Sasuke's arms squeezed her shoulders tighter against his body, pulling her from her thoughts and back to the crappy game show they were watching. She looked over to see his face and saw the relaxed expression he was carrying, it was kind of odd actually, she was so used to seeing that serious or amused or even pissed off look he always carried, even that intense gaze he always possessed had died down slightly, not entirely, but it had died down. He looked completely at ease and trouble free, she wondered if the saying, 'Hakuna Matata' applied here.

"Sasuke?" She asked. His head lazily turned to the side to meet her gaze, a lazy smirk covering his lips as he did so.

"When's Karin coming back?" She asked with her brow knitted slightly between her eyes, she didn't really want to ask, since it kind of ruined the moment but she didn't need another reason for the red headed sloth to hate her, after all she was still engaged to the man and that made her feel bad enough for going behind her back like this.

"Not until five, we have a while yet. Don't worry so much." He sighed, kissing her temple as he did so. Sakura just huffed and crossed her arms, she was not worried in the least.

"I'm not worried you teme, it just doesn't feel right to me." Sakura muttered with her frown still going strong. Sasuke rolled his eyes at Sakura, she'd been around Naruto too much.

"And why doesn't it feel right, may I ask?" With his eyebrow raised he looked down at a moody Sakura who was staring at the TV like her eyes were pinned there.

"I just never expected myself being the 'other woman' is all." She muttered again. Now Sasuke was frowning, she should know that he loved her more than Karin, heck, he didn't love Karin at all.

"Sakura, it's you that I love, not Karin." He whispered into her hair as he secretly inhaled her scent before kissing it. Sakura just moved her head away before looking him dead in the eye.

"Then break off the engagement." She stated with a flat voice. Sasuke just looked at her with mild surprise showing on his face, realizing that he hadn't shared his plan with her yet.

"I am planning too, but I simply can't break it off for another woman, that would be dishonorable and she doesn't deserve that, no woman does." He explained. Sakura's brow just deepened in its frown.

"So what are you waiting for then?" She pushed, wanting to know what he was going to do to get the annoying red head out of their hair.

"I'm going to wait until she slips up, I need to find a good reason to end it with her for good." He explained. Sakura nodded, taking in what he was saying before adding in her own input.

"But won't that take a while, she tends to only show you her good side?" She questioned. Sasuke thought about that for a while before shaking his head, if that were the case then he'd just have to look harder, it was simple enough he guessed.

Sakura had already guessed his answer from the look he gave her and rolled her eyes, that confidence he always seemed to carry around with him was going to be his downfall one day, she knew it. She also knew that confidence was going to be one of the excuses she uses when she finally gives him a black eye.

"I'm hungry, make me bacon." Sakura ordered as her stomach rumbled. Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in topic but ignored it for the moment and got up. He started to wonder if Vampire's had some sort of addiction to bacon, it wouldn't surprise him in the least, considering the amount Sakura could devour in only a mere day.

"I'll need to take you to rehab for this obsession you have." He mumbled under his breath but Sakura caught every word of it like he'd simply said it out loud. So with a scowl on her face she stood up, walked over to Sasuke and whacked the back of his head, causing him to stumble a bit before grabbing the back of his head and cursing.

"What was that for?" He whined loudly, rubbing the back of his head to try and sooth the sore area. Sakura just huffed before moving into the spacious kitchen before turning around to answer the question.

"Don't insult the Bacon God, you ass, it tastes good therefore I eat it. It's no obsession, it's a way of life." She explained in a serious tone, even though she was talking utter shite. Apart from it tasting good. Sasuke just rolled his eyes before moving over to the fridge to dig through the odd food supply, highly doubting that he even had it, Karin probably would have thrown it out even if he did have it. That woman had something against pork.

"Apparently we're fresh out." He stated blandly before turning to see Sakura's crest fallen expression. He felt the urge to snort at her but remembered what happened last time he did that, he found it funny how she could act so childish at times and then act overly mature the next.

"I have some Tofu though." He offered, holding up Karin's new dieting product. Sakura scrunched her nose up before pushing him out of the way to take a look for herself, then groaned. The fridge was a depressing sight indeed, it was filled with so many low fat food from so many different country's that Sakura actually felt sympathy for Sasuke. In fact, the only meat product she could even find in the fridge was a lonely packet of ham in the corner.

"I'll have a ham sandwich please." She said over her shoulder at Sasuke, digging through all the unknown foreign foods to get to the ham in the corner. Sasuke nodded absentmindedly as he dug out the bread, ignoring Sakura when she decided it would be funny to throw the packet of ham at his face.

"Your boring." Sakura commented as she leant against the counter, watching him make her food. It was weird really, she'd never in a million years have thought that one day she'd be watching _the _Sasuke Uchiha making her lunch, the mere thought sent her head spinning, then again she'd never imagined that he would owned an entire top floor. The rich bastard didn't even have a front door, cause 'oh that would be too common' of him, so he got a feckin lift instead!

Sasuke ignored her for the moment before he pushed his finished masterpiece her way. She dug into it without complaints and he was happy to see that her table manners had improved from when she'd first arrived, at least she had her mouth closed this time. Then he remembered something he'd been meaning to tell her.

"Oh, Sakura before I forget. Itachi said he'd found Suigetsu's address." He said looking over at her. Sakura paused mid bite with a thoughtful look in her eyes before putting in down and turning to him.

"How the hell did he get that? Did he even keep within the law?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as she did so. Sasuke snorted before shaking his head slightly and giving her a small, amused smirk.

"I doubt it. Hence why I didn't get involved." He replied with the smirk never quite leaving his lips. Sakura rolled her eyes and wondered about this suigetsu guy, like his motives for instance. Itachi had shown her his photo the other day but she was positive that she'd never seen the man in her entire life, it couldn't be possible that the vampires had employed humans could it? It was impossible though, humans were only used as food, nothing more.

"When are we going to go visit the ass face?" She asked with a fake innocent smile, but Sasuke could easily see the irritation behind her closed eyes and inside the slight twitch she would get in her left eye. Sasuke held back the snort he had been preparing to let loose in exchange for his life, not feeling in the mood for one of her bone breaking kicks, not that he'd fallen victim to one yet, but you never know.

"Whenever I guess. It's up to you really." He answered. Sakura hummed in thought with her finger on her chin. Sasuke had to resist the urge to ruffle her pink hair, she looked so cute like that, he thought. Of course though he had no doubt in his mind that if he voiced his thoughts then Sakura would probably kick him so hard he'd be chewing on his own balls. He knew from dealing with the woman that she wouldn't be thankful for the comment.

"Can we go tonight then. We'd just draw attention to ourselves if we go just now." She explained before picking up her sandwich and pulling Sasuke by the hand, leading him into the huge living room. He couldn't hold back the pink that dusted his cheeks when she grabbed his hand.

Sakura wasn't much for public affection, then again neither was Sasuke, but when they were alone Sakura couldn't help but take his hand in hers. She knew it wasn't right, him being engaged and all, but it wasn't like they were all over each other in the middle of the streets like some people.

She led him over to the sofa and plonked down, stealing the remote before Sasuke had the chance and began flipping through. Sasuke threw his arm lazily back over her shoulder and rested his head on hers, preparing to nothing but sit they're with Sakura until further notice.

…!...

Both Uchiha brothers could feel the irritation rising off of the pink haired half-breed next to them. Itachi couldn't really blame her of course, after a whole month of waiting she was finally going to face the man who had tried to beat her senseless. Then he went and got them lost…

Well, when he said lost he really meant that the first five addresses he'd found had either led to buildings that simply didn't exist, or were occupied by other people. They were on the second last one and he hoped that this would be the right one, otherwise he couldn't guarantee his safety. From what Sasuke had told him she was still pretty pissed about the other day, even though it had produced beautiful results.

But he didn't dwell too much on the idea of an early grave and instead concentrated on getting them to the next apartment building. They turned another corner and entered yet another litter infested street where graffiti and shutters covered the walls, the brick work only showing in the odd area. Sakura seemed unaffected by the site seeing as she'd spent her whole teenage years living in streets like these but the two rich kids seemed to be a little taken aback, even though they'd seen streets like this before, but it still shocked them every time that people actually lived there.

"Is this the place?" Sakura grumbled, stopping outside some grotty old building that looked like every other along the street. Itachi looked at the sheet of paper he'd had hidden in his jacket pocket and looked up at the name printed above the main door, it was a match. He gave an impatient Sakura a nod before she stormed into the building, leaving behind the two men who simply looked at each other before walking in.

The third floor, number thirty-four, Sakura repeated in her mind over and over again as she walked along the corridor, eyeing every door she walked past like they had personally offended her. Sasuke eventually caught up to her but made no attempt to stop her, this was something she needed to do, they both needed to do.

"There it is." Sakura growled as she walked towards it, impatiently waiting for Itachi and Sasuke to catch up. She stood to the side of the door, keeping herself hidden from view as Itachi knocked on the door, feeling the burning of anticipation in the pit of his stomach. He could hear shuffling behind the door before it opened the tiniest bit, the metal clanking against the floor as it did so.

The two brothers remained emotionless as a head of silver and bright purple eyes peaked around the door to great them. Itachi took in his lazy expression as he regarded them behind the door, to be honest the man looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. He glanced over to Sasuke for a moment before taking an almost invisible gulp and opening the door further to lean against the metal frame.

"What do you want?" He asked lazily, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, not noticing the pink haired girl who was behind the now open door. She recognized that voice clearly like the attack was yesterday. She felt her anger bubble up at that point as her fists clenched tight and her muscles stiffened and her chest let out an almost silent growl.

Sasuke noticed the change in Sakura and gulped, looking straightforward again so the silver haired man wouldn't notice. Suigetsu leaned against the door with a cautious look in his eyes, Sasuke wanted to know why he was looking at him like he'd just stolen his TV.

"Are you Suigetsu?" Itachi asked in his usual calm, professional voice.

"Yes. What do you want." He asked again and glanced over to Itachi, who was looking at him with that cool coloured stare that was meant to intimidate.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore, she'd never been one have good control of her temper and this was one of those times. She stalked forward, pushing Sasuke and Itachi out of her way as she smashed the surprised silver haired man with her clenched fist. He fell to the floor in a heap not moving for a second as he took in his knew position on the floor. Both brothers stood wide-eyed as they watched Sakura grab his ankles and drag him into the flat. Sasuke couldn't help but think that she looked like a murderer hiding the dead corpse.

"Was that really necessary?" Itachi questioned as he stepped through the door, walking through the surprisingly fancy looking flat. He watched as Sakura dragged the half groaning man into the living room before dumping his legs back on the ground.

"Yeah, it really was." She answered simply as she stood up straight, her hands on her hips as she looked around the room, her expression a lot calmer now that she'd punched Suigetsu.

Sasuke closed the door behind him before joining his brother in the living room, waiting for the silver haired man to stop rubbing his jaw and sit up. Once he did sit up it became clear why he had taken so long _to_ sit up, the left side of his jaw was bright red from the impact and was already showing signs of swelling. It looked sore.

"Care explain yourself dip shit." Sakura demanded and she loomed over him, making him seem small as he looked up into her green eyes that practically glowed in her shadowed face. He took a deep gulp and realized that it was worse than he thought.

At first when Suigetsu saw Sasuke Uchiha of all people he thought he'd been caught sleeping with his fiancé or something, which would suck too, but nowhere near the suckish level he was at now. Not only did he get punched, which for the record, hurt like hell, but now he's going to be questioned and possibly hit again. Joy…

"Maybe if you didn't crack my jaw then you might get your answers a little more quickly." He replied in a sarcastic tone that made Sakura frown. She wasn't up for his crap, she wanted answers.

"Well if you can make stupid remarks like that then you can answer a simple question." She growled. Suigetsu closed his mouth, deciding not to answer that with sarcasm. He remembered what happened last time he'd encountered the pink haired girl. She'd more or less beaten up a group of young thugs, broken his bat and knocked out several men with one punch. He wasn't an idiot and knew that it was a bad idea to her piss off, her strength was just unnatural.

"What do you want to know?" He almost mumbled. He looked away to the side with a deep frown, not wanting to look her in the eyes. Sasuke looked at the man on the floor, wondering if this was really the one that attacked Sakura. He looked so nervous and jumpy, it was hard to believe.

"Oh so _now_ you're willing to talk?" She snapped, folding her arms over her chest. She couldn't believe this idiot. When they'd first met in the woods he'd refused to even mutter a word on what she wanted to know and now he was willing to spill his guts? She hated men, leaving Sasuke out of course… And maybe Itachi.

"Yeah." He mumbled again, letting out a long deep sigh as he did so. Sakura waited for him to tell her what she wanted to know, but nothing came. He just sat there with his hands on his crossed legs and his head turned to the side as he gazed out of the window.

"Usually when you agree to grass someone in it is followed quickly by the grassing." Sakura commented dryly, a blank look on her face as she regarded the irritating man. Suigetsu looked at her cheekbone, not wanting to look directly into her eyes. He was still troubled about something, even though he knew that he'd be found out soon, Karin was keeping him updated in that area, so he was prepared for that. It was the aftermath of this little gathering that he was worried about.

"You're going to report me." His voice was toneless and a little depressing in Sakura's opinion. It wasn't a question that he'd asked because he knew that they were going to, what else would they do? It's not like there was much more they could do, except maybe hit him more.

"And why would we do that?" Itachi questioned, stepping forward with his arms also crossed over his chest and looking down at the man in an intimidating manner, not letting him get off easy. Suigetsu looked up at him before moving his gaze to Itachi's left eyebrow, not liking the look in his eyes. He had a feeling that this was going to get violent if he didn't start talking. It was bad enough that his jaw was killing him, he wasn't in the mood for any more sore bruises.

"Because that's what people do?" He asked in a sarcastic tone. Sakura resisted all urges to face palm, was this guy an idiot? It was actually rather offensive that he had been able to sneak up on her, if he was really this daft then that didn't exactly say much about her brainpower either.

"Please stop being a twat head before I'm forced to hit you, I've never been famous for having a cool head." She said in a low, dark and dangerous tone that sent the hairs on the back of his neck on end. There was no doubt in his mind that the threat wasn't just empty words, he'd seen that woman fight, he'd seen her get stabbed and whacked over the head, yet she'd still beaten eight armed men.

"I'll only tell you if you promise me something." He stated, looking up to meet Sakura's gaze for the first time with determined eyes. Itachi and Sasuke both raised an eyebrow at the odd request but agreed all the same, it wasn't like they were wanting to hurt the man after all, so if promising him something meant that he would tell then they wouldn't have to. Simple enough really.

Sakura looked over her shoulder at the two Uchiha brothers, wondering if they'd lost their minds. Why would they agree to _that?_ For all she knew it could be completely unreasonable, like asking them to pay him tones of money or something. They clearly weren't thinking this through.

"You idiots, what if it's something really unreasonable, what if he wants money?" She growled put, giving them an annoyed glare. Sasuke rolled his eyes at Sakura, annoying her further before explaining.

"We don't have much choice really, it's either this or we beat it out of him." He stated, looking into Sakura's eyes, wondering why he fell for such a violent tempered woman. He was going to die young if this continued.

"Why not!" Sakura whined, turning around with her back to Suigetsu, who just stared between the two wondering how the situation had changed to quickly.

"We can't just beat the guy up Sakura!" Sasuke scolded, frowning down at her like she was a small child. Sakura on the other hand just huffed before flicking a stray lock of pink hair out of her face, the man really knew how to piss her off.

"That's not really answering my question." She deadpanned, not taking her gaze away from the younger Uchiha who did the same.

"You weren't exactly very specific when you asked." He replied in his usual blank tone. Sakura growled before spinning around and facing the man who was still sitting on the floor with a rather confused look on his face.

"What do you want? Money?" She questioned, giving up on arguing against the Uchiha twit. Suigetsu looked up at her with a serious gaze and didn't even attempt to look away.

"That none of this will come back to me. If the police or anyone finds out then I'm screwed." He stated, completely serious.

"And why would we do that?" Sakura questioned, wondering why the hell she should when he was the one that had committed the crime in the first place.

"I was just following orders, I'm not the person you want to beat senseless." He explained. Sakura looked back at him before letting out a long breath she'd been holding onto. He was right, in a way she guessed. He wasn't the man she should be beating up, like he said, he was just following orders, he wasn't the one with the grudge against her.

"Fine, now tell me who sent you?" She demanded, taking a few steps back so she was next to Sasuke, all waiting for the silver haired mans answer.

Suigetsu stood up, dusted off his jeans before rubbing his jaw, looking completely at ease even though there was a half vampire in the room that wanted to beat him senseless.

"Okay, but you got to promise me that you'll take me seriously." He said looking at them with that serious look in his eyes. He stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and stood there with his shoulders hunched.

"And why would we have to promise you anything else? For all we know you could be lying." Itachi stated in a cool calm voice. Suigetsu simply looked at him before giving out a long sigh.

"Because it's the last person you'd expect, trust me. She's sneakier than you'd give her credit for." He answered in a bored tone, not bothering to look away now that he'd managed to get their attention. Sakura noticed how he had said 'she' and not 'he', something that did narrow down the list of suspects drastically, the list wasn't even that big to begin with.

"Just tell me already." Sakura said in a moody tone, wanting to get out of the flat as soon as possible.

Suigetsu took in a deep breath, not exactly wanting to say anything now. He'd made up his mind ages ago that he going to tell them everything but when it actually came down to it he wasn't too sure if he should. It was harder to do in reality than it had been in his mind.

"It's Karin." He muttered. He was sure that they didn't hear him but when Sakura growled he was sure that they had.

Sakura had been the only one who had actually heard right because her hearing was so much better but she wasn't sure if he was right. Karin didn't seem the type to go this far if she didn't like someone, but that didn't stop the growl that climbed its way up her throat.

"Are you serious?" She asked, disbelief clear in her voice. The two brothers simply looked at her with confused expressions, wondering how she was able to actually hear that.

"What did he say?" Sasuke muttered to Sakura who was still looking over at Suigetsu.

"He said its Karin." She stated in a dead voice, her anger slowly building as the new information sunk in.

"No way. Seriously, but I don't think I buy that. She wouldn't do something like this." Sasuke said. He wouldn't in a million years have thought that the very woman he was engaged to was the one who had ordered Suigetsu to beat up Sakura.

"She's sneakier than you think, trust me." Suigetsu warned. Sasuke stood there in shock for about two minutes, wondering how it was possible for Karin to do something like that. He had remembered that argument they'd had a while ago but he'd not really thought much of it, and now that he thought about it, the attack had happened the night after.

So let me get this straight." Sakura commented. "Karin, as in red headed glasses wearing sloth Karin, is the one who sent you."

"That's right." He said, not really knowing what else to say.

"How the hell would you two know each other in the first place?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow as she considered the possibilities.

Suigetsu didn't really want to answer that question, considering her fiancé was in the room. He looked away guiltily out the window, hoping that Sakura would drop the subject, of course that was very unlikely.

"We… uh… _do business?" _He guessed, scratching the back of his head as he did so. Sakura's other eyebrow lifted up as she caught onto what he was trying to say, as did Sasuke.

"She was having an affair?" He questioned, his eyebrows pulling down into a frown. He'd never even had the slightest doubt that she'd be with another man, ever. He'd always thought that he was enough. The thought pissed him off quite a bit.

"Do you really have to put it that way?" Suigetsu asked, not wanting them to find another reason to hit him. Sasuke sent him a glare, His mood was now heading south, Itachi could feel it oozing off of his form and decided that maybe it was time to call it quit's.

"We should go. We know everything that we wanted to know in the first place." Itachi stated. Everybody looked over at him with curiosity, except Suigetsu who just looked relived.

Sasuke simply nodded understanding that there wasn't really much more to learn or sort out here. He grabbed Sakura's hand before dragging her off behind him. Sakura had wanted to hit Suigetsu around a little more but gave up on that idea when Sasuke had latched onto her hand.

As they all left Suigetsu couldn't help but flop onto his sofa and let out a long, tired sigh before muttering two words under his breath.

"Holy shit."

…!...

Karin stood in the lift that led up to the condo with six near bursting bags in either hand. She couldn't be happier, not only did she have a practically unlimited money source, but also she was engaged to _the _Sasuke Uchiha, one of the hottest men in Konoha, possibly all of Japan. She walked out of the lift with a smile on her face and into the silent condo.

She was completely unaware of the three extra bodies that were currently taking up the living room. She marched in with a big grin on her face and dumped her bursting bags on one of the chairs before a light came flickering on. Karin almost jumped out of her skin when the light went up, she took a step back and noticed Itachi in the corner next to the lamp that was now conveniently lighting up the room. She then noticed Sasuke and Sakura sitting on the sofa facing her, she couldn't help but glare a little when she noticed the lack of distance between the two.

"What's going on Sasuke?" She asked in a confused voice, not really understanding why they were all waiting up for her. Sasuke let out a single humorless chuckle before meeting her gaze with that intense and serious gaze of his.

"You should know perfectly well what's going on, Karin." She couldn't help but shudder at the cold, dead tone he used, especially when he said her name. She thought back to something that she might have done but had come up blank.

"No, not really. You're going to have to be more specific." She replied. Karin looked around at Itachi and noticed the cold glare he was sending her, it sent another cold shiver down her spine. She knew perfectly well that he wasn't too fond of her, but he'd never been so openly hostile to her before.

"We talked to Suigetsu earlier, seems that he was more than happy to provide us information on my attackers." Sakura stated in the same cold voice that had the smallest hint of deadly anger laced through it.

Karin froze were she was, knowing exactly what they were talking about now. She couldn't believe that bastard! He'd grassed on her! The next time she saw him she was going to kill him.

"Oh, and who's that?" She asked, playing dumb, hoping that she could quickly find a way out of this.

"Don't act dumb. You know exactly what she means." Itachi stated from the corner, the light from the lamp casting shadows on his face that made him look scary.

"What exactly did he say?" Karin questioned, dropping the act, she should have known that it wouldn't have gotten her anywhere with these people.

Sakura sighed and massaged her temple, feeling the beginning of a headache coming on, she had a feeling it was going to be a long night. But the thought of maybe getting a swing at the red headed sloth later kept her spirits up.

"That you're the one who got him to attack me, and that you've been sleeping with him." She added on as an after thought. She felt Sasuke twitch slightly as she said the last part and wondered if he was going to call her out on that himself.

"And you believe that ass!" Karin yelled, proving that she did know him and raising the possibility that it was her that ordered it. Sakura mentally rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, she was walking right into it. She practically had the sign above her head saying 'It was me!'.

"Yes." Sasuke stated blandly, looking up at her. Karin frowned, realizing that she didn't have many options left. She really didn't think that they'd figure it out so soon. She thought she'd at least have another few months and by that time they would have been married and if he decided to divorce then at least she'd have half his money.

"Okay so you know, so what?" She asked, folding her arms and sitting on the chair behind her, completely dropping the act now that she'd been caught. Her mouth was curled up in a sarcastic smirk and her eyes showed no fear or regret behind her styled glasses.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at her sudden change in attitude and wondered if she was finally seeing the real Karin after all this time. She looked like she didn't give a damn about what was happening and that she found it amusing. Karin lent back in the chair with her legs crossed over her other as well as her arms loosely crossed.

"So, I want you out of here." Sasuke stated blandly, not letting his anger show through. Karin only blinked at the comment, she'd been expecting something like that, but there was no way she was going to go without giving them a piece of her mind.

"So that's it? Your going to kick me out even though I'll have known where to go? I did nothing wrong! Yeah sure I slept with someone else but it wasn't like you haven't been getting it on with the rat next to you. So you have no room to talk." She stated.

"What?" Both Sakura and Sasuke asked at the same time, only one was filled with surprise and the other amusement. Sakura couldn't help but let out a small snort at Karin's obviously made up story. Normally she would have felt offended if she'd been called a rat but considering the woman clearly had no idea what she was talking about it just went over her head.

"Karin, we've never slept together, trust me." Sasuke said, surprise still clear on his face. He didn't even think that he and Sakura looked like _that_ kind of couple. Of course he guessed he should have seen it coming, before he'd gotten engaged Sasuke had a new woman every week.

"And how do I know your not lying?" Karin questioned, giving Sakura an evil glare as she said so. The amused smirk fell off of Sakura's lips when she met the steady glare of Karin's with one of her own, she was not going to be beaten in a glare off with a red sloth.

"Karin, give it up. You're not getting out of this so easily. Plus whether we've slept together or not is none of your concern." Sasuke scolded, joining in on the glaring. Karin broke eye contact with Sakura to look at Sasuke who was still nudged up against Sakura.

"Of course it is! We're engaged!" She yelled, standing up as she lost the 'I-don't-care' attitude she had a moment ago.

"Not anymore." Sasuke shot back. The frown on Karin's face disappeared as it turned blank, she knew it would happen, but hadn't thought that he'd be so casual about it! It came as a bit of a shock.

"Well fine then! I don't need you anyway, there's plenty of places where I could go! Your not the only man out there either, you'll be easy to replace." She spat. Sasuke simply sat there with that blank expression of his, which only served to fuel Karin's anger.

She pulled off the engagement ring on her finger and flung it at his head, only missing and hitting the back wall instead. She then grabbed her bags and walked away with the surrounding air reflecting her bad mood. Karin _never_ intended to come back here again, even if it meant that she'd lost to that stupid rat…

…!...

**aaand karin is outta here! =] i hope you liked the chapter! And pleeeeease pleeease x 10000000 review! I love reading peoples feed back! Thanks!**


	19. The Party

**Song's mentioned : When i'm gone - Simple Plan, The unwinding Cable car - Anberlin and over and over - three days grace**

**Chapter 19 – The party**

Sasuke stood in front of his full-length mirror, taking in the tuxedo and black bow tie around his neck. It wasn't much of a Halloween costume but if anyone asked then he'd say he was James Bond.

It was finally time for the dreaded Halloween party his father was hosting, and if that wasn't bad enough then the fact that the place was crawling with the media was just as haunting. They had somehow found out about his break up with Karin so they were no doubt going to be hounding him like a dog, and what made it worse was that he was taking Sakura as his date, not escort.

He sighed at his reflection for what seemed like the twentieth time that night before checking his watch, noticing that it was about time to head over to his parents Mansion where they were getting picked up. He walked out of his bedroom and down the hall, making sure that he picked up his car keys before pressing the button to open the lift doors.

The ride to the Uchiha mansion had been too fast for Sasuke's liking, he'd never really enjoyed these sorts of events, if it was up to him he'd much rather just stay home. He pulled into the driveway and parked his car next to Itachi's, ignoring the fact that his car was the newer version of his own, and headed inside where he was greeted by his over exited mother as well as his brothers other half who seemed to be just as riled up.

"Sasuke! You're here!" His mother beamed as she ran over to him at the door. It was weird actually, ever since she'd found out about him and Sakura she'd acted like a little schoolgirl, and Taya was just as bad. Apparently the Uchiha linage had weird taste in women, his father and brother went for excitable bubbly balls of joy and he went for creatures of the night…

His mother jumped over to him with her long silk light blue dress swaying with her movements, she had one of those sequined encrusted masks that you held up over your eyes in her hand as she clapped them together and smiled. Taya was soon behind her and was dressed in a dark purple kimono that had black swirls and complicated patterns flowing up from the bottom, her hair was pulled up in an elegant bun and her makeup was simple. They both looked amazing.

Sasuke looked behind them in hopes of locating Sakura but could only see his brother and father who had the same idea of costume as him, obviously. He rolled his eyes and straightened back up again, he should have known that was coming.

"Where's Sakura?" He questioned, pulling his mother out of her excitable babbling. A smile stretched across her face when he asked and Sasuke wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

"She's just coming, don't worry dear. It's so sweet that you're so impatient to see her!" She all but squealed. Sasuke rolled his eyes again and lent against the wall, waiting for Sakura to come down so he could get this stupid party over with.

Mikoto watched her son with interest as she stood back over beside Fugaku and wrapped her arm around his, resting her cheek on his shoulder. It was hard to believe that she was even looking at the Same Sasuke, his eyes never strayed from the stairs where Sakura would eventually descend from. He'd never been like this with Karin, or any girl he brought home for that matter, he'd always been sort of distant with them, like keeping a buffer line between them. But so far she hadn't noticed that when he was with Sakura, he seemed to be completely open with her.

The first night she'd found out had been a surprise though, to find out that he'd broken the engagement with Karin and then found out that he was dating Sakura had certainly confused her for about half a second before she fangirled…

Now she was just happy that he'd found someone to smile at when he thought nobody was looking.

Sakura walked along the corridor that led to the landing, all the while trying to slip on a pair of black dolly shoes. She was running late and could seriously kick herself for taking so long, it had been awhile since she'd so much as picked up an eyeliner pencil let alone use it, in fact, she'd never even used eyeliner. But for once she was glad that Ino was in the room with her, she'd been kind enough to do it for her, even though she doubted that the pig would let her forget it.

She finally rounded the corridor and ran down the stairs, not even bothering to look around her as she screamed out her apology.

"I'm sorry! Sorry! Quick, lets go!" She shouted. Everyone in the room took that as an invitation to either laugh or roll their eyes at her antics. Sasuke of course just stood there staring amazement.

She looked gorgeous, she wore a simple white lacy dress that stopped just above her knee, it was almost like the sort of dress you might see some virgin sacrifice in a horror film wear, if only a little shorter. Her hair was pinned up in an intricate bun with shining black stones laced through and her usual thick bangs that hung at either side of her face had been pinned back except two thin ringlets that framed her face perfectly. Her eyes were in complete contrast the rest of her, they were surrounded by dark thick eyeliner that could almost be considered gothic and in complete contrast with her white dress, her lashes were long and sent shadows down her cheeks. The green in her eyes appeared to illuminate the room around her as she looked around, the thick black eyeliner only serving to make her best feature stand out the most.

She then opened her mouth to speak to Sasuke as she came closer and he noticed the two long white teeth behind her rosy lips…

She had her fangs out! The _idiot!_ Sasuke screamed in his mind as his eyes shifted over to Itachi who was looking a little shocked too, apparently he'd noticed her fangs too. His eyes were a little wide as he looked back around to Sakura who had a small-amused smile playing on her lips. What the hell was she thinking! He screamed again, all thoughts of her appearance flying out the window now that she was walking around with her _fecking fangs out!_

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side as everyone began to walk out the door, all chatting happily as if they haven't noticed a thing wrong. Sakura raised an eyebrow in his direction, wondering if he had a problem with her current look.

"Why the hell do you have your fangs out you idiot!" He hissed, talking low enough for his voice not to carry too far. Sakura snorted at him before stepping closer to reply.

"It's a Halloween party Sasuke, nobody's going to notice if they're real or not. Plus this was the only thing I could think of that wouldn't be annoying to buy." She finished. Sasuke only frowned down at her, he supposed that she might be able to get away with it but she really shouldn't risk it, you could never be to careful after all.

"I still don't like it, you need to be more responsible." He ordered with his frown still going strong. Sakura laughed at that, a light giggle that carried through the room before she placed her lips on his once before turning around and grabbing his hand and dragged him out the door.

"Sasuke, I'm nineteen, let me be a little irresponsible now and then." She said as she walked, not making eye contact but he knew that she was most likely rolling her eyes at him right now.

…!...

The large hall they'd rented out was filled with people who had dressed for the occasion. The odd waiter or waitress walked around with either wine or some sort of treat on a nicely decorated silver tray. Sakura was actually surprised at the amount of coverage the party was getting. The media outside the main doors had hounded her with different questions as Sasuke pulled her through the doors. It had annoyed her more than anything though, they hardly asked her any questions about the band, it was all about her relationship with Sasuke, as far as she knew this was the first time they were being seen out as a couple, she couldn't help but wonder if a certain sloth had anything to do with that.

Sasuke tugged on her hand and pulled her from her thoughts and pointed over to were Tenten and Kiba had claimed a corner of the bar. She smiled and dragged Sasuke over before plonking down on a stool next to Tenten.

"Hey guy's, where's Naruto?" She asked. Kiba looked up from his pint and snorted out loud before pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.

"He's over talking to that Hinata girl, you know, the one who's that actor's manager." He sniggered. Sakura and Sasuke leaned back in their stool to look for themselves.

Sakura sniggered along with Kiba when she caught sight of him. His face was bright red as he stuttered over his words like a flustered teenage boy, he had on some form of kung fu outfit that just made him look childish, along with his blush. The Hinata girl he was talking to seemed to be dressed in an elegant ball gown that fell around her feet, it was an ice blue that complimented the colour of her hair perfectly. Her hair for once was pinned up in a complicated mass of loops and twists that left her eyes exposed since her straight cut bangs were out of the way, being held up by a matching ice blur hair band.

She looked to be enjoying Naruto's company, Sakura noted as she giggled behind her small hand, a light blush covering her snowy cheeks. Sakura wanted to so badly go over there and get revenge for locking her in that cupboard but resisted the urge, she had a feeling that Sasuke wouldn't let her.

"How long has he been talking to her?" She asked. Tenten snorted and looked around to face her, an impish grin on her face.

"About twenty minutes, a new record I think." She joked, making Sakura laugh a bit. For as long as Sakura had known the blond man he'd only ever managed to hold a five to ten minute conversation with the woman, he was either too nervous to find anything to say or she would faint. It was pretty hilarious at how hopeless they both were.

"Well anyway, enough of that." Kiba said taking a swig of beer as he did so.

"Are you ready for the stage later on? It would be annoying if you were to freak out in the middle of it, this is our first release after all, plus your toy boy over there needs us for income." He winked at Sasuke as he gave the man a mild glare, he was no fun, Kiba thought, wondering how Sakura could stand having Mr. stoic as a boyfriend, unless he was good in the bedroom, he couldn't blame her if that was the reason.

"Well I'm bored, I'm going to go find some more interesting company. Your man-bitch is starting to rub off on me." Kiba teased as he downed the rest of his beer. Tenten and Sakura laughed and Sasuke just glared, wondering why he employed this idiot in the first place.

"I don't think dressing up as a biker is going to attract much of the female attention." Tenten comment casually. Kiba grinned and tightened the red bandana around his forehead before pulling the collar of his leather jacket up, a wolfish grin plastered over his features as one of his long canines poked out.

"Don't lie Tenten, I know you want me, no woman can resist a bad boy after all." He teased and dodged as Tenten tried to whack his side. Both women rolled their eyes at each other, having been used to his flirty behavior for a while now.

"Who are you meant to be?" Sakura asked biting her lip with a fang as she looked over Tenten. She looked so out of character tonight. Her hair, for once, was out of it's buns and ran down her back in small messy waves and to strands at the front that were meant to frame either side of her face were pinned together at the back. She wore a simple long black dress that reached the floor and showed off her back and had a high neckline to compensate for the amount of back that it exposed.

Tenten laughed and shook her head lightly as if she was remembering something funny and turned to Sakura, picking up her champagne glass to take a sip.

"I couldn't think of anything else other that Chinese themed stuff so my Sister picked it out, I have no idea who I'm meant to be." She chuckled. Both Sasuke and Sakura lifted an eyebrow in an identical expression that made Tenten laugh harder than she already was. It was no wonder they were together, with expressions like that she wondered if they were identical in more than just looks.

"Okay…" Sasuke mumbled to himself, turning around to order a drink, needing to get at least a little alcohol into his system before attempting to spend any more time with Sakura's weird band members. And he thought Naruto was bad enough, it had been a bad idea letting them all group together, it was always safer to his sanity if annoying, loud and slightly out of the ordinary people didn't met each other often.

"So how was the ride here? Did you manage to escape the media?" Sakura asked. A pained look came over Tenten as she remembered, it had taken twenty minutes to walk up a bit of concrete that should have taken less than a minute! She was starting to wonder if they should even perform tonight, she could feel her private life slipping away the closer she got to show time.

"The next time someone asks me anything related to music please restrain me because there's a high chance of me strangling them." Tenten moaned out, taking another sip of her champagne. Sakura chuckled and ignored Sasuke when he started to grumble a little about having to sit through the 'stupid dress up night'.

"Your lucky, when I came they only asked about Sasuke and I." she rolled her eyes at Tenten in understanding, silently agreeing that the media were going to be a pain if the band ever hit the charts.

"Okay that's got to suck pretty badly too." Tenten laughed, causing Sasuke to roll his eyes behind Sakura who didn't see it. He wondered if he and Sakura were going to become one of those couples were the woman always did the talking and the man would sit in the background pretending to look interested, he hoped not, that would be dangerous for his sanity, like most things these days.

"I'm going to go talk with Naruto, it seems he's been cock-blocked." Sasuke commented, making Sakura and Tenten's head's whip around to Naruto where they found Hinata's cousin giving him a glare and dragging her away.

Sasuke got up whilst they were still gawking and hurried away from the scene, he'd meet up with Sakura later or something. Naruto stood there with a crest fallen look on his face as Sasuke walked over, he felt kind of sorry for him, he guessed, seeing as he knew very well what rejection felt like…

"Hey dope, stop looking like someone ran over your dog, it's creepy." He stated, causing Naruto to look around and take the champagne glass offered to him.

"Sorry. And don't even say that! What has Kyuubi ever done to deserve a comment like that!" Naruto yelled, his frown lifting and a more cheerful expression covering his face. That was the good thing about Naruto, he could get over rejection pretty quickly, Sasuke thought. It had been like that all through school as well.

"He urinated on my shoe, Naruto…" Sasuke drawled out, giving him a blank face, he had the decency to squirm a little at remembering that certain incident, they were good shoes too.

"He was only a puppy at the time! Let him be!" Naruto cried out.

"A puppy who you claimed had been toilet trained weeks ago." He deadpanned, shutting up Naruto in a heartbeat. He gave Sasuke a grin anyway and took a drink from the glass in his hand.

"When's the band on?" He asked, dragging the conversation away from his poor abused dog. Sasuke looked at him with a sarcastic eyebrow in the air, his friend was an idiot, no other way to put it.

"You're the manager, shouldn't you know?" He asked with disbelief clear in his voice. Naruto gave him a sheepish grin before scratching the back of his neck nervously, his eyes closing into half semi-circles and his cheeks turning slightly pinkish in his embarrassment.

"Lost the sheet that said it." He mumbled out. Sasuke rolled his eyes and let out an almost silent groan of pain. Sasuke was seriously starting to wonder why he employed the dope in the first place. Sasuke looked down to check his watch and noticed that it had actually gotten quite late, it was already ten, then again they had gotten here late so he shouldn't be surprised.

"You've got an hour, I'd start setting things up if I were you." Sasuke drawled out, noticing the small worry line in Naruto's brows. He looked over at Sasuke and nodded before taking his leave, Sasuke stood there and finished the rest of the champagne, feeling a little stupid standing there on his own whilst everyone else was speaking with one another.

"Screw this, where's Itachi."

…!...

Sakura stood behind the stage with her new electric guitar in one hand and the other over her heart trying desperately to calm down her growing nerves. Fugaku was just finishing off his speech and she knew that it was only a matter of time before she was up to bat.

She had never thought that performing on stage would be so nerve racking, she'd preformed on the streets for years and never once had she felt nervous. It was annoying really, how could she even think about becoming a musician when she couldn't even stand going on stage! She saw how everyone was staring at Fugaku, how all there attention was drawn to the one man, which was probably what did it. Back when she was homeless people wouldn't pay her any mind, the odd person might stop to listen but that was it, here however she knew that everyone was going to be looking at her, judging her voice and music, any slip she made would be remembered by the people listening, as well as the media who were recording it.

Naruto noticed her nervous disposition and walked over, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeezing lightly, letting her know that he understood. Sakura jumped at the contact at first but was thankful for the small comfort.

"You'll be fine Sakura, trust me." He spoke in an almost whisper that was so unusual for Naruto that it forced her to look around, just to be sure that it _was_ Naruto that she was talking too. He gave her one of his foxy grins that she couldn't help but smile back at, she was thankful that she had a friend like Naruto, he really was a nice guy.

"Thanks. But I'm not to sure if I'll be able to do it right, what happens if I screw up?" She muttered in a concerned voice. Naruto simply rolled his eyes and grinned down at her.

"If you do then I'll turn Sasuke gay." He joked. Sakura snorted a little in response.

"I'd like to see that one." She joked back, rolling her eyes as she said so. Naruto only grinned back before answering in a serious tone.

"I will, trust me. People have mistaken us as a gay couple in the past." Sakura raised an eyebrow but shook her head, turning back to where Fugaku was just finishing up.

"Look at it this way Sakura." She jumped a little at his voce, but listened to what he was saying regardless. "There are a lot of people who have worked really hard to get you this far, me included. The advertisement people had to work really hard to make sure that people knew about tonight. If you keeled over now it would waste all the effort they pit into this." He finished, his serious tone back in place.

Sakura took in a deep breath, she knew that he was right. People had been working their butt's off for tonight and it was all for the debut of Emerald Eye. She needed to suck it up and get out there.

"Sakura, you calmed down any yet?" Kiba asked from behind her. She turned around and saw him throwing his bass-strap over his shoulder, getting it ready for when the curtain went up. She nodded her head slowly before doing the same with her own guitar. Tenten was sitting behind her drum set whilst taking off her heels, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to play properly with them on. Everyone was so much more calm than her, which was most likely true, they'd both been in a band before this one and had played quite a lot, even though it had never really lifted off the ground like this one.

She took in a deep breath and walked over to the microphone and adjusted it for her height. She could hear the almost silent chatter of Naruto and the stage director behind the stage as well as the sudden applause outside in the audience.

Suddenly the curtain began to rise and the once dark stage was illuminated with white light. Fugaku was just exiting the stage as Sakura began to look around, finding herself the focus of attention. She took another deep breath and spoke clearly into the microphone in front of her.

"Hello. Um… As you might have already heard we're Emerald Eye and are a new band. I hope you like are music and enjoy your self as much as we're going to enjoy performing." Why hadn't she practiced! That sounded so stiff and corny! She yelled in her mind but pushed it away for the moment, there wasn't much she could do about it now.

"Okay well are first song is called 'The unwinding Cable car' so please enjoy!" She gave a nervous smile. She started playing the intro soon after which was followed quickly after by Kiba on his bass. They continued to play for a short while and then She began to sing. It was a nerve-racking thing, she was terrified that her voice might not come out or it would croak, but luckily it sounded relatively normal. Kiba and Tenten took over for a small line in the song before she began to sing again. Tenten didn't really have much to do in this song so just sat there and sung as backup when needed, it was only after they were two thirds of the way through that her part actually started.

As they continued to play Sakura began to relax a little more, her knees didn't feel so much like jelly now than they had at the beginning and before she knew it they were at their sixth song. It was safe to say that she was enjoying her self more now. The song she was singing now was 'When I'm Gone', she actually liked this song quite a bit, it was one of the one's that she could maybe jump about with and no one would think she was weird. Kiba had been jumping about like an idiot for a while now but he didn't have the restriction of a microphone so he'd been everywhere, jumping about like a moron since the second song started.

Sasuke watched Sakura on the stage from the bar with Itachi by his side, both equally bored. The only good thing about the night was Sakura, he'd been waiting for her performance since she'd left about an hour ago. Itachi was only with him though because Taya had ditched him and gone off with their mum.

He closed his eyes and listened to how Sakura's voice sent pleasant tingling sensations through his body. He really did love her voice, plus the songs she wrote weren't half bad either. She'd sounded so nervous when she first came out to sing but she seemed to have calmed down now so that was something at least, he thought. If she'd ended up panicking in the middle of the stage then he could say bye-bye to the lovely profit she was bound to bring in.

The night was slowly coming to a close as the last song finally came rolling in, it was 'over and over' from what Sasuke could remember. He actually liked the song, even though Sakura didn't write it, it had a good beat to it and he couldn't deny that Tenten had talent for writing. Sakura's words drifted through the room and all of the younger guests continued to enjoy the music. All of the older generation had drifted off a while ago deciding that it wasn't their cup of tea and Sasuke couldn't help but think it a bit rude…

"Sasuke, fancy meeting you in a place like this!" Sasuke stiffened as soon as that smooth, flirty voice hit his ears. He knew who it was without looking and felt the urge to run, but then that would be unfair to Itachi. He turned his head slowly to look at the person whose voice it belonged to and came face to face with Karin.

She had on some sort of smutty nurse get up with one of those brainless male underwear models standing next to her. Sasuke had to hold in the cringe that had been threatening to escape.

"Karin." He acknowledged with a carefully blank face, making sure to show her no emotion what so ever. Karin simply smirked at him with a firm hand on her hip that was stuck out in a perfect models pose. He idly wondered if she was maybe following him, if so then he'd loved to know how she got through the main doors.

"What are you doing here?" Itachi asked from beside Sasuke, he for one wasn't going to just sit there. Sakura was just finishing up her last song and he'd rather get Karin out of the way before she came back. It had taken _a lot_ of convincing and bribery from his part to convince Sakura not to punch Karin's lights out. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to fall for the bait this time however if she found out.

"I thought I'd come and cheer little Pinky on, after all, it's her debut." Her dark red lip's quirked up in a sarcastic smirk that promised pain, even though he highly doubted that she'd be able to carry the act out.

"That's bull shit we both know that." Sasuke stated matter of factly, his blank face had broken out in a full out glare that caused her to flinch ever so slightly. There was cheering going on in the background and both brothers knew that they couldn't keep Karin here for long.

"Follow me. Keep the missing link here please." Sasuke ordered, showing his bad mood. Karin told her date to stay put and followed as the two brothers headed for a quiet corner of the room, not noticing the fact that Sakura had caught the whole thing and was currently on her way.

"What the hell are you doing here Karin, answer me." Sasuke growled as Itachi simple stood there, not wanting to interrupt when his brother was in one of his moods.

"Isn't it obvious, I want you back. We're engaged for Christ sake, you'll get over this little fling soon enough anyway." She stated, crossing her arms over her chest in that way that made it look bigger. Usually he would have been drawn to it but not now, he didn't love her, he had no physical attraction to Karin anymore and to be honest he didn't want it back.

"We're not engaged anymore Karin, you gave me back the ring." He said in a low, controlled voice. Karin huffed a little bit before answering.

"I didn't give it back, I threw it at you, there's a difference." She snapped, an angry look coming over her face. He knew that she wasn't used to not getting her way, and that this was most likely really getting to her, but he didn't care. It was her own fault after all.

"Karin, nice of you to drop by." The sound of Sakura's voice nearly made Sasuke jump, almost. He was hoping that he would be able to avoid this, but apparently not. He looked over past Karin and was taken aback again by her appearance, he was so used to seeing her in jeans and T-shirts that when looking at her when she looked so lovely was literally taking his breath away. Not that this was the best time for that of course.

The anger in her voice was clear and Karin was forced to give a thick gulp before turning around slowly. Sakura watched in deep irritation as Karin turned around with a sheepish look on her face, but she quickly recovered and simply glared at her, which was met with one of her own. They both stood there like that for a while until Karin broke it off in favor of speaking.

"Shouldn't you be playing pop star with the rest of your playmates." Karin mocked. Sakura simply smirked and closed her eyes, counting to ten slowly in her head before opening her eyes again and answering.

"Just so you know I didn't hit you last time because I had made a deal with Itachi but I am under no restriction tonight. So watch your mouth." The last part was spoken in a growl as her smirk left her face in the place of a death glare, her entire aura changing.

Karin didn't take much note of it, gathering that it was just empty words, she wouldn't dare hit her in a public place, which would be stupid. She gave an almost evil laugh and gave a smirk that showed no fear, her eyes twinkling with menace.

"You don't scare me little rat, so don't bother. We all know who's the better choice for Sasuke, and that's clearly me. All you two have a is a simple fling and he's going to end up coming ba-" She was interrupted mid sentence however when Sakura's fist collided with her nose. She fell back against the wall and slid down, her glasses falling to the ground.

Sasuke and Itachi looked between the two females in confusion for a few seconds before it sunk in and they both grabbed Sakura's arms, not trusting her one bit. They both knew very well that she had a small anger issue and didn't exactly want to stick around to see what would happen if they let her be.

"Don't you dare speak to me like your better, because your not. Sasuke choose _me_ in the end, not you. You have _nothing to do with him anymore." _She growled out with so much acid it was frightening. Sasuke knew that if Sakura's fangs hadn't have already been out they would have been flying out by now. He also knew that this was the vampire Sakura talking, not the human one who liked to joke around and tease him.

"Let go of me." She growled and ripped her arms out of their hold and went marching off at an inhuman speed. Both brothers looked at each other with worry before Itachi broke the silence between them.

"I'll get Karin to a doctor, make sure her nose isn't broken or anything, you go look for Sakura and try and Calm her down." Itachi ordered and for once Sasuke didn't fuss about being told what to do, he just stalked off looking for the pissed off half-breed.

…!...

At the other end of the room a man sat and watched the entire scene unfold with his pale white eyes. A small chuckle left his lips as the pink haired girl marched past him, not even noticing his existence as he finished off his drink and stood up, running a hand through his pale blue hair and giving a blood thirsty grin, watching as a dark haired boy ran after her, clearly being of some close attachment.

"We've got you now, you little mongrel…"

...!...

**woooo gooo Sakura punch her face in! Okay now i feel cruel... oh well... Thanks for reading people! I hope you like it and reeeeeview! They are like my food and i love food! It keeps me alive! And if i'm alive then i can update! **


	20. Control

**Chapter 20 – Control**

When Sakura first realized how big Emerald Eye was going to be, she swore that she'd misread the listings on the TV screen. Currently, she was sitting in front of Sasuke's TV with nothing but her underwear and one on Sasuke's shirts as well as one of his towels over her head. She looked at the TV in disbelief for a moment before Sasuke walked in, noticing the shell-shocked look she was giving the TV.

"What's wrong?" He asked in a concerned voice as he sat down next to her, pulling off the towel and revealing her damp, slightly frizzy hair. He rolled his eyes at her, thinking that if she was going to ignore him then she could just go home. She came over after she'd fed saying that the rain was too heavy to walk home in. Of course it wasn't like he minded having her around.

"I can't believe one of the song's reached the chart's on only one week…" She muttered, drawing Sasuke's attention to the TV to see for himself. And sure enough, there it was, in fourth place too, pretty impressive for a fist album.

There was a swell of pride in Sakura's chest as she heard the woman in the background talk about her song. She couldn't believe that she'd make it into the charts so quickly, she didn't even think it _would _make it into the charts, but there it was, fourth from the top, sixth from the bottom…

"You do realize that your social life is as good as over now, right?" Sasuke commented off handedly. A flicker of curiosity crossed Sakura's green eyes as she peered over at him, asking silently to repeat what he'd just said.

"The media are going to be all over this. You're a celebrity now, more or less." He quickly added. Sakura huffed and leaned back into the sofa, not liking the idea of having no social life.

"Does that mean I'm going to have to start wearing a wig?" She questioned with a pout. It might not look like it but she was actually quite fond of her hair colour, after all, it was the only thing that she'd inherited from her father that had something to do with appearance and not instincts.

"Probably." Sasuke answered simply. Chuckling a little at her pout as he ruffled her damp, frizzy pink locks, he probably loved her hair colour about as much as she did. Sakura curled into his side and wrapped an arm around his waist, humming quietly in satisfaction and he continued to play with her hair.

It was weird really, before he'd met Sakura he never would have imagined sitting there watching top of the charts at eleven at night with the person he _loved_ no less, attached to his side. What freaked him out more though was that he couldn't even remember the last time he'd had sex…

Seriously, how long had it been, a month, month and a half? The last time he'd gone this long without sex he'd still been a virgin. He peered down at Sakura out of the corner of his eye, watching as she stared contentedly at the TV screen. He wondered idly if she ever thought about making their relationship more physical, he wasn't too sure through, before they'd gotten together he'd been wondering if she even possessed hormones at all. She was still a teenager after all and teenagers had… urges…? Or at least he thought so, it had been about five years since he'd left those goddamn years behind him after all.

But still, he certainly wanted to take the next step, they weren't embarrassed thirteen year olds who could only hold hand's and have the odd peck on the lips and cheek. Plus, he was a man, a man who hadn't done anything in _so long!_ He continued to watch her for another minute before giving his head a light shake and kissing the side of her head.

Sakura jumped a little at the sudden contact before looking around to face him. When she did she had to stop herself from jumping again. He was so close, as in within an inch of her face, an entire fecking inch! Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she looked into that intense gaze of his. Sasuke pressed his lips to hers again, simply keeping his lips on hers with a light pressure behind the contact.

Sakura felt her heart beat faster when she felt his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her closer as he continued to kiss her. She felt her cheeks burn red even though it wasn't the first time they'd kissed like this. They'd kissed plenty of times, most of which included tongue too, but every time she never failed to blush. But tonight was different, she knew that, she could feel the blush practically burn with heat and wondered if it was because it was so late at night or if it was because she hardly had anything on.

She wasn't given any time to ponder over her blush however as Sasuke (somehow) managed to open her jaw and slip his tongue in. A moan escaped her lips as she began to kiss back eagerly. She breathed in the vanilla sent of his skin through her nose and pressed herself closer to his body, loving the way that his arms would also tighten around her body.

Sasuke had enough of the slow pace they were kissing at and eventually sped up, a small surprised gasp escaped Sakura's lips but he ignored it, choosing to concentrate only on kissing her. They'd never kissed with this much… passion? Ferocity?... Sakura couldn't really pin a name to what it was, but she only knew that she liked it, a lot. She felt her fangs slowly grow out as she kissed back with as much force as Sasuke, finding that she was enjoying her self a little too much.

Sasuke couldn't hold back the moan that ripped its way up his throat, the feeling of her fangs against his tongue only serving to make him grip her tighter. He loved it when she had her fangs out, it made him feel special in a way, he knew that she wouldn't have shown anyone else those fangs unless she was about to bite them…

Sakura suddenly broke away from the kiss, causing Sasuke's eyes to snap open in shock. He watched as she loosened his arms from her sides and threw her leg over his lap, effectively straddling him. She then proceeded to take a fist full of his hair as the other one wrapped around his neck. Sasuke peered up at Sakura, he noticed how her eyes had suddenly clouded with lust as she stared into his eyes and how her mouth was open slightly as she gave the lightest hint of catching her breath as her two white fangs peered out of the top. Her frizzy hair gave her the perfect 'after hair' and only fueled Sasuke's need for her.

He grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her down so their lips met again, both acting instantly like they'd never even separated. Sasuke grabbed the underside of her thighs and stood up, holding her up as she continued to kiss him. She wrapped her legs around his waist as Sasuke stumbled across the condo to where he knew his room was.

Sakura wasn't even thinking at this point, she was simply acting on instinct. She had a feeling that she might regret this later but she quite honestly didn't care, right now she was living in the moment.

At that moment they both collapsed on something soft and extremely comfortable but Sakura paid no mind to what it might be and just concentrated on the man on top of her. Sakura's hands somehow found there way to the hem of the old T-shirt Sasuke was wearing before pulling it over his head. She ran her fingers down his toned chest and stomach, feeling the ripples of muscle under his pale skin. She was only half aware that Sasuke was undoing the buttons to her shirt, reveling a rather boring white bra that covered her reasonably small chest.

Sasuke began to kiss her neck and along her collarbone all the while his hands rubbed up and down her bare sides gently. Sakura buried her face in his indigo locks as she moaned out, a burning sensation beginning to take over her chest area surrounding her heart.

At first she thought the burning was just the feel of her heart beating faster but as they both continued to kiss each other stupid the sensation grew and grew. It was like white-hot need that sent her entire body shuddering. It was only then that she realized what it might actually be…

His lips crashing down on hers, silencing any words that she might have wanted to say interrupted "Sas-" She tried to murmur out. Sakura felt her fangs ache as his wet tongue glided past her lips, brushing them as it moved. She couldn't concentrate on anything else but the need that danced behind her closed eyelids.

She was loosing it, she realized.

It was only then that she noticed the tale-tale signs of hunger that made her squirm and pull at Sasuke to get him closer. He was currently attacking her neck and with her face buried in his hair she was at the perfect angle to strike. It was almost too tempting, and she wanted to so badly, the need to simply sink her teeth into that warm moist neck of his was so over powering that she couldn't help the low growl that escaped her lips as she lowered her head down, ready to take a bite…

"Ah… Sakura…" Sasuke groaned as her fangs glided over the skin of his neck, the small pressure felt wonderful over his skin.

At the sound of his voice Sakura's eyes snapped open, she paused just before she sunk her fangs into his neck where the pulse was the strongest and panicked. The arms that had once been pulling him against her moved around to his stomach where she pushed against his body as hard as she could, sending Sasuke flying off the bed, his feet where the only things she could see as they dangled over the foot of the bed. If this was any other situation she might have found the sight rather funny.

All of this had happened within seconds as she shot up and panted hard, trying to get that goddamn _need_ to go away. The shirt she had been wearing slipped off her shoulders so she was in nothing but her underwear and she idly wondered when the shirt had been undone. The sound of Sasuke's pained groans pulled her from her momentary panic however as he pulled himself up and stood up, a confused look coming over his eyes as he looked at Sakura.

"What was that for?" He asked, slightly out of breath, he took a step towards her, wondering what the matter was when she looked up and shouted in a desperate voice.

"Don't come near me!" Sasuke frowned and took a step back, worry taking over his features. He couldn't think of a thing that might have been wrong with her, she seemed fine only a moment ago.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked. Sakura shook her head violently before looking down again, her fangs disappearing as she did so. Sasuke looked down at her, wondering what the hell could be the matter, she looked so horrified and _scared, _it wasn't normal, she wasn't the woman he knew and loved, she looked so broken.

"Sakura… Please tell me what's going on?" He begged, taking a step closer even though Sakura told him not to, he wanted to comfort her, to wrap his arms around her body and tell her everything was okay.

"I almost bit you, I was so close. If you hadn't said my name when you did I probably would have…" Sakura couldn't bring herself to finish off the rest of the sentence, not wanting to face the reality of the situation.

"I'm a monster… A complete and utter monster…" She muttered to herself, still looking down. That was about as much as Sasuke could take, before he even thought about it he flung his arms around Sakura and pulled her close, burring his head in her hair, not wanting to hear her say another word.

"It's okay. People make mistakes you don't need to beat yourself up about it, I'm fine so everything else is fine." He spoke in an almost whisper, it was so unlike Sasuke, she thought, resting her chin on his shoulder, liking the contact even though her mouth was so close to his throat.

"It's not just a mistake, Sasuke. I'd completely forgotten how little self control I actually have, you have no idea how close you were to…" She couldn't finish her sentence again, still not wanting to say it out loud. Sasuke understood what she meant however and just hugged her tighter, not letting her get away from him.

He couldn't exactly say that he understood _everything_ that had just happened, after all, how could he? He wasn't an expert in Vampire physiology and certainly didn't know anything about the kind of self-control required. Yes he'd been bitten, so he more or less understood why she didn't want to do it because, yes, it hurt like hell, whether it had been forced or not…

But he knew enough to know that she wasn't ready for this sort of thing, unfortunately.

"I'll wait until your ready, but seriously, hurry up will you?" He attempted to joke, even though he was half serious. Sakura let out a small breathy laugh and pushed Sasuke away from her to make eye contact with him. Her hunger had more or less died down now so she felt comfortable enough to not stand on guard every moment incase she lunged at his throat screaming bloody murder.

"Prepare to wait then, it takes ages to gain enough control for that sort of thing. I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with that certain aspect by yourself." She quirked an eyebrow, hoping that he got the hidden meaning, which he did. Sasuke made a face, not liking that idea in the slightest but put up with it for now.

"Tell me something, why do you need control for something like that?" He asked, curiosity playing in his dark eyes. Sakura squirmed a little, pulling the shirt back over her shoulders and buttoning it back up, trying to busy herself.

"Sex is used as a weapon, it's the easiest way to catch someone off guard." She answered simply, still doing up the buttons of the shirt. She then looked over at Sasuke and resisted the urge to gawk, since when did he loose his trousers? She thought with surprise. She remembered taking his T-shirt off but not anything else, she could feel her cheeks burning at the very thought.

Sasuke noticed the look she was giving him and chuckled, she was acting like some fourteen year old, it was pretty funny actually now that he thought about it. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, not liking the fact that he was laughing at her but left it alone when he got up and walked to the other side of the bed. With a confused frown she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing until he actually climbed in, an expectant look in his eyes when he glanced over at her.

"Oh, right. I'll go find a spare bed." Sakura muttered before getting up and turning around. She knew that he might not want to risk it so she wasn't upset or anything, after all she was so close to ripping a hole in his neck. So with a sigh she began to walk away when she heard the bed creak behind her and Sasuke's hand firmly gripped around her own, pulling her back, none too gently either, onto the bed.

She landed with an inelegant 'oof' before peering up through the pink hair that had fallen in front of her eyes when she fell onto her back. She saw Sasuke above giving her an annoyed frown before huffing and pulling her under the covers with him.

Sakura knew she should have objected, she really didn't trust herself at the moment but she simply couldn't. The heat that Sasuke provided as he pulled her up against his side was wonderful, she felt like she could just sink into the bed and never emerge again. The thought was rather pleasant, but she had work tomorrow so that wouldn't exactly do.

"Sakura, you're an idiot…" Sasuke murmured into her hair, Sakura was about to protest but was stopped from doing to when a pair of lazy lips silenced her. It was a simple touch of the lips but it was enough to make her melt and was thankful that she was lying down.

They both stayed like that for the rest of the night, both drifting off at round about the same time and never once throughout the night did they separate from each other's arms.

…!...

"Do you know where I can find this woman?" The light blue haired man asked, his creamy eyes glinting with innocents as he regarded the sound producer in front of him. He knew for a fact that he liked the mongrel, even without telepathy he would have known, the blush said it all really when he showed him the picture he was currently holding up.

"Y-yeah, but why? I've not seen you around before?" He asked curiously. The man had to hold back an irritated growl, he hated dealing with humans, they were just so annoyingly talkative.

"I'm an old friend." He answered simply. He could get away with it too, he looked no more than twenty five at most, even though his real age was closer to the seventy's mark.

"Oh, really? Okay then, she might be taking a break right now so I'd go to the cafeteria on the tenth floor, do you need help finding it?" He asked innocently, the man simply rolled his eyes in annoyance before looking at him dead in the eye.

"No. I'll be fine." When the boy in front of him smiled in returned he gave his own small smirk as a response before looking into his eyes.

_Remember nothing. _He uttered inside the boy's mind watching smugly as his eyes suddenly widened in fear of would he just heard and then how he suddenly fell to the floor, his eyes slipping shut as he fell unconscious. He'd come back around in a minute so the man didn't waste time in locating the cafeteria.

…!...

Sakura sat at one of the tables next to the huge wall windows and peered down at the bustling city below. She was sipping on her coffee and was _supposed_ to be writing more lyric's, but she had nothing, not that it really mattered anyway, the album they'd just finished would last them a while so right now she couldn't be bothered.

Sakura looked up at the sky and noticed that the clouds from yesterday still hadn't left the sky yet. She really hoped that it wouldn't rain again, last night had been a pain, seriously, she hated hunting in the rain. Although she wouldn't mind spending another night at Sasuke's, last night had be great, apart from the whole part about nearly… well, you know…

Sakura quickly pushed that thought out of her head and concentrated once again on the sheet of paper in front of her. She sat there for about ten minutes, simply staring at it, nothing was coming to her, she had completely _run out of muse!_ It was a horrible feeling really, she'd always been great at coming up with lyric's, back when she still roaming the streets she used to just sit there and bang out a random tune whilst singing god knows what! It was really annoying and the coffee wasn't helping either, wasn't the caffeine meant to stimulate or some crap like that?

She huffed and looked out the window again, picking up the paper cup to use to heat her already warmish hands. She could hear the sound of a police car in the background of the usual city noises and idly wondered if anyone out there would be willing to help her out, there might be, she supposed, but it was finding them that was the problem. Plus she already had Tenten to help her out but right now she was too busy with something else. Then there was Kiba, she'd never really seen him writing lyric's, the only thing he'd done that wasn't something to do with the bass was some messy cartoon of them three, which ironically enough became there album artwork… she guessed she could ask him, but when she left he was working on some bass line so she didn't want to bother him.

"Ah crud.." She sighed, running a hand through her pink hair as she did so.

"Crud, indeed, miss Haruno." A smug voice said from behind her. Sakura's head whipped around to see who the voice belonged too and froze. The smell of that indescribable musk hit her nose and she couldn't stop her eyes from widening in fear. There he stood, a smug smile on those cruel lips of his, light blue hair and pale white eyes showing off his true identity. His looks were about average, he had a slightly curved nose and features that clearly weren't oriental, his accent was enough for her to know that he was American.

"Now don't be like that, I'm not going to hurt you, see?" He said mockingly, holding his hands out in front of him to show that he was unarmed, not that he needed weapons exactly…

Sakura could only watch in her frozen state as he casually took a seat in front of her and placed his arms on the tabletop. Sakura couldn't say a word, even when he raised an expectant eyebrow in her direction, normally this would have been the point where she told him where to shove it, but not this time, because he was a _vampire!_ Not a hybrid like she was, he was a full vampire, his scent told her so, even though his eyes were proof enough.

"Have you gone into shock? Why I think you have!" He laughed smugly, his Japanese wasn't all that great, she, somehow, managed to note through all of her shock. He'd pronounced most of the words wrong and it was hard to understand what he was talking about, but it didn't matter, she'd lived longer in America than Japan anyway and understood English very well.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, it felt weird specking in English again, in fact, it was almost a relief. But right now she felt none of that. The only reason she was talking in English was because she doubted he could keep up with her.

"What do you think? Miss Haruno?" He asked, reverting back to English as well. He was surprised that she had chosen to go with English, but didn't dwell on it for long, he had to get down to business.

"To kill me?" She asked carefully. The man simply laughed at her obvious conclusion.

"Trust me, if we could, we would have done it a while ago." He stated in complete seriousness. Sakura only gulped, wondering how exactly they found out about her, she'd been so careful.

"Then why can't you?" She asked. The man simply sighed, he didn't like explaining himself, especially if it was to this mongrel, why would she need to know anyway? She was still going to be dead at the end of it, only difference is that it'll take longer.

"Because you have went and made yourself known, which, for the record, is how we found you in the first place." He found himself explaining anyway but didn't regret it, the look of horror on her face was worth it. Did she honestly think that she would still be able to hide if she went around broadcasting herself singing? She clearly hadn't even thought about that. Stupid idiot, and he thought he was going to be meeting someone who knew what they were doing, since she'd managed to stay under the radar for so long and at such a young age too.

"The old one's wish to meet you, miss Haruno." He mocked, that smug grin never once leaving his face. He reminded her of a snake, Sakura realized, whenever he gave that thin, smug smile his eyes would narrow, making his curved nose look long and thin and his jaw was already long and thin to begin with, he truly was a snake.

"Well you can tell them to bugger off. I ain't going anywhere near them." She hissed. The man only continued to give her that snake like grin that sent cold unpleasant shivers up her spine.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice. You must pay for your father's crime." He stated like it should be obvious, which it should have been, in his opinion, he knew that she was perfectly aware of the law.

"Pay for what? My father did nothing wrong! All my father had ever done was love and care for my mother and I, how could you say that was a crime!" She yelled, inwardly thankful that the large room was currently empty. The man was surprised at her sudden outburst but only quirked an eyebrow in response, wondering if she was finished yet.

"I didn't write the law, the old one's did, so go complain to them." He answered in a bored tone, suddenly finding no interest in the subject what so ever. He just wanted to get this over with.

Sakura wanted to punch him… so much. The way he acted like he was so much better than she could ever be was getting on her nerves and she was close to snapping. She knew that she could match him in strength, maybe not in speed, but it was good enough, if the moment ever called for it she knew that she'd be able to hold her own for a while, not forever, but long enough to escape.

But she knew that attacking him now however would not be the way to go, mostly because it would cause chaos. If they were to fight here then it would attract attention, there were a lot of things in there that were throwable.

"Don't give me that look, I'm only the messenger." He said, leaning back in his chair. Sakura kept scowling at him, not caring that he was simply following orders.

"Were you sent directly from them?" She asked, trying to get the most information as possible from the man. He simply laughed, knowing exactly what she was trying to do but he answered anyway, it wouldn't do her any good whether she knew or not.

"Yes. I work directly under them actually. You've caused quite a stir mind you. This is the first time a mongrel's freely come out of hiding." He stated, still looking rather bored. Sakura's eyes turned from a scowl into a glare when he called her a 'mongrel', 'rat' she could deal with, because she couldn't deny that she hadn't ever been homeless, because she had, plus it was the sloth so there for less hurtful. But for him to call her a 'mongrel' was taking the cake, it wasn't her fault that she was this way, she hadn't chosen this fate like she had when she went onto the streets.

"Watch your mouth." She spat. The man only blinked a few times, slight surprise covering his features as he realized what she just said before laughing at her.

"You have a cheek saying that to someone like me. Not only am I a full-blooded Vampire, but I'm forty years older than you, so watch it. I can so easily take everything you've ever loved away from you in the blink of an eye." He threatened, leaning forward and for the first time giving her a warning glare. Sakura only glared back, not backing down now.

"Then go ahead, do it." She dared. A cruel smirk lifted the corners of his face as he looked at her, she was interesting, he couldn't deny that one. And by the looks of things, even thicker than he'd first thought.

"Fine I will, I promise you that, even without blood, I promise you." Sakura felt slightly uneasy at that promise but paid it no mind, she couldn't back down now.

"You won't get very far, I promise you that." She promised back. The man only chuckled darkly before answering her obvious misjudgment.

"Of curse not, there's not much to take, but that man, what was his name… Sasuke Uchiha, I think?" Sakura's eyes widened, never before had her eyes been so big, she could feel gut wrenching fear twist and turn and rip through her body, her heart felt like it was on fire as it picked up pace and she could feel her pulse in her throat and in her chest where it felt like it was about to burst out of her.

They couldn't touch him, _he wouldn't touch him._ She all but screamed in her head. Her finger's felt numb as she placed them on the table, trying her best to act like he hadn't affected her even though she was sure he'd already caught a glimpse.

"What makes you think I care for him? I'm simply using him, I needed a place to stay and his place seemed to fit the bill nicely." She lied, it was hard to stop her voice from trembling but she'd managed somehow. The man in front of her merely raised an eyebrow to show that he really didn't believe her.

"Don't underestimate me, Miss Haruno. I can easily make him disappear if I wanted to. And lets not forget that other Uchiha you seem to be close with. I'll be keeping my eye on all three of you." Sakura couldn't stop the sharp intake of breath that entered her lungs at the mention of Itachi. She couldn't let them get involved, it was her fault that they knew about vampires in the first place, she hadn't been careful enough, she should have refused Sasuke's offer that day when he approached her in front of that shopping centre, she should have walked away and lived in secret, simply playing music for a simple few yen.

"They have done nothing wrong." She simply stated watching him stand up. He'd had enough of chatting and to be honest he had other stuff he'd rather do. Like picking up a couple of whore's and draining them half dry, it was only half an hour until the sun set anyway.

"I don't care what they might have done, I only care about what you and your father have done, they are human's after all, they can be so easily disposed of." He taunted before walking away, leaving Sakura in her fear induced state.

"Oh, and by the way, Miss Haruno, my names Henry, just incase you were wondering." He commented lightly before confidently walking away, happy with what he'd achieved.

...!...

GAAAH! Mr. Vamps finally arrived!I've been planning this bit for ages so i hope i got it right! SO REVEIW! REVIEW AND MAKE ME HAAAAPPY! for the record i'm a little drugged up on coffee since i've been studing for a maths exam tomorrow... which i'm going to fail... bt oh well =] thanks for reading!


	21. Bad Dreams

**Chapter 21 – Bad Dream**

_2__nd__ April 2004_

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…_!..._

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…!...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…!...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But he still couldn't trust the guy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Show me your memories_

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...!...

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


	22. Sakura's Worry

**Chapter 22 – Sakura's worry**

Sasuke entered the bedroom with the feeling of uncertainty, at first he'd entered with the remainders of his annoyance with that stupid reporter but it had melted away when he traveled further through the doorframe. The room was shaded from the curtains that restricted the amount of light aloud in the room. The deadly silence in the room was haunting. Sasuke only knew that the room was occupied because of the large lump under the bed covers, plus it helped that one of the maids said she hadn't left the room yet.

Sasuke moved closer to the lump on the bed, making sure to think carefully, he didn't exactly know what he was dealing with here. She claimed to be sick, but he had a sneaky suspicion that it was far from the truth, plus he was her boyfriend… whoa… wasn't she meant to spill her guts to him at every opportunity?

Sasuke frowned at the silly thought and gently shook the lump, trying to get a response. There was a light moan from under the covers and he took that as a sign that Sakura was indeed alive, before pulling the sheets away to reveal a blob of pink hair.

"Sakura?" Sasuke whispered. He had no idea why he whispered, but the silence felt like it was too fragile to break by the sound of his voice. At the sound Sakura's shoulders twisted into her body more, like she was trying to block out his existence, which for the most part was true.

She personally had no idea that the dream would have had such a huge affect on her, but it had. Once she'd gotten in the shower it was the only thing she could think about so by the time she got out she was too depressed to even bother with getting out her clothes and just changed back into the nightgown and crawled back into bed, from where she hadn't moved since.

The whole thing was rather annoying; she blamed that stinking vampire that had approached her yesterday. Plus she had no idea what to tell Sasuke, since he had no idea what was going on, which was mostly why she was ignoring his existence for the time being. But he made it difficult, what with the shaking and whispered name-calling. It was rather distracting actually. So with a small groan of displeasure Sakura peeked up through her tangled pink hair at the man who looked down at her with a frown, slight worry wrinkling between his eyebrows as he looked down at her.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" He asked, with slightly more volume in his voice than before. He sat on the bed and leaned over her, not knowing exactly what to do, he'd never really had to deal with something like this before, since she was normally pretty optimistic, but now as she looked through her tangled pink locks he couldn't help but notice the slight depression in the downward curve of her lips or the slight laziness of her eye lids. Sakura huffed and sluggishly sat up, pushing Sasuke's hand from her shoulder so she could sit up against the headboard.

"I'm fine, just had some thinking I needed to do. How have you been? I've not seen you since the other morning." She sent him a small smile and wrapped the covers around her waist and moved over so Sasuke could take a seat next to her.

"Yeah I know, what have you been thinking about?" He questioned, ignoring her question for the time being. Sakura resisted the urge to growl, she didn't want to talk about herself, she was just starting to cheer up too.

"Nothing that you would be interested in. Now tell me what you've been up too." She didn't bother asking, it was more like a command than anything else and she didn't miss the obvious eye roll Sasuke sent her way. She elbowed him for that one, probably a little harder than necessary but whatever, he wasn't going to get away with cheek on her watch.

"You recover fast I see." He moaned out, rubbing his sore side. Sakura sent him a small smile before replying.

"Your distracting me, so keep it up please." She leant back against the headboard and looked up at the shaded roof, waiting for him to take the hint and tell her about his damn day.

"Okay… it's been pretty boring actually, I ended up leaving early. Then I got ambushed by some stupid reporter who doesn't know how to take a fucking hint." Sasuke growled, remembering his aggravation for the stupid man. This caught Sakura's interest, and not for the gossip either, what if it was that guy, whathisface, Henry? Whatever. Sakura knew that he wouldn't wait long to get down to business, that was how the Old Ones worked; she knew that better than anyone. Plus the last thing she wanted was Sasuke or Itachi getting caught up in it all.

"Who was the reporter?" She asked, trying her best to sound calm and only slightly interested. Sasuke scoffed before folding his arms like a moody teenager and gave the slightest of pouts, much to Sakura's amusement.

"I don't know, if I did then I'd be on the phone suing his ass before he could say 'Paparazzi'." Sakura couldn't help but snort. True she hated it when he snorted at her, which was growing in numbers these days, but she could help it. Sasuke sent her a glare, only a mild one but a glare nonetheless.

"Don't snort at me. I'm perfectly serious. You don't go around demanding you answer their bloody questions!" Sasuke was resisting the urge to sulk, she could tell, the way his eyebrows were pulled down and the small downward curve of his mouth showed it all.

"What was he asking then?" Sakura prodded, hoping not to come as not to obvious, luckily Sasuke wasn't paying much attention to her, he was mostly glaring at the bathroom door opposite. She didn't know if that should have offended her.

"He was asking about are relationship, not much more though." He didn't stop glaring at the door. Sakura felt her eyebrows lift without permission, the guy was asking about them? She shouldn't be surprised, really, after all, she _was_ the lead singer of a popular new band and Sasuke _was_ the third in command of a major talent agency, fans would be dying to know. Or at least she thought so.

So maybe it wasn't that vampire, she thought. It could have just been some out of line reporter who didn't know the meaning of the word private. Sakura needed to calm down slightly, it wasn't like he would discover their relationship this quickly, he wasn't that good. Nobody was.

But that didn't mean that he would never find out, if Sakura was ignorant enough to believe that everything would be okay if she simply avoided him then she might as well stick a target board to Sasuke and Itachi's back. She'd have to find a way to protect them, but that was the annoying thing, she wasn't always going to be there, they needed to be able to look after themselves. She could turn them into the male versions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It could work, but she didn't really want to trouble them with the knowledge that someone was after them. It would be too troublesome, and Sasuke would get all clingy, not an appealing situation in the least.

"Hey Sasuke?" Sakura spoke up in an unsure voice, catching Sasuke's attention quickly as the frown lifted slightly into one of confusion as he turned towards her. Sakura met his eyes, hoping that her idea would work.

"You know that the night's are coming in pretty early now?" She questioned. Sasuke just looked at her confused before nodding slowly, wondering where she was going with this.

"Yeah…?"

"Well, you know… since it's dark a lot now and cause you and Itachi walk home sometimes it probably wouldn't be very safe and stuff so I was wondering if…" Sakura broke off at the end when the confusion in Sasuke's eyes reached its peak. She'd never felt so under pressure before, as stupid as that sounded…

"Wonder if…?" Sasuke prodded, wanting desperately to know where she was heading with this, Sakura could be so confusing sometimes. Sakura bit her bottom lip before taking in a silent breath, this was annoying her, it wasn't like it was hard to say or anything!

"I was wondering if you wanted lesson's on slaying." She blabbered out, hardly making sense to Sasuke's ears but he got the jist of it, somehow.

"…Why…?" He finally responded, now even more confused than before. Sakura let her head drop, that man could be so painfully dense sometimes.

"Because believe it or not but there are vampires in Konoha who just so happen to hunt human's at night and not all of them hunt where I do. In fact, I only hunt there because there isn't anybody else there. Let me worry over you guys a little please." Sakura sighed out, Sasuke shifted his weight a little before snorting out at her.

"What the hell was that for! You twat!" Sakura yelled meeting his eyes with a pissed off glare. He just smirked down at her before speaking.

"I see your feeling better." He noted, causing Sakura to blush slightly.

"Don't turn this on me teme!" She shot back, causing Sasuke to chuckle at her sudden change in mood.

"You've been hanging around with Naruto too much." He stated, smirk only increasing. Sakura felt her eyes turn into small slits, he's a twat, she thought.

"I believe you've said that somewhere before. Now are you going to do it or not?" She demanded. Sasuke sighed and lent back further into the head board, ignoring the sarcastic comment at the beginning of her sentence and only answered that last part.

"Sure I guess. I'll take it you want Itachi to come as well?" He asked, looked at her from the corner of his eye. She nodded and fiddled around with the covers at her waist.

"Yeah, that's what I said wasn't it?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow. Sasuke ignored her sarcasm once again and continued to question her.

"Why the sudden interest in turning my brother and I into mini Van Helsing's?" He quirked an eyebrow down at her and smirked as she childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

"It just came to me this s'morning." She answered simply. Sasuke then remembered why he'd originally came here in the first place, it was rather annoying that he could get side tracked so easily.

"Tenten said you were sick, a hang over I think? I thought you didn't drink?" Sasuke questioned as Sakura only laughed nervously.

"Ah, I don't. But Mikoto offered me a glass of wine last night and I didn't know how to refuse." She lied. Sakura hoped that Sasuke would buy the excuse, after all it was believable, he knew how low her tolerance for alcohol was and in truth one glass of wine _was_ enough to give her the badest of bad hangovers, as pathetic as that sounded.

Sasuke nodded in acceptance, Sakura let out a silent breath of air in pure relief, if he'd chosen to not believe her then she was screwed, that was the only excuse that she could think of. She'd also be screwed if Sasuke chose to check in with Mikoto later, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

"So, will you ask Itachi?" Sakura prodded, turning the conversation back to the vampire killing. Sasuke scratched the side of his jaw, and uncommon habit, Sakura noted before Sasuke looked at her to answer.

"Sure I guess. We'd have to do it here though, my apartment might be big enough but I'm not really fond of the idea of learning self defense in there." Sasuke answered. Sakura grinned up at him, happy that he was complying with her wishes.

"Great! Now get lost, I need to get changed and you need to phone Itachi!" Sakura commanded as she got up and pushed a reluctant Sasuke out the door.

…!...

"You want me to do what?"

"Itachi, quit whining. You know perfectly well why I wanted you here. Now do it!"

"But don't you think it's a little… Foolish?"

Itachi stood there, in the centre of an unused living room in a far corner of the mansion. All of the furniture had been pushed to the side to expose a large area in the middle. Itachi shifted his footing slightly, peering to the side to see Sasuke sitting on a coffee table to the side of the room, smirking in pure amusement.

This was the last thing he'd imagined doing when he woke up this morning. Sakura let out an impatient huff across from him and sent a mild glare his way, showing that she was loosing her cool with him.

Itachi looked down at the bright green silly straw currently held in his palm and sighed. There really wasn't any getting out of it, was there? So with an irritated groan charged at Sakura, preparing to jab her in the side with as much vengeance as possible.

She dodged easily, obviously. It was still his first go so he wasn't exactly upset about that, even if he had landed a harsh jab, then his embarrassment at attacking someone with a silly straw of all things would at least settle somewhat.

"I said to go for the vital points! You twat!" Sakura scolded. Itachi only glared back, not remembering at all where the 'vital' points were.

"And where were they?" He asked as he attempted to jab her again, missing by a good four inches. Sakura muttered something under her breath that Itachi couldn't pick up but knew it was some form of insult, what else would it be?

Sakura then unexpectedly whipped the straw out of his hand and in the same motion pushed him effortlessly to the ground, holding the straw directly above the back of his neck. Itachi turned his face away from the carpet, finding it difficult to breath and raised an annoyed eyebrow at Sakura. She moved off of him and sat cross legged next to him, tossing the straw his way when he got up.

"There are three main vital points on a vampire, one: The heart. The most obvious and the one I expected to actually go for, but whatever. Two: The point between your eyebrows, not as easy to hit so it's not really used all that often. The third and quickest way to kill a vampire is to hit the point at the back of the neck that allows the brain to send messages to the rest of the body, it can kill instantly if done right." She explained, her eyes never once straying from his. Itachi huffed, taking in the new information before standing up with his trusty silly straw and waited for Sakura to stand as well.

"Do you mind telling me why I'm using a straw?" He asked, a frown showing on his face. Sakura stood up before answering.

"Because there the closest thing I could get that won't seriously hurt me _if_ you make contact, and that's a very big if. The easiest thing to use to kill a vampire is actually a pencil, since it's made of wood, plus they're easy to hide and you won't look suspicious if caught carrying them around." Sakura explained, taking a defensive stance.

Itachi merely shrugged, accepting the answer easily before charging again, aiming for Sakura's heart. She effortlessly glided to the side every time he attempted to jab her heart.

"You're not being subtle enough. Remember that I have the upper hand in physical ability, but you have the upper hand in brains." Sakura informed him, jumping back when he made to strike. Itachi nodded silently, agreeing with her method of thinking. If he were to get her in a corner by looking like he was carelessly swiping at her, forcing her to move back then she would loose a lot of space to move around in.

With his plan made up he found it hard not to smirk, he couldn't wait to see the surprise in her face when he finally got her trapped.

Sakura jumped to the side as he started to jab the straw left, right and centre, forcing her to move back. She caught him looking over at the corner of the room behind her and Sakura almost groaned in annoyance, did he have to be so bloody obvious? He was clearly getting ahead of himself, but at least he wasn't blindly striking anymore, that had to count for something. Sakura rolled her eyes, thinking that it was time to burst his bubble, she took the first opening provided by Itachi and got behind him in one swift move, grabbing the arm that had the silly straw and bending it back behind his back, causing a sharp intake of breath to come from Itachi.

"Word of advise, if you plan to corner the enemy, don't look at the freaking corner you spoon. That's like screaming out what you're wearing." Sakura said, letting go of his arm and standing back. She could hear Itachi grumbling about methods of teaching but ignored it, knowing that it was for his own good in the end.

"Don't you think your being a little harsh?" Itachi looked over at her with a death glare to go with it. She could tell that he was starting to get pissed off with her, but luckily she couldn't care less, hopefully it meant that he'd actually get properly into it.

"And the enemy won't be? Grow a pair Uchiha." Sakura shot back sarcastically, noticing the dark look he sent her. She only hoped that this would motivate him a little more… Which it did.

Before Sakura registered what was happening Itachi was jabbing at her chest, the odd swipe at her forehead was made too, unnerving her slightly since she didn't exactly want to be jabbed in the eye by a silly straw. Sakura had to move faster and concentrate more on his body movement than before, his movements were tidier than before too, he was clearly serious about stabbing her in the chest. Sakura didn't know if she should have been happy about that or not.

The attack went on for about ten minutes before Sakura realized that she was getting dangerously close to the back of the sofa. She thought about maybe moving to the side, seeing what his plan was by this point but lost the chance when her butt bumped into it. In the same instant Itachi went for the kill, aiming straight for her heart, Sakura reacted instantly and grabbed his wrist, preparing to throw him over the sofa. Just as she was in the middle of this, she instantly stopped, the unfamiliar feeling of a heavy pressure on her chest.

Sakura looked down, letting go of Itachi who was now half way over the sofa, his fist was pushing against her chest. Confused, she stepped aside to look at Itachi with a raised eyebrow.

"Care to explain why you decided to punch my chest? It wont help you in the least." Sakura asked, looking over Itachi as he straightened up and gave her a smug smirk.

"Because if this was a real fight, I would have had an extra weapon hidden up my sleeve, ready to take my opponent by surprise. When you tried to pull me over the sofa it gave me the leverage I needed to stab you since I'm not strong enough." Itachi explained, his smugness at his victory only growing in size. Sakura's eyebrows shot up in the air, as did Sasuke's, Itachi noted. He'd all but forgotten his brother's presents until a few seconds ago.

Sakura seemed to be thinking over the mock fight before a huge grin lit up her face, amusement glowing in her green irises. He'd got her, she realized. He was better than Sasuke had been, she could confidently say that, after all, he hadn't been able to beat her. Sasuke had way to many fighting habits that he needed to get rid of, plus he wasn't pissed off like Itachi had been.

"you Itachi Uchiha, are a vampire Slayer in disguise." Sakura laughed out. Itachi merely smirked and turned to Sasuke who was walking over, slightly annoyed at the fact that Itachi had once again over taken him.

Sasuke felt like sulking, it wasn't fair, it really wasn't. Itachi always managed to out do him in _everything._ And know Itachi's impressed his girlfriend when it was clearly his job! But he couldn't show his disappointment, if he did then Sakura would never let him live it down. Of course that didn't mean that he could get better.

"What's the matter?" Itachi inquired, a smug look covering his usual blank face. Sasuke gave him a mild warning glare, silently telling him not to push him, he didn't think Itachi would listen to him or anything, but it was worth a try after all.

"Ah, he's just jealous that you're better than him. Before you came his cockatoo feathers were all puffed up with pride because he wasn't flailing the silly straw around like it was on fire." Sakura teased, unaffected by the harsher glare he was sending her. He didn't like it when she reminded him of his apparent likeness to the bird, it was annoying, his hair so didn't look like a cockatoo, not even one bit… or at least he thought so.

"Shut up." He snapped back, feeling his eyebrow twitch slightly as she simply grinned like he wasn't giving her his best glare.

Itachi watched the two argue for about ten minutes more before deciding that enough was enough and stepped in. There was only so much petty squabbling that one could take, although he had a feeling that Sakura was actually having a rather fun time. She really was weird. Her tone was more teasing than anything else and that was probably only angering his brother more.

"Would you two please for the love of all that is holy, just shush!" Itachi snapped, standing in the middle of the two hoping to break up the bickering. Sasuke looked up to meet Itachi's eyes with a scowl and straightened up, acting like he hadn't just been in some childish argument, even though there was no disguising that small pout.

Sakura let a small smirk slip through as she looked up at Itachi as he turned around to face her, the look in her eye told him that she wasn't going to pay attention to him if he started nagging. He rolled his eyes at her instead, he found it odd how there roles from a teacher to pupil could change so quickly. One minute Sakura was praising Itachi for his fighting skills and the next Itachi's having to split up an argument like some teacher on break time duty.

"Is there anything else that we need to learn, Sakura?" Itachi asked, hoping it might change the subject. Sakura took a step back and actually looked like she was thinking it over.

"Yeah actually, you need to have at least _some_ resistance to mind control. I'm pretty sure that you guys have never experienced mind control before, so it'll be easy for you guys to be manipulated." Sakura informed them. Sasuke humphed from behind Itachi, his arms crossed over his chest, clearly he was still in a mood with her. But in the back of his mind he couldn't shake some unknown feeling, he couldn't put a name to it, it was simply there, a tiny feeling in the back of his mind. It was like it was trying to break free of something, but Sasuke just ignored it for know, it was starting to irritate him slightly, plus he was still focused on beating Itachi so he could rub it in his face later.

"What do we have to do?" Sasuke asked, moving to the side so he was in sight of Sakura. She looked at him with clear green eyes that had a hint of amusement and cheek still dancing through them, just the way he like them. She smiled before answering.

"Ah, simple really, I'm going to have to invade your mind." She said with a grin that slowly turned more devilish as the seconds ticked by. Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch at that comment, and the fact that he trusted her about as far as he could throw her when it came to his mind.

"I don't really think I'm all that comfortable with you in my head, Sakura." Sasuke replied honestly, causing Itachi to snort. Sakura's head whipped around to glare at Itachi so fast he was surprised her head didn't continue turning.

"Did you just snort?" She growled low in her chest. It was that inhuman sound again that both Uchiha siblings could easily recognize as danger. Sasuke saw Sakura's eyebrow twitch ever so slightly just like his had done a second ago, and gulped.

"Oh you two are so in for it. I'm going to mess around so much with your head's that the only evidence left is a blob of lumpy custard!" She growled again as she leapt forward. Attempting to catch both brothers as they ran around the room like cartoon characters.

And she would do exactly as promised, Itachi thought as he leapt over the sofa, simply because that was Sakura. Even though she was acting like her usual, anger controlled self; he couldn't help but think that something wasn't quite right.

**...!...**

**hey! sorry i've not updated in forever, i really don't have an excuse this time apart from a lack of muse... oh well. It'll probably be a while until the next chapter is out too since i seem to have lost all intrest in this story ='[. But whatever, thanks for reading anyways and bear with me! I shall finish the story but it's goanna take longer than i first thought, my fault. Anywho, please review! you never know, you might relight my muse once more and i'll be a wee typing machine again... oh well, thanks again for your patience.**


	23. Unexpected Travel Plan's

**Chapter 23 – Unexpected travel Plan's**

When Sakura woke up this morning, she probably would have laughed if someone told her this would happen. Out of every single out come that could have happened, this was the one that she most feared, _this_ was the one that she would have given her left leg for if it meant avoiding it.

All she'd wanted to do was hunt, nothing more, nothing less. It may not have been the most normal way to spend your Friday night, but Sakura was never the one for hitting the streets with her friends and getting drunk out of her mind at some random club like Ino. But that was hardly the point, because right now, under the cover of darkness where the clouds covered the sky, turning it into nothing but a black canvas, stood Sakura, completely terrified.

It was a rare thing to find Sakura scared; her life on the streets had hardened her up. But in that time, she still couldn't shake the fear of pneumonia, starvation, men with wooden bats, and vampires… All reasonable fears she had concluded, but that didn't mean she wanted any of them to happen.

So she stood there, blood dripping down her chin and cheeks, the woman she had snatched laying unconscious on the ground in front of her, and at least five angry vampires blocking her only escape from the ally. She stood, completely petrified and uncaring of the still bleeding woman at her feet, the only thing she could concentrate on now were the haunting figures in front of her, fangs blaring and white, colourless eyes following her every move, which wasn't very much.

The eyes scared her more than anything, they used to stalk her in the dreams she used to have after her parents were killed, they stalked the dreams she'd been having ever since that blue haired bastard had shown up too. They were the eyes of pure evil, an unnatural white that was never meant to exist on this not so simple earth. They were the eyes that looked only at death.

Her breathing was hard and ragged as they began to approach, shocking Sakura's system into movement once more. She backed up with numb limb's and tripped a good few times over thin air as her frozen fingers rummaged around in her winters jacket for the small stash of pencils she kept hidden.

"Oh no you don't!" One of them shouted, a woman, Sakura noted. She had short fushia coloured hair and dark tanned skin, and apparently could only speak English. Sakura was only fast enough to pull out the pencil and make a pretty poor swing in the woman's direction before she and another, slightly bigger man came up and restrained her.

Sakura had to admit that she wasn't putting up much of a fight, which was pretty pathetic in her opinion, if it was anyone else they would probably be black and blue by now. But that was what fear did to you. She flinched as they twisted her wrist around and forced her to drop the pencil, nearly breaking her wrist in the process.

She took in a sharp intake of air as Sakura felt her wrist being pulled back. It all came crashing down then, the reality of it all. They could so easily kill her, just snapping her neck in the right place could end it all, and then what would happen? Would they go for Sasuke and Itachi? They weren't good enough for five against one, they could probably pull it off if they were both together but that was unlikely, it was late and they'd both be home right now. She had to get free somehow…

On that thought she began to struggle and thrash as the man and woman attempted to drag her over to a very ominous black van. A string of very colourful language coming from the female vampire as she tried to bring Sakura back under control.

"Shit, stop struggling you stupid bloody fucking worthless piece of shit! Oi, you lazy assholes! Stop twiddling your fucking thumbs and get over here!" She shouted. Before Sakura could even so much as register the sentence, two pairs of hands grabbed her legs as she attempted to kick them and the other took a hold of her head, causing the world to swirl around her. It didn't take long before she realized what he was attempting to do. The guy apparently wasn't very good at it though, the fact that he had to actually make physical contact was enough to tell her in her groggy and slightly nauseous state that he hadn't been a vampire for very long.

_Sleep._ Was the only thing she heard before the entire world fell into darkness.

…!...

Sasuke was out jogging, admittedly he didn't usually choose exercise as a way to pass the time but ever since Sakura had started teaching him self-defense, he was out on a mission to impress her. In fact he usually went out in the mornings but was bored as hell since Sakura had obviously forgotten that she was meant to be staying over tonight, and in complete and utter boredom, had decided to go out jogging.

Sakura would probably kill him for this too, he thought absentmindedly, one of her rules were not to go out at night alone, but he had at least shoved about three pencils in his pocket including one that he'd hidden in a place that would make a nun blush. Speaking of Sakura, Sasuke couldn't help but think over once again the strange behavior of his half vampire girlfriend. She been acting a little under stress lately, it was well hidden he had to admit, it took him a while to actually notice it, but when he did she seemed like a completely different person in his eyes. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes and wasn't quite as bright or the fact that she seemed to find more and more reason's to have some childish spat with him, she'd even woken up drenched in sweat one night when she was staying over, but he didn't think that it was a good idea to ask why, she looked pretty spooked and he was pretty damn tired since it was four in the bloody morning.

He was just turning a corner when he noticed a black van slow to a stop behind him, instantly catching his full attention. That very same van had drove past him about five minutes ago, it going in the complete opposite direction that he was going in. Either someone was incredibly lost or it was some sort of vampire posy wanting to drain him dry. That was unlikely though, it had only been two weeks since Sakura had approached him on the matter, plus thing's like this didn't just happen, because if they were evil blood suckers, then to come here in a van after driving past only to turn around, drive at a freakishly slow pace a good two hundred meters back just screamed planned and Sakura had said that nobody was after him, his brother or Sakura, she'd promised him.

Never the less he sped up in his jogging, hoping that he would get home faster somehow, starting to get slightly freaked out by the whole ordeal. He turned a corner into a quieter less bright street and felt like groaning out loud, did it have to be such a dark street? This place was the last thing Sasuke needed if he had suspected to-be-murderers following him. He heard the van turn the corner with him and without even thinking about it he broke into a full out run, happy that he was a little faster now that he'd started running every morning. He heard the sound of an engine speeding up behind him, which only fueled him to run faster. The park was coming up on the next corner and even though it probably wasn't the smartest idea it at least meant that they'd be forced to ditch the van.

He turned another corner at full speed, heading straight for the closed gate on the other side of the road, listening out for the van and trying to judge by ear how far away it was, he guessed about one hundred and fifty yards or less. It did no use guessing however as it was getting closer and closer to him. Sasuke reached the gate and without even thinking about it grabbed the top of it with both hands and swung his legs over without even stopping once.

He ran through the swing park at full speed knowing that on the other side of the wooded area up ahead was the road leading to his parents mansion, and Sakura. She would know what to do in a situation like this, she knew what went through their minds, she was the only comfort he had at the moment and he'd be damned if he was caught now.

But it was no use, he could hear the gate behind him crashing open and several pairs of feet racing across the ground at a speed much faster than Sasuke could ever hope to achieve. So in desperation he attempted to speed up once more even though his legs ached with fatigue and his breath coming from his lungs was hard and fast as sweat matted in his hair and face. He couldn't keep up this pace, he knew that for a fact that however was tailing him would catch up soon, he wasn't as fit as he'd like to be.

He reached his hand into his jacket pocket and took hold of one of the pencils he'd stowed away before leaving his home. He could hear the footsteps grow closer and closer until they were right behind him and did the only thing he could now that flight was out of the question. He turned sharply around and pulled his pencils from his pocket at the same time, the led conveniently missing as he managed to make contact with one of his attackers face, surprising them all. The pencil sliced across the person's white-eye and it was only then that he realized it was a woman, the short boyish haircut had confused him for a moment. In normal circumstances he would feel terrible about slashing a woman's eyes, but considering the fact that she was a vampire who's planning on doing who knows what to him he really couldn't care less.

"Fucking ass licker! What are you fuck nuts waiting for? Get him!" Sasuke's first thought was that she quite clearly wasn't from here, other wise she would have spoken in English. Plus it didn't help that some of the words he didn't really understand, but that didn't matter right now.

He tried to run off again but he didn't get far before something very large and very heavy hit the back of his left knee, causing him to come crashing down in a heart beat. His leg felt like it was broken, even though it was probably his own imagination, but there was no faking the fact that his knee screamed with pain when he tried to stand up.

_Is this the end for me? _He thought, knowing that with a busted knee he wasn't going anywhere fast. He then felt a solid hand take a firm grip of his hair before pulling him up to his feet by it. With his teeth gritted he attempted to shout out or show any signs of the fact that what the man was doing hurt like hell.

"This the guy?" Said a low, booming voice right in front of Sasuke's face. Whoever it was that had him yanked his head back to get a better look before chuckling darkly. Sasuke opened his eyes to glare at the man who was currently yanking so hard on his hair that it was bringing tears to his eyes.

The first thing Sasuke noticed about the man was his eyes. They were white, but not just white, they were glowing white, they were not shaded by darkness in the least. They were almost like two moons if not for the lightest of light grey outlining the irises and pupils. The next thing he noticed was the dark orange hair that seemed to stick out in every direction except up. Those were the only two things that he bothered to make out before he started struggling, he grabbed the large mans hand that was still pulling on his hair and attempted to pull it off, only now realizing that he'd dropped his pencil when he fell over.

"Hey, quit squirming you! It just makes are job harder." The big man threatened him, only looking away for a moment so he could signal some of the other men to come over, the only other one was staying back with the woman who was yelling something out in English, a lot of which Sasuke couldn't really get but he had a feeling it wasn't polite.

"What are you doing?" He blurted out when the other two finally came into sight with black duck tape and a pair of handcuffs. Sasuke tried to pull the hand out of his hair again but only managed to make the hand, grip tighter. He tried to kick the man in the shins but he couldn't get enough swing because of his sore leg.

"Hey, boss, should we put him to sleep like the other one?" The vampire in front of him shouted out in perfect English.

"Nah, you hit him pretty hard with that brick. The little shit ain't goanna be going anywhere fast."

Then Sasuke remembered that nobody had answered his question yet and gathered that they probably couldn't speak Japanese. So as the two vampires advanced with the duck tape and handcuffs he quickly blurted out his question again but this time was sure to speak in English.

"What are you going to do to me?" He yelled out in a thick accent. The vampires didn't even stop in the advancement and Sasuke had no choice but to pull at the hand in a futile attempt at freedom.

He tried to turn his head when one of the vampire's pulled off a long black strip of duck tape with a screech but it only hurt with that hand still firm in his hair, making resistance useless. Both hands, which had been trying to pull the hand away from his hair, were tugged away behind his back where they were confined by the cool click of the handcuffs.

"What are you going to do with me?" He shouted again, just as the duck tape closed over his mouth. He really starting to get pissed off with him now, not that he hadn't been already, but he had been concentrating more on getting away then. The big man that had been holding onto his hair shoved Sasuke so he was facing the other way before leading him roughly in the other direction, despite Sasuke's struggles.

"You'll find out soon enough… Stop moving around so much or I'll rip that little neck of yours right open!" He threatened.

Sasuke was never one for taking orders though and only increased his efforts, although his knee did limit the amount of freedom he had. The other three vampires were currently looking over their boss's eye and had more or less left the other one to deal with a rather uncooperative Sasuke.

He continued to struggle and muffle out protests for a while but found it hard when the vampire finally got fed up and threw him over his shoulder like Sasuke was some irritable female. He didn't give up though, even though the ominous van was drawing near, the van actually made him a little scared, it sort of made the whole situation hit home that he was quite possibly about to die.

The man stopped a moment, looking around to see if anyone noticed him with one of the richest men in Japan flung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He opened the van door's and very ungraciously tossed him in, not bothering to check if he'd seriously hurt his kidnapee, which he had, in a sense, Sasuke had landed awkwardly on his sore knee and then face planted the floor, probably turning his nose blood red from the impact.

Sasuke moaned a little in pain through the duck tape before turning his face away from the floor and freezing, eyes wide, for right before him, laying in some messy heap of oddly placed limb's in the corner of the van was Sakura. Her breathing was deep and even, showing Sasuke that she was both alive and unconscious, he was glad that she wasn't dead, but it was the fact that she was here that spooked him. Hadn't she been able to get away? Sakura was a much faster runner than both himself and Itachi combined and was a very skilled fighter, so why was she here? It didn't give him much confidence in their escape and only made him worry over her, why was she unconscious? Had they hurt her?

They'd better bloody not have or Sasuke was going to unleash hell, once they freed him of course. Sasuke began to worm his way over to where Sakura was crushed into the corner of the van.

"Mahama!" Sasuke attempted to shout through the duck tape over his mouth but she didn't so much as twitch, which was weird all in it's self, Sasuke knew from experience that Sakura had a thing for kicking lump's out of him when she stayed over. It made him wonder what the hell they'd done to her, she wasn't handcuffed or anything like he was, if it wasn't for the fact that she was still breathing, he'd think she was dead.

It was right at that moment that his kidnappers decided to finally get in the car, he could hear the woman swearing like a maniac from one of the passenger seats as two of them opened the doors and climbed into the back with himself and Sakura. Sasuke sent a deadly glare their way when one of them gave him one of those smirks, the ones that held no sympathy, only evil intent, creating that curve on his lips.

The other walked over to Sasuke before kicking him to the side with his foot, sending his back flying right into Sakura's sleeping form. Sasuke watched with more venom than he thought he possessed as the vampire then continued his way over to the front and knocked the small grate window. The window was suddenly pushed aside by an unknown, he gave a grunt to the other vampire who seemed to be in as bad a mood as everyone else in the damn van.

"How's the boss?" The Orange Haired Vampire asked, sending an ice-cold glare in Sasuke's direction, a sneer forming on his face. Instead of answering the vampire was pushed out the way as the woman, who Sasuke had more or less guessed was the 'Boss', moved in front of the small open window and answered, now a clean white bandage across her injured eye.

"Concern yourself with the next fucking target ya' tool. I'm goanna _kill_ Henry next time I fucking see that Bastard." She grumbled before slamming the small window closed again as the van finally drove off. The momentum of the moving van caused Sasuke to squash Sakura even more, he was still amazed that even that wasn't enough to wake her, Sasuke was pretty heavy.

The same vampire walked past him and over to a large red rucksack in the corner opposite and began to open it, seemingly unaffected by the van's movements. It was only when he pulled out another pair of handcuffs that he finally realized what that woman had meant when she said the next target, they were going after Itachi. Sasuke felt his eyes widen at the prospect of his own brother, who hadn't done anything wrong, being kidnapped like himself, being handcuffed and gagged and thrown into the back of this damn van like a sack of potato's. What had they done anyway?

It made no sense, if they were just after his blood then they wouldn't have shoved him in the back of a van, plus Sakura was here which meant that it was definitely planned, plus the fact that the woman had already said it. But what the hell did they want them for, or, more specifically, how the hell did they find them in the first place, Sakura had said that they hadn't found her in years, that her track had gone cold, had she lied? It was definitely a possibility, like she didn't want him to worry or she thought she could take care of it herself.

The more Sasuke thought about the situation, the more muddled up his thoughts became, there were just simply too many outcomes to think about and then there was also his soon to be kidnapped brother to consider, which really didn't make him feel all that great. Sasuke hated feeling useless, like he couldn't do anything, and right now he was both of those things. If he could take down even one of those bloody vampires… But he was currently tied up and unable to move, if anything, he was a burden.

The van skidded to a stop, making him squash Sakura _again_ much to his irritation, the two vampires who had been talking quietly by the door's both stood up with the hand cuff's and duck tape like before, causing Sasuke to panic ever so slightly. He really didn't want his brother mixed up in this, but what could he possibly do?

After the men left the van, leaving only the injured woman in the front, the panic in Sasuke only rose. His breath was coming out in harsh puffs from his nose and his forehead was beginning to sweat, this really wasn't his day.

About twenty minutes passed until he finally heard the tell-tale sign's of scuffling and shouting outside the van. Sasuke took a deep inhale of breath before holding it in and slowly exhaling, trying in vain to not get worked up about the situation.

The door opened with a loud clang before a large body was thrown in next to Sasuke. At first it looked a bit like a dead body, but after a while it started to move around hysterically. Sasuke couldn't see the face but he knew that it was his brother, his long hair was a dead give away. He was attempting to shout out something too but it was muffled from the tape around his mouth.

Itachi attempted to kneel and try for another escape, only the big vampire stopped him easily by stamping his foot firmly on Itachi's back. He let out a muffled grunt at his chest and face collided with the hard dirty floor. Sasuke felt rage at the vampire, how dare he do that to Sasuke's older brother! Of course it was only then that he noticed the man holding his shoulder like it was about to fall off, there was also the unmistakable patch of blood that was slowly oozing down his T-shirt. That made him feel slightly better, at least Itachi had gotten pay back for Sasuke's knee.

"Oi, where's Steven?" The woman shouted from the small window as the big Vampire sat down and lent back on the metal wall of the van.

"There was some woman in the house with him, she decided to fight back, so he's still taking care of that, shouldn't be much longer." He answered simply, shutting his eyes and leaning his head back.

Sasuke instantly noticed Itachi's entire body freeze, and his breathing accelerated shortly afterwards. They were doing something to Taya, what they were doing, Sasuke couldn't say, but it was bad. She had nothing to do with this, she knew nothing, so they would have to leave her safe and sound, right? For Itachi's sake, Sasuke hoped so.

Sasuke couldn't do anything to comfort his brother as he lay there facing him, terrified out of his mind. Sasuke more or less felt the same, except the woman he loved was currently squashed in a corner because of his fat ass.

He let a sigh escape from his nose, looking up as the fifth member of bat squad climbed into the back of the van and closed the doors, sitting across from the other in much of the same position. Sasuke didn't like this guy, not one bit. He had this cold look in his cream coloured eyes. It was like he was completely emotionless, there was just simply nothing behind those still eyes of his. Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, remembering to be more cautious when around him.

The van gave a large shudder as the engine came to life again before pulling out, the driver obviously ignoring or not noticing the three body's sliding across the floor whenever he made a sharp turn. Sasuke once again crashed into Sakura, Itachi not far behind, knocking the air out of him. Itachi was a lot heavier than he looked apparently.

…!...

Sasuke didn't know how long they were in that van, it could have been hours or days, he was simply clueless. Sakura was still out cold and the longer her body stayed limp the more worried Sasuke became. He wasn't able to turn around and face her, because of his awkward position and dodgy knee, and it irritated him to no ends.

With every bump and curve in the road the three hostages would slid into even more uncomfortable positions than the last. The two vampires that sat next to the doors, seemed unaffected by the bad driving, and only lightly conversed occasionally, supplying the only other sound apart from the rumbling of the engine.

Sasuke dozed off at some point, he wasn't too sure when, but when he did, there was the early morning light streaming through the crack in the double doors. They had been driving for a long time, which was for sure. Itachi seemed to be fighting the sleep when Sasuke looked over, his eyelids were drooping every so often and the dark bags under his eyes were evidence enough. Sasuke knew he was probably the same, his eyes also felt pretty heavy, despite having just slept. He then looked over his shoulder, trying to find Sakura's face. She was still out cold, the only movement he got from her was the deep rise and fall of her chest and the odd strand of hair moving in front of her already covered face..

Sasuke couldn't work out what they had done to her, he knew first hand that they could erase memories, but could they put people to sleep? And as deeply as Sakura seemed to be? It was both intriguing and terrifying all at the same time. But what else could they do? Sakura had once said that full Vampires were stronger and more skilled than she was, and that was what worried him the most, for how would they escape? How could they escape when the strongest of them all was in fact the weakest of Vampires? They were all in _way over their heads…_

She didn't look all that healthy either, Sasuke noticed with alarm, her skin was pasty and pale, and her fingers were twitching as well as the rest of her body, something he hadn't noticed before, even her breathing was slightly labored. It was only then that he realized what was wrong, it was exactly the same as last time, her body was shaking like she was going through withdrawal symptoms and he would bet anything that her skin was freezing. It was quite clear that Sakura hadn't finished feeding, she had dried blood around her mouth, but what if it wasn't enough?

He felt a bubble of panic rise within him as Sasuke turned completely around to face her, groaning in pain all the while, causing Itachi to lazily frown through half lidded eyes. Sasuke continued to study her, never getting to close, knowing that it would only make matters worse. But it was morning, or early morning at least, so if she hadn't fed enough, then wouldn't that mean she'd be dead by now? Last time she'd only lasted till a little after one, and by Sasuke's guess, it was about five, maybe later. So why was she still breathing? He wasn't about to complain of course, but it was still odd.

Sasuke studied her weak form, trying to decide what to do, he couldn't exactly skip over and lend her his neck to chew on, they were moving and he doubted that he'd be able to even get her semi-conscious for it. Sasuke moved closer, only slightly though, but at the same time drawing the attention of the big orange haired vampire at the back.

He watched curiously as Sasuke began to get more frantic by the second, looking around the van for something. He knew what the problem was, of course, you'd have to be a complete dunce not to notice really. The mutant needed blood, she quite obviously hadn't finished off what she was eating when they approached her. The vampire let out a sigh and stood up, catching the eye of the Vampire in front of him. He stepped over Itachi, seemingly unaffected by the vans movements and grabbed Sasuke by the collar, throwing him to the other end of the van, his legs sprawled over the other Uchiha.

He knelt down in front of the pink haired mutant and lifted the hair out of her face, noticing how bad she looked. This was irritating, he thought with yet another sigh, ignoring the muffled shouts coming from the two men behind him, they obviously thought he was up to no good, he couldn't blame them, really, but if they kept that up then he'd put them in the same state as she was in. He walked over to the small hatch and knocked twice, waiting for someone to slide the window open.

His boss's tired and irritated face filled the grated window and eyed him with annoyance, a look he was very much used to.

"-The fuck do you want?" She spat, snarling through the grate. He sighed once again before answering in a monotone.

"The mutant ain't doing so hot, boss. How long till we get there?" He asked

"What's wrong with it?" She asked, ignoring one of the human's protests at the back when she mentioned the word 'it'. He simply yawned before answering.

"She's not fed properly. Her bloods all diluted, she was probably still on her first body when we came along, that's most likely why she's lasted so long." He explained. His boss simply eyed him before answering, not caring about how she sounded, she never did.

"Why the fuck should I care? The only thing that matters is that I get it to Henry alive and I get my pay. Besides, we're nearly there, as in we just passed the gates, so shut the fuck up, alright?" She didn't give him the chance to answer before slamming the hatch shut in his face, he could here her mumbling in her 'oh so polite toungue' before turning around and walking over Sakura and the other two humans, the younger still sprawled over the other.

Sasuke watched the exchange with deep annoyance, he did _not _like that woman. She was fowl and heartless, and dared to call Sakura 'it'. If he weren't tied up with a swollen knee, he would have slashed her other eye.

He continued to think of different killing methods until the van finally, _finally_ choked to a stop, the engine spluttered as it was turned off, showing its true age. Sasuke felt yet another bubble of anxiety rise in his throat as the two vampires by the door stood up and opened the door. Sasuke was momentarily blinded and groaned as it hit his tired eyes.

The orange haired vampire got to his feet yet again and grabbed both Itachi and Sasuke by the collar and pulled them out of the van and to their feet, the other simply threw Sakura over his shoulder, her shaking only worsening. Sasuke winced as he leaned on his bad knee, pain shot up his thigh, rendering him to a pathetic limp as they were forced to walk around the van to the front.

Sasuke looked up for the first time, taking in his surroundings before freezing completely, Itachi stopped and looked at Sasuke before looking forward again, wondering what was wrong. Sasuke simply stood and Stared, surprise clear in his eyes, he gulped and couldn't help but think, _What is _he _doing here?..._

...!...

**Right...um...sorry its so late? I seem to be saying that a lot these days... But this time was really bad, so sorry about that. I couldn't get the chapter right so i kept rewriting it, this is like the tenth version, still don't like it though but whatever. I hope you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me and review! That would be amazing, plus i might get some motivation back! You never know after all! So, until next time!**


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