Chapter 3

Eventually, I found my room and broke down in tears as soon as the door was firmly closed behind me. The run in with Madara was more terrifying than being fed on by the king and queen.

I thought that since he vowed to protect Ino and I, he'd silently keep his distance and only step in if the situation was dire. That was my expectation and what I wanted, honestly. The enraged expression on his face when I shoved him away, though, was identical to the one he'd given me the day he pulled me into his room and attacked me, stating he wanted very badly to murder me.

My arms wrapped around my body as I looked around the big room with a frown, tears still falling steadily down my cheeks. I wish Sasuke was here. If he held me for just a few seconds, I know I'd feel so much better.

A knock came at my door and I hesitantly approached it, wiping at my face frantically, "Who is it?"

"Obito." Relief washed over me and I opened the door to see him offering me a sad look, "Hey, I heard what happened. Are you alright?"

I nodded, deciding not to speak because I'd surely start crying again if I did. He stepped into the room and I shut the door to face him. He, for once, wasn't blushing as he addressed me, "I know it won't help at all, but I wanted to come warn you. They just announced to the advisors that you're free to feed on starting tomorrow as long as no one kills you."

My vision blurred over as I cried, reaching up to wipe at them frantically as I nodded, "I know."

His voice was full of pity when he spoke again, "I'm warning you because they have regeneration medicine."

I recalled being given that by Kabuto. It speeds up the body's blood production. That meant that they likely wouldn't have to take very long breaks.

"This is really going to suck, okay? I know I'm not helping, but you're not going to die. You just have to grin and bear it until your sister gets back." He apologized maybe a dozen times before leaving with a look of heavy guilt on his face.

When I told myself all those times that being fed on wasn't that scary anymore, I'd been so very wrong. It only wasn't as scary when Sasuke or Madara did it because I'm so used to it with them.

It was almost impossible to fall asleep. More than I was worried about how terrible the next few days were going to be, I was concerned about Ino. If the inhabitants of that hideout were even slightly akin to those that were at the one in Oto, she'll be in very real danger if she gets caught.

It's not as though I think she's not capable. It's that even Sasuke couldn't overcome a group of them and while he doesn't have Tanaka blood empowering him, he does have hundreds of years of fighting experience more than her. Not only that, but Obito and Madara both weren't able to accompany her because they're needed here at the castle.

She was completely alone.

At some point, my exhaustion took over and I fell asleep, only to be woken up by someone placing a hand over my mouth. A scream shook through me, but was muffled by Hidan as he grinned down at me in the dark room, "Hello, sleepyhead!"

I slapped his arm and he pulled his hand back slightly so I could talk, but kept it close enough that he could quickly muffle me again if I tried to scream. "Y-You aren't allowed to feed on me until morning!"

He sucked his teeth at me, "Ah, but Konan's exact words were 'No one is to feed on her until tomorrow"and if my calculations are correct, midnight has passed."

Tears rose to my eyes and my body trembled in fright, but I swallowed nervously and nodded, "Okay, fine. Can we not do this on the bed, though? I don't want blood to get on everything."

He removed his hand from where it'd been hovering over my mouth and tilted his head with an arrogant grin, "Oh, Baby, I'm not gonna miss a drop. Don't you worry."

With a calming breath, I lifted one of my wrists toward him and waited for him to bite, but he smacked it out of his face before climbing up on top of me, tossing the blanket out of the way. The feeling of someone terrifying straddling my hips against my will brought up traumatic memories that I've spent months trying to suppress and tears immediately started falling from my eyes as I stared at him.

"You can always cuddle me if you get cold. Move your hair." The way he spoke as though everything that left his mouth was supposed to be funny made me so angry, but I was too scared to respond and smoothed my hair before pulling it out of the way with shaking hands, refusing to look him in the eye as he came down to bite roughly into my neck.

The force with which he did it shocked me into releasing my hair and gripping his shoulders tightly with wide eyes. A loud groan rumbled through his chest, vibrating against me, and his words were slightly muffled since he didn't remove his teeth from my skin as he spoke, "You taste even better than you smell."

After another few moments, I felt his hand suddenly travel down to my chest and shoved against him, "S-Stop! You're only allowed to drink!" He let out an annoyed sound before moving his hand up to wrap in my hair before gripping a handful of it and tugging my head back slightly so he'd have better access to my neck.

I could feel a part of him hard against my lower body and wanted to puke. In an attempt to not have a panic attack, I kept reassuring myself that it was normal for vampires to react like that, especially ones that are used to their prey giving in to their sexual advances, but it didn't help much.

Finally, after a few minutes had passed, he ran his tongue over his teeth marks. Instead of pulling away though, he kept his lips on my neck and sucked the skin there for a few moments. When he pulled back, he straightened his spine and looked down at me. I refused to look down because I didn't want to acknowledge the state of his body and instead glared at him as I continued to silently cry.

"If only that Uchiha prick hadn't claimed you already. The things I'd do to you…"

My voice cracked and wavered, "If you're done then get out."

Purple eyes suddenly glowed a bright red and his grin widened when my mouth clamped shut, "There are ways of not leaving my scent behind."

Terror icing my limbs, I argued, "I-I'll tell everyone."

He gripped the front of my pajamas and leaned down to press his forehead against mine as he searched my gaze, "You know I can make sure you don't."

Feeling a bit more confident because I knew for a fact that I could withstand the pain of disobeying an order of not saying something, my body stopped trembling and I glared steadily, "You're not strong enough to make me do anything."

His amused expression faltered and he seemed to get irritated as he pulled back slightly so he could look at my face, "I can make you do plenty. Keep acting all cocky and I'll give you a demonstration."

I reached up and gripped the front of his shirt like he was mine, "Do it."

The annoyance he was feeling was very visible on his face, "Unbutton your shirt." It was an order.

Familiar pain shot through me when I held my limbs still where they were and I narrowed my eyes at him, "Is that the best you can do?"

To say he was stunned was an understatement. The bewildered look on his face was so satisfying. He was obviously not as strong a vampire as Madara or Orochimaru because the pain he was causing wasn't increasing even slightly as fast as theirs have in the past.

"What the fuck? You can't be glowed?"

"I can. You're just not strong enough." I moved to sit up and he backed off with confusion written all over his face, "Now, like I said before, if you're done then get out of here."

He held my glare for a few moments before getting off of me and heading toward the door, "You're a weird fucking bitch." I held back a sigh of relief when he shut the door behind him as he exited and the pain stopped. If he hadn't left when he did, I might not have been able to hold back my reactions much longer.

More angry than anything this time around, I huffed and pulled the blanket back over me as I turned onto my side to try and salvage a few more hours of sleep. It'd thoroughly surprise me if he didn't go tell everyone else about what just happened, but I don't even care. Maybe it'll scare them all into not trying to be inappropriate like he had.

There was a knock at my door in the morning that woke me from my sleep and I groaned as I climbed out of bed, rubbing my eyes as they adjusted to sunlight coming in from a crack in the curtains.

Sasori stood outside and I returned his bow of greeting when he offered it, "Good morning, Miss Haruno. I've come to drink some of your blood before breakfast. May I come in?"

The sleepy fog in my brain cleared in an instant and I dropped my hand from my eyes before sighing in defeat and nodding. It was a bit disappointing that he was choosing to take advantage of this opportunity to feed on me because I was hoping he was actually a decent guy under that blank outer shell.

"Would you like to sit down or do you prefer to stand?"

My face warmed and I ran a nervous hand through my hair. The way he was asking questions made it sound both incredibly inappropriate and like we were having a business transaction. Feeling defeated, I shrugged with a sigh, "Just do whatever you prefer and get it over with." Before now, I worried about being seen as disrespectful, but that was before I started being fed from like a communal blood bank.

"I am not allowed to do what I prefer so please choose."

My face got even hotter because he was either talking about murdering me or trying what Hidan had last night. "S-Standing is fine, I guess."

He came to stand in front of me and I tried to keep my breathing even when he moved my hair from my shoulder, "Hidan left a mark on you. Would you like me to remove it?"

I averted my gaze from his studious brown eyes, feeling humiliated because I forgot his peer had left a hickey to try and mess with me, "Yes. Please do."

Since he was only a couple inches taller than me, he didn't have to strain as much as the others to bite into my flesh. A hiss slid past my teeth at the unyielding way his teeth sank in deeply. Sasori's breath hitched, but he didn't say or do anything other than continue drinking. He didn't even put his hands on me, for which I was grateful.

My hands shook anxiously at my sides as I stared at paintings on the wall in an attempt to distract myself from what was happening. A minute or so passed before my vision suddenly wavered and a wave of dizziness came over me and I instinctively laid a hand on his arm, "U-Um, I think I'm about to pass out…"

A sharp sting came at the other side of my neck and I jolted in fright, grabbing onto the front of his shirt with tears in my eyes. There was a surge of energy suddenly coursing through my veins and when I looked over I confirmed my suspicions by seeing him pull a now-empty syringe back out of me.

"Breakfast is nearly ready. Please get-" My eyes darted over to land on Obito's stunned face and my brow furrowed.

Before either of us could get a word out, Sasori robotically closed the wound he created and took a step back with glowing eyes, "I will return soon to retrieve you for breakfast."

On instinct, I brought a hand up to cover the area on my neck his mouth had been, a shiver going through me when I felt it was still moist with his saliva, "...okay…"

He wordlessly left the room. Obito gave me an awkward bow before following the shorter vampire. As far as being fed on goes, that was the most professional encounter I've had to date. Feeling incredibly uncomfortable, I shut the door to my room and headed into the bathroom to freshen up.

I avoided everyone's gaze during the meal. It made me feel odd to even meet Obito's eye and he hasn't done anything wrong. A few of the advisors spoke casually throughout the meal, but I was in too much of an anxious daze to hear any of it.

Once breakfast was finished, I rose from the table and intended to go back to my room, only to be stopped by someone grabbing my wrist. Holding back a groan, I turned back to greet whoever it was, only to freeze in terror when I had to look up to meet the very intimidating gaze of Kakuzu.

"I would prefer not to bite you. Sit down." His voice was just as beastly as last time I heard it and I nervously followed his orders, ignoring the stares of the few others who hadn't left the room yet, Madara's included.

Fright shot through me when he sat beside me and brought a knife up to my wrist, only for Kisame to stop him just before he slashed across my wrist, "You can't heal a knife wound all the way. It'll leave a mark."

I thought the large man firmly grasping my arm would get angry because I got the feeling he was short-tempered, but he simply sighed, "You do it then."

My eyes darted between his face and Kisame's before widening. Before I could react, the blue-skinned man sunk his razor sharp teeth into the inside of my forearm and then Kakuzu moved it over the dining table so it would drip into a glass bowl.

My face paled and I stared wide-eyed down at the table. When Kisame bit, it hurt so much that I couldn't even react.

"Do you think you'll die if I do this now?" He spoke as he sat down on my other side. I couldn't bring myself to look at him or even respond. The odd-looking vampire must've taken that as me giving permission because he went ahead and sank his teeth into my wrist.

Mortified. That's the only way I could describe the entire thing. Not only was I being bled out like a pig, but people were watching like it was a show.

I looked up when I heard a familiar laugh, eyes locking on Hidan's. He grinned as he took a seat across from me at the table, "Not so cocky now, are you?" I grit my teeth and forced myself to look back down at the table rather than act out in front of so many people.

Kisame surprised me by stopping way sooner than I thought he would, making relief flood over me, "Tanaka blood is on a whole different level, huh?"

My relief faded when Zetsu took his spot next to me and bit down directly over the teeth marks already there. An odd, burning feeling erupted from where his teeth sank into my skin and I tried to tug my arm away, "W-What're you doing!" Kakuzu's grip on my elbow tightened as I likely unintentionally moved that arm in surprise.

"Don't worry, Doll. His venom naturally has a paralyzing agent. You're not being poisoned." I met Hidan's gaze with a glare before looking back at the unique vampire silently drinking from my wrist. He wasn't lying. I couldn't move that entire arm, all the way up to the shoulder.

One moment I was fine and in the next my limbs felt too heavy to lift while my body felt colder than ice. "Hey, she's not looking so good…" Both wounds were healed immediately and they left the table.

I crossed my non-paralyzed arm on the table and rested my head against the crook of my elbow as I tried not to succumb to the unbelievable amount of dizziness and fear rendering me immobile.

Somehow, I must've lost consciousness because it was like I blinked and suddenly Madara was carrying me into my room. I weakly met his eye when he lay me down on the bed and he looked angry, but I don't think it was at me this time around.

"They gave you another dose, so you'll feel better soon." I nodded, waiting for him to leave and frowning when he didn't.

Our eyes remained locked for multiple silent seconds before he knelt down beside me and whispered softly, "I'll kill them all, if you'd like." By the expression on his face, he meant it.

I shook my head, voice sounding off even to my ears when I spoke, "I can do this. I made a deal."

He scoffed, "It's not even been half a day and you already fainted. You're not going to make it another twenty-four hours, much less however long it takes for your sister to return."

My strength was starting to return, just like he said it would, and I turned onto my side to face him, "I'll be fine. They promised not to kill me."

He glared at me as he sat down rather than remain crouching, "How traumatized are you going to be by the end of this, though?"

My gaze softened and I spoke a bit more softly, "Don't tell Sasuke how awful this was when we get home, okay? He'll try to kill them and start a war."

"I'd join him if he did."

A pleading look came to my face and he just looked more irritated, "This is exactly why I told you I didn't want you to come here last time. I knew these low-lifes wouldn't be able to control themselves."

The air got a bit tense as he brought up the day he'd confessed. I wanted to kick him out of my room, but chose to ask a question that's been on my mind for months, "What made you choose to leave me alone after that?"

The Uchiha elder was taken off guard by my question and moved to sit with his back against the wall with a far away look. For a long moment, he didn't say anything. I stared at his profile and waited patiently. This was a rare opportunity, being able to speak calmly with him.

Finally, he spoke, "At first, I told myself it was because I didn't trust myself not to kill both you and my nephew."

That didn't surprise me in the slightest.

He continued, "But I realized when I came home for the first time after that that it was because I can't stand the terrified look you get when you first see me."

Dark eyes looked exhausted as he turned his head so he could look me in the eye, "You're not as good as you think you are at hiding it. I don't see the point in even trying, either. It's logical that you'd be afraid of me. I'd be more concerned if you weren't."

I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off as he looked away and rested his head back against the wall, "I know, I know. You want to show everyone, especially me, that you're not some weak little damsel in distress. I get it."

Without giving me a chance to get a word in, he rose to his feet, stretching his arms behind his head before heading for the door, "Maybe you live through this. You survived me, after all."