Chapter 8

"You have to admit this isn't right!" My eyes shot open at Ino's angry voice.

If our count is correct and Kaguya didn't lie, she'll be giving birth within the next ten days. She definitely looked like she could go into labor at any moment.

The closer the time came, the more terrified and anxious my sister became. It broke my heart when I'd catch her staring down at her swollen belly with the most gut-wrenching expression of complete devotion and helplessness. I miss Sasuke like crazy, but I'd sacrifice getting to see him for another month if it meant Sai would somehow show up in time for her to give birth.

Ever since they became a couple, they've been two peas in a pod. I'm not sure if she'll be able to mentally handle going through something so important without his support.

When I rolled over to see what had gotten her so worked up, a yelp of surprise left my lips, and I scrambled to my feet, noticing that Madara was reacting similarly. Senzo was standing before us with his familiar cute smile, but he wasn't a little toddler anymore. He looked like he was maybe fourteen or fifteen years old and was already an inch or two taller than me.

Ever since Madara joined Ino and I in this room, the boy would come in at least once a day and it was just as torturous as I was worried it'd be the first time I lay eyes on him.

"Good morning, Mom! Did you sleep well?" His voice was still soft and sweet, but it was also noticeably more mature than it had been yesterday.

I looked over at Madara and he looked back at me with an expression that said it all. Somehow, the Uchiha elder was having an even harder time with this illusion than me. No, I'm not in love with him and this mirage wasn't going to tempt me to even consider it, but it has brought a new level of understanding between us.

He's not quite the pillar of unyielding strength that he tries to appear as. Deep down, he wants what anyone wants: love and acceptance.

I'm not sure because we've never talked about it and I honestly don't want to know for sure, but I get the feeling that he's made many attempts of finding love and starting a family through the years and, obviously, they failed. So, seeing something he's likely been chasing for over nine hundred years right before him was awful. It was like holding a glass of water in front of someone who's been in the desert for a week without it and not letting them have a drink.

For me, it was a different kind of torture. I don't want to build a life with Madara, but these vampires' powers have shown me so many visions of my life with this imaginary child. It's forced me to fall in love with him against my will. Madara wants and loves what he can't have and I'm being forced to have and love something I don't want.

"Hamura, for the last time, get out of here. We know this isn't real. You're not going to succeed," I spat in Senzo's direction with as much malice as I could muster.

Of course, he didn't listen and continued to play his part, staying in the room with us for an hour or two before finally exiting the room. I angrily wiped at the few tears that managed to fall as I stood and glared at the door he'd disappeared behind.

"Well, look at the bright side. At least we only have to deal with this for ten more days." Kaguya hadn't come right out and said that she was going to kill us all when she did Ino, but we all agreed that it felt like that was her plan.

My eyes narrowed further as I turned to give her a look of disbelief, "Don't ever say something like that again. You're getting out of here if I have to fight our way out myself."

Ino's skin looked wonderful with her pregnant glow, but everything else about her was defeated. She didn't even bother wiping her tears as she absently caressed her stomach, "Saku, we can't keep lying to ourselves. We're going to die here and my baby…my baby's going to be left with these-" her voice cracked and cut off as she started sobbing and covered her mouth with one of her hands.

The door opened to the hall and we turned to see Sasori come in with a large tray of food and water, surprising us all. Up until this point, the only person from Ame we knew for sure was in this hideout was Hidan.

My brow furrowed and I said his name in disbelief, causing him to look up and meet my eye with his blank brown eyes, "Miss Haruno. It is a pleasure to see you again."

The redhead acted like his usual overly-professional self as he sat the tray down near Ino before rising back up to face me once more, "You do not look quite as healthy as the last time we met. Eat your meals properly."

An irritated rage rose in my throat, and I almost snapped back at him for worrying about my health when he had to know the countdown to my death was almost at its end, but I swallowed it back when I realized there was the faintest glint of genuine concern in his eyes. The rest of his appearance was as expressionless as usual, but something about how he didn't look away immediately like he did in the past once he felt he'd fulfilled his duty to be polite had both hope and dread sinking deep in my stomach.

Before I could lose my backbone, I responded in a slightly softer voice, "I don't feel very well, to be honest." I was testing the waters. His response was going to either confirm my suspicions that I could somehow manipulate him into helping us or destroy what little hope I have left.

"Have these two been drinking too much of your blood? I will retrieve a regenerative if you feel it will help." The two vampires in question actually have been drinking a bit of my blood, with my permission, but it wasn't enough to affect me as Sasori was assuming.

My sister and Madara remained silent as I replied, "No, it's not that. I think it's because I haven't gotten any sunlight in so long." The redhead stared at me in silence for a moment and I immediately told myself that I'd pushed my luck too far and he'd caught on to what I was trying to do.

"Hidan has informed us that you are more dangerous than an average human. Should I take you to visit somewhere with sunlight, will you refrain from trying to escape?" My eyes widened in surprise and I searched his face for a moment before nodding in silence.

Light brown eyes bore into mine for another few moments before he said, "I will return in a moment," and then he exited out the door he came, shutting it behind him. None of us said anything for a long time as we waited to see if someone was going to come in and tell me it was all a joke or test.

When it didn't happen, I turned to look at the two of them with a frown. Ino spoke in a hushed tone, just in case someone was outside trying to listen in, "Don't do anything stupid, Sakura. He'll kill you."

I shook my head, "I have a plan. If I can get him to warm up to me in the next few days, I'll ask him to leave this place and bring help back to save us."

Madara glared at me, "I've known Sasori for nearly two hundred years. You'd be a fool to trust him, Sakura. He doesn't care for human life in the slightest."

His statement threatened to shake my confidence, but I hardened my resolve, "We don't have time for another plan, you guys. I have to at least try." I reached over and softly lay a hand on my sister's stomach, giving her a reassuring smile when she immediately started to tear up, "I don't care what it takes, Ino. You and the baby are making it out alive."

When I said the words, I meant them wholeheartedly. Even if I end up killed in the process, I could die happy knowing it helped them escape.

I turned my soft expression onto Madara and hardened it, "If something happens and I can't come back, promise me you'll get her out."

His dark eyes burnt into mine angrily, "Why does it always come down to life or death with you?"

My glare hardened and I leaned forward slightly, "Swear to me, Madara, or so help me I'll come back and haunt you for the rest of your days." His lips were in a firm line and the aura of rage around him was almost palpable, but he gave me one curt nod before the door opened behind us. I got to my feet and turned to face Sasori.

"Come with me." I searched his face for a moment before glancing back at my two fellow prisoners and then allowed him to lead me out into the hall. The guards that usually stand at attention outside the room didn't even look at us as we passed them.

Sasori glanced back when he noticed me falling behind and I sped up to follow him more closely with a pale face. We walked through so many long and winding hallways that I couldn't possibly memorize how to get back. Finally, he led me through a heavy door and shut it behind us, clicking the deadbolt lock so no one would be able to enter and see that he'd snuck me out of my room.

A tiny window, maybe the size of the average book cover, was at the very top of the far wall and sunlight was beaming brightly down through it. My eyes watered as I slowly approached it before standing beneath it with a frown. It was too high up on the wall for me to see what lay outside it other than the sky, so I couldn't tell if this portion of the hideout was in the middle of the village or maybe out in the middle of nowhere.

"Will this amount suffice?" I jumped slightly. My mind was so busy thinking about the outside that I'd forgotten he was in here with me.

Turning to face him, I tried to give him a smile, "Yes, this helps. Thank you."

My eyes followed him as he moved to stand against the wall beneath the window and simply stared at me. I began to feel a bit awkward and ran a nervous hand through my hair, "I'm really grateful to you for doing this, but can I ask why?"

He spoke in his usual monotone fashion, but his words surprised me through and through, "I do not understand why, but my mind has wandered to you every day since your departure from Amegakure."

My face warmed slightly, not because I was happy to hear that he thinks about me, but because I wasn't sure if he saw it as a positive or negative thing.

"Why did you come here with me? I can kill you easily. You know this." His eyes held mine firmly as though he was watching for signs of dishonesty.

I nodded slowly, trying to find a response that would please him, "I trust you won't hurt me. You've always been kind to me in the past."

"I have held back my urges at the request of Amegakure's king and queen. Both then and now, I want to drain every drop of blood in your body."

Goosebumps rose on my skin at his honest confession, but I forced myself to keep my calm facade intact. Even if I very much didn't want him to, it felt like the right choice to get him to trust me a bit more, so I offered, "P-Please don't drain me, but I don't mind if you drink some. It's the least I can do to thank you for bringing me here."

He stepped forward to stand right in front of me, still as blank a slate as always, "I can take what I want from you without your permission."

My breath hitched in my throat when he robotically brushed my hair behind my shoulders and looked down at my neck, but I had to keep thinking about Ino and the baby. Getting them out of here is the only thing that matters.

"But you haven't yet. Why?"

He didn't say anything but sank his fangs into the crook of my neck, keeping his hands at his sides like he had in Ame. I winced, but made myself stay calm and arched my neck slightly so he could reach more easily.

A couple moments passed and then his breathing picked up as he slowly lifted his hands to grab my arms. Madara gave me his shirt after Hidan destroyed mine, so the large white button up was in between Sasori's hands and my skin. That alone made me feel like going through all this might not be for nothing. He never laid a finger on me before now.

Praying that I wasn't crossing a line, I lifted one of my hands to gently hold onto the front of his jacket. Inwardly, I cursed as he pulled his teeth from my skin, but rather than verbally insult me or get violent, he spoke against the wounds he created on my neck, "Does your blood taste like this because of your lineage?" I nodded because I wasn't sure my voice would be strong enough.

"I want to kill you."

My teeth grit anxiously as I stared at the thin ray of sunlight coming through the window and waited for what he'd do next. My brow furrowed as he moved my shirt collar down a bit so he could lick up the stream of blood that'd likely started to flow down from my neck, bringing his tongue up my skin before biting back into the same spot on my neck harder than before.

My other hand raised to grasp onto the front of his shirt on instinct, and his grip on my upper arms tightened. A familiar heat was beginning to cloud in my head. My voice was breathy as I hesitantly warned him, "I'll pass out if you don't stop soon."

The redhead was one of the quickest vampires to ever drink my blood. Even back in Amegakure, I had to alert him each time he fed on me because he was greedy and took too much blood. I could've sighed in relief when he eventually closed the bite marks on my neck, but he didn't. He didn't pull away.

"Would you like to see the sunlight tomorrow as well?"

Wanting to tear myself from him, I made myself nod and replied in a calm voice, "Would you like to drink a bit, too?"

He finally returned to stand straight before me and dropped his hands from my arms. It was hard not to react to his blazing red eyes, but somehow I managed. "I will bring the medicine so I can take more without killing you." I nodded, unsure of how to respond.

Without another word, he led me back to my room and left without a glance back at me. Ino and Madara watched me cross the room and sit near them in silence, but after a few moments, my sister spoke in a guilty voice, "You're so pale."

For the first time in days, I reassured her and actually believed my own words, "I think this is gonna work."

She gave me a look, and I raised a hand dismissively, "He just drank some blood, nothing else. I think he likes me or something. If I play my cards right, I can get him to help us soon."

Madara looked angry, as he has so often as of late, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

I smiled genuinely for the first time in over a month, "One way or another, we're getting out of here, guys."