Chapter 16

There were six seats in our vehicle, not counting the driver's seat where the Militia member was focusing carefully on the road. Fugaku sat up front with him while Itachi and Sai sat in the middle row, leaving me sandwiched awkwardly in between Sasuke and Madara in the back.

All of us were traveling together because we're the members of our party that the royal family of Amegakure would undoubtedly recognize on sight. The others traveled in a separate vehicle and took a different route so we wouldn't be seen together.

"It's good to see you again, brother. How was your stay in Sunagakure?" Sai addressed Itachi in his usual, almost professional way.

With nothing to entertain myself with, my head fell back against the headrest and I closed my eyes as I half-listened to their conversation. I brought along a book to pass the time, but found it hard to focus on when the men at either of my side kept shooting angry glances at one another.

"It was uneventful. Thank you for asking. How have you been? Have you adjusted well to life as a father?"

A smile tugged at my lips when Sai's tone became warmer than before, "I'm very happy."

There was a long pause before he surprisingly asked a personal question, "Have you and Temari considered having children yet?"

The air in the vehicle became quite tense, making me crack an eye open at the long pause Itachi offered. To my surprise, the sliver of his face I could see from where I was seated seemed torn. "Temari doesn't want children." My other eye opened and I sat up a bit straighter, brow furrowing.

Itachi loves kids. The adorable way he immediately took to his nephew after Ino and I's rescue was all I needed to see to come to that conclusion. He almost definitely wants to start a family and I thought that Temari would too by the soft expression she'd given while watching him with Inojin. I guess I was wrong. Temari and I haven't really talked all that much so I don't know her as well as I'd like. There must be more to her than meets the eye.

"I see. Perhaps she'll have a change of heart once a few years have passed." Itachi's face darkened slightly, but rather than seeming angry, he appeared a bit sad. A frown met my lips and I absently moved a hand to Sasuke's thigh, feeling a bit more steady when he placed his larger one atop it and interlaced our fingers.

Eager to change the topic for Itachi's sake, I piped up softly, "So, will Izumi come around more often now that she's been turned?" Both Uchiha princes in the middle row turned slightly so they could speak with me properly.

Sai smiled blankly, "I'm not sure. Truthfully, this is our first time meeting her in person. Up until now we've only received a few letters on behalf of her master."

Madara chimed in, surprising us all, "She seems quite lively. That surprises me given her master's temperance."

Itachi grinned softly, "Shisui must have something to do with that."

I wanted to ask who this "Shisui" person was because this was the first time I've heard the name, but didn't have to. Itachi tilted his head and informed me with a nostalgic look in his eye, "Shisui is our cousin. He has an aversion to diplomacy so he travels with Kagami," he paused, "and now Izumi as well, I suppose."

I laughed, "An Uchiha who's not serious? I can hardly picture it."

Madara made an unhappy sound, grinning when I looked his way, "I take offense to that."

My smile widened in amusement and I shook my head at him before focusing on the others once more. "Izumi seems nice, so I'll probably get along with Shisui as well."

Sai asked Itachi, then, "Is Kagami her sole master or did he split with Shisui just in case?"

"I believe they were both involved, but I'm not one hundred percent certain. Vampire culture outside of Konoha is always different."

My brow furrowed, "What are you guys talking about?"

Both Uchiha princes looked at me in confusion before turning their gazes onto Sasuke with disappointed expressions. "You didn't tell her anything about this, did you?" Sai asked in a deadpan tone. My eyes danced over to the prince currently holding my hand and he avoided my gaze by glaring at his brothers.

Itachi sighed, "I'll explain. Those involved in turning someone into a vampire, whether it be by biting, sharing blood, or both, are unable to be killed by that person. In some cases, their ability to glow that person also increases substantially."

Oh, so that's why Sasuke never seems to take my warnings seriously when I lose control and tell him to get away. He can't die by my hand anyway.

Slowly, I let the new knowledge sink in and nodded, "Okay, and you said something about splitting? What's that?"

Sai spoke then, "Multiple can be the master to a turned vampire, though I've never heard of there being more than two."

Itachi nodded in agreement, "It'd be much too complicated."

My curious expression must've been easy to read because he elaborated, "Surely you've noticed a change between Sasuke and yourself since he's technically your master."

In a heartbeat, my face burnt bright red. I have noticed. First, there's the sex, but there's also an almost desperate need to make sure he's both safe and happy at all times. My neck could've snapped at how quickly I turned my head to give Sasuke a suspicious look.

He knew why we've been jumping one another's bones at every possible chance and chose to act clueless. Why would he do that? The man in question finally met my eye and the subtle hardness in them told me to table the subject until we could speak alone.

I sighed in temporary defeat as I refaced forward, "I know what you mean, yes." The conversation died down, leaving me to sit and let my mind run crazy. Is that all Sasuke withheld or is there more I don't know?

Two and half days of increasingly uncomfortable travel passed and then we were at a hotel in Amegakure. Shikamaru and Izumi, posing as a young couple, rented one room and Mito and Neji rented another. Then the rest of us snuck in via the back entrance. Once inside the safety of Mito's room, we removed the hoods of our cloaks and relaxed slightly as Shikamaru and Izumi joined us through the door connecting the two rooms.

The king paused to verify everyone was paying attention before speaking in his stoic and demanding voice, "We will take the remainder of the day to rest and attack in the early hours of the morning while it's dark so it's less likely the humans will see us. Let's review everyone's roles."

He turned slightly to Shikamaru, "You will approach one of the guards in the market square and warn them of the attack so they can evacuate the area. We don't want unnecessary casualties." That role makes sense for the man because the other three have more defining features that are likely to be remembered, especially Neji's eyes and Mito's hair.

"Neji, you'll shadow Shikamaru and assist him in escaping if necessary."

Without pause, Fugaku turned to the other two and Temari, "It's your job to plant and detonate the explosives. You'll need to be swift and avoid being seen. Try to stagger the amount of time between each explosion so they aren't predictable."

Then he turned to look me dead in the eye, making me straighten my spine to show my paid attention, "Sakura, you and Sasuke will wait until you're able to enter the castle undetected. Our goal is to avoid direct confrontation, but should you be spotted…" He paused, looking between me and his son, before surprising me by dropping the tension in his brow just slightly, "Do your best not to completely lose yourself or you may not return."

I swallowed anxiously, nodding.

"You two will shadow them. You're to keep your distance unless you have no choice but to engage," Fugaku instructed Sai and Madara firmly.

The king was going to remain here, in the hotel, with Itachi at his side to keep watch just in case. His safety is of utmost importance, above all else, so he won't join the fight. The only way he'll get involved is if we're captured and he needs to negotiate with the royal family here. A few hundred Militia were covertly traveling behind us via multiple routes so no red flags would be raised. The king wanted to be prepared for any outcome.

After the briefing, everyone was given the freedom to relax so long as we stick to the shadows and don't cause trouble. Mito and Shikamaru immediately left to find some blood to drink and everyone else, surprisingly including Fugaku, decided to visit the hot spring downstairs. That left Sasuke and I alone in the room.

Once I was sure no one would hear, I crossed my arms and gave him a hard stare. His eyes narrowed, "Let me explain."

I nodded, frowning.

"I was concerned you'd begin to think our shared blood was the only cause for everything we've done since you've been turned."

"Is that not the case?" The tone of my voice was just as hurt as I felt. To think he'd lie to me about something after all we've been through… I was upset and he knew it or else he'd be showing his notorious temper by now.

His brow furrowed and that sharp jawline flexed as dark eyes searched mine, "No, it's not. Some of it might be, but…" He trailed off, gritting his teeth with a deeply uncomfortable look.

I uncrossed my arms and sat on the edge of the bed, giving him a stare that said I wasn't going to let him get out of this without a full explanation even if he has to talk about things he deems uneasy.

He sighed and came to crouch in front of me, a look of defeat about him, "This is how I've wanted to be from the beginning, but couldn't. As a human, you were too fragile. I might've hurt or even killed you." My hurt faded. Not completely, but still by a lot.

Sasuke grabbed my hands in his and I let him, "You have a habit of overthinking so I thought it best to keep it from you until you've had proper time to adjust." Despite his tender way of holding my hands, the expression on his face was firm as though trying to get me to admit that I knew he was right. And he might actually be right, but that's not the problem here.

"If you would've told me this from the start, I wouldn't have been worried about it that much, Sasuke."

Black eyes narrowed further, but he nodded rather than argue and that surprised me, "I realize that now. I'm sorry."

I searched his face for a few moments, trying to weigh his sincerity, before sighing and nodding, "Alright, just please don't keep things like this from me again." I gently pulled my hands from his grasp and cupped his face before bending down to kiss him. Soft lips pressed against mine and he slowly came forward, in between my legs so I wouldn't have to be bent so awkwardly, cupping my hands with his own.

When I pulled away he frowned, "Tomorrow, stay with me."

I mirrored his expression, "I still think you should stay back with your brother and uncle. Even if I can't kill you, you can still get hurt." Before finishing my argument, I knew it was falling on deaf ears.

Proving me correct, in the early hours of the morning, Neji and I were woken up by the others and it was time to set the plan in motion. Sasuke became all but glued to my side. The only people to say goodbye before parting ways were Itachi and Temari, but even that was just a shared look of understanding.

Long fingers pulled a thin, dark cloak over my shoulders and I searched Sasuke's brooding face as he tied its strings loosely across my chest. He met my eye once done and pulled my hood up to hide my easily distinguishable hair color. There wasn't a need to speak because his eyes said it all. He's not happy that I'm bearing a hefty portion of the responsibility for this mission, much less that I'm involved at all.

His concern made my heart flutter and I clasped his hands in mine when he was done, rising up on the tips of my toes to give him a short kiss before releasing him and glancing at Sai and Madara to make sure they were also ready to go. Both nodded wordlessly and then the four of us left the hotel.

In the pitch black of the alleyways, we carefully made our way toward the castle, staying low and slow anytime another person would get too close so they wouldn't notice us. We were informed by Ino prior to our leaving Konoha that she believes at least a couple of Ame's advisors have additional powers from drinking Kaguya's blood, like Hidan, but wasn't able to decipher what they were in her short amount of time around them. Add to that whatever modifications Orochimaru might've done to some of their bodies and we're heading into almost completely unknown territory.

Finally, after nearly an hour of travel, the castle came into view and we found a dark alley to wait in the shadows for the attack to begin. It should start any minute now.

"Sakura, are you sure you can do this?" Madara's hissed whisper had me snapping my neck to look over as he crouched by my side.

I nodded with my lips in a firm line, "For Obito's sake, I have to." He mirrored my expression and I got the sense that he was worried. Nervously, I elbowed his side and tried to ease the tension, "You have my back, right? Everything'll be okay." Both he and Sai gave me mild looks of surprise, but I ignored them to face the castle again, eyes trained on the large front doors.

Another minute passed before the sound of a distant explosion finally met our ears, followed by the screams of terrified citizens witnessing the attack. My teeth grit at the awful sound. I hope the guards were able to properly evacuate the area in time so no one gets caught in the crossfire of this mission.

Exactly as we expected, just a couple minutes passed before another explosion came and then the vampires in the castle began leaving to see what was going on in their city. I watched as Deidara and Nagato left first. Then a third explosion came and Kakuzu, Kisame, and Zetsu also left. As long as there aren't any advisors that I haven't yet met, the only people left in the castle other than maybe some guards were Konan, Yahiko, and Hidan, that is if Hidan's actually alive. I won't believe it till I see it, though.

We waited for one more explosion to come and after realizing no one else was vacating the premises, we began moving. Sai and Madara stayed a dozen meters or so behind us and would remain that distance or more for the entirety of this rescue mission unless things go awry. Since I'm a bit more familiar with the castle than Sasuke, given my five day stay months ago, I led the way.

I located the window to one of the laundry rooms that I saw during that time and busted it open with my elbow. After a minute of waiting to see if anyone was going to come inspect the sound, we made our way inside.

Amegakure's castle is similar to Konoha's, so I'd guessed they'd keep any prisoners or hostages below ground, like Madara had in the cellar when he had Obito under his control. Unfortunately, that wasn't part of the tour Konan took us on so finding its entrance was step one.

With each step, I sensed Sasuke shadowing me as silent as a mouse and it actually comforted me that he was letting me lead without argument. I trust him completely so having him covering my blind spot gave me a confidence I wouldn't have had if I'd come alone. It still would've made me feel better if he wasn't in danger's path, though.

Cautiously, we made our way through room after room, hall after hall, searching for the cellar's entrance. Finally, we sensed a guard coming near and hid around the corner of a doorway. When he passed, Sasuke snatched him inside and I closed the door behind us, turning to see his bright red eyes boring into the terrified man's brown ones. After getting directions, the prince glowed the guard to stay silent in this room until the sun rises and took the set of keys that were hooked to his belt loop, just in case. Then we took off once more.

It took another fifteen minutes to enter the cellar since we had to move so cautiously. Its entrance was similar to Konoha's, but the cellar itself was more akin to Orochimaru's hideout. On both sides of the wide hallway were stone cells with thick metal bars on their doors. Luckily, all that we passed were empty so we didn't have to attempt to hush anyone from ruining our cover.

I heard footsteps coming from around the corner and put some pep in my step in order to meet the guard as they turned, knocking them out with my newly acquired strength before they could process what was even happening. Glancing back to make sure Sasuke was still behind me, I continued forward when he gave me a nod.

Around that corner was another hallway with two more guards patrolling that somehow hadn't noticed their peer's disappearance. Having my vampiric traits active, the glowing eyes and the sharpened teeth, helps sharpen the senses so I tried to get myself angry in an attempt to prepare, but couldn't seem to do it.

Gritting my teeth, I huffed and shot down the hallway, Sasuke in tow, to face the guards head on. When they noticed us, both of their eyes began to glow and we fought. My first hit was blocked, but the man's arm snapped under the pressure of my fist. He didn't hesitate to swing back at me and landed a hit to my face, stunning me for a millisecond. I staggered, but then felt the familiar burning of my eyes lighting up bright red and pounced on him. It took everything in me not to kill him, but I somehow managed to pull myself away.

The electricity inside my body was just a light crackle, just barely under my control, but I still had the reins in my hands so I was able to continue.

We turned another corner, fought two more guards, and then we finally located Obito's cell. My eyes widened as I stared down at him. He wasn't in good shape. They had to be starving him of blood because the many cuts and bruises on his skin weren't healing. His wrists and ankles were chained to the back wall of the cell and the skin around the cuffs looked raw, red, and bruised as though he's been struggling against them with all his might.

My anger rose significantly and I hissed, worried my control would slip too quickly, "S-Sasuke, hurry, unlock it!"

The Uchiha cousin didn't stir when I spoke, worrying me further. The prince tried a few keys before finding the right one and I shoved past him to kneel by Obito's side, rolling him onto his back with one hand while I bit into my other wrist before gently opening his mouth and guiding the bleeding wound to his lips. My brow furrowed when he stirred and I squeezed my eyes closed when he groaned and his voice was hoarse as though he hadn't had a sip of water in days.

The rage was getting overwhelming. Teeth sank into my wrist and I winced, opening my eyes to see Obito staring up at me in surprise with his eyes glowing just as brightly as my own. His wounds healed quickly and once I sensed his energy had been restored, I forcefully tore my wrist away, hissing when his teeth tore through the skin. He gasped and reached out as though wanting to bring it back, but caught himself and realized what he was doing and shook his head, sitting up with tears in his eyes, "Sakura…? What are you doing here? And you've turned!"

I motioned for Sasuke to help the man with his cuffs and he wordlessly did, searching the keys for the correct one. My voice sounded just as forced as it felt to speak, "We'll explain later. Right now you need to stay with Sasuke and keep your distance." I met Sasuke's eye and rose to my feet as I panted for breath.

"And here I thought you couldn't get any sexier. Vampirism looks good on you, Sakura."

A familiar, teeth-grinding voice met my ear and I turned to see Hidan standing a couple meters away, leaning casually against the wall like he wasn't in danger at all. I stepped out of the cell, emotions swirling dangerously through me, "How are you alive? I watched you die." I heard Sasuke begin unlocking Obito's chains behind me.

Purple eyes shined with excitement as he grinned wolfishly, "You're all beauty and no brains, aren't you?"

The taunt was the feather that tipped the scale and the grip I had on my control slipped away. Then I was attacking him, seething and hungry for blood. Hidan seemed to expect it and expertly blocked each hit, but surprised me by not attempting to harm me back.

My voice was low and animalistic when he caught my wrist in his hands and pulled it so I'd be forced to step closer to him, glaring into his now-glowing eyes, "Fight me, you coward! I'll tear you apart!"

His brow quirked and his teeth pulled back further, fangs glistening in the low light, "This isn't like you. What happened to the terrified little girl who could barely fight back in Sonokuni?"

The memory of his attempted assault on me only fueled my fire and all the lights in the hall shattered, obviously by my out of control power, but I was almost too far gone to notice it. Rather than form a coherent response, I went back to fighting him. Red seeped into my vision, the bloody color bringing pleasure to my senses.

I managed to land a hit to his side and my fist went through, but he didn't stop and kept up with me. Completely fed up with his passive way of countering me, it seemed my anger reached the level of that when I first awoke after being turned. With a flick of my wrist, he was thrown against the wall, arms at his sides. Still, he grinned smugly as I approached. Energy crackled through me, even on my very skin. The bars of the cells I was passing became warped and bent, but I barely noticed.

"You won't kill me. You don't have the stomach."

My hand shot up to wrap around his throat, nails digging into his skin and drawing blood. His eyes rolled back in his head as though he liked the feeling, pissing me off further. Words were beyond my capability at this point and I released my grip to rear back a fist before plunging it into his chest with the intention of ripping his heart out.

The moment my fingers wrapped around the organ, a wild heat shot through my body. It was the worst pain I've felt in my life until now. A shriek ripped through me, threatening to tear my body into a million pieces.

"Sasuke!"

In the back of my mind, I heard Obito's panicked yell and it was enough to snap me out of my enraged daze. My fingers released Hidan's heart and I took several steps back, gripping at my chest as I panted, pained tears running down my face as I turned to see what happened to the prince. He was on his knees with his cousin knelt by his side, blood running down his front.

Terrified, I looked down and realized that I, too, was bleeding from a hole in my chest. My eyes shot between Sasuke, my wound, and then up to Hidan's bleeding chest before it clicked.

"No…"

"Oh, yes, baby. You can't kill me."

My wrists were suddenly circled by Hidan's large hands and my back pressed against the warped bars of the cell behind me, digging into my skin through my clothes. Bright eyes bled into mine as he smiled happily, "I suppose I owe you a thanks for saving my life with that bite."

As though it was somehow blacked out of my memory, I suddenly recalled biting into his neck while fighting for my life against him in that room right before Sasuke and Sai showed up. It wasn't Sasuke's blood that turned me that day, but his venom from biting me. It was Hidan's blood inside me.

They split my turning, like Itachi and Sai were talking about on the way here.

"Get off of me!"

I shoved him away with Kaguya's power and his back hit the opposite wall hard, but he just laughed before tearing his ripped shirt off over his head and throwing it aside, motioning for me to come at him, "Let's dance baby."

My teeth grit as I prepared to attack him again, but then I froze, blood running cold. That scar on his abdomen… Oh God…

That dream I had, where I couldn't look up at the man's face. That body had the same scar, the exact same one. If that was Hidan, then that means…

"Sakura, what's happening?"

Hidan and I both turned our heads to see Sai and Madara hurrying toward us and a choked sound left my lips when I saw blood staining the front of the Uchiha elder's shirt, a hole in it right on the chest like the rest of us.

Fuck.