Chapter 28

The three of us chose to rest for the remainder of the day so we'd be ready to travel back to Kakurega come early tomorrow morning. We sipped sake as we sat around a small campfire, the atmosphere calm now that my unease had been quelled.

I looked between Tsunade and Jiraiya as they argued playfully about their past bets. According to them, they've made hundreds of them, and the score is nearly even. The more time I spend with them, the more I feel they may be romantically involved, but I'm too nervous to ask. If I'm wrong, things could get awkward, so I simply grinned and sipped my drink.

"You thought you could seduce me after downing three bottles of wine, remember?"

My attention was piqued again as Tsunade laughed at Jiraiya's red face. That does it; I have to know. "Sorry if I'm overstepping, but are you two…?"

My new friends looked at me with wide eyes before turning their gazes onto one another and laughing. Jiraiya waggled his eyebrows at Tsunade, "Well? Are we, Princess?"

The woman rolled her eyes before giving me an irritated glare, "This geezer wishes I was his."

The man in question made an exaggerated offended sound, "If you're so against it, how come you won't let anyone else claim you, huh?" He turned his brown eyes onto me, winking, "Don't let her fool you. She adores me."

Tsunade elbowed him in the ribs, muttering, "You're unbearable."

A laugh passed my lips, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognized that the alcohol was beginning to warm my cheeks, "How long have you known each other?"

They glanced at one another again, Jiraiya responding with a more sober glint in his eye, "Just over a thousand years, I believe. We have the same master."

I choked on my sake and ended up coughing a few times, a hand covering my mouth, "Really! That's so interesting!"

"I'm the youngest of our master's three fledglings. Grandpa here is almost a century older."

Jiraiya chuckled at Tsunade's playful jab, "I remember when you were too scared to talk to me like this."

Curious, I asked, "You said there were three of you?"

The light and cheerful air swiftly turned a stark cold, and they both averted their gazes. After a moment, I mumbled, "I'm sorry if I asked something inappropriate. It wasn't my intention to-"

"We just don't want you to think of us differently, Beautiful." I searched both of their faces in silence, waiting for some elaboration.

Tsunade's fierce topaz eyes locked onto mine, "I'm afraid our brother took a different path shortly after it was discovered that I have Otsutsuki blood. His interest became an obsession, and we were forced to part ways when that obsession became dangerous."

I frowned, "I'm so sorry. It must've been hard." If having your master turn someone else affects their other fledglings like I suspect it does, cutting someone out like that must be painful.

"Why would that make me think of you differently?"

They looked surprised: "Many vampires assume those that share blood also share temperaments."

I shook my head, "I don't judge a person by another's actions," I paused before adding on, still curious, "Is he still alive?"

Jiraiya sighed wistfully as he stared at the small fire between us, "It's complicated. He is, but he isn't." When my confused expression didn't falter, he waved dismissively, "This topic's too serious when we should be sharing happy stories. We're celebrating your newly earned "Genius" status, after all!"

Face warm; I reached over to clink my half-empty bottle against his and Tsunade's, giggling as I let the subject change to a lighter one, "Alright, then." I backtracked to our prior conversation, "So you two aren't officially together. Do you have spouses or something, then?"

Alcohol brings out my courage to be more casual than average. Thankfully, they didn't seem to mind. I didn't think they would, anyway, because romance and sex are one of the most popular topics among vampires. I'm free to be as nosey as I want without offending anyone.

"There have been flings over the years for us both, but marriage isn't quite our style, right?" Tsunade nodded in agreement, a blush on her cheeks. I couldn't tell if the liquor or the topic was causing it.

"What about you?" I made a questioning sound as I took a drink. Jiraiya continued, "The powerful one that's claimed you; is he simply your lover or something more?"

It was my turn to blush, "A-Ah, he's my…." I trailed off as my heart sank. Referring to Sasuke as my boyfriend feels weird now because the title seems like so much less than what he is to me.

"He is mine, and I am his," the words left my lips before I could find a better way to explain. Even now, I'm keeping the identity of those in my life a secret because I don't know enough about my new friends to judge how they'll respond.

The woman before me, now obviously drunk, seeing as she's finished three bottles already, whereas I'm still on my first, brought a hand to her cheek and smiled, "Your passion is written all over your face. How sweet."

Jiraiya instead pouted, "What a pity. I was going to try my luck. Can't do that without him here, though, can I?"

Rather than become overwhelmed with embarrassment like usual, I shook my head and laughed, "Nope. He'll definitely kill you." The ease with which my kind speaks about these things is starting to affect me less because it's so constant.

A happy little sigh left my lips as I tossed my head back and downed the rest of my bottle of sake. The threatening expression Sasuke makes when any male oversteps their bounds is all too familiar. Initially, it irritated me that he's so possessive because I'm not an object, but then I realized he knows that.

Of any vampire I've ever met, Sasuke's the only one that never treated me like something to be played with or owned. From day one, he's seen me as a person. Even if he initially treated me coldly, he didn't see my life as something small or insignificant. That memory I glimpsed when I viewed his memories, the one where he was arguing with Madara, was enough to convince me of that. Back then, we hadn't spoken more than a couple words to one another, but he was still appalled by how little care his uncle had treated me with.

"We need to leave. Now." I was snapped out of my reminiscent thoughts by Tsunade's suddenly serious tone, all the drunken aspects of her being suddenly appearing completely sober.

Her topaz eyes were glowing red as she quickly moved to snuff out the fire, "Shizune's in trouble, which means it's likely someone's come for you and didn't take no for an answer."

I frantically gathered all my items into my bag and pulled it onto my back, hurrying to follow the others as they rushed for the exit, "Is she okay? How do you know something's wrong?"

Jiraiya explained as we sprinted through the dark tunnel, his voice echoing against the arched ceiling, "A master can tell when their fledgling is in extreme distress."

My stomach hypothetically dropped as I realized Madara and Sasuke both probably picked up on my terror when I woke up in shackles after being captured by those traffickers. Guilt made my teeth grit. It wasn't my intention to cause them more worry than I already am.

The moment we stepped out of the cage, threads shot out of the sand, intending to impale all three of us. We dodged, splitting up with me on my own and the others together several yards away. It was just Kakuzu before us. Before anyone could move or say anything, Tsunade gasped and turned her head toward Kakurega with a worried brow.

"You guys go help Shizune! I can do this on my own now! I'll catch up!"

The fact that they both nodded and obeyed my request without hesitation gave me the confidence to begin putting my mind on the right path to get the energy flowing.

Kakuzu didn't move to stop them, which makes sense given that his goal is almost definitely to capture me, and it'll be easier if I'm alone. The calm and malleable energy that Tsunade helped me discover moved through my veins at a metered pace.

To my surprise, the advisor addressed me directly instead of immediately attacking, "You shouldn't have sent them away."

With a frown, I met his strange-colored gaze, "I'm not the same as when we fought before. I will kill you, and I'll ensure you stay dead this time."

I sensed movement on the ground behind me and managed to leap to the side in time to dodge a barrage of threads that would've rendered me incapable of moving. Focusing as I dashed and dodged the man's relentless attacks, I felt the familiar sensation of my eyes activating.

When I locked my gaze onto his, I bid him to stop all actions, and he did. Breathing hard from all the running, I took my time walking up to him. Once I was close enough that I didn't have to speak up for him to hear me, I questioned him, "What's going on in Kakurega? Are your friends attacking?"

The statuesque man's jaw flexed as he refused to answer, brow furrowing as electric pain obviously shot through his body. I don't have time for this! The longer I take to end this fight, the further behind I'll be from Jiraiya and Tsunade.

To speed things along, I came to stand before him, "Kneel." He did, seeing as he didn't have the energy to fight two separate orders simultaneously.

I pressed my forehead to his the moment I could reach and gasped when grotesque scenes of torture and intimidation played through my mind. I assumed he was a monster like Kisame and Hidan, but I was wrong. Every awful thing I saw was either done to him by another advisor or he was being forced to do against his will by Yahiko.

Bile rose in my throat as I went back further, curious about how he ended up in Amegakure, only to cry when I realized he was a prisoner of Orochimaru directly before then. As I had so long ago, he'd been strapped to a table and experimented on like a lab rat.

I moved forward to see that it was the other supposedly searching Kakurega for me: Nagato, Kisame, and Zetsu. Surprisingly, Kakuzu wasn't sent into the desert to follow Jiraiya and Tsunade's trail alone. One of my least favorite people on Earth is out here amidst the wind and sand: Hidan. The cocky vampire got bored and wandered off on his own, seeing as they didn't have to order him into obedience.

Having seen all I needed to see, I pulled away and gave up on my order to make him talk. Kakuzu glared with confused and untrusting eyes when I hesitantly lay a hand on his shoulder. I wiped my tears with my other hand and spoke as steadily as possible, "I'm so sorry all this happened to you. After I kill Nagato and Yahiko, I'll help clear your name; I promise."

He's a victim, just like Deidara and Obito. Orochimaru sold him to Amegakure in exchange for some of Kaguya's blood.

Kakuzu's glare fell instantly, "Kill me now. If you escape and leave me alive…."

I nodded, voice cracking, "I know."

A bittersweet expression of appreciation and understanding met his features, and I squeezed my eyes closed as I shoved my hand into his chest and swiftly tore out his heart. I tried to do it as quickly as possible so he wouldn't feel much pain. A sob shook my chest as I heard the thud of his body falling backward onto the sand and opened my eyes so I could sit his heart gently next to him. I want to arrange his body into a more respectful position, but doing so would make it evident that he allowed me to beat him and defeat the purpose of what just happened.

Glaring as tears fell heavily down my cheeks, I turned and began sprinting as fast as I could in the direction of Kakurega, using my energy to boost the power of my footsteps and propel me forward at a quicker speed.

This isn't just about my loved ones and me anymore. I can't let a war break out because Amegakure's soldiers are victims, too. We'll be hurting innocent people. Yes, Kakuzu drank my blood when I was paying my debt to the city, but if that's the only bad thing he's done, I can forgive him easily.

Who knows if another advisor is acting against their will? Nagato and Hidan arent, and I get the feeling Kisame isn't either, but I can't be sure about Zetsu. When he attacked us in the forest, he said I should be grateful that he caught me because he'd make it quick. Was that because he felt guilty for participating or simply because he's not the type to toy with his prey? I need to find out before taking action against him again.

Something moved in my peripheral vision, and I turned to see a large weapon, a scythe, flying my way. I jumped out of the way and turned to catch Hidans hands in my own, sensing his approach from behind.

He smiled arrogantly, "You've gotten stronger, Baby."

I growled, eyes burning into his, "Stop calling me that."

We parted, and he picked up the large weapon from the sand, ignoring my demand, "You know what'd be really hot? If you'd call me "Master" just once." His scythe has three blades, and its reach was broad enough that I couldn't get close enough to physically attack him without risking impalement.

My brow furrowed as I tried to keep my mind positive and focused on happy memories, but it's not so easy when I'm fighting for my life from the literal definition of a pest.

"What, no sarcastic reply? Talk to me, Sakura. What's on your mind?"

He nicked my arm with his blades, leaving a massive gash to begin slowly healing. I haven't fed since draining those traffickers almost two full days ago. My vampiric traits are still strong, but not as strong as his. That's okay, though, because he doesn't possess my other powers.

Feeling encouraged, I went on the offensive, manipulating the energy within to make the sand come up and grab onto his feet, holding him still. He cursed as he almost fell forward from the momentum of suddenly stopping, "Damn it, Bitch! Let go!"

A small smile tugged at my lips as I made him release his scythe, allowing it to fall lifelessly into the sand at his feet. Hidan's fists clenched as he glared at me, but I ignored it as I came at him. There's no time to be gentle like I was with Kakuzu. Even a moment of hesitation could turn the tide.

Pinkish eyes bled into red, and I averted mine so he couldn't try to glow me as I finally came within an arm's length of him. He didn't just let me win and fought against me for multiple moments before I managed to land a devastating blow through his chest, but it was off-mark, so it didn't touch his heart. A sickening cry of distress tore from my mouth as the injury blasted through my body, forcing me to stumble many steps backward.

Hidan mocked me even though it wasn't necessary. I realized my mistake the moment my blood flew into the air.

"Did you forget that you can't hurt me, Baby?"

I did. I was so focused on my task that I didn't think before acting.

With no choice but to find someone who isn't linked to either of us to finish him off, I turned on my heel and took off in a sprint in the direction of Kakurega once more.