Title: Cruor Est Veritas (Blood is Truth) - Title subject to change
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Sasuke/Sakura, many others
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,232
Summary: Sakura's life is turned upside down when she gets a call from a mysterious stranger warning that her life is in danger. Fortunately, she has friends to help her - a morally ambiguous vampire, a runaway princess, a human doctor who knows more than she seems to, and a lycanthrope with enough power to destroy the world.
Notes: Bwahaa, cliche. Still, as the craze is sweeping the nation, I figured I would do my part. Hopefully it is less cliche than most - although that might be impossible. I hope you like anyways!

I never really believed in anything supernatural.

I mean, come on. I’m an atheist, almost-genius, four-point-oh student who wants to go into the medical field. I never believed in anything religious, and though I went to church when I was a kid, it never really did much for me.

Monsters and horror stories were just that - stories. Things that belonged in the movies, or in books, or in little-kid imaginations when they are eight years old. In my world, I had no use for them, except as caricatures and special effects on the silver screen.

They belonged in stories. Not in my life.

Unfortunately, the universe seemed to have other plans.

Joy.

I thought I was just another high school student, trying to get good grades, going out with friends, wishing she had a boyfriend. That was until I got a phone call that changed my life.

But I suppose I should introduce myself first.

I’m Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you.

I sighed, glancing up at the clock. Two in the morning was such an ungodly hour to be up, but I knew that if I didn’t complete this English project by morning I would be - for lack of a better word - utterly screwed.

I yawned into my hand, looking out the window. It was raining, but I didn’t think much of it. After all, it was only an annoyance - at the time I didn’t think it was anything ominous. Instead, I just turned back to gluing pictures to poster board.

It was a pointless project, on classic literature.

Coincidentally (or perhaps ironically) it was on Bram Stoker and his most famous novel. Yeah, that one. Y’know, most famous vampire novel ever written? What was it called again?

Oh, yeah. Dracula.

There, I knew you knew what I was talking about. My current project was on the myth of the vampire and how deep-rooted the idea of a humanoid, immortal creature who fed off the blood of humans was in the human psyche.

It was boring, but I really needed to get this done. I just needed to add one more picture and write one last blurb for that very same picture. I was nearly done.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen just yet.

Buzz… buzz…

I looked up sleepily, to see the flashing lights of my cell phone. I didn’t have time to get it right now - I needed to finish this damn project! This was going to be a bitch in the morning, especially if my parents realized just how late I’d been up doing it.

The cell phone buzzed again, a third time. It would go to the ringtone soon….

My eyes widened.

The ringtone would wake up my parents! I would be screwed! Shit!

I leaped up from my sitting position, and dove for the cell phone. Unfortunately for me, I just had to trip over my bloody project, and fall flat on my face with a loud thump, just as the ringtone began to go off. I froze, quite sure my parents would be up.

I listened intently, and heard my father’s snores.

I sighed in relief. I had missed the call, but I had also missed the bullet. Who the hell would call this late at night, anyways?! It was bloody two in the freaking morning! I snatched up the cell phone with an air of annoyance, and looked at the ‘Missed Call’ history.

And the number at the top?

999-999-9999

I blinked in confusion, before gripping the phone tighter and resisting the urge to throw it at the wall. Probably a freaking salesperson! They had the nerve to call at two in the freaking morning! Who did that? I was angry. Beyond angry, actually - I was royally pissed.

Fuming, I turned around to look at my English project that I had tripped over. I let out a groan of despair.

The posterboard that I had worked so hard on for the past four hours was bent in half and wilting pathetically on one of the corners. And I didn’t have time to make another one.

This time, I did throw the cell phone at the wall.

Fortunately for me, it didn’t strike the wall and instead bounced harmlessly on the pillow.

Frustrated as hell, and with a rather ruined project that I would have to show at school tomorrow regardless of the shape it was in. I flopped into bed and let out a scream of frustration into my pillow, before rolling over and trying to catch a few hours of sleep before morning.

I fell asleep almost as soon as I had rolled over.

Which is why I didn’t notice when the cell phone sitting by my head flashed once, informing me that I had one unheard message.

“… and that was when I bloody bent my project!”

I was venting, extraordinarily mad at myself and at my teacher and at bloody salespeople who called at two in the morning. Fortunately, I had a friend to hear my pleas - Yamanaka Ino had been my best friend since childhood.

She had helped to draw me out of my extraordinarily shy shell, and helped me to become more outspoken and stick up for myself. Of course, she was more outspoken than I was still, and sometimes a lot more obnoxious.

But, even if we got into spectacular fights, she had been there for me through thick and thin. And it was really nice to have somebody to vent to, especially days that sucked like this one had.

English had been a nightmare.

I had attempted to bring up my project to show to the teacher. I walked up and muttered an explanation that I had tripped over it in the middle of the night last night, and hadn’t had time to redo it. She had simply nodded at me, and marked down what I was sure was a ‘Poor’ on the Quality section of the rubric.

I felt so humiliated I could cry.

“She didn’t even listen to me, when I told her I tripped over it!” I wailed, fisting my hands in my hair in frustration.

Ino patted my shoulder. “Sakura, don’t worry about it. You have, what, a four-point-oh GPA on a four-point scale? One bad grade isn’t going to hurt you.”

I nodded miserably. I had hardly ever gotten a bad grade in my life, and the last time was back in seventh grade when I had been paired with Nara Shikamaru, who - even if he was smarter than I was - was completely lazy and had left me to do the entire project by myself.

We had failed miserably on the ‘Teamwork’ part of the exercise.

“So who the hell was the phone call from, anyways?” Ino asked.

I scowled, pulling out my cell phone and handed it to her. “Some stupid scam or salesperson or something. The number was just a bunch of 9’s.”

Ino flipped open my phone, looking at it with a scrutinizing expression. “Hey, Sakura, I think you’ve got a message,” she said, showing me the phone that indeed read that I had one unheard message.

I shrugged. “It’s probably my mom,” I said, not really caring. All I wanted was to get home and possibly sleep. I was feeling miserable from the late night before, and the world was swimming before my eyes.

Ino nodded, pressing a few buttons. She looked at the missed calls section, and found the number. She frowned a little bit at it.

“I wonder who would have called at two in the morning,” she muttered, wrinkling her nose and handing me back the phone. “Maybe it’s the police. Maybe you’re involved in a murder, or something.”

I snorted indignantly. “Yeah, because my life is CSI,” I muttered sarcastically, shaking my head. “Honestly, they’re probably trying to scam me out of a couple hundred dollars is all.”

Ino shrugged. “Yeah, probably,” she said, before looking up. “Oh, hey, there’s Shikamaru and Choji! I have to go, I promised I’d go out for barbeque with them.”

She made a face at me, and I laughed good-naturedly. Ino was constantly going on diets, but every week she would go out for barbeque with the two boys who she had known since their parents put them in daycare together, therefore putting her off her diet.

I nodded and waved goodbye to her. She ran off to join Shikamaru and Choji, who then headed to the parking lot and Ino’s car. I sighed, looking down at the phone in my hand.

I supposed I should check my message. It would be better than waiting, especially if it was my mother. Quickly, I flipped open the phone, pressing the button that would connect me to the voicemail. I waited for a second, the phone pressed to my ear, as it connected and told me that I had one unheard message.

And then it played the message.

At first, there was nothing but silence. I scowled into the phone. But then, just as I was about to flip the phone closed, a voice came through.

It was a dark, sensual, mysterious voice. The type you expect only to be in the movies, such a rich baritone that I had to wonder if this guy wasn’t a singer or an actor. He only spoke one sentence, but that one sentence left me shivering.

“Tonight,” he said, in that uber-sexy, soft voice of his, “pick up your phone.”

And then the message ended, and the phone asked me if I wanted to save or delete the message. Numbly, I pressed the button for save.

I had no doubt in my mind that this was who had called at two in the morning, from the 999-999-9999 number. I wondered just who the hell he was, because even with a voice as hot as that he could still be some sort of freaky stalker. Yes, this was most certainly him, because I had never heard a voice that angelic in all my life.

And he was going to call again tonight.

It was ten o’clock, and I was fretting.

Every minute or so, I would check my cell phone. It was sitting on the charger, so that it wouldn’t die unexpectedly. Not only was it on the charger, but it was sitting right next to me, as I struggled to read another chapter of Howard Zinn.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t concentrate.

Really, these phone calls weren’t healthy for my schoolwork. I jumped as the dishwasher rumbled into life, because I thought that it was the phone ringing. My head whipped around as an ad showed itself on my computer, because I thought it was the lights on the phone blinking.

I had good reasons to be both nervous and excited.

Nervous because there was always that chance of it being some sort of creepy stalker. Of something bad happening, of it really being the police ready to haul me in for questioning about a murder. (Though somehow I doubted that. I mean, honestly - if it was the police, they probably would have just come to the house.)

But even so, I was terribly excited.

After all, that little bit of terror sent adrenaline pumping through my system. It was a mystery, whoever this guy was, and what he wanted. I wanted to know more, to have an explanation, to figure out just what the hell was going on. Because I sure as hell wasn’t going to let him get away without giving me some answers once he called.

Not to mention his voice was totally sexy.

Whoever he was.

I mean, it’s not every day a girl gets a call from a guy with a voice that hot! I had already listened to the message three times over, just to hear the utterly sensual tones that sent shivers up my spine. Because his voice was just that sexy.

Buzz… buzz…

I leaped up, excitedly. That was him! It was the call I had been waiting for! (Fortunately, he called before two in the morning. I think he realized that I need my sleep. Either that or he was just able to call earlier.)

I snatched the phone, looking at the number with wide, apprehensive, but equally curious eyes. It was him.

999-999-9999.

With trembling hands, I flipped open the phone, and pressed it to my ear.

“Sakura?” he asked, and oh, god, I swear his voice got sexier just in that one instance. I had done something very good in my life, to warrant such an angelic phone call.

I nodded, breathlessly. Then I realized that this was a phone call, and he couldn’t see me. “How do you know my name?” I whispered, breathlessly.

He brushed me off. “There’s no time for explanations like that,” he said, brushing off my question. “Sakura, there’s something you need to know….”

“Just one thing,” I said, sharply. I was annoyed that he had brushed off my question like that. Wasn’t he going to explain himself?! I fucking wanted answers, not more riddles! “Tell me who the hell you are and why you’re calling me.”

That was at the very same moment he said, in his dark, ominous and utterly angelic voice, “Your life is in danger.”

That was when I dropped the phone.