So, you know those challenge communities on LJ? I’ve signed up for like 8 of them, at some point or another, and never completed any. So finally, I asked ohwhatsherface to help me out. She gave me 17 prompts, with the goal to write a oneshot for each. So here it is. Unrelated unless I say different, all SasuSaku (you were so close to getting MinaSaku, I can’t tell you), and also, because I need to pimp, I command you all to read my new collab, the link to which is in my bio, by La Trizzle – as in, me, aNdreaa, and angelforshow. Yes. Do that.

Blanket disclaimer: I own squat. And please don’t automatically associate this with Twilight.

Cat’s Eye Blind
prompt 01: martyrdom

Tsunade told Sakura that she was safe from the Vampires. They had no interest in her blood, she said, and anyway, their leader would keep them away from her. They had a treaty with the humans, Tsunade assured her as she quivered by the fence. No harm would befall her as long as the Vampire’s leader was by her side.

If that was true, Sakura had asked her mentor, Why didn’t she go into their territory?

Tsunade had pressed her lips together, and then the Vampire’s leader had arrived and Sakura was whisked away.

And now she stood shaking by his side, under his protection. Tsunade had insisted that the Vampire Minato was an honorable man, but Sakura had her doubts. She eyed him warily as he took a seat and invited her to do the same.

“I won’t bite,” he said, and she winced. “Sorry. Bad joke?”

Sakura remained silent.

“You know,” Minato began when it was clear she wouldn’t sit down and relax while they went over the details of their treaty. It was time for it to be renewed. “I used to live in Konoha.”

Sakura’s gaze flicked up to him. Clearly, she was surprised.

“I got bitten, of course,” Minato went on. “When my son find out, he went out and got bitten, too. Intentionally, of course.” He shook his head. “Idiot. That was why I started the treaty between us and the village. And it’s worked so far. Anything we need to add?”

“Tsunade-sama wants access to your medical knowledge,” Sakura said in a small voice. Cautiously, she took a seat, never looking away from Minato. “And she wants to allow us a way out of the fence. With protection from both sides.”

“Of course.” Minato sighed, picking up a pen. “Well, we’re getting there. Maybe the next Hokage will be a bit more trusting.”

Sakura didn’t say anything. She knew Minato’s hopes were in vain. She could never trust a Vampire.

Not after Sasuke.

-

The Vampire kept looking at her over the top of the fence. He was up in a tree on the other side, and although Sakura knew he couldn’t cross over the invisible dome-like barrier covering the village, she couldn’t help but shiver as she passed under his gaze.

“Get Tsunade-sama to talk to the leader of the Vampires,” Ino would urge. “He’s creeping me out.”

“Tell me about it,” Sakura always said in reply, but she never told anyone.

-

Minato led her back to her village gate. His office was on a hill overlooking the Vampire’s community, and so the walk was long. Sakura felt only slightly more comfortable on the walk back than she had on the walk to his office.

Passing Vampires only tossed her flickering glances before their gazes moved and rested on their leader. Minato, for his part, remained straight-faced and patient, slowing down considerably so his steps could match hers.

“When do you take over?” he asked her kindly, guiding her up a steeply inclined path.

“Three months,” Sakura said. “How did you—”

“I used to be Hokage,” he said with a slight smile. “Many years ago. I remember how things worked. How old are you?”

“Nineteen next week.”

Minato’s expression wavered for a moment. “Oh—yes.” He cleared his throat. “Rather young for a Hokage.”

“Tsunade-sama thought I would be—the most qualified.”

Minato didn’t answer. They continued on in silence.

-

She got too close to the fence one day, hiding away from Tsunade, who had paperwork for her to file. It was too nice a day to be kept cooped up inside, Sakura had decided, and so she ran.

She fell against the fence, gasping for breath, when she felt his fingers on her back. When she leaped back from the fence and whirled around, she saw him, the Vampire who had been watching her for so long, with his long fingers pressed against the chain-linked fence between them.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hello,” Sakura said. “Do you… want something?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

He continued to stare at her, and she fidgeted. His lips curved upwards, ever so slightly, and she flamed red.

“Why do you keep staring at me?”

“Because you never look back,” he said.

She stared.

“I’m Sasuke,” he told her. “Don’t worry; I don’t bite.”

-

When they had just crested a small hill and the fence was in sight, Sakura let her guard down for only a split-second, and then she was tackled to the ground.

Fingers dug into her scalp pulling at her hair, and Sakura screamed as her head was jerked back to leave her neck exposed. She thought of Sasuke and struggled fruitlessly against her captor’s grip.

“Back again, bitch?” The voice was high and distinctly feminine, and Sakura faltered for a moment, taken aback. “This time, you’ll stay.” Then there was the brush of teeth scraping the skin of her neck, she screamed, and there was a thud, just before the body was pulled away.

“Sakura!” And Minato was bent over her, looking panicked. He pressed his fingers to her neck, examining the wound. “It didn’t break,” he told her, urging her to sit up.

Sakura did, looked over, and saw a Vampire she knew well. Karin. She was unconscious, restrained by a group of five Vampires she hadn’t seen before. Summoned by their leader, no doubt. She should have thanked Minato.

Instead, she burst into tears.

-

“Come over to my side of the fence,” he said one day.

“No way.”

“Why not?” He was sitting on his side of the fence, and she on hers, back-to-back after months of careful distance. “I’ll protect you from everyone else.”

“Who will protect me from you?” she asked, only half-joking, as she ripped up blades of grass from the earth beside her and let them fall into her lap.

He didn’t answer.

-

Tsunade was furious, and Minato was apologetic. It was an interesting shift of power, though Sakura didn’t have the will to examine it.

She locked herself in her office, sank down onto the floor by the door, and sobbed silently, her fingers brushing the wound Karin had given her. It didn’t hurt, but it had shocked her to the core. All she could think of was Sasuke.

Sasuke, and what he had done to her.

-

She stepped through the fence at night, when no one from her side could catch her. When no one from the other side was expecting her. Sasuke was waiting.

“Nervous?” he asked, looking amused.

“Not at all,” she lied.

“You’re shaking.”

“…It’s cold.”

He took her hand and led her through the trees. They stayed along the fence, headed away from the Vampire community and the busy parts of the village. A stream gurgled nearby. The moon was very bright overhead.

“Nice night.”

“Don’t force yourself. I can take you back.”

“You don’t have much faith in me, do you?”

“I won’t answer that.”

Sakura laughed and, just like that, her worries disappeared. Her heart stopped its anxious thumping, and began to race in a very different way now.

She sat with Sasuke in an empty patch of field, with the star-sprinkled sky clear overhead. He asked her about the village. She asked him about the community.

“You could come see it sometime,” he told her. “You’re allowed.”

She stared at her bare knees. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“You’d be safe,” he reminded her. “The treaty is in place.”

“If all that’s standing between me and fangs is a few pieces of paper, then forget it.”

“You’re here with me, though.”

“But you won’t hurt me,” she said. It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t answer.

Instead, he leaned forward, and Sakura didn’t lean back. Instead she took a risk, jumped over the fence, and met him halfway.

-

Tsunade’s yells had died down moments ago. Sakura strained to hear what was going on. She breathed deeply, trying to calm her racing heart. She was never stepping out of the fence again.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall, and then Minato’s voice was outside her door.

“Sakura? May we come in?”

-

“Sakura!”

Sakura groaned as she hit the ground, then barely dodged when Karin came leaping at her once again. Gasping, she scrabbled up onto her hands and knees.

With a snarl, Sasuke came tearing out of the brush behind her and launched himself at Karin. She squealed as he cut into her, but otherwise didn’t back down. The two of them battled hard, snatching looks at Sakura, frozen with horror on the outskirts of the field, every so often.

Sakura felt a bruise forming on her hip, but she gave it barely a moment’s thought. Her gaze was transfixed to the brutal sight before her. Sasuke snapped at Karin’s throat, and she barely jerked her head away in time. She caught him behind the knees, wrestled him to the ground, and then he rolled them over so he was above her, baring his fangs again.

The third night Sakura had slipped out of the village for Sasuke, they had been caught by a bloodthirsty vampire with no regard for the treaty and too much regard for Sasuke. No sooner had Sasuke sensed her presence than Karin was reaching for Sakura’s bare neck. Sakura had only just managed to push her away long enough to avoid the fatal strike.

Now, Sasuke paused just before his fangs could sink into Karin’s flesh. Instead, he struck her with a heavy blow to the base of her neck – a hit that would’ve broken it had she been human – and turned to Sakura.

She was shaking.

“I knew I shouldn’t have come here…”

“No, it’s okay—”

“No, it’s not, it’s dangerous. God, Sasuke. I have to go back to the village, I’m sorry, I—”

“I’ll protect you—”

“—you can’t protect me always—”

“I can.”

Sakura had no time to react before Sasuke pinned her to the hard earth beneath them, knocking the breath out of her. She squirmed, caught off-guard, then stiffened when she felt something cold and sharp at her throat.

“Sasuke…”

“Stay with me,” he said. His lips moved against her throat, and she shuddered.

Then he sank his fangs in and she screamed loud enough for everyone to hear, human and Vampire alike.

-

She was of mixed blood. Not immortal, not gifted with terrific senses or strength, but with a much longer lifespan, unnaturally fast healing abilities, and a deep sense of mistrust towards Vampires.

“Sasuke can’t hurt you any more,” Tsunade said.

“Karin will be dealt with,” Minato added. “Please don’t fear all Vampires because of the actions of one.”

“Two,” Sakura corrected. “You forgot Sasuke. Two.”

By the time reinforcements had arrived, Sasuke’s venom had already dissolved into Sakura’s bloodstream. There had been no helping it from there. She lay at his feet, sobbing, knowing she was going to become a Vampire. Knowing she was going to die.

The last thing she had seen was Sasuke’s dark eyes, watching her, before she passed out from the loss of blood.

“Right,” Minato said softly. “Two.”

“Sasuke’s gone, Sakura,” Tsunade said gently. If she thought this helped, she was wrong.

To destroy the traces of venom in her bloodstream, a more powerful substance was needed to counter it. And that counter was more venom. Stronger venom. The straight venom of a Vampire’s blood.

Vampires were indestructible, however. Only a dead Vampire could bleed – cuts and gashes didn’t mar a living Vampire’s body.

Sasuke knew this very well. No one told Sakura what exactly he did for her, but she could imagine.

-

“I’ll protect you from everyone.”

“And who’ll protect you from me?”

“I’ll do that, too.”

“Really now?”

“Really. I’ll take care of you.”

-

EDIT: last couple lines deleted for simplicity's sake. So, yes, Sasuke sacrificed himself for Sakura. Confused? Well, it was a spur-of-the-moment midnight-fic. So... yeah. Sorry. :D