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No one said being a hunter and idol was easy work. One minute the three of them were singing in front of the entire audience and the next they were out hunting demons who dared to approach them and take innocent souls. There was no rest for them but by now they were used to it.
Tsunade stood outside her balcony taking in the fresh air and then by chance, she saw him.
Them.
Patterns.
She could have been mistaken by the dark.
Could have.
But it’s not something worth risking, especially when she witnessed him talking to an old friend of hers. She had no time to lose and so made the hasty decision to follow them herself.
She wasn’t worried about the other girls wondering where her whereabouts were.
They would understand the circumstances, and it wouldn’t be uncommon for her to meet up with her old friends. The only question remains if he would know who she is. Hopefully her presence alone would put him off and in the worst-case scenario they would have to fight. She couldn’t tell what level demon he is but with the way he stands so confidently, it was clear he had done this before.
“Orochimaru, it’s been a while.” She nodded, greeting them warmly entering the store before giving a fake smile to the demon next to him. “Sorry, I never realised you had company. A client?”
“Ah, we won’t be long.” Tsunade nodded watching the exchange. It did seem like they were only talking, then she saw the demon hand him something.
Lotion? A bottle?
She wasn’t sure but he smiled politely.
“Pleasure doing business with you like always.” He then gave a nod in her direction.
“Ma’am.” She let out a low tsk and glare as her eyes followed him out the store. Orochimaru was about to let her in behind the counter so they could drink some sake and catch up like they normally would, but she gave them a quick apology look explaining that she had something to take care of first.
“Give me a minute, I’ll be right back.” Orochimaru titled their head but didn’t comment instead preoccupied on getting their drinks ready for when she returned.
Heh, she would probably need it too.
Finding him was easier than she thought but it almost seemed like he wanted her to.
As she got out her sword to deliver a nasty blow he vanished and reappeared behind her.
His human form long gone as his patterns started to show, his green eyes turned yellow as did his pale skin turn purply and pointy ears showing his true demon self.
“I wondered how long you would be.”
“You.” She snarled again trying to slice him as he now reappeared on top of a roof. He was about to run for it, but she wouldn’t have it. Chasing after him. “Look, I don’t want to fight.” He tried to say again disappearing and reappearing elsewhere.
“Stop running away and fight me you coward! And what are you doing with Orochimaru?”
Another slice, and he poofed. Urgh!
“Does your friend know you’re a hunter?”
“Do they know you’re a demon?” She taunted back again and was about to strike him.
“Oh yes, very much so.” That reply took her off guard.
“What?”
“Your friend is quite… something. Maybe you don’t know them as well as you thought but it’s not uncommon for humans to make pacts with us. I’m only here following orders.” Following orders?
What was that supposed to mean?
“Orochimaru would never!”
“Have you ever noticed how interested they are in the prospect of immortality?” That question shut her up. It was hardly a secret but what did that entail? “Would you believe me if I said that it is possible for us demons to grant such a request.”
“In exchange…”
“In exchange?” Of course there had been something in it for him.
“For my memories to be erased.”
Back when Dan was alive, it was just him and his sister. Their parents passed away when they were young considering how dangerous times were back then. So, he vowed to protect her, until she met her boyfriend and now husband. As long as she was happy, then he was happy.
Unfortunately, time was not on their side as he was taken away from her too.
And she was pregnant.
His baby sister, pregnant with no husband and no parents to hold her hand along the way.
Of course, he offered to help look after the child, but her pregnancy carried risks. She could potentially die from childbirth or lose her baby, but she still wanted to carry it out. Dan deduced that due to losing her husband she didn’t care and in fact was ready to sacrifice her own life if it meant knowing her child would live.
Probably knowing they would be taken care of by him.
It was all too much to take in, to accept and then he appeared. Giving him an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
‘If you give your soul to me, both your sister and niece will live.’
How could he pass up an opportunity? A life for a life, that seemed about right and so Dan gave up his own life so that his sister and niece could live.
Shizune was fifteen, and very sick.
‘She wasn’t supposed to be born.’ Danzo said using his voice to make him more guilty.
‘But you told me-’
‘You should have known better. Even if she did live then, in the future her life would be taken away, you don’t mess with fate.’ Shizune had passed in her sleep along with his sister who had taken her own life afterwards.
It was his fault.
He should have known better.
The death of her parents, her husband, brother and now daughter.
It would have been too much for anyone.
Tsunade was in shock at hearing this, normally she would never believe a demon. But the story had so much detail it was hard to think of it as fictional.
“If you don’t believe me, ask Orochimaru. I gave them the same story.”
“I believe you… but how could you turn into a demon from that?”
“It’s him, he comes to you at your most vulnerable. Offer you something you can’t refuse; that’s out of reach for a price. And then he uses your emotions, your guilt into manipulating your every move until you're too far gone.”
Too far gone.
Did that mean that eventually he would end like other demons that took souls for the hell out of it.
“Danzo knows your desires, your goals, your dreams. He knows that Orochimaru’s downfall would be immortality. And when Danzo finally does receive Orochimaru’s soul, he’ll erase my memory.” The demon shrugged like it was nothing.
“I’m being selfish, I know, but it’s hard to care for a human who you have no attachment to when you’ve been down here for as long as I have. I only want those memories erased and then I’ll be free.”
A part of her didn’t blame him, still she couldn’t let this demon take Orochimaru’s soul.
“Like I would let you!” Just because she felt some sympathy for him didn’t mean she would let this demon take her friend’s soul. Tsunade aimed to strike him again, but he disappeared, and this time didn’t come back.
“Have you noticed anything strange about Orochimaru lately?” Like how they were getting younger, although as they were in their late twenties it probably wouldn’t be obvious until they got older.
“Stranger than usual?” Jiraiya laughed but the expression Tsunade gave he sighed and gave in. “I’m assuming this is about Dan. You know the guy with long light blue hair?”
“Do you know of him?”
“Yup, saw him in his other form. I would have never believed in demons had I not seen one myself and of course I gave Orochimaru a good talking to but…you know how they are.”
Dan, so that was his name.
If only getting rid of a demon was as easy as knowing their name like they had in the movies.
So, it was up to her to visit and try to persuade Orochimaru to give up on immortality.
She would always visit when she knew Dan was about, including trying to kill him at every chance she got and considering Jiraiya was also aware of what he was, it was the two against two.
“Save it, I don’t want to hear what you have to say.”
“Don’t you understand, this is what Danzo wants.” Orochimaru made a tsking sound. “It’s going to take a lot more than this for him to get to me.” Dan didn’t comment, warning how powerful and tempting the demon could be.
Not if this was going to benefit him.
Despite the obvious hatred she had for the demon. The more time Tsunade spent trying to help Orochimaru the more time she slowly spent with Dan, probably more considering she found it amusing how he didn’t know the way technology works or the way things were now and so would show him everything that was new.
What he was missing.
She knew this could have been his way of distracting her from her original goal and was wary and cautious of him, but she never sensed any malice. Rather he seemed to equally like and want to spend time with her.
In fact, she even found herself blushing at the excited look on his face when he tried a new food.
The demons were attacking again and as Tsunade was about to make a final blow until she froze.
What if this demon had suffered the same fate as Dan?
What if it didn’t have a choice?
And then Mei took it out from behind.
“What happened back there? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I- I’m fine! Thanks for that.” But she wasn’t fine.
How was she supposed to kill other demons when they could have ended up that way due to a similar situation as Dan. Was it right for them to take a life over a simple mistake.
A mistake in which they were manipulated into.
One fateful encounter changed their dynamic.
Tsunade had frozen again trying to kill a demon, but it didn’t hesitate to attack her.
And she had no Mei or Yugito to back her up. But instead of feeling pain and death she found her sword stuck through the demon and it disappeared. Shocked when she turned around, she was surprised to see Dan carrying the weapon.
“You looked like you could have used a hand.” He gave a weary smile offering his hand to her and for once she allowed herself to break down. In his arms.
Dan wasn’t sure if there would be any consequences. Danzo only wanted him to tempt and get Orochimaru’s soul which meant getting them hooked on the immortality they desperately seek.
Nothing mentioned about what consequences there would be to save a human, especially a hunter. But he knew he was selfish and had grown attached to her. Considering those who he had failed in the past he wasn’t going to fail this time.
He was a blushing mess when he asked her out, flowers in hand bowing down saying how he really liked her. Tsunade had no idea how to react other than a little.
“Eh?”
A hunter and demon?
Could they even work?
“I promise I’ll prove to you how much you mean to me!” She didn’t doubt him.
“I don’t think I can do this.” She was talking about the sealing. If they sang and sealed Danzo, there was no guarantee that Dan would stay with them.
“You have to, if not for me, do it for her.” He looked down at her small bump on her belly. “Even if there is a chance that I’ll still get sent to the demon realm, at least I know she’ll be safe from him.”
“Until next time…”
“Ah, but we won’t have to worry about that just yet. Let’s just focus on right now.”
Tsunade was able to pull through and sometime afterwards they were able to welcome their baby girl.
It had all happened so fast that Dan had no time to react. Yes, they had managed to seal Danzo and the demons, but more powerful ones remained and they weren’t like him. If anything, it looked as though they took an interest in their daughter.
‘Can they sense she’s part demon and hunter?’ He didn’t really think of that, neither of them did and what they also weren’t aware of was that they were here on Danzo’s orders.
To either kill or take the baby to the demon realm, so he could make her one of them.
Dan didn’t hesitate to protect his family, his new family. He would kill and be killed if he had too as long as they were safe. Tsunade had also brought her sword out, having no hesitation to protect her child. Their baby who was currently crying in all the chaos.
“It’s all right Sakura, mama has you.” She tried to coo, but there were too many of them.
They were surrounded and then-
THWACK!!
Dan could hear blood dripping, gushing and then he saw what he most dreaded. His lover’s lifeless body. A demon’s claw struck right through Tsunade’s chest; it was about to aim for Sakura next before he let out an anguish scream and reappeared in front of it, slicing its head off.
Tsunade’s body caved in and slowly fell but he caught her, arms wrapped around them.
She wouldn’t wake up.
It was too late; there was no saving her now.
Sakura cried harder and he froze, having no idea how to act. How to comfort his daughter.
Next, he could hear some swooshing sounds and realised that Tsunade’s friends were here.
Her hunter friends.
Here, but too late.
Couldn’t you have come sooner?
Yet how were they to know when they kept the relationship a secret from them.
“What did you do?!” Mei’s voice roared out in pain. He can only imagine how the scene must have looked, of him holding Tsunade’s dead body. He didn’t have a chance to explain, as Mei and Yugito tried to stab and kill him. He dodged them all swiftly and ran away giving no explanation.
He would never get his memories erased away and he knows he doesn’t deserve it.
Not with these new ones.
His parents, his sister, niece and now his lover. More patterns took over his body from the guilt.
But if Sakura was left in their care, maybe she stood a fighting chance.
He owed her that much at least.
...
Mei froze when she heard a baby cry, in Tsunade’s arms.
Sure, enough was a pink baby.
With patterns.
She was carefully tucked in as if Tsunade was trying to shield her from everything.
Was this his plan all along?
To kill them both or was it to kill Tsunade and take their daughter to Danzo.
Mei and Yugito knew Tsunade was pregnant, but they didn’t know about Dan.
Not until Jiraiya and Orochimaru brought him up and that he was a demon.
“She has your eyes.”
“Hmm but pink hair?”
“Well, my family had a few red heads in their generation. Perhaps due to your genes you made her hair pink.”
“Oh, that would explain it.”
They had kept their relationship a secret, but they would easily know who the father of her baby was.
“I should have known. I should have stopped her, but I was more worried about you.” Jiraiya told Orochimaru, who also felt guilty at Tsunade’s death. They both did.
“She didn’t tell us anything.” Yugito and Mei looked down and yes, they had successfully sealed Danzo but what good would that be now that she was dead. It wouldn’t take him long to come back. Not with all this negativity.
“What do we do with this baby? Is he going to come back to her and make her one of them?” Yugito asked with worry, they managed to stop her from crying almost like she knew she would never see her mother again.
“We’ll protect her.” Mei stated with certainty. “Tsunade would want that and like hell I’ll let him anywhere near her.” Not after what that monster did.
“But is it even safe for her here? She’s part demon, Danzo will know!”
“She is also part hunter, and if she’s as strong as her mother… then I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
Growing up Sakura always knew she was different. She knew at a young age that she was part demon but when asked if she was like the rest of them Mei, Yugito, Jiraiya and Orochimaru would reassure her that she was more like her mother.
She wasn’t one of them.
Then why did she have to cover up?
Why couldn’t she tell her friends that she was part demon and part hunter?
Surely, they would understand.
She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but at times she could hear the grown-ups talking and found out bit by bit how they resented themselves. Resented her father for killing her mother.
How he easily tricked them.
How could she love and accept herself if she was a mistake from her parents.
A tragedy, something that should have never existed for her mother.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think you were a mistake.” Sasuke had told her at one point, and the look he was giving her. There was no pity, no hatred, just an honest fact which made her heartbeat faster than it should have. She blushed lightly before saying bye to him in which he awkwardly responded back.
And now she was sneaking off to see him, they never put a label on their relationship, but it was clear there was something with the stolen kisses they shared in their own privacy.
Sakura broke the kiss they just exchanged between them, panting. She was currently sitting above him on his lap and the loving look in his eyes made her knees quiver.
“You're beautiful.” He told her, pulling her back in for another kiss.
Sakura couldn’t stop the tears even if she wanted to because feeling loved, being accepted for who she was. All of her felt… refreshing, different. Like she was made to be here.
Was there a chance? A hope that maybe her father had felt this way for her mother.
If she had paid closer attention to her body she would have realised that her patterns were fading.