City of Night

Chapter 3

It was 12pm and the air outside was fresh and pleasantly cool, and it still had that after-rain smell that Sakura loved. The blood on the pavement was gone, just as it had been gone in the lobby, in the elevator and even outside her apartment, which Sakura had admitted was definitely strange.

It was Thursday. Most people her age would be in school, but Sakura had other plans, and she, for some reason, doubted that vampires went to school.

It took her an hour of walking, but Sakura made it to the abandoned railway station on the edge of Suna, a few blocks away from Konoha. Gravel crunched loudly under her boots as she trudged amongst the carriages. She barely noticed as the hours went by.

This was one of the only places in Manhattan where trees and grass grew naturally and Sakura loved and couldn't help feeling drawn to the wild and untamed atmosphere that surrounded the place. Overgrown grass grew between the tracks and the trees grew against and even through some of the carriages, shading the area prettily.

Soft wild rabbits and other small animals scattered as she approached and she fought the urge to just grab one and cuddle it.

She giggled and crouched down, digging through her satchel and producing a small piece of meat before holding it out, in the palm of her hand, to the only animal that didn't run from her. A fox with bright red fur and sharp intelligent eyes. She had visited the tracks too frequently for it to be afraid of her, but it had always kept its distance whenever she had offered it food.

This time was different, and it approached slowly and cautiously before quickly taking the meat from her outstretched hand, to Sakura's delight. She waited for it to finish eating before slowly extending her arm further. The fox made no move to run away and Sakura gently stroked its silky head affectionately and scratched its ears. 

"So you trust me now huh?" The fox watched her with bright blue eyes.

She stood and continued walking, the fox padding lightly beside her.

"It finally came to you." The voice was dark and quiet and Sakura froze with surprise. She had been sure that she was the only person that ever really visited this part of town. The fox turned and Sakura did the same, and there, watching her from the shadows of one of the carriages only a metre away, was a boy with hair as bright a red as the fox standing beside her.

"Oh, hey," she smiled and waved, recovering from her initial shock. "Been there long?"

"The fox," the boy said quietly, his sharp, pale-blue eyes searching her, "It trusts you."
Sakura nodded and sat, with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees, curious of the stranger. 

"You don't seem to though," she teased, "You look pretty suspicious of me."

"It is only natural for one to be suspicious of strangers," he replied dryly and Sakura guessed he would have raised an eyebrow, if he had one. It was odd for her to see someone so young without eyebrows, but she could also see that this boy was every bit as handsome as Sasuke was, only in a more unique way. She liked the way his pale skin, identical to Sasuke's, contrasted with his hair and the way his eyes were almost translucent, almost glowing in the shadows.

"Yeah, I suppose," she murmured in answer to his statement, trying to make out the rest of him concealed by the darkness.

"I do trust you though," he said softly, shifting closer to the archway of the carriage so that she could just make out what he was wearing, dark jeans and a dark cherry-red T-shirt that hugged his torso in just the right way. "I decided that when that fox decided to deem you trustworthy, I would do the same."