moor

A taste of the warm-up fic writing that's been happening...

Pairing: Indra/Sakura | Vampire AU | Rated M

Part 1: Words: Approx 4,000
Part 2: Words: Approx 3,000

Kakashi raised a brow when Sakura jammed her feet into her (new) boots several days later.

"Breaking them in early?"

Lips pinched, Sakura glared at him and went back to lacing up her boots.

Casually leaning into the door that led to the coatroom, Kakashi snugged it shut and locked it, crossing his arms over his chest and heaving a sigh.

"He'll be fine."

"I'm not worried," lied Sakura, checking her travelling pack for the fourth time that evening.

"Hn, no. It's completely like you to storm through your castle with murder in your eyes. The junior staff have all been so impressed they wet themselves when they hear your heels coming..."

His chuckle echoed off the stone walls when Sakura threw him a nasty look.

"You can take more with you," he added when Sakura didn't respond further.

Shaking her head, Sakura opened her bag again and startled when Kakashi lay a hand upon her shoulder, pulling her attention away from it. "I meant more people. I always keep a bag ready—"

"No." A low exhale passed over her lips. "I can do this. And... it's time he learned. He would think I doubted him if I brought you along," she said.

Kakashi's silver hair bobbed in the moonlight that filtered through the window as he tilted his head side to side, weighing her words. "Or it would reinforce how dangerous this call for help is."

"It will be fine."

Kakashi's visible eye softened and he squeezed her shoulder, but he didn't release her when she stepped back.

"Really."

"I'm going to send a group to follow you, but they won't engage. They'll be support only if you call for them," said Kakashi.

"I don't need—"

"Do it as a favour to Hagoromo, for his sake. Indra is his heir."

Taking a deep breath, Sakura looked up at Kakashi, her expression tight, drawn.

He held her gaze knowingly.

"I won't let anything happen to him."

"I know," said Kakashi. "Look at it this way, there will be more witnesses to bring back the heroic tales of his son's first conquest."

Sakura choked.

"—in battle," added Kakashi in a sing-song voice, clapping Sakura on the back.

"You—"

A knock sounded at the door, interrupting Sakura's seething retort.

"Mistress?" called Indra from the other side.

Shoving past Kakashi—and ignoring his giggle—she strapped her pack on over her new heavy cloak and yanked the door open, admitting her apprentice.

"You're ready? To go," she added quickly. Behind her, Kakashi coughed into his fist.

"Yes. Is Master K—"
"He's fine, we're going. Keep close," said Sakura.

***

"Do you prefer to sleep outdoors, or at an inn," asked Sakura as the dawn began to tease the ink from the horizon behind them. The snow crunched beneath their boots and they had travelled through the night. She knew Indra was resilient, but he was still flesh and blood and bone, like any human.

Still a human boy.

"Wherever Mis—"
"I've spent the daylight in a makeshift, half-melted crevice on an ice floe. We're half a league from the river, if you'd like to enjoy a frosty bath—"

"Inn."

"This way," said Sakura, adjusting their course without breaking stride.

After several minutes, Sakura broke the silence.

"Speak up about what you want. I've travelled alone for more lifetimes than years you've been alive," she said, her eyes and ears focused on the woods that protected them from the highway bandits and sun alike. "Tell me when you're hungry, thirsty, or tired."

"I only need what any other man needs."

"You're still a boy," corrected Sakura. "Who needs his rest so he is ready for his first battle."

"Stop treating me like a child."

"I'm treating you like a human. Which you are."

"I won't always be."

The muscle in Sakura's cheek twitched. "At the moment you are, and I will ensure your have every advantage for success."

"Make me your thrall. Or, turn me and I will have an even greater advantage."

"You aren't old enough."

"Others have thralls, servants, and brethren younger than me."

"You're your father's heir. You must continue your line." Sakura's mouth dried at how casually he brought up such an intimate act. "You have responsibilities."

"I have no intention of furthering our line the way he envisions."

Sakura's heart dropped into her stomach as her eyes whipped around to find Indra's dark ones trained on her like a candle in the dark.

"You must," she said seriously.

He held her gaze.

"Indra, you must," insisted Sakura, coming to a halt. The change in air temperature around them gradually warmed; it was minute, but she had learned to recognize it very young, to protect herself from the sun. There was still an hour until full dawn, but she couldn't bring herself to worry about shelter with how casually Indra had just dismissed his bloodline duty to serve his clan. "You're his first born. You were raised knowing what that entailed," said Sakura. "Don't pretend to be stupid. It doesn't suit you."

"He has his plans. I have mine," said Indra evenly. His gaze remained steady on hers, a distinctly mature heat smoldering behind his coal eyes.

"You're young. You have time to correct your ways... but don't ever imply becoming a thrall or kindred will absolve you of the weight of your clan's future. You must build, Indra. Build and protect. If not for yourself, then for those who will rely on you."

He didn't release her eyes from his.

Indra's utter confidence shook Sakura to her core. He was too young to have considered everything the change entailed. He was too innocent to understand what he would give up. He was too naive to realize the level of reckless danger and sickening betrayal his words suggested.

His voice didn't waver as he pledged in his low voice, "I can do that as yours."

The air froze in Sakura's lungs.

"What did you say?" she breathed, trying to make sense of his words.

Indra stood unmoving before her, as unconflicted as any predator, as still as any prey.

"I made my choice," he said.

"You haven't. You've imagined a horrible mistake," snapped Sakura. She looked around, gauging their position. "We'll rest an extra night at the inn. You're overtired. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard on your first time."

Pressing her lips together, her eyes sharp for any intrusions—more animal than human, due to the pending sunrise—she hurried through the snow, leading the way with purpose.

"I'm not making a mistake," said Indra from just behind her. He caught up with her in three strides. "I'm not a little boy anymore."

"You've graduated to idiot if this is evidence of what's in your head," muttered Sakura, furious.

Chiding herself a hundred times over for thinking he was ready to join her in the upcoming mission, Sakura pushed on through the deep drifts, her emotions and thoughts a mess. She had failed Hagoromo. She had failed to uphold her half of their bargain. His son had been brainwashed, somehow. He was supposed to have returned to his clan stronger, wiser, and allied with her clan... with her. A blood ally.

Instead he now envisioned himself a thrall, as if that level of servitude was anything but an insult to his parentage and family.

She swallowed. If she couldn't correct his thinking.. Would... would she have to cleanse his mind? Could she do that to him? Erase their connection? Sever their bond? What if it went wrong?

Had she been too soft, as Kakashi had accused?

What had she done wrong?
What had caused this maladie in him?

They reached the inn as the first rays of sun crept between the trees, causing Sakura to dart between them, faster and faster, occasionally taking shelter to give Indra time to catch up before darting out again. She arranged separate, though connected, rooms for them upon arrival, handed him his key, and left him at his door.

***

She ignored the first two knocks at their connecting door, but when Indra rapped a third time half an hour later, Sakura sighed under her breath. With a wave of her fingers she released the latch with a precisely controlled whisp of power.

"Enter," she called.

Freshly washed, Indra quietly opened the door. He was in his bedclothes again and this time Sakura was awake enough to notice the scratches she had left across his arms and chest when she had let into him for his reckless meditation spell. Guilt collected heavily in her gut like salt water.

"Come," she said softly, moving to the side of her bed and pointing at the end. "I'm sorry for not healing you earlier."

"I didn't ask."

She was about to remind him to tell her when he wanted something, but weary of reopening their earlier argument, she let it lie.

"Arms and hands first," she instructed, pushing her hair over her shoulder and out of her face.

Sliding his shoes off, Indra climbed onto her bed, the mattress sinking beneath him. He rolled up his sleeves, baring his muscled forearms and wrists.

Summoning the rare gift that had been the envy and downfall of her clan, Sakura closed her eyes and lay her tingling palms on Indra's arms, smoothing them slowly over his skin, treating every scratch and abrasion as she went. Her clan had been hunted nearly to extinction because of their ability to heal humans. Only she had survived, protected by her mentor and foster-father, a vampire feared and revered across all the known lands. The Ōtsutsuki had followed followed the rumours of her survival and pledged allegiance to Kakashi and herself, asking only for the opportunity to be considered as her vassals later in return.

They had never asked her to heal them.

She could understand why they sought a partnership with her, however. Theirs was a troubled time to live in. Allies were allies, and their arrangement benefited them both.

It was just that Sakura had not considered how it would feel to heal Indra as a young man, rather than the boy she'd always considered him to be. The muscles beneath her palms were lean and strong, his skin knitting back together easily due to his ridiculous health. And there, in the background, the twin beats of their hearts, connected through the amulet.

Her brows furrowed. That was right—she'd felt the amulet fall, its impact as it hit stone. It was like being smashed against a wall, even at the distance they'd been separated.

The soft fabric of his sleeves bunched beneath her fingers as she reached his shoulders. Her eyes still closed, she frowned.

"Anywhere else? I can sense pain elsewhere," she murmured, focusing on its location. "Your back and chest."

"They'll be fine."

"Off," chastised Sakura, eyes still closed as she tugged at his shirt. "It will only take a minute. You'll be more comfortable tomorrow if you sleep the healing off."

With her eyes closed, she missed the way Indra's deep eyes watched her, the way his tongue traced his bottom lip inside his mouth. Without a word, he pulled his shirt over his head, moving closer to Sakura on the mattress so she would not have to stretch to reach him. He turned so his back would be to her and pulled one of her hands to his shoulder.

"Thank you," said Sakura, setting back to work with a relaxed sigh. "You make this easy. I've never known anyone who healed as quickly and easily as you. Does it run in your family?"

"Father said that we were blessed by the gods. Perhaps that's it," said Indra. "He said we were both blessed and cursed, and it was up to us to choose which."

The low tones of his voice rumbled against Sakura's palms as she smoothed the skin across his shoulders and down his back, mindful not to catch the chain of the amulet as she worked. Sakura's lips turned up in the corners.

"That sounds like something your father would say," she agreed. "It definitely feels like you have your own magic. It accepts help from mine readily."

The double-beat of their hearts kicked into a triple-beat through their bond, distracting her.

"Everything okay?"

"Ah," breathed Indra.

Her hands traced his lower back to his hips, and she paused when she reached the waistband of his sleeping pants.

"Would you like me to untie them?" asked Indra too calmly.

"Are you injured any lower?"

There was a hitch of a pause before he shook his head. "No."

"Your legs?"

"Fine."

"Your front?"

Another pause.

"Your front?" repeated Sakura.

"The scratches are minor and mostly healed."

"Turn around," sighed Sakura, leaning back to give him room. "Lie down on your back."

He hesitated but then did as directed, and Sakura felt the swish of his long hair brush past her face, tickling her nose. She grinned.

"Your hair is as long as mine these days," she teased as he settled. Through it all she kept her eyes closed, focusing and harnessing her magic.

"Almost."

As before, Indra took her hand and placed it upon his shoulder to guide her. Immediately Sakura frowned. His pain resonated through her with alarm.

"These aren't minor," she worried, her eyes scrunched tightly as she focused. "How did you..." Her stomach roiled in recognition. "These are from me," she said faintly.

"You were upset."

"That doesn't give me the right to hurt you," growled Sakura, tripling her efforts to heal him as guilt swamped her.

"It's fine."
"It's never fine to lose control like this. You're in my care, I'm hundreds of years old and you're still a kid," said Sakura, swallowing. She went silent as she poured herself into him for several minutes, every nick, every bruise, every minor blemish disappeared beneath her care.

Her throat worked as she did. "I'm so sorry, Indra."

"You don't need to apologize. It wasn't your fault."

"These would have scarred if I didn't fix them!"

"I did it to get your attention."

Sakura's mouth snapped shut. Beneath her palms Indra had tensed. Her fine hearing picked up on the sound of his heavy breathing.

"I'm not sorry," added Indra as Sakura healed the last of his scores, scrapes and gouges.

"What is... why would you do that, you silly boy," said Sakura, her fingers drifting up to the amulet over his heart. With a prick of her nail she nicked her palm, letting her blood seep into it, repairing the crack that had formed when it hit the floor of Indra's room.

His swallow audible, Indra lifted a hand and placed it over Sakura's, his heart pounding through the physical reflection of their bond and straight up her arm. It shot powerfully as his bare skin touched the blood that escaped down the sides of the amulet, and he wrapped his hand around hers, holding it and the amulet tight to his chest.

Sakura's head spun.

"I'm not a boy," said Indra, voice low and thick.

His other hand reached for her left one and brought it up, pulling her forward and over him, until she touched the pulse at his throat.

Her fingers traced a damning pair of puncture wounds, unhealed and heretofore hidden from her.

"And you wouldn't have done this if you thought of me that way," said Indra quietly.

So close to him, her fingers literally touching the evidence of her assault, sick dizziness overtook Sakura.

"I'm so sorry—"

His right hand left hers and reached up, threading his long fingers through her hair. His thumb stroked her cheek and finally Sakura opened her eyes.

"I told you. I'm yours," said Indra, stroking his thumb against her bottom lip.

Breathing quickly, hunger flooded Sakura. Indra continued playing with fire, rubbing her lips so close to her lengthening canines that she whined in the back of her throat. All she could see were his dark eyes, and she drowned in them as the bond between them pulled taut. Her lips parted.

"You're the heir to the Ōtsutsuki," breathed Sakura, struggling with her mounting needs as Indra gently pulled her closer. Her heart hammered in her chest as if she were racing home to him all over again. He would feel it through the amulet; her throat tightened, her lips warming, tingling as the tips of her fangs pulsed with a familiar, delicate ache. "You have a duty. I can't take that from you."

"You take nothing I freely give," murmured Indra, lifting his head to nuzzle her throat; baring his throat to her in return. "I give it all to you," he whispered in her ear, "Sakura."

Arousal flooded and coursed through Sakura at the husky way he said her name for the first time.

He cradled the back of her head and brought her down with him to the bed, firmly guiding her legs over his hips and aligning them, her still fully clothed. He shivered beneath her when he pressed her lips to his throat, moaning as she dragged her fangs over the spot she had yet to heal.

Swallowing shakily, Sakura lowered herself onto his warm body.

"Do... do you want it in the same place?" she asked, begged, pleaded, gone with her need.

"No. Do it again," he breathed. "I want to feel it again."

"Fuck," muttered Sakura, stretching out like a cat overtop him.

"Yes," coaxed Indra, massaging her hair and neck, pulling her hips down to comfort his. "Gods..."

He tensed as her tongue licked at the pulsing skin of his throat, then bucked up into her as she pricked, then sank into the rich, warm life inside him.

"Sakura," he gasped, clutching her closer. Their hearts raced against each other as they found their rhythm of give and take, and Sakura hummed against him in pleasure as they rode it out together.

***

TBC