Amid the thousand sounds that assailed when she stepped out into the fresh night, one stood out to her. A scream, far away and nearly lost among the rushing water, found its way directly to her. It was far away, perhaps a little less than a mile, but it still rang like a bell, it was the scream of a woman and one that was smothered before it could end.

She sprinted towards the noise, caution told her that she needed to stay hidden so that the others wouldn't find her until she could find a cure or a substitute for blood, but she was a good person, and she couldn't live with herself if she did nothing. At least that's what she wanted to tell herself, she went through a bag of blood as she waited for the sun to set, and the remaining four looked tempting.

Despite not sleeping she felt no weariness in her body; more evidence that this was some kind of soldier pill experiment gone both horribly wrong and incredibly well. It was one of many things she discovered in the cave, another was how to bring out her fangs at will. The most interesting was the shadows that heeded her call, the ones that seemed to stick to her, bathing her in a deeper darkness. There was much she could do with them that would make Shikamaru jealous.

Shadows crawled along her body, gathering around her torso and covering the blood-soaked hospital gown that was her clothing, she should have stopped by her home - but would she have been able to stop herself? - and grab a set of clothes. Real clothes, not the gown of shadows that was currently hugging her body.

A small village, a few homes, and building along the riverside shined like a beacon in the night with the few lights scattered about it. Farms, made up much of this village's lively hood a bit of wheat, but mostly rice. Despite sitting off of any major road a sizeable tavern served the village, and anybody that happened to pass through it. That building glowed with activity, she could smell the booze finding out every individual brew, but there was also the tantalizing smell of food.

She stopped on the roof of the tavern. Since when did she consider people food? This was a mistake she needed to be away from people not in the middle of an entire village that she could easily destroy. She needed to leave, she was a ninja, not some hero that went out of her way to save every scream. And she was putting them all in danger. Even knowing that she had a few blood bags still on her, the temptation to simply find one and-

"No!" Her eyes darted towards the alleyway, where the source of the girl's scream came from. It was the same scream that brought her here. A man - drunk - had his pants around his waist as he forced himself on some girl who was probably no older than she was. "Uncle, please."

A rage boiled inside of her, mixing with the hunger, into something that burned with a white-hot righteousness in the pit of her being. The pushing him off her, the telling her to run, the crushing of his rib, the ease of which her fingers slid through his throat, all drowned in the sweet taste of his fear as she drunk the life from him. She was right, fresh blood was better.

She stood in that alley basking in the afterglow of her first kill, no kill was wrong, she had done that before as a ninja. This was something else. It was a murder. And it left her with the echo of a pounding heart and a full stomach. The man - an old farmer with calloused hands and grey hair - sat in a lump beneath her feet, completely drained, with only a few splattered drops of blood from when she first ripped his throat open.

The girl ran and gone to go get help. She'd have plenty of time to contemplate her murder of a civilian later. Once the high wore off.

XXXX

A crater marked the entrance of Orochimaru's lair, the result of Naruto's rampage as the Kyuubi took over. Somehow that seemed far less frightening. But, what was even more worrying was the stillness of the place, before the place had just been creepy, the adrenaline and thought of finding Sasuke had made everything else seem less important.

But now it was a place where not even the dead would tread; she liked it, almost felt like home.

Why were there no ninja though? Surely Tsunade would have sent someone here to scour the ruins for information. They weren't that undermanned were they? Or perhaps it was just some refusal to use anything Orochimaru used. Whatever the reason, it was to her benefit now. She might be able to find out where they went next and hunt down that Kabuto bastard for doing this to her in the first place.

That was a murder she would commit with great glee.

Her fingers traced along the darkened corridors that made up much of the complex careful not to make any noise beyond the faint sound of her own footfalls. No doubt there was still something that lurked in here. Some abomination, or unseen threat. She had seen the result of his experiments in the chunin exams. A sour note crossed her mind: she was one of his experiments now. Worse that she was a successful one.

Retracing her steps proved easy, namely because it was a trail of destruction, with more than a few walls smashed so that the bedrock showed through. Probably wasn't too smart to punch the walls like that in an underground complex. She'd probably do it again if it meant a chance to punch Kabuto though. Bastard represented everything wrong with medical jutsu.

Then she arrived at the room where he splashed the substance on her. Well, more specifically where he shattered a tank and dumped a vat of the stuff on her. The room was filled with beakers, books, and various liquids that lined the walls. A table also stuck out of the wall, the spot where it had been screwed to the ground before she threw it marked the center of the room.

She grabbed the first book she found - of course, Kabuto had chicken scratch - it was filled with chemicals, reactions, jutsu theories worth keeping, part of what was affecting her might be in there. But this felt far too involved to be a footnote in some journal. Worse case scenario was that it was an accident and she'd have to develop a cure from scratch.

But if Kabuto was anything he was meticulous. Even with his stupid chicken scratch.

Scroll after scroll, book after book, joined a growing pile in the middle of the floor, each one being skimmed for anything even remotely useful. There were diagnostics of the curse seal effects coupled with biopsies, a list of candidates, details of experiments, and their results. Often death. She found a log of all the drugs they pumped into Sasuke, a major side effect for most of them was the whole lack of emotion thing.

She was going to murder the shit out of him.

It was not the last book, but it was far from the first when she discovered something that caught her interest. Scribbled in Kabuto's horrendous scrawl was: Subject T: resurrection serum.

Subject T: corpse recovered, strong will to live, possible candidate for the serum.

Many of the pages that followed detailed the condition of the patient, height, build, injury, jutsu prowess, personality, everything was there. Her Uzumaki blood was frequently mentioned on the sides, often as an afterthought as a boon or possibly as a detriment to the treatment.

Subject T: Failure, administration of the first serum was a failure, the subject showed no hea- She's alive, no heartbeat, but very much alive, moving, and have full memories of everything that occurred despite being dead for a month. Complains about hunger a lot.

Another description of the girl followed, highlighting many of the areas of change. No heart-beat, constantly hungry, inability to stomach regular food, enhanced muscles, pale skin, red eyes, acute hearing. Fangs.

This was it, this was what she had.

Subject T: Attempted to escape, killed two assistances - bodies drained of their blood, stopped outside by burning in direct sunlight. Nearly burnt to ashes after a few seconds of exposure, glaring weakness will attempt to improve.

The pages that followed detailed her incarceration, the myriad of experiments that were done to the girl, from repeat flashes of direct sunlight in a specially designed room, to partial exposure. It was almost to much for her to bare.

Subject T: After four days of not allowing her to feed, she begins to go feral. Physical and mental changes occur, elongated fangs, sunken eyes, claws, grey skin, while ferocity goes up, strength and thinking ability diminish a great deal. Kept chained for experimentation.

Over the next year, Kabuto detailed little about the subject, sparse feedings, long starvations, testing the limits. It wasn't until recently did he start to take interest in the project again. The girl was still alive so perhaps this was another path towards immortality.

"She might still be here," Sakura mumbled, closing the book with the snap of her fingers. She'd cure her too, but first, she needed to find out what exactly was in that resurrection serum. A sensation froze her as she reached for another book. Like a compass in her mind, pulling her towards something, like it was a desperate cry for help.

She flipped open the book again, it had been over a year since the last time the subject had been fed, and her condition was deteriorating. It was possible that whatever was left of her might not be left for long if she didn't get a proper meal soon.

That sensation turned into a plea for help, a desperate cry that guided her down the hallways. Until she came to an Iron door, seals etched into its very surface like the feat was as easy as pen on paper. Lacking a proper key, she decided to open it the old fashion way. The stone groaned, metal creaked, and with a twist, the door - all fourteen inches of it - came out from the wall, the back side was marred by deep gashes and claw marks.

"Hello?" She asked the abyss that sat before her. It took a moment to see the room clearly, dust and some leftover sealing power still barred her vision completely. But then it slowly came into focus.

Chains along the ground and walls snapped taught. And the feral creature Kabuto had described lashed out at her. Skin a leathery grey, face deformed into a haunting visage that looked to be constantly screaming in pain. The chains prevented the creature from lashing out at her, but even though it was fast, it still seemed so slow and sluggish. It hissed at her.

This was the fate that waited for her if she didn't feed. Nothing but a hissing monster that was completely consumed by its hunger. She did not fear this creature, she pitied it. The reason was lost to her, but rather than give the creature one of her few remaining bags of blood she slit her wrist, allowing her own blood to rise to the surface, glowing like a torch in the darkness.

The monster stopped, eyes focused on her wrist as she waved it about just out of reach. Even when she moved into the creatures reach it still looked at her blood wide-eyed.

"Go on," She urged, taking another step forward. "Drink."

The creature did, sinking its fangs into her skin. It didn't hurt, but she felt the loss of blood and the growing hunger return. Still, she had just sucked a fully grown man dry, she could spare some.

Her sacrifice was awarded. As bit by bit, the creature grew less grotesque, shrinking in size, her features becoming more and more humanlike with each drop of blood she consumed. This had to be powered by chakra, the reaction was far too fast to be natural.

The girl was beautiful, that much was obvious, long red hair, smooth pale skin, and an angular face all added to this. She didn't look anything like the beast that had been standing before her a moment ago.

"That's enough," Sakura nudged the girl back. "I have a blood bag if you're still hungry."

"Holy fuck," The girl groaned taking a step to stop herself from falling over. She stood blinking then glared at Sakura pulling at one of the chains still bound her. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Sakura, and I'm just like you,"

"Yea, no shit. Hey, you want to give me a hand here?" She pulled at the chain with all her might, it creaked but the seals along it kept it strong. "Or at least go find the key or some shit."

Sakura nodded, moving over to one of the chains. She smashed one of the links - and the floor beneath it - with one stomp, making the girl jump. "Can I get your name?"

The girl blinked pulling on the loose chain to get a better look at it. That was the normal reaction to her uh, monstrous strength.

"It's, uh, Tayuya."

AN: IT'S TAYUYA BITCHES! ... I love Tayuya. I thought about starting this chapter off from the uncle's view point. But I go uncomfortable writing someone that was about to rape his niece... so I just went Sakura murder mode. Anyways! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!