[Red Sands: In Search of the Scarlet Dawn]

Part of her wanted to laugh, while the other half of her wanted to cry. The image in that cracked mirror haunted her. She knew she had green eyes – she saw them in the normal mirrors and other reflective surfaces in her room. Which meant that her eyes were normal. She was seeing things which weren’t there. Hallucinating. Her stomach felt as though it had bottomed out, something heavy and unsettling settling into her gut as she tried to think of a logical explanation to it.

Yet if she wasn’t hallucinating, then it was the work of a demon, and Sakura knew far too little about such things. So why weren’t her feet already treading the hallways which led to the library? Sakura could only ponder on that, part of her wanting desperately to go while the other half of her told her that she couldn’t. She wasn’t allowed. Yet that made no sense… It wasn’t like she had been banned from the library. “Why don’t I want to go to the library?” she asked her whole, unblemished reflection, hand curling up into a fist as her mind jumped into trying to figure the demon angle out.

It was better than desperately trying to convince herself that she wasn’t going mad.

Logic was like a balm to her mind in times like those. Yet even that balm of logic couldn’t stop the knot of tension building behind her temples. Headaches were a constant problem for her those days. Her eyes shot open, narrowed on her reflection then. Logic dictated that there was a cause behind headaches, more so when they were coming so frequently. Generally an indicator of an underlying health condition, and Sakura would know all about that. Her profession was healing first and foremost. Her head pulsed with pain once more, determined to not be forgotten about.

“First, look for a commonality between occurrences,” she mumbled, repeating the instructions which had once been drilled into her mind. Along with an instinct for dodging flaming balls thrown at her with enough force to snap a tree in half. She closed her eyes, casting away that fond, wistful feeling that came to rest in her chest at the memory of it all. She was dead to her once-mentor, after all. Rather, she had a far more pressing matter – demons, her headaches—her eyes narrowed—and the slim possibility that there was some sort of correlation between them.

Either that or she was slowly going mad.

Shivers rolled down her spine, hairs on the back of her neck standing up on end as she paced her room, biting her lip furiously. “Think, Sakura,” she whispered to herself. “Think.” She gritted her teeth, acknowledging then that she might be making some assumptions – some leaps of logic. Yet she could always go and confirm information to test if her hypothesis was correct. “Commonalities… What am I doing right now?”

She had a headache, and if she wasn’t considering the possibilities of the supernatural she would have thought it perhaps a stress related headache… who knew that thinking about demons could be so stressful? She snorted at the thought, sighing deeply before she paused.

“Thinking about demons,” she mumbled, as if hearing the words spoken aloud might help her piece everything together that much more easily than trying to keep all her thoughts locked up in that head of hers. “The idea of Holy Magic being used on me,” she added, remembering the way she had cartwheeled over the table in an awe-inspiring feat of dexterity she hadn’t quite managed to repeat as of just yet. “Is… dark magic associated with demons?” She chewed on her lip, pain flaring in her head once more, and she decided enough was enough. There was no logical reason not to go to Ichiro and let him heal her. She wasn’t in the habit of being illogical. “I need to find brother,” she mumbled, fastening her newfound resolution to find her eldest brother and get him to heal her, sudden aversion to holy magic or no. “He can heal me…” she trailed off, shivering once more as the temperature in her room seemed to drop by about ten degrees.

Stepping towards the door, she gritted her teeth, ignoring the sudden wave of pain in her head, arm reaching for the door handle when something dripped down on her skin. Black liquid trickled down her arm, and Sakura froze for the barest of seconds before she stumbled back on instinct. Her foot caught the edge of the rug, backside landing firmly on the floor with a loud thud. Those black drops rained down, a black puddle forming in front of the door, trapping her there in her room. A space which ought to have been safe. If one ignored the black liquid which had been there in the night, and which was there right then. She swallowed thickly, staring at the black patch on the ceiling. It was as if the damp had come in, only it was black and dripping that viscous black liquid.

Something cool wrapped around her ankle, a whimper escaping her and she spotted an inky black puddle forming beneath her. “A hallucination,” she wished ever so frantically, part of her wishing she had never theorised about demons. That the inky black liquid would leave her alone. That her brother was there to see and explain whether or not she was going mad or whether a demon or some other strange creature was there in the estate.

She lunged forwards, intent on getting out of that dark puddle, a cry escaping her when her hands slipped in that black liquid. Her knee sunk down into what should have been floorboards coated with whatever that black substance was. One hand shot out, the other finding purchase in that dark puddle, intent on grabbing something which could help her pull herself out of that strange darkness which seemed to want to swallow her whole.

“Why does it always have to be the natural holy-users who are always so difficult to possess properly?” the voice was like nails scraping over metal sheets, and she froze in her frantic struggling, something in her lizard hindbrain suggesting at her to not move a muscle.

Black liquid bubbled up in front of her, a little molehill of that gelatinous black slick forming just in front of her. Wrinkles appeared on its surface, edges of black slime parting to reveal one wholly crimson eye, slitted pupil and all.

Something in her shrivelled up at the sight, breath catching in her throat as she stared at what could only be a demon. If she wasn’t somehow experiencing a bizarre, far too sensational, hallucination. Was she right? Even though the wards of the Haruno Duchy were supposed to keep them off the property…

“I suppose a baby saintess is still a saintess… and a saintess is a threat which needs to be taken care of,” it declared, and Sakura wondered if that was how she was going to die for a second time. Her teeth ground together, a hand curling into a fist. She wasn’t about to die pathetically and without a fight again. She snarled, her fist swinging out in a way which still felt far too awkward. It slammed into that slimy black face, green eyes widening when nothing happened. It’s body was liquid, part of her whispered softly, which meant it was probably rather good at absorbing impacts like her beloved punches. Tears crept into the corners of her eyes, frustration welling up within her at that, even as laughter came from the monster in front of her. “Hush now,” the thing almost seemed to purr. “It will all be over soon.”

That black liquid surged up from the puddle which was far too deep to be natural atop a hard, flat floor, vine-like tendrils curling up her neck. Her eyes widened, a choked sound escaping her as that substance forced its way down her throat, cutting off her oxygen. Green met red, panic meeting dark amusement even as a hand tried to grasp futilely at that liquid slithering down her throat.

It slid past her fingers, snaking into her mana channels, nausea curling in her gut as black spots danced in front of her eyes. She didn’t want to die. The helpless plea came to her, part of her vastly aware of just how quick her last death had been, even as the darkness came up to greet her ever so slowly and she fell into the dark puddle beneath her.

Her eyes opened slowly, tongue feeling fuzzy as she ran it over her teeth. The back of her head felt like someone had replaced her brain with densely-packed cotton wool, confusion being her most prevalent feeling as she lay there on her side. Her cheek twinged, part of her intimately aware that the impressions that the shaggy rug had left on her left cheek as she pulled herself to her hands and knees.

What had happened? Her brow furrowed, mind reaching for memories which didn’t seem to want to come as she tried to figure out exactly what had led to her lying on the floor of her room when there was a perfectly good bed a matter of feet away.

A knock came at the door. “Sister,” Ren called softly, and Sakura only stumbled to her feet, limbs feeling like blocks of lead as she staggered her way to her bedroom door. “It’s time for dinner – Ichiro sent me to come and get you.”

“Brother,” she greeted, the words feeling forced even if they didn’t sound it. He was a threat, after all. Sakura blinked, brow furrowing before something in her made her relax and smile instead. A grin which felt plastic and fake. “Shall we go?” she asked, sounding far too bubbly and cheery. It was enough to even make her brother blink in surprise.

“Sister…” he trailed off, brow furrowing. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine – no need to worry,” she declared, the words sounding alien and fake to her own ears, yet her mouth was moving on its own, the words ringing out without her say so. She tried to move her arms, tried to shove a hand on her chin so she could stop speaking and alert her brother to the intrinsic sense of wrongness she felt. Yet her hands remained by her sides, and a smile remained on her lips.

“I have never seen you this cheerful,” Ren said, eyes narrowed on her, and something in her brain started chanting threat. The part which wasn’t was silently cheering her brother on to notice that something was ever so wrong with her.

“Am I not allowed to be cheery?” the thing moving her mouth asked, even as she screamed inside and batted at whatever invisible walls were preventing her from screaming at her brother to check whether or not she was possessed. She should have done it earlier, before—

Her eyes narrowed. Before what?

“No. It is just, well, unusual,” he mumbled, and Sakura felt whatever hope she had that her brother might rescue her from the new hell she found herself trapped within dying a swift death as her feet trod the path to the dining room. “Are you not going to pepper me with questions regarding demons, sister?” he asked, tilting his head, looking at her expectantly.

The thing controlling her body smiled, her brow crinkling in confusion. “What are demons, brother?” the thing asked, sounding confused enough that it even threw her brother through a loop. Sakura only wondered on why that thing controlling her actions was acting like that. To blend in with the environment one had to act in a way which induced the least suspicion possible, and yet…

Ren laughed, the sound awkward and nervous. “Good one,” he remarked. “You almost had me fooled there for a moment…” His smile barely concealed how thrown and uncertain he was, and Sakura silently begged him to figure things out. He was smart. Whether he was intimately acquainted with the knowledge of demons and possession was another question entirely.

Mentally, she frowned. Why had her brain leapt to possession?

Pain pulsed in her head, a molehill of black inky liquid with a bulbous red eye swimming in front of her vision, even as her body continued to move calmly towards the dining room. Like a puppet on strings, only the strings were hidden within her body well enough that no one could apparently see them for what they were. Her heart sunk, part of her fearing then for what was to come, even as she wracked her brain, memories trickling in like glue as she remembered the puddle and the way that gelatinous black goop had forced its way down her throat and inside her.

She would have panicked if she could – would have clawed at her own throat as if she could somehow grasp a hold of that viscous black liquid and wrench it out from wherever inside her it had settled. Her heartbeat being the only thing which raced as she sat down at the dining room table placidly, smiling at her father and her other two brothers along with the uncle who was looking at her with his brow furrowed. Notice, she chanted in her mind, that being her sole mantra as she could only watch herself eat.

Her eyes locked with Itsuki’s blue ones, an odd sort of resonance between them as she smiled and ate her food. Not threat, that part of her whispered, and Sakura remembered those blank, white eyes her brother had – that she had in that distorted reflection of hers she’d only viewed once.

They were both possessed, she decided, mentally heaving a sigh that went unnoticed  by everyone. Her and Itsuki were possessed.

None of their family seemed to notice a thing.

She breathed out a shaky sigh, clenching and unclenching her hand as she marvelled at the ability to control her own body once more. For however long it lasted. She swallowed, tiredness eating at both her limbs and her eyes as she stared out of one of her many windows in her bedroom. The sky was speckled with numerous stars, and idly she noted the fact that she ought to learn whatever constellations there were – or other marking points the stars made. They were a good navigation tool. Not that navigation tools would help her with the precarious situation she found herself in.

Her hands fell limply to her sides, a leaden weight coming to rest in her chest as she found her body wrested from her control once more. How frustrating and terrifying it was to be a puppet on strings; a marionette only able to dance to a demon’s tune. Her teeth clenched, and Sakura could only blink at the expression she had been able to make before it vanished in the blink of an eye.

Footsteps were soft against the rug laid out on the floor, movement catching the corner of her eye as another person fell into step next to her.

Itsuki.

Together they walked, footfalls in sync, down the corridor and onto a familiar route which led to a place she was intimately familiar with. They were going to the library, she realised, only able to watch as her body and Itsuki’s plodded along unceasingly to the beat of an unknown drum. The strings of a demon nobody had realised to have settled there somehow.

Unless she was simply going mad, and yet somehow she didn’t think she was.

The reflection in the mirror caught her eye, two sets of blank, white eyes visible, and Sakura felt herself mentally shudder at that. Was Itsuki the same as her? Trapped in his own body, only able to mentally cry for help from the rest of their family. Idly, she wondered what Ichiro or Ren would do if they spotted them walking the corridors, blank white-eyed and all. She wondered what they would do in her position. She wondered if they’d be able to figure something out.

Yet they weren’t there, and they weren’t the ones possessed, and all Sakura could do was watch as she opened the door to the library and led the both of them inside.

Black puddles formed, and yet this time around there was no distinct change in the air, no creeping sense of fear rolling down her spine. Rather there was only a smile on her lips as a familiar shape rose from the gelatinous puddles, a red eye blinking open and staring at them in glee, even as she screamed all the while from within the depths of her mind.