The Broken Seal of Eternity

Once again, a big thank you to Vamp Chic for beta reading my story!
It occurs to me that this would probably fit in better on normal fanfiction, at least so far. But my putting this up here was actually part of a challenge, so... Maybe I'll post this on both.

And a thank you to all of my reveiwers as well.
Vampchic: thanks for the tip. By the time you are reading this, it will have already been done. Glad you liked the fight scene.
April: Thanks. I'll try to let you know ahead of time next time.
Green Eyes: ... You ask too many questions. But I'm glad you enjoyed my story. This should help answer your questions about one of the new characters. The other is going to be more mysterious, but will be seen again in the next chapter. (Chapter 3)


Chapter 2 - Vampire's Kiss


"Your name shall be Ebony!" The voice was rasping, it
would have been deep if it weren't so wispy.

"Ebony." The girl said slowly, she was still
entranced by the vampire. She had been called out here
every night for the past week, yet somehow she could
never remember what had happened until it was too
late, and she heard his call again. How she wished to
break free. How she wished she could escape this
creature that was slowly feeding off of her life, her
crimson blood. But she could not resist his will.

Then the creature took her into its hairy, bestial
arms, and lowered his bat-like head as before as he
held his wings around her. She was forced, by the
power of his indomitable will, to stand stark still.
Just as before. And once again, he lowered his head to
her neck, and sank his fangs into her now-pale skin,
and drained her of her blood. But he held off as she
collapsed.

She was dying. She knew it, she could feel her limbs
growing cold, her heart beginning to slow. But he had
left a spark within her. Was it his cruel way of
finishing her, to let that spark slowly cool and then
die?

The vampire smirked, "Normally I would enjoy draining
you dry of every last drop. But it seems my enemy has
already arrived. I may not be able to gather the
needed power." He gave her a sideways glance, with
those horrible slit yellow eyes. Like the eyes of an
animal.

He closed in on her again, as she half lay on the
ground. "I will give you a special gift, Ebony. You
and I shall be linked, and if I should perish, you
shall endure. Perhaps you shall grow to surpass even
me, Ebony." He snatched up one of her kunai, and used
it to slit the heel of his hand. A drop of blood fell
to the ground. "Now then."

Suddenly, Ebony was free from his control. She
gasped, and tried to back away, but she was far too
weak. She could barely hold herself upright, much less
attempt to evade this monster! "N- no! Don't! Please!"
Her weak protests were barely above a whisper, yet
they seemed to give the vampire an infinite amount of
joy.

The vampires eyes flashed with joyful menace, "Ah,
Ebony. You will make a spirited daughter. Now
silence!" He plunged his hand forward, wrapping it
around her face, with the slit where her mouth was. A
spurt of blood gushed into her mouth, and the vampire
made her swallow it.

Ebony choked as the blood gushed down her throat. It
burned! The vampire suddenly released her, and she
thrashed weakly on the ground, clutching her throat as
she choked and coughed. But she could already feel the
change coming over her. She surged to an upright
sitting position, and her hair visibly lengthened. Her
body became more curvaceous, more mature, more
tempting. Even as she sat up, her eyes turned to a
blood red color.

The vampire was standing over her, looking down as if
mildly disinterested. When she stopped thrashing and
choking, he asked, "How do you feel?"

"Cold. I'm cold. father. and hungry."Ebony said
weakly, but what a strange hunger it was. She no
longer craved food. She no longer desired to slurp
down noodles, or feast upon sweet fruits. Now she
craved a different, darker, sustenance. But some small
shred of her humanity that hadn't quite died yet
protested. What was she doing? How could she think of
doing such a thing? What was she becoming?!

The vampire seemed to sense her turmoil, and his
expression darkened. "Perhaps you need to see for
yourself. There is no going back to who you once were.
You are Ebony now, and Ebony you shall remain!" He
walked a few paces from her, to a nearby bush. Ebony
smelled the scent of blood from there. Sweet. so sweet
and tempting. but her humanity railed against this
unwelcome transformation again, "NO!"

The vampire pulled another nin from the bushes. He
still lived, he still had a heartbeat. Even as Ebony's
mouth watered, and her fangs extended voraciously in
anticipation, she turned her head away. The vampire
dragged the nin up to her, placing him in front of
her. "You must feed, my child. Only then will you be
able to embrace your true nature."

Ebony protested again, "No! I... I refuse to become... a
monster like you!"

The vampire laughed, "It is a little late for that.
And have you ever considered that we really aren't
such monsters? We prey upon the humans, it is true,
but only because we must feed. Do humans think
anything of the animals that THEY prey upon because
THEY must feed? Of course not! They are no different."

A sudden snapping caused Ebony to whirl toward the
source of the noise, and suddenly the nin's neck was
right there in front of her! Before she even realized
what was happening, she hungrily sank her fangs into
his neck, and was greedily gulping his blood as though
she were a traveler dying of thirst in a desert who
had just happened on water! Before she even realized
what had happened, she had drained him dry. She
recoiled, pushing the body away from her with a
scream. But at the same time, she felt a euphoric
surge of strength. She was appalled but overwhelmed by
the pleasure of it.

The vampire's amused chuckle echoed around her again.
"Yes, my child, that is the way! And those that you
drain of blood shall become more children, until we
have an invincible army! But your children will not
have your special gifts. Nor your freedom. Only those
who are born the way you were born shall truly be
free."

Then the vampire vanished into the darkness, and a
swarm of bats screeched as they rushed past her. The
vampire's voice echoed in her mind, "Go back whence
you came. Make more children for us. And mark well the
face of your enemy." Ebony could do nothing else. As
the image of the face of her master's enemy flashed
into her mind, she leapt into the trees with an
agility and vigor she hadn't possessed before.


***


Warning Konoha had taken priority. They had dashed
madly back to the village in a vain attempt to reach
it before the mysterious stranger had, not knowing if
they would return to find the village in utter ruin or
not. Fortunately, it had been untouched when they
arrived. There had been no sign of the outsider since
he had... Well, Naruto wasn't sure what he had done.
Only that it had leveled the forest around them within
a mile or so.

Sasuke dashed off using the speed technique he had
copied, heading for the Hokage's residence. Meanwhile,
Kakashi headed toward the hospital carrying the
unconscious form of Sakura. She hadn't woken up since
the blow the stranger had delivered to her head. It
was possible she never would! Naruto had stayed at the
her side the whole time, while the medical nins
attended to her. One of them had spared enough time to
look him over as well, but he'd only had a few bruises
from the encounter.

Eventually, Sasuke had returned to retrieve Kakashi,
since Tsunade had wanted to hear his report as well.
Sasuke said that she had already drastically increased
the patrols of the village, and every Anbu squad
member had been put into high alert. "But something's
fishy." He said. "It seemed like there was something
else going on. I overheard one of them say something
about some nins vanishing. They found some guy dead in
an alley, but they couldn't figure out what killed
him. Just that he didn't have any blood, and he had
two pin-holes in his neck."

"Oh, come on. We all know that vampires aren't real.
You're probably just still freaked out from when we
saw Dracula 7: Revenge of the Ninja zombies!" Naruto
said.

Sasuke sighed, "I don't know what you're talking
about. I certainly wasn't the one screaming like a
little girl when they ate that one guy alive! Besides,
I didn't say it was a vampire. I just told you what I
overheard." He looked down at Sakura for a moment,
then he looked back at Naruto, and saw how worried he
must have been. "Naruto, I know you're worried, but it
won't do you any good to hang around here. You should
rest, or at least eat something. If- when Sakura comes
out of it, I'm sure you'll be the first to know."

Naruto hesitated, but eventually he decided that
Sasuke was right. The Medical Nins were doing
everything they could to make sure that Sakura
recovered, and he would only get in the way. So he left,
along with Sasuke who was heading home to rest. Naruto
decided that he didn't really need rest as much as he
needed a good meal to steady his nerves. So he headed
to his favorite noodle shop. It was well after dark by
the time he'd left the hospital.

While he was walking down the street, someone dropped
off of a nearby roof, landing right in front of him.
Naruto nearly collided with her, "H- Hey!" Then he
recognized her, it was that girl, that he had seen
twice before. She was moving with a little more energy
than the last time he'd seen her, but she still looked
sickly pale. In fact, she seemed a little different
than he remembered, but then, Naruto couldn't be sure.
He hadn't remembered her being quite so pretty. Maybe
it had just been the circumstances. But then, her eyes
seemed a little different too. "Oh, hey, it's you! Do
you remember me?"

The girl nodded, "I remember you. You're Naruto,
right? You were... on my roof."

Naruto laughed nervously, "Uh... yeah. Sorry about
that, but it just seemed like a nice place to look up
at the stars, so... Are you feeling better? I saw you
pass by this morning. You looked kinda sick then, so I
was worried, but then Sakura hit me on the back of the
head..."

The girl lowered her head, "I don't know. I- a lot
has happened today. I just don't know."

Naruto felt sorry for the girl. Apparently she hadn't
quite recovered from her illness yet, and there was
clearly a lot going on in her life right now. "I was
just heading to the noodle shop to get something to
eat. Would you like to come with me?" He offered.

The girl nodded hesitantly, "Sure. I need some time
to think." Then she lied, "I'm not really hungry
though, I just ate." Well, at least the last part was
true...

Naruto asked as he resumed his way toward the noodle
shop, "Are you sure? You don't have to go hungry
because of me..."

The girl shook her head, "No, really, I'm not
hungry." A strange tension crossed her features for a
moment. "Thank you anyway."

Naruto shrugged to himself. Then he remembered, "Oh,
Hey, I never got your name."

"I'm... Ebony." The girl said. The hesitation seemed
a little strange, but it might just have that she was
tired. It was late, after all, and she was sick.
Naruto hoped that he didn't get whatever it was that
she had. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to be
hanging around with her. But then she moved close to
him, and Naruto found himself enjoying her proximity.
There was something about her...

By the time they reached the noodle shop, they were
holding hands. Naruto couldn't remember exactly when
she'd grabbed his hand, but he'd enjoyed it. Except
that her skin was a little cold. She must have been
out all night. "Were you on a mission, just now?"
Asked Naruto.

Ebony shook her head. "Just... training. My- my
Master... he taught me a... special technique."

"Oh, wow! That must have been cool! But he must be
pretty mean if he made you train even while you were
sick."

Ebony made a face, "You have no idea. My Master is a
real monster!" Naruto was a little surprised by her
vehemence.

"Uh... that's too bad. I wish you could have been on
our team. You're much nicer to hang out with than
Sakura. She always hits me." He said.

He'd intended that to cheer her up, but for some
reason it only made her seem sadder. Nevertheless, she
gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and a shy smile.
Naruto rubbed his cheek happily, but before he could
react, a kunai imbedded itself next to Ebony. "W-
what?!"

Several Anbu squad members closed in around them.
Their leader stepped forward, "You, there! You girl!
You need to come with us for questioning!"

Ebony backed away, fearfully. "What? Why? I- I
haven't done anything!"

"You were seen sneaking back into the village. I want
to know what you were doing away from Konoha at this
hour!" Said the leader.

"I was... training with my Master!"

"Liar! Your Jounin wasn't anywhere near there!" The
leader accused.

"My Master has given me a wonderful gift!" Ebony
said. Then she leapt up into the building and dashed
away, eluding the Anbu squad by merging with the
shadows in a way that even Naruto hadn't seen before.

All but the leader left in pursuit. He stayed behind
to grill Naruto. "Hey, you boy! What were doing with
that suspect? How long have you known each-other?"

"What's all this about?" Naruto asked.

"She's suspected of being a spy for another village,
and the fact that she spoke of another master proves
it! Just give me one good reason why I shouldn't take
you in with her. For all I know you're her
accomplice!" The leader said.

"But I hardly know her. We just met today!"

The leader looked skeptical at first, but it was Naruto
he was talking to, with his bright orange vest and
blonde hair. "Yeah, you couldn't possibly be a spy. You
stand out too much. But if you have any information
about this girl that might help us, you'd better spill it!"

"uh..."

The leader sighed, "Forget it. I've wasted too much
time with you already!" Then he leapt up onto the roof
of a nearby building and streaked off in pursuit.