Her heart races at the soft touch along her oversensitized skin, raising gooseflesh in his wake and igniting an all consuming flame inside of her. His lips against hers feel like heaven and carry an intensity that might devour her alive until it becomes hell.

"Sakura," He whispers against her ear and her arm immediately reaches out to smack him.

She sits up, panting from the intensity of the dream and fear because she'd actually struck out and made contact. The talisman she bought to keep evil away dangles from her wrist.

"Oww," Whines Shisui. "What the fuck?"

"Were you trying to seduce me while I was sleeping?!" She hisses.

"No!" He insists, hands coming up to placate. "I was-- Well I..." His face grows red. "I wanted to see what you were dreaming about and then..." His voice trails off.

She had, indeed been dreaming that she went to school in her underwear and came home to an empty house to go cry in the bathroom.

Her brain stalls out at the sight of lean muscle underneath his tight clothing. Even still, Sakura waves the talisman in his face. "Be a good demon and keep your hands to yourself or I'll send you back to hell, capisce?!"

He pouts. "I have to get energy somehow..."

Outright scowling, she asks, "Is there another way?"

"No." Shisui tells her. "Alas, I shall starve."

"Good." She retorts, lying back down.

His sigh is put upon. "Okay, okay. Do you have your grimoire?"

"My what?"

"Grimoire? It's a book with spells and stuff." He says, edging into her futon

She whaps him with the talisman again. "Back off, asshole. Do you mean that black book in my bag?"

Sullen, he says, "Probably. It should teach you how to give your energy and keep our connection."

"I'll look at it in the morning."

Sleep doesn't return easily but she experiences regular dreams the rest of the night.

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She's staying home for one more day but her parents have work, giving her plenty of time to examine the grimoire. Flipping it open, she sets it on the table while warming her breakfast. When she comes back from the kitchen, she finds both Shisui and Itachi sitting at her worn wooden table and looking at the book.

Vermillion eyes take her in. The smaller demon is flicking through the pages, looking for something. "This. This is the one."

Peering over the pages, she finds an emphasis on the third eye and chakra points.

"It's going to take some time," Itachi tells her. "But we can exchange energy and eventually thoughts. Which will be useful when hunting for the Queen of Hell's target."

"Do you think they'll be back?" She asks. "Why would they go for me again?"

"We aren't entirely sure," Shisui admits. "We're still gathering information."

In comes the third stooge. His skin still looks horribly fucked somehow, head tilted unnervingly to the side as he plops himself across from her. "Hi."

"What do you want?"

His smile stretches across his face and Sakura's stomach turns.

Out of his backpack, he pulls a loaf of bread and idly chews on it, returning an uncomfortable amount of eye contact to Sakura.

"That looks stale," She says, in spite of the awkwardness.

"Stale?" He replies. "Sustenance can be stale?"

"I'm sure you aren't even able to digest that," She says. "So it doesn't matter. But yes, food can go bad."

He contemplates this with the bread still in his mouth.

"I wish the Queen of Hell would give me clearance to take a physical body," Laments Shisui.

"It's because we all know what you'd do with it," Itachi replies.

"Impress all of humanity with my amazing strength and abilities?"

Turning to Sakura and ignoring the other being, Itachi says, "Please help Sasuke keep a low profile? He's... well..."

"He's going to need somewhere to stay so our schoolmates don't think he's homeless."

A clawed finger taps his bottom lip. "I can arrange that."

Returning her attention to the book, she follows the instructions. Closing her eyes and breathing deep, she imagines her different energy points opening from bottom to top. Feeling warm, she attempts to envision her third eye cracking open but is met with pain.

She holds her hands to her forehead. "I can't open it."

"That's okay," Says Itachi. "It's going to take some time to hone this skill."

Flicking through the grimoire, she finds that she can pick out letters but still doesn't know what they mean. "Do you know who this book originally belonged to?"

"The Queen of Hell's consort," Shisui tells her. "You've been given the most powerful book in human history."

"He's a human?"

"Was," Says Itachi. "He traded his soul for power but she ended up taking a liking to him."

"Am I required to sell my soul to use this book?" Sakura asks, alarmed at such a prospect.

"No," He says. "You've already been treated unfairly so you're immune to hell unless you do something heinous."

"But having been to hell and met our Queen," Says Shisui, "you get an advantage most humans don't."

"Sakura!" Calls her mother as she steps into the house. "What-- Oh! What a handsome young man! Who is this?"

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke!" Says the demon in his off-kilter meat suit. "It's nice to meet you, Sakura's mom-san!"

The blonde looks visibly confused before turning to put the groceries away. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"I'd love to!" He says at the same time Sakura exclaims, "No, he can't!"

"Don't be rude, Saku-chan."

"I hate you," She whispers to the not-boy in front of her.

His mouth moves a half second behind his words like bad animation. "We're going to be best friends."