Something I thought up in the shower and started as a scrap from a Sasusaku fic and a NejTen scene. It's sort of religious because of what happens in the story, but yeah. Just tell me what you think and if you like it, I'll try to continue it. (Just don't expect it to be anytime soon, I have a lot of fics in the works and this is still in the works. Lemons in the future are yet to be determined.)

Pairings: Sasuxsaku, NaruxHina, NejxTen, ShikaxIno, OCxOCxKaka

Key: "Talking"
'Thinking'
Flashback/ book
'Inner'

Chapter 1: Origin

In the beginning, when the universe was still young and the heavens were just being formed, there were two brothers. One was of dark hair and dark eyes; his name was Lucifer. The other was of light hair and light eyes, his name forgotten with the sands of time.

The two of them ruled the heavens together, structuring life and the living side by side, but one day, something happened. Lucifer was sitting amongst the stars, gazing at the heavens he created when he realized something…He created them. He created everything he saw. His brother had done nothing compared to his power and that's when the age of darkness began.

Lucifer began to question his brother's worth; the brother that spent his time just listening and watching while Lucifer built and created. Eventually, the darkness manifested itself in Lucifer and the white robes he wore began to stain with his evil.

One night, as his brother slept, Lucifer crept into his room, a dagger poised over his own flesh and blood. As he looked upon the sleeping countenance of his brother, the dagger in his hands, he felt his soul wage war within his body. Part of him wanted to stop, wanted to leave this and forget it ever happened, but the other part wanted—lusted for a world of his own. In the end, the darkness won and he stabbed his brother.

His brother had not screamed, had not cursed like Lucifer had expected. Instead, the brother looked upon him with a sad confusion, silently asking the question of 'why?' but Lucifer was too far gone. The darkness had corrupted his soul and he lusted for power. The trifling feelings of a brother meant nothing to him now.

As Lucifer held the dagger and lifted it to slay his brethren, the blood that had been spilled had lifted from the brother's robe. Instead, it crawled onto Lucifer's skin, staining him and his robe with his blood. In his shock, the dagger was dropped and split into pieces, the fragments becoming horns atop his head and claws on his hands and feet. His teeth became fangs and a black tail pierced through his skin and slinked down his body. As he transformed, his body set fire and he threw his head back as he writhed and screamed in agony. The brother watched on sadly as flames engulfed his body. With his final breath, Lucifer cursed his brother and the brother forgave him of his sin, but it was already too late. Lucifer had been lost and heaven had only one ruler.

Time passed slowly, but surely, and heaven had completed its birth, the brother as its ruler. Though he had banished Lucifer from ever returning, he was not completely heartless. He had given Lucifer a home of his own under the last creation they had made together. A small planet called Earth. The brother gave Lucifer the task of ruling the realm called Hell, the realm for those who had sinned like him. Lucifer accepted the role, relishing the power he held, but he never forgave his brother for what he had become.

The brother lived in comfort, but alone. His loneliness saddened him and he made creatures to cure him of this, but none seemed to fill the void in his heart. Eventually, he decided to make a creature in his image. The creature he named man, but Lucifer had not appreciated this creature that bore the face of the brother that had banished him from his home and as another creature his brother made called woman strayed in the sacred garden of Eden, Lucifer was too tempted not to stir up trouble. Taking the form of a serpent, he tricked the two creatures into eating the forbidden fruit.

He laughed as they were banished to the barren planet, but fumed as his brother took pity on the creatures and gave them life reminiscent of their old home on the planet Earth. Centuries passed and the creatures now called 'humans' began to worship the two brothers. The humans gave names to them. They named the brother who gave them life 'God' and the one who had condemned them 'the Devil.' Though Lucifer was peeved that they loved his brother more, he was pleased they gave him attention eagerly. They mentioned him in the pagan songs they sang and the rituals they gave in addition to the many names he wore proudly on his belt.

It was around this time that the brother now called 'God' decided he would need help with the humans and so, he created a new being in his image. He made human-like creatures with large white wings and named them angels, but Lucifer grew angry and terrorized the humans on Earth. His brother asked for a deal and Lucifer demanded his own creations. The brother granted them. To his cherubs, Lucifer gained minions; to his angels, Lucifer had gained the succubus and the most important, the demon.

Soon, Lucifer ordered his people onto Earth and darkness spread across the land. The angels descended and they waged war. In the end, heaven prevailed, but heavy prices were paid on both sides. Lucifer and his brother agreed to stop, but a human on Earth saw a vision and told God of what she saw. Legend foretells of the end of humanity, but it also foretells of our savior. The prophecy says a small order shall be found, five holy unions, and the restoration and the death of an angel.

The—

The book was suddenly shut and the reader scrunched her nose. "Weird," she mumbled to herself.

"Sakura?"

The girl looked up to see the used-bookstore owner coming to the back where she was. "Yeah, Hitomi?"

Hitomi was three years her senior with blonde hair and light-brown eyes. He had shoulder-length hair that was always pulled into a ponytail under a blue or red bandanna. Hitomi sighed. "You know I love you and all, but I gotta close up for lunch. You gonna buy something or what?" he asked with exasperation.

"Yeah, just a minute." With a nod, Hitomi left his best customer.

Sakura stood up and placed the book on an empty shelf before looking at the mirror hanging on the door to the storage room and scanned herself over. If asked, Haruno Sakura wouldn't say much about herself. She was only slightly taller than average, had long pink hair, green eyes, and was considered a genius for a 20-year-old. If asked what was special about her, she would say she had reading glasses and that her birthday was coming up.

'Three days,' she thought, looking at the three she made with her fingers.

"Sakura!"

"I'm coming!" she hollered back before looking at her stack of books. She had about five minutes to sort which books she wanted to keep before Hitomi lost patience and kicked her out. If it was up to her, she would keep all of them, but she was running out of room in her house.

She scanned the titles quickly, going from the roughly 60 book titles she started with to 20. Finally, she looked at the book she was reading before. 'The Book of Origin,' she thought. It was a weird book, seeming like it would better suit a dark cult or a religion nut, but somehow, she found herself walking with it to the checkout counter where Hitomi rolled his eyes. "Finally! So, how was it today?"

"Eh."

"Really?" he asked, frowning as she slid the books onto the counter. "Jeez Sakura, you'd think you'd be running your own bookstore at that house of yours," he said as he moved the thick books along. Suddenly, his hand stopped on the one she had been reading earlier. "Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you want to get this? I mean, are you feeling okay?" he asked, his hand resting lightly on the engraved cover.

"What do you mean?" she glowered, hinting pain for the wrong answer. Hitomi flinched at the look. He'd been on the receiving end of those looks and her hits were just as deadly. Who knew a little girl like her could punch so hard? He rubbed his jaw reminiscently from the last time she socked him for a smart remark and scratched a bit of his stubble. He really needed to shave.

"Well, it doesn't seem like the kind of book you'd usually read." He shrugged. "But people change all the time; here you go," he said handing the bag of books to her. Sakura nodded thankfully to Hitomi and left the store, her pink hair trailing out of sight and he sighed and sank against his stool before pulling out a cigarette and looked around at the miles upon endless miles of wooden bookshelves and the contents they held. Just then, the bell on the door rang.

Hitomi looked up to see a man with raven hair come in. Dressed in black leather pants, black boots, and a black trench coat, he looked like he could be one of the villains from one of the books in his store—or a model, which made more sense seeing how he was wearing that much black when it was almost summer.

'Jeez, how can he not be hot in that? I'm in a T-shirt and I'm sweating.'

"Hey, we're closed. Come back in half an hour," Hitomi said gruffly.

The man turned to face him. He couldn't have been much older than Sakura. Strange. His eyes were black, like obsidian and he had pale skin, almost unearthly so.

Suddenly, the man looked up at him and a rush of wind passed through Hitomi. It was only a second, but it felt like someone had dipped his soul in darkness and he swore he saw something. It looked like a dungeon, chains dangling ominously from the dank walls, and in the middle was a blue pool of what looked like sludge, and something reached out to him as it crawled out. It felt like it was trying to drag him down and it was cold and when Hitomi blinked, he was left with a chill. The man in black calmly walked down the shelves, his trench coat trailing behind him.

The dark-haired man trailed his gaze over the various titles, dragging a long finger over the raised spines as the smell of ink and aged paper filled his senses. "Did you find it yet?"

"No, not yet, Sasuke-sama. Are you sure it's here?"

Usually, Sasuke did not allow such insubordination. To question one's master meant death, but it was too easy to kill his minion and he had use for her. "Positive. He told me himself that the book was here. We had gotten a tip from one of the others that it was here."

'And after centuries of searching, it better be here.' Sasuke thought darkly, his eyes flashing red for a second. He took in a breath to calm himself, willing his eyes to return to their dark color once more.

"He said it was to be on this shelf, right he—where is it?" Sasuke asked with slight alarm at the vacant spot on the shelf.

"Perhaps he moved it," his minion suggested.

"No, the owner is too lazy to organize it by alphabet. He just restocks when needed and operates the register."

"Didn't the informant give you that information three weeks ago? Maybe someone bought it then."

Sasuke was about to nod. It was possible, but then he noticed something. "No, this was bought recently. The dust has been disturbed and it hasn't had a chance to resettle. Kumori."

"Yes, Sasuke-sama?" asked the shadow creature as she hovered by his shoulder.

"When I sent you into that man's body, did he have any recent memories of the book?"

"Big, heavy thing? Standard, foreign text?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Now that I think about it, yeah. He sold it just before we got here. To a girl. She had pink hair and she looked about your age. I believe the name was Haruno Sakura."

Sasuke snorted. "Nonsense, I'm nearly a thousand years old, if not older."

"Actually, you're a thousand two-hundred seventy-five, but you know what I mean."

"Alright. Think you can find her?"

"Yes. Her trail is still pretty fresh."

"Alright. Seek her out. Follow her home to find the book, but don't go inside. The quarry is mine."

"Yes, Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke nodded as it bowed deeply and watched his shadow separate from his body, snorting when he thought of how a human would react if they saw what had just happened. Unlike them, he had no need for his shadow. Such foolish creatures. Give them something foreign and they begin to run mindlessly with fear. Though highly amusing, the mortals were fools.

'Such worthless creatures,' he thought and let out a hiss, a mix of pleasure and pain as delicious heat seared his hand and the tips of his fingers grew, each ending with a long, darkened talon. He looked upon his hand with adoration, his claws glistening in the lights above his head. He sneered.

"I shall enjoy your screams, Sakura-chan."