written for Halloween 2018, but forgot to post it here. Ghost Sakura, Vampire Sasuke, Werewolf Naruto.
"Naruto!" Sasuke said flatly, voice thrumming dangerously. A wolf popped its head up over the back of the couch, ears pricked up. Sasuke scowled and made a jabbing motion towards the couch, covered with a layer of tawny brown and gold fur. "You're shedding all over the couch, dead last!"
There was a shift in the air before Naruto melded back into his human form, a pout on his lips. He batted his eyelashes, blue puppy dog eyes that made Sasuke wonder if Naruto was still half-wolf.
"No," Sasuke cut off before Naruto could even start with an inane excuse. "There are rules, and you aren't following them. No wolf on the couch!"
"Eh, Sasuke-"
"No."
Naruto shot him a half-hearted glare and then promptly turned back into a wolf, pulling his tail up close to his body as he snuggled back into the throw pillows. He looked extraordinarily comfortable, and Sasuke was jealous. He was tempted to just throw himself onto the couch and cuddle up next to Naruto, but no.
Sasuke stomped towards Naruto, baring his fangs. Naruto's ears immediately flattened out as he pressed himself further back into the couch, a low whine escaping him. Sasuke ignored him and reached out underneath to get a good hold on the wolf now scrabbling for purchase, claws digging into the leather, and lifted.
His strength came useful now as he easily carried almost 100 pounds of fur and wiry wolf muscle. He dropped Naruto on the floor and then promptly collapsed into their couch. Naruto growled, his body lowered and his ears back as he bared his own teeth. A few months ago, Sasuke would have been afraid at the blatantly aggressive wolf body language, fearful at how easily Naruto could just rip out his throat, but now-
Naruto launched himself back into the couch, powerful back legs pushing him upwards as he shifted in midair. A human male landed on Sasuke and he gave a pained grunt at the weight and force of Naruto jumping on him.
"Naruto!" He complained, and Naruto only snickered, pressing his face into the skin of Sasuke's neck to give him a sloppy lick. If he was still in wolf form, Sasuke knew that his tail would be wagging.
Sasuke sighed in exasperation. He reached up to scratch at Naruto's head and Naruto hummed happily as he tried to press himself even closer towards him. Sasuke turned his attention back to the nature documentary that Naruto was watching, the lion on screen gearing up to attack a gazelle.
The lights flickered above them, the temperature of the room dropping a few degrees. Sasuke shivered, and watched, annoyed, as the channel switched to a reality show. Naruto made a small noise of protest, but it was ignored as the channel was switched again to one playing some superhero movie.
"Sakura," Naruto whined. "I was watching that."
"Yeah, well, so am I," a disembodied voice replied distractedly. Sasuke tilted his head back, and above him, there was only a floating TV remote. The channel switched once more to a different movie, and Sakura made a pleased sound. The remote dropped and it was only because Sasuke was looking that he was able to reach up and catch it before it landed on him or Naruto.
His arm started to tingle. Not unpleasantly, but definitely off-putting. He was a vampire, so he always ran a little cold, but his arm felt like it was dipped into a bucket of ice. He turned his head and watched as Sakura slowly appeared, her edges murky, and perched on the arm of the couch where his arm also happened to be.
"What have you been doing?" Sasuke frowned. If he could reach out and touch her, he would, but there was no point. He already knew that his arm would just go straight through. Sakura lifted a leg to cross it, her form becoming blurry.
"Oh, I was fucking with Ino," Sakura replied, waving a hand dismissively. "Took a lot of energy out of me." Her form flickered at her words, only proving her point, and with it, the lights. Usually, Sakura's form was more solid, less see-through. She had come a long way from their early days together and her glowing white orb form.
Embarrassment curled through his gut as he remembered the first uneasy year between him and Sakura. He shook it off. They've both come a long way. Sakura had long forgiven him, but still. He snorted to himself. It was an interesting few years.
xxx
It took a while for ghosts to form.
Sasuke knew they existed, although he's never really interacted with one. They tended to stick to the places where they had died, or to people they had unfinished business with or even places that they favored when they were still alive. The latter usually concerned those who didn't understand that they were dead, which was rare, especially since most spirits stayed either because of a violent death or because of loved ones, but Sasuke has seen a little bit of everything. Angry spirits, playful spirits, ghosts who simply want to watch or watch over whatever they had left behind.
He had seen ghosts who couldn't fully manifest and only showed themselves as glowing white orbs, ghosts who had full control of the environment around them, and ghosts that appeared as they were in life or made their presence known through an old perfume or by sound.
But, in his defense, he had never seen a ghost start to form and gain strength from death. He had also never seen a ghost that, well, was only really a ghost because he kind of, maybe, killed them. Killed was a strong word, really. Reason of death sounded much better.
So it took a while for him to notice that he was being haunted.
It started with his things going missing.
Little things at first, that he convinced himself he had just misplaced. His brother had suggested imps or elves, even fairies at one point, but Sasuke quickly dismissed it. There was nothing physical ever left behind, and Sasuke was convinced that he'd know if something was stealing his things.
And then came the cold spots. Anytime Sasuke entered a room, his companions immediately complained at how the temperature had just abruptly dropped. At times, Sasuke felt like he had just walked into a cold breeze, shivering at the icy feeling.
And then it escalated. Sasuke frequently felt as if he was being watched, or worse, as if he was being touched by invisible hands.
It had come to a climax when he had finally seen it, maybe a year or so after his things started to go missing.
An annoying glowing white ball that followed him around.
xxx
"You seem to have a…" Itachi trailed off, gesturing politely at the glowing white orb. Shisui snickered from beside him, covering his mouth in a half-hearted attempt to be polite. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"I know," he answered curtly and dropped down into the armchair, his arms crossed petulantly. It's been a few months since he's dropped by Itachi and Shisui's. He's mostly kept to himself in his own little place, only really coming out to feed. His only company recently has been the dumb orb.
The white orb floated back and forth and above them, the lights flickered.
"Stop," Sasuke ordered, scowling at it in irritation. It reared up and flew up in his face, blinding him, and bringing with it a burst of freezing cold, almost as if a bucket of ice had been dropped over him.
Sasuke snarled and bared his fangs, swiping with superhuman speed. It was useless, his hand only went through, the only thing coming out of it was the tingles that encased his arm. Static, and cold, an unnerving feeling that made him pull back and clutch his hand to his chest. He hissed.
"You should get a psychic or something," Shisui suggested, amusement still very much evident in his tone. "Ask what it's problem is."
"I don't care what it's problem is, it doesn't concern me," Sasuke grumbled. In response, the orb vibrated angrily. The lights flickered, the temperature of the whole room dropping to freezing and-
"-asshole! I can't fucking believe you, you do this to me, and you don't care?"
Sasuke froze, his eyebrows raising at the disembodied voice. Shisui whistled lowly in amazement while Itachi only regarded the glowing orb as if it was a fascinating new book he had found, even pushing up his fake, poser glasses to observe it better.
"What do you mean I did this to you?" Sasuke replied in exasperation, running a hand through his hair.
Then, in front of his very eyes, the orb slowly gained form. It was murky and see-through, the edges of it blurry, but even then it was recognizable as a young woman, maybe in her early 20's. She had no color aside from a simple, washed-out, see-through gray, but-Sasuke's eyes darted towards her hair and he paled.
He knew her. He knew that her hair was pink and that her eyes were green. He even knew that her shirt was red. His gaze dropped down to her bloody neck, his eyes narrowing in on the bite marks, two small circles in the shape of fangs.
"You killed me!" Sakura complained.
xxx
It was an accident. Sasuke wasn't the kind of vampire to insist on a pure animal diet, no, he drank from humans when he needed to. But he wasn't cruel. He never drank more than his fill, never drained a human of its blood. He had always been careful.
And then one day, he wasn't.
He had been caught up in something, he couldn't even remember what had taken so much of his attention. He had been injured, he remembered that at least. But what he remembered most of all was the thirst. He had never hungered for blood as much as he did at that moment, not even when he had first been turned.
The mindless thirst when he was but a fledging didn't even compare if only because Itachi and Shisui were there to work him through it, had helped quenched his thirst.
He had lost his mind to it, and worst of all, he was alone.
He had attacked the first human he had seen the moment he was able to leave under the cover of the night. He had drunk from her with no thought to anything but the empty pit of his stomach, until she was slumped, pale, drained of every bit of her blood. No one was there to stop him. Short from another vampire, nothing else could have stopped him.
And Sasuke remembered the realization of what he had done, the horror at his first human kill. He had considered turning her into a vampire, to at least give her a mockery of the life she had lived, but it was too late. By the time his mind returned to him, she was already dead, lifeless in his arms, and it was too late to feed her his blood.
He had fled the scene and left her body in the alley, wracked with guilt. He had told no one, only wallowed in his regret and in his pain.
And now, his mistake had come to haunt him.
Literally.
xxx
Blessing his place was out of the question. A priest would sooner just get rid of him, and even the thought of holy water made Sasuke's hands itch. He wasn't desperate enough to get rid of his ghost problem that he would force himself to go through the pain of burning and injuring himself.
There were ways to ward against ghosts, but Sasuke wasn't sure if it would just leave Sakura stuck in his house instead of unable to come in. And she wasn't quite haunting his place, no. She was haunting him. Any protections that he could make against her were temporary at best, damaging to him too at worst.
"You're really looking up how to get rid of me?" Sakura asked over his shoulder. Sasuke flinched, jumping in his seat at surprise, and resisted the urge to smack her.
"Stop doing that!" He snapped, and Sakura pouted, floating back a few feet. She crossed her legs in mid-air and regarded him, her eyebrow raised mockingly.
"What? Am I scaring you?" She asked snidely and Sasuke scowled.
"I'm trying to help you," Sasuke growled, and Sakura sniffed. She crossed her arms, twisting around in mid-air.
"Maybe you shouldn't have killed me in the first place," she suggested and gave him a fierce, fake smile.
"It was an accident." Sasuke must have repeated this a hundred times now but still, Sakura wouldn't have it. She was intent on guilt tripping him day in and day out, and this was only made worse by the fact that Sasuke could not and did not sleep.
"I'm looking for ways to get you to move on, but all the experts say that I need to help you with your regrets, or deal with your anger or get revenge for you."
"Well," Sakura said drily, "My only real regret is not punching you in the face when you grabbed me and bit me."
"Wouldn't have worked anyway," Sasuke muttered to himself, facing the computer once more. "Would have just broken your hand."
"I'll have you know that I'm a black belt," Sakura said. Sasuke glared at his screen.
"What good did that do for you?"
She frowned at him. "And your getting revenge for me option is shit too, just in case you forgot. You're the one that killed me, asshole."
"I know!" Sasuke yelled, whipping around to give her an irritated glare. He stood up, the chair clattering with the force of it. "You won't let me forget it."
He was breathing hard, he realized, his chest heaving in anger. He didn't even need to breathe.
Sakura's lips thinned. She said nothing and disappeared. Sasuke was alone.
Sasuke ran his hands through his hair. He grabbed the chair that had fallen on the floor and sat it upright with a loud bang. It cracked slightly. Sasuke grit his teeth and sat down, resolutely going back to his research.
She was annoying, and yet. Sasuke really didn't have much company aside from her.
xxx
"Hm, you really aren't that bad," Sakura said thoughtfully. Sasuke stiffened, his grip tightening on the deer that he had been drinking from. He frowned at her and looked away, deciding to ignore her. Sakura followed him, thankfully silent, as he dragged the body of the deer to the side of his tree. She mostly disappeared whenever Sasuke had to feed. He figured that it had to be traumatic to see the exact same scene that had resulted in her own death, even if he hadn't feed from a human since...
Sasuke closed his eyes momentarily, willing away the images of Sakura's still body, the way the light left her eyes. There wouldn't be another Sakura. Never again.
Sasuke looked over the scene once more, just to make sure. There was no sign of Sasuke's presence. Another predator would come to get rid of the rest of the deer. He nodded to himself and made to leave. Beside him, Sakura drifted, her eyes roaming his features.
No matter how fast he traveled back to his house, Sakura kept pace. She was a ghost, after all, and speed wasn't really an issue when you could go through objects and move with just a thought through the air.
"Am I the only one you've killed?" she abruptly asked after another few minutes of silence. Sasuke's lips thinned and he chanced a look at her, his eyes catching on the blood on her neck and the bite marks that never healed. He averted his eyes away again. He didn't like looking at her for too long. It was far too painful a reminder of what he had done.
"Yes," he answered dully. "I told you, it was an accident. I was hurt, bleeding. Mindless with thirst."
"I haven't seen you drink from another person."
"I haven't," he said shortly, hoping to cut off the conversation.
"You never apologized," Sakura countered half-heartedly. Sasuke stopped at that and looked at her. Hadn't he?
Of course not. He was never one to apologize.
His jaw tightened, Sakura looking at him. She must have been pretty when she was alive, Sasuke thought to himself. But Sasuke had killed her when she had exited a cafe after a late night of studying, and her hair was still in its messy bun, her clothes still rumpled and casual. She looked tired. Pale, and gaunt, but that might just be because she was transparent.
He had gone back to where he had killed her once before she was a ghost. He hadn't told her, but he had seen the news of her death spread. He had heard how her friends and family talked about her. She was a promising medical student, they claimed. Destined for great things.
Except her destiny had culminated in a dirty alleyway.
"I'm sorry."
Sakura blinked at him and leaned away, drifting back a bit. "Huh," she said.
In a blink, she was gone.
And Sasuke was alone once more.
xxx
It had been months since he had last seen Sakura. Itachi had figured that maybe she had finally moved on, that his apology was enough to appease her anger. It was better, he claimed.
Sasuke tried not to think about her. It was peaceful without her presence, he could be alone like he wanted. But every now and then he expected to hear a disparaging remark about what he was reading or doing, or a judgmental tone reminding him to clean up a little bit.
There were no more cold spots in his house, no more flickering lights. No more glowing white orbs that followed him around. No more Sakura.
He didn't miss it. He's lasted years without companionship aside from visits every few months to or from Itachi or Shisui. He could last years more.
There were times when thirsted, and he wanted the warmth and the taste and the feel of human blood, but Sasuke only needed to think of green eyes before he ran. It was hard. The need and the thirst clawed at him, made his insides churn, made Sasuke desperate with want. He was like an addict, desperate for another hit. Itachi had suggested blood packs but Sasuke had declined. He feared that another taste would just remind him of what he was missing out of.
He promised himself that there wouldn't be another Sakura.
xxx
"You don't seem like you have any friends," a thoughtful voice rang out and Sasuke flinched. He turned, his eyes wide, and found Sakura floating above him and frowning slightly.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I thought you've moved on!"
She sniffed. "No. I searched out some other ghosts. They gave me tips." She spun around in a circle, her arms out to present herself. Sasuke's eyebrows shot up. She was actually wearing different clothes, and she looked… solid, somewhat, not as blurry or formless like she used to be.
He reached out curiously, and his hand went through her leg, sending static racing down his arm.
"What are you doing…?" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, moving away from his arm and holding her leg close to her.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke repeated, a little dumbly.
"You're lonely," Sakura replied bluntly. She smiled at him, so different from the fake, malicious ones that she had been directing at him. This was sweet, almost. Sasuke twitched. "The whole year I spent around you, you only really interacted with Itachi and Shisui."
Sasuke scowled. "My friends are gone." He had distanced himself from them long ago. Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo… He didn't know what had happened to them.
Sakura beamed, clapping her hands together. "Alright! Then I'll help you make friends!"
"What?"
xxx
"So I met this really nice guy," Sakura started, floating beside him eagerly. "He's a little enthusiastic, but he means well."
"I don't need new friends," Sasuke growled.
Sakura gave him a pitying look. "I'm your only friend."
"You're not my friend."
Sakura raised an eyebrow, saying nothing and everything in a single look. Sasuke's face burned and he looked away. Well. Yes. She was somewhat his friend, but he'd never admit it, especially not to her.
"Who is this guy anyway?" Sasuke grumbled, walking a little bit faster as he weaved in between the crowds. Sakura simply floated right through them because one, she was a ghost, and two, she was kind of a bitch.
Every time she did, the human in question would shiver and look around. He's heard it described as feeling as if someone had just walked over your grave. Those who weren't quite human, on the other hand, gave him and Sakura odd looks.
"Oh, his name's Naruto. He's your type, I think," Sakura said dismissively. She stopped and smiled. "There he is."
Sasuke looked to where Sakura was pointing, his gaze meeting the blonde's eyes. Just as he did, the hair on the back of Sasuke's neck stood up and he took an instinctive step back. He snarled, fangs slipping out of his gums.
Werewolf!
The werewolf raised his head, nose up in the air as he sniffed before his eyes went wild.
"Naruto!" Sakura called out, waving happily. The werewolf's form seemed to change, fur growing out of his skin. Sakura's eyes widened and in a blink, she was at his side, batting at him uselessly.
"You're in public!" she yelled. The werewolf growled, but as Sakura plunged her hands through his chest he seemed to catch himself. Sasuke could understand, he knew what it felt when Sakura did that. It looked like it took great effort, but the werewolf seemed to reign himself in. Smooth, tanned skin reappeared, brown fur disappearing, but his eyes remained a strange yellow as he stared down at Sasuke.
Sasuke moved towards them, a low hiss escaping him. "Werewolf."
"Vampire," Naruto returned, narrowing his eyes. Sakura's hands flapped as she looked at them back and forth, her eyes wide.
"Don't fight, don't fight," she pleaded, and Sasuke's muscles tensed. He ached to launch himself at the werewolf, his fangs painful where they poked through his gums, but Sakura's panicked gaze was enough for him to step back and just simply walk away.
There was a moment where it was just him, but Sakura floated by his side a second later.
"I didn't know!" She immediately apologized. "I didn't know he was a werewolf, I swear!" Sasuke bit down an angry reply, fangs digging into his bottom lip. Werewolves were up there with sunlight and getting staked on the things that could actually kill a vampire. He hadn't considered the possibility that Sakura had wanted him dead and had somehow been hiding her renewed inclination for revenge, but he supposed that it was good to be reassured.
"If you get to know him, he's really cool," Sakura bargained, wincing a bit, and at Sasuke's glare, quieted once more.
xxx
"Look, I don't like you," Naruto said bluntly, leaning in aggressively. He narrowed his eyes and Sasuke glared back. Werewolves. Always so damn aggressive.
"But I like Sakura, and if she says you're okay…" he trailed off uncertainly and then nodded at him. "Then I guess you're okay."
Sasuke glanced at Sakura who was surreptitiously observing them from the other side of the room. She caught his gaze and then nodded encouragingly, smiling brightly at him. Sasuke scowled to himself and turned back to face Naruto.
"Fine," he said and held out his hand.
"Friends," Naruto declared and sent him a wolfish smile as he clasped Sasuke's hand with his own.
Sasuke wrinkled his nose. "Truce," he challenged.
Sakura coughed politely somewhere near his side and Sasuke's lips curled.
"Fine," he said in disgust, tightening his grip until Naruto winced. "Friends."
xxx
"Friends? Really?" Naruto growled. It was deep and animalistic, sending shivers down Sasuke's spine. He groaned, heat warming up his cold body as Naruto pushed him on the bed and straddled his lap. Naruto was so fucking hot, literally. Everywhere he touched Sasuke felt like it was burning, as if he was out in the sun and feeling its warmth for the first time since he had been turned.
"If that's what you want," Sasuke breathed as he looked up into Naruto's wild eyes.
"What about what I want?" Sakura groaned dramatically. The room's temperature dipped, the lights flickering
The two of them paused, Naruto's grip loosening on his arms. They looked up at Sakura who was floating in mid-air, a pout on her lips.
"And what do you want?" Sasuke asked, and a slow, mischievous smile curled up on Sakura's lips.
"Well first," she said. "I'd like you two to kiss."
They looked back at each other and raised their eyebrows.
Sasuke shrugged. Why not?
