Summary: And like this, the lamb fell in love with the lion… Not. In Konoha, neither vampires nor werewolves exist. But Naruto as an editor sure has to deal with stuff like that, and also with his grumpy author…

Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine and I don't want to own it 3

Chapter 1

"'The sun bore its rays mercilessly onto the already crisped earth. The air felt thick and heavy. Everyone seemed to be standing on his or her neighbor's feet. The shirts clung to the business-men's already sweaty backs and they all, without an exception, looked extremely exhausted, even sleepy.

It was an evening in mid-July and the train was cramped with commuting people, tired from their long working-hours on this Friday promising two fabulous summer days filled with leisure and relaxation.

The doors closed. The long iron worm started moving again and eventually came to a halt at the next station. When the doors opened a light, still warm and sultry breeze drifted inside, only to be shut out again by the once more closing doors. Some of the passengers sighed slightly because of the soothing yet disappearing wind and the still heavy, sticky air in the wagon. Obviously the air-condition wasn't working properly.

After about half an hour, it went far into the outskirts of the town, the train moved slowly towards its last stop. It prepared for its final sprint before it –'

-what? Is there something wrong with it?" A young man, or rather a youth with bleached hair, sitting on a blueberry colored sofa, looked up from the laptop lying on his lap. He had midnight black eyes and his brows were furrowed.

The dark haired man sitting on the champagne colored couch in front of him was a bit startled. He had been listening only halfheartedly to what the other man had read to him from the screen. He could not remember unconsciously sighing or moving the slightest bit but maybe it was his facial expression that had caused the reader's exclamation. Usually he wasn't the easily distracted type but today he had only stared; at the angelic face opposite of him.

"N-NO! …euh, I mean, no not really. It… It's just the difference between this and what you usually tend to write…" He stuttered! "This is only the beginning of it so I can't judge it yet."

"So, it's not good enough? Look. It's meant to be a short story. I've only tried out some new stuff. And I don't want you to freak out because of that."

Now, the usually emotionlessly looking author looked as if he would snap any moment.

"Relax. I won't freak out or anything like that. It just took me a little by surprise, and in fact, I think it really is nicely written so far. But it is no story for my department as far as I believe."

He fidgeted a bit and thought about somehow changing the subject towards his actual work without making his author any angrier than he obviously already was. Why, in first place, had he even agreed to listen to something that obviously didn't belong in his office but in the one down the aisle, where a whole bunch of very capable but annoying editors for this kind of story sat? The dark haired editor only thought about them and felt a cold shiver run down his back…

"I thought we knew each other long enough for now! I thought I could read to you even some random shit and you would listen, even if it were some psycho-crap!" Shit. Now, the young author looked really pissed… "I thought I would consult you first with this new work before I would go and give it to this herd of hyenas down the aisle! They would at least pay attention to what I read aloud!"

"That's definitely not true! I'm sorry I didn't pay enough attention today, but, I always appreciate what you write and you know it! I've just had a hard day like the rest of the people working here, that's all." Why the hell was he apologizing to this minor anyway? He wanted to punch himself for always being soft on him… but then again, he had the last time in mind when his favorite author had felt 'unappreciated' and thus had thrown himself like some little stupid lamb in front of the pack of hungry wolves who had their den only a few meters away... He almost growled.

With this, his assigned author seemed to have calmed a bit.

"Have you worked on your script for the new book, too?"

The black haired editor felt a bit uncomfortable on his couch as he waited for the author's reaction to the sudden change of topic. But the awaited storm simply didn't arise. He only shrugged "hn" and the editor took that for a 'yes'.

These days, the deadline came nearer and everybody in the publishing firm, from secretary to some of the writers were nervous and lacking sleep because of the loads of work and thus nervous as hell. But the author sitting in front of him in his office usually wasn't like this. He never forgot his deadlines and he always appeared on time for set meetings so that they could discuss the outcome of his stories.

"Hey, Uzumaki-san, are you even listening to me?"

"Yes. Yes, of course." Lie. But even though that one was pretty obvious, the author with the abnormally bleached hair ignored it for the moment. And they both were composed again, as not to show any more weaknesses to the other party.

"I said that the script for the new story is lying on your desk already. It's in the envelope."

"What envelope? I don't remember you bringing anything except for your laptop."

The skinny blonde stood up and grabbed some brown envelope which was really lying on Uzumaki's desk and with "here" he shoved it into his editor's face.

"That one? One of the secretaries brought in though. It's yours? I still haven't taken a look at it because there's no name – "

"Just turn it upside down and take a goddamn look." Damn. Even though he didn't explicitly show his emotions the author wasn't very patient with his editor that day. And said editor on the other hand didn't have much patience with himself. There was something off that day; he just didn't know what it was. Strangely, he didn't seem to be able to concentrate properly…

"Ah." There really was a name written on it. It said 'Uchiha Sasuke'. Inside said envelope was a staple of paper, typed on with the author's outdated typewriter. That was because he didn't like computers very much. And that was because his laptop too quickly ran out of battery when he sat writing at a café, and because of the screen. He simply hated screens. They gave him headaches. Sasuke definitely had some weird habits, and those were only one reason for him to be standing out in the publishing firm.

"It's everything in there,' the author interrupted once again his editor's thoughts, "and, of course, a CD with the data on it, in case you would like that one better."

"Um, thank you Uchiha-sensei." He tried to smile. As if he needs thanking, Naruto thought, he's always doing things perfectly. Everything he touched turned into gold. "I'll check these and let you know whether there's something to discuss."

The blond sensei blinked, "there's nothing else you wanted to talk about?"

And with this, he cocked his head just a very tiny little bit to the right which caused some strands of hair to drop in his handsome face. His hair was unhealthily bleached in some really weird shade of blond looking more like yellow though, and long enough to be pulled together with a ribbon.

"Uzumaki-san?"

And again, the other black haired man was taken by surprise. "Yes?" Just what the hell was wrong with him that day? It seemed he couldn't concentrate properly… Maybe it was because of his lack of sleep?

His sensei had a bemused look on his by strawberry blond locks framed face. "If that was all for today, I'd like to take my leave as I suppose you're capable of reading this script on your own. Also, Uzumaki-san, I suggest that you, too, take off for today as it is already really late and you maybe should get some rest as well." That, the raven thought, was pretty nice of him – "I'd really appreciate you considering this, as we have another meeting tomorrow morning. And I absolutely don't need an exhausted editor that would collapse every moment from fatigue."

While he said all this, the author moved towards the door. He bowed slightly. Opened it and eventually left.

Naruto Uzumaki just stared. There was definitely something wrong with him today. It may have been the weather, or something he ate or, and he tried to properly remember the meeting, it was his author's newest work… the short story. This wasn't even the department for things like this. Then, he looked at his watch and realized that it was first, already past 11 p.m. and second, that he hadn't slept for at least 25 hours, due to the work that was piling up every time the deadline was approaching. He really had to get into bed and rest…

And that's what he would do now. He would drive home, take a shower and cuddle himself in his bed sheets.

But, before he walked towards the door, he grabbed the envelope which held the new script. He'd as always enjoy this little treat. Then, a sudden picture flew to his mind; yellow, long strands of hair and the white skin with those piercing midnight eyes…

But as sudden as it hat come, it vanished again. But as he was already extremely exhausted, he didn't think about it any further, walked out of his office and took off towards his apartment.

Sasuke Uchiha felt extremely annoyed by the time he left his editor's office and walked towards the elevators. He wasn't only annoyed with his editor's absent mindedness but also with himself. Not only because he had lost his composure in front of his favorite editor but especially for reading out something being as incomplete as his newest experiment. And it wasn't anything else; just an experiment, so nothing special. But, he still felt slightly embarrassed. And that was an emotion he didn't feel quite often. In fact, he didn't feel any of the ordinary emotions as often as others. In grade school he was even called a freak, not only by the kids…

When entered the apartment building and arrived at the floor where he rented an apartment, muffled noises came out of one of his neighbor's apartments. Then, just as he thrust his door open, a woman and a guy screamed in synchronization loud enough for Sasuke to hear. He shrugged, closed the door behind him and had only one thought: this, he could use in one of his novels! Sometimes he hoped for his annoying neighbors to read the stories he wrote – because he usually brought in stuff from his actual life at the big building and its habitants and because he hoped that those stupid couples would then eventually stop having sex in early evening hours when he tended to return home.

As he closed the door behind him, his most loved little cat wound itself around his legs "I'm back, little one" the one addressed only meowed. Now, the young author felt at home again and only wanted to shower and go to bed. But, as he had his cute little Panda who needed feeding and patting immediately, his needs had to wait just a little longer.

The fluffy black and white furred cat meowed again, looked at him with it's big green eyes and with that it was all over; Sasuke cradled his fluffy companion in his arms, patted and stroked it until the kitty didn't want to wait any longer for its dinner. Oh, he really adored his cat!

Finally, when his furred friend slept in its usual place on the sofa, he dared entering the shower but by the time the blonde was finished and turned towards one of the mirrors in his bathroom to brush his teeth, he was surprised by his, well, new hair color. The strawberry blond hair wasn't anything it seemed he could get used to very quickly… it had been bleached just about one week ago and he'd rather not remember it… It's been one of the most stupid things he had done in a long time and, honestly, Sasuke already regretted it. He would never again make a bet, at least not with his and the other party's hair as price. And now, even though it was already too late, he at least knew what awaited him when he betted with Naruto Uzumaki who had also set his hair as price, bastard! It had been quite awkward when they both lost… (The only thing giving him satisfaction was that he, Sasuke, could dye his hair black again if he wanted and that the editor's natural yellowish hair would surely look stupid when it grew out later...)

And while he thought up some evil ways to get revenge on his black haired editor, he finally set his alarm and got into bed. Everything was just as it was every night, and he was, just as always, alone.

There was only one exception. In this particular night, he had his first-ever wet dream… with Naruto Uzumaki… his editor.