The Crimson Bond

a SasuSaku fanfic

The first time I met Sasuke Uchiha was the night my parents were murdered. I lay bleeding, my vision blurring in and out of focus as my own life trickled out of me. He came through the broken door, stepping on that one creaky board in the hall. He breezed into the living room, his dark trenchcoat billowing in the wind rustling through the hellhole I called home. His eyes glowed bright red in the evening gloom as he came closer to me.

I took a gasping breath, my tiny lungs burning painfully. He knelt down next to me. I stared at him, my green eyes filled with tears. His skin was the palest I'd ever seen, further accented by the midnight black hair framing it.

"What a pity… to die so young before you've even really begun your life," he commented. He glanced over at my already dead parents. "And right after your parents too."

"Pl-please, mister."

He stared down at me with pitying eyes. "What do you want me to do, girl? Save you to live a miserable life with no family?"

"Please!" I coughed, hacking up some blood.

"The only thing I could do is help you into your grave, child. Besides…" he glanced toward the window where police car lights were flashing as they pulled up. "Help's arrived."

Then, he disappeared, a mist blown away into the night by the wind.

Now before we go any further, I want to dispel some stupid ideas you're probably already getting. One, this story doesn't have any sparkling vampires in it. If you're here for marble statues, walk away right now. Two, there isn't a single werewolf in this story. And three, this isn't a stupid teenaged love story. I'm not some stupid girl like the ones in those stupid books.

There's no happy ending to my story because there is no ending. And besides, I couldn't have one even if I wanted to. That was just my fate from the start.

"Oh my gosh!" Ino deafened me with a squeal. "Edward is so romantic! Watching over Bella while she sleeps!"

"It's not romantic," I replied. "It's called stalking. It's a crime. Besides, vampires are nothing like that."

"How do you know that, Sakura? You haven't even read the books!" my blonde friend waved her battered copy of Twilight at me. "You haven't even experienced this beautiful writing!"

"It's not that great," I interrupted her before she could really get going. "I've read Twilight and quite frankly, I can read better stuff on the internet. And anyone can get published there."

"What?"

"She's not that great. Besides, while she gets a couple points for creativity, her ideas were completely stupid so she gets all those points taken away. Vampires would never look like that in a million years."

"And you know that how? You met an actual vampire?" Ino demanded.

I almost retorted that, yes, in fact, I had. But I stopped for two reasons. One, that strange boy on the night my parents were murdered was not necessarily a vampire. Sure, he was strange, mysterious. Sure, he literally disappeared as mist. But other than that, I had no proof he was in fact, a creature of the night, one of the living dead. Two, you didn't go around claiming such things. It's just stupid.

And there was one final reason why I never retorted.

Because of all the impossible things, who should walk in just then but that boy. Looking exactly the same as he had ten years ago. While I had aged from a six-year old into a sixteen year old, he hadn't aged a single day at all. His skin was still flawless alabaster, unblemished by wrinkles. His hair was still that pitch black, hanging around his face in staccato formations. (Although instead of his bangs being split down the center of his forehead, they now hung full across his entire forehead.) His eyes were the only thing that had really changed. Unlike that night, they weren't glowing blood red. Today, they were a duller red, as if he had Edward's changing eyes except in the red spectrum instead of yellow.

I couldn't breathe, couldn't move. It was impossible. Everything about this screamed that I was dreaming, that I was insane. But all the proof was in front of me, screaming just the opposite.

He turned toward me and I quickly whipped my gaze to the floor. I was not going to be caught staring, especially at him.

"What's got into you, Sakura?" Ino asked.

I glanced up at her in a state of panic. What could I say? She knew the bare minimum about my past. She didn't know I had nearly died at the age of six. All she knew is that my parents were murdered when I was six, which made me a ward of the state until my aunt came to pick me up.

I had never told anyone other than medical professional about the scar on my back from the bullet that grazed my rip and punctured my lung. I made sure to change where no one could see it when it was time for gym class. I refused to tell anyone about I had been only minutes away from bleeding out on the ground when the police and emergency medical services had arrived. How desperately they had fought to save me… the miracle when I survived to make a full recovery, no damage beyond the expected scar on my back and lung.

I had certainly never told anyone of the mysterious teenager who came to my house as I was dying.

"Nothing," I answered thickly. "I'm not feeling well… I'm going home early."

"Sakura!" she shouted after me, dropping her Bible of undead lovers as I hurried toward the door.

I brushed him on my way through the door, both of us freezing for a split second, looking at each other. His eyes reflected mild surprise, just a trace of it really, barely enough to be seen. I'm sure my face told a story of pure terror at my horrific past resurfacing. We stared at each other for a second more before I ripped my gaze away and practically ran down the hall and out the main school doors.

I gasped great gulps of smoggy air, trying to get my body back under control. I put my hands on my head to open up my lungs, breathing deeply. I was overreacting, I told myself sternly.

"Sakura?" a male voice said from behind me.

I froze. This isn't happening. This is not happening!

"Sakura Haruno, right?" he continued in a voice that perfectly fit that image he has. Dark, hard, dangerous. Everything that made me want to run.

"Y-yes?" I answered.

"I thought so. You were the little girl from that night."

"I'm sorry. You're mistaken," I said shortly, heading for the gate.

"I don't think so."

Don't say it!

"Let's go out. What do you say?"

I blinked. Um… what?

"Let's go. Just a cup of coffee and a talk. What can it hurt?"

I eyed him suspiciously. "Why should I trust you. I don't even know your name."

"Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha," he said as he took my hand in his ice cold one and pulled me into motion. He forced the gates open easily. I shoved Twilight related thoughts out of my brain.

He didn't speak or stop until we reached a small, dingy diner near the outskirt of town. He pulled me inside to a dank corner booth. I stared at the table in distasted. This was one of the dives where the tables had a sticky film coating them, along with carved sayings such as "Jake + Becky 1981" or "Psycho wuz here." The lights were dim from thick coats of dust, while ours flickered intermittently. We'd barely been there a minute and I wanted to smash the thing.

"Relax," he said as he motioned a waiter over. "Two coffees. One black…" He turned to me with an inquiring look.

"Black," I said. As the waiter moved away, I caught a flash of ruby red eyes.

"So you recognized me," he said quietly.

"No," I lied. "I'm just humoring you."

"You're not a good liar, Sakura."

I sighed as our coffees came. "Never have been."

"So how much have you figured out in these ten years?"

"Shouldn't you not be as aware of the time passing since you're immortal?" I blurted out. And immediately wanted to stuff the words back in. Of all the stupid things to say…

A sparse smirk crossed his face, but the wry joy in it never reached those barn red eyes. "Wouldn't you remember every single day of your cursed existence?" he asked quietly before taking a gulp of his coffee.

I stared down at my cup, twisting it in my hands as I tried to think of where to start.

"So you've figured out that I am immortal," he started. "Probably the easiest one, considering I can't age."

I frowned. You would expect a vampire to say "don't age". Can't…. can't made it seem like he hadn't wanted this existence. Like it was forced on him.

"I know exactly what you are," I stated.

"Do you now?" That smirk was starting to reach his eyes now, except now it was all bad boy, that confident, sexy, know-it-all attitude exuding from him in waves.

"Of course," I continued. "It's the only logical conclusion."

"Really?"

"Yes. One, you were drawn to my house by the smell of blood."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do. I can't explain it, but I just know."

He nodded, indicating that he accepted this and that I should continue.

"Two, you haven't aged a day," I was picking up speed now. "Three, you have pale skin. Four, your eyes were as red as oxygenated blood. Five, your skin was cold as ice today. Six, you said you couldn't save me. Only help me into my grave. Seven, you turned into pure mist. Eight, I'm guessing we're in here because the sunlight weakens you, like the older beliefs about vampires stated, as opposed to bursting into flames, but you wanted to spare yourself future headaches so you suggested we go to a café, and then brought me this dump where, if I'm right, the entire staff are the same as you."

He was surprised enough that it was actually obvious on his face. "You've really thought this through."

"I've had ten years to analyze every detail of that night," I said quietly.

"So your conclusion?" Sasuke prodded.

"You're a vampire."

The words lingered in the stale air, heavy, unwanted. He didn't say anything, didn't move, just let them hang there. I didn't say anything either. I sat there, afraid to move in case he was going to kill me because I knew too much. I felt like I'd spilled some government secret.

"Good job." He drained the last of his coffee, tilting his head back to reveal a long white neck that reminded me of just how vulnerable I had to be here. My neck probably seemed like the most appetizing thing ever. He jerked me out of my internal panic. "You're pretty smart."

"Not really."

He raised an eyebrow to challenge that but continued. "So what are you going to do now?"

"What?" I blinked.

"Now that you've just proven that there's a whole world you've never really seen before, what are you going to do with that knowledge? Go to the press, run to the government, tell a priest, or what?"

"I'm going get to know you."

I suppose you're dying to know what happened after that. If we had a moment in the science lab over a microscope or if he saved me from danger. Forget that. We didn't.

We just… didn't talk to each other. I know. I make that declaration and then never follow through. My only excuse is that I couldn't think of a way to do it.

My big move was three weeks later when I sat down at his table in the library.

He raised an eyebrow at me after I set my books down rather loudly. "You mad about something?"

"No."

"Then why the slamming books?"

"To get your attention. It was louder than I expected."

Another one of those wry grins of his. My heart tripped up a bit over it. Not in a lovey dovey way! (Okay… maybe…. but you have not seen this guy! He is a walking undead god!)

"So…"

"I suppose this is part of the get to know me thing?" he said.

"I don't know. Yes? I don't know why I said that."

"Because you're curious. I intrigue because I'm something you've never seen before."

"Maybe…"

"What do you want to know about me? My birthday? How old I am? Where I'm from?"

I shrugged. "It's a start."

He closed his notebook. "July 23. Leo. I was turned at 16. I've lived as a vampire for…" he paused as if going through the years in his head. "a hundred seventy five years now. I'm from here. Konoha."

"How do you get turned?"

He frowned. "You're not thinking of doing that, are you?"

"No!"

"All right. To be turned you have to be drained of every drop of blood in you. Quite frankly, it's extremely painful. And even then, there is no guarantee that you will turn."

"There must be some way. It can't all just be luck."

"The only way to guarantee turning… is the option of letting them drink a vampire's blood just before they die. Worst way there is. It'll start to taste sweet instead of bitter and sharp. Then it'll hit your veins like pure fire. As if you have lava in them now instead of blood. It'll kill you in less than five minutes."

I wanted to tell him to stop. It was gruesome and horrible. And yet, I couldn't seem to get the words past my lips. So I just sat there listening to him talk about it in horrifying detail. I realized it as he paused. This was how he had died. Someone had turned him this way. He had felt his entire body seemingly burst into flame as the vampire blood killed him swiftly. Had someone forced him to drink it? Or did he just choose it because it was the only option he had?

"You'll wake up in three days in your grave. Some just break out; others wait for their sire to dig them out." Sasuke finished and silence fell.

"What did you do?" I asked after a few seconds.

"Broke out."

I sensed that this was now a closed subject as he returned to his work. But I couldn't think of another subject so I let him work while I began my own work.

That became our routine. We would talk a little until either I ran out of questions (usually didn't happen) or Sasuke clammed up and refused to answer any more (the more likely one).

Unfortunately, I learned little from these conversations. Mostly, I had just hints, snippets that I pieced together into a theory. A very spotty theory. Which was really just like a very vague idea. Which was basically that like I thought earlier, that something had happened that caused him to nearly die, at which point he was forced to drink some vampire's blood. Since then, he had been living in this unwilling cursed existence.

And here is where I went into full on conjecture. He seemed to avoid conversations dealing with any family, mine or his. I suspected that his turning had something to do with his family. I had no clue how but it did.

I sighed at my little diagram in my notes detailing all this. It was really just a bunch of guesses. I didn't really know Sasuke.

Unless you considered figuring out that he liked coffee black, sometimes with blood mixed in (or so he said), needed a special herbal sunscreen to go out in the sun, hated mornings, and loved tomatoes knowing someone. Which really, wasn't much in the grand scheme of things.

I mean, yes I also knew he liked to brood (which I liked to interrupt). He liked to be alone (which I liked to draw him out of). He kept the silent act up as best as possible, with grunts for answers.

I had also gleaned the knowledge that vampires' eyes reflected bloodlust, not the amount of blood in their bodies as I had originally suspected (in your face, Stephenie Meyer! Oh yeah, and thanks for leading me down that stupid rabbit trail…). Sasuke had indeed been drawn to the bloodbath and the scent. It had awakened his hunger, dying his eyes scarlet. And at school, I figure it was the sheer number of people that was hyping him up. Sasuke, I found out the third time we were alone in the library, had gorgeous charcoal gray eyes. Ones that I easily got lost in especially when I saw that pain lurking just beneath the surface.

Which may be why I kept spending more and more time with him. Or for that little smirk of his that said he knew it all and he knew he did. Or that grin that said he knew that blush on my face had nothing to do with whatever my excuse of the day was. Or it could just be that I was falling for him.

I slid into the empty seat next to Sasuke instead of across from him a month after I met him.

"Something wrong with the other side?" he asked.

"I'm not allowed to change things up?" I quipped, face flaming.

"It's different."

"But not unwelcome," I inferred.

He glanced over at me, his eyes almost black. And I got my first real smile from him. I felt my breath catch slightly. And I saw another side to him. A very gentle one that I couldn't forget.

"You are so weird, Sakura Haruno," he said, his voice warm.

The silence settled in like a warm, comforting blanket, wrapping around us like a mother's embrace. Neither of us moved or spoke. We just…. enjoyed it.

And that smile just kept shining in my mind. After a moment, the words came out, unplanned. I hadn't even fully formed the thought before it came tumbling out of my mouth.

"I love you."

"I knew that already," he replied with that know it all smirk that I was getting addicted to. "The question is," he leaned closer to me here, lowering his voice slightly, "whether I feel the same way."

My gaze darted down to his lips involuntarily. I licked my slightly chapped ones nervously. "And?" I hated and loved the way my voice sounded slightly breathless to my own ears.

"You tell me," he whispered before kissing me.

My eyes fluttered closed as my world shrunk down to this one moment, this one kiss. The way his lips moved on mine, gentle but firm. It was elegant, romantic, and just what every girl should have for her first kiss. It felt like kissing me was the whole point to it. To show me how much he cared, to make it crystal clear to me that yes, he had fallen for me in all my annoying little interrogations.

He pulled away after a moment, leaving me breathless.

"Well?" he asked.

"I think I'm going to need another shot at figuring it out," I said, cupping his face as I leaned back in.

I know. At last a happy ending! No. Remember what I said? I don't have a happy ending, let alone an ending.

So how could things go wrong at this point? Well… it all started that rainy day.

Sasuke and I had been the it couple for about a month. Ino had congratulated me by squealing about how I got a deep Edward Cullen of my own ("except, you know, without the vampire part…"). Nothing I said could persuade her to the contrary so I just let sleeping dogs lie.

It had been overcast for a week. Maybe no one else could tell, but I could see that Sasuke was edgy. Something about the weather disturbed him. I suspected it had to do with his turning. It was the one thing I just couldn't get him to open up about and so I supposed it worried and intrigued me. Drew me in because what could be so horrible about it but worried me because it was obvious he still carried this wound.

It was fifteen minutes before the end of school when I finally got the courage to ask.

"Sasuke… is something wrong?"

He glanced at me sharply before going back to work. "Why do you ask?"

"You've been acting weird ever since it became overcast." I took a deep breath to brace myself. "Were you turned on a day like this?" Since we had become a couple, I had held back from asking about it. I had decided to let it be. But it needed to come out into the open.

He turned his slate gray eyes out the window to take in the dark storm clouds scudding across the sky. "Yes," he admitted quietly.

"What happened?"

He didn't answer for a moment, lost in those thunderheads outside.

"You don't have to tell me now… but maybe someday…?"

He turned his gaze to me and smiled sadly. "No… it's time to tell."

I waited while he composed himself, gathered his wits.

"Like I said before, I have been a vampire for a hundred seventy-five years. I was born and raised in Konoha. I had an older brother who I thought the world of. He was turned the same night as me."

I let the thought sink in. Another Sasuke walking around.

"Itachi and I didn't suspect anything was wrong that day when we headed home. It was just a normal cloudy day. Until we got home. The entire Uchiha district of town was empty, dead. I can remember how it smelled of blood. We were intruders.

"Itachi sensed it first, ran ahead… It was waiting. It attacked him next." He paused, voice shaking.

"What did?"

"A vampire… one of our family. He was turned and it destroyed all his humanity. He attacked us indiscriminately." He ran a hand through his hair. "I walked in as he finished drinking his fill from Itachi, my brother. I tried to run… but, that thing enjoyed it. Kept wheedling me down until I couldn't run from blood loss."

I tried not to think about a battered bleeding Sasuke begging for mercy. It was a horrible sight.

"He forced me to drink some of his blood. I tried to not swallow, but he held my nose so I would have to swallow or suffocate."

His eyes were tortured by the memories, the most heart-rending thing I had ever seen.

I ran over and held him. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke."

"He murdered his… our family. All of them except for me and Itachi. Said if we wanted revenge then we'd need the name Madara."

His arms wrapped around me as he continued, as if he needed proof I were really here and not some figment of his mind. I held him closer as the heavens opened up outside, rain pouring down.

"Itachi and I tried to hunt him down with no luck." He pulled away slightly to look at me. "That's actually how I met you. We had heard he was in the area. I was searching when I sensed the blood and went to check it out. And found this fragile little girl dying on the floor. Itachi yelled at me when I got back until I showed him the article the next day."

"What happened to your brother?"

"He died…. a hunter tracked us down and tried to exterminate us. Itachi took one. Didn't kill him all the way, but it was inoperable and it slowly killed him. He passed away six months ago."

"And Madara?" I asked.

He practically growled at his name. "I will track him down someday and make him pay for my family."

The bell rang but I didn't move to leave. "I'm so sorry. For everything that you've been through."

"Figures you'd take my pain on too," he muttered, but still held on tighter. "Just… let me hold you for a bit."

We stayed there for ten minutes or so, his arms around me, his face against the base of my neck. He kept taking deep, calming breaths, as if trying to bring himself back under control.

Finally he pulled back, eyes tinged red. "We should head home."

"But…"

He gave me a drained look. "It's better this way, Sakura. I just need some time alone."

I sighed. "No disappearing on me, okay?"

He smirked and kissed my forehead. "I promise."

He left, shoulders hunched a bit into that brooding posture of his. I sighed and decided to head home as well. Fortunately, I did have an umbrella in my bag so I would not be slinking off through the downpour outside. So I gathered my things and went to down to my locker where I changed into my outdoor shoes, stowing my indoor shoes in my locker.

Then I popped open my little purse umbrella, complete with cute multi-toned polka dots (normally, I actually despise polka dots, but this was a one-time exception.) Ducking under it, I headed home through the shower. I tried my best to avoid splashing through puddles, eyes trained on the ground as I dodged pools of murky rainwater. I was almost half-way home when my umbrella flew out of my hands.

Now, during a rainstorm this doesn't seem so unusual. I mean, you expect wind and such during a storm. Here's the thing though: there was no wind. Not a stir in the air when my umbrella went sailing away down the street.

No. It went skittering across cement and water because someone knocked it out of my grasp. I froze, a shiver racing down my spine in a decidedly horrifying fashion.

"Pretty young girls like you shouldn't be walking home alone," a creepy voice whispered against the shell of my ear.

My breath sounded horribly ragged as my heart pounded like a frightened rabbit's feet across the ground as it flees. I knew from the voice that it was a man, but I couldn't bring myself to look over my shoulder at his face. Something about him just warned me not to look.

But I couldn't keep myself from nearly crying in fear of him. I gulped in great gasping breaths of cold air. I felt like I was stumbling back, across the carpet, away from the blood in the hallway as my mother hit the floor. Trying not to call attention to myself, my heart stopping as that man turned toward me, smoking gun still in hand. Turning, screaming, running as best as I could. Tripping just as he shot, making the lethal shot miss its mark, exploding my vision as pain ripped through me as my lung was pierced.

I forced my gaze toward him, catching a glimpse of alabaster skin and ebony locks. "Wh-who are you?"

"You ought to know the answer to that, Sakura. Your little boyfriend just told you," he answered, feral delight in his voice at the way my voice had hitched.

"You're Madara."

"You really are as smart as they say."

"Top marks in my class."

"Right after little Sasuke."

I knew my only chance was to catch him off guard. And now was my best chance, while we were close enough that he might not have time to block me. I went to elbow him in the gut but he was faster than me, catching my arm before it had moved two inches.

"Now, now. None of that."

I trembled as his breath moved away from my ear down to the base of my neck.

"I can't let you leave just yet… not until I've made sure that he'll never get over this."

"What do you mean?"

"Sasuke… he's lost so much… I murdered his entire family except his brother. Although to be fair, I mean to kill Itachi too. But I made the mistake of draining him completely and he got lucky and turned. But I solved that little slip up too. One poisoned bullet given to a hunter and Sasuke was alone. I never expected him to meet you though."

I shuddered as Madara's tongue flicked out to slide along my skin.

"You see, he'll never join me if he has someone he cares for. So I have to kill off whatever holds him back. It's nothing against you, Sakura. You just had the bad luck to fall for the wrong guy."

"But if you bite me, I could turn like Itachi," I pointed out.

"Not if I don't drain you completely. See, I learned from that mistake. If I just drink enough so that you'll never recover and let you bleed out, you'll never turn. All I'll have to do is leave you outside his house and watch as he goes mad with the realization that you're gone because of him."

"You're sick!"

"Sticks and stones," he murmured as his fangs pressed painfully against my skin. Then in a split second, they pierced my jugular.

Distantly, I could hear him drinking my blood. It was as if I were under water, sinking to the bottom of a swimming pool, the water closing in all around me. My thoughts were fuzzy, coming in and out of focus as my eyelids fought the urge to close. I knew I couldn't fall asleep, that sleep was the path of no return, but I was just so tired!

I might have cried. I remembered thinking of Sasuke running to find me, only to find my body slumped against a wall, blood all around me, eyes vacant of the soul. I could hear him cursing Madara at the top of his lungs.

I felt the pressure of the fangs disappear as I slipped away.

The next part, I can't remember. All I know is what Sasuke told me later.

After leaving me for dead on Sasuke's stoop, Madara went and told Sasuke, laughing. "Hurry up. She doesn't have much time left for a miracle."

Sasuke had barely made it in time, kneeling down by me. He bit his thumb, drawing some of his own blood, drinking it before forcefeeding it to me in a kiss. He took me inside after that, laying me down on his bed. He waited there for three days, never sleeping, praying he hadn't been too late.

The next thing I knew was pain. My entire body ached, and I wondered why I could still feel pain if I were dead like Madara planned. Then I realized I could hear the cars on the streets of Konoha, the birds singing outside. And I could just sense it wasn't night yet, silently cursing the sun. My eyelids flickered as I tried to convince myself to just go back to sleep. But my throat was parched, burning, forcibly reminding me to stay awake. I experimentally moved my fingers, relieved to find the pain vanished once I did.

"Sakura?" Sasuke called to me, voice hoarse with emotion.

I groaned, tried to talk but my mouth was so dry all I managed was to croak "Thirsty."

I heard Sasuke's ragged sob of relief before I forced my eyes open. He leaned over, his face haggard from lack of sleep, his hair messy from hands running through it in agitation.

"Come on, sit up and then I'll give you something to drink."

I moved slowly, afraid I was going to feel my head split open from a headache or some other injury. Nothing changed though, except the fact that everything stopped hurting except my neck. I reached up to check it, and found a thick wad of gauze and bandage against it.

Apparently my expression was confused, because Sasuke handed me a opaque cup. "I'll explain after you finish that."

I frowned as I took a sip without looking at what was in it. And immediately spit it out as I recognized that heavy metallic taste in my mouth from the days when I lost my baby teeth.

"Is this blood?" I rasped, coughing as I ran the back of my hand across my mouth. It came away smeared with red.

"You have to drink it, Sakura," he said, lifting the cup back to my lips. "Just trust me."

I glared at him to let him know that I didn't agree with this, but did as he said. It did taste sweeter now I realized. Though it still had that bite of iron in it that kicked you at the end and killed that sugary taste lingering on your taste buds. I made a face as I found a small clot in my drink which was like finding a lump in your tomato soup because you burned it a bit.

I finally managed to finish choking it down, and I have to admit my throat wasn't burning anymore.

Sasuke sighed as he took the cup back. "I'm sorry. I would have asked you if I could've but…"

I remembered meeting Madara and what his plan was. "It's fine. I was dying."

He nodded. "I barely reached you in time. Even a few seconds later and… I wasn't even sure you were going to wake up today."

I hugged him. "Thank you for saving me."

He held me tighter. "I couldn't… I couldn't lose you."

"I know."

Yeah. Sasuke turned me. We had to leave town after that (since according to the legal system I was dead).

We're still looking for Madara. After biting me, he vanished with no trace, so we've been wandering looking for him. When we catch up to him, you can bet he's going to have two very angry vampires to deal with.

So like I said earlier, my story doesn't really have a happy ending. Yes, I'm with the love of my life and immortal. But the bad guy is still at large, so we can't settle down yet. We may wander for all time looking for Madara. I don't know. We'll just have to do our time and find out.

A/N: Finally! I intended to post this on Halloween, but due to time constraints and waffling over the plot, it's a couple days late. Gomen, gomen!

Yes. I bashed Twilight a bit. I don't like the series. I like a couple of ideas from it, which you might have seen glimpses of in here, but overall, I find it in need of lots of work before publication since I can find better writing online.

And yeah…. I'm good. I don't own Naruto or vampires or Twitlight… oops. Sorry. Twilight.

Until next time, happy hauntings!