Mm, hi guys ). This is... a Vampire story. That is a little bit confusing. I mainly focus on the Akatsuki and their lives, but I need to make some things clear: Konan and Pein are not members of the Akatsuki, and are humans, not Vampires. All other Akatsuki members are Vampires. yes. Hope you enjoy; Alternate Universe is my forte xD. Characters will probably be slightly OOC or very OOC. / sorry about that.
Prologue
The city of Konoha was black against the darkening sky. The air was rather polluted, making it so the sky was always dark. Skyscrapers and apartment buildings rose from the ground, tall and oppressive. There was a few buildings that stood out in contrast to the dark grays of the taller buildings: the red fire department, the misty blue police station and next to it the large, long and underground prison. The white, prim and proper private school - that rich families sent their children to - was like a beacon of light in the rest of the city. Only humans attended this school. Humans were the only ones who could really do work, and even then they lived in the fear that the other inhabitants of their city would stalk them in the dark, long hours of the night.
A few streets wound down into the ghetto, and no street-smart human would ever dare to even look that direction. The ghetto neighborhood belonged to the Vampires. It always would, just like the tunnels belonged to them before their Prince decided to make peace with the Slayers, a group of humans trained solely to kill the Vampires.
The Prince of the Vampires was merciless to any Slayer that attacked him, and he became greatly feared throughout the world. The Government - so the large Slayer group was called - had sent in at least five Squads. The Squads consisted of five people, but even these specialized Slayers couldn't stand against the Prince.
In order to save the lives of the men and women who kept the city safe, the major of Konoha had approached the Prince in person. The humans had gathered around to protect him, Slayers in the front, and likewise the Vampires came out of manholes to surround their Prince. Many couldn't believe that the Vampires had been living beneath them the whole time.
The major agreed to the Prince's request, and offered the best his city could: the ghetto. The Prince and his Vampires seemed to be pleased to receive the sketchy part of town. In no time at all, the ghetto was thriving.
The major had a variety of public schools erected around the ghetto area and the area closest to it. The school fees were cheap so that the Vampires could afford to attend. Some human families enrolled their children in these schools. Much to the surprise of the Slayers (who weren't at all pleased with the major's agreement) the first day of school consisted of Vampires and human children being fascinated by each other. Hunger for blood was obvious in their eyes, but the Prince had sent several older Vampires to the schools to keep the young ones in check.
Eventually a kind of peace or "understanding" came between the Slayers and the Vampires. The two sides agreed that they wouldn't kill one another. The Slayers did warn the Vampires though, that if one of them killed a Slayer without cause, then the Slayers had every right to kill that Vampire. The Prince replied, through his grin, that if a Slayer killed a Vampire without cause, the Vampires had every right to kill that Slayer.
These were the terms they agreed upon years ago.
Konoha had a new major - the old major's son - and he kept his promise to his father that he wouldn't send the Vampires underground. The young major had even had the Prince help him run the city for the first few months of his role, and told the Prince that his Vampires had unknowingly stunted several criminals from Konoha and other cities by drinking enough of their blood to make them faint, making it easier for cops to get them.
After a moment of silence, the two had burst out laughing.
The ghetto was still rundown, but only on the outside. Inside the buildings, in the Vampire's rooms, the buildings were better kept. There was a popular club in a part of the ghetto that was closest to the public school called Saint Mary's (it really wasn't a religious school, but there were still a few nuns working there. They were as kind to their Vampiric students as they were to their human students). The club was called Dial, and it's pink neon sign sent light filtering into a room in one of the only houses in the ghetto - if the building could be called a house.
It was a long rectangular building with only two floors, and a ladder that led to the roof. Though only two floors it rose to the height of the Dial's fourth floor, making the house at least four stories high. The three rooms on the second floor were spacious, one of them currently unoccupied. The first floor had a large kitchen in it that was well furnished. In the living room there were a few couches that ranged from being made of leather to being bean bags. There were about fifteen bean bags; five of which had been patched numerous times. The table of the dining room was made of heavy oak, and so were the chairs. The flat screen T.V. was very out of place in the metal home.
It was owned by a human woman, and in her keeping she had a Vampire boy. She'd taken care of him since he was five, after his father was killed and his mother left the city. The boy had been devastated, and often wanted to sleep next to her at night. She would hold him tenderly in the morning when he awoke shivering with tears streaming down his cheeks. Eventually she had to get used to another Vampire. To this particular Vampire she had developed an attraction. He had introduced himself as the boy's "keeper". Upon her confused expression he explained that he was more or less the Vampire boy's father now. He also added that the boy's father requested him to watch over the boy if something ever went wrong.
When the boy entered seventh grade he was the heart throb of the school - and most of the city. One day he had brought home six other Vampires - excluding his keeper who was already at the house - and that was when his nightmares stopped. His mind was instead often filled with the stupid things his friends did to make him laugh. The woman was grateful and the boys were helpful as well.
Now the boy was a teenager of seventeen years, and was currently banging his head against the steel wall of his room. He was bored, and needed something to do. So he pulled his black bunny hug over his bare chest. He fingered the cold steal necklace around his neck. Even though it was only a string of round silver beads, it was precious to him. He smiled at the memory when he took it out of a box on his tenth birthday - 'or was it my ninth?' - he couldn't quite remember. He had been so happy with it, and the woman, his replacement mother, was overjoyed that he did - it had been the only thing she could afford.
He slipped out the house, nodding at a few Vampires when they spoke to them. Music flooded out of the open door of the Dial. He strode slowly down the dark street, pulling the hood over his head. Once he reached his destination he walked inside, the bell announcing his arrival. To his dismay, he was the only one there. He waved shyly at the man behind the counter, then went to approach the rows and rows of blood cigarettes, looking for the right kind.
The blood cigarettes had been designed to assist Vampires who had either lost their fangs or didn't have any to begin with. Humans had been amazed to learn that only the Prince could create a Vampire; no other Vampire had the power to do so.
'He prefers... mint? No... oh, I remember,' he trailed his fingers lightly over the package labeled Raspberry, 'he likes raspberry.'
He looked over at the man behind the counter; his back was to the Vampire. The Vampire stared at the clock, letting his hand fall to his side. The packet came off the shelf and he closed his fingers over it, shoving both of his hands into his jeans pockets. He walked calmly out the front door, turned to his right and headed in that direction. As soon as he was out of the light coming from the shops window, he bolted. The man would've noticed by now. There would only be one pack missing from all the rows of cigarettes on the shelves.
He jumped over a black steel support beam, and he heard the man's startled yelp from way down where he was as the man noticed the teen and a packet of cigarettes was gone.
