Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Ino would be dead...Naruto and Neji would be...*coughs* well,...hehe....

Sasuke's Reign...year 3....

Fog rolled thickly through the opened windows as I watched sveral children playing in the courtyard. They were so naive, so innocent. They didn't have a care in the world. The sight should have made me smile...But I hadn't smiled in months, maybe even years...

Laughter off to my right caught my attention and I glanced at the elegant figure standing there, chatting easily with the new king. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and hung past her waist. She was batting her eyes coyly and pressing as close to the teen as she could get. My skin crawled with disgust as the dark-haired vampire licked his bottom lip and leaned forward, until their faces were almost touching. "Care to see my room?"

I felt my eyes roll skyward as the king led the young girl up the carved staircase. This made the third female to pay his room a visit in the last week.

'Stupid idiots.'

Ever since he had been crowned king three years ago, Sasuke had grown progressively worse. He was a glutton, that was for sure. He had nearly killed the last girl he'd been with, drinking her almost completely dry. He had had five guards executed for a conspiracy everyone had tried to tell him just wasn't there. And the women....

I rubbed my temples, trying to prevent the headache I felt forming. I really needed to get away...

I sighed and climbed up on the window sill. The children had wandered back inside and I couldn't blame them, since it was almost sunrise. I could feel the muscles in my thighs tremble in preperation for my leap. It wasn't very often I took the risk I was fixing to take, and the thought almost made me smile. Almost.

The ground flew beneath me as I launched myself out of the thrird-story window. It was child's play to land easily on the upper branch of one of the courtyard trees, without so much as scratch. I'd been doing it for years after all.

Several guards passed beneath me as they moved towards the castle, back to the shelter of the stone walls. They didn't even think to check the trees for any intruders as they passed and I shook my head in disapproval. Why didn't anyone ever think to look up? They might had caught me several times if they had...

When I was sure they were gone, I finished my escape, keeping to the trees, blending with the shadows....Then I was at the border of Castle Lands. The large grey stone wall loomed before me and my stomach knotted in nervousness I refused to admit. I had come here so many times before, but never had I gone over... It was forbidden.

'I'm so tired of all this...' I thought with a weariness that made my head fall forward, allowing my waist-length muddy brown hair to curtain me from the world.

I bit my lip in frustration. I was a coward, a fool who tried to defy the destiny i'd been born to. My father had tried to cross the wall only a year before,had believed that peace between the weres and ourselves could be made. And where had it gotten him?

Staked...and beheaded. By the order of Lord Sasuke....

Hate left a bitter taste in my mouth and made my blood run cold. Colder than ever before. My jaws ached as my fangs lengthened. I could practically feel his smooth throat ripping as I sank my teeth into him... I could hear him scream in pain as I plunged my fist into his chest and gripped the blackened organ that had once been a heart... Could taste his lifeblood draining, pooling onto the ground...

The chirping of a bird above me brought me back to reality with a jerk. The scene vanished and left me feeling strangely small and powerless. I had allowed it play for me several times, my one enjoyment in the cage I was trapped in. But this time I felt hollow, completely empty and alone.

My pale eyes gazed at the wall before me and I felt much like the mouse as he stared at the trap. Knowing it would kill him, but wanting the bait so badly...

I inhaled shakely and launched myself upward. I landed in a crouch, breathing heavily. My eyes had gone wide and I couldn't quite take in what I was doing. The feel of the stone beneath my feet was euphoric and the corners of my mouth twitched slightly.

"Hey you!"

I frowned at the sound of that voice and tried to pretend I hadn't heard it. It didn't work. My muscles locked and I could feel myself trembling.

"Hyuuga? What are you doing? You know it's forbidden! Get down!"

Seconds passed, seeming like hours, as I contemplated what I was doing.

"Neji!" A different voice. This one was furious and I could feel his eyes burning into me....My uncle. "Do not make the same mistake as your fool of a father! "

My wavering determination solidified in that moment, as anger and pain long held in check exploded. The very air around me seemed to thicken and began to move, swirling like a mini tornado. I snarled at the stunned expression on the ancient's face as I stood, slowly, and turned to face him.

I was truly calm, perhaps, for the first time in my life. I willed the raging wind to extend outward, like a cocoon, shielding me. This was my birthright. The inheritence of the Hyuuga bloodline. This was a power that had been denied to me, and yet had found me...somehow...

I watched as my uncle gathered his own power and sent a powerful blast of air streaking towards me. I could feel his anger and hatred embedded into the attack.

I froze. Every nerve in my body screamed at me to move, to run. I couldn't. My breathing quickened and my chest tightened. Every second of my short, miserable life flashed before me. I knew in that instant I was going to die. And I didn't care.....

This was the end. I would finally be free. Like my father....

"It's hot!"

Azure eyes rolled skyward. "it's barely fifty degrees. You are not hot."

The brunette whined obnoxiously as he crouched beside his friend. "Yes I am! It's like...boiling point!"

"It's all that fur. If you'd shed it like a normal Clansmen you wouldn't be hot...baka."

The boy whined again, stomped off towards the nearest tree and plopped down, his pout firmly in place. "I'm not a baka...Foxy"

Again, the eyes rolled. A tanned hand combed through blonde hair as he sighed. "Whatever."

"Naruto!"

The blonde glanced up with a frown. "What is it Reika?"

The girl was gasping as she finally stopped in front of him. "You...h-have to help! ...The h-hunters...they...found a...V-Vampire...outside the wall..."

Naruto jumped easily to his feet. "And?" His position on vampires was a well-known thing. He had never tried to hide it.

"He's unconscious.... and Lord Aizen wants him interrogated...and killed!"

He scowled as reached into himself and summoned the Power. He could feel his bones cracking and popping as they repositioned themselves. Felt the warmth of soft reddish-orange fur as it covered his skin. He ignored the gasp of surprise from the young girl as he bunched the muscles of his legs and jumped. Not many people ever saw him in this form...and for a reason...

Kiba appeared next to him, easily keeping pace in his wolf form. Why would a half-dead vampire appear out of nowhere on our side of the forest?

Naruto thought about that and shook his head. I don't know. Maybe he didn't. You know Aizen lets his hunters go beyond the borders. He has a grudge against their kind.

Kiba frowned, not liking where this was going. Reika was a good friend of theirs and wouldn't have come to Naruto unless something really bad was going on. He suppressed a shudder. Naruto was probably not going to like this, whatever it was.

Kiba bounded through the doors of the large castle and launched himself at the guard that was shaking the barely conscious creature, growling out insults. He knocked the man back a few steps and positioned himself between the still figure and the angry Weres.

One guard moved forward, ready to pounce just as the doors were once again shoved open. This time however the effect of the new presence was instantaneous. Everyone stilled, eyes widening at the golden-skinned Were that moved easily, authoritively, towards the small group. Red eyes flashed in fury at the scene before him.

"Who ordered this?!"

A murmer passed through the crowd then, "I did."

The man that stepped forward was tall, elegant, and completely insane. Naruto arched an eyebrow. "By who's authority? I certainly didn't permiss such an act. Nor did Lady Tsunade."

The afore mentioned Lady stepped from behind angry blonde and knelt beside the beaten vampire. "I know I didn't."

"You are too soft! Our people will suffer for your tenderness!"

"Silence!" Naruto's voice echoed with ear-shattering intensity throughout the large room. He moved to kneel beside the older woman with concerned eyes. "What happened to him? What did you do?!"

A soft moan caught his attention as peered down at the pale form. He was badly burnt, probly from exposure to the sunlight, and his hair was matted to his face and shoulders by mud, sweat, and blood. Naruto sniffed and picked up the scent of magic.

'Aristocrat? But if that's the case then why...?'

"Naruto, take him to your chambers if you wish. Kiba will accompany you. I'll be right behind you to see to his injuries as soon as I finish with our problems here, alright?"

Naruto nodded and lifted the near-weightless creature in his arms. His eyes widened in surprise as he carried him up the stairs and into his room. What was he made of? Paper?

Kiba hurried around him and closed the single window before he found a small scrap of leather,and hung it over the glass to block out the sunlight. "That should do the trick, bro."

The blonde offered a grateful smile to his friend as he lay the brunette on his fur pallet on the floor. "Probably not what you're used to, but it will have to do for now...sorry..."

Tsunade opened the door as quietly as possible and moved to kneel once again beside the injured vampire. It took several hours of work, but eventually Tsunade announced that "The kid will live".

Naruto shifted closer to the boy and touched his cheek. "He's so...pale...."

Kiba and Tsunade backed discreatly out of the room as tanned fingers combed through muddy brown hair. There was a softness in those blue eyes that neither had seen for almost a year. A gentleness that had nearly been forgotten.

She closed the door and eyed Kiba with a frown. "Call for Pein. I have a job for him."

_____________TO BE CONTINUED

Well? Tell me watchya think... See Panda? LOOOOONG chapter! just like I promised!!!

lol...pleaze R&R...you may flame if you feel you must....but know it will probly make me cry....*sniffles*