Red Moonshine

Yondaime

The Fourth

"Dammit Sasuke, focus!"

"I am focused!" Sasuke gritted out, thrusting a stake into a third vampire. He barely had time to brush the sweaty bangs out of his eyes before another one leaped at him. Only, when he was about to stab it through the heart, it exploded in his face.

"I had it covered, Jiraiya!" Sasuke said crossly. He sneezed at the left over dust as a silver bolt clattered to the ground. A larger man jumped down from the warehouse rafters, strapping a cross bow to his back when he touched the ground.

"Liar," the old man spat. "I know your kind; you think you're young, strong, handsome, and your libido can't be satisfied by hunting demons night after night—"

"Don't group me in with you," Sasuke muttered, dark eyes visually searching the warehouse. Noon sunlight filtered through the hole Jiraiya had made with a fire spell. Sasuke tightened his grip on his stake, just in case there were any vampires left.

"So let's go clubbing tonight, just you and me!" Jiraiya patted Sasuke heartily on the back, almost pitching the poor boy forward. "We'll have some drinks, pick up some chicks. Can't have that sex drive of yours affecting your performance on the field now, can we?"

"I told you not to group me like that! And besides, what's with the sudden change in attitude?" Sasuke brushed off his jeans and then his midnight blue shirt. "What woman in their right mind would sleep with an old fart like you any way?"

"You're no fun!" Jiraiya complained as he picked up his bolt and reloaded his crossbow, careful not to cock it. "Even Yon-yon would go clubbing with me!"

"Fourth Shadow?" Sasuke was mildly surprised. "I can't really see that."

Process for clearing out a nest: step one, stake out. That was done the past week, in rotations shared with the other members of the Fire Agency. They had to assess how many vampires were sleeping there, and how strong the vampires were. Luckily, this warehouse housed only two dozen sub par vampires. Then there came step two: cleaning out the nest. This was done in daylight, when they could ambush the sleeping vampires. Then Jiraiya produced some hand seals and melted a large hole in the corrugated iron roof, unrestrained sunlight killing off half a dozen vampires instantly. The ensuing fight was fun, but brief. And now came Sasuke's least favorite part: Step three, recovery.

Well, it was less of a recovery than it was taking what the vampires had in their possession at time of death (or Time of Dusting, as Jiraiya put it). Though the warehouse was pretty much empty, there was a truckload of wooden crates to one wall that the vampires had been guarding. Sasuke kicked aside a black cloak, but it got tangled around his boot. Sighing, he picked it up to tuck it away in his knapsack.

"Whoot! We've got ourselves some alcohol here!" Jiraiya pried off the top of a crate, and held up a bottle of green glass filled with a dark liquid. Sasuke knew little about alcohol, being under aged and opposed to drinking in any case, but supposed it was grape wine. What was strange though was that the bottle was shaped with a wider bottom than wine bottles he remembered having seen. Then again, he could be wrong.

Sasuke trotted over to Jiraiya and eyed the white haired man as he looked through the crate interestedly. "You shouldn't drink it," he warned, anxious to get back to headquarters as soon as possible.

Jiraiya grinned and popped the cork with his pocket knife. "It can't hurt to taste it, right?" He put the bottle to his lips and took a hearty swig. He spat it back out immediately. Alarmed, Sasuke slapped Jiraiya's back as he continued to cough. The older man wiped his mouth and held the bottle to the light.

The stench of blood was nauseating.

"We should take it to Fourth Shadow," Sasuke corrected himself.

Jiraiya was pushing the cork back into the bottle opening. "Yon-yon it is."

Sasuke carried a heavy crate filled with mismatched bottles cushioned by newspaper and straw down the street. Jiraiya strode ahead of him, a crate carried easily on each shoulder. Sasuke had only been part of the agency for a few months and counting, and he was still getting used to the extraordinary strength his allies displayed.

The Fire Agency's headquarters was located in a beat up house on the bad side of town. It was family owned and operated, the current head of it being the Fourth Shadow, as Sasuke knew him. The next in line was the Fourth's cousin, Tsunade. The Agency was small, of course. Most demon slayers worked alone, and the few factions that worked together were small.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as a kid his own age stepped out of the house. His eyes roamed up and down from the kid's red hair to his fish net shirt to his sandaled feet. Sasuke felt a chill as his eyes landed on the character tattooed to the kid's forehead in red. And then the feeling was gone, the red head brushing past him and continuing down the street.

"Wind Agency's Shadow," Jiraiya supplied, pushing through the open door. "It's rumored that he's a demon and kills with his bare hands. He never sleeps, and his eyebrows were shaved off and glued to Maito Gai's."

In the kitchen, the burly man set down the crates on the square table, and began unpacking them, setting them out carefully so that the bottles, of all shapes and sizes, did not tip over. Jiraiya announced over his shoulder that "We're back!" in a voice loud enough to wake the dead.

"Welcome home," a voice said dryly from the doorway. Sasuke looked to see a busty blonde, but Jiraiya just waved a hand without looking. He continued unpacking as Tsunade sauntered in, curious. She picked up a bottle and opened it. "Did you go out and buy alcohol? You know we're low on cash."

"I found it," Jiraiya said, apparently not noticing (or just ignoring, Sasuke wouldn't be surprised,) Tsunade lifting the bottle to her lips.

"I wouldn't drink tha—" Sasuke started quickly, only to trail off into a gag when Tsunade spit out the red liquid.

"Yuck," she said, wiping her mouth. "Call Neji down here to taste this." Sasuke nodded and headed towards the staircase. "Jairaya, how many cases of this were there?" he heard Tsunade ask.

"A lot. I can only imagine how long it took for them to kill enough to make these."

"Neji, why are you sitting at my desk?" Sasuke asked from the doorway to the room he shared with Neji.

The boy in question looked up from the picture frame he was studying, unnervingly white eyes blinking in what Sasuke supposed was Neji's deluded version of innocence. Neji was lounging in dark pajama pants and a grey t-shirt from a Konoha University fundraiser, feet on Sasuke's desk, chair tilted back on its hind legs. His long, ebony hair was tied back in a long ponytail, mark of ownership shining on his brow. A smug smirk crossed his aristocratic features and he tapped his fingers on the glass protecting the picture within the silver frame he was holding. "Cute blond," he drawled.

"They've got blood samples for you downstairs," Sasuke said stiffly, his fingers tightening over the door frame.

"Oh?" The demon licked his lips. Neji wasn't a blood sucker, but human blood was always nice. He set the picture down—on the wrong side of the desk, Sasuke noted—and brushed past Sasuke with an air of excitement.

Sasuke huffed as he let go of the door frame and entered his room, stripping off his shirt and tossing it to his bed on the right wall. Sasuke had known Neji since high school, but that didn't make them friends. In fact, they only knew each other because Sasuke was heir to the Uchiha clan, and the Hyuuga family practically adopted him as their own. He never would have thought that, four years later, they would be roommates.

Sasuke paused as he pulled a fresh shirt over his head, looking at the picture with a growing irritation. He moved over to the desk, picking up the frame and running his fingers over the glass. The picture it self was a simple one, a reluctant Sasuke being pulled into the picture by his energetic best friend-slash-rival. The blond was giving his usual fox faced grin and a two fingered peace sign. Sasuke's finger rubbed over the blond's whisker marks. He would rather have stayed with Naruto, but if was going to train under the Fourth Shadow, he would have to live at headquarters. He had only been gone a few months, but he was missing Naruto like crazy.

The corner of Sasuke's mouth turned sharply downward, and he pushed the frame face down on the table. He was getting nowhere if he just stood around thinking, and he still needed to give his mission report.

"Mission Exterminate Nest in Warehouse Seven successful," Sasuke reported. He and Jiraiya stood in front of the Fire Agency's Shadow, giving their mission report. "Crates of bottled blood were found in the warehouse. An estimated twenty crates were there. Three crates were brought back to headquarters, where Neji identified it as virgin's blood. Also, a black cloak with red clouds was found." Sasuke pulled out the cloak that he found, and laid it neatly on the Shadow's desk.

The Fourth Shadow, Arashi, nodded in interest. His elbows rested on the desk in front of him, fingers steepled together in front of his chin. "It seems that Akatsuki is on the prowl."

"Akatsuki?" Sasuke questioned.

"Vampire gang," Jiraiya supplied. "Like the infamous Organization XIII, except closer. Here, in Konoha. They're in Suna too, and are growing in numbers. The vampires we killed today were weak pawns. By the way Yon-yon, I saw Gaara on my way here…"

"Just a friendly meeting between heads of Agencies." Arashi chuckled, running his fingers through his spiky mullet. "Though nothing's friendly with Gaara, especially around the full moon. Speaking of which, Sasuke, you're taking the night off."

"What?" Sasuke was incredulous and a tad angry. "Why?"

"You've been working non stop for two months now. You're tired. You can't handle full moon duty tonight," Arashi explained. He stood up from his desk and closed the folder on top of the messy stack. "The full moon emboldens creatures of the night, and you'd have to be an idiot to go against them in your condition."

"I'm not tired!" Sasuke protested, but he knew Arashi was right. He was worn to the core, and a good night's sleep would probably do him good.

"He looks like the Fourth," Neji noted casually as he lounged on his own bed. Propped open was an advanced psychology book he was reading for class. "Your year, right? A year below me?" Sasuke only grunted in reply.

Why was he still awake? Neji usually slept through the morning and well into the afternoon. Sasuke was curled on his side, facing the wall. He had decided to take Arashi's advice and get caught up on sleep, but now the suddenly conversational demon was keeping him up.

"I remember. He was dating Sakura-chan about the time I started living here. Lee talked about her all the time. He wouldn't shut up."

And not only was the demon talking, he was talking about Naruto. Sasuke missed his friend enough already without having salt rubbed into his wounds. Neji was taking sadistic pleasure in reminding him of what he didn't have. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and concentrated on counting the spots where paint had been chipped off the wall. If they had a window, he would count the clouds. Unfortunately, there was none.

"Didn't you end up living with him—?"

"Shut up!" Sasuke finally sat up and glowered at the older boy. Neji just raised a bemused eyebrow. Sasuke snorted and crossed his arms, turning his face away from Neji's. "I mean, can you talk about something else? Like, virgin's blood. How does that taste?"

Neji practically lit up at the mention of blood. "Oh, it was a treat." He held up a beer bottle of the red stuff. "It tastes sweet and fresh, like daisies in the spring."

"You've eaten daisies?" Sasuke said dryly.

"The texture is so smooth and it smells like things Heaven should be made of," he continued, ignoring Sasuke. "The price of virgin blood has been going up lately. Blood banks don't register whether or not the donor is a virgin, and virgins are getting harder to find now. You know, I heard that vampires have an innate ability to sense a virgin. I'm thinking about becoming a vampire. Do you think I could do that?"

A loud knock on the door saved Sasuke from having to answer. "Neji!" the muffled voice of Tsunade called out. "Get ready to go. It's almost sunset!"

"Coming!" Neji called back. He grinned smugly at Sasuke and jumped off of his bed. He was already dressed, and Sasuke wondered vaguely when he'd done that. Neji flicked the off switch on the ceiling light, and paused with his hand on the doorknob. "Have fun house sitting, dead last."

Sasuke snapped at the nickname. Suddenly, he had Neji by the throat and slammed him against the bedroom door. "Don't," he rasped, eyes darkening in anger, "call me dead last." Neji just smirked triumphantly.

"Mm, but you know you're getting left behind, right?" The older boy slipped away from Sasuke's death grip and melted into the deep shadows cast by Neji's desk lamp. The door opened up, and Sasuke caught a flash of Neji as he laughed and dashed into the lit hallway.

Now that Neji was gone, Sasuke could actually sleep. But with the noisy demon gone, he ended up thinking instead. Akatsuki. Where did he hear the word before? Akatsuki. Now pacing in the near darkness, Sasuke almost tripped over the bottle Neji left lying on the ground. Sasuke frowned at it, and remembered how Jiraiya promised that they would go drinking and clubbing. Jiraiya was an annoying, perverted old man. Sasuke remembered how Jiraiya once went to the University when he and Neji went to register for the next semester. He had hit on every woman he met, inviting them to go out with him to Atsu.

Sasuke's eyes widened. The Red Moon. It was that popular club all his classmates seemed to go to, even Naruto. Suddenly, he was not feeling tired anymore.

Neji licked and polished his silver dagger as he leaped from roof to roof. He just loved the night of the full moon. It was the one night he could wreak the most destruction. Tonight's hunting had been particularly good; it was only ten at night and he'd already killed a handful of D-class vampires, a demon that possessed people after intercourse, and a werewolf that was running around the University campus. In fact, he was going to get himself a drink to celebrate.

Red Moon was the most demon infested nightclub in the entire district. They even offered medical blood as a drink, labeled Bloody Mary, of course, so that any humans wouldn't find out. Neji came in for a drink now and then; the atmosphere didn't really suit him, but he came out here when he was out hunting, on a break. "Neji-kun, yeah!" the bartender with lengthy blond hair greeted. His hair was high in a ponytail, except for the piece covering his left eye. "You haven't been in for a while, cutie. I missed you, yeah. We just got a new drink. It's called Virgin Mary and I thought I'd let my favorite customer taste, yeah! Do you want one?"

Neji grinned at him. "Thanks, Deidara." The bartender winked and bustled off.

Neji watched the club; there were all types of people there. A little more than a third of the attendees were human, and the entire place reeked of smoke, sex, and alcohol. He even spotted a few of his classmates from the university on the dance floor. The loud music and the spinning lights were starting to make his head hurt. How could people stand coming here every week?

"Here you go!" Deidara was back, setting down a glass of red liquid in front of Neji. He smiled weakly at the blond. "It's essentially a Bloody Mary, only it's—"

Deidara's voice was getting distant. Everything was. The music was starting to dull, and Neji's head was hurting like hell. He'd barely taken a sip of blood when white-hot pain flashed behind his eyeballs, and a deafening scream rang within his ears.

Hinata! Neji's head lifted instantly, surprising Deidara. "Neji-kun, are you—?"

"Apologies, Deidara. I have to go." Neji jumped up from his barstool, and quickly made his way out the door. Something was terribly wrong.

Deidara sighed, picking up the glass and moving it over to another customer. "Here's your usual—" Deidara stopped mid-sentence when he noticed who he was talking to. "Ah, I'm sorry. I'm afraid I had you mistaken with a regular customer of mine, yeah."

The kid with black, spiky hair raised a slender eyebrow at the bartender. Deidara had never seen him before, but he did look familiar. Also, Deidara thought, sniffing the air, this boy was only a human. A pretty hot one at that. He could have sworn—"What do you want to drink, yeah?" Deidara asked his new customer, whisking the Virgin Mary away. He would drink it later himself.

"Ginger ale, please," the human said politely. Deidara just smiled and turned to get the soda. When he turned back, the human was chatting up a certain blond Deidara had become accustomed to seeing around. Or rather, it looked more like Naruto was chatting up the human. Deidara was mildly surprised; Naruto rarely came around to chat, and as of late, he had never been seen without a certain vampire. Maybe he and the human already knew each other through classes?

"Here's your ginger ale, yeah! Naruto-kun, would you like a drink?"

"Yes please!" the blond said excitedly. "I want a beer!"

"You're underage, dead last," the human said, rolling his eyes.

"You're not my mother, bastard!"

Deidara chuckled and got Naruto a beer anyway. He would have stayed and chatted with them, partly to see if Itachi really condoned Naruto being with another man and partly to protect Naruto if something happened to that end, but he had work to do. Just as well, he figured. He needn't worry; Itachi would have a good grip on his spawn. They were probably just catching up with each other.

Later, Deidara was taking a cigarette break in the cool air outside when he spotted a heated make out session between the two people he had seen earlier. "Do you wanna come to my place?" the brunet asked throatily as the blond held him roughly against the dirty brick wall.

Deidara was floored when Naruto, Itachi-spawn, accepted the offer.

She was screaming so loud Neji could feel her throat tearing. "Hinata-sama, where are you?" he muttered angrily, trying to follow the red string that connected them. He followed it to a sudden expanse of green—the district park. Artificial rivers twisted through artificial hills, trees rose from the ground, mocking him as they waved in the slight wind.

He could hear her now. Not just in his throbbing head, but through his ears. "Hinata-sama!" he cried out. "Hinata-sama! Where are you?"

"Neji-niisan?" Her voice was hysteric, sobbing. If he melded into the shadows, he could make twice the time.

Hinata had stopped screaming, her voice hoarse and raspy as she cried. Near the center of the park, she was on the little fake key between rivers; the water ran swiftly, but the rivers were only a couple meters wide. She was wet from the breast down, cradling a mangled arm. Neji was furious at the werewolf pacing the bank across from her.

It yelped when he appeared out of nowhere, pulling out his dagger to stab its heart. "No!" Hinata cried out. Neji almost hesitated, but that was enough for the wolf to roll away, only getting a stab through a front paw. It growled at the demon, but he growled back just as ferociously. The wolf yipped and limped away.

"Hinata-sama!" he yelled. "Hinata-sama, are you alright?"

"My arm is nearly torn off!" she cried hysterically.

"Don't worry Hinata-sama! I'll help you!" But he was really biting his lip, frustrated. Hinata was a smart girl, crossing running water to get away from the werewolf. Dark creatures couldn't cross running water. Unfortunately, Neji was a dark creature. "Dammit," he cursed under his breath. He dug out an injection needle Arashi had equipped him with. It was a Wind Agency product, a gift from the Shadow's grandmother. The serum was supposed to prevent a werewolf victim from changing, but if he couldn't get it to her in an hour, it wouldn't work. Neji fumbled through his pockets for his cellular phone; he could think better now that Hinata wasn't in mortal peril, but he had already wasted twenty precious minutes since the wolf bit her. "Come on," he muttered at the phone impatiently as it rang. "Pick up, Sasuke!"

The phone went unanswered.

"Stupid dead last!" he exclaimed, dialing another number. "Hinata-sama's been bitten," he started before the person on the other end could even greet him. "I need someone to come to the park right now. She's across the river, so I can't reach her. I have Chiyo-sama's serum, but Hinata couldn't inject it on her own. Arashi, send someone to help her!"

"Shizune will be there as quickly as possible. In the mean time, are there any bridges you can cross?"

"It's the key in the center of the river. No one is supposed to even be on there." Another five minutes wasted. Frustrated, Neji paced along the bank of the river, resisting the urge to howl. A few minutes later, Shizune still wasn't there. And Hinata was—

"Neji-niisama," she called out. "Neji-niisama, don't be disappointed in me."

Neji's eyes snapped to where Hinata was sitting, shivering in her wet clothes and cradling her bloody arm. As he watched, her skeleton reshaped itself, and fur sprouted up along her entire body. Bones creaked loudly, and the stench was disgusting.

Chiyo's estimations of an hour before a victim turned were wrong. Either that, or Hyuuga Hinata was below average.

Live from R-chama's Lair:

This chapter must be the longest chapter I have ever written. It is twice as long as the last chapter, which on its own is still longer than my average chapter. I pride myself in taking good care of trying to make my Naruto stories longer than my other (cough yugioh) stories, but I didn't take as much care in this chapter, since it was already so freaking long (at least for me). I mean, there are freaking contractions still in the narration! It probably doesn't bother people as much as it bothers me, so I'm not going to spend another day revising and making people wait. Also, I don't think I could have dared trying to catch everything on my own.

I hate action. I can't do action. Writing Neji was difficult. Writing Deidara was too, but fun (even though I didn't get him right). Deidara's narration of Sasuke and Naruto is a little skewed.

Story notes (in which you get a cool opportunity):

Please note that I am not proficient in Japanese. I know stuff from limited research that I do. If I make any mistakes, please feel free to notify me.

The character for Akatsuki means "dawn" or "daybreak." I accidently had it broken up into "Aka" and "Tsuki", which mean Red and Moon respectively. Oops.

Note 1: The red string of fate that connects Neji and Hinata does NOT mean they are destined lovers, just that they are connected in a special way. Or maybe they are destined lovers. Who knows?

Note 2: "Dead Last" is a translation of "dobe" that I particularly liked from the subs I watched.

Notes 3: Whoever tells me who the werewolf is gets a minor monster named after them. Deadline: When chapter three, tenatively "Weasel" debuts, seeing as the werewolf is named therein. (/incentive to review)

Tune in next time for even more characters and more plot and Itachi's clique.

All standard disclaimers apply.