Chapter 4: Vampire

Sasuke woke with a start. He sprang up in bed and looked wildly around. Everything was normal.

Was that all a dream? Did I dream that whole thing?

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rubbed his neck. It hurt slightly, like it was sore. Did he sleep crooked?

As he got ready for the day, Sasuke became very aware that something was amiss. After his morning shower, Sasuke went over to the mirror to examine his face and comb his hair. What he saw made him do a double take.

Or maybe what he didn't see…

He was looking straight into the mirror, but he was staring at wall behind him. No way… He waved his hand in front of the mirror, but he couldn't see its reflection. Next he held up the comb. It reflected but not his hand.

"I… I don't have a reflection..?"

No. No! That's impossible. It must've been a trick mirror or a genjutsu. But a trick mirror in his own home? Was that really possible? And what genjutsu? He was alone, so who could've put it in place? It didn't make any sense.

~*~*~

As strange as things were, Sasuke went on with training as planned. He'd sort this whole thing out later. Now he had more important things to tend to with his team.

A few blocks away, Shikamaru wasn't having a good day either. Ino had somehow managed to con him into shopping with her and giving his 'honest' opinion on the clothes she tried on.

"How's this?" Ino modeled a lime-green dress for Shikamaru to critique.

"It's fine. Can we go now?"

"Ugh, I don't know what your problem is, Shikamaru, but you've got the easy part. All you have to do is sit there and look at the outfits. I'm the one doing all the work." Ino turned back into the stall with an arm full of new garments to try on. "It's not gonna kill ya. Just sit there and be quite. I'll be out in a minute."

Shikamaru folded his arms and turned away in a huff. "How troublesome."

That's when he noticed the long-haired girl walking towards him. She sat on the bench across from him and smiled.

"Hi!"

"…hi...?"

"Shopping with your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"I see."

Shikamaru eyed her suspiciously. "Did you need something?"

She smiled again. "I'm so glad you asked," she chirped. "You're a ninja right? Then you must know a guy by the name of Sasuke wouldn't you?"

"Maybe." There was something about this girl that he didn't trust.

Not waiting for another word from the boy, Crystal locked eyes with him. "I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

Shikamaru stared deeply into her magnificent red eyes. They were stunning; simply mesmerizing. Suddenly, he felt compelled to do her bidding. He was completely willing to do whatever she said.

"Of course," Shikamaru drawled dreamily. He had a distant look on his face and his jaw was slightly slack, entranced by her eyes.

"Would you be so kind as to answer my questions truthfully?"

"Yes."

Pleased by his reply and encouraged by the glazed look in his eyes, she went on. "Do you know Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where he is now?"

A pause, then, "He usually trains with his team about this time. At about noon, they stop to have lunch. They come from that direction." He pointed lazily with his limp arm out the door near a side street.

She followed his idle gesture and nodded. Turning to her slouched zombie, she winked. "Thank you for your service."

Shikamaru's head snapped up. "Huh?" That girl was long gone along with half of his memories of the last two minutes. "What just… happened? I feel like… like I'm just waking out of a dream."

~*~*~

"I beat you, end of story!"

"You did not."

"Oh, yeah, I did. My kunai was higher than yours."

"Naruto, yours sagged. It didn't stay in the tree. It wasn't in deep enough. Mine was."

"Sasuke, that doesn't count! Mine was at least half a centimeter above yours. I won!"

"Why is everything a damn competition with you guys?" Sakura groaned.

Teams 7 had just finished their morning training with Kakashi and were on their way into town for lunch. Sasuke had managed to put this morning's mirror incident out of his mind and continued with the day as usual.

"Excuse me!"

The group turned. A young dark-haired girl was jogging up to them. The ever polite Sakura smiled and faced her. "Hello. Can we help you with something?"

Naruto meanwhile had a different reaction to the newcomer's presence. "Wow! Man, she's hot!" He received a swift elbow to the ribs by Sakura for that comment.

Sakura tried to cover up her teammate's rude remark with another smile. "I don't think we've met, have we? My name's Sakura. This is Naruto and over there's Sasuke."

"Pleasure. My name is Crystal." She complemented her introduction with a curtsy.

How mannerly! Sakura thought. "You're not from around here are you?"

"Correct. I'm here visiting."

While Crystal forged a believable story to fool the pink haired ninja, Naruto studied her from head to toe. Man, she was a looker! This girl was beautiful as well as sophisticated, truly worthy of the title 'crystal'.

Naruto wasn't the only one who had noticed. Sasuke hadn't taken his eyes off of her for a second. There was something about her that possessed a mysterious allure. Her beauty couldn't be measured or put into words. She was simply divine.

Sasuke had never felt like this before. His mind was reeling and his heart was bounding. What was this strange feeling? Why did he feel so attracted to her? Attracted? No way! Never!

It was true. Sasuke was completely infatuated with her for reasons he did not know. For the first time in his life, The Sasuke Uchiha was struck by Cupid's arrow and had fallen head over heels in love with a girl.

Unable to control himself, Sasuke found himself staring at the dark-haired girl constantly. Why couldn't he force himself to look away? He watched as the two girls talked to each other, engrossed in their own conversation. He marveled her hand gestures and watched her pink lips as they formed every word she spoke. He had no idea what their conversation was about, but he knew he would've been hanging on her every word if he did.

When she giggled along with Sakura, Sasuke could feel himself blush. Her laugh was enthralling. So what if he couldn't decipher these strange knew feelings? He liked them. He felt wonderful every time she opened her mouth. Just being in her presence alone was intoxicating.

That's when he became aware of the gazes he was receiving from the group. He straightened up and cleared his throat.

"So you're Sasuke."

"Uh." He gave a small squeak as he felt her eyes fall upon him. She was beautiful. He forced himself to look at her to give a proper response.

Her eyes were stunning. They were like two ruby jewels. Those enchanting red orbs were framed only by her long black lashes. The lightheadedness had returned. He could no longer remember what he was going to say.

"Nice to meet you, and your teammates. How do you do?"

Her voice was incredible, like the tinkling of bells or maybe a chorus of angels.

Suddenly he found himself unable to speak or move. He had succumbed to a mew feeling he was not familiar with: nervousness. He could only pray that she didn't notice the crimson hue that laced across his cheeks. The shy boy avoided eye contact as best he could.

That's when he noticed that she had taken a step closer. She was about three feet from him at best. This was too close for him. His blush reddened even more. Normally he would have been annoyed at the fact that she had gotten closer, but this time was different. As he calculated their proximity he became aware of a feeling that he rarely showed: fear. Being this close to her scared him.

Why was he so scared of this girl? Why did he feel this way? It was mind boggling!

"I said 'how do you do?'" She had repeated herself for the second time. She expected an answer. He had to respond.

Sasuke's face grew hot. He searched his mind for a suitable response. 'Fine'? 'Ok'? What would be a good answer? He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out. He shut his mouth, gulped and tried again.

"…F… F-fine…" he croaked. God, that was a stupid answer! He cursed himself for saying something, which he thought, was so stupid.

Crystal smiled. "That's good to hear." She checked his figure and her smile deepened. "I knew you'd have a name that's as handsome as you."

What he did next was THE most embarrassing, creepiest, strangest, out-of-character thing he had ever done: he giggled. Not just any giggle, but an ungodly, little schoolgirl kind of giggle.

"Tee-heeheeheehee-HA!"

By the time he had realized what he had done it was too late. He clasped his hands over his mouth, eyes wide as saucers. Sasuke's face turned a bright crimson and he began to sweat profusely. That was horrible! Even Sakura looked embarrassed for him.

Unable to stand the awkward stares of the group, Sasuke turned and bolted. He ran as fast as he could, still feeling Crystal's eyes on his back.

He rounded a corner and planted his back against the wall, panting. That was humiliating! Why the Hell did he do that? It just slipped out. No, not slip- it shot out! He had never been so embarrassed before in his life!

"I had no idea you were so shy."

Jumping about a foot in the air, he spun around to discover Crystal standing at his side. When did she get here? His jaw moved up and down but no sound came forth.

"Have you noticed yet?"

"Huh?" Curiosity allowed his voice to work.

"Anything different. You know, your condition."

He was so confused. "What condition?"

She seemed both impatient and amused. "So you haven't noticed a change? Oh, well, never mind. I'll give you some space. But once you figure it out I'll be right there waiting to take you under my wing."

Now very confused and a little annoyed, Sasuke asked, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Without giving an answer, she vanished. Sasuke had never been so lost in his life. What the Hell did she mean? What's going on?

~*~*~

Sasuke had a lot on his mind that night. He still couldn't bring himself to face his team after this morning's 'mishap'. Who was that girl? Why did he act the way he did in front of her? What was she talking about? None of it made any sense at all.

On the plus side, Neji was released from the hospital that night. He still couldn't remember anything, but at least he was well enough to leave. The medical ninja still had no explanation for what had happened to him but they hoped that it was a jutsu's doing and wasn't contagious.

Sasuke was preparing to fix himself dinner. Hamburgers sounded good for that night. He had already bought the raw meat, now all he had to do was fry it up on the stove.

Just as he was about to turn on the heat, he noticed something. The raw pink meat was dripping in blood. Normally he wouldn't care less about something so natural, but tonight it caught his eye. He moved closer, observing. There was something about the way that the dark red liquid reflected the light that was so interesting. His eyes remained fixed on the bloody meat. It was so tantalizing.

Independent of his will, Sasuke reached forward and picked up a handful of meat. Unable to control himself, he lifted it to his lips and sucked the blood from the raw piece of beef. It was delicious. He never knew that raw meat blood was so good. He slurped hungrily and soon the feast was finished.

Reality finally sank in and Sasuke realized what he had done. What had gotten into him? Was he just eating raw meat? Did he just drink blood?

Something wasn't right.

~*~*~

He tried to put the incident out of his mind the next day at lunch. Once again, Naruto had picked ramen for lunch, much to the rest of the team's chagrin. They always had ramen. Sasuke and Sakura were getting sick of it, but always ate it anyway.

Today, however, was different. Sasuke looked down at his bowl in disgust. It was the same ramen he always ate, so then why did it not appeal to him today? After one bite it was all Sasuke could do to keep from gagging. It was revolting. The hot soupy noodles tasted like ash in his mouth. He looked around to see if anyone else had a problem with theirs. They didn't, it was only his.

"Are you gonna eat that?" Naruto asked from the other side of the table. He was eyeing Sasuke's bowl hungrily.

"No, you can have it." Sasuke pushed the bowl over to his teammate and watched. Naruto slurped the ramen happily. He didn't seem to notice a strange taste at all. Only Sasuke had a problem it seemed.

Throughout the day, Sasuke began to notice even more strange things happening to himself. Not only did he not have a reflection and dislike ramen, he hated all foods including his former favorite: rice balls. Maybe it was just the cloudy weather that was affecting him, but he felt sluggish and drowsy; and it was only in the middle of the afternoon. He also had a strong desire to drink blood as well. Something was definitely wrong with him.

As he passed by a music store, he heard a very familiar tune. Soothing violin music was playing from the front of the shop. He turned and watched as a small crowd formed around the front of the store, murmuring words of approval.

He scanned the scene to find the musician responsible for the glorious melody. It was that girl from before, Crystal. She was playing the violin so skillfully one would think that she had been born doing it. What a performance!

Sasuke shifted his weight to one foot and listened intently. This music couldn't be described in words, or with feelings. It was not of this world. It calmed the soul, bewitched the mind and claimed the heart. It was spellbinding.

Something about this was so familiar. He had heard it somewhere before. Lulled by the enchanting music, Sasuke closed his eyes.

He was immediately thrown back into a memory as clear as day. He was dancing. Dancing across the ballroom floor with a beautiful female partner in his arms, catching the eyes of every dancer in the room. As the audience looked on with envy, they danced. Their dance was captivating, their routine flawless. It was as if they had been doing this for years. As he spun his partner into his chest, he caught a glimpse of her exquisite features. She had the face of an angel. The same face as the violinist and the girl from yesterday.

The one who bit him.

Crystal!

His eyes snapped open and he nearly toppled over in shock. He remembered everything. Crystal was a vampire. She bit him the other night. Now he was becoming a vampire, too!

As the song ended, her audience clapped and praised her. She set the instrument down and approached the only member of her audience who interested her.

"Hi, Sasuke."

Without a word Sasuke grabbed her wrist and pulled her into an alley. Once there and alone, Sasuke spoke. "You turned me into a vampire!"

"Oh, you remember!" She was unfazed by his harsh tone. "So does this mean that you're ready to start your training?"

"What training?!"

"Your vampire training, of course. You have to learn how to be a vampire, you know."

He glared at her. "Look, I'm not training with you and that's that! Now change me back!"

"Sorry, but I can't do that. It's irreversible."

Sasuke's heart sank. "What? So now I'm stuck like this?"

"What's the big deal? Vampires are stronger than humans. Now you've got so much power!"

Sasuke stared at her, his interest pique. "Power?"

"Of course!" She seemed very happy at his reaction to the word. "Vampires are super strong. You're at least ten times stronger now than you were before. If you like I can train you tonight. How's that sound?"

He stared at her unable to speak. He had been searching for power for a long time. He needed it. It's true that vampires are strong. Neither he nor Neji stood a chance against her and they were both very powerful. Maybe life as a vampire wouldn't be so bad.

Just then he became aware of a strange sensation. He felt gloved fingers as they coiled themselves around his hand. He jumped slightly as he realized that Crystal was holding his hand. Her red eyes sparkled with expectancy.

God, she was so cute! Slight pinkish hues appeared on his fair skin around his cheeks as the Uchiha basked in her radiance. He couldn't help but blush in her presence. She was amazing to look at.

"Well? Are you up for training with me tonight?"

"… huh?" He said dazedly. Realizing that Crystal had just asked him an important question Sasuke gave a small shake of his head to clear his foggy brain. He had gotten lost in her eyes. "Er, sorry about that. Wh-what did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to train with me tonight. I can help you control your powers and teach you the ways of a vampire."

Still holding her hand, Sasuke could feel himself shaking. He was acting out of his character. He was turning into Hinata! He had even started stuttering.

"Uh, w-well… I… I…" Why wouldn't this be easy? He had absolutely no problem whatsoever talking to girls before. She was different. He couldn't talk to her, not properly at least. Mustering up all his courage he finally answered. "I'll think about it. I'll uh… I'll meet you on the roof of my house tonight if I agree, ok? I-if I d-don't show up then it's a no. Deal?"

Of course he really meant to say 'yes' but for some reason he proposed a deal instead. He couldn't turn down her offer, but at the same time he just couldn't bring himself to say 'yes'.

As if she had expected his from him she nodded in agreement. "Fair enough. I'll see you tonight at your house. Oh, and you don't need your ninja tools, either. See you then."

With that she parted from Sasuke, pulling her hand out of his slack grip and turned the corner.

Sasuke stood there dazed, staring in the direction she left in. "Bye… Crystal…" he murmured his good-bye in a trancelike tone. His head was still light and his heart was aflutter.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

AWW! Sasuke is in love! But is it real? Now what?

Please review!