Disclaimer: Yeah, don't own it.
Sasuke was not used to dreaming.
He never used to remember his dreams when he was young; they were just scattered wisps floating through his mind, too elusive to catch a hold of. And when he was a vampire he never got to sleep at all, so dreams became nothing more than an urban legend, or a fairy tale.
But now…
He dreamed.
All. The. Time.
At first they were just inconsequential: memories of his childhood, or watching a sunset with Sakura, and once even drowning in a giant bowl of ramen. Silly, whimsical things. Harmless. He almost welcomed them- they proved he was alive.
So when he fell asleep the night after they "rescued" Ino from Shikamaru, he expected his unconscious to be plagued by nothing more than the cotton and fluff that he had slowly grown used to.
He was wrong.
It started off innocently enough; he was sitting on a porch with Naruto and Sakura, which made perfect dream-sense even though he lived in an apartment with Hinata and the closest thing they had to a porch was the crumbly windowsill the white-eyed girl tried to grow her herbs on. The sun began to set, and Sakura rested her head on his shoulder.
"This is all so perfect," she said, and his heart began to race. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
"Yeah," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, "It really is." Thumpthump-thump. It was beating too fast, all of the sudden. Much too fast. He sucked in a deep gust of air, trying to calm himself.
"Sasuke," Sakura asked worriedly, "Are you alright?" He gasped.
"My heart," he said, "It hurts!" Thumpthump-thump.
Thumpthumpthumpthump…..
Then nothing.
He clutched his chest in agony, trying to force his heart to start beating again. But it stayed motionless in his chest, like a chunk of stone. He turned to Sakura for help, but it wasn't Sakura anymore. His brother sat next to him on the porch swing, a smirk on his face.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you little brother?" He whispered, "You're living on borrowed time. Remember…" His red eyes narrowed in a sort of vicious satisfaction, "When I will it, your heart will stop. And I refuse to let it start again."
His brother disappeared in the blink of an eye. Sasuke snarled, then felt his fangs pop out of his mouth and began to panic.
"Naruto!" he said, "What are we going to do?!" The blonde smiled at him sadly, tracing the outline of his tattoo through his T-shirt. Sasuke watched in horror as his friend's eyes turned red and his whisker scars grew more prominent.
"There's nothing we can do," Naruto said, his voice lowering to a growl, "It's hopeless." Then a monster stood in Naruto's place and its wild tales were lashing, and Sasuke felt the thirst begin to build up in the back of his throat until it became unbearable…
He woke with a start, choking on a scream as he clutched his heart with both hands. He felt it beating steadily under his palms, the dependable thumps soothing him as he sighed in relief.
"I'm fine," he murmured the words like a mantra, "I'm fine." He turned to see Naruto snoring loudly on the pullout bed next to him, looking more like a monkey with his sprawled out limbs than the monster Sasuke had seen in his nightmare. "He's fine to."
Sasuke put his arm over his eyes, trying to forget the images that had haunted his dreams. But all he saw was a pair of red eyes staring back at him.
"I'm coming for you," they seemed to say, "Don't get to comfortable in a life you can never have."
Sasuke didn't fall back asleep for a very long time.
Sasuke was gone by the time that Naruto woke up.
"Where'd he go?" he asked Hinata through a yawn. The girl blushed cutely and shrugged, turning her attention to the stove as she scrambled some eggs to hid her red face.
"He said he had something to do and rushed out," she said softly, "He seemed worried about something, but he wouldn't tell me what about." Naruto frowned.
"I don't get him," he said, scratching his head, "He had a really bad nightmare last night, though. I pretended to be asleep when he woke up so he wouldn't be embarrassed by it, since he's such a tough guy. But maybe it his to do with that?" Hinata nodded in agreement.
"Probably," she said worriedly, "I just hope he'll be alright." Naruto smiled at her.
"He'll be fine," he assured her, ruffling her hair. She squeaked. "I mean, he's Sasuke, after all. Nothing can get to him!" Hinata smiled at him shyly, obviously relieved.
Naruto grinned back at her, but inwardly he was concerned.
'How bad must a nightmare be,' he thought, 'to scare someone like Sasuke?'
Not so far away, in an old abandoned warehouse with the windows barred tightly from sunlight with well-placed wooden planks, a monster was laughing.
"Everything is falling into place," he said, his voice a breathy hiss, "But we need to start on our end of the bargain. We need to give our associates the boy… and then I get what I want." His yellow eyes became slitted with pleasure. Another man smiled at him.
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," he said, "But until then, you need to keep your strength up. Shall we fetch you something to eat?" Orochimaru nodded lazily.
"Yessss," he hissed. His assistant made a swift gesture with his hand; almost immediately, two vampires walked into the room dragging a struggling girl between them.
"She will do," Orochimaru said, standing up slowly. He walked towards the girl with predatory grace, licking his lips as her screams intensified. "Hush, my dear," he soothed, touching her face gently. She shuddered.
"You're rather lucky, you know," he told her as he inched closer to her neck, "Your death is a stepping stone for me to become the most powerful creature in the world. You should feel privileged."
"You're a monster!" the girl snapped, and then gasped as Orochimaru bit down on her neck and began to drain the blood from her veins. Her screams grew hoarse and weak until finally she fell silent, her body collapsing into a lifeless heap onto the floor. Orochimaru stepped back and licked his lips, looking at her body with a hint of disgust.
"Yes," he said, "I suppose I am."
A/N: Wheeeeew!! Geeze guys, I am SOOOO sorry that this chapter took so long. But it is here now, and I hope that everyone enjoys it. This chapter is important because it is the one that really starts to move the plot along (yes, there is a plot!).
So, I lovelovelove reviews. I promise that if I get a ton of reviews I will make sure to update straight away. And if not.... Well. There might be another month-long wait until I update. And we don't want that! :P
