Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.
Gai picked up his frail charge, carefully moving out of the sight of the Main family. He couldn't believe how much they had made his pupil suffer, even after he had almost run completely out of blood. They just kept drinking from him, almost like they really didn't care for him at all. Like he was to be thrown away after that.
The older vampire felt something clench in his chest and had to loosen his grip, realizing he was completely numbing Neji's arm.
He abandoned the facility and sweapt through the afternoon breeze, carrying his charge underneath the dark pink sky, running as fast as his vampire legs could carry him, to the only place he knew was safe. His house was out of the question, since it was so far away. And Neji's was in turmoil now; there was no way he could go there. They would only expect him to already have replenished his blood, since he is "the oh-so-genius-vampire-of-the-branch-family". He hated the way they mocked him for feeling an ounce of self-respect. So what if people called him the genius of the family once in a while? He got the best grades in the whole bloody school! And if there was a way to be a igood/i vampire, then he certainly was. If there were some ridiculous vampire-test, he would've passed it with flying colours!
Stupid Head family... he cursed them for putting his Charge through this hell.
"Yes," Unoe replied, "the Uzumaki is Kalika-sama's new favourite, so I advise you to treat him accordingly."
Naruto brushed himself off and smirked, before turning and leaving. He just hoped beyond hope Kakashi got the message and stayed where he was.
"Well it ain't a party without an idiot, so I guess I'll be going with ithe/i Uzumaki, then."
"Do whatever the hell you feel like," Unoe replied, uncaring, "just make sure he gets back to Kalika-sama in once piece."
"I'll try," Kakashi smirked, if only to ward her off. He wasn't going to be ordered around by someone like Unoe. Kalika-sama, alright. And Unoe might be stronger than him, but she certainly wasn't his boss. He enjoyed annoying her and pushing her buttons.
Naruto was already walking away, deciding to just sneak into the Uchiha mansion if things turn out that way. He had an odd feeling they wouldn't, and that Kakashi was here for a ireason/i besides the banquet. There had to be some kind of explanation for the guy to just show up unexpectedly.
"Hey, mister hot-shot, follow me," the silver-haired vampire ordered.
Ah, and there it was.
"Mmmh..." A pained look covered the brunette's face as he subconsciously turned around (or at least tried) in his Mentor's hold.
"Easy," Gai softly reminded him, "we'll be there soon."
But Neji didn't hear him, being so out of it that he barely understood full sentences.
"I just hope he's home.." Gai muttered.
"You know, I have something to show you."
Naruto stopped. He wasn't used to this kind of talk from his Mentor; especially not on the man's own accord. If he was lucky, he imight/i be able to upush/u Kakashi into spilling something like that, but as of now, it seemed as though the world had flipped around and changed its course.
First he was treated as one of the best vampires that ever lived, and now his Mentor had something to ishow/i him? What was going on? Were they living in upside-down world where he was the genius and Sasuke the hand-me-down-throwaway?
"What is it?" he ask in the end, still determined to find out more about his Mentor. He's always wanted to know why Kakashi could be a stone-cold prick one moment, and a caring guy the next.
And as he'd already expected, Kakashi didn't reply anymore. Naruto knew he wanted to prickle his curiosity to make sure he would follow him, but it didn't matter since he had to follow him anyway. He was momentarily key-less and couldn't get into the Uchiha Mansion looking like anything but an Uchiha. Oh, and let alone getting into the Uchiha District; all those people looked for was black hair and dark brown eyes. Sure, he could play it off as having his mother's eyes, but how would he explain his wild spikes? Something went wrong with his DNA? No. And besides, if something ihad/i gone wrong with his DNA and he was born in the Uchiha family, they would've killed him when he was still a baby. And secretly, he was thankful for being from no-one's clan.
"Ah, here we are."
Naruto looked up and gazed at the normal-sized house; one that was too big to be only for Kakashi. He'd always thought the man lived in some small appartment building with a cat as company or something like that. Preferably a black one, since of course, they were vampires.
Naruto took off his shoes when both were inside and looked around in his search for the black cat. What attacked him, though, was nothing like a cat and nothing less than a surprise.
A huge dog pummeled him straight to the ground and barked loudly in his face, pushing him down with its heavy paws and growling at him.
"Woah, Bull, calm down," Kakashi told the dog in a nonchallant fashion. "Come on, come here," he cooed the bear, (or so Naruto would call it) to the kitchen.
"So what was it you wanted to show me?" Naruto asked, brushing himself off and waiting for the man to return, not in the mood to hang out any longer than he had to.
"It's upstairs."
Naruto visibly paled at that comment and Kakashi could tell.
"In the attic," the older vampire added and his charge let out a slow breath.
"No, I knew that," the blonde lied.
Kakashi shrugged and left for the attic; Naruto on his heels. But when he wanted to follow Kakashi up the stairs he'd just unfolded, he tripped over a line of 5 other dogs who had skillfully passed him and raced up the stairs to get to their master.
Upon hitting his head on the hardwood floor, he shouted, "How many bloody dogs do you have?"
Kakashi smirked down at him from upstairs as he scratched one of the dogs behind its ear. "You know, I wouldn't call them 'bloody'; they have their doubts on whether I would eat them or not."
Naruto swallowed and decided to let the comment rest as he -slowly- made his way upstairs as well.
Gai skidded to a stop, certain that his rival's house was around here somewhere. Neji groaned and his Mentor could see the veins underneath his eyes thick out more than was usual. Even with starving vampires, their veins were never as clear as Neji's were now. And even for a composed, older vampire such as himself, something like this was definitely nerve-wracking.
"Hold on, Neji."
"What's that?"
"This here, is a pendant of the symbol of your mother's clan."
Naruto froze.
"Can.. Can I see it?"
Kakashi nodded, but held out his hand.
"What?" Naruto asked, slightly taken aback.
"I'll swap with you. If you give me that silly little bracelet, I'll give you the pendant."
"If it's so silly, why do you want it?" the blonde asked, anger written all over his face. IWhat a dirty trick!/I
"Well, I have a feeling I can do a great lesson on that. You know, teach the kiddies about Kalika-sama."
"If you wanted to do that, you could have just taken a picture of her and ran."
"Yeah, that is like me, isn't it? But unfortunately, I didn't think about that, and I'm going to need the bracelet now."
"Why do you want it so badly?"
"Because this is a very important lesson."
"Quit lying, I know you are. So just tell me what the meaning of this is and I might consider giving it to you."
Kakashi sighed and hung his head. "Look, Naruto.. that bracelet is more.. powerful, than you can imagine. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen if you just keep it out in the open. We'd better either destroy it or store it away for some other time."
Naruto swallowed. He understood Kakashi's point, but the burning sensation in his chest told him this bracelet was ihis/i and only his. Kakashi wasn't allowed to have the gift ihe/i got from Kalika-sama.
"You're serious?" Naruto smirked. iWell, it might disappoint him, but I want this thing. So I'm just gonna have to play the game here./i "Are you really serious?" He started to laugh. "No offence, sir, but I believe you've gone bonkers. This thing is nothing more than a gift from Kalika-sama and I would much prefer to keep it. After all, you don't get rid of a gift, do you?"
"Naruto, you can't even begin to imagine how dangerous this is!"
"Since when do you care about danger?"
"This is more than just some stupid little fear that our school's reputation might get destroyed! This is the destruction of a whole nation! Or worse; of the entire planet!"
"It's just a bracelet, Kakashi."
The man whacked him against the wall within the blink of an eye. "I'm done playing games with you, Naruto. Hand me the bracelet."
"Fuck off!"
"NOW."
Naruto snarled and hissed, struggling underneath Kakashi's forearm when the vampire tried to snatch his bracelet away.
"IT'S MINE!"
"Yeah, well, so many things are unfair in life. Get used to it."
"Go to hell," Naruto snarled.
"Whoo, somebody hasn't had any blood today."
"Give it to me!"
Naruto's eyes were changing colour and he seemed to take on a mysterious, feline aura. No... it wasn't like that even. It was worse. He seemed like some rabid creature, ready to tear off Kakashi's limbs.
The older vampire backed away a bit, getting into a fighting stance to ward off his charge.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
The window to their right shattered and pieces of glass litered the floor. There, between the two, stood a bobby-bowlcut Gai with his charge, Neji, in his arms.
Naruto immediately returned to normal and he gazed over at his friend.
"A match? Oh how very youthful! Let us join after we've fixed Neji up!"
"Gai?" Kakashi asked. He stood up straight and glanced over at the brunette in the man's arms. It wasn't like Gai to actually iseek help/i for his charge, unless something was absolutely wrong. He did the same with himself; he believed his body could heal itself, unless it's so weak it can't even rest.
So, since this was only normal considering it was GAI's student, he wondered if the boy was even still alive.
"Oh, Naruto-kun, you're perfect for the job!"
"Huh?" Naruto raised a brow.
"You see, our young Neji here has lost some of his youthfulness! And we must recover it!"
Neji slightly stirred, groaning raspily.
"O-okay. Just put him down," Naruto ordered, standing on their side. Gai lay Neji down gently and looked up at Naruto expectantly.
"Neji?" Naruto asked, not sure whether the boy could hear him or not. "I'm going to give you some of my blood right now, because I'm going to have to bite you."
Neji stirred pitifully, eyes still shut. It was like the boy's face was frozen or numb or something.
Naruto prepared himself and bit his hand, allowing little droplets of blood to fall into Neji's slightly-parted mouth. He then moved on to Neji's neck and bit as gently as he could, doing his best to transfer all of his energy to the other vampire.
When he pulled back, he motioned to Gai to come over. "He's starved. And I don't mean just in the need of blood, he's about to die. What happened?"
"It was the Head family. They wanted his blood."
"Well I suggest you give him at least half of yours if you want him to stay alive. I'll give him as much of mine as I can give him as well, but the thing is, his body can only really use yours right now. It knows yours and it's worked with yours before. He needs you right now."
Gai nodded and sat on Neji's other side, holding out his arm.
"I'm going to bring him to a state of consciousness," Naruto explained, "but only so he can drink your blood. So don't talk or anything like that. Don't distract him. Not that he will be easily distracted; especially since he's probably going to go wild for blood anyway. Are you ready?"
Gai nodded again and Naruto sucked in a deep breath, before placing his lips back on Neji's neck, only over a throbbing vein, and breathed out.
Neji awoke like a dead person who came back to life, struggling for breath as though he were drowning. His nostrills flared and his eyes were bright red. He looked like some kind of maniac creature. Albeit how near-dead he looked, Naruto had been right and Neji appeared to have enough energy to scrounge his body into an obnoxiously shivering state and sit up straight so he could get to Gai's arm.
Naruto stood up and walked out of the room. Kakashi followed silently and the two of them waited outside until they were done.
"Here you go."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama."
"So, just out of curiosity; where are you going for the rest of your vacation?"
"Small-talk, Tsunade-sama?"
"Perhaps. Don't avoid the question. Tell me about your life." Her lips curled into an amused smile and he could tell she wasn't the least bit interested in his personal life at all. All she cared about was whether he was going to pull a stupid stunt now that he got his rapport card.
"I think I'll go see some of my friends who're spending the week in Tokyo. You know; big city and all, tourist attractions and whatnot. Looks more like Europe than any part of Japan."
"Yes. You do that."
He bowed, turned, and opened the door to leave.
"Oh, and don't forget to enjoy yourself."
"I will, Tsunade-sama."
"Naruto?"
"Hm?" Naruto looked up from his cup of tea. He had been staring at it all afternoon while the three of them waited for Neji to return to his usual self.
"I wanted to thank you," Neji admitted, sitting down beside him. "If it weren't for you, the Head family would have been burying me by now."
Naruto smiled feigntly. "No problem. Just make sure not to scare us like that again."
Neji glanced down. Naruto could tell his eyes were clouded and his thoughts must be the same. "Yes," the boy lied, "I'll make sure to do that."
But the blonde could already tell that such a thing wasn't within Neji's capabilities, and it was impossible to promise such a thing. If the Head family wished to do it over again, they would. As strong as Neji may be, it wasn't within his powers to stop a whole clan.
"Haaaa... that was one tiring train-ride!"
The old lady to his right glanced over at him, but he just ignored her. The second time she glanced over at him, he took a mental note to make sure not to keep looking foreign or strange. And the third time she looked at him, he gave up and smiled at the old lady, before stating,
"Why, you look lovely today, madam! Could you, by any chance, tell me where booth 6 is?"
The old lady grinned a nearly-toothless smile and replied, "Of course young man, it's over there, through that hallway to your right. Do you have a certain destination in mind?"
He smiled. "Aw, much younger than you I'm certainly not. And yes, as a matter of fact, I do."
The woman chuckled cheekily before asking, "Where is it, maybe I can help you?"
"Hiroshima. I'm looking for the Uchiha district. Do you know where it is?"
"Of course! I'll help you find it."
"Thank you!" he smiled big-time and left with the old lady.
Naruto walked the dark streets in silence, trying his best to keep his thoughts from floating to the surface and bothering him. He was already being smothered by worries of his past; this truly wasn't doing him any good.
Still though, he glanced down at his wrist and at the orange pendant his mother had worn before him.
i "You did a good job."
"Hmm?"
"With Neji. You healed him. Good job."
"Thanks."
"So, I guess I should keep myself to my promises."
"What?"
"Here you go." /i
Naruto fingered the pendant Kakashi had nonchallantly dropped into his open hand only minutes ago. He shuddered at the thought of the years it mustn't have gone through in the older vampire's attic, and how cold and lonely it must have been all by itself. And then he realized the thing was just a piece of jewelery and that it didn't have any emotions whatsoever and felt like an idiot for thinking such a thing in the first place. And THEN it snapped into his head that this icky thing had been around his mother's lovely wrist and that he was basically touching something she had touched only a little over a decade ago. And that was what made the tears of blood find their way to his eyes and colour them red.
Being him, he didn't cry. But the tears stinging his eyes were enough for him to know that at least he didn't lack the emotion to be happy over something he ishould/i be happy about. For this was something extremely important, and in a way he was happier with the pendant than he was with the bones-beads.
i Funny word; bones-beads... /i
"And you are?" Sasuke looked the boy up and down, slightly squinting his eyes in a disapproving manner when he took in the sight of the other teen's eyes. Was he a vampire or not?
"Mikeru," the cocoa-haired boy smiled politely, "I came here to see Naruto-san."
"Naruto? You came to the iUchiha district/i to see an Uzumaki?"
"I heard he would be going here. We're friends."
"Right."
Sasuke gave him another sly look, though, before letting him in.
Mikeru immediately searched for his friend, going right up the stairs instead of looking around first. It was weird, especially by taking it into consideration that not only was this not his home and it was sort of rude to barge right in, but also because he shouldn't have a clue where Naruto was.
"Naruto-kun?"
"Huh? MIKU?"
Sasuke hurried upstairs to see what was going on. What he saw, though, he hadn't expected. Naruto grabbed Mikeru by the collar of his shirt and drug him to the other end of the hallway, fummeling in his pocket with his free hand. When he was done, he pushed a little, torn paper against MIkeru's chest and demanded,
"What does this mean?" in a growling voice.
Mikeru merely smiled.
"Is he a vampire?" Sasuke asked.
"He isn't. But I'm pretty sure he's more than a human," Naruto replied.
"I am. But not really. You see, when you were born, several humans were sought out to become your chosen one. These humans were nothing but babies, unable to think or speak for themselves and unwilling to understand what was going on. It was easy to take them."
"Why? What's going on? Why is my clan so important? Why does everybody seem to know more about them than me?"
Out of nowhere, the window in the hallway opened up and Naruto's Mentor, Hatake Kakashi, jumped inside.
"Mikeru-kun, do you mind if I spoke with you?"
"Not a problem, Hatake-sensei."
Sasuke turned to Naruto. "I know he's a teacher, but why are the two of them so formal? School's over; it's vacation. They shouldn't be acting like this."
Naruto nodded. "It's like something bigger is going on besides being a vampire and a human. It's like there's some kind of level two or something. And believe me, if that's the case, I'm gonna be the one to beat the final boss and win the game."
Sasuke's expression turned from "you're right" to "you're an idiot" and he replied, "I don't think that's the case, Naruto. But there just might be some kind of 'level two' or however you put it."
"Let's go eavesdrop."
"Really? ...You just said 'eavesdrop?"
"Well whatever. Let's go listen in on their conversation."
"Good idea."
"I don't believe it would be best if Naruto-kun knew about his heritage."
Mikeru's expression turned from polite to vicious in a split-second. "Then it wasn't such a good idea to give him the pendant, was it, Hatake-sensei?"
Kakashi sweat-dropped. "Indeed it wasn't..."
"At any rate," Mikeru cut in, "I wasn't planning on telling him anything until Kalika-sama gives us the sign. I'm sure she's already lining up everyone she has complete control over. And when she's ready to make Naruto one of her soldiers, I will tell him."
Naruto stepped in. "Tell me what?"
"Konan. Is this her?"
The female with the dark blue hair turned to face her companion.
"Yes. That's her, Yahiko."
The orange-haired man got a little closer to the glass door on the balcony they were standing on, getting a better look at the girl with dark blue hair just like Konan's, only much longer.
"I can't believe Kalika-sama wants a word with iher/i. She doesn't look powerful at all."
"Well, Kalika-sama's orders are strict. We must simply obey."
"I suppose you're right."
"Nothing, Naruto-kun."
"Eavesdropping, Uzumaki?"
"Yes, and for good reason! What're the two of you going on about, why are you being so secretive, and why is it about me?"
"That's a lot of questions which each require more than a day's explanation. So let's start off with something happy, like, for instance, me passing my exams!" Mikeru smiled, but Naruto wasn't easily fooled.
"I'm extremely happy for you, now tell me what the hell's going on."
Mikeru's smile dropped and he stared at the ground. "Unfortunately," he began, "we haven't the permission to tell you. But I can tell you my part, if it helps?"
Kakashi visibly paled and kicked Mikeru's leg underneath the table.
"I don't believe you will know much more about your clan or your family's history. But no-one ever forbade me from talking about myself. So.. I hope it helps."
Kakashi sighed. "I guess there's no helping it."