With the rain in Naruto's eyes it was getting harder and harder to see. Lightning scorched the sky and he saw clearly the tree in the courtyard ahead of him as he stumbled forwards. He could feel the thing pursuing them.
"Who- who is he?" he asked, pulling Sasuke along with him.
Sasuke coughed, his throat still trying to work after Shikamaru expertly almost caved it in. "He's -- he's my brother--"
"Your brother?"
Only a few steps to the door, only a few steps to the door-- "Your brother is a vampire?"
A vampire who landed gracefully in the watery grass ahead of them, standing between them and the door. Naruto turned instantly, yanking Sasuke the other way, trying to move as fast as possible. "Your brother is a vampire?" he repeated.
"Forgot the stake at home--"
"You carry a stake around with you?"
Of course he does, Naruto thought; he carries ninja weapons around with him.
"Tried to kill him a while ago," Sasuke said. "Didn't work."
"No, apparently not. Well, don't feel bad about it." Now they were over the wreckage, trying to get to the dark of the cafeteria. "He is a vampire, after all."
A vampire who leapt gracefully through the air, touching down, again blocking them off from escape.
"Stop toying with us!" Sasuke snarled. "You goddamn bastard!'
When Itachi stood up fully, his face moved into shadow, his expression vanishing. Softly he said, "What will it be, Sasuke?"
Sasuke's voice was low, shaky with anger: "You go to hell."
Itachi began to glide towards them. Naruto realized the water was freezing to ice around the vampire's feet, the grass dying and turning black instantly with every step.
Naruto tried to back away; too late: Itachi grabbed him, lifted him from the ground, one hand squeezing the breath out of his throat. Oh god-
"Let him go!" Sasuke shouted.
Itachi turned his gaze onto the boy. He said, "You know what I want."
"So take it! Take me! Let him go!"
Itachi watched Sasuke steadily, then, slowly, ponderously, he released Naruto, set him down, his gaze never leaving Sasuke's. Quietly he said, "Come to me."
Sasuke took a step towards the vampire; Itachi held out his hand.
Naruto pushed off his feet, tackling the vampire, throwing them both into the darkness of the cafeteria. He heard Sasuke scream his name, but the last thing Naruto was going to do was let this creature hurt Sasuke. He just wished Itachi wasn't so damned fast. The vampire seemed to only shrug and suddenly Naruto was sliding across the cafeteria floor, banging painfully against every chair and table along the way, coming to a stop against the wall.
God, he could barely move. He tried desperately not to black out, to get moving, to get up.
He'd always been a fast healer and even as the busted lip Jugo had given him had healed, his cuts and bangs now were already closing up, letting him get back to his knees. "Sasuke," he heard himself say. There was the anger now, building up, that fatal anger he'd spent most of his waking life trying to quell. Keep positive, he thought; stay optimistic.
There had been times when it got loose, when reason gave over to sleek wrath. That was usually how he was kicked out of foster homes; that or the shadows had caught up to him. Something would happen and there would be damage.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Itachi approaching Sasuke, who stumbled, backing away from him. Sasuke had nowhere to go; how was he going to outrun the vampire? Or outfight him? The anger doubled. Naruto felt like he had a liquid molten core, burning away everything inside him that was flesh and bone. He got to all fours, growling, and sheer power invaded his blood.
"Get away from him," he snarled.
He was too angry to notice the bushy fox-tail that had sprang from his back. He cannoned towards Itachi.
The vampire caught him by the throat and threw him into the tree. Naruto barely noticed. Adrenaline was turning everything into a sped-up film He landed, not noticing the second tail that had appeared.
Sasuke had fallen down. He stared at him, eyes wide. "Naruto?"
Itachi watched Naruto, expressionless. Naruto flew at him, snarling, landed two kicks, came down at him with his fingers bent like claws. Itachi threw him to the ground and he instantly rolled to a crouch, a third tail appeared.
This time he hit Itachi hard enough to knock the vampire back a few feet.
Itachi stared. "Huh."
"Naruto!" a voice shouted.
It was Iruka, of all people, pulling himself from the reflective surface of the collected rainwater. Bleeding and battered, he yanked himself out, landed in a crouch. "Naruto! Naruto, look at me! You have to calm down-- calm down."
Naruto turned to look at him, and at first barely recognized him, just another piece of meat to tear apart in his rage.
But then he saw Sasuke, who was staring at him, who said his name.
The film slowed down, the volume turned back up, and the molten flame bled away. The tails vanished into shadow. "Sasuke," he said. "Iruka? What are you doing here?"
"Very interesting," Itachi said. "Now, then, let's--"
It was as if the sky parted and let glory blot out the world. It lasted only a second, but it was a god-second, a second that sent every bit of Naruto's nerves crackling and sparkling. There was a tearing sound and a roaring like the moon had just collided with the earth. Flame burst up and Itachi hissed, flying back into the his dark shroud, back into the shadowed cafeteria,
It took Naruto a second to figure out what had happened: the tree had been struck by lightning.
Iruka grabbed him, pulled him along, dragging Sasuke behind them, shoving them into the school, into relative safety.
Running down the halls with him, he said, "The lights are out."
"The power's off in most of the school," Sasuke said. "I can hear the dance still going through; the gym must still have electricity."
"We need to evacuate the building," Iruka said. "Then we need to find Kakashi. Naruto, Zabuza's after you, and-- was that a vampire?"
"We should pull a fire alarm," Sasuke said. "Get everyone out that way."
Naruto didn't say anything. Half his brain burned with fear, the other shame -- how could he let the anger take him over again? Was he that weak?
The floor burst open ahead of them and foul water exploded forth, knocking them back. You're mine, children, the water hissed in Zabuza's voice.
"Back up, back up," Iruka said, retreating. He looked, found a fire alarm, and pulled it. A piercing siren rang through the school. Spigots on the ceiling turned on and water rained down onto them.
"Sure," Sasuke said. "Give him more water to play with." He shivered. "We are so wet right now."
Zabuza wasted no time: the droplets came together, formed a massive translucent fist -- it crashed into them, throwing them farther up the hallways, sending them sprawling.
"Urk," Sasuke said. "I knew water could hurt, but man--"
Naruto got to his knees, thinking wildly. They had to get somewhere with no water. Surely the classrooms would be dry -- there would be important documents in there, textbooks, notebooks that couldn't get soaked. Ahead he saw hundreds of students rushing out through the gym doors, heading for the exit. He noticed something: they were only getting soaked when they came into the hallway; they were dry coming out. "There's no water in the gym," he said. "Come on!"
As they reached the gym doors, the water reared back into a tidal wave and surged towards them.
"Oh good god," Iruka said.
Naruto got the door open in time; they fell into the gym as the water crashed down against the door.
It was dry in the gym, wonderfully dry. They got to their feet.
"Where do we hide?" Naruto said.
"No hiding," Iruka said. "Go through the fire exit over there."
"Outside?" Sasuke asked. "Itachi could be out there."
"We need to find Kakashi. He's probably outside with the rest of them."
The fire exit opened. Standing in the rain, framed by lightning, was Itachi.
"Goddamn you, Itachi!" Sasuke shouted.
"The stage!" Naruto said. "Hide backstage!"
They made it to the stage and threw themselves over, running behind the curtains into the world of wires, stage props, elevators, change rooms. It was very dark.
"There must be a fire exit around here," Iruka whispered.
Naruto watched through the curtains. Itachi walked steadily towards the stage, black coat billowing about him.
The center of the gym's floor exploded and the water main erupted, spraying water towards the ceiling. Damn, Naruto thought.
"Thought they could outwit me?" Zabuza shouted, coming through the gym doors. "I can bring water anywhere! ... oh, it's you."
Itachi regarded him for a moment, then turned back and began heading for the stage.
"No fire exit," Iruka said. "Well, this is certainly a safe way to design a school's backstage."
Sasuke looked up, followed the stairs up to the upper platform, where he saw a ladder. "The roof," he said. "That ladder leads to the roof."
Naruto went for the stairs first and Sasuke and Iruka followed.
Itachi appeared on the stage as they reached the upper platform. "Sasuke," he said. "You can't run."
"Uh huh," Sasuke said.
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw a figure perching on the other platform, hidden. Dismayed, he wondered who it could be-- who was this new threat?
Itachi's leg blurred and one of the supports for the platform shattered. The structure bent, one side tilting down horribly fast, tearing it away from easy reach of the ladder leading to the roof. Sasuke cried out, flying down, hitting the rail and toppling over. Naruto leapt after him, slid along the platform and caught his hand.
"God," Naruto hissed, teeth clenched, straining against the rail. "You need to lose some weight, man!"
"I'll keep it in mind--!"
Naruto pressed his other arm against the rail and wrenched as hard as he could, pulling Sasuke up. Why wasn't Iruka helping?
He saw why: Itachi had made it up the stairs and Iruka blocked his way. "You're not going through me," Iruka said.
Itachi blurred and Iruka flew back and collapsed against the rail.
"Oh god," Naruto said, pulling Sasuke onto the platform.
Itachi turned towards them. "Nowhere left to go."
Someone landed on the platform; it creaked with the new weight. "Uh huh," Shikamaru said. "Plenty of space to fight, though."
Crackling red energy exploded around his hand and a short sword appeared in his hand.
Naruto glanced at Sasuke. "Ever think our lives have been a little bit too ridiculous lately?"
Ten massive translucent fingers reared around the curtains, tearing them apart. The gym was exploding with water, floorboards bursting up into scraps of fake wood, pipes bursting and huge waves flying up and striking against the walls. Zabuza stood on a platform made of a frothy rapids. He was laughing and laughing and laughing.
Itachi and Shikamaru turned to stare at him.
"Yeah," Sasuke said. "Just a little bit."
"Naruto, you stay where you are," Shikamaru said. "I'll deal with these assholes."
Naruto glanced over and saw that Iruka had made it to the roof ladder. He was reaching out to them. It was a bit of a jump, but if Iruka had made it, surely--
"Time to kill some bitches!" Zabuza shouted, laughing, raising his sword.
Naruto and Sasuke ran forwards and leapt into mid-air as Zabuza's water crashed down against the platform, tearing the entire structure down. Iruka caught them, yanked them up, where they could grab the ladder.
As they climbed, Naruto looked behind him. Itachi was in the air, flying at Zabuza. Shikamaru had managed to grab a hold of the stage curtains and was climbing up them expertly, looking murderous.
Iruka shoved the roof door open and wonderful outdoor air and rain fell into their faces. They staggered out onto the roof and Iruka shut the door, looking around. "There has to be a ladder to get down now."
Outside. The wind fell into them, sending rain to try and soak them more than they already were. Naruto couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness through all the fear.
And a strange sight beheld them: beneath a small orange lamp, seated on a box, was a black umbrella, tilted so that the rain was not getting on a tweed coat. There was a small piece of folded paper propped on top of the coat.
Naruto approached it, staring. The folded piece of paper read: FOR NARUTO.
"Huh."
"Naruto?" Sasuke said.
"Umbrella for you," Naruto said, tossing him the umbrella. "Keep dry." He pulled the coat on. It was Kakashi's coat.
"No ladder on this side," Iruka said, sounding frantic now. He went to the other side of the roof, clambering over piping.
Why would he leave his coat for me? Naruto thought. He reached into the pocket, felt something heavy, even as the roof gravel and tar was buckling upwards ahead of him.
"Naruto-" Sasuke said, backing away from the buckling roof. "Get back-"
As Zabuza exploded out of the roof in a flurry of water into the rain, Naruto pulled the object out of the coat, and understood.
"Right," Zabuza said, running a hand through his hair, slicking it back. He shifted his sword from one hand to the other. "Let's see what colour of blood Naruto bleeds."
"I know you just bleed shadow," Naruto said. "That's all you are. Just a reflection. Just a trick of the light."
As Zabuza reared back with his sword, Naruto held his hand up, aiming the black mirror Kakashi had put in his tweed pocket.
Zabuza's eyes widened, seeing himself in the mirror.
"A reflection's reflection is just another shadow," Naruto said.
Zabuza gritted his teeth, tightened his grip on his sword, but there was still a clapping sound and he was gone, falling into the mirror, leaving only a dark imprint in the gravel.
The rain fell, the wind soared, and Naruto felt the tweed coat ruffle around him. He turned to see Iruka and Sasuke staring at him.
"Well, that was better than I thought," a voice said.
Naruto turned around.
Above him, perched on a pipe, was Kakashi, holding another umbrella above him, watching him through one drooping eye. "I was hoping you'd figure it out on your own," he said.
"Actually, I don't really understand it at all," Naruto said.
"You will, eventually."
"Kakashi?!" Iruka said, stumbling towards him. "You were here the whole time? Why didn't you help us?"
"Well, I figured the school will be closed for a few weeks as they try to fix all this damage this night has caused, so I thought I might as well make tonight a learning experience."
"You scumbag."
"Yeah."
Kakashi tilted his head, a smile in his eyes. He looked up. "It's starting to rain harder. I'll drive you guys home."
"What about Itachi?" Sasuke said.
"The vampire? I wouldn't worry too much about him." He opened his coat. Six or seven strings of garlic cloves lined him. "He'll use another exit."
ooo
The flashing lights of the fire engines played a strange sort of dance on Sasuke's face. They sat out by Kakashi's car, which was refusing to start. Kakashi let them keep a few garlic cloves while he and Iruka walked to Naruto's house to get Iruka's car. Naruto and Sasuke, exhausted, were happy to stay behind and watch the aftermath.
The fire fighters found no one inside, which meant Itachi and the members of Atkatsuki must have gotten safely out. Still, they had no idea what could have caused so much damage.
"It's almost pretty, isn't it?" Sasuke said, his voice low under the sound of the raindrops hitting the umbrella. "The lights, the stormclouds, all the leaves and rain in the air."
"Huh," Naruto said. "Didn't think you'd be the one to say something like that."
"We almost died tonight."
"Several times."
"I guess it has me thinking more about what's happening. Right now, I mean. The, hm--"
"Flush of life?"
"I suppose." He smiled. "I wonder if I won that dance contest."
"Maybe. I think you danced very well, actually."
"I'm sorry I never told you I had a vampire for a brother."
"That's okay. It's not the sort of thing that comes up in conversation, you know?"
Sasuke looked ahead. His eyes hardened, his mouth tightened. "He almost-- I couldn't let him hurt you."
"Well, thanks for the concern."
"Maybe we shouldn't-"
"What?"
"I thought maybe if we distanced ourselves in the future--"
"What do you mean?"
"He's going to be coming after you too. To get to me. He's my problem, I never should have--"
"You're asking me to not be friends with you because of some Dracula-wannabe?"
"I don't want anyone hurt."
"You don't want--"
"I don't want you hurt." He looked up, that burning intensity in his eyes. "He's not going to hurt you on account of me."
"That's not going to happen."
"What?"
"I'm not going to stop hanging out with you because of that goth-pansy-!"
"Are you joking me? Did you not see what that-- that-- that thing could do? He killed my entire family."
"What?"
Sasuke looked away. "I'm sorry. I should have told you. I didn't think he would ever--" He stood up, handed the umbrella to Naruto. "I'm going home. Maybe we could forget this. If I stay away from you, you'll be safe."
As Sasuke walked away, Naruto's mouth hung open. He knew that Sasuke was an orphan like him as well, but he never knew--
He stood up and threw the umbrella down to the ground, running after Sasuke. "Hey you!"
Sasuke stopped, a lone figure in the middle of the rain. He turned around and looked back.
Naruto stopped, exhausted, absolutely soaked, rain running down his face. He looked up into Sasuke's eyes. "You don't know how this shit works, do you?"
"Naruto-"
"Shut up! You don't know how it works! You walk away from me now because of that thing you're giving him power, you're giving him power over you and that means-- I mean-- you're always more happy around me than you are anywhere else, that's what I seem to notice. You actually smile around me, or something like that. It's something I've seen, and I'm not going to let you just-- you're not going to--"
"Naruto, I'm not going to let him hurt you!"
"He's not going to!"
"And I don't-
"Sasuke--"
They stared at each other, rain pouring off their faces. Lightning flashed in the background, it thundered, it rained harder. Naruto grabbed Sasuke and kissed him.
"Naruto-" Sasuke said, stumbling back with Naruto's weight.
They kissed again. Sasuke was the taller one and Naruto had to go onto his toes. Lightning flashed again, and turned the world into bright light for an instant.