DISCLAIMER: Even though I desperately wished I did – I do not own 'Naruto' or 'Naruto: Shippuden'. If they were real, Naruto would be my best friend and Sasuke would be mine!

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru (main), AkuSasu (forced relationship), SaiSaku

A/N: No flames or mean comments, please. Saying 'No offence' only intensifies the offence felt.

THEME SONG: A Thousand Faces - Creed

INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE

"Suppose death had a heart to love and to release you, to whom would he turn this passion, would you chose a person from the crowd there. A person to suffer as you suffer."

~SASUKE'S P.O.V~

I turned my head away from the window which I had been brooding out of.

I saw the suspicious, resentful and frightened expressions on the faces of Sakura and Sai, Naruto's former teammates, now close friends; and the patient but wary expressions on both the Hokage's and Kakashi's faces as they waited for me to begin my life story.

I hesitated for only a moment before realising that these people sitting or slouching on the office wall in front of me were one of the few people in this powerful village who genuinely cared for Naruto for everything that he was and would perhaps become in the future.

So consequently, I felt that I would be able to trust them with my life story without fearing that they would use it for later evidence on how to finally erase me from this world once and for all. Smiling at them bitter sweetly, I turned my attention towards them.

"Understand is that my story is a rather sad one, and that some of the things that I have done, I'm not proud of, but they had to be done as a matter of principle and of survival. " I explained.

They nodded. I took an unnecessary breath in before beginning my story.

"I was born on July the 23rd in the year 1893. For about eight years afterwards, I lived quite harmoniously with my beloved mother, father and my older brother, Itachi…"

~FLASHBACK~

Konoha, 1901

Being a somewhat innocent child back then, I had never even heard of Vampires except for what my headmaster had taught me in the Academy here in Konoha, where I was being taught the way of the Ninja in an effort to impress my father and escape from the overbearing weight of my brother's shadow.

My father had this opinion that I should be able to effectively live up to my brother's example. Every failure was seen as a disappointment in his eyes, and I became resentful of Itachi because of it. But there were times where Itachi would stand up to Father and tell him to ease up on me, but these requests were denied and I was left in the shadows once more.

One day, I was returning from the Academy after passing an important exam with flying colours which would ensure that I would most definitely become a qualified Ninja.

"Excellent work today, Uchiha. Your father ought to be extremely proud of your achievement when you show him your test results tonight." My teacher reassured me.

"I hope so, sir." I had said, somewhat doubtfully.

I was delayed in going home because of the countless amounts of groupies praising me and asking me countless questions about my achievement, when all I really wanted to do was to go home and show my progress to my parents and hopefully gain their praise.

However, when I finally got there expecting to see my mother's smiling face and my father's usual stoic expression, instead I saw a sight that to this very second still haunts me. I had found my brother standing over the decapitated corpses of our beloved parents - the blood still slick on the blade of the sword he held in his shaking hands.

"What-what-what have you done!?" I screamed at Itachi.

I remember seeing my brother's horrified expression on his face when he realised how incriminating he must look standing there with our parents' blood still dripping freely from the weapon in his hands, and then he lowered the sword and started coming towards me.

"Now, just calm down, Sasuke. Let me explain what happened." He said pleadingly.

But at that point I didn't want to know what he was going to say. I had no words I could possibly say to the person I now viewed as my parents' slayer. No excuses that I wanted from him. No explanation.

I wanted nightmare.

I wanted death.

But most importantly, what I had craved at that moment was blood.

Ironic huh?

I leapt at Itachi, letting an anguished scream from my very soul echo out into the night - not caring who heard, or why. Using what weapon I could find at that moment, which turned out to be a branch that I recognised had been from our family's cherry blossom tree.

"Sasuke! For God's sake, calm down and let me explain!" Itachi tried to reason with me, but I ignored him eventually driving him away from a home I felt he no longer belonged to, because he had killed what I deemed to be the most important members of my family - ruthlessly snuffed out before their time.

I was only eight.

Konoha, 1909

Another eight years passed.

I was sixteen and I was returning home after accomplishing what I vowed to do that day I had found my parents ruthlessly cut down: destroying my older brother - after three years of training under a brilliant, but completely insane and perverted snake sannin named Orochimaru.

I was now extremely powerful, incredibly agile and very, very dangerous - and this was before I had become a Vampire. But of course, fate had other plans for me.

First, I discovered only after I returned that that my parents had been murdered by none other than a Vampire, who had been searching for a meal. My parents just happened to be the unlucky ones who had stumbled on the Vampire's path. Which meant, unfortunately, that I had killed my brother somewhat needlessly and that he was innocent all along.

So you can imagine that I was feeling extremely remorseful and depressed over what I had done and at that time, I had wished that I could take back my misinformed actions. But the worst was yet to come. And it would change my life forever…

I had only just reached my home, which was the old Uchiha mansion when I suddenly sensed a sinister, almost evil presence lurking behind me - which made me feel extremely uncomfortable and also incredibly annoyed as I suspected it to be one of my groupies who had somehow found out I had returned.

It frustrated me, because I would've thought that by now they would have forgotten me, or if they hadn't forgotten who I was, would've been so horrified and disgusted about the stories and rumours spread about how I had turned out that I didn't appeal to them anymore (at least, one could only hope). All I had wanted was to remain left alone without the presence of anyone so I could be content with the somewhat happy memories of how my family used to be, but now I had to deal with a new nuisance.

A nuisance that I would eventually come to know for the next 100 years as Akumu.

"Hello stranger, haven't seen you around here lately." Akumu had said pleasantly.

I remembered swearing colourfully under my breath before turning to face the woman, and I frowned realising that her voice had a strange almost inhuman tone in the way that she spoke. But at the time, I only viewed her as an annoying groupie that needed to be turned away immediately, so I could wallow in my self-pity, privately.

I turned away from her.

"Get out." I muttered coldly and loud enough for her to hear me, and proceeded to remove my sandals. I heard her chuckle and it sent an unpleasant shiver down my spine that I hastily shoved aside as I pretended not to hear her - but the chuckle sounded so… cruel and sinister.

Worse than Orochimaru in one of his sadistic moods.

I sensed her walking towards me using slow, measured steps and immediately something told me that this woman was dangerous, even though by appearances she looked completely harmless and I found myself subtly reaching for my katana.

When her slow footsteps didn't cease their movements forward, I immediately spun around and brandished the tip of my blade at her throat. But that only encouraged her to spread an evil, almost triumphant smirk on her face. I faltered slightly, but regained composure as I started to lay down my terms.

"I do not particularly want to fight you. Not because I would not enjoy hacking you limb from limb - I would not have any problem with that – it would be because I am tired and I wish to go to sleep. Now fuck off, or lose a limb." I warned the foolish woman.

But my threat fell of deaf ears and the woman continued moving forward, ignoring my sword completely. What she said next would alter what was left of my life forever - but not in a good way.

"How do you feel about, an immortal life?" She whispered into my ear and I blinked, mystified by her question.

"What?"

She smiled and I remembered that her teeth at that time were whiter than my shirt, and I couldn't help but be completely hypnotised and felt strange…

"Hmmm? How about being more powerful than you have ever been in your entire existence?" she murmured.

Now, all of you must understand that back then, any chances I saw to gain more power - I immediately took the opportunity with both hands, because I viewed it as another step towards avenging my family. Not even Naruto knows about this. Hell, I'm not even technically sure that he fully trusts me, but for the sake of the story, I'll explain it to you. You see, taking up the chance to become powerful beyond my wildest dreams was a big temptation, because I had already had enough power to take down my target, and even then I had taken my revenge on the wrong person.

Taking more power would be overkill.

Even now, I'm still trying to find out who really had cut my parents' lives short and when I found them, try to atone for my actions towards my brother by spilling their vile blood upon the ground.

So I did what anyone would do in my place: Rejected the opportunity.

"No thank you. I am fine the way I am." I replied, foolishly sliding my sword back into its holster and turning away from my enemy - a rookie mistake that I would soon pay dearly for… with my life. And I exacerbated things even further by ignoring the bitch's advances.

"Now I will say this for the final time. Remove yourself from my parents home!"

The next thing I knew Akumu had wrapped her cold hands around my throat and tightened her grip. I fought for my survival that only exhausted myself and earned inhuman laughter to hit me square in the face from the woman standing in front of me.

I was terrified, but not for the first time in my life - Akumu had become a foe that I could not fight against no matter how strong I was.

"What are you?" I croaked, as I clawed desperately at her arms and tried to suppress the shudder I could feel crawling up my spine at the feel of her unnaturally cold skin which was now pressed with brute force against my windpipe.

Her face came closer to mine and I felt the bile rise in my throat as her putrid breath filled my nose and tickled the fine hairs on the back of my neck. I saw my life flash before my eyes as I felt my body freeze the moment I felt something pin-point sharp touch the pulse point of my neck.

"It all depends on what you believe, Sasuke." She breathed into my ear in a sing-song voice and I flinched when she licked the shell of my ear.

"Can you imagine yourself not aging, having more power than you can possibly dream of, and owning the strength of ten ninjas combined while the world around you shifts and changes?" She urged me to imagine such a possibility and I couldn't help but see it. And for a second, just one, I could see it, and it was…tempting.

But it also held the promise that I would never grow accustomed to the fact that I would never die and would be doomed to see the world around me fade away, leaving me behind with nothing to look forward to, and never growing old. It also, I found myself realising, eliminated any chances of settling down and raising a family of my own so I could repopulate my clan like I had promised myself and my parents the day I buried them - and every Christmas after that - that I would do.

And that filled me with a corrosive anger, I had sacrificed everything to achieve what I had just done - and I had no desire to abandon my plans for my future just because some freaky bitch with breath that could curl nose hairs, promised me eternal life.

"I have no desire for what you speak of." I croaked once more, still trying to set myself free. The pin-point sharpness punctured deeper and I bit down on my lip, stifling a scream.

"I was willing to play fair, love. But you have no choice in this matter – you will be mine and no one else's. Prepare yourself, because this is REALLY going to hurt." Akumu snarled into my ear, and I knew for a split second that all my plans disappeared before my eyes, and pretty soon all I could feel was Akumu's fangs sinking agonisingly slow into the soft flesh of my throat.

The pain was indescribable, and I could barely remember anything except for the rusty aroma of the blood Akumu forced me consume to complete the transformation process. But even then I was co-horrent enough to understand what would happen next and I made a last ditch effort to escape.

"Drink damn you! Or you will die, do you want to die this way? Your soul will forever be damned this way if you do not!" she had urged me and I chose immortal life, instead of the damned life as a vampire's food.

~END FLASHBACK~

Konoha, Present Day - Tsunade's office

I turned my head away from the window I had during my story looked distractedly out of, and was surprised by the expressions I now saw on the faces of my 'captive' audience. I had half-been expecting completely disgusted and stubbornly unrelenting expressions on their faces.

Instead, Sakura had turned a ghostly white and had tear tracks glistening on her horrified face, while Sai who I had heard many times from Naruto, was still learning about emotions and had an expression close to disapproval on his face while he had his arm wrapped tightly around Sakura's shoulders as he tried to console her.

The adults in the room, Tsunade and Kakashi, had grave, sympathetic expressions on their faces that for once I didn't mind seeing there. I stifled a small, triumphant smile on my face as I turned once again to look out the window to regain my composure and taking a deep breath, turned once more to return to my audience, and await their response and the hopeful regain of my coveted rune.

"I can't wait to see what the future is yet to toss at me next…" I muttered dryly and I looked at Tsunade.

"Okay, we've heard that side of your story. Now, the explanation for your need of Naruto, if you please." Her eyes meeting mine.

The expression in her eyes was hard and steely, and it was obvious that while she felt sorry for my sad past, I would still have to convince her otherwise before I could get anywhere fast. Especially if my plans had anything to do with a certain hyperactive, blonde haired ninja.

"There is a chance that I would be able to regain my lost humanity by drinking from a special rare elixir that only vampires can consume. The only speed bump in my plans is that I have to prove myself worthy of the bottle by completing certain tasks to obtain runes for special tablets that will lead me one step closer to gaining the elixir." I explained.

Tsunade frowned "And what does that have to do with Naruto?"

"Part of the tasks that I must complete to consider myself worthy, need to be completed during the day. For obvious reasons, I cannot accomplish this. On the day I first met Naruto, I explained the situation to him. After much hesitation… and much thought, on his part… he consented to assist me with this task on my word that I didn't try to molest or kill him."

Sakura growled protectively at me, which I ignored continuing with what I was saying. I didn't have time for silly girls being hostile towards my actions.

"Since that day, we have been working to that end." I finished.

Tsunade's frown softened slightly.

"Fine. And what is this task that you have to complete, and what has it got to do with me?" she asked cautiously.

"As I mentioned before, I have to collect special runes for tablets to obtain my next step towards my ultimate goal. This time 'round, the runes I need to find are five different runes from each of the five powerful hidden villages." I explained.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Which means that you, as the current reigning Hokage, have access towards to the Fire Country rune."

The frown immediately vanished from Tsunade's face. Taking her eyes off me, she turned towards two confused ninjas and one territorial kunoichi with a calm expression settling over her face.

"Thank you, Kakashi, Sai and Sakura. Your presence here is no longer required. You are dismissed." She requested.

Both Kakashi and Sai got to their feet and proceeded to the door, but Sakura remained stubbornly in her seat, obviously still not entirely trusting that I wouldn't immediately kill Tsunade the moment their backs were turned. I almost laughed out loud at this. Judging by how confident she appeared to be in my presence now, it was clear that she could take care of herself should the need arise.

Foolish, foolish girl.

"But, Tsunade-sama…" Sakura protested.

"Sakura, I believe her ladyship has just asked you to leave now." Kakashi pointed out firmly.

Sakura admitted reluctant defeat before rising to her feet and shooting me a filthy look before moving towards the door. I watched Kakashi give Tsunade a 'cautious' look before closing the door behind him.

Now that we were alone, the Hokage gave me her full attention. She directed me to sit down in one of the chairs in front of her desk, which I did. Tsunade retook her position behind her desk and surveyed me thoughtfully before finally speaking once again.

"Given your history prior to the unfortunate events that have led to your current situation, I've decided to trust that you have been truthful to me with your story and I thank you for your trust in me, and return that trust by giving you a letter of introduction which will be signed and sealed by myself and the other four kages in turn. Along with my country's rune." She told me.

I nodded in understanding and a small amount of frustration.

"Remain here. I will return shortly."

Me: Nice long, lengthy reviews please :D

Sasuke: Not a bad movie...

Me: What movie?

Sasuke: "Interview with a Vampire" with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise?

Me: Didn't think it'd be in your tastes, Uchiha O_o

Sasuke: There's a lot you don't know about me, and since when have you called me 'Uchiha'?

Me: Since you never gave me permission to call you 'Sasuke'. It's impolite.

Sasuke: ::makes a face:: Well, I'm giving you permission now. It just seems weird coming out of your mouth...

Me: ::grinning:: Cheers ;)

Naruto: ::looking scared:: I liked the movie, I just don't particularly like scary films...

Me: ::concerned:: Really? Normally I'd be the same way, but it didn't faze me at all. Shows how decensortized my generation really is...

Sasuke: ::smiling both fondly and protectively at Naruto:: Don't worry, dobe. She (refering to the author) and I will protect you.

Naruto: ::frowns suspiciously:: Are you two taking the mickey out of me?

Me & Sasuke: ::confused:: No, why?

Me: ::approaches Naruto and rests hand on his shoulder:: I consider you one of my good friends, why would I poke fun at you?

Naruto: ::glomps author:: No, reason. I was just checking. I'm glad you're my friend :D

Sasuke: ::upset and pouting very un-Uchiha-like:: What am I? Chopped liver?

::gets glomped by Naruto and author::

Me & Naruto: Does that answer your question?

Sasuke: ::with a huge beaming smile that he tries to disguise as nonchalance:: Yes...

Me: Please review :D