Power and Possession

by sabakuXnoXsalem

'Sei Ryoku to Ryoudo' That was Madaras answer when asked what he lived for. If people count as possessions, Itachi could agree. So could Sasuke. How will Naruto protect his friends from the Uchiha spell without being caught in it himself? What secrets will come out? Yaoi,Demon/VampyThemed,dirty rotten tricks &a dash of deception. ItaMada, MadaIta, SasuNaru, Nejigaa, fullsumm inside

10. Confrontations

Greetings once again!

ATTENTION! I kinda wanna throw Mpreg into this story and I have a way to do it smoothly, but what do you guys think? Yay or nay?

! Un-beta-ed ! (can't stress that enough.)

Also, this chapter has a lot of Sasuke and Naruto, but I mean, come on, last chapter kinda tipped you off on that, and they're a pretty big deal in this one. BUT, the later half of the story is ALL ItaMada stuff, for my junkies out there. You know who you are... Grandma...

Any ways, hope you like!

Chapter Nine 'Recap': So, Madara sets Itachi straight, Gaara's dad's dead, Itachi feels Madara up, Madara messes with Itachi's head, they share a moment before they all go shoppin'. Naruto teases Gaara, dances with Deidara, and tries being the love doctor. Sasuke hates Hyuugas and can't seem to understand Karin and Suigetsu. Madara hibernates, Itachi keeps hiding stuff from Sasuke, Madara teases Itachi with his nakedness, Itachi comes to terms with why he's trying so hard to fit into the human world, Madara reassures him and they cuddle :3 They both get their teacher stuff going, It's starting to become apparent that Konoha has a watchful eye on the school since the Hyuuga's are there(what with all the teachers.) Sasuke is tired of his friend's bet, Sakura touches him, He gets freaked out and goes to Madara for help, strangely actually gets that help, then goes to class, confronted with a pleasingly familiar face...

Chapter Ten~: Confrontations

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Naruto

I told myself to calm down and look excited for school. I had been at first, I had my first class with Suigetsu, Neji and Kiba and it had been funny to see what Kiba and Neji acted like away from the watchful eyes of their superiors.

Or so they thought. Heh heh...

This was one of the few classes I had where my teacher wasn't from Konoha. I thought it was pretty stupid having other people watching over the school when my team was more than capable of doing so on our own. But I wouldn't put it past the Geezer's advisers to push for older watchers to look after the bijuu, me in particular, being the Kyuubi's vessel.

It wasn't so bad, though, I had creative writing with Iruka sensei for third period, and my second and third period classes were literally right across from each other.

That didn't mean I wasn't going to prolong my hall wandering during passing period. Heh heh heh...

When I got my schedule in my first period I had been extremely confused. It said I had English Literature with Kakashi Hatake, but I knew for a fact that he was on break in Konoha, recovering from an attack. I knew he planned on keeping this mission spot once he fully recovered, but it still struck a strangely uneasy chord with me, I just couldn't explain why.

Eh, oh well, they must've found a replacement on short notice. Damn, that would have been a funny class, too. Knowing Kakashi, we would have been reading a rough translation of Jiraiya's Icha Icha books.

I still can't see how that guy is a Sannin, or a Sennin(sage) for that matter.

I laughed and joked with Kiba and Suigetsu the entire class, driving the teacher mad. My role was the dumb jock, right?

I forced my face into a dumb expressions when Neji makes a smart comment, pretending to not get it in order to fulfill said 'role'. That's right, I'm an aspiring actor.

Okay, not really, but Gaara, Sakura and I had specific molds to fit so we can have a certain niche that will make us look like we really belong. Kakashi suggested that we do it in order to gain a wider field of vision in our watch of the school.

In my oppinion, if they wanted a wider field of vision they should have recruited Neji, but since this assignment had to do with watching Hyuuga as well, since he was attending the school, we sadly couldn't take the easy way out.

Besides, if he decided to eat someone's soul I wanted to catch him, and the only way to catch him is off guard, so he couldn't know that there were ANBU lurking around with their eyes peeled, other wise he would be too careful or act like he did in Konoha.

Not that I was worried about him soul-stealing much, but it would still be pretty crazy to catch something like that.

Anyways, we were all supposed excel in different fields so we could have that 'thing' to worm our way into the inner circles.

Sakura was the super-smart popular girl, the total social butterfly in student council that everyone loved.

Gaara was the quiet artsy guy, and by now, everyone was probably already spreading rumors about how scary and anti-social he was. 'At a boy, Gaara.

And I, once again, as in every other mission even remotely similar to this one, was the dumb jock. I was currently the Karate class' rising star, as well as the second fastest guy on the track team. I could easily be number one, but if I surpassed Lee of all people it would be suspicious. But since Lee wasn't in swim, I could be as fast as I wanted.

But considering I wasn't on the swim team, competitiveness didn't matter. My schedule would have been too cramped to do an additional after-school team with my mission. Plus, in swim you can't have jewelry, so I would have had to take my fancy new necklace off.

Damn.

Anyways, I was supposed to be a trouble maker, loud and obnoxious and kinda slow, but Sakura reassured me that I wouldn't have to be acting much. Jerk...

When we had received all of the finalized details of our mission, Tsunade and Jiraiya had been there to wish us luck. Part of me wanted to tell them about the weird dreams I had been having every time I slept in my room, but I was hesitant.

The first time I'd had it, I assumed it was a wet-dream, because the first thing I saw was the sexiest man I had ever fucking seen, but it was nothing like that. He was sitting in my subconscious, the shallow water pooling around him, but when he made to stand, his white robe-garment wasn't wet. His eyes were closed when he turned to look at me, glowing almost.

For awhile, I stayed still, watching him look for me with his eyes closed. When I finally moved, his head snapped in my direction, his eyes opening slowly, and suddenly we were in the silent forest, the black darkness eating at anything that wasn't him in my line of vision. His glaring eyes were wide, now, and thoroughly disturbed. I had never seen anything like it. His eyes were red, but had strange, spinning designs that reminded me of a kaleidoscope.

Suddenly, the eyes met mine, and everything in my dream went bat-shit crazy. The other teen was completely engulfed in a fiery violet shield that reminded me of the nine-tails cloak, and everything around me started to melt and blend together like a bad acid-trip.

I kept staring into his eyes, unable to look away and there was a piercing pain that erupted in my brain, and he began crackling with a black lightening that reminded me of Chidori, but it was harshly tainted, deviated and different from Kakashi's. I watched as the purplish cloak morphed into a monster, and the boy's eyes bled as he grinned psychotically.

I had shot up in bed in a cold sweat, the last thing I remember from the dream being the unstoppable black fire coming from his eyes, aimed straight for my face. When I thought about telling Jiraiya, Kyuubi had forcibly shut me up, promising to send me even worse dreams if I opened my trap.

Yeah, no, I had kept that particular nightmare to myself. That just freaked the shit out of me.

Still, even without hearing about purple chakra demons and black fire, Jiraiya and Tsunade looked as off as I had been the day after actually seeing it. I'd expected them to joke with me about my 'stupid' role, all three of us could exchange playful banter, but there was nothing of the sort.

Tsunade in particular had been weird. She was clutching some gaudy looking crystal necklace, and when I made fun of it, she got mad, bopping me in the head saying, "Don't make fun of my grandfather's necklace, you brat!" and I had been shocked. The shodaime's necklace? I asked why she had it but she didn't answer my question, she just handed it over to me.

She explained that it would strengthen my weakening seal, making Kyuubi impossible to detect, even to a Hyuuga, and that though the necklace didn't emit chakra, it would prevent certain demons from coming into contact with me, as well as further camouflage certain traits such as my whiskers and my seal, making them invisable.

It had made me nervous to see them so paranoid about even the little things, but Sages could feel stuff that others couldn't and I hadn't been an official Sage for very long, so I gladly accepted the necklace Tsunade gave me.

I wondered if all of this 'extra protection' crap had anything to do with the way Kyuubi had been acting, and if that was what they were sensing, but I quickly dismissed the thought. Only Kyuubi and I could sense Kyuubi's nine-tails power, right?

The meeting had been long and full of formalities, but lacking details, making me long for truthful conversation. It annoyed me how sugar-coated the briefing was. After the Kyuubi incident, the council of Konoha, as well as the Demonic council, had agreed to be rather tight-lipped. About everything.

Needless to say, my generation was pretty sheltered. No, seriously, we didn't even bingo books. I had to steal Kakashi's once, and then we got in trouble!

Council forces Sandaime to leave it to the Sensei and Captain of whatever squad or team you're in to tell you the history they want you to know, but other than that, they couldn't tell you much. If they did, one of the council would have your Captain's head.

It made me wonder what the older generations really knew about Akatsuki and other enemies like Orochimaru.

After awhile, I had noticed how quiet Kurama was being. I tried asking him what was up, once again longing for a conversation, but I got no response. When I got home and took the necklace off, meeting finally over, I received an ear-full. Kyuubi said that it made him want to sleep, that it made it difficult to lend chakra to me for long periods of time. He complained about how annoying the effects of the crystal were for a good hour. I'm sure it would have been longer if I hadn't put the necklace back on to shut him up.

Well, at least the stupid thing hides him. Now I don't even have to use the energy to hide him myself.

The bell rings, jarring me out of my thoughts, and I skip to my next class with my arms around Suigetsu's and Kiba's shoulder, all three of us being as obnoxious as possible while Neji followed behind us shaking his head. If Kyuubi were awake, I'm sure he would have made fun of me.

We all barge into the room, causing a bit of a riot when our new friends see us, all shouting their own greeting to us.

When I remembered I was in a classroom, I turned to the front desk where the teacher would be seated, my hand nervously scratching at my head as I mumble an apology. The teacher hadn't been at the desk at all, rather, he had snuck up behind me in a way that was far too stealthy for a human. I looked up and froze, almost mistaking him for the evil sex-god that had plagued my nightmares.

When I realized it wasn't him, certain differences distinguishing the two such as hair and eyelashes('cuz this guy had some freakishly girly eyelashes), I relaxed, only to tense once more. It wasn't his glare that got me, though, it was his scent. I didn't need Kyuubi's nose to be able to recognize it. It was the same scent Deidara tried to hide after certain 'visits'.

"Have a seat," He had said, and his voice was even scarier than I had imagined. I quickly nodded and sat in the back, far away from him as I frantically pulled out my schedule. 'Shisui Karasu'.

I glanced back up at him, my heart pounding rather erratically. What?

But-, but that's... Why was Uchiha Itachi here?

I bit my lip as I watched Gaara walk in and nod to me, but sit directly in front of his desk.

No, not so close, I thought, but I knew Gaara couldnt' hear me.

I made myself calm down, pretending Kurama was awake and thinking through things logically like he would.

Relax, Uzumaki, I thought to myself, Itachi doesn't know what you look like. Everything will be fine, just act natural.

I breathed out a sigh, reassuring myself that Itachi wasn't watching me like a hawk. Strangely, he was looking around the room disinterestedly, as if he were waiting for someone in particular, rummaging around his desk. He actually looked like a teacher.

My mind went back to an early picture of him in Kakashi's bingo book just to make sure. He had to have been about ten when the picture was taken, and it was hard to compare the cold young face and the older, colder face I saw now. I probably wouldn't have recognized him without the scent, because his face was much more mature and scary than it had been in the picture.

I didn't understand it. What could a guy who got into a bingo book before puberty be doing here? Sure, he was in Akatsuki, but he couldn't be on a mission here, other wise I would have seen Deidara here, and I know for a fact that he's at home.

Plus, if this was Akatsuki business, it meant that either me or Gaara had been found out, but he payed us no mind. His reasons for being here didn't seem to have anything to do with Bijuu.

I forced a grin and began talking excitedly to Sakura and Hinata as they greeted their other room-mate, Karin. I had been brought into the conversation by Suigetsu who had known Karin as well, and we were now talking as a group.

Suigetsu was trying to introduce their other friend, Juugo, but he seemed uninterested in leaving the very back of the class. We were all joking about having that one anti-social friend, I talking about Gaara, Suigetsu talking about Juugo, all the while making references to his other 'bastard-friend' who we had dubbed 'Cranky-pants'.

Suigetsu and I continued with our little inside joke, him having told me of how unpleasant he could be, and he was probably already aware of how crabby Gaara was, having to sleep in the same room with him. Our talk seemed to spark a memory of some sort with Sakura, because she jumped with excitement and promptly turned to the nearest 'GurlFran' to convey her thoughts.

"Oh my god, Karin. I met the finest guy in my last period!" Karin gave an open-mouthed grin.

"Nuh-uh! Did you get them digits? What's his name!"

"No, he was kind of rude, like, in a 'don't talk to me' kind of way, but he was SO hot! His name's Sasuke Hebi!" But Sakura's excited expression died as Suigetsu and Karin erupted into uncontrollable snickers, soon turning into loud barks of laughter.

Sakura tilted her head cutely, "What, guys?" but the two only laughed harder, holding their guts, and wiping tears from their eyes as they recovered, trying to come up with an excuse for their laughter. Even the buff quiet guy in the back was smiling a bit, obviously in on the joke.

Okay, now even I wanted to know what was so funny.

Karin stuttered, obviously trying to come up with a decent excuse for laughing in Sakura's face, "Well, Sasuke is our- Sasuke's kinda-"

"Sasuke's gay." Suigetsu dead-panned, receiving a smack to the back of the head from Karin.

"Don't say that about Sasuke! I hope he kicks your ass!" She sounded like she was ready to go full rage-mode, reminding me of Sakura, and strangely of the things people told me of my mom, but Sakura interrupted, saving us all. Especially Suigetsu.

"You know Sasuke?" And Karin bit her lip, receiving a warning glance from the buff guy, Juugo, but giggled and drug Sakura and Hinata off anyway. They went to the other side of the room before I could see Karin quietly giggling and fawning over this 'Sasuke', Sakura doing the same while Hinata awkwardly smiled, glancing to Neji at his side of the room, requesting help.

I smirked at the exchange, watching as Neji removed himself from his own group of fans to rescue his little cousin from the dramatically girly giggling session.

I laughed a bit before turning back to Suigetsu, "Wow..."

He snorted, "Yeah, Sasuke is the emo friend I told you about. You'know, 'Cranky-pants'." He continued rambling and I snickered as he made funny gestures.

All of the sudden, though, I felt myself tense again, and I checked to see if Itachi was staring at me. I looked up to see him glaring at the door way, intently focused. I felt my eyes sting as Kyuubi lent his superior demon vision to me so I could try and zoom in to see what he was looking at.

I almost wished I hadn't.

There, in the doorway, was this creepy-assed dragon-monster. It and Itachi were just staring at each other and I vaguely wondered if it was a spirit that only Itachi and I could see until I heard a squeel. When I recognized it to be Sakura's, I looked over to see if she was okay, expecting a frightened or horrified face, but she was staring at the monster with something akin to lust.

I looked back, checking him over as he continued his glaring contest with Itachi. Sure, I could see the appeal if you were a demon, but for Sakura to find him attractive was weird.

He was tall and his skin was a dark, dead-looking color. His hair was an ash-blue and his lips were violet, once again reminding me of a corpse. Said lips were lifted a bit, pushing out and I was sure that his canines were long and sharp like Kyuubi's. There was a strange, black star-like thing across his nose and the whites of his eyes were completely blacked out, making the manic looking red in them pop that much more.

I tore my gaze away from his face to examine the rest of him, rigid with an unnameable emotion tied between terrible recognition and paralyzing fear.

Because I was just that; paralyzed.

I choked when the claw-like wings came into view as he walked into the room, making his way up the aisle, closer and closer to me. My eyes twitched as I forced them back to blue and I saw Gaara's worried gaze on me before I threw my gaze to the desktop in front of me, every bone and muscle in my body locking.

...Your room...

I hear Kyuubi say in an exhausted voice, probably having used too much energy just to lend me his sight. At first, I don't know what he means and I remain completely still, hoping the demon wouldn't see me if I made no movement. This was by far the scariest non-bijuu I had ever encountered, at least appearance-wise.

Sadly though, my complete and utter stillness did me no good, as Suigetsu actually turned to greet the dragon looking demon. I felt rather than saw him turn, his eery eyes boring into Suigetsu. Out of the corner of my now-blue eyes, I could see that his appearance had changed and played with the thought of Kyuubi making me see him like that to fuck with me, but quickly scratched the thought.

No, Kurama wouldn't do that. What I saw then and what I see from the corner of my eye is the same guy.

I clench my teeth as Suigetsu speaks, bringing attention to me. "This is the asshole I was talking about, Naruto." And he leans back, leaving me as prey.

I feel him watching me, his eyes cold and calculating. The air around him changes and I can barely see a movement on his face, too scared to look at him still, but I could tell he was smirking.

… Not the one... This one can't do anything here...

And suddenly, Kyuubi's last comment made sense to me. We were freezing up because this was an Uchiha, the one that had been in my room. I made myself relax and seem calm and unaffected, staring straight ahead to the white board to reign in on myself.

There was a definite sense of dread coming from Kyuubi, but it wasn't the kind from the forest. I was getting too worked up, letting my paranoia get to me. Kurama was right, he couldn't do anything here, and frankly, neither could Itachi without getting caught.

Then again, they could just genjutsu everyone...

I inwardly shake my head, stealing myself to remain on the positive side.

This is the guy who knew my face, knew my technique. I feel determination fill my eyes as I turned to face him challengingly, only to have them narrow when I actually see his face.

This 'Sasuke' was that sexy dream-guy. He was missing his white robe, replacing it for a tight white dress-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The way he left the first few buttons undone made my mind flash back to the dream, seeing the same evil grin that I was faced with now.

His grin shrunk down to an arrogant smirk and he gave me an unimpressed once-over.

Sasuke turned, facing forward once more, completely bored.

"Hn." What?! That's it? What a prick-

And I suddenly remembered Deidara yelling the same thought about him. This guy, Uchiha Itachi's little brother, the only survivor of the Uchiha clan.

I glance back and forth between Sasuke and Itachi, who currently seemed to be silently conversing through glares.

I don't get it. Shouldn't they be trying to kill each other? Weren't they blood-thirsty psychopaths, bent on murdering one another?

I watched as the smirked at each other, their almost identical faces mirroring one another before Sasuke looked back at me.

"What are you staring at, Dobe?" What the fuck? I'm not a fucking loser-

"What the fuck did you just call me?" I hear Neji scoff at our exchange, obviously amused. I personally think it would be funnier if he knew I was the one that bossed him around on missions, but that's just my oppinion.

I hide a laugh at the glare Sasuke sends him. I had always thought Uchiha and Hyuuga clansmen would be cool with each other, but I guess not.

Sasuke looks back to me, "I called you a dead-last. As in a complete and total loser."

"Fuck you, you fucking prick!" Evil bad-ass or not, I'm done quivering in fear if this guy is gonna be a douche.

"That's some lovely vocabulary you have there."

"Shut the hell up, you prissy bitch! I'm not about to listen to you talk shit, so you can go ahead and shut your girly-ass mouth!" I was standing up now and I had the attention of everyone in the classroom, including the elder Uchiha, who was silently watching with a smirk on his face.

Sasuke's head snapped to the side to send me the iciest glare I had ever seen in my life, and I even felt Kyuubi growl in response, mumbling about how familiar it was as the temperature dropped.

Sasuke's tense body rose ever so slowly, like an angry serpent waiting for the right moment to strike. I readied myself, hating that I would give myself away so easily when he attacked, but glad it would expose him as one of the infamous Uchiha as well. He didn't get half-way out of his seat, though, before a call from the front stopped him in his tracks.

"Sasuke." And said raven looked to the front, glaring at his older brother before following the silent order.

I sit back down when Itachi's gaze snaps to me as well, my body and Kyuubi's demonic instincts thoroughly excited.

The room was rather cold now, only just starting to warm back up as Sasuke calmed down. It was obvious now that no one had ever stood up to him, his reaction screaming rage and disbelief, and I swear I felt his creepy aura swell around him, probably being responsible for the temperature drop. I glanced up, my sight not focusing on Neji but looking past him well enough to see his eyes.

Damn, they weren't activated. That would have gotten rid of Sasuke in a hurry. If Neji could prove that Sasuke was an Uchiha, he could report it to ANBU and lock away two of the most wanted fugitives in Konoha.

I flick my eyes to the other Hyuuga and see the veins in her eyes residing before quickly averting my eyes back to the front so as to not make a show of looking to the Hyuuga cousins. I frown, wishing Neji had seen it instead of her. Hinata was too considerate to just turn someone in unless she knew for sure of their crimes, and though I knew for sure that Sasuke was on the run, I really didn't know what for.

I felt Gaara's eyes on me, glaring worriedly. I give him the 'we can talk later' look and he faces forward, waiting for 'Mr. Karasu' to speak, and I do the same. For a moment, he seems focused on Hinata, probably catching her Byakugan with his all-seeing eyes, trying to decide if she was a threat or not. I would definitely have to watch out for her...

Finally, after glaring Hinata into a whimpering pile of fear, Itachi looks up and addresses the class.

"Welcome to your second period class, Japanese IV. I am Mr. Karasu, your teacher."

"Doesn't your name mean 'class'?" Asked a loud boy in the back.

"No. You are thinking of 'kurasu'. Moving on," And he sighed irritably as he continued, choosing to ignore another hand that had sprung up in front, belonging to a Yamanaka clansmen.

"This year, there will be vigorous study of Kanji, the honing of conversational skills, and forming your own complex thoughts in a daily journal, where you will occasionally write full stories and essays, in straight Japanese. Any English written in these journal entries will receive an immediate failure on the assignment." Jesus Christ.

I mean, I know it's Uchiha Itachi, but damn. Nazi-sensei, much?

I would hate to have him as an ANBU superior. I heard he was a captain at age eleven, his group had gone insane after their first S-rank mission, shortly before he killed off his clan.

It made me wonder what kind of heartless bastard Itachi trained under, because no body got that messed up on their own.

"I'm going to skip the 'get to know you' games, since everyone here seems rather acquainted already," He paused to send a look to me and Sasuke, "and I assume you know how to mingle on your own."He walked over to the white board and began writing out main Japanese grammar rules as he continued speaking.

"To replace said games, I request that you write a short introductory paragraph of yourself in Japanese that you will leave on my desk as you go to your next class." Ah, that explained the rules. "You will present these next time you see me for your first grade. If you have any questions, please raise your hand or approach my desk." Ha, like anyone was going to be brave enough to-

"Excuse me, Karasu-sensei," Someone was overachieving.

He raised an eyebrow at her obvious flirtation, "Yes, ms...?"

She smiled, "Oh, Ino Yamanaka." and he looked to her questioningly.

"You said if we had a question we should ask, so, I wanted to know..."

He sighed, already annoyed with her forwardness.

She kept the smile, "Well, I was wondering how you and Sasuke know each other, and whether or not either of you have a girl friend." I slap my hand to my forehead in an exasperated, making half the class look at me.

Honestly, Yamanaka clansmen were supposed to be smart and intuitive. Couldn't she see past their devilish good looks to see that they were just that; Devils?

I receive a raised eyebrow from Neji and decide it's a good time to give an excuse for my face-palm and save myself.

"Ino, why would you even want to know this prick's name?" I say, gesturing to Sasuke, leaving out Itachi. I really didn't want to be on his bad side.

She 'hmph'ed and snapped, "I was just being friendly!" back at me, and I hear Karin in the back, "A little overly friendly if you ask me, skank." she drones out sarcastically and I hear Sakura laugh.

They are about to start arguing, but Itachi speaks. "It seems to me that we can't get along." He said offhandedly, obviously growing tired of excited teenagers. "From now on, please refrain from speaking to me, as I really don't feel like refereeing a girl fight." but he looks to me and Sasuke again.

Did he just call us girls?

Judging by Sasuke's glare, I'd say yes.

He speaks to the class once more, "I will be out just across the hall, if any of you destroy my classroom, you will clean it as well as another classroom." And with that, he walked out.

Chatter erupted almost instantly as the door shut, kids getting up to sit in groups with their friends. I gave Gaara a pointed look to stay put, not wanting the Uchiha to know of any of my ties since it was possible that he was aware of my ANBU status. If I showed any exceeding familiarity with Gaara or Sakura, I would be giving them away too.

Then I remembered the pictures. Oh god, he already knew.

I slowly turn my head and sure enough, his mirthful eyes are flickering back and forth between Gaara and I, then he glances to Sakura, his eyes widening in abrupt recognition, as if he just remembered their features.

He met my eyes and I glared, our little exchange going unnoticed by all but us.

"So, Naruto, huh? That's a rather Japanese name for some one so blonde haired and blue eyed, isn't it?"

"So is Hebi, it almost sounds too stupid to be legit, don't you think?"

Proverbial lightning clashed between us, leaving Suigetsu to awkwardly lean back and laugh to avoid being electrocuted by the tension.

"Eh heh," He breathed, nudging me to lighten the mood, "told you he was icy..."

I plaster on my obnoxiously fake grin, "Oh tell me about it, his bastardly-ness puts Gaara to shame!"

He barely hides his glare, "Oh? You and Gaara are close? I bet you go way back." and I want to wipe that threatening smirk off his face.

I speak so low that I'm sure he had to read my lips.

"I'm sure we don't go as far back as you and Karasu-Sensei..." And there is a certain chilliness to our insults, secretly threatening to completely expose one another. I of course could have easily said 'Yeah, Gaara and I met at a carnival when we were seven.' and he would have no way of proving otherwise, but I preferred to throw him under the bus as well.

If he was gonna try and put me out there, I wasn't gonna hesitate to do the same to him.

Suigetsu glances back and forth between us with narrowed eyes and we quickly correct ourselves, and Sasuke moves to set me up first.

"And what would you mean by that, Dobe?"

"I only mean that it seems as though you and Mr. Karasu seem familiar, considering his lack of student-teacher formalities he used when addressing you."

He smirked, "I could say the same for my comment about your relation to Gaara-san."

"Oh really? Because you have never seen us interact with one another." Ha, now you're trapped. I got you, you stupi-

"Oh, but I have heard many a story about you two from Suigetsu, here." Damn.

I shouldv'e known an smart-ass like him would be good at arguing. It was both good and bad that either one of us could lie about our back story. Good, because if someone over heard, we could easily make something up and they wouldn't know it to be false. It was bad too, though, because in the end, the only thing that mattered (to whoever we were hiding from) was who's lies were more believable.

Our reasons for hiding from everyone didn't weigh in either. It didn't change anything if my hiding was for a mission, it didn't matter that his was because he was an Uchiha.

We glare, his accompanied by a smirk since I had no proper comeback. Sure, my previous smart-assed remarks had pretty much botched my 'dumb-jock' act, but it would have been pointless in front of Sasuke, since he was probably more than aware of the fact that it was an act. Besides, the only other person to see our exchange was Suigetsu... I glance around the room and inwardly wilt in utter despair. Suigetsu... And Neji.

Fuck.

Well, if I went down, I was taking Uchiha with me.

Seeming to feel Neji's amused smirk aimed at his back, Sasuke turns to face him, clearly annoyed. I watched as Hyuuga quirked an eyebrow with his smirk and I had to smother a giggle as Sasuke bristled like a cat. I saw the raven's onyx eye twitch, probably with the overwhelming desire to unleash his own creepy eyes to combat Neji's. It was really entertaining, watching two legendary ocular clansmen interact, one thinking he was superior, one knowing he was superior but unable to prove it without revealing himself and his brother.

I let my laugh spill out when Neji let his smirk grow arrogant after receiving no challenge from the secret Uchiha. The Hyuuga had no idea, but he was messing with fire (literally) and there was no one who could help him from getting burned besides me.

And like hell I was going to do that.

Gaara was just going to have to learn to deal with having a disfigured lover.

Sasuke's head snapped over to me, forgetting his glaring contest to give me a strange look. I tried to stop the chuckles spilling from my throat, but my efforts were fruitless. The Uchiha's eyebrows were furrowed slightly and he had the tiniest frown pulling at his lips as he glared at my face, my smiling lips, my heaving chest. It seemed as though he had never heard a laugh before. That, or he had never been laughed at himself.

Then, the frown was gone, and it was just his eyebrows and a funny expre-

Oh god, I knew that look...

I used to give Sakura that look when she laughed.

His version of 'The Look' was rather constipated-looking, as if he were utterly lost with his reaction, and despite the situation, I laughed again.

His eyes lidded and he just looked at me, frowning. It was almost cute, if you ignored the fact that he was a sadistic evil bastard.

His frown grows, "What are you laughing at, Dobe?" It's becoming apparent that he got grouchy when he was frustrated or confused, but that didn't excuse him being a douche.

I growl, no longer laughing or caught up in his 'dreamy' expression, "Stop fucking calling me that, teme."(1) Damn, running out of vulgarities.

He rolls his eyes, "Really? That's all you've got? 'You'?" Yes...

"Being you, in particular, is a much crueler thing to be called than any other name I can think of." He did the cat thing again and it made me happy to think I could get under his skin.

"Are you implying that my name should be considered an insult?"

"Bingo."

Suigetsu leans forward to once again become our barrier. "Woah, guys, simmer down." and Sakura, Karin and Hinata approach, curious and frowning.

"Jeez, Naruto, you're sure grumpy today!" Sakura was trying to make excuses for me, as well as my behavior. She looks to Uchiha, "Sorry Sasuke, he usually gets along with everyone."

"Hn." Ugh!

"God, you're a prick! Sakura is trying to talk with you're emo ass and you're blowing her off!"

Said girl giggled nervously, moving to pat Sasuke's arm reassuringly. "It's fine, Sasuke."

I see him tense and his eye twitches. For some reason, I know that touching him is a no-no. I assumed my knowledge on the subject came from Kyuubi, who seemed to know everything about Uchiha stuff and I went with my gut, saying, "Sakura, don't touch him." my voice a little tighter than usual.

All eyes were on me.

Well, time to bullshit. "B-because... He's... A dick-head! Yeah, he's an ass, he doesn't deserve your affection!" Oh yeah, who's the king of saving my own ass? I'm the king of saving my own ass!

I inwardly shed a dramatic joyful tear, praising my ability to lie on the spot. 'And I'd like to thank Deidara, a-and Kakashi! Oh, and Iruka and Jiraiya! They taught me everything I know! *sob*...'

I break out of my imaginary awards ceremony when Sasuke scoffs, probably at my excuse.

Sakura's hand slowly pulls back, letting Sasuke relax as I sigh in relief. The last thing I needed was him blowing a fuse and pulling that purple fire shit he did in my dream.

I wonder if that's actually something he can do... I frown.

I'll have to ask him some time when we're not surrounded by people we're hiding from...

I-I mean, when... after I kick his ass! Who would wanna be alone with this sexy bea-

I mean-! ...Forget it.

Karin gives Sasuke a look that tells me that she was also aware of the no-touching thing, and she yanked Sakura away, using conversation as an excuse to separate her from Sasuke.

Said bastard looks at me appreciatively and I almost slap my forehead again. I didn't do that for you, you emo fuck, I was protecting my friend from your evil!

I inwardly groan, outwardly putting my face in my hands. I see him shift from the corner of my eye, looking away with that thoughtfully dreamy expression once again. God! This situation is so fucked!

Suigetsu awkwardly tries to pull everything back to normalcy, turning to Sasuke.

"So, I take it first period didn't go too well?" Sasuke actually frowned, as if that was the reason he was being a dick. Ha, you can only be that annoying by nature. I would know.

He looked at Suigetsu, then looked down in deep thought. His hand went to his collar and snaked under the fabric to grip his shoulder, a stoic mask spreading across his features.

Suigetsu, like me, didn't seem to understand the gesture at first, but then his face morphed into that 'oh!' expression, leaving me to be the only one in unawareness. Sasuke angrily pulled his hand out of his shirt when he saw me staring, but he was better off leaving it. As soon as his hand pulled away, I saw part of a familiar mark that marred his skin, but a part was all I needed.

It was just like Anko's mark on her neck, and I quickly realized the reason why Sasuke was on the run(besides being an Uchiha).

He was one of Orochimaru's goons! That bastard probably took advantage of the chaos and ran away when Orochimaru's apprentice took off!

I honestly couldn't blame him though, I'd have hauled ass out of that place the first chance I could get. What I couldn't understand was why he went to Orochimaru in the first place...

I mean, I fell pray to Kyuubi's seductive power quite a few times, but I doubt that Orochimaru's power was anything like that. I stare at him a little longer, ignoring his glare, trying to fathom what it was like being one of Orochimaru's lackeys. Hell, if the apprentice skipped town then it had to be bad, because usually the apprentice was the right-hand man, put on a pedestal. I could only imagine how shitty life as that snake bastard's goon would be...

I kinda felt bad for the guy, but he brought it upon himself. I heard around other countries that the only person Orochimaru ever truly sought out had been his apprentice, meaning Sasuke had asked for it.

Anko had been the apprentice once, but she didn't talk about it very much, and I didn't have much contact with her in the first place.

But I know for a fact that she had the same curse mark.

There was something else about it, though, that was tugging at my brain.

I fingered the blue crystal through my shirt, trying to remember where else I had seen the mark, but coming up short.

I sighed, oh well, if I couldn't remember then it probably wasn't that importa-

HOLY SHIT! It looked just like the funny apostrophe things all over my seal!

Oh my god. Oh my god. OHMYGOD. Orochimaru snuck his creepy pedo-self into my room and bit me and tainted my pure not-so-innocent body with his sick snake-venom and now I'm gonna die and come back as a zombie and turn into a dragon-monster and be a heartless prick just like Sasuke and-

"Dobe, what the hell is wrong with you?" I break out of my thoughts and look at Sasuke, my eyes still wide from the panic-attack.

"Huh?"

Suigetsu gave me a funny look, "You were, uh, hyperventilating?" I look back at Sasuke and he gives me that 'You're an idiot.' look.

I scratch the back of my head nervously. "I have... asthma!" Sasuke raised a brow. "I'm better now though..."

He looked ready to say something, possibly try and throw my business out there again, but Itachi slams the door open.

I'm not sure how one actually does that, but somehow Itachi made it happen.

Silence falls over the room and I see Sasuke smirk at his brother, which is what I would assume to be an applause for Uchiha. Strangely enough, though, when Itachi caught his brother's eyes, he glared. Hard.

Sasuke's face fell emotionless, but I had a feeling that Itachi's glare caught him off-guard, otherwise I'm sure he would have just glared back.

It felt weird just knowing these things about Uchiha. To my knowledge, the only contact that Kyuubi had ever had with an Uchiha had been with Uchiha Madara, but for all I knew, Madara could have linked their brains together and done some spooky alien shit!

...Sometimes my over-active imagination scared me...

But Kurama was so old that he was probably going on his fortieth millennium-birthday when the Uchiha clan began, so he probably only knew this stuff cause he witnessed it start first-hand.

...Shut up, kit.

Ha, my over-active imagination scared Kyuubi, too.

I look to my side when I see Suigetsu laughing and shaking his head at me, "You're a weird dude, Naruto. Who just laughs at themselves?" Doesn't everyone do that?

Sasuke pulls his glare away from Itachi to remark, "He was probably talking to the voices in his head."

For a second I freeze, but then comeback with "Shut the fuck up, I'm not crazy!" when I come to my senses.

At first, I had thought he had openly spoken about the Kyuubi, confirming my suspicions that he knew I was the vessel. When I realized that the smirk wasn't his evil one, just one of amusement, I was reassured.

Sure, Sasuke knowing wouldn't be that big a deal, but Sasuke letting Itachi know would be quite awful.

The bell rings, bringing me to the sudden realization that I had yet to write out my first Japanese assignment, and I frantically searched my new backpack for my spiral, only to look up and glare at Gaara, who was currently waving it at me with his crazy smirk.

My eyes narrow. The thievery...

I look to Suigetsu for help, but he's asking for paper from Sasuke. Who is currently smirking at me.

"Need something, Dobe?"

Teme... "No, I'm fine..."

He raises his girly eyebrow. "Really? Because Karasu seems like he'd be a strict teacher. I don't think he'd go easy on you after a late assignment..." Evil, I tell you!

I grit my teeth, having to talk through them, "C-can I borrow... Can I h-have..."

"Yes? Have what, Dobe?" That smirk...

I huff, "Can I have some paper you stupid asshole?!" He laughs, thoroughly entertained.

"Why yes, of course, Dobe. All you had to do was ask." Oh, you dirty son-of-a-...

I snatch the paper and scribble, "Hi, I'm Naruto! I like Ramen and Orange and my friends! I hate Sasuke. He's a dick." And run to the front of the class, slapping it on Itachi's desk.

Then I pick it back up and gently reorganize the pile, picking up the other papers that fell when he gave me a nasty glare. I heard Sasuke snicker behind me, but stop when Itachi's glare shot to him too. Heheh, take that, bastard.

I don't know what Sasuke did to annoy his brother, but he did it good. Real good.

I run Iruka's class, excited to see him after so long. It seems that we were always flip-flopped, him always being here when I'm in Konoha and vice-versa. I stop myself from hugging him when I see that there are other students already in his class room and so I settle for sharing a grin. Gaara comes up behind me and gives a slight nod, both of us going to take a seat up front.

We cannot do so, however because as Neji and Sasuke walk in behind us, a crowd of possibly-wet school girls crowd around the front of the class, leaving us trapped up front.

Neji walks past, purposely bumping shoulders with Sasuke and I hold my breath as he walks up to Gaara and I. Sasuke glares at him, calmly walking up behind Neji, most likely about to snap his neck, when Neji has the nerve to turn slightly, giving Sasuke the 'talk to the hand' gesture.

"I'm trying to have a conversation, if you don't mind." And I gape. Sasuke gapes. Gaara doesn't see the big deal.

He, of course, doesn't know that Sasuke is an Uchiha, so that's only natural, but still!

I watch, waiting for Sasuke to screw up and give himself away, but he only closes his eyes. I laugh and he snaps them open, but lucky for me they were still black and not like the crazy pattern in my dream with all the designs.

Neji turns back, whipping his hair in Sasuke's face as he speaks, "Gaara, right? My room-mate here talks about you all the time," and I when I see Gaara glare, I quickly flee the scene.

Oddly enough, Sasuke follows me, seating himself in the desk to my right like last class, this time no Suigetsu-barrier.

"Hyuuga is your room-mate?"

"You guys hate Hyuuga clansmen?"

We glare at each other before he replies with, "Hn." I laugh, this guy was just too much.

It was almost endearing how much of a crabby jerk he was. Almost.

"Well, I personally think that you, Neji and Gaara should all be in a brooding club. Karasu-sensei could be president." He smirks, then frowns.

"I want nothing to do with Hyuuga." Jeez, I was joking...

"Gah, you're so annoying." He looks at me and glares.

"I'm annoying? Are you serious, Dobe?"

I snort, "Yeah I'm serious! I'm trying to be nice and converse with your lonely-lookin' ass!"

AKA, I'm trying to get information about you!

His scoff seemed to say that he read my thoughts, "Right, sure."

I hear Iruka clear his throat, looking at me with the 'mom' look. I sure felt sorry for his daughter Minako, I'm sure she's received more than enough 'mom' looks in her short lifetime.

My poor Miko-chan!

I look around awkwardly, noticing everyone in their seats, looking at us. When had the bell rang?

Iruka rolls his eyes at the puppy-dog face I give him, "Okay, now that I have everyone's attention, I am Mr. Umino! Welcome to creative writing! In my curriculum plan, there will be a lot of projects this year, so you'd better buddy up!" I swear if Neji steals Gaara... "Also! This is a very open classroom, and you will be required to share many of your writings! You will need a small binder and a thick spiral with dividers for this class, and a colorful imagination."

I grin, unable to help myself. Iruka always had a way with making people smile. The guy was such a freaking teddy-bear, no wonder Kakashi was so head over heals!

Iruka smiles, lighting up the room with his own excitement about the class, "Now, you all know how the first day works. I'm going to pair you up and I want you to fill out an 'About Me' sheet." God, am I tired of generic questions about myself! I can only hope Iruka decided to be creative with his sheet.

I listened to the rest of his instructions, not wanting to screw up what would probably be my favorite class. "Then, I want you to guess your partner's answers on another sheet based on what you know of them. When you are done, I'd like you write on a piece of paper how you did and how your partner did, and everyone, please be honest."

He gave a warm smile, "You will entitle your paper 'Don't judge a book by it's cover'. Have fun!" And I watched as Iruka started pairing people up across the room.

"What are you so excited about, Dobe?" Ugh.

I turn to glare, "None of your bees-wax, teme!" Man, couldn't a guy just be happy?

He snorts quietly, "'Bees-wax'?"

I clench my teeth, "Jeez, you sure like to suck the joy out of the room, don't you?" He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Dobe."

My fists shake, "Gah! I wasn't even talking to you and you have to be a douche! You're mean for no reason!" Fuck, no wonder Kyuubi hates Uchiha!

He leans closer to growl in my face, "Your dopey grin is good enough reason to make fun of you any day, Do-" But two pieces of paper were thrust in between us.

"Aaaand, you two are partners. Alright, everyone begin!" I gaped. No. Fucking. Way.

I opened my mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when I got a scarier mom look. I pouted.

"You look like a child."

"Just shut up, teme. Fill out the dumb sheet."

I looked down to the survey, writing my answers as well as the responses that I figured Sasuke wrote out, glad to find that Iruka's questions were random and fun. I felt my mischievous streak coming and I couldn't help myself with a few questions on Sasuke's. Heh heh, Iruka didn't say I had to be nice...

Oh yeah, this is my favorite class.

Sasuke

I was suddenly not so sure that finding Naruto was such a good thing anymore.

When I realized he was the blonde from the picture, I had been maniacally cackling in my head. This mysterious boy had intrigued me and I wanted to peel him apart, layer by layer, figure out all of his secrets. I wanted to know why he had teleportation kunai, why his house was covered in seals from the Senju of Konoha if his brother was from Iwa.

I had never been so interested in something. I sure hadn't thought that I'd run into him at this school of all places. He smelled human, so he wasn't here for the same reason as the other demons in this school.

Fucking Hyuuga clan...

But with all of the kunai, he at least had to be affiliated with some village. But which one?

Iwa or Konoha...

And another question, were Deidara and Naruto aware of each other? If Naruto's affiliated with a village, then he had to be against Akatsuki, so I assume they were even keeping secrets from themselves.

And then there was his reaction to me. Did he know I knew his secrets, that I'd snooped around his room? Obviously. His entire body had frozen up! It seems that he knew to be scared of me, and I was slightly disappointed at the lack of challenge. Then, his demeanor changed completely, and when he finally turned his head, he seemed to recognize me as well.

Interesting.

We checked each other out for awhile before I became bored with his lack of response, giving a simple 'Hn.' before looking to Itachi. We have a glaring contest in which he is silently teasing me about 'making new friends' and I give a pointed glance to the Yamanaka girl who had raised her hand with a flirtatious gleam in her eyes to tease him back. He grimaced but sent a questioning look to Naruto, making me turn back to see him glaring at me. "What are you looking at, Dobe?"

It had been the biggest mistake of my life, second to joining Orochimaru. As soon as he opened his mouth, the room was filled with his obnoxiously loud and angry voice. How annoying. We fought back and forth and I suddenly felt myself getting angry as well. No one had ever tried talking to me like this, no one ever insulted me outright. I felt myself snap, slowly rising, wanting to go into a full form and beat the shit out of this interesting little idiot, but Itachi's warning voice sent me back into my seat...

I listened half disinterestedly as he explained the class. Japanese was my first language, so I wasn't really worried. I watched Naruto instead, as he watched Itachi cautiously. Did he know who Itachi was? Probably. Itachi finished and the Yamanaka girl from before began shamelessly flirting, asking if he and I were taken. Naruto had slapped his forhead. This had started an entirely new fight. Ugh, it never ends... Itachi gave up and left the class entirely, probably going to hang out in his sensei's class.

I watched Naruto glare at Suigetsu's room-mate, then watched as said room-mate sat back in his seat, facing forward. What kind of-

Suddenly, a strange flashback to the pictures in Naruto's room pops into my head, making me realize why I felt a certain familiarity with Sakura. All three from the pictures were here. They were all in on something, I bet, and my mission to peel Naruto apart just got more interesting.

We get caught up in a game of trying to reveal one another, catch the other's lie and figuring out just how much we knew about each other. It was suddenly uncomfortable with how much Naruto had known about me as well, as if he had also snuck into my room.

I felt Hyuuga eyes on me and I swear it ignited a fury beyond all comprehension. I was having second thoughts about hating the female, but I was definitely going to kill this Neji by the end of the day.

Suddenly, this strange melodious sound flowed into my ears and my head snaps to the side to find the source. When I find that it's the idiot, my stomach gives an awkward flip and I damn myself for skipping breakfast. I glare but he laughs anyways. I liked his smile, and for the first time today, I realized his cheeks were whisker-less. I ignore Hyuuga in favor of watching him laugh some more, then glare when I realize he's laughing at me. "What are you laughing at, Dobe?"

And he chokes, sputtering, "Stop fucking calling me that, Teme!" We start our third argument in less than an hour. I've never met someone so frustrating in my life. It was almost exhilarating.

Suigetsu comes between us, stopping our fight and Sakura makes her way over with Karin, trying to reassure me that Naruto was usually easy to get along with, but I give her the usual 'hn.', apparently offending the 'grumpy' blonde.

"God, you're a prick! Sakura is trying to talk with you're emo ass and you're blowing her off!" I am not emo...

Before I can get angry, though, Sakura places a hand on my shoulder. I can't understand what she's saying, though, because all I am focused on is her hand touching me. I wanted to break her arm, set it on fire or something. It was literally disturbing me to the point that I was becoming physically uncomfortable. You don't just touch someone you aren't familiar with! At least, Uchiha don't.

And you most certainly do not touch Uchiha without them touching you first! And I touch no one!

I was about to snap when I hear, "Sakura, don't touch him." Everyone acquainted in our group look at the blonde, even the Hyuuga who had been engrossed in conversation with his cousin and a few human females. I also see jade orbs looking back at us suspiciously.

Naruto's face shows a very brief panic before he comes up with an excuse for his strained tone of voice. "B-because... He's... A dick-head! Yeah, he's an ass, he doesn't deserve your affection!" Nice save.

I roll my eyes and scoff at him, watching as Karin pulls Sakura away from me to prevent further physical contact. I hope Karin tells her I'm allergic to skin. That would keep her paws off of me...

I give a grateful look to Naruto. I don't know how he knew, but he did. Though his knowledge of me was unsettling(considering we had never met each other), I still appreciated that he used said knowledge in my favor.

But when I see him bury his face in his hands, I begin to doubt that my well-being was in his initial interest.

Noticing the tense and quiet air about us, Suigetsu tries for conversation. "So I take it first period didn't go too well?" I was about to just shrug a reply when I remembered the strange vibes I got from Mitarashi. My hand went to the curse mark in thought and I glanced at Suigetsu to send him the message. After a good ten seconds of a blank, stupid-looking stare, my action's meaning had finally dawned on him.

I almost roll my eyes but I catch Naruto staring at me as well and I rip my hand from the mark, fixing my collar as I look away, glaring. It's silent for a bit, but I hear a strange wheezing sound and turn to look around the room to find the source.

My gaze stops on Naruto, who's eyes were wide, staring at his hands unseeing as his chest heaved out the sound I was looking for. As his condition seemed to get worse, I nudged Suigetsu. We watched for a good while, but when I thought he was going to spontaneously combust I said something. "Dobe, what the hell is wrong with you?"

He looked up, broken out of whatever epileptic trance he had been experiencing. "Huh?"

Suigetsu sat back and grinned at him, amused. "You were, uh, hyperventilating?"

His eyes bounced around the room as he came up with something to say, "I... have asthma!" Really, Dobe? "I'm better now though..." I'm about to open my mouth to call him an idiot, but the door swings open loudly, choking the room into silence.

I make eye contact with him and he glares at me. Truly glares. I hadn't received one of those glares since the massacre. I let my mask take my face as I think of what I could have possibly done to offend him but come up short. I hadn't done anything to deserve his anger.

I hear Suigetsu teasing Naruto about his spontaneous laughter and can't help but throw in my own two sense.

"Shut the fuck up, I'm not crazy!" Ha, Dobe.

The bell rings and Itachi's glare reminds me that I had yet to write his assignment, and with his current attitude towards me, I didn't see him giving me special treatment. If anything, he was going to be harder on me. I quickly wrote up the assignment, not really thinking too much on introducing myself to my own brother but making sure to have perfect grammar so he couldn't nitpick.

I hand Suigetsu a piece of paper, inwardly cackling like a villain when I see Naruto looking longingly to my backpack.

"Need something, Dobe?"

He grits his teeth, "No, I'm fine..." Ha.

"Really? Because Karasu seems like he'd be a strict teacher. I don't think he'd go easy on you after a late assignment..." I'm gonna make him beg...

He talks through a clenched jaw, "C-can I borrow... Can I h-have..."

"Yes? Have what, Dobe?" I had to fight a full on grin.

He huff, "Can I have some paper you stupid asshole?!" This is just too much fun.

"Why yes, of course, Dobe. All you had to do was ask." I sing-song. Well, as well as I could, because my voice was a bit too deep to sing-song or anything of the sort.

I hand him the paper and he snatches it from my hands, carelessly scribbling random Hiragana. I watch as he runs up to Itachi's desk and slams his paper on the growing stack, making the top papers fly all over the desk. I hid my laugh as Naruto frantically tried fix his mistake, but I soon faced an equal glare as Naruto walked off to the next class. I gazed back, holding in any confused emotions as I tried to hold his eyes.

I couldn't do it. His eyes held a strange chemical fury, it reminded me of a lion staring me down for his territory, yet I had crossed no boundaries. It had been a long time since I had been around Itachi, so I really couldn't say where exactly those boundaries were. I jerked my head away and stomped to class.

Only to be stopped by Hyuuga Neji and a crowd of screaming females. I feel the Hyuuga bump his shoulder with me, approaching Naruto and Gaara. I try to stop the steam from blowing out of my ears as I stomp up to him. Before I can gouge his stupid white eyes out, he has the audacity to blow me off. I felt the anger fuel into my curse mark and I have to close my eyes to calm down and force the rage down, feeling my eye twitch as he ignores me to flirt with Suigetsu's room-mate.

Then, a flash of blonde runs by to seat himself. I find myself following and before I know it, we're causing yet another scene. This one is broken up by a different teacher, glaring mostly at Naruto. Finally, he gets the short end of the stick.

Now, after being paired with Naruto for one of those 'about me's, here I am, filling out a stupid questionare.

I smirk at a few of my answers for Naruto's sheet, having a bit of fun with the assignment. I finished a little sooner than Naruto, who finished his paper just before the lunch bell.

"We will trade answers after you come back from lunch."

Indeed we will.

Itachi

Are you fucking kidding me.

Every class so far had been fine, I suppose I could understand the students excitement at coming back to school after summer.

But I could only understand, not relate.

What I had seen of Japanese students was quite opposite of this, though I should have assumed such considering the cultural differences.

Even so, there was no excuse for the volume in which the children desired to speak. And then there was second period. I had always assumed Sasuke to be the calm and collected type, like myself, but apparently this Naruto had been too much to handle. And let's not forget miss 'Do you have a girlfriend?'. Whatever, I'm not listening to teenagers fighting all class and there is only so much blonde I can take.

That is why I am currently making my way across the hall, so I can 'see how Madara is doing'. In all reality, I just wanted to see him and get away from Sasuke's bickering, but like hell I was going to just say that.

The sight that greets me is quite hilarious.

It's obvious that Sensei has not taken to his second period either, but I couldn't blame him because that particular group of students was kind of boring. It was an advanced placement class that had done all of the reading assignments over summer. Strangely, there were only about five students left in the classroom. When I asked a student where his classmates were, he shrugged and let out a 'troublesome', before explaining that they had all gone hall wandering or to another one of their classes to overachieve before he promptly smacked his head back onto the table and fell asleep.

Just like my sensei was currently doing.

Madara's position was very similar to the 'troublesome' boy's. He had his head laying on his folded hands atop his desk where a badly bruised hand held a sucker in his mouth-

Wait, badly bruised hand?

I poke at him to wake him up, but when it doesn't work, I slam my hand on his desk, successfully waking him and Mr. Troublesome, as well as making the other four remaining students in the room jump.

Madara shot up in his desk, lollipop still hanging from his mouth. "Wha-?" Japanese falls from his lips and his eyes were still drowsy as he looked around the room before those eyes finally landed on me. I decided speaking Japanese was probably better because there was less of a chance that someone would eaves drop.

"Kurama, sleeping on the job?" He grimaced.

"They were just so boring. The first class had been at least talkative, and their conversations were entertaining to listen to." I nodded, looking to the board where he had wrote everything I had told him to say. Figures he would take the easy way out.

I nod to the board and he shrugged, following my line of sight. "Oh, I just didn't feel like talking to them." Ever the socialite, Sensei.

I look back to his hand, "What happened?" He shrugs once more and I glare, making him sigh.

"It's really nothing, boy." He was hiding something. I grab the wrist of the bruised hand and bring it closer to my face to examine it, as if I could figure out what happened by the bruise pattern. I grimaced when the cause didn't reveal itself to me and I promptly looked to Madara, who was looking back at me with a lost expression.

"Squeeze." And memories flooded back to me. I let the crushed hand go gently, backing away a bit to calm myself down. Sasuke did that?

I grit my teeth and mumble an "I'll see you at lunch." and calmly walked out of his classroom. When I opened the door to mine, the silence was so abrupt that it had my ears ringing. I didn't understand the fire burning in my chest. It had me wanting to ring Sasuke's neck, even ring Madara's neck for letting it happen. He couldn't-, Ugh, he couldn't just do that!

I glared straight at Sasuke, not hiding any of my rage. I'm sure he didn't understand it but I didn't care, I was mad. I suppose it would be normal to be somewhat upset, but the anger welling inside me was strangely uncontrollable and purely instinctive. It was like I was mad that Sasuke touched Madara, but I knew it was more than that. And even if Sasuke had just touched him, it didn't matter.

Madara is mine. I let the overbearing possessiveness wash over me so I could better dissect it, but it only let the feeling sink in deeper. It was like a reflex, something you couldn't really hide or hold back, and it was terrifying. It wasn't the kind of possessiveness that made you want to hide something away, it was the kind that made you want to mercilessly slaughter any who looked at what was yours.

And at this moment, my proverbial slaughtering weapon was aimed at Sasuke.

I thought of nothing besides trying to calm this aching fury, try to reason that Sasuke was not interested in Madara in any way, especially not the way I was interested in him.

Which is in every way possible. I wanted all of Madara.

When that disturbingly obsessive thought entered my head, I almost had to leave the room. This was not any way to love someone. It was disturbing, insane and down right scary how crazy I was being about this, but it was like a chemical reaction in my brain.

The love I have for Sensei is normal, if not acceptable, but with the bond intensifying feelings that were already there, adding new, strangely primal needs into the mix, it was quickly turning into something else.

The bell rings, bringing me out of my confused thoughts. I try not to make the students piss their pants with my glare, but can't help it when that blonde boy scatters papers all over my desk. Sasuke snickers as said boy frantically tries to fix his mistake and I glare at my brother harder than I had before.

You're not getting special treatment, foolish little brother.

He leaves and I run my hands over my face in an attempt to collect myself before the next class.

Before the first student even makes it into my room, all I can do is eagerly wait for the lunch bell.

Madara

Damn it...

My neck burned with Itachi's fury. Did the boy even know what he was doing? God, it was so frustrating!

I rub the mark, trying my hardest to sooth it, but the angry sensation doesn't let up until a good half-hour later when the bell rings. I sigh when the feeling gradually goes away, standing to direct the attention of the students to the board where I had written what was to be said instead of speaking it. I honestly didn't feel like having a bunch of teenagers laugh at my accent.

All it really said was that I was filling in for some 'Hatake Kakashi', and that he would be back in around two weeks. After first class, I didn't bother trying to do anything.

After I had gotten their attention, I sat back down and laid my head on the desk. My hand was still healing from Sasuke's grip and it was taking a bit of energy to make the bruising stop. I suppose I can understand why Itachi had been mad, but I didn't really expect him to be that mad. It excited me that he felt this way, but I knew the intensity of his feelings were because of the bond-mark.

It was working so hard to push us together, pump insane levels of hormones to get us to the point where anything could set us off so that we would fight and be forced to touch one another. It didn't matter to the mark if the touch was sensual or violent, it just needed Itachi.

I just needed Itachi.

This is what I was worried about. As if Itachi and I weren't drawn to each other enough, my possession over him had to be completed.

A new fiery sensation attacked me, but this one was mine as I thought of ripping all of the boy's clothes off and having my way, knotting my fingers in that pretty hair, sinking my teeth into that delicious skin an-

Ugh, I want it so bad! How would Itachi react if he knew what I wanted, what I needed? Surely he felt the unnameable desire to do the same to me, but if he misunderstood it? He would probably think me (and consequently himself) to be a monster no worse than his parents who fought over Sasuke's young blood.

But I know he felt it too, that need, that burning desire. I had seen the blood-induced haze that had fogged his gaze our first day here.

The bell rang once more and I look to the schedule to see that lunchtime had finally arrived. I grab a sucker out of the stash in my drawer that Itachi had left for me. The boy was quite thoughtful when he wanted to be.

I almost smirk when I see Itachi with that endearing little scowl of his. He tries to hide it as we walk down the hallway to the teacher's lounge but I see straight through him.

I admire him as we walk to the student-prohibited room with three micro-waves, a refrigerator and two vending machines. We enter as an awkward pair to the occupants who were all conversing before we walk in, bringing along our chilly silence. It was almost funny how they reacted to the two of us, trying fruitlessly to start where they left of in whatever they had been doing at the time.

Finally, the uncomfortable feel of the situation was too much to bear for a warm, social looking man and he approached us, laughing nervously. "Hey, Karasu-san! How were your first classes?" Itachi looks at the man blankly, but I'm sure he's just trying to think of something to say. We sit down at a large table, making the still-standing man fidget nervously. Finally, placing his hand on the table to stare at them, Itachi speaks.

"... I think I hate teenagers." The teachers in the room laugh and I can't help but smirk myself. Who knew Itachi had a sense of humor? Despite the laughter in the room, Itachi remained unmoved by his semi-joke, but that was to be expected. Itachi knew how to please others very well, but had trouble enjoying himself without being completely comfortable.

Surrounded by strangers is not what you would call an Uchiha's comfort zone.

The brave speaker from before smiles, "Ah, yeah, that's what all the new teachers say." And he claps a hand down onto Itachi's back, making me pity the boy. He didn't really fancy anyone touching him other than Sasuke and I.

Iruka doesn't seem to notice his discomfort, removing his hand to turn to me, "You must be Kurosawa, right? Nice to meet you, I'm Iruka." And he sticks out his hand. Having visited America many years back, I knew to shake that hand, but it still felt odd. At my silence, he continues. "You're subbing for 'Kashi's class next door to me, how are the students?" I shrugged and he coughed into his hand awkwardly, making me have to hold back a smile. I enjoyed rubbing people the wrong way, it entertained me greatly for some reason.

Itachi sighed, annoyed with my behavior. "He's a little hard to deal with sometimes." Ha, yeah right, you know you love me, boy.

Iruka laughed it off, "Oh please, if you knew my fiance, you'd know that I go through this every day." Oh? Does your fiance want to sink his teeth into you too? If not, then I think he and I have quite a few differences...

I see Itachi give the man a look when he gets a dreamy expression about him. After someone clears their throat to grab Iruka's attention, he snaps back to reality, "Oh, sorry about that. So, how long have you and Kurosawa been in California?" Itachi mumbles back some lie and I tune out their boring conversation in favor or watching Itachi's mouth.

Honestly, the way the boy talked was so enticing. He just took over a conversation, no matter what was being talked about, taking complete control. I really liked that about Itachi. I continued to glue my eyes to every movement, the way he would frown and reply, unhappy with something being said, or the way his pulse throbbed and his Adam's apple twitched with every vibration of his smooth, seductive voice.

He was making me want him without even trying. I moved up to his eyes, lidded and dark as he slowly blinked in reaction to something Iruka said, before his eyes widen just enough to make his lashes flutter.

"You said Hatake Kakashi is your fiance?" It sounded bored and uninterested, but there was a slight strain in his voice that you would only notice if you truly knew Itachi.

Iruka smiled, nodding enthusiastically, unaware that he had just disturbed my mate. "Yeah, you know him?" His voice reminded me of one of the females from my first class, but his eyes held a suspicious glint at Itachi's familiarity with his fiance.

Itachi spoke monotonously, covering up his previous 'shock'. "No, I've just never heard such an interesting name before, even in Japan. It seems the people here are quite eccentric."

Iruka relaxed, smiling and giving us an exasperated look, "Oh, yeah, you can say that again."

Itachi forced a tight smile at the miniscule insult, effortlessly moving on to another subject, smothering his discomfort. I had a feeling that Itachi really did know a Kakashi Hatake, but I couldn't be sure as to where he knew the man from, or which world he was from.

It wasn't unheard of for people from the hidden world to go into hiding in the unhidden world, possibly to lead a different life. Hell, I did for that short time after the chamber incide-

"Is that a slushee?" I can't help but ask, almost shout, interrupting my own thoughts. A woman with spikey purple hair walked in, holding the bright red delicious wonder, jumping at the sudden sound of my voice.

She gave me an odd look and I vaguely register Itachi tensing in recognition to her voice. "Uh, yeah?"

"What flavor?" Everyone in the room claimed shocked faces, possibly at hearing my own yet to be used voice, or possibly at my obvious obsession with such a sweet icy (somewhat childish) beverage.

"Um, it's cherry?" Yeah, no, that's mine.

I'm not going to be craving demon blood and slushee.

I get out of my seat and take the drink from her hands, leaving her looking completely gob-smacked as I simply take a sip and go back to my seat. The entire room is tense, waiting for something to happen and after awhile, I realize why.

The young woman was shaking with rage, her brows furrowed to her nose, her mouth drawn up in a vile sneer, her face turning multiple shades of red. No wonder they were tense, this one must have quite the temper. I look at her with a raised eyebrow, waiting to see if she would challenge me for the tasty drink, taking long slow slurps.

Hmm, that's a good slushee. I almost feel my cravings fuse together and I vaguely ponder on the thought of making sweet things into a coping mechanism for my intense bouts of bloodlust. All while this thought process is taking place, the woman is slowly approaching her breaking point, almost foaming out the mouth as she watches me suck down her drink.

Just as she opens her mouth, Iruka comes between us and I have to lean forward and look around him to see her entertaining fit.

"Anko, calm down. I can get you another one, I can even get you dango, just don't break anything! Look, the vending machine has Snowballs! You love Snowballs!" At this, her fury faltered and she relaxed her shoulders, taking long, deep breaths with Iruka.

"Yeah, I do love Snowballs..." He sighs in relief, placing two silver coins in her hand and directing her to the snack machine. As she leaves, mournfully munching on her Snowball, glaring at me, the tension in the room falls, and everyone, even Itachi, lets out a sigh.

Iruka turned to me, "Kurosawa-san, Karasu-san, you probably don't know this, but she's not the sanest of people, so it's best to keep her happy. For future reference, she has quite the temper." Itachi nods and I smile around my straw.

I feel my mate's heated gaze on me, "Yes, I deal with insane people quite often, so I understand." Ah, more of your quit wit, I see. "Can I speak with you, Kurosawa?"

"No." The teachers seem to find our interaction humorous. I don't really see why, we haven't done anything, but amusement is clearly written on their faces.

After even Iruka has to hide his chuckle with his hand, Itachi gets up and grabs my arm, politely escorting me out of the room and a few feet down the hallway before he slams me against a wall.

He'd better be glad I left my slushee in the teacher's lounge...

He whisper-yells angrily in my face, "What the hell was that, Sensei?" I shiver delightfully when he corners me, ensuring no escape. I smirked at him, further fueling the fire until it pleased me with it's burn.

And burn it did.

Ignoring the fact that his mark on me was as hot and angry as ever, his temper had hit it's limit and his palm made it's stinging outline on my cheek. Luckily it was the cheek that could be hidden by my hair.

Unluckily, after he had slapped me sideways, he grabbed the front of my shirt and shoved me so hard against the wall that my head whipped back and made dizzying contact with the wall. Damn, all I had done was steal someone's drink.

I look at him, seeing the confusion, the guilt, the misunderstanding and realize that my careless behavior had only been the tip of the iceberg in driving Itachi to this point. Something had obviously been grating down on my Itachi's nerves and I was dancing on his very last one with my careless actions and he simply couldn't take anymore of the stress.

When my eyes finally refocus I glare back at him, but with the most teasing smirk I could muster, only serving to make that last nerve explode. Here it comes, the volcanic eruption, the raw need to inflict harm upon me, the unexplainable desire to tear his claws and teeth into my flesh, to make damn sure I knew who's mark was on me, and he would beat it into me if he had to. I felt it all coming from him and I shook with anticipation. Here it come-

The shrill scream of the lunch bell echoes through our heads as we stare at each other with bright red eyes, his spinning with tomoe, mine glowing without. Our chests heave slightly as reality comes back to us and our eyes fade to black. The monster in me wanted to see his eyes like mine too, because rarely did my anger ever bring me to Sharingan anymore, but to my blood. I had grown out of Sharingan before my first freeze. But Itachi didn't live the same way I did.

I see said boy swallow his anger and I can't help imagine him choking on the quantity of his rage. The scene reminded me of dropping a hot rock into a cool stream and watching as the steam rose from the surface of the water. He wanted to let it out so badly that I could feel it, he needed to let it out.

And I, the ever-caring Sensei, would be the one to take it from him, to be on the receiving end of his raw fury.

He backed away from me, his glare never leaving my cackling eyes as he gestured that I lead the way to the classrooms and I couldn't help the pleased hum that escaped my throat at the fact that he was angry enough to order me around without hesitation. The dark need inside me quivered, imagining other somewhat similar situations with less clothing.

Itachi was too busy glaring at my back as we strode down the hallway, but I was grinning that psychotic grin that only Uchiha could pull off. I could tell that Itachi was fighting not to throw his whole cover to shit and attack me, I could feel it in my bones.

As we separate and meet up with the students patiently waiting at our doors to get inside Itachi turns to me glaring. "We will talk later, Kurosawa." I pause at my door and turn to face him, revealing the grin on my face.

"Oh?"

He gave me a quick look to tell me I was testing his patience.

"I can't wait, Karasu-san."

Naruto

When I got into the classroom Sasuke was waiting. Yes, I had avoided him at lunch. I feel like he's about to start a fight about it, but some 'Oooooh's from the hallway capture his attention.

Hmm, sounds like someone's got into trouble the first day!

Sasuke looks uneasy and I'm starting to feel the same. That's where Kakashi's class room is supposed to be.

Scratch that, that's where Itachi's class room is...

I brush off the nervous feeling and sit down, picking up my papers and waving them in Sasuke's face to catch his attention.

"Hey, Bastard, pay attention. Let's get this over with." He gives me a look but picks his papers up as well, all snooty-like.

At first, they were boring questions like 'Name? Favorite color?' to which I put 'Bastard.' and 'black, like his soul.' on his sheet and he put 'Dobe.' and 'Orange. Obviously.' on mine.

Hey, no need to hate on orange.

It started getting uncomfortable when it asked siblings. I had skipped it, so as not to be an ass, but he stared straight at me, smirking, and said "One, Deida-" and I smacked my hand over his mouth, glaring and whispering 'Itachi' making him copy my previous action with wide angry eyes. After a few awkward stares we removed our hands from each other's faces, but kept our glare as we went through the rest of the survey, changing our answers to piss the other off.

When it asked eye color, I answered red with a smirk of my own. On the inside, though, I was nervous that he would know to answer the same. When he only grimaced, I thanked the heavens at the reassurance that he was unaware of my Jinchuuriki status.

It got less fun when the questions got serious, asking things like 'biggest regrets' and he said 'Not hiding your comrades as good as you should have' and I got up out of my seat so fast that it flipped onto it's back.

How dare he? The pictures were well enough hidden that Deidara never found them, and if he hadn't felt the need to snoop, then they would have remained hidden. I love my friends, I would never put them in danger! He had no right to say I didn't try to hide my secrets.

With the nastiest of sneers on my face, I gave a pointed glace to his shoulder, ready to spit the name of the snake Sannin as if it were poison on my tongue. He got out of his seat as well, knowing exactly what I was about to say, and we were standing face to face, glaring with all of our might, ready to choke one another.

Iruka walks over to us, "Boys, do-" but the bell rings. The class hesitantly gets ready to leave, not wanting to miss a possible fight, but we stay stuck in our angry trance for awhile. Finally, after feeling Iruka's hand on my shoulder, I break the eye-contact, stealing his backpack and reaching inside to grab a piece of paper.

I angrily scribble my cell phone number on it before shoving it to his chest.

"We need to meet up and have a long talk, got it, 'Hebi'?" This wasn't a game anymore, and I wasn't going to play like it was. If I lose, so do Sakura and Gaara. It wasn't that this mission was so important, it was that with Itachi here, the Akatsuki were involved. With Sasuke here, then Orochimaru would most likely be lurking around too.

Before, I didn't give a shit about this lame mission, if I got discovered by someone like Neji, I couldn't care less, but Uchiha bastards being here changed everything. It was lives at stake, mine and possibly everyone else's.

"Oh, I completely agree, Dobe." We glared at each other a bit longer before making to leave.

"Naruto?" Iruka calls to me, wanting to talk before I went to swim to work out all of my anger. Being around that asshole would have me buff in no time.

He gives one look back before going to his next class, and I turn to Iruka.

"You alright? Is it the mission?" I shake my head, unable to tell him. I don't know exactly what could happen if I revealed the Uchiha, so I really didn't want to risk it and end up putting my friends in danger. I wanted plenty of capable reinforcement there when I exposed the Uchiha, because my team and a few chuunin would be cutting it too close and there would be casualties.

I had to wait until at least Kakashi-sensei was here.

I paint on the famous grin, "Nah, that guy is just an asshole. I'll be fine, Iruka, don't worry about me."

He gave a hesitant nod and I waved, heading for the halls.

"Bye, Iruka-sensei! I'll be sure to visit you and Minako sometime!" He smiles and nods and I'm out the door.

I run to my next class, praying that the swim coach isn't a hard ass. Well, I'd be okay if he were the kind to make you run laps, because I really needed to blow off some steam, but I really didn't feel like getting yelled at today.

I rush into the pool area and bust open the door to the locker room, only to be knocked down by someone exiting. I look up to apologize, but come face to face with the last person I wanted to see.

Sasuke.

In a speedo.

"..."

"... Dobe."

Later, After school

God, that was a weird class.

Apparently we didn't start the actual swimming until two weeks in, after everyone's schedule was adjusted. They wanted to make sure that they had the right amount of swimsuits I guess, because the first day had consisted of people trying them on. I was skeptical, so I wasn't going to do it until I was sure I had to.

Why did you have to try on a speedo? Sakura had forced me into one before, so I knew there wasn't much to size difference, they were rather stretchy. We later found out that one of the seniors on the team had posed as the coach and decided to play a prank, almost like a haze, so we spent the rest of the day hanging out in the pool, or in Sasuke's case, brooding. Apparently, in swim class, trunks were just fine.

Ha, stupid bastard fell for some douche-bag's trick...

I don't really know why he was upset, though, he had a hot body so there was really nothing to be ashamed of. Hell, I would've been fine with a speedo if it had truly been mandatory, I have quite the sexy bod too. I was beginning to think that it wasn't even about practically walking around in his undies, that it was more about someone fooling him, because he seemed to be pouting.

I was about to give in and go talk to the bastard, but the coach called us back into the locker room to change.

Everyone stood at the door fully dressed, waiting for the last bell to ring. When it finally did, Sasuke backed away from the exit, face muscles looking uncomfortably tight, but his expression was otherwise unreadable. I chalked it up to be the 'no touchy' thing again, but he held his hand on his shoulder and stared at the ground until most of the students left.

Maybe that's what he was so pissy about. They made him take his shirt off and people must have seen that stupid curse mark. He was probably self-conscious. I would be too, if I had that snake-bastard's bitch mark on me.

I watch his retreating back with a grimace, texting Gaara and Sakura, telling them to meet me.

I need to talk to them, and the safest place to talk was Sakura's dorm. Luckily, I find my way inside the girl's hallway in C dorms without getting caught. Aw yeah, I got skills. I pick the lock of Sakura's dorm door and sneak into the dorm, being as stealthy as possible in case someone was already inside. I doubted it, because I had made it here just after the bell, bu it never hurt to be careful.

I tip-toe inside, scanning the rooms for occupants, but I find no one in sight.

Damn, they had it made.

The place was like an apartment, it was ridiculous.

I tense when I here the door handle turning, but fortunately it's just Sakura.

She smiles, "You wanted to talk?"

I nod, "Yeah, but let's wait for-"

"I'm here." Sometimes that sand is just too quiet... Sure, my flash was silent, but his sand crept. That made it spooky, and spooky wasn't really my thing. It was more Kurama's taste.

Shut up, kit.

Damn, I thought this necklace shut you up.

Only for so long, kit. It took some getting used to, but your favorite demon fox is back.

Fuck my life...

Sakura starts talking about her first day, Gaara humming or nodding every now and again, Sakura teasing him about Neji chatting him up.

"How did you hear about that?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

Sakura giggled, "I have last period with him. He was talking to Hinata about how it was fate that you had two classes together on the first day." Gaara looked ready to say something but paused and looked at me.

"Speaking of those two classes..." And Sakura seemed to remember that I had called them here.

"Wait, Gaara, you had two classes with Naruto today, too?! I'm so isolated!"

He gave her a pointed look that told her she had missed his point. "Sasuke shared that third period as well. He and Naruto spent that entire class arguing, just like second period." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Jeez, Naruto, what was wrong with you! Sasuke didn't even say any-"

"What's going on, Naruto." Gaara's voice was grave, making Sakura confused.

"Uh, weren't they just arguing?" Gaara's eyes never left me. He knew me better than Sakura.

He spoke quietly to our female friend, "You didn't see him, Sakura. Before Hebi even sat down he was practically having a stroke." She looked at me.

I sighed, aggravated. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here, Gaara."

I run my hand through my hair and Sakura looks to me confused. "Naruto, what's going on-"

The door opens and Gaara fades into sand, disappearing. I flash away before I can see who entered and I smash my hand on my bed when I flash into my room.

God damn it! If Sakura hadn't kept running her freaking mouth about school-shit!

I pull out my phone angrily, typing 'We need to have a designated meeting place. And as for I what wanted to tell you guys; Keep away from Sasuke, as well as Karasu. I can't explain right now, but I will.'

I slide my phone closed and collapse onto my bed, throwing my arm over my eyes.

What a fucking day.

I had expected this to be easy, if not fun. We were practically playing school for crying out loud! This is too much, even for me, especially for me, according to Kyuubi. I knew for a fact that there was something about Uchiha that Kurama was holding back, but I didn't have to read the fox's mind to know that they were dangerous. There was something about Sasuke, though.

I don't know if it was the fact that I had dreamed about him or something else, but it was definitely unsettling. I needed to get answers out of Kyuubi, but it was like he was waiting for something, like he wanted something bad to happen before he'd tell me how to prevent it.

My phone vibrates against my palm and I open the text, expecting Sakura, but it's a number I'm not familiar with.

But I didn't need to be.

'Hello, Dobe.'

Madara

I walked down to our apartment-home by myself, my eyes scanning my surroundings, waiting for Itachi's surprise attack. I was completely pumped, almost giddy to the point that I was shaking. I knew he wasn't out here, but I almost wanted him to be, I didn't want to wait. As much as he smothered his anger, I had smothered my anticipation of the future fight.

These encounters always had a way of getting me going, in more ways than one.

According to one of his last period students, Itachi had said he had somewhere to go ten minutes before the last bell, that he had an important errand to run.

As I unlock the door to our apartment, I begin to wonder if it had anything to do with that Akatsuki. It seems he was very secretive about it.

I open the door and walk in, jumping as it shuts behind me and all I have time to do is hit the floor as Itachi ambushes me from behind.

I twist around, my back scraping against the floor, my shirt having rode up. Itachi's fist smashes against my already sore face so hard that it knocks me back in the other direction, back unto my stomach. I throw my elbow back hearing a crack in his ribs and an angry hiss. I laugh breathlessly and he retaliates by ruthlessly knotting his hand in my messy locks, shoving my face into the ground and twisting my arm behind me painfully. He jerks the hand in my hair, steering my head to the side, making me groan and roll my eyes back.

"What do you think you're doing, Sensei?" I smile, holding back my cackles.

"I could ask you the same, boy- AH!" He jerks my hair and my arm up hard and I growl. I was on my knees now, and I grit my teeth, holding back a roar when he leans over my back. My mind flashed back to the chamber and the heat that had been spreading through me stopped for a bit. He was ranting at me about controlling myself, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

I remained unphased as I feel something pop, the spine tingling pain not fully registering. He was still yelling, jerking my hair in ways that I would have found painful yet arousing, but I felt nothing. I couldn't even really see anything, just Senju and the walls of the chamber. I could only feel the pain he brought me. I knew I wasn't there, in the chamber, but it's all I saw and felt.

I was in my own world, lost in horrific memories of the last time I was bent over in this situa-

"Sensei..."

I don't know when, but he had let go of my arm and hair. I was still on my knees but my arms lay limp at my side and my chest and face were pressed to the floor as I stare into space, amazed at how sucked in to that memory I had been.

Itachi was looking at me with soft, sorry eyes now. I meet those eyes, mine lost, and I twist onto my back and swing to hit him, trying to bring the fight back. I don't want to be lost in old tragedies, I want to be lost in Itachi, in our battle, in our contact.

He blocks it with his arm and I throw my weight to get him off of me. When his back hits the floor, I move quickly and throw my leg over his waist, straddling him, preparing to swing once more with my good arm. I know I must have seemed desperate to keep the fight going, but it was all I could think to do to feel better.

Itachi grabs my wrist before my fist can make impact with his face and pulls me down, his own body lifting to meet me half way as he brings our mouths together in a harsh, suffocating kiss.

I tense, inhaling through my nose in shock, not willing to reciprocate as he moves his lips against my unresponsive ones. My eyes were already closed for some reason and I couldn't help but keep still as the kiss slowed, Itachi losing his fire at my lack of similar enthusiasm. He pulls away almost nervously and I feel him staring at my confused face. I open my eyes slowly, looking at him.

Itachi seemed as though he was waiting to see what I'd say, how I'd react, but I honestly had no idea how to. I was still tense, still thinking about the chamber, still unsure how I was supposed to act.

Suddenly, I felt a pulse of warmth from Itachi, or his mark on me, and I feel myself begin to relax, the pleasing feelings from the boy working wonders upon me in my locked up state.

This isn't Senju, this isn't the chamber. This was Itachi, my charge, my boy, my bond-mate. I want Itachi. Senju is long dead, buried in the past.

Ever so slowly, I lean forward, my eyes sliding shut as I press our lips back together, and from there, everything spiraled out of control.

We were a mess of groping hands and panting mouths as he flipped us back over, running his hands up my sides until he was pushing my arms up above my head, gripping my wrists. I fought, naturally, wanting my painfully throbbing arm out of such an uncomfortable position, but he only growled, pushing against me in a way that allowed no defiance. I groaned and eagerly submitted, arching into him instinctively.

That darker side of me was simply delighted, having finally found that side of Itachi, or perhaps it was that darkness within me that awakened him in the first place. I couldn't find it in myself to care at the moment, though.

He paused for a bit and I froze, damning myself for giving in so easily. However, before I could regret my actions too much, he resumes with fervor, grinding into me. I lift my hips to meet his and he bites at my lips, begging me to part them. I give my permission and my lids flutter as my eyes roll back, savoring the taste of Itachi. I coax the boy's tongue into my mouth, allowing full dominance to which he eagerly obliges. Oh God... The boy had quite the talented mouth...

His skillful tongue explored relentlessly and I couldn't help but take it in, sucking teasingly every now and then. I wanted him so bad right now...

Suddenly, he sits up, making me growl in frustration. Are you serious?! Stupid boy, how could he jus-

"Nngh.." is all I can muster as he grinds his hips into me hard. He was just watching me now. I must have been quite the sight, so I honestly couldn't blame him. Here I am, on my back with my hands pinned above my head with my sadistic bond-mate positioned between my spread legs. I must have looked like some kind of cheap whore, or slutty fan-girl.

But that sort of position only seemed to turn Itachi-kun on.

He licked his lips, trailing his free hand slowly and lightly down my neck, my chest, my slightly exposed stomach, only to bypass the growing bulge in my pants. I throw my head back and growl, trying to arch into his hand.

Sadistic indeed, but I must say I kind of enjoyed this special torture, as it greatly appealed to that side of me for some unexplainable reason. His hand ventured back up my body, this time purposely gliding over the mark before the hand knotted itself in my hair as Itachi jerked my head up to meet his in a hungry kiss.

I smile into it, groaning at the intensity, ignoring the sharp pain in my shoulder. He pulls me against his upright form, nibbling lightly at my lips, still holding my arms behind me like I'm some kind of prisoner.

I shiver at the thought. Itachi's prisoner...

Just as I think I'm about to pass out from lack of oxygen, there's a knock at the door.

Itachi frustrated groan vibrates against my lips and he lifts to pull away, laying me down. Quickly, I sit up and grab his shirt with my good hand, dragging him down a bit to press my lips to his a few more times. It was just so good, I couldn't help but want more. He paused in going to answer the door, responding eagerly to me, but the knocks only got louder.

Itachi sighed against my mouth, his hands cradling my face and looking into my lidded eyes with apology. I was left on the floor, one arm dead at my side, as Itachi went to answer the door.

"Um, is everything alright? I heard thuds, a-and I think I heard you yelling an-"

Itachi's voice is tight, and he goes straight to the point. "Everything is fine, Umino-san. Kurosawa and I were just having an argument and it got a bit loud. I apologize, it won't happen again." And he angrily slams the door in Iruka's face before he can say anything more. Itachi, ever-honest.

I watch as the boy walks back to me holding his side. I'm pretty sure I broke one of his ribs...

He sits next to me with a sigh, and for a moment I expect an awkwardness to settle over us, but no such thing happens. It's strangely comfortable, sitting on the floor with Itachi. After awhile he shifts, moving his torso to see if he had truly broken a bone in our struggle, and he bumps my limp, throbbing arm, making me hiss.

"Your right side has taken quite the beating today." Hmm, indeed it has. My face, my hand, my arm. Fucking brat.

"By whose hand?" He looks down for a bit, almost guilty, but quickly lifts his head.

"I could pop your arm back in for you..." I nod hesitantly, not sure if it was such a good idea to bring me pain when I was still aroused. I wasn't sure I wanted the boy aware of my involuntary masochism, but if I refused his help outright then he would be suspicious.

He gets up and walks to the kitchen, coming back with a clean dishrag.

"... And what do you plan on doing with th-" and he stuffs it in my mouth, immediately sending dirty thoughts to my head. Before I can fantasize too much, Itachi is behind me, pushing my arm at an awkward angle, trying to get it back where it belongs. My eyes water and I can't stop the pained grunt that escapes my throat.

Oh, that's what the gag-rag is for.

I can be as loud as I want.

And I was. I screamed, my face heating up as Itachi none-too-gently forced my dead arm about. I think he prolonged it on purpose, wanting to listen to me make more sounds. The pain excited me and I knew my eyes were red and my teeth had elongated into the gag, that side of me wanting more. We were back into the position that popped my arm out in the first place and I saw Itachi smirking as he finally popped it back into place, quite easily might I add.

I knew he was a sadist...

He pulled the gag from my mouth, wiping a string of saliva from my lip as my hazy red eyes stared at him from my vulnerable position on the floor. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" I continued to pant, unable to speak as he moved his hand between my legs from behind. "Hn, I must say it's pretty amazing that you could maintain this-" He emphasized with a squeeze, making my eyes shut. "-so well after all of that. It's almost as if you enjoyed yourself."

You bet I did, you sadistic little bas-

Knock knock knock.

Itachi glared, growling, "I guess you weren't quiet enough, Sensei." He got up from his knees and I collapsed on the floor, catching my breath. God damn. I think I'm in love.

I tried to calm myself down, getting up to walk to the bathroom, rolling my shoulder. I run cold water in the sink, splashing it over my face to cool my over-heated body. Itachi is getting pretty ballsy...

I fight my arousal, waiting to hear Iruka's worried voice echo through our home as Itachi opens the door, but I hear Sasuke's instead. I stick my head out of the bathroom to listen.

"I want to speak with 'Kurosawa'." and I feel Itachi's frustration come off of him in waves. I smirk, coming out and greeting Sasuke, just to piss Itachi off.

"You needed me?" He nodded and I see my mate glaring at his brother. We stand there awkwardly, the night showing through the windows, making all of us look darker than normal.

I sigh and turn to Itachi, "Go get me a slushee, boy." He glares but I mirror his look, completely serious. (Don't ask how I looked intimidating asking for a slushee, because I'll never tell.)

He seems to understand my desire to be alone with Sasuke, but that doesn't mean he was happy about it. Itachi glares one last time at the both of us before growling and storming out.

I see Sasuke relax as the door slams and I chuckle. "What did you want to speak with me about, child?"

Sasuke gives a pointed look to my hand, asking "How did you do that?"

I play dumb, smiling slightly, "How did I do what?" It was just too much fun to tease Sasuke. He didn't hide his temper as well as his brother, believe it or not.

Sasuke gave me a cold look, "You know what I'm talking about. How did you know what to do today?" and I sigh, my mood completely gone.

I sit down and he does the same, waiting for me to speak. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a lot like your older brother?" He's quiet, thinking a bit before he nods.

"Well, they lied to you." Sasuke looks confused, eyes squinted slightly.

I sigh once more, and prepare an explanation, slightly uncomfortable with sharing something about my bond-mate. "Itachi was always... very passive as a child. He never really went against anyone until the massacre, he just took everything that anyone could dish out. He was never as rebellious as you were."

I smirk when I see Sasuke huff, but know better than to argue.

My smirk fades as memories resurface and I can feel Sasuke watching my face. "Itachi never even blinked when someone crossed his boundaries, but I could tell it drove him crazy. I found him one night in the forest after a clan meeting, just, destroying a tree with his hands, no fire techniques or anything of the sort." I shaky sigh escaped my throat and I relaxed my face, not letting an expression reveal itself.

"He... was crying, he was angry. I stopped him when I smelled his blood, and he turned to me and explained to me what he was doing. He said he was hurting something, and no one could stop him out here."

I remember finding it funny at the time. Here was Uchiha Itachi, taking out his frustrations on a tree. It had been a laughable thought, but when his cold eyes revealed no humor, I knew the poor boy was serious. He wanted to be the one who hurt someone else for once. He wanted to take control and cross someone else's boundaries.

I relay these thoughts to Sasuke, and he looks at me in disbelief, then confusion. "But, what does that have to do with the hand thing?"

I thought it was obvious, but I explain it anyway. "I gave him my control. I told him to take my hand and squeeze it until he was satisfied with my pain, until it amounted to his. I told him not to stop until he was sure that I was hurting. That's what was wrong with you today, Sasuke." He narrows his eyes, but I continue.

"The feeling you get when someone touches you without permission is not an Uchiha thing, it's a Sasuke thing. An Itachi thing. It upsets you because it takes your control and control is something you and your brother crave. I was just giving it back to you." He stands up, angry that I was analyzing him.

"What makes you think you know anything about us-"

"I know more about you than you do, Sasuke." And it was true. He and Itachi had no idea of what dark secrets flowed through their veins. I knew so much more, and I knew how they operated.

He faultered, letting me continue, "Do you mind physical contact when you initiate it?" He hesitantly shook his head, looking to the side.

"That's what I thought. I'm not ever against you or Itachi, remember that." Sasuke doesn't look at me, he just leaves. As the door slams for the second time that night, I close my eyes, fighting off the migraine that decided to attack.

My eyes burned and my mouth hurt with the cravings that Itachi's little stunt brought on, making me groan and hold my face in my hands. Everything hurt, and it sure as hell wasn't the good kind of pain either. If that last 'fight' didn't awaken my secret desires then I sure as hell don't know what else would.

I wanted Itachi so bad right now, but I knew if we got down and dirty that I wouldn't be able to control myself. I needed something to hold me over, to sate the sharp pangs of need that we're searing through my being.

I needed a victim, because unless I had my fill, I would attack Itachi, and I don't want him knowing just yet. But I couldn't have just anyone's liquid life, it had to be of a certain kind.

A human wouldn't do, and it would catch too much attention.

If I chose a demon then they would have to be ridiculously powerful, and a powerful demon going missing would set off council and they were the last ones I wanted to deal with.

An immortal human was out of the question since it was hard to tell if they were from a clan or not, and immortals without a clan were blessed and far too pure.

I only knew of one immediate and long-lasting fix; the Kyuubi. That would take way too long to find, and I was pretty sure it was locked away in Konoha. I had no time for making Konoha invasion plans, so that fix would have to wait.

The only other option was a true-blue immortal. The clan immortals and the ex-human immortals could live forever young, yes, but they could also be killed. Not as easily as any human, they were usually just as strong as demons, but demons could be killed as well.

True immortals, like myself, had no capability of dying, which is why I had to be sealed. There is no forever-long promise of death for us, making it impossible for us to cease to exist.

I only knew of one true immortal that would help me out.

A sick grin stretched across my face as the door opened, revealing a stone-faced Itachi and my cherry red deliciousness. I take it from him, drinking like mad as if it would eliminate my other thirst, giving a pleased sigh at the sense of satisfaction it brought me.

Yes, I had an old friend to visit, emphasis on old. I suppose that also meant I had a trip to the hidden world to make, as I doubt I could find that bastard roaming around California...

And as soon as I got what I need, I could get what I want. Itachi.

What a night.

Itachi

I don't know how we got to this point, but like hell I was arguing with it.

When I first kissed Madara, I was afraid he was going to beat the shit out of me. I pulled back, watching his frozen face slowly come back to life. It was kind of sexy, his eyes opened in what looked to be slow motion and his lips were reddening still from my attack. That was our kiss; unkind and longing, hard and surprising.

But it seemed as though it was just going to be my kiss when he opened his eyes and just stared at me. I'm about to sigh and back away, but he suddenly leaned forward and it was on. I felt something in me fight it's way to the surface and I flipped our positions, pushing my way between his legs and running my hands all over his delicious body, not holding back.

I pushed his arms up above his head, letting my uncontrollable need for dominance shine through. He fought, like I expected, but I wasn't having it.

Not today.

It's like that feeling inside me was an entirely new being, and that new being wanted Madara's submission. I pushed down on his arms, pinning his hands above his head, not taking no for an answer. Instead of fighting harder, he almost purred and he became putty in my hands.

How... Interesting...

I drank up every movement, every deep, pleased hum that vibrated against my lips. I press my luck, trying to coax Madara into opening his lips and he does so without argument, even inviting me in, playing along and doing rather suggestive things with his sweet mouth. I had to be dreaming, because this was like every fantasy I had ever had, awake or asleep.

Here was Uchiha Madara, arguably the most powerful demon of all time, completely submitting to me.

It was too good, too delicious to be real, so I had to see it for my self.

I sit up, leaving his mouth so I could get a good look at him.

I had to activate Sharingan once I opened my eyes, because it was one of those memories you wanted to be burned into your head.

I still had my hold on his wrists, but he seemed to like it, so I couldn't see it bothering him. I licked my lips as my eyes roamed over his prone form. There was a lust-laden glaze about his hazy red eyes as he looked at me, panting like some sort of animal in heat. With his arms above his head and his legs spread wantonly, he looked as if he were offering himself to me, and the thought had me hot all over. He growled at me seemingly frustrated, ready to protest my lack of action and ruin his perfect little image, so I ground my hips into his and smirk as he throws his head back, rolling his hips to meet mine.

I wanted to touch, so I ran my fingers from his smooth neck down his chest, lingering on the skin of his stomach where his shirt had rose up teasingly, revealing less than an inch of skin. I passed the impressive bulge in his pants, smirking at his angry reaction before running my hands back up his tempting form, making sure my fingers caressed the mark on his neck before I grabbed his hair and pulled him up to me, hungry for him again.

Sensei groaned, enjoying this type of treatment. It surprised me, I had always pegged him to be a rather dominant bed partner, but it seemed to be the other way around. Perhaps this is what stopped him when I was a child, his true desire was to be over-taken, and that was what always had been lost in translation. It made sense now.

I smirked into the demanding kiss, mirroring his own pleased lips. I'm ready for you now, Madara-sensei.

I pull him into my lap, making him straddle me as my arms encircle his waist, still holding his arms captive. He doesn't seem to mind the mild discomfort, disregarding any pain he felt in favor of paying me attention. That's how I liked it, though, Sensei being concerned with only me. It may seem to be the thought of a petulant child to you, but he is mine, all of his attention rightfully belongs to me.

And I eat it up.

I'm about to tear all of his damnable clothes off when I hear a knock at our door.

What. The. Fuck.

My frustrated groan tickles my lips, and probably Madara's too, as I lay my sensei down to get up and answer the door. Before I can even get up, though, he pulls me down against his lips and who am I to refuse? I kiss back, pleased that he seems to enjoy me as much as I enjoy him. He hums quietly against my lips, his grip on my shirt tightening as the incessant knocking only continues, getting louder and harder to ignore.

As I break away from Sensei, licking my lips as I walk to the door, I have to force Sharingan down. I would love to just fry this nuisance's brain, but a corpse at my doorstep would surely seem suspicious. I open the door, not bothering to hide my annoyance from Umino Iruka as he nervously tries to peer into my home.

"Um, is everything alright? I heard thuds, a-and I think I heard you yelling an-" I interrupt him, knowing full well what he heard.

"Everything is fine, Umino-san. Kurosawa and I were just having an argument and it got a bit loud. I apologize, it won't happen again." My brain currently didn't have enough blood flowing through it to formulate a decent, believable lie since all of that blood was still gathered at my groin, so I decided to tell the truth at a lowered volume before slamming the door.

I suppose I should be more careful. I had been popping Madara's arm out of socket over him attracting attention and here I was possibly bringing up 'domestic disturbance' calls from the neighbors.

I was already completely aware of how out of hand our fights could get, but in my pent up rage I had attacked any way, hoping to get rid of some of it. I suppose I had been searching for that feeling I had gotten with Sensei about a week earlier, but it had not turned out that way at all...

I look to Sensei's sitting form, cradling my side that had taken a hit from his elbow as I walk towards him and sit down.

No, it didn't turn out like that at all, but I suppose this outcome was fine too.

But there was still something I had to test, just to make sure...

After a few minutes of silence, thinking over what the hell had just happened, I reposition myself to find a better position for my sore side, but also to face him, and he makes a noise of discomfort as I accidentally nudge his misplaced arm. He doesn't move or glance at me but I could tell he knew I was staring at him, wanting his attention. When I was sure I had that attention, I spoke.

"Your right side has taken quite the beating today." I say, remembering the red outline of the print of the back of my hand that I had seen upon his cheek. First it had been his crushed hand, then my slap, my punch, and let's not forget the fact that he was currently unable to use his arm.

"By whose hand?" Mine, but Sasuke's as well. I wouldn't say it out loud, but it still left me furious that my brother had done that. Also that Madara had let him. As childish as it was, the whole 'squeeze' thing was something only he and I should share, as it had been my coping technique from my childhood.

And Madara was mine.

"I could pop your arm back in for you..." I say, making it sound like an apology. He didn't know what I was testing, but his reluctance to agree was almost enough to prove my theory right.

That didn't mean I wasn't going to test it, though.

He watches me with narrowed eyes as I leave the room, going to the kitchen to get a dish rag from the grocery bag I had brought home a week prior. I roll up the rag and walk back into the living room where Sensei sat impatiently.

"... And what do you plan on doing with th-" I'm going to use it to keep you quiet, of course. The last thing I needed was Iruka coming back to my doorstep with the authorities after hearing screams. And that's exactly what I planned to have ring from his throat.

I placed myself at his side, somewhat behind him and I jerked his arm purposely in the wrong direction.

At first, all he does is grunt uncomfortably, as if stifling himself, then he crosses his eyes to look at the rag in his mouth, seeming to understand it's purpose quite well, because from then on, he doesn't hold back. I force his arm into all kinds of disgusting angles, watching as his eyes tear up and fade back to red as he shudders and pants, occasionally letting a hoarse moan escape his throat, only to be muffled by the rag.

He lets his head fall to the floor as I finally decide to be merciful and pop it into place. It was blatantly obvious that the man liked pain, my 'test' results turning out positive, so I didn't need to prolong what he would call 'sexual torture' any longer. Besides, I was quite hard myself.

I look into his tired eyes, smirking as I pull out the gag and wipe a string of saliva from his bottom lip.

He looked appetizing as he laid in such a tempting position, on his knees with his behind in front of me, his eyes heated and needy as they stare at me with their submissive red gaze. Hell yeah it turned me on to see Sensei like this, he was practically begging for me to take him.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" He didn't fight, only watched as I rubbed my hand over the hot, impressive erection that he had kept through out the entire process, only further proving my hypothesis correct.

"Hn, I must say it's pretty amazing that you could maintain this-" I squeezed the clothed hardness in emphasis and he let his eyelids fall shut, humming out a sound too deep to be a whimper. "-so well after all of that. It's almost as if you enjoyed yourself." He opened his eyes and mouth to say something, panting and glaring, when another knock against the door interrupted him.

I almost scream.

"I guess you weren't quiet enough, Sensei." And I get up, watching as he collapses to the floor. I feel myself heat up even more at seeing him so undone, knowing I was the one to undo him. I was the only one allowed, the only one who could leave him in such a state.

And speaking of obsessively possessive instincts...

When I see Sasuke at the door I become inexplicably angry, still upset about Sasuke touching what was mine.

Well, I doubt Sasuke could take on Madara like I just had, so I suppose I shouldn't be so jealous...

"I want to speak with 'Kurosawa'." Fuck that last thought. Sasuke wanted to talk to my sensei? My bond-ma-

"You needed me?" Madara comes out of the bathroom, completely calm and collected, the very opposite of his previous attitude. Sasuke nods and I feel my eyebrows furrow in disdain. Like hell I was going to just sit by while they had their little meeti-

"Go get me a slushee, boy." Excuse me? Sensei was trying to get rid of me! I glare in defiance but he glares back twice as hard, leaving me to inwardly debate the thought that he wouldn't dominate me. I sighed, giving one last glare before I slammed the door and headed to the nearest seven-eleven, which wasn't very near at all, might I add.

I contemplated simply driving around in circles as they talked, then just coming back when I figured they were done with their conversation. I knew the 'slushee' thing was just an excuse to make me leave, that's why I didn't fight.

And because I knew Sensei could still kick my ass if he really wanted to.

I wasn't about to let that happen in front of Sasuke.

Even so, I walked back up to our apartment with a sweating thirty-two ounce slush in hand. I wanted to be on Madara's good side, and pleasing my mate was second nature to me.

When I walked in, he seemed to be in pain and I pondered upon the thought of Sasuke being to blame. I squashed it quickly, though. If Sensei could kick my ass over a slushee, I doubt that Sasuke would escape after actually committing a real offense against Madara.

When he lifted his head, his eyes were red again, but with a different hunger, a different lust. He snatched the drink, looking at me appreciatively and I watched him, specifically his eyes.

I had been wondering about those eyes for quite some time, but I couldn't figure out what they were.

They weren't Sharingan, as they didn't have the black tomoe spinning, not even one. I thought about them being some sort of mangekyou technique, but I had seen his mangekyou form before.

I watched curiously as his breathing calmed after a few drinks and the eyes faded back to their silvery-gray. It was like he was truly addicted to those drinks, or sweets in general.

A perverted thought invaded my mind, distracting me with images of Sensei naked, covered in things like chocolate sauce and whipped cream as he sucked on a candy stick, and any serious concerns were successfully eradicated from my train of thought.

I walked over to the couch where he was sitting and placed myself next to him, laying myself down in his lap. He hummed around the straw and stroked my face with his hand but made no other move to suggest he wanted to continue where we had left off.

I was fine with that, because I was about to start up my seduction game for real, now that I knew what he wanted.

Sensei wanted my challenge.

All throughout my childhood, I'd thought he wanted a willing, loyal charge who would ever faithfully present present himself to Madara, but in reality, Sensei wanted a fight, just like he always had in every other aspect of his life. Things came easily enough to Uchiha as it is.

But it seemed as though Madara didn't even want to win that fight.

I honestly couldn't say he wanted to be put in his place, because his place was above mine an-

We are equals...

A smile spreads across my face, interrupting my analytical thoughts as I realize what his talk had been about.

He had said all that so I wouldn't think of myself as below him, not because he was concerned with my self-esteem and place, but because he had preferred me on top of him...

"What are you smiling about, boy?" I close my eyes, lifting myself so that I could look him in the eye.

"Nothing, Madara-sama..." And I press my lips to his once more, relishing the taste of his compliance. He sighed and pressed back, but I backed away, getting up and walking to the bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind me.

The last thing I see before it shuts is him pouting slightly, glaring straight at me before my vision is obscured.

I smirk, finally throwing my evil plan into action. How hard could it be? It was obvious he wanted me, so the that part was in the bag, now all I had to do was the evil part; tease him. It would be like what I just did, start something, but stop before it went anywhere. He would come to me begging for it.

I slip into bed, nude this time, grinning for all that I was worth.

They didn't call me a sadistic bastard for nothing.

Madara

That boy... is trying to play me.

I glared, seeing his playfully sexy smirk in the crack just before the door closes. He had been smiling that evil, conniving smile of his in my lap, so something had to be up.

I had tried to fight my thirstier side from grabbing the tempting boy and tearing his throat out, but I let myself give in as he kissed me, unable to deny either side of myself the treat.

Oddly enough, he had stopped it before it could truly start.

I sat there, contemplating for a bit, licking my elongated teeth trying to calm my demon's thirsty need. I had to control myself, otherwise Itachi would find out. I could already tell that he was suspicious of me. I sighed, rubbing my face and heading to the bedroom after a good amount of time alone.

The sight that met me left me with mixed emotions.

One, I was quite turned on to know that Itachi was stark naked under the sheets, his clothes laying in a suggestive trail from the door to Itachi's bed side.

Two, I was extremely pissed off to figure out that he was trying to lure me into some kind of game where he seemed to think he would win me that easily.

Oh no, boy, I don't just lay on my back, you gotta have the balls to put me there.

Three, I was... excited. If the boy wanted to play games then he had a very worthy opponent, and he would figure that out real soon.

I stripped down to nothing, secret scars be damned. If Itachi wanted me, he was gonna have to want all of me, the good, the bad and the ugly. Though I'm not sure which part got the title of ugly, My battle scars or my acute(not-so-acute) vampirism.

Smirking, I crawl under the covers with him, pressing my chest against his back, snaking my arm over his waist to pull him snug against me. I wonder if we'll be late to class tomorrow, because I could see us waking up and getting rather... distracted whe-

No, I had to keep this game going. I couldn't lose. It was obvious that Itachi wanted to make me beg, and as alluring as the idea of me on my knees in front of Itachi was, I wasn't going to make it that easy. If I wanted to make sure the boy could handle me, why would I just give up without a fight? Where is the fun in that?

Plus I wanted to see him really try to 'handle' me, because liking a good chase didn't always mean you were the chaser.

No, if Itachi thought he could play Uchiha Madara, he had another thing coming.

Because Uchiha Madara is better at this game.

Well? What'd you think?

Any good? I tried making it long, but I wanted it to end in a good spot, and doing another POV break would have ended it funny... In my oppinion.

(1) – Contrary to popular belief, 'Teme' does not mean bastard. It is actually a very informal, somewhat rude way of wording 'you', and is used by Naruto in the show as "You...", like you would see in an old cartoon or something where the character is shaking his fist at someone with narrowed eyes. I decided to twist the way it is in my story though, instead making it imply that being accused of being like Sasuke is an insult in itself.

And thank you all once again who reviewed! I literally squeal every time I read them! Thank you sooooo much to Pekudi and Maximoffs! As well as my favorite-ers!

3! (Multiple Hearts...)

~SaLEm