Holy pixies on speed, Batman! It's an update! The chapter that never finished getting written. Blame… Err… give credit to Lightbringer88 for it. All… three of you reading this. We have a law of large numbers in math… I don't think we have one for little numbers. Peh. I own zip, it's better that way, now give me sugar. Some of this chapter reads like crap, but there's no artistic way to say boys are stupid/psychotic and sometimes both. Disclaimers, we has them. Somewhere. Talk to me when I'm not having fun shiny times with teh roomie. Spring Break baby!

Shades of Grey Chapter 11: Heather

Having a guest and nothing to write meant Sasuke would have to actively go forth and see all the things a passable kitchen should have… milk that wasn't expired, eggs that weren't about to lay siege to anything that moved, butter that actually looked like butter, and nothing instant. He reasoned bachelors had better things to do than make sure they were eating properly… food would only sustain him but so long before live prey was required. But at least he could cook better than his roommate could ever hope to claim. It was a required skill if one planned to survive living with Naruto for any amount of time.

She was quite determined to be as little a burden on him as possible, all but forcing the family credit card into his hands. He had a feeling if he didn't take it from her; she'd find a way to get it into his wallet herself. He could think of several different distraction techniques that had been used on him in the past. Though he doubted she had a stake in her pocket. She took Neji's suggestion seriously, and said she would go with him when he went shopping. He thought he detected a trace of her own will in the request.

-

He smelled the flowery-ness of her perfume before recognizing the scent of her blood.

"Sasuke?"

They both turned to the voice. Hinata caught the even tap-tap­ of a woman who knew how to walk in heels, the muted jangle of jewelry, a whiff of freesia. She heard silence when there should have been a tap and concluded she had stopped short.

"Ah sorry, you're busy. Maybe some other time then." She retreated before Hinata could catch any more clues about her.

Ino had implied Sasuke was more handsome than her own date, and Ino didn't suffer a lack of beauty gladly. It only made sense he kept a bevy on hand. Vampires were notorious for their passionate spark. Almost a jealousy of the human emotions on the other end of the bite. That's all. Hinata was perfectly fine with sharing, she was just still getting used to it. Being Hyuuga Hinata had its perks. Never playing second was one of them. Of course, neither had she many things which first purpose wasn't to serve her in some way. Even without seeing his face, there was something darkly attractive about the man; the way he carried himself, the liquid night of his voice, the barely restrained strength that made his touch solid. Even handling her suitcases, she read control, picking them up and setting them down casually gentle, as if they were fragile glass, as if anything other than careful attention at his hands would shatter them. She might admit to herself this could be something almost a little bit similar to one of Ino's crushes. If a crush meant that little shiver of electricity at his touch, the curling of her lips with every small thing he did for her, the tickle in her blood answering his… then she might admit it was a crush.

Her pique was almost tangible, a shade softer than cloying, sweet and thin like spun sugar. It shouldn't matter to him that much that she held all the sensible prejudices of someone ill-versed in truths rather than mythology. But he wanted to tell her, wanted her to understand him.

"She's a frog," he said abruptly.

"From what I was told, frogs were smaller, and named Kermit."

"She's a frog. One of those… addicted to the kiss."

"Oh." Hinata was not entirely unfamiliar with the idea of it; she was a part of the world of twilight, a world that straddled both darkness and light, left them swirling blurs of judgment and survival. But there was only so much she could learn without asking for all those ancient texts to be read aloud for her, or transcribed in Braille. But she could understand that desperation drove some humans past their humanity, and into the waiting arms of the darkness. And that not all those who dwelled in the dark were the monsters of legend. The world had a balance, women like that one who found solace or some semblance of it in being food, those like Sasuke who kept their control by taking what was given; because this brittle peace was worth more than their pride. "Must be a fun hobby."

"Want to find out how fun?" He was only mostly mocking her slightly offended demeanor. She wasn't being possessive of him, yet, he added mentally, but it felt… warm to think she might be interested in him.

"Am I going to turn into a prince if you kiss me?"

"If you did, you'd be stuck on your own. I don't swing that way."

She nudged him with the handle of her cane.

"I think my family would kill you first."

-

Hinata knew how to make tea. That was apparently about it. If someone boiled water, she could prepare it to perfection. But anything else requiring precise measurements, estimating by eye, reading directions, pushing buttons or wielding knives had been too much to hope for, and so too much trouble to teach her how to do. So anything Sasuke bought, he had to be able to prepare into some semblance of 'fit for human consumption'. They browsed the bread aisle together, discussing who had an easier time of making sandwiches, blind girls or drunk college boys. Sasuke denied first-hand experience, citing that the hammered football players were in no condition to remember they couldn't tell the difference between bread and a sponge after half a bottle of tequila, but one could learn these things when one lived across from the hall kitchen and often had to deal with it at three in the morning. He was rather vague about the methods he used to get them to be quiet, and Hinata decided some college memories weren't worth retelling.

He got her to admit to liking chocolate and caramel in her ice cream, and she insisted that if ice cream was going to be bought, they may as well get something they both wanted, because he'd be dishing it out anyway. The elderly couple reaching for the pies laughed and felt the need to share stories of their early courtship. When Hinata finally got that they were implying she and Sasuke were dating, she flushed red as a cherry. Sasuke was glad he didn't have enough blood to even manage a faint line of pink. Not that Hinata would be able to see his embarrassment, but it was the principle of the thing. Uchiha Sasuke did not generally have to suffer 'friendly conversation' in public, much less be embarrassed by it or the people initiating it.

He tasted the smell of them in the air six minutes before they even thought about making their move. It was enough time to decide on a route and ready his sword. When he processed the spike of adrenaline he shoved Hinata into the alley with a commanding 'don't move' and got to work. There were four of them, hybrids of what appeared to be several kinds of large cat and horned fiends. The first two lost their heads trying to push the element of surprise they hadn't realized they'd lost. He smirked at the others.

"He can't set stuffed animals like you against me and expect you to win." The third lunged, and missed the place his neck had been. Sasuke scoffed. "You're pathetic. Tell Orochimaru not to give you the watered down stuff. Tastes like crap and didn't do a damn thing for you." He punctuated the past tense with kick to its ribcage, felt the bones give way under the impact before the force sent it crashing into the wall. The last only made it one step before the katana found its mark in its neck. He was bending to dislodge his sword when he felt the minute attraction to the girl snap into something stronger, something less human.

-

She activated her bloodline. She could sense the danger, reached to find it when she felt Sasuke decide on another path back, one that would presumably be easier to fight in. It was confirmed when he trapped her in the alley, guarding the entrance himself. She couldn't hear what he was saying, only knew that he was taunting them as he picked off his enemies, so she turned her attention outward, trying desperately sense their opponents. She felt the fourth energy flickering out when the fifth leapt down from the rooftop at her. Instinct kicked in and her skin tingled with magic as her hand grasped the metal of the tessen in her sleeve. One smooth motion severed an arm, its return sliced through the torso, and she closed her eyes against the spatter. The flowing motions were ingrained into her muscles, and only the resistance of flesh on the bladed energy of the fan kept it from being the beauty it was supposed to be.

Sasuke flicked a glance at the bodies and muttered a quick removal. He approached her carefully, in no mood to deal with a frantic woman, even if she had taken out the one he didn't see, and his heightened hearing caught her soft murmurs. He was almost surprised they weren't hysterics, but she was proving to be Hyuuga in almost every regard.

"Too much, the blade didn't need to be that long; that thing wasn't nearly as sturdy as the training dummies. Sasuke?"

"Yeah, you're going to need a change of clothes and we're going to need to buy more eggs."

He knelt and picked up the groceries from next to her feet and tossed out the carton before it could leak any more.

There were places specifically for those deeply intimate with the magic of the world. Designed and protected for the use of those with standards above and beyond human capacities. There were schools and banks and law firms and interior decorators and any number of facilities that catered to world between day and death. The Clans funded most of them, stocked them with the best of everything, knowing that giving these opportunities to the average darkblood would keep peace more than policing and threats. Ingenious and idealistic, it also made this bloody inconvenient. Because of course anything with such precious information as the particulars on anyone who attended the best school for the supernatural studies, would be absolute hell to hack into. And Kabuto convinced himself that trying to break into the school's database would be a risk they couldn't afford.

It would be an ignominious ending if a school security system were to be the downfall of an attempt to destroy the world. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that while he had been in attendance there, he had on several occasions tried to get the access codes to the… special part of the library, and had failed miserably. The system had taken over his laptop, given him a hell of a scolding, hexed him with toads and their accompanying warts, and then set off the sprinkler system just to make a point.

And without knowing what to look into, he wouldn't be able to find what he was looking for, and so it didn't even bear thinking about. So if tangible means would not work, the other course of action would be the 'hands-on' approach. It only meant having something sturdy and subtle and no more suspicious than the usual run-of-the-mill bloodthirsty nightwalkers to attack and bring back some part of the boy. Kabuto wondered if it was true banging your head against a hard surface killed brain cells. And if killing brain cells would lead to unpleasant ends after he was done being useful to Orochimaru. He couldn't really chance it, so that method of emotional relief was out. The next best thing was sitting in his drawer, taunting him. He gave in and sighed and unlocked it. Underneath the numerous scrolls and pens and post-it notes was his first ever medical text. It was a little more advanced than 'the leg bone connected to the foot bone' but only by a little bit. It was some kind of liberation to go through it now with a red pen and correct it. Much better than slasher movies.

I don't even remember when I coined the 'frog' bit. The idea of them is so not new, but nothing I've come across has ever called them frogs. That's just me and my dementia making an appearance. But it works right? One little kiss and poof, you feel better, like royalty, like happy endings.