A/n: I never thought I would actually have to put one of these up, but after being beaten by my friend who absolutely hates, and I mean HATES, spoilers I have to put this up. Beware, there are character spoilers. I'm not going to point out what they are if you want to keep reading so that you can be surprised when the manga comes to that point, but they are there. 'Nough said.

Put all your angels on the edge
Keep all the roses, I'm not dead
I left a thorn under your bed
I'm never gone

I Walk Alone by Tarja

Sasuke stood. He wasn't aware of how he knew that he was standing seeing as he could not tell the difference between up and down, left and right to begin with. Everything was dark, not black, but a true absence of color. In it there was a chill that ran along his skin and into him. Looking he saw nothing. Fear began to fill him, as he looked inside himself for Naruto, for anyone really, and found nothing. There was no deep blue interwoven in his own power, no presence buzzing in the back of his mind. There was nothing.

"You won't find him here," a voice curled around him. Sasuke whipped toward where he thought that the voice was coming from, the smell of something burning thick in the air. He watched as something formed from the nothingness around him. Lips the color of blood the starting piece and he was struck with the odd idea of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked at the woman standing before him. Her skin was white, not like his, but the white that a corpse turned as the blood pooled to other parts of the body. Her hair was pin straight and candy apple red, a color totally unnatural on a human. It was her eyes, though, that had him backing up and wishing he was alone again. They were the color of blood as it ran fresh from one's veins, completely and totally devoid of any kind of emotion. It was like looking into the eyes of a doll- a doll that was alive and saw you as prey.

"What are you?" Sasuke found himself asking, a terror the likes of which he had never felt began to pour into his veins. The figure licked her lips, almost like a predator tasting the air. She tilted her head to the side, her hair moving as though she were in the water, floating around her in a grisly halo like so much blood.

"I have many names, my dear Uchiha," she told him, one second in front of him, the next close enough he could feel the chill of her breath on his neck. "She-Who-Comes-With-The-Twilight. Mother-Of-All-Darkness. However, you may call me Kushina." Her features twisted into a parody of coyness that was more frightening than anything else as she looked at him from under dark lashes. Her name, once spoken, hung like a lead weight in the air between them. When Sasuke said nothing, she looked at him, her expression perfectly conveying confusion like an actor that knew their art so well.

"You fear me, Uchiha," she placed her ice cold lips on his neck and it took all his self control not to pull away from the burning freeze. Something in him, something primal in the back of his mind that had managed to stay with humanity through all its evolution, told him not to move. It told him that he was in the presence of something deadly and that it would strike at the first sign of fear. "Why?" she asked running a freezing tongue along the vein in his neck- the same one Naruto had used not two nights ago to give him the first taste of the pleasure that could be a vampire bite.

"You're not human," he said speaking the truth and suppressing the fear that was almost choking him from years of practice. He was Uchiha, and one thing his parents had managed to teach him before they left to join the dead was that you never showed your emotions to anyone. "I don't know what you are, but you aren't human. You portray it so well, but something is missing." He held his breath, waiting for her reaction to his statement. The tongue removed itself from his neck, and to his surprise he heard laughter. It raised the hair on the back of his neck and slid along his skin the same way Naruto's power did. It was cold, numbing the skin it caressed almost instantly.

"So then, my little attempt at playing human for you has failed. I see no reason then to hide what I am," as Kushina spoke it was like her skin, her body, flittered away on some unfelt wind leaving only her eyes and the sensation of something being there. "You are so unique, you Uchiha. Most would be willing to let me play human, but you point it out like a fault." Her voice was beautiful, yet somehow dead. It was like listening to the best singer in the world- only they lacked passion of any kind. She ran her tongue over the vein again and somehow Sasuke knew something was different. Her hand gripped the back of his head harshly as she let out a hiss and forced his head to the side.

"Who dares? Who dares to mark what is mine?" she asked, eyes coming alive in annoyance. Seeing them so had Sasuke wishing dearly for the dispassion from before. Her annoyance was not human; it ran deeper and darker than any human emotion could. It was as she spoke now that he was able to catch a glint of the two fangs that rested within the darkness that was serving as her body. The knowledge that she was vampire should've been comforting; he had been dealing with them for most of his life. Instead it added a new dimension to his fear. He knew nothing of a vampire that acted like this, that could do the things that this one was implying. It was impossible.

He saw her speaking again, but could not make out the words. It was like he was under water watching someone on the surface. Suddenly, he was sucked from there to elsewhere. His gaze was fogged, but he could make out shouting and swore for a second he saw Shizune leaning over him. She was talking to him, but he couldn't make out the words, only watch her lips move. None of his body parts was willing to respond. It was like they were filled with lead.

"Mine!" Kushina's voice rang through his ears and he was sucked back into the darkness with her. His eyes flickered to her as her face was millimeters from his own. "You are mine, Uchiha! No one else can have you!" She moved then to bite him, to cover the same place Naruto had used to mark him. He moved as that primal part of his being demanded, jerking his head away from her. He knew that anything she did here would somehow reflect on the real world.

She howled in rage and her fingers breaking skin from where she had a grip on the back of his neck. He let out a scream from the pain that had his knees buckling. Kushina laughed then, a cruel mocking amusement. Her eyes moved to the side like she was listening to something he couldn't hear. "Very well, Uchiha. It seems your healer has bought you time, but be warned: we are not done here." She put what felt like a hand to his chest and threw him backwards through the darkness and he knew no more.


Naruto sat in the white sterile environment of the hospital and wondered if he should start paying rent with the amount of time he was spending in it. The lights were off in the room, and the observation curtains were drawn. Sasuke lay on the bed, gauze wrapped around his chest from the surgery that they had to perform in order to pull his broken rib out of his left lung and stitch it back up. They had been lucky that that strange woman had shown up when she did.

Naruto ran his thumb over the knuckles of Sasuke's right hand, the one without the IV in it, as he thought. He had panicked when he couldn't pull Sasuke out of whatever trance he had been in and then when he had just collapsed like that with no pulse… Naruto had just about opened a vein then and broken another one of the Rules that he and Gaara followed; he had almost made Sasuke vampire. Just as he had been about to make the slice on his wrist bigger she had been there, a vision in soft white. She had shook her head and pulled out what looked like overly long post-it notes with some writing Naruto couldn't read on them. She had put one on Sasuke's forehead and another on his heart, and he had started breathing then.

Naruto had barely managed to get a thank you out before Shikamaru, Temari and Neji came bursting through the wide open doors. Temari had immediately opened a wrist for Gaara, who was amazingly calm for being in full Lust, and fed him enough to tie him over until they got him to a hospital. Shikamaru and Neji had started first aid on Sasuke as Naruto had tried pumping what power he could into him. Once they had heard the police sirens, it seemed someone had managed to notify the police that a rouge vampire was on the loose, they had put him into the car and sped to the hospital.

Naruto had been so worried then, because Sasuke may have been breathing, but he couldn't get any kind of response out of him no matter what he tried. He couldn't even enter his mind through the link that they shared. When they arrived at the hospital Naruto had almost refused to let the nurses and doctors have Sasuke for fear that if they were separated the 

link between them would snap completely. The doctors had been lucky that Shizune was one of the doctors in the ER that night. She had screamed at the top of her lungs that the first person who tried to separate the two of them would be short one license to practice medicine. Naruto had let them treat Sasuke then, never more than a few inches away. He knew that it annoyed the other doctors, but he had never been so scared in his life. He had even had to scrub in for the surgery like a doctor to stay in the same room.

So now, Naruto sat in the hard plastic chair, fighting off the need to Rest and waiting for Sasuke to wake up. Shizune had just left a couple of minutes ago after telling him that Sasuke's fellow slayers had showed up with a very injured Kankuro. It made Naruto happy to know that Gaara was going to have both of his human servants, but his happiness was overshadowed by Sasuke laying on the white bed, looking for all the world like he was asleep.

Naruto looked up as one of the machines monitoring Sasuke began to make a loud beeping sound and the smell of burning flesh hit his nose. He looked up at Sasuke's face and saw it twisted in pain. Naruto began looking for where the smell of burning flesh was coming from, finding it on the back of Sasuke's neck just as the nurses and Shizune came in. Shizune looked a little worn around the edges and she had dark bruises under her eyes from her lack of sleep the past night.

"Talk to me, Naruto," she said shoving the sleeves of her lab coat up past her elbows and pushing the nervous nurses out of the way. She was the only doctor who was willing to treat what many people called the freak cases, the cases that were paranormal in nature. It was a risky business treating those that sometimes weren't even sure what was happening themselves. Each year since the beginning of the paranormal civil rights movement around three doctors ended up dead due to some kind of freak accident.

"Something's burning him," Naruto said putting his own flesh against the burn. He knew that his flesh was cooler than any human's at its hottest running temperature and it was all he could do to keep the burn from going deeper. Shizune began issuing orders to the nurses around her. Naruto began trying to pour what was left of his power into Sasuke in an attempt to heal the burn as it went. It was then that Sasuke let out a scream of pure agony, startling everyone in the room for a second. Naruto put his knee on the side of the bed and leaned over to see that Sasuke was awake and looking at him, the pain swimming in his eyes.

"Sunshine," Naruto whispered almost feeling a click as the connection between the two of them opened again like a flood gate. Naruto moved his hand out of Shizune's way as she began to work, never leaving eye contact with Sasuke. Naruto could feel the other's silent plea as the pain grew and he refused to loose consciousness. Naruto pulled his power in and proceeded to roll Sasuke's mind. His power was just the faintest breeze in the room, bringing relief as it rushed over Sasuke's skin and into his mind. It was light, just enough to cancel out the pain of the burn. The tightness around Sasuke's eyes were gone and the smell of burning flesh stopped just as suddenly as it began.

"I've done all I can, Naruto," Shizune said peeling off a pair of gloves coated in some kind of clear gel. "I'll send down a burn expert. We're going pump him full of morphine for the pain. I'm not sure how he managed to get through the first dose…" As she spoke a nurse made a move to put a needle full of some clear liquid into the IV stand. Naruto let out a low growl as Sasuke began shaking his head back and forth furiously. The young nurse swallowed hard and looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She was clearly scared of Naruto and what he could possibly do.

"I can assure you, doctor, that he is in no pain," Naruto said fudging a little. Sasuke would only be in no pain so long as Naruto kept him rolled and Naruto was already low on energy as it was. At some point Sasuke was going to have to take the pain medication whether he wanted to or not. Naruto was already fighting with the urge to lie down next to him and Rest. Shizune frowned at him, clearly suspicious. She waved the nurse off and she practically ran out the door in her haste to leave the room.

"If," Shizune said gesturing the other nurses out, "he should end up feeling any kind of pain all you have to do is press the call nurse button." She pointed to the red button on the clicker attached to the side of the bed as she spoke. She was gone in sweep of her lab coat, clearly unhappy with how things were. Naruto climbed the rest of the way onto Sasuke's bed, straddling his waist and pressed his forehead onto Sasuke's despite the oxygen mask.

"Well, damn, Sunshine," Naruto said looking into Sasuke's black eyes, "You sure know how to wake up emotions I thought had long since died." Naruto wasn't just talking about the fear he had felt. He was talking about the overwhelming relief he was feeling at the knowledge that Sasuke was still alive, the way his heart had ached at the thought that he might not wake. Sasuke just smirked under the clear, plastic mask, but it quickly faded.

"Naruto," he said voice sounding odd through the hollow plastic. He frowned as though he found the plastic offensive and raised the hand without the IV in it to push it to the side. "What happened? The last thing I remember is you and Gaara going at it and I was down with a broken rib." Naruto pulled his forehead back and sat back on his heels so that he wasn't putting pressure on Sasuke's injuries.

"I don't know what you did, but you somehow managed to pump enough power into Gaara to get him stable for when Temari showed up. You passed out and some woman came out of nowhere and covered you in healing seals," Naruto explained softly. Sasuke nodded and winced as it stretched the skin across his burn. Feeling it helped to remind him how he might have gotten it.

"Naruto, do you know anyone by the name of Kushina?" As he said the name there was flash of red eyes in his mind and Naruto sucked in a deep breath. The stench of something that had been burnt was strong enough to make Sasuke's eyes water. Naruto leaned forward in response to the smell so that his face was in the crook of Sasuke's neck and the smell of woods that was purely Naruto was enough to chase it away. Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what happened but was interrupted by what sounded like the voice of a small child.

"It is not wise to speak the name of the Mother-of-All-Darkness aloud. There is power in the name of the ancient ones," she said like she was telling him something that everyone was supposed to know. Naruto leaned up, taking his scent with him. Sasuke muttered as he reached for the little control button on the bed to put him into sitting position. Once he was high enough up to see the girl he was surprised. She was small, nearly a foot smaller than he with a short A-line haircut and white skin. Her eyes, though, were like Neji's; there were no pupils, no iris just a lavender color so light it looked white. She wore a hospital gown and had a patient bracelet on her right wrist.

"You know Her?" Naruto asked surprised. This was the woman who had showed up at the last second to save Sasuke. She smiled and walked from the doorway into the room fully.

"Of course," she said matter-of-factly. "She used to talk to me all the time, but now She is awake and has no time for me. She has mentioned you before, though." The woman pointed at Sasuke as she came closer to the bed. She opened her mouth to say something again only to have her own interruption. Neji came flying into the room looking harried. He seemed to relax as soon as he saw the woman.

"Hinata-sama," he said and the woman turned her head to look at him. He held out his hand like a parent would to a young child. She took it without hesitation. "The orderlies are looking everywhere for you. You mustn't run off like that." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the words. The tone was more tolerant than he had ever heard Neji be before. He could almost swear there was affection in his voice. As far as he knew, Neji had been like him; having no one special and not wanting anyone. Hinata turned her head to look at the two of them as Neji turned her over to two white clad orderlies. Sasuke knew that she was looking at him and it unnerved him for some reason.

"I'm sorry about my cousin," Neji said, once more stiff and polite. Naruto just smiled at him from his place on Sasuke's lap.

"She was fine," Naruto told him dismissing his apology. He turned back to Sasuke, whose curiosity was humming in the back of his mind. Naruto almost didn't say anything, relishing in the feel of him being there. It was amazing what one could get used to in a few days time. "Hinata was the woman who showed up with the healing seals," Naruto explained. Sasuke blinked in surprise and looked at Neji who had colored a little at the mention. He almost seemed embarrassed by something.

"Is she hurt?" Sasuke asked not remembering Naruto mentioning anything about her being injured in the fighting. She seemed so delicate that he had a hard time imagining her surviving a fall let alone a crazed vampire, but he could think of no other reason for her to be admitted to the hospital.

"No," Neji said with a sigh. He covered his eyes with one hand as he massaged his temples. "Let me explain before you ask. Hinata is pre-cognate." Both Sasuke and Naruto were surprised by the information, though it would explain how she knew about the Mother-of-All-Darkness. Neji wasn't finished in his explanation, however. "But like most gifts," his voice twisted on the word to give it the opposite meaning, "It was a knife that cut two ways. She can see the future, but at the price of her sanity. She's not dangerous by any means. It's just that sometimes she isn't all there and it's hard to tell whether what she's talking about is a product of the madness or if it is a vision of the future."

"That's how you knew to bring Temari to the fight club," Naruto said a feeling of awe spreading to Sasuke who was frowning. This explained a lot of things: why Neji was almost always at the hospital, why he hadn't decided to put his talents to more money making uses, why he spent so much time in the Psych ward.

"Yes," Neji said with a nod. "It's also how she knew to bring the seals. Hell, it's how she knew how to draw the seals. It's an amazing talent, but the cost…" There was a mournful silence for a moment as they all reflected on the cost of there own "gifts". Neji cleared his throat and moved to the door. "Once the police know you're up they'll be wanting to talk to you, Uchiha. They've taken statements from everyone except for you and Naruto. Anko is furious." Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement as Neji exited the room.

"Well, Hinata seems like a nice girl," Naruto said moving to get off the bed. Keeping up the roll, however light it was, was still draining him. He had used quite a bit of power last night and this was adding to it. Sasuke sensed Naruto's weariness, but he had to know just who this Mother-of-All-Darkness was. That and he was afraid that the second that he closed his eyes she would be there, waiting. It was not something he wanted to admit to, but he would rather than to end up in her clutches again.

"Naruto," Sasuke said with a sigh, "Who is the Mother-of-All-Darkness?" Naruto froze one leg on the floor, the other on the bed. He looked at Sasuke and echoed his sigh, biting his bottom lip as he thought of just how to explain what he knew.

"She has another name, Sunshine," Naruto said finally. Sasuke gave him a look that clearly said that was not what he had asked. "Among the very old She is called the Black Lady, the Mother–of-Us-All. It is said that She sleeps deep underground and that the Council was originally created to watch over Her resting place. Rumor has it that if the Black Lady were to die so would all vampires." Naruto told Sasuke everything that he knew about the mysterious woman known as the first vampire. But he had a burning question as well. "Sasuke," he asked looking at him, "How do you know of Her? She is a very well kept secret even among vampires."

"You know that burn on my shoulder?" Sasuke said looking up at the tiled ceiling. Naruto nodded and Sasuke saw it out of the corner of his eye and took it as his cue to continue on. "I sort of refused her advances in the direction of gaining marks from her." Naruto moved so that Sasuke was forced to look at him. Sasuke found himself looking into a sea of blue, not because Naruto had rolled him, but because Naruto was that close to him.

"This is bad, Sunshine," Naruto said and Sasuke could feel the worry radiating off him. Naruto knew now how close he truly had been to loosing Sasuke and it wasn't to his injuries. Sasuke only had the first and weakest of the three marks. Contrary to what Kabuto had told Sasuke, one did not need to kill the vampire who had originally given the marks in order to give a mark. If the vampire was powerful enough they could mark over the other vampire's marks. Naruto had heard of instances of it happening up to the second mark. He pulled far enough back that Sasuke could see his face. "There is nothing to stop Her from giving you the marks if that is what She wants to do. Nothing except…," Naruto trailed off, not wanting to suggest it. Sasuke had made it clear how he felt about getting one mark, let alone all three.

"Except what, Naruto?" Sasuke asked frowning. He didn't like the way Naruto was hesitating. But, then again, he didn't like the idea of becoming the Mother-of-All-Darkness's new chew toy. He had little doubt that he would be able to be anything else. One thing he knew about vampires was the fact that they collected power, whether they used it or not. And they loved to watch those who once had the power grovel at their feet. The only exception to this was currently leaning over him. "You have to tell me." Sasuke was half-way tempted to pull out the Sharingan and ask, but figured Naruto would tell him one way or the other without them.

Naruto knew that his next words could loose him Sasuke's delicate trust, so he took what he had wanted since that kiss they had shared sparring. He leaned over and kissed him again. This was hardly what Sasuke had expected. But it felt good. Better than the first time. It was like electricity was running through his veins and pooling low within him. He found himself opening his mouth in shock from the sensation and Naruto took advantage of this by putting his own tongue in the other's mouth, exploring every inch he could reach. He managed to get Sasuke's tongue to follow his back into his mouth where Sasuke discovered just how hard it was to French kiss a vampire. Sasuke sliced open his tongue on Naruto's fangs, and Naruto moaned into the kiss at the taste. Sasuke knew no pain, however, from the roll, and didn't bother to stop his own exploration of Naruto's mouth.

Naruto found that kissing the other was not enough with what little blood that was left in his veins rushing south, and he reached out to run his hand along Sasuke's side. The roll was not enough to prevent Sasuke from feeling pain as his broken rib was graced with the barest of touches. That was all it took to bring him to his senses and turn away from Naruto panting as he swore. He had had his share of kisses, both wanted and unwanted, but he had never had a reaction like that. Sasuke took a second to breathe, trying to decide whether he should be furious or not. In the end all he could think was that whatever Naruto was going to suggest would not be something he would like. He was learning how Naruto did things and he knew from the desperation in the kiss Naruto thought that he wasn't going to be able to get another one.

"Naruto," he said turning to look at the other, Sharingan active from the adrenaline in his system from the kiss. He put one hand on the other's chin to make Naruto meet his gaze. "Tell me how we can prevent her from marking me." Sasuke felt dirty saying that. It was like he was some damn tree and every dog within a thirty mile radius wanted to pee on him to make sure that he belonged to him. Naruto smiled a little, catching a bit of the imagery from where he was locked in the other's gaze.

"I would have to give you all three marks."


She opened her eyes for the first time in millennia. The room was dark save for the glow of candles and the magic that had been used to bring her back. She sat up slowly, having to remember just how to make a body move. It had been so long since she had had one. It had been since the last true necromancer had made an alliance with the Council to put her down. The fool had stopped just short of killing her by sealing her soul, or what was left of it, into a jar that was kept deep in the halls of the Council chambers never to be opened. But it seemed someone had opened it-opened it and found her a new body.

"Who awakens me?" she asked looking around the room to spot five figures kneeling at the points in the pentagram they had drawn with what her nose told her was fresh blood. One of them rose and she was startled by the orange and black mask that he wore. Every inch of him was covered, the clothing black save for a thin line of orange that ran up the sides of his pants. A single hole was present on the left side of the mask for him to use to see.

"My Lady, it has been so long," his voice was deep and jovial. Kushina stood then, careful of the lines drawn in blood around her, she was no fool and respected all lines of magic, and opened her arms to him. She had thought him dead all this time. She had seen him burned alive before her eyes as they sealed her. He walked to her and she enveloped him in her arms.

"My dear, sweet Madara," she cooed wrapping her arms around him. The man shuddered in her arms at the sound of her voice. She had been the source of so many nightmares and so many pleasant dreams. She had twisted him so badly, and he loved her for it. She wrapped one hand around the back of his head, using the other to pull down the high neck of his shirt. She sunk her fangs into his scared flesh and drank her fill of his blood. She dropped him then, leaving him groaning in pain on the floor. She drank the fear in the room around her like a man dying of thirst. She looked down, to watch her feet as she walked and stopped. Her body, naked as it was, was not the right proportion at all. She reached a hand up to her hair and let out a shriek as she realized it was short.

"You," she snarled pointing at the only other female in the room. "Bring me a mirror. Now!" The woman stood and rushed out of the room like the very hounds of hell were on her heels. Kushina ran her hands across her body horrified. She had spent hundreds of years perfecting her body. With some other vampire out trying to stake a claim on something that was hers she hardly had the time to work on whatever body they had managed to find for her. The woman returned with an old fashioned looking glass and Kushina shuddered as she looked at herself. Her hair was short and bright pink. Her body was small and boyish. Only the skin tone was right, though the eyes had gone red to match her presence in the body. She threw the looking glass into the wall where is shattered, raining shards on the woman who had brought it to her.

"Fret not, my lady," one of the other figures stated and she turned to face him. He was young looking, but she could place his age to just after she had been sealed. He was attractive in the way that youth was. She walked to him, ignoring the glass that sliced into her feet. She stopped before him, waiting for him to continue. "Technology has come a long way since you were sealed. Humans have developed a way to change the appearance of their bodies in hours with the help of healers." Kushina raised an eyebrow, reaching down to pull him up by his chin.

"Bring me one of these healers, child," Kushina told him tossing his head back as she finished talking with him. "I am unfit to be seen in this body." She walked back to the middle of the pentagram, next to where Madara was raising himself off the floor. She reached down and grabbed him by the back of his head, jerking him to his feet. She pulled the mask off revealing a perfect face and two glowing red eyes complete with three tomoe. Madara looked startled.

"Such a gift have I given you, my loyal servant," she said running one nail down the side of his face leaving a thin red line of blood that healed almost as soon as it was made. "Yet you shall be punished," she looked away from him and at the others that were doing their best to blend in to the floor, minus the one she had sent away. "You will all be punished for giving me such a body." As she spoke she tossed Madara into one of the walls. The sound of their screams filled the early morning air as she took her vengeance out of their hides.


Reviews:

Chronos Guardian: Thanks. I hope I didn't disappoint with this one.

Dragonpearl77: There will only be a couple of the characters from Akatsuki coming in the story for obvious reasons. I mean, Itachi is dead and I have a better role for Kisame. I love him dearly. You were right about Sasori and there will be more from that end of things next chapter. This one was mostly an intro to our lovely Kushina. I think that Sasuke and Naruto have kissed before this in like chapter four or five, but I could've had that edited out. It all depends on what my beta said.

cologate: I give you more! Mwahahahaha!

kai: Okay, Gaara didn't go for Kabuto because at that point he was practically bled out and vampires require blood from people. They can't walk into a hospital and ask for blood bags, the blood needs to come from an actual person. The crowd was an easier target than what was happening on stage, and it took a minute for the fact that Sasuke was injured to hit his brain. Vampires in Lust are not the smartest creatures on the planet. As for why Sasuke's power went after Lee, I can't explain at the moment, but I will say that it has to do with why Kushina is interested in him. Continue to bug me, because I sat on that chapter like a month before I remembered that I needed to finish it. :p is someone sticking their tongue out at you and smiling.

shirilyle: Thanks, and look: I'm continuing!

astoroche: Thank you. You made me blush with your compliments.

Chiya-chan: Here's the chapter. Enjoy, dear.

Halskr: Glad you liked the freezing, though I won't claim it as being his power or not.

2stupid: Buffy is present in small amounts. Largely, it's where I got my concept of slayers from and evolved from there. As for what happened to Gaara, I answered it in the chapter. Sasuke will improve his abilities, and has done so already. It is sort of tied into the marks, and yes it matters quite a bit.

cfox: I am now working on explaining what Sasuke's power is doing to both him and Naruto, but it may be a long time in coming as far as answering.

skyemarie:Thank you for the review, and no you haven't reviewed before. But I appreciate you taking the time to do so. It means a lot to see the reviews in my inbox.

Kai-Chan94: You're welcome and here's more.