Chapter 12 – My dark angel
The next day, after recording, the four band mates made their way outside the studio room. All day long, Shikamaru had kept sending intrigued glances at Naruto. Obviously he had figured out that the vampire couldn't be sick, so he wondered why he had cancelled yesterday's session.
As for Kiba, he was as oblivious as ever. It seemed for now he was content with keeping Hinata's 'secret' to himself. Or maybe he was just a little bit freaked out and unsure if he had imagined the whole thing or not.
Those were Sasuke's theories anyway.
"You coming over?" Naruto asked him, touching his arm lightly.
It was still sunny, and rather warm outside for once but the vampire didn't seem too bothered. Kiba and Shikamaru went to wait next to the black car.
"I should probably go home," Sasuke said a bit reluctantly.
The truth was things hadn't been easy at all with Kakashi lately. They hadn't even spoken at all that morning… and he knew it was his entire fault. He couldn't help but feel saddened by it. Other than Itachi, Kakashi was his only family.
"I understand," Naruto whispered and slid his hand behind his neck to pull him into a soft kiss.
Sasuke pushed him away, "Don't do that here…"
The blond chuckled lightly and pulled away. "Should I come see you later?"
"If you want…" he played with the dirt on the sidewalk with his boot.
"Do you want me to?" Naruto asked playfully.
Of course he wanted him to. How could he not want to see Naruto? That idiot was just trying to get him to say it.
"Oi, Naruto, this is taking forever," Shikamaru called.
"Yeah, yeah," the vampire replied looking behind his shoulder. "So, your answer?" He took Sasuke's hand but the latter withdrew it.
"Your eyes are getting watery. You should get in your car."
"It's nothing," Naruto brushed it off.
"Just go," Sasuke said, annoyed, and he spun to start walking in the opposite direction. Kakashi's house wasn't that far from the studio.
But Naruto took his hand again briefly, "I'll see you later," he said teasingly and then walked away to his car and the two other guys, who, seeing that Sasuke wasn't joining them, started fighting for the front seat.
Sasuke shook his head in disbelief as he walked, shoving his hands in his skinny jeans pockets. He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings as his steps automatically took him to his house. He was pretty much lost in his thoughts. Actually he kept thinking about what would happen if Naruto tried to turn him into a vampire.
He also couldn't help but wonder if Naruto would actually consider doing it. But if he didn't… then wouldn't that mean that the vampire wasn't actually serious about their relationship?
Then again, it was soon. They had known each other for a bit more than a month, and that was it. Well, if he didn't count the past life… Which he didn't. Sasuke felt silly for even having such thoughts. He needed to stop being a love struck fool and to consider things more rationally.
Easier said than done…
He stopped short when he saw Itachi's car in front of Kakashi's house.
Then he ran to the door and stormed inside, alarmed. Itachi had been so afraid to see Kakashi for the past seven years now. If he was here it could only mean that something terrible had happened – or so Sasuke thought.
It turned out it was nothing of the sort. Itachi and Kakashi were sitting calmly at the kitchen counter. Drinking tea.
What the fuck?
After all those years of putting up with Itachi's angst and drama about not wanting to trouble Kakashi by showing himself again and so on so forth… And now they were having tea together?
"Hey Sasuke," his brother said, "how are you?"
Sasuke closed the door, took a deep breath, and looked up at them again.
"Is this really… happening?" he asked awkwardly.
Kakashi smiled pleasantly, "Itachi and I spent the whole afternoon catching up."
"Uh-huh…" the teenager frowned.
Itachi stood up and stepped closer to his little brother, "I followed your advice and got a cell phone," he took it out of his pocket as if he thought Sasuke would ask for proof. "I also thought it was more than time for me to talk to Kakashi again. I want to be more involved in your lives from now on."
"…"
"Ah, Sasuke," Kakashi randomly said, "I never got the chance to ask but what's up with the flowers?"
Kakashi was talking about the roses of course.
"Um, please don't ask. But guys, seriously, what's going on?"
"After the other day," Itachi sighed, "I decided I really need to keep a closer eye on you… Kakashi feels the same way."
Sasuke's heart sank at those words. Itachi meant a lot to him. And of course he wished they could see each other more often. And it would've made him so happy if he'd started talking to Kakashi again a long time ago.
But now… Itachi was telling him that the only reason for his presence here was that he needed to keep an eye on him?
"Because I'm friends with a vampire," he chuckled bitterly, "that caught your attention didn't it? Don't get me wrong I'm really glad you guys are talking again," he looked from Itachi to his adoptive father, and he couldn't be more sincere. "But I wish you wouldn't worry about me! I can take care of myself, I don't need you guys to keep an eye on me or whatever!"
Before they could stop him he went to lock himself in his bedroom. He was aware that he was being a little childish but he simply wasn't in the mood to play happy family with them at the moment. They could very well play at it without him apparently…
Without really giving it much thought he picked up his notebook, pen, and also the guitar that he always left in his bedroom. Even though he had been playing all day at the recording studio he felt like playing some more. Although differently of course; they had been working on the same song all day and now he wanted to try creating some new music. He did it with Naruto often enough. Sometimes they even came up with lyrics together. So he didn't see the reason why he couldn't do it by himself. Maybe he could even come up with a song of his own.
…
Kiba was gone on a date with Hinata – a fact which made Naruto worry a lot, yet he still had no idea what to do about it – and Shikamaru was playing a game online, talking and laughing with his friends through his headset. In other words, Naruto was bored.
Also he was a little bit stressed out. Having talked to Deidara on the phone earlier, he knew that Selika and her two friends/lovers were now installed at his flat. Of course they expected Naruto to visit soon.
Sighing, Naruto went to his balcony, simply leaning back against the glass door. He just wanted to relax for a moment while looking at the sunset, and letting the fresh wind blow in his hair. The thing that troubled him the most was lying to Selika. He didn't know if he'd be able to pull that off. Despite all those years apart, he still considered his maker to be one of the people who knew him best. And he doubted he could deceive her.
Suddenly a car drove by and pulled in his entryway. If he remembered correctly, this was Sakura's car. He frowned and made his way downstairs. When she knocked at his door he was already there, so he opened.
"Hi Naruto!" she smiled.
"Hey," he said. Well this was weird. He hadn't really expected – nor particularly wanted – to ever see that girl again. "Hum… Sasuke's not here…"
"Oh I didn't want to see him… actually I wanted to see you," she explained.
She looked a little bit nervous. Naruto frowned slightly and scratched his hair.
"All right… do you want to come in?" He asked to be polite. But she declined.
"Actually… do you mind if we go for a ride? I have something important to tell you and driving helps me relax."
"You have something to tell me…?" he said doubtfully.
"It's about Sasuke," she replied.
"Can't you tell me here?" he asked. He supposed she just wanted to tell him that she loved Sasuke or something silly like that.
She hugged her arms, clutching her red sweater, and said, "It's really important, I think he's in danger."
"What?" Now he was really confused…
"Just come with me, please?"
"…All right," he complied.
If she somehow knew something about Sasuke being a werewolf, then he could always erase her memories. That would be for the best.
He sat in the car and it was a little uncomfortable for his long legs so he adjusted the seat. She started driving. There was somewhat of an awkward silence, especially since the radio was off.
"So… what did you want to tell me?" Naruto asked eventually.
"I… just give me some time this is really hard for me," she smiled apologetically. She still seemed really nervous and Naruto wondered what the hell was up with her anyway. This was weird.
"I have to get back home early, you know, big day tomorrow, recording and all…"
"I understand," she said quickly.
"Well then…"
"It won't be much longer," she said nervously, "I'm just gonna park somewhere and then we can talk…"
"I thought you wanted to drive."
"Listen," she sighed shakily, averting her eyes, "I really want to do what's best for Sasuke. I've been really worried about him recently…"
"Okay but… can't you just get to the point?" He didn't like being rude but she was kind of being annoying.
She replaced a strand of pink hair behind her ear nervously. There were a few more long minutes of silence as she continued driving, eventually leading them to a small deserted street behind some modest residential houses.
"The point is…" she hesitated.
Taking a deep breath she took out a gun from under her seat. But she was so clumsy and nervous that it was a real joke for the vampire to just take it from her before she could do anything.
"This is not a toy you know? It's dangerous." He said half-teasing.
But then he realized they weren't alone. And he suddenly remembered Shikamaru's warning all too well – the one about Sakura and Kabuto acting suspicious at the graduation dance.
Four men were coming towards them; they had come out of the back door of the house behind which Sakura was parked, of course. It all made sense now. That Kabuto guy was some sort of wannabe vampire hunter and he had his little fan club with him. He'd even dragged Sakura along with this.
Naruto had taken in all this in a mere few seconds. He tried to get out of the car but it was locked. Not that this could stop him. Sakura gasped – seemingly scared out of her mind – as he forced the car door open. He cursed as he immediately got shot in the chest with a silent bullet. Damn, so one of them actually knew how to shoot.
It wasn't enough to hurt him badly, but it was more than enough to slow him down. He was cornered by the four men and the one with the bleached blond hair – aka Mr. sharpshooter – managed to cripple him with a few more bullets. His friends were congratulating him while Sakura was still sitting in her car, terrorized. What a stupid girl, Naruto thought as he barely held onto the car not to fall.
He was losing blood and half-conscious as they dragged him to the house forcefully. There were way too many bullets in his body and it would take some time until they all came out and his wounds healed. Maybe thirty minutes, or an hour…
They were putting blood everywhere in the house as they proceeded to tie him up to a chair. He forced himself to stay conscious. Well, half-conscious at least, whatever that meant.
But these guys… they were really stupid. He had encountered those types of amateur vampire hunters before. They were the questioning type. When they finally managed to capture a vampire they wanted to ask them all the damn questions they could come up with. Little did they know that Naruto would most likely recover quickly enough and surprise, rip off their necks...
The pain in his body was horrible, but not unbearable, as they started questioning him. He had been all too right about their intentions.
"Tell us the names and locations of all the vampires you know," Kabuto said as he replaced his glasses. His fingers brushed a sheet of paper and a pen on the desk. "I'm waiting."
Naruto swallowed hard and tried to sit up straight. He winced at the pain in his chest and stomach, where most of the bullets were. The strong scent of his own blood was making him feel sick. He tried to move his wrists but of course they were tied harshly to the back of the chair with some sort of metallic wire apparently – maybe aluminum, he wasn't sure. He had been shot in the arms as well and he was still too weak to break free – for now.
"You better talk before I put one through your head," the blond guy threatened, pressing his gun at his temple.
The vampire cursed inwardly. Now that could be troublesome. Being shot in the head was the worst – he would be unconscious for sure and it would take a few hours for his body to regenerate fully.
"Let's see…" he said in a rasp voice before coughing some blood. Ugh. "There's… hum… not that many vampires around here, you know? You might wanna try England, I hear there're lots of vamps there... Since it's always raining… You know, vampire friendly weather…"
"I'm not kidding," the young man was about to pull the trigger, and Naruto tensed.
"Stop it," Kabuto said and the three others stared at him. "If you do that he'll be out of it for an entire day and I don't have time for this."
"An entire day?" Naruto exclaimed, mocking Kabuto, "I'm offended."
So the blond guy shot him in the leg instead. The vampire repressed a yell of pain, while the male went to recharge his gun.
Some of the bullets were already starting to come out as his body healed. He still felt somewhat dizzy but he was regaining his strength. If that little asshole didn't shoot his arms he should be able to break free from those wires soon.
Next the bleached guy shot his other leg and shouted, "We want you to tell us all about your friends, and fast! We don't have all god damn night got it?"
Blood was pouring generously on the floor and the shortest of the guys stepped away. He stared at the wounds on Naruto's chests and made a disgusted face.
"Gross…"
"Well excuse me for not looking my sharpest at the moment," Naruto hissed through his teeth.
As if scared by the healing wounds, the others also stepped away. Naruto decided this was his chance to put an end to this.
What happened next only strengthened his determination.
The short one, who hadn't spoken at all yet, took out a lighter from his pocket.
"If you don't talk we'll just be forced to kill you."
The vampire felt adrenaline rushing through his wounded body. Fire was never good, now was it?
"Oh and if I do talk then what, we'll become bffs?" He said to mock them, and also distract them while he gathered his strength.
Everything happened really quickly. His fangs grew long and pointy and with a pained groan he finally managed to free himself. That lovely bleached guy shot him and Naruto tried to dodge it but the bullet still got his shoulder.
Cursing, he punched him in the stomach harshly, and he went straight to the floor. One down. Naruto treated the three others to a similar beating up; before they knew what was happening to them they were all down.
He crawled away from that bloodied room but he didn't go very far. His injuries caught up to him as the adrenaline rush faded. It had been a bit too soon to overwork himself after getting shot repeatedly like that. But that guy with the lighter had scared him.
Naruto closed his eyes and simply lay down for a few more minutes. He took off all the remaining bullets from his body, moaning in pain but at least after that he felt a little better. He managed to get back up on his feet shakily. The four men were still on the floor. But they weren't dead. They were lucky Naruto had felt generous. But mostly they were a sorry excuse for vampire hunters.
A young, newborn vampire would have perhaps fallen for their tricks, spilling out the information in fear of losing the promise of an immortal life so early. But Naruto certainly wasn't in that category – and they should've known better.
A few moments later he detected a familiar presence and looked up. Sure enough, Sasuke was here. His older brother was with him. Naruto frowned as he leaned against the wall, facing the back door. What were they doing here? Not that he wasn't happy to see him…
Sasuke's dark eyes widened in horror as he ran inside towards Naruto.
"Hey... You okay? What happened?" He asked fiercely as he grabbed his shoulders and locked eyes with him.
"You're gonna get blood all over you," Naruto protested.
Sasuke frowned, "I don't care! Just… tell me if you're okay damn it!"
"You're so cute when you're worried about me."
"… I guess you're okay then…" Sasuke chuckled weakly but he still looked very worried. He placed Naruto's arm around his shoulders.
The vampire looked up as Itachi went to check on the men.
"They'll be fine I think," he finally said.
"Yeah I just knocked them out…" Naruto shrugged it off, "What are you guys doing here anyway?" he asked in a tired voice.
"I got a text from Sakura," Sasuke said, "saying that she was sorry and that she had made a huge mistake and that you were in danger, and she texted me Kabuto's address. Anyway, let's get to the car…"
Naruto leaned on Sasuke as they walked; he felt rather pathetic at the moment, as he was rendered weak, frail and wounded by those stupid humans. But Sakura… he really didn't know what to think of that girl.
"Where's she now?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Sasuke answered, a deep anger leaking through his voice.
Maybe she had run away, Naruto thought.
"Come on guys let's hurry before people see us," Itachi said and opened the car door for them.
Sasuke helped Naruto onto the back seat and then he sat next to him. Itachi took place behind the wheel and started driving right away.
"All this blood…" Sasuke whispered, and then firmly he demanded, "Tell me what happened."
"Sakura tricked me I guess," Naruto chuckled dryly, and winced at the pain in his chest. "I'm so stupid; I should've figured it out. She said she wanted to tell me something important about you, so I figured maybe she knew about you being a werewolf and I could erase her memories… anyway… it turns out she's been hanging out with those vampire hunter dudes… She's an idiot though. She really put herself in danger for no reason… Anyway they took me by surprised, shot me a lot," he summarized. "I feel really lame right now," he admitted, resting his head on Sasuke's shoulder.
The latter caressed his hair, "Don't worry about it… You managed to kick their asses didn't you?"
"It's not exactly an achievement, believe me," Naruto chuckled and flinched in pain slightly. He really needed to stop laughing at every random comment he made when his body was so injured.
Sasuke frowned, "That bitch… if I ever see her again I'll rip off her stupid pink hair. And her head too."
"Don't make me laugh," Naruto pleaded.
Suddenly Itachi asked, "Where should I go, Sasuke?"
Sasuke indicated the way to Naruto's house. After a moment of silence Itachi spoke again.
"Do you think those men will come after you again?"
"I hope they learned their lesson but…" the blond sighed, "if they do try to hurt me again – or any of my friends – then maybe I won't be so generous."
"I wish humans wouldn't do such reckless things," Itachi said thoughtfully.
"Same here," the vampire agreed.
The rest of the drive was silent. Naruto felt so worn out that he almost fell asleep on Sasuke's shoulder. When they arrived in front of his mansion the raven helped him out of the car.
"Thanks Nii-san," he said, "for everything. I really appreciate. Will you still be in town tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Itachi nodded, "you both take care of yourselves. I'll see you tomorrow Sasuke."
And with that he drove away.
Once they were inside the vampire was relieved to see that their two band mates had already retired to their bedrooms. With Sasuke still helping him they went to his room upstairs.
"God I need a shower," Naruto muttered as he walked in the bathroom. He stopped short when he saw his appearance in the mirror. His body was literally covered in blood.
Sasuke quickly went to turn on the water. He actually still seemed worried as he turned to look at Naruto.
"Hey," the vampire said softly, "don't make that face. I'm fine, really. I heal extremely fast."
The raven stepped closer to him and helped him out of his clothes. He then stripped as well completely, tossing his clothes aside with Naruto's blood-stained ones, and grabbed his arm.
"Just get in the shower all this blood is really freaking me out."
"Okay," he whispered and he closed his eyes as he stood under the hot water.
He smiled, pleased, when Sasuke started cleaning him. He opened his eyes. Sasuke really was so adorable when he was concerned.
"You're right," Sasuke whispered as he moved the clean, soapy rag softly against Naruto's skin, "they're almost just scars now."
"And soon they'll be completely gone," Naruto finished to reassure him. He leaned closer, wrapping his arms around Sasuke's tiny waist.
"I was so fucking scared when I saw you like that…" he admitted in a low, shaky voice.
Naruto entangled his fingers in Sasuke's soft hair, pulling him even closer. He was really touched that Sasuke was actually admitting such a thing. He couldn't even find the words to express how good he felt… how deeply in love he was…
So instead he kissed him tenderly. Sasuke responded by placing his arms around Naruto's thin body as well. They kissed for a long time while the blond enjoyed the feel of the hot, cleansing water on his backside.
When they finally broke for air Naruto took the rag from Sasuke's hand and he reciprocated the favor by cleaning him as well.
"You don't have to," the raven protested, trying to push him away softly.
But Naruto held him close, "I want to… I like this…" He reversed their positions so that Sasuke was under the stream of water. Then he turned him around so he could trace his beautiful dark wings tattoo with his fingers.
"You're my angel," he said and kissed the back of his neck.
Sasuke turned his head to meet his lips in a heated kiss. When he pulled away he whispered, "I'm gonna let you say corny shit for now, but only because you were on the verge of death earlier…"
"What the… I wasn't on the verge of death, you know!" He exclaimed indignantly.
The raven smirked, "Hn… so you still have some pride left even after being tricked by Sakura of all people?"
Naruto's eyes widened as he was even more offended now.
"I'm sorry," he laughed, not sounding sorry at all, as he took Naruto's hands, "I'm sorry that was low."
"Yes it was!"
"I said I was sorry," he shrugged and tried to pull him in a hug. But Naruto pushed him away. Why did he feel like the roles were reversed all of a sudden?
"Stop it I'm not in the mood…"
"Ha! That's a funny one. When are you ever not in the mood?"
"Now," Naruto said childishly.
But Sasuke was insisting and Naruto couldn't possibly resist him – even though he was a little pissed off. Sasuke held him close and Naruto finally let himself relax in his arms, breathing in his sweet scent.
"But seriously," Sasuke whispered, "I'm gonna kill her. Well maybe not kill her but… I'll do something."
"Mm… don't be too hard on her. She looked really terrified. I think she had no idea what she was doing…"
"Yeah… let's not talk about that anymore. Let's just go to sleep."
"Okay," Naruto said softly and placed a kiss on his shoulder.
They got out of the shower, dried themselves quickly and made their way to the bedroom. Naruto made sure to close the curtains properly before collapsing on his bed – he didn't want any annoying sunlight to disturb his sleep in the morning. Sasuke crawled under the navy sheets next to him and pulled him close.
"You're so affectionate tonight, maybe I should get shot more often." Naruto teased fondly and kissed his lips. Sasuke blushed lightly.
"Hn… shut up and go to sleep. And…" he hesitated, "and seriously... don't let something like that happen to you again."
"Okay…"
They were both too tired to give much thought to the recent events, so they soon fell asleep.
A/N:
I hope you liked the chapter...
This has nothing to do with anything but I have a question for you guys... I have another story if you're interested. Title's Game Changer, I'm uploading the first chapter next week, probably. It's completely different, no supernatural beings lol everyone's normal. It's an AU story in which Naruto has a brother, Kyubi of course but I was thinking of calling him Kurama. Since we know that's his real name in the manga now. I was just wondering what you guys think of that idea, and is this name okay? It's Kurama(Kyubi)/Sasuke and other pairings. So review or pm me?
