Chapter 20 – What goes around comes around

The night of the full moon, Naruto was sitting on his balcony, watching as the werewolves entered the forest slowly. They had left their clothes as well as some blankets behind, in the backyard next to the pool. The biggest wolves were the black one and the dark red one; Itachi and Nagato. Even if he hadn't been able to discern their unique presences, Naruto would've probably been able to guess who was who. Konan's wolf form was a beautiful bluish black, and Tsumi's fur was dark brown. As for Sasuke, he was black except for the ears, tail and paws, which were a paler gray shade.

They made their way deeper in the forest and Naruto could barely see them. The night was foggy and rainy, and the vampire shivered in his light t-shirt. It was more because of his anxiety and fear than the cold though.

At midnight precisely, the vampires arrived. They walked around the mansion, jumping up the fence graciously, one after the other. They were five.

Kurenai, Selika, Yahiko, Deidara and Suigetsu.

Naruto's dark blue eyes widened and he got up, leaning against the handrail as he watched them enter the forest. This was bad, he thought, the werewolves had expected to be up against three or four. Now it was five against five.

The blond vampire couldn't possibly stay behind. He needed to watch, or he'd die of anxiety. Pulling himself up he placed a foot on the handrail and then jumped down, his movements fluent. He hesitated. But in the fog he really couldn't see far inside the forest…

Suddenly he felt a presence behind him.

"Neji," he said as he turned around.

The long-haired man stepped closer to him. His pale gray eyes were worried.

"Suigetsu and I had a fight. I didn't want him to come here… but I need to know what's going on."

"Yeah," Naruto whispered, "follow me."

He ran and climbed up a tree skillfully, propelling himself higher using the strongest branches. Neji was following closely. They still couldn't see the fight properly. They needed to get further in the woods. So the vampires jumped from tree to tree, finally landing on some strong and high branches from which they had a good view of the fight below. It had already started.

Naruto's eyes scanned the area and found Sasuke's wolf alter-ego. He was fighting Kurenai.

His heart started beating furiously. He was so damn scared for Sasuke. Even from high up, he could see that Kurenai seemed relaxed and confident. Every time the werewolf came at her, she dodged, side stepping or jumping back swiftly. She was mocking him. He could hear her laugh if he concentrated on just those two – which he did for a little while.

Next to him on the branch, Neji tensed and whispered, "Suigetsu…"

Naruto followed his stare, and saw that Suigetsu was fighting the dark brown female; Tsumi. The latter had the upper hand. She had already managed to injure Suigetsu's leg badly.

"I told him he wasn't strong enough to fight werewolves, but he wouldn't listen," Neji's voice broke.

Suigetsu was holding his ground though. The fight didn't seem to be anywhere near finished. But this was the problem when werewolves and vampires fought, Naruto thought. Both races were almost impossible to defeat, and had accelerated healing, so they could go on for hours. His gaze drifted to the others.

Konan was fighting Yahiko, and Itachi was fighting Deidara. Those two pairs seemed of perfectly equal forces so far; not much damage was inflicted. Finally, Selika was up against Nagato. As Naruto watched, the slender brunette managed a powerful kick to the dark red wolf's side, throwing him against a tree. But Nagato didn't even seem hurt as he jumped back at her. Naruto sighed; there, again, they were pretty much equals, he supposed.

He quickly glanced back at Sasuke and Kurenai. He had kept watching them from the corner of his eye the whole time, of course. He was way too worried about his young lover.

That Kurenai… she was still teasing him. She just blocked or evaded every attack without ever trying to hurt Sasuke. This went on for a long time. Neji and Naruto both shifted uncomfortably on the branch as they watched.

An hour passed before they knew it, and rain started pouring. They decided to move their positions down a couple branches because otherwise it was difficult to see properly.

Naruto's heart skipped a beat when Kurenai attacked Sasuke roughly for the first time. She hit him with her booted foot, and now she was shoving him into a tree, so harshly that the roots were actually pulled from the ground a little. Naruto was about to jump down to help him when Neji put his hand on his arm.

"Wait, look."

He calmed down when Sasuke finally escaped from her grasp. He seemed fine, and attacked again. Naruto let out a shaky relieved breath.

He felt proud when Sasuke got her for the first time; he almost ripped off her arm actually. But she yelled and pushed him away with her foot, this time pinning him to the ground and seemingly crushing his ribs. Again the black wolf managed to escape this deadly grip.

"This is fucking killing me," Naruto said anxiously. He flipped his wet bangs aside and wiped his eyes, trying to see clearly in this damn rain.

"Same here," Neji admitted in a low voice.

The fights went on and it soon became clear that some of them weren't leading anywhere; Itachi and Deidara were definitely of equal strength, and so were Selika and Nagato. For the others it was different though. Konan had the upper hand on Yahiko. In the fight between Neji's boyfriend and Tsumi, the latter looked like she was winning. And of course, Kurenai was a lot more powerful than Sasuke. But the latter kept at it with determination no matter how many hits he took.

At some point though, Naruto was really about to jump. As the vulnerable black wolf was down, the black-haired female took out a dagger from her inside jacket pocket, it seemed. And she was about to stab his chest.

Again, he was stopped by Neji's hand. As they watched in slight shock, Selika interrupted her fight against Nagato to throw herself on Kurenai, stopping her from giving the fatal blow.

There was a moment of confusion for these four. Sasuke's wolf alter-ego got back up, the bigger, dark-red wolf was watching the whole scene and Selika and Kurenai were staring at each other.

Naruto swallowed hard; he was so damn nervous that were he a human, he would surely suffer from a heart attack.

Suddenly Kurenai moved away from both Selika and Sasuke and instead attacked the big red wolf. The latter was taken by surprise therefore Kurenai had the upper hand. But then Sasuke went to his help. Naruto relaxed a little; Kurenai was now fighting against two werewolves at once.

He realized Selika was looking up at him. They locked eyes for a moment, and even with all this fog and rain, he could see that she was sad. She hated all of this as much as he did. And at that moment he felt sorry for her.

Then she jumped back into another fight; she helped a badly injured Yahiko against the black female werewolf. The latter backed away a little. Naruto's gaze drifted back to Sasuke.

He wasn't fighting as fiercely as before and the vampire wondered if he was badly hurt. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest at the thought. He really wanted this madness to stop. Thankfully, Nagato was fighting alongside him, protecting him from Kurenai's strong, relentless attacks. Naruto couldn't help but smile triumphantly when the red wolf got her arm, making her drop her damn dagger.

Then his smile faded when she kicked him harshly. It was far from over still… Making sure to keep a close eye on Sasuke at all times, Naruto paid some more attention to the other fights.

He was worried about Deidara, actually. But he seemed pretty much unharmed as he continued fighting with Itachi's wolf alter-ego. The worst thing was, Naruto was positive Deidara fought tonight only to protect Selika and Yahiko. His old friend had never had anything against werewolves, after all.

Suigetsu and Tsumi both seemed worn out at this point. They were barely standing, yet they kept on fighting. Naruto glanced sideways at Neji. His anxiety was clearly just as intense as Naruto's.

As the vampire had expected, this went on for hours. The rain eventually stopped, and the fog cleared up a little but the air was still cold. Oddly cold for this time of year, in fact. The fights had taken the vampires and werewolves to different positions in the woods, so Naruto and Neji had also moved amongst the trees. They weren't sitting together anymore, because they weren't watching over the same people.

Naruto could still see Neji though, so at some point he noticed he had jumped down. The blond wondered what had happened, when suddenly he saw the female brown wolf approach Nagato and Sasuke. So she had defeated Suigetsu then. Naruto hoped, for Neji's sake, that the silver-haired vampire was gonna be okay.

Tsumi started fighting with the others against Kurenai.

The wolves were three against one now. Naruto smirked as they advanced towards her menacingly. Now for sure, they would be able to beat her.

As good a fighter as Kurenai was, she couldn't defeat the three wolves at once. They were instinctively working in team. Whenever the female vampire dodged an attack, or even two in a row, well another one was coming that she couldn't possibly anticipate.

She was defeated. Naruto's smile faded, simply because the sight was horrible. In his long existence, he had never witnessed werewolves actually killing a vampire before. It wasn't pretty. Basically, her body was ripped apart completely.

A piercing feminine scream was heard. Selika. Naruto looked at her. She had stopped fighting Konan and now she was trying to go to Kurenai but Yahiko grabbed her and stopped her. Selika was struggling desperately. The sight made Naruto sad and bitter. He stood on the branch and he was about to jump when he saw that Deidara and Itachi had also stopped fighting. The blond vampire joined Yahiko in his efforts to restrain Selika. As for the big dark wolf, he walked over to his mate. Naruto looked back at Sasuke and the others.

The three wolves made sure to scatter the vampire's remnants properly. They even buried them in the ground. Well, they certainly knew how to make sure a vampire was dead for good. Maybe it was part of their instincts, Naruto mused.

Finally he jumped down.

Selika's screams of despair as she struggled to get away from Yahiko and Deidara were wrenching his heart. He went to stand right in front of her, frowning sadly. To his surprise she calmed down.

"Naruto," she whispered.

The others let her go and she threw herself in Naruto's arms. He sighed and held her tightly against his strong chest. Her physical injuries were mostly healed already but she looked so tired and weak. He had never seen her like this.

"I couldn't save her," she whispered, crying silent tears, and he caressed her messy brown hair. She went on as she looked up and locked teary gold eyes with his, "I really did try to convince her to stop doing all this," she frowned, "I tried, but I wasn't enough… I was never enough for her… still she wanted to… avenge her true love…" her voice broke and once more she buried her face in his chest.

Naruto said nothing. There was nothing left to say. No comforting words. What had happened tonight, Naruto thought, Kurenai had brought it upon herself. Perhaps, she had secretly wanted to end her life this way.

The first red sliver of dawn broke through the sky and the wolves eventually transformed back into their human forms.

Naruto pulled away from Selika softly. Without a word Yahiko placed a comforting arm around her shoulders.

On the meantime Deidara took off his long black coat as he walked toward Itachi and Konan. The latter was hurt and unconscious. Without a word Deidara gave his coat to the raven-haired man.

He took it and used it to cover up his girlfriend. Then he picked her up in his arms.

"Thanks," he whispered rather awkwardly before making his way to the house quickly.

"That was really nice of you," Naruto commented simply. Deidara smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah well, aside from all the drama," he motioned at nowhere in particular, "I had a lot of fun. He was a great opponent. It was the best fight of my life, honestly."

Naruto almost laughed. Deidara's long hair was so messy that it was mostly out of the tie, and his clothes were torn, but apparently he was sincere when he claimed that he'd had fun.

Then suddenly Naruto remembered the other werewolves could probably use some help.

"Come with me," he told Deidara and ran towards the house.

He stopped in the backyard and picked up three warm blankets which had previously been placed there. He gave one to Deidara, who followed him closely. Without a word they returned to the forest, and met up with Nagato. He was carrying an unconscious Tsumi in his arms.

"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked worriedly as he placed a blanket on his shoulders. Deidara covered up the girl.

The red-head glanced behind his shoulder and Naruto followed his stare. His heart faltered. Sasuke was lying down on his side on the cold, wet ground. His pale skin was covered in very bad bruises. Naruto rushed to him and covered him with the remaining blanket, before picking him up carefully. Hurrying up, he walked behind Nagato towards the back entrance of the mansion.

Deidara, Yahiko and Selika stayed behind and Naruto supposed they would go home. He didn't really care at this point. He only wanted to take care of Sasuke.

It turned out Neji and Suigetsu had already taken shelter in his house. They were in one of the guest rooms and Suigetsu was awake although in a really bad shape. As Naruto passed that room he gave Neji a slight nod, wordlessly telling him that it was okay to stay for as long as they needed.

Upstairs, Naruto entered his bedroom closing the door with his foot, and he put Sasuke on his bed. Then, not really knowing what else to do, he decided to prepare a hot bath for him. While the large bath tub was filling up, he returned to the bed. Picking up the blanket he pulled it away to check up on his skinny body. He really was all bruised up… the worst was his left cheek, ribs, and also his arms and legs.

Naruto lifted his fingers to replace a few raven bangs aside.

"Well you got your big fight," he whispered, "but now look at you…"

As if he had heard him Sasuke stirred slowly. "Mmm," he moaned painfully, "what the fuck happened?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Naruto frowned. Sasuke looked up at him.

"Uh… it's blurry… it's always like this… after the full moon."

Naruto glanced behind his shoulder and asked, "Do you want to take a bath?"

"Okay…"

Sasuke tried to get up a bit too quickly and he winced in pain. After that he was resigned and leaned on Naruto as they made their way to the bathroom. There was enough water now so Naruto turned off the tap. He helped Sasuke inside.

"This feels nice," the raven whispered as he sat.

Naruto stripped and slid in the water in front of him. The bath tub was large enough for the both of them. Sasuke let his body slide until his head was fully submerged, and then he got out again, wiping his eyes.

"What do you remember?" the vampire asked.

He frowned and hugged himself, wincing at the pain in his ribs. He was looking down.

"Fighting… just… fighting. A vampire… it was Kurenai right?"

"Yeah," Naruto said.

"We… did we…?"

"You killed her. With the help of Nagato and Tsumi."

Sasuke's entire body relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.

"We got rid of her…"

Naruto moved closer to him. "And I didn't respect my promise."

Dark gray eyes opened, "What are you talking about?"

The vampire carefully slid his arm around Sasuke and pulled him into his lap. "I promised I'd never let anything happen to you again. And now you're hurt…"

Sasuke leaned against him, resting his head on his shoulder. He took his hand.

"This'll be all healed up in like, two days, tops."

"But still…" Naruto whispered sadly but the other cut him.

"Don't worry about it. Tell me about the others?" He turned his head to look up at him.

Caressing his arm absentmindedly, he answered, "Everyone's fine. Konan and Tsumi were unconscious like you but I think they're just worn out."

"Yeah," Sasuke said thoughtfully, "anyway I'd know if something bad happened..."

"Hmm…" Naruto picked up a clean rag and soap and he started cleaning Sasuke, careful not to hurt him.

When he was finished he just held him for a moment. Sasuke was so tired that he almost fell asleep like this. Naruto smiled and kissed his hair.

"Come on let's get you to bed."

Sasuke nodded sleepily and he let Naruto help him.

As he dried him up while holding him the vampire chuckled, "You must be exhausted 'cause you usually hate it when I do this."

"I guess I am exhausted," he muttered. His legs clearly threatened to give in if Naruto stopped holding his waist.

"Come here," he whispered and picked him up to carry him to the bed again.

Sasuke curled up on his side and Naruto covered him with the dark blue sheets. He also went to close the curtain completely so that the room was as dark as possible.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No," Sasuke whispered without opening his eyes.

Naruto went to caress his shoulder briefly then walked to the door. "I guess I should check up on the others then…"

"Naruto…"

He spun, "Yeah?"

Sasuke was burying his face in his arms in order to hide his blush.

"Can you stay…?"

"Of course," he smiled.

He supposed he could use a little rest himself. Checking up on the others could wait. Stripping to his boxers to be more comfortable, he climbed on the bed and lay down next to Sasuke. The latter pressed himself closer and Naruto took the hint, placing his arm around the smaller guy. They fell asleep like this.

…

Sasuke slept the entire day. He woke up in the evening and reached out with his hand but he was alone in the large bed. Cracking his dark eyes open, he sat up while moaning in pain and holding his ribs.

But he felt a little bit better already after all this sleep. He pulled back the sheets and got up. He walked up to the dresser and opened his drawer – Naruto had insisted that he should have one of the drawers to put some of his clothes since he practically lived there at this point. The raven put on black sweat pants with a dark blue and wide neck long sleeve shirt. He picked up his piercings, which he had left on the bedside table, and also his silver chain and went to the bathroom to put them on. He grimaced at the bruise on his cheek but shrugged it off. It would heal soon. Placing his hair behind his ears he proceeded to put all the studs back on.

As he finished the bedroom door opened to Naruto. He walked over to him with his hands in his jeans pockets.

"How're you doing?"

"I'm okay," Sasuke made a little smile, "Well I'm kinda starving actually."

Naruto laughed and slid his arm around his small waist, pulling him closer, "Come on let's put some food in that skinny body of yours."

Downstairs Sasuke could smell delicious food and it made his stomach growl. It came from the kitchen of course; Konan and Tsumi were cooking together. Sasuke couldn't help but smile; he was so glad that they were okay. They did seem rather worn out and bruised up just like him, but at least they were gonna be fine.

As for Itachi and Nagato they sat at the dining table drinking some wine. Sasuke went to join them and Naruto followed with his hand still in the small of his back loosely.

He sat next to Itachi and the latter lifted his fingers to touch his cheek briefly.

"Are you okay? Maybe you should put some ice on it."

"I'm fine," Sasuke reassured him. "What about you guys?"

"Good as new," Nagato smiled and Itachi nodded.

"Those vampires didn't stand a chance," he added teasingly making Sasuke chuckle.

Naruto was still standing behind Sasuke, massaging his shoulders. It was as though he couldn't keep his hands off him even for a few instants. Well, secretly, Sasuke liked it…

Suddenly Suigetsu and Neji made their appearance. They stood in the hallway awkwardly. Suigetsu was leaning on his boyfriend, but then he glanced at Tsumi and he pushed Neji away softly. While everyone was looking he walked in the kitchen area and stopped in front of the girl.

"I'm very sorry for hurting you," he said. She seemed surprised.

"Oh… well… I'm okay really…"

"And thank you," Suigetsu continued as though she hadn't said a word, "for not killing me… I hum…" he scratched his hair and glanced at the others, "It's never gonna happen again. Just 'cause I had trouble with werewolves in the past doesn't mean I should hate every single one of them… I mean I don't want to end up like Kurenai so yeah. And Sasuke," he stepped closer to the dining table and Neji followed quietly. Suigetsu finished, "Sorry about the way I treated you. I think you're a really cool guy and I wish you the best with Naruto and your band project and all."

"Thanks," Sasuke said. He could see that he was sincere.

Neji spoke to Naruto, "Thanks for letting us stay here today."

"No problem, you're always welcome," the older vampire nodded.

After that Neji and Suigetsu left and there was a moment of silence.

"Well," Konan eventually said and everyone looked at her, "the food's ready."

Dinner was delicious. There was miso soup, onigiri, fried vegetables and some salmon. The five werewolves ate with appetite and Naruto left them alone, going to the back of the living room where they couldn't see him. They heard him play guitar as they ate.

Sasuke thought it sucked that Naruto felt left out in his own house. But right now, there were some things he really wanted to ask.

"Nii-san," he started and Itachi looked at him, "are you gonna stay in Tokyo now?"

"Yeah I think so," he answered, and glanced at his girlfriend. She shrugged.

"It's probably for the best. I don't even think we can call ourselves a pack anymore, so…"

"I'll stay too," Nagato said, "I hope I can find a new job…"

"I'll help you with money if you have a tough time," Itachi reassured him. Then he looked at Tsumi, "What about you," he asked softly, "do you have anywhere to go?"

She put down her chopsticks and bit her lip slightly. "With Yukio," she said in a little voice, "we were talking about going to uni together. We wanted to maybe leave the pack for a while and live in dorms or an apartment or something like that."

"You should," Konan encouraged her. "We'll help you find a place to stay if you want, until you figure it out. We should all help each other out."

Sasuke caressed the silver chain around his neck in a familiar manner. He came up with an idea. "Hey you could take my room and live with Kakashi," he addressed Tsumi and she blushed slightly, "that's my adoptive father. I mean 'cause I pretty much live here now. And if you go to the university where he works you guys could do carpooling."

"That's a great idea, actually," Itachi nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll call him later," Sasuke decided.

The young girl's blush darkened as she looked up at him with pale blue eyes. "Thank you so much…"

"Don't worry about it."

It was a perfect solution. She was a student who needed a place to stay, and Kakashi had a free room. Besides he was a teacher at the university, and most of all he already knew about werewolves. She probably wouldn't find any better arrangement.

After that Itachi, Konan and Nagato continued talking about how they would try to build up a new life for themselves in this city. Tsumi was pretty much listening in silence.

Sasuke excused himself and went to the living room. On a whim he picked up one of the electric guitars and placed himself next to Naruto. The latter stopped playing and raised a thin blond eyebrow at him.

"You want to try to play now? Of all times? When your body's recovering from last night?"

"Yeah," the raven said.

Playing guitar wouldn't kill him, damn it. Stupid Naruto; always worrying. His left hand was just fine so he could do the chords, but his right wrist did hurt a little as he strummed. But he kept at it anyway for a little while, doing one of their songs on the album. Naruto joined him. They exchanged a smile. It felt good to be playing together again.

At some point the four other werewolves joined them in the room and sat on the couches to listen. Naruto did some improvised guitar solo and Sasuke followed his lead gladly, ignoring the dull pain in his wrist. He lifted his foot and rested it on the armrest of a nearby sofa.

This felt so great. It made him feel so alive to play music, it was insane. Maybe this was what he could call his true passion.

But he didn't want to push it, so after another song he stopped playing. Naruto did likewise.

"That was great," Konan said sincerely.

Naruto smiled at her while throwing his arm around Sasuke's shoulders casually, "Well my lead guitarist lacks practice a bit right now but it'll come back soon."

"Hey shut up I wasn't that bad," Sasuke said half-teasing; he knew Naruto was right.

Eventually everyone retired to their assigned rooms.

Naruto and Sasuke sat on their usual spot on the balcony. It was a bit cold so Sasuke leaned against the vampire gladly. He looked up at the moon, which was almost completely full, and he shivered.

"When I think about all the things that happened these past few months," he whispered, "it kinda freaks me out…"

"And it all started with an audition to be in my band," the blond teased, tightening his hold around him.

"Yeah," Sasuke chuckled, looking down and letting his bangs cover his eyes, "I really wanted to be in a band after high school. You know, before meeting you, I was just a normal guy with a normal life I guess…"

"What the hell was so normal about it?" Naruto slightly pulled away to look at him, amused, "You were the smartest kid of your school, not to mention being chased around by girls even though you're gay," he chuckled, "and also a hell of a guitar player. Oh yeah and then there's the fact that every month on the full moon you transform in this adorable little wolf…"

"Ugh," Sasuke sighed, "I just knew you were gonna tease me about that. Go figure," he said sarcastically.

"I love teasing you," Naruto smiled playfully and hugged him.

"Yeah I know you do," Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed him away.

"But seriously," Naruto's smile faded, and he locked their gazes, "do you… have any regrets? You know, about meeting me?"

Sasuke tilted his head back, leaning against the wall. Why did Naruto always have to make him say romantic crap? He really didn't feel like it. So instead he turned his head, placed his hand behind Naruto's neck entangling his fingers in golden blond locks, and kissed him passionately.

When they broke for air Sasuke didn't give him time to talk. He kissed him again, holding him fiercely.

And then, he breathed against his lips, "That answer your question?"

Naruto smiled, "Yeah."

Sasuke remembered something. He was pretty sure the blond would be ecstatic and say yes right away but he decided to ask anyway.

"Hey is it okay if I… like… move in? Officially."

The vampire grinned as he caressed his hair and rested his hand on his shoulder.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Just checking," Sasuke shrugged slightly. "Do you think…" he hesitated.

"What is it?" Naruto whispered, taking his hand and lacing their fingers. Then he leaned closer and kissed his neck.

Sasuke moaned slightly. That felt nice.

"I just… you know I wonder if… we'll be okay now. Now that she's dead."

"I don't know, but I think there's nothing we can't overcome," Naruto said softly.

They kissed again, holding each other close, and Sasuke thought, maybe Naruto was right…

A/N: It took me a while to update and I'm sorry. I know it's weird but Kurenai was indeed a villain in this story - it felt weird for me anyway, and I regretted my decision a bit but it was too late. All I can say is, at this point in her existence, it was too late for her to move on. It just made no sense to make her survive since she brought this upon herself, almost as if she wanted to chase werewolves until her death. And I know explaining with author's notes is lame and it pretty much means I have no confidence in my story or writing skills. And all of that's true, lol. And no, this is not the end... I still have a few chapters so if you feel like reading.