Chapter 21

Sasuke was in heaven. He was content, cuddling with Sakura in one of his favorite spots in the forest. The trees parted just enough to give them a clear view of the star speckled sky. Sasuke lay curled around Sakura, his eyes closed in content and his tail drummed the ground happily as Sakura showered him with affection. She repeatedly stroked his neck and back with an occasional scratch behind the ear. When she would bend down to kiss his forehead he would let out a happy whine.

An earsplitting scream caused Sasuke to jump and open his eyes. He immediately noticed that Sakura was missing. Sasuke looked around franticly, but there was no trace of her. There was another scream and this time he recognized it as Sakura's.

He took off in direction of the scream, running as fast as he possible could; never noticing that the world was melting away until he was surrounded by endless darkness. He kept on running until two figures suddenly appeared before of him. Sasuke froze and stared fearfully at the scene before him. A bloody Sakura lay pinned beneath a mirror image of himself. Sakura feebly raised a hand toward him. Tears began to trickle down her face, mixing with the blood. Sasuke tried to rush over to her, to save her, but he couldn't move. No matter how hard he struggled his body remained immobile. With a terrible roar the monster reached down and closed its jaws around her throat.

Sasuke awoke in an instant. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest and beads of sweat drip down his face. This was a reoccurring nightmare that refused to go away. He threw the covers off and sat up, hunching over so that his elbows rested on his knees with his head resting in his hands. The final image of the dream was burned into his memory.

"It's not real," he whispered, "it's not real." His hand reached up to touch the base if his neck. Sometimes he would try to feel the chain that he wore for the majority of his life. He used to hate it before but now he longed for the reassurance that there was something to keep him in check. It was also comforting to know that Sakura held the counterpart to his chain. His other half. But now there was nothing.

It took him a few minutes for him to calm down. Glancing at the clock he saw that it was only 5 in the morning, the sun hadn't even begun to rise yet. But there was no way that he was going to be getting any more sleep. After freshening up, Sasuke left his room and entered the open area of the little apartment he shared with his brother. At first he thought of making some breakfast but the idea didn't last long. That dream killed any appetite he might have had. Instead he turned on the coffee maker and sat at the old wooden table that stood in the middle of the kitchen area. While waiting for the coffee to brew, Sasuke's mind began to drift.

It had been five years since he left. Five years since he saw Sakura or any of his friends. He still missed her and he probably always would. There was a gaping hole in his heart that would never go away. While he was glad to have his brother around, it just wasn't the same Sakura. It was as if he was incomplete, and important part of him was missing. Drowning out the horrors of his dreams with fonder memories, he began to reminisce about the past.

He was startled when a cup of hot coffee was placed in front of him.

"Can't sleep again?" Itachi asked and took the chair across from his younger brother. Sasuke glanced at the window to see the sun peeking through the drapes. He hadn't noticed how much time had gone by. "Are you going to be okay for the job tonight?"

Sasuke nodded, "I'll just try to catch a few more hours of sleep this afternoon."

The two brothers had been helping eradicate the sudden rising number of vampires in the area, After the near extinction of their pack, Itachi had escaped and ran into a rather odd group of mercenaries that were all too willing to bring a lone werewolf into their ranks. They called themselves the Akatsuki, a bunch of rebels that killed dangerous creatures as well as humans that had accumulated a high enough bounty. Their strange little gang was composed of both humans and other mythical beings. When Sasuke came along a few years back they accepted him too.

"That might be a bit difficult," Itachi gave him a small smile, "Some of the other guys are coming over for a briefing later."

Sasuke groaned. That meant that they were coming over to raid their fridge while being as noisy as possible. They might fit in a quick summary of what they had planned on their way out the door. Itachi's smile faded as he watched his brother, Sasuke had been depressed since the day that the brothers had been reunited. Sometimes he would be distracted or he would hide it really well, but the sadness and loneliness was always there. The negative feelings followed him like a shadow.

Itachi had been shocked to learn that his little brother had mated with a human, and a hunter in-training of all things. He had been angry when he found out that Sasuke had been experimented on and sad at the circumstances that forced him and his mate apart. Itachi tried to be there to comfort his brother as much as he could but there would never be anything that could fill the void in Sasuke's heart.

"Are you okay?" Itachi asked.

"As good as I can get," Sasuke replied.

Itachi ruffled Sasuke's hair. "Everything will be alright."

Every time Sasuke was in one of his moods, Itachi would tell him the same thing. Sasuke knew that he was just telling him that to try to make him feel just a little bit better. Even if he didn't fully believe it, he clung onto that belief and hoped it would be true.

It was late in the afternoon and Sasuke was back in bed. But of course, he barely managed an hour of sleep before the door to the apartment burst open and the air was filled with loud chatter. Sasuke groaned and turned over to lie on his stomach. He covered his head with the pillow but even that couldn't stifle the voices drifting in from the other room. Cursing and mumbling under his breath, Sasuke abandoned his bed and went out to join them. There was no way he was going to be able to get any sleep now, so he might as well see who was there. And just maybe they would actually have a real briefing.

Who was he kidding?

Sasuke's frown deepened when he saw who was relaxing on the couch in his apartment. There was Kisame, his brothers weird friend. He was some kind of weird kappa demon hybrid. Sasuke didn't want to imagine how that happened. Kappa were small water demons but Kisame was huge with extremely pointed teeth. He was an expert weapon smith that had a knack for integrating demonic power into weapon materials. Kisame wasn't overly chatty but he had a snarky attitude. And smelled slightly of fish.

The next visitor was a fire demon. Deidara was a powerful fire demon that was very fond of explosions. No one was really sure what Deidara's true form looked like because he had found and possessed a young artist years ago and never left the body. He looked like an average blonde haired young man, all except for the two gaping mouths on the palm of each hand. Sasuke couldn't stand Deidara, he was loud, obnoxious, and his hands were kind of creepy. The two mouths could vomit out a clay like substance that Deidara could detonate on command. Gross.

The final invader was a smaller man named Sasori. He was normally on the quiet side but he was very impatient and argued almost constantly with the loud Deidara. Sasori was human, but he was a very powerful witchdoctor. He enjoyed snaring souls and trapping them in wooden puppets. The trapped souls would animate the puppets and allow them to move on their own. Sasori was also skilled in poisons and curses. Sasuke noticed that he always smelt of wood. At first he thought that it was because he was always repairing and tinkering with his puppets, but the smell never seemed to go away. Perhaps he had put his own soul into a puppet? It was something Sasuke didn't want to dwell on.

"Hey look who it is," Kisame jeered. Sasuke scowled at them. They probably knew that he was trying to take a nap and woke him up on purpose. "You ready for tonight princess?" The sharkman's joke caused Deidara to laugh obnoxiously. He couldn't understand how his brother was friends with these people.

"I'm hungry," Sasori stated, then looked blankly at Sasuke as if expecting him to feed him.

"Me too," Deidara raised his hand as if he was participating in a classroom discussion.

Sasuke was about to tell them all to fuck off when his brother came into the room with a bag of food. It smelled like Chinese. "Want some?" Itachi offered some to Sasuke.

He didn't want to be around these guys but his hunger was a bit stronger than his annoyance for now. With a sigh he sat down next to a snickering Deidara.

After putting up with the other members of the Akatsuki for a couple of hours the five of them headed out to the destination of their next assignment. The local vampires were becoming rowdy again. Over time they were becoming more and more active, attacking people and increasing their population. But the population was fluctuating. While they only killed a few of them the numbers would drop drastically at seemingly random intervals. Large numbers of vampires were leaving the area for an unknown reason. Their job tonight was to try and find out why.

Most times the vampires picked up their victims at night, normally at night clubs, bars, and other similar places. So they were going to stake out a local club and see if one of the 'recruiters' were out, and hopefully catch one so they can interrogate them.

Sasuke wasn't a fan of clubs, they were full of loud music and people. Not to mention the smells were a bit overwhelming. Unfortunately, he had been visiting them more frequently as the number of attacks began to increase. Once in the dark bar, the group split up. Sasuke didn't pay attention to where the others went and headed straight to the bar.

He avoided eye contact with the other bar patrons and ordered a drink. While he needed to be functional incase things got messy, he really needed a drink. And a strong one. When he had first arrived in this town the pain of his separation was still overwhelming. He tried the common, 'lose yourself in alcohol' a few times to try to deal with the pain, but it didn't work. While he felt a little better at the time, the day after was brutal. Not only was he still depressed but he would be sick on top of that. And it wasn't like he and his brother had a lot of money either. After those few attempts he hardly drank in large quantities.

He heard loud boisterous laughter and looked over his shoulder to see Kisame and Deidara laughing and taking some kind of colorful shots. Sasori watched them with a blank expression, which seemed to amuse them all the more.

Sasuke shook his head and looked away from them. They needed to blend in but they were taking it a bit too far. And Itachi seemed to have disappeared entirely.

"You here by yourself?"

A young woman with pale skin and long dark hair sat sown on the stool next to him. Sasuke ignored her and took another sip of his drink. He had women hitting on him more often than he would like. It was annoying. Some were more persistent than others and wouldn't leave him alone no matter how much disinterest he showed. And it looked like that was one of those girls. Even after flat out ignoring her question, she still gazed at him with a sultry smile on her face.

"Aww someone having a bad day?" she cooed, running her finger down his arm. Sasuke slapped her hand away and glared at her. She giggled at him, his angry glare hardly bothered her.

"Go away," Sasuke growled. But she didn't listen, instead she scooted her stool closer to him. Sasuke could practically feel his hackles rising as the girl got closer to him. The perfume she was wearing was really strong and irritated his nose.

"What's a good looking guy like you doing here all alone? Maybe I can make you feel better." She leaned in further making Sasuke recoil. He pushed away from the bar and swiftly walked away, pushing aside tipsy bar goers that stood in his way.

This just wasn't his day. Things were going from depressing to angry and now annoying. But then again, that was the three emotions that Sasuke felt almost constantly for years now. He left the loud crowded bar and walked around the corner to lean against the building. He could still hear the pounding base of the club music and smell the musty scent of too many people jammed into a small space. He left to get some fresh air, to try to calm down before he snapped and punched that girl in the face.

Ever since he left any interaction with girls that were overly friendly left a bad taste in his mouth. He had no interest in anyone of the opposite sex besides Sakura. He immediately felt himself begin to spiral down back into the depression he was in earlier. Somehow his thoughts always came back to her. He had learned to live with it by now, but somedays were harder than others.

"Oh there you are!" The disgustingly sweet voice of the girl from earlier made Sasuke groan. "You left so quickly I thought that I wouldn't be able to find you."

Sasuke scowled at her as she jogged over to him bringing with her the pungent smell of perfume. "Maybe that was the point."

She laughed, "You're so silly." The two of them stood there in silence, Sasuke glowering and the girl smiling. "I can tell you aren't happy; I can see it in your eyes." She slowly stepped closer.

Sasuke was intrigued. Most people couldn't read him that easily. She raised her hand to his face and brushed his cheek with the back of her hand.

Cold

Sasuke ripped her hand away from his face and held her wrist tightly. "Don't touch me," he growled.

But she didn't back away. She smiled. "I can give you what you want. Change your life forever."

Then everything clicked together. This girl wasn't what he originally thought. She wasn't trying to lure him into her bed, but she had something else in mind entirely. He noticed that her skin was icy cold, much too chilled for such a warm night.

"Maybe you can give me what I want," Sasuke smirked at her, his eyes bleeding to a blood red. The girl gasped and tried to pull away from him, but Sasuke held on to her wrist.

"Let me go!" she tugged franticly to escape.

"What are you planning? Where is your coven sending all those vampires?" This girl was a vampire. He hadn't noticed it at first. The dim lighting of the club hid just how pale her skin really was. And the strong perfume she was wearing was masking the scent that normal vampires had. They're scent was stale and musty, very different than a mortal's.

Now that her cover had been blown the girl no longer had to hide what she was. Her eyes turned a similar shade of red and long pointed fangs grew out of her mouth. Using her free hand, she slashed at him with deadly claws.

Sasuke was caught off guard, not expecting her to suddenly attack. Her talons raked across his shoulder and chest creating deep gouges in his flesh. But she didn't stop there, she hissed at him and lunged at him with her long fangs bared.

Before she could sink her fangs into him, he swiftly punched her in the gut. The blow winded her and knocked her backward. The vampire leaned heavily against the wall gasping deeply to recover the oxygen she just lost.

Sasuke could finish her now, while she was weakened. But something held him back. He flinched and raised his hand to his wound that was bleeding. Blood flowed rapidly from the deep gashes, soaking his ruined shirt.

"I'll make you pay for that," she panted. With an enraged cry she threw herself at him.

But she didn't get very far. A huge figure dropped down from above them and landed on her. She screeched and began to thrash, clawing and biting at the thing that began to constrict her movements.

"Ooohh no wonder the vamps numbers have gone up. They're using a hot chick as a recruiter."

This was the first time that Sasuke was happy to hear Deidara's annoying voice. The other members of the Akatsuki emerged from the shadows. Sasori had one hand outstretched a deep blue glow surrounding it as he controlled the wooden puppet that restrained the vampire.

"Can't you hurry up," Deidara frowned at Sasori, "She's making a racket. Shut her up already." The vampire was flailing around desperately taking chunks of wood out of Sasori's puppet. The heavy repairs he would need to make on his puppet was already putting Sasori in a bad mood. Deidara's attitude only made it worse.

Sasori's head snapped to the side to glare at the blond artist. "I don't see you doing anything."

"What you want me to do? Blow her up? I would love to, but the boss wants to interrogate her," Deidara yelled back. The two of them began to argue, their voices escalating. Kisame rolled his eyes at the two of them and chugged the rest of the drink that he had brought with him from the club. He walked over to the vampire and gave her a swift blow to the head. Her head bounced once of the ground and she stopped moving.

The loud crack of the blow drew Sasori and Deidara's attention away from each other. Deidara stared with a slightly disgusted expression. "How uncouth. Not graceful at all. This is why you can't get a woman."

"Fuck you! I don't see you doing anything, besides bitching!" roared Kisame. That started another round of arguments.

Sasuke could feel his stress levels rising again. How were these guys renown bounty hunters? They were a bunch of idiots.

"You okay?" Sasuke nearly jumped when his brother appeared by his side. His eyes widened at the sight of an unconscious male slung over his brother's shoulder. At least that explained where his brother had disappeared too. They got two of the vampire's recruiters, not bad. "That looks pretty bad." Itachi examined the lacerations on his chest.

Sasuke shrugged in response and instantly regretted it. The movement pulled at the torn skin causing more blood to flow. Itachi reacted quickly and tossed his captive at Kisame who barely caught it in time.

Before Kisame could retort Itachi spoke up, "Let's move. That girl's screams may have attracted others, and Sasuke needs medical attention." The other three suddenly became more serious and stopped their petty bickering. They restrained the two vampires with handcuffs that were inscribed with dark purple runes to drain their strength and headed back towards their vehicle. Sasuke and Itachi trailed behind them.

"Are you sure you're alright? Something must have been distracting you to have gotten injured like that. And it was Sasori who caught her even if her found her first, that's not like you." Sasuke was starting to get annoyed with his brother's concern, it was starting to become overbearing. But he couldn't get upset at him. He was only worried because he cared.

"I realized how they were turning so many new vampires. It's not kidnapping or anything like we thought it would be. They were preying on those who were depressed, those that felt like they hit rock bottom. They lied to them, drew them in with a promise of a brighter future," Sasuke began to explain, "That girl was probably the same. She was upset with her life and then someone came along and tricked her into thinking that they could change her life and make it better. I know how they feel."

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck. He had a black tribal tattoo that ran across his shoulders and up the back of his neck. It wasn't an ordinary tattoo. Pein was the one to make it for him. Pein was the leader of the Akatsuki and a very powerful necromancer.

Besides his creepy ability to reanimate and control corpses, he was also very skilled in sealing magic. He created the handcuffs and chains that the Akatsuki uses to restrain supernatural creatures. It weakens their power and it makes it easier for them to handle.

Regrettably, the changes Orochimaru made to his body was permanent. Whenever he got extremely upset or angry he would lose control of himself. He was unstable, and needed something to ground him. To keep him detained. Sasuke had gone to Pein for help.

It worked a little. If he was pushed too far he would still transform, but it took much more rage to trigger it than before. Pein had first offered him something to wear that would suppress the beast that now rests inside of him, but Sasuke wanted something permanent. He had torn off his old necklace which was supposed to be impossible to do and he didn't want that to happen again. With a tattoo there was no way for him to remove it.

The trip to the Akatsuki main building was calm and uneventful. The two vampires stayed unconscious the entire way. The building was well disguised as a normal tower that looked exactly the same as the others that speckled the town. It was in a rather rundown area but the inside was pretty advanced.

After a few quick stiches, Sasuke was fine. The amount of blood he lost was a bit concerning, but he claimed to be fine. He wanted to be there when the vampires were interrogated. The two members of the Akatsuki that were doing the questioning were Hidan and Kakuzu. They were mortal as far as Sasuke knew, but they both were insane. They lived to cause pain in others, they reveled in it.

Rumor was that a demon ate Kakuzu's heart but he somehow managed to tear out the demon's own heart and used it to replace his own. No one ever dared to ask him if the rumor was true. And Hidan, was just a psychotic mercenary that was extremely religious. An odd pair.

He heard horror stories about what happened to the victims that crossed them. No matter how disturbing their methods, they would get the information they needed for sure.

The two vampires were kept in separate rooms adjacent to each other. Each one was restrained to a thick metal chair. And each one had an insane interrogator that would squeeze the information out of them no matter what.

Sasuke headed toward the viewing rooms. There was nothing in it but a few chairs. An entire panel was made up of a one-way glass, with a speaker set up so they could hear what was going on. When he entered the viewing room he was surprised that there was no one there. From here he could see Kakuzu standing in front of the girl who was tied to the chair.

Steal gauntlets around her wrists and ankles kept her restricted, but she still thrashed and screamed trying her hardest to escape.

"I will never tell you anything!" she screeched.

Kakuzu just stood there calmly. "But I haven't even asked you anything yet." But the girl didn't seem to hear him and kept ranting.

"After what they did for me I will never betray them." This caught Sasuke's attention. So he was right. They were targeting those who were looking for a way out. This girl was just someone who needed help and was found by the wrong people.

"Oh? Maybe I can change that," Kakuzu chuckled. He turned to the table behind him and opened up a small black pouch. It was full of various curved and barbed needles. He ran his fingers over each one until he came across one that he wanted. He plucked a long thick needle that had a bent tip out of the bag and turned back toward the victim.

Her screams made Sasuke close his eyes tightly and walk out. He knew that she wouldn't break, she would die suffering and never let a single useful word pass her lips. She wouldn't betray those who 'saved' her.

He decided to check the man his brother brought in. Maybe he had a weaker spirit. Itachi was waiting in in the other room watching the current interrogation. It seemed that Hidan had already begun and was twirling a small bloodied pike in his hand.

Sasuke nodded in greeting to Itachi who raised a hand in a small wave. "We haven't learned anything of any importance yet. But Hidan never fails, just give him time."

Hidan was chuckling to himself, clearly enjoying the interrogation. The vampire had a shallow cut going across his arm and a puncture wound in his leg. "Still not feeling talkative?"

The vampire scoffed, "You think you're so tough? If I wasn't tied, I would tear you apart you disgusting mortal." Instead of upsetting or scaring Hidan it made in laugh. "What's to funny?"

"Oh please," Hidan said after he calmed down. "Your nothing but a wimp." He stabbed the pike into the vampire's leg. The man screamed in agony. But Hidan didn't stop. He lifted the weapon slightly, just so it was removed from the man's leg, and slammed it down again.

"Stop! Stop!" The vampire cried as Hidan continued his torture. The man's begging made Hidan pause.

He twirled the weapon around and gently prodded the man's chest. Fleck of blood splattered their clothing. "Feeling a bit more cooperative now? Why create so many new vampires? Where are they being sent?"

The vampire's body shook with pain, dark blood soaked his pants and flooded the floor beneath him. "I don't know." Hidan raised the pike above his head, preparing to strike again. "Wait please! I'm just a grunt and they don't tell me much."

But that excuse wasn't good enough for the blood thirsty Hidan. He stabbed the man's hand making him scream even louder.

"Is this necessary?" Sasuke asked. The torture was making him sick., but didn't want to leave just yet. They were close to learning something important, he could feel it.

"Hidan is good at what he does," Itachi answered, "It's better to just let him do what he likes. He'll get the information we need. That vampire is already cracking.

"I promise I don't know," the man sobbed, "I'm only told to recruit as many people as possible so that the boss can complete his goal."

"Who is your boss? And what's his goal?" Hidan questioned, he left the pike in the man's hand but poked it slightly with his finger. Even that small movement caused the vampire's already sensitive nerves to explode with pain.

"I never met him," he answered quickly before Hidan could put any more weight on his weapon. But he could tell that Hidan was starting to get annoyed with his lack of useful information. He began to blurt out anything that they might consider useful, just to get the pain to stop. "I've heard others, the older ones, talking about going home. Something about taking back the land where the coven originally came from. But I'm new, I have no idea where that is."

"Fuck." It wasn't often that Itachi swore so it caught Sasuke of guard. They were learning a few new things but it wasn't enough to give them a lead. Maybe he should visit the girl again, maybe Kakuzu was making some progress.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi's shoulders slumped a little. "The largest vampire coven near here was destroyed years ago. They were attacked, and nearly all killed. This is probably the same group. Vampires are slightly territorial and there hasn't been another coven for miles around. It has to be that same one."

Sasuke's eyes widened. There used to be a vampire coven that constantly fought with his pack and the hunters back where he used to live. He remembered Sakura teaching him the history of the old pact. The vampires that survived must have escaped and were bided their time so that they could one day go back and reclaim their home. Now that the wolves were gone the area was vulnerable, a perfect opportunity for them.

They were going to attack his old home.

Where Sakura was.

A/N: I really needed that break guys thanks for understanding, now I'm ready to get back into it. I'm not real excited about this chapter but its setting the stage for part 2. I'm sorry for those who like the Akatsuki but they're not getting much attention after this, maybe pop in every once and a while but nothing real big. Going to get a bit more exciting next chapter.