~Chapter XX~

~All Around Me~

I can feel you all around me / Thickening the air I'm breathing / Holding on to what I'm feeling / Savoring this heart that's healing

Sasuke watched the last footfalls of twilight disappear into azure night. He took a habitual breath to keep himself calm. With a need for comfort, he nestled back against Itachi, hugging his arm further around him like a blanket. The sturdy elder complied by solidifying more snuggly around his brother. They had agreed not to talk that much since they were unaware of what ancient ears could be scouting for trespassers in forbidden territory.

Against all manner of warnings, Sasuke had recklessly insisted upon inspecting the location of the suspected next "kill site." It was dangerous and it was foolish but, he just couldn't stay away. After failing to find anyone of significance for the suspect list that day, he felt obligated to make himself remotely useful in that marked area. There had been no convincing Itachi to stay in the manor. Following his last self- field assignment, Sasuke was no longer permitted out of his brother's sights; that was understandable.

He fretted over what Tsunade would do to them when she finally learned of their disobedience. He was well aware of how being there compromised them and how they were betraying her uncommon trust. Still, Sasuke was convinced of how deeply he and Itachi were seeded in the bloody maelstrom. If Zaku would make an appearance that night, Sasuke would have a chance to weed for answers. He planned to do anything, no matter how barbaric, to gain some clarity on the shadowed assassin.

They sat on a sheltered roof, built low between two higher structures. They were tucked between a bulky ventilation system and the wall of the right building. A clear view of the wide cobblestone square lay beneath them. The vantage point was ideal for not being seen themselves but, being able to see what was coming. The silence filling the quarantined area was eerie and foreboding, drowning out the echoes of gleeful children playing in the fountain or rustling bags of intent shoppers.

It was a lovely town center. Sasuke applauded Tsunade on her design. At the center was a great stone fountain carved with no faces or creatures, just flower shaped tiers conducting steady veils of water down three cups to the bottom, main pool. Neatly ordered cobblestones fanned out from the fountain a few yards before shifting into pathways to numerous little shops surrounding. It was a ghost of its former bustling self. The shop windows were all veiled in shades and CLOSED signs hung on every door. The only sound against the stones was the running water, a haunting remainder of a once proud center.

Sasuke yearned to say something to relieve the deathly quiet. He was on edge – everyone was. They had all expected the next body to be dropped off the night before. When nothing had happened, Itachi's theory was shaken and doubt placed in all of them. Sasuke could feel his brother stressing about the possibility of failure for hours. They all hated not knowing what was going to happen. A lot of reliance weighed on the elder Uchiha's hypothesis and that loyalty was starting to crash down on him the longer they waited for their opponents' next move.

For a few hours that felt like minutes, the Uchihas sat in statuesque silence, waiting unbearably for something to happen. Nothing did though as the night shaded to darker blues until it was lost in black. The only light came by the crescent move, shining against the cold of the late autumn night. Sasuke was just about ready to give up and he sensed Itachi losing hope as well. With a faint, delicate motion, the younger Uchiha squeezed his lover around the waist. It wasn't often Itachi required reassurances and Sasuke was happy to relieve him with the gentle embrace. Itachi thanked him with a soft stroke to his hair, eyes still glued ahead, defiantly willing Zaku to appear so they could catch him.

It wasn't the killer's accomplice Sasuke scented first. He went as still and lifeless as the brick they leaned against. A fraction of an undeniably familiar smell whispered past Sasuke's nose. If the silent wind hadn't shifted so slightly, he would have never caught it. It was that blond insect, Naruto. He was there, around the square…and he had friends. He whiffed that woman from the alley he'd never seen, another adolescent, and another adult. They were hunters the eldest, Sasuke realized. They knew well enough to keep downwind where it was always more difficult to sense. They appeared not to be aware of him and Itachi's presence. He could hear them unmoving and waiting, no doubt expecting the same person. How did they know though? How did they know to come and why? What would they do?

Itachi's fingers lightly twitched around his shoulder, a near motionless signal for him to be at attention. He had found the hunters as well, lurking within the relative safety of the alleys between the shops. They weren't what caught his primary attention though. Again, the smell hit Sasuke before the sound did. With the breeze that had revealed the hidden hunters, also came their elusive target.

Sasuke could almost see the air grow colder with the hushed approach. The falling water of the fountain suddenly seemed muted and the smooth stone ground seemed to slick with ice. From the mouth of a shadowed alley almost directly across from their hiding place, Sasuke watched a pair of glowing crimson eyes find a face and a body as they stepped into the bright moonlight. Zaku had finally appeared and he was everything expected of a "newcomer." His gaze pierced the night like ruby drills; his new canines bragged from beneath his lips, pulled back in a wolfish sneer; his nails protruded like talons from his hands and his skin was white, tinged blue with the pallor of a corpse. It was a hideous sight to see the bully sunken down to this monstrous low. What was even more terrible though, was that he wasn't alone.

The heart Sasuke sometimes forgot he had, lurched in unbidden panic. Trapped in the bone-crushing arms was a girl and one he recognized: it was Kin. Her eyes were wild with unbridled terror and she desperately struggled against the beast that held her. Her screaming was muffled by his hand clamped around her mouth. His other arm caged around her waist, crushing her back against him and her wrists were bound tight behind her with a rough, painfully thick rope. It was horrible to bear witness to her helpless struggle. She screamed and Zaku would snicker wickedly, taking pleasure in her fright.

Sasuke reclined up from his stoop, ready to leap down and wrap his hands around the repulsive creature's throat. Itachi gripped his arm and jerked him back to their concealed safety. Sasuke's gaze burned with protest but, a blink after he was drawn back to their shelter, five dark shapes materialized on the moonlit ground, surrounding Zaku and his frantic hostage. Kin only grew more distressed at the wraith-like figures that appeared around her. Zaku's gruesome smirk fell into a frown at the added company and his crimson gaze jumped from face to face like a nervous twitch.

"Abumi Zaku, you're wanted for suspected crimes against the people of Konoha. You're to come with us for interrogation. Release the girl and come quietly or we will use deadly force," one of the men said in a non-negotiable but calm voice.

Sasuke recognized Tsunade's scent upon each of the five. It was a relief to find her covering this – he wouldn't have been keen to stay out of the way if they were Zabuza's or Jiraiya's spies. The soles of his shoes stuck to the roof below him as if by cement. Neither of the reckless onlookers dared so much as blink in the breathless moment. The only thing that disturbed the stillness was Kin's convulsive attempts to free herself. Her whimpers were pitiful and her struggling feeble against Zaku's iceberg might.

Her life was a transparent, shimmering strand of web. One gust of wind could break it to disrepair. The next motions would be treacherous and walked on a silk-fine line if Kin's life was to be spared. The faces of Tsunade's forces were bland and impassive but, Sasuke knew it was a rouse to intimidate the young one. It was a fragile situation and none of them wanted it to break into more blood.

Like a feral bird of prey, Zaku's head tilted to jerking, abrupt angles to survey the other predators, his claws still hooked on fast to his prey. After sizing up the enemy, that horrible grin twisted upon his face again, showing off all his sharp, silver teeth. Then he spoke in a guttural voice, transformed to demonic tones by his powerful bloodlust.

"I guess I was wrong to argue after all," he chuckled to himself. "You really were tracking me. Here I thought I'd cleared that last one up so nicely. The old fool was right after all."

"Whose orders are you following?" one of the women among the force barked out at him.

"No one's now," he replied, gleefully. "I follow my own orders. I'm not controlled by anyone but myself. It feels great."

His voice changed with primeval delight, like the sound of crumbling rock. The sound scared Kin even more – Sasuke could feel her galloping heart drumming within his skull.

"Release her, Abumi," the first man – the head of the operation – commanded him again.

"Why do you have to ruin all the fun?" the boy whined. "I worked really hard planning this night."

The denial to comply triggered a rehearsed motion in the force and they began to condense around the fugitive, taking the same measured steps in and keeping an equal distance between one another; perfectly balanced, perfectly organized…except, Zaku thought he was unbreakable, preventing him from being intimidated. His demented smile stayed on his ghostly face and, with cheetah swiftness, his dagger-like nails found his hostage's throat. The five stopped together.

"Why care so much about a measly human?" Zaku hissed. "We're made to hunt them and their made to quench us. This is the natural order of things. Why go through the trouble of fighting instinct?"

"Did your sire tell you that?" the head spy growled, voice filled with contempt at the boy's barbarian logic.

"It doesn't really matter. It's how things should be. It's why their blood smells so good."

A thin red line appeared on the girl's neck beneath Zaku's fingers and that tantalizing fragrance permeated the air. All of them couldn't resist inhaling and none of them could hide their eyes. Sasuke refrained from the breathing that so sinfully brought him that pleasure. They wouldn't be tempted by Zaku's teasing, would they? No, they were Tsunade's allies. They wouldn't be swayed. The hungry looks though, and the vermillion gazes, weren't reassuring. Kin cried out unheard pleas, growing more hysterical with the multiplication of crimson irises.

"When was the last time any of you had fresh human blood?" Zaku continued to taunt them as the scratch on Kin's neck welled with blood. "No one has to know if you have a taste. I won't tell."

The arctic silence that followed was unbearable. How could they be hesitating? They couldn't seriously be considering…Then, one of them broke rank and took a step closer to the magnetic fluid.

"Sai," the head officer snapped without looking at the dark-haired youth.

"I am intrigued," the persuaded spy said, ruby gaze transfixed on the girl. "Never once have I had fresh blood. I've never bitten into anything's throat. I am curious."

Zaku giggled like a deranged clown and yanked his captive around to face the willing participant. Kin looked at the other in horror, thrashing more in vain as her hope of survival dwindled. Sasuke was repulsed by the pathetic willpower of the enticed officer. He made a meticulous path to Zaku's offering and the other four remained stock still. Sasuke strained against his brother's steel cage grip but, Itachi refused to let him go. He lashed around to glare at him, not understanding why he was just going to let this happen!

The patience that so often tamed Sasuke's passionate spirit had zero effect on him now. He wouldn't' just sit there and let another person die because of this madness. The traitor named Sai was before Zaku now, peering at Kin curiously. Even from the distance they sat, Sasuke could see her begging with her eyes not to hurt her. Defeated Tears drizzled from her eyes but still, no one did anything.

"Go ahead," Zaku urged, brushing her long hair clear of her neck. "I promise you won't be disappointed."

Sai's head tilted to the side like a puppy seeing a gesture for the first time. Like floating wisps of cloud, his hands fell on her shoulders and his head fell down to her pale neck. Zaku chuckled, looking on joyously, ecstatic that he'd won. The mood suddenly changed though: Sai's lusting red eyes napped away from Kin's artery to glare at Zaku and the rest of his comrades braced as if to lunge in. Sasuke understood in that brief, near invisible moment that it was an act; a trick so Sai could get close enough to save the girl.

Zaku seemed to realize this a split second too late since, with a powerful embrace, the spy tore Kin from his clutches. She was safe…until the shots fired. They came out of nowhere, raining into the square like locusts. Itachi forced Sasuke down behind the primitive ventilation system for cover, automatically. No bullets came their way though and Sasuke continued to survey the scene around the metal.

Sai was down first with a shot to his side. Kin screamed and he fell on her – probably deliberate as his last attempt to keep his target safe. One of the women took a nasty wound to the knee, snarling in pain. Sasuke's own arm throbbed as he thought of how they felt. He'd completely disregarded the hunters during his panic attacking, seeing Kin. Now, it looked like they had just cost them the accomplice. The instant the guns had come alive, Zaku had fled, surrendering his prey to Tsunade's squad.

Howls of frustration bellowed above the gunfire as the other three flattened into the alleys to avoid getting hit by the accursed projectiles. No, this just couldn't be happening, Sasuke though. There was no way Zaku could be getting away again! Their only answer to finalizing all the torment could not be slipping from their fingers again. He just wouldn't allow it! Hefting Itachi's weight off of him, Sasuke slithered from their barricade and bolted after Zaku. It was no easy task keeping his speedy steps within earshot over the pounding ricochet of war around him.

The youngest Uchiha blended into the frigid night air and left the heart-wrenching chaos behind, his alerted senses fine-tuned to chasing down the merciless killing apprentice. The bullets and shouting vanished into the rushing of wind as Sasuke flew through the atmosphere. He could hear his intended catch more clearly now that they'd transported clear of the ensuing storm. He could hear Zaku cursing – damning his bad luck; he could hear his thundering steps staggering over obstacles he wasn't trained enough to avoid at such high speeds. Sasuke could move through that timeless void without tripping. He daintily bypassed the things in his way – Dumpsters, fire hydrants, building corners, STOP signs – without faltering his breakneck pace. In a few more bound, he was upon Zaku.

He collided with his target with a force likely strong enough to split the earth. In a flurry of scratching and roaring, crashing and flailing, the two of them tumbled a few yards, breaking the concrete beneath and around them with their diamond hard bodies moving at such an intense velocity. Among their meteor-fall rolling, they bowled each other over in an attempt to conquer the other. Zaku's hellish glare blazed with contempt for his opponent in the whirlwind of limbs and debris. His freshness to his new existence provided him with vital strength but, Sasuke's age gave him more control and accuracy – enough to cancel the brutish might pitted against him.

The Uchiha forced their halt after gaining a vice grip on the opposing force. He slammed Zaku against the hard ground, almost somersaulting over him at the short stop. He maintained his hold though and anchored himself down to keep his dominance. Looking into the face of the murderer's spawn, all Sasuke's hatred boiled up to the surface and into an unbecoming snarl that Zaku defiantly echoed, challenging the ear-splitting sound. When the only echo came to be the bouncing sound off the walls, Zaku began to laugh; a steady but, maniacal laugh.

"No wonder you were so fearsome that day we met," he chuckled. "I always wondered what made me submit to you that day. I could have never imagined the true powers you were just itching to use on me. You're so lucky to have lived like this for so long. It's exhilarating!"

"Who turned you!" he shouted at him, not gracing him with a question and shoving his head against the pavement with a hard bang. "Who's been killing all those people!"

"Is it difficult for you?" Zaku badgered him, completely ignoring his demands. "Is it hard not to have taken blood from a still warm body after all this time? I don't know how you do it. It can't be easy, restraining our natural instincts."

Repulsed by being placed in the same category as the decaying carcass beneath him, Sasuke violently slashed his nails across his face, leaving four dark red lines on his check. He kept on laughing.

"Tell me who it is!" Sasuke yowled, slipping out of his rational mind and into reckless desperation; the detestable state of mind that blended him into the beast that he despised.

The search for answers had driven him to the edge of madness and now that he had the vault of revelations in his hand, the thread that kept him sane was slowly being sawed apart. He needed the key to open up that door. What code would it take to get Zaku talking?

"How don't you know?" the newly-changed mocked. "What a disappointment. You of all people should know."

"You psycho-path, answer me!"

In his fury, Zaku found an opening and catapulted Sasuke off of him and into the building wall behind. The Uchiha wasn't stunned and stepped away from the indentation he left with his anger even more fueled. Zaku stood, poised for attack, smiling gruesomely from ear to ear.

"After all that, you seriously can't remember?" he snorted in disbelief. "All of this is to welcome you back."

"I guessed that much," Sasuke growled, venomously. "We're done with this game. Who is it and what do they want!"

"The game's not over until somebody wins," Zaku scolded him, cryptically. "You're precious Council may think they're holding the highest hand but, they're facing a damn good poker face. You have no idea what's coming you're way, and when it finally arrives, it's going to run you over like an avalanche. All it takes to trigger is one simple wrong move. Play your cards wisely."

His warnings rattled Sasuke and beat at his brain. He didn't understand; even when he thought he had before, he never did. All these new questions had been raised and he had no idea what they would do with them.

"Talk with me straight," Sasuke said, throwing as much menace into his voice as he could to scare him. "No more riddling. Tell me the name of your sire."

For the frailest, tiniest fraction of time, it almost looked like the wraith was considering revealing something to him. There was resentment in his gaze for his master, evidence that they weren't currently on friendly terms. Leaking even the thinnest shred of information would be an act of rebellion and give him a further sense of power – something he seemed addicted to. It was a breath of hope that Sasuke foolishly hung onto. Within that moment, Zaku's attention was diverted by a sensing of something distant; something that brought him sadistic joy. He smirked, haughtily, at Sasuke before spinning like the wind of a tornado and bursting in another direction.

Lost by his uncalled for action and still reeling over his disheartening words, Sasuke stormed after him. What had gotten his attention? He then picked up the various, combined scents of the living from up ahead. Someone was out past curfew…shit! He had to get ahead of him; warn them away. Why were they outside? Didn't they know any better? Just when he thought no one else was in danger...What was happening back at the shootout? He need help and…where was Itachi? This brought Sasuke to a standstill, his selfish need for his own happiness suddenly outweighing the value of the life Zaku was after. Where was Itachi? Why wasn't he next to him? Was he stuck in the square? Did he get hit?

Terror struck the young Uchiha like a lightning storm at the imagining of his dearest brother, falling victim to the same bullet that had almost sent him to the after-life. He turned and rushed a few blocks back, frantically calling for his eternal love. Then, like someone was playing a sick and twisted tug-of-war with his decisions, he stopped again, this time to the explosion of the reek of blood once more. Just like that first night, and just like the day before, it bull-dozed over Sasuke, filling him with sinful pleasure and overwhelming dread.

No longer in control of his body, the tormented revenant circled back after his chase. Guilt consumed him. Please God, don't let someone else die because of me, he silently begged. Had his hesitation cost more spilled blood? Please no, please no, oh please no!

I'm being punished.

That was the first thing that scrawled across his breaking thoughts as he entered the crimson stage. Zaku looked up from a bleeding mound on the dark alley ground – a mirror image of that first, elusive butcher. A cruel and victorious grin spread across his undead face, showing off rows of sharpened white teeth, glistening with blood and saliva. His demented laughter stayed with him for a long time as the leering gremlin became one with the shadows and left him to view his left-over mayhem.

He hadn't felt sick – truly nauseous – since the garlic incident with Naruto. The sickness he felt at that moment though, was unlike even that allergic reaction and even more impossible to describe. His entire being felt like it imploded in on himself and he wasn't sure he could hold his weight up anymore. Whatever life kept him standing those past three centuries drained out of him in horror. His tingling, nocturnal eyes suddenly recognized with painful familiarity, the aghast face against the stone ground. Now that he was focused on it, there was that unmistakable aroma he'd missed from a distance that defined this person's individual scent; that one thing that gave it originality.

Drawn by a cruel tormentor's puppet strings, he approached the dying body, afraid of meeting those fearful eyes that would surely mimic that first night. He landed on his knees, lighter than he expected, and his aching gaze fell down upon the face; the one face that he never expected to see blood-stained, making it all the more agonizing to face it. It was like watching the embodiment of innocence die.

"S…Sas…uke?" came the choked gasp.

A shattered smile dared to play on his white lips – maybe it was the surprise of the victim that caused it. Maybe this had just pushed him into insanity.

"What are you doing here…Choji?"

Quiet, sweet, trusting Choji: the last person to give his opinion; the first person to share; the next person to die too young. The hardest part was how unexpected it was. Haku had said it would be someone he cared about. He automatically assumed it'd be Itachi, the only thing that made him complete. When he'd been warned to look to friends, Choji was the last one he imagined. It could have been Hinata; hell, it could have been Shizune; and when he'd seen Kin down there in Zaku's clutches, he swore it would be her. Not Choji; never Choji. It wasn't that he didn't care about him like the rest. That was precisely the issue: he cared too much; he just didn't realize it soon enough. Subtly and almost phantasmal, he was the glue that kept that welcome circle of innocent faces together. He was the bullies' punching bag Sasuke had so valiantly sought to defend that first day. That's why it was hurting so much. It was just so unexpected…

"You're supposed to follow the rules," Sasuke said, trying to figure out how this had happened; how something so wrong could be real. "There's a curfew. Don't you read the newspaper?"

A gargled sound that stabbed Sasuke in the gut like a stake, erupted from the dying boy. Soon after, his arm raised in a gesture reminiscent of the night he'd watched Sakura's life pour out of her. His movement was jagged and struggling but, he managed to point a crooked finger towards his face.

"E-Eyes…"

The limb fell back to the unfeeling earth with a stomach-lurching thud. As if fate had ordained it, Sasuke looked up and faced himself, trapped in the uneven confines of a broken window on the left building of the alleyway. There he saw what Choji saw: a red-eyed demon, trying to hide silver fangs beneath death-kissed lips; a reaper looming over a fading soul, just waiting for that final breath. It was all his fault.

"I've lied to you…all of you…and it's cost you so much misery…"

"What…" Choji coughed, "are…"

The age old question: what are you? He didn't have to answer it often – which was how he could delude himself into thinking he was…ordinary. He didn't like saying it; it sounded so unreal; so comical in this generation. Still, there was no other word for them, making it impossible to deny.

"I'm a vampire," he murmured, the only truth he could give the dying boy.

"That's…so…cool."

He laughed; a strangled and unbelievable sound amidst the tragedy of the moment. Sasuke thought it was hilarious. He thought it was "cool" how he'd triggered this entire killing spree? He thought it was "cool" that he was lying there, dying, because of his actions? Maybe death made you talk funny, Sasuke thought. He'd never know.

"You should be inside," he repeated from before. "You should be safe."

There was a melancholy pause where Choji struggled to find his failing voice.

"…It's…O-Okay…"

His almond-shaped eyes drifted away from Sasuke and to the ebony sky above, the first warning whispers of cloud starting to ghost over the moon. Sasuke couldn't comprehend the calm beneath the gasping breathing – if it could even be called that. It was okay? How could it possibly be okay? Did the boy not understand that he was dying; that there was nothing he could do to stop it? (He saw the wound; he knew it was hopeless). Was the kid aware of this? Did he not know well enough to be afraid?

"I'm sorry," Sasuke whispered, knowing no matter how many times he apologized, none of it would ever be right.

"It's not your fault," Choji chastised him, weakly, a warped smile that seemed so defiled by the blood, wringing his features. "It wasn't you…who…sliced me open."

Maybe this wasn't real, Sasuke considered. Maybe it was another nightmare and that was why it made no sense. There was just no way anyone could be so casual about death. It just wasn't normal! People weren't that fearless; even Sasuke was afraid to look death in the eye! So why was Choji laughing. Why was he so unconcerned?

"My mom…passed away from…disease. I don't mind…being able to see her…" he explained, perceiving Sasuke's incomprehensive thoughts.

The Uchiha was silenced. Despite all his social graces, he was at a loss. It was the first time he met someone who heartily embraced death and laughed at its attempts to make him suffer his premature demise. He smiled to the sky and Sasuke couldn't fathom what he saw. He didn't know what to do! He didn't want to let him die like that. Why did all the best people have to fall victim first? he asked himself.

"I wish…you could have…told me more…"

A haunting yowl from afar echoed in Sasuke's ears and the lone gunshot that followed silenced it. His head jerked up like a startled rabbit, crimson eyes turned towards where the noises resounded from. It was unmistakably the voices of an execution. It wasn't Itachi – no scent or sound indicated he was in that direction. That was the way Zaku had gone. Had a hunter slain him? Or was it one of Tsunade's spies? He prayed for the former, even if Zaku's end lost all their hopes of answers.

A half-desperate gasp from below brought the Uchiha's attention back to the failing boy. It was there that Sasuke's chokehold on logic snapped like a twig beneath a hunting boot. He just couldn't accept this; he couldn't allow this to happen. Choji was dying and there was no way to stop it; there was no denying that but, Sasuke wouldn't believe it anymore. If he had learned anything at all in his stolen centuries, it was that impossibilities always had a chip in them that let chances shine through. There was always a loophole, even in death.

Moving on instinct from his commoner days, long since past, he first tried to lessen the blood flow, stealing the life out of the brave boy, laughing at death. His cold hands found the gory bite mark on his neck (Zaku only had a chance to tear at his throat). The hot blood put unwanted feeling in Sasuke's dormant nerves. The pump of crimson nectar was both irresistible and repulsive. The more he felt its warmth around his fingers, the more his eyes burned and mouth dried. And the more he lusted to drink from the wound, the more nauseated he felt.

He wasn't thinking medically – he didn't know what the damage was precisely or what proper treatment was. He just knew he wanted the blood to stop coming and let Choji live. He couldn't seem to get the pressure right; he couldn't press to hard lest he crushed what remained of his neck but, pressing with a more human touch seemed too light. No matter what he did, he could find no middle ground and nothing he tried seemed to make any difference in saving the boy. Choji knew it too. His eyes glazed over and his breathing became less and less. He wasn't trying anymore. He could only manage a few more words.

"Make me a promise," he requested, shuddering with the effort. "Tell the rest…tell them not to cry…And…could you…please protect them…"

Sasuke's palms cemented around the red gouge-mark, his matching eyes staring at the liquid as if it were cursing him; binding him to make promises he feared he couldn't succeed in maintaining.

"You want a demon to protect the people you care about most?" he asked to clarify, half-hoping giving replies would give him reason to keep speaking.

"You're no demon Uchiha Sasuke," Choji chuckled, weakly, eyes falling shut.

That was the last ting he said to him. His chest stopped rising and Sasuke heard his final heartbeat peter out. There was a dreadful silence afterwards, as if the entire world had stopped to acknowledge the ascent o this pure soul. Still, even as no sound or motion came from the body, Sasuke isolated himself from the truth. Choji wasn't dead: corpses didn't smile. It was all some sort of sadistic prank. It was all an unstoppable nightmare.

All the pain harvested and stored away for three centuries flood into Sasuke's unmoving heart as al his walls came collapsing to the ground in this shattering moment. It was more agonizing than a hundred shots of silver; it was more poisonous than ingesting garlic; the feeling of a dead heart breaking would be something Sasuke would never be able to cancel from his memories. As he watched the last rosy color lift from his skin, as he felt the last drop of blood empty from his shell of a body, a blazing other than hunger ravaged his sight. It was something he remembered from a horrific dream; something he felt eons ago, from a life long ago ended: It was the pain of loss and the racing fire of that salty expression of remorse.

For the first time in three hundred spoiled-happy years, he wanted to cry. He wanted to scream for all the world to hear of this cruelty. He wanted to bleed tears until all the Heavens knew of how they betrayed him. He felt himself moving again, shivering with the unbearable desire to release all his agony in those crystal waterfalls. But, he couldn't; because vampires didn't cry. They were dead: they were permitted speech and movement but, no teas, so that when they suffered like this, it was their punishment for cheating death.

Fate liked to condemn Sasuke harshly, for sitting there, stooped over yet another victim, gave him vulnerability let all the bad things possible to fall on him. His ears wouldn't close off to this sound coming; this foreboding rhythm that sent him past the hope of redemption. Like a noose forcing at his neck, Sasuke's head rolled up from Choji, lost to the after-life, and to the mouth of the alley to mimic the scene of his first appearance at a crime scene.

Once more, he was dragged into the unforgiving blue of those ruthless eyes. Once more, all the fault surged over him and another tally placed for reasons he should be slain. And, once again, he had nothing to say; just a silent, blood red plea for right; for forgiveness.

"You just can't get enough, can you?" said that venomous voice, shaking with scars of loved ones, lost forever. "Of all the people…you just can't spare me more anguish, can you?"

Yes, he had been on the receiving end of most of this travesty, hadn't he? Sasuke thought little of Naruto being a victim. That was the truth though: as Sakura died, so had Naruto's capability to love; as Choji now lay dead, so did Naruto's happiness – what was left of it. And Sasuke knew it was all his fault.

"How much more will you take before you're satisfied?" Naruto spat, tears that Sasuke longed to taste himself, running from his hateful gaze. "How many more people will you ruin to keep your sick game alive?"

No more, Sasuke wanted to scream. No more lies; no more suffering; no more blood. Why was it so much to ask for the end? Why didn't anyone see how much he wanted it to stop? He took the blame and he strived so hard to right the horror he unleashed upon them all.

"I can fix this," he whispered; a futile reassurance that the answers would come to him now that Hell had snatched away the only innocence left in his world.

Naruto shook his head and pulled his gun up, glaring tear-stained resentment over the silver length.

"I won't miss this time," he rasped.

Sasuke watched him for a while, waiting for his promised bullet. When it didn't come, he looked back at the body sprawled at his knees. What right did he have to wield immortality like a god? What gave him the privilege to deny the gates of Hell when so many more people, more deserving to thrive on, were whisked into dust?

"I can fix this," he repeated.

With the words, there came a shiver of memory: a ritual of shared blood and an immortalizing bite from sinned teeth. He had been allowed entrance into this shadowed existence; if he could escape death from a single nip, why couldn't he pass on his curse as a gift?

"I can fix this," he said a third time, this time finding fact in it.

Naruto cursed him from behind and a gunshot bounced around the alley walls just as Sasuke put his ridiculous notion into action. He stooped over Choji, trying to remember that night so long ago where Itachi changed him for eternity. All it took was a bite, right? After that, instincts kicked in. Then he'd know what to do. He had to…

"No Sasuke!"

An explosion of sensation burst around the broken Uchiha as he was abruptly withdrawn from his close proximity with Choji's tattered neck. His body moved with his feelings as he was heaved away from the body. He fought back, madly, wailing his desperate mantra: "I can fix this!" "I can fix this!"

"He's dead Sasuke!" said that voice he loved since birth. "He's dead!"

"Liar!" Sasuke caterwauled. "I can fix it! I can save him!"

"It's too late! It's over! You have to stop!"

No, he'd never stop. He'd never stop seeing this night. He'd never stop hearing those ghostly murmurs. He'd never forgive himself for this one. He struggled against the rooted embrace of his protector. He battled to make everything better. Itachi wouldn't let him. That one voice he trusted wouldn't let him free to save a life. No matter how much he screamed, no matter how much he clawed at him, he wouldn't let him go.

Sasuke was dragged into the blood-stained night, begging to change the inevitable; pleading to reverse death and beam life into the constricting darkness settling over his heart.

Just make the pain stop, he prayed. Just make it all go away.

The music makes me sway / The angels singing say we are alone with you / I am alone and they are too with you / I'm alive / I'm alive