~Chapter XXIV~

I think I'm drowning / Asphyxiated / I want to break this spell that you've created / You're something beautiful / A contradiction / I want to play the game / I want the friction / You will be the death of me

Coffee: the life blood of the working man. The only thing in the world with the blessed power of waking Kakashi up was that sweet, sweet scent. He raised his head, weighing like five cinderblocks, waiting for the clouds of sleepiness to clear from his one-sided gaze. A steaming cup of caffeine was set before him. He blinked up at the crossed arms that had delivered it. They had grown painfully familiar in the past week.

"Why don't you start bringing your mattress to work?" came the snarky comment. "It's probably feeling awfully lonely."

"I'm sure that's not the case," he yawned. "The resident hobo has probably 'adopted' it by now."

The red-haired and loud-mouthed Tayuya had been assisting on the KM case since Asuma died – she was a temporary replacement, although his superior's denied it. When it was announced that the woman would be partnered with him, he'd had a minor stroke. Her with him? After the incident with the photographers? Were they crazy? After the initial shock though and a day to… "get acquainted," Kakashi realized she was... "not horrible." He learned that her best quality was her "directness." She got things done and her long list of achievements could attest to that.

After they'd shared career victories and got the lay of each other's personalities, Kakashi had made an acceptable conclusion about their partnership: They were polar opposites. She was a fighter; he was a pacifist. She loved junk food; he was a health freak. She was a conserved, no-nonsense woman that would disembowel any guy whose hands came within three feet of her "personal space"…he read dirty books. There was one thing he did realize they had in common though: they were both full of themselves. For sympathy's sake, he was keeping her around…plus, she go him coffee.

"Are you hoping to suck up more information by laying on them?" she asked, inclining her head at the various files that were serving as his pillow.

"That's how I got through high school."

"I don't doubt it."

Her condescending snort was starting to grow on him. He thought it was impressive that she could do it so gracefully and yet still keep the same haughtily masculine effect. She strode to her new place of occupation at the desk to his left and flopped down in the whiny rolling chair like she'd worked there for years. Kakashi's office was perfectly square and about thirteen feet across. Three desks were situated on each of three walls. Kakashi's faced the door and the broad windows that peered out at the rest of the busy police station. He had shared the space with Asuma and his self-proclaimed arch nemesis, Might Guy. Mercifully, the flamboyant over-achiever had been transferred to the police station on the other side of town to organize evidence and help head the lesser station's forces. (Though Konoha's crime rate had been low, the town was large and as a safety precaution, two stations were sanctioned on each side of town.)

Tayuya was already at work, typing up a storm on her laptop she'd set up on the desk. For some reason, she refused to use the stationed computer at the corner of the desk. Instead she had any digital files she needed transferred to her personal computer. In the few days she had been assigned the case, more paper files and digital downloads had passed over that desk than ever before. She rarely explained half of them or shared her information with him. Not the best way to kill a case, at least he thought not.

"Any new suspects?" he asked, brushing papers out of his hair and off his shoulders.

"Yupe."

"Who?"

"I don't know. They're strangers to me."

Kakashi suppressed a growl, distracting his irritation by smoothing out the haphazard mess before him. Patience was a difficult virtue to keep in her presence.

"Anything on the missing kid? Zaku?"

"No."

At least she was honest. He sighed and looked down at his papers. All he had for suspects were the limited amount of convicts and mental patients in the quiet town. Not one, ever fit in.

"How did you narrow down your new suspects?"

"Through research, what else?"

"Can you give me details about that research?"

"It's a complicated process."

"Doesn't seem like it."

She glared at him and it took him mountains of willpower to not glare back. Just because they'd grown accustomed to each other, didn't mean they started liking each other.

"I'm starting to think you don't understand the definition of 'partners,'" he dared to accuse.

Her tiger eyes flashed at the opposition and he braced himself for the wrath of judgment day. There must have been a God if he was rescued from that wrath. It came in the form of her cell phone ringing. Her untempered rage switched to the mobile sending loud vibrations through the wood of the desk. It was accompanied by a very guttural, static melody from some Satanic sounding band. She growled at the caller ID and instead of answering, turned the volume off. It continued to vibrate but, she ignored it. Kakashi watched in anticipation, expecting that it wouldn't serve as much of a distraction. She returned to her work though, and suddenly seemed to forget he was even there. Luck was on his side for once. Feeling slightly empowered by his unexpected good fortune, he continued to persevere in his quest for communication.

"If you tell me the names of your suspects, we can narrow the list down faster."

Her palms slammed on the desk then and she focused her temper onto him once again. So much for luck.

"Why would I bother giving you my suspect list when I know you won't like half of them?"

"What do you mean 'I won't like them?' Do I know them or something?"

She resumed her taciturn silence, pointedly avoiding his gaze again. Kakashi kneaded his brow with his fingers before coming to the conclusion that if he was going to get anything out of her, he'd have to take the initiative. Naturally passive as he was, "taking the initiative" was not something he often applied in his life. Putting his childish fear of her aside, the detective rose to his feet and approached her desk which she glared across like a mother tiger. He stopped in front of her and her eyes narrowed, daring him to make a move. Heart pounding and blood pressure rising, Kakashi collected an armistice in his head.

When he opened his mouth, finally prepared for battle, her cellphone rang over him.

The vibration was like the buzz of an angry hornet's nest; raucous and threatening. He couldn't resist glancing at it, especially when she so flawlessly abstained from acknowledging its existence even in the slightest bit. He blinked at her curiously but, her only response was a twitch of her eyebrow. They waited out the irritating buzz, tension bouncing back and forth between them, wondering who was going to crack and grab the damn thing.

Mercifully, it quit and they were left in silence, focused on each other once more. On second thought, maybe it wasn't so merciful, since now it left Kakashi free to present his already rejected treaty. The eager twinkle in her eye said she couldn't wait to make that rejection official. Regardless of the futility, Kakashi still opened his mouth to try.

…And her phone rang again.

"Son of a bitch!" she finally erupted, sending him scooting back a few thousand miles in fright.

Furious as a wildfire, she picked up the phone in an iron-fisted hold and fumed into it, "Unless you're fucking under fire you shouldn't be calling me you little shit!"

The heat of her rage was palpable even at his (relatively safe) vantage point, hiding behind the desk on the other side of the room. He cautiously peered over the top at her and analyzed her curiously. The heat dissipated suddenly and her face became stricken with rare humiliation. The person on the other end of the line clearly wasn't who she was expecting.

"What the hell are you calling me for Jirobo?...No, I thought you were someone else – someone much, much more annoying…Still in Konoha, assisting on the case. What the hell is it to you?...Who?"

The conversation was easy to follow up until that point. There was a long pause between the last two replies, where Kakashi observed a multitude of emotions cross her face over whatever this Jirobo guy was telling her. First there was shock, then tons of confusion, then disgust, then a hint of bitter amusement.

"An old friend of mine," she answered something on the other line, a scary smile twisting her face as she furiously started pounding on her computer again. "Yeah, it's a good thing you called me. I've gotta go. Later!"

She abruptly ended the call glaring at the computer screen. Summing up all his courage, Kakashi stepped out of his hiding place, tentatively trying to approach her again. He could tell she wasn't mad at the guy who had called her; rather she was mad at whatever he had told her. The twitching smile as her fingers raced over the keyboard was as threatening as a hissing cobra. If he could doge her bite, he'd make Steve Irwin proud.

"Who was that?" he asked when he was standing at her desk again like a deer in headlights.

"My partner back in Oto," she grumbled, the scary smile falling into a comprehensive frown over whatever she was typing.

"Bad news?"

"Maybe, not sure. I'm sure as hell going to find out."

Sticking his head into the cobra's nest, the daring detective carefully peered over the top of her computer. He managed to spy the white letters of a black-backed chat room before he was frightened into awareness by her suddenly thrusting a thin packet of paper in his face. He carefully tilted his head to peek around the papers but, she continued to type one-handed and aggressively. Like he was afraid he was taking poison, Kakashi picked the pages from her grasp, her hand flying back to the keyboard once it was free. For an instant, a bubble of thrill rose up inside him at the thought of her actually sharing information with him. In the next second, that bubble popped when he saw the picture attached to the file.

"What is this?" he asked, voice darkening as he gazed at the woman in the photo.

"You asked for my research, you got it. I did warn you, didn't I?"

"This is Yuhi Kurenai, Asuma's fiancée. Why have you marked her as a suspect?"

"Miss Yuhi was at the scene of two of the crimes," Tayuya explained impatiently, stopping what she was doing to glare up at him. "She's connected, even in the vaguest ways, to all of them. Whether that makes her a suspect, I won't know until all her alibis check out but, for now she's a very important person of interest that I'm disgusted you were so blind as to overlook. Does that answer your question detective?"

The heat of contempt was scalding between them but, Kakashi wouldn't dare act on it like he had with the photographers. He wouldn't be facing a suspension if he battled it out with Tayuya; he'd face extinction. He struggled to keep his composure, struggled to think like the cop he was admired for being. In a case of such a massive proportion, he had to be prepared for deceit. He had to accept all possibilities, no matter how much they hurt.

He returned his gaze to Tayuya's findings on Kurenai taking a few paces away from her desk as he read and she resumed typing. She was right: even if only indirectly, Kurenai was connected to every murder. Tenten's body was behind her house; Sakura and Choji were students in her biology class; she attended the church where Shigure's body was hung; she was a volunteer attendant at the garden's where Hisame was found; she was the first to find her fiancée dead.

It could be coincidence. It could be intentional. No matter what Tayuya thought, Kakashi knew Kurenai wasn't the killer. After consoling her at Asuma's funeral, after knowing her all his life, he knew it wasn't her. It was impossible. She wasn't…

Suddenly, the office doors swung open, startling the detective's gaze away from the new development brought forth by Tayuya's files.

"Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, sir," the man in the doorway instantly apologized with a sheepish smile after seeing the detective jump.

"Oh, don't apologize, Yamato," he managed to laugh. "This case just has me on edge."

Yamato was a sandy-hared, fun-loving ex-soldier that trained rookie cops for five years before turning detective. Kakashi had often worked alongside him and even taught him a few of his tricks. Yamato had been recently put in charge of the new KM Task-Force. They were a special division, hand-picked by the mayor herself, to dedicate all resources to finding the killer. They consisted of many people Kakashi didn't know that spoke little and stuck to the shadows.

One member was with Yamato in the doorway. Kaashi had never met Sai before a few days ago. He was silent, obedient, and intelligent and Yamato held him in the highest regard. He was also young – barely older than Nauto; too young to be risking his life on such a dangerous case, Kakashi thought.

"How's the investigation going on your front?" Yamato asked, crossing into the room with Sai following like a shadow.

"Slow," he struggled to describe, being as courteous about his new partner's inability to cooperate as possible, especially after she'd shared with him such shocking evidence. "How about you?"

"No breakthroughs but, we're putting together a chain of suspects we think might lead to him."

"Anyone you need me to check out?"

"Not as of yet."

This conversation was already sounding a little too familiar. Why was everyone keeping him in the dark, refusing to let him help? He knew more about what they were up against. Why didn't they trust him? Maybe he shouldn't complain. After all, Tayuya had at least given him something.

The racket of said red-head's phone called everyone's attention. God, who the hell kept calling this girl? When he looked back at her, he was shocked to find her laptop packed up and she was preparing to leave for the day, swinging her bulging duffel bag over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" he asked as she snatched up the cell phone, he putting the file in his hand back together.

"To follow leads," she growled.

"Good luck!" Yamato offered, kindly.

Tayuya didn't seem to find his friendliness endearing. The look she gave him was like that of a cat hissing at a dog. Yamato either didn't notice or didn't care; either way he didn't acknowledge it and she was yelling at her phone on her way out before he might be able to. Kakashi wouldn't forget that wary glance or the equally competitive curiosity in Sai's stare as he watched her leave the room. It wasn't the first time Kakashi was reminded that Tayuya may be more involved than he thought.

Tayuya's nerves were in a frenzy as she hurried out of the police station, cell phone pressed against her ear. She'd recognized the two men instantly: they had been at the fray in the Town Center. Sai's fake threat to that Zaku guy's hostage had triggered her reckless apprentice to fire early. The other man, Yamato, had been heading the leech extraction team. It had been under his watch that she and the twins had taken out one of his men. She had never expected to come face to face with them as police officers of all things.

"Do you know how hard it is to work with you calling me every ten seconds?" she growled into her phone as she charged down the frigid streets.

"Oh, you were working?" Sakon replied, like this was news to him. "I'm sorry. What sorry soul did I rescue from your abusive interrogations this time?"

"Well, you certainly haven't spared yourself. What the hell do you want?"

"You're spiky ball of pride and joy is whining about some fight he lost."

"What else is new?" she snorted in contempt.

"Apparently it was that Uchiha kid again."

"You sure he isn't crying wolf?"

"I can never tell with this runt. I only talked with him over the phone so I don't know if he's got any broken bones to prove it."

"If he can pick up a phone and whine, he'll live. I'm too busy tracking down this killer to be babysitting that brat!"

"You still don't think it's these Uchiha brothers, even if this Sasuke kid really did attack him?"

"It certainly doesn't help to make him look innocent but, I still don't think it's them," she said, pulling over to seat herself on a sidewalk bench. "Hey, is Gaara around? I need to talk to him."

"Um, no, Kankuro took him out for a bite but, Temari here is just itching to – "

There was some abrupt shuffling and some distant bickering over the line. Tayuya flicked open her laptop while she waited, eyebrow twitching in impatience. The files she'd been collecting in Hatake's office were still open on the screen. She quickly double-checked her surroundings to confirm that there were no eyes watching her.

"Hey T! What's up?" Temari's voice greeted suddenly, obviously thrilled that she'd won the wrestle for the phone.

Tayuya couldn't help but smirk. Temari was one of the select few people she got along with. She also wasn't afraid to admit that talking to Gaara always sent chills across her skin. She'd rather talk to anyone else, even if they weren't as helpful on this topic.

"I need some information," she said, getting straight to business. "What can you tell me about a leech named Yamato?"

"Old," Temari replied, instantly switching to business mode. "Almost as old as the Countess. I think he was her apprentice before she took on the girl. Now he's her own private hit-man."

Tayuya pulled up her findings on the ancient blond. It hadn't been easy finding information on the vampire Council. Especially around three centuries ago, following the procession was barely possible. From the little she'd gathered, Tayuya knew that Tsunade was the only original member seated. Hearing Temari recall that Yamato could be as old as her didn't reassure the red-head.

"Alright, what about this Sai kid?"

There was a brief pause then, a thoughtful hum but, Tayuya could tell she already had nothing.

"I couldn't tell you. I can ask Gaara if you want."

"I'll ask him. I'll be back soon. Just got some door-knocking to do. Hey, did H tell you anything about sending Kidomaru over?"

"Kidomaru? I thought he was in Indonesia! He's coming here?"

"Apparently," Tayuya scoffed, clicking around her assembled files for a quick study before she went to pursue them. "My cover in Oto told me that he had called. Huntress didn't feel like talking either."

"Hm…I thought me and the boys were the last ones. Between you and the twins, me and my bros, and the pups, we definitely have enough. I'll see if I can get anything out of her."

"Thanks. You got anything on that former Sage I asked you about?"

"Only a name," Temari sighed, the crackling of papers covering up some annoyed mumbling. "And I got a picture of his apprentice but, I don't know what you can do with it."

"Anything helps," Tayuya grumbled, her eyes carefully scrutinizing the faces looking out at her from the computer screen. "Send it to me."

"Yes ma'am," Temari mocked, making the older woman's lips quirk up in amusement. "Ah! Here it is! The name of the first Sage was Sarutobi."

Tayuya's brows came together, wheels madly crunching in her head. She clicked on an old black and white photo of the old man in question, the last image ever taken of him. Then, she pulled up the police files of Sarutobi Asuma.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! Gaara knew his face instantly!" Temari replied, shocked and confused by Tayuya's doubt – she'd never doubted her before.

The detective's face smoothed at the confirmation but, her lips remained in a stern line. Could Asuma be a descendant of an original Council member? Yeah, probably. It never surprised her when humans were related to vampires. What concerned her was how this factored into the killing. Was it a coincidence that a possible member of an original's clan had been killed? Or was it intentional? Was this monstrous abomination of a killer even more ancient than she had ever thought?

"Hey, T? I sent you the picture. You alright over there?" Temari's voice said, cutting into her thoughts.

"Yeah, fine. I was just thinking."

"You're getting more involved with this case than you care to admit, aren't you?" Temari pried, unable to hide her amusement.

"Heh. Old habits die hard, I guess. I haven't done real detective work like this in too long."

"Gets your blood pumping, right?"

"You have no idea. Listen, I'll shoot to be back by the time the kiddies get in. Give them a nice, good slap in the ass for me, would ya?"

"You had to ask? Yes, sir."

"See you then."

"Good luck, officer!"

She hung up, always feeling more at ease after talking to the confident blond. Her headstrong attitude was contagious. She sighed as she breezed through her files, anticipating the confrontations she'd have to endure today. The matching gazes of the Uchiha brothers stared out at her, cold and calculating yet, soulful and compassionate. She had to laugh at herself. It was the first time she'd ever felt a "soulful and compassionate" vibe from a leech. There wasn't much to find about the pair and there certainly wasn't anything incriminating in their past.

They turned out of love – much to her discomfort – got kicked out of the country on probation for a few years as punishment, chose to live abroad even when their exile was up, and returned in October. The killings began soon after. If she was an impractical hunter with a grudge against all vampire kind – like Naruto – she would jump to the conclusion that they were killing as vengeance for their exile. However, that would be incongruous to how they spent their time overseas. Any photos or records Tayuya had found of their stays in various countries showed there was nothing about their exile they didn't enjoy. Their charitable endorsements on blood banks and hospitals plus, the minimal amounts of vampiric murder, showed they led a very pacifist feeding life. She could find no concrete evidence to prove they were kills of such magnitude.

She scrolled to her next pair of files: the Count and his Oracle. Of all the Council members, this Momochi Zabuza interested her the most. His initiation into the Council was an abrupt and hurried change around three hundred years ago, where following the lies was a near impossible task. He was an ancient, feared general from the Crusades and was apparently the obvious choice for Count. Yet, he was a replacement, not an original member. Whoever had been the first had left no records to indicate they had even existed. Why was that?

Finding the former Sage had been no cakewalk either, Tayuya recalled, turning her gaze to the current Sage and his apprentice. Jiraiya was the youngest on the Council, only a hundred years old. Even his apprentice succeeded him in age. Finding his predecessor was hard enough and she still didn't know what had happened to him. Sarutobi's apprentice had proved an even greater challenge. She was still stunned that Temari and her brothers had been able to find a picture.

Thinking so, the huntress saved and closed the valuable files and glanced down at the WiFi icon, pleased to find it connected. Eager to add a new face to the throng of suspected vampires, she swiftly opened up her internet browser and logged into her heavily secured email account. Temari's attachment sat highlighted at the top of the already read stack. The photo downloaded in seconds before rising to center screen.

Something inside her deflated upon seeing the face. Her eyes roved over the pale countenance, the bright yet stern gleam of the eyes, and the controlled smile that had a familiar, playful edge to it. She had to shut the laptop, shock overtaking her as she made a connection. She'd seen that face before. She saw it everyday.

He was alone…still. He was alone and he was going mad. Every second he sat in that house and Itachi wasn't sitting next to him was like falling into oblivion. He was drowning in misery, drowning in glass after glass of bloody liquor. He stared at the white boards for hours, his rusty eyes following the elegant dips and curves of his brother's handwriting, obsessed with remembering the long fingers that had created the words; the same fingers that had stroked his hair, touched his cheek.

When the nostalgia became too much, he would take a long drink. Tsunade had told him the trick for getting a vampire drunk a long time ago and he'd never cared to try it until now. Blood in vodka or sake was the best thing Tsunade had ever told him about, by far. The burn of alcohol didn't affect vampires unless you shook and stirred your favorite blood type in. Hell, had he missed that burn.

He gasped when he finished the glass, exalted by the way his gaze distorted and his skull thrummed. A sigh escaped him, accompanied by a twisted smile and a loathsome snort as he poured another glass of the concoction. He looked back at the boards; at the gory photographs, the haunting hand-writing, the prominent question marks scattered across the expanse, taunting him, mocking him, laughing at his pain. The yearning for his brother turned into a scalding hatred for the unseen killer; a hatred for the blood flowing on the white-board; a hatred for the questions, all those goddamn questions that were never answered.

He looked down at the ruddy mixture in his hand. As much as it satisfied his lust for self-destruction, he hated the unpleasantness of its color: yellow with a pale red swirl, never quite mixing together, never complete. Never the same. Fury detonated inside Sasuke and he pelted the glass across the room with an incoherent shout. The shattering glass cracked like thunder in his ears and he glared as the remains dripped down the far wall. Just like them, he thought, refusing to look at the boards. Just like me.

"Sasuke?"

He threw a fleeting glare over his shoulder, not caring enough about her presence to put focus into it. He returned to brooding over his whiteboards, figuring if he ignored her long enough she would go away. He must have been drunk if he thought that would work. Shizune was hovering by the edge of the bed, like a peripheral phantom, a second later.

"What do you want?" he spat at her, fully aware of how unfair it was but, too intoxicated and distraught to give a damn.

"You're…not alright – "

"What the hell gave that away?"

He whirled to the mini-bar and downed another drink before turning and glaring at her over the rim of a new one. She wasn't looking at him though, instead fixed o the timeline that had him so obsessed instead. He tried to ignore it again, watching the remains of his last victim start to stain the carpet. As the bristling silence between them went on, watching the liquid spread on the floor brought the haunting flashes of both Sakura's and Choji's deaths back. He squeezed his eyes shut to hide from them but the blackness only made them more vivid. The drink scalded his throat, lifted to his lips instinctually, and the images were scorched away. It was only for a moment.

"I came to see if Naruto had hurt you," came Shizune's voice as he pressed the cool glass to his even colder forehead. "From the sound of Shino's report, you dealt most of the damage. Regardless, the Countess was still concerned."

"I'm surprised she feels that way and not how the Council says she should feel. God forbid she spoke her mind in that room."

"She's doing the best she can, Sasuke," she said, automatically rising to her master's defense. "Being the oldest doesn't make her a god. There are rules to follow."

"What rule says she can't speak her mind or stand up for what she knows is right? She's a fucking original! She invented the rules!"
Shizune sprung to her feet, uncharacteristic aggression pulsing off of her in tense coils. Sasuke glared at her, arrogantly courting her to act on it. Her fists

clenched and unclenched at her sides and she squeezed her eyes shut, delicate fangs peering from beneath her lips. Sasuke snorted in cold amusement at her efforts to stay calm. He raised the glass again, only to have it ripped from his hands by her a second later. Her expressive gaze was bursting past the seams of restraint, yearning to tell him something but unable to. Like master, like apprentice.

"There are things that you just can't know," she said, like there were needles in her throat. "They'll destroy you, Sasuke."

"Too late."

His gaze was fathomless, not clever and thoughtful like it used to be. It struck bolts of panic through her own and her sisterly love for him became unbearably possessive, triggering her to step forward and embrace him. He didn't return it but, didn't reject it either.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon."

Typical Shizune: always knowing the roots of everyone's problems and always the first to bring it into the light. It was true. He was sure he wouldn't be so open to self-destruction if he wasn't alone. Beneath all his loathing for the invisible killer and beneath all his resentment for the Council's uselessness, his words from that night continued to haunt him. The look in his brother's eyes, like he'd stabbed him with a poison dagger, plagued dreams he could no longer control. If he just had him back…If his brother would just come home…

"Have faith," Shizune murmured in his ear before pulling away and smiling at him. "If you give up on hope, you'll never get the answers you need."

He held her gaze, unable to fight the relaxing effect it often had on him. He glanced at the drink she'd set on the mini-bar beside him, feeling the hands on his shoulders grow a little colder. His long fingers reached for it but, only to slide it further away, as a show of good faith. The shell of distress washed from Shizune in relief.

"I'm still on your side, Sasuke," she said, nudging his chin up. "I always will be."

He weighed that for a moment, scrutinizing her soft, honest face. It was impossible not to believe her. He tried to smile but, it fell flat, so he opted for a small nod instead.

"I've got to go," she said, happier now that she'd gotten at least somewhat through to him. "For now, you have a guest. Please, try not to eat him."

She gave him one last squeeze on the shoulder and her most reassuring smile before vanishing into the cold winds from the open windows. Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to return to his mortal countenance. Now wasn't the time for human company. He could just ignore him when he came knocking but, the sureness of his steps up the winding drive suggested he would not be deterred. Sasuke sighed and glided down to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

The well-stocked fridge was mostly to keep up appearances but, occasionally the items had their usefulness. Sasuke downed the whole bottle as he shifted to stand at the other side of the door, waiting for his visitor to start knocking. His hope was that the plain purity of the water would nullify the blood in his system and therefore wash the rusty pigment from his irises. He felt like it was working by the time he was finished, tossing the empty plastic over his shoulder and listening to it settle in the nearest wastebasket. It had to, for the bronze knocker was tapping against the hardwood.

He stared at the door, reconsidering the idea to just ignore it and pretend he wasn't home. However, the urgency and the familiarity of the scent compelled him to answer. He put on his fakest and most plastic smile as he opened the door, knowing full well that it wasn't going to fool Shikamaru the skeptic.

The boy stood in the doorway, more haggard and disheveled than he usually looked. His spiky ponytail seemed wilted and the tired circles under his eyes were black from stress, mourning, and deep thought. The way he was looking at Sasuke, like he was meeting an infamous crime boss for the first time, did little to ease the vampire. Regardless, he mustered the best act he could within his circumstances.

"What a surprise!" he said, pleasantly. "It's nice to see you, Shikamaru. This is so unexpected…"

"Stop," the boy commanded. "Spare me the human pleasantries. I'm not here as your friendly fool and you know it."

His tone was surprisingly articulate and collected, demanding Sasuke's complete attention. The puppet-like smile that took so much energy to manipulate disintegrated back into his heartless scowl. They regarded each other like enemy wolves and Sasuke was surprised that Shikamaru could hold his own against a vampire. His next words were spoken carefully and acutely, driving directly to his point.

"I was with Choji the night he died. We'd gone to see a late movie and it was past the new curfew when we headed home. We passed an alley and he said he heard something, going off to investigate. I tired to stop him but…I lost sight of him for less than a minute and when I found him again, that monster…Zaku…"

He stopped, eyes glistening and voice filled with emotion. He closed his eyes and shook his head, battling for his composure back. Sasuke waited, stone cold, and he continued.

"I watched Zaku kill him. He would have killed me too if he hadn't gotten distracted by the gunshots in the Square. I hid when you came. I listened to what Choji said to you and what you said back to him. I watched Naruto try to kill you and I watched you try to save Choji when Itachi wouldn't let you. I know Naruto's a hunter. I know you and Itachi are vampires and I know all this death is because of a vampire too…I need you to say it."

As Shikamaru spoke, Sasuke felt like he was aging to the point that by the he'd finished, he felt too weary to even stand, let alone speak. In a small voice, he managed to say, "It's true." Shikamaru deserved that much confirmation. The boy nodded thoughtfully, brows creased together as he went on.

"You and Naruto have been at it since Sakura died. He saw the same thing I did except, he just saw you there."

Sasuke nodded when he glanced up for an answer.

"He thinks you're the killer. Zaku…he wasn't the real one, was he?"

"Just a pawn," Sasuke replied, voice empty. "A distraction to stop us from finding him."

Shikamaru nodded again, paused, then kept going, "You and Itachi are taking the blame, because when you moved in, all this started. Naruto has an army of hunters downtown, ready to kill you when the real killer's still out there, getting away with murder…I want justice for Choji; him and all the other people who died. If that means sabotaging Naruto so he doesn't get in your way I…I guess I have to."

Sasuke was shocked by the blunt offering. He was afraid he was hallucinating. Shikamaru had always mistrusted him and yet, he was the one who believed he was innocent; who knew he was innocent. Sasuke was finding it to difficult to comprehend as Shikamaru turned his back and started down the stairs. He stopped halfway though, glancing over his shoulder and speaking more hesitantly.

"Hinata…she's been asking about you. She's been worried. I have to tell her the truth. More than Kiba, more than Lee, more than me…she deserves to know."

Sasuke's already heavy hurt sunk a little lower as he imagined Hinata's reaction. She had trusted him the most. Would she be terrified and crushed, like Naruto had been? Or would she be like Choji? He didn't know how much more the poor girl could take.

"I just don't want you all getting hurt," he whispered.

"It's too late for that," Shikamaru said, sadly. "You can't protect everyone forever. We've got to fight for ourselves."

Kakashi waited at the back door of the police station, flicking a cigarette lighter open and closed. He used to smoke before the…"incident" had scarred his face. It had been seven years since he'd been that rookie cop, caught in a job that was too great for his training…for anyone's training. He remembered every detail, vividly. Ever since the massacre started, images of that night haunted him more persistently: the moonlight in the alley, the thunder of boots all around him, the glint of steel up ahead. He had thought it was steel. He thought it was a knife but, when he rounded that corner…

He looked up and out of his past when the back door opened, concealing his lighter back in his pocket. His brows came together seeing Sai there when it had been Yamato he had asked the favor from. Silently, Sai handed him a manila envelope.

"Captain told me to deliver this to you," he said when he noticed Kakashi's wariness in accepting it. "That's who Tayuya's been looking into the most since she got here."

"Thank you. Tell Yamato I owe him."

Sai nodded mechanically before retreating back inside. It wasn't the first time Kakashi was creeped out b the kid. He turned his back on the door and opened the envelope, drawing out the files within. Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke were displayed on the papers. Kakashi analyzed their information, already making his own connections. There were now two killers as far as he knew. A pair of brothers made an awful close match. Kakashi knew better than to jump to conclusions though. The only way he'd know for sure was if he paid the Uchihas a visit.

I wanted freedom / Bound and restricted / I tried to give you up / But I'm addicted / Now that you know I'm trapped / Sense of elation / You'd never dream of breaking this fixation / You will squeeze the life out of me / Bury it / I won't let you bury it / I won't let you smother it / I won't let you murder it / Our time is running out

Author's Note: Alright, here's another rant - less negative though this time, I promse. I realize my pessimism last chapter cost me a lot of reviews so I want to take this time to apologize and thank all the readers I've noticed have stuck with this story since the beginning:

Echo Uchiha, xWhiteFang7, WraithReaper: Though your words are few, they've been keeping my tiny spark of inspiration alight.

diamondkat12: Knowing that the characters infuriate you just let's me know I'm not doing as horribly as I think I am. :)

LifeAndDeathShinobi: I think I thanked you in a previous chapter for listening to my ramblings.

And also, a special shoutout to Semper idem for the supportive PM encouraging me to go on. Thanks again! :)

If I missed anyone, feel free to yell at me in whatever way you see fit or let me know you're still reading with a review and I'll be sure to include you in future acknowledgements. :)

In closing, I'm aware that this chapter is very long and I've gotten past complaints about my chapter length, thus why I spent so much time splitting them up recently. The way I see it though, since it takes me two months to update, I'd think you'd all want longer chapters. I'm not going to worry about it anymore. Finishing the story matters most. It doesn't matter how long the chapters are to get there.

NEXT CHAPTER: The reunion you've been waiting for...