Centuries

Silver's Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. We hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 13

It had been a while since his personal cellphone had rung, so Kakashi raises an eyebrow as he taps his phone to answer the call. "Hello, Itachi. It's been over a week since you last called." Which was strange, because Itachi had called more than once in just the first few days away. "Did something happen? Or have you been busy training with Sasuke?"

"Well I suppose that is one way to put it." Itachi wasn't entirely sure how to explain what had happened to Kakashi. "One might say that it was very intensive training." Mostly endurance training, really. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell the silver haired vampire that Sasuke was his bloodmate, it was just that he was struggling to find a tactful way to say that. A way which wouldn't result in the other vampire demanding to know some of the more intimate details of how such an occurrence came about.

"Very intensive training, huh?" Kakashi wasn't born yesterday, he could hear the notes of discomfort in his childe's voice. "Was this of the variety that involves a great deal of unachievable focus, or the kind that involves bruises, bondage, and likely a bed? Though I could certainly see the floor or wall or shower being options as well."

"A bit of light bondage and a bed." Itachi didn't think bruises were involved. "No bruises that I'm aware of though."

"Oh, then he was gentle with you?" Strange, considering Sasuke's preferences. But perhaps he simply saw Itachi as someone to be less rough with, on account of their familial ties. Kakashi certainly hadn't had that luxury, not that he'd needed it. Though he doubted that Itachi required it either.

It was probably best to just let Kakashi assume that Sasuke had been the aggressor. "You could say that." For Sasuke's pride. Besides, it didn't matter to Itachi, if his Sire thought he had been the more submissive lover.

"Well, it's good to hear that the two of you are having fun. Has he shown you the library yet? It's quite the impressive collection. I barely got ten bookcases in while I was still with him." And those had been a hard ten bookcases. They were huge and stuffed to the brim with documents. Kakashi couldn't understand how Sasuke could possibly have read nearly all of them, and multiple times, at that.

"Yes, he's shown me the library." It was massive to say the least. Though Itachi was surprised that Kakashi was just leaving it at that. "He really is over four hundred years old to have read all that."

Yes, he certainly was, it was a massive collection. "Good…good…" Kakashi nods approvingly. "Has he shown you the erotica section yet? There's a whole bookcase filled with sex manuals from all over the world. And he's even got an almost two thousand year old copy of the Kama Sutra."

Vicarious pervert. "I haven't explored that section of the library yet, but I prefer doing such things to reading about them anyway." There that should give him the bone he was looking for.

"Yes, I'm sure that you do." Kakashi knew Itachi, and the dancing around that had to be done with him was most amusing. "And I'm sure that Sasuke has been quite the thorough teacher. And you, the thorough charmer, to have gotten into his bed when he's adamantly against taking immortals as lovers."

"I suppose you could say it runs in the family." He'd be lucky, if Kakashi didn't try to set up cameras in Sasuke's bedroom at this rate.

Kakashi chuckles. "Yes, it seems that there are many things that 'run in the family'." And, of course, family shouldn't keep too many secrets from each other. "Did you know that there is a special room beneath the library? Sasuke calls it the Moon Room."

Itachi was glad they were on the phone. "Yes, he showed it to me." Thoroughly enough that Itachi was now blushing.

"Is that so…?" Kakashi heard the slight tremor in Itachi's voice, and it made him wonder if maybe…just maybe his instincts had been right. Itachi had, after all, confessed that Sasuke blood tasted better than his own. So, maybe… "Did you make love in the Moon Room?"

"It sounds almost comical when you say it that way." In reality, it had been anything, but lighthearted. There had been some playful teasing, but it had be far too intense to describe it as a funny experience. "Though, that is accurate."

"I see…" That was a relief, and something that Kakashi had been hoping to see happen for many, many years. Decades… Centuries, really. "Then, would you like me to have some more of your things sent over? I can keep them stored here if you like, but…I don't envision that you'll be leaving the estate any time soon."

Well it couldn't hurt. "That would be appreciated." They were bloodmates. Itachi couldn't imagine Sasuke was going to try to send him away now.

"Alright." Kakashi grows quiet for a moment, a million questions in mind. But which to ask… "Has Sasuke…found a reason to live, now?" Was Itachi enough to make Sasuke stop his fast? Enough to make Sasuke open his heart again, even if just a little? See a light in the centuries of darkness he'd wrapped himself in?

"I hope he has." Itachi worried that it might have been too late, but Sasuke had certainly seemed to enjoy their time together, despite his protests at the positioning.

"Well, that's a start." Kakashi sits back, eyes sliding shut. "You might be the only one who can keep him sane from here on out." Because he knew very well what making love in the Moon Room meant. "I tried. Indra tried, and now…it's your turn. And I hope that you have the success that neither his Sire or his childe could find. I had a feeling that the two of you might be compatible, but it feels good to have confirmation that Sasuke does have someone who will love him like no other."

The younger vampire shakes his head in amusement. "Who knew that the world's biggest pervert was such a romantic?" Though his words were having an impact on Itachi. Sasuke's life might quite literally be in his hands.

"Itachi!"

Kakashi perks up at the sound of Sasuke's voice filtering faintly through the phone, sounding stronger than it had in a long time. And THAT makes him smile. "It seems that your mate is calling for you." Besides, he wasn't the world's biggest pervert. Naruto's grandfather could take that title.

"Yes, it would seem so." Itachi rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Coming!" He shakes his head and smiles into the phone. "I'll talk to you later. For a vampire of his age, he can be impatient at times." With that, Itachi hangs up and swiftly heads back to Sasuke.

Sasuke was waiting for Itachi out in the foyer, fully dressed and dried after their long…and very sexy shower. Of course, they were going to need another one later, once they were done, but Sasuke didn't mind. After all, they'd been complacent for a week, spending almost the entire time down in the Moon Room, only leaving the confines a handful of times in order to bathe. But now, it was time to get back to work, and Sasuke was determined to have Itachi master the basic lessons as quickly as possible.

Itachi smiles at him and wraps his arms around Sasuke's neck. "Well you look rather determined, but you're still dressed. So I'm not entirely sure that bodes well for me?" What did his mate look so resolved for?

Sasuke rolls his eyes and pecks Itachi on the lips. "You need to get back to training, which means that I need to get back to teaching you. And unless you've been practicing meditation whenever I've been asleep, I doubt that you've been focused on much more than fucking my brains out the last few days."

"Well not particularly, no." Itachi smiles and kisses his forehead. "Though I believe that counted as endurance training, if nothing else." Sasuke had lost most of the people he'd ever loved. Itachi should have seen this coming. "I don't mind formal training though." So he'd indulge his lover in this and well, it would probably be good be taught by Sasuke in this regard.

"Good, because since you've been training your endurance so hard, and have the attention span of a goldfish when meditation comes up, I've decided on something that should burn off most of that energy so that maybe you can meditate once you're tired." Sasuke had spent a whole night coming up with this exercise, and it combined several of the principles that he'd been taught as a child.

Suddenly, Itachi feels a sense of dread. "And what did you come up with?" Goodness only knows what the brilliant ninja had devised.

Sasuke smirks. "Well, since you're a vampire, you'll be better at this than a human without training would be. So I've decided to make a game for you." Something that would hopefully keep the fledgling's attention. "We're going to play hide and go seek."

"That doesn't seem terribly difficult." Probably just an eccentricity of Sasuke's brought on by his age.

Oh…the ignorance of a fledgling. "You say that now." Sasuke slips from Itachi's embrace and makes for the doors. "We'll be 'playing' it outside." And now that the sun was setting, it would be all the easier to disappear. "When I say go, you'll have half an hour to find me, before we start again. Each time you either succeed or fail, we'll switch, and I will have ten minutes to find you. With each success, the time allotment will be reduced by ten percent. Understand?"

"Yes, I believe so." He wanted Itachi to find him. So he would. "What do I get if I find you?" The other vampire smiles at his mate.

"Three less minutes to find me next time." Sasuke smirks. "And maybe a pat on the head. But let's not put the cart before the horse. Your meditation training was supposed to feed into this, make it easier for you to find me." Or possible, really. "First, let's see if you can actually find me before the fifth try."

"I love you, but you can be so cocky." Itachi nods at him in consent though. "I will always find you."

Sasuke chuckles. "We'll see about that." And as the sun sinks below the tree line, bathing the estate in shadows, Sasuke flicks Itachi in the forehead, before disappearing into the growing darkness.

What was with the forehead poking? "Over seventy years old and I'm playing Hide and Seek." Itachi chuckles at the absurdity of the situation and races off to find Sasuke.

Twenty-five minutes in, Sasuke smirks from the shadows as he keeps an eye on Itachi. His mate was only fifty meters from him, but didn't seem to have a clue which direction to try searching in. He'd let the fledgling get this close, just to see if he'd learned anything from his meditation lessons. He wasn't counting on it, but he was hoping that something sunk in, since there was no way that Itachi would be able to see him, taste, touch, smell, or hear him. He'd have to rely on his other senses, including his intuition, his instincts.

He stops and as his head surveys his surroundings. Sasuke wouldn't make a noise. That much was obvious. There was always the chance that he might be able to sniff him out, but Itachi was sure that Sasuke had taken countermeasures against that sort of thing happening.

The time was ticking down, and Sasuke was counting the seconds. Itachi was fairly quiet when he wanted to be, but his footsteps were still heavier than Sasuke's, and his taller, slightly broader frame made him stick out a bit more. That, and he wasn't quite as fond of black as Sasuke was, the grays and dark blues sticking out against the greens and browns of nature in the darkness.

He had to be nearby. Itachi was almost certain he wouldn't have run to the other side of the estate. "Alright…" He starts looking behind some trees. He had to start thinking like an older vampire.

Three minutes left. Sasuke looks down at Itachi as the young vampire scans the forest floor for him, completely oblivious to his place high in the trees. He was concealed by intertwined leafy branches, peering out at Itachi with just two dark eyes.

"Damn it." He was running out of time.

Two minutes…one minute… It was rather amusing to see Itachi growing frustrated, but it also frustrated Sasuke a little that the lessons hadn't really sunk in yet. But he'd focus on the amusement for now, after all, he hadn't been the most patient student, himself.

Three…two…one… Sasuke smirks as he draws his chokuto, leaping silently from the trees, and landing directly behind Itachi, lifting his blade up to his lover's neck. "A cute try. But remember that this exercise isn't only about finding me, but concealing your own movements from me as well."

"Do I need you to fuck you into the mattress again to prove that I am not cute?" Because he would enjoy that. "If that's what you require, I will. Though your instruction has been duly noted." Itachi doesn't flinch at the blade. Sasuke wouldn't kill his bloodmate.

"Hn. I doubt that it'll be you doing the fucking this time." Sasuke withdraws his blade, sheathing it again. "How about this for incentive. Fail two more times, and you'll be the one unable to walk for the next week. At least then, it might inspire you to take your meditation lessons seriously."

And with that, he disappears once more, ready for Round Two.

A couple of hours later, Itachi was growing more and more frustrated. It was almost impossible to find the other vampire. He was too skilled at hiding away. His ninja training and centuries as a vampire gave him quite the unfair advantage in the younger vampire's opinion. This time though, things would be different.

Sasuke had disappeared again, putting quite a bit of distance between them, before vanishing entirely from sensory range. After all, this was easy to see as a game, but he had still designed it with training in mind. And Sasuke hadn't gotten THAT rusty during his decades of inactivity.

"He's staying out of range." That had to be it. Though where would he go?

He continues traveling for awhile until he saw something black in one of the trees. Black like Sasuke's eyes. So immediately Itachi kicks the tree, trying to shake his lover down from there. "I found you!" Finally! He had finally found him.

Out of the tree falls a pair of shining black stones, still pressed into little rings of bark that had once been attached to the tree. From a distance, Sasuke rolls his eyes behind his darkened mask. Itachi was really…not very subtle when he got frustrated. And he fell right for the trap. "Come on, Itachi…remember the meditation lesson…" If he tried hard enough, he should be able to just…sense Sasuke. There was no need for kicking tress.

Itachi sighs in frustration as he tries to do the meditation. He needed to find Sasuke and he had tried everything else. And it was something that Sasuke kept telling him to do. There had to be a reason for that.

One breath in, one breath out. The principle was that if the mind became calm and quiet, the world around you would become loud and chaotic. Everything else becomes magnified as your own presence diminishes. And this was the principle that Sasuke had tried to teach Itachi, not with words, but through experiencing it. All of nature had a sound, a smell, a texture, a taste, and its own unique appearance. One just had to attune themselves to the world in order to find it.

The taste of dark chocolate in the air. "There!" Itachi rushes towards the source of the aroma as fast as he could, Sasuke, and ends up haphazardly pinning him to the ground. "I really don't like playing Hide and Go Seek as an adult, but I finally won."

"Good." Sasuke takes a short breath, then blows his bangs out of his eyes. "You're starting to understand the lesson. You sensed me once you sat down, shut up, and stopped getting distracted." Not that he'd really been trying hard to conceal his presence, but still. "Once you master the skill, you won't even need to hear me. You'll just be able to feel me. Everyone, living and undead, gives off energy. The point is to be able to sense that energy, even if your opponent has concealed themselves."

He shakes his head and kisses him. "I know it's an important skill, but it is not enjoyable to learn." Itachi smiles at him.

Sasuke rolls his eyes, breaking Itachi's grip and rolling them over, settling himself on Itachi's chest. "Yes. Just imagine my father's frustration when he was trying to teach an impulsive, impatient, eight-year old me to meditate. It nearly drove him to drink."

"He must have had the patience of a saint." Itachi chuckles at the image.

"More like the patience of a ninja. We'll wait forever for our target, if we have to. Or pursue them forever." There was just a certain determination that they were all born with. Though Sasuke doubted that it was something meant to transfer over into a vampiric life. "Never underestimate an Uchiha, right?"

He smiles at his Mate slyly. "Oh believe me, I never do." Itachi flips them and kisses the other vampire's cheek, affectionately brushing a stray bang behind his lover's ear.

Sasuke chuckles, shaking his head and tilting it to the side, exposing his neck. He glances at Itachi from the corner of his eye, a smirk quirking his lips. "Itachi Uchiha…it's got a good ring to it."

Itachi bows his head, licking the exposed skin, and nips lightly. "I'm glad that you like it." It was easy to savor the taste of Sasuke's rich blood.

"Of course I do." Sasuke's eyelids lower a fraction as he runs a hand through Itachi's long, silky hair. "There's a lot to like about you."

"I'm glad you think so." Itachi licks his neck soothingly. "Seeing as I'm your bloodmate, you're kinda stuck with me."

"Yes…" Sasuke's fingers stop, his mind drifting a little. "It's…a strange thing to think about." Just a couple of weeks ago, he never would have imagined that Kakashi's first phone call to him in decades would lead to…this.

Itachi looks down at him, his eyes dancing with mirth. "We do need to work on your romantic declarations a bit." He couldn't resist teasing Sasuke.

The older vampire shoots his mate a flat look. "That wasn't a romantic declaration. Trust me, when I make an effort to be romantic, you'll know it." He just didn't try to do it all the time, that would be exhausting.

"I know." Itachi smiles at him. "I just like teasing you." Seeing him sulk was priceless.

"Yes, so I see." Sasuke rolls his eyes, hooking his legs around Itachi's and rolling his mate onto his back, seizing Itachi's wrists in one hand and pinning him firmly against the grass. "But being teased in such a fashion makes me want to return the favor. His free hand, caresses Itachi's cheek, before taking hold of his chin and tilting his head back, exposing the pale throat for him. "Would you like that?"

"I think I would." The other vampire looks up at him with smoldering eyes. "I like it when I have your attention completely to myself. I'm selfish that way."

"Then go ahead and be as selfish as you like." Sasuke smiles against Itachi's throat, kissing it gently. "I have no problem with indulging you." He kisses a little harder, licking softly to sensitize the skin. "You…are something very precious, and deserve to be treated as such." He sinks his fangs slowly into Itachi's skin, the sweet taste of blood spilling across his tongue.

Itachi sighs in pleasure at the bite and the lavish praise. "You were right about your declarations." He really did know it when Sasuke was being romantic and so did his cock. He was already getting hard again.

Sasuke detaches himself gently, softly licking up the flowing blood as the wounds close. "Of course I was. And you should know…I haven't made such declarations in over three and a half centuries. You are…the first in a very long time to touch my heart, even a little." And right now, Itachi was slowly filling the vast void within him. So the least he could do was fill him with the appropriate pleasure.

"I'm very fortunate then." He knew that Sasuke was speaking of that girl that Indra had written about. Itachi felt an irrational prickle of jealousy over a woman who was long since dead. Or perhaps it had been one of those few who came not long after. "Though I wish you hadn't stopped." The jealousy fizzles, and he notes that mostly, he felt sad. It had been three and a half centuries since Sasuke had even thought he might be in love. That was horribly depressing.

Warning Lime

As Itachi begins to squirm a little, Sasuke's grip holds him fast. "And where do you think you're going?" His other hand abandons Itachi's throat, gliding down to rub at Itachi's cock.

Itachi groans and relaxes against Sasuke's touches. "Nowhere." Fuck that felt good. Ridiculously good.

"That's what I thought." Reaching into Itachi's pants, Sasuke strokes at the hot, hard erection gently with a calloused hand. "Now, seeing as I'm in control right now, which would you prefer? Do you like my hand, or would you prefer my mouth." Sasuke was certain that he knew the answer, but he still wanted to hear it anyway. Itachi had been in control far too much for Sasuke's pride to accept.

"Fuck! That feels good." He was getting hard so quickly that it almost defied the laws of biology. "Your hand feels good. I'd like your mouth more though." There was no point in lying.

"Of course you would." Sasuke smirks as he removes his hand, pulling it from Itachi's pants and going for his own, deftly unbuckling one of the belts found there, and pulling it from the loops. "But, seeing as I need to teach you how to be a good boy, I think that a teaching tool is in order." Without letting Itachi loose for even a moment, Sasuke maneuvers his lovers hands so that he can cross them and bind them tightly together. "Understand?"

"W-What did you have in mind?" It was impossible to guess what the man had in mind. Itachi was stuttering, but he couldn't help it. Sasuke really was that sexy and a little terrifying at the moment.

"Just what your body is asking for." It was as simple as that as Sasuke slides down Itachi's pants, letting the heated cock spring into the cool night air. "And don't worry, I'll go nice and slow so that you can take notes."

"You didn't seem to mind my technique earlier." Hmpf! Though it was hard to be smug, when he was already fully erect. Sasuke wouldn't take his taunts seriously when he could see his arousal.

"Hn. You'll see." Sasuke grasps the erect cock in a new fashion, running his fingers along the vein on the underside. "You can always learn something new." And, stretching his thumb to rub at the base of the mushroomed head, his fingers go to work massaging and pressing on the vein near the base, his grip rolling as his fingers clench and unclench one by one like a wave.

It was hard to argue with a man who was playing with your dick so exquisitely. "Well that's true." Whatever, Sasuke could say what he wanted just as long as he didn't stop.

Onyx eyes bleed to ruby red as Sasuke watches Itachi shiver in pleasure. His grip tightens a little as he adds a firm stroking motion, spreading the wave-like pressure to the rest of the turgid shaft, his thumb reaching to massage into the head, dipping into the slit at the tip.

Itachi bucks against his touch desperately. He was probably going to cum before Sasuke even took him inside his mouth at that rate.

Sasuke chuckles softly as he kisses the tip, removing his thumb as he takes it fully into his mouth and throat in a single motion. Red eyes dance with lust and amusement at the squirming, bucking vampire, hands holding Itachi's hips up as Sasuke's tongue works the throbbing cock.

"Fuck!" It took all of Itachi's self-control not to cum right then and there. "Don't stop!" Damn it. His bloodmate's mouth was a world wonder.

Well, Sasuke hadn't been planning on it, but he was kind of tempted to stop and see what Itachi's reaction would be. Still, he dutifully bobs his head up and down, his tongue sometimes drawing back as he bobbed up, to press into the sensitive slit as he sucked harder.

And when he bobbed back down, he would swallow around Itachi's cock, the muscles of his throat coming together to squeeze it. He couples the attention with his fingers, moving carefully to cup Itachi's balls, squeeze them, and roll them in the palm of his hand.

He wanted to last longer, but he couldn't hold back. "Sasuke!" He came hard and fast. It was embarrassing. Sasuke had barely gotten started before Itachi had reached his orgasm.

Sasuke smirks as he swallows, sliding Itachi's cock out and wiping his lips as he sits up over his lover, his mate. "Practice makes perfect, doesn't it?" He presses a hand forward, leaning over Itachi as his blushing mate's similarly red eyes looked up at him. "Satisfied?"

End of Lime

"It'd be hard not to be after that." Itachi pants as he desperately tries to catch his breath.

"Well, I'll consider it a victory, then, that I made you forget…" He presses a finger to Itachi's mouth and pinches his nose for a moment. "That you don't need to breathe."

He blushes and gives him a dirty look. "It's not a competition." Itachi shakes his head in disbelief as he leans up and kisses him.

"Maybe, but I still found you more times than you found me." Sasuke kisses back, at the same time, reaching up to undo the belt holding back Itachi's arms, working open the buckle easily, and tossing the belt away.

"Well you're a professional ninja and I'm not." Itachi glides his tongue over Sasuke's. "So that's not really fair." He smiles.

"It's not fair, yet, you mean." Sasuke leans down to rest on top of Itachi. "But I see a lot of potential in you, even if you have the attention span of a koi. Just be glad that I'm using very gentle methods with you. I nearly died a few times during my own training."

"I do not have the attention span of a goldfish." Itachi sulks at that description. "Those were different times and I'm glad you didn't die. Otherwise, I never would have met my bloodmate."

"…" Sasuke's eyes darken, the red disappearing from them. "No, you would have. Someone else. Someone less…damaged. The odds of finding a second, or a third are low, as low as finding one at all, but not impossible."

"I don't mind that you're damaged." Itachi shakes his head and caresses his mate's cheek. "It's a rare vampire or person that isn't. Life is a contact sport."

"Hn. Life is a contact sport, huh?" Sasuke could see that. "I'd say in that case, it's a miracle I'm still breathing, but…" He hadn't breathed naturally in four hundred and fourteen years. "Well, at least now I have someone to help me deal with the unpleasant after-effects of turning into a vampire."

"I don't know, I'd say it's been a largely pleasant experience overall and even better since we started having more…contact." Itachi smiles at him.

"Well, good." Sasuke smirks as a flicker of red returns to his eyes. "Because after you're done with three hours of meditation, I'll be waiting for you in the bath." He presses his hands to the ground, pushing himself up and over Itachi's head, and landing on his feet. "Then you can return the favor."

"Three hours?!" That wasn't fair! "You can't be serious!" He had to wait three hours to get past the foreplay stage?

"Don't worry." Sasuke glances back at his mate as he leans lightly against a tree. "I'll make sure to keep the bath warm for you until you're done with your homework."

"Do I get to smack your ass with a ruler for being an evil tease?" Itachi was two seconds away from huffing.

Sasuke shakes his head, jumping high into the trees. "See you in three hours, Itachi!" That little shit would learn his lessons in patience, whether he wanted to or not.

"Very well then." Itachi sighs. Obviously, this was a battle he was not going to win. So he sits up, closes his eyes, and begins his three hours of meditation.

Two dark eyes, however, remained to watch the young Uchiha at work.