Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: Sasuke is tired. Sasuke is hungry. Sasuke is...well, hunting, now. Vampire AU, SNS, will be explicit. Two years later...it's done! New chapter will be up every day until the fic is finished!

A/N: I've been seeing a bit more speculation, but a bit more anxiety, too - don't worry, friends. You know how I love my happy endings. The ride might be a bit bumpy, but we'll get there. Just keep that one in mind! Now for the chapter...

Bite Me

Chapter 8: Trouble

Not two days later, Sasuke was at work, fielding late night questions from someone who...should have been asleep by now.

"I would've eaten everything in there. I can't believe you don't think it smells good!"

"It smells fine," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes, "but considering everything would make me sick, I'm not exactly motivated."

"But it's a bakery!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Yes. It is. Are you in denial or something?"

Naruto laughed.

"No, it's just—okay, a little. I'm having a tough time picturing you just like…working at a bakery. Baking stuff? I dunno."

"I made you dinner," Sasuke muttered, glancing behind him as he adjusted the phone on his ear. "How is this hard to picture?"

"Dunno, but you know you're gonna have to bake me stuff now, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and he could hear Naruto's smile widen.

"Riiight?"

Sasuke huffed out a breath.

"Fine. Whatever."

So maybe it felt some sort of wonderful to have Naruto want him around. Fine. So maybe it had such warmth in his chest that he didn't feel the cold at all—fine. This was fine. This was normal. Naruto was—he was—

He was such a blatant force of brilliant goodness that anyone else would feel the same way. It was a wonder that everyone around him wasn't utterly in love with him. Sasuke was just—fighting that force, same as everyone else. It was only natural, really, to feel this way. This was…

"Yes! Make me something with chocolate. Oh! Or like, apple cinnamon something? Or—uh. You know what? Anything. I'll go for literally anything. Aw, fuck, like banana bread? I gotta eat something now..."

Sasuke heaved out a breath and closed his eyes.

"I make no promises," he told the darkness.

Naruto laughed.

"'Course, of course. I'm gonna like...eat some peanut butter or something...how much longer d'you have on your break?"

"Likely another five minutes," Sasuke said, opening his eyes to glance at his phone. "You're lucky I don't mind the cold."

Naruto laughed.

"Can you even get cold?"

"How many times do I have to—I can still feel, idiot."

Naruto laughed harder.

"Wh—okay, I know that! But when you've got old blood—"

"I'm even colder then!"

"But like—really? I thought since, like, your body was all colder…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I do feel colder then," he admitted, "in general. With new blood I'm just more...sensitive."

"Sensitive?"

"Mm," Sasuke said, nodding as if Naruto could see him, "to anything that touches my skin. I feel it a lot more...intensely."

"Ooh," Naruto said, like a moron, "so if I were to like punch you or something—"

"Bold of you to assume you'd hit."

Naruto laughed again. Sasuke ducked his head at the sound.

"Okay, dickhead. You haven't eaten in a bit though, yeah? Or are you still doing the frozen meat thing?"

Sasuke looked down at his feet.

"I'm...trying."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sasuke let out a breath. It was worrying, really, the way he was...getting used to this. Getting used to Naruto. Where the barest scent of blood used to have him him on his toes, ready, waiting, every inch of his nerves alive—

He didn't even want to...bother. It didn't even compare.

"Sasuke?"

"I…" Sasuke let out a breath, "haven't been...as hungry. For that."

"Huh? What d'you mean?"

"I mean you—since I've—I've gotten used to...you."

"Like," he heard a small shift, "the way I taste?"

"Yes." Please let him leave it at that.

"You...don't like other stuff as much as me anymore?"

"I—there's—"Sasuke heaved out a breath. "I never did—I told you."

Naruto's soft laugh came across the line again, warm and flattered. There was a shuffle, and Sasuke knew it was the sound of him rolling over, in bed...in the bed that smelled so…

"No point in shitty frozen dinner if your favourite's on the way?"

Sasuke scoffed, but the protest died in his throat.

"Am I your faaavourite, Sasuke?" Naruto sing-songed, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Go to sleep, moron. My fingers are getting cold."

"'Cause you haven't had me to warm you up. Coming to class tomorrow?"

Naruto knew the answer to that.

"Yes," Sasuke whispered.

"'Kay. You can have me then."

Naruto laughed—that warm, beautiful, sunshine sound again—and Sasuke's heart may as well have stopped beating with how many it skipped.

"Go to bed, stupid," he said softly.

"Yeah, I will. Have fun at work, Count Spatula."

…

Naruto crumbled into giggles.

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, still midway through his deep, long-suffering sigh—

"I've had that one planned this whole time. Don't worry, I'll come up with more."

"I wasn't worried," Sasuke said, pained. "You—"

"Sascake!"

"Why."

Naruto laughed harder.

"Sa—Sas—"

"Please don't."

"Aw, but—Sascookie?"

"I'm going to hang up on you."

"Okay, okay, okay, sorry! Sorry, I'll stop. I know you hate nicknames. I—"

"I don't hate them," Sasuke said—quickly. A bit too quickly, really—

"Don't you? I thought you said…"

"I said I...tend to think they sound stupid."

He could hear Naruto's smile widen.

"Uh-huh. So I have your full permission to call you whatever dumb shit I want?"

"I never said that."

"Too late, Breadward."

Sasuke slapped a hand over his face. Naruto broke into even louder laughter, before it muffled itself into something that was more than likely his pillow—

"You are the world's biggest moron," Sasuke said, smiling down at the floor. "You're going to keep yourself awake all night trying to think of something even dumber."

Naruto let out a soft, happy laugh.

"You know me too well. How's the job?"

Sasuke shrugged automatically.

"It's a job."

"You—d'you not like it?"

"It's fine. I like the work in the kitchen. I'd rather be here at night than during the day."

"'Cause there's no people," Naruto said, laughing, "but you don't wanna sound like an antisocial ass—"

"I have no qualms with sounding like an antisocial ass," Sasuke muttered, and, yes, there was Naruto's delighted laugh. "People are still here now. Less, though, I imagine. It's only been a few weeks. Anything could change."

"Oh, gotcha. You like it though?"

"For the most part." The owner was a creep and the manager worshipped the ground he walked on, but when the two weren't around—it was fine. "Any cats made it to your face since your last episode?"

"Yes! Oh my god, she's—" the bed shuffled, again, as if Naruto had to sit up just to get the proper momentum, "she's not so bad with us anymore, but she's literally tried to escape every single goddamn day. And she's so good at it! Y'know she learned how to unlock her cage?"

"...Did she really?"

"Yeah! We keep putting more shit to stop her from getting out, but she keeps finding more and more ways—newest thing is just this big ass weight to stop the door from opening at all."

"...Until she finds a way to dismantle the cage entirely."

"That's what I said! I'm waiting for it. The building's locked and everything so even if she gets out she's okay, but still," Naruto let out a breath, "girl's got places to be and the shelter sure as hell ain't it. She's a cat on a mission."

Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Sounds more like she's bored."

Naruto laughed.

"Or that, yeah. I try to sneak out to play with her whenever I can though."

Sasuke's smile widened.

"Ah," he said, leaning back, "and that would be when she makes it to your face, would it?"

Naruto's muffled laugh came from across the phone, and Sasuke heard another shuffle.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I bring this upon myself. She bit my chin today."

"Why was your chin even near her?"

"I picked her up! It's not my fault!"

Sasuke bit down on his laugh.

"Sure it isn't. It is your fault I'm about to be late, though. I have to head back."

"Oh—yeah, sorry! Go, go, go, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Get some sleep, will you?"

"No promises!"

Naruto was...kinda in trouble.

Not like—in a bad way or anything—nothing serious, but he...he was kind of…

He bit down on his lip, glancing towards the door.

"Sasuke isn't here yet," came Iruka's teasing voice, and Naruto jumped.

"Wh—dad! I wasn't—!"

But Iruka only kept moving, laughing all the way. The rest of Naruto's protest left with him.

He had, actually, been checking for Sasuke.

That was the problem.

He'd thought—well, it was all well and good when there was a cool new vampire guy that was actually pretty fun to hang out with—that had all been fine. Complicated enough, but fine. Especially with the whole dating bit they were doing.

But now…

He stubbed his toes on the ground, scowling at it.

Now, he had a crush. Now, he had some stupid feeling in his chest that skipped a beat whenever Sasuke teased him and urged him to tease him right back—a feeling that fluttered in his chest when their eyes met and sighed when he felt those lips on his skin and—

God. Damn. It. All.

Naruto kicked the ground harder.

That's not how this was supposed to be. That's not how this could be. It wasn't that it was out of the blue—no, he'd been pretty aware that Sasuke was hot and fun and his laugh was amazing and his eyes were beautiful and. Whatever. He knew all that. He'd known all that.

So maybe he should have expected the next step to be...whatever this was.

But it wasn't this for Sasuke. He'd made it obvious enough how much he hated his reliance on Naruto. And Naruto didn't mind it—obviously, and Sasuke should know that—but that didn't mean he should enjoy it either, and that was something he'd been dangerously close to doing the last time they…

Naruto shook his head.

More than anything else right now, Sasuke needed a friend. That was what was important. And maybe it was good—then, now—that Naruto had caught this. Now he knew that—well, it was—that he was starting to feel something. Something intense and dangerous and something he...had to deal with.

He could deal with it. Maybe not get rid of it—Sasuke was too fun for that, too smart and sarcastic and funny and ugh—but deal with it. Live with it. Keep it—keep it stuffed into the back of his mind, and wait for it to go away.

He didn't know. He'd figure it out. First, though…

"You weren't lying," came the very familiar voice, "she really did make it to your face."

Naruto laughed his way right up to Sasuke.

"Hey asshole. Bake me a cake?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but he—

"Wh—"

—pressed a package to Naruto's chest and walked away…?

"Did you—" Naruto asked, trotting after him, "did you actually make me something?! You—"

"There were leftovers," Sasuke muttered, not looking at him.

"You made me something!" Naruto immediately started unwrapping it.

"It's puffed rice and marshmallows," Sasuke said, "don't get too excited."

"Too late!" Naruto laughed, hopping up onto the desk, swinging his legs forward and biting out a good chunk. "Mm—y'know what I seriously don't get?"

Sasuke paused in front of his feet, turning to raise an eyebrow.

"How d'you make stuff this good if your tastes are all weird?"

Sasuke let out a soft snort.

"Perhaps you're just easy to please."

Naruto laughed into the wrapping paper.

"You're not wrong," he said, stealing another bite before he wrapped it up again.

"Mmkay," he hopped off, "a snack for a snack. C'mon."

Sasuke blinked.

"What?"

Naruto ducked his head, swallowing again.

"Come on," he said, grabbing Sasuke's wrist. He got pretty much no resistance as he weaved them through the desks—all the way to the back closet, kicking the door shut behind them—

"I promised, didn't I?" he said, shrugging his jacket from his shoulders.

The fangs were already poking out of Sasuke's lips.

"You did," he said, scanning Naruto with blood-red eyes.

Naruto's grin widened.

"C'mon, then, Count Spatula."

And, y'know, he didn't actually think he'd seen Sasuke smile with his fangs out until just this second right now—

"You used that one already."

"Yeah, well," Naruto said, feeling a bit—well, a bit—Sasuke was still smilingat him, damn it— "I didn't get to see your face last time."

Sasuke's glowing eyes rolled.

"You're running out of material."

"You're running out of time. Get over here and bite me."

Naruto pulled at the neck of his shirt for emphasis. He'd worn a looser one today, though, just for this. He was Sasuke's favourite, after all.

Sasuke scoffed, but moved in all the same. His touch was still gentle, still hesitant, but Naruto thought the pauses where Sasuke wavered were maybe becoming fewer, and with more time in between…

"Okay?" Sasuke asked, nose pressed just under Naruto's ear—

Nah. Still pausing.

Naruto put his palm on the back of Sasuke's neck and gently pulled him down.

Sasuke obeyed, and Naruto swore he felt the stretch of a soft smile against his neck as Sasuke bit down. It was maybe that—or maybe the way his hands tightened and loosened and tightened again—that had Naruto breathing out, closing his eyes, sinking into the feeling he'd told himself not to enjoy...and yet...maybe, as long as Sasuke didn't know—Sasuke would never find out, really, unless Naruto told him, so…

The door rattled.

And it was with the smallest twinge of pain that Sasuke wrenched himself away, nothing compared to the overwhelming panic as the blood dripped all over his chin—there was nothing subtle about that and no way to clean it up before—

The door opened, and Naruto slapped a hand over the blood on Sasuke's chin and pressed their lips together.

"O-oh! I'm sorry, so sorry, I—"

Iruka fled—the door clattering shut behind him—and Naruto stumbled back.

Sasuke stared.

"I'm so sorry," he said, before Sasuke could even open his mouth, "I panicked—I—"

He held up his hand, now smeared with blood, and—

Sasuke's face drained of all the colour Naruto had just managed to add to it.

"Your hand," he breathed, and Naruto quickly—

"No! No, no, that's—I'm fine, I'm fine, Sasuke, it only hurt a little—" Naruto said quickly, trying to calm the clearly panicking vampire who was grabbing every bit of Naruto's hand as if waiting for it to start bleeding on its own—

"It hurt?!"

"Just when you pulled away, I'm fine! It's okay—I—aren't you mad?"

"Why would I be—your hand is bleeding!"

"No, no, you—Sasuke, it's fine," Naruto let out a breathy laugh, "you got blood all over your face when you pulled back and this was me trying to hide it."

"Th…" Sasuke wiped at his own face, breathing in, "oh. Why—when did it hurt?"

"When you pulled back," Naruto said. "Like, my neck."

Sasuke wrenched Naruto back to him, leaning over his neck—

"The bite's still there."

"Oh," Naruto said, awkwardly leaning forwards, "is it? I guess it never had a chance to…"

Sasuke bit down again. Gently, though—soft, barely there, pulling back to trace his tongue along Naruto skin—Naruto's thoughts stumbled and screeched to a halt—

"...to, um…"

He swallowed, breathing in, and Sasuke pressed closer, one hand still holding Naruto's palm—

"Um," Naruto said again, and what had he been saying? What had he been doing? Sasuke felt so…

"There," Sasuke breathed out, and Naruto flung his eyes open. "It's gone. It's gone."

Sasuke's voice was filled with relief. Naruto...fuck. Again. Again. There it was again, he was so done with himself—there was Sasuke, upset, panicking, hating every second of this, and all Naruto did to reassure him was get fucking horny—

"Sorry," he breathed out, unable to think any other word.

Sasuke shook his head.

"My fault," he said softly, "it was my fault. Let me clean your hand."

Naruto let out a soft laugh.

"We gotta clean your face, too. There's a sink back here, come on…"

Sasuke was in a daze.

For one strong, terrifying moment, he'd thought Naruto had somehow been injured. And then he thought he'd been turned because no one other than himself had had a mark stay like that—granted, if he'd ever gotten interrupted he'd never been able to stay nearby, but…

He let out a breath.

Until he'd sat down, at his desk, the rest of the class filtering in around them, he hadn't...realized.

Sasuke stared down at his pencil.

Naruto had kissed him. Not—not that it was a real kiss. He knew that it wasn't. Just a part of the cover they were using, and one that had managed to work just fine so far. Just part of a...lie.

He swallowed.

Their lie. This stupid, selfless deal Naruto had made. He'd been terrified. He'd nearly hurt Naruto again. Naruto's life was on the line and all Sasuke could sit here and think about was—

The kiss.

He let out a breath, and it shuddered.

He felt despicable. He really did. He'd seen Naruto's blood on his hands and yet, as he sat here, he didn't feel sick at all. He didn't. He just felt flustered. He just felt warm. He just felt the kiss on his lips and he wanted to touch them and stare at Naruto's and wish they could fake it again and he—

…

Despicable.

Naruto caught his eyes again—staring, damn it, Sasuke had been staring again—and gave him a soft, flustered, beautiful smile. Sasuke couldn't hold his eyes to it.

This wasn't right. He wasn't right. Just because Naruto trusted him didn't mean he deserved it, and if all Sasuke could do was sit here and focus on the wrong thing, then—then—

"Alright! That's it for today!"

His page was completely blank.

Like the liar that he was, he slipped it into his folder anyway. He could see—from the corner of his eye—Naruto standing. He kept his head down, even though he felt it—in his lips, he felt Naruto coming closer. It had to be the new blood. It had to be. He couldn't possibly be so sensitive to…

"Hey," Naruto said, "d'you have time to hang out tonight or d'you have to go straight to work again?"

"Work," Sasuke answered, not looking up. His heart was beating out of his chest—he could feel every bit of Naruto's warmth just from being near him, the thought should have terrified him—

"Oh," Naruto said, Sasuke knew the note of disappointment in his voice was wishful thinking, "okay. D'you...want somebody to walk with?"

Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it.

"Sure."

After this. He'd clear his head after this.

"So...how was it? After I talked to you?"

Sasuke glanced up, as if broken out of his own thoughts.

"What?"

"Work, I mean," Naruto said quickly, trotting a little faster to keep up with Sasuke, "the bakery—y'know—anything could change?"

"...It's still fine. Nothing changed."

Naruto swallowed, speeding up again. Sasuke's gaze stayed on the concrete, the silence growing between them—

The hell was this? Sasuke had seemed okay. Hadn't he been okay? Naruto had thought…

"Hey," Naruto said, stopping them both, "Sasuke. Are you okay? If this is about the fact that I kissed y—"

"It's not," Sasuke snapped, looking up with wide eyes, "I know—what that was. I know it didn't mean anything to you."

Naruto...forced himself to nod.

Sasuke's lips thinned, and he turned on his heel.

"So...just being a—dramatic vampire?" Naruto asked, trying out a soft laugh as he caught up again—

But Sasuke's face didn't even change.

Naruto's smile slowly fell off his face. If it—if it wasn't the kiss, then...then maybe it had been the blood? Sasuke dealt with blood all the time, but he never really had to see it, and maybe the panic of it all had him…

"Hey, Dracula," Naruto tested again, and Sasuke's eyes flickered to him...blank. Neutral. Cold. There'd been a warmth to those eyes before, and Naruto hadn't even realized it until—

"This is it."

"This is—" Naruto looked up, "oh."

Sasuke stared at him for a long moment. Naruto gave him the best smile he could.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said quietly, "I need to go."

"Oh—I—yeah, don't be sorry!" Naruto said, laughing it off. "It's okay. You—do what you gotta do. I'll—"

He stuttered back a few steps, and Sasuke nodded.

"Bye."

"Yeah, um—"

But Sasuke was already gone.

"...Bye."

A/N: It's been a while since I've left you all on a cliffhanger, hasn't it? Sorry friends! At least the next chapter will be coming soon, right? ;)

See you soon,

- Kinomi