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: Happy Friday friends! If it's still Friday for you, haha. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for all the love!

Bite Me

Chapter 26: Dia

It was Sasuke's turn not to sleep, the next week. For only one day, of course—not anything close to Naruto's seven, and it was a fact that Sasuke threw back in his face every time Naruto tried to insist he didn't have to help him open up today. But Sasuke's good mood was obviously and endlessly contagious, and not even waking up at ass'o'clock could make today any less…

Awesome.

Naruto ducked his head to hide his smile, again, as Sasuke paused by the still-locked door to the shelter. Again. Sasuke had apparently already bought a bed, litter, two boxes for that litter, and easily like two month's worth of food—he'd been slowly saving up and spending his spare money, bit by bit. And storing it all in some corner of his apartment that Naruto didn't tend to go into, lest he start to bug Sasuke about what he'd accidentally started planning for.

Naruto's smile widened. As if he didn't already bug Sasuke at every opportunity.

But Hinata had been the first to come in—letting out a tired huff as the snow billowed in behind her. To her credit, she only paused for a second when she saw Sasuke—turning back to throw Naruto a soft, knowing smile.

Sasuke had been obviously uncomfortable.

Still, Naruto grinned to himself and got back to it all—unclogging drains and finding the spare collars that always somehow managed to fall back behind something. And the toys—the treats had to be thoroughly locked away until it was time, and he probably needed to grab a few new brushes...these were getting kinda mangled, 'specially the one they used for that little guy that had that vicious vendetta against it.

"Give me a second to print out the paperwork!" came Hinata's voice, and Naruto looked up to see Sasuke was back—with one cute, devilish little black cat purring around his shoulders.

Naruto shook his goddamn head.

"Months of being her best fucking friend," he said, "and all I am to her is an escape plan. But you? Oh, no, love at first sight—"

Sasuke let out a small laugh, scratching the top of her head.

"She likes me," Sasuke said simply.

"She loves you," Naruto pointed out. "Which is all the more reason for us to get along, Dia, we're on the same team here—"

He wiggled his finger at her, and she pawed at it.

"Bastard," he muttered at her. Her tail swung back and forth in response.

"Sorry," Sasuke said, his hand on her again, "what team are the two of you on, again?"

"The—well, we're supposed to be—"

"Fuck that fucking snow, if my shoe soaks through one more time because of that grey slush shit I'm gonna fucking lose it, I swear to—"

"Morning, Kiba," Naruto said, biting down on his laugh.

"Fuck!"

"We have spare shoes," Hinata said, immediately running out of the room as Kiba shook himself again.

"It's a bitch of a morning, I'll tell y—"

He stopped, staring at Sasuke.

"...Hello," said Sasuke.

"Demon!" Kiba said in reply, pointing at Dia.

"Yes, the demon is free," Naruto said, grinning over at Sasuke, "...permanently?"

"That's the plan," Sasuke muttered, and Kiba punched his fist into the air.

"Fuck yeah! I take it back, today rocks!"

"It absolutely does not," Kakashi said, shoving the door shut with his back. "I'm wearing this scarf for the rest of my life. Can we turn up the heat? I—"

Kakashi stopped too.

"Sasuke's adopting Dia," Naruto explained, and Kakashi—

"Oh...I suppose that means...Biscuit…"

Kiba practically cackled.

"More paperwork, coming right up!"

She was settling in...reasonably well, all things considered. Sasuke had been more than a little bit worried, especially considering the pathetic size of his apartment—but Naruto had rightly pointed out that they spent plenty of time at his place, and if they could get her used to a leash, or something similar, she could get plenty of stimulation that way…

His phone went off again, and Sasuke smiled.

As full of laughing complaints as he'd been, Naruto had been absolutely relentless with the photos since the moment Sasuke had left.

'She knocked my cup off the table :('

And then, a moment later—

'You!' Accompanied by a picture of a very feisty cat, rolled over on her stomach so she could properly kick at the hand rubbing her belly.

Sasuke ducked his head to hide his smile.

'I'm going to come home to a mess, aren't I?'

'I'm a mess,' said Naruto's text, 'so yeah.'

Sasuke snorted and checked on his caramel again. It was as if it had a mind of its own when he tried to get it to work…not that anyone would care—at this point, Sasuke wasn't altogether sure they had anyone keeping track that the bakery was functioning well anymore, let alone functioning at all. Other than himself, of course, which hadn't exactly been unpleasant...

'She's so bitey though!' said Naruto's next text, and Sasuke only managed a glance at it before the next one came in—

'Not trying to escape or anything, which is good. Maybe she can smell you here? I keep telling her you'll be home soon.'

Sasuke grabbed at his phone.

'I'd be home even sooner if the two of you got some sleep.' he typed in, sliding his phone away from himself as he hit send—

His phone went off.

'I can't sleep yet! Sakura's freaking out!'

Sasuke frowned.

'Is she? Why?'

The—crap. It crystallized on him. He'd have to start this caramel again—damn it—

'She's proposing next week! And so is Ino but she doesn't know that. They both think they're gonna blow it.'

Sasuke bit down on his smile.

'I'm fairly sure the effect would be the same even if they both did,' he pointed out.

'It's not the same! They've got so much planned! It's gonna be nuts. I'm so pumped.'

'Ah,' Sasuke typed in, 'so you're the one who's actually too excited to sleep.'

'No!' Naruto texted back, but then, only a moment later—

'Okay okay kinda. But it's awesome!'

Sasuke slid the pot onto the heat, and sighed out the warmth in his chest.

'It is. You've done a very nice thing for your friends.'

The smile had been constant, on his face tonight. He hadn't tried hard to fight it—usually the atmosphere around him did that just fine. But things felt settled, tonight—as if he knew what to expect, and knew it wouldn't change. Whatever was being done wasn't being done here, and it was an incredible relief not to be constantly watched for once. And it helped, of course, that there was so much to look forward to at the end of it all—

'Oh they're your problem too now. You know you're invited to the wedding, right?'

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

'Am I? When is this event supposed to take place again?'

'Next year. Probably. So you've gotta keep dating me at least 'till then or no cake for you!'

He lazily eyed the sugar—just starting to melt, now…he had to remove the granules from the sides lest it caramelize on him again, but other than that…

'I don't like sweets. I suppose I'll have to find a different reason to stick around.'

He set the message and slid the phone away from himself, breathing out. Talking to Naruto so easily got his nerves up in arms again—

'I can think of a couple.'

Sasuke's lips twitched. The caramel was coming, now, but he had just enough time to—

'Oh? Enlighten me.'

There. Sasuke slipped the pot from the heat and grabbed the buns—it was just the right consistency to dip them. He heard his phone go off—once, and then again—and forced himself to focus this time, just until it was all laid out to harden properly, giving him a minute to look away—

Oh.

Sasuke let out a breath, staring at the phone in his hand. Naruto likely didn't mean to torture him with this. No, it was a perfectly innocuous picture—Naruto fell back into the bed with a sleepy smile, and angled the camera just so Sasuke could see the small cat, curled up on his incredibly bare chest.

An innocent view...that Sasuke could have been seeing in person right now. He could have been there. It was his apartment, it was his cat, that was his boyfriend and that pillow could have been Sasuke—

'There you go!' said the message underneath it, 'All these cuddles waiting for you!'

Sasuke let out a breath.

'You make a convincing start. Please continue.'

There. Sasuke swallowed and reeled back, giving the timer a quick glance—

His phone went off. It was Naruto again—this time, with his sleepy smile stuffed into Sasuke's pillow. One eye was closed and the other squinted its tired, blushing, happy gaze right into the camera—Sasuke swallowed and searched along Naruto's back, finding the blankets and...little else...

'She got mad that I moved. We're keeping the bed warm for you though.'

Yes, Dia was—wasn't in the picture. But—

'You look suspiciously unclothed.'

A pause. Sasuke didn't move until his phone went off.

'Forgot my pjs.'

"Fuck," Sasuke breathed, and he—

"What's eatin' ya, boss?"

Sasuke nearly leapt three feet in the air.

"Absolutely nothing," he said quickly, as his phone dinged with a—

'I'm wearing briefs tho! I'm not gonna scar Dia, don't worry'

"That your phone?"

"Yes," Sasuke snapped, forcing himself to move away from it. "I know there was a spare roll of parchment paper here, did you—"

"S'here, s'here, don't get your nuts in a twist."

Suigetsu pulled it out from wherever he'd kidnapped it to, and Sasuke snatched it from him. He was back to his corner in another heartbeat, where his phone had just—

Ah...god...

Naruto was on his side, now. On his side, and smiling into the camera—his arm reaching out to hold his phone the same way Dia's paw was outstretched. She was nestled into his chest, eyes closed into a sleepy, happy squint...Naruto's smile was soft and comfortable and happy and Sasuke could be right there god fucking damn it—

"Been checkin' that phone an awful lot," came Suigetsu's infernal fucking voice. "Something going on?"

Sasuke flipped it upside down.

"No."

"Oh," Suigetsu said, grinning, "you're sexting. You're sexting, aren't you, you dirty—"

"I will lock you in the freezer."

After three more days of similar...quiet? Peace? Gentle, tentative happiness? Sasuke wasn't sure what it was, but after these three days had stayed decadently similar to the previous week, they'd found themselves back at Iruka's art classes. Or, well—Naruto had happily come along. He was always willing to help, and Sasuke knew he missed his father. Sasuke, on the other hand, had been incredibly lazy with it all—the choices of getting up and out into the cold or staying, warm, in bed with his boyfriend and his cat...weren't exactly fairly balanced.

But Iruka had needed a model, and Sasuke could use the money. He'd been inclined to argue, at first, when Naruto had offered to do it, but then…

Naruto shifted his ankle just so.

Sasuke's smile widened. All of his poses had been...rather ambitious, so far. He'd held them, to his credit—but Sasuke could distinctly see where the weight of gravity was starting to be too much. He'd see how the rest of the night went, but he supposed he did owe Naruto at least one massage…

And Naruto had owed him a chance to study his body. Fair was fair, wasn't it? Naruto had certainly gotten the chance to study his. And his insistence that the money go towards 'the Dia fund', as he called it, was one that Sasuke...just didn't have it in him to fight.

So here they were.

Naruto met his eyes for a quick, panicked moment. He'd realized fairly rapidly that Sasuke was a distraction—after his first few catches and Iruka's quiet, but insistent eye—and Sasuke had been quite content to reassure him, during the break, that Naruto could happily ignore him for the rest of the class. Naruto wasn't convinced he could pull it off, but he'd done enough of a job so far.

Enough of a job to have Sasuke...annoyed. Disgruntled. It was as if he just couldn't draw today. Naruto was here and in front of him and he was hardly going to get a better chance than this, and yet everything he was doing he found himself wanting to trash within the minute. And the worst part was Naruto would inevitably want to see these—of course he would, they were of him, and Naruto was excited enough as it was with Sasuke's regular drawings. And Sasuke just couldn't fucking draw.

He breathed out, and met Naruto's curious eyes again.

Of course he could tell. He looked away and then back some several times—settling on somewhere on the wall to Sasuke's side. But there was a furrow to his brows that hadn't been there a moment ago, and Sasuke frowned at the thought that he was the one who put it there. He was fine—he was just...none of these looked the way Naruto did in reality. None of them captured the tilt of his smile or the spark in his eyes or the way he looked at Sasuke—they looked like Naruto but they didn't look like Naruto and it was driving him—

"Alright! That's enough for today."

Sasuke leaned back with a sigh, flipping one of his many useless sketches over the rest. Face down. He'd been so optimistic going into this…

"Hey, grumpy," Naruto said, sliding himself onto Sasuke's desk—thankfully with the robe already on. He certainly wouldn't put the past the moron to try something like that…

"Hi," he said, pressing his chin into his hand. "I can't draw."

"You—!"

"I'm not fishing for compliments. Please don't ask to see anything I've just done."

Naruto let out a laugh, hopping back onto his feet.

"S'probably because I was the worst model Iruka's ever got," he said. "I'm gonna get changed. C'mon."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and Naruto jerked his head towards the back again. He supposed it wouldn't be the first time they'd stayed in the closet, but…

"Naruto," Iruka called, and Naruto paused— "do you mind locking up? I'm going to—ah. I'm meeting a friend."

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Huh," he said, his grin widening, "yeah, sure. You gonna be returning that scarf to him while you're at it?"

"Th—that's enough out of you!"

"Of course. I'm just gonna go over here. With my friend," Naruto said, looping an arm through Sasuke's—

"It—that—I'm leaving! Lock up behind me—" Iruka said, wrenching his coat off the hanger—

"Have a good date!"

"It's not a—"

The door shut.

Naruto turned his brilliant, expectant grin onto Sasuke.

"You are so cruel to him," Sasuke said. "That's Kakashi's scarf, isn't it?"

"Oh, hundred bucks, yeah. I thought it was weird when he didn't have it today. Wanna help me close up?"

Sasuke snorted.

"The things I do for you…"

"Hey!"

A night, a day, and another piece of a day later—it was Friday. Sasuke had slept Naruto's workday away, and Dia had been quite content to do the same. Still, they'd planned to try to take her to Naruto's place for the weekend—with Sasuke around, just in case—so she could get used to being there. Chances were she'd eventually have to be there for one reason or another, if things continued with the way they were…

Sasuke glanced back with a small smile.

"She hates me," Naruto said, uselessly giving the leash a small tug. "We gotta go, Dia, c'mon…"

"She hates being told where to go," Sasuke corrected, as Dia rolled over on her back again, swatting at the leash above her. "She should grow used to it, though."

"I hope so," Naruto said, crouching down. "C'mon, Dia—you know I have treats—"

He shook the bag, and Dia perked up. But as soon as Naruto tried to pull back a little, she was immediately down again, kicking at the leash—refusing to stand.

Sasuke laughed, stepping a few steps back. The sun was high in the sky by now, but the walk to Naruto's place was short...or it would have been. Sasuke was certainly feeling the effects, now, no matter how meticulously he'd kept to the shade—and Naruto had been happy to be the one to wrestle Dia into cooperating with them, insisting that Sasuke go on ahead, but—

"Are you sure you don't want me to take her?"

"No," Naruto said, with a small, glum laugh, "she likes the sun. I dunno. Try just—um, hang on—"

He stood, dodging the paws that swung at his feet—laughing out a yelp as he hopped away. Sasuke snorted and leaned back against the brick, feeling the heat sinking into him…

"Okay—she—she can see you. Keep going ahead? I wanna see if she'll follow you."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but dutifully turned—giving Naruto more than a few glances as he walked away. Dia was watching him, he noticed, tail wagging inself in slow, curving slaps against the pavement—

She meowed.

"I'm not going to carry you," Sasuke called back to her. "You've had far too many treats today."

Naruto laughed, and Dia meowed again.

Sasuke turned around and continued to walk.

"I—yes!"

Naruto's laugh caught up to him as Dia did the same—trotting up to Sasuke's side. Sasuke paused just long enough for Dia to bump her head to his calf, glancing at Naruto's beaming face—

"That's so fuckin' cute," he laughed. "How're you holding up? You okay?"

Sasuke inclined his head, keeping an eye on Dia as he started to try to walk again. She had that tendency of trying to trip him, after all…

"I'll...need to lay down," Sasuke said softly, and he felt Naruto's gaze snap back to him.

"I—yeah. Yeah, 'course. I can pick up Dia and we can just go if you—"

"I'm okay," Sasuke said, reaching back to catch Naruto's free hand. "I'll let you know if it's too much."

"I—okay. Okay. Um."

"Relax," Sasuke laughed, letting go to pull his hood down a little more. "What do you have planned for us today?"

Naruto let out a soft laugh.

"As if I ever really plan," he deadpanned, but Sasuke—

"You do," he said. "You have been. I've seen you collecting things. Am I touching shirts all day again?"

He glanced back, watching Naruto try to hide his embarrassed, blushing smile.

"I—I didn't—I wasn't really planning anything," he mumbled, smiling all the while. "I just kept seeing stuff that was a weird colour or weird texture and I didn't know if it would...I dunno…"

"Help me find out more," Sasuke said, pulling Naruto to him again. "You've been collecting yearbooks, too."

"I was looking up—I—" Naruto let out another breathless laugh. "Okay, yeah, those are just mine—the ones that dad, um, found, anyway, but I thought they might have something that could—jog a memory or something. I tried—um. I was looking online, to see if there was anything, um—"

"Sasuke's a common name," Sasuke said softly, "I know."

Naruto breathed out.

"Yeah. I haven't really had any luck. But—um. My other idea was—if you wanted to try, um—I know you bake a lot at work, but maybe trying in—in my place, would—"

"Make you delicious food that I cannot possibly steal from you," Sasuke interjected. "I see how it is."

"It—no! That's not why!"

Sasuke gave him a teasing glance, and Naruto immediately ducked down into a laugh as he realized Sasuke was just messing with him. He stopped as Dia found something or other to be distracted by, and Sasuke gave them a small pause before he continued to walk...testing if it would make—

Dia trotted back up to his side again, and Naruto laughed out his delight.

"We'll see about baking. I've been," Sasuke breathed out, "trying to...prod my memories when I bake certain things. To see if it's connected at all."

"Uh-huh," Naruto said, firmly at his side, "and?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"No recipes. Some smells, sometimes, seem to trigger something, but I...haven't been able to—to pick any of them out."

"Mkay," Naruto said, unfazed. "Lemmie know when you do. I didn't get too much else, but I did—um. Get a bunch of alcohol."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"For me," Naruto clarified, "and then for you. Later."

Sasuke ducked his head to hide his laugh.

"That secondhand drunk thing again?"

"I wanna try!" Naruto laughed— "We don't have to. D'you—"

"I want to," Sasuke said. "Anything else I should keep in mind?"

"Hmm...that you're great," Naruto said, grinning like an idiot, "and I like you a whole lot."

Sasuke shoved his face away.

"Sap," he said, as Naruto laughed right back into him.

"Oh! That reminds me," Naruto said, tripping over Dia's leash, "we should try out like...how strong you are. And how fast you are. Can you pick me up?"

Sasuke snorted.

"If you drink anywhere near the amount you did the last time you got drunk," he said, watching Dia sniff at a piece of grass growing up through the concrete, "I'm sure we'll find out. Again."

Naruto laughed.

"I won't! God, that was so bad. I can't believe you let me get away with puking on you."

"It was my fault you were sick in the first place," Sasuke said, tentatively dodging around the small table this building had set out. It put him out in the sun, but he was quick to move through it, feeling the searing heat until he managed to make it to the shade again—

He glanced back. Naruto had caught something out of the air—something colourful, and made of paper—and had Dia pawing at his legs as he attempted to fix whatever it was. A paper crane, Sasuke guessed, if it was anything like the hundreds that laid along the table.

"Thanks mister!" said the girl, beaming as Naruto passed it to her. A gust of wind fluttered the rest of them, but none of them managed to fall—

"Sorry," Naruto said, catching up to him. "Her crane tried to fly away. You okay?"

"I didn't know you knew how to do origami," Sasuke said, falling into step with him again.

"I—uh, I just kinda winged it there. Did it look good?"

"Better than the rest of them," Sasuke said, and Naruto laughed at him.

"Don't be a dick," he laughed, swatting the back of his hand into Sasuke's arm, "she was like five! Look, though, look at Dia—she's actually moving with me. Look!"

Sasuke glanced down, smiling softly.

"She tends to wander."

"I will take every inch of what I can get," Naruto said. "As long as she's moving in the right general direction and not completely miserable, I'm happy. Is her stuff too heavy?"

Sasuke snorted.

"It's fine. A minute ago you were sure I could carry you."

"I dunno if you can!" Naruto laughed. "Other than a piggy-back, I mean. I guess I kinda know. But there's so much I wanna know—"

"Alright," Sasuke said, "what else, then?"

"I—oh, um," Naruto breathed out, "I guess—I'm trying to find stuff that you—that you recognize. Did—like how you knew what a yearbook was. Something like that, right?"

"It makes sense," Sasuke said. It was one of those free-floating pieces of knowledge he couldn't link to much else. He had a lot of them. Were they any more familiar to him than any other piece of info? Sasuke couldn't…

"I don't know," he said softly, pulling his hood down a little more. "I'd guess that I've seen it before, but…"

"You don't have to be sure," Naruto said, walking just close enough to nudge their shoulders together. "If I ask you about enough stuff, and you keep leaning certain ways, we can piece it together from there. Right?"

Sasuke breathed out the tension in his chest.

"Right," he said softly, feeling that gentle relief and affection hum through him again. He wasn't even sure Naruto knew the way he settled his nerves.

"Good," Naruto said, shifting away to let Dia scamper between them—

"Dia," Sasuke said suddenly, and Naruto glanced back.

"Dia seems...familiar," he said again, watching her tail flick. "Although I'm sure—I'm sure any cat would be the same. I—"

"No," Naruto said, "no—that's something. Maybe you've had a cat before. Did you need to look up what she'd need?"

"...No," Sasuke said, and the quiet realization came along with it.

"Okay!" Naruto exclaimed. "Okay, that's—have you—okay, ever had a cat puke on you? That'd be something you'd remember."

"I...no," Sasuke said, giving Naruto a look, "I don't think so. Have you?"

"I work with animals, Sasuke," Naruto laughed. "Grooming cats is exactly as bad as you think it is. Also, hair balls. It's like they store them up for us. What about, uh—d'you know what owning a dog is like? Or—uh—you need something more specific, um, how often d'you brush a dog?"

"...I have no idea."

"Okay," Naruto laughed, "either you sicc'd them on me, or you didn't have one. Or had a real shorthair. I don't tend to see too many of those. What about ducklings?"

He threw Sasuke a grin, and Sasuke shoved his laughing face away.

"I didn't have the faintest idea what I was doing that day. We're here."

"Yup!" Naruto said, keys already in hand. "We're not going further, Dia. You're both invited, c'mon…"

He opened the door, and Sasuke ducked his head to hide his smile. He didn't know when Naruto had begun the habit of muttering his invitation every time they walked through a door, but it had certainly stuck.

Sasuke hadn't had the heart to tell him it was rarely necessary anymore.

Naruto carried Dia up the stairs, her tail swishing back and forth in quick, uneven flicks. A nervous awareness about the new environment, Sasuke thought, but the sooner they got her used to this place, the better.

"Okay!" Naruto said, waiting until Sasuke closed the door behind them to let Dia hop to her freedom. "I'm really hungry, I'm gonna make something, but, um—"

Naruto turned around, and Sasuke moved to stand by the pile of items Naruto had been collecting over the week.

"I'll go ahead and get started," he said, "shall I?"

Naruto gave him a sheepish grin, and Sasuke picked the first thing up.

A/N: The adoption's official! Long time coming, but they got there. It's been a super busy week, so I haven't gotten the chance to reply, but! I am reading everything, and I love and appreciate everything you take the time to write. More than you know. So thank you! I hope you're all safe and as well as can be.

I'll see you tomorrow!

Until then,

- Kinomi