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: Ah, well. This is it, isn't it? Thank you so, so much for coming all this way. If you've read along as I've posted it, or if you're just reading it now all at once - I hope you had a blast. After the intensity of Something Good, I knew that I wanted my next long-term project to be something really focused on just having a good time. And vampire AU anon gave me the excuse to put into words the intro to this fic, and it just kept growing from there! I know there were some intense moments, but I hope that above all else, this fic brightened your day, made you smile, or was just fun to have around. Just good vibes - that's all I was hoping for :)

But! This is the first fic I've ever written where I felt like an epilogue was really, really needed. So many loose ends still to tie up! So, for the last time, here's your daily chapter of Bite Me. I hope it's been great!

Bite Me

Chapter 39: Epilogue

Four years later, Sasuke was nervous. Nervous and waiting, and bouncing on the balls of his feet as if he was some sort of Naruto Uzumaki, flittering about all over the place.

"You sure you don't want me to get him outta there?" Kiba asked, wiping the fur off his shirt. "You know how late he stays."

"It's fine, Kiba," Sasuke said. "Thank you."

Kiba shrugged, but grinned wider.

"Alright," he said, clapping Shino on the shoulder as he passed by. "Good luck tonight."

He winked, and Sasuke gave him a nod, breathing out the nerves in his chest.

His pocket had never felt heavier.

He'd only had the ring for the past few months. Not to be confused with the ring he still wore around his neck—the one Naruto had bought him as a joke, with its blue and silver crescent moon—this one was very new and…considerably more expensive. He could have had it sooner, but he'd gotten his heart set on a custom design, and it had taken quite a bit of back and forth for the ring to finally look the way he saw it in his head. And all of that time didn't even include planning the proposal, the day, the everything to make this all perfect—

Any longer, and even Itachi wouldn't have been able to stall Naruto from beating him to it.

They'd both started planning after Ino and Sakura's wedding. Naruto had been at everyone's beck and call until he was finally given back to Sasuke, and even the briefest, most teasing bits of conversation about spending their lives together had had Sasuke's mind spinning.

He'd called Iruka the next day.

And Naruto was about as subtle as Kusanagi's yowling as she hunted a ball, with his secret little smile and particularly affectionate kisses. It didn't help that they'd been so heavily involved in Ino and Sakura's planning that they both had all of the steps fresh in their heads, at the forefront of their minds—on their computers, too, and all the tabs open to things that Naruto obviously didn't need anymore. Like flowers, venues, rings...centerpieces.

But Sakura and Ino were owed a bit of revenge, and they were perfectly happy to scheme with Sasuke to delay Naruto's plans. Itachi had done the most, though—and the family traditions he'd had Naruto research and plan out and attempt to perfect weren't even fake—he'd done his research, and Sasuke had been just as bewildered as Naruto to find how much there actually was. And it was a good thing too, because Sasuke had enough Uzumaki family traditions he'd had to piece together from the little Tsunade was willing to tell him. She'd shared much more with Naruto (who had promptly then shared it with Sasuke), and a touch less with Karin, which had been its own bizarre thing—

Sasuke had come into the cafe for...an attempt at a last paycheck. Alongside the rest of them. Of course, Naruto had come with him, too—and surprisingly, Tsunade, who was insistently quiet on exactly why. She'd taken one look at Karin and peppered her with about a hundred questions—

(Karin hadn't known her family history at the time. A week later, she had.)

Juugo, Karin and Suigetsu had taken their coffee and croissant skills elsewhere—to the coffee shop above Sasuke's old apartment, which Naruto happily dragged him to every now and then. There were whisperings about Karin leaving to work with Tsunade on something soon—from Sakura, in particular, who seemed convinced there was some sort of apprenticeship going on. Privately, though, Tsunade had told Sasuke she was taking it slow, for good reason. An Uzumaki's power was overwhelming until it wasn't, and at that point—

Well. The guilt could eat them alive.

And Sasuke had understood, because of all people—now—Naruto needed someone to ground him. They'd expanded the shelter—adding the two buildings behind them that they'd merged into one for a proper place for exercise and play—to give them more space for more animals, and more time to find foster homes for all of them. They had a much bigger foster network as a result, including a young, but familiar man—the one they'd saved in that dark alleyway. Inari had taken one look at them and insisted he help out for the rest of his life, becoming part of the growing section Sasuke had taken charge of on accident, but continued on purpose—and he'd come to quickly and easily stay as late as Naruto did, especially on the nights where one of the animals was recovering from a surgery, or fighting an illness, or faltering entirely.

Naruto had a mattress in the back. Sasuke never made him leave, but he certainly didn't let him stay alone.

Iruka helped too, of course. He came to visit them almost every week they didn't go to visit him, and Sasuke was happy to immediately give all of Naruto's doubts and fears away. The initial betrayal was easily overshadowed by the two of them snapping him out of it all, and he was always grateful by the end. And he was getting better with the guilt—which was...a bit of a theme amongst them all. Itachi had the most out of all of them—being the reason they turned, the reason for the ritual, blah, blah, blah, blah—

As if Sasuke wouldn't have made that trade again.

It had been horrible. In the beginning, especially, it had been terrifying. But if Sasuke had known he'd turned into a vampire to save his brother…

Well. That would have changed things, and he'd told Itachi so. With a raised voice and a bit of a snap—but Itachi had needed to hear it, and Sasuke had needed to say it, and they tended to somehow communicate best in their makeshift arguments anyway.

(It was nice having a brother again.)

Sasuke's guilt, on the other hand, had come swiftly and fiercely when he'd walked upstairs, as a human, and been asked why he hadn't found his way home. The Uchiha name wasn't famous, but it wasn't unknown—if you knew what you were looking for, it was just a search away—

But Sasuke hadn't known what he was looking for, and he'd bowed his head and told them so.

They...hadn't taken it well. It hurt to hear and it hurt to say, and Sasuke could well live the rest of his life without seeing that stricken look on his family's faces and knowing he was the one who put it there again. But it was a truth that he couldn't ignore anymore—it had dug into him so deeply that if his head was wiped and reset, Sasuke would have told you he had no family to belong to.

He just...had never earned his place there.

It had taken about three more days of talking to sort the rest of it out. Naruto had taken the time off he never seemed to, and between Itachi and him and his mother and his father—he'd had his hands full.

Sasuke still felt like he owed him, after all that. Naruto always knew how to talk sense into everyone but himself.

Sasuke's father had cut down on his work—stopped doing call shifts and finally been granted the reduced hours he'd asked for. Sasuke's mother had started refusing to talk for him, which had been—well, Sasuke had laughed out of pure surprise the first time it had happened. Sasuke's sexuality had been such an afterthought in it all that he'd completely forgotten he'd never come out at all—until, well, it had been far too late. Whether or not he'd had reason for his restrained, anxious silence wasn't really relevant anymore; Naruto was far too strong a force of goodness for it all to be anything other than okay. And while Sasuke wasn't home every day, he'd found himself wanting to visit more and more—

It was strange. He felt like he had so many different homes, now.

Kusanagi provided a convenient excuse, too. She still answered to Dia, and although she'd stayed with Sasuke's parents, she had yet to make another escape attempt again. Whatever had made her chase them out the door had settled, now—and she was happily back to her usual self. Although a little lazier, in her older age. (Sasuke felt she'd earned her right to lounge as much as she liked at this point, though.)

They saw her as often as they could, they saw Iruka as often as they could, they went to the art classes and Ino's shop and Sakura's practice—and they had everybody over when they could, which was fairly often. Especially with the three cats and two dogs they'd only meant to foster, because it suddenly became incredibly difficult to say no when they knew they'd had the space—and they'd had the space, with their house. They'd moved into it about three years ago, before Ino and Sakura had even got married—Naruto had taken one look out into the backyard and Sasuke had taken one look at the stars in his eyes, and they'd known it was their home. His parents had chipped in substantially for that one, but they said they were happy to. Something about making up for lost time.

(It wasn't the only place they'd chipped in. Iruka's studio had been thoroughly repaired and repainted—and would not be lacking funding for many years yet. Sasuke wondered if Iruka knew how much of a safe haven that place had been to him.)

And now Sasuke was here, breathing free, and it was time. Sakura had wrangled their pets to his parents' house, Ino had been in and out with the flowers, and Sasuke had called Ichiraku's three times to make sure his strange, one-of-everything reservation was still in place. Sasuke's life was busy and beautiful, and he wanted Naruto in it.

Permanently.

Sasuke ran his thumb over the ring, scanning it for the millionth time. He'd measured Naruto's finger four times when he was sleeping and he still was convinced it wasn't going to fit. Not that it would be the end of the world—Naruto would have said yes to a piece of twine. He knew that. He knew that. But he was still so—

"Sorry!"

Naruto burst through the doors, and Sasuke spun around and stuffed the box into his pocket—

"Sorry," Naruto laughed again, "I had so much fur all over me that even my change of clothes was a mess, and then I—hang on, lemmie lock up—"

"I'll lock up," Sasuke said, keeping two fingers on the box as he nudged his keys out. The last thing he needed was it to fall out right now... "You figure yourself out."

Naruto laughed.

"You're asking a lot," he teased, but he rubbed at the rest of his outfit—the sky blue shirt that Sasuke had bought him on a whim, tucked into his belt and bright white pants...Sasuke had to wonder if Sakura had tipped him off after all. He was enough to have Sasuke's head in the clouds. "Um—but yeah, you—still wanna do a dinner thing tonight? Where did you wanna go?"

"Ah," Sasuke said, swallowing. "Ramen?"

That was about as smooth as Sasuke thought it would be. But Naruto only let out a laugh, grabbing Sasuke by the hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Ramen!" he said, sidling up to Sasuke. "What're you trying to butter me up for, huh?"

Sasuke shrugged, keeping his free hand firmly in his pocket.

"I don't know," he said, smiling. "Maybe I'm just trying to stall for time."

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

Sasuke's smile widened.

"You're up to something," Naruto accused.

"I might be."

"...You gonna tell me what it is?"

"Eventually."

"Am I actually getting ramen?"

"Who do you think I am? Of course you are," Sasuke laughed, letting go of his hand. "Get in the car. I'll drive."

Naruto popped the door open, a smile fighting its way onto his face—

"Uh-huh," he said, hopping in. "But I want it known that I'm suspicious."

"I'll put it on the record. Anything else?"

Naruto's eyes darted up and down, his grin widening—

"...You look really good."

"Hm," Sasuke said, leaning forwards just enough to press a kiss to Naruto's lips. "Duly noted. Seatbelt."

"S'already on. Is everybody gonna be okay at home? We only did the one walk this morning—"

"They're alright," Sasuke said, starting the car. "Sakura owed me a favour."

"...Did she…"

Sasuke met Naruto's eye, and put the car into reverse.

"That's enough questions. Sit there and look nice."

"Ha!" Naruto laughed. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You're doing a great job of it now."

Naruto laughed and whacked at his arm, but settled back against the seat, smiling at him.

Sasuke backed up just enough to be able to get out of the lot.

"I love you, you know."

Sasuke pressed his foot on the break and looked over at him.

"I do know. Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Distracting me," Sasuke said, leaning a hand over the steering wheel. "I'm supposed to be driving."

Naruto's teeth ran over his smile.

"Stop making me wanna distract you."

"You exist in a perpetual state of wanting to distract me."

Naruto laughed again, tilting his head to the side with a small, "well…"

"Alright, usuratonkachi," Sasuke sighed, putting the car into park. "Come here."

Sasuke pressed one more...lingering...kiss to his lips before he got ahold of himself. Really now. Eye on the prize. They had things to do. Places to be...

He let out a breath, and he saw Naruto's smile widen in the corner of his eye.

"You're making me so curious."

"The more you distract me the longer it'll take. You have ramen waiting for you."

"Well, you—stop looking at me! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

A/N: And that's it! For now. With Bite Me finally being all done (? is that real? that cannot be real, right?), monthly fics will be resuming! Whether or not that'll start this month or next will be something I have to play by ear a little. I'm adding a bunch of things to my writing schedule this month, so with those changes I might need a bit to find a balance. If that's the case, I hope older fics & maybe some re-reads will tide you by for now : But I will get back to it as soon as I can!

Thank you all so much for reading until the end! I appreciate it more than you know. It was a long time to keep you all waiting, and yet you all were so kind and patient and unreasonably supportive - I've never announced a long-term project as early as I did this one, but it's been great. I'm really happy to have been able to finally finish it, and I hope the end of 2021/start to 2022 gift from me to you was a good one! I know the years have been rough, but I'll do what I can to give you stories when you need them.

Anyway! I'll stop rambling now. In summary - you're great, and thank you all very much for reading Bite Me!

Until next time,

- Kinomi