Author's Note: This story is crack. It's a bunny that I knew I shouldn't play with, but it grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

Warnings: Blood, demons, sex eventually.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Vice

Chapter Two

Sasuke didn't stay in the hospital long after he recovered, and he recovered quicker than he could credit. The nurse still lay on the floor when he left, and it was his good luck that no one had come to investigate the call. He hoped, as he snuck out the window and squinted against the bright late morning sun, that someone found her soon. Whatever he'd done, he did in a convenient place at least.

He felt better. Not good, precisely, but better. He was tired, and he was confused.

The fangs he had found after letting go of the nurse had shrunk away. So had the claws. This, he took to be a good sign. He didn't know how the hell else to take it.

He remembered Naruto, remembered the way he'd changed when his chakra turned red.

He went to see Sakura instead.

Barefoot and wearing hospital clothes, he hurried toward the Haruno house. It didn't seem likely she'd be there in the middle of the day, but Sasuke couldn't think of a better place to start. If she wasn't, there was a chance that her mother would be. He saved the question of how he'd ask Sakura's mother where she had gone, dressed as he was, for later.

It was a trick to move like everything was normal. He wanted to hurry so he could find out what the hell had happened.

It was a bigger trick to ignore that whatever had happened in the hospital room was happening still. He could feel it around him everywhere when he pushed into the more crowded areas of the town. He could feel it in everyone.

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, tucking his hands against his body, and walked faster.

In front of Sakura's house, he paused. The main door was closed; the lights downstairs were off. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke searched for some sign of life. Then he realized he was procrastinating and frowned. Staring at the house front wasn't going to do him any good.

But how the hell was he going to explain this to Sakura?

He couldn't imagine she already knew, did she? If she had, she would never have let him wake up alone to attack a nurse. No, whatever had happened, she wouldn't know about it. He was sure.

She would know how the mission had ended, though. If that bastard he fought had done something, she would know. She had to.

Sakura, do you know why when I came to in the hospital, I was a... A what? He took a deep breath. Fuck it. Just standing here wasn't going to make this conversation any easier.

There were people everywhere out here, practically glowing at him. When he breathed in, he caught the flavor in the air, something bright and heady.

And he forced himself to admit he was almost afraid to be alone with Sakura.

Almost.

After another instant of staring at the house, he squared his shoulders and walked up to the door. He rang the door bell, and prayed to any god that might listen that Sakura answered the door rather than her parents. He didn't want to see any more people than necessary. He just wanted this fixed as soon as possible.

He heard the deadbolt pull and the door swung open. Sakura appeared in the gap, looking tired. Her eyes widened when she saw him, but that was the only sign of surprise.

"Sasuke-kun," she began critically, the exact instant he knew she noticed his clothes. "What are you doing here? You should be in bed."

"I checked myself out," Sasuke lied.

"I see. Sasuke-kun, you really - "

"Can I come in?" he interrupted her. "Please, I have to talk." The words came out too fast, more desperate than he meant them to. He could feel her, too, stronger than the others. Standing next to her was like facing the sun with his eyes closed and feeling the light soak through his clothes into his body.

Sasuke wished his pants had pockets. He didn't like not trusting himself.

Wordlessly, Sakura moved aside so he could step inside the house.

"No one else is home," she said after he'd come in, leading him into the family room. One corner of Sasuke's mouth tugged up in half a smile. She was a bright girl. "Can I get you something? Some water or tea...?"

"No," he told her. "I'm fine. I just need to talk to you."

Sakura sat down slowly, folding her hands in her lap. "Okay," she told him. Her expression was free of romantic notions. He saw only worry in her face. "We can talk."

Sasuke took a seat well away from her. He ignored the look she gave him as he picked a chair. At the moment, keeping some distance was the best protection he could give her.

He was surprised how that stung. He wasn't sure how he could tell her that without it hurting more.

He chewed on his lower lip, noticed, and stopped himself consciously. "Sakura, I," he said, then stopped. Pausing, he turned over what he was going to say. He changed his mind three times before finally continuing. "What happened to the mission? I don't remember everything."

"Sasuke? What's this about?"

He grimaced, hating his himself more than he had in years. "I need to know."

"Alright," she said finally, carefully. "Alright, I'll tell you. What's the last thing you remember?"

The silence stretched and he wondered if he should tell her more. Should he tell her what had happened? He opened his mouth to, but he couldn't quite manage it, not with her green eyes watching him that way. Not when the pity he saw in her could be used against her. Not when a part of him wanted to do that, and hold her body until it was cold.

He clenched his hands around each other so hard it made bloodless marks around his fingers.

"I remember I was going to fight someone," he said instead. "After that, it's a mess."

"Okay." She watched him, shifting like she might come closer, but she stayed where she was. Sasuke was very grateful she was a bright girl. "Okay. The man you fought, do you remember him? Or do you just remember that you fought someone?"

"I remember him a little." He could almost picture him if he closed his eyes, but not quite. He couldn't make the memory solid. He didn't explain that.

Sakura nodded. After a minute, she told him, "The man you fought was a Cloud jounin. He hurt you badly in the fight. Naruto and I, we didn't see most of what happened, but we think it was an escape tactic. He... you were in pretty bad shape when we found you."

Sasuke bowed his head. This made sense. A worm of fear squirmed in his stomach - if she wasn't there, maybe she didn't know what happened. Pushing it down, he prompted, "Then you healed me and brought me back to the village?"

"Yeah," she agreed, then amended, "sort of."

Sasuke's ears pricked. "Sort of?"

"Well, Naruto found you first. I was still fighting - I couldn't pull back to help."

The pieces were threatening to fall into place in Sasuke's head. "Are you saying that Naruto healed me?"

"Not healed, exactly. I did that, but there was really no need for it. Most of the damage had mended itself by then. Naruto doesn't know any medical-ninjutsu, and frankly I'd be afraid to let him try them if he did. He - "

"He?" Sasuke repeated urgently. What the fuck had Naruto done? The fangs and the claws were so familiar, but it didn't make sense.

"He leant you his chakra," she explained. "A lot of it. He said that if it worked for him, he thought it might work for you. You'd have died otherwise, and it seemed to help."

Naruto, he thought, and his jaw tightened. You idiot. Did it ever occur to you that sharing demon possession was a bad idea? He should have helped Sakura. He should have let the person who actually fucking knew what she was doing fix him. Was that so complicated?

"Sasuke-kun, are you okay? Sakura asked, standing and taking one step toward him. He looked up at her, part of him wanting her to take the next step. Too much of him. She'd let him. She'd let him touch her, sucking out everything vital. She might not even notice it. His hands started to shake again.

Fuck!

He bolted to his feet, backing away from her. "I have to talk to Naruto," he told her curtly, and made himself not think about the way he wanted to taste her.

She was so much brighter than the people he had passed on the street.

"Sasuke-kun!" she snapped, moving to block his way to the door. "What the hell is going on?"

"Sakura, I..." He what? "I'll explain later. I have to talk to Naruto now."

"Why? Sasuke-kun, what's the matter? Did it not work right - are you okay?" She was close. She was getting too close. He could have grabbed her so easily, but he wouldn't have had to. He didn't have to because he could have taken her hand, reassured her, taking everything he wanted while he did.

He was hungry, damn it.

And manifestly, it all made sense. He was fucking hungry. Anger burned his face and his stomach, and he held onto it because it made it easier to brush past Sakura without stopping, without taking everything she would offer him and more. He punched the wall by the door; the plaster cracked, caving in under his fist.

"I'll explain later." Then he was out the door.

He hardly registered the walk to Naruto's apartment, bare feet be damned.

He noticed the stairs as he stomped up them, and the door when he pounded on it hard enough to rattle the hinges. Naruto's outraged shout made it worse. He didn't know what he was going to say when Naruto opened the door, or what he'd do. His hands itched, and he heard his own blood rushing through his ears.

The knob turned, and Sasuke pushed it inward, slamming past Naruto in a rush.

"What the - !" Naruto started, but Sasuke overrode him.

"What the fuck did you do to me?" he demanded, reaching out and grabbing Naruto's arm. He didn't stop himself when he tried to feed on the other man - he couldn't. This was his fault.

The response was instant.

Red chakra bubbled up, fast and hot as wildfire, laced with disdain. Red eyes flashed at him, the pupils narrowing to bare slits. Naruto wrenched his arm away from Sasuke at the same time his chakra pushed forward. Staggering back a step, Sasuke cracked his head sharply against the wall. Sparks danced through his vision.

Sasuke shook off the stun as he straightened. Naruto's eyes locked on him, fading back to blue. They were wide and angry, and little sneer lines creased the sides of his nose.

"You," Sasuke snapped, "what did you do? What the fuck did you do?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? And what was that?"

Sasuke glared, forcing himself still. He could feel Naruto. Not his damn chakra, no, or not just that. It was thick around him, but not like Sakura's. This was hotter, heavier, and struck a disturbingly familiar resonance inside him.

He stood in a kiln.

And he wanted to stay there.

"I'm talking about whatever the fuck you did," he said as clearly and slowly as he could, like he was speaking to a particularly dense child. "Sakura said that you gave me your chakra, you utter moron. Did it occur to you that forcing your demon into other people was a fucking bad idea?"

"Wait a minute, I didn't - "

"Then what did you do, huh?"

Naruto shut his mouth. A muscle in his cheek jumped angrily. They stood there, exchanging stares, and the longer Sasuke met Naruto's gaze, the more aware he was of the power that boiled over with his agitation. It was thoughtless as an angry cat lashing its tail. Part of Sasuke wanted to look away. The bigger part wanted to pick a fight.

"Sasuke," Naruto said finally, his voice grating. "If you don't start making sense, I'm going to knock you around until you do. Now what the fuck are you talking about?"

Sasuke's skin crawled. His teeth hurt, and he knew what it was. Fine, let Naruto see it. He bit off his answer one word at a time. "I'm talking about waking up in a hospital and almost eating the nurse."

Naruto blinked, his expression relaxing in confusion. "Want to repeat that in a language that makes sense?"

"It doesn't matter what language it's in. It won't make sense."

Scratching his cheek idly, Naruto said, "I'd believe that."

Sasuke scowled. "It's your fault. You did it."

"What the hell did I do?"

Narrowing his eyes and tilting his head, Sasuke pushed himself off the wall and inched closer to the other ninja. "Even you aren't this stupid. You used that monster to heal me - Sakura said so."

"Okay..." Naruto agreed slowly. "I did. What happened?"

"I already told you. I woke up in the hospital and tried to eat the nurse. I went to Sakura's, and I couldn't even stand close to her. I..." He trailed off helplessly. "I needed it, Naruto. I still need it, and it's your fucking fault!"

There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

Then Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke, I still don't understand what you're saying. You're going to have to be clearer than that."

"Naruto..." Sasuke shook his head. How could Naruto not get it? He had to. If that thing was in him, he had to get it. He couldn't explain it if Naruto didn't get it. Deliberately, Sasuke raised his hand. Naruto tensed, rearing back, but Sasuke made no move to touch him. Instead he made sure his teammate could see his hand clearly, could see his nails as they turned long and thick, and pointed. This, at least, Naruto must understand. Sasuke had seen it happen to him more than once.

The muscles moved in the back of his hand, his fingers jerking. The bones and tendons stood out rigid under the skin until, finally, the claws weren't growing anymore. Just there, sitting on the ends of his fingers as though they belonged.

"Does it make sense now?"

Naruto eyed him warily. "A little more, yeah. Now what do you mean, you tried to eat a nurse?"

Sasuke growled in his throat - a strange sound, but he didn't bother to stop it. At this point, it just proved what he was saying. "I mean that when the nurse came in, I tried to eat her. I realize there are different ways to take that, but it's not that obscure."

"Sasuke..."

"Ask that damn kitsune, if you don't believe me. I'm sure he understands."

Naruto's brows drew down, tilting his eyes. "It doesn't work like that. I've talked to that thing a handful of times. It's not like we chat."

"So you can't ask him?"

"I didn't say that," Naruto snapped back. "But that doesn't mean he'll answer. It doesn't mean I can hear him half the time without trying at all."

Sasuke swore, vehemently. "Then ask him what he did, if it wasn't you. I want to know what the fuck's going on."

"It's not that easy! It's not like he's in the back of my head all the time or anything. I didn't even know he was there until I was twelve." The blond raked a hand through his hair, then made a frustrated sound. The energy around him whirled. It wasn't forceful enough to be felt physically, but Sasuke could sense it, and it was still powerful.

He pushed back the part of him that wanted it. He didn't understand how Naruto could throw off energy so carelessly when he craved it so bad.

"You won't even try?" Sasuke asked.

"Even if I did, I wouldn't trust what he said," Naruto shot the answer back. "I don't know anything about kitsune."

"You've had one in you, and you don't know anything?" Bristling, he crept closer. Naruto's chakra flared at his proximity. The marks on his cheeks darkened, eyes wavering red again before returning to normal.

When Naruto spoke, his voice was harsh. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" His own voice wasn't right. Sasuke swallowed in a vain attempt to clear his throat. Lip curling, he said, "Don't get closer to you?"

Naruto snarled right back at him, "Yes!" Then he pushed past, brushing by him in the middle of a flurry of angry chakra. The presence was so powerful that, for a second, it hurt. Even when Naruto moved away, Sasuke could feel it filling the apartment. It teased him. "Yes," Naruto repeated, sitting on his couch. "It puts me on edge. Now shut the door and come sit down."

Then Naruto added quietly, "I can't believe I'm going to do this."

Sasuke didn't sit for long. He couldn't hold still, and he preferred to pace rather than fidget.

Apparently, speaking with the Kyuubi involved a lot of sitting very quietly and staring at nothing.

The hair on the back of Sasuke's neck stood on end. He wasn't sure how long he could take this. His skin crawled, and something in him that was him but wasn't wanted nothing more than to move as close to his friend as he dared and simply soak up the power that rolled off him as casually as body heat.

Knowing Naruto could have given him what he needed only made it worse. Unlike the nurse or Sakura, Naruto probably wouldn't bat an eyelash at the loss. Sasuke was sure if he tried to take all of what Naruto had in him, he'd be incinerated - or maybe simply burst.

He ground his teeth, ignoring the ache in them, and stalked the confines of Naruto's small studio apartment.

Minutes went by, made longer by Sasuke's restlessness. Minutes might have piled up to an hour by the time Naruto shook himself and shot Sasuke a glare.

"Will you calm down?"

Sasuke noised a disgusted grunt. "What did he say?"

Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose. "He called you an ignorant whelp. Is that helpful?"

"That can't be all," Sasuke said, pausing in his circuit of the room. "What else did he say?"

Rubbing his temples wearily, Naruto said, "There was a lot of laughing, too. Sasuke, I told you he wouldn't be helpful, and I told you that we couldn't trust him. What more do you want?"

"What did he say?"

The blond shook his head. Couch creaking, he leaned back and fixed Sasuke with a long, clear look. "He said that you're an ignorant whelp, and that you'll be lucky to live long enough to actually get away with this kind of bullshit. And he laughed at both of us. The bastard's having the most fun he's had since he was sealed." He stopped there, and Sasuke could see him waiting for his speech to set in. After a moment, he asked, "Happy?"

"That's useless!" Sasuke protested, and Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, it is." He sighed heavily. "Sasuke, sit down. It might not be that bad - maybe it'll go away. You're probably making it worse by getting so worked up."

Chakra and life moved through the room like a strong wind, nearly a tactile sensation on Sasuke's skin. The need was sharp, sharper with so much around him. He was starving at a banquet. And somehow, Sasuke doubted it would just go away like that. He shivered. He shivered, and he wanted, and he needed to know what the fuck was going on.

More than that, he needed to stop remembering the nurse's taste, Sakura's light.

"Sit the fuck down!" Naruto snapped, bringing back Sasuke's attention. "Whatever you're doing, knock it off. You're making it worse."

"How can you tell?"

Naruto laughed. "It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

Snorting, Sasuke did sit. Naruto relaxed a bit more when he had, throwing one arm over the back of the couch. Sasuke watched as he leaned back and looked at the ceiling. Naruto's neck arched, adam's apple sliding under tan skin, muscles defined in the sunlight that poured in through the apartment's dirty windows. Dust motes and power.

Sasuke looked away, dragging his mind away from his hunger. "What makes you think it might not be permanent?"

"What makes you think it is?" Naruto asked, and shrugged one shoulder. "If it's from my chakra, then it should go away once that's out of your system, right? Maybe this is some kind of withdrawal or something."

"Naruto," Sasuke said, blinking his surprise. "That almost makes sense."

"Thanks, I think." Naruto's chest rose and fell with his breathing, stretching his black tee shirt. "What we should be doing is talking to someone who actually knows about this shit."

"You were supposed to know about this shit."

"Why?" Naruto retorted, his head snapping up. "Because I got stuck with a damn kitsune?"

"Because you did it," Sasuke explained shortly.

"What kind of reason is that?"

"Do you normally do things you know absolutely nothing about, dumbass?"

Naruto's chakra roiled at that, red and aggressive. It sizzled across Sasuke's senses, barely there but much, much too tangible to ignore. He held back the urge to go closer. His hands started shaking again. He wanted it so much...

"Sasuke!" Naruto barked, and Sasuke realized he'd missed something.

He took a deep, slow breath to clear his head. "What?"

"We should talk to Tsunade or Jiraiya. They'd probably know more than me anyway."

Sasuke let his breath out slowly. His stomach turned, not really hungry, but uneasy. "Naruto," he began, not even knowing what he was going to say. He was measuring the distance between them.

A staccato rap on the door saved him from having to say anything.

To be continued.