Chapter Three

The Rules

Sasuke refused to feed that morning.

Izuna looked at him worriedly, but the young raven had just said he wasn't hungry. Izuna couldn't figure it. Sasuke had never missed a meal before. He had a feeling he knew why he was starting to now, and he wondered if they really had enough time to play this game.

Sasuke didn't let to anything, there was no indication that he was feeling sick. His stomach was revolting on him, and he feared that if he had any more of that bitter blood he would throw up. He didn't need Izuna worrying over the fact that he was going to start throwing up blood. It was better to have him thinking that he would have to force him to eat than something worse.

"I don't want to go to class." Naruto said, yawning loudly as he came into the small living room that they had to share and dropped onto the couch. The morning was still young, and Gaara was an early riser so he had gotten Naruto up early as well.

Both of them had been shocked to find that Sasuke and Izuna were up even before them, showered and dressed.

"I agree with you there," Izuna chirped as he kept rummaging through the small kitchen, hoping against hope that he might find a snack. "Not to mention that we are going to have to either go to the cafeteria for breakfast, or we'll have to purchase something."

Usually the school provided breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It didn't mean that all of them wanted to eat what they served. It was nice that they allowed the option for students to cook their own meals but the curfew times were ridiculous.

"Might as well go to the cafeteria," Gaara muttered, he was sitting on a seat in the kitchen table. He had a water bottle on hand.

"Don't wanna go anywhere," Naruto groaned again, turning himself onto his stomach. He could fall asleep.

Sasuke who was silently standing to the side, near the kitchen just kept watching them. Izuna always had a knack for making friendly with people. Perhaps it came with the years of living. Izuna was so social and happy. People always seemed to love him.

Not that Sasuke cared. He never wanted to socialize. Right now the thought of having to talk to any human irritated the hell out of him. Scoffing, he pushed away from the wall and grabbed his bag from the couch and headed out the door.

Naruto snapped his eyes open, and looked at the retreating back of the silent raven. "He doesn't say much, does he?" he asked, curiosity painting his voice.

"Hm," Izuna glanced out when the door closed and shrugged. "Sasuke? He just needs time to start getting friendly. You have to talk to him or he'll never talk." With that he went to grab his own bag. "I better follow after him or he'll just skip breakfast. Such a brat," Izuna huffed.

Gaara chuckled. "We better go with you, we need breakfast as well. Come on Naruto, get up."

Naruto groaned. "Gaara, I don't want to. You are supposed to be my brother. You are supposed to make everything better!"

Gaara grabbed his own bag and headed towards the door that Izuna held open. "Fine, stay here," he muttered.

Naruto jumped. "Wait, don't you dare leave me here alone!" he rushed after them, closing the door behind him. They caught up with Sasuke. Izuna grabbed him around the arm and dragged the protesting raven with him towards the cafeteria.

Naruto got to joking around, but all he got from Sasuke were irritated glares.

He was starting to think that Sasuke didn't like anyone.

Itachi woke up that morning with a jolt.

It wasn't exactly that he wanted to wake up or that it was a bad dream.

The reason he woke up with such a start was the power surge he felt from the other day. It was the same unmated submissive calling out to him. It was as quick as it had been the first time, but it was enough to start his mind working overtime.

Itachi usually wasn't interested in submissive, but this one seemed to have caught his attention in a way that he couldn't ignore. It was an unusual feeling for him, and it left him confused. Frowning to himself, he gave up on sleeping and decided to get up to shower.

Being the first one up, he decided not to wake up Madara and just go on his own.

It was incredibly early, but at least that could give him some time to clear his mind. Whatever it was that he was thinking, he was not sure and he no longer felt the jolt of the unmated submissive that he had felt before.

Before long, it was time to grab some breakfast and along the way he met up with Madara again. This time they were a little more discreet, but the fact that it was so early in the morning, the cafeteria was already crowded with girls.

Madara claimed Izuna was the one causing such a commotion, but he didn't dare go through the ball of girls to pull him out and end the game.

Although, he knew it wouldn't be long before Madara grabbed Izuna and they found out what would happen next.

Itachi just had to be patient.

If there was one thing that was annoying to Sasuke, it was novels.

Writers these days wrote about everything ranging from hot gentlemen men, dangerous criminals, to vampires, and werewolves. Whatever it was, it was a dark romance fantasy that seemed to have girls on a high, and on a search for instead of prince charming or a knight in shining armor, for a blood sucking leech, and a man shape-shifting animal, not to mention that all of them had some sort of emotional issue that they wanted to fix. Mainly wanting to be normal and human, that was boring! It seemed that they constantly had their heads in the clouds, dreaming of living a dark eternity, under the moon with either one of those, wishing they could be like them or wanting to be the one to help them be human again.

While Sasuke thought it fine and dandy that girls could dream, and so could boys, it wasn't really helping him in making his decision.

He should be in class, but since Izuna was ditching class, Sasuke decided to do the same.

Izuna said that he was going to be spying on his mate, while Sasuke had decided to come and check out the library.

The smell of old books, and new ones, always brought back the memory of the books that his mother had owned and had always cherished. He wondered what happened to those books.

What had happened after his death to them?

He never really went back to see if they could still smile even though he was gone from their lives, or if perhaps they had decided to have another, and he guessed he would never know.

A part of him didn't want to know anyway.

He knew he had caused pain to his parents when he died young, and he had, had great parents. His mother would make him cookies every Wednesday, the day he didn't have to get up early for school, but instead got up early to help her bake. Other times, his father would need his help, and he'd go out with him to work. Whatever it was that he was doing, it didn't matter as long as he got to spend time with them.

Now he could never think of them as his parents.

No, nowadays, he would think of Izuna as his mother, although Izuna also claimed that he had a father, he had never seen him and until he did, he wasn't sure who his father was. It would also seem that this time around he would have a brother. Something Sasuke could not yet wrap his mind around.

When he had been human, his mother had told him that he would never have siblings. It seemed that they were always hiding something from him and that bothered Sasuke. The feeling to have siblings had never been there, but there was always a loneliness in him that didn't allow him to let people in. At that time, the blond idiot Naruto had been different, and although he called him brother in his mind, his heart never truly accepted it.

He just couldn't.

Moving towards the back book shelves, he found a young man who looked like he was crying. He had spiky raven hair, and neat clothes. Obviously, he was the librarian that was supposed to be at the front making sure that no student came in ditching class. Sasuke had wondered why he had not been caught yet, since he wasn't really trying to hide, but he still couldn't help but keep walking towards the crying man.

He just looked so sad.

"Why are you crying?" Sasuke curiously asked his eyes sincere as he looked at the male.

The man jumped, and looked at him startled.

"What…What are you doing here?" the man asked, "you shouldn't be here, you should leave. You should be in class" the man said this as he furiously scrubbed at his eyes with his hands, willing himself to stop crying. This was so embarrassing! In front of a student even. That was just plain humiliating, what would the other's think of him? Perhaps what they already thought anyways.

"Professors Sarutobi Kakashi won't miss me in his class. He's actually late," Sasuke smiled politely seeing as his words got the librarian to stop crying. "What's your name?"

"Nara…Nara Obito," the man hiccupped out. His eyes dimmed as sadness showed in them again. For a man and librarian, he looked more like a student than anything else. "I…I'm sorry you had to see me crying, that probably worries you. I'm the librarian, did you need a book or help with something?" he pleasantly asked, a small smile curving his lips. Sasuke stared at him with concealed startled shock.

Obito had been reincarnated into a male! It was a wonder why Kakashi had not been reincarnated as a woman…

"Nara…" Sasuke muttered. That last name not really one he had been expecting for someone that had once been an Uchiha. Obito nodded his head.

"That's my last name,"

"Uh, I've gathered" Sasuke looked around, trying to keep his mind from rushing with thoughts all at once. "I was looking for a book to read, if you don't mind. I am looking for something that is not on vampires…" he smiled, looking at Obito again, this was his target.

"Vampire books…" Obito repeated, knowing how those books were high on demand by the female population of the school. Most of them were kept in the front. "I think you can find any kind of book in any sections away from the novels at the front…" Obito looked at him oddly, looking down at the strange raven haired boy before him, and before he knew it, all he could see was the boy's dark eyes and his mind had gone blank.

Sasuke had his mind under his control now. "Listen closely, I'm the goose, and you right now are a duck. I'm going to tag you and make you the goose, but don't let anyone know." Sasuke came closer to Obito as he added, "The moment anyone with the last name Uchiha comes to you, you will tag them. Don't forget to let them know that they are the goose." Sasuke smiled politely. "Now for the rules…"

Obito nodded, and then his mind was released from Sasuke's hold.

Obito blinked.

He looked around, and wondered what just had happened. There was no one with him and the last thing he could recall was standing in this isle, crying his eyes out because Kakashi was dating Professor Umino Iruka, and never noticed him. Biting into his lower lip, he had to wonder why he even cared!

Kakashi had always hated him.

If there was one thing that Izuna was, then he was possessive.

To Izuna, Madara, Itachi, and Sasuke all belonged to him. That was why he could not stand the thought that there were selfish Uchiha back in the past that had escaped having their souls being bound to their bodies. Itachi's parents were one of the few, and then there were the few that had married and changed their last name, but still carried the Uchiha blood, like Sasuke's birth mother, Obito. Izuna had kept track of them and to think that for one moment, he had allowed his guard to stay down and now his son knew about reincarnation. He highly hoped that Itachi had not run into the same problem that Sasuke had. Seeing someone you knew from the past was never the same and it only allowed old memories to resurface.

That was why right now, he was currently in the records and admissions office. The secretaries that usually kept track of everything were knocked out cold, and the doors were locked shut to allow entry to no one.

Izuna slammed the cabinet closed, and opened the one bellow. He had not found what he had been looking for. Cursing he ran his fingers through every file reading every name, and then slammed that cabinet closed for the next one. So far, he had only found the familiar name of Naruto. Not that he needed to know that Naruto had been reincarnated; Sasuke had relied to him that the blond had.

Getting tired with the task of shoving cabinets, he moved towards the computer. It took only a few minutes to draw out every computed file, mainly staff. The names were running faster than the human eye could read, but in no time, he froze the screen, cursing himself even more. While the idea of playing the game had been all planned to be here, he had obviously not done his research.

One of the art professors was a female by the name of Takahashi Mikoto. There was a history teacher by the name of Okita Fugaku. The levels in which they taught were low, so he knew Itachi was never going to have them as professors, and neither was Sasuke. Then there was the librarian, Nara Obito. Sasuke liked the library; he was going to have to keep him from going there…

No, he could not do that.

He could not keep Sasuke from going to the library without seeming suspicious.

"Selfish," Izuna muttered darkly under his breath. "Each one of them is selfish," he hissed. He knew that eventually Naruto would get reincarnated, as well as whoever had shared blood with Itachi to bring him back to life.

The thing was that he really didn't need any turmoil for his sons! Not that he could ever completely prevent it.

Just as he finished cleaning up the mess he made, and closed every document that he had opened, there was the loud sound of the door being slammed open.

"Fuck," he cursed. He had forgotten that Itachi had the ability to unlock every kind of lock.

"Izuna," Madara drawled as he walked into the admissions office, and towards him, "Found you," Madara pointed an accusing finger towards him.

Izuna pouted, "That's not fair!" he pointed an accusing finger right back at him. "You are not playing fair!"

"Hey, I played fair and followed all the clues. What do you mean that I am not playing fair?"

Izuna crossed his arms and huffed, "You are supposed to be in class."

Madara chuckled. "And shouldn't you be in class as well?" he asked. He looked around, and Izuna immediately knew he was wondering why he was here.

Izuna crossed the room towards him and suddenly hugged him. "Well, it doesn't matter now does it, we are all together and that means that you are going to learn the rules of my new game!" Izuna pushed away from Madara when he felt that Madara was going to lean down and try to kiss him.

"What's wrong?" Madara asked, looking at him perplexed.

"Nothing, you really should know…" Izuna suddenly looked guilty. "The reason behind this game." His eyes darted to Itachi who had walked into the room behind Madara and then just sat down to allow them to talk. "And you are going to be part of it Itachi,"

"A game?" Itachi asked, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Izuna nodded and then moved away from Madara when he made a grab at him. "Why do you keep moving away?"

"Uh…" Izuna shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I…uh…I" he dropped his head. "I've kept a secret from you," that caused Madara to look at him with slight shock.

"A secret"

Izuna grinned, "Yeah, well you will find out what it is…if you play my game"

Madara looked slightly angry, "Is it bad?" he asked.

"Uh…" Izuna faltered, and then shrugged. "It's up to you really, to decide whether it is or not."

Madara knew that meant that it was bad enough to hide and make him angry, but not bad enough to actually be something drastic. It was still something that Izuna was hiding from him, and as his mate he had to know what!

"What is your game?" Madara decided to ask, knowing that otherwise Izuna was not going to say anything.

"Um, alright, here are the rules. The game I chose is Duck, duck, goose, but this time with a twist. Instead of the children's game of sitting in a circle and having a picker call out the goose, the goose has already been chosen." Izuna grinned, "And I have already set the Goose loose. Then that goose chooses someone else, although, the objective of the game is to get one of us," Izuna pointed to himself, then to Madara, and finally to Itachi.

"What do you mean?"

"The whole school is playing the game, but I'm king duck, if any of you get tagged, and manage to tag me, then" Izuna shrugged. "I spill the secret," then he smirked and mysteriously added. "Beware of your players."

Itachi furrowed his eyebrows. The game made no sense…unless. Itachi thought back to the submissive he had been sensing earlier, mixed in with the secret Izuna was keeping and he had to wonder. Glancing over to Madara, he saw that he was determined to play the game, just to get an answer to what Izuna was hiding.

There was just one thing that confused Itachi, "So you want us to attend class, and if by some chance we get tagged by someone," Itachi gave Izuna a look. "That means that we are the goose? And have to tag the next one."

Izuna grinned. "Well, basically, there will be something odd about that person. They will have a secret that they will share with you…" the guilty look on his face told them that he had placed some sort of spell over the student body, probably at the auditorium first day ceremony that Itachi and Madara had so diligently missed.

Madara on the other hand was more concern with something else. "Would I have to share a secret when I tag someone or if I get tagged?"

"No," Izuna said. "Only the humans. Consider it a good deed Itachi."

Itachi nodded. Izuna was such a complex person.

"Basically, it's about spilling secrets." Madara said his fist clenching. "I can't wait to hear yours,"

Izuna shrunk back, and then smiled. "If you can keep up, and find me. Just because you get tagged doesn't meant that you will automatically get to corner me again and get me to spill the secret. You will have to be smart and tag certain people to lead you to the truth. "

"Lead us to the truth…" Madara looked confused. "How much of this secret are you not telling me?"

"Enough I guess, but I can't say nothing for the rumors that will be spread nor the hints other people will give you," Izuna looked so mysterious. That somehow hit a hint in Itachi's mind. Suddenly the bell rang and Izuna waved. "Well, that's my cue!" and he was gone.

Madara clenched his teeth, and remained where he was.

What kind of game was Izuna playing?

Why did it involve secrets? What could he be hiding?

Madara growled and pulled at his hair, trying to figure out when it was that he had allowed his submissive so much freedom to play him like this!

Itachi decided not to bother Madara and his little tantrum. He knew how much Madara hated it when anyone kept a secret from him. In his mind, they were family. It wasn't as if Madara had not kept a couple of secrets himself, but Izuna never seemed to keep any.

This new development of Izuna's was unusual and Itachi could only guess what the secret was.

"Well, it's going to be an interesting school year, don't you think?" Madara said in a serious tone as he calmed down and straightened himself.

Itachi frowned, and looked away. "You can't really want to play that game. You know Izuna would just cave in if you gave him the cold shoulder."

"Nah," Madara said, and toothily grinned; "Besides we have nothing else to do, so might as well see how this game will play out. Also it might teach you to have a little more social skills."

Itachi wished he could leave, but he had already promised to help Madara. He narrowed his eyes at Madara and then sighed, as a sign that he was resigned to play the game. Not that he would tell
Madara about the other reason he saw it fit to stay.

"Who do you think the goose is?"

"Right now, I'm betting it's a human with a good secret… and I'm guessing one of us is its target. I'm more worried right now as to how and when they will come after us."

Itachi thought about it, and nodded his head. That would be right. If his theory was right, and if Izuna was hiding another submissive within the school, then that would be the first thing they would do. Pick a human, to get them, so they can tag someone else. That meant Izuna wanted them to be the Goose so they can get people to reveal things to them…if he was correct, as soon as a person was tagged, they were going to tag and when they were tagged, a secret would be revealed.

The only time that it wouldn't work was when the tagger was also a vampire…

"We'd better get to class." Madara suddenly said. Watching Itachi start thinking was getting him concern with where the boy's mind was these days. Itachi was usually sharp and focused. This time around, it seemed as if he was getting easily distracted.

Walking ahead of Itachi, he sighed when he started to follow.

Although, he knew that something in this school was distracting Itachi, and he wondered what it was, he just couldn't think of anything.

That night, Izuna was skipping all the way from campus to the dorms, merrily humming a tune. Sasuke continued to shoot him annoyed glares.

"So, what's got you so happy?" Sasuke asked, frowning when Izuna twirled and pulled on his hand to make him twirl right along him. "Stop-"

"I'm just so happy Sasuke!" Izuna cheered, "Madara found me again. And you'll never guess how he did it this time…" Izuna smirked down at Sasuke's petulant look. "He cornered me in an office," he dropped his tone, his eyes shining with suggestion.

"Ah, no, I don't need to know what happened then!" Sasuke said, pulling his hand away from Izuna and trying to move away from him. Izuna scoffed, and shook his head at Sasuke.

"It wasn't like that at all!"

"Yeah right, last time you said that you ended up talking about how much you love him, and how good he makes you feel. I felt sick. And the way you talk, you could write a book!"

Izuna was about to retort when he rethought what Sasuke had just said. "You know, that wouldn't be such a bad idea. I bet millions of people would love to read a book between me and Madara, and how we are so fluffy together!"

Sasuke gave him a disgusted look. "Fluffy isn't the right word for what you and Madara are."

"You're right; it's not even a word. The corrected new vocabulary of today will suggest the word smexy."

"You guys aren't even that!" Sasuke snapped.

"Oh Sasuke," Izuna grinned, feeling pleased. "You're still such a little child."

Sasuke stiffened. "Am not," he hissed. It really bothered him to be considered a child.

"The joys of being in love, and having someone," Izuna let out a longing sigh. "I wish Madara would hurry up and play the game so I can be with him." Izuna looked at Sasuke in the eye and asked "are you still the goose?"

Sasuke smirked. "No,"

Izuna looked shocked. "Then who…"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know."

"Why you,"

"Hey." Sasuke stopped Izuna before he could grab him and force him to spill. "It's part of your rules, isn't it? King Duck doesn't get to know who the next goose is, no matter how much he cries, begs, and pleads."

"Damn my rules." Izuna grumbled, trying hard to think about how he could get around his own rules. There was just no way.

Sasuke was amused by the development in Izuna's rules that when he felt a strong spike of power coming from inside the dorm building, he stopped walking and felt a jolt go down his spine.

That spike of power…

Sasuke bit his lower lip to keep from moaning, and tightened his hand around the strap of his backpack.

That power spike belonged to an unmated Dominant.

Strangely enough, he felt it bone deep, and pleasure caressed the very veins his blood flowed through. He couldn't describe how good it felt, or how it almost made him feel weak in the k nees. That rush…

"Sasuke?" Izuna called when he noted that his young charge had halted in his walk, a dazed look on his face. Sasuke shook himself out of his stupor, and it felt as though the world was moving in real time again. What was that? Even now as he snapped out of it, he felt his blood sing and tingle at the tips of his fingers, "Sasuke, are you alright, you look a little flushed."

"Um," Sasuke took a step back, to keep distance between him and Izuna. "It was nothing, nothing." He shook his head and continued walking. "I'm fine, lets head back."

"If you say so," Izuna frowned, looking at Sasuke's back in concern. Just as he was trying to think what could be wrong with him, the lights of the girls' dorm, followed by the boys' dorms, lost power, leaving the school to go dark.

A moment later, "AAAAHHH!" There was an eruption of screams.

Several students were ran outside, and looking horror-stricken.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked, looking around in confusion. Izuna looked startled, and moved towards Sasuke, removing his long coat and dropping it over Sasuke's head. He had to get him out of here or his game would be over! \

"HEY!" Sasuke snapped, and pushed him slightly so he could glare at him, "What the hell is going on!" Sasuke's petulant face would have been a source of amusement to Izuna just minutes ago. Now though, he had only one concern as to what was going on, and he didn't like it.

"Someone has pissed Itachi off…"