Tsunade was busy reading over Shikamaru's report. He stood silently as she read over it for what was the fifth time since he had arrived, delivering it to her in person. Each read through her face changed with more and more disbelief.
"Are you certain, there was no one at the mansion?" she finally asked, looking up at him with all seriousness.
"Yes, ma'am. When Sai-san and I arrived, there were no signs of there being any hunters but us in the vicinity," Shikamaru answered crisply, standing at attention with his hands by his sides. "When I inquired about who sent me the letter at the arcade, no one could say, not even the owner."
"I definitely didn't authorize that letter," she replied, rubbing her temples. Under her breath, where he wasn't supposed to hear, she muttered in English, "what the fuck is going on?"
"If I may, Tsunade-sama, I have an idea."
Tsunade eyes sharpened. "Don't keep me waiting. What is it?" she demanded.
"I believe we have a traitor within our midst. Or, at the very least, an infiltrator. After finding out the letter I received was fake and that not even the usual guards were there to intercept us, I decided to look through a few of our recent reports. There were holes and inconsistencies that became gapingly obvious when multiple reports were compared. I myself didn't notice at first either. If I did not go in with a skeptical mind, I may have missed it myself."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, knowing what he was implying. "If we did not notice until now, that would imply memory manipulation or illusions."
"Possibly," Shikamaru agreed. "We have been getting more and more requests for exorcisms. Spirits and demons that have laid dormant for decades are becoming more active. The perpetrator may be possessed or changing our perception of reality. It will be difficult to tell what is real from reality depending on how long we have been affected, but once we find the inconsistency, the spell or illusion should start to unravel." He stepped forward and handed her another sheet of paper. I have taken the liberty of contacting my father and informed him of the situation. He is willing to accept our reports and analyze them as it is unlikely to be affected as he hasn't been on the island in years and away from the influence."
"Pretty bold of you," she said dryly but didn't reprimand him for taking the initiative. She stared at the report one last time. The wheels in her head were turning, coming up with a plan. "Alight. Send the documents from the past three months to him. I want him to talk to me directly, no one else. This stays between you and me. Meanwhile, we need to get ourselves reorganized. I know you're assigned to keep an eye on Uchiha during school, give that duty to another student. I'll need your eyes to go over my plans. I don't know how deeply affected I am either. We can't start a full investigation until we know how we are being affected.
"In the meantime, I'll contact Uchiha and tell him to disable that sound barrier. Unless he's planning something, he doesn't need it. We'll revoke his right to stay on this island if he insists."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
Shikamaru confirmed her orders. It would take a week, maybe two for his father to read through all the documents they were sending his way if he dropped everything to focus only on that task. Until then, it was going to be difficult to sift through information and determine what was valid or not. Information was going to slow, and it was going to sow the seed of distrust in the shinobi once it was known. They were going to doubt Tsunade's leadership for allowing this to happen whether it was her fault or not.
In Shikamaru's opinion, he didn't think anyone would be able to stop or predict the level of deception that has infiltrated their ranks. As someone who had studied illusions, he knew how difficult it was to make sure everyone's memories or visions matched up, how difficult it was to do it without being noticed around trained hunters. Whoever was interfering knew exactly how to carefully work his way into the fold leaving little evidence of their manipulation is their wake. Without this recent incident, he wasn't sure how long it would have taken someone to notice.
"Is there anything else you need to report, Nara-kun?" Tsunade asked.
The promise he made Gaara crossed his mind. With a straight face, he replied, "Not at the moment."
Tsunade dismissed him. He bowed and excused himself. Just outside the door, Hyuuga, Hiashi was waiting for him.
"Hyuuga-san," he bowed his head.
"Nara-san. I was hoping to speak with you," he said. As always, he was dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. Many of the clan leaders did, especially if they were no longer actively hunting, busy running their household.
"Is there something I can do for you?"
Hyuuga turned, indicating that Shikamaru should follow. Honestly, he had been avoiding his report to the elder Hyuuga. He didn't want to get any further involved in the Hyuuga clan's politics. Exhaling, he followed the elder.
They walked in silence. Quietly, Shikamaru hoped this wouldn't take long. While he liked silence, he preferred it to be where he could be working or doing something more productive than humoring this man.
"I questioned Sai-san about where my nephew has been going at night. He told me he had no idea and that you were more aware of his activities after school." He stopped and turned his eyes on Shikamaru. "Where has he been going?"
Nara met his eyes. Others would have straightened their posture or squirmed at his gaze. He was a tall man and intimidating to most. Shikamaru didn't change his slouched posture and addressed him directly. "Neji-san is naturally gifted with an excess amount of chakra. With the decline of hunters in the world, is it right to keep a potentially strong hunter stunted as you have?"
"That is none of your concern," he dismissed Shikamaru's words immediately. "Who is his teacher? Where has he been spending his time," the man repeated the question.
"Neji-san practiced every morning and night on his own. It was inevitable that he has grown stronger."
"Do you take me as a fool?" Hyuuga interrupted though he did not raise his voice or sound accusing. "Neji's chakra has become stronger, meaning he's been training it specifically. That is not something someone does instinctively unless they are aware of it or have a teacher. Who is it?"
Shikamaru handed him an envelope with him both hands.
"What is this?"
"My resignation. It's become too troublesome to remain in your employ."
Hyuuga didn't even flinch at his rude words, briefly looking at the letter before rejecting it. "Keep your letter. You were doing it as a favor for Tsunade-sama." He continued walking without Shikamaru. Hyuuga wasn't even phased about Shikamaru's withdrawal. Did he believe he was that easy to replace or did he not care for his nephew anymore?
It wasn't any of his business. Neji was too talented and determined to be buried in the normal world. Whether Neji discovered the hunter world or not would eventually be up to him. Hyuuga, Hiashi was a fool if he thought he could hide it from Neji forever, but again, it wasn't any of his business.
His phone buzzed, and he inwardly sighed as it buzzed again and again. He was going to be busy the next few days. As his phone continued to blow up, he ignored it briefly to glance outside, seeing a raven perched outside the window watching him. They stared at each other for several seconds before it took off into the sky, flying off. The last time he checked, ravens weren't common on the island.
Taking out his phone, he dialed in a number. At this point, he wasn't going to leave anything to chance. "I have a job for you."
After Gaara left school that day, he sequestered himself in the mountain forest, feeding off boars and deer he could find. As he suspected, animal blood didn't satisfy his hunger. It was like drinking water on an empty stomach. A little uncomfortable and nauseous but dampened the hunger just a tad and only for a very short time. It did however give him an outlet to take his anger out on. It exhausted him mentally and physically enough to think clearly and consider his options.
A change couldn't be stopped. Once bitten, there was no going back. But Uzumaki wasn't a normal human. There were so many possibilities of what could happen, so many uncertainties. Between Uzumaki being a host and Orochimaru's experimentations, who knew what would happen.
Tsunade and Jiraiya may or may not be on Uzumaki's side. They loved and protected him, but they were in the worst positions to take his side. They had responsibilities to the hunters over Uzumaki. They couldn't be trusted in the long run.
That left Uchiha. Uchiha had connections, and he knew that he had his sights on Uzumaki. Other than that, he knew nothing about Uchiha's intentions. Uchiha may be Uzumaki's chance. His chance off the island and a chance to gain freedom. Depending on if the lord inside him gains freedom or not, Uzumaki may be able to live under the vampire's council's protection through Uchiha.
But he had to find out what Uchiha was thinking first. He couldn't just blindly trust that Uchiha would protect Uzumaki or even care for him. There were vampires that just abandoned the fledglings they sired or did with them as they pleased, exerting their power over their fledglings and abused them. He couldn't be sure Uchiha wasn't one of those. He needed to do some research.
When he returned to school, he waited at the front gate, watching and waiting for Uchiha to show himself. As he stood there, leaning against the gate surrounding the school, he did his best to tune out everyone around him. The smell was enough to make his darks turn dark. If he was an actual vampire, he could just not breathe, lessen the burden on himself. Instead, his hunger intensified all his senses. The smell of sweat and blood, and even strong emotions if it had a physiological reaction. Fear and anxiety smelled sweet and intoxicating. With midterms drawing near, many of the students had a lingering smell of sweetness as they passed, and Gaara had half the mind to follow them.
Often, he had to remind himself that he had a job to do. He kept his feet planted, and quietly waited for the vampire to show himself. Eventually, the town car pulled up, and Uchiha stepped out. He would have blend in perfectly with the normal student body with his look of entitlement, like he was above everyone around him.
Their eyes met, and Gaara gestured with his head to follow him, eager to get away from the students. This was already going to be a long day.
He made it to the roof before Uchiha did. Uchiha took his time heading to the roof, probably with the intent to make him wait, but Gaara took the extra time to make sure he was calm and could keep a strong front when addressing Uchiha. Any weakness and Uchiha would use it to his advantage.
Gaara looked over the railing, watching the last of the students file in for class. A short while later, Uchiha entered walked through the door as the warning bell rang.
"You left early your first day," Gaara commented. He wanted to see how forthcoming Uchiha would be with information.
Uchiha didn't disappoint, responding in a rather bored tone. "I didn't know I needed your permission." He walked up to Gaara, taking position beside him and looking at the humans below. "I assume you called me here to claim your territory?"
"Don't lump me in with your kind," Gaara turned his head to assess Uchiha. As the vampire looked down on the humans, literally and figuratively, he had an air of confidence. Despite being surrounded by hunters, Uchiha did not come across as threatened or uncomfortable. Even if he was strong for his age, how could he remain so undaunted by the threat around him? Was he naive? Stupid? Or did he have enough assurance in his abilities and connections that no harm would come to him?
"What are your plans with Uzumaki?" Gaara asked, cutting to the chase. He was never one to beat around the bush and he suspected Uchiha wasn't either.
Uchiha looked at him with curiosity sparking in his eye and a polite smile on his lips. "Why?" he asked. "Do you have a claim on him?"
Gaara answered his question with a hard stare.
Dropping the smile, Uchiha's face turned serious as well. "Non-involvement applies to you as well. Unless you have a hand in my business, it is not your place to intervene in my affairs, nor do you have a right to know."
Gaara's temper flared at Uchiha's brazen response. It even irritated Seth, his power leaking into Gaara's tired and worn state, the threat of violence rolling just beneath the surface. Uchiha became wary at the leak of power, showing the first signs of cautiousness since meeting.
That wasn't what he wanted, Gaara reminded himself, reigning back his anger. He needed Uchiha to be receptive to him. He was Uzumaki's only hope. Carefully, he answered as neutrally as he was able, "Uzumaki is my friend. His safety concerns me."
"Is that all?" Uchiha asked, not sounding convinced.
Gaara didn't answer. He didn't have an answer. What he said was the truth.
"All you need to know," Uchiha spoke slowly and clearly, annunciating every word, "is that I will take responsibility. As long as he is not a detriment to me, he will live a normal until they begin to notice the changes and has to leave, and from what I see so far, he has no reason to stay." Uchiha leaned forward, imposing his presence. "Why is that by the way?"
Uchiha's stare made Gaara uncomfortable. It had not been two days and even Uchiha could tell Uzumaki was mistreated by the people around them. "Non-involvement, remember?"
Uchiha leaned back, a hint of annoyance in his expression as he answered, "Of course."
The final bell rang.
"Missing class won't look good for me. I have an image to keep after all." Uchiha straightened his tie even though it hadn't been out of place. "Just a piece of advice. Whatever you are, it would be easier to give in to the temptation than to resist." He smiled politely again, putting on the façade he used in class. "If you would excuse me."
Inhaling sharply, he paused, realizing too late that they had an uninvited guest to their meeting. He barely caught the parting words, Uchiha uttered to the intruder before going on his way to class. Could another thing go wrong?
Sure enough, when he neared the roof entrance, Inuzuka lingered, a mixture of emotions on his face.
Inuzuka nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Gaara, trying to take a step back, but found he was already pressed against the wall. "How much did you hear?" he demanded at once.
Inuzuka didn't answer. He didn't have to with the fear in his eyes. Gaara grabbed his shirt, pushing him further against the wall using his forearm to put pressure on Inuzuka's broken arm. "If you so much as say a word about Uzumaki's situation or mine, I will make sure you won't live to see the next day. Do you understand?"
Inuzuka nodded frantically, too afraid to even whisper a word. His feet were barely touching the floor. With a snarl, Gaara let him go, watching as Inuzuka scampered away from him and down the stairs. Did he instill enough fear to keep Inuzuka's mouth shut? If he could, he would have made certain before letting the coward run, but Inuzuka had quickly gone from threat to food within seconds.
That hunting trip really didn't help in the long run, he thought miserably, descending the stairs. He just needed to last until tomorrow night. Then he could feed again, but would that be enough?
He wanted to see Uzumaki. Wanted to talk to him. He was surprised Uzumaki hadn't sent him a text for missing school the day before. He quickly realized why. Uzumaki wasn't in class. Asking around, he learned he hadn't been at school yesterday either. Now concerned and suspicious, he watched Uchiha throughout class. Uchiha was also glancing at Uzumaki's seat. Though he didn't show confusion, worry, or smugness, it was a safe bet he didn't know where Uzumaki was either. It wouldn't make sense for him to keep glancing at the seat if he had known.
But if Uchiha didn't know where he was, then where was he? He sent text message after text message and received no reply. Not knowing where Uzumaki was made him increasingly agitated as the day wore on. By lunch, he was contemplating going out to find him.
He was on his way to talk to Tsunade to see if she knew where he was when someone bumped his shoulder, hard. Gaara kept walking, but that wasn't enough for the boy who shouldered him.
"Oi, shouldn't you apologize?"
Gaara ignored him. He didn't have time or patience for a suicidal idiot.
"I'm talking to you!" the student grabbed him from behind, yanking Gaara back. "You think anyone is scared of you? Everyone knows Uzumaki's the real threat." He shoved Gaara against the wall. "Now why don't you get on your knees and apologize you fucking foreigner."
Gaara didn't register much of what the student said. He barely took in the student's features. All he could make out was a pair of round glasses and a generic face that blended into a crowd with ease. He tried to contain it. He knew he shouldn't. He couldn't stop himself.
He grabbed the hand of the offender, crushing it in his grip until he could feel the bones cracking under the pressure and the student was screaming in pain, forcing the student to release him. Gaara's eyes had turned golden-brown, looking down as the student, knees weakened under the pain.
"You fucking psycho! Let me go!" the student cried out.
Language like that should be punished.
He kicked out the student's foot, causing him to fall forward. Gaara let him fall, never letting go of the hand in his grip and stepping behind him. He used his foot, kicking him to the floor and keeping him there, adding pressure so that the student could barely breathe while still holding onto the offending hand, straight up, threatening to break his arm with the slightest movement.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." The student whimpered, with tears in his eyes.
Food should be scared and begging for their lives. He needed to inflict more fear. More pain.
Gaara started to move to break the arm.
"Gaara?"
The nervous voice that called out to him snapped him back to reality like a rubber band. His head jerked up, seeing a group of students surrounding him, whispering and looking at him with fear. One student in particular stood out.
Hyuuga stepped forward from the crowd, a mixture of concern and uncertainty. There was a girl that grabbed his arm to stop him; he stepped out of her grasp, the only one brave enough to get near.
Gaara dropped the arm, stepping away from the student and looking away from Hyuuga. Shame swelled in his chest. He had lost control again.
"Are you alright, Kabuto-san?" Hyuuga knelt to help the student up. "We should get you to the infirmary."
Gaara took the opportunity to get away. He didn't want to see Hyuuga look at him like the other students had. Hyuuga had faith in him. Hyuuga believed that all the rumors surrounding him was just that. He didn't want to see the disappointment and fear at being found wrong.
Hyuuga had other plans, following after him until they were in a more secluded hallway. "Gaara, wait."
He didn't slow. He kept his pace fast until Hyuuga ran past him and stopped in front of him, forcing Gaara to stop.
"Gaara," he said, his tone soft, almost gentle. "Are you okay? What did he do?"
"Why do you assume he did something?" Gaara responded. He tried to sound aloof, like none of it bothered him; however, he kept his eyes down so he didn't have to look at Hyuuga.
"Because I know you."
Hyuuga's words struck home. His chest tightened as he said his next words. "You don't know anything about me."
"I know you well enough to know you just don't attack someone without reason. You're too good a person."
Now accompanied with guilt, Gaara tried to push past him. "Leave me alone."
"Gaara." Hyuuga grabbed his arm as Gaara tried to pass.
Gaara stopped breathing with shock. How could he… had they… it wasn't possible. The contact was brief, but it told Gaara all he needed to know. Why he had slept so well while sharing a bed with him. Why his hunger had been more under control since they started sharing time together. Why he had mellowed out to a more reasonable temperament. When Hyuuga had touched him, he felt chakra transfer through his touch. And for a split second, Gaara accepted it greedily without thinking, taking every drop offered like the natural thing to do.
How long had Gaara been accepting it? Did Hyuuga even know what he had unconsciously offered? How would he react knowing Gaara had been taking advantage of him? Was Gaara's attitude toward Hyuuga purely a precarious friendship or had Gaara unconsciously kept him around to use him as basically his own personal snack to slowly feed on? Suddenly his brother's comment two days prior made sense.
I didn't know friends could be so personal.
He hadn't been talking about them sleeping together. He had seen what they were doing.
Gaara yanked his arm away. His breathing was heavy as his mind raced with conflicting feelings clashing violently inside him. If Hyuuga was offering, he should accept. But Hyuuga didn't know what he was doing. Was it his fault Hyuuga was clueless? If it kept him in control, did it matter? Charka was something precious and very personal, Gaara had no right to take it. But he took it from his victims without asking all the time. At least this way no one got hurt.
"Gaara?" Hyuuga tried to reach out to him again. His hands would offer solace from the pain and hunger. If he let Hyuuga touch him….
Gaara stepped out of reach again. "I have to go," he whispered quickly. He all but ran away, putting as much distance between him and Hyuuga as he could. Hyuuga was calling out to him. He didn't slow. Hyuuga was walking temptation. If he gave in, he'd suck Hyuuga dry. When Hyuuga was too weak or stopped doing it unconsciously, he'd just bite him, assuming it belonged to him because he was a monster. He wouldn't be able to stop himself if given leeway. He and Hyuuga couldn't get any closer than they already have. No, they needed to put distance between them and fast.
That was another thing. Gaara had thought maybe his condition was improving. That maybe whatever was happening to him was finally settling. Instead, he had been feeding off his friend in his sleep, absorbing whatever he could get from an untrained hunter. He wasn't getting better at all. It was a false hope he had clung on to, wishing for the best when he knew life was cruel and unrelenting. He had let himself get soft.
Needing to put distance between him and other people, he left school early again, knowing his sudden frequent absence would be brought up to his brother. He didn't care. He just needed to escape and focus on anything else than the last couple of days. Searching for Uzumaki might do just that.
Neji never skipped school, but he was close to doing it for the first time. He made sure Kabuto made it to the infirmary and sat with him as they waited for the nurse to return. He didn't know the boy well. Kabuto was a recent transfer into his class about a month or two ago. He didn't pay the boy much mind, and Kabuto tended to leave him alone as well. In that regard, he had a better opinion of him than a lot of his classmates.
Each passing minute as he waited in silence, he thought of Gaara. The urge to follow him manifested in the way his leg bounced, increasing with speed little by little. Why did the nurse have to be at lunch, he thought impatiently.
He glanced at the student again. He really did look plain. It took him a few seconds upon seeing him to figure out who he was. Three other names had crossed his mind before he remembered the correct one. What had he done to make Gaara that angry? The Gaara he knew was quiet and aloof but was ultimately gentle and kind. He had thought those rumors about him were false. Until today that was.
When he looked at Gaara, standing over Kabuto, it was clear that Neji had stopped him from snapping the student's arm, and before he called out, Gaara looked like he had been enjoying it. His lips were curled just at the corners, and his eyes were eager to inflict pain upon his victim. When he called out, startling Gaara, his eyes were brown, closer to gold, for a moment before returning to its normal color, and Gaara looking shocked and sick to his stomach.
Something was wrong with him. Following after him, he noticed Gaara's skin was pale and the bags under his eyes were darker. Were his wounds okay? Was he getting sick? He wanted to follow and check up on him. He admittedly had been worried before the incident with Gaara ignoring his wounds the way he had, but now it was starting to plague his mind constantly.
"What did you say that provoked him to attack you?" Neji asked.
Kabuto looked genuinely surprised by the question. "Why do you assume I did something? He's the one who attacked me."
And you didn't answer the question, Neji thought. "Because I know him."
The student's eyes widened. "Are you actually admitting your friends with a person like that?"
Neji didn't answer. If he did admit it, that would hurt his reputation a lot. He wasn't naïve enough to think he was popular enough to withstand the backlash that would come from admitting it. It would literally harm his family's reputation to be associated with Gaara, but he couldn't bring himself to denounce it either.
"I didn't do much," the student said. "He bumped into me, and I told him I'd like an apology. Then he suddenly flipped and tried to break my arm."
Neji didn't believe that was all. The student appeared well-mannered now, but it was easy to imagine a slight change in that scenario, with the student getting aggressive and rude, thinking no one would take Gaara's side. Neji used the same tactic on Uzumaki after all.
Now feeling he was in bad company, Neji didn't talk to him, watching the clock tick by.
The school nurse returned, and he watched Kabuto's arm get put into a sling. Apparently, the muscles in his shoulder were severely strained, and his hand was possibly broken. Neji thanked the nurse and excused himself.
Pulling out his phone, he wondered if he should send an e-mail or drop him a message on Line. Gaara had said he wanted some space, but Neji wasn't sure if he should give it to him. When he had touched him, Gaara looked unnerved and possibly scared. Could he leave him alone after seeing such an expression on his face?
He stopped when he entered his hallway. If he went left, he would be heading towards his classroom. If he went right, he could peer into Gaara's. Unable to help himself, he went right. Lunch had ended a while ago and classes had started up again. He should be able to spot him from one of the windows. Each classroom had large windows on the sliding doors, making it easy to peer inside. He peered through the window at the back of the room as to not be seen by the teacher.
He knew Gaara sat in the back somewhere. He saw one student he didn't recognize and assumed he was the new transfer everyone was talking about. Neji only half-listened to the girls in his class gush over him. He was a model or actor or something. He didn't particularly care and looked at the two empty seats in front of the transfer. Both Uzumaki and Gaara were gone.
Did Gaara leave school after that incident? Did he get suspended? And why would Uzumaki be missing too? Did they leave together?
An uncomfortable feeling wormed his way into his chest at the thought that they may have ditched school together. It wouldn't be unusual. The two were rarely separable at school and even after school, they were often seen together. They were close friends. Gaara probably told him what happened, and they left together. Nothing unusual about that, he tried to convince himself, yet it still sat ill with him. How was he to check on Gaara now?
The transfer student in the back of the room looked towards the door, staring him down. He was handsome as the rumors suggested, but his eyes were unnerving. Their black orbs seemed to look right into his soul and something about them came off as predatory.
Disturbed, he stepped away and headed back to class. Perhaps he should stop by Gaara's place after school. Just to make sure.
He couldn't find Uzumaki.
After leaving the school, he searched throughout the city for Uzumaki and was largely unsuccessful. He searched Uzumaki's home and the town around it, then went to downtown and searched there. He couldn't find Uzumaki's presence anywhere.
He stood on the edge of a four-story office building, overlooking the streets below. The sun had set an hour ago. Officer workers were heading home, and some tourists were heading to the ferry to head back to the mainland.
From where he stood, they looked like cattle being herded. He closed his eyes to dispel that comparison and image. Focus. He told himself. He didn't think the hunters knew about Uzumaki yet. None of them had acted out of the ordinary, and his name wouldn't have been called during rollcall this morning if something had happened. Uchiha could know. It was possible he had jumped to conclusions and the vampire really did have an idea. He should ask or investigate to make sure. The only other possible explanation was that Uzumaki had run away, finally tired of the emotional abuse he had to endure for the majority of his life.
He could understand why. If Uzumaki had run away, he couldn't say that he wouldn't support it. He wanted more than anything for Uzumaki to be free from the confines of this island and the hunters who watched him. That was if Gaara believed Uzumaki had run away, but Gaara didn't believe he had. It wasn't within Uzumaki's personality to worry people. At the very least, he would have said something to someone; however, no one around him seemed to know where he was.
Asking Uchiha was turning out to be his best bet.
He was preparing to step off the roof, his foot hovering over the air when he felt the presence far too late. He didn't have time to turn around, but he felt the pain of being pierced with something sharp, just missing his heart due to his last-minute movement.
He could barely look down at the blood spreading as he lost his balance, falling forward and off the roof. He tried to turn, to catch a glimpse of his attacker as he fell, but all he managed to see was the edge of a black cloak.
He crashed on top of a vending machine, denting the metal and breaking several of his ribs in the process, before falling onto a row of bikes that had been parked in the alley.
His lung was punctured, and the bones in his body were shattered. His breathing was shallow as he struggled to breathe. He had landed on his back, pushing the object that stabbed him all the way through his back. Gaara struggled to sit up, the bones in his body mending as fast as it was able. His vision blurred and tilted, making it difficult to identify the weapon, that had impaled him. It was a short sword. He could vaguely make out the handle of the sword a meter away, the blade having broke during the fall. With shaking hands, he wrapped his fingers around the blade, cutting into them as he pulled the blade the rest of the way through, weakly tossing it to the side.
A large puddle of blood was forming under his body. Gaara attempted to stand, blood gushing from his chest wound. The pain in his chest was unbearable as his lung tried to repair itself and heal the injury. He needed to get out of here, but his legs were still broken from the fall. The minute it took to heal felt like an eternity, trying to look out for the attacker from his position on the ground.
The attacker didn't come to finish him off. He didn't know if the attacker presumed him dead or if he had something else planned, but as the adrenaline faded, the more prominent problem consumed his thoughts. Blood. He needed blood.
Pulling himself out of the pile of bikes, he limped with his semi-healed legs closer to the entrance of the alley, but still lingering in the dark. His stomach twisted and knotted as potential food walked by. His throat felt like it was on fire from thirst. His fangs were fully extended. He felt so weak, yet he felt his body wound up to pounce when a pregnant woman walked by.
If his legs were working properly, he would have. Fortunately, he couldn't. His thoughts were almost non-existent, a jumbled mess of incomplete thoughts. Unlike a vampire, hunger could kill him. He had lost too much blood to ignore it until his next feeding. The thought he did manage to hold onto, even if it was not quite developed fully, was the need to choose someone suitable. He didn't what exactly that meant. Each new person who passed was more tempting than the last, and as his body became closer to regaining full mobility, his ability to hold onto his last coherent thought was slipping.
Once he could move, instinctually, he kept to the shadows, leaving the alley and stalking potential prey. A young man walking home from work, a mother carrying a young child, a student from his high school. All of them looked delicious. He would stalk them, waiting for an opportunity until someone more suitable came along. Suitable. What did that word mean? He should just drag them somewhere and take what was his.
Then he saw him. He was a middle-age man, starting to bald on the back of his head and sporting a bit of a pot belly dressed in a wrinkled business suit carrying a suitcase and a rope. He was stumbling and his face was flushed, clearly drunk.
Suitable. That man fit the word.
The man was off the main road and in a small park, difficult to see from the road unless you were specifically looking for him. He was glancing up at tree branches.
Gaara crossed the street as quickly as he could when there was a brief moment of little foot or car traffic to see him. He watched the man for a bit, stalking around him and closing in, watching with satisfaction when the man jumped at the small sounds Gaara would make. Fear made them taste so good.
The man seemed committed though, tossing the rope up and over a branch. Gaara couldn't wait any longer. He pounced, shoving the man against the tree and ripping into his throat with his fangs, digging into the carotid artery.
The man tried to fight back as he bled out from the severed artery. Gaara easily restrained him with his superior strength, drinking the sweet nectar he provided, guzzling it down as fast as he could.
It was all he could think of until the frail, voice called out to him through the fog. "Gaara?"
Gaara instantly pulled away, his thoughts not quite with him until he saw Hyuuga's face contort with fear.
Gaara's mind didn't comprehend, trying to come back from its blood lust even as Gaara let go of the body he was holding, the middle-aged man falling to the ground with a low thud.
Neji took a shaky step back, his eyes glued to the body, tripping over a small indentation in the ground, landing on his behind.
It finally hit Gaara at how it all looked. There was no lying his way out of this one. His fangs were still extended, and he couldn't retract them willingly. He had to explain.
"Hyuu—," he had only taken a step forward, hand barely extended when Hyuuga bolted as fast as was humanly possible without being a hunter.
Explain? How exactly had he been planning to explain just then? That he had no choice? That would be a lie. He fed every week, killed someone new every week just so he could live. Hyuuga just so happened to catch him in his natural environment. Now he knew like everyone else, that he was a monster.
Gaara looked at the corpse. It still had blood, though he had lost a bit dropping the body as he had. Picking up the body, brushing off the dirt from the neck with his hand to finish eating made him feel lower than low. He felt pathetic and humiliated that he returned to continue eating first instead of doing something.
Once every drop had been drained and his senses had largely returned to him, he pulled the body into the bushes and he sat underneath the tree, pulling out his phone that was heavily cracked from his early fall. Who should he call? He had really screwed up this time. Feeding outside his schedule and killing a civilian, the hunters may turn on him next. Could he continue staying here?
The thought of calling his brother crossed his mind, and he dismissed it just as quickly. Using voice command, he managed to get a call to Tsunade. She picked up after the first ring.
"I need help," he said, his voice lacking energy. Without inflection, he followed up, staring at the path Hyuuga had taken to escape from him, "I just killed someone."
