Chapter Three

Shit shit shit.

A bomb tag blew the head off of one of the vampires that blocked my retreat. I kicked the legs out from under another vamp that dared to slow me down. My clawed hand plunged into his heart.

Wait! What!

With a brief pause I looked at my hands. Sure enough, my nails had grown into deadly weapons. Shit. Quickly I hid them in my pullover and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed the kill. Sakura was leaning over Sasuke with glowing hands. Blood soaked his shirt. My eyes stayed glued there longer than necessary. Yet, his blood didn't make me clench at my stomach like Hinata's. With no others obstacles insight, I pulled away suddenly feeling woozy.

Quickly, my eyes scanned for an isolated cave. I found one and ducked into the opening in the wall. My legs decided at that moment they didn't want to support me, so I collapsed in the darkness. Thirst clenched at my throat like a coiling python. My body began to shake uncontrollably-my skin hot.

"Fu-ck!" I pulled the bottom of my orange hoody to my mouth and bit down hard. I couldn't utter a sound, not with Sakura and Sasuke so close.

No one can know. No one can know. I chanted that over and over to myself to keep me from uttering a sound.

Glancing down at my pale stomached I saw the disintegrating seal. Familiar five small black spirals surrounded a script I couldn't read. They pulsed an angry red in sync with my racing heartbeat. Without warning, my stomach felt like it was being boiled from the inside out. I yanked my hoody and shirt off in one motion in hopes of relieving some of the suffocating heat, but kept the hoody in my mouth. A new singular black spiral wrapped itself around my bellybutton spreading out the five familiar spirals.

"What. The. Hell. Is. This!" I gawked in shock.

Feed. Me. Her. Blood. A disembodied raspy voice growled in my head. I clenched at the dirt in pain. Not wasting another second, I performed the sealing Jutsus pervy sage taught me. My left fingertips glowed with my blue chakra, but this time I swore they had a tinge of red in them. I didn't have time to contemplate that. When I started to taste blood in my mouth, I slammed my fingers against the smaller spirals and twisted to the right. My muscle seized with the energy. I bit down harder, ripping into my hoody, and again reminding myself that I couldn't scream. Cool sweat beaded on my forehead threatening to spill into my eyes. The collapsing seal stopped its progress, but what was loss could not be replaced by me.

I released my hoody from my teeth and shook as another wave of nausea gripped me. Twisting to the side I retched my breakfast onto the cold floor. When I was sure I purge my stomach of all of its contents I fell back onto the ground trying to catch my breath.

I stared blindly at the ceiling desperately trying to slow down my racing heart beat. What the fuck was that? What the fuck is going on with the seal? I glanced around the cave I was in to make sure I was still alone. I wanted to be sure that that voice I heard came from someone else and not from my head.

No such luck.

I was alone. Before I put my clothes back on I took a better look at the seal. I was now missing a spiral on my left. I had four left and that giant spiral in the center of my stomached had vanished.

There was no way I imagined that and my chakra had red in it. Chakra tends to be invisible for most people, however, if you had enough of it. It could become visible to the necked eye. Every chakra I've seen has always been blue, not red or multi-colored. So, what the hell was that!

"Fuck! Fuck Fuck! I groaned. Losing a seal means I transitioned a little bit more. Only Jiraiya could fix what was undone. I'd be damn if just one girl would compromise everything I had.

"What are you?" I spoke to myself.

"I'm human." I replied, "I'm human," and closed my eyes. I just needed to rest. Just for a little bit.

I was in hell.

The smell of cooked fish and rabbit had me running for the bushes to retch. Which was comical because I had nothing in my stomach to purge. I tried to eat it. I really did. I woke up starving and the mother of all thirst gripped my throat. So, I tasted the horrible smelling food with a grin on my face like it was the best meal ever and swallowed everything whole. Trying my hardest not to taste anything. It wasn't easy, the taste and texture were horrid. I schooled my facial featured into what I hope was a look of pleasure.

Suddenly a hand touched my cheek. I flinched away from the contact, but Sakura tugged me towards her and pressed for forehead against mine. "W-What do you think you're doing," I exclaimed and pushed her back. I leaned away wanting to put some distance between us. My body temperature ran cooler than normal people. It wasn't noticeable in the winter, but we were in the summer and it was humid tonight.

"You haven't looked like yourself since you woke up, I wasn't sure before, but I'm positive now. You have a fever."

A fever? I haven't had a fever since I was a kid or more recently, earlier today. Placing my hand on my head, I could feel the heat coming off my skin. I tried to keep my shock to myself. This wasn't my normal. My skin has always been cooler than everyone. So why now was I warm? Am I sick or is this because of the change? My stomached rolled and I gaged. Sakura hurriedly backed away from me with a panic lock on her face. I forced the bile back down and stood on shaky feet to head for the tree lines. I was going to hurl. Ugh, this was the worst, but it was better than drinking blood. Believe it.

One step at a time on unsteady feet, I walked away from our campsite until I couldn't smell the scent of the food. With a few deep breaths I purged my stomach of the foul food and walked away from that too so I wouldn't have to smell it. A twig snapped a few feet behind me. There was no reason to react to it. I already knew who it was. The further away I got from the fire, the easier it was to pick up her scent. Not only could I now pick up different scent, but I could clearly see in the dark.

I let out a groan and crouched on the ground hoping she would take the hint and scurry away. Too shy and timid to approach me, but I was wrong. Today of all day Hinata had the courage to come up to me. A bottle of water appeared before me and I let out another groan.

Feeling like an ass I smiled weakly at Hinata and took the bottle gratefully. "Thank you."

"S-Sakura, says you have a fever." She said quietly. According to Sakura, Saskue had pulled me out of the cave while I was unconscious. Kakashi had carried me to the border of the Land of Sand and Fire and I still remained unconscious. That had been almost nine hours ago.

"Yeah," I clenched my teeth and chugged the water bottle until it ran empty. I breathe deeply through my mouth trying to avoid her scent, however, the warm air dried out my throat on contact. I cursed Oorochimaru in my head. Another bottle appeared in my vision. I raised an eyebrow at Hinata questioningly.

She looked down, refusing to meet my eyes as she spoke. "Dehydration is common when people become ill." She said as she played with the bottom of her jacket. "You threw up your dinner, and we were on a mission during lunch so-so you haven't eaten since breakfast."

"Wouldn't it be in your best interest to go back to camp?" Again, I found myself smiling at her. Her nervousness was cute. "Whatever I have," I continued, "it might be contagious."

I dropped the second bottle in my hand and stood. I forgot I was supposed to be breathing through my mouth. Hinata's scent fill my nose with its pleasing aroma. My mouth water with yearning, my fangs pounded with need, and my stomach cramped with hunger.

STOP

"I've seen what you eat on a regular basis Naruto. Honestly, I'm surprise you've never been sick," she chuckled. My eyes widen in surprise. Hinata was actually making fun of me. When did that happen? I watched as her face redden, "I-I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean to come off as rude Naruto-kun."

My thoughts clouded as need pounded at my head. The red filling her face made her all the more enthralling to me. My gaze narrowed in on the white patch on her cheek covering the scratched she received earlier. Gently I grabbed her chin; my grip was firm. She could only leave if I wished it. With my other hand I peeled the bandage away from her cheek.

"N-N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked suddenly unsure about her decision to approach him.

Feed.

NO.

The blood on her cheek was old and unappealing. Past that though… I took a deep breath and smelled warm hot ambrosia. With my thumb I scratched at her healing wound. Hinata flinched and tried to pull her chin away. Red crimson bloomed on her cheek like a beacon. With my free arm I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me. It brought her cheek closer to my lips. Saliva filled my mouth as fresh blood swelled up on her cheek. My eyes watched it with anticipation as it reached its apex then trailed beautifully down her pale skinto her neck.

"NARUTO!" Hinata yelled.

Her terrified voiced shocked me out of my trance. I let go with a shove. As she retreated away from me, I did the same. With an agonized moan I clenched my stomach suddenly aware of the burning heat radiating from it. No!

"No no no no no." I yanked up my shirt and saw that I was missing yet another spiral, the third nearly gone. I stuffed my shirt in my mouth and performed the sealing justu yet again. I fell to my knees and released my shirt from my mouth with a gasp. I lost another seal and the new spiral was again blazing on my stomach. My skin was on fire and the sun wasn't even up. It felt twitchy, like it was trying to separate itself from my body. Hinata's scent was everywhere-fuck she was still bleeding!

"What- What going on with you?" She asked me with fear in her voice, yet she still took a step in my direction.

I raised my hand up quickly to stop her approach. "Stop! D-Don't come any closer." It's her fault. It's her fault this is happening to be. I didn't want to hate Hinata, but hot rage and aggression was swelling inside me like a balloon.

"But-"

"Shut Up!" I yelled at her. Fuck! My voice. She jumped at the inhuman sound. Fuck, how did this get so fucked up. I needed her gone. If it wasn't for Oorochimaru, if it wasn't for that fucking vampire that bit me. Then maybe me and Hinata could have had something. However, that isn't in my future anymore. They took it away from me. Once again I had to push the girl I care about far away from me.

"I'm sorry," I say gently once I got my shit together, "I'm not feeling well. I shouldn't have touched you. Now you might get sick because of me. I know this is asking a lot, but can you not tell the others what I did?" Who was I kidding? There was no fucking way she was buying the shit I was selling. I glared at my feet ashamed, but also to keep her from seeing my face. I didn't feel human in the slightest, so I couldn't deceive myself into thinking that my outward appearance reflected that.

I peeked up in time to see her nod then turn away and walked back to the camp. I let out a deep breath and collapsed onto the forest floor trembling. I probed the roof of my mouth with my tongue and felt the fangs that made my teeth feel so heavy. I winced as I unclenched them from a fist. Red claws had pierced my skin. I frowned. This change wasn't in our textbooks of vampire anatomy. They looked just like every human until the hunger took over: fangs, blood red eyes, and sharp nails, but not like mines. I've never seen a vampire with red tented claws so dark they were almost black. I ran my tongue over my teeth again and noticed my bottom set of canines had grown too. Vampire only had one set of fangs…


I wanted to slam my head against a tree. I yelled at Hinata. What the hell was wrong with me. With a frustrated sigh, I ran my hands through my hair and tried to figure out what to do now. I was thirsty and starving. The craving for blood was a constant pounding urge in my head now, but I felt like I could resist temptation.

In the textbooks from the academy, a vampire's teeth would recede if they fed well. Ok, so I just need to eat. The thought of the food they were cooking brought up another wave of wasn't known if vampires could eat human food, but I guess this answers that question.

Off in the distance I heard the snap of a twig. My eyes immediately focused on a deer a few yards away. Past the stench of animal, I could smell its bloods. The thought of raw meat flashed in my head and suddenly I was drooling.

I frowned, disgusted and tempted at the same time. Something pushed me to stalk the deer in silence. I made sure to stay down wind so I wouldn't be caught. I couldn't explain how I knew what to do. Normally, I would set traps and put bait out, but not tonight. Periodically, I was sniffing the air to make sure no other predator snatch what was mine. The deer approached the river and bent to drink its fill. With a growl on my lips I dug my claws into its hide and pinned it down with the weight of my body. I tore into the deer's neck and spat out the first chunk. Bright red blood pooled into the hole in its neck. For a second, I paused horrified, the new instinct took over and I dug in.

With the first swallow I nearly choked on the deer's blood, it was so bitter, but I didn't feel like vomiting it up so that was an improvement. Curiously I tore into the deer's neck again coming away with a chunk of flesh in between my teeth. I spat it out into my hand and stripped it of its fur. I took a smaller bit of the deer's flesh and chewed. Its meat wasn't much better tasting than the blood, but it was better smelling than the cooked meat back at camp.

I abandoned my soiled clothes and walked back to camp in just my underwear. I washed the evidence of my kill in a stream nearby. The only one awake was Sasuke.

Fuck my life. I had hoped to grab something to hold left overs. I was going to need to eat in the day and it would be much harder to hunt with watchful eyes.

"I'll take watch," I told him. After all I was wide awake despite my full belly.


Sorry, I've been M.I.A. Some life things happened.

R&R

Your lunatic,

ANGELHINATA24