A/N: This is going to be my last update for awhile. So...read, review, and send me some love. Ahem…anyway…back with Gaara, Zukiyo, Neji, and our other favorites. R&R and enjoy.

Chapter 7:Hunting and Prey

"Oh Neeeejjjjiiii…" a sing song and rather playful princess's voice called out over the street as Gaara stared down the Hyuga male.

"No…she has no titles."

That's what the Hyuga said, yes, but was he telling the truth? Before Gaara could decide this however his quarry walked up with the scent of a fresh kill on her and it was intoxicating. The crimson haired male glanced at this new female while crossing his arms over his chest.

She walked up to them steadily, dressed in a red, nearly off the shoulder, long sleeved shirt with black lace trimming the collar along with a black and red corset of some kind over the lower half of it. Along with that she had on black pants and a pair of heeled boots…as well as a simple yet very concealing black ribbon choker with a red jewel of some kind in the middle. Over all of this she wore a simple long black coat to fight off the evening's chill. Her hair was pulled back in a loose and low ponytail as she assumed an imitation of Gaara's stance once she stopped. Her pose didn't help her seem authoritative or imposing at all. No instead, with the way she was standing with her one knee slightly bent like it was, it only helped to emphasize her figure in a way that Gaara was currently debating whether or not it was intentional. Unbeknownst to him Neji was currently wondering the same exact thing.

"Is she…yes…yes she is. She's doing it on purpose. That means she knows." Neji realized and internally sighed, "She really has to learn that there are things you just don't do…and playing with Gaara's mind…is definitely one of those things you just don't do."

"I need to borrow Neji." Zukiyo stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What did you do now, Zu?" Neji asked, his automatic response when she called his name out like she had.

"I am deeply and…tragically offended, Neji-kun. What…Why would you think I did anything?" she asked in a rather over dramatic and over the top way that was actually quite amusing to the red headed observant.

"Because…that tone of voice always…always means you've done something or another." Neji stated rationally even as Zukiyo put on a mock look of anger that he'd suggest such a thing, "So what did you do?"

"I fed and am not mental anymore." She stated and smiled at Neji who sighed and pointed at her.

"Stay here and don't run off, Zu. I will be right back." He stated and looked at Gaara as if considering something then walked off in the direction that Zukiyo had just come from.

Gaara watched as Zukiyo watched him go and noticed something very clear in her eyes…and it was not what he expected. It was mischief. Pure and simple wicked mischief as they looked out at the world with that smile still shining in them.

"Nah…I won't do it…yet," she stated and sat down on a bench and crossed her legs all in one incredibly fluid movement that Gaara realized rather amazed him.

He had to admit something as he studied her again: She looked damn good in red. Another thing he was forced to admit at that time was that Zukiyo was absolutely unpredictable as the next thing he knew she was sitting on the bench upside down, meaning with her back on the seat and her legs over the back, staring up at the sky humming some tune while she kicked her feet idly. Gaara also realized that she was ignoring him. This did not please him in the least.

"What did I tell you about staring?" she stated, the very moment he was about to make some biting comment about her letting her guard down so easily it so happened, and looked at him with her light grey eyes smiling up at him, inviting him to answer.

"It's rude." He replied as he leaned against a building casually.

"You can be taught then…that's good news." She stated with a serious look on her face that annoyed him enough to growl at her a bit which only made her smirk slightly.

This of course caused him to stop the growl in confusion. Unpredictable and slightly insane it seemed.

"So what brings you out into the city tonight…Gaara?" she asked casually, as if he had never growled at her comment at all, and waited for an answer.

"Hunting."

"Uh…huh…so leaning against a building is your method of finding and stalking prey?" she asked raising her eyebrows and he smirked.

"Maybe it is…" he said with a look that implied she was possibly the prey.

"I don't think so, Gaara-sama. I'm not featured in this city's menu…or any menu." She stated seriously with a slight pointed edge to it and he looked at her levelly.

"I don't think you could stop me." The red haired one said, hinting at the difference in their power levels.

"I could always try." Zukiyo responded and she saw a questioning look hidden in his eyes for a brief second that she wasn't about to answer.

Zukiyo knew she couldn't stop him but she wasn't about to let him push her around just because he was more powerful. She'd fight him tooth and nail if she had to. Living in fear of one person her whole life was more than enough…she would not live in fear of two.

Gaara was amused by her. He didn't hide that either as he looked back at her. He wasn't sure if he believed Neji or not when he said she had no titles, but there had to be some reason Naruto was practically pushing her at him. Gaara knew this and he knew, now more than ever, that the only way he'd find out what it was that made Naruto push her at him he'd have to actually spend time with her. He mentally cursed the Kyuubi's manipulative genius in this. Naruto was no Nara clan member true, but when it came to manipulating people and getting certain responses there were few in the world that matched his skill. That damned Kyuubi knew, he knew that Gaara would want to know more about this woman, and he knew that no one would give Gaara any answers which would lead the red head to being forced to spend time with her.

Damn him. It wasn't as if the red head didn't have other things to do. In fact he had plenty. Gaara had a very large territory to maintain. That meant making sure everyone knew and remembered that. Other vampires lived in this city yes, but they all knew and remembered who the city belonged to and acted accordingly…or else they had to deal with him. On top of that he also had a certain newly elected mayor to… congratulate. It was imperative that the new mayor understood a few things…like where or where not to poke his nose. Taking care of that, as well as many other things, meant Gaara did not have all the free time in the world to spend devoted to spending time with this woman. Yet, he was going to have to make time because he had to find out what was so special about her…he needed to find out.

"You could try…" he chuckled slightly, a dark, twisted chuckle, "I'd test that if I was in the mood. Luckily for you I'm not."

"Oh how lucky for poor, little, defenseless Zukiyo." She pouted sarcastically in return, "What will I ever do? My whole life is dependant on whether or not you're in The Mood."

He flattened his gaze at her, not quite sure what to make of that other than to roll his eyes, which is exactly what he did. However he noticed that her attention had already moved onto something else. Gaara was starting to get annoyed by her lack of an attention span until he noticed that she was mostly just doing it to annoy him.

"Well…two can play at that game." He thought; however he still had to find out what annoyed her before he could use it against her…which of course required him to spend time with her.

"If you're out tonight to hunt…shouldn't you get to doing that?" the woman suddenly asked him while examining her nails in a bored manner.

"I did already."

"Very good." She stated and he rolled his eyes, "So…if you're done hunting tonight…why are you still here?"

"I never said I was done."

"Then go finish…or…are you afraid to leave me here all by myself?" she asked teasingly.

"Why would I be afraid of that?" he asked and she sat herself back up and smiled at him.

"A number of reasons," Zu stated vaguely which Gaara had to admit was slightly amusing.

"You're not going to tell me what those reasons are so I'm not going to ask."

"Good idea." She stated in serious manner as she crossed her legs and folded her hands on her lap; she was starting to feel restless.

Kamitsuyo Zukiyo never could abide sitting still for insanely long periods of time yet for the past two weeks or so that's all she had done. Two weeks locked in a claustrophobia inducing cell not even big enough to pace in had immediately turned into sitting in the back of a car or in a cramped little plane for who knows how long. She needed to move around more. However, Neji had told her to stay put…then again that had never stopped her before. So…what was stopping her?

"I'll get lost if I just go and wander around." She realized and considered her options while Gaara watched her, "I could go help Neji get done faster…no, he won't let me help he never does. That leaves me with waiting here but he's taking so long. If I only had a phone I could try to call Hina, but even if I asked Mr. I'm-Trying-To-Be-Scary to borrow his, waiting for her to get here would honestly take just as long as waiting for Neji to get done. This…bites…"

Gaara watched her silently and decided that now was the first opportunity he'd been given to get her away from the Hyuga so he had better make the best of it.

"If you're feeling restless why not go?" he asked and she looked at him flatly.

"In case it hasn't dawned upon you yet: I've never been here before. I'll get lost." She stated and he shook his head, "What?"

"Come." He stated simply, not a command or an order, more a suggestion than anything else.

Zu was aware that this was simply a ploy at getting her to open up to him so he could satisfy his curiosity. She knew that just as well as she knew that she shouldn't go with him…but she wanted to. That in itself slightly confused her and yet didn't. It didn't because Zu hated staying still for long periods of time and going with him would give her the opportunity of moving around and hopefully learning her way around the city more. It surprised her though that she wanted to go with him.

It surprised her but not for very long as Zu quickly realized that she wanted to go with him because she found him attractive. It was the hair color…she loved red and yet…maybe it was the eyes. They were different from any other's she had seen before with their black rings. Whatever it was she was attracted to it and was curious about it enough to agree to go with him into the city. This of course prompted him to ask about Neji.

"Oh him? He'll be fine." She waved it off as if it was nothing, "He'll probably have a hissy fit about me going off with you but he'll get over it eventually."

As much as this contradicted what Gaara initially believed about her and Neji's relationship he was not about to stand there and interrogate her about it right this instant for a few reasons. One was simply that he wanted to get her out of the area and therefore out of the Hyuga's immediate grasp. Gaara knew that the key to him finding out what he wanted about this woman was to get as much one on one time with her as possible. Another reason was that it would come off as too forward a question and that lead to the last reason. He had a feeling that she probably wouldn't give him a straightforward answer even if he begged…which he would never do.

"We'll see about that." He stated a bit amusedly, he was not too sure Neji would get over it at all.

"Yes we shall." She stated as she dug through the glove compartment of the car she and Neji arrived in.

"What are you looking for?"

"Well, if you must know I'm looking for Neji's wallet." She said and saw the confusion on Gaara's face, "His real wallet. The one he probably keeps his money in."

"Why?"

"Um…I'm a fugitive from the ruling clan of all vampires. I don't exactly have any money of my own at this very moment. Unless Neji did something like set up another bank account for me with a different set of names on it than my old one which with today's laws and hindrances is practically impossible for him to do without me so I doubt he did that. Therefore..."

"You're stealing his money." Gaara stated slightly amused once again, then almost outright laughed at her next remark.

"I'm not stealing it." She stated counting out some money after finding the wallet, "I'm borrowing it."

"What the fuck?" Neji cursed when he returned to find not only Zu and Gaara gone but also 400 dollars from his wallet, "I swear I'm handcuffing her to the car door next time I leave her alone."

"Wow." A voice stated that Neji recognized as belonging to the middle Sabaku sibling, Kankuro, "Who would have thought Hyuga Neji was into handcuffs and bondage. That…wow…"

Neji glared at Kankuro for a moment, not really in the mood for dealing with him at that moment; especially when Zukiyo was out in the city with the most dangerous vampire on this half of the planet. He should have figured she'd do something like this. It wasn't the first time and it most likely wouldn't be the last. Right now though he had to consider what to do and first he had to deal with Kankuro.

"Kankuro…keep your perversions to yourself. Your little brother is currently out doing who knows what with the person I'm in charge of protecting and keeping alive."

"And…." Kankuro started, obviously not seeing anything wrong with this, "Neji, calm down. Gaara isn't going to kill her. If he was going to kill her…he would have done it already. If he was going to kill her he wouldn't have bothered to take her off somewhere to do it. He'd just kill her right here first chance he had. So relax."

"Relaxing isn't my thing." Neji stated before going to look for Zukiyo then thinking better of it since he knew he'd never find her in this city and he sighed, "Shit."

"Man, relax. Listen, I'm headed to work, paperwork and management shit, why not just come along, sit down, and relax?"

"Fine, whatever." He relented, realizing that doing anything else was really useless, and hoped to any god there was that Zukiyo did not do something that would get her killed.

"I do not have to tell you that." Gaara's companion replied to a question he had asked.

To him it was a simple question that did not come off as too inquisitive or intruding. To Zukiyo, however, it was. This had been the basis of most of their conversation. He'd ask a question and she'd either outright refuse to answer it or she'd give the vaguest answer she could. It was frustrating. Obviously he was going to have to try a different approach to this. It would be so much easier if she was scared of him. However, much to Gaara's slight amazement, she wasn't. She had no fear of him and he really could not understand why. Everyone was afraid of him outside those that resided at Naruto's Estate yet this newcomer was not. It perplexed him and made him even more curious about her…and more determined to get answers from her as well.

"Very well then…where would you like to go? If you're going to be stubborn about going places that I want to or need to go how about you choose?" he asked, forced to actually concede to what she wanted.

"Well…I need a phone. Preferably one that Neji does not buy me since I suspect he might try to put some homing device on it or something, " she stated waving her hand dismissively.

"Why in hell would he do that?" Gaara asked sincerely perplexed at such paranoia.

"Well…to be honest he likes to keep tabs on me. I have a small tendency to cause chaos where ever I go and he's the one that usually has to clean it up. Much to his chagrin." She stated honestly and the red head couldn't help but crack a very, very small smile at that.

"You do seem to like to annoy him."

"It's what I do. Now, are you going to take me somewhere I can get a phone or are you going to stand there all imposing vampire lord in the middle of a back alley with me until Neji inevitably comes and scolds me for being bad and leaving?" she asked with her hands on her hips and he couldn't help but raise and eyebrow which only made her stare at him, "Why don't you have eyebrows?"

He blinked at her. He had never been asked that particular question and had never really given it any thought. As such he simply shrugged. Amazingly she accepted that as an answer and he escorted her to a place she could get a phone. As she was dealing with the sales clerks Gaara's own phone rang; it was his brother.

"What?"

"I'm assuming you have our new guest with you." Kankuro stated music in the background that told Gaara that his brother was calling from his office.

"Yes. Why?"

"Curiosity mostly; that and the Hyuga is here glaring at his drink like he lost a million dollar bet or something. He's worried you're going to go psycho on her."

"Why would I do that?" Gaara asked as he watched the female negotiate with the clerk about phone plans and contracts much like he would watch his prey.

"Because you are you and she's a challenge and you love challenges. That's why. Now, as your older and more experienced brother I'm going to give you some advice…" his brother started which sent up little warning flags in Gaara's mind.

"If this is anything like the last advice you gave me just shut up now or I'll kill you."

"Someone is hostile today…but no, it's not like that. My advice is to simply get to know her before you decide to kill her. Who knows she might not be that bad. Besides it's fun to watch Neji get all upset when she does stuff he doesn't like, which I get the impression that she does that a lot." Kankuro reasoned and Gaara couldn't help but agree slightly that it was always entertaining to see Neji blow up at things as he was usually so calm and collected all the time.

"I've been trying to get to know her…she's making it very difficult." The red head admitted and his brother chuckled.

"That because you probably haven't been asking the right questions and have been trying too hard. She's probably not going to tell you anything if you just come out and ask. What have you found out so far?"

"Her name is Kamitsuyo Zukiyo, she likes red, she likes cats better than most dogs, she doesn't like mannequins for some reason, she talks a lot and very quickly most of the time, she's very good at avoiding incriminating answers, and she finds annoying Neji somewhat amusing. She is also apparently skilled in negotiating as the salesman at the cell phone kiosk doesn't seem too pleased with whatever she talked him into offering." Gaara reported dryly, annoyed with his lack of useful information.

"Well…it's a start. Just keep trying and…try to be pleasant and nice."

"Hn." Gaara replied…this was going to be the start of a very long process…or maybe not he thought as he watched her walk up and smile at him invitingly before speaking through her teeth low so only their kind could pick it up.

"Act like you're happy to see me or something since I just had to refuse that guy five times when he offered a lower price on the phone plan if I'd go out with him." She stated and he decided that he'd help her out, just this one time, and held a hand out to her which she accepted.

"All done, princess?" he asked as pleasantly as he could muster, which wasn't as difficult as one would think, and lightly kissed the back of her hand before winding her arm in his and noticed she twitched ever so slightly at being called princess and he had a thought, "Hmm…I think I've found a nerve….maybe this won't be so hard after all."

He hid his smirk at that thought as they walked away from the kiosk. Zukiyo, also hid something as she leaned against him to keep their ruse up until out of sight, she hid the fact that his calling her princess bothered her more than he thought. She knew it was a common endearment for men to use, but she hated it and she knew that she couldn't let this male find out that she really was one. Not yet at least. Keeping herself out of harms way was going to be much harder than she thought.

A/N: Here's the update, I'm going away for awhile so I don't know when I'll be back. I'll miss you all send me lots of feedback and love!