Why was I doing this again? That was the question that kept running through my mind. The more I found out about the Akatsuki, the more I realized I was in over my head. These were the type of people that even demons didn't want to mess with. Trust me; I'd noticed that they got tense when the name was brought up. I'd gone through almost all of my channels for information, just short of calling the Wardens to see if they knew anything about the Akatsuki. I didn't know their policy on Demon containers though, and that could be a bit problematic if they thought of them as enemies…

What was puzzling me was why they hadn't just attacked already, unless they didn't know where Naruto was. It seemed the most logical thing but I didn't want to take any chances, I was going to have to put an anti-tracking spell on something of his, that way no one would be able to use his blood or hair to track him. I'd noticed earlier the necklace that Naruto wore around his neck and decided that would be the best thing to place the spell on. I explained it to him, so why did I now find myself arguing with him about it? I had no idea, but isn't that the story of my life.

"No," he said flatly, a strange look of panic on his face that I didn't understand.

"Why not? I just need it for a minute, and then you'll have it back." I was more than a little annoyed with him.

"You can't put a spell on it!" Naruto moved a little further away from me.

I took a few steps forward, not letting him get too far away in case I had to jump him. Not that I would win, he was a ninja after all, and I was a humble wizard. I had little to no experience in the art of kicking ass ninja-style, and his file had only given me one piece of information about his fighting style: unpredictable. I was not going against him just yet, I liked living.

"And why is that, oh wise teenager?" I asked, the sarcasm slipping off my tongue.

"Because it has a seal on it! Mess with that and there's no telling how many tails I'll get if I lose control," snapped Naruto, his voice more of a growl than anything else.

Ah, that made sense…sort of. What did he mean by tails? I opened my mouth to ask, my curiosity temporarily stamping out my annoyance, when there was a knock on the big metal slab that served as my front door. Reason for a metal door? Well, when you have demons and zombies trying to kill you in your sleep, you need a little something extra to keep them out. You know what I mean…well, maybe you don't. You most likely have enough sense to ignore anything out of the ordinary that might happen around you.

I glanced over at Mouse, who'd been watching the two of us argue, to find his tail thumping against the floor as he stared at he door. Seemed that it was someone we knew and trusted, otherwise the dog wouldn't be so relaxed. I turned a glare on Naruto, who was still watching me warily.

"You're going to explain to me what the hell you mean by that in a minute. I apparently have more guests." I stalked over to the door and struggled for a moment to get it open; it had taken more of a beating than I in the past few years. By the time I got it open Mouse had come over to greet whoever was at the door.

"When are you going to get this thing fixed, Harry?"

I glared at my brother and pushed the door open a bit more so that he could get in. Thomas sidestepped my glare, rolling his eyes in return. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to put up with him most of the time, and then I remember he's pretty much the only family I have. I saw his eyes sweep the apartment, tensing when he noticed Naruto.

"What the hell…Harry, have you lost your mind?" he asked quickly, turning his attention back to me. I raised an eyebrow then glanced over a Naruto, who was staring at Thomas with a blank look but I could see the wheels turning behind all that blond hair. Mouse rubbed his head against Thomas's hand then trotted back to Naruto, nudging that boy until he tore his eyes away from the vampire and petted the dog.

"Now what would give you that idea?" I closed the door, watching from the corner of my eye as Naruto moved to sit on the sofa, Mouse following to pin him down. Thomas sputtered for a moment before getting back a bit of his cool. He eyed Naruto warily before moving to sit down.

"What's your name kid?" asked Thomas, his voice cautious and posture stiff. Maybe he knew more about the situation that I did. That wouldn't be a big surprise, I spend half of my time in the dark, and at times I like it that way. A strange look came of the boy's face, like he was fighting something. It passed after a moment and a look of 'the hell with it' passed over.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" His lips pulled into a large grin and he scratched the back of his head. Thomas and I blinked, surprised but the sudden change in his attitude. "Now I have the same question for you."

My brother stared at him before sitting back in his chair, a bit more wary than he had been before.

"Thomas," he muttered, looking confused. "Thomas Raith."

NARUTO'S POV

Raith? Where had I heard that name? I thought on it for a moment and then gave up. I didn't care enough to remember at the moment. It looked like he was a friend of Harry's, so he had to be okay. I could see that both of them were confused by my change in attitude but at the moment I didn't care. I wasn't acting all serious anymore; it was a pain to keep up. Why I'd thought I could keep it up until I was allowed to go home I don't know.

"Naruto, huh? I've heard a lot about you."

My attention was immediately back on this Thomas person. I didn't like the tone he'd used when he said that. What had he heard about me? Other that I was awesome, what else would someone say about me?

"Other than that I'm awesome what could you have heard about me?" I said, laughing slightly. He raised a brow and I heard Harry chuckle; yep I still had the gift of sarcasm.

"Well let's see: You painted the faces on the Hokage's monument, you stole the forbidden scroll after you failed your exam the third time, you and your team's first real mission was protecting a bridge builder, you trained with the Sannin Jiraiya for two years, and you fought Gaara of the desert and barely won by the skin of your teeth. I've also heard about your obsession with finding a one Sasuke Uchiha, and the beating you took from him during that recovery mission. And more recently I heard about your defeat of Pain of the Akatsuki." Thomas said, and I could see the smug smile starting to tug at his lips. Okay, maybe he'd heard a bit more about me.

"Okay, is that all you've heard because all I'm hearing is how awesome I am?" I said, trying to look cool and nonchalant. I saw his eyebrow rise slightly but I just gave him my signature grin and leaned further back against the sofa. No way was I going to let this smug looking ass get the best of me in a battle of wits. Okay, so maybe most people don't think I'm that smart and most of the time I'm not but when it comes to banter I'm almost an expert.

HARRY'S POV

I blinked at Thomas for a moment before having to bite my tongue to keep my chuckle from escaping. The kid sure had guts, and an ego, to talk to the older man in that tone of voice. My thoughts skimmed over what Thomas had said and I realized that only three and a half of those things had been in the kids file: His obsession with Sasuke, the fact he'd trained with this Jiraiya person, and the fact that he'd failed the exam three times. It hadn't mentioned any of the rest of it.

"Why'd you steal the scroll?" I asked, keeping my voice bland. His blue eyes lowered and he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well you see what had happened was one of my Sensei's wasn't the best person in the world and used the fact that I wanted to be a ninja against me. He tricked me into stealing the scroll by telling me that if I could get it and learned one of the techniques in it that Iruka-sensei would have to let me pass." he said, and I noticed that his voice grew a bit bitter toward the end of it. No wonder, I'd be pissed if someone tricked me like that. Before I could stop it the next question slipped from my lips.

"Did you learn the technique?"

Great Harry, you really are asking to get beat up aren't you?

I was about to open my mouth to take back the question when the grin returned to Naruto's face. "Hell yes!" he said voice a bit lower than a yell.

I raised a brow and made a motion with my hand that clearly said 'show me'. I got a bad feeling the moment I did it too because an evil grin began to tug at the blonds lips. I watched as he stood up and placed his hand in the form of a cross, opened his mouth.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried, moments before several puffs of smoke appeared. I could feel the spike in his magical energies and I wanted to piss my pants, they were that powerful. I glanced over at Thomas to see a flicker of fear pass over his face at the spike in energy.

As the smoke cleared my jaw fell open as, around the boy in a semi-circle, where there had been nothing a few moments ago stood four perfect copies of Naruto. All of them grinned and raised their hands in peace signs.

Naruto's grin grew wider as he dismissed the clones. I couldn't think straight for a moment but I pulled myself together rather quickly.

"What you yelled, what does it mean in English?" I asked, more curious than I aught to be.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

The answer didn't come from Naruto this time but rather from Thomas. Both Naruto and I stared at him questionably. He lifted his shoulder in a shrug and gave a smirk.

"My family has connections in the Shinobi part of the world, I picked some things up." He said, his smirk growing wider and I understood the implications in that one sentence. I wondered how many women there were being fed from and pushed the thought away. I didn't want to know. I glanced over at Naruto as an excuse not to look at my brother and noticed a very peculiar look on his face.

"Which village?" He asked simply, his body tense. I glanced quickly at my brother who looked a little uncomfortable. Strange, what did a White Court Vampire have to be scared of? Something didn't sit well in my mind. The two didn't add up....

"Well you see...." I saw my brother's eyes dart toward the door, as if he was contemplating running away as fast as he could from the question. Nope, none of this was sitting well in my mind.

"Which. Village." Naruto growled, his body language clearly saying he was not amused by the game Thomas was playing. Obviously Thomas could see that too.

"Otogakure" He muttered, looking rather uncomfortable. The name didn't register in my mind but it apparently meant something to Naruto. A growl escaped his lips and Thomas looked alarmed, almost as if he was afraid of Naruto.

"Not anymore though, we cut off ties with them a couple of days before Snake boy died!" Thomas said quickly as Naruto took a step forward. Snake Boy? Who the hell could he be talking about? I have no idea but it had to be someone who'd done something to the kid judging from the way he was acting.

"Did. You. Know. Sasuke?" Naruto said through clenched teeth, apparently trying to get a hold on his tempter.

"Yeah, bit of an asshole if you ask me. Acted as if he was the best thing that walked the earth and we all should fall on the ground and kiss his shoes for even being allowed in his presence. Look, I know what the next question is going to be. No, I don't know where he went and I frankly don't care." Thomas said, relaxing a little bit.

A bitter chuckle left Naruto's lips as he moved to sit back down on the sofa. There was a bit of a slump in his shoulders but it disappeared by time he spoke again.

"Yep, that sounds just like Sasuke. Sounds like he hasn't changed a bit." Naruto said his voice lighter than before but not by much.

NARUTO'S POV

I lay on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, for a long time. Harry had gone to bed a long time ago, leaving me alone to think. Thinking at this point was not a good idea. I'd been here for a total of three days and things were just as complicated as they were before. I tried to keep the image of the burnt corpse out of my mind but it forced its way in.

Why did the scene seem so familiar? Had I seen someone die that way? I didn't know but it gave me a bad feeling. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with the Akatsuki or any one else that might be after me but I couldn't rule out the possibility. That's what scared me the most, not like I'd admit it out loud. It scared me to know that I had no idea when they'd come for me or even if I'd make it out alive. Back home I'd been so sure that I could handle it but now I wasn't so sure. Now that even Tsunade was worried a little bit of doubt had crept into my mind.

Another image entered my mind that made me cringe: Sasuke. I'd talked about him a bit too much tonight. After Thomas had left Harry had grilled me about him and all of the other things that Thomas had mentioned about me. It had brought back a lot of memories that I had never wanted to think about ever again.

Here I was, being protected by some man I didn't know. Not training, not getting any closer to my goals and I still had no clue as to how to get him to come home. I didn't even know I was strong enough to face him again. I shook my head, banishing the thoughts. I'd never get anything done if I thought like that. I'd only manage to get myself killed if I thought like that.

Nah, you'll only get yourself caught by Madara and his cronies. Then you'll die.

Aren't you just a lovely ray of sunshine furball?

Just being realistic.

What do you want? I need to get some sleep.

I just thought I'd warn you about that Thomas character. He's not what he seems to be.

I'm not in the mood for a riddle Kyuubi. Just tell me what you mean and leave me be.

Aww, that takes away all of my fun. What I mean is he's not human. Did you not feel his chakra?

Not human? If he's not human then what the hell is he?

My guess would be a vampire, of what court I don't know. Just watch your back around him. I don't care if the Wizard trusts him, I don't.

I didn't answer the talking fox in my head, trust me it's not as bad as it sounds, and he didn't press for an answer. Never before had I felt so out of my league as I did now. Vampires for crying out loud? How the hell was I supposed to fight him if he was a freaking Vampire. I rolled over on my side and glared at the wall. My last thought before I slipped into sleep was that when I got back to the village I was going to kill Granny Tsunade for putting me in this situation.


So, what do you think? It didn't take me that long to write it but I procrastinated for a week and my beta procrastinated for two weeks. But now I have it up.

I have a quick request, could all of you go to my profile and vote on my poll? I'd love to know your input on the next story I write [ :

Thank all of you for reading and also a huge thank you to Fullmetal Embers, my beta. Without her you would be reading something riddled with mistakes and would probably be unreadble.

~Sailor Emerald