A/N: Hey there! I'm back, and FOR ONCE in less than half a decade – HOORAY! (makes backflips)
But first… MAN – you guys REALLY want this to continue at least for now, don't you? All those reviews…! (gets stars into eyes, then glomps) Thank you, THANK YOU! You can't even imagine how happy I am right now. (Heh, sorry 'bout that. I've got a rather nasty flue incoming, and I always get even wackier than usual when that happens.) As per usual in my ficcies, responses to anonymous reviews can be found from underneath the chappy, un.
Awkay, because I bet you all want to just get going, let's stop the babbling and get on with it, ne? (grins) I REALLY hope you'll enjoy.
WARNING: Due to that mentioned flue, my proofreading most likely SUCKS. (winces) 'Hope you'll bear with me. (sniffs, loudly) (Flue's NO fun!)
WARNING 2 (BOY do I have a lot of these today!): This chapters reveals a second (and last) gender bending in this ficcy. Just so you know to be prepared. (grins mysteriously) 'Hope you'll like the twist.
There was one particular part of the city every inhabitant was particularly reluctant to approach – the very borderline, a pitch black desolate area, nearby which countless bodies of humans, vampires and werewolves had been buried or tossed. Amusingly enough that chilling place was also the only place where those three parties could be without fighting, where the war was forgotten. Death knew no pride and prejudices.
A huge, rather fat raven, which was even darker than its surroundings, was just feasting on a fresh, new corpse when its head perked up at the sound it recognized very well. Steps.
Its eyes, sharp with greed, turned to see a lonely figure stumbling forth past bodies, crosses, tombstones, dirt and debris. Moonlight revealed a horrendous amount of crimson blood. The animal's black eyes flashed while the arrival swayed violently, ending up leading against a stone.
This one wouldn't last long, it knew.
Just then, as though confirming its chilling thoughts, the stranger swayed once more, then fell to the ground with a loud thud any emotional being would've called sickening.
The bird gave a gluttonous, sharp cry of victory. Forgetting its former meal it spread its wings and started to head towards this new target, thinking it'd spotted an easy pray. That's where it miscalculated.
It gave another cry – this time that of startle – when the traveler suddenly rose to hands and knees, trembling pitiably. A wheeze could barely be heard. " …ke…"
Deciding to stop by again later the raven rose to its wings and flew away, emitting vicious snarls of disappointment.
As soon as the bird was gone the stranger slumped down once more. This time there was no movement.
CHAPTER 2: Seeds Of Connections
Naruto had never experienced the kind of freedom he did that night, zooming through the city with no mind or caution. He laughed, then let his lungs fill and swell with fresh air. (He never noticed the reek of death, paid no attention to the ruins and signs of destruction everywhere around him.)
" Damn it, Naruto, slow down!" Kiba gave a yelp like pant from behind him. He could hear ragged, labored breaths. " You'll… have us both… killed!"
He grinned sheepishly while stopping, turning around and returning to his human form. " 'Sorry. I never realized you're in that shitty shape."
Kiba's eyes also flashed while the boy returned to his human form. " Hey, watch it! Do you want me to scratch your eyes out, Catmint?"
Naruto was in a far too good mood to become insulted, instead he stuck his tongue out playfully. Just then he stiffened, sensing something he couldn't identify.
Seeing his change of mood Kiba frowned. " What's up?"
He frowned as well, letting his nose and ears move. " I… don't know." He licked his lips restlessly. " I just sensed someone, or something." He didn't feel like adding how his heart had started to thump with excitement, as though he'd been in a heat of some sort.
Kiba gave him a weird look.
They never had the time to figure out what was going on, because just then they got their hands full of other matters. Five male humans appeared out of nowhere, carrying very unpleasant expressions.
One of the things Sasuke had always been praised for were her amazing instincts. That's why it wasn't that much of a surprise that she could tell something was going on when she froze to a rooftop nearby the east end of the city, her eyes flashing red.
Shouts, blood… Something was going on.
After estimating the situation for a moment she walked up to the ledge of the roof without making a sound, then peered down. One of her eyebrows bounced up before both of them furrowed.
What the…?!
Down below, five human soldiers had circled two teenage looking boys – werewolves, she gathered in a matter of moments – and were currently throwing rocks and other junk while snarling insults.
The brunette one of the two managed to escape narrowly while changing to his wolf form, but stopped after only some steps when his friend remained frozen. " Naruto, what the hell do you think you're doing?" The bark-like sound was filled with utter terror. " Get the hell away from there! Don't try to fight them!"
The other, however, didn't obey, didn't even transfer away from his human form. " No." The voice was firm, yet shivered just a little. " I'm sick of running away. I need to do this."
Yes, of course she knew leaving would've been the most reasonable thing to do – after all she'd already completed her mission of confirming this type of a movement, and it would've been her best interest to let these to parties destroy one another. But for some reason her legs refused to take her the other way.
Her eyes narrowed.
Damn it…
She was already flying towards the ground when that thought was finished.
Naruto's heart thumped furiously while he tried to prepare himself for the inevitable, desperately attempted to summon all the skills that'd been taught to him.
He was supposed to be a warrior, damn it! He couldn't freeze like this.
The leader of the humans grinned so that teeth shone in moonlight, lifting a weapon this time. " Damn, it's going to feel good to get rid of yet another one of your kind."
He gave a howl, almost starting to transform, until the sound turned into a gasp as blood flew on him. His eyes widened while he watched the man who'd just threatened him gurgle wetly, holding on to a gaping, violently bleeding wound on his throat. The battle was, however, soon lost and the man sunk to the ground, remained unmoving.
His eyes widened still when he turned his head to see a girl with blazing, red eyes and black hair stood beside him, fangs sparkling red and white in the moonlight. " Go", the vampire snarled viciously, shooting a glare his way. " I already told your friend to get the hell away from here – you should do the same."
His head spun with disbelief.
Was this… vampire actually protecting him? What the hell was going on?
The raven's eyes were red when slashing towards him after a couple of seconds. " How much of a idiot are you?" she all but hissed, her still revealed fangs shining chillingly in moonlight. She fought back remarkably skillfully when the remaining humans attacked, finally awakening from their stupor and outraged by the fate of their friend. " Run!"
He frowned, hating the idea although his reason told him he shouldn't have.
She was an enemy – right? There was no reason for him to care what happened to her.
He snarled, revealing his teeth, and joined the fight, transforming. " The hell I'm letting a vampire finish this up for me." Though a huge part of him knew that wasn't the only reason.
The raven reacted with something that sounded like a huff, then focused on the battle at hand.
Although Naruto had a been a werewolf for all his life and the war had raged on all that time, the events that followed nonetheless horrified him – after all, he'd only killed twice before this. The sheer ferocity and vengeful violence of the human attackers, the smell, taste and sight of blood when his nails and bite accidentally finished off one of them… He howled with horror when crimson showered on him, unable to scream in his wolf-form, and prayed from the bottom of his heart that he'd wake up from this nightmare, that this would be nothing but a dream.
" Naruto." The young female vampire's voice barely caught his attention. Her by then black eyes were sharp and full of alertness when meeting his. " Don't you dare throw up or pass out on me, got it? You need to stay focused."
He nodded, although his mind refused to start working properly. He watched how the vampire's blade (when the heck had she pulled it out?!, he wondered) slashed the last of the attackers. It became deadly silent in the alleyway.
He found himself panting, and only then realized that he'd been holding his breath. " Gah…", was all he managed. And that was when he threw up, the sight of five butchered corpses and the stomach turning odor around him kicking in.
The raven emitted a groan. " Nice." She then hissed, pressing a hand against her arm. " Fuck…"
He frowned, not realizing why he felt a hint of worry when noticing the blood that escaped through her fingers. " Are you… okay?" That flash he'd seen at some point… It hadn't been a silver bullet, had it?
The vampire seemed deeply irritated – with him or herself, he didn't know. " I'll be perfectly fine, idiot." She then turned around, obviously sealing their conversation. " Now go back to your pathetic pack and forget about this, alright? It's the best for us both if we just pretend that this never happened."
She'd disappeared into shadows before he could do a thing, leaving him there in utter, mind numbing confusion.
The two of them couldn't possibly know that three pairs of eyes observed them.
-
Hidan, who was stood on a nearby rooftop, licked his lips hungrily while watching the scenario unfolding, his eyes flashing with curiosity. " Now that's interesting."
His partner's – Kakuzu's – eyes flashed while the older man whirled around gracefully. " Hn." The male started to walk away and he followed rapidly, not wanting to be ditched pathetically. " We better report to Leader. He may find this interesting as well."
-
From a nearby alleyway Sai watched how Naruto stood still in confusion for a couple of more seconds before spinning around and sprinting away, as though trying to run away from the horrendous butchery around him.
Once the werewolf had disappeared he drew in a deep sigh, trying his best to convince himself that there was nothing he could've done to stop this – he'd showed up seconds after the last human had been killed. He didn't even have his weaponry along – he wasn't on duty.
Right now all he could do was report Danzo. Unfortunately the man wasn't known for taking bad news well.
Apparently vampires and werewolves were having at least some sort of cooperation. For humans the news didn't get any worse from there.
He disappeared in a blink.
About half an hour later Neji Hyuuga stood in a rather small, dimly lit room in the base building of humans, his vacant, pale eyes locked to a certain sight.
In a incubator before him rested – or no, fought for her life, he corrected himself sharply – a tiny baby girl, hooked on so many machines that it chilled him and made the rage living in his chest grow violently.
It was their fault that this child – his daughter – had ended up like this. It wasn't the child's fault that her mother had been attacked by vampires, that her mother had died straight after giving birth. Doctors said his daughter could only avoid turning into a monster in this comatose state and with a harsh medication. For the about umpteenth time in his life he felt helpless.
He hated feeling helpless.
" Sir?" Considering his young age, he usually found such an honorific amusing. Today, however, it only succeeded in irritating him. " I'm sorry to disturb you, but this is important."
Gritting his teeth to keep himself from saying something he might've regretted later, he turned to meet Shino, one of his most trusted men. " What is it?" His voice was rigid, but at least not a snap.
" Shikamaru's team… It caught one of them." Shino's voice shuddered barely traceably, which was something not heard often. " I think you should come."
He was deep in thought while following his subordinate through the maze like building, and didn't snap back into full awareness until they walked through a extremely tightly locked door, and came into a enormous laboratory.
" Where's the prisoner?" he inquired from the five people he could see hovering around a operation table, his voice cold and almost monotonic.
The people immediately moved. " She's in an excellent condition", one of them informed. " She may even be gravid."
He barely heard, for just then he was allowed a clear visual of the prisoner. He was mildly surprised to find himself wanting to take a step backwards.
The creature – a girl, he wouldn't allow himself to think – wasn't what he'd expected. In fact he almost considered her attractive with the slender figure and long, white hair. What got to him the most, however, were the eyes. The green orbs looking up at him weren't those he'd expected – bloodthirsty and violent. Instead he met silent terror and sadness, such he'd never encountered before.
He, however, gathered himself quickly, reminding himself of facts.
This… being wasn't something he should've felt sorry for, should've cared about. It was one of them. And it was his destiny to destroy them, one by one.
That thought alone gave him the strength turning around and walking away required. " Make the experiments Danzo requires. Get out as much information as you can."
" Yes, Sir."
The huge room's door made a hollow sound when closing after him.
Naruto knew to expect trouble while he waited for his turn outside the leader's door in the werewolf's' base building. That's why he wasn't taken aback by the expression upon Kiba's face when the brunette emerged. " I'm sorry. I had to tell her."
He shivered, then sighed heavily. Here we go again… " It's okay." Slowly and unwillingly, he started to make his way towards the pack leader's room. " Better go and face the music, ne?"
He barely heard Kiba's wishes of good luck.
Far faster than he would've wanted to he was stood by the door and knocked. In a matter of moments a female voice responded. " Come in."
He winced at the tone. Great, so she was already in a bad mood.
He was embarrassed by the fact that he trembled while opening the door and entering. " Look… I can explain…"
" Explain?" Koharu Utatane (1) seemed even more terrifying than he'd recalled. Her eyes were burning with nearly exploding wrath. " You break our rules and strict orders, and end up dealing with both humans and vampires! And you think you can explain?!" She took a deep breath, but didn't calm down much. " Naruto, you could've gotten yourself killed, or ended into interrogation. And you may have led them here. You risked the lives of every single one in this pack."
He stared at her in utter bewilderment for a moment, desperately trying to come up with something reasonable to say. " I'm sorry", was what crawled through his throat in the end.
Koharu snorted. " Sorry?" He could hear how she grit her teeth. " We're at war, Naruto – although you don't seem to understand it. Selfish decisions like the one you just made can turn out to cost us a lot. Do not make me question your loyalty along with your skill level."
His eyes flashed, his temper taking over. " I'm more than capable – you've seen me fight and you know that!" His shoulders slumped at the sight of her pitiful look. " I just… need a little practice, that's all." In all honesty he wouldn't have wanted to be a killer, wouldn't have wanted to harm anyone, but the acceptance of his pack – the one that'd saved his life… It would've meant the world and more to him.
The woman's eyes were, however, merciless when meeting his. " You're half breed – I've never expected much of you. But I swear, if you ever pull a stunt like this again you'll never have a place in this pack again. Do you understand?"
He nodded, his throat feeling unnaturally tight. " Yeah, I do."
" Good. Then get out of my sight before I decide to be much less merciful."
He left the room as fast as he could, then leaned against the nearest wall he could find. His eyes – shimmering when faint traces of light hit them – once again rose towards the moon shining high up in the sky.
Gosh, he'd always loved that sight, but tonight… Tonight, the longing was too much, almost unbearable for some reason.
After a couple of moments everyone in the building exchanged sighs and knowing shakes of head when his howl ran through the hallways.
When Sasuke finally returned to the base – feeling oddly drowsy and dizzy, and inwardly cursing the pain on her injured arm – she frowned when entering the main hall and discovering that pretty much every vampire had gathered there. Meetings were common, but this time she could sense that something was badly out of place.
" What's wrong?"
The first one to react was Gaara, whose eyes smoldered chillingly. The redhead seemed fully ready to kill someone. " They caught Kimimaro", the boy hissed. " They fucking caught Kimimaro, like she'd been an animal of some sort!" The male breathed sharply through his nose, clenching and unclenching his fists at least five times. " They got her – and the baby."
Although she knew it would've been best to show no emotions, her eyes widened barely traceably and she shuddered a bit.
Every single vampire knew exactly what happened to those who were captured – they'd been shipped back more than enough bodies to give a clear picture. Her best friend's mate… had barely any hope.
" So, Gaara-kun…" Orochimaru's sickly smooth voice made her shudder inside, as did the look in the man's eyes. " Do you want revenge – do you want to spill their blood for hers?"
Gaara's eyes flashed in a way that chilled her. Sharp fangs were revealed. " Yes."
Orochimaru made a sound of pleasure. " Very good." The man then looked towards the crowd gathered around. " Listen, everyone. One of us has been taken away tonight." Dangerous eyes flashed. " It's time to pay back the blood they're about to spill, isn't it?" A thunder like roar was his response, and the man smirked icily. " In that case we will show them that we can't be taken down this easily – that we are not to be underestimated. The war will continue, and this time it will be their blood staining the streets – their flesh burning. We will pay back everything we've been through."
Another set of roars that wouldn't settle exploded while the man turned around and left.
In the covers of the noise Sasuke found it safe to murmur to Gaara. " You know he doesn't give a damn about Kimimaro."
The redhead nodded, eyes burning. " I do." The male then looked at her. " But I also know that this – playing into his pocket – is the only way I have to get Kimimaro and our baby back. There's nothing else I can do." The redhead took a deep breath, visibly fighting not to surrender under a bubbling killing rampage. " I have to go now." The other started to distance faster than she could blink, driven by sheer desperation and rage.
Fighting the urge to shake her head, she focused on other things once the redhead's back had disappeared from her sight. Her heart clenched while she watched the crowd around her, became overwhelmed by the seemingly never ending war screams.
This madness would never end, she realized.
Swallowing down a sigh she turned around and left, feeling sick in several ways. On her way she cast a glance towards Suigetsu, one of her few friends here, who was watching the havoc around them with amusement. " Are you coming?" she all but snarled, unable to block away fury.
The male nodded, eyes flashing. " Yup."
With that they disappeared into shadows.
Some hours later Sakura – who was just bringing a candle to the graveyard nearby the city's borderline, just to let everyone there know they weren't forgotten – froze and shivered, feeling something strange.
" What's wrong?" Sai – who volunteered to escort her ever so often to guarantee her safety – inquired in a voice that sounded monotonous to most.
She shook her head with a frown. " I… don't know." Just then her eyes spotted what they'd been looking for subconsciously. She gasped, and the candle she'd been holding fell as she started to run towards the figure slumped next to a tombstone. " Shit…"
Although she liked Sai's company in general, she paid no mind to him while kneeling to the bloodied bundle's side. With a quick observation she discovered that it was in fact a young male with long grown black hair that currently framed his unnaturally pale face in a messy cloud. There were several deep wounds all over his body, two such splitting the sides of his mouth. She didn't even want to know what'd been done to him – all that mattered to her was that he'd die of one cause or another if he wouldn't be taken into safety soon.
Sai frowned while observing the male with mistrusting eyes. " What is he?"
She felt like punching him, and it took her all to keep her voice even. " Do you honestly care? He's dying." After composing herself for a second she placed one of her arms to support the stranger. " Now, are you going to help me or leave?"
Without saying a word or showing a single trace of emotions Sai walked up to her and started to help her.
While they entered the house she currently inhabited some time later, she couldn't help noticing that the sunrise was scarlet. She wondered what that could mean.
TBC, no?
1) Because I'm sure many of you won't remember, this woman in fact isn't an OC. She was a teammate of Third Hokage's. Such that (at least for a while) considered Naruto filth. (hisses)
A/N: So… (gulps somewhat nervously) Good, sufficient, bad, absolutely terrible?
But heh, all three parties have now been introduced. It seems things won't be calming down for our adorable duo anytime soon. And wait, who's that stranger…?
Agh, I've gotta go and blow my nose – or crash my head against the nearest wall to knock myself into sleep – now. (sniffs) PLEASE, do review before hopping away. Pwease?
Until next time – heh, at least hopefully!
Take care!
Lovette: Yosh! I'm beyond happy to hear you liked the first bit that much. (grins like a sunshine)
Gigantic thank yous for the review! I REALLY hope you'll like the rest of the story as much.
