Disclaimer- :Is still in the process of bribing K. Masashi:
Thirteen Years Previous.
A young boy of about seven—he'd just turned that wonderful age five days ago, insisting he was almost a teen now, and didn't need a bedtime—peeked out of his bedroom door as he heard his father yelling at his older brother. He sounded really angry, and the boy had to wonder what the eighteen year old had done to have such a wrath inflicted on him.
Sasuke Uchiha didn't dare try to glance down the stairs, knowing his father would yell at him for, not only still being awake, but listening in on his brother's scolding. From what he could gather, his father was angry that he kept coming home so late, and that he spent most of his days locked in his room. Itachi's school had also called to let them know that the eldest Uchiha hadn't been attending for the past couple of days.
"It's that new gang you're always with." Fugaku shouted angrily, Itachi unfazed by his father's anger. Sasuke thought that he probably would have been crying, by now. "I want you to stop hanging out with that group, that—Akatsuki!"
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Itachi's smooth, stoic voice drifted easily up the stairs. The distinct sound of flesh hitting flesh was heard, and Sasuke winced, imagining the pain. He'd been hit by his father once, too, and had quickly decided he never wanted to be again.
"Don't use that tone with me." Fugaku's voice was dangerously low. "Get to bed. Now."
Itachi's footsteps were heard ascending the stairs, and Sasuke watched as his brother appeared at the end of the corridor, entering the room closest to the stairs. The youngest Uchiha quickly snapped his door shut as he heard his father's angry footsteps. He jumped into bed, in case he was checked in on, and feigned sleep.
His door was opened and Fugaku sighed as he went to Sasuke's side. He brushed some hair off the young boy's face before kissing his forehead. "Don't be like your brother, Sasuke." the old man whispered.
Sasuke didn't know whether or not his father knew he was awake, so he continued to pretend to be asleep. His father left a few seconds later, and Sasuke opened his eyes. The raven waited about ten minutes before crawling out of bed and lying on his floor, looking under the door. He couldn't see any lights on in the hall, which meant his parents were in their room. He inched open the door and glanced down the hall at his parents' room. Their door was shut. Sasuke silently exited his room, closing his door behind him before hurrying down the corridor and opening his brother's door.
Itachi turned around from what he was doing at his desk, fixing his brother with an unreadable stare as Sasuke closed the bedroom door.
"Why is father so angry with you?" Sasuke asked as he crawled onto his brother's bed. He'd always liked Itachi's bed better than his. It was bigger, and more comfortable.
"Because he's weak." was all Itachi said as he turned back to whatever it was he was doing. Sasuke didn't understand what Itachi meant, but he didn't press him. He didn't want his brother to get mad and kick him out.
Sasuke just sat silently on the bed, looking around his brother's room. He'd noticed Itachi had painted black paint on his windows and changed his old white curtains to thick black one, but otherwise, nothing had really changed. The elder Uchiha had always had a lock on his door, so for Sasuke to sometimes try the door and not gain entry wasn't something uncommon. Though he had to say, his brother could use a little more sun. He was looking really pale, lately.
Sasuke bit his lip, unsure of what he should do. He'd gotten thirsty and gone to the kitchen to get a drink, and while he'd been filling his glass with water, Itachi had come home—late, as usual. Fugaku had gone off on him straight away with Mikoto jumping in on occasion, too. Both were furious with his attitude of late, and weren't quiet in telling him so.
And poor Sasuke was stuck in the kitchen, terrified. If he left right now, amidst the fighting , he was sure to get yelled at, too. But if he stayed and one of his parents checked his room after the fight was over, they'd know he'd heard the entire ordeal and might get mad at him. Sasuke had no way of winning in his situation, and he cursed his dry throat for needing water.
So, with a sigh, Sasuke sat down at the kitchen table to wait for whatever his fate may be. His dad was still yelling at Itachi about that group he was in; the Akatsuki. Sasuke kept hearing this name, but he had no idea what it meant or who the group was. He wondered how his father had even head about it because he doubted Itachi had given him that information freely.
Suddenly, his father's yelling stopped and Mikoto shrieked. Sasuke jumped, startled, and turned to look at the door that led from the kitchen to the living room. His mother was still screaming, sounding absolutely terrified. Sasuke was almost scared to see what was going on, but he pushed himself out of his seat and crept to the door, looking out. His blood froze in his veins at the sight that greeted him.
Itachi had Fugaku by the throat, his lips pressed against the side of his father's neck. Sasuke didn't even have to think about what his brother was doing, the thought was in his mind the second he glanced into the other room. He's a vampire. Itachi held Mikoto with his other hand, her hair clenched tightly in his fist as the woman punched and kicked her eldest son, trying to get him to let her go, still screaming.
Sasuke watched, horror-struck, as his brother dropped his father's corpse to the ground, blood trailing down his chin. He turned to Mikoto, and she stared at him, terrified, and no longer screaming.
"Please don't hurt your brother." she whispered pleadingly. "Please don't hurt him."
Itachi ignored her, staring deep into her eyes. Mikoto stared back before her eyelids fluttered and her eyes glazed over. She didn't struggle or run, even as Itachi let her go and gently moved one hand behind her neck. He tilted her head to one side, breathing right above her pulse, and was just about to bite her when something smashed into his head. It hadn't really hurt, what with Itachi being a vampire and all, but now he had glass stuck in his hair.
He released his mother and turned to the kitchen, seeing his brother standing in the doorway, his eyes wide, and trembling from head to toe.
"Don't worry, little brother, I haven't forgotten about you. I'll get to you in a minute."
"Don't hurt her!" Sasuke shouted, and then looked surprised, as if he hadn't meant to say it out loud.
"And since when have you, Sasuke, told me what to do?" Itachi turned and sank his teeth into his mother's neck.
"No!" Sasuke began to run towards them, but his mother's glazed eyes cleared for a second.
"Sasuke... run..."
The raven didn't want to leave her, but she knew what was best for him. She always had. And so, Sasuke listened, running past Itachi as fast as his little legs could carry him, and throwing open the front door. He ran down the streets at a speed only a frightened child can attain. Tears streamed endlessly down his face as he turned the corner at the end of his street.
I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. The mantra was playing on a loop in the raven's head, the young boy too terrified to even pay attention to where he was going.
He must have been running for a good ten minutes before a shadow loomed behind him and he was grabbed by the back of his nightshirt. He let out a squeak as he tried to pull free, but he soon found his back pressed against his brother's body, the elder Uchiha wrapping one arm around Sasuke's chest, his hand splayed out.
"No more running, little brother. Time to accept your fate."
"Don't." Sasuke whimpered weakly, his heart beating so loudly he was sure Itachi could hear it.
He felt his brother's lips graze his neck and started hyperventilating when the most wonderful thing in the world happened. Someone spoke.
"Itachi, Leader wishes to speak with you."
"I'm busy, Kisame." was the clipped reply.
"You were told you could kill your family. I don't recall little boys being on the list, or are you just a pedophile?"
Itachi turned to glare at the other man, who merely smirked. "He's my brother."
"Well, kill him later, then. Let's go." Kisame motioned behind himself with his thumb. "He won't be going anywhere any time soon."
Itachi glowered, not liking always receiving orders from Leader, but obediently let Sasuke go. The raven sank to his knees, trembling and still crying.
"We'll finish this later, little brother. Don't think I'm through with you just yet."
With that, Itachi and Kisame disappeared into the darkness, leaving Sasuke on the sidewalk. When a couple of joggers passed by the area at five-thirty the next morning, they found the young Uchiha still there, still on his knees, still crying, and still shaking.
No one had believed Sasuke, not that he'd expected them to. Everyone said he was just traumatized and his young mind had filled in the blanks with a ridiculous story about his brother. Sasuke knew people whispered about him and teased him at school, but he didn't care. He knew what he saw, and he wasn't going to let anyone else convince him otherwise.
Funnily enough, the one person he'd expected to be teased by hadn't said a word about it. In fact, he'd even defended Sasuke a few times, and gotten into fights over it with a few other boys. The raven didn't understand why, since he and Kiba Inuzuka had never been friends. He figured it probably had something to do with the other boy being orphaned a mere four days prior of Sasuke. The two of them had a silent understanding, and even though Kiba never talked to him, Sasuke was grateful that someone else understood him.
He vaguely wondered if Kiba had also had an encounter with vampires. He'd never had the courage to ask, and one day in the tenth grade, the brunette hadn't come back to school. Sasuke never found out what happened to him until the middle of eleventh grade.
Ten Years Later.
Sasuke's breaths came in harsh pants as he ran, knowing he was barely a millimeter—if that—in front of his brother. Itachi had been chasing him with a fury for five minutes, and unlike Sasuke, vampires had the luxury of never getting tired.
Sasuke had done well since that night ten years ago. The now seventeen year old had never gone out at night, he'd never invited anyone into his house—not that he had any friends to invite, anyway—and he'd basically been a paranoid, careful person ever since Itachi had killed his family.
He slept with his back to the window to avoid looking outside, where Itachi sat on his roof, staring in at him, and he'd even bought an obscenely large number of crosses to cover his room with. He'd found out that vampires actually didn't necessarily need to be invited into a house in order to enter it, but those were only the really old vampires, one-hundred years old and up. Sasuke was hoping to be dead by the time Itachi reached that age.
But still, he'd been careful. Careful to the point of being paranoid. So—
How had this happened?
How had Sasuke found himself outside at night, without a cross, and far from home? He still wasn't entirely sure himself. All he knew was that Itachi was behind him, and his elder brother was gaining on him.
The raven let out a terrified gasp as his hood was grabbed, and he hastily unzipped his sweater, stripping it off as he continued running. Itachi merely dropped the article of clothing, continuing after his brother. He didn't mind in the slightest that Sasuke was running. In fact, he was quite pleased. It would've been boring if Sasuke had just stood frozen on the spot.
Itachi was getting impatient though, so he put on a burst of speed and tackled Sasuke. The younger brother cried out in fear as he fell forward, breaking his fall with his hands. He struggled as he was held down, Itachi chuckling.
"It's no use, Sasuke, you know you can't win." Sasuke struggled more as Itachi turned him onto his back and straddled him, holding both his brother's hands in one of his.
Sasuke actually looked at his brother before he gasped. Itachi still looked the exact same way he had all those years ago, from the length of his hair to the look in his eye. Itachi hadn't changed in the slightest.
"Surprised, little brother?" Itachi smirked. "You've done well for the last ten years. I'm impressed. And because of that, I'm going to spare your life." Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. Itachi was letting him go?!
The elder Uchiha smirked at the hope in his brother's eyes. It was true, he was going to spare his life, but Sasuke was going to turn into a vampire. He was going to end up just like Itachi, exactly like Fugaku hadn't wanted him to.
Itachi ran his free hand soothingly down Sasuke's cheek as he stared deep into his eyes, red bleeding into his own. Sasuke's pounding heart began to slow and he relaxed beneath his brother, no longer afraid. His eyes were glazed over, and he couldn't really think straight. It was weird, almost like Sasuke wasn't in control of his own mind.
Itachi bent down and his fangs pierced through Sasuke's skin and vein. Crimson blood began to flow out rapidly and Itachi covered the puncture wounds with his lips, swallowing greedily, and ensuring he paid attention to how quickly the blood flowed. Once it slowed, he would have to stop.
The younger Uchiha groaned in discomfort, but not pain. The feeling was actually quite enjoyable, and he wouldn't have made a sound if not for the discomfort. He tilted his head to the side, allowing Itachi more access as he bucked slightly. He couldn't help it, it just felt so damn good!
The vampire smirked at his brother's actions, loving the control he had over people when he put them under. Having it be his brother made it all the better, because he knew the younger boy had once respected and admired him.
He soon noticed the blood wasn't flowing freely anymore, and he was practically sucking, now. It was time. Pulling back, he licked the raven's wounds, closing them instantly before sitting up. His brother's eyes were almost closed, and Sasuke looked practically dead. Itachi bit into his own wrist and brought it to Sasuke's mouth, pulling his lips apart and holding his wound between them. Sasuke coughed and tried to turn his head away, but Itachi held it in place. Sasuke struggled weakly, his hands coming up to tug at the hand holding his face in place.
"Swallow it." Itachi glared, the blood leaking out of the corners of Sasuke's mouth. "Swallow it!"
Sasuke had no choice. He was beginning to choke. So, he forced himself to swallow the blood in his mouth, coughing almost violently as it slid down his throat. Blood began to fill his mouth again as Itachi moved his hand to stroke Sasuke's cheek.
"That's right, Sasuke, keep swallowing." Itachi said, Sasuke obeying. "Tomorrow will be your last day as a human, you understand me? After tomorrow, you'll be turned to ash if you stay in the sun."
Itachi pulled his wrist away, the skin regenerating automatically as he willed it to. He looked down at his brother, who was still half-dead, trails of blood leaking from his mouth. He smiled, satisfied with his work.
"Find me tomorrow night, little brother." Itachi stood and left his brother alone on the sidewalk, grinning at the hour, and the fact that no one had been able to save Sasuke from his fate.
Sasuke's body hurt, and his stomach was rolling over, like he wanted to hurl, but couldn't. He heard voices and footsteps—casual, at first, and then panicked, as they presumably noticed him. He saw a blur in front of him and coughed slightly, the voice making its way through his foggy brain.
"Shit, he's lost a lot of blood, but he's not dead."
"Naruto, he's as good as gone, we can't do anything for him. Just pray and let's go home, I have a test first period tomorrow." a familiar voice said.
"We can't just leave him, he's still alive! And—he... Oh God."
"What?" Another blur appeared at the edge of Sasuke's vision. "Those blood-trails around his mouth aren't from spitting out his own blood. He's gonna turn, best to kill him now."
"No!" The blur in front of Sasuke, known as Naruto, held out one hand, obviously pushing away a weapon.
"What are you doing?!"
"We're not killing him!"
"He's gonna turn!" familiar voice hollered.
"Not if we hurry!" Naruto shouted back. "Go home and get Kakashi to call Tsunade. Bring the car. I'll handle this."
"Fuck, man, this is such a bad fucking idea!" Familiar voice turned and ran away.
"Hey, can you hear me?" Naruto asked. "Hey!" Sasuke groaned as he was slapped across the face. "Listen to me, cause this is important. In a couple of minutes, you're going to start turning into a vampire. Ten guesses and nine don't count that you don't want this. Nod your head if this is true."
It took a lot more effort than Sasuke would have liked, but he nodded weakly.
"Okay, here's what's going to happen. Right now, the blood in your stomach is replacing the blood you're missing in your veins. Don't ask me how that works, I have no idea. If you don't want to turn, I'm going to have to force you to puke the blood back up. However, once that happens, you're going to be back down to however much blood it was you had left when you started feeding off the vampire. Hopefully, my friend will be back with the car by then, but if not, you might die."
"You'll kill me if I turn, right?" Sasuke rasped out.
"Yes."
"Then I die either way, but I'd rather be a human when I do so."
"Fair enough." Naruto helped Sasuke roll onto his side before opening the raven's mouth slightly. He held him in place with one hand as he reached into his pocket with another, pulling out a pen. "Ready?"
Sasuke nodded, so Naruto brought the pen to his mouth, pushing it past his parted lips and jabbing it into the back of Sasuke's throat. The raven's gag reflex acted up immediately and Naruto barely had enough time to yank his hand away before Sasuke heaved, blood and stomach acid spattering on the ground. He took a deep breath before another wave hit him and he hurled again. Then, his stomach settled.
"That's not all of it. You've still got a lot left in there." The pen was in front of his face again. "Ready?"
"Just do it." Sasuke rasped out.
The pen was back, jabbing at the back of his throat and Sasuke hurled again, coughing violently before heaving a final time. He then started dry-heaving, his stomach no longer containing anything to throw up.
"Okay, come on." Naruto hauled Sasuke into his arms and began jogging as if Sasuke weighed nothing. The raven could hardly concentrate, his vision swimming in and out of focus. He saw a bright light in front of him, and assumed it was heaven, but the blond carrying him spoke.
"Kiba, we need to get him back to the house, now!"
Ki—ba? Sasuke's mind was sluggish, but the name registered.
"I still think you should've left him." Kiba replied. Sasuke could now tell it was him. The voice fit the boy perfectly. He'd always wondered where the brunette had gone off to. "He's as good as—holy shit! Uchiha?!"
"You know him?" Naruto demanded as Sasuke jerked slightly. Were they already in the car? When had that happened?
"Yeah. Shit, I-I went to school with him!"
"Well, if you want him to live, hurry up!"
Sasuke didn't remember much after that.
For a long time, Sasuke wasn't really sure what was going on. He would awake in an unfamiliar place with someone different beside him each time. It rotated between the same three people, but in his state, he couldn't even recognize that fact. To him, there were hundreds of people taking turns watching him.
When he finally gained enough consciousness to actually focus on what was around him, his eyes fell on the person sitting in the chair beside his bed. He was asleep, his head lolling to one side on occasion before he caught himself and straightened again, still asleep.
Sasuke opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His throat was dry and scratchy, and he coughed. The sound woke the other person in the room and he pulled out a wicked-looking blade, glancing around before focusing on Sasuke. He just stared at the raven for a while, and as the other boy kept his gaze, he smiled.
"You're finally coherent." he said as he stood and grabbed a glass of water. "I'd ask how you feel, but you probably feel like trash." He went to the raven's side and helped him sit up. It hurt, but Sasuke didn't complain.
The other boy brought the glass to his lips, and Sasuke was ashamed to find he was too weak to even raise his hand to take the glass and drink himself. It embarrassed him, but right now, his throat was so dry that when the other boy tipped the glass, Sasuke parted his lips and drank the water almost greedily, finishing the glass within seconds. He panted as the glass was taken away.
"More?"
Sasuke couldn't speak. He barely managed a nod, his vision swimming, and he almost fell back down, but the other boy still had one hand placed in the center of his back, keeping him upright as he poured water into the glass with his other hand. He set the jug of water down, grabbing the glass and putting it to Sasuke's lips again. The raven drank it all down again, and felt a little better as he licked his dry, chapped lips.
"More?"
Sasuke shook his head. He was all right now. The boy nodded and put the glass down, helping Sasuke lie down again before sitting back down.
"Do you remember what happened?" The raven nodded. "Good, then I don't need to explain. Makes my life easier." The boy shifted in his chair. "We almost lost you a couple of times, but you held through. Congratulations. I got to miss three days of school because of you." He grinned. "Guess I owe you."
"Who..." Sasuke coughed, his voice scratchy and his throat still tender. "Who are you?"
"Me?" The boy shrugged. "Just a random person."
"You're... Naruto." Sasuke wheezed, recalling the name from his fuzzy mind. He recognized his voice. "You... saved me."
"Ah, don't dwell on it." Naruto leaned back in the chair with a grin. "I like to think of myself as a nice guy."
"Kiba—is his last name... Inuzuka?"
Naruto frowned at this, straightening. "Yeah. Do you know him?"
"I... used to know... him." Sasuke found it really annoying that he had to swallow every few words to stop his throat from hurting. Vampire blood, he assumed. That, or maybe puking up his stomach acid.
"Oh. Yeah, he did mention that when we got you in the car. He's at school right now, but he should be home in about an hour or so." Naruto leaned back again, crossing his arms. "Care to enlighten me on what happened the other night?"
Sasuke stared at Naruto for a few seconds before sighing and commencing his story. He told Naruto about his brother killing his parents, and then how he'd evaded him for years, and then how Itachi finally caught up to him the other night. Naruto said nothing the entire time. He didn't laugh or call Sasuke crazy, and he didn't comment at all. When Sasuke finished, instead of Naruto calling the nut house, or commenting on the insanity of it all, he said something Sasuke wasn't expecting.
"Huh. You're an orphan, too."
"That—that's it? No comment on me being crazy or anything?" Sasuke asked, confused.
"Um, if you don't recall, I'm the one who was telling you we needed you to puke up the vampire blood. I'm just lucky you believed me, otherwise, you would've died trying to resist me." He chuckled.
Sasuke smiled. He liked Naruto, he was—reassuring. It was the only word Sasuke could think of to describe the other boy.
"You should get some more sleep. Kakashi's going to want to talk to you tonight. We think the vampire who attacked you—your brother—is part of a gang we're trying to find."
Sasuke nodded, still feeling pretty weak. He closed his eyes and started drifting off to sleep again almost immediately.
The next couple of days were interesting for Sasuke as the three rotated watching him. He was still too weak to leave the bed, his legs refusing to move the way he wanted them to, for some reason. He didn't mind, he liked listening to their stories.
Kakashi explained who they were and what they did, talking about how they had a room designated specifically for their weapons.
Kiba talked to Sasuke about what happened to his family, and why he'd disappeared in grade ten. It turned out he'd met Naruto and since the school was too far from his new home, he'd switched into Naruto's.
The one who intrigued him the most was Naruto. He'd told Sasuke his story, and had even had a seizure in front of him, making Kakashi run in with a bottle of blood when the raven shouted out for help.
Once, the blond had taken off his shirt when Sasuke had accidentally spilled soup all over him, and the raven had noticed the blond had a huge angel tattooed on his back. He said he got it when he was fourteen, Kakashi giving him permission. He explained that it was his guardian angel. She kept him safe.
Sasuke liked that idea. It comforted him, somehow.
They'd finally deemed him ready to return home about a week and a half later, and Sasuke had walked back towards the spot they'd found him in, ensuring the remember the area perfectly. Then, he'd gone home. They hadn't heard from him for about two months until the raven suddenly appeared on their doorsteps, asking to come in.
He asked all of them how they would feel about living elsewhere, to which Kakashi had replied would be great, but they didn't have the money.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I've owned the Uchiha Company since my father's death, but only recently took my position at the top. I've been receiving money from there since I was a child and I purchased a large mansion on the other side of town." he informed. "I had the basement completely redesigned, and I was thinking if you moved in with me, the entire basement could be like our base of operations. It could hold our weapons and be a training area." He shrugged. "We're all orphans, and I know I don't like living alone. Kakashi can be like our pseudo dad. You won't have to change schools, either, because I can hire someone to drive you there."
Naruto and Kiba looked at Kakashi. The man thought about it for what seemed like an eternity before finally smiling. "I hope you like dogs, Uchiha, because Kiba won't leave Akamaru behind."
As if understanding, Akamaru—who was at Kiba's feet, and now twice the size he'd been the year before—barked and wagged his tail.
"I'm sure I'll live." Sasuke grinned. "Start packing, you move out tomorrow."