Disclaimer: I stole them from K. Masashi... You know he doesn't care. :K. Masashi fuming in background, locked in a cage:

Present.

Naruto walked up the gravel path that led to the church and pushed open the doors once he'd climbed the steps, walking into the bright church, sunlight pouring in through the windows. Mass had probably ended about ten minutes ago and a few people were still milling about, waiting to give their confessions or speak to Father Iruka.

The blond always took priority, though, and since he visited every week on Sunday at one-thirty, Iruka ensured he was in his room in the back, waiting for him. Naruto walked towards the side door and pushed through it, heading down the small corridor to Iruka's room and knocking.

"Come in, Naruto."

He did so, opening the door just enough to enable him to enter before closing it again. Iruka was sitting at his desk, writing in a book. Naruto didn't know what it was, and he'd never asked. He just walked towards the older man's bed and sat down on it, waiting for Iruka to finish.

Once he was done, he turned around and smiled at Naruto. "How are you today?"

"Tired." The blond grinned. Iruka chuckled.

"Of course you are. Long night."

"As always." He sighed, leaning back, propping himself up on his elbows. "Didn't get attacked by Akatsuki, though. That was a first. Nice break from their constant torment. They're driving me insane."

"I'm sorry this is happening to you, Naruto." Iruka admitted; the man truly was sorry for everything Naruto had to go through all the time. "I wish I could help you in some way."

"Yeah, me too." He grinned at the priest. "But you know, it's how it is." He shrugged.

"I suppose." Iruka waited, knowing Naruto would have some kind of question. He always did.

"Hey, Father Iruka?"

"Yes?"

"I was thinking—when I kill Arashi, should I pray for him?" He frowned as he stared at the ceiling. "I mean, other vampires have done bad things, it's true, but he's—the epitome of evil."

"Some sins can never be forgiven." Iruka admitted. "Arashi has done some horrible, horrible things, and he continues to do so, even now. But, as much as I would like to tell you not to pray for him, God regards all in equal light. Even if Arashi is going to be punished for everything he's done, it would be nice if someone cared enough to help him through his time in hell."

"He doesn't deserve it." Naruto whispered. "But I'll say one for him, anyway." He stood then, stretching. "We found new recruits last night."

"Oh?" Iruka straightened, interested. He always liked hearing about the people who risked their lives to save others. It made him wish he could do something like that.

"Yeah, remember Ino? My co-worker? Turns out she's dating a souled vampire, and she's been fighting them for about two years. Her boyfriend's best friend has a schedule and is looking up the Akatsuki and everything. They're going to be really beneficial to have around." He grinned.

"I'm glad you've found more help." Iruka smiled as he stood, motioning the door, which Naruto headed towards.

"Guess it's time for me to leave you to your fans." Naruto grinned. Iruka rolled his eyes.

"Please, don't mock me like that."

"God be with you, Iruka."

"And with you." Iruka bowed his head slightly and Naruto left.

The blond headed back towards the street and his car, wanting to get home before Sasuke woke up. The raven hated it when he left while he was sleeping, for some reason. Naruto assumed it was probably just because he was worried about him, even though it was daytime. After all, Naruto's attacks happened whenever they pleased, day or night. But he himself wasn't worried, he'd had one recently, so he wasn't due for another any time soon.

As he headed home, he thought about the last few nights. Things weren't looking good in his life right now, and he was really starting to miss how things were before. Before Kiba had turned, before Itachi and Kisame were after him every night, before Ino's boyfriend had been turned into a vampire, just—before.

He pulled into his driveway a few minutes later and sighed, sitting behind the wheel for a while longer before exiting the car and heading towards the door. When he got inside, he found no one in any of the usual rooms so he headed down into the basement. Kakashi, Sakura, Ino and Sasuke were all watching a movie. Neji was in the corner reading a book, Shikamaru and Hinata were asleep, and Chouji was busy hooking up all his equipment upstairs. It had taken them three cars to get all of Chouji's things, while Shikamaru's and Ino's stuff had taken up only one trunk together.

"Whatcha watching?" Naruto asked as he fell down beside Sasuke and wrapped his arm around the raven.

"Some movie about Dracula." Sakura replied, bored. She loathed vampire movies, but Kakashi found them insanely amusing, so they ended up watching a fair bit of them.

They watched it in silence, Kakashi giggling on occasion at stupid parts while Sakura just rolled her eyes. The grey-haired man flat out laughed when one of the women in the movie was warding off a vampire with garlic. It was recoiling while hissing at her, and they had to pause the movie because they couldn't hear anything over Kakashi's laughter.

"I keep waiting for the vampire to just go 'you're kidding, right?'" Sasuke admitted.

"Huh?" Ino looked at them, confused. "You mean—garlic doesn't work?"

The other four just turned to stare at her before Naruto held one finger up. "Wait here."

He stood and disappeared through the stairwell door, the others cocking an eyebrow in confusion. After about a minute, he returned, but instead of heading back towards the couch, he trotted across the room to Neji, who was still reading. He stood in front of the vampire and held a clove of garlic right in front of his face. Neji did nothing for a few seconds before looking up at Naruto with his eyes.

"Can I help you in some way, shape or form, Uzumaki?"

"It'd be pretty cool if you hissed and backed away." Naruto admitted with a grin.

"Funny." Neji took Naruto's wrist in his hand and lifted it away from his face so he could see his page again and continued to read, ignoring the blond who was grinning in front of him.

He turned back to Ino, throwing the garlic from his right hand to his left. "See? It does nothing."

"It's like crosses." Sakura agreed, looking at Ino. "That only works if you have faith. Like for Naruto. He believes very strongly in God, so if he held up his cross, the vampires would back away. The stronger ones usually can withstand it but they'll still be burned if the cross touches them."

"I heard that vampires get rashes when they enter churches, too." Kakashi said. "Not sure if it's true or not."

"Hey, we could just shove Neji into a church and see what happens." Naruto grinned.

"Or we could not." Neji replied calmly as he flipped the page of his book. Naruto laughed.

Sasuke just groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Is it night time yet?"

"Absolutely not." Shikamaru hollered.

"Shika—"

"No!" He rounded on Ino. "There is no way I am letting you!"

"We'll go on a rotation." Chouji insisted, rubbing his eyes. "I just need to see who does well with whom, all right? We'll trade around all the time, it's just for tonight."

"I don't want Ino with Sakura!" Shikamaru insisted.

"We're in the easiest sector." Ino sighed.

They'd been arguing about this for about ten minutes, and the blond woman was getting very, very frustrated with her boyfriend. Back when it was just the three of them, Chouji had divided the city into sectors and the two hunters would cover one sector each a night. They'd rotate sectors, going as a pair when they hit the tougher sectors. Now, Chouji had revised the plan to make the sectors smaller, because there were more of them, but he wanted to test everyone's strengths and weaknesses, so he'd chosen the pairings. He'd put Hinata with Shikamaru, and switched things around between Neji and Sasuke so that the vampire was with Naruto and the human was with Kakashi. Then, he'd paired up Ino and Sakura, which was what Shikamaru was so upset about. He kept insisting Sakura wouldn't be adequate enough to watch Ino's back.

"Ino, I don't want you to get hurt!" Shikamaru hollered.

That was when Sakura had had enough. She whipped out her Glock 18, twirled around behind Shikmaru and wrapped her arm around the front of his body, the barrel of her gun aiming at the bottom of his chin upwards.

"I think you're misunderstanding something, Shikamaru." Sakura hissed. "Ino's an old friend and I'll watch her back as if she were Kakashi. This isn't a game of paintball or laser tag, people die out there. I'm not going to half-ass this, you son of a bitch." She pulled away from him, holstering her weapon angrily.

Shikamaru growled, but he got the point. 'Stop arguing or I blow your head off.' He understood. It didn't mean he had to like it, though.

"Whatever." he grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "So troublesome."

"Right, well, if we're all set to go, let's header." Kakashi motioned the elevator and stairs.

Ino and Sakura opted to taking the stairs, heading up them slowly. Neither said a word as they exited the house and Sakura walked down the driveway. "You're not afraid of fast cars, are you?"

"No, why?" Ino asked before a helmet was thrown at her. She barely managed to catch it, looking at it in confusion before looking up. Sakura had a helmet on her own head and was throwing one leg over a motorcycle. "Shit on me, you still have that thing?"

"Of course." Sakura replied. "It was one of the only things I managed to save after my house was sold. Damn bastards just wanted me to be dead so they could make more money." She turned it on and revved the engine as Ino sighed and pulled the helmet on over her head. She took her place behind Sakura and the rosette turned, zooming out of the driveway.

Ino just kept her screaming to herself, her eyes widening and a squeak emitting from between her lips every time Sakura did something daring—like turning right in front of a semi that was barrelling towards them. Ino kept thinking about what would happen if she suddenly fell off during one of those gutsy moves. Well, obviously, I would die, she thought, annoyed.

Once they reached their sector, Sakura parked in the parking lot to a store that was currently closed. Ino pulled her helmet off, giving it to Sakura as she climbed off the motorcycle on shaky legs.

"You haven't changed."

"Neither have you." Sakura smirked as she lifted the seat and put the helmets underneath before motioning towards the exit.

"So, we haven't had much time for girl talk." Ino exclaimed as they headed down the street. They weren't expecting very much action, this part of town barely had any vampires. "This Kakashi guy, are you seeing him?" She winked.

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, I'm with Kakashi. Hot, isn't he?"

"Wouldn't know, I'm with Shikamaru." Ino replied innocently.

"Oh, come on. You can look, you just can't touch. I'll openly admit that Naruto and Sasuke are damn fine. Luckily, I don't risk cheating on Kakashi, what with them being gay and all."

Ino almost fell over where she stood. "What?! Naruto's gay?!"

"You—didn't catch that?" Sakura cocked an eyebrow before laughing. "Man, live with us a little longer. Like, maybe, eight more hours." She grinned. "They always have a tension-release fuck. Mind you, so do I." Sakura frowned.

"Me, too." Ino giggled. "But at least in the basement Chouji won't be able to hear us."

"Oh, he'll hear Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke's a screamer." Sakura grinned.

The two girls giggled about this for a few minutes before they heard something snap behind them. Both sobered immediately and whipped around. Sakura's hand was on her thigh, ready to pull out the knives concealed in her tight pants, while Ino got ready to pull her gun out from behind her back, under her shirt.

There was nothing behind them, but they weren't fooled. Sakura scanned the area before pulling out a knife and whipping it across the expanse, having it slam into a tree. A vampire hissed and jerked away from the tree, letting his presence be known.

"Isn't that just silver?"

"Doused in holy water." Sakura informed her. "These babies can turn a vampire to dust if you hit them in the heart."

"Hm." Ino said as a reply before aiming and firing. She missed. "Dammit, I hate guns." she muttered.

Sakura didn't reply because she'd whipped around and kicked another vampire in the chest. It jerked backwards before grinning at her, his fangs protruding out from between his lips.

"Great, every vampire in the neighbourhood heard we were coming." she muttered as she fought with the vampire in front of her. It was fast, and had she not had Naruto's enhanced genes, she probably wouldn't have been able to keep up.

It was definitely not a newly turned vampire. He felt old, his strength weighing down on Sakura to the point where she bit her lip to try and make herself focus. She was always scared when she came upon strong vampires, especially when she knew that Kakashi wasn't the one watching her back.

She heard a cry and turned to see the other vampire holding Ino up by the throat before throwing her away, the blonde slamming into a nearby tree before falling unconscious.

"Ino!" Sakura whipped out one of her knives and threw it at the vampire approaching her friend. It hit him in the arm and he shrieked, jerking away as the skin around the weapon bubbled. He went to grab the handle to pull it out, only to have it recoil as he screamed once again.

Because of her few seconds of distraction, the vampire behind her grabbed her around the neck and pulled her to him from behind.

"You're mine now, little girl."

"Fuck you." Sakura raised her leg as far as it could go, slamming her foot into his face and hitting her own shoulder. Gotta love flexibility, she thought as the vampire stumbled away from her, stunned.

Sakura scrambled towards the unconscious Ino. The blonde had a gun with a bunch of UV rounds, which made her Sakura's new best friend. She grabbed the gun and aimed it at the most threatening of the two at the moment, the one she'd kicked. She fired and the bullet slammed into his shoulder. His whole arm turned to dust and he shrieked.

"Shit." Sakura aimed again, hitting him in the chest this time, but by now, another vampire had appeared, while the one with the knife still in his arm was attempting to find a way to pull it out. "Shit, Ino, wake up!" she screamed as she fired at the shrieking vampire. The bullet slammed into the back of his head and he turned to dust, her knife clattering as it hit the ground. She faced the last of her opponents, wondering how many more were on the way.

"This is going to be a long night." she muttered.

"Help! I could use a little help!" Naruto looked down at his pocket before pulling his phone out of it and bringing it to his mouth. It was one of the new 10-4's—the walkie-talkie cell phones.

"Sakura, what's up?"

"Ino's unconscious and vampires are crawling up my fucking ass!"

"Well, that has to hurt." Neji replied, completely unconcerned. Sakura always said she needed help and by the time people got there to help her, she had killed all the vampires. Neji believed she just did it for attention.

"You're in the quiet sector, right?"

"Not quiet right now!"

"I'll be right there." Naruto turned to the vampire with him. "Okay if I jet for a bit?"

"Knock yourself out." Neji sighed, waving him away with one hand.

"Don't be jealous." he teased before turning and running down the street. They weren't that far from where Ino and Sakura were sent to.

Neji sighed, walking down the street with his hands in his pockets. It had been a long time since he'd last been paired with Naruto, and he had to admit, he was a little annoyed that the blond had run off the first chance he got. Neji enjoyed their conversations. Naruto made him feel more—human.

A sound behind Neji caused him to turn on his heel, pulling a stake out from a compartment in his pants. He was a vampire, so it was too dangerous for him to have UV rounds in case something went wrong. Stakes were safer, but it was also harder for him to kill vampires who were just as strong as him.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down." Neji narrowed his eyes at the boy standing behind him. He was clearly a vampire, though he must've been only about sixteen when he was turned. "I'm not a hunter, if that's what you're scared of."

This guy's an idiot, Neji thought with a sigh. I'm holding a stake and he thinks I'm scared of hunters. Oh well, one more stupid vampire to send to his grave. Just as Neji was about to lunge at him, he froze when the vampire continued to speak.

"Having trouble finding a place to feed?"

"Maybe." Neji said slowly, wondering where this was headed. Would he learn something interesting tonight?

"I'll let you in on a secret." He leaned back against the wall as Neji listened, waiting to hear what he had to say. "There's a whole group of us around here who head over to what we call the Junkie house."

"The Junkie house?"

"You know, humans who drug up? Heroin, meth, X—the ones who do drugs. The Junkies."

"Go on." Neji narrowed his eyes.

"Well, a bunch of us around here have taken to going to that house and feeding from the junkies while they're off their rockers. We leave them with just enough blood to survive before heading out with full tummies. That way, nobody knows what's going on, they get high, and we get a free meal." He grinned. "Now you're probably wondering why we don't just kill them, right? Well, you see, if we did that, then nobody would come to the Junkie house anymore because they'd think it was too dangerous. By ensuring we keep them alive, it guarantees that we can get our share of blood every night."

"So why did you approach me?"

"You're looking a little deprived, to be honest." He shrugged. "Just thought you might like to come check it out. But not tonight. Maybe tomorrow." He held a piece of paper out to Neji. "This is the address, if you're interested. Drop by after midnight and I'll be around to show you the place, okay?"

"Sure." Neji took the piece of paper and let the vampire walk off. This was too good an opportunity to let pass by.

As soon as everyone got home, Neji told them all about the vampire he'd encountered. Although a few of them were annoyed that he'd let the vampire walk away, he insisted that it was better this way. After having told them what he'd learned, everyone was silent. He looked at Naruto for what their next move should be. To him, Naruto was like their leader. He didn't give a damn what anyone else said.

"What should we do?"

"Kill them, obviously. They're vampires." Sasuke insisted, glaring at Neji.

"But that's not fair, they're not killing anyone." Sakura insisted. "They're not even really hurting anyone."

"So what?" Sasuke demanded. "Without a soul, a vampire is a vampire!"

"Not if they're not killing anyone! If they're just drinking blood to survive and leaving the humans alive at the same time, they're no different than Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru and Naruto drinking their daily—or monthly—needs!" Sakura argued back. The two were about to start a huge debate right then and there, but Neji wouldn't let them. He didn't care about their opinions, only Naruto's.

"Naruto?" The blond looked up from staring at the floor, his arms crossed over his chest. "What do you think?"

The hybrid sighed, running one hand through his hair as he thought about it for a while. What did he think? They drank human blood, but they didn't kill anyone. But they could, if they wanted to... This was too hard to decide on, to be honest. Then again, he liked that nobody got hurt.

"I don't think they're doing anything wrong." he whispered.

"What?! Naruto—!" Sasuke began to argue, but the blond interrupted him.

"But it might be worth it to check it out. They may not kill the junkies, but there's no guarantee they don't kill people afterwards."

"That could be dangerous." Kakashi insisted, not liking what Naruto was suggesting.

"Not if I go." Neji turned to Kakashi. "I'm a vampire, after all. Soul or not, to them, I am still one of their kind."

"I'll go with you." Naruto nodded.

"So will I."

"No." Naruto turned to Sasuke with a glare.

"What do you mean, no?" the raven snapped.

"You can't pass off as a vampire. I'm at least half, so I can pull it off."

"Right, cause all vampires have tans." Sasuke bit out angrily, clenching his fists. He wanted to protect Naruto, why was the blond being so damn stubborn?!

"He's got a point." Kakashi shrugged, agreeing with Sasuke.

"Maybe he uses tanning lotion?" Hinata said in her small voice, shying away when everyone turned to look at her.

"No, you don't get tans like that from lotion." Sakura winced. "Trust me, I know."

"Yeah, I remember." Ino giggled. "You looked orange for a month."

"Shut up." Sakura pouted.

"But—this is a natural tan." Naruto insisted. "Even my dick is this tanned."

"Didn't need to know that." Shikamaru sighed.

"Neither did I." Neji agreed. "But although this is true, once you turn, you lose your colour, regardless of whether or not it's genetic. Even African-Americans and Indians look a little paler than they used to."

"How about he was recently turned?" Sakura suggested. "Like, two weeks or something?"

"That could work." Kakashi agreed.

"Good. So it's agreed." Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, who was clenching his fists angrily. "Neji and I will check this place out tomorrow."

The raven let out a growl before turning on his heel and storming towards the stairs. Fucking Neji, he thought angrily.