A/N: I was getting paranoid... thinking maybe someone thought I was ignoring them or something... so I'm gonna say I haven't done ANY review replies for... well, a while... You see, I'm currently having problems with school, and every time I sign onto MSN, I am not courageous enough to brave my inbox... So... You'll be getting them hopefully this weekend. I'll try and put aside a few hours for the replies... Yeah... I'm done now...
Disclaimer- :Got arrested: Man, I should have my own nameplate in jail for all the times K. Masashi has sent me there...
Warnings: Um... gore?. :sweatdrop:
Present.
Arashi Uzumaki sat back in his large chair, steepling his fingers together and glaring at the opposite wall. Everyone he'd sent out after Naruto always seemed to fail, no matter who they were. He had been certain sending Kiba would move things along, but his son had even killed him. It was annoying Arashi to no end. Was there no way for him to lure his son there?
"Itachi." The Uchiha turned from his position by the door, walking towards the older vampire and waiting. "My son—he has many friends, does he not?"
"And a lover. My brother."
"Right." Arashi glared at the opposite wall some more. The large double oak doors opened and Kisame walked in, carrying an unconscious woman. He placed her on the table in front of Arashi, but the vampire was in no mood to feed right now. It would be sundown soon, and they would be able to roam about outside. He needed a plan before then.
"His friends are just as powerful as he is, am I right?"
"That's correct." Itachi replied.
Arashi thought some more, leaning back in his chair, completely ignoring the meal in front of him. "Is there no one we can go after who might be somewhat weaker?"
"Well, we could always choose someone random on the streets." Kisame suggested. "He'd still come if you threatened them."
"No, I need them to be more important than that." Arashi frowned. "Someone very important to him that he would do anything to protect—even though it'll be too late by then."
"I have a suggestion." Itachi said, causing Arashi to turn to him. "There is one person who is considerably weaker than his friends." The Uchiha smirked sadistically.
Iruka walked down the long aisle of the church, helping an elderly woman towards the exit. He unlocked the door and held it open for her before smiling. "You have a good night, Mrs. Utatane. Be safe on your way home."
"Thank you so much for everything, Father Iruka." She clutched one of his hands between both of hers. "God bless you."
"You're very welcome, Mrs. Utatane. Have a good night." He smiled as she exited the large church and closed the door behind her, locking it. He walked back up the aisle, checking the pews on either side before heading off to the right when he reached the front. He was just about to pass through the doorway when he heard banging on the door at the other end of the church. He paused before walking back to the center, frowning.
"Mrs. Utatane?" he inquired loudly, his voice echoing in the large, empty church. The pounding continued and Iruka started down the aisle. "We're closed." he called as he walked slowly towards the door. He continued to hear the banging. "Naruto?"
He reached the door and unlocked it. Opening it slowly, he peeked out and saw a mesh of blond hair, but when the figure looked up, Iruka tried to shut the door. A hand shot out, preventing him from getting it closed as Arashi grinned.
"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." Two of his lackeys appeared behind him as Iruka's eyes widened. "It's been one thousand years since my last confession."
The door was pushed open roughly, Iruka stumbling back with wide eyes, his breath coming in harsh pants as Arashi, Sasori and Deidara sauntered into the church. The blond man curled his lip in disgust.
"Ugh. Churches. Never liked these places. Mind you, it's probably because of all the crosses." He kicked over a stand that held a cross, the clatter it produced echoing in the church. The agonizingly empty church.
"What are you doing in here? God does not welcome you to his home."
"God can bite me!" Arashi grinned before laughing. "You know, Father, I'd never planned on dragging you into this; it was more trouble than you were worth." Arashi pulled up his sleeve, showing what appeared to be hives. Just standing in a church was hurting the three vampires. "But, my son—ever the evasive one—made this my last option." He sighed.
Iruka noticed Deidara and Sasori waking down the pews on either side, as if to get behind him.
"You see, I've given up hope of him coming to me of his own free will. I know it's never going to happen. So, I've come up with an alternative. I was going to kill one of his friends; bring him to me, so to speak. You know his temper, he would run to my place in search of revenge. But, there's a problem. His friends are amazingly good at fighting vampires, and surprisingly talented at running away from those they can't fight. Makes it increasingly difficult for me to capture or kill them when they kill whoever I send after them, or run away."
Iruka had backed up almost to the altar at the front of the church before Deidara and Sasori grabbed his arms. His breathing became quicker as he stared, horrified, at Arashi.
"So, in the end, I decided on this." Arashi shrugged, scratching his left arm. "If I can't kill his friends, I need to kill the next most important person to him, and that, Father, is you." He grinned.
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Iruka whispered as he began to shake, Arashi walking up to him. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil—" Arashi rolled his eyes.
"Shut up!" He punched the priest across the face.
Naruto pounded on the door of the church, Sasuke sighing as he sat on the steps, his head thrown back as he leaned back on his elbows.
"Give it up, Naruto. He's probably sleeping."
"This is important to me, all right!" Naruto snapped before returning to pounding on the door. "I need to talk to him."
Sasuke sighed, shaking his head as he continued to wait. Five minutes later, Naruto finally gave up, and turned. The raven stood, muttering a "finally" before he and Naruto headed back towards the street. Before they reached it, Naruto turned, inspecting the structure. He frowned as his eyes caught something he'd missed while walking up. Broken glass on the right side of the building. The window had been broken outward. Naruto turned and bolted for it.
"Naruto!" Sasuke turned, running after his boyfriend.
The blond reached the broken window and jumped through it, ignoring how the broken glass bit into his skin, ripping through his clothes and staining them red. Sasuke appeared at the window a second later.
"Father Iruka!"
"Naruto!" Sasuke hollered before cursing. He didn't want to tear himself apart on the glass like Naruto, so he ran around the front and grabbed the doors, wrenching them open with a loud crack as he broke the lock. He rushed forward, his eyes locked on Naruto, who had fallen to his knees at the front of the church. Sasuke ran towards him, noticing the blond's gaze directed upwards. He looked up when he was a few feet away from Naruto and his eyes widened. He froze and turned, emptying his stomach on the pew beside him. He coughed before heaving again, the sight before him burned into his mind as he regurgitated his dinner.
"Iruka..." Naruto whispered, his voice strained.
Sasuke wiped the back of his hand across his mouth before looking back up, despite how much he didn't want to. Iruka had been nailed to the wall, stakes piercing through his hands and feet in the same way Jesus Christ had been crucified. A bunch of barbed wire had been wrapped around his head, digging into his skin as a vulgar form of a crown of thorns. His hair was down and he was naked, save for a piece of cloth tied around his waist, mocking the image of Jesus Christ. His stomach had been cut open, his intestines hanging down past the cloth around his waist, almost all the way to the ground. A large cross had been cut into his chest, the whole wall behind the priest drenched in blood.
The raven looked at Naruto, the blond clutching his chest tightly, as if his heart was constricting. Sasuke winced as he realized the other was probably suffering more than he ever had before. The Uchiha didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to comfort him.
Sniffing, tears streaming down his face, Naruto stood. Sasuke watched as the blond climbed up onto the altar Iruka was hanging over.
"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice coming out raspy. He wasn't even sure Naruto had heard him until the blond replied.
"I-I'm taking him down." He sniffed, reaching for the stake in Iruka's left hand.
Don't say it! Sasuke's mind screamed. Don't say it! Don't fucking say it! His mouth didn't listen.
"Naruto, he's already—"
"I know!" The blond rounded on him, screaming. "I just—I can't leave him like this. I can't!"
He turned back to Iruka and grabbed the stake in his left hand, yanking it out. Iruka slumped forward slightly and Naruto held him, the blood hitting his nose more strongly now, and he let out a loud sob. Sasuke moved forward to help him, but Naruto noticed out of the corner of his eye.
"Don't move!" he hollered, choking back another sob. "Don't fucking touch him!" He breathed hard as he reached over and grabbed the stake in Iruka's right hand, yanking it out.
The Uchiha obeyed, watching as Naruto struggled to pull the priest off the wall. He glanced to the side, looking at his puke. He then thought of Naruto's blood on the window. It would be best for them to call the police, they would only cause themselves more problems if they didn't.
"Iruka.." Sasuke turned back to Naruto, seeing the blond kneeling on the altar, clutching Iruka to him tightly as he cried. "Please... Don't die on me, please..."
It hurt to watch. Sasuke's heart was shredding itself into a thousand pieces. It hurt too much. So, he turned and rushed down the aisle until he was outside. He took a few deep breaths of fresh air before pulling out his cell phone. He didn't know whether to ask for the police, or to bother calling for an ambulance. He settled for both, telling the police all the information they could need before hanging up. He waited a little while before re-entering the church, Naruto still on the altar and clutching the dead Iruka to his chest.
Sasuke knew that Iruka wasn't the only one who was to die tonight, if the look in Naruto's eye was any indication.
Naruto sniffed as he walked across the basement, Sasuke exiting the elevator after him with his hands in his pockets. He watched the blond storm across the large expanse and slam open the door at the back.
He walked into the room, which held all their weaponry, and grabbed a bag, beginning to grab various things and shoving them into it.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, almost afraid to find out the answer.
"Getting ready to visit Arashi." he bit out before sniffing again. "To make him pay for what he did!"
"Don't you get it?" Sasuke snapped. "This is exactly what he wants! He did this to bing you to him!"
"Then it worked!" Naruto hollered.
"He'll be expecting you!" the raven shouted back.
"Doesn't matter." Naruto's voice had lowered; become more dangerous. "He'll never be ready enough for what I'll hit him with."
Sasuke sighed as Naruto turned back to the weapons, continuing with his task. The raven walked up behind him, hugging him tightly and burying his face between the blond's shoulder blades.
"Please don't do this." Sasuke whispered. "This is a bad idea, and we both know it."
"I'm sorry, Sasuke."
The second the words left his mouth, Naruto dropped his bag, spun around, and slammed his fist deep into Sasuke's stomach. The air rushed from the raven's lungs as the force of the blow caused his head to spin. His vision faded as his brain forced him into unconsciousness to escape the pain.
Naruto caught Sasuke so he wouldn't fall to the ground, wincing as his hands ran along one of the ribs he'd just broken on the other man. He lifted Sasuke into his arms and walked out towards the medical table, placing Sasuke on it. He brushed some raven hair off his face, sad he had to knock Sasuke out, but he knew the other wouldn't have let him leave, and if he had, he would've wanted to come with him. Naruto couldn't lose someone else in the same night.
The blond turned to head back to the room, only to freeze as a voice echoed in the large basement.
"You know," Naruto turned, clenching his fists, "one normally doesn't knock out the one who cares most about them when they're trying to stop them from doing something stupid."
"And you would know of my stupidity, Neji?" Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"News travels fast at night." The Hyuuga walked out from the stairwell doorway, his arms crossed. "I heard a priest had been brutally murdered, and decided to head home. I thought you might do something stupid, but had I not seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have thought you capable of hurting Uchiha."
"Are you also going to stop me, Neji?" Naruto growled.
"Well, I'm sure you know you can't use the same trick on me." Neji stopped beside Sasuke, poking him in the cheek. "So I see two choices for you."
"I'm not fighting you, and you're not coming with me." The blond narrowed his eyes angrily.
"Well, tough, cause it'll be one or the other. You can either leave and expect me to follow you, or you can try and get past me to get to the door." Neji motioned it as he walked around the table to stand in front of Naruto.
"Are you sure you want to mess with me right now?" Red bled into Naruto's eyes.
"Are you sure you want to mess with me at all?" Neji let red bleed into his own eyes as his fangs elongated. "You'll lose yourself to the Need if you stay in that form too long, and we both know it."
"Then I better get this done quickly."
Naruto lunged at Neji.
"Ow." Sakura rotated her shoulder as she stood in the elevator with Ino. "That fall really hurt."
"Stop bitching and complaining." Ino rolled her eyes, running the back of her hand across her forehead, trying vainly to stem the blood flowing from a wound near her hairline.
"Shut up, Ino-pig!"
"What did you say, large-forehead?!" Ino snapped.
Sakura opened her mouth to reply, the elevator doors opening, but her comeback froze in her throat.
"Sasuke!" She flew through the doors, rushing to his side. "Sasuke! Sasuke, can you hear me?!" she demanded as she turned his head carefully this way and that, searching for bite marks. He had none.
"Naruto?" Ino called as she rushed across the basement. "Are you here? Naruto!"
Sakura ignored her as she inspected Sasuke, checking him for injuries. He had bruising along his stomach, and a few cracked ribs along with a broken one that was dangerously close to piercing a lung. The vampire who'd done this had gotten a perfect shot.
"Naruto's not here." Ino informed as she stood on the opposite side of the table. "Is he okay?"
"Hard to say." Sakura whispered. "He has a broken rib, and a few more that are probably cracked. Whatever happened to him—it's bad."
"Naruto wouldn't have run off with him like this unless it was to find you."
"He obviously brought him back." Sakura agreed. "Shit, this is so bad. I don't even know how to start with trying to fix it. We need to call Tsunade."
"Right." Ino rushed to the desk with Kakashi's computer and picked up the phone. She dialled the number and waited. Just as she began to speak, Sasuke stirred with a groan.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, pressing hard against his shoulders. "Don't move!" If he shifts too much, he could make his rib pierce into his lung, she thought worriedly.
"Naruto..." Sasuke groaned out.
"Where is he? Did he go out to find me?"
"Did this..." the raven grit his teeth.
Sakura's head snapped back. Dear God, has Naruto finally turned? The thought was downright terrifying. Sakura was just about ready to panic.
"Iruka's... dead..." Sasuke forced out.
That took a bit longer to process in Sakura's mind.
"What?!" she demanded when it finally got through. "What do you mean?! What happened?!"
"Arashi..." Sasuke groaned, gritting his teeth in pain. "Naruto... went..."
"Naruto went after Arashi?!" Sakura shrieked.
"Sakura!" She turned to see Hinata rushing towards her from the elevator. She hadn't even heard it go up and come back down. "Neji's left! He left me! I don't know where he is!"
"Dear God." Sakura breathed, looking back down at Sasuke, whose face was contorted in agony. "Naruto, what are you doing?"