Present.
Kakashi sighed as he closed the door to his bedroom behind himself, Sakura falling onto her back on the bed with a groan.
"That was close. Too close." Kakashi whispered.
"Yes, it was. But at least he's back and all right. Sasuke, too."
"They were acting strange." Kakashi walked towards the bed, sitting down on the edge with a frown. Something was wrong when they entered that room, but once the two came down from the roof, everything had returned to normal. It was odd, and Kakashi didn't understand, but he didn't know how to ask.
Then again, as long as they were both all right and back together again, that was all that really mattered.
Sakura crawled up behind Kakashi, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed his cheek from behind, sighing. He brought one hand up to hold one of hers, running his thumb back and forth along her smooth skin.
"What are we going to do about this?" she whispered. "Iruka's been killed, and so has Neji. You know Hinata—shy as she is—won't stay put for long. She won't take this without attempting revenge."
"Can you blame her?"
"No, but that's exactly my point." Sakura sighed. "We can't leave this alone, Kakashi, you know that."
"I do." He continued running his thumb back and forth on her hand. "But what can we do? There's no way we can just barge in there and expect to escape unscathed, that's not how it works."
"Not for the good guys, huh?"
Kakashi laughed. "I hardly call us good guys. We kill. Sure, they're vampires and deserve it, but killing is killing, after all."
"Mm." Sakura turned Kakashi's face to the side and kissed him lightly. "You talk too much."
"You brought it up."
"I regret it. It's too late in the morning to be thinking about that."
"It's true, but I hope you're not expecting to get any sleep." Kakashi grinned.
Sakura hit his back lightly. "Pervert."
"I didn't mean me." He turned to grin over his shoulder.
A second later, Sakura could hear a bed creaking and she groaned, falling onto her back again and covering her eyes. "You have got to be shitting me."
"They've been apart for three weeks." Kakashi turned, crawling up over Sakura and smiling down at her. "What did you expect?"
"I suppose." She sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Wanna rival them?"
"No."
"What? Why not?" Kakashi pouted.
"No."
"Please?"
"No!"
"Pretty please?"
"You're sleeping on the couch."
Gaara continued to push needles into the makeshift doll he had resembling Kakashi. Kankurou was in front of his game cube, as always, and Temari was starting on a new book, a glass filled with blood beside her. She took sips of it on occasion, as if drinking a glass of wine, but it was her fourth one in twenty minutes, so Gaara knew they'd be running low, soon.
He glanced at his siblings, wondering if either of them even knew about Naruto. How he'd almost turned. It was obvious the blond wasn't a vampire, because Gaara couldn't sense him anymore, and he'd still been mostly human the last time he had, which meant that Sasuke hadn't killed him. The redhead was glad, but he'd never admit it out loud. After all, what vampire would be crazy enough to admit he was glad a hunter wasn't dead?
The redhead returned to what he was doing, trying to think up ways in which he could torture his Kakashi doll some more when a familiar power rolled over him, making all the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end. He jerked up from his chair, facing the doorway.
"What is it?" Temari asked as Kankurou paused his game.
The younger Sabaku always had been better at detecting things first.
A few seconds after he'd jumped to his feet, all the blood drained from Kankurou's face as he also turned to the door, Temari's book falling to the floor as she stood, backing towards a wall. The three of them just stared, waiting, hoping they were wrong and their senses were sensitive.
Please don't let him find us. Please, please, please... Temari begged silently as they kept their eyes fixed on the door. The knob rattled and they all held their breaths. As the door was locked, nothing happened. A second later, groaning wood was heard and the door fell forward off its hinges, Arashi walking calmly over the old wood and looking around the large room.
"Nice place. They keep you happy. I can see why you never tried to escape."
"We have no idea what you're talking about." Temari insisted, her voice coming out stronger than she felt.
The girl blinked, and a second later, Arashi was in front of her, his hand around her throat. "Don't mock me, little girl." He sneered in her face. "I've been alive much longer than you have, and it'll be easy to get rid of you. In fact, it would be downright convenient."
"Let her go!" Kankurou growled, red bleeding into his eyes.
"I fail to see where you find the authority to tell me what to do." He turned back to Temari, smirking.
"We'll tell you anything you want, just please—don't hurt us." Temari whispered.
"Oh, you'll tell me what I want to know, all right." Arashi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Which one of you was it?"
Gaara stiffened, because he knew immediately what the older vampire was asking.
"Which one of us what?" Kankurou asked with a frown.
"One of you knows what." Arashi inspected Temari's face, then Kankurou's, and finally, Gaara's. None betrayed their inner thoughts. "One of you felt my son transforming and you told the other humans where he was."
Temari and Kankurou shot each other a glance, both understanding immediately. Neither of them had spoken, which left only Gaara.
"We have no idea what you're talking about." Temari insisted.
"If you're speaking, then..." Arashi turned to look at Gaara. Again, they all blinked, and he was right in front of the redhead. He stiffened. "She was protecting you, wasn't she, baby brother?" Arashi grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground.
"Stop it!" Temari shrieked, running to Arashi and grabbing his sleeve. "Please, we had no choice! They would've killed us!"
"What a pity." Arashi turned to look at her. "They never would've gone through with those threats. I, on the other hand, am not as nice."
He threw Gaara backwards into Kankurou. He was going to have some fun tonight.
Naruto jerked up in bed, his heart pounding in his ears, his breath coming in sharp gasps. He didn't know what was wrong, but he'd just had the sickest feeling ever, and he felt like he needed to empty his stomach.
He turned his body, his feet dangling over the side of the bed as he shook his head.
"Naruto?" Sasuke mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I just..." He trailed off, not sure how to explain it. He sighed and stood, grabbing a pair of boxers off the floor. He pulled them on and found they were a little too tight. Must've picked up Sasuke's, he mused as he headed for the door. The second his hand touched the doorknob, he froze, shivers running up and down his spine.
"Sasuke, get up."
"Wha—?"
"Now!"
The raven was startled by the other's tone and got out of bed, groping around on the floor for Naruto's boxers, since he could tell the blond was wearing his. He pulled them on, the shorts riding low on his hips as he walked up behind Naruto.
"Not a sound."
"What's going on?"
"I don't know yet." the blond admitted as he inched open the door.
He glanced down the corridor with his vampiric eyes, noting there was no one. He moved silently and stealthily towards Sakura and Kakashi's room, opening the door. They were both lying naked on the bed, and he felt bad invading their privacy like this, but it was better than leaving them here to die.
Naruto gently placed his hand on Kakashi's mouth, the other jerking awake, his eyes snapping open. Naruto put one finger in front of his own mouth and Kakashi frowned as the blond removed his hand. He said nothing, but could tell something was wrong. Sasuke was also standing by the door, looking very uncomfortable.
Kakashi shook Sakura awake and she mumbled something in her sleep. The grey-haired man put his hand over her mouth and her eyes opened sleepily before she became more alert, noticing something was wrong.
"Get dressed, and get to the basement." Naruto said in the quietest voice all of them had ever heard from him. "Where's Ino?"
"With Shikamaru." Sakura whispered back.
"I'll get Chouji. You guys hurry."
"What's going on?" Kakashi asked.
"I don't know yet, but I think it'd be best if we had weapons when we found out."
The blond turned and left the room, inching down the corridor. He reached the computer genius' room, not at all surprised to see light emitting from beneath the door. He opened it without knocking, Chouji turning from his computer as he heard the door click open.
"Hey, Naruto. Wha—" He cut himself off as he noticed Naruto had one finger to his lips. The blond motioned him over and Chouji wasted no time getting out of his chair and across the room.
Naruto led him down the corridor, aware of the fact that Chouji could barely see. He made it to the elevator and hit the down button, waiting. He wondered if maybe it would be better to take the stairs, but the elevator doors opened and he figured this would be faster. The two entered it and the doors closed behind them.
"What's going on?" Chouji asked worriedly.
"Something's coming."
"Vampires can't come in without an invitation." he squeaked.
"This isn't a movie, Chouji." Naruto whispered. "Unfortunately, there are many things vampires are able to do."
The elevator doors opened in the basement and Chouji just about had a heart attack when he saw the others all aiming weapons at him and Naruto. They pulled them back, sighing as the two exited the elevator.
"Someone want to tell me what's going on?" Shikamaru asked, sounding very annoyed. "Honestly, we decide to take one night off, and it gets interrupted."
"Arashi's coming." Naruto said simply as he walked across the basement to grab his own gun. He inspected it before pulling out the magazine, ensuring it was full of UV rounds. Satisfied, he snapped it back in place.
"Wait a second, what do you mean 'Arashi's coming'?" Sakura demanded.
"I mean exactly what I said, he's on his way." Naruto went towards the stairwell door, tucking the gun into the back of his boxers. He locked the door, even though he knew it would do no good if someone really wanted to get in.
"How do you know?" Hinata asked in a high voice, afraid to meet her ex-master.
"I don't know, I just do." Naruto replied as he went to stand in front of the elevator, drawing his gun and aiming. Sasuke took his place beside him, doing the same.
"Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" Kakashi asked sceptically.
The elevator whirred suddenly, indicating it was going upwards. Everyone froze, nobody even daring to breathe until they heard it stop.
"Still think I was dreaming?" Naruto pulled Sasuke back, the two of them getting behind the metal medical table and turning it onto its side to use it as a type of shield. "Anyone incapable of using a gun, now's the time to hide."
Chouji bolted towards the closest room, which happened to be Hinata's, and slammed the door.
Kakashi kissed the top of his computer. "Sorry, baby." He turned the table sideways, the computer crashing to the ground, bringing the table up beside the other one, elongating the shield. Sakura, Kakashi and Hinata took their places there, beside Naruto and Sasuke. Shikamaru and Ino were hiding behind the couch.
The elevator began descending.
All of them tensed, waiting. They waited for what seemed like hours, but was barely a few seconds before the elevator reached the basement and the doors slid open. There was no one inside. Only a cell phone.
"Hello, Naruto." It was on speaker, his father's voice echoing throughout the large area. "Congratulations on not having turned. I'm disappointed, but there will always be other times."
Kakashi stood, inching around the table. Sakura grabbed for his sleeve but he shook his head, telling her he'd be fine with hand signals. He walked, one foot stepping over the other, his gun held firmly with both hands. He reached the elevator and looked inside, ignoring the words Arashi was speaking. The elevator truly was empty, save for the phone.
"Kakashi!" Naruto hollered a second before the stairwell door blew off its hinges.
Kakashi turned, firing his gun blindly towards the stairwell, the others all doing the same. And just like that, chaos ensued.
Vampire after vampire began pouring into the basement, all of them going towards the makeshift shield as Kakashi ran, flying over it. The shield really did nothing, seeing as how the vampires didn't have weapons, but the hunters hadn't known that at the time.
"Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed, the blond turning to him. The raven motioned a cabinet near the back of the room, Naruto staring before turning back to Sasuke.
"Holy water?"
"Kiba and I were going to make glass bombs. Didn't get around to it." Sasuke fired, a vampire turning to dust.
The blond bolted across the basement, avoiding shots coming from Shikamaru and Ino. He threw open the cabinet doors and grabbed three two-litre bottles filled with water. He ran back towards Sasuke, throwing one to Ino and Shikamaru, the human catching it as Shikamaru hissed, a stray drop having landed on his cheek. Naruto didn't waste time apologizing.
He skid to a halt beside Sasuke, looking at him. "Who's the better shot?"
"You." Sasuke grabbed one of the bottle, handing Naruto his own gun.
"Hinata, Shikamaru, take cover!" Naruto called as he aimed upwards.
The two vampires ran towards one of the back rooms. They didn't think the water would get that far back, but it was better safe than sorry. Once they were out of range, Sasuke hurled one of the bottles with all his might. Naruto grit his teeth, hoping the UV bullet would make the plastic explode outward. After all, all of Kiba's failed attempts had done that.
Naruto fired, the bullet slamming into the bottle and exploding, sending Holy water raining down on the attacking vampires. The basement was filled with shrieks as their skin began to melt, some of them scratching away furiously as boils appeared on their flesh.
They retreated quickly scrambling over each other to get back up the stairs. The hunters waited a few minutes before relaxing. They were truly gone.
"He sent low-level minions in to do his dirty work." Sasuke stated.
"How did they get inside? Low-levels need an invitation." Sakura looked at Kakashi, confused. "Arashi could've gotten in, sure, but them?"
"Arashi and Naruto are related." Kakashi grumbled. "Because this is Naruto's house, the rules include Arashi as being a resident in this house, therefore him inviting anyone in would allow them to enter."
"I want to know how he found us." Sasuke snapped, narrowing his eyes at the stairwell door. "We're careful."
"I think..." All turned to Naruto as he trailed off. "I think the Sabakus are overdue for a visit."