What is it, I wonder, that kept me with Sasuke so long? I think I always kept on thinking, hoping that he would go back to the way that he was before; cold, yes, dismissive, definitely, but never brutal. He used to be caring. Now he seemed to be without remorse, killing without a second thought. It was as if by murdering his brother he cut all ties to humanity. He became an empty shell, just feeding, existing; a parasite of the earth. And here I was with him. I had to accept the fact that I was to kill to survive now, but I could never blame him. I did at first, and whenever I brought up the subject he would look at me and his eyes would loose whatever spark of life that was there that had managed to survive. I couldn't make him go dead completely so I eventually dropped the subject.

Time went by, and I was gratified at first to see Sakura-chan and Kakashi-san's distress at my disappearance. It finally seemed like that Sakura-chan felt my worth. She cried for days when I was pronounced a missing-nin, most likely dead. Iruka was also upset, but I was glad to see him moving on after quite a few months, with Kakashi there to comfort him. It seemed that my disappearance had brought the two closer together. I was happy for them, but that happiness eventually moved to jealousy. Why should they be allowed to love? I could never love like they could.

It may have seemed like I was in love with Sasuke and Sasuke himself may have believed that for a while. Although he kept on promising me that I would get a coffin of my own, it never appeared and I was happy to share his coffin. I liked his arm around me, and he liked my presence there. We started hunting together slowly picking off the beautiful boys and girls from the village, sometimes straying to neighboring visits. I didn't like the way he would seduce the boys before tasting them. He never bothered to be gentle with me when he changed me.

This night was one of many nights. We were on the training grounds waiting for someone to come by. It didn't matter if we ran into a ninja, even if it was a jounin. We were so much more powerful than before. It was an amazing feeling. I was stronger… more capable. It was as if I'd traded in one demon for another, except this demon was much more deadly. It was invisible and controlling. It was a part of me that I could not distinguish from myself or cut away.

Being on the training grounds brought back a lot of memories. I glanced over to Sasuke and thought of how a few years back this would be completely normal, working on combat in the night to improve night vision and reflexes. I would be loud, challenging him to fight, claiming my superiority and Sasuke would be smirking back at me prepared for a challenge. Tonight though, all was quiet. Sasuke stood still, still as a statue, and I could not help but marvel at his marble features, cold, smooth, hard. I never ceased to be amazed by his beauty.

We heard it before we saw anything, the heartbeat of some poor human coming closer. Sasuke tensed and hid himself in the shadows. I followed suit. Neji stepped into the training grounds. It was the first time I'd seen him after my 'disappearance.' He had not changed much. Now I was able to view him with a pleasure that I would never have thought I would when I was human. With my new eyesight his pale skin seemed to glow with life. It was warmer than Sasuke's; I could tell that just from looking. It was soft. I longed to touch it, but in the few months that I'd been with Sasuke I'd learned self-control. Still, his long brown hair flowed silkily over his shoulders and it was hard to win over the impulse to go straight to him. He was, after all, one of the most beautiful people that I'd ever known.

He started practicing, warming up, doing target practice. Now I could see his power clearer than ever before, and the best of it was that I could see that he'd barely tapped into his potential. He would grow so much, become one of the strongest ninja in Konohoa's history. I could see it all laid out before him. Another wave of jealousy coursed through me, hot, burning. Where had my life gone? I no longer could prove myself to the village. I would not ever be able to test my strength as a ninja. I would not become Hokage.

A shiruken came whizzing at me and lodged itself in my shoulder. I had not even tried to block it, so deeply was I wrapped in my thoughts.

'Come out. I know you're there.' He threw another shiruken into the shadows where Sasuke was standing. Sasuke caught it easily and stepped out into the moonlight.

'You!' Neji gasped. I decided to come into the open as well. I pulled the shiruken out of my arm, and immediately the skin healed over. 'Naruto!' His surprise disappeared quickly though and his eyes narrowed. 'Who are you really? Who sent you?' he questioned.

'We,' Sasuke motioned to himself and me, 'are exactly who we appear to be.' Sasuke started walking towards him and Neji immediately got into a visible defensive stance.

'Don't lie to me!' Neji said. 'I can see that you are not even human!'

'Of course you can.' Sasuke stated. 'I do not doubt the powers of your byakugen. We are no longer human.'

Neji had no reply to this and gripped his kunai tighter. All this time I was wondering why Sasuke was saying so much. Surely we would be in danger if this got out?

'How can I make you think we are who we say we are?' Sasuke asked. 'Just believe us Neji.' Sasuke's voice had changed slightly. It was more pleading, softer, humble. Neji lowered his kunai a little.

'Why did you leave?' Neji asked, directing his question at me.

'I didn't.' Somehow I hadn't wanted to reply. It was the first time that I'd spoken to anyone from my old life. It was like a spell had been broken. Yes, I was living with Sasuke and I did feel guilty, but at the same time I had not really had to face myself.

'Do you know how upset Hinata is? What could have been so important that you would leave Konoha?' His eyes flickered over to Sasuke. 'I can still hear Hinata cry herself to sleep every night, even though she tries to hide it. Did you not think of us? Did you not think of Iruka-sensei or Sakura? Why didn't you at least leave a message? I would have expected that of you.'

'I couldn't.' I said, choking back tears. 'I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!' I felt terrible at being the cause of so much pain.

'You took him away, didn't you?' Neji asked, now directing his attention to Sasuke. 'You couldn't bare the thought of coming back, so you took Naruto for yourself.' I could see Sasuke frown ever so slightly. 'You didn't want to face us!'

'Why would I want to show myself to people who wouldn't accept me?' Sasuke's voice had lost its sugary edge now and Neji looked as though he was going to start fighting at any moment. 'There's no way I would be forgiven. Why should I come back to you lot with your 'holier-than-thou' attitudes and condescending glances?'

'You haven't changed a bit.' Neji stated. 'You never opened up to us, never gave us a chance. You distanced yourself from everyone. Now you've become even worse. What makes you think we wouldn't want you back? Do you know how devastated everyone was? And I'm not just talking about your fan club.'

'I'm not so sure everyone would be as forgiving as you, Neji. Do you remember how the village treated Naruto? The Kyuubi incident wasn't even something that he had any direct part in, and yet they shunned him, tried to make him as miserable as possible just to satisfy their own selfish desires and need for superiority.' I wished he wouldn't pull me into his argument. Still, he continued. 'In Konoha everyone is taken care of like a family. There is always going to be someone to look out for you, someone to go to. That's what it seems like at first until you dig deeper, look behind those smiling masks, discover what people are really thinking. You've never lost your family, Neji, so you wouldn't know what its like. Naruto and I were both orphaned, both switched from house to house, charity to charity, carer to carer, and each time we encountered someone new, they were always thinking… "How long do I have to have this burden?"'

'It's not like that at all!'

'What would you know about it!?' Sasuke shouted. I could feel that the situation was going to go downhill from here, and I tried to divert their attention.

'Sasuke, we should get going now.' I said, indicating to the moon's low level on the horizon.

'Not yet, Naruto.' Sasuke replied. 'I wonder what will happen when Neji tells the Godamine all about us tomorrow… I'm sure we won't get glowing reports.' All his anger seemed to be gone now. He wore his predatory smirk again. My heart sank. I was fearful. 'Neji,' Sasuke continued, 'I'm afraid I can't let you leave. If you told anyone that we were here, it would mean that we would have to leave Konoha… and that would be very inconvenient.'

'It's you!' Neji gasped. 'You've been killing the boys and girls of the village! Why? You're not human anymore…what are you?'

'Don't worry Neji,' Sasuke's voice was once again calm and soft, 'you don't need to trouble yourself with these things. By tomorrow they will all be gone.' Sasuke was staring directly into Neji's eyes and Neji had loosened his stance a little. 'We will leave the village soon, so don't think too hard about it.' Sasuke said, reassuring, soothing. He started to walk towards him. 'Relax.' Sasuke whispered, and stopped just in front of him. Neji did relax and let down his arm holding up the kunai. He seemed listless, like a rag doll with empty eyes.

Sasuke took the kunai from his hand and let it fall to the floor. Neji's eyes had a glassy look though they were still focused on Sasuke's.

'How did you... ' I began, but was silenced with a quick hand motion from Sasuke. Sasuke took Neji's hand and kissed it and Neji blushed. It was very cute, I decided, especially as Neji almost never showed his emotions, and would definitely not ever blush in public. I was, however, getting worried. Would Sasuke drain him completely, or would he just let enough blood to render him unconscious? If he killed him we wouldn't have to worry about leaving… but if he did… I didn't really want to think about that. All the people we'd killed so far were people that I'd never met before. It was easy to distance myself, but Neji, I didn't think I could kill Neji. It was just too personal.

Sasuke pulled Neji by the hand to a tree and guided him down until they were both leaning against it. How was Sasuke controlling him? Sasuke motioned for me to come and sit down as well. I walked over to them, marveling at Neji's beauty, now he was directly in the moonlight. His silky hair framed his face and his eyes though dull and slightly unfocused, glittered. The best part though, was his skin. The blood rushing through him was what made his cheeks pink and his lips so red. I looked from Sasuke to Neji and back to Sasuke again. I couldn't help but compare the two. I suddenly wished that I had been spending all my months with Neji instead of Sasuke. It was not as though I was romantically attracted to him. I wasn't at all romantically attracted to Sasuke, and in any case there would be no way that the Hyuuga clan would let anything so unorthodox occur within the family, but Neji would have offered so more than Sasuke. He had a life ahead of him, chances, possibilities. Sasuke had avenged his family's death and murdered his brother. He had no way to go, his road had come to a full stop. It was as though he'd been frozen in time at that point and had somehow dragged me with him.

Sasuke was now stroking the side of Neji's face. It pained me to think that Sasuke was going to try to drain him, and that Neji wouldn't even be able to put up a fight. It was not at all the honorable death a ninja should have. I accepted Sasuke's leadership in our odd relationship so I didn't question his actions. It did not cross my mind that I should try to stop him.

'You first.' He ordered. I grabbed Neji's hand, admiring the differences between his soft skin and the calluses on his finger pads and palm. It was so warm. I brought his hand to my face, and I could feel his pulse beating in his wrist against my cheek. I am not so sure what impulse led me to do this, but I put down his wrist gently, and pulled the Hyuuga into my lap. I wound my fingers through his silky hair and leaned down and kissed him. It was so warm everything about him was warm. I missed it so much. I was surprised when he started to kiss me back. Was Sasuke controlling this? I glanced up to see him staring intently at us.

'Hurry up.' He whispered. It was obvious he yearned desperately for blood. I focused back on Neji. The beat of his heart was so loud and clear. I put my hand over his chest, over his heart and kissed him again, wanting to feel more warmth. Neji's heart beat faster, and my lust for his blood increased as well. I buried my face into his neck, snuggling and feeling the warmth that was there, smelling a mixture of soap, Hinata's ointments, and the woods. I licked his neck, taking up the salt that coated his skin from when he was practicing.

'Hurry up.' Sasuke growled again, impatient. My teeth grazed over his neck, slowly. I was going to savor this. Neji moaned and I couldn't hold back any longer. I bit into him. Suddenly Neji started struggling. The spell had been broken and I had no desire to hold him to me, against his will. Neji staggered up out of my lap.

'What are you doing?' hissed Sasuke. 'Finish it off!' He stood up as Neji stumbled away, clutching his throat, blood seeping through his fingers. I had tasted Neji's blood. It was delicious. Much more so than any other human that I'd tasted so far, and I wanted more. It was a desire creeping slowly through me, tendrils of want crawling through my dead veins. But a picture of Neji flashed through my mind, dead, lifeless, colder than ever Sasuke or I would be. I couldn't do that to him, not after all we'd been through together.

Sasuke started walking to Neji, unhurriedly. After all, what did he have to fear from a weakened mortal? I suddenly realized I couldn't let him do this. I didn't care if we had to leave Konoha. To be honest, I was finding it difficult to go on watching shadows from my old life. I wanted to move on. I grabbed Sasuke's hand and squeezed it.

'What are you doing?' Sasuke looked at me with anger and questioning in his eyes.

'Let him go.' I said. I think it was the first time that I'd actually properly challenged his authority.

'If we let him go, he will notify others of our presence.'

'I don't care.' I said, determinedly. 'You will not touch Neji.' At this point Neji started to run off into the distance. Sasuke started to run after him, but I jumped and threw my weight onto him. We tumbled to the floor, rolling, struggling.

'Get off of me!' Sasuke gasped. I think he honestly had not expected this from me.

'No!' I growled and pinned him more firmly underneath me. I waited until Neji was out of chasing distance then released him. Sasuke sprang up and punched me squarely in the jaw.

'Idiot!' I heard him spit. 'What are we going to do now?' He grabbed my hand and started to run towards the Uchiha complex. It was going to be dawn soon and all the signs of early morning were appearing, going off like little alarms.

'You fool! You complete and utter fool!' He said to me, once we were in the safety of our coffin. 'Dobe, you ruined our chances…' I heard him whisper before I blacked out.

Interviewwithaninjainterviewwithaninjainterviewwithaninjainterveiwwithaninjainterviewwithaninjainterviewithaninja

What'd you guys think? I know I said that I wouldn't make this a yaoi fic, but I seem to have overstepped the boundaries here… heh heh… but this still isn't really a yaoi fic… there's no lovey-dovey stuff… just pure emotion. I feel like Sasuke is the Id and Naruto is the Ego… anywho… I'm sorry that the lengths of the chapters differ so much, but I just write when I get knocked in the head by my muse (or when I'm avoiding college applications!) Ciao! Review s'il vous plait!!!! (Constructive criticism very welcome!)