"I wouldn't hunt a person down for food. But if he were already dead…"
Yasmine Bleeth

Temari was just polishing her own dinner off, her stomach still growling for more. For a moment she considered tucking into a sugary dessert, desserts that were kept aside normally for her brothers, especially Gaara, who tended to over-eat, despite his thin gangly frame. Temari dreaded to think about what alien forces reigned supreme within Gaara's body, digesting such high amounts of food.

She and her brother, Kankuro, who had now escaped the house for the most part (but still returned when hungry, having successfully received a scholarship to art-school within the city) had allways grown up knowing there was something bizarre to do with their brother, and that had something to do with their mother.

Gaara was brought up with their uncle, Yashamaru. They had seen him, from time to time, but he was just a shy kid, who hid behind Uncle Yashamaru's legs and flinched when you tried to talk to him. Then came the news of Uncle's death, and then, Gaara moved into the house.

The animosity between Father and Gaara was horrendous. At the time, Temari had believed that Gaara blamed Father for Yashamaru's death. She didn't know until Father's funeral that it was the other way round.

When she realised, she was terrified, as was Kankuro. Gaara could smell it, she swore.

And that made him hate them all the more, even so that he would pull violent fits within his room, where she would have no idea what was going on, but knew something was wrong. There were things, things she had seen out of her eye and around the house, layers of sand, whispers of movement out of the corner of her eye, looks and faces that fell over Gaara's face that were not his.

She wasn't stupid nor naive. She could conclude something wasn't right, and it was better not to push whatever that it was.

Thank God she had Shikamaru. The lazy bastard was the only thing that was good in her life.

She looked up, over to the fridge, where she knew that cakes and sweets were kept, chilled. She smiled to herself, almost smirking. She had worked hard and eaten healthily to gain her athletic figure. She wasn't going to wallow in self pity and relent now. Anyhow, if she dragged Shikimaru skinny dipping again, she had to make sure she was in tip-top condition.

Where was her cell. She needed to text the man and remind him how lucky he was to have her…

Three short raps fell upon the front door, she jumped in surprise. The knocks sounded again, impatient. Obviously not Shikimaru then. She sauntered out of the kitchen and went up the hallway, opening the door, but keeping the chain on, just in case.

"Hey, you're Gaara's sis right?" Smiled a handsome blond whiskered guy, with a huge mouth, and slightly wonky nose. Temari recognised him slightly from the party where the handsome dark guy and a tiny girl had fallen in the pool into the sick. Probably drunk.

"Y-yeah?"

"Can he come out tonight? Is it all right with you? "

This was unknown. Never had Gaara been asked out before. Never.

"S-sure. Uh… I'll go get him." She ran up the stairs, too shocked to open the door the blond boy, but leaving the door open, though the chain held. Naruto remained out of doors, his hands in his pockets.

She knocked on Gaara's door, too stunned to be scared, and Gaara popped his head out. This was abnormally surreal in how normal this interaction was.

"There's a friend for you outside." She said breathlessly.

"A friend?" His eyes narrowed.

"Yeah- uh, the bloke who you talked to at Ino's party, yeah?"

"Oh… Naruto. Cool." Gaara emerged from his room, less lethargically than usual. He walked past, and headed for the stairs, more enthusiastically than Temari had ever seen him.

He turned back, and Temari's stomach flipped for a moment, her stunned nature dispersing with every moment that Gaara's eye's ransacked her own.

"Cheers for the dinner Temari… I really enjoyed it. It was good tonight. What was it?"

"Toad-in-the-hole. With peas. And mashed potato"

"Can we have it tomorrow night? It was really good?" He asked hopefully.

"You'll get fat."

"Next week then?"

"…I'll make it next week." She started, glad that her brain was still functioning enough to converse.

"Cool. Can I stay out late?"

"…Sure."

"Cool. See you later, if not, tomorrow."

"…Yeah."

Gaara stalked down the stairs, and Temari watched him leave, open mouthed and glassy eyed. Her legs gave way underneath her, and she sagged against the wall.

"Yo." Naruto smiled, callous and cool.

"Hey," Garra lifted the chain, and let himself out. "Temari says I can stay out for as long as I want."

"Your sis is a babe."

Gaara disregarded him. "She makes good toad-in-the-hole. She has a boyfriend anyhow."

"Shikimaru yeah?"

"Yeah. Why do you want to see me?"

"There's a group I go to, a place that's helped me, like, a huge amount. I think they could help you. I don't know if they could give you a cure, but hell, this could help. A lot."

Gaara felt the pulling of hope, and gawped open-mouthed at Naruto.

"I've been going for ages…" Naruto explained. "Everyone's the same as us there. You'll fit in. It'll be cool. The group's name is "Jinchuriki". There's a guy there, this old pervert Jiraya, that'll show you round- he normally helps out kids, but he's come to us recently- I met him when I was younger when I was in the kids group, and he helped me get to the other demons. He's really cool, and he's said you sounded like the prime person the group needed to get out to. You'll come?"

"…yeah" said Gaara, his increasing heartbeat and breath seeming to overpower any sound than he could make.

"Please Miss?" Hinata pleaded.

The acting Headmistress sat, shocked, he lips pursed and unmoving, her eyes full of thunderous anger, so much so the air around her crackled. Outside, the wind howled and scratched the evergreen flora outside against the window, only emplifying the silence of the office. Harpy blood, thought Sasuke.

"Miss Tsunade! Sasuke's brother disappeared. We have to find him. We know there is some connection between him and Orochimaru. We just don't know what. Please, help us."

Tsunade pulled her head up, eyes blazing. "A kid like you- like him? Orochimaru'll do things to your bodies that you would have never thought possible, and he'll be welcome for the free, healthy samples. I hear the samples he has to deal with nowadays are far less healthy. I wouldn't hold much hope for your brother, boy." She spat.

"Good thing Orochimaru's dead."Sasuke glowered.

For a moment Tsunade was blatantly and obviously shocked, her eyes widened, her lip dropped. A hand that looked far more aged than her face and bosom rose to her forehead, and cradled it. "Hyuga?"

"Hai?"

"The files over there? The Winnie the pooh ones?"

"Yes."

"They're a cover. My booze is kept there. I want the whisky and green shot glass."

Hinata looked shocked, but did as she was told, and pottered over, and helped herself to the booze hidden within the cubby-hole, out of the many unfamiliar bottles.

She placed it down in front of Tsunade, and the headmistress eagerly helped herself to the drink. Sasuke was not impressed.

"How did he die?"

"Stabbed to death by a teenage lover. Male, if you were wondering." Tsunade took a shot.

"…So what's the connection to your brother, kid?"

Sasuke sighed. "My brother's name is Uchiha Itachi. He disappeared a few years ago- What is it?"

Sasuke noticed that what little colour had been brought back by the whisky now drained out of Tsunade's face, leaving her face a pasty white. She looked scared now.

"You're Itachi Uchiha's little brother." She said it like she didn't want to believe it. He eyes scanned over his face with a new vigour.

Sasuke shrank, knowing that every imperfection and facial feature was now in direct comparison to Itachi's.

"I never met your brother directly…by the head-shots on his files, you're similar looking. Of course, you're far more alive that he was…"

"How did you know of my brother?" pushed Sasuke.

"…I was involved with the scientific endeavour, known as the "Sound". At the time, it was something representing hope for the altered community- we developed the blood pill, and helped set up groups to help others in the vampire community- ever hear of "Jinchuriki"? Another group implemented by "Sound"- We thought we could be Gods." Tsunade sighed. "I was involved with genetic inheritances, it had been noted that within families, there were genes that only activated in vampirism. My research was indicating- I left due to the fall of Orochimaru, and never completed this work, but my research indicated that some genes only activated after vampirism was induced. This meant families gained similar supernatural abilities."

"Like mine and Neji's abilities, our sensory skills." Hinata gasped.

Tsunade looked down at the tiny girl. "I would have never have guessed Miss Hyuga. I'm afraid if I ever get back into research, I'll have to pester your family for samples."

"Oh- but of course Miss, but, Ano-" Hinata shot a guilty look at Sasuke, who was sitting, impatient.

"Yes. Let's talk about Itachi." Tsunade took another shot. "Itachi was a favourite. We had complete samples from him, and we had a comparison point- an older relative who was also a vampire, though was so old that we did not have human DNA. If you become a vampire Mr. Uchiha, you'll be burgeoning with a further strength, beyond that of normal vampires. It's a family trait, and that older Uncle had the same trait. However- you noticed how unhappy I was when I heard of Itachi. He's dangerous. He's a murder. By the way you're looking at me kid, I don't have any doubt that you know that. Ever hear about a group called "Akatsuki"? Assassins, madmen, psychopaths?" Sasuke nodded, and Hinata gasped. "Yeah. Itachi- deep in the enemy's council. He's Akatsuki."

A silence followed, and Tsunade licked her lips, savouring the alcohol still present. "I think you have my pound of flesh for today. You can leave now." She stated, blunt.

Hinata scrambled from her chair, but Sasuke remained seated. "How to I contact this group?"

"They contact you. I'm a scientist, and I destroyed my files, burnt my bridges. I have no idea how to contact your brother, and neither do I have the means."

Sasuke relented, and stood to leave, pacing his way out of the room, following Hinata's fleeing profile.

"Hey kid." Sasuke turned, and Tsunade gave his face another scathing look. "You look like your brother. You'll have the same genetic disposition. Trust me."

Sasuke walked off, more disgruntled by this than comforted. That harsh presence that he had felt and Hinata had feared when they he had last seen his brother- Was that the Uchiha inheritance?

They walked past the reception and Shizune into empty hallways, eerie almost in their silence.

Sasuke contemplated. He needed that power to pose a threat to Itachi. However, Hinata would have to turn him first, and he would have to get her to do so, and they didn't know how to track down Akatsuki, and even if they did track this gang down. There would be no guarantee that he would survive the gang to manage to defeat his brother.

He almost shook with anger. He knew that this would always be hard, but his under-estimation just seemed to jar him to the extent where he wished that he could just give up. It was so much work.

He sighed. Hinata sniffled beside him. His attention turned to her. She was crying, her face covered by her hands, walking as uniformly as possible. She sniffed again, and wiped away the snot that had discharged from her nose.

"Hinata…"

She wiped her face once more, scrubbing herself red, and turned away disgraced, her face concealed. "I'm not scared Sasuke-kun. Least not of your big brother- but.. but-" she broke down, her face crumpling into an unknown mesh that Sasuke hardly recognised.

The dark boy once again found himself disputing what action had to be taken to halt this crying, and before he knew it, his arms were wrapped around Hinata's tiny, shaking body, every hiccup echoing against his chest. Her hands reached up, and clenched at his school jumper.

They were so close he could feel the rim of her bra jutting from the yielding softness of her body, yet he did not blush, nor did his ears go red. Every waking moment from the day when he met Hinata at the café had lead to now, and this closeness that was alien to him and her alike, was by now the most natural thing in the world.

He moved his hand upwards, and stroked the back of her head, admiring the length of her hair, and appreciating the glossiness and texture.

She looked up, and her milky white eyes swallowed his reflection, glossed with tears. "Akatsuki." She whispered.

"Akatsuki." He replied, his tone dark and serious.

"I want to go to your place." She whispered, almost too scared by her thoughts to continue talking. "I want to get away. Can you take me there?"

He squeezed her tighter. "Of course. Of course."

They settled on his bed in the storeroom closet Sasuke considered a bedroom, and there was a tension present, though neither would acknowledge it, yet.

Hinata flicked back her hair, and Sasuke took the opportunity to admire her profile- her pink lips, her button nose, her long dark eyelashes. He relented and said, half sighing- "Akatsuki?"

Hinata nodded. "I-I've been involved before."

"You'll talk?"

"Of course."

She flopped back onto his bed (which luckily, he had made that morning), and resting her head on his pillow began to talk.

"You're going to judge me, and judge me terribly. All I can say Sasuke, is that… it was a different time then. A harder time, a crueller time. I was never free until I died, and during that freedom that was offered to me, I had to do things, things that will disgust you… and during that time- shall I start from the beginning? It'll be easier, for you and me both.1604. I was sixteen, and I remain so today. The Edo period had begun. Peace and prosperity would flourish eventually. The Hyuga family had flourished, and was so powerfully connected that it had managed to remain steadfast, even in the state of family made enemies, and one of those men, who Father played shogi and smoked with, and I had danced for, had decided that the eradication of the Hyuga family furthered their own prospects. Akatsuki was hired."

"Akatsuki killed you?"

"Akatsuki saved my life."

Sasuke looked perturbed, and Hinata smiled at his expression, with all the writ of knowing what he did not know.

"Me and Neji made a pact. I promised not to break it, but I suppose I've lied now. Neither Father nor Hanabi knows of what happened to me that day. I doubt Neji has told Ten-ten the truth. Perhaps if I tell you, I'll finally move on."

"If we do this together and now- hunt down my brother I mean, we'll go off and try to live our own life. You were talking about Austria weren't you- when we first met? I want to learn how to ski, least, I've only ever dry slope skied before."

Hinata smiled. "I'll take you… I'll look forward to it."

A silence entered the room for a moment, but Hinata ushered on its exit.

"It was an abysmally hot summer, but the day I died was incredibly humid. It had rained torrentially the night before, and the day was still early, and there was still dew on the grass. I was up early, practising a new dance Father wanted me to perfect for an ambassador who may have replaced Neji as my fiancé.

Neverless, I was practising. I was a weak child, and a weaker adolescent, and the simplest dances would leave me panting. I was prone to faints, and panic attacks, and I stuttered awfully, and that is something I have never freed myself from. I pushed myself so hard… on that morning; I was bathed in sweat, and red and sticky and raw. Neji walked in. I halted immediately. The Hyuga Hime was supposed to be a woman of immaculate beauty beyond such thing as practise. To be seen in the presence of a branch member in that state was the most dishonourable, the worst thing possible. Like I said. It was another time.

We talked, and I tidied myself, so if anyone did come in, I would be presentable. We talked about average things, the weather, Hanabi, and then I asked him to leave, he defied me. Yeah. He made this odd, eeeyuuu noise- yeah, sort of whistled and sighed it out. Then he started to talk to me really, really quickly. He was half shouting at one point, and crying too. He was talking about how he had to marry me if he wanted a free life, how he needed to inherit for his Father's memory, how he hated my Father.I-I didn't know what to do, so I tried to comfort him, so I went up to him, and he pushed me down. Neji said that my Father would marry me to the ambassador, unless I convinced him otherwise. All I did then was look down and say that I would do anything Father would ask of me.

So Neji battered me over the head to death with a ornamental sword that Father kept in the training room. I wasn't dead when he left, but I blacked out. I can remember his footsteps…

I heard he was very valiant in attempting to protect Hanabi, I have no doubt that he was with her because he intended to kill her too, but was beaten to the chase. Neverless, when I woke up, I woke up to my saviour, my master. The member of Akatsuki. He could do no wrong. The vampire you are bitten by secretes hormones that normally keep his new victims attracted to them, for a period of ten, twelve years. Oh yes Sasuke, that'll happen to you. It's a protective impulse, so I keep you close and teach you the tricks of the trade.

I would have followed him to the ends of the earth, but he never saw me as anything more than just entertainment. That's why he brought Neji along. I found out much later that my Master was witness to everything, how he ushered in my death and turned me, and Neji, and kept us both, for entertainment. Murderer and victim, contained together, so that we had no choice but to keep and trust one another. We promised to never talk of the things he made us do- the assassinations, the genocides. But I will say, during that time… all we had were one another, me and Neji, we were all we had left of each other's humanity. For that time we were lovers. You're judging me now, you're wondering how I could be so weak as to allow my killer to become my lover."

Sasukes face displayed no outward emotion, but he nodded curtly.

"He was the one weakened. It was my revenge to taunt him so. I think we were both so horrified by what we had become… it was our personal Guernica... After we left, all we had to do was ask our master. He only said that he had expected us to ask earlier and bed us farewell. We went back to the Hyuga house, and found Hanabi and Father hidden in the secret places of the house, and during that time, we decided we could not be together still. Our torment was over, and so was our affair.

Father and Hanabi never knew. Maybe Neji will tell Ten-ten, but I doubt it. Neji acts as if it never happened. I don't blame him…when Father first saw me… he cried, and begged me for forgiveness, and I knelt and kissed his head, and like that my life, my second life with my re-invigorated family began. Is your curiosity quenched Sasuke?"

Sasuke contemplated, his brows drawing low over his eyes. "What was the name of the akatsuki member…"

"Madara." Answered Hinata, closing her eyes and reclining, almost humming the name. "Master Madara"

"Oh" said Sasuke, reclining beside her lithe body "No-one important then. Cool."

*Note from Clue*

Hey :) All I shall say is that shit is going to go down, and that I am actively wondering how you all feel about Neji now- :P