Four

THREE-QUARTER MOON

"You ready?"

Sasuke leaned casually in the doorframe, a smirk on his face as he took Tayuya in from head to toe. She wore a frayed denim miniskirt and a loose, cropped black T-shirt that exposed her pierced navel. Her legs were darkened by ripped tights and on her feet were studded, buckled combat boots. She still wore her usual black skull cap, and her flaming hair was still striking as it rippled over her shoulders.

Hot, was the only word screaming and reverberating through Sasuke's head as Tayuya grinned and slunk out onto the porch, shutting the door behind her. She leaned her head on his shoulder and brought her lips to his ear. "Let's go."

Sasuke wrapped his arm around her, enjoying the feel of his hand on her arm, and tried not to hurt her with his claws—which, by the way, seemed to have grown longer in the past week or so. He didn't really pay attention to those anymore; he'd gotten used to them. There were other things on his mind, things more important than long nails. Like white hair.

The fairgrounds were just downtown, so it wasn't that long of a walk. Sasuke liked the warm sun on his back and Tayuya's left breast pressing tightly against his ribs. I should've gotten a girlfriend a long time ago, he mused silently. More specifically, Tayuya.

He didn't understand why he'd been so ignorant these past few years. Sure, they had been good friends, but he had always been too preoccupied with his own melodramatic, traumatized life to really notice Tayuya. He'd always spent too much time dwelling in the bloody nightmares of his childhood; his agonized screams piercing the air as he spent many a night tossing and turning restlessly in a cocoon of his own icy sweat and tears. He still loathed his…brother—he shuddered to think of Itachi as his sibling—and still vowed to kill him one day, to avenge his family, and that had always been the most important ambition in his life.

But now…Tayuya seemed more important than ever.

"Look! There's Neji and Gaara!" Tayuya waved over to them, jerking Sasuke out of his stupor.

Neji's mouth opened a fraction wider as he saw Tayuya, and Gaara smirked. "Hey," the awestruck Hyuuga murmured, his alabaster eyes still not averting from Tayuya's outfit.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as Neji ogled Tayuya, and he defensively clutched her. A growl rose in his throat. Keep looking at her like that, Hyuuga, and I'll fucking rip your face off, he promised silently. He could've sworn his talons lengthened at the thought.

Gaara, sensing Sasuke's wariness, elbowed Neji sharply in the ribs. "The concert is starting soon." He reminded them, gesturing over to the grandstand.

The arena was one big amorphous mass of a hullabaloo. Lights, wires, amps, and people. The noise was in great abundance as Sasuke pushed his way through the crowd to find some vacant seats, and he longed to flee and take Tayuya with him. Sure, Stark Raving Mad was a kickass band, but Sasuke didn't much care for crowds.

"Damn! Sasuke, you find any seats yet?" Neji demanded, stepping over someone's feet.

"No," Sasuke snapped. "Guess we'll just have to stand."

"That's fine with me," Tayuya said, draping her arm over his neck and trailing her hand down his chest. "It's hard to dance around when you're sitting, anyway." She grinned.

Sasuke felt a warm rush of blood sweep through his veins at Tayuya's hand touching his chest, and he playfully bit her fingers as they sat on the top row of stone bleachers. She laughed, then pressed her lips to his, making him forget all about her fingers; her tongue was much tastier.

Suddenly, the lights shut off, enveloping the grandstand in a shroud of darkness. A few people screamed, and most muttered to themselves. Sasuke smirked, though; he knew it was probably just part of the performance.

He was right. In a few minutes, the multicolored strobe lights exploded and the air was filled with the insane crashing chords of guitars amid the booming of drums and screaming young men at a thousand decibels.

"Fuck yeah!" Tayuya whooped and pumped her fist in the air, along with everyone else in the arena. Sasuke grinned and followed suit, relishing the incessant pumping of his heart and invigorating adrenaline flowing through his body, a response to the excitement of the concert.

"Hey, Tayuya, you should pick up a few things from Sully," Neji announced above the roar of the noise with a smirk on his face. He was pertaining to Sully, the guitarist of Stark Raving Mad.

"I get all my inspiration from him," Tayuya called back, dancing on her feet in a swirl of shirt, her red hair flying everywhere. "And if I were you, I would pay less attention to my guitar and more to your drums, Neji," She crooned.

A new set of hard riffs filled the air, and the crowd took up a cheer. Clearly, this was the song they'd been anticipating; the air was filled with the electrical charge of a thousand people's happy heartbeats and encouraging shouts.

Sasuke detected an almost painful surge of blood rushing through his limbs, and a twitch in his back. He furrowed his brow, then glanced over at Gaara, who was leaning against the wall.

Gaara caught Sasuke's puzzled expression and beckoned toward him with a finger.

Sasuke slipped away, leaving Tayuya to dance to the beat, and made his way over to Gaara. "What is this feeling?" He wondered aloud once in earshot of the insomniac.

"Full moon is only a few days away, Sasuke. Your body's anticipating the change. You're going to experience a lot of new feelings, and most of them are probably going to be painful. It's a package deal," Gaara replied calmly, studying Sasuke's face.

Sasuke scoffed. "That's nice. Now I've got a whole new ordeal to look forward to." He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.

"I see the dye worked," Gaara noticed, a small smirk on his face.

Sasuke pulled his hand away. "Oh yeah, I, uh, just did it before the concert," He muttered, clearly not interested in talking about his fantastical adventures with hair dye.

Gaara sighed. "Look, just concentrate on the music for now," He advised, turning his attention back to the stage.

Sasuke groaned, then pivoted and pushed his way back toward Tayuya.

"Where'd you go?" She asked, swaying alongside him.

"Oh, Gaara just wanted to tell me something," He replied, pulling her close.

After the concert had ended, everyone poured out of the grandstand at once; a big, amorphous mass expanding and oozing onto the fairgrounds outside. It was dark out, and a chilly breeze had picked up.

"Shit, I should've brought a jacket," Tayuya muttered, rubbing her arms, hoping the friction would bring some warmth to her limbs.

"You're cold?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. It felt perfect out to him; how could she be cold?

"You're not?" Tayuya matched his tone of disbelief. Her mouth closed into a thin line, and she lay her hand on his forehead, surprising him. "You feel like you've got a fever," She noted.

Sasuke shrugged. "I feel fine." He took a step forward, then paused. There was an unnamed force pulling his head upward toward the sky. His eyes widened; they stole the silver moon and turned it as black as the night itself, his hair swayed in the breeze. He closed his eyes and extended his arms outward, basking in the feel of the moonlight washing over his burning flesh.

"Sasuke? What are you doing?"

Tayuya's voice startled Sasuke, causing him to stagger. "Nothing," He choked out, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, guys, we're gonna split," Neji said, gesturing to he and Gaara.

"All right, then," Tayuya replied, waving goodbye, then turning back to Sasuke, who hadn't moved an inch.

But as Neji turned to leave, Gaara glanced back at Sasuke. He nodded once, then joined Neji.

"Hey, do you wanna leave, too?" Tayuya asked Sasuke.

Sasuke turned to face her. "Do you?"

She shrugged. "There isn't really anything to do. We could go back to my house…" Her voice trailed off, and she trailed a finger down his torso, grinning suggestively.

"All right," Sasuke agreed, a smirk on his face.

But when they reached Tayuya's house, there was a car in the driveway.

"Shit! My parents are home," She groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Sasuke understood. It would be hard to make out on the couch with her parents hovering over them, watching their every move. "Let's just go to my house instead," He suggested.

Tayuya's reply was cut off by her mother flicking on the porch light and walking out on the lawn. "How was the concert?" She inquired, her voice calm but her eyes brittle as she took in Sasuke head to toe.

"Fine," Tayuya replied bluntly, inching closer to Sasuke. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him. "Mom, this is Sasuke."

"Nice to meet you," Tayuya's mother replied, not sounding as if it were really nice to meet him.

"It's the eyeliner, isn't it?" Sasuke whispered. Tayuya stifled a giggle. "I'm going over to his house for a while, all right?" She told her mother.

Her mother sighed. "Fine. Just be home by midnight. And still a virgin."

"Mom!" Tayuya shrieked, her face flushing as red as her hair. Sasuke choked back a laugh at the brashness of his girlfriend's mother.

"Sorry about that," Tayuya muttered when they reached Sasuke's house.

"It's all right," He replied, unlocking the door and holding it open for her. She ducked under his arm, and he followed, closing the door behind them.

"Can I use your bathroom?" Tayuya asked, slipping her boots off.

"Sure," Sasuke gestured down the hall.

Wait.

Shit! I didn't clean up the mess from earlier! He realized as she edged closer to the bathroom. She'll know I dyed my hair, and she'll ask why, and I'll have to tell her that my hair was turning white, and she'll give me a look like I'm crazy…Sasuke went through the various horrid outcomes of Tayuya pissing in his destroyed bathroom. The only bathroom in the house.

Luckily, though, Tayuya didn't turn out to say anything about the mess as she exited the bathroom and joined Sasuke in the living room. "Well, Sasuke, here we are…" She grinned and gestured around, indicating that they were the only two people around (she couldn't indicate that they were the only human beings, seeing as Sasuke was, in fact, a werewolf, and werewolves are not human).

"Yes," Sasuke replied, going over to her. He grinned and pressed his lips to hers, and they found themselves in a reenactment of their first kiss, only this time with Tayuya on the bottom and Sasuke playing the dominant role of being on top.

I'll never get tired of this, Sasuke vowed silently, in the middle of a successful series of French kisses.

Suddenly, a swift pang wrenched his insides, causing him to grimace and falter.

"What's wrong?" Tayuya asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

If only I knew…Sasuke thought, climbing off of her and making his way down the hall.

He hastily shut and locked the bathroom door behind him, fumbling with the little lock on the doorknob with his curved talons, and doubled over as the pain intensified. Gaara was right…that son of a bitch, Sasuke realized as his spine tightened.

"Sasuke? Are you all right?" Tayuya's voice came from outside the bathroom, amid a rapping at the door.

"Yeah…" His voice trailed off as he lowered onto hands and knees, his muscles writhing relentlessly. He felt like he was on fire; his blood boiling made him rip his shirt off.

"Are you sure? Like I said, you felt like you had a fever at the fairgrounds," Tayuya's voice was etched with concern.

Sasuke had to wait a moment for his reply, seeing as he would probably throw up if he opened his mouth. It's not even full moon yet, he realized, biting his lip as a particularly sharp pain shot up his spine. If this is just anticipation…he shuddered to think of the probable agony of the actual transformation.

Finally, his muscles unclenched enough for him to relax and speak. "I'll be out in a minute," He told Tayuya.

"Okay," She replied after a few moments. Sasuke heard her footsteps retreat down the hall.

Sasuke tediously edged open the door and walked back into the living room. He didn't even care that being shirtless exposed all of his telltale attack scars; he was much too warm to care.

Sure enough, Tayuya gasped at his appearance. "What happened to you?" She choked out, rising up and making her way over to him.

"I was mauled." He replied casually, lounging on the couch.

"By what? A bear?" Tayuya gaped as she sat next to him, staring at his scarred up torso.

"Not exactly." Hell, why not tell her the truth right now? It was easier than trying to lie and make up excuses for his bizarre behavior, especially so close to full moon. Besides, I'd like to see her reaction, he thought wickedly. "More like a…werewolf."