Summary:

For Sasuke, it's just another town. Only more people. What makes Konoha different? And what additions to his coven have been kept untold? A very vague summary. . AU with just one OC.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! (Only Itachi's heart.)


One week's detention for both Kisame and Kimimaro. Just one day for Sakari. But what was the point of detention if no one bothered to watch?

"So you've been here two years? Started second year?"

Sakari leans her head at the desk behind her. "I guess."

The classroom is barren, with the faded heading from some teacher's lesson fresh on the board. Gold light streams from the window, teasing the three

students left inside. According to Sarutobi, the worst punishment for them was having to spend hours together both after school and during their lunch period. It was already after school.

Kisame rustles through the papers at the front desk, pocketing a loose answer key and several other sheets, and Kimimaro sits at the wide sill beneath the window, arms folded.

Scribbling over an agenda pad, Kisame continues, "And remind me again about your love relations history."

"Why the hell are you so fed over this?" Sakari says, a strain in her voice. "Did some bastard put you up to this?"

Kisame raises a brow, mollifying immediately.

But Kimimaro speaks. "It sounds like a touchy subject."

Exhaling, Sakari sits upright, expressionless. "Maybe not." She drums her fingers over the desk before taking a look at the squeaking doorway. "Friends of your's?"

Standing quickly, Kisame jolts to his feet. "Hey! Yeah!"

Two--Three girls burst into the classroom, giggling animatedly. "Hoshigaki-kunn You said you would show us--" they burst into further giggles. "Please ditch! You don't need a little 'ittle detention. For us, Hoshigaki-kun!!"

"Alright," the broad boy straightens with a grin. "Alright, alright, just for you lovely ladies." He winks before grabbing his bag but stops short. Kimimaro watches Sakari flick out a blank notepad, emerald orbs heated. Kisame coughs loudly, "Oy, Sakari. Why don't you come?"

"I'd rather not get caught and have to stay any extra days," Sakari says.

"Oh, Satoshi's too uptight!" one girl squeaks. "Come! Come! Kimi, too! Kimichama!"

Kimimaro donnes a charming smile. "I agree with Sakari. I'd rather not have to serve extra days."

"Hoshigaki-kun? Could you smile like that?" they coo.

"For something in exchange," he roars, dropping an arm around two of them. "Let's go!"

Sakari and Kimimaro hear their obnoxious wisp from the door and finally disappear.


Detention? Sasuke sits by one of the school's front pillars. At its feet, tall weeds spur around in sardonic festivity. Smoothing his hair, Sasuke squeezes a cigarette in his free hand, courtesy of Sai. It isn't lit, only a victim to his unease. Strange, school finally ended. He could leave now, and yet he stayed.

Sakari.

Briefly pondering the school's lax penalty for smoking, Sasuke tries the smoke stick in his mouth. Drugs weren't supposed to affect his kind, or so he'd always guessed. Either way, it wasn't lit.

To the raven hair's surprise, few teachers stayed after school. It was an old public school, after all. The only person who seemed to care was the overly benevolent principal.

I need talk to her.

Sasuke grits his teeth, tapping the cement ground with his shoe. If he had been called to Konoha--strange Konoha--then obviously there would be others.

Who would come? Kakashi's Iruka? Ino? His lips press into a line. And what of those he'd never heard of? Where did Kabuto come from? Tobi? He rubs his right temple, groaning mentally. To whose convenience was his ignorance?

His head pounds again. He leans down, dropping it to his hands. The ground trembles. Breathing loudly, Sasuke swallows. His throat is dry, and his eyes twist into a foul crimson.

Hunger?

Hadn't he just fed? It was the evening of the attack, when they'd dragged the soon-to-be corpse backed to his mansion. He'd grabbed another mordantly awed criminal.

Sasuke's dead heart pumps harshly. Sh-Shit. No time--He couldn't just kill anyone, anyone from Konoha.

He runs.

Bursting through the first underbrush, he tumbles into a hill of dirt, searching for a clearing. Air whizzes across his hot cheeks, and he pants. His eyes scream fire. Sprinting full speed, he's nearly three full kilometers away. He has to stop.

Gagging and clenching onto a rough tree, Sasuke vomits. Red pools. He vomits blood. He sinks to the tree's hard roots, crashing to his back. Leaves burst beneath him. He searches, freezing completely. His ears twitch as a creature sprints past a nearby bush. Jolting to his feet, Sasuke explodes onto the creeping rabbit, choking down its juices. His emphasized knuckles rip through its fur, and he wrings its corpse above his lips. The crack of spine leaves his hearing. Liquid dribbles, matching the fading color in his eyes.

They dillute to a stark gray as he collapses again. Birds and other creatures flutter backward, leaving Sasuke in a silent radius. His lids fall wearily.

Hunger?


Kimimaro smirks to himself. His eyes are shut.

Sliding her chair back, Sakari glances at the clock. Just a couple of minutes. She scribbles on her paper again, unsettled. Her gaze wanders to the dirt cut outs at the foot of her desk, shaped to the frame of someone's soles. It's then that a clammy wave shudders from her spine up, and she freezes.

Kimimaro turns to her.

It was the closest thing to a sign, a sense. A cold sweat beads at the back of her neck, and she lets out a quick breath.

"Are you okay?"

Sunlight continues to bleed from the window, and a mellow breeze meanders from its narrow opening. Papers flutter excitedly.

Unfocused, she looks at him. He tilts his eyes to her, his smirk still there. "There's something in the air," he hisses softly. She hears him start toward her, his

loose clothes rustling under his walk. He stands casually in front of her. At least, appearing casually.

Sakari parts her mouth, standing immediately. "You."

"What about me?" he whispers. He draws closer, and his silver hair falls back to reveal the sharp mold of his face. He pushes past the desk between them,

a phantom about classroom objects. The unaligned tiles of the floor crack beneath him. His chistled lips form words, "What is it you've considered?"

Sweeping her bag from her feet, Sakari quickly clears her way to the door. Her back is to him.

Kimimaro straightens behind her, pausing and then gathering his own things. "Well, it's over," his tone is bland again, the same coarse harmony. "How time tends to fly."

Sakari brushes the knob with her thumb. Her legs quiver beneath her, but her face is stolid, but not yet hard.

"I expect you to keep well on your feet," Kimimaro murmurs from behind her. "I know people like you have a knack of escaping authority."

"What are you implying?" she asks cooly. She turns the knob.

"Stay out of detention, of course," he says, feinting surprise. "What other meaning could I possibly intend?"

Pulling open the door, Sakari strides out. It crashes behind her. Kimimaro smiles brazenly, opening the door again. His gaze slides down the hallway, but it's barren, empty.


Sasuke licks his lips slowly and carefully, dropping the corpse of a now-dead boy. He leans back, making contact with the grimy walls of an assylum.

It's where he'd found his victim, the cowering boy with such severe Schizophrenia that the doctors had already decided his death. They were going to take it into their own hands. Sasuke cringes at the thought as he sucks his stained fingers. He wonders if there was any point in hiding the patient's corpse. What an interest it would be to see what the so-called doctors would conclude of the messy scene.

Sasuke faces the backyard of the old building, a leafy stretch of useless plains. Who would desire a home beside an assylum?

Resting his head, Sasuke closes his eyes wearily. He'd never before heard of--much less, experienced an outburst of such hunger. It was a good thing he'd taken the blood of an animal; it gave him time to flee Konoha, to come here. The blood of an animal. What would the others say?

The night sounds breezily, gentle chirps arising under the sillhouettes of stars. Wind kisses each of his cheeks, and he exhales in a murmur. Breathing was such a comfort, far from an essential, but a comfort. He moans to himself, begging for sleep to take him. He knows he has to move, has to go home.

His desire from the morning had reversed over the day, and he longed just to sit.

The boost in energy should have replenished him, but it'd only left him dizzy and exhausted. He shakes his head, the pulse of pain returning his temple. He had to stand.

Five more minutes.

A shrill shriek echoes. Shut up, Sasuke groans mentally, thinking the noise to be from his own ears. He grits his teeth as the noise persists, and it takes him another minute to realize it's his handphone.

Snatching the screaming device from his pocket, Sasuke barks into it. "Hey?"

"Yo," says a mellow voice. "It's ton prof."

Sasuke answers with impatience, "What?"

"Kakashi," the voice goes on with feinted surprise. "You should really brush up on those langua--"

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asks. His voice edges.

"Now, now, younger Uchiha. Patience is a virtue."

Only if eternity had dumped one Hatake Kakashi on you. Sasuke rubs the side of his head. "Sure. What are you calling for?"

There's a pause, and then Kakashi's voice returns cheerily. "It's your friend," Kakashi says swiftly. "He's up and kickin'!"