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By some miracle, the narrow hallway of Konoha's high school is empty, ten minutes into the fifth period.

Kimimaro stands upright, his back to the locker racks. He crosses his arms darkly and sighs. Perhaps he'd hinted too abruptly his true nature. It'd been a while since he'd communicated with the more cunning strangers of his kind. If he'd spoken the same words to a human, the poor creatures, they would never even feel obliged to react. Maybe he had spent too much time among them.

He looks up slowly. By his advanced senses, he can hear footsteps from the adjacent hall. They crescendo, the noise buzzing in his ears.

He opens his mouth for a greeting but no such escapes. Instead, he murmurs, "You came."

Sakari narrows her eyes. "So I had a choice?"

"One always does," he says. His manner is not rude, yet his voice is ice.

Kimimaro studies the pale girl before him. She really seemed no more harmless than someone like Karin, maybe less. Her shoulders heave tiredly, but her eyes glisten, alert.

"What do you have to say to me?" Sakari asks, eyeing him.

He dips his head a little before taking a step forward. "I would've thought you'd be more curious. Especially after yesterday's events."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Enough with this facade, Vampire," he says, a quiet hiss. "I see you're ring of rhyzite. And I chose to speak with you alone for a reason."

Taking a slow step to the left, Sakari watches him. There's a pause before she speaks again. "So you use the human phrase."

"As you once did." Kimimaro's face is stolid as he advances. "Or do you refuse to acknowledge that past?"

She recoils and glares. "Why should I?"

"Don't be angry," he continues softly. "I'm simply speaking on accord to propoganda. After all, you did choose this life."

Shaking her head unobtrusively, Sakari tightens her jaw. "Yesterday, in the detention room, what did you do that triggered senses? Konoha is a place void of aura."

"Ah, finally, a meaningful subject. But it isn't what I had planned to discuss." Approaching her, Kimimaro tilts his face. "Would you hear me out thoroughly if I answered your question?"

"I'm not striking deals with you."

"Don't think of it as a deal but a compromise," he answers.

Sakari still glares, but she signals compliance.

Kimimaro smiles strangely. "Your question does bring me into my subject. You've probably already extracted the fact that I am not like you.

Vegetarians. I believe that's how you lot speak of us." At a stiff nod, he continues. "But that isn't my only distinguishing trait. I belong to the ancient, extinct clan, Kaguya. I doubt you've heard of them."

He sees her gaze wander slightly. When her eyes tuck away in confusion, he knows that she does not recognize the name. Continuing, his face grows impassive once again. "They were an ancient coven, and they selected no one but their clansmen to join their ranks. But to make a long story short, they were annihilated, by each other. When I say 'extinct', I refer to our posed and artificial forms of death. When their wounds became so hellish and spreads, their bodies collapsed and their souls were emitted into the air. Right now--"

"They still wander, consciously. And they sense everything but are sensed by nothing else. They are utterly alone and damned," Sakari finishes brusquely. "I know the process."

He bows a little, whether mocking or not, she cares little.

Kimimaro carries on. "We were the first of our kind to be born in this world. And so we learned the greatest and most sulfurous of powers, most of which I will not speak of. But know this, I am capable of overcoming such unoriginal things as shrouded towns and villages. This moment, I could reveal to you the cold of my aura's presence."

"I'd prefer if you didn't."

"Then I will continue unto my own concerns," he says. "My people were barbarians, disgusting in their intents and foolish in their prejudices. I take my chance at living to," he considers, "compensate for their hellish behavior."

"So you want to be a hero," she cuts in boredly. "Then starve yourself for now of necessary drinks and regret it when later you stand, dazed, over a menagerie of human corpses, of your doing."

"Heroism isn't my desire," he says bitterly. "Call it suicide."

Sakari raises a brow, pausing in movement. "What?"

"We are immortals, Sakari," he whispers, striding forward. He catches her arm and forces her to share his gaze. "And to nourish ourselves in these stretched, vile lives, we are compelled to take those lives that are true. Humans live so shortly, and yet they can cling, cling onto their love and their hate, until the climactic end. We--"

"That's still heroism." She struggles from his grip and backs a step. Yet she continues to watch him, intent.

"I do not care for the humans as deeply as others of my kind do," Kimimaro says. "I am selfish. I am spoiled. I want to move to a different life, but it is impossible. For eternity, I will be, always, Kaguya Kimimaro. Even if my body becomes broken, my soul will still wander in this world. Is this not what you've feared from the day you were changed, Satoshi Sakari?"

Sakari catches her breath, unbelieving to the confidence of his words. This time he sweeps forward in a graceful arch, grabbing her thin shoulder. His tense fingers pulse against her skin with an artificial beat.

"But there is a way to death, and you know it," his voice lowers.

Her eyes narrow incredulously. "Rogues?"

He smiles icily. "Right. In those short instants that your hunger drives you rogue, you are the most vulnerable. You are capable of dying, body, mind, and soul."

"But only few are capable of killing," she says quickly. "There are overwhelming chances that you won't die. The--" she hesitates "--vampire that does the killing must be a certain person."

Kimimaro smirks wryly. "That's--"

"Enough."

Sakari's face jerks to the side, stretching to look behind her. Kimimaro, however, can look straight ahead, and his lips twist in scorn. Straightening, he glowers towards the figure before him, his free hand clenching and his other flexing forcefully on Sakari's shoulder. "Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi watches Kimimaro keenly, expressionless. Slowly, his eyes wander to the girl in the other boy's grip and move back steadily. "Kaguya Kimimaro," he says in a soft voice, "I assume."

"You assume correctly," Kimimaro replies. Seeing the Uchiha prince, it isn't much of a wonder how his entrance had remained unnoticed to Kimimaro.

"I see." Itachi steps forward. His dark eyes begin to smolder.

Sakari pulls from Kimimaro's grasp, but his hand grows hostile. Clenching her teeth, she puts an elusive hand on his arm and jerks backward. She wrenches free and steps to the side. Kimimaro seems not to notice, but Itachi looks immediately to her, an unidentifiable seem of recognition there.

"I suggest you leave," Itachi says, his tone low but hard, "and continue not another day."

Kimimaro looks back. The resentment drains from his face, leaving only a cold demeanor. "I am not your subject to command."

"I figured," Itachi replies, "and so it was a suggestion. Do you dare me to enforce it?" His upper lip parts slightly, revealing a glimmer of a fang.

"No, I'd rather not cause a scene in a public place." Exhaling, Kimimaro yields. Retreating a few steps he retorts, "But mark my words, Uchiha. This isn't over." He turns to Sakari, who looks back warily. "Don't forget what I said."

With that final exchange, Kimimaro twists, his back to the two others. He pockets his hands and saunters casually away.


Through all this commotion, Sasuke still hadn't forgotten that hunger incident. The sizzling desire, the need to feed. Leaning into the old warehouse's huge window frame, the boy grumbles to himself.

"Yo, Sasuke, what's up with you?" Sai calls from below.

Sasuke looks down to see his friend enter smoothly with Shikamaru at his side. The latter glances up at Sasuke darkly and then twists away with a scowl. "What's up with him?" he yells back.

Sai hops to Sasuke's ledge, hanging on by his arms. "Probably still pissed about Naruto disappearing," he replies in an undertone. He regains normal dynamics, "So I hear you ditched after sixth period."

"Who told you?" Sasuke huffs.

"Sakura-chan, naturally," the slanted-eyed boy answers. The two hear Shikamaru slink to the ground to sit against the opposite wall. Sai jumps down, searching for his own seat. "So where did you go?"

"Here," Sasuke answers tersely.

"Alright, alright. You could've done something more original," Sai says wistfully. He jumps onto a nearby crate, cracking out a cigarette.

Shikamaru suddenly rises from his brood and announces loudly, "There were more new kids today."

"Really?" Sasuke remembers what Sakari had said about the call for more of their kind. "Who?"

"They're both in their third year," Shikamaru says, "just like the guy from yesterday, Hoshigaki. Turns out they all know each other. And it seems like you know at least one of them."

Sasuke frowns. "What's his name?"

"Uchiha," Shikamaru raises his brow in inquiry, "Itachi."


"Yo, Itachi!" Kisame's broad voice booms from around the street's curb.

Sakari and Itachi both turn around, and Sakari's lip curves downward.

"So you do know him," she mumbles as the huge boy comes into view.

"Why? Was he bothering you?" Itachi asks, his husky voice evening. He looks her in the eye, and amusement plays there.

She returns his gaze, still frowning. "Was he supposed to?"

"Yes," Kisame answers as he catches up to the two. He grins deviously.

"Actually," a hushed voice joins them, "I believe your orders were simply to watch her, protect her." Its male carrier gaits closer quietly, not a sound nor a crunch in each of his steps. He watches the others with cloudy eyes, blackish red hair falling over them. Regarding Sakari, he murmurs, "You can call me Sasori."

Nodding, she glances at Itachi, and he gives her a meaningful look before turning back to the other two. "We're returning to the manor," he says softly.

"Oh, right, are the other guys going there, too?" Kisame asks as the group continues on their way.

Sasori answers, "It's what they were ordered to do."

"'Other guys'." Sakari crosses her arms. "I think I'm gonna go stop somewhere else first--"

Itachi takes the edge of her hand with a feathery grip. It's enough to force her gaze into his, and though his lips stay firm there's a warmth in his eyes, setting off from the rugged features of his face.

But the moment subsides. "It'll be like another oration," he says, "you'll need to be there."

She stares at his light grasp and looks up at him with a nod.


"Shit, I have to see him," was his hallow excuse.

Acting wasn't Sasuke's high point, he declared to himself as he made a run for the mansion. But even with Shikamaru in his particular mood, insuring his brother did not do something drastic to his friend was the higher priority, and so he dashes hurriedly, taking a short-cut at the side-street tangle of trees.

Sasuke barely got a chance to see his friends' reactions to his outburst, for he'd left so swiftly.

Seeing the grand house's side in the distance, Sasuke hurtles all the faster, and he winds up crashing into a large tree trunk--which had definitely appeared from no where. He seems to ignore this and speeds into the house. In his ears buzz a thin clatter of conversation, and he, slowing down, walks to the source of the noise. He enters the mansion's main room to meet a crowd.

A crowd?

The first thing Sasuke sees is about six familiar faces and five new ones, lounging about. The second is a flash of violet.

Dazed, Sasuke smashes onto the cold wood of the floor under a great weight. He opens his eyes to be consumed in a scheme of blonde, and, smelling a familiar scent, he manages, "Ino?"

The blonde girl looks up from her embrace and stands quickly with a bright grin. "Who else, Uchiha?" she says, a challenge in her tone. She holds out hand for him, and Sasuke takes it, standing as well.

Ino stands only a couple of inches shorter than him, and he notices absently that she'd allowed herself to grow a little more. Her lips are a bitter fuller than he'd remembered, and her cerulean eyes had slanted inward with the cunning stare a woman. She wears a casual violet dress, the source of the "flash". Noticing his gaze, Ino smiles a smile resembling a cat. "You like the new look?" she starts.

Sasuke frowns and opens his mouth to reply, but she cuts him off.

Something's didn't change.

"You're looking," she scrutinizes him, squinting her eyes as she circles him animalistically. She cranes her neck to search for changes in his hair, shoulders, frame, anything. "You haven't let your body grow at all!" she says, astounded. "I thought you were planning on gaining a couple of inches, to rival your broth--"

"Yo, Sasuke! Check it out!" a scratchy voice calls from the background.

Ino turns to face the interrupter, and her lips purse with disapproval. "It's your human friend."

Naruto bounds towards the duo, holding a thin, panicking girl behind him. "Yo, Sasuke! I didn't know Hinata-chan was one of you!"

"Dobe," Sasuke grunts, "you didn't even know I was one of me."

Ino raises her brow at the familiarity and gives Sasuke a questioning look. He shrugs it off and instead examines the trembling girl beside Naruto. She's a bit shorter than all of them, and she continues to glance at Naruto nervously, as if he'd bite her. It was the first time he'd seen the girl, Hinata, who supposedly attended the same high school. He wasn't too surprised, though, to hear that she was one of their ranks. Her hair is a foreign blue-purple shade, and she wears an oversized white jacket that emphasizes her frail appearance. Her face is round, and her eyes--

Sasuke glowers, and he demands a little too rushedly, "A Hyuga? Then you're related to--"

"That's right, Sasuke," a masculine voice approaches. "It's me, Neji."

The four look to see a tall, well-framed boy staring back. His hair is a bounding black, restrained loosely and its long end. His eyes, however, are what distinguish him. They glitter a cunning silver-white that reflect exactly the watcher's image. Hinata's eyes are exactly the same, but they set off oddly from her innocent face.

Only Sasuke is displeased to see him. Examining the newcomer, Sasuke frowns as he notices that Neji, too, has grown. The white-eyed boy stands at least three inches taller than him, but his lips form a calm line. Only a ghost is left of the haughtiness Sasuke is so used to despising.

Neji regards his former friend indifferently and folds his arms. He nods quick greetings to Hinata and Ino but ignores the grumbling Naruto completely.

"Ino's right, you haven't changed at all," he notes, gaze falling back on Sasuke.

"I haven't seen you for thirty-two years," Sasuke says tiredly. He glances over him again distrustfully.

Neji turns his face. "Not since the King and Queen's memorial."

Creeping closer to Sasuke, Naruto mumbles, "Who is this guy?"

Sasuke nods towards Hinata. "He's her relative."

"Cousin," Hinata murmurs, facing the floor.

Ino watches them boredly. "Well, now that Neji's grown from being a hot-head, I'm guessing you two won't be having your oh-so-famous cat fights anymore."

At a joined frown from both Sasuke and Neji, Ino steps backward, pouting in dissatisfaction. "Come on, guys. We haven't seen each other for years!

Don't you remember growing up in Suna?"

"Of course we do, Ino," Neji chides. "But what is there to say?"

Sasuke looks past his two childhood friends and deeper into the room. Members of his coven and apparently those of others, scatter about the wide lounge. The familiar faces huddle together, as do the foreign. Sasuke can almost feel the degree of separation.

However, he notices an integrated group of five in the corner. Two yell at each other obnoxiously, another one glares at them irritably. Directly beside them stand two familiar figures, though. One is Sakari, a disgruntled expression on her face. The other, beside her, appears indifferent but resolute. As if feeling Sasuke's gaze, their eyes come to rest on him immediately, and Sasuke stiffens.

Naruto, excluded from the conversation, follows his friend's stare and asks, "Who is that?"

Mouth in a grim line, Sasuke replies gruffly. "My brother."