Prove to me you're not an illusion. Prove to me you'll always be mine.
And then, as though time had never passed, Itachi reappeared. At midnight in Sasuke's room that he shared with Naruto. But Naruto had gone to visit Iruka….
"Stay away from me." Sasuke did not recognize his voice. Was it really that sharp? "I thought you were dead. Kakashi…"
Itachi stared at him steadily. "Kakashi wanted me to bite him."
"What?"
"I refused. He wanted to know the pain Obito went through. Obito was like you, Sasuke. He was pure. But he was bitten by a rogue vampire."
Itachi stepped closer to him. "I had to make sure you didn't want to live a normal life. And also, that you wanted me."
That voice. It made Sasuke want to cry. So familiar and warm and deep.
Itachi, in all his beauty and regality, looked lonely. And Sasuke was putty in his hands.
"Nii-san, don't you know? You're the only one for me."
But his thoughts were different.
You can't do this, Aniki. It's not fair. I've moved on.
Good. Because this can't be voluntary. Then as an afterthought, This will hurt.
"What? But I bit Naruto and it didn't hurt him."
He flinched, knowing Itachi hated it when he didn't communicate telepathically. But Itachi just pulled him into an awkward hug, and pushed his head to the side.
That, Otouto, is because you are a pure vampire.
And then Sasuke was in excruciating pain. It lanced through him, flowed through his veins, wrapping tight around him like cords, needles digging in ruthlessly everywhere.
But he felt Itachi's arm around him, supporting him, and it was sold and real. It grounded him.
His happiness with Naruto…his love for the blonde idiot was weak, tenuous compared to this. To the bond he shared with Itachi.
"Why does it have to hurt so much?" he whispered into the nape of Itachi's neck. He smelled like clean snow and rain. He couldn't resist anymore. Sasuke bit him back and the blood that welled from the wound was power itself. Then Itachi gently guided Sasuke's head up so their lips could crash together. Their blood mixed between them, mingling as their fates already had.
Because I love you too much for you not to be mine.
Sasuke may have been bleeding, on the edge of passing out due to pain, battered and crying. But he was no longer broken. He was whole, complete for the first time in years.
Because that is the price of our love.
~Fin
