One of our reviewers posed an interesting question regarding Sasuke inadvertently siring Itachi. I'll explain this fic's view on vampires. The way a vampire is made in this fic is by shared blood. The sire drinks the blood of the sired and the sired drinks the blood of the sire, then when the sired, as a human, dies, the change takes place and they become a vampire (this concept borrowed from Blood Ties book 1, The Turning, by Jennifer Armintrout, though it may be more widely spread, this is just where we got it). Sasuke's intention was to kill Itachi, not to turn him, but when Itachi stabbed Sasuke in the shoulder, some of Sasuke's blood splattered onto Itachi's face (and into his mouth), and when Itachi's heart stopped, the change took place, and he became a vampire. Thank you BlueSharingan101 for bringing it to my attention that it was somewhat vague!
And an added thanks to all the reviewers and watchers and favorite...ers so far (you know who you are! I'd list you all but I've been slacking and quite a few have accumulated)! I realize I don't thank you guys enough, so I figured I'd do that here. THANKS! Here's hoping that Prodigium gets even more hits and reviews than Breaking Me Down, which currently seems to be my most popular story!
Eruda: Goodness, it's been a long time since I posted ANYTHING on though I've been posting occasionally elsewhere. I hear that a lot of you really like how I portray Itachi, and for all your comments and praise, I just wanted to say THANK YOU! He's a tough bugger to write for sometimes, and it disturbs me a little how easy it is for me. I'm glad you think I'm doing so well, though. I hope to continue doing a good job. Thank you for reading!
Character depiction is as follows:
Sasuke and Sasori were written by me, while Itachi, Orochimaru and Kabuto were written by my lovely lovely sweetheart (She said hi this time! Yaaaay!).
Again, sorry for the wait (and the huge author's note!), and I hope you enjoy the chapter and continue reading in the future!
prodigium : (Latin) prodigy, portent / monster, unnatural thing.
Itachi remembered almost nothing of that night just days before, only fire and blood and the sweet nothingness he recalled falling into. He remembered waking, with Kisame sitting at his bedside, green/blue eyes watching him and the smell of fear wafting off his partner. He didn't remember attacking the other man, but did remember coming to an hour or two later, bound to the bed and guarded this time by Sasori.
The unpleasant explaination of his condition that Sasori offered had turned Itachi's stomach, and left him feeling rather cold and sick. He'd stared mutely at the ceiling, before the hunger became more pressing than the disgust he felt. Sasori had brought a bottle of blood to him and instructed him to drink, though Itachi had resisted until it was forced down his throat.
But as night fell once again, Itachi tied his hair back and pulled his cloak on, noting how everything seemed to work exactly as before. Somehow, he had thought that death would have dulled his coordination and his thinking, but his mind was clear, and he strapped the kunai pouch on and snapped the cloak up with ease. It was as though he had merely suffered a mild sickness and fever, really. He walked down the hall in silence, listening to the sounds of his associates. He wondered fleetingly what someone such as Hidan or Kakuzu would say about this, but knew better than to mention it to them. No, it would be best to go about as if nothing had changed, as if nothing had happened...
as if this were merely a recon mission and not a lesson in how to kill and feed.
"Going somewhere, Uchiha?" a voice, low and all too familiar sounded from Itachi's left as Sasori, having been put to watch near the entrance, stepped out of the shadows.
"You still don't understand exactly what you are or what you're doing, do you? Prodigy or no, this is not something you have the chance of playing trial and error with, if you fail, you die." Perhaps, he thought, he may have been showing a bit too much interest, but he felt it would be a shame to put such an elegant and untamed thing to dust and waste. "Besides, I've been given the task of being your escort, as much as it irritates me." A slow and easy smirk curved false lips as apathetic eyes almost glinted. "I have permission to use force should you refuse."
Itachi glanced over at the older man, expression unchanging as he mulled over the warning. "Might I assume that Leader has been informed of the situation? I was under the impression that he was not to know yet." He replied quietly, closing his eyes. "I also see little difference between a regular assassination and... this. Though, I suppose you would know more of such things, considering your history."
"Trust me," Sasori responded, already moving toward the outside and the chilly night air he couldn't feel, "I know far more than you do, and you will need what I can teach if you expect to live long at all outside of these walls."
"As for him, you know how he is. He knows everything that goes on in this place."
------------------------
"We have received word from the second search party. They found the first party."
Orochimaru was stalking through the catacombs of his palace, his hands clenched into twitching fists. Upon hearing Kabuto's voice behind him, he stopped and turned, frowning. When the white-haired ninja failed to elaborate, his mouth twisted into a grimace, showing his multiple fangs. "Well?"
"Matsu of the first party was apparently left alive, if barely. He was maimed. His eyes have been torn out. They are bringing him back for interrogation." Kabuto pushed his glasses up on his nose. The sight of his master and teacher's vicious maw had once terrified him, but now only served to warn him of how angry the old vampire was. It didn't really matter. He didn't believe that Sasuke could stand to be far from the palace for long. Eventually, the boy would come crawling back to his master, the link between them too strong to resist. It suited Kabuto just fine. He had found Sasuke to be an excellent test subject, and anxiously awaited his return.
The news of the first party's destruction was expected, but not the brutality of it. But then, Sasuke had learned from the best. Orochimaru would have been proud if he wasn't so angry. "Forget the first party. Just find him. I want him back immediately!"
A smirk tugged at Kabuto's lips, and he crossed his arms. "He will be vulnerable at dawn. We know roughly what direction he was going, so we'll definitely find him when he stops to rest for the day."
------------------------
Unfortunately for the pursuing parties, the young Uchiha, being both shinobi and vampire, had learned plenty of ways to both cover his tracks and to stay hidden. It also so happened that he'd overheard Kabuto and his sire speaking of experimental cloaks that would allow the elder vampire to move about during daylight hours. It was his luck and intuition that landed the second or third prototype on his back as he fled.
He hadn't expected Orochimaru to let him go without a fight, but so far the only search party he'd come across was nothing special at all. He hoped that by now, whoever was sent out next had found the messenger he'd left alive for them.
Tell him that in searching for me, he will be as blind as you are now. The rest of your platoon is testament to what I will do to anyone who comes across me that bears even the slightest hint of his smell. Where he finds me, he will find what he fears most.
He knew it wouldn't deter the man much, if at all, but even the slightest blow he could deal the twisted bastard was satisfying in and of itself.
Stopping for a moment to gauge his surroundings, he pushed outward with his mind as much as he could, searching for the faintest glimmer of his brother. He knew that the longer he left the man to his own devices, the more control he would find over both the tie and his newfound power. Sasuke cursed himself for being so stupid and not being doubly sure the job was done. He'd managed to best Itachi mostly by luck and the curse Orochimaru gave him, but now that his brother had the same curse...
Faintly, he felt the approaching dawn, pulling the garment tighter around his face and head. There was still a thick covering of trees, and there was at least another hour of darkness left, but he didn't want to be caught off guard by the sunrise. There was still a chance that the treated fabric still would not ward off the sun, but it was test it or be overtaken by one of his sire's parties coming at dawn. It had been three long years since he'd seen daylight, for fear of going to ash, but this time, he was determined not to cower from it.
Judging from the lingering thrill at the edges of his mind in one direction, and the far stronger anger from where he'd left, he still had a long distance to cover before he'd find Itachi.
------------------------
"It's almost sunrise," Sasori commented, pushing away from the rock he'd been leaning against. He knew that despite the barren terrain of the area he'd brought Itachi to, the boy would have no problem finding his own shelter for the night. He had to wonder at the pace the Uchiha had learned what he had to teach, though. Despite knowing full well Itachi was the supposedly undefeated prodigy of the late Uchiha clan, he'd never actually seen first hand just how quickly he picked things up.
"I'm sure you know by now precisely what happens to a vampire who is exposed to direct sunlight, but to further drive the point home, I'm going to give you a little demonstration come dawn." He let the corners of his mouth turn up just slightly.
"Find yourself shelter for the day, and I will retreive your lesson for you while you review what you've learned tonight." With that said, he turned back toward their headquarters, not giving the Uchiha so much as another glance before leaving him to fend for himself.
Itachi still felt sick after his "meal", and had scarcely heard what Sasori said before the man left. His actions and thoughts up until the moment of attack had been flawless, identical to the way he usually killed except for the lack of a weapon. But as soon as he had touched his target, a lost genin from Kumo, everything changed.
Even now, he found himself trying not to remember it, despite the Sharingan burning it into his memory. Again, he could hear the man's terrified scream when he saw the pale fangs, feel the throb of a pulse under his fingers, the tearing of flesh under sharp teeth and the sudden wash of blood, sweet and warm and metallic, through his mouth and down his throat.
With a shudder, Itachi pulled the cloak tigher around his shoulders and glanced around, hoping the immediate need to find adequate shelter would distract him from these disturbing memories.
Unfortuately, most unfortunately, something else distracted him first, from both tasks. Itachi felt a strange tugging in the back of his mind, which only became stronger the longer he stayed in this rocky waste. Something was calling him, and something wanted to respond. As the sky lightened over him, he realized what it was, the distant memory only worsening his confusion.
...Sasuke?
This was definitely unfortunate. Sasori was gone, presumably until the next night, and the sensation was growing stronger, presumably meaning that Sasuke was coming closer. The sun was nearing the horizon, and Itachi didn't really want to learn what would happen if he were touched by its light now. With a frown, he began running - away from headquarters, away from Sasuke - until he spotted a cave, almost completely blocked off by rocks. The opening was just large enough, and he slipped inside, backing down the tunnel until he was confident in his concealment, if not his safety. Being trapped in a cave, no matter how well hidden or how deep, was frustrating, and he resisted the urge to pace, sitting instead to consider his current options.
------------------------
Pausing just before the trees started to thin out, Sasuke heard it. Faintly, very faintly in the back of his mind, he heard that questioning voice.
...Sasuke?
It wasn't Orochimaru. He knew the voice anywhere, no matter how faint, but the tone of it caught him off guard. Itachi sounded unsure, and he thought he could detect the slightest bit of unease across the tie. The sun was close to rising, but there was no turning back now, not when he was so close.
The thought occured to him as he took off again, leaving the shelter of the dense forest as it faded into bare and rocky expanse, that he'd never actually had a plan for what would come next. He realized the closer the sun came to the horizon that despite being the sire, there was something that drew ihim/I to iItachi/i, and he wasn't sure what that could mean.
Sasuke frowned beneath the thick cover of the cloak, once again pulling it tighter and tucking his hands inside. He would kill him. That was what he would do when he found him. While he was still getting used to a vampire's skill, he would kill him, because once Itachi was able to fully control the vampire curse, he would be left in the dust once again.
Clenching his fists tightly, he cursed out loud. He knew it wasn't going to be as easy as it was the last time, and he knew that even part of that was a fluke, but he also knew he would have to do everything he could to erase the mistake he'd made in tasting his brother's blood. To this moment he wasn't sure why he'd chosen to act as he did; surely it was the hunger (driven by all that blood) that pushed him to sink his fangs in rather than plunge the discarded kunai into Itachi's chest and be done with it.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and a chill of fear swept down his spine. It drew him out of his thoughts and pulled his attention to the land before him just as the sun breached the sky to his side and daylight began to spill over the wasteland. The brightness of it burned at his eyes, and a primal fear screamed at him to find shelter, but he stood frozen in place, wondering for a brief moment why he'd taken sunrises for granted in the past. That brief moment was over, however, as the sun's rays washed over him, and he had to duck his head and clench his teeth at the searing pain that he felt even through the cloak he wore.
He'd have time to marvel at the fact that he wasn't a pile of ash later, after he found where Itachi (restless, like a caged animal, he could feel it) hid himself in this rocky expanse.
Close.
He was so close, and every last step he took in the grueling sun was for the same reason he took every step he took throughout his entire life since that night. He pressed on for the sole purpose of finding and killing Itachi; the only difference now was the method in which he would do so.
requiro : (Latin) to seek, hunt for.
Well, now that that's over with, I've noticed all the watches and favorites over these past weeks, and I'm so very thankful! Did we live up to your expectations? Did we fall short? Let us know with a review, we love to get them!