In this chapter... well, you'll see!
As usual, Sasuke was written by me, while Itachi was written by the lovely girlfriend of mine.
Eruda: through the perils of sickness, rent-paying, and work work work, we bring you this. Please enjoy it, and comment on it for us!
prodigium : (Latin) prodigy, portent / monster, unnatural thing.
Sasuke woke to the itching sense of impending nightfall, feeling as though his limbs were made of lead. He felt lightheaded, dizzy and disoriented, most assuredly due to the remnants of the puppet master's poison in his veins. He could tell that the burns he'd sustained would take longer to heal than the wound dealt to his shoulder , though he assumed that it would take no more than three days for there to be no trace of either, seeing as the wound Itachi had given him in that same shoulder had already healed by the time he'd reached the man.
Itachi...
His eyes snapped open, suddenly enough that the world spun due to still slightly blurry vision. Even before the haze cleared and the slits of his pupils dilated to bring the cave back into focus, he could sense his brother's presence. Obsidian eyes glanced first to the mouth of the cave, narrowing at the level of the sun. He cursed inwardly at the duration that Sasori's poison had an effect over him. He'd heard about it and its ability to incapacitate even a vampire, but he hadn't known that it would keep him out like a light until nearly sundown. It'd been no later than noon when he'd reached this cave and... His eyes settled finally on the form of Itachi.
He had not dreamed, and for this, Itachi was grateful. He supposed that blood, for him, carried many of the same properties as alcohol. His senses weren't so dulled by it that he didn't notice unconsciously when Sasuke woke up, though, and though he kept his eyes closed and his breathing slow and regular, he assessed the situation anyway. He's conscious, but likely still sedated. It's probably been at least a few hours, perhaps longer. I feel like I've slept a long time. The distant throb in his head, and the ghost-like pain in his shoulder and over his arm, signalled that Sasuke was still injured, and therefore not a terrible threat. Sasori would probably return in a couple of hours, which left Itachi a little time to figure out what to do with his accidental sire. The two big choices were to kill him, or interrogate and then kill him, but somehow he found himself mulling a third choice, though he didn't know what it was yet.
Sasuke studied Itachi's face, frowning just slightly. There were still traces of blood smears near the man's mouth, but it was only vaguely that he remembered why they would be there. He pushed himself to his feet in silence, using the cave wall as a support as he regained his balance, discarding the scratchy, ruined cloak that had gotten him here in favor of the cooler, more comfortable shirt he wore underneath it. Mildly irritated at his brother's feigned sleep, he moved closer, feeling a sudden, vampiric streak of mischief that urged him to see how much of the remnants of blood he could lick off of Itachi's cheek before the other vampire gave up the act.
His breath ghosted faintly against flawless, porcelain skin before he reached out suddenly with his mind instead.
I know you're awake, what do you take me for, an academy fresh genin?
Even if it was the tie between them that told him, rather than his skill as a shinobi.
"You are not quite as sedated as I had hoped. No matter." Itachi's hand shot up and grabbed Sasuke's neck, and his eyes slowly opened, glancing over at the other vampire. "You are a glutton, otouto. Did you not get your fill earlier today?"
The younger almost let out a growl, but something clicked over in his mind, and he found himself giving off a completely opposite impression. Despite the hand on his throat (breathing was probably more habit than necessity when one was undead, after all), he let one corner of his lips twitch upward slightly.
"I'm injured, Aniki, I need twice as much as usual..." He leaned forward, pressing his throat into Itachi's hand even further to challenge the scarlet eyes that bored into him and the fingers that undoubtedly felt the throbbing pulse of his vampire heart beneath their grip. The instinct inside of his mind still hadn't subsided entirely, and he felt the crust of dried blood over the wound on his shoulder split with his movements, slowly weeping crimson down his arm again.
Itachi removed his hand in favor of placing it against Sasuke's uninjured shoulder and shoving him away as hard as he could. Shoving himself to a crouch, he glanced at the mouth of the cave, narrowing his eyes at the thin crack of light he still saw. "The sun will set soon, and you can go and find your own prey. I have no intent on becoming your meal again." he stated, pulling a few kunai from a hidden pocket in his cloak.
Sasuke landed in a crouch, eyeing the kunai with moderate irritation. "Why would I want your blood anyway?" he scoffed, narrowing his eyes toward the elder Uchiha. He knew, however, that he was in no state to hunt, the blood he'd taken already practically gone to heal his wounds. His body was weak, but his mind was strong, and if he had to, he knew he could probably manage to keep Itachi there by force through the tie.
"You certainly seemed as though you wanted it not ten seconds ago. Stay away from me." There was a weird humming in Itachi's ears, like cicadas or bees, but he knew it was coming from Sasuke. He tried to block it out, push it away, but it persisted. The light was turning deep orange, and he estimated about half an hour before the sun set and twilight set in. Would he be safe then? He would have to get Sasuke out of the cave to find out.
"Why? Are you afraid of me now or something?" Sasuke responded, raising an eyebrow just slightly. He had the feeling that Itachi didn't realize that if he wanted his blood, he just had to pull the right strings to get the man to simply offer it to him. He felt the resistance the other vampire was giving, caught the glimpses he kept taking of the cave entrance.
What, will you run like a coward once the sun is down?
Instinct lessened its hold on him, and Itachi remembered the events of the day, and his hastily-formed plans for Sasuke. In a moment, he was in front of Sasuke again, kunai between his fingers and at the other vampire's throat. "I have some questions for you."
The slightest of frowns rested on Sasuke's lips, brow creasing as irritation and something else flashed across his features, stubborn defiance as bright in his eyes as the Sharingan. Despite his hold over the man, he knew Itachi had the upper hand in this situation, power wise. He wasn't about to give him the upper hand information wise, though. "Go ahead and ask, then, it doesn't mean it will get you anywhere," he snapped, tilting his head back slightly to bare his throat in a show of confidence that his brother would not break him this time.
Itachi narrowed his eyes. Perhaps he should've paid more attention to Sasori, though everything the puppet had said seemed like common sense to him. "How, and why, did you do this?"
Sasuke seemed to find the Itachi's question to be one of the most idiotic he'd ever heard come out of the man's mouth. For a moment, all he could manage was a slightly raised eyebrow, before he cleared his expression and responded. It wasn't information that would do his brother any good, anyway, because it was completely irrelevant.
"I took your blood, you took mine," he started, in a tone that told Itachi how utterly commonplace the knowledge was. "As for why," he paused, narrowing his eyes as his voice took on a tone of anger. "You did it to yourself. If you hadn't taken my blood you would be happily dead. All I wanted was the satisfaction of being the one to drain your life away, but you had to do something stupid!" He almost, almost pressed forward, against the kunai that threatened him, but his own words slowly began to sink in.
"You died," he murmured, a hint of disbelief in his voice and in his eyes as they remained locked with his brother's. "If you hadn't died, you wouldn't be as you are now, I killed you..."
"So you did. A fine job you did of it, too." Itachi replied, the most distant hint of sarcasm lacing his voice. "But remember, you were the one to bite me. It is because you did that, that I became this. Is Yakushi Kabuto still alive?"
"Why should it matter to you?" Sasuke answered, voice and expression angry again at the sarcasm in Itachi's voice. "Why, after all these years and all of this shit you put me through, did you try to kill yourself?!" he snapped, reaching up for the hand that held the blade to his throat.
"I saw no reason to give you the pleasure of killing me, not when you acquired your strength through questionable means." Itachi batted the hand away, slicing the palm open accidentally and purposefully ignoring it. "I will ask you again: is Yakushi alive?"
Sasuke hissed at the slight pain (compared to the rest of his injuries it was nothing), baring his fangs and narrowing his eyes. "There you go again, you bastard!" he almost growled. "I didn't ask for this curse any more than you did, do you think I enjoy it?!" Again, he ignored Itachi's question, despite the fact that he knew exactly how long and how extensively one could torture a creature that could heal just about any injury you could throw at it.
"Probably more than I enjoy it, given you used it to try and kill me. How utterly pathetic. Did Orochimaru or his minions ever give you drugs to control it?" Itachi returned the tip of the kunai to Sasuke's throat, but remained completely impassive.
"You're assuming that I enjoy it at all," Sasuke scoffed, feeling the sting of the kunai's point and this time leaning forward enough that it barely pierced skin, a thin trickle of blood running down his neck. "There is no controlling it, I'll tell you that now."
This seemed to be half-true, at least. Itachi had to fight to keep his eyes on Sasuke's face, and not let them wander to his neck, to the ribbon of blood that pooled in his clavicle and wandered down his chest. "Perhaps. Or perhaps you never had much self-control in the first place. Orochimaru is still alive, is he not?"
Sensing the slightest lapse in concentration on Itachi's part, alongside the faint flicker of bloodlust, Sasuke pressed a bit further forward, shifting just enough that instead of going deeper, the blade began to slice a shallow line across his throat. Certainly, in the face of blood or hunger, there was no controlling it. "And seething, I'm sure," he answered, irritation lacing his voice. "He wasn't happy with my leaving, but if he's got an ounce of sense he won't be following me anymore."
Itachi grabbed the top of Sasuke's head, tangling his fingers in black hair and holding him still. The blood welled faster now, rivulets disappearing under Sasuke's top. "Then I can assume that his servant Kabuto is still alive as well?"
The younger winced at the pull on his hair, forcibly ignoring the pleasant chill that ran down his spine. Stubbornly, he said nothing, knowing that Itachi was slowly losing focus. There were still many things his brother could do to him to gain the information he wanted, but a great deal of them were null and void if the man couldn't control his bloodlust.
With a sharp yank, Itachi slammed the back of Sasuke's head against the cave wall, his expression unchanging. "Answer the question. Also, answer this: what is the longest you've gone without..." he spat the word, as though it made him sick, and in truth it did, "feeding?"
Sasuke hissed sharply, his vision swimming for a moment before it focused again on Itachi. "Two days in the beginning before you go mad from it and attack the first thing that moves, three if you're lucky, four before you're too weak to hunt at all. What's it to you whether that bastard is dead or alive, anyway?" he responded, narrowing his eyes.
"He has served Orochimaru faithfully for many years. He must have some knowledge. How much blood is required before one is sated?" Itachi kept up the interrogation, calculating in his head. To think that vampires used up blood so quickly... well, it made sense then, that he'd attacked Kisame upon first waking. He'd only gotten droplets of Sasuke's blood. Had he bled out entirely before... dying? He made a note to thank, or at least acknowledge, Kisame and Sasori's work once he returned to headquarters.
"It depends on the vampire," Sasuke answered, shifting slightly in discomfort. His head hurt slightly, but nothing of real consequence. He moved one leg out, stopping when it bumped against Itachi's. This is stupid. You're not getting anywhere asking questions like that.
"Then tell me everything you know." Itachi leaned closer, pulling Sasuke up by his hair to just inches from the older man's face. "Tell me everything, and tell me the truth. I'll find out what's truth and what's a lie either by myself, or from interrogating and killing first Kabuto, then your sire. Then I will return and finish what I started eight years ago." he finished, his eyes changing, twisting into the Mangekyou Sharingan.
Sasuke's eyes widened momentarily before he shut them tight. "Everything I know about what?" he spat, instinct already reaching for the tie in self defense, every nerve on edge. Just one look... He didn't know if his own Sharingan could counter the Tsukiyomi yet (or if he had the energy left to use it), but he didn't want to find out. "You're still new, and even though you've fed just one night ago, you've fed me from that. You'll be an animal when they come back for you if you waste your energy like an idiot!" he hissed, knowing it wasn't the right thing to say, but saying it anyway.
"Sasori likely won't return, and if he does, he will be useless to me anyway. My energy use and feeding habits are none of your concern." Itachi experimented with the tie, sending a flood of chakra back through it, and watched Sasuke carefully to gauge his reaction. "Now, everything you know about this curse, including experiences and any information stolen from Orochimaru."
There was a sudden throbbing pain in Sasuke's head, and he didn't quite catch half of what his brother said before he tightened his grip on the tie and pulled hard, unsure of whether or not he hid a wince. Don't get any ideas, it took me a year to fully block that damn snake, prodigy or not, you won't stop it that easily. "Just what do you plan on doing with that information? You can't get rid of this curse or I would have already."
"Correction: you can't get rid of this curse." Itachi replied, noting the wince and the recoil of the tie. Interesting. "I have the resources, time, and drive to find a way. You wanted this curse so you could attempt to kill me. You wanted power, and brought this fate upon us both. I have no intention of spending the rest of my life a pathetic, cringing, blood-sucking monster."
Sasuke had the audacity to almost laugh at Itachi's stubborn resolve. "All these years I thought you were so damn genius," he started, unable to stop a chuckle. "But listen to yourself! 'I'll find a way to get rid of it, because I'm the almighty Uchiha Itachi!' Don't make me laugh! Do you know how long vampires have been around? If there was a way to get rid of the curse, someone else would have found it by now!"
Daring, he let his eyes open again to lock directly with his brother's, simultaneously manipulating the tie tighter and tighter in order to keep him at bay. "Why should I tell you anything, Itachi, when you don't even listen to what I say? Orochimaru brought this curse upon me without my consent, and you brought it upon yourself! How many nights will you spend in denial that none of this will ever change? Surely you enjoy the excuse to kill!" he spat, venom in his voice and fangs bared as he lifted his injured hand to drip blood between their faces. Why don't you just accept it, you're just a different kind of killer now.
Anger flashed in Itachi's eyes for a split second, and for an instant he was tempted to use the Tsukiyomi, to tear the other vampire limb from limb repeatedly for a few days, but that would get him nowhere. Sasuke's words made no sense to him, and why would they? Itachi had always been better than everyone else. He had always been the first, even surpassing ancestors, with the notable exception, of course. He saw absolutely no reason why he should not be the one to undo this terrible curse. As for killing... "Killing people is boring. Everyone dies the exact same way. It became boring before I even became an Anbu. I take no pleasure from killing, and the thought of drinking from someone I've killed - or am in the process of killing - disgusts me. In fact, your desire to kill me leads me to believe that you may be even more twisted than I." Itachi finally said, his eyes narrowing with the last sentence. "Why did you leave Konoha to join Orochimaru?"
The blood dripping between them posed a distraction, and Itachi noted that now, it seemed to stand out in the red world of the Sharingan, rather than blending in. That was new. He bit down the distant desire to grab Sasuke's hand and drink from it (I don't need any more of his blood.) and focused more intently on his interrogations.
In a sense, the younger's plan was starting to backfire on him. Despite having drained as much as he had from Itachi earlier that day, the man didn't seem nearly as hungry as he should have been. Sasuke, on the other hand, having lost as much blood as he had, still felt the insistent urge to feed, hunger still eating at the edges of his mind, along with something even less natural. "I had no choice," he responded, moving his hand to reach for his brother's face. "I needed to learn what I could about what I'd become. Konoha would have had me locked away and not gotten me anywhere."
"My spy told me that your teacher attempted to protect you during that time. You did not trust his aid, or the concern shown by your teammates?" Itachi responded, moving back slightly. A cool breeze from deep within the cave blew past, stirring up the smell of blood, and Itachi redoubled his efforts to ignore it. I don't need more blood. I can do without. I don't need it.
"Who are you to question my decisions in life?" Sasuke answered, scathingly. "They couldn't help me, they didn't know what I needed to know." He felt Itachi's unease, felt the hunger vividly and pushed at it. Take it. It'll be worse in the end if you ignore it.
"As your brother and sole living relative, it's, in a way, my duty. Also, the Hokage has far more information than you think. Her library is my spy's greatest source of information." Itachi grabbed the other vampire's wrist, twisting it to the side and trying to ignore the slick of blood under his hand, removing the temptation from immediate sight. Silence. Get out of my head.
Make me. The challenge came before Sasuke really had a chance to think about it, and he narrowed his eyes sharply, the twist of his wrist causing just the slightest wince. I'm just speaking for the voice you're ignoring.
"Don't make me kill you." Itachi said, very quietly. Had he the inclination to growl or somesuch, he might have, but such things seemed unnecessary. The interrogation was all but forgotten, and the distraction of Sasuke's blood seemed almost too much to ignore.
"If you wanted to, you would have years ago," Sasuke answered, almost as quiet, shifting a bit to try and rid himself of the discomfort leaning in one position against the wall of a cave was causing. He felt starved all of a sudden, the sound of blood dripping slowly from his elbow onto the cave floor so very loud in his ears.
"There is a difference between wanting to do something, and needing to do something. Your ignorance of that difference betrays your foolishness." Itachi replied. The cave was growing darker, and he guessed that the sun was near setting. If he could hold out for just a little while longer... an hour, at the most...
Drip... drip... drip...
"Bastard," Sasuke murmured, staring Itachi down despite how hard it was getting to focus on the man's words. With each drip that echoed in his ears, he was reminded of how much blood he'd lost, most of it slicking the cave floor and soaking his shirt. "You're the one who told me to kill you," he breathed, somehow afraid to speak any louder to break the slowly building trance (though he wasn't sure why). "Killing me now would be a waste."
I'm not going to be able to... the desert is empty, and will continue to be so... perhaps no one will come, no one will see, no one will know...
Those words were the last things Itachi thought, before everything went red, then black.
A gasp in the fading light, and the dripping stopped.
voco in dubium: (Latin) to call into question.
Hmmm... How does one word a warning for dubious consent on behalf of both parties? Somehow, this chapter ended up longer than all of the others so far, but hopefully, that'll make up for the next chapter being short. Because I get the feeling it will be. On another note, hopefully that means it'll be out faster, but judging by the pre-thought-out context... it may take just as long. xx Anyhow, review! We love reviews!
Thanks to all of our reviewers and favorite...ers, and watchers so far! You really make our day!
Eruda: my eyes are burning ; but besides that, I hope everyone enjoyed this! Stay tuned, it gets R-rated in the next chapter!