A/N For those who don't know, "shonenai" [not yaoi" implies that there will be no explicit sexual scenes described (actually, there are no sexual scenes in general here…), but their will be instances of guy on guy stuff that seriously homophobic people most likely will not enjoy….yeah. Nothing in this chapter, but in the next one, when Sasuke comes in, it gets slightly more…um…shonen ai-ish (shonen ai "boy love" literally, by the way.) Once again, there won't be anything explicit, but it won't exactly be completely bland.

I hope that clears things up :) And also peaked your interest in the next chapter mwahaha. Heh.

The M rating is for the shonen-ai, the language, and uhh…dark stuff? You'll see…

Apologies if Konoha doesn't actually have cell phones and digital alarm clocks and stuff like that…it's for convenience's sake xD

Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto do not belong to me.

Kakashi couldn't see. He was swallowed by an abyss of darkness, writhing in unbearable agony as pain shot through all of his limbs, his brain, his heart. Was he screaming? Maybe. A maniacal laughter filled his head, getting louder with each bolt of pain charging through him. He wanted to see, to find out who was causing this. As if the voice heard him, it laughed even more sadistically and all of a sudden he could see again. And now he did scream, louder than he ever, as his eyes adjusted to the violent scarlet glow. Blood. Blood was everywhere around him. He was swimming in it, no, drowning in it. It was in his throat, his eyes – everywhere, he realized with horror, except in him. His own skin was as stark white as a blank sheet of paper. The laughter grew even more, deafening him, as he tried to scream and started to choke on what he somehow knew was own blood –

He sat up in bed.

"Just a dream. It was just a dream," he tried to reassure himself. It had seemed so devilishly real, though. The echoes of the laughter still rang in his ears. "Serves you right for reading vampire crap three days before Halloween," he chastised himself. Kakashi rolled over and tried to fall back asleep on the sweat-drenched pillow. The digital alarm clock next on the bedside table emblazoned the neon numbers 4:48AM into his eyes. Fantastic. He'd have to wake up in just over an hour.

RING! RING!

Kakashi let out a groan and reached for his cellphone.

"Kakashi speaking," he yawned into the mouthpiece. Tsunade's clipped tone woke him up, all right.

"There's been another one," she said without preamble. "This time it was a young girl, the niece of a nearby ramen-shop owner. Her body was discovered ten minutes ago, drained of blood just like the rest of them."

An angry wind flung a handful of dead leaves at Kakashi's window. He jumped as he felt his hand shake.

Drained of blood….blood…

"W-where is she?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"Inside the house behind Ichiraku Ramen. Hurry." Kakashi could hear screams and wails on her side of the phone before she hung up.

His breath caught in his throat, but he didn't let that stop him. This wasn't his first mission, this wasn't the first time Tsunade had woken him in the middle of the night, this wasn't the first demented murderer he had had to face. He followed the familiar routine – tumble out of bed, pull his shirt and vest on over his bare chest, wash his face, adjust his mask, and hop from rooftop to rooftop until he reached wherever Tsunade wanted him.

But tonight, he felt like the shadows were following him. The moon seemed bigger than usual. It looked like a huge eye...watching...waiting...seething.

A chill ran down Kakashi's spine as he took in the sight of the slashed banners in front of the well-known ramen shop. The eerily knocked over stools and the sobs coming from inside promised that Ichiraku wasn't going to be reopening anytime soon. Naruto was not going to be pleased.

He made his way to the back of the shop and almost keeled over. The entire room reeked of blood, searing his senses. Yet there was barely a single drop anywhere. Instead, Kakashi saw three weeping figures huddled around a smaller figure, with the familiar forms of Tsunade and Shizune hovering nearby.

"Kakashi. Good. See what you can make of this." Tsunade motioned him closer to the body on the ground. In a gentler tone, she addressed the three other figures, whom Kakashi recognized to be the ramen shop owner, his daughter, and presumably his sister, the mother of the victim. "If you would please let him see Romzai?

They parted, collapsing in each others arms, but allowing Kakashi to see the girl on the ground in full view. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment before kneeling next to her. Gently, he tucked a lock of hair behind her doll-like ear.

"She can't be more than--"

"She was seven." The woman's voice broke with sorrow. "Her eighth birthday is in less than two weeks. And I…I promised her we would go to the cherry blossom gardens! I promised!" She broke free of her brother's hold and flung her arms around her daughter's neck. "I promised her! She wanted to go because she wanted to take care of flowers when she grew up!" The mother was now distraught with agony. She rocked back and forth, clutching the lifeless body to her chest. "But she'll never grow up now! She'll never grow up!"

A fresh howl ripped through the night as the woman turned to Kakashi's horrorstruck face.

"Avenge her. Please, God, destroy whoever did this to her! Make them pay, make them suffer! AVENGE HER!"

Shizune quietly stepped in now, silent tears trailing down her own face as she helped the shaking woman to her feet, allowing her to carry Romzai as she stood.

"Come please, Madame. We must return to the Hokage's office so you may get some rest," Shizune said softly.

Tsunade turned to Kakashi.

"Please, stay here and investigate the area. Follow us back to the office when you are done to inspect the victim further."

He nodded as the crying family walked away. But as they left, the mother turned back to him one last time, and he saw her wide eyes reflected in the moonlight. They were overflowing with emotion. Terror, pain, hopelessness…

One last word pierced the air as she left.

"ROMZAI!"

He stood for a few moments, waiting for his heart to beat normally again. He couldn't get the images out of his head – Romzai's tiny face, frozen in pain, and her mother's.

Eventually, he managed to kneel down again and search the room.

There wasn't a speck of blood. Anywhere. But everything was ripped or overturned. The area on the floor where he had seen Romzai's body was covered in what seemed to be scratches…from human nails? He couldn't tell. Overall, the site didn't reveal much. He got up to walk to the office – and stopped in the doorframe.

A small piece of black fabric was snagged on the splintered wood of the door. Tsunade had been wearing her usual green robe, Shizune had been in a light blue kimono, and the members of the family had been wearing red pajamas. Kakashi himself was clothed in his standard Jounin vest, and Romzai had been wearing a pink nightie. He picked up the scrap of fabric. Of course, it could have been from a customer earlier in the day, but since it was caught on a piece of wood splintered from the attack, this was unlikely. It felt very silky. He put it in his pocket and ran to the Hokage's office, trying to pay no attention to the night around him.

"Did you find anything?" Tsunade asked the moment he entered. He raised the fabric momentarily, shrugged, and walked to Romzai's side. Her mother, as well as the ramen-store owner and his daughter, were in the sitting room outside of the office, trying to get over the shock and being comforted by Shizune.

Kakashi started to inspect the body, cringing at the violent gashes across her pale arms, face, and neck.

"It's as if she's been attacked by a wild animal," he said in horror.

"Yes," Tsunade said, "but it would have to have been a very intelligent one. For one thing, whoever did this managed to break into the house without waking anyone – the mother only discovered the body when she went to get a drink of water. For another, the criminal has gotten rid of the blood awfully quickly – I can tell that she was only killed within the past 2 hours. And look--" She gently raised the girl's thin arms and tilted the head upwards "—all the scratches miss the essential veins." Tsunade looked into Kakashi's eye. "Whoever did this wanted to keep her alive as long as possible."

Kakashi didn't let himself even think the word. It couldn't be that. It just couldn't be. This had to be some bizarre bloodline—

"What's that?" he murmured. He tilted her head to the right.

No.

No.

Right between her collarbone and her jawline, on the left side of her neck, were two small puncture wounds.

"No."

"Excuse me?" Tsunade asked, puzzled. He looked at her with frantic eyes.

"Do you have copies of the pictures you gave me earlier, the ones of the previous victims?"

Tsunade looked flustered.

"Well – yes – here--"

Kakashi tore the photographs out of her hand and scoured each one. He began to shiver. Barely noticeable, but unmistakably, each photograph displayed the same puncture wounds on the throat.

"T-Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes?" She was completely perplexed now.

"I think I know what's murdering these women." He took a deep breath. "I think it's a vampire."

She raised her eyebrows at him and opened her mouth, but he cut her off.

"I know it sounds insane, but look!" He waved the photos in her face, gesturing at the puncture wounds. "It all adds up! The blood loss, the lack of any blood at the scene of the crime, the neck marks! And weren't all the murders performed at night?"

For a moment it looked like she was going to agree with him, but then she shook her head.

"Kakashi…get some sleep. Tomorrow we are going to meet with the families of the victims and you can inspect the corpses. I'll listen to your…vampire theories after you've gotten a full night's sleep, all right?" Her voice was a perfect mask of pitying disbelief. Kakashi knew that tone. He wasn't going to get her to believe him tonight.

"Okay."

The sun was just starting to burn the dawn into the horizon as he walked home, washing the sky in a fiery scarlet. He felt like it was watching him too.

And from a tree branch, high above the tired and terrified Jounin, two sets of burning scarlet eyes were watching him. Dried blood cracked as the owner of one of the pairs felt his lips part into a sinister smile. The other pair of eyes was narrowed, blazing into the man below them. Two minds were thinking the exact same thought as they stared at Kakashi.

You're next.

A/N The name of the girl, Romzai, is a combination of the romanji "muzai [innocence and rosuto" [lost, hence the chapter name.

Sorry if this one was a little boring too xx;; it'll get a LOT more interesting in the next one, I guarantee:) Let me know what you think so far – and thanks for the reviews!