The following days passed quite similar.
Naruto managed to tell everybody the same story about the accident, he started eating the meals Sasuke cooked with enjoyment and he even caught up in school. But Neji forced him to hold back in the club, after all, the lad had been crashed. He was only allowed to work half of the time, but the blond was glad about that. That way he had much more time left for Gaara. He visited him every day and spended the whole afternoon with the red-haired.
But the better the Uzumaki felt, the worse in was for the Uchiha. He had to accompany the human anywhere, anytime. He went with him to the centre, to school, where ever he wanted to go. And Naruto took full advantage, forced the vampire into places he hated, as far as he wasn't directly under the sun, tormented him at home and at school. And he enjoyed it. And the vampire endured all the things he had to do, even if he was close to collapse.
Living with the human he had to change his habits, trying to stay awake in the afternoon and sleeping at night. He almost reached his limits, but he would never admit it. Never. Not to a human.
And finally the blond decided to stay at home one single afternoon. It was Friday of the first week the two returned to school and the raven filled a huge glass with blood in the kitchen. He took a big gulp and licked the rest from his lips. Only one week and he was already that exhausted. One week... …
Dear God, help me handling this, he thought and graped the cross on his necklace before he emptied his glass. He took the big bottle and another one with white substance. Lemonade for the Uzumaki. With that he went back into the living-room and sat down on the big sofa which was in front of the huge television he had. Naruto was sitting as far away as he could and took the drink with a nod. Meanwhile Sasuke filled his glass, lifted it and put his lips on the rim with closed eyes. Slowly he drank the blood, sighing when he was done. He hated taking the blood directly, like some broken, addicted bitch which wasn't able to manage his life. Drinking wasn't actually better, but at least it wasn't as pathetic in his eyes as the syringes.
And once more he felt incredible tired. It wasn't like he had built his living-rhythm one month ago. He lived like that almost his whole life. It was clear it would be a problem having a human in his household, especially such a young, troublesome one.
"Ah, yes. I'm meeting Kiba later at Ichiraku's." the blond said and switched on the TV. The raven sighed heavily. He was so tired... Only one proper nap and it would work again. One afternoon...
"Could we stay at home, please?" he asked lowly, taking another swallow.
"Nope." the other grinned. "He's offering me ramen!"
"I'll cook as much ramen as you want if we stay here." the Uchiha answered. Only one afternoon.
"But Ichiraku's is better than yours, bastard. And I promised, so I'll go." He opened his bottle and drank a bit. "You can stay at home."
"No, I can't. Let's chill at home... Please. Only for today."
"Why should we?" the blond wanted to know and looked at the dark-haired. Sasuke fought with himself, pressing his lips together. He wouldn't admit to a human he was weak. He decided to be weak never again. He wasn't allowed to be weak.
"Please." he repeated, but the Uzumaki shook his head. And, with a heavy sigh, the Uchiha gave up and nodded. He made himself a bit more comfortable on the sofa and tried to relax. He would need all the force he had left. Maybe tomorrow Naruto would oversleep until noon, so he could catch some sleep as well. Tomorrow... …
Finally the blond found an interesting show and asked, "So-ho, what are you cooking tonight?" The older rose an eyebrow and turned his head towards him, eyeing him confused.
"Aren't you going have some ramen?" he wanted to know and a huge grin came over tan skin.
"Yeah, but that's afternoon, teme. Some kind of snack."
"Snack." Sasuke repeated and shook his head. "You're a helpless moron. A pet is lots easier to keep." he sighed and made himself a bit more comfortable. His eyelids closed slowly and he had problems keeping attention to the TV-programme. The Uzumaki huffed once more, took a gulp of lemonade and concentrated on the talk-show. They were always funny and they were talking about bitches which slept with three guys at once, having a boyfriend at home, and now didn't know who the father of their babies were.
But suddenly, after a few minutes, he felt a heavy, cold weight on his shoulder and flinched, causing the weight to slid down on him. And before he could blink he had a black bondle of hair on his waist.
"What the...?" Naruto whispered and tried to shake Sasukes shoulder, but the raven didn't wake up. "Hello? Go away, bastard. I'm watching TV... Are you listening, Sas'ke?" he asked and became a bit worried because he couln't feel any breath coming from him. Luckily he remembered Deidara once said vampires didn't breath at all. The blond man came some times, but more rarely lately.
While he was thinking how he could get free from the Uchiha, said man wrapped his arms around the younger, pulling him closer. "What the hell?! Let go!" the youth yelled, but he wasn't strong enough to push away the other. And the more he tried, the tighter the vampires grip became and he lifted even his legs, curling half around the human and turning his face towards the torso. And for the first time Naruto saw him endless relaxed, his expression soft and peaceful. With that the blond broke and sighed heavily, starring at the older. "Fine. Keep acting like the sleeping Beauty. That's great..." he whispered and laid back, causing the head on him to roll down into his lap.
The Uzumaki watched him, thinking about the last days. The raven seemed really tired, he remembered. Sometimes he had fallen asleep on school and pulling him around, almost right under the sun-rays, wasn't good as well. Surely it was exhausting for the vampire after all. Naruto should have known it better, like that stuck-up bastard would ever came and tell him `I'm beaten´ or something like that. Being in his thoughts he didn't notice how one of his hands crawled down to the pale man, touching his neck and curling his dark, soft hair.
After a while the Uchihas face became hard again, he pressed his lips and eyelids together, his body trembling. His embrace got painfully tight and Naruto gasped for air, starring down at the sleeping boy. "S-stop! You're...! Hn!" he caught, desperately trying to pull him away. He could barely breath and thought hard until he heard something, a low, scared voice.
"N-no... Let go... No..." Sasuke muttered, his trembling becoming worse. He was obviously having a nightmare. Leaded by his instincts the blond reached for the dark head, stroking softly the black curls. Meanwhile he wrapped his other arm around the cold body, rocking slightly.
"It's fine. Everything is fine." he whispered, keeping touching the vampire.
"I'm so... sorry... Let go... No!"
"It's nothing. You're save and..." the Uzumaki said, pausing, thinking for the next words. He couldn't bring the words over his lips and choose some other. "I'm here, so don't worry, teme." He stroked away the hair from the pale forehead, rubbing the back of his hand on the others cheek. "You're having a nightmare, so chill down."
And, somehow, the lad couldn't tell if it was because of his actions, the raven calmed down, relaxing his muscles and stopping trembling. "Looks like the sleeping Beauty is able to rest again, hu?" Naruto giggled and laid back a bit. He looked at the television, but soon his eyes dropped back to the vampire. While the blond kept his eyes on him, he slowly lifted one arm and felt around for the wireless phone. Sasuke was smart, such a thing was very useful. When the Uzumaki had it, he pushed some bottoms and hold the handset on his ear.
After a while a dark /Yeah?/ reached his ear.
"Hey Kiba, this is Naruto."
/Dude! What's up?!/
"Not much. Listen, I can't come later."
/Why? Are you feeling bad? Should I come over your place?!/ the brunet boy on the other end asked, worried. A small grin was over the youths face.
"Not me, but Sasuke. He's sick, but he doesn't want me to go out alone. And since he's feeling bad I don't want him to worry about me."
/I see, I see. Now that you say it, he looked paler than usual lately. So next time?/
"Sure, ugly dogface." he answered and stroked the Uchiha once more.
/I love you, too, babe./ the Inuzuka laughed and the Uzumaki hanged up. A sigh escaped his lips and he decided to make himself more comfortable. He yawned and blinked at the show, noticing the vampire was really cold. It was almost frigid, so the young man reached carefully for the blanket which was on the other end of the sofa. He dispread the warm cotton and laid it over the pale body and his legs, pushing it softy under the others head. The Uchiha murmured something, but he didn't wake up.
A true smile was over the blond's lips when he stroked the soft hair and breathed, "But don't expect me to wake you up with a kiss, understood, bastard?"
Sasuke turned on his back, stretching his arms and legs. He woke up because he was thirsty, but he felt so nice where he was he decided to stay for a little more before getting up. Warmth surrounded him and the raven enjoyed it, feeling so well after so much time... A small smile came over pale lips. He had really needed the sleep and now he felt like he could do anything. After a while he opened his eyes, in order to see how late it was, but suddenly his breath stopped, his heart left out a beat and his dark eyes widened.
In one second he had jumped up, his back pressed against the wall opposite the sofa and in his hand he was holding a flick knife, just like one he had given the blond on Monday. His heart was hammering in excitement, he breathed quickly and starred at the confused, blond lad on the sofa.
Moments later he let out a stressed sigh and hissed, "Never fucking scare me like that again!!!"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Naruto yelled back furiously. "You're the one who fell asleep on me! And put away that... freaking thing!" The Uzumaki pointed at the knife, becoming nervous. He didn't like weapons. No... He hated them. And the marks on his face remembered him always why.
The Uchiha took a deep breath and put the metall thing back into his pocket.
"I apologize. I thought you were someone else." he said and walked back to the sofa, sitting down as far away as he could. Silence grew between them and the dark-haired asked, after he noticed it was dark outside, "Did you meet Kiba?"
"How, with you on my lap?" the lad answered, obviously pissed. He had been so relaxed with the peaceful, sleeping vampire next to him and that bastard jerked out from now to soon like the blond was some kind of weird monster to be afraid of. Stupid ass!
"I apologize, for both." the raven said and stood up. He didn't miss the angry expression in the big blue eyes. "What about some fresh ramen, so that I can hope for your mercy?" he considered and the lad rose an eyebrow, nodding slightly. The Uchiha looked at him before he went over to the kitchen. When he arrived he took a bottle from the fridge and drank a lot, some of the liquid dropping from the corner of his mouth. Pale fingers wiped away the blood, had been licked clean and crawled over pale skin, right next to the neck on the left side. Sasuke narrowed his eyes before he let go and started cutting some meat. If he wanted the other to forgive him, he would have to cook meat-ramen. A lot of meat-ramen.
Soon Naruto joined him and sat down on the table, looking at the raven.
He thought a lot and finally asked, "Why didn't you say you wanna sleep?"
The older stopped for a second, thinking, but answered, "It's just because I'm not used to it. I've another rhythm." He put the pot on the flame and filled some of the soup in a bowl and put it in front of the bright-haired, who smiled at him when the smell of delicious ramen reached his nose.
"Aha. But shoudn't you be used by now?" he wanted to know and took a bite.
Sasuke sat down next to him and smirked, "Well, it's hard to change habits you have for almost your whole life." The Uzumaki swallowed some noddles and licked over his lips. And now he even got a question he had for a long time.
"Yeah, I understand, teme. But tell me – how long is 'almost your whole life'?" he asked and looked couriously at the other man. And again, the bastard-smirk appeared.
"I was wondering why you didn't ask me, but I know your slow-working brain, moron." He enjoyed the narrowing oceans, before he ended with a, "I'm getting 197 next year."
"NO WAY!!!" the blond yelled, shooting up from his seat. His finger trembled when he pointed at the vampire and he gasped, "Y-you're almost 200 years old?! B-but you look like... look like you were..."
"18?" Sasuke added and looked up at the excited boy. "Sit down, I'll explain you. And hurry, your ramen is getting cold." The human obeyed, trying to eat anything. His appetite was gone suddenly, maybe because of that unbelievable number. He had thought they were about the same age.
While he slurped his soup the dark-haired reported, "I was born as a vampire and – comparing with, uhm, Deidara, for example – I grew up like a human. I breathed, ate and walked under the sun. But when a born vampire turns 18, his body transforms. And from the moment you become a vampire the time is not flowing for you anymore. I'll look exactly like this until I die."
"18 for ever, right?" the blond said, facing the raven. And Sasuke just nodded, his eyes turning even darker than before.
"Yeah... 18 for ever." he repeated with a sad voice.