A/N: Hello dear, lovely readers. Err... I know I promised uploading more regularly, but I caught a damn cold/flue and I'm still pretty ill, along with a lot of stress. I feel really bad having left the uploading like that, therefore I uploaded the next chap now.
I hohe you had a nice Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
The three vampires chuckled, getting closer anyway.
The masked one – obviously some kind of leader – said in the name of the group, "We don't want to fight you. Master just send us for this," He pulled out a small letter from his jacked, holding it in front of the raven. Sasuke pressed harder against Naruto, afraid for his safety. He would have any problems handling the three guys, but if they got into a fight he didn't know if he could protect the Uzumaki properly.
"I said I don't care. Leave, now." the Uchiha hissed, narrowing his eyes.
"In this case he ordered to give you a short oral-message." the other said, tilteing his head. "There's a meeting in a few days. The commission will be there as well as the master. He offers his help to you-"
"I. Don't. Care!" the raven interrupted him, getting angry. He turned his head towards the blond and ordered, "Naruto, we're leaving, now." The Uzumaki looked up over the other's back and was up to reply something, but the vampire hissed, "I said NOW."
Swallowing the youth started moving, slowly and insecure. With one glance he had seen that the raven was really pissed, almost mad. Sasuke was walking next to him, the face still half directed to the three other vampires.
"Well, in this case there's nothing we can do, is there?" the masked male said, smirking. "But it's still new year. What about having a swallow together?" he asked, suddenly standing in front of the dark-haired. At the same moment the female with the long hair hugged the Uchiha from behind, wrapping her arms around his hard chest. "Kin seems to like you."
The ravenette took a deep breath with a hiss as he looked at the women over his shoulder. She seemed be transformed when she was around 20 years old.
"Let. Go." he ordered, voice colder than ice. But the female vampire just smirked back, narrowing her red eyes playfully. Meanwhile the two males tried – once more – to get nearer to the blond human.
Before Sasuke could even think he jumped in front of the human, growling dark and angry. He could smell, he could feelthat the two strangers wanted to harm him, he could see how their greedy eyes were already sucking off the tan body in their minds. But the Uchiha would allow anybody to get just too near to the lad... If one of them just tried to touch the youth again he would have broken their arms.
The one with the hairdo like Kakashi narrowed his eyes and hissed, "What do you think you're doing?! Is that your personal drink or what?"
"Yes, he is." the raven growled as an answer, not thinking about his next words or his actions. He stepped closer to the man, narrowing his eyes and whispering, "Dare touching him and I'll rip out your fucking heart and screw it into your ugly face. Got it?"
"Yeah! You heard him!" Naruto added, standing right behind the older.
"Shut the fuck up, baka." the vampire answered, causing the youth to swallow. Every time he tried to help that stuck-up guy he kicked his help with his feet! But, this only and special time, the Uzumaki obeyed. "We are leaving now. You three should go to 'The Bat' for a drink. Seems you really need it, do you, worthless Orochimaru-rubbish?"
Before the dark-haired could react he found himself grabbed on the collar and thrown away, crashing with a table which was on a wall. The blond gasped out in surprise, already on the rush to him, checking if he was alright.
Suddenly he was grabbed on the arm and jerked back, against a cold embrace. "You are going anywhere..." the Kakashi-one breathed into his ear. "You'll have to pay for your little friend's insolence..." He touched the youth's neck, forcing him to look up. But a loud noise let the four look over to the broken table, seeing – more or less – the Uchiha standing up again, his whole body wet because of the full glasses which were on the table. He stood there, eyes narrowed into a killer-glance and he growled loudly, stamping over to the group.
The one who was holding Naruto gasped in fear and tried to grap the youth tighter as a warning, but instead he screamed out in pain when the Uchiha had jerked his hand backwards, only a few inches away from the two. "I warned you..." he whispered, jerking the wrist even more so that the other let the human go. The Uzumaki ran next to him as an instinct, swallowing. But suddenly the raven graped his chest and pushed him away, he stumbled and fell down.
Confused the blond looked up, seeing how Sasuke was still holding the other, pushing him backwards with his grab. And then everything got to quickly for his blue eyes.
The masked man had obviously attacked the dark-haired, but somehow the Uchiha let his victim go and hit the other man with his clenched fist, blood streaming out of the man's mouth. He had broken some bones as well because the masked was holding his chin, painfully whimpering. Meanwhile the Kakashi-one hissed and jumped the raven but within one blink Sasuke had caught his arms, lifting them from the other's back. The vampire screamed out in pain, his shoulder-bones made even noices under the pressure, letting Naruto widening his eyes. But it wasn't just the horrible scenario which shocked him, but the Uchiha's face.
The raven was smirking all over his face, his eyes starring down at his victim with pleasure and hunger for more. He slowly lifted the arms higher, breaking the bones even more and enjoying the pain which reached his ears. A chuckle escaped his throat and he showed his sharp teeth, dislocating the shoulders more and more. He had even put his feet on the other's back, pushing him down while he held him still.
That sight scared the bright-haired youth on the ground, who started trembling. He had to do something, but he was sure he wouldn't be able to stop the older, if he even heard him when he called his name. Once more he was just a useless, weak being, unable to do something, unable to help. He wished Itachi or at least Kakashi would be there, surely the two of them could stop Sasuke and his horrific, cruel actions.
"What is this?!" suddenly a male voice said, causing the blond to look at the source of the sound. He saw two uniformed men, some kind of police-officers. Even if it was a difficult, bloody situation they stayed calm and Sasuke let the other go with a snort.
One of the strangers, he was wearing a hat and his hair hid half of his face, stepped to them and sighed, "Uchiha Sasuke... again."
The other one, he had addleheaded, dark hair and a bandage over his nose said, "Papers, please."
"Instead of wasting time with such organisational stuff you should better arrest those three people." the Uchiha answered, nodding towards the other vampires. "They planed attacking humans and belong to Orochimaru's gang."
He's calm again...,Naruto thought, thankfully. He figured out the two officer were vampires as well. There was a whole system behind the normal one, doctors, police-men... The blond wondered if there wasn't a whole village or even city with vampires, somewhere out in the world.
"Even if you're right it doesn't give you the right to play law." the one with the spiky hair said, taking some notes.
"You have to look after yourself better. Another violation and you'll get a one-way ticket to the headquarters." the other said, walking over to the other three and arresting them.
"Ha, headquarters..." Sasuke smirked, again his painful expression over the pale face. "Asking them I should have died centuries ago." The officer sighed, giving him back his pass. Then he turned to the Uzumaki, looking at him with a rose eyebrow.
"A human?!" he breathed, causing the youth to gasp. Unsure what to do or to say he stood up, swallowing.
"It's okay Naruto. Show them your identity-card." the raven said, lowly. The blond nodded, pulling out his pocket and giving the small card to the police-man who handed it back after one glance.
"I see. Lucky you you had company." he smiled, taking some other notes. "If one of them had bit you you would have been involved as well." The lad just nodded, afraid of doing a mistake.
"It's been an exciting night. We should go home now, shouldn't we?" the raven asked him, already walking away.
"Y-yeah!" the Uzumaki answered, running after him. He looked at the other's back, remembering what he had just seen. How could the bastard be so... cruel and harm a person like that? How could he enjoy the pain and torture so much? How could that man, who was sitting so often peacefully in his armchair, who made candy for kids and smile so warm sometimes turn into such a... monster?
What on earth happened to you, teme?, he asked in his mind, glancing the pavement.
Days passed and Naruto even did his homework together with Sasuke. The Uchiha himself was completely health again, but seemed to be deep in thoughts lately...
"I'm leaving now. I'll be back at 7pm." the raven said, lifting his paintball-bag. "If you get hungry I bought you a pizza. All you have to do is baking it 20 minutes in the oven."
"Roger." the Uzumaki answered, waving his hand while he was sitting on his desk. He was putting some photos he had developed into an album, writing some short notes under them. He heard the main-door and looked over his shoulder, checking if the dark-haired was really gone. When he was sure to be alone he grinned all over his face, took out a dark-blue album and opened it. On every photo was Sasuke, doing various things like cooking, drawing and even here and there some where he was sleeping, as well as some photos from Christmas. Naruto had planned to give the album to the older as a present, showing him in some situations where he looked different than always. The lad was sure that the vampire would like it since he took in the moments when he had a free expression. A smile made its way over tan lips and the blond giggled lowly.
The youth kept working for another hour before he got up, stretching. He looked at the clock and got up, put on his jacket and left the apartment. He had a meeting at a special place and he took the bus, getting out after a lot of stations. He was in a nice part of the town, big houses and a lot of green was around him. He went over to one of the buildings and read the names before he pushed one of the bottoms, waiting for an answer.
Yes? a male voice said and he smiled, "This is Naruto!" The door opened at once and he went up the stairs until he saw a brunette man waiting for him in one of the doorways.
"Welcome Naruto! I'm glad you came." he smiled, hugging the lad.
"Me, too! Thanks for the invitation, Iruka-sensei." the youth answered and walked into the teacher's apartment. It was warm and nice, a good feeling run over his back when he took a deep breath. It looked like a secure and comfortable place, he almost felt like he was the older's own son who just came home.
"Can I offer you something? A cup of tea, coffee or maybe some hot milk?" the brown-haired asked and leaded the younger into the living-room where he took a seat.
"Milk sounds great. Thanks!" he smiled, sighing relaxed. He felt just great and he was glad that the man had invited him to his apartment for answering his questions. He hoped to find out some things that way.
Soon Iruka joined him with a cup of coffee and asked, "So – I hope I can answer whatever you want to know." A smile was over his face and he took a cookie, eating it while he listened.
"It's..." the blond started, biting his lips. It wasn't right asking around instead of going right to the bastard, but he knew very well that the vampire would have never answered him, even if his life depended on it. He took a deep breath. Now he was here and he wouldn't retreat. He was going to take his chance.
"Has Sasuke ever had fights at school?" he wanted to know, face serious and throat dry. The teacher sighed heavily, closed his eyes and scratched his head. "He had?" Naruto figured out and the other took a deep breath.
"Not exactly." Iruka replied and put his cup on a small table. He closed his eyes once more and remembered. "Sasuke was involved in a lot of fights outside school. The police once came to me, too." The Uzumaki faced the ground, his face becoming sad and cold. So the vampire was used to be violent...
"But when they visited me I asked them about some information, of course, and they told me that he only tried to defence himself. Every time he got messed up by a whole group..." The brunette sighed, opening his eyes while the blond wided his, swallowing.
He had thought wrong?
"Sasuke had never said a word..." he added sadly. "They said that they waited for him, attacked him after school... But he had never had injures or wounds, he missed only a few days in the whole year. I wished I had noticed it earlier..."
"What do you mean?" the Uzumaki asked, starring at the other's lips, afraid of loosing something.
"One day, a man came to our school. He wanted to talk with me about Sasuke and his marks." the teacher told him, biting his lower lip. "His name was Orochimaru-"
"What?!" Naruto yelled, jumping up. He observed the Uchiha even when he was at school?!
"You know him?" Iruka asked, confused and nervous.
"Yes!" the blond answered and sat back down on his armchair. "When we were at the hospital he came out from nowhere... Does that mean that he's after Sas'ke for a long time?"
The dark-haired ran his hand through his hair and whispered, "Looks like... However, after he left I went downstairs, but I had still some papers the Festival-Club needed. When I went down the corridor I saw that a door was open and I walked closer, seeing an incredible mess in one of the rooms. I'll never forget what I saw in there."
Iruka took a short break, taking a deep breath. Should he tell the youth what he saw? What he knew? But the blond seemed to be closer to the ravenette, not really close but still closer than the brown-haired himself would ever be. Maybe he could use the information better than him.
"It was the Drawing-Club, even if it was almost unacknowledged. Everywhere ripped sheets, destroyed tables and cut paintings. I was already in when I looked around and found Sasuke sitting next to the door, curled together." Naruto gasped, his heart leaving out a beat. "... He was trembling and didn't move when I knelt down next to him. He had a knife in his hand and I was first shocked, but when I got a view on one of the paintings I knew why – on every single one was drawn the same man and had destroyed everything he had done with the knife."
"Orochimaru..." the youth breathed weakly and Iruka nodded.
"If I knew, when I just had known..." he whispered, shaking his head. "After a while he said something to me. 'He was here, right?'." He could see how the Uzumaki froze with those words. "There was nothing I could do. I just hold him, but it didn't help. I asked what happened, but he answered none of my questions. After that he got up and went home. I called the police the same day when he was gone, but all they told me was that they were already looking for that man," he sighed heavily and frustrated, "That guy talked with me and I let him go!"
A heavy silence grew into the warm room until Iruka broke it. "Whoever that man is and however he's in contact with Sasuke – I'm sure that he has done something horrible to him."
"I know." the blond answered, narrowing his eyes. What the fuck happened?!
"You know?! Had Sasuke told you something?" the brunette asked, but the youth shook his head.
"I wish he had! But that silly bastard has eaten his tongue..." Naruto cursed, clenching his frist.
"Don't give up, Naruto." the older said with a weak smile.
"If anybody can find out what happened, then you can. You are closer to him than anybody before."