Chapter 3

'Kid,' said kyuubi while Naruto jumped from building to building, looking for someone else to prey on so that the discomfort in his chest and throat would go away 'you really are an idiot.'

"What?" he asked.

'I warned you. You didn't listen.'

"What are you talking about?"

'You can't mess with the memories of a bearer of the Byakuugan. It's impossible.'

"What?! Why didn't you tell me that before?!"

'For your sake, that'd better be a joke.'

"Oh, great. Now what do I—" Throb. He clutched his hands around his throat. He hadn't consumed her soul so her blood was merely a temporary comfort while being so famished.

"I'll have to worry about her later…" he said with a rusty voice. He needed to really feed. To take someone's soul. Thankfully, it was dark but not late enough that everyone would be asleep. He maneuvered through back alleys, swift and agile like a cat. There! A heartbeat… no, there were two heartbeats right around the corner. He stopped abruptly and hid himself behind the wall. A couple, they were most likely looking for a more private place. Naruto could hear their speeding heartbeats. Being so starved really enhanced his senses of hearing and smell… well, when it came to blood at least. He licked his lips in anticipation.

He leaped with a hungry growl… and saw another person leaping toward the couple as well. They both stopped in their tracks and stared at each other in disbelief.

In front of Naruto was a red-headed, emerald-eyed boy about his age with dark circles around his eyes and a very hungry look. He didn't really know how, but Naruto knew what he was.

He couldn't believe it! Another Jinchuuriki! But somehow, instead of feeling the joy he thought he was supposed to feel, he growled. This was his prey. A very animal instinct overcame him, the most basic of all. The need to establish who was stronger, who deserved the prey. But this wasn't how he felt at all. He didn't care about the now shocked and confused couple; there were plenty of food sources around. Was it kyuubi? It was kyuubi, it had to be. He exposed his sharp teeth and growled as the boy assumed a battle stance as well. He couldn't believe it. Kyuubi had never forced him to feel anything he didn't feel before. He never forced him to feel anything at all, in fact.

'It's the ichibi, Naruto,' he said with a loathing tone and suddenly, he was not in the alley anymore.

He was in that cave-like place flooded with ankle-deep water, the one where he first met kyuubi. In front of him was kyuubi in his cage but as he turned around he saw that behind him there was another cage with a raccoon-like beast inside. And the red-headed boy in front of it.

They simple stared at each other with blank expressions for a little while until the raccoon broke the silence.

'Ah! It's you, Kurama!" he shouted.

'Kurama?' Naruto briefly wondered.

They started shouting at each other, and from what Naruto could tell, they were brothers of some kind or something like that. Kyuubi (or Kurama apparently) had always felt he was stronger than all the Bijuu since he had the most tails. But Ichibi (or Shukaku apparently) claimed tails had nothing to do with strength. They kept loudly debating this as Naruto slowly lost all interest. He was more curious about the red-headed boy.

This actually explained the emergency Hinata was talking about. Another Jinchuuriki in town. That was very useful in diverting suspicion from him at least for the little while it took to feed. He would have ended up doing it anyway, but this way he didn't have to fight the entire Hyuuga clan while feeling so weak and breathless.

That gave him an idea.

"Hey, you!" he shouted to the red-headed boy, Kyuubi/Kurama and Shukaku still fighting. "I have a proposition for you," he smiled his arrogant smile.

"Oh? And what might that be?" The red-headed boy asked just as smugly.

"An alliance."

Meanwhile in the now empty Hyuuga household, Hinata had collapsed to her knees and could not get over the shock.

'There is absolutely no way…' she thought 'It's not real. It must have been a dream… It's just not possible…'

She stretched a shaky arm in front of her and slowly drew it to her neck. Nothing. There were no scars, no injuries… but it was wet…

And when she glanced at her hand, she saw blood. Not like she had touched a bleeding injury, but merely smeared a stain.

'It couldn't possibly… be real… but…'

If it was real, that meant Naruto-kun really was the culprit, not just a suspect anymore, didn't it? It meant that he really was the murderer everyone was talking about, didn't it? Did it?

'No, no, no. He is not. But if he is… then what am I supposed to do?' She couldn't possible hand him over to ANBU… but if she didn't, what did that mean for the town? What did that say about her, that she was a traitor? That she cared more about a single person than the entire village? Murder… murder wasn't something you could do without paying any price… but it was Naruto-kun… and there was still no evidence that he really did kill those people they found… and there was an intruder too… What was she supposed to do?

"So that settles it, then," Naruto said to the red-headed boy, Gaara. They had formed an alliance of convenience. As long as it was convenient for both, they followed a deal. Naruto expected to be confined again immediately after the emergency was over. But he couldn't go this thirsty ever again. The fact that he was able to feed without having to kill the entire Hyuuga clan and having to escape afterwards was sheer luck. So Gaara was the decoy. He would leave a fake trail. He would leave corpses here and there. In the village one day, in a neighboring one the other, on another and then in the village again. It would make the people get completely confused over where the killer was, inside the village or in another one. It was a perfect and easy job for a Jinchuuriki; Jinchuuriki could travel way faster than any ninja could, taking hours in a trip that would usually take days. In the confusion and seeing how Naruto didn't move from the house, they would pay less and less attention to him until he was finally free.

In exchange, Naruto would show Gaara the best places to hunt, the best prey, the best ways to hide a corpse and maybe even bring him a treat now and then. This was an easy but important job. Ways of getting prey differed in different places. There were places that were secretly monitored or that seemed private but were not. And there were prey that was more exquisite merely because of the way they lived, what they ate, alcohol and nicotine and other drug consumption, etc.

It was not a necessity but definitely a convenience. And a cheap one at that, the only think he had to do was leave his victims out in the open in different places.

Gaara nodded, he had agreed and Naruto had already given him some tips. After the couple, they hunted some more. There were lots to feed on everywhere. Now it was time for Gaara's part of the deal.

"Well, I'll see you around then," he dismissed himself and leaped faster than the eye could follow.

Naruto was satisfied. It took a lot, but he finally didn't feel like he was suffocating anymore. So, now he could worry about what he needed to worry about.

With a sigh, he headed to the Hyuuga residence.

Thank you everyone so much for following, favoriting and reviewing my story, it really means a lot to me :'D. I'm so sorry this one is so short and there's no NaruHina but I have been SO busy with homework and barely had 3 hours of sleep every day. So, I promise next one will have lots of NaruHina! Please tell me what I could do to make the story better! Thank you, everyone!