There was a quiet in the room, neither uncomfortable nor particularly pleasing, and Sasuke felt like he should break it, but instead he let it stretch out as he rested his elbows on his knees, hunching forwards enough that his hair hung in front of his face. He had been tracing the scuff marks on the floor for the last couple of minutes, trying not to get too annoyed with the situation. Occasionally the silence was broken by the creaking leather of the chair as Shizune shifted, but he still didn't look up.

He despised going to therapy, hated having to talk about feelings and memories, digging through parts of his mind he'd rather have locked away forever, but he kept going, mostly because of Naruto. He remembered the smile on Naruto's face as he greeted him after that first session a couple of weeks ago, looking so proud, as if sitting in a small office for an hour was a great accomplishment. If only Naruto knew that Sasuke had spent the majority of that first session dodging Shizune's questions.

Eventually he figured he couldn't keep dodging forever, but he still found it hard to talk about things he hadn't even allowed himself to think about for years. Every session left him feeling raw, as if his nerve endings had been scrubbed with sandpaper. It took an evening spent with Naruto to get over that feeling. Naruto seemed to ignore the way Sasuke snapped at him, and just held him until he felt a little less broken again.

Sasuke knew it would be a struggle to piece together what had been broken, and he wasn't confident it was really possible. He hadn't talked to Shizune about it, but he was pretty sure she'd say the same. Something was irrevocably destroyed, and now it was more a matter of patching it and making him functional again. No amount of talking or medication could make him into who he was before his childhood was shattered, but maybe he'd be able to piece together something else, something new, a semblance of a life, something worth living.

Right now his main goal was getting back in active duty. He was getting antsy, the need to go out there and right some wrongs making his fingers tingle with the need to wrap around his katana and remove some heads.

"How have you been sleeping since the last time?" Shizune asked, probably growing tired of the silence, and Sasuke peered at her through his hair before straightening his back properly. Shizune wasn't that bad, for a therapist. She worked almost exclusively with agents, she knew that they didn't appreciate coddling, and she knew when to back away and when to pry.

"Okay," Sasuke said. Shizune didn't prod further, just waited, watching him with one leg hooked over the other and her hands neatly folded atop her knee.

Sasuke sighed. He knew what she was doing, waiting him out with more silence, letting him take the initiative to explain further, but he still found himself doing as she wanted. "I had a nightmare the night before last, woke up in the middle of the night."

"Do you remember what it was about?"

"No. Yes. Some. I was trying to get to someone, but I was trapped, couldn't move my feet."

Shizune nodded, but didn't say anything. It's not like it took a therapist to realise what the dream meant. Sasuke had woken up, feeling utterly helpless and terrified, and it had taken Naruto's arms holding him tight before he calmed down again. Naruto never said much when Sasuke was like this, but he was there, and that was usually enough.

"Have you noticed any more episodes when you are awake?" Shizune continued after Sasuke made no move to say anything else about his nightmares.

"No. No more panic attacks." That wasn't saying too much considering he hadn't been in any situations like the one that triggered the first attack. Naruto and he had spent most of their time at work with paperwork and filing, and it was hard to get anything other than mind-numbingly bored from that. There was the incident at the fundraiser, but he hadn't ever felt like they were truly in danger, so it probably wouldn't have triggered one anyways. He suspected he wouldn't know if they were gone or not until he was in a situation like that again. If Shizune ever cleared him for duty that was.


Naruto was sitting at his desk, staring blankly at the document in front of him. He knew it was a scientific text about vampires, and that it was probably always a good thing to learn more about the scourge they were fighting, but when he had read the same sentence four times, and still had no idea what the stuffy professor who had written it was trying to say he gave up. It was clear that the author hadn't ever been there on the streets, staring down at fiery red eyes and bared fangs, knowing that reacting just a split-second too late would mean their imminent death.

Naruto groaned and sagged into his chair. He wanted to go back on the streets, wanted to do something more active. He wasn't cut out for sitting behind a desk, studying. Too much energy he needed to burn off, and no amount of running or lifting weights was going to be enough.

He heard the guffaw even before the doors to the elevator opened and Kiba all but fell out of it, clutching his stomach as he laughed. Kankuro came after, face set in a scowl. Kiba was probably having fun on Kank's behalf, wouldn't be the first time.

Kankuro shoved at Kiba's back enough to make him stumble before heading towards the bathrooms, leaving Kiba snickering his way into the bullpen where he immediately made his way towards Naruto, plunking down on his desk.

"Dude, you'll never guess what just happened!"

"You didn't realise the hot girl you were ogling was a vampire?"

Kiba's grin faltered for a second. "One time," he grumbled before shaking his mess of hair. "Nah, it was better."

"Really?" Naruto said. "Because the way Kankuro tells that story about you, it is pretty hilarious."

"Shut up. No, better. We were following this lead okay? Guy was certain his next door neighbour was a vampire. We figure it is probably bullshit, you know? But Kankuro knock on the neighbour's door, and this guy opens. Huge as fuck, wider than he's tall, naked as the day he was born. Hairy chest, sweating as if he just ran a marathon. Clearly not a vampire. Anyways, never know what he's hiding, so Kankuro asks him about it. Turns out the guy had told the one who called us that he was a vampire because he was sick and tired of him making so much noise, so he just wanted to scare him a little. Okay, so fine, he's not a vampire, but apparently he is hot for Kankuro. He gives him this look, you know, the up and down as he's talking? Doesn't seem to give a fuck that he's naked, even as he gets hard. I make sure to step back so Kankuro has him all to himself, and the guy is all, Would you stake me if I was a vampire, and you just know he's not talking about a wooden stake. I swear you could see the blood draining from Kankuro's face. He looked fully traumatized by the time we could get out of there."

Kankuro chose that very moment to come back out of the bathroom, looking like he'd been scrubbing his face and hands thoroughly judging by the redness in his cheeks. Naruto broke out laughing.

"Oi, Kiba! I'm gonna kill you!" Kankuro shouted, and since he was still fully equipped with his gun it wasn't a completely empty threat. Well, apart from the fact that shooting your partner was kind of frowned upon.

Kiba wasn't too concerned judging by the way he stuck up his middle finger. "Payback is a bitch."

By the time Sasuke got back from his therapy session Kiba and Kankuro had managed to calm down long enough to get off their jackets and guns, then they'd started bickering again and Kiba's head was currently stuck in a headlock Kankuro seemed to have full control over. Kiba was wiggling, but not getting anywhere.

"The sexy vamp story again?" Sasuke asked as he sat down at his desk.

"No, this was a brand-new one," Naruto said as he rolled his desk chair over to Sasuke, bumping his head against Sasuke's shoulder in a silent offer of support. Sasuke looked annoyed, as he mostly did after therapy. "I'll tell you all about it. Just make sure to give Kankuro shit about it later."

"Seems like Kiba will give him enough shit for all of us."

Naruto looked over to the other two, and saw the Kiba had made his way out of the headlock by now, pulling out his phone because he apparently needed to call Shikamaru and tell him all about it. The sound the phone made when it was knocked out of Kiba's hand by Kankuro, spinning through the air before hitting the floor, didn't bode well for the device.

"Probably yeah," Naruto concurred. He wanted to ask about therapy, but work wasn't the right place. Only an hour left before their shift was officially over, then they could go home, and he could ask, and Sasuke could brush it off, as per usual.

He might as well give that article one more chance. He rolled back to his desk with a sigh, not looking forward to it.


Kakashi was reading through yesterday's reports when the phone from Director Tsunade's office came in. Eager to get away from the paperwork he answered with a cheery hello. Tsunade was too used to it to care, merely stated that he was to report in at her office ASAP. And that means right this moment, Hatake, she had added in a voice that told him she would likely trace him down and smack him over the head if he didn't.

Kakashi had never been known to arrive on time, in fact, it was rather the opposite, and even though he took pleasure in tormenting Director Tsunade even he knew not to dawdle too much or risk injury. The Director's temper was infamous, and when she backed it up with a strength that could terrify the biggest of guys she wasn't one to mess with. Too much at least.

He made his way out of the office, nodding at Sasuke who looked sullen as always, noting that Kankuro and Kiba seemed to have some sort of disagreement, but nothing that he needed to interfere with. Naruto was sitting at his desk, looking glassy-eyed as the screen in front of him. Probably reading some of the articles Kakashi had forwarded him. He was surprised Naruto hadn't dozed off yet, some of them went so far past boring it should be illegal. It was good to get a scholars take on the vampires though, get more knowledge, see how they were perceived by other people, those who had studied the biology and history. Mix that with the actual experience of the DPA agents and you had a solid mix. If you managed to stay awake long enough to process the information that was.

The elevator ride up the levels was swift, and soon he could get out at the top floor and make his way across the hall to the big boss' office. He knocked and moments later he was told to enter.

He wasn't the only one who had been called in apparently. Asuma and Kurenai was standing to the side by the bank of windows overlooking the city, Gai was leaning against a wall and Genma was sitting in the chair in front of Tsunade's desk, offering up a wave over his head as Kakashi came in the door.

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk, stacks of paper surrounding her. Kakashi might send Naruto and Sasuke up her to help her with the paperwork if he couldn't find better jobs for them soon. He hoped to hear back from the academy about them helping out there soon, but in the meanwhile…

"Hatake, not late for once?" Tsunade said, sounding genuinely surprised.

"I'd never be late," Kakashi said, grinning behind his mask. Tsunade huffed and shoved a manila folder to the side, almost knocking over a stack of paper that was balancing precariously on the edge of the desk. She looked her normal overworked self. Her hair was a little frazzled, her shirt was unbuttoned just enough to show off the swell of breasts that strained at the fabric, any tie long gone, and she looked about ready to strangle anyone who dared comment on it.

Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked over and found a decent patch of wall to lean against, waiting for her to continue. He had no idea what this impromptu meeting was all about, but it certainly wasn't a social call, the director didn't like them nearly enough for that.

The office door behind them opened, and Raidou and Ebisu walked in, greeting the group before finding something to lean up against.

"That's all of you that were in the office tonight, so we'll start now," Tsunade said, getting their attention. "There's been a breach of security that we need to discuss."

"A breach?" Gai asked, looking about ready to rush outside and start fighting intruders. Kakashi remained slouched against the wall, but he did tug his hands out of his pockets and cross his arms instead. If the actual building had been breached Tsunade wouldn't have ordered a meeting, she would have gotten it taken care of, so clearly it was not what she meant.

"Stand down, Gai, it's a digital breach, knocking heads won't help much. It appears our systems have been tampered with, some hacker good enough the IT department almost didn't catch the trail at all."

"What was their objective?" Asuma asked.

"We don't know, IT are making sure they haven't left any nasty surprises, but so far it appears they've just been rooting through the files. We have no idea if they were looking for anything in particular, or if it was just kids trying to see what they could hack into, but we need to be aware. There's a lot of sensitive information they could've gotten their hand on."

There was more talk of security measures, which Kakashi only held half an ear on. Nothing he didn't know about already.

They discussed for a while, no one really coming to any conclusions beyond making sure to follow IT's directions to ensure that their files and programs stayed safe. His unit wouldn't be the ones most likely for any attack anyways, considering most of their files just regarded vampires they had killed or was supposed to kill. He was sure some of the other units had much more sensitive information they needed to worry about. Still, he'd go through it with the unit later, make sure everyone knew that password was a shitty password and no, you shouldn't click the e-mail that advertised for bigger dicks.

The meeting disbanded a short while later, it wasn't like there was much information to pass on at this time, Tsunade had just wanted them as unit leaders informed. Kakashi was about to leave when Tsunade called him over.

"Hatake, how is your unit doing?" she asked, leaning on the desk with one elbow, cheek propped atop her fist.

"As usual." Kakashi sat down in the now available seat opposite her.

"Barely keeping afloat then?" Tsunade asked, sighing heavily.

"They are good agents," Kakashi started, but Tsunade cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"But there aren't enough people and it's a shit job," Tsunade added.

"That about sums it up, yes." And with two agents out of commission for the moment things were even more strained than usual. The fight with the vampires was an ebb and flow that never seemed to be in their favour. For every vampire they killed two more popped up, ready to spread through the city like the pest they were, eating and maiming as they went. His agents did what they could, but they were only human. Or at least most of them were. They were vulnerable out there, and only luck would have it there hadn't been any causalties in his unit since he took over. It had been damned close a few times, and he dreaded the day he couldn't say that, when one of his agents didn't come through just broken, but dead. All it would take was one bad mission.

It was a shit job indeed. Their city seemed to draw in all kinds of trouble, some supernatural crossroad where it all collided in a mess and it was up to an eternally overworked and underfunded DPA to take care of business.

"How is the one who's off active duty doing, are you getting him back in the foreseeable future, or do we need to think about getting in some temporary agent for his partner?"

"Shizune tells me he's doing as well as expected in therapy, but then again, I guess you know this."

Tsunade shrugged. "I am the boss after all."

"He's… eager. He wants to be out there, so that helps. His partner will be great motivation too; he won't like the thought of Uzumaki going out there with anyone else."

"They… are an item? It seemed like there was more than just a regular partnership between them from Shizune's notes."

"Yeah, there's more," Kakashi said, not offering more on that topic. There was no stated rule that partners couldn't get involved after all, no matter how frowned upon it might be. "Uchiha is strong, and determined as hell. With Uzumaki pulling him along he'll be back in duty before we know it."

"I've been trying to get together a new unit to work alongside yours, but we can't take resources from any of the other units, and there are no funds available, so for now we make do. I've been talking to some of the other DPA offices, but things are bad out there, all of them are fighting to stay afloat."

"We'll do what we can," Kakashi said with a shrug. There wasn't much else to do. Someone had to keep the city safe, and right now the DPA was the only thing standing in the way of the mass of vampires, ghouls and warlocks threatening their peace. If only people knew half of the things that was lurking in the shadows.

"You are dismissed for now, go back to your unit, I'm sure they'll have torn the office to pieces without you," Tsunade said. She looked tired. There were lines around her eyes that hadn't been there just last year, and Kakashi knew well why. Unit leader was a tough enough position, the director needed to keep charge of every single unit and fight with the politicians on a daily basis to top it all off. No way would Kakashi ever let himself get promoted to that position, he'd leave that for better men or women.

Kakashi pushed to his feet and walked towards the exit.

"Tell me if I need to arrange for a temporary partner, or even two. We might be able to rearrange something to get your unit to full capacity again.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't ma'am me, brat, makes me feel old."

Kakashi bit back the retort that rose on his tongue, but Tsunade seemed to be a mind reader, because the next he knew she was tossing a stapler at him, brazenly aiming at his head.

He caught it out of the air, pocketed it and left with a wave.


Sasuke left his shoes by the entrance as he made his way across the apartment, stretching his arms over his head. Office work came with a whole different kind of aches than being in the field did. His shoulders was tense and tight from sitting in front of the computer too much, and it made him miss the soreness running through the city left him with.

He loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of the shirt as he sank down on the couch, letting Naruto deal with the food.

Naruto carried the bags, leaving them on the coffee table as he went into the kitchen to find plates and something to drink. Sasuke heard the banging of cupboard doors, and was suddenly struck with how domestic this felt, having Naruto feel right at home in his apartment, fixing up the dinner.

He shook his head and rested it against the back of the couch. For most of his life he had been alone, said he preferred it that way, always keeping people at an arm's length, but apparently all it took was a stubborn blond menace who wouldn't be intimidated easily.

Sometimes he wondered if they'd been pushed together solely because of the circumstances, being forced to rely on each other as partners, and then going through what they went through, but even now, when the world was slowing down, no life or death moments, just office work and coming home to eat dinner and maybe watch a movie, Sasuke was realising it still felt right. He liked having Naruto here. He felt calm around in him in a way he hadn't with anyone before, but at the same time it never got boring. Naruto was no pushover, and when push came to shove he was right there, chest against chest, not backing up.

Naruto came back into the living room, carrying plates, napkins and glasses filled with water all the way to the brim. Sasuke watched him, rolling his eyes when the water inevitably spilled over the top of the glasses. With Naruto there came a chaos he hadn't allowed in his life before, but he was finding that he liked that chaos more and more.

Greasy Chinese food was dumped onto the plates with little care for aesthetics or messes, and then Naruto was grabbing the remote, turning on the TV, only glancing over at Sasuke after he'd stuffed a generous portion of fried rice into his mouth.

It made no sense, and it made all the sense in the world, Sasuke was irrevocably in love with Naruto.

His chest felt warm, and a little tight as he realised the extent of that. Naruto wasn't just some crush, or a partner he trusted with his life, he loved him. He hadn't wanted to feel that towards anyone, had been afraid what getting that connected would mean, but he wasn't afraid now.

"Naruto," Sasuke started, "I lo—"

"OH MY GOD! I love this movie, can we watch it, pretty please?" Naruto looked over at him with big eyes, seemingly having no idea that he had just thoroughly ruined the moment.

With a huff that wasn't really annoyed at all Sasuke just shrugged and grabbed his plate. "I don't mind."

Sated on junk food, with Naruto tucked against his side, Sasuke found himself thinking that everything was going to be okay. Potential panic attacks was far from his mind as he closed his eyes, and turned his face enough to rest against Naruto's messy hair, drawing in his scent and planting a soft kiss against blond strands.

Naruto shifted enough to wrap an arm around Sasuke's midsection, and soon Sasuke heard soft snores muffled against his side, Naruto having dozed off, forgetting all about the movie he had been insisting they watch.

Saying the words now, with Naruto asleep and not listening, would be cheating, so Sasuke merely kept them inside, knowing exactly how he felt about Naruto, and being very content with it.


A/N: Sorry, it took me a while to finish this. I'll try to be faster with the next update, and if it takes too long you all have the permission to yell at me, either here, or on Tumblr (I'm Miasen there as well.