Hm. I have nothing to say. I also have no excuses or explanations. I do apologize in advance, however. Hope I don't disappoint you too much!

As always, thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I do hope you enjoy this chapter! And that by the end, you still like me.

Chapter 10: How to kill a mockingbird.

With his new necklace, Naruto relaxed enough to return to his regular routine. Occasionally, the panic would start to rise, but he would rub the stone with his thumb like a worry stone, clutching it close to his chest while he focused on his breathing, and the panic would subside enough that he wouldn't worry his friends. But sometimes, that wasn't enough. At those times, Naruto would find himself clutching his chest, fighting the feeling that his heart was being ripped out. He could never pin-point the cause of the feeling, the why or how he felt what he did. All he could tell was that he felt wrong, that the world felt like it was moments away from shifting into the Apocalypse, and the planet was collapsing around his ears. The overwhelming terror would send him off in search for Sasuke.

He had a suspicion that Sasuke knew what he was feeling. Sasuke would always welcome him with open arms, holding him close and teasing him about being a paranoid looser until Naruto would laugh with him. It was after Naruto's heart was set to rights and the world no longer felt like it was deteriorating, he would catch Sasuke's frown lines and the long, blank stares at Itachi's book. Sasuke was worried. That alone was enough for Naruto to know that his fear was not unfounded. But when he asked Sasuke what was happening, Sasuke would shrug it off and tell him not to worry.

Even more frustrating than Sasuke not telling him why it felt like something awful was on the verge of destroying his life was the fact that he could get no other information from any of the inhabitants of the house. He had cornered just about everyone, excluding Akatsuki of course, but the answer was all the same- if Sasuke said there was nothing to worry about, then there wasn't anything to worry about. He knew that they felt the building tension as well, he could see it in their faces and the quick glances to where Akatsuki sat on the patio. Naruto assumed they were sugar-coating what information they gave him in a vain attempt to not scare him off. He needed to find someone loyal to Sasuke that would at least give him a straight answer.

He realized who fit that description one night when he saw flash of pink disappear around a corner. Sakura.

"Sakura! Wait up!" She didn't. Naruto didn't know why he expected her to. He ran to catch up to her. "Sak…" But what he wasn't expecting was a fist grabbing the front of his shirt as he turned the corner and slamming him into the wall.

"You must have a death wish." Sakura's pretty face was inches from his. Naruto vaguely thought that she would be a whole lot prettier if she weren't scowling. And if her fangs weren't extended. Something must of caught her eye, because one moment she was snarling in his face and the next she was gabbing at something on his chest and pulling. "Where did you get this?"

Naruto looked down in horror to notice that Sasuke's necklace was in her grip. Later, he would think that it was funny that he wasn't scared that she was going to kill him, but he was terrified that she would break his necklace. "Don't…"

He was cut off by Sakura yanking hard on the chain. The force of the chain hitting the back of his neck caused Naruto to pitch forward. He would have fallen if there hadn't been a hand on his shoulder pushing him back. Naruto whimpered and expected to see the broken chain in her hand. To his surprise, he could still feel the chain digging into his skin. Dazed, he looked down to verify it was still there. Sakura growled and cursed.

"He must have made it unbreakable…" She cut herself off and looked from the necklace to Naruto's face. She sneered. "He must really like you." The way she spat it sounded like it should be an insult. "What do you want?"

Naruto struggled to collect his thoughts. It was a difficult thing to do, what with Sakura's fist still holding onto the chain, bearing her fangs at him. "I think we should talk." Sakura dropped the chain and pushed her hand off of his shoulder.

"You'll have to excuse me if I don't want to be your friend." Naruto shook his head.

"No, it's not that. I think that there's something wrong…" Sakura shrieked out a forced laugh.

"You think? Sasuke was supposed to be mine! It was supposed to be me by his side. It was me by his side, before you showed up and ruined everything!" Naruto swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry. About all that. But in my defense, I didn't really have much choice in the matter."

"Tsk." Sakura crossed her arms across her chest and flopped next to the wall next to Naruto. They stood in silence until Naruto gathered enough courage to try again.

"I meant with Sasuke." Sakura shot him a nasty glare.

"Nothing's wrong with Sasuke. Sasuke's perfect the way he is." Naruto was quick to shake his head.

"No, that's not what I meant. I meant that I think that Sasuke's in danger."

Sakura went still. There was silence a couple more minutes before she replied. "Why tell me?" Naruto huffed in frustration.

"Because you and I are more similar than you think. And no one else is willing to do anything about it. They just keep telling me not to worry about it." Sakura rolled across her shoulder to face him.

"What makes you think he's in danger?" Naruto knew that she was avoiding his other reference to their common interest in Sasuke's welfare to focus on the more pressing matter. Naruto ran through his mind how he was going to phrase it before he spoke. He knew he had to be careful of how he said things around her.

"Gaara was here a couple of days ago." Sakura hummed to show that she knew. "He hinted at the possibility that Sasuke might be in trouble."

"What exactly did he say?" Confident that he had at least bought himself time, Naruto relaxed enough to relay what he had overheard.

"Gaara said that Akatsuki was looking for Itachi and a way to wake him up." Naruto hesitated to tell her the next part. "He said that I was distracting him from his duties, that he wasn't paying enough attention to them." Sakura considered him carefully.

"Then we get rid of you."

"I offered," he was quick to say. "I told Sasuke I would leave. He said that if I left, he'd leave with me." Sakura's eyes narrowed and Naruto put his hands up in defense. "I'm just telling you what happened." Sakura wrinkled her nose, and then started to pace the hallway. She was silent for a long time, and Naruto started to fidget. Finally, he had to speak. "What are you thinking?"

She eyed him carefully, seemingly measuring him, before she replied. "Members of Akatsuki have been taking longer to return from hunting trips. Some even go missing throughout the night when they should be here." Naruto frowned.

"Why isn't anyone doing anything about it?" Sakura shrugged.

"We do what we can. We ask them where their missing member has wondered of to, they give us some bull shit story about how they're stretching their legs, or they've gone out for air, and a little while later, the missing person comes back."

Naruto thought about what she had told him. So far, his fears were being confirmed. The thought didn't make him feel any better, especially since he know knew that his friends did know something was wrong, and simply weren't doing anything about it. "Does Sasuke know?"

"Of course. He tells us to watch them and to stop them from leaving." She grinned. "Sasuke's much too gentle, even when they don't deserve it." Naruto agreed with her, but now wasn't the time to be discussing Sasuke, and what he should and should not be doing.

"We have to stop them." Sakura's grin slid off her face.

"I don't like going behind Sasuke's back." Naruto scoffed in frustration.

"What's Sasuke going to do? He hasn't done anything about Akatsuki yet. I don't know if he's just pretending nothing's wrong, or if he actually believes it. And like you said, he's too gentle. We have to do something." A few more moments passed as Sakura measured what he had said.

"All right. What do you purpose?" Naruto hadn't given it much thought. But, it seemed like the surest way of stopping Akatsuki from waking up Itachi was to kill them. But how does one kill someone who's immortal. No one had given him that much information. He sorted through what he knew of vampires. Like a light, he had a thought.

"You sleep during the day, right?" Sakura looked at him like he was stupid.

"Yes," she drawled.

"Why?"

"No one told you?" Naruto shook his head. "We react badly with light. The younger we are, the more susceptible we are to the harsher affects. As we age, it's not so bad."

"What about sun light?"

Sakura shrugged. "The sun is the most pure source of light. Even the oldest of us would succumb to it." Naruto rolled that around in his head, trying to wrap his mind around it.

"So…it would kill you, right?" Sakura fought a grin.

"To put it simply," Naruto frowned at the emphasis on that word, "yes." He chewed his lip before telling her his idea.

"Sasuke doesn't let any of the inside doors be locked during the day. I stumbled across some of their bedrooms while I was exploring. What if I dragged them out into the sunlight while they are sleeping?" A look of surprise crossed Sakura's face.

"You think that you'd be able to do that? To kill them?"

"Yes," Naruto answered without hesitation. "If it's for Sasuke." Sakura contemplated that for a moment before she replied.

"Vampires are not immobile in their sleep. And they can wake up, which I'm positive they would do if you tried to move them." Naruto sunk back into the wall. More minutes passed where he tried to think of another plan. To his frustration, Sakura continued to stare at him.

"I read a book about Egypt in Sasuke's study." At Sakura's raised eyebrow and a crooked grin spread across her face, Naruto shrugged. "I was bored," he said by way of explanation. "Anyway, it said that they used mirrors to illuminate dark passageways. Maybe I can do the same thing."

"Maybe," Sakura hummed. "I think that you're onto something. And I agree that something must be done. Give me a few days. I'll see if I can follow them, to make sure of what they are doing. If they are trying to betray Sasuke, in any way, I supply the mirrors myself." Naruto sighed in relief.

"Ok, a few days," he agreed. He thought about solidifying plans with her, but he didn't want to push his luck. It had been half an hour since she threatened to kill him last, and Naruto strongly believed that that was probably his time limit. "Well, I should probably go. Thanks, Sakura. It's a big relief to know that someone is actually going to do something now." Sakura nodded and Naruto turned to go.

"Naruto." Naruto froze. She had never called out to him before. He slowly turned to face her. "You would do anything for Sasuke?" Naruto nodded. "Then we have a common interest. That doesn't mean that I like you, or can even tolerate the sight of you. It just means that I'm not desperately trying to find a way to kill you and make it look like an accident." She grinned before she turned and flounced off.

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto's jaw was still hanging open.

Naruto's next stop was to see Kakashi, because even though he was willing to kill for Sasuke didn't mean that he wanted to. He found Kakashi and Iruka eventually, out training in the back yard. It always made him nervous to see his vampire friends training. They would fight each other, fangs and claws extended, hitting and retreating faster than Naruto could track. The first time he had seen Kakashi and Iruka training, he had run out screaming, trying to get them to stop, and causing half the house to run out to see what was happening. Sasuke had laughed, once he figured out what had upset him so much, and told him that it looked a lot worse than it actually was. Since then, Naruto had learned to walk a little faster by the windows when he heard the tell-tale sounds of an epic vampire battle in the back-yard.

Now, Naruto walked outside to wait for their training to end. He didn't have to wait long; he suspected that when they noticed him there, they stopped to insure they would have a repeat of his previous panic attack. Naruto grinned and approached two of his most favorite people, second only to Sasuke. Kakashi sniffed once before addressing him.

"You smell like Sakura."

"Huh?" Naruto walked into Iruka's open arms and returned the hug before he figured out what Kakashi was saying. "Oh, yeah. We met up in the hallway." Kakashi chuckled.

"Trying to be friends again? I'm glad to see you still alive." Naruto was about to reply, but Iruka's fingers were brushing at the back of his neck.

"But he's not unscathed. What happened here?" Naruto reached back to feel what Iruka did, but winced instead. He was bruised, from the force of the chain if Naruto had to guess. Kakashi forced his head down to look at the bruising, and Naruto winced again at the low growl.

"She was just admiring my necklace and got a little carried away. It's no big deal." Iruka didn't look convinced.

"Uh-huh. What else did she get carried away on?" Naruto shook his head.

"Nothing. We've reached an understanding, of some sorts." Iruka and Kakashi exchanged looks over Naruto's head before Kakashi replied.

"That's good. Sasuke will be pleased." Naruto's heart skipped a beat.

"Really?"

"Mhm. Sakura is very special to Sasuke. He will be happy to know that two of his most important people are getting along now." Naruto suppressed the sharp spike of jealousy. He reminded himself that Sasuke was still his and reached up to fidget with his necklace. Kakashi noticed the movement, and raised an eyebrow in silent question. Naruto looked away.

It was then that he noticed something interesting. "Hey, where's that really scary looking dude?" At their blank stares, he motioned to the patio where Akatsuki usually sat. Iruka had the nerve to chuckle.

"You might have to be a little more specific. They're all a little scary looking." Naruto ignored the comment and turned to gauge Kakashi's reaction. To his relief, Kakashi had a little frown on his face.

"I think he means Kisame." Iruka sobered quickly.

"Shouldn't he be back by…" He trailed off and shot a fleeting look between Kakashi and Naruto. Naruto frowned and squared off with Iruka.

"He should be back by now, right. Which means he's unaccounted for. Which means that there's something wrong." Kakashi patted him on his shoulder.

"I'm sure everything's just fine. Why don't you go ahead and go inside now. I'm sure that Sasuke's missing you." Naruto was about to argue, but Kakashi shoved him gently in the direction of the door. Naruto accepted defeat, for the moment at least. He had Sakura watching Akatsuki and, after a glance over his shoulder, Kakashi and Iruka were going to go look for the missing member. And besides, he hadn't seen Sasuke all day.

Sasuke was grinning at him when he walked in, as usual. But his grin faltered as Naruto shut the door behind him.

"What?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shook his head and stood from his desk.

"You smell like Sakura." Naruto sighed. He should have guessed.

"And Kakashi and Iruka too, I'm sure."

"Mhm, but they are not the ones who concern me." Naruto walked over and flopped down in his seat. Slowly, Sasuke sat down as well, but he didn't look away from Naruto. He was apparently still waiting for an answer.

"We just ran into each other and were talking. Nothing happened." Sasuke narrowed his eyes and studied Naruto for some time.

"And what did you and Sakura talk about?" Naruto decided to give the same explanation he had to Kakashi.

"Well, we've come to an understanding," he said. He paused, and then continued. "We apparently have a lot in common." Sasuke finally grinned back at him.

"Is that so?" At Naruto's nod, he continued, leaning forward like telling Naruto a secret. "You know, Sakura claims to love me."

Naruto blushed and sputtered a couple of seconds before he finally got out, "Don't fish for compliments, Sasuke!" Sasuke chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

"All right. Regardless, I am glad you and her have reached an understanding. She is very important to this coven. And I know that I can rely on her."

"Yea, that's what Kakashi said." Naruto looked out the window, and noticed a few more of the Akatsuki missing. He fidgeted and hoped that Sakura was keeping up her end of the bargain. "And I know that she's loyal to you."

There was silence in the study for several long moments, Naruto searching the grounds for any signs of the missing Akatsuki members, and Sasuke simply observing Naruto fidget. Finally, Sasuke leaned forward and brushed a finger down the side of Naruto's cheek. When he was sure he had Naruto's full attention, he said, "Is that something you and Sakura have in common as well?"

Naruto smiled at him and leaned forward as well. "Of course. Always."

Naruto's day, for all appearances, went back to normal after that. Sasuke went back to working on a translation, occasionally scratching in notes of his own, and Naruto decided to re-read that Egypt book to see if he could find any more information on their mirror trick. Occasionally, like always, Sasuke would point something out in his book that he thought that Naruto might find interesting. Most of the time, it was something that wasn't interesting at all to Naruto, but he indulged him. Sasuke would get excited, or as excited as Sasuke could be, and lean close to Naruto and drop his voice. It was definitely worth the few minutes of boredom.

Throughout the evening, Naruto kept a careful watch outside of the window. He had seen Kakashi and Iruka come back some time ago, some of Akatsuki in tow, and Sakura had returned about an hour after they did, frustratingly empty handed. Kisame was still MIA, which Naruto was positive wasn't a good sign. He was tossing the idea of trying to find Sakura before dawn to see what she had found out when the rolling of Sasuke's pen off his desk caught Naruto's attention. It was odd for Sasuke to drop his pen, but Naruto obligingly turned from the window and bent to pick it up. It wasn't until he went to hand it back to Sasuke that he noticed anything wrong.

Sasuke was completely frozen, hand still poised above the paper as if he was about to write something down. Naruto twisted his head to look up into Sasuke's face, and was even more concerned to see that Sasuke's eyes were wide, pupils dilated and mouth open as if he had went to gasp and checked himself half way through. Naruto reached out a hand and shook Sasuke's shoulder gently. "Sasuke? What's wrong?" There was no response. Naruto shook his shoulder a little harder. "Sasuke, are you all right?" There was a slight reaction. Sasuke reached up one hand to grip his shirt over his heart and his jaw clicked shut into clenched teeth.

Naruto was beginning to be really worried. What had happened? He looked over Sasuke's shoulder to see if it was something he had read, but Naruto couldn't understand any of it, the original or Sasuke's cryptic translations. He doubted that was it though. Sasuke had been re-reading that book to double check his translations. What else then? Maybe he heard something that Naruto couldn't, or smelled something. Or, what if something was wrong with Kakashi? Naruto remembered that, because Sasuke was Kakashi's sire, they could sometimes feel each other's emotions. He had images of Sasuke appearing in the lounge because Kakashi was panicked that he was talking to Sakura. Maybe, Kakashi had found something out about Akatsuki?

Any other speculation was cut off by Kakashi banging the door to the study open. "Sasuke? What's wrong? What's happened?" Well, that threw that theory out the window. Apparently, Kakashi was fine. But Kakashi's entrance into the study finally prompted Sasuke into action. He stood, his chair scraping across the floor.

"Kakashi, take everyone from the second house back home. Now. And do not allow them to come back tomorrow."

For the first time Naruto had ever known him, Kakashi actually looked shocked. "What? Why? Sasuke, tell me what has happened?" Sasuke stalked around his desk and growled at Kakashi.

"You will do what I say, without question and immediately. Now go." Kakashi seemed like he wanted to argue the point, but he eventually turned and left, supposedly to follow Sasuke's order. As the door clicked shut behind him, Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the ends. Naruto came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Sasuke? Please tell me what's wrong." Sasuke's hand gripped Naruto's wrist desperately. It hurt, but Naruto refused to deny Sasuke the contact. Finally, Sasuke unwrapped himself from Naruto's embrace and turned to face him.

"Time to go, Naruto." He still had Naruto's wrist in his grip as he started to lead Naruto from the room.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke didn't answer him, and Naruto let himself be led through the house and out the front door. When they stopped at the bottom of the front steps, Naruto asked Sasuke his question again. Sasuke didn't answer him right away, just raked his eyes over Naruto's face. Naruto flinched at the raw pain he saw in Sasuke's eyes and twisted his wrist so that he could grip Sasuke's hand.

He was unprepared for Sasuke to throw his hand away like he had been burned. Naruto stood there, hand reaching out for Sasuke, for several stunned moments before he brought his wrist to his chest and rubbed it. Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Ignoring Naruto, he pulled out some money and handed it to Naruto. Naruto frowned at it. "What do I need that for?" Something felt terribly wrong. Sasuke sighed in frustration, folded the money in half, and forced it into Naruto's front pocket.

"I told you. It is time to go."

"And you never told me where we're going."

Sasuke growled at the back of his throat and looked away. When he looked back, he said, "We are not going anywhere. You are going back to the city."

Naruto could physically feel his heart sink in his chest. It left a gapping hole where it used to be. "For how long?" Sasuke sneered.

"You are failing to understand, Naruto. I am sending you back." Naruto stumbled a couple of steps back, like he had been physically hit.

"Why?" he whimpered. "What did I do wrong?" Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly. Naruto wanted to hit him for the action.

"Why else were you ever sent back for? I have grown tired of you." Sasuke took a couple of steps forward and gently pushed Naruto backwards. Naruto stumbled a bit, but caught his footing and attempted to stand his ground.

"No. I don't believe you. Something changed. Tell me what's wrong!" Sasuke scoffed.

"What is wrong is that you are wasting my time. Leave Naruto." Another shove.

"No, Sasuke, please!" This couldn't be happening! Naruto couldn't think, couldn't hear anything past the blood rushing in his ears. He was feeling faint and like he might throw-up at the same time. He whimpered again and did the only thing he could think to do. He reached out to Sasuke again, but Sasuke slapped his hand away and, with one last push, Naruto was falling. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the forest trees rushing past him, feel space rearranging itself around him, and feel Sasuke leaving him. It felt like all the air was being sucked out of him. It left him breathless on the sidewalk of the city.

"Goodbye Naruto."

Panicked, Naruto immediately jumped up and tried to run back into the forest. But he had only run a couple of yards back into the forest when he found himself running back out again into the city.

"Fuck!" Naruto cursed. Sasuke had rearranged the forest again, preventing Naruto from going back to him. Naruto tried again and again and again.

By the time the sun rose, Naruto was collapsed on the border between Sasuke's world and his, crying as if he had just lost everything he had ever wanted. Because he had. And he still had no idea why.