Disclaimer: nothing is mine
Leeches
Chapter Two
"WAAH!" Naruto spun around, eyes wide and hand clutching at his chest. Standing less than a foot from him was a tall man with spiky orange hair and a veritable shit-ton of piercings.
"Jesus man you scared the hell outta me" the blonde panted.
"Can I help you with anything?" the man asked again, quirking his eyebrow.
"Um, yeah, yeah," Naruto looked around mind working quickly, "My uncle loves this kind of stuff; do you have any old books about the occult?"
"One second, I think I have the perfect thing" the older boy said softly. He stepped into a back room that was cut off from the rest of the store by a black curtain that brushed the floor. He returned several minutes later with an old book clutched carefully in his red-nailed hands.
"This is an 18th century copy of The Agrippa. Completely original, in French and everything."
"Oh my god, uncle Kyu's been looking for a copy of this. How much?"
The orange haired man appraised him with steel grey eyes, "Normally I wouldn't be able to let this go for under a grand, minimum"
Naruto felt his heart sink, there was no way, absolutely no way he could afford that.
"But," the man continued, "You are the shops first customer so I could let it go for half that, provided you tell people that we're open now."
The blonde's jaw dropped, "Are you serious?" he asked breathlessly. This guy had to be messing with him; no one with half a brain would let that book out for five hundred, no one.
The man smiled slightly, the tip of a sharp tooth barely visible, "Yes I am serious."
"Awesome!" Naruto dug his wallet out of his messenger bag and quickly riffled through the bills. It was a good thing he had been saving all his paychecks from Ichiraku…but still it almost bled him dry. He handed over the money and then carefully tucked the book away.
"I'm Naruto by the way" he stuck out a hand.
After a moment the man grasped it and gave it a strong shake, "I'm Pein"
Twenty minutes later he collapsed in his second block desk next to Kiba.
"Where the hell ya been man?" the brunette asked.
"I was checking out that new store, Akatsuki."
"New store?"
"Yeah, it's in that old abandoned place on Main. I was the first customer apparently"
Kiba leaned forward, interested, "Oh yeah? What's it sell? Sounds kinda like a music shop or something"
"Eh," Naruto screwed up his face and tried to think of how to describe it. After several seconds of deliberation he decided to go with, "It's the type of store Uncle Kyu would totally get off on"
"Oh" Kiba nodded knowingly and leaned his chair back on two legs.
"Hey where's Sasuke?" The cerulean eyed boy asked, glancing around the room.
The brunette teen shrugged nonchalantly, "Dunno, maybe he bailed today. Wouldn't be the first time."
"Yeah, probably. Bastard didn't even ask if we wanted to go with" Naruto chuckled and settled back in his chair, content to daydream for the next hour and a half as Mrs. Yuki lectured about the American Revolution.
"Why did you bring me out here Kakashi?"
Kyuubi adjusted his glasses and cast an inquisitive look at the closed door in front of him. He had gotten a call five minutes after Naruto left from his old friend Kakashi, who was now working with the police. Kakashi had asked if he would help with an investigation and would say nothing more. The redhead head had agreed and twenty minutes later they were standing by the front door of the Uchiha mansion which had been corded off with police tape.
Kakashi looked distinctly uncomfortable, "Well Kyu-chan you were the only person I could think of who has any knowledge about this kind of stuff."
"This kind of stuff?"
"Yeah…" the silver haired man trailed off, looking extremely uncomfortable now.
"What happened Kakashi?" Kyuubi pressed, concern rising in his chest.
Kakashi took a deep breath and then said in a rush, "All the Uchiha were killed in a ritualistic fashion at some time last night. Their bodies were eviscerated and drained of blood."
"That's horrible" Kyuubi breathed. Feeling week-kneed he sat down on the marble steps that led up to the door. With shaking hands he fished a cigarette from a cardigan pocket; he lit it and took a deep, steadying drag.
"There were some symbols we couldn't identify drawn on the walls. We were hoping you could."
"Yeah. Yeah" Kyuubi muttered absently. God, all the Uchiha. Poor Mikoto, poor Fukagu, poor Sasuke. Oh no Sasuke! Naruto was going to be crushed.
"Is Sasuke…is he—"
"Dead? No, we think he's missing. We can't find any trace of him at any rate."
"oh" A minute passed with Kyuubi smoking in silence, feeling numb. He had never been particularly close with any of the Uchiha but the idea that something like this could happen was terrifying. Who would do something like this? You would have to be a psychopath, a monster. And how did they do it? The Uchiha were not a small family, to do this to all of them without the cops being called was well, astonishing.
"Do you think you could take a look at these now?" Kakashi asked.
"Sure" Kyuubi said shakily, climbing to his feet.
Kakashi opened the door and Kyuubi followed him through the large foyer. It looked like the police had already dealt with all the evidence and disposed of all the corpses. The redhead found himself wondering why Kakashi didn't just give him pictures of whatever he wanted to show him.
"It's in here" Kakashi said, stopping at the closed door or the master bedroom. He pushed it open with one quick motion and stepped back, almost as if he didn't want to be anywhere near. Kyuubi didn't blame him, something in the air seemed…off. He wasn't sure how to describe the feeling, it was an off-kilter kind of feel, coupled with the spine tingling fear you felt when you thought something was watching you from the dark. Thankfully Kyuubi didn't have to step fully inside the room to see the symbol. Drawn in dried red-brown blood directly above the bed was a mass of spikes and tentacles all condensed into one mass. He stared at it for a moment before recognition clicked into place.
"Kakashi, that's an ancient symbol for vampire."
A/N: Reviews are very motivational. Updates certainly would come faster if I got more reviews.