Author Note: A giant thanks to the awesome Sephoriya, who helped me by proofing this chapter in the original version! Check her out!
Warnings:
—Trace amounts of blood but don't worry, I'm no fan of gore. If you hate hearing about it at all, though, then run away because it's here.
—Physical abuse... if you can call it that. You'll see what I'm talking about.
Moving Memories
5: Leeching
~ (^.^) (^.^) ~
Kiba rushed over to Naruto who lay doubled over, clutching at his chest, in the middle of the floor. Gaara stood watching the pair from behind the bar, his eyes vacant as he thought over the encounter with Sasuke.
"Fuck! Are you okay?" Kiba asked worriedly, trying to turn Naruto to lie on his back.
"F-Fine," Naruto said breathlessly, opposing the shift in position. "J-Just knocked the w-wind outta me." He smiled at Kiba to try and reassure his worried friend, even as he lay doubled up on the ground and refusing to move in compliance with Kiba's attempts to right him.
Before Kiba could speak anymore, however, Gaara was upon him. Gaara appeared behind the brunette and grasped his arm roughly above the elbow. Naruto would have grimaced and probably shouted in Kiba's defense if he had the time. Before either Naruto or Kiba could even think of protesting, Gaara was dragging Kiba across the kitchen. Naruto rolled over quickly onto his stomach to keep the pair in sight. Kiba was struggling to find his feet, but Gaara was dragging him too quickly.
To Naruto, Kiba was struggling. Kiba was, of course, struggling to simply walk properly, not out of fear or an attempt to get away as Naruto had concluded so quickly. They disappeared behind a door and it slammed shut with a loud bang. Naruto laid there on the floor for a short moment before struggling to his feet and hurrying over the door. He steeled himself to burst inside and rescue Kiba, but Kiba's voice stopped him.
"Just calm down, Gaara," Kiba said soothingly. He was not at all frantic or afraid. Naruto recognized, then, that Kiba would have followed Gaara calmly and willingly into the room had he been given a chance to find his footing, so he wasn't trying to get away. Naruto felt slightly reassured. Although, he was still on the fence about Gaara. Gaara had proven himself to be much rougher with Kiba than Naruto ever suspected tonight.
"I cannot believe that he spoke to me like that!" Gaara hissed. "That bastard! He's so fucking full of himself! He bared his fangs at me too! Did you see that? The fucking nerve!"
"Calm down," Kiba repeated softly. "It was the situation, not you. Plus, he'd been drinking. You could smell it on him."
Gaara scoffed. "As if that's an excuse."
"It is," Kiba argued softly. "At least it is for you. Why any different for him?" There was a momentary pause before Kiba added, "You know he'd never bare his fangs at you anyway. If he was flashing them at anyone, it was Naruto. He's just still upset about him and Sai."
"Upset?" Gaara snarled, finding the word to be absurdly used.
"You know how he is," Kiba said in Sasuke's defense. "He's always been this way. What surprises you so much now?" For a short moment, both were silent again before Kiba went on. "He can't express his feelings like you can, Gaara. You know that, and remember that the only reason you're not just like Sasuke is because of me."
"As if he's never had you," Gaara cut in roughly.
Naruto wondered briefly if Kiba and Sasuke had once been a couple. It would explain the stifling tension between Sasuke and Gaara. Naruto didn't have the time to think about that though. Kiba went on with his thoughts, as if Gaara hadn't spoken and Naruto's mind went blank to listen
"He doesn't want to admit it, but Sai really hurt him. He's still reeling from it. He wouldn't have said all that stuff if he wasn't. You know he's not like Sai. You and I both know he's not."
"I don't know him at all anymore," Gaara disagreed angrily. "If you're so sure Sasuke's not like him, then why did I see a sick double of Sai just now?"
"That wasn't Sasuke," Kiba argued.
"Well, if you're so damn sure that it wasn't Sasuke, then just who was it?" Gaara pressed menacingly. "Where is Sasuke? Because that looked a lot like him to me!"
"You know what I mean! It's not our Sasuke," Kiba refuted with a tone of annoyance, not appreciating Gaara's smartass way of taking his words so literally.
"You know what?" Gaara said quickly. "That was Sasuke and you know what else? That was a leech—" Kiba let out a small gasp. "—because our Sasuke is a fucking leech!"
"Don't say that!" Kiba exclaimed crossly. "How could you dare call your friend that?!"
"He's not my—" Gaara began.
"Yes he is!" Kiba snapped. "He is your friend and you will get your fucking senses straight, Gaara, or so help me god I will—"
"What?" Gaara interrupted with a growl. "What will you do if I don't? You can't hurt me!"
"There are many ways to hurt someone, Gaara," Kiba said in a low, threatening voice. Gaara snorted dismissively and Kiba went on in an even more threatening tone, "I'll stop letting you feed on me." Gaara made a deep guttural noise and then Naruto heard Kiba gasp loudly just before a loud thump told him that Kiba had been pinned against the wall. "Gaara!" Kiba gasped in pain.
"You can't stop me, can you?" Gaara taunted darkly.
At that moment, Naruto panicked. Kiba was in there in apparent danger and Naruto was just listening to it happen. He removed his ear from the door and shook his hands wildly in panic, trying to think of what to do. No coherent thoughts were coming to him, so he just barged into the room, terrified of what he would find. He could never have imagined that it would be what he did find though. Kiba's eyes flickered over to Naruto, but he couldn't move his head. Gaara had his hand clamped on Kiba's jaw line, pushing his head back against the tall cabinetry and up to reveal his throat. Gaara's other hand was restraining one of Kiba's wrists. Kiba's free hand was pushing hard against Gaara's chest. Kiba was lifted up onto his tiptoes, struggling to breathe properly.
It was the scene anyone would expect to see when you hear someone being banged up against a wall and threatened though, so that wasn't the real shocking blow. The really unnerving part of it all was what Naruto saw on Gaara, or rather in Gaara, or even more specifically in Gaara's mouth. Gaara's head snapped over to Naruto, who was frozen in the doorway and transfixed on what he swore were unnaturally pointy teeth.
"Gaara," Kiba whispered quietly in a panic. Gaara released Kiba very slowly. He began turning to Naruto and Kiba grabbed fistfuls of his shirt, trying to wrench the redhead back to face him. "Gaara!" Kiba warned louder and more urgently.
Gaara stared at Naruto for a moment but made no move to advance. He closed his eyes and with a twitch of his lip, those pointy teeth were gone. Naruto stared in amazement for a long moment. Had he really just seen those teeth lift up into Gaara's mouth? Had he really seen them at all? Kiba released a breath of relief and placed his hand on the back of Gaara's neck, extending his thumb to rest on the well-worn spot on Gaara's neck where he rubbed calming circles against the patch of skin there as Naruto so often saw him doing. This seemed to be Gaara's weakness because it always calmed him down. Gaara began taking deep breaths and leaning into Kiba's touch.
Naruto swallowed nervously and Gaara's eyes snapped back open. The next thing Naruto knew, those pointy teeth were back, causing Naruto to swallow yet again and stagger back past the doorway. Gaara's muscles twitched violently as he advanced on Naruto. Kiba just barely managed to grab Gaara's clothes from the back. He leaned so far backwards that he was nearly sitting on the ground to restrain Gaara. Naruto could hear Gaara's shirt ripping under the stress as he swatted his arms out to reach Naruto.
"STOP! STOP! GAARA, STOP!" Kiba yelled, but Gaara seemed deaf to the boy's plights. Naruto was unable to register that, perhaps, those pointy teeth were real and posing a rather dangerous threat to his life right now. He could only stare. Finally, Kiba exclaimed desperately, "You can have it! You can have it! You can have mine!"
It was as if Gaara could hear the words before they even left Kiba's lips, for he instantly turned and pinned Kiba roughly back against the cabinetry. In a swift movement, he ripped the shirt where it covered the abused muscle where neck met shoulder. He, then, sunk those unbelievably pointy teeth deep into the skin and Kiba cried out quietly in pain, his free hand clawing at the back of Gaara's shirt.
"Gently!" Kiba commanded gruffly. "Be gentle, for fuck's sake!"
Gaara only gripped Kiba's left shoulder—which was closest to Naruto—even more firmly and pushed Kiba's pinned right wrist against the cabinets even harder, so that Kiba's hand was turning purple from the lack of circulation. Gaara groaned loudly and Kiba flinched as the redhead bit down harder, regardless of Kiba's pleas. Kiba chose to watch Naruto carefully rather than shut his eyes to the pain.
Naruto's mouth had gone dry. He couldn't quite see what was happening from his angle, so he edged back into the bathroom and to his right slowly. Kiba turned his head to follow Naruto with his eyes. Naruto finally felt his arm hit the cabinetry and his eyes widened at what this new angle revealed to him. He was definitely seeing Gaara's lips clamped around Kiba's skin. Naruto crooked his head slightly to the side to get a better angle but jumped back quickly when Gaara's ravenous eyes snapped up to regard him. His back slammed against the wall behind him and he swallowed a few more terrified lumps in his throat. He, then, remembered that swallowing had been what set Gaara on him in the first place, so he held his breath. Gaara didn't advance on Naruto as he had been expecting though. He pressed himself more firmly against Kiba, as if to shield him from Naruto's greedy hands instead.
"It's okay," Kiba reassured quietly. "He's not gonna detach for you."
Naruto looked uncertainly to Kiba and then released his breath. Naruto chose to trust Kiba's words and peer onward into Gaara's eyes. What used to be a bluish/green hue had now taken on a deep, dark shade of red. These eyes were terrifyingly bestial. Gaara was not at all himself. He was looking Naruto up and down, studying his every movement, as if he expected Naruto to lunge at him. Naruto felt somewhat reassured by the fact that Gaara was now on the defensive and not looking to attack him, and then Naruto began to panic. He looked up at Kiba with frantic eyes, begging Kiba to tell him what to do, but Kiba returned Naruto with a calm, unfazed gaze.
"It's alright. Don't be afraid," Kiba said, trying to be reassuring.
Naruto gaped at him. Did Kiba really just tell him to not be afraid? Did Kiba know what Gaara was doing? If he did, then he should share because Naruto was absolutely baffled. Kiba, then, winced and brought his hand up to rub familiar, firm circles into the special spot on Gaara's neck.
"Off!" he exclaimed with a gasp. After a short moment and another strong grimace, Kiba demanded more desperately, "Off! Off! Off!" He rubbed the circles more roughly into Gaara's skin. Gaara's eyes seemed to being clearing slowly. "Off, Gaara!" Kiba repeated more frantically and he dug his thumb forcefully into the hinge of Gaara's jaw. "Please!"
Gaara's eyes clenched shut as he pushed Kiba's shoulder and wrist hard into the wall so that Kiba's hand went completely white. A loud crack echoed from one of Kiba's bones and he howled in pain, but he kept digging his thumb against Gaara's jaw nonetheless. Gaara detached himself with a great hiss, splattering blood against the cabinetry and taking a huge gasp of air. He staggered back quickly until his back was flat against the opposite wall beside the toilet. His eyes were bluish/green again and full of terror as they welled up with tears. Kiba slumped over heavily and clutched at his neck. He was shaking his newly freed hand vigorously, trying to get the blood pumping again but grimacing at the pain that it caused. Naruto could guess from Kiba's expression that it was his wrist that had cracked so loudly.
Kiba then fell to his knees and Naruto automatically looked expectantly to Gaara. He had gotten so used to Gaara's protective nature that he thought Gaara should be there instantly to support Kiba. Naruto had, of course, momentarily forgotten that Gaara had just been… been… well… he didn't know or, perhaps, he didn't want to know. Either way, Naruto realized that he didn't want Gaara anywhere near Kiba again. To Naruto's surprise though, Gaara flinched badly when Kiba fell to his knees. He flattened himself even further against the wall, as if wishing he could be one with it. Despite his seemingly helpless nature, Naruto watched Gaara attentively as he rushed to Kiba's side and knelt to throw a protective arm in front of the brunette.
"Don't," Kiba said feebly.
"Yeah, don't!" Naruto repeated loudly to Gaara. "Don't touch him!" Gaara didn't even look at Naruto. His eyes were glued to Kiba.
"No," Kiba said weakly as he knocked Naruto's arm down with his injured hand, "you." Naruto turned to look at Kiba in astonishment, but Kiba met his eyes with ferocity. "Don't treat him like that." Naruto stared at Kiba aghast for a moment before Gaara spoke.
"Get out," he croaked. When Naruto looked back at him, he was crouched into a ball between the toilet and the tub peering through his fingers at Kiba. "Please, get out!" he begged. Kiba nodded without looking at Gaara, apparently knowing what he'd see and that it'd be torture to watch. Instead, Kiba closed his eyes.
"Help me. I can't walk," he said quietly to Naruto and the blond obliged immediately. Kiba removed his hand from his wound and put his arm around Naruto's neck. With Naruto supporting his weight entirely, the pair left the bathroom and moved toward the couch. The bathroom door slammed shut as Naruto sat Kiba on the couch and Naruto jumped about a foot in the air, whirling around.
"It's fine," Kiba said. "I need water and chocolate." Naruto walked briskly into the kitchen. "Glasses are in the cupboard by the fridge," Kiba explained. Naruto came back moments later with a glass of water. "Thanks," Kiba said quietly. He was significantly paler and sweatier than when Naruto had set him down, thus concerning Naruto greatly. "Chocolate." Naruto thought this an odd request in Kiba's state, but he wanted to help nonetheless.
"Where is it?" Naruto asked eagerly. Kiba sighed, as if he was afraid to waste his breath talking any longer.
"Upstairs," Kiba began, nodding to the spiral staircase by the bathroom, "in that room," he continued, nudging his head in the direction of the door that he had come out of when Naruto first arrived. "It's in the… top drawer of the… nightstand on the… left side of the… bed by… the dresser," Kiba finished, panting heavily. Naruto stared at the staircase hesitantly. "He won't… hurt you," Kiba said quietly, though Naruto could tell it was just because he hadn't the strength to yell. "Take… those… then…" Kiba said panting heavier still and glancing at the spiral staircase on the opposite side of the suite by the bar. Naruto nodded. "Hurry," Kiba said breathlessly.
Naruto half ran up the stairs on the left and across the hall to the bedroom on the right. When he entered, he paused only momentarily to look for the bed. It was easily spotted and he headed quickly over to the nightstand between the bed and the dresser, as he was told to do. He opened the first drawer quickly and snatched the box of chocolate. He rushed down the steps by the bathroom, forgetting why he'd wanted to avoid them to begin with. As he was passing the door, however, he heard a muffled scream and the sound of something heavy slamming against the ground. It made Naruto jump and run to the couch, his heart hammering in his chest.
Kiba groaned quietly and Naruto could see that listening to Gaara in that bathroom was torture for him. Whether Gaara was a monster or not, whatever the fuck Gaara was, Kiba still obviously loved him and Naruto could understand that. It was just the same way that Beauty loved The Beast. What was baffling to Naruto was that Gaara had threatened Kiba so remorselessly in the bathroom. He had Kiba pinned against the wall and was prattling on about how Kiba couldn't stop him. Gaara was clearly abusive. How could Kiba love him in spite of that?
Kiba devoured a few big chunks of chocolate as Naruto paced warily on the other side of the coffee table, flinching every time a noise floated out from the bathroom. Kiba's strength was returning but Naruto wasn't paying any attention to him. His mind was racing and he was just trying to keep up.
Gaara had definitely just bitten Kiba. Gaara was probably abusing Kiba too. Kiba probably had marks and bruises all over his body. Eager to see this proof of abuse and desperate for at least one thing to be clear to him right now, Naruto rushed over to Kiba and wrenched the shirt away from the spot where Gaara had bitten him. Naruto was shocked to see absolutely nothing, not a single bruise or scar or, perhaps, he wasn't really shocked at all. The only thing that stood out was the bruising bite mark that had just been inflicted and was emitting droplets of blood, looking gruesome. It was mostly because of the splattered blood though, from Gaara hissing. Ignorant of Kiba's silent confusion, Naruto started ripping Kiba's shirt up over his head. He simply had to see the rest of Kiba. Where were the bruises hidden? Where were the scars?
"Wh-What are you doing, Naruto?" Kiba questioned, but Naruto was undeterred.
He finally got the shirt over Kiba's head to see that the man's body was perfectly untarnished. Naruto frowned. There wasn't a single mark. Unless Gaara was limiting his abuse to below the waist, Kiba was clean. Naruto mused about removing Kiba's pants but vaguely thought about how much Kiba would probably fight that. He'd probably be a dead man, too, if Gaara caught him undressing his boyfriend, what with those newly unexplained pointy teeth, whatever the fuck they were.
Naruto was just about to decide that the risk of Kiba fighting and Gaara killing him was worth it just to see some proof when he noticed a small patch of raised skin. Naruto sat down next to Kiba and inspected the area closely. Kiba sat quietly, understanding what Naruto was doing. Naruto found that there were scars on Kiba's body. Actually, they were all over Kiba's body. There were tons of them and they all looked like bite marks. They could only be seen if you looked really closely though.
There were none that resembled any kind of cut and there wasn't a single bruise, aside from the obvious ones, so Kiba didn't really look like a victim of domestic abuse. Naruto wasn't sure if he was relieved or not, but Kiba couldn't possibly be getting that kind of treatment and not suffer a single bruise or scratch. Kiba looked perfectly intact. The bite marks all over him were pathetic too. They looked shallow, almost as if they weren't even there. Naruto had to tell himself that being bitten was abuse too. So maybe Gaara wasn't beating Kiba, but he was definitely biting him and… and… and what?
Just what was Gaara doing? Naruto had discerned that Gaara was definitely doing a lot of biting, but there were no answers as to what for. This all seemed a little too weird of behavior to just be some biting fetish. Gaara had changed, so Naruto was forced to face the question head on. What was Gaara?
"You're confused, I know," Kiba said quietly. Naruto only then noticed how strongly Kiba spoke. He hadn't noticed at the time, but Kiba had even fought to have his shirt removed, something he should have been far too weak to do. Kiba had, somehow, regained his strength.
"Yes," Naruto said quietly. "In short, I'm confused."
"Well, I guess we'll have to tell you now, won't we?" Kiba said lightly as he propped his feet up on the coffee table and leaned back into the couch.
"Tell me what?" Naruto asked as he sat up more stiffly on the couch, unable to relax as easily as Kiba.
"Everything we've been trying to hide from you," Kiba said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.
"How are you so… so… you?" Naruto asked, unable to find the right words. "A minute ago you were… You were…"
"Dying?" Kiba finished through a mouth full of chocolate. "I was dying but the chocolate helps," he explained as he swallowed the treat. "I can't explain it too well, but it's got something to do with counteracting the venom. Of course, we get special chocolate anyway to do a better job of that." Another loud scream and a bang issued from the bathroom and Kiba looked fretfully in that direction. "Alcohol dulls the edge and I did have three glasses of scotch, so the urges should die down soon. It always makes him reckless too though. He'll probably be banging things up for a bit," Kiba said vacantly, staring at the bathroom.
"Venom?" Naruto asked. His thoughts were stuck on that one word. "You weren't dying from lack of…" Naruto wanted to say 'blood', but that would be saying that Gaara was sucking Kiba's blood and he wasn't sure he could think that without feeling absolutely insane. Kiba let the silence drag out a moment longer, seeing if Naruto would finish.
"I did lose a bit of blood but it takes a lot more feeding than that to do you in," Kiba informed decidedly. "Shit, Gaara would have to do a lot worse to drain me dry and kill me." Naruto looked at Kiba blankly. What the fuck was Kiba saying? "It's the venom that makes you pale looking. It's venom that makes you cold and clammy. It makes you weak and starts to kill you. It makes it hard for the prey to fight back, you know?" Kiba said casually, forgetting that he wasn't speaking to someone who was as accustomed to vampires as he himself was. Thinking better of his casual tone, Kiba continued on a bit more tentatively, "Well… Uh… Do you get what I'm saying, Naruto?"
"No," Naruto said slowly, "I do not get it."
Kiba sighed and sat upright on the couch. "I'm saying that Gaara is a vampire," he said plainly.
He had learned from his own experience of being told that the best way to do it was just to say it. It's not easy to swallow whether you're blunt or not. If you beat around the bush, though, it just wasted more time. Of course, Kiba had been three when he learned about vampires and Naruto was nineteen, but Kiba suspected it would all be the same no matter what age.
Naruto stared into Kiba's eyes for a short moment before looking down at his legs. He mulled the word over a few times in his head and then, eventually, simply decided not to fight it. Why should he? Just because society says things like that don't exist doesn't mean that it's true. He was sitting here with someone whom he trusted completely after having witnessed him literally having his blood sucked. What was there to argue? It seemed rather plain and obvious. Until someone could prove otherwise, Gaara was a… a vampire. It seemed unreal and, yet, here it was, so obviously real. Naruto still felt a little insane, but he didn't want to waste the energy psychoanalyzing the situation.
"So… that's why you've been so weird with me?" Naruto asked, slightly happy that he'd finally get the answers to all of his curiosities.
"Yes…" Kiba said slowly, apparently expecting Naruto to freak out any minute now.
"That's why I can't walk down 54th and that's why I can't go out at night alone?" Naruto added.
"Yes," Kiba affirmed again, looking concerned that Naruto hadn't flipped shit.
"I'm not going to panic," Naruto informed Kiba once he'd looked into Kiba's eyes and saw that Kiba was clearly expecting it. "I panicked enough in that bathroom for days." Kiba laughed and Naruto found himself laughing along. It was a strange and foreign feeling. When did this situation become so light?
"It's a dangerous city here," Kiba said once his laughter died. "There are a lot of nightwalkers, unlike other cities."
"Nightwalkers?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Nightwalkers are the ones who attack humans. I'll bet this is the only city in the world that has this many. They're everywhere, but VSAF takes care of them pretty quickly if they don't heed warnings," Kiba began. Naruto didn't mind the lengthy explanation that followed. It just meant that Kiba was back to his old self, chatting up a storm.
"Vampires For the Safety of Humankind is the full name, but everyone calls it VSAF. It's like the vampire police force, but they're not really official. They just have enough support to take out the ones who don't listen to them. That fact alone keeps mostly everyone in check. They're really lax though. They don't interfere really at all. They're just a bunch vamps who don't believe in feeding on humans. They created a supplement for human blood to avoid feeding on humans and a lot of vamps use that, but there are also those that prefer animals. It's not human, but it's better than a cold, lifeless supplement. You know, something about the whole hunting and killing thing makes it taste better I guess. I don't really know. I'm only human.
"In any case, VSAF will give vamps known to prey on humans a couple of warnings but if ignored, they'll hunt them down and kill them. Unfortunately, there was a gang of nightwalkers that popped up in this city some time ago. Most nightwalkers choose to live out in the country where VSAF pays them less attention. It's easier to do what you want out there. This gang that popped up, though, has been really good about keeping themselves hidden. They prey on the homeless, orphans, or anyone that won't be missed. VSAF can't punish them if they don't even know they're hunting, right? They've got too many clever people in the gang like Sai," Kiba explained.
"Sai? He's one of them?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah," Kiba said ruefully. "Damn leech."
"Leech? That was what Gaara called Sasuke too, right?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Kiba said rigidly and disdainfully, clearly offended that Gaara would use such a word on Sasuke. Naruto found the fact that Kiba was defending Sasuke very odd too. "It's just a slur used against nightwalkers, people who are too weak or corrupted to resist feeding on humans. They don't value human life. They act like their lives are much different from ours," Kiba said.
"Kiba, wasn't… wasn't Gaara once… I mean, it sounded like…" Naruto trailed off when he saw Kiba's reproachful glare.
"Yes, I was a leech," Gaara said quietly from the doorway.
"You were not!" Kiba exclaimed quickly, whipping around to reprimand his companion. When he turned back to Naruto, he saw that Naruto had jumped from the couch and backed away, only to find himself backing into more couch. The sight angered Kiba.
"Don't!" Kiba warned Naruto angrily. "Don't do that, Naruto!" Kiba's eyes were brimming with frustrated tears and Naruto could see just how much it hurt Kiba to watch Naruto act so differently toward Gaara. Naruto couldn't see how he shouldn't though.
"He… He just… But… He bit you! He bites you all the time from the looks of it!" Naruto exclaimed, desperate for Kiba to see some sense. "Is it always that gruesome and violent? I'll bet it is! I'm surprised you're not dead, Kiba! You don't have to take it, you know," Naruto said, lowering his voice sympathetically. "If he's threatening your—"
"Shut up!" Kiba hollered. "Don't you dare say that about Gaara! I won't hear it!" Naruto stared at Kiba pleadingly for a moment, but it seemed that Kiba would continue to wholeheartedly defend Gaara, despite how little Gaara seemed to deserve it.
"It's alright, Kiba," Gaara said softly. He walked to the armchair sitting at across from the part of the couch that Naruto had stumbled into. He sat down stiffly, sinking in comfortably once he made contact. "I deserve a bit of that."
"You do not," Kiba argued quickly and quietly, his voice trembling and falling to a whisper. "Don't say that."
"Kiba," Gaara said gruffly, as though he was tired of the conversation, even if it had just started. "Your loyalty may be your downfall." Kiba looked as if he was going to argue but, instead, turned to Naruto.
"Sit back down," he ordered, pointing a demanding finger at the couch where Naruto had been sitting.
Naruto hesitated but decided, or rather hoped, that Gaara was done with blood sucking for the night and did as he was told. However, he chose to sit down on the patch of couch he had migrated to rather than the spot he had previously occupied. Here he, at least, had a whole coffee table between Gaara and himself. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing except poor, abused Kiba.
"Now, you listen to me Naruto. Gaara does not mistreat me."
"Kiba—" Gaara began but was waved off with a dismissive hand.
"Gaara is nothing but good to me," Kiba continued.
"I don't—" Gaara began but was interrupted again.
"He does not, I repeat, does not abuse me. I am a feeder, Naruto. This is what I'm meant for. I offer and he bites," Kiba said firmly and Gaara made no attempt to disagree this time. Kiba stared at Naruto quietly, and Naruto could see a conflict burning within but it didn't look like Kiba would share on that subject. "It sometimes isn't pretty, but don't you dare think less of him for that. It's hard to fight a temper and the constant urge to suck someone's blood all at once. What you saw tonight is by no means what happens every night."
Naruto was silent, so Gaara took his chance to voice his opinion. "I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have touched you."
"It was either that or Naruto," Kiba argued quickly. "You were a mess, Gaara. If I didn't give you permission, you'd have…" Kiba let the sentence die. "I wasn't going to let you do that."
"Exactly!" Gaara exclaimed. "You had to suffer to keep me from killing him! I'm a monster!" Kiba grimaced, the notion of killing Naruto having been what he was trying to avoid saying.
"It happens," Kiba argued. "Every goddamn vampire on the planet has lost control! You're not the only one, Gaara. You're not a monster." Gaara gave Kiba a significant stare that was silently disagreeing. Kiba held it for a short moment before saying softly, "It's been years, Gaara. Years. You're different." Naruto got the feeling that they were talking about something that he wasn't in on, and he was curious.
"Since what?" Naruto asked, thinking that if Gaara had some really dirty vampire secret, he wanted to know.
"Nothing," Kiba said quickly, not even bothering to look at Naruto.
"I thought we weren't playing that game anymore?" Naruto argued, causing Kiba to look at him. Kiba seemed to be weighing his options. That was true. He had told Naruto that he would tell him the truth. However, this particular truth might be best left unsaid. Kiba was about to reiterate his 'nothing' when Gaara spoke up.
"I killed my neighbor," Gaara said plainly right to Naruto, who stared at him wide-eyed.
"What?" Naruto managed to whisper, though the horror was crisp and clear in his voice. This sent a look of shame barreling through Gaara's eyes.
"I was twelve," Gaara explained. "I was running with the wrong crowd and they convinced me to do it. I was curious and young. I was stupid. I have never in my life been a nightwalker, Naruto," Gaara added hastily. "I was raised right. My family are good and decent, but those friends of mine just kept tempting me. I happened to see my neighbor walking home one night, so I just decided to do it. I ended up chasing him down an alley and… I killed him," Gaara finished regretfully, a look of disgust for himself filling his features.
Naruto felt repulsed by the story. Gaara, his friend, was a vampire and he had once killed a man. He didn't just kill him though. He hunted him down like an animal. Naruto swallowed thickly. Gaara was young, though, and he was pressured by his 'friends'. Anyone would crack under peer pressure. Sure, most of the time your friends weren't trying to convince you to commit murder, but Naruto had to remind himself that this wasn't normal life anymore. This was vampire life.
Gaara had been confused, surely. Just like that time that Naruto had stolen a coke from the convenience store. His friends convinced him that it was no big deal, but he felt terrible afterward. Gaara had been convinced to kill. Certainly, that wasn't easy on him. Naruto reminded himself who he was talking to. Despite what Naruto was inclined to assume, Gaara was good and Naruto knew that. Was he going to let some preconceived notion and a lack of understanding cloud his mind?
He understood now though. He couldn't pretend to understand the struggles of a vampire, but he could rely on the truths that he knew of Gaara now. And he knew that Gaara was a good man. Was he truly going to punish Gaara, the man who sat before him now so honestly regretful and pained by his own decisions? Wouldn't Gaara, certainly, have already been punished enough? If the look of remorse on his face wasn't enough to convince Naruto that, if nothing else, Gaara had suffered plenty of emotional punishment for his actions, then nothing was.
"You were young," Naruto finally said quietly. Gaara looked up at him reluctantly, as if he feared that Naruto would see the monster within him once their eyes met and take the words back. "It wasn't your fault. I know… I know you as you are now, Gaara," Naruto said, a smile creeping up on his lips. "You're a moody, broody guy, but you have a great laugh and you're my friend."
Gaara's chest heaved as Naruto said the words and he looked away abruptly, clearly trying to hide his tears. Kiba smiled gratefully at Naruto and moved to slide into the chair beside Gaara and enclose him in a hug. Gaara pushed him away roughly, though, and Kiba slid off onto the floor, looking at Gaara angrily.
"I could hurt you. I've… I've done it twice now," Gaara said. "I don't know who I've become but I don't want to kill you, Kiba. I'll never forgive myself if I do."
"You won't!" Kiba said with confidence. "You never could, Gaara. You came back to me when I asked."
"Just barely!" Gaara snapped as he buried his face in his hands. "I just barely felt you, Kiba," he groaned miserably.
"But you felt me, nonetheless," Kiba argued. "It doesn't matter if I come to you through a shout or a whisper! What matters is that you hear me!"
"I almost—" Gaara began.
"Almost!" Kiba exclaimed, scrambling to kneel before Gaara and wrenching his hands from his face, forcing the redhead to look at him. "Almost is the key word here. Almost is the difference between life and death and I am alive."
"By luck," Gaara retorted.
"No! By love!" Kiba argued. "Don't you dare refute me!" Kiba warned when Gaara opened his mouth. "I chose this life."
"As a child," Gaara stressed. "We were children and you were stupid and I was selfish. I was blood thirsty and you were so fucking willing."
"What?" Kiba said, a mirthless laugh escaping his mouth. It was dry and almost hysterical. "You're kidding."
"No!" Gaara said sharply. "You've had years of abuse by my hand. We aren't children anymore. You can't be just like your mother."
"Don't you dare!" Kiba snapped.
"Why not?" Gaara refuted. "That's what started this whole mess and it was fine back then but fuck, Kiba! Look at us!" Gaara pushed Kiba back and gestured to his bare torso. "Look at you! You know what happens to people like us, Kiba, to people like you. Look at Mikoto. She—"
"I'm going to my room and I'm going to sleep!" Kiba interrupted quickly, springing up from his kneeling position. "I'm fucking tired, and I don't want to hear any goddamn self-pity from you anymore… and you," Kiba said loudly, whirling back around to Naruto, "don't judge my boyfriend!"
"I'm not," Naruto defended quickly.
"Good!" Kiba said loudly. "Tomorrow, this will all be over! That's that! I don't want to hear any more about it," Kiba demanded of both Naruto and Gaara.
With that, he turned on his heels, stomped over to the staircase, climbed it, and slammed his bedroom door. Naruto and Gaara watched him go in silence. When the door was closed, Gaara wiped his face of any lingering emotion and looked back at Naruto, clearly feeling uncomfortable. Naruto knew that Gaara was thinking that Naruto did resent him and was only pretending not to in front of Kiba. That wasn't the case though.
"I'm not judging you, Gaara," Naruto reassured. "I can't imagine what your life is like, so I won't pretend that I have the authority to judge you for living it as you do. Like I said, you're my friend. Nothing changes that, not even this."
"Thank you," Gaara said softly, nodding his head appreciatively and relaxing a tiny bit. "It is a difficult life."
"Tell me about it?" Naruto asked. "I wanna know."
"Another time," Gaara said as more of a plea. "I'm tired and my boyfriend is mad at me for being rightfully resentful of my actions."
"He just doesn't want to see you struggle," Naruto said.
"I know," Gaara answered quietly, "but it's hard not to when you're living my life." There was a heavy silence that engulfed them before Gaara continued. "I'd like to drive you home but… I don't think I'll be able to stand it," Gaara said, although it clearly pained him to admit this.
"It's fine," Naruto assured, even though he wasn't really sure that it was.
He didn't want to admit his apprehension to Gaara—and he was definitely going to try to be understanding—but the fact remained that Gaara was dangerous and quite a bit scarier now that Naruto knew what he knew. He hated the fact that he was eager to be away from Gaara, but he was eager nonetheless.
"I'll just stay the night," Naruto offered against his better judgement.
"No," Gaara disagreed quickly. "Bad idea. I just mean..." Gaara sighed heavily. "Kiba will be loud tonight, moaning and groaning in pain. At least, until the pain killers kick in. It was a pretty rough bite. I don't think you'll want to hear that. Plus, if I can't be in the car with you, you probably shouldn't be sleeping in my guest room either, should you?"
"No," Naruto agreed quietly, trying to sound calm. Truthfully, the words made his heart rate double. Gaara was admitting that he could hardly resist the urge to attack Naruto, and that made Naruto feel sick to the stomach. Gaara was giving him reason to be apprehensive and scared.
"I'll call a cab," Naruto offered, barely above a whisper. Gaara stood from his seat and his eyes began to darken significantly. Naruto vaguely wondered if Gaara could sense how fast his heart was beating.
"There's a big chance you'll be risking your life doing that in this part of town," Gaara warned.
Naruto wanted to refute. He wanted to argue that this part of town was absolutely flawless. Who would hurt him here? He couldn't find his voice though. Gaara pointed at the elevator.
"Suite three. You can sleep in there. Once you get inside, lock it up. There will be a button on your left in the kitchen to keep it blocked off. Kiba is the only one who knows the password. Don't open it, no matter who tells you to. The only person I want you to trust is Kiba. Don't even let the maids in," Gaara warned sternly, his eyes darkening even more, "and especially not me." Naruto nodded slowly in return.
Gaara repeated, "Suite three."
Naruto sat mesmerized for a moment, letting the instructions sink in as his mind was feeling rather sluggish at the moment. Once they did, though, he popped up off of the couch and crossed to the elevator, pressing the button to summon it. Gaara didn't move from his spot by the chair, but still watched Naruto closely. The elevator dinged and the doors opened automatically, but Naruto hesitated a moment.
"Good night, Gaara," Naruto said quietly.
Gaara made no sign of recognition though. In fact, it didn't even feel like Naruto was looking at Gaara at all anymore. He had taken on a different energy and this unnerved Naruto, so he stepped quickly into the elevator. He hovered his finger over the button as he took one last glance at his friend. Gaara's lip twitched and his eyes narrowed, prompting Naruto to punch the button urgently. Naruto swallowed hard and feared that simple action would trigger Gaara again. The elevator doors slid shut and dinged only moments later, opening up behind him. Naruto turned around confusedly. Then, there was a loud bang against the doors that had just closed which caused Naruto to jump out of the elevator swiftly. He had definitely just triggered Gaara.
He fumbled around in the dark for the button Gaara spoke of. The doors were closing and Naruto was panicking. He couldn't find the button and, at any moment, the doors would open for Gaara to usher him right to Naruto. His hands began to tremble when he heard a muffled ding. Searching ever more frantically along the wall for the button, Naruto realized that he was on the wrong side of the elevator. He jumped across to the other side of the doors and found the button immediately. He slammed it and heard what sounded like heavy, metal locks click into place behind the elevator door. He waited for the elevator to ding and not open, infuriating Gaara, but the ding never came. After a few very long, tense moments, Naruto decided that Gaara must not have gotten in the elevator. There was no disappointed hissing or growling coming from the shaft. There was no loud bang against his doors. There was only silence. Gaara must have gone to bed.
Suddenly, a thought struck him. Kiba was in there with Gaara. What would Gaara do to him? Naruto stared down at what he could see of the lock button in the darkness, contemplating his urge to click it and bring Kiba in suite three with him. After a long moment, he released a shaky breath and decided that Kiba would be fine. After all, he had been living with Gaara for most of his life. Feeling uneasy nonetheless, Naruto stood and tried to comfort himself at the elevator doors for a few long minutes before he could tear himself from that spot. He, eventually, made his way up a staircase and collapsed on the first bed that he found. He felt the weight of the night's events roll off of his shoulders. With a deep sigh and, thankfully, a blank mind, he fell asleep.
To be continued...