.
Moving Memories
6: Ren
~ (^.^) (^.^) ~
Naruto rolled over lazily in his bed and inhaled deeply. He scrunched up his nose in confusion. Did he smell bacon? Who was in his apartment making bacon? It couldn't be Jiraiya. But then again, it could only be Jiraiya. It could, of course, be Gaara having used his vampire abilities, whatever they were, to sneak in and make Naruto I'm-sorry-for-trying-to-eat-you-and-scaring-the-shit-out-of-you-last-night bacon. Naruto rolled around a few more times before sitting up slowly in the bed. He rubbed his eyes and opened them.
"The fuck?" he questioned quietly as he looked around the dark room. It wasn't his bedroom.
Naruto clambered out of the foreign bed and rammed his knee into the bedside table. He cursed quietly as he rubbed it tentatively. He heard bacon sizzling in a pan and grew more curious. He looked around the unfamiliar room and found the door. When he opened it, he cowered immediately at the brightness beyond. It was forgivingly dark in the bedroom. He realized he was still wearing his clothes from last night as he braved the sunlit hallway.
When he was able to open his eyes better, he found that he was standing in front of a banister looking out over what looked just like Kiba and Gaara's suite, except for the large corner desk in place of the bar. Then, he remembered that he had taken the elevator to a vacant suite last night or... well, he wasn't sure if he'd actually taken the elevator anywhere. He just stepped in and walked out the other end. He didn't care to analyze the elevator system of this building just now, however. He was glad to see Kiba standing at the stove, cooking breakfast and singing to himself.
Naruto smiled and began to descend the spiral staircase. He meandered slowly across the suite to Kiba, whose back was turned. He sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen and simply watched his friend. He watched how Kiba's body bounced to whatever beat was in his head. He listened to Kiba's voice sounding bright and cheerful. He suppressed a laugh when Kiba threw his head back and belted out a line of some song Naruto didn't know and Kiba shook his hips amusingly.
"Kiba?" Naruto finally said as he smiled at the back of the brunet's head.
"Hey!" Kiba sang, as if he wasn't even shocked that Naruto was sitting there. "I hope you like bacon because I love it… and it's the only thing that we have in this fridge," he added. "We use this fridge as our meat storage. Y'know, don't wanna have too many tempting things in the suite. Just in case he gets rowdy," Kiba rambled on. "A bunch of bloody meat isn't gonna help calm him down. I meant to bring eggs over but someone was really grumpy when I woke up. I was eager to give him space."
Kiba's voice was light and unconcerned, but Naruto felt anxiety rise up in his own chest. He remembered why he'd had to sleep in this suite last night. Gaara was threatening his life only after having threatened Kiba's too. Kiba had also just said that Gaara woke up grumpy and that concerned Naruto. Was Gaara still in a frenzy? Kiba seemed to sense Naruto's concerns.
"It always takes him a while to cool down after... well, y'know. Last night was pretty intense. I won't be surprised if he takes a whole day to get himself together," said Kiba, still cooking the bacon with his back turned.
"How long does it normally take?" Naruto asked.
"Well, that depends on the situation, really. If he's just having a bite, it takes an hour or two. If he hasn't had one in a while, it takes a couple more hours. I find that if the situation is a bit… heated… it takes hardly a few minutes," Kiba explained.
"Heated?" Naruto questioned and Kiba laughed a laugh that left genuine delight lingering in the air.
"Yeah, you know… if we're… in the bedroom," Kiba divulged slowly.
"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed quickly. "You do that in there?"
Kiba snickered again, sounding like a schoolgirl. "Yeah, well, you wouldn't understand, would you? It's not like being attacked by an animal every night. He's really gentle. It can feel really good actually." Naruto felt like he should be blushing at this very personal information, but he wasn't. In fact, he felt so comfortable with Kiba that he'd probably talk about his own sexual desires with him. "When you mix the thirst with being horny, it does some weird shit. It makes him wanna bite me more and in the strangest places too, but afterwards he composes himself really fast. It only takes a few minutes at most. It's probably just because he can relieve a lot more tension in those kinds of situations," Kiba mused casually.
"Sounds logical," Naruto agreed just as casually. He wasn't sure when Gaara being a vampire and talking about his sex life with Kiba became casual conversation, but he wasn't fighting it.
"He hasn't had a go at me for two days though," Kiba went on. "A couple of nights ago, he lost his control the first time, but he never actually bit me. He did start talking the same way he was last night though. He said that I couldn't stop him, that I was his and he could do whatever he wanted with me. It really freaked me out, so I yelled at him until he came to his senses. I tried to convince him to just have one bite to make him feel better, but he kept refusing." Kiba's voice was now quiet and significantly subdued, void of the lightness it'd just been holding.
"He was too afraid to bite me. Said that he didn't deserve me after having spoken to me like that. I insisted on getting him supplements but he refuses to let me out of the house without him by my side, so he was trying to suppress two days worth of bloodlust last night. I wasn't surprised when he lost it in the bathroom," Kiba admitted, turning around and tipping the bacon onto a plate on the island. He rounded the structure and sat on a stool beside Naruto, fidgeting compulsively with the hem of his shirt as he stared at his fingers. "I've never seen him like that," he said quietly. "I didn't even think it was possible."
"Of course not," Naruto said softly, touching Kiba's shoulder in an attempt at comfort. "How could you have known he was capable of such things after years of him being so seemingly… trained?"
"Don't talk about him as if he's a dog!" Kiba snapped quickly, recoiling from Naruto and looking at him with an expression of aberration.
"I'm sorry!" Naruto said quickly. "That's not what I meant."
After a long moment, Kiba nodded curtly. Naruto couldn't relax though. He was struggling to find the right words to express his curiosities. Kiba was suffering over Gaara, but all Naruto could think about were the questions he'd been dying to ask Gaara. It would be really hard to not sound insensitive right now, but damn he wanted answers!
"You're curious, I know," Kiba said wearily. "If you're gonna bombard me, we might as well get comfortable." With that, he grabbed the plate of bacon and walked over to the big couch in the living room, setting the bacon down on the coffee table and grabbing a piece. "Just ask whatever you want," he permitted, sinking back into the cushion of the couch and biting his bacon.
"How do you become a vampire?" Naruto asked eagerly, sitting down beside Kiba and grabbing a piece of bacon too. Though, he didn't relax as much as Kiba's tired body managed to.
Kiba glanced over at Naruto skeptically. "Interested in making the change?"
"No!" Naruto said quickly. "No way. Just curious."
"Gaara was born one," Kiba said plainly, turning his attention back to his bacon and speaking with a mouthful. "Otherwise, you're bitten. I thought that would be pretty obvious."
"But you're bitten all the time and you're not a vampire," Naruto argued.
"True. Something to do with the chocolate counteracts the venom though," said Kiba.
"Right. You said that last night," Naruto acknowledged. "But why doesn't everyone just do that then? Problem solved."
"Some people actually want to change y'know," Kiba said, reaching for more bacon. "Some people enjoy life as a nightwalker," he added, the tone of his voice more conversational than expected when discussing such an obscure subject. "Some people think it's the only way to be with a vampire. Some people are just stupid and think it'll be fun. If you think about it, though, Naruto, if you've been drained of almost all your blood and are weak or unconscious, how are you going to get chocolate? What if you don't even know that chocolate will help?
"Most of the population doesn't even know that vampires exist, let alone how to protect themselves from one. It's different depending on how severe the bite is, but it usually only takes about a couple hours to change completely and the bulk of it is spent unconscious. There's a very small window to fight it. Plus, chocolate is just for weak bites. If someone bites you with the intent to change you, they're injecting venom into you purposely and lots of it. Chocolate won't save you from that. You'd have to get the venom out another way."
"How do you do that?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Well, VSAF has created an anti-venom. People can carry that around for safety, but I've heard of unstable vamps with good intentions just injecting themselves with it. If the changing process is never triggered, then the venom will stay in their system for a while. After that, I guess they just inject themselves again. That way if they attack anyone, it's immediately negated," Kiba conjectured.
"Wait, anti-venom isn't dangerous to vampires? It doesn't hurt them?" Naruto asked.
"No, venom goes through a sort of changing process when it travels between bodies," Kiba said.
"Explain," Naruto insisted simply.
"I mean, to be scientific, the properties of the venom change when it meets another being's blood," Kiba began. "That's why vampires are fine but others aren't once they're infected. It makes any living being weak, sick, tired. That kind of stuff makes us easier to subdue. It makes it really hard to fight back because our strength is drained quickly. Living with a vamp, I've learned early on not to fight if I'm in a sticky situation. You'll pass out real quick if you move too much. It makes the venom spread faster.
"Anti-venom targets the specific markers that only appear once the venom starts working to change you, so vamps can inject themselves with it and be fine. That is until they bite someone. When the anti-venom is triggered, it's not harmful to a vampire but it's not exactly a nice sensation either. That's why Gaara and I don't use it. Once the anti-venom begins counteracting, it's agonizing from what I've seen. I guess that's just to make sure that you don't want to bite anymore, and I suppose it works pretty well that way. That kind of pain would make anyone want to detach right away," Kiba explained.
"You and Gaara don't use anti-venom?" Naruto asked, admittedly shocked at their trust in each other.
"Mhm," Kiba hummed nonchalantly.
"Then how are you still human?" Naruto asked.
Kiba rolled his eyes, smiling at Naruto's ignorance. "I told you. Chocolate."
"You're never worried that the venom will spread before you can get to chocolate?" Naruto asked.
"Not at all."
"Or that the chocolate won't be enough?" Naruto added.
"Nope," Kiba insisted. "Like I said, when Gaara bites, he's gentle. Those shallow bites wouldn't start to affect me for a long time. Last night, though, he bit me pretty badly. He'd never want to change me, but in that state of mind it's instinct alone that would cause him to inject so much venom into me at once. Being pinned against the wall helped slow it up a bit by keeping me from moving, but as soon as we started going to the couch, I felt myself slipping away. I was actually pretty worried, but you brought me the chocolate, so I was fine."
"But you said chocolate doesn't work for serious bites," said Naruto. "Was that bite not serious?"
"Pfft." Kiba snorted. "That bite was serious," he assured, "but we buy chocolate laced with anti-venom because Gaara insists. Plus," He wagged his piece of bacon at Naruto, "it's not like venom just pours out of his fangs like a waterfall. Venom injection is voluntary."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Not everyone is as knowledgeable as you."
"I know, you're just ignorant," Kiba conceded.
"Yeah, so don't patronize," Naruto replied.
Kiba smiled and simply went on. "A vamp doesn't have to inject it every time they bite. It takes a bit of concentration to not release any venom at all, so a little bit usually always escapes, but it's no difficult feat to severely reduce the amount of venom injected. It's a skill that takes time to learn, as I've come to realize, but Gaara is damn good at it. He could bite me all night and never do any damage, and he has." Kiba paused to smile somewhat salaciously in reverence. Naruto playfully pushed his arm and brought him back to the present though. Kiba smirked and asked, "Huh? Where was I?"
Naruto rolled his eyes, knowing Kiba to be simply keeping the mood light. "Gaara hardly ever injects a lot of venom."
"Ah, right. I'd probably be fine eating just normal chocolate," Kiba mused. "But, like I said, Gaara insists on the anti-venom kind. I always thought it was a stupid idea, to be honest. I never once thought that we'd need anything with anti-venom, but I guess I should thank Gaara for being paranoid." Kiba paused, the spring-like pep to him dissipating slightly. "It saved my life last night," he acknowledged quietly.
"Where do you get that kind of stuff?" Naruto asked, eager to keep Kiba talking instead of dwelling on the difficult.
"Vamp markets," Kiba answered, easing back into a casual attitude. "You can get lots of stuff there. Other products laced with anti-venom, pure anti-venom itself, supplemental blood, pure blood," he listed before Naruto cut in.
"Pure blood?"
Kiba nodded. "You can't get it at any legal market, but most underground markets aren't legal. They sell human and animal blood for convenience to anyone willing to buy. The slaughter of any being to harvest and sell their blood is against VSAF law, but the shady vamps don't really care I guess. Just like the black market, they don't care about a lot of the laws," Kiba replied.
"Laws? I thought VSAF wasn't official," Naruto said.
"It's not, but they still have laws that they enforce. Just because they haven't been voted into power or whatever doesn't mean that they'll stop fighting for what's right," Kiba answered. "Reasonable, right?"
"Sure," Naruto agreed. "I'm interested in what kind of laws are made for vampires."
"Not much," Kiba admitted. "Like I said, there's the fact that harvesting and selling pure blood of any kind is illegal. Also, changing a child that's not your own or orphaning a vampire child are the other two laws that have a no-nonsense policy. No warnings for that stuff, only punishment. Hunting humans and attacking endangered animals or animals otherwise protected by human law is also illegal. As I said before though, VSAF is pretty unobtrusive. They'll let you do your thing as long as you don't go crazy. If you make a few unlawful kills, they're understanding. Last time I checked, the rule was that getting five warnings in your lifetime or two consecutive warnings within a year will get you the punishment of death. They don't play around. There's no vampire prison. Act out and they'll just kill you."
Naruto felt a slight shiver roll down his spine. These guys sounded pretty ruthless. He figured that he had nothing to worry about though. He was human, after all. He was exactly what VSAF was trying to protect.
"There's also a law about infecting people," Kiba went on. "Knowingly infecting someone and refusing to either kill or provide them with a cure is illegal. So if you infect someone, you've pretty much earned yourself a warning, if not death."
"I thought the point of the law against hunting was not to kill people," Naruto pointed out. "And how do you accidentally infect someone?"
"Another major point of all the laws is to keep the vampire population under control. If they can't be saved, I guess VSAF would rather you just kill a person rather than change them. And, y'know, Children don't understand what they're doing right away. Think about how fair it would be to give a warning to a three year old," Kiba countered. "People are expected to educate their children, but there's no specific time in which you can make a child understand their lifestyle."
"Good point," Naruto agreed.
"And, by the way, hunting means biting. It doesn't matter if you kill a person or not," Kiba added. "If you bite, you're hunting. If it's consensual, however, then you're exempt from the law. Plus, infecting someone is killing them."
"How so?" Naruto asked.
"The way the venom reacts to your body," Kiba said simply, expecting that to be explanation enough. He'd already said a lot. Naruto must be tired of listening already.
Naruto was eager though. "How's that?" Naruto asked.
"Well, like I said, the properties of the venom change. It becomes more than just disabling. It becomes destructive, destroying pure blood and infecting it," Kiba explained. "Whatever blood is left in your body will be targeted. The more blood that's drained from you, the quicker the process of changing goes. The venom infects whatever blood cells haven't been sucked out and changes them. Once all of the blood is infected, it multiplies until the body has been replenished. It's hard for vampires to suffer blood loss because they're blood cells are naturally regenerative. It's not impossible, just hard." Kiba was about to get to the part about changing being the same as dying when Naruto eagerly cut in.
"If it's destructive, how does venom not kill you?"
Kiba smiled. "That's what I'm getting to. It does kill you. When you change, you do die. Once all of the blood cells have been infected, the heart stops. While the blood is multiplying, you're dead. Only once all of the blood cells have been replenished does the heart start again. When it does, there is a disabling thirst for blood. It's because they don't have any pure blood left that vampires crave it. The body never gets used to that change. That's why vampires drink blood, more or less. The thirst is their body's way of trying to replace the infected blood with pure blood. Drinking blood doesn't help, of course, but the body doesn't know that. After a good meal, the mind is temporarily tricked into thinking it's been healed.
"Thirst is really just a never-ending longing to be normal again, if you think about it. Most vampires are content to look at it from a different perspective though. Scientifically, that's what happens. A lot of vampires would argue that they just like the taste and that's all. Of course, that is part of it. Blood does smell and taste better, from what I've witnessed. It's even been proven to be linked to a feeling of euphoria," Kiba added. When Naruto raised an uncertain brow, Kiba went on in simpler terms. "In other words, the smell can pretty much make you high and the taste can pretty much get you drunk."
"Yeah, I get it," Naruto assured. "I just don't think it makes much sense."
"What about vampires makes sense to begin with?" Kiba countered.
Naruto chuckled lightly and nodded in defeat. "Touche." After a moment, he conceded, "I guess I can understand a bit more easily now. It would be pretty damn difficult to not indulge in the sweetest, tastiest, most intoxicating thing on earth to a person."
"That's why the laws are so lax," Kiba added. "At the same time though, VSAF is pretty serious about going around and infecting people. The last thing the world needs is more uncontrollable vamps roaming the streets, murdering people left and right. Infection is only lawful if done consensually."
"Are the only ways to stop from changing to be bled dry or to use anti-venom?" Naruto asked.
"Well, there is the part where you have to drink the blood of the vampire who changed you to change permanently," he admitted. "But if you don't, you just won't become a true vampire. That means you'll live an at least somewhat normal life cycle, as long as you remember to feed your body real food and water and not just blood, and then you'll just die like normal."
"Uh, that's kind of an important thing to lead with, don't you think?" Naruto pointed out.
Kiba shrugged. "Doesn't stop you from changing in the moment. Whether you become a full vampire or not, being infected by a vampire will turn you into a creature that craves blood. Drinking the vampire blood just decides whether or not you'll live or die is all."
"Okay, is there any other method to avoid changing in the moment?" Naruto asked.
"You can suck the venom out too. I've seen Itachi do it when someone brought an unsuspecting girl into Akatsake once and she was bitten and left unattended to. Ita is really in control of his urges, so he sucked the venom out and made sure she got some chocolate in her system," Kiba explained. "Ever since then, he's enforced his rules more relentlessly than ever. By no means can anyone bring in unsuspecting victims. The only humans allowed in Akatsake are those who know what they're getting into. That means people who are aware of the vampire population, which are people like me, people who are feeders and are certainly protected by their vamps too. And also people who bring in their own defensive measures, the kind of people looking to get bitten for pleasure. Ita doesn't mind it if a few humans wanna prance around his bar and offer their veins to a few vamps, as long as they leave his bar alive and human in the end," Kiba explained.
"What about me then?" Naruto asked. "I was none of that."
"Yeah, but you were brought in with me. Ita trusted that I wasn't bringing in unsuspecting prey. I was though. I almost got you bitten that night. I never thought about the fact that you could be in danger. I was absolutely mindless. It was stupid," Kiba admitted.
Naruto remembered his first night in Akatsake. "Akatsake isn't a gay bar," he noted more to himself than to Kiba.
Kiba laughed. "Very vigilant." Naruto playfully shoved him in the arm again, still thankful for the brunet's consistency with keeping the air around them light. "It's a vamp bar," Kiba confirmed. "Good thing you had the sense to knock Sai off you. It's not like Ita doesn't have defensive measures. We would've been able to save you, but we wouldn't know how to explain to you that you were sitting in a room full of vampires, most of which were probably just dying to get a taste of you," Kiba said meekly. "I panicked when Sai tried to bite you. I only then realized what position I'd really put you in. I should've known better when you said that you didn't know Akatsake. It's the biggest vamp bar in the area. If you knew about vamps, you'd have known Akatsake. I just wasn't thinking clearly. I was too excited about the stupid painting."
"So the tradition at Akatsake is…" Naruto paused, prompting Kiba to finish his sentence.
"Offering yourself to be claimed," Kiba finished. "Vampires like to claim mates, much like animals, not that they are animals," Kiba added, giving Naruto a look that just dared him to compare his precious Gaara to a beast. Naruto would do no such thing though. "Most people go to Akatsake looking to be a feeder," Kiba went on. "Sometimes they're looking for multiple vamps, sometimes just one. I was never subjected to tradition because I had a very protective vampire who had already claimed me and everyone was too afraid to ever try to get at me under Gaara's nose. You, however, came in unprotected. They knew immediately that you were up for grabs, so the game was on.
"The crowd at Akatsake is pretty decent. Some of them are scumbags, but for the lives that they lead, they're pretty good people. They tend to follow Ita's rules, and he made a rule after the incident with that girl that no one was to claim any unmarked human in his bar without his permission. It seems he was on his game that night, even if I wasn't, because he didn't give anyone permission to bite you. As I said, the crowd is pretty decent, so they're respectful. They don't really mind who gets to claim the human, as long as someone does. They like their tradition. Usually, Itachi talks to every newcomer to be sure what they expect, so he can make sure nothing gets out of hand. Like I said though, we mostly get sluts who want things to get out of hand. As long as no one dies or is changed unwillingly, Ita doesn't really care.
"Everyone was eyeing you though, but I was too distracted to notice. You meant nothing to Gaara at the time, so he didn't care that there was a room full of vamps behind your back scheming to claim you, and Sasuke is Sasuke. I mean, we just found out that night that he was leeching. I doubt he gave a shit about your life. In any case, Ita must have been feeling extra cautious with you because I hadn't spoken to him about you before you just showed up. Again, I was mindless. Ita is smart though, so even though I was stupid he hatched a plan.
"Deidara," Naruto recognized, and Kiba nodded. "Deidara can be trusted because of his relationship with Itachi."
"Personally, I think he was kinda thrilled at the idea of getting to bite a human again too," Kiba added. "But the plan was that he'd claim you and make it clear that no one was to touch you. Then the rest of the vamps would stop leering at you at least. Ita would've, of course, given you something to counteract the venom right away," Kiba explained. "Unfortunately, we'd still have to explain to you what had happened, but it was better than throwing you to the wolves."
"Well, that didn't go as planned," Naruto joked.
"No, it didn't," Kiba agreed, finding enough mirth in the situation to at least chuckle lightly. "And when you came out unscathed and still oblivious," he went on, "we decided to just keep it a secret. We didn't know how to tell you."
"I don't understand why Itachi didn't just say no," Naruto said. "Why did someone have to claim me?"
"Well, decent only goes so far. Like I said, they like their tradition there. Someone was going to claim you that night, whether Ita wanted them to or not. If he denied them their precious tradition, they might have just killed him for being so stingy. A lot of underground vamps still hold to old-fashioned values and think that humans are just pets waiting to be claimed. Even if they themselves can't have you, someone should. That's why Ita won't just negate the tradition. There was a time when he liked the tradition himself. That's why he allowed it to ever start to begin with.
"In due time, though, he grew out of that, but it wasn't a bother to let it go on. Everyone that came was willing anyway. Why stop something that everyone enjoyed so much? There hasn't been an issue since that girl, up until you. You're the first human to come in and leave unmarked. You're only the second one to walk into Akatsake and not know where you were, thanks to me," Kiba said.
Naruto nodded his head in understanding, as he had done throughout the whole explanation. "I get it," he said. "Don't feel bad though. It's not like you were trying to get me in trouble. It just happened. But I'm fine, aren't I?" Kiba smiled at that and nodded. "But, y'know, how am I fine? If the tradition is so dear to them, why did I leave unmarked?"
"Well," Kiba began, "they would have to be pushed to really fuck with Ita. I'll bet he could take on half of the bar on his own. If they wanted to organize it, they could take him down. But why would they want to? Kill him and the bar is shut down. They don't want to hurt Ita, but Ita recognizes that they could if they really wanted to. Because he doesn't want the trouble, he avoids pissing the crowd off too much. At the same time, to avoid their own trouble, the crowd avoids pissing Ita off too much too. They also avoid pissing Sasuke off and, as far they know now, you're Sasuke's."
"No I'm not," Naruto said confusedly.
"No, you're not," Kiba agreed, "but that's what Itachi told everyone anyway. No one wants to go against an Uchiha if they can avoid it. So if they think that you're Sasuke's, whether he's actually bitten you or not, they'll leave you alone. That was Ita's quick thinking after he kicked Sai out. To please his unhappy patrons, he told them that you were Sasuke's and Sai was acting out of line. They were placated enough."
Naruto's lips curled in disgust at the mention of Sai. "I know," Kiba said, shaking his head. "Sai's greedy ass couldn't help but take control when Dei tried to initiate the plan. I'll bet he was just dying to teach Sasuke a lesson."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, bemused.
"Well, I already told you. I think Sasuke liked you, and that would've made Sai angry. Instead of wanting to feed on you, I think Sasuke wanted to befriend you. Sai is a devout nightwalker. We only found out that night that Sasuke was hunting with him too, but because Sai is a nightwalker, seeing Sasuke warm up to a human would've been sickening. Not to mention, he'd be jealous. He seems to think that Sasuke is his play thing. You'd make that difficult, wouldn't you? I'll bet Sai wanted to claim you and dangle you in front of Sasuke's nose," Kiba said scornfully. "Sai is sick."
"You think Sasuke liked me that much?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
Kiba shrugged his shoulders. "I think Sasuke needs someone like you and even he can see it," he said. "Y'know, I think Sai would've made Sasuke feed on you too," he added on a side note. "He probably would've made you some bedtime toy. He's sick, but not stupid though. Once he saw that you didn't know what kind of place you were in, he backed off. He wasn't dumb enough to attack an unsuspecting human right in front of both Ita and Gaara, not with their families' power. With his family's history, he'd have been in deep shit with VSAF had he bitten you that night."
"What do you mean? What kind of power do Gaara and Itachi have?" Naruto asked.
"They don't have any power. It's their names that do. Fugaku Uchiha and Ryuu Sundama both work for VSAF. If you try any funny business right under the noses of their sons, you're just stupid," Kiba informed.
"The family business?" Naruto asked.
Kiba nodded. "Yep."
"So why don't they just report Sai and get rid of him if they hate him so much?" Naruto asked, but Kiba snorted.
"They're not narks, Naruto. Like Sasuke said last night, everyone is a leech. There's some truth to that. They don't get in other people's business if they don't have to. Not to mention, selling Sai out would be selling Sasuke out too, and then nothing would even change. Fugaku wouldn't publicize that his own son is a known nightwalker. He wouldn't want to have to give Sasuke a warning. He'd have to let Sai off the hook too then. So, really, it wouldn't make any difference. Plus, like I said, they're not snitches. There's no point in being known as one either, or else you'll be targeted and it doesn't matter who your dad is then," Kiba explained.
Naruto nodded pensively. "So that would explain your nice suite."
Kiba smiled. "Yeah, Gaara's family is loaded. Because of VSAF Sasuke, Gaara, Itachi, Temari, and Kankuro were all offered these types of living arrangements. Ita opted to go with the bar instead, and his father made it a point to not complain."
"Where does Sasuke live then?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Here," Kiba said simply. Naruto perked up significantly.
'Sasuke lives here?' Naruto thought to himself excitedly.'Where?'
Kiba saw this reaction and corrected himself quickly. "This is his suite, but he doesn't actually live here. He refuses to accept this place. This whole gated compound is dedicated to vampire living quarters. He doesn't like that, so he has his own apartment." Kiba watched Naruto's mind actively ponder about Sasuke and he decided to change the subject. "Everyone in Gaara's family has worked for VSAF. Gaara is actually the first to break the trend," Kiba said.
"That reminds me!" Naruto exclaimed. "How can he be born a vampire?"
"Vampires aren't a far cry from humans. Well, for the most part. Aging goes along quite nicer and they are sorta immortal. They reach a peak in their mid-20s and then just... you know... smooth sailing from there until something kills em. They have to eat and drink like us, though they can survive without food or water much longer than humans. It'd take you and I a couple weeks to starve to death, but it'd take them a couple months. They don't have to drink blood, but a steady diet of it can replace food and water for quite a while. They have to sleep. They have a reflection. They like beds and not coffins. Gaara is actually terrified of bats," Kiba was going on dramatically.
"I get it," Naruto said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, anyway, they can have babies too. Pair a vamp with a vamp and you get another vamp. Pair a vamp with a human and you get another human. Gaara's parents are both vampires. Everyone in his family is a vampire actually. Temari and Kankuro both plan on joining VSAF in line with their family's wishes," Kiba explained.
"Why not Gaara?"
"Gaara wants to be an artist. That's why he wants to go to university. The reason he doesn't want to join VSAF is because, well, he doesn't get along with Ryuu very well. His dad would rather he didn't join, to be honest," Kiba said quietly, clearly feeling Gaara's sadness for himself.
"Is it because of you?" Naruto asked quietly.
"Yeah," Kiba murmured, averting his gaze.
"Well, Ryuu isn't much of a father if he can't accept his own son," Naruto said firmly.
"It's more complicated than that. This is going against everything they believe. I can understand," Kiba said.
"What?!" Naruto exclaimed, causing Kiba to snap his eyes back up and jump in his seat. "How can you defend them?!"
"Why are you so riled up about it?" Kiba asked confusedly.
"Homophobes are homophobes, whether they're humans or not!" Naruto exclaimed indignantly.
Kiba laughed loudly, thankful for the bolster to his mood. "No," he assured, "that's not it, Naruto. It's because I'm human." A look of understanding came over Naruto's face. "They don't believe in feeding on humans whatsoever. Gaara feeding on me is an outrage to them. It is to his parents, at least. His siblings are a bit more forgiving."
"Sasuke must have been raised with Ryuu then, because he's got the same narrow-minded ideas," Naruto said lightly.
"Eh, not far from the truth," Kiba said. "Gaara and Sasuke grew up together. I'd say the parenting was done by both fathers for all of us."
"All of you? You never did tell me how you all met," Naruto pointed out. He was wondering what Kiba would mean by 'all of us'. Was he adopted into the family or something? Is that how he became so close with Gaara?
Kiba stared at the coffee table in front of them for a long moment before speaking again. "Sasuke is my stepbrother."
"What?" Naruto asked incredulously. "Are you kidding?"
Kiba shook his head and then there was a ding from the elevator. Naruto jumped up, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. Kiba remained calm and sitting though.
"He can't get in, right? He's stuck out, right? We're safe… right?" When Kiba didn't answer, Naruto turned to him with concerned eyes. "Right?"
"Kiba!" someone shouted from the elevator. "Hurry up before this thing takes me away!" Kiba sprung into actions and hurried over to the elevator as the voice beckoned him, and Naruto protested in his wake.
"Kiba! Don't! What are you doing?!" Naruto shouted.
"It's not Gaara," Kiba said shortly, waving a dismissive hand at Naruto as he pushed the lock button beside the elevator.
The heavy, metal locks receded and the elevator doors opened. Out strode a tall man with dark, shaggy hair. He had equally dark, imploring eyes that were studying Naruto carefully. After a short moment, the elevator doors slid shut and the man finally spoke. He turned from Naruto to regard Kiba.
"Across the hall?" he asked softly, his rigidity melting when he regarded the brunet.
Kiba nodded, walking back to Naruto. "He's probably tearing the place apart." The stranger followed Kiba and watched Naruto with hard eyes. Kiba sat back down on the couch, but the stranger and Naruto stood staring at each other. "This is Naruto, Kuru," said Kiba. "Naruto, this is Kankuro." Kankuro stretched out his hand to be shaken and relaxed with a smile. It seemed that he recognized Naruto's name, even though Naruto didn't recognize him at all. Naruto shook his hand nonetheless, to be polite.
"I'm Gaara's brother," Kankuro explained after a long moment of Naruto's palpable confusion.
"Oh~" Naruto nodded in acknowledgement.
Kankuro sat on the couch beside Kiba and Naruto decided to do the same. "I tried your suite first but it was locked up. I just wanted to be sure he was in. You should've called me last night."
"Yeah, I know." Kiba sighed and went on, choosing to ignore his faux pas. "I say give him time. He'll come over when he's ready," he said with a shrug.
"You want him over here?" Kankuro asked uncertainly.
"When he's ready, I do," Kiba answered flatly. "I do like him, Kuru, in case you hadn't noticed." Kankuro laughed and Naruto found that relaxing.
"I'll be able to keep him in check anyway," Kankuro reassured, relaxing back into the sofa.
An awkward silence bloomed momentarily before Kiba cleared his throat and looked to Naruto. "What was I saying?"
"Oh, uh, you were telling me that Sasuke is your stepbrother, and I was being absolutely shocked."
"Right," Kiba said, nodding and pressing his lips into a thin line. It was growing increasingly difficult for him to keep the atmosphere from growing too heavy. "My father left my mother before I was born. She met Fugaku a couple years later and they got married. When she met him, he was against the idea of feeding on humans completely, but she convinced him to abandon that idea by saying he was a danger to the kids if he didn't, so then she became his feeder. And that's our family."
"What about Sasuke's real mom?" Naruto asked curiously.
"She was Fugaku's feeder too, but he lost control one day and… well… she died," Kiba said sadly.
"Feeder?" Naruto asked. "Then, she was human? How is Sasuke not?"
"That's why she lost her life. I think time makes people weary, Naruto. Why else would Gaara have changed so abruptly? How else could he have gone from gentle to... this? From what I've heard, Mikoto was weak from Sasuke's birth, so she wasn't able to feed Fugaku. I suppose the stress of a sick wife, a relentless urge to feed, a constantly crying baby, and a constantly nagging five year old was too much for Fugaku. He couldn't go out and buy supplements because he was too busy being a dad and he didn't dare hunt, as if he'd had the time. One night, he just lost his mind and… well… he bit Sasuke."
"What?" Naruto barely whispered. He couldn't believe his ears.
"Mikoto found Fugaku in a frenzied mess, so she offered herself. Y'know, to save her son. In the end, Fugaku couldn't stop himself. He drained every last drop of blood from her. As if that wasn't bad enough, Itachi saw the whole thing happen. He says Fugaku would've rounded on him too had Sasuke not interrupted with his crying. In the time it took for Fugaku to finish Mikoto off, Sasuke had completely changed. Fugaku was somehow brought to his senses and swore off human blood for good..." Kiba trailed off, apparently losing his train of thought.
"About that time was when our families met," Kankuro picked up, patting Kiba's leg sympathetically in comfort. "My father, Ryuu, was sent to Fugaku to issue him an official warning. I've heard the story many times as justification for why the business is so important and why I shouldn't hesitate to join. Seeing the mess that Fugaku was, having just changed his infant child and scarred his five year old for life, Ryuu took pity on him. They became good friends and Fugaku was recruited into VSAF too. He turned his life around and our families became forever joined as one unit. A couple years later, he met Tsume." Kankuro felt Kiba's hand touch his own, assuring him that Kiba had regained himself.
"Mom convinced Fugaku to revert back to feeding on her," Kiba carried on. "And the rest is history. Sasuke and Gaara had already been growing up together, but when I was added into the mix, we all just got along."
"Got along?" Kankuro said, laughing. "You guys were inseparable!"
Kiba smiled, conveying true delight. "Yeah, we were pretty close then. Sasuke took to my mom really well. Itachi was different though. He was distant from the day I met him. He was never close to any of us. In any case, we grew up together in that way. Kankuro and Temari were always watching us, trying to keep us out of trouble," Kiba went on, smiling and patting Kankuro's hand again.
"And failing," Kankuro added, patting Kiba's leg and smiling back.
"I guess that's all there is to tell," Kiba said, but Naruto could see that such was not the truth. "I mean, other than the fact that Itachi left the house at sixteen and no one knows where he went to this day. He's never told us, but we've gathered that he changed and met Deidara somewhere along the way because he came back as a vampire with Dei in tow," Kiba added, shrugging nonchalantly.
There was a pause before Naruto asked, perhaps a bit insensitively, "How did you guys go from that to this?"
It was more of a rhetorical question than anything, and Kiba understood that. While he didn't intend to answer, the question still brought tough memories to the surface. He looked solemnly up at Naruto's eyes, prompting the blond's gaze to meet his.
"Ren," Kiba divulged quietly, his voice full of sadness and his eyes beginning to tear up. He took in a shaky breath and averted his eyes, looking down at his hands for courage.
"Sasuke should say the rest if he wants," Kankuro said softly.
"It's my story too," Kiba said miserably, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Of course," Kankuro said soothingly, "but think of how Sasuke would feel if you gave that information away. You know how it's affected him."
Kiba's lower lip trembled as he croaked out, "And how about how it affected me?"
Kankuro swallowed a lump in his throat, feeling at an end here. He just draped his arm around Kiba's shoulders and rubbed gently.
Kiba paused shortly and then quietly said to Naruto in a tiny voice, "Ask Sasuke then."
Then, he turned and fell into Kankuro's chest, beginning to quietly cry. Kankuro enfolded him into a tight embrace, rubbing his back and murmuring things that Naruto couldn't make out even at his close proximity.
Naruto wasn't sure how long he'd sat there watching the intense exchange. His mind wandered to Sasuke, but he did place a commiserating hand on Kiba's leg for support. He was more interested in Sasuke than ever before now, and he was exceedingly eager to be close to the man. Most importantly, though, he was eager to know who Ren was and how she ruined the relationship between Gaara, Kiba, and Sasuke.
Naruto noted vacantly that school would start up in just another week or so. If he was lucky, he'd have a few classes with Sasuke, those would be times in which he couldn't avoid Naruto. Then, Naruto would understand Sasuke a little bit more.
To be continued...
Author Note: Check the links section on my main profile page for the links to the layouts for Sasuke's suite (top & bottom floors), Sasuke & Gaara's studio suites, and the general floor plan for floors 19 & 20.
The entire expanse of floors 19 & 20 is dedicated to the private suites, accessible only by the private elevators. Floor nineteen is dedicated to only the studio suites which are suites 1 & 2 (below 3 & 4) and suites 5 & 6 (below 7 & 8). Floor twenty is dedicated to the living suites which are suites 3 & 4 and suites 7 & 8. The people who live in suites 7 & 8 are Kankuro and Temari. Studio suites 5 & 6 are theirs. Obviously, studio suites 1 & 2 are Gaara's and Sasuke's art studios.
P.S. "VSAF" (Vampires For the Safety of Humankind) was previously known as "The Order", but I changed it. As a street name, people just take the "V" from "Vampires" and the "SAF" from "Safety". Simple, and I like saying it more than "The Order".