Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

A/N: I decided to give Sasunaru month a try in English this year, so here you have it. This is a collection of individual and mostly unrelated drabbles. Both Sasunaru and Narusasu tropes will be included and each chapter will have its own warnings, as well as a tag to specify if it's SN or NS.

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Prompt #26: Vampire AU (-)

Warnings: Character death, reincarnation, a lot of angst, Vampire Sasuke.

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Human life was short, ephemeral compared to all recorded history, and insignificant alongside the universe.

Humans were aware time was precious, and that's why they took advantage of every minute, every second. If they got stuck, they lost their notion of everything else, and that was something they couldn't afford. Life was too short to waste it like that.

Sasuke remembered those feelings, the human feelings he used to have before being forcefully bereaved of his humanity. His life hadn't been perfect, but whose life was? He had a loving mother, a strict father that loved him in his own way, an older brother he always admired… He went to school, he graduated, he got into university, he fell in love…

A sigh left his lips, the wind gently swinging his hair.

If he closed his eyes, he could still see his face. Naruto's face. The way he'd smile at him when they met before the school bell rang, a cup of steamy coffee in his hand. The idiot knew Sasuke loved that coffee and waited for him every morning with his favorite drink in hand, and in exchange Sasuke would treat him to his favorite ramen restaurant every once in a while.

So yes, he had a good life, even if it was shorter than he'd hoped. Now all those moments had turned into distant memories, ones that he'd treasure for eternity, but could never revive.

Years passed by fast, yet so painfully slow at the same time. He'd gone from being surrounded by people he loved to being alone. Everything he knew, everyone he'd loved, was nothing but part of a past that sometimes he felt was not his.

No matter how many years went by, he still couldn't figure out why his life turned out like this, why fate had been so cruel. The actual responsible for his situation was gone, Sasuke hadn't even been able to see his face that time, and finding him after so long was impossible. The only thing he had left was himself, and those vague images of a life that didn't belong to him anymore.

The only constant in his life was time's incessant march, and two baby blue eyes that seemed to always be able to find him over and over again, against all distance, against all odds.

The first time he'd come across with that shiny golden hair and those deep blue eyes again, Sasuke thought he was finally going crazy.

It wasn't possible. Naruto had died decades ago. He'd had a relatively long life, and he'd been forced to say goodbye due to a long debilitating disease. Naruto never knew what had happened to him back then. Sasuke once heard the blond had looked for him for years before his case was archived by the police when no indication of Sasuke's whereabouts were ever found. He saw Naruto suffer his absence, but was relieved at seeing he went on with his life.

Naruto had a good life. He got married, had two kids, got divorced, and spent the rest of his life working, but never left those important to him aside. During his last moments, when he was hospitalized just waiting for the inevitable, gray hair and wrinkled skin, Sasuke went to visit him.

He waited for Naruto to be alone in the room and got in without anybody noticing. He took his time contemplating him, his mind wandering to what could have been but never was. Sasuke still loved him, but Naruto had long ago stopped thinking of him. It was natural. The blond was human, he couldn't spend the few years he'd live stuck in the past and throw his future away.

Sasuke wasn't like him anymore. Time wasn't a factor for him, his heart would spend all eternity yearning what it had lost.

He padded closer to the bed, stretching a hand to caress those former blond strands one more time. Then, he realized a pair of cobalt eyes were looking straight at him, behind a curtain of exhaustion.

"Sasuke…" his voice was scratchy, dry, and Sasuke couldn't help but take a step back when he realized Naruto had just recognized him. "You finally came back for me…"

His whole body trembled when a weak hand stretched in his direction, and his chest clenched painfully before carefully taking it between his own.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice barely audible, feeling Naruto's dry skin against his palms.

Naruto smiled. Age hadn't diminished the intensity of those eyes nor the expressivity of his smile.

"It's okay…" he said, coughing a bit for the exertion. "We'll be together now."

If Sasuke had still been human, there would be tears running down his face.

Naruto had never forgotten him, he'd always kept him in his heart. Now, as an old man on the verge of death, he seemed to honestly think Sasuke's spirit had come to pick him up, to take him with him.

"You should rest," Sasuke said, gently putting Naruto's hand back on the bed and leaning in to kiss his forehead.

"I'll find you again, in our next life," Naruto promised. "I never stopped looking for you, and I never will…"

Sasuke silently watched as his former lover closed his eyes, smile never weavering, chest rising and falling until the motion finally stopped.

Then, he stroked gray locks of hair again.

I hope you're okay, wherever you are now, he thought, clenching his teeth before leaving the hospital room, knowing he was also leaving behind the person he had loved the most, the only one for him. I promise I'll never forget you, Naruto.

And he never did, the same way he never thought Naruto could ever keep his promise. But now, many decades later, he was right in front of him, baby blue orbs eyeing him curiously.

"Have we met before?" the boy, who couldn't be older than sixteen, asked him. "You seem oddly familiar…"

Sasuke never believed in reincarnation before, but there was no way to deny it was Naruto in front of him. Wearing different clothes, having a different hairstyle, living a different life, but it was still him.

But what could Sasuke do, now? There was no way he could act on his deepest desires. Naruto deserved a normal life, and Sasuke was no more than a stranger to him now.

"No, sorry. You must be mistaken," he'd replied, and kept walking away in the darkness. As he went on, silhouette barely illuminated by the moonlight, he could feel the blond's attentive gaze on him.

Sasuke didn't look back. But one thing he was now sure of was that Naruto was right, he always kept his promises. He'd found him again. Now it was Sasuke's turn to do something for him and let him go.

The stars glowed sadly that night.

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A/N: This is another story that's been laying in my abandoned folder for a couple of years hahaha My idea was to make it a multi chapter story, but ended up being unable to write much more than this. So, it's finally seeing the daylight! Even if it's short.