So, we begin with a flashback...You have been warned. Um, there's something unrelated I have to tell you guys after this chapter's over. Wait for it.

Disclaimer: No, no, definitely no, Naruto's not mine. You think kids would be allowed to watch if he was?

Waking

Fear. It's not something you experience often, in real life. You get scared. Or startled, maybe. But you're rarely afraid. So that when real fear actually pops out of the blue and right upon you, you never react the way you should. Like here, for instance. My legs simply wouldn't listen to instinct and bail.

I could almost smell my sweating skin. It was that simple. I was paralyzed, and instead of doing the right thing that was running away without thinking, my body had almost completely shut down, while my brain overloaded with every detail it could take in.

The hand reaching for my throat, for instance. The arm belonging to it, and the man itself. He didn't look intimidating; his skin was pale, his body thin, thinner than anyone might recommend. I was broader, and just as tall as the guy. He had no weapon, nothing to threaten me. Except he was scary as hell.

"You shouldn't be wandering after lights-out," he remarked in a quiet, polite voice. "This area isn't safe at all." Didn't sound scary, either. Almost nice. I shivered involuntarily as his fingers slid under my chin, and he released as humorless chuckle. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

Part of me wondered what he wanted. He didn't seem interested in money, or the ipod located in my pocket, to which my very visible headphones were still attached, or the cellphone I was bound to possess. And he didn't look like a rapist, either, though the light handling made me warier than I would have liked. No, if I had to put a name to it, the guy looked like he was starving. But I didn't have any food.

"Kit!"

The roar caused the guy to turn, and as though delivered from a spell, my legs became alive again. I didn't stop to think, and ran for it.

I couldn't hear him follow, but darted past Kiba and kept running, intent on getting as far away from the man as I could. Kiba raced after me, and didn't wait for us to stop to ask, "Where were you? I've been looking for you for ages! Who was that guy?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I snapped back. "Some guy who wanted-" I didn't finish, but it wasn't because I hadn't known what I wanted to say. The huge wolf standing in front of us was enough to make anyone speechless.

"No freaking way," Kiba breathed next to me, watching with a horrified fascination as the beast in front of us released a dangerous growl. "Go back." He stepped away from the wolf. "Let's go back."

"The guy," I panted, my previous terror resurfacing in the blink of an eye. "He's still-"

"Go!" Kiba pulled me back, just before the huge creature released a heart-numbing howl. And my legs were running again. Running, away from one fear, straight back to the first; running under the silver moonlight, running through a nightmare. And all I could do was to pray with all my might I would wake up.

"Kit! Where are you going?" Kiba's voice was already distant. The same need, the same instinct that had driven me away from him before was overpowering me again, instructing me to ignore the call behind me and keep on advancing.

And there he was again. Inspecting me with regretful, but unflinching eyes. I slowed, and walked straight up to him, just like the last time. This time, however, he didn't linger. "I'm sorry," he stated darkly. "But I can't allow you to leave." Seizing my jaw, he pushed my head to the side, and tore my shirt's collar in order to access my skin. I couldn't move, couldn't make a sound. But my mind was screaming.

"Naruto!" Kiba roared. "Kit, don't just-" The end of his sentence was drowned by the second roar of the night. The wolf was coming, and he was coming fast.

Red eyes suddenly flashed before me, and I cast my attention back to my captor, startled by the sudden shade. The crimson orbs were unreal, shinning like twin drops of blood in the midst of a snow-colored face. An odd sight, my numbing brain concluded.

"I'm sorry."

It was the last thing I heard before my world erupted in pain.

The hand flew across my face and sent me to the ground, snapping me out of my daze. I blinked, shaking from the flashback, its images still vivid in my mind. The pain was still there, too. I looked up. And there he was again. This wasn't just a memory. It was real. I recoiled away from the vampire, too scared to even scream.

"Dobe, snap out of it." The dry voice brought me back down to earth. Fully, this time. I blinked, and froze, watching dazedly as Sasuke dragged himself to my side and glared. "What is wrong with you?"

His irises were black, not red. But just to make sure, I removed the dark bangs from his face and pulled his head closer to my eyes. He sighed.

"What's the matter, idiot?"

"You-" My throat was suddenly dry. "You look like-" I stopped, shaking. Fear was still flowing inside my veins, irrational and powerful as hell.

"You need to calm down," he ordered me sternly. "Quit hallucinating."

I nodded, feverishly doing my best to calm my nerves. Memory was returning. "You bit me," I stated blankly.

He handed me any icy glare. "You deserved it," he shot back. I didn't answer, and he sat down next to me with a small groan. "What did you see?"

I looked down, hand involuntarily reaching for the side of my neck. The skin was still humid and slightly caved where the teme's teeth had been, but there was no wound. "The night I got bit," I mumbled quietly.

He didn't say anything for a while. I looked up again, and frowned when I realized his face had darkened, eyes darting jerkily from side to side as he seemed to add some unknown pieces up.

"You never told me who bit you," he finally remarked.

I turned my head away from him again. "It's not something I remember."

"Liar." I looked up, and saw that his gaze was hard. "You know now. Why did I scare you?"

"You didn't scare me."

"You thought I was the one who had bitten you."

"You did bite me, you asshole."

"You took me for a vampire."

"No, I didn't!"

"You said I looked like someone."

"Shut up!" I buried my face into my arms. "Just shut up! I don't want to talk about him!"

"So it was a guy?" the bastard insisted.

"Stop it!" My voice strained, and I knew my entire body was curling up. "Stop talking! Stop it!"

The teme breathed in, no doubt in order to calm his own temper. "Naruto, I need to know," he said in composed, unusually soft voice. "Please." The last word almost died in his throat, and I slowly lifted my head, aware the only thing keeping me from trembling were the tight hold my arms had on the rest of my body.

Sasuke observed me with a expression I didn't recognize. When he spoke, his voice was careful. "The fear you're feeling isn't rational."

"I'm not afraid."

"You're behaving like you're afraid," he stated calmly. There wasn't any scorn in his voice, which was thoroughly odd. "Why?"

"I don't know." My eyes lowered again, though not completely. "Ever since I first saw him," I articulated, hating the slight waver in my voice. "I-" And then I had to stop, because my shaking had gotten so bad my teeth actually clicked as I tried to speak. I shook my head, desperate to stop the conversation. "Don't ask," I pleaded. "Just- please..."

Sasuke sighed. "We should go back," he told me, mercifully closing the subject.

I nodded, suddenly appeased. "You can't walk with that leg," I remarked. "Get on my back."

He handed me a dark look of contempt, which I faced with ease, before offering my back to his view, and waiting. Eventually he huffed, and wrapped his arms around my neck. I got back to my feet, and began heading towards the hospital. At the human pace I was using, we'd be there in half an hour.

I didn't comment on his sudden change of heart. His resentment seemed to have left him completely, something for which I was grateful, although I was slightly nervous about what I'd done to make it disappear. Something had replaced it, that was for sure.

I took the apartment's keys from Sasuke's lazy hand -if the pervert hadn't told me he'd stopped sleeping, I'd half believe the teme was on the edge of oblivion- and entered the lobby quietly. The place hadn't changed much. Actually, it hadn't changed at all; it seemed as though Sasuke had left anything I had moved before leaving untouched, and the messy living room looked like I had only left a couple of hours ago. The kitchen was cleaner, but looked absolutely dead. I had plucked the teme onto his bed before heading towards the fridge in order to get him something to eat, and the emptiness that met me provoked a flood of guilt to burn down my spine. I soon returned to his bedroom.

"You haven't been eating," I accused.

He handed me a worn-out look. "I haven't been buying food," he corrected. "Hence why the fridge is empty."

I examined him. He looked like a ragged doll; muddy, bloody, if not a little lifeless. But he wasn't thinner than I remembered.

"Shikamaru and Neji have been taking care of my diet," he finally sighed. "Don't worry about it."

He wasn't looking at me. His voice was flat, and I could tell he was restraining his emotions. I bit my lower lip.

"I'm sorry I worried you," I muttered.

He didn't move. "You haven't worried me, idiot."

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"I said I was fine."

"Sakura's an O-type."

He froze, for a split-second. Then shrugged. "I know that."

"I didn't do anything with her."

"That's not my problem."

"We're just friends."

"Obviously." For the first time, his voice carried a hint of sarcasm.

I felt offended. "Don't you believe me?"

His head finally turned, and he stared at me straight into the eye. "You're hard to believe."

He was hurt. More than the the complete empty, ghost-like state of his apartment, more than the drastic changes his body had suffered right after my departure, it was the new lack of trust that unraveled exactly how much I had betrayed him. I fell back against the wall and sank to the ground, slowly.

"Don't cry," he snapped.

"You're saying this like I could," I replied morosely. He didn't reply, and I stared into empty space. Even more quietly, I added, "Sometimes I wish I would."

Another stretch of silence followed. And I found myself wondering if Sasuke could still cry, despite his changes.

"I acted like a jerk."

My head snapped up again, allowing my eyes to widen up completely. Sasuke glared at the wall. "I'm not saying I deserved what I got," he added in a half-growl. "But I should have explained you what-" Sighing angrily, he tossed his head to the side, as though trying to dislodge an unpleasant thought. "Open the first drawer of my desk," he finally articulated.

I blinked, and gave him a confused look. But he didn't acknowledge me, and waited. So I got to my feet and headed to the large desk, pulling back the highest drawer. Inside was-

"I'm not going to apologize," Sasuke stated icily, as though daring me to argue. His voice was hard, but his eyes flickered with something that definitely wasn't anger. I picked up the brand new CD with hesitant hands, then looked up at the bastard.

"Sasuke?"

"What?" he snapped.

I grinned softly. "Thanks."

He didn't answer immediately. But when he spoke, his voice was gruff. "It was yours. Now put it away."

Not keen on seeing it destroyed again I obeyed, and soon returned to his room, slightly worried by the fact that he hadn't budged an inch. Unsure of what to do, I sat down next to him, and waited for him to break the silence.

"My brother listened to that music," he finally muttered.

I nodded slowly. I had come to deduce he wasn't at all a fan of the group. But even so, his reaction to the music had been a little too extreme for it to be mere dislike. Did he hate his sibling?

"He was a ten years older than me."

I frowned. "Was?"

Sasuke nodded. "He was a genius," he added, and this time I noted a twinge of childish envy inside his voice. "Everyone admired him."

I suddenly understood. The reaction. It had been denial. Denial of memories he'd wanted to forget. "He's dead?" I asked, making sure my voice was as gentle as I could make it.

But Sasuke shook his head. "He left eight years ago," he replied darkly.

"Oh." Well, my theory still worked, didn't it? "And you never saw him again?"

"No."

He was silent again. But this time, strangely, he wasn't glaring at air. Instead, the pitch black irises were boring into me with an intensity that was slightly unnerving. I shuddered involuntarily, and, all of a sudden, I felt for the first time exactly how cold my blood was.

Eight years. And Sasuke's reaction after my panic attack. Eight fucking years. Bloody hell, that meant-

"Sasuke-" I choked out his name, feeling the old turmoil rise out from my belly again. It couldn't be. Not like this, not-

But the bastard nodded, once. "My brother was a vampire," he stated in a dead voice. "He massacred our entire clan when he transformed, and vanished into thin air after he was done." He looked up at my terrified figure. "I'm also starting to believe he's the one that bit you."

Yeah...and that's all until Halloween. Sorry folks, but I have to work this year. Like, seriously. On another hand, there's another story (a oneshot that's too long, and so will probably be a two-shot) I've been working on when I was supposed to be working on this (but I have a short attention span, and I need to distract myself by writing something else), which is called the Joys of Parenthood (for the moment) and is inspired from a true story. If (when) I finish it, you'll be strongly encouraged to read it. It's a lot less depressing than this. I think.

Oh, and I still don't mind getting reviews, fair readers. Type on.