DISCLAIMER: Even though I desperately wished I did – I do not own 'Naruto' or 'Naruto: Shippuden'. If they were real, Naruto would be my best friend and Sasuke would be mine!

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru (main), AkuSasu (forced relationship), SaiSaku

A/N: No flames or mean comments, please. Saying 'No offence' only intensifies the offence felt.

Hey! My name's Grace (A.K.A x-psychicfire-x)! Thanks for reading my 3rd Naruto fanfic! This is my first yaoi story featuring SasukexNaruto (YAY!), so please be kind :D If you like this story, check out:

Paper Cranes and Cherry Blossoms (a SasuSaku story) and The Uchiha Sharingan Vision (beware my OC is a bit of a Mary Sue, unfortunately. I apologise for this :S)

Also, this is the ONLY chapter that will be in the third person – this is just the prologue to what happened to Sasuke before the events of chapter one onwards. The rest of the chapters will be in first person, alternating between the point of views of Sasuke and Naruto.

THEME SONG: This Night - Black Lab

VAMPIRES 101.

". . .I could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer, nearer. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the super sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy and waited, waited with beating heart."

from Jonathan Harker's Journal
(Bram Stoker's Dracula)

Fun fact about Vampires: they're not fun. In fact they're a pain in the neck (pun intended).

At least that was the unfortunate case for Sasuke Uchiha who became a Vampire the day he killed his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, and 'forefilled' a pledge to destroy him after he came across Itachi standing over the bloodied mangled bodies of his beloved parents. Sasuke had mistakenly thought that his brother was the cause of their deaths.

He had only been eight years old at the time of his parents demise, Itachi had been thirteen years old. And it did look slightly incriminating at the time for the eight-year old by the fact that his brother Itachi: his hero, the boy he placed on a pedestal and hoped to be just as strong and respected of, was holding a dripping katana with their parents' blood still wet and slick on the polished, hammered medal edge. Now he hated the sight of him and wanted nothing more than to cut him down on the spot.

But, in Itachi's defense, it was hard to see the vampire puncture marks in Fugaku and Mikoto's neck from where Sasuke had been standing at the time. So it seemed only natural for Sasuke to assume the worst and attack Itachi, swearing a bloody revenge against him for the murder of their parents, and obviously not thinking for one moment that maybe Itachi wasn't the one to blame for the attack.

And Itachi hadn't been.

Itachi was just as horrified and enraged when he himself arrived home from training that night to find both his parents dead on the ground from the vampire puncture marks. Although at first, Itachi hadn't seen the vampire puncture marks until both parents unexpectedly rose from the dead and started to attack him.

Not being an idiot, as Uchihas are not notoriously known for stupidity, Itachi put all his ninja training into practise and he immediately stabbed both parents in the heart with a tree branch he had snapped off as he retreated into the family's courtyard, with both vampifed parents chasing him, blood crazed and feral, and came upon the family's large cherry blossom tree. The tree branch was within easy reach for Itachi, and when he snapped away the branch from the tree itself, it became a makeshift stake.

Vampires cannot be killed by anything other than wood to the heart or fire. And in doing what Itachi did, he had freed his parents from living a damned life as Vampires as they instantly reverted to their human forms and collapsed to the ground with blood blossoming on their chests from the freshly pierced wounds.

"Itachi..." whispered Fugaku Uchiha, raising a shaking hand to his eldest son.

Itachi came over to his parents' side, tears spilling out his eyes as he held his mother and father's hands for the last time. Fugaku pulled his son close to whisper in his ear.

"Tell Sasuke...he's made me proud...and that I love him... we...love...him."

Itachi nodded, blinking tears from his eyes. Fugaku smiled proudly at his son and wiped the tears from his Itachi's cheek with his callused thumb. Mikoto trapped her son's hand between her soft ones and rubbed them soothingly, trying to comfort and reassure him that everything would be alright.

"We love you... both so much..." whispered Mikoto.

Itachi kissed his mother and father's hands in a sign of respect and loyalty.

"Protect him." croaked Fugaku and he coughed up blood before succumbing to his wound and ceasing to move. Mikoto following swiftly. Both were dead. Never to return.

"NO! PLEASE KAMI, NO!" sobbed Itachi, clutching to their corpses.

For a few moments after, Itachi stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes and fetched his Katana from his room, hating himself for what he now had to do.

In two swift, accurate swings both heads of his beloved parents were cleaved from the bodies. Fugaku and Mikoto were at peace. And naturally, Sasuke chose that moment to appear. But before Itachi could explain the situation to his kid brother, he instead was fighting to restrain a vengeful Sasuke who looked at him with pure, unadulterated hatred, from killing them.

Sasuke, now fifteen years old, was now kicking himself for jumping to foolish conclusions that day he had found his brother standing over his parents' corpses, looking like he had just killed them. He now knew the truth about what had happened to his parents, and what had now been done to him – albeit against his will.

He would now, never know what his parents' last words had been, as the conveyor of the messages was now lying six-feet underground in a pine box wearing a white yukata and decaying, leaving Sasuke unaware of the serious danger he had been in, and also had Sasuke believing that his father saw him as a disappointment and not worthy of his love.

'Danger' was in the form of an attractive young woman named Akumu (meaning Nightmare in Japanese), who was in fact an extremely powerful witch who practised black magic and who was also a Vampire.

On the day Sasuke was changed into a vampire against his will, he had returned to his home after nearly four years from finally 'defeating' his 'traitorous' brother to find Akumu waiting for him, coquettish smile on her pale, flawless face.

Akumu had been observing Sasuke for about the same four years after she had killed Sasuke's parents (they had been food for her) and had fallen in love with Sasuke, deciding that he was the one who would help her become unstoppable and more powerful than she had ever dreamed to be, and she decided to make Sasuke hers forever. So Akumu decided to give Sasuke the option of living forever, and being extremely powerful and young until the end of time, provided of course that he promised to love her and only her. Instead of the alternative, which is simply taking him there and then.

That wouldn't be much fun... for her. The love of a Vampire not only is dangerous, but binding and unbreakable.

"Hello stranger, haven't seen you around here lately." Akumu had said pleasantly to Sasuke, much to his annoyance.

Sasuke recalled that at the time her voice seemed rather unusual to him – a mix between alluring and inhuman. But also at the time, Sasuke had looked at Akumu like she was a particularly nasty bug that he viewed as dangerous and needed to squashed quickly.

"Get out." He had said abruptly and coldly, and had shoved her aside to get to the front door, where he lethargically started removing his sandals.

Undeterred, she followed him, which only succeeded in pissing the Uchiha off further. He paused briefly to retrieve his sword which was lying innocently by his side where he had placed it and unsheathed it with a steady hissing noise, that if Akumu had've been alive and human would've caused her to shudder in fear and made her turn and flee for her life, which was Sasuke's original plan. However, the action only made Akumu stop in her tracks and a cocky grin spread across her face.

"I do not particularly want to fight you. Not because I would not enjoy hacking you limb from limb - I would not have any problem with that – it would be because I am tired and I wish to go to sleep. Now fuck off, or lose a limb."

Sasuke threatened, pointing the sword tip at Akumu's throat. Akumu's smile broadened and she continued walking towards Sasuke, ignoring the blade.

"How do you feel about, an immortal life?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her, both because she hadn't left and because of her random question.

"What?"

"Hmmm. How about being more powerful than you have ever been in your entire existence?" She continued, as though Sasuke hadn't said a word.

Sasuke couldn't say that he wasn't tempted by the idea of being powerful. But his vendetta on his brother was over now. He was able to get on with life – despite the fact that he had this painful, nagging feeling in his chest that wouldn't cease. It had started throbbing the moment he had killed his brother.

"No thank you. I am fine the way I am."

He replaced his sword back into the holster and turned away from the annoying girl in front of him, sliding open the door to his home.

"Now I will say this for the final time. Remove yourself from my parents home."

Sasuke putting his sword back was just what Akumu was waiting for. She knew the moment Sasuke had told her to get lost that she was not going to be able to persuade or woo Sasuke into being hers. So she decided to take him by force and when it was over, making him love her. Sasuke was blissfully ignorant of the calculating expression on Akumu's face, as he was intent on getting into his home, drawing a bath and relaxing in it before going to sleep.

So he was caught off guard when strong hands suddenly wrapped themselves around his face, cutting off his air supply and seizing his shoulder in an iron grip. He fought savagely, using his taijutsu and ninjutsu to release himself from the impossibly strong hold his captor had on him, but only succeeded in wearing himself out even further. Akumu let out an inhuman laugh that sent chills down Sasuke's spine.

"What are you?" Sasuke whispered, clutching helplessly to Akumu's arm which was pressing on his windpipe. He felt weak, helpless and completely vulnerable – he hated this, he hadn't felt like this since the first time he trained against the missing nin, notorious criminal and Snake Sannin, Lord Orochimaru as a weak genin seeking power and a way to put away his brother for good.

Struggling against his bondage pointlessly, Sasuke froze and almost retched when he felt and smelt hot, putrid breath on his neck. He shuddered again as cold fingers trailed slowly down his neck and he gulped feeling his Adam's apple bouncing on the arm constricting his windpipe, and then gasped when felt something sharp touch the pulse point of his neck and pierce the skin slightly but not going any further.

"It all depends on what you believe, Sasuke." Akumu murmured into Sasuke's ear and then playfully licked behind his ear, but at the same time increased the pressure on his windpipe, causing Sasuke to flinch and pale slightly.

"Can you imagine yourself not aging, having more power than you can possibly dream of, and owning the strength of ten ninjas combined while the world around you shifts and changes?"

Sasuke nodded, not liking where this was going. Everything this insane woman spoke of sounded like paradise, but also sounded pretty damn lonely – for the past four years, he had been lonely. And he had gotten used to this fact. But he never liked it, even though he had gotten accustomed to it. Sasuke also had never even known true love from anyone except his parents and even his brother while he had been growing up. All he really ever knew was death – from people dying all around him either from natural causes or by his own hand if someone ever dared to stand in his way.

Sure, the idea of living forever, not aging a day, and being extremely powerful had its perks. But Sasuke's real goal was to someday see his parents' loving faces again – and for this reason, Sasuke did not want to become immortal. He wanted to fall in love and eventually get married, maybe have heirs, his heirs producing his grandchildren and then living out his life to become an old man dying warm and safe in his bed with his loving family and friends all around him.

Dying the honourable death.

"I have no desire for what you speak of." Sasuke managed to croak, clawing feebly on Akumu's arms.

The strangle hold increased. The sharp touch, which was obviously fangs pressed on Sasuke's pulse point, drew itself deeper into Sasuke's skin causing him to cry out in pain slightly.

"I was willing to play fair, love. But you have no choice in this matter – you will be mine and no one else's. Prepare yourself, because this is REALLY going to hurt." Akumu promised Sasuke and slowly, lovingly, she slipped her fangs easily into the soft flesh of Sasuke's throat and began to drink.

Sasuke screamed in unbearable agony, praying for someone to help him. The world around him started fading away, getting blacker and blacker, the pain fading away as his body went numb and cold. Finally just before his heart gave out, Akumu pulled back and opened her own vein just above her breasts. She pulled Sasuke's head towards the weeping wound and positioned Sasuke's lips towards it. Sasuke realised what she was doing and moaned feebly, resisting her once more.

"Drink damn you! Or you will die, do you want to die this way? Your soul will forever be damned this way if you do not!"

Sasuke did not want to drink from her wound, but neither did he want to die this way. So against his better judgement, Sasuke obliged, sealing his fate in becoming a Vampire. The first pull was revolting and Sasuke immediately wanted to spit the blood out again, but Akumu's hand stopped him from pulling away as she hissed in pleasure, enjoying the pain of having her blood taken from her. The second pull was slightly better and after the sixth pull Sasuke instantly could taste the flavour of matured wine on his tastebuds and he started drinking hungrily, pressing Akumu's body to his.

When he drunk his fill, he pulled away from Akumu's body and looked down at himself in horror. He had become everything he hated and he could feel an unknown power came from deep within him, but the power felt foreign and he desperately wanted to claw it from his chest.

"NO!" He roared and pounded the ground with his fists as Akumu looked on triumphantly at her new slave and lover.