Red Moonshine
Akatsuki
Red Moon
They met at the Red Moon, the nightclub down the street from the university. On weekends, it was packed the brim with students lodging in the nearby apartments or dorm rooms closer to the actual school, partying away the stress from the proceeding week. Red Moon, abbreviated Atsu by many of its frequenters, was always busy on weekends. Rumor had it that another Red Moon had opened up over in the Suna district, near a university there.
A lone man leaned against the black marble bar counter, a slender digit tracing absently around the rim of an empty shot glass. The low lights of the bar barely illuminated his thin form, tight black pants hugging his waist and a thin sweater covering every inch of his torso. Even with him conserving so much skin, he was clearly handsome, a long black ponytail and locks that framed his delicate features; even the creases across his cheekbones were attractive. Dark eyes studied the crowd of dancers intently even as his shot glass was taken from him and refilled.
Another man, with even longer hair and paler skin, sidled up beside him and signaled the bar tender for a shot. "So Itachi-kun," the new arrival purred. "Ready for a game of Victims?"
"Not tonight, Orochimaru-sama," Itachi replied. "Tonight I'm playing for keeps."
"Oh?" Orochimaru's yellow eyes followed Itachi's line of vision. "The blond?" his tongue flicked out to wet his lips.
"Delectable, isn't he?" Itachi said. "It would be a shame to have him one night just to throw him away."
"It would be," Orochimaru agreed, sliding closer with a shot glass in hand. "But Itachi-kun, is this not your first outing in such a long time? I can help you, you know."
"No thank you," Itachi declined politely as he pushed off of the counter. "Now if you'll excuse me…"
Orochimaru almost pouted, but he looked thoughtfully at Itachi's target. The boy was slight, wearing tan leather pants and a light tank top that left his neck and shoulders bare, glistening with sweat as he moved wildly to the beat. His back was to the bar, but the spiky blonde hair was enough for him to say, "He looks like one of the Fire Agency's Shadows. Be careful, Itachi-kun."
Itachi raised a slender eyebrow at the concerned words. "I don't have to listen to you any more."
"You haven't for a long time," Orochimaru agreed, waving the other man off. He downed his shot. "But we'll have to play together next time."
Itachi's target was even more gorgeous up close, he mused as he came up behind the boy. The blond's nice ass gyrated with his hips, and his arms raised above his head in a ridiculous whirlwind type of dance move.
Itachi reached out and encircled a wrist with his fingers. "Hey!" The blond spun around angrily to face his violator but his protests died as soon as he looked up into Itachi's crimson eyes. Itachi, on the other hand, had never seen eyes so blue.
He kept eye contact even as he pulled the boy closer to him. "Dance with me."
"Of course," came the breathy reply.
Uzumaki Naruto woke up, sore and stiff. And dammit, the light was hurting his eyes! He groaned, lifting an arm up to shield his eyes from the sunlight filtering through the blinds. He reached across a bundle of bedding for the blinds and closed them quickly. As soon as it was dark again, Naruto snuggled back into his blankets and pillows. It was only when his bare leg brushed against another that he realized there was someone in bed with him.
"Gyah!" he shouted, sitting upright. He stared at the pile he had previously mistaken as blankets in horror as it shifted, black hair showing distinctly through a gap between the edges of the baby blue comforter. His eyes widened even further. "You—!"
Naruto stumbled backwards off of his bed, falling to the ground on his naked butt. A quick glance around the room, clothes sprawled everywhere along with other incriminating evidence of what had happened. He kicked aside a black undershirt with the oh-so-familiar fan logo and found a pair of boxers he remembered changing out of before heading for Atsu yesterday. Wait, what had happened yesterday? The last thing he remembered was the heat of the dance floor…
The bundle in his bed shifted again, and Naruto blushed as he pulled on the boxers so fast he almost gave himself a wedgie. He pointed a shaky finger at the bundle. "Get out of my bed right now, or I'll—"
A man sat up, mussed hair falling all over the place. The blankets slid down, exposing his thin chest to the humid air. The two creases below his dark eyes would make anyone else look old. Naruto's blush deepened and he lowered his finger. "Ah, sorry, I thought you were someone else." The truth was that he had never met this man before, but he knew it was courteous not to kick out someone that just woke up.
The stranger's smirk was really sexy. "It's okay," he said, stretching languidly. His feet touched the carpet and as he stood up, the blankets pooled to the ground. Naruto shied away, except the man caught his eye. "Mm, I'm all sweaty. Join me in the shower, won't you Naruto-kun?"
Naruto opened his mouth to answer when he heard a pounding on the front door. Both of them turned their heads to the noise source. "Put that thought on hold," Naruto muttered. "And uh, can you please stay in here?"
Shikamaru knocked again. Che, if Naruto needed help studying for the finals, why wasn't he answering the door? Shikamaru's lower lip jutted out grumpily. He tugged on an earring. He tapped his toes and counted the planks of wood the overhang was made of. The brunet was just about to walk away when his blonde friend finally answered the door.
"Naruto, you look like shit."
The blond just shrugged and open the door wider. "Get in quick. The light is hurting my head."
Shikamaru stepped into the apartment as Naruto scurried around, shutting the door behind him and then going into the kitchenette, in his underpants. It wasn't anything Shikamaru hadn't seen before, but he really wished the boy would just put on some pants. "Ow!" Shikamaru hissed as his toe stubbed on an overturned packing box. He eyed the boxes in the hallway. "You got drunk, didn't you? Kicking your roommate's stuff around. He'll get pissed off, you know."
"Nah, Kiba and I were sober when we did this," Naruto said, coming out of the kitchenette with a glass of water for Shikamaru. "And the roomie's not my roomie anymore. Gone, remember? He called to say he changed his mind about coming back for this stuff. And I can't believe he even convinced me to pack it all up for him." Naruto bounded into the main room and flopped into the blue armchair.
"Yeah, I heard. What kind of monster did that?"
"What?"
Shikamaru pointed at his own neck and gestured back at Naruto. "Those hickeys don't look normal."
Naruto brushed his neck with his fingers and groaned. "Ah, it's too early to be thinking." He dropped his head back.
"Naruto," Shikamaru said, sitting down on the couch, "it's one in the afternoon."
Naruto groaned. "I'm going to take a shower. Don't go in my room."
"Yeah yeah," Shikamaru said, waving Naruto off.
After Shikamaru could hear the shower running at full blast, he set his cup onto the coffee table and stretched himself out comfortably on the couch. He was getting settled to take a short nap when he heard someone come into the room. Shikamaru cracked an eye open to see a stranger with a long ponytail and dark eyes looking at him. He didn't look any older than Shikamaru or Naruto and was wearing a black undershirt and form fitting black pants.
"So you're the roommate? Sorry if we kept you up last night." The guy walked past him and sat down on the armchair and reached for the glass of water on the table.
"Oh, uh, no, I don't live here," Shikamaru corrected, sitting up in his chair. "Just a friend. I'm Shikamaru."
"Itachi." A kind of awkward silence followed.
"So…" Shikamaru started, drumming his fingers together. "You're in the police force?"
Itachi raised an eyebrow. "How did you guess?"
"The logo is on your shirt. Red fan with a white handle? But you're too young to be in the force. That would mean you're part of the founding clan. You do look almost exactly like Uchiha-san, but isn't he supposed to be the last of his line?"
Itachi was impressed. The fan was printed on the back of his shirt; the boy had probably seen it for only a second at the most. And he remembered the Uchiha Massacre too; after the initial hoopla some four years ago, it faded to the background forgotten. And he knew the only living member of the clan. That would come in handy. Shikamaru wasn't pretty though; Itachi had a personal rule about siring only pretty people. But maybe the boy would be useful anyway…
"Itachi-san?" Shikamaru could have sworn Itachi's eyes were black, but now they were a crimson red. When did—?
"You will listen to me and do what I say," Itachi whispered.
"Yes Master."
Reporting live from R-chama's Lair:
Welcome to Red Moonshine. Red Moonshine takes place in the Tokyo megalopolis, but probably will have a bit of a western feel to it. I also Italicize carefully, hint hint. And if you ask something in a review, I just might answer it.
Please note that I am not proficient in Japanese. I know stuff from limited research that I do. If I make any mistakes, please feel free to notify me.
The character for Akatsuki means "dawn" or "daybreak." I accidently had it broken up into "Aka" and "Tsuki", which mean Red and Moon respectively. Oops.
Tune in next time for new characters, plot development, and someone pining after Naruto.
All standard disclaimers apply.