Red Moonshine

Bakuro

Exposure

Even though Sasuke had to admit that Kiba's fleeing of their house was pretty indicative of the truth of Neji's accusations—that Kiba was the werewolf who attacked Hinata—he could not just let the demon go and kill the man. That's how Sasuke found himself struggling to keep a grip on his roommate's sweatshirt as he dug his heels into the ground.

"Neji, I know you're mad," Sasuke panted. "Hell, I'm mad too. But chasing him down right now isn't a good idea. For one thing, do you know where he is?"

"He can't have gone far," the long haired boy growled. For all of Sasuke's efforts, they were all the way half way towards the downtown, where the clubs and bars and restaurants were. It seemed to Sasuke that Neji did have an idea of where Kiba would head. "Plus, Kiba has a distinct scent, and if I focus my senses right, I can sense his trail," Neji snarled, confirming Sasuke's suspicions.

"For another thing," Sasuke continued, "Kiba is yakuza, Neji. Yakuza! And at that, a family heir! Don't tell me you want to get killed by thugs. And we're leaving Hinata alone at the house!"

But Neji kept plowing forward. Kiba had a ten minute head start on them, not to mention the fact that the yakuza boy must have kept running, unlike Neji, whose speed was hampered by Sasuke clinging to him for dear life.

The next thing Sasuke knew, they were outside Atsu, music pumping loudly from the open doors, smoke wafting out. Then they were inside, pushing through people packed tightly together. A wildly dancing girl knocked into Sasuke, causing his sore fingers to let go of Neji. With Neji's pace, Sasuke was soon alone in the club.

Cursing, Sasuke looked around for anyone familiar. Finding no one he knew, Sasuke sighed and headed to the bar, where the blond bartender was working. "Hey," Sasuke started when he sat at a stool. "Did you see a longhaired guy with a scary look on his face?"

The bartender laughed and set a glass of soda in front of him. "We get a lot of longhaired scary guys, yeah," the man told him. "Any more specific?"

"Black hair, this tall, comes in a couple times a week," Sasuke described, gesturing with his hands.

"He means Neji," came a voice behind him, yelling to be heard over the music. "I just saw him stalk by with a furious look on his face. What's going on?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder quickly at Naruto. "He's out to get Kiba," Sasuke told him. "I just want to make sure he doesn't go overboard or something."

"Ha," laughed Naruto. "Good luck to Neji, finding him." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "In this crowded club," Naruto clarified, before quickly changing the topic. "I haven't seen you around lately."

"Maybe it's because I moved out," Sasuke snapped. He rubbed a hand over his face and said in a softer tone, "Sorry, I'm just not in a good mood right now."

"Anything I can do to help it?" Naruto asked, and suddenly Sasuke felt as if he was trapped in a dream again. Naruto had lowered his voice into a steamy, seducing type of tone, moving closer to brush his arm against Sasuke's. Sasuke knew he shouldn't be falling for Naruto's charms right now; he had something important to do, but he didn't know what it was as he looked at Naruto's face.

"A lot of things," Sasuke said. Naruto always did have that effect on him, making him forget everything and everyone else.

Naruto grinned a little predatorily before leaning in and whispering in Sasuke's ear. "Anything for you, Sasuke-teme," Naruto assured him.

"Have you seen a college sophomore around here?" Neji asked Deidara after a frustrated search through Atsu. "Brown hair, red tattoos on his cheeks. Goes by the name Inuzaka?"

The bartender raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know him," the blond said.

Neji snarled. "Listen, Deidara, I've been coming to this club every fucking week," the demon hissed, suddenly reaching across to grab Deidara's collar. "It's an open secret about who runs this place and what you are. What no one does know is what I know about your bloody mixed drinks. Two weeks ago the Fire Agency picked up crates of virgin blood in a raid on an Oto gang's nest. If the agencies knew what was on your secret drink list, your precious red moonshine, it'd be a free for all, rivalries between hunters and agencies aside. Now, I am not in the mood for your bullshit. Kiba is here and I want to see him now."

The vampire grinned, and his eyes flashed red. "Now now, Neji-kun," Deidara said slyly. "We don't want to be making a scene now, yeah? Because I might just have to throw you out, yeah." He coolly raised his hand high and snapped his fingers.

Neji tore his eyes away and finally came to his senses. He let go of Deidara and stepped back, turning to see that a good portion of the club was quiet and staring at his sudden outburst. To his left and right he saw people parting as tall associates of Deidara, a thick man with slicked silver hair from one side and a thinner, though no less intimidating redhead from the other. With the idle thought this must be the security around here, Neji made a break for it, diving headfirst into the shadows by the redhead's feet, and twisting around the darkness created by the flashing dance lights and clubbers.

In no time he was in the streets, dodging in the shadows of buildings and cars. He only finally slowed down when he reached base, stopping on the stoop to take a breath. Sasuke had been right. Going after Kiba in a fit of anger had done nobody any good. And what if someone had heard that he was keeping Atsu's drink list secret from the Agency? And, oh no, did he leave Sasuke at the club?

Well, there was nothing he could do about that now. Sasuke was a big boy. He could take care of himself, right? With a defeated sigh, Neji straightened himself and entered his home.

"Welcome home, Neji-niisama," Hinata greeted as she came in from the living room. Neji smiled to see her face. She had been looking a lot better recently.

"I'm back, Hinata-sama," Neji replied. Then he noticed the bundle of black fur in her arms and frowned. "What's that?"

"This?" Instead of cradling the ball of fur, she held it up in the air to show Neji. A black cat, long and mean stared eerily at the demon. "He's a stray I invited in. He was yowling outside and I thought he'd like some fish."

"Get rid of it," Neji snapped, suddenly cold.

Hinata was shocked. "What!" she exclaimed, holding the cat close to her.

"I said get rid of it!" Neji reached out and snatched the cat by the scruff away from Hinata. The animal scratched and hissed.

"You're scaring him!" Hinata cried. "Put him down right now or-"

"He is a vampire," Neji informed her. He held the screeching animal away from his face as he searched himself for a mirror. Coming up with nothing, he unsheathed his silver knife, which was polished enough to show a reflection. The cat had none. Hissing unbecomingly, the animal turned into mist, fogging up the windows and leaking out through the keyhole.

Hinata stood with her eyes wide, clenched hands up to her mouth when a furious Neji turned to face her. "Rule number one of the Fire Agency: Do not, under any circumstance, take home any animal-cat, dog, or bat- or any person of questionable intents, do you understand Hinata-sama? Vampires can shape-shift into any animal, but they can not come into a home uninvited. He may have been posing as a stray on the street, but it was your choice to invite him into the house." Hinata nodded mutely at Neji's fierce tone. Neji blinked and sighed heavily. "I apologize for raising my voice at you, Hinata-sama," he told her contritely.

"It's my fault," Hinata said, bowing her head down. "I should have thought."

Neji looked away from her, unable to understand the feeling that he should hold her and assure her she had done no wrong. "Is Sasuke back?" he asked stiffly.

"He came home a few minutes before you did," Hinata told Neji. Neji nodded shortly. Of course he hadn't needed to worry about Sasuke. "He brought Naruto-kun home with him," his mistress told him. "You should say hello."

"He brought someone home?" Neji exclaimed. Sasuke was a complete idiot, wasn't he. Neji had to watch him every minute, or the boy would get them all killed.

It hadn't been long after their meeting at Atsu that Sasuke invited Naruto home. It wasn't to do anything sexual, he swore, because they had done nothing but talk in the club. There was a lot of small talk and a lot of arguing and it came as a surprise when Naruto leaned in and planted his lips unexpectedly onto Sasuke's. Sasuke, who had for years been secretly pining for his best friend, pushed the boy away. "Naruto, I…" he started. "We—uh, you and I, uhm." He couldn't think of how to put it that he'd come here just a couple weeks ago and woke up with a vision of Naruto's naked body swimming in his mind. He wondered if it really was a dream. "Do you want to come to my place?" he asked. "Just to talk."

Naruto tilted his head as if to think, but he answered rather quick. "Okay!"

The walk home was just like old times, with the two of them walking home from a long day of classes when they lived together in freshman year. Naruto talked animatedly about his classes and his life in general since Sasuke left it months ago. Sasuke let his talk fill the space between them until they reached the safe house and Sasuke led Naruto inside.

"Naruto," Sasuke said after a brief greeting with Hinata and returning to Sasuke's room, "We need to talk." Or, that's what he would have said if Naruto had not chosen to pounce again, pinning him to his own bed and effectively cutting him off with his lips.

"Mm," Naruto hummed between meetings of lips, "You should have called me." His hands trailed paths over Sasuke's body, under Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke decided that two weeks ago was not a dream when he remembered the feel of Naruto's lips attaching to his neck.

"You're the one who left while I was sleeping." Sasuke groaned as Naruto nibbled lightly at his neck, gasping when the teeth nipped sharply and the blond began to suck.

"The alternative was being caught by Neji," Naruto murmured with a grin against Sasuke's neck as the dark haired boy scrambled to pull Naruto's tight fitting shirt over his head.. "We don't want that, do we?" Sasuke was about to make a noise in agreement when suddenly Naruto bolted upright, looking to and fro alertly, shirt still halfway off.

Sasuke tried to sit up, a hard thing to do with Naruto straddling him the way he was. The blond hurriedly pulled the shirt back on and scrambled off of Sasuke. "I'm really sorry, I have to go," Naruto babbled. Sasuke just blinked in a dazed and confused manner.

"Where to?" he asked. Before Naruto could reply, the bedroom door swung open to reveal a furious Neji. The long haired man strode over and gripped Naruto by the neck.

"I can't believe you brought someone home with you, Sasuke!" Neji exclaimed, his eyes glowing eerily. "You know the rules of the house!"

"I can explain—" Sasuke started.

"Explain why you brought a vampire home for a lay?" Neji snapped.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke hissed back. He jumped up and began attempting to pry Neji's fingers from Naruto's throat. "First Kiba, and now Naruto? Are you just going to go around accusing everybody of being a dark creature?"

"Oh my god, Uchiha. He got you, didn't he," Neji said. It wasn't a question. In shock, Sasuke, touched his bitten neck, drawing it back to see the slightest bit of blood. Immediately, he rushed to the bathroom, forgetting about everything else for a moment. If Naruto was a vampire, there would be two tiny holes right there on his throat. He tried looking for them in the mirror, only to find that his reflection was flickering like the screen of an outdated television.

"Oh my god," Sasuke whispered. He stepped backwards and slammed into the wall. This couldn't be happening. He slid down the wall and screwed his eyes shut to the world. Instantly came recollections of his mother's body lying spread eagle in her nightclothes and his father with blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth, both where their eldest son had left them dead, all for a test. All to see if his newfound capabilities were really as good as he hoped. He hadn't even had the decency to drink from the blood of his parents pooling on the floor. Since Sasuke was fifteen years old, all he had ever wanted to do was kill Itachi. How was he supposed to do that now?

"Hello, Little Brother." Sasuke's eyes snapped open at the sound his brother's voice echoing in his head. He could see Itachi's cruel smirk in his head from the last time he greeted him. "Did you miss me?"

Chamakins says:

Oh. My. God. Finally, yeah? My last update was New Years 07. This chapter has been long over due. (A year and three weeks, say what?) Funny story about that... eheh... Er, if you've forgotten about this fic and are confused by the chapter, maybe go back and reread? If you're still confused, well, tell me what exactly you're confused on and I'll try to fix it in the next chapter (when that comes). Oh, the last two paragraphs I tried to do a tie in to Prelude, which only like, two people read.

I'm a little tired of this whole faving without reviewing phenomenon that seems to be happening. I like interacting with people who read my stories, so do please try to drop a line. As an incentive, every signed review (or anon with a contact) will be replied with me including a little something special. What is it? Review and you'll find out. (And actually, each reviewer gets something unique. :3) So review! I love you all anyway!

Tune in next time for Sasuke memoirs. And Naruto lucidity (meaning not brainwashed by Itachi moment), maybe.