Necropolis demon

Disclaimer: I've never been to Japan, what makes you think I could own Naruto?

Necro: First of all I would like to apologize for not updating 'A Brother's Promise' for you see in my attempt to write it as a very warm yet slightly sad fanfic I have reduced myself into a pile of mush that struggles with her oversensitivity. I've been taking some meds that my doctor prescribed and was told that being overly emotional could be one of the side-effects. I thought 'no biggie, I'm a tough girl!' but then I turned into this constanly PMSing bitch THERE I SAID IT. Teehee, NOT A DRUGGIE! Stop smirking this instant! Sigh. Secondly, I also must thank everyone for being patient with my recent long periods of unofficial hiatus in-between chapters so to make it all better I re-read everyone's reviews from the very beginning which were able to jolt me back into fanfics and started writing this chapter, I hope you all enjoy.

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Bloodlust

For a long while I lived in the pretense of being a long lost friend of Sasuke's, blinded by some vague ailment but a person to be respected nonetheless. The people who came to visit were used to my presence after daylight the same as how I was gradually beginning to get accustomed with their increasing visits. The unofficial truce between my Otouto and I was still holding firm, of which I was most pleased. Nearly friendly banter between us was becoming my favorite past time as well, roughly in league with fake accidental hugs here and there that I'm quite sure Sasuke was well aware of but did not bother to reject.

How many times must I say it though? How many times could I say it? It was Heaven.

Months. I know, it shocked me as well the first time I realized it. Roughly half a year I suppose would be more accurate. Roughly half a year of living together since he discovered my…Nature. But all was well with my diet of vermin and rabbits and other such animals, I couldn't bring myself to complain about anything even if I tried…I was even all right with my blindness.

Once in a while though I had dreams, dark disturbing dreams that left me troubled for the rest of my waking hours…Dreams that clearly shook me terribly but were soon forgotten the moment I awoke like smoke disappearing from a candle's dying flame. Still the feeling of dread lingered in the atmosphere despite the nightmare, these episodes were quite rare though…

During these occurrences Sasuke would come into my room, his concealed worry radiating from his every pore. I would merely say 'I'm fine' and that was that. On a particular night though, I awoke in a more violent manner, sitting up straight and giving a gasp of surprise as though I was being attacked.

My heartbeat thudded loudly in my ears then eventually faded back to normal. Again, I couldn't remember what horrors I had dreamt.

I felt around the room and strained my ears for any sound…there was just Nature's silence. Sasuke must've left the house to buy a few things; by this time in our companionship he had progressed from never setting foot outside his property to being able to leave me alone at home for a few hours as long as it was still early nighttime.

I got up and changed into a new yukata, a recent gift from one of the villagers who noticed how I only had Sasuke's clothes to wear. With my fingers I idly combed through my long hair, working out the strands that managed to tangle during my uneasy slumber. It took a while for me to realize…but eventually I noticed how I was looking at moving shadows around me instead of total darkness…

It felt so foreign…I could actually see movement through my blindfold.

Slowly…anxiously…I untied the piece of cloth that covered my eyes and for the first time in six months, six whole months of nothing but darkness to look at, I saw my bedroom for the first time.

It was just as I imagined it in my head; the futon at the center with a low table by the left that had a few folded linens draped over it, sliding doors on three sides of the room with one leading to the hallway, the other to the view outside and the last one being a door to my closet which held a modest amount of yukata robes. The floors…those annoying tatami mats again.

The word Ecstatic couldn't even begin to describe how I felt with the return of my eyesight. I was simply too far off to even complain about how everything was in black, white and hues of gray…

The colors didn't really matter, or at least, at the moment I couldn't bother to care. After being visionless for so long I was simply glad to be able to see these crisp images around me. The colors of the world would return to me given time and patience…I knew they would…I just had to leave it to the all powerful Vampire blood in me.

Then to my surprise a sudden wave of nausea hit me and for the first time in a while I felt illness as mortal man would, the type wherein one feels vertiginous from long bouts of overexertion. Chills ran all over my body, the feeling of a cold sweat was coming…and then…the moment of weakness passed as quickly as it struck. It was then that I realized that I hungered for a hunt.

After being so pampered and lax in the recent months my body was yearning, begging for the thrill of hunting down live prey. Still not as strong as I used to be but strong enough to hunt alone I ventured out into the edge of the village and into the surrounding forest in search of my meal for the night, seeking out any animal unfortunate enough to come my way.

o00o

The whole experience was Invigorating, Intoxicating…the 'Thrill of the Kill' as they call it. Just striking down my prey and having them squirm helplessly in my mighty grasp before I stilled them with my kiss of death…it was like being drunk on blood which I probably was. Flashes of that night's meals passed fleetingly like lost memories of old. I soon found myself making up for lost time, moving in for the kill with all the skill and masterfulness of a Vampire as I had never done so before. I felt as elated as that night when Orochimaru bled me and fed me from him, I'd almost forgotten how good it felt to be a Vampire. Once or twice I stumbled as I pursued my game…and I admit that I was a mess, a bit clumsy after being so out of it for months but eventually I regained my momentum. The blood came pouring like an endless sea of ambrosia, the taste…the pulse of life…so closely felt. I was indeed drunk. Drunk, inebriated…satiated at long last.

By the time my mind lulled into a semi-calmed state I found myself standing in a meadow alone, finishing off a rather large rat clutched in my right hand. Satisfied and full of blood I dug a small hole and buried the dead rat then finally returned to the comfort of home.

When I arrived I was met by the horrid smell of Sasuke's tea, that musky bitterness that fills the whole house like a thick smog close to suffocating you if you weren't used to it. As to why Sasuke even drinks such a, in my opinion, foul beverage I will never know, just as I have never known why he has such a strange fondness of tomatoes.

I entered the room a little more clear-headed, Sasuke was there sitting on a cushion and in his hands he lightly held cup of his steaming tea, a teapot full of it set aside for when he runs out. At the edge of the low table I could see a basket filled with a few vegetables and fruits some other such things and some fresh meat, he must've noticed how we had run out of meat.

"Good evening Otouto," I spoke. I watched him with my colorless vision, noticing and reveling once more at the shape of his eyes, the nose, that jaw, and how his dark hair all the more contrasted with his pure white skin. There was a light shade of grey under his eyes, so slight that it took a while for me to notice it. I suppose he was tired that night, it was getting rather late after all.

Still refusing to meet my gaze he replied in a somewhat irritated tone I suppose, "Hn…you weren't in your bedroom, where were you? What were you doing out? You realize that you left the house unguarded don't you? What if some stray animal found its way inside and left a mess of my things?"

I sighed, "Only you would be worried about stray animals instead of stray burglars Otouto."

"Stolen furniture is one thing but dung is another." he takes a rather large sip from his tea and swallows then pours himself more with a slight grimace that he quickly tries to hide. I wonder again why he drinks that particular type of tea when he doesn't seem to like the taste as much as I would expect him to after having so much of it, but then I realize that his wince was because he had burnt his tongue with the still hot drink. I chuckled a bit at this moment of gracelessness on his part and thus received an embarrassed glare from him.

It was only then that he realized that I was looking at him, actually seeking his face and expression with my own two eyes.

His mouth opened a fraction then closed again, he blinked a few times and stood up all too quickly causing the cup of bitter tea to spill onto the clean tatami mats. Inwardly I smirked, down with the tea and father's taunting tatami mats at last.

"…Your eyes."

"Otouto…It's good to see your face again despite still being colorblind."

He was more surprised with this information then grew silent, apparently not knowing what to make of things. His eyes scanned my face once more, taking a long hard look at my partly healed eyes. His gaze then made its way down to my whole body and after seeing the state of disarray I was in his brow furrowed.

I realized just how awful my timing was, such a momentous event with the return of my sight…and here I was, covered in filth from head to toe. I glanced behind me and saw the ugly trail of muck I left behind…it hadn't even dawned to me that I had forgotten to wash up, it was beyond shameful for an Uchiha such as I.

Honestly, I expected Sasuke to yell, after all one of the things he dislikes most is untidiness. I doubt even the miracle of the return of my precious eyesight would make him any less annoyed with me. But instead of pointing out the mess in the condescending tone that I expected of him, he merely spoke in a tone that sounded conflicted and strained.

"Where…were you?" he asked me once more, this time his face was a stoic mask and he refused to look at me, instead opting to fix his gaze on the left wall. I figured he must've been very worried about me.

Gently I laid one of my dirty hands, still streaked with a messy substance I guessed to have been mud, on his shoulders and looked at him with an expression that I hoped he saw was apologetic.

"I was out hunting some wild game in the forest. The chase had gotten a little out of hand, I didn't realize I would get this dirty, it isn't like me…I suppose I fell in some muddy water at some point. You need not clean up the mess I made."

With a surprised look on his face he raised his head towards me, "…Wild game…muddy water…"

"Yes"

The smell of his tea continued to linger around us…

"…I see. And…what did tonight's game consist of? Did you enjoy yourself?" he asked, a tinge of uncertainty as though he was weighing his words more heavily than usual. Of this I thought strange, Sasuke never acted this way before…this slight hesitance in him irked me and I thought: 'Was he scared of me now that I could see? That now he had to be more careful around me?'…Nonsense. Pure nonsense.

…We have been together for months, he knows that there is nothing to fear from me, he knows that he need not feel wary around me. I've already sworn myself to him more times than I could possibly count, for more reasons than he could ever hope to fathom. I loved him, held Him closest to My heart, and though he did not know of just how much devotion I have for him, for his little quirks and oddities here and there, for his rare smiles and the way he thinks and feels things more intensely than what people are led to believe…I will always, always be there, his brother, his mentor, the only person who ever truly understands and the person who loves him most above all others. Though I am the Lover that could never be, the one person he would never come around to Love…cursing each thought of how we've both been conceived in the very same womb.

He couldn't possibly be frightened of me. He had no need to be. He knew that he was the one person I could, would never raise a hand against.

Perhaps…he feared that now that I had no need of his assistance I would leave him again…

That made sense to me. It made all the sense in the world…

"I was able to hunt a few rodents and some other animals that I can't really recall. My body has been trying to regenerate itself more so my appetite has increased a bit. But now that I can hunt you don't have to catch me anything."

"…All right. Just…make sure you dispose of the bodies properly."

"I will." with that he takes his seat focuses his attention once more to the spilled tea and proceeds to clean it up. I just look down at him, and watch as he wipes the table with a cloth in circular motions…a feeling of guilt bubbling within me.

Sasuke has always been the type to turn silent when he broods, right now I could tell he was in deep thought. I myself have never thought of what the healing of my eyes could mean for us, from this point on where were we to set sail for? Was he contemplating the same things I've been pondering to myself? Were we to stay living like this together? Would he allow it further?

Unable to know exactly what Sasuke was thinking…yet feeling the turmoil surging within him I could not help but kneel and slip my arms around him tight. His head raised slightly, surprised at the unexpected action…I could feel him stiffen within my hold but that just made me embrace him tighter…

I rested my chin on top of his head, basking in his body heat…and he too gradually relaxed into my touch, knowing that he could not fight it…if I felt like being affectionate he knew it was best to leave me to it. It has always been this way with us ever since I was mortal…though it has been long since I had him in my arms this way, jests and silly teasing aside, it felt familiar as always…it felt like coming home a long year's journey. He leaned back and sighed a heavy sigh, releasing the pent up pressure that seemed to have been weighing on his chest, strangling him to such heartache.

The wet rag he was using to clean up the spilled tea dropped to the floor…forgotten.

His frame…not as small as it was all those years ago but still fragile in my arms, still so young. I could feel every breath he made, the slight rise of his chest…his clothed back against my bare chest…his mouth slightly open…relaxed.

I was holding him so close to me, he couldn't move away even if he tried…and that made all the difference. I'd calmed his thoughts enough by now…

I pulled away a bit to whisper comfortingly into his ear and for a moment there came nothing, I felt the words refuse to leave my lips…I was nervous, so very nervous…But I had to know…

"Will I stay?" I whispered low.

It…was the question that has been haunting the both of us for a while, finally out in the open, spoken at last… The question it seemed was not directed only at Sasuke…but also to myself… 'Will I stay?' indeed…could I tell myself that I would for the sake of my beloved brother? …Yes.

Yes I would stay…if it were up to me I would stay with him till the very end, for as long as he would have me and even when he were to tire of me, I would stay and make him want me around longer, a day, a week, a month more together…years…and when my sweet Otouto would grow to be unable to care for himself, stricken by old age…

Death gods…take me with you.

"Sasuke…Otouto…Will you let me stay?" I let my arms fall to my sides, letting him go. I had no control from here on…it was all up to him.

He just sits up straight with his back still towards me, probably thinking of all the times I left him, of all the wretched times I hurt him. He turns and I can see the look of determination on his face. He Wants me to stay.

"I suppose I could do with more entertainment from you. Just make sure you pull your own weight, brother or not I will not be lodging a freeloader." he says to me, Uchiha smirk in place.

The heavy weight between us lifts and I give him a smirk back. Although he doesn't say it outright I know he has forgiven me for everything and I know that he wants me with him.

…Brothers once more.

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Being an Uchiha that meant of course that negotiations were to be made, it was in our nature after all to be so invested in intricacies like that even with family, they were simple enough arrangements though since we were already used to each other so much. I cleaned up my mess and handed Sasuke my soiled yukata after having bathed and changed into something clean. Without any sort of explanation Sasuke started a small bonfire outside and burned the damaged yukata as well as the rags I had used in cleaning up.

It was a personal mystery to me, how I failed to notice those rips on the yukata…but then again the night was filled with much confusion as it was. I made a mental note to be more attentive from that point on, I couldn't have my Otouto thinking I was losing my touch now could I?

We decided to keep my eyes bound when people came, Sasuke had pointed out to me that my eyes had a dangerously blood red glint that he doubted could pass for normal. The shade of red in them was more vibrant than what they used to be, it would be difficult to explain why I looked like I had been crying out blood even with the lie of having a rare ailment.

Other than that and a condition to tolerate that accursed tea smell; he could tell by now that it was a wholly unpleasant scent to me and was probably making me promise to endure it on purpose…hn, and they say garlic is what repels us vampires, we were fine.

That night we were both thankful that we didn't have any visitors as I was free to offer my help with preparing dinner. In the end Sasuke ate much of the delicious dinner while I pretended to taste small bits despite having already fed on a lot of blood earlier just for the sake of pretending that we were back in those old days wherein we both sat at the dinner table, eating our meals in comfortable silence while waiting for our parents to arrive home from a clan meeting.

Make-believe is a wonderful thing.

o00o

Necro: Read and Review please! I like long and interesting reviews that INSPIRE! By the way could you guys recommend me some good ItaSasu fics that are worth the read. I don't want to read a story that's built on Lemons and has no sustainable plot. There are Lemon stories there that are just so HOT but sad to say there are some that just don't click. There's so much emotional potential between these two yet people jump on the Lemon wagon too quickly. Sigh* Dark Green Poop once said that that stuff could lead to something less than a good read, or something along those lines. I personally don't think this story should have a Lemon scene, that would just take up too much of a chapter though I could probably still make it work. I don't know, I'm still not sure what to do with Lemons. To Lemon or not to Lemon! I've always been a firm believer of beautiful and romantic stories that don't revolve around a sex scene but instead a complex plotline and intelligently crafted characters. I don't want to ruin the magic. Insert sparkles.

I've also decided that after the last chapter of this fic, hopefully I'll be able to finish this, I am going to post an Author's Review Chapter, yeah, I'm gonna be a critic to myself when this story's done basically because I wanna share my views on this story with anyone who's willing to read them. Again let's hope I finish this story. If anyone wants to give suggestions for 'A Brother's Promise' cause I know there have been a lot of people waiting for it to move, you can email your ideas to me and I'll be sure to credit you of I use them or at least if I'm inspired by something you suggest I'll mention you. Just check my profile page to contact me, also I'm happy to say that I now have a Skype account, same email. Thanks!