Dentes

November 19, 2005

When Naruto woke up for the third time since his abduction, it was in yet another position of discomfort, this one new. Now the pain had localized in his arms, and they ached from where he’d been laying over them, both ligaments stretched oddly above his head. It was a testament to how deeply the vampire had addled his brain that he wasn’t even surprised when he heard a dunk clunk when he shifted his hands.

Yup. My arms are chained to the bed post.

Naruto sighed, and groaned.

Damn him. God fucking damn him.

His second thought, coming after the realization that he was trapped to a vampire’s bed who had intentions that, so far, proved to be a far cry from friendly, was that he was warm. Overly warm. Hot even. Definitely something he shouldn’t be feeling in the Winter. Naruto could feel his pants and shirt sticking uncomfortably to his skin, sweat clinging between his thighs and along the small of his back. He’d been laying flat, and a thick comforter was tucked firmly underneath his sides--that’s so sweet, I think I’ll get a cavity--and the fireplace was gleaming with a thick coat of orange light. Outside the windows, the sky was dark and heavy, looking cold even from inside the suffocating room.

I can’t believe it… I slept through the entire day.

It was like he’d been doused with a boiling hot bucket of water. Naruto was instantly alert, like he’d been awake all day. Like he’d woken up at 10 A.M. instead of 10 P.M. Fuck, the last thing I need to do is get used to this.

Naruto winced when he attempted to stretch his back. With his heels he dug down, drawing his body downwards, trying to pop his shoulders and relieve some of the stress. But the blankets were wound too tightly around his torso for him to make much leeway.

Why did he even bother with the handcuffs? Naruto thought bitterly. The blankets would have been more than sufficient.

…and where the Hell did he go?

Even if Naruto didn’t need to stretch his arms, he’d still have to get out of these swaddling covers before he died from heat stroke. So he began at his legs, inching them left and right, using his toes to clench the sheets and pull, uprooting it from under his body. He turned left, turned right, felt them come loose. He kicked his feet until the tangled and damp-with-sweat sheets loosed from the noose-tight fit around his legs. After that, he thrashed his legs until he managed to get the things off of him. Then, out of pure resentment, he kicked them off of the bed.

“There…”

Naruto took the time to look around the room. There was no note on the pillow, nor on any viewable surface. The blinds and been untied and swung loosely from their metal racks. Soft drops of rain kissed the mesh screen outside the window like drops of dew, muddling his view of the outside. The grass would be gray with frost the next morning.

Naruto twisted once again, looking towards the door. It was shut tightly, and he didn’t even need to try to jiggle the doorknob to know that it was locked. The blond man lay still on the bed for a few moments, silent, allowing his skin to breathe and his ears to pick up the sounds from downstairs. Or lack of sound.

Naruto cleared his throat. “Oi,” he called. “Bastard.”

No answer.

Naruto frowned. “Hey! Bastard, where are you?”

Still, nothing.

“Asshole!”

The fire crackled and a shower of sparks skittered across the back of the fireplaces. The logs were thick and looked barely charred, stack up like an extremely tall teepee and layered in a way Naruto had seen in bonfires, so that when one log burned away, the new log would fall on the embers and catch. It was meant to keep the fire burning without much help.

Naruto swallowed heavily.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD, ANSWER ME!”

Where the fuck is he!?

Nothing, nothing, nothing. Naruto groaned heavily. He lifted his head only to let it plop down on the pillow again. The vampire was gone. Naruto didn’t know where, or when or if he’d be back (although he was nearly positive that he would, one could still hope). All he knew was that Sasuke’d built a large fire to keep the room warm for what was obviously meant to be a long time. And he’d tucked Naruto in with layer upon layer of blankets to--

….shit.

--keep him warm.

Blankets which now lay on the floor, far out of reach.

Shit. Shit. Fuck.

Naruto looked over at the digital clock that was a clone of the one back home. 10:16.

This is going to be a long night…

11:39

Naruto hadn’t fallen asleep. Laying here like a log was making him drowsy, but he didn’t want to sleep yet. That would be entertainment for another hour. Instead he’d been studying outside the windows, letting his eyes adjust to the dark, squinting for any sign of light in the boarded up windows. Nothing. No one. He contemplated shouting for help, but he knew no one was around. This area was condemned. This house was condemned. The only residents were a vampire, his hostage, and the cat-sized rats that ran the dark alleys Naruto could see outside the window.

He didn’t shout for help.

Besides, he was too tired. So tired.

So tired….

…where….

1:12

When Naruto woke up again, he was shivering. The fire was now a dusky red below the grates, the last log having been slowly devoured away to dirty clumps of ash. There was no warmth, and the covers he’d kicked off not three hours ago were tempting him, just out of reach. Tiredly, he lifted a foot to inch over, but snapped it back instantly. Lifting a limb from its warm spot on the mattress was suicide. It was cold. Too cold….

2:59

Naruto had never thought that there would be a time when he would short sheet his own bed, but it had come. With enough energy, he forced his numbing toes to clench tightly into the thin sheet stretched over the mattress and to jerk it to the side, then the other, then back again, until it unfurled from the cornered and sprang up. The cotton was thin as silk, and just as cold, but after he twisted it around his legs and brought them up to curl underneath himself, they worked just fine.

3:30

His wrists felt raw by now. He’d been tugging at them for the past half hour, trying to work himself up into enough of a sweat to lubricate his wrists, just enough to squeeze through the metal bracelets. But it was Winter, and his skin was chapped dry. His struggling earned him angry pink marks that soon turned to red, burning whenever they came into contact with something.

Naruto growled under his breath. He was too cold to sleep, he thought. His whole body was shaking. Clenching his eyes shut, thinking, That God-damned bastard, one last time, Naruto drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

4:49

I’m tired, Naruto listed. And I’m cold. I’m alone. I’m hungry. I need to use the bathroom. I need to punch his face in. Naruto was making lists now. This was his fifth list in fifteen minutes, and now he was on the Things I Need to do in the Immediate Future list. He was running out of things to add. Give my bastard his second kiss. Damnit why didn’t I when I had the chance, what’s so great about fucking Japan, we could have stayed home, locked in a room, for two whole weeks, I wouldn’t care if I were cold or hungry or needed to pee or was chained to the bed, if he was just there…

It was like he was psychic. Like he’d heard Naruto thoughts and had come running. Well, walking, really. Naruto strained his ears. Yes. He heard right. Footsteps, on the stairs.

I’m going to kill him.

More footsteps. Naruto had never been so sure in his entire life.

I am going to gauge his eyeballs out. And if I can’t, I will try and try until I do.

Click

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke was standing in the threshold of the door. Naruto couldn’t see the details of his face, but from the outline of his body structure, he could tell. Then Sasuke stepped into the room further, like he was hesitant. He should be. I will flay him alive. He’ll never have experienced pain like this in his entire pathetic existence--

And then Sasuke’s eyes sank a level and met his through the darkness.

And he did not look amused.

--

It was times like these that Sasuke found that he purely disgusted himself. Back at home, waiting in a warm, welcoming, familiar room was his lover, tied to a bed and with no way to escape, just laying there. With warm skin. Bright eyes and bright hair to counteract every single one of his own dark and ugly features. Waiting with a foul and beautiful mouth. Waiting, perhaps fearing, for his return. Waiting for the only man with the key to let his hands down. Waiting without a choice.

Yes, Sasuke had the single most important thing in his world waiting at home.

And he was stuck in the room of a young teenage girl with the nearly irresistible urge to tear the clothes off of her body.

It was painful, but Sasuke had to force himself to watch, to listen, to smell. He let his mind wonder as to what the skin of her thighs would feel like. He imagined his fingers slowly creeping upwards to the gap between her legs and finding that warm place where the suddenly intoxicating smell was coming from. He could see the slight swell of her developing breasts beneath her night shirt, and he wanted to lift the cloth up and over them, to unbutton his own shirt, and press their chests together, just to feel her nipples harden against his cool skin. He wanted to watch her face, her eyes clouded in desire. He wanted to lick her cheeks and her mouth.

Sasuke wanted all this. He felt his eyes roam and wonder, let himself become aroused, just watching, just fantasizing. He did this, all the while sitting on the edge of her bed, because it was safe. Sasuke would do nothing to this girl who barely looked fifteen. He’d never found himself particularly attracted to the soft curves of women, except when in this lust ridden state. He preferred firm backs, rippling with muscle, as opposed to pliant flesh as easy to mold as clay. He wanted hard muscle, a challenge, something to conquer and to press down beneath him, something that would put up a good fight before it let Sasuke have his way with it. His eyes strayed down to her covered arm, which had beneath the shirt sleeve quickly healing bite marks. He licked his lips, tasted sweet copper, licked them again, imagining himself licking something else. Wanting to. Wanting so badly to feel her thrash beneath him.

Yes, Sasuke let himself feel it all. Just to avoid thinking of what he really wanted.

He’d gone to great measures to put as much distance between himself and Naruto as possible, just in case of the event where his mind would wonder to that warm room, that warm, powerful, vibrant body pulsing with so much life, so much courage, so much of everything Sasuke desired.

Sasuke’s eyes tightened. He shut his eyes momentarily, and treated himself to a brief flash of memory from so many years ago. Of tanned arms, defined hipbones, feeling warmth beneath his palm, lips pressing into his neck and teeth biting as if Naruto thought that he were the vampire.

And then he refocused his eyes on the girl. He gently lifted a hand, placed it on her thigh, and stroked the skin to induce deeper fantasies, burying himself in them, protecting himself.

He couldn’t be with Naruto now. If he did, he worried he wouldn’t be able to control himself. And he’d have to let Naruto go. Naruto deserved better than a man who could not contain his lust. Sasuke was not a fool. In this stage of post-feeding, it would be next to impossible to control the need and the want. It wasn’t worth the risk. He could remain here, in cowardice and weakness, for a few more hours.

It had been fifteen minutes, according to the alarm clock on her bedside table, since he‘d entered this room with his pale pink walls and white carpet, colorful collages of photographs appearing black and white in the darkness. Sasuke could still feel the fresh blood coursing through his veins like liquid heat, the erection between his legs pulsing madly, furiously, hungrily. His hand crept higher, feeling soft skin underneath her pajama pants, imagined for a moment tanned and slightly rough skin, his hand slipped higher, knowing this wasn’t what he wanted, wasn’t anywhere close to what he needed, basking in the safety of his dark and twisted actions. Solstice in what could have been called molestation.

I’m disgusting.

But I’m safe.

An hour. An hour in this room, to help cool his blood, then perhaps an hour on the streets. He would walk home instead of taking the bus, just to make absolutely sure he was safe, and the walk would surely take over an hour. Naruto could wait that long. Sasuke would be back around midnight. He’d cook Naruto dinner, and they could talk. Maybe something more, depending on how Sasuke’s luck ran. He was sure that with the proper persuasion--

And then, the girl began to scream.

Sasuke’s hand flew from her leg like he’d been burned. He could count on one hand the number of times his victims had woken up while he was still in the room. In all cases, the humans had been particularly young. Out of what was undoubtedly a twisted sense of logic, he was mildly concerned for their safety and chose not to use the pressure points on their neck to insure unconsciousness. Most teenagers, he knew, slept like logs, and barely felt the sting of the bite. But from the few times he’d been proven wrong, he always made sure that it was him that had awoken them, not some twisted nightmare. Twice, the screaming victims had spotted him, and Sasuke had fled, probably to remain a horrible hallucination. One the person was sleep, flailing in night terrors. Once it was a woman who, upon spotting him, smirked and lifted the sheets off her body.

This girl, this small human, was asleep when Sasuke checked. Eyes as tightly closed as her mouth was widely opened, a terrified scream of “NO!” rattling every vein in Sasuke’s body. He remembered recent “no’s”, and the reminder effectively banked the heated fire of his lust.

Refusing to wallow a moment more in self-loathing, Sasuke stood, prepared to head for the window. He didn’t want to be around when she woke up. He would sit on the rooftop, let the cold air chill out the rest of the heat from his bloodlust--

And then Sasuke heard footsteps out the door.

The bed was situated in the middle of the far wall. The far wall connected to it had the window, swollen with cold, difficult to open without making a racket. And Sasuke was on the right side of the bed.

The footsteps were closer now. The window was far away.

Under the bed was closer.

Sasuke had ducked down to his knees and slid underneath the bed with one stroke push if his arms, sliding across the carpet and beneath he box springs, just as the door to the small bedroom flew open.

“Kirstin!?”

“M-mom…”

The light flickered on, and even from the shadows of the bed provided, Sasuke winced. He’d been mistaken about the colors of the walls. They weren’t painted a sensible pale pink, but an obnoxiously bright shade of the color, making it hard too look at.

Sasuke saw the bare feet of a women coming closing, stopping a foot from his face, before the disappeared as she climbed onto her daughter’s bed.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” A soft cooing voice.

“J-just a b-ba-bad dream, mom…”

Silence. Sasuke prayed the woman was a poor parent and would just leave it at that. He prayed she’d stand up, get the kid a glass of water or something, turn off the light and let Sasuke get the Hell out of here.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

No, Sasuke thought. Be like every teenager of your cursed species and tell her ‘no’.

“It was about J-Jason,” the teenage girl said shakily. “H-he… he dumped me!”

“Oh, baby….”

Sasuke bit back a groan. This, he knew, was going to be one of the longest nights of his mercilessly long life.

November 20, 2005

Naruto felt that he had never been so amused in his life.

“Th-they watched what?”

“That ridiculous movie with the ABBA songs,” Sasuke snorted in disgust, turning his head away, nose scrunching up as if he’d just bitten into something rotten.

“’Mama Mia‘?” Naruto asked. At the slight nod of the vampire’s head, another peal of laughter threatened to make Naruto choke on the food in his mouth. “A-and then w-what?”

Sasuke snorted. “Then they both started bawling their eyes out and, like they hadn’t run their mouths off to each other already, they talked more. I never knew two people could spend so long talking about so little.”

Naruto leered. “Did the birds and the bees come up?”

Sasuke winced. “Several times. Always about giving your virginity away to someone spe--knock it off, Naruto, you’re going to choke.” Sasuke leaned across the bed to thump between Naruto’s shoulder blades. “Idiot. Don’t chew and try to hold a conversation at the same time.”

“I can’t breathe,” Naruto gasped, pricks of laughter-induced tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. “I can’t breathe.” Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes slightly, and waiting for Naruto to finish.

He managed to stop laughing long enough to swallow the mouthful of pork in his mouth, and when the laughter returned, it was quiet, more subdued. Naruto sat cross-legged on the bed, his arms slightly tingly after the uncomfortable position he’d been forced in for eight solid hours. In his lap sat a large plastic bowl full of re-heated ramen, which Sasuke had unearthed from the fridge.

“Given up on cooking already, eh, bastard?” Naruto teased.

“No, but I thought you might like something you actually enjoy eating after--well--”

“After you kept me chained to the bed for half the day?”

“It wasn’t that long, dead-last.”

“Ch. Whatever.”

“So when did you finally get out of there?” Naruto asked, dropping the bamboo chopsticks into the bowl before tilting it back, gulping down the last of the still hot broth. Sasuke waited until Naruto had finished, eyes glazing over for a moment when Naruto’s tongue darted from his mouth to lick the salty taste from his lips, before he answered.

“Just an hour ago,” Sasuke answered. “I left here at seven, and went into the house at eight. I’d only planned on staying until midnight before heading home.” A slight crease wrinkled between his eyebrows as he said, “I’d planned on coming back no later than one.” A pause, and then, sounding as if it caused him actual pain, “I apologize.”

Naruto wasn’t so hung up on the apology as he was another part of Sasuke’s explanation. “You were going to stay in the town until midnight?” Sasuke said nothing, which Naruto took to be a ‘yes’. “Do you… um, feed from more than one person?”

“No. Just one will do.”

“So, what, you were just going to hang around her room like a creepy stalker for two hours?”

Sasuke frowned at the word “stalker”, but nodded the affirmative anyway.

A slow grin began to creep onto Naruto’s face. “And? You stayed to enjoy the preteen daughter-mother bonding? I never pegged you as the type to--”

“Actually,” Sasuke cut him off coldly, “I was staying so that I wouldn’t be tempted to come back here and force you into something you so obviously do not want.”

Naruto grinned inanely for a moment before it slipped off his face, guilt hitting him sharply in the gut. Sasuke put himself in danger, risked being caught, just so--

“It’s strange,” Sasuke muttered. Then, “Are you finished?” He looked pointedly at the emptied ramen bowl. Naruto didn’t reply, still in a state of faint shock from the overwhelming wave of guilt that had just swallowed him whole. Sighing, Sasuke picked it up, as well as the now empty bottle of water he’d brought up along with him, and set it down on the floor before straightening up.

Slowly, Naruto stretched his legs out in front of him, feeling the blood rush to the tips of his toes and back as he relaxed a bit, propping himself against the pillows. The past few days had undoubtedly been the worst, oddest, and most frightening ones of his entire life, and he was still amazed that he hadn’t grown accustomed to the vampire’s blunt remarks.

When Sasuke gave no evidence that he was going to elaborate, Naruto asked, “Strange how?”

Sasuke took a moment, seemingly to contemplate his answer, before replying, “It’s common knowledge that a human can rape another human. One can say that it is a common occurrence, practically normal.” Naruto opened his mouth to snap something particularly nasty, but Sasuke ploughed on before Naruto could get a word in edgewise. “Yet, it’s this seemingly human thing that scares you the most. A constant threat you live under every day, and yet it scares you the most when I’m around. Not my strength, not my immortality, not my teeth…”

“It isn’t a constant threat,” Naruto muttered weakly, knowing it was a weak retort. But he didn’t know how to answer Sasuke’s unvoiced question. He felt threatened, certainly. He knew that if Sasuke so desired, he could have Naruto in an instant and the blond human wouldn’t get a say. Yet he didn’t. He stopped himself. He swallowed his pride and hid under the bed of a teenage girl, listening to what was probably the most annoying music known to man, all for Naruto’s peace of mind--

“Naruto?”

Naruto didn‘t realize he‘d looked away until his eyes snapped back to Sasuke‘s face. “What?” he asked.

Sasuke inched closer. Out of stubbornness, not instinct, Naruto reclined a bit further. Not to be outdone, Sasuke leaned in until his face was hovering not a foot from the human’s. Slowly, he curled back his upper lip, causing a deep set of wrinkled to form between his mouth and nose. It would have been amusing, the sight of Sasuke’s face scrunched up like that, if it weren’t for his teeth.

It was the first time Naruto had seen Sasuke’s fangs so very close. They were where normal canines would have been, only about twice as wide, looking like they’d pushed the rest of the teeth on the top row back. From there they narrowed down smoothly, creating a triangular gap between them and the rest of the teeth, before forming the sharpest point Naruto had ever seen. He could detect no dullness in the final edge of the fangs, and Naruto knew that if he were to even tap his finger against one, his skin would break immediately. They were sharper than any knife Naruto had ever seen. Sharper than the blades of the ornamental katana he and Sasuke had hanging over their bed at home. By all reason, Naruto should have shrunk back in instinctual fear at the sight of them.

But he didn’t. Like a Vietnam war veteran would regard a gun, Naruto surveyed them in vague curiosity. Like he’d already gone over them dozens of time before, and the fear had dulled so far down that it wasn’t even there anymore.

“You aren’t afraid now,” Sasuke said, settling back further on the beg, leaning back on his outstretched arms. “But you used to be.”

Naruto snorted. “Really?” he remarked n a sarcastic tone.

“Yes,” Sasuke hummed. “It took me forever to get you to kiss me.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “I’ve never kissed you,” he hissed. “And even if I did, your little fangs would be the last thing to turn me off.”

Only the tightening of his eyes was the only thing to give away Sasuke’s slight annoyance. Otherwise ignoring the quip, he said, “You were always afraid of cutting your lip, or your tongue. And you did for a while.” A slow smirk formed on Sasuke’s lips. “I liked that.”

Naruto grimaced. “You would.”

“You got better after a while,” Sasuke amended. “After a year you didn’t cut yourself at all. In fact…” Sasuke cocked his head to the side and surveyed Naruto through half-lidded eyes. The blond swallowed. “I’m sure that if you tried now, you wouldn’t lose a single drop of blood.”

“Wow,” Naruto said dryly. “You make it sound so tempting. But I think I’m fine without the making out part. Thanks for the offer, though.”

“Suit yourself.” Sasuke leaned back, but not far enough to make Naruto comfortable. Instead of reclining to his earlier position, propped up on his arms, Sasuke stretched his arms over Naruto’s outstretched legs to reach the other side of the mattress, leaning invasively over Naruto’s lap. Sasuke didn’t seem the least bit bothered by their suddenly intimate position, but Naruto most definitely was.

“So,” Naruto muttered, “did your delusional past me let you get by with all this shit?”

Sasuke rose an eyebrow in confusion, obviously not understanding.

Naruto sighed. “All of this--controlling crap. Your possessive shit. Did he just let you trap in on the bed whenever you wanted?” He waved an arm at Sasuke’s position, showing in what he though a clear gesture of discomfort.

Sasuke didn‘t seem to get it. Either that, or he was just ignoring it. “It is not controlling,” he corrected. “But--yes, you were far more compliant than you are now.”

Naruto snorted. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but you must have the wrong wuss, then. My Sasuke never pulled the shit that you do.”

“Then your Sasuke is a weak man,” Sasuke hissed softly. His eyes, so heated with their crimson color, became colder, just as they did whenever his human counterpart was brought up. “Only fools believe that they and their partner are equal. One will always be above the other.”

“That’s not true!” Naruto snapped. “That’s the big fucking difference between you two, you know that?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. One of you is a chauvinistic asshole and the other is a decent human being.”

Sasuke’s frown didn’t deepen. In fact, it lifted somewhat to form half a smirk. From his slouched position over Naruto’s legs, he looked almost bored with their conversation, and desperately in need of a long sleep. Or a good lay. “If you two were so equal,” Naruto flinched at the vampire’s use of past tense, “then I’m sure you won’t mind telling me of your place whilst in bed.”

Naruto frowned. Instantly a blush licked his cheeks to a fiery red color. He’d love to reply “equal” in a firm and final tone, but as Sasuke has pointed out earlier, Naruto was a horrendous liar. Once in a while, perhaps once in a month or two, Naruto got the urge to take the more dominant role, and after an hour’s worth of persuasion, Sasuke would let him. Let him.

“That’s different,” Naruto snapped. “Just because I like--er, prefer--”

“You like to be on the bottom,” Sasuke finished for him, completely nonplussed. “You prefer the submissive role over the dominant role, for reasons you cannot explain. You enjoy handing control over to your partner, because in giving yourself away, you access a whole new level of freedom. Freedom of responsibility. Your sexual needs and desires are rooted within this unconscious recognition of your place of power in your relationship. Just like your Sasuke’s was. I doubt he ever willingly submitted to you, did he? At least, not without an argument.”

Naruto grit his teeth, eyes darkening in rage as Sasuke’s lit up in amusement.

“In a way, you’re the same now as you were back then,” Sasuke said, lifting a hand to tap his fingers lightly along the inside of Naruto’s knee. Almost unconsciously, Naruto’s legs split further apart to avoid any further contact. One he realized what he’d done, his blush deepened. Sasuke smirked. “You were resilient at first, but after a while, you became--adjusted to it. You weren’t used to the idea of a homosexual relationship and, like I said, it took me months just to make you kiss me back.

“The point is that I’m telling you now what your pathetic human boyfriend never had the gall to point out. There is no such thing as a relationship in which the two stand on equal ground. Whether it be in social status, or in personality traits, or in bed, there will be one who domineers, and one who is subjected to it.” Sasuke’s head cocked to the side. “It’s odd. I doubt that you’re completely oblivious to this fact, and yet--you react only when I say it out loud. Do words truly bother you?”

“Words don’t,” Naruto denied, finding his voice again. “Lies do.” He had wanted to interrupt Sasuke’s little self-important speech before he finished his first sentence, but the confidence shining so clearly through ruby eyes was enough to quiet his instincts. It seemed, no matter what he did, it was always coming up short to what Sasuke said or did. Like the vampire had truly gone through this whole charade once before, and was pulling the same tested theories twice.

And, to Naruto’s utmost annoyance, they were working.

“I’m not lying. Haven’t I already said that I wouldn’t?”

“I don’t believe a word coming out of your mouth!”

Sasuke snorted lightly. “There’s no reason not to,” he said confidently, a calm mask washing away the errant smirk and replacing it with cool nonchalance. It pissed Naruto off even more, that uncaring expression. Like Naruto’s arguments were petty and not to be paid too close attention to, lest Sasuke lose a few brain cells. “Everything I have ever said to you has been the truth, you fool. There is nothing to gained by lying.”

“Yeah, well, the only thing you’re gaining now is the increased chance of a black eye. So shut your face, you bastard.” Naruto regretted the threat almost instantly. He knew as well as Sasuke did that it was an empty one. Naruto had a better chance of sprouting wings and flying than he did of giving a condescending creature of the night a shiner.

Sasuke chuckled, the laughter breaking his calm façade. “Oh, will you?” he asked. “Such tall words. Tell me, are you truly that dense, or was it a knee-jerk reaction to my telling you that you prefer it on your back with your legs spread?”

Naruto snapped.

Sasuke sighed, a look of annoyance flashing across his features and dismissing the brief spurt of amusement. The blond had recoiled his legs, sprung up to the balls of his feet, crouched, and lunged like a half-wild cat. A rolling of the eyes was the only warning Naruto got before he was promptly spun over and pinned to the bed, one hand clenching his wrists, the other pressing heavily into his chest.

“Stop it,” Sasuke said bluntly. “You’re just going to hurt yourself.”

Naruto snarled, tugging at his restrained wrists, hips arching as he attempted to push the heavier male off of him. All it got him was a darkening of the vampire’s scarlet eyes, a more devious twist to his lips that Naruto understood all too well. He let his back fall limply to the bed, glaring with every angry fiber of his being.

“Go shower,” Sasuke ordered, and he released Naruto’s hands as quickly as he had captured them. “Cool off that temper of yours. When you’re finished, fresh clothes will be waiting for you, and you and I will go to bed.”

Naruto made no move to straighten himself from his reclined position on the bed. Seeing that Naruto wouldn’t relax a single muscle whilst he was in the room, Sasuke stood up and fetched the dinner bowl from the floor. “Wash,” he told Naruto before turning and exiting the room. He made no effort to close it.

Naruto scowled at the ajar door. Even this simple gesture seemed condescending. As if Naruto couldn’t open a door. No, not that. That Sasuke was allowing him to leave. If he hadn’t given open permission, the door would be closed and surely locked.

The blond human weighed his option. He could continue to hold to his principles and refuse the order, and just sit here until Sasuke had to literally chain every limb to the bed before Naruto would lay still long enough for the vampire to fall asleep. Or he could take a real shower, something he’d been craving for since he’d woken up, and wash away the rancid stench on his skin that was the result of sweating in bed for several hours.

Choices, choices.

Naruto remained sitting there for a few minutes longer before deciding that there was nothing to be gained by just staying here. Other than to make a bigger fool of himself, of course. And besides, Naruto reasoned, it wasn’t so much following orders as it was following through with his originally intended plan.

Naruto padded to the bathroom, scratching the back of his head and ruffling the hair there, feeling how tense the muscles in his arms were. He needed to exercise, soon, lest his limbs start to cramp up the next time he attempted to do a strenuous activity.

The bathroom was as he’d last seen it, only this time, Naruto burrowed through the cabinets behind the mirror. Sure enough, his preferred brand of razor and shaving gel occupied one of the shelves. Naruto found that he didn’t need to shave often, and allowed himself to indulge in a more expensive brand because of it. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto could go days without feeling even the brick of a stubble.

Now he ran the blade smoothly up and down his neck, over his chin, across his jaw, sweeping atop his upper lip, finding comfort in the familiarity of the motion. The sharp blade gleamed like silver. He was too much of a coward to pluck the blade form the plastic. He had too much to lose. So much he’d yet to gain. Afterwards, he shed his clothes, and stepped into the shower stall.

He washed himself slowly. Naruto wasn’t particularly cold, but he turned the Hot knob as far as he found bearable, letting the gushing water slowly untangle the knotted muscle in his back and arms. Not thinking, just washing. Not remembering, or dreading, barely registering which bathroom he was really in. Naruto had taken showers as long as he could remember. Before he met either Sasuke, before he even started school. It was comforting, unwinding, familiar and untainted with any particularly bad memories.

When Naruto emerged from the bathroom half an hour later, showered, dried, and in the gray dorm pants and long-sleeved flannel shirt he’d found lying innocently on the sink when he stepped out (When did he sneak in here, and why the fuck didn’t I notice!?), he made a snap decision to take residence of the couch. He’d be damned if he spent another five minutes laying next to the vampire and be subjected to creepy, nearly invasive surveillance.

So of course, now that Naruto had made up his mind, deja vu slapped him hard in the cruelest way possible. One minute he was a free man, the next, a cold hand was tugging at him by the elbow, and a thick metal bracelet was snapped into place over his wrist. Naruto groaned. Of course.

Sasuke tugged at the chain, and it was then that Naruto realized the dual intentions of Sasuke’s plan. The shower had cooled his temper, sure, but it had also eased the tension from his back and legs. It had eased it so much, in fact, that his limbs felt like they were full of warm cotton. Suddenly the couch seemed stiff and lumpy, while the bed, however undesirable the company would be, was a small piece of Heaven in this Hell. So Naruto agreed, for now, and grudgingly followed the older man down the short hallway and into the bedroom.

Then, Sasuke had the nerve to lace their fingers together. Enraged, Naruto squeezed down hard enough to make any normal set of fingers snap. But Sasuke just smiled, smiled, as if he thought Naruto was returning the romantic gesture. No, wait, he wasn’t smiling. He was smirking, wickedly amused eyes dancing in their sockets.

That God-damned bastard…

Sasuke had shed his button-down, formal looking shirt and slipped on a pair of sweatpants. Naruto couldn’t figure out why Sasuke chose to go shirtless, but he had two theories. The first was that he was showing off how he didn’t get cold. The second, and highly more probable, reason was that Sasuke was doing it to make Naruto uncomfortable. Either way, Naruto didn’t appreciate it.

Sasuke pulled the covers down and crept in, pulling Naruto by his arm so that he had no choice but to follow suit. Some time while Naruto was in the shower, the vampire had tied down the curtains and rebuilt the fire into a roaring blaze once again. A towering pile of logs burned and crackled. When Sasuke pulled the sheet, the blanket, and the comforter over them, Naruto was instantly immersed in a nearly unbearable level of heat. The warmth from the shower still tingled in his veins. Naruto didn’t need the dim light that was floating from the fireplace to know that there was a human-sized ice cube not even a foot away, tempting him closer, just a brush of icy skin to relieve the feverish heat.

Gritting his teeth Naruto shifted back as far as his outstretched arm would allow. Sasuke had his arm curled so that his hand was bunched at his chest, making no effort to help Naruto in his quest to put as much distance between them as possible.

6:59

Damn it’s early.

Sasuke didn’t bid him a good night as he had done on previous nights. His eyes weren’t even open. His breathing was slow, even, blending in perfectly with the soft roar of the fire. Sasuke was exhausted, Naruto knew. The heat was making him dizzy and heady, adding to his exhaustion--that too, he’s doing that too, making it too hot to bear, well like Hell I’m moving even an inch closer to him, like Hell.

Naruto was tired. The heavy weight of his eyelids was a solid confirmation of that fact. 7:03. Damn it’s early. And Naruto’s last thought before he drifted off to sleep was the desire for a stack of freshly made pancakes, oozing syrup, shared over the dining room table with bright light floating in through the windows. No crackling fire, no overbearing heat. Just warm, dark eyes, surveying him fondly behind a calm mask, as they ate breakfast.

--

Author’s Notes: I don’t know if I’ve made it clear, but Sasuke is incredibly old in this story. I won’t tell you how old yet, but his age is counted in centuries as opposed to decades. Lest I offend anyone, please keep in mind that the way he was raised as a child truly stuck with him, and the constant changes in today’s society did little to affect his opinions. It’s not that his attitude should not be excused, just understood.

Also, a new poll is posted on my profile page that pertains to this story, if anyone’s interested.

-Kodak