Gaikokujin

:a whole new world:

Chapter Nine


Author: shutupandsing

Rating: M

Summary: Backpacking through Southeast Asia with thirteen other strangers wasn't Sasuke's idea of a stress-reliever. Especially after meeting one jaded Westerner who can't seem to accept his own culture. NaruSasuNaru, AU.

Comments: I feel really good about this one.

Disclaimer: Please refer to your browser and read. Thanks.

Mood Song: They Don't Care About Us by Michael Jackson


Day Six - Day Seven

jungles of Cambodia; somewhere near Stung Treng

The mosquitoes are horrible and Sasuke figured he's slapped about a dozen in the past four minutes where they've landed and drank their fill. He was going to end up catching West Nile or malaria or some equally horrible disease. The men have been rotating sentries for the past hour and a half and it was just beginning to grow dark enough for Sasuke to sneak around without calling attention to himself.

Despite the seemingly macho exterior he was putting on show, his insides rumbled, distraught with anxiety and fear. He didn't know how to use a gun if he got a hold of one and he had a feeling he was going to need it. So many doubts rushed through his head but Sasuke had already made up his mind; he was busting into that place and rescuing Naruto.

Only problem was that he didn't know which shack exactly he was being kept in. His original idea was to watch anyone who was carrying food back and forth and go to that one first but no one had been doing such. They were starving him probably so he'd be weak and wouldn't put up much resistance.

Finally the dull light of the sun shrank behind the trees and pitched the area into a dusky green haze that settled down around the ground like an eerie fog. Sasuke waited till one of the men retreated around the side of the shack before he cautiously sprinted forward, keeping his body low to the ground. His back protested but he silently crept up to the very edge of the clapboard, calming his breathing. When the man approached this side of the building, he would smoothly snap the man's neck. Could he do that? Could he kill another living, breathing human being, especially considering his profession in life? A man of justice, of moral?

"Hey Veha, come here for a sec! Check out this wiggle worm!" a man's voice rang through the night air and Sasuke could feel Veha, the man he was going to kill, pause. "Leave your gun there; if he sees it he's not very agreeable. It's okay, we've got him tied up, he's not getting loose."

Sasuke seethed quietly under his breath, that "wiggle worm" they were speaking about was Naruto, no doubt. There was a clink of metal, presumably Veha laying down his weapon and Sasuke could see the short-stature man walk towards the dark doorway of the shack opposite.

A thin curl of smoke rose up in the hair, illuminated by the streetlight a few yards away. Sasuke caught sight of the yellowed eyes of the man smoking, the guy who had called out and shrank back, afraid that he could see him.

Eventually, both men retreat into the building and Sasuke could hear their quiet laughter echo from within. Acting quickly, he scrambled around the side of the building and grabbed onto the semi-automatic rifle that was laying in the grass.

The weapon felt awkward and dangerous in his hands, like a coiled mamba. Lethal. Deadly. A string of shots suddenly went off across the field and Sasuke could see the dim orange light of a fire and group of men standing out, drinking and firing their weapons at random.

Perfect.

Creeping forward with the gun, he made his way towards the shack where Naruto was being kept. From inside, the men were still laughing and now speaking in their native tongue. Taking a deep breath and sending a prayer to whatever god that was listening, Sasuke pushed open the light-weight wooden door and leveled the gun in front of his body.

"What the?!"

Veha only got out two words before Sasuke awkwardly pointed the gun at him and closed his eyes, pulling his finger towards his body. He didn't expect the violent backfire the gun would put on his body and he stumbled a bit, bracing his shoulder against the wall behind him. The other man came at him stupidly, his cigarette falling to the ground and getting crushed underfoot. Something glinted in the moonlight and Sasuke didn't have time to move before a sharp pain skittered up his shoulder as the man sliced at his arm.

He slammed his foot into the man's knee, breathing heavily. The other fell backwards with a groan. Raising the gun at the man's head, Sasuke cringed as red blossomed the front of his shirt.

"Die, you son-of-a-bitch," he yelled brokenly before pulling down on the trigger once more, creating a large depression where the man's face once leered. Blood splattered against the wall behind the body and his limp form fell forward, face-first, into the dirt.

Shaking and heaving quietly, Sasuke grasped a hand around his injured shoulder, grimacing at the tiny trails of blood that slipped from in-between his fingers. Naruto was lying up against the far wall, chest barely moving with each ragged breath that passed between the man's lips.

At first, what Sasuke guessed as shadows falling across Naruto's face were actually deep, dark bruises and a surge of hate filled his chest. He dropped to his knees next to the blonde-haired man, hands randomly roaming over his body, inspecting for any life-threatening wounds.

Like bullet holes.

A terse sigh of relief filtered out of Sasuke's nose at the lack of serious injury. They had fired a gun; just not at Naruto. Despite that, the man was beaten up pretty badly and Sasuke could only hope that he could rouse the other and get him to his feet so they could sneak away without calling attention to themselves.

"Naruto, man, come on, you've got to get up." Sasuke shook his shoulder a little, carefully, in case there were injuries there as well. A soft groan rose up from the man, moments before his eyes cracked open. Immediately, Sasuke recognized the hazy cloud of pain that covered his irises and he gently lifted him into a sitting position.

Naruto cried out softly, raising an arm to his swollen face to gingerly touch the puffy dark circles around his eyes. He frowned quietly before he caught sight of the two dead bodies occupying the small room.

"Oh god," trickled out between his lips.

"They were going to kill you," Sasuke explained in a near-whisper, pulling Naruto into a standing position. The blonde-haired man cursed quietly under his breath at the weight he was putting on legs that had long since fallen asleep.

"We need to get out of here," Naruto stated, surprisingly clear-headed and straight-forward. Stumbling towards the door, half-supported by Sasuke, he looked out for a moment to see if the coast was clear.

"How did you get here?" Naruto asked, turning to Sasuke and in the cool light of the moon, the bruises on the man's face seemed to glow softly. Sasuke softened at the sight, wishing he had come to rescue him earlier than he had.

"The trees start not too far in front of us, I know a place in there that we can hide till morning."

Naruto was quiet, fixing him with a gaze that flipped Sasuke's stomach on itself. "Okay, ready?"

Sasuke was taken aback at how stealthy Naruto was being, despite being more than just a little banged-up. He quickly followed the man, keeping his body low to the ground and squeezing his palm over his shoulder, despite the pain, to prevent leaking any blood on the ground and creating a trail that would lead the men towards them.

In record time, they were in the protection of the heavy jungle and Sasuke led the way now to the cave-like depression he had found earlier in the day. Breathing heavily, he flopped down onto the mossy ground, groaning in pain as the action jarred his shoulder horribly.

Naruto noticed the action and stripped off his over-shirt, kneeling next to him and deftly winding the shirt around Sasuke's arm and tying it off sharply. Sasuke winced as the rough material bit into the open wound and he could feel the area under his skin above his shoulder grow warm with blood.

"I told you not to come back; you wouldn't be hurt if you had just kept going," Naruto's voice was cutting and harsh, a lot harsher than a normal person would be if their life had just been saved.

"I couldn't leave you behind with those guys and you damn well know it," Sasuke spat, throwing a handful of jungle debris at the man's lap.

Naruto scoffed and dropped to the ground across from him. "You could too have."

"Don't fuck me over for my good intentions!" Sasuke couldn't remember a time he had been this mad; he was practically seething. How dare Naruto berate him for doing something good!

A soft sigh escaped Naruto. "I'm sorry; I just didn't want to see you get hurt on my account." He fell silent then, idly playing with a stick on the ground next to him. "Thank you though, for saving my life and all."

Sasuke frowned and averted his eyes. He didn't want to deal with this right now. "Did you ever learn what they were after?" he questioned, trying to change the subject to get his mind off his shoulder and his quickly-rising temper. He must have unconsciously closed his hand back over the makeshift bandage because Naruto frowned and batted it away.

"It's just a flesh wound, nothing to worry about. It hurts a lot worse than it looks, I promise."

The explanation didn't assuage Sasuke's fears. What if he caught an infection out here before they were able to get back to their group? Speaking of which, he wondered if they were even looking for them let alone know that they were missing. Sometimes Gai could be so ditzy at times that he forgot his cell phone in the hotel and had to run back and get it or forgot to fill up the tank to the behemoth and they sputtered out of gas on a lone highway, having to wait for a native to happen along and help them.

His body ached in all the wrong places, a product of being tied up for 24+ hours and laying low in the shadows of the jungle for the entirety of the day. A loud grumble sounded to his right and he was made aware of how hungry, particularly thirsty, he was right then.

"I'm starving," Naruto spoke softly, stretching out on his back and raising his face to the cool canopy above him. "Are we safe enough here to sleep?"

"Yeah, the ledge is pretty steep and it'd be hard to navigate around here in the dark. Besides, we'd hear them coming way before they ever stumbled upon us."

"That's nice." The other man's voice was lethargic and surprisingly calm. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

Sasuke curled over on his good shoulder, tucking his face into the crook of his arms, forming a makeshift pillow. Naruto's breathing was evening out slowly but surely and he knew pretty soon the blonde man would lose to unconsciousness. "I'm sorry you got hurt, too."

Naruto hummed lowly in his throat and Sasuke felt him blindly reach over with his hand, pat at the ground a few times when he missed, before settling it's warm weight at the curvature of where his side met his hip.

Sasuke felt a mosquito land on the narrow patch of skin between his eyebrows and frowned dutifully at it. It was going to be a long night.


He must have passed out sometime early in the morning because his first coherent thought was Naruto shaking him awake frantically. "Come on, get up bastard! They're going to find us!"

Sasuke's eyes snapped open with painful clarity, making him temporarily blind as the brightness of the jungle around him caused his pupils to shrink. He sat up and in the same instant was on his feet and racing after Naruto, deeper into the overgrown lush of trees.

The tall canopy seemed to get denser the further they went and pretty soon, it was hard to move without bumping or scraping into a tree. It took all of Sasuke's willpower to not cry out when his bad shoulder brushed roughly up against the thick hollow of a tree.

Pausing for a moment, he toed off his dress shoes, knowing that any hope of outrunning the men behind them with guns would be highly diminished if he were to go racing about in his shiny loafers. Naruto kept urging him to speed up and Sasuke glared at the man's back, wondering how in the hell he was able to move that quickly after having been beat nearly to a pulp the day before.

Or maybe it was Sasuke's imagination that he was hurt that badly...

They came upon a tall, fallen tree, that was still partially suspended in the air, held up only be the trees around it. Judging by the thick overgrowth that enveloped it, it had been down for a long while. Naruto, without any hesitation, raced up the trunk heading for the steep cliff-like sides next to it that led to a flatter, more stable land above.

The embankment that fell to their left was mossy and steep yet the way the tree they were on had fallen gave them enough room to walk and possibly even sit. Sasuke could feel the hollow sound of his heart thumping wildly behind his ribcage. He inhaled a shallow breath as he looked over the edge, feeling sick to his stomach at how high up they were.

In front of him, Naruto stepped lightly, balance easily intact. Sasuke sunk his bare toes into the moist, grassy moss, ignoring the squelchy feeling beneath his feet to get a better grip on the dead tree. The shouts of the men were growing louder behind them and the foliage that surrounded and obscured them from view gave him little comfort.

"Almost there," Naruto breathed, reaching behind with his hand towards him. Sasuke took another step forward, panicking when he felt the weak, rotten spot beneath his foot.

As if Naruto could sense the silent danger, he spun around, grabbing onto Sasuke's arm as he slipped off the side of the tree ledge. Gravity pulled at his body, immediately causing the place where his arm was being gripped by Naruto's hand ache. His injured shoulder burned in protest and the tight bandage cut into his skin, cutting off blood circulation. He swung his legs up, desperate to get a footing on the log just as the violent discharge of a bullet embedded into a tree next to him.

"I don't want to do this anymore!" Sasuke yelled, feeling hot, traitorous tears welling up behind his eyes. Naruto heaved him up and he grasped onto the blonde man's shoulders strongly, frustration causing his body to shake. Another shot rang out, this time even closer, and Naruto was on his feet at once pulling Sasuke behind him.

The ledge suddenly took a long veer to the ground they were heading to and Naruto sprinted down its base, helping Sasuke find his footing down the rotten log. Now they were separated from the drug lords by the long embankment and Naruto squatted down low, breathing heavily.

Sasuke gasped as quietly as he could, plopping to the ground and wrapping his arms around his legs to qualm the horrible shivers that were taking over his body. A sense of despair and nausea washed over him like a blanket and he buried his head into the crook of his knees, biting down on his tongue till he could taste blood.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm here. They haven't got you. I'm here." He felt Naruto by his side instantly, cradling his body protectively. Sasuke shook underneath the familiar weight surrounding him and he let loose. The whole time he had been the strong one; the one guiding them and getting them free. The one who killed to save a life. Now with Naruto there by his side, he had no more reason to be the hero.

He could be the coward now.

It started as a quiet quake before his sobs escalated into something more; something ripped down deep inside of him and dragged to the surface. Every breath he took in was immediately forced back out, becoming more ragged each time. It was almost like crying backwards, trying to swallow your tears and gasps instead of letting them out.

Naruto held him as close as possible, covering Sasuke's mouth with his palm to force the man to start breathing out of his nose and to muffle the sound of his sobs so they could stay hidden a bit longer. Sasuke's feet kicked at the ground in front of him almost like a mini temper tantrum a spoiled child would create.

And maybe it was a tantrum. Getting sick with running for their lives and wondering if they'll die any second. That kind of stuff would wear anybody down. In an effort to probably subdue him and keep him from hurting himself, Naruto deftly swung his body around and straddled the man's legs with his own, easing Sasuke backwards onto the ground.

From there, he laid with his face pressed into the crook of the other's neck, where the soft tresses of hair tickled the tops of his ears. Naruto's right arm came around to cradle his head against the other's. His mother used to hold him like this back when he was little; he remembered that much. And he also knew that it was the best way to calm someone, assure someone that they're sticking around through the bad times.

Sasuke shuddered out a few more sobs before he quieted, laying still in Naruto's embrace. The crunching sound of footsteps in the leaves came closer and Sasuke winced, squinting back a fresh wave of hysteria.

"Did we lose them?" The man's voice was thick and hacking like that of a chain-smoker. There was no reply so he figured the other men had shrugged or shook their heads.

"Ah, hell, Nhean's going to tear my head off and shit down my neck. Those boys know where our camp is! They've seen our faces!" The chain-smoker seemed distraught, not wanting to face his boss's wrath when he returned. "Let's just say that we lost them over the ridge, they fell to their deaths and got washed away with the river. Does that sound good to all of you?"

A murmur of agreement rose up and Sasuke nearly started crying again, this time in relief as he heard their retreating footsteps. He laid still for a moment and worked on calming his breathing and his racing heart. Naruto still clung to his side fervently, nearly burying his head into Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke jolted when he felt a warm pair of lips connect with his flushed skin as Naruto placed a quiet, chaste kiss right below his ear. "I just figured," the man began, whispering even though he didn't need to anymore, "that if we don't make it out of here in one piece, that you have to right to know that I've really started to care about you and I'm sorry that I've got you in all this mess."

Sasuke sat very still, listening to the other breathe and thinking about Naruto's relationship with his ex-girlfriend. He had pretty much told him that Sakura was his world and he knew deep down he could never compare to that. Naruto deserved so much better than him so he made up his mind, he wasn't going to take advantage of Naruto's sort-of offer. He wasn't going to give the man another reason to think life was out to run him over.

Slowly, Naruto got to his feet, offering his hand down to help pull Sasuke up. "It's going to take some walking but the jungle's gotta end sometime, right? Once we find a road, we'll get help and get back with our friends."

He smiled once and that was all it took. Sasuke was convinced. Brushing off his backside, he quickly fell into step behind the slightly taller man and pushed his way through the unforgiving jungle around them.

Do you miss the blend Of colours she left in your black and white field Do you feel condemned just being there?

- Sowing Season (Brand New)


Author's Note: Rawr! There you go, another chapter completed in my free time off from school and personal life. :D I hope you like. Any questions go in the review button or a PM.