Hoooomeeeewooorrrkkkkkk... *ignores* Sigh, there I was being mature and responsible saying, "Nope! No more fanfic till I do my assessment!" Did not happen.
I definitely have my priorities sorted appropriately.
The night before Naruto came back, it rained.
"Finally rain," Sakura had said when it started in the middle of the night. Sasuke, in half consciousness had tried to roll away from it, the soft droplets of Sakura's relief like ice cold needles on his hot skin. She'd dragged him out of the way when his whimpering had turned to loud cries.
"He can sleep with us if you like the rain," one of the children had told Sakura. She'd allowed Sasuke to rest his head on the stomach of one child and another to sit by his head and hold his hand. As long as they stayed away from Sasuke's infection with their scratched at mosquito bites.
Sasuke had watched her, in the dim light of the moon, strip herself naked and stand with her clothes draped over her hands, lifting them to the heavy rain. He was too tired to register the fact that standing before him had been a naked girl. As the boy holding his hand had carefully combed the hair off his face and out of his eyes, Sasuke had been fascinated with the way the barely there light made Sakura's dark figure glow.
Moonlight beams streaming past the curve in her waist, glowing in the gap between her legs that he wrinkled his nose at, thinking it was much too wide. She'd lost weight.
With her stretched form reaching to the sky, the exposed ridges of her ribs make darker shadows against her skin that looked a smoky grey by night. Sasuke could swear he could hear the rattle of her bones as she shivered, naked in the cold.
She'd then torn the sleeves of her night gown and redressed Sasuke's leg after wringing out the makeshift bandage.
"I'll have something better for you when Naruto brings my things tomorrow."
Sasuke closed his eyes.
.
.
.
When Naruto came back it was still raining. And while Sasuke couldn't stand the feel of the needle-rain, the sound was rather nice. It was hushed on the roof and made loud voices sound normal again. For the first time in what felt like forever to Sasuke, he unclenched his jaw and managed some of the soft bread Naruto had bought with him and the pain-killing medicine he had to take with it. He managed to not cry when Sakura had moved him back to the spot by the bars, angled out of the rain. He managed to open his eyes and stare sleepily at Naruto who held his hand because Sakura had told him not to look while she uncovered his leg and began treating it.
Sterile water, clean wipes, tweezers to remove dead layers of skin. Sasuke tried not to clench his teeth, instead squeezing Naruto's hand so hard the blonde winced.
"Is it bad Sakura?" asked Naruto, his eyes shifting slightly and breaking perfect contact with Sasuke. The man beyond the bars went to look but Sasuke squeezed his hand before his eyes moved away.
"D-don't leave me…" he whispered, voice hoarse. "C-can you stay looking at me?" Sasuke became aware of the fact that his whole body was tense and trembling, covered in sweat. He could feel his eyes moving wildly across Naruto's. The raven blinked, eyelids taking three attempts to do it properly and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he shouldn't be asking something so pathetic. But he couldn't help licking his lips nervously and holding onto Naruto's hand more tightly.
"C-can you…" A weird noise that was supposed to be a word burbled past Sasuke's lips and he squeezed his eyes shut once, trying to get a grip. Sakura braced her thumbs around the bite and pressed in slightly. Sasuke let out a cry and his hands jolted forward through the bars in a jerky lunge to clutch at Naruto's forearms.
"Don't move around Sasuke!"
The Uchiha growled.
"Sasuke…" The blonde's voice sounded choked. Sasuke's ground his forehead against the bar that obstructed the space between him and Naruto.
"Naruto," called Sakura. "You saw Kakashi sensei when you went to get the paste?" Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, I said you'd run out and wanted me to get some for you since you were sick at home."
"What did he say?" Sakura's thumbs were still resting on Sasuke's knee.
"He didn't really say much… He gave me the paste and asked if it was for you. I said it wasn't. He was looking at me kinda weird though, but ya know he always looks at me weird. I think it's the one eye thing."
Sakura made a humming noise.
"I guess that's ok. He can't know I'm here or I'll definitely lose my job."
Naruto fingers moved more comfortably around where he held Sasuke at the elbows.
"Ok Sasuke, I know this is going to hurt but I think the best thing is to get this thing really clean and then it can start healing. That means—" Her thumbs again. Sasuke snarled lowly. "—I have to squeeze all the pus out." Sasuke moved to smack her hands away from his knee but Naruto held him steady.
"N-Na, Sasuke, let's talk about something while she does it? What do you want to talk about? Wait a second Sakura while we decide." Sasuke's eyes were closed and he tossed his head from side to side.
"Don't," he ground out. Naruto shook him a little.
"Let's talk about what you can do when you get out of here." Sasuke cracked his eyes open and glared up at the blonde from under angry, deep-set brows. But Naruto, all sodden and stubborn ignored him and began by himself.
"Lesee here… When you get out, you can-"
Sakura got her thumbs ready. Sasuke hung his head and dug his fingernails into Naruto's arms.
"—live with me and we'll plant a garden—"
The thought of how easily Naruto was assuming Sasuke would live with him again if he ever got outand the following train of thought about his feelings, briefly entered Sasuke's mind but was completely lost to the white pain that exploded inside his head as Sakura began to squeeze.
Sasuke screamed and Naruto raised his voice over it.
"—and grow tomatoes because you like 'em and lotsa other food and-"
The film of rain on Naruto's arms beneath Sasuke's palms was burning. The screaming was tearing his throat out. Sakura stopped squeezing to wipe away the pus and then started again.
"—and we'll live together in my house with Sakura and everyone will be happy, and Sakura will work and maybe we will too but-"
The door across the room slammed open and a guard appeared.
"Oi! What are you doing! Get away from my slave dammit! I know you've been coming here all the time Boy and I ignored it for a little while but! "
"—we'll always do the shopping like we did before-"
"Oi! What are you doing! What's going on!"
Sasuke screamed louder. Naruto's loud words had stopped and the blonde was now leaning forward, telling Sasuke things his pain riddled mind couldn't comprehend.
"Almost there Sasuke! Almost there!" called Sakura, her thumbs trembling with effort to clean out the pus.
"Oi-!" started the guard but Sakura interrupted.
"Shut up!"
The squeezing stopped and Sasuke collapsed sideways and then rolled onto his back, moaning. Sakura and Naruto were both panting. The sound of the rain faded back in to play company to the thick silence that followed. The guard took a few steps forward, beady eyes taking in the medical kit inside the slave quarters, the trembling pile of teenage body that was Sasuke, the blond sitting beyond the bars with his head in his hands, rain dripping off his thick hair, flat and dark in the wet.
"What's going on here?" In Sasuke's head his voice was wobbly and watery. He was exhausted from the effort it took to hold himself steady and not writhe while Sakura had squeezed. His breath was long and noisy. Through his eyelashes he saw the guard approach Sakura.
"I couldn't get it all out," said Sakura quietly, ignoring the guard. "But it'll help," she told Naruto. "Hopefully…" Lifting tired eyes to the guard she scowled, tiny bumps flanking her nose as she curled her lip in disgust.
"None of this would have happened if slaves weren't treated this way." She gestured to the room. "I mean what is this? Look what this place has done to Sasuke! To the kids too… Thank god we have Naruto… We need some outside help."
The guard's face hardened.
"No one leaves here unless they're paid for. You're slaves, nothing else matters."
"They're people," said Naruto lowly but was ignored. Sakura was silent as she reached for the paraffin gauze and tweezers. The guard turned heel and stomped back through the door, locking it behind him.
"We'll need more wipes Naruto. Go to Kakashi sensei again. Tell him in my boredom I've been going through my first aid kit and asking you to get what I need to restock." She gently laid the gauze over Sasuke's bite and then laid another dressing over the top before carefully taping it down to Sasuke's inflamed, throbbing flesh before winding a bandage securely over and under his knee.
"…It's just us isn't it Sakura?" murmured Naruto. Sasuke rolled his head sideways to look at the other boy who was looking at Sakura. The blonde's face was twisted with a mix of emotions Sasuke's hazy consciousness couldn't separate to understand. "It's just us. The guard won't help us or let us take Sasuke out. If he did we could just escape…"
"It's just us Naruto, but we can do this." She nodded to herself and then both pairs of eyes were on Sasuke. He blinked back without words. Naruto reached over and thumbed the sweat from his upper lip.
"How bad is it Sasuke? How's the pain?" asked Sakura.
"Everything's throbbing," he slurred, voice crackling. "Tired… Sore…" Sakura packed her things away and set the medical kit in the corner.
"I don't think he'll take this off us; that guard. He only comes in when he hears something happening. Useless."
Sasuke's eyes flickered. Some of the children who had been hiding in the far corner from Sasuke's screams were crawling forward. Remembering all Sakura's warnings about not getting too close, they stopped and sat in a small bunch.
"Is he ok now?" Sasuke didn't bother to look to them.
"Right now he's ok," Sakura replied, voice holding a forced smile for the children.
They said nothing more. Sasuke heard the scuffle of calloused bare feet as the rest of the child-pack came to sit by his side.
"Naruto," said Sakura. "Go to Kakashi sensei today. And come back to me tomorrow so I can clean Sasuke again.
"Go now?" asked Naruto. Something in the air shifted.
"Now that I think about it Naruto, you're living in the house on your own aren't you…"
"Y-yeah?"
"And you have the rest of the day free before you go to see Kakashi sensei…"
"Y-yes?"
"Good, then you can clean the house. I know it's messy. Make yourself useful."
Sakura sounded pleased with herself but Naruto was silent.
"Actually… it's not much different to how you left it. I've been worried so I haven't been eating much. Mostly I just sleep there…"
"Oh…"
Silence. Sakura's attempt at a change in atmosphere died away.
"He's not gonna die right Sakura?" asked Naruto. The same question from before. Sasuke noted the worry laced into the other's tone and felt bad for causing it. He was always causing Naruto so much trouble. He'd even gone so far as getting injured for Sasuke… Taking him into his home… And now this.
"He's not going to die Naruto. I promise."
"He'll get better? Definitely, right?"
"Definitely."
Sasuke drifted off into sleep as the conversation ended. Naruto's voice was soft and distant as he said his goodbyes'.
The rain was an even, pitter-patter lullaby.
.
.
.
Sasuke woke in the middle of the night after sleeping through the day. It was raining, much lighter than it had been before. It was cold and Sasuke thought he must have cooled off a bit too because the chill didn't bite at him like it had been doing. The throb in his leg had dulled. He lay quietly in the dark, Sakura by his side and a collection of small bodies nearby, and started sorting through the piled up thoughts in his head. He hadn't addressed anything either because he hadn't wanted to or because the pain had been too overbearing to get to anything like that. But now that the pain had subsided some, he didn't have much of a choice. Issues pressed and niggled at him.
Naruto being the first and foremost.
What should he do about Naruto? It had been… easy in the last few days. Because he had tiptoeing at the edge of unconsciousness most of the time... But he'd been glad Naruto had been there; to hold his hand when he was pathetic, to make efforts of distractions for him.
But he'd been so angry when Naruto came to him that night and touched him like he had. He'd been angry, and scared. He'd held Sakura away from Naruto. That had to mean something. But then—
"D-don't leave me…", "C-can you stay looking at me?"
He couldn't think properly at the time and his instincts had taken over. Instincts that told him that if Naruto wasn't near, something might go wrong. He'd clung to Naruto. Sasuke, with no proud walls or guarded faces, had sought out Naruto when he was weak; like it was only Naruto who could see him like that; like if Naruto weren't there, the shame of being that pathetic would have been unbearable. If Naruto hadn't looked at him and understood.
Sasuke blinked slowly in the gloom. The ache in his leg was strengthening. He closed his eyes and tried to identify the facts.
Naruto had been drunk.
Naruto had been upset.
Naruto had felt helpless.
Naruto had wanted to be comforted.
And Sasuke had snapped at him and provoked him with his cold attitude.
It wasn't all Naruto's fault?
Open eyes again.
Right, it's not all Naruto's fault. I…
Naruto's face the morning after; wide, disbelieving eyes. He'd obviously regretted it.
Sasuke wondered if he could just let it go that easily and then decided, turning his head to where Sakura was curled up on her side next to him, that he could as blurry images of how the two of them had helped him today, and all Naruto's genuine concern lines crossed his mind.
Sasuke smiled slightly through the ache of his leg and whispered to cool night air:
"Dobe."
.
.
.
When Naruto returned the next day, Sasuke was sitting with one leg folded and the bitten one stretched out. Sakura was taking off the dressing.
"You look a lot better Sasuke," said Naruto, folding into a sitting position next to Sasuke and immediately taking his hand through the bars. The raven eyed where they touched and Naruto started when Sasuke looked back at him, registering the complete consciousness in his dark eyes. The blond quickly dropped Sasuke's hand, eyes skirting off to the side.
"A-ah… Sasuke, I…" Sasuke looked back down at their hands and then wriggled his fingers forward to lace them with Naruto's. The other boy jumped at the contact and slowly turned astonished eyes to the slave.
"Sasuke?"
The dark haired boy's response was a soft snort through his nose with the words: "you're a terrible drunk", before wincing as Sakura peeled away the soiled gauze.
"That actually looks better," commented Sakura cheerfully but Sasuke couldn't see how it looked 'better' at all. It was still a disgusting blue-black colour and the bite was an open wound, raw and red, a deep center of yellow pus. He wrinkled his nose as Naruto pointed and made circles in the air around the bite.
"The red doesn't look like its spread anymore since yesterday."
"You're right Naruto, it may have even come in a bit."
The three leaned in to examine the watery red spread of infection under Sasuke's skin.
And then—
"So this is what happened." A deep voice from behind them, dropping down on them as the owner looked in over Naruto's head.
Nobody moved. Sasuke watched Sakura's eyes grow wide and round. Naruto was tense beside him and the hand that Sasuke held had turned cold. Sasuke tried not to breathe. He didn't know what was going on but no one dared to look at what might lie behind and above Naruto. Sasuke's gaze edged to the shadows on the ground. Naruto's had been completely swallowed by another.
Sakura was the first to speak and turn to look. The boys followed suit.
"I'd been wondering where you were, Sakura. Naruto's a terrible liar you know."
Wide, seafoam green eyes.
"K-Kakashi sensei…"
Busted.
