Went back, fixed things, probably not all things. Somehow, though, I feel like I should warn for the length of this chapter. Which makes no sense whatsoever. Just weird. And although it's not quite what I think I wanted, the overall feel of it, I guess it's all right. At least it's a bit more action-oriented.

Guest: Oh, thank you. Despite the mess of it.

...

Dirty Harry IX: Don't Get Lost in Heaven

It's the strangest sensation.

It feels like...

It almost feels like he's floating—or maybe he's slowly falling, his body lying slowly in motion, lying the wrong way round.

He feels almost weightless, despite the heaviness dropped up to his chest, as if the ground had been abruptly pulled from beneath him, as if he'd fallen out from the sky.

He continues to fall, a gradual descent into nothingness, a perpetual darkness that surrounds him, still save for the slightest notion of muffled sound, marked by an ebbing silence, a surging dissonance somehow muted to his ears, as if he were being gradually submerged in water, drifting slowly and slower still, sinking even farther, and yet it begins to feel somehow as if he's drowning on air, as he continues to fall, a mounting pressure in his head as his breaths begin to quicken, as his limbs flail against the emptiness closing in from all around him, a hollow ache in his chest, an encroaching sense of loss, burying him in a space suddenly grown too small, too far down below, trapped beneath the surface, his movements frantic, desperately clawing at nothing, reaching for something, someone, through the garbled sound of his own voice calling out for—

Wake, Sachi.

There's a light nudge, beckoning, a slight tug to his consciousness, another presence he can sense, not wholly apparent, an almost agitated concern, and yet oddly reassuring, oddly hesitant, with another this time more careful nudge, overlapped with a presence distinctly familiar he's seemingly always known.

You are not alone.

With a soft exhale, Sasuke opens his eyes.

Blue, he thinks.

Caught far across an ocean between its sky, a thought not quite fleeting that strays in his mind, too blue, if there could ever be such a thing, as his sight gradually begins to grow less dim, slowly bled from blue shadowed grey, a narrowed gaze shrewd the first thing he sees, an image of Naruto's face still somewhat hazy all he can see, Naruto hovering above him, kneeled beside him—in his peripheral Naruto's arms enclosed on either side of him, from Naruto a distinctive warmth that envelopes him, staves off the cold.

He squints, all but frowns at the faint light surrounding Naruto. Nearly absent in colour, it bathes him in a soft glow, like a flame, effervescent, scarcely tinted red with the barest hints of gold, a force in constant motion, the smallest shifts in varying directions, except it's not Naruto's life force.

It's something more than just Naruto, something much more visceral, another presence nearly indistinguishable from Naruto's own, much more pronounced Kyuubi's presence he's never felt like this before.

But then it's gone.

It doesn't return.

Yet in its place he notices the near quiet, a different kind of stillness, abnormal the air around them, despite Naruto leaning over him, as if he were using his body to shield him.

They're encased in a barrier, he realises, one of Naruto's protective wind barriers.

It's not like the magic Naruto used against Juugo, though; that was an energy field that served more as an offensive manoeuvre, a brutal torrent of winds meant to maim, travelling fast enough to instantly slice through whatever or whoever came too close, and with Naruto's reserves, a highly destructive barrier with the potential to cover a substantial radius—yet even then Naruto wasn't using anywhere near the full extent of his magical ability.

This kind of barrier barely scratches the surface of Naruto's abilities, the type of defensive barrier he can maintain easily, even without the use of his hands to channel his magic, but apparently still strong enough to keep out what looks to be a wave of debris periodically dropped from the ceiling of the cave.

As versatile as Naruto can be with his magic, the veritable powerhouse he is, Sasuke was never under any delusion that he'd ever be able to surpass Naruto, at least not in terms of raw magic or stamina, but at the very least, he still wanted to believe he'd be able to catch up to him, that one day in his own right he'd be able to stand next to him.

He doesn't know where he stands now, but while he will freely acknowledge Naruto's abilities, Naruto just as capable of wielding Kyuubi's magic in addition to his own, it's still a side of Naruto he hasn't been able to fully appreciate—having grown up being exposed to so many magic users considered exceptional by anyone's standards, it's simply the kind of calibre he's used to being around, but with the apparent ease Naruto's able to execute an advanced technique like this, to have this much control over his magic, with that kind of precision, just how far has Naruto left him behind?

Another wave of debris flutters to the ground, debris as small as the tiny specks of sand still sprinkled across Naruto's face, and Sasuke blinks, eyelids moved in rapid succession.

"—suke?"

He noticed the quiet, but he doesn't register that Naruto's trying to get his attention, not until there comes a sudden rush of sound, Naruto's voice becoming clearer, catching up to match the movements of his mouth.

"—ou with me this time?"

He starts to speak, tries to speak, but the attempt only yields a negligible sound. His throat feels too scratchy, his body suddenly too heavy, and yet his head unbearably light, his senses for a moment almost dulled, as his fingers absently curl into his palms, in both hands formed a loose hold, gripping the ribbed cuffs of Itachi's jacket sleeves already pulled past his wrists.

"Sorry about your murals. They're probably not going to survive this, but, uh..." Around an uneven smile, Naruto gives a strained sort of chuckle, an empty laugh lacking humour. "Yeah, we've got company."

Still a little groggy, listless, it takes Sasuke too long to form a single word, the sound of his own voice grating. "...company?"

"A bunch of unfriendlies—mercenaries, I guess I should say. Definitely after us. But at least they're not magic users.

"It actually hasn't been that long. I was trying to give you a little more time, trying to get a better feel for what we're up against, but, well. You see. Lucky for us, these tunnels aren't so easy to get around, if you're not already used to them, even if these guys weren't being so thorough."

Again, Sasuke blinks, licking his lips, brow scrunched, because Naruto still hasn't moved, still peering down at him. Naruto's not the type to be flashy with his magic, doesn't like to use it without reason. There has to be something about the air, more than just the debris. "Your magic, what are you..."

"Of course you'd notice." Naruto gives a light snort, but it's with a sardonic sort of amusement short-lived. "Haven't been able to pick up anything from them communications-wise, either, and I still don't know what their motive is, but it doesn't seem like they know we're here. Not yet at least. For now, just looks like they're taking extra precautions, trying to flush us out."

"Gas?" Sasuke says, the first thought that comes to mind, what he immediately infers, and the people after them, the fact that Naruto referred to them as mercenaries, increasing the likelihood they came prepared to deal with magic users, resorting to that kind of tactic, they're probably using some type of neuros.

Although he hasn't had any personal experience with them, short for neurological inhibitors, neuros is what most people usually call them. They're nothing new in the world of weapons tech, the concept of poisoning with nerve agents having been around more than long enough, but they still remain a controversial topic, technically illegal in certain matters of officially declared warfare, yet their continued use fully government-supported, evidenced by all the money the Alliance continues to pour into further development and research.

While the technology itself is mildly regulated, neuros have more prevalent usage outside the military, especially among smaller, still warring sectors with less access to resources, in particular those that don't fall under the direct purview of either the Alliance or the Federation.

However, compared to conventional weapons, they're still a less established technology, nerve agents in their most recent developments more highly experimental, their effects mostly unpredictable, due to a quality standard overall much less consistent with the types of chemicals and materials often used to create whatever desired neurological reactions, in a wide array of forms used for implementation, which, unsurprisingly, also makes them one of the most sought after items on the black market.

Yet what makes neuros so controversial, unlike previous versions of nerve agents usually considered lethal, is the fact they're specifically created with the intent to incapacitate, while allowing the victim to remain conscious, touted with formulas purportedly able to attack isolated aspects of the nervous system, inducing controlled debilitating effects, including varying levels of disorientation, temporary paralysis, and sometimes even delirium.

There's a lot of potential for misuse, plenty of cases that have ended in fatalities, too many instances recently where it has been reported that magic users were explicitly intended as targets, accredited to the newest trend of a specialised series of neuros exclusively created as a means to subdue magic users.

"Yeah," Naruto says. "I'm banking on some type of neuros. Don't plan on dispelling my magic to find out which one, though."

That means Naruto's defensive barrier, a seemingly near impenetrable, insulated shield, while manipulating the air around them, somehow, Naruto's simultaneously able to filter it, too, is that attuned to such subtle shifts in the atmosphere. Although the source itself is far enough away, the gas must have seeped through the crevices. That's why he's yet to move, why he's staying so close.

It's again this more sombre side of Naruto he hasn't really had the opportunity to consciously notice, the slightest downturn of Naruto's lips the only show of irritation, but Naruto otherwise calm, no worse for wear under the strain that much control would normally take on most magic users, able to so easily accomplish a feat that would require such a high level of mental acuity.

He allows himself a grudging sort of awe, finds himself staring for a moment, when a quick glance has Naruto's head turned to the side, by the expression on his face, Naruto internally cataloguing their situation, and for the first time it feels like he really sees Naruto, inexplicable, this belated realisation of how much stronger Naruto's actually become, how much Naruto probably doesn't even think to tell him, intentionally or not, further cementing how much more Naruto himself doesn't allow him to know.

"Like I said," Naruto continues, returning his attention to Sasuke, "it hasn't been that long. So far, they've just been detonating neuros all over the place, but judging by the timing, I'll give it another twenty minutes or so, until we really have to haul as—"

There's a loud explosion, although still far enough away from them, a deep rumble that seems to echo throughout the entire cave system, dislodging slightly larger pieces of rubble from the ceiling.

"Tch. They're going to bring the whole place down at this rate," Naruto says. "Other than that, though, everything seems stable enough for now, except the way they keep setting those things off, I don't know how long that's going to last."

"You already have a plan."

"Eh, something like that. Pretty much have the all clear on the ship. Diagnostics went through. Everything's good to go. We just have to get there. But I'm thinking we'll need to take a detour to the prison, since it's closer. Hopefully, that'll give us some time to regroup, maybe even a chance to throw them off for a bit.

"It's either that or risk leading them right to the ship, so... "

"...Itachi and Juugo, have you contacted them? Are they going to meet us there?"

"They're fine."

"That's not what I asked. Don't lie to me, Naruto."

"I'm not lying to you. The last time I talked to Itachi, he was fine—him and Juugo, they're both going to be fine."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"No, it means what I said. It means they're not the ones with the bad guys closing in on them, so really, I can't help it if Itachi and Juugo aren't exactly my priority right now."

Lips drawn tight, almost grim, there's a slight quirk to the corner of Naruto's mouth, silently daring Sasuke to challenge him.

But Sasuke doesn't. He won't. Instead, he reaches for the left cuff of Itachi's jacket sleeve, while he holds Naruto's gaze, fingers curling and unfurling.

"Sasuke, I..." Naruto sighs, without disrupting his barrier, moving to sit beside him, leaving little space between them, as he runs a hand through his hair no longer framed by goggles.

"Listen, whatever it takes, no matter what it takes, I'm going to get us out of here. Getting us to the ship is my priority—you're my priority. That's what Itachi said, so that's what I'm going to do."

It's more than that, but Sasuke doesn't think to push the issue, as his magic unwittingly rises to the surface, magic he knows he's in no condition to use, but his magic trying to soothe him, a gentle lull in the back of his mind slowly taking over him, as he tries not to think of the last time he spoke to his brother, tries not to wonder if there'll ever be a next time again, the words he didn't mean to say, the burden it seems he's always been, will always be, but he has to keep Naruto safe, because it's coming, something coming towards them, something he has to keep Naruto away fr—

"—ake up, Sasuke. Look at me."

...look at me?

Sasuke doesn't think not to comply, looks at the face above him, looks into Naruto's eyes again close to him.

"Where are you right now?"

"Five."

"Oh." Naruto blinks. "That's actually pretty—"

"Five of them—five, there were five of them. It's three and two now, but it's two of them they're searching for, two of us, searching for one of us, both of us, three of them—get rid of them, getting closer, but they don't know, can't know, don't want to know."

His voice sounds distant even to his ears, seems to fade, carries words it doesn't feel like he's speaking, the product of thoughts and emotions muddled, jumbled a constant stream of consciousness, faint the edges of whispers that aren't even his own.

"Why does it have to be me? I need to get it back again. Four of them and one of me. There's resentment—he resents them, but they can't know. He's stuck with them. He's afraid of them. That's why he's here. That's why he chose to go, because he can't go back there, because he's not one of them, because he doesn't want to di—"

The words stop at the warmth against his cheeks, as Sasuke leans into the hands holding his face, swallows at the persistent call of his name.

There it is again.

And again.

The cave, he remembers. Naruto's here. They're still in the cave. He's with Naruto.

Breathing slowly, he tries to gather his thoughts, left more than a little shaken, more than he's comfortably willing to admit.

But having Naruto here helps. Naruto simply being around him, a reassuring constant that's always helped ground him, it gives him something to focus on, helps him better keep his own emotions in, while separating them from everything else he tries to keep out.

He closes his eyes, opens them again to meet Naruto's sharp stare, because Naruto knows the implications of what it means when Sasuke's unconsciously able to pick up on another person's intent, how clearly another person's emotions are coming across, especially from that far away, and his voice is firm, leaving no room for compromise, the kind of tone he rarely uses, when he asks again, "Where are you, Sasuke?"

"...still a two."

Naruto breathes out with a forced sigh. "Okay." He gives a slow nod. "Okay, we can still work with that. I know you're still a little out of it—a lot out of it, because you're still not where you should be, but—"

"I know." Sasuke places his hands over Naruto's arms, as he begins to sit up, carefully removing Naruto's hands away from his face. When Naruto moves to help him, he doesn't resist the hands reaching to steady him, the hands running along his sides, smoothing down Itachi's jacket, but he does resist the temptation to lean into Naruto's arms, before Naruto pulls away.

"You good?"

"Yeah. I was just..."

"All right. You feel up to using your shadow magic?"

It's one of his preferred elements, arguably the one he has the most affinity with, comes to him almost as easily as his life magic.

"I can do it."

Naruto watches him, expression carefully blank. "When I get us out of here, you think you can hold out long enough to make it back to the prison?"

Probably.

Maybe.

But he hasn't forgotten Naruto's words from before, understands why Naruto was so upset with him, the reprimand for being so reckless, his own impulsiveness wasting his already low reserves trying to raise the ship, disregarding what both Itachi and Naruto had repeatedly told him not to do.

Whether or not he was trying to help, regardless of his still growing trepidations, the instinct wanting to alleviate Naruto's pain, wanting to make things better for Naruto the only way he knew how, he knows he shouldn't have done it.

It may not be his fault they're being pursued, but it is his fault that he's made the situation harder on Naruto.

He knows he was wrong.

"It's my shadow magic," he says, keeps his voice even, hoping to convey a confidence that isn't just for Naruto's sake. "It'll hold."

Naruto looks like he wants to argue, with narrowed eyes stares at him long enough that Sasuke doubts he's fooled by the feigned confidence, if he ever would be, yet Naruto doesn't say anything about it.

Instead, he reaches for his jacket Sasuke had been using as a makeshift pillow. Throwing the jacket behind him, he pulls both arms through the sleeves, shrugs the jacket over his shoulders, then absently adjusts the collar, leaving the zipper undone.

"I won't be able to keep this barrier up for much longer," he says. "It was fine before, but they're going to notice some kind of displacement in the air eventually. I can't exactly hide that."

"What about a distraction? Would that be too much of a risk?"

"Probably. But that's what I've been thinking, too. Only thing left now, is to make it there.

"They have some kind of disrupter, so the comm link's been jammed. Haven't been able to get anything, which means it's just us. Maybe if we get far enough out of range, once we're back at the ship, we can—"

Another explosion rocks the cave, this one seemingly closer in proximity, a few floors beneath them, and Naruto grits his teeth, pulling away his hand he'd placed on Sasuke's shoulder.

"You'd think they'd know better not to set off so many explosives in a rocky place like this that's already on the verge of falling apart." He looks towards the single entrance with a frown, muttering a curse underneath his breath.

Sasuke follows his gaze, aware of Naruto's barrier still around them. "The mercenaries," he says, "they're getting closer. Only three of them, though. The other two, they're not..."

As soon as Naruto's barrier is dispelled, Sasuke begins to stand, moving to reach for his retracted sword stood against the wall, but Naruto grabs him first, as they're hit with another blast, this one louder, seemingly right below them, as Naruto pulls Sasuke towards him closer, hand cradling the back of Sasuke's head.

"Not yet," comes a gruff whisper, with a grunt, Naruto pushing Sasuke to the floor, crouched over him —a short gust of wind breaking apart the large chunk of rock that would've fallen on top of them, but then Naruto's free hand's on the floor, palm down, and there's another low rumble, the whistle of a harsh crescendo that ruptures with a high-pitched shriek, as everything around them continues to shake.

But it was just air.

It was Naruto's magic, a fissure of air gone through presumably solid rock beneath them, timed with the last explosion, rippled tremors along the cave floor.

"That should hold them back long enough."

Ignoring the slight ringing in his ears, Sasuke peers up at Naruto with narrowed eyes. "What the hell was that?" he hisses.

"That was five minutes before this whole place goes down on us."

"And you couldn't have said something before?"

Threatening the integrity of the entire cave structure, that Naruto's magic is actually strong enough to displace that much rock at once, and that quickly, with no sign of fatigue, it's amazing how Naruto can still surprise him. But Sasuke doesn't have time to marvel over Naruto's prowess.

Because it's still Naruto.

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?"

"I thought we agreed on needing a distraction," Naruto scowls, defensive. "And I just gave us a pretty damn good one." He pushes off from the floor, pushes off on his heels, pulling Sasuke with him as he stands, breaking out into a near run, barely giving Sasuke time to grab his sword by the hilt, awkwardly fastening the sword to his side.

"No, you're trying to bury us alive."

"Yeah, yeah, argue with me later. We need to un-ass ten minutes ago."

Passing through the entrance, Sasuke nearly trips, but Naruto's grip is firm, not letting him fall, leading them farther into the tunnels, into the deeper recesses of the caves, except they're not going down. They're going—

"The only way out is up," Naruto says, glancing at Sasuke from over his shoulder, fingers sliding from Sasuke's arm to wrap around Sasuke's hand. "Going to have to make our own extraction point."

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Standing operating procedure."

The last thing it sounds like is SOP, but some of Naruto's best ideas have been off the cuff, with his usual wilful confidence, Naruto making it up as he goes along, many of his plans impromptu, with the sometimes annoying tendency to turn out better than Sasuke's attempts on his own.

Apparently, Naruto does seem to know what he's doing, though, seems to know exactly where they're going, pulling him along, navigating an intricate network of darkened passageways without pause, anticipating each corner and twist, despite sparse offerings of day, brief glimpses of Barrah's sun peeking intermittent through cracks enlarging pockets of light increasingly wider, as Naruto takes them higher, leads them directly outside the caves, beneath the threshold of a large, arched opening, overlooking the horizon from the side of the cliff.

They stutter to a stop.

Seemingly at a dead end, bright light assaults his eyes, Naruto's arm held out in front of him, Naruto pushing Sasuke behind him, preventing Sasuke from going any further towards the ledge.

Sasuke swallows hard, arms quick to reach around Naruto's waist, mouth parted with stilted gasps each tired breath, pulling Naruto tight against his chest, pulling Naruto back towards the cave, as he watches fall over the edge bits of rock and sand kicked up by their shoes.

It's steep, pretty much a straight shot down, what has to be no less than an eighty-metre drop.

"You were saying."

"…okay, so maybe I didn't think this part completely through." Naruto breathes out slowly, measured, controlled, takes careful steps back, careful steps Sasuke takes with him, as the arms around him let go.

"SOP can only take you so far," he says, still positioned between Sasuke and the precariously short ledge. A slight shift of his weight between his feet, slightly widening his stance, he turns towards Sasuke, back facing the wall, but giving himself a vantage point that allows him to see both outside past the ledge and the entrance they came through. "Doesn't look like anyone's down there at least. That much I was counting on. I don't know for how much longer, though."

"What now?"

"Want to fly?"

Sasuke blinks. "Fly?"

"So..." There's a dangerous gleam in Naruto's eyes, as he smiles at Sasuke wide, wearing the rash kind of wayward grin that usually precluded all the stupid shit he used to pull before being accepted into the Academy. "Remember when a bunch of us from the old neighbourhood used to pretend we were ninja, and I broke my leg, when I thought I could use my magic to scale the fence and go across the roof?"

Stupid shit just like that.

(To this day, probably why Naruto has no qualms using the back window to let himself into Sasuke's room—never mind that Sasuke's the one who unlocks it for him, even if Naruto already has all the access codes to get past any key panel.)

But Sasuke immediately makes the connection, infers exactly what Naruto has in mind. "You want us to jump."

"We're going to have to jump."

"That's your plan."

"That's my plan."

"…I wasn't being serious."

"Since when you'd get a fear of heights, scaredy-cat?"

"Who said anything about being scared? I'm not afraid of heights. You're the one who can't handle a little free fall."

Tilting his chin up a little, feet planted on the floor, Naruto leans a little closer to peer over the edge, waits a deliberately second or two, before turning on Sasuke a wry stare. "I get where we're going with this," he says, with a casual wave of his hand gesturing back and forth between them, "but no way is that a little free fall."

"...you said we'll be okay," Sasuke says, low, stepping forward with a hand reaching for the thin, ball chain around Naruto's neck, fingers slipping lower, stopped to pull on Naruto's dog tags to draw him closer. "You always say everything's going to be okay."

"...yeah." Closing his eyes, Naruto breathes in softly, breathes out. He opens his eyes, newly determined, resolute in his gaze, with a single look reaffirming all the reasons why it's always been so, so easy to trust everything he says. "Yeah, we got this. You and me. We can do this. Just like always."

Naruto's lying.

He knows Naruto's lying.

But that's never stopped him from believing in Naruto before.

"You don't have to sound so calm about it, though," Naruto mutters.

"It was your idea." Sasuke releases Naruto's dog tags, raising both hands to place over Naruto's cheeks, fingers resting against Naruto's temples, as Naruto shudders in anticipation. "Here's your warning."

"Gah—that was not a warning." Naruto shivers with a grimace, cringes as another shudder passes through him, as Sasuke's shadow magic washes over him. "I hate it when you do that."

"You would've complained either way."

Sasuke lets his hands fall away from Naruto's face, absently watching Naruto through greyed vision, slightly blurred the edges of Naruto's silhouette almost halted stalled movements, immediately drawn to Naruto's life force, a vibrant white, but within it are the tiniest little tears, along the inside of Naruto's arms the source of what could hardly be called scratches barely even there, where his gaze lingers too long the smallest of nicks littered across Naruto's skin, not even bleeding, but Naruto's not supposed to...

Because Naruto's always…

Naruto's always…

There's a hand holding Sasuke's chin, firm yet gentle, in blue eyes an unfaltering concern, as Naruto tilts Sasuke's head towards him. "When you're already like this, Sasuke, why are you still doing that?"

A little breathless, a little bleary, Sasuke blinks, unable to gauge Naruto's expression. "…doing what?"

"Sasuke, you..." Naruto shakes his head, shakes himself out of whatever stupor that had him staring at Sasuke, placing his arms around Sasuke instead. "Nothing. Never mind. It's okay."

"Naruto?"

"It's okay. You're okay—we're okay. Just hold on to me, all right. I got you."

Sasuke doesn't say anything, ignoring the slight waver in Naruto's voice, but he lets himself be held, placing his arms around Naruto's shoulders, fingers clutching the back of Naruto's jacket in his hands gripped too tight.

"...on three, okay."

"...okay."

"One..."

Naruto can be an impatient guy sometimes, every so often with the kind of attention span that wouldn't allow him to make it past two, but even knowing that still doesn't prepare Sasuke when Naruto pushes off from his feet, with a running start Naruto suddenly propelling them forward, as Sasuke feels himself being lifted, breath seized, like the air's been snatched from his lungs, his heart snatched from his chest, and he shuts his eyes, face lowered against the crook of Naruto's neck, pressing himself closer, as Naruto's magic whips around them, Naruto jumping backwards, a moment of stillness, over the edge suspended in almost absolute silence, a harrowing dive a rush of furious winds surrounding them.

And they're falling.