Thanks for all the love guys (: Second to last chapter out early for you all.
Warning: A lot of stuff goes on in this chapter. Can Sasuke fix what he broke? LMFAO. Probably... NOT. HA. MWAHAHAHAH. I'll shut up because I'm typing this right now and I still don't think I'm getting any funnier...
Disclaimer: ... Derp.
Enjoy :D!
Chapter Ten: Fix It
You know that feeling when the truth seems too real to comprehend? It crashes on your shoulders and makes you weak. Your heart breaks and shatters and crumbles. All the air is kicked out of your lungs from a heavy boot of shock, surprise, and torn up trust. The words… the triggers, they do nothing but torment your mind over, and over, and over again. Naruto's heart was merely deteriorating as the seconds ticked by. Orochimaru's words had done their job—they cut through the fragile string holding together Naruto's heart with Sasuke's into two, tiny threads that fell lifelessly to the ground.
'No… this—this can't be happening. Sasuke wouldn't do this. He wouldn't.' Denial coursed and pumped through his veins. Sasuke Uchiha, the man he had opened up small little doors into the wreckage of his heart, couldn't have sold him out. They had gotten so close in the matter of weeks they spent… 'And… it was all a lie?'
The notion started to make sense… a little bit. Colors bled together, coming in to fill in the blank spaces that were forever left untouched until now. Sasuke's sudden interest in him, it was so random but so desired by Naruto that he had piled away all forms of suspicion to the back of his mind. He was so caught up in the emotions of a puppy love, a tiny crush, growing and snowballing into something so much more than he could ever imagine.
Only to have the humongous snowball run him over in the end.
Orochimaru was rather proud of himself for shaking up Naruto as much as he did. The man was absolutely struck by his words; and rightfully so. Naruto had been parading on his high horse for too many years; it was about time someone finally kicked him off.
"Now, now, don't look like the world is ending. You saw it coming, didn't you?" the edges of his words were dipped in a bucket of superiority and amusement. "What… you didn't?" he gasped dramatically, "Well. It's not like I'm surprised, of course. I did tell Sasuke to use the greatest acting skills he could muster to sway you."
A dark shadow had crossed over Naruto's face. He bit onto the inside of his cheek, willing himself not to cry. He hadn't fully cried over someone like Sasuke for years and he wasn't about to let Orochimaru break past the steel-enforced dam he had constructed to keep those emotions blocked. The man was doing a damn good job at battering and smashing against it, though.
"It's a lie," there was no real vigor left in his voice.
Orochimaru's lips curled in a disgusting smirk, "Is it?"
Kyuubi had remained silent for most of the interrogation, sucking on his third cancer stick of the night. "You're enjoying this way too much," he snorted, puffing out another cloud of toxic smoke into the air. "You got what you wanted. He's caught and obviously broken. What more do you want?"
"Naivety is a common thing to lesser beings, I suppose," why yes, Orochimaru was feeling extremely superior right now. "I won't be finished with him until he's locked away in the deepest of cells with the biggest amount of punishments strapping him down. Until then, I'll be milking this for every chance I ge."
Kyuubi could feel a vein popping his head. Orochimaru had struck a rather deep nerve with that last comment. Just because he was feeling the rush of superiority didn't mean he should go picking fights with every 6'5" redheaded thug he hires. Then again, his rates were high enough…
The man snorted, snubbed out his cigarette, and headed for the door. He wasn't needed for this part, nor did he want to stand around and watch this freak have a field day over some puny little runt. "Whatever. I'm out. You know where to leave my bill." Some divine touch must have lead him to turn his head around one final time before he stepped out that door to take a glance at Naruto.
A face filled with complete and udder devastation was what met him when he dropped his eyes.
Kyuubi walked out after that, slamming the door behind him.
+Borrowed+
Sasuke nearly broke down the doors to the station when he finally came barreling inside thirty minutes later. One half of his shirt was pulled out, hanging over his right pocket, his tie was discarded somewhere at his house, his hair was all ruffled up and unkempt, and pure insanity coated his eyes. Seriously, he must have run nearly all the stoplights on his way to the station. Everyone looked up from their cubicles to see the unusual appearance of the disgruntled raven before them. Kakashi was the only one who seemed unfazed by Sasuke's entrance.
"About time you came," he said calmly, his typical mug of coffee absent.
The raven glowered at him. "Where is he?" he asked between breaths.
Kakashi raised a cool eyebrow, "Take a guess."
"Don't fuck with me, Kakashi." Sasuke growled. He nearly punched a hole through a wall with all his pent up anger swirling and bubbling around. A few of the other cops took their chances to filter out before they had to deal with the blunt wrath of Sasuke Uchiha. "Tell me where Naruto is now!"
"I don't see why I'm in any position to tell you seeing as it's your fault he's in this situation in the first place."
Kakashi words were like anchors crashing against his shoulders. They told the truth and weighed him down deeper into the sea of guilt he was desperately trying to get out of. He knew, all right, that it was his entire fault. That if he never accepted Orochimaru's offer Naruto would still be a freeman and wouldn't have to face whatever Hell Orochimaru was ready to throw him in. He had lost sleep over it numerous days that the sliver of happiness and peace he managed to obtain with Naruto would soon decay and whither into nothing.
Okay. He knew. He didn't need to be reminded. What he needed was a plan to fix every single mistake he made and set things right.
"You're right…" the words burned his tongue as his shoulders deflated and his body became more lax with resolute finality. "I pursued him for selfish reasons. And I know that it's my fault Naruto is in the situation he's in now. But… dammit, I can't let him go like this! I can't. I think… I love him," he muttered the last part quietly, a small blush coming to devour his face. "I grew to know little pieces about him that made him so much more… realer to me. He's not just some annoying, loud, perky, idiotic, kleptomaniac to me anymore."
Kakashi didn't show any signs that Sasuke's words had made any impact on him. Sasuke was ready to say more although a deflated sigh wanted to push through his lips in its place. Instead, the man's next words were the final decision.
"What is he to you now?"
Their eyes met. Sasuke's next words would be the deciding factor in whether or not Kakashi would even let him see Naruto again to set things straight. He stood up a little straighter and bore holes into Kakashi's eyes.
"The man I want to spend the rest of my days with."
Seconds seemed to take on the shapes of hours until finally Kakashi pushed himself off the wall and started to walk down the hallway. About halfway down he looked over his shoulder at the startled raven, barely suppressing his urge to smirk. "Well? What are you waiting for? You're not going to fix what you broke if you stand there gaping like a fish."
It took a few seconds for Kakashi's words to fully process through Sasuke's mind but when they finally hit Sasuke was running off after Kakashi, his heartbeat pumping erratically with every step he took.
+Borrowed+
Of all the cells Naruto was forced to stay in, this one was by far the least comfortable. First of all, it was extremely cold. Not even a polar bear could handle this type of bone-chilling frost. The bench he was first to sit on was really hurting his rear end. He'd probably never be able to sit down on something else for weeks. And Heaven forbid if these handcuffs wouldn't stop rubbing the wrong way…
Despite all his morbidly humorous thoughts running rampant around Naruto's head, the kleptomaniac couldn't find any joy in this situation at all. Usually, he'd be sitting in a decent cell courtesy of Kakashi and wait for a few minutes until he saw that snarling, beautiful face of Sasuke the man he…
Well, he wasn't too sure what he felt for him anymore. 'I hate him,' he thought sullenly, staring at the dank, mossy brick wall to the right. 'But then again, my heart still wants him… I still want him. But not like this. I trusted him, and he was only using me.' It hurt to think that all the time they had spent together, gotten close together—no matter how short it was—was only because Sasuke had to do it for his job. To get ahead. To be the best. As was what Orochimaru had so happily told him not even an hour ago.
"Dammit, Naruto. You know better than to get involved with cops," he berated to himself, resting his head against the brick wall behind him. "You warned me, brain. I know you did. But my heart had to be stupid and play along with the idea that love was possible for me." Naruto chewed on his bottom lip at that word. Love. Did he really love Sasuke? Had he really loved Sasuke?
The answer was as clear as the irritation coming off from the handcuffs were.
"Well. I guess this is it. I'm sorry, Iruka, that I became the exact opposite that you wanted me to be." Tears prickled the corners of his eyes. If Iruka were to see him in this state, were to learn of his past crimes and the world he voluntarily slipped into… If he were to see him so tainted and stained, he surely would have turned his back on him. Secretly, in the tiniest, farthest corners of his mind, he was glad Iruka was in a coma. He wasn't happy about how or why he was put into a state, but he felt comfort knowing the fact that the sole person who's judgment he ever depended on wouldn't have to see him break the law and now wind up in jail—for real this time—ready to be shipped off to sentencing…
"I should have stuck with the bookstore. It would have been harder to raise the money for you, but at least I wouldn't have met him and got caught up in this—"
"I'm telling you! I need to see him right now and if you don't get out of my way I'll whip out my gun and shoot you point blank!" a familiar voice snarled. Even against Naruto's wishes, his heart still managed to skip a beat hearing that voice again in what seemed like weeks.
'Oh God, please don't let him in here. Please. Plea—!'
SLAM. The door opening up to the hallway of jail cells was horribly kicked back, revealing a furious raven in the doorway. Naruto's eyes were snapped open, his ears trained on the pattering footsteps of the man he never wanted to see again…
"Naruto!" Sasuke ran to the bars, gripping them tightly. His hair was all a mess and his eyes were all blurry with emotions trying to break through.
Naruto bit back every urge he had to run up to the bars and smash his lips against Sasuke's. It was a hard battle that was for sure. He forced his eyes to stare at the wall and made his voice as devoid of emotion as possible.
"Oh. You're here? What a surprise. You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" literal venom was coming out in his words, and he didn't have to see any form of expression on Sasuke's face to know that they had the desired effect.
Sasuke gulped. He had expected this, the cold brutality of a distant blond. He just never knew it was going to hurt this much. "Of course I'd come for you. I wouldn't leave you like this."
Naruto choked out a scoff that almost sounded like half a sob in Sasuke's ears. "Funny, because you're the reason I'm in this hellhole in the first place!" he was yelling by now. All his fury and pain from being backstabbed was seeping through and he was going to let it all out. "I trusted you! I open up my damn heart to you and what do you do? You lie to me! You never really wanted to get to know me; you just wanted to get ahead in your job. Your fucking job, Uchiha. Was that all I meant to you?"
The raven was silent. How could he fight back to those words? He had planned a lot of things to say when this moment came but now they had all flew out the window, along with his hope. There was pure malice and betrayal flashing in Naruto's blue eyes and the sinking feeling that things could never be right again started to grow and grow inside of him.
'No. I can't back down, now.' Sasuke gripped onto the jail cell's bars tightly before he released his grip and dug into his pockets for the key he got from Kakashi before he got down here. He slipped it into the keyhole and turned it. The jail cell opened with a soft groan.
Naruto hid how shocked he was by Sasuke's silent offering of freedom by snarling out in disgust. "You think letting me go is going to chance anything? Screw you, Uchiha! You fucking lied to me! I don't ever want to see your face again!" But Sasuke was still standing there, his silhouette outlined by a lamp dangling up above. Another spike of fury tinged with sadness coursed through him as he stood up and bared his fangs. "I said get the fuck out of here! Liar! Cheater! Liar!" he was crying, now. Haphazard tears cascaded down his face. He promised himself he wasn't going to cry, but seeing Sasuke stand there… and do nothing…
His heart was pleading furiously for all this madness to stop.
Sasuke took a step inside. And then another step, followed by another, and another, and another. So many steps until he was so close to Naruto's face that their noses touched. He could see the waterfalls pouring out of Naruto's eyes and reached up with a shaky hand to wipe them away. Naruto whipped his head to the side.
"Don't touch me!" oh, how his body and heart were screaming to be touched by Sasuke. "Leave me alone!"
But he stood there. Defying every odd and every want Naruto had for him to be as far away as possible. He gently cupped Naruto's face and his hands and urged him to look at him. Slowly, that beautiful face turned in his hands—looking defeated and tired and bruised. His face was all blotchy, his lips never stopped quivering in a way that made Sasuke want to nibble on them nonstop, and those eyes—those beautiful blue eyes…
They would surely be the death of Sasuke Uchiha.
"Why…?" all the anger and frustration was gone from Naruto's face. All that was left was a shaky little whisper.
Sasuke brushed a few tears out of the way and gently rested his forehead against Naruto's. He felt the blond jump slightly at his touch. "I love you."
Those words happened to fly out of his mouth faster than he could think. Really, they were hiding back in the trenches of his mind for a while now, just waiting to be used at a moment like this. He didn't regret saying it. He loved Naruto. He loved him with all his heart and body and soul, Sasuke couldn't deny it any longer. Who would have thought he'd fallen so hard, so quickly, like this?
Naruto nearly choked on the air he sucked in. His eyes widened to the size of beach balls and his lip quivered some more. He started to struggle against Sasuke's grasp. "You're lying! I know you are! You've been lying this whole time! I can't believe I trusted you. You're such a—"
A pair of warm lips captured his own and cut off his rant. The angry words of disbelief and shock were drowned in their kiss. Sasuke's tongue slipped into his open mouth and explored the expanses of his mouth. Finally, Naruto started to feel his body slack, his knees shake, and his heart pattering loudly against his chest as he fell, and fell, and fell into the kiss. He got himself lost in the passion. Moaning, he pressed himself up against Sasuke, wrapped his arms around his neck and his legs around the man's waist, and started to kiss back.
Sasuke groaned and pushed Naruto against a nearby wall, pouring all the feelings he could never put into words with his actions. He pulled and teased Naruto's bottom lip as he slid his hands under the blond's shirt and rubbed against every inch of skin he could get.
Their hips melded and brushed against each other as their kissing together. It was sloppy and reckless and wild. Both men were drowning…
Sasuke's fingers flew to the top of Naruto's pants, only to have the blond jerk and pull his face away, a blush scarring his face, and a defiant look in his eyes.
"First of all, I'm still pissed at you. Secondly, we're not about to have sex for the first time in this dirty little jail cell!" the blond huffed.
The raven smirked, leaning forward to kiss the crook of Naruto's neck. "I'd have to say our make out session was a sign of forgiveness."
"Not even close! You still lied to me. And for whatever messed up reason you had I can't just forgive you like this..." Naruto slipped out of Sasuke's grasp and folded his arms. "I need you to prove to me that I should come back to you. If you can't do that then I'll happily walk out of this jail cell and your life."
Their eyes locked in a silent challenge. The next words spoken would literally make it or break it between the two. Sasuke swallowed back all his pride, hesitation, and fear and stood up a little straighter.
"I'll admit it. In the beginning, I got closer to you because it was my job. Honestly, I thought the possible of us being together—a cop and a kleptomaniac—was completely laughable. All Orochimaru wanted me to do was become better friends with you. I fell in love with you on my own." It was so tempting to break Naruto's gaze off of him and look down at his shoes but he held his ground. "The more I got to learn about you, the realer you became to me. I started to see you as a person, not some thief. You became real to me. You are real to me. And I regret using you to get ahead, but I don't regret using the opportunity to get to know you… to love you. I'm not good with apologies, so… uh…"
Naruto was a blubbering mess of blond and flung himself onto Sasuke, knocking them both on the ground. The pain was slightly unbearable at first, but having Naruto cuddling into his chest and peppering kisses all over his face at random times made it all worth it.
"Okay. Okay. That was sappy enough for me to consider forgiving you…"
Sasuke scowled, though it lacked any real hatred. "I speak more than one sentence and you only consider to forgive me?"
"Well, I must admit I was surprised you could say all that mushy stuff and not puke. But all of it was incredibly cute and endearing." Naruto beamed through his joyous tears and pressed his lips firmly against Sasuke's. "It'll take some time for me to trust you again, but I forgive you. I'm glad we could get together like this and I want to make what we have work this time."
Sasuke smiled, it was small but showed a lot despite its size. He leaned up and captured the blond in another kiss that lasted only a few seconds before they both decided it was time to make their escape.
"Kakashi said he'd take care of Orochimaru," Sasuke spoke as they walked down the hallway towards the door. "My car is in the parking storage around the corner. With any luck we can avoid Orochimaru and make a break for it."
"Do you have any place in mind?" Naruto piped up. "Also, do you think we can snag the keys to these things or find a bobby pin before we head out? My wrists are killing me!"
"Sure, but we have to make it quick before we're caught—"
The door leading into the station cracked open. Both men froze in their tracks. Their hearts nearly stopped. Standing in the doorway was Kyuubi, and he didn't look too happy.
"You escaped already, huh?" he asked calmly, a lazy cigarette hanging off his lips. He cocked a cool eyebrow at the defensive stance Sasuke had taken to protect Naruto and smirked. 'Ohhh, so it's like that.'
"I remember you!" Naruto hollered, pointing awkwardly (because of the handcuffs) at the smirking redhead. "You're the asshole who knocked me out with that gun! That fucking hurt, you jerk!"
"And you're the idiot who let me knock you out with my gun," Kyuubi shot right back.
"Let me at him!" Naruto snarled, trying to jump over Sasuke to claw at Kyuubi's face. "I'll fucking wreck you, man!"
"Naruto! Calm down!" Sasuke snapped, sending a warning glare over at the blond. He turned back to see the man at the doorway looking highly amused and smug. Now Sasuke wanted to beat him up. "What do you want?" he asked wearily. He didn't have any weapons on him and Kyuubi looked dangerous. A brawl would end up terribly in their disfavor.
Kyuubi shrugged and pushed himself off the doorframe. "Eh. Nothing much. That creepy snake guy was pissing me off so I started to wander around." He saw the apprehension glowing brightly in the men's eyes and smiled crookedly, "Don't worry. I didn't come here for a fight. Well, I want to punch that guy in the face but… other than that."
"So…?" Naruto prodded; a little annoyed that Sasuke wouldn't let him punch Kyuubi.
"So. I wandered into his room and took this." He pulled out a punch of papers rolled up from into a tube from his back pocket and handed them to the raven.
"These are the papers concerning Naruto's charges…" Sasuke gasped. "But why are you doing this?"
"I told you. That bastard pissed me off and 'forgot' that he was supposed to pay me. This is revenge." Then he pulled out a key from his front pocket and threw that at Sasuke too. "That's the key. Thought it'd be nice to have those handcuffs off yah, kid." He winked at the blond who growled in response.
"I still want to punch you in the face!" Naruto screamed, but sighed contently as Sasuke worked off his handcuffs. When the metal slipped to the ground, Naruto waved his arms in the air and cheered, "Thank you, Jesus!"
Smiling to himself at how cute Naruto could be in really any situation, Sasuke turned his attention back to the strange hero of the day. "I'm guessing you want something in return for this?"
"Nah," Kyuubi waved his hands at the matter and blew out a puff of cloud. "All I want is to see that bastard snake guy freak out once he's kicked off his high horse."
Sasuke nodded. "All right. Sounds fair." He gripped onto the rolled up tube of papers in his hands, "Now we need to find a way to dispose of these… Can we borrow your lighter?" he asked Kyuubi.
Kyuubi raised an eyebrow, "Tch. What makes you think I have one on me?"
"You're smoking in here right now, aren't you. Just give it to me."
"Smartass cop," Kyuubi muttered and rifled through his pockets until he pulled out a red and black-checkered lighter and threw it to Sasuke. "Be careful. That's my baby you've got there."
"Thanks," he muttered and dropped the papers to the ground. He dropped the papers to the held the papers by the tip and flicked on the lighter, pushing the flame towards the edge and watching as it made quick work of the evidence. "There. All gone."
"That was pretty scandalous of you, Sasuke." Naruto purred and reached up to peck Sasuke on the cheek. "Now let's runaway together like the do on the movies!"
Sasuke nodded and grabbed Naruto's arm. "Thanks, by the way." He said to Kyuubi before he pulled Naruto into a run out the door. The redhead watched as the two men ran out with a wicked grin on his face. Not because he had any devious plan in mind, but only because the minute Orochimaru found out what happened he'd probably burst a vein.
"I should be a good guy more often," he chuckled to himself as he meandered outside himself. He needed a good seat to watch the drama about to unfold.
+Stolen+
They didn't stop running until they had reached the parking garage around the corner. They were out of breath, cold, shivering, but they were together and that was all that mattered. Sasuke pressed Naruto up against the car, their legs tangling and their body flushed together. He intertwined his fingers with Naruto's and trapped their hands up above Naruto's head.
"Where should we go?" he whispered against Naruto's lips.
"Anywhere," Naruto whispered back, pressing his lips against Sasuke's.