A/N: That was an absolutely lovely amount of reviews from the last chapters. I loved the encouragement. It is most appreciated. The lateness of this chapter is rather obscene; I hope you guys haven't given up on me.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warnings: lame humor, cussing. tad bit of fluff.
-Chapter 12 Naruto POV-
Inside no sadness, for a prowl - There's nothing new in dying now - Let's have no sadness, furrowed brow
There's nothing new in dying now – It was written in blood, Bring me the horizon.
We stand in silence for a moment. Observe the room and smell the air. Phew.
"..."
"Man, it must suck sleeping here in the dark, really uncomfortable. It kinda smells... like somebody cleans with too much bleach."
"Moron. Pay attention to what we're doing."
"Bastard." I reply in the exact same tone, and then I trip him as he walks by. He spins while he plummets forward and snatches my fingers, I yelp as he unmercifully drags me to the tiled floor with him. The heavy rifle fell from my hands and thudded bluntly against the floor as we rolled around for a while, smashing against sturdy plastic beds and metal stands, trying to pin the other while grunting and scratching. Then he twists my arm around my back and it feels like if he pushes it any further against my back the bone will pop right out of the socket.
I freeze. He grins up at me. I'm straddling his stomach right on top of him, but he's got the upper hand. I scowl at him and kind of want to head-butt him in the face.
"That wasn't very smart Na-ru-to." He says softly while leaning up enough that every word causes a puff of his breath to blow against my mouth. I tighten my lips against the sensation and lift the corner of my mouth exposing my canines. An odd warmth pools in my stomach like heated coals. The hand clamped around my arm holding it against my back pushes a little and I wince and whine. Sasuke's grin fades and his eyes blink at mine, when did his face get so close? The pressure against the arm twisted against my back grows and I yelp and flinch forward away from Sasuke's hand.
He chuckles and I blink at him furiously.
"Let go bastard! This really hurts, what if there are zombies in here huh?"
"You should have thought of that before you tried to trip me moron."
"You deserved it! You keep calling me a moron!"
"You keep acting like one."
"I don't!"
A clattering of object against object had us both jerking our attention to the other side of the vast white room. We weren't alone.
Your average action movie's got it wrong. When guns go off right next to most actor's faces in a movie, why don't they flinch or scrunch their eyes up or react like an excruciatingly loud sudden POP just tried to destroy their inner ear? They stand tall or crouch gracefully and look macho or pretty or suave or sexy or roguishly dusty and just fire rounds... this is unconvincing unrealistic acting, I think.
Most guns are freaking loud, earplugs are preferable. Especially in a cavernous white room with lots of random metal machinery hanging off the wall and almost no convenient sound dampening objects.
While I was scrambling for the gun Sasuke was already on his feet, I'm not sure what he did exactly. I heard a clatter of metal objects bumping against each other then a dull crunch which raised my hair on end and finally my fingers closed around the butt end of the rifle and I was swinging the business end around in the direction of the noise.
It only took two or three shots, the zombie in stained scrubs crashed noisily face first into a tray of metal hospital things.
I lower the gun and wince at the bruise pulsing on my shoulder. Sasuke steps over and grabs my hand, pulling me to my feet.
We're both breathing a little faster; Sasuke's hand is shaking slightly against mine. I swallow quietly and scan the room.
"We should get one of those beds with wheels to load stuff on." I mumble after a few minutes of just breathing.
"A hospital gurney." Sasuke mutters. Neither of us move. I moisten my lips with my tongue and blink at a dimly lit corridor leading from this room.
"That way?"
He turns his head to the hallway in question.
"Whatever."
...can't argue with that logic.
I push open the swinging door and carefully step into the dark hallway. Sasuke's right behind me, a glance behind and I realize he's as spooked as I am. His dark eyes are narrowed, his lips are pulled back just enough to bare a glimpse of glittering stark white teeth, his normal pale complexion is ghostly white in the dark and the pitch black hair framing his face makes the image stand out even more so.
"Damn Sasuke. You'd make one terrifying Zombie." He blinks at me, comprehension dawning slowly.
"Think about it, we're creeping around some dark creepy dark place and suddenly you step from around a corner, your pasty face all spastic twitches and glowing in the dark." I snicker.
"Moron. Shut the fuck up." One side of my mouth barely trembles with the urge to let loose a pathetic whine/giggle but I manage to quell the urge and just grin at him. He raises a brow and nudges my back forward. I turn back around and take a few deep breathes.
The air surrounding us is stale. Despite the zombie in the other room's appearance, I can't smell or see blood, just a messy hallway. The ground is littered with sheets and clear plastic wrappings. Small pill bottles roll around rattling slightly. I bend over and pick one up, blinking at the jumble of letters printed across the label I frown and toss it behind me.
"Hospital lingo is irritating."
"We can pick up medication at a drug store Moron. Things will be labeled better there. We're looking for things we're less likely to find somewhere else." I blink at him and nod. Duh, Focus! I take a few calming breathes and wade almost soundlessly through the trash littered hallway to the nearest door. I peek around the metal frame and slowly push the heavy door open. The room is carpeted with debris like the hallway but it's vacant of zombies. I exhale my relief and creep through the door. Sasuke soundlessly follows behind me. His hand barely brushes against the back of my arm and it sends a shiver that raises the hairs along the back of my neck. I subtly rub the sensation from my neck and step away from the only other heat source in the cold vacant room.
"Who did Sakura go with? Kakashi didn't say anything about what the girls would do did he...?" Sasuke sighed in a manner that suggested annoyance.
"Sakura and Ino are taking stock of our supplies so we'll know what we need when we're done here.-assuming we don't run out of room." He muttered. I glance over to the metal table on the far side of the room.
I frown and take a hesitant step toward the table only to have Sasuke grip my bicep firmly.
I turn, frowning at him only to blink at the frustration I see in his face. He opens his mouth, then shuts it, then opens it again.
"Ya gonna stand there all day Sas, or can we get moving?" Sasuke shut his mouth tightly and frowns before taking a deep breathe and saying.
"Shut up for a moment and listen to me." I blink. He takes it as a go ahead and goes ahead...
"We...-" he exhales through gritted teeth and closes his eyes.
"You, you could have been bitten back there. Or I could have, we could have died." I raise an eyebrow.
Sasuke. is having priority issues. I suppose I never though of Sasuke as the type of person to freak out after close encounters.
"We can freak ourselves out over close encounters with the zombies when we are safe and out of zombie infested hospitals. Now is not the time-"
"Naruto."
His voice is soft, quiet in a way that cuts through noise like a shot. I stare at him, mouth still forming words but my vocal cords seemed to have crashed. System Error.
His eyes are dark and steady on mine, he waits til my mouth closes, then slowly brushes his hands over the sides of my neck til his palms are hovering over my cheekbones. The touches feather light against my skin have me unconsciously leaning closer to him, I find myself lulled to calm, waiting for whatever his next move will be.
"Naruto..." he says again, voice a decibel above a whisper, I don't bother fighting to repress the shiver it sent through me.
"You are, unprecedented." Sasuke tenderly sweeps a thumb across my bottom lip, eyes steady on mine. I slowly frown.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I manage to mutter, even though my throat is tight and my body seems intent on staying put. His dark eyes glimmer in the musty room and he chuckles.
"I'll look at you however I want to moron." I grimace at the insult even as he leans forward and his forehead brushes against mine. Countless seconds go by where all I can bring myself to do in protest of his blatant face space invasion is press my forehead firmly against his and slant my face away from him. He seemed content to just stand here, but then he takes a step forward, and I take a step back.
I shift my face farther from his and try to move from his path only to realize his arms are wrapped around my waist. I frown down at them, but decide they aren't really a problem yet and focus on taking steps back for every step Sasuke moves forward.
This goes on until my back meets the wall and I arch forward somewhat from the cold surface. Sasuke's final step places him leaning right over me. Looking down at me, I glare up at him.
I wish, I was a hobbit. Then being so short wouldn't be so bad. Probably. Hell, I'd have a valid excuse.
'Why so short?' - 'Hobbit genes, man.'
"It's almost insulting how distracted you are with me right in your face. If I didn't know better I'd be quite annoyed with you." Sasuke cocked his head to the side.
"They're taking the hobbits to Isengard." I muttered, then shoved his arms from me and walked back to the door. The tune's stuck in my head now, I can't help but start humming it lowly.
Sasuke takes a deep breathe behind me and whirls around, I expect an angry, or really annoyed face...he's smirking.
"You probably have a brain deficiency Naruto. We should get bar-nurse girl to look at that."
Bar-nurse girl?
Jiraiya POV (Gasp)
"Time's running out, Damnit. They've found him." Relax.
"Are you listening to me Jiraiya? Did you fucking hear me? They- have- found- him." Heart rate increases juuust a tad.
"Jiraiya! You either answer your GODSDAMNED PHONE OR I'LL-" That's far enough. I click the headset on and answer.
"Woman."
"Don'joo-fuckingWOMAN!meyoulittleshit! Answer on the first fucking ring you effin MORON! I did not make this line accessible to you for you to IGNORE me when I FUCKING CALL YOU!"
"So they found the chibi-Brat." I reply in a business like tone.
"YES."
"Well, then I suppose I should pay them a visit and eeh, lets say... kidnap the brat and hide him in safety."
"That's not good enough anymore." Succinct. "They were last seen in one of Orochimaru's suicide grids, 5-D I think... Kisame is keeping an eye on Naruto, he can stall the actual capture, but not for much longer. Hurry Jiraiya."
How depressing. I'll lighten the mood.
"What are you wearing?" the nudge nudge, wink wink is implied in my tone.
Click.
Ah, she hung up on me.
That's somewhat sobering. Speaking of sober, I detected a slur in her speech. Maybe after all this is finally over… well, let's not count the chickens before they lay eggs... or something along those lines.
Turn off, here's a good road. Let's see, I left the brat with Kakashi and that was almost four weeks ago.
So, this seems rather climactic. Maybe we're near the end. That'd be nice, I could really use a vacation.
Aaah a short chapter. There's going to be a lot of plot in the next chapter though, so it'll be fairly long. ^_^ Please review and tell me what you think. Sorry for the lengthy absence.
