Enjoy!

The Long Way Home

Part 3

Damsel In Distress

Chapter 3/4

Sasuke hadn't known what outcome his actions might have exactly. At the very least he figured now that the man who had leveled the charges against Naruto was gone it would be up to the victim, the girl, or her family, to follow up on the case. Basically if the girl's fiancée had any say in this they were still probably screwed. But if Naruto was right about the girl then perhaps her father being missing would allow her to drop the charges. Assuming of course that the subject of her missing father didn't distract her too much and she forgot about Naruto entirely.

Sasuke was left for a whole day keeping an eye on the jail wondering what might happen and was about to give up hope in getting some results on his somewhat drastic and impetuous actions when he saw the girl and her personal servant enter the jail. She was in there for only about twenty minutes before she exited the building, her manservant helping Naruto walk down the steps after her.

Well, it seemed as though drastic and impetuous had saved the day. And so Sasuke allowed himself a very smug smile as he sauntered over to the group leaving the jail.

"Dobe," Sasuke greeted as he got closer, "you're walking pretty well for someone who was almost staked."

Naruto raised his head and cast bleary eyes in Sasuke's direction. It was at this point that Sasuke got his first good look at the damage done to Naruto during his confinement making his smile falter. The areas around both eyes were swollen and bruised, his cheek and lips were cut and smeared with dry blood and that was just the damage Sasuke could actually see. Who knew what else had been done?

Despite how painful it looked, Naruto still smiled broadly at him.

"You better believe it. I'm pretty tough."

"Why didn't you fight back?" Sasuke almost but not quite demanded, a swift change from smugness to annoyed after seeing that even talking seemed to hurt him.

Naruto shrugged or at least tried to. "I was pretty well chained up most of the time. And my odds weren't real good either, cause of how many soldiers were always in the building. I don't think they would have beaten me less if I tried to escape." Sasuke had to give him credit, he'd actually thought it out for once. "And besides, I knew if Amaya here hadn't helped me, you would have got me out somehow."

Naruto's optimism seemed inexhaustible. Of course, Sasuke had helped him, not that Sasuke would ever let him know that, it wouldn't be worth the ranting or the annoying guilt Naruto would surely feel even though he hadn't had a hand in it himself. For Sasuke it just wasn't worth dealing with. So even though it appeared as though Sasuke had not lifted a single finger to help him, Naruto seemed to truly believe that Sasuke would have saved him. Well, it might have curbed his optimism somewhat if he knew just how close Sasuke had come to leaving him here on his own only a few days ago. With great effort, Sasuke ignored the will to tell him and wipe the smile off his face.

He really never learned.

"Ahhh?"

Sasuke looked over at the girl aware that he was supposed to avert his eyes but not bothering anyway. For some reason he felt far angrier now than pleased and he didn't appreciate her interruption.

"Oh, Sasuke, this is Amaya. Amaya, this is Sasuke. Oh, and this is Reizo." Naruto finished gesturing toward the man currently aiding Naruto to stand upright.

Amaya was looking Sasuke over with something close to distaste while Reizo's expression was a little more wary. Amaya was a pretty thing, with her long dark hair and bright green eyes. She didn't seem to like Sasuke though, which was a little new for him. Usually, it took girls a while to get to know him before they started to give him that look. And even then, it was rare.

Reizo had shorter silver hair and dark grey eyes. The effect of his hair made him look older than he probably was so Sasuke estimated him to be only be in his mid-twenties or there about. Sasuke couldn't decide whether Reizo disliked him or not by the look he was getting. He seemed a little unsure about Sasuke for whatever reason.

"I can handle it from here," Sasuke told Reizo.

"Actually," Amaya interrupted, "I was wondering if I might be able to speak to you Naruto. Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

Naruto looked to Sasuke who shook his head. "We don't have enough money for a room. I've been sleeping outside town."

"We could go back to camp," Naruto suggested.

Amaya looked for all the world like a girl very unused to following strange men out into the wilderness, but she seemed determined non the less.

"Lead the way."

Camp was a bit of stretch of the word for the place Sasuke had been sleeping. Just out of town there was a bridge running over a stream and Sasuke had been using the underside of the bridge as a camp. It was clean and had running water and so long as you didn't mind sleeping on pebbles occasionally, at least it was out of the elements.

Amaya settled onto Reizo's jacket with her feet tucked up underneath her looking as prim and proper as she could in such an environment and obviously trying to show her willingness to be here. Reizo stood behind her protectively and watched Sasuke closely as Sasuke settled Naruto next to the water and peeled off the latter's t-shirt to get a look at his injuries. He looked bruised and cut up in a few places but not as bad as Sasuke had expected. There was a man made stone ledge at the edge of the stream and Sasuke spent some time dunking the tee in the water over the ledge and using it to wash the worst of the blood and grime off Naruto's back.

Amaya meanwhile nodded to Reizo who came over with a small jar, which he handed to Naruto before retreating back to Amaya. Naruto had the lid off and was sniffing the light green cream inside before Amaya offered an explanation.

"It is not much of an apology, but I do hope it helps. It is the best healing salve available and will reduce the swelling, the bruises and help heal your cuts faster.

"Thanks," Naruto told her with a smile. "You don't need to apologize. It was your father that had me locked up. I know you didn't want it to happen."

Amaya had the good sense to look a little contrite at Naruto's show of forgiveness.

"I have to admit, I did not have much luck enjoining my father to have you released. But now my father has gone missing you see, and I believe he has gone into hiding. He left his journal behind and a short note of apology." When Sasuke heard this part, he was secretly pleased. He had spent very little time copying the father's handwriting but even his daughter hadn't been able to tell the difference in the end. "I knew he had debts, but I never knew they were so great," Amaya continued oblivious to Sasuke's inner smugness. "It must have overwhelmed him. But this is not your concern of course. At least it allowed me to drop the charges before an even worse fate befell you. The law is archaic and I don't believe somebody should be punished simply for looking at another person. Honestly, I would escape to Arrei if it weren't for my fiancée. It is the reason I am here in this town and my contract with Sachio still binds me to him even in my father's absence."

"You don't like him?" Naruto asked as Sasuke reached over and snatched the salve out of his hand to begin spreading it on.

Amaya's look twisted a little. "If you knew him you would not like him either. It is not a match of love I assure you. He is a very cruel and sadistic man. I fear what may happen to me after we are formally married and I am a little better than his property."

"You could run away, just like your father did," Naruto suggested.

"I could not," Amaya told him. "Breaking my contract will make me a criminal. I could never cross the border if that were to happen. Well perhaps I could, but I lack the personal funds for any nefarious means. These contracts are ancient law and there are very few ways to break them legally."

"But there are ways," Naruto persisted.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and sighed. "I suggest our guest gets around to asking her favor already,"

Sasuke said bluntly.

Amaya flushed and looked down, chewing her lip in a very unladylike fashion. "I couldn't."

Naruto looked confused but Sasuke wasn't stupid. "You didn't just invite yourself here to apologize. You want something from us."

Amaya took in a deep breath but she didn't look angry. "You're a skilled fighter, aren't you Naruto? I saw you when they tried to take you on the road. If you had not held back, if you had not been at such odds, you would not have been taken."

"Um, yeah I guess," Naruto said uncertainly.

"As I was saying, it is an ancient law that binds these kinds of contracts. However, there is a stipulation stating that if another suitor of the same social background as the current fiancée wishes to bid for the promised woman himself, he may challenge the current suitor to a duel."

"A fight," Sasuke translated for Naruto's benefit. He vaguely remembered this obscure rule from his study of the law book. "You want him to beat your to-be husband in a fistfight."

Amaya nodded. "I couldn't just ask anyone you see. Sachio is quite skilled himself and I don't wish for anyone else to get hurt for my sake."

"Little late for that," Sasuke muttered.

"Teme, don't be a jerk!" Naruto told him. "Would you like it if you were trapped in a marriage contract to someone you hated?"

Little did Naruto know that if the Uchiha clan was still around Sasuke might well have been. "It doesn't mean it's your problem."

"Wait," Naruto said ignoring Sasuke. "You said I had to be like equal or whatever to this guy right? I mean your like a proper lady, your fiancée must be loaded!"

"This is true, he has certainly done well for himself but the fact remains that he is from common stock. Sorry, I don't like using such words and honestly it doesn't matter his heritage only the kind of man he is. The kind of man Sachio is, well, he is not someone I wish to be married to. But it does mean that technically any person can challenge him. You are the first I've met who I believe would have the skills to defeat him."

Sasuke could just imagine the panic on Naruto's face as he voiced his next question. "You want to marry me?"

Amaya finally smiled then, her face becoming animated and full of life for the first time since Sasuke had met her.

"No Naruto, we've only just met. I just want you to break my current contract. I do not think I am ready to make another one so soon. Our goal is to just make believe that it is our intention to marry.

Naruto was silent for a little while after that.

"She wants you to pretend to be in love with her and pretend you want to marry her," Sasuke translated for him again in an annoyed tone.

"Oh," Naruto said relieved. "I-I mean you're really beautiful and everything Amaya and you seem really nice, but, w-well, we're making a big trip home and everything and it's really far away and I-"

"She gets it dobe, stop stuttering."

"So you'll help me?" Amaya asked with a hopeful look.

"Of course!"

It took great effort on Sasuke's part to stay quiet for the rest of the plan making. All the while he distracted himself by cleaning out Naruto's wounds as best he could and spreading the sweet smelling greenish cream over the worst of the damage. Naruto winced every now and again at Sasuke's total lack of care in his ministrations but didn't comment probably realizing that complaining would just mean he'd have to attempt to do it himself later with no help from Sasuke at all.

Once Amaya and Reizo had left, Sasuke stopped trying to hold his tongue.

"Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke spat getting to his feet and glaring at Naruto. "What are you thinking?"

"What?" Naruto asked innocently. "You don't think I can take this guy?"

"Do I look concerned for your well being?" Sasuke returned angrily. "Why would I be if you obviously don't care? You can't stand up by yourself at the moment let alone fight."

"Amaya said it would be okay to wait a couple of days to heal."

"Oh good," Sasuke said sarcastically. "So long as Amaya says it's okay."

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto asked him frowning.

"We've wasted enough time here, we haven't found out a single thing about the border crossing and now you want to waste even more time rescuing some damsel in distress. What did I tell you about helping people?"

"Yeah, but you can't think that applies to young girls in legally binding contracts to marry assholes."

"It applies to everyone, that's the point!"

Naruto actually rolled his eyes. "Look Sasuke, staying here a couple more days isn't going to hurt the grand plan. It's going to take us months to get home, two or three more days isn't going to kill us."

Of course Naruto didn't realize that Sasuke had committed a murder in this town just under two days ago. The longer they stayed here the bigger the chance of a body being discovered and investigations started. And now that Amaya knew about Naruto's companion, a person who might have great need to permanently get rid of her father... well, it wouldn't take a genius to figure Sasuke might have had a hand in it. Honestly he was surprised, though very relieved, that the coincidence hadn't set off alarm bells for Naruto as well. He might call Naruto a moron a lot, but he had found Naruto to be surprisingly intuitive sometimes. Luckily, this didn't seem to be such a moment.

"I should just leave you here to play the hero and leave," Sasuke muttered.

"If that's what you want," Naruto replied.

Sasuke was a little surprised by the reaction and something of that must have shown on his face.

"What?" Naruto continued. "You think I'm going to beg you to stay? Sasuke you were always bent on doing whatever you wanted no matter what I said to you. I've got no real reason to think that's changed now. But I can't leave, I gave her my word."

And that was another thing about Naruto. It wasn't like he liked this girl any more than he would any other nice seeming stranger. It was just that she had asked for his help and being who he was he had promised to help her. So he would, end of story.

"That's why you shouldn't have promised her you moron!"

"You can go if you want, but I'd rather you stay," Naruto told him. "I know you probably left town after I got captured. But you came back."

Okay, so maybe Naruto did kind of know how close Sasuke had come to skipping out. Yet he still had that optimism about Sasuke saving him back at the jail, it was infuriating!

"Don't think that'll happen every time you do something stupid," Sasuke replied sitting down again, this time in front of Naruto and grabbing his chin roughly. Naruto winced at the treatment but stayed still while Sasuke washed the blood off his face and started to apply the cream to his cuts.

Naruto tried to smile. "Thanks."

"Shut up."

The next day Sasuke left Naruto to heal up at camp while he spent the day walking to and from the border to check on the situation there. Sasuke spent a good long time checking on the security along the road and the patrols through the wilderness and came back after dark with a solemn look that immediately made Naruto frown.

"That bad?" he asked unnecessarily.

"It's worse than I expected," Sasuke admitted sitting down and taking the bread Naruto offered him.

"Lots of soldiers?"

"About an army. I couldn't get very close but I saw enough to know it's not something we can fight our way through. This army patrols the forests along the border in no pattern I can discern. Without chakra I would estimate our chances of getting across to be less than completely screwed."

"You never got the hang of hope," Naruto muttered.

"This is me being optimistic, believe me. We need another way across."

At least Naruto was looking better today. Sasuke didn't know what the greenish cream had been but it was fast acting. Already the swelling on Naruto's face had gone down dramatically and his bruises were fading. If things kept healing like this Naruto would be recovered enough the day after next to challenge Sachio. But then what? With no clear idea of how to cross the border, he didn't know what else to do from here.

"Maybe Amaya can help us," Naruto said after a moment. "She said she wanted to cross the border herself, maybe she has a way."

"Yes dobe, she probably has papers so she can just walk across once she's free of her marriage contract," Sasuke replied dismissively. But then he remembered something else Amaya had told them. "Though she did say something about not having enough money for any nefarious means as well. She may know about some less legal way to cross."

"Yeah but if Amaya didn't have the money to do it, we don't either. You said you didn't even have enough money for an inn."

"I had the money, but not the will to spend it. We have very little money left and I had to decide whether I wanted to keep it for food and supplies or a few nights of comfort. I chose food.'

"So how much do we have?" Naruto asked his eyes lighting up a little.

"Still not much. Money is different here so it's difficult to determine what is a lot and what is little. We have one hundred and twenty three den, which is what they call their money here. To judge by how much food and rooms are in this country I would assume this isn't such a great amount. For something like this I would assume we would need an amount in the thousands."

"You assume?" Naruto asked. "But you don't know."

"Of course I don't know, not for sure."

"So we can at least ask Amaya about what this illegal way is, do some digging and see where we stand on the money right?"

Sasuke blinked at him in mild surprise. Nothing was ever that simple but Naruto managed to make it sound that way easily enough.

"Hope won't pay our way over the border dobe."

"No but something else might. There's no harm in checking it out. We can ask Amaya after the fight."

On the day of the scheduled fight Sasuke had to admit that the green cream had done a good job. Naruto's face was so close to it's original size and coloring that you had to squint to see the fading damage. He seemed relatively fit and strong again except for a few sore spots here and there. It was entirely possible that he had a couple of broken bones too. When he'd first come out of jail his ribs had been badly bruised and Sasuke figured that a few ribs had been cracked if not broken. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be causing any bad internal problems though. Also a couple of his fingers too had been very discolored and swollen and it wasn't till now when the swelling had gone down a little that Sasuke noticed that they were slightly crooked.

Naruto had been sitting down letting Sasuke go over his injuries as he did every morning when Sasuke found the newly revealed issue. Luckily Naruto was right handed and these breaks were all on his left hand but still, if he left them as they were they would mend crooked and be nard to use in the future.

Sasuke held Naruto's left hand still with one hand and gently ran the tips of his fingers along the broken bones trying to get a feel for the damage. He'd been at it for a little while now though and Naruto was beginning to fidget under the close scrutiny.

"My hand's not that interesting teme."

"Three of your fingers are broken and healing wrong," Sasuke explained. "I need to possibly re-break and set them."

Naruto pulled his hand swiftly out of Sasuke's loose grip. "No fucking way!"

Sasuke looked up at him now and scowled. "You must have known they were broken. If you'd said something earlier I wouldn't need to do this now."

"It hurts sure, but lots of me hurts. Besides I've broken bones before and it always heals right eventually."

"How many times do I have to tell you! Without the Kyuubi you will not heal like you are used to. Besides it's not like I will really have to break the bones again, it's barely begun to heal yet. I just need to reset them and bind them if you want to be able to use your hand again properly in the future."

Naruto didn't look happy about this in the slightest but Sasuke didn't care. Having an almost useless left hand wouldn't allow Naruto to fight to his best potential and Sasuke wanted a fit and able ally.

"Okay fine, you can go all sadist on my hand later. But you can't set it before I fight, it'll be even more useless and painful."

Sasuke nodded. "Fine. Apart from that your ribs feel okay but will still hurt for a while, just don't overdo it today and there shouldn't be a problem."

Sasuke didn't for one moment assume that Naruto was in any real danger today. Sachio was a bully sure but Sasuke hadn't seen any great threat in the man himself. He'd seen him around when he'd gone into town for supplies recently and had watched how the man moved with a careful eye. Even hurt, Naruto could probably put the man down easily. Well honestly, even blind with both arms tied around his back Naruto would probably win which was lucky considering he was still in some pain. Of course Sasuke could just simply fight in Naruto's place but he didn't see the point in that. For one thing the plan counted on Amaya already telling her fiancée about her new suitor and who knew what descriptions she had given. And for another Sasuke just did not want to be involved. If Naruto wanted to play hero to the damsel Sasuke saw no reason to help him out of pity. And if Naruto did end up in more pain... well then at least he might learn a lesson from all this.

As previously planned Naruto and Sasuke went up to the gates at Sachio's mansion at midday and waited for the events to begin. According to Amaya she would set up the fight, telling Sachio about Naruto and his challenge, the where, and the when. Apparently, word had spread because there were a quite few people that seemed to have come by to watch either for entertainment or because they wanted to see Sachio get hit finally. But that had been part of the plan too. For this to become legal, they needed witnesses.

Sachio took his time appearing but not, Sasuke got the impression, because he was afraid. On the contrary, he strode out of his gates confidently with two guards in tow and a solemn looking Amaya following close behind.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as Sachio gave Naruto a superior smirk and then went about taking off his shirt. The whole of Sachio's demeanor said how highly he thought of himself and he must believe other people though so too. It wasn't like he was an ugly guy but he paraded around like he was some kind of rock star despite the evidence of the absolute silence of the townsfolk.

"What a poser," Naruto muttered from his place beside Sasuke. "Do you really think he's as good as Amaya says?"

"No, " Sasuke spoke with confidence.

"Oh well," Naruto continued taking a moment to stretch his arms a little. "Might as well get this over with."

"Just don't kill him in public, dobe. We don't need any more hassles."

Naruto smirked at Sasuke's weird sense of humor before walking into the ever-growing circle of people and gave Sachio a big smile.

In his arrogance, Sachio didn't see Naruto as much of a threat. A teenager with a goofy grin and no fear. Sachio must have thought Naruto was stupid, and well, sometimes he was. But mistaking stupidity for well-earned confidence was probably going to be Sachio's first and last mistake in this fight.

Sasuke could see Amaya looking on tensely as her manservant walked into the circle to announce the duel to all in attendance, the reasons why and just what would happen if whichever person won the conflict. Sasuke hadn't really been paying attention having gotten bored and over the whole thing as soon as Naruto had left his side. But something at the end of the speech sparked Sasuke's attention. What Amaya had failed to mention was that if Naruto, the challenger, lost the fight, he would end up back in jail. Not that Sasuke felt Naruto was likely to lose, but he didn't appreciate the omission from her original plea for help. His estimation of Amaya being a conniving bitch went up a lot with that bit of news.

He focused back on the match just as Reizo called for it to begin. Sachio stood with a steady stance, completely inflexible and watched confidently as Naruto approached him. Against Naruto this was a quick way to lose your match quickly. To fight Naruto you needed to be fast and agile, keep moving and make yourself hard to hit because that first hit, the one with the most strength behind it, was always the worst.

Naruto dodged in to provoke an attack and sure enough Sachio responded with a wild high hit which Naruto ducked under easily. A little too easily and too fast truth be known. When Naruto had full use of his chakra he was quick and agile enough, but without it his reflexes just didn't have the same edge. Chakra helped him move while fighting and Naruto didn't seem to realize this. Sasuke saw a flash of pain cross his face but the pain wasn't enough to deter him. When he ducked he thrust his fist into Sachio's kidneys and when his opponent reeled from that he followed it up neatly with a punch to the head.

With his left hand.

Sasuke almost winced out of sympathetic pain but Naruto simply grit his teeth and bore it as Sachio fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes at his feet.

From start to finish the whole duel had lasted less than a minute.

Seeing their unloved landlord laid out on the ground shocked quite a lot of the townsfolk but then all at once a deafening cheer went up that actually hurt Sasuke's ears.

He watched distantly as Amaya, smiling, ran over to her champion and threw her arms around him causing him a little pain and planted a long slow kiss on his cheek. Then the crowd surged forward all apparently eager to slap Naruto on the back or else put the boot into their landlord while he was safely unconscious.

Sasuke resisted the flow of the crowd around him and stood still, arms across his chest and eyes narrowed. He had known Naruto would win, but he had also hoped that Naruto might learn something from this. Somehow he now doubted that was likely.

Sasuke had warned Naruto not to play the hero and sure, the dobe hadn't gone on a one man rampage to free the entire country, but his little show of bravado was sure to upset Sachio's future dealings with his tenants. And if Naruto realized this, his smugness, the knowledge that he had managed to not only give Amaya her freedom but give confidence to an entire town, was going to be hard to live with.

Sasuke had long since lost sight of Naruto in the crowd and was just about to turn and leave thinking that Naruto would eventually come find him later when the high from hero worship had died down.

But he'd only just turned when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked back into Naruto's bright blue eyes and excitement flushed face. Well the flushed face was probably only partially excitement. The other parts were most likely from being kissed by pretty Amaya and the pain he must be in from cramped muscles and badly broken fingers. Despite all this though he was still smiling.

"Hey don't run off, we gotta talk to Amaya about the border remember?"

No proud boast, no cocky attitude, none of what Sasuke expected right now. Maybe Naruto had matured after all.

"Besides, Amaya is gonna treat us to dinner! Free food!"

Or maybe not.

TBC