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The Long Way Home

Part 4

Morio's Escape

Chapter 3/3

Naruto eyed the box warily. It looked small, too small for one person to travel comfortably in for any great length of time and if their host was to be believed Naruto would have to spend the next nine hours in one.

In the predawn light, Naruto could see the cart was filled to the maximum with these curious tall rectangular metal boxes. Morio had already told him he conveyed weapons across the border but Naruto had expected to spend his journey in a wooden crate, not these medieval torture boxes. At least he knew the reason for the strange shape of the boxes now, he'd seen a few men loading spears into one earlier. He suppose the fact that they were upright meant they could either fit more into the cart or perhaps it was just for passenger comfort to be able to sit or stand as needed.

"Um, why are all the boxes metal?"

Morio gave him a full grin. "We used to have issues with raiders. Apparently, the rebellious factions in the hills take offense at us for shipping weapons to their keepers and used to shoot flaming arrows at the carts trying to set them on fire. We lost a lot of money from that. Metal isn't quite so flammable. And the bolted and locked boxes makes it harder for thieves to steal them too. I won't lie, when the sun is shining on these things for a couple of hours it might get a little uncomfortable but hey, you can't expect real comfort when you're illegally sneaking across the border can you?"

"It's fine," Sasuke cut in looking inside one of the empty boxes.

"Well I'm so glad you fine gentlemen approve. Now if you will..." Morio told them gesturing toward the box.

Sasuke took a small breath and stepped inside the box. Naruto was right, inside the box, Sasuke wouldn't even be able to stretch out his arms. If he was lucky he might be able to sit down though.

It took him a few moments before he realized that Morio was staring at him expectantly.

"Yeah I get it, you're in a rush," Naruto groused. "Where's my box?"

Morio gave him a happy grin. "Right there with your friend."

"What?! No way I-"

But Naruto was cut off when a firm hand on his back propelled him forward into the box. He crashed up against Sasuke's back with a grunt from both of them. He didn't even have a chance to step back out before the opening was sealed up behind him.

An eye appeared through a small hole in the top of the box, the only open window to the outside world and Morio's voice floated down to them.

"Like I said boys, there's little room for comfort in a situation like this."

"You could've at least given us separate boxes!"

"I could have, but I won't. You're already taking up precious space on a loaded wagon. Bear in mind that every one of these other boxes contain more value than you two. This is the discounted fare after all and I only took that small amount of money you offered me because you were both so entertaining for the client. Luckily for you though, he's not so eagle eyed as I am or you wouldn't be getting the trip at all."

Apparently Morio had seen through their little deception at his club. At first he'd been a little angry about it but it seemed as though the client, while annoyed by not seeing the full frontal show as it were, had thought the performance realistic and had been very happy with the performance in general. He had to give Sasuke props for that. Some kisses and some faking had been all it had taken to secure their trip with Morio. Obviously the client watching had been too enamored with the show to see the little details for what they were even if Morio himself hadn't been.

Morio continued, "You'll both just have to suffer and be glad that I've given you as much as I have." Morio might be a perverted prick, but he was a perverted prick with a very good point. They had offered him very little money in exchange for this, Naruto could understand why he didn't want to lose even more money by leaving a whole crate full of cargo behind just so that they could be more comfortable. Still, it was hard to be grateful in a situation like this. So he just glared at the eye until it went away, it's owner chuckling heartily.

Meanwhile Sasuke was being very quiet. He'd expected the Uchiha to be even more incensed at the treatment than he was but he hadn't uttered a sound so far. Actually while his back was pressed firmly up against Naruto's chest, Naruto could feel the slightest of shaking.

"You aren't claustrophobic or something are you?" Naruto asked the back of Sasuke's head.

"Shut up and move back," Sasuke ordered tersely.

Naruto tried but as it was his back had only been mere inches away from his side of the box anyway and all he really succeeded in doing was separating them only slightly from one another. But at least now he wasn't pressed up against Sasuke quite so much.

"We don't have a lot of room, sorry. That's the best I can do. Look Sasuke, you better tell me now if you really are claustrophobic."

"I told you to shut up."

Naruto frowned. "Great, this'll be fun. So why the fuck did we agree to get into a little metal box in the first place?"

"Do you see any other way of getting across the border?" Sasuke questioned sharply. "Besides, I didn't think I was going to be trapped in here with you."

About three hours into the journey made Naruto realize just what Morio had said about the boxes in the sun getting uncomfortable. His muscles were already badly cramping from standing so still for so long and now the air inside the box seemed heated making it harder to breathe and causing them both to sweat profusely. Of course being trapped like this for so long already had made him more comfortable being in such close quarters with Sasuke that even with the front of his shirt soaked in both his and Sasuke's combined sweat failed to gross him out in the least.

At one point Sasuke leant back against him shaking his hands as much as the space would allow.

"Fuck, that's getting hot."

Sasuke had spent most of the trip so far bracing himself with his hands against the side of the metal box in front of him. But the harsh sun was obviously heating the metal and had started to hurt his hands. For Sasuke to even complain it must have been hurting pretty badly.

"I need something to put over them," he continued.

Naruto couldn't think of anything very accessible in their current predicament until his eyes rested on the collar of Sasuke's shirt.

"If I rip your shirt down the back I can probably push it down over your arms," Naruto suggested.

The clothes they were wearing had been hard enough to come by. And considering they had no money anymore it meant they weren't going to be easily replaceable either. So it took some time before Sasuke nodded and leaned as far forward as he could so Naruto could get his hands in between their bodies. He gripped the collar with two hands and pulled as hard as he could. Luckily the shirt was thin and cheap and it didn't take too much effort to rip through the collar and keep going. Once that was done he pushed the shirt pieces down over Sasuke's arms till Sasuke could lean back, grab them and wrap the remnants around his hands. When he put his hands up against the metal this time he sighed thankfully.

"I wish we could sit down, my legs are going numb," Naruto muttered. "And it's getting really hot in here too," he added eyeing the newly exposed and very flushed skin of Sasuke's back and shoulders. Sasuke looked like he was suffering and he didn't even seem to be sweating as much as Naruto was so Naruto figured he himself looked like a very ripe tomato right now.

As time wore on his mouth became dry and he started to feel a little dizzy. He almost missed it when a voice from on top of their box announced, 'water time,' before a stream of water flowed down through the hole.

Though Sasuke had seemed just as out of it as he was, his reflexes were good enough to put his head back and capture a mouthful of water before moving his head away for Naruto to catch some. Naruto wasn't quite as quick though and barely caught enough to wet his mouth before the water flow stopped and the man above moved away again.

The water he had missed had hit the back of Sasuke's neck and ran down between his shoulders and left behind a trail that Naruto leant forward and licked up before it had a chance to escape entirely.

He followed the trail up the back of Sasuke's neck to his hair line where he latched his lips and kept sucking as though he could coax more of the refreshing water out of Sasuke's skin with force alone. It sort of worked, his mouth and throat were no longer bone dry but it had hardly been the cool refreshing drink he'd been hoping for. And he was pretty sure that some of the moisture had been Sasuke's sweat anyway because it tasted faintly salty and well, tasted vaguely like Sasuke.

He'd been too thirsty and desperate at the time to really understand what he was doing but surprisingly Sasuke didn't jerk away or yell at him to stop. When he drew away he noticed he'd left a faint red mark on already heat flushed skin on the back of Sasuke's neck.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Just be quicker to get it before it spills next time," Sasuke told him his voice slightly raspy from the heat.

They were given water the exact same way about an hour later and again, Naruto didn't get there quick enough and the water he'd missed went between their bodies where Naruto had no hope of reaching it.

"Well at least my chest is a little cooler," Naruto commented faintly.

Sasuke craned his neck around and gave Naruto, not really a concerned look but as close as he was capable of before turning his head to face forward again, a huge frown on his face.

The next time they were given water he didn't even get a chance to get any. Naruto watched in an almost haze while Sasuke collected as much water in his mouth as he could.

If Naruto had had more energy he might have been pissed off that Sasuke would be so selfish, but he just couldn't be right now. Sasuke craned his head around again, apparently swallowing half of what was in his mouth, before reaching around and grabbing a handful of Naruto's hair, pressing their lips together firmly and tightly. Naruto opened his mouth to gasp and that's when water flowed into his mouth. Sweet, fresh water. It took all his self control not to choke on the unexpected water but he managed to swallow just as Sasuke drew his lips away. Still a little dazed, he darted his head forward a little to lick up a trickle of water that had escaped out the side of Sasuke's mouth.

"Thank you," he told Sasuke sincerely.

Sasuke didn't reply, just faced forward again.

When the water came this time Naruto was a little more alert and ready, but Sasuke, still apparently not trusting Naruto's reflexes did the same thing. He collected just about all the water in his own mouth, swallowing half and offered the rest to Naruto the exact same way as before. At least he knew what it was this time and didn't choke on the cool refreshing gift. This time they managed not to spill anything but even though this was more water than he'd been getting before he still felt like it wasn't enough to quench his thirst completely. He found himself sucking Sasuke's lower lip into his mouth as the former drew away, capturing the small amount of moisture left there before letting Sasuke go entirely.

Really this all should have felt stranger to him but really he supposed this was nothing compared to what they'd had to do to 'entertain' Jannison in the club. But that had been just doing whatever they had to get out of their predicament and he supposed this was much the same thing. They were doing what they had to in order to survive. Only this time he didn't feel embarrassed about it, he wasn't performing for an audience and there wasn't anything sexual in this. They weren't kissing, they were sharing water plain and simple. So why the hell was Sasuke giving him this weird look?

"Waste not, want not," Naruto told Sasuke's expression with a forced grin.

"Whatever, just don't do it again."

Naruto was very tempted in that moment to do the very same thing again just because Sasuke told him not to, but pissing Sasuke or right now would probably result in him getting no more water at all the next time. So instead he nodded and tried not to show his amusement at Sasuke's apparent discomfort.

Well up until the point where his legs were starting to pain him in earnest and he just wanted to take his mind of it.

"You know, I don't know why you're so bent out of shape about it," Naruto told him abruptly. "You've had your tongue down my throat remember?"

"So we could get Morio to help us. It was a performance moron," Sasuke reminded him.

"Right and all I'm trying to do is get as much water as I can. It's not like I'm trying to make a move on you or anything. It doesn't mean anything."

"Whatever dobe, I don't care."

"Well obviously you do or you wouldn't have looked all weird about it. For fuck's sake I licked the water off the back of your neck earlier and you didn't really say anything."

Sasuke looked around at him again, a deep scowl on his face. "I knew what you were doing and why."

"And I licked water off your face the time before last and you didn't care."

"I told you, I understood what you were doing. And you weren't getting enough water so you were probably a little out of it."

"Okay, but obviously there's something more personal when I get close to your lips that you don't like."

"I didn't say.." But Sasuke stopped himself before finishing. "Do you want me to help you with the water next time or not?"

"Yes."

"Then deal with it."

Typical Sasuke reaction. If he didn't like where the conversation was going he'd drop the ultimatum and kill the conversation.

Naruto leant back against the wall behind him and sighed deeply. He really hadn't meant to dig at Sasuke so much, but his reactions were pretty confusing without an explanation.

But Naruto kept his opinions to himself until the next announcement of water came and he watched Sasuke collect the water once more, swallow a bit and turn his head. Naruto was about to lean in again when he stopped for a moment, and saw Sasuke's dark eyes watch his lips expectantly.

Expectantly?

Obviously the heat was throwing him a little. So he drank the half mouth Sasuke gave him and drew away quickly lest Sasuke get pissed at him again.

It was weird though, watching Sasuke's half open eyes, slightly swollen wet lips and then he was shocked altogether when he realized he'd intentionally pressed their lips together again for a second time.

Sasuke must have been even more shocked than him though because he hadn't pulled away or even moved an inch in the following minute or so. So curiosity piqued, Naruto didn't draw away either and eventually he did get a response when Sasuke bit him.

He didn't bite real hard but it was a clear warning to back off. Naruto wondered why Sasuke didn't just pull away, he had enough room to do that at least. So Naruto disregarded the warning and instead kept moving his lips against unresponsive ones for a few moments longer. He thought for sure he was going to be bitten again when he slipped his tongue in between parted lips but this was apparently the breaking point for Sasuke who drew his head away quickly and faced forward before Naruto could see his expression. He was breathing a little heavily but then, so was Naruto.

He didn't really understand why he'd done that. He wasn't even particularly sure it was because he'd felt the overwhelming desire to kiss his old friend. Most likely he'd just wanted to test boundaries and get some answers to previously unanswered questions.

Certainly Sasuke had boundary issues but they seemed random and hard to figure out. Really all he'd meant to do was understand things a little better. He'd probably also wanted to know if what Sasuke had said the other night had meant what he thought about faking versus real life.

"Should I blame that on the heat?" Sasuke asked a shade darkly a moment later.

"Probably," Naruto answered truthfully. "Mostly I was trying to work you out. You won't talk to me so I have to figure you out some way. You aren't really claustrophobic, are you?"

"You want to understand me?" Sasuke asked sarcastically. "You're the bewildering one. I think you get too much enjoyment trying to confuse me, questioning me and pushing me. I told you not to do that again."

"You told me not to suck on your lips. I didn't, I kissed them," he pointed out, glad Sasuke wouldn't be able to see him flush even more while saying it.

"I really hate you, you know that right?"

"Yeah," Naruto muttered. "I did work that one out pretty easily. I'm not trying to confuse you Sasuke."

"Well just like everything else, you really suck at it."

"Aren't you going to tell me not to do it again?"

Naruto asked after a moment.

Strangely, Sasuke paused for a moment. "Do I need to?"

Naruto hadn't honestly thought about attempting that again. Of course he hadn't really thought about it the first time either.

"Yes."

Sasuke was silent for a good few moments after that. Naruto didn't speak because it was obvious that Sasuke was in deep thought about something.

"If I tell you not to, you'll just do something else like you did last time."

"I'm not that complicated teme. Look if you're that freaked out, just don't share the water next time. I'm a lot more ready than I was before, I'll just try to get some myself."

Sasuke didn't answer him. However, when the water came next time Sasuke shared what he caught just like before. He didn't look wary at all though when Naruto leaned in. But instead of attempting to do something Sasuke obviously didn't like Naruto just took the water without comment or fuss. Of course he might have licked a stray water droplet off Sasuke's lower lip when he drew away but he didn't want to be wasteful of the water now did he?

Surprisingly Sasuke just rolled his eyes at him and Naruto grinned.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Moron," Sasuke replied.

Over the course of their journey the cart had stopped once before with lots of sounds of unpacking of the other crates, a few raised gruff voices of what Naruto suspected was the army Morio was outfitting, but that had been a brief stop. The next and last stop happened many hours later.

Sasuke had fallen back against him when the cart jerked to a stop and while they were both struggling weakly to regain their balance, the opening behind Naruto was reopened and the pair tumbled out backwards, off the cart and into the dirt behind. Naruto landed on his back roughly but not with as much pain as he felt when Sasuke's weight finished knocking the rest of the air out of his lungs.

The brightness of the afternoon sun glaring down on him, the pain of his back and lingering injuries made Naruto continue to lay in the dirt a little while longer while Sasuke pushed himself up and off him after only a few moments.

"You're here boys, take a look at your new home."

This announcement finally made Naruto open his eyes and force himself painfully to his feet.

As he looked around he noticed they were on a dirt road bordered either side by dense trees. It looked like they were still in the foothills of the mountains in country that wasn't all that unfamiliar to the country they had just been in. His heat affected brain wondered briefly for a moment whether Morio might have duped them. Simply dumped them in a spot somewhere still in Adessa where the soldiers might find them at any moment.

Of course looking at Sasuke he saw that this had occurred to Sasuke as well who was looking around him and then up at the sky probably trying to gauge their position. Thankfully Sasuke seemed satisfied.

"Uh, well, thanks and everything," Naruto told Morio unsure of what else to say.

Morio gave him a broad and slightly creepy smile as he and his men got back onto the cart in preparation for their departure.

"Don't ever mention it to anyone or I'll find you and kill you. Okay boys?"

Naruto blinked at the almost pleasant sounding death threat. "Uh, yeah, okay. Good luck with the smuggling and prostitution and all."

Morio gave him an even bigger creepy smile. "If you ever want more work feel free to drop by again.

Sasuke frowned and Naruto watched dumbstruck as the cart moved off once more.

"I really feel like I need to bathe right now," Naruto said with feeling.

Sasuke snorted in response and took a few more looks around the area, looking for what, Naruto wasn't sure. But now that his eyes were focusing a little better he was surprised at how haggard Sasuke looked. Sure the heated torture box had taken a lot out of Naruto too but Sasuke looked a lot more worn than Naruto might have expected. When they'd first woken up in the clearing almost a whole month ago now Sasuke had looked worse. But that had been temporary and he'd looked like his old self again within ten minutes. Even naked and beaten up, Sasuke hadn't looked so drained as he did now, shirtless, dirty and flushed from the heat. His dark hair hung in thick damp strands around his face and his cheeks looked feverish.

"Or maybe we should just rest up for a moment," Naruto suggested instead.

Sasuke's eyes snapped around to him then and he seemed to take in Naruto's appearance as well.

"You look worse than usual," Sasuke noted in a casually offensive manner.

"Well you don't look so fresh either asshole!" Naruto snapped back.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I don't think we should rest until we locate the river."

Well if Sasuke thought he was strong enough not to rest, Naruto wasn't about to suggest he needed one either.

"Do you even know where the river is from here?" Naruto asked pointedly.

Sasuke took one more quick look around him. "I think so."

Naruto doubted that. Sasuke could have no real idea exactly where they were. But Naruto was too worn to argue further. He saw either outcome as a win-win for him. Either Sasuke found the river and they could cool off and get a much needed drink or Sasuke was full of shit and Naruto would get to rub it in for hours later.

So when Sasuke moved off the road, Naruto followed behind him without another word.

They walked for hours before Naruto was just starting to suspect Sasuke was lost when he opened his mouth to start the mocking and heard something that stopped him from speaking. It was faint still, but the soft murmur of running water could be heard.

"Sasuke, do you hear that?"

"Of course I do. We should be there soon -"

But Naruto had stopped listening. Finding a newfound reservoir of energy, Naruto ran ahead toward the sound. It took him merely a minute to run the distance through the trees but finally he burst out of the cover of the brush onto a rocky embankment.

The river was small as rivers go. The extremely clear water showed Naruto a mostly rocky bottom that was perhaps a little deeper than waist-height only. Here and there the water got shallower as it ran over smooth piled up riverstones creating little pools before running onwards again. To Naruto it looked like just about the best thing ever and he wasted no time running forward again and throwing himself bodily into the water.

The water seemed freezing after the hot air of the day but he didn't care. He spent a good few moments just laying in the water, letting it hold him up before getting his feet underneath him and cupping a few much needed mouthfuls of water and taking a deep refreshing drink.

"Don't choke, dobe."

Naruto raised his head toward Sasuke who had caught up and was watching him with might well have been a faint half smile from the bank. Naruto grinned and blinked water out of his eyes, wading over toward Sasuke, back onto the bank and giving his ex-teammate a big wet hug and an Adessa cheek kiss before Sasuke had a chance to stop him.

"Urgh! Naruto, what is wrong with you?" Sasuke asked pushing him away roughly.

Naruto didn't care, he was too happy and relieved for the first time in many days to care what Sasuke thought. After the cool shock to his system he finally could appreciate how much better things were looking for them both.

He'd never admit it to Sasuke, but he wondered just how well he would have fared on his own. Doubtless he wouldn't have been able to dig up the information on Morio on his own, not to mention not being brazen enough to even think about putting on a show in the brothel. And even if he had he might have died of thirst in the box or never being able to find the river on his own if he'd even gotten that far.

Of course he wasn't going to assume he wouldn't have come up with anything on his own but Sasuke had really shown himself to be dependable, especially in this last trying week, and Naruto felt a lot more thankful to him right in that moment than he was willing to express in any other way. Sasuke might have come through for him but he hardly needed the ego boost nor the gloating privileges that an outright confession might have prompted.

It wasn't like Naruto believed that he had been worthless over the last month either but Sasuke, well, it almost felt like they were really a team again and it made him smile.

"Don't be such a bring down teme, we found the river! You said it yourself, we can use this to find our way to the border of the wind country. We're on our way home!"

But Sasuke didn't smile. With his naked chest and the front of his pants plastered with water from Naruto's impromptu hug he looked neither relieved nor happy about the prospect.

"We're out of Adessa, that's what counts for now."

"As if that isn't worth celebrating on it's own," Naruto persisted unwilling to let Sasuke's mood affect his own.

Sasuke took a deep breath as he surveyed the river. When he looked back toward Naruto he seemed a little less morose at least.

"That's not a horrible thought," he allowed.

Naruto grinned. "That's the spirit! Well, more or less."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at him. "Stop grinning like that, it makes you look mentally ill."

But Naruto only grinned wider.

For the first real time since their trip began it felt like things were finally starting to work out for them.

End of Part 4

TBC in Part 5.