I will be adding this story on Ao3 once I get my invitation. And yes I did create a whole new Ao3 account just to post this fucking amazing story.

Enjoy!

The Long Way Home

Part 3

Damsel In Distress

Chapter 2/4

Sasuke went into town the next day and set about getting supplies. He was hungry and sick of hunting and figured he'd better get enough supplies to cross the border since he might not find civilization again for some time after today. He also spent some time trying to get information about the border too but had little luck so far and was probably pushing that luck by asking to judge by the looks he'd been getting. But no matter, he'd just have to play it by ear.

He'd decided he was going to leave Naruto behind.

He'd been reluctant enough to even begin travelling with Naruto in the first place and even though he had come to the conclusion that travelling with an ally was better than not, he couldn't think of a single logical reason to believe trying to rescue Naruto would do him any favors now. His ally had turned into a burden, a liability, and it was probably better to realize this now than when Naruto managed to get them both in trouble rather than just himself.

So Sasuke set off out of the town in the blazing heat of a new day looking ahead instead of behind him, focusing on how nice the silence sounded for the first time all week and enjoying the peace.

Three and a half hours later his peace and quiet wasn't as peaceful as he'd imagined. It was still quiet, he could hear his own soft footfalls, the odd crunch of the stones on the road or a dried leaf underfoot but he was hardly peaceful.

Despite his best attempts at looking forward he kept looking sideways. Literally. Like he expected to see someone there. A few times he almost caught himself wondering why Naruto was being so quiet before his slightly heat addled mind snapped back into focus and he would scoff at his own stupidity.

Had it only taken a few days for Sasuke to get used to Naruto's presence? It seemed that way, he just hoped that his stupid brain would get over the feeling already so he could get back to enjoying being on his own again, just like he was used to.

Four hours into his journey Sasuke started to wonder if he felt somehow guilty about leaving Naruto behind.

No, definitely not.

Naruto was not Sasuke's problem and if Naruto couldn't look after himself by this point it was just evolution working to better mankind as far as Sasuke was concerned. He did not feel guilty.

Four and a half hours along the road saw Sasuke stop in his tracks and turn slowly.

He rolled his eyes at himself and sighed deeply.

"Fucking dobe."

Then Sasuke started walking back toward the town.

"Dobe."

Naruto at first thought he was hearing things. That couldn't be Sasuke's voice, surely.

"Um, Sasuke?"

"Who exactly else could it be, moron?"

"Where are you?"

Naruto asked looking around his little cell. His eyes were still a little unfocused from the swelling and it was hard to see his cell in great detail.

"The window."

Naruto raised his eyes to the little window built into the cement wall of his cell. He could see part of the moon through the bars and after a moment saw pale fingers, heard a soft grunt and then something shadowy blocked out the moonlight as someone pulled their face up to the bars.

Naruto got painfully to his feet and went over for a closer look. It was hard to see Sasuke's face in the darkness but he could make out a few features and the twin black holes of Sasuke's eyes easily enough.

"You look worse than usual," Sasuke commented after a few moments.

"I thought you would have been long gone," Naruto told him instead in a soft tone.

"Don't assume I didn't think about it. But we have an agreement. And besides if they stake you I'd rather be present to say 'I told you so'."

Naruto sighed at Sasuke's attitude, but what could he expect? He was surprised enough that Sasuke hadn't left him behind entirely so he supposed this was better than nothing.

"So, what's happening?" Sasuke asked.

"Well apparently the guy, the father or whatever is trying to get me set up as an example or something. I don't know. I mean if they want to kill me, why don't they just kill me already?"

"There are worse things you can do to a person than killing them," Sasuke told him. "No doubt you're finding out about that. So I guess this girl you stared at is pissed at you."

"Actually I don't think she is," Naruto replied after a moment. "She was in here with her father earlier. She actually said sorry and she looked really sad."

"Yeah, must be so painful for her," Sasuke said sarcastically. Sasuke went quiet for a moment before speaking again. "So it must be her father with the problem. That's interesting to know."

"What are you going to do?" Naruto asked shade worriedly.

"I just thought it might be worthwhile talking to this girl, that's all. Perhaps if she convinces her father to let it drop you might get cut loose."

"That's what she said. Wait, why do you care? I mean I know it means you'll have to travel alone but I sometimes think you'd prefer that anyway."

"I'm not planning on storming the building for you Naruto. But talking to a girl isn't exactly a great hardship."

"For you it is," Naruto muttered.

"Do you want my help or not?" Sasuke asked pointedly.

"Um, I'll take the first option thanks," Naruto said quickly. "And Sasuke?"

"What?"

"...Thanks. You know, for sticking around and everything."

"Don't mention it. Ever."

And then Sasuke was gone.

Naruto sat down on the straw mattress wondering why he suddenly felt a bit more positive about things. Relying on Sasuke wasn't something he'd done in a very long time and even back when they'd been part of a team sometimes he wasn't sure if Sasuke would help him or help himself most of the time. But in all reality Sasuke had saved his butt more times than he cared to think about or even admit to and he felt strangely reassured to know that once again Sasuke was on his side.

It wasn't hard for Sasuke to find out where the girl and her father were staying. Apparently the girl was engaged to the richest man in town, who was well known, but Sasuke got the extreme impression, not particularly well liked. Not that anyone actually came out and said such a thing of course, you could get staked if you said the wrong thing to the wrong person apparently. But Sasuke was pretty good at reading people and most people around town seemed scared of him if not hated him outright.

It seemed the groom owned most of the town, landlord to all and made a nice living off charging people ridiculous rates for slum like dwellings and shops. Of course Sasuke could care less though.

He could never understand the mentality some people had of putting up with bad circumstances if there was nothing really in it for them. If people didn't like their landlord Sasuke felt it was easy enough just to up and move. But he could imagine Naruto having a bit more sympathy about it because Naruto genuinely believed that some people just didn't know how to save themselves when things looked so bleak and that some people needed support and help to change their lot in life. He especially would have felt that people shouldn't give up their homes just because of one asshole.

But either way Sasuke had to admit that being rich and powerful did not give this man the right to do whatever he wanted without fear of repercussions. Sasuke just simply didn't believe it was his problem. He had meant what he'd said to Naruto, that even if people needed saving it would mean nothing in the long run if they didn't find the courage to save themselves.

Sasuke himself felt little fear about perhaps coming face to face with this apparent asshole if necessary when trying to speak with his fiancée but it became apparent as he walked up to the mansion that getting to the girl was going to be harder than he imagined. High stone walls encircled the compound with an iron gate at the front. He knew from rumor that the girl hadn't been seen around the town since her arrival so it seemed likely he wasn't going to be able to stumble into a chance meeting with her outside the gates. Of course Naruto had been imprisoned and beaten just because he'd looked at her so having a public conversation with her would probably earn himself a staking before he had a chance to say 'hello' anyway.

So he waited till the following night to make his move. During the day he'd purchased a dark grey scarf and spent the day around town subtly gaining as much intelligence he could about the mansion and the grounds it sat on. It wasn't a lot unfortunately but he was used to going in with less information than this and didn't worry much about the details.

When night fell he wrapped the scarf around his head to cover up his face and hair. Just before dusk he'd found some dark soil to rub into his pants to make them darker and blend in with the night better. He really wished he'd been properly armed too, but nowhere could he find a weapons dealer and he realized why when he remembered the little law book they'd picked up in the last town.

General citizens weren't allowed to carry weapons so the best he'd been able to arm himself with was the little, almost dull knife they'd taken from the scavengers. He'd cut off part of his scarf to loosely wrap the blade and stuck it down the back of his pants.

He moved to the wall thankfully noting the lack of movement around at this time of night even though it was barely evening and started scaling the rough stone. At the top he crouched down and surveyed the meticulous lawn and the side of the mansion. Here and there he could see the occasional flash of a lamp which probably signified a guard prowling the grounds but the area between him and the wall of the house looked clear so he jumped down, rolled and sprinted to the wall, flattening himself against the stone bricks in the shadow of the mansion and listening intently for a few moments to see if his movement had raised any alarms. But the grounds remained silent and Sasuke cast his eyes over the wall of the mansion till they rested on some intricate latticework running up one of the sidewalls near the corner. Apparently the gardener was trying to encourage some jasmine to grow up the lattice and Sasuke was thankful that the gardener didn't seem to think of possible security flaws when planning his garden designs.

So after testing his weight on the wooden lattice Sasuke began his climb, moving swiftly and easily up to a second story window next to the lattice. Clinging to the lattice with his left hand he got out his knife and pulled off the dark protective cloth with his teeth before taking a quick peek in through the window. The room beyond looked dark so he braced himself and leaned across, wedging the blade between the two windowpanes and working it up till he could slide the latch up and push the windows open.

He sat the knife on the inside sill and used both his hands to drag himself across and up till he could pull himself inside the window and drop onto the thick carpet inside.

He'd forgotten how hard certain things were without chakra and spent the next few moments crouched by the window breathing silently through his mouth before standing up and reclaiming his knife after shutting and relocking the window behind him.

Looking around the room he realized that this was a bedroom. Probably a guest room to judge from the lack of personal items. The door to the room was closed so Sasuke took his time looking around as much as possible in the darkness. There were a few travelling cases which suggested the room was currently being occupied by a man, to judge from the clothes contained inside them.

He found nothing of great interest till he came across a small worn journal-like book on a desk near a rear-facing window. Sasuke spent a few moments looking through the book aided by soft moonlight from the window and it took him a while to figure out what he was looking at.

Since this was a guest room and since it contained men's luggage he could happily assume that this was the girl's father's book. And it seemed as though the father had a bit of a money problem. It was a ledger of sorts, though a ledger from an anally retentive person who liked to keep track of what he owed to whom.

It was a weird thing to keep a record of for sure but Sasuke had seen something similar before. He had been acquaintances with a man who was such a prolifically bad gambler he kept a little book that documented of all his debts, who he owed them to and which town they lived it. He had owed so many people money that it was easier to write it down than remember it so he didn't inadvertently wander into a town only to be spotted by the wrong person and wake up ten painful hours later with all his bones broken and his liver removed. He had worked under the theory that if he kept gambling in new towns sooner or later he'd win big and be able to pay off his debts. It never seemed to work though and Sasuke remembered hearing sometime later that one of his creditors had eventually caught up with him after all when his body had been found in a river on the outskirts of a village barely recognizable and missing everything with even the slightest hint of value on and in his person.

That man's journal had looked almost exactly like this, though of course Sasuke was only guessing that gambling was to blame here. This man could be in debt for countless other reasons but the reality remained the same in that he must owe great amounts of money to quite a few people which might go a long way to explain what the man was doing here with his daughter.

Sasuke had heard rumors that the owner of this house, the asshole slum lord, had more or less paid for his fiancée. Dowries were still common with lords and royalty in the five nations even though the practice was practically unheard of these days with most of the population. But unlike most dowries where the bride was the one who came with offerings to the groom, apparently in this instance it was the other way around.

This highborn girl represented prestige to a man who had made his fortune off the poor and hopeful. Marrying this county's version of aristocracy would be a greater step up in society. So maybe the father had given in and sold his daughter off to a man who could clear his debts even though he wasn't perhaps in the same social class. It was probably a great blow to the father's pride but desperation would make him swallow that pride in the end.

Of course Sasuke could be completely wrong. He was basing his assumptions off street gossip and a suspicious ledger containing a lot of big debts but he doubted he was wrong. The Uchiha's weren't ever considered nobility in the strictest sense but he had grown up in a household with the same intrigues and clan snobbery of a large aristocratic house. He knew his father and mother had been matched through social acceptability and breeding rather than love. He also knew that if they had never died he could have expected the same fate. It hadn't bothered him when he'd first learnt this because for one thing he had been young and thoughts about marriage hadn't been a factor to him.

Secondly although his parents were matched they did seem to have a fondness for each other that couldn't be faked. So his young mind had just accepted it and not worried about it. He wondered if he would be so accepting now though. If his clan hadn't been murdered would he have perhaps be promised to someone by now? Of course such a thing would be easier to accept since it would mean his family was alive and well.

But anyway, Sasuke knew how things in these sorts of families went so he would be surprised if he hadn't guessed correctly.

He looked up from the book and glanced out the window at the large garden at the back of the grounds. The room he'd climbed into was on a corner of the house and so had a view of the western lawn where Sasuke had come in and the southern area as well where there seemed to be a massive garden including a large hedge maze of all things.

Sasuke spent some time looking out over the garden before deciding that perhaps his initial idea of talking to the girl probably wasn't the best idea after all. If her father was the type of man to sell his daughter off to the highest bidder regardless of the man's character he doubted any input from her about Naruto's fate was going to even be thought about for a second. And if she really was apologetic about it and still Naruto was locked in a cell, she either had already pleaded and failed or didn't have the courage to try in the first place.

No, if Sasuke wanted to confront the source of this problem he'd have to go straight to the father.

Either that or it was back to plan B, which was break Naruto out of prison with nothing but a glorified kitchen knife, no chakra and two dozen armed professionals standing in his way. Needless to say, Sasuke would rather try Plan A first.

So Sasuke ripped a blank page out of the journal and picked up a nearby pencil.

Sasuke had concealed himself just out of the center of the hedge maze and waited patiently. He could easily predict which way the man would come from and planned to suit. He wasn't disappointed when he heard the somewhat out of breath middle-aged man step into the center of the maze and take a moment to get his breath back.

Sasuke stepped out into the moonlight visibly startling the man in the first moment of his arrival. But the man recovered quickly and gave Sasuke a look of such pure malice it almost caused Sasuke to smile.

"What do you want?" The man asked gruffly, clearly not liking being at a disadvantage.

"You didn't bring any guards," Sasuke observed. He hadn't stipulated this in his brief note, but he'd figured the guy would come alone. Sasuke had wanted to know just how much this man wanted to keep his little journal a secret.

"This is just a business transaction, isn't it?" the man replied. "What do you want?"

Sasuke did smile then, a little half smile that told the other man he clearly knew he had the advantage.

"You had someone arrested for looking at your daughter."

"Yes, so?" The man asked impatiently. "My daughter has noble blood and is not for the eyes of the common people."

"Really? I would have thought you didn't think that much about her noble ancestry when you agreed to marry her off to an up and coming slum lord just so he could pay off your debts. Of course since you are here, I can assume he isn't even paying off all your debts if you still need your little book back so badly."

"What is this about? Are you here to get me to drop the charges against that little nothing in jail, or are you more interested in my daughter?" the man asked curiously.

Obviously, he was thinking that Sasuke or someone Sasuke worked for had an interest in outbidding his daughter's current fiancée. Wishful thinking. But it at least reassured Sasuke that the book still had value.

"I couldn't care less about your daughter or who you whore her to for your own gain," Sasuke told the man as he casually advanced on him.

"So it's the boy?" The man asked darkly. "Well, you can forget it. The law is the law and this matter is not up for discussion."

Sasuke stopped in front of the greying man and looked into the hard blue eyes for a moment. There was a strong pride there but unfortunately not, as Sasuke had hoped, towards himself. It was the misguided pride of a man who believed more in what he stood for rather than himself. He would have his little dirty book of secrets made public before he allowed himself to contradict his own class beliefs. No matter what, Naruto would die because this man truly thought he was superior to him just because he had been born into a better class of family.

Sasuke didn't spend too long dwelling on the irony of that.

"You wrongly assume I came here with the sole intent of having a discussion and no other alternative. You won't talk this out, that's fine. Blackmail was the peaceful solution but I'm not against a violent solution either. Anyone that thinks they can have people murdered just because they are powerful and want it to be so isn't justice, it's evil."

Chakra or no, Sasuke's natural reflexes would make any fighter jealous. One moment he was looking into stubborn hard eyes, the next he was looking into surprised pained ones as he pushed the knife up through the man's ribs and into his heart. It took some force since the knife wasn't the sharpest of murder weapons but it still went in and Sasuke left it in as the man toppled backwards onto the grass.

TBC

Damn when I was first reading this chapter I wasn't expecting it to end in murder lol

See you tomorrow :)