Hi! Sorry this chapter is so late. I usually like to update at like 5-6pm but since today was thanksgiving I was busy, please enjoy:)

The Long Way Home

New Territory

Part 5

Chapter 1/2

They eyed the fruit for a good long time. It looked weird. On the outside it was yellow, on the inside a kind of deep purple. The skin outside was pretty tough but the inside was soft and juicy looking.

"Are we really there yet?" Naruto asked eyeing the fruit but at the same time feeling his stomach grumble.

"We're there," Sasuke assured him. "It's been days since we last ate."

"Weren't you the one that told me not to eat random things just because I was hungry?"

"You weren't starving then but soon we will be. There is nothing to hunt in this area that I have seen, it's fruit or nothing."

Well since the cautious one of the two of them was willing to risk being poisoned just to eat, Naruto decided to listen to him. He took the half Sasuke held out for him and was just looking up again to ask him which one was going to test it first to find Sasuke had already taken a bite of the soft inside and was chewing experimentally.

Naruto watched him closely for any sign that he was about to keel over but after a few moments Sasuke swallowed and gave the fruit a pleased look.

"It's good."

Eagerly Naruto took a bite. Then promptly spat it out again.

"Gah, Sasuke, it takes like ass!"

"Tastes sweet to me," Sasuke responded taking another bite.

"Fine, ass with sugar. Isn't there anything else?"

"You might have missed the banquet table over by the river."

Naruto gave Sasuke a look. Sasuke was basically saying it was this or nothing. Well he supposed it might be okay but he still waited for Sasuke to finish off his half.

He smiled slightly when he saw the purple train of juice sneak out of his mouth and run down to his chin. It wasn't like Sasuke to eat messily and Naruto spent a few moments enjoying Sasuke's obliviousness before he decided to make mention of the mess.

"You got a bit of juice," Naruto told him motioning.

"What?"

"A bit of... never mind," he said giving up and stepping up to Sasuke and wiping the trail away with his thumb. Absently he stuck his thumb into his mouth and sucked the juice off.

"So what now?" Naruto asked before biting into his half again and making himself chew.

Sasuke watched him with one creased eyebrow before replying. "Do you ever think before you do anything?"

"What?"

"Nothing. We follow the river."

Well, Naruto had already known about that part of the plan. Sasuke had explained to him when they'd first gotten a hold of the maps that following the river, the only really detailed part of his map of Arrei, was their best bet of staying on track, not getting too lost and made the probability of finding towns along the way a lot higher than if they were to just use the sun as a guide. At least this way they had fresh water whenever they needed it.

The further thought had been mentioned too that staying near the river gave them the greatest chance of finding food. Animals had to drink too so they'd figured the odds of hunting dinner would be greatly improved as well. But alas the largest animal they had seen so far had been a small sort of hopping mouse about half the size of Naruto's palm. Naruto had found this out because the little mice were very friendly and tended to hop into his palm when he held it out to them. So even if he had been so hungry to consider eating the meagre meal he found it difficult to associate something so cute with food. Sasuke meanwhile had just discounted the hopping mice as being too much effort for so little food and had instead decided to try his luck with the local flora, something of which until this point he'd been dead set against.

Upon first arriving at the river, the pair of them had spent the rest of the day and the following one resting. It wasn't until they'd started to get hungry that they'd been forced to move on. Plus, Sasuke was still shirtless thanks to their stint in the metal box and the hot sun on his pale skin can't have felt all that nice. After washing his shirt out, Naruto had offered it to Sasuke for the day remembering back when Sasuke had shared the use of his shoes and surprisingly Sasuke hadn't argued or looked offended at the show of chivalry. Clearly the sun was bothering him more than he was admitting. Luckily for Naruto, his skin was more tanned than Sasuke's and the sun didn't really bother him unless he was without shade for a good long time. And besides, the heat hadn't diminished being on the opposite side of the mountains and instead became a lot more humid making him sweat more and being shirtless generally made him cooler because of it.

At the end of the first day of traveling along the banks of the river their pair of them stopped just before sunset so Sasuke would have some time to go over the maps they'd bought with them.

Naruto took the opportunity to hunt around for a stick he could whittle down and use as a fishing spear after noticing a few decent sized fish in the river along the way. Unfortunately Sasuke admitted to losing their only knife so Naruto sat down by the river and tried his best to make a point on the stick with a sharp river stone instead.

Once his stick/spear was deemed acceptable, Naruto got to his feet and held out his proud new fishing tool for Sasuke to admire to find the Uchiha to be paying absolutely no attention to him.

Instead he sat cross-legged with the map of Arrei spread over his legs, his head bent over it and studying it intently.

"Sasuke, you want fish for dinner?"

Sasuke ignored him at first until Naruto repeated the question in a louder tone and then Sasuke grunted something at him instead.

"Suit yourself," Naruto told him. "You won't be so happy when I'm eating delicious fish tonight and you have nothing."

"There's plenty of fruit," Sasuke reminded him still not looking up.

"Well you can eat the ass fruit if you want but I want real food."

Finally Sasuke looked up at him. "As if you'll catch anything, dobe."

"Whatever Sasuke, you'll see."

Naruto waded into the river with his spear and stopped just before he waded into the deeper water. With the water reaching up to his mid-thigh he stilled his movements and waited to catch sight of dinner.

A few times he did spot a likely target swim past but he managed to miss the fish every time Thankfully Sasuke had given up watching him though in the first minute and the pair stayed silent until he heard Sasuke folding up his map.

"If we follow the river for another day we should find a road that runs parallel to it that we can walk on," Sasuke told him.

Naruto was a little surprised and turned his head to see Sasuke watching him from the bank, reclined back with his arms bracing him up. It was rare for Sasuke to share information when he deemed it unnecessary or wasn't asked outright so Naruto wasn't sure what the importance of the information was.

"Um, so?"

"Roads mean towns, moron."

Naruto stopped watching Sasuke and went back to looking for fish. "I know you're keen and everything to find civilization Sasuke, but after Adessa I don't know if I want to find out what this new place is like."

"It's not like you to be cautious," Sasuke observed. "But I suppose even you would learn your lesson after being imprisoned and beaten for days on end."

Well there really was nothing like torture to dampen his natural curiosity when it was just that which had gotten him into trouble in the first place. But he wasn't about to admit it.

"Shut up, teme. You're making me lose my concentration."

"No amount of concentration or wishing for it is going to give you skills you don't have."

"No, but practice does," Naruto shot back.

Sasuke didn't reply but Naruto could still feel Sasuke watching him as he tried for another fish and failed once again.

But Naruto was never one to give up very easily and even though he must have spent over an hour in the river his efforts weren't all for naught when he managed to skewer a fish through the tail.

"Aha!" He cried triumphantly holding up his spear to show the silvery flapping fish to his unbelieving audience.

He waded back in to shore, threw the caught fish and spear onto the bank and sat down next to Sasuke, huge grin on his face. He had to admit, he'd been close to defeat seeing as the sun's light was almost entirely gone by now. But he'd shown Sasuke he could do it and was actually happier about that fact than the idea of having something other than the horrible fruit for dinner again.

"You can admit how awesome I am if you want," Naruto told Sasuke leaning over and bumping shoulders with his unimpressed companion.

"Dumb luck," Sasuke muttered.

"I'll share it if you want," Naruto offered smugly.

"Pass."

"I like the fruit."

"C'mon Sasuke, don't be a sore loser. I got us fish for dinner, you can't be all that pissed off."

Which wasn't a lie. The weird purple fruit had a strange texture not unlike a firm jelly and a taste that was like nothing Naruto had ever tasted before but reminded him faintly of grapes and a hint of something oversweet like honey. He didn't really like the fruit himself and was surprised with Sasuke's general aversion to sweets that his old friend would eat the fruit with every sign of enjoyment. The fruit seemed common enough in the area and Sasuke would always pick one and eat it as they walked whenever the opportunity presented itself.

"Yeah but you can't live on fruit forever," Naruto pointed out finding another sharp stone and setting to work on cleaning out his catch.

Sasuke was watching his hands as he worked and Naruto got the impression that Sasuke's reluctance to share was waning a little. Naruto took pity on him.

"I'll make you a deal," Naruto began. "Tonight we can share the fish and tomorrow night you go hunting. You're better at that than I am and we have to come across something bigger than a mouse sooner or later."

"And just what am I suppose to use?" Sasuke asked pointedly. "We have nothing to hunt with or build snare out of."

"You'll think of something," Naruto replied confidently.

Either Naruto's show of confidence in him or the admittance that Sasuke was the better hunter probably did wonders to ease Sasuke's mood. Eventually he nodded and Naruto grinned.

"It's a deal," Naruto said happily. "You'll hunt and I'll fish and when we can't get any meat we'll eat the ass fruit. See, who needs civilization?"

"We still need to find towns," Sasuke told him. "Hunting and fishing will take up a lot of time better spent moving. In towns we can stock up on supplies and only hunt and fish as we need it. We can't assume there will always be food around when we want it."

"Alright, fine," Naruto relented. "But if I end up in jail again-"

"I'll leave you there to rot," Sasuke finished for him with a small half smile.

Naruto was too happy to see the smile to get angry about Sasuke's response.

"No way, you'd miss me too much," he joked.

Sasuke lost his little smile for a fleeting moment but it was back again quickly enough. "Don't bet on it."

Naruto cleaned the fish in silence for a while when he was done he stretched his arms over his head surprised at how sore he was. All that time spent standing completely still in the river half bent over had hurt his back and arms.

After a moment more he stood up deciding a quick wash in the river would help ease his slight pain and clean the grime of the day from his body. He undid his pants and let them drop and waded into the water once more. This time he went into the deepest part and lay back, enjoying the feel of the water moving over his hot skin and easing his muscles. He let out a deep heartfelt sigh.

"This isn't so bad," Naruto told the world in general. "Even if we never run into another town until we get back to the wind country I think I could live with that."

The world didn't answer him and neither did Sasuke. He raised his head slightly to see Sasuke had started a small fire and was setting up the fish to cook before getting to his feet and removing his own clothes. Apparently Naruto wasn't the only one who wanted a wash.

This was a first. Normally whenever they did find the rare opportunity to bathe Sasuke would usually wait till Naruto was done before allowing himself to relax a bit. He had wondered at the time whether Sasuke simply did this as a safety thing in case of attack or just because he preferred to have whatever little alone time he could. But tonight it seemed that finally the worry was lifted a little.

And why not? They were a long way from where they started and no longer roaming through hostile country. Well, for all they knew right now. To see Sasuke finally let his guard down eased something in Naruto he hadn't been aware had been bugging him. Of course when Sasuke did rid himself of his clothes Naruto couldn't fail to notice something else.

Sasuke had never been one to carry more body weight than strictly necessary. He'd never been overly muscled, his hips were narrow and his legs slim and tone. But now he looked thinner. Not drastically, but enough for Naruto to notice the change from when they'd first awoken in the field.

Annoyingly though he still looked good.

"I suppose it would be nice to get a good meal every now and then though," Naruto added.

Sasuke raised his head as he waded in and frowned when he saw Naruto watching him.

Sasuke wasn't shy about how he looked. He didn't take separate baths from Naruto because of some modesty issue. If anything Naruto was the more body conscience of the two and even he really failed to care if Sasuke saw him naked. It wasn't an issue. Guys saw other guys naked all the time in the public baths and he had never really cared all that much though he wasn't exactly one to parade himself around either. Being around Sasuke gave him even less pause which probably had a lot to do with spending almost the entire day out roaming the woods naked together when they'd first woken.

But Sasuke seemed to have no care whatsoever about who saw him and would even sometimes spend an hour after his outdoor bath ranting at Naruto for falling asleep while he was supposed to be on watch. It certainly made for some awkward moments of trying like hell to keep his eyes glued on Sasuke's livid face. Not that he read too much into that, of course not. No matter who was ranting at him naked, standing over him while he was sitting, he figured he'd be just as red faced no matter what considering what was in his line of sight.

But anyway, because of Sasuke's total lack of modesty it had meant that Naruto had gotten to know the sight of his body very well and it also meant he could notice that Sasuke was beginning to look ten or so meals undernourished. He wondered if he looked the same.

He stood up and looked down at himself, running his hands over his ribs to see if he could feel the difference when Sasuke stopped in front of him.

"What are you doing?"

"I think I've lost a little weight," Naruto muttered unhappily.

He was still watching his hands when he saw and then felt a paler hand reach out and rest palm flat against his ribs surprising him.

"Perhaps. It's hardly surprising."

Naruto supposed not. The last couple of days especially they had been feeding themselves nothing but fruit and before that their diet had been meagre to say the least.

This news was not good news. Naruto knew that if he lost too much weight it would begin to affect his fitness levels. The last thing he figured he needed right now was to start losing his natural muscle strength on top of losing his chakra too.

"So much for wanting to live off the land," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke removed his hand. "I would have thought you'd prefer going into towns, assuming they aren't like those in Adessa."

Naruto looked up to see Sasuke regarding him curiously. "Why?"

"You seem to like... people."

At first Naruto thought it was a really odd thing to say. Of course Naruto liked meeting new people.

Well, most of the time. Perhaps not most of the Adessians. But then Sasuke didn't generally like people much at all no matter the circumstance. So the idea of being a people person was a little lost on him.

"Well sure, but I'm hardly alone here either."

Sasuke lay back in the water much like Naruto had before and smirked at him. "I'm sure you could think of a better person to be trapped here with though. Perhaps another old team mate?"

Again, at first, Naruto didn't get the implication. But after processing Sasuke's teasing tone he could guess what he'd meant.

"Who, like Sakura?"

"You had a crush on her, didn't you?"

Naruto blushed faintly. "I guess being here with Sakura wouldn't be too bad."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that less than wishful statement and Naruto couldn't blame him. He did have a sort of crush on Sakura even now but it was difficult to keep up enthusiasm for it when he understood by now that his feelings were never going to be reciprocated.

No matter what Sasuke did, Sakura would always love him. And as much as Naruto liked her, he didn't like the feeling that someday if he was really lucky he might end up scoring second place to Sasuke in her heart. Deep down he knew that all Sakura wanted from him was to be friends, which was becoming increasingly fine with Naruto. But as close as their friendship had gotten he couldn't imagine somehow doing this trip with Sakura. Even moments like this wouldn't be possible just from the simple fact that they could never bathe in the stream together seeing as if Sakura even thought Naruto could see her naked she'd beat ten different kinds of shit out of him. And it didn't help one bit knowing that if it were Sakura here with Sasuke instead of him, Sakura would probably welcome naked bathing time with Sasuke rather than beat him up. The only saving grace in that thought was that Sasuke would probably be completely disinterested in the idea anyway.

"I'm not sure being here with Sakura would be all that comfortable," Naruto elaborated eventually. "I think it's easier being in this kind of situation with you rather than her."

"Easier?"

"Well sure. I do something you don't like, you glare at me and ignore me for half the day. If you're really pissed you'll rant and me for a while. But if I do something Sakura doesn't remotely like she beats the shit out of me. Besides, we're guys, the living arrangements are... easier."

"I guess she wouldn't appreciate it if you stripped off in front of her," Sasuke acknowledged.

"That's a really mild way of putting it. Bet she'd faint if you did it though." Sasuke grinned, "Jealous?"

"No!" Naruto retorted. "I don't get what's so great about you."

"That's a lie. Otherwise you wouldn't have so persistently come after me like you did."

"Well we were friends," Naruto responded a little sidetracked by Sasuke bringing this particular subject up. "We had a bond. Sakura's all in love with just 'cause you're oh so hot," Naruto told him perhaps a shade bitterly. "I mean she liked you as a friend too but I'll bet she was in love with you because she like looking at you more."

This was confusing. Not only was Sasuke having a strange social conversation with him but he actually looked like he was enjoying himself.

"Hot?"

The bastard was teasing him! No wonder Sasuke looked so amused.

"I was being sarcastic."

But with that, Sasuke looked a little less entertained.

"You really like her, don't you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. I'd rather be someone's first choice."

"Well she'll never get her first choice if it's any consolation."

Naruto frowned. "She really does love you, you know. Even now, after everything, she still loves you."

"Whatever, you can't make me want her back out of pity."

Sasuke had an annoyingly good point. No matter how much he really did want to see Sakura happy, the simple fact was that if Sasuke didn't love her back there was no reason to force him to feel something for her.

"Okay, I get it. But it doesn't change anything. She's gotta know you don't feel the same about her by now and it hasn't changed her mind. Even if one day something did happen between me and her, it'd still feel like she was settling, you know?"

"You want me to pity you now? I can't control how she feels. Obviously."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "There doesn't have to be a point to every conversation Sasuke, we're just talking. Besides, don't feel pity for me. I remember Amaya liked me a whole lot better than you."

"I remember Amaya being a manipulating bitch too."

Naruto suddenly grinned. "Are you jealous?"

"Not hardly. Maybe you should have traveled with her instead. I doubt she would have been so reticent about you stripping off in front of her as Sakura would be."

Now Naruto was confused again. "Why?"

And Naruto wasn't the only one who seemed confused. "You really are a moron. You'd prefer my company to the pretty girl who likes you?"

"Well yeah," Naruto replied obviously. "Aren't you having fun right now?"

"No."

"Look, I know it hasn't exactly been easy this last month but I like being here with you. I can't imagine being able to go through this with any of my other friends cause I'm not really all that close with anyone."

"Neither are we," Sasuke pointed out bluntly.

"I guess not, but sometimes it feels like we are. I mean who else are you going to talk like this to not to mention put on that performance for Morio with?"

"It's not because we are close," Sasuke reminded him. "It's because I don't care what you think about me that makes it work."

"Well sure, but it still works right? You make it sound like you not caring what I think is a bad thing. I think it's because you're comfortable enough with me not to worry about it."

"I'm pretty sure it's because you're not even worth consideration to me."

Despite the harshness of the statement, Naruto grinned. "If I'm so beneath your notice then, why are you even talking to me?"

Sasuke abruptly closed his mouth and glared at Naruto. As if to make his point Sasuke got back to his feet and turned his back to Naruto but Naruto knew he'd scored a point himself.

So he stepped over to Sasuke quickly and threw both arms around his shoulders to stop him from moving off.

"You're having a bit of fun, admit it," Naruto told him.

"Let me go before I make you," Sasuke warned darkly.

"At least admit that traveling with me isn't so bad."

After a few moments Sasuke un-tensed and sighed deeply. "It's not completely horrible. Now, let me go."

Naruto brushed his lips across Sasuke's cheek and let him go, standing back and grinning widely.

Sasuke turned on him. "Will you stop doing that!"

"Only when it stops annoying you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and headed for shore.

TBC