Title: Across Fire Country

Rating: G

Pairing / Characters: Nara Shikamaru, the genin, Mori Isamu (OC) and Murai Sachiko (OC)

Word Count: 3, 141 words

Warnings: Spoilers if you haven't read 'you are my sunshine'

Summary: Konoha's eleven transport their prisoners to the detention centre, Naruto is on breaking point

A/N: This is a long chapter. I know. It's deliberate. Trying to think of ending shorter chapters without breaking up the story is hurting my head. And no, I don't know for certain that Naruto is the youngest, I think he is. So yeah.

'She wants us to WHAT?'

Shikamaru folded his arms. 'You heard me. She wants us to take them to the detention centre on the other side of Fire Country – and she can't spare any ANBU to do it.'

'What about the jounin?' Kiba demanded. 'Surely she can spare us a jounin or two – why us of all people?'

Sakura remembered her fear at seeing Naruto's empty apartment, and grinned bleakly.

'Personally, I'm looking forward to it,' she told her friends. 'Think about it – there won't be anyone around if say, something should 'accidentally' happen…'

'Sakura-chan, you can't be seriously be thinking what I think you're thinking.'

'Naruto!' Sakura went red. 'You misunderstood, I mean I would never – '

Naruto laughed softly.

'Right. So tell me again what we've been ordered to do, Shikamaru.'

Shikamaru frowned. 'Escort the two former ANBU members to a high security detention centre on the other side of Fire Country. Tsunade-sama can't spare any ANBU to do it for her, or any jounin.'

Naruto shrugged. 'Ok.'

'Ok?' Chouji asked incredulously. 'Ok? Is that all you can say?'

'What do you want me to say?' Naruto asked. 'It's not like we can say no, and personally, I'll be happier knowing they aren't in Konoha anymore.'

Neji's silver eyes narrowed. 'I'll bet.'

'When are we leaving, Shikamaru?' Ino asked now.

'In the morning. Make sure you're fully prepared – I don't want any surprises this time.'

Hinata glanced at Naruto. He was leaning against a tree, arms behind his head, and in her eyes, was still far too thin. The dark shadows underneath his eyes were slowly fading, but she sensed deep melancholy behind his smile. It was this that prompted her to do the unthinkable.

'N – Naruto-kun – would you like to get some ramen with me?'

Naruto lifted his head, a surprised expression on his face, and he wasn't the only one – every single person was regarding the Hyuuga heiress with expressions varying from shock to sheer bewilderment.

'That would be nice, Hinata – my treat?'

Hinata managed a smile, forcing herself not to blush. 'Ok.'

The two of them walked off, and Shino and Kiba exchanged glances.

'I did not just see that,' Kiba muttered. 'I'm losing my mind – yeah, that's all it is… just a temporary loss of sanity… nothing more…'

'Kiba – shut up,' Ino grumbled. 'She's worried about him.'

Kiba's expression turned serious. 'Aren't we all?'

Naruto paced his apartment restlessly, unable to sleep – not for fear of the nightmares, but because he was nervous. Terrified, in fact.

Crossing over to the window, he pushed it open and stared into the starry skies, sighing.

If he couldn't do this, his friends would never rely on him again.

He wasn't sure where he got the idea from, and he wasn't even sure if it was true or not, but he didn't want to take the chance.

'I can do this,' he told himself firmly. 'I'm still a shinobi, nothing's changed, nothing. Once they're out of Konoha, everything will go back to normal, and I can forget this ever happened…'

But deep down, Naruto was wondering why he hadn't told his friends what had happened to him if nothing had changed.

Tsunade herself led Mori Isamu and Murai Sachiko to the gates where ten genin and one chuunin were waiting.

Naruto was seeing them for the first time since the frying pan incident, and he couldn't help but stiffen before forcing himself to relax. A closer inspection revealed something he was not expecting – they didn't look as powerful now. In fact, they seemed… smaller, somehow, diminished, as if the life had been sucked out of them. Their hands were bound, silver manacles gleaming in the sunlight, and both of them were gagged.

Their eyes, however, spoke volumes, radiating with hatred and loathing.

Shikamaru's eyes fell on the chains, and an image flashed into his mind – Naruto, bound with heavy chains, trying to make himself less of a target for the attack he was so sure was coming…

Expression hardening, Shikamaru jerked Isamu forward, tightening the chains around his wrists brutally, pointedly ignoring Isamu's wince. He did the same to Sachiko, and then glanced at Tsunade.

'Well, that's about it, I guess. We should only be a week or so.'

'Be careful, all of you,' Tsunade said softly, resting her hand on Naruto's shoulder for a moment.

As the group left, Shizune looked up. 'Do you think you did the right thing?'

Tsunade sighed heavily. 'I don't know, Shizune. Perhaps. Only time will tell.'

'Naruto-kun might not –'

'Shizune, I have faith in him, and faith in his friends,' Tsunade interrupted firmly. 'Whatever happens, they won't abandon him.'

'I hope you're right,' Shizune muttered.

If he was tense, he gave nothing away.

Naruto was aware of the anxiety in the glances his friends kept giving him, and he counted himself fortunate that they cared enough to worry about him – even though it was the last thing he wanted them to do.

'You never did tell me why Gejimayu's arm was in a cast,' Naruto said suddenly, breaking the silence.

Neji began to laugh, and Lee hung his head in shame.

'You should have seen it, Naruto, it was almost worth it to see Lee win. I don't think Gai-sensei will ever try that again, even if his life depended on it.'

Tenten rolled her eyes. 'He'd better not, I'm not cleaning up after Lee again.'

Naruto stared at Lee, and then at Tenten and Neji. 'But what happened?'

'It was supposed to be a contest aimed at strengthening their inner muscles,' Tenten explained. 'They each drank about three litres of water in a single sitting – but the waiter brought us the wrong tray, and Lee drank an entire jug of sake…'

She shuddered. 'I never want to see that again. Once we got Lee sobered up, Neji and I had to unearth Gai from the wreckage of the restaurant… it just wasn't pretty.'

Neji grinned. 'Then he had to go and see Tsunade-sama and explain the situation to her. He swears her screams echoed around the Hokage Mansion, but we never heard a thing.'

Naruto laughed. 'I would have paid to see that.'

'I doubt it,' Lee muttered. 'If word gets out…'

'Lee, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but word is already out,' Chouji pointed out politely.

Lee glared at him. 'Thanks, I don't think.'

Chouji sniggered. 'You're welcome.'

Shikamaru glanced up at the sky. 'We should stop for the night. It's getting dark, and we need to gather firewood so we can eat.'

Naruto swallowed. 'I'll get the firewood, Shikamaru.'

Instantly, Neji volunteered to go with him, and as Chouji and Shino secured Isamu and Sachiko to a tree, the two of them wandered off into the gathering dusk.

Neither of them spoke much as they selected branches, but the silence between them was comfortable enough that they didn't need to.

It was only as they made camp that Naruto became apprehensive.

It wasn't just the darkness, but that he wasn't sure what to do about his nightmares – and he didn't know how much Kakashi-sensei had told Sakura.

Naruto couldn't stop his instinctive glance over his shoulder at his former captives.

They were watching him, identical expressions of hate in their eyes.

He took a deep breath, busying himself with taking off his pack and leaning it against a tree, but he was aware of them the entire time, and it deeply unnerved him to note that neither of them took their eyes off him.

A sharp voice made him look up.

'Do the two of you want to be blindfolded as well, because I can easily arrange it…'

Naruto blinked.

Ino and Sakura were restraining a furious Kiba, who was in the process of lunging towards Isamu and Sachiko.

'What on –'

Shino's quiet voice answered his half spoken question.

'Don't think we haven't noticed how they look at you, Naruto. Personally, I expected Kiba to speak out sooner – he's learning the art of restraint.'

Naruto glanced around at his friends, most of whom wore the same expressions of anger.

Shikamaru stepped forward. 'Kiba, calm down,' he said sharply. 'There's no point getting worked up over them, it doesn't help.'

Kiba stepped backwards, but even he couldn't stop Akamaru's low growls, and he didn't try.

Shikamaru knelt down, a kunai in his hand. 'Listen very carefully,' he told the two of them, a dangerous note in his usually placid voice. 'If you so much as look at him again, I'll gouge your eyes out and make you eat them. Is that clear?'

Naruto blanched, unconsciously backing up until he realized that his back was to the tree. Words, half forgotten, came flooding back, and he had to bite down the cry that rose in his throat.

… pathetic worm, living in the dark… what lies in your eyes, animal… cut them out of your head so you need never see again…

The glint of a kunai in the darkness…

'Naruto.'

Naruto jumped, his face losing what little colour it had left, but in the growing darkness, it couldn't be seen.

Neji put a hand on his shoulder. 'You need to eat,' he said softly, and Naruto had the feeling that his silver eyes saw more than he wanted them to. It was confirmed when Neji asked 'are you ok?'

'The darkness makes me uncomfortable,' Naruto answered truthfully, seconds before he wondered why he'd said anything at all.

'I don't blame you,' Neji told him, keeping his voice low.

Naruto looked down at the ground, scuffing his foot in the dirt. 'I – I've been having nightmares… being trapped, being alone…'

For a moment Neji was silent, but he didn't turn away as Naruto had expected him to.

'I think nightmares are only natural,' Neji said at last. 'We all dream about things that scare us, but you've lived through it. I don't think it's something that will just go away.'

'I –'

'Come on, before dinner gets cold – sorry, colder. Even you wouldn't eat cold ramen,' Neji teased, overriding the beginnings of an apology. Steering Naruto over to the fire, he pushed him onto the ground between Chouji and Lee, the latter handing him a dish of rice.

Naruto smiled faintly. 'Itadakimasu!'

The low, agitated murmurs woke Ino up.

Blinking sleepily, she pushed aside her blanket and sat up, staring at the sight before her.

In the dying firelight, she could see Shikamaru kneeling beside Naruto, clearly debating waking him up – and Ino could see why.

His blanket was twisted around him, and she could just make out the beads of sweat lining his forehead. His brow was creased, and as he tossed and turned, Ino wasn't sure if he was fighting off the blanket, or whatever unseen enemies he was dreaming of.

'No… not again… no…'

Ino felt tears welling up in her eyes, and fought down the urge to cry. No one else had noticed, at least not yet, and Ino didn't want to wake them.

Naruto's voice was slowly rising, and clearly coming to a decision, Shikamaru reached out to shake him awake when in his agitation, Naruto knocked his hand away.

Ino didn't see Hinata move until she saw her push Shikamaru aside. Ino's eyes widened as Hinata knelt down next to Naruto, gathering him into her arms and holding him close. Her soft voice whispered gentle reassurances, and Ino's tears streaked her cheeks as Naruto calmed somewhat.

How long, she wondered, had Naruto been alone? How long had he suffered after waking and realizing that there was no one to comfort him?

'Ino, stop crying,' Shikamaru ordered softly. 'We can't undo the past.'

'I – I've never seen him like this,' Ino whispered, trying to control her sobs. 'He's always been so cheerful, so ready for action, but now he – he –'

'Just seems like a scared kid,' Shikamaru finished grimly. 'I know. And you'd never have known it, but he's the youngest of all of us…'

Startled, Ino glanced up at him. 'How do you know?'

'I checked his date of birth in the records,' Shikamaru answered. 'He's a year younger than I am, and only a couple of months younger than Hinata. All this time, everything he's been through – and he really is just a kid –'

'In age only,' a new voice said quietly. 'You can't really say he's a kid after all he's been through.'

Shikamaru sighed. 'No, I guess not.'

Neji got to his feet. 'I'll take the next watch. Shikamaru – you and Ino get some sleep.'

Shikamaru frowned. 'I won't be able to sleep now. I'll stay up with you.'

Ino was about to speak when Shikamaru said 'sleep, Ino. We'll watch him.'

'All right,' Ino whispered, and lay back down, her eyes on Naruto.

Sleep was a long time coming.

His hands were shaking.

It was all he could do just to remain where he was, not to run, not to reach for a kunai and embed it in his own throat…

Naruto took a deep, shaky breath.

He was so, so tempted to wake one of his friends up, tempted to ask them to keep him company, but at the same time, unwilling to let them see how weak he was, how pathetic, how…

They never took their eyes off him, never. He could see everything reflected in those eyes – hatred, anger, loathing, the desire to kill him, to hurt him, to maim him, to hear his screams echoing once more.

For the last three days, Naruto had done his best to ignore them, to ignore the killing intention that rolled off them in waves, but it hadn't been easy.

The nightmares persisted.

He knew his friends knew but they hadn't confronted him about his nightmares at all. In fact, it hadn't even been brought up, Ino had hugged him before anyone had noticed, but she hadn't said anything. To top it off, Naruto was worried because his friends were worried about him, but he didn't know what to tell them, or how to.

He could just imagine a conversation – well, you see, they tortured me day after day, telling me what a useless pathetic monster I was because I just happen to have a demon sealed into my navel…

Right. Like that was ever going to happen.

Naruto slumped against the tree, unable to stop himself from remembering the darkness, the pain, the blood, the name calling… and his sudden, unexpected fear of the dark.

The fire was comforting, at least. In its glow he could see the shapes of his friends, and the trees that surrounded them. At least he knew that he wasn't completely alone, even if his mind – and their eyes – told him the exact opposite.

Naruto slowly slid down the trunk of the tree until he was sitting on the ground. He brought his knees up, resting his head on his folded arms, unable to look away from his torturers. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.

He was falling….

'Animal! Monster! Do you know what they should have done? They should have drowned you at birth – your own parents probably couldn't stand to look at you, so they abandoned you – and we're doing you a favour, really. Your friends… the people who you care about… you know what you are, you know what danger you're putting them all into just by existing. We're being kind, taking you away from your villagers. Stupid, stupid, clumsy child… too weak to be a shinobi, too pathetic to be loved, to monstrous for anyone to care about you…'

'I – I'm not… I'm not like that…'

'Silence! How dare you talk back to me, you filthy little thing –'

'Nooo!!!'

Naruto's head jerked up, tears streaking his cheeks, his chest heaving with sobs. His eyes darted to his fellow shinobi, but it seemed that none of them had heard his cry. None that is, save for Isamu and Sachiko…

He got to his feet, and stumbled off into the darkness, needing to be alone.

Tenten stirred into full wakefulness long before anyone else did, it had become a habit since she had become a genin.

Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes, and glanced around the clearing Chouji and Kiba had chosen the night before. Everything seemed the same – their prisoners were still tied to the tree, her friends were still asleep, Naruto was –

Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

Tenten shook Neji awake, her alarm palpable in the early morning silence.

Neji blinked up at her, already more awake. 'What's wrong?'

'Naruto is gone!' Tenten whispered. 'I've only just woken up, and he's not here –'

Swearing, Neji rolled to his feet, activating his byakugan and scanning their surroundings.

There, in the distance, he could see a figure kneeling down beside the river, unmoving, and he glanced at Tenten.

'Stay here, and don't wake anyone else up. I'll be back soon…'

Tenten gulped, and nodded, watching as Neji ran off.

Naruto stared unseeingly into the river's depths, wondering absently if the nine tails would actually let him die. He doubted it, the kyuubi had a will of its own.

'Naruto?'

Starting, Naruto nearly fell into the stream, almost putting his musings into action when a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

Turning his head, surprised at how stiff he was, Naruto blinked stupidly up at Neji. The silver eyed genin looked troubled, and Naruto frowned.

'Is … is something wrong?'

His tongue didn't seem to want to work properly, the words sounded clumsy.

'I should be asking you that,' Neji said, fear making his voice harsher than he expected.

Naruto flinched unconsciously. 'I – I'm sorry… I should have woken someone up, I'm sorry – I just wanted to w-wash my face…'

Neji knelt down beside him, feeling remorseful. 'I'm not angry, Naruto. Tenten woke up and saw you were gone, we should have realized where you were.'

Naruto swallowed. 'I should still have told you.'

Neji pulled him to his feet. 'You don't answer to us, Naruto. Come on, let's get some breakfast. You never eat, do you realize that?'

'I haven't been hungry…'

Neji chuckled. 'We know, we can see it. You'd better start eating, if nothing else, to give Hinata some peace of mind. She thinks there's something wrong with her food –'

Naruto winced. 'It's hard to eat myself,' he grumbled, sounding more like his old self.

Neji's laughter echoed in the silence. 'Yeah, I know what you mean, it's hard for us to eat you – but at least it's delicious.'

Naruto looked more lively. 'True. She'll make someone a good wife one day.'

'Maybe it will be you,' Neji teased, and Naruto went red.