A/N: Phew...I'm glad I got this out. Yeah too much life getting in the way of fantasy, so forgive me readers and/or reviewers! -bows- I hope you like this chapter, things are getting rocky BUT I will prevail!! Do not worry young saplings!! Oh God...I'm turning into Gai...-shakes head-
Disclaimer: NoIdon'townNarutoifIdidSasuNaruwouldbemorecannonthanthosestupidteasehints!! . If you say it faster it makes it go by easier...
The Story So Far: So now that they are free from jail where are they supposed to go?
Warnings: Hrm...Swearing (right like you don't get it by now...), some pretty good light-yaoi (I guess you could classify it as that.)
Chapter 18
Tsunade hurriedly scribbled down a few notes, careful to make them as legible as possible. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her, knowing she was high strung from the demands of her from all sides. She scooted the paper closer to Kakashi, Shikamaru keeping a distance from the paper respectfully.
"Is this, the jutsu to deactivate their rings?" the older genius asked feeling his age now more than ever.
Tsunade nodded solemnly, her age showing more now more than ever. Kakashi lifted his forehead protector up slightly so as to memorize this technique without having to consume more time that they didn't have. Tsunade reached across the incredibly strong desk and took the paper from Kakashi without a word, just writing this down was jeopardizing the operation.
Slowly she rotated the paper, a small nearly unnoticed flame started in the highest right corner of the torn sheet, "I trust you will succeed in this mission?"
The flame crawled at no faster a pace than a slug and spiraled down the paper to create beautiful sparks as the evidence was destroyed before their very eyes. Kakashi swallowed an uncharacteristic lump in his throat inaudibly and nodded. The flame licked at the pads of Tsunade's thumb and forefinger but she didn't let go of the burning paper. Finally it was ashes on her hand and desk. She gathered the airy grey up from her desk and crushed it in her palm.
Kakashi shook away the memory as he and Shikamaru veered off the road onto the rooftops. They were headed back to Hokage Tower to tell Tsunade the good news.
Sasuke ran next to Naruto, not exactly sprinting (he felt no need to since he also felt no one following them) but running faster than normal. The trees became a glorious blur as the sped passed the forest separating the village from the outside world. If they ran fast enough, perhaps they'd happen upon a nice quiet village to stop in. Though, the fact that Konoha was hidden in the leaves made it quite unlikely. But that didn't matter; as long as they got far away Sasuke didn't care if they ended up in Atlantis.
The sun seemed to fall faster than it had risen that day. The two traveling ninjas were once bathing in the golden rays were now drowning in the hues of purple, pink and orange, the colors that warned you that night was coming. Already the air held that cold foreboding feeling that told you to find somewhere to sleep. Sasuke could see that the further south they went, which was obviously the way they were headed, the thinner the snow got. While there had been a substantial amount on the ground in Konoha when they left, there was nothing but a paper thin layer of snow covering bits of the ground beneath the trees they ran across.
Sasuke skidded to a stop on rough bark and Naruto naturally followed his lead. The blond stared at him for a moment, was he crazy? Sasuke turned and faced Naruto with a tired and sagging expression.
"Come on, let's rest, there's obviously not another village for miles," Sasuke suggested as he jumped down into the clearing.
Naruto noticed that the barely there layers of snow and ice that they saw just a few feet back, didn't exist here. There wasn't a drop of snow on the ground. That was a good thing, he decided as he kicked a small pebble away from his boot, because now they didn't have to sleep on the snow.
"Hey," Sasuke called to his blond companion. "Let me see what you've got with you."
The two sat on the rough ground and emptied their pockets and pouches. Naruto's share consisted of many kunai, knives, quite a number of summoning scrolls and his blindingly bright green frog wallet, fat with the evidence of his missions. Sasuke stared at the blond's share and then at his. He had many more weapons than Naruto (only because of the fact that Naruto had forced him to carry many weapons the day they'd been attacked), energy, protein, and fake blood pills, and his own wallet, full of the money he'd been slowly withdrawing from his bank account. He breathed out relief; at least they knew that they didn't have to live off of the terrain's bounty now that they knew they had quite a substantial amount of money.
"Good," Sasuke commented in a far away voice. "Seems like we got lucky this time."
"Eh?" Naruto so intelligently asked him to elaborate.
"Never mind," Sasuke laughed a little at Naruto's voice.
Sasuke stood up and Naruto flopped onto the hard rocky ground. Yeah, Sasuke had always been hailed as a genius, but boy did he suck at picking places to rest at. Naruto grumbled as he rolled over a very sharp rock. Naruto reached behind his back and pulled the rock out then threw it against the tree in front of him. Gah! This ground was going to break their backs before they even had a chance to enter REM sleep!
Sasuke poked Naruto's side with his foot, pleased when the boy curled up and laughed, "Stop being so damn picky, it's not like we can afford to sleep out in the open."
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, "Yeah, yeah I know but…" he stopped mid sentence, a feat Sasuke was sure was impossible for Naruto up until now.
"Oi," Sasuke poked Naruto again. "Don't just stop in the middle of sentence."
The blond didn't even bother to acknowledge what Sasuke said. He smelled something in the distance. It was…food being grilled…But why would that be here in the middle of the forest? Naruto stumbled to his feet and followed the aroma. He could hear Sasuke in the background demanding explanations, he just continued his trek.
Soon Naruto was pushing aside a few branches to reveal a very much civilian village in front of them.
Cockily he turned to Sasuke, "No villages for miles eh?" He grinned at Sasuke. "Some ninja you are," he joked unable to evade the hand that swiped at him.
Naruto leaned over and pecked Sasuke's cheek, to show him that he was just playing around. It wouldn't be good to have Sasuke PMS-ing while they were together. Naruto stepped through the bare brush and onto the dirt road of the village. Out of habit he checked his forehead for his leaf insignia but found it wasn't there, he must have left back in their jail cell. Sasuke followed him and observed the way the citizens just passed by one another, not bothering to wave or notice anyone else. It seemed like this would be a good village to hide out in.
Sasuke looked around for any sort of lodgings, finding none initially but as they wondered further and further into the village they spotted one humble looking place. Nakagana's Inn was written in basic white on a sign that hung above the entrance. The two walked through the door, a bell ringing above them. A black haired girl bounced up from under the desk and smiled.
"Welcome to Nakagana's Inn, I am Kiriya Nakagana," she introduced herself in a scripted voice.
"Do you have any vacancies?" Sasuke asked her in a stoic voice. Naruto leaned his head against Sasuke's back, just ready for this day to be over.
"Yes," Kiriya scanned the key rack behind the counter and plucked a set of rusted silver keys from the hook. "We only have single beds available right now, I hope that's no bother," again she sounded like she had cue cards right out of earshot.
"Not at all," Sasuke politely responded as he memorized the three digit number on the tag the keys came on.
"Please sign here," the attendant requested as she pushed a form towards Sasuke.
Sasuke read over the paper and prices, the room was a deal compared to some he's had to stay in. Then it came time to sign away. He knew that he could use his real name so he neatly penned the name "Itsuka Kazemane" on the line and fished out some of his money.
Kiriya counted each bill, "Your room is up the stairs and to the right. I hope you enjoy your stay here at Nakagana's Inn."
Sasuke tugged on Naruto's cloak to pull him closer to their temporary bedroom. They trudged tiredly up the uncarpeted stairs and turned right, just as Kiriya had told them. Sasuke glanced at the key ring 207, and then glanced at the doors. They happened upon their room fairly fast, to this they were grateful. Sasuke jammed the key into the lock and the pair stumbled in.
"Sasuke…Do you see that?" Naruto asked in a secretive and playful tone.
"What?" Sasuke went along with his game.
Naruto pulled him into the room. When Sasuke reached for the light Naruto grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer.
"It's a…" Naruto flung himself onto the bed and brought Sasuke down with him. "Bed!!"
The boy seemed overly joyous about the fact that it was a real bed, not a cot meant for one person, not a rock hard ground, but an honest to God bed. Naruto relished the feeling of soft fabric whispering against his skin and he loved the way the pain in his head seemed to vanish when he touched his head to the fluffy pillows. Naruto buried his face into the covered pillows and let a long, deep breath out. He turned to face Sasuke, now in total bliss because of something as simple as a bed.
"Thank you Sasuke," Naruto sleepily showed his gratitude with a rather lazy kiss.
"Mmhm…" Sasuke meant to say 'you're welcome' but neither really cared for formal-ness right now and Naruto was kissing him so that made it difficult.
Naruto's eyes began to slip shut as did Sasuke's. They'd been through too much to keep their eyes open at this point. Sasuke allowed sleep to fall on him and let dreams slip through the cracks of his subconscious. Naruto was already snoring softly beside him and he thought to himself, that he wouldn't mind living this way if it was with Naruto.
The next morning Sasuke woke up to this unpleasant pressure pushing down on his stomach and this annoying poking and pinching to his face. He tried to bat away the hand at the very least but that didn't work. The hand would stop while his hand was waving around and then go back to assaulting his face. Sasuke tried to turn over but was stopped and then kissed hard on the lips. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Naruto sitting on top of him.
"Good God," Sasuke breathed out. "Do you have to be up this early?" The poor Uchiha groaned and tried to roll over but Naruto forced tension into his own thighs to hold Sasuke in place.
"Come on, wake up Sasuke!" Naruto begged totally ignoring the fact that Sasuke was most certainly NOT a morning person.
A low growl was emitted from Sasuke's throat, "Why do you NEED to be up right now Naruto?" That had to be the mystery of this whole situation.
"I want something to eat," he supplied with a very 'duh' tone, as if it was so fundamental that Sasuke was the idiot for not knowing.
Sasuke stared up at Naruto for a second, "Then get something…"
"The hell?" Naruto asked. "Remember we can't be more than three feet apart?" again there was that tone of intellectual superiority about him.
"Naruto, I don't know if you've noticed," Sasuke began as he sat up just slightly. "I don't think we're in Konoha anymore."
Naruto nodded impatiently, so as to hurry this along. "If the rings were still activated we wouldn't have gotten out of Konoha…I'm guessing Kakashi must have deactivated the rings some time while he was standing there."
Slowly Naruto lifted his left hand to his eye level. The inscriptions were still there but it didn't seem like it was still alive. He could recall that the first few days of wearing the ring it always felt like it was humming against his skin, begging to be next to its partner, but he had grown accustomed to it and hadn't noticed it until the fact that it was gone was brought to his attention. Suddenly something in his chest shriveled up and left him alone. Just because the rings we no longer active, did that mean that Sasuke wouldn't want to be by his side?
His thoughts must have translated to his face because Sasuke yanked him down by the sewn collar of his shirt. He rolled them onto their sides and embraced Naruto in a somewhat playful manner. (Who could imagine Sasuke being so affectionate?)
"Hey," Sasuke began as his mood gained more a more sober tone. "We're in this together Naruto." Naruto nodded into the crook of Sasuke's arms, the warmth his reassurance of Sasuke's words.
"Then we can go and get something to eat together right?" Naruto asked humorously.
On day five in their little nameless squat of a village Sasuke and Naruto received a special visit from an old friend.
"Yo!" a small dog exclaimed from the center of the floor.
"GAH!" Naruto responded oh-so politely as he retracted his hand from under Sasuke's shirt.
"Jeez, chill out Naruto," Pakkun ordered with a start. "Not like I haven't seen anything like that before." His mind's eye flooded with images of accidentally poof-ing in with important news in the middle of activities that required a far less amount of clothing than what Sasuke and Naruto were wearing.
Naruto flushed and looked away from the small dog. Pakkun sighed and hopped up onto the bed with the two boys. Sasuke felt the strangest urge to pet him despite the fact that he had barged in (as much as a pug could of course) on a very, very good make out session with Naruto. After nearly five days without more than short kisses to the face and lips, they both needed this.
"I've got news from Konoha," the dog informed them.
Naruto perked up instantly, his embarrassment lost to this short sentence from the dog. Pakkun sniffed the air slightly, nearly gagging on the hormones that were circulating.
"The elder's aren't too pleased right now with Tsunade," he began as Sasuke snorted a 'duh'. "They know that she had something to do with how you two got out but they have no feasible evidence so they have to shut up and deal with it for now."
Naruto's smile grew a little devious since he was proud at how well she had coordinated the whole thing in under a day. Plus, she had gotten away with it. Pakkun kept his usual poker face expression and continued with the news reel.
"The Boss told me that even though the Elders had control over Sasuke's sentencing they have no control over how fast and efficiently the ANBU look for you two," the pug seemed more excited by this. "The Elders ordered her to send out a search team but she usually only sends them out for a day at a time, and that's if she doesn't decide something more 'urgent' comes up."
"Hey! Hey!" Naruto piped in. "Is there any news about Kiba?"
Pakkun thought on this for a moment, "Nothing on his plans for the wedding yet. It is only Mid-February, he's got time."
Naruto's shoulders slumped down at this. A part of him felt time was going too fast, but another part felt like time wasn't going fast enough. They had nearly two months before the wedding. If Sound Shinobi didn't kill him first the anticipation of waiting for the results of Kiba's plan WOULD!
"Are there any new developments in Sound?" Sasuke asked leaning forward. If he was to keep Naruto and himself safe he needed to know what was going on over there as opposed to Konoha. Tsunade had them covered in Konoha.
"Yeah, according to Sakura the attacks against the foreign ambassadors and their guards are becoming more frequent. She also says that the leader of the Loyalist Party is madder than ever," Pakkun took in some air, inhaling teenaged lust/love along with it. "So be on your toes. It was no easy task hunting you two down but there have been a few teams of Sound nin, working for the Loyalists, deployed to do some searching."
Sasuke nodded thoughtfully, pulling this information and banking it in the back of his memory. Pakkun looked between them. When the two of them were much younger he never would have banked on them ending up like this. Yeah they worked well together (up until Sasuke left) but he didn't think that he'd stumble upon the two of them getting ready to undress each other, though the hints when they were younger were undeniable. Maybe he really should've expected this.
"Okay well I have to get back to the Boss," Pakkun stated as he jumped down from their bed. "He'll send me every so often to give you guys updates."
Naruto waved to Pakkun as his small paw waved back and he left behind nothing but a puff of smoke. Naruto flopped backwards onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Sasuke glanced over at him and lowered himself to lie next to the boy. Naruto turned only his face to see Sasuke.
"Makes you feel kinda disconnected huh?" he asked in a voice that was tainted with sadness.
Sasuke turned to face him as well, "We'll go back someday Naruto."
Naruto nodded, the pain of not seeing his friends still stinging the interior of his chest. Sasuke's hand unsurely crawled across their messy sheets to Naruto's hand. Naruto accepted his hand in a firm grip. A few minutes passed in this fragile silence, with their hands joined in an awkward show of their stranger still bond. Then Naruto sat up and settled himself on top of Sasuke's hips to resume what they had been doing before.
Perhaps he was hoping to quell the hurt with a physical fixation. Sasuke placed one of his hands on Naruto's hips, the other buried in his hair. Whereas Naruto was willing to be open with his pain Sasuke preferred to be closed off and indulge in what Naruto had to give him. But from the lonely isolation came an understanding.
Naruto understood that if he reached out for Sasuke, then he was no longer alone. Sasuke understood that when Naruto's hands grabbed for him he didn't have to be alone as long as he took those hands into his own.
Naruto kissed Sasuke a little deeper, pushing his tongue into Sasuke's mouth in mutual satisfaction. Sasuke pulled at Naruto's hips asking for something from him but not too sure about what it was he was asking. He felt Naruto move just a little, just enough to make Sasuke suck in an air full of lungs, almost like stealing Naruto's breath. Sasuke bit Naruto's bottom lip and Naruto understood this open display of raw want, because he felt the same thing. Naruto rolled his hips over Sasuke's again, just to test the waters.
Another harsh breath was taken in fast as Sasuke's hips jolted against Naruto's. The sudden contact made Naruto cry out. It felt good to be in motion with Sasuke. For a moment neither really knew what to think. This was mostly due to the fact that the pleasure was clouding what little thought process they had to begin with. Then Naruto reconnected their lips and everything seemed to fall into place.
End of Isolated Understandings
A/N: Yeah...so I'm still trying to build it up to the ULTIMATE scene...okay so ultimate in my book because I want it to not be awkward for this story. This story is like my horrible monstrosity of a child, but I love it anyway. -nod nod- Wow I've got issues. So tell me if it's descriptive enough, if I need to just stop (just stop), or whatever. Honest opinions or I'll maim you all!! -shakes fist at you guys-
Preview of Next Time: Sasuke hadn't known that he had the capacity to care for some one like THIS, hadn't known he could pick up stupid little habits like waking up just that much earlier because of HIM, and most of all hadn't known that he could found this 'new' Sasuke on who Naruto was.