A/N: I'M SO SORRY. I apologize so much for not uploading any sooner. Been very busy and I kinda hit a terrible writer's block. Anyway, here goes a long one for all of you that decided to stick around!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto nor do I own The Summit.
Warnings: Swearing, violence, angst, non-con.
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Chapter 8
Jump
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Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn
Shake It Out - Florence & The Machine
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Naruto glared at Sasori, his blood boiling at the sight of him.
He couldn't believe that the bastard was here, right in front of him and he was unable to do anything.
The piece of shit that was responsible for Gaara being sent away was right here. Naruto's blue eyes narrowed in anger, his lips pursed and his jaw clenched. He struggled harder against his restraints, desperate to get closer to the red-haired bastard. He hardly even noticed the pain of the rope digging further into his skin nor did he notice the blood that was drawn from the tight restraints. All he noticed were the brown eyes of Sasori and the triumph in his eyes. All he noticed was those lips cocked into a vicious smirk.
He couldn't believe that Sasori was right in front of him. He couldn't believe that after so much time of blaming himself, he'd actually get the chance of blaming the guy who was truly responsible for all his misery.
All those past memories of being betrayed, of being thrown away, came back to Naruto with a vengeance.
Naruto's hands clenched behind his back, his gaze never leaving Sasori's.
He should probably be a bit more frightened and at the beginning, he was. There was the possibility of no one even noticing he was gone or Sasuke never being able to find him. Naruto didn't hold onto much hope of Sasuke finding him, he admitted to himself. There was no way he could find him, simply because he didn't know enough about Naruto to even begin looking.
He felt guilty, for not telling Sasuke anything. But if Naruto didn't talk about his past then he could at least fool himself into thinking that none of it really happened, despite the memories plaguing his mind day and night.
But looking into Sasori's eyes, Naruto wasn't scared anymore.
He had bigger monsters in his closet.
Sasori was not a part of those.
Not even close.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as Sasori leaned into him and his nose twitched at the smell of musk lingering.
"Well, if isn't little Naruto. You're a hard person to find," the red head smirked, one of his hands patting Naruto's head.
Naruto snarled, his head snapping back to get further away from Sasori's touch.
"Yeah, well, maybe you're just too stupid," the corner of Naruto's mouth quirked up.
It probably wasn't the best idea to provoke Sasori, but he really didn't give a fuck.
Sasori narrowed his eyes at him, his eyes darkening in anger. Then, as if realizing that he took Naruto's bait, his eyes lightened marginally and a sharp smirk graced his face.
"I wouldn't exactly call it stupidity. More like victorious that I had managed to run you off successfully. You see, I didn't really want it to come to this but now I don't really have a choice," Sasori tsked mockingly.
Naruto stayed quiet. There was really nothing to say to Sasori's comment, he wasn't going to start a speech about how everybody always had a choice, because the truth was that he knew Sasori well enough and so he knew that although Sasori had a choice, it didn't mean that that choice would include letting him go.
He breathed in deeply and looked back into Sasori's unflinching stare. If he made a move now, Naruto definitely wouldn't be able to hide it. If there was one thing Naruto was good at, was buying himself time. He did have the bad habit of never being able to stay quiet for long, after all. And he desperately wanted answers to the questions he was never able to answer on his own.
"Why? I mean…how?"
He always wondered what had happened that night. Why everything had gone to hell so quickly. How it was even possible for them to have gotten caught.
He always wondered if somebody had snitched.
Sasori's smirk grew as if he knew what Naruto was thinking.
"C'mon now…it's not that hard to figure it out. You do remember what happened, don't you?"
Like Naruto could forget. It had been on repeat in his head, playing over and over again in his dreams. There was no forgetting. Only the remembrance of the pain and desperation, because there was nothing else left.
Sasori's comment however, proved what he had always suspected.
He had finally found his snitch.
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The trees outside passed by in a blur as the car sped up. They were going way above the speed limit but it's not like there was much choice. It was either that or get caught and he really wanted to avoid the latter. Naruto's heart beat against his chest madly, the adrenaline pumping through his veins as the car took a sharp turn and swerved in its lane. Naruto risked a glance at Gaara, wincing at the intensity in his face. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel and his jaw was tightly clenched. His whole body was tense in anticipation.
Naruto glanced in the side view mirror and cursed under his breath as he spotted the red and blue flashing lights of the cops. They had gotten much closer and were gaining on them, he couldn't even begin to fathom how the hell they were going to get out of this.
The trunk of the car felt heavy and he felt it deeply within him. The knowledge of the amount of bills that they had back there made him sick to his stomach. He didn't know how they had even gotten to this, he vaguely remembered Sasori and Deidara filling him and Gaara in on a very risky mission. The money that they lifted would have them set for years, the risk was worth it, Gaara had said. No more running and no more hiding, they could do anything they wanted and nobody could tell them otherwise.
But thinking about that now had Naruto repeating resolutely in his head that NO, the risk hadn't been worth this. They weren't supposed to get caught.
Why had they gotten caught?
"Naruto," Gaara's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Naruto looked at Gaara, knowing that this was going to be the end of it.
This was a trap.
They weren't meant to get out of this, not together.
"It's time to send you back. I should've done it a long time ago."
Naruto's breath quickened, he couldn't believe what Gaara was saying. There was no way he was going back, not without him.
"Gaara, no, I –"
"No, listen to me Naruto, I'm going to stop the car at the crossroad. You will get out there."
"NO! I'm not leaving without you, there has to be another way, we could go together, please Gaara –"
"I'm sorry Naruto, sorry that I couldn't send you back sooner. I wanted to be with you for just a while longer. Go back to him now, I'll find you once I'm able to, I promise," Gaara took his eyes off the road and looked at him, his green eyes staring back into his.
One of his pale hands reached out to caress Naruto's face "From now on, we don't know each other."
"No! How can you say this?! Let's go together Gaara, don't –"
Cold lips were suddenly upon his, tender and sweet. Naruto's body froze in shock and he faintly heard a soft click before sharp wind met his back and the passenger door flew open. He jerked away from the kiss as strong hands softly pushed him out and he watched in slow motion as Gaara gently smiled down at him.
His fall was cushioned by the soft grass and he rolled into the underbrush. He ignored the aching in his body and stood up, ready to run after the car if he had to. He couldn't leave without Gaara, he didn't know how to survive without him, not yet, he needed him, and he couldn't lose him.
But it seemed that he didn't have to run after all. The car had stopped a few feet away and Naruto watched in horror as Gaara stepped out, hands held up in surrender.
Tears strung Naruto's eyes and he bit down harshly upon the arm of his coat to muffle his cries.
His whole body shook as he watched his whole life crash in front of him.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
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"It was you. You set us up," Naruto gritted his words out.
He had always suspected but he never had enough proof. With Gaara gone, all he wanted to do was to mourn his loss. He had felt so much grief and he hadn't given it much thought. And when he finally did, the pain was still too great for assumptions.
"Well, Gaara didn't have a good reputation to begin with. Thought it would've been nice to give the prosecutors a gift. I have the connections, I can make anything happen. I did have to convince Deidara but you played a nice role too. It was because of you that he was so easy to convince. And well, I didn't really expect for you to get the money for his bail but that was also easy to take care of," Sasori snickered.
Naruto finally snapped.
"You bastard! Who do you think you are?!" Naruto struggled against his restraints, ignoring the pain in his arms.
Sasori watched his struggle without any emotion and approached Naruto slowly. He crouched down in front of him and tilted his head to the side, his face smoothed out in consideration.
"Does this seem unfair to you, Naruto?"
Naruto pulled against the rope and ignored his question.
"Life's like that, you know. No warning, no reason, no way to fix anything. You see Naruto, I know what you're feeling now too. Because it's probably how I'm feeling now too. In fact, I've been feeling like this ever since I started becoming an adult."
Naruto glared at him in defiance, his breathing labored. He flinched back when one of Sasori's hands reached out and touched the rosary around his neck.
"I was religious. Until I finally realized that there were things that I couldn't have, no matter how much I prayed. There was only one thing I ever wanted. And your friend broke him."
Sasori's face crept closer and the hand that was caressing his rosary wrapped tightly around his neck.
"Tsk tsk. Naruto, you're in trouble. I'm quite angry with you."
The hand around his neck tightened and Naruto gasped, desperation lodging itself in his throat. Sasori's other hand reached down to Naruto's button down shirt and with a forceful pull, the shirt was ripped open, buttons flying off everywhere. Sasori then stood up fully, pulled both of his hands away and pushed Naruto into a couch in the middle of the room.
Naruto fell over with a groan, unable to get back up. He glared up at Sasori and his henchmen that had gathered around them at some point during the altercation.
"What are you going to do?"
He was almost afraid to ask but there was a morbid curiosity in hearing the answer. Almost like when you know you're not supposed to pick at a scab because it will scar but you do it anyway just to watch yourself peel off the hard skin.
Sasori glanced down at him, his eyes assessing him quietly. Finally, he put his knees on the couch, and he leaned down, settling his weight upon Naruto. His arms braced themselves at his sides, caging him in and he could feel Sasori's hot breath against his cheek.
"Why don't you play a little with me, Naruto."
Naruto heart leapt into his throat as he felt a cold hand land on his belt, deftly unbuckling it. He was starting to panic and he thrashed against Sasori, trying to fight him off. He felt his belt give away and his pants were pushed down to his knees along with his briefs.
Sasori hand came up to Naruto's face and held him still, forcing him to keep eye contact.
"Let's see what's so great about you. Let's find out why Gaara couldn't keep his eyes off of you."
Sasori's lips curled up in a nasty snarl and his hands traced down his neck. Naruto tried pushing him off, desperate to keep him away.
"Now, let's see how fast Gaara can get here."
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Sasuke felt the car finally stop and he glanced around curiously. They were surrounded by old buildings. Most looked decrepit and abandoned; some graffiti decorated the majority of the buildings. Everything looked old and faded and it wasn't really surprising that they ended up here. Sasuke had figured that wherever Naruto was being held wouldn't be a top notch hotel.
Kakashi turned to him, "We're here. This is as far as my moral obligations go. Good luck, kid."
"I didn't expect anything else from you. All you have to do is just look the other way and not say anything," Sasuke rolled his eyes and got out of the car.
Fucking coward.
He heard Kakashi huff behind him and muttered "Naïve kid."
Sasuke's shoulders tensed in aggravation.
He had to admit, that he didn't know anything about Naruto's world, so he didn't know how he was supposed to understand it. The only thing he could do is hurtle against it. Everybody could laugh at his "naivety" but that wouldn't stop him from getting things done. He needed to get to Naruto and he'd be damned if he didn't get him back. He didn't care about "Gaara" or anybody else.
They were all just obstacles in the way.
His hand tightened around the bat that Sai gave him as he gave the building in front of him a considering look. His instincts told him that Naruto was there. He just knew it.
He wasted no time in walking in, and wasn't surprised when he was met with other guys that looked to be blocking the staircase. As soon as they saw him, they charged at him and Sasuke raised his elbow and brought the bat down hard against one man. He crumpled to the floor and the others stepped back in confusion. Sasuke used their surprise and whipped the bat against the knee of another man. He fell to the ground with a groan and Sasuke brought his free elbow down against his head. The rest of the fight went by too fast, proving that he was too quick for the others.
He had a feeling that these were the easiest though. He knew without a doubt that Naruto would probably be on one of the top floors.
Sasuke grinned and cracked his neck and walked towards the staircase.
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Naruto laughed and spit out the blood in mouth as he looked back at Sasori and the bite that was no against his arm.
"Your blood tastes like crap. It's kind of expected from a guy like you though," Naruto grinned.
He wouldn't go down without a fight.
Sasori's hands landed on his body again and Naruto was prepared to bite off his hand this time. He was caught by surprise by the sharp slap against his face. His cheek felt hot as Sasori took that moment to flip him over.
Naruto's eyes widened. He felt the heat of Sasori's body against his, as Sasori pressed himself down on him. Hands pulled his hair back painfully and his eyes watered at the sharp sting. Lips caressed his ear as Sasori whispered, "I'll have to teach you some manners."
Strong arms held him down and Sasori's muscled thighs kept him from moving. The rough denim of Sasori's pants chaffed at his skin. That's when he felt a hot bulge on his back.
Naruto tried bucking Sasori off. Not this, anything but this.
Help me, please, somebody, anybody…
He shut his eyes to stop his tears from falling. This was the worst way to lose his dignity.
"Sasori."
Naruto opened his eyes and glanced at Sasori's henchman, who had a phone pressed up against his ear.
"Gaara's here."
Naruto sighed in relief when Sasori's weight was finally off of him. He wasn't expecting Gaara at all but he was thankful that he was close by.
"Already? It should've taken him longer to get here," Sasori questioned, incredulous.
Naruto looked back at the henchman and observed him quietly, noticing that there was some hesitation in his answer.
"Well, no…some guy managed to sneak his way in. "
"WHAT? Is it the police? This wasn't part of the plan at all."
Naruto felt glee at the change in Sasori's attitude. He was obviously worried now, he could deal with this. He could work with failure.
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Sasuke growled. There was too fucking many. No matter how many he beat down, there was always more coming right at him.
"Fuck! You guys are like fucking cockroaches!" he slammed the bat into somebody's stomach, the man doubling over in pain.
He wiped some blood and sweat off his face and kicked out his leg at someone else and he brought the bat down on someone who was trying to sneak up behind him.
He didn't have any fucking time for this. He had to move, he had to find Naruto.
"Get the fuck out of my way!"
He finally dropped the bat and decided to throw some punches all around.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of red. When he turned he saw a man, standing by, his green eyes watching him.
The man took his eyes off of him and kicked out behind Sasuke, saving him from a man that was holding a crowbar.
"What are you doing here?" asked the red haired man.
Sasuke looked him up and down, assessing whether he was a foe.
"I should be asking you that."
The man stared down at him, and it was unsettling that this man was slightly taller than him, and walked away towards the staircase.
"Get out of here. This isn't a place for you, it won't help anyone if you get dragged into this."
The man walked away, not looking back.
Sasuke was left feeling confused and pissed off. He didn't really know why he was so pissed off, other than for the obvious, but something about the mysterious man didn't settle right with him. He seemed familiar, almost like he had seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
Was that…Gaara?
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"What are you guys even doing! Stop staring at me like that!" Naruto huffed, annoyed, snapping out at Sasori's groupies. There were only two left here with him. The rest had ran off to other parts of the building, he assumed. The man himself had gone off somewhere, and Naruto wasn't really eager to find out where. Naruto could live his whole life not knowing and he would be absolutely fine with that.
"I'm fucking freezing. Why the fuck are you all even staring at me like that? Are you guys homos too? You like staring at naked guys?" he sneered, both of the men throwing him annoyed looks. One of them was looking at him with interest and Naruto was disgusted. He felt exposed and dirty.
The man that eyed him with interest approached him and sneered back," You're pretty brave for a brat. Do you not understand your circumstances? If you weren't who you are, you'd already be dead by now."
Naruto glanced at him, studying his ordinary looks and scoffed.
He knew that this was his chance. Sasori wasn't here and everybody else was too distracted to pay any attention to him. His tied hands behind him shifted slightly as he carefully pulled out a small dagger that he had placed in his boots. It'd take some time to cut the rope, and he hoped that he could be distracting enough.
"You've been staring at me the whole time, right? You like me?" Naruto smirked, "Come closer. I'll let you do whatever you want." Naruto looked up at him underneath his eyelashes and pouted at the man, who looked entranced, and he felt the rope give away from behind him.
The man didn't notice but seemed to finally snap out of his trance, his lips formed into a sneer already.
"What do you think you're doing," the man angrily reached forward and Naruto leaned back.
"Idiot," Naruto grinned and brought his hands out from behind him, dagger placed tightly in his hand. He slashed forward, drawing blood from the man. The man seemed to have noticed that he was free of his restraints and ran towards him but Naruto was ready. He held his hand out and slashed out at the face of the man and felt the blood spurt out and cover his hand. He dropped down and kicked the man's legs, catching him off guard. He then jumped up and gave him another hard kick and threw him against the wall.
The man fell over, groaning in pain and Naruto quickly pulled up his pants, buttoning them up as well as he could.
He knew that he had only taken care of one man and he looked towards the other one and found that he was by the door. Naruto was ready to defend himself again.
"Move it! You wanna get your ass kicked too?!" he snarled at the man.
The man held up his hands and backed away from the door, not even making a move towards attacking him.
Naruto was confused by this turn of events but gladly took the opportunity, ignoring when the man called out "You won't be able to run away!"
When he made it out the door, he realized why.
Sasori was waiting for him, with a group of his men, on his phone already.
Now he knew why Sasori hadn't bothered putting only two of his men in the room with him.
Sasori noticed him first and casually closed his phone," You're like a goddamn mouse."
Naruto didn't wait and ran towards the stairs, hoping he could make it down without being caught. He heard the muffled sounds of footsteps however, and knew that he could no longer go down.
Going up is my only option.
He ran, his heart beating fast against his ribs, knowing that Sasori and his men would catch up to him eventually. He didn't know how he was going to deal with being caught again, he didn't know what he'd do if he had to go through that hell all over again.
Where are you Gaara?
He finally came upon the door that lead to the roof and Naruto quickly turned it, wincing as he felt the cold wind hit his skin. He turned as he heard the oncoming footsteps and sure enough, Sasori appeared right before him. Naruto backed up against the rail of the rooftop, hooking one of his arms through it.
He was cornered.
Sasori seemed to know it as well, judging from the victorious smirk he threw at him.
"You've got nowhere left to run to, little mouse. Best option is to give up and come quietly with us."
Naruto scoffed disbelievingly. Like he'd fall for that. He'd rather jump off the roof.
"Just try and come closer. I'll jump and I'll take one of you with me," he threatened.
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Sasuke wiped the blood off his face, lip curling up in disgust. He had gone through countless men, he lost count after the number twenty, and he still had yet to find Naruto.
Where the fuck could he be?
Sasuke was growing more and more antsy and he didn't know what he'd do if he didn't find him soon. There was no way he could find him in time in such a huge place.
Giving up the pretense, Sasuke took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
"NARUTO! WHERE ARE YOU? ANSWER ME!"
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Naruto blinked when he heard his name being called. He looked at the men around him and they looked confused.
Well, that was strange.
There was something familiar about the voice. It calmed him down and made him feel safe.
"Naruto! If you don't answer me I'll kill you!"
Naruto blinked again and grinned as he finally recognized the voice. He didn't know how it was even possible but right now Sasuke's voice was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. He didn't think he'd ever get to hear it again.
"Sasuke! I'm on the roof!"
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Sasuke felt relief flood him when Naruto finally replied back. He didn't know how he was going to get to him, but he'd do whatever it took.
"Wait right there, I'm coming for you!" Sasuke started racing up, towards the roof but stopped when Naruto yelled out "ARE YOU CRAZY? I'll be dead before you even get here!"
Sasuke stopped in his tracks and froze. Naruto was probably right, he'd be surrounded and there was no other way out.
Well, he was Sasuke Uchiha. He'd do the impossible.
"Wait outside! I'm coming out!"
He realized how ridiculous it was to be having these shouting matches with Naruto and he was surprised that he hadn't attracted any other idiots from all the noise he was making.
Sasuke walked out of the building, and looked up towards the roof. He could barely make out the blond hair but he definitely knew that that was his Naruto.
He held his arms out, hoping that he wouldn't fuck this up.
"Naruto, JUMP!"
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Naruto stared down at Sasuke in disbelief. There was absolutely no way. The building was only two stories but he wasn't completely sure that Sasuke would be able to catch him. There was just no way in hell that was gonna happen.
He felt Sasori grab onto his arm and Naruto pushed him away. Soon enough, the groupies were closing in on him and he knew there was no choice.
He had to jump.
"Sasuke, if you miss, I'll fucking kill you!"
He pushed away and kicked at a man reaching for him and he took a deep breath to calm himself down. If he started thinking too much, he knew he would miss his chance.
He heard the door slam open but didn't risk looking back. He placed himself on the rails and in one quick motion, jumped.
He felt his hair fly in the cool wind and his open shirt flapped noisily. He fell fast, it seemed to him, and he had closed his eyes to avoid looking into his inevitable unfortunate demise.
He was going to die, he just knew it.
He then felt arms underneath him and the gravity made him crash as Sasuke and he met the ground. Naruto couldn't even move, his body had frozen in anticipation. He didn't want to open his eyes in case he really was dead.
He heard Sasuke then," Naruto? Naruto! Can you hear me? Open your eyes!"
Naruto groaned and opened his eyes. He was never happier than he was now, looking into Sasuke's face. He looked exhausted and worried, which was a very rare look on him. Naruto smiled softly, realizing that it was all because of him.
He felt Sasuke's arms wrap around him, holding Naruto to him. Naruto sighed and held him back tightly, relieved and happy to feel so safe in his arms.
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Gaara had opened the door just in time to see Naruto fly.
For a minute, he thought he had failed. That he had finally lost Naruto, right in front of him. He heard the murmuring of the men around Sasori comment on Naruto's insanity. It was unbelievable for him to have jumped off and survive.
He heard Naruto's relieved cries coming from down on the ground and an unknown man's voice.
He had to assume that Naruto was fine. He still had unfinished business to take care of here.
He slammed the door close and quickly locked it with a leather gloved hand. That drew the attention of the men but Gaara only had eyes for the other red head amidst the crowd.
Sasori raised his eyebrow sardonically," Your boyfriend seems to be popular. Another guy came for him. Your timing sucks."
Gaara coolly gazed back at the man. He didn't care at all about the man; he had no feelings at all for him. The only thing that mattered was that Sasori had laid his hands upon Naruto and for that, he was going to pay.
"Sasori. We have a lot of grudges against each other and right now, I think I can fight without any weight on my shoulders."
Gaara got into a stance, one hand reaching into his jacket to grab his knife.
"Today, I'll end everything."
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Naruto glanced back at the building and found that he couldn't move his feet at all. Gaara was supposed to be there. What if he had arrived and Naruto wasn't there? He couldn't leave Gaara to face Sasori and his men by himself. He chewed on lip in thought, his forehead creased in worry as he thought more about it.
He snapped back to reality when he felt Sasuke's hand grab his elbow, steadying him slightly.
"Are you alright? Can you walk? Do you need help walking? Do you want me to carry you?"
Naruto wrinkled his noise in disagreement and shook his head. He could walk just fine, that wasn't the problem.
"No, just…an old friend of mine was supposed to be up there. I can't leave him up there."
Sasuke glared at him and pulled him along to follow behind him.
"Idiot, now is not the time to worry about anybody else. With your body in that condition, you're not fit to help anyone."
"But-"
Sasuke stopped in his tracks and turned around to face him fully.
"Dumbass! Take a good look at yourself!"
Naruto didn't need to look at himself to know that he was littered with cuts and bruises. He did understand Sasuke's worry but it didn't mean that he had to agree with him. It was the least he could give him though, Sasuke had risked himself looking for Naruto after all. He owed him much, much more.
Sasuke grabbed him by his arms and pulled him into a hug, his big hands settling comfortably on his waist. He tucked Naruto's head under his chin and rested his head on Naruto's unruly blond locks.
"You had me worried out of my mind, I spent all night running around so you better be prepared to painfully pay me back."
Naruto snorted in amusement.
Sasuke's hands lifted Naruto's head and he blinked at the seriousness in Sasuke's expression.
"You can't go worrying about another guy right now, dobe. Chances are that if we go back up there, those bastards will come back for us. If you keep insisting, I'll have to knock you out, don't think I won't.
Sasuke then abruptly turned around and gestured for Naruto to get on his back.
"Get on. At this rate that we're going, we'll probably be home by Christmas."
Naruto shook his head and rolled his eyes but complied and quickly got on Sasuke's back. Sometimes it was just easier to go along with Sasuke rather to argue. Besides, he was tired. They both were, he knew. Naruto knew, that he would never be able to express how thankful he was for Sasuke being here with him tonight. It was something that he hadn't expected but he never felt more grateful for Sasuke's stubbornness.
Naruto looked up at the sky. He could make out the sun coming up now.
He'd never forget this day. For the night, as painful and long as it was…will still always be greeted by the beautiful light of dawn.
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A/N: Hm. That didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would. I thought of making it longer, but I thought that I'd be nice and not leave you with a cliffhanger this time. Next chapter will focus more on Naruto and Sasuke's relationship. Anyway, reviews make me update? :D