A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone! Here's the next chapter!
CHAPTER ONE
"Wash your hands, dobe."
Naruto jogged backwards from the restroom exit towards the sink with a snicker. "Aw, man. I knew I forgot something!"
Sasuke's lip curled upward. "Disgusting."
"For the record," Naruto sniffed. "I do usually wash my hands after I take a piss… It's just— I don't know. Lots to think about. The fight club is sort of— something else, man. I can't get it out my head."
Sasuke would've replied had the restroom door not slammed open. A man ran into a stall frantically, barely locking behind him before he released a wet fart with a groan. Sasuke's eye twitched. Naruto pretended to gag, and pumped scented soap into his hands with renewed vigour, as though to purge them of the stench.
"We'll discuss this elsewhere," Sasuke muttered.
The man in the stall let rip another long fart. Naruto almost squawked. He practically scrambled out the restroom, back into the fight club. The dark-haired man rolled his eyes as Naruto breathed in the stench of dirt, stale sweat and weed as though it were fresh air. "Man, that stunk all the way to high heaven, believe it."
"You think?" a voice cut in.
The tall, blue-skinned man from earlier walked towards them. He was at least seven feet tall, leaving the duo feeling slightly dwarfed. At the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto open his mouth, ready with a witty comment, before his eyes darkened considerably. Sasuke wondered if he was recalling that moment from earlier, where Blue-face mercilessly prodded at Gaara with a stick. Like an animal for show.
"You two look mighty guilty about something," Blue-face commented.
"Just 'cus you heard that," Naruto let out a barking laugh that sounded slightly too forced. "Sorry, man. We were talking about this gassy guy in the restroom. Just about killed us, you know?"
"What a way to go," Blue-face chuckled, eyeing them from under his nose as he stopped before them. Idly, Sasuke noted the wounds on his face from earlier were stitched up neatly, giving him the appearance of gills.
"You two first-timers or something?" Blue-face asked.
Naruto nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's the second time someone's asked us that, man. Can you really tell or something?"
"Right now, I'd say so," he said. "Show's been for over ten minutes now. Anyone could tell you to scram ASAP before any police come looking around. We usually take care of all that but still, any idiot would rather be safe than sorry."
"We were only taking a leak…"
"I'm not asking," Blue-face replied with a shrug. "I'm just kicking out the stragglers before we lock up for the night."
Naruto half-smiled. "We'll get out of your hair, man."
"It's Kisame."
Sasuke nodded once as the man walked past, towards the restroom, no doubt to lay down the same message to fart-face. Beside him, Naruto let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Sasuke himself relaxed slightly, and then wondered when he got so tense.
Without the crowd from earlier, the warehouse would've seemed almost normal; caked in dust and suspicious stains on the floor. Only almost normal. As Sasuke closed off the distance between himself and the arena, he found it left almost entirely in the dark, feeding only off the dim, flickering lights of the warehouse.
"Bastard?"
Sasuke frowned. "They've yet to clean up the blood."
Standing closer behind his best friend, the blond scratched the back of his head nervously. His voice dropped low. "Is the, uh— is Sasori… still there?"
The dark haired man squinted. "They dragged him out."
"How do you know?"
"You can just about see a bloody trail. Probably Sakura's blood," Sasuke said grimly.
"Can we discuss this now?" Naruto whispered, to which he responded by shaking his head. Naruto frowned, and reached out to tug at Sasuke's sleeve, cocking his head toward the exit. "Come on. Let's get the hell out of here."
"Don't rush me, moron. I'm your ride," Sasuke snipped. Still, he followed after the blond, albeit at a more tentative pace. The violence that happened tonight may have been contained in a barbed arena— cage, a part of him hissed— but still he couldn't help but feel uneasy. It was dark enough in there to barely see a thing. Still, a cold chill up his spine whispered that they were being watched somehow.
His lips pressed into a grim line.
Like hell he'd come here again.
"Where do you think they go?" Naruto said in a hushed tone. "You know, after all the fighting's done."
Sasuke wondered the exact same thing.
As he turned the key in the ignition, his black Camaro purred to life. Red numbers glared at him: 1:14a.m. Sasuke was tempted to switch his headlights on, but knew that was practically a beacon for trouble in the gritty streets of downtown Konoha.
They were parked in a dead alleyway, a way away from the warehouse.
In the passenger seat, Naruto clicked his neck, leaning back into the seat with a deep sigh. Sasuke tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, allowing his best friend three seconds to start a conversation, or else they'd drive right off. Sasuke wanted nothing more than to try and just forget tonight, but he could already guess that the idiot had other plans.
"We saw a man die," Naruto whispered.
Sasuke nodded once.
And then, frantically, the blond started, "We saw a man die, bastard. What the hell do we do?"
"Aa."
"Because you're so helpful," Naruto snapped sarcastically. "Come on, I'm freaking out here."
"We'll stay out of this."
"Like hell we will," Naruto said, eyes blazing. Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes. The blond continued, "You saw for yourself how they treated the fighters. Like animals. We need to get them out of there."
"We?"
Naruto made a frustrated noise. "Keeping them in that… that—"
"Cage?" Sasuke intoned.
"Cage!" the blond agreed passionately, slamming his fist into his palm. "With sharp-ass wires that cut that Kisame guy's face to ribbons. And poking that redhead with a stick like he was some sort of circus show. And oh my god, we saw that man die—"
"You're repeating yourself," Sasuke sighed.
He seemed not to hear him. "We need to do something! This just isn't right, man. We need to get them out of there somehow. Report them to the police or whatever. We can't just leave them there!"
Naruto Uzumaki always did have a hero complex.
The dark haired man pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'll need to be quiet."
"Fuck no—!"
"Naruto," Sasuke hissed. "We don't want anyone to hear us. Listen to me. Someone died tonight. No one cared. The crowd loved it. Pein's getting his fighters to fight for their lives next week. And another person will die, dobe. And no one will fucking care."
"I care—!" Naruto started. Sasuke cut him off.
"If they were so worried about being caught, they wouldn't be so blasé about killing people off. Didn't you hear Kisame? They 'take care' of any police that gets even a little too close— don't you find that the least bit suspicious? We don't know what they're about, or what they do. But we know they're dangerous. You saw—"
"I don't care what I saw," Naruto said, voice hard. "I want to save them. With or without your help."
"You're being stupid," Sasuke hissed. "We won't discuss this any more."
"Like hell we won't."
"Your apartment is on the other side of town," Sasuke warned him. "If you're getting a ride back, you're shutting up."
In the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto press his lips into a thin line. Silence carried after, long enough for Sasuke to calm down considerably. He began to reverse out of the alleyway onto the road when Naruto spoke again. "Fine. I'll shut up, but I'm coming back here next week."
"Hn."
The car crept onto the road. Sasuke squinted, struggling to see into the rear-view mirror. It really was dark.
"With or without— Sasuke, watch out!"
THUMP!—
He slammed his foot onto the brake, eyes wide. "What was—?"
Naruto exited the vehicle lightning quick, his seatbelt catching at the door. Turning himself around, he only just about saw the blond's faint silhouette in the red brake light. Naruto was rambling incoherently, an edge of panic in his voice.
Unsettled, Sasuke exited the car.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man—" Naruto was saying, running a hand through his hair and pulling at the roots. Sasuke circled to the back of the car with a new sense of urgency, and stopped dead in his tracks when he found a body curled in a foetal position, lying in the dirt. Naruto was hovering over the prone form, reaching out with his free hand before pulling back as though he was struck by lightning.
"There's so much blood," Naruto said shakily. "B-but we didn't hit her that hard. Right? We didn't—"
There was a low, feminine groan.
"She's alive, oh thank fuck," Naruto gasped. "Hey, can you hear us?"
There was a gurgle, and then another soft groan of pain. Naruto took this as a confirmation, reaching over to help her sit upright against the car with confidence this time. "Look, we're really sorry. We didn't see you. I mean, we thought the alleyway was clear when you ran past and—"
His voice trailed into silence when she finally lifted her head, eyes half-open. Green eyes. Sasuke tried to deny it, but he knew for a fact that disregarding the reddish glow of the brake lights, her hair was probably pink. And if he had any more doubts, the sluggish blood trailing out of the stab wound in her abdomen erased them completely.
It was the champion fighter (murderer, his head hissed). Sakura.
"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, drawing the same conclusion. There was a moment of silence where Sasuke's heart thundered in his ears. Naruto seemed not to notice, and continued. "Sasuke. We need to get her to a hospital or something."
Oh, hell no.
The look on his face must've been telling enough. Naruto stood up, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "Oi, you bastard, she's been stabbed in the gut and no one's done shit. She must've been bleeding out for ages now, she could be dying. Not to mention we fucking ran her over. We need to do something."
"She was running for a reason," Sasuke deadpanned. "They're probably after her."
"All the more reason to help her," Naruto insisted.
"I want no part in this."
Naruto squared himself, their chests a breadth away as he hissed in Sasuke's face. "Are you serious right now? You saw how they treated all the fighters. Like fucking animals. You're right, they might be hunting for her right now. For whatever reason it is, you and I both know that it can't be good."
"And that's all the more reason to stay out of this," Sasuke spat.
"No," Naruto all but growled. "I will not let her go back to those fucking bastards. They left her to bleed half to death! I bet my life they were going to punish her for killing her handler."
"Let's not make assumptions—"
"Let's not," Naruto agreed. "But come on. We need to help her out. We can't leave her like this."
Sasuke looked down at Sakura's bloody form. Her breathing was far too shallow for comfort. Her eyes were shut tight in pain, and there was barely any indication that she heard too much of the exchange. That, or she didn't care if she bled to death, as long as she was far away from the fight club. Sasuke suspected it was the latter.
If Sasuke knew what was good for him, it was to stay well out of this business. Pretend nothing ever happened. Never come back again.
Naruto was hovering over Sakura again, glancing at Sasuke pleadingly.
The blond was right, that no one deserved to be treated the way these fighters were, like some subspecies beneath society. As much as Sasuke wanted to avoid the trouble, a larger part of him couldn't allow Naruto to deal with this on his own.
"Let's get her in the car," Sasuke said, resigned to his fate.
Naruto had never looked so grateful.
His eyes watched from above as two men gingerly carried a limp form into a dark Camaro. The dark haired man below looked about suspiciously, very clearly hoping to be unseen. Left, right, out the alley, but never above at the rooftops where the dark figure stood.
"We're not taking her to the hospital," he heard the dark haired man speak.
Blondie closed the car door shut. "Why not?"
"We know people are looking after her, and she's bleeding half to death. The hospital would be there first place they'd look."
"But she's—"
"Dobe, we can't."
His lips pulled into a frown.
The two young men were terrible at stealth, he mused inwardly. If the revving of the car hadn't alerted anyone, their earlier bickering surely did. He was here, after all. He supposed they were lucky he had no further intentions than to observe their actions. Had anyone else spotted them they would've been in a world of trouble. Not only were they holding a hunted person hostage, the sports car reeked of money to any scumbag from downtown.
He watched as the car reversed onto the road, and then took off into the night quickly. Noisily.
What idiots.
Abandoning the idea of going back to his crappy studio apartment, Naruto followed Sasuke into his. Sasuke inwardly thanked the fact that it was way too dark for the street cameras to detect anything out of the ordinary. Like seeing the blond carry around an unconscious body in his arms, speckled with dirt and crusty, drying blood.
He held his apartment door open to let Naruto through. Sasuke gestured towards the living room, and watched as the other man gently laid her down. The door clicked shut behind him, and he turned just to watch himself bolt the door out of paranoia. He vaguely heard Naruto in the bathroom, running his bloody hands under the sink.
Blood.
Sasuke sighed. The blood will be an absolute bitch to scrub off his couch.
He'd have to worry about that later; the steadily growing blue tinge to the girl's skin was rather worrying. He racked his brain for anything first-aid related. She'd need stitches. Possibly. How else was one supposed to close a wound, right? He didn't have any needles or thread though. He never learned to sew either.
Doing up stitches was like sewing… right?
What the fuck were they thinking?!
Naruto reappeared in the living room with a grim look on his face.
"Right. How do we do this?" Naruto asked aloud.
Sasuke raised one eyebrow. "This was your idea. You figure it out."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. Sasuke read him clearly; the blond was an open book after all. They were playing house for a... a murderer that may or may not have a guilty conscience about what she did. She was being hunted like an animal. They were possibly in a world of trouble. Not to mention, it was stupid o'clock in the morning and his eyes stung from fatigue. Sasuke suspected Naruto was just as tired as he was, but his priorities were elsewhere.
Sasuke wasn't as selfless as Naruto, however.
The blond hovered over her again, brow furrowed in thought. "We'll need to clean the wound. Do you have a large bowl or basin? And maybe a rag or something for a tourniquet."
Maybe he should've sent Naruto home. Had him take Sakura with him while he was at it.
Naruto called out. "Oy. Sasuke."
He shrugged.
"For fuck's sake," Naruto snapped, his voice raised slightly. He eyed Sakura again before he ran his hand over his face with a sigh. "Do you actually want her to die?"
"I don't even know if I want her here."
Naruto gritted his teeth. "You know what? I'm not going to just sit here and wait for you to make up your mind. You know where the things are in your house. Go clean the wound. Tourniquet first. Then, water and a rag. And then disinfect it—"
"I know first aid, moron," Sasuke snapped. No, he didn't.
"Your bathroom doesn't even have a first aid kit," Naruto replied dryly. "Whatever, man. I'm going to run down the nearest 7-eleven and get us some essentials. Bandages, a sewing kit, and all that. I won't take ten minutes. You do your part. I'll stitch her up."
Sasuke clamped his mouth shut before he fanned the proverbial fire. Naruto was tense, and Sasuke- he had absolutely no idea what to think.
He decided to run on autopilot. He kicked himself into gear and scrummaged around the kitchen. Follow orders. He could do that.
"Since when do you know first aid?" he asked quietly.
Naruto shrugged his jacket back on, shoulders considerably relaxed once he realised Sasuke wasn't being a spaz anymore. The blond half-smiled. "I was your regular knucklehead in school, remember? I scraped myself up all the time. The nurses were nasty sometimes, especially when they found out I was being an idiot pulling pranks and things. So I learned first aid. I had to get patched up somehow, eh?"
Sasuke hummed. Naruto scratched the back of his head and inspected the girl lying still on the couch.
"Hey Sasuke?"
The dark-haired man looked up.
"Thank you. For doing this. Saving her."
Sasuke was silent. Naruto, clearly having expected as much, walked towards the door. He was about to close it behind him when he heard Sasuke speak softly:
"We're in this together."
Naruto smiled, eyes warm.
A/N: I do love bromance. Also a few of you have asked me about pairings: I'll let you know at the moment it's leaning more towards a slow-burn Sasusaku, though I am open to suggestions if you think this could go another way! Let me know what you think!