Chapter 13

Because you can't cheat death

Suna was a vast country just like the fire land, maybe a bit bigger. One direction was vague, too vague for a land that vast. Try to track down a person was difficult… for a human.

Naruto was the most powerful demon in the all world, nothing could surpass him (ok, so Sasuke did), he had no weaknesses (Sasuke's legs were an exception), he was feared and respected by every living being (Sasuke calling him dobe and defying him was well… he was his mate, he had the right)…

…And still he managed to lose his track.

A bunny would have done a better job… a bunny.

It wasn't his fault the desert looked all the same, or that the sand had moved due to the wind erasing all the tracks, or that the smell had faded.

But truth was he lost a day circling aimlessly in the desert and now he had to sleep beneath a rock, in his small fox form, because he couldn't track a human.

He was by no means depressed, just anxious. He needed to find Sasuke, quickly. Something made him feel that his mate was in danger, just like the other times. What if he didn't get there on time? Third time was the charm wasn't it?

The fox curled into a ball tired from the running. He had forgotten how exhausting it was to be under a desert sun. He hoped that once he got to Gaara's village, this last one would help him.

Closing his eyes sleepily, Naruto's last though was about Sasuke.

The raven haired boy was clearly upset. His brain had stop, his breathing had gone heavy, and he felt his heart beating loudly against his chest. Tormented again by feelings that he denied himself to feel, he had lost his ability to maintain his perfect mask.

It was official, the name Naruto was now taboo.

"I smelled his scent on you.", Gaara said stoically.

"I bathed."

"It takes a lot more than that to erase the scent of a powerful demon, especially Kyuubi."

"Why are you asking about Naruto."

"I normally don't mess with other peoples affairs, however since Naruto is a personal friend, and the fact that he's here I'm making an exception."

All the color vanished from the human's face.

"Naruto is here?"

"He'll arrive within half an hour to the town. He entered Suna yesterday. He probably got himself lost."

Sasuke was about to leave in panic, when Gaara grabbed his wrist, pushing him down slowly. Their eyes locked and Sasuke knew he had given himself away.

The emerald eyes widen.

"You're in love with Naruto.", he stated softly, almost whispered.

The human didn't open his mouth. The demon this time took a good look to the human, seeing him with a new perspective. He let go of the raven's wrist.

"I'll help you get away."

Lifting his head up to the red haired, the onyx eyes blinked slowly in appreciation for the gesture.

"However you don't seem too sure of yourself. Is this what you really want to do?"

The silence was the only answer. After a brief moment the raccoon dog demon spoke.

"I'm not saying that what you're doing is wrong. It's actually a relieving and fortunate thing to know that humans can love a demon, like if it was one of its own kind. But Naruto came looking for you, I'm sure of it. You must mean a lot to him."

"I hate demons. Sakura told you that I'm sure. I hate demons, and Naruto is a demon.", Sasuke said to nobody in particular.

"I also hate humans, a lot… but ironically, my mate his also a human. I understand you, and your doubts, but at the same time I didn't have the doubts you had though I had others. I'll always hate humans but not the human I love, he's my mate."

"But aren't you a raccoon demon?"

"I'm a raccoon dog, there's a difference. Like Naruto I mate for life."

"How about Sakura and Lee, do you hate them?"

"It's complicated. In another time I would have killed them not regretting one bit, but that was before I met Naruto. Although I'm not fond of humans, they're tolerable. In case of Sakura and Lee, I only have to say in my defense that I was, and I currently am in my mating season, and my mate decided not to come to Suna. Long distance relationships require a lot of patience."

"I'll keep that in mind.", the raven haired boy smirked, feeling a little lighter."Is there another way out of town?"

"No. I'll distract Naruto while you run. It was…nice to meet you Sasuke Uchiha.", Gaara said, choosing his words carefully.

"I won't forget that I owe you… I really won't.", the human muttered.

"I don't do favors to humans, so you don't owe me anything.

After grabbing a cloak from Sakura (at least he hoped so because there was no way in hell he would wear something from Lee, and Sakura's tastes were acceptable for a girl), he and Gaara left.

They went to the gate of the town, in opposite sides of the main street. Both of them walked at the same pace, never crossing their gazes. While Sasuke was completely covered by the beige cloak, passing unnoticed, Gaara caught a lot of attention with his red hair and dark red garments.

At the gates, Sasuke felt a familiar presence, which made him quicken his pace. The blonde passed through him like if he wasn't even there. The raven didn't need to turn around to know that Naruto was going happily towards the other demon.

Never once he looked back, because he knew he would probably run to the blue eyed demon.

He simply kept walking, leaving his heart behind, and trying his best not to shed any tears.

Then, when he felt he was far enough, he dashed towards north to the next country.

Hours passed by. The stars were shining in the sky above, yet the gentle light was not enough to lighten the desert. Fortunately for Sasuke sharigan enable him to avoid obstacles easily, such as cactus, rocks and animals.

The red eyes scanned the horizon ahead. They detected trees, lots of them. It was the frontier. He was about two hours away by his calculation.

Suddenly, his sharigan sensed other types of energy, ones that didn't match tree energy. Sasuke slowed down his run, until he stopped completely. At the moment he stilled, five persons surrounded him.

The red gaze observed them, carefully. He knew he was in trouble when he caught a glint of a mask. It was now confirmed; his own village considered him a rogue, a criminal that should be put to death. However, Sasuke didn't want to die, not until he found his brother, until he made things right again. And by the looks of the masked gang they were Danzo's personal dogs.

No regrets then.

The Uchiha heir took out his sword slowly, waiting for them to attack. In a flash, two of them advanced at him throwing kunai. The raven haired deflected the objects with ease, counterattacking with lightning spells.

In this situation lightning spells were handy; they were precise, strong, and in his case everything within the range of five meters would fall to the ground.

Unfortunately for him, it would take a little more to beat them. Not that he wasn't confident, he had defeated greater opponents. Adversaries of their level were not even worthy of his time.

But that was his pride talking.

And this sin like all of the rest blinded and invited tragedy and death.

The Uchiha heir was no exception.

He fought with skilled, defeating one after another, with different methods. One had been beaten by his lightning spell imbibed in his sword, another got caught in an explosion, and so on. Until there was only one who remain. At this point the raven haired was untouched, although he had barely any time left before his sharigan faded. He decided he had to finish things quickly; therefore summoned one of his most powerful lightning spells.

It would end in a matter of seconds, since the remaining masked man was in a really bad condition. Without second thoughts the Uchiha heir charged. In a crucial second, he didn't see the deception of the black ops. The next thing he noticed was the pain in stomach.

The masked black ops fell to the ground incapacitated.

Sasuke examined the wound, trying not to bend which caused the wound to hurt even more. His beige garments were tainted by blood that kept flowing, which was not good since it was his liver the man had hit. To make it worse, the kunai was poisoned.

The Uchiha heir fell to his knees, having his pain increased significantly. He tried to turn to keep the sand away from the entry wound, while trying to apply pressure on it. The poison however, as concluded by the boy was a nerve damaging poison, he couldn't built strength in his body.

As the poison continued to circle his blood stream, his wound kept bleeding like a river. The spasms kept his body from obeying his thoughts, only making the pain worse.

The onyx eyed boy was thinking of some way of stopping the bleeding. At this rhythm he couldn't tell what would be the cause of his death, the poison or the bleeding. It was when his shaken hand reached the wound that he noticed would cold the blood was.

Realization came to the boy. With all the spasms he couldn't tell that some of them were actually shivers. He would die from cold. And by the way his skin felt cold to his touch it wouldn't take long until that happened. On another hand the cold was coagulating his blood and probably slowing down the poison.

With his mind going blurry, and no longer feeling pain, Sasuke stopped struggling against the feeling of dying.

The onyx eyes blinked, he sense light though the sky was dark. He remembered the day he arrived to Suna, and the dawn. The thought of the sun rising reminded him of Naruto for some reason.

And with that everything didn't seemed to matter anymore.

Not death, or fear, or life… just…

Naruto…

Hey! Sorry for taking longer than expected, but I did warn that I would be busy. This time DiscordiaCruentus was not avaiable to review my grammar, so if you see some mistakes do please ignore. I hope you like the story so far. And don't forget to review. Again sorry for the delay.