The black socks. Where the fuck were his lucky black socks? Naruto ran across the room, stumbling through report papers, plans, clothes, anything in the vicinity in hopes of finding that specific piece of cloth. Wardrobes were pried open, drawers were pulled all the way out, chairs fell to the ground, the basket of laundry was thoroughly inspected…ah, the joyful life of a bachelor…Naruto made sure he cursed every foul word the English language had ever acknowledged and some Japanese ones that he still remembered from the google translate while he was looking for the aforementioned socks. He even checked inside his washing machine, blindly touching around the corners in hopes of finding his beloved socks.
It was only when he accidentally kicked an empty ramen cup while running, making the cup roll below his bed, forcing Naruto to pick it up with an impatient grunt when he touched a soft fabric. With one exuberant shout, the blond was ready to pull it out when he heard the doorbell ring.
"Who's there?" He shouted, raising his head by reflex and bashing it against the mattress. Few more curses later, he succeeded to extract himself from the ground, running towards the entrance. Once checked, he opened the door surprised. "Shika? Why are you here?"
Shikamaru usually wasn't someone who wasted the effort to wish a safe trip to any friend, not even sparing a phone call since he was too lazy for such things, even though he would do so if he encountered the person directly. So it was weird he would make an effort to visit someone out of nowhere.
However, the brunet couldn't point out why, but he had a nagging feeling he should visit his ditsy blond friend before Naruto went to Japan. Call it a hunch or something, there was something unsettling in letting his friend travel to such a far away country. But since it was just an insistent intuition without any concrete proof, all Shikamaru could do was to go and check to see if the blond was really ok with all the preparations while he made sure his friend didn't forget anything essential about it.
Unfortunately, it appeared that his mother noticed his sudden visit to Naruto too. "My mom wanted you to help her out with those things." Shikamaru grunted, while he was carrying a heavy carton box with his hands.
Naruto blinked, clearly not understanding this predicament. "Um. What?"
Shikamaru sighed. "We have several relatives in Japan, so my mom wanted you to send it to them once you're in Japan through the mail office."
"I'm sure she could do that here too, couldn't she?" The blond raised one eyebrow.
"The international shipping is extremely expensive, so she said 'if Naruto-kun is going to Japan now, it wouldn't hurt him to do a small favor for us right?'" Shikamaru grumbled. "So here." He dumped it in Naruto's arms, entering inside the house, hearing an 'oof' in response.
"Wait what. And what makes her so sure I would have empty space to place this heavy thing here?" Naruto complained while he followed his friend.
"Cue to 'Oh, Naruto-kun is just a regular young man so I'm sure that everything he'll put inside his suitcase would be basic clothes, some more important suits and that's all. The underwear he could buy disposable ones, the plans he can print once again in Japan and the important papers he'll carry around inside his briefcase right?'"
Naruto opened and closed his mouth several times before grumbling in mortification. "Auntie knows me a little bit too well for my taste, seriously."
"I guess. Which is why she already asked our relatives to give you an extensive list of the best Ramen restaurants in Tokyo." Shikamaru flipped out a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Naruto.
"Whoa, cool, say thanks to Auntie about this later ok!" The blond immediately brightened while he checked the list. "Hm, I actually did some research on the internet, but it's nice to confirm some renowned restaurants too."
"Ramen freak." Shikamaru muttered, already opening the fridge and taking out a can of beer. They went to the bedroom, where the center of all chaos was situated and the brunet frowned. "Isn't your flight scheduled for tomorrow morning? So why aren't you done organizing your suitcase already?"
Naruto immediately protested, placing the box to the ground. "I'm finished already! I just—forgot some things here and there." He muttered to himself, hearing a soft snort in response.
"Have you checked all necessary documents in your bag? Your laptop? Checked if the amount of clothes fits with the amount of days you'll be in Tokyo?" Shikamaru asked with a laidback tone.
"Awwww Shika." Naruto laced his fingers together and placed them next to his left cheek, fluttering his eyelashes mockingly. "Are you worried about me darling?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, not losing his composure. "Perhaps. After all, you're such a spastic klutz that I have to make sure you won't make any ridiculous mistakes while you're in a foreign country. Lord knows how much trouble you have already created here anyways."
"Heeey—I can take good care of myselfya know." Naruto grumbled, reorganizing the stuff inside his bigger suitcase. He frowned, removing the haphazardly placed clothes to have a sufficiently empty space to place the box. Bah. That just sucked, he used to have so many empty spaces and wouldn't have had the need to neatly organize the suitcase, but now he'll have to bother himself to fold all his clothes correctly. Although fortunately, his suits were already contained in a separated place away from the chaos, as the blonde tried to find a matching sock in between the bundle of an unrecognizable knot of clothes. "After all, I went to Japan with ero-sennin before."
"Really?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, picking up the sock and throwing it towards his friend.
"Yeah, when I was a kid, he used to visit his relatives once in a while, and I even went to Tokyo once I think." Naruto started to fold his sweater and paused to contemplate. "And then we kinda had some money problems, so I couldn't go with him and…" He shrugged, in an attempt of showing nonchalance. "I got busy too with school and stuff so, whatever."
"Well, then there's still a lot to explore, since you haven't visited Japan and Tokyo for a very long time. You plan on seeing any tourist attractions or anything like that?" Shikamaru asked while drinking his beer.
"Yeah! I already scheduled all the main attractions in Tokyo and it was so nice that Sarutobi-jiichan gave me a few days off to site see! First, I'll go see the Tower of Tokyo, and then go to the main station of Tokyo subway, I've heard it's huuuuuuge—" Naruto said excitedly.
Shikamaru nodded in agreement, speaking. "You should also go to Asakusa, go to Sensoji temple."
Naruto waved his hand in dismissal. "Yeah yeah yeah, I'll do that. But what I'm really excited for is going to Harajuku!"
"Any…reason…why?" Shikamaru asked slightly confused.
"To see all the japs dressing with those flashy, totally crazy gothic costumes wearing heavy make-up while the girls dress up like European dolls! It's not something that you see every day. And they also don't mind being photographed, so it's going to be fun to share the pics with everybody later."
"Hm…well you could also go to Ginza, which is also widely known for—"
"Blah blah bla, high fashion center, a place for billionaire madams with their rabid poodles, we also have those in New York. Well, I'm going there anyways since Mitsukoshi is there." Naruto shrugged uninterested. He picked up some papers, his eyes brightened with mischievous enthusiasm. "I've heard that in Kabuchiko you can see the craaaaaziest things happening there. The prostitution is almost legalized there, think of all the fun I can see while passing there! You think they give special discounts to American guys?" He asked.
"I don't know…" Shikamaru shook his head tiredly. "Didn't know you're interested in those."
"No, but it's a Japanese landmark and it's my duty as a tourist to visit such landmarks." Naruto said imperiously, raising his head.
Shikamaru grumbled to himself, taking one glance at Naruto's itinerary. "Um…you have…sumo. On Tuesday?"
Naruto nodded vigorously.
"…" Shikamaru took some time to recompose himself after blurting out with a strained tone. "Are you saying that you're interested in watching…two almost naked, overweight guys fighting—"
"Bumping into each other and sweating all the while, wearing a thin thong and some weirdo hair, seeing the fat undulating every time they move and their saggy tits bouncing when they collide with each other? Yeah! It's going to be awesome man!" The blond grinned wide, flashing a double thumbs-up pose to his friend.
Shikamaru nearly groaned. He knew better than to try to argue with Naruto's asinine tastes.
"So anyways, since I'm going there, do you want me to buy anything for you?" Naruto asked.
"No, I'm fine."
"Really? Well, at least you didn't ask the most absurd things that I had to hear today."
"Like what?"
"Give me a geisha." The blond rolled his eyes. "One of our clients said. Well, not that ero-sennin was any better. He wants me to buy some porn movies."
"And what's the difference between those and American ones? I mean, aside language and nationality."
"He said that the Japanese ones are kinkier. Whatever THAT means. He could buy them all on the internet, but noooo…I have to do all this! And he also asked me to go to Akihabara and buy some hentai games. Maybe I should buy some nasty homo ones to freak him out." Naruto chuckled, his lips widened into an evil smile.
"And did you really succeed in booking a room at the hotel Sarutobi designed?"
"Yep! And Sarutobi-jiichan also helped me get a better room with special discount, can you believe it? I mean, it's even kinda strange…I always admired him when I was in college, I studied his building style as my master thesis and now I'm working in his office, I'm rebuilding one of his famous buildings and I'll be living in one of his designed hotels! It's all so bizarre…I can't believe I'm that lucky."
"Or maybe you're not that lucky considering that you'll have to endure Sasuke Uchiha all the time." Shikamaru smirked.
"Don't. Even. Mention it. Just his name ruins my mood." Naruto growled through gritted teeth, a dark cloud looming around his head. "But I have to admit, working with him during these last two months made his presence more bearable." He frowned and shook his head. "Nah, I probably got used to his assholeish personality for so long that I developed immunity against it." He patted his suitcase, closing it. "Done! Now I'll just go check all the files in my computer, the backup in my pen drive…"
"You better carry around a copy of the programs you'll use, just in case." Shikamaru reminded, receiving a nod of approval as Naruto's hands roamed inside the drawers for his CDs. "I guess I'll be going then. Sorry I can't go with you to the airport tomorrow, I have to meet Temari's parents."
"Oh yeah! How's it going anyways?" Naruto asked flippantly only to be received with a silence in return. "Whoa, that bad?"
Shikamaru sighed. "Not that bad. But I guess they didn't approve of the fact that I come from a humble family. But at least Temari is supportive about all this."
"Huh? You already proposed toTemari?" The blond asked confused.
Shikamaru groaned. "No…not exactly." He cleared his throat and recited in embarrassment. "When you're looking for an engagement ring for a girl, you lame-ass genius, try asking someone for help who definitely wouldn't be Ino or else she'll spread the news faster than Swine Flu you idiot!" He grumbled. "is what she said."
"I guess. Whoa, I can't wait to see your ass so whipped by her once you've tied the knot. I mean, more than it is already 'neeways." Naruto snickered.
"Shut up."
"I think I'll buy some sadomasochist kit with whips and a full dominatrix costume as a wedding gift. And maybe some candles, depending on the type of your kink."
"Shut up." Shikamaru raised his tone in exasperation.
"Or maybe I'll buy a strap-on dildo so Temari can mount you! After all, everyone and their mommies know you're her bitch." Naruto concluded brilliantly, a solemn nod before quickly breaking down to loud chuckles, clutching his stomach.
Shikamaru groaned as he exited the room, hearing Naruto's hysterical laughter, off to grab another can of beer, severely wondering what was wrong with his head to actually waste his time worrying over thankless friends.
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Clearing customs surprisingly was more difficult than expected, but Naruto could only blame himself. The moment he opened his mouth to happily chat with the counter lady, he was called to explain himself in the immigration office. Something about his ability to speak Japanese made them suspicious he would try to immigrate illegally to Japan. It took almost half an hour to show the documents, his residence in New York and his yearly income, the hotel reservation where he would be staying, as well as the ticket to go back to USA before they let him pass. Naruto moodily picked up his suitcases with only one thought lingering in his blond head. He'll never speak Japanese in the custom service area ever again.
The airport of Narita at that moment was bursting with people, walking around during business hours. As he strolled around the place wondering if he should call a cab or use Narita's train, Naruto spotted one familiar duck butt hair.
"You're late." Sasuke glared, already turning around, not sparing a glance to see if the blond would follow him.
Naruto gaped wide, why a billionaire like Sasuke would actually waste time to personally wait for his arrival. "Why are you here?" He externalized his question.
Sasuke simply made an unintelligible grunt, turning on his cell phone to talk with someone. Somehow, Fugaku deemed it important that he should meet Naruto once the usuratonkachi arrived in Japan, so he was infuriatingly obliged to take on this lowly task of waiting for the blond.
Naruto rolled his eyes from the obvious display of dismissal. "Hey, if you're supposed to be welcoming me, I'm just saying that you're doing a pretty crappy job so far. Aren't you supposed to offer to carry my luggage or anything like that?"
"Don't push your luck dumbass." Sasuke retorted back, walking in broad steps towards the exit. Not only was he expected to personally receive Naruto, but Fugaku also made sure to cancel all Sasuke's appointments, leaving the whole day to accompany Naruto on his inspections. Sometimes he seriously didn't understand his father.
They stopped just in front of the exit, Sasuke's limousine parked in front of them, the chauffer had already picked up Naruto's suitcase before the latter could voice any protest. The blond looked at the obviously expensive vehicle and then at the brunet entering inside the backseat before he gave a warning glare to Naruto, expecting that he would do the same. The blond frowned, it looked like the whole trip would obviously be completely awkward; not to mention he still couldn't comprehend the whole situation he was facing right now.
But this was a free ride and Naruto wasn't someone who would flippantly refuse such a good offer, even if it was given by a questionable bastard like Sasuke. Also, if for nothing else, it probably wasn't a good idea to decline when Sasuke was his client. So the blond thanked the driver and cautiously entered the limousine, relieved that the seat was big enough to maintain a safe distance from the Uchiha heir. Naruto awkwardly placed his rather worn backpack on the floor, the slightly dirty fabric making a great contrast with the black leather seat.
Several minutes passed without any words being exchanged inside the car, Naruto thoroughly distracted admiring the landscape of Tokyo as Sasuke was busy with his Palmtop. Never being a man that tolerated long silence, the blond was the first to break it:
"Hey, so where are we going anyways?" Naruto inquired, only to be ignored once again by Sasuke. The blond furrowed and repeated his question, this time in Japanese. "Do your ears need to get cleaned or do I have to shout next to you because you're becoming deaf? Where. Are. We. Going. Noooowwww?" The blond heard an annoyed grunt in response and he also plopped back to his seat with an impatient huff. "Damn, I'm already regretting accepting this ride with you."
Naruto paused to stare at the gigantic LCD sign displayed in front of a building filled with colorful advertisements and muttered to himself. "I hope you're not planning on selling me off to some underground mafia that will chop me up and sell my organs to the black market."
That statement roused an amused reaction from Sasuke, in which he replied with a smirk. "Don't worry about it, I won't. After all, who would want to have some organs infected with usuratonkachi virus and usuratonkachi brain?"
"What the hell! Of all the moments you could use your voice to explain yourself, you have to use it to spout bastardish ideas, huh you a—" He felt a steady gaze coming from the driver and quickly changed tracks. "Aaaa—errr—Huuuh—Uchiha." Naruto could be an impulsive person, he may dislike Sasuke but he wasn't suicidal. Cursing one of the richest people on earth in front of a stranger that may babble about this to the press may not be a good idea.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, he guessed he tortured the dumbass long enough to deserve giving some answers. "We're going to your hotel."
"Oh…" Naruto slumped slightly to absorb the information, guessing he should express his thanks towards the brunet. He quickly brushed this idea away. As if.
"Once you're settled and all your bags are delivered, we'll go to Mitsukoshi to inspect the place." Sasuke continued, his eyes still focused on his Palmtop.
"What?" Naruto immediately reacted. "The hell? I thought we scheduled this for tomorrow morning!" When he received another glare coming from the brunet, Naruto grumbled. "Fine, then at least let me take a bath first."
"No." Was Sasuke's monosyllabic answer.
"The fuck, you B—"Naruto sputtered, interrupting the onslaught of dirty words and continued. "You know, I have been inside a plane for almost 20 hours. I'm tired, my legs are numb, I'm smelly so I deserve some kind of—any kind of decent bath!"
Sasuke sighed, not wanting to concede but admitting he could sympathize with Naruto's problem. "Fine. I'll wait for five minutes."
"What—"
"Five minutes, better than nothing Uzumaki. You seriously wouldn't want to make me wait, would you?" Sasuke turned his head to lift a steady gaze towards Naruto's blue eyes.
The blond grumbled and huffed, but otherwise didn't express any kind of discernible protest. Sasuke smirked to himself. The dumbass was always so entertaining to tease.
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Fortunately for Naruto, he could take his time personally admiring the hotel he had studied all through his years earning his master degree, taking photos and analyzing the structure he only used to see it through plans, grinning brightly all the while. It was only when the receptionist politely coughed that he concentrated on signing the papers and then followed the bellboy and got situated in his room, where he took a quick bath and readied himself to visit Mitsukoshi.
He spent five minutes more than what Sasuke stipulated, though oddly enough, the brunet didn't complain loudly, opting with one acknowledging grunt when Naruto returned to the lobby and turning around towards the exit. Naruto would've scratch his head if his hands weren't occupied holding the plans and papers. The bastard most times was hard to be read.
They didn't take very long to arrive at Mitsukoshi. The building was located near enough to the hotel to the point it was possible to walk there. Naruto smiled broadly, placed all the plans in one hand and picked up his Canon SLR camera with the other one. He stumbled for a moment to grab the camera properly with all the objects wobbling around in his arms and armpit. When one of the plans was threatening to fall, Sasuke picked it up with a sigh.
"I'm pretty sure we already gave you all the necessary pictures of Mitsukoshi, why are you bothering to photograph it yourself?"
Naruto mumbled, steadying the camera so he could take the picture. "I'm not taking it for the project; I'm taking it for myself as a memory. Plus, this building is going to be demolished one day, so it's an opportunity to have this photo before it ceases to exist."
Sasuke snorted, not wasting his voice to express how much the blond sounded like a sap but still waited patiently until Naruto took his photos till he was completely satisfied.
And that was how a disaster would infiltrate you. Unexpectedly, shockingly, taking you off-guard and leaving seizures that would exist forever in your life.
They entered the shopping mall, the blond architect already opening the blueprint from his cylinder before pausing to stare at the entrance. Most shops were closed and the people strolling inside were scarce. Naruto lifted one eyebrow. "Well, the business surely is running smoothly here." He said sarcastically.
"From what we've investigated before buying Mitsukoshi, it hasn't been running extremely well for a number of years and hasn't maintained well, and ever since we said we were going to rebuild it, many of the clients stopped coming here and shops temporarily moved somewhere else until we finish the reconstruction." Sasuke answered.
"Ok then. Probably it's better this way, we can calmly inspect the place and look for any kind of small fissure or crack." Naruto picked up some papers from his folder and glanced at the contents inside. "Well, let's start looking for the biggest number of complaints filed about some portion of this building. Tomorrow the electrical, mechanical and plumbing team will arrive with the necessary equipment to give a more accurate examination of the structural damages but for now we'll just review the overall problems."
"You can give me some of those papers. I remember some of the most common complaints, and we can start from the lobby's floor first." Sasuke said as Naruto, with a questionable glance, gave several papers to him.
The first complaint the brunet read was regarding the emergency exit off the 8th floor, the main pipe was leaking and slowly corroding the walls and main pillar, but he turned the page, looking for more complaints regarding the lobby. He felt slightly embarrassed following Naruto around, looking at the blond that was snapping pictures everywhere and carrying many rolled papers, thus attracting attention from many onlookers, especially considering he was a tall blond American man in midst of Asian people. Sasuke sighed; he hoped they would end this whole thing as soon as possible so he could get rid of this weird responsibility his father had thrown at him. Naruto on the other hand, didn't seem to notice all the curious glances aimed towards him, fully engrossed with his work.
They had inspected some peripheral pillars, in which Naruto inspected whether they were kept in good condition or not, or the walls of the bathrooms, whether there were any leaking that would compromise the building. While Naruto was filling his report to analyze it later, they were quickly reaching towards the 7th floor.
And.
Naruto had to admit, fortunately till now the whole task was going smoothly, Sasuke was helping him efficiently, pointing the most visible problems and carrying some plans. Naruto, sighed, just in a few days this whole building will be completely destroyed. It felt weird being attached to a place that he only entered once, but considering part of his Master thesis was based in this place, he should be thankful that it helped him in granting this fortunate life he has now.
In a few seconds, it'll crash inside, disordering your whole self, destroying your ordered life.
Sasuke glanced curiously at the blond, who was wearing a fond smile over nothing, still looking at the documents and walking around the floor. Naruto asked, turning around:
"How many floors do we have left to investigate?"
Three.
Sasuke answered: "Aside this one, the 8th, the office floor and the terrace, then we'll be done."
"Really? That was really quick." Naruto quirked an eyebrow, already rolling the 7th floor plan and placing inside his cylinder.
Two.
Deafening sounds of flapping wings, followed by squeaks and squawks from the birds, startled all the humans inside the mall, some people shouted in surprise, most of them were covering their ears with their hands, ducking a little bit from their seats as they waited for the noise to subside.
Naruto was also covering his ears, exclaiming when it was quiet enough to hear his own voice. "Whoa, what was that? Is this some kind of re-run from the movie 'The Birds'?"
Sasuke, however, quickly assessed the situation and ran towards the exit alarmed, grabbing Naruto's arm. "We should go now."
"What?" The blond asked confused, trying to pick up his things but with no avail.
Sasuke shouted. "We should go, because sooner or later an earth—"
One.
It happened too abruptly. A loud buzz pierced his ear, and before Naruto could fully comprehend what was happening around him, he felt his whole body shake, completely out of his control. One millisecond later, the whole floor shook, leaving him disoriented, removing his primitive notion of gravity and stripping the feeling of security away from him. Lights flickered ominously; the ceiling rumbled loudly as dust fell to his eyes, panicked shouts orchestrated the beginning of a realistic nightmare that seemed endless.
He dazedly felt someone pulling him towards a pillar, in which Naruto finally fell sitting on the ground and placed his hands above the nape of his neck, shielding it from any possible fallen objects. The earthquake didn't subside, glasses shattered, light bulbs exploded - he fully realized that he wasn't in a safe place but he knew he shouldn't move, because fleeing would probably only make things worse. He had this utter feeling of helplessness that something was greater than him - that was also completely out of his control – which only made his stomach curl unpleasantly, creating a nauseating desire to hurl his insides.
He glanced everywhere and there was only one single expression that was stamped in every face encountered. Fear. Shouts and yells and cries coming from everywhere and echoing too loudly inside his soul and too small in comparison to the rumble of the earth shattering. If this was an accident of nature or an act of God, no one had the heart to reflect it or was too afraid to remember, because that would force them to face every mistake they did in the past, every sin that was calling for judgment now. A baby wailed loudly in distress, but nothing, not even the pitiful coos from her mother would soothe the pain at this very moment.
Seconds turned into endless eternity, a pillar finally crumbled and fell with another deafening rumble, whimpers followed right after. Naruto briefly wished that no one was wounded because of this, but for now he couldn't help but to desire his own safety, wishing that the pillar next to him wouldn't lean away and crush his body, ending his life just like that, without any warning or farewell. And suddenly, he realized that after seeing all the disasters he watched from behind the TV, he was actually encountering one right now. There wasn't anything secure at this time, in any second he could die. In any moment. He could die.
So everyone's thoughts gathered into a single prayer, pleading for this to end.
For this torment to end.
Please. End.
Please.
Tears prickled his sapphire eyes and he blinked furiously, trying to maintain some sanity or else he would crumble under desperation. Naruto turned around and also met distressed onyx eyes, and in those brief minutes of madness, they formed a bond, sympathizing with the same pain they were both feeling. The earthquake made everyone lose their sense of time, stretching the suffering forever as they continued to pray it would end.
And although it had began abruptly, the shakes were diminishing gradually, bit by bit until all that was left were some scarce rumbles that caused some dust to fall from the ceiling. Some people were already standing up and crying relieved, other were still dizzy, unable to shake off the nightmare they just witnessed.
However, it was when three pillars fell at the same time, the loud reverberation sounding as an alarm signal that everyone inside the building began shrieking and running, trying to escape from this place.
"We should go now! This building is too old, it may crumble any minute!" Sasuke yelled, pulling Naruto away from the crowd.
"Uh—Yeah! Let's go to the emergency exit!" Naruto shouted back, pursuing the brunet from behind.
Sasuke tsked, the emergency sign was completely busted so he couldn't see where it was, this way they would run blindly just like that crazed crowd. He felt a large hand clasp his wrist and the blond took charge of the situation. Naruto yelled:
"I know the map of this place, follow me!" They ran towards the appointed place, only to realize it was blocked by rubble.
"Let's go to the 8th floor, maybe the exit is clear so we can escape!" Sasuke shouted and Naruto nodded, both ran against the tide of screaming people. Several people were blocking the way, so Sasuke was shouting and grabbing anyone he could to direct the crowd towards the correct place.
Naruto helped as much as he could, but he was too busy trying to see any emergency exit in midst of many people, depending only on his memory and dearly wishing he wasn't making a mistake. A good number of people were following the blond, but the majority were still running everywhere aimlessly.
They rapidly reached towards the emergency door, opening it easily and thankfully, the place was clear for an effective escape. After they guaranteed the people around them would escape safely and they were the last ones left, Sasuke shouted. "Let's go!" He tugged Naruto's arm though the blond didn't budge.
"Wait, I have to warn everyone else about this! The entrance is now too dangerous to escape through; it's safer to use the emergency exit! You go first!" Naruto turned around, freeing himself from Sasuke's grasp.
"What? Are you crazy?" Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm once again, this time applying a little bit more force. "You might die! Let's go first and let security take care of this, you've already done whatever you can in this situation! We'll warn any firefighters about it later when we're safe!"
"No! They probably already ran away, I have to guide them to a safe place! Don't worry 'bout it, it'll be quick! Go first Uchiha! I'll be fine!" Naruto already sprinted away, disappearing in the midst of clouds of dust as the brunet gasped for air, staring at nothing.
Sasuke briefly glanced at the empty Emergency Exit and then once again towards the chaos presented in front of him. He turned his head back and forth, torn between security and running after that usuratonkachi that had some impulsive hero complex that he wasn't in the mood to try and understand.
Suddenly a sharp memory pierced his brain and he remembered, words of complaints about leakage in the 8th floor emergency exit, and he quickly looked to the one next to him, though it was completely dry. However, instead of feeling relief about this, a cold sensation crawled up his spine and contaminated his whole body.
Oh fuck.
On the other side of the building, Naruto was dutifully guiding all the people to the proper destination, trying to calm them down in order to prevent any accidental trampling of an unlucky victim, and also making sure there wasn't anyone left on the floor.
At the moment he was following behind, walking down the stairs, sounds of concrete crumbling alarmed him. Fearing that another earthquake was arriving, he approached the middle pillar and crouched to safety.
Horrible miscalculation.
Naruto stared in sheer horror as the whole stairs cracked and divided apart, before it crumbed to the lower floor, the landslide threatening to engulf him and suffocate him while he didn't have anywhere to grab onto, to maintain his balance. He stumbled over a piece of building material and he closed his eyes, ready to suffer the impending disaster when hands grabbed one arm and an armpit and yanked him away from danger.
Blue eyes blinked wide from the unexpected help, only to realize that Sasuke was the one who was holding him securely in his arms. Naruto shouted bewildered. "Sasuke? But I tho—"
"We don't have time for this conversation, stand up, we have to escape." Sasuke interrupted, quickly standing on his feet, grabbing Naruto's wrist and yanking backward. The blond looked at the pile of rubble, the whole staircase was completely destroyed and a painful knot gathered in his throat.
"Ohmygod…" He muttered. "Did I just—send those people to their d—" Sasuke dispelled him with a violent shake, rebutting.
"No, you didn't. We should go before it's too late." The brunet pushed Naruto forcibly away, arriving at last to the main floor as they gasped for air. "Let's go to the other exit. Maybe it's still intact so we can get out." Naruto nodded meekly, leaning on the wall. Sasuke called. "Uzumaki?"
"Yeah, wait a minute." All those lives he wanted to save…Naruto gulped down the urge to vomit and with a long shuddering exhale, he willed his legs to work. This wasn't the right time to mourn or to wallow in guilt that he made a mistake that sent many innocents to die…for now he had to concentrate on his own survival.
The path for getting back to the other exit was oddly long and tortuous, now that nothing was left but some last noises of pebbles rolling to the ground and a thick cloud of dust drying his throat entirely. The blond coughed reflexively, following the only figure moving in the middle of hazy forms, having no notion of how long he has been walking until he heard an uncharacteristic frustrated shout that made his insides curl unpleasantly, already expecting an ominous scenario.
Naruto had at last reached Sasuke, while the latter just stood staring fixedly towards one point, in which Naruto also followed with his gaze, the vision however, dimmed his hopes for a safe escape from the building.
"Shit…" He murmured, two broken pillars stood in front of the door, completely obstructing the pathway.
Sasuke turned around. "Let's go to the main entrance. Maybe it's still intact so we can try getting out through there." Naruto nodded mutely and both young men walked towards the center of Mitsukoshi.
However, the situation there wasn't any better. The moving staircase was completely destroyed, only a fraction of the side structure was left on the upward floor.
"What should we do?" Naruto groaned in frustration.
"Let's go to the 9th floor. Maybe the emergency door is clear so we can escape through." Sasuke suggested.
"No…" Naruto coughed again, and added. "Some of the pillars that sustain the 8th floor were destroyed, most probably the 9th floor was crushed as consequence. Do you have any cellphone, can we try contacting anyone about this?"
Sasuke picked up his cellphone and muttered. "No signal. And yours?"
Naruto shrugged. "Not with me. Probably lost it in this confusion. We can keep looking for other exits. But we better grab some wet towels or something like that, all this thick dust will dry our throats."
The brunet nodded quickly with another cough and they went to the nearest bathroom. Unfortunately, one of the pipes had collapsed and broke most urinals; the water was leaking and spraying everywhere, the smell of stench permeating inside the room.
"Ugh, gross…" Naruto groaned, taking a few steps back. Inwardly, Sasuke agreed with the blond, but outwardly he muttered.
"We don't have any choice right. You go first."
"Huh?" The blond immediately interjected. "No way, I'm not going to put this disgusting water anywhere near my nose or my mouth!"
The brunet rolled his eyes. "Do you have any better idea moron? It's just some water, if you don't inhale sharply you can ignore the stench."
Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Well, aren't you all bark and no bite."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What was that?" He asked. When the blond was opening his mouth to happily explain the idiom, Sasuke cut him through, walking away. "You know what, nevermind. You're probably going to offer me some kind of distorted explanation that doesn't have anything to do with the original meaning so I pass."
"Well, you bloody asked bastard." Naruto muttered, following the brunet around. "Oh hey, a vending machine!" He shouted when he spotted the object in question.
"…so?" Sasuke quirked an eyebrow.
Naruto snorted, the bastard clearly couldn't follow his ingenious mind and brilliancy. "So we could at least drink some liquid to quench our thirst, asshole." He quickly assessed the contents inside the machine and grinned. "Oh hey, they have beer! Maybe we could use it to substitute the water and we'll be perfectly fine!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes towards the moron's idiosyncrasy. Nevertheless, the idea of wetting his dried throat sounded heavenly so he moved to one side of the machine, grabbing both sides of it. "Usuratonkachi." The brunet smirked slightly when he saw cobalt eyes narrowing at the call. "Let's throw this machine to the ground so we can open it. Help me out."
With another shrug, Naruto imitated Sasuke's former action and with one coordinated action, the machine crashed loudly to the ground, the metallic noise made both wince in response. They both opened the lid after some great effort, staring in relief at the great amount of cans still intact and ready to be opened and they quickly grabbed their favorite flavor, drinking with gusto.
"I noticed something." Surprisingly Sasuke was the one who spoke breaking the silence, receiving blond raised eyebrows in response. "When we were throwing the vending machine to the ground, the plug snapped and there was a popping sound of electrical current. So that probably means that this floor still has electricity."
"And that help us in…?" Naruto asked in bewilderment.
"We could look for a TV to get some news on the situation. Think about it, we already have supplies for almost one week…" He pointed to the vast amount of drinks beneath them. "And we could simply wait until the firefighters come to rescue us. The fact that this building didn't totally collapse yet works in our favor. They won't have to dig dirt in search for survivors, they'll only have to break some doors and climb some chairs to reach us."
"Well, this is the 8th floor, which is convenient, it has houseware and furniture. Maybe we'll get lucky." Naruto agreed, picking up some extra cans and stood up.
After taking some time roaming inside the floor and blindly searching for any sign of electronic store, they were passing through the furniture area and Naruto called for Sasuke's attention, explaining.
"Hey, most times those stores have some showroom complete with bed, table and TV. Maybe we'll get lucky and find one."
Shrugging with one shoulder, the brunet followed in midst of almost total darkness, the fact the building didn't have many windows made matters worse. They heard a buzz of static signal and quickly followed the only source of light inside the place.
"Hah! Am I a genius or what?" Naruto grinned widely, and Sasuke didn't bother himself to stop another roll of eyes. Seriously, they were in a grave situation here and the dumbass was busy gloating with his over-inflated usuratonkachi ego.
Sasuke crouched in front of the plasma TV, opening the lid so he could stabilize the signal. It took a while for them to fix the TV, whether there was a lack of anyone to cover the news in Tokyo or the gadget was slightly broken, they would never know. However, as Naruto was frantically trying to use the remote control and Sasuke was adjusting the sound, they succeeded after some trial and error, in watching the fuzzy screen declare the sentences that would change their lives…forever.
"Attention, attention (bzzt…)…kyo citizens… (bzzt…)ttention, Attention, Tokyo (bzzt…)zens."
Naruto smacked one side of the TV several times, grumbling. "Sure this shit could be a little bit better, I still can't hear a th—"
"Shh!" Sasuke complained, putting his hand on Naruto's mouth. "Just be quiet or I won't be able to hear what they're saying idiot!"
"Attention(bzzt…) the Japan government declared full evacuation (bzzt…)kyo city"
"What? You're talking too loud asshole, I didn't hear the last sent—" Naruto moved the offending hand away from his mouth and groaned.
"No, you're the one who's being loud, you—" Sasuke grumbled as he fought to muffle the blond's voice once again.
"We repeat, full evacuation of the citizens of Tokyo, full (bzzzzzzzt…) zens of Tokyo"
They briefly halted their skirmish, their eyes and ears tuned to see blurry images of ruined buildings on the TV.
"There will be another incoming wave of earthquakes, repeating, (bzzzzzzzzt…) Another wave of earthquake is (bzzt…)ly likely…"
Both young men stopped dead.
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Report 05: Interferences…eliminated.
AN: This is not a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger is when the author has purposely stopped the chapter in the middle of an important event, and thus leaving the readers in suspense while not knowing what will be reserved for the future. Dear readers, you know what will happen in the next chapter and thus, this is not a cliffhanger. *nods resolutely*
…
Though I guess I could be blamed for delaying the lemon for one more chapter. *cautiously taking few steps back*
So, time for explaining. *Oh noes!*
Mitsukoshi is a real international department store chain and tah dah! There's one in Ginza. Although the one I based on is in Nihonbashi.
en . wikipedia .org/wiki/Mitsukoshi
Since Japan (as well as Taiwan) are pretty small countries, and as consequence they have to properly use the few land they have, most shopping malls are tall, ranging from 8 floors to 12. Yes, it's weird. Usually they organize like this:
1st: cosmetics and shoes
2nd: Shoes, kids clothes, etc. Or maybe expensive brands.
3rd: Young girl clothing
4th: Young women clothing.
5th: Working women clothing.
6th: Men, suitcases, etc.
7th: kitchen utencils.
8th: either library or Furniture things.
I wanted to put Naruto and Sasuke stuck in the 5th floor since it made more sense in the plot but since there it won't have any bed *cough*, I changed to the 8th one. But hell, why am I being so faithful to details when this is a work of fiction? I should have wrote in the 5th floor and declare that this is my shopping mall and those are my rules. *sigh* Too late.
One of the places Naruto mentioned that he was interested to visit is Kabukicho. It's a district for "entertainment", the pretty word for whore houses. Well, although the "level" of "entertainment" will obviously depend with the money you'll have.
en . wikipedia . org/wiki/Kabukicho
Other places I've mentioned:
wikitravel . org /en/Tokyo/Harajuku
wikitravel . org /en/Tokyo/Ginza
Asakusa is a must go if you ever go to Tokyo. More specifically, the Sennoji temple, that has tons of interesting goodies before you reach the temple. Is particularly famous for being the largest temple of Tokyo, and has an interesting story behind it. According to legend, two brothers suffered for several days not being able to obtain any fish for food. Then, the Goddess Kannon (or Guan In in Chinese) orientated them in a dream to go to a certain place in which they found enough fish for the whole year, together with her statue in which they erected a shrine in her honor. *blinks* If I'm not mistaken, but I received this information 6 years ago.
wikitravel . org /en/Tokyo/Asakusa
en . wikipedia .org/wiki/Sumo
Sorry for the long explanation. :/ Also, many thanks for my betaread belledragon that made this fanfic readable...XD