Author's note: Today's Naruto's birthday and I'm still on time to post this! Happy birthday, you ray of sunshine!

This takes place in The Long Run universe, but you don't necessarily have to have read that one to follow this.

Warnings: Sasuke's pov; Alternate universe; zombie apocalypse; established slash; some mild gore; fluff

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll enjoy this!

Little Ray of Light

"You're sure you won't miss the car?" Sasuke checked one last time, zipping the bag shut.

Father shook his head. "No, we don't have any major runs planned for the next three weeks and it's not like you're going to be away for that long, right?"

"No, a week at most, I think," Sasuke replied. "If we can drive straight through, we should arrive there within two, maybe three days? I'm planning on staying there for two days unless we run into a herd or so."

"Does Naruto-kun know that you're leaving?" Father asked curiously and placed the set of car keys on the table.

"No, this is a surprise for him," Sasuke answered and pocketed the keys. "I'm hoping that he'll be asleep for the last part of our trip to keep it a real surprise."

"Good luck with that," Father smiled faintly.

"You'll be fine without us for a little while?" Sasuke tilted his head to the left.

"Yes, don't worry," Father reassured. "Like I said, we're not planning on anything major for the next couple of weeks. The last run gave us enough stock to last for a good while as well, so you two enjoy yourselves."

"Sasuke-nii-san, you're leaving?" Konohamaru skipped into the room, giving the two bags a curious look.

"Yes, Naruto will be home soon and then we'll leave," Sasuke confirmed and glanced at Itachi, who followed the boy into the living room. "You okay staying with Itachi and my father, Konohamaru?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun!" Konohamaru grinned. "Deidara-ji-san and Itachi-ji-san promised to give me private lessons!"

"Nothing with explosives," Sasuke said dryly, which made Itachi's eyes glimmer.

"Not much trust in Deidara, hm, otouto?" he asked amused.

"I know he's been whining to Sasori to make fireworks," Sasuke commented, slinging one bag over his shoulder and picking up the other one.

"Oh, that'd be lots of fun!" Konohamaru cried out excitedly, clapping his hands.

"Not if Deidara is in charge," Sasuke muttered underneath his breath, because that guy really loved going overboard too much.

"We'll take care of him, don't worry," Itachi reassured him. "You and Naruto-kun have fun, all right?"

"That's the plan at least," Sasuke sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Let's hope we don't come across too many of the undead on our way there."

"It has been rather calm around the compound at least," Father remarked.

"Well, Naruto should be here soon, so I'm heading out," Sasuke announced and ruffled Konohamaru's hair on his way to the door. "You behave, okay?"

"I always behave, Sasuke-nii-san!" Konohamaru protested, which was rather debatable at times.

"Deidara wants you to know that he's planning on throwing a party for Naruto when you're back," Itachi murmured, catching Sasuke's shoulder briefly.

Sasuke sighed heavily. "Really should have expected that, huh?"

"He likes celebrating his friends," Itachi smiled.

"No, he just likes finding excuses to throw a party and get drunk," Sasuke snorted. "All right, I'm off now. We'll be back in a week normally."

"Stay safe," Father said solemnly.

Sasuke nodded; staying safe was always the plan, but a lot of that had to do with luck nowadays. The place he and Naruto were going to should be relatively safe, however. Deidara and Kisame had been willing to scout out the place quickly a week ago and they had only encountered a couple of those dead fuckers. Sure, in the span of a week a lot could happen, but considering how deserted it was there, the chances of encountering a herd were at least minimal.

It was raining when he stepped outside; puddles were already starting to form and some people rushed past him on their way to their homes. Familiar footsteps approaching had him turning his head and he watched a grin bloom across Naruto's face when he spotted him. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the bags Sasuke was holding.

"You're going somewhere?" he asked lightly, stretching his arms. He had been helping out Iruka in the field, preparing it for the winter.

"We are going somewhere," Sasuke corrected him and beckoned him to follow. "Father wants us to scout out a place. He gave me the coordinates; it should take us two, maybe three days to get there. He wants to see if we can find anything interesting there. You okay with that?"

"Sure, it'll be nice to get outside the walls again," Naruto agreed and linked his hands behind his head. "Rather well packed for a couple of days, though. Did you pack my crossbow?"

"Of course I did, with extra bolts," Sasuke answered. "And you always think I pack too much. Again, Naruto, this is the normal amount one packs when going outside the walls during a zombie apocalypse."

"Agree to disagree," Naruto said serenely and followed him to what essentially had become a private parking lot with the extra motorcycles and two more vans they had acquired over the last couple of months. "We're taking the bike or a car?"

"A car in case we do find something interesting," Sasuke replied and let Naruto take over the bag in his hand. He fished out the keys, waggling them through the air once. "It'll be the smallest car, but it's just going to be the two of us."

"Fine with me." Naruto shrugged. "You driving or do I get a chance?"

"I'll drive, it's fine," Sasuke said dismissively. "I know you've been sleeping like crap this past week, so you can catch up on some rest."

"Nothing gets past you, huh?" Naruto smiled wryly and halted in front of the silver car. "I'm fine, just had a bit of a shitty time sleeping I guess."

"You're not getting down with anything, are you?" Sasuke eyed him worriedly and opened the boot, dumping his bag into it. After Naruto had added the second bag, he closed the boot and walked to the driver's side.

Naruto opened the passenger's side and snorted, bracing his arm against the door. "That old hag already got to me, don't worry. She thought I looked like shit and forcefully examined me. Nothing wrong with me, just need some rest apparently." That last was said mockingly; clearly Naruto didn't agree with the doctor's assessment which wasn't surprising in the least.

"Yes, how dare she care about you," Sasuke deadpanned and got into the car. He lowered the window and gave Ino on top of the gate the sign.

She gave him a thumb's up and turned towards Kiba, most likely telling him to help opening the gate enough for the car to get through.

"You all fuss way too much," Naruto grumbled and got into the car as well, basically falling down into the seat. "Anything special we need to look out for when we get there?"

"Anything useful," Sasuke replied and started the car, listening to the rumbling of the engine as the gate slowly slid open.

"So the usual," Naruto snickered and leant back into the chair. "All right, let's get this road trip going then!"

Sasuke smiled and manoeuvred the car through the gap in the gate. Yes, let the road trip start.

Perhaps it was Naruto's luck holding out, but they barely encountered any of the undead on the roads. They passed some, but they were too slow to catch up and weren't a threat at all. The rain didn't stop, but it didn't hinder them that badly either; especially because Anko had replaced the windshield wipers.

They spent the first night in a depilated shed, hanging up a string with cans to act as a warning. The air was stale here, rather unpleasant, but it didn't smell like blood or death which was all they could ask for really. Sasuke had to get up once to dispatch of two zombies, but they had both lost their legs somewhere along the way and were dragging themselves along by their hands. The hands were nothing but bones with some shred of muscle still clinging to them and Sasuke easily killed them both, stabbing his katana through their skulls.

After a quick breakfast they were back on the road and when Sasuke caught sight of an abandoned mall, he grew excited. The mall had a large robot still standing in front of it, the paint of it having faded away with time and the weather elements. It for some reason only had one arm left still and some red threads stuck out of the hole. He didn't care for the robot, but the sight of it meant that by late afternoon at the latest they would arrive at their destination. They had made good time, but that wasn't surprising considering they hadn't been hindered by any blocked roads or zombie herds.

Catching Naruto yawning from the corner of his eye, Sasuke told him, "Get some more sleep. It'll be a little while still before we're there."

"Hm, all right, wake me up if shit hits the fan," Naruto muttered and as a testament to how tired he still was, as soon as he got comfortable in his seat he fell asleep.

It didn't happen often that Naruto fell asleep so easily, so Sasuke was glad to see it happening now. Not only because it would make it easier to keep their destination as a surprise until the very end, but also because Naruto was in dire need of some good sleep. A car wasn't exactly a good place to sleep well, but beggars couldn't be choosers at times.

Sasuke didn't dare turn on the radio, just in case, but the rain plinking on the roof was rather soothing and he found himself humming softly, a song mother had liked to sing to him and Itachi when they had been little still. Naruto turned his head away from the window and more towards Sasuke, but he remained asleep; his arms crossed loosely over his stomach.

The closer they got to their destination, the more excited Sasuke became. He couldn't wait to see Naruto's face when he realised where they were and he pressed in the gas pedal even further, wanting to get there as quickly as possible. They passed a small group of zombies when he turned around a corner, but they were already turning another bend in the road before they could even attempt to lift their heads. They might make an attempt to follow them, but Sasuke wasn't too worried about it. Those dead fuckers could be obstinate, but they couldn't track something they couldn't smell.

When brilliant blue loomed in the distance, Sasuke sat up straighter and tightened his hands around the steering wheel. He glanced at Naruto, who was still asleep, and couldn't help but smile, daring to reach out and brush Naruto's cheek lightly. Grey daylight caught the ring around his finger and his smile widened, before he focused back on the road. Just a bit longer; he could hardly wait to see Naruto's face.

The car slowed to a stop on the gravel. The rain had stopped, but the sky was still rather dark grey, promising another bout of rain soon. The gloomy sky did nothing to diminish the beautiful sight in front of him, however, and Sasuke turned off the engine, listening to the ticking of the engine as the car cooled off.

"Naruto, wake up," he said softly and touched Naruto's shoulder carefully. He put a bit more pressure behind his touch when Naruto remained asleep before choosing to flick the tip of his nose instead.

Naruto snorted awake, blinking up blearily at him. He rubbed his nose and scowled half-heartedly at Sasuke, who smirked. "Arsehole, now my nose itches," he muttered, still half-asleep.

"You wouldn't wake up when I called out, so," Sasuke explained and shrugged. "We made good time by the way. We arrived on the day I wanted to get here."

"What does the day have anything to do with us scouting the place?" Naruto asked bewildered and stretched his arms in front of him. "Where are we by the way? You never actually told me, come to think of it."

"You'll see," Sasuke promised and got out of the car, inhaling the salty air. He hadn't smelled this particular air in so long and he dragged in another lungful of it.

Behind him the car door opened and Naruto scoffed, "What's with the whole secrecy, you bast…"

Sasuke smiled when Naruto trailed off and when he turned around, he saw blue eyes widening in shock. Naruto took a couple of steps forwards, almost like he was in a trance, and slowly turned his head from side to side, taking in their surroundings.

"Are we …"

Sasuke came to stand behind him and locked his arms around Naruto's waist, feeling him shudder slightly. "You told me you wanted to see the ocean again," he murmured in Naruto's ear, feeling Naruto's hands clamp down around his own. "Is it as beautiful as you remember it being?"

"Yeah, it is," Naruto choked out a laugh and his fingers tightened even further around Sasuke's wrists. "How did you – I was drunk when I told you that, wasn't I?"

"Hm, you were. Quite a bit actually," Sasuke snorted. It was the only time he had seen Naruto drunk so far and that had been a rather interesting experience.

"You were drunk too," Naruto recalled and shook his head. "You actually remembered it?"

"Of course I did. Sorry it took me so long to get us here," Sasuke said softly. "Deidara and Kisame scouted here a week ago to make sure there wouldn't be any dead fuckers around."

"I can't believe you took me to the ocean," Naruto said wonderous, but his voice trembled.

When Sasuke coaxed him to turn around, a wet sheen made those lovely blue eyes glisten like diamonds. Naruto laughed weakly, releasing Sasuke's wrist in order to rub over his eyes.

"It's been so long since I've been here – thank you so much, Sasuke," he mumbled and one stray tear escaped his careful wiping anyway, trailing down his cheek.

Sasuke ran his hands lovingly across his back, feeling the smooth material of the leather jacket bunch up slightly. "Happy birthday, Naruto," he whispered and tilted Naruto's chin up so he could kiss him.

"Best birthday gift I've ever got," Naruto choked out and their next kiss was deeper, a bit more forceful.

Behind him the ocean twinkled, the wind making the water ripple gently. The air was heavy with the ocean and they could hear nothing but the wind, the water and their own breathing.

As beautiful as the ocean and its light coloured beach were, however, they couldn't match the brilliant smile blooming open across Naruto's face when he broke their kiss and grabbed Sasuke's hand, tugging him excitedly along to the water.

That beautiful smile – Sasuke would go to the end of the world to keep it. Driving two days to see the ocean? That was nothing if it meant seeing Naruto this happy.

Happy birthday, Naruto. To many more to come.

The End

AN2: Nothing terribly complicated or that bloody, but sometimes a little fluff even in a zombie apocalypse is fine :P

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.