Author's note: Ah, I'm having so much fun with this universe!
Thanks to the following reviewers: 666snoopy; leighd1314; Ellasaurus; solitare1; Richon; darkhuntressxir; Iraheta 127; horsegirl08
Warnings: Minor references to past children's deaths; references to past character deaths; vague reference to attempted noncon; minor time skips; Omega Naruto
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.
I hope you'll like it!
Part 3
"Why have you been using these blockers?" Sasuke asked, because there could be several reasons why Naruto insisted on making people believe he was an Alpha instead of an Omega. He hoped it wasn't because somebody had –
"Zombies aren't the only monsters out there, you know," Naruto answered flatly.
Concern spiked up immediately. "Did somebody - "
"Some tried," Naruto replied and his concern only lessened slightly. "Not long after the world turned to shit. I didn't give them a chance, though. Figured after a couple of times of that bullshit, it would be easier to make others believe that I'm an Alpha." He shrugged half-heartedly. "Alpha don't really get bothered that much, go figure, huh? So far all the progress Omega made throughout the century."
"You know you don't have to keep using these blockers if you stay with us," Sasuke suggested carefully. "We have some Omega and I'm sure you've noticed they're left alone. Kurenai is one and before you're going to say she's only being left alone because she's married - "
Judging from the way Naruto closed his mouth with an audible 'click', he had been about to point out exactly that.
"Ino is an Omega too," Sasuke went on. "None of that bullshit is tolerated in our group."
"I just …" Naruto sighed frustrated and ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand up right. "I have been using these blockers for so long, I don't want them to know that I've been lying about my nature. It's just easy to keep using the blockers."
"It's your choice," Sasuke said and put the box back in the bag before returning it to Naruto. "I don't think those boxes will last you months, though."
"Around four months, but I've been building up a stash," Naruto muttered, zipping his bag shut. "It's just a bitch to find them nowadays. Seems like I wasn't the only one with the same idea."
Personally Sasuke saw no reason why Naruto would want to keep hiding his true nature amongst a group that one, wouldn't care and two, wouldn't touch him against his consent, but he also had no real idea what Naruto had gone through. It was an unfortunate truth that people were more likely to leave an Alpha alone than an Omega. When zombies had started flooding the streets, some people had taken that as a free pass to throw away all their morals and just do whatever the hell they wanted.
If Naruto felt more comfortable pretending to be an Alpha, who was Sasuke to say he should do otherwise?
With that in mind he unzipped his jacket and removed it, placing it on the desk for now. Right as he gripped the edge of his sweater, he looked up and met Naruto's wary gaze.
"Is this the part where I am going to have to punch you in the dick?" Naruto asked suspiciously; his entire body tensing up.
"Please don't," Sasuke said and winced, realising how this might look like. Before he could trigger Naruto's fight response, he hastened to add, "I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want to give you an extra option aside from the blockers so that you won't go through them quickly."
"And what exactly is this extra option?" Naruto demanded and both his eyebrows shot up when Sasuke pulled off his sweater first before going to remove his T-shirt as well. "You know, when I admitted to being an Omega, I did not foresee you doing a striptease but that is probably the best response I could have got for sure."
Sasuke snorted; the sound muffled when he pulled his T-shirt over his face. If Naruto was making jokes, he was at least not uncomfortable anymore.
"If you wear my T-shirt, you'll be automatically cloaked in Alpha scent," he explained and held out his shirt. "If you wear it underneath your own sweater, nobody will even notice it has my scent specifically. This way you won't have to take the blockers regularly and can space out the use of them."
Naruto blinked several times rapidly, his mouth slightly parted. He shook his head and grabbed the T-shirt. "Thanks, you don't have to do that."
Sasuke shrugged. "It's nothing," he said and when Naruto pulled off his own jacket, he automatically turned around to give the blond man some privacy.
"You didn't have to turn around," Naruto said amused behind him, followed by the rustling of clothes. "We've got the same plumbing – well, for the most part anyways. The outside at least is the same. 'Cept I don't really have the muscles you've got going for you, so another difference I suppose."
It occurred to Sasuke that Naruto might actually be feeling somewhat nervous right now and he was trying to mask that by chatting far more than he usually would. Seeing as there wasn't really a point in lingering here now that they had cleared up the whole issue, Sasuke decided he might as well leave the room already.
"I'll go back to the others," he said. "We'll wait for you there."
"All right, I'll be quick," Naruto promised and there was even more rustling of clothes. "Are you – are you going to tell them about me?"
"No, you don't want them to know so I won't," Sasuke replied easily. "It's up to you if or when you want to tell them."
Naruto's sigh of relief was audible in the otherwise quiet room. "Thanks, Sasuke – and thanks for not, you know, immediately kicking me out of the group because I didn't want to show my bag," he added uncomfortably.
"It's nothing, figured you had to have a reason for it," Sasuke said dismissively. "I'll see you in a bit."
He walked outside and hesitated for a moment before he decided to close the door behind him. There hadn't been any zombies outside in the vicinity of the office, so Naruto would be fine for the short moment it would take him to get dressed.
"And?" Sakura demanded, whirling around immediately once Sasuke walked over to her and Deidara.
"I took a look at it and it's not something we can use," Sasuke replied. "It's something he takes for a medical condition, that's all. Nothing that's of use to us."
"A medical condition?" She furrowed her eyebrows; her eyes shooting towards the closed door. A faint frown marred her forehead. "He okay?"
"It's nothing serious," he reassured. "He just prefers to keep private about it."
"Well, if it's a medical condition, that makes sense, un," Deidara said understandingly.
Sakura sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I shouldn't have reacted like that, sorry," she muttered.
"I'm not the one you should apologise to," Sasuke pointed out.
She nodded resigned. "Yeah, I know. I'll apologise to him."
"While I'm sure the sentiment will be appreciated, hm, I think it's best to keep that for the car," Deidara said suddenly and grabbed his knife. "There's a group coming to us from the cafeteria."
Sasuke turned his head towards that area and yeah, there was a group of around five zombies ambling their way towards them with their arms – or whatever was still left of them – outstretched. One of the zombies on the left side bumped into the corner of a gurney and as he mindlessly kept walking forwards, the sharp corner of the gurney ended up tearing his rotting stomach open, letting his intestines spill onto the floor with a wet, disgusting 'smack'.
"I don't care how long it's been, that still looks disgusting," Sakura muttered and tightened her grip around her knives. "We have to go now. Don't want to deal with them if it can be avoided."
A sentiment Sasuke agreed with. The less risk they took the better, so he turned around in order to call for Naruto. Right as he opened his mouth, though, the door to the office opened and Naruto stepped out. Before Sasuke could point out the group of zombies, Naruto had already spotted them and he grimaced.
"Time to go," he said and still adjusting the strap of his bag, he hurried over to them.
"Let's go before they decide to bring in more of their friends," Sasuke muttered.
They rushed out of the hospital, nary avoiding tripping over the remains of the doors. Luckily there were only a couple of zombies in the parking lot and none of them were close to the car. They took long enough to dump all the bags in the boot before they climbed in the car. Deidara ended up getting behind the wheel so Sasuke handed over the keys to him before getting into the back next to Naruto. Naruto had his backpack clenched against his chest; knowing what he knew now Sasuke understood why he was so protective over his stuff.
He inhaled discreetly while Deidara started the car, driving away quickly from the hospital. If he couldn't see a hint of his own shirt underneath the collar of Naruto's sweater, Sasuke wouldn't even be able to guess the blond man was wearing it. He supposed his own assumption did work then.
They had just left the parking lot behind when Sakura spoke up, "I'm sorry for reacting the way I did." She wasn't looking at Naruto through the rearview mirror, but she sounded sincere enough.
Naruto's sceptical silence spoke volumes to the point she briefly glanced at him through the mirror and grimaced. She heaved a sigh and brushed her hair out of her face.
"You can accept the apology or not, that's up to you. I mean it, though, I'm sorry," she said. "I – saw some things that left me … unsettled I guess and I worked that out on you when I saw you putting something away. I shouldn't have done that."
Deidara glanced at her before focusing on the road again, swerving slightly to avoid a deer. "What did you see?"
"I ended up in the maternity ward. They didn't take all the babies with them when the outbreak started," she replied quietly.
She didn't elaborate further, but she didn't have to. Sasuke could unfortunately imagine what she must have seen. Zombified babies left behind in their cribs. If they had been left behind when the zombie outbreak began, those babies must have starved to death, either having turned to zombies after their death or they might have been bitten by a zombie when it broke through in the ward. While zombie babies weren't much of a treat because of their immobility, nobody liked the thought of children that young already having turned to zombies. One of the most morbid sights one could come across; no wonder Sakura had been unsettled by it.
"I – I couldn't do it," she continued softly. "I know I should have, but …"
Frankly Sasuke wasn't sure whether he could have put those babies to eternal rest either. It was one thing to put down festering zombies, most of them being adults or teenagers. It was a whole other thing to put down babies.
"Don't think about it, un," Deidara advised gently.
She took a deep breath and nodded, wiping her eyes not so discreetly. They all pretended they didn't see her doing it.
"So, erm, yeah, I know it's not an excuse, but that's why I reacted that badly," she said; her voice slightly shaky. "I'm sorry, Naruto, I shouldn't have lashed out like that."
"It's all cool," Naruto said awkwardly. "I guess I didn't really make it any better by refusing to answer."
She offered him an uneven smile through the mirror. "We good?"
"Yeah, we good," he muttered after a pause.
Sasuke had no idea whether Naruto had really forgiven Sakura for her outburst, but at the very least he didn't look like he wanted to continue the argument. He was probably just happy that nobody was calling him out anymore.
A couple of nights after the hospital run found Sasuke unable to sleep. After tossing and turning for more than an hour, possibly even closer to two hours, he gave up on attempting to sleep entirely. Aggrieved he threw off his blanket and stood up, listening to the wind rustling outside. Stepping out of his room after grabbing his katana, he picked up his brother's soft breathing when he walked past his room.
Right as he was almost at the staircase, Itachi's sleepy voice floated towards him in the dark, "Sasuke?"
"I'm fine. Just going to catch some air; can't sleep," Sasuke explained and felt around in the dark for the railing of the staircase. "I'll be back soon. Don't worry."
"Hm, take your katana with you," Itachi instructed drowsily.
"I've got it with me," Sasuke reassured him.
Having located the stairs, he started descending the steps carefully, counting each step to make sure he wouldn't miss one. Eight steps down and he was on the small landing; fourteen more and he was on the ground floor. Some moonlight spilled through the narrow window next to the front door, painting a thin white beam across the floor. He opened the door and stepped outside, closing it quietly behind him.
As he stood there, looking around, he heard nothing but the rustling noise of the wind as it played with the leaves of the few trees adorning the street. It was rather chilly this late at night and he contemplated going back inside to grab a jacket, but in the end he started walking just dressed in his hoodie and his pyjama trousers. He had never particularly cared what others thought about him; a sentiment that the zombie apocalypse hadn't changed. If zombies ended up overwhelming their camp, their choice of clothing would be the least of their worries.
Every house he passed on his walk was dark, except for the one Kurenai and Asuma shared with their daughter. There was a faint glow visible behind the curtains of one of the rooms on the upper floor; perhaps Mirai or Konohamaru had a hard time falling asleep. After Tenten had found Konohamaru, he ended up bunking together with Kurenai and Asuma, having basically latched onto their daughter the second he had met her. The couple didn't mind taking care of the boy and Mirai didn't seem to be bothered by Konohamaru, so the decision to leave them with the small family had been quickly made.
His feet led him to the entrance where a single person was huddled up in the shelter; their head bent down to look at something in their lap. As Sasuke walked over, Naruto looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Came to check on me?" he asked wryly. "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on the entrance."
"Nah, just can't sleep, that's all," Sasuke sighed and came to stand next to him.
This was the first time Naruto had been put in charge of keeping watch during the night. It would only be until three after which Kisame would take over so that Naruto could still have some sleep. Ino and Tenten had been somewhat apprehensive about letting Naruto take the watch during the night, but so far Naruto hadn't given them any cause to doubt him. If they were going to fully integrate him into the group, they would have to give him the courtesy of trusting him to keep watch during the night as well.
Besides, Sasuke stealthily looked at the house closest to the shelter, he was willing to bet that Tenten was keeping an eye on Naruto regardless at this moment.
"What were you looking at?" Sasuke questioned, but quickly realised Naruto had been looking at a picture.
The photo was rather frayed around the edges, proof that the picture had been held in Naruto's hands over and over again. In the moonlight Sasuke saw that the photo contained a young couple. The blond haired man with blue eyes full of wonder was a near exact copy of Naruto while the red haired woman with a proud grin shared her features with Naruto. Those must be his –
"My parents," Naruto supplied; his thumbs idly rubbing across the upper corners.
"You look a lot like them," Sasuke commented.
Naruto was basically a perfect copy of the two: his father's hair and eyes but his mother's features. They were a very good looking couple; good looks they had obviously passed on to their son.
"Yeah, mum used to say I was dad's smaller copy," Naruto snorted; the corners of his mouth twitching as if he wanted to smile. "Dad always claimed I was mum's copy, though."
"You clearly inherited their looks," Sasuke said.
"Yeah …" A distant look appeared in Naruto's eyes. "Dad had just made promotion at the precinct when the first zombies appeared."
Sasuke stilled, stupidly feeling like breathing too loudly would jar Naruto out of his story and make him realise he was opening up to the Alpha.
"Apparently he saved a lot of people the first few weeks," Naruto went on before he scoffed abruptly. "Can't know that for sure, though, because by the time mum and I found him, he was already dead. Some of those fuckers were even gnawing on him."
Sasuke winced and his fingers itched to reach out and touch Naruto in comfort. He didn't, both because his own reaction surprised him and because he wasn't sure whether his touch would be welcomed.
"I'm sorry," he murmured instead and Naruto shrugged.
"That's how life is nowadays, isn't it?" he said flatly. "Mum and I left town after that. I think she couldn't stand to hide in our house anymore with dad gone. Went well for a while – as well as it could be, given what had happened, of course."
He paused; his index finger caressing his mother's face. "She ended up sacrificing herself to save me," he continued almost inaudibly. "We got cornered by a herd one day. We knew of an underground tunnel that would lead us outside again, so she told me to make a run for it and keep running. I thought she was right behind me, but when I looked back, I saw her shutting the door behind me."
He bit down hard on his lower lip and bent down his head. "I couldn't get the door to open again. Think she must have blocked it with something or so, I don't know. All I know is that I heard those zombies growling and that I never saw mum again after that, no matter how long I waited in that tunnel."
That was … horrible. Sasuke winced. There was no other word to describe that than horrible. Shit, no wonder Naruto had been so standoffish at the start. Losing his parents in that manner had been brutal.
Naruto abruptly shoved the picture into the pocket of his jacket. "Wish she hadn't done that," he said bitterly. "We could have escaped together if she had tried."
"She wanted to protect you," Sasuke said, because that was exactly what every parent did or would do in that kind of situation, he was sure.
"Yeah well, fuck all that does for me now," Naruto stated flatly. Without any warning he rose up and strode forwards. His blade gleamed in the moonlight when he slashed it forwards, the move followed swiftly by a dull 'thud'.
When Naruto walked back to the chair, Sasuke caught a glimpse of a shapeless form on the ground not that far away from the gate: a zombie.
"Good eye," he remarked, because even he hadn't noticed the zombie approaching yet.
Naruto shrugged off the compliment. "That's why you got me on watch now, right? To make sure those fuckers don't get any further," he said curtly.
Wanting to do something about that dark look on Naruto's face, Sasuke hesitated for a moment before his hand dipped into the front of his hoodie and his fingers grasped the picture he always kept on him, no matter what he wore. He suspected Itachi had one of his own, though his older brother had never confirmed it.
"These are my parents," Sasuke said and showed Naruto the picture.
It had been taken during a picnic organised by father's company. Father had been dressed as immaculately as always in a sharp black suit and red tie while mother had worn a beautiful dark blue off the shoulder dress. She had had her hair curled and pinned back for the occasion and in the picture she and father shared a loving smile together as they stood near a tree.
Naruto took the picture and studied it; his gaze flickering towards Sasuke a couple of times. "What happened to them?" he asked and handed the photo back. "I noticed they aren't here."
"We lost sight of each other," Sasuke replied simply and gazed at the picture, though by now he had memorised even the faintest blade of grass on it.
"You lost sight of each other?" Naruto echoed; a small furrow between his eyebrows. "How so?"
"A herd surprised us one night at one of our first camps," Sasuke started to explain and folded the picture again, putting it back in his pocket. "We tried taking them down at first, but it became obvious pretty quickly that we weren't going to last long that way. So the plan was made to get away as fast as possible. Itachi and I got into one car and we thought that our parents had got into the car with another family member. We ended up not seeing anybody for several weeks."
They had stupidly never agreed to meet at a certain point in case they had to flee. That had been the first and last time they had ever made that mistake. Ever since then both Sasuke and Itachi always made sure to agree on different meeting points just in case shit went down.
"When we finally found our cousin, it turned out that he had never seen our parents," Sasuke added and pursed his lips. "We don't know where they ended up going."
"I don't want to be a dick, but maybe they didn't make it?" Naruto suggested, grimacing.
"That's what Itachi and I thought as well," Sasuke admitted. It was more that they hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, but they hadn't been naïve enough to not consider the option either. "So we ended up going back to that camp, but we never found them or their bodies there. As long as we don't have any official confirmation, we assume they are still alive somewhere. We've been leaving notes in every place we visit, just in case. If they are out there, they might find them and know Itachi and I made it out alive."
"That sounds oddly hopeful," Naruto remarked, tilting his head back.
"Well, hope springs eternal as they say," Sasuke smiled humourlessly and stuffed his hands in the front of his hoodie. "All we've got left is hope now. As long as we don't find their bodies, we keep hoping that we'll find them again one day."
Truthfully their hope was starting to wane after so many months had passed since they had last seen their parents, but what else did they have left but hope? Maybe, just maybe, father and mother were still out there, looking for them just as he and Itachi were looking for them. As long as Sasuke didn't see their bodies, he refused to believe they were dead. There was still a chance; a small one, but a chance nonetheless.
Naruto smiled sadly and surprised Sasuke by reaching out to brush his fingers against Sasuke's wrist. "Well, I hope you for you and your brother that you'll manage to find them one day."
"Yeah," Sasuke murmured, watching those fingers fall back onto Naruto's thigh, "me too."
The next run Sasuke joined saw him and Naruto rummaging through an apothecary. This was the first time they did a run in this particular town, one two hours away from their camp. They had had to make a detour when one road turned out to be blocked entirely by a group of zombies, but they had ended up finding a different way into the town.
"Anything in particular we're looking for?" Naruto asked and almost without looking, he stabbed the dead woman behind the counter through her forehead, letting her sag down to the floor. He wrinkled his nose. "There better not be any good shit stored there."
"Just anything that can be useful," Sasuke replied, stepping over a couple of empty, discarded boxes. "Medicine, bandages, doesn't matter what. If it can be used, it goes into the bag."
"All right," Naruto hummed and in an unspoken agreement Sasuke took the first aisle while Naruto walked towards the last aisle.
Sasuke found some bottles of children's cough syrup and decided to put them in the bag. So far their group had been spared from any real severe illnesses, but it was always better not to tempt fate too much. Sealed boxes with cough drops joined the bottles soon, followed by several rolls of bandages and a bunch of band aids. He resisted the urge to sneeze when his jacket accidentally brushed against some shelves, stirring up the dust, and he turned around the corner, inspecting the second aisle. He blinked a couple of times when he realised this aisle had been mainly meant for anticonception. This one appeared a lot more looted than the first one, which showed that previous visitors had had their priorities certainly straight.
Pressing his lips together, he rolled his eyes before swiping some boxes with condoms and some lubrication packages off the shelf and into his bag. Whatever, this wasn't exactly priority stuff, but at the same time it could still be useful. Already imagining the comments Kisame and Deidara would no doubt make, Sasuke almost accidentally ended up pushing a small box to the floor. He was just quick enough to snatch it mid-fall before it could make any noise. He checked the label and noticed that they were heat suppressors. He shrugged and added the box to the pile in the bag before he paused as he realised something.
Shit, why hadn't he thought of this sooner? Probably because they had never mentioned it again after that one conversation at the hospital. He probably should have brought it up again, if only to know whether Naruto had a plan for this as well, given his special situation.
"Naruto," he called out softly, attracting Naruto's attention at once.
The Omega was sitting on his haunches, riffling through some boxes on the bottom shelf. He glanced up at Sasuke. "What's up?"
"Feel free to tell me to fuck off," Sasuke began because he knew very well just how personal his question was going to be. It had Naruto raising both eyebrows, looking both amused and befuddled. "But how do you handle your heats if you make everyone believe you're an Alpha? Do you take suppressors?"
"Of all the questions," Naruto snorted and shook his head. He turned back to the shelf. "Don't worry about it, I already got that covered."
Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. "You got a stash of suppressors as well?"
That was the only way to explain why nobody had become suspicious yet.
"Nah, they're a bitch to find in most places nowadays," Naruto said flippantly. "I thought you would have figured it out yourself, smarty pants, with all the weight jokes I've been getting."
Sasuke stared at him blankly.
"Turns out there are more consequences than just looking like a skinny stick when you don't eat a lot," Naruto said lightly. "I don't have a heat anymore. I don't weigh enough anymore to have them. A failsafe from Mother Nature, I suppose. Can't have someone with barely enough weight losing even more with all the energy a heat uses."
Oh, that was … Sasuke hadn't thought of that. Of course it made sense that a heat wouldn't happen if someone had lost too much weight.
"So if you gain enough weight, your heat gets kickstarted again?" he surmised.
That had Naruto looking at him with a peculiar glint in his eyes. He almost sounded teasing when he replied, "Why the curiosity? You got any interest in me getting back my heat? Explains why you've been so fussy about my eating habits."
"That's not why I - " Sasuke started to protest, his cheeks oddly hot, but a strange noise at the entrance shut him up.
Naruto had heard the noise as well, proving Sasuke hadn't just imagined it, because he shot up, instantly on high alert. They shared one look before they grabbed their weapons and silently walked to the back of the store, following the wall there until they could peek around the corner of the last aisle which had a view of the door.
"Well shit," Naruto said flatly.
Well shit was the only way to describe their current situation. A group of zombies pushing themselves up against the glass door of which the frame was starting to creak dangerously. Their eyes, which had been rolling wildly in their sockets, instantly focused on the two men in the pharmacy and that made them even more agitated, pushing harder against the door in an attempt to break through.
Well shit indeed.
AN2: These zombies truly have no subtlety at all, huh? Mood breakers, for sure.
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 the next chapter! 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.