Author's note: I'm going to regret working so late on this, but here is the next chapter! Longer as promised! Thank you for all the well wishes!

Thanks to the following reviewers: 666snoopy; Candydog88; solitare1; leighd1314; Richon; Iraheta 127

Warnings: Talk about past character deaths; vague mention of attempted assault

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

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 9

"I had no idea Tsunade knew Naruto's godfather," Sasuke remarked as he dragged one of the boxes containing a stroller onto the trolley.

They had driven the van closer to the storage place, but everything that couldn't be carried by hand into the storage because it was either too big or too heavy was put on a trolley instead. It made it both easier and quicker to transport all the goods.

"We didn't make the link at first either," Gaara said and shrugged, lifting up a bag with clothes. "Like Naruto said, Jiraiya never mentioned her name, though he often did describe her. We just didn't put two and two together until now. Have you known her for long?"

Sasuke shook his head and gripped the handle of the trolley, pulling it away from the van. "We met her during one of our runs. It was back when we had just finished building part of this compound." They had only just built the walls in fact and were still adapting to how the world had suddenly changed.

"Kisame ended up getting his foot trapped in a beartrap near where Tsunade had her practice," he continued and pushed the trolley towards the storage room. Gaara fell into step with him. "She didn't trust us and basically told us to fuck off as soon as she was done treating him. We actually had just left when we saw a group approaching her home and well, they didn't really look like the friendly type."

Gaara snorted quietly. "I can already imagine."

"We stayed behind just in case, which turned out to be the good thing because they tried to assault her," Sasuke explained and frowned. "She had already bashed one of those arseholes' heads in by the time we barged inside."

She might not be one of the youngest anymore, but Tsunade was far from weak and she never hesitated. She preferred to remain inside the compound and do her doctor work, but she could definitely take care of herself outside just fine.

"After we dealt with those, we ended up trapped inside her home because a herd was passing through." It had been the first time he had ever seen a herd of that size and it had left an impression behind that had been hard to shake for months afterwards. "Long story short, she decided to take her chances with us after we told her about the compound and she followed us here. She's been working with us here ever since."

"Yeah, Jiraiya mentioned before that she wasn't an easy woman to deal with," Gaara smiled faintly. "We didn't pay it much attention, because honestly, that guy was quite the womanizer but couldn't keep a woman if he tried. I do have to say, though, that Tsunade is the only one he continuously talked about. All those other women he only mentioned once, maybe twice, but never longer than that."

"She'd love to hear that," Sasuke muttered and brought the trolley to a stop next to the first shelf, spotting Mei a bit further down the aisle. "Got some baby stuff in the back of the van, like this stroller."

She turned around, her face brightening at the sight of the box. She had a clipboard in her hands which she briefly pressed against her chest to clap her hands together. "Nice! Thanks for that, Sasuke-san!"

"Not a problem." He shrugged and turned around to grab more stuff from the van.

"So, does this mean we passed the Board's test?" Sasuke heard Gaara asking offhandedly as he climbed into the van. He leant back out for a moment and saw father halting next to Gaara.

"You certainly passed the test, though if I may be honest, I doubt this was the outcome certain people were hoping for," Father replied silkily.

Sasuke snorted to himself and ducked back into the van. Yeah, he didn't think Danzo would be that happy to hear that they had all survived the run. He didn't feel sorry for disappointing that prick.

"Thanks for helping out with putting away the supplies," Sasuke said as he turned around the corner, making his way to his house.

Gaara shrugged, running a hand through his hair. The lake had removed most of the zombie guts and blood, but he still had dried flecks of it clinging to his red hair. Sasuke had tried to clean up the backseat of the van as best as possible, but he was determined to avoid Anko for at least the next couple of days if she deemed the van not clean enough.

"It was either helping out or waiting at the apartment for Naruto to come back. Might as well do something useful in the meantime," he said dryly.

They both turned their heads when the door of Tsunade's practice opened, revealing a shadow slipping out and closing the door behind him quietly. Sasuke paused, aware of Gaara coming to a stop as well, and watched Sasuke carefully make his way down the porch.

"The examination took that long?" he asked surprised.

He hadn't had a chance to look at a clock yet, but it had to have been at least a couple of hours since the doctor had dragged Naruto with her to her practice. The quiet gurgling and pressing emptiness of his stomach ascertained that it had to have been several hours at least.

Naruto paused with a hand on the banister and rolled his shoulders. "Nah, we talked about Jiraiya for a while," he answered idly and jerked his head at the darkened practice. "If we ever need to poison those dead fuckheads with alcohol, though, the old hag got it covered, I guess. Shit, man, she the local pub or something?"

"Or something," Sasuke snorted. He didn't actually believe she was an alcoholic, but it was also no secret in the compound that she loved a good cup of sake every once in a while. He eyed the other man. "Sorry about your godfather."

"Mah, guess that's just how the world goes nowadays," Naruto mumbled after a pause and scratched the back of his head. "Shit luck and all that, really. Baa-chan's right, though: old pervert did go out with a bang. He'd raided a military base just a couple of days before shit hit the fan."

"He was proud of that fact too," Gaara murmured, making Naruto smirk for a couple of seconds.

"Hardcore, huh," Sasuke muttered.

"You could say that," Naruto said wryly and stretched his arms in front of him, stepping away from the house.

"Don't let her hear you call her baa-chan, though," Sasuke cautioned amused. "You had a shit ton of luck tonight and got away with it, but she won't let it fly a second time."

"You're only going to encourage him," Gaara said dryly.

He was quickly proven right by Naruto, who snickered, "She's going to have to catch me first and she's not exactly that young anymore. If the shoe fits …"

Sasuke shook his head. "Your funeral," he retorted lightly. If Naruto wanted to tempt fate, who was Sasuke to stop him?

"You could have gone to the apartment already," Naruto told Gaara, who shrugged dismissively.

"I helped put away the supplies. Figured I could do something while you were being treated by the doctor."

Naruto nodded in understanding and started walking in the direction of his own home, Gaara following him swiftly. The blond man was still limping slightly, but he appeared more steady on his left foot now. Perhaps Tsunade had bandaged it properly this time. She would definitely have done a better job of it than Sasuke.

"You need help getting home?" Sasuke offered, because Gaara was starting to limp as well; whatever injury he had clearly starting to affecting him now. Considering how sensitive he appeared over the limp, though, Sasuke knew better than to offer him help.

Naruto turned around and lifted an eyebrow; the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. "What, you going to carry me all bridal style and shit?" he teased.

"You'd make a lousy bride," Gaara scoffed, not even flinching when Naruto slapped his shoulder.

"Was thinking more of acting like a human crutch, but it's interesting how your mind goes to that immediately," Sasuke smirked, hooking his thumbs around the loops of his jeans.

In the house across from them, the light in one of the bedrooms switched on; the brightness instantly dimmed by the curtains being drawn. Even within the compound they did their best to have as little light as possible, just in case. No need to draw unwanted attention.

"The only way you get to carry me is if you're planning on fucking me against the wall," Naruto grinned bluntly and winked while Gaara heaved a huge sigh. "Until then you can only dream of this arse." He smacked the aforementioned arse a couple of times before ambling away; his arms crossed behind his head.

He started bugging Gaara soon, though. "You not going to offer to act as a human crutch?"

"If you can climb into trees, you can walk on your own," Gaara informed him mercilessly.

"Not an ounce of sympathy, that hurts, Gaara, it really does," Naruto droned. "I had expected more from you, I really did."

"I expected you to stop talking with your dick, but it looks like neither of us is getting what we want tonight," Gaara shot back.

"Okay, look at his face and his body and tell me to stop talking with my dick," Naruto argued, gesturing backwards at Sasuke right before the two friends rounded the corner.

"God, what an idiot," Sasuke sighed, shaking his head.

He was definitely not smiling when he returned home.

Apparently the full van and the news of Mei's pregnancy spreading throughout the compound like wildfire was enough cause for celebration according to the Board. It had been quite some time since they had last been able to find so many supplies on one run – and live to bring them with them – that it was enough reason for everyone to unwind for once and celebrate with a small party. Good news sometimes felt so far and in between that they grasped every opportunity to celebrate it when it finally occurred.

A van full of supplies and a new baby were a good enough reason as any apparently.

Sasuke had never liked parties and a zombie apocalypse hadn't changed his mind regarding that matter at all, but he still showed up at the party on Friday anyways. Mostly to keep Itachi off his back because the bastard kept insisting that Sasuke should socialise with the others. You would think his brother would know better after all these years to expect Sasuke to be in the mood to socialise. He wished he had been put on guard shift tonight, but no such luck for him. Even if he had been put on the roster for the guard shift, though, chances were his shift would have been cut short regardless because that was what would happen to all their shifts tonight, ensuring that everyone had the opportunity to enjoy themselves for at least a little while.

Taking small sips from his beer, he looked around the centre of the compound, taking in who was currently present. It didn't surprise him one bit that he couldn't spot either Naruto or Gaara, even though they both would have the chance to attend the party given that they hadn't been given a guard shift yet. He had seen Naruto earlier today when Sasuke had returned from checking the compound's vicinity, cutting down stray zombies. Naruto had walked without a limp, so at least his ankle was better now. Maybe he really did have some amazing genes when it concerned healing.

"You looking for someone, un?" Deidara popped up at his side; the light flush in his cheeks and across his nose indicating that he was definitely taking advantage of the beer selection.

"Not really," Sasuke mumbled and braced his back against the wall of the house behind him. "Don't see Naruto or Gaara. You think they ever showed up here?"

"Naruto-kun? Yeah, I've seen him," Deidara replied to his complete surprise. "Not Gaara-kun, though. Naruto-kun was here a little while ago. Took some beers but left before anyone could talk to him, un. He's even more surly than you, who'd ever have guessed?" He chortled, pleased with his own joke, and tilted his bottle back to get the last dreg of his beer out of it.

Ignoring the slight jab at his personality, Sasuke straightened up; his interest piqued in spite of himself. "You saw where he went?"

Deidara started to smirk, which had Sasuke narrowing his eyes in return. "What?" he asked warily.

"Yeah, I saw where he went, un," Deidara confirmed and jerked his head in the direction of the apartment complex where Naruto and Gaara lived. "He went back, probably to their apartment."

"Thanks, Deidara." Sasuke pushed himself away from the wall, intending on going after Naruto.

"You need some supplies, un?" Deidara called out mischievously.

Even though he definitely knew better by now than entertaining Deidara even further when he was in this kind of mood, Sasuke nevertheless stopped and turned his head, furrowing his eyebrows. "What the hell are you on about?"

Deidara's smirk grew and he swung the empty bottle idly around. "You know, supplies," he repeated, putting unnecessary stress on the word. "In case you want to have a party of your own with him, un. Or with them both, hell, I don't judge."

Sasuke just barely managed to resist the urge to throw his bottle at that annoying smirking face. "We're not like that, you fucking idiot!" he hissed irritated. "Get your mind out of the damn gutter!"

"You're not?" Deidara tilted his head to the right, looking genuinely confused, before he shrugged and popped his lips. "Whatever, not willing to give up on the bet just yet. Just hurry up and fuck him already, all right, un? Either of them, both of them, don't care. I've got an amazing bottle of sake riding on this shit."

"What the fuck?" Sasuke snapped incredulously. "What kind of sick bet do you have going on there? And with whom?!"

"Mah, nothing to be concerned about, un," Deidara grinned and scuttled back to the beer table, wisely hightailing out of here. "Go get your man, Sasuke-kun! Or men, whatever."

"I'm surrounded by fucking idiots," Sasuke snarled and marched away before he would actually give in to the temptation and punch Deidara in his stupid grinning face.

Prick better stay out of his way for the next couple of days. Why the fuck were they even betting on him and Naruto? Or him and Gaara or fucking hell, all three of them? The fuck? Didn't they have better shit to do?

The further he walked away from the centre, the quieter his surroundings became. Most people were attending the party now, with a small group left to guard the walls. Maybe some people had decided to stay home, but most of them were celebrating, leaving the rest of the streets to be empty and relatively silent. Even somewhat peaceful if one chose to forget the dead lingering outside the walls.

He saw Naruto and Gaara the second he turned the corner. The two men sat on the grass near a small pond that Shikamaru had been working on with a group for two weeks now. Their hope was to eventually collect enough fish in the pond to sustain everybody here without having to constantly go outside and hope for a lucky day at the river.

Naruto and Gaara sat next to each other, quietly conversing while the wind played with their hair.

"Not a fan of the party either, huh?" Sasuke announced his presence, coming to a stop a couple of steps away from them, uncertain of the welcome he would receive now that there was no assignment putting them together.

Neither of them even startled as if they had heard his approach. The dark haired man thought he hadn't been that particularly loud, but both of them had proven before to have exceptional hearing. Naruto was the first one to look up, smiling wryly. He had his knees pulled up; a bottle of beer dangling between his thighs. Gaara's legs were stretched out in front of him; his right foot lightly swaying back and forth while he balanced his beer on his thigh.

"Nah, not really. Too crowded," Naruto replied casually and went back to watching the pond, though this late at night there was barely anything to see in the dark, save for the occasional ripple whenever the wind would blow across the water surface. "You not a fan either?"

"Too crowded," Sasuke echoed and Naruto snorted amused.

Even Gaara quirked a quick smile.

Figuring this was as much as a welcome as he was going to get from them, Sasuke sank down next to Naruto, shivering a bit when the coldness of the grass seeped through his jeans. They were quiet for a while, watching the water rippling and listening to a lonely owl hooting somewhere in the distance.

"You really know how to fight with a crossbow?" Sasuke asked curiously, aiming the question at Naruto of course. He had seen Gaara fighting with his own crossbow after all.

The question had lingered on his mind the entire time since he had heard Naruto complain about its absence during the run, but he hadn't found a good moment to discuss it yet. Tonight was probably the best moment he was going to get in a while.

When Naruto looked at him bemused, Sasuke elaborated, "Heard you mentioning it last week when we were trying to get inside that apartment building."

"Told you, you should have taken it with you," Gaara murmured, still watching the small pond.

"You heard that, huh?" Naruto sighed amused and shook his head lightly. "Yeah, I know how to fight with a crossbow. You mean to tell me that you didn't see one in my bag when we first arrived here?"

"I wasn't in charge of doing the check-up of your weapons." Sasuke shrugged, swatting a fly away. "So no, I had no idea. You taught yourself?"

"Nah man, Gaara's older sister, she taught me and him," Naruto answered easily and scratched his cheek.

"Only after a lot of whining on our parts," Gaara added; the corners of his mouth faintly twitching before his face turned carefully blank.

Sasuke kept himself from lifting an eyebrow at the unexpected pieces of information he had just been given. Even after so many weeks of living at the compound, both Naruto and Gaara had been rather reticent about their lives before they had arrived here. Neither of them had mentioned their family again since Itachi had interrogated them.

"Oh yeah, I think she was ready to smack us if we didn't shut up," Naruto chuckled. "She was a real badass with it too."

Sasuke remained quiet, strangely reluctant to speak now that it seemed that both were opening up finally.

"We were both still little brats when we begged her to teach us too. I wanted to be just as cool as her." Naruto huffed amused. "Not that that argument swayed her, of course."

"She eventually agreed to teach us when we were thirteen, said that we were old enough now," Gaara mentioned, running his thumb around the rim of his bottle. "Think she just got tired of us asking her time and again. She probably thought it was easier to finally give in."

"Man, but she came down hard on our arses during those lessons!" Naruto exclaimed; his eyes lightening up at the memory. "Was totally worth it, though! It's thanks to her and honestly Gaara as well that I learnt how to hunt for food. Really saved our arses a lot in the last couple of years."

"You got the hang of it eventually," Gaara teased. "Only took you several months."

"Prat," Naruto said amused before a pensive look passed his face. He shifted a bit, straightening out his legs just a tiny bit. "We were together with her when all hell broke loose that day. Out in the woods, still getting the hang of the crossbow, when their brother called. We first thought it was just some sort of sick joke of him, but then we heard him screaming through the phone."

Gaara's face shuttered close completely now and his hand tightened around the bottle.

Naruto stared down at his own bottle, seemingly lost in thought. "We ran out of the woods as fast as we could, but the entire street was already filled to the brim with those nasty fuckers. We packed as much food and knives in our bags as we could. Plan was to get to my home and leave together. She ended up giving up her life to help me and Gaara escape," he told quietly.

"The second we left the house, she knew she wouldn't make it," Gaara said, sounding distant. He was staring in front of him unseeingly. "She knew that if we stayed together like planned that neither of us would make it out alive. So she offered herself up as bait for the zombies, making sure Naruto and I could run away." He fell silent; his lips thinning.

"Gaara and me – we got to my home just in time," Naruto took over, worrying his lip between his teeth. "She didn't make it. Won't ever forget her lessons, though. She's part of the reason why we're still standing here."

Shit, but their lives had just been one miserable event after the other since the apocalypse had started, hadn't it? Worse than any of them had had it so far.

He looked between them and asked tentatively, "You mind teaching me how to handle a crossbow?"

Gaara scoffed, taking a swig of his bottle. "Not really teacher material, sorry."

Naruto blinked and turned to look at Sasuke; a crooked smile replacing the melancholic one. "What, you're not badass enough yet with your katana?" he teased and raised his bottle to sip from it.

"Well, it can never hurt to become even more of a badass, don't you think?" Sasuke kept his tone purposefully light. "Can't think of a better way to achieve that than to learn how to fight with a crossbow."

"Sure, man, if you really want," Naruto agreed easily and snickered, tapping the bottle against the grass. "No problem for me, but we'll need to go outside the walls for your training. Wouldn't want you to accidentally shoot somebody's eye out."

"You think my aim would be that shit?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Can't be worse than Naruto's at the start," Gaara scoffed, earning a smack against his thigh for it.

"Maybe not your aim," Naruto said; his grin widening. "But you'd be surprised just how difficult it is to handle a crossbow even with all those muscles you have. Best not to risk anything, unless you want to explain to daddy dearest why one of your people is walking around with one eye less."

Sasuke rolled his eyes in response, but didn't protest. He had no idea how to handle a crossbow, so it probably would be for the best to follow Naruto's advice and train outside the walls. He doubted Naruto would lie about that when he had nothing to gain by doing so.

He expected either of them to get up by now or let Sasuke know in another subtle way that he had overstayed their welcome, seeing as they had shared more than they had ever done before, but they surprised him once more by remaining seated, not saying anything else. Both men appeared content to just sit here with Sasuke and the older man found himself reluctant to get up and leave. Not when the air between them felt so peaceful, so calm, even between him and Gaara; something Sasuke rarely experienced with any of the others. His brother or his father, sure, but definitely not with the rest even when he liked them well enough.

He turned his head when Naruto leant backwards on his hands; his beer discarded to his right. He had his face aimed at the sky, a strange contemplative yet peaceful look gracing it as the stars were reflected in his blue eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" Sasuke prompted, masking his wince when he realised too late that he might be pushing it too far now.

Gaara glanced at him, but didn't say anything that indicated he thought Sasuke was pushing it.

Naruto didn't get annoyed. Instead he just sighed softly and replied, "Was thinking that my parents – I think they would have liked it here, this compound. Was something we'd been looking for when everything went to hell. Think that was what kept my parents going mostly."

"They definitely would have liked it here," Gaara mumbled. "They would have fitted right in."

"Right?" Naruto smiled, but his eyes turned melancholic again.

Sasuke licked his lips, debating whether he should push his luck again tonight and then trying to figure out why he was even pushing for more when he had never been really that interested in the others. In the end he just decided to say fuck it, and go with his gut instinct. That shit had never failed him before.

"How did it happen?" he questioned haltingly, unsure how to word his question without coming across as a heartless bastard. He had never been good at this; this had always been more mother's or even Itachi's shtick. Never his. "Your parents – how did they …"

Naruto pursed his lips together for a moment before he lowered his head again, sitting up a bit straighter while he stretched out his legs across the grass. If the cold dampness of it bothered him, he didn't show it. "We'd started out with a relatively large group, but it was like bad luck was following us from the get go. One by one we lost everyone. After Jiraiya died, mum and dad decided that driving further inland would be our best bet. They figured that the country would have less people and thus less zombies to deal with."

Made sense, Sasuke agreed. Less populated places tended to carry less risk of zombies wandering around unless a herd passed through.

"We loaded everything up in the caravan and just left," Naruto went on and rubbed his forehead.

Gaara was slowly rolling his bottle back and forth between his hands; his head bent but his tense posture showing he was listening.

"That went well for a while. We only stopped to get gas or stock up on supplies. Don't know how long we were on the road for when we got surprised by this massive storm and with massive, I really mean massive." Naruto breathed out slowly. "We couldn't even see anything through all that rain and dad decided to park in a field so that we could spend the night there until the worst of the storm had passed."

Sasuke had personally only encountered such rain once before and it had been rather frightening, not being able to see a single thing through the sheet of rain coming down hard. He couldn't imagine being stuck in that with no real home as protection.

"We believed we were safe," Naruto said softly. He began pulling some grass blades out of the ground. "We hadn't seen any of the undead in more than a week by then and there was no house around at all. So we slept, hoping we could continue our trip in the morning." He fell silent; his face half hidden behind his blond hair when he dropped his head down.

"You don't have to continue," Sasuke murmured, but the other man shook his head.

Sasuke thought he could see Gaara reaching out to grasp Naruto's elbow.

When Naruto continued, his voice was eerily flat. "Mum woke us up in the middle of the night. The storm had muffled most of their noises, but she'd woken up regardless. We were completely surrounded by dozens of zombies, if not a hundred. Dad tried to get us out of there, but with the amount of rain that'd fallen down, the entire field had basically become one giant mud pool and the tires got stuck. We couldn't stay in the caravan, so we all got out and started stabbing those fuckers in the head. We'd done it so many times by then that I never really thought …"

He trailed off again before shaking his head once more. "I was so fucking naïve, I didn't think anything could go wrong. We kept our backs to the van, just kept stabbing away, and eventually we'd manage this like we'd done before. But then my dumb arse slipped in the mud and mum rushed to get me back on my feet before they could get to me."

He swallowed; his arms coming up to hug himself around his thick jacket. Gaara's fingers were visibly clamping down around his arm now. "One second she's helping me get back up on my feet and the next she – she got pulled down by them," he whispered and only a complete moron wouldn't be able to hear the anguish lingering like poison in his voice. "Just bam, down like she didn't weigh more than a fucking doll. She started screaming, tried to fight her way out, and dad jumped in to save her, but – but he got pulled down too and then there was nothing but screaming and I couldn't do shit but watch mum and dad be ripped apart and I just – I just lost it. It was like one second I could still hear everything, all that goddamn fucking screaming and that fucked up moaning, and the next, just nothing."

His hands came up, rubbed roughly across his face. He took several deep breaths, shuddering audibly. He opened his mouth a couple of times, but nothing came out.

Gaara took over abruptly. "I got us out of there. I was following them on my bike and once his parents were down, I knew we'd never win that fight. I grabbed as many bags as I could find, pushing Naruto onto my bike and we drove off. Kept driving until I decided we were in a safe enough place to halt and rest."

He glanced at Naruto, but when the other man didn't say anything, he went on quietly, "Naruto – he was grieving. Got a bit lost in his mind. I took care of him. Scouted places to stay the night, hunted for our food, made sure neither of us became zombie food ourselves. Kept reassuring him that everything would be all right, that we were fine, things like that. I can't even remember half of the stuff I was blabbing at that time." He shook his head.

"And you were never much of a talker to begin with," Naruto chuckled; the sound a bit watery. "Not to be dramatic or so, but he was my anchor throughout that time."

Gaara shook his head again, but Naruto clucked his tongue and gripped his wrist tightly for a moment.

"Nah man, it's true. Without you, I would have been a goner for sure. You kept me going, all those days I was just existing. I kept focusing on your voice when all I could hear was mum's screaming and dad's yelling. 'S what ultimately kept me sane, what kept me going until I finally woke up. You're the reason why I'm still here, man, why I'm still alive. You kept me going when I was more than ready to give up. I never really thanked you for that." His eyes softened.

Gaara, meanwhile, was reddening a bit, resolutely looking away. "'S fine, dumbass, you came back to me, that's all that matters in the end. You'd have done the same thing for me, I know. You wouldn't have left me behind either."

A bond like theirs was really to be admired. How many people in the world could say with such absolute certainty that they had so much trust in each other? Knowing that the other one wouldn't leave you behind, no matter what, doing everything in their power to keep you going … That kind of bond wasn't that widespread anymore in this world.

Sasuke's gaze drifted unwillingly towards Gaara's leg where the limp was pronounced on days he was too tired. Had it happened during that time when he had been taking care of Naruto? During an attack of zombies or had he encountered people that had been less than accommodating?

"Just ask," Gaara sighed unexpectedly. "Might as well after all the shit we've admitted so far."

"How did it happen?" Sasuke asked haltingly, glancing at his leg again before he looked at his face. "What caused you to limp? Was it during the time you were taking care of Naruto?"

"No, this was way later," Gaara said and grabbed the leg in question for a moment. "Before we arrived here, we tried joining some groups a couple of times before. Didn't exactly work out."

"Far from it," Naruto muttered. "People either became too testy or we lost them when a herd would come across us. Most of the time it was just us. We made it work. Easier to feed two than to feed a whole group after all."

"It was around the start of autumn when we happened to come across another group," Gaara took over again and his green eyes gained a distant sheen as if he was replaying the memory. "We hadn't seen them at first. We'd found a small supermarket at the side of the highway and decided to try our luck there. They happened to have the same idea and we nearly ran into each other in the parking lot."

Naruto huffed and clasped his hands together, linking them around his knee. "You can imagine that didn't go over well. We all had our weapons ready, trying to decide whether to risk it or not when some zombies came across us. They ended up being part of a bigger group."

"We ended up working together with the other group to get rid of them," Gaara added and sneered, "Guess killing zombies together created some sort of kinship, hell if I know. They invited us over to their hideout, told us we could stay because more people meant more protection. By that point we hadn't been able to eat in four days or drink water in two days, so we were pretty desperate and accepted their offer. Kept to ourselves for the most part. I guess they weren't that bad."

"They didn't try to kill us or hell, molest us or fuck it eat us, and those were pretty much our standards back then, so Gaara and I decided to try our luck with them," Naruto said wryly.

He started gnawing on the nail of his left thumb; his gaze once more firmly fixated on the water. "Shit went well for a while but with the group being bigger, the supplies ran out quicker of course. So the plan was made for me, Gaara, and two girls of the group to make our way to the nearest mall and loot that place. We had to use Gaara's bike and another one we'd found, because the only cars we found had all been too busted to try."

"They let two girls go with you?" Sasuke asked sceptically. That seemed like an odd thing to do considering Naruto and Gaara had been complete strangers to them.

"Yeah, shocked me too back then, but well, these girls weren't the type to mess around," Naruto spoke and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "They definitely wouldn't have hesitated putting a bullet in us if we tried anything funny. We found the mall and we got lucky, because there was still quite some food left. I think because construction had started by the time zombies started popping up, other people thought there wasn't anything left behind. But there was, quite a lot actually."

He paused again and his eyes darkened. "We were making our way back to the ground floor when one of the girls nearly crashed through a step in the stairs. They were wooden and they looked pretty fucked up to begin with, so we'd been careful going upstairs and back down, but she must have missed a step. She got her foot stuck in the wood and it was like that was some kind of go-ahead or so, because of all of a sudden the place was getting absolutely fucking swarmed with dead fuckers. Me and the other girl, we were at the front and I wanted to go back to help the girl stuck in the stairs, but Gaara told me he'd take care of it. Threw me his bag, told me to get our shit back to the bike and get ready to get the hell out of there."

Sasuke was starting to get a really bad feeling.

"I was far from happy with that, but fuck, Gaara had kept me alive when I was nothing but a fucking shell, so I knew he would be able to handle himself. The zombies weren't that close yet, so I and the other girl ran back to the bikes and got them ready. It took them way too long to follow us, though, so I went back in, because like hell was I going to leave him to deal with all this shit."

"Some wood ended up stabbing me in the leg when I was helping the girl down," Gaara took over. "Didn't really make it easy to move fast, of course, and it didn't help that she was being quite hysterical about the zombies getting closer." He snorted. "Like I hadn't noticed them gaining on us. It's not like they were fucking quiet."

He paused and the dark look on his face had Sasuke's stomach churning uncomfortably. "What happened?" he asked carefully.

Those green eyes shone eerily in the moonlight when Gaara turned to stare at him. "She pushed me off of her and shot me in the leg so that I would go down."

What the actual fuck.

AN2: What the fuck indeed. Obviously a lot of their past is still the same as in The Long Run, so the conversation went rather similar; couldn't be helped.

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I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

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