Author's note: Wouldn't it be something if Gaara ended up dying early after all? Anyways, have the next chapter!

Thanks to the following reviewers: LunaticQuxxn; leighd1314; 666snoopy; Weebio; Richon; TheBeauty; JaiJayce; Iraheta 127; solitare1

Warnings: Drama

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

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 5

"I thought he followed us right in," Sasuke said numbly.

He had been right behind them! He should have been here with them! Had his path been cut off by a zombie? If so, where the hell was he now? Still fighting outside? Or was it already too l-

"What the hell are you doing?" he snapped when Naruto started pushing the closet to the side.

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?" Naruto snapped back and braced his shoulder against the furniture. It started to creak as it was forced sideways. "I'm not leaving Gaara behind!"

Sasuke lurched forwards and grabbed Naruto's arm, barely avoiding a punch to his face. The force behind his missed punch had Naruto stumbling, nearly losing his balance, and Sasuke made use of that by pushing him up against the wall.

"If you remove that closet now, all those fucking zombies will start pouring in!" he bit out.

"I'm not leaving Gaara behind!" Naruto snarled and threw himself at Sasuke.

Sasuke braced himself and threw Naruto back against the wall. He didn't want to hurt him any more than he already was, but he wasn't going to let him remove the only obstacle that kept them from being zombie food!

"What the hell do you think you can do for him with your fucked up foot, huh?" Sasuke demanded hotly. "You think Gaara would want you to throw yourself into a zombie hoard while injured and without even a damn plan?!"

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT GAARA WOULD WANT, HUH?" Naruto shouted; his face drawn with rage.

This time when he punched, he hit Sasuke straight into his aching shoulder, making the older man jolt with pain. He bit down harshly on his lower lip to keep himself from yelling in pain, though there was no real need to bother with trying to keep quiet, when Naruto's own shouting was riling up the zombies outside even further.

"Will you fucking listen to me?" Sasuke hissed and used enough force to slam Naruto against the wall again.

It made him stumble, putting more weight on his injured ankle and he punched the wall with his fist, visibly biting down on his lip as he clenched his teeth shut.

Sasuke would feel bad about using Naruto's injury against him, but his own shoulder basically burning hot with pain made him less inclined to feel guilty. He inhaled deeply, before forcing his breath out slowly.

"If we remove that closet now, we're both dead," he stated bluntly and raised his voice when Naruto opened his mouth outraged. "We won't be of any help to Gaara then!"

The mention of his best friend had Naruto pressing his lips tightly together, but at least he stopped struggling.

"We need to go up," Sasuke continued and glanced at the barricaded door. "If we stay here and continue to fight, those fuckers out there will only get wound up even more. We'll find a room with a view of the street upstairs and look for Gaara that way. Maybe he found his way back into the van or he got into one of the other buildings."

"He better have," Naruto muttered in a thick voice.

Sasuke eyed him warily, but when Naruto didn't seem like he was going to make a run for it again, he stepped away and snatched up his katana, which he had dropped earlier to stop the blond. His katana was thankfully not damaged by the fall and he returned it to its sheath, tucking his gun behind the waistband of his trousers after flicking the safety on.

He switched the shoulder bag from his right to his left shoulder and offered his arm to Naruto. "Come on, you can lean on me." He doubted the other one could make it upstairs without any kind of support.

For just a second it looked like Naruto was about to start protesting the offer; his eyes narrowed, his mouth twisted, but then his breath left him in a long rush and he nodded resigned, allowing Sasuke to wrap his arm around his waist and letting his own arm rest around Sasuke's shoulder.

For some absurd reason, Sasuke had the mental image of a skittish cat: wanting care, but at the same time refusing to go near people to accept it. Considering his rage just a minute ago, Sasuke was expecting sharp claws to emerge any moment now. It seemed Naruto had to use all his energy to hobble upstairs, however, leaving him with no steam to hiss like a cat with its pride wounded.

They walked up the stairs painfully slow; the sound of the dead gurgling and snarling and moaning wetly right outside eerie background noise as they took step by step. The first floor was ignored, because Sasuke doubted it would give them a good view of the street. The second floor was littered with too many dead corpses and neither man was up for trying to shove those bodies out of the way, especially when they wanted to find out what had happened to Gaara as soon as possible. They shuffled their way to the third floor and by the time they walked into one of the few remaining apartments of which the door hadn't been busted in, Naruto looked ready to drop any second now.

Even so, exhausted and in pain like he was, Naruto still hurried over towards one of the windows, radiating anxiety as he peered through the glass. Sasuke did a quick check around the apartment and when he was reassured that there were no undead present, he shoved a table against the door, blocking it. Both nightstands from the bedroom were stacked on top of the table, adding their weight. It wouldn't do much if the large herd managed to break through and got upstairs, but it would give them some warning at least.

That done, he dumped his bag against the kitchen counter and went over to the window as well. His arm ended up pressed against Naruto's as he looked through the glass, spying the swaying mass of undead down in the street.

"Did you spot him yet?" he asked as he tried to find the bright red hair of Gaara.

"No, not yet," Naruto muttered tersely, bracing his hands against the windowsill. He frowned then, pressing his forehead against the glass. "Are those zombies smoking?"

"What?" Sasuke followed his line of sight and raised an eyebrow in disbelief when yes, there was indeed a group of zombies smoking. Because they were on fire.

Obviously the flames didn't hurt them – or more accurately they couldn't feel pain anymore – but their stumbling caused a couple of other zombies to catch on fire as well, drawing the attention of others. They piled together in front of the building Naruto and Sasuke were holing up, swaying and tripping. One burning zombie crumpled onto the ground and was overtaken by several others, who grabbed at the zombie with useless hands.

"How the hell did they catch on fire?" Sasuke questioned mystified. "Spontaneous combustion?"

If that was the case, they would have even bigger issues if they had to worry about zombies spontaneously catching on fire when they were killing them.

"Duck!" Naruto suddenly snapped and pushed Sasuke to the side.

Sasuke slammed his knee against the wall; the jolt of pain making him hiss and right as he was about to turn to Naruto and demand what the fuck he thought he was doing, something hit the window. That same something flew right above Sasuke's head, hitting the wall behind them with a solid 'thunk'.

"Is that a bolt?" he asked flatly when he got a good look at the object in question.

It was pinning a sheet of paper to the wall and for a brief moment Sasuke was worried that not only would they have to deal with the herd outside, but apparently other people now as well. That worry dissipated almost instantly, though, when Naruto uttered a noise of excitement and hobbled with his busted ankle to the bolt.

"It's from Gaara!" he said excitedly.

"How can that be from - " Sasuke rose up and looked out of the window again. Like before he couldn't spot the red hair on the street, but movement in the building across from him caught his attention.

Gaara was looking straight at him from a room situated slightly below theirs. He still had his crossbow cocked and was covered in a shit ton of … was that zombie guts? What the hell?

"He managed to distract some of them by setting them on fire," Naruto spoke up, which okay, explained the burning zombies.

Good to know spontaneous combustion wasn't a thing then.

"And then slipped into the house across from us by - "

"Covering himself in zombie guts?" Sasuke finished incredulously.

"It works surprisingly well," Naruto replied, as if it was completely normal to cover oneself with the innards of dead people. "Gaara and I have done that a couple of times before to escape from a herd. It's fucking disgusting and it fucking reeks, but it works."

He stumbled back to the window and pulled a marker of all things out of his pocket.

"You don't take food with you but you take a marker with you?" Sasuke nearly facepalmed.

"Well, clearly this is coming in handy now, isn't it?" Naruto snarked and started scribbling something across the back of the paper. "God, this would be so much easier if I had my own crossbow with me, goddamn it."

He slammed the paper against the window and Sasuke caught the words 'You okay?'

Gaara must have found a stack of paper in the room he was hiding in, because soon he was plastering a sheet of paper against the window as well. In slightly neater font he had written, 'Yes, just reek like shit now. You?'

Naruto choked out a laugh and quickly wrote down his reply, 'Ankle's busted. Otherwise fine'

Gaara nodded and wrote something else on his paper. 'Examine that ankle. We'll come up with a plan tomorrow. Going to try to clean up a bit now.'

Naruto's shoulders slumped with relief after he had written down, 'Okay'.

Gaara nodded again before he disappeared from view, presumably going to try to find something to clean himself with.

"God, I'm so glad he survived," Naruto said quietly, crumpling the paper in his fist. "Apparently some zombies cut off the path before he could follow us in. He distracted them by setting some on fire and cut open a couple of others to use their filth to hide his scent."

"That was some really quick thinking," Sasuke said, moving away from the window. He glanced at the bolt, which might have struck him if Naruto hadn't pushed him aside. "And thanks for you know, not letting me get hit by that bolt."

"I don't think Gaara would have hit you," Naruto said contemplatively and limped to the couch, dropping his bag next to it. "He's got really good aim. I didn't know how much the glass would shatter, though."

Not that much after some inspection. There was a hole into the middle of the glass, the sides of it cracked like a spider web, but the glass hadn't been shattered completely.

"Plus you know, if you die, we'd have a really hard time proving our innocence," Naruto snorted and dropped down on the couch. He leant back against a pillow, rubbing his hands over his face.

"And I do like being alive," Sasuke said dryly and walked over to the couch as well, placing his katana against the side of it. "Let me take a look at your ankle now."

"Don't bother with it, I'll be - "

"Shut the hell up and let me take a look it," Sasuke snapped. "Gaara told you to check it and you're so pale right now, you look like you're going to drop dead any moment and join those fuckers outside."

He bent down on one knee and started unlacing Naruto's boot before he could think of a reply.

Naruto tried to kick him away, but that of course only resulted in hurting himself even further, the absolute moron that he was. It was thus a very petulant blond who let his ankle be examined after Sasuke dropped the boot on the floor and rolled his sock down.

The sight of the angrily swollen ankle made him grimace. That really didn't look good.

"How bad is it?" Naruto questioned resigned.

Sasuke glanced up at him, but Naruto had his arm thrown across his eyes. Keeping his touch as light as possible, he carefully examined Naruto's ankle; the hotness of the skin impossible to ignore against his fingers. "It doesn't feel broken," he replied. "But it doesn't look like a light sprain either. The running we did probably didn't help. We'll have to spend the night here at the very least; tomorrow I'll check it again."

"No way we can't just sneak out and fight our way into the van and pick up Gaara?"

Sasuke rose up and went over to the window. He grimaced, shaking his head, when he looked down and caught sight of their van. "No, it's practically drowning in zombies right now, even with several of them having burnt down by now. Even if your ankle had been okay, I doubt we would have been able to fight our way through so many."

Not unless they had a severe death wish, which honestly he was starting to wonder whether Gaara and Naruto had such a wish with the shit they pulled.

"We could cut open some - " Naruto started to say, but Sasuke cut off that train of thought immediately.

"We're going to keep that as the absolutely last plan we'll try out," he stated, turning away from the window and crossing his arms, narrowing his eyes. "I'd rather not dig through dead people's guts and cover myself with them, thanks."

"So what, we're stuck here now?" Naruto scowled, crossing his arms as well.

"For the time being at least," Sasuke answered and jerked his thumb to the building across from them. "Gaara himself said we'll try to come up with a plan tomorrow. We'll have to wait them out, no other way around it."

With a bit of luck the herd would thin out soon and leave once they realised they wouldn't find anything to eat here.

Rummaging through the tiny bathroom resulted in finding a couple of towels, one of which he soaked in water. Thankfully he had got into the habit of carrying some food and water bottles with him at all times. The majority of their water and food supply was stuck in the van, but they should be able to hold out for at least a couple of days with the supplies he had here. He spared a moment thinking about Gaara and whether he would be able to hold out for a couple of days if necessary. Then he remembered their scoffs about carrying food and he sighed; Gaara would probably be fine. He was probably more bothered by the lack of cleaning supplies after he had covered himself in zombie guts than by the lack of food.

"It's not exactly ice, but this will have to do," he announced, walking back into the living room, and wrapped the soaked towel carefully around Naruto's ankle.

The younger man hissed quietly, but helped Sasuke arrange his body until he was lying stretched out across the couch; his twisted ankle supported by the arm.

"At least the herd downstairs will prevent any visitors from ransacking our van," Sasuke muttered and splashed a second towel with some water in order to wipe off most of the zombie blood and gunk off his face and jacket. He handed the third towel to Naruto so he could do the same.

He tested his shoulder next, rolling it carefully. It still ached a bit, but the worst pain had passed. He probably wouldn't be able to sleep on it tonight, but he was better off than Naruto at least.

"Thank the gods for apocalyptic guard dogs, huh?" Naruto smiled cynically, wiping the towel over his face and hands.

Sasuke snorted quietly and walked into the kitchen to check the cabinets there. He wasn't expecting to find much, but it was something to do whilst they were stuck here.

As he opened cabinet after cabinet, it was silent behind him until Naruto spoke softly, "Sorry for punching you earlier."

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder, but Naruto wasn't looking at him. He was staring down at the towel instead, his lips pursed together. Sasuke sighed, resting his fingers around the knob of the third cabinet.

"It's fine. You were worried about Gaara, I get that." Honestly, if Itachi had been the one left outside, Sasuke wasn't certain whether he could have kept his cool. Most likely he would have tried the same thing as Naruto and would have attempted to tear down the blockade keeping him from his brother.

"Nah, man, I was out of line," Naruto sighed. "I might as well have kicked you in the dick. I knew where to hit to make it hurt."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't go for the dick," Sasuke huffed. "Just for future reference, you ever try to do that and I won't hold back either."

"That's fair," Naruto chortled. "Wouldn't want to injure your dick anyways. You deserve a working one."

Sasuke scoffed and shook his head before checking the upper shelf. At least Naruto wasn't going to carry a grudge about this. He had a feeling he wouldn't like being the subject of Naruto's grudge.

Sasuke debated whether he should ask the question which had been burning on his tongue for a while now, but now seemed as good a time as any. It had become dark by now; the only light in the apartment came from he moon peeking through the gaps in he ratty curtains. Gaara had shone the light of a torch once to show that he was still all right and had gone dark then. The last thing either of them wanted was to entice the undead below if they happened to spot the beam of light.

For all the bullshit that had happened after they had made their way into the centre, Sasuke and Naruto had got lucky with the kitchen of this apartment. Dried soup packages and a battery operated kettle – with batteries that still worked, holy shit! – was their loot for dinner tonight. A true feast in apocalyptic times.

With the street having turned relatively silent for the moment, Sasuke decided to ask the question in the end. Perhaps it might piss off Naruto, but what was he going to do? Lock himself up in another room?

"How come you and Gaara refuse to get close to anyone in the compound?" he inquired curiously.

"Hm, what are you on about?" Naruto asked bemused and frowned, turning his head to stare at him. He was still lying prone on the couch, awaiting the moment the kettle would finish heating up.

Sasuke was seated on the only remaining armchair; his right leg thrown across his left one. "I never see you two with anyone else," he explained and shrugged. He realised it was hypocritical coming from him when he wasn't exactly a people person either, but, "You at least strike me as the kind of person who loves being around people."

"Me at least, huh?" Naruto repeated, vaguely amused. "Well, maybe before the world turned to shit, but there's no point in getting close to anyone else now. I'm fine with keeping my friend circle very small now. And Gaara's never been the social type."

No, that was something Sasuke had already guessed.

"Afraid of getting attached?" he asked neutrally, switching his gaze from the kettle to Naruto. He couldn't really blame them for that, considering the state of the world they were living in now, but …

Naruto rubbed his forehead absently with his knuckles. "Partly, I suppose," he mumbled and shrugged half-heartedly. "Gaara and I, we tried to join groups a few times before since the world went to shit. Unfortunately they weren't all so keen to work and live happily ever after together like yours." It was almost a sneer; his blue eyes focused on the darkening ceiling.

"Life without bonds is courting death," Sasuke murmured; the saying drifting through his mind again. He hadn't thought about that for so long …

Naruto blinked, staring at him puzzled. "Where did that come from? Did I skip a class at school?"

"Something mother used to say," Sasuke replied. He could still easily hear her voice; the smile in it as she told him that. The way her face had been all soft and kind as she had run delicate fingers through his hair. "Whenever I would go to her and complain about whatever shit my brother had pulled that day, saying I'd much rather be alone, she would tell me that. Said there would come a day when I would realise what it means and that I would be happy that I had my brother then."

He snorted and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Guess she turned out to be right. For all that he can annoy the hell out of me, I'm glad to have my brother still." He glanced at the blond. "I think a lot of people wouldn't mind getting to know you and Gaara better."

The wariness the inhabitants of the compound had displayed at the start had gradually made way for fascination and interest instead. Sasuke suspected that the only reason why Naruto and Gaara hadn't been accosted yet so to speak was because of the walls they had built around themselves. That seemed to keep most people at a distance.

Naruto's chuckle was dry, almost brittle. Dark. "Yeah well, can't really speak for Gaara, but I ain't interested in getting to know them. Your compound might not be all that shitty, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start making new friends."

"You two don't have to do everything on your own, you know," Sasuke said.

He had no idea why he was continuing this conversation when he already had an answer to his question. He didn't even understand why he was pushing the other one when he himself knew all too well how annoying it could be when someone tried to pull you out of your comfort zone.

"There's no shame in relying on others sometimes," he found himself continuing. "Nothing wrong with getting closer to other people. You try to do everything yourself, try to rely only on yourself and you're going to break eventually. Even when having your best friend still. It's a rather lonely existence otherwise."

"That another nugget of wisdom from your mother?" Naruto asked wryly; the corners of his mouth twitching.

"No." Sasuke got up when the kettle clicked, announcing it had finished heating up the water. "That's something I had to discover myself after the world fell. All I'm saying is, if you need someone, if Gaara needs someone, I'm here. Even if it's just to listen. Doesn't matter. Nobody should be alone now or not be able to trust others."

He expected a quip, a scornful reply perhaps. A sharp reminder of Naruto that they weren't here to make friends, that Gaara was enough for him.

"Why?" was the only thing that left his lips instead.

"Because you two deserve care just like everyone else," Sasuke replied softly.

Naruto remained quiet after that and they drank their soup in a fragile but peaceful silence.

After making sure Gaara was still fine – which consisted out of Naruto tapping the window until he had grabbed his friend's attention – it was time to settle down for the night and get some rest. That provided them with a small issue.

"There's only one bed," Sasuke announced and stripped off his jacket and his shoes. "So we're going to have to share. The blankets look decent at least. No blood or anything. Should keep us warm enough throughout the night."

Naturally there was no heating to keep them warm and the wind had started to pick up outside around an hour ago. They would have to make do with their shared body heat tonight. Perhaps even the next night as well if the zombies hadn't left by then.

"I'm a kicker according to Gaara," Naruto stated, almost plaintively from where he supported himself against the doorjamb to keep his injured foot off the floor.

"As long as you're not a biter, I don't care."

A quiet guffaw had him turning around with one eyebrow lifted. "What?"

"Is that both a sex and a zombie joke in one that I just heard you make?" Naruto grinned; his eyes glittered.

"Get your mind out of the gutter." Sasuke rolled his eyes and drew the blankets back. "How does Gaara deal with that?"

"He's not the one getting my mind in the gutter," Naruto grinned roguishly. "Besides, don't want to admit that I might be," he paused for dramatic effect because he was an idiot, "rubbing off on you?"

"Get fucked," Sasuke told him flatly. He was almost starting to think that Gaara had got the better deal, being stuck on his own.

Clearly not finished with the theatrics yet, Naruto waved at the window in a dramatic fashion. "Don't think I haven't been trying, but the current global circumstances make it really hard to get myself fucked! And I'm not into the whole friends with benefits thing, you know? So really, I'm in quite a pickle."

"You ever think about anything other than sex?" Sasuke sighed exasperatedly and rested his hands on his hips.

"Earlier you said you would listen to whatever I have to say. Did you change your mind already?" Naruto pouted. "Was that all just a big fat lie, Sasuke? Trying to hit me at my most vulnerable?"

"There's nothing vulnerable about you," Sasuke scoffed and Naruto almost preened. "Besides, you want to talk about sex?" Sasuke stared at him unimpressed.

"Look, man, what do you expect me to think about when I'm about to climb into bed with one of the hottest guys I've ever seen, Gaara excluded?" Naruto grinned. "I'm exercising a lot of restraint here, you know! I should get a fucking medal for it."

"If you can run your mouth like that, you're clearly already feeling better," Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes again. "Now get into the damn bed, I'm not going to stand here all night."

"Oh, bossy," Naruto purred, still with that stupid grin on his face. Even his awkward limp slash hop to the other side of the bed didn't appear to diminish his fun. "I quite like that!"

"Keep that up and I'm going to gag you and tie you up," Sasuke threatened, a bit aggravated now. He really was starting to think that Gaara had lucked out.

It had been a long fucked up day and he just wanted to get a few hours of sleep before they would try to figure out how to deal with the shitfest currently gurgling up a storm below them.

"You know, that's not much of a threat as you think it is," Naruto informed him. "Quite the opposite even."

"Naruto. Sleep."

Naruto threw his hands up in exasperation. "Fine, fine. Sure we don't need to keep watch?" He basically fell down on the bed, winching when his injured ankle hit the mattress none too gently.

"We're on the third floor. That group of zombies out there will stop any human from trying to enter and if the undead manage to get in here, we'd be fucked either way," Sasuke replied dryly. "Might as well make the best of it and get some sleep."

Naruto hummed and turned his head to watch Sasuke slip into the bed as well, drawing the blankets over the both of them. It didn't escape Sasuke's notice that Naruto was deliberately keeping some distance between them. He probably was only used to sleeping with Gaara in close quarters.

The position of the bedroom didn't allow much natural light to enter; when clouds drifted across the moon, the small bit of light they had vanished, blanketing them in complete darkness. Sasuke was hyper aware of the young man lying next to him; even with the small distance kept between them, the way he seemed to positively exude warmth was difficult to ignore and the ridiculous thought that at least he wouldn't freeze to death flashed through Sasuke's mind. Might get eaten if the zombies broke through the barricade, but not freeze.

Clothes rustled quietly when Naruto switched to lie down on his side. "I haven't thanked you, by the way, for earlier," he murmured; his warm breath hitting Sasuke in the vicinity of his cheek. He must be facing him then. "For taking down that zombie before it could eat me. Thanks."

Sasuke wondered how long ago it had been for the other one that he was able to thank someone else aside from Gaara for helping him with the undead. Probably for a long time and something in him twisted a bit painfully at that realisation.

"Yes well, thanks for saving my arse when I was trying to kick down the door," he mumbled and rubbed his shoulder in a reflex. It was still aching somewhat hours later; it would probably leave a nasty bruise behind, but as long as he didn't think about it, he would be able to ignore the pain. A night's rest might be all he needed anyway.

"It's a nice arse," Naruto said solemnly before snickering quietly. "But dude, you need to gain more strength in your legs."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and reached out to slap Naruto. Judging by the 'oomph' and the flat, almost hollow sound he had managed to hit his stomach. Good. "Next time why don't you or Gaara try to kick in the door, let's see how successful you are."

"You know, normally I'm all for taking on bets, but in this case I'd prefer if we won't be in that particular situation again," Naruto mused aloud. "I kind of am attached to being alive, you know, and not being surrounded by dead bastards. And having my best friend alive, that as well."

"Duly noted," Sasuke snorted. "Now shut up and go to sleep. We're going to need all the rest we can get."

"Ay, ay, boss," Naruto mocked and going off the short, quick breeze, he might have raised his hand in the air in a salute, because he could be an idiot like that.

Sasuke considered pinching him for good measure, but he was starting to feel comfortably warm and the groaning outside was becoming mute, devolving into a buzzing noise almost. Like bees in a meadow.

Even though it had been months since he last had to sleep in close quarters with someone that wasn't his brother, sleep didn't take long to find him.

AN2: Yes, I kept the "there's only one bed!" scene, because why not?

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.