Author's note: This actually turned out a bit longer than I thought it would, but oh well.

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

Warnings: Angst; character death; violence; mentions of suicide

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

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 38

His brain seemed to flatline. Sasuke couldn't understand what he was seeing. His brain refused to make the connection with what his eyes witnessed, as if the link between them had been cut. Because what he was seeing couldn't be really happening, right? It was impossible that a zombie had succeeded in besting Naruto and had actually managed to bite him, no matter if this zombie was his dead mother. This wasn't happening. They couldn't be happening, not after Naruto had survived for so long already. Not when Naruto was one of the best fighters Sasuke knew, having killed so many zombies before.

A strange buzzing sound in his ears interfered with everything else, muting all the other noise, and something seemed to press heavily against his chest, making it harder to breathe. He glanced down, dazed, expecting to see the source of the pressure – had a zombie managed to sneak up on him? – but there was nothing; not even when he dragged his hand down his chest multiple times. Yet it was becoming harder to breathe; the edges of his vision turning fuzzy, dark spots dancing in front of his eyes. He seemed to have acquired tunnel vision: all he saw was Naruto buckling through his knees, taking his zombified mother down with him. Naruto's right arm spasmed; some blood spurted through the air, dotting the gras. Sasuke's breathing became laboured as if he was the one whose neck had been torn into and he stumbled forwards when someone bumped into his back.

"Fuck, should have known she wouldn't be alone," Gaara cursed, but his voice was feeble at best and he nearly missed his step when he swung his blade forwards.

Something fell to the ground, touching Sasuke's ankle but he didn't react. A zombie could have fallen right onto him in this moment and he wouldn't even have noticed it. Like in a dream, he slowly walked forwards, barely aware of Gaara following him. His legs were heavy, filled with lead so it felt like, hampering him with every step he took. He tried to go faster, but his legs refused to listen and he dragged himself across the remaining distance. His heart was somewhere in his throat by the time he fell to his knees next to Naruto, heedless to Gaara falling down on Naruto's other side and reaching out to him, uncaring of the zombies still roaming freely around them. Barely aware of Karin cursing up a storm and cursing their ancestries as she dealt with the remaining dead ones.

He didn't dare to turn his head and look, terrified more than ever of what he would see, but he forced himself to look properly because it was the least he could do for Naruto still, when Naruto was … when Naruto was …

Staring unseeingly in front of him; his fingers curled tightly around the hilt of his dagger. The dagger's blade was pushed straight into his mother's temple, finally putting an end to her undead life. Gaara's hand stopped just shy of touching Naruto's shoulder, staring in shock at the dagger in the female zombie's head. Feeling unmoored, Sasuke could only sit there and watch how Naruto's hand slipped away from the dagger, clumsily removing it, before he wrapped his arms around his dead mother and embraced her tightly.

Holding her body close to him seemed to break him. Tears filled blue eyes, splintering the unseeing stare, and the emptiness was chased away by a grief so heavy, Sasuke felt his own heart breaking, echoing the way in which Naruto's heart had undoubtedly shattered now. Naruto pressed his face into blood matted red hair; Gaara's hand hesitatingly touched his shoulder and that was when he completely broke down, crying hard for the parent he had just lost for a second time. His screams cut through the air and Sasuke's heart broke all over again, torn to shreds from the absolute agony he heard in Naruto's voice. He brought his own arm around Naruto's waist and rested his cheek on Naruto's shoulder, seeing Gaara lean against his friend on the other side. All they could do was hold Naruto through his grief as his body shook and trembled with his sobbing. How could one go through so much pain without shattering apart completely?

Sasuke had no clue and he was afraid to find out whether that was even possible.

No teeth imprints. Hours after they had killed every zombie, Sasuke was still marvelling over that fact. Once more he glanced at Naruto's neck; the blond man curled up asleep next to him. Skin far too pale, his eyes swollen and red, looking exhausted and miserable even in his sleep – but still alive. No matter how many times Sasuke checked his neck, the skin remained as unblemished as it had been when they had woken up this morning.

Quietly sitting up, he nibbled at his thumb, ruminating over the miracle that had happened today. Because it couldn't be called anything else but a goddamn fucking miracle. This couldn't be classified as just sheer dumb luck anymore, this had to have been an actual intervention of the gods or whatever the hell was up there. Anyon else out there and they would have been bitten for sure. They would have been infected, the virus ravaging them, and Sasuke would be holding their weakening body now, awaiting the moment the virus would run its course. Somehow, though, Naruto had beaten the odds again. Even in his shocked state, he had been fast enough to sink his dagger into his mother's temple literally a mere second before those teeth would have chomped down on his neck. Nothing short of a miracle this had been; it couldn't be anything else.

Sasuke checked Naruto one more time but when the other one didn't stir, he quietly got up and crawled out of the tent. They had set up camp further down the road once they had ascertained themselves that all the zombies were dead. It was already late afternoon, inching into evening; there wasn't much sense in pushing forwards in the hopes of reaching the town when they had no idea what to expect there. They would depart again in the morning; better to scout the town and the hospital in broad daylight than try their luck during the night – especially when their luck had already proven to be quite shaky several times before.

The tents had been put up right next to the lake, the water acting as an extra protective barrier, and it was here that Sasuke found Gaara. The red haired man sat near the edge of the lake, staring out over the water. He had his knees raised; his arms wrapped around them. It suddenly hit Sasuke that Naruto wasn't the only one grieving anew.

"Hey," he called out quietly, giving the other one the chance to tell him to fuck off.

Green eyes glanced at him and Gaara nodded silently.

Taking that as acceptance, Sasuke sat down next to him, listening to Karin rummaging through the boot of the car in search of what to prepare for dinner. She had been incredibly pissed off at first, demanding to know whether they had lost their fucking mind until she had caught sight of Naruto's mother in his arms. She naturally had had no clue who the red haired zombie was, but she wasn't dumb. She had quicky surmised that this woman must have been someone important to Naruto and had ceased cussing at him immediately. Instead she had simply turned around and had killed the last remaining zombies before helping Sasuke drag most of the bodies into a pile.

Gaara had been left with Naruto, eventually succeeding in coaxing him away from his mother. They would have given Naruto more time with her, but Karin hadn't wanted to linger for too long, worried their presence might attract more zombies. Sasuke had agreed with her, but even knowing she made sense hadn't lessened the guilt he had felt upon seeing Naruto's broken and lost look when Sasuke had helped Gaara in pulling him away.

Hours later, that guilt still stung like bile in the back of his throat.

"We'll need to set the bodies on fire," Gaara broke the silence, staring in front of him.

It would have been better if they had set them on fire immediately, but none of them had been able to muster up the necessary energy to do so. They could do it tomorrow, once they were rested and had worked through the events of today.

"I placed his parents to the side," Gaara murmured and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He cast his eyes down when he added, "I think he'll want to bury them."

"We'll bury them before we leave," Sasuke said and glanced at him before looking across the lake. The trees there were gently swaying with the wind and a flock of birds rose up, taking off in the sky. "How are you holding up?"

His question appeared to have taken Gaara by surprise, because he abruptly turned his head and stared at Sasuke. "Hm? What do you mean?"

"From what Naruto told me, you were pretty close with his parents," Sasuke explained, raising his own legs to wrap his arms around it. "I'm sorry that you had to put his dad down."

That had apparently been the zombie who had bumped into Sasuke before he had reached Naruto. Gaara had noticed him on time, killing him before he could bite Sasuke. Seemingly even in dead the couple had remained together.

"Yeah …" Gaara trailed off before huffing strangely. "I called him dad once. And her mum. Those words just slipped out of my mouth before I could think." He shook his head, smiling wryly. "Wasn't even a special occasion or anything. Just one afternoon I called them dad and mum."

"What did they say?"

Gaara pressed his lips tightly together and went quiet for a moment. Before Sasuke could think of another subject to approach, he replied, "Told me I could keep calling them that if I wanted."

"That was nice of them," Sasuke remarked cautiously.

There was a melancholic air clinging to Gaara, but at the same time he held his blade with the flat side clenched against his leg.

"Yeah … Didn't take them up on it."

"Why not?"

"Stupid pride, I guess," Gaara huffed; bitterness flashing across his face. "Told myself I had gone all those years without calling somebody dad or mum just fine, so why start now? Two years after that and I never got the chance anymore to change my mind."

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said softly, because what else could he say?

Naruto was grieving, yes, but so was Gaara. With the snippets Naruto and Gaara had dropped about Gaara's homelife, it was clear that only Naruto's parents had ever given him a simile of a true family home. Gaara had had his older sister and brother to fall back on, true, but they had just been mere kids themselves. Mother dead, an abusive father who had fucked off and the surrogate parents Gaara had had, ended up dying in a zombie apocalypse. Neither Naruto nor Gaara had had an easy time so far; it was almost incomprehensible how they were still holding on in spite of all the shit they had been through.

Gaara shrugged stiffly. "'S life, I suppose."

"For what it's worth, I believe they'd be happy to see you two still alive," Sasuke said tentatively.

"Maybe. Sometimes I wonder, though, why we still hold on when the world's gone to shit entirely," Gaara muttered, using the heel of his palm to rub over his forehead.

"Human nature, I guess," Sasuke replied and tilted his head back, looking up at the slowly darkening sky. Some dark clouds were clumping together in the distance; a new bout of rain? "We keep holding on because there's still some good left in this world."

"Like what?" Gaara snorted in disbelief.

Sasuke lowered his head and gazed at him. "Well, I got to meet you and Naruto – I'd say that counts for the good left."

Gaara stared back at him, seemingly speechless, before he blinked and looked away.

"I'm going to check up on Naruto," Sasuke said, deciding to leave Gaara be for a little while.

The other man nodded, but didn't say anything, appearing lost in thought.

On his way back to the tent, he paused next to Karin, who was reading the back of a can of beans. A bag of rice had already been put to the side.

"Beans and rice; nothing fancy, but I don't dare to risk going hunting now," she sighed. "Mind if this is for dinner?"

He shook his head. "No, I doubt we'll eat much tonight anyways."

She nibbled on her lower lip and tapped her nails against the can. "Yeah, I doubt it either, but we need to eat at least something." She nodded at the tent. "I think I heard him moving around; he might be awake."

"All right, thanks, I'll go check on him," he said and walked towards the tent, bending down so he could crawl back inside.

Naruto stirred, rolling from his side onto his back when Sasuke sat down next to him. Blue eyes blinked up blearily at him before Naruto sat up, supporting himself with his hands behind his back.

"Should have helped you all with setting up camp," he mumbled. He sounded exhausted – which was only a slight improvement compared to the empty tone he had used earlier when Sasuke and Gaara had coaxed his mother's body out of his arms.

"It's fine; we didn't mind," Sasuke reassured him.

As if they were going to be mad at him after what had happened earlier this afternoon.

"We can go back tomorrow to bury your parents," Sasuke continued softly. "You okay with that?"

Naruto's shrug was a rather jerky move; his gaze downcast.

"How are you feeling?" Sasuke asked tentatively. He couldn't help it: his gaze was inadvertently drawn towards Naruto's neck again. It was still smooth, only slightly marred by a reddish spot Sasuke's mouth had left behind last night.

He blinked when a hand rose up, covering the unblemished skin and cutting off his view of it.

"Like shit," Naruto replied bluntly; his hand falling down listlessly. The corners of his mouth pulled into a weak wry smile. "But I didn't get bitten. I ki-," he took a deep breath, "I got my dagger up on time."

"I know. It's just … I thought I would be too late," Sasuke admitted and shook his head; disbelief rearing its head again when he recalled how close Naruto had come to dying today. "Gaara and I – zombies kept blocking us and I was so afraid I couldn't get to you on time."

His hand found Naruto's and he tangled their fingers together; his thumb rubbing circles across the back of his hand. "When I saw how close she came to biting you – I freaked out. I really thought I'd lost you." He swallowed.

"I – there was a moment I thought about letting mum bite me," Naruto admitted to his utter shock. The admittance was as loud as a gun shot even though his voice remain quiet, rather even too.

Naruto didn't look at him even though they were sitting face to face. "When I saw mum walking towards me … There was a moment I just stood there and thought, why not let her do it? Why keep fighting when it changes nothing? If I let her bite me, I could have her and dad back. I could see Jiraiya again. I could have my family back." His breathing hitched and his voice wavered slightly; the only warnings Sasuke got before something wet dripped down on his hand.

Hearing how Naruto had contemplated dying, even if it had only been for a moment … It hit Sasuke in a way he didn't think was possible, had his heart breaking yet again – something he hadn't thought was possible still.

"You didn't let her, though," he pointed out quietly. "What made you change your mind?"

"I remembered I have Gaara still and you," Naruto answered softly.

Sasuke blinked rapidly; his turn to look down while he ignored the stinging sensation behind his eyeballs.

"If I'd been completely on my own, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about letting mum bite me," Naruto went on; his voice scratchy after having cried for so long. "But I started thinking about you, about Gaara. I'm not alone. I've got you and him still. I've still got people left I love and …"

He swallowed audibly, sniffling a tad before he wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, catching some stray tears. "I know mum wouldn't have wanted that. Dad wouldn't have wanted that. If mum had bit me, she would have hated herself for doing so and I don't … When I do see them again after I die, I don't want that hanging between us. I don't want them to think I gave up after they tried so hard to keep me and Gaara alive. I don't want you or Gaara to think that I gave up."

Sasuke snatched up his other hand and squeezed both of them, feeling Naruto returning the squeeze after a couple of seconds. "I'm sorry you had to put her down, but I'm so relieved you didn't give up," he murmured and leant forwards, kissing Naruto's temple; the part he could easily reach. "You're incredibly strong, Naruto, don't ever forget that."

Naruto's scoff of derision made Sasuke cluck his tongue and he shook their tangled hands in reproach. "No, really. You and Gaara, you are both amongst the strongest people I know. You both lost so much, yet you still keep fighting and you don't give up. I lost it after my mother died, but you pulled yourself back together after losing both your parents. You keep fighting every day and that's something I really admire about you."

"I thought about giving up today, though," Naruto cut in bitterly. "Even though I have you and Gaara, I still considered giving up. I'm not that strong, not like you think."

"But you didn't give up," Sasuke refuted instantly. "That's the important part: you thought about it, but you didn't go through with it. That's proof you're strong."

"Maybe," Naruto mumbled.

It was obvious that he didn't necessarily believe Sasuke, but that was okay. In time Naruto would come to realise how strong he truly was. Most people, if not everybody, experienced moments when they wanted to give up. That was only human; with the world having turned into an absolute nightmare, it would be stranger if nobody ever thought of giving up. Making the decision to keep living, though, especially during hard moments was what proved how strong willed somebody was. Sasuke wouldn't stand for anybody calling Naruto weak, not even Naruto himself. If Naruto wasn't considered strong enough for pushing through despite all the hardship he had endured so far, who was strong enough then?

"Dinner's almost ready," Gaara announced softly, appearing in the entrance of the tent. "The rice needs a bit longer."

"Thanks for letting us know," Sasuke murmured and after kissing Naruto he made a move to leave the tent. "I'm going to do another quick round around the camp," he announce, sensing Gaara wanted to speak with Naruto.

The quick grateful look Gaara gave him when he crawled past him proved his assumption had been correct.

Karin glanced at him from above the small makeshift fire before her eyes flickered towards the tent. "He going to be okay?"

"Eventually," Sasuke answered and rubbed the back of his neck.

She nodded in understanding. Eventually they would all be okay. They just had to keep believing that.

That night the tent was nearly overcrowded.

They had hung up a rope with empty cans around their camp; a primitive alarm system, but once which had proven its worth before against both the living and the undead. A couple of sharpened sticks added an extra layer of protection, together with some hastily dug holes. These forms of protection weren't sustainable in the long run – far from it – but for one night they were enough.

Karin had chosen to spend the night in the car for once. In the case there would be trouble, she would be quick enough to start up the vehicle, though with the mass of dead zombies just around the corner, it was doubtful they would encounter trouble any time soon.

With Karin occupying the car, that left the tents for the three men – or more precisely one tent because the three of them would be sharing one together. Naruto laid in the middle with Gaara on his right side and Sasuke on his left. It was a bit crowded and they were all pressed against each other, limbs askew and tangled together, yet they were comfortable either way; their presence working like a soothing balm on each other.

A hand cupped the back of Sasuke's head and he opened his eyes, though in the darkness of the tent he could barely discern the outline of Naruto's body next to him. A pair of cool lips landed on his chin first before they slid higher, covering his mouth. They kissed for a little while, exchanging sweet, light kisses, until a bony finger suddenly poked Sasuke in his arm, making him grunt.

"Keep it PG12," Gaara muttered.

Before Sasuke could reply that they weren't doing anything inappropriate, he felt Naruto smiling against his cheek.

"You know," he piped up conversationally, "even with the rating PG12 we can still go as far as - "

"I will kick your arse if you finish that sentence," Gaara threatened.

"Hey, as long as we're under a blanket in the dark, it'd be discreet enough to pass - "

"Naruto, last warning."

"Absolutely no fun, I tell you," Naruto huffed but adhering to Gaara's sensibilities, he pecked Sasuke's cheek once before settling down.

In spite of the shit they had encountered today, falling asleep went relatively easy after that.

"Sorry you had to deal with the rest of them yesterday," Sasuke sighed, dragging another dead body to the pile they had created next to the lake.

Karin walked towards one of th remaining few dead zombies, brushing her hair out of her face with the heels of her palms. "'S okay; I guess those were his parents? He looks – well, they seemed to share some features with him, let's put it like that," she said and winced. She bent down and grabbed the body of a middle-aged woman, dragging that one to the others. "Even if I didn't recognise that blond hair, his reaction kind of gave it away they had to be people important to him. I've never seen him freeze up like that before, though granted, it's not like I spend that much time with him either."

"Yeah, they were his parents," Sasuke confirmed, stretching his back before he pulled a heavy dead zombie to the others; his boots with heels leaving faint grooves behind in the earth.

She grimaced. "That really sucks."

Sasuke snorted quietly. Yes, it indeed sucked, that was the least that could be said about it. He took a step back when Karin finished dumping the last zombie in the large pile. They had considered using petrol to quicken the burning process, but they didn't want to risk losing some of their petrol, no matter how little, when they had no idea how long this trip would take. So instead they would use dead branches and leaves as fuel.

In the meantime Naruto and Gaara were burying Naruto's parents deeper within the woods. They had offered to help collect the zombies and get rid of them, but both Sasuke and Karin had waved them off. Naruto hadn't had the chance to say properly goodbye to them the first time and Gaara had been close to them as well; they deserved to lay the couple to rest decently now. Besides, it wasn't as if Sasuke and Karin hadn't got rid of zombies before; the group this time was a lot bigger than they were used to, true, but it was business as usual in a morbid way.

"When you think about it, that's some really shitty luck he has," she remarked, staring at the amassed zombies with her hands on her hips. "Encountering both of your dead parents here; that's horrible."

"Well, we already knew zombies travel around," he sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "But yeah, it's just really awful luck finding them here."

Even when knowing zombies travelled around, none of them could have ever foreseen they would encounter Naruto's parents here. Fate certainly had a twisted sense of humour in that regard.

They gathered all the dead branches and leaves they could find, stuffing them between the dead bodies. Karin retrieved a box of matches from her backpack and struck a match. Once it lit up, she flicked it onto the pile, following that one up by a second, third and fourth match, which she divided over the pile. The flames started out small at first before they grew bigger, assimilating into one large greedy fire which began eating away at the dead bodies.

"Go on," Karin said and jerked her head in the direction Naruto and Gaara had gone off to earlier. "I'll pack our remaining bags in the car and I'll wait for you there."

"All right, th-"

"Not so fast."

Before Sasuke could move, a lanky man jumped from behind the burning pile; his shaggy white hair dirty with blood and mud. His ice blue eyes were bloodshot and wide when he grabbed Karin around her waist and arms, restraining her. He whipped out a knife, pressing it tightly against her throat and she froze up, staring helplessly at Sasuke.

Sasuke had been about to grab his gun, but with the knife nearly digging into her throat, he didn't dare to move just yet. "What the hell do you want?" he asked flatly instead.

He swore to god, this bullshit just wouldn't end, would it? Hadn't they already had enough with two goddamn zombie herds in just a couple of days? All they wanted was to reach a fucking hospital to find one prosthetic. That was all. Yet after nearly a week of peace, they now seemed to be paying for that peace with one steaming heap of bullshit happening after the other one. What an absolute fucking shitshow.

"What the fuck do you think I want?" the man sneered; the sheen in his eyes maniacal. His hands and arms were near skin over bones but the hand holding the knife didn't tremble in the slightest. "All that food and weapons stuffed in that car of yours – the fuck do you think you are?"

"People who know how to prep?" Karin retorted sarcastically, wincing when he tightened his grip around her.

"This is going to be really easy," the man grinned and the arm he kept around her waist was starting to inch up higher. "You're going to give your weapons to me and I'll take it all: the car, the weapons and this girl. If you behave, I might leave you alive. Got to give those dead fuckers something to play with too, you know?" He cackled.

Sasuke stared across the man's shoulder and shook his head. "You really picked the wrong group this time," he sighed.

The guy narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"He's talking about this."

The man made to move his head but before he could, the tip of a machete burst through his throat. Blood spurted high into the air, splattering over Karin who sputtered and broke free immediately. The guy dropped his knife to the ground, gurgling panicky as he grabbed his throat. The machete was pulled out of him – only to reappear straight through his chest, gleaming in the daylight.

For just a couple of seconds the man stood there, blood quickly pooling around him, staring in disbelief down at himself. Then the machete was pulled out again and he crumpled down to the ground, clutching his chest. He coughed, blood staining his mouth, started to croak something before he stilled completely.

He was dead.

"We just want a goddamn prosthetic," Naruto said annoyed, bending down to clean off his machete on the man's jacket. "What the fuck was his deal? Where did he even come from?"

"No idea. He came from behind the fire, that's why we saw him too late," Sasuke replied, grabbing his gun as he peered around the burning pile.

He didn't immediately spot anybody else attempting to get the jump on them, but that didn't mean it would be smart to linger here.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked Karin, who was staring wide-eyed at the dead man.

"I-I'm fine. Y-you just killed a man," she stuttered incredulously.

"Yes, after he was threatening you two," Naruto replied sharply and narrowed his eyes. "The hell did you expect me to do? Just stand there while he killed Sasuke and abducted you and took our stuff?"

"Maybe the compound does things differently," Gaara said neutrally, "but for me and Naruto it's simple: you put an end to threats before they can end you. Simple as that."

"Simple, you say," she repeated in disbelief.

"Look," Naruto said abruptly; his face turning blank, "don't expect me to feel guilty about killing this arsehole. He threatened you, he forfeited his right to life; it's that easy. If you can't deal with that, that's not my problem."

She shot Sasuke a look, but he simply pressed his lips together. He could understand why she was shocked. While she might have heard what had happened that had led to Deidara losing an arm, all her experience with killing was solely through getting rid of the dead. As far as Sasuke was aware, she had never killed another human being before. So after having been threatened and nearly had her throat slit only for the guy to then be stabbed to death, he could understand if she was feeling off kilter. Killing zombies and killing a living person was still quite different after all. Perhaps she thought Naruto and Gaara were being too flippant about this, too callous.

At the same time he couldn't fault Naruto and Gaara for killing off this guy either. They had spent more time on the roads than either Sasuke or Karin had; they had had to adapt themselves to the cruelty that permeated the world now. You couldn't be too soft-heartened anymore, not when trusting other people had become a rarity. Sometimes it was kill or be killed.

It was fucked up, but that was how the world was now.

Looking away from her incredulous stare, he asked, "Were you able to bury them?"

The blankness left Naruto's face, exchanged for softening features instead. "Yeah, we did. We said goodbye to them."

"We were on our way back when we saw that arsehole grabbing Karin," Gaara mentioned and his mouth turned into a thin line. "Sorry we didn't get here sooner."

"It's fine; not like we expected to be jumped by a random guy in the middle of nowhere," Sasuke said wearily, tucking his gun away.

Just how much shit were they going to encounter still? All they wanted was to visit a hospital, that was all.

Karin took a deep breath and used a handkerchief to wipe her face clean. Either she had decided it wasn't worth to keep debating about the morality of killing your attacker or she had chosen to just ignore it, but when she spoke next, she sounded calmer. "Ready to go?"

Naruto cast one more glance at the woods; his eyes turning distant for just a couple of seconds. Then he turned back to them and nodded, looking determined. "Yeah, let's go. We've got a hospital to raid."

AN2: 1) I used the guidelines of the Film Classification and Rating Organization (Eiga Rinri Kikō), also known as Eirin, which is Japan's self-regulatory film regulator. That's why Gaara and Naruto talk about keeping things PG12 instead of PG-13;

2) Don't get comfortable just yet; the story isn't over yet and there's some major shit about to go down;

3) Not feeling cute, but might still write a Not for Sakura Fans later

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.