Author's note: IMPORTANT NEWS. In November I will start my first job. That means I'll have to change my schedule regarding the chores I do in the household and it might take me a bit to figure out how to plan everything efficiently. I will do my best to keep the updates regularly, however. But in the case I do end up missing a week or longer, you know why. Some stories are easier to write than others, so yeah, that's another issue that affects how my writing goes.

Anyways, I figured I'd give you all the head's up already.

Thanks to the following reviewers: Weebio; solitare1; Richon

Warnings: Nothing in particular, I think

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

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 45

Either their luck had finally returned or the universe had decided it had enough of fucking them over. Whichever it was, it meant their journey back home went a lot smoother than before. They did encounter some small groups of zombies, but none were of a size that actually could give them trouble. Even with their regained luck, the overall mood was rather subdued as everybody coped with the loss of Konohamaru in their own way. It was obvious that Naruto was the most affected by the boy's death, but that wasn't that surprising considering he had been with Konohamaru when he had slowly succumbed to the bite. Even though they hadn't known Konohamaru for that long, that didn't mean his death didn't bother them. Seeing someone die was always awful, doubly so if it was a kid.

Set to arrive at the compound the following day, they had set up camp one last time on the side of the road. They could have pushed through and kept on driving, but truthfully even with each of them taking turns and not having to deal with large groups of zombies, they were all still quite tired. They had decided it would be better to take it easy for one night and set up camp so that they would return to the compound in a somewhat decent state.

Stabbing the zombified woman through the centre of her forehead, Sasuke watched dispassionately how her body jerked to a stop; her throaty gurgling silenced immediately. He raised his foot and kicked her back while at the same time pulling his katana free. He kept his katana raised in the air, pricking his ears and looking around, but she appeared to have been the only one. Relaxing again, he used some dead leaves to clean off most of the gunk clinging to his katana.

With it still being the middle of the night, there was no way to base the hour on the colour of the sky, so Sasuke opened the car door of the driver's side to turn the key just far enough that the dashboard lit up, illuminating the hour. As soon as he saw that it was almost two thirty, he pulled the key out and closed the door. His guard shift for tonight was over; it was Gaara's turn to take over.

He walked over to the tent Naruto and Gaara had chosen as theirs earlier tonight, ready to call out, but paused when he heard them talking. They were both still awake?

"… managed to save Moegi," Gaara was saying.

"What, like this is the universe's shitty way of saying I could only save one?" Naruto scoffed. "That's fucked up."

"Don't know what the universe is thinking, but this is what I say: it's not your fault," Gaara riposted strongly. "If anyone is to blame, it's those cannibals and the dead fuckers. His death is not on you, though. You did everything you could; life just fucking sucks."

"Guess I can't really disagree with that," Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke waited for a little while in case they would start talking again, but when silence kept reigning, he announced his presence by unzipping the front of the tent. A torchlight was instantly used, nearly blinding him when the beam briefly crossed his eyes. He shielded his eyes from the light and heard Naruto mumble an apology.

"Gaara, your turn for the guard shift," Sasuke said, sitting down at the side to make space for the red haired man. "I just killed a zombie, but she seemed to have been wandering on her own."

"As long as it's not a herd again," Gaara muttered and crawled past him.

The tent was zipped shut again and Gaara's footsteps faded slightly as he walked towards the side of the road.

"I thought you would have been asleep by now," Sasuke said and laid down next to Naruto, claiming the sleeping bag Gaara had been using.

"Couldn't really fall asleep," Naruto muttered, burrowing himself into Sasuke's side. He slung his leg over Sasuke's and wrapped his arm around his waist, shutting off the torchlight.

Sasuke hesitated for a couple of seconds before he murmured, "Gaara's right, you know. What happened with Konohamaru – that's not your fault."

"You heard that, huh," Naruto sighed. He was quiet for a moment before he murmured, "I know it's stupid to be upset over a kid we barely knew for a day, but …" He seemed to struggle, not knowing how to continue.

"It's not stupid," Sasuke retorted and turned his head to kiss Naruto's forehead. "It's what makes you a decent person."

"I suppose," Naruto mumbled.

"Konohamaru died because of those cannibalistic fuckers; they're the reason why we had to go so deep in the forest," Sasuke reminded him. "We managed to save Moegi, didn't we?"

"Yeah, and we also had to take it up against a fucker back then," Naruto pointed out.

"One arsehole against an entire group of cannibals plus zombies," Sasuke shot back in return. "Pretty sure there's a significant difference between those two situations."

Naruto's snort sounded wearily amused. "You and Gaara are really just determined to not let me wallow in guilt at all, huh?"

"Yes, we are because you have nothing to feel guilty about," Sasuke said resolutely.

A pair of cool lips found his cheek in the darkness. Whether the kiss meant Naruto acquiesced or the gesture was simply meant as a way to shut him up was unclear, but that was fine. Sasuke and Gaara would just have to remind Naruto that he wasn't at fault as many times as it would take.

It was raining by the time they drove into the compound, but in spite of the bad weather Itachi, father and Tsunade were waiting for them.

"You were gone for longer than expected," Father remarked when they got out of the car. His eyebrows were drawn together with concern and his dark gaze flitted over each of them, taking stock of their state.

"We had quite some … bad luck after the first week," Karin said wearily and ran her fingers through her hair. "I've had better runs for sure."

"Anybody injured?" Tsunade inquired, examining them critically.

"No, we just feel like shit," Naruto said bluntly before his eyes flicked towards Sasuke. "You mind if I go check up on Moegi?"

"No, go on; it's fine," Sasuke reassured him.

"She's at the infirmary," Tsunade said, beckoning Naruto to follow her. "Nothing bad, she just fell and skinned her knees," she added when Naruto looked at her sharply.

"I'll go with him," Gaara murmured, falling into step with Naruto as the latter started walking away, following Tsunade.

Itachi frowned. "When you say bad luck, what exactly do you mean with that?" he questioned warily.

"Several large zombie hordes, a guy who tried to rob us and cannibals at the hospital," Karin replied blankly.

Sasuke grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck.

"What." Father couldn't sound flatter if he tried.

"Yep. Hey, we've got a prosthetic at least?" she said and shrugged weakly.

"Anko will park the car," Father decided after a loaded pause.

Anko, who was just approaching them, nodded her acquiescence, throwing Sasuke and Karin a quick smile in greeting.

"You two, come with me and tell me what happened," Father ordered.

Sasuke remembered just in time to take the bags out of the boot before he trailed father and Itachi to their home; Karin trudging tiredly alongside him.

While Itachi went into the kitchen to prepare something to drink, father gestured for them to sit down on the couch.

"Sit down, you all look like you've been through literal hell," he said concerned, sitting down in the armchair.

"I feel like literal hell would still have been nicer," Karin groaned, dropping down on the couch. She stretched her legs, heaving a huge sigh. "You have no idea how damn glad I am we finally made it back here."

"At least the trip back wasn't too horrific," Sasuke mumbled, kneading his forehead with the heel of his palm.

She threw him a deadpan look.

"What exactly happened?" Itachi inquired, walking into the living room with tea.

"Well, like Karin mentioned already, we first had to deal with two large groups of zombies before we reached the town. The first group was actually so dense, it forced us to take a detour because we couldn't get through – which is where we encountered the second group," Sasuke began and placed the bags against the wall before sitting down as well.

Too late he remembered he hadn't taken the tents out of the car as well. Whatever, that would be a task for later. He couldn't be bothered doing that right now.

"Those groups were seriously immense; haven't seen a herd of that size since the last one broke into the compound," Karin added. "Somehow we succeeded in getting entirely rid of the last group, though. Still no idea how the hell we managed that."

"Yeah." The dead face of Naruto's mother flashed through Sasuke's mind before he supressed that image. "We were getting rid of the last group when a guy showed up, trying to steal our stuff."

"He didn't manage to do much, though," she said before Itachi could interject. "He managed to take me off guard and restrain me, but he got done in by Naruto-kun. Guess the fucker hadn't actually stopped to check how many people he would have to deal with."

"Thank god he didn't manage to hurt you," Father said, frowning.

"When we arrived at the town, we noticed something was off. Literally everything had been removed, all the windows had been shattered but there wasn't any glass left and the engines and tires of all the cars there had been destroyed," Sasuke continued. "Every house, every shop was completely empty as well; we couldn't even found a single match box."

"There were signs pointing towards the hospital, calling it a safe zone," Karin took over. The disgust dripping from her voice had both father and Itachi quirking an eyebrow in bemusement. "We found a single backpack in an abandoned car. The content of it showed that the owners had only recently shown up there; a couple with their young son. We went to the hospital but we saw cameras in the front while the road to it had been blocked off with spikes. It creeped us out from the start to be honest."

"We use spikes here as well to keep zombies at a distance," Itachi pointed out.

"Yeah, but we didn't encounter a single zombie until we reached the hospital. There were also several spikes pointing towards the road instead of the forest," she retorted. "The entire situation just screamed creepy, especially when Sasuke-kun noticed light on the second floor."

"We took a detour through the nearby forest so that we could reach the back of the hospital without being spotted, just in case," Sasuke went on. "When we got there, we noticed that the hospital was blocked on both sides with vans that looked like they hadn't been moved in months so it was obvious that they didn't expect people to enter the hospital from the back."

"We walked into the hospital but it reeked of blood and death," she took over again, grimacing. Her grip around her mug tightened; her hand trembling slightly. "It was worse than anything I've ever smelt before; it was like the entire place was completely drenched in blood, even though we couldn't see even a single drop. It was so bizarre." She shuddered.

"Well, we didn't find any blood until we went further into the hospital and we started checking the rooms," Sasuke continued when her pale face made it clear she wasn't feeling quite ready to go on. "Most rooms were completely empty but then we came across one which had a large tub inside and – two people were hung by their feet on hooks like cattle." He swallowed; the image of their motionless bodies still seared into his retina. He doubted he would ever forget that view, no matter how long he lived.

"Their throats had been slit so that their blood would collect in the tub and they – were missing pieces of their body. There was also a pile of human bones in the corner."

Itachi said carefully, "Sasuke, you mean they were actually - "

Sasuke nodded tiredly. "Cannibals, yeah. That hospital was filled with cannibals."

"You thought I was joking, huh?" Karin said flatly. "I wish I had been."

Itachi's eyes widened a notch and father looked even more disturbed.

"No joke. This couple wasn't killed because they had trespassed; they were killed because the hospital group needed food," Sasuke continued blankly. He had to pause and drink some of his tea when his mouth turned too dry. "They were even curing human meat in another room; the sick fucks."

"Wait, was that in the room we – wait, no, don't tell me," Karin mumbled, rapidly shaking her head. "I really don't want to know. After we discovered the bodies, we decided it would be in our best interest if we got the hell out of there, but before we could leave we heard people coming down the stairs."

"Naruto pushed us in one of the rooms and we stayed there until they were gone," Sasuke picked up from where she left off. "One problem, though: they left through the only exit in the back. We couldn't risk leaving through the front in case they were monitoring the cameras, so we had no choice but to go up to a floor they hadn't taken over yet."

Itachi rubbed his forehead until it saw vaguely red. "Are you telling me you stayed in a place filled with cannibals?" he demanded incredulously.

Sasuke shrugged half-heartedly. "It wasn't like we could really choose. We had no idea how long those two men would be outside and we couldn't risk being caught downstairs either, so our only option was to go up and find a room to bunk in until we could leave again."

"We hid in a room on the third floor," Karin told them. "We were discussing how to leave without being seen when Naruto-kun heard something. It turned out that the son of the dead couple, Konohamaru, had been hiding from the cannibals in a closet in that room after his parents had been killed by them."

"You found a kid?" Father repeated surprised. "Where is he now?"

Sasuke and Karin shared a look and he grimaced. "He's dead. He got bitten when we were running away during the night."

"Did you land into another herd then?" Itachi guessed.

"No, not exactly," Sasuke sighed. "We had decided to escape during the night so that we wouldn't be seen, but right when we were almost out of the hospital, one of the cannibals saw us. I killed her, but I guess she must have been able to alert the others somehow because we had to run when the rest of them started chasing after us."

"It was fucking insane." Karin shuddered again, shaking her head. "We ran straight into the woods, hoping we could use the cover of the night against them, but they were right behind us and all the noise caused the zombies to wake up as well."

"We managed to shake them off, but when we reached the car we noticed we had lost both Naruto and Konohamaru because Naruto had been carrying the boy," Sasuke sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "We had no idea whether they had been taken by the cannibals or had lost their way in the forest so we went back to the hospital first to check if they were there."

"They weren't," she said. "We overheard them mentioning they hadn't been able to catch any of us, which apparently pissed off their leader or whatever that guy was."

"So you went looking for them," Father guessed, leaning back in his armchair.

"Not immediately," Sasuke admitted and sighed. "We wanted to make sure that the cannibals wouldn't try going after us again, so Gaara came up with a plan."

"What kind of plan?" Itachi asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"He lured a group of zombies inside while Sasuke-kun and I closed off both exits. He then set fire all over the place before he broke a window and used a robe to climb down to escape," Karin rattled off with a completely blank face.

Father and Itachi stared at them. Sasuke shrugged, a tad helpless. While very succinct and to the point, that was indeed what had happened.

"Gaara-san led a group of zombies into the hospital where he set them loose on those cannibals," Father repeated slowly. "He set the place on fire and then escaped through a window – I heard all of that correctly, right?"

"Yep," Sasuke said and rolled his shoulders. "Gaara was not exactly – in the forgiving mood during that time."

Next to him Karin snorted harshly. "Understatement of the year."

"Did any – of the cannibals survive?" Itachi questioned. His own blank face didn't give away what he thought of Gaara's plan.

"Doubt it. Either the fire did them in or they got killed by the zombies," Sasuke replied, shaking his head. "They had nowhere to go."

"Good riddance. They won't be missed," Karin muttered.

"After all that, Karin went back to the car in case Naruto and Konohamaru showed up there while Gaara and I went looking for them in the woods," Sasuke continued to relate what had happened.

"That was risky, considering those woods were apparently filled with zombies," Father said, frowning heavily. "You could have ended up bitten as well."

"What choice did we have? We couldn't leave them behind," Sasuke retorted sharply. "Even if I had thought they were a lost cause - " which he never would have; he wouldn't have given up on Naruto no matter what, "you think even for one second that Gaara would have been okay with leaving Naruto behind?"

Itachi inclined his head.

"It took us hours to find them," Sasuke went on and pressed his lips together for a moment, recalling how awful Konohamaru had looked when they had seen him again. "They had been trapped in a shed; every time they had wanted to leave, zombies would show up. Even if they would have been able to leave, though, I doubted it would have mattered much. Konohamaru had been bitten somewhere during the time we had been running away and by the time we found them …"

He trailed off and cleared his throat. Karin blinked rapidly a couple of times, looking away for a moment while she discreetly wiped her eyes.

"We buried him before we went back to the car," Sasuke finished their tale. "After that we left and basically drove straight back here with a couple of breaks."

"You all went through a lot," Father said and grimaced. "If I had known cannibals had taken over the place …" he trailed off, shaking his head; disgust flaring up in his eyes.

"I doubt anyone would have suspected that people would actually turn into cannibals," Karin mumbled. "But we got a prosthetic at least. The entire trip wasn't completely useless. I hope it'll fit; unfortunately we didn't really have a chance to take multiple with us."

"It's fine," Itachi assured her. "You four went out of your way, even after everything that had happened. Sasori-san might try adjusting it if it doesn't fit properly."

"Well, I'm going to take a shower if you don't mind," she sighed gustily and rose up from the couch. "I haven't felt clean in more than a week even though we found that lake."

Father nodded. "You two take it easy for the rest of the day; we'll clean out the car."

"You're not going to take a shower, otouto?" Itachi lifted an eyebrow when Sasuke went to follow Karin outside.

"I'll take one at Naruto's place; I want to check up on Moegi as well," Sasuke answered.

He and Karin parted ways not long after that; she making her way to her apartment while he went to the infirmary. It was still raining, but the downpour of two hours ago had turned into a slight drizzle now; the sky a dreary dark grey colour.

Tsunade sat at her desk when he walked into the infirmary, writing something down in a thick map. She glanced up at his arrival, raising an eyebrow.

"Discovered some injuries after all that need fixing?" she asked mildly.

"No, just wanted to check up on Moegi," he replied but a quick glance around showed that neither Moegi, nor Naruto or Gaara were here. Had they already left? Had they gone to the apartment already?

"They took her outside," she explained, placing her pen down. "She was excited to see them, though she asked for you as well."

"Did they mention where they were going?" he asked, already half turning around to leave again.

"Think they were going to the field, but tell me: did something happen?" she inquired; her gaze sharp. She leant back in her chair, crossing her arms underneath her chest.

"A lot happened," he answered mildly. "I'm sure father will fill you in soon."

"Anything in particular that happened to the brat?"

With brat she could only be referring to one person. He turned around and stared at her. "Why do you ask?"

She pursed her lips, giving him an unimpressed look. "I might not have been around the kid when he grew up, but I can tell something really bothered him. I thought he was going to start crying the second he saw Moegi. I know something happened. Tell me."

"You know I'm under no obligation to tell you that," he pointed out.

"And you know I don't give a shit about that," she shot back. "What happened?"

"He saw his parents in one of the zombie hordes," he answered flatly and she grimaced. "We had found a boy in the hospital but he ended up being bitten when we were escaping that place. We got separated and by the time we found Naruto, the boy was close to dying. He ended up dying not long after Gaara and I found them. Naruto feels guilty about that."

"It's not his fault the kid died," she instantly said. "It sucks but that's just how it goes."

"Gaara and I have told him this several times already, but I don't know how much success we're having so far," he sighed.

"He'll realise it eventually," she said reassuringly.

"Maybe, I'm worried about him," he admitted, biting down on the inside of his cheek.

"He'll be fine; he's strong," she said confidently.

He raised both eyebrows. "I thought you didn't know each other before he and Gaara arrived here?"

"We didn't," she snorted and her chair creaked when she adjusted her position. "But I knew his godfather. Jiraiya might have been a pervert at times and had his faults like we all have, but he was a good man. I have no doubt he was a good role model for Naruto. I heard nothing but great things of his parents too. Naruto will be fine; I'm sure."

"Maybe," he muttered and left the infirmary.

He did find Naruto, Gaara and Moegi next to the field where the girl was regaling the two men with what they had missed during their absence. She was wildly gesticulating while she talked until she caught sight of Sasuke and she grinned widely, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Sasuke-nii-san!" she greeted him enthusiastically.

Ah, so she had settled on which suffix she wanted to use then.

"Hi, Moegi," he greeted her with a small smile. "Did you have fun while we were gone?"

"More than we did," Naruto murmured, but he sounded more dry than subdued.

"I helped Iruka-san with the field!" she replied, beaming. "And, and, and I've also helped Tsunade-baa-chan with taking care of ouchies!"

"A busy bee," Gaara commented; the corners of his mouth twitching with amusement.

She clapped her hands together and her eyes started shining. "Oh, can I show you how to treat ouchies? I'm really good at it; Tsunade-baa-chan says so!"

"Well, if she says so, I think you should show us how well you treat ouchies," Naruto agreed solemnly, letting her latch onto his hand so she could drag him back to the infirmary.

"I would have stayed there if I had known we would go back," Sasuke said amused.

"She's a lot happier than before we left," Gaara murmured as they trailed after Naruto and Moegi.

"I guess kids bounce back easily," Sasuke guessed. "And she's surrounded by other people all the time; that might help too."

Moegi was actually staying with Tsunade above the infirmary, but before they had left on the run, Moegi had been spending a lot of time with Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara. Sasuke had thought she would have lost interest in them after they had been gone for more than two weeks, but it looked like she had firmly latched onto them.

"Kids are quite resilient," Gaara agreed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Both he and Naruto were still carrying their crossbows; in fact they looked like they hadn't changed their clothes yet nor had taken a shower.

"I thought you would have been at your apartment by now," Sasuke remarked, nodding at Ino who walked past them, carrying a clipboard in her hand.

She offered a smile back in greeting, but looked too occupied with whatever she had stuck onto the clipboard to talk.

"I figured it would do Naruto some good to see that he doesn't fail at saving people," Gaara murmured. "Moegi was excited to show us her work at the field, so we just went along with her."

"Hopefully now that we're back, it'll be easier for Naruto to accept he's not at fault for what happened," Sasuke sighed, rubbing some raindrops away from his forehead.

"At the very least there should be enough distraction," Gaara said idly.

"Hey, I'm not going to be the only one wearing bandages here; speed up, you slowpokes!" Naruto called out to them, waving at them impatiently.

"You heard him," Gaara smirked, waving for Sasuke to go first.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but quickened his pace nevertheless. Taking a shower could wait a bit longer, he supposed.

As the days went by, Naruto's mood did improve but there were still moments he seemed withdrawn, almost lost, and it would take Sasuke or Gaara a while to get through him during those times. He no longer seemed to blame himself at least – or if he did, he was really good at hiding it – but sometimes he looked like he would get lost in his own mind. Perhaps it would have been easier for him to get over Konohamaru's death, if he hadn't seen his dead parents shortly before that. Or maybe that wouldn't have made any difference.

Sasuke decided he had to do something anyways.

Resolve made, he went to the storage room where father was currently taking stock of everything, using a clipboard to mark goods on the list.

"You done for today, Sasuke?" Father asked absentmindedly. He sat down on his haunches, checking the lower shelves where they stored the canned food.

"Yeah, I'm done." Sasuke wandered closer and glanced around the room but there was nobody else present aside from him and father.

He watched father pursing his lips and jotting something down on the list before crossing out something else in the process.

"I was wondering," he started.

"Hm?"

"You still have the keys to that place?"

AN2: First of, I don't think there are that many chapters left. This might end around the fifty mark, maybe, not sure yet.

Second of all: I want to be smart - for the first time in my fic writing career, hah! - and I want to plan which fics I'll write next year. So I'm curious for your guys' input: which sequels would you want to read the most? You have until the end of December to let me know!

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.