Author's note: Quite a few scenes will be familiar if you have read The Long Run but that can't be helped in this case. Prepare yourselves, however: starting next chapter the plot is going to deviate quite significantly ...
Thanks to the following reviewers: Richon; 666snoopy; solitare1
Warnings: Zombie gore; violence; character deaths; description of injuries
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.
I hope you'll like it!
Chapter 24
Sasuke rushed into the room, going straight to Naruto, whose head shot up in shock. The sharp, wary look in his eyes quickly made way for surprise when he caught sight of Sasuke.
"Sasuke?" Naruto hissed baffled. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Getting you away from here before you're killed as well," Sasuke replied curtly and used Naruto's own dagger to cut through the ropes binding him. "The second I read your note, I knew you were in deep shit. Father had crossed this town from the list after nii-san and Kisame nearly were killed in the same trap."
"That would have been nice to know before we left," Naruto muttered and scowled. His scowl wavered then, teeth briefly appearing when he bit down on his lower lip. "Tobi – did he …"
"He didn't make it," Sasori said curtly before picking something up in the right corner of the room. When he turned around, he was holding both the machete and the crossbow. "These yours by any chance or do these belong to someone else they couldn't convince?"
"Yeah, those are mine. Thank fuck she didn't throw them out or hide them," Naruto sighed relieved.
When he rose up from the chair, he swayed lightly; his face contorting with a pained grimace the second he put his weight on his injured leg. He was quick to take his weapons, though, strapping the machete hastily onto his belt while keeping a hold on his crossbow. The bag with bolts Sasuke handed over was swung over his shoulder, thumping once against his back.
"How bad is the cut?" Sasuke demanded and bent down to get a better look at the cut in question.
Looking at the bleeding cut, he experienced an annoying sense of déjà vu: it was as if Naruto kept managing to hurt a leg one way or the other.
"Nothing that I can't handle," Naruto dismissed his concern immediately.
"I was asking how bad it is, not whether you can handle it," Sasuke riposted irritated.
"I know what you're asking, but that's all you're going to get as an answer. I doubt we've got time to dawdle," Naruto remarked aggravatingly.
"He's right about that," Sasori interjected calmly; his eyes fixated on the doorway. "We need to leave before the fire closes in on us or god forbid, those nutjobs return. Just hearing her talk was already too much."
"Fine," Sasuke agreed tersely and held out Naruto's dagger to him, watching the other man lit up at the sight of it. "But as soon as we're back, you're going to see Tsunade and let her look at your injuries. I'll drag you to her if I have to."
"Don't you think I already had my dose of violence for the month?" Naruto complained and gingerly stretched his leg before he straightened up fully. He gave the cut in his thigh a dubious look before shaking his head. "Come on, time to go. Who else is with you? Gaara?"
"No, Itachi; he's the one setting this place on fire," Sasuke explained as they rushed out of the room, using the candles as their guide out of this miserable place. "Gaara's doing a quick scouting run of another place; his note said he'll be back by seven."
"Whose idea was it to set the place on fire?" Naruto asked intrigued, but shook his head when Sasuke moved to support him on the stairs. "I'm okay."
"Mine," Sasuke admitted. "I couldn't think of any other way to distract them."
Naruto whistled slowly, sounding quite impressed when he said, "Didn't think I would ever say this, but god, do I love that pyromaniac streak of yours."
"Do keep all that lovey-dovey stuff bottled up until we're back at the compound. I really do not want to be forced to witness it," Sasori interrupted dryly. "I already saw enough shit for one day, thanks."
"Who are you actually?" Naruto squinted at him. "I don't think I've seen you around the compound before, have I?"
They reached the main hallway. The scent of burning wood was a lot more noticeable here as they crept closer to the broken entrance, keeping their steps slow for the moment. With no way of knowing where the woman and Shin currently were or how many zombies had escaped the flames and were roaming outside, they would need to be on their guard until they reached the car.
"Name's Sasori, and no, I tend to stay home," Sasori replied curtly and snorted derisively. "After this, it will definitely be a while before I get some wanderlust again."
"I didn't force you to come with us," Sasuke reminded him sharply, narrowing his eyes.
The older man waved his hand impatiently, dismissing his comment. "Yes, yes, we already had this argument earlier. You needed a third person and I was the only one available."
They sat down on their haunches behind the door, quickly taking stock of the situation outside. Zombies were already ambling around the square, aimlessly dragging themselves forwards; some of them dropping parts of their intestines on the ground. Some were actually on fire but of course the dead bastards took no notice of the flames setting them alight and simply set others aflame whenever they bumped into each other. They actually reminded Sasuke of –
"They're like giant walking matches," Naruto muttered morbidly amused. He sat awkwardly hunched behind a destroyed wooden table, keeping his injured leg stretched in front of him as much as he could. "You said your dad had crossed this shit town from the list, though, so how come I got the request to come check out this place?"
Sasori and Sasuke exchanged a look; the older man for once looking somewhat sympathetic. Sasuke looked away; his fury, a constant simmering sensation in the pit of his stomach by now, flaring up once more when he thought about Danzo and the shit he had pulled.
"I'll explain when we're in the car," he promised and unsheathed his katana. "Now's not really the time for that."
Naruto glanced at him sceptically, the corners of his mouth pinched. After a pause he nodded. "Fine, let's get the hell away from here then. I don't want to be here when Miss Grabby Cougar comes back. She showed off her manicure enough already."
"We should be able to go back the same way we got in, I think," Sasori muttered, gesturing at a gap between two groups of zombies. The gap led straight to the street they had walked through to get here.
"Stay with me," Sasuke told Naruto, who clucked his tongue and sighed, pursing his lips.
"Just because I'm a bit injured doesn't mean I'm completely helpless."
"Naruto, this isn't up for debate," Sasuke warned him and something in his face was compelling enough for Naruto to back down from the argument for once.
They escaped from the municipal building the second the closest group of zombies turned away from the building. The less they had to deal with the dead fuckers the better, especially when more and more of them started to go up in flames; the fire crackling, causing their awful stench to become even worse when their skin started to burn.
On their right, Sasuke spotted huge dark clouds of smoke wafting across the buildings; some of the flames in the distance reaching so high already that they were visible even to the naked eye. He couldn't help but be quite impressed with the damage Itachi had already managed to wreck in such a short notice. More houses had been made out of wood than expected, it seemed. That also meant they definitely couldn't take their sweet time walking because if they didn't watch out, the fire would close them in at the rate it was spreading. Getting burnt alive was definitely not on Sasuke's list today.
"You Uchiha really don't do things by half, hm," Sasori sighed as they hurried across the square, dodging the burning zombies.
Sasuke slung Naruto's arm around his shoulder and pulled him along like that, ignoring his protests this time. He had been somewhat willing to leave him be in the town hall itself, but here on the street he wasn't about to take any chances. Naruto's injuries were already going to be aggravated enough as it was.
"It'd be easier for you if you weren't dragging me along," Naruto muttered, hopping slash limping quickly alongside Sasuke.
Sasuke shot him a sharp smile. "Keep complaining like that and I will fucking carry you bridal style, I'm not even kidding about this."
Naruto glared at him. "You wouldn't dare."
Sasuke tugged his arm closer around his own neck and grabbed him firmly around his waist, noting the way Naruto flinched slightly at the touch. Probably injured there as well, damn it. "Try me, see what happens."
"You're a dick," Naruto muttered petulantly.
They ducked between two houses, waiting with baited breath until three zombies shuffled past them, gurgling and moaning horribly.
"Stop injuring your leg. Then I wouldn't have to be a dick about this," Sasuke said snidely.
"Oh fuck you, acting like this is my fault! Fucker took me by surprise, that's all. If I see him again, I'm getting him back for this," Naruto quietly seethed; his blue eyes gleaming.
"No doubt about that," Sasuke muttered. He found Sasori's gaze at the other side of the street, where the man had been waiting out the zombies as well.
They exchanged a nod and continued their way down the street; the doors here were still holding the group of zombies back. But, Sasuke chanced a glance behind him, watching the roof of the house at the end of the street catch fire, those doors weren't going to last much longer. Not with how fast the fire was starting to spread.
"We're going to have to be even quicker," he murmured. "The fire's catching up to us."
Naruto glanced behind him and grimaced. "Yeah, guess so." He groaned quietly, tightening his grip on Sasuke's shoulder. "Fuck this all to hell and back, when I get my hands on the son of a bitch who sent me here, he's going to be fucking sorry."
"Get in line," Sasuke mumbled grimly underneath his breath. Danzo wouldn't get away with this; he had gone too far now.
They started to run with Sasuke bearing most of Naruto's weight now. Holding on to their weapons didn't make their escape easy, but they were unwilling to put them away; occasionally lashing out with them to take down a zombie that came too close. As they neared the first square again, it became clear where Itachi had started his fiery rampage. Everywhere they looked, zombies were dragging themselves across the ground before burning to a crisp; the stench of burning rotten flesh unbearable. The houses looked close to collapsing, the smoke so thick it was becoming harder to breathe and see.
"We should have taken another way," Sasori cursed, stabbing a zombie who so far had managed to avoid the flames. The young man gurgled wetly before dropping to the ground; Sasori jumping over him.
"Yeah well, hindsight's a bitch as they say," Sasuke said through gritted teeth.
They couldn't risk returning and searching for another way out. The fire was spreading quickly behind them and the ominous loud noise of doors splintering apart informed him the street would soon be filled with even more burning zombies.
"I'll get rid of the ones blocking the path," Sasori said, stabbing another zombie straight through his forehead and pulling his blade hastily free. "You keep a hold on him."
"Not a baby, dickweed," Naruto muttered, but at least he didn't make an attempt to shake off Sasuke. Either because he realised how precarious their situation was or because he was even more injured than he let on.
Sasuke felt Naruto stiffen when they ran past the motorcycle; Tobi's body half obscured underneath a small pile of blackened zombies. His bloodied hand peeked out from underneath the dead bodies, bearing a morbid similarity to a flower rising up between the weeds. Sasuke clenched his jaw and merely pressed onwards, tearing his gaze away.
"You did what you could," he offered quietly as consolation, but he knew it wouldn't do much, if anything at all.
Naruto's derisive snort told him as much.
Sasori had gone further up ahead, getting rid of the remaining zombies which hadn't yet been engulfed in fire. They were getting closer to the car while the fire behind them raged on. The smoke was becoming thicker and thicker and coupled with the stench of burning dead bodies, Sasuke was having a hard time breathing. He had to resort to breathing through his mouth, but he and Naruto already had to walk more hunched in order not to succumb to the smoke. There had to have been more fuel present in the town than they had expected; that was the only way to explain how quickly the fire was spreading. Even with a lot of houses being made out of wood, the damage couldn't be this severe without a lot of fuel aiding the destruction.
He really hoped Itachi had successfully made his way to the car already. He had no idea what he was going to do if Itachi wasn't there yet. He hadn't caught sight of Itachi anywhere yet, but that didn't necessarily have to mean anything. The thought, however, that he had got Naruto back only to lose his brother … Unwillingly his grip on Naruto's waist bore down and his chest tightened in a way that had nothing to do with the bad quality of the air. He felt blue eyes shifting to him.
"Hey, are you – MOTHERFUCKER!"
"Naruto!"
Before Sasuke could react, Naruto was abruptly snatched away from him; his heart jumping straight into his throat. He shot forwards, hands reaching out, but was forced to a stop when he realised what was happening. Rage burning ugly within him, he glared at the woman who had a knife pressed against Naruto's throat; a thin line of blood welling up, slipping past the blade.
"You didn't think I'd let you go this easily?" she hissed enraged. Not a trace of her previous elegance remained as her robes had become covered in ash and zombie gore; soot turning her hair darker, smudging her face. Her eyes were wild, madness flashing up when she kicked Naruto's leg, making him howl and buckle down to land on his knees.
"Ah, ah, ah," she breathed out, pressing the knife even deeper into Naruto's throat when Sasuke took a step forwards. "You take one more step and I will cut his throat. He can join my followers that way; I no longer care which way it will be."
Naruto breathed shallowly, his eyes widening just a notch; his hands hovering awkwardly at his side. His crossbow had dropped down next to him, but there was no way for him to grab it before she would slice his throat.
"Look, you seriously don't believe you're going to make it out alive here?" Sasuke said slowly. "You slit his throat and I will end you. You won't even get a chance to run."
She smiled thinly. "You have a lot of nerve for someone who ruined all my hard work. Put the katana down now."
"Don't do it, Sasuke," Naruto brought out, flinching when her nails dug into his shoulder.
"Oh no, you best do it before I lose my patience," she hissed. "Down, now!"
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke slowly lowered his katana to the ground. He had no idea where Sasori was. He had been way ahead of them and with how thick the smoke was, he might already be in the car by now, expecting the two of them to show up soon. He couldn't count on a miraculous interference by him.
"Good, now get up slowly," she smirked and jerked her head upwards. "You be good and nothing bad will happen, I promise."
"Yeah," Sasuke smirked humourlessly as he slowly stood up, "Don't really believe you."
Her own smirk widened. "Well, that's on y – "
The shot was fired before she could even finish her sentence. Blood sprayed across Naruto's face when the bullet shot straight through her forehead, shock flashing across her face before her features slackened and she dropped down; the knife sliding out of her loose grasp and landing onto the ground with a dull 'thud'.
Naruto blinked as his hands slowly came up to wipe the blood off his face. "The hell?" he asked baffled.
Sasuke breathed out slowly and lowered his gun. "Bitch should have checked me for guns as well," he simply replied and bent down to pick up his katana from the ground.
He hastened to cross the distance between them and helped Naruto get back onto his feet. He picked up the crossbow, handing it over to a still bemused looking Naruto.
"You're fast," Naruto said; wonder dripping from his voice.
Sasuke shrugged stiffly and flicked on the safety again. "Father wanted to make sure we would be fast enough to shoot if we ever needed to," he explained. He looked down at Naruto's hand when it came to rest on his forearm.
"Thanks," Naruto whispered and his fingers curled around Sasuke's wrist. "Sorry you had to do that."
Sasuke sneered at the puddle of blood slowly growing larger around the woman's head. "I'm not. She shouldn't have touched you."
Naruto moved as if to kiss him before he inhaled sharply and snapped, "Duck!"
Sasuke automatically obeyed, ducking down while listening to the whizzing sound of a bolt launching right above his head. When he twisted around, he saw Shin grabbing his throat, gurgling noises escaping him as blood started trickling down his shirt. A second bolt ended up buried straight into the centre of his forehead and this time he fell down; some zombies instantly dropping down to feast on his chest and stomach, ripping his torse to shreds.
"Looks like they planned an ambush," Sasuke remarked blankly.
"Yeah, guess she was lying after all; who would have thought?" Naruto snorted, lowering his crossbow. He winced when he shifted his weight. "Come on now, I'm going to be honest here: I could really use some time to sit down. This leg is starting to kill me."
Sasuke nodded shortly. "Let's go, we're almost at the car."
Sasori awaited them in front of the vehicle, looking uncharacteristically agitated. "What the hell was keeping you?" he barked, sounding a bit frazzled. He was almost completely drenched in zombie blood by now; some streaks of red covering his left cheek. Several zombies laid dead on the ground near the car.
"We ran into them," Sasuke said curtly and opened the door to the backseat to help Naruto inside.
Naruto grunted as he dragged himself across the seat, cursing quietly but forcefully; his hand coming down to rest on his injured thigh.
"Wait, into those maniacs you mean?" Sasori said baffled, before tensing up and raising his gun. "Are they - "
"Dead," Naruto replied, voice slightly muffled inside the car. "They're joining their precious followers now. Not sure if they really like it, though."
"Did you see Itachi yet?" Sasuke asked tersely.
They had agreed to meet at the car, but hadn't set a time limit. How long were they supposed to wait before they were forced to assume something had happened? If Shin and the woman had managed to track them down all the way here, did this mean they had come across Itachi earlier on? If that was the case, did this mean that Itachi …
"No, I didn't," Sasori replied grimly; keeping an eye on the street. "I know you're not going to like hearing this, but we can't wait that much longer anymore. The fire's - "
"Catching up to us, I know," Sasuke said warily.
He didn't even need to look up to see how far the flames had spread already. The air, when not weighed down by black smoke, was simmering with heat. The entire town was nearly completely engulfed in flames by now and the few zombies still ambling about were slowly burning down, setting alight what hadn't yet been touched by the fire.
"I'll drive," Sasori offered and made his way to the driver's side. "You get in the back, see if you can take care of some of his injuries already. I put the first aid bag underneath the passenger's seat. It's not much, but you'll have to make do."
"Thanks," Sasuke said, but couldn't bring himself to smile. He threw another look around him, but still couldn't spot the familiar figure of his brother approaching them. Something in his chest squeezed painfully. "Can we wait a bit longer?"
Sasori gazed at him; his own exhaustion mirroring Sasuke's. "Three minutes," he replied stiffly after a painful pause. "That's all we can risk, I'm sorry."
Sasuke nodded, his mouth too dry all of a sudden. He got into the back of the car, slamming the door shut behind him. He watched Sasori lingering next to the car while he retrieved the bag from underneath the seat, pulling at the zipper to open it.
Naruto had his back braced in the corner of the seat and the door; his injured leg sprawled awkwardly half across the backseat. His machete and crossbow were on the floor next to him. The cut in his leg was still bleeding, which wasn't surprising considering Naruto had dragged himself all the way from the municipal hall to the car. If the wound had stopped bleeding before, all the running and ducking had undone that.
"How many injuries do you have?" Sasuke questioned and couldn't help it if he sounded somewhat gruffy.
Naruto eyed him from underneath his eyelashes. He was silent for a moment, appearing to consider something, before he sighed softly. "My leg obviously. That lunatic re-opened the cut when she decided to go all she-devil on me. Some bruises on my face, I guess," he gestured half-heartedly at his face, "and I got nicked in my left side. Doubt it's too deep, because I got out of the way on time before he could really get in a hit, but …"
"All right, let me see your side first before I take care of your leg, just in case," Sasuke mumbled, pulling a bunch of white pads and a small bottle of disinfectant from the bag. It wasn't going to do much if the bleeding persisted, but it should be enough to stem the bleeding at least somewhat until they got to Tsunade.
Naruto hummed and pushed his jacket out of the way in order to lift his shirt up. There was indeed a shallow cut grazing his left side, starting from the underside of his ribs and ending right above his bellybutton. It had bled somewhat, evidence being the dried rusty colour around the cut, but it didn't look deep enough to put Naruto in any danger. He would disinfect it after he was finished with his leg.
"Itachi not here yet?" Naruto asked quietly. He didn't even flinch when Sasuke started dabbing the pad with disinfectant across the cut in his leg even though it must sting.
"No, not yet," Sasuke murmured, focusing on the injury instead of the slow, but steadily growing panic attempting to take over.
Naruto remained quiet, not trying to offer any platitudes. Sasuke wasn't certain whether he would have appreciated hearing them even if he had offered them. On autopilot he wetted another pad and went over the cut again. Again and again until the flow of the blood stopped, concentrating on the repetitive motion and not the crackling noise of the flames steadily approaching them.
He was just wrapping gauze around the cut when the door opened, startling both men. Sasori slid behind the wheel and through the rear view mirror he caught Sasuke's gaze; Sasori's eyes turning apologetically.
"Three minutes are up," Sasori offered softly.
Sasuke's fingers tightened around the edge of the gauze and he found himself wondering why all of a sudden the edges of his vision had turned so blurry. Was the smoke irritating his eyes? If it was, it was annoying, because he could hardly see through the blurry sheen what he was doing. He thought his hands were trembling, which was stupid, because why the fuck would they be trembling now? He had to take care of Naruto, had to finish wrapping his thigh and then had to disinfect the shallow cut in his side, because like hell was he going to let an infection take him away from him after everything they had just gone through. A fucking infection wasn't going to take Naruto away from him, but his hands kept shaking; the label on the disinfectant turning illegible …
"Sasuke …" Naruto trailed off and then warm, rough hands cupped his face, Naruto murmuring something to him, but the ringing in Sasuke's ears made it hard to concentrate on what he was saying, which only served to heighten his frustration even further because what the fuck was wrong with him?
The engine roared to life, sending vibrations through the car, and the heavy feeling in Sasuke's chest grew worse, tightening until he could barely breathe; the blurriness in his vision spreading until he could feel something disgustingly wet and hot slipping down his cheeks and really, this was so not the fucking time right now.
Sasori reversed the car, intent on driving straight out of the gates that way. His arm braced on the shoulder of his seat, he checked behind them before quickly looking in front of him again.
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
The unexpected loud curse had both Naruto and Sasuke jumping in their seats in shock. "What? What's wrong?" Naruto demanded, his hand already dipping to his crossbow, though his other hand was still clutching the side of Sasuke's face.
Before Sasori could explain his outburst, the door of the passenger seat was wrenched open and someone flung themselves inside.
"Go on, floor it now!" Itachi demanded, breathing harshly. "I found some propane tanks and I'm not sure if they're completely emp-"
A loud explosion rocked the earth, sending shattered stones flying high up in the air.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sasori snapped, but slammed his foot down on the gas.
The tires screeched in protest, but the car shot backwards immediately. A jagged stone landed where the front of the car had been not even a second ago and they were all thrown to one side of the car when Sasori made a wild turn before getting them back on the road.
"So," Itachi said in the loaded pause that followed, "they turned out to not be completely empty apparently."
"Apparently," Sasori agreed sarcastically, pressing down on the gas pedal even further. "Next time you decided to set a bloody town on fire, keep me out of this whole bullshit!"
"You were the one who - " Itachi began, but Sasori cut him off with a vicious hiss.
"Don't even fucking finish that sentence if you know what's good for you!"
Itachi raised his hands good-naturedly and then twisted around in his seat, looking at Naruto first. He gave him a quick once-over; frowning briefly when he got a better look at the injuries. He smiled then, obviously forcing himself to relax. "Glad we could get you out of there."
Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Glad you didn't mind putting yourself in danger for little old me," he drawled mildly, but his eyes were dark and the hand still cupping Sasuke's face tensed almost imperceptibly.
"We weren't going to leave you there," Itachi said simply before he looked at Sasuke. Instantly his face softened and he twisted his arm behind the seat, grabbing the hand that was closest to him. "Sorry I kept you waiting, otouto."
Sasuke swallowed, the sensation painful and rough as if one of those shattered stones had dug itself into his throat. "You pushed it really close," he said accusingly. To his frustration his vision was still blurry and he blinked rapidly. Fuck, couldn't his vision go back to normal finally?
"I know," Itachi murmured, smiling faintly. "I wanted to make sure that nothing would remain after this. Took me a bit longer than I had expected it would take."
"Is it a hobby of yours to estimate how long it takes to set a whole town on fire then?" Sasori muttered darkly. He wasn't looking at either of them, keeping his eyes firmly focused on the road in front of them.
The sky above them was darkening steadily; it must be inching into early evening by now. They had been in the town a lot longer than expected. Sasuke could already imagine how out of his mind father would be by now. Not to mention Gaara. If Gaara found out what had happened to Naruto … Danzo would be able to call himself incredibly lucky if Sasuke or his father got to him first and not Gaara. Not that Sasuke would be opposed to letting Gaara take care of Danzo …
"Not a hobby but it takes some calculations," was all Itachi said before he squeezed Sasuke's hand. He waited until Sasuke had squeezed back before he loosened his grip and turned around to sit properly. "Let's go home now."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Sasori muttered, huffing. "Count me out if you ever feel the need to rescue someone else again. I'm not made for this bullshit hero shtick."
Itachi huffed amused; a teasing smile unfolding across his lips when he glanced at the other man. "But you were the one who su-"
"Don't. Just fucking don't."
Naruto snickered and even Sasuke relaxed enough to smile; the atmosphere in the car turning remarkably lighter the further they got away from the burning town.
Right as Sasuke was about to fully relax in his seat, however, Naruto piped up curiously, "So can somebody tell me why I got sent to that shit town when it was supposed to be forbidden territory?"
AN2: So yes, prepare yourselves: starting next chapter we're going to dive into entirely new scenes! The plot is going to deviate quite a bit :)
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.