The Long Run | By : Sasunarufan13 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1939 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2 |
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor make profit of it. Kishimoto owns it. |
Author's note: Sorry for the delay in posting, but here I am with the twelfth chapter! (And still no definite end in sight *sweatdrops*)
Warnings: Smidgen of drama; does Danzo deserve his own warning?
I hope you'll like this!
Chapter 12
"Just keep following my finger," Sakura instructed; her voice low as she focused on Sasuke's eyes. "Any discomfort?"
"No," Sasuke replied, following her finger from left to right, up and down, diagonally before she drew a circle in the air.
"I'm going to touch your face for a bit, see if I can feel anything amiss," she warned him, pressing warm hands carefully against his jawline and his temples.
He would almost suspect her of trying to use this as an excuse to touch him freely, but her eyes were focused on whatever she was feeling for and there was a thoughtful frown marring her forehead; her lips tightly pressed together. She might be flirty occasionally, trying to push the boundaries somewhat, but in here, in Tsunade's practice, she was just as professional as the older blonde woman.
She stepped back after a short moment, brushing some pink strands out of her face. "Well, as far as I can tell you don't suffer from a concussion," she said briskly. "Would have been better if we could have done a scan, but it is what it is, I suppose. You might have to stay the night here just for observation."
"You have an idea how Deidara is doing?" Sasuke asked, ignoring the night comment. He wasn't particularly interested in spending the night here if nothing was wrong.
"No," she grimaced and shook her head. "I'll go check on them. I have to take another look at Anko-san anyways."
She left the room, leaving the door ajar. Sasuke could see some light spreading out across the hallway floor, but he couldn't tell to which room the light belonged. Could either be Anko's room or Deidara's, there was no way to tell.
As soon as they had arrived at the compound and father had seen the sorry state they had all been in, he'd ushered them to Tsunade's practice straight away; his ashen face brooking no argument. Sasuke had no idea what had happened to Yamato's body. Probably already taken away to be buried. They wouldn't have to worry about him coming back, not after the precaution Naruto had taken.
He was startled slightly when the door was pushed open further. He relaxed when Naruto slipped quietly inside, looking oddly vulnerable with the way his shoulders were hunched. He lingered in the shadows for a couple of second before approaching the bed, gnawing down on his lower lip.
"So, what's the diagnosis?"
"No concussion as far as she could tell. Unless I grow worse or suddenly start pissing blood, I'm good to go," Sasuke answered. He would definitely be feeling the blow to his head and the kicks for some time, though, and he wished he could have paid those bastards back for that shit before Naruto got their hands on them.
"I suppose that's the best possible outcome," Naruto smiled wryly, before his smile dropped and he grew sombre. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there sooner. If I had, maybe Deidara wouldn't have lost his arm and Yamato wouldn't be – "
"Hey, that's not on you!" Sasuke cut him off sharply, narrowing his eyes. "They were the ones who attacked us, you're the one who saved all of our arses."
"I guess," Naruto muttered, not looking completely convinced.
Sasuke concealed a sigh and shifted in the chair, wondering whether he would get away with leaving already. Father had mentioned needing to speak to him, but he had no idea whether he meant tonight still or tomorrow. For now, he shifted his attention to a more pressing matter.
"How come you were there actually? I hadn't expected you at all – though I'm obviously not complaining," Sasuke added.
Naruto pursed his lips and sat down on the only remaining chair. He balanced on the edge of it as if he didn't want to get comfortable. Weaving his fingers together on his lap, he said, "You weren't there when evening arrived. So I went after you."
"You had no real reason, though," Sasuke said and frowned. "We could have been held up."
Naruto shook his head. "No, you'd promised to be back before evening and I know you wouldn't break your promise. I got a bad feeling when evening started to fall and I still didn't see your car. After all this time on those shit roads, I've learnt to trust my gut instinct," he smiled cynically.
"So you got permission to leave?" Sasuke asked and couldn't help but be sceptical. "People would have just assumed we were held up. Not the first time that would happen."
"You're right, they did assume that," Naruto confirmed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Gatekeepers didn't want to let me go and the Board apparently thought I'd be risking myself for nothing."
"Yet you still showed up. Did you sneak out?"
If he did, Naruto might be in trouble now, because the Board didn't take lightly to people sneaking around after they'd been betrayed by Kabuto. Even though Naruto's instinct had turned out to be correct, the Board wouldn't see it like that. Father perhaps would, if only because he was grateful not to have lost yet another person of his family, but the rest of the Board? They might give Naruto shit about this.
"Not exactly," Naruto huffed and his eyes drifted towards the window for a couple of seconds before they focused on Sasuke again. "I might owe your brother some defence classes for the kids."
Sasuke's eyebrow show up. "You got Itachi to use his – wait, stupid question," he cut himself off, shaking his head at his own stupidity. Of course Itachi wouldn't mind using his influence to get the gates to open. Obviously he trusted Naruto enough to approve of him as Sasuke's boyfriend and if Naruto had told him something didn't feel right, obviously Itachi would have acted on that.
"Yeah, he got the gates to open, I borrowed the bike and I went on my way. Had to cut the bike a while before I reached the town, though," Naruto said chagrined, curling his hands into fists. "I had no idea what I was about to walk into and if there were other people involved I didn't want to alert them with the bike. I ended up being too late for Yamato and Deidara," he muttered bitterly, self-loathing evident in his voice.
He startled slightly when Sasuke grabbed his fists, forcing his fingers to unfurl one by one. Sasuke clasped their fingers together before Naruto could form them into fists again. "You still ended up being in time for Deidara and the rest of us," he said softly, peering into weary blue eyes. "If you hadn't shown up right then, we would all be dead now. I'm just sorry you got the burden of their deaths piled on you. You shouldn't have been forced to deal with all of them."
Naruto just shrugged half-heartedly, twisting his hands around, squeezing Sasuke's fingers. He stared down at their entangled hands contemplatively. "I don't care about them," he said firmly. "I'd do it all over again if that means I could keep you safe. Not the first time I've dealt with such arseholes, doubt it'll be the last time."
"Thanks, for listening to your instinct," Sasuke said, lifting up his hands so he could kiss his knuckles.
Naruto smiled softly, the slightest hint of a blush tainting his cheeks. "Yeah well, wasn't going to let some douchebag take you away from me."
They leant towards each other at the same time, their mouths meeting in a soft kiss, of which the pressure quickly deepened, Naruto surging forwards; one hand landing on Sasuke's shoulder. Footsteps approaching had them breaking the kiss, but their position still appeared intimate enough that Sakura blanched lightly when she entered the room. Her gaze shot from one man to the other, clearly shocked, before she composed herself visibly.
"Anko-san got the clear," she announced, stroking a curl behind her ear. "She was the least injured out of you three. Tsunade-sama is still working on Deidara-san. She's worried about infection settling in."
"We didn't have much of a choice," Naruto muttered, sinking back down on his chair. He scowled down at the floor. "It was either cauterising the wound or have him bleed out to death."
"The cauterisation did help," she said soothingly. "But with burns there's always a chance of infection, especially in this case. He'll have to stay here for a while."
"Did he say anything yet?" Sasuke asked worriedly. The entire car ride had been spent in silence, save for Anko's murmuring in the backseat. No matter what she had said, though, Deidara hadn't reacted at all.
"No, nothing," she sighed; her shoulders slumping. "Considering he lost his arm on top of what you all went through … I'm afraid it'll be a while before he takes the first step to full recovery."
"Fuck," Sasuke cursed and closed his eyes briefly.
For all that the guy could get on his nerves sometimes, with his stupid jokes, he hadn't deserved having his arm hacked off and nearly assaulted. Would he be able to bounce back from this nightmare? Sasuke's first instinctive reaction was yes, of course Deidara would bounce back, because he always did that, no matter what happened. But up until now he hadn't been this horribly attacked. Up until tonight he hadn't been mutilated. Would he be able to adjust to his missing arm? Would he able to recover completely?
Only time would tell, he supposed.
A second pair of footsteps approaching the room had Sasuke looking up. He didn't miss the way Naruto tensed up when father showed up behind Sakura; his solemn gaze first landing on Sasuke. The relief in his dark eyes was almost palpable when he saw his youngest son sitting up and responsive. His face became utterly unreadable when his gaze shifted towards Naruto next.
"You okay, Sasuke?" Father inquired; turning to look at Sakura when she straightened her shoulders.
"He's fine considering the circumstances. No immediate signs of concussion. He's fully responsive and could perform all the actions as needed. As long as his urine does not contain blood, he is as fine as he can be, given what happened," she rattled off, slipping into her doctor's persona.
Father nodded thoughtfully. "At least something akin to good news tonight," he muttered. "Thanks, Sakura-san, for your medical aid."
She flushed. "Just doing my job. I'm going to check if Tsunade-sama needs my help," she said, a bit flustered, flitting out of the room as soon as father stepped to the side.
"You're not just here to check up on me, are you?" Sasuke asked resigned, recognising that look now.
"That was my main reason for coming, but no, it's not the only reason," Father said. "I'm afraid the Board wants to talk with Naruto-san about his trip."
"Can't that wait until tomorrow?" Sasuke asked annoyed. "For fuck's sake, it's almost eleven!"
"I know, Sasuke," Father said tiredly and rubbed his forehead. "Trust me, I'm not exactly a fan of this late meeting either, but they won't let up. They want to talk to him now."
"It's fine, Sasuke," Naruto soothed when Sasuke opened his mouth to protest again. He stood up, cracking a lopsided smile. "Figured this was coming. Rulebreakers get called to the principal, I suppose. Wouldn't want them to start feeling useless now, would we?"
"For what it's worth," Father spoke in a measured voice, his eyes intense, "I can't tell you how grateful I am that you decided to ignore our orders and went out there anyways. Thanks to you, my son came back to me and I can't thank you enough for that."
"Well, I had some emotional investment in getting him back as well," Naruto muttered and squeezed Sasuke's hand once more before he turned around, rolling his shoulder. "All right, let's get this over with. Got other things planned than being scolded by the principal."
"You should be home, resting," Itachi chided softly, but made no actual move to get Sasuke out of the room.
"I'm fine," Sasuke muttered, crossing his arms. "I'm not going to let Naruto be here alone when he saved us all back there. The Board is being a bastard about this for no reason."
"I told them I was the one who authorised the trip, but they insisted on hearing Naruto-kun's version as well," Itachi sighed.
"Wonder if they would be pulling this bullshit if it had been anyone else coming after us," Sasuke muttered darkly.
They were in the official Board room as it had been dubbed around a year ago. It was nothing more than a large office room in a building that had used to house a shop selling station ware. Now the ground floor was being used as some kind of storage and the floor above it had two rooms, one of which had been transformed into a meeting room for the Board. The furniture was set up in some kind of courtroom imitation, with two rows of chairs in the middle and a large heavy table right in the front middle of the room.
Father was sitting in the middle as the de facto leader, with Shikamaru's mother, Nara Yoshino, on his right; Hyuuga Hiashi on her right; old lady Chiyo on father's left and Danzo on her left.
Seeing them all lined up even at this late hour of the night, Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if it was specifically Danzo who was being difficult about Naruto's trip. Out of the entire Board, Danzo had always been the most difficult one, the most stubborn about getting his way exactly like he wanted. Chiyo wasn't less stubborn, but she was more gracious and willing to take a step back if necessary. Both Hiashi and Yoshino weren't fond of rulebreakers either, but they were at least willing to take circumstances into consideration, something Danzo would refuse to do if it didn't meet his world vision.
Sasuke still wasn't sure why Danzo was still on the Board, when the old bastard loved nothing more than to be as difficult as possible. A darker part of him sometimes dared to wonder why Danzo had managed to survive the breach but his own mother had been killed.
"We've heard Itachi-kun's statement and Fugaku-san's," Danzo started pompously; his dark eyes piercing and unforgiving as he tried to stare down Naruto.
Tried to, because Naruto was definitely not impressed by the little display of powerplay, judging by his quirked eyebrow and relaxed stance. His clothes were still splattered with blood; they hadn't given him the chance to change into clean clothes before summoning him, which only served to make Sasuke even more pissed off. Couldn't all of this have waited until the morning at least?
"But we have yet to hear yours," Danzo continued, narrowing his eyes slightly when it became clear that Naruto wasn't easily intimidated. "We would like to know why you decided to ignore the rules and head out without permission. Sasuke-kun, Itachi-kun, you two are free to go home. We will gather the testimonies of your group in the morning, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke offered him a thin smile. "No, thank you, I'm good here. I'll wait for Naruto to be finished."
"I'm here in case you're still left with questions after Naruto-kun is done," Itachi smiled blandly. "Wouldn't want any questions to be left unanswered, of course."
Hiashi visibly stifled a smirk, which was just further proof that Danzo was the one behind this bullshit spectacle. It was a miracle he hadn't insisted on making it a public spectacle instead.
"All right, let's get this over with," Chiyo grunted, stamping her cane on the ground. "Some of us would like to enjoy some sleep before the morning comes again. You, boy, tell us what happened."
The 'boy' remark had Naruto scoffing, but nonetheless he started explaining. "Sasuke's group was supposed to be back before evening fell. Once it started to become later and later and I didn't spot their car returning, I got a bad feeling. I told the gatekeepers I needed to borrow a bike and go out in order to check on them, but they refused."
Naruto paused and from his position Sasuke saw his gaze roaming from one Board member to the other. "As you very well know, this Board also refused to let me go on grounds of me being unreasonable and too quick to panic when the group could just be held up somewhere. I decided to say fuck the Board," Yoshino nearly choked in her sip of water and Danzo's eyes narrowed dangerously, "and go to someone who I knew would listen to me. I went to Itachi, told him I had a bad feeling about this, because the group still hadn't returned, and he authorised the gatekeepers to open the gates for me. I borrowed the bike and set out to the town in question."
He took a deep breath and linked his hands behind his back. They were trembling slightly and Sasuke wanted to get up and gather him in his arms, let him know he was here for him, but that wouldn't help right now. So he stayed seated, silently fuming about his ridiculous display.
"I got off the bike a little while before the town, because I had no idea what I was walking into and if there were other people present, I didn't want to give away my presence. I found the town, spotted the fire the enemy had created and walked in that direction, figuring that even if the group wasn't there, I could at least find out their whereabouts from the enemy."
His face darkened, the words coming out gnashed through his teeth, "When I got close enough, I saw Deidara on the ground with his arm cut off, Anko about to be raped and Sasuke pushed down to the ground with him being the next one to be mutilated. Yamato was already dead by the time I got there. I killed the entire group, left them to rot, instructed Anko to cauterise Deidara's arm and then we got the hell out of there before the dead would find us."
He spread his arms, tilting his head to the left and offering them a mirthless smirk. "As it turned out, my gut feeling was, of course, right and I managed to bring everyone back before more people could be killed. You're fucking welcome. End of story."
"Show some respect to us," Danzo snapped. "You might have aided the group, but that does not mean - "
"Respect is earnt, not given," Naruto cut him off abruptly. "And you have done shit all to earn my respect after waving me off like I was some hysterical nut."
"You have to understand," Yoshino said patiently, "that we can't just let anyone leave purely because of a gut feeling. We can't risk putting more people in danger when we don't know what we're up against."
"I've spent more time on the road than all of you together, I want to bet," Naruto said, narrowing his eyes. "If you think that breach was bad, you have no idea of the shit people can do to each other. So how about you actually listen to someone with experience on the road instead of treating me like a damn kid?"
"Going by your gut feeling easily can get you killed as well," Chiyo commented. "Not exactly the smart way of going about things."
"Clearly it is, considering I found the group before even more were killed off," Naruto smiled thinly. "You're welcome, by the way. Would have been pretty awkward explaining to the rest of the people here why this group got slaughtered when it could have been prevented by listening to me."
"I do not like your tone of voice," Danzo said; his eyes practically shooting daggers by now. "Do not forget you're here because we allowed you to stay here. We can easily kick you out."
"No need to go that far," Hiashi said; a hint of a warning in his voice.
"You want to kick me out? Go ahead, not much of a threat like you think it is," Naruto retorted, crossing his arms.
"Do you want to leave the compound, Naruto-san?" Father asked, frowning.
Naruto paused; his blue eyes flickering to Sasuke for a couple of seconds. "I've got someone here, so I'm not exactly in a hurry to leave. That said, I don't appreciate being threatened either. If you think you can control me, you're sorely mistaken." He turned around and grabbed his jacket, shrugging it back on.
"I'd say, go ask the last person what happened when they thought they could threaten me, but well, they're dead by now, so fat chance of that," he said cheerfully. "Now, I've got better things to do than to stand here like changing into clothes that don't stink of blood."
"You have not been dismissed yet," Danzo said coolly, even as Chiyo rolled her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, were you under the impression that I take orders?" Naruto smiled brightly, but there was no way one would be able to ignore the dangerous hint to the smile. Not unless they were a complete idiot. "I don't answer to you. I agreed to tell you what happened, but that's all. You don't believe me, that's on you. Now, I'd say good night, but well, you managed to ruin this night even more than those fuck twats already did, so congratulations for that. Please do not call for me ever again."
He marched out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him so roughly Sasuke swore he could hear the doorframe creak in protest.
It was silent for a prolonged moment before Chiyo piped up, "I like him. He's got spunk!"
"This whole circus could have easily waited until the morning," Sasuke said annoyed, itching to go after Naruto, but he needed to stay a bit longer just to make sure Naruto wouldn't get into trouble for his reaction.
"I know," Father sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking thoroughly vexed. "But Danzo insisted on holding the meeting now and you know how he gets."
"Told you it would have been easier to push him over the gates," Chiyo muttered disinterestedly as she shuffled her way past them.
Danzo had already left, fuming, still quite fast for someone his age, while Yoshino and Hiashi were still discussing something; their heads bent over some documents.
"Don't worry about your boyfriend," she surprised Sasuke by patting his arm and saying that. "Blondie has a lot of spunk and could use some sense of diplomacy, but hell, what's diplomacy going to do still in this world? Kid's got guts, have to give him that."
"Not antagonising him would probably have made this meeting more diplomatic," Father remarked dryly.
She pointed her cane at him. "That's on the old geezer, not on me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to see my bed finally."
"Naruto's not going to get into trouble for this, is he?" Sasuke asked worriedly.
Naruto had saved all of their arses, it would be incredibly fucked up to get him into trouble for that. He was literally the only reason why Sasuke was still standing here, why Deidara had a chance at recovering and why Anko had been saved before things could turn really badly for her. Getting him into trouble for that would be a shitty way to thank him.
"He won't," Itachi reassured before father could say something. "He ended up saving you and I was the one who ordered the gates to open. Danzo will just have to suck it up."
"Doubt he'll do that graciously," Sasuke muttered and left, the need to be with Naruto too hard to ignore now.
His head was pulsating, a headache building up; a combination of the blow and the stuffy air inside the meeting room. He ignored that and his aching back in favour of going after Naruto, though, hoping to catch him before he'd locked himself up in his apartment.
He spotted him right as he was about to turn the corner and he ran after him, ignoring his protesting body.
"Hey!"
Naruto turned around, surprise flitting across his face for a second. "Thought for sure you'd be the next they would interrogate."
"Most likely in the morning," Sasuke said and came to a stop, reaching out to Naruto. A burst of relief shot through him when Naruto turned his body fully around to face him, grasping his hand. "I'm sorry you had to go through with that bullshit. This was Danzo's idea."
"The old geezer looking ready to croak any moment now?" Naruto looked critically. "Yeah, doesn't surprise me, that. Guess I didn't make the best impression on them." He huffed amused.
"Chiyo, the old lady, seems to like you just fine," Sasuke said lightly, hoping to lighting the mood a bit.
"Not sure how to feel about that." Naruto turned his head, studied the dark houses. "You going home now?"
Sasuke hesitated. To be honest he would love nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep the night away, hoping everything would feel more settled in his mind when morning would come.
But as much as he wanted to sleep, he didn't want to let go of Naruto either. Not yet. His fingers tightened around Naruto's without his permission.
"Can I – you mind if I spend the night at your place? Not really feeling up to making the whole trek back and … I want to be with you now," he admitted in a low voice. He felt a bit embarrassed and too vulnerable, but it was too late to retract the question.
Surprise lit up blue eyes for a short moment, before Naruto smiled faintly and raised on his toes to peck Sasuke's lips. "Yeah, okay. Let's go. We can keep each other warm."
That sounded like the best plan he had heard all day.
AN2: Figured it was time some other characters showed up LOL Now I'm off to bed because it's an unholy hour here.
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
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