Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

The Long Run	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1940 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor make profit of it. Kishimoto owns it.

Chapter List
- 27
- 28
- 29
Author's note: Well, this turned out quite a bit longer than I anticipated *coughs* Hope you all don't mind too much!
Warnings: Discussion of amputation; rudimentary medical help; angst; references to the cannibals. Let me know if I missed a warning!
Prepare yourself for a long chapter!
Chapter 28
"Fuck," was all Sasuke could say as the enormity of the situation settled in.
Konohamaru was bitten. A zombie had somehow managed to get a hold of his arm and bit straight through. It wasn't as deep as some of the bites Sasuke had seen before where the limbs had been nearly ripped off due to the ferocity of the zombie biting someone, but the punctures of the teeth had been deep enough to break skin, blood welling up and dripping down onto Naruto's jeans. This wasn't a simple imprint of teeth or even a minor scratch.
Konohamaru was going to turn.
How much time did he have left? Children always seemed to turn faster than adults. Tsunade had theorised early on that it was because their bodies were still so small, the virus had an easier time travelling through the body, allowing the infection to settle in much faster than it would in adult bodies.
Had he been bitten when some zombies had pulled Naruto and him down? Had it happened during another moment when one of the undead had snatched Naruto by his shoulder before he'd managed to rip himself free? They had been stumbling around in the woods for nearly an hour or so it felt like at least to his screaming lungs; how much time did that give Konohamaru still?
A bag unzipping pulled Sasuke out of his dark thoughts and he watched dazed how Naruto snatched a roll of bandages out of the first bag compartment. He dropped Konohamaru's arm only to wrap the bandage right above the bite mark, knotting it so tightly that the skin surrounding it was already turning white.
"It's too tight," Konohamaru whimpered, reaching out to pluck at the bandage, but Naruto stopped him.
"I know, but this way we might stop the virus from spreading further," he explained; his voice fixed and even, though his blue eyes were still too large.
"A tourniquet?" Karin muttered even as she stepped further down on the gas. "Is that even going to work?"
"I don't know, it's the best I can think of right now," Naruto said through gritted teeth as he studied the bite mark. He affected a sweet smile. "Why don't you go to sleep for a bit, Konohamaru-kun, hm? It's been a long night already and this way the bandage won't bother you too much."
"Am I going to die?" Konohamaru asked in a small voice.
That simple question shouldn't have the power to tear them all to shreds so easily.
"I don't know, Konohamaru-kun," Naruto said quietly, staring down at the bite mark. "We're going to figure something out, okay? Just – just go to sleep for now, everything's going to be fine."
It took a while before Konohamaru succumbed to the calling of sleep. They remained quiet the entire time, nothing but the engine rumbling filling the night. After barely having had any decent sleep the past couple of days, Sasuke could do with some sleep as well, especially when he was supposed to take over the driving in a couple of hours, but he was too rattled, too brought off balance to even think about catching some sleep.
He had seen so many people being bitten in just a few years. From the elderly to the very young, nobody was spared when zombies rampaged about. This kid, though … They were supposed to escape that wretched place unscathed. They had planned it to the smallest detail in so far they could have planned it and it had all gone to shit in the end after all. Why did this have to happen? Konohamaru had already lost his parents to frankly a more gruesome death than they would have got from zombies – hadn't the boy suffered enough already?
"How much time does he have left?" Karin asked, breaking the silence finally.
"I don't know," Sasuke sighed, slumping back in his chair even as he kept an eye on Naruto through the rear view mirror. The thought that with every second passing Konohamaru was getting closer and closer to death and thereby closer to becoming a zombie … The sight of him cuddled up against Naruto had Sasuke's stomach twisting. "Less than a day, I think. Children, they … turn faster than adults."
She swallowed, her hands tightening around the steering wheel. She kept her gaze firmly fixated on the road in front of them. "It took us more than a week to reach the hospital even with minimal stops. Even if we floor it all the way there …" she trailed off, biting down harshly on her lip.
Even if they drove on nonstop, what would that change? It wasn't as if medicine would do the trick and would stop the virus. This wasn't like a flu. Once the virus was in your system, you were fucked, plain and simple. Tsunade could do a lot, but she couldn't perform miracles.
What if the virus had no way of circulating anymore, though? That thought had Sasuke sitting up straighter; his heart beating faster in response. They didn't know how long it took before the virus fully settled in, but considering Konohamaru hadn't been previously injured, maybe his body was still strong enough to keep fighting for a long time? They had less than a day, perhaps, before the virus would fully take over. What if they could put a stop to it, though? What if they shouldn't just consider it as a virus, but more like an infection? An infection could be treated locally before it got worse. Perhaps they could …
He glanced at the sleeping boy and nausea instantly rose up. The idea he had – it was appalling, too gruesome to even really consider, but … it might also be their only chance at saving Konohamaru.
"Hear me out," he said and even though he kept his voice soft enough not to disturb the sleeping boy, it still seemed as loud as a thunder clap in the small space of the car. His mouth dried up, but he pushed on, "It's far from ideal and I normally wouldn't even think about it, let alone consider it, but what if … what if we am-amputate his arm and stop the virus from circulating?"
Karin grimaced, her throat working as if she was trying to push back bile. "It's … Not going to lie, it's fucked up, but it might actually work. If we cut his arm off right above his elbow, he might - "
"It won't work," Naruto cut in flatly.
Sasuke turned around in his seat to look at him. "Look, I realise this isn't exactly a nice solution, but if we don't try - "
"It won't work," Naruto repeated, louder this time. He finally looked up; the dead look in his eyes sending a shudder down Sasuke's spine. "I know this, because that trick has already been tried before. I told you Gaara and I spent some time with other groups. Some of the groups had kids and in one of them, a girl got bitten. She couldn't have been much older than Konohamaru-kun. She got bitten in the arm, just like him, and they also figured that if they amputated the arm, she might have a chance."
His head dipped down; his arms resting loosely around the sleeping boy curled up in his lap. "She went in shock and bled to death. An adult can brace themselves for the pain, but a kid can't. We amputate his arm, he's definitely going to die, because we don't even have anything to stop the bleeding."
"We could cauterise it," Sasuke suggested, feeling helpless and loathing that feeling.
"And what if infection settles in? Cauterising worked for Deidara, because he was lucky to receive help immediately," Naruto said sharply and jerked his head to the window. "We're in bumfuck nowhere at the moment and it's going to take us at best five days to reach the compound – and that's if we drive the entire time. If infection settles in before then …"
"I hate suggesting this, but maybe we should," Karin's voice trembled and she took a deep breath; a single tear sliding down her cheek, "maybe we should – should just help him … pass on before – before he reaches the final stage."
Naruto clenched his jaw. "I'm not going to kill a little boy. He's not dead yet. I'm not letting you two kill him either, don't put me in that position."
"Naruto, what other option is there?" Sasuke asked quietly.
Amputation was incredibly risky, because there was indeed the danger of Konohamaru bleeding out or infection settling in, but what other choice did they still have? If they didn't amputate, then they could only wait for the virus to run its course and turn Konohamaru completely. If that was going to be the end result, then Sasuke would make his heart into a stone and he would demand they would leave the boy behind. He was not going to watch how Naruto might get bitten by a zombified Konohamaru. He wasn't. Not after so many close calls already. No matter how sorry he felt for the boy, his first priority was still Naruto and Karin. He wasn't going to risk them because they didn't want to kill a kid. If that made him an arsehole, so be it.
"What if we burn the wound?" Naruto suddenly suggested.
The suggestion came so out of left field that Karin actually startled and the car veered dangerously to the right before she straightened it.
"What do you mean, burn the wound?" she asked perplexed.
"It's just like I said: we can burn the wound, see if the infection might get snuffed out that way," Naruto explained, gnawing on his lower lip. "It's not – it's not a perfect solution, but it might work? Or it might buy us enough time until we reach Tsunade?"
What Naruto expected Tsunade to be able to do, Sasuke didn't get, but he was unwilling to snuff out their last potential hope either. Did he really believe burning the bite mark would do much? Not really, but it wasn't as if they would lose much by trying it either. Either it would buy them enough time to reach the compound or it would end up being a failure anyways, but then at least they would have tried.
Still, given the risk …
"We'll try burning the bite mark," Sasuke decided, very much aware of the grateful look Naruto sent him. "But, Naruto, after we do that, you can't keep him on your lap anymore."
"Sasuke …"
"No, if he does change, I don't want him anywhere near you," Sasuke said resolutely. "We'll wrap him up in a blanket and buckle him in. We'll take turns in keeping an eye on him. The second he does change, he has to go. Don't ask me to risk any of us for one boy, Naruto."
He and Naruto stared at each other for a moment, before Naruto flicked his eyes down, acquiescing to the plan.
"Fine, but we'll have to do it now, before it really is too late," Naruto said subdued. "Anyone got a lighter?"
It took more than an hour before Konohamaru finally succumbed to the exhaustion after having screamed in pain for too long. They had woken him up and had explained the idea to him, offering him the chance to refuse. While burning the bite mark was less drastic than amputating his entire arm, it was still mutilation in a way. Sasuke was sick to his stomach that they had to do this, but this might be their only chance in staving off the infection for a while longer at least.
Would it help? He didn't dare to believe it, but if it could buy them some more time …
The abrupt silence that fell over the car after Konohamaru slumped unconsciously against the door made Karin tense up; her hand twitching to her side where she kept her knife.
"He passed out," Naruto said, sounding exhausted himself.
He had kept Konohamaru pinned down so that the boy wouldn't struggle too much once the fire would hit his skin. Even with Konohamaru understanding why it was necessary, that hadn't lessened the agony of being burnt naturally. His piercing screams were still echoing in Sasuke's ears and the blistered skin stared almost accusingly back at him. They had momentarily stopped on the side of the road in order to burn the bite mark with Karin on the lookout for any zombies that might be attracted to the noise. There had been a couple of them, their legs smashed as if they had crawled out from a car wreck. They had dragged themselves across the road to their car, but the second they had come in range, Karin had stabbed them straight through their heads.
Now they were back on the road, Karin still behind the wheel.
"Do you think this will work?" she asked subdued, rubbing her forehead.
"I don't know," Naruto mumbled, huddling against the other door after finishing wrapping up Konohamaru in a blanket and buckling him in. "At least we tried, I guess."
"You two get some rest," she instructed them. "I'll wake one of you two once it's time to switch."
"Wake me up in three hours," Sasuke decided after a quick glance at his watch before adjusting his chair a bit so that he could lie a bit more comfortably.
"Will do."
Soft muttering was what slowly woke him up, which clearly hadn't been the speakers' intention with how quiet they were talking. His mind still hazy, the engine humming, he didn't open his eyes just yet.
"… out of the blanket?" Konohamaru whispered.
"No, sorry, buddy, it's best if you stay wrapped up in the blankets," Naruto replied. His fake cheery tone was painful to hear. "That way you stay nice and warm."
"It's because I'm going to turn into those scary monsters," Konohamaru deduced subdued after a short pause.
"We don't know yet whether you're going to turn; that's why we tried burning that nasty virus," Naruto instantly retorted.
"It hurts," Konohamaru muttered, almost plaintively. There was the rustling of clothes before that sound halted.
"I know, Konohamaru-kun," Naruto sighed. "I know this is going to be difficult, but we need you to be really strong now, okay? Fight like you helped me fight off those zombies earlier."
"Okay, I can do that," Konohamaru said and even though he must be in so much pain right now, he still sounded determined.
That determination received a serious hit when he asked next, "Can I – can I ask a question?"
"Of course you can," Naruto said; his voice soothing even in the low tone he was using.
"Can – can you stay with me until I …" His breathing hitched audibly and while he didn't finish his question, maybe even didn't know how to exactly finish it, everyone knew what he actually meant.
Sasuke opened his eyes; the first thing he saw was quiet tears slipping down Karin's cheeks as she stared determinedly at the road in front of them.
"I – I don't want to be alone," Konohamaru continued in a small voice.
"You won't be alone, I promise," Naruto replied in a rough voice.
Sasuke shifted his head quietly and stared out of the window. The sky was turning a deep pink, announcing the dawning of a new day. The first birds were tentatively starting to chitter, greeting the morning with their song.
He hoped to whatever god might still be out there that they wouldn't be stopping tonight to bury a little boy.
They didn't have to stop to bury a zombified Konohamaru to everyone's shock, but the little boy wasn't doing well either. The first day after they had escaped the town went by without much issue. They kept driving, only stopping for short breaks and to stretch their legs, but otherwise they were in the car, driving as fast as they could without losing control over the wheel. Konohamaru stayed in his little blanket cocoon, eating and drinking whenever they offered him something. He complained about the pain in his arm and how much the bite mark burned, but otherwise remained fairly lucid.
None of them dared to hope or consider this as a good sign, but he was holding out longer than they had expected for such a young child. Perhaps burning the bite mark hadn't been such a bad idea after all.
It all started going downhill from the second day. Konohamaru grew lethargic at first, taking too long to answer their questions or even react in general. He barely was able to drink a couple of sips from his water bottle and he couldn't manage more than two bites from his rice before he simply turned his head away, slurring he wasn't hungry.
By the time evening fell, they had to stop twice so that he could vomit on the side of the road and he started burning up. Fever had settled in.
"Naruto …" Karin trailed off uncomfortably, watching how Sasuke carefully wrapped Konohamaru back up in his blankets before buckling him in once more.
"Not yet." Naruto took a shuddering breath; his eyes trained on the treeline, his crossbow raised and ready to shoot if even one zombie showed up. "He's … he's still with us."
Sasuke stared down at Konohamaru's flushed face, could almost feel the heat of his fever blasting off him. Fever was never a good sign. It usually heralded the first step into someone turning into a zombie. The body's reaction that normally helped flush out an infection now seemed to do the opposite with the zombie virus, speeding up the process of dying instead.
"He hasn't turned yet," Sasuke said and drenched a small towel with some water from his own bottle, placing it carefully across Konohamaru's forehead in an attempt to cool him off a bit. "He is running a fever, though. We have to try to cool him down a bit with our water. Naruto, it's your turn behind the wheel, come on."
Naruto nodded and lowered his crossbow, sliding behind the wheel.
Sasuke closed the door to the backseat and went to walk around to the front to get in when Karin placed her hand on his forearm, halting him.
"Sasuke-kun, be honest," she murmured. "We all know he doesn't have much of a chance left anymore once the fever sets in."
"I know, but we still have to try," he said and squeezed her hand softly before removing it from his arm. "He's already holding on longer than we all thought he would. We have to give him a chance."
She sighed, running her hands tiredly over her face. "I don't want to be that heartless bitch advocating for a boy's death, but this doesn't look good, Sasuke-kun. We all know that."
"I know and the second he turns, we'll deal with him," he said, pursing his lips together. "Until then he deserves to have this chance."
She sighed gustily this time, but nodded and went to the other side to get into the backseat; her turn to keep an eye on Konohamaru.
Music of long forgotten pop songs already filled the car when Sasuke got into the car as last one. They had found the CDs in the dashboard and had been playing them constantly since, hoping it would serve as some distraction for Konohamaru.
The CD was on track four when Naruto said quietly, "You think I'm an idiot for still waiting."
"I don't think you're an idiot," Sasuke instantly refuted and glanced at him. "You don't want to kill a kid and I understand that very well. He's holding on longer than we all thought he would, so he deserves this chance. As long as he doesn't turn, we're not giving up on him."
Naruto didn't say anything anymore, but he stretched out a hand to the middle, palm up. Sasuke grabbed it and laced their fingers together, settling back in his seat.
The second day was over almost. Onwards to the third day.
It had taken them a little over a week to arrive at the hospital, but somehow by only taking the bare minimum of breaks they made it back to the compound in five days. By now Konohamaru was almost completely unresponsive; the fever making him ramble whenever he found enough strength to say something. They had to feed him physically and push the water bottle against his lips in order for him to still drink and eat.
It really wasn't looking good for him, but at the same time he still wasn't dead and had yet to turn, which at this point could be considered a miracle already. People usually only lasted two days at the most and they were usually adults; children lasted less than a day normally, their small bodies unable to fight the virus for long. Konohamaru was already fighting for five days and while the fever persisted something awfully, he hadn't turned yet. Perhaps they had managed to cut off the virus circulation by burning the mark and the fever was simply his body fighting off the remains of the virus. Perhaps they were only prolonging his suffering and he would die in the end anyway. Only time would tell.
Father, Itachi and Tsunade were awaiting their arrival, even though it had started raining around an hour ago.
"Is everyone all – " Tsunade started to say when they opened the doors, but Naruto cut her off.
"Need your help with this boy, baa-chan," he said, pulling Konohamaru out of the car. "His name is Konohamaru, we rescued him from the hospital."
"Rescued?" Father frowned; his frown deepening even further when he noticed how swaddled Konohamaru was in the blankets. "What do you mean, res-"
"He got bit when we escaped, but we used fire to burn the bite mark," Naruto continued. "That was five days ago and he still hasn't turned, though he has a really bad fever."
"He got bit?" Itachi repeated shocked.
"In the arm, yes, but we used fire to try to stop the virus circulation," Sasuke explained, all too aware of the curious looks they were starting to gather.
"You all took a goddamn risk, taking him with you when he's bit," Tsunade scolded them but beckoned Naruto to follow her. "If he still hasn't turned, however, maybe he has a chance. We're taking him to the infirmary. I'll see if I can get his fever down."
"What on earth happened at the hospital?" Father demanded while Naruto hurried after Tsunade with Konohamaru in his arms. "Why did you have to rescue that boy from there?"
Karin groaned and rubbed her forehead. "That's … quite a story actually, but hey, we at least have a prosthetic?"
"Anko will park the car," Father decided and Anko, who had just arrived, nodded her acquiescence. "You two, come with me and tell me what happened."
Sasuke remembered to take the bags out of the boot before following father and Itachi to their home; Karin trudging alongside him.
While Itachi disappeared into the kitchen to get them something to drink, father gestured at the couch.
"Sit down, you all look like you've been through hell," he said, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Honestly, it feels like we have," Karin groaned and dropped down on the couch, stretching her legs with a sigh. "I'm so damn glad we finally made it back here."
"What happened?" Itachi asked, returning with tea.
"Well, first we had to deal with a large herd of zombies before we reached the town," Sasuke started and dropped their bags against the wall, before sitting down as well. Too late he recalled he hadn't taken the tents out of the car, but that was a task for later.
"Hadn't seen a group that large since they broke into the compound," Karin added. "Somehow we managed to get rid of them all, though."
"Yeah." Gaara's dead face flashed through Sasuke's mind. "When we arrived at the town, we noticed that something was wrong. Literally everything had been removed, all the windows had been shattered but there was no glass to be found, and the engines and tires of all the cares there had been destroyed."
"There were signs pointing towards the hospital, calling it a safe zone," Karin took over and the disgust in her voice had both father and Itachi raising an eyebrow. "We found a single backpack in an abandoned car and 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 noticed there were 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."
"Spikes are used here as well to keep zombies at a distance," Itachi pointed out.
"Yes, but we didn't encounter a single zombie until we reached the hospital and there were also several spikes pointed towards the road instead of the forest," she replied. "The entire situation just screamed creepy, especially when Sasuke-kun noticed light on the second floor."
"We decided to take a detour through the nearby forest so that we could reach the back of the hospital without being spotted, just in case," Sasuke said. "When we got there, we noticed that the hospital was blocked on both sides with vans that hadn't been moved in months, so it was clear that they didn't expect people to enter the hospital from the back."
"We entered the hospital, but it reeked of blood and death," she took over and grimaced. Her grip around her mug was trembling slightly. "It was worse than anything I've ever smelt before; it was like the entire place was just drenched in blood, even though we couldn't even find a single smudge."
"That was until we walked further into the hospital and started checking out the rooms," Sasuke continued when her pale face made it clear that she wasn't quite ready to continue. "Most of them 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 seared into his retina still. 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, are you saying that - "
Sasuke nodded. "That hospital is filled with cannibals."
His brother's eyes widened a notch and father looked disturbed.
"There was no doubt about it. These people weren't killed because they were trespassers, they were killed because the hospital group needed food," Sasuke went on and had to drink of his tea when his mouth became too dry. "They were even curing human flesh in another rooms, the sick fucks."
"Wait, was that in the room we – no, don't tell me," Karin muttered and rapidly shook her head. "I really don't want to know. After we found the bodies, we decided that it was 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 had passed by," Sasuke took over again. "Only, they went outside through the only exit that existed in the back. We couldn't risk leaving through the front in case they were monitoring the cameras and so we had no choice but to go up to a floor they hadn't taken over yet."
Itachi rubbed his forehead. "Are you telling me you stayed in a place filled with cannibals?" he asked incredulously.
Sasuke shrugged half-heartedly. "Not like we had much choice. We didn't know how long those two men were going to be outside and we didn't want to 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 found a room on the third floor," she told them. "We were discussing how to get back outside without being seen when Naruto-kun heard a noise. As it turned out, Konohamaru-kun had been hiding from the cannibals in a closet there after – his parents had been murdered by them."
"They were the people you found hanging?" Father deduced immediately.
Sasuke nodded. "Yes, but their son managed to hide on time because his mother had used a code word to warn him. We couldn't leave him behind, so we decided to take him with us."
"Thanks to Konohamaru-kun, Naruto-kun managed to find a prosthetic arm," she went on. "We had to stay one more day because they were too active, but figured it would be safe enough to leave the hospital during the night."
"Figured," Itachi repeated. "It wasn't, I gather."
Sasuke grimaced, rubbing over his mouth when he remembered everything that had happened in the span of less than an hour. "No, it didn't. We were almost out of the hospital when one of the cannibals spotted 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 the group started chasing after us."
"It was fucking insane," Karin shuddered and shook her head. "We ran straight into the woods, hoping to use the cover of the night, but they were right behind us and all the ruckus caused the zombies to wake up as well."
"We managed to shake them off our trail and got back to the car where Naruto noticed that Konohamaru had been bitten in his arm," Sasuke sighed. "We discussed our options, but amputation was out because he might have bled to death. We couldn't just do nothing, so we decided in the end that trying to burn the bite mark might stop the infection from spreading."
"That was quite the dangerous decision you made there," Father said, frowning heavily. "He could have turned in the car."
"That's why we kept him wrapped up in blankets and we took turns keeping an eye on him. That way we would notice it immediately if he did start to change," Sasuke replied.
Itachi eyed him. "I've never known you to take such a risk, otouto," he remarked.
"That's because it was Naruto-kun's idea to use fire as a way to stop the infection," Karin stated flatly.
"Karin!"
"What? Look, I like Naruto-kun, you're not going to hear one bad word about him from me," she said, pursing her lips. "But it is a fact that Naruto-kun was mainly the one who was ready to take the risk and wait out the change."
"Well, clearly he wasn't wrong to take the risk considering Konohamaru still hasn't changed," Sasuke pointed out, a bit irritated.
"I don't know Naruto-kun that well, but it seems somewhat out of character for him to take such a huge risk," Itachi said cautiously. "Especially when using fire to stop the infection is rather … unorthodox."
"I think," Karin started uncertainly, "that maybe he was so focused on saving Konohamaru-kun because he had met his best friend again?"
"What do you mean?" Father asked bemused.
Sasuke sighed. "Naruto's best friend was amongst the zombies we encountered in that big group. Naruto had to put him down and …he had it difficult for a while."
Comprehension flitted across both Itachi's and father's faces. "Well, whatever the reason is, the boy is still alive so we'll take care of him," Father stated. "You took a huge risk, but so far it seems to be paying off. I'm sorry you were put through so much, however. If I had known cannibals had taken over the place …" he trailed off, shaking his head while disgust briefly flared up in his eyes.
"I don't think anyone suspected that people would actually turn into cannibals," Karin muttered. "I hope the prosthetic will fit. Unfortunately we didn't really have a chance to take multiple with us."
"It's fine," Itachi reassured her. "You three went out of your way, even after all that had happened."
"Well, I'm going to take a shower if you don't mind," she sighed and stood up. "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 raised an eyebrow when Sasuke made to follow Karin outside.
"I'll take one at Naruto's place; I want to check on Konohamaru first," Sasuke answered.
He and Karin parted ways not long after that; she made way for her apartment while he walked towards the infirmary. It was still raining, but it had turned into a drizzle by now; the sky a dreary dark grey colour.
Tsunade was at her desk when he entered the infirmary, writing something down in a thick map. She looked up at his arrival and quirked an eyebrow.
"You have any injuries that need fixing?" she asked mildly.
"No, just came to check up on Konohamaru," he replied, furrowing his eyebrows when he didn't see Naruto. Had he already left? Was he back at his apartment now?
She gestured for him to follow her to the first room. Konohamaru had been put in the bed; his small body nearly drowning in the blanket. He had a wet cloth draped across his forehead and was seemingly deep asleep. Belts tied his arms and legs to the bed, preventing him from moving too much. Sasuke would be surprised if he could even lift his arms with those belts around them.
Tsunade saw him staring at the restraints and sighed, brushing some of her blonde hair back. "Look, it's not like I enjoy restraining patients, but if he does turn in the end, we can't have him wandering around."
"What are his chances of pulling through?" Sasuke asked softly.
The sigh she released this time was deeper, gustier, like it was being pulled out from the depths within her. "Honestly? I have no clue. He's running a serious fever. Either the fever means his body is actually fighting the infection and in that case he might pull through after all if his body manages to cool down. Or your hotchpotch treatment just prolonged the whole change and he will die in the end after all. I haven't seen a case like this before, so I can't tell you what his chances are."
"It was either burning the bite mark or cutting off his arm and the latter seemed rather risky without any professional help," he said monotonously.
She clucked her tongue. "Look, I'm not berating you guys for trying to save his life. Hell, this might actually work out considering he should have already been dead by now but isn't. All we can do now is wait and see how his situation evolves."
"You happen to know where Naruto went?"
"I thought he'd gone to your place," she answered bemused. "Well, he might have gone back to his own apartment then."
He said goodbye before making his way straight over to Naruto's apartment. The last week and a half had been close to literal hell and he wanted nothing more than to just be with Naruto and not think about zombies or cannibals or a little boy possibly dying after all.
A brunette – Sasuke still didn't know her name – stopped him on his way to the staircase. "You're with the new guy, right?"
"You mean Naruto?" Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. He would hardly call Naruto still new after he'd been here for longer than half a year already.
"Him, yeah," she said a bit impatient, zipping up her jacket. "I don't want any trouble, but just tell him to keep it down a bit, yeah? That constant thumping against the wall is driving me nuts."
"Thumping? What thump-" but she left before he could finish his question.
Confused and somewhat annoyed he made his way up to Naruto's floor and when he neared the door, he could make out a distinct but rhythmic 'thump', 'thump' coming from his apartment. The noise stopped instantly when he knocked on the door.
When Naruto opened the door after a long pause, Sasuke couldn't help but eye the crossbow in Naruto's hand dubiously.
"What are you doing with your crossbow?"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Practicing," was his cryptic response before turning around and going back to the living room.
After closing the door Sasuke followed him and was surprised to see a hastily drawn bull's eye on a cardboard stuck to the wall. Three bolts were shot in a nice triangle in the centre of it, which Naruto tugged loose, leaving visible holes behind.
"Any reason why you're shooting bolts inside?" Sasuke questioned.
"Because I figured they wouldn't open the gates for me if I said I wanted to shoot some shit outside," Naruto smiled humourlessly.
"No, why are you shooting bolts?"
Naruto stood with his back to him, so Sasuke had no idea what his face looked like. His hand clenched around the bolts for a short moment before he walked over to the table, placing both his crossbow and his bolts on it.
His hand remained on the crossbow when he said bitterly, "There is a certain sense of irony at play here, where everyone around me gets hurt but somehow I always manage to escape. Never really been fond of irony, even less so now."
"What happened to Konohamaru wasn't your fault," Sasuke started to say, but Naruto cut him off, whirling around to glare at him.
"The hell it isn't my fault! I was the one who lost my balance! It's because of me that he got bitten! It's because I made the decision to use fire that he's now stuck between living and dying! The hell this isn't my fault!" He was panting by the time he finished; rage setting his eyes ablaze.
"You lost your balance because zombies pulled you down!" Sasuke instantly refuted and slashed his hand through the air when Naruto looked ready to protest. "No, you shut up! Everyone would have lost their balance if they got pulled down! You're not responsible for what those dead bastards do! If you hadn't heard him moving around, he might still be stuck inside that hospital and then he would have eventually either starved to death or would have been eaten by those fuckers. You gave him another chance to live! You got him out of there! You were the one who managed to protect him all the way to the car! You're the reason why he's still able to fight for his life even now!"
"He could still die," Naruto shot back in a thick voice; an almost imperceptible tremble going through his body as he slumped against the table. "I didn't do shit except for prolonging the pain he feels, fuck!"
"Yes, he can still die," Sasuke said bluntly and Naruto flinched. "But if he dies, then we at least did everything we could to save him. We gave him back hope when we took him with us. If you hadn't thought of using fire, he would have most certainly died already by now, but instead he's still fighting for his life. You gave him that chance, Naruto. It's thanks to you that he still has a fighting chance."
"I just …" Naruto sank down on the floor, burying his face in his hands. "I feel like no matter what I do, I can't ever save people. I couldn't save Jiraiya, I couldn't save mum, I couldn't save dad, I couldn't save Gaara. Konohamaru might as well be dead in a couple of days … All around me people just keep dying and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of feeling so goddamn weak."
Sasuke sat down in front of his, looping his fingers around Naruto's wrists but not tugging his hands away from his face yet. "What happened to them was horrible, but it isn't your fault," he said quietly, but firmly. "Your godfather died because of zombies. Your parents died because zombies overwhelmed you. Gaara died because some bitch thought she could play god and thought she had the right to decide about life and death. None of that is on you, none of that is your fault."
This time he pulled Naruto's hands down and reached out to press two fingers underneath Naruto's chin, pushing his face up so he would look at him. "Konohamaru isn't dead yet; he's still fighting. I'm not dead and I've been with you for several months now. You saved my arse several times already. You're far from weak," he stated strongly. "I don't care how many times you need to hear it, I'll be here to tell you this every time: you're not weak. You're strong. Even if Konohamaru loses the fight, you are the one who gave him time to fight. You've been dealt a shit hand in life, but Naruto, I've never seen someone coping so well in spite of all the bullshit happening – until I met you."
"Fucker, stop trying to make me feel better," Naruto muttered darkly, but his voice was so thick now, so watery, it was no longer a matter of if but when the tears would fall. "I want to wallow in self-pity alone, can't you even let me do that?"
"Nope, sorry, can't let you do that," Sasuke said resolutely and shifted until he was sitting next to Naruto and was able to pull him close against him; sliding his arm around his shoulders. "You can cry, you can scream, whatever you want to do, but I'm not leaving you alone."
"You're a dickhead and I hate you," Naruto murmured, but his own arms closed tightly around Sasuke's waist and he buried his face in Sasuke's neck.
Soon something warm and wet started sliding down Sasuke's neck before it was absorbed by his collar. They were both filthy as hell and in desperate need of a shower, but for now they just sat there, clinging to each other as Naruto quietly broke apart in his arms.
It was when Sasuke saw Naruto leaving the infirmary with a despondent face after yet another disappointing visit that he decided he had to do something.
Three weeks after their trip saw Konohamaru still unconscious. Not dead, not turned, but he wouldn't wake up either. Naruto stopped by the infirmary every couple of days to check, but even though he no longer blamed himself for the boy's condition – or if he did, he was really good at hiding it – the visits, short as they were, were starting to wear him down.
His resolve made, Sasuke walked to the storage room where father was taking stock of everything at the moment.
"Sasuke, done for today?" Father asked absently as he sat down on his haunches to check the lower shelves where they kept the canned food.
"Hm." Sasuke wandered closer, checking the storage, but there was nobody else but him and father at the moment.
He watched father purse his lips and jot something down on the list, crossing out something else in the process.
"I was wondering …"
"Hm?"
"Do you still have the keys to that place?"
AN2: Well, this was quite a doozy of a chapter. Sorry for the long length, I didn't expect it to become this long!
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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The Long Run