Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Plato of Your Kind	By : Ljiljana Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1232 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: NARUTO does not belong to me; I make no money writing this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Warning: I owe you some, so I might as well give them here.

a) Characters are very OOC, I know that. I even considered writing his story as an original… but for original, it would be a very crappy story indeed.b) I know nothing about all these things - action, surveillance, weapons, blah, blah; I even don’t know anything about living in a city, for I am a small town girl. I did a lot of research, of course, but that is not nearly enough, so please forgive my messed up technicalities and other mistakes.

Part two

So Clean an Ending

(A. E. Housman)

Naruto wasn’t comfortable. Sasuke didn’t say anything about the van that was following them through almost empty streets, but he was looking back through the mirror much more often than it was normal. Naruto checked his phone several times, there was nothing on it. Karin must have planted a bug in the car while waiting.

Sasuke parked across from his place, right in front of the gate of the building the surveillance apartment was located in. It was almost as if he was doing it on purpose. Naruto glanced on where Karin was stopping at the corner and followed Sasuke across the street and inside. He was in the building before, on his first day on the job. He had to check on the possible entry and exit points, neighbors, things like that. He followed up the stairs as if he had no idea where he was anyway, not displeased at all about Sasuke’s jacket being cut just low enough to allow him the perfect view.

Sasuke shot him a smirk when he turned left after the last stair and caught Naruto staring at his ass. Not embarrassed at all at that point, Naruto grinned and shrugged. He was enjoying himself and doing his job. Win-win, right?

“Here.” Sasuke announced, unlocking his door. He walked inside first, without bothering to check if Naruto was still following.

It was a small apartment, Naruto knew every corner of it by heart. The bedroom was right ahead, the living room double door on the left, connected to the tiny kitchen and the bathroom was through the door just to the right. Naruto quickly scanned what he could in the dark. Through the open double door and the windows of the living room, the view on the apartment across the street Naruto had spent a lot of his time lately was about as visible as Sasuke’s place was from its window.

Naruto closed the door behind him and looked around for the switch. He finally located it when Sasuke got a hold of his wrist to push it off.

“We don’t need that.” He murmured, already so close his lips were about to reach the skin low on Naruto’s neck. They were warm and restless when they connected; Naruto let Sasuke lean both of them back against the door for a second before remembering, again, that he can’t let it happen. He still had his gun on him. Quickly, he pulled his wrist out, used a small tripping trick to make Sasuke lose balance and turned him to reverse their positions. Caught be by surprise, Sasuke ended up slammed against the door. There was some mild shock on his face, but also a lingering smirk. Naruto pressed himself closer.

He had to keep Sasuke’s hands off himself, so he kept both of his wrists trapped against the door behind him. He made place for himself, pushing himself closer to bite and lick lower lip of Sasuke’s half open mouth.

“You sure this is your first time?’ Sasuke asked, almost gasped, breathless, arching a little to rub his impressively hard erection over Naruto’s hip.

“First time doing what, exactly?” Naruto wondered. So he wouldn’t have to answer, he kissed Sasuke fully. It worked well for shutting down the conversation; it worked even better to shut down Naruto’s brain. Sasuke’s movements were very limited, but even so, the pure wanton was flashing out of every little effort he was making to set himself free and t(h)rust against Naruto while kissing back.

When Sasuke finally managed to mingle one wrist out, he put it instantly on Naruto’s ass, turned a little and pressed them together. Naruto moaned into his mouth as heat rippled though his body. He barely recognized his own voice. He closed his eyes and thrusted back harshly, making Sasuke let his head fall back and hit the wood. That left the soft, smooth skin of his neck exposed. Naruto licked it once, wet and long. he licked a second time, for a little longer and bit in softly, enjoying little startled gasps Sasuke was letting escape.

Then Sasuke moved his hand higher. It cleared Naruto’s head somewhat. He pushed himself forcefully off until not only he was not touching Sasuke with any part of his body, but was far enough not to give in, simply say fuck it all and kiss him again. He was losing control too easily with this guy. There was just something about Sasuke that moved him in all the right ways. They had good chemistry, or whatever. But Naruto had to keep his head clear. He had a job to do.

“Er.” He said, wondering what the hell he should say as Sasuke titled his head, still leaning against the door and, looking entirely too hot for his own good - literally. “A more comfortable place? Maybe a drink first?”

“What for?” Sasuke said, pushing himself off the door. The dryness of his voice was forced, but it was there, so Naruto sighed inwardly in relief. “You’re not nervous.”

“It would be a polite thing of you to offer.” Naruto answered. They moved forward, to the living room. “And you surely don’t want it to end that quickly?”

“Sit, then.” Sasuke motioned toward the couch. He left the light in the living room off, but the one he turned on in the kitchen illuminated everything nicely. It gave the room a lovely, comfortable atmosphere. Naruto quickly took off his belt. He put jacket over the belt to hide it on the chair near the wall.

Catching a glance of the snake cage, he said loudly, because it was probably expected of him to mention something so unusual, “You have a… pet.”

“I know.” Sasuke answered. Naruto rolled his eyes, fortunately facing the wall. The steps announced Sasuke was coming back. “Here. I don’t have alcohol.”

He didn’t have anything else either, it seemed, because the only thing he brought back was a glass of water. That wasn’t exactly a surprise; he rarely had visitors. Naruto’s throat felt like he swallowed a large slice of Sahara desert, so he took the glass with cubes of ice dancing in it gratefully.

Sasuke set down on the couch and watched him drain the liquid. “Anything else I can do to improve my hospitality? Are you hungry? Do you need to use the bathroom?”

“Er,” Naruto answered. The bathroom was a good idea. It would make for a great stalling. “I could use…”

Sasuke cut him off with an odd hiss and grabbed Naruto’s shirt to pull him close. He was forceful so Naruto lost his balance, stumbled forward and had to keep himself from falling on top of Sasuke by bracing against the backrest. Sasuke, impatient and quick, pulled his hands up to thread through Naruto’s hair and push him lower. It was a bad, bad idea to let himself get so close again, Naruto knew that, but Sasuke’s eyes were half closed, his palms warm and the memory of his body moving against Naruto’s potent, so he groaned in surrender and kissed back.

Slowly, lead by the fierce kiss, Naruto lowered himself on the couch. He put his right knee between Sasuke’s legs and slipped his arm around Sasuke’s waist, intent on pushing him on his back. Sasuke moved forward faster, thrusting against his thigh to find some friction.

“God.” Naruto gasped, jerking to ease the powerful wave of blissful want. Sasuke quirked his lips and pulled him along as he slid sideways the backseat to lie on the couch. Naruto followed, gratefully regaining full body on body contact.

Hands were under his shirt instantly, hot and impatient. Sasuke opened his legs slightly and slipped lower; Naruto’s weight did the rest of the job, bringing them as close as possible together. Their cocks rubbed against each other again and just as Naruto’s started thinking he really, really should find a way to get Sasuke out of his clothes, the front door clicked open.

He stilled and murmured. “You’re expecting someone?”

Sasuke blinked up at him, frowning deeply despite the heavy panting. “What?”

Naruto rearranged himself to put a hand up, the only gesture he could come up with to demonstrate that Sasuke should be calm and silent. He whispered again, quietly but clearly. “Do you expect someone who has a key of your apartment?”

The doorknob was mechanical. They needed a key to open from the outside. Sasuke widened his eyes a friction and shook his head. At least he wasn’t stupid. It was a nightmare trying to save lives of stupid people.

Naruto jerked them both off the couch to the floor, breaking the fall with his own back before he turned Sasuke around. “Don’t move.”

Sasuke made no effort to answer, but wasn’t panicking or asking questions, either. It was as good as it could be expected. Naruto listened as the intruder gently opened one of the doors closer to the exit. Even soft, the steps were too heavy. It was definitely a male.

Naruto stood up quickly, to reach his jacket and the gun underneath. This crappy job was becoming really messy. Just as Naruto got a solid grip on his gun, the phone in his other pocket went off. It vibrated against the wood of the chair, making a loud noise. The steps sped up; the intruder was already back in the hall. Naruto pointed his weapon, resisting the urge to curse.

He waited patiently, grateful Sasuke had couch between him and the door, and was smart enough to stay low. From somewhere behind him, outside of the window, a loud explosion startled him. Naruto bent underneath it, just barely not loosing contact eye contact with the doorway. But the blow wasn’t even strong enough to break the window.

He refocused on the door.

A second later, a guy walked in with a weapon pointed in front of him. His gun had a silencer on it; it was a fucking assassination - and why was Naruto so surprised? He shouldn’t have been surprised, he should have been doing something. He aimed, and with the advantage of his more convenient position, fired first.

It seemed louder than ever, after many months of not using a gun. Naruto cringed. But he managed a solid hit - before he lowered his hand a little, the guy was clutching his arm, blood seeping through his fingers.

Naruto walked quickly to him, but Sasuke, who was closer, arrived there first. He grabbed the gun without hesitation and threw Naruto a glare, but he kept his mouth shut. The assassin had not moved or made a noise. He hadn’t tried to call for help. Was he working alone? Or…?

The thought hitting his head for the first time, Naruto ran to the window to look out. The explosion was in the apartment across the street. That was where Karin was supposed to be, wasn’t it? She’d want visual. She’d go to the apartment straight up.

But maybe, maybe she was waiting in the van. They just got back; maybe she waited there so she could listen. It was possible.

Naruto just managed to comfort himself a little with the thought, when another explosion shook the neighborhood. He couldn’t see that far left, just the flames, but he didn’t need to see. That was the van. Not only very good assassins were sent to take down Sasuke, but they were doing a fine fucking job. It was very likely that Naruto would have been dead if Sasuke hadn’t decided to go out that night – assuming they weren’t in trouble because of it somehow.

It took him only several seconds to realize what was up, but he was slacking again. His job was Sasuke now, not Karin.

Naruto turned. Sasuke was doing very well, he realized. He had the assassin’s gun pointed steadily at his head. It wasn’t really a surprise, Sasuke was Itachi’s brother. The disturbing part was, the guy wasn’t moving. He wasn’t making any noise, even though a gun wound had to hurt a lot. He wasn’t even sweating, like someone who’s trying hard not to react to pain would. He was just staring back at Sasuke levelly.

Naruto’s first instinct was to get the fuck out. But the shot was between two big explosions, so this man was likely not alone.

“You got any duct tape?”

Sasuke glanced at him. “Duct tape?”

Now it’s not the time for you to go stupid on me, Sasuke. “Sticky ribbon, packed in a roll. Very useful for binding someone when in a hurry. You have some?

“Kitchen.” Sasuke said, not moving. “Bottom drawer.”

Well, as long as he was having fun. And not killing anyone. Naruto hurried to the small kitchen. The tape was exactly where Sasuke said it was. Naruto quickly used it to bind man’s arms behind his back, not any less disturbed by the complete silence. The wound was a bloody mess, but this man was not working alone. Someone else triggered the bombs while he was busy in here. He will found before he bled to death – but Naruto still ripped off a part of his black shirt and tied up his arm. He didn’t want to become a murderer, damn it.

Sasuke still had the gun pointed and expression unchanged.

“You have disturbingly few questions.” Naruto told him, gesturing them out.

Finally lowering the weapon he adopted, Sasuke answered, “I have questions. Where are we going?”

“He’s probably not alone.” Naruto voiced his thoughts about that. Answering would take too much time. It was a little complicated. They had no time to chat. Readjusting the weapon in his hands, Naruto caught a quick glance Sasuke threw to the corner with the snake cage in it. It was kind of sweet of him to worry about his pet, but they really had to move.

“You’d better know what you’re doing.” Sasuke said flatly. He obviously realized that they had to go as well; he had stepped around and went for the hallway first. Naruto had to suppress the slightly annoyed ‘you’re leading the way, why would I have to know anything?’ and instead grabbed Sasuke’s forearm to push him aside. The door was open, showing most of the hall empty - was that assassin in a hurry or what? Naruto had to check the corners as well, weapon pointed in front of him. It was safe.

“Stay close.” He instructed without turning around. Sasuke didn’t answer, but he followed Naruto out, closing the door behind him, and down the stairs. It was probably for the better not to run – and where were Sasuke’s neighbors, anyway? Not even one door opened, although that shot must have been heard by most of the quart. They were either smart enough not to interfere or too busy wondering about the explosions – or possibly mistaking the shot for some delayed part of explosion.

Sasuke was following closely enough. On the ground floor, there were several people standing in and around the entrance, all looking at the building across the street. Naruto walked past them and took another flight of stairs down, to the basement.

Although there was a main path between the small rooms that were leading straight to a back exit, Naruto checked with his wrist watch which door led into a room that was looking at the side of the building. He tried several, but they were locked.

Luckily, Sasuke was without any instructions looking out up the stairs. His shoulders were tense, but he was holding his gun in front of him with both hands like he wasn’t completely unfamiliar with it, so that was good. Naruto picked a door he was sure had to have one of those small windows looking at the side of the building, and used his shoulder to break in. It took three attempts and it hurt.

The window was high. He broke the glass with a ski pole he collected up from the top of a trunk and picked up a chair to reach it. While he was trying to clean out the remaining shatters, Sasuke asked from the doorway, “That’s too high. Can we really go out that way?”

If they had no other options, they probably could. “We’re not going though there. Stay close in the hall and tell me if someone’s coming this way.”

After a second of hesitation, a few steps announced that Sasuke listened. Naruto was grateful. He was doing his best, but in the short ten days he had spent following him around, he never got the impression that Sasuke was someone who’d easily take orders. He must have been thinking that Naruto knew what he was doing, or deserved a chance to prove it. Naruto hoped that he was right.

He pushed himself up, and through the window. It was maybe overdoing it, but it would be better for the pieces of the glass on the concrete path that was circling the entire building to look as if someone really took that way out. Naruto had no time to waste, so he went back through the window frame and jumped into the room.

He wasn’t too surprised to see Sasuke back at the door, and he couldn’t help but smirk at the short-lived glint of relief he caught. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Sasuke asked, but he followed.

“There is an apartment on the ground floor that is empty at this hour.” Naruto was walking, but not too fast. He won’t have time to explain once they start climbing the stairs. “The owner is working nights. We’re going there.”

Sasuke halted. “In this building?”

“Hurry.” Naruto ordered. When Sasuke didn’t move, he reached and grabbed his forearm, forgetting for a moment that while he had his gun on his waistband, Sasuke had a weapon in his hand. He was reminded of it, forced to look into the silencer from the wrong side, and gritted his teeth in annoyance before answering. “It’s the last place they are going to look in, especially with two explosions in the neighborhood. Police will be everywhere.”

“Then I should go to them and tell them I was assaulted.” Sasuke lowered his gun a little, and Naruto took it as an invitation to drag him.

“You can do that or whatever else you wish after I make sure no one will try to kill you as soon as you show your nose outside.”

Fortunately, Sasuke decided to play along. Naruto could hear him walking next to him. He took the keys out in front of the right door and used the master key on them. The hall was completely empty, all people in the entrance moved further outside. Naruto felt that this was a very lucky evening for him as he pushed Sasuke inside and closed the door.

“Where did you get the key for this apartment?” Sasuke asked in the dark. From the outside came the dancing police car lights, followed by the siren. Feeling safe from the unlit inside, Naruto stepped a little deeper into the room to take a careful look outside.

“The same key opens the door of every apartment in the building.” He finally answered. It was too crowded outside too see anything useful.

Instead of taking a chair or the comfortable looking couch, when Naruto turned to him, Sasuke was sitting on the floor, with his back against the wall right next to the doorframe. It was as good of a place as any; Naruto decided and mimicked him. He chose to sit down against the wall on the other side of the door.

“What kind of key is that?” Sasuke asked after a minute.

“It’s not the key that’s special, it’s the locks. They all have double mechanisms. It’s how most of the buildings are made lately.”

Steps passed through the hall outside, followed by excited voices. Naruto was leaning his head on the wall behind him, cocked just enough to watch Sasuke’s face with moving patterns from the lights outside.

The silence brought back thoughts about Karin. Was she dead? Hurt? Naruto couldn’t do anything. To chase the guilt away, he opened his mouth, “I work for your brother.”

“I figured.” Sasuke answered.

Before or after you picked me up in the bar? Naruto wanted to know. He shouldn’t ask, though. He should make it clear that it was all just so he could make sure Sasuke was alright.

“You left your watch behind. The jacket with the tracker, too. We had no choice but to follow you.”

Sasuke looked up to meet his eyes and asked - instead of answering. “Why are you working for my brother, Naruto? When I met Sakura last year, she said you were in college.”

Well. Okay. He shouldn’t really be surprised. He would have recognized Sasuke if he saw him somewhere on the street by accident. They were around twelve when they lived in the same neighborhood, not two. For some reason, it made him feel very embarrassed and somehow shocked. Sakura had never mentioned she saw Sasuke.

“I needed the money.” Naruto answered after clearing his throat. “I really needed the money.”

Outside, the firefighters finally arrived. It was at least ten minutes since the explosions. They were too fucking late to do anything if someone was stuck inside. Naruto gritted his teeth and walked to the window. In front of the building, everything was a mess. The ashes were still flying. Something must have caught fire. People were standing around, a lot of them in their night clothes. There were police sirens, and two fire trucks. It was a good moment to move.

“Let’s go.” He said. Sasuke got up, and Naruto only then noticed that his feet were bare. When he had managed to get out of his shoes? When the hell he had managed to get out of his socks? And how Naruto managed to miss that until now? “Er. You can’t go outside barefoot.”

Sasuke glanced at his feet as if wondering what Naruto was talking about. He dryly said. “I wasn’t expecting I’d have to run from the assassins tonight, sorry.”

Naruto dashed to the hallway. He opened the shoe holder there and got out a pair. “Try these.”

Sasuke, who followed, made a face on the ugly pair of brown summer shoes but he took them anyway. They were way, way too small. Naruto cursed. They had to go back up. He had to get up. “Stay here. I will be back in a minute.”

The hallway was empty again, thank God. Naruto hurried over it and up the stairs, taking his key out. It was a stupid, stupid detour. Not everyone was busybodies, someone was probably still in their apartment….

Sasuke’s door was marked with a yellow police tape. Like a crime scene. What the fuck…?

Naruto had no time to wonder. Sasuke would walk barefoot if he had to. The police and the ambulance just got there and they were not parked near their building; how come the door of Sasuke’s apartment was already closed and sealed off? They would have heard if it was too soon. But someone obviously got there, only Naruto was pretty sure it wasn’t the police but whoever was working with the assassin he wounded. He spun around and ran back.

“Take his slippers if nothing else will fit.” He said, breathless from running up and down the stairs. “We are getting out of here now.”

Sasuke, for his credit, listened without hesitation. He asked while taking the slippers out, “What happened?”

“Your place is marked as crime scene.”

Sasuke paused to glance up. “But no cops in the building?”

“No.”

“They’re trying to keep civilians at bay.”

“I know. Come on.” That was a possibility. Another one would be a cop walked in quietly to check things up, found the assassin killed and sealed off the door until he could come back. Only Naruto knew he didn’t kill that guy.

Sasuke straightened. Fluffy brown slippers looked ridiculous with the rest of his – rather wrinkled – outfit. He nodded, and Naruto opened the door behind him. When the cold wind lifted his shirt, he realized that he forgot his jacket in Sasuke’s apartment. His phone, too. If it really was the police – or if the police came later, he could get in a lot of trouble.

But, well. He had the license to work in security – because Jiraiya made him get one while he was helping on a case - and that guy had walked in with a gun pointed in them. Besides, there was nothing to identify him there. He long since stopped taking his papers out with him.

“I left everything back at yours.” Naruto said when they turned to exit Sasuke’s street. He lived on the other side of the city, they couldn’t walk in just their shirts that far. The night was cold. “Do you have any money?”

Sasuke reached for his pocket and nodded. “Where are we going?”

“My place.” Because where else, really? He had no idea how to contact Itachi. He didn’t really want to try with Sasuke around. From everything Itachi had said when hiring Naruto, it was likely that he wasn’t… well. And his job was to keep Sasuke safe. For that, his apartment was the best option.

They stopped a taxi and Naruto gave him his address. They were lucky the guy driving was a quiet type, Naruto was sure he would ask about the explosions. He didn’t.

Sasuke was shaking a little next to him on the backseat. His shirt was really thin. Naruto wanted to try and warm him up, but… Ah, it wasn’t a good idea to do that. Not after the way they started the evening.

“You okay?” He couldn’t help but ask, leaning closer. Sasuke lifted his left shoulder a little, as if he was trying to make an obstacle between them without taking his hand out of his pockets.

“Fine.” He said, looking straight forward.

Naruto sighed and leaned back. It was luck he was at Sasuke’s when it all happened, but he went too far. He was supposed to back out when they arrived. Now things between them would be tense; not least of all because Naruto was barely managing to keep his hands off Sasuke.

In front of Naruto’s building, Sasuke paid for the ride and looked up, with an eyebrow up. “This is where you live?”

It was a good part of the downtown city. The building was one of those old, ornamented ones, with the view over the river and high ceilings. It was expensive. It was all Naruto had left from his parents.

“Not for much longer.” He said, some sadness coming through even in that situation. “Come on.”

The porter was asleep in his cube, as always. Naruto was grateful he kept his keys on him. The stairwell was spiral and wide open.

Sasuke turned to the elevator, but Naruto grabbed his elbow. “You don’t want to be in that death box if someone followed us.”

He yanked, but Sasuke was too busy frowning at Naruto’s hand to give in. He forced his arm out before staring to climb the stairs. Naruto sighed and followed, regretting again he let things slip out of his control back as Sasuke’s. That little - incident was not promising any fun in making sure Sasuke was alright.

On the second floor, Sasuke finally halted and glanced back with a frown. Naruto passed him – there was no one following, not closely, anyway. After fucking up repeatedly, Naruto was not willing to just accept it, but he was looking closely.

“On what floor do you live?” Sasuke asked when Naruto started the next flight of stairs, close behind.

“Third.”

“That doesn’t sound particularly practical. Or safe.”

Of course, Sasuke was right. It didn’t sound particularly practical, or safe. Naruto grinned back at him. “That’s just because third floor apartments are not typically redecorated by my mother.”

Sasuke didn’t answer, and Naruto was not waiting to see the reaction. He wasn’t that stupid, to take someone who was in danger to a place that was risky. The apartment was redecorated by his mother when Naruto was in his early teens. Someone had tried to take revenge or something at her after she did the job successfully – Naruto was fuzzy on the details, but he knew she got some threatening phone calls that got him some off days from school – and she panicked. Jiraiya still snickered when he would remember how scared and freaked and how much money she had spent to make that apartment very, very safe for living in it.

Naruto sighed, thinking about it. He didn’t want to let go of the place. It was the second he lived at in the city, the only one that ever felt like real home.

He unlocked, and after glancing up and down the hall once more, walked in first. Just in case, he checked around before gesturing for Sasuke to follow. Naruto locked behind them, feeling muscles in his back unknotting, shoulders relaxing. Things were alright. If he made it home, the things were surely alright.

He wasn’t even aware that he was smiling until he caught Sasuke watching him, eyes narrowed.

“It doesn’t look very safe to me.” He said when Naruto did his best to flatten his face. “It’s just an apartment. There must be a better place to hide than this.”

Naruto pushed off the door, where he leaned in unconsciously, “I’d say prison cell would probably be about as safe, but you’re too pretty. This is better.”

“A carton box on the corner would be safer than this.” Sasuke answered, showing neither amusement nor offense.

“Are you hungry?” Naruto asked to cut off the useless and uninteresting conversation. “I’m starving.”

On the table – one of the rare furniture pieces that were left unsold – there were clean cloths, neatly packed. The smell of fresh softener was pleasant and Naruto inhaled deeply as he picked up the note left on top.

Do not dare call me until you are ready to tell me where you disappear all the time. I am out of patience.

“Girlfriend?”

Naruto jolted, unprepared to hear Sasuke talk so close. He was looking over Naruto’s shoulder at the note, and Naruto could almost swear that he was so close in purpose, to distract him or something.

“Just Sakura.” He explained and moved away quickly. His cheeks were warm, and all Sasuke did was get close – not even too close. Granted, the things that happened earlier were hot as shit, but it was about time Naruto pulled himself together. His job was to keep Sasuke safe. And while when he let the thing at the bar slip out of his control the threat was only hypothetical, now someone was actually trying to kill Sasuke. There was no place for mistakes.

What Naruto wanted to do the most was take a long shower, but he couldn’t do that until he was absolutely sure everything was alright. He turned on the extremely expensive surveillance system on the control panel near the door. Four small monitors allowed him a great view on the all strategic places of the apartment and the entire building. Everything seemed in perfect order, so Naruto took his shoes and socks off. The floor was cold under his feet, but at the moment, it felt good.

In the meantime, by the sound of the running water, Sasuke had found the bathroom. Naruto located a pair of unpacked socks in one of the drawers in his room and left it where Sasuke wouldn’t be able to miss. His toes must have been frozen like fish-sticks.

In the kitchen, Naruto was preparing sandwiches when Sasuke walked in.

“What happened to your furniture?”

Seems it was the questions time. At least Sasuke was starting off easy.

“I told you I needed money.”

“What for? Drugs?’

Well… “Yes, actually.”

Sasuke, who leaned on the counter so he could see Naruto’s face as he answered, frowned. “My brother would not hire you if you were a drug addict. Try again.”

That much was the truth, but it wasn’t Naruto’s fault Sasuke had formulated that question awkwardly. “Among other stuff, like hospital stay and alternate food, I’m afraid that I really had been wasting all my money on drugs until your brother had made his offer.”

Sasuke paused just for a second, before he stated, “Someone is sick.”

“You remember my godfather, Jiraiya?” Naruto asked. It was possible, Jiraiya was always spending great amount of time with them, wherever they were living. “A lot of hair and…”

“I remember when he gave you that magazine.”

Naruto grinned, stopping in the middle of cutting cheese to look up at Sasuke. He almost forgot about that. Jiraiya gave him his first porn, a magazine with a lot mote text than he thought necessary and not quite enough pictures. Naruto bragged about it and showed it to the first person his age he saw that day – and that was Sasuke. No wonder he was running like hell to save Itachi’s life when he was sharing his first porn with the guy’s little brother. “That was fun.”

Sasuke smirked, keeping Naruto frozen with the wicked glint in his eyes and cocked his head a little, “Only after I noticed how much fun you were having.”

His soft, silky voice made Naruto curl his toes to suppress the shiver. With memories of Sasuke’s body against his, of his mouth, of everything that had happened not an hour ago, it was really hard to break the eyes contact and continue with his work, but Naruto managed it. He tried to focus, but he had to give up on the cheese. His hands were shaky. He was not good at restraining himself from having something that he wanted and so obviously could have.

“So Jiraiya is sick. Wasn’t he running a security agency of some sort? How come you have to pay all the bills?”

Grateful they were talking about the things Naruto knew how to evade and deal with, he answered, “What does it matter? The point is, I needed the money. Your brother needed one more person for the small team… Shit.”

“What?”

But Naruto was already wiping his hands and walking to one of those handy untraceable cell phones Jiraiya insisted him to use all the time. Even though the idea was to call and check in with the last two members of the team, Naruto dialed Karin first. Robotic voice informed him that she’s unavailable, so Naruto swallowed the bile that arose with yet another sign that she was most likely dead and dialed the next number.

Sasuke was leaning on the doorway, watching him silently.

“Hallo?” A female voice answered, with a soft sobbing hitch at the end.

Naruto closed his eyes, as if to cloak the bad feeling out. He said, “Hi. May I speak with Juugo please?”

“This is his phone,” She answered after a short pause. “But who is that?”

“A coworker.”

“Ah.” She stiffened a sob and finally told him, in snappy, hurt tone. “My brother is dead. I don’t know what kind of work he was doing, but it couldn’t have been anything good, because he was shot like a dog in the middle of the street.”

Juugo was Naruto’s favorite in the team. He was quiet, despite of having the reputation for being extremely violent. Naruto wished more than once he was paired with him.

“He wasn’t doing anything bad.” Naruto told Juugo’s sister, because she seemed to think he was some kind of criminal.

“Got him killed anyway.” She said and hanged hung up.

Unfortunately, that made sense. Naruto talked to Juugo just that – no, the previous afternoon, it was the middle of the night already, when they switched shifts. He had died somewhere after six pm and with the way people after Sasuke cleaned out the apartment and the van with bombs… There was little chance it was because of something else.

Naruto quickly dialed the last number. Nothing, like with Karin’s.

“There were four of you?” Sasuke asked after a second, when Naruto was returning to the kitchen.

“Yeah. It seems it’s just me, now.” Naruto looked at the sandwiches, and made a face. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Sasuke didn’t lose his, so he took a plate Naruto left nearby and picked up one. There was no table in the kitchen any longer, so Naruto followed when Sasuke went back to the living room to sit and eat.

After several minutes of Naruto trying very hard not to think about if they all were really dead, Sasuke said, “From what, exactly, have my brother hired you to protect me?”

Naruto sighed. The lack of answered questions was coming back to bite him in the ass. “He said that it’s nothing specific. Just a precaution, until he takes care of important business.”

Sasuke gave him an incredulous stare. “And you believed him?”

“Not really. I figured, it must be revenge or something.” Sasuke’s expression flattened instantly, all the emotion disappeared from his face like wiped off. Naruto wanted to groan. They were not in talking terms, were they? So Sasuke didn’t know that Itachi was attacked. “I mean, he knew I’m not doing the security professionally, I just helped out my Godfather on some occasions. If it was something so serious, he would have found someone with more experience, especially for the price he was paying.”

Itachi was not a fool. And he surely loved his brother, if he bothered in the first place. But he must have been attacked all the time, with his position. Naruto wasn’t thinking much about it, after all, he was there when that attempt happened, so he assumed… He was feeling very stupid.

“Revenge for what?” Sasuke gritted out, ignoring everything else Naruto had said.

Well, he wasn’t a kid. He could take it. “Someone tried to kill him behind one of his clubs several weeks ago.”

“And he told you about it?”

“No, I happened to be there.”

Sasuke pushed the plate away, half of the sandwich uneaten. Apparently, he had lost his appetite as well. “Was he hurt?”

“A little squashed, maybe.” Okay, probably. Naruto really wasn’t lightweight. “But fine. He was definitely alright the next day.”

Sasuke was watching him carefully, his expression still unreadable.

“You happened to be there.” He repeated. “And then he found you the next day. I’ll take it you saved his life and left him impressed.”

Naruto was feeling uncomfortable under that level stare, so he grinned. “Well, he gave me a candy bar once. What was I supposed to do, let him die?”

Sasuke didn’t move a muscle on his face, he was just staring. Was that some weird way of saying thank you, Naruto wondered. When he got no acknowledgment of any sort, he said, “Well, you should try to get some sleep now. Just wait until I take a quick shower, okay?”

The shower he took was really, really fast. Just in case, Sasuke would not be able to learn how to work the security system even if Naruto took some time to show him; the thing was a moody, complicated fucker. In fresh clothes from the bunch Sakura had left and warmed up under the spray of warm water, Naruto was feeling a little bit better when he walked out.

“I noticed,” Sasuke said, in that same lifeless tone Naruto learned to hate after only several sentences. “That there is only one bed in this house.”

That was the truth. There was only the bed Naruto was sleeping on left. He even sold the couch. “Don’t worry. You are the only one who willbe sleeping tonight.”

Sasuke just nodded, like he was expecting as much. “I have to take a shower, too.”

Naruto nodded at the pile. “You can have whatever you can use, I have nothing else to offer you right now.”

“It’ll do.” Sasuke said and took some stuff. Naruto used the time he was in the bathroom to check if Sakura had changed the sheets – she did, so it was okay. Sasuke left his shirt on the nightstand and the gun he took from the assassin on top of it. Naruto took his with him in the bathroom earlier and just moved it, regretting the loss of his favorite belt, to the fresh pair of jeans. He pulled out his father’s belt from the closet, it was one of the things he couldn’t get rid off easily. It was very practical, made of hard leather with holes, pockets and hooks for all kinds of things.

He had to check on the gun Sasuke had picked up. It was a 9mm Beretta, Naruto saw as much. He needed to see about ammunition, because he had no spare. His own Glock was .45, much bigger caliber – though, like every Glock, it was much lighter.

The gun was perfectly maintained. Naruto took off the silencer, it was hardly necessary for self-defense and it made the gun less portable.

“The bed is big enough.” Sasuke said from somewhere near the open door. Naruto opened his eyes, realizing that he was sitting at the edge on the mattress, holding his head in his hands.

He stood up. “No.”

He would have said more, maybe, how he wasn’t really tired, just drained emotionally, or something. But Sasuke was wearing nothing but Naruto’s old but clean ash gray sweatpants, still wet here and there and so it would be better if he got out instantly. Before doing something completely unreasonable, like lick all those water drops off Sasuke before throwing him in bed.

But as he was passing next to him, Sasuke said through clenched teeth, even though his expression was just as flat as it was ever since he found out that Itachi was in danger, “Or just take the fucking bed.”

Naruto stopped, one hand clutching at the door frame. Damn it. Sasuke seemed to think that Naruto won’t sleep in bed because of him. Granted, it would not be recommendable, but it wasn’t the same as not want to.

“When I said the apartment was safe, I didn’t mean that it’s impenetrable. I have to stay awake until I can get you somewhere where you really are going to be safe.”

Sasuke looked away. “That might take a while.”

“It might.” Naruto answered, ignoring the dry, insulting tone and moved again. “But despite of everything your brother had said, I know very well what this job is and how much can it cost and I said yes regardless to it. So I’ll do what I have to.”

Sasuke was not looking at him when Naruto closed the door behind him. He had to make plans. He needed to find Kakashi and that wouldn't be easy.

Fortunately, Naruto knew just where to start.
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Plato of Your Kind