Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

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.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Author's note: I had hoped to finally have more updates ready, but so far I only managed to finish this one. I've been working until nearly midnight every day on my thesis, so my brain's a bit mush. I will do my best to have at least something else ready finally this weekend; just know that I haven't forgotten about my other projects. My time management just really sucks a lot, sorry. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter.
Warnings: Some smidgen of angst; small timeskip; killing zombies
I hope you'll like this part!
Chapter 8
"I don't think you've been following the conversation here," Anko said; a condescending tone in her voice. "This wouldn't just be a quick ride to a hospital, we're talking about a fucked up road here filled with a herd of zombies all while you're trying to keep control over a fast bike with an extra passenger behind you."
"Yes, I know," Naruto said and raised an eyebrow. An equally condescending tone filled his voice when he added, "You think I've never dealt with herds before? Common as shit out there."
"Driving with a bike through them, though," Suigetsu started, but Naruto shook his head, cutting him off.
"I got experience with that. My best friend and I used his bike after we lost the caravan and we switched sides every day." He shrugged. "You need someone, I'm your best bet."
Oh hell no. Sasuke opened his mouth, getting pissed off, but Kisame interrupted him.
"Like the enthusiasm, kid," Kisame drawled, ignoring Naruto bristling, "but the doctor said not to strain your foot too much yet and speeding through a goddamn herd across a busted road sounds like straining it to me."
"My ankle is just fine," Naruto bit out, narrowing his eyes. "I can easily wipe the floor with you, big guy!"
"Okay, let's not get violent here!" Anko said exasperatedly.
Kisame grinned, however, and cracked his knuckles. "You know what? I like your guts! All right, you manage to get me on the ground and we'll let you take the bike."
"Are you mad?" Sasuke snapped.
"Aw, don't worry, Sasuke-kun," Kisame grinned and clasped his shoulder. "I won't hurt your little boyfriend too much."
"He's not my fucking - "
"Come on, old guy, I don't have all day," Naruto sneered, beckoning Kisame out of the garage.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Sasuke muttered darkly, glowering as he watched Kisame accept the taunt.
"I didn't mean for this to happen," Sakura sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Mah, this is the best entertainment I've had in weeks," Suigetsu grinned, crossing his arms behind his head. "You think Naruto has any chance? Kisame is huge, man."
"You're all a bunch of idiots," Anko growled.
"Okay," Kisame called out, a smug grin already lingering around his mouth. "You get me to hit the ground even once, kid, and we'll consider you - "
It happened so fast Sasuke wasn't entirely sure what exactly had happened. One second Kisame was grinning, the next he was knocked out flat on his arse; his grin instantly replaced by a stunned look as he hit the ground with a 'thump'. Naruto rose up calmly, shaking out his left foot from where he'd dropped down to swing Kisame's legs from underneath him.
"Look, ma, no hands," Naruto said sarcastically. He turned around to face them, placing his hands on his hips. "So, is that evidence enough that I'm fine or do I need to wipe the floor with some of you as well?"
"What the fuck?" Suigetsu breathed out; his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. Then he whooped, punching the air. "That was fucking awesome, holy shit! How the fuck are you so quick?"
"He's just slow," Naruto said dismissively, ignoring Sakura gaping at him. He looked expectantly at Anko. "So, does this prove that I'm up for the task?"
"No, you're not going to do it," Sasuke said, snapping out of his shock. Fuck, he'd known Naruto wasn't exactly weak – nobody could be weak when they'd survived months on the road on their own – but he'd never seen Kisame hit the floor that quickly. Honestly, he couldn't even remember a time when he'd seen someone win against Kisame, bar his brother.
"Erm, yeah, I'm going. You need the supplies and I'm the only one who can handle a bike in those circumstances," Naruto said calmly.
It was a specific sort of calm that Sasuke had come to hate, however, because it made Naruto sound as if he was being reasonable when he wasn't at all. There was nothing reasonable about speeding on a goddamn bike through a damn herd in bumfuck nowhere!
"It's way too dangerous!" Sasuke insisted, scowling at him.
"Is this what we would call a lover's spat?" Suigetsu muttered.
Sasuke would punch him if he wasn't occupied at the moment with trying to keep Naruto from being a fucking idiot. He'd get back at Suigetsu for that stupid comment later on.
"It's not anymore dangerous than what I've done before," Naruto retorted flippantly.
"Okay, no, come here." Sasuke grasped his arm and dragged him away from the garage, past the empty shed on the right before pushing him behind the building, barely keeping himself from slamming him against it.
"Are you insane?" he demanded angrily.
"Well, it can be argued whether I don't have a few screws loose, I suppose, but overall I like to think I'm as sane anyone still is in this apocalyptic shit world," Naruto replied thoughtfully.
"This isn't a joke, Naruto," Sasuke hissed. "You can't go out there!"
"Why not?"
"Because it's too damn dangerous! There's an entire damn herd there and you think it's a smart idea to go cruising there with a bike?" Sasuke demanded incredulously.
"It's no more dangerous than walking around the woods here is," Naruto retorted and shrugged. "Or hell, no more dangerous than our run in that one town was."
"The forest near the walls here is nowhere near as dangerous as going to that place is," Sasuke argued. "Do you have a fucking death wish?"
"I know what I'm doing." Naruto had the gall to roll his eyes. "Gaara and I would never have got as far as we did if we avoided all the areas with herds. We learnt to adapt with the bike."
"It's way too dangerous. You can't go, you heard the others; the road is shit and there are too many of the undead there!"
"The compound needs the supplies and I'm the only one who has experience with riding a bike in those circumstances!" Naruto shot back and glared at him. "I thought you're all for stocking up on supplies? Medical shit kind of seems necessary to me, genius."
"It's not necessary enough to risk your life!" Sasuke bit out annoyed.
"Look, going there isn't any more dangerous than leaving the walls and going into the forest," Naruto said, narrowing his eyes. "So I don't get what your damn pro-"
"Going into the forest directly next to the compound is fucking less dangerous than driving straight into a damn herd in an unknown place!" Sasuke hissed, jabbing his finger into Naruto's chest. "We can always retreat behind the walls if shit hits the fan, but you have no idea whether you can find a place to hide in when you get into trouble there!"
"Walls won't do shit if a herd gets big enough."
"It's still way better than driving straight into the unknown!"
The peculiar glint in blue eyes had Sasuke eyeing him warily. "Sasuke, how many zombies did we just kill before we came back?"
"What does that have to do with our discussion now?" Sasuke demanded irritated. "I don't see how that has - "
"We killed six zombies in the woods right next to the compound," Naruto said neutrally, but raised an eyebrow. "If the woods are so much safer, we wouldn't have had to kill that many undead bastards in the couple of hours we were there. Literally every step we set outside, hell, every step we take inside, something can happen that can kill us. That's just how it is."
"Six stragglers is nothing compared to the herd that's awaiting you there! There's a reason why the previous group came back instead of pushing on," Sasuke said exasperatedly. Why the fuck was Naruto being so stubborn about this?
"But unlike the previous group, we actually know we'll be dealing with a large herd now," Naruto argued; his lips thin. "We know the road's shit, we know we'll have to evade a bunch of dead fuckers, so we're better prepared than the group that went first."
"Knowing that and actually being able to evade them and find a safe place in case of trouble are two entirely different things!"
Naruto blew out a huge sigh, throwing his hands up in the air. "Why are you being so difficult about this? I didn't hear you try to keep that group here when they went out to investigate that place! They were literally in more danger with entering the unknown than we'll be now! So why don't you want me to go?"
Because it's too fucking dangerous, Sasuke wanted to yell at him. Because Sakura won't be able to have your back like I would, because she's not as strong as we are. Because driving at a crazy high speed through a damn herd of the undead is the stupidest idea I've ever heard.
Because I don't want you to die.
He felt close to exploding, wanted to grab Naruto by his shoulders and shake him back and forth in an attempt to get some sense back into him. He wanted to scream at him, call him selfish for taking on such a dangerous run with no other backup than Sakura.
But his mouth refused to open; his vocal cords remaining absolutely numb all of a sudden.
He froze when Naruto stepped forwards; black eyes tracking the hand reaching out to him before it left his field of vision, sliding straight past his head. His eyes widened when that hand settled on the back of his head and then suddenly his vision was filled with nothing but pure blue eyes when Naruto pressed their foreheads together; their breath intermingling.
"I promise I'll be back," Naruto murmured; all the fight drained out of him. "I've done more insane shit than this, trust me."
"You can't promise me that," Sasuke said; his voice rather thick to his horror.
"Others can't, but I've never broken a promise," Naruto stated resolutely. "So if I promise you I'll be back, I will be back. You won't get rid of me that easily, you know."
But Sasuke shook his head, pressing his lips tightly together. A promise like that was impossible in the world they lived in nowadays. You couldn't promise you'd be fine, because that wasn't how it worked. Not anymore. Everything could happen now, especially in a place as unknown as the area around that hospital in the north. Driving a bike at high speed through a herd on a fucked up road? That was asking for bad shit to happen.
Naruto sighed softly, his warm breath caressing Sasuke's mouth, causing a stupid shiver to run down his spine that didn't seem to have anything to do with the cold winter air.
"Okay, here."
To Sasuke's shock, Naruto stepped backwards, his hand dropping before he unhooked his crossbow, holding it out to Sasuke with an expectant look on his face. Sasuke could do nothing but stare at it incomprehensibly.
"What - "
"You don't trust that I'll be back on my own, well, here, keep this safe for me," Naruto said curtly, prodding the crossbow against Sasuke's left arm. "You know how much this means to me, so you'll know I'll be back for this. So in the meantime, keep this safe for me. You can even take it out to the forest to train with it if you want."
Sasuke shook his head, taking a step back. "No way, I can't keep that with me," he said incredulously.
"Why not? That way you know I'll be back and it's not like I can use it when I'm steering the bike," Naruto said frankly, shrugging. "Trust me, I've tried that once and it didn't work out. There's no way to keep control over a bike at high speed and still be able to aim well at the zombies. I'll take my gun and my dagger, but that's all that'll be useful to me for this run. So in the meantime you can keep this safe for me."
"It's your crossbow!" Sasuke snapped; the sight of Naruto freely offering something so precious to him making him feel strange.
"Yep, and I can't use it now, so keep it safe for me, all right?" Naruto said cheerfully and this time he shoved the crossbow into Sasuke's chest, forcing him to grab it or let it drop onto the ground.
Sasuke did grab it, holding it stiffly, and glared at Naruto. "You don't come back, you best pray I won't find you," he promised darkly.
"I promised, remember," Naruto reminded him and squeezed his upper left arm before sidestepping him, turning around the corner.
Sasuke remained standing there for a couple of seconds longer, anger and frustration and something akin to fear swirling darkly in the pit of his stomach. He forced himself to turn around, sliding the strap of the crossbow over his shoulder, feeling its heavy weight rest against his upper back.
As he walked to the garage again, Naruto asked, "How long will it take to drive there?"
"If you're lucky, around a week," Kisame said; his eyebrows knitted together.
Suigetsu had left, but Sakura was still there, biting down on her lip; her green eyes shooting back and forth between Naruto and Kisame as if she was following a tennis match. Anko had her butt braced against the table she'd deemed to be her working desk and her mouth was pursed so tightly, her lips were nothing but a thin line.
"And if I drive straight through?" Naruto inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"You're fucking insane," Sasuke muttered darkly, shaking his head.
"If you drive straight through, you're planning your suicide, kid," Kisame warned him.
"That's what you think," Naruto retorted impatiently. "If I drive straight through, how long? That's all I need to know, big guy."
Kisame hesitated, glancing at Anko, who merely looked back unimpressed. "Maybe three to four days?" he answered reluctantly. "But then you need a shit ton of luck and I don't see how that's – "
"All right, let's meet back here in twenty minutes and then we'll leave," Naruto told Sakura, whose eyes widened before she nodded furiously.
"Thank you, we really need these supplies!" she said gratefully and rushed away in the direction of the infirmary.
"Your funeral, dude," Kisame said morosely.
Naruto merely hummed and walked to his apartment, not glancing back.
"You really don't like this, huh?" Kisame murmured, glancing at Sasuke.
Anko rolled the bike onto the road before walking to the back of the garage where she started to tinker with something that might be a car battery.
"Is there anything to like about this insane plan?" Sasuke asked bitterly.
"I guess not," Kisame admitted and scratched the back of his head. "Thing is, though, we do need the supplies. The doctor doesn't have any thread anymore to sew and Sasori is still trying to figure out whether he can create disinfectant with the stuff he has here. Never mind that the anaesthesia ran out about two weeks ago. I don't like it, but the chances of us finding a safer hospital to raid soon …"
"Yeah, I know," Sasuke said sourly.
He knew they needed all the medical supplies that they could find, all right, but that didn't mean he liked the fact that Naruto was going to put his life in danger to get them. Runs always carried the risk of danger, naturally, but normally they avoided large herds instead of driving straight through them.
"Wait, isn't that Naruto's crossbow?" Kisame wondered, eyeing the weapon on Sasuke's back with growing befuddlement.
Sasuke grunted and crossed his arms. "Yeah, he gave it to me for safekeeping."
Kisame looked like he wanted to say something about that, before he shook his head once and jerked his thumb to the right. "I'm going to let the Board know the run is happening."
The bag Sakura had packed looked so heavy she seemed about ready to topple over from the weight already.
"Bunch of bags, bullets and food and water for at least a week," Sakura explained when Naruto eyed the bulging bag.
He himself had only a very thin knapsack; his dagger strapped to his thigh as usually and his gun to his hip.
"Ready to go," he said brusquely, climbing onto the bike with enough confidence that Sasuke at least didn't have to worry about his skills with it. His leather jacket groaned slightly when he handed the only available helmet to Sakura.
"Maybe you should wear it," she said worriedly, but he shook his head.
"Put it on, I'm used to driving without one," he said curtly.
She acquiesced far easier than Sasuke would have done if he'd been in her place and sat down behind him after putting on the helmet. She wrapped her arms around his waist, her shoulders hunched with tension.
"Don't die," Sasuke warned him, hovering next to the bike while the ones guarding the gates started rolling them open.
Naruto smirked. "What, no goodbye kiss?" he jested, making Sakura jerk in surprise. He paid her no mind.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I will kill you if you don't come back alive."
"Such encouraging words," Naruto cooed, but his eyes softened a fraction when he reached out and patted Sasuke's stomach once. "I'll be back in four days, you'll see. Don't lose too many bolts when you practice."
Ignoring intense green eyes, Sasuke scoffed and stepped back. The roaring of the bike was loud enough to make everyone wince and then Naruto and Sakura were off, driving straight to what might possibly be pure hell on earth right now.
Slowly Sasuke made his way up the scaffold as the roaring noise echoed in the area. He was going to hate the next four days.
And he wasn't ready yet to examine why exactly he was going to hate these four days when he'd never been that worried before about runs.
"So you and Naruto-kun had quite the argument today, hm?" Itachi asked quietly.
Sasuke paused before finishing drying off his glass. He turned around and leant against the sink. His brother stood in the door opening, his thumbs hooked around the loops in his jeans.
"Who babbled? Suigetsu, Kisame or Anko?" Sasuke asked irritated. Hell, it could have been someone else for all he knew; he didn't think their argument had been that particularly quiet.
"Kisame," Itachi admitted easily. "But I would have figured it out on my own."
"Yeah, how so?"
Itachi looked pointedly at the crossbow placed on the table, making Sasuke flush. "I know you don't have a crossbow; doesn't take a genius to figure out Naruto lent it out to you."
"It's his stupid idea of a promise," Sasuke muttered, sliding his finger across the string without adding pressure.
"Considering you only put it down just now to do some dishes, I don't think it's such a stupid promise," Itachi said softly.
"Go psycho-analyse somebody else, nii-san, I'm not in the mood now," Sasuke warned and picked up the crossbow, muscling his way past Itachi.
He stiffened when Itachi curled his hand around his right shoulder. "If there is anyone you can count on to make it, it's Naruto-kun."
"You have a lot of faith in someone who's idiotic enough to drive straight into a herd," Sasuke growled and shook him off, going upstairs to his room.
In his bedroom he removed his pile of books from the nightstand and placed the crossbow on it instead. He looked at it for a while before he tore his gaze away and exchanged his clothes for his pyjamas, ignoring the cold sting biting at his bare flesh.
"Fucking idiot better not die," he mumbled, sliding underneath the blankets.
Sleep took a long time to find him.
"Any reason why you baked Naruto biscuits?" Sasuke questioned, ramming his knife into the forehead of a moaning zombie, cutting off its horrible gurgling. He wrenched it loose from the spear it had got lodged onto, dropping it onto the ground.
The cleaning crew would be here soon to gather the bodies and set them on fire a good distance away from the compound. Burying would take too long and eventually they would run out of decent ground to bury them in. To avoid them stinking up the place and potentially spreading diseases, they had decided that burning the corpses would be the most efficient way to deal with them.
Ino threw him a surprised look before quickly jamming her own dagger straight through the skull of a little girl who had dragged herself straight into a bed of spikes. Her legs were nothing but bare bones by this point and Ino pointedly didn't look at them, moving on to the next zombie which had found himself trapped in one of their defensive snares.
"How do you know about that?" She shook her head, huffing out a quiet chuckle. "Nah, stupid question, sorry."
"Why a stupid question?"
It was day two of Naruto's and Sakura's run and Sasuke's worry hadn't exactly lessened. If anything, it might have grown a notch even. He'd been able to distract himself for a while yesterday by practicing with the crossbow, but going on a dispatch mission didn't require as much concentration as wielding the crossbow had. His mind was constantly whirling with thoughts about what might be happening right now at the hospital, whether Naruto and Sakura were close to getting there already and how bad the herd situation was.
"Because of course you would know about the biscuits," she snorted, dragging the corpse of a young guy onto the ground. "Did he tell you about them?"
"He shared some actually," Sasuke replied, deciding to ignore the first remark. "So why the biscuits? Never took you for someone who loves baking so much."
"I don't," she admitted, smiling wryly. "But I wanted to get to know him better and people are kind of obligated to let you in if you come bearing food."
"Why the sudden interest in him?" he asked curiously. He used his katana to stab a zombified woman straight through her forehead; she'd fallen into one of the pits they had dug especially for this purpose.
She scoffed, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder again. "What, I'm not allowed to be interested in the new arrival?"
"He can hardly be called a new arrival anymore when he's been here for more than two months already," he said.
"He's new still to basically everyone but you," she retorted unimpressed. "I know you're not stupid, Sasuke-kun, nor blind, so you have to know that you're the only one he actually talks to."
He shrugged in lieu of answering, because what could he say to that? He knew that Naruto wasn't particular buddy-buddy with the rest of the people at the compound, but he still couldn't say why the blond man had no trouble talking with him. He didn't mind, though. A teeny tiny part buried deeply inside might even feel somewhat smug about the fact that he was the only one Naruto opened up to.
"Did you get to know him better?" he asked after a bout of silence in which they dispatched five more zombies.
"No," she sighed frustrated, stabbing her knife with more force into the skull of an elderly guy than required. "He was polite, mind, but goddamn it, trying to get him to talk is like pulling teeth from a damned shark or something like that. I never thought I'd say this, but man, he's more reticent than you are!"
"What's with everyone constantly comparing him to me?" Sasuke muttered, shaking his head. Yes, he knew he wasn't much of a talker, he didn't need everyone to constantly remind him of that fact.
"Well, you're not exactly Chatty Cathy around these parts," she smirked before frowning. "Although Naruto-kun is definitely even less chattier. Couldn't get him to say much. How do you do that?"
He shrugged. "No idea. We just talk, it's not that difficult."
"Not for you at least," she mumbled. She eyed him shrewdly. "Guess he likes you the most, huh."
He stared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
She snorted harshly, bumping their shoulders together when she walked past him. "That there is a reason why he gave you his crossbow, dumbass."
"Hey, that's just because he made it a stupid promise to come back," he said irritated, glowering at the insult.
She shot him an incredulous look. "Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun never lends out his weapons. Hell, he barely even shows them! Suigetsu wanted to see his dagger two weeks ago, because you know he loves anything that's sharp and Naruto-kun refused. He was polite about it apparently," she amended, "but that was a very clear no that Suigetsu got to hear. Meanwhile you here get to carry his crossbow around."
She gestured at the crossbow slung around his shoulder. "Maybe you should think about why that is," she said; her eyes intense.
She broke their gaze after a moment, turning around to stab the next zombie through the head.
Sasuke scowled, hating the way his stomach twisted at her words. What did she know anyways? Why did everyone seem to think they knew everything about him and Naruto? Bunch of nosy bastards, the lot of them.
The gurgling zombie crawling towards him had his skull shattered by his boot.
The roaring of an approaching bike two days later sent him running out of his home, ignoring father's surprised look and Itachi's annoyingly knowing one. Impatiently he waited near the gates, watching them open agonizingly slow. Nerves thrummed in his body and his nails dug into the sensitive flesh of his palms when he curled his hands into fists.
The loud grumbling of the bike died out when the bike drove through the gates. Sakura was carrying so many bags it was a miracle she hadn't fallen off the bike from the sheer weight alone, showing the run had been very successful, but Sasuke wasn't interested in her.
The one he was interested was getting off his bike, cheeks smeared with zombie gore, his jacket and jeans drenched in black reddish blood. The way he stepped smoothly off the bike seemed to indicate the blood wasn't from him, but Sasuke's worry hadn't fully abated yet.
Naruto looked up, a grin unfolding across his face when he spotted Sasuke walking over to him; the crossbow on his back where it had been for the past four days unless Sasuke was asleep.
"Told you I'd be back in four days," Naruto said smugly, wiping the back of his hand across his nose. He only succeeded in smearing out the gore further, making him grimace.
Other people came hurrying to the bike, surrounding Sakura, who started talking about the supplies immediately; her voice high pitched with excitement. Sasuke probably should be listening as well, but he couldn't bring himself to pay her any attention. He figured that if anything necessary was said, he'd hear it from others later on.
"Guess I don't need to kill you then," Sasuke snorted, taking in his body quickly. He couldn't immediately spot any injuries and Naruto didn't seem to favour any side over the other, so the blood must all be from the undead then.
"No kiss?" Naruto pouted in jest, fluttering his eyelashes.
"You reek like the dead themselves," Sasuke said unimpressed. As if Naruto had rolled around in the gore, which was quite the disgusting thought.
Naruto raised his left arm, taking a sniff. He grimaced again. "Yeah, had to kill quite a bit of them," he sighed. "Couldn't stop for a quick dip at the lake because they were crawling there too. I'm going to take a shower."
"You can take one at my house," Sasuke blurted out.
They both blinked at each other. "Erm, I wouldn't want to mess up your shower," Naruto said slowly, making a move as if he was going to scratch the back of his head before realising his hands were bloodied as well. He scowled down at them, making a half-hearted attempt at wiping them off on his jeans.
"Yes, because my shower hasn't seen some blood and gore before," Sasuke said sarcastically, making Naruto snicker. "No, I mean, the water got shut off in your apartment building today; they're working on it. I don't know whether they're finished already."
"Huh." Naruto cocked his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows. "Well, if you don't mind, I guess I'll take you up on the shower offer, dude."
"Don't call me dude," Sasuke replied automatically and gestured for him to follow, oddly gratified when Naruto did so immediately.
He would think about why that made him so gratified later on. Now he was just happy that Naruto had somehow managed to survive his idiotic stunt.
AN2: Guess what? We're finally inching into real SasuNaru territory! Now I'm off to bed, because it's late/getting early 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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The Long Run