Archive of Our Own

Make It Count

Sakura had never been the type to put much stock into rumours. Most of the time they turned out to not be true or had been embellished so much it was difficult to say if there was even a hint of truth left to them. If a story wasn't backed up by facts from a trusty source, she did not care one wit for it.

After the world turned into a hellscape, however, and everybody was forced to fend for themselves if they were unlucky enough to not find others, Sakura grew desperate enough to lath onto any sort of rumour that promised a safe haven. Remaining on the road wasn't feasible; they needed a safe place where they could stay, build up a new life, actually try to make something of it that didn't include being on the road the whole time or running away from others.

Most rumours she and her group latched onto and followed turned out to be useless, of course. Safety had become as rare as trust and honesty nowadays and all the stories, gossip, they followed in the hopes of finally finding a safe place to stay at only led to utter disappointment. Just another hopeless lead, more time wasted, more risk taken that they shouldn't have. After so much time wasted, one would think they would know better than to chase even more rumours, yet they couldn't help themselves. Every hint, every rumour, every bit of gossip promising a safe haven they hunted down, clinging to the last remaining shred of hope they still kept.

"How much further to the north do you think we still have to go?" Sakura wondered aloud, resting her hands on her hips.

They were taken a rare break during the day. Usually they made sure to only rest when night fell and only if they were in a place they felt relatively safe in – relatively, because so far they had yet to find an actual secure place where they could stay for longer than two days at most. They had been walking for the better part of last night, though, having left their hiding place after having caught the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. If they wanted to keep going for the rest of the day, they needed to take at least a small break now.

Truthfully with how much her feet were aching – she was pretty sure the blister on her right heel had popped, fuck; the raw skin rubbing painfully against the stiff material of her boot – she longed to just drop down and not move for many hours more, but she couldn't do that. Standing still already was making her too aware of how much her feet, hell, her entire body, hurt; if she sat down now, she just knew she wouldn't be able to get back up again. She couldn't afford to rest, though, not now, not when they were chasing the first actual credible lead they had in months.

Tayuya gnawed down on her lip, abusing the chapped skin even further. "Fuck if I know," she sighed gustily, roughly tugging at her ponytail. "It's not like we got a detailed plan to follow."

"A plan would have been quite handy to have," Kimimaro said idly. "For all we know, we're just following even more useless stories again."

"They told us to go north and follow the river until we reach an iron gate – that's a pretty detailed rumour if you ask me," Sakura said irritated. "It's a hell of a lot more detailed than all the others we heard!"

That was also the reason why she had decided they should follow the rumour. All the other gossip they had caught so far had never really gone into detail about the location of the safe place – which probably should have told them they had been merely wasting their time trying to search for those safe harbours. This rumour was different, however, no matter how cynical Kimimaro liked to be. For one thing it gave them specific instructions to follow, an actual object to look out for that would indicate the location. That was more than they had had so far. It was the only thing keeping her from completely losing it.

"I still don't understand how an iron gate means it's a safe location," Naruto muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"I doubt there's a lot you understand," Sakura sneered, scoffing when he looked away.

She still didn't understand why the others had thought it would be a brilliant idea to accept another guy in their group. They already had to ration the food they found, who the hell thought it would be a great idea to have yet another mouth to feed? Samui had argued they could hardly have left the guy to die, but why couldn't they have? With how much of a goddamn hellhole the world had turned into, everybody had been left to fend for themselves. If you couldn't make it, you were shit out of luck, it was that simple.

The guy didn't even possess any useful skills that could aid their group! He wasn't great at hunting like Samui and Kimimaro were; he didn't even have the most basic knowledge of medicine unlike Sakura and unlike the rest of their group, he wasn't even that good at fighting either. Personally Sakura believed there was a reason why they had found the guy half dead on his own; if he was useful, surely he would have already been part of a group? That he had been found on his own, near starving, said a lot about his non-existing skills. The others had ignored Sakura's arguments as to why they shouldn't take up yet another person in their group, though, and now here they were: stuck with him.

"There's no point in arguing amongst ourselves," Samui said warningly; her blue eyes flickering briefly to Sakura.

Sakura snorted, rolling her eyes and turning away. She would assume Samui was fucking Naruto and that was why she was so quick to try to diffuse any tension rising up because of his presence, but frankly Samui was too pretty for the guy. There was no way Naruto would ever manage to make someone like Samui look at him twice – never mind another person actually. His thin frame didn't help matters already, but the odd scars on his cheeks definitely wouldn't win him any beauty awards.

"He's right, though," Kimimaro unexpectedly agreed with Naruto. "You keep insisting this rumour has to be true because the location is a bit more specified, but how specified can you call it when it just mentions a fucking river and an iron gate?"

"Are you talking about the Northern Compound?"

Sakura and the others instantly whirled around, drawing their weapons. A red haired woman with part of her head shaved stood right outside the shed they were sheltering in. At the sight of their weapons, her crimson coloured eyes widened a notch and she raised her hands in the air. The action had her leather jacket rucking up slightly, showing a hint of a knife's handle.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" she apologised hurriedly, taking a step back. "I thought you had heard me coming."

They had not, which made Sakura once more realise they were in desperate need of actual, real, secure shelter. Just the thought of how easily the strange woman could have killed them because they weren't paying attention to what was going – wait, the Northern Compound?

"You've heard the rumour too?" Sakura demanded, taking a step forwards, ignoring Samui's warning hiss. If the woman had wanted to kill them, she wouldn't have drawn attention to herself by speaking up.

The woman blinked, lowering her hands slightly. "A rumour implies it isn't true," she said slowly; her gaze flitting from Sakura to the others. "It does exist, though, the place, I mean."

"How do you know for sure that it exists," Kimimaro asked suspiciously.

"You've been there?" Naruto guessed, cocking his head to the left.

"Not inside, but my group and I did find it, yeah," she confirmed to Sakura's growing excitement.

She knew better than to let hope take a hold on her so quickly but here was somebody who had seen the Northern Compound before, who testified that it actually existed! The safe place Sakura had been longing for – it was finally within reach! They weren't chasing ghosts anymore, they had a real tangible place to go to!

"Is it not a safe location then?" Tayuya questioned sharply.

"As far as I know it is a safe location," the woman replied. "It looked pretty secure to me at least."

"Where can we find it?" Sakura asked eagerly; the pain in her muscles forgotten at the prospect of finding a safe place to stay at finally.

"If it's a safe location, why aren't you there?" Naruto asked warily at the same time.

Sakura wanted to lob something heavy at the idiot. What the fuck did it matter why the woman wasn't staying there? That just meant more room and supplies for them once they reached the place! Hell, maybe the woman and her group were just overconfident idiots who believed they didn't need help to survive, what the fuck did Sakura care?

"My group and I aren't staying there because the compound has a couple of conditions you need to comply with if you want to stay," the red haired woman answered. "Obviously we didn't want to comply, so that's why," she sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"What kind of conditions?" Tayuya inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"The most important one is the fact that they only allow small groups to settle in the compound," the woman said, pursing her lips.

"Well, that makes sense, I suppose," Kimimaro said thoughtfully. "Supplies aren't easy to find anymore, so I understand why they wouldn't want to take in large groups. Our group just has five people, so in that case we'll – "

"Five's too many," the woman cut him off.

"How can five be too many?" Samui asked bewildered.

Even Sakura felt befuddled. Sure, she understood why large groups wouldn't be welcome because as Kimimaro had mentioned, food and other supplies were growing scarcer with each month that passed. It was understandable that the compound wouldn't want to take in too many people at once. But five people? How could that be considered a large group in any stretch?

The red haired woman shrugged, looking tired. "Hell if I understand their reasoning," she said bitterly. "They told us that they only take in groups of four at most and if we didn't agree with that, we were free to fuck off – which was exactly what we did. So if you're planning on going there with five, you'll be shit out of luck."

"How far away is the compound?" Sakura questioned, considering their options.

Samui frowned. "If they won't allow a group of our size, what's the point of going there?"

"We could try to convince them to have us be an exception, I suppose," Tayuya said tentatively, but she didn't sound like she had much faith in that plan.

Both Kimimaro and Naruto threw her a sceptical look as well.

"I very much doubt you'll be able to convince them, but have it your way," the red haired woman said and clucked her tongue. "The compound is a five day walk from here, give or take, depending on how fast you walk and how many breaks you'll take. I'm warning you, though, you're better off turning around and trying your luck elsewhere."

"We'll see about that," Sakura stated confidently as her mind went through several possible solutions.

The crimson eyed woman opened her mouth, her sceptical look indicating that she was planning on arguing, but at that moment a male voice called out from somewhere in the woods.

"Karin, you ready to go? We're done here!"

The woman – Karin – took a deep breath and shook her head, turning around. "Whatever you're planning on doing, good luck. I doubt you'll be more successful than we were, though," she snorted and walked away.

"Sounds like the compound might be a bust," Naruto commented cautiously, worrying his lip between his teeth.

"That's what you think," Sakura retorted, watching Karin disappear between the trees.

Only four people at most allowed, huh? Well, they just had to find a way around that condition then, no?

"We could try splitting up right before arriving at the compound?" Tayuya suggested, looping her arms around her knees. Her breath created a fog like cloud when she spoke.

Night had fallen and with it the temperature had dropped down even more than it had during the day. They didn't dare to make a fire, though, too wary of potentially attracting the wrong sort of attention. They had got lucky earlier today when that Karin woman had found them, but that didn't mean they would be lucky every time.

So now it was biting through the cold, trying to keep themselves warm by huddling in a pile with the thickest blankets in their possession turning them into human burritos.

"I'm not sure that's going to work," Kimimaro said sceptically. "We don't know how often they see new people showing up at their doorstep, but they might become suspicious if two small groups showed up right after each other."

"I still don't get why five people are worse than four," Samui muttered, pulling the blanket up to her nose. "If they are in the habit of taking in people, what difference will one more person make?"

"That is if they are still taking in new people," Naruto mumbled subdued. "I doubt they will just keep taking in new people endlessly."

"A bit of optimism wouldn't hurt," Sakura snipped, rolling her eyes.

Ever since their conversation with Karin, the idiot had been insisting they were better off trying to find another place to settle down, acting like he had any say in what the group should do. Even after Sakura had threatened to quick him out of the group if he didn't change his tune, he had remained insistent that they would have better chances finding a new place instead of trying their luck at the compound. What the fuck did he even know? Clearly he wasn't great at finding safe places considering he had been completely alone and left in the open when they had come across him!

"Let's just go to sleep for now," Samui sighed. "We'll worry about this shit later."

The shed wasn't exactly a comfortable place to fall asleep in, with the coldness of the ground seeping through her jeans and with her back braced against the rough wall, but Sakura had slept in worse places. At least this time they had a roof over their heads; that didn't happen often.

As exhausted as she was, though, Sakura had a hard time actually falling asleep; a sentiment not exactly shared by the others judging by the faint snoring. She kept ruminating over the conversation with Karin. A difference of one person should indeed not be that significant as Samui had mentioned, but the owners of the compound had every right to make up their own conditions. Still, the thought of being rejected from one of the safest places they had heard about until now purely because of one extra person … It didn't sit well with her. Were they seriously going to be fucked over simply because they were with five instead of four? How was it her fault that the others had insisted on accepting that idiot in their group? She had told them they would be better off leaving him behind and look at them now! Now they would probably lose out on one of the best places because the others had wanted to be all noble and shit!

Absorbed as she was in her dark thoughts, she was startled a bit when a blanket started to rustle. From her spot in the corner, she squinted, rolling her eyes when the moonlight seeping through the cracks in the roof revealed Naruto clumsily getting up. A toilet break probably because the idiot hadn't gone earlier tonight. She honestly didn't understand how he had made it this far. He couldn't even do something as simple as planning in a toilet break during a time when it was still safe to go. Now he would have to go into the pitch black forest while attempting to remain as silent as possible, all because he sucked at making smart decisions.

Sakura herself would rather test the limit of her bladder than to go out in the middle of the night. Too much bullshit that could happen, because what if other people were nearby? It would only take one careless moment for others to get the jump on you and nowadays people were more likely to kill you than to help you. She swore the guy had even less self-preservation instincts than a goddamn mouse spotting food! And of course he would expect them to come to his aid if he happened to land himself into –

Her breathing hitched when an idea abruptly formed in her mind. Her fingers sought and found the cold, wooden handle of the baseball bat she had come to favour as a weapon. In a dark forest everything could happen, especially now that society had collapsed, taken all its rules and laws with it. It was everybody for themselves now and if you couldn't make it, you were shit out of luck. How many dead bodies hadn't they come across so far, all from people too weak, too naïve to make it? How many others hadn't they left behind because they refused to adapt to the new way of living?

One more person disappearing in the middle of the night – what did it matter?

If you couldn't make it, you were out; simple as that.

Quietly she rose up and lifted the bat from the ground. Stretching her legs sounded like a good idea right now.

Carefully she screwed the lid back onto the water bottle, using the damp rag to clean her hands thoroughly. As she stuffed the bottle back into her backpack, some clothes rustled. When she glanced up, she met one of Samui's half open eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked sleep drunk.

Sakura smiled, crawling back underneath her own blanket. "Sorry, had to go pee and was washing my hands."

"Hm, should have woken one of us up," Samui mumbled, her eye falling close again. "It's not exactly safe on your own in the middle of the night."

Sakura huffed, closing her eyes as well. "I'm a big girl; I can handle myself."

Falling asleep went a lot easier this time.

"Where the hell is Naruto?" Kimimaro asked baffled when they woke up the next morning.

"Hm, what are you talking about?" Tayuya mumbled through a yawn, blinking rapidly. She looked around, her eyes widening when she counted only four instead of five people. "The fuck, where did he go?"

"That's literally what I just asked," Kimimaro said irritated. "Where the fuck is he?"

"Got no clue," Sakura replied, stretching her arms in front of her. "He was lying on your side, wasn't he?"

Samui, however, regarded her with unreadable eyes. "It's remarkable how the morning after we're told only groups of four are taken in, we're suddenly missing a member of our group," she spoke casually, but her posture was rigid.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "You trying to accuse me of something here?" she bristled. "The hell you mean with that, huh?"

"Nothing, just that it's interesting how we're suddenly down to a group of four – after you were the only one still believing we should give the compound a chance," Samui shot back.

Sakura gestured at the forest behind them. "I don't give a fuck what you think!" she spat, baring her teeth. "If you're that worried about him, go look for him then. Just don't expect me to give up even more of my time when we're this close to actually finding a safe place. So what's it going to be? You going to waste your time looking for an idiot who apparently fucked off during the night or you going with us to the compound? Your choice."

"Look, for all we know he did indeed leave on his own," Kimimaro sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"Don't tell me you actually believe that bullshit!" Samui argued in disbelief. "You think it's a coincidence that he out of everybody in this group disappeared when Sakura's the only one who ever had something against him? While also being the only one still wanting to give that compound a shot? Him suddenly leaving is quite convenient, huh?"

"Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if he left just to no longer have to deal with her," Tayuya said bluntly. "I wouldn't blame him, to be honest, with how much she was on his case."

"Fuck you too, bitch," Sakura said sourly. "You're going to tell me you thought he had anything useful to add to the group?"

"Whatever," Kimimaro said abruptly and stood up. "We can keep arguing whose fault it is that Blondie upped and left, but that's not going to get us anywhere. We might as well see if that compound is actually a real place."

"You literally heard somebody talking about it yesterday and you still don't believe it's real?" Sakura scoffed, standing up as well.

"Rumours start somewhere and for all we know that woman is trying to stir up shit and lead us to a trap or some bullshit like that," he said, narrowing his eyes. "So yeah, I'm going to be wary as fuck until we get there and see with our own eyes that it actually exists. I suggest you remain a bit more on your guard as well instead of instantly believing everything a damn stranger says."

Sakura glared at him, flipping him off. The fucking nerve of this guy when she was the one who had got them this far in the first place!

"So we're just going to leave Naruto behind, that's it?" Samui asked incredulously.

"We don't even know where he went off to," Tayuya pointed out. "I'm sorry, Samui, but at this point I honestly don't give a fuck where he is. If that compound is actually as safe as the rumours say, then I'd rather we try our luck there instead of searching the woods here for a guy that might not even want to be found."

"I fucking can't believe you guys," Samui muttered darkly, shaking her head.

"What's it going to be?" Sakura demanded, raising an eyebrow. "Like I said, you want to go search for him, be my guest. Just don't expect us to waste our time."

Samui's face turned even darker and for a brief moment she looked ready to punch Sakura. That tense moment passed, however, and she stood up as well, making no move to go into the woods.

Apparently the prospect of safety overruled her sense of 'justice', imagine that.

As eager as they were to reach the compound, it only took them four days to reach a large iron wrought gate. The gate went up in a row of trees; the lopsided trunks and the size of each tree indicating that they had been here before the gate had been placed.

"So this is the gate to the compound?" Tayuya wondered aloud, staring dubiously at the gate in question. "How are we going to get in?"

"Knocking?" Sakura suggested and when Kimimaro snorted, smirking, she bit out, "How else are you going to announce your presence, huh? You want to try climbing over it? I can't wait to see where that will land you!"

He narrowed his eyes dangerously, appearing ready to last out, but out of nowhere the gate suddenly rolled open, revealing a tall, handsome dark haired man standing there. His long hair was tied into a low ponytail and he was dressed in dark jeans and a dark blue sweater. There was nobody else in sight, but Sakura didn't dare to move right away, because she knew from past experiences that just because you didn't see somebody didn't mean they weren't there.

"What can I help you with?" the man asked politely, regarding them calmly.

"This the Northern Compound?" Kimimaro demanded instantly.

The other man raised an eyebrow. "It's my family's compound, yes. I don't know how else it is called," he spoke slowly.

"I'm sorry for his rude tone," Sakura hastily spoke up before Kimimaro could fuck it up for all of them. "But we've heard that this is a safe place and we've been searching for a long time to settle down somewhere."

"We don't just take everybody in," the man cautioned her. "We have limited supplies as it is."

"We understand that," she said quickly and bowed slightly. "But we've been on the road for so long – we just want to stay somewhere safe for the first time in months. We will contribute, of course, we wouldn't just be freeloading!"

"It's just the four of you?" the man asked slowly, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Samui pressed her lips together, but Sakura nodded. "Yes, just the four of us."

"That means we meet your biggest condition, no?" Tayuya remarked, resting a hand on her hip.

The man quirked an eyebrow, appearing vaguely amused. "You've heard about the compound's conditions? Interesting."

"Well, just that one actually," Sakura explained, smiling a bit bashful. "We came across a woman nearly a week ago, who told us about your compound."

"Did she tell you why we put up conditions in the first place?" a second male voice piped up.

Sakura turned her head and stopped herself from gaping just in time. If the first man was handsome, the new arrival was drop dead gorgeous. He had to be family of the first man because they looked somewhat similar, but one look at his piercing dark eyes, his cheekbones that could cut through glass and his face that looked modelled by the gods themselves had Sakura wanting to fan herself, feeling hot and bothered in spite of the chilly air. Holy fuck, but how could one man be this damn gorgeous? That was just unfair!

"Not really, she only mentioned one condition," Tayuya answered, but even her cheeks were pinker than they were before and Sakura was willing to bet everything she had that that blush had nothing to do with the wind!

The second man smiled and Sakura was near damn swooning by now, fuck.

"We put up conditions to make sure that we can co-exist together without much issue and to find out what kind of people we're dealing with," he replied, coming to stand next to the first man.

"That makes sense!" Sakura agreed enthusiastically. After all, living with strangers, there had to be some rules in place just to make sure everybody was on the same page.

"You want to know why we came up with the rule of only four people in one group being allowed?" the first man asked friendly.

"Please do tell us," Samui murmured, crossing her arms underneath her bosom.

Sakura threw her a warning look, but the blonde woman ignored her, of course. She had been ignoring Sakura ever since they had left that shed. That was fine, not like Sakura was planning on dealing with her much longer now that they had finally arrived at the compound.

"It's to see what people will do when they are confronted with rules again," the first man said pleasantly. "I think we can all agree that at least some rules need to be in place to avoid the world turning into utter chaos completely."

"It's not fucked up enough already?" Tayuya muttered underneath her breath.

"I think I speak for my whole group when I say that rules are absolutely necessary," Sakura spoke up, paying Samui's filthy look no mind. Whatever, bitch should be glad she hadn't been removed from the group as well with her haughty attitude! "And as you can see, we can follow rules considering we're only with - "

"What is even more important than rules, however," the second man suddenly interrupted her; his handsome face unreadably blank, "is people still showing some iota of compassion and care for each other. The world's gone to shit already, no need for us to add even more misery to that."

"That also makes sense," Sakura agreed quickly. "We've been together for several months now, so we've become good at - "

"With that in mind," the gorgeous man cut her off again, "we can't let you stay here."

What. What the fuck?

"What the actual fuck are you talking about?" Kimimaro asked, voicing Sakura's thought process perfectly. "We're with four, that's one of your rules, no?"

"Hm, it's more a guideline that we use to see what people will do," the first man smiled thinly. "We don't actually care about the size of your group. We do care how you will react when you're faced with such a condition. People who are willing to ditch others just to save themselves aren't ones we want in our compound. Selfishness is something we can do without."

"I don't get it, we're with four, it's not like we ditched anybody!" Sakura protested once she found her voice again.

What the hell was happening here? How could they refuse them entry when they were with four? It wasn't like they could know they had been with –

"So you weren't actually with five people?" the gorgeous man remarked out of the blue, smirking when Sakura froze. "Hm, you're going to tell us you didn't leave somebody of your group behind the second you heard about this so called condition? You really should be more careful about believing what strangers tell you, you know."

"We didn't leave anybody behind!" Sakura insisted.

An unexpected squeaky sound had them all tensing up. Their heads swivelled to the right where –

Naruto sitting in a wheelchair was being pushed forwards by a long haired, blond man. Naruto had bandages wrapped around his head and his eyes were unfocused until he looked up – and locked eyes with Sakura.

A cold feeling that had nothing to do with the cold weather spread throughout her body.

"Given how violent people are nowadays with no laws in place anymore, we can't just let anybody into our compound," the younger dark haired man spoke idly. "People who are willing to turn against each other just to save their own worthless arse aren't ones we want to waste supplies on. That woman you spoke to? Yeah, you could say she and her group act as our inspectors, looking out for people who want to join our compound. She tells you about our condition to see what you will do – and you had one rather nasty reaction, hm?"

"Naruto? What the hell happened to you?" Samui blurted out shocked, taking a step forwards only to freeze when the first man casually aimed a gun at her. "How come you're hurt?"

"I think you're better off asking Miss Pink over there, un," the blond man drawled, resting his hands on the handles of the wheelchair. "Because I bet she's got an interesting story to tell you."

"What the fuck did you do?" Kimimaro demanded. "You tried to kill him?!"

"Oh, don't act like that when you were all too willing to leave him behind!" Sakura hissed, balling her hands to fists. "Don't you fucking look at me like you're all that innocent!"

"We thought he had just left on his own!" Tayuya protested. "Are you fucking insane?"

"And yet none of you attempted to go look for him in spite of the cold?" the handsome man spoke icily, making Sakura's stomach twist violently. "Looks like he was better off without you all, huh? You want to know another rule in our compound?"

Sakura started to shake her head because this was all going so fucking wrong, so fucked up, how the fuck had it gone sideways this quickly –

"An eye for an eye," the man said ruthlessly. "Simple, but effective, I'd say. Hidan, Kakuzu, they're all yours."

Sakura screamed when two large, imposing men seemingly melted away from the shadows of the trees. Before she could even turn around and make a run for it, something hard bashed into the back of her skull and –

Everything went black.

Naruto winced when the screaming started and he looked away when the gate slid close again. He pressed a hand against his right temple, but that did nothing but aggravate the headache he still hadn't quite completely got rid of.

"I'll take over," Sasuke spoke soothingly above him and not even a few seconds later, the wheelchair was turned around and he was wheeled away, back to the house he had been sharing with Sasuke for almost five days now.

"How's the headache?" Sasuke asked quietly; his soft voice a sharp contrast to the icy one he had used before.

"Still hurting like a bitch," Naruto answered ruefully. "But at least the world stopped spinning."

"I should have gone over to you the moment everything turned to shit," Sasuke murmured; the bitter undertone in his voice hard to miss even with the pounding headache Naruto had.

Blindly he reached out, grasping Sasuke's left hand. "It's not like you could have known that the world would turn into a raging hellhole. Besides, I found you, didn't I – or well, Karin found me."

Not exactly in a way he had wanted to be found, but on the other hand her interference had made sure that he hadn't died from the cold – or the near caving in his skull had been subjected to.

"And look how you ended up," Sasuke said darkly; his hand slightly spasming underneath Naruto's. "You could have died out there!"

"But I didn't," Naruto said soothingly, squeezing Sasuke's hand before releasing it when his shoulder started cramping up from the awkward position. "None of this is your fault. If anything, it's on me for having been stupid enough to trust them."

"You're not stupid for wanting to see the good in people," Sasuke argued immediately, which was quite ironic considering his tendency to be suspicious of everyone he didn't know.

"Might have been in need of better taste in group members, though," Naruto muttered, staring down at his hands. His wrists still looked red from the rope that had been tied around them.

It hadn't been a smart idea to join a group of people he had just met, but by that point he had been so hungry and so alone that he has latched onto the first shred of kindness he had been shown. He had felt from the very beginning that Sakura hadn't particularly liked him, but he had foolishly thought that as time went on, she would become used to him. Truthfully, he had never actually expected that she would go as far as to knock him out; he supposed it was at least partly his fault for lowering his guard around someone he knew didn't like him.

Sasuke pushed the wheelchair over the ramp Itachi and Kisame had built yesterday to make it easier for Naruto to move around until he no longer felt like his head was going to split into two.

"The only good thing about those useless fucks is that you're finally here," Sasuke muttered, directing the wheelchair to the bedroom. "But that's about the only useful thing they did and even then it's mainly because of Karin."

"She played her part well," Naruto commented, carefully pushing himself out of the wheelchair, shuffling over to sit on the bed.

"Hm?"

"She actually sounded really frustrated as if her group had been rejected," Naruto clarified, sinking down on the bed. "Honestly couldn't tell she's actually on your side."

Sasuke smirked, placing the wheelchair underneath the window before he came to sit down next to Naruto. "Well, she had been following acting classes before society upped and died on us, so she loves to make use of those skills."

"Did I thank her yet for not leaving me to die?" Naruto wondered pensively. He thought he remembered muttering something akin to thank you to the red haired woman when she had shown up to free him from that rope, but that could also just have been his brain hallucinating. That hadn't been a fun night.

"You did," Sasuke said amused, but his eyes were dark. His hand reached out to cup Naruto's cheek. "You have no idea how worried I was when she showed up with you, bleeding like mad and looking more dead than alive."

Naruto winced. "I think I can imagine it," he muttered. He didn't know how bad he had looked, but if he had looked as bad as he had felt, it could be called a miracle that Sasuke hadn't freaked out completely.

"I'm sorry, I never meant to make you worry," Naruto said, biting down on his lip.

Once everything had gone to shit, he had tried his best to find Sasuke after their studies had seen them attending university in different parts of the country. He hadn't believed everything to be that bad at first until he had witnessed two men beating another guy to death simply because that guy had had a truck full of food. Seeing that blood spurting through the air, hearing those men laugh as if they were playing a videogame instead of killing somebody in real life had made Naruto fully realise that everything he had come to rely on didn't exist anymore.

Everything, but his bond with Sasuke, that was. That was the only thing that he could still rely on, what had given him purpose and what had kept him going in the months he had travelled through cities and lesser known roads, all in an attempt to find Sasuke.

"Don't be sorry, you're here now," Sasuke stated and tilted his head up to kiss him.

They had kissed before, of course, but just like during their first kiss, Naruto melted into the touch, feeling every nerve in his body respond to Sasuke's presence. He raised his arms, looping them around Sasuke's shoulders, clutching the fabric of his sweater.

As Sasuke gently lowered him onto the bed and crawled between his legs, black eyes shining down on him, Naruto thought he could heard a vague scream coming from the direction of the gate, dying before it could really grow loud. Then Sasuke kissed him again and the rest of the world ceased to exist.

The world was still as fucked up as it had been for a while now and probably wouldn't change for even longer – if ever. But Naruto was here now, safe with Sasuke, and that was all that mattered.

The End