Going Down

AN: I’m glad that everyone enjoyed the first chapter! I don’t have a set schedule for updating on this yet, but I am going to hazard a guess for Tuesdays.

Thanks so much for your reviews!!!! I'm really glad that everyone liked it so well!!!

Chapter 2


Sasuke moved the light over the walls of the space, mentally measuring it out while simultaneously making sure that it wasn’t already occupied. The small cave was maybe six feet wide at the widest point and probably double that going back into the hill. It also looked as if there was more to it past another tight turn, but it was too narrow for them to squeeze through it.

Hopefully it was too small for anything with four legs and ate meat as well. He kept having visions of wild bears and wolves roaming the hills. They were all the time releasing the animals into the wilderness to repopulate them. Who knew how many were in the area?

There was a loud thumping behind him and he turned to see the pilot dropping the bags onto the ground.

“Be a little more careful with my luggage,” he scolded before he could stop himself. He frowned when Uzumaki muttered something under his breath. “Stop mumbling all the time,” he growled. “If you have something to say, say it loud enough so I can hear it.”

The blond walked into his personal space and right up in front of him. He lifted his eyes with a scowl, wondering what the incompetent man was up to now.

A warm, tanned hand suddenly wrapped around his on the flashlight handle, causing his eyes to lose their glare. He swallowed with a little difficulty, looking up into those enigmatic blue eyes. He felt the flashlight being removed from strangely nerveless fingers and that gaze let him go as Naruto turned away from him.

“I’m going to see if I can find some dry brush nearby. We need some kind of warmth to get dry.”

“Put the bandages on first,” Sasuke reminded him once he found his voice again.

Naruto paused at the small exit to pull the bandages that his boss had given him out of his pocket. He tucked the flashlight up under his arm and quickly stripped the paper off of the oversized band-aids. He gingerly felt for the edges of his wounds with his fingertips before affixing the adhesive strips in place, one on each side of his face.

He then plucked the flashlight out from under his armpit and slid through the narrow opening to the outside.

The fading light prompted Sasuke to follow him back out into their original small niche. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the cave or anything, but his previous visions of wild animals made him want to be in a less confining space when Naruto took off with their only light.

“Stay here so I don’t lose track of the cave,” Naruto said absently as he trailed the light out across the rain-soaked landscape.

Sasuke didn’t bother mentioning that he hadn’t planned on traipsing out into the storm again regardless of what the blond wanted. There was no way in hell that he was going to go back out in that downpour, ruin his suit further, catch pneumonia and risk losing his shoes just to dig around in the mud looking for a couple of water-logged sticks.

That was what employees were for.

From his elevated perch, something that he felt was perfectly natural, he watched the pinprick of flickering light moving amongst the trees before it disappeared from sight. The minutes trickled by, the wind blowing the rain in on him sporadically as he strained to see through the darkness. Bursts of lightning dazzled his eyes, ruining what night vision he had acquired only to repeat the process all over again once he had readjusted.

He was starting to become concerned about his pilot’s continued absence. After all, there were shoe-eating mud holes, wild bears and lightning strikes to contend with out there. Just as he was contemplating leaving the safety of the ledge, he saw a familiar point of light.

The light moved off to the right. After a few moments, it moved back towards the left. It then drew a little closer before veering off once more, further away.

Sasuke frowned. Either the idiot was still looking for wood or…

“Uzumaki!” he yelled over the rumbling of thunder.

The light stopped for a moment, turned in his direction and steadily came closer. Soon, a familiar figure with its arms laden with sticks and small branches with a flashlight stuck in its mouth became visible.

…he had been lost.

Naruto looked away a little sheepishly when Sasuke pulled the flashlight out of his maw.

“Get lost, did we?” Sasuke asked a trifle smugly.

Naruto muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “prissy ass out there.”

“What did you say?” he asked automatically, his smirk dropping.

“I said it was getting misty and nasty out there,” the blond said, raising his voice over the rumbling in the sky. “Fog will move in before morning.”

Sasuke frowned lightly. Like most things Uzumaki said, it didn’t totally fall within the context of their conversation, but Sasuke had come to see that as a quirk of the young pilot’s.

Sasuke stepped back out of the way as Naruto moved passed him with his armload. The blond paused as the entrance into the back and turned sideways, pulling his burden close in to him so that he could pass through the narrow opening. He cursed as a few branches poked him uncomfortably, but he made it through.

“A little light, please?” came the exasperated plea from the dark cave.

Sasuke gave a small start and quickly followed. He watched as Naruto dropped the wood carefully towards the back of the cave and started searching around. He formed a small ring with rocks to contain the fire and then began to carefully stack some of the wood within.

The blond then moved over to his bag and commenced searching through it. A moment later he pulled up a tiny bottle of whiskey.

“I don’t think now is the time to be drinking,” Sasuke said with a frown. He was met with a bright glare at that statement.

Ignoring his boss, Naruto opened the bottle and splashed some across the wood. He then took the bloodied handkerchief from earlier, twisted it into a cord and dribbled some of the alcohol on it as well. Once done, he set the cloth at the edge of the fire circle, fished out a lighter from a side pocket on his bag and lit it up. The whiskey quickly caught fire which traveled the distance to the wood and, in a quick flash, caught the alcohol on the wood alight.

After a few moments of babying it along, they had a steady fire.

“You’re still bleeding,” Sasuke suddenly announced, watching a small trickle of blood slip out from under the bandage and slide down past the dark collar of his pilot’s jacket.

“It’ll stop eventually,” Naruto said with a shrug. “There’s not much I can do about it now.”

Sasuke frowned at him for a long moment. “You need stitches,” he suddenly announced as if making a great proclamation.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow at him. “I think you mentioned that already.” He turned off the flashlight to conserve the batteries and settled down cross-legged by the fire.

His boss continued to glower at him for another minute before abruptly turning and grabbing his overnight bag. He shed his wet suit jacket, carefully placing it over a rock before unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his shirt sleeves. He then knelt down by the fire, unmindful of his pants since they were already dirty from their trek to the cave, and began looking through his belongings.

Once more pulling out and opening his kit, Sasuke bypassed all of the normal shaving accoutrements and fished out a small piece of plastic that had several rounds of black and white threads on it with a small needle shoved through it.

“What is that?” Naruto asked suspiciously.

“It’s for darning socks and sewing buttons back on,” Sasuke said calmly as he pulled the needle out.

“Uh, I think sewing holes in my face is a little different from sewing holes in socks,” he replied dubiously, eyeing the needle in askance.

“Maybe a little,” Sasuke allowed as he began to pull out the darker thread.

“A little? Try a lot!” the pilot exclaimed, clearly not liking where this was going.

“The basic principle is the same,” Sasuke stated confidently.

“Have you ever done this before?” Naruto demanded easily.

“No,” he admitted, “but I have had stitches before.”

“Yeah and I’ve eaten a seven course meal before but that doesn’t make me a chef,” Naruto retorted with a derisive snort.

“Have you?” Sasuke asked with distracted interest as he pulled out five more similar strands of thread.

“Have I what?” Naruto asked distrustfully.

“Eaten a seven course meal?”

“Well, yeah, sure,” he said readily before adding on in a lower tone, “once.”

It had been with his previous employer who had been intent on seducing him; tempting him with fancy meals, wine and expensive gifts. Naruto had refused the gifts of course. Just because he found men as well as women attractive didn’t mean he was easy. That and the guy’s Gene Simmons’ tongue and hissing voice just freaked him out.

“Did you enjoy it?” Sasuke asked, curious as to how Uzumaki would answer. It felt strange actually having a conversation with the idiot when usually they avoided talking to one another as if the other had contracted the plague. Most of their discussions ended up with Sasuke sneering at how stupid he was or Naruto stalking off with his fists clenched and muttering under his breath.

Sasuke walked over and looked into the supply bag to fish out one of three remaining miniature bottles of alcohol.

Naruto shrugged then seemed to notice that he was still sitting in his soaking wet jacket. He started to peel it off as he spoke.

“It was alright I guess. The steak was awesome, but the rest of it was kinda weird looking. I didn’t know what half of it was and I was afraid of what the answers would be if I asked. Personally, I like a nice hot bowl of ramen with all the fixings!”

Sasuke smirked. “Ramen. Why aren’t I surprised?”

Naruto shot a scowl over at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sasuke gave him a rather amused look. “Simple pleasures for a simple mind, maybe?”

“Screw you,” he growled. “Just because I don’t like snails and pickled quail penises or whatever the hell they were doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

Sasuke had to repress a snicker at the image that popped into his head at the blond’s choice of wording. That was one of the reasons why he enjoyed sneaking into the pilots’ area and just eavesdropping when he could. Uzumaki had a colorful way of expressing himself that never failed to bring a usually rare smile to Sasuke’s face.

“I never said that you were stupid. Just that you had simple tastes,” Sasuke explained succinctly.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Naruto said sullenly, still feeling as if he were being insulted.

“I never said there was,” his boss pointed out.

Sasuke opened the bottle and poured a little over the needle and then onto the threads in an attempt to sterilize them. He looked over at Naruto after he had done so.

“You ready?”

“Let me get situated first,” Naruto said with some amount of resignation.

The thread dangled in Sasuke hand, forgotten, as his pilot quickly and efficiently stripped down to his boxers.

Having done so, the blond began to lay the clothing out a little away from the fire to dry. After grabbing a poor excuse for a blanket to sit upon and wrap around his waist and legs, he looked back over at his seemingly frozen boss.

“Look, I’m not too thrilled about this idea, so if we are going to do it, let’s get it over with,” he muttered.

Sasuke forcibly tore his eyes away from all that bronzed skin and lifted them to meet the grimly determined cobalt blue ones of his companion. Swallowing to try to ease his suddenly dry throat, Sasuke walked over and knelt down at Naruto’s side.

“This is going to sting,” he murmured as he peeled away the blood-soaked bandage from one side of the man’s face.

“I kinda figured that,” Naruto replied just as quietly, his body tensed and expectant.

Grimacing a little at the three ragged slices along the blond’s cheek, Sasuke carefully inserted the needle into the flesh and pulled it through, the thread trailing behind. Naruto hissed in pain but didn’t move, allowing Sasuke to continue with his ministrations.

A kind of tense but quiet atmosphere descended upon the two as the needle moved rhythmically through Naruto’s flesh.

Poke. Poke. Slide. Puuuullll. Tug.
Poke. Poke. Slide. Puuuullll. Tug.

Naruto tried not to make any faces. He tried hard not to move, twitch or jerk. The worst part was that he couldn’t talk since it would move his cheeks and mess up the stitching. With nothing to do and nothing to take his mind off of the pain, he turned his attention to the man who was so very close to him.

Those dark eyes were riveted on him, their full focus on the task that those dexterous pale fingers were performing, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have all of that awareness on him in a sexual way. He wondered what those eyes would look like filled with passion and desire. He wondered what expression those sharp, but beautiful features would twist into in pleasure. Would he demand to top like his controlling nature dictated or would he let Naruto lead their sensual dance?

Was he the type that liked to kiss or was he more impersonal, more about sex and fucking than about relationships?

Naruto almost snickered at his own musings. The bastard was so damn uptight that he probably didn’t even jerk off, never mind about actually kissing another man. There was no chance that anything could happen. It was his boss for crying out loud and if there was one thing that he knew from cold hard observation was that nothing good ever came from getting involved with your employer.

No matter how incredibly hot he was.

Sasuke tied a knot and then moved to get the next piece of thread. His hands worked steadily, seemingly unaffected by their close proximity. When he looked up their eyes met and caught for a brief moment, pulling at something deep within him before he looked away in a pretense of starting the next line of stitches.

The pilot’s body was radiating warmth in a way that would have had him concerned about fever had he not been touching the man’s skin. There was just something about him that simultaneously drove Sasuke mad and made him want to reach out to him just to see what he really felt like, just to see if that one touch would either burn him or ignite him.

He frowned and tugged with a tad more force than strictly necessary. A baleful glare from the corner of an eye told him just how little Uzumaki appreciated it.

“Be careful, asshole,” was muttered with the minimal moving of lips.

“I fail to recall when it was ever acceptable to speak to one’s employer in that manner,” Sasuke said coldly.

“It is when they are trying to rip the skin off your face,” Naruto retorted angrily.

Sasuke cast a brief frown at him as he made another stitch. “I am trying to do you a favor, you ungrateful imbecile.”

Naruto went to turn his head toward his boss when a tug on a thread stopped him. “Why are you always such a prick?!” he demanded, wincing when the stitches pulled.

“I’m only a prick when you fail to perform up to par,” Sasuke said repressively. “If you would learn to work within the established parameters and not act so… so…”

“So?” Naruto prompted with the beginnings of amusement.

“So…”

“So?”

“Dammit, you know what I mean!” Sasuke snarled.

The needle jabbed into flesh and Naruto winced, letting out a small noise of protest. “If you weren’t so damned anally retentive, my behavior wouldn’t bother you!”

Sasuke wanted to throttle the moron. “Maybe I like anal-” His eyes widened as Naruto burst out in laughter. “That’s not what I meant, damn you!” he said desperately. “I meant I like being anal…” His face flushed as Naruto laughed harder.

“It,” he snickered, “it’s okay, Uchiha. You don’t have to explain,” he snorted, “your preferences to me,” he giggled.

Sasuke wished the cave floor would open up and just swallow and get it the fuck over with. He lowered his hand so as not to pull the thread too tight as the moron hunched over in mirth.

‘I will not let this affect me,’ Sasuke coached himself. ‘I will not let this affect me. I will not… fuck it!’

“The first thing I am going to do when we get back is fire your ass,” he growled dangerously. Instead of the statement cowling the pilot as he intended, he had to quickly lower his hand further when the moron fell over sideways laughing hysterically.

“Oh god! Oh god!” he panted out between giggles and snickers. “You really do have an anal fixation!”

Without thinking, Sasuke drew back his foot. Unfortunately as he brought it forward, he realized the only real target was the tight, blanket-covered rump.

“Ow!” Naruto yelled, still chortling. “Anal abuse! Anal abuse!”

“I give up,” Sasuke announced, dropping the needle on Naruto’s cheek.

“Hey! Hey, bastard! You still have sewing to do!” the blond was suddenly protesting.

“And why should I?” Sasuke growled.

“Because I am the best pilot you have on your payroll and if you don’t then it could scar up my charming good looks!”

“You don’t have charming good looks,” Sasuke sneered. “You don’t have any good looks.”

“Just because I don’t go to a salon like some people or sleep with vegetables on my face doesn’t mean I don’t have good looks,” Naruto retaliated with what could easily turn into a pout if his face didn’t hurt so much.

Sasuke’s mouth thinned out. He did not sleep with vegetables on his face!

Naruto suddenly sighed, gently grabbed the needle and sat the rest of the way up. “I’m sorry if I upset you. Could you please finish sewing up my face?” he half sing-songed.

“I would think you were more sincere if it didn’t sound like some little kid reciting an apology,” Sasuke muttered.

“Take it or leave it,” Naruto mumbled half under his breath.

“What was that?” he asked, just to see what the idiot would say.

“I said I wouldn’t fake it! Believe it!” he said with a pained grin and a thumb up.

Sasuke rolled his eyes but took the needle back nevertheless. “Shut up and hold still,” he instructed sourly.

Naruto bristled at being ordered around so callously but this time he held his tongue. He consoled himself with remembering how red his boss had turned upon his slip up instead. He couldn’t suppress the occasional chuckle and tried not to outright laugh every time Sasuke would meet the snickers with a glare.

Sasuke quickly finished up the last cut on the right side of the idiot’s face and leaned back to look at his handiwork. Like everything he did, the stitches were in nice, neat rows holding the skin fast together.

Giving a small satisfied nod, he quickly dampened his single spare handkerchief in the peroxide before wiping the cheek clean of any lingering blood. Once done, he retrieved the tube of antibiotic cream and dabbed some along the dark lines on Naruto’s face before putting a new bandage over them.

After soaking his hands and the remaining three threads in whiskey once more, Sasuke began to work on the other side of the pilot’s face.

Naruto closed his eyes and just let himself drift as he felt the hands move gently but confidently over his aching jaw. Everything was starting to catch up to him and he was sore and tired. While he couldn’t exactly go to sleep with a needle being shoved in and out of his face, he did start to relax even with his boss’ unapproachable presence.

Finally the last stitch was in, the antibiotic ointment was on and the bandage was firmly adhered to his face. Sasuke wiped his hands off and moved once more to his bag to put things away. He then pulled out a pill bottle and then moved over to the supply bag to pull out a water bottle.

He handed Naruto the pill and noticed the questioning look he received. “It’s a minor pain pill,” he explained looking a little awkward. “I sometimes get headaches,” he said with a shrug. “They knock them out. Has a little bit of codeine in it so you should sleep real well.”

Sasuke unscrewed the cap off the bottle and handed it to Naruto after he had tossed the pill into his mouth. A few swallows later and the blond handed the bottle back. Sasuke looked up at Naruto for a long moment before giving a small sigh and taking a few swigs for himself. He didn’t know how long their water would last but he wasn’t going to waste it by opening up more than one bottle at a time.

Naruto wrapped his blanket more securely around his body before leaning against the wall nearest the fire. He closed his eyes and let himself float in the darkness behind his lids.

Sasuke stood up and started to strip down as well, discarding them by his bag before pulling out a pair of sleep pants and a t-shirt. Once he had redressed, he spread his wet clothes out by Naruto’s to dry in the heat from the fire. He then snagged the only other blanket, wrapped himself up and sat near his pilot.

He was a few minutes away from finally surrendering to sleep’s strong pull when a voice stirred him awake again.

“Hey, Sasuke. Can I call you Sasuke?” Naruto asked in a slightly slurred voice.

“You just did,” Sasuke pointed out calmly.

“Oh, yeah. Hey, Sasuke, do you like your job?” the blond asked.

Sasuke’s eyes snapped open in confusion and surprise. What kind of question was that? Oddly enough, he couldn’t remember someone ever having asked him that before. Surely his father, whom of which had hired him to work for him fresh out of college, had asked. Surely his mother, who had been a beacon of calm to him before her death, had asked. The board of directors, whom of which he worked with closely, surely had asked at some point! Hadn’t they?

So caught up in his search for an answer was Sasuke that he didn’t even twitch when Naruto leaned his head against his shoulder. It was only when the blond began snoring lightly that he realized that he was being used as a pillow.

His first immediate thought was to push the nuisance off of him, but as he looked down into Naruto’s fire-lit features, he lost the will to do so. Giving up the fight for the moment, he settled himself back against the rock wall and let sleep take him.

TBC