The Little Things

Chapter 3 – threads unravel and turn to dust

“You’re kidding me right? I used to jump around there all the time. If they were still there, they’d have heard us and come down by now to inform us of the evacuation.” Naruto stood there, disbelieving. It sounded too easy. It was the one place they had overlooked, but he had never quite taken it seriously.

“No, you don’t understand. Those caves are a temporary evacuation point. Those faces are ancient. The caves go back for miles if you look beyond the illusions. They lead out to another valley which opens onto a beach. They’re near the sea. They must be.” Sasuke explained; never taking his eyes off the mountains. It was a relief to him, despite the avenger he was he missed them. It’s why he had attacked Naruto and Gaara without hesitation. Without a second thought. But this gave him hope. He was nearly sick with it, hope threatening to boil up out of him.

“We have to prepare.” Naruto whispered.

“Get the mad kid.” Sasuke commanded. Naruto was already gone, running off back towards his place where he would find Gaara. It might be months or even years before they see this place again, but it didn’t matter. To him Konoha was wherever everyone he knew was. They weren’t here. This place was now a shell, one that had been cracked and the spirit of it had escaped with the evacuees, to settle into the bones of the new land.

The wind whipped through his clothes, and as soon as he had started he came to a stop, looking at the front of his door. He touched the wood, imprinting the feel of weathered paint onto his memory, anticipating regret, nostalgia. This is what I’ll remember.

He burst into his apartment, immediately spotting Gaara by the kitchen sink, sombrely washing up. Tame, like this, made him look comical. He had seen him with killer eyes, glowing darkly in the night as they hunted. It had been a hunt in the end, the girl was no longer human; a fight had been reduced to sheer survival of the fittest, of the smartest. It had been a long time together, but he still wasn’t sure if he understood him completely. He was convinced they were very much alike, but he couldn’t stop himself – or was it both of himself – from feeling skittish around him. On edge. Prepared to defend himself to the death if needed. Thinking about it now made him twitch for the kunai in his pockets.

“Naruto.” Gaara remarked, oddly satisfied to find him back.

“Sasuke thinks they went through the caves. We need to go.” Naruto cocked his head to one side at Gaara’s silence. He watched him turn around, unsure whether to assess the risk but forcing himself not to, not in his house, not today.

“Mother said she couldn’t smell blood. Didn’t I say that?” for a moment Gaara looked confused, disorientated. Naruto’s hand flinched to his pocket, fingering the cool steel ring of the kunai. His features cleared, leaving the piercing green eyes pinning him to the spot, seeing all that there is to him. He brought a hand – shaking, Naruto noted – to his head. “Naruto… Shukaku is taking my space away.” It came out as a plea for sympathy and understanding rather than the fact it had been phrased as. But Naruto took both. It explained his deteriorating situation. It was only the blood fest of the past year that kept Shukaku in check. But to be this impatient, already, and Gaara obviously more and more under his control had devastating implications for Naruto. He didn’t share any headspace with his own demon, but who knows what could happen? The Fourth could have messed up somehow, somewhere. He felt invincible, but Death would come. He just didn’t know when. He was damn hard to kill, he knew as much, but that didn’t mean that the kyuubi himself wouldn’t kill him. It’d be the ultimate irony. He didn’t want to go out like that. He had to prove everyone wrong about everything.

He had to heal Gaara. Somehow. He didn’t know anything about medicine, but damn he would try. And keep this all from Sasuke. There was enough mistrust in this rag-tag trio to cripple a business.

He approached Gaara, meandering to his side. He brought his hands up to Gaara’s head, ignoring the look Gaara was giving him, flickering from dark, ancient, resentful eyes to the clear, angry green that was the true Gaara.

“Where are you? Push your chakra from your mind.” A loose plan was forming. He could feel Gaara’s force emanate from half of his head. Marking the area mentally, he pushed slivers of chakra into Gaara’s brain, fencing off the area between Shukaku and Gaara lightly. It was delicate work, and would wear off over time – how much he didn’t know – but it was better than nothing.

“Thanks.” Gaara murmured, looking down onto the carpeted floor between their bodies, their feet. There was less tension in his body than before, the muscle across his shoulder more relaxed, the pinched look on his face gone, forehead smooth. “This won’t work forever.” He hung his head a little lower.

“By that time we’ll have found Konoha, they can help.” The words sounded more convincing than he thought they would. He could taste Konoha on his tongue now, they were close, and he could feel it, felt it in the way his body was aligned with the caves, pointing to the sea. Gaara gave a weak smile, near concealed by the shadows in the kitchen. “Fuck, Gaara, I mean it.” He gave the other a shake, for good measure.

“You’re always hoping for the best to happen, aren’t you?” Gaara remarked, the same deadpan tone in his voice. The stance between them altered, subtly, shifted to a place Naruto had difficulty recognising. It tasted familiar, as if from a dream, as if from a prior reality. His heart hurt, and he could feel the demon growl sardonically, taking pleasure.

“I’m still alive, so tell me who’s wrong here.” Him, defensive.

“You’re lucky.” Gaara spat, breaking free from the hold Naruto had on him, the intimacy between them. He stood with his back to him, in sharp relief to the kitchen walls, blood dipped strands of hair fading dark.

“Same thing.” Naruto concluded, summoning up the strength to ignore the pain Gaara had brought up. The year had been long, but time hadn’t run enough for him to forget the way flesh burns when met with hate. “Come on, we have to go.”

“Yeah, sure.”

---

The weather turned bitter. It sang across the cave openings, a deep moan played out over the village. It bounced back and forth, an echo caught. Naruto shivered slightly. The stillness of the village was creepy. And he knew this sound wouldn’t leave him, even if the vibrations faded in his bones. The three of them were stood on the lip of the cave, looking in. The darkness gave nothing away, other than the darkness yet to come. Naruto shifted uneasily. Who knew how far the caves went? They had found nothing which could tell them anything. Only Sasuke’s insistence that this was the correct cave, that this had to be the only way had them standing in front of it, adjusting their packs, thinking carefully about everything they were about to leave behind.

The cave was making him skittish, but Sasuke seemed unfazed by it all. Gaara seemed right at home, but Naruto knew that boy would walk into burning forest just to see what it was like. The darkness beckoned him, seductively speaking to him, making him want to run and be enveloped by the cold embrace.

“Now or never.” He muttered, knowing they heard him. Sasuke took the first step forward, and for the first time he didn’t race him to the edge, willing to let him take the lead.

And what were they expecting? He waited for his eyes to adjust to the pitch dark. They had left it to the evening, so he didn’t have to wait long, but the difference was palpable. Shapes in the background remained diffident to his sharpened vision, impenetrable as before. They made their way forwards, adopting a regular march that decayed into careful walk. The sound in the cave bounced as darkness claimed them and they moved further and further from the mouth of the cave. Just five minutes in and it already seemed an age since he’d seen life. This was making him paranoid, and Naruto forced himself not to think about it. But how he wished for some light. Gaara was bringing up the flank, humming to himself. The sound pierced the cave, the melody to the dull throb of their shoes on the dry uneven floor.

He lost himself in his thoughts, paying little attention to his surroundings as they marched onwards. As they moved deeper into the chasm, the air around them seemed stifled, the crowding in on him damply.

“Can we stop?” Naruto finally broke out, coming to an abrupt halt. The blackness was slowly caving him in, his mind was shattering all around him and there was nothing he could do about it.

Gaara watched calmly from the back, ignoring Naruto’s twitching shoulders. The dark was calming to him, and it showed in his relaxed stance. The guilt at being so unconcerned about Naruto niggled slightly at him, but right now, in this state of floating he didn’t want to jeopardise and smear this paradise with guilt.

“No. Two more hours at least.” Sasuke started off again into the dark, his unflinching command echoing darkly back the way they had come. The Sharingan sat in his eyes as if he’d been born with it – making Naruto very uncomfortable. He attempted to pull himself together, pushing away the cloying feel of earth all around and caught up with Sasuke, falling back into line.

They marched like this for another two hours before Sasuke called a halt. Each built up their own little pallet. The cave was quiet in breathing, and they said nothing more to each other than necessary.

The next morning came with Gaara crunching through his rations, Sasuke dully staring into the tunnel and Naruto holding his arms loosely, trying not to lose hold of his sanity. He couldn’t explain it, but this claustrophobia was asphyxiating him. Finally Sasuke turned to him and said; “The cave is man-made, it has to lead somewhere.”

They spent the rest of that day walking further. His body told him it was well past dusk, and the temperature had dropped inside considerably. Naruto was well beyond hope now, marching as that was the thing to do. But he noticed the sudden change in the darkness, how it gave way to his eyes. The hope made him dizzy, bubbling up in his stomach suddenly but he stoically stayed in line, marching along behind Sasuke who was coming into focus in front of him, spiky black hair solid against the night sky. He heard the wind rushing across trees and knew himself to be at a thick forest, but it felt so loud, so loud, the sound of boots on sand floor lost in the roar of nature.

They exited the cave.

He was dazed by being out in the world again, wanting to crumble and feel the earth which was absurd because he had just spent the better part of a day surrounded by it, but how was he to explain it? He didn’t want to be buried. A laugh bubbled out of him, sucking in clear gasps of air. He pulled the zipper to his black jumper, glad to feel simple moonshine hit his face.

“And I’m the mad one here?” Gaara muttered, surprising himself at the sudden hate he felt. And it was only him, he could feel it. Shukaku was hidden behind the fence, sulking, his force once more diminished. But this itself was a time bomb, and damn, what dignity did he have left? He hated feeling dependent, and the anger rose in him, consuming him, his eyes all the way up to the red, his fists clutched tightly at his sides, the sand rose behind him threatening. What was it about Naruto that he suddenly disliked? They’d gotten along well enough the past year. He was suspicious. Or paranoid? Wasn’t that what Naruto was? He shook his head lightly, clearing the contradicting thoughts.

Or was it Sasuke? His eyes narrowed onto the raven-haired man, watched him as he posed for some crowd with ease and inbred grace. The years on his own had done nothing to his inner worth. He was still an arrogant, supremely confident in his own abilities – although tempered by Naruto’s consistent strength. Right now though Naruto was falling apart in front of their eyes. The sand behind him wavered slightly. This wasn’t Naruto’s fault. This wasn’t any of their fault, who knew this could have happened? Why was he here though? He could be back home. Not that it would change his murderous intent as the lack of people did here, but he’d be home. The place he called home….

He needed to help Naruto find his home, if only to repay him for his kindness. His mind tugged uneasily at the memory. It was the question their minds kept returning to. Why would an entire village evacuate? What could be such a large threat to make them do that? Would they ever find answers; or would they have to scour the remains of a once-proud village to glean an inkling of the happenings?

Gaara put his pack down and approached Naruto from behind, pressing his chest to the other’s back, letting the braid dangle between them.

“Home?” came the wistful question, lingering out in the open between them. Naruto went stock-still at it, Sasuke turned to stare at him. The moment extended itself, playing along the nerves of his spine.

Sasuke’s voice, hoarse with disuse, made them search for shelter.