Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter 4: Commotion

Eight-year-old Sasuke walked through the hallways of his family's traditional Japanese home, met by no one. He heard nothing but his footsteps and saw nothing but his shadow on the rice paper and plaster walls. Every room he looked into was empty. Just when he was wondering where everyone could be, a moan came from the last room in the hall that he was walking in. The sound was creepy, and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Cautiously he crept toward the door and pushed it open.

"Haha-ue?" he asked timidly. "Chichi-ue? Nii-san?"

A light clicked on, and Sasuke saw his parents and older brother properly. Blood dripped from their mouths and raw flesh hung from their teeth. When they heard Sasuke they turned blank eyes on him and uttered the eerie moan of the undead, the one that sounded like a hunting call. They began to drag themselves toward him. He tried to run, but his feet remained rooted to the floor in terror. Itachi grabbed him and pulled him toward them…

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"AAAAUGHHHHHH!"

Sixteen-year-old Sasuke's eyes snapped open, and he found himself not in his house, in his own bed, but in an unfamiliar place, in an unfamiliar bed. He began to panic, and a hand grabbed onto his wrist. He almost screamed again, but then he turned and saw Naruto beside him. Slowly, with the blond's soothing voice helping him, Sasuke calmed down enough to remember where he was and how he'd gotten there. He sank back onto the pillows, breathing heavily.

"God," he groaned, "I thought I had gotten over talking in my sleep…"

Naruto looked at him sympathetically.

"If it's any help, I can't stop worrying about my parents either," he offered.

"Did I say anything while I was dreaming?" Sasuke asked nervously.

Naruto looked pensive, as if trying to remember if he'd heard the raven say anything.

"Yeah," he said at last with a completely straight face, "I remember you saying a few things. You said that you wanted me to bone you and that your mom should give you an allowance raise."

Sasuke glowered at the blond.

"In your dreams, sweetie," he snorted, some of the tension draining away. "And just as a kind of non-sequitur, why am I in your room, in your bed?"

"Because you fell asleep downstairs, and the guest bedroom's already taken, 'ttebayo," said Naruto. "Kiba's sharing a room with Gaara and Shikamaru, and Kyuubi and Naruko are sharing a room. We'll check to make sure that Kiba, Gaara, and Shikamaru haven't killed each other in the morning," he added when he saw Sasuke's raised eyebrow. "Actually, Kiba insisted that you and I share a room. Something about how he didn't want to interrupt us…" The blond rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue.

Sasuke giggled, and the blond looked at him strangely.

"Did you just… giggle?" Naruto said incredulously. "I swear I actually heard Uchiha Sasuke giggle, not snort or snicker like he usually does."

Said Uchiha blushed, and was glad that the blond couldn't see him doing it.

"Shut up, dobe," he muttered, though a warm feeling was spreading throughout him.

"You know, Sasuke, I used to dislike you," said Naruto pensively. "I used to think that you were a snob, and I always wanted to best you in everything. I used to be jealous of you, because Haruno Sakura liked you, not me, or at least that's what I thought was the reason for my jealousy. Then I started realizing that I wasn't jealous of you, I was jealous of Sakura."

"W-what do you mean?" asked the raven-haired teen, his heart beating quickly. He could see where this might be going, but he wanted to hear it from Naruto's mouth.

"Well, she was in a place where she could flirt with you and not get laughed at, because she's a woman. If I tried, I'd get laughed at and called a fag. At first I tried to tell myself that the feelings I had for you were bullshit, but then I began to come to terms with my sexuality, and I came out to Kiba and my siblings and later admitted to them and to myself that I had a crush on you, and I realized that maybe I'm not so much of a freak as I thought I was. Eventually I came out to the entire school, but I was still afraid to ask you out because I was afraid of getting rejected." He turned to face Sasuke, and the raven felt his face heating up under the intense gaze. "Point being, Sasuke, that I'm in love with you. Yeah, I know," he said, holding up a hand to stop any words that Sasuke was about to say, "you probably think I'm weird now and want me out, but I just thought I'd get that off of my chest."

Naruto went to put his slippers on, but Sasuke stopped him.

"Where the hell are you going, dobe?" he whispered, and then pulled the other teen down by his blond tresses and kissed him.

The first few seconds were kind of rough, but then Naruto closed his eyes and let himself enjoy this intimacy that he'd ached for for three long years. He didn't know what he'd expected, but kissing Sasuke was better than he'd ever imagined it to be. The raven-haired teen kissed him gently, but with passion, and he returned it, tasting and inhaling the other boy's scent: lavender and cherry, with a hint of fresh snow, though where the fresh snow came from Naruto had no idea.

His hands were on Sasuke's slender ivory hips, and he went to take off the other boy's pajama pants…

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"OI!"

Naruto woke up with a start. His first thought was, 'Dammit, it was all a dream…' His second thought was, 'Is it morning already?' And his final thought, when he looked at the position he was in, and who he was in the aforementioned position with, was, 'Oh. Holy. Shit.'

Because it wasn't Sasuke he had been kissing… It was Kiba. And Naruto's hands were in Kiba's pants.

"Wha- HOLY SHIT!" he screamed, pulling his hands out and scrambling backward so fast that he fell off the bed and hit his head on his desk. At the same time Kiba scrambled the other way and fell off the opposite side of the bed, hitting his head on the wall behind him. The ruckus brought everyone else running.

"Whazzit, N'ruto!" yelled Kyuubi sleepily, looking around wildly, a gun in his hand. "Whereza zombie!"

"Ouch," moaned both boys, rubbing their heads. Then they looked at each other wide-eyed.

"You had your hands in my pants, and you were trying to French me! What the hell were you dreaming about?" yelled Kiba, disbelieving.

"You were sleeping in my bed!" Naruto shouted back, mortified. "What the fuck were you doing in my bed, 'ttebayo? Because you sure as hell weren't there when I went to sleep!"

"Uhm, well, that's a funny story," said Kiba to Naruto and the rest of the people gathered, blushing. "I uhm, I sleepwalk, and I, uhm, was dreaming that I was five and it was a thunderstorm, and uhm, I crept into my mom's bed like I used to do when I was a kid… Yeah…"

Then he seemed to remember where he was. "Explain yourself!" he said to Naruto. "What the hell were you doing with your hands all over me? You know I don't swing that way! Who the hell were you dreaming about!"

"I was asleep, 'ttebayo!" replied Naruto, blushing a brilliant red. "Uh, sometimes I, uhm…?"

"Who were you dreaming about?" asked Sasaki curiously.

"Uhh…" stammered Naruto, growing even redder than he already was. His eyes were trying to look anywhere else but at the group or at Kiba, but for a moment he and Sasuke linked gazes, and before the blond looked away he saw sudden understanding in the raven-haired teenager's eyes, and a blush appeared on his face too.

"Uhh, n-nothing, 'ttebayo," Naruto stuttered. "It's nothing, just go back to bed. Sorry I woke everyone…"

He got back into bed and covered his head with the blankets. After staring at the lump for a few seconds, everyone walked out.

"Well, I think that was enough excitement for one night, 'ttedana," said Kyuubi to the group. "Kiba, stay out of Naruto's room, lest you be mistaken for someone else." Here he looked pointedly at Sasuke, who blushed and looked away, trying to maintain some semblance of his dignity. Then everyone dispersed. The young raven alone stood in the hallway, embarrassed and confused.

He'd seen it in Naruto's eyes when they'd linked gazes… A kind of longing, and also a nonverbal apology and plea for forgiveness. Maybe he was just hoping too much, but maybe it meant that the blond really did want him…? Maybe the blond had been dreaming about kissing and touching him…?

But then, he couldn't really ask Naruto, could he? Because if that was the case, the blond was incredibly embarrassed about the situation he'd just been in and probably wouldn't want to see anyone at the moment, especially not Kiba or Sasuke. Said Uchiha frowned in frustration. Sometimes you just couldn't tell with Naruto.

Well, Sasuke was tired, so he wasn't going to put any more thought into this tonight. He practically crawled downstairs to the very comfortable chaise lounge that he'd been sleeping in, curled up, and was asleep within minutes.

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The next morning dawned cold and rainy. Naruto, who hadn't been able to get back to sleep after last night's incident, finally screwed up his courage around six-thirty to go downstairs for black tea. He was really hoping that he wouldn't meet anyone on his way to the kitchen or while in said kitchen, especially not Kiba or Sasuke, and he was hoping to make a quiet escape back to his room. But of course, the gods must have really enjoyed torturing him and then laughing at his expense, because when he got there, someone else was already up. And as if the day couldn't start out any worse, that someone else had to be Sasuke, still wrapped in the blanket Kyuubi had given him last night.

Naruto tried to duck out before the ebony-haired teenager had a chance to see him, but he accidentally stepped on a rough spot on the floor. It creaked loudly, and Sasuke jumped a little and turned to look at him. Naruto mentally cursed any gods that might be listening and swore that the next chance he got he would take Kiba and run him through a meat grinder, even though the incident last night hadn't been entirely his fault, and then for good measure deface the Shinto shrines around his home with unappealing phallic symbols. He would go to hell for it, but he really didn't care…

"G'morning, 'ttebayo," he said to the raven, who looked at him through half-open eyes and mumbled something akin to "good morning to you too" and burrowed into the thick blanket. Naruto smiled at the lump.

"Not a morning person?" he teased Sasuke, who pulled the blanket off of his head and glared.

"Not until I've had a cup of black tea…"

"I can fix that," said Naruto, yawning. He began to bustle around the kitchen, getting mugs and teabags and sugar, putting water on the stove to boil. All the while, he could feel Sasuke's gaze on his back. It made him a little nervous, but he ignored it and in a few minutes returned with two black teas, the teapot, the sugar, and some milk on a wooden tray.

"Uhm, so, uh, how'd you sleep last night?" the blond asked lamely as he watched the other teenager take a cup and sip it. He immediately started beating himself up mentally.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"With the racket you were making?" he smirked. "Surprisingly well. Do you always ask woefully lame questions this early in the morning, or did you bump your head harder than I thought last night?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, stuck his pierced tongue out at the raven, and dumped milk and sugar into his tea before taking a sip of it. Sasuke watched him with a slightly disgusted look on his face.

"What?" snapped Naruto.

"Nothing," replied the raven. "I just don't like sweet things, and I don't understand how you can take that much sugar and still have room for your tea in that mug. That and I don't understand how you could have gotten a tongue piercing. Those things are supposed to hurt like hell."

Naruto looked at him blankly.

"Kiba's right, 'ttebayo," he said finally. "You do have a stick up your ass."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, well what would the mutt know? He won't get a glimpse of my bare-naked ass in this lifetime, much less the inside of it, unless in our old age he becomes a physician by some academic miracle and gives me a colonoscopy."

Naruto couldn't take it and burst out laughing. Sasuke watched him, somewhere between amused and annoyed. He also felt kind of happy, knowing that it was him that had made the blond laugh so hard.

"What in the world, Naruto?" muttered Naruko, coming into the kitchen, followed by a half-asleep Kyuubi. "It's the second time in the last twelve hours that you've woken us up. Could you refrain from being so loud? My head is pounding."

"S-sorry," wheezed Naruto, "S-Sasuke said s-something really f-f-funny…"

And he was off again. The other three inhabitants of the kitchen looked at each other bemusedly.

"I didn't think it was that funny," murmured Sasuke.

"Eh," said Kyuubi dismissively, "let him have his fun, 'ttedana. He'll wear out eventually…"

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Lolz, I made Sasuke into a comedian! XD I wonder what that would look like if he were funny in the actual series… Oh wait, he already is. XD

Sasuke: #-_- I'm right here.

Me: :) Oh, hey Sasuke. What's up?

Sasuke: -_- The ceiling.

Me: -_- You're turning into my bro-sky. How are you?

Sasuke: Neutral. :/

Me: '^.^ Oo-kay then…

Yeah, I know the verbal quirks might be kind of annoying, but I figured it might be interesting to give the Uzumaki boys their own thing, since Naruto has his own already, and he got it from his mother Kushina, so yeah... I didn't give one to Naruko because, well, I didn't feel like it. And Sasuke has a verbal quirk, too! Did you notice? I hope it's not too annoying… I just thought it would be kind of cute for him to call people "sweetie"…

Anyways, review! And as always, see you next chapter!