Going Down

AN: Hi, all!! Sorry that this is so late. Have been having a busy life lately with holidays, anniversary and everything else going on, so please forgive me! I hope you all enjoy!! (and yes, like always, it ended up being an extra chapter longer than I thought, lol)

BTW, this isn’t beta’ed so if you find any boo-boos lemme know.

Thanks so very much for all of your reviews, they mean so much to me!! /hugs (oh, there will be a chapter next Tuesday, but not sure if it will be the conclusion to this or the next chapter of Blackmail and Betrayal… but there will be one!!!)

Chapter 5


Naruto dimly registered an insistent nudging against his shoulder. Grumbling irritably, he rolled over and attempted to go back to sleep.

“Wake up, idiot,” a voice whispered harshly in his ear.

He scowled at the tone before slowly recognizing the speaker. “Sasuke,” he whined almost petulantly, “I fucked you eight times already. Lemme sleep, bastard.”

“Dammit, Naruto, wake up!” Sasuke hissed as he kicked the unmoving lump in the ass.

Naruto let out a pissed off growl as he flung the blanket off of his nude body. “Look I realize that you’re a freaking nympho, but dammit I’m not some kind of fucking machine…” He trailed off as a familiar looking man rounded the corner at the cave entrance, pausing to take in the scene.

“Ah, glad to see you two are alive and well,” Kakashi said cheerfully.

Naruto suddenly realized that the thunder that he had been hearing was too rhythmic to be natural. It was the sound of helicopter blades slicing through the air.

‘Shit.’

“Not quite,” Sasuke said with barely any inflection, his face a blank mask. “I think his wounds have gotten infected. He’s obviously delusional.”

“Delusional?!” Naruto exclaimed indignantly. “I wasn’t fucking delusional last night when you were riding my-”

“Okay, boys,” Kakashi suddenly interrupted, “that’s enough. Let’s get you guys home first, then you can argue to your hearts’ content.”

Sasuke, his face blazing a dull crimson, turned and stalked towards the entrance of the cave. “There’ll be no arguing,” he promised adamantly, “I have nothing to say.”

Naruto’s shoulders slumped suddenly. “I am so fired.”

Kakashi gave a slow shake of his head, his one eye not covered by the patch still watching where his boss had departed. “Maybe, maybe not. He doesn’t like it when he’s not in control of a situation.”

“He was certainly in control last night,” Naruto muttered under his breath as he stood up to get dressed.

Kakashi snickered as he overheard the mumblings from his oft co-pilot. Leave it to Naruto to get topped by his bottom. He was about to reassure the young man that Sasuke just needed some time to adjust when someone else hurriedly entered the cave.

“I heard there was someone injured,” the woman stated in a rush. She immediately spotted the bandages on Naruto’s face and, not seeing anyone else in need of attention, walked over to the half-dressed man. “If you could sit down, sir and let me look at your wounds.”

Naruto paused in the act of putting his shirt on and looked at the pink-haired woman in slight confusion. “I’m fine. Just some cuts and they’ve already been stitched up.”

The woman shot a scowl up at him. “Mr. Uchiha said that someone in here had been injured and was in need of professional medical attention. Since that someone appears to be you, you will sit down and let me do my job.”

“Damn, PMS much?” Naruto grumbled as he started buttoning his shirt. “Ow!”

The woman had grabbed his earlobe and was in the process of yanking him downward to the floor. Once his knees had touched dirt, she moved her hand to the back of his head and grabbed a handful of hair. She jerked his head back, grabbed the edge of tape with her other hand and ripped.

“Ow! Son of a bitch!” Naruto yelled as it felt like a layer of skin was removed along with the bandage.

“Stop being such a baby,” she admonished him smugly as she examined the stitched lacerations.

He pouted up at her as she gently poked and prodded at his cheek. Thankfully, she was more careful about removing the tape from the other side before examining it as well.

“The stitches are good. The area looks a little reddened, we need to get some antibiotics in you. Otherwise it looks like you’ll live,” she stated, disappointed that he didn’t need more attention.

“Don’t sound so happy about it,” he groused as she put fresh gauze on his face.

As the medic finished up, Kakashi grabbed their scattered supplies and shoved them into the bag. Once done, he waited until the pink-haired woman slipped out through the narrow opening before following. Naruto gave one last look around the cool, dark cave before reluctantly turning away.

He only hoped that whatever had started between him and Sasuke here didn’t end here as well.

“So how did you find us?” Naruto asked, trying to distract himself as they made their way down to where the helicopter had found a precarious perch on a strip of gravel jutting out into the water.

Kakashi gave a lazy shrug before adjusting the strap of the large bag on his shoulder. He carried Sasuke’s personal luggage by the strap, ignoring the dark looks directed his way each time it bumped or dragged through the dirt.

“When you didn’t show up an hour after your scheduled arrival, Genma, he’s an old colleague of mine that works at the airport, gave me a call. We tracked you down to the last place that someone caught a blip of your transponder, but had to wait for the weather to clear before we could search. Of course it really helped when someone found Sasuke’s cell phone several miles downstream and actually had the decency to go to the cops. They were afraid someone had been washed away with all the flash flooding in the area.”

Kakashi flashed them a lazy smile although it was mostly shrouded by the high collar of his raincoat. “It was then just a matter of connecting the dots and getting an area. You were blown a little off course but once we were in the right area, the plane was kinda hard to miss.”

The silver-haired man shot a look at Sasuke, who had moved a little ahead of them after having decided to ignore what was happening to his baggage. “I bet that is going to cost a nice little penny to replace,” he mused, raising his voice enough so that he was heard.

“Don’t worry,” Sasuke replied shortly, not pausing in his stride, “you’re in charge of all the pilots so I will make sure it comes out of your pay.”

Naruto, who would have been sputtering indignantly at this point, merely shook his head as Kakashi laughed the threat off.

Once they got to the ‘copter, they all quickly loaded on and strapped themselves in. The ride back was thankfully noisy enough that no one felt the need to make small talk. Naruto was lost in thoughts of the disappointment and, if he was honest with himself, hurt of Sasuke’s seeming disregard. He told himself that he had known that Sasuke was nervous, uncomfortable and probably confused about the situation, but emotionally it bothered him that the bastard was still cold after last night.

He glanced over at the quiet man and, as if Sasuke could sense his gaze, found himself looking into beautifully dark eyes. The chilly blank look in them slowly vanished as pink started to tinge the cheeks below. Sasuke abruptly turned back to the window, resolutely avoiding his gaze for the rest of the flight.

Naruto felt himself relax as his anxieties faded. The bastard wasn’t cold at all; at least not when it came to what had happened the night before. It might take him a while to come around, it would probably take some determination (otherwise known as pestering) on Naruto’s part, but the blond was confident that it wasn’t over yet.

*************
The helicopter landed at the closest large town to the site where there were several vehicles awaiting their arrival. As soon as they touched down, a group of paramedics approached along with a stuffy suit type that Naruto recognized as Sasuke’s personal assistant.

The pink-haired woman immediately helped him down and started herding him towards the other paramedics while explaining that she wanted to get him to a hospital to get his faced examined. She then further told him that since it had only been a few days that they would more than likely change the stitches out since the thread used was more than likely the cause of the minor infection.

She ignored both his protests and his attempts to defend Sasuke’s work and merely helped the others shove him into the ambulance that was on stand-by. He caught one last glance of Sasuke’s face as his boss watched them drive off with his assistant still talking non-stop beside him.


Sasuke watched as the ambulance pulled off, lights flashing but sirens off. Beside him Kabuto continued to talk urgently of dropping stocks and worried investors but he couldn’t bring himself to focus, at least not until the emergency vehicle was finally out of sight.

Stifling a sigh, he turned to his assistant who was agitatedly pushing his glasses further up on his nose as he tried to shove hastily compiled reports in an effort to gain Sasuke’s attention.

He grabbed the stack of papers and quickly glanced over them with a slight frown. He let the sigh out this time when it became apparent what he would have to do. “Arrange a press conference first thing; let’s inform them that I am still alive. Then start setting up a chain of meetings with our most prominent investors and business associates. I don’t want anyone pulling out of the company prematurely.”

“Yes, sir,” Kabuto said with a small pleased smile. The man was always happiest when he was the busiest.

“Start making the arrangements,” Sasuke instructed. “And make sure Uzumaki is my pilot.”

“I’m afraid that isn’t going to be possible, Sasuke,” Kakashi spoke up from behind him.

“Why not?” Sasuke demanded with a sudden scowl.

“Because he’ll be busy with the NTSB for a bit,” Kakashi answered with a casual shrug.

Sasuke kept his glare leveled at Kakashi, not willing to admit that the meaning of the initials were lost to him at that particular moment.

Unfortunately, Kakashi maintained his own laid back smile, his one eye squinting cheerfully.

A moment of tense silence was broken by Sasuke’s strained voice. “What. Is. The. NTSB?”

“Huh? Oh! The National Transportation Safety Board. They don’t let planes just fall out of the sky without looking into it, you know,” Kakashi informed him with a grin. “They will be investigating the accident and Naruto will be grounded while they do. Looks like you’re stuck with me!”

Sasuke gave a soft growl before turning back to his discussion with Kabuto.

*******************
Naruto lay sprawled out on the bed on his stomach, staring at the wall in disinterest. It had been two weeks since he had been allowed back in the air and four since he had seen or heard from Sasuke.

He knew that his boss was busy, being a CEO of a large corporation automatically made it so and having been missing for a few days had just added pressure onto the other man to make a showing of his continued existence.

Naruto himself had been busy once he had been cleared to take to the air again, shuttling top ranking officers of the company all over God’s green earth so that they could make it to important meetings. He didn’t mind so much since them doing their job insured his own continued employment.

The problem was that their schedules never allowed them to be in the same place at the same time so that he could corner the man and finally talk to him about what had happened. He had called Kakashi at one point just to get Sasuke’s cell number but his supervisor had refused to give it to him citing that Sasuke was too busy and too stressed to get distracted at the moment. Naruto figured that if Kakashi said he was busy then Sasuke must have been swamped since the man had a tendency to understate things.

He was just about to get up and start getting ready so he could go out that night to take his mind off things when his cell phone rang. Grabbing it off of the nightstand of the hotel in which he was currently staying, he glanced at it and frowned when he didn’t recognize the number. He didn’t remember being so drunk recently that he had handed out his number to strangers or people he had met at a bar, or even strange people that he had met at a bar for that matter.

Shrugging, he hit the little green button and brought it up to his ear. “Uzumaki here. Talk to me.”

“I hear it’s not safe in the skies any longer,” a familiar deep voice, teased lightly.

Naruto pouted for a moment but a smile quickly stole across his face. The bastard had called him. “I hope you can afford a few new planes every year,” he replied playfully.

“Hn, it might be worth it.”

They both fell silent as they realized how many different ways that statement could be taken, how many things could be inferred from it.

Naruto found himself grinning like an idiot.

Sasuke suddenly cleared his throat on the other end of the line. “So, how’s your face? Did it heal up alright?”

“Worried if I’ll still be as hot when you get back?” Naruto prodded, his smirk evident in his voice.

“Tch, moron. You’re assuming I thought you were hot to begin with,” Sasuke scoffed.

Naruto didn’t let the words bother him since he could still hear the slight teasing undertone to the other man’s voice. “Ah, I see. You’re just in the habit of jumping guys whether you think they’re good looking or not.”

“Maybe I just have different standards than most people,” Sasuke retorted, although a little bit more softly than before.

“Oh? And what are your standards?” Naruto asked, his heart speeding up under the twin stimulants of excitement and nervousness.

There was a brief pause before the cool answer came over the phone. “Fishing for compliments, are we?”

Naruto swallowed his apprehension with some difficulty and spoke with complete honesty. “No, I’m just merely wondering how in the hell I got so lucky even while I’m hoping and praying that it wasn’t merely situational.”

There was a frustrated sigh on the other end of the line, causing Naruto to wince, wondering if he had just fucked things up.

“I don’t… I don’t do things like this well,” Sasuke finally said. Naruto could almost picture the man pacing in whatever hotel room he happened to be in at the moment. “I don’t express myself well when it comes to personal issues. I’ve been told I push people away and never tell them enough that I … I care. I’m never around, always gone on business and when I’m not then I spend all my time at the office.

“I’ve never been in a relationship,” Naruto could practically see the look of distaste on Sasuke’s face as he said the apparently accursed word, “with a girl more than a few months. And I have never been in one with a guy before so I don’t even know how to act.”

Naruto let out a soft huff of a laugh as he tried to figure out whether Sasuke was saying he wanted to try or was pulling out before anything else could ever happen. “Did anyone ever tell you that you suck at sweet talking people?”

“Moron,” Sasuke retorted in exasperation. “I’m not trying to sweet talk you; I’m trying to let you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Hopefully you,” Naruto murmured to himself.

“What was that?” Sasuke asked.

“I said I know you. Or at least more about you,” he improvised and rather lamely in his opinion. “I mean, I know you can be a prick and all-”

“Gee, thanks,” Sasuke interrupted dryly.

“But I also know that you can be nice. In your own way. And I know that you’re busy and all, but then that’s what you do for a living. I understand that. I mean, I’m gone a lot too with being a pilot and all. And as for being with a guy, I know what that’s like so that doesn’t bother me.”

“You’ve been with a guy before? Long term?” Sasuke asked, not liking the idea but curious about it despite himself.

“A couple, but nothing that ever worked out,” Naruto said, feeling the butterflies coming back to his stomach at the inquiry. “I mean the first guy was so possessive that I couldn’t breathe without his permission practically. He hated it when I became a pilot even though he knew I was in flight school when we started dating. He would always accuse me of sleeping around every time I flew to a different city. I finally got the hell away from him but I went from one extreme to the other. The second guy I was in a semi-serious relationship with acted like a woman so damn much that he should have had tits. Not that I mind tits just not on a person that has a cock, you know? That one put me off dating altogether for awhile-”

“Naruto,” Sasuke interrupted before the ramble could continue.

“Oh, sorry,” Naruto said with a short, nervous laugh before continuing in a more serious note. “But the point is I’ve never felt this way before. Not this strongly. And it isn’t just about the sex, even if it was awesomely amazing. I just… I want to give this a chance if you’re willing. I don’t want to let it go by and always wonder, you know?”

“Yeah. I know,” came the soft reply. There was a pause before Sasuke spoke again, a smirk evident in his voice. “Awesomely amazing, huh?”

“Oh man, the best ever,” Naruto replied with a wide grin, rolling over onto his back and looking up at the ceiling.

“I need to go. I have an early meeting tomorrow,” Sasuke said reluctantly. “But I should be back home soon. Maybe we can have a few drinks and talk some more.”

“Yeah,” Naruto agreed quietly, “I’d like that.”

“Good night, Naruto.”

“G’night, Sasuke.”

*********************
Naruto stood outside of the streamlined plane practically bouncing up and down in excitement. It had been a long time since he had gotten to fly the private jet and he was looking forward to it. He just wished he could say the same about his co-pilot.

“Hurry up, dickless, before we fall behind schedule,” a voice called from over by the steps leading into the plane.

“Shut the fuck up, Sai. I’ve got more dick than you’ll ever have.”

“Only stuck in you,” his co-pilot retorted before stepping inside.

Naruto’s teeth ground together for a moment before he hurriedly entered the plane. He quickly scanned the plush passengers’ section but didn’t see anyone in the overstuffed leather upholstered seats. He shoved aside the curtain that covered the small make-shift kitchenette and shoved his bag into the small enclosure set aside for it and made his way to the cockpit.

“So who are we taking anyway?” Naruto asked the slightly older man as he sat in the co-pilot’s seat.

Sai gave a noncommittal shrug as he continued to check over his instruments. “Just be happy that we get to go to Hawaii.”

“Oh yeah,” Naruto said with a grin as he joined in the pre-flight check. “I can’t believe that they’re gonna let us just hang out for a week while they have meetings. They have awesome hiking trails on Oahu that I’ve always wanted to try and, of course I wanna see a volcano and-”

“Preferably up close,” Sai muttered.

“What was that?” Naruto asked, looking over at the dark-haired man.

Sai flashed him a wide, slightly creepy smile. “Definitely one of those.”

A limo pulled up beside the jet, only visible if they craned their necks awkwardly. “I’ll go settle our passenger in,” Sai stated while standing up, “you finish getting us ready.”

“Roger, Dodger,” Naruto said cheerfully.

Sai paused for a second. “My name isn’t Dodger.”

When Naruto merely rolled his eyes at him, he shrugged and went to attend to their passenger.

TBC