As Above So Below

As Above So Below
Chapter 8

Everything was happening at once; the door opened, the stranger fired his gun, and Naruto’s look alike went down hard, bleeding from the side. More shots were fired, chips of concrete flying up from Sasuke’s feet. Dammit! What a time to have no chakra!

Thwarted by his inability to kill Stefan Madara, and slightly unhinged by a door opening from nowhere, Francis’ wrath focused on the closest and most similar target; Sasuke Uchiha.

But even without his chakra, his shuriken and kunai, Sasuke was far from unarmed. He deftly flipped off the wall, unable to go any higher than waist level without chakra, but it was enough. He kept one step ahead of the lunatic, but barely. If only he could get close enough to strike! But despite Francis’ growing madness, the man was still canny enough to keep his distance, and force Sasuke to keep his.

But Sasuke was running out of room. The alley was narrow and short, and dead ended in a pile of refuse and a high brick wall topped with concertina wire. He would soon be cornered. Taking this into consideration, Sasuke leapt up, dashed around the corner on the wall, and leapt to his feet. At the last second, a she cat, giving her kittens suck, flew up, yowling in rage and fright, right under Sasuke’s feet.

Startled, hampered by the dirt and debris, and too closed in to be effective, he jumped awkwardly, coming down on a half rotted sack of very old kitchen garbage. It slid under his feet, turning to slime, and Sasuke went down hard, almost stunning himself.

But it was the opening Francis needed. He loomed over the fallen boy, gun pointed close, and all Sasuke could see was the barrel. He’d seen enough TV and violence on these streets to know exactly what it was pointing at him, and what it could do to him.

“End of the line, boy,” Francis gloated, and the gun cocked in his hands. “I will enjoy killing you, but not as much as I will enjoy killing your father when he comes back from wherever he went. And certainly not as much as I will when I kill that guttersnipe back at the compound and all her unholy whelps. Know this, and despair.”

Francis was always a sucker for melodrama, and Sasuke could barely keep from rolling his eyes, despite his deadly situation.

There was a sharp retort, deafeningly loud, and Sasuke flinched.

It took a moment, but he realized he didn’t hurt anywhere. And there was a look of such surprise on Francis’ face. A red bud appeared on his chest, and began to blossom slowly. Jerkily, Francis turned, even as Sasuke took advantage of the situation to leap to his feet, and dance around the man, knocking the falling gun from his hand.

Nathan leaned shakily against the wall, his side stained in blood, oozing between the fingers of the hand held tightly there. His other hand was knotted around Stefan’s lost gun.

Sasuke never looked back, even when he heard a soft whine coming from Francis’ mouth, and the thud of his body hitting the filthy ground.

Sirens were wailing in the distance. Figures, they were never around when you really needed them, but showed up when things looked the worst.

Never slowing down, he grabbed the wounded blonde, and dragged him out of the alley.

A crowd was gathering; street punks, pimps with whores in tow, drug dealers, night crawlers blinking in the light of day. All watching them run out of the alley.

“Hey,” one pimply faced young man, hair greasy, wearing a shredded and studded jacket, proudly emblazoned with his gang’s name spoke up. “Aint that the famous blonde fag, Arashi? I ‘member him from TV a few years ago!”

The two of them halted, surrounded by the worst sort of denizens of the streets.

“Heh, he’s gorgeous alright. No wonder that rich Marada guy goes for him. I’d like a piece of him myself. And aint that his son? Sure is the spitting image of his dad.”

“Who cares?” Another one cried. “Money has just walked into our midst, you guys. Let’s get us some!”

The sirens drew closer, and Sasuke didn’t know which was worse, the thugs bent on mayhem and robbery, or the police that would surely arrest them for the dead man in the alley behind them.

He snatched the gun from Nathan’s shaking hand, and trained it on those around, holding it rock steady despite the dire situation. He’d been in worse before, and these little punks couldn’t hold a candle to some of the foes he’d been up against before.

“Come on then, bastards,” he snarled. “Not like I haven’t killed before, and I would be happy to do so again.”

They backed slowly away from them, but did not disperse. They scented blood in the water, and were like ravening sharks. Okay, they would need a demonstration. The gun fired, and a neat round hole appeared in the center of the forehead of the man that said he wanted a piece of Nathan. He dropped like a stone.

“Any other takers?”

They looked at the boy, whose black eyes burned with cold fire, whose hand never wavered, who’d just shot a man dead in cold blood.

And the sirens were almost upon them.

It was enough; they scattered to the winds. And as they ran away, Nathan was becoming heavier and heavier as blood loss began to take its toll. And through the vanishing bodies of their enemy, he could clearly see the flashing lights of the police cars screeching to a halt.

They would be caught.

“You! In here!”

Jerking his head to the side, Sasuke beheld a rather short boy with shoulder length dark blonde hair, dressed in clean if natty jeans and jacket, devoid of any words, waving them to a small door in the brick wall. Though he did not bear any resemblance whatsoever to Naruto, there was something in the way the boy held his small but stocky body, radiating fierce independence, that reminded Sasuke so very much of his own lost blonde lover.

“What, you want three hots and a cot? Come on!” Daringly, the boy reached out, grabbed the wrist that still held the gun, and drug both him and Nathan into a dark and dank smelling chamber. Then he quickly threw a bar across two notches in the door, effectively locking it.

“Come on, we need to get farther in. And your friend needs help. Looks like he’s gonna pass out.” The boy said calmly in the darkness of the windowless room. There was a click and a flashlight flared to life. “Oh, and put that gun away, before someone else gets shot.”

Belatedly, Sasuke slipped the gun into his pocket, where he could feel the heated metal through the lining. Having nothing better to do, he followed.

“Hey, boy,” Nathan rasped softly. “What’s your name?”

“David.”

“Thanks, David,” Nathan repeated, and Sasuke faintly echoed the sentiment.

It seemed like an eternity, but finally they’d come to a nest of sorts. Obviously where this David boy made his home. Under his direction, Sasuke eased Nathan onto the ancient and stained mattress covered with a thin natty blanket.

Hissing, Nathan lifted his blood stained shirt and examined the wound which was bleeding sluggishly. “Fuck, that hurts. Never been shot before,” Nathan gave a strained laugh.

Sasuke looked over the injury himself, and drew in a shaky breath. It was a deep but short gash in the man’s side. Sure, he’d lost a lot of blood, and would lose more if something wasn’t done, but he wasn’t about to die. God, he looked so much like Naruto that he didn’t know what he would do if the man died. Besides, in a round about way, this was Naruto. This world’s Naruto anyway. Just as the Stefan that fell through the door, and was undoubtedly freaking out in Konoha, was this world’s version of himself. If they didn’t have Naruto, he would be very interested in them indeed.

“Dude, you need to see a doctor!” David exclaimed in dismay.

“Can’t,” Nathan panted. “Have to get home. My wife, my children, they need me.” He turned to give an almost eerie look at his dark haired companion. “They need us, isn’t that so, Sasuke?”

“Listen, Mister, I really think you should go to the hospital, and…”

“I can do it.”

Both Nathan and David looked at Sasuke.

“I said, I can do it. I’ve given stitches before, and not just to myself.”

“That’s right,” Nathan said softly, looking away. “You’re a shinobi.”

“A what?” David asked curiously. “Isn’t that like a ninja or something?”

“Or something,” Sasuke snorted. “Got any needles, any thread?” He highly doubted it.

The boy shrugged. “Yeah, I do have needles and thread, believe it or not.”

He reached past Nathan and pulled up a back pack that had seen better days. Digging inside it, he pulled out a very old little sewing packet. “My mom always believed in being ready for anything. Said we were always tearing something, and so we should be able to fix it on the go, at least until we could get home, and she could do it for real. She kinda taught me to sew.” There was a melancholy note in the boy’s voice. “Oh, wait…”

David jumped up again, rummaged in a box by the mattress and drew out a bottle of rubbing alcohol. “Think you’ll need this too.”

Sasuke nodded curtly, and in a moment had swabbed the wound. Nathan made a choking sound as the alcohol burned right down to the bone. “FUCK!”

“Sorry,” Sasuke said softly, and before Nathan could react, had begun to sew up the bloody wound with quick, small, very efficient stitches.

Nathan grit his teeth, gave an occasional yowl, and knew he had to take his mind off what was happening.

“David,” he panted, wanting to scream with pain. It felt like Sasuke was tearing out his side with an iron poker. “Tell me about yourself. You seem… damn! Seem like a nice enough boy. What the hell are you doing here? You homeless?”

The boy shook his head, carefully not looking at what Sasuke was doing. The first glance had made him queasy. “No. This is just where I come when I need to be alone, which, sadly to say, I feel all the time. I just don’t like to be home anymore. Not since Dad got remarried.”

“I’m sorry, ah, to hear that,” Nathan wheezed. God, would Sasuke never be done? What was he doing, making a quilt? “Where’s your mom?”

“She’s in Texas. Dad wont let me see her. Cause he knows she’ll take me back. He kinda stole me from her after the divorce. His new wife suggested he get welfare for me, even though he really isn’t entitled, but the state doesn’t seem to care. Mom does though. And now, Dad’s afraid she wont give me back if I visit, and he’ll lose all that money. And my step mom. She’s a real bitch, pardon my French.”

He gave a hollow grin, and pulled a battered little tin from the packpack, emblazoned with the intials FMA. “But I’ll see her soon. I’ve been taking odd jobs here and there, so he wont notice. He always takes the money I get for birthdays and Christmas and stuff. Says its because he doesn’t want me to lose it, but funny thing is, I never see it again. It’s been five years now, and I’ve never gotten a penny of it back. But I’m not helpless. My mom taught me that. I’ve been saving, see?”

Opening the tin, he showed them a wad of bills and several handsful of coins. “Just a little bit longer, and I’ll have enough. I’ll go to Texas, and never come back.”

Sasuke, wordlessly coming to the end of his little human tailoring, couldn’t help but smile a little. The boy, obviously not a street punk, had a lot of pluck. He wished he could help him.

David reached up and rubbed the back of his head, cheeks flushed. “Don’t know why I’m telling you all this. Not like you need to know all my troubles on top of your own.”

Sasuke, finally finished, tore a generous strip off his undershirt, folded it, and then tore off another, which he then bound around Nathan’s side.

Nathan sighed with relief.

There was a pop and a hiss, and David suddenly thrust a can of warm orange soda under Nathan’s nose. “Here, drink this, it’ll help. My mom used to donate blood from time to time, whenever there was a drive. They always gave her orange juice to drink afterwards. I know it’s not OJ, but it’s the best I can do.”

“Why did you help us, David?” Sasuke asked, wiping his hands off on the remains of his undershirt, leaving streaks of blood.

David shrugged. “I dunno. It seemed like the right thing to do. I usually don’t get involved. I leave everyone here alone, and they do the same to me, so I really have no answer. Just kinda felt like I had to, you know?”

Nathan chugged the soda without stopping, ignoring the burn down his throat. He gasped when he was done, hiccupped, and then belched loudly. “Damn, sorry about that.” He set the can down with shaky fingers and got slowly to his feet. “Thank you, David. You’ve been more help than you can possibly know. But we really have to go. My wife and kids are in danger now. But first…”

Steadying himself on Sasuke’s suddenly offered hand, he dug out his wallet, opened it, and took out all the money inside. He thrust it into David’s startled hands. “Here, take this. And don’t go home, kid. Go right to the bus station, and get your ticket. Go to your mom. Don’t let another day pass. Go home while you have the chance.”

“Dude, you don’t have to do that!” He exclaimed. “I didn’t do this for money, you know. Felt it was laid on me, like my old pastor used to say when Mom was still around, and we went to church every Sunday.”

“I know, son, I know,” Nathan said softly. “But this is laid on me too. Go home. Get your mom. Be happy. Please.”

He stared at Sasuke, blue eyes burning with determination. “Let’s get Naruto and the kids.”

Sasuke nodded silently. And the two men quickly walked out of the old abandoned warehouse.

They never saw David again, but after the boy got over the shock of realizing that the handsome blonde man had given him close to four thousand dollars, he did go home. Where his mother met him with tears of joy, after so many years, and though they didn’t live happily ever after, they did live as happily as they could.

Once out on the streets, carefully avoiding the police still roaming the area, they made it to a parking lot. There, to Sasuke’s surprise, Nathan found an unlocked vehicle, and proceeded to hotwire it.

“What,” the blonde man grinned. “I wasn’t born rich, you know.”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“Do they have cars in Konoha?” Nathan asked.

“You believe me?”

“I saw the green door, Sasuke. I saw what looked like my aunt, but wasn’t. I saw… I don’t know what I saw. But I believe. They… they won’t hurt Stefan, will they?” He asked anxiously.

Something unknotted in Sasuke’s chest. “No,” he said softly. “They won’t hurt him. They… we… just want Naruto back.”

And Nathan looked away. Silently, he got in the driver’s seat, and waited until Sasuke climbed in beside him.

He drove a little erratically, but not dangerously so, and the police were too busy looking elsewhere at the moment to notice.

“I won’t give her up without a fight, you know,” Nathan said softly, clear out of the blue. “She’s my wife. The mother of my children.”

“I know,” Sasuke said hollowly. “I know.”

They spoke not another word, until they’d left the city behind, and found themselves nearing Nathan’s property.

Finally, they started on the long drive into the heart of the compound, after Nathan punched in the right security code.

“Slow down, those ‘friends’ that the man mentioned might be here,” Sasuke ordered softly, drawing the gun from his pocket once more.

“Do you smell smoke?” Nathan said suddenly, as he did indeed slow down. Nothing could be seen through the thick trees that blanketed the compound property.

“Yeah. Stop the car. Something’s not right.”

Hiding the stolen car behind a small thicket, Sasuke and Nathan walked, or rather, Nathan slightly limped through the trees towards the main house. The smell of smoke and burning plastic grew stronger, and gray wisps were seeping through the forest.

Peeking through the trees, Nathan felt as if turned to stone. The beautiful house, where his wife and children had been, was a raging inferno. Several unkempt men laughed and cavorted by its dancing light and were drinking what Nathan recognized as the very old, very expensive scotch from Stefan’s bar.

“Okay, boys!” A very fat man sang, belly jiggling obscenely. “Time to go. The fire department will be here any moment. Let’s take our… guests… back. I’m sure that Frank’s done his work, and is waiting for us. There will be more booze and money, I promise you.”

The men calmed down, and to both Sasuke and Nathan’s horror, in a huddle sat Naruto and two children.

Naruto… at last…

Sasuke didn’t care that his lover had the delicate and lovely features of a woman; Naruto had always been outrageously beautiful, even in his horrific orange jumpsuit. He didn’t care that instead of that smooth hairless well muscled chest, Naruto sported a pair of generous breasts. He didn’t care that the smudged and torn pants held not a penis but a vagina. He didn’t care about any of that. Naruto was Naruto. And Naruto was here, finally.

His fists clenched. Damn bastards. Even from his vantage point, Sasuke could see a darkening bruise on Naruto’s temple. Probably how they got the drop on the dobe. He would kill them, down to the last man, for touching Naruto and his children. Kill them all.

Beside him, Nathan was silently echoing his enraged sentiments. The cold knot in his gut made him carefully assess his family’s demeanor and state of attire. They were scared, but still defiant, even little Narue. And though their clothing was torn and dirty, they didn’t appear to be too badly roughed up, or worse, raped. Still…

“They will die, all of them,” he whispered fiercely.

“Yes,” Sasuke replied, his voice as cold as ice. “Every last one of them.”

Suddenly, little Narue’s head turned, and she stared right into her father’s blue eyes, piercing shield of leaf and branch. She saw, and knew.

“Daddy’s here,” she whispered softly to her mother.

Naruto didn’t even blink. Sometimes her daughter was funny that way; knowing and sensing things she shouldn’t be able to.

“Can you fight?” Sasuke asked Nathan, unaware of what had just happened.

Nathan nodded. “Just watch and learn, little boy. Naruto taught me everything I know.”

“In that case, dobe, I guess you can’t,” Sasuke smirked, then paused, shocked.

For a moment, he’d forgotten whom he was talking to, responding to Nathan as he would have Naruto.

He resisted the urge to cough in embarrassment. “Are you up to it?” He asked, looking away.

Nathan was surprised as well. Back when Naruto was more forthcoming about her past, before all the denials and fights and shrinks, she’d told them that dobe was Sasuke’s pet name for her.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “My side hurts like a bitch, but you’re a great field medic. I’ll be fine. Lets go get our Naruto.” The confusion was a two way street. Sasuke was so very much like Stefan had been, back when their love affair was new, and they were just getting started together. God, it was like looking at the past.

“Our?”

He gestured wildly with his hands, so very Naruto like. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I think I do.”