NaruSasu - AU ficlet - post-apocalypse.

[askerian]

Traitorously encouraged by questofdreams, this one tried to develop a multipart on me, but I stopped it! HAH. I win. Questy loses. *cackles*



He stopped in the middle of the town square and dumped his backpack at his feet.

The old gnarled tree was still tall and twisty, perfect for climbing. There were no children on it, swinging like little monkeys, despite how sunny and warm it was. No mothers chatting underneath as they kept an eye on their offspring.

He wasn't exactly surprised. He had crossed the whole town to get there, after all, not that it was a big town at all. The whole town, the whole country.

The tree looked lonely.

He leaned his back against the rough trunk. Slid down. The big root was still a perfect seat.

When the panic had died down and his college had grown quiet, he hadn't cared. (he had cared, because he knew what that quiet meant, but he wasn't going to stop and be quiet like they were. Like the tomb. He just wasn't.) When he had crossed the capital, with its crashed cars and looted buildings and bodies everywhere, he hadn't cared. He'd found a boy about his size and taken his clothes, because his own clothes were disgusting with all the blood he'd thrown up when he was still sick, and that boy had preferred to shoot himself and somehow his brain matter had mostly gone on the wall instead of the shirt. (he'd left the guy his math notes, to make up for the fact he had never lent them while he was alive, even though he knew how meaningless it was.) He'd taken a car, despite not having his license yet; it wasn't difficult. The car was noisy. After that he'd walked. The woods and fields weren't noisy at all, but if he could hear nothing but the wind and some animal calls, that was fine; what else should he have heard there?

But now he was home and it was still quiet (like the tomb), and.

And.

He couldn't (make sure) go home just yet.

(he had no gun to kill himself with.)

He watched a bird land on the ground and poke around for food. He wondered if it was disgruntled by the lack of fresh bread crumbs, how long it was going to come back and check, just in case.

He'd have tried to catch it for food -- after a whole two weeks of practice he was getting good at it -- but it was kind of useless, wasn't it. When he went home he would break. He hadn't yet -- he'd had hope. Stupid, hopeless, denial-filled hope.

Might as well skip the bargaining stage. Go straight to the end of this game. Useless to kill the bird when he was about to kill himself. Because at college they all thought he was cool and a loner but he'd always had his family.

He was wasting time. Dithering. What for? He got up, not bothering to get his pack.

"Aw, what the hell did you jump like that for? Fucker flew off!"

At the first word -- the first sound -- human voice -- he twisted around.

Wasn't his family, he already knew. Wasn't.

Kind of was, though.

"-- hey, wait a minute. You're not a hobo."

"Fuck you," he rasped out, on automatic.

The blond guy with the five-days-beard burst out laughing. "Oh, shit, I'm so tempted to let you, you have no idea. Sasuke? That really you?"

He blinked. Things were starting to look weirdly wavy. "I guess." Sasuke. Yeah. That was him. He rubbed a hand over his face. His own chin was starting to get prickly as well. "Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto?"

"The one and only. Hee. I can't believe you're here, you asshole. Hell, I can't believe I'm actually happy to see you!"

He looked halfway between put-upon and grinning. Weird expression. Weird guy, with his unmarried, too-young mom, they'd never fit in and...

... he wasn't family, but...

"I thought you went to college across the continent!"

"Not quite that far," Sasuke replied, words slipping out without thought. He stood there, watching as the blond moved to him, slow at first, almost cautious, and then faster. One step closer and another step and another step, and Sasuke couldn't move.

Naruto threw his arms around him and yanked him into his chest and hugged hard, so hard Sasuke's breath all wheezed out.

He fisted his hands in the back of Naruto's shirt, and told himself it was just so he'd stop his fingers from shaking. He must have been hungry, that was all. Yeah. Hungry. Tired. That was all.

That was all.

His mouth found Naruto's and it tasted like salt. Parted his lips and sucked in his tongue and didn't even care if Naruto had been joking when he said he was tempted. He must have left finger-shaped bruises on Naruto's back by now.

Naruto pushed him against the rough bark of the tree and gasped as he broke free, and for the first time in two weeks Sasuke could have screamed. Naruto was just staring at him in shock and if he started screaming he didn't think he'd ever stop. Don't leave me. Don't leave me it's not fair stop bleeding stop breaking don't die on me --

Mouth on his neck, unsure at first. Teeth. Half-assed, scruffy beard rubbing him red. Yes. Yes. He fell back on his ass on the root, pulled until Naruto straddled him, rocked.

Neither of them let go for at least a hour, perhaps even two.

+

"I'm wearing a dead classmate's stuff," Sasuke said, apropos of nothing.

"And we jizzed all over it," Naruto remarked with a snorting laugh. Sasuke didn't even feel like bothering to frown.

"Gross."

"Your face is gross."

Sighing, Sasuke opened his eyes to look at the darkening sky. "I need a bath."

"Yeah, I can tell."

Sasuke managed to unclench one of his hands, long enough to pinch his hip in punishment. Naruto yelped.

"Get off me. Can't feel my leg."

The moment was over. Grumbling, Naruto moved. He stood, dusted himself off, then with an awkward little twitch he held out his hand. Sasuke took it without a word, allowing himself to be pulled up. It was a little much to keep holding it afterward, though.

A couple hours ago he wouldn't have cared. A couple hours ago he hadn't minded that he'd gone two weeks without a bath either, or that he was starting to get hungry again.

A couple hours ago he was alone in a dead world.

He was still more alone than not. Just... not utterly so.

He took a few testing steps, his leg erupting into pins and needles. Naruto paced him.

"I'm not going to trip and break something on flat ground," he muttered. Naruto gave a shrug.

"You wanna go to my place? I have a full tub of water and I've only used it once. It's gotta be cold by now though."

Sasuke shrugged, leaning down to pick up his bag. Stared down at it.

He'd bought it with his mother, before he left. He remembered her suggesting a purple one, to tease him.

"I should go home."

For the first time in two weeks he didn't want to. None of that both-did-and-didn't-but-he-had-to. He just...

It bothered him to think of Naruto standing there, watching him break. He'd make that sorry, embarrassed, disgusted face people made when faced with deadbeat drunkards and crazies. Sasuke didn't like that. He didn't want to let himself break anymore.

But he had to go home, and...

"I buried them," Naruto said, awkward and quiet. "They're not -- that is, I buried a lot of people. They're not just..."

Lying there and decomposing, his brain supplied.

"...Oh."

"You'll go tomorrow, okay?"

Naruto's hands were in his pockets, shoulders hunched like he'd done something maybe a little wrong.

He was taller than the last time they'd seen each other -- two years ago? Dead last Naruto. Stupid Naruto.

He'd buried Sasuke's parents.

Sasuke tried to say thank you, but it wouldn't come out. "You just want to get my pants off," he managed to say past the lump in his throat.

Naruto laughed a little, more out of sympathy than because his distraction had worked. "Yeah, I kinda do." He gave Sasuke's dirty shirt a tug, teasing in a subdued, oddly gentle way. "I'll dress you all in orange, it'll be awesome."

"Fuck you," Sasuke said, not even trying to make it sound like he meant it. His lips kept trying to quirk up even when he didn't want them to.

Naruto smiled at him. "I'm so tempted, you have no idea."

He draped an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and dragged him home.








(As for the sequel that will not be: the next morning they go to Sasuke's house and there's a message on the phone and it's Itachi, who went looking for Sasuke so they might actually have missed each other gasp. It dates from ten days ago so he might have died since then, but they still leave the village to look for him. Road trip FTW! Along the way they meet crazies, highwaymen, people to rescue, people who start following them around, and perhaps a few zombies.)

Comments

[questofdreams.livejournal.com]

... HOMG GIMME THE SEQUEL D8

*taps foot* Okay, just make another fic meme. Now? Now? NOW?! aaaaah

I love how this is possibly the most depressing premise ever and yet there's hope and it's so bright b/c it's NARUTO and... yeah. 8D

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[prue84.livejournal.com]

Post-apocalypse fics (or movies) do disturb me even if I don't know why... but this one was really worth the reading! <3
Now I do want to see Sasu wear all orange in Naruto style! XD

[askerian]

haha. I'm tempted to draw it. It so wouldn't suit him. XD

[tephra]

Hmm, college age... Sakura could have been off at med school, cooking up some vaccine that didn't work right and thus at the center of the zombie horde as the vaccinated got zombified rather than dying. Or maybe Orochimaru is the source of the zombie horde and Sakura is locked away with Tsunade trying to cook up a cure for the zombie effect.... This is a shiny, shiny idea.

[askerian]

Oh, that coulaaaaaaaa stop giving me bunnies

[hiza-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm voting on the sequel too! This was really awesome, though I'm kind of unclear on a couple things. Is it a zombie apocalypse? How'd the world end? Why'd they survive and no one else did?

I'm curious and this is good!

[askerian]

It's a everyone started throwing up blood and dying apocalypse. The zombie thing was just a Questy suggestion. XD There would be mentions of fighting them otherwise.

NO SEQUEL >(((((

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

........*_____________________*

YAY! I mean, not yay, because most of the world appears to be dead, but still.

YAY! *wants moar. ;______; I WANT THEM TO FIND ITACHI AND BE ALL HAPPY-REUNIONY AND - And, um. Kakashi and Sakura are alive somewhere, and, um. I have this thing, where I like happy endings.

Anyway, I adore this. ;_;

[askerian]

*lovesquishes*

Well, they do find everyone! Probably. ... I'm still not going to write it. Alas. u.u

♥

[na-no-nai.livejournal.com]

Oh I won't even lie. Post-apocalyptic stuff? I'm there. SOOOOOOOO there. And this? this is good stuff. *adds name to the list of those interested in more* I dunno why I love the idea of Naruto off burying everyone, but I do. Maybe because that's just the kind of thing he'd do. *_____* And the don't tempt me lines! XD ♥ ♥ Even at the end of the world, they're still themselves.

[askerian]

Mwahahahaha. I'm glad you liked it ^______^ and yeah, Sasuke would kill himself but naruto would bury them and keep going. even if he was all alone. Oh Naruto. T^T

[kitty11chan.livejournal.com]

I also love post-apocalyptic, & I *counts* seventh the motion for more.

[askerian]

Alas, not gonna happen. XD Glad you like it though. ^^

Post apocolypse fic FTW!

[sometimesafox.livejournal.com]

Ah, Asuka you make the best AUs!
I like how Sasuke is projecting his emotions into how he sees the world (Sasuke is lonely, therefore the tree is lonely, etc.) Also, you win at life for the Kushina reference.
...and of course the NaruSasu is yummy.
I would not say no to more of this universe, but don't push yourself too hard! Also if I was a zombie I would totally eat your brain. How do come up with such awesome ideas?

Re: Post apocolypse fic FTW!

[askerian]

Thank you! ^____^ I'm glad you liked those bits.

But, um. My brain. D: I dunno, it just happens... see here for reference on my "creative process" XD;;; Just kinda... POP and there it is. (then of course i have to fit it into the existing plot and make it look LIKELY, which is a trial in itself, but.)

[nemi-chan.livejournal.com]

Zombies Followers = KageBushin? The moan and shamble, and chew scapls off of blond corpses and wear them?

What? I like a little gorn every now and then.


PS: I'm pseudobetaing a fic I think you'd be interested in. She's afraid of posting it but I got permission to share it a little. I can send you the rest if you like.

"Sasuke hated Itachi more than anything for killing everyone and sticking him with seventeen kids from six to six months. He had to get stronger, to protect them both from Itachi and the village.

But between paperwork, cooking, patrolling, tutoring, repairing the damage from their tantrums (no, he was not their mother), there was just not enough time in the day.

He only had two hands and was born the wrong gender and the wrong clan to master Eyes In The Back Of The Head no Jutsu, the ultimate skill of mothers and Hyuuga.

And part of the bargain was that he had to act as clan head if he was going to claim he was capable of looking after them all, and that included taxes. Which involved math.

Between stress, sleep deprivation, and percentages the young man called ‘Uchibi Sasuke’ behind his back might have gone off the deep end even sooner than his canon counterpart if it weren’t for one thing.

Uzumaki Naruto."

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

That? Sounds awesome. Utterly cracktastic. She should post it.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Very good stuff, lots of questions that still need answering. Need more!

[askerian]

noooo, no more omg. DX mean, mean.

[gold-panner.livejournal.com]

OH MY FUCKING GOD I AM COMPLETE.

[askerian]

:33333333333333333 ♥

[venia.livejournal.com]

*w* amazing. Amazing! 1st time I read post-apocalypse ficlet...I think I'll stick to it...the desperation and emptiness, the near-suicide, the human contact!*__* The...morbid thoughts XD; omg the brains on the wall! X___X Well, after you've witnessed hell...how not be casual about that?

YAY for writing at least a scene from something you were never going to write!^__^ I appreciate the least!

*cough*I have always wondered how would Sasuke teach Naruto to get out of the handcuffs after Locker Room Therapy... XDDDD Please ignore me.

[askerian]

*curls up on and loves* :3


Oh, man, the handcuffs scene. I might write it one of these days. It's on my list anyway. ^^

[shewhoflies.livejournal.com]

Ooh, shiny. You made me like this, a lot. And the part where Sasuke meets Naruto and suddenly the world is not quite a worthless place anymore. ♥

I'm not going to badger you for a sequel, but I do have some questions about it. May I?

[askerian]

Sure, fire away ^__^ Not sure i'll have any answers, though.

[uneko.livejournal.com]

Damn, this is lovely.

Just... lovely.

I've long had a soft spot for postapocalpytic stuff like this...

This is so very.... it reminds me of The Stand... I don't really expect zombies to come lurching out anywhere. doesn't feel right. but... This is just awesome. :D

I'm so stealing from The Stand more, but I so see this slow getting together of people in some central location as more and more survivors are found across the continent... "I heard that there was a settlement in Kansas..." ... radio broadcasts.. etc etc. :)


I could see your never-existing sequel starting out as a "let's go save whoever!" roadtrip.. where they find a handful of other people, and eventually decide to settle down in a place and try to rebuild society as best they can and I'm so ripping off the stand here but... Then again, the stand had this whole battle of good vs. evil thing going on too...

ANYWAY... I would love to see more from this verse. :D

[askerian]

*lovesquishes*

I take it I need to find that book and read it, huh? Who's it written by? I know I've heard the title but I can't remember.

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

Phone message on answering machine was left before infrastructure collapse? Because I have a hard time wrapping my head around water-not-running, but phone systems still functional.

Also, WANTY MORE. But ah well, when you're done, you're done.

[askerian]

XD I'd think it would take more than two days before the phones stopped working. I' a little more concerned over how i'm gonna justify them still having electricity, but. *tells self the water just went because of a tree falling and blocking a pipe or something*

...

DAMN IT I'M NOT GOING TO WRITE IT WHY AM I LOOKING FOR WAYS AROUND PLOTHOLES DX

[kiwi-socks.livejournal.com]

...I wrote up something about them meeting Sakura trying to forage, who's been training with Tsunade in the middle of nowhere, before my brain got through that that wasn't exactly the most polite thing to do .__.

That is to say, post-apocolyspe thing scare me, but that was amazing. I mean, the emotion that Sasuke seems to see mirrored back from the environment, his thought-process, Naruto...*Goes on and on* I'd ask what about everyone else, but you've already said that you don't know and don't want to think about it so then brain just went whoosh into thought-land. I love that this had such a good ending, that was...ending-like, but still allowed for the imagination to soar.

[askerian]

you wrote? hee, show me ^____^

♥♥♥

[lukita.livejournal.com]

You're the most awesome person to come up with this AU. ♥♥♥

[askerian]

#.___.# ♥

[skellywag.livejournal.com]

Lmao posting snippets of a sequel you don't intend to write makes you a SAUCY TEASE~

Also wanted you to know I really liked this. Post-apocalypse fic makes for some hot desperation!sex.

[askerian]

*saucies at* >:3~

Thank you. ^________^ and yes, it really does, hurhurhur. Too bad I couldn't detail this one more, but it's going on FFnet, so... >__>;;;;

Love this

[(Anonymous)]

I love this concept. Hope you write a sequel eventually, too bad if you don't.

Re: Love this

[askerian]

Thank you. ^__^ And heh, it's not planned but I'm not saying it won't happen. Inspiration might ambush me.

[sohaliatalitha.livejournal.com]

I've been waiting for years for you to write something along these lines :D Thank you so much for sharing this, it's wonderful.

[askerian]

... You have? XD;;; oh my. You like the concept, I take it? ^^

[ktoth04.livejournal.com]

;_______________;

♥

[askerian]

*petpet*

[adele19.livejournal.com]

Love this.

Kinda reminded me of Fallout 3...kept waiting for a super mutant or deathclaw to jump out and eat them. XD

...or maybe a feral ghoul? Lol.

[lilai.livejournal.com]

Why is everyone in my flist trying to get me into kinda-depressing apocalyptic fic ? Oh!woe is me !
Asuka, I do not ask for more, I blame you for my brain damages and probably going-to-be-disturbing dreams !


Also ?
It was so wonderful sghnnn !! \o/ Naruto would so be burrying everyone he could... i__i

[flourite-roses.livejournal.com]

LOL, I WANNA SEE THE MULTIPART. X3 But nah, the plot summary thingy is okay. It's made of shiny, you know that right?

[sara-the-lazy.livejournal.com]

I love the narration in this, the tone is great for an apocalyptic universe. The sense of companionship is really great, too... that clinging because of all the uncertainty of the world except the certainty that so many people are dead.

Nice job.