Chapter Text
Naruto wanted to shake Sasuke.
Not in the general sense of the word; no, he wanted to ruffle his feathers, see the cool expression on the Uchiha's face change into something else for once. Didn't matter how. All he knew was that he wanted it. And he wanted to be the one to do it.
His dreams were filled with images of Sasuke; Sasuke with a dagger buried in his hand, his face twisted in pain; Sasuke with his eyes shining in admiration as Naruto saved him from whatever darkness was haunting him this week; Sasuke with his hands trembling in exhaustion, tears tracking a line in the layer of grime on his face after a mission; Sasuke with his face contorted in anger as his irises shifted into his kekkei genkai; Sasuke with his eyes rolling back in his head as his hand jerked in his shorts, moans spilling from his-
Anyway.
Anything other than his cold, indifferent default stare.
So, amongst other reasons, that's why Naruto was almost speechless when the raven-haired boy showed up at his door at 2 in the morning, leaning against the doorframe with his lips pressed together to hide the fact that he was out of breath.
Almost.
"What are you doing trying to break down my door at 2 am, Sasuke? You never struck me as the needy type. Our mission is over."
The other ninja's eyes flitted over him, an air of panic evident in his shaky movements. "Sakura is missing," the Uchiha said, breathing hard. His eyes mapped Naruto's entire body for a fleeting second and he swallowed, meeting Naruto's eyes. "I thought you were- I came here to check-I had to make sure-"
"Oh." Naruto paused, musing over this information. "You had to make sure I was still here."
A pretty flush spread over Sasuke's cheeks. "It's not like that- Kakashi told me to-"
"Whatever, Uchiha. We gotta go try and find her?"
"Yeah." Sasuke sagged into the doorframe, and for the first time since he had shown up at Naruto's door, he noticed the dark circles under the other boy's eyes.
Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Fuck. It is what it is, I guess. Did Kakashi even have any helpful information for us before we search for our gormless-" Sasuke's eyes narrowed- "teammate at the asscrack of dawn?"
"I thought you had a crush on her."
"I can think she's pretty and gormless at the same time."
"Whatever. He said there was suspicious activity near the border, in the woods. It seemed consistent from the time she was reported missing, and he wants us to explore for evidence near there."
"We're collecting evidence and not actively trying to find her?"
"That's what he told me."
"That's bullshit."
"Uzumaki, we have to do something other than stand here. We can argue later."
He straightened up, and Naruto groaned. "I have to change into something other than my pajamas."
"Your pajamas will be fine!"
"Okay, Uchiha. Damn."
Sasuke pulled him out of the door, leaving Naruto no time to at least change out of his slippers. He grabbed a pair of spare pajamas from a table by the door and took a second to admire them. They had the naruto swirl printed on the pants, and his name etched across the front.
He ran after the Uchiha, following him into the trees. "What exactly are the details of the suspicious activity?"
"I don't...he didn't tell me. He said something about- about caves-"
Sasuke's voice wavered in exhaustion, and Naruto stared at him in wonder. "How long has it been since you've slept?"
"We're preparing for the Chuunin Exams, usuratonkachi. I've been training. And I'll be ready for it, unlike you. You sleep all day."
"You know you need to rest, right? You'll get to the Exams and fall asleep right at the gates."
The Uchiha didn't respond, simply running further into the woods, speeding up. Naruto caught up to him, glancing at the other ninja as he stumbled slightly, his movements sluggish where they were once sharp and precise, slow where they were once brisk and graceful, and decided not to comment. "So, caves, huh? We're supposed to be exploring caves for evidence?"
"Yeah."
"So why are we running over all of the caves?"
Sasuke stopped, an angry flush coloring his face again as he avoided Naruto's eyes. "It was specifically somewhere over here," he responded smoothly.
Naruto shrugged. "Okay." He dropped from the tree, landing in a crouch in front of a massive cave. He took a step inside, before looking to the side and noticing a smaller cave covered in scorch marks. "Is this what he was talking about?" he called quietly.
The Uchiha's eyes flickered to the side and he nodded. "Yes. The same scorch marks are in Sakura's house."
Naruto padded into the cave softly, looking around. Besides the scorch marks, there was almost nothing of use in the cave.
"Uchiha," he whispered. "There's nothing here."
The boy in question was leaning against the cave entrance, his eyes closed. Naruto set his spare set of pajamas- which he'd thought he would've needed, but apparently not- down on a nearby rock, marched forward, and grabbed his shoulders. Sasuke's eyes snapped open in a panic and Naruto growled. "What are you doing? We have a mission to do."
"I'm thinking."
"About what? How much you want to sleep?"
"No, about why there's a conveniently placed pile of leaves there." He pointed to the leaves in the corner of the cave, and Naruto huffed and walked over to the pile. He started sifting through it carefully, knowing that it was likely a trap. Finding nothing, he turned around to find Sasuke walking towards another pile directly in the cave's center.
"Sasuke, wait-"
Sasuke did not wait, and instead blew a mouthful of fire toward the leaves. Naruto sighed as the cave was filled with the smell of ash and burning leaves. "I told you to- Uchiha, what's wrong?"
The raven-haired boy was trembling slightly, staring at a spot in the almost-decimated pile of leaves. Naruto hurried over to him, and stopped short.
There was a massive red crystal embedded in the stone floor, flickering slightly with light. "What is this? Sasuke-"
"Entrapment crystal." The other boy's voice was barely audible, and Naruto blinked.
"What?"
"It's an entrapment crystal, Uzumaki, we have to go! It's a trap!"
Naruto didn't have to be told twice.
He dashed towards the exit, hearing an ominous rumbling in the walls of the cave, and just managed to slip out-
A crack, and a thud.
Naruto whipped his head around, trying to process what was going on. Rocks were falling from the walls of the cave, almost blocking the entrance, and Sasuke was nowhere to be found. "Uchiha!" He gathered a handful of chakra in his palm, blasting a sizable enough hole in the wall of rock that he could squeeze through.
Sasuke was sitting next to the crystal, his head buried in his knees.
"Sasuke. Sasuke, we have to get out of here," he yelled, shaking him.
"I don't- I feel a little bit- a little bit dizzy. Can you give me..." A rock- it was big enough to be a boulder- plummeted to the floor inches away from him and Sasuke didn't even look up. "Can you give me a second?" The Uchiha mumbled, his voice barely there.
"God, Sasuke, we don't have a second! You're going to get us killed!"
Getting no response, he gritted his teeth and picked him up, trying to carry him out of the cave and not get hit by the falling rubble. The other boy slumped into his arms, his body going limp as his eyes slid shut. Naruto pushed down a flash of worry as he ran towards the rapidly closing entrance. Just as he reached it, the last rock fell and the rumbling stopped.
"Fuck!" He yelled as he let Sasuke slide to the floor. He started using his chakra to blast at the now-impenetrable wall of stone blocking their only exit, but it was to no avail.
They were trapped.
He turned to Sasuke and knelt down next to him. "What did that fucking crystal do to you?" He muttered, flipping him onto his back and pressing two fingers to his neck. Sakura had taught him that, just yesterday.
His own heart nearly stopped when he didn't feel a pulse, then a thought occurred to him, one that Sakura had voiced many times while she was teaching him where to find the pulse.
I'm stupid.
He moved his hand to the right place on Sasuke's throat, and his fingers twitched, feeling the rhythm of his pulse. It seemed reasonable. He didn't know how fast people's heartbeats were supposed to be, but if Sasuke had one, that was better than nothing. Was a pulse even the same thing as a heartbeat? He didn't know, really. Sakura should've taught him more about this before she fucked off to god knows where.
He touched his own heart, pressing his left hand to his ribs while keeping his fingers on Sasuke's neck. The Uchiha's pulse was noticeably faster than his own, but not enough for him to be worried about it. He stood up, relieved, and dragged Sasuke to the corner of the cave, as far from the crystal as possible. He couldn't do anything without waiting for Sasuke to wake up. His chakra was spent, due to the lack of sleep and the fact that all of it had been used on trying to get out.
He let out a groan and sat next to the Uchiha, who was lying uncomfortably against a rock. He considered moving him, then decided against it.
Serves him right for getting us stuck here. Maybe he'll have back pain when he finally wakes up.