Ｐａｒａｄｉｓｅ

XI

Carefully ducking out of sight, Naruto followed Sasuke. Panicked, he almost ran into Sasuke as the raven stopped all of a sudden.

"Keep quiet." He whispered, looking around the car they leaned against.

Two women walked by, their voices loud as they gossiped on celebrity news. Sasuke sat against the car, thinking of what his next move could be. "Okay, so we can't get to our car." He whispered. "We can't go back in there, either."

"Sasuke we have to leave. I don't want to go back, I don't want to think what'll happen if they separate us." Naruto pleaded, his voice low as he looked around in panic. Sasuke nodded, finding more determination in getting out without being caught. Sneaking a peek, he looked towards where Itachi's car was, seeing the man and the officer still talking next to it.

Finding the car they were leaning on unlocked, Sasuke opened the door, releasing a breath as no sign of alarm came from the vehicle. It was a risky move, but Naruto followed, opening the back seat of the car and getting in, throwing the bag inside before closing the door.

"Sasuke, can we do this? This is illegal and it'll probably get us in more trouble later."

The boy nodded, working on turning the car on by using the wires. It took three tries, but the car finally roared to life.

"Lay down. If they see you, they'll automatically assume it's us." Sasuke ordered, referring to Naruto's blond hair. Doing so, Naruto laid down. Sasuke wasn't sure if it would work, but he put his hair up in hopes no one would look at him and make a connection with the picture they used of him on the news with his hair down. Naruto nodded at this decision, hiding as Sasuke pulled out of the parking space and drove slowly towards the exit, passing the officer on his way.

Paranoid, Sasuke looked in the rearview mirror, keeping watch in case the officer picked up on them.

Thankfully, the officer didn't notice.

But the man whose car was missing did.

Hurrying to alert anybody, the man shouted after his car, gaining the attention of the officer and immediately running to his car, determined to chase after the speeding stolen car.

"Sasuke, he's behind us!" Naruto shouted, panicked as the siren went off.

"Hold on to something." Sasuke ordered, stepping on the gas and making turns into random streets until finally, the police car was lost along the way.

They drove a while longer, finally stopping on a neglected road. "Let's get out." Sasuke ordered. "We're leaving the car here."

"But where do we go?" Naruto asked, finding it a relief they had stopped.

"There." Sasuke pointed into the tall trees. "We walk in there, and keep heading down the road. If we walk out in the open, people will see us." Sasuke wiped his forehead, feeling a bit sick.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry. I should've never gone to your room. I should've just-" Sasuke kissed the blond, refusing to hear the rest of the sentence.

"If you'd never gone to my room, I would've gone to you. Either way, we'd end up in this mess, so don't blame yourself."

Nodding and holding back tears, Naruto smiled, grabbing a hold of Sasuke's hand as they walked into the trees, ready to start their walk down the road.

•

"... different car. Finding nothing but a bag of money. Officials suspect the two subjects have resorted to committing crimes to obtain the $3,000 worth of cash."

The bored teenager muted the television, sighing as another day passed by and as would be usual, nobody ever stopped by the run down diner/gas station. Who would? It was on a road barely anybody ever passed through.

Finding a magazine, the boy read on news from people he never heard of, uncaring about their love life or what tips they offered about sex. Flipping through the pages, he looked up as a pair walked in, looking exhausted and sick as they entered the warm establishment, shielded from the chilly September air.

Putting the magazine down, he looked over at them, finding an interest in the blonde who helped the dark haired boy unto a chair. Smiling, he greeted them with a smile.

"Hi, what can I do for you?"

The dark haired boy coughed, keeping his face buried under a hoodie while the blond walked forwards to the counter.

"Can you help us? We lost all our money and our car broke down."

The boy kept his smile on. He was suspicious, this whole 'we have no money, our car broke down' thing, but nothing ever really happened around these parts so, he entertained the idea. "Sure. I could call someone to tow your car over here. Old man has a mechanic shop nearby."

"Oh, no, actually..." The blond scratched his ear, unable to say anything else as to not give away who they were. "We really have no money either..."

While the blond thought of a way to ask something, the smiling boy's eyes caught the image on the muted TV, seeing two pictures of two boys about his age being accused of kidnapping, robbery, and car theft. The same dark haired boy that sat coughing into his arm and the very same blondie struggling to ask a question.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." The boy spoke, reading the names off the TV, then looking back to the scared pair of eyes. "Don't worry. You can stay as long as you need to. If anyone asks, you never passed through here."

"R-really?" The blond smiled, looking back at the raven haired boy in joy. Though, while the blond looked happy, the raven looked suspicious.

"I'm Sai." The boy introduced himself, walking from behind the counter to an aisle of food, grabbing a couple of snacks and offering them to the two. "It's fine, take it. We don't really get much customers around here, or criminals, for that matter."

"Thank you so much!" The blond took a bagged piece of sweet bread, "And we're not criminals."

"How do we know you're not up to something?" Sasuke asked, coughing once more into his arm, his eyes red and his face glistening with sweat.

"Sasuke..." Naruto sat down next to him, feeling his forehead. "Sasuke, you're burning up."

"Have faith, Uchiha. I'm a nice person. Surely there's a reason why you guys are wanted, no?" Sai asked, walking into some other aisle and coming back with a box of pain relievers and a water bottle.

Naruto thanked him, taking the items and helping Sasuke swallow them.

"Hey, I'll be right back. I'll have the lady over there prepare you guys something to eat. You guys can hang out in the back if you don't want anybody coming in and recognizing you, not that anyone will, but, you know." Sai spoke, pointing towards a door as he walked away.

"Naruto, I don't like him." Sasuke weakily said, allowing Naruto to help him into the room Sai pointed towards.

"Sasuke, what else can we do? You're sick and I'm not letting you walk anywhere else. Please, let's just trust him for a bit. Once you get better, we can leave." Naruto kissed Sasuke's forehead, laying him down on the only sofa the small room contained.

"Naruto, I just don't... trust him." Sasuke whispered as his eyes shut into a deep sleep.