Chapter Text
Night has settled deep into the forest border by the time they manage to drag themselves back up to follow Naruto's trail. With no words exchanged, Katana and Gaara trudge in the dark. Naruto had been clever enough to leave markers even in his haste to go after Sasuke—there are kunai scratches among the trees that Katana traces with her fingers as she goes, blindly leading the way forward despite the way her vision swims.
Her entire body burns cold. Sweat trickles down the back of her neck, tacky and irritating, each breath clawing its way out of her lungs. Every step makes her shoulder wound act up. It feels like an electrical burn, the way agony shoots up her entire arm and radiates up even to her teeth, but Katana pays it no mind. None of that matters right now. We have to get to Naruto and Sasuke, Katana thinks, jaw clenched. Behind her, Gaara is deathly silent, just as focused on putting one foot forward after the other without collapsing from chakra exhaustion.
They find only one person collapsed by the riverbank near the overhang of the waterfall.
At the first sight of an orange jumpsuit from afar, Katana's heart drops. "Naruto."
"Wait," Gaara's call falls on deaf ears. "Hatake—"
Katana rushes forward and breaks into a clumsy run, mindless of the biting sting of rough gravel as she drops to her knees next to her adoptive brother. Up close, Naruto looks even worse, his jumpsuit bloodstained and torn in places. His knuckles are scraped open, his forehead oozing dark red blood from a head wound. There's a swollen, black bruise on his whiskered cheek, his lips split.
Katana hastily checks for a pulse.
Finds it weak but thrumming under Naruto's feverish skin, and the sheer relief nearly shatters her.
"Alive?" Gaara asks as he finally catches up. He scans Naruto with a critical gaze and deflates only when Katana nods hollowly. "We need to go. I sense more chakra signatures approaching from the other side of the border. I doubt they're friendly."
Katana sucks in a shaky breath. Squeezes her eyes shut and clenches her fists around Naruto's rumpled, dirty jumpsuit.
All of this, yet Sasuke is nowhere to be found.
Nearly three days of chasing and fighting and bleeding. Naruto beaten to unconsciousness, their teammates left behind to fend against enemies they have no hope of winning against.
All of this, just to fail.
Katana wants to scream.
"Gaara," She says instead and asks brokenly, "Do you sense Sasuke's chakra anywhere?"
Gaara hesitates, and it's all the answer Katana needs. "You won't make it in time," he warns.
"I won't if I don't try. Given Naruto's state, I'm sure Sasuke's injured too." Katana stands on trembling knees, one hand already on the hilt of her sword. She clenches her jaw, each breath a heavy agony. Her shoulder wound throbs. "Please take Naruto and go back to Konoha. I'll catch up with you."
Katana heads off to the other side of the river before Gaara can convince her otherwise, disappearing into the last stretch of Konoha's forest border.
...
She doesn't need to go far.
The sight of Sasuke stops Katana frozen in her tracks.
He's sitting on a tree stump at the edge of the forest, a stone's throw away from the border. Another five, ten steps, and he can walk out of the Land of Fire without trouble. Despite his wounds and obvious exhaustion, Uchiha Sasuke looks for all the world like someone who had been patiently waiting for a friend to arrive.
"Took you long enough."
He stands slowly, unbothered by the golden flicker through Katana's grey eyes as she stares at him. Sasuke digs into his shorts pocket, and Katana draws her sword.
Sasuke pauses, blinking back evenly. "Here," he drones out, pulling a small vial out of his pocket. "Catch." He tosses it to Katana.
The vial falls with a dull thud on the forest floor, Katana's burning gaze never leaving Sasuke for a second. She doesn't know what she feels at the moment—is it outrage? hurt? betrayal?—but she knows better than to let Sasuke distract her with cheap tricks.
"It's an antidote," Sasuke continues to explain, as if Katana isn't seconds away from gutting him where he stands. "My kunai was poisoned when I fought Naruto. I sugggest you hurry back to him."
What do you do when the odds are against you?
"Poison," Katana spits. A year and a half of being teammates, and here they are now. The inside of her mouth tastes metallic, like blood and shattered trust. Like heartache and bitter truths. Like discovering that someone you knew was a lie, like discovering that you never knew them at all. "You poisoned Naruto."
"To stop him from following me like a pest." Sasuke levels her with a cool gaze. "Would you rather I killed him?"
"Don't test me, Sasuke," Katana snarls.
She takes a heavy step forward but Sasuke remains rooted where he stands.
Do you fight what fate dictates?
"You could try and kill me," Sasuke muses. He steps forward as well, meeting Katana where she is, standing close enough that Katana could take out a kunai and slit his throat open and spilling if she wished to. It is the closest Sasuke has let himself be around Katana. The most words he's ever said to her. "And I would do the same. And if you die, I might as well have killed the whole team."
Katana stiffens. "What are you on about?"
"If you die here, Naruto would die from the poison," Sasuke says quietly. He bends down to pick up the fallen vial and offers it to Katana. "If you die here, Kakashi would come, and Orochimaru would kill him. And if everyone is gone…how long do you think it'll take before Sakura dies?"
"Fuck you," Katana hisses. Her grip on the hilt of her sword shakes. "Sakura is stronger than you think—"
"Someone needs to protect them," Sasuke cuts her off, his tone taking on a hard edge. There's a flash of emotion in his dark eyes. For a split second, he looks like the Uchiha Sasuke that Katana knows, the one who has always looked out for their backs. It startles Katana enough that she fails to react when Sasuke forcefully presses the vial into her free hand until she takes it. "Sakura. Naruto. Kakashi. They need someone. Isn't that what you've always been good at?"
"Protect them." Katana echoes, voice hollow. She meets Sasuke's eyes, searching. "Even from you?"
"Especially from me."
Something in her chest aches fiercely at his answer. For a moment, Katana thinks she understands Uchiha Sasuke better than she ever did. This insanity. This acidic grief. This running away and the destructive sacrifice that comes with it. Katana understands, and she hates it.
Silence cloaks them. Somewhere through the thick canopy of leaves, the sun starts to rise.
Sasuke steps back. Katana watches him, helpless.
Silly child. You cannot bend what fate has already decided.
What shall be will be.
The cards are drawn, the strings cut.
Fate bows down to no one.
Sasuke gives Katana one last look, and then turns to walk away.
Just like that, he's gone.