I'm sorry

Let me find you in one piece

Sasuke had had to put on his sweetest puppy eyes and plead for Pakkun to accept doing this along with him. The dog was very serious about being a Konoha Shinobi and running out of the village in the middle of the night wasn't something he liked. Doubtfully, he agreed to go, only because he had come to care for Naruto deeply and with the story he was told, he knew he needed to be worried about the blond kid. Right now Sasuke and Pakkun were jumping over the trees full speed on the direction Shino had mentioned and Sasuke had memorized.

"2 o'clock across this forest, Pakkun. We need to go about 20 kilometers ahead. That's where they lost track of him" the raven boy told the dog.

"I still can feel a bit of his scent. If we hurry I may be able to track anything that the other three may have missed. Let's go!" The dog ordered and Sasuke sped up as much as his body allowed him to. They ran and ran across said forest until they finally reached the spot Shino had mentioned.

"This is it. Can you feel anything, Pakkun?" Sasuke urgently asked. The dog started pacing around and working with his nose and all the rest of his senses. Sasuke waited anxious for the dog to say something.

"Come here. Follow me!" Pakkun said and he took the 11 o'clock direction this time. "The kid did a really good job hiding his traces. No wonder why the others missed him. I don't think it was intentional though"

"What do you smell?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, Sasuke, but the smell of alcohol is very well mixed with the weak hint of Naruto's. I can barely feel his smell like this. I think he might be in that small village 4 kilometers from here. If we're lucky enough, he might be too drunk to have left and he might still be there. The alcohol smell does not seem to come from this spot, it seems to come from that village to here, somehow mixing with his scent. Maybe he was around here and then came back to that village?" the dog explained as he kept running full speed, wondering what the situation might be. Sasuke flinched at the memory of Naruto puking his guts out in his bathroom. He felt fear of watching the same scene again. He could only stay silent as they both continued to jump around in the journey to find the blond.

Naruto on his side, had wandered around for six days. He had taken only one bottle of sake for the trip that had no destination. He kept the bottle for the first days so he didn't get drunk but he didn't eat anything either during those six days. The routine had become him running fast, getting as faraway form Konoha as he could until he collapsed anywhere around the forest because of his weakness. He probably had lost some weight as he ran non-stop the whole day without eating or drinking anything at all. By noon on the sixth day away from Konoha, he had felt the presence of people near the spot he was in. He remembered a small non Shinobi village that they had passed through a couple of times during past missions and he thought he could finally open his sake bottle because he was gonna be able to get more in that place. He opened it and drank abundantly again as he kept walking slowly towards the small town, his hand supporting his own weight against the trees every now and then. The sake burned his throat and esophagus painfully as he was empty. The pain reminded him of Sasuke. Everything reminded him of Sasuke. Naruto had come to be unconscious of the tears that fell from his eyes a couple of times everyday. It's true that he had spent more than three years with nothing but Sasuke in his mind but this time it was different. It hurt him in a different and deeper way. He wasn't thinking about the Sasuke avenger. It wasn't the Sasuke that was desperate for power but somehow remained deeply connected to him. This time, the Sasuke that was stuck in front of his eyes was the one that had gotten rid of all the hatred and darkness but was still breaking their bond apart.

With that thought on his mind he arrived to that small unknown town. He threw the now empty bottle in the first trash can he found and he started his search for a place to get more alcohol. For the first time, he was out of place, he was defeated and all the pain and every single struggle he had gone through in the past came heavy over his chest. And the same way, all of the strength and power and will he had had in the past was nowhere to be found. He felt trapped. He felt so small...

The blond with blue eyes found a little bar almost by the edge of a river, far from the center of the village, that seemed to be the only opened place where he could get what he wanted, taking in account that it wasn't even 1 pm. He came in and sat for a while and started drinking small shots of whatever it was they were giving him. After a few hours he got bored. His stomach burned in an awful way but, as always, it was taking a lot more alcohol than it was healthy for him to erase his mind. He paid the bill and took a couple more bottles of "sake", if we can all it that, and he returned a few meters into the forest. He wanted to be alone. He didn't want anyone seeing him. When he felt comfortable enough, he took a seat down against a tree and started his journey to oblivion. He drank as much as he could but as his body had started to feel numb and clumsy, his mind was still pretty clear. That took him to the edge. He finished drinking and he stood up feeling furious. He punched the tree in front him with all his force, but a week of no eating and a high amount of alcohol saved the tree from being ripped off the ground. That didn't save his knuckles from bleeding though.

The evening was falling over the village and he thought that it was better to find a place to stay in. He wasn't planning to spend a calm night of sleep, no, but if he was going to try and erase himself at least for the night, he preferred to do it within four walls and not in any unknown street. Near the center of the village he found an inn. He registered and asked an old nice lady for a room at the bottom of the place so he wouldn't be heard of bothered by anyone. The lady tried talking to him but he was like... out of his mind. He tried smiling to her but she knew something was killing the blond young man that she had found sweet and nice and she wondered what could've happen to him. She handed him the key to the room and he asked for alcohol. The lady tried to make him get some food too but he didn't accept. He just asked for as many bottles of whatever drink they had and he locked himself up in his room. No good things were waiting for Naruto right now, but he couldn't care less...

Pakkun followed the weak traces Naruto left but once they were further into the village, the scent was stronger. They found the bar he had been in earlier but Pakkun knew he had been long gone by now. In fact, it was already 3 in the morning, which was pretty good if you think that they came out of Konoha by midnight. They kept walking until finally Pakkun found the inn. They had first walked passed it but as the smell became weaker, he knew that was the place.

"He must be here, Sasuke" The Shinobi dog said with a serious tone. Worry evident as the smell of alcohol was so strong and there was now a hint of blood too, from Naruto's knuckles, but they didn't know that. Sasuke shivered and started trembling as he made his way inside the inn. He saw the same old lady that had received Naruto around 4 hours ago. Something told him she could help him but his body took a moment to react. Actually, Pakkun had to give him a soft bite to make him move. The fear was paralyzing Sasuke's limbs, he didn't know what to expect... what was he going to find.

"Hello, young man. Can I help you with something?" The old lady asked with her characteristic sweet voice and a smile on her lips. Sasuke was looking at her directly in the eyes but still, his mouth couldn't emit a single sound.

"Do you need a room to stay in?" She asked again, trying to make the young black haired boy speak. Nothing... until Pakkun bit him again.

"Ouch! Dammit, Pakkun!" He said trying not to scream.

"Do something! You teme!" The dog replied.

"Oh... uhmmm. Actually I'm looking for someone. Uhmmmm... have you, just in case, given a room to a blond boy? A blond boy with beautiful blue eyes and wonderful whiskered cheeks? I need to find him" Sasuke asked shyly but the lady could tell his eyes were brighter when he mentioned the blond boy. She could also sense the fear he felt of what her answer was gonna be. She knew he was probably talking about the boy she'd seen before and knew his worry made a lot of sense. She was actually worried too but it's not like she could do much. But maybe... maybe this other young man could...