Title: "Cling Together"

Status: OneShot

Fandom: Naruto

Characters/Pairing: Naruto Uzumaki/Kakashi Hatake

Disclaimer: Copyright Masashi Kishimoto; no copyright infringement intended.

Rating: M

Genre: H/C, angst, established relationship, slash

Warnings: unbeta'ed, (mostly implied) blood play

Summary: In a future where Danzo has become Hokage there is nothing left for them but cling together...

Note: Based on the theme prompt "tarnished."

AN: Please note that this is an edited version (even though all that is missing is one paragraph). If you want to read the full version, you can find it on AO3 or LJ; my username there is the same as here.

Cling Together

Naruto's hand in his hair pulled his head back, making him moan even before sharp teeth dug through skin and sank into his shoulder. Kakashi came, imagining he could taste the hot blood in his own mouth.

He jerked as a wet tongue touched and licked his wound. The saliva cooled in the breeze from the open window; taking the sting away. The pain morphed to a dull throb that held pace with Kakashi's racing heart. A red drop ran down between his shoulder blades. Naruto's grip loosened and Kakashi's head dropped back to the pillow with a soft thump that was drowned out by their harsh panting.

A sliver of moonlight cut into the room's darkness. The air was heavy with the musky scent of sex and copper; the congealed blood of dead friends clung to their discarded uniforms and masks.

Hound and Fox, what a bad joke.

Naruto was a sleek, muscled shadow draping over his back as he leaned close to kiss Kakashi's neck, moist lips gathering drops of sweat and teeth tugging at silver strands. Callused fingertips traced puckered scars, then tightened to keep his hips still for one final thrust.

He slumped down with a dry chuckle. They lay like that, tangled together, Kakashi pressed into the mattress by Naruto's weight.

He sensed it before the mood shifted. He had hoped to distract Naruto a little longer.

"I don't want to lose you, too." Naruto breathed the words right into his ear, moist and dark and desperate.

Kakashi felt his sharingan react to the feeling of helplessness that tried to swallow him; his hate driving his three tomoe to spin wildly. He grasped for reassurance that wouldn't turn out to be a lie, but came up empty-handed.

"You won't."

"How can I be sure? How can I make sure?" Naruto's voice gained a seething pitch, viscous in the way of a cornered animal.

Nails far longer than a humans dug into his sides, but Kakashi welcomed the pain, used it to regain his focus. He had lost his precious people too, except for the most important one, and knew that he wouldn't survive seeing Naruto die in front of his eyes or coming back to Konoha find his name carved into the memorial stone.

Kakashi felt fingers hover along the line of his spine and recognized the pattern they painted into the air. There was no reason to think twice. "Do it."

"Thank you."

Naruto bent and twisted a quick kiss. Saliva ran down Kakashi's chin as they broke apart and he braced himself for the pain.

The kyuubi's chakra flared, a raw scrape along his senses, so familiar now, and Kakashi traced its flow as it gathered in Naruto's hand; condensed in one fingertip. A red glow flashed over the windowpane.

He couldn't stop the screams torn from his throat as Naruto burned the seal into his skin; deeper, layer by layer, straight into the bone. A sweet stench rose into the air, making him gag and buck against the weight that pinned him down.

"Shh. Kakashi. Shh."

Naruto's voice broke through the haze and Kakashi forced himself to settle and take it, to breathe through it; mapping the sensation out and setting it aside. Minutes seemed to stretch into hours until the chakra aura shifted, its scalding burn fading to a soothing warmth.

"All done," Naruto said. "Can you use it?"

Kakashi swallowed around the tenderness at the back of his throat, then reached for the seal within himself, sending a pulse of chakra into cells and marrow. He heard him gasp and felt the cool rush of wind answering the crackle of his lighting; a tiny piece of Naruto, forever flowing through his bloodstream.

He turned, caught a shaking hand and used the leverage to pull Naruto down to lie beside him. He wiped a single tear away and followed its salty trace with his tongue.

"I'm not sorry. I should be, but I'm not."

"Good," Kakashi said and made sure to kiss any trace of regret right out of his mouth, until their lips were swollen. "I want it. I want you." He didn't care that he sounded desperate and a little broken, too. "Right beside me, no matter where I am."

Naruto's laugh was more a dark chuckle, just a shadow of what it used to be, but it was there and a start, because Kakashi was fool enough to hope. He had to, for the both of them, because life had broken too many of their promises.

"And I have you."

The room was too dark to see Naruto's face.

XXX

The morning after, Kakashi woke later than usual. He listened for a moment, sheet twisted around his legs. There was no noise except for voices carried up from the street and birds twittering, sitting perched on the roof. Their flat was empty and he belatedly remembered the S-rank mission that Danzo had forced on Naruto and his ANBU squad. The kyuubi jinchuuriki was finally Konoha's living weapon, just like the council had always wanted.

He made his way into the bathroom and turned before the mirror to look over his shoulder. Nestling along the curve of his spine, the hiraishin seal stood out in blood-red letters.

Kakashi smiled and left for the kitchen, humming a slightly dissonant tune.

The End

R&R