Chapter 12: The Last Ones Standing

Pairings: GaaraXNeji, NarutoXSasuke…

Note: This is going to be the last chapter of Impervius AI… I hope everyone enjoyed it!

Gaara felt the jet engine purring beneath the circuit board under his hands. He never got tired of feeling the excitement and adrenaline rush through him when the motor's vibrations hit his fingertips.

Today he was hardly able to pay attention to the feeling though. He, Neji, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Naruto had been ordered to the jet hanger as fast as they could have gotten there and Gaara's stomach wasn't happy about it. He hadn't actually gotten to eat before Neji dragged him out of the room and back to the hanger he'd just snuck out of.

The brunette pilot had explained things to him on the way there and Gaara didn't like what he'd heard.

The Searin fleet had decided that they no longer wanted to take orders and had taken themselves off the council that operated as a communication group between the stations. This meant that they could freely come after them this time and they could do whatever was necessary in order to obtain their objective.

Neji had avoided telling him exactly what they were after, but the tight grip on his hand and the way the other boy was walking so close to him told Gaara what Neji wasn't telling.

They were after him again.

But this time they knew Gaara was a person and were willing to kill him in order to get to him for experiments and testing. That and they were probably after the thing that had made him too, Sasuke's machine.

This meant that Sasuke would be a target too.

Gaara was pretty sure that by now, the enemy knew exactly what he looked like and what Sasuke looked like. They probably had maps of the entire station so they could get in, kill the scientist, and make off with his machine without having to be there too long. The redhead was convinced that the first time they showed up, that was the reason for it, to map out their routes through the station.

The adrenaline pumping through Gaara's veins wasn't from excitement.

Neji seemed to be feeling it too as he made his way around the jet doing a few quick checks on it. Gaara could almost hear the tension rolling off the other man. His breathing had been a little harder since he'd made Gaara sit down in the chair at the front of the cockpit. This wasn't doing the redhead any good. It was merely serving to make him worry more.

Gaara had been told that their allies were coming to their aid as well. The Taimun were the closest station and Gaara had flown there with Neji many times when he'd been part of the boy's jet. He'd heard many conversations and had decided that they were a group of rather nice, yet slightly dense people. They were more along the agricultural side of research and conservation science.

Where as Sasuke researched new materials for ships, new machines, medicines and those sorts of things, the Taimun researchers were seeing how many strawberries they could get to grow on one small patch of plant and whether or not they could be grown with lunar rock soil.

Gaara liked them. They grew the cherries Neji had been giving him all these years.

"I think we're ready for take off."

Neji said as he got back in the plain and buckled himself into the standing restraints near the back of the ship right behind Gaara's chair.

Gaara just nodded, not knowing what to say to ease the other boy's nerves.

Gaara started tapping a few of the buttons and images of each of their teams faces appeared on the screen in front of he and Neji. They were all pushed off to the side so Gaara could still see out through the windshield. He could see the little image of Neji putting his glasses on behind him, getting ready to steer the jet as they left. Naruto had a pair of glasses over his eyes as well, which were used to see outside the jet in all directions so you could see the other ships. Naruto was also wearing a special vest and gloves though, which no one else wore. These were supposed to be how he would fly his own ship. When he turned, the plane would turn, and when he moved his fingers, it would shoot missiles.

Shikamaru wasn't in his jet yet and Sakura looked like she was having a panic attack, making herself breath in and out. Gaara made sure to keep his face expressionless so on one would see how nervous he was.

"Ready, Gaara?"

"Ready."

Gaara saw Shikamaru strap himself into his jet right before the hanger began to open beneath them.

"When I give the signal, disconnect your cables and be ready to fight."

Gaara nodded at Shikamaru's little screen image and waited while the man put on his own glasses and started getting his ship fired up.

"Ready! Release!"

Gaara hit all the right buttons and felt, rather than heard, as the restraints let go of their jet and they dropped out of the hanger into the deep black of space. Gaara could see the rows and rows of Searin ships as he and Neji passed out of the hanger. They were just waiting there for them.

Gaara heard Neji inhale behind him and hold his breath. He could feel his own fingers begin to shake.

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Sasuke couldn't take watching any longer.

He'd been up on the observation deck with all the other scientists and mere civilians, watching as jets flew over head, shooting at one another. Sasuke had seen one of their own get shot down over the station, the pieces of body and metal smashing against the observation glass as it exploded above them. The small speckles of blood over head would be forever branded in Sasuke's memory.

All he'd been able to think about was how happy he was that it wasn't Naruto.

He'd been against the idea of Naruto going back out in his jet so soon after starting up his flight training again. Sasuke hadn't thought he was ready, but as he'd watched them all fly out of the hanger, he'd seen Naruto's jet as one of the best out there. He'd have been proud if he wasn't so frightened.

The boy was all over the place, shooting here and there. He'd taken a little damage and every time, Sasuke's breath had stopped in his throat and he'd wanted to cry. Just watching had gotten him so shaken up that he'd made himself leave.

Sasuke was walking back to his lab in hopes of calming down a little when he noticed the door to his rooms was wide open.

He hadn't left it that way, and like a fool, he ran the rest of the way to his door in order to see who'd gone inside. This was such a foolish mistake. The minute he'd been inside the door, a pair of hands had grabbed him, covering his mouth and tying his hands behind him.

He only managed to struggle momentarily before he froze.

There were about twenty Searin men pulling pieces of his reconstruction machine out of storage and running them down to the ship they'd parked outside his lab. It looked like they'd blown a hole in the storage room and where wearing masks and suits in case the weak seal holding their plane to his wall gave way while they were transferring his things.

They'd even decided to take a few of the other machines out of his lab because they'd felt like it.

Sasuke was so angry he started fighting the man behind him again. It didn't do any good though. Instead he was held down over one of his desks and a breathing mask was placed over his face.

"It'd be a waist to leave such a pretty thing behind. Besides, we don't know how to work that machine. We'll decide if you're really needed after I'm finished playing with you."

Sasuke wanted to puke. The other man was so close to his ear, that Sasuke could smell the stench of sweat on him. The struggling he was doing made the other man laugh before he was pushed through the opening onto the foreign jet and tied to the back where he'd be out of the way, but still visible.

There was one thing Sasuke could do, even if he felt guilty for doing it. It was the only thing he could think of and he was surprised it'd taken him so long to remember.

Shoving his hands closer to the wall, Sasuke started smacking the back of his fingers lightly against the cold metal behind him, the ring on his finger making a dull clinking noise before it beeped just slightly. Then he started moving his hands so the rest of the ship would be visible to the camera he had implanted in his ring.

A few days ago he'd had a camera installed into his high school class ring that went straight to Naruto's jet screen. The blonde had insisted on it incase anything ever happened to Sasuke while he was out. He hoped it sounded enough like struggling that no one paid any attention to him.

This was one of those times, Sasuke knew it was.

Then he felt a hand raising him up off the floor where he'd been sitting and he forgot all about the small camera he'd just activated. The man who'd been holding him before had lifted him up and tied Sasuke's hands in front of him instead before shoving him roughly against the back of the ship and behind a few boxes so the other's wouldn't see.

"Ready for a little fun, boy? You're looking mighty fine with that gag in your mouth and your hands tied, bet your girlfriend would be upset if she knew where you were. You're such a nice piece of ass, she'd probably hate to lose you. Probably missing her little trophy man!"

That was punctuated by the man's hand on his ass and Sasuke knew he was in trouble. He began fighting twice as hard, kicking, clawing and elbowing when he found bits of body he could reach.

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Naruto's jet skidded slightly to the side as he tried pulling a really fast u-turn while going about eighty miles an hour. It didn't matter if he was out in the air or on a road, he still drove recklessly. But when your boyfriend showed up on your screen with another man threatening to rape him, your own safety became the least of your worries.

The blonde forgot about the war and tried thinking about what he was going to do once he found the right side of the station, and hopefully, the ship his love was on.

All these years and Sasuke was still all Naruto cared about.

When Naruto found the small section of ship and located the carrier jet connected to it, he started shooting. There was no point trying to sneak up on them, he wasn't thinking about anything but kicking serious ass.

The man holding Sasuke on his screen had shoved the raven face first into a wall.

Naruto couldn't see where the man's other free hand was, but he knew it couldn't be anywhere good. He was the only one allowed to play bondage and rape with Sasuke, no one else.

Naruto had been waiting years to get Sasuke in bed again. He wasn't going to let anyone take his place.

Firing one of his missiles and watching it hit the front end of the enemy plane, the blonde rushed forward and started shooting again before he haphazardly latched onto the side and jumped out of his seat.

Every pilot on the station had been trained in the use on one weapon, their choice. This was just in case they were ever caught, they could still go down fighting. Naruto used his paint ball gun and slammed the butt of it against the handle to the other jet, breaking it so he could throw the door open and start pelting people. Tsunade had recently given him a small bag of tranquilizer filled paint balls to use, and he couldn't have been more grateful.

The first person he shot, was the man in the back when he entered, the one pinning Sasuke.

The man turned around to strangle who'd ever shot him, but the drugs took affect and he was down on the floor before Naruto could blink. The blonde felt a few sharp objects hit him as he ran to pick up a rather dazed and shaking Sasuke. He didn't give a shit if anyone else was still on the plane with them, his main focus was getting the raven out before people had time to realize they were really there.

It worked for the most part and Naruto slammed the doors shut between their jets before laying Sasuke on the floor and strapping himself back in to his restraints. He'd forgotten to take his glasses and gloves off through all that, so it took no time at all for him to pull away and start zooming as fast as he could away from everything.

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Things were falling apart everywhere Neji looked.

The Taimun had done some damage, but it wasn't as much as they'd needed. The poor people just weren't cut out for fighting. They were peaceful and their station didn't have things like pilots unless they were just for transport.

They'd tried, which is what counted, but when most of them had started falling, he couldn't really blame them for running back to their station. A few had stayed to load up any fallen pilots they could, but other than that, their fleet was on its own.

Neji didn't expect the battle to end so suddenly though.

One minute, a missile was aimed at them, and the next, Neji had dodged, Gaara had activated their small shield, and the missile had bounced off them, to crash behind them into the station.

When one part of the station blew up, it caught the rest of it on fire and Neji suddenly realized that he'd have no home to go back to.

Tsunade was then shot right next to them and she too, disappeared with the Taimun flyers as they ran from the battle area in search of sanctuary. Neji was so distracted, watching as his home exploded little by little, that he didn't notice the Searin that had snuck up on them.

"We need to run Neji! Turn around!"

Neji jolted when he heard Gaara scream.

It took him a minute to realize why the boy was yelling at him. The entire side of their newly painted jet was peppered with little bullet holes and it was letting all the breathable air out. Neji had had a mask over his mouth and nose from the beginning, but Gaara didn't have one.

The brunette turned their jet and bolted after the bright orange jet they notice was flying off toward earth.

Neji pulled Gaara out of his seat and situated the boy in one side of his restraints, telling him to close his eyes and keep them closed until they hit the atmosphere around the earth. He spent the rest of their awkward flight alternating his air mask between he and Gaara.

Neither of them realized how happy they'd be to when they reached solid ground.

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It had taken them the first few minutes to realize they'd landed before they were able to leave the jet and hunt their friends down. When Naruto and Sasuke had come out of their jet not more than twenty feet away, it was as a bleeding blonde and an unconscious raven.

Gaara had been shot too and that left Neji to try and fix them up.

They spent the next six months getting themselves situated in the small farm they'd landed on. It had been vacant and had for sale signs up every few miles. Sasuke was the only one who'd ever been back to earth on vacation to visit his brother while they'd been up on the station, so he was the only one not surprised, when their bank accounts came up full and almost equaling a million dollars.

Neji had never thought about how much he made, and he knew Sasuke, being a scientist, had always made more.

Gaara didn't have anything, but Naruto did.

When their funds had been pulled and the farm house remodeled so they could live in it, they still had more money left than they knew what to do with.

At first the four of them had just stayed in the house recovering from their wounds. Sasuke had taken almost two days to wake up after accidently being hit by one of Naruto's paint balls. The blonde's back had two bullets lodged up near his right shoulder blade and a shot had gone clean through Gaara's arm.

Once the six months of recovery had gone by and everyone was left with just the memory of the fight to go by, they were able to actually start profiting off the land they'd bought.

They'd had a barn built and had stocked it with cows, sheep and horses. They'd managed to hatch a few chickens in the coup they'd installed as well.

Sasuke had taken to caring for the horses and the cows while Naruto could easily be found harassing the chickens every day. Neji had taken care of the sheep while helping Sasuke with things like milking the cows and taking the horses out riding, but Gaara hadn't been all that interested in caring for the animals after the first week.

Neji assumed it was because one horse had kicked him, one of the sheep had bitten him, a cow had spit on him, and the chickens had chased him around the fields. The boy had, instead, started an actual farm with all different sorts of vegetables and fruit. He seemed to know a lot about growing plants, which he had later confessed to Neji, was because he'd done a little research on plants when they'd very first visited their Taimun friends together.

The four of them were happy with their new life.

They were amateurs at best, but they didn't care. It wasn't until another year later that they actually found out what had happened to the rest of the people on the station. Tsunade had sent them a letter explaining that a new station had been built, Shikamaru and Sakura were okay, and that if they wanted to come back, they'd always have a room ready for them.

They had declined, much to the woman's disappointment.

However a week later, Tsunade had sent a few of the Taimun farmers down to help them and give them tips. It made things on their farm a lot more profitable and the crops had started growing better than before.

By the next month they had a contract with Tsunade to supply fresh food to the new station, and Gaara had managed to get a fruit tree to start growing next to the house.

No one was surprised that by the following spring, the tree had started to bloom with little pinkish-white flowers that would later turn into cherries.

This really is the final chapter for Impervius AI... I was going to make it two, but they were too short on their own...

I hope you liked it and even if you didn't... thanks for reading!

-Himitsu