A/N: OK, I did say that I wouldn't be writing a Naruto fanfic for a while but…I can't help myself I'll TRY to update every Tuesday. If I don't, and you want to read (which I don't think any of you will be too hooked to this to do this) email me . I need occasional reminders and need to be forced to work because I'm really lazy…

Sleeping Memories

Chapter 1. New Friendship, or a Reuniting?

A young blond reflected back on the glass windows of the familiar shops as he walked down the street. It was familiar in a different way, other than the fact that I've visited the place regularly. It is unexplainable. It just seems like I've been here before and something horrible happened. I cast the though aside as I am unlikely to find an answer. I pass an ice cream shop and decided to try some. I walk into the shop and a scent of mixed flavors filled my nostrils. The room had a low temperature and I quickly order my favorite ice cream, nothing but pure strawberry flavor, and exited the door. As I walked, checking out the shops and thinking of what to buy, I passed an alley that was adjacent to the building on my right. It had an eerie aura to it and it was darkened by the tall buildings that parted on either side. The darkness deprived me from my sight when I turned to look at it. But even though I couldn't see, I heard something. Was it my imagination? I don't know but I definitely heard something, whether it was in my mind or it was real, my curiosity made me venture into the lightless portion of the city. Another groan came and I realized that it was in fact real. I was half way through the narrow alley way and it was too late to turn back. A figure seemed to be sitting on a crate, his, or at least I think it was a he, had his back turned towards me. He turned as I walked closer, sensing my presence. I stopped as he faced me. The figure jumped, and the next thing I knew, my vision was gone, my mind somewhere else.

I slowly opened my eyes; a million thoughts were in my mind. Did that really happen? What was that? I kept asking myself, though it was pointless since if I knew the answer, why would I be asking questions? For a minute I thought I was going to be home but my illusion of peace was not true. I was lying on the rock hard cement of a darkened place. It smelled like rotten fish and eggs. I realized that I was sleeping beside a garbage can. Yuck! I rubbed my sore back got up, only to fall back down again at the sight of a person. He seems to be a homeless person because his black hair was messy and his dark eyes were pale, along with his skin. His blue shirt in front was stained and his white shorts were…well, not white. I glanced at him and for some reason, I felt calm when I looked into his dark eyes. I wasn't afraid at all. I got up and brushed my behind and not caring for his unhygienic hands, I reach out my own and offer a handshake. If I were to get out of here, why not be nice? He took it and turned away. It looked like he was embarrassed or something because he was all scrunched up. My voice finally came to.

"Who are you? What just happened?" I ask, forming the words slowly since I don't want to ask the wrong thing.

"I'm just a homeless failure that did the wrong thing, that's why I ended up in this…dump. I'm sorry about before, I really didn't mean to jump on you like that. I though you were another one of those people who want to kick me out of this alley way. I had to find a new home 5 times already."

I pause when he finished his sentence. I accept his apology since he is homeless and doesn't seem to be that bad. However, I get up regardless and walked past him. He didn't seem to react when I turned back and so I just wave my hand politely and walked out of the alley. It was too awkward to say anything. I got jumped and now being apologized to…what was I suppose to say?

I brush as much of the dirt off my clothes as I could. I smelled the stench from my body and decided to go home and take a nice hot shower. The thought of a shower made me think about something else, that boy that was just in the alley. I felt bad how he had to be like that. I turn around, wanting to ask him to my place, since he was nice and all that. Instead of walking though, I stop. Up ahead, where the alley was, I see two guys disappearing into the dark alley way. It was night time but I could have sworn that they had clubs, or bats, or a weapon of some sort. Panicking, I run towards the entrance and see that they were hitting someone. One of them was yelling, "Get out of this place you bum. You fucking hobos don't even deserve places like this. You're stinking up this whole place." I hear some screaming from a young boy and I frantically run towards them. I wasn't a good martial artist or anything involving combat actually, but I still run towards them, stupid as a cow walking into a slaughter house. I reach them and stop a mere inch away. The two guys noticed me and turn towards me with their weapons which I now know was a baseball bat, a hard, metal baseball bat. My heart thumps wildly as my mind races. "Are you this guy's friend? A hobo of another place? Might as well hurt you too. Don't want you people to stay in this city." One of the guys said. "Fuck off!" I yelled, courageously. Someone must have heard because I heard foot steps walking towards this place. Praying to god that it wasn't more people wanting to kill this innocent boy, I turned around to see who it was. A police officer stood on the opening of the alley and the two guys ran. They sprinted out of the alley, and the cops took after them, forgetting about us. It didn't really matter to me, I wasn't injured, but I looked up at the bleeding and bruised boy. I quickly picked him up, and I carried him home on my back. I thanked god once again for saving both our lives.

I rubbed my even more sore back and placed the bloody boy onto the couch, not thinking about the stain that it would make. My apartment was small, but it was definitely better than living in the cold night in the alley. I take a wet towel and rubbed it across his scars that were formed. I find out there was more recent ones that haven't healed completely yet. I dabbed the towel carefully onto the painful looking marks and he squirms from the pain. His head was bleeding but at least he wasn't injured enough to have to go to the hospital. He was hit more near his stomach anyways. Lying him down, I remove his shirt to see the bruises there. He had a slim body, probably due to famine. A slight movement of the towel caused him to squirm. It must be pretty bad. I never had such injuries before. But then again, I don't really attract attention do I? My hand moves to a really deep looking bruise. Baseball bats can sure do a lot of damage. When the towel touched the bruise, he reached for my hand. "You don't need to do so much work. I'll be fine." He exclaimed. His face tensed up in pain as he tried to get up. I looked into his dark eyes. It looked so sad and full of misery. Even though, I sensed something, like I knew this person a long time ago. Something is missing in my life and it may be the knowledge of this. I turn my attention to the pain-filled boy and replied strictly. "You're going to die if you don't get these wounds treated." I then realize that I could not possible heal these and a hospital may be better. He fell back asleep as I picked up the phone.

What a long night it's been. My back is sore and a day without sleep is killing me. As if I didn't get less sleep already! I wait as the doctor examines the boy that I have brought in. It's been such a long time…Is he going to be ok? Just when I was about to doze off, the doctor comes out of the room. "Is he ok? Is there any serious damage?"

The doctor replies calmly. The calmness of his voice is irritating because when there's a calm voice, it usually means something bad. He talks slowly. "Your…friend," He starts off; I'm guessing he doesn't think that we're friends since that guy is kind of homeless. Regardless, he continues, "Well, he's going to be alright. It's a good thing you brought him in here early or he might suffer from permanent damage to his kidneys and liver. Whatever happened to him was enough to do this so protect him next time. There is a police so if you wish to report anything, feel free to." The doctor smiles and walks away. I walk past him and into the room where the young boy lived. He was sound asleep on the bed, bandages all over his body. So he did need hospital care…I was too confident in my interpretation. How was I supposed to know that the bruises were this bad? I could only see externally after all.

I wake up to the sight of a hospital room. I must have dozed off. I open my eyes and find myself looking right into the boy that was escorted to the hospital. He seems to be doing better already. I hear the door click open and a nurse walks in. She has a clipboard and asks me to leave so she can do some tests before I even get to speak to the boy. I do as she says and a few minute later, she comes out and smiles. "I'm glad to say that he will be able to check out of the hospital later in the afternoon. But may I suggest taking care of him as he will need help with taking a shower. Just take a towel and went the necessary places." I nod in thanks and I walk back into the room. A set of black eyes look up at me as I walked into the room. I start off with a simple question. "What is your name?" I try to be polite

"Sasuke, nice to meet you," He attempts to hold out his hand for a proper handshake but he gasps in pain. "Sorry," He mumbles quietly under his own breath.

I convinced him to stay at my home for a while. He hesitantly agrees, thinking it was not polite to stay. "To make it seem fair, I will only let you stay on ONE condition."

He looks at me with a frightened face, scared that he might not be able to stay after all.

"You have to take a shower." I smile, jokingly frightening him. There has to be some humor within us right? I joke around again, "And I have the pleasure of helping you." He looks away embarrassed. Not knowing his problem, I ignore his show of being embarrassed.

Helping someone take a shower was harder than I thought. I took off his shirt and saw the heavy bandaged body that coated his surprisingly fit body. "How do you keep your body so fit if you seemed like you had nothing to eat?" I asked him, surprised. "I worked out in my spare time, which was almost the whole day besides sleeping and eating. I didn't have that bad of a diet as I did earn some money for food. I just go searching for cans…" He stops, thinking that he embarrassed himself by talking about his poor lifestyle. I didn't mind at all. I took a wet towel and gently brushed the places that the bandages did not cover. As soon as I was done, I took a bucket of filled warm water and set it beside the bathtub where he was sitting. I took the same town and scrubbed it in the water for a while and placed the towel over his head. I then begin scrubbing to get the dirt off his hair. I added shampoo and cleaned it thoroughly and then realized that I his pants were still on. How stupid of me…What am I suppose to do now? Take it off? He won't allow that.

"I don't mind if you don't clean down there, I'm sure I can do it myself." He reached for his pants but the pain overwhelmed him, causing him to flinch. I felt bad so I reached for it and unbuttoned his jeans. "I'm sorry if you don't want me to go through your pants but I have to." He kept quiet so I removed it, following his boxers. Ignoring the sign of masculinity down there, I wiped the rest of his body and dressed him in my other pair of pajamas. Surprisingly, it fitted him perfectly. "I guess we have the same size," I smiled. He was still embarrassed about the whole shower thing so I made him the only thing I had that is good in my house. Ramen. He ate it with delight. It must of tasted better than the food he got when he was in the alley. Now that he is clean and civilized, he looked handsome, more than the average boy. His dark hair fell to the front and was naturally spiked up at the back. His skin was more normal now and his eyes looked happy and the misery was not lacking, not that it was a bad thing. I looked up at the eyes that he now stared at me. I smiled at the friendship we have formed. I didn't mind at all that I had to support him with my own money. I felt tied and happy for the first time in a while. He smiled back. Still, I couldn't put past the feeling that he was someone familiar, someone that I have met before. Maybe I do know this person…I glance at the eyes of the young boy and his eyes showed something, something that he was guilty of, something that he did to me? The only thing was, what was it?