The sky was a brilliant azure outside the window, almost completely void of clouds as the sun shone down. Vibrant blades of green green grass blew gently in the spring breeze. Perfection, a day you'd want to spend outside enjoying the weather. Naruto peered out at this entire splendor through his window, hoping beyond hope that maybe, he'd be able to see a bird, a raven, perhaps, on the lone tree situated on the lawn. How he longed to have wings, just like all the birds that flew freely outside his window.

The window, placed in the middle of the back wall of his room was both a blessing and a curse for Naruto. He loved gazing out at the twin tailed swallows, and larger red breasted robins that seemed to dominate the bird population as well as the sketches he longingly drew inside his journal. It was horrible at night though. He wished there was at least a shade he could pull down in order to block out the terrible sights he saw outside the window. Things that terrified him, but the ones who scared him the most were the masked ones, dressed in black and a swirling tattoo. Just standing and looking up, pacing, waiting. Waiting for him. He didn't know exactly what they wanted from him, just that they were ANBU, and they had crept silently in his shadows year after year. Naruto knew that they wanted him dead, gone. What had he done so wrong to get the council and their dogs involved? He had never known.

The blinding blue of the sky darkened, and faded as it filled rapidly with clouds. The sun no longer shone and heavy raindrops fell like bombs on to the grass, causing the birds to scatter. Naruto knew that this meant that the Sasuke was coming for a visit.

The aloof Raven appeared moments later inside his room and Naruto did not know how Sasuke had gotten in. After all, the door was locked from the outside; maybe one of the Doctors had given him the key or opened it up for him. Naruto didn't know, nor did he care. All he cared right now was why Sasuke came to visit him now instead of when he was all alone in that awful bed for nights on end, terrified of what was going to happen, screaming, thrashing, and calling for Sasuke's help.

'I don't have much time today to visit,' Sasuke grunted quietly.

"You never have anytime to visit! At home you'd always come to help me when I was in trouble and now you seem that you can leave me alone just because I'm stuck here in the hospital!" Naruto started panicking and crying hysterically. He never admitted freely where he was caged because of the shame and guilt he associated with it.

Konoha Psychiatric Ward was a terrible place to begin with and the "Quiet Room" the he was imprisoned in was even worse. It was a rusty red cement brick room with only a bed in the corner, one with a wooden encompassing frame that had holes all around it to loop straps through. The Doctors had locked the door from the outside and only They had the key.

"How did you get in here anyways?" He asked through hiccupping sobs. "I thought the door was locked."

'Tsunade let me in while you staring out through that damned window of yours.'

"You can't say anything! It's the only way outside!" Naruto screamed. "I'm stuck in this room all day and all night because of something YOU told me to do!" He looked down sullenly at the Chakra restrictor and the stiches that ran the length of his left arm. "You told me to sneak the goddamned kunai in here! Under the pretense of getting out! Then you and your little and tricks got me to cut my arm when I had been doing so well! The Doctors said I was doing great and now I have to stay for six more months." He paused and continued on, voice shaking.

"You wouldn't know about being locked up though. You're free to do whatever the hell you want. So persuading with the silky duck butt hair of yours and those ebony eyes that would drown every living human being, but you know what? Someday you'll grow old and your hair will fall out and you'll go blind. You won't be so persuasive then."

'I'll always have my voice,' Sasuke said sardonically. 'Besides, why are you questioning me, dobe? I thought you wanted me here.'

Naruto pulsed with anger "Look here you-!" and suddenly regret filled him. He could hear footsteps running down the hallways towards his door. He started panicking, Sasuke had vanished and he hadn't even heard the door open or close. He started beating his head violently on the wall. Trying to feel something he knew he could not. Trying to feel pain. The pain of his parents leaving him when he was barely born. The pain of the villagers hating him for simply existing. The pain of his friends abandoning him in a hospital. And the betrayal of Sasuke leaving him to the so-called Doctors when he knew full well that they were ANBU. The pain rocketing his own mind, and soon he couldn't take it anymore.

All of a sudden Naruto felt himself being lifted up by his arms and violently being forced onto the bed in the corner by a bunch of orderlies in white coats while Tsunade watched by the door. He twitched thrashed and screamed and tried to force his Chakra around the restrictor. Brown leather cuffs were lassoed around his arms and ankles and another restrictor was snapped on his other arm and one more around his neck. He felt a stinging pain in his arm as a sedative was injected into the muscle tissue. He tried to sit up, but a chest strap had ben fastened across his chest. He saw Sasuke peering out from the doorway, next to Tsunade with a smirk on his face.

"Screw you Teme!" Naruto screamed. "Fuck you, Sasuke. I'll kill you. I'll rip you apart! You know that they're ANBU!" You know it! Teme!" The watery light faded slowly as he continued to struggle against the restraining straps. When he begin to think that Sasuke was a bad person? When did…

Tsunade slammed the door and locked it again while Naruto lay strapped to the bed, sobbing. She was reading an old journal entry of Naruto's:

I can't sleep. I can't deal. There are people outside my window. They don't know that I know they're out there, I don't believe. They can see me, even I I can't see them. I have my light on in my room while they're outside, in the dark, waiting. Just waiting and whispering. I can't make out what they're saying or what language it's in, but I canhear voices and shuffling feet, getting impatient. Waiting for the show. Who are they? I know what they want. They want me. Moreover, they want me dead. I know that They're ANBU, the root, under Danzo. Or maybe Akatsuki, doesn't matter. They probably know that I know and this whole thing is pointless. I'll be dead soon. I don't know if I should attempt to run. They doctors say I'm safe here but I don't believe them. If I run, I'll just get caught again and I know that He won't save me. Sasuke. When did I begin to hate him? There seems to be something I can't remember. Of no consequence. He would probably just send me back into them "Quiet Room" again. That always happens when I do something bad. Is Sasuke bad? They've been sending people past my room for about an hour now, I think. People walking by and waiting. Is Sasuke one of them? I don't get how no one has noticed them, they must have a shield of some sort because this hospital is pretty isolated from the rest of town. I wonder how Sasuke gets here? I'll be dead. Soon. I might already be dead. They're just waiting for the word from higher up. Apparently they don't care that I know. Does Sasuke care? I told my psychiatrist about these agents yesterday. I didn't tell her that they were agents though. If she knew, I would be risking her life as well. Sasuke knows though, is he in danger? She thinks I'm just afraid. No shit, I'm afraid. I'm terrified. Where's Sasuke? But I know what's going on. They're there. They're here. It's all out that window, through the bars. Into the glass and through the screen. Through me.

Tear dripped slowly down her face. One. Two. Three little droplets splashed onto the paper. Tsunade smiled painfully to herself. How much did the Akatsuki break him during their torture session? How much did Sasuke break him when he died? She was not his psychiatrist, she was his aunt and leader. The guards outside were not only ANBU, they were his comrades. Sasuke was not his enemy, he was his rival. And then best friend. And then lover. And now dead.

"Shizune." The woman stepped through the doorway of her office.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?

"Give him one more dose of sedative and call Sakura back from the land of Waves as well as Kakashi. They have a new misson, rank A."

Shizune smiled heartbreakingly at her mentor. "Yes, I will." And walked away.

Naruto was still crying in the Quiet Room. He strained his neck to look out the window and saw a pitch black raven perched on the sill. A small smile graced his lips and his mind flew away with the silky ebony bird.