Oh God, I went overboard again. It's 18 pages long, so I'll cut it into two parts (yes, only two!) this time. Thank you all, for encouraging me to make sequel with your reviews. I hope this will quench your thirst for the lack of SasuNaru in Kitten.

Important background. Please READ this FIRST (especially for new readers):
1) This story can stand on its own, I think/hope; but it will be easier to understand if you read Kitten first (if you haven't read it).
2) This story is also based on the lyrics of 'I Believe in You'. I sort of took each verse and made up a story for it (well, except for the non-English part of it- I couldn't understand a thing there :p)

Disclaimer: Naruto and co belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I don't own the lyrics and song of 'I Believe in You' by Il Divo and Celine Dion too. The only thing I own in this story is Hikaru the kitten. XD

"Isn't there anything else we can do, doctor?"

"I'm afraid not. He's no longer in the age where his body can hold fighting this disease. Just pray so that he doesn't feel much pain. All I can say is that we'll do our best to make sure he's comfortable."

"Thank you, doctor."

That was one of the last things he heard as his lids felt heavier and heavier…

"One day you will find your light again…
Let your love lead through the darkness…
Someday I'll find you,
Someday you'll find me too" (1)

Obsidian eyes opened.

Sasuke looked at the white ceiling, shoulders and ribs still aching. When will the hitting stop? He wondered. When will I be free of this prison? He pleaded silently.

The shirtless boy got up and slowly walked towards the bathroom. As he brushed his teeth, he saw the rising blue on his left cheek bone. That would be hard to conceal, he grimaced. Pale hands washed his body softly, tried not to wince when the hands brushed across some painful areas.

Only a few months… Only a few months and I'll be a free man, he willed himself to last for a few more months in this hell-hole. Ever since his older brother died- no, he was killed, Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger. Ever since that bastard killed him, the beating got worse.

And he lost a shoulder to cry, an ear to listen to and a heart to share the anguish.

Only a few more months… and I'll no longer be under his control anymore!

"Let your love lead through the darkness…" (1)

Obsidian eyes snapped opened.

This is it, he looked at the calendar. 23rd of July.
I'm a free man.
He opened up the only backpack he owned. Fishing up some shirts, underwear and pants, Sasuke zipped the bag close.
Not even the claim of I'm mentally unstable will keep me under that man's wings again.

Determined to make sure this works, he collected his money and books and acted usual, in case that man hasn't gone to work.

------------

"Coming… coming!" A door was opened and a certain grey-haired man (despite the fact that he's not old) opened the front door. His eyes widen.

"Sensei," a monotonous tone greeted him.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke-kun?" He opened his door further as a sign for the late teenager to come in.

"I ran away."

There was a thick silence. The grey-haired man named Kakashi sighed. "Does your father know?"

Sasuke shook his head, eyes cold, determined not to go back. He has invested his last savings on the plane ride here. Why would he go back?

"Do you know you will cause me enough trouble now?" When the dark-haired teen didn't answer, Kakashi made a move to go to the phone.

"Sensei," Sasuke called. Kakashi put down the receiver and turned to look at his former student. His eyes suddenly widen at the sight before him. There, in the living room, was a shirtless teen with pale broad chest. But there was more to it. Sasuke wiped a site on his cheek with the sole of his palm. If it was possible, his eyes widen more.

Stood in front of him was not smooth skin, but one that marred with long, short and some wide gashes and scars. Some, he noted, are old and some are new. He frowned at different places of dark blue and black bruises on the teen's chest and face.

"He did this to you?!" Kakashi hissed. Sasuke only nodded.

"Why didn't you come to me sooner?!"

"And risk being sent into psychiatric ward again? Or being sent to Orphanage? I have my self value, sensei." Cold tone answered.

"What about now?"

"I'm officially 18 today. I'm a free man."

Kakashi sighed. "You are aware of the implications, are you not?" He finally said, once he read the message in the teen's black eyes. The teen nodded.

"I've been accepted to law course here. I won't go ahead to striking him, but if he took legal actions, I'll fight back this time."

Kakashi sighed again. This will be hard, it seemed. But he didn't think he could abandon Sasuke now, seeing at his determination. Maybe he should start contacting Tsunade-sama, in case the Uchiha head's searching for his son and decided to take legal actions.

"One day you will find your light again…" (1)

Obsidian eyes blinked.

That dream again. He was aware of the recurrent dreams he was having since the past few years. Even though there were no faces and only voices, somehow he felt that they are connected in a way. No matter how much he tried to remember, as soon as his eyes were opened, he has no recollection of what the dreams are about.

The past year had been hard- on him, Kakashi and a team of lawyer who defended him against his father. They won at last and his father was put behind bars, but Sasuke had a few bouts of nightmares and trauma. He's okay now though.

He could study in peace now. Sasuke looked at the sky. It's so blue today. A nagging feeling persisted at the back of his mind.

As he walked towards the library after his classes, he noted the familiar messy blond hair. There was a sudden familiar ache in his chest which made him startled at the discovery. What was that?

He had noticed the blond around the campus before, but that was the first time his chest- or more precisely his heart, ached.

"Naruto!" A strawberry blonde ran to the familiar blond teen. He watched the scene in front of him, entranced, like someone who was caught in a beautiful sight.

"Look! Look at what Lee-san gave me for my birthday!" she squealed, cradling something in her arms. Soon after, a black-haired tall guy with green shirt joined them. "Naruto-san!" he greeted the blond.

'Naruto!'

"Ne, Sakura-chan. Name him Naruto. Name him Naruto!" he repeated excitedly.
"Why should I name my kitten with your name?"
A pout.
"We should name him Tora! (2)" the guy in the green shirt named Lee pumped his hand in the air.
"Naruto sounds better!"
"But Tora is fiery! More youthful!"

"Stop it you two!" The two males reluctantly stopped.

"Hikaru! I want to name him Hikaru," Sakura finally said.

'Hikaru… Hikari… "I've found my light again, Naruto"'

That was the last thing that Sasuke remembered as a sudden splitting headache shot from the back of his head and knocked him down into the blackness.

"Someday I'll find you" (1)

Obsidian eyes opened, despite the fact that his eye lids were heavy and headache still pounding in his head.

"Ne, Sakura-chan… He's opened his eyes…"
"Don't hover at him like that, Naruto. Give him space to breath! I'll come back soon with dinner, so you take care of him in the time being."

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again, trying to clear the blurry vision. The first thing that he saw was eyes so blue; they reminded him of today's sky. He felt his dry throat rendering him from speaking properly. "Water," he croaked.

The teen with blue eyes handed him a glass of water quickly, which he gladly took it slowly and quenched his thirst. The blond teen however didn't let go of the glass, trying to assist Sasuke to drink. When the raven-haired realized that parts of their fingers were touching, he pulled back his hands quickly, as if it was scalding his fingers.

The blond teen had a hurt look in his eyes, Sasuke noted; which only made his heart aching again. But there were also looks of puzzle and confusion. He really didn't understand any of this.

"Where am I?" he asked at last, when the other teen turned away to place the empty glass on the table.

"In my room. You fell and fainted in front of us near the library a couple of hours ago. Are you okay?" Naruto asked, voice laced with concern.

"I-I did?" Sasuke stuttered.

Naruto nodded. "I'm Naruto by the way, Uzumaki Naruto," he held out his hand to be shaken.

Sasuke only looked at the hand, weary if he would feel the electric shock like just now again. But he realized that it would be rude, considering that this boy had practically saved him. He held out his right hand and slowly gripped the other's tanned hand.

The moment their skin touched, it was like the time has frozen.

"N-Naruto… Naruto!!" his fingers shook as he took out his cell phone and dialed 911. "N-Naruto, C'mon! Open up your eyes!" Tears started to gather at the corner of his eyes.
"Sas'ke.." short breath from the paling boy. "I d-don't want… t-to die y-yet..!" Naruto's natural golden brown colour skin started to look like ash.

"Naruto," Sakura's voice boomed as she pushed Naruto's door opened. That brought the two back in reality. They quickly pulled their hands back.

"Eh? You're awake," Sakura stated the obvious. Naruto rolled her eyes and Sasuke looked deadpan.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you," she bowed.

That was when Sasuke realized he hasn't given the blond his name yet. "Uchiha Sasuke," he said.

Naruto's forehead furrowed. "Naruto, I bought you ramen, but I only bought this guy some onagiri since I'm not sure what he'd like," Sakura touched his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, okay. You're going now?"

Sakura nodded. "Lee-san has taken Hikaru back home, so I'm bringing him dinner. I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto." She turned to Sasuke, "I hope to see you around, Uchiha-san," she said and then she was gone.

"Here, eat something first. You looked pale," Naruto handed him a box. Sasuke opened it and ate, realizing that his stomach was empty. "Itadakimasu…"

Naruto did the same thing with his ramen after taking a chair to sit next to the bed where the Uchiha was occupying now.

"You live on campus, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I live with an ex-teacher."

"Oh… Maybe you should call him, in case he's wondering where you are."

The raven haired nodded his head.

"You don't talk a lot, do you? You know what… your name sounds familiar," Naruto said, slurping his noodles. "Hmmm…. I wonder where…." He mumbled.

"Ack! I know you!" he suddenly shrieked after a minute of thinking and pointed his chopstick at Sasuke.

"Don't point that at me," Sasuke looked at Naruto sharply, heart pounding loudly at Naruto's revelation.

"Oh… hehe… sorry," he chuckled as he slurped his noodles again. "You're that guy in the news last year," he stated, swallowing audible.

Really, this boy has no manner of eating at all.

"I'm sure Tsunade-baachan said something about your case too. No wonder you sounded familiar!" he said as though it was a discovery of all time.

Idiot.

Sasuke froze at that thought.

"Ne?" Naruto waved his hands in front of Uchiha's face. "You okay?"

"How do you know Tsunade-sama?" he ignored the persistent ache in his chest.

"She's my aunt. She took me in when my parents died years back," Naruto tossed the empty container inside a bin and fetched another ramen to eat.

"How can you eat a lot of ramen?" Sasuke didn't realize he had asked that out loud.

"Eh? Don't you like ramen?" when Naruto looked puzzled, he realized that he should keep the question to himself.

"Not much," he confessed.

"Then you're missing a lot!" the blond replied quickly and ate his delicious meal. Sasuke shook his head, smiling a little.

When they had finished, Naruto cleared the empty containers and handed Sasuke another glass of water and paracetamol for his headache when the boy admitted to have another bout of splitting headache. The raven haired muttered thanks.

"I know this is weird…" Naruto started, his tone was low. Blue eyes looked at the glass in his laps. Sasuke looked at him curiously, heart started to pound again.

Why was he so nervous, anyway?

"But I think… I think you look exactly like that guy in my dream…" he said, for some reason, sounded in pain.

Feeling sweat gathering at the back of his neck, Sasuke asked, "What did you dream of?"

"I'm not sure…. There was no noise what-so-ever; it was like watching a mute movie. But there was this guy… he looked like he was in so much pain. There were a few times he cried in his sleep and woke up suddenly screaming something… And then there was this one time he went to visit a grave and he looked so sad. He said something and he didn't look so sad anymore, but I can still see that there was still some pain in his eyes…"

Both were silent.

Sasuke suddenly chuckled darkly. Naruto looked up into his eyes. His heart stopped for a moment to see the same pain he saw in the guy in his dream, was in Sasuke's eyes too.

"That's funny…" Sasuke said at last. "I dreamt of voices… I've been having the same dreams for a few years now, but I can't remember any of it when I wake up. I just know that there were voices of sadness, pain, desperation and anguish. At times I thought I heard laughter, but maybe it's only my imagination…"

Naruto's eyes widen. Both teens were very confused and puzzled.

"I should go now," Sasuke finally said. "Thank you for today. And please give my thanks to your friends as well." Sasuke saw his bag and got up to retrieve it. Naruto could only nod.
But why does it feel like I don't want Sasuke to go?

Who was he to stop Sasuke anyway?

"I'll pay you back when my allowance came in," Sasuke said. "Maybe I can treat you for ramen since you like it so much," there was a small tug at his lips. Naruto grinned at this.

"Sasuke," he suddenly called when the raven haired stepped outside his room. "We'll… meet again, right?" he asked, cheek flushed at his question.

"Aa…" Sasuke nodded. "Why don't we exchange numbers now? Maybe we can give a ring sometimes?" he then suggested.

They did that and Sasuke walked out of the university's campus residence.

Funny, Sasuke thought. He didn't feel like he wanted to leave the blond.

TBC

(1) Lyrics of 'I believe in you'
(2) Tora literally means Tiger (I think); the cat that Team 7 always have to go and catch in lower rank mission. Remember the Lord's wife's cat? Yeah, that.

Review pls, if you don't mind (It will make me happy). No flames though. Constructive criticisms appreciated.