Chapter One

"Naruto, you'll never be able to leave me…" Cooed a cold calm voice into another's ear. "Even if you do, I'll still haunt and plague your dreams." Nails scratching along the bruised chest of another, stopping at the seal marked on his stomach.

"Neji…" Tears rolled down the face of the blonde haired Kyuubi holder, "Stop it…"

Uzumaki Naruto was currently dating Hyuuga Neji and their relationship was just going on a year or so. But, the past 5 months have been all but happy for the blonde boy. Rape, abuse and jealousy was a few of the problems in this relationship. Neji would force himself upon Naruto night after night, leaving the other crying out and struggling to get away. If Naruto tried to fight back, he was struck, over and over again. And if Neji thought that his lover was cheating on him, he would strike him again, threatening to kill him.

Naruto was at his breaking point…

He couldn't take much more of this.

"I…" Naruto was finding it hard to say these words, say the words that could end all this pain and suffering. But… He was afraid of the consequences that might come with saying those few little words. He felt nails scrape across his chest again, stinging and burning. Tears leaked from his blue eyes. "I don't… I don't love you anymore…"

Neji's blank eyes never faltered, he just closed his eyes, "I know, Naruto." He hissed, fingers now dancing along the other's jaw, playing with him like he was a doll. Naruto was indeed a work of art, a work of art that only could be viewed by Neji. He leaned in closer, "But you'll come back to me soon enough, won't you?" Neji purred.

"No…" Naruto whispered. "I won't…"

Neji's fingers brushed past the bruises all over Naruto's body, making him flinch. "Everyone you fall in love with will do this to you, Naruto." He tilted his head to the side, surveying every part of Naruto's body, seeing as it was going to be the last he'd see of it for awhile. "This body of yours…" He pressed on, "It'll be what they want to keep."

He paused, dragging his finger across a healing wound on Naruto's neck, "Then you'll see how gentle I was to you and come running back."

Neji was making sure the words sunk into Naruto's brain, embedding them deep inside him. He'll make Naruto come back to him, whether it was scaring him to come back to the other.

"Go Neji…" Naruto said, closing his eyes, trying to flinch away from Neji's touch, "Get out of my house…"

Standing up straight, Neji's blank eyes only stared down at him, before he decided to turn around and head out the door without saying one word to the other. Neji knew something inside Naruto would eventually snap, and he'd come back.

Hearing the silent click from the door, Naruto brought his knees up to his chest, burying his face in his knees. He was ready to cry the tears he wished he could of cried when Neji first struck him, dragged a kunai across Naruto's skin. Tears seemed to flow freely, rolling down his cheeks and wetting his pant legs. He was finally free of Neji… Finally able to regain that life he had lost so long ago.

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It had been about a week since Naruto had broken up with Neji that night, Naruto had decided that he needed to take a break to regain his thoughts and let some of the bruises on his body heal… They hadn't gotten any better, really. Some had gotten darker, some small ones might of disappeared, but Naruto hadn't quite noticed. Stepping out of a warm shower and grabbing a towel gently running the soft towel over the various bruises and cuts.

Surveying himself in the mirror, he shivered, turning away and finishing patting himself down before changing into fresh PJ's.

Naruto wasn't planning on doing much today, maybe clean more of his apartment. Rubbing the towel through his hair, trying desperately to dry it, there came a knocking at the door.

"Hm..?" Naruto grunted, strolling towards the door, letting the towel droop over his head.

Turning the handle and opening the door he peered out, "Hello?"

"Hey, dobe." Came the familiar voice…

Naruto blinked a few times, opening the door fully, revealing his orange pajamas. What was the Uchiha doing here? He was just standing there like this was normal.

"Hey, teme." Naruto mumbled, blinking a few more times, moving off to the side giving Sasuke enough space to step in. "What are you doing here?"

Slipping into the apartment, Sasuke's dark eyes scanned the house. It was cleaner than the Uchiha expected, but Naruto didn't have anything to do with the week he took off, so he had decided to clean his house.

"Kakashi sent me to see if you were ok." Sasuke said calmly, looking over his shoulder to the blonde who was staring over at him as he closed the door. Scanning him he continued, "And it seems like you're just fine."

"Yeah, I'm finally over that cold I had." Naruto lied, laughing lightly as he stepped around Sasuke to stroll to the kitchen, tugging on the towel that was on his head to have it slip lazily off his blonde head. "You want a drink?" He asked, pulling open his refrigerator and peering inside.

"No, I'm fine…" Sasuke said, standing in the small doorway of the kitchen. With his hands in his pockets he stared at Naruto's back like he could see the bruises and scratches that covered it.

There was a awkward silence between the two as Naruto dug through the fridge, grabbing a bottled drink and closing the fridge before turning around to Sasuke, who still stood in the doorway. The silence lingered for some time before Sasuke spoke up.

"You weren't sick, were you?" He asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring the other down.

Naruto felt cold beads of sweat form on the back of his neck. "I was sick, Sasuke." He spat out quickly, "I wouldn't miss missions and training if I wasn't." He said, trying to back himself up.

Sasuke stood, his dark eyes fixed on him. "Then why does it look like you're in pain when you walk, Naruto?" He asked, noting the obvious pain that the other was in. "And I heard from Hinata that you and Neji had broken up."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, placing the drink he had in his hand on the counter. "Yeah, we broken up, but, y'know you can get sick from crying too much. And that's how I got sick."

"Then why are you in pain?"

"I'm not in pain."

"…You're going to have to fess up sooner or later, Naruto."

Naruto fell silent this time, his blue eyes couldn't look at the other anymore as Sasuke still stared him down. The blonde didn't have anything to say to him, but Sasuke spoke up.

"Or I'll just have to find out for myself." He simply said, strolling closer to Naruto.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke frightenly, "N-Nothing's wrong with me, Sasuke."

"If nothings wrong, then why don't you let me see for myself?" He asked smoothly, stopping in front of the other.

Naruto fell silent, having nothing to say or do now. Sasuke's hand went to the collar of the blonde's PJ's, pulling it to the side a bit, revealing a rather large discolored bruised that had been placed on Naruto's shoulder a week ago when he had broken up with Neji.

"You'll never find anyone else, Naruto!" Neji yelled, pale eyes flared. Hands darted for Naruto's shoulders as Naruto raised his arms to try to defend himself. Neji grabbed the other's shoulders, his nails digging into the fabric trying to puncture the skin beneath. Naruto screamed in pain.

"No! Leave me alone, Neji!" Naruto yelled, his eyes closed, afraid to look at the person in front of him.

"I've told you before, Naruto! I've told you to never say no to me!" Neji yelled, his grip tightening before he swung the blonde into the nearest wall.

Silence filled the air, Naruto's blue eyes wide as Sasuke only calmly looked down at the bruise. Oh God, Sasuke was going to tell someone, and they'd try to confront Neji… And then… Neji would come back.

"Sasuke, don't tell anyone." Naruto whispered, tears filling his eyes. "I don't want him to come back."

Sasuke didn't say anything, but he did unbutton the top button of the shirt, moving it to reveal a healing gash wound on the other's chest. Sasuke didn't know how to react to this, he wanted…

…He wanted to go after Neji, but he feared for Naruto's safety.

"Naruto, when did he start doing this?" Sasuke whispered back to him.

"Months ago…" Naruto responded lightly, not giving the exact amount of months ago.

It had happened possibly 6 months ago, the first time Neji had struck Naruto. They had been arguing when the sound of skin hitting skin echoed through a silent room then a thump.

Naruto sat on the floor, holding his cheek. The blow from Neji had sent him to the floor… Sitting in shock and non-belief, Naruto looked up at him fear in him eyes.

Neji stood above him, shocked that he had a sudden impulse to hit the blonde. "Oh…" He breathed, hitting his knees beside Naruto, "Naruto, I'm sorry!" He apologized, "Shit. I'm sorry, Naruto!" He apologized again, throwing his arms around the other, burrying his head into the other's neck.

Naruto felt tears hit the side of his neck. "I-It's ok, Neji…" Naruto said, lightly wrapping his arms around the other, resting his head on his shoulder, "It was just a accident…"

But it would only be two weeks later that it happened again.

Tears flew down Naruto face as he and Sasuke sat on the living room couch, Naruto telling him the story of the first month that this had happened. The Uchiha seemed to be emotionless at first, but he grew angrier and angrier with each story Naruto told him.

When Naruto had finished with the break up, he hung his head, blue eyes looking away from even his hands. He was ashamed, ashamed that he would let Neji do that to him without putting up a fight. But he had loved Neji, even after every hit.

"Why would you let him do that?" Sasuke asked softly, his head leaned back and his hand massaging his forehead.

Naruto was chewing on his lower lip roughly before he said, "I figured that… Maybe one day it would stop." He told him softly, "So… I just continue to love him… Before I was about to snap."

Sasuke wanted to spit at him that he was a disgrace to ninja if he didn't fight back, but right now, at Naruto's current state, he couldn't tell him that. Standing up from the couch, Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets again, looking down at the other.

"I'll tell Kakashi that you're still sick, Naruto."

"Thanks…" Naruto said softly.

Sasuke didn't say much as he walked to the door. His hand rested on the door knob, as he said, "Naruto, take it easy on yourself." He turned the knob opening the door, "You know you did the right thing for yourself when you left him."

Naruto didn't really do anything in reply, he just sat on his couch, letting himself rest up against the arm of the chair. And just like when Neji left him, he heard the click of the door and the tears flew down his face. Neji was causing him this much pain, and even after a week he couldn't even get the pain to go away. It seemed like he'd have these scars for as long as he lived.

One by one, tears lined up to roll down his cheeks.

"Damnit." He whispered silently to himself, rolling his head roll off to the side. "Damn you, Neji." He cursed lightly.

How long would he be like this? How many times did he have to be reminded of the pain before the bruises heal and the memories will go away?

"Until the source is destroyed." Naruto whispered. It was written in a book he had read. It had talked about how much pain love brought, and the only thing to stop the need of love, is to destroy the host. It was probably one of the only stories that Naruto sat down and read in his free time.

But, there was a problem.

There was no way that Naruto could ever 'kill' Neji. He probably could never face him again, because his eyes would mock him, remind him over and over again that everyone would do the same things to Naruto. There was no way to escape it…

Naruto knew it wasn't true.

But, he never wanted to take that chance again. Never. He would only be brought more pain.

He was tired of crying.

Naruto wanted to get off this rollercoaster of emotion.

"Sasuke come back…" Naruto whispered in the empty house as he tucked his head between his knees, his hands covering his head. He felt as if he was about to break, break like he was going to do before he ended it with Neji.

His breathing became heavy, as if he was heaving. He needed to calm down, he needed to just calm himself down.

'Neji's not going to hurt you anymore, he's not going to hurt you.' His mind told him as he started to rock back and forth on the couch.

"Come back, Sasuke…" Naruto heaved.

And it seemed, in that instant, that Naruto's body was starting to shut down to save himself from a huge panic attack. His sobs and heaves died down and his body settled as it went limp to go into a slumber that calmed his emotions. His chest rose and fell lightly and his face seemed to soften.

And just for those few hours of slumber, Naruto could escape the stress of his life and rest in peace until he awoken to the hell that he had to live with.