Title: Dream Land

Disclaimer: Characters and original plot belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This is an original work of fiction using those characters and in no way or form yields any monetary gain.

Rating: T

Author's Note: This is a short first chapter is a little short; forgive me. However, it ends where it needs to end, nothing more said. I'm an AU girl and because of that, OOC lenient. Nothing more needs to be said for now, so please enjoy!

Nightmares and Long Hair

Darkness.

The void was pierced by the sharp clicks of sole on pebble and heavy breathing. A dark, lanky figure ran desperately, exerting every ounce of energy into pushing his legs against the stone floor, urging himself to go faster.

Not that it mattered.

They were chasing him, and he was running away. Where he was going, he didn't know. Behind him, shadowy hands stretched at him, clawing at his back and shoulders, just millimeters away from capturing him—

"Sasuke!"

The voice cut through the gloom and Sasuke's eyes flew open. His best friend and roommate, Naruto, gazed down with concern, his blond hair that had overgrown it's normal length fell too close to Sasuke's face. His hot breath brushed against Sasuke's eyes and nose.

Placing his palm over Naruto's face, not caring if he was being a little rough, Sasuke pushed it away turning his head slightly to the right. "Too close," he growled as he helped himself up to a sitting position with his free elbow. He ran his fingers through his sweaty bangs and took slow, deep breaths as he waited for his muscles to relax and heart to return to its normal rhythm. His body naturally adjusted itself into a comfortable position with one leg stretched flat and out, and one leg positioned so that his arm could rest against his knee. Sasuke leaned forward, his head bowed against his arm, and he sat in silence. His alerted senses sharpened his hearing and he found himself very aware of the beating of his heart. His body pulsed slightly as blood pumped through every artery, vein, and capillarity of his body, from his head, to his feet, to the tips of his fingers.

Sasuke felt a cold plastic touch his arm. "Here, water." Naruto responded, poking his arm with the bottle.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and silently received the offer. Cracking the bottle open, he took large gulps, draining half the bottle's content within seconds. He breathed out again, feeling a little more normal. "Thanks," he smiled gratefully at Naruto.

Naruto smiled sloppily, his face quickly melting into his usual carefree expression. "Same dream again?" He asked lightly though concern was still etched in his eyes. He sat back on his tailbone and took swig from the bottle.

Sasuke shrugged and nodded. The tension had dissipated almost immediately, and the room had dulled into silence except from the rhythmic soft breathing of its two inhabitants and the occasional cricket song outside.

Sasuke was feeling much better; after all, his nightmare was all but a bad dream now that he was awake. But no matter how much Sasuke wanted to convince himself he was fine, his insides turned and reminded him that it was not the first time he's found himself in this predicament. He glanced at his best friend who was getting up and heading to the kitchen. His fist clenched and he gritted his teeth as another wave of nausea pierced through him, secretly thankful that Naruto had turned his back.

Sasuke felt guilty, Naruto knew about his nightmares, often being the one to wake him up in the middle of the night. The nightmares didn't happen too often, only once or twice a month, but they were always the same: dark crimson-black halls, pebble-stone paths, and unidentifiable pursuers. If the dreams had a meaning, it wasn't anything Sasuke could understand. Whether or not Naruto was there to wake him up, he has never made it to the end, or if he did, he would forget what happened once he had woken.

Sasuke sighed again and forced the dark thoughts out of his mind. It did him no good to dwell on things he can't understand or control. He slowly got up, his limbs and muscles were weak and his legs wobbled dangerously underneath him. Sasuke grabbed the nearby bed stand and stabled himself. This he would conquer. If he couldn't control the dreams, he wasn't going to let it affect his real life.

Slowly but surely, he gained the feeling back in his legs and body, enough that he could navigate to the kitchen a few minutes later.

The lights were on, and Sasuke squinted his eyes as they also took their sweet time adjusting to the brightness. The stove was on, and blue flames flashed as Naruto turned the right burner on. To the right of the stove, there was an open carton of eggs, and near that, the toaster light was on.

"Oh, hey Sasuke, feeling a little better?" Naruto glanced back for a moment before turning back to his work. He took mindlessly grabbed an egg from the brown carton and tapped once on the stone table surface. Quickly, he cracked the egg open with his right hand, tilting the large frying pan a little as the egg sizzled in the oil. He reached for another egg to repeat the process. "It's already 5'oclock so I thought it would be pointless if I went back to sleep since I'd had to get up for class in two hours anyway. So I decided to make some breakfast. Eggs and toast!" He exclaimed and tossed the fourth empty shell into the waste bin.

Sasuke took a seat at the raised island table, slouching against the chair's back. His body still fell lethargic, but the warm air and smell of food was a notable help. "Thanks Naruto," he said gratefully, pouring himself a glass of cold orange juice from container that Naruto had taken out of the fridge.

Naruto shrugged and chided, "you don't need to thank me all the time, dummy—oh it's done" With one quick motion, he shut the burner off and transferred two eggs to each of the waiting plates. As if on cue, the toaster also rang and Naruto quickly picked up the pieces of toast that popped out. "And breakfast is served," Naruto chimed, and set a plate in front of Sasuke.

"Thanks," Sasuke said as he took a piece of toast and reached for the butter and jam.

"Yeah, yeah, eat up," Naruto rolled his eyes and grabbed the milk cartoon, "want some?" He nodded towards Sasuke as he absent-mindedly filled his own glass.

Sasuke glanced at his empty orange juice glass. "Sure," he shrugged as he took a big bite of buttered toast.

"'Kay," Naruto complied, pouring a Sasuke milk in a new glass. "And pass the butter won't you?"

Sasuke complied and took the glass that Naruto handed to him. Taking another bite of toast, he helped it down with an equally large gulp of cold milk. The food filled Sasuke's body, and he felt his strength return.

In front of him, Sasuke heard Naruto's silverware clang and bang loudly as well as an interesting mix of muffled mumbles.

Placing the glass onto the table with a little force so it would cling, Sasuke looked up with an amused frown. Naruto had a piece of heavily buttered toast with an egg on top between his teeth. One hand held the other piece of toast; while he tried to spread some strawberry jam on it with his other hand.

Seeing Sasuke's gaze, Naruto grinned through his teeth. "Mmh, fer mer mmurrfeess fer merr mermermer?" Hey, can you please get the ketchup? He asked, expectantly, eyes shining. He spoke with the conviction that Sasuke would understand him.

Sasuke sighed, placing his toast down and reaching to the counter near him to get the ketchup. Having known Naruto for over sixteen years, there wasn't a day that Naruto didn't have ketchup with his eggs. He placed it in front of Naruto's plate.

"Merrr mer," Thank you. Naruto exclaimed happily, finally putting down his toast and knife and reached out for the red container. As he did, his long bangs fell into his eyes, shielding them from view and Naruto blew up a little, toast still in mouth, so that his bangs would not completely block his view.

Picking up his own toast, Sasuke watched in minor amusement. Naruto liked to cook for the soul purpose of eating it later. And when Naruto ate, he liked to cram a lot of stuff in his mouth at once, not really caring how decent he looked or the mess he made in the process. That being said...

"...In the end, you really need to do something about your hair Naruto." Sasuke said coolly, cutting into his egg and placing some into his mouth. Its unkemptness bothered Sasuke. Naruto was the type who just didn't care much about appearances and something like long hair didn't help when he was too lazy to maintain it.

"Ehh?" Naruto exclaimed, hair once against shielding an eye. His mouth hung open and he held the ketchup bottle open with both hands as he squeezed red condiment onto the piece of toast with the egg. The corner of bread had a large chunk with bite marks missing.

Sasuke glanced up briefly, "It's the hair," he took bite of toast and pick up his glass of milk.

"It's too long."

TBC: Future chapters will not be so short, because usually I'm prone to overwrite, not underwrite. Beginnings are like introductions of essays, they are the hardest for me to write.

Feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading.