Tears of Blood

By: Midnightssong22

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 1: Returning

"I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death ... I think peace and tranquility will return again." –Anne Frank

-O-

It started out as an ordinary mission.

Naruto, being the last ninja without a job that day, was given the C-ranked mission to deliver herbs to a nearby village. Sulkily he accepted and quickly made his way to the quiet town and gave the herbs to the town's chief medical nin.

"Here's the herbs you asked for," he mumbled, feeling dejected at having to resort to being a delivery boy.

"Thank you, young man. If you would like, you can stay here in the village for the night, it's getting pretty late out." She replied, but Naruto politely declined, wanting to exit the small village as fast as he could.

Who knew that such a small decision could change his life forever?

-O-

Meanwhile a small family traveling to the same village Naruto was in, got the surprise of their life. A young man of at least age 16 was lying face down in the dirt, covered in blood.

"Is he dead?" asked one girl quietly clinging to the back of her mother's skirt.

"Let's see," Said her father, slowly approaching the boy. He turned him over and examined the wounds more closely. His clothes were torn and covered in blood and he had cuts and bruises all over his body. His eyes seemed to be bleeding. But the boy seemed to still be shallowly breathing.

"Hey, are you awake? What happened to you boy?" asked the man quietly.

The boy's eyes flickered and suddenly opened showing a swirl of red and black. The man, never seeing such a thing before, jumped up in haste, yelling to his family to leave immediately. Saying that the boy was some sort of demon.

With that they abandoned the boy with strange eyes and raven-black hair, the boy who was once again slipping into unconsciousness.

-O-

After leaving the small village behind, Naruto soon regretted not excepting the kind medical ninja's offer. The sun was already setting and it would soon be dark. Of course, he had also forgotten to ask for matches at the village and soon would be traveling only by moonlight.

After a few hours out, he heard the stomping of running feet headed his way. His hand felt for a Kunai knife in his belt but stopped when he saw a small girl run up the road towards him.

He quickly made out the sight of a man and women running after her. They came to a stop when they got to him.

"Your not gonna want to go that way boy!" He gasped out, catching his breath.

"Why not?" asked Naruto curiously.

"There's a demon back there!" yells the little girl clutching onto her mom.

"Oh really? And what did this demon look like?" asked Naruto, thinking they'd had some sort of delusion, possibly even a genjutsu.

"He looked like a regular 16-year-old boy, but when we were examining his wounds he opened his eyes and they were red and black swirled together!" explained the father in a rush.

"Red and black?" asked Naruto, his eyes widening, "What else did you see?"

"Well, he was wounded and unconscious when we found him. He had jet-black hair and…," replied the mother but Naruto was already running down the path wondering if it really could be him.

'Could it really be you? Sasuke…' Thought Naruto as he ran even faster at the thought of seeing his old friend again.

In seconds he was at the sight of where the family had seen him, but all he found was a pool of blood.

"Where are you? Sasuke!" He yelled into the trees.

-O-

After being thrown down on the ground by that man he'd seen, Sasuke's killer headache flared up once again.

"I'm gonna die out here. After everything that's happened, I'm gonna die out here like a dog." He tried to sit up but the throbbing in his head just got worse and he was forced back down.

He pulled out the small bottle of medicine Karin had given him to help stop pain and drank it all.

'Who would of thought I'd need it so soon, and for something as serious as this,' he thought bitterly, remembering the scene of when he'd left his team Hebi behind.

Flashback

"Must you go, Sasuke?" Karin asked, clinging onto him.

"Yes, I must," He answered simply, pushing her off.

"We'll miss you, fearless leader," said Suigetsu sarcastically, giving him a punch on the shoulder.

"Couldn't we go with you? We could help you," asks Juugo quietly, his face downcast.

"I'm sorry, I have to do this alone. Maybe when I've finally gotten my revenge, I'll see you all again," Sasuke replies, realizing this parting was a lot different to the one he'd given to his friends in Konoha.

'Not that they would understand,' he thought bitterly.

"At least take this," said Karin taking a small bottle out of her pack. Sasuke took it from her and examined it.

"What is it?"

"It's a powerful painkiller. I didn't have enough time to make you something to heal wounds with, but this will help with pain." She explained as he put it into his belt.

"Thanks, but do you really think I'd get hurt that easily?" he asked jokingly.

"Who knows with you?" asked Suigetsu laughing.

End of Flashback

'If only he knew,' Sasuke thought as the painkiller started working throughout his body. He slowly stood up, silently cursing at his own stupidity in getting the injuries in the first place.

He forced himself to walk into the trees trying to get off the road.

"In case another family comes along and tries to 'help' me again," He mumbles to himself.

The world around him started to spin again as he lost even more blood from the wounds on his chest, which was why he didn't see the ledge that sent him tumbling down the slope… and the reason why he didn't get back up again.

-O-

Naruto gasped at the sight of the blood, turning dark in the fading light, but soon took in his surroundings. It almost seemed that whoever it was had gone into the forest by the looks of a couple of branches bent back to make a slight path.

"I actually really hope it's not you, Sasuke," he whispered following the trail of blood into the trees.

After a few yards the trail came to an abrupt stop close to a small ledge. Naruto edged closer and looked down to the bottom of the slope. What he saw almost made his heart stop. There was a figure at the bottom. A figure covered in blood that he recognized in the dying light. The figure of his rival and best friend: Sasuke Uchiha.

He ran down the slope to his friend tears welling up in his eyes. He got to the bottom in no time and sat down next to him. He took off his jacket and propped up Sasuke's head with it. He took off his pack and thanked God that Sakura had told him to take his first aid kit even though he'd thought it was unnecessary.

'How wrong I was' He thought as he took off Sasuke's shirt and tended to the Uchiha's wounds.

He had two long and deep gashes across his chest that were still bleeding and looked to have been caused by a sword. He had bruises and cuts all over his face and body and he was coughing up blood. His eyes even seemed to be bleeding. Naruto tried to put healing salve onto him and bind his wounds, but Sasuke was still unconscious and barely breathing.

"Hang in there, Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, tears falling freely now onto Sasuke's face, "You can't die on me! I promised I'd take you back to Konoha! So don't you dare die!"

"N-Naruto…" Sasuke whispered in his sleep.

"Your going to be ok, Sasuke, I'm not gonna let you die. Your not gonna die," Naruto babbled, trying to reassure not only Sasuke but himself.

-O-

Naruto didn't know how much time passed as he waited for Sasuke to wake up. It could have been a couple hours or a couple days. All he remembered was that at some point he had set up a camp and moved Sasuke inside a small tent. He remembered constantly tending to his wounds and forcing him to drink water. He remembered that he had every once in a while fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, but only for a couple minutes and would soon be back up and about taking care of Sasuke.

So when Sasuke finally opened his eyes Naruto almost passed out from exhaustion and relief.

"Where am I?" he whispered, glancing around at his surroundings. But Naruto was so happy to see Sasuke awake and alive, the question didn't even register as he sat stunned with a goofy smile on his face.

"Naruto?" asked Sasuke as he stared at the blonde. At the sound of his name Naruto snapped out of his stupor.

"Sasuke! You're all right! You're ok! I thought you weren't gonna make it! Are you ok now? What happened? Are you in pain? How'd you end up here? Were you attacked?" asked Naruto without giving him enough time to answer.

Sasuke meanwhile was trying to comprehend all of what the blonde was saying. With the combination of his headache and Naruto's consistent chatter he could hardly think.

"Will you shut up for a second idiot?" he snapped.

"Oh, sorry," Naruto mumbled, suddenly remembering that the last time they'd seen each other Sasuke had seemed to hate him.

"I just need to think for a second," Sasuke replied, not meaning to hurt the blonde's feelings. With that he tried to sit up but was once again forced to lie back down when the pain from his wounds was too much to handle.

"Here, drink this," said Naruto holding out a blue container filled with some kind of liquid.

"What…" started Sasuke.

"It should help stop the pain and help heal your wounds faster. I couldn't give it to you while you were unconscious or you may not of actually swallowed it," Naruto explained.

"Oh, thanks."

"You shouldn't thank me Sakura gave it to me for emergencies. She told me to take it with me everywhere, just in case."

"Hn." Sasuke replied with his nonexistent word, drinking the contents of the small vile.

They sat in silence, neither knowing what to say. In the end Naruto took out a blanket from his pack, curled up, and went to sleep.

Sasuke watched the steady breathing of his old teammate, letting his mind wander into old memories…

-O-

"Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny." –Anonymous

End of Chapter

Alright, this is not only the first chapter of this story but also the first story I've written so far. Please read and review. Thanks!