Just wanted to let ya'll know that everyone is 19 in this fic. Enjoy!

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'Where are you damn it...' thought the inpatient blondeas he stopped pacing to glance at a clock on the wall. 'You were supposed to be home an hour ago...' He resumed pacing over the worn wooded floor.

The door slides open...

"Finally!" he sighed as he turned around. "What took you..." He froze midsentence. "Oh my god!!!" A bruised and bloodied figure stood for a moment in the doorway before pitching forward and landing face down on the floor. Naruto was frozen for a moment more before rushing to his fallen friend. "Oh man this is bad!" He turned to the door and started screaming, "Help! Help!! Someone help me!!!" He turned and looked down at the dark-haired boy that lay in front of him, a pool of blood collecting around him. The boy turned his head slightly and blearily looked up at Naruto, his eye's betraying the pain that racked his body. Naruto screamed for help again. The injured boy coughed and nearly reatched from the pain. "Please God someone help me!!!!"yelled Naruto at the top of his lungs. He kneeled and gently picked the boy up, trying as hard as he could not to move the boy's neck or back. "Don't worry Kiba, I'll get you to the hospital as fast as I can!" Kiba smiled as much as his swollen face would allow and, with one small sigh, passed out from pain and blood loss.

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A few days later...

"I still have no idea what happened!" screamed Naruto angrily. He had spent the last couple of days being interegated by everyone from the village cops to Lord Hokage herself. "Do you think I would with hold information like that?!? I truely have no idea what the hell happened! All I know is that he came home looking like that!"

"Naruto, calm down. There's no need to shout at the poor man. No one thinks you had anything to do with Kiba's injuries."

Naruto yelled angrily for a few more minutes before finally calming down somewhat. He had been little more than a ticking time-bomb since he had brought Kiba into the hospital. He'd explode at every little thing. It probably wasn't a good idea to be interogating him while he was in that sort of a mood, but the everyone wanted to find out what happened to poor Kiba as fast as they could. Anyone that could cause that much damage to someone as powerful as the Inuzuka boy needed to be found and dealt with quickly. Unfortunatly for everyone, the only witness to what happened was laying in a hospital bed, unconsious, and not showing any signs of waking up soon.

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Week later...

Naruto had calmed down considerable now that they cops had stopped questioning him ever hour or so. Not that he felt any better mind you, he was just less likey to tear your head off as often. He hadn't left the hospital since he'd brought Kiba in, and the stress of the last two weeks was begining to show. His hair was a mess, his clothes were wrinkled, and he had giant dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping.

"At this rate were going to have to admit him for exauhstion," commented Sakura watching him from beyond an observation window that was built into Kiba's room.

"I know," agreed Tsunade. "Has he slept at all in the last tweo weeks?"

"Not that i've seen. One of the nurses on the night shift said that she saw him asleep for a bout an hour a few nights ago, but that's all anyone's seen."

"Poor kid." She sighed. "Sometimes I wonder..." she trailed off.

Sakura turned, waiting for the Hokage to finish her sentence.

"...I wonder... Does fate really have it out for the poor kid..."

"You would think so, given everything thats happened to him in his lifetime," said agreed Sakura.

"He says that he doesn't believe in fate. Did you know that Sakura?"

"Yes actually. He practically screamed it at Neji Hyuuga during our first Chunnin exams."

"As yes, I've heard a great deal about that match. I only wish i had been there to see it. I also wish i had been there to see his battle with Kiba. From what i've heard, that was the true challenge. Given the training he had gone through with Jiraiya, it was he was almost guanenteed to win the battle against Neji."

Sakura nodded and excused herself. She entered Kiba's room and began the ardious task of changing Kiba's many bandages, all while trying not to incur the wrath of a still very irratable Naruto.

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Another week passes...

"Damn it Sakura! Why isn't he waking up!?!" yelled Naruto.

"I don't know! I swear I don't! He should have woken up long before now!" She cleared her throat and continued in a much quieter voice. "I sorry Naruto, but i really haven't got a clue why he hasn't woken up. The speicalist's can't find any reason for his coma-like condition, and he didn't have a major head injury anyway. I'm sorry, but there's really nothing more we can do accept wait and hope he wakes up on his own."

"Damn it all to bloody hell!!!" screamed Naruto, his voice full of anger and sorrow. He dropped back into the chair that he had scarcely left for nearly three weeks. "Damn it Kiba..." he whispered, "...just wake up. Please, just wake up..."

Sakura sighed. She knew that is was hopeless to try and talk to Naruto now; he had withdrawn into whatever mental place he went to whever he was faced with a reality he couldn't handle.

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That night...

Naruto snored softly, having passed out from sheer exauhstion once again. He'd fought as hard as he could against sleep, but finally it had claimed him. At first his dreams had been peacefull enough; they usually where. But as time wore on, the peacefull scenes changed, became darker, more frightening. He dreamed of all his most terrifying battles, of every time he had nearly lost someone dear to him. Gaara, laying dead in that cave where those Akatsuki bastards had taken him too. Lee, broken and battered, about to be killed by the boy that Naruto would one day call his best friend. Sasuke collapsing in front of him that day on the bridge, covered in sonbon and blood. And, more disterbing than all the rest, Kiba, unconscious, felled by that final kick. A kick he himself had delivered. A kick that he had felt. A kick that had almost killed him to deliver. That match had almost broken him. He hated what he'd had to do. He hated that he'd been forced to fight his closest friend. Normally he would have woken up, dreanched in sweat, screaming bloody murder, after having that dream. But not this time. No, there was more to be dreamt. Now ther were darker thing to torment his mind. He knew this room. He knew what was comming. He wanted more than anything to wake up. He tried as hard as he could, but to no avial. He tried to close his eyes, but they wouldn't close. He tried to turn away, but his body wouldn't respond. He had no control here, his mind was just along for the ride. He heard the door slide open...

He felt himself being shaken and heard a voice calling his name.

"Naruto!!!" yelled Sakura loudly. She shook him harder. "Naruto! Wake up!"

Naruto shot up, screaming and drenched in sweat. Fell out of the chair and curled up into a ball on the floor, still screaming and forcing his eyes closed as tight as he could, afriad to look.

"Naruto!" yelled Sakura as she dropped to the floor next to him. "It's alright Naruto! Open your eyes! You where only dreaming!"

Naruto had stopped screaming and was now sobbing hysterically. He rocked gently, clearly scared to death.

Sakura pulled him into a sitting position. "Naruto, open your eyes. Your okay, there's nothing to be afraid of here."

"S..Sa...Sakura..." he muttered quietly, bearly opening one eye.

"Yes Naruto, it's only me. You're safe now." She took his hand and rubbed it comfortingly. "Try to calm down Naruto. take a few deep breaths before you hyperventilate."

He breathed deeply for a few moments and tried to stop shaking.

"Thats better..." said Sakura soothingly. "Now, tell me what happened."

"I...i was...dreaming..." he muttered quietly, his voice hoarse from screaming.

"It must have been a terrible dream, to scare you like that."

Naruto nodded, "terrible doesnt even begin to describe it."

'Poor thing,' thought Sakura. "Come on," said said as she stood up. "Let's get some coffee or something and you can tell me about it."

"Coffee sounds good, but i'm not so sure i'd ilke to talk about that dream." He stood up.

"That's okay Naruto. Let's just get some coffe then."

He nodded and Sakura led him out of the room, now totally convince that something was very wrong with Naruto. He hadn't even protested when she suggested leaving Kiba. She made a mental note to ask Tsunade to talk to him in the morning.

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So that's Chapter 1. Review and tell me what ya think.