It had only been a day since Naruto had seen Sasuke around, but it was far too long for him to be separated from his other half.
The blond laid in bed, deep in thought, worrying about his best friend.
Naruto and Sasuke would see each other everyday, or ,at least, send each other texts or call one another.
But, the Uchiha hadn't been answering Naruto's messages or phone calls.
Every time he tried to call, the phone either went straight to his voice mail, or would be obviously ignored within a few seconds of ringing.
Come to think of it, Sasuke had been acting a little off for the past couple of months it seemed.
Naruto decided he'd rather not have Sasuke be angry with him, so he stopped trying to call later that afternoon, after attempting to every so often for the past few hours.
"Is Sasuke avoiding me..?" Naruto whispered out loud, watching his ceiling fan spin slowly.
He couldn't wrap his finger around why Sasuke would be avoiding him, but what else could it be?
Was Sasuke maybe just oddly busy?
No, what would he be doing without informing Naruto first?
He always told Naruto when he would be too busy to talk or hang out, so that the sensitive boy wouldn't get the wrong idea that Sasuke was annoyed or mad at him- or something like that.
Seeing the time on the clock pass, Naruto's worries only built up, making him antsy.
This had been going on far too long for the anxious ninja, and decided that he'd just go to his house and check if he was there.
If he had to, he'd force the answers out of Sasuke.
Naruto quickly hopped off of his bed, throwing on a purple jacket over his white tee and slipped black Converse onto his feet, hurriedly starting his walk to the other boy's home.
Since the path to Sasuke's house was a little far, he brought along his ear-buds, playing some music through his phone to keep him busy for the time being.
As he walked along, his favorite song eventually came on, and instantly smiled as the tune started.
The song never failed to remind him of Sasuke and their bond together, so of course, he loved it.
He sang along quietly, humming during the instrumentals.
"Seize the day or die regretting the time you lost
It's empty and cold without you here, too many people to ache over
I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time
But I'm too young to worry
These streets we travel on will undergo our same lost past
I found you here, now please just stay for a while
I can move on with you around
I hand you my mortal life, but will it be forever?
I'd do anything for a smile, holding you 'til our time is done
We both know the day will come, but I don't want to leave you
I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time
But I'm too young to worry..a melody, a memory, or just one picture..."
The cerulean eyed boy shifted his vision up, having made it to his destination.
The Uzumaki gently pulled out his ear-buds, shoving them into his jacket pocket, along with his phone.
He approached the front door and rang the door bell, biting his lip as he waited.
And as expected, no answer.
Naruto had already seen this coming.
"Sasuke..Will you please open up..?," he sighed outside of the door, knocking as he spoke loudly.
Still, nothing.
Annoyed and running out of patience, Naruto gritted his teeth, taking in a deep breath.
"I'm coming in, Sasuke!" the blond announced with irritation, turning the unlocked doorknob.
Naruto swung open the door, hitting against the wall.
Eyebrows furrowing as he looked around, Naruto slowly entered the house.
"What the fuck..?" he whispered roughly, inspecting the house.
The Uchiha's home was a disaster.
Since when had he stopped cleaning up? Six months ago?
Broken glass scattered on the floor, and the living room was untidy.
Even the television had a crack along the side of it.
And on the floor were..
dispersed red droplets..?
Uneasy, Naruto looked around, his stomach beginning to sink.
Everything was so out of place, the atmosphere in the home giving him an awful feeling, spreading throughout his body.
Taking in a deep breath, Naruto quickly moved up the steps of his stairs, his pace increasing rapidly.
"Sasuke..Are you here?!" he called out, sprinting to the boy's room in fear.
Not bothering to knock, Naruto swung open the door, finally finding Sasuke.
The raven's back faced Naruto, having been sitting on his bed.
With a sigh of relief, Naruto walked into the room, smiling to see him.
"Sasuke! There you are I-" Naruto spoke, and instantly stopped, Sasuke turning to him with an alarmed look.
Naruto's eyes had caught a horrific sight, jaw dropping open.
Blood.
Blood flowed down boy's now imperfect pale arms.
Markings trailed all the way up his arms, down to the very ends of his wrists.
Sasuke held a shiny blade that looked as if it came from a razor, and stopped dead in his tracks, dropping the sharp object onto the floor with a shaky hand.
The Uchiha's stomach dropped.
This was the very last thing he would ever want Naruto to see.
Never did he want Naruto to see him as weak..Especially like this.
It was, being completely honest with himself, his worst fear.
"Sasuke..What the fuck do you think you are doing?!" Naruto yelled, filled with emotions of pain and confusion,
Naruto moved hastily to the front of the silent boy, waiting desperately for an answer.
"I...N-Naruto..," the ivory-skinned boy forced himself to spit out, his heart thumping out of his chest.
Most of the time, it seemed that Sasuke was confident and collected; never trembling on his words.
But right now, Sasuke was at a visible low point; one point Naruto had never seen.
Sasuke's weak voice and tear-stained cheeks cracked Naruto's heart, breaking it into shards of pain.
Breathing deeply, Naruto could no longer keep it together.
He descended to his knees and broke down in tears, shaking in fear.
"Teme..Why? Why are you doing that..?" Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke's knee, the words sourly coming out of the Uzumaki's mouth.
Seeing Sasuke hurt was the most painful thing for him to experience, and what he was seeing gave Naruto a new level of twisting pain that he had never felt in his life.
Black orbs met blue for only a mere second, the darker eyes quickly breaking the contact as they shifted to the floor.
"Naruto..It's nothing..Just..Go home..," Sasuke struggled to let his words come out, his breathing unsteady as he spoke.
Naruto saw his best friend, for the first time, this emotionally fragile, and he could barely keep himself together at the sight of it all.
He couldn't comprehend.
He didn't know what to think, or even begin to say.
He just wanted Sasuke to be okay.
"A-Are you fucking kidding!?" Naruto cried, throwing and embracing his arms around Sasuke's waist tightly, careful of his arms.
"How could I let myself leave you right now?!" he spoke in Sasuke's chest.
The Uchiha's tears slowly began to drip down his cheeks, and Sasuke gripped Naruto tightly, yelping for a moment.
Sasuke's arms stung insanely from the contact, accidentally seeping blood into Naruto's jacket.
Even so, Sasuke had to ignore that.
Sasuke needed Naruto more than the blond could ever imagine, and kept his hold on the body.
Sighing shakily, Naruto reached a hand up to the boy's head, cradling it with comfort.
"Why did you do this?" he whispered.
"Please.. Talk to me, Sasuke.." the unusually upset boy asked, tears uncontrollably rolling down his face.
Naruto tried to dry the wetness as the tears flowed rapidly down his neck.
"I...N-Naruto..I'm..I'm sorry," the bleeding boy said ever so quietly, wiping away some of Naruto's tears with the tips of his thumbs.
Sasuke, looking at his pain stricken face, couldn't help but to let out sobs.
Naruto let out an unsteady sigh, lifting up the boy he came to visit, holding him bridal style.
He stopped sobbing for a moment, sniffling.
What was Naruto doing?
Walking out of the room with Sasuke in his arms, Naruto set the boy on the kitchen counter, running cold water from the sink.
Quickly, the blond wet a clean rag from the counter top to wash away Sasuke's blood, which now trickled down his hands.
While gently patting at his arms with the soaked cloth, Sasuke winced in pain, eventually screaming at the terrible feeling, yelling at the blond to stop.
Sasuke had been harming himself so deeply, and numerous times over each different-looking mark, that he could no longer bear to have any sort of material against them, only able to allow very thin sleeves on his arms.
"Shh..Shh.." Naruto cooed, wanting to calm him.
"Please...It will all be okay. Please listen to me..I'm here now." the Uzumaki murmured, hoping to somewhat comfort him.
Naruto held Sasuke's arms out carefully after he had dabbed them clean and dry, inspecting them thoroughly to see if he was finished.
Eyes trailing around, Naruto noticed that his upper limbs had looked a lot worse with all of the blood washed off.
Naruto could now see all of the markings; big and small.
Hundreds of scars were visible, many overlapping each other from all different angles.
He could tell this must have been going on for quite some time, seeing some scars more faded than others, while some weren't even scars yet, just unhealed wounds.
Erratically, the visitor breathed, examining his most cherished person's beat-up arms, handling them with care.
Sasuke tried to pull them away, feeling ashamed about what he had been inflicting on himself for the past few months.
But, Naruto gripped his hands, declining to let go.
And as hard as he tried, and much as he tried to convince himself that everything was going fine, Naruto had no way to stop himself from crying.
His best friend had been hurting himself, and he had absolutely no clue about it all, until now.
He was so furious at himself.
He couldn't see that Sasuke was in pain until he showed him physical evidence, and that made Naruto feel like a fucking idiot.
"What kind of a friend am I?" he thought, swallowing hard.
"Usuratonkachi...Let go of me...," the raven commanded weakly, looking down at the floor, avoiding the bright blue eyes.
But to tell the truth, that was just the opposite of what he really wanted.
He needed Naruto, he needed him to tell him that he would be okay.
He needed to hear that he was worth living from the one who made him feel alive the most.
"Sasuke...," Naruto loosened his grip,
"Will you please talk to me..?
I'm so worried right now.. I just want to help you so terribly..," he admitted.
Tears blurred the scarred boy's vision, not allowing the liquid emotion to spill out, finally opening his mouth once again.
"Naruto..I just..really..I really want to die.." Sasuke confessed, closing his eyes tightly as he spoke, not allowing himself to see Naruto's reaction.
"No..," Naruto started.
"No, Sasuke..Please..You don't mean that..," he whispered, directing the message to himself.
He didn't want to believe what he was being told.
A world without Sasuke would be meaningless to him, he knew for a fact.
"I..I do Naruto, I really just..want to be gone..," Sasuke pulled his hands away, covering his face, sighing into his palms.
Slightly moving closer, Naruto looked at him with a frown, shaking his head.
"Stop it.. Stop it now..Why would you want to be gone..?" The Uzumaki questioned with a broken voice, placing a hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing it.
Sasuke took a moment to answer, looking for the right words to say.
"I'm just..I'm unhappy.. So,so unhappy..I'm an awful person." Sasuke bitterly laughed, wiping an eye.
"I'm just a waste of time..There's no point of me being here anymore.." the raven whispered, trembling once again.
"No one would even care if I was gone."
Hearing those words, Naruto's heart sank.
"Teme..!" Naruto cried, yanking Sasuke off of the counter, pulling him closely.
Sasuke's eyes widened from the sudden contact, gasping.
"I'm always going to be here.. Always, I swear to you..
I care so much about you..You have no idea how much you mean to me..!" Naruto honestly wailed.
Tears coming on too strong, Naruto pulled away slowly letting him go from his embrace, wiping his eyes.
Sasuke looked up at him with a face of slight frustration.
"But why..?Why would you even think about staying..?!" he nearly yelled.
"There's no reason to stick around me!" he sobbed, tears dripped down Sasuke's face, sliding off his chin.
Sighing at his words, Naruto pulled him close once again.
"There are a million reasons, Sasuke..You are incredible to me." he whispered, rubbing his back gently.
He did listen, but, Sasuke truly didn't understand.
He didn't understand why someone would care so much about him.
He hadn't understood why someone would give him much attention and care.
It was all too much, and Sasuke couldn't just ignore it.
"Dammit Naruto..!" he sobbed, squeezing the blond with all the might he had, not intending to let go.
"Dobe..You are too nice to me.." he whispered.
"Naruto..Why? I'll never understand..I just won't...Why haven't you given up on me yet..?" Sasuke said quietly, burying his face in Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto squeezed him back, letting all of his affection in.
"Because I don't want to let you go. I care about you.. More than anyone..." he whispered the truth, running a hand through Sasuke's hair.
Sasuke sighed softly, moving his head into Naruto's chest.
Sasuke didn' respond, but he listened carefully.
The blue eyed boy continued, hoping to change his mind.
"If you were gone..I honestly don't know what I would do.." he whispered, looking down at him.
"I need you in my life, Sasuke...Don't you ever think otherwise..," Naruto said softly, pressing his lips to the top of his head.
Hearing his words, Sasuke shuttered in his arms.
Trying so hard not to cry, he calmed himself slowly with deep breaths, nuzzling further into his chest.
And with that, he knew he needed to tell Naruto something important.
Something he couldn't keep in any longer.
Mustering up the courage to do so, Sasuke sighed deeply, taking his face out of his chest, placing it back on his shoulder.
"Naruto..I need to say something." Sasuke spoke, his voice slightly muffled into Naruto.
Swallowing hard at this, Naruto nodded.
"Okay...Go ahead." he accepted, a nervous tone in his voice.
Could this get any worse?
"I..Naru-" Sasuke started, but slowly stopped.
Shutting his eyes slowly, Sasuke collapsed, falling at the blond's feet, a little thud coming from the fall.
Looking down at him, frozen, Naruto's jaw dropped.
"Sasuke?!"Naruto panicked, trying to mentally assemble what had just happened.
Swiftly, Naruto threw himself to the floor, resting his ear against the raven's chest.
His heart was beating, thank God.
The blond sighed of slight relief and picked up the unconscious boy, carrying him back into his room.
Laying Sasuke onto his bed, he sawthat his clothes were stained rogue with blood, and decided he'd change Sasuke into something clean.
With a hint of embarrassment, Naruto sat on the bed, lifting up Sasuke's shirt, revealing his upper body.
And at that, he had realized that Sasuke now looked so breakable.
Sasuke had physically become weaker.
Sasuke's collarbones were much more visible, and his smooth skin was paler than usual.
What had happened to the strong boy he had once known?
Moving his eyes around, his sight wandered back to Sasuke's arms.
Chills ran down his spine, looking at what his best friend had done to himself.
He gently lifted up one of his arms, holding lightly onto his hand.
Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he began to talk to the unconscious one.
"Sasuke..I know you aren't conscious, but I want to talk to you.." Naruto spoke softly.
"You aren't alone, Sasuke... I'm always and forever going to be there for you...
You don't deserve any pain..or any suffering..
You deserve so much better..and I hope I can somehow give you that happiness...
I will try my best for you..
Just please..
Come back to being yourself...," Naruto whispered, eyes tearing up, resting his head on Sasuke's abdomen for a moment.
Sighing quietly, he rubbed Sasuke's shoulder and got up, walking over to his closet.
Opening it up, he took a thin, black shirt off of a hanger, and some grey pajama pants out of a drawer next to it.
Walking back over, Naruto took a seat on the bed and pulled the stained shirt over Sasuke's head, helping the motionless boy into the fresh one.
No big deal.
But then came the difficult part.
Pants.
Hesitating for a moment, Naruto bit his lip, fiddling with the pajama pants in his hand.
"Uhh..Don't be mad at me, Sasuke..I'm not doing anything weird," he said quietly, slightly blushing.
Carefully, he placed both hands on the waist-line of Sasuke's dark blue skinnies, blush increasing.
The Uzumaki slowly unbuttoned his pants, avoiding waking Sasuke up.
He didn't want to be questioned and yelled at by him, so he was sure to be careful.
He pulled the zipper down steadily, and began tugging the pants down his milky-colored legs.
Naruto looked away as he pulled the jeans down to his ankles, eventually gliding the coverage off of his body.
"Here we go..," the blond took a deep breath, beginning to apply the bottoms to Sasuke's lower body.
He slid them up his calves, up to his knees, stopping right at his thighs.
Frozen, he blushed hard.
"Why am I so nervous..?" he thought.
Sasuke was his best friend after all, and he was only trying to help him out.
So, why was this so hard for him?
It was silly for him to even have second thoughts about it.
Continuing slowly, he moved his body closer to Sasuke's, making it easier to dress him.
Trying to pull the pants up without disturbing the boy, Naruto focused more so on his face, making sure he wasn't going to wake.
Having not paying much attention to the hands, Naruto accidentally glided a hand gently over Sasuke's groin, stopping right then and there.
"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck FUCK!" Naruto eyes went wide as he mentally scolded himself, but the rest of his body was frozen.
Moving his eyes up, Sasuke's face slightly flinched, but, he seemed to still be knocked out.
Naruto sighed of relief as he began to pull away, thinking he was fine.
But his hand was now gripped by another.
The blond's heart dropped.
"Oh fucking hell.
I woke Sasuke up.
Sasuke is going to kill me.
Sasuke thinks I'm a damned creep.
I'm so fucked..!" Naruto worried his mind, heat rising throughout his whole body.
He was expecting the worst, but..
The unconscious boy kept his hand on top of Naruto's, opening his mouth lightly, doing nothing more.
"N-Naruto..." Sasuke sweetly murmured with his eyes shut.
Naruto sat blankly, his mouth opening slightly.
"What the fuck?" was all he could think.
Was Sasuke pranking him right now?
This had to be some kind of twisted joke at a time like this.
But as he tried to pull his hand away from his boxers, Sasuke's grip on his hand only became tighter, forcing it to stay.
"No..Stay.." Sasuke loosened his grip, and moved Naruto's hand up his abdomen, smiling and cooing.
Naruto's face was flushed red, feeling as if it were on fire, and swallowed hard.
"Sasuke.." he pulled away, not letting himself do anything a conscious Sasuke would disapprove of, or at least, what he believed he'd disapprove of.
"Mn..Naruto..." he softly uttered, "Lay with me..."
Blushing, Naruto decided that wouldn't be so bad, and finished pulling Sasuke's pants up.
Quickly, Naruto changed himself into some of Sasuke's pajamas, crawling back into bed next to him.
Instantly, Sasuke turned to the guest, wrapping an arm carefully around Naruto's waist, pulling him in close, nuzzling gently into his chest.
Was this seriously happening right now?
"Sasuke.." Naruto gently whispered, rubbing the abnormally affectionate boy's back, reveling in his warmth.
Without warning, Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, moving his head up to face Naruto's, keeping his hold on him.
Sasuke smiled softly at the boy, a serene look planted on his face.
The raven gently placed one hand on Naruto's neck, moving in close, giving his cheek a tranquil kiss.
Staring into Sasuke's eyes, Naruto bit his lip gently, a rosiness spread across his cheeks.
Being so close to him..
Laying together..
It felt right, and neither wanted to let go.
Sasuke closed his eyes once again, keeping Naruto close, falling asleep by his side.