I had originally planned to skip the warnings and get right into the story, but just in case for those who forgot what the dangers of T entitles.

In this story holds:

Abuse. Angst. Shounen-ai.

x

There is slight Naruto x Sasuke, but not much.

I claim nothing but the plot, writing, title and summary.

Weary - Chapter 01

His feet heavily treaded on the dusty path beneath him. He had to keep going. It was all he could do, because the unconscious man in his arms had to be brought back. The words 'give up and possibly get captured by S-class missing nin' were not in his dictionary. The words 'leave him there' did not exist in his mind. The only thought that ran through his hazy, pain-splitting mind was, 'I have to get him back.'

And as he continued his walk down the path, his mind filled with possible scenarios that would happen after his rival - in his arms - returned. One of them being:

"Thank you, Naruto! The great Uchiha is back!" shouted a man from the crowd.

Claps and cheers were heard all through Konoha as Tsunade gave Naruto a medal. Of honor. Of pride. Of recognition.

He shook his head violently, as if exterminating such thoughts. He wouldn't bring his hopes up. Bringing back the Uchiha was nothing.

..But what if—

"Stop," he hissed to himself. His self-loathing quickly came to a halt as he stepped on a rather sharp rock, penetrating his already worn-down sandals. "Kuso," muttered the blonde. His grip on the raven merely strengthened however. "Have to get him back... Promised Sakura."

He broke his gaze away from the path in front of him, and briefly looked at the man in his arms. Cerulean orbs stared at the chakra-filled figure in his arms with unspoken love and longing. How he wished he could actually see the man's features. The brief look turned into a heartbroken stare, until it was a look so intense that Naruto hadn't even realized he had stopped walking.

Silence filled the air. The hands the enveloped the Uchiha gently stroked his left arm, as the raven was in a bridal position.

A sharp sting rang through his foot, quickly breaking him out of his reverie. A string of curses rang from his mouth but he realized that removing the rock from embedded from his foot would only slow him down. After all, an Uchiha was in his arms.

At first, all he could hear was his own footsteps but now… There. Right there. He cocked his head as he walked. Music from the birds. Naruto gently smiled. Dawn was arriving, and soon. If he had calculated right- back at their location of the fight, that meant that he would be arriving at Konoha soon.

And not a moment too late, either. The evening cold that accompanied him during the majority of the trip was barely avoided by his now torn and ratty cloak that he had picked up during the trip to find Sasuke.

He smiled. And now it was the trip to return Sasuke. For once in his life, he had finally accomplished something without being put down, insulted. This was definitely a first. And most likely his last.

'Kit, I can't heal you.' A heavy growl soon emitted. 'Too.. many.. deep.. wounds. Why isn't your own immune system clotting them?'

Naruto raised an eyebrow and replied, verbally, "Like I have one. I eat ramen all the time, remember?"

'Don't talk out loud. You might draw enemies.'

"But I'm lonely."

'You like being alone, remember?'

"Yes." Naruto frowned. Yes, yes he did. "I like being alone.." His grip on Sasuke twitched, but he said nothing more. He realized beads of blood were still rolling off his body now; it was rather uncomfortable. The sunshine blonde began to feel slightly woozy. 'Just a little bit more…' He noticed chakra radiating from a distance. As he kept walking, the chakra he saw became clearer.

Finally, he noticed two (rather weak) chakras standing in front of the gates of, what he assumed, was Konoha. Were those walls? He could feel no chakra come from such foundations, so he assumed walls were surrouding the gates the guards were protecting. He truly had been gone a long time away from Konoha if he couldn't remember what was what.

Then again, he was blind.

He could feel almost an apologetic growl rumbling from his mind. He smiled gently at that. "That's okay, Kyuu. It wasn't your fault. It was just mine. Shouldn't have let him attack from behind." Those chakras by the gate were basically in his face now, as he was only a step away from being st—

"You're back, demon? So soon?" A sneer followed quickly after the rhetorical question. Finally, he noticed the sneer turned into a gasp as he assumed the man had turned his head to the figure in his arms.

He realized the other guard had left some time ago. He had hoped the guard was not a talkative shinbi.

He realized there was a commotion not too far from the gates inside Konoha.

Hope was such a futile thing these days. Naruto sighed.

He heard the gates swing open. With a smirk, he realized the sneering man was most likely too speechless to insult him anymore. Naruto heard even more commotion. Just how many people did the shinobi manage to tell before he reached Tsunade?

With a deep, shaky breath, Naruto walked in and quickly realized a running body of chakra was headed towards him. He stopped walking, noticing that another body of chakra was nearing behind him. Most likely it was the guard that was speechless. Finally, in front of him, was an entire mass of chakra and some had no chakra at all. Most likely villagers.

"Sasuke!"

Ah, so that was who the running body of chakra was. Sakura.

"Na.. ru.. to!"

He assumed the greater body of chakra that was now approaching him was Tsunade.

He could feel a powerful amount of chakra in the trees, but he decided to remain in ignorance. Jiraya? Most likely.

Before his legs could give way, he realized the heavy weight in his arms was being lifted. He could smell cherry blossoms. "Take him to the hospital, Sakura."

The weight that was being lifted paused slightly. With a rather snappy voice, she replied with, "Don't you order me like that. How could you hurt Sasuke this much while you look like you just came back from a spa!"

Spa?

'I healed the shallow cuts on your face. The rest of you is covered by your cloak, remember. To them, you only look a little worn down.'

Ah.

'But kit.. you need help.'

'No thanks. You remember the last time at the hospital when Tsunade wasn't there.'

Speaking of Tsunade…

"Naruto! I'm going to kick your ass! You said you were going to visit Gaara!" Her actions contradicted her anger, however. She hugged him, and tight. She whispered, "I'm glad you're safe."

His eyes widened at the intense, fiery pain that felt like a thousand kunais digging into his skin. (Well, again.) "Y-yeah. Get off me, Tsunade."

She quickly pulled away as if he burnt her. She stared at him oddly. 'Tsunade? What happened to 'baa-chan'? Old hag?'

He felt her inquiring stare burning into him and hastily backed away a few steps. He had to return to the safety (or lack thereof, but it was still an improvement from the streets) of his apartment.

"Hokage, Sakura requests your presence at the hospital!"

Tsunade gave a nod of acknowledgement to the Jounin before quickly looking at Naruto. "I'll be back."

Naruto said nothing. He realized that with Tsunade gone, he would be left with the crowd. And that was never good. He heard a 'poof!' and a few of her bodyguards did the same.

Soon, there were little to no chakra figures left. Just those with a grayish colour to them. Chakra-less. Villagers. How was he supposed to escape alive out of this? He had no energy left to fight them. Naruto closed his eyes and stood there. He waited.

"What'd you do, demon!"

"Probably tried to kill the Uchiha, didn't you?"

'Of course. That's exactly why I brought him back,' he thought sarcastically.

"You filth. Hokage-sama may be blinded by your manipulation, but we aren't!"

He realized they began to circle around him. He truly was too tired to care.

The presence he first felt in the trees suddenly jumped down beside him. The villagers began to back off. He could feel arms enveloping him. He saw that the grayish body of figures parted, making a path for him and what he still assumed was Jiraya. He muttered a quick thanks before slipping away from the man's arms. He thought he heard a 'Naruto, wait!' but he assumed it was simply his own mind trying to fabricate lies that people actually cared.

He knew for a fact that they only pretended to care because he was the demon carrier. A demon carrier that had to be 'well-watched' so mass homicide would not occur once more.

As he quickly slipped into an alley to avoid Jiraya, he realized that he couldn't tell the buildings apart. All he could see through his chakra-recognition vision were faint gray outlines. Just like the walls and gates. They all looked the same!

With a frustrated cry, Naruto slammed his fist into a building. How was he supposed to get back to his apartment? A small 'kuso' emitted from his too pale lips as he realized his shirt underneath the cloak was completely a dark red instead of the orange-and-black shirt it once was. His head once hazy became heavily clouded and he felt like a man who drank too much sake.

His knees gave way and the pain blinding him far too much, Naruto gave into the sweet kiss of unconsciousness.

"An injury, I'll cause with my own fist. It,
It seems to me to be slightly masochistic.
But there'd be no story without all this dissension,
So I inflict the conflict with the utmost of intention."

Devastation and Reform - Relient K

A/N: Chapter will come sooner, as long as the reviews do.
(At least 10, please?)
Constructive criticism is greatly valued. (: