Summary: Naruto starts to have nightmares. It's only when he lets his barriers fall that he finds solace in an unlikely place. Set during an alternative storyline where Sasuke doesn't leave. Non-explicit SasuNaru in later chapters. Slash
Warnings: I'll repeat myself- this story will contain slash, although there isn't any in this particular chapter. So don't read it if you don't like. Also, this is unbeta-ed- feel free to point out mistakes! But bear in mind some of them might just be British spellings or conventions!

Chapter 1

The sickly, cleansing pressure of the white against his eyes caused him to blink, to stop them from stinging. He reopened them to find it wasn't free of blemishes. He seemed to be standing, a solitary figure, dwarfed by a vast wall of white. Reaching out to touch it, he found his hand causing ripples in the air, which spread to an intimidating size at an alarmingly rapid pace, before diffusing completely. This non-solidity was contradicted entirely by the stark, consuming black of the clear shadow projected on to the surface. The active shadow of a dancer, hypnotic and graceful.

He took an anxious step backwards, belatedly realising that stepping away from the liquid wall to escape the unnerving shadow would only bring him closer to the cause of it. He span.

"Who are you...?"

The words attempted to form on his lips but no sound was emitted. As he noticed the white noise that had filled his ears, he realised his voice did not work here. He could only attempt to decipher the appearance of the figure, seemingly acres away from him but colourfully distinguishable. Attired, he assumed, in traditional clothing, she advanced. Approaching with a gentle walk, dispersing ripples with every step.

The instinct of fear had disappeared as, just like her dance, her presence was hypnotic. It seemed hours before she reached him, stopping an arm's reach away. Contrasted brilliantly against her pale complexion, dark eyes surveyed him. She placed a small, empty smile onto blood red lips. It was an attempt at being understanding, an underwhelming display of pity- as though she were actually incapable of the emotion. Her soulless expression intensified, washing over him with tidal waves of nausea and within him grew a sense of unease. He wanted her to leave. He wanted to her invade no more of his space- her presence was cloying, inescapable. She placed her cool hands on his shoulders.

The world bled colour.

Like watching an artist gradually complete a painting, a scene unravelled before his eyes. He saw an assembled crowd of black- a funeral procession-, heads bowed in grief or respect he was unsure. The restoral of his hearing erupted into his ears. A clear male voice swam through the air.

"-- murdered by a demon. Their service as shinobi to their country shall never be forgotten--"

He was to hear no more, however.

"Turn." The woman, or female-looking spirit being a title which he felt more fitting, said. Her voice was high, commanding- he saw the swift flicker of her tongue, the flash of sharpteeth, the darkening of already impossibly dark eyes- and he found himself obeying, although the strong grip she had on him provided no choice in the matter.

He noticed first the man taking the service but his eyes wandered swiftly to the framed photographs of the deceased shinobi. His heart stopped. Staring back at him, morbidly, amongst ceremonial flowers and cards of farewell, were the faces of his team.

Kakashi.... Sakura... Sasuke...

"…murdered by a demon..."

Panicked, he reflexively stepped backwards, wanting to turn and run and deny, wanting for this twisted, evil nightmare to end. However, her grip, deadly and tight, held him firmly in place. He could visualise clearly the smile she must be wearing; that façade of pity that she seemed to revel in, prolonging the pain of this impossible moment. He wouldn't, couldn't... he would never kill them...

Suddenly, like the simple flick of a wrist that could unleash a flurry of shuriken onto an enemy, she pushed him, further into the despair, into the guilt. Another scene erupted before his eyes, replacing the one before. Initially, relief flooded his being; maybe the dream was ending. He was wrong. Flames; magnificent, destructive and, to him, frighteningly familiar flooded his vision. He knew, from their vibrancy- the bloodlust that stirred within him from absorbing that colour and heat- that these flames; they had been caused by him.

Then came the sound.

A female scream, instantly recognisable, shot through the air. Tortured, he could only fall to his knees and pointlessly cover his ears. Cover them against the following thuds of kunai that he realised to be the futile attempts to prevent the murders that he- he- was going to commit. He could only watch- an omnipotent presence, witness to his own atrocious acts. He couldn't drown out the sound, dull the images- his eyes were unable to close. It wasn't long before his voice joined the cries of pain- cries for mercy, pleading for him to stop. He yearned for the nightmare to cease, recede from his mind, restore him to reality, where he hadn't- wouldn't- murder anyone.

He couldn't take much more. His mind responded with a jolt and catapulted him awake.

Blurrily, his vision filled with the canopies of trees above, illuminated faintly by flickering orange. He could feel the itchy material of a regulation blanket beneath his fingertips, which he clutched tightly, thankful for how grounding it was. Such a simple object, yet it brought back a welcomed sense of reality. His eyes tracked the strange light to its source, their campfire. Suddenly, images of his nightmare flashed thorugh his mind, bringing with them a strong wave of nausea as he recalled details better forgotten. He shot from his sleeping spot, barely noticing the glare Sasuke sent him for the noise and rushed off into the trees to vomit.

Sasuke glared murderously after him, hissing at the annoyingly loud sound of rustling leaves. It was an incredibly unprofessional display of shinobi behaviour and Naruto was lucky that this mssion didn't require them to be overly covert. Naruto would have just revealed them to their enemy, putting all of them in danger.

He emerged from the trees several minutes later, looking shaky and agitated. He wiped his mouth with is sleeve at least twice before reaching his sleeping mat.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Sasuke hissed, eyes wide with forced insomnia, voice laced with irriation. Naruto was used to his glares but he wasn't in the mood for an argument. He returned the glare wth equal violence.

"I went to throw up." he stated simply, daring Sasuke to question further. Sasuke's next expression told Naruto that he thought he perhaps could have used more discretion.

"There was no need to wake the entire forest." he said, still oddly agitated. He had kept watch for most of the night- in order to keep the team safe, and Naruto had almost gone and shattered all that effort by his carelessness.

"Shut up."

His eyes flickered back over to the fire- he wonderd why Sasuke was suddenly so obsessed with discretion- the fire would be beacon enough to any enemy wishing to seek them out. Sasuke was acting as though they were carrying out a highly dangerous S-rank mission, in which his concerns would be justified. But they were returning from a delivery mission and hadn't even had to carry a reply or return pacakge back. They had nothing to offer the enemy.

As usual , Sasuke was just trying to pick fault with him and his shinobi techniques. Irritable and tired, stressed from his nightmare and the fear it had caused him, his eyes returned to glare at Sasuke with added conviction. He met Sasuke's gaze again, realising that the Uchiha had been watching him the entire time.

"What's your problem?" he said vicously, not even bothering to whisper. Sasuke didn't even dignify him with a response and continued to glare with some expresison of resigned derision. "Answer me!"

At Naruto's growl, Sasuke's gaze hardened into something less mocking and more defensive. "Your carelessness, idiot."

There was sound of defiant protest from Naruto- did Sasuke just expect him to swallow his vomit or something?

"I wasn't being careless." he was glaring again.

"Aren't shinobi supposed to discrete?" it was a rhetorical question. Naruto stomped over to Sasuke, closer to the fire, acutely aware of the sinister images it was creating in his mind, and glared down at him.

"Shut up."

Sasuke smirked at Naruto's strangled half-yell. "Loser."

Naruto snapped. He grabbed Sasuke's shirt and yanked him up to eye level, "What is your fucking problem?"

He didn't catch the primary look of bewildrement that crossed Sasuke's face; it was quickly replaced with the useful apathetic display.

"Let go, Na-"

"Apologise!" Naruto growled. As Sasuke attempted to disentangle himself from Naruto's anguished grip, Sakura stirred and raised her head groggily to find the source of the noise and immediately frowned.

"It's the middle of the night, you guys!" she half-yawned, "Knock it off before you wake Kakashi!"

Placing her head back down on her makeshift pillow, she barely noticed the flash of metal as Naruto snatched a kunai from his pouch and held it to Sasuke's neck. It was the dangerous tone she detected in Naruto's voice, the barely concealed fury and resentment, that caused her to bolt upright once more.

"I said apologise!"

"What are you doing?" she shrieked, eyes widening in shock. Time appeared to slow down Sasuke snatched at Naruto's wrist and managed -they were moving so fast- to get Naruto to drop the weapon. The next thing Sakura saw was the two of them on the ground in what appeared to be a childish wrestling match. Punches were thrown and Sakura shot up from the ground.

"Stop it!"

She didn't want to get involved- this wasn't the usual little disagreement. Naruto eyes had adopted a maniacal glare; a red mist had descended across his vision. She was saved from her rising panic by Kakashi who had finally been awoken by their noise. He pulled the two of them apart, keeping a firm grip on the back of Naruto's jacket.

"You two can't seem to keep your hands off of each oth-" Kakashi started.

"I hate you so much!" Naruto yelled, yanking so hard against Kakashi's grip that he almost broke free.

"I never noticed that before." Sasuke retorted, making a safe retreat into his usual sarcasm, ignoring the taste of blood on his tongue.

"You- you…" Naruto started, visibly sagged and was suddenly silent. His eyes found interest in the ground and widened slightly, apologetically… almost…

"What happened anyway?" Sakura interjected in a hope to dispel the frightening awkwardness settling over them.

"It was nothing." Naruto muttered, avoiding her eyes.

Silently, Sasuke approached his makeshift bed, a clear signal that he'd had enough of watch duty that night. Naruto settled down into the spot Sasuke had previously occupied and focussed stubbornly on the flames of their campfire eliciting a sigh from Sakura- she wasn't getting any explanations from them tonight, clearly. She looked to Kakashi for assistance, surely they'd tell if he demanded it from them, but he was already asleep again, employing his usual tactic- ignore the situation and it will disappear.

A/N: Constructive criticism is very welcome. I haven't been writing for a whole year- the opening, italicised section probabaly was the last thing I wrote- it was a story idea I never bothered to follow up. I'm trying to get back into the flow of things anyway! Also, chapters are simply going to be named for parts of songs that inspired me during the writing process- so they could be slightly random.