Sasuke felt sick. His eyes focused on the large clock that hanged skew on the wall. He let the hollow ticking fill his head in a vain attempt to block out every gut-wrenching memory of the day that struggled to sneak into his mind.
"Sasuke?" The raven haired boy's body jerked violently out of it's trance as he looked up to see Lady Tsunade standing in front of him.
"How is Naruto?" Sasuke gasped. An image of Naruto's blood mingling with the snow flooded his brain and he gagged.
Lady Tsunade looked grim. She opened her mouth, shut it and glanced away. Sasuke's body stiffened. "What actually happened to him, Sasuke?" She finally asked, her voice strained, "You ran in here earlier holding him like a broken doll and calling for help. You said you would explain everything once I'd saved him." The Fifth Hokage turned to face him, "His Kyuubi blood has stabilised him but..."
"I think some people from the village attacked him," the pale boy's voice was barely a whisper, "I only found him afterwards, but I can see from the fact that there were no signs of a struggle that he didn't fight back. He would never just let someone hurt him unless he didn't want to hurt them back. He just let it happen."
Lady Tsunade pressed her lips together and nodded slightly. "That would explain... I think you should see this." The blonde woman spun on her heel and marched back towards the Surgery door. Sasuke followed apprehensively, scared of what "this" could possibly be.
When they stepped inside the room Sakura was hunched over Naruto, her skin tinged with gray. She straightened up when she heard the door click closed, but upon seeing Sasuke her complexion improved considerably.
"Sasuke!" She exclaimed, bounding over to him, "It's a good thing that the idiot was found by you. Only you would be smart enough to know what to do in that kind of situation!"
Sakura was still busy fawning over her teammate when Lady Tsunade cut her off, "Sakura, show Sasuke Naruto's leg."
As she said that the blood drained from Sakura's face. "But Naruto wouldn't want his biggest rival to see that! He would hate-"
"Sakura!" interjected the older woman, "I have a request to make of Sasuke, but he needs to understand the situation."
Sakura looked nervously over at her beloved Sasuke. He stared at Naruto lying in the hospital bed. His blonde hair splayed over the pillow and the cuts on his face bandaged up. She swallowed. "Sasuke," she muttered, "most of his injuries are already started to heal but... But.." she choked. "Sasuke," she repeated as she moved towards the bed.
The raven boy flinched as she carefully lifted the blanket that covered Naruto. His eyes suddenly focused and he balked at what he saw. "Kyuu...bi?" he read, horror filling his eyes as he looked at the other boy's outer thigh. The word 'Kyuubi' had been cut into the skin so deeply that Sasuke could see the glisten of bone in the wound. He whipped around to face Lady Tsunade. "Why isn't that healing like the other wounds?" he demanded, "What's going on?"
"I don't know," said the village leader, "I ran some tests and it looks like whoever attacked Naruto rubbed some sort of poison into the wound that is preventing the Kyuubi from healing it."
Poison, mouthed Sasuke in shock. Sakura hung back, unsure of what to say that would console anyone in the room.
"The favour," questioned the dark-haired boy, his mouth dry, "What was the favour?"
"I want you to take Naruto home."
Sasuke was stunned. "What?" he exploded, "Wouldn't he be safer here? The people who attacked him probably know where he lives, what if they come-"
"Back?" Lady Tsunade cut him off, "That's why you will stay with him tonight. When he wakes up he'll be in a lot of pain due to the poison. If he's here he will try to put on a brave face and suffer in silence. At least if he's at home he can deal with the torment properly."
"Sakura-chan?" called a weak voice. Naturo had finally woken up.
"Yes, Naruto, I'm here. Everything is fine," soothed the pink-haired girl, "Sasuke's going to take you home now, okay?"
Naruto tried to sit up but Sakura stopped him. "I'll come over in the morning to check up on you, okay? Lady Tsunade and I are going to stay here tonight to find a way to fix your leg, so you can just go home and relax."
Sakura motioned for Sasuke to come and get Naruto. When he was standing next to the bed she gently helped him hitch the smaller, blonde boy onto Sasuke's back.
"I'll be going then," Sasuke said under his breath before walking out of the room and leaving the two female ninja to find a cure for Naruto's mutilated leg.
Sasuke walked through the village towards Naruto's house. It was late and the streets were dark and deserted. Snow fell softly and brushed against Sasuke's hair and skin. I hope Naruto's not too cold, he thought numbly. The whole day had been a horrible nightmare from which he was ready to wake up out of. He suddenly felt the blonde boy stir on his back.
"Thank you, Teme," breathed a warm voice near his ear.
"I'm sorry I didn't find you earlier, dobe," replied Sasuke as Naruto slipped back into unconsciousness.