It was still dark when Sasuke woke up and walked to the veranda. From there, he could see the forest surrounding the village, the place that Naruto turned his back to him. As Sasuke sighed silently, white puffs scattered into cold air. He restlessly bit his lips, looking up the sky. The sky was clear and so beautiful. He could see the stars shining like jewels on deep blue velvet. Yet, he turned around, ignoring the beautiful scenery. Just like how he ignored Naruto's destperate cries...

"What? You must be kidding!"

"No, I wish I was... But... Oh, what are we supposed to do?"

"I'm not believing that until I see it with my own eyes. Sakura, go and tell Lady Tsunade and Kakashi-sensei about it."

Sakura rushed to one direction, her tears falling down to the ground as she ran. Sasuke, with so many emotions tingled together on his face, ran to the other way as fast as he could. The place that he finally stopped, was the old apartment, where Naruto live. Or... used to live.

"Huh? Yeah... I just moved in late last night... but, jeez. First, it was that pink haired girl, and now, it's you. I came from a small town far from here, so I don't know who this Naruto guy is, but-"

"Just shut your mouth and tell me if you know where he went."

"How am I supposed to know? I told you, I'm from- hey, where are ya going? Sheesh..."

Ignoring the man who answered him, Sasuke leaped from the apartment to the building next to it and went on until he reached the huge wall guarding the village. Without hesitating, he jumped over the wall. As he ran without certain destination, his sharingan appeared, searching for the slightest movement, or rather, Naruto's trace.

"That idiot... if he runs away... I guess it's my turn to get him back!"

He hissed in anger, not toward Naruto, but himself. He knew better than anyone, that he is the one who made Naruto suffer. He is the one who took smile away from Naruto's face. Heavy pressure of guiltiness took breath out of Sasuke, but more than that, he felt terrible thinking that he might never see Naruto smile to him. That was what scared him more than anything... the absence of the dearest person when he finally returned to where he is supposed to be.

In his full speed, he almost arrived at the border of fire nation, but he couldn't find any sign of
Naruto yet. All kinds of worries filled Sasuke's mind, but he was still able to sense two people approaching toward his direction. He prepared for battle just in case, holding his kunai tightly, but familiar sight held him back.

"Hey, you're Sasuke!"

"Temari? And Kankuro, what are you doing, in land of fire?"

"Well, see for yourself."

Kankuro moved his finger, and one of his dolls landed right in front of them. Then, it cracked open, revealing the inside of it. There, Naruto was lying with his body curled up, his face twitched with pain.

"Naruto? What did you do to him?"

"We found him on our way back to sunagakure from amegakure. He has fever, and for some reason, is very low in chakra. We thought it was better to bring him back first."

Sasuke gently pulled Naruto from the marionett, and carried him in his arms. He shot another suspicious glance at Temari and Kankuro, but he turned away for he could feel high fever and panting breathe from his chest.

"I'll take care of him from now. Thanks for bringing him back."

"Sure. We will report it to Gaara, just in case."

As they went on separate path, Sasuke looked down to Naruto. His body still light as feather, his slim face suffering in pain. Sasuke never thought he could see Naruto this ill. He was always energetic, full of chakra to begin with. But just as Temari said, Sasuke could barely sense Naruto's chakra, even though his fever flowed into his chest. Sasuke hurried back to the village, to the hospital.

Sasuke could see some people waiting near the wall. As he got nearer, Sakura and Kakashi ran toward him to see how Naruto was doing. But Sasuke ran past them, and the two could see something was wrong. They all rushed toward the hospital.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura... You should know about why Naruto's so sick suddenly, right?"

"I, I don't-"

"So, Naruto didn't tell you guys, huh?"

While Naruto was getting emergency treatment, other three stood outside in the hall way. They could hear all the fuss going on in the room, since there were no one in the hall this late. As Kakashi started out with serious, and somewhat sad tone, Sasuke and Sakura could guess that this wasn't just a matter of being 'sick.'

"Naruto... used too much of nine-tailed fox's chakra, even when he couldn't control it properly. You two saw how he would transform into miniature of nine-tail fox, right?"

"I know that brings damage to his body, so what? It heals him, too!"

Sasuke's angry voice rang across the hall, leaving echos. Sakura, catching a slight hint of what happened gasped. Sasuke stared her angrily, realizing that he was left out when something important was going on. Before he opened his mouth for another yell, Kakashi spoke silently.

"Yes, it's true. But as it continues the circulation of damaging his body and healing it, Naruto's body can't keep up with it."

"So... what in the world happened to him?"

"He... can no longer be shinobi, as unstable and low as his chakra is right now."

"What? You know that his dream was to be a hokage, and how is he supposed to-"

"And the other side effect, sensei..? Don't tell me that's why Lady Tsunade didn't let me treat Naruto..?"

Sakura stopped Sasuke, with tears already falling. Kakashi shook his head slowly, and she let out faint cry and fell on her knees. Sasuke, not knowing what was going on, stared blankly at Kakashi, asking with his questioned glance.

"He's life... shortened greatly. I'm not even sure if he'll be able to survive through... this year."

The hall fell into dead silence. Nothing could be heard, except cold breeze swiftly touching the window. The night sky outside, no longer showed its proud shining stars, but grey clouds full of sorrow.

Now, I stand here waiting for you... wondering how you could keep up with this unbearable pain...