Summary: All of Sasuke's life he had thought the blonde haired blue eyed kid in his dreams was a figment of his imagination, until one night a mission brings him face to face with his dream boy, and he discovers that what he thought was his imagination was really a reality.

Disclaimer: I (sadly) do not own Naruto

Rating: This story is rated M for later Chapters

Author Note: Hey guys! So firstly I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed and followed/favorite my story, you guys are the absolute best! A few things before you begin to read, I have switched from writing in the third person to first person because I got really tired of writing Sasukes name over and over and over again, so to avoid any confusion the story will be from Sasuke's point of view unless I say otherwise. Also Sakura does have a big part to play in this story so her POV will come up at least once in the next few chapter. Lastly after this chapter we FINALLY get to hear from Naruto himself. Anyway here's the third chapter, hope you enjoy!

Naruto is real, he's right here in front of me

I thought to myself for the millionth time since we found Naruto in the underground hideout. I had thought it at first when I had failed to form a coherent sentence when Sakura had asked if I was alright, had continued to think it as Neji and Hinata came in and lifted Naruto up and carried him out of the tunnels with me falling closely behind, once again when Kakashi had checked his vitals in the forest and they had all discuss options and agreed the best idea would be to bring him back to Konoha for observation, one more time in the car and here I am in the hospital with the same sentence bouncing around in my brain.

Naruto was laid out on a bed before me with various hookups running from his body to machines. The only noise in the room the steady beeping from his heart monitor and the slow inhale and exhale of his breathing. No matter how long I stared at him and tried to come to grips with my new reality my brain was having a hard time processing that my imaginary childhood friend was here in front of me. During the mission I had only just come to terms that Naruto might be a real person, whose image I held onto and animated in my mind with incredible detail. Only in the deepest parts of my mind had I thought that all of my conversations and memories with Naruto had been real, because if they had been then I was the world's shittiest person ever. I rubbed a hand over my face and closed my eyes, all of my past conversations with Naruto running through my mind

"I think that means were supposed to be friends, I don't have to be alone anymore"

"They're hurting ME, please don't leave me here alone, please…. I don't wanna be alone anymore" The boy held Sasukes gaze, silently pleading with him. "Please Sasuke, don't leave me in the dark alone" The boy whispered….

"After everything that we have been through together, everything I helped you with, I thought you would save me but instead you walked out."

"You can save me"

"Finally… you found me"

"FUCK!" I exclaimed before leaning forward and hiding my face in my hands, as if that would save me from the onslaught of guilt I felt in my chest. Finally being honest with myself I admitted that this was the real reason I had fought so hard to stay in my denial, because if I didn't then I would feel like this. Seven years… he has been tortured and god knows what else for seven years… while I had done nothing but ignore him and his pain. For the first time since my families murder I felt the urge to cry, once again I had let someone I cared about down, once again I hadn't been strong enough to go save them, once again I left them alone while I went to run and hide.

"Mind if I crash your pity party?" A voice said from the door way. I didn't have to turn around to know that it was Kakashi.

"Yes I mind. Leave." I replied not even bothering to raise my head. Of course in typical Kakashi fashion he ignored my request and sauntered into the room plopping down on the only other available chair.

"Still hasn't woken up huh" He asked, I didn't respond "Must've been through quite a lot to sleep for three days, but considering the extent of his wounds both past and present, I wouldn't expect anything less" I cringed, when we brought him in the doctors had informed us that Naruto was suffering from a concussion, lacerations to the head, back and thigh, multiple shallow wounds to the chest left there by a blunt object, bruised ribs and possible internal bleeding. Upon further inspection and x-ray results the doctors were floored by the number of healing bones, scars and tissue/nerve damage Naruto had sustained and lived through. To top it all, there was also an inch wide scar that went all the way around his neck, leading them to assume that he had once been collared and the material had cut into his skin. It was nauseating and only made my throat tighten even more with the suppressed screams and tears bought on by the rage I felt over what had been done to my friend

Huh some friend... as if you even have the right to call yourself that

I noticed the silence in the room and realized that Kakashi was waiting on me to give some sign that I had heard him.

"Hn" A typical response from me but this time I hadn't said it because of disinterest but the fact that if I said anything else I might break down.

"Well you staring at him isn't going to make him wake up any faster, you've been here for two days Sasuke. You haven't slept or eaten and by gods man you stink, I'm surprised the smell of you alone hasn't jolted him awake" I felt my lip curl into an almost smile, he was probably right. I had come straight to the hospital with Naruto and hadn't left since then and that had been about two days ago. Before that we were on a mission so I hadn't had a good shower in three or four days. Huh maybe that why all the nurse are in such a hurry to get out of the room. Kakashi leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees before he continued on

"Also we have a report to give to lady Tsunade, I have held her off as long as I can because of your obvious mental state but she isn't a patient woman and to be honest she scares me. When she called me to her office this morning and demanded that I get her answers I swore to myself I would bring you to her kicking and screaming before I had to face her again. So are we going to do this the easy way… or the hard way?" I would've laughed at him, there was no way that Kakashi would win against me in a fair fight I had surpassed him years ago. If I had been in a better mood I would have amused myself by watching him try and force me to do anything but I was in no mood to humor him so with a sigh I pushed up out of my chair and with one last look at Naruto I turned and walked to the door

"Let's go"

0~*&*&*~0

"What the hell is that smell?" Tsunade exclaimed while holding her noise. I rolled my eyes, honestly it couldn't be that bad. But in hindsight I probably should have showered before I came to see her but the idea hadn't even crossed my mind. All I wanted to do was get this meeting over with and get back to Naruto, I've left him on his own enough to last a life time and I wanted to be there when he woke up.

It was the least I could do

"What the hell Kakashi? Who brings a subordinate to meet with their commander and chief when they smell like a garbage dump" She grabbed a paper on her desk and began to fan the air in front of her as she scowled in my direction

um ouch.. feelings are getting a little hurt over here

"You asked me to deliver him and here he is, you never said I had to wash and change him too" Kakashi replied in a bored tone. I watched as Tsunade glared at him with an evil twitch in her eye and could almost feel the waves of rage coming off her. I began to fear for Kakashi's life, he must have realized the immediate danger he was in because he rushed on to add "With all due respect mam, I should have thought ahead, won't happen again" the unspoken Please don't hurt me following the sentence. With a heavy sigh Tsunade turned away from him (I could see Kakashi sag in relief out of the corner of my eye) and direct her full attention on me.

"I've waited long enough, you know why your here get on with it"

"When we arrived at the suspected hideout of Orochimaru we decided to wait for the cover of nightfall before we went inside. While outside we scouted around the area to check for other entrances or exits but couldn't find any indication of one. When we decided that it was time to move me and Sakura entered the premises, surprisingly easily, and began our search for Orochimaru and/or any of his associates. The hideout was a huge maze of tunnels that seemed to stretch forever and we decided to follow the ones that looked like the main tunnels, after about twenty minutes of running me and Sakura were coming to the conclusion that the hideout was abandon and had been for some time. We were about to call in the others to aid our search when we heard a load crashing sound echoing through the hallways, we hesitated then when we heard the sound again we hastily moved through the tunnels toward where we believed it had come from. We came to a tunnel that had the door at the end of it and when we open it and looked inside we found a small room with Nar- the passed out blonde in the corner" I paused here, I could tell from looking at her face that Tsunade had noticed my slip and was deciding whether or not to comment.

"And this would be the part were the rest of your teammates said you became unresponsive and lost all usefulness for the remainder of the mission is that correct?" I clenched my jaw at the accusation but gave a firm nod of my head. Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair "Would you care to explain what brought about this temporary psychotic break?"

"I... I would like to but I'm afraid I don't have all the answers myself yet" Tsunade raised her eyebrow

"Well give me what you have"

"It's going to sound crazy, but I swear I've met that boy before... in my dreams." The silence in the room was deafening, I had to fight off the blush that was threatening to take over my face.

"Let me get this straight... you think that this boy and you somehow established contact through your dreams?" I gave a slight nod "How is that possible?"

"I don't know but I have a feeling that he might" Tsunade continued to examine me for a while longer

"Well your right that does sound crazy but I guess we can't fully discount your theory until the boy wakes up. For now you are on temporary leave until we resolve the matter at hand that does not mean you take a vacation you are to stay in the city until we figure out just what's going on here." I nod again and turn around to take my leave, I feel Kakashi fall into step behind me

"Not you Kakashi, we have a few other things to discuss."

Kakashi POV

I watched the door fall close behind Sasuke and waited a minute before I turned around.

"Yes?" I asked and watch as Tsunade leaned forward on her desk and rubbed the tips of her fingers over her forehead.

"Do you believe any of that?" I hesitated before replying

"I know that when Sasuke was younger he had increasingly vivid dreams, so vivid that he would cry out and inflict harm on himself while he was asleep. It got so bad I had to call in outside help to repress the dreams, after that was done he slept peaceful and grew up to be the emotionally repressed man we know and love today." I thought to myself for a minute before continuing on "I only asked him once what his dream was about and he told me he imagined his friend... Naruto I believe is what he called him... being tortured and that it felt like he himself was being tortured right along with him." I watched as Tsunade turned in her chair to face out the window, a jester I've come to learn she does when she's deep in thought.

"This is all very strange... This dream nonsense on top of the fact that the hideout was abandoned with only the boy left behind all is very suspicious, why they would leave him, what did they use him for, why was he tortured, all of these question are left unanswered. Then when I put together all of the reports, especially Sakuras when she said that the lack of traps was a big concern to her leading into the mission, and Sasukes about the possibility of his having an emotional connection with this boy stretching back to childhood... it worries me. I would discount my fears if we weren't dealing with Orochimaru a man I've learned to never underestimate" I sighed in agreement

"The possibility that this was all a set up and the boy a plant seems likely"

"But a set up for who I wonder... and what exactly does he hope to accomplish"

Sakura POV

Well I guess I have to go in eventually I thought to myself before I walked into the mysterious patients room. I was doing my rounds at the hospital, my other job when I'm not on call for missions at ANBU, when I noticed that the John Doe on my list and our mission rescue were one in the same. I walked over to the bed and gazed down at the man lying there. He really was beautiful even with the gauze wrapped around his head. The striking blonde hair, strong jaw line, crystal blue eyes that I saw back in the tunnels, and dangerously attractive scars marking his face and neck gave him the appearance of a fallen angel. Despite the results of his x-ray and examinations that conclude that he had been a victim of abuse and possible torture and him being a little on the scrawny side, he looked relatively fit with obvious muscles apparent on his frame. Everything that I observed about this boy confused me, the obviously tanned skin even though we found him in an underground tunnel that appeared to have been abandon for quite some time, the muscles on his frame, the fact that he wasn't nearly as malnourished as expected, his injuries both past and present when we saw no other living being in the cave and no other escape route.

The way Sasuke reacted when he saw him

If I was honest with myself that is what shook me the most. I have never seen Sasuke anything less than calm, cool, collected and in charge, its part of what attracted me to him, when I was an emotional wreck he was my anchor. To see him with that look of confusion and panic on his face, coupled with his inability to speak and reason for the remainder of the mission was alarming. Did Sasuke know this person? If he did then how? I peered closer at the man, part of me hoping he would wake up and give me the answers I wanted right here and now.

"Just who are you?" I mumbled

"Sakura" I jolted and swung toward the door and standing there was a freshly showered Sasuke. "What are you doing" I laughed nervously and rubbed the back of my head.

"I was on rounds at the hospital and his name was on my chart. I came in to chart his results and see if there was any change in his condition. But I guess my curiosity kind of got the better of me" I laughed nervously again. Sasuke just continued to stare at me before he moved in the room and sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed

"Whatever" He looked down at the man and I see it, only for a moment it but it's there, a tiny flicker of emotion in his face. Then he looks away, pulling a book out of his backpack and flipping to a random page. I glance from the backpack, to the book, back to Sasuke and around again. Is he going to… stay here?

"Sasuke"

"Hn"

"Um what are you doing?"

"Waiting"

Waiting for what?"

"For him to wake up" I can hear the irritation in his voice but if he would just give me a real answer I wouldn't have to keep asking so many questions

"Why?" with a sigh he lowers the book and looks at me

"Because I want answers and he's the only one who can give them to me" Then he lifts the book once more and begins to read, signaling that the conversation is over. With my own sigh I turn back to the machine and begin charting my results when I finish doing that I turn to Sasuke again.

"I'm sorry Sasuke but I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the room" He looks at me, I can tell he's surprised even if I can't read it on his face.

"Why?" I huff

"Because I have to exam his other wounds which involves me taking off his gown. Because of this allowing you to stay would be a breach of his privacy and since he has not been awake to identify you as either family or a friend you are not allowed to be here." I watch as he processes what I just said, then with a defeated slump in his shoulders he gets up and silently exits the room. Relieved that he didn't try to fight me on this I quickly get back to work and start to exam his wounds, I move to lift up his shirt and take off the gown. Once his torso is uncovered I start to take off the gauze and tape over his wounds, I pull back the first one and once I do my hand stills in shock

"No way" I whisper then hurry to take off the other ones and they all show the same result. The wounds had healed without so much as a scratch left behind, thinking that maybe it's because these were shallow cuts and he could just be a fast healer I start unwrapping the gaze around his head and once again the area is closed with only a faint scar in its place, I see the same results when I look at the wounds that are on his back and thigh. I step away from the bed

That isn't possible

I check his medical chart again just to make sure and as I thought those wounds had required stiches. There was no way that they could have healed this quickly. I look over at the patient once again, trying to see if there is anything else that was weird but he looked like a normal 20ish year old boy. With a sigh I began to make a note on my chart when I notice a tattoo around his navel, it's a tribal design that looks vaguely familiar. I walk toward the bed again and lower the gown more to get a better look at it, where have I seen this before? I bring my finger up and lightly start to trace the design when cringe and flinch backward. I look at my finger and it's red and welted from the heat of touching the burning tattoo. I'm still standing there completely in shock when I hear it, a slight demonic laughter that seems to whisper around the room, I look around wildly trying to find the source but it's just me and the man in here and he hasn't moved an inch since I arrived. I'm beginning to believe I just imagined it when I heard it again, this time a little louder than before

What in the world

Terrified I quickly pulled the patients gown up, careful not to get any closer to the tattoo then I had to and grabbing my chart I ran out of the room as fast as I could.

Sasuke POV

"Sakura" I call after the fleeing girl. She either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me and continued down the hall. I stared after her, what could possible make Sakura react like that? I looked at the door and consider for a second chasing after to her and finding out for myself what had her spooked, but decide against it and go back into Naruto's room. I walk in and everything looks the same, except for this time there is no gauze wrapped around his head. I look closer at his scalp and only see a faint scar where the wound was. Weird, I guess it hadn't been as deep as we had thought. I sit back down in my chair and resume reading, or pretending to read I should say there were too many unanswered questions running around in my head to even begin to focus on the book in front of me. Admitting defeat I closed the book and switched my focus back to the object of my distraction.

It never fails that every time I look at him, I'm shocked by the fact that he's here beside me and that he looks exactly the same as he did in the dreams. It's seeming more and more likely that this is really the boy from my dreams, that we are somehow able to connect with each other through them, and that at one point I abandon him. I didn't know whether I wanted him to wake up or stay asleep, because I knew as soon as he did there was a chance that he would confirm everything I was just beginning to realize, and I don't know if I'm ready for that. Either way I need to hear him say that he is Naruto, before I fully accept this crazy idea I need to hear him say it.

I reached out and took his hand, surprised at just how warm and smooth it is in mine. This was the first time I had ever really touched him, I had hesitated before because my mind had still been at war over what I was seeing and touching him would have been too much. I looked down at our hands, mine relatively smooth and his covered in scars and felt my chest become even more tight.

"Naruto... I'm so sorry"

The hand I was holding tightened, I glanced up from our interlocked fingers and into a pair of familiar blue eyes.

"Sasuke"