Monochrome

By Rice-Ball247

Monochrome: A condition of colour-blindness, in which all colours are perceived as shades of grey.

Sinking, falling

Into a darker abyss than ever before

Holding onto faith

Grasping a chain

Of hope and of memories

But when that chain brakes

Sinking, falling

Into that darker abyss

Full summary: In a horrible accident, ANBU captain, Uchiha Sasuke has overused an important nerve in his Sharingan eye, causing him to suffer from the infamous monochrome condition. His world is colourless, a never-ending grey matter. His grass is grey, his sun white and his sky an ever consistent black. A resemblance to his blackened sky, are the eyes of his precious Uzumaki Naruto - who just so happens to hate his guts, and is stuck looking after him too.

Rating: M/R

Warning: contains heavy yaoi, use of vulgar language and unhealthy innuendoes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto. Short, sweet and witty, if you look underneath the underneath ;)

Chapter 4: Seeing Red

"Naruto, do you think this charm looks good on me?" Sakura asked the blond-haired man, who she had dragged along with her and Ino. Since Gaara was with him at all times, she supposed he would have to come along too. Naruto frowned, sensing something tense and uneasy with his other best friend, Sakura. Ever since she had met up with him and Gaara in the café, completely by chance, she had been shifty and looked almost…hurt.

"I think the pink diamond heart with emerald studs will suit you better," Naruto commented honestly, pulling the onyx and sapphire bracelet away from Sakura's small hands. "It brings out the colour of your hair and your eyes. Don't you agree, Gaa-chan?"

Gaara regarded the bracelet with contempt, before his turquoise eyes scanned the anxious looking girl in front of him. He shrugged and nodded towards them, stuffing his hands in his pockets and glancing away.

"I suppose," he muttered, his voice softer than usual. Naruto sighed again. Ever since that stupid incident and the accident during the mission, ever since Sasuke had been hospitalized…everyone had been down in the dumps. Naruto wasn't an idiot. He never was an idiot. Clueless, yes. Late to bloom, perhaps. But never an idiot.

His face coloured when he remembered yesterday's secret session with the red-head. Gaara, too, must have remembered it, for when he met Naruto's blue eyes, he coloured red and turned away.

Naruto absently followed Sakura and her blonde friend as they strolled through the markets aimlessly. Gaara trudged behind Naruto, remaining his usual silent self. Of course, to the girls, it seemed quite odd that Naruto had just clammed up all of a sudden, but then again, they took into consideration the fact that Sasuke was being hospitalised for the time being.

"Let's head for lunch," Ino suggested, patting her flat stomach with a whimsical look in her eyes. Had the girl been starving herself? Just the mention of food and she seemed to crave, no LUST after a meal - very unlike Ino at all. Naruto, to his chagrin, was dragged to a restaurant that was not Ichiraku's Ramen stall. He sighed as he was seated beside Gaara, who sat across from Sakura. This left Ino seated in front of Naruto. She didn't seem too fond of the fact, after all, ever since they were young, she had never gotten on along well with the other blond. But on the other hand, she was also still very afraid of Gaara, and since Sakura was one of Naruto's best friends, she assumed that the relationship between Gaara and her best friend wasn't as awkward. Now if only it worked that way with Naruto…no better yet, Sasuke!

Ino frowned. She was being selfish again. All the people around her were hurting because of that stupid accident. Both Sakura and Naruto directly, and Gaara indirectly. She supposed he was hurting because this hurt Naruto deeply. Ino nearly snorted, but was thankful for the large menu which covered the most part of her face. Naruto despised Sasuke, as far as she could remember. Perhaps, when they had been on the same team, yes, they had that close bondage as best friends, but now, the only link between them was that they were both ANBU and that Sakura was their best friend, a bridge between the two. Ever since that sick, twisted incident involving that horrible snake-sannin, Orochimaru, Naruto had cut off almost all ties with the Uchiha. But deep down, there was something, a bond between them, that could never be overwritten or replaced.

That was most likely why the two were able to stay in the same room alone, and come out alive. Unscathed.

Ino ordered a serving of spicy shrimp, Sakura, a regular, low-fat salad, Gaara, a plate of carbonara and Naruto bought two helpings of miso ramen. Of course, it wasn't as good as the stuff that Ichiraku's could concoct, but hey, it was better than anything else on this menu.

The drinks came first, almost instantly. Naruto held the tall glass of cola in between his long fingertips, swirling the half-downed contents and listening to the clinking of gradually melting ice-cubes. The conversations between the four of them were half-hearted and almost scarce. Finally, when Sakura could no longer take the silence, she brought up memories of their childhood. Naruto grimaced when he recollected these memories, some sweet and relished and some…better left forgotten.

"And then Shiba-san pushed Naruto from behind and he went smack dab into Sasuke's lips!" Sakura giggled, sticking her tongue out at the miffed looking blond.

"Oi, oi! Don't bring that up again! It's embarrassing to even think about!"

Gaara raised a non-existant eyebrow at Sakura and a moment passed between them, both of them thinking, 'How exactly is this moron one of my best friends?'

Naruto pouted at first but the sulking look vanished when a waiter and a waitress appeared, juggling the orders on their long, well balanced arms.

"Please enjoy your meal!" they chimed happily. Actually, they were most likely trained to do this everyday, and so usually, they would sound dull and plastic-like. But upon setting their hopeful eyes on the visiting Kazekage, they bowed as well, flashed them all 100-watt smiles before dashing off.

"You're gonna give them a tip for that," Naruto asked, eyeing Gaara curiously. Gaara regarded Naruto with bemused eyes before he slyly muttered, 'I'm sure we all like getting paid, once in a while…'

"Hey! Just coz I'm inexperienced-"

Both Sakura and Ino's heads shot up at this mention.

"w-with cooking, doesn't mean that I have to pay you back for cooking me ramen yesterday!"

The two girls blinked and shrugged it off before returning to their meals. Gaara and Naruto both exchanged stiff glares before each turned to their own plate of food and began to eat as well. Unsurprisingly, those two suck up teens, the waiter and the waitress, enthusiastically carried out one jug of coke. Yes, ONE jug of coke took two people to carry. Bloody hell Gaara was lucky. And that's exactly what Naruto said.

"Naruto-san, this is for you," the waitress stopped at the table when the waiter had left. The brunette shyly handed him a small, flat gift which she had wrapped up in a pale, subdued orange, extracted from the folds of her apron. Naruto blinked, wondering what else people could possibly fit in that flat an apron before it clicked in his brain that he had received another present. Again.

"I-I never get the chance to give this to you, since you're always so busy."

Does she always carry her gifts under her apron? Naruto was a little more than freaked out, however. He wasn't thrilled or flattered. He was downright freaked.

He sighed but immediately smiled up at the girl, giving her that heart-melting grin of his and murmuring a word of thanks.

"Arigatou! I'll be sure to come back here more often," Naruto grinned at her again, tucking the present into his carrier bag. The girl nodded, a dark blush spreading over her cheeks before her boss yelled out for her from the kitchens. She yelled a quick 'GOMEN!' before storming back inside the kitchen, stubbing her toe on a table leg on her way in.

"Wow, Naruto. You're becoming more and more popular with the ladies with every day that passes," Gaara commented. Sakura and Ino sighed. That had been the fourth girl in less than an hour. What was the world coming to? Then again, at this thought, both girls took a long, analysing look at their blond friend before coming to a mutual, unsaid conclusion.

Uchiha Sasuke was seductively sexy.

Uzumaki Naruto was smoking hot.

Sasuke's POV

Before I knew it, I found myself wondering if I would lose my sanity here. I was hanging by my last wit. I'm pretty sure that it didn't take this long for my body to recover, even without the help of Tsunade's healing chakra. The damaged that I had sustained must have been pretty brutal. A few fractured bones, a broken rib, twisted ankle, almost depleted chakra levels, stamina levels dangerously low, emotional trauma. Yes, a day in the life of Uchiha Sasuke, I thought bitterly. But it had been on a much worse scale than that.

Sakura had managed to be saved with a stab wound and the occasional few scratches. Naruto had sprained his leg and cramped his right arm somehow. He had stab wounds to his leg, arm and shoulder. I had received pretty much the brunt of it. But still, I was healing, wasn't I? My body no longer felt like lead, nor did it feel like I was floating either, so I knew I wasn't dead. I stared at the grey ceiling. It was painted white, but in the darkness of the room it was grey. Heck, even if it was bright orange, it would still be grey. Orange…

Fuck. Fuck this. I couldn't stand it. I closed my eyes again that day, trying to picture my past, the colours. The usual darkness that I was engulfed in. But there was still colour. There was still navy blue, there was still forest green, there was still blood red. It might not have been bright blue, nor lime green or even pink for that matter, but it was still colour. I sighed. I truly had under appreciated the gift that my vision once had. Now I should be thankful that I even HAVE my eyesight, and didn't have the Sharingan fail me completely.

But still...I couldn't help but be filled with the biggest stroke of regret. Why? The biggest question of all was why had I saved them? I did not care for Naruto, and I had only wanted to save Sakura because she was my best friend. Why the FUCK did I put my life on the line for that stupid dead-last? He meant nothing to me. He was nothing.

Stupid eyes have to start stinging now…I wiped at my watering eyes gingerly, praying to God that no one would walk through that door right now. The doorknob turned.

God hates me.

Normal POV

Naruto pulled the door to Sasuke's ward open, something slipping in his mind to knock. Gaara had decided to retire for the rest of the day - shopping with Sakura and Ino could really wipe the energy out of you! Naruto, of course, had limitless amounts of stamina…

"Hey Sasuke…are you…crying?" Naruto hesitated as he closed the door behind him. The first thing he had noticed about the raven-haired patient was that tiny, almost non-existent glistens welling in his eyes. The second thing Naruto noticed, was that Sasuke was furious.

"Who the HELL do you think you FUCKING ARE?" Sasuke roared, using almost all of his self-control to not peg the bedside lampshade at Naruto's head. Naruto winced at Sasuke's tone, but continued forwards nevertheless. He knew already that Sasuke wouldn't do anything too rash. He was an Uchiha and they never lost their cool. Well, not TOO much. And Naruto also had a peace of mind to know that Sasuke was disarmed when he was admitted to the hospital; all shuriken holsters, kunai pouches, scroll pockets and other weapons were disabled from him.

Naruto pressed onwards, sitting rather tensely on the edge of his seat beside Sasuke. Disregarding Sasuke's wishes for him to leave, disregarding Sasuke's wishes to not look at him…Naruto stared directly into onyx eyes. Something in him twinged and pinched at his heart to see the man sitting in the bed obediently, his once healthy body, ironically in the hospital, being worn down. Deep, dark bags sat beneath his obsidian coloured eyes, both a contrast to his usually pale, alabaster skin. He, like Naruto, had skin problems as well. His skin no longer had that healthy glow to it, but seemed to be dead and dull. Just like Sasuke's soul. Naruto maimed his bottom lip gently with his front teeth.

"Sasuke…"

"I told you to not look at me! Look away!" Sasuke screeched, his face scrunching up in pain as he glared and snarled at Naruto maniacally. White skin pulled across bony knuckles which were clasped into tight fists, balling up the rumpled bed sheets which were tucked around Sasuke's frail body.

"I'm not going to look away, Sasuke," Naruto told him calmly, slowly pulling off his orange jacket and tossing it onto the nearby chair, leaving his torso, clad in a black muscle shirt, visible for all to see. It took every ounce of his power to keep his voice steady. He knew that his resolve was beginning to weaken with every passing second. "You will not look away."

Naruto stood up, one knee pushed against the steel skeleton of the bed, the other supporting his weight from below. The blond kneeled in closer to Sasuke, pushing his face rather too close for comfort.

"Look at me, Sasuke. Look into my eyes. They are exactly the same. This is your new blue. Your sky is going to be black, your world will be nothing but shades of grey. There is NOTHING you can do about it. Absolutely nothing. That's the truth, the cold, hard truth," Naruto hissed coldly. Something within Sasuke snapped.

He, Uchiha Sasuke, at the age of nineteen, had finally lost his cool. He brought his right back and walloped Naruto across his right cheek, a resounding slap echoing around the dark and cold room.

"You UNGRATEFUL MONSTER!" Sasuke snarled, his hands, his body, shaking uncontrollably. His face formed that loathsome snarl, a face so vicious that it put all his scowls and death glares to shame. To Naruto, Sasuke's eyes turned a much darker shade of black than ever possible. Sasuke's hair fell limply around his face, curving into high cheekbones and a thinned out chin. "I SHOULD HAVE JUST LEFT YOU TO DIE! MY GOAL WAS ONLY TO SAVE SAKURA! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? THERE IS NO LONGER A LINK BETWEEN YOU AND I!"

"Sasuke."

"SAYING I HATE YOU AND THAT I HOPE YOU DIE IS MUCH TOO CHILDISH, YOU STUPID, STUPID DOBE!"

"Sasuke."

Sharingan eyes were activated, piercing into Naruto's azure eyes. Naruto stared directly at him unflinchingly. The Sharingan was nothing new to him. Many times had it been turned against him, many times had he tried to activate Kyuubi's power against Sasuke.

"THERE IS NOTHING MORE LOATHSOME THAT I CAN EVEN BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING FOR YOU! I HOPE THAT THE VILLAGE CONTINUES TO SHUN YOU! I HOPE THEY CONTINUE TO HATE YOU! I HOPE THAT YOU'LL NEVER, EVER BE LOVED!"

"FUCK OFF!" Naruto screamed, bringing his hand back to punch Sasuke's pretty, little face. But he caught himself at the last second, seeing Sasuke's breathing becoming more sporadically paced. The look of fear was visible in his eyes. Sasuke looked so vulnerable, so hurt…

Sasuke's thin lips curled into a smirk. That hateful expression! Naruto froze, hearing Sasuke begin to laugh. It wasn't the laugh he was ever expecting from Sasuke. When you thought Uchiha, you never expected them to laugh. But if ever the rare occasion arose, you would expect a perfect, melodic sound. What Naruto heard, however, was a dry, almost evil sounding cackle.

Sasuke threw his head back, eyes widening as he stared at Naruto's face, as that dry, throaty laugh left his crackled lips. Sasuke was mocking him! Naruto snarled, his right fist shaking with the temptation to land a single punch on the stupid Uchiha's pretty face.

"Go ahead, Uzumaki. Punch me. Hit me. Hate me! FUCKING HATE ME!" Sasuke screamed into Naruto's face. Naruto obliged. He reared his arm and brought a powerful blow to Sasuke's jaw. A sickening crack reached his ears, a dark purple bruise immediately forming in the damaged area. Naruto look in a deep, shuddering breath as he stared at Sasuke's shocked face. The entire room was silent again.

"Y-you hit me…"

"Sasuke…shit I'm sorry," Naruto quickly apologized, reaching out his hand to touch Sasuke's bruised face. His fingers barely grazed against silky, purple skin when a fist embedded deep into Naruto's stomach. A trail of blood and spit left Naruto's mouth when he gasped for air.

"Wh-what did you do…?" Naruto asked him weakly. Sasuke stared at the blond man, curled up and weighing heavy over his lethargic legs. Sasuke closed his eyes, taking deep, calming breaths.

"D-don't make me do this, Naruto. Don't make me…please," Sasuke begged him, pleaded, his voice strained, his face pained. Naruto coughed again, a spray of blood staining the sheets, rumpled from all the thrashing about. Weakly, Naruto gathered all his strength and grabbed Sasuke's shoulders, making the raven-haired man bend over in front of him.

"Sasuke, you fucking bastard," Naruto whispered into Sasuke's ear. He slumped over Sasuke's shoulder, the two of them together. Sasuke had fallen into an uncomfortable sleep against Naruto's chest, whilst Naruto look his repose upon Sasuke's shoulder.

And that, was how Tsunade found them when she came to check up on the Uchiha.

Needless to say, the blonde-haired Hokage already had a solution to the problem that she was to present to Sasuke in a few minutes time. But for now…

Tsunade closed the door behind her as she left the ward. 'She'd fix up their wounds later.

…for now, she'd let them rest. She could tell, that from the damage caused to each other, that maybe the simmering blood running through their veins should be left to cool.

It was easy to tell that both Sasuke and Naruto had been seeing only red moments ago.

Hey! You're probably thinking, stupid biznatch Rice-Ball247 hasn't been updating. I've got the most cliche'd excuse, yet it is applicable to everyone, especially in the ninth grade!! -sigh- if i don't kick my grades up to at least a B+ in philosophy, i'll get kicked OUT of class, so you can see why i'm stressing. geez...n to think that once upon a time (long before i found the joys of fanfiction) that i was a straight-A student. anyways, enough about me! Finally, I've updated Monochrome! Thank you to all that have reviewed!

Special thanks to: HunnicHi, Zoomi, Phantomsnow, SpottedShadow2947, dead edged blade, Lost ninja#1, Midnight Kyuubi, courageouscoward, Midnight Shining Star, blue-snuriel, Wubster, sarah-the-anime-fan211, Dead is her soul, BlueRedemption, Chidori-Hunter994, Tsunaide AND Nat Nat!

Midnight Shining Star: hey, for some reason, i cant contact you, you don't have an email or contact available on FF.N. I had a message asking what happened to your stories and if you could please put them back on. and yeah, please don't shoot the messenger! Thank you for your continuous support!

BlueRedemption: thank you for your review! I'll take your review to heart!

Tsunaide: Dalin-chan i wub yooh so much, mwakz lolz. thnks for your review! If you're reading this, and like DBSK, you should read Tsunaide's fanfics on livejournal! mwahahah...

Nat-Nat: my effin SXC twin! i heart yooh! thank you for finally reviewing lolz i miss yooh so much!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!