Author's Note: In all actuality, 4,000 hours isn't that much. There are 8,760 hours in a year, give or take a little. So that's 4,380 if you count half of that for sleeping and eating. Give about a month for all the holidays throughout a year, which is 4,020. Divide that in half to give enough time to adjust to blindness and training time, round a little, and you have the nice even number of 2,000. Simple enough. Then times two, because I want the community service to last for two years. Done and doner. Or I could have just chosen a random number. My original number (before all the math) was 3,600. What can I say? … Well, nothing really.

Warning: violence (not really) and a bit of mild/strong language

Afraid of the Dark
When War Came


"Sakura!" Naruto yelled as he jumped down from the rooftops to his teammate's doorstep, banging obnoxiously on the door. "Sakura-" he started again, still banging when the door opened to reveal an irate man, easily twice the size as he.

"What do you want, demon?" the man snarled, glaring at the blond threateningly.

"Dad, who's at the door?" came Sakura's voice from somewhere inside the Haruno's house.

"No one," the big man hollered back, never taking his eyes off the demon vessel.

Naruto had met Sakura's parent before; the meeting had been less than pleasant all around. They had yelled obscenities and had dragged their daughter all the way to the Hokage tower, demanding she be placed on another team. Their request had been refused instantly and they had been especially hateful ever since.

"I – I just need to talk to Sakura." Even now, nearly an adult and a skilled ninja, he was uneasy around the villagers that hates him. He knew he was being ridiculous; he could easily protect himself should someone attack him, but his years of being the village pariah and scapegoat had left their scar. He figured he would never completely overcome his fear.

"Sakura's busy right now," the man replied shortly.

"But –" Naruto started.

Sakura's father scowled and quickly silenced the blond with a firm slap in the face.

Naruto stilled completely and shut his mouth, eyes holding a sliver of fear. Even if he wasn't reliving painful memories or scared out of his mind right now, he wouldn't be able to make himself fight Sakura's father. He knew Sakura would be hurt if he attacked either of her parents, deserved or not.

"Get lost, demon filth!" the man shouted, nearly slamming the door in the blonde's face if Sakura had not stepped in between them at that very moment.

"Naruto? She questioned cautiously, noticing her teammate's stillness after her father's angry yelling. She examined his hollow, near terrified eyes, the blank expression on his face, and the red handprint on the side of his cheek. She spun around, furious, to glare meaningfully at her father who merely huffed and stalked back into the house. Sakura shut the door lightly and turned back to her stunned teammate, activating her healing chakra. She gently reached out and stole away the sting from Naruto's inflamed cheek. "Naruto, I'm so sorry. You came to see me, right? What did you need?" She asked kindly, melting away Naruto's memories and unease with each word.

"U-um, Sasuke wanted some of his clothes to change into since his other outfit is stained and ruined beyond repair. I just came to pick some of his things up."

Sakura pulled her hand back, happy to see that the angry red mark and Naruto's strange behavior had disappeared. "I'm not exactly sure that Sasuke's clothes from three years ago will still fit him. You'd be better off going to the store and buying him something new."

"Oh, right," Naruto laughed, scratching the back of his head. "I guess I'll just head to the store, then." He replied, quickly waving goodbye as he turned to leave.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sakura commanded, yanking the blond back by the sleeve of his obnoxious orange jacket, "You're not allowed to buy Sasuke any sort of clothing without supervision."

"Aww, but Sakura, Sasuke could rock the color orange!"

Sakura punched her blond exasperatedly on the top of his head, "Naruto! Don't even think of getting Sasuke orange clothes! It's bad enough having one teammate in such a repulsively bright color! No," she continued, almost as if talking and brainstorming to herself, "someone has to accompany you, but I've got to start my shift at the hospital in a few minutes."

"How about Kakashi-sensei then?" Naruto offered. He figured that Kakashi would have his nose stuffed too far into his adult rated book to noticed if one or two articles of clothing had a bit of orange on them.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully. She knew Kakashi wouldn't let Naruto pick out something too outlandish. "Alright, but you have to promise to get Kakashi and not go shopping alone."

Naruto huffed indignantly.

"Naruto…" Sakura warned with a shaking fist.

The boy held his hands up in defense, "Alright, alright, I promise I'll get Kakashi!"

She gave him one last stern, calculating look, "I've got to finish getting ready. I'll probably see you later at the hospital."

Naruto smiled, waving as he turned around. "Bye, Sakura!" he yelled enthusiastically as she stepped inside.

She smiled to herself, closing the door firmly. She was happy that Sasuke had finally come back, happy to get her cheerful Naruto back.


Naruto grumbled sourly as he walked alongside his white haired teacher, one bag of fresh-off-the-hanger clothes in his hand. Clothes that had absolutely no orange on them. It seemed Kakashi agreed with Sakura that Sasuke should not wear any orange. He had tried though. He never thought his sensei could be so observant while reading that stupid perverted book.

"You could have at least let me get the black pants with an orange stripe down the side." Naruto complained.

Kakashi ignored his unhappy blond student, contentedly letting himself be engrossed by the book which he had read many times before.

They soon entered into the bright, antiseptic smelling lobby of the hospital which was only slightly crowded this morning. They bypassed the front desk, heading straight to the elevator towards Sasuke's hospital room. They saw Sakura along the way, busily helping another patient and waved as they passed. It wasn't very long until they arrived at Sasuke's room and were stopped by the two ANBU guards who snapped to attention the moment the two were in sight.

"I'm sorry, but Hokage-sama is not allowing visitors to Uchiha-san right now." One of the guards stated in his most official authoritative voice while standing firm. The other fidgeted nervously beside him.

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled, nearly tossing the bag of clothes when he threw his hands up in frustration, "I was in here just an hour ago – you know that Granny Tsunade is letting me in!"

The ANBU shook his head. "I was given very specific orders to allow no one in besides the Hokage herself, hospital personnel, and Sasuke's interrogator."

"You must be pretty new to ANBU, are you not?" Kakashi asked blandly, his nose stuffed in his book.

"I, well…" The ANBU stuttered, momentarily caught off guard.

"As your higher ranking superior and a former ANBU captain, Hatake Kakashi, I am ordering you to stand down and let me pass. If you have any questions, you can talk to your partner. Maybe he can teach you a thing or two about respecting your superiors." The scarecrow pushed past the surprised ninja and opened the door, letting Naruto and himself in as the ANBU tried to pull himself together.

"Technically speaking, being a former ANBU captain can't get you in to an otherwise prohibited area." Sasuke stated coolly once the door had been shut again.

"I suppose my reputation and skill are widely known and feared…" Kakashi mused.

Sasuke snorted, "Hardly."

"Hey bastard, we got you some clothes. Kakashi-sensei bought new ones because your old clothes are all too small."

There was a pause after Naruto's exclamation.

"What, you want me to say 'thank you' or something?"

"That is usually the socially appropriate thing to do when someone gives you a gift, but you have been gone for quite a while, so I think we can excuse you just this time. Don't worry; it will all come back to you eventually, Sasuke." Kakashi teased as he walked to the side of Sasuke's bed and pulled out a set of keys, unlocking the cuffs that bound Sasuke's hands to the bed.

Sasuke frowned, pulling his hands away as much as he could, "What are you doing?"

"Yeah! You could get Sasuke into a lot of trouble!" Naruto shouted.

"What do you think I'm doing, Sasuke? I'm taking these cuffs off of you."

"But why?" Sasuke continued guardedly. As his blond teammate had said, he could get into a lot of trouble, more so than the shit load he was in now, if someone found him unrestrained, whether he was aiming to break free or not.

"I thought you might like to take a shower and stretch your legs a little bit. You've been in this bed for almost three days now and before that, locked up in cell. You really are starting to stink."

"Well, that is true…" Naruto added, holding his chin in his hand with a thoughtful expression on his face while watching his best friend and teacher.

"Besides," Kakashi continued, tucking the keys back into his pocket and setting the pair of cuffs aside on the bedside table, "I'll be with you to vouch for you and I don't really think…well, I'm sure Tsunade won't mind as long as I'm here."

Sasuke's face suddenly turned hard, "You don't think what, Kakashi? You don't think I'm capable of escaping? You don't think I'm a threat to everyone in Konoha? You probably think I'm too weak to do anything, huh?"

Silence.

"Sasuke, I'm sure Kakashi doesn't think that—" Naruto tried to comfort all the while rolling his eyes at his friends defensiveness.

"Actually, yes. I don't think you would be able to leave, even if you did want to. That's why I took off the cuffs; there's no real reason for them anyways."

Sasuke seethed inwardly while merely crossing his arms and sulking. If he wanted to, he probably could bust out of this shitty hospital. If he put his mind to it. He could probably set the whole town ablaze, because even without sight his sharingan could cause aimless havoc. He didn't need Kakashi watching over him like some perverted babysitter. He didn't need anyone. He was perfectly capable of managing on his own.

"So do you want that shower, or not?"

"Hn," Sasuke growled, grabbing the edge of the blanket and throwing it to the side. He sat up quickly, only to stop suddenly and hold his head in his hands as his brain threatened to burst.

"Careful, Sasuke, there's no need to rush. Go slow and get used to things." Kakashi held on to the raven's arm to give him added support.

"Get off!" Sasuke yelled, yanking his arm recklessly out of his teacher's grasp. He quickly recoiled back to holding his even more sensitive head.

"Kakashi-sensei, I think he's mad at you..." Naruto whispered as if Sasuke wasn't sitting right there.

"Ah, I believe he is."

There was blissful, gracious silence for several moments. The thundering in his head didn't recede, but the lack of noise certainly helped.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" Naruto asked quietly, stepping a few feet closer.

Nails on a chalkboard.

"Naruto…" Sasuke squeezed out in as quiet of a voice he could manage.

"What?" The blonde's whisper was a bit louder and anticipating.

"Please, just shut the fuck up for a while."

"O-oh." The blond recoiled.

Again there was quiet. After quite a bit of time had passed – and Sasuke wasn't even entirely sure the others were still in the room, except for the fact that he hadn't heard the door open or close – and when he had finally decided that his head was a little bit better, enough so that he could ignore the rest of the throbbing, he lifted his head.

"Feeling better?" Kakashi asked from several feet away. He must have moved over to one of the guest chairs lined up against the wall near the door.

He glanced over in his teacher's direction but turned back to where he was sitting and carefully lifted himself off the edge of the bed. He stood up and locked shaky legs in a standing position at the side of his bed and released his hold on the bed railing once he was sure his legs wouldn't give out on him. His body swayed, like a tall tower is moved by a strong wind. It felt like his head was running in circles around him while still being attached to his shoulders. It was hard to tell if he wasn't falling, descending through an infinite darkness. He wondered when he would hit the hard ground of reality. He took a small step, arms stretched out in front of him. His world rocked even more and his unsteady legs wavered beneath him while his head spun in dizzying circles.

"Careful, Sasuke," Naruto reprimanded, holding up his friend by the arm, "Just take it easy; you don't have to push yourself."

"Hn," he felt connected, like he was actually standing somewhere instead of lost in the abyss.

Naruto tugged on his arm slightly and Sasuke followed with small, unsure steps, just as they had in the forest on their way back to Konoha after being captured by Akatsuki. Even with Naruto there, though, it still felt strange walking in complete darkness, not knowing what lay around you or where you were headed.


"What?" Sasuke growl threateningly. The menace in his voice was almost strong enough to rival the deadliness of the Uchiha Massacre.

"I know, isn't this great?" Naruto practically shouted in ecstasy, nearly bouncing up and down while holding on to the railing on the side of Sasuke's bed.

'No, it's not 'great.'' The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. An intense look of disgust painted itself on Sasuke's features. "No." Honestly, he wondered what the hell the hokage was thinking.

"What?" Naruto stopped his jocular bouncing, his voice sobering and sounding somewhat like a hurt puppy.

If his eyes had not still been wrapped in bandages, with or without sight, he would have sent a staggering glare in the blonde's direction, instead he settled for crossing his arms and a finalizing, "Hn."

"B-but," Naruto stuttered, trying to recover his hurt, "I spent a lot of effort getting your punishment leveled down to just one year of probation and four thousand hours of community service."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, unbeknown to the others who filled the room. He decided to ignore Naruto, since he was being a complete idiot at the moment, "I'm not going to stay in the same fucking house as Naruto. The idiot couldn't help me even if I told him what to do. You must be growing senile in your old age, Hokage-sama, because even you know this moron would be more of a hindrance than a help."

Naruto growled ferally, "Watch your tongue, bastard! Just because you're blind doesn't mean I won't beat your scrawny, white ass senseless!"

Tsunade, it seemed, had no conscious. Her iron fist came down like a hammer upon Sasuke's head, scaring him half way off the bed at the sudden, brutal assault. His surprise was soon overshadowed by the pounding lump on the top of his head.

"Granny, what'd you do that for?" Naruto shot.

She easily brushed the blond off, "Fine, if you don't want to stay with Naruto, I'll just have to put you with Kakashi."

A disturbing giggle came from none other than Kakashi at that very moment.

The Uchiha couldn't quite suppress a shiver as what he imagined would happen if he were to move in with Kakashi. His future looked, at best, dismal. "I will not stay with Kakashi."

Tsunade glared at the unseeing raven, hands placed irritatingly on her hips. She glanced at Kakashi who sat in the corner of the room and who, she knew for a fact, wasn't even reading his book. He had been watching the argument with the surviving Uchiha. She thought it supremely annoying that the brat, Kakashi, would make Sasuke to say no to her compromised offer by making perverted giggles. "This isn't up for debate, Sasuke," she stated, her voice icy.

"I. Am. Not. Going."

"Granny, I thought you said Sasuke was going to stay with me!" Naruto protested, nearly crawling over the bed to get up in Tsunade's face. Sasuke kicked him off his bed and into an uncoordinated pile on the floor, a simmering anger just barely being contained.

"Too bad, Sasuke is being a self-centered brat, so anything previously agreed upon goes out the window," She replied.

Kakashi giggled.

"He could make me his fucking play toy and molest me for his perverted interest, for all you know! Every time I take a shower he'll make some half-assed excuse to get in with me!" Sasuke shouted. He would admit it – even though Kakashi had been his genin instructor – he was quite scared to actually live with the man.

"Sasuke, you know I'm not that way," Kakashi reprimended, a deadly edge in his words; the first words, in fact, that he had said all evening.

Tsunade frowned, "We might have a problem with food poisoning though, Kakashi can't cook to save his life."

"I can cook!" Naruto hollered, crawling back to his feet. Was that…desperation in his voice?

"Naruto, you only know how to cook ramen." Tsunade drawled.

Naruto harrumphed.


It was bad enough walking through the streets of Konoha with a certain orange clad blond holding on to his arm and leading him down the dusty, well traveled road. He didn't need his sight to be able to see the looks of wonder, of confusion, of hatred and malice, and the weight of pitying eyes as they passed. He could feel them. Each felt like a kunai of judgment hitting into him. He wondered at what point he would die. He was sure Naruto could see them too, although he acted oblivious to them. Now he stood stoically right inside Naruto's door and the blond rambled on annoyingly about who knows what. It was an understatement to say that he didn't want to be here. Tsunade had played her cards well and he was forced to choose between Kakashi and Naruto, or add an extra year of community service. Naruto, somehow, won out.

Naruto was moving about the apartment; he was in the kitchen now, mentioning something about having nine different flavors of instant ramen to choose from. Figures. Sasuke sniffed curiously; the entire house smelled of old ramen and…dust bunnies. He grimaced.

It must have been five minutes before the blond realized his teammate wasn't listening to him. "There's only one bedroom, so me and Kakashi put your bed in my room…" Naruto quieted, noticed Sasuke shift impatiently.

Finally silence. "Where's my bed?" Sasuke ordered. He really wasn't in the mood for all this. Newness and change, unwanted memories. Dependence and weakness.

Naruto stood and watched Sasuke for a moment. He looked almost the same as the old Sasuke he once knew. Older, more mature now, more defined muscles, longer hair. Distant. Then there were the stark white bandages that contrasted with his lightly tanned skin. They wrapped around his head, covering his eyes. Still, he could see Sasuke's insecurity play out through his expressions and body language, something he had only seen on rare occasions before. It unnerved him; he wasn't quite sure how to react to a Sasuke that showed his feelings and emotions.

Sasuke frowned, wondering what the idiot was doing. He reached out his hands slightly and moved his foot forward a small amount. "Naruto…" He tried to sound threatening, but his voice came out uncertain.

Naruto stepped forward quickly, and grabbed on to Sasuke's elbow, "Come on."

Sasuke stepped forward and cautiously walked with Naruto, his free hand trailing against the wall. His knees eventually ran into his bed. He pulled out of Naruto's hold and felt along its surface. It was already made with one pillow on the left side. He sat down on it, a guarded expression as his face when he turned his head in Naruto's direction.

"So…" the blond drawled, "I'll just, um, be in the living room."

Sasuke nodded shortly and listened to Naruto cross the floor and shut the bedroom door on his way out. He waited a moment, trying to listen to Naruto move about in the main room, and then slowly laid down on his side. The pillow was just as he remembered it, a hard and unforgiving thing. The sheets were clean smelling, like lavender. He wondered if Sakura had washed them. He thought it strange that his teammates would keep all his stuff for him since he hadn't planned on returning to the village. "Morons," he mumbled to himself, turning onto his back and placing his laced hands over his chest. He wondered what time it was, he was already tired – not sleepy – just worn out. It couldn't have been later than two. He had been given a check-up at one and declared well enough to leave with Naruto. "Stupid Naruto and his fucking big mouth." His whisper sounded loud to his own ears. He didn't think it was loud enough for his blond ex-teammate to hear, even if he did, it didn't really matter.


Naruto silently opened the door to his bedroom and peered in. It had been four hours since Sasuke had lain down. He was beginning to worry that something had happened. He hadn't heard a sound since leaving his sightless teammate. There was Sasuke's bed, laying along the opposite wall. Sasuke lay on his side, one hand tucked under his pillow and the other laying in front of his face. The blankets below him were in a bit of disarray as if he had been tossing and turning in his sleep due to some action-packed dream.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered, not knowing if he was awake or asleep. No movement. "Maybe he didn't hear me..." He mused to himself. A moment of debate found him quietly walking across the room to the raven's bedside. "Sasuke?" he asked in a low voice, "Are you awake?"

Sasuke's eyebrows pushed together and he mumbled something incoherently.

Naruto hummed quietly to himself and retreated from the bedroom. He had to go meet Sakura and Kakashi for their Friday night team dinner. He had planned on bringing Sasuke along, or at least tell him that he was leaving, but it seemed he needed the sleep.


Sasuke awoke with a start from a terrifying, colored world, to an equally frighteningly dark one. He sat up quickly in bed and winced when his head started spinning. He took account of his surroundings; there were insects playing a chorus of songs outside, but he didn't hear anyone in the room nor the adjacent living room. He couldn't detect the slight warmth from the sun shining through the window above his bed anymore either. He swung his legs over the bed and stood up slowly, "Naruto?" he advanced slowly with his arms searching to the opposite side of the room where he knew the door was. When he found it, it was open. "Naruto?" He called again in the doorway. He sighed heavily and leaned against the frame and rubbed at his face. The dream…the nightmare he'd been having every night since he'd returned was gruesome and painful. It was so real. "Gah!"He shouted tired of the grossly sanitary bandages, of constant annoyance of pain in his eyes, and of the darkness!

He walked back into the bedroom against the right wall that led him to the bathroom. He flipped the light switch and stared blankly at the mirror. His finger tips reached out to graze the mirror if front of him, making sure it was there. His hand clenched and his breathing grew labored and angry. He yelled as loud and long as he could and punched the mirror, then ripped away his bandages in an uncoordinated tantrum.

Blood dripped from his knuckles and he clenched the sink so hard his knuckles turned white, leaning over it for support and letting his head hang down. He had thrown his bandages somewhere off to the left and had kicked the mirror's ass until his anger had subsided and he was breathing heavily.


Naruto walked through the door, kicking it closed as he flipped the lights on with his elbow while holding the ramen he'd brought home for Sasuke and a few bags of groceries. "Sasuke..." he froze mid-step upon seeing his friend seated at the dining table, fingers knitted and elbows firmly rooted on the surface as he looked straight ahead. His knuckles were cut up, shallow but fresh. His clothes were a little bloodied. But, most noticeably, Sasuke had taken off his bandages. His eyes were open, but they were not their normal onyx color as they had always been. The edges had began graying, creeping towards the center. They were hollow, distant. They bore through Naruto, as if looking at something far behind him.

"What?" Sasuke snapped.

The blond shook out of his shock. "Nothing," he mumbled and walked next to him and setting the bag of ramen on the table in front of the Uchiha. He continued to the adjacent kitchen, starting to put away the few groceries he'd bought, while Sasuke's hand explored the contents of the back, pulling out a steaming cup of noodles. He fished for the chop sticks and sloppily began eating.

"We missed you tonight; it was our team dinner. You were asleep when I left. Next time you should come, Sasuke."

He ignored the blond and concentrated instead on finding noodles and aiming them into his mouth.

"What time did you wake up?" Naruto asked curiously, walking back over to the table.

"I don't know, an hour or two ago."

Naruto hummed in responses and retreated into his bedroom. A few minutes later…"Sasuke! What the hell happened in here?"

Sasuke gulped down another mouthful of food, wiping his mouth with the back side of his hand he called, "Oh yea, Naruto, your mirror broke."