Fourth chapter out! Read and enjoy, like I always says (writes). And if you have some time over, post a comment! I would appreciate it very much.

The One or the Other

Chapter 4: One problem less

"Sasuke?"

He opened his eyes. Everything was blurred. He saw only something yellow move above him. He had headache and insured himself that the head was going to explode. He closed his eyes and tried to come back to the reality.

"I don't now…" the voice sounded again. Someone felt on his forehead. "No, it's cold."

Sasuke opened his eyes again and this time he didn't see everything so blurred. He tried to sit up but the body didn't want to do like he wanted.

"Welcome back," someone said. After a couple of seconds he understood that Naruto was the one who had been the yellow thing. He blinked a few times. Then he got aware of the pain he had in his whole body, not just the head.

"What happened?" he asked confused and saw Sakura and Tsunade behind Naruto. They were in Naruto's apartment and Sasuke was in Naruto's bed. He sat up, slowly but got dizzy nevertheless.

"You don't remember?" Tsunade asked angry. Sasuke recoiled. Why was she angry? "What you've done… it's not forgivable." She got red in her face because of the anger and she tried to make herself calmer.

"No, I don't remember," Sasuke said ashamed. "I only remember that Kakashi and I were walking to a place…" He took a quick look at Naruto, the blond boy looked scared.

"You hurt Kakashi and two others," Sakura said. There were no signs of anger or sadness in her face; it looked like she didn't have any emotions.

"I hurt them?" Sasuke looked at his shaky hands, could those hands have done something like that? "No, it can't be…"

"The people that were there when it happened saw it clearly."

Sasuke's memory came back. The public, the anger and the power. He remembered everything.

"They had right," he said. Naruto took a step forward and sat on the bed, beside Sasuke's legs.

"What did you say?" he asked. Sasuke didn't like Naruto's searching eyes. The eyes searched through his entire body. They searched for wrongs, mistakes and failure. They saw everything.

"Can you stop look at me?" Sasuke said irritated. He moved and stood up, and then he looked down at Naruto's scared face.

"Why does everyone stare at me like I'm a maniac?" He felt the prickly feeling again and he saw the black marks appear on his arms. Everyone took a step backward. The power took over him again and Sasuke understood at once what was going to happen. The same thing that happened to Kakashi. He lost control of his mind and the next second he attacked Naruto. Naruto got unconscious and fell to the floor. Sasuke prepared the lightning and then he shot it straight to the unconscious Naruto. Naruto stopped to breathe and become lifeless. Tsunade tried to make resistance but failed. Her life ended with a lightning too. Sakura stood on her place beside the table, she was panting and terrified.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. Her eyes were wide opened in panic. She prepared herself to fight. Three seconds later she lay on the floor, with her own blood surrounding her. The apartment became a bloody and dead mess. The corpses lay everywhere. There were three dead persons lying there and Sasuke was the murderer.

"Sasuke, wake up!" Sasuke got conscious. Someone shook him desperately. When he opened his eyes the one that shook him stopped. He still lay on Naruto's bed. Naruto, Sakura and Tsunade surrounded him like before. Sasuke was confused. What happened?

"But I killed you," he said. He felt the sweat drain on his back. His hands were shaking.

"No, Sasuke. You fainted… and dreamed all that, I suppose." Naruto bent over the bed and opened the window. The wind blew in and cooled Sasuke. It started to get dark, the night was coming. The sunset coloured the sky in an orange way.

"Everything seems to be alright now, so we leave you guys," Tsunade said and nodded at Sakura. They left and Sasuke and Naruto were alone. Sasuke sighed, they were finally alone.

"Move," Naruto said and waited for Sasuke to move over to the side nearest the window. Then he sat on the bed. He stretched out the legs and his head was leaning on the wall.

"Why were Tsunade here? She has more important things to do, I assume," Sasuke said suspiciously.

"Eh…no one knew what was wrong with you and if you lay in the hospital you would probably run away, I think." Naruto scratched his head.

"Hn. I think I'm not the one that runs away from hospitals here." Naruto started to laugh.

"You never know, maybe someone would scare you," Naruto said and then understood how ridiculous it was. Sasuke, scared?

"I can be scared," Sasuke said like he could read Naruto's thoughts. He sat up and closed the window because it got too cold.

"Name once when you was scared."

"When I… No I wasn't scared that time…."

"Just admit it!" Naruto shouted and threw a pillow on Sasuke. It landed right on his head and then bounced down on the bed again. They laughed for a while at the strange situation. Sasuke thought for a longer time and knew that he had an answer.

"I was scared when Itachi killed the Uchiha clan," Sasuke said and made the mood seriously again. He had his arms crossed behind his head. The black hair surrounded his head and it was so black that a dark-blue colour appeared. His black shirt highlighted his torso, his skinny torso. A question came into Naruto's mind.

"Well, that isn't odd. Everyone would be scared to death if they were in a situation like that." Naruto lay down and spun around, with his question in his mind. He looked into the dark eyes and he could almost see himself in the clear surface.

"I suppose so," Sasuke said and swam around in the blue pools.

"Sasuke," Naruto said. "Will you ever be a shinobi again?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows in surprise and sighed.

"I don't know. Can I ever be allowed? I mean, after what I've done?" Naruto looked away from Sasuke and thought for a while. It wasn't an easy question.

"I don't know if you're allowed… but do you want to?" Naruto asked Sasuke. The black-haired thought for an even longer moment but turned around so he was laid face-to-face with the blond one.

"I have no idea; I mean what else can I do?" Sasuke answered. "I must train really hard to become like I was before and I don't have anyone with me this time. I must do it for myself."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and gazed into his black eyes.

"You know, you don't need to do it for yourself. I can be with you."

No, Naruto. You can't." Sasuke declined the proposal. Naruto raised his eyebrows and you could see clear that he was shocked.

"What's that suppose to mean, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. He was a little disappointed on Sasuke. He had come up with a proposal but Sasuke declined it, he had hoped that he could help him.

"After everything you've done for me and after nothing I've done for you… I just can't accept your help."

"Why not? It's not your problem."

"Actually it is. I see how sad you are every day because of the past and the way you blame yourself for everything. You blame yourself for everything I've done."

"Sasuke…it's not like that. You're my friend, that's what friends are for."

"Hn, I must be a really good friend. I left the village and all I wanted and cared about was revenge on my brother that wasn't as evil as I thought. Then I came back and attacked the villagers. Yes, I am a really good friend." Sasuke was sarcastic and moved his arms from the back of his head and laid the arms on his chest, still crossed.

"I think that you don't understand how a friend is and what they are for. That's the whole explanation."

"Why were you my friend after all? I did never listen to you and I insulted you in front of everyone. I didn't like you at all back then."

"You didn't hate me, Sasuke," Naruto answered. "You needed somebody to listen to you. I waited for the moment and then you finally opened your mouth. You didn't say the words that I wanted you to say, but at least I knew how you felt. That's the important thing, Sasuke."

"I don't understand how you're thinking," Sasuke said confused.

"Well, it's easy to say for me because I have friends and I'm used to it. But the only way to describe it for you is that I have known you a while now and I think I love you." Naruto closed his mouth, what did he just say?

"You…love me? Well, you're the kindest and bravest person I've ever known; I can never live up to that. You have an evil beast inside you but you have fought and shoved people who you really are. That's why I love you, Naruto, because you're just so damn beautiful. Both your outside and your inside."

Naruto almost dropped his mouth in surprise. What had Sasuke just said? He couldn't believe it; it sounded unreal to hear from someone like Sasuke.

"But…" Naruto said but was interrupted.

"Stop talking now, Naruto. It's not just your words I want," Sasuke said and turned around and kissed Naruto on his cheek. He hugged him, hard, and buried his nose in the yellow hair.

Naruto hugged him back and began to kiss the black-haired one on the neck. He took a deep breath and stopped thinking. All troubles were gone, everything that mattered was Sasuke. He kissed the neck harder and enjoyed every single moment.

Sasuke moved, still wrapped in Naruto's arms, and sat up. He took of his shirt and Naruto gazed at the naked torso. Sasuke moved again and this time over to Naruto. He caressed Naruto's chest and kissed him. He moved his pale hands lower, at the same time as he crept closer and finally sat on the boy. He pulled of Naruto's shirt, cautiously, and kissed him every second that past. Naruto had his eyes closed and his lips were formed into a smile. Sasuke took Naruto's head in his hands and gave him a really long kiss. Almost too long, Naruto couldn't breathe and opened his blue eyes. The light from the lamps was reflected in the eyes and they sparkled more than ever. Sasuke couldn't understand how he could be so perfect. So gorgeous.

Sasuke felt how his whole body got warmer. He gave Naruto a kiss on his chest, then lower down.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said, he was enjoying this. He wanted to take the lead and instead of get kisses he gave kisses. He wrapped Sasuke in his arms again and put him closer to himself. Blue eyes met black eyes for a second but then one of them closed his eyes and become the one who smiled. They switched places. Naruto kissed him everywhere, first on his neck and finally around his bellybutton. He made swirls with his tongue on the almost hairless torso. Then he stopped for a moment and looked up in Sasuke's face.

"I love you, Sasuke," he said and let the love control him. He took Sasuke's head in his hands and kissed him.

"I love you, Naruto," Sasuke answered and kissed Naruto back. But, still with his eyes closed. At the same time as the warmth raised a strange pain woke up inside one of them. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and ignored the pain he felt in his stomach. He kissed Sasuke on more time on the mouth but then took Sasuke's right hand in his and kissed it. He kissed every fingertip and took a deep breath again.

"Sasuke, I don't feel very well," he said. The other one opened his eyes and let Naruto go off him. He sat up and took Naruto's hands in his.

"What's the problem?" he asked worried. He looked deep in the blue eyes.

"It hurts again…I feel dizzy…" Then something red dropped from his mouth and landed on the messy bed. His eyes closed and he fell backward.

"Naruto..!" Sasuke stood up immediately and put on his shirt fast, and then he took Naruto in his arms and ran out from the apartment.

"How is he?" Sasuke asked the doctor. He sat on an armchair but stood up when he saw the doctor who came out from Naruto's room.

The doctor looked confused but tried to cheer up the moment and smiled. The woman held a journal in her hands.

"He had internal bleedings but, luckily, he was here right in time so we could stop the bleedings."

"How could it happen?"

"We don't have a clue; everything was just a mess inside his stomach. We don't know how this could happen because we didn't find anything that shoved how this could occur. Everything except the bleedings looked fine." The doctor looked really confused and hugged the journal. "He needs to rest, but you can go inside and sit with him, if you want to." The doctor smiled and walked away.

Sasuke opened the door as soon as the doctor disappeared and took a step inside the room. He walked toward the bed that the blond boy lay in. Sasuke grabbed an armchair and moved it closer to the bed. He sat down and rested his head on the bed. The night outside explained his tiredness. He wanted to close his eyes and sleep but stayed awake if Naruto woke up. He turned his head and looked at the sleeping boy. Nothing moved except his chest that rose with every new breath he took. Sasuke took the hand that lay near him and caressed it. It was cold and pale. Pale like Naruto's face.

"Naruto..." Sasuke said and closed his eyes. He was too tired; Naruto wouldn't wake up for a while. He fell asleep with Naruto's hand in his.

The sunrise created a ribbon of all colours on the sky. But the colour strongest colour was the orange. The sunrise lit up the hospital room and painted the white walls with its colour. It didn't warm up the cold boy or woke up the sleeping boy, but the sunrise delivered calm.

The blond, cold boy looked though the windows and looked at the sunrise.

It was a nice way to woke up on; to see the ribbon of all the colours and see the one he loved the most to his left side. Sasuke was sleeping and he caressed the cheek that was upside and pulled with the black hair. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes again at the same time as he smiled. He was happy; he had everything he wanted now. He had someone to live with, someone to love and someone to talk about troubles with. The happiness had been exactly in front of him for years but he didn't know then. He hadn't now then how the black-haired boy had felt. He didn't know that both of them were in love.

Then he felt that Sasuke woke up. He saw the black eyes open and he took of his hand from Sasuke's head and let him sit up. The hair on the left side was flattened and he looked tired, like you do every morning when you wake up.

"Hey," Naruto said to Sasuke.

"Good morning." Sasuke yawned and stretched his arms. "How do you feel?" He laid his head on his hands that he rested on the bed. He looked to the right and found Naruto there.

"I don't know really. It hurts in my stomach, it feels like fire."

"Hn, the doctor told me what happened. You had internal bleedings but they couldn't find out why," Sasuke told Naruto.

"What? I mean… internal bleedings from nowhere?" Naruto didn't look as confused as the doctor but if he didn't look confused he looked like he didn't understand anything at all.

"Yeah, it's really weird, isn't it?" Naruto saw a shadow move outside the window that was between the corridor and the room. It stopped in front of the door and opened it. A man walked inside and was leaning on two crutches. His right leg was wrapped in bandage and so was his head too.

"I thought I heard the right rumours," Kakashi said happily and cheered up, but the no one could see his smiling mouth because of the bandages.

"How are you, Kakashi?" Naruto asked and sat up more straight. Sasuke stood up and sat on Naruto's bed instead and let Kakashi take the armchair.

"I'm better but as you see I will not be able to do anything exiting for a while." Naruto looked at Sasuke who looked out through the windows. "I heard that you came here too, what happened to you?" Kakashi placed the crouches on the floor.

"I don't know, actually, no one does. Everything happened so fast…I had internal bleedings from nowhere." Kakashi raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"That sounds odd…" Kakashi said. "And you didn't do anything that could be the reason for it?" Naruto looked at Sasuke, who looked at Naruto, and smiled.

"No, nothing weird at all."

"I see… why are you smiling?" Kakashi asked. His question sounded a little mean but Naruto understood why he had asked the question. It was the wrong thing to do in this serious conversation.

"Well…nothing," Naruto answered and stopped smile. Sasuke did almost start to laugh at the little odd moment but turned his head in an angle so Kakashi wouldn't notice. Unfortunately he didn't succeed to.

"Its feel like I've missed something," he said. "What are you guys smiling and laughing about?"

"Nothing really, your question was funny. Nothing else."

"Why didn't you come and visit me yesterday, Naruto? You've visited everyone else but not me," Kakashi said a little sad.

"I was busy, but if I had time I promise you that I had visited you."

"What did you do? No team had a mission yesterday what I can remember."

"He was with me all day," Sasuke said. "We had a few things to do."

"Okay." A loud voice was heard from the corridor. Someone called for Kakashi. "Have they already found out that I was gone?" He took the crouches in his hands and stood up.

"Good bye, then."

"See you later, you two," he said and walked out from the room. He closed the door behind him and at the same time Naruto and Sasuke started to laugh.

"If he just knew what we were doing," Sasuke tried to say properly as he laughed. "He would have freaked out."

"Stop talking, Sasuke, you're making my stomach hurt again!" Naruto laughed. Sasuke jumped down from the bed and sneaked toward the window. He looked out on the staff.

"They're acting weird because of our laugh," he said. Then he moved the curtains so no one could see in. He walked back again and sat on the bed. Naruto moved over to one side and Sasuke lay to Naruto's left side. "Everything is a bit strange."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, confused because of the fast subject change.

"Well, I'm acting all weird around people and suddenly, you have bleedings in your stomach. I mean, nothing is like it should be."

"I guess not," Naruto said and closed his eyes, he was tired. "I need to take a nap." Sasuke let Naruto's head rest on his shoulder and he pulled with his fingers in the blond hair. He gazed out through the windows but then heard a sound from the corridor outside the room. Sasuke didn't see who it was because of the curtains. He turned his head and ignored the voices. Then he rested his head light on Naruto's and closed his eyes. He started to fell asleep, though Naruto was the only one that needed it.

But he opened his eyes as soon as he heard the sound of a door open.

Tsunade closed the door behind her and walked toward the windows. She was looking surprised, which wasn't strange because of her first sight in the room. Tsunade looked out and let the sunshine warm her face.

"Are both of you better now?" she asked Sasuke.

"Yes."

"I suppose that you know why I'm here?"

"Yes."

Tsunade turned her head and looked into the black eyes. She tried desperately to see more than danger in the boy.

"It's really hard to be a Hokage…" she began. "You want to save all the villagers from out coming threats and protect them with more than your own life. But it's hard because not everyone gets pleased with the moves you make. If someone changes side it is obviously that the person is an enemy to you and your village. But if the new enemy wants to change side again, then of course it's even less easy to make decisions. Of course you want to have an enemy less, but what if the enemy comes to the village and its powers is out of control? What to do? Can you imprison it, or abandon it? Do you want to send it to another village and hope that its friends don't die because of grief?" Tsunade looked at Naruto and raised one of her eyebrows.

"Can't you do something about it?" Sasuke asked. "I don't know what is going on but I'm not happy about it."

"I don't know…I've never seen anything like this."

"I just want that everything will be fine, that Naruto will be fine. It's something with the curse, but Orochimaru is dead so why isn't the curse gone?"

"Is Orochimaru dead?" Tsunade asked shocked and her eyes got bigger. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I found out yesterday," Sasuke said. Why did he say it? Maybe Itachi didn't want that Sasuke told someone about it.

"Oh…I see. Well, one out," Tsunade said, she sounded a bit sad about the news.

"It's seems like you're sad..?" Sasuke said hesitantly. Is it words that you can say to the Hokage?

"He was my friend and my enemy. We were like siblings, though it didn't look like it. Of course it's bad news, even for a Hokage. But…you aren't. So I have made my decision." Tsunade looked on Naruto again. The boy was sleeping and his head was resting on Sasuke's shoulder. He had his hand in Sasuke's and he smiled. He was happy in those arms. "I won't imprison you or send you to another village. I have to do some researches about your curse but everything will be fine for now, I think."

"It's because of Naruto, right?" Sasuke asked. He knew that she made her decision because of the blond one. She couldn't do something mean to Sasuke because Naruto would get mad at her then.

"It's because of both of you. You look so happy together and I don't want to take the happiness away from you. Naruto need to be happy, he deserve it."

"Yeah, he does."

"But I told you everything I needed to tell you. Don't let Naruto leave the hospital before the doctor commands it." Sasuke waved at her and the door was closed again. Naruto moved his head and opened his eyes.

"Who was it?" Naruto asked.

"Tsunade. We have a problem less."