Within These Empty Walls

By SasukeUchihasGuardian

Well here you go! ;) Sorry for the slow update :P Please enjoy!

Chapter 6: Deprived

Kakashi watched as Tsunade carefully inserted an IV drip through Sasuke's wrist while he slept. The drip contained pure water, since the boy was barely drinking anything at all. She checked over Sasuke's vitals, marking everything down on a clipboard so she could later review the information and possible find a way to help him.

Kakashi brushed the bangs back from Sasuke's face, and he felt a small noise come from the back of Sasuke's throat as he began to wake up. He smiled from under his mask, glad he was rousing. He had slept for a good three hours, which seemed like a miracle, since the last few days the longest he could manage was about a half an hour.

It was painful to watch Sasuke when he was awake. To see his favorite student whimpering and screaming and crying out in agony broke his heart. He couldn't stand to see his hallucinating student weakly cry for his parents and his brother. He couldn't stand to tell him the heartbreaking news that he wasn't the father that Sasuke was calling him. He couldn't stand to see Sasuke at the verge of death.

His condition was slowly worsening with each day passing.

He could barely stomach any food without throwing it back up, and when he did, it caused terrible stomach pain. No matter how dehydrated he was, he never drank any water. He no longer had the strength to stand or even to sit up in bed. He was constantly feeling sore, dizzy, and tired, but his body refused to let him sleep long or peacefully. Nightmares haunted even the half an hour naps. Sasuke dreamed of Orochimaru. He dreamed of the terrifying experience he had with him, and the pain of the curse mark that glowed as he slept. It sickened Kakashi.

"Kakashi…" Sasuke's pained voice whispered. Kakashi could hear the slight wheeze to it. "W…water…"

He stood up and got him a cold glass of water in a little plastic cup. He drank about half of it, and then rested his head back against the pillow again. "I don't… feel good…"he murmured tiredly, flopping an arm over his eyes. "Can't they give me more painkillers?"

"They can, but you're the one who doesn't want to be drowsy…" Kakashi sighed.

"I don't care anymore… the pain's too strong." He growled through grit teeth.

Kakashi sighed and called in a nurse, who appeared a few seconds later. Kakashi told her that Sasuke wanted more painkillers, so she went to go fetch a medic. A few seconds later, a medic came in.

"Sasuke Uchiha, correct? My name is Kenichi. You want a higher dosage of painkillers, right?" He asked , in a friendly, calm voice.

Sasuke weakly nodded, so he continued.

"I can either give you a large amount, and you'll probably sleep for a short while, but when you wake up the pain will be a lot less. Or I can give a lighter amount and you'll be pretty drowsy, but you might not sleep right away." He explained. "Which one do you want?"

Kakashi turned to look at Sasuke who just whispered. "First one."

He nodded and took out a syringe filled with a dull green liquid. He injected it into Sasuke's arm, and wiped the blood away. "There you go." He smiled. "Anything else?"

Sasuke shook his head, so he nodded and left to help other patients.

Kakashi sat down on the bed by Sasuke's head and turned to face him. "Good job." He said blandly.

"Hn…." Sasuke was already feeling the effects of it. "Works fast…" as soon as he said that, his eyelids slipped shut. Kakashi laughed quietly, brushing fingers through the beautiful black locks.

I forgot to ask how long he'd sleep for. Probably not that long... He thought as he pulled out his book and began reading again.

Sure enough, only ten minutes later, Sasuke was up again. Instead of his usual awakenings with a cry of pain or a grunt of discomfort, he woke up soundlessly. If Kakashi hadn't sensed the stir of chakra, he wouldn't have even known he was awake.

"Sleep well?" Kakashi asked him. Sasuke just blinked heavily, not answering the question. His sensei could immediately tell the drugs had taken effect on him.

He patted his head and just stroked through his hair, continuing to read his book. He would every once in awhile hear a deep breath or a silent word pass through Sasuke's parted lips, but for the most part, he was silent.

Kakashi looked down at him and realized his eyes were halfway shut, and he went back to his book, glad Sasuke was falling asleep, but he suddenly was alert as he felt Sasuke's whole entire body jolt upwards.

"Sasuke?" He whispered unsurely.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke screamed as tears began to flood from his eyes. "ITACHI NO! STOP IT! ITACHI!" He cried. Sobs escaped from him as he grabbed his head and tugged his hair.

"Sasuke! Stop!" Kakashi whispered, wondering what had set the boy off. He didn't understand how Sasuke suddenly had the energy to move so much. He was practically thrashing as his sensei tried his best to calm him down.

What Kakashi didn't know, is Orochimaru had placed a jutsu on Sasuke's body, so he could use a clone to sneak into the hospital room, and only Sasuke could see him. Before Sasuke could say anything, it had used genjutsu to entrap Sasuke into a dreamlike place where he had to watch Itachi kill everybody close to him.

Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs, even when Kakashi pulled him tightly to his chest to try and calm him down. Kakashi whispered words of comfort but it was no use.

"Sasuke it's okay…" He whispered, but since Sasuke was still trapped in the genjutsu, he couldn't even hear Kakashi's voice. He was still watching as Itachi killed everybody in a gory way.

"STOP IT!" He cried out, sobbing into Kakashi's vest. Kakashi could believe Sasuke wasn't even calming down. He figured the only reason nurses and doctors weren't coming in was because they were used to hearing him screaming from the nightmares, and now they knew what it was.

"Sasuke… calm down… it's okay…" Sasuke still didn't stop. After a good ten minutes, the clone ran out of chakra, and released the genjutsu, disappearing from sight. Sasuke finally stopped crying and panted roughly as he tried to regain himself. Kakashi pressed him tighter against his chest.

"Sasuke… calm down… it was just a dream… you're okay… you're okay… "he whispered softly.

Kakashi noticed the screaming had finally stopped, replaced with sobs and cries as Sasuke finally had gotten a grip on reality.

"Kakashi!" He sobbed into the green vest, squeezing the fabric in a death grip. Kakashi wrapped his arms around him tighter as he rocked him, his body gently swaying back in forth as an attempt to soothe him. He whispered words of comfort and stroked through his hair. He didn't care how long he sat there, rocking his frightened student that had lost all of his pride and his sanity to a demon like Orochimaru. All he cared about was Sasuke being okay.

It had taken three and a half hours, even with the strong painkillers and a light sedative in his system, of Kakashi's slow rocking and soothing words to finally put Sasuke to sleep. He wouldn't stop sobbing the entire time. Kakashi refused to lie him down in fear he would wake up again. Instead, he called Tsunade in through the button on the bed. Through the microphone, he whispered. "Tsunade, get in here. Now."

Within a few minutes, the Hokage was in the room. She paused when she saw Kakashi holding Sasuke so gently. "Is he asleep?" She asked, quietly walking up to him. He nodded and she put a hand to his forehead, sending chakra through his system to examine him.

"His body is so out of control right now." Even in his sleep, his breath would hitch every ten seconds or so, which was enough to inform Tsunade that he had been crying. Hard.

"What exactly happened in here?" She asked.

Kakashi explained to her. "Sasuke was drugged up on some painkillers, and I was just reading. I looked down and his eyes were half shut so I figured he was fine and just normally falling asleep. Suddenly, he just screamed Itachi and began screaming and crying his lungs out. I tried to comfort him but no use. He must've sat there screaming for a half an hour before he finally stopped and just continued bawling. I held him and rocked him and whispered comforting words to him for three and a half hours before he finally fell asleep, still crying, in my arms." He explained, stroking Sasuke's hair more. Tsunade jotted everything down. "I can't believe he did that. I have no idea what set him off. You didn't mention anything about his brother did you?" He shook his head.

"I've learned that in his highly drugged state, his mind is pretty unstable, and little things like saying brother upsets him, but I'm not sure what caused him to go off like that. A memory, perhaps? Anyway, if he's went this long sobbing like that and without any rest at all, especially with that mark hurting him as much as it is, he needs some rest. I think it's best he's sedated for at least a few hours." She sighed. "When he's fully put under, I can have the medics that can check him over emotionally and mentally. Hopefully we can see what's wrong, but because of what Orochimaru did to him, I wouldn't be too surprised if things like this become a regular thing. Kakashi, are you sure you want to continue going through with this?" She asked.

"Of course. He's my student. I'm not about to let Orochimaru get in the way. He needs me now more than ever." He said. "I'm not leaving him." He felt Sasuke snuggle into him more, and he put a hand on his back. Tsunade watched Sasuke's actions and sighed.

"Even in his sleep huh? Alright. I'll rearrange stuff with the medics. You will be allowed to stay here at all times. You may eat, shower, and sleep here. You can stay with Sasuke." She nodded.

"Thank you, Tsunade." He whispered in relief.

She nodded, and prepared the anesthesia. Even though Kakashi laid Sasuke down as gently as he could, Sasuke still woke up to the loss of contact, but with Tsunade holding the mask over his mouth and nose, his weak struggles against it died down and he slowly drifted off. Kakashi sighed and watched Tsunade finish up and leave afterwards.

"I won't let Orochimaru or Itachi hurt you Sasuke… I promise." He whispered to the sleeping boy, sealing the promise with a gentle kiss on the forehead.

End! Here's an extra long chapter for the long wait! I'm so sorry about that! I hope you enjoyed! PLEASE review! :D

~SasukeUchihasGuardian