Author's Note: I hope that you guys are liking this story. I have quite a few more ides for it, so I really have no idea when this story will end. I hope that you guys can be patient with me.

Fulofhyperness, you are amazing. I love to call you my friend. You have a special place in my heart. I hope that you know that.


Chapter 7: Regrets And Pain


"Who are you? Do you know a Naruto Uzumaki? I was told that he lived here." Came the voice. When I heard it, I felt my body moving of its own accord. I went straight for the door and looked around Sai's shoulder to look at a face that I thought had been lost to me.

"Sasuke." I breathed. I couldn't understand why he was here.

I saw Sai look at my face then at Sasuke's then back to mine. I looked at him and saw that his eyes had gone emotionless again.

"I see. I will leave you two be then. Good-bye Naruto." Sai said. Before I could stop him, he had already left. I looked at his back for a minute before Sasuke grabbed my attention by speaking.

"Naruto! Wow, you haven't changed much have you? Still as beautiful as ever." Sasuke said. I reluctantly tore my gaze from Sai's back and focused my sight on Sasuke's face.

"You haven't change much either. Your hair is longer though." I said.

"Yeah. I decided that I wanted to try and grow it out a bit. Do you like it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. It looks good on you. Would you like to come in?" I asked. Sasuke graced me with a smile and I felt strange.

'It just isn't the same as Sai. I wish he were still here.' I thought. I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts before moving to the side so that he could come in. He walked in and sat on the couch.

"You don't have much in here do you?" He asked.

"No. I haven't been able to get much. The stuff I have here, I paid outrageous prices. No one will sell me things for the actual price." I said. Sasuke looked at me sideways, but said nothing. It concerned me a bit. The Sasuke that I used to know would have been so furious that I would have to calm him down myself if he had learned that I was having it hard. I just shrugged it off. After all, we hadn't seen each other in a really long time.

"So... what brings you here at this hour? It's nighttime." I said.

"I wanted to see you. I finally left that creep, Orochimaru. I wanted to come back and see if you would be mine again." Sasuke said.

"I don't know Sasuke. I haven't seen you for such a long time. Why don't we take it slow for a bit." I said. I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to go back to him.

"All right." Sasuke said. I could hear a strange tone in his voice, but I couldn't place it. I forced it to the back of my mind.

"So, where are you staying?" I asked, partly to change the subject, and partly because I was curious.

"Nowhere right now. I just got back into town. I have nowhere to go right now." Sasuke said.

"You can stay here until you get back on your feet." I said.

"Thank you Naruto. I think I will." Sasuke said.

"Well, I am going to go to bed. I am tired." I said. Sasuke nodded, so I made my way to my room.

As I lay there, trying to get to sleep, I noticed two things. One, I didn't even offer Sasuke to sleep in my room like I had with Sai. Second, I found that it wasn't difficult for me to get to sleep, regardless of another person in the house. Honestly, it was almost as if Sasuke wasn't even there. That thought bothered me a bit.

'Am I really that into Sai? I need to talk to him tomorrow.' I thought to myself. With that decided, I fell asleep. However, I dreamed of Sai again. I couldn't seem to help it.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" Sai asked. I could hear an edge to his voice that cut me deeper than any knife ever came close to. I couldn't understand why he was acting like this.

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I came here to see you. Why are you being so hostile?" I asked in response.

"You honestly don't know? Well then, let me enlighten you. You obviously don't love me, so what is the point of staying here? You aren't going to return the feelings that I have for you, and there is no reason for me to have to go through that kind of suffering. I would rather die." Sai said. With that, he turned and vanished.

I stood, rooted to the spot, tears streaming down my face.

'What the hell does he mean when he said that I don't love him? Of course I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't have invited him to stay with me. I mean, I barely know him, yet I trust him enough to stay in my home. Maybe I was wrong when I thought he liked me as well.' I thought to myself.

I started to cry harder than I ever had before, even harder than when I had lost Sasuke. That told me right then and there that I loved Sai. I just wish that he could see that.

When I woke up, I had to work my eyes open. They almost seemed glued shut, and I knew why. I had apparently been crying in my sleep. A lot, if the dampness of my pillow meant anything.

'I have to go and talk with him. If I don't, I may go insane.' I thought. With that in mind, I got up out of bed and got ready.

When I walked out of my room, I saw that Sasuke was still passed out on my couch. I quickly tiptoed my way around him and left. When I left the apartment, I half expected someone to be waiting outside to beat me up. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that no one was there. When I remembered why, I felt myself going into a sort of depression.

"Why do I feel this way?" I asked myself out loud. When I felt the pricks in the corners of my eyes, I let myself cry a bit. Before it could be turned into a full blown crying session, I forced the tears back. I set out, looking for the one that held my heart so strongly.

My first thought was to look through a phone book and see if he had a number or address, but then I realized that that was a horrible idea. He was my age. He wouldn't have anything like that. Then I thought about going to Iruka's. I couldn't see anything wrong with that idea, so I set off.

When I got there, I knocked on the door and waited. It didn't take long before I heard footsteps. When the door opened, I felt my eyes bug out of their sockets.

"Yes Naruto?" Kakashi asked. That wouldn't have been all that bad except all he had on was a sheet that covered his privates. I blushed and stammered out an apology.

"So-sorry Se-sensei. I-I'll come b-back another t-time." I stuttered out. I was about to walk away when Iruka's voice stopped me.

"Naruto?" Was all he said. That was enough. I broke down into tears. I was still turned around, but that didn't matter. As soon as a sob racked my body, I couldn't hold back anymore. I let it all out. I was gasping for air, and doing my best not to sob too loud.

"Naruto?" Iruka said. I wanted to run away so that he didn't have to see me like this, but I couldn't move. I couldn't even turn around so that I could look at Iruka.

When I didn't offer a response, Iruka came out and stood in front of me.

"What's the matter Naruto?" Iruka asked. I barely managed a response without stuttering or anything.

"He left me Iruka." I said. I didn't need to say more. Iruka bent down and picked me up. He brought me inside of his home and set me down on his couch. I looked up at him and smiled weakly. I looked at Kakashi and spoke through my tears.

"I am sorry for intruding. I know that I had to have interrupted something. For that, I am sorry." I said.

"Nonsense. You need someone to talk to. Just give me a minute so that I can dress properly." Kakashi said before walking away.

"I hope that he won't be mad at me." I muttered to myself.

"Of course he won't. He knows that it would take a lot for you to break down like that." Iruka said. I started when he spoke.

"You weren't supposed to hear that." I said before I looked down dejectedly. I could feel myself slipping deeper into my depression. I know that Iruka could sense it, but I couldn't get up the energy to fight it. There was just no way for me to stop it.

"Tell me what happened Naruto." Iruka said.

"I invited Sai over to my house for the weekend because he didn't want to go back to his house. Things were going good until we heard a knock at the door. I looked at Sai and he must have seen the fear in my eyes because he said that he would get up and answer it. I let him and, when I heard the voice of the person at the door, I got there as quick as I could. It was Sasuke. I never thought that I would see him again. Sai looked at Sasuke, then at me, then at Sasuke again. After that, he said that he would go and give us time to be alone. I was sad about it, but what really got to me was the dream that I had. In it, Sai left me because he thought that I didn't love him. I tried to tell him that I did, but he said that it was obvious that I didn't. I need to talk to him, to tell him that I do and that I want him in my life." I said.

"I might be able to help you with that. Because I am his teacher, I can find out where he lives. After that, I will take you to see him." Iruka said. I looked up at him in surprise.

"I can't let you do that Iruka-sensei. You could lose your job for that." I said. He just simply smiled at me.

"It doesn't matter. I can't stand to see you like this. I feel like you are like my son. I hate to see you in so much pain." Iruka said. I stared at him in wonder until Kakashi came back in.

"I will go and leave you guys be. I know that this must be hard, and I don't want to get in the way." He said.

"No. Please stay Kakashi-sensei." I said, which probably surprised me as much as it surprised him.

"All right then. If you insist. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want me to stay? Not that I am ungrateful for it, it just surprised me." Kakashi said.

"I want you here because I trust you. You have been so kind to me, and I just need another shoulder to cry on. You make me feel safer." I said. Kakashi looked at me with mild amusement.

"Well. I had no idea that I meant that much to you. If you want me to stay, then I am here for you." He said. With that settled, Iruka called up the school and got the information. When asked why he needed it, he simply said that he wanted to see if everything was all right with him. Apparently, Iruka had friends in high places because I knew that no other teacher would have been able to get away with that.

"All right. Let's go." Iruka said. I nodded my head and saw that Kakashi did the same.

Half an hour later, we were on the worst side of town, looking at a building that was in desperate need of repair. When we knocked on the door, we got no answer. We tried to open the door, but found it locked. We knew that where there was an apartment, then there would be a manager. We decided to go and look for the manager. When we found him, we asked for the key to the building.

"Why do you want it?" He asked. He had white hair, and this crazed look in his eye. However, he looked harmless enough.

"Because we are concerned for him. This is his English teacher and I am his friend. Please Mr...?" I said.

"Hidan. That is my name. All right. As long as you don't get into any trouble, I guess it would be all right to let you in for a bit. Just try and keep it down. The people that live here, they don't much like disturbances." Hidan said. He handed me the key and I immediately took off, Kakashi and Iruka hot on my heels.

When we opened the door, it was completely dark inside. We felt along the walls for a light switch. When my hand grazed one, I turned it on quickly. However, Sai didn't appear to be there. We looked in all of the rooms quickly and saw that they were all empty. We took the time to be thorough in our searching, hoping for just a small clue as to where he would have gone.

Just as I was about to give up hope, Kakashi called from the bedroom. When I got in there, he was on his hands and knees and he was looking under the bed.

"What is it? What is it Kakashi-sensei?" I asked hopefully.

"This looks promising." Kakashi said before he pulled out Sai's black notebook. On the front of it was a slip of paper. I opened it and immediately knew that it was Sai's handwriting, even though I had never seen his writing before.

'Naruto,
If you are reading this, then you have come looking for me, though I can't imagine why you would do something like that. I know that you love the Uchiha, so I have decided that it would be best if I didn't see you. I have felt pain before, but never of this magnitude. I can't bear it. I... I love you Naruto. I'm sorry.
Sai.

I felt the pricks in my eyes again and couldn't stop the tears. Eventually, I cried myself out and just stood there.

"I'm worried about him Kakashi. I have never seen that dull glaze in his eyes before. He is always bouncing back, no matter what." Iruka said. I know that I wasn't supposed to hear, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what they were saying.

"What are you thinking Iruka?" Kakashi asked. At that point, I didn't want to hear about anything having to do with Sai.

"You know that I can hear you guys right?" I said. I heard my voice, but I had to remember that I had spoken. I sounded so dead that I was surprised I was still breathing.

"Sorry Naruto. I didn't mean to talk about you behind your back." Iruka said. I didn't give a response.

"I want to go home now." I said in my emotionless voice.

"All right." Iruka said. I could hear the concern in his voice, and it hurt because it reminded me of the concern that was in Sai's voice.

When I got home, I stood in front of my door for awhile before moving inside. I was met with a furious looking Sasuke.

"Where were you? I was worried sick. I thought that someone had hurt you." Sasuke said.

"I'm sorry." I said. My voice must have concerned him because his face transformed. He looked worried about me.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked. I knew that the truth would hurt him, but I didn't care.

"Sai left me." I said. I saw anger spark in Sasuke's eyes again.

"What? That's all? I'll remind you of the love we once had." Sasuke said before his lips hit mine. I didn't even feel the kiss. When Sasuke broke the kiss off, he looked at me in disbelief.

"You will remember that you love me." He said before he brought his hand down on my head with a resounding crack. I felt myself slowly losing consciousness. I welcomed it gratefully.

'Maybe he hit me hard enough that I will die. What use is there in living anymore? Sai left, everyone hates me, and Iruka has Kakashi. I am not needed. I have no purpose. I don't even want to be Hokage anymore without Sai. Funny, how one small thing can change your whole life.' I thought before I lost consciousness.


Author's Note: I know that I do this to Naruto a lot, but I think that it works well with this story. I hope that you stay tuned for the next chapter.