Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Sasuke, or Sakura, or Ino, or Shikamaru, or…well, you get the picture.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. One of my reviewers expressed disinterest in the story's mental illness aspect as a whole, and I can definitely understand that. It's hard to root for a character who we know is a bit crazy. Well, lucky for you, this aspect of the story is nearly done. As a matter of fact, after this chapter, you can consider it over.

Chapter Ten: Remembering Sasuke (Part Three)

Gaara was sitting outside the school that afternoon waiting for the late bus. He had stayed afterschool because of the drama club, and he was very tired. He barely had any energy left after their dress rehearsal. He slowly closed his eyes, just to rest them for a minute...

It was fifteen minutes later that Kiba left the school, knowing he'd have to drive himself home. The late bus was scheduled to pick the students up ten minutes ago, and there was no one left at the school. He walked outside and saw Gaara sitting on the bench, sleeping. He rolled his eyes and walked over to wake the redhead.

"Gaara," he yelled at the sleeping boy as he approached. In response, Gaara's eyes shot open and he looked around, confused for a brief moment.

"What time is it?" Gaara asked, hoping he wasn't asleep for too long.

"6:12," Kiba said, looking at his phone. "You missed the bus."

"Shit," Gaara muttered. "Oh well, thanks for waking me." Gaara began to walk in the general direction of his house. It was a few miles away, but it was walkable at the very least.

"Wait," Kiba said. "I need to talk to you."

Gaara, surprised that Kiba had any business with him whatsoever, turned to face the boy. "About what?" Gaara asked.

"It's about Sasuke," Kiba said. "What's the situation between him and Naruto?"

"You know everything," Gaara said. "Sasuke had to switch out because Naruto associates him with his father. I don't know what else you want me to tell you."

"That's not what I meant," Kiba said. "What's going to happen between them when Naruto is back to normal?"

"Can you be a little more specific?" Gaara asked impatiently.

"Is Sasuke going to try to get Naruto back?" Kiba asked.

"What does it matter to you?" Gaara asked. "Isn't Naruto straight?" He narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing Kiba and what his true intentions are.

"Listen, I just don't want Naruto to be hurt anymore," Kiba said. "And let's just face it, he ends up getting hurt every time that asshole is around."

"Sasuke is not the reason for any of this," Gaara said. "If it wasn't for Sasuke, Naruto would still think he was a girl."

"If it wasn't for Sasuke, Kyuubi wouldn't have…done what he did to Naruto," Kiba said, trying to stay away from the "r-word".

"None of this is Sasuke's fault," Gaara said, offended. "You think he wanted any of this to happen?"

"I don't give a rat's ass about what Sasuke wanted," Kiba said. "I'm not going to get into an argument over him. I just want to make sure that when this is all over, Sasuke will stay away from Naruto."

"I think it's more than that," Gaara said, scrutinizing Kiba. "You don't want Sasuke to get too close to Naruto because you want to be with him instead. Am I right?"

Kiba narrowed his eyes before replying. "I'm just making sure that Sasuke stays away from Naruto. He owes Naruto that much."

"He owes Naruto nothing," Gaara said. "He helped Naruto."

"He hurt Naruto," Kiba said. "Never mind...I'm not going to stay and listen to this." Kiba turned around to go to his car, but was stopped by Gaara's next statement.

"It isn't Sasuke you have to worry about," the redhead said. Kiba turned around with a confused look. "It's Hinata who's going to be going to prom with him, and it's Hinata who has the most likely chance of ending up with him. After all, Naruto's straight, right?"

"Naruto doesn't know what he's talking about," Kiba said. "He's in denial. Besides, I doubt even if he was thinking of going to prom, he wouldn't go with Hinata. He'd probably just end up going with me as buddies."

"You might want to have a talk with your 'buddy', then," Gaara said with a smirk. "I guess you should wonder why he hasn't told you about it yet."

"You know what?" Kiba began, but was cut off by his phone ringing. He picked it up out of his pocket and saw Naruto's caller ID. He pressed 'Talk' and put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Naruto...No, I'm not with them, I'm still at school...That's impossible, Naruto. Kyuubi's dead…Don't go there! I'm sure everything's fine...Hello? Naruto?...Naruto?" He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket before turning back to Gaara. "I have to go."

"What's going on?" Gaara asked. "Something else happen with Naruto?"

"He thinks Kyuubi kidnapped Sasuke, Ino and Sakura and he's going to the Uchiha mansion," Kiba explained. "He wanted to make sure I wasn't with them, too."

"You can't let him go to the mansion!" Gaara exclaimed in an uncharacteristic fervor.

"No shit, Sherlock," Kiba said. "Where do you think I'm going?"

"Remember – don't let Naruto see Sasuke," Gaara said as Kiba raced out of hearing distance.

Naruto was scared and confused. It seemed like all the signs pointed to Kyuubi kidnapping Sasuke, Ino and Sakura, but everyone kept belittling his pleas. He knew he was really no match for Kyuubi when he actually got to face him, but he hoped that the gun he was holding would give him an even playing field.

Of course, that's assuming that Kyuubi doesn't try to take hostages. If he threatened Ino or Sakura or Sasuke, Naruto would have nothing left to bargain with. As he opened the door to the Uchiha mansion silently, he began to regret acting without thinking. But it was too late; he was already in the lion's den.

He walked up the steps quietly, reaching the second floor. He froze, paralyzed, remembering the times he was there as Sasuke's "girlfriend". He was hit with a wave of some emotion he couldn't put his finger on, and it scared him. He felt a headache come on, causing him to sit down on the top step.

He looked at his trembling hands and then back at the gun. He couldn't decide what he should do. He felt like he was falling apart just being this close to Kyuubi. He wasn't confident that he could go in there and help his friends. If anything, he'd probably make things worse.

Naruto had just about made up his mind to leave and get help – there had to be something he hadn't thought of – when he heard a loud, high pitched squeal and Sasuke's voice screaming Sakura's name. Immediately, Naruto's resolve returned and he jumped up. He ran towards where he heard the noise and ended up turning a corner into Sasuke's room.

The sight he met shocked him.

The only person there was Kyuubi, sitting in Sasuke's chair at Sasuke's desk.

"Naruto?" he said, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Where are they?" Naruto asked, pointing his gun at Kyuubi.

"Ino and Sakura?" Kyuubi asked, almost sounding panicked. "They were just having a pillow fight in here right before you got here. They're out somewhere in the hallway now."

"And Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "What'd you do with him?"

"I…Naruto put the gun down," Kyuubi said. For the first time in his life, Naruto saw the fear in his father's eyes. "I promise, I won't hurt you."

"Liar!" Naruto yelled, cocking the gun. His vision was blurring and he started to feel dizzy. His head was throbbing, and he just wanted it all to go away. He wanted Kyuubi to go away. "All you've ever done is hurt me! It's finally time for you to stop. Sasuke tried to stop you, but I guess I'll just have to do it myself."

Sasuke stood, paralyzed as Naruto closed the door behind him and locked it, preventing anyone from stopping him.

"There," Naruto said, sounding pleased with himself. "Now you can't go out and hurt them. Not without getting passed me."

"Naruto, I can explain," Sasuke said, desperately trying to force Naruto to put the gun away. "Just let me explain. I promise, I can explain it all."

"There's nothing to explain," Naruto said. "I…I have to do this, or you'll never go away. You'll keep coming back."

"Naruto, I'm not Kyuubi!" Sasuke yelled. "I just look like him...to you."

"That's a pretty weak attempt to get me to put the gun down," Naruto said.

"I'm not lying," Sasuke said, panicked. "Remember how you thought you were a girl? You still haven't fully recovered." Naruto's hand slowly lowered the gun, but didn't drop it.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "I know I'm not a girl. Inoichi and Ino said I made a full recovery."

"They lied to you for your own good," Sasuke said. "They played along with what you thought, like when you thought you were a girl."

"I'm…I'm not a girl, though," Naruto said, trying to understand what Sasuke was saying. "I'm...I'm Naruto. I'm a guy. I was pretending to be Sasuke's boyfriend, and then I thought I was a girl. But now...now, I'm better."

"You have Dissociative Reality Disorder," Sasuke said, telling Naruto the truth. It was the only option in this situation. "It means that your mind has rearranged reality to help you cope."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "I see reality just fine!"

"No, you don't," Sasuke said. "I'm not Kyuubi, I'm Sasuke." Naruto didn't react – a fact that scared Sasuke. "When you thought you were my girlfriend, we were going to...consummate...the relationship. But when that happened, you began to relive the night Kyuubi raped you. Because of that, you associate me with Kyuubi. That's why I had to switch schools and stop seeing you."

"You...you're lying," Naruto said. "You're Kyuubi. You'd do anything to make sure that I didn't shoot you." Naruto looked very unsteady on his feet, which scared Sasuke even more.

"Think about it," Sasuke pleaded. "You saw me in your hospital room – Kyuubi would never be allowed to get that close to you, but I would. When you saw me today…I was driving my own car picking up my two friends. Ino had to lie to you because, like I told you earlier, you'd want to come along to see me. Don't you get it?"

"No...you...you can't be...telling the truth," Naruto said, his hands beginning to tremble. "You're...you're Kyuubi...know it. You can't just...you can't just look like him for no reason."

"I don't look like him!" Sasuke exclaimed. "Only you think I do."

"Prove it," Naruto said, pointing the gun back up. "Tell me something that only Sasuke knows."

"Remember when you thought you were a girl and we went to that Justin Bieber concert?" Sasuke said, thinking back. "I told you that I didn't want to go, but you said that if I loved you, I'd put up with him for you."

"I...I still don't believe you," Naruto said.

"What about that time when you put on that neko costume to try to seduce me?" Sasuke asked, standing up out of his chair. "It was so hard to resist you, especially when you kept coming back and begging for me to sleep with you."

"I..." Naruto choked, his hands trembling even more. His head started to throb, and his vision was getting blurry. Tears were starting to roll down his eyes.

"Remember that time when you called me up scared because you had a dream that took you back to the night of the rape?" Sasuke asked, starting to slowly walk towards Naruto. He needed to get the gun out of his hands. "You were so confused because you didn't remember a thing. I spent the whole night, and you still tried to seduce me then. I know you remember. How could Kyuubi know this?"

Naruto closed his eyes, not being able to focus on anything anymore. Sasuke had finally closed the gap between them, but Naruto still saw his father. It was making sense to him logically. In his head and even in his heart, he knew that it was Sasuke standing less than a foot away from him. And when his eyes were closed, it was easy for Naruto to believe it really was Sasuke standing there.

Sasuke saw Naruto struggling to process the information and felt he had to do something to help him. He gently touched Naruto's chin, causing the blond to tense. He then lifted his chin the slight bit needed before leaning over and kissing Naruto.

For a second, Naruto just froze. He was already reeling from the encounter. Was the man in front of him Kyuubi or Sasuke? Kyuubi could easily be lying to get Naruto to give up the gun. But Naruto didn't know who to believe. And even if it was Sasuke, that would mean that Sasuke was now kissing him. Naruto was on overload.

Sasuke, not sensing any reaction from Naruto decided to deepen the kiss. Naruto remembered kissing Sasuke before, and he knew it was just like this. With the comfort and security of knowing it was Sasuke in front of him, he melted into the kiss, opening his mouth to invite Sasuke's tongue in.

They continued to pour their emotions into the kiss for the brief time they were allotted before hearing Ino and Sakura knock on the door.

"Sasuke! Is Naruto in there?" Ino asked.

"We heard screaming!" Sakura added.

Naruto pulled away from Sasuke expecting to open his eyes to see the raven standing in front of him. That was why it was such a shock for him to open his eyes and still see Kyuubi standing in front of him.

Part of Naruto might have known the person in front of him was Sasuke, but it didn't matter. His knee jerk reaction was to believe his eyes and not his heart, and his eyes told him Kyuubi had just kissed him. Kyuubi – the man who raped him – had just kissed him, and Naruto needed to defend himself. Seconds after the kiss was broken, so was the silence as a gunshot rang out.

Naruto watched Kyuubi's face as the bullet plunged into his body at point-blank range. He saw the shock and the pain etched in his face. And then, as Kyuubi fell to the ground, reality shattered like a mirror, and Kyuubi's face was replaced with Sasuke. It was not longer Kyuubi who had been shot; it was Sasuke.

Naruto dropped the gun as his headache intensified even more. He gripped his temples, begging the whole world to stop. He could hear screams on the other side of the door, and then heard it knocked down. He saw Ino and Sakura run in with Kiba following right behind them. His entire life became a silent blur, like in a war movie. It was all too much for him, and Naruto had to run.

Naruto didn't know where he was when he stopped running. His headache had finally subsided, and he was left with a deafening silence. He stood in a room with clutter all over the place. The only door was the one he came in through, and there were no windows. A single hanging light swung above his head, flickering on and off.

It was raining outside, and the pitter patter of the rain on the tin roof was the only noise in the world. It was eerily calming, but Naruto still couldn't stop shaking. He felt dizzy, as if just standing up required all the energy in the world.

"Woo hoo, did you fuck up!" came a voice. Naruto couldn't pin down what direction it seemed to come from, so he looked around the room to pin point whoever said it. The voice didn't seem unfamiliar, yet he couldn't place it.

"Who's there?" Naruto asked, scared. He continued to look around, expecting someone to pop out of the shadows.

"Don't worry about me, worry about yourself," the voice said. Naruto looked into the mirror that was hung on the wall opposite him and saw his reflection. Only, it wasn't his reflection. He looked different. He looked menacing.

There were three well-defined whisker scars on each cheek, and his hair was more unruly than usual. His teeth seemed to be pointer, as did his nails. The one thing that made Naruto realize that the person in the mirror was not himself was the eyes – so full of hate and anger. They were dangerous eyes that made Naruto feel like he'd burst into flames for just looking at them. Red eyes, with a vertical slit instead of a pupil. It was a more feral-looking version of himself.

"W-What's going on?" Naruto asked, not being able to tear his eyes away from the mirror.

"I think it's time for you to have a little vacation," said the reflection. Naruto backed away from the mirror, terrified that he was going crazy. He was hearing voices, seeing people, and – let's just face it – his last few months weren't a ringing endorsement for sanity.

"Y-You're not real," Naruto said, trying to convince myself. "You're just my conscience or something."

"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you, Naruto?" the reflection said. "But I'm just as real as you are."

"You're not real," Naruto repeated. "I'm just…stressed. I'm going to close my eyes real tight, and when I open them, you'll be gone." Naruto squeezed his eyes as tight as possible and reopened them, dismayed to still see the reflection smirking at him.

"Didn't work, did it?" the reflection said. "I can't blame you for thinking I'm just a figment of your imagination. You have been letting it run wild recently."

"This isn't happening," Naruto said to himself. "I am not talking to a mirror."

"Sorry, kid, but you are," the reflection told him. "Now why don't you stop trying to convince yourself and just listen to me, huh?"

Naruto dumbly nodded, not knowing what else he could do. He could almost see his sanity slipping away with each passing second, and it terrified him.

"I exist to help you," the reflection said. "Think of me as an alternate personality. When things are too rough for you, you can take a little rest and I'll take over your life for a bit."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"You don't remember your life before the age of seven, do you?" the reflection asked. Naruto shook his head and the reflection smirked. "That's because when you were seven, your father killed your best friend. You couldn't deal with it, so I came out to protect you. Didn't you ever wonder how Kyuubi got that big scar across his forehead?"

"Y-You've been me?" Naruto asked. "This makes no sense." The pain in his head was throbbing, worse than it was with Sasuke.

"Of course it doesn't to you," the reflection said. "You just shot your friend because you thought he was your father. You're not exactly thinking clearly."

"I'm dreaming," Naruto decided. "That's it! I'm dreaming, and when I wake up, I'll be in my bed. I never shot Sasuke, and Kyuubi is dead. It's all just been some huge dream."

"Will you shut your trap and listen!" the reflection yelled. "I am taking over for you now. You can relax."

"I don't want you to 'take over'!" Naruto yelled. He looked back at the mirror and the image of himself was gone. Immediately afterwards, the splitting headache returned, and Naruto gripped his temples in pain. "Get out of my head!"

The voice of the reflection yelled back at him. "Just let me out, Naruto! I can take care of everything for you!"

"No!" Naruto yelled, picking up a brick from the cluttered table behind him and throwing at the mirror. The mirror shattered, causing the headache to intensify. Naruto struggled to keep control of his mind, but he felt consciousness slipping.

Then, all of a sudden, he was in a room. It was dark, and there was a staircase behind him. The man from the mirror was trapped inside a large prison cell in the room, and he had a key in his hand. He turned the key and opened up the cell door and stepped out.

"Where am I?" Naruto asked.

"This is your mind," the reflection said. "Now all you have to do is let me out. Switch places with me, and I'll handle reality for you. You never have to deal with it again!"

"That doesn't look like a vacation to me," Naruto pointed at the cage.

"You need protection, and I can provide that for you," the man told him. "You just need to trust me."

"What's your name?" Naruto asked.

"You know my name," the man told him. "Just think about it."

"I have no idea," Naruto whispered.

"Your subconscious created me to protect you when you were a kid," the man said. "You modeled me after the strongest and most intimidating person you knew so that I could take the strength and intimidation and use it to protect you." Naruto's eyes widened. "Now tell me, what is my name?"

"Kyuubi," Naruto whispered.

"Good," Kyuubi told him. "Now, you've already given me the key to get out. Just step aside and let me out." Naruto looked down at his hands where the key was, and was shocked to see it had disappeared.

"I never gave you any key!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Then how did I escape?" Kyuubi asked. "It might not have been a conscious decision, but you know you need this. You know you need a vacation from your life. Reality is harsh and cruel, and you're too good a person to handle it. That's why you have me, to bear the burden and let you take a well-deserved rest."

"I didn't mean to give you a key!" Naruto yelled. "Go away and let me live my life!"

"Sorry, Naruto, but giving me the key was entirely intentional. Maybe not conscious, but intentional," Kyuubi said.

"You...you're not making any sense," Naruto said. "Go back!"

"Sorry, Naruto, but I've come too far to go back," Kyuubi said. "I haven't been out in years, and you haven't had a break in years. It's works out best for both of us."

Just like that, the cell opened and Naruto fell back. Kyuubi shoved Naruto into the cell and closed the door, but Naruto continued to struggle. He didn't let Kyuubi pull the key out of the keyhole, and started to push the door open again.

"Stop fighting!" Kyuubi demanded.

"I won't let you out!" Naruto yelled. "I need to apologize to Sasuke!"

"Just let it happen," Kyuubi pleaded. "Let me out!"

"No!"

Kiba had found Naruto writhing on the floor in the prop room for the school's theater department. It was lucky for Naruto that most of the school was gone by now, so no one else had found him first.

His first thought upon seeing the blond was that he had been hurt. He didn't see any blood, but noticed the gun lying on the ground next to him. He looked around the room and saw it was a mess. There was a shattered mirror and a few overturned chairs.

Kiba kneeled down over Naruto and tried to shake him awake, to no avail. He put his fingers to Naruto's wrist to check for a pulse while putting his ear to his chest to check for breathing. When he felt the pulse and the up and down motion of Naruto's chest, he relaxed a bit. He pulled out his phone to call Inoichi, who instructed Kiba to bring Naruto to the hospital.

It was hard, but Kiba eventually got Naruto buckled into the passenger seat of his car and sped off towards the hospital. He knew a lot of people were already there with Sasuke – Ino, Sakura, Inoichi, Itachi, Neji, Hinata, Gaara, and a few of his friends from Hebi Academy. Finally, Kiba got to the hospital and got Naruto admitted.

Naruto's eyes fluttered open as he struggled to get used to the bright light in the room. It was a room he was unfamiliar with, as he had been there far too many times in recent history.

He looked around the room and saw his psychiatrist, Ino and Inoichi standing in the corner talking about something. Naruto opened his mouth to try to speak, but he wheezed instead, catching the attention of the other people in the room.

"Naruto!" Ino yelled, hugging her friend tightly. "I was so worried!"

"Ino, let Naruto have his space," Inoichi said. "How are you feeling?"

Naruto tried to speak again, but he couldn't…his throat was too dry. The doctor, realizing this, got a cup of water for Naruto and commanded him to drink.

"I'm tired," Naruto said. "What happened?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," the psychiatrist said. "Can you tell us the last thing you remember?"

"I was at school, talking to Ino," Naruto said. "She told me that she was hanging out with Sakura, Hinata and Tenten."

"You don't remember anything after that?" Ino asked, sounding worried. Inoichi and the psychiatrist exchanged a glance that Naruto didn't miss.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked. He tried to reposition himself to sit up when he realized that his arm wouldn't move. He looked and saw a metal handcuff connecting him to the hospital bed. "Why am I handcuffed here? What's going on?"

"You don't remember anything?" the psychiatrist asked.

"No," Naruto said, shaking his head, causing the psychiatrist to sigh. "Wait," Naruto said. He started to remember more…talking to Hinata, calling Ino…talking to Sasuke. Then he started to remember more, as if the floodgates had opened on his memory. He remembered the gun, the ride to the Uchiha mansion. He remembered shooting Sasuke, running away. He remembered... "Kyuubi," Naruto whispered.

"He's dead, Naruto," Ino said. "You know that, right?"

"I…I thought Sasuke was Kyuubi and I shot him," Naruto choked out. "How is he? Is he okay?"

"He's been in surgery all night," Inoichi said. "The police had no choice but to arrest you."

"Arrest me?" Naruto asked, pulling on the handcuffs. "How can they arrest me? I thought…"

"You had a problem," the psychiatrist interjected. "It's called Dissociative Reality Disorder. Your psyche protected itself by associating Sasuke with Kyuubi, altering your perception of reality."

"I'm crazy, aren't I?" Naruto asked.

"No," Inoichi said. "You're all better now that you know Sasuke isn't your father."

"No, I'm not," Naruto said. "After…after shooting Sasuke, something happened to me," Naruto said.

"What happened?" the psychiatrist said, sitting down. Naruto began to relay the events of what happened between him and 'Kyuubi' at the warehouse, emphasizing that the 'Kyuubi' he saw there wasn't the same as his father. Throughout the story, Ino kept looking at Naruto with concern, looks that did not go unnoticed by Naruto.

"I was afraid of this," the psychiatrist said.

"What's wrong?" Inoichi asked.

"Naruto has suffered already from Dissociative Gender Disorder and Dissociative Reality Disorder," the doctor said. "With patients who have one or more dissociative disorder, others are more likely to occur."

"So he has another disorder?" Inoichi asked.

"Yes," the doctor said. "But this one is substantially easier to treat, and it is nowhere near as much of a problem as the other two. It's called Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID. Basically, a person's psyche is fractured, and they create alternate personalities, or alters, to live their life for them. It basically grants them a rest from reality.

"These alter-egos are legitimate personalities in their own right, often working to help the master personality recover. Many times, there is more than one personality, but only one can be released at a time. They usually stay out for large lengths of time.

"It sounds like Naruto patterned a personality after his father, even giving him the same name. In all likelihood, the chances are that Kyuubi's personality traits and characteristics resemble Naruto's father's."

"You said it's treatable?" Inoichi asked.

"Yes," the psychiatrist said. "With most cases, the patient is sent to a mental rehabilitation center to integrate his or her own personality with those of the alters. Naruto will come out still being him, along with some personality traits of his alter."

"So he'd need to go to a mental hospital?" Ino asked.

"If I do go, would I be better for good when I got out?" Naruto asked, not giving the doctor a chance to confirm Ino's question.

"In most cases, that is the extent of the DID," the doctor said. "In some cases, an especially stressful situation can cause the psyche to fracture again and cause the alter or alters to return, but it isn't as common. If that happens, the treatment would be the same."

"But what if his alter comes back out?" Inoichi asked. "How will we know?"

"Naruto seemed to be able to fight it off this time," the psychiatrist said. "We are at a slight disadvantage because we do not know how Kyuubi behaves, so if he comes out, it might not be as recognizable."

"It doesn't matter," Naruto said. "I need to do this, even if it might not work in the end."

Before anyone could respond, the door of the room burst open, revealing Sakura.

"Sasuke made it," she said. "He's alive."

A week later, Naruto was finally discharged from the hospital, but it didn't really matter; he had been taken immediately to jail. He and his lawyer had already decided to plead guilty to Sasuke's attempted murder by means of temporary insanity.

The judge would send Naruto to Konoha Mental Hospital to get treatment, and once Naruto was done with treatment, he'd be released. If all went right, he'd be able to attend Konoha University in the fall semester with his friends.

"You don't have to do this," Ino told Naruto as they stood in the hospital. The hearing was over and the judge had sentenced Naruto to KMH as the lawyer had said, but Naruto had one special request to ask of the judge – to be able to apologize to Sasuke in person.

Sasuke was still in the hospital after the shooting. He was actually getting very bored with it. He was constantly dealing with Karin and Suigetsu bickering. At least Jugo was quiet when he visited. Then there was Sakura, who had a tendency to talk his head off. Gaara and Neji visited, but they didn't really have much to say. It was as if the world stopped when Sasuke was shot.

Naruto softly knocked on the door and Ino rolled her eyes. "You know he won't hear that," she said. She took the initiative and knocked loudly on the door. She then opened the door and shoved Naruto through after getting the "come in" from Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sasuke said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. It wasn't said with any emotion – fear, joy, hate.

"S-Sasuke," Naruto choked out. He saw the IV in Sasuke's arm and the bandage on Sasuke's stomach. He thought he was going to start sobbing after seeing what he had done to another human being, let alone one who had done so much for him. "I am so, so sorry, Sasuke."

"I know," Sasuke said. "Is there anything else you have to say?"

"No," Naruto mumbled, sounding depressed. "I guess I'll just let you rest." Naruto turned to leave but stopped when he heard Sasuke's voice.

"For the record, I'm sorry too," Sasuke said. Naruto froze in place.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Naruto asked.

"Just go," Sasuke ordered. "I'm tired." With those words, Sasuke closed his eyes to rest and Naruto opened the door and left. He and Ino walked outside holding hands. When they finally got out front and Naruto was expected to go into the police car for transport to Konoha Mental Hospital, Naruto turned and gave Ino a big hug.

"You'll be out of there soon," Ino said, trying to reassure the blond.

"I know," Naruto said, hugging her tighter before releasing her.

Sasuke remained quiet the rest of the day. He didn't say a single word to Itachi or Sakura or Gaara or Karin when they each visited him. He didn't make any remarks when the doctors and nurses came in to check on him. He was totally and utterly silent until that night, after the lights went out and he was all alone.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have been more."

Author's Note: A few things:

1. Unlike "Dissociative Gender Disorder" and "Dissociative Reality Disorder", which were completely made up as plot devices, "Dissociative Identity Disorder" is a real thing. It used to be called "Multiple Personality Disorder". Basically, the psyche of the victim is too fractured that their subconscious creates an alternate identity which "takes over." Luckily for Naruto, he was able to fight it before it became a real problem, but as was mentioned, it could always come back if there's sufficient psychological trauma.

2. That's the end of the first "arc" of the story. Naruto's going away to a mental hospital for a few months, everyone's graduating high school soon, and it's time for things to move on. As I said earlier, the mental illness aspect of the story ends here. The craziness wasn't the story, it was the set-up for what happens next. Now, with this in their past, the rest of the story is going to be about Naruto and Sasuke's road back to each other.

As always, I hope you liked the story. Please Review and check out my blog at fanfics-sm . blogspot . com for updates, chapter previews, and information about past, present, and future projects.