I'm sorry this took so long, but as I said I didn't know exactly which way to take with this story. It was a bit hard to choose, since I had several things in my head, but in the end I went with what I was planning all along. Silly me has to over-think everything… If only I spent as much time on practicing for my exams…

I think I should warn you guys about the beginning of this chapter though. If you don't like gory stuff, I suggest skipping parts of the beginning. Just saying…


Chapter XXVIII
– Waste Time With You –

The lush green grass Naruto sat on was damp with droplets of morning dew. A hint of a breeze made his hair lightly sway around his head. Glancing around the hill he was on, he saw a plain vast and wide enough, he thought it could go on forever. And although he was alone, he didn't feel like wanting to leave this place. It seemed so peaceful.

All of a sudden, there was noise behind him. Turning around, he immediately backed away seeing a gruesome face. He stumbled and rolled down the hill a bit before he caught himself again to once again look at what had startled him. It finally registered in his mind that Sasuke was standing at the top of the hill and glaring down at him. Naruto's breath caught in his throat at the sight of blood-red eyes staring back at him, a strange look painted onto the Uchiha's face. It was a look that was utterly unsettling, with a smile that seemed too inhuman to be real. Sasuke's features looked as though frozen, as though someone had moulded that expression onto his face.

When the older teen quickly began to descend down the hill towards the blond, Naruto remained frozen in place, unable to move away from those terrifying eyes. They seemed so unusual, so disturbing, they simply didn't belong onto to Sasuke's face. They made him an entirely different person. A different being! Sasuke, or whatever that thing was, kept approaching, walking faster and faster down the hill. Naruto began to panic, slowly beginning to think that this really wasn't the grouchy Uchiha he knew.

The moment Sasuke was about to run him over, everything went black and all the blond could hear was laughter, mad cackles. Barks of laughter seemed to penetrate Naruto's head and ring out within his skull.

Suddenly, everything was a mess of red and purple. The sky was an explosion of crimson, the horizon tinted violet. Even the clouds, once pearly white, now looked like they were burning. The heat that suddenly engulfed the blond made him forget that he was scared, but hearing those manic cackles still echoing, he scampered to his feet in a haste, terrified to see what was happening around him.

He was on a vast battlefield. Or rather, what was left of it. Left and right, no matter where he looked, there were corpses piling up and littering the ground. Some merely seemed like they were sleeping, others had weapons piercing their torsos, most had been splashed with their own blood so much that the original colour of their attire wasn't distinguishable anymore. The corpse that laid closest to Naruto's feet was missing a leg. An arm. And a head. Hesitantly letting his cerulean eyes roam over the dusty and blood-soaked ground, the blond found sullied chunks of flesh in a pool of blood nearby. Before he pulled away his eyes, his gaze landed on a lone eyeball with a blue iris staring back at him.

His gaze quickly shot up to look at what had to be the centre. After all, the amount of corpses was the most dense there. What he found was a single figure atop the tallest pile of bodies, the source of the cackles. And although the figure was so far away, Naruto still heard the laughter as if it was ringing out from within his head.

Without the blond seeing any movement, Sasuke was suddenly standing in front of him with not a single speck of red on his clothes. Deep down, Naruto was hoping that this was proof of his innocence, but those eyes told him otherwise.

"You hate me, don't you?"

The question startled Naruto out of his stupor and sent a quizzical look onto his face.

"You want to kill me, don't you?"

The blond began to shake his head in denial, trying to get away, but finding himself unable to move. As if he was being paralysed by those crimson orbs.

"You loathe people, remember?"

As Naruto attempted to protest, he found that no sound passed his lips no matter how fervently he tried. The brunet in front of him tilted his head, an inhumanly wide grin on his face, staring without ever blinking. He robbed Naruto of any semblance of composure he had left.

"Deep down, you desire to kill, see blood, hear screams, tear someone limb from limb, don't you?"

Naruto screamed out a terrified No, but nothing except for Sasuke's words rang out in his mind.

Movement around him forced Naruto to tear his eyes from the other and look around. Bodies suddenly rose all around him and approached. Fast. Before he could react, a headless corpse was climbing up Sasuke's body, others doing the same.

The crunch of Sasuke's bones breaking, the squishing sounds of his intestines being wrenched out, the ripping noise that the tearing of his skin caused, the splashing that his blood spilling around produced, they created the music to the image of Sasuke being torn apart, his almost demonic cackling the lead to this accompaniment.

When Naruto screamed this time, he could clearly hear it. Everything around him was dark again and the only sound he could hear was that of his frantic breathing.

Steps suddenly echoed from some place the blond couldn't make out. They were approaching, growing louder and louder, until they ended in a bang, light hitting Naruto's face.

"Naruto!" someone called, making the teen jump in surprise.

The blond quickly tried to cover his eyes to protect them from the light, but peeked through his fingers to see a figure approaching. Whimpering in fear, he backed away a little in an attempt to keep some distance. A futile cause, of course.

More light soon attacked the poor teen's eyes and with both arms now he tried to shield them.

"Naruto!" that same voice shouted again, now sounding worried. "What happened? I heard you scream."

This caused Naruto to slowly drop his arms to look at the person in front of him. "Iruka?" he mumbled out hoarsely.

"Gosh," the brunet sighed, before smothering the teen in a hug. "You scared the living hell out of me, Naruto. I thought you were being attacked or something."

Naruto relaxed and slumped in an instant, releasing a shaky breath. "I had a nightmare. A horrible one." The teen buried his face even more in the warmth of Iruka's chest, much like a small child would.

"What was it about?"

The blond didn't know if he should tell the man. What if it made him seem crazy? What if it would worry Iruka even more?

"I won't judge you and I won't think any less of you, I promise." Iruka's voice was so soothing and the man knew it. He smiled to himself when he saw the content look on the blond's face as he raised his head a little.

"I… It started out pretty relaxed actually. I think I was sitting somewhere, but then… I saw Sasuke, but somehow I think it wasn't him. He looked… like he wasn't human or like he was possessed. I still don't know what to think. Then it was dark, someone was laughing, there was… blood. A lot. I think… Sasuke died. I don't remember so much, only that I was terrified." The older man gently stroked his hair and ran his fingers through the blond strands, making Naruto sleepy again, his mind hazy. "I… was really scared. I thought I'd lost Sasuke. I thought… he went to some place where I couldn't reach him. He was gone. All that was left was this… thing. I couldn't… do anything." Naruto fell back asleep right then and there, too exhausted from all the excitement to stay awake.

Iruka stayed a while longer and watched as his favourite little blond slept peacefully in his arms. When he himself was beginning to feel too tired to stay awake, the man decided to just turn off the light in the corridor and then lie down beside Naruto. He was sure the teen wouldn't mind, seeing how he was soon holding on to the brunet again. A smile on his face, Iruka laid them both down and covered both of them with Naruto's blanket. He as well quickly drifted away knowing that Naruto was secured in his arms.


"Naruto! How often do I have to tell you! Shut your mouth when you're eating!"

Grinning, Naruto made an effort to clamp a hand over his mouth, knowing that his food would spill out otherwise. "Sowy," he mumbled out from beneath his palm. Once he had gulped down the cereal in his mouth, he wiped his hand on his pants and made to continue his ravaging.

"Goddammit, Naruto! Don't wipe your–" The man was interrupted by the doorbell ringing, which saved Naruto. He sent a small warning glare towards the teen, before heading to the door.

Once the brunet was out of sight, the blond scarfed down his food as though there was no tomorrow. As if he was afraid someone would take it away from him if he didn't hurry. He heard murmurs from the entrance, but paid it no mind and brushed it off as some acquaintance of Iruka's or someone trying to sell something.

At seven in the morning. Yeah, right.

His curiosity piqued, the blond tried to listen in on the conversation and craned his neck to maybe see something from where he sat in the kitchen. The voice seemed familiar, which only urged him on even more.

"Naruto!" a very familiar female voice shouted, a face soon appearing in front of the blond. "I came to pick you up."

"Sakura-chan?" the blond mumbled dumbly. "Why're you coming to pick me up?" He was a bit shocked at his own voice, since it still sounded very raspy from him having been strangled. But he had a hoarse voice anyway, so he hoped no one would notice. Iruka hadn't, which was a good sign.

The girl cocked her head with her hands on her hips and a mock expression of anger. "We used to do this all the time, remember? We would meet up and go to school together. We can do that now again!"

Grinning giddily, Naruto shoved in the last bit of his breakfast, before jumping out of his seat to get ready to leave. "Gimme a second!" he called, before running around in a hurry to gather his things.

A few minutes later, the two were on their way, carelessly chattering away and witnessing Konoha slowly waking up. On their way, on the route they had always used, they saw the same dog that had always barked at them when they had passed by when they were younger, waking up the entire neighbourhood. But when they passed him today, he merely eyed them with distrusting eyes and let them pass silently. Although his eyes held disdain, he couldn't stop his tail from wagging.

Chuckling, Naruto and Sakura both waved at the dog that darkly growled back at them.

"He seems conflicted," Sakura noticed.

"Like he doesn't know wether he should be happy or mad at us."

Their conversation stayed light-hearted like that until the pink-haired girl came to the topic of school and thus, the previous day.

"You seemed… off when you came in after break." Her eyebrows were a tiny bit creased, her face showing concern.

Cerulean eyes widened a fraction when the blond thought back to that time, or rather, what had happened before his entering the classroom. "I… had a fight with Kiba. I made up with him though. But then I also had a fight with Sasuke." He knew that Sakura would only pry further if he told her that nothing had happened back then. Giving her an honest answer while leaving out the real reason would hopefully satisfy her.

Sakura seemed so doubtful, but saw no reason to question the blond further. "You looked kinda… unhealthy."

"Yeah. Guess I was a little put off by what Sasuke said. He kinda went over the line."

Seeing how his mood was darkening, the pink-haired girl quickly changed her own attitude and began to smile again. "And what's up with that scarf of yours?" she inquired jokingly. "I've never seen you wear any before. I mean, you're mister I'm too hot to wear a coat even when it's several degrees below zero. It's also June. Although I admit, it's kinda chilly."

That morning, Naruto had made sure to wear something that would cover up the bruises on his neck and shoulder. The bite Kiba had given him wasn't so deep, just the spots were the brunet's fangs had pierced his skin were still hurting.

"Iruka is bugging me about it so much," he replied after a short moment of silence. "I think if I don't come home with a scarf that looks as if it's been around my neck a while, he'll kill me." It was surprising to him how quickly he could come up with lies nowadays.

"Okay then," Sakura laughed. "Guess I don't have to worry then. You really scared me though. You were so quiet." She briefly looked at her friend with concern, but soon faced forward again. "Don't do stuff like that, please. At least tell me when something's wrong so that I don't have to worry over nothing."

A few years earlier, Naruto would never have been able to fool his best friend. Whatever it was he was hiding, Sakura had always found out. But now, it just took a bit of effort for him to fool the girl. It somehow made him sick to the stomach.

The two of them arrived at the school gates just then and as always, they were greeted by an overzealous Lee who promptly invited them to race in circles until school started. They kindly declined, of course, and made their way towards the entrance. Some people were loitering around and Naruto decided to actually look at the people in his school for once. Besides his friends', he barely knew anyone else's face. The first people he saw were sitting around at stairs or leaning against windows in the corridor lit by the rising sun. He shrugged since neither their appearance or behaviour was so unusual or unique that he would actually remember them.

No wonder I don't know any of them.

Only now he realised that with his blond hair and blue eyes he stuck out a lot between all these brunets. Barely anyone had blond hair and only few bleached theirs. He began to think about Kumogakure, where he was sure many people bleached their hair, but soon he stopped to turn around and see that Sakura had stopped walking and seemed very insecure, looking as if seeking assurance from him. "Sakura?"

Her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows creased indiscernibly, making her look worried. "Can… Can everything go back to normal now?" she inquired hesitantly, in a quiet voice. It was so unlike her usual loud and unrestricted behaviour. "Please."

"But… I mean…" Shaking his head, a puzzled look crossed Naruto's face. "Why… wouldn't it? I mean, everything is normal, isn't it?"

"It's not," the pink-haired girl dead-panned. "I don't think you noticed, but we barely do anything just by ourselves. You always hang around Kiba and Sasuke and I don't even get the chance to talk to you. And you're obviously hiding things from me! I feel like I don't matter to you anymore"

Naruto immediately turned crest-fallen when he began to piece things together and found that what Sakura was saying was a fact with no room for discussion. And if he was honest, he had to admit that he had downright neglected her and never even paid attention to how she was doing. He hadn't wasted a single thought on her. Regret now pricked him like thousand tiny needles, making him press a fist over his mouth. For a moment he looked at the teary-eyed, yet smiling friend he had ignored for so long, but soon became unable to even look at her.

"It's okay," the girl whispered as she approached the blond and wrapped her arms around his middle, laying her head on his shoulder as he whispered apologies. "As long as things go back to normal, I won't be mad. But I probably should hit you for being such an ignorant dumbass. If you were my boyfriend, I would've dumped you ages ago."

"You probably would have dumped me after just a few days," the blond laughed in response, parting from his best friend. "I'm really sorry though. I never really– Sakura?" Confused, Naruto eyed Sakura who was staring at him weirdly. "What's wrong? Is there something on my…" He looked down at himself, only to find his scarf loose. Loose enough for Sakura to see the angry red finger marks and the large love bites on his neck.

Gasping, the blond backed away and covered his neck up, but it was too late. The damage was done.

"Naruto?"

Please don't ask. Pain clearly written all over his face, Naruto pleaded in his mind that maybe, just maybe, Sakura had overseen everything. Please.

"What happened?" Her eyes were fixed on the blond's neck as if she was still seeing those marks, even though they had been long covered up. With her prying green eyes she made Naruto feel as if the marks were flaring up with pain again.

Naruto backed away further and further and seemed about ready to escape, shaking his head. But before he could flee to safety, he felt Sakura's strong grip around his wrist.

"Naruto," she bit out in a warning tone, her lips tightly pressed together, "don't lie. Not again."

And the blond knew that at this point he had to tell her. He couldn't just run away from her seconds after swearing that he wouldn't ever betray or ignore her worries again. If he did, their friendship would never be the same way it had been before. This was his chance to fix things, to make things right. The certainty of having to reveal such a secret hit Naruto hard, made him crumble against the wall beside him.

When Naruto began to quietly sniffle, Sakura's worries only deepened. Her first guess had been that bullies were bothering her friend, but it looked like it was something even worse than that. Never before had she seen Naruto break down because of bullying and he wouldn't ever do so in the future, she was certain of at least that much. Glancing around she found the corridor they were in fairly empty with only two people at the other end with their backs to them. Trying to keep her composure, Sakura knelt down in front of the sitting teen and ran her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner. She shifted so that she was sitting beside Naruto and embraced him, the other leaning into her, his body shaking slightly.

"Sakura…" His eyes were red with unshed tears, "someone's… been following me. For months now. Actually, I don't even know when it really started." Sakura, his best friend, was the first he was telling this and it felt like a massive weight had been lifted off his chest. "And… I met him. Once in the hospital a while ago and… yesterday. He just… He told me he would come for me and that I… shouldn't… Oh god." Dropping his face into his hands, Naruto groaned. "I really wasn't supposed to tell you. Sakura!" His head shot up and although his eyes were puffy and red, the look in them was fierce. "Don't tell anyone. Don't even seem like you know anything."

"But–"

"Please! Promise me! I couldn't live with myself if… if…"

"I get it!" Sakura cut in. "I get it."

Gratitude and relief made Naruto smile for a moment before he finally parted from the floor to stand up and help Sakura up. He was still shaky on his legs, but seeing how people were beginning to flood the corridor, he tried to regain his composure as quickly as possible.

"Are you fine now?" Sakura inquired, seeing how the other was suddenly so quiet. "I promise I'll be careful." She waited until the blond nodded, then guided him towards their classroom. "Just promise me that you'll call the police."

"Sakura, I–"

"Calm down," the girl hissed sharply. "Don't tell them about the stalker, just ask them what happened to your bodyguards."

Slow as he was, Naruto took his time understanding what Sakura meant. "Oh, right… I have bodyguards." His voice dripped with sarcasm, cold cynicism even.

Sighing, Sakura bit back a comment in response and tried to stay on topic. "Just ask them what happened to those, okay?"

The blond nodded wordlessly and together with Sakura entered their classroom. He held his head low, unable to keep it up, as if there now was a weight making it too heavy to raise. The weight of being unable to tell anyone about the stalker was now replaced by the weight of possibly endangering the people around him. Only barely he found his seat, noticing that Sasuke wasn't there yet. Something that struck him as unusual, since the Uchiha was usually one of the first to arrive.

And even when the lesson started and everyone else was there, the Uchiha was nowhere to be seen. So when Kakashi walked in, Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn't coming. Being later than Kakashi was a thing of impossibility.

Kakashi merely asked the class how far they had gotten with their play, finding out that not even the cast for the main roles was certain. Having expected a situation like that, the man sighed and announced that he was dropping the idea of an only-male cast. The girls cheered in glee, immediately beginning to fight over the role as Juliet at the side of Sasuke as Romeo.

"I'm changing the cast for Romeo too though," Kakashi mumbled. He waited until the class quieted down and the news had spread to even the rows in the far back. "Naruto is going to be Romeo."

Staring at the door and waiting for Sasuke to come, Naruto hadn't even listened to Kakashi. Soon though, he noticed stares on him and finally processed what Kakashi had just said. "What?"

"You're not Juliet anymore," Kakashi sighed, seeming even more tired than usual. "Would that be fine for you?"

"Um…" Remembering the day before when he had briefly flipped through the play, the blond paled. "Wouldn't I have a lot of lines?"

The white-haired man shrugged, not seeming to care. "We can have someone below the stage whisper the text to you in case you forget anything. But we definitely can't have Sasuke as Romeo, for obvious reasons." He finished the last sentence with a glance at the disheveled girls that were still trying to make themselves look presentable after nearly killing each other. "Sasuke will be Romeo's rival Tybalt instead. For the role of Juliet I chose Sakura."

"Isn't that playing favourites," one student interjected, implying that Kakashi chose those three because he was acquainted with them outside of school.

Again, the man shrugged with an uncaring expression across his face. "Those are the only three I know and trust with something this important. The rest of you…" He suddenly stopped abruptly and headed towards the blackboard. "Well then I hope you all work hard on this play." Suddenly, he produced a book out of thin air and began his actual literature lesson.

Throughout the entire lesson, Naruto couldn't concentrate on the chapter they were supposed to analyse. In hopes of seeing Sasuke come in with his grumpy look and aloof attitude, he kept glancing at the door. He was growing nervous and each time he sighed, he hit himself mentally for acting like a wife desperately waiting for her husband. He nearly jumped out of his skin when everyone stood up to leave. And Sasuke still hadn't shown up.

In the years he had known Sasuke, the other teen had never in his life missed out on even one minute of school. Never. The one and only exception had been the morning after the Uchiha massacre, where he had been taken to a police station. But even then, he had attended the lessons right after that.

Begrudgingly packing his things, Naruto too left and searched around the corridors. Maybe something had happened?

When Kiba and the others went outside to the benches, he declined in order to keep looking for his rival. Usually, he would have hit himself for worrying that much over an ass like Sasuke. But this time, his concern was overshadowing anything he would have usually thought. He didn't even know why he was this worried. Even Sasuke could get sick, right? And it wasn't even his business what the other was doing. But images from his nightmare kept coming back to him. That inhuman look on Sasuke's face, his rival among piles and piles of corpses, the Uchiha being devoured by gruesome creatures. Shivers ran down his limbs again, goosebumps rising up on his skin. Nervously he rubbed his arms, trying to rid himself of the shivers and goosebumps.

Suddenly remembering what had happened the last time he had aimlessly wandered through school, he stopped in his tracks, noticing how only few people were around now. Had he gone on, he would have found himself who knows where again. Deciding that Sasuke couldn't be in school, Naruto turned on the spot to go outside to his friends. He wanted to calm his mind, seeing how, if Sasuke hadn't been in class, he wouldn't be in school either. But him being dorky and slow as he was, he had gotten overwhelmed by his own concern.

Only slowly calming down, Naruto didn't notice the person coming out of the secretary's office at first. Then he caught a glimpse of ink-black hair out of the corner of his eyes and snapped his head around.

"Sasuke."

Even though it had been nothing but a whisper, the teen still seemed to have heard it over the noise in the corridors and turned his head as well. As if having teleported there, Naruto was suddenly right in front of him. Others would have been surprised, but Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow.

"Are you trying to leave?" the blond suddenly asked him.

The aloof expression on Sasuke's face faltered a little, making way for a hint of shock. Naruto hadn't even seen the piece of paper in his hand, yet he rushed to let it disappear in his bag.

"What's that?" Seeing the other trying to inconspicuously put away some sort of document, Naruto's interest had been piqued. "What were you doing in the secretary's office?" Just looking at the other, he knew that Sasuke was trying to hide something. "Are you really trying to leave? Again?"

"You're being paranoid," Sasuke waved off, avoiding the other's eyes. Being hell-bent on not looking at Naruto, there was no way for the Uchiha to predict what happened next. Arms suddenly wrapped around his neck and a body pressed into his. He just barely suppressed a surprised squeak and fiercely glared at the mess of blond hair next to his head, the other's face pressed into his shoulder. "Get o–"

Naruto wrapped his arms more tightly around Sasuke, cutting him off. "Promise me not to leave." Feeling Sasuke take in a sharp breath to probably make a snide remark, the blond once again cut him off. "Just do it. This is embarrassing enough already."

"I…" For the first time in a while, Sasuke was taking something Naruto said serious. He was really considering this, silently contemplating by himself. "I can't." He tried to push the blond away, but despite gaining some distance, Naruto kept holding on to him.

Sighing loudly, Naruto tried to somehow connect with Sasuke, but he kept avoiding his eyes. He had thought about that nightmare all day long, but only now he was starting to see some kind of connection to the Sasuke before him right now. "You… You once said something about wanting revenge. Did you leave because of that?" Seeing the way Sasuke's eyes suddenly snapped into his direction, Naruto felt confirmed in his assumption. "I mean… I still don't know why you left in the first place and Suigetsu isn't any help either. Now that I think about it–"

"Stop thinking about it," Sasuke suddenly snarled, seeming nervous all of a sudden.

"I can't." Naruto repeated the Uchiha's words from before with a defiant raise of his eyebrows.

Clenching his jaw, anger welling up in his eyes, Sasuke sharply breathed out. "Fine." Wrapping a hand around one of the arms around his neck, the teen slowly regained his composure. "There are some things we need to talk about anyway, so…" He nodded his head to the side, "come to my place after school."

Naruto's eyes widened a fraction. This was the only outcome he hadn't expected. "S-Sure." Scared of the other suddenly changing his mind, he didn't even smile or make some kind of remark.

What both of them never noticed was the person that had been about to turn the corner in search of a certain blond, but had stopped short upon finding that same blond in what looked like a sort of intimate embrace with someone else.

Kiba remained hidden, watching Naruto and Sasuke talking in hushed voices, then parting after a while. He didn't miss the bright smile on Naruto's face either when he left into another direction. The entire day he had been inconspicuously trying to cheer the blond up, but in the end, had to see Sasuke send a bright smile onto the blond's face with no effort at all. At this moment, the Inuzuka realised that he probably would never be able to do the same.


I apologise for how short this is. I honestly didn't want to tack anything on just to make the chapter longer. The flow wouldn't have been right. The next chapter will have something of a breakthrough for Naruto and Sasuke, but I guess that's to be expected. It's about time.

I hope I'm not giving anyone nightmares with that dream sequence part. I'm completely unaffected by my own writing; so much that I can't really judge what kind of impact such a gory part has on readers. I get reviews on stories with people saying they literally balled their eyes out when I don't even consider the story sad or tragic myself. Makes me wonder what would happen if I actually wrote a story with the intent to make you cry.