Sakura spent the journey to the first town thinking of food. Well, she was also thinking of Sasuke and Naruto, Naruto because something was clearly wrong with him, and Sasuke because she had a crush on him. She wasn't thinking of food because she wanted to eat it, not exactly at least, it was more that she was thinking of what she would eat.

She couldn't remember exactly when, just that it happened not too long ago, but Sakura's stomach and brain had apparently decided to team up to stop her from eating. She didn't know why either, all she knew was that suddenly food started to taste repulsive. When she ate, the food would feel like eating ash and would taste how she imagined gasoline might taste. Her stomach would roll, and, in the end, Sakura had decided not to eat. Sure, Sakura would be hungry, but then she would go to find some food, take one look at it, and suddenly loose her appetite.

Sakura's only reprieves were her cravings. They were the only foods that she actually wanted to eat, and once she thought of them, her brain wouldn't stop until she ate that food. Unfortunately, sometimes her stomach would decide that the food was actually nasty right as Sakura had finally gotten her hands on it. As the day had piled on, Sakura had lost a fair amount of weight, requiring the use of makeup to hide her sunken eyes and shallow features.

Thankfully the journey was short compared to others, lasting a mere day. It was already noon when Sakura slipped up.

"Ugh, I'm really hungry," she complained, her stomach even growling to emphasize her words.

"Mmn, you're right," Kakashi said looking at the sun overhead. "Alright, let's all eat here." The man they were escorting, Akihiro, looked relieved to stop. They all moved into the shade of the trees, Kakashi pulling out the lunches that his students had somehow convinced him to carry. Not only was he carrying their food, but also Naruto! Kakashi sighed to himself mouth quirking to the side under his mask. Kakashi carefully let Naruto down, but much to his surprise, Naruto seemed hesitant to let go.

The blonde-haired boy didn't want to get off of Kakashi's back in the slightest. He wasn't particularly hungry, and while he hated to admit it, being held by Kakashi allowed Naruto to daydream that maybe this was what having a father was like. Kakashi couldn't help but smile at Naruto's hesitation, but his back was starting to hurt, and Naruto's warmth was making Kakashi sweat.

"Naruto, you need to get down," Kakashi said, reaching up and grabbing the arms that were slung around his neck, pushing them slowly down. Naruto was surprisingly limp, though Kakashi suspected he was just tired. Sighing once more, he tried to lower the boy again, only to have to grab him tighter when his limp body almost fell.

It was very hard to miss a loud grunt of pain when it was right next to your ear, Kakashi gained that tidbit of experience the moment he squeezed Naruto's arms. Pain flared up Naruto's wrist and arm, Kakashi having dug his thumb right into one of Naruto's deeper cuts. At least it wasn't his cut vein, for which Naruto was grateful. He didn't think he would have been able to sneak off and rebandage that without causing suspicion.

"Uhn, Kakashi-sensei, you're digging into my tendon," the poor boy groaned out in a pain laced voice.

"Shouldn't your tendon be here?" Kakashi asked, tapping Naruto's wrist after the boy had climbed down.

"Huh, well maybe it wasn't the tendon then, but whatever it was hurt!" Naruto forced a tight smile to his face, poking at Kakashi's own wrist. Seeing the exchanged brought a smile to Sakura's face because, hey, maybe Team 7 was still close after all. She couldn't, however, keep that smile there because next thing she knew, Kakashi had handed out the lunches.

Sakura had made some rice balls because she had been craving them that morning, but no matter how she looked at them, they made her stomach roll in disgust. Sakura actually had to fight to keep her face from wrinkling at the sight of the repulsive food.

"Not eating?" Akihiro asked her, sliding over.

"Mmn, no, I've lost my appetite."

"Didn't you say you were really hungry just now?" the man asked, concern clearly on his face.

"Yeah just… my stomach hurts a bit is all," Sakura said, coming up with excuses on the fly. She didn't really have all that much against telling someone that she thought food was disgusting, she just didn't really want to tell a stranger. She also didn't want to tell Team 7, but it wasn't because she was embarrassed about not eating, it was just that they might think she had an eating disorder or something, and Sakura didn't want them to be worried. So long as Sakura didn't know the cause of her loss of appetite, no one else needed to know either.

Not one to miss a conversation, Kakashi glanced at Sakura with a hint of worry before eye-smiling at her, Sasuke, and Naruto. The five of them, minus Sakura, ate lunch peacefully under the shade of the trees, well Sakura nibbled of some rice involuntarily when Naruto had accidentally spilled his steamed rice on her. In the end, most of her onigiri went to Sasuke. Well, it would have if Naruto wasn't snagging them for himself. After most everyone was finished with their lunches, Sakura stretched, briefly looking at Sasuke who's lunch had long since been neatly put away. Next, she glanced at Naruto and Kakashi. Naruto had devoured his food almost instantly, and now he was laid over Kakashi's shoulder, snatching his food occasionally when Kakashi brought it to his mouth.

"Would you stop that!?" Kakashi demanded with a dangerous undertone.

"Sorry sensei, but my arms can't reach your food like this, so I need to take it when it gets to your mouth."

"That's not what I meant," the ticked off jounin snarled.

"Hmm, sorry then sensei, I don't really understand," Naruto joked stealing Kakashi's next piece of food as well. Naruto ultimately got to spend the rest of lunch tied to a tree while Kakashi ate his food very slowly right in front of him.

"Kaka~shiiii," Naruto whined, looking ruefully at the food. "Aren't you supposed to make sure your comrades are in good fighting condition? I need lots of food to heal my leg!"

"You already ate your lunch, half of Sakura's lunch, and at least a third of mine." Naruto sighed but resigned himself to his fate. He was like this sometimes, usually at least once a month. He would sometimes go a week without eating, his depression telling him that hey, why should he use up precious resources when someone better could? Thus, when Naruto's stomach finally gained control, he would eat almost twice as much a usual.

Kakashi finally let Naruto free, and the poor boy wanted to rub his wrists, not to cause pain but to sooth the spots where the rope had held them against his hips. Naruto only craved the sharp pain, but dull throbs or even burns he absolutely despised. He also only liked the pain when it was on his own terms. It allowed him to feel in control of some aspect of his life, even if it was as unhealthy as this.

"Kakashi-sensei…?" Naruto really didn't want to ask to be carried. He knew that it would just make Sasuke and Sakura look down on him more, and the mere thought of those closest to him disliking him made Naruto want to want to rip apart his arms and tear at the flesh until there was nothing left. He didn't want to ask, but Naruto was feeling the blood loss hard, and the afternoon heat his jacket was slowly baking him alive. He would have taken it off, after all he always wore a long sleeve shirt under it anyway, but his bandages happened to be feeling a little damp and Naruto's shirt was white.

"Yes?" Naruto opened his mouth, hesitant to ask but… ultimately, he closed it again. Seeing Kakashi with a hint of concern in his eye was enough to make Naruto anxious. Even if it was only a hint, if Kakashi got so much as an idea that something was wrong with Naruto, the blonde would be completely screwed.

"Never mind, I forgot what it was going to say," Naruto said, casually waving it off before stretching out. 'Ah… this was a mistake…' Naruto thought as soon as he straightened again. He was suddenly dizzy, a combination of exhaustion, heat, lack of food, and, of course, blood loss.

The boy stood and blinked for a moment before the black dots swarming in at the edge of his vision finally drifted away. With one final nervous glance at the rest of the group, hoping they didn't notice of how close Naruto had come from tipping over, the group began walking again.

As the group walked, it became increasingly clear to Sakura that Naruto wasn't feeling good. At first, she thought that maybe he was thirsty, so she offered him her water. After that changed virtually nothing, Sakura started observing him closer, and she could tell that Sasuke was doing the same.

The first thing Sasuke noticed about Naruto was that he wasn't limping particularly bad. The second was that his fingers kept twitching. Naruto, while laughing and making crude jokes, just didn't seem… How to explain it? To Sasuke, it almost looked like Naruto was afraid to walk in silence. Like he was afraid to stop laughing and smiling. Sasuke sighed deeply. Naruto's endless comments and laughter was seriously pissing him off.

For Naruto, the walk was so strenuous, he thought he might just collapse at any moment. He kept forcing himself to laugh, to talk, though the words and noises stuck in his throat, so reluctant to pretend.

"Naruto, do you hate your life?" Sasuke asked, catching Naruto off guard. Naruto instantly panicked, his arm suddenly acting like a kunai magnet. He didn't know what the fuck he should do. He stared in silence at Sasuke for a moment, trying his best to look less like a deer in headlights and more like someone very confused.

"…N…no, why-… why…?"

"Because, Naruto," Sasuke continued, making Naruto panic more and more as time went on. 'none of them can use healing jutsu… what if I were to just slit my throat right here and right now? I could do it, right? Better than them finding out.' Naruto's thought process was almost as erratic as his heartbeat. "You're making me hate my life right now with your constant jabbering."

Oh…. Oh. Well now Naruto just felt stupid. There was no way they had found out after all, so why had he gotten so worked up? Well that didn't matter because right now the cutting urge was nearly overwhelming.

'Contain it Naruto…' he warned himself, chewing his lips. "Ahaha, sorry Sasuke!" Naruto said, forcing an extra cheer into his voice.

"Hey Naruto, are you doing ok?" Kakashi asked, placing a hand on the boy's head.

"Eh? Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine! Just the heat's catching up to me a bit…"

"Then why don't you take off your jacket?" Sakura said, pointing out the obvious.

"Wha~?! No! This is my shinobi look! If I take off my jacket, I won't look like a shinobi!"

"Naruto, a shinobi is supposed to be capable of stealth, and yet your 'signature look' is literally bright orange," Sakura teased, waving a vague hand at Naruto's outfit. God, Sakura was starving. She wanted miso, surprisingly enough.

A mere five minutes from the town was when everything fell to shit for Naruto. Sure, things tended to do that on a regular basis, but this was definitely one of the worst things to happen. It was when Naruto was talking to Sakura. He actually turned back to talk clearer, when he tripped.

"Uhn…" he groaned, breaths hitching in his throat. He had the wind knocked out of him hard, and he had bit the tip of his tongue. "Damn, it hurts," he grumbled. Naruto tried to roll over from his side so he could stand up, not wanting to delay the group any longer. 'Ah shit… no, no! I can't… They'll…'

With those final, fearful thoughts, Naruto's exhausted mind and battered body lost consciousness.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked hesitantly, approaching his limp student. Naruto made no noise, warranting a strong sense of worry. "Ah, he's fainted. Must be dehydration or… something." The thing was, there was no possible reason any of them could think of that would explain this. Naruto hadn't been excessively working out, he'd drank lots of water earlier, and he'd eaten plenty of food. A bewildered Kakashi gently picked up the frail boy, slinging him over his back again. Kakashi noticed, once again deep down in the back of his mind, that Naruto wasn't exactly a healthy weight, as it was more noticeable now that Naruto was limp and Kakashi was fully rested. Luckily for Naruto, he had recently eaten almost two lunches worth, so the extra weight in his body helped to cover up for the lack of weight that was actually on his body.

Moments after they entered the cool lounge of the inn, Naruto stirred. With his wakefulness came waves upon waves of worry. What did the others think? Did anyone suspect anything? Did… Did they know?! Naruto's breathing quickened slightly, and realizing where he was, he lifted his mouth from Kakashi's shoulder and away from his ear.

'Fuuuck…! Umm, uh… Excuses, what should I use?! How about… oh, I know!'

"Ah, sorry Kakashi! I didn't really sleep all that much last night… or the night before…" Naruto made sure to carefully construct his tone to a 'sorry, I was being a numbskull and working on my jutsu for two days straight with barely any rest", sounding tone. Naruto slowly let out the breath that he had somehow been holding, despite breathing at an unnaturally quick pace, as Team 7 plus Akihiro nodded, eye-smiled, rolled their eyes, or simply didn't care.

"Alright, since I'm kind of broke and we need to be able to afford lodging for multiple nights in multiple towns, we're going to have to share two rooms," Kakashi announced. "Akihiro will be departing back to his home shortly, he just needs to pay first," the man continued.

"Hey, don't lie to us! We all know you're not broke!" Naruto shouted, now off of Kakashi's back.

"No, I'm serious. I've blown all my money on books," Kakashi replied, not missing a beat. All of his students raised their eyebrows, minus Sasuke so really only two, but none of them could really be sure if Kakashi was serious or not. They suspected not though because Kakashi essentially only ever read one book.

"I'm not sure I believe you, but who're going to share rooms?" Sakura asked.

"Uh, I'll have one room and you all can share the other," Kakashi said nonchalantly.

"WHAT!?" Naruto screeched, punching Kakashi's arms, though he was still weak from all that had occurred that day, not to mention his arm was sore as hell and flexing the muscles beneath all the cuts was truly quite painful.

"Calm down!" Kakashi said, raising his voice slightly. He picked Naruto up and dropped him an arm's length away. 'I don't know why, but I feel horrible,' Naruto thought, unable to shake the feeling that everyone in the room was absolutely pissed at him. He sighed deeply, a sigh that spoke more than a thousand words, Naruto being the only one who could understand the language. 'Sighs are very colorful,' the boy mused to himself before perking up at Kakashi's voice.

"Fine, I'll share a room with Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke will share." With his words, Kakashi sent a pointed glare to Sakura who was looking at Sasuke, then Kakashi with a contemptuous glare.

"Aw, I wanted to share with Sakura!" Naruto whined. 'Nope! No, I definitely don't, but then again, I don't want to share with anyone, and I definitely don't want to share with Sasuke. Shit, that boy is so perceptive, and I want to cut so bad!'

"Yet another reason I will be the one sharing a room with Sakura," Kakashi said, eye-smiling to the two boys. With that, the group split up and left to their respective rooms.

Naruto and Sasuke's room was silent enough to build tension. Naruto could only think about cutting at the soonest chance he could while also fearing what would happen if he got careless. His anxiety was boiling up again, the strongest out of the entire day, which was saying something because today had been a bad day. Naruto was usually worse in the evening, when everything from the day caught up to him. Naruto grabbed his pajamas out of his bag and slipped into the bathroom, double checking that the door was locked, then checking to make sure it hadn't somehow come unlocked. He did this every few seconds as he tugged of his clothes and hopped into his pajamas. Before pulling on his top, he unwrapped the blood-soaked bandage he had been wearing all day.

'Well… This is going to be hard to hide,' Naruto thought, and indeed it would be. From all the strain of the day, many of Naruto's cuts had reopened and his vein was pulsing blood. It was only when Naruto looked in the mirror and saw just how grey his face was that panic set in. It was a miracle really, that no one had noticed. Perhaps it was the sun or lighting in general, but whatever it was, Naruto was grateful. He quickly tossed the bandage into the trash, leaving himself a mental note to dispose of it more thoroughly when he was done getting the blood to stop. Naruto quickly grabbed a wad of toilet paper, then another, and another. Pressing each to his wrist, the blood flow eventually slowed. Naruto definitely preferred using toilet paper when he could, as using his gauze would run his stock down and he thought it might be suspicious if he suddenly started buying bulk packs of gauze on a regular basis.

When the blood was finally drying on his skin, slowly scabbing, Naruto rewrapped his arm. He did it tighter this time, though not too tight. Once that was taken care of, Naruto would need to deal with the bloody bandage and toilet paper filling the trash, not to mention his white shirt that had blood staining the sleeve. Naruto decided he would cut in a little bit, his lack of blood and energy just leaving him completely exhausted. Spending the last of his cognitive energy, Naruto flushed the toilet paper as well as a now cut up bloody bandage. As for his shirt, he wrapped it up with the sleeve at the very center before exiting the bathroom. He carefully placed the bundle in his bag, right at the very bottom, then he laid his jacket and orange pants by his bed.

Finally, allowing himself to just breathe, Naruto climbed into bed, arm begging to be cut. 'This will be problematic,' a part of Naruto said, but at the moment, the only thing his worn-out body could think of was sleep.