A/N: Hello! Hi! This is my first time publishing a fanfic! It's not my best work, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. This story takes place in an AU where Sasuke never left the village. There are several other things that are different in this AU, but I'll explain it when I get there. ChocolateDragon out!

Sasuke's wrist itched, but he could do nothing about it. It was chained to the wall above his head, and even if he had been able to move his other arm to scratch it, he wouldn't have been able to get his fingers underneath the cuff where it itched the most.

Sasuke frowned. It was weird that they only chained his right arm to the wall this time. Usually both his hands were chained. It irritated Sasuke that it was so difficult for him to clear away the fog in his brain enough to think even that simple thought. Every inch of his body hurt, and that made him irritable, and the drugs in his system kept him from thinking straight, and all this made it impossible to focus on anything except for his itchy wrist. He was sick and tired of focusing on his wrist, he was sick and tired of being here, where the only thing that made sense to him was that he wasn't allowed to go home.

There was a noise outside, the door to his cell was being unlocked. He struggled to sit up straight, steeling himself with the knowledge that whatever pain was coming, he had no choice but to endure it. The door opened, and Sasuke tried to focus his eyes on the person entering. His eyes refused to grant him anything other than a blurry picture of the figure in front of him. He almost thought the figure was wearing a familiar shade of orange. He smirked at the idea, then grunted as another wave of pain washed over his senses. It couldn't be. He was probably just seeing things. It wouldn't be the first time since he'd been brought here.

The figure was crouching beside him, unlocking the cuff on his wrist. A familiar voice pushed its way through the haze. "Sasuke? Sasuke, if you can hear me, please answer."

"Naruto," Sasuke was barely able to choke the word out. Was this real? Or was it another hallucination? It definitely felt real. He heard a whimper as Naruto tugged his now free arm across his shoulder. It took Sasuke a second to realize that it was himself who had made the noise.

Naruto winced in sympathy. "Sorry, I know it hurts, but we need to get you out of here as quickly as possible." He maneuvered Sasuke so that he could ride on his back. "You weren't always this light, were you?" Naruto said as he lifted Sasuke off the ground.

Sasuke could hear the frown in Naruto's voice, but the words reminded him of one time when they were younger, a day when Naruto had decided he'd had enough of Sasuke's attitude, and had proceeded to pick Sasuke up and throw him. Needless to say, he had failed miserably. Sasuke laughed at the memory, but laughing hurt his throat and turned into coughing, which hurt even worse.

Naruto had started walking toward the cell door, but froze at the sound of Sasuke's coughing. "Sasuke? Sasuke, are you okay?"

Sasuke couldn't speak through his coughs, but he gave Naruto a thumbs up. Naruto gave a relieved sigh and continued walking. As soon as they were out of the cell, Naruto began to run. Sasuke battled alternating waves of nausea and pain that sprang up from being moved so quickly and so suddenly.

Sasuke absently tried to scratch his wrist, but found that no matter how hard he willed his left arm to move, nothing happened. "My left arm is numb," he commented, his voice hoarse from his coughing fit and the dryness of his throat.

Naruto cast a worried glance over his shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"I can't move it. I've been trying to scratch my wrist, but I can't get it to move. I think it's broken or something." He moved his right arm and hand. They seemed fine, but there was no response from his left.

Naruto started straight ahead, not bothering to answer. Sasuke could feel Naruto's frame trembling with anger, but it didn't seem to be directed at him. Sasuke allowed his eyes to close, listening to Naruto mutter about beating someone to a pulp. Sasuke normally would have minded very much that he had to be carried by his idiot teammate, but at the moment he was too happy about seeing a friendly face to care.

Naruto came to an abrupt stop, and Sasuke heard people talking.

"How is he?" a voice asked. It sounded like Kakashi. Sasuke opened his eyes, but it was too dark for him to see.

"Not good," Naruto answered. "He seems pretty out of it. He hasn't even realized what happened to his arm."

Sasuke sent a frown in what he hoped was Kakashi's direction. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here."

Someone brushed aside Sasuke's bangs and pressed the back of their hand against his forehead. "You've got a little bit of a fever." It was Sakura's voice. "That's not a good sign." She withdrew her hand. "I'm going to need to take a look at his injuries."

"We don't have time for that." Kakashi's voice again. "Shikamaru's diversion won't last much longer, and Sai is waiting for us. You'll have to do what you can when we're on our way home."

Sakura sighed. "Fine." She grasped Sasuke's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Do you want some water?"

"Yeah," Sasuke answered. A canteen was pressed against his lips, and he drank gratefully, but the canteen was pulled away sooner than he would have liked.

"Take little sips, Sasuke."

He reluctantly obeyed. The fresh water was delicious. He probably would have drank the whole thing if Sakura had not pulled it away from him again.

There were shuffling noises, and Kakashi asked, "Everyone ready?"

Sasuke felt Naruto make a motion that he assumed was a nod, and he sprang into action. They were moving upwards, and eventually they went through a door that led them outside. Sasuke took a deep breath of the night air and looked up at the cloudless sky. How long had it been since he'd seen the sky? There had been no real way to keep track of time in his cell, so he had no idea.

The moon bathed everything in a soft bluish light, and Sasuke was finally able to get a good, if a little blurry, look at everyone. He activated his sharingan to check if this was a genjutsu. Fire shot through his veins as it activated, but he endured it just long enough to make sure. It wasn't a genjutsu. It was real. It was real. He was going home.