I'd say something, but I figure you've waited long enough, so go read.

Chapter Title: 60. Village Murderers

Kotetsu kicked a piece of splintered wood aside from his path and shook his head, scribbling more notes on his clipboard, before lifting the paper and drawing an X through lot number 3582 on his large map of Konohagakure's marketplace. Izumo was a little bit further down the street, doing the same thing, but with all the shops spared from the battle. Tsunade had asked them to go out and take inventory of all of the damages, from things with minor damages to things that had to be rebuilt entirely. He sighed, looking at his map. It had more Xs than not.

Because it was such a solemn time, Tsunade had actually suggested following them in their work, opting to talk to the villagers. He turned back and found her discussing possible financial aide the village would provide to those in need. He smiled at the sight of the older woman kneeling down before the couple's little girl, laughing affectionately with the child. Although he had been working for her for many years, it was still a sight to see the woman when she was taking her job seriously. It always had the effect of erasing any doubts he previously had about her ability to lead.

He turned ahead to the next house, hoping to catch up to his friend, who was half a dozen houses ahead of him. He silently wished that Izumo was the one lagging behind from having so many checkmarks to write down and not the other way around.

Before he could even look up to the house to check for damages, a young woman ran out of the building and grabbed his hand, causing the pen he was holding to clatter to the floor. He was startled for a moment before he frowned at the woman.

"What's the matter?" She looked behind him, where Tsunade was just finishing up with the family, and let go of his hands, opting to speak with the older woman instead. Kotetsu sighed, but was intrigued to learn the reason for the young girl's distress. It didn't look like it was a big emergency, but just in case, he waited behind to listen to the conversation.

"He's been there for three days now."

"Who has?" Tsunade responded, placing her hands on the woman's shoulders in an effort to calm the distressed villager. "Slow down and take a breath, then tell me who you're talking about."

"I don't know who he is, but he won't move, he won't eat and he won't talk."

"Is he an enemy?" The girl shook her head.

"He was from Leaf, but something seems wrong with him." Tsunade turned to Kotetsu and Izumo.

"Can you two give me the list of the missing shinobi?" Kotetsu nodded and flipped through a couple of pages.

"Could you tell me his rank, ma'am?" He asked politely.

"Genin." He nodded and flipped a couple more pages.

"The following genin are missing. Akimichi Chouji, Douma Soushi, Endo Tamako, Makabe Kazuki, Matsuda Ken, Sarutobi Konohamaru and his team mates, Moegi and Udon, and Shibuya Yuuri." He paused, double-checking his list. "Uchiha Sasuke was found and brought to the hospital a few days ago and Inuzuka Kiba was finally tracked down this morning, in the mountains." He crossed off the two names from his list. "That's it for genin." Tsunade frowned, going over the list in her head.

"Chouji and his team mates were supposed to have been placed on the other side of the village. Douma-kun was confirmed captured by Sunagakure, and Endo, Makabe, and Matsuda were all told to stay out of the fighting, their hitai-ate confiscated as punishment from their sensei the day before the war started. I'm not sure about Konohamaru, but I doubt that he would have strayed far from the other two."

"I suppose the only real way we're going to be able to confirm is going up." Izumo spoke up. "It could probably be any of them." Tsunade sighed and nodded. She had hoped to be able to continue surveying the damage and have one of the medical nin take a look at this problem, but there was no avoiding it.

"Was there any identifying marks on him?" She asked the girl.

"Not that I could see. He might have had a birthmark on his thigh, which I could see vaguely through one of the rips in his clothes, but I stayed as far from him as possible. I only got close enough to tell if he were alive or dead." The girl shuddered. "He was covered in a lot of blood, and he was just lying on the ground, staring at the sky. The whole roof is destroyed as well." Tsunade nodded and Kotetsu wrote down a couple of notes next to lot number 3583. "I'm pretty sure he's injured, cause of the amount of blood everywhere, though that could have been someone else's, but it's bugging me, and I was hoping someone could collect him before he dies up there… it'll be bad for business if word gets out." Tsunade snorted inwardly at the girl's ignorance. They had just made it through one of the nastiest battles since Orochimaru, and this girl was worrying about her shop's reputation. They went inside, and halfway up the first flight of stairs, Tsunade asked Izumo to give her a list of all the missing shinobi. He nodded and pulled out a thick scroll.

"Where do you want me to start?" He asked. She frowned and held out her hand.

"I can read it myself. No need shouting it out to the world. Some of these might be deserters and I'd like confirmation before I go around accusing anyone of anything. She opened up the scroll and began skimming through the list of names. About a quarter of the way through, she grabbed Izumo's pen and began scribbling out names, and muttering to herself.

"Hyuuga Hinata was with me the whole time." She frowned to herself, looking through the list of chuunin names. "Uzumaki?" She asked, looking up to Kotetsu who was now beside her on the stairs; Izumo had gone ahead and was talking to the young girl about the building she was leading them through.

"What?"

"I didn't know Uzumaki Naruto was on this list." Kotetsu thought for a moment before nodding.

"Someone confirmed seeing him near where Kakashi was fighting a few days ago, but he disappeared. We think Sasuke may have seen him, but he has yet to gain consciousness, so we don't know where he is."

"When I looked at Sasuke, he had been completely drained of chakra, meaning he must have been with his brother. If Naruto was near, Itachi might have already gotten his hands on him." She cursed under her breath. "It's no use. We'll just have to wait until Sasuke wakes up from his coma to get our answers."

"But I thought you said it could take weeks before he recovers enough…" She sighed at Kotetsu's observation.

"There's nothing we can do until someone tells us where he is, whether it be Sasuke, Akatsuki or Naruto himself." Kotetsu nodded and they pushed through the door onto the roof. Izumo and the young girl were ahead of them, but they couldn't see anybody, and the damage to the building was minimal.

"Are you sure there was a shinobi here?" Izumo asked, sceptically. The girl nodded pointing to the roof behind them, nearly six feet lower, but still attached. She went over and climbed down onto the second roof, using the small ladder that was attached to the back of the stone structure that led back into the building. They followed her, going to the ledge and gasping at the damage.

Corners had been smashed clear off, and there was blood everywhere, in all different stages of drying. There were also a couple of wires that had fallen from the next building over that were still sparking and hissing angrily. And in the middle of it lay the shinobi, staring at the clouds with glazed eyes. Tsunade stood amidst the damage for a moment, trying to catch her breath as they watched the calm rising and falling of the young man's chest.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed, jumping down the six feet rather than taking the rickety ladder, running to the fallen man's side, though to her he was still nothing but a child. He didn't move at the sound of her voice, nor did he make any indication, voice or otherwise, that he had even heard her cry. Izumo and Kotetsu made their way down the ladder to follow behind, the girl forgotten.

"What the hell happened here?" Izumo muttered to his friend, but neither had any answers.

Tsunade knelt down beside the blonde's body, raising his head to rest in her lap. His eyes were still foggy and they focused on nothing but thin air, but he wasn't dead. His breaths were coming, fairly normal, and any external wounds he might have had seemed to have all closed up, leaving little to no marks, showing that his other half, at least, was doing it's job in keeping him alive. However, there was no mistaking that most of the blood surrounding him was no one's but his, and the still wet puddle beneath his head spoke volumes of the trauma he'd just healed from.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" She asked, shaking him a little bit, but he didn't respond. "Stop acting like a spoiled brat and answer me!" She yelled, shaking him a little harder, which was a lot considering her strength.

"Tsunade-sama, you might hurt him." Kotetsu spoke up, taking a step forward, his hand raised as though to stop her, but they both knew it was an empty gesture. "Maybe we should get him to the hospital to look over his injuries." The Hokage sent him a glare and shoved back one of Naruto's black sleeves, revealing fresh, tanned skin, despite the story the shredded cloth told. There was virtually no evidence of him even being near a fight, though his surroundings made that very hard to believe.

"I wonder who he was fighting up here." Izumo spoke up, surveying the damage. Tsunade nodded gravely, giving up on her battle to wake the young man.

"It might not have even been him. There were reports of Itachi in the area, so I doubt Naruto would still be here if he had found Itachi. It might have just been a battle between Naruto and someone else after Itachi had passed. Kakashi-san told me Uchiha-san might have met with his brother, explaining why his chakra levels were so low. This damage could have nothing to do with him." Tsunade sighed for the hundredth time that day, and stood up. "I'll give him a quick check to make sure everything is okay. If he stays like this, we may have to check him in to the hospital for further analysis, but as far as I can see, it's nothing more than shock." Izumo and Kotetsu gave her a disbelieving look and she sighed, continuing with her check up. Naruto didn't even move.

"You know, I think we can handle things from here." Izumo said to the girl, smiling politely. "Thank you for letting us know that he was here." The girl nodded and made her way back to the ladder, to return to her normal life.

A minute later, Kotetsu sighed and placed a hand on the Hokage's shoulder. He had seen enough, and knew if he didn't say anything the older woman's judgement would be clouded by her emotions.

"Hokage-sama, he hasn't moved at all since we found him." She paused in the middle of checking his pulse. "And we still have more than half of the village to finish. He's not fit to return home like this, and Haruno-san has started working again. She can take care of him; it will give her something to hold onto after the loss of her family." Tsunade closed her eyes and nodded solemnly. He was right. There wasn't much she could to for Naruto on the rooftop, and if he was suffering any kind of psychological stress, he needed to be treated properly.

"Okay, let's move him to Sakura's ward." She exclaimed, standing up. She looked down to the motionless blonde and her face grew grave. "Naruto, we're going to take you to the hospital." She didn't expect him to turn his face to her and nod.

"The village is crying." He whispered to her. "The village is dying."

(Star)(Star)(Star)

Sakura stood in the doorway, watching Sasuke sleep peacefully. He'd finally come out of his coma, weeks earlier than his doctors had predicted, but still lacking a lot of his energy, and having little to no chakra control at all. It was nearly two weeks since Akatsuki and Sunagakure had backed off, and the pink-haired girl had reluctantly gone back to her work, although she stayed with the less severe patients, not wishing to be reminded of her parents anytime soon. Tsunade understood her choice, and respected it enough to allow her schedule to move around the major surgeries and keep her out of the emergency ward.

She knew that her other team mate had been brought in, but nothing about the details of his visit as he'd been moved constantly as a result of angry villagers. Patients refused to be anywhere near him, and anytime his location was leaked out, his windows were smashed with stones, and sticks were thrown in the windows in hopes that they would hit their mark. Finally Tsunade became so irritated that she made a public announcement, claiming that anyone caught performing acts of violence or discrimination against the young man would face criminal charges by the police and that she would make sure of it. The attacks came less frequently, but he was still the target of a lot of anger on the part of the village.

When Sasuke had awoken, only that morning, the first thing he asked for was Naruto. He wouldn't tell any of his nurses the reasoning only that it was important that he find the blonde. The nurses were forbidden to tell Sasuke anything about his friend, in case he had some part in putting the young man in the hospital in the first place. At first, he became quite irritable, refusing to speak with anyone, but eventually he became less and less sullen, and more withdrawn, ignoring his visitors completely.

"Why?" She asked suddenly, as though she were speaking to the boy, but he made no movement to say that he was even conscious, much less that he heard her query.

"There are probably a million different answers to that question, so you're going to have to be a little more specific." A voice sounded from behind Sakura and she turned around, startled.

"Kakashi-sensei." She nodded politely at him. He did the same to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, knowing they both needed it for the moment. To them, it was as though their worlds had fallen apart.

"So, why what?" He replied, turning his gaze back to the young man in the bed. She looked back as well and sighed. To her, there wasn't just one 'why' question that she wanted answered, there were dozens.

"Why does he want to see Naruto so desperately?" She said. "Why is he hiding the truth about what happened on that roof? Why won't he talk to us? Why do I think he knows exactly what's wrong with Naruto?"

"Why do I feel like he's the source and cure for Naruto's pain?" Kakashi added. Sakura looked to him and nodded solemnly.

"Has there been any change in his behaviour since I left?"

"He's the same. The doctor came in to look at him and said that there's nothing wrong with him physically. He's doing this to himself. He's keeping himself like this."

"Has he said anything new?"

"He said he hated his room. That he wanted to be back on that roof so he could stare at the clouds like Shikamaru loved to do." Sakura winced. She had heard about the loss of his mother through Ino, who insisted on visiting her everyday to make sure she was doing okay. Apparently, he was doing fine, but his father was taking it very badly. Shikamaru had resorted to staying at home to take care of his father, leaving his shinobi duties to some of the other chuunin.

"Has he said anything about what happened?" Kakashi shook his head firmly.

"No. Whenever someone brings up what happened on the roof, he starts to talk about the village dying, and something about nightmares and a promise."

"What did he mean by that?" Kakashi shrugged.

"I know." Sasuke muttered behind her. They both turned back to Sasuke's room, seeing him rising from the bed, slipping his feet into the slippers by the bedside.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi started, moving forward quickly to stop him. "You can't leave this room, you're still injured. The doctors didn't even think you would be out of your coma this early, much less have the ability to go anywhere." He grabbed Sasuke's shoulder, but was met with the steady gaze of the still Sharingan.

"You can't stop me."

"Sasuke, please don't hurt yourself. It will only harm yourself and those who care about you." He narrowed his eyes at her and ignored her pleas.

"Where is he?" He demanded, turning to Kakashi for answers. From his face, it was uncertain just how much of their conversation he really heard.

"You can't see him like this, Sasuke." Kakashi avoided the question. "He's in very bad shape, there's nothing you can do for him, until you get better."

"What do you know about what happened to Naruto?" Sakura asked timidly, knowing this was the information Tsunade was searching for. "Were you there? Did you see what did this to him?"

"I let it happen." Sasuke muttered, looking away. "I did it to him. I don't expect forgiveness, nor do I ever want it, but I need to fix it."

"Do you think that something like that can just be fixed?" Tsunade growled from to doorway. "That Naruto is just another plaything for you that you can just use and abuse and expect crazy glue to put back together again for the next time? He's not a doll. He's a human being who's been betrayed one too many times. I don't know what the hell you did, but you will not go anywhere near him." Everything was quiet for a moment before Sasuke replied to her outburst.

"I thought I was in control." He said. "I thought with Orochimaru gone I was okay. I thought that this would be the time I actually killed my brother. Instead, I killed him."

(Star)(Star)(Star)

"Do you know what happened?" Tsunade looked up from the pile of papers on her desk to the old man standing in the door of her office. She shook her head.

"I know it might have been something Sasuke did to him, but that could also be his guilt talking. I think it was a culmination of things; the villager's hatred of him has gone too far, then Iruka's death, then Sasuke's betrayal. But, I don't know how to make things like this better. All I know how to do in these situations is run off to the nearest casino and shove quarters into a plinko machine and get raving drunk. I'm not suited for dealing with disasters like these. How do I save the village? Naruto may be having problems, but he's right. The village is dying." Jiraiya nodded gravely.

"You were chosen for a reason." He replied, moving closer and shoving a few papers out of his way so he could sit on one corner of her desk. "Do you still think that Naruto has the ability to rise above these problems to become your successor?"

"I don't know."

"Yes or no, Tsunade-baa-chan." She smiled at the attachment to her name.

"You've spent too much time training him. Yes, I still think he's the future of this village."

"That faith is the same faith that the third had in you. He knew that you and I would have the perseverance to last through tough times like these, no matter what conditions were like. He believed in us. You just have to as well." She kept quiet, and for a moment, Jiraiya thought she was going to go back to her work, but she looked up at him with a troubled look in her eyes.

"You know about what the village is saying about this whole war, right?" He gave her a confused stare. "They blame him for this attack. They're saying that if he had been killed a long time ago, they wouldn't be suffering today. They're blaming everything on him."

"I heard some of that; just rumours on the streets. Can you blame them? Nearly half of the village's fighters were killed, and so many people have lost loved ones. They're just looking for a scapegoat and Naruto is an easy target."

"I heard nurses muttering under their breaths about the audacity of him even being in the same building as them. Doctors refuse to treat him; I'm surprised he's even still alive. Jiraiya, these people want him dead. They think that by either killing him, or handing him over to Akatsuki that their suffering will end."

"There's nothing you can do for him right now. There's no way for you to change their minds right now. You just have to protect him for the moment, and allow him the chance to change their minds in his own time. He will do it, you know." Jiraiya smiled positively, though his eyes betrayed the doubt in his own words. "He's got to." Tsunade shook her head, pushing her chair out from the desk and standing to look out the window.

"I'm not sure if he'll even survive through this war." She muttered, frowning at the blue sky, but decided to change the subject. How has Sasuke been doing?" She asked, looking behind her to see that her old friend was still sitting on the edge of her desk.

"Not too good." He sighed. "He's getting even more agitated. He's been fighting against anyone who comes near him, screaming to be released so he can go to Naruto. If he weren't under heavy sedation already, I would suggest it, but he's still pretty violent. I'm surprised he hasn't injured anyone yet. Kakashi's taken on the duty of guarding him; not letting anyone near him for their own safety." Tsunade sighed, something she'd been doing a lot of since the beginning of the war.

"Has he told anyone what he did to Naruto, yet?" Jiraiya shook his head, picking up one of the unsigned documents from her desk and skimming through it. "He says he won't speak to anyone about it until he sees Naruto."

"Why are today's youth so stubborn?" Jiraiya chuckled, despite the graveness of the situation.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

Shikamaru glanced outside the kitchen window wistfully, wishing he could do anything other than what he was doing. He'd always wondered what it would be like to have the carefree life of the birds who were always dancing, it seemed, among the clouds he was always staring at. It was something he never even told Chouji about. Sure, the cloud shapes interested him and kept his mind calm, but he'd always wanted to live the life of the birds and be free of the chains of such an obviously painful existence. He never wanted to be a bird more than at that moment.

Resignedly, he tore his gaze from the brilliant blue sky and returned his attention to his work. His father was no longer returning home at his usual times, and there was no longer anyone to make sure the young man was fed each night. He continued slicing the crab meat into strips for his sushi, not bothering to look up at each noise the door made.

He wasn't stupid, by any means. He knew the smell of alcohol, and his father's efforts to cover up his drunkenness with silence didn't stop him from noticing the wobble in his step every time he came home at two and three in the morning were wasted on the younger Nara. Shikamaru understood these things better than most people would have thought, even counting his IQ, as he wanted to drown out the pain of losing the most important woman in his life, too, but someone needed to be the rock for his family, and he knew that the his role had been decided for him before he even had the option. He had a constant ache in his chest from the loss of his mother, but being strong for his father was helping him get through it and he knew that when his father finally learned how to deal with his pain on his own, he would appreciate what the young Nara had done.

A few minutes earlier, Shikamaru had finished his father's meal for the night, ready to eat whenever the older man decided to stumble home. Under normal circumstances he might have been a little bit worried about what his father was doing in the bars, but he knew that Inoshi and Choumaru were looking after their team mate, and there was no one else he would trust his father with. Ino's father especially, looked after Shikato, even into the early hours of the morning when everyone else in the village was fast asleep. Both Naras realised that it was next to impossible to get rid of the blonde man, no matter what Shikato tried to pull on his old friend.

Shikamaru winced when he narrowly avoided slicing his finger off. His thoughts were distracting him from his… distraction. He sighed and glanced back to the window, once more wishing he was a bird. Birds never had to worry about keeping their fathers from suicidal thoughts. Birds didn't have to think about war. Birds didn't have to worry about how to keep their jobs and take care of their only remaining family at the same time. Birds just didn't have to worry.

"I wish I was a bird." He whispered wistfully, returning his thoughts to his task.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

Kakashi wiped the fog from the mirror in his bathroom, peering at his eyes in the reflection he'd cleared. No one wanted to admit it out loud, but the village was truly crumbling, just like Naruto was saying. It was only a matter of time before Itachi and his allies came back to finish what they started. Kakashi turned away from his eyes in the mirror and cast his gaze downward to see his knuckles turning white from his tightly clenched fists. He unclenched them, once he realised what he was doing, and wiped the excess moisture off on the towel wrapped around his waist.

It was Iruka's.

He ignored that fact and left the bathroom, going to his closed to pull out a clean uniform. Slipping into his clothing quickly, he headed down to his lobby where one of the women who lived just down the hall from him wished him the best for the day and gave him her condolences for the loss of his friend. He curtly told her that many others had lost their lives in the battle, not just Iruka and walked out of the apartment building without so much as a nod goodbye. He knew it was a rude thing to do, but he couldn't find it in himself to remain in the woman's presence and allow himself the chance to think about what had happened.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He turned to find Sakura walking towards him, giving him a slight wave. "Good morning!" He nodded politely and waited for her to come closer. She stopped in front of him and gave him an evaluating glance, staring straight into his one visible eye.

"How are you today, Sakura-san?" He asked. She smiled tiredly and shrugged.

"At least I know I'm not the only one avoiding my problems." She responded, a desperate look coming across her features. "We'll just have to move on and make ourselves as busy as we can, right?" He nodded in agreement, though something inside of him told him he should be pretending like he didn't know what she was talking about. She was smart, though, and he didn't feel like lying to her. Not that he felt any more inclined to speak to her about it either.

"I'm going to Tsunade's office to see if I can get a mission or two." He explained, pointing in the direction of the old woman's offices. "Would you like to maybe get a drink or breakfast?"

"No, thank you." She answered, offering him another weak smile. "I've eaten already, but Tsunade's not in her offices today. She told me that she was going to be in surgery all day so anyone looking for missions was to talk to Jiraiya, or assign themselves to a volunteer mission. I tried that too." He nodded, thinking about something for a moment.

"Well, then do you know where I might find Jiraiya?" She nodded and pointed towards the onsen, near the foot of the Hokage monument.

"He said he was doing research." Kakashi nodded and walked briskly past her wishing her a good day. Just as he was passing beside her he caught the sound of her stomach rumbling, but ignored it, knowing why she had blown him off.

They might have both been hungry, but they had no appetite for food.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

"What did you do to him, Sasuke?"

"That's none of your fucking business." Sasuke replied stiffly, calming down slightly at the mention of his friend's name.

"I think it is." Kakashi replied, the edginess evident in his voice. He'd gone to see Jiraiya, and was told to find out what Sasuke's secret was. "He's locked himself in his head, and everyone else out. You're the only one who could possibly get through to him, but no one will allow you anywhere near him unless you tell someone what happened up there." Sasuke remained quiet for a moment and it was obvious that he was trying to quell the shaking his body was experiencing since they had forcefully put the Sharingan glasses on him that morning.

"Do you… remember those nightmares he had on that one mission when we were about thirteen or fourteen?" He asked softly. Kakashi nodded, but the movement was wasted on Sasuke. He continued, regardless. "Well…" He trailed off, unsure of how exactly to word everything, but Kakashi did it for him.

"You didn't…"

"I did." Sasuke nodded. "I attacked him. I blamed him for everything, my broken life, Iruka's death," he didn't notice Kakashi's flinching at the dead man's name, "even the war. But it wasn't really me speaking, it was the curse."

"How can you say that? The words were your own, fuelled only by your rage."

"No! I wouldn't do that to him by choice."

"How do you know?" Kakashi pressed, playing the devil's advocate. "People do a lot of weird things when they're angry or pressured."

"What do you want me to say to you?" Sasuke spat out angrily. "The curse took a hold of me. It made me say things I've never even thought of to the one person I need. I made a promise to him never to let the curse turn me against him, and I broke it."

"Does he really mean that much to you?" Kakashi sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. Sasuke nodded, and remained silent. "He won't always be there, and he might not know how you feel." Sasuke was instantly reminded of Kakashi's loss and he muttered an apology, which the silver-haired man brushed aside with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "You can't take his presence for granted. I'll talk to Tsunade about letting you out." He quickly gave his student a once over, checking out all of the major wounds. Most of the minor ones had healed over the last week and a half, but the major ones were still quite visible, and two were still bleeding, one deep gash on his arm and one along the length of his back. Both had needed stitches.

"The Hokage's right outside." Sasuke pointed out, nodding in the direction of the door. Kakashi looked up through the small window of the door to see Tsunade talking to a few of the nurses who were looking after Sasuke's health.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

When Naruto was finally released from the hospital, Tsunade walked with him home, purposely leading him along the back roads to avoid the masses of villagers who wanted nothing more than to throw old and mouldy fruit at him. Luckily they managed to make it home without much of a hassle, but still Tsunade couldn't get a word out of her young friend. She tried all kinds of conversations until finally she became fed up with talking to a wall. He'd become well enough that he would nod or shake his head to yes or no questions, but he wouldn't say anything more than what he'd already mentioned about the village dying. Eventually she stood up and excused herself, telling Naruto she would go out and get him some more fruits and other food so he wouldn't starve while he was home.

None of this phased Naruto in the least, and he returned to his spot on the couch for twenty minutes after locking the door behind the woman. When she came back, she had knocked softly on his door, telling him that she had his fruit, but he'd ignored her words, waiting for another half an hour until she gave up getting back inside the apartment and told him goodbye. He uncurled himself slowly, stretching out the kinks in his muscles and went to the door. Sliding the bolt out of the way, he opened his door and reached down to pick up the small bags of fruit, not registering the feet of the person standing right in front of him until he stood back up.

The first thing he saw was those familiar red eyes.

"Sasuke!" He gasped, frightened.

The bags fell to the floor and Naruto tried to slam the door shut, but Sasuke was fast, and already had his foot in the door to stop it. When he realized he wasn't going to get the door shut, he began to move away from the door, crawling away on his hands and feet, not daring to turn his back on the door.

"Please leave me alone." He begged, his eyes watching Sasuke's every move, as the older man walked unhurriedly into the room. "Go away; stop hurting me." Sasuke shot him a look of devastation, but shook his head, shutting the door behind him and crouching low so he was eye level with his terrified friend.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto." He held out his hand, palm up and took a small step forward, wincing when the action caused Naruto to scoot further away from him in fear. "I won't hurt you." He whispered.

"LIAR!" Naruto screamed, slapping the proffered hand away. "I'll never believe you again! You said that before, but you did!" He shivered, reminding himself of the events on the rooftop, but Sasuke had stopped moving closer for the moment. "I let you in; I trusted you." Sasuke looked at his feet in shame, knowing everything Naruto was saying was right. "Why should I ever believe anything you ever say again?"

"It wasn't me." Sasuke replied softly, looking up. He rubbed his shoulder, slightly as if there was some invisible ache there. "It was the curse talking. I would never intentionally hurt you. I stood by you when the fox demon was trying to break the seal, and when you lost your body and no one else believed you could survive." He shifted closer, momentarily ignoring Naruto's protesting. "I don't care if you don't believe me, and I don't care if you hate me for the rest of your life, but please don't shut me out this way." He quickly moved forward, grabbing Naruto around the shoulders, stifling some of the blonde man's struggling.

"Let me go!" Naruto screamed, and was reminded that if his neighbours cared, he might have been helped. He fought against Sasuke's grip on his arms, but no matter what he did Sasuke's strength was superior to his own. "No, no, no…" He whispered to himself, as Sasuke began to rock him gently back and forth, his thumbs drawing circles on the younger man's back. He took in a deep shuddering breath when he felt this rival's tears begin to stain his shirt, as well as the long tan fingers slowly start to curl themselves around his clothing, keeping him in place.

"Please believe me." He whispered.

"I do."

"I'd go crazy if I didn't have you." Sasuke whispered, his words muffled in the soft strands of gold that he'd pressed his face into. There was a brief silence and he almost thought the words hadn't been spoken at all.

"I know."

"They told me you were practically comatose when you were brought in." Sasuke shifted his arms a little bit so that they could both be comfortable, even though things were far from settled between the two of them. "You wouldn't speak more than two sentenced to anyone. What changed?"

"I deserved it." Came the reply. "There was this man who snuck through the guards on my door just as I was about to leave. Tsunade yelled at him to leave, but he just kept yelling at me. He told me I deserved the pain and that I was disgracing the village by not accepting it."

"That's a load of bullshit." Sasuke spat. "You did nothing wrong."

"The village is dying and I'm the one killing it. I may not have held the kunai to the throats of every single person who died in that battle, but I am the reason they died. My existence killed them."

(End of Chapter)

I still hate this chapter, but I went back and fixed some things, so it's not as bad as it once was. I added a few scenes and took out some others… Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long… exams and birthdays etc. and now I've got auditions and serious schoolwork.. blah… I hope that by making this extra long, it will make up slightly for it being really, really late.

Oh… and btw, I actually already have the next chapter typed up and ready to go… it's actually been ready for… a year and a couple months. Yeah, the next chapter was originally supposed to be the very first chapter of this story. The only changes made to it was changing the Third Hokage into the Fifth, Lee in this story was originally Ino, and I decided to spare you people who've waited so patiently and reveal the truth behind Naruto's Room of the Dead. Yes, that's right, Folks. I've finally decided to reveal the big secret. EXPECT THENEXTCHAPTER IN THE NEXT WEEK AND A HALF.

To Glass Kitsune: Thank you for your observation of the poor quality of the chapter. I'm going to go over it this weekend (if I have time) and revise it so it's closer to standard.

To truefightingwolf: Naruto and the Kyuubi are one. Naruto cannot stop the healing process because it's a part of himself that he can't turn off. Like breathing.

To QianYun: I think it was your mention of Sasuke and Naruto's presence being repetitive that caused me to want to do this chapter in this way. I was trying to avoid their point of view throughout the chapter until it became absolutely necessary. I think you were right about the chapter being of crappiness, so I'm going to redo it… this is why I like in-depth reviews. They tell me where I screw up and I am able to make things better.

To Frithjof: Thank you for such a lovely review. I'm sorry about your mother, even though I know my apology does nothing for you. I looked at those scenes as a challenge. I wanted to show that I knew there was many different ways of dealing with grief, and I wanted to see if I could accurately portray all those different ways of dealing with such a tragic loss. Still thinking about the NejiShika (don't want to make the whole village gay…).

To Generally Maz: Your review had me laughing for a long time. I would love to see someone do a take on those two too. I couldn't imagine Sasuke stoned…

To Momochi Zabuza: Yay! I'm a Hidden Mist shinobi! Haku-in-training!

YAY! TONFA! Yes, TONFA The Original Naruto Fanfiction Archives is holding a Naruto Fanfiction Awards thingy. They've got everything from Romance to Parody to Action/Adventure. Yes, this story is nominated in the A/A section, but that's not what this is here for. GO VOTE! It doesn't have to be for me or my two stories, it could be for one of the other great stories that are up for awards. Anyways… yay! I still can't believe I even got nominated for an award…

GO VOTE!