Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: I'm so happy people are enjoying the story. I realize it may still be moving slowly, sorry, it is just that I have a lot of ideas I want to flesh out. I just want to say that I am very open to constructive criticisms and ideas from readers. In fact, this story improved ten fold because of someone's suggestions. So please, if you have any ideas or read something you don't like, please tell me.

Edit: REVISED

Last, about Sasuke being an "uke" in this fic. I think this is one of those tough areas with this pairing. I don't see either of them as uke, and so writing convincing scenes is tricky. Sasuke is currently uke-ish because of what is happening in the story, but I'm not sure that means he will be in a permanent submissive roll. Two controlling and dominating personalities fighting for seme…hottt.

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The room was dark and Sasuke watched shadows glide along the wall as the hours passed. He was alone now—Kiba not only was not sleeping in the room, he had left the apartment, slamming the door on his way out. The whole thing had been disastrous. Kiba had carried him back into his room, toweled him off half-heartedly and helped Sasuke get dressed in fresh pajamas. Sasuke knew there were bruises forming on his arms from when Kiba's strong hands had grabbed and "helped" him so roughly. He couldn't quite understand why Kiba was so mad—they had become close friends on the mission, but not so close that Sasuke was going to bare heart and soul to the Inuzuka. Why couldn't Kiba understand that?

Kiba couldn't understand any his struggle with his brother, and Sasuke felt stupid in having ever thought the boy might have comprehended the pain, the hate and the suffering Sasuke felt.

The night air was silent around him, wrapping him like a blanket. It was so quiet Sasuke could almost hear himself shiver. In his mind, he could only see Itachi. This had been their second encounter since his brother had killed their parents and Sasuke had failed to kill him again. Hell, all he had only been able to put a scratch on his brother's cheek. Years of training, years of developing his skills and he was not even in the same league with his sibling. He hadn't even noticed he had been fighting a clone…with his Sharingan activated.

Sasuke rolled over. His strength was coming back quickly, and he was glad. It would be embarrassing to have forced Kiba to leave only to have to beg the boy to come back because he couldn't even move himself. Sasuke had needed Kiba to leave and had used some less-than-friendly terms to express it—but why? It wasn't just that Kiba couldn't understand the pain…it was more than that. Sasuke realized that every time (and every time was often) he remembered Kiba twitching and shaking on the ground, blood coming out of his mouth-- his own heart squeezed painfully in his chest. He realized that he had become closer to Kiba than he originally was giving himself credit for and never wanted to see the beautiful boy in that kind of pain, that kind of danger, ever again. Inuzuka had almost died twice now because of Sasuke. He knew the saying: the third time is the charm. That was one charm Sasuke couldn't bear and, although it hurt almost as much, he knew he needed to end the friendship with Kiba. He would rather hurt and have the boy alive then hurt because he, through default, had killed his closest friend.

Oh god, that was what Kiba was, wasn't it? His closest friend. How many friends did Sasuke even have that would be willing to help him around the house, feed him…bathe him? He tried to imagine Naruto washing him instead of Kiba and found the idea preposterous. The blonde dobe would never treat him so gently, or touch him the same way…

Sasuke remembered what it had been like to be pressed up against Kiba's chest. When it had happened, he had been so angry he never focused on the sensations of being so close. But now, in the darkness of his room, he could almost feel the smooth, wet flesh of Kiba's taut stomach pressed against his. He could almost feel the heat, the strong arms wrapped tightly around him. That gorgeous face and those wild eyes looking at him, full of emotion…

But then those wild eyes turned black, blood tears falling from them. The arms that had been holding him so firmly slipped off and Kiba's corpse fell to the floor. Sasuke looked down in terror and saw that Kiba and the entire bathroom were covered in blood. His eyes moved to the mirror. Instead of his own reflection, he saw his brother's eyes staring back, and realized in horror that he, Sasuke, was Itachi. The Mangekyou Sharingan began to swirl, pain gripped his body and…

Sweat was covering his entire body as he jerked awake. He had been sleeping and, although it was just a dream, it solidified his belief that cutting off ties with Kiba was the only thing he could do. His heart, painfully beating at the vision of Kiba's corpse, made Sasuke scared—he was already too attached. With his decision made, Sasuke rolled over for a night of fitful sleep.

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Pacing wasn't calming him down, so Kiba, filled with frustration, punched his apartment wall. He watched his fist smash through the plaster and brick and felt his knuckles break.

"DAMNIT!"

Shaking his hand only made it worse—he had definitely fucked it up. He would need to visit a medic Ninja for healing. He grabbed his keys and headed out, slamming his apartment door behind him.

Kiba wasn't quite sure why he was so angry and hurt. It frustrated him that Sasuke had kicked him out of the apartment, regardless off all Kiba had done for him, so quickly. He still couldn't believe how fast the Uchiha's attitude had changed. One moment, Kiba was enjoying himself, happy he was helping Sasuke relax so much. The other boy seemed to really like the bath, the massage… but then, like a baka, he had opened his mouth. It was just that… Kiba thought that, even if it was too soon to speak with Sasuke, he assumed the other boy would forgive him. During the mission, Sasuke had even opened up about his brother—so why the hell wouldn't he open up now?

A shudder ran down Kiba's spine as he remembered what it had been like to be under Itachi's jutsu. The pain had been indescribable. The closest he could think of was it was as if Itachi had every single nerve in his body activated and was slowly (and very, very painfully) killing it. At one point, Kiba was still sure his heart had stopped beating. But the Sharingan was all about mind tricks, and the whole thing could have been in his head. But the memory of that pain, real or imagined, lingered and woke Kiba up at night.

Therefore Kiba knew, after the small bit of 'attention' he had received from Itachi, that Sasuke's fight must have been ten times worse. That was why he wanted Sasuke to talk to him about it—mostly because he couldn't imagine how much it must be weighing down the Uchiha, but also because Kiba wanted to tell Sasuke about his own experience. There didn't seem to be anyone else he felt comfortable discussing the visions and nightmares he still had, the paralyzing fear he now harbored for Itachi.

Damnit. Why was Sasuke pushing him away? Kiba decided to give the Uchiha a couple of days alone—after all, he was probably still shook up about the encounter with his brother and need time to think—but then he was going over to let Sasuke know that he was his friend, that he couldn't push him away.

What Sasuke didn't know, and what Kiba planned on telling him, was that the Inuzuka had discovered how much he needed the friendship with Sasuke. Never before had Kiba been so close to another male. He had been so loud and confrontational as a boy, and it seemed that no one but Sasuke had forgiven him for that. Sasuke had seen him for what he was now—older, more skillful as a ninja, smarter…more mature. More than that, Kiba was glad it was Sasuke and not some other guy, like Shikamaru or even Shino. Something about the Uchiha was special, and Kiba connected with it and wanted to be with it, with him, all the time. Finally, Kiba could understand why so many girls of the village were in love with him—and they didn't even know the black-haired boy half as well as he did!

Immersed in his thoughts, Kiba didn't see Sakura until he ran straight into her. Knocked off balance, he fell to the ground, trying to break the fall with his hands. Including his broken hand. Overcome with pain, Kiba curled into fetal position and clutched the injured limb to his chest.

"DAMNIT SAKURA, I'M REALLY HURT HERE!"

"WELL THEN WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING, DOBE!"

But Sakura felt bad and knelt down beside the moaning boy.

"Let me see if, Kiba. Come on.. Kiba, for the love of—just give me your—LET ME SEE YOUR DAMN HAND!" She hit him hard over the head. Kiba reached both hands up to cover the new injury but she grabbed the wrist of the one he was nursing and inspected it.

"You HIT ME? What kind of medic ninja are you?"

"An effective one, I have your hand, don't I?"

She felt around the fingers, watching him wince when her fingers touched sore spots.

"You are hurting me and making it worse."

"How did you break all four knuckles, Kiba? And I think I feel a shattered finger or two as well. This is some extensive damage! What on earth did you do?"

Red faced, Kiba muttered, "I punched my wall."

"Wha—" But Sakura had been teammates with two boys and knew how irrational they could be. Sometimes, she decided, it was better not to know. She began to gather her chakra for healing.

"What are you doing?"

"Idiot, I am a medic ninja, I am going to mend your hand."

Oh, right. Kiba had forgotten that Sakura was a medic now, and probably one of the best ones in Konoha, aside from the Hokage. And now that she was helping him, Kiba couldn't help but to recognize what an opportunity this was. If anyone knew what he should do about Sasuke, it was Sakura. He remembered that they had even sort of dated for a while. Everyone had thought that was the end of it and that they were going to get married soon after. (Ino had cried for days). But, with no warning and rather quickly, they split it off. More surprisingly than the split was the fact that it had been so amiable—everyone had known how much Sakura loved Sasuke, but she had seemed OK, maybe even happy with the break-up.

"Hey, Sakura, are you busy?"

"I am, I'm sorry. I have to heal some baka's hand. He punched a wall." Kiba blushed.

"And that baka thanks you, he does… and is hoping you would get some coffee or food with him after you are finished."

Sakura did a double take. Was Kiba coming on to her? He may be gorgeous now that he was older, but she was not interested. At all.

"Kiba, if you are asking me on a date, then I need to—"

"I'm not asking you on a date, I need to… I need to ask you about Sasuke."

Oh. He wanted to talk about Sasuke. Sakura was mostly relieved (Kiba? Gross.) but a little annoyed—why didn't he want to ask her out? (even though her answer would be no!) He wanted to talk about…Sasuke. She had known they had gotten close. During the mission, they had pulled a lot of strings to spend time together at the end. In fact, Sasuke had shown more interest in Kiba than he had shown in…well… anyone. It was something that secretly made her slightly jealous. And now the boy wanted her to talk about the mysterious Uchiha that was her teammate and friend. Still, Sakura knew Sasuke had been injured, and more importantly he was always emotionally unstable when it came to his brother—it was no time for her to be selfish and try (vainly) to keep Sasuke to herself.

"I…I guess I can spare an hour or two. There, your hand is fixed. Don't pick up heavy things, play too hard, train or do anything at all strenuous with it for the next two days, understood?"

Two days was a lot, but his hand did feel better, so Kiba nodded his agreement.

"So…where do you want to go?"

"Lets go to my apartment, Kiba, I was on my way there anyway. I can fix some tea, if you'd like."

"Hn."

Sakura stood up and offered a hand to help Kiba stand. He held one up, ready.

"Your other hand, baka. That one is healing, remember?"

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A/N: Revised a bit, but not much. Just grammar and spelling and such.