CHAPTER FOUR

The Kyuubi came through in healing the new cut but not the wound it had opened or the others Naruto had made himself. So Naruto had to pretend all was fine throughout dinner and that night he was laying in bed, the others had gone to their rooms and Naruto sighed.
"Yo!" Kakashi said. Naruto jumped and turned to him.
"Kakashi Sensei! What are you doing?" He cried out. Kakashi laughed.
"I wanted to check on your wound." He said. Naruto sighed.
"It's all gone." He said. Kakashi didn't fully believe him but nodded anyways.
"Well that's that then." He said. "Tomorrow we start home." Naruto nodded and as Kakashi disappeared he sighed. He took off his jacket and grabbed the other one he had packed in his bag. Knock! Knock! Knock! Someone knocked at the door. Naruto hurried to pull the jacket on and tossed the other one in the bag. He noticed that the sleeves were stained with blood but he ignored that and hoped it'd come out. He opened the door to find Inari standing there.

"Naruto…" Inari started. "Are you changing into a different person?" Naruto found that an odd question.
"Why?" He asked as he sat down on the bed, a smile formed on his face.
"Well you sound a little different as if your jokes aren't making you laugh and you only make them because you don't want to seem different." Naruto frowned and wondered how the kid had figured that out. Kakashi Sensei himself hadn't noticed.
"Nah." He replied. "I'm just going through a phase." He smiled and watched Inari walk off happily. He began wondered whether it was just a phase. Maybe he was taking these feelings too hard? But could it be a phase? Every time he looks at Sakura he felt nothing but pain and he wanted it to stop.

When they arrived at Konoha Naruto started feeling a bit happier. He was still depressed but would hurt himself anymore. He did stay up and sometimes even take the kunai out but he wouldn't use it. It wasn't that he felt good enough to stop but the fact that he felt he'd be able to talk if all the scars went away. The village looked wonderful but yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something worse was going to happen. He tried to shake off the feeling, telling himself that he'd talk to Kakashi if his wounds healed. A week passed and Kyuubi healed Naruto's wounds as promised. Naruto seemed to get back to normal or at least halfway. For some reason he didn't talk to Kakashi. He tried more than once only to say it was nothing. Kakashi began to get a bit worried after noticing his little changes. He'd noticed for a while that Naruto was hiding something. He was a skilled Jounin; it was unlikely that Naruto would get anything past him. All three had finished training and Naruto had walked off. Sakura and Sasuke remained behind. Naruto walked by the Ramen bar because he had run out at his place. He hadn't been there for a while though and as he approached he went to grab his wallet.
"Damn" He muttered after realizing he left it behind. When he walked into the field he found the wallet but something was odd. He looked around and when he turned to the bridge he suddenly wished he hadn't looked. Sasuke and Sakura were still there and they were kissing! Naruto turned around and hurried off before they could spot him but everything that he had been holding back in the attempt to be normal broke free.

A tear slid down his cheek as he walked home.He was struggling to remain under control of his emotions and was failing as another slipped out.
"Why do you care so much for this girl? There are hundreds out there!" The Kyuubi asked.
'You wouldn't understand.' Naruto answered as he got home. He entered and shut the door. He locked it and sat down at the table and looked again at the picture on again… Then he looked at his kunai collection with his heart beating fast. He reached over and grabbed one…

Kakashi had finished talking with the Hokage about how he felt concerned that something bad may have happened. He told her about how Naruto's wound seemed to cause more pain than it should have. About how he refused for anyone to try and help and how he hadn't seemed to have slept in ages. And how he seemed to be forcing himself to be happy around the others. She asked why he didn't come earlier and all Kakashi could mutter was:
"I thought it was a phase."
"BAKA!" Tsunade roared at him! She sighed. "We'll place him under surveillance. Gai's team is free so I'll send Neji to do so. His Byakugan can help when Naruto is out of normal view." Kakashi said thanks and walked off. He thought it was unnecessary for her to put another team on the case when she could have just called for Naruto and talked to him. Surely that would have solved everything.

Gai Sensei informed Neji of his task the next day, even though the instructions were hard to make out between Gai's talk of the "Springtime of Youth!" Neji asked TenTen whether she had any clue why he was to watch the Uzamaki boy. But she had no idea. Naruto was just his usual hyperactive self most of the day. In fact Neji wondered whether it'd be worth ditching and just saying that Naruto was fine when asked. But it was late when he noticed the first change in Naruto's behavior. Sakura walked over to Sasuke after practice and they started kissing and Naruto wasn't smiling any longer. In fact he was hurrying off with clenched fists. Neji had never seen Naruto crying so he assumed it was a trick of the light when he thought he saw tears. Neji wondered whether he was upset over his teammates relationship. When he reached Naruto's house he found himself staring through the window. Naruto didn't suspect anyone watching him so he left the blinds open. He just sat on his bed for a while and his face would make odd expressions.

"Just forget about the damn girl!" the Kyuubi roared at him. Naruto ignored him.
"HEY BAKA DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME!"
'Yes' He thought reluctantly.
"Now you and I have become… well not friends but partners. If you keep doing this it'll ruin both of us." Naruto sighed.
'I don't care!' He thought defiantly.
"You should! You only live once! It's best not to waste your time on this girl who obviously doesn't share the same feelings!"

Neji had no clue about what Naruto was thinking of. Nor that he had a demon fox lecturing him about his life. But late at night when Neji had given up hope for anything really unnatural Naruto sat up. He looked around and unzipped his jacket not suspecting a thing. It slid to the floor and Neji was shocked. Naruto's arms were covered, well not so much now that the Kyuubi had fixed the original damage, with cuts! He leaned in wondering if Naruto was undergoing some type of training that was hurting him. He wondered if Naruto was doing anything Lee would do. He saw him open a drawer and grab a kunai. Naruto sat down on his bed and, to Neji's surprise, he was actually crying.

Naruto cursed himself for the tears that fell. He didn't want to cry! He thought he had stopped crying during times like this… no he couldn't have. Because this was a completely new feeling he couldn't have prepared himself for it. He let the tears fall as he cursed himself and pressed the metal against his arm again cursing himself for his feelings. He cursed himself for not talking to Kakashi before it had come to this…


AUTHORS NOTES:

1) Thanks for the reviews!

2) Replies to reviews:

To Minamoto Izumi: Your reply never fails to make me laugh:)

To BloodDrownedRose: As you can see he was discovered but not in a silly 'I was walking down the hall' kind of way. I didn't come up with that kind of a story.

To prettybeka: This is more of a one-sided love story. Naruto cares for Sakura who cares for Sasuke and this is what happens to Naruto when Sasuke and Sakura get closer.

To Shadow Kitsune67: You haven't seen the half of it.