Cocoon

By Mirakuru Rein

-start-

"And Uchiha Sasuke?"

"…nowhere to be found."

The first time he heard that, it broke his heart. He couldn't even bring his best friend back. He clenched his teeth. Pathetic.

That night he had the first of his many streams of nightmares. It always comprised of Itachi, standing over his parents with a bloodied katana, then Sasuke, spiraling down a dark abyss, and lastly Sakura, who wept over a lifeless body with blond hair. These installments always lasted ten minutes each, no more, no less, because Naruto always woke up to see exactly thirty minutes had passed. After that he couldn't sleep the rest of the night, and the next night the cycle started all over again.

Pretty soon he started taking caffeine and staying up all night, just so he wouldn't have those dreams, but even in bouts of insomnia the images would flash through his mind.

And just as quickly as they started, they stopped. When he couldn't remember, but it was the day after Sakura took him to lunch. He couldn't say if this event caused the cessation of the dreams, or if it was merely coincidence, but all he knew was it safe to sleep again.

-finish-

A/N: Yes, short and succinct. Called Cocoon because I imagined that a warm, safe sleep would be enveloped in a cocoon. Takes place after the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Review please?